Thirteen days of bliss
One week later Stiles and John are unpacking their stuff into their new apartment. Stiles is still reeling from how easy it was to convince John to leave. 'Let's get out of this fucking town' he had said, to which his dad has replied with a simple 'okay' and here they are.
He thinks that it's probably because they were so tired of living in fear that something would happen to one of them, which really just makes him feel awful, but he's decided not to dwell on that.
This is a new start for them. A new city, a completely different state, and the entire fucking continental US between them and the hell-mouth that is Beacon Hills. New start, no supernatural drama.
Wow, just thinking that feels like a jinx.
Regardless, Stiles is determined to get them back to the normal life they had before werewolves, kanimas, and douchebags named Theo.
In fact, he already has a list - to which his father groaned when he informed him of this, however he couldn't help but chuckle at his son's straightforward optimism when he actually saw the list - and he plans on sticking to it.
He couldn't help but feel that it was already working as he unpacked the last of the boxes into his room. Less than twenty-four hours out of Beacon Hills and he already felt lighter, as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. For once, sitting down at the table to eat dinner with his dad is a happy affair instead of a dreaded one. They talk about sight-seeing and if Stiles is thinking about starting college this year and where they're planning on getting jobs as they eat the delicious pasta Stiles cooked for them.
For the first time in a long time, things are looking like they're actually going to work out.
*****
Yeah. No.
Three days.
That's how long they last in this blissful peace before Stiles has to go and ruin it. Three days.
In his defense, all he wanted to do was find out if the FBI knew about werewolves using the hacking skills he'd slowly perfected after realizing that he wasn't always going to be able to rely on Derek's fucking beautiful abs to get Danny to do things for them. One hour later, one thing had led to another and he was neck-deep in SHIELD files being completely astounded that, while they knew the supernatural existed, they had virtually nothing except myths and legends, none of which were true. So you'll have to forgive him for being a little to flabbergasted to notice when the black-clad figure started to ease his window open.
He did notice before they got all the way through the window, though.
"Who are you?" He asks when he looks up to see a blonde-haired guy stiffen halfway through crawling through his window and face-plant.
"Stiles," his dad calls from the other room, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Dad." He calls back, not really wanting him to barge in right now. He looks back to the guy, who now has a gun trained on him, and says, "Are you okay?"
"Some random dude crawls through your window after you hack into SHIELD and points a gun at you and that's all you have to ask?" he says incredulously, but honestly, Stiles is just surprised at the fact that someone so clumsy and covered in Band-Aids is allowed to have a gun.
"First off," Stiles starts, unable to help himself, "you did not crawl through my window, you fell - which sounded like it hurt, by the way. Second, I already asked you what your name was, but you were a little preoccupied falling through my window to answer. And third, if some random dude covered in Band-Aids got the crap scared out of him by a teenager fell through your window, wouldn't you want to make sure he's okay? I mean, come on, manners are a thing, even for SHIELD agents."
"What the fuck?"
"Dude, you're the one that fell through my window." Stiles points out, closing down his browser. "Which reminds me, my dad is home right now and we just got here after a lot of drama, so do you think we could do this tomorrow or something? I'll even like meet you somewhere if you want, but, right now is a really bad time for me."
"You want me to...what the fuck?" The blonde repeats again.
"Well, I'm going to have someone watching me for a while anyways, so I'll promise to stay away from my computer and then tomorrow, when my dad goes out to meet with some old cop friends, I'll tell him I'm going to go check out Central Park, and then we can do your thing." It does dawn on Stiles that he's probably trying to negotiate his kidnapping with a spy right about now, but he's really too far into this to chicken out here. Besides, he really does not want his Dad to know that he went looking for trouble after only three days. "I'll make you some coffee if you're the one doing the surveillance."
The coffee is what sells him.
That's how Stiles ends up walking into an interrogation cell at eleven a.m. with Spy Dude (who he's ninety-nine percent sure is actually Hawkeye), Starbucks drinks in hand the next day - yes, walking, as he somehow managed to convince Spy Dude not to knock him out (although he did put a blindfold on him until he got into the building, for Spy Dude reasons).
To his surprise, there isn't a man in a suit sitting at a table ready to interrogate him...well, there is, but there's also several very familiar faces that are all arguing amongst themselves.
Yeah, uh, the avengers are in his interrogation room.
"Stark, this is a serious security concern." A very intimidating man in a trench coat with an eyepatch says.
"No, this is the funniest thing I've seen all week." Tony Stark, who's sitting in a chair opposite the one meant for him says to the man in a very relaxed manner. He even has his feet up on the table.
"Tony." Captain America warns from where he's standing next to a man with brown hair that I'm pretty sure is Bruce Banner.
“Capsicle.” Tony says back in what is clearly a challenge as Stiles and Spy Dude enter – he’s not going to stop calling him that just because it’s been confirmed that he’s a superhero/assassin. Everyone looks up as Stiles drops into the chair across from Iron Man and puts his Starbucks cup on the metal table in front of him easily.
“This is him?” He doesn’t ask it in a condescending manner, more like he’s looking for confirmation.
“Yep.” Stiles says before Spy Dude can talk. There’s a lot of tension in the room and he’s barely managing to not break down and fangirl so hard that he can’t help but talk. “That’d be me.”
“How’d you do it?” He asks with the same hunger for knowledge that he often sees in Lydia’s eyes.
“It wasn’t that hard really,” He blushes a little, “I was just looking for some information and really, if I can get into-“
“Not that.” Tony has taken his feet off the table to analyze Stiles in full. “I can hack into SHIELD in my sleep. How did you manage to convince Barton not to take you in?”
“Oh.” He blushes ever harder. “I asked.” The whole room blanches, which makes him feel like he has to explain himself. “Well,” he starts, rubbing at the back of his neck, “my dad was home and we kinda just got over some serious drama and our relationship is sorta already on the rocks, you know, so I didn’t really want him to freak out because I got kidnapped for hacking into a sort-of-secret agency when we only just got here and all, because that would definitely make him mad at me and you have not known guilt until you have seen my dad look at you with his patented Disappointed Dad look and sat through one of his speeches on responsibility and not looking for trouble and…I’m rambling. Sorry. Anyways, I told him and asked if we could do it today as long as I stayed away from the computer since I was going to be under surveillance anyways and it’d really just be easier for everyone and then I offered to make him coffee.”
The whole room sits there in shocked silence apart from Eye Patch Guy who is glaring at Spy Guy, the Dude in the Suit who looks mildly amused, and Spy Dude himself who is blushing furiously.
“Do you want a job?” Tony asks after a long silence.
“What?”
“A job.” Tony repeats. “At Stark Industries. Do you want one?”
“Stark, this kid just hacked-“ Dude in the Suit starts but is cut off.
“Exactly.” Tony smacks the table with his hand for punctuation. “He’s just a kid and yet he managed to hack into SHIELD, which tells me that he’s got talent, and quite honestly, this is the funniest shit I’ve seen in a while, so hell yes, I’m offering him a job. Do have his file? I’d like to see his file.”
He snatches the file from the Dude in the Suit and immediately opens it and starts flicking through the papers. Everything is there from his medicine prescription the to report he did for Coach Finstock on the history of the male circumcision – which, of course, Tony picks up first.
“What did you write this for?”
He looks down at his hands and purses his lips before saying, “Economics.”
Stark barks out a laugh and mutters something under his breath that sounds like ‘masterpiece’ and continues to sift through papers and Dude in the Suit steps forward.
“How did you hack into SHIELD?” Stiles walks a pretty girl with brown hair through it as instructed, having to pause halfway in the middle of his breakdown to answer Tony’s question on ‘what the hell is a ‘stiles’?’ that he’s really way too used to and then his following question on ‘why the hell would any parent name their kid this?’ to which he gives his usual answer.
“What were you looking for?” Eyepatch Dude asks and he stiffens. He knows they’ll know if he lies, but he also knows that he can’t give Scott and the Pack away no matter how done he is.
“Werewolves.” He says, faking a calm exterior. It’s clear that he doesn’t buy it, but it makes him feel better. “I figured if anyone would know it’d be locked down tight, so I started with the FBI, then CIA, then an hour of tunnel vision later I’m knee deep in files you stole from Wikipedia.”
Tony lets out a barking laugh at that.
“Do I look like someone who’s going to buy that?”
He shrugs. “Well, you’re wearing a trench coat in July, so…you never know.”
A few more laughs.
It’s about then that Stiles decides to address the second suit guy who’s behind him that – Dude in the Suit 2, if you will – he's been watching slowly inch towards him in the reflection of his iced green tea. “Bro, if you even think about attacking me with whatever is in your hand, I will happily turn that black eye into a set.”
The figure stiffens a lot like Spy Dude did as every set of eyebrows in the room go up.
“I like him.” Tony announces. “So, how about it, kid? You want a job?”
“Sure.” He shrugs. "Why not?"
*****
John takes the news of Stiles getting a job at Stark Industries well, but then, that's because Stiles lies about how he got the job.
Stiles feels guilty, but he already had his nervous breakdown after he got home from being thoroughly interrogated in between Tony's seemingly aimless and increasing hilarious comments and questions, so he lets himself get caught up in his father's enthusiasm towards his son getting his dream job.
Needless to say, after Stiles actually wrapped his head around everything that had happened to him the day before, the nerves were going full steam ahead as he made his way into Stark Industries where a very intense man greeted him.
"Happy Hogan, nice to meet you." He offers his hand to Stiles to shake and he does. "First things first, we need to get you a ID. If you'll step this way we'll get your picture taken and fill out your NDA."
"Um, Happy," Stiles shifts slightly, "Does my first name have to go on the ID?"
"Yes." He nods. "It's company policy, why?"
"Well, it's just that my legal name is a Polish disaster that even I have trouble pronouncing and I just think it's be easier on everyone if I went by Stiles."
"It can't be that b-" Stiles scribbles down his full name down where the form asks for it and slides it over to him.
Happy pauses and does a very good goldfish impression as he opens and closes his mouth repeatedly before saying, "Maybe we can make an exception just this once."
Thank God.
Once he's signed the papers and gotten his ID, Happy leads him to the elevators where they meet Pepper Potts.
This time, Stiles definitely has a major internal freak out, because he's in an elevator with Pepper Potts.
"You must be Stiles." She offers her hand. "Tony hasn't stopped talking about you."
"Yes." He nods as he shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Potts."
"Please, call me Pepper." She smiles and Stiles suddenly remember why he fell in love with Lydia in the first place. There's just something about a scarily intelligent strawberry-blonde that Stiles can't help but admire, and Pepper is no exception. "Now, not many people last long around Tony, so if you need a break, don't hesitate to ask."
"I'm sure I'll be fine." He smiles as the elevator opens, and Pepper privately hopes that he does because there's just something about him that she admires. "Well then, follow me.”
Tony's lab is Stiles' wet dream come to life. There are wires and parts everywhere, and huge glass interfaces, a holoboard and two robots.
"Oh, holy hell."
"You like?" Tony asks, and judging from the dark circle under his eyes, Stiles guesses that he hasn't gotten any sleep since he's last seen him.
"I like." He confirms.
"Can you make things, or are you just a computer guy?"
"I'm okay with my hands." He shrugs.
"Then go. Make something."
"Just like that?" Stiles asks, the same giddiness building up in his chest as when his Dad used to let him eat all the ice cream he wanted on his birthdays when he was little.
“I want to see what you can do."
They talk as they tinker with things.
Tony works on a physical prototype for some kind of non-lethal gun and Stiles adjusts a few the ideas on his holoboard to make them useful.
"So why did you really hack into SHIELD?" Tony asks after a while.
“I was looking for information on werewolves." He shrugs.
“Stiles, I've checked your search history. You've found ten-times more information on werewolves than SHIELD has and that's just the top of the list, so come on."
"I wanted to see that SHIELD knew about werewolves." Stiles says after a long silence where they both continue tinkering. "I am both relieved and horrified and the lack of information."
"So...are you-"
"No." Stiles shakes his head. "God no. But I have some friends that are, and I'd really appreciate if you kept that to yourself.”
"Your secret's safe with me.”
Being around Tony should have turned Stiles into a blubbering mess, after all, he's sitting across from his idol trading 'my best friend did something stupid' stories as they work on the most cutting edge tech known to man.
Instead, Stiles is more relaxed than he has been in a while. He finds the eccentric billionaire's presence to be almost grounding, in a way, and it's pretty clear that he feels the same, because neither of them even notice the passage of time at all, unlike Pepper, who stops in at seven p.m. to call them up to eat Chinese with her before she sends Stiles home for the day.
They promise to be there in just a moment, but they never even make it out of the lab.
"How are they even still alive?" Steve asks three days later as he stands in the doorway of the lab watching the two brunettes work in mild horror.
"I don't know." Natasha says, holding a large bowl of popcorn in her lap. "I've been here for an hour an from what I gather, the kid is trying to make the Bob Hoskins gun out of Roger Rabbit and Tony is insisting that the kid can't code bullets. I think Stark is losing."
Stiles and Tony can hear them, but while their words are registering, they're too deep to even care.
"Dear God, there's two of them." Steve mutters.
"There's no way!" Tony exclaims.
"Fucking watch me!" Stiles shouts back, not at all angry, more like gleeful.
"Jarvis, when was the last time they slept?" Pepper asks worriedly.
"Mr. Start took has accidentally fallen asleep twice in the last thirty-nine hours." The AI's toneless voice informs them. "Stiles has not slept since he arrived and I had to cut off his coffee intake two hours ago. They don't seem to notice the passage of time."
"Jesus Christ."
"Did Jarvis just use his first name?"
"Tony, it's time for Stiles to get so-"
"Oh my god!" Tony shouts. "You just! Did you just? He just! Pepper, we're keeping him!"
"Dude," Stiles shouts back. "I'm so staying!"
For a moment they almost jump up and down like children, but instead he turns back to the hologram and Tony runs to get a prototype started.
"Oh, for the love of-"
"Stiles, you have an incoming call." Jarvis says before Pepper can step in and demand that they stop to sleep.
"Tell my dad I'm fine please." He says dismissively, not even looking up from the holoboard.
"It's Scott McCall." Ice runs through his veins and all the blood drains out of his already pale face. Several people shift like they think they might have to catch him when he passes out, but he doesn't. Instead he steels himself and says, "Decline his calls please. I think I need to take a nap."
"Of course, sir."