Contact At Last
Once Louise left, Heilyn had gone back into his apartment prepared to wrap himself in a blanket and hide from the world for the rest of the day. As much as he told himself that it didn't matter how his actions were received, it did. Every possible scenario was running through his head. It was enough to make anyone dizzy.
He buried his head in a cushion with a groan. Maybe that hadn't been the smartest thing he had ever done. What if Stark choked to death on one of the muffins! He could end up in prison for manslaughter. Maybe Stark would think it was creepy and he would have a restraining order put out on him.
Heilyn pouted. He knew he was letting his imagination run away, but there wasn't much he could do about it. His stomach was twisted up in knots and he felt vaguely like he might throw up. So when his phone rang he just about leapt out of his skin.
He grumbled mutinously as the caller ID showed up as unknown.
'Hello?' He asked as he picked up.
'Bad time?' Came the somewhat familiar voice on the other end of the phone.
Heilyn pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it in confusion.
'Um, no,' he started cautiously. 'Who is this?'
The laughter on the other end surprised him for a moment before it bled into recognition. He felt his heart trip in his chest. He had heard that laugh the day he had met Stark, but there was no way it could be him. For one thing, he hadn't given the man his number, and for another, what on Earth could the man want with him?
'I'm offended. You mean you don't remember me? I'm hurt Heilyn, really.'
If he had to bet, he would say that the man was enjoying this far too much, but it also added credibility to his identity. There were few men in the world who had that kind of attitude while still not being an entitled chopstick of a person.
'Mr. Stark,' Heilyn acknowledged awkwardly after a moment. 'Hi, uh, what can I do for you?'
He barely stopped himself from adding 'sir' to the end of that question, but it didn't stop him from cringing at the awkwardness of the situation.
'Uh well, first of all, none of that 'Mr. Stark' business. Call me Tony. Anyway, I was just calling to say thank you for the cakes and things you sent.'
Heilyn was suddenly glad that Tony had no way of seeing him. As his words sunk in he felt a flush crawl up his cheeks and was sure that it wouldn't be long until he was completely red in the face.
'O-oh, It's no worries,' he stuttered, waving his hand around as if to wave off the thanks. 'I just thought something homemade might be welcome. I can stop, if you didn't want them.'
He was right. His blush had definitely taken on a life of its own by now.
'Uh no, don't stop, actually I was calling to offer you a job. How would you feel about coming to work for me as a personal chef?'
Heilyn stopped breathing. Had he heard that right? Was Tony really asking him to come and cook for him every day?
'Heilyn? Still alive over there?' The man asked with some concern.
'Uh huh, yeah. Definitely alive, but also very confused. You know I have no training as a chef, right?'
There was a pause that made Heilyn's heart sink. He hadn't known.
'Huh, could've fooled me. Those sweets you made certainly seemed pretty professional. Anyway, I'll send you a thing, contract, whatever. Have a look at it and let me know?'
'Uh, bu-' Heilyn tried in confusion but was cut off by the other man.
'Right, sorry, I've got a meeting I need to get to, so I'll have to talk to you later.'
Heilyn blinked at the abrupt end to the call. The phone in his hand gave no answers no matter how long he stared at it.
Well, he thought absently, that was strange.
Tony stood in the kitchen on his personal floor of the tower, eyes narrowed contemplatively. He'd thought it was the perfect plan; he'd get to have more of Heilyn's cooking, and spend time with the man. He was seeing no downsides, or at least, he had been until Heilyn had thrown that wrench into the plans. Qualifications. That might be a problem.
'Jarvis? Do you have to have qualifications to become a chef?' He refused to acknowledge the fact that he was pouting as he waited for the response.
'No sir, it seems that one does not have to go to culinary school, however, most do some training. It is not, however, a requirement.'
Tony blinked in surprise. That seemed unlikely, but it worked in his favour so he was going to run with it.
'Draft up a contract for me would you? Offer him an obscene amount of money. I need that food in my life J,' he stated. He also refused to acknowledge that it wasn't just the food that he wanted in his life.
Much as he didn't want to, Tony knew he had to make at least an appearance in the common room or the rest of the team would get irritated. He slumped tiredly for a moment. It was getting harder and harder to convince himself that he was doing the right thing, but what they said was true. He did have the money, and it wasn't like he needed every last cent of it. He could afford to house the team, and feed them, and pay for all of their expenses, so why shouldn't he.
He mentally groused a bit. He was already doing all of that, so why did he need to put in 'appearances' on top of it.
Just as he made it to the elevator his phone buzzed with an incoming message.
HK: You did not just offer me twice the average salary to work what is essentially part time hours.....
TS: So come live in the tower and we'll call it full time hours. You could be my carer - you care so I don't have to
Tony smirked to himself, feeling pretty smug. If he played his cards right he could end up seeing Heilyn far more often than he had hoped, and get to eat his cooking every day. That would more than make up for having to deal with his team every day he thought absently. Not to mention, he was absolutely dying to find out more about this so called 'problem with technology.' Maybe there was something he could do about it. It had to be driving the other man mad not being able to access the same type of tech as everyone else.
Heilyn stood in the middle of the common room of Stark tower once again. He wasn't sure what he was doing there to be honest. He already had a job. One that paid decent enough and fit his lifestyle, so why was he about to meet with Tony to go over the job that was on offer?
There wasn't really much point in lying to himself he realised. He thought the man was sad, and lonely, but was he really going to change his job (and possibly his apartment) just to befriend him? Sure, there was a small part of him that had wanted to work in the food industry. You don't get as good at cooking as he had with only a passing interest after all, but that didn't mean that this was the smartest idea. It certainly lent credence to the idea that Tony was lonely if he was willing to throw money (and a living space) at someone he had only met once just because they were kind to him.
And wasn't that a sad thought. One of the richest men in the world, and he was practically bending over backwards to get Heilyn to cook for him (and maybe spend some time with him).
It wasn't like he was walking into this without any thought though. He had told Tony that he would need some time to think it over, and to the man's credit he had told him to take all the time he needed.
He had spoken to Louise about it and been given the biggest hug of his life. Apparently she thought it was about time someone force-fed some kindness down Tony Stark's throat, not that he disagreed with her.
He assumed that Tony had been joking about that 'carer' idea, but he was determined that if he was going to be working for the man, then part of his job was going to be making sure he ate, hydrated, and kept a healthy sleeping schedule.
He shook himself out of the thoughts that had been running around his head for the past few days as he heard the elevator open behind him.
'Who are you?'
Heilyn turned and came face to chest with a wall of muscle. He blinked and took several steps back from the man in surprise. The tone hadn't been friendly exactly, and he was wary.
'I think the better question might be, who are you? I was invited here, but I don't know who you are.' He stated forcefully. No way was he going to be pushed around by someone he didn't even know.
'Look Son, I live here. What are you doing in the private floors of the tower, let alone in the Avenger's common area?'
Heilyn blinked again. Where did he get off calling him 'son'?
'Did you just call me 'Son'?' He asked incredulously. 'We're the same age, I might even be a bit older than you!'
The behemoth in front of him had the grace to look a little sheepish at that, but it quickly faded back into a stoic, bordering on irritated look. Heilyn rolled his eyes.
'I'm waiting for Tony.' He stated bluntly.
'That doesn't answer my question. I'll ask again. Who are you?'
'Tell me something, do you ever get sick of the sound of your own voice?' Heilyn asked sarcastically. 'Actually, better question, do you really think that Jarvis, Tony Stark's AI, would let just anyone roam about in the tower? Maybe have a think about that before asking questions that you don't have the right to next time.'
He turned away, clearly dismissing the man. The view from this floor truly was amazing, he thought.
A hand came down on Heilyn's right shoulder heavily. Heilyn knew he was a bit more sturdy than the average person, so he knew that that move had been meant to hurt him, even just a little bit. He was not impressed.
'No matter what your relation to Stark, you don't have clearance to be on this floor. This is for Avenger's team member's only. You can wait on another floor for Stark.'
He let himself be spun around to face the behemoth, adding to the momentum and shoved the other man directly in the chest. He was gratified to see the man stumble more than a few feet backwards. He was less gratified to see the smoke coming off the shirt at the point where his hand had made contact. That would come back to bite him he was sure.
'That's assault, you realise?' Heilyn spoke softly.
The man seemed dazed. He was looking at Heilyn in shock, seemingly unsure of what to do. Heilyn wasn't about to help.
The elevator announced itself once again as the doors slid open to reveal Tony leaning casually against the side. He wandered out in his own time until he caught sight of the two men in the common room.
His gaze went from the unidentified man to Heilyn and back a few times. Heilyn winced as he saw Tony take in the burned hand print on the man's shirt.
'Heilyn!' He said as he stepped around the other man, ignoring him entirely. 'You made it! So, I should have had you come straight to my floor, sorry about that, that's on me. Shall we?'
He put an arm around Heilyn's shoulder's and led him around the other man who looked like he was gearing up to fight. Heilyn could just about see smoke coming out of the man's ears.
'Stark, who is this?' His tone had returned to that commanding tone where you just know it wasn't really a question.
The sigh that Tony let out sounded tired, and it just made Heilyn wish he'd hit the other man harder.
'Heilyn, meet Steve Rogers, Rogers, meet Heilyn. He's going to be my personal chef if I can convince him to come work for me.' The man called out cheerily.
'Tony, this is incredibly short sighted of you. You don't even know who he is. He could be anyone, or working for anyone, just trying to get close to us. You're putting the whole team in danger for such a small thing? It's selfish and narcissistic to think that you need a person to cater to your food alone.'
Heilyn pushed the close button on the elevator the second they had entered it, but sadly they still had to head the majority of that speech.
He noticed Tony very carefully not looking at him, but it didn't stop him from taking in the deadened eyes that were slowly losing more life as each second passed. That was it.
'I'll take the job. We still need to do this 'appraisal of what the job entails' but I'm taking it. I'll start tomorrow.' He said as he focused on the elevator doors in front of them. If that guy lived in the tower and Tony regularly had to deal with personal attacks like that, then he needed someone to care about him a lot more strongly than Heilyn had thought. He knew just the person for the job.