Spiderwoman

24

When I finally arrived in the Penthouse, I saw Steve and Bucky sitting on the couch together, close enough to be more than friendly but still a distance I could tell they both were too shy to close.

I started walking to Tony's lab when I realised something. "Ah fuck, I left my coffee in the lab."

"Language!"

I just shook my head and kept walking. "Toto, I have returned. Did you figure it out yet?"

Tony was still trying to figure it out. "Almost. Why don't you just tell me what to do."

"I'll help you but I'm not telling you the answers. God, it's like 6th grade all over again."

I sat next to Tony and started correcting his formula. Then I started thinking about what had happened earlier with Mr Roberts and how mean he was to the interns.

"Kid! Penny for your thoughts?"

"They're worth way more than a penny, Old Man."

"Alright, a dollar?"

"Paid in advance."

He rolled his eyes but got his wallet out from his pocket nonetheless. "Can you break a twenty?"

I took the bill from him and pocketed it. "Nope."

"Yeah alright then. So, $20 for your thoughts?"

"I was just thinking about... Ah never mind it's stupid."

"No, what is it? I'm curious now, and you know what happens when I'm curious. Besides, I paid $20 for this, I better get my money's worth of thoughts. "

I sighed and chuckled, knowing very well what happens when he's curious. "Well, I was with some of the interns earlier and were taking a break from work because I was talking to them and then when their supervisor comes in he starts shouting at them like scum and it just made me think."

"Psh, come on I know there's more to the story than that."

"You'd probably think it's stupid."

"Everything I do is stupid. And I paid 20 bucks for this, I wanna get my money's worth."

"Alright fine. Well, I guess I was just thinking how you have people go down to all of the lower labs and make sure everything's running smoothly, but neither you or Pepper ever actually check out what happens. Pepper just spends the majority of her time in her office and I get that, dealing with the business side of the company, but sometimes people who go to you know, look at what's going on, can be partial and unfair. Also, they always give notice so people know when they're being checked on and they have enough time to fake everything. So like, you know, maybe you should actually go see for yourself that your employees don't suck."

I stated talking and everything else seemed to fall out in a ramble.

"Huh."

I put my head down and just worked for a few minutes in silence, until Tony spoke again. "That's actually not half bad."

"Uh, yeah."

"You should tell Pepper. I mean, it is her company."

"Hm."

Tony was amazed by the fact that this teenager, who was always cocky and sarcastic, not too unlike him, could change personality so easily and get nervous so quick.

"Come on, we'll go now."

"Go where?"

"To see Pep. Come on kid."

"Oh, no I'm sure Miss Potts is very busy."

"Who cares? Come on. As your boss, I order you to go to Pepper and tell her your idea."

"You know, I think that counts as abusing your power."

"And I think that counts as I don't care. I'm not getting anywhere with this, so let's go."

He grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me up, making me groan. "I don't think your girlfriend is going to appreciate us interrupting her while she's working."

"She loves me, she has no choice."

"She has plenty of choice."

"Fine. Have it your way. Don't tell Pepper about your great idea."

"I won't."

Unbeknownst to Dani though, a couple hours later, after she left to patrol, Tony went straight up to his girlfriend's office. He didn't bother to knock, instead just bursting the door open to see his former assistant on the phone.

"Mr Stevens, I'm going to have to call you back." She hung up and looked at her boyfriend, who was now sat down. "What can I do for you, Mr Stark?"

"Well, Miss Potts, an associate of mine recently had an idea about the company you're in charge of."

"Oh, and who might that be?"

"An anonymous, concerned employee has had an idea that is so simple, yet we have never done anything about it."

"Cut to the chase, Tony."

"Dani had the idea that one of us actually go into the heart of this company, and see for ourselves what kind of work they do."

"I'm listening."

"Think about it, Pep. We have people to make sure employees are working well, but how can we judge off of the comments of someone else without seeing for ourselves?"

"And Dani came up with this idea?"

"That's what I said, yeah."

"Alright. It's a good idea. Why isn't Dani coming to me with it herself, though?"

"She's worried it will diminish any respect she's earned from you if you don't like it."

"She told you that?"

"Not exactly. But I know the kid inside and out."

"Oh really?"

"Yep."

Pepper leaned forward. "When's her birthday?"

"Uh, May 29th."

"That's your birthday."

"Did I say May 29th? I meant uh, September... 27th."

"And that's my birthday."

"Why does it even matter when her birthday is?"

"Because if she's going to take over this company, we might need to know a little more about her."

"So we're seriously just going to hand the company over to a 15 year old?"

"Well, she's not going to have to take over immediately. She may be young, but she acts like a 20 year old - most of the time anyway. She's a good kid, she's smarter than you, she always helps out, has great ideas and can bring a new, more modern perspective to this company. She's the best parts of each of us in one person. It only makes sense."

Tony nodded slowly and smirked. "When are we going to tell her?"

"Well, we need to talk to her Aunt about it first."

"Right. You get on that, I'll learn when the kid's birthday is."

A/n sup guys, gals and non-binary pals, it's been a while. hope you enjoyed the chapter I might update again because I have a few more drafts that haven't been published so idk.