Stephen
Okay, maybe he wouldn’t call.
It had been over a week since that dinner, and Stark still hadn’t (As far as he knew) tried to contact him. He had been so confident in his plan that he never thought that maybe..Tony had already found someone?
But that didn’t explain his look of surprise and slight excitement when he saw his mark.
Stephens mind was going a mile a minute with thoughts when all he was trying to do is get some damn paperwork done.
Christine came in during her break and watched him for a bit before sitting down and sliding him a cup of coffee.
“You look like you need it.” She said, once he’d looked up from his papers.
“You look good too.” He responded, ignoring the burning of his tongue and throat as he downed the entire cup.
“Would a thank you really be that hard.” She joked.
“Maybe. But I suspect bribery, so wise one, what is it you need?” He asked innocently. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it, before finally choosing her words.
“Am I that easy to read?” She asked.
“I know you well enough to know that you never do anything without an interior motive.” He replied.
“Well..it’s not bribery per se, because either way I would’ve found out..maybe a way to soften you up?”
“What do you want?” He sighed, exasperated.
“Has he called?”
“Straight to the point, I like it.” He teased.
“Yeah, unlike you. Answer the question.” She shot back.
“You tried to bribe me!”
“It was to make you more likely to answer! I could’ve found out by going through the phone records but I wanted to be nice! Now I’m off track, thanks to you, so answer the damn question!” She threw up her hands, sighing dramatically.
“Alright alright.” Stephen relented, rolling his eyes. “No, he has not called yet. And don’t you dare say-“
“I told you so!” She said, almost gleefully.
“You’re the one who said we should go to that dinner, so why do you sound so happy he didn’t call?!” He almost wished he didn’t ask, but too late.
“Three reasons! One, so I could say I told you so because you definitely deserve it. Two so I could
make you look dumb and say you could’ve done it yourself by calling Pepper Potts, his pretty little secretary. Three so you could get your shit together and do it yourself!” She responded triumphantly.
“Why do you know so much.”
“One Google search gives a lot of information, honey.” She responded.
“So, if you know all of that, what’s the number?” He knew Christine was awful with remember phone numbers, and this was just going to tick her off, which was his end goal.
“Low blow, Strange.” She said, and dramatically placed her hand over her heart. “I don’t know, I can barely remember my own number. Google it!” She responded and walked out of the break room, ignoring Stephens snickering.
“You better have it done by the end of the week or I will have your head!” She called over her shoulder, glaring at him.
“No promises.”
“If I were you I’d make some promises!”
He should probably get that done. Christine was scary. Eh, he’ll do it later.
•••
It was later, and Stephen still hadn’t done it.
He wasn’t scared to talk to him.
He could do it.
Okay, maybe not, but if he didn’t at least try to call Christine would kill him, so he picked up his phone and dialed the number, his finger hovering with uncertainty over the call button. What was he going to say? Especially if he actually got connected to Tony?
He took a deep breath and pressed the button. It rang a few times before it answered. He put his phone to his ear and heard loud elevator music. He sighed and put his phone on speaker, and waited for someone to answer. He rehearsed everything he was going to say until after a few minutes, someone spoke.
“Pepper Potts.” A friendly sounding women said. He remembered Christine saying something about her. That she was his secretary, if he remembered correctly.
“Yes, May I speak with Mr. Stark?” He asked, clearing his throat.
“May I ask who’s calling?” She responded.
“Uh..Doctor Strange, I’m a neurosurgeon.” He said, fidgeting awkwardly.
“Ah..yes. Well, unfortunately Tony is out, but I can take a message.” She sounded surprised, but seemed to have kept her composure.
“Oh..umm..can you just tell him..tell him that I called?” He asked.
“Of course. Thank you for calling, I’ll get back to you soon.” She responded
“Thank you.” He sighed and hung up the phone, tossing it on the coffee table in front of him.
That was an awful call, but he called nevertheless.
Small victories and all that.