Lab Below Stark Industries, Friday Morning

[imafuturist]

It was safe to say that Tony too had not noticed anything strange today. Mostly because he rarely used a filter when working with JARVIS and had been working since the night prior with only a few coffee breaks.

On one hand, he was getting closer to finding where HYDRA currently was, but on the other.... sleep deprivation.

Choices, choices.

He took a sip of lukewarm coffee and fiddled with the code on a bot he'd designed to watch the traffic cameras in Queens. For the tenth time that hour.

Yeah.

[open for anyone lookin' for him!]

Comments

[fjordicswagger]

"Then stop talking," Tamsin muttered. She snagged a chair and sank down in it with an oomph.

[imafuturist]

"I'm a talker," he shot back sullenly. "We can't all be stoic and hell on wheels."

A beat.

"Probably be easier if I was."

[fjordicswagger]

"I'm only stoic because that's what I'm raised to be," Tamsin said. "No emotions in-- my family."

Hey, that wasn't a lie.

[imafuturist]

Tony raised his eyebrows at that. "So was I. Just ended up a bleeding heart instead."

[fjordicswagger]

"Can't afford me one of those," Tamsin said.

Right. Time for another big gulp.

[imafuturist]

Tony sighed and leaned back against a table that held the newest version of the armor for working on. "Are we telling the truth or what we think is true?" he asked.

[fjordicswagger]

"Are you getting philosophical on me?" Tamsin muttered. "Stop it."

[imafuturist]

"It's part of my emotional deficiency." Wait. "I meant to say charm. Please pretend it's what I said."

[fjordicswagger]

"I'd love to," Tamsin said, putting the bottle back to her mouth. "I'm not good at this touchy feely crap."

[imafuturist]

"Who is?"

[fjordicswagger]

"Out of who we know? Maybe Jessica."

[imafuturist]

"She is pretty good at this," Tony admitted. "Shame we have the same taste in women, though. Cuts down my dating pool."

[fjordicswagger]

"It's not like I date," Tamsin said, rolling her eyes at him. "Don't be weird."

[imafuturist]

"Well, I do date," Tony replied. "And friends with benefits only works if no one gets hurt by it."

[fjordicswagger]

"Are you wingmanning for Jessica?" Tamsin asked, squinting at him. "I feel like I should be flattered, but I'm not actually a huge font of self-esteem."

Ugh. More drinks.

[imafuturist]

That explained so much about Tony's friendship with her! Like called to like.

"Yeah," Tony replied as he fiddled with the label of the bottle. "I'm preventing myself from hugging you because I don't need a black eye.

[fjordicswagger]

"Good thought," Tamsin said, nodding. "Even though now I kind of want a hug."

Uuuugh.

[imafuturist]

Now Tony had to go and wander closer like that hug was imminent. "Are you going to punch me?"

[fjordicswagger]

"I'm going to say yes, but I'll mean no if it doesn't last longer than twenty seconds," Tamsin said irritably.

[imafuturist]

"Understandable," Tony said cheerfully, with all the memory of his childhood to back him up as the truth.

So it was a brief hug, the no less meaningful.

[fjordicswagger]

Tamsin sat there grudgingly and took it. (She was glad to get it. She was incredibly irritated about it anyway.)

"Right, okay, done," she said, shifting away from his grabby arms as soon as he was leaving, too.

[imafuturist]

"I am going to ask you about this again on a day you can lie," Tony informed her, hopping up onto a work table to take another sip of whatever cheap booze he had.

[fjordicswagger]

"I appreciate it," Tamsin said, sipping her perfectly middle-of-the-road vodka, thank you. "Ugh. I hate this day. So much."

[imafuturist]

Former billionaire. Cheap was a relative term.

"It's pretty bad," he agreed. "Relationship ruining honesty is not something I want to deal with regularly."

[fjordicswagger]

"You even have relationships?" Tamsin said.

Hey, she didn't pay that much attention.