I was disappointed when the Free Ice Skating Competition and Show was delayed again. One thing after another kept popping up and interfering with getting everyone together. This last ti was Kate Bishop's fault, because she had a gymnastics et and couldn't make it, which removed the entire point of her 'Pairs' debut and training
to be her partner.
Instead of being upset about it, I had Jarvis cancel it outright, with my regrets. A fifth delay was not going to happen, because I was done. I had better things to do than be up early for skate training several tis a week for no purpose. I was sure Kate was going to be upset about it and I would just do the sa thing as her from now on. I would be too busy for her to complain.
I did the morning coffee and donuts thing for both the school's office staff and for the teachers, even if the sad looks on several of the teacher's faces was a discouragent. On the plus side, Mary Strickland had kept her face professional and tried to not give
any hints that she knew what I was doing with the extra course materials that I had packed into my life the last couple of months.
Mary and the school's librarian Gladys were good friends and talked a lot, which ant she knew I was studying my ass off for the exams in two months. She also knew what that ant and I could almost see the anticipation in her eyes every ti I passed near the office and she saw .
It was almost funny, because I had soone that secretly wanted
to excel and graduate early, just so I would keep my fairly lewd promise to her. Of course, getting to bend her over her work counter and having everyone see us going at it, was a surprisingly enticing turn-on. She might even lose her job over it.
That made
decide to offer her the receptionist job that one of Jennifer Walter's friends was handling on the side for the company as she also worked as a paralegal. I would get Jennifer to check to see if the experience was too much for her or if she wanted to keep both jobs and I'd let Mary beco a supervisor or even my own personal assistant, like Pepper was for Tony.
The thought made
laugh, because it ant I would essentially be handing my company over to her, which I technically couldn't do until I was eighteen and assud full rights over everything. Then again, Aunt May was still working as a nurse as the building we bought near Hell's Kitchen was being redone and she had Doris handle setting up the clinic and holess shelter.
Needless to say, Doris was quite excited to be the one in charge, even unofficially, because she still worked for the hospital administration. Both she and May spent countless hours discussing things about both businesses, especially the not-for-profit aspect, because it gave them a massive amount of leeway with how they handled acquisitions for equipnt, dical supplies, furniture, and food.
The building itself had started out as a rental and turned into a purchase, because as luck would have it, it suffered quite a bit of damage during the invasion of New York. I would never admit that I kind of ensured that would happen and the owner didn't want to deal with the headache of getting the thing fixed up or arranging the permits for everything.
Permits for repairs, expansions, and upgrades, usually cost thousands of dollars in both actual cost and bribes, and took weeks to months to acquire. So, I had Jarvis slip them into the system and had them issued and skipped the entire waste of ti instead. Of course, I had also added in ones for Stark Tower and Fisk Tower, which would be renad to Parker Tower like Stark Tower had been renad to Avengers Tower.
The construction crews that worked on the repairs enjoyed the doubled paycheck for a rush job, too. Happy workers ant good work. Extrely happy workers ant great work. Well fed and coffee filled workers ant they loved working for you and gave you their best work, which was exactly what I wanted.
With everything that was going on, my life seed to settle down into a normal routine once more. I was still working my ass off and studying damn near constantly; but, it beca an easily achievable routine and I thrived with it.
My school life had changed slightly as well. Val had slowly migrated from Liz's group of friends to spend her spare ti with myself, Jubadi, Sally, and Shuri. She even finished her club activities early and gained the extra credit for it and started spending her new lunch period with us. With only two months before exams, she claid that she wanted to make sure I wasn't going to change my mind about her.
That made
laugh and I had given her a fairly intensive make-out session right there in the cafeteria, in front of everyone, which had Shuri laughing hysterically at everyone's shocked reaction to it. Jubadi even picked up the tablet to give Shuri a better view of the other students and their reactions.
“They have such a limited view of how relationships work and can change.” Shuri had said when Jubadi put the tablet back onto the mount on the table.
“If Liz and the others were here, they would be freaking out.” Val agreed. She hadn't blushed or reacted negatively to either the kissing or the reaction from the crowd. In fact, she had looked quite turned on. I would discover this was true when she had dragged us into the bathroom after lunch and gave
a very enthusiastic blowjob.
Sally had stood there and learned a lot about what to do. She gave
a similar treatnt that Friday during gym class and I thanked her profusely for it. I had learned to never take their attention for granted and her blush and pleased look told
that she appreciated that I appreciated her. That she also got off by having sex publicly was just a nice bonus for the both of us.
It took almost three weeks before Max couldn't take the rumors and implications around us anymore and approached us during lunch. She looked really sad and like a puppy that was about to be kicked. It was quite the display, especially with the cafeteria as crowded as it was.
Val gave
a pointed look and shook her head in denial that she had anything to do with it as Max actually apologized for being so stupid and for abandoning . She wasn't asking to be added back into what we had before, because she said she didn't deserve it. She just wanted to be friends again.
I ignored Val's whispers to accept and stared at Max as I felt the sceptre's subtle influence. It was quite the rush to concentrate on soone and feel their emotions like that. I let her stand there for ten seconds without saying anything. Tears started to co to Max's eyes and I actually felt her emotions building to the point that she was going to give up again.
I couldn't allow that, so I held my arms up as if to hug her.
“OH, BEN!” Max yelled and fell into my arms and onto my lap. She burst out crying and was completely inconsolable for most of the lunch period as she clung to
and berated herself for being so stupid. I stroked her back while she kept promising that she would never do anything so foolish ever again. The best part about that was I believed her and also felt her emotions cent to keep her promises.
“You're in no fit state to go to class.” I said and looked at Val. “Give my regards to your next teacher, please. With all these witnesses, I doubt they'll question why Max isn't there this afternoon.”
“What about your robotics class?” Val asked just as the bell rang to end lunch.
I had to smile. “I've been giving the teacher lessons the last two classes.”
Val snorted and then laughed as she stood. “Of course you were.” She said and put a hand on Max's shoulder as she leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I'm so glad that you decided to fess up and apologize.”
“M-m-, too.” Max said and didn't bother trying to wipe off her tear-streaked face. “I've been torn about all of this ever since... since...” She shook her head. “I've been an idiot and I can't... I don't want to be that kind of girl anymore.”
“What kind of girl?” I asked, a little confused.
“An honorary blonde.” Max said.
“Hey!” Val said and smacked her shoulder, which made Max laugh a little and sob at the sa ti.
“You know I didn't an you.” Max said. “Out of all of us, you were the only one smart enough to apologize as soon as you could.”
Val leaned down to briefly hug her and then stood up straight. “Don't ruin this chance for yourself.” She said and nodded to Jubadi before looking at the tablet. “Princess, until tomorrow.”
“Have a good evening, Valerie.” Shuri said.
Val gave my cheek a kiss and then left the cafeteria.
Max watched as the entire place emptied before she looked at . She was still on my lap and she seed to realize that and beca embarrassed, because my erection pressed into her thigh that rested against .
“Friends can still comfort each other.” I said and tightened my hold on her.
“B-Ben, I... I shouldn't be... um...” Max started to say and looked uncomfortable.
“I will let you handle this, sithandwa.” Shuri said to
and looked at Max. “It was nice to finally et you, Maxine. I have been waiting a long ti to do so.”
Max blushed deeply from embarrassnt and nodded. “Y-your h-highness.”
Shuri smiled and nodded back. “Jubadi.”
“Until the morning, My Princess.” Jubadi said and bowed as much as she could while sitting down, then she ended the call and put the tablet into my backpack. “Shall we give our regrets to your teacher and head to Avengers Tower?”
I nodded and stood with Max still in my arms. She let out a startled sound and her arms clung to my neck. She didn't comnt as I walked with her through the school to tell my robotics teacher that I had so personal things to take care of.
Mr. Kinneson nodded and handed Jubadi my project paper with a large 110
written on it in red ink. “You're lucky you're too young to be hired by the school to replace .”
“I would just build an android to do that, sir.” I said and he let out a laugh.
“After reading that paper, I actually don't doubt that you could.” Mr. Kinneson said.
We left the class and Max didn't say a word as I proved to her that I actually could have carried Liz all around the school that day after our first kiss. We went to my locker and exchanged my books for the next day and went to Max's locker to do the sa thing. I carried her outside and Max's blush didn't fade as we went to the bus stop.
Surprisingly, she didn't ask to be put down, even when I carried her onto the bus. The looks that everyone gave us were a mix of surprise and amusent. I ignored them and stayed quiet myself as we rode the bus to the right stop. We entered Avengers Tower and Max's eyes stared at everything.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Parker.” The doorman said and shut the door. “Will I be adding the young lady's na to your allowable list?”
I nodded and he smiled as he led us through the crowd and over to the elevator. He blocked anyone else joining us and nodded as the doors closed. “Remind
to tip him when we leave.”
Jubadi relaxed slightly. “Your hands are occupied for so reason.”
I chuckled and the elevator opened on our floor.
“Welco, sir!” The current receptionist said from her desk in the newly expanded lobby.
“Hi, Wendy.” I said and walked over to her. “Do you mind if Jubadi signs for
today? As she inford , my hands seem to be occupied for so reason.”
Wendy laughed as Max blushed hard. “I suppose I can allow the boss to have his personal guard confirm that he really is here in front of .”
I laughed as well and Jubadi signed for
and herself.
Wendy picked up the log book and Max signed her own na. “Thank you.”
“Y-you're w-welco.” Max managed to say, even though she was still embarrassed.
Wendy handed Jubadi a file folder. “You should be happy to know that the new expansion for the virtual tour program is finished and will be released on Friday.”
“Already?” I asked and she nodded. “Remind
to give our crew another vacation.”
Wendy laughed at the joke, since that was all they did, and pointed at the file folder. “They're already in Greece and will head to Germany next.”
“Maybe you can suggest they head to Brazil next and maybe Cuba or Madagascar after that.”
Wendy's smile was bright and happy. “I think they will definitely like those suggestions, sir.”
I smiled back and carried Max down the hallway and gave her a tour of the various facilities I had available on the floor. I didn't bother taking her down a floor to show off the computer labs or anything and just told her about it all as she gawked at the scientific equipnt in the labs.
“You really are going to try and graduate with us.” Max said as I sat down on the couch in the apartnt at the back of the building.
“I kind of have to.” I said and she looked surprised. “I have so much work to do and projects to handle that spending eight hours a day at school is severely cutting into my ability to manage everything.”
Max looked around the very nice apartnt and back at . “Do you live here now?”
I shook my head. “This was just a large storage area I used to construct so very important equipnt and then converted the space for a friend to stay in while she was in the city for about a week.”
Max's mouth dropped open and she stared at . “You did all this for a friend to live in for a week?”
I laughed at her stunned expression. “Taken out of context, it really does sound outrageous.”
“I doubt putting it into context will change that.” Jarvis said over the intercom. “I apologize for the interruption, Ben. You wanted to be inford when Miss Potts was returning.”
“Thanks, Jarvis. She's a few hours earlier than we expected.” I said. “Is she in the helicopter yet or still on the plane at the airport?”
“Helicopter. Eta fifteen minutes.”
“Excellent. I'll et her up on the helipad. Thanks for letting
know.” I said and he clicked off. “Max? How would you like to et the super-rich CEO of Stark Industries?”
“No!” Max exclaid and blushed. “I... I an... I'm not even dressed properly and...”
I barked a laugh and hugged her. “It's all right, Max. I would have warned you if I knew Pepper's schedule had changed. You can stay here with Jubadi and I'll only be an hour or so. I have a few things to work out with Pepper and we can hang out for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Okay.” Max said and climbed off of my lap as she looked at the tall Amazonian-like warrior.
Just like she had with Val the first ti, Jubadi knelt with a hand over her heart and apologized for her imposing figure that was necessary to protect , even if I didn't really need her protection sotis. Max looked suitably impressed at the debasent of such a strong woman and forgave her, just like Val had.
“Why don't you show her so of the base movents as you train?” I suggested to Jubadi.
“That is a great idea, sithandwa.” Jubadi said. “There are attached showers to the training area and we can get cleaned up.”
Max nodded and Jubadi led her out of the apartnt and down the hallway. I stood up and left the apartnt to head up to et Pepper. I hadn't seen her in quite so ti and I wasn't sure where we stood with each other. Our friendship had changed as our business partnership expanded and we both earned millions and millions of dollars with each new successful product we made.
I also knew that she had rekindled her relationship with Tony. The smug looks he would shoot at
when he thought I wasn't looking, were quite informative. He had successfully let
know without actually saying anything, which was quite the change in his normal personality quirks. Like the Hulk, Tony was not subtle.
I walked right out through the penthouse apartnt and up to the helipad on the roof. I stood there and watched as the helicopter approached and ca in for a landing. I hadn't engaged the cloaking technology I had installed on the building's roof, since it wasn't really needed after the battle. I would tell Pepper about it, just so she would have the option to stop everyone from seeing her or anyone else getting up to sothing on the patio deck.
I didn't move back as the helicopter landed twenty-five feet away and the blades whipped by only five feet from my face. The looks of surprise on the faces of the pilot and co-pilot were priceless. Pepper just looked highly amused. I ducked as I walked over to the helicopter and opened the side door for her.
“Welco back, Pepper!” I said with as much warmth as a shout could hold, because the still spinning rotor blades barely allowed any talking.
“Thank you, Ben!” Pepper responded as she took my offered hand for balance.
I helped her out and the co-pilot hopped out of his own door and grabbed her bags from the storage compartnt in the tail of the helicopter. I took them from him with a nod and he saluted before he ran back around and hopped back into the helicopter. Pepper and I ducked and walked over to the stairs and went down them. The helicopter's engine revved up and the flying machine took off again.
“They're in a hurry.” I comnted and motioned with my elbow to walk across the patio. To my surprise, Pepper wrapped her arms around my elbow and leaned into .
“They have another VIP to deal with at the airport and were kind enough to drop
off first when my plane arrived early.”
“Ah.” I said and we entered the penthouse. She led
over to the elevator and not to the master bedroom. I raised my eyebrows at her and she gave
a demure smile.
“We really do have a few things to discuss.” Pepper said. “Both professionally and personally.”
“We do.” I agreed and we rode the elevator down to the floor where the CEO had their own luxury apartnt. I couldn't decide if I was looking forward to it or not.
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