Request (part 1)
“How much longer are they gonna have me under surveillance?” Desmond said, stopping in the doorway to lean against the frame.
“What- w- ow-” a screwdriver and a few smaller pieces fell to the floor as Tony smacked the back of his head off the edge of his work table. He cursed quietly before standing, hand rubbing circles into the back of his head, “Who’s got who under surveillance?”
Desmond rolled his eyes, “You know what I’m talking about, jesus christ-”
“No taking the lord’s name in vain,” Tony interrupted with a barely-contained snicker.
The dramatic, frustrated sigh Desmond let out could have earned him awards, had there been awards for “acting like a teenager in your late 20’s”.
“Shield, dad,” he said, closing his eyes and taking intentional, slow breaths, “The absolutely fuckin massive military intelligence….branch…..thing.”
He deflated when he finally opened his eyes to see Tony stifling laughter, hand clamped over his mouth. He could tell Tony wanted to keep poking at him, and when the man in front of him tried speaking, moving his hand from his mouth,he had to clamp it back down as a fresh wave of laughter bubbled up. Desmond grimaced.
“W-wai- I’m sor-” Tony cut himself off but failed to stop a bark of laughter. He cleared his throat and tried again, “You were right, Des. That’s what they are - ‘the absolutely fuckin’ massive military intelligence branch thing’”
“You know what I mean,” Des grumbled with a roll of his eyes, “How much longer are they going to be stalking me?”
Turning to grab some things from his work table, Tony let out a long breath, beginning to idly clean something with a rag, “Few more months I think.”
“Months?!” Desmond near-shouted, “Why?”
“Why?” Tony paused cleaning whatever he was holding, “Desmond, you were brainwashed. By the scepter.”
Desmond, frustrated, refused to respond. That made Tony nervous, “You….do remember being brainwashed by the scept-”
“Yes I remember being brainwashed by the scepter,” he said with a slight whine, dragging a hand through freshly-dyed hair. Before he could speak again, Tony cut him off.
“Well. That’s why you’re still under surveillance,” he looked at Des while gesturing to his own head, “You’ve got scrambled eggs for brains now or something. I don’t know, they never tell me anything - and why do you care so much? You never leave the compound so nothing should really have changed for you.”
“Thanks for confirming I’m being stalked.”
“Surveilled.”
“Whatever, oh my god.”
Tony paused a moment, simply watching Desmond, before taking a breath, “All right, spit it out, kid. Who’s got you so antsy for freedom?”
“W-” Desmond sputtered, face screwing up in confusion, “The fuck makes you say who?”
“That!” Tony gestured towards Desmond with a wrench, continuing through laughter, “That look on your face! You’re so mad!”
“Gee, I wonder why,” Desmond rolled his eyes, turning to leave. If Tony was going to just sit here and make fun of him, then he’d go find help somewhere else, “Whatever, nevermind, I’ll go ask Buzz…”
There wasn’t a doubt in Tony’s mind that no matter what the request was, Buzz would be able to find a way to complete it. The last time Desmond asked Buzz for help tracking down a copy of a rare video game, Buzz had found and somehow gotten his hands on it within a week and a half. Which would have been all well and good if they hadn’t also created, sold, and then ran away with the money from some absurd crypto currency in order to pay for it. Ok, it was pretty funny. Buzz put so little effort into the currency, it was honestly kind of their fault for falling for it. Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. caught wind of it and saddled Tony with a mountain of paperwork. ‘Still better than the time he had them find Wade. Yeah, let’s not do that again…’
“Wait no - Des!” he shouted, a bit louder than intended, making Desmond jump slightly. Tony ran his hand down his face before continuing, “I’ll do it - what did you need?