Sunnydale AU: don't go into the - never mind.

[americas_son]

Some students, when they hear the final bell ring, head to class right away.

Sometimes Cal is one of them, but not today. He was outside having a cigarette when the bell sounded, and he was too deep in thought to pay it much attention.

So he's slipping inside now, a few minutes late. The halls are already quiet, and he's keeping an eye out for any faculty members authorized to give detention as he makes his way toward his English class.

Comments

[toblameforit]

"Obie's dead," he says, very quietly.





A little louder: "Who's in charge of Stark Industries? I mean right now, who's fielding his calls while he's off playing family man?"

[poeticterms]

"A Miss Virginia Potts, sir. I've spoken with her before."

[toblameforit]

"Good. Get her on the phone. Tell her... I have no idea what the fuck you should tell her. If she knows what the Hellmouth is, you can tell her he fucking fell down it, 'cause that's what happened. Otherwise, we'll think of something." He rubs his face with both hands and finally looks at Cal, just to see what he's up to.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal got out of the car when Tony did, and has been leaning against listening to the conversation.

And it just so happens that he has a little recent experience explaining away disappearances.

"He's sick," he says. "He wouldn't go to the hospital to get checked out, so we brought my family doctor over, and now he's on bedrest with twenty-four hour nursing and strict orders to not so much as look a telephone. You're gonna need a story for the press sooner or later anyway, and Richard will back us up once I've talked to him because we pay him more for that than even a doctor should be making."

[toblameforit]

Tony closes his eyes and draws a long, slow breath, contemplating this.

Then he nods.

"Okay. Run with it. Thanks, Cal."

[poeticterms]

"Will do, sir. And I'll let you know directly the moment Sherlock is available."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal's cellphone chooses that moment to start ringing. Cal glances down to pull it out of his pocket, saying,

"That'll be Peter wanting to know why I left school grounds without calling him. I'll talk to him, then I'll call Richard."

[toblameforit]

"Sure. All right."

He stays where he is a moment longer, then starts pacing down the length of the workroom.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal wanders in the opposite direction, toward the mouth of the garage.

He answers his phone with,

"You're really not going to believe this."

[chandler-npc.livejournal.com]

"Tell me anyway," Peter answers, some of his irritation coming through.

He'd thought Cal was done with shit like this.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

. . . Cal tells him.

He does so quietly, mindful of Tony's presence.

[chandler-npc.livejournal.com]

There is a long and uncharacteristic moment of silence on Peter's end.

Finally he says, matter of factly,

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer person."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal has to clap his hand over his mouth to smother the unexpected snort of laughter.

"Don't."

[chandler-npc.livejournal.com]

Peter smirks and gives him a few seconds to recover.

"So I assume you'll be at the Stark residence until Sherlock gets back."

It's not a hard guess.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal swallows and straightens up.

"Yeah," he says. "Sherlock doesn't know yet, but I'm sure he'll get on the first flight back once he finds out, so it shouldn't be too long. Overnight, probably. If anything comes up, let me know."

He rubs a hand over his face, thinking.

"And, uh. Don't drop the watch outside right away. Someone might notice."

By which he means Tony might notice. If he's inclined to notice anything.

[chandler-npc.livejournal.com]

"Yes, sir, Mr Chandler."

This'll make for an interesting conversation next time he talks to Sherlock.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal wraps up the conversation, then ends the call and turns to see where Tony is.

[toblameforit]

The elevator doors are just closing behind him.

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal nods to himself, then makes the promised call to Richard.

This one is slightly longer - they have to make sure they're both telling the same story, and that Richard understands that extending his services to the Starks in this one instance will net him a pleasantly-sized bonus in the near future.

When that's been taken care of, he puts his phone away and asks,

"Where'd he go, Jarvis?"

[poeticterms]

"Up to the ground floor."

Jarvis's voice is softer than usual.

"He is tidying up the paperwork in the living room."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal sighs.

"Okay. Thanks."

He takes the elevator up and heads to the living room. He stands in the doorway and asks,

"You want some help with that?"

[toblameforit]

"No." He sighs, dumping a stack of papers onto an end table. "I mean yes."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Okay."

Cal steps into the room to help gather papers together. There are an awful lot of them, considering Stane was only here for a couple of days.

"I'm guessing we're going to want to send these back somewhere?" he asks. "To - Virginia Potts? To deal with?"

[toblameforit]

"Oh, is that her name?" he asks absently, raking a hand through his hair.

"For now, yeah, but I'm reading them first. With Obie gone, this is all gonna be mine. I gotta figure out what to do with it."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

It's the name Jarvis gave not fifteen minutes ago, but Cal doesn't say anything about that. Tony's entitled to a little forgetfulness, under the circumstances.

"Okay," he says. "Yeah. I kinda know the feeling."