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

[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."

[toblameforit]

Tony smiles wryly.

"Yeah, welcome to the club, huh?"

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, the club no one wants to join."

Cal taps a pile of papers together to smooth them out.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about running an actual company, though - ow." Oh good, a papercut, just what he needed right now.

Asshole, he thinks darkly in Stane's direction.

[toblameforit]

"I'll figure it out," he says, part confidence and part necessity. He'll figure it out because it's his company and he has to run it. "You want a band-aid for that? We should take these up to... oh, I dunno, the room he was using for starters."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Cal examines his finger.

"Nah, it's not bleeding." Nice try, though, Obie.

"I'm sure you will," he says, sincerely, scooping up a pile of papers.

[toblameforit]

"Thanks. Okay." He surveys the room for stray documents and determines that between them they've got it all. "Up we go."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"Okay."

Cal follows Tony upstairs to - oh. Of course.

Somehow, Stane managed to pick the room Cal usually stays in. It smells of his cologne, a sudden and visceral reminder to Cal of the party in New York. Stane had stood close enough to him then that he couldn't get away from it.

He swallows. Definitely not this room again any time soon, then.

[toblameforit]

Tony reaches the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.

"Sorry," he says. "You usually stay here, don't you? But there's lots of guest rooms. You can pick another one."

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

"What?" Cal asks, then realizes his reaction must have been noticeable. Shit.

"Yeah, no, that's fine. A room's a room. I guess this one just, uh, sucks people in."

[toblameforit]

...Really, Cal?

Really?

[americas-son.livejournal.com]

Did he just - ?

Yes.

He did.

The horrified realization shows even more clearly than his reaction of a moment ago.

"Fuck, uh, I didn't, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - sometimes my brain doesn't . . . I'm sorry."