Little Wars ☆ Steve Rogers

08

"Oh," Maisie said quietly. "No, I don't like doctors."

Hearing her tone, Tony flicked the blowtorch off and glanced up again for a split second. His eyes darted over her face, then down to her body, but the counter made it so he couldn't see lower than her breasts. She wasn't sure what he was trying to determine anyway. She was in a pink sweater, which hugged her shape, but she only felt comfortable in it because her twill pants were high waisted, making her feel tucked in. And it wasn't as if he could see her scar at the moment.

But he said, almost serious, and yet still flippant, as he returned to his work, "You're welcome to open up about your mysterious past any time now. I'm all ears."

"I don't have—" Maisie's heart pounded with a sudden panic. "I'm not—mysterious. It's boring. No big deal."

"You don't get to decide if you're mysterious or not," he said, scrolling on the touch screen again. "It's more of an eye of the beholder sort of deal. And I'm beholding mystery."

"Ohio," Maisie blurted out, because he could easily get her resumé from Bruce, and she didn't know how much information about her was available on the Internet if the person who was looking happened to be Tony Stark. So, the less inclined he was to solve a mystery, the better. "I'm from Ohio. I went to college at a really small school. I didn't think you'd be interested, 'cause it's not Ivy League or whatever."

"See?" he said. "Was that so hard? I know you better already. Is it anywhere near Cincinnati? I like Cincinnati."

"Um, no."

"Cleveland?"

"No."

"Columbus? Why are you making me guess?"

"It's just, like, super rural," she said, pulling her sleeves over her palms, a self-soothing habit. "You wouldn't be familiar with it. The closest city is kinda far away."

"Wow," he said. "I've seen the corn fields, but I forgot people lived in them."

"Oh," Maisie said. "No, people don't usually live in corn fields. Mostly they live in homes."

Truthfully, Maisie had just snapped at him. But it hadn't sounded like it, because at the last milisecond before the words left her mouth, she became afraid of losing his approval. So she edited her tone to sound innocent, as if she truly didn't understand his meaning.

"That's what I meant," Tony said. She was relieved, at least, that she'd gotten away with the comment without rashly revealing that she had thoughts and feelings. She didn't think he'd like her so much if she had those pesky things.

"Give me your finger," Tony said after a pause. She's noticed he couldn't bear it when her mood dipped; he couldn't sit in discomfort or silence. He held out his hand expectantly, and Maisie extended her index finger across the counter. She'd just painted her nails a soft, muted yellow the day before, as she was sitting in this same spot. She watched him take her hand and thought she'd picked a nice shade.

He pressed her finger onto the touchscreen of the counter in front of him. Then he guided it over and pressed it down again. Maisie leaned forward to see that he was guiding her through a string of numbers and letters on the keyboard.

"You're coding," Tony said. "So now your name can go on the patent for this. Great for a resumé."

"I know there's gonna be a catch."