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Tony stares at his phone as it buzzes. It's been four days since he and the blond kid were rescued from the compound- four days since he had given the kid his number- and this is the first time he has received a call from an unknown number in that time.
It has to be him.
Tony sets down the blowtorch he's holding, remembering to turn it off just in time. Then, making his way out of the lab where Bruce is still working, he slides his thumb across the phone's screen and brings it up to his ear to answer the call. "Hello?"
There's a short pause, and then a voice that sounds more than a little nervous says, "Um, is this Mr. Stark?"
Tony counters with, "Is this Angus?"
There's another short pause, and Tony thinks he can hear muffled laughter coming from the other end of the line. Then the same voice responds, saying, with a slightly offended tone, "Yes."
Tony grins, a broad smile breaking out over his face even though he knows that the younger man can't see it. "Then yes, this is Mr. Stark. What can I do for you?"
The voice- Angus' voice- says, "Well, you, uh, you gave me your phone number? A few days ago? And so I thought you might want me to call, but I mean, if you didn't, that's fine-"
Tony cuts the poor kid off. "No, yeah, I wanted you to call."
There's definitely relief in the kid's voice. "What for, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, you seemed like a science-type person, and I'm always on the lookout for new science buddies."
"Um, okay?"
Tony sighs. "Look, kid, what I'm trying to clue you in on here is that I want you to come to the Tower sometime and do science with me. Preferably sooner rather than later."
There's silence on the other end of the line for long enough that Tony pulls the phone away from his for a moment to check that the call's still going. Then, "Um, that'd be great. More than great. When works for you?"
Tony glances at his watch. "Tomorrow?"
Immediately, a response comes. "That's great. That works. I can do that."
Tony smiles, softer this time. "I'll send a car to pick you up."
He's about to hang up when a deeper, more mature, and somewhat familiar voice comes the line. "Wait a second. He's not going anywhere without me."
There's an embarrassed groan- probably from the kid- and Tony's eyebrow goes up in surprise. "You have me on speaker? Wait, never mind, not important. Who am I speaking with now?"
The deeper voice comes through again. "Dalton. We talked at y'all's base."
"Oh, yeah. Sure, why not. Expect a car around ten."
Tony pulls the phone away from his ear and hangs up. As he heads back to the lab, he wonders if he should tell Bruce that they'll be having visitors.
He probably should. After all, unexpected visitors that are reminiscent of the military are never a good idea around Bruce.
Tony walks back into the lab to see Bruce working on an equation on the large whiteboard-ish hologram that's a constant presence against the back wall of the lab. He says, "Hey, Bruce, guess what."
Bruce doesn't bat an eye, just keeps working on his equation. "What?"
"That kid's coming over tomorrow."
This catches Bruce's attention. The man caps the marker he's been using to write on the hologram and turns to Tony, setting the marker on a nearby table as he approaches. "Would this be the same kid from a few days ago?"
Tony nods. "That would be the one."
"The one who's file said he had a one-sixty IQ? The one that you said looked like he was a genius even before you saw his IQ?"
"Yeah."
Bruce just peered at Tony for a minute, then laughed. "Oh, this is going to be interesting."
The shorter man turns back to the holographic whiteboard, still smiling to himself. Tony watches him in amusement, then turned back to his own project.
Tony looks out of the window of his lab to see two men, one of them tall and broad and brunet, the other a little shorter and blond, approaching. The brunet has a bit of a scowl on his face, and the blond has his hands shoved deep into the pocket of his hoodie. The kid's glancing up at his friend- Dalton, Tony remembers belatedly- with something akin to nervousness on his face, and, as Tony watches, the older man brings up a hand to ruffle the thatch of blond hair atop the kid's head. Angus swats the hand away immediately, but his nervousness seems to vanish.
Interesting, Tony thinks.
As the two men stop just outside his lab, the genius says, "Jarvis, let them in."
The rich, cultured tones of his AI fill the lab immediately. "Of course, sir."
The doors whoosh open, and in step Tony's guests. Bruce, in the corner and working on another equation, glances at them, then goes back to his equation. However, he makes sure not to turn his back fully to them, and Tony mentally sighs. His friend has spent too many years on the run to forget habits such as that in just months.
Shelving the problem of Bruce for the time being, Tony spreads his arms wide as he walks towards his guests. "Mr. MacGyver and Mr. Dalton, I presume?"
The blond nods, and Dalton crosses his arms intimidatingly. Good, Tony thinks to himself. The kid needs someone like that around.
Tony offers his hand first to the blond, then to his companion. They each shake it as he says, "I'm afraid we didn't have time to properly introduce ourselves last time. I'm Tony Stark."
Dalton just shrugs, but the kid says, "Um, I know. I mean, I'm MacGyver, this is Jack."
Tony's impressed with the kid. He obviously admires the inventor, but he's refrained from flipping out and fawning all over Tony, unlike some other fans that Tony's met. Tony motions to the lab behind him. "Well, I invited you here to see if you wanted to do some science, so let's get to it."
MacGyver's eyes light up, and Tony instantly knows that he's found another science companion. Jack spies a couch in the corner and says, "I'll be over there if you need anything, Mac."
The blond nods, and the older man walks over and sits on the couch. It's near Bruce, but the other scientist doesn't seem to be too uncomfortable in the proximity of the unfamiliar man.
The next time Tony looks up, he sees the clock and realizes that it's been an hour and a half. Time has flown while he's been talking with MacGyver. The kid's obviously a genius, and from random snippets of conversation Tony's picked up that he made it through MIT in two years, graduating when he was eighteen and then entering the army almost immediately.
As he continues the current vein of conversation with the blond- they're talking about quantum physics and the inventor is hearing some views on things that he's never thought of- Tony glances surreptitiously over at Bruce. To his surprise, Jack and the other man have struck up a conversation and seem to be getting along just fine.
Tony permits himself a smile and brings his attention back to MacGyver.
Jack glances at the clock, noticing that it's been about three hours since they first arrived. The man is eating lunch with Banner, who disappeared about ten minutes ago and has just reappeared, bearing food for all four men. Stark and MacGyver are eating and talking, and Jack and Banner are sitting quietly together.
Jack smiles to himself as he watches his young friend interact with the inventor. He's waving his arms around excitedly as he discusses something with Stark- something complex and sciency, no doubt- and he looks more at ease around someone other than Jack than he has since he came back from his imprisonment.
Things are finally looking up.