E/d note: Thanks for all the support, guys! This chapter is more of a filler chapter in the lines of a slice of life genre. No major plot events occur here, just some daily life updates for Luke and setting the scene for the next few chapters. The original MTL chapter 10 was absolutely horrid. Too many bloody one-dimensional flirting and one-sided crushes for the MC by his café employees AND PEPPER POTTS OF ALL PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?! Yeah, hell no. I'll just have some normal interactions to have a normal slice of life chapter please thank you. Honestly you could skip this chapter and not miss much. Also in this chapter, I made my first attempt at doing person descriptions, and I have to say, might not be for me xD Not sure if I'll continue doing it for future chapters but we'll see how it's received by you guys.
For those who are wondering, the MTL said that the cafe is in Manhattan, opposite Stark Industries headquarters. But that's in L.A. And the events of Iron Man 1 happened in LA and not in NY. So I made the small change just to accomodate Iron Man 1 and set the foundations to have the cafe shifted to NY when Tony shifts to NY for the Avengers tower. Without further ado, here's the slice of life chapter!
'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
(Word Count: 2,016)
~ With Luke, in Los Angeles ~
Landing in L.A. in the early hours of the day, Luke immediate began making his way to his travel destination – his café. Luke had purchased the property from the previous owners, who had used the property as an ice cream store. The building stood at two-storeys high, with the first floor boasting roughly 200sqm in size, while the second floor at roughly 190sqm in size. The previous owners had opened their store in the hopes of attracting the busy office workers in the area to patron their store through ice cream. However, they had been making loss after loss since opening operations and were looking to sell the property in order to cut their losses. Luke, who was looking for a good location to open up his café, was lucky enough to come across the sale advertisement and had swiftly made the purchase, turning the first floor into the café, while renovating the second floor into an apartment he could live in during his stay in L.A.
'It is fortunate that I had made up the story that I was a veteran former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the diary. In this way, when Fury inevitably makes a background check on me, I can at least come up with some excuse that would tickle Fury's spy bone. A good spy never reveals his secrets in any scenarios.' Unbeknownst to Luke, Fury had indeed conducted a background investigation on Luke. Suffice it to say, Fury was impressed at how Luke was able to procure an official identity for himself along with purchasing physical possessions such as his café. Fury was still attempting to trace where Luke had gathered enough money to purchase the property, yet the truth could have never been easier to understand. The truth was, Luke had received an initial gift package provided by the system, which had come with it a large sum of money. Money that was untraceable yet tangible in this world. Luke did not care on the how that was supposed to work. As long as he had the money and was assured by the system that he would be safe using it, that was enough for him. Checking the time, Luke nodded as he still had a couple of hours to spare before it was opening time for his café.
~ scene cut to a few hours later ~
Upon walking through the entrance of the café, Luke was greeted by the staff he had retained a few weeks ago. "Mr Sullivan, what a pleasant surprise. We had not been expecting your return so soon after you informed us about moving to New York so soon after operations begun for the café."
Like a deer caught in a headlight, Luke had made an abrupt stop in his tracks at the sweet words of the café manager, "April! I meant to call in advance to inform you guys of my return. It must have slipped my mind, haha." Luke had tried to reason as a means of escaping the glare of April. The day Luke informed his employees of his departure was a few days after he had actually left for New York. Having their new café owner suddenly up and leave the café had caused the employee's imaginations to run wild. Fortunately for Luke, the employees still had the decency to run the café in his absence. When Luke finally realized that he had forgotten to inform his employees of his move, he had flown back to L.A. to have a meeting with his employees. It was in this meeting that April, with the recommendation of her colleagues, was promoted to café manager.
Standing at 167cm tall, April was the epitome of a fusion of elegance and approachability, her heart-shaped face framed by shoulder-length waves of naturally auburn hair pulled back into a casual ponytail. Behind a pair of stylish spectacles, her almond-shaped eyes, the colour of rich mahogany, sparkle with curiosity and kindness, inviting conversation and connection. In her preferred attire of slim jeans and casual shirts, April seamlessly combines comfort with style. Whether she's bustling around the cafe or taking a well-deserved break to chat with regulars, her outfits exude a sense of understated confidence and ease.
April was a young lady who had only one goal in life at the moment, and that was to support her family and provide them with a comfortable life. In order to do so, April had worked hard to get to where she was in the present day. If there was one thing she disliked most, it was receiving handouts. April had studied in a local university, pursuing dual degrees in business management and human relations. Even through the chaos of her freshmen years up till her graduation, April had managed to balance her time between studying and spending time with her friends and family. Post-graduation, she had gotten herself an interview with the previous owners of the ice cream shop for the position of Jr Manager, yet only managed to secure a full-time regular employment due to her being relatively fresh and having non-existent work experience in the role she had applied for. However, her confident and friendly demeanour had earned her the support of her colleagues and regular customers alike.
"Slipped your mind? Just as how it slipped your mind to inform us that you were moving to a different city? Or that you wanted to retain our employment after purchasing this building? Or how about that time you forgot to tell us that we could take a few weeks off as paid leave as you had the building renovated into this café?" Under April's assertion, Luke could only look abashed as he had imaginary sweat running down his face. "I do hope that you would see to it to work on this habit of yours, Mr Sullivan. It is unbecoming for a young man such as yourself."
Snorting at her words, Luke could only respond in kind, "And it is unbecoming for a young lady such as yourself to behave like the mother of this café-" However, as soon as the words had left his mouth, he immediately buckled under April's unamused gaze and silently turned to walk to his usual spot in the café. Sighing and shaking her head at her boss's attitude, April went to the kitchen to prepare Luke's regular order, while the rest of the staff laughed at the familiar sight of the banter between April and Luke.
Just as the café had officially opened for business hours, their first customer of the day had walked in. "Mr Sullivan, a pleasant surprise to see you here today. I had thought for sure you had abandoned your employees to the wolves." Said the customer in a jokingly.
"That's what I said." / "That's what she said." Came the simultaneous reply of both April and Luke respectively. Looking at each other in the eyes, all three released a short laughter that echoed within the café.
"Ms Potts, glad to see that you're still in the realm of the living! After hearing the horror stories of public relations disaster that Mr Stark had gotten himself into in the recent days, I was almost certain that you would be half bald by now." Luke greeted the now identified Pepper Potts.
"Oh please, I've dealt with Tony for the longest of time, this is the mildest thing he has done in recent memory. How about yourself? Last I heard you were still in New York looking for a place to move your café to. I could still help, you know? I could look up some places and make some calls for you if you'd like. Having someone like April around me would do wonders for my sanity and the food and service of the café is not half bad. Perfect for those who want to experience a modest lifestyle." Replied Pepper. Pepper Potts had been a frequent customer of the previous ice cream shop. This was mainly due to having a friend to talk to in April.
When the café was officially opened a few weeks ago, she found the place to be the perfect getaway from work – relatively excellent service and food, a calm and soothing atmosphere, and having regular people she could interact and have conversations with. Due to her position as Personal Assistant to Tony Stark, most people had only tried to interact with her in order to establish some form of business relations. Having a place, she could go to where none of that was present was a miracle for someone like her. Moreover, her frequent visits had led to April and Pepper becoming close friends.
"I appreciate the offer Ms Potts, but as I've said before, my requirements require a little more of a personal touch. It'd be much easier for me to search for the perfect location on my own. In the meantime, you are more than welcome to continue skipping work by spending time in the café." Luke quipped.
At this, Pepper could only give a reply befitting of a Stark employee, "When you work as fast and efficiently as I do, you tend to not have any work left to skip." Smiling at Luke's dumbfounded expression at her uncharacteristic response, Pepper continued, "I'm joking obviously, Tony's off somewhere in the world that I can't say doing something I can't say either. That means for the time being, my workload has reduced by over 80% now that I'm not attending to Tony during this period."
"How lucky. Well, April just started her shift and won't start her break for another 3 hours, not sure what you would do in that time, but you are more than welcome to use the lounge upstairs." Luke said outwardly. However, inwardly, he could not help but think to himself, 'So, the plot of Iron Man 1 begins today huh. I guess it's about time to start setting my plans in motion too.'
- End of Chapter 10 -
E/d note: In the next chapter, we will finally get to see Luke's first interaction with Natasha! I am excited to plan out and write out what I envision the first interaction to be, without deviating too much from the source material, because I really don't have the imagination required to come up with future plot lines if I botch the current one. At the moment, it's still salvageable xD Hope this slice of life chapter wasn't too bad of a read! If it wasn't, how about donating some cookies(power stones) for the cause :D? This Takodachi needs his daily dose of WAH!