dont-do-anything-i-would-do:

the-perfect-scientist:

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Tony
smiled softly hearing the question. He was always happy to give a
review and he nodded a little hearing the want for advice. He tilted his
head a little as he looked over to the other.

“Well, you need a new suit, as soon as you can afford it. I might
have you a tailored suit for events if we end up hiring you. All my
staff need to be able to attend at least one event a year with me.” He
smiled playfully and chuckled lightly. “You were great, you were smart,
showed your understanding very quickly and I’ll be honest, you seemed
awesome like this, I wouldn’t mind maybe seeing a little more
confidence. You know it so don’t worry, just talk through it and you’ll
be good.”

Carlos looked down at his sleeve a little sheepishly. Of course the suit… he outta start saving up money for it then, he supposed. Man, he was probably going to be cringing at the fact he wore it to a Stark Industries interview for years to come. And he of course had trouble owning it because, like Stark pointed out, he needed to be more confident. But it was definitely a little hard when someone had something like “Hammer Industries” on their resume.

“I hear you, Mr Stark,” Carlos said. “Thank you so much. Honestly, I feel like this interview was one of the best one’s I’d ever had. So I feel like it’ll help boost up my confidence for a little while.” He smiled at Mr Stark. He glanced at Ms Potts, wondering if she had anything to add.

Pepper finished making her notes and looked to the young man with a smile. “Alright, well I agree with that, but also maybe just think about what you plan. Maybe come in with an idea in your mind before as well, ask us lots of questions about the company that you can because it shows your interest in them and then you have a better chance at getting a job. We like people who think outside the box.”

Tony nodded in agreement and looked over her notes quickly with a smile. He liked the guy and wanted him to work for them. He was wasted in Hammer Tech. “Oh also, Hammer Tech didn’t make you who you are, feel free to talk about whatever you want to for there, because you did work there and yes it was bad now but it hadn’t been then.”

Carlos nodded. “Right… okay. Thank you very much. I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Potts.” He then chuckled softly. “I, uh… I could probably write books about what happened inside of Hammer. But I wouldn’t literally do that, I don’t think. That’s, uh… that’s attention I’d rather not have. I’m just eager to get back in the lab and actually make things for people again.”

He thought he was sensing the end of the interview. He had already been there for a while.

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Tony
smiled softly hearing the question. He was always happy to give a
review and he nodded a little hearing the want for advice. He tilted his
head a little as he looked over to the other.

“Well, you need a new suit, as soon as you can afford it. I might
have you a tailored suit for events if we end up hiring you. All my
staff need to be able to attend at least one event a year with me.” He
smiled playfully and chuckled lightly. “You were great, you were smart,
showed your understanding very quickly and I’ll be honest, you seemed
awesome like this, I wouldn’t mind maybe seeing a little more
confidence. You know it so don’t worry, just talk through it and you’ll
be good.”

Carlos looked down at his sleeve a little sheepishly. Of course the suit… he outta start saving up money for it then, he supposed. Man, he was probably going to be cringing at the fact he wore it to a Stark Industries interview for years to come. And he of course had trouble owning it because, like Stark pointed out, he needed to be more confident. But it was definitely a little hard when someone had something like “Hammer Industries” on their resume.

“I hear you, Mr Stark,” Carlos said. “Thank you so much. Honestly, I feel like this interview was one of the best one’s I’d ever had. So I feel like it’ll help boost up my confidence for a little while.” He smiled at Mr Stark. He glanced at Ms Potts, wondering if she had anything to add.

dont-do-anything-i-would-do:

the-perfect-scientist:

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Both
were impressed by the presentation and the depth he went into to
describe the device and why he chose it. It was a great idea and he
smiled seeing it feeling it struck close to home as it would have been
how Rhodey had to get around had he not had the stark tech legs.

“Well Carlos it seems you have some great concepts and an amazing
mind there. I’m thinking we take him in as a staff member as soon as
possible. I’m liking his attitude more and more. Shocking how hammer
spoiled it.”

“We will look into it but if Tony is liking you then I think you might just have an edge over everyone else.”

Carlos looked between the two with surprise, but also with no small amount of hope. “Re-
uh… really?” he asked. “I, um, well,
thank you! Thank you very much. If nothing else, that – that’s so great to hear
and I appreciate that.” He smiled at them, deciding he didn’t need to bother
with hiding how much that made him happy.

If they ended up not choosing him over someone else (and
honestly, he wouldn’t blame them if they did), then he would at least have a great
interview in his mind to help him move forward.

Tony smiled seeing his reaction and chuckled softly at just how surprised he was. “Well yeah I don’t say stuff I don’t mean unless I’m joking and I wouldn’t joke about this.” He smiled sweetly to the other hoping to calm him and ease him to relax. “You’ve done amazing work here and it would be something we would want in our staff, plus the idea, yeah we won’t use it without you.”

He was looking at where else he could use the other seeing how fast he came up with the idea and how well he managed to explain it all. “Pep, make serious thoughts about him, he’s got something interesting about him I can’t place.”

Carlos took a breath, but was still smiling happily. He was already thinking about how he was going to tell this story to his dad and brother – he was sure they’d love to hear about it.

A thought then occurred to Carlos. He was sitting in the room with one of the smartest people in the world and his CEO. He had an opportunity that not many people had.

“If I might ask,” Carlos began carefully, “do you have any feedback for me? I mean critically, regarding my portfolio or how I interviewed, or… with my mock-up here?” He gently pat the design he’d made in front of him and looked to the other two adults with attention.

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Both
were impressed by the presentation and the depth he went into to
describe the device and why he chose it. It was a great idea and he
smiled seeing it feeling it struck close to home as it would have been
how Rhodey had to get around had he not had the stark tech legs.

“Well Carlos it seems you have some great concepts and an amazing
mind there. I’m thinking we take him in as a staff member as soon as
possible. I’m liking his attitude more and more. Shocking how hammer
spoiled it.”

“We will look into it but if Tony is liking you then I think you might just have an edge over everyone else.”

Carlos looked between the two with surprise, but also with no small amount of hope. “Re-
uh… really?” he asked. “I, um, well,
thank you! Thank you very much. If nothing else, that – that’s so great to hear
and I appreciate that.” He smiled at them, deciding he didn’t need to bother
with hiding how much that made him happy.

If they ended up not choosing him over someone else (and
honestly, he wouldn’t blame them if they did), then he would at least have a great
interview in his mind to help him move forward.

dont-do-anything-i-would-do:

the-perfect-scientist:

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Tony
watched him and smirked more seeing his response. It was good, damn
good,and honest too. Not some answer the guy expected them to want. He
nodded along slowly before going back to his tablet and working on his
own little plans on there.

“You can help program the systems for those machines if you would
want to. They need something in there to help compensate, one of our
colleges has been paralysed and Tony built him a leg system so he can
walk. He wants to make them more comfortable and more accessible to
others while we work on treating the cause.”

“He was a good friend, kinda my fault he was in that position in the
first place, not fair to let him suffer when he never was like that. The
guy is too smart to waste in a chair, now he can still work and still
flies in a suit with me but yeah.”

Carlos smiled slightly. “For some though, it’s not about ‘until
treatment’,” he responded to Stark. “It’s about accessibility and freedom. My brother: he’s
paraplegic. He hasn’t walked since birth. It’s better to ask him about it, but for him he’d rather be
able to be spontaneous and go someplace without having to call ahead and asking
if it’s wheelchair-accessible. He’s not exactly ‘wasting away’ either – Mikey’s
self-employed. He works repairing folks’ computers, TVs, and gaming consoles. Just…
anything that can be considered ‘smart’, really. I actually worked with him
while I was looking for work.” Carlos grinned. “I, uh… literally did the heavy lifting for him.”

Corny as hell, but Carlos thought it was funny.

But then Carlos thought about Tony’s friend. He said he ‘flew
in a suit’ with him. He… he wasn’t talking about War Machine, was he?

Tony smiled hearing the other’s reply. “Yeah, I get that, it’s more giving them their legs back with machines until we can do it without you know? That’s what I’d meant, sorry if it came across as rude.” He ran a hand through his hair and licked at his lips a little anxiously. “He told me it felt great to walk but they aren’t all that comfortable so I want to be able to repair the nerves, might even mean we can fix brain tissue too if we get far enough ahead. Help those who had brain injuries or those who struggle with dementia. Just…I think of everything I can do for everyone but it usually starts pretty close to home.” He laughed softly at the joke and smiled. “That’s a good one, you’ll have to tell Rhodey that, I’m sure if you work with us you’ll meet him.”

Tony like this guy, he seemed smart and kind and well mannered and nothing like the other’s he’d seen from Hammer Tech. He was just glad he could give the guy a chance.

“Are you finished Carlos? Or do you need some more time?”

Carlos smiled, a bit anxious himself. “Oh, I didn’t mean that you were rude, Mr Stark, I just… no, I understand what you mean, now that you’ve explained.” He smiled a bit wider, glad that Stark thought he was at least a bit funny. “If I ever get the opportunity to meet Colonel Rhodes, sir, I’ll be sure to remember it.”

This was going so well, Carlos thought. He wondered if he was imagining things, but he really wasn’t sure one way or the other. And it was getting pretty close to the moment of truth.

“Almost done,” he said, looking back at his draft. He chewed on his lip a bit before writing down a couple more points that he wanted to be sure to remember. He then set the pencil down and looked between Mr Stark and Ms Potts. So… how do you want to do this?” he asked. He wasn’t sure if he should start explaining it or if they wanted to start with the supplemental portfolio he brought.

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Tony
watched him and smirked more seeing his response. It was good, damn
good,and honest too. Not some answer the guy expected them to want. He
nodded along slowly before going back to his tablet and working on his
own little plans on there.

“You can help program the systems for those machines if you would
want to. They need something in there to help compensate, one of our
colleges has been paralysed and Tony built him a leg system so he can
walk. He wants to make them more comfortable and more accessible to
others while we work on treating the cause.”

“He was a good friend, kinda my fault he was in that position in the
first place, not fair to let him suffer when he never was like that. The
guy is too smart to waste in a chair, now he can still work and still
flies in a suit with me but yeah.”

Carlos smiled slightly. “For some though, it’s not about ‘until
treatment’,” he responded to Stark. “It’s about accessibility and freedom. My brother: he’s
paraplegic. He hasn’t walked since birth. It’s better to ask him about it, but for him he’d rather be
able to be spontaneous and go someplace without having to call ahead and asking
if it’s wheelchair-accessible. He’s not exactly ‘wasting away’ either – Mikey’s
self-employed. He works repairing folks’ computers, TVs, and gaming consoles. Just…
anything that can be considered ‘smart’, really. I actually worked with him
while I was looking for work.” Carlos grinned. “I, uh… literally did the heavy lifting for him.”

Corny as hell, but Carlos thought it was funny.

But then Carlos thought about Tony’s friend. He said he ‘flew
in a suit’ with him. He… he wasn’t talking about War Machine, was he?

dont-do-anything-i-would-do:

the-perfect-scientist:

dont-do-anything-i-would-do:

the-perfect-scientist:

dont-do-anything-i-would-do

Tony
watched the other and just smiled softly before he pulled out his
tablet and began to work on some coding as the other sketched. He could
multitask, made a habit of it, so why not work on an Upgrade for Jarvis
while he spoke to the young man in front of him.

“Glad to hear you get the time, I’d have paid for a flight home if we
delayed you any way all things considered. I liked what I saw on your
CV, and with your own reports from when you were a student. It’s
interesting to see it all and I like your innovation you got going. Need
more people willing to work like that for us.” Tony smiled softly but
kept his focus on his tablet as he worked. He couldn’t sit still, a bad
habit he always had.

“So what brought you to us? Why did you choose to come here, after
Hammer Tech surely you knew of the issues?” Pepper spoke calmly, not
judging just simply wondering what was going through the other person’s
head.

Carlos tried not to smile too much at Stark’s comments. He
knew that what he had in regards of paperwork behind him (excepting Hammer) was
pretty good. But hearing someone like Tony Stark say that they liked it… It
could turn a man into an embarrassing pile of mush if he wasn’t careful.

But Potts’ questions made it easy for Carlos to return to a
more neutral expression. He realized that while drawing it was a bit harder to
come up with a response other than what he knew to be the absolute truth and
wondered if they planned this. Probably. He didn’t exactly want to straight-up lie, but he didn’t want to over-share his
feelings with them, as well as how desperate and painful his job search had
been.

“Well… honestly, I’ve always thought it would be great to
work with Stark Industries,” he said, thinking carefully about his next words. “I…
I understand that what happened was terrible and…” He paused before taking a
breath. He put his pencil down and looked to Miss Potts and Mr Stark somberly. “I
am very sorry for all the problems and danger that Hammer had put you and your
company through, and I deeply regret any part that I had unwittingly played in
it. This is not meant to sound like an excuse, but… I worked in the safety
department. However I didn’t see an entire project myself – tech was only
showed to us in parts. I did small-scale testing with the parts that I was
assigned to, but full-scale testing was not possible with the way that the labs
were run.

“When I applied for the engineering position from Stark
Industries I just thought… I just thought that the worst that you could say to
me was ‘no’ or to not even reach out to me at all.”

Immediately Carlos started to worry that he’d gotten too wordy and may have just cut off his chances. He knew what happened to those test pilots hadn’t been his fault, but he didn’t think it would be socially proper for him to deny responsibility entirely.

Tony smiled at the honesty from the other and hummed lightly in thought. He wondered about the other, about what brought him to that point, because clearly he had been holding back. “Well at least he’s honest. I knew I’d like him and maybe you’ll finally have someone who’ll tell you what you need to know before it happens.” Tony Chuckled softly to Pepper, who glared at his comment before she looked back over to Carlos with a soft smile.

“It’s okay to be honest. We like it when people are being open and honest about stuff with us. Especially considering everything that’s been going on. We have to be careful so it’s refreshing having someone here who is willing to say what they were thinking.” She smiled softly to him and looked down at the design he was sketching a moment. “Tony found your CV interesting, understanding the position you were put in, and we know many people didn’t see the danger because they couldn’t see the whole picture. That’s how Hammer seemed to work but here, you’ll work with a team on a project together. That way if you think something might go wrong you can fully test it.”

Carlos started to relax slightly. It seemed that that was an
acceptable answer, and he hadn’t messed everything up. That was… that was very
good.

He returned Miss Potts’ smile. “Thank you very much,” he
said. “That’d… it’d be a very nice and welcome change to previous environments
I’d been in.” To actually know when a project was going out, rather than
finding out the day after that it had been presented that it failed
spectacularly…He’d forgotten what a properly functioning lab was like.

Carlos picked up the pencil again and continued with the
drafting. It was starting to take shape finally – it looked like a wheelchair,
but what was immediately different was that the wheels were of a design that he
had been playing with in his head.

“We take care of our staff here, unlike some, I never like seeing them struggle where they don’t need to. There’s a reason we’re ahead and part of that is me, yes, but it’s also the people that work here. We won’t let them down if we don’t need to.”

Tony had said it as if it were a matter of fact and just smiled softly to the man as he sketched out his plan. Pepper smiled softly seeing the interaction between the two and wondered if they both might be helpful for each other in some way before she focused back onto Carlos. “I should hope it does, and maybe in the future if you think something is going wrong while you work here then you can be free to tell us.”

“We like to improve the company and know that the staff being able to tell us about it is a huge thing.”

Carlos’ sketching passed for a moment before continuing with
a very slight smile (that he was trying not to let grow any bigger). What Stark
said just… sounded so genuine. He didn’t say anything different from what he did
in public appearances, but again – Tony Stark saying that to one’s face really
struck home for Carlos and it made him feel like things could be alright.

“Absolutely, Mr Stark – Miss Potts,” Carlos responded,
looking at them. “I care very much about my work and anything I can do to help
it get better I am willing to pursue.”

Carlos glanced down at his sketching again and his smile
faltered a bit. Ugh, he didn’t like how the wheels were looking in the concept.
There were a lot of components he had in mind, but in this one draft it was a
little hard to see it. He drew a line from the wheel’s tread on the profile
view drawing and started to quickly scribble in the notes that he wanted to
make sure to explain. Then he moved onto the next part – a balanced seat.