📍NEW YORK CITY
───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

"I think I should've stayed in the car," (Y/N) told Phil Coulson as she and him walked through the first floor and lobby of the Stark Tower.

Due to Fury's request, they were bringing everyone in from the 'Avengers Initiative' list to locate the Tesseract, and much to (Y/N)'s dismay, Tony Stark was unfortunately on that list. It had been almost two years after that mission, and she had no clue of what to expect.

Coulson and (Y/N) stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to the floor he'd be in, being on one of the highest floors of the tower.

"It'll be fine," Coulson reassured, though he wasn't quite sure himself. He rang the phone once when they were nearing the building, but he hadn't gotten an answer.

This time, it looked like he did, and he put the phone on speaker. "Mr. Stark, we need to talk."

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark," his voice was monotone, so he could play the part. There was a faint chuckle in the background, probably belonging to Pepper Potts. "Please leave a message."

"This is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently," Tony said before cutting the call off.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and the small screen showed the number of the floor they'd stopped in. Coulson's hand was still holding the phone by his ear and (Y/N) gave a fake enthusiastic smile once Tony's eyes fell on her; his mouth opened the slightest, and he didn't let that surprise knock him off guard.

"Security breach," Tony announced. "It's on you."

Coulson's lips formed a thin line as he stepped into the floor. "Mr. Stark."

Pepper turned around from her spot on the couch and a smile popped in her lips, her voice in a happy tone. "Phil! (Y/N)! Come in."

Tony frowned. "'Phil'? '(Y/N)?"

After the entire fiasco in the Expo, and after Pepper had demanded an explanation to why (Y/N) acted the way she did and why she came to work in the company in the first place, the entire dynamic between the two changed. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable anymore, both respected the other and it was refreshing to see.

"We can't stay," (Y/N) apologetically said.

"Uh, his first name is 'Agent'," Tony pointed at Coulson with the hand that wasn't holding the champagne glass, and then proceeded to salute. "Lieutenant, nice to see you."

"Looks like you missed me," (Y/N) told him with a mocking smile as she heard the scoff coming from him. She stuffed her hands in her jacket as she watched him leave his seat.

Tony saw her do this action and his eyes fell on the jacket she was wearing, brown leather and worn out, unreadable insignias plastered on sides of it. He frowned, and he gestured towards it.

"What is that?" he questioned.

"It's an aviator jacket," she stated the obvious.

Tony nearly rolled his eyes. "I know that. But — "

(Y/N) cut him off before he could say anything else. "You'll have time to comment about it later. We're here for a reason."

"Come on in," Pepper continued, holding her own glass and jumping out of her seat to greet them by the elevator. "We're celebrating."

"Which is why they can't stay," Tony flashed a fake smile.

Coulson held the black file out so Tony could see it and take it. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."

"I don't like being handed things."

"That's fine, because I love to be handed things. So, let's trade," Pepper casually said before grabbing the file from Coulson's hands and in exchange giving him her glass of champagne. After that, she grabbed Tony's own glass and placed the file on his hands, giving the other glass to (Y/N). "Thank you."

"Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday," Tony informed, his eyes now falling on (Y/N). "You should know that."

Before she could retort, Coulson spoke up. "This isn't a consultation."

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper blurted out, and then retracting from her mistake. "Which I know nothing about."

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought," Tony began saying as he backed away to his desk. "And I didn't qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper tried to play it off.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others," Tony listed. "Those were Looey's words, not mine."

"That I did know," Pepper answered at the same time that (Y/N) muttered, "Am I wrong?"

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore," Coulson tried to change the conversation.

"Whatever," Tony muttered as he looked down on the file. "Ms. Potts, got a second?"

"Half a mo," Pepper smiled at the duo before making her way over to Tony's desk.

He was typing down on his computer when she joined his side, and he didn't look up from the screen as he started to speak up.

"I thought we were getting along, having a nice moment," he said.

"I was having 12% of a nice moment," she teased and he gave her an unimpressed look. "This seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken. (Y/N)'s trying to keep her cool."

"How would you know if it's. . .Since when did (Y/N) and you became close?"

"What is all this?"

"This is. . ." Tony pressed his fingertips to the screen and lifted it up in the air so now the image was bigger on the different projectors around his desk. It showed different profiles about three different people, videotapes playing in the background and pictures displayed. "This."

Pepper looked around the footage. "I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight."

"Why?" Tony asked, still distracted.

"You have homework. You have a lot of homework," she said. "And maybe I'll get the chance to talk to (Y/N) about how you talked my ear off rambling about what she said — "

"Fly safe, then," he interrupted before she could continue, annoyed.

Pepper grinned and gave him a friendly pat in the shoulder before backing away slowly. "Good luck."

She returned back to where (Y/N) and Coulson were standing, placing back her shoes that were set by the side of the couch.

"So, any chance you're driving by La Guardia?" she questioned the two.

"I could drop you," Coulson offered.

"Fantastic."

Tony blocked the conversation off his head and focused on the files displayed in front of him, one part catching his attention in particular, because it showed the image of the blue cube that he well recognized. The gears inside his head clicked, looking back just the slightest to eye (Y/N) one last time as she disappeared in the elevator with Pepper and Coulson, and then turning back to inspection the Cube again.

Something wasn't adding up, and he needed to figure it out fast before it was too late.

This is the part of the book where everything starts getting interesting, hope you continue reading to see it :)

- see you soon, bex