December 17th, 1987 -- Cambridge, MA
10:04 AM, EST

"You don't have to do that."

Shelby spun around as she realized she was not alone in the kitchen. She'd woken up early after crashing on Tony's couch with Donna and Lisa, so she'd decided to help the boys in cleaning up after their wild Friday night activities.

"Oh, it's okay." She said with a smile upon seeing that it was Robbo, Tony's housemate and best friend. "I helped make this mess last night, so I might as well clean it up."

"Do you remember much of last night?" Rob asked, grabbing a trash bag from under the sink.

"To be honest, no." Shelby admitted. She hated knowing that she'd gotten so drunk that she couldn't remember what she did. "I must have been pounding the water enough, though, because I don't have a headache or anything this morning."

Rob chuckled as he joined her in picking up stray red plastic cups and beer cans. "Consider yourself lucky, then."

Shelby laughed as she picked up a ping pong ball. "I vaguely remember challenging Lisa and Donna to a beer pong game last night."

Robbo nodded. "Yeah, you and Tony made a pretty good team in that. Then again, you and Stark make a pretty good team in general. You're like two peas in a pod."

Shelby nodded. "We work well together. It's nice to have someone with shared ... brain capacity." She admitted.

"I'm sure it is. I think he's met his intellectual match in you, Shelby Colewell. Someone has to knock him down a peg." Rob joked as he began to crawl under the table. "Aha. I found the cork from the champagne."

Shelby laughed and knelt down next to him. "That champagne was delicious, I have to say."

"Hey, that reminds me. Congrats on NASA. That's frickin' awesome." Rob said as he stood back up.

"Thanks. I haven't officially accepted them yet or anything, but ... NASA is kinda my dream." She stated. "What are you doing after graduation, Rob?"

"Well, uh," The boy ran a hand through his dark hair and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure, yet. Haven't really had any offers. Haven't applied anywhere either, though, so ..." He shrugged again and glanced over at the redhead. "Guess I'll just go where life takes me, you know?"

Shelby nodded. "Sounds like a good plan." She carefully walked around Lisa and Donna, who were both still peacefully sleeping on the couch. Shelby was convinced a train could drive through the two of them and they would not notice.

There were cans scattered around them, so she delicately removed them and placed them in the trash bag.

The two continued to move around the house in a comfortable silence as they cleaned up from the previous night's activities.

After hauling the trash bags out to the curb, Shelby stood in awe, wondering how the party had gone through six garbage bags full of alcohol bottles and cans the previous night. She sighed and turned towards Rob, who was also inspecting their handiwork.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm now exhausted and starving. Wanna grab some lunch and coffee or something?" He asked, running a hand through his dark, floppy hair.

Shelby felt her stomach growl, and the thought of a nice greasy cheeseburger made her mouth water. "That sounds like a great idea, Robbo."

December 17th, 1987 -- Cambridge, MA
1:19 PM, EST

Tony watched as a gorgeous redhead entered his room wearing a black dress. She climbed upon his bed and looped her small arms around his waist. He couldn't see her face, but he could see her body, and that was enough. A petite little frame, pretty curves, and silky red locks of hair. She had a magnetic laugh, and her voice was soothing to his ears, though he couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He was itching to see her face, to see the girl who had come to him.

"I'm Tony Stark. Nice to meet you." He muttered, reaching for the girl's face.

She laughed again, her face still away from his view. "Yeah, idiot, I know who you are."

Idiot? Why was he being called an idiot?

"Sorry, I don't know who you are." Tony said, wishing that the girl would just turn around.

There was that laugh again. The girl folded her arms over her chest and sighed. "Yes you do, Stark."

He began to recognize the voice then as the girl slowly turned to face him. His eyes widened and he felt his stomach lurch out of his throat. "Shelby?"

Tony woke up in a flash, sitting up straight in bed as he attempted to catch his breath. "No no no, no no no." He muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Not today, not today, Satan." He muttered, standing up as he searched his room for some water. He needed to wake up.

He downed a spare bottle that was laying on top of his dresser, then headed for the shower. He needed to get that dream out of his brain.

He took a quick shower to wake himself up, then stumbled downstairs, clad only in an old pair of sweatpants. "Hello? Robbo?"

It looked clean downstairs, so he figured his housemates, specifically Rob, had already cleaned things up. Unfortunately, none of them appeared to be around. Tony was alone in the big old house, which didn't happen often.

He set up the boom box that had been used the previous night and got the coffee maker going, then settled himself down at the dining room table with a cup once it had been finished.

"What were we listening to last night?" He groaned, changing the station from some obscure music to some rock. "Black Sabbath? Don't mind if I do." He said to himself as he dragged his backpack out of the corner and got to work on some school things. Contrary to popular belief, he was serious about his studies, and did partake in doing his homework and studying. Shelby was right — exams were coming up soon.

Oh, god. Shelby.

He'd just gotten that dream out of his mind!

"Okay, Tony, focus on these equations, not ... that." He muttered under his breath.

He heard a car door slam outside and figured someone was home. He peaked out the window and saw Robbo's blue hunk of junk sitting in the driveway, so he knew it was him.

He sighed and took another sip of his coffee, trying to get his brain to focus on his work. He heard Rob's keys jingle in the door before it was opened, and Rob's voice was joined with another familiar one in laughter.

"Hey, Tony." Robbo said as he walked in. "You're awake!"

"I'm awake." The Stark boy glanced up, seeing a familiar redhead in the doorway. "Shelbster." He nodded at the girl before looking back at his homework.

"Hey, Stark." She said, taking a sip of the coffee that was in her hand. The girl took a seat across from him, peering across the table. "Whatcha working on?"

"Oh just some stuff." Tony sighed, closing his textbooks. "So, you and Robbo got coffee?"

Shelby nodded. "Yeah, we grabbed lunch after cleaning up the mess you made last night."

"Oh, it's my mess?" Tony smirked, holding a hand over his chest.

Shelby grinned. "Mostly." The redhead glanced over at the couch, then back to Tony. "Lisa and Donna left?"

Tony shrugged. "I didn't know they were supposed to still be here, so I guess so."

"Well, since you're up and running today, maybe we could work on Mary." Shelby suggested.

"Who's Mary?" Robbo piped up, taking a seat next to Shelby.

Tony looked up with a frown. "Our senior design project."

"Ahh." Robbo nodded.

"What are you doing for your project?" Shelby asked, turning to face the other boy.

Tony frowned as he wondered when Shelby had ever been remotely interested in Robbo's life before.

"Working on an engine thing with some of my mechanical engineering buddies." Rob replied. "Trying to make it more efficient. Better gas mileage."

"Oh." Shelby said, sharing a glance with Tony. He grinned, knowing that they were thinking the same thing: their's was a better idea. And more original.

"What exactly is it you guys are doing?" Rob asked. "You've been pretty secretive about everything, Stark."

"That's because it's a secret." Shelby responded. "Wouldn't want anyone copying our design."

"Not that anyone else besides Girl Genius here and I could replicate it." Tony added.

"Of course." Shelby agreed.

"Yeah. You guys are like the dynamic duo of MIT. The university's very own Wonder Twins." Rob laughed, nudging Shelby with his elbow.

Tony nodded, his eyes on Shelby. "That's us. So, Mary?"

Shelby grinned. "I'm glad you're eager to work on our project, Stark. Let's go." She said as she stood. "See you, Robbo."

Tony watched as she gave him a cute little wave, which Robbo returned. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his backpack and keys. "Mary awaits."