Carlos hadn’t been to a circus in years – not since he was little. But there had been a raffle at work and Carlos had won a coupon for a free ticket. He kinda hoped that his brother and/or his dad were in town so he could invite them to go with him.
Carlos made his way to the ticket office that was set up, standing in the line with his coupon as he looked at everything around him. Some things were different than what he remembered or imagined a circus to be like, but not everything could be a dated cliche trope he supposed.
Once at the ticket office he smiled and offered the coupon. “Hey… this any good?” he asked in a joking manner.
“Could
you?” He pressed curiously, “What like some kind of diet pills or
something?” He joked lightly and shuffled a bit, tucking his hands into
his pants.
Carlos pressed his lips together a bit in thought. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I would like to know a little bit more about your physiology to see what I can do, but of course you’ve already proven to be a challenging study. I just need to find out if there’s even a way to get a drug into your body. Your lack of blood will make it near impossible to spread.” Carlos’ gaze drifted off as he started to thin. “Hm… maybe if I give it to you in the blood, since your body seems to absorb that so easily… Hm, yes, it can be done…”
Skip blushed at all of the words and phrases that were directed towards him, for once he was going to be helped instead of shunned. Naturally he smiled eagerly and nodded, “I’d love to try anything you can think of,”
He rubbed his neck nervously, “Really, it’s such a relief to hear you want to help- thank you so much.”
Carlos looked at him, a little bit like he was pulled out of a distracted space. “Hm? Oh – oh, yeah, sure. I’m a scientist – it’s what I do.” He offered Skip a smile. “So… in the meantime, would you like to come up with your ‘act’ for this afternoon? By that, I mean demonstrating, like, different sequences in how your power works. It’ll help my research to see a few different levels of difficulty with your powers.”
He nodded and glanced over his shoulder at the other scientists, “I don’t mean to be rude but I can probably only control two to three people at my most, sorry it’s just.. Sometimes their minds really don’t want to work with me.” He looked back to Carlos, “And I’d hate to get mad at them on stage, so just two or three at most but I’d prefer to just start off with one just so the crowd gets used to the idea..” He offered, folding his hands as he thought of what else to do with these men.
Carlos nodded. “That’ll be fine,” he said. “Part of the fun is for others to watch it too. Do you think you can do it in shifts? Like, do one pair and then finish with them and do another pair?”
“Unless you’re here to sell Girl Scout Cookies I don’t wanna hear it.”
“A-ah… I guess I should’ve dusted of that uniform after all,” Carlos joked, grinning despite the near-trip in the beginning. He then cleared his throat. “Um, sorry, Mr Stark. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the good you’re doing in the world. So… thank you.”
Tony turned to look at the other, a smirk tugging at his features when Carlos had made the uniform comment. Waving off the compliment now Tony gave a small sigh, “no need to thank me for doing what any decent human being would do. That’s the whole point of being the man in the suit isn’t it? Save people? Bring justice where it’s needed to be?”
Carlos chuckled, though it sounded more disbelieving than he meant it. “No, Mr Stark, sir, not… not just with the Iron Man,” Carlos went on. “I was… I was regarding your business practices also. Just… I mean, I’ve seen how easy it is for a tech tycoon to just absolutely go nuts for… I guess ‘glory’ is the term I’m looking for. Really… I think you’re one of the greatest examples of a business and humanitarian figure that the world could ask for.”
Tony had never really been APPRAISED as himself before, not for the good deeds he had done at least. Sure people had congratulated the genius on all of his SUCCESS but never for his EMPATHY. Tony takes a moment to react partially because he is taken back by the others comment and isn’t quite sure what to say just yet. “Thank you, you know you’re the only one besides Pepper and Pete that has told me that?”
Carlos blinked at him, a little surprised. He couldn’t have been the only person to think that (aside from Stark’s CEO and this ‘Pete’ person). He found it hard to believe. “Well, y-you’re welcome, Mr Stark,” Carlos told him with a smile. Being thanked by Tony Stark for something really did something to his insides, which he wasn’t going to mention of course. “And… thank you for hearing what I wanted to say, Mr Stark. I’m never going to forget this.” That last part was mostly to himself. After what happened with Hammer Industries, Carlos would never have thought he’d get the chance to even speak to Tony Stark. But it happened, and Carlos was so, so lucky for it.
“Unless you’re here to sell Girl Scout Cookies I don’t wanna hear it.”
“A-ah… I guess I should’ve dusted of that uniform after all,” Carlos joked, grinning despite the near-trip in the beginning. He then cleared his throat. “Um, sorry, Mr Stark. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the good you’re doing in the world. So… thank you.”
Tony turned to look at the other, a smirk tugging at his features when Carlos had made the uniform comment. Waving off the compliment now Tony gave a small sigh, “no need to thank me for doing what any decent human being would do. That’s the whole point of being the man in the suit isn’t it? Save people? Bring justice where it’s needed to be?”
Carlos chuckled, though it sounded more disbelieving than he meant it. “No, Mr Stark, sir, not… not just with the Iron Man,” Carlos went on. “I was… I was regarding your business practices also. Just… I mean, I’ve seen how easy it is for a tech tycoon to just absolutely go nuts for… I guess ‘glory’ is the term I’m looking for. Really… I think you’re one of the greatest examples of a business and humanitarian figure that the world could ask for.”
“Unless you’re here to sell Girl Scout Cookies I don’t wanna hear it.”
“A-ah… I guess I should’ve dusted of that uniform after all,” Carlos joked, grinning despite the near-trip in the beginning. He then cleared his throat. “Um, sorry, Mr Stark. I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the good you’re doing in the world. So… thank you.”
The Perfect Scientist 