Genius

Starting the next day, Luke was dragged all over the place by Tony, fulfilling what Tony called his last wishes.

But to Luke, Tony was simply acting on whatever whim struck him. One day they were fishing for sharks at sea, and the next they were skydiving from eight thousand feet.

A week later, Luke and Tony were lying on a yacht out at sea because Tony had suddenly decided to give himself a healthy tan.

Luke figured the guy would go get his skin lightened the next day, though. He was that vain.

Tony held a tablet, watching the surveillance footage on it.

"Looks like your Shadow Legion is working pretty well with those construction workers," Tony said, turning to Luke.

Luke glanced at the tablet in his hands. Tony had borrowed his Shadow Legion to help construct the buildings for the Stark Expo. Just because he wanted to bring back the Stark Expo, he had insisted on borrowing Luke's Ninja Soldiers and Troll Soldiers to do the work, claiming there wasn't enough time.

He hadn't asked for many Blade Soldiers, though, since they weren't suited to construction work. Let one take a couple of steps around the Stark Expo, and the ground would be full of holes...

"These guys are seriously strong!" Tony marveled as he watched several Troll Soldiers pick up an enormous steel sphere and set it inside a ring.

"They're about as strong as Hulk. Making them move those heavy loads really is asking a lot of them."

"How is that asking a lot of them?" Tony set down the tablet. "It's making full use of resources."

"You evil capitalist. We might as well hang you from one of those streetlights they just put up."

Tony decided not to stoop to arguing with him, because if he pushed Luke too far, he really could hang him from a streetlight.

As for how he knew, a couple of days ago, when he had tried to find Luke a few girls, he had ended up hanging upside down from the balcony all night.

Why had Luke refused? Because the guy actually had mild face blindness and felt no attraction to those women, saying something about preferring inner beauty.

But Tony would rather believe the guy couldn't get it up. Of course, if he said that aloud, he would definitely end up on a fishing hook as shark bait...

Luke shook his head and swiped through the tablet, noticing that there were plenty of reporters at the expo construction site today, too.

When the Shadow Legion had appeared at the site a few days earlier, they had drawn countless eyes. Reporters had swarmed in like sharks scenting blood, nearly outnumbering the workers.

To keep construction running smoothly, Tony had Pepper chase the reporters out, allowing each newspaper to keep just one team there to cover the story.

Thanks to that, the expo had attracted plenty of attention before it even opened. According to Pepper, the Stark Group had already received countless exhibition applications lately. That made Luke suspect Tony had deliberately asked for his Shadow Legion's help. Otherwise, with all his money, how many construction workers couldn't he afford to hire?

The Shadow Legion's involvement had also greatly sped up construction. After all, the expo didn't have any buildings hundreds of meters tall. The tallest were only the main exhibition hall and the ecological park.

After checking the expo's construction progress, Tony turned over to sunbathe his back as well, aiming for an even tan. To Luke, though, it was just like flipping meat in a pan so it wouldn't burn.

Luke checked the progress, too. Most of the buildings on the expo grounds were already finished, leaving only landscaping and decoration.

In a few more days, the expo would probably be ready to open, in time to match the date of the previous expo.

"Speaking of which, ever since you dumped the CEO job on Pepper, it feels like I haven't seen her in ages. Are you sure you don't want to spend this last stretch of your life properly dating her?"

Luke suddenly spoke as he watched Tony happily sip his red wine.

Tony choked a few times, glanced at Luke, then lay face down like a piece of burnt meat. "I still haven't dealt with that stuff inside my body. I don't want to inject it into Pepper, too."

Luke flipped him the middle finger. "Is that all you ever think about? You jerk."

Seeing Tony's puzzled look, Luke asked suspiciously, "Have you ever actually been in a relationship? Have you just been getting straight down to business all this time, with no feelings involved?"

Tony coughed. "Are you questioning a genius with countless conquests under his belt?"

"I'm questioning a big-time john."

The more Luke thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He frowned, walked over, hauled Tony up, and drew a portal, taking them straight back to Tony's Long Island Mansion.

"JARVIS, bring the yacht back. I need to talk to Tony about something else."

A day later, Tony came to Stark Industries for the first time in ages and walked into the CEO's office.

Pepper was on the phone and seemed very busy.

Tony coughed twice to announce his presence. Pepper glanced at him and signaled for him to wait, so Tony sat at the desk in boredom, watching the perpetually swinging desk ornament.

When Pepper still hadn't finished her call after quite a while, Tony felt rather helpless. He glanced at the still-swinging ornament, found a data cable, tied it up haphazardly, then grabbed a few boxes to block it from view.

Pepper smiled at the sight, said a few more words into the phone, and finally hung up.

"So, what brings you here all of a sudden?"

Tony hesitated, unsure how to begin. Damn Luke had shoved him straight in. He could at least have let him think of something to say!

"Tony, what are you trying to say? I'm very busy right now. Stark Industries is holding the expo soon, and there's a mountain of things to deal with every day."

To Pepper, the CEO position was a sign that Tony trusted her more and felt closer to her, so she was working very hard to be a good CEO of Stark Industries.

She hadn't taken a break in a long time because of it, but she was still full of drive.

Tony thought for a moment, then decided to take a more roundabout approach.

So Tony asked, "Are you free tomorrow?"

Pepper gave him a curious look, then checked her schedule.

"Hmm, I still have plenty to do tomorrow. Or rather, I'll have plenty to do right up until the expo opens. I might be busy after it opens, too. Why?"

Thinking of the guy blocking the door outside, who had said he wouldn't let him leave unless he brought Pepper out of the office, Tony could only steel himself and press on.

"Uh, I just wanted to... take you to check... the expo's construction progress tomorrow," Tony stammered. "Just the two of us."

Pepper froze for a moment, wondering why they couldn't simply check the construction progress on a tablet. But after hearing his last sentence, she gave it a little thought and understood his real intention.

"An invitation to a date?" Pepper asked with a smile.

"Uh, just... work?"

Hearing words that even Tony himself hadn't figured out, Pepper shook her head.

"Tony, I'm very happy you'd say that, but could we not have our first date at a construction site? How about the Long Island Mansion instead? No one else there, even JARVIS switched off. We could do anything there."

A little thought was enough to tell her that Tony couldn't possibly have said this on his own. Someone must have forced him, but Pepper was still very pleased.

Silently thanking that someone, Pepper went straight on the offensive.

"Uh, isn't that a little fast?" Now Tony was at a loss. He had wanted to try that sweet feeling of being in love Luke had described. Although that guy had never been in a relationship either, his vivid description had made it sound pretty good.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him. "I meant a delicious lunch, a movie together in the afternoon, then a candlelit dinner in the evening. How does that sound? A classic date combination."

Tony smiled awkwardly, but Pepper's description sounded pretty good to him, too.

Pepper leaned down and kissed Tony on the cheek, then said with a smile, "Of course, if you have any brilliant ideas, feel free to suggest them. Or surprise me. Finally, I still have plenty of work to do, so I'll see you tomorrow. And thank Luke for me while you're at it."

"Why thank Luke?" Tony was floating on air after that kiss and hadn't heard anything Pepper had said before that.

Pepper shook her head, rather speechless.

Outside, Luke had heard their conversation with his astonishing hearing. A fond grin spread across his face before he finally composed himself.

He knocked on the door. "Tony, I think we can leave now."

He pushed the door open to find that Pepper had already gone back to work, while Tony was still sitting there like an idiot.

Luke shook his head and pushed Tony out under Pepper's grateful gaze.

Once outside, Luke draped an arm around Tony. "You did brilliantly today, genius."