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Tony’s eyes widened with instant curiosity.  “Okay,” he said with an encouraging smile, “what’s your hypothesis?”

Carlos offered Stark a small smile back.

“It’s about you,” he said. They were alone in the lab at the moment – it was later and it had been a long day for everyone who wasn’t Carlos or Mr Stark – so Carlos felt like now was a good time to bring this up.

Now his face winced with a slight frown of puzzlement, but it relaxed again and Tony was smiling pleasantly.  “Was there someplace you felt would be more suitable to discuss this?” he asked with growing curiosity.

“This is fine,” Carlos assured him. Carlos hoped that Mr Stark wasn’t too nervous. It wasn’t anything bad. “Mr Stark, you’re probably one of the best employers out there. You treat everyone with the same amount of respect and regard. That is… except for me.” Carlos dropped his gaze then, his nerves starting to waver a bit but he still smiled a bit. “I mean… not everybody has one-on-one coffee with you. Nor do I think you make it a habit to let employees fall asleep on you in meetings.” Carlos glanced up at him again. “So, uh… I get the idea that I’m different? Somehow? That’s – that’s my hypothesis.” Carlos hoped to God that he wasn’t reading things wrong.

stilltakingmetoschool:

Tony’s eyes widened with instant curiosity.  “Okay,” he said with an encouraging smile, “what’s your hypothesis?”

Carlos offered Stark a small smile back.

“It’s about you,” he said. They were alone in the lab at the moment – it was later and it had been a long day for everyone who wasn’t Carlos or Mr Stark – so Carlos felt like now was a good time to bring this up.

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[MSG:]  That’s okay.  I loved it, so I put frozen toaster struddles from the nearest grocery store next to it!:laughing:

[MSG:] Lol I guess so? I think I might have had it confused with the Xbox 360. lol

[MSG:] Why would you put an Xbox 360 in the freezer?😱  There wouldn’t be anything else in there that was compatible.

[MSG:] Because the Xbox is silly and thinks it’s overheating. It wasn’t one of Microsoft’s finest pieces of equipment. lol

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“Okay,” Tony gasped hoarsely in between hard coughs.  “I’ll just…suffer in silence.”  He let out another long series of coughs, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smirk, and he was looking at Carlos with a merry gleam in his eyes.

Getting a good laugh from that answer, Tony relented.  "Okay, go get us
some coffee with actual sugar before with both start mixing things up
and stopping the world,“ he patted Carlos’s arm encouragingly.  "I’d
still like to talk with you some more when you come back.”

“Yessir,” Carlos said with a nod. He was still smiling at his boss. “See ya in a bit.” He was honestly a little nervous about just ‘talking’ with Stark… but there was no reason not to so he tried to take it easy.

Carlos dumped out the bad coffee in the sink in the break room before having the machine dispense more into their rinsed mugs. He even taste-tested the sugar to make sure he had it right before mixing the mugs and bringing them back to Stark’s workspace.

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“Okay,” Tony gasped hoarsely in between hard coughs.  “I’ll just…suffer in silence.”  He let out another long series of coughs, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smirk, and he was looking at Carlos with a merry gleam in his eyes.

Carlos snorted softly and reached to take the offending cup of coffee away. “You want me to make you a new one?” he asked.

“That depends,” Tony grinned without coughing this time, “are you going to run a sample of it through the chem analyzer before you give it to me?” He was laughing silently, kind of enjoying Carlos’s unintentional knack of breaking him out of a rut.

Carlos smiled sheepishly, glancing away. “Uh… would you like me to?” he asked. It was a joke, obviously, but Carlos was playing along. Maybe he’ll do it just to make sure Stark knew that it hadn’t been on purpose… Carlos didn’t know what the hell happened. He suspected his own cup was also compromised.

Tony flashed a fond grin at Carlos and chuckled.  “Either you’re stumped on something, have one of your not-fully-formed ‘Eurika’ ideas, or someone has become your latest distraction.  Which one is it?” He asked teasingly.

“Huh?” Carlos asked. “Oh, no, I was just wondering if I have to make myself a new cup too. Probably… heh. I like my sugar.” What did Stark mean by ‘someone’?

“I’ll, uh… take this and be back in a bit,” he then told his boss, lifting the cup in illustration.

Tony glided out of his seat and to the other side of Carlos.  "Aaaah-d-d-d-d-nah-nah-nah
-nah

,“ he halted in front of Carlos with glittering eyes and a boyish grin.  "Didn’t anybody tell you it’s very bad manners to completely dodge an employers question when he’s trying to show interest in your work and or personal life.” He put up his hands to emphasis a ‘pause’ in the currently one-sided conversation.  "Granted, I have no business asking about your personal life, although, should you happen to want to share details about any good fortune you may have had, I’d be more than happy to join celebrating your reason for happiness.  Even if it’s work happiness, I more than understand that, so don’t feel the need to keep it to yourself, that is, if you don’t want to.“

Carlos had only barely stopped before running into Stark when he stood in front of him. Carlos was honestly a little confused – his personal life? Why would anyone want to know about that?

“Heh, I have a personal life?” Carlos asked facetiously, matching Stark’s grin. He wanted to know about happiness in Carlos’ life? “As for good fortune… you know, I accidentally gave my boss a cup of coffee with salt in it instead of sugar today. But the kicker is he didn’t fire me! Talk about great luck, huh?” Carlos was still grinning to show that he was joking.

Because that’s what he did – he joked. Carlos didn’t know where Stark’s concern was, if he had any, so he wasn’t sure if he should take the other man’s comments in sincerity. He’d see how his boss reacted to the joke first.

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“Okay,” Tony gasped hoarsely in between hard coughs.  “I’ll just…suffer in silence.”  He let out another long series of coughs, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smirk, and he was looking at Carlos with a merry gleam in his eyes.

Carlos snorted softly and reached to take the offending cup of coffee away. “You want me to make you a new one?” he asked.

“That depends,” Tony grinned without coughing this time, “are you going to run a sample of it through the chem analyzer before you give it to me?” He was laughing silently, kind of enjoying Carlos’s unintentional knack of breaking him out of a rut.

Carlos smiled sheepishly, glancing away. “Uh… would you like me to?” he asked. It was a joke, obviously, but Carlos was playing along. Maybe he’ll do it just to make sure Stark knew that it hadn’t been on purpose… Carlos didn’t know what the hell happened. He suspected his own cup was also compromised.

Tony flashed a fond grin at Carlos and chuckled.  “Either you’re stumped on something, have one of your not-fully-formed ‘Eurika’ ideas, or someone has become your latest distraction.  Which one is it?” He asked teasingly.

“Huh?” Carlos asked. “Oh, no, I was just wondering if I have to make myself a new cup too. Probably… heh. I like my sugar.” What did Stark mean by ‘someone’?

“I’ll, uh… take this and be back in a bit,” he then told his boss, lifting the cup in illustration.

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[Sleep Deprivation]

Tony only answered first with a knowing, but amused smile.  “Or could it, perhaps be that you’re having trouble focusing way past a healthy period of time?” The billionaire asked teasingly.

Carlos blinked at him, his mind slowly comprehending what he said. “Uh… O-oh… um, I guess so… maybe.” Carlos rubbed at his eyes with one hand, sighing deeply to disguise a yawn. “Sorry, sir. Sorry…”

Tony smirked and let out an endeared sigh.  "Next thing you know, you’re going to be shaving like me,“ he brought his hands together in front of him with a smart clap.  "Okay, I want you to take out your company phone and ask FRIDAY give you step-by-step directions to the nearest vacant sleep room,” he instructed firmly.

Carlos jumped at the clap and he stared wide-eyed at Stark. “Sleep… room?” he asked. He vaguely remembered Stark mentioning them before, but Carlos had always been awake enough to hop on public transport back to his own apartment so he hadn’t needed one. Until now, he supposed.

“Uh, yes… yes sir. Friday?” He paused for a moment, listening. “Friday?” Carlos had forgotten to take his phone out of his pocket.