It's Not Stalking...
Tony knew he was sulking. It had been days since his encounter with Heilyn, and he was sulking. He had spent a frankly crazy amount of time trying to figure out if there was a way that he could casually bump into the other man somewhere, but nothing seemed right.
For that matter, the man barely made a whisper of a footprint in the online world, which if he was to be believed about his problem with technology, made sense. That didn't mean that Tony had to like it.
He thought back to the delicious cookies that had been left for him the day that they had met and couldn't help the warm gooey feeling inside him. He had no idea what to do with it. The very idea of someone, who he had never met even, taking one look at him and deciding to cook for him was totally alien. It was something he would maybe associate with someone's grandmother meeting one of their friends and deciding that they needed to be fattened up or something, not something that he would attribute to a man he had just met.
It left him feeling wrong footed and he didn't know how to feel about it.
Mostly, he just wanted to spend time with this man who defied expectations at every turn. For the life of him he just couldn't figure out how to do it though. They didn't exactly run in the same circles. They only met by pure chance. It was a legitimate coincidence that they had any interaction at all.
Tony shuddered as the thought of how easily it could have come to pass that he hadn't come into the kitchen at that exact moment in time and they would have never even met. It was not something he wanted to dwell on. They had met, and that was the important thing.
Now if only he could figure out how to come into contact with him again.
It shouldn't be this hard, he thought in irritation.
He found himself once again sitting in that same spot at the table in the common room as he thought. It wasn't like the noise from the others was bothering him. All he was doing was thinking, trying desperately to figure out how to get back in contact with Heilyn.
'Jarvis, find me Heilyn's number would you?' He asked after a moment. He hadn't wanted to be this direct, but he couldn't think of a better way to do it. Besides, he was sure the other man wouldn't mind.
Jarvis's response was incredibly loud in the sudden silence of the room. Clint had even paused the game he was playing on the massive television and his whole team were staring at him.
'What?' He asked feeling slightly defensive.
'Tony,' Steve started. It was one word and already Tony wanted to roll his eyes at the disapproval and condescension he could hear dripping from the word. 'This is about that cleaner the other day? You can't just go around harassing people because you're bored. Leave the man alone.'
The words were like icicles being forced slowly into his heart. It didn't help that it was Howard's perfect project saying them. It just made Tony feel worse, but he wouldn't be Tony Stark if he let that feeling out. He just stuffed it away into a box in the back of his mind.
'Um, excuse you!' He said with all of his pre-Iron Man attitude. 'You didn't even meet the man. You don't know the first thing about him, or the time we spent together. So butt out Capcicle.'
The incensed look on his face made Tony want to smile. Maybe it was petty, but it helped heal a little of the damage the man had just done.
'Sure, but you have to admit that you're not the easiest person to get on with,' Nat added from her spot perched on the arm of the couch. She wasn't even looking at him and it grated a little. 'Tell me you know for sure that he wants you to contact him.'
She finally looked up and met his eye, and he felt his resolve start to crumble. They were right. He was a lot to deal with on a good day, and he had no proof that Heilyn wanted to spend any time with him.
'You all are just jealous that he made me cookies and not you.' He said as he made his way into the elevator with all of the fake cheer he could muster.
He rode the elevator in silence, his good mood thoroughly ruined. By the time he had reached his workshop he just felt empty. He stared around with blank eyes, not feeling like working on any of the projects that had seemed so interesting before.
He had been sitting on the couch at the back of the room for several minutes before Jarvis spoke up.
'Sir, I have located the number of Heilyn Kalua as requested,' he sounded hesitant, but then Tony wasn't surprised. He had heard the whole incident with his team earlier so it made sense for the AI to be unsure.
'You know what? Just make a note of it J, save it somewhere for me and I'll look at it later.'
He couldn't bring himself to tell Jarvis to get rid of it, but he did not want to deal with it right now.
Heilyn felt like an idiot as he stood in front of his oven with his oven mitt in hand. He was seconds away from pulling the last tray of muffins out of the oven, and he had been berating himself for the idea ever since he had gotten it. There was no way that this would be welcome, but for some reason, ever since he had gotten his first really properly good look at Tony, he had thought he looked sad. Lonely even. He was probably way off, and was coming across as crazy, but that didn't mean that he could stop himself. He had been like this for as long as he could remember. He just couldn't stand to see people feel lonely.
So here he was, standing in his kitchen waiting for the timer to go off so that the batch of blueberry muffins could come out of the oven. He was cursing himself six ways from Sunday that he was even doing this, but he had just felt the need. He baked when he felt upset, and maybe he was way off, but he wasn't going to stop until he was actively told not to keep doing it anymore.
His plan had started to take form as he mixed the (second batch's) batter together. He would box the treats up and get Louise to take them in for him. At first he had thought about taking them himself, but then he figured he might not make it past the lobby. They didn't know him from a bar of soap, so why should they let him up with possibly dubious food that was for their boss?
Luckily, Louise was the motherly sort and she had been trying to subtly mother Tony for most of the time she had been working for him. It was slow going apparently, but she was more than happy to take in the baked goods for him and that was good enough for him.
He spared a thought for the fact that this was 'Tony Stark' he was thinking about, and if the man wanted to contact him then he would find a way, but the oven timer distracted him from that line of thinking.
As he looked at the five boxes of treats, Heilyn wondered if he had lost his mind. Apparently muffins hadn't been enough, he had then found himself mixing up a batch of brownies. After that it had been cupcakes, that he'd felt the need to decorate in calming blues and creams, then mud cakes that just about dripped with chocolate, and lastly, in the middle of the damn night, he had found himself craving a sweet he had first had in his childhood, something called a bee-sting that was essentially custard and sugar. His fatigued brain had decided to make enough to send some with the other treats to Tony, so he stood in front of five large boxes of treats, and decided that yes, he had lost his mind.
There wasn't enough space in his freezer for any of them however, so with a shrug, he took them downstairs to Louise's waiting car. He pointedly ignored the look she shot him.
'I felt like he was lonely,' she quoted his words back to him.
Heilyn narrowed his eyes at her, but he couldn't help the blush that rose to his cheeks at the insinuation.
So sue him, Stark was hot. That wasn't why he was doing this though. Maybe a small part of him was hoping that the man might be grateful enough to get in contact with him. It was the same part that had thought he looked lonely though, so he thought it had ulterior motives.
'Okay, I might have gone a little bit over board. I can admit that, but come on! You didn't see him. He just looked so sad. Maybe a bit of sugar will help, and maybe the knowledge that someone out there cares enough to send him random sweets will help, who's to say. Stop judging me!'
Louise just shook her head at him.
'You take care dear, and call me if you need anything.'
He watched with a smile as she drove off. He could admit that he was a little bit nervous about what would happen next. Maybe Stark would think it was weird, or maybe he would just enjoy the foods without thought for were they came from. Either way, there was nothing he could do about it anymore. All he could do was wait.
Tony was still sulking. He knew his team was right, but he didn't want them to be. Not many people liked to spend a lot of time with him, and he had no evidence that Heilyn would be any different. They had barely spent any time together the other day, so Tony didn't know why he had gotten so attached.
'Sir? That was your one hundred and fifty-sixth sigh in the last ten hours. Also, it is now nearing midday and you have not eaten anything since mid-afternoon yesterday.' Jarvis's voice cut through his thoughts and made Tony sigh once again.
'How's the kitchen looking J?' He asked in response. He didn't really want to deal with his team after what they had said to him the night before.
'It was empty until moments ago when Agent's Barton and Romanoff entered. Captain Rogers is just now entering the kitchen.'
'Great, the disapproval squad. Fantastic. Order something in for me would you Jarvis?'
There was a moment of disapproving silence that made Tony raise an eyebrow. What had he done now?
'Sir, there were some boxes delivered from one 'Heilyn Kalua' that are being opened in the kitchen by your team,' Jarvis answered in a carefully neutral tone.
'What?' He jerked up faster than he had ever moved before and found himself on the floor for his efforts.
'Mrs. Rewanz dropped off some boxes from Heilyn when she went through earlier. They have been sitting on the kitchen counter since then awaiting your return.'
'Why didn't you tell me?!' He asked indignantly as he raced for the elevator.
The whole trip up to the common room saw Tony fidgeting like a school boy being told to sit outside the principal's office and he just about bolted out the doors as they opened.
'What do you lot think you're doing?' He demanded as he approached.
It looked like Bruce had made his way into the room sometime since he had been informed of the inhabitants, but he at least hadn't gotten into Tony's delivery and was standing back looking unsure.
'What's it look like man? You had food delivered. It's good, where did you find this? There's not even a bakery name or anything,' Clint commented, sounding like there was nothing wrong with what he had just said.
Tony stared at the group incredulously. Really? He has anything delivered and that means that they can have it? When did that happen?
'Um, paws off ingrates, these are mine.' He looked around for a moment. There were too many boxes (of what he hoped to God were more of those delicious cookies) for him to carry on his own.
'Bruce, be a dear and give me a hand with these?'
'Come on Tony, now you're just being greedy. There's more than enough here to share with your team.' Oh Captain Self-Righteousness strikes again!
Tony rolled his eyes so hard it hurt but didn't bother responding as he stacked up three of the boxes and followed Bruce back into the elevator.
He was not sharing with ungrateful team members who just assumed they had a right to anything that belonged to him.
Tony was in no way disappointed with the contents of the boxes. Overwhelmed, yes. Disappointed, no. He had relegated several of them to living in the (new) fridge and freezer he had in his workshop. These would come in handy when he didn't want to deal with the team and they were in the kitchen of the common room.
There had been a note taped to the top of one of the boxes that was in the familiar handwriting of his regular cleaner. It had gotten ripped sometime during the incident with his team, but it was now safely living in one of his desk drawers.
True friends are worth their weight in gold
and cannot be bought
(425) 555-7183
He munched on a blueberry muffin, thoughts clashing in his head. The things his team had said about how irritating he could be took center stage most of the time, and they were right, but right in front of him was proof that Heilyn didn't think he was. You didn't spend time cooking for someone who annoyed you. Even Tony with his sometimes stunted emotional maturity knew that.
Louise Rewanz had been cleaning for him for a long time, and she had practically given him her blessing by giving him Heilyn's number. Sure, he had access to it before that, but this felt so much better somehow.
He felt that warm glow fill him up, and felt warm again for the first time since going through the portal during the battle of New York. He had a man to call, and he was almost positive that it would be well received.