Chapter 6
Stiles couldn’t believe how fast the first few months went by.
It felt like the avengers swallowed up his whole life, but in a good way.
If he wasn’t training with Pepper, he was training with Clint and Natasha, studying for his G.E.D, playing C.O.D with Danny, Tony weaseling himself into the game almost every time. Tony dragged him somewhere almost nightly or with the avengers as a whole.
They kept him a closely hidden secret, wanting to hold a press conference to announce his new position once he was officially done training under Pepper.
Today was the last day of his training, the press conference was being held in a week, which was why Stiles had actually volunteered to do the Starbucks run to get some air and clear his head before he worked his way into a panic attack. He knew he could do the job, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous about being televised across the world and getting a bright red bull’s-eye painted on his forehead from all of the Avengers enemies.
He walked into the Starbucks, corporate credit card and huge drink order in hand and stood in line, eyes falling on a very familiar figure, paying for his order.
He would know that back anywhere, of course he would since he held it up for three hours while floating in eight feet of water.
His jaw dropped and he choked out a shocked. "Derek?"
It would have been too soft for anyone else to hear in the busy coffee shop but Derek turned, looking around before landing on Stiles, in surprise. "Stiles? What are you doing in New York?"
Derek quickly Picked up his order and stood next to Stiles as he waited in line.
Stiles couldn’t help smiling; it was nice to see another friendly face. "I work here actually. I accepted a position at the Avengers Tower and finished my GED while training. It's great to see you. Time away from Beacon Hills seems to have been good for you. You look great, happy even."
Derek smiled a bright genuine smile. "Yeah, After Braeden and I parted ways I ended up back here. Laura and I owned a Condo together in the city and we had a lot of happy memories. I've always liked this city so it's nice to be back and relive them now that it's not so painful. I started seeing Laura's old therapist, it's helped a lot. I've met a local pack and I'm actually considering joining. We're all getting to know each other first."
Stiles couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to see the big guy doing so well. "I'm glad to hear that. I know you might not want anything to do with Beacon Hills or flakey teenagers but if you ever want to talk, I live at the tower."
Derek Scoffed. "Stiles, we've saved each other’s lives more than once, Of course I'd love to hang out. I can't believe you’re living in the tower though. How did that happen?"
Stiles laughed. "It's Beacon Hills, weird things happen. Come over sometime and I'll tell you the whole story away from prying ears."
Derek grinned. "You have my cell phone number, keep in touch."
Stiles nodded and waved goodbye as Derek Left and couldn’t help feeling better just seeing him. If Derek was doing this good, Stiles would be fine.
Juggling three drink trays full of coffee was tricky but he managed to not drop any as he walked to the tower.
Once he arrived to the office, his personal assistant jumped up, grabbing two of the trays for him. "Julia, you are an Angel among women."
Julia rolled her eyes, laughing. "I'm glad to see that my relieving you of a few drinking trays earns me praise. Wait till I actually do something worthwhile like stall a senator so you can hide all the candy on your desk."
Stiles put his hand to his chest in mock affront, yet didn’t reply as they both knew it was true.
Entering his office, he was greeted by the rest of the team; already busy arguing over the details of the press conference.
Stiles ignored the shouting, already used to it by now and just took his time handing everyone their drinks, each of them knowing better than to forget to thank him, some much more profusely than others. Tony, draped himself over Stiles shoulder dramatically. "Stiles, my savior! I was going to die without my caffeine fix. These heathens have no idea how to hold a press conference. They vetted my idea of back up dancers!"
Stiles snorted. Offering Pepper the final cup of coffee before sipping on his own sugary drink. " I really don't need to be seen as a mini version of you, Tony."
Tony put his hand to his heart, pretending to be hurt. "And what's wrong with being me. I'm a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and now a superhero."
Stiles shook his head. "Not as much of a playboy now that Pepper has you in line."
Natasha smirked from her corner where she was leaning back in her chair. "I'm surprised that Tony hasn’t reverted back to his old ways since he and Pepper broke up, actually."
Stiles flailed in surprise. "Wait, you two broke up? Since when!? How did that not end up all over the news?"
Pepper chuckled. "Because it was amicable and Tony and I are still friends and for some reason the media always assumes when a man and woman are close they are dating instead of friends."
Tony nodded. "I'll always love Pep, It's just a different kind of love."
Stiles nodded, smiling at Tony. "It's called friendship Tony."
Tony scoffed, shoving him gently "Laugh it up kid, you're still considered in that circle."
Stiles felt something warm bubble inside his chest at the declaration, and pressed his shoulder back against Tony's gently as he rolled back from the shove, shoulders bumping gently. "You wouldn’t be able to get rid of me if you wanted to. Once I claim someone as my own they are stuck with me forever. You’re in the stilinski friend circle, there is no escape."
Clint piped in at the disgusting cuteness. "So when is the wedding?"
Tony and Stiles eyed Barton, unphased by the ribbing, eerily saying the exact same words at the same time. "You are going to be the best man, Barton?"
The action had Barton shuddering. "Good god, you're exactly alike."
The rest of the team burst into laughter and Barton sighed, trying to look put upon, but his lips kept quirking up.
Pepper spoke up finally, bringing the team to task. "While I disagree with the backup dancers, I do think a bit of build up would be a good idea. How about a large black curtain with a projected montage of all of you, get someone to voice it with some fanfare about each Avenger and how it takes someone to hold the team together and then the screen looks like it shatters as it drops and then Stiles walks forward with all of you in your uniforms flanking him a few steps behind."
Tony looked like a kid at Christmas at the idea, practically bouncing on his feet. " we need a confetti drop when the curtain falls as well as a light show and some music to get the crowd going."
Pepper rolled her eyes, used to Tony's antics. "Fine Tony, if you’re willing to let your idea of back up dancers go, you can have confetti and your lights."
Pepper noted everything down so she could pass it on to the events coordinator before turning to Stiles. "We need to brief you on what you can and cannot say while being interviewed as well as a little speech so you can address the press. I'll get something written up and you can memorize it before the event. We will have a space outside set up so the public can view the press conference live and then once the press conference is over you can go greet the crowds. We will have a security detail around you at all times."
Stiles felt slightly overwhelmed as Pepper went on to explain what he could and could not say, the best way to react to things and how to deflect.
Tony noticed and cut through with a grin. "Don't worry kid. If anything is asked that shouldn’t be answered we have a PR Guy who will be handling the questions and can get at them. And even if you slip up, trust that you will never cause as much drama as I am capable when they put me in front of a lens."
Pepper took that time to announce that the meeting was over and Tony was about to drag Stiles away for some call of duty time when Barton and Natasha cleared their throats behind him.
Stiles sighed. "Sorry Tony. I have training, but we can hang out after if you still want to."
Barton quickly grabbed Stiles arm dragging him away while Natasha smirked. "We should only be about two and a half hours or so. Meet us in the training room.
Natasha and Barton were what Stiles liked to call the silent comedians. They had dark humor and always seemed amused by things that no one else got, which left others feeling slightly threatened and fearful.
At least that was how Stiles felt until he started to understand their humor and slowly got brought into their little circle.
Stiles huffed as they walked away, before chastising the two. "Don't be so amused, guys."
Natasha smirked even wider. "We get to take away Tony's toy."
Barton grinned, chuckling. "The look on his face, he was seconds from pouting like a five year old."
Stiles shook his head. "I'm not a toy you guys can have pissing matches over. I am my own person."
Natasha ruffled his hair, causing Stiles to squawk. "Of course you are kid, Still fun to get a rise out of Tony though."
They arrived at the training grounds and Barton started getting stiles into his warm up routine, helping him do some deep stretches.
Once he was done, Natasha spoke to the room. "Activate scenario 11428 difficulty six."
The room melded and shifted like liquid silver before solidifying into an army/police academy type course with tires, crawling nets and ladders and walls and pop up three dimensional enemies.
Stiles barely needed to wait for Barton to yell the order before he was on the ground. "Drop and give me fifty!"
When Stiles had started this crazy training he could do some pushups thanks to Lacrosse but never fifty in such a short time.
He could run but upper body strength was not his forte.
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and yet when he was given the order he dropped and did fifty pushups in no time before rolling on his back to do the same amount of sit ups before jumping to his feet, grabbing the paintball riffle to run the course.
He started with the tires quickly running through them, knees high and trying to dodge rubber bullets that were being fired at him from all directions.
As he cleared the first part he dropped to his stomach to crawl through the netting tunnel, being as quiet as possible thanks to Natasha's tips and jumping to his feet swiftly as soon as he cleared the tunnel.
He took two shots at the life like dummies who popped up before he reached the wall, both straight in the chest before taking the strap of his rifle and swinging it over his shoulder as he took a leaping run to grab the slats of the wood that were just out of reach and using his new-found upper body strength to lift himself up over the wall, arms burning from the exertion but nowhere near how it used to.
Jumping down from the six foot wall on the balls of his feet he barely made any noise, earning a please smile from Natasha as he grabbed his rifle once more and took a few more shots, ignoring the innocent bystanders and making an impressive head shot to a man holding a child hostage.
Once he was done those he ran towards the ravine jumping onto the monkey bars and swinging himself from one end to the other and grunting as he received a rubber bullet to the side that he was sure would bruise.
He managed to power through the pain and get through the monkey bars before running full tilt through the clear path, shooting at whatever enemy popped up before making his way to the finish line and dropping for another fifty pushups and then his sit-ups before he let his upper body drop to the ground as he panted, taking in deep breaths and trying his best not to vomit right there.
Barton grinned down at him. "Jarvis, what was his time?"
Jarvis spoke up, sounding almost smug. "Four minutes, fifty five seconds."
Stiles laughed happily at the news and offered Barton his hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. "Nice job kid, you finally made it in less than five minutes.
Natasha pushed a water bottle into his hands, smiling. "Good job, now hydrate and get your breath, were hitting the mat."
Stiles groaned. Sparring with Natasha was hell. There was a reason they called her the black widow and she was deadly and did not pull her punches.
Barton chuckled. "How about we do target practice first and then let Tony walk in on you wiping the floor with Stiles."
Stiles nodded, not even ashamed at wanting to get out of sparring Natasha.
They spent an hour doing target practice with a variety of guns, doing really well with a tightly concentrated ring near the chest on his target.
His dad had been bringing him to target practice for years and stiles was pretty proud of at least being able to excel at this.
Once they were done Natasha just silently pointed to the soft sparring mat and Stiles sighed.
Natasha just grinned. "Don't forget, stop leaving yourself open."
With that she advanced, barely giving stiles a chance to deflect.
They kept on sparring for the rest of their session, Natasha tagging out to give Barton a chance to spar, much to Stiles pleasure. Natasha was a beast and he would have a few bruises.
He shed his shirt halfway through his session with Barton, the heat making him a lot less self conscious about his chest and happy trail. Though that had eased since he started building some muscle and noticed that he wasn't the only one with body hair. He wasn’t in Derek Hale territory when he came to muscles but he could definitely give Scott a run for his money.
He had managed to get Barton flipped and into a grapple when Tony walked in with a flippant. "Two and a half hours are up, Stiles is mine now!"
Tony stopped in his tracks, eyes going slightly wide at the sight of Stiles as he rose to his feet, arm flexing as he helped Barton up.
A small squeak escaped Tony's mouth before he turned on his heels calling out. "I'll meet you downstairs, take a shower first, you don't want to smell where we are going and make sure you wear something casual but nice."
Stiles frowned, confused at the change in personality in Tony as he beat his retreat. “What’s eating him?"
Barton and Natasha both grinned, amused. "You'll figure it out eventually, Stiles."
Stiles shook his head, not even trying to force the issue, knowing they could give Deaton a run for his money in being cryptic.
He hit the showers and got washed in record time before meeting Tony downstairs.
Tony just motioned for the parking garage and Stiles followed him towards his Aston Martin, not nearly as leery as he was at first of touching the ridiculously expensive car.
Buckling himself in, he eyed Tony with a grin. "So where are we going?"
Tony grinned. "We have reservations for Masa. You mentioned you wanted to try sushi last time we went out."
Stiles gaped. "I didn’t mean the most expensive restaurant in New York."
Tony scoffed. "If you are going to eat sushi, you need to eat it from Chef Masa, the man is an artist."
And Tony was right. Stiles had never eaten anything so good in his life. Not to mention the Kobe beef creations that the chef had prepared, right in front of them.
Tony ordered a pot of warmed sake, and kept refilling Stiles glass, the chef turning a blind eye.
After the workout he got from Natasha and Clint, the food and Sake left him warm and loose and happy.
As Tony and Stiles drove back home, Stiles smiled at the billionaire. "Thanks man, I didn’t know I needed that as much as I did."
Tony looked back at him with a small smile. "It's a lot of pressure, especially for the first time. Having a chance to get away and eat some good food and relax is needed sometimes."
They drove back home in companiable silence and Tony walked Stiles to his door where Stiles turned to give Tony another smile. "Thanks for tonight; I had a lot of fun."
Tony just shrugged it off waving him in. "Get to bed Kid. You have a long day tomorrow."
Stiles just shook his head, amused at how Tony always tried to hide the fact that he was actually loving and caring deep inside that playboy facade.
He was surprised to find the smile still on his lips as he snuggled into his pillow, his worries floating away thanks to the sake and falling into a deep sleep thinking that since he had moved to New York he had finally become truly happy.