Work Text:
A Stark Contrast
Johanna Schälchen was nervous. Really nervous. In fact she had never been so nervous in her whole life. She was a Bachelor student at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, studying both German and History (She had started a couple of other things before, like English, but that was totally besides the point). And although she wasn’t sure what exactly she wanted to do with that combination, she knew this very day would determine the rest of her life.
Five weeks ago Tony Stark had been found alive in Afghanistan. Only two days later he had announced Stark Industries would cease all weapons productions. SI’s shares had plummeted. Shareholders were scared, confused and angry. Three weeks ago Harry Stark, Tony Stark’s younger, less known brother had declared he’d take over as CEO in this trying time to give his brother the opportunity to decide on the course he wanted their company to take in the future. The press had gone mental. Everyone wanted an interview with both Starks, find out what had happened to Tony, if he had a plan. Harry Stark was by many only viewed as someone with the right name to hold down the fort, but especially his personal life were of great interest to almost everyone. And two weeks ago Johanna and her friends had gotten stupidly drunk and decided that writing to Stark Industries with an interview request for Harry Stark for their student paper (Akrützel) was the funniest idea they had ever had. Totally. They had written a really funny e-mail (Johanna had found it way less funny, when she had read it the next afternoon, sober and really, really embarrassed). Ah well, they had all consoled themselves. E-mails like that probably weren’t even read by anyone. They were deleted immediately, obviously. Apparently they had been wrong. Two days later Johanna had gotten a response from Harry Stark’s assistant, saying he’d be ready to meet. He’d be in Berlin for two days. If Johanna could manage to meet him there?
She wasn’t really sure who’d been the most shocked: Johanna? Her friends? The Akrützel-Staff, that had never even heard of her? They had thought this to be a joke and Johanna was, to be honest, still not convinced they were wrong. Except for the fact that she was now sitting in a very expensive hotel room in Berlin, dictaphone, pen and paper in hand.
Dylan, Mr Stark’s assistant, walked back in, phone in hand.
“Sorry, Miss Schälchen, Mr Stark is running late. He apologizes.”
Johanna smiled nervously up at him, drumming the pen subconsciously on her paper.
“That is all right. He is a busy man and I don’t have anything else to do for the day.”
Dylan smiled at her and left the room again, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She decided to simply check her questions again. Oh God. She had fact checked her questions as much as possible, but she was seriously afraid of asking a stupid one. Or embarrassing herself. Or something, really.
Ten minutes later the door opened again and Johanna expected it to be Dylan again. It wasn’t. Harry Stark looked exactly liked she had seen him online. His black hair and beard neatly groomed, a faint scar on his forehead and an expensive looking suit on. What she hadn’t seen before where the two travel-mugs in his hand, one of which he offered to her with a winning smile.
“Miss Schälchen, please excuse my rudeness. I hope a hot coffee might redeem me.”
She took the bright red cup in a daze, as he plunged town on the couch opposite her.
“How was your trip?”
“Fine.”, she answered automatically, before her brain finally kicked into gear, “Thank you for the coffee. How was your trip then?”
“It was all right.”, he smiled at her, “The transition has been somewhat time consuming. But we seem to be on track.”
That looked like a great opening for her interview, but Johanna was close to a nervous breakdown now. Argh. Yes. Dictaphone.
“Sorry, Mr Stark, would it be okay, if I taped the conversation?”
“Oh yes, of course. Go ahead.”
She fiddled with the machine for a full two minutes, before Stark held out his hand, took the damned thing from her and set it all up for her.
“Thank you.”, she was beet red in the face.
“It is really, honestly not a problem. There is no need to apologize. And I was raised a Stark. If I were unable to operate a thing like this, I might get kicked out of the family.”
“Is that something you are continuing with your own kids? Teaching them about technology?”, the question wasn’t anywhere in her notes, in fact there weren’t any questions about his private life on there, simply because she knew the younger Stark brother to very secretive, but the question had just come too natural to not ask. Apparently Stark viewed it the same way.
“Funnily enough my household is far less full of technology, that you or others might expect, but my brother takes great joy in teaching my children about whatever he is working on. I am the one that goes out in the garden and plays football instead.”
“Well, as long as everyone knows about their roles in the family.”, Johanna couldn’t stop herself from commenting.
Stark laughed happily, seemingly at ease with the situation.
“That is indeed very important.”
“Is that why you originally decided to not take a job at Stark Industries?”
“No. It is really not. I had other responsibilities and other interests to pursue. But when Tony decided to stop manufacturing weapons, I knew there would be difficult times ahead and that he would need someone he could trust to help him stir Stark Industries through those times.”
“And that person is you.”
“I hope so. I do realize that many think me unqualified. They think I was offered this position because of my last name, and frankly: They are right. Together my brother and I are the main shareholders. But what people tend to forget is that I was raised into this. My parents took great care to make sure I knew how to run a company. They always knew I would never rival Tony in his talents. I could never be the brain behind Stark Industries.”
“Does that or did it ever bother you?”
“No. My brother and I are a team and we were meant to be. I was distracted by other obligations for a while. Now I am not.”
“He is the brains. You are the brawn.”
Stark laughed loudly. “Yes. Maybe. Although I would not underestimate Tony’s ability to look after himself.”
“There are rumours that you were the one that found him in Afghanistan. Are they true?”
“I spend a lot of time looking for my brother, yes, I employed mercenaries and local guides in an attempt to find him. In the end those efforts luckily were successful.”
“But you weren’t there personally.”
“I am a suit-wearing pencil pusher. Can you see me running into a terrorist-infested cave?”
“I don’t think I am a good enough judge of character to make an educated guess.”, to be honest though, Johanna was more and more certain that there was a lot more to Harry Stark than he was letting on. She had thought these rumours ridiculous. Now? She wasn’t so sure.
“True.”, he admitted with a strange twinkle in his impressively green eyes, “We can’t really ever judge people on appearances.”
There was a short pause in their conversation. Johanna looked at her notes. Right.
“What exactly are your plans for Stark Industries now?”
The sudden shift in conversation seemed to take Stark aback for a second, before his old smile slid back in place.
“We have several options in front of us. Gladly our company is still faring well enough that we can take this time to consider. My father had been looking into alternative energy concepts before he died. Right now building on that seems like a valuable approach.”
“Those ideas though are what? About 20 years old? Aren’t they terribly outdated by now?”
“Oh no, they are really not. My father was a pretty remarkable man.”
Johanna blushed again, she certainly hadn’t meant to insult Howard Stark, but his son didn’t seem to hold that against her.
“We have people look into a lot of different options concerning our future and we are indeed very confident.”
“You must be, if you are actually moving headquarters to a different continent, despite the falling stock values.”
“Even on the danger of repeating myself: My father was a really remarkable man, who managed to create Stark Industries out of literally nothing. He had no money and no connections to help him and he managed to get as far as he did on his abilities and perseverance alone. My brother had inherited these qualities in abundance. My father often said that Tony would be able to solve the problems he himself could not. With all that and the money and connections Tony had, do you think he will not succeed in whatever he puts his mind to?”
“Honestly? No. I think those that are now selling their stock will live to regret it.”
She got another warm laugh for that.
“Can I ask you something, Mr Stark?”
“I thought that was what we were here for.”
“True. But… why? Why did you even agree to this interview. You must have gotten countless requests. Why did you agree to talk to me?”
“Yes. I got a lot of requests. And I haven’t given a single interview. Most likely I won’t give another in the near future. There isn’t that much I can say with certainty, before he have decided on an agenda. I am honestly not big on giving interviews. Used to it, yes, with the way I grew up, but it is not a chore I particularly enjoy. Then I got your e-mail. I assume it was send in the middle of the night.”
“Very much so, yes.”
“I laughed so hard when you explained why a student paper at a university would be the perfect opportunity. You sounded a lot like me in an essay when I am not convinced about my own argument. And of course you enclosed that very nice picture of you and your friends.”
“Oh God.”, Johanna hid her head,
“Don’t be ashamed. It was charming. It was different. It was fun. I can appreciate that. Don’t take yourself too seriously, life will do that anyway. And to be honest: I had a good laugh at the idea of all those journalists, who take so much delight in speculating about my brother’s mental health or my ineptitude, waking up to realize that I gave one interview. Only one. To a little German student paper.”
Johanna grinned, “So you are using me.”
“Well yes. That’s why I got you the coffee.”
The coffee. Right. She had almost forgotten. Carefully she pushed the button and took a sip. Stark did the same. The coffee was still incredibly hot.
“Is your growing up in the limelight the reason you are now being so careful with your own children?”
“Definitely. I hope there isn’t too much information about them out there.”
“There Isn’t. Believe me: I looked. No names. I am not even sure how many there are. Only one photo.”
“One photo? Oh yes. I remember that. It’s a picture of Tony and Rhodey taking my oldest to Disney World.”
“If one of your children decided to enter society life, would you permit that?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know… If one of your kids decided to become an actor or a singer.”
“That depends on their age. As long as they are not old enough to realize what being in the public eye can mean, I will try and protect them from it.”
“Both you and your brother were in the society part of the papers a lot when you grew up.”
“True. We were taken along to premieres and charity events. Our parents thought we would have to deal with that eventually, so it might be a better idea to get us used to it from the start. I personally don’t agree nor disagree with their decision. I am just trying out a different one with my own kids. Only the future will tell which was the right one. Maybe there isn’t even a right one. I grew up going to fancy parties, I was the first to see new movies. I met great people. Simultaneously I had a bodyguard and was taught how to react in case of a kidnapping.”
“Were you ever kidnapped?”
There was an odd, heavy pause and Johanna feared she might have finally found an answer he wouldn’t been willing to give, but again, she was wrong.
“Yes. I was. Once. When I was fourteen, I was kidnapped from school. There was an event. Everything was loud and chaotic and they took their chance. I made it back to school.”
“You escaped? By yourself?”
“I did. And I am sorry, Miss Schälchen, but this is really not my favourite topic of conversation.”
“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“No. It is fine. You can ask me whatever you like. But please also give me the courtesy of accepting it, when I do not want to talk about something.”
“Of course. Is there something you would really like to talk about?”
“Me? What is your opinion on the upcoming world cup?”
Johanna laughed loudly. “I am German”, she grinned, “There is really not that much I can say.”
“You are in line for a win.”
“No! We like to mess up at the very last minute.”
“Also true.”
Their friendly conversation continued like that for a bit. Johanna had almost forgotten she was interviewing one of the richest men in the world. Instead it felt much more like a simply talk with a potential new friend. Half an hour later he had to leave for his next appointment, but he did give her his card and asked her to send her a copy of the paper once it came out.
.