An Act of... Love? [An Avengers Polyamorous Fanfic]

Chapter 8

After dinner was over, Tony tracked me down with Bruce wandering behind him. "Ollie, we have a proposition for you," Tony said, causing me to raise a brow at him. He must not have picked up on it, though, because he continued. "Stark Industries has an opening for a research assistant, focusing in psychology. It might branch out into biology later down the line, and after our talk the other day I brought it up to Bruce and we thought it might be a good fit," he explained, and my eyes lit up.

"Really?" I asked excitedly.

"We can go over all of it if you'd like."

"Like, now?" I asked, extremely interested in the opportunity. Stark Industries was known for paying their employees extremely well, even assistants. Bruce and Tony shared a look and nodded.

"Now is good for me, let's go to your office, Tony?" Bruce said. I excitedly followed the pair of them and wondered if this was a position Tony created for me. But I don't know why he'd do something like that. It's not like he had any sentimental attachment to me, we'd slept together once. Tony, Bruce, and I stayed up going over paperwork, expectations, and pay rates. My eyes absolutely bulged when Tony told me that the position paid forty-two dollars an hour, with full benefits.

"How many work hours would you guys need? And is it flexible enough to keep it from intersecting with school?" I asked.

"Completely flexible, a lot of the work can even be done from your apartment on a Stark Industries-issued laptop that you could consider your own. As for work hours, we're thinking a minimum of ten hours, and no cap as of now. Unless you start overworking yourself, then we may instate one for your own well-being. You get to choose how many hours you work, since it's mostly self-driven research. Are you interested?" Tony asked.

"Yes, yes, yes. I am completely interested. Where do I sign?" I asked excitedly. Bruce left, considering his part of explaining the job was over - it was mostly just a simple psychological research job that could go hand in hand with my degree. Tony and I stayed up awhile longer, going over a mountain of paperwork and when we walked out of Tony's office, I was officially employed by Stark Industries.

Even though I was dead exhausted, I texted Angela and asked her if we could video chat, telling her she'd never believe the week I'd had. She responded almost immediately, saying she'd love to call. So once I was alone on the elevator, I pressed the call button just hoping I wouldn't run into anyone else.

"Ollie!!" Angie screamed excitedly. "I know we've been texting but its nice to see your face and know for sure you're alive!" she exclaimed, causing me to chuckle.

"This week has been insane, Angie! I don't even know if I'm actually awake anymore, or if it's all a dream," I told her.

"Spill the tea, babe," she said as the elevator doors opened and in stepped Steve and Bucky, coming from the common area.

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute, I'm not back to my apartment yet," I giggled nervously. "Obviously, you know about the whole coma situation, yeah?"

"Yeah, Stark Industries contacted me to inform me of that. What were you doing there, Olive?" she questioned.

"I got trapped here visiting Mark. After he broke up with me," I said, eyeing the soldiers who were across the elevator from me.

"Screw Mark, Olive. For starters, you're not even a person who engages in monogamous relationships, and he manipulated you into one. AND he was just an abusive ass in general," Angie said, causing me to flush red.

"I'm not alone in this elevator, Angie," I hissed.

"I don't care. Continue, Olive." I glared at her through the phone for a minute as the elevator stopped at the super soldiers and I's floor. I motioned for them to go first, knowing the NDA I signed prohibited me from showing them on camera. They did, and I got off the elevator after them. Both of them headed into Bucky's apartment while I headed to mine, careful not to show them on camera.

"Home sweet home," I said to Angie once I closed the door behind me. "Okay, so I got trapped here because the building went into lockdown when New York did. So I got trapped here. There was a lot of panic and everything, and my powers were overwhelming me. I got trapped in my brain, which is what sent me into the coma," I explained to her.

"But you're okay now?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm okay now, Ange. But things just kept getting crazier," I said, and she was immediately re-engaged. I kept the details about getting the apartment incredibly vague, not wanting to breach the NDA I signed. But then I moved on to what happened today. "Tony Stark offered me a job. A good job. A really nice paying job. With full benefits and everything," I told her.

"Oh my god, tell me everything!" So I went into full detail on what the job was, what it required, and what I got out of it.

After I was done, she was stunned. "You deserve this, you know," she said, which shocked me.

"What do you mean?" I chuckled.

"You've struggled so long, Ollie. You've had such a hard life. You deserve people that'll make it better. And even though you can't divulge many details," she said, eyeing me knowingly, "These people seem like they're taking care of you. Making sure you get more, making sure you get what you deserve. You deserve safety. You deserve happiness. You deserve everything, darling. And I'm glad you've finally met someone who is willing to at least attempt to give you everything," she said.

"Angie, I really don't think that's what-"

"If it's not the people, then the universe, at least," she interrupted. I smiled at her.

"It's going to suck not being able to see you, Ange."

"I know, sweetie. But we can always video chat. Hey, want to curl up in bed and sync a movie on our screens and fall asleep video chatting like we used to? You don't have class tomorrow, right? It's Thursday tomorrow, correct?" she asked, checking her calendar.

"You're right, hun. I only have class Monday through Wednesday. I might be starting my new job, tomorrow, but I'd love to watch a movie regardless.

"Yes!" she cheered, so I headed to the bedroom and got ready for bed. Angie and I synced up a movie, and fell asleep over video chat just like we did back when I lived in LA. It was peaceful, and I slept surprisingly well.