That One Time We Kissed // Bishova College AU

Little White Lies

The next few days of Kate's internship passed without incident. Discouraged by Pepper's rejection, she kept her head down, completing her lab work with ease and efficacy. In a way, the ordeal with Pepper was distracting enough to draw Kate's attention from her impostor syndrome, but the trade was hardly worth it.

Every night she and Eleanor and Yelena sat down to have dinner, Kate had lied to Yelena's face, saying she hadn't seen Pepper, saying she was trying her best. But Kate had already tried her best, and it wasn't enough.

Kate just wished she knew why. In her mind, Pepper had nothing to lose here. She said it herself, she missed Yelena, and Yelena definitely missed her. Why not have lunch or at least a phone call? What was the holdup?

At the very least, Kate wanted an explanation, a reason. She kept a watchful eye out for the redhead whilst pouring solutions or cleaning equipment, always ready to rush out and plead her case again. Though it was the bare minimum, maybe even less than that, Kate thought Yelena deserved answers, deserved closure, but that was a difficult goal to achieve with Pepper seemingly vanishing.

Perhaps Kate spooked her. It had to be a shock to have a random intern rush up to you, demanding you meet with her girlfriend. As many wonderful and painful memories Yelena had, Pepper surely had just as many. Perhaps she needed time as well.

Kate tried to exercise patience, to give Pepper the benefit of the doubt, but doing so was difficult with Yelena so hopeful. The blonde would rush to the door when Kate came home every evening, expectant expression poorly masked, and ask if Kate had made any progress. Every night Kate would say no, and every night Yelena's smile fell a little further. It was crushing.

Though not ideal, Kate made a pact with herself that if she still had not seen Pepper again by the end of the first week, she would bring it up with Tony. The two had a surprisingly strong rapport, what with Tony loving the Java Bot and Kate's general ingenuity, and Kate could try to leverage this. However, there was a chance Tony was completely unaware of Yelena at all, in which case this plan was fruitless and messy.

It was nearly the end of the day that Friday when Kate feared that situation may become reality. Having snuck out of the intern laboratory as she often did, she searched for any last glimpse of Pepper in the throngs of employees and lab techs.

Unfortunately for Kate, though, she stumbled into Tony before she ever got close to finding his wife.

"Mr. Stark," Kate nodded, attempting to move deftly past.

He moved subtly to block her path. "Miss Bishop. I see you're out of the lab again."

Kate chuckled nervously. "Oh, you know me. Gotta take my walk. Keep the blood flowing."

"Right." He looked her up and down, eyes shaded behind his trademark sunglasses. "What are you really doing? You look like you're casing the joint."

"Yep. I am. I'm planning to rob the place blind." Kate hoped the joke would get her off the hook, but Tony knew better.

"Okay, luckily for you you're a terrible liar. That's still gonna get you put on a few watchlists, though." He winked, calming Kate down for the moment. He motioned her over to a quieter corner of the hall. "So, I've been meaning to talk to you."

Kate froze, fearing the worst. "About?"

"Your schematics for an addition to Stark Tower. I mean, the way you hid the weight bearing columns? Brilliant, really."

"Oh, yeah. No biggie."

Tony laughed. "No need for humility here. We're standing in a tower I named after myself."