Tony Stark and Benton Fraser

[om_red]

Tony swings by to see Shinobi, but finds his roommate instead.



It wasn't that Tony was bored, exactly, bored would imply that he didn't have half a dozen things he could have been doing. The thing was that he didn't particularly feel like doing any of them, mostly because he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he was going to vibrate out of his skin at any moment.

Ordinarily in that kind of a situation, he'd have gone and found something dumb to do, but apparently that was significantly harder when under the oversight of a telepath. Not that he couldn't have managed it anyway, but that was a lot of effort to go to for probably a short-term solution.

There were the people nearby, of course, but poking his erstwhile roommate was only fun and games until Tony probably would end up with something broken, Betsy and Philip would just lead to conversations he really didn't want to have, and meeting new people always included the 'so glowing, seriously?' song and dance that he wasn't in the mood for. Which left, really, Shaw. And Shaw, at least, could be counted on to be hiding something alcoholic somewhere.

And he had said his door was always open, which was pretty much why Tony breezed right in without a pause. "So I decided this would be an excellent time for you to entertain me and hello you're not Shaw," he said, not even pausing as he caught sight of the room's sole occupant.

Fraser looked up at the sudden intrusion. He was sitting on the floor on a small bundle of blankets, a huge book on his lap. "Hello," he said, caught by surprise. "No, I'm afraid that my roommate is out at this time."

"Uh," Tony said intelligently, "why are you sitting on the floor when there are many forms for furniture roughly five feet away?" And then, when what he'd said actually caught up, he laughed. "Roommate, really? Hope you like drinking."

"I am afraid it's a hobby that Shaw-sempai and I do not share," Fraser replied, having got stuck on the honorific out of habit by now.

"You're probably gonna get tired of him real quick, then," Tony said as he dropped down onto the bed he was assuming was Shinobi's. The roommate had actual manners. Adorable. And entertaining enough, for the moment. "So who're you, then?"

"My name is Benton Fraser."

"Oh!" He said brightly. "You're the adorable one, right. I should have guessed."

"Ah," Fraser said. "Um. Which were you again?"

"Tony," he grinned. "Stark. Hi," he added with a little finger-wiggle.

"Hello, Tony Stark," Fraser said amicably. He didn't understand the significance of his full name.

Tony studied him for a moment before his grin shifted slightly, into something a bit less manic and a bit more genuine. "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"Well, you only just told me your name," Fraser pointed out reasonably.

He barked out a startled laugh and leaned back a little on the stolen bed. "No, no, I'm sorry. That's just...nice to hear," Tony said still grinning. "My ego can use occasional puncturing."

"I'm sorry, am I missing something significant?" He asked apologetically.

"Nope, not in the least," Tony said brightly. "So whatcha reading?"

Fraser held the book up. "It is a book on local history. I admit my knowledge of this area is limited, and it t seemed like it would make for some light reading."

"Why would you need to know about local history?" He asked absently, leaning all the way back onto his elbows. "I mean, the whole country, sure, that's helpful. But I'm not sure how much you're gonna get out of Westchester County."

"It's a fascinating glimpse at the local culture. While the modern generation may not be as deeply in touch with their roots, they still hold some connection to the current day."

"Local culture," Tony echoed dryly. "It's Westchester ."

"Well, yes, and I admit there is very little in here on the native Lenape. They seem to have dived straight into Colonial Westchester."

"Imagine that," Tony said with great solemnity.

"There's at least 400 years of history, so at least it'll keep me occupied for one evening. It will probably take longer to tackle the history of the whole country. Years to get a decent understanding of anything outside this region, honestly."

"And you're just a history nut or what?" It wasn't the focus that confused Tony so much as the subject matter, but hey. People thought he was weird all the time, too.

Fraser considered that. "I don't believe so. I just enjoy learning things."

"What, like everything?"

He mulled that over. "I suppose."

Tony shot him an immensely dry look. "You suppose. Is there anything you do actually know?"

"Perhaps you should ask a more concrete question," Fraser suggested politely. Sadly, there was no one on this continent that knew that that tone of polite was his equivalent to dry sarcasm.

"More concrete, huh," Tony snickered, dropping his head back to look at the ceiling as he thought. "Okay then. What are you actually into?"

"Again, that is an extremely broad question. I have many hobbies, although many of them would be difficult to engage in now that I'm here. There is sadly not enough snow, and the forest around the school property isn't very deep."

"Sue me, I'm curious," Tony said with a shrug. Clearly this was someone who had never had anyone ask about them before. Which was weird, but okay. "Top five, go."

Fraser blinked. "At this current time... reading, hiking, tracking, wood-carving, and music."

"So-- wood carving? Seriously?"

"Well, yes. Is that so odd?"

"For the Under-Seventy market, yeah generally," Tony returned easily. "From that list I'm gonna guess you live way out in the boonies."

"I lived in the Northwest Territories," Fraser clarified.

"Like I said. Middle of nowhere. Welcome to civilization, or I guess as close as we're getting at the moment."

"Thank you?" Fraser said hesitantly.

Tony just snickered. "If we took you into the city, would your head explode? I ask for the sake of scientific inquiry."

"I arrived in New York City, and it appears my head is still intact."

"Empirical evidence, nice," Tony said with a solemn nod. "But did you get to actually see anything or did you just go through JFK? Because I wouldn't wish JFK on anybody, frankly."

"There was JFK, and then driving through the city on the way up here. The traffic was... interesting."

"By which you mean epic clusterfuck. Yeah, generally."

"I can't say I'm familiar with that vernacular, but I believe I understand your meaning."

"Do you always talk like you swallowed a dictionary?" Tony gave him a curious look, head cocked to the side.

Fraser blinked, then said simply: "Yes."

"Good to know!"

Fraser just sort of shrugged.

"Oh, don't worry," he said easily, kicking both legs from where they were hanging off the side of the bed. "You're still adorable. Just a very weirdly old-man kind of adorable.

"Uh. Okay. Thank you kindly, Tony." Fraser looked rather baffled.

"You're welcome," Tony grinned. "Feel free to come find me any time you want to visit the twenty-first century."

"I will keep that in mind."