Pepper sighed as Jarvis informed her that Tony was still locked away in his workshop. She had hoped he would at least come to the final interview for his new assistant, now that there were only two candidates left, with one significant standout. Miss Stilinski was very young, but felt like a good fit. She had a couple degrees under her belt already at the age of 24, all of which were made up of extremely varied courses. Her ADHD would either work perfectly with Tony's... peculiarities, or it would clash horribly with his own, but Pepper was willing to take a gamble on the former.
Once she was ready, Pepper called the first candidate in. A woman with experience managing famous people, who wasn't star struck or high and mighty about the position, she seemed like a better candidate on paper. In person, she seemed accommodating. Too accommodating to deal with Tony on a daily basis. Even Pepper needed to learn to say no to Tony, and quickly. The woman before her did not look like she would put her foot down anytime soon towards her employer, but rather shift the schedule to his tastes, which would get nothing done.
With that conclusion reached, she pleasantly dismissed the woman, and called in Miss Stilinski.
The twenty-four year old entered the room in nice black pants, a button up shirt and a deep red blazer. She wore sensible dress shoes, and had her hair tied back in a ponytail, only some slight curtain bangs escaping from the elastic. Her eyes quickly flicked around the room, catching on random objects before returning to Pepper with a smile.
"Hello Ms. Potts, it's nice to finally meet you."
"Yes, sorry for all the hoops you had to jump through. Mr. Stark is... a unique individual."
"I'm cool with unique. In fact, unique is probably better for me than normal, if I'm being perfectly honest."
"So I'd gathered," Pepper conceded as shuffled around a few papers to find a few areas she'd bookmarked for discussion. "You seem to keep busy."
"Yeah, I need to have multiple things on the go in order to keep my focus with any level of actual productivity. College was great for that. Got a couple degrees in boring subjects, with some other certificates and degrees in more interesting topics."
Pepper tried to hold back a smile at how similar her phrasing was to Toy's attitude.
"So, why do you really want this job?"
"Honestly? Mr. Stark has made some great improvements in the past two years with how he's running his company, and I think I could enjoy the position. Strange as it may sound, I thrive on a certain level of chaos, I think this would do nicely."
"Well I have to admit Miss Stilinski-"
"Please, call me Stiles. Everyone does."
"Stiles, I have to admit, I think you'll be great fit. When can you start?"
"I got the job?"
Pepper laughed a little at the incredulity in her voice.
"You got the job, as long as you still want it. We're going for a full fresh start around here with this move to New York. Obviously the tower isn't done yet, but we are up and running."
"Heck yeah! Thank you so much, you won't regret it."
Amber eyes shined at the reassurance. It was strange to see a young woman in a relatively similar position to Pepper's own several years before. The difference was that where Pepper had fidgeted with nerves upon her hiring, Stiles seemed to almost vibrate with excitement.
"I mean, I was thinking it might be you that will regret it eventually."
"Eh, I doubt it. Any chance I can meet the man himself?"
Tony finally looked up from his current project when JARVIS shut his music off. The sound of footsteps could be heard outside the door, heading towards his office. Unlike with Pepper though, they were not the click-clack of heels. They also weren't the heavy footfalls of either Rhodey or Happy.
Turning, he found a young woman opening the door to the workshop. Her outfit was relatively tame and sensible, with the blazer adding a pop of colour that he could appreciate. All that being said, he was still a little confused.
"Uh, who are you?"
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Stark. My name is Stiles Stilinski, I'm your new assistant, as long as Miss. Potts wasn't lying to me."
The girl grinned easily, hands clasped in front of her. The smile wasn't flirty or challenging, almost content. About what? Tony didn't know, but even if he wasn't over his seduction days, he wouldn't aim for this particular girl.
"Well, if Pepper says you're hired, I guess that must be the case."
"Well that's a relief. I must say, I don't regret moving to New York, but I would hate to rely completely on my fiancé for everything. I am not about that sugar baby lifestyle, I think I would go stir-crazy."
Tony raised an eyebrow, and thought about responding, but was cut off by his new assistant reaching out into the hall and grabbing a plate of food. From where? He had no clue, last he checked he hadn't actually furnished the hallways, and Stiles hadn't crouched to pick it up.
"Now Mr. Stark, there is one thing that I think should be established right off the bat. My mom died young, and my dad is in law enforcement, so I started being very aware of healthy eating habits very early. Ms. Potts made a brief mention of your inconsistent eating schedule. No shade, I get it, I forget to eat more often than I should. That being said, I am a giant hypocrite so I will be trying to help you eat more regularly."
The man blinked, a little stunned by how careless the little speech seemed despite its contents. Is this how others felt talking to him?
"I'm sorry, did you just try to sneak a trauma dump in there?"
"Oh there was no sneaking," she confirmed gleefully. "I figure it's easier to just lay it all out there, especially considering Mr. JARVIS is probably digging thoroughly through my past as we speak and your own exploits have been splashed all over the media for years now. I must say, I would've loved my own AI companion during high school. In a small town it would've been nice to talk to someone who could really keep up with me without judging my trains of thought."
Tony looked at the young woman, thinking of himself in college, younger than everyone else around him. She stared back too, a knowledge in those eyes that simply didn't come from a higher education. It was a knowledge that he only really saw in himself after Afghanistan. She met his gaze with a calm determination before stepping forward and holding out the plate.
"Now if I've passed whatever test this was, with all due respect Mr. Stark, could you shut up and eat your damn sandwich?"
Tony had to admit, Pepper did pretty good with this one.