Toni Stark

Tony and I walked through and around groups of people who were talking and laughing and drinking. Tony grabbed two glasses of champagne off a passing waiter's tray. He handed one to me. I gave him a puzzled expression,"I don't drink. And I'm only fifteen, so me drinking isn't even legal." He rolled his eyes at me before downing both glasses,"Since when do I care about legality, I'm Ironman, I can do whatever I damn well please. If legality were an issue do you really think that I'd spend my weekends defending the world from evil because vigilante justice is illegal, destruction of public and private property is illegal. But, do you see anyone here complaining? No, cuz I'm Ironman and I do what I want."

Now, I rolled my eyes. Pepper once mentioned on the phone that he acted like a super, rich five year old with great cognitive abilities and facial hair, she'd been right. Tony set the empty glasses on a table. "Dance with me." I looked at him. "No thanks, I can't really dance." Tony rolled his eyes again. "That wasn't a question," he grabbed my wrist and spun me out into the middle of the room. "Hey, give us something swanky, kinda jazzy, with some sax," he called to the band. One guy with a trumpet called back, "You got it Tony." Some Bossa Nova(y) music started and Tony put my arm on his shoulder, then put his around my waist. "I...I..I..c..ca..can't dance. Tony! Tony, I can't dance."

Once again Tony Stark rolled his eyes at me,"Do you remember the rules of Stark?" He swung me around the floor, my feet stumbled but I kept up with him. "Yea," I said trying very hard not to break an ankle. "What's rule number one?" I looked at my feet,"Be confident or cocky, depends on who you talk to." He rotated his feet and I kept trying to copy his actions. "You got it,kid. And if you don't got it, you fake it til you make it." I actually looked up now alittle more confident now, and I realised that people had gathered around watching us. Tony kept flashing movie star grins at the crowd. He let go of my waist and spun me, I almost fell but I caught myself.

When the song finished not only was I feeling better about dancing, but better about myself in general,Tony had that effect sometimes. "Hey, Tony." a male voice called out, we both turned and looked. A man that I recongised but never met came walking towards us. It was my second favourite scientist, Dr. Bruce Banner. Tony grinned and hi-five-hugged Bruce. "What's up, man? I thought the 'other guy' might find something like this stressful." Bruce shrugged and said,"I can control him a lot better now. Less mass destruction nowadays." Tony slapped him on the shoulder playfully,"Good to hear," Dr. Banner smiled at me, I looked at the floor, painfully aware that I was blushing, "Oh, right, Bruce, this is my protege, Toni." Tony gestured towards me in an extravagant way because that's how Tony Stark gestures.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Toni. I hope that your enjoying yourself even though you have to babysit." I giggled. When I was a kid, my school obsessions had flashed between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as my interest with engineering and gamma radiation bounced back and forth. I had for the most part gotten over my crush on Tony because I lived with him, for less than a day but still. But, my infatuation with Bruce was thus far untainted with the reality of actually knowing him.

"It's nice to meet you, Dr Banner," I said intently into my shoes, Bruce Banner reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled it to his lips. Bruce Banner laid a soft kiss on my hand and my knees turned into jam. As, he let my arm fall back down to my side I almost fell.Tony shook his head at me. I grabbed a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray and downed it right in front of them. Tony and Bruce made a face and looked at each other. "She's new at all of this, not much of a party girl." Tony whispered to Bruce. "We'll see about that,"said Bruce,"just work with her."

In a frenzied moment, a question came out like word vomit,"Hey Br...Bruce come back to Stark Tower and chill for a little bit?" Bruce and Tony looked at each other again, the inventor looked again at the gamma radiation expert. Tony nodded. "Yea let's go hang out." Dreams coming true, tonight.