The Wordsmith's Forge

This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," and "Kernel Error."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Happy Hogan, Tony Stark, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Workplace violence, cross-class tension, problem drinking, false friends, misunderstandings, hangover, Happy!whump, Tony!whump.
Summary: Tony rescues Happy from an abusive employer. Happy rescues Tony from himself. But of course it's never really that simple ...
Notes: Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Fear of loss. Friendship. Confusion. Caregiving. Artificial intelligence. Communication. Feels. Tony Stark Has a Heart.

Begin with Part 1. Skip to Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.


"Happy Hour" Part 2


Later, after most of the cars had been parked and the guests were carousing indoors, the traffic died down to a trickle. Happy gladly returned to the staff lounge. Let the regular valets handle what remained of the parking.

Happy's official duty was interrupted again by a mishap in one of the parlors. "Does anyone here have the muscles to carry lumber? Which was a table before some of the guests used it as a dance platform?" asked a flustered servant.

Happy wasn't qualified as domestic help. He worked as a chauffeur based on his excellent driving skills. The problem was that domestic staff were chosen as much for looks as for skills. So they tended to be tall and attractive and not good for carrying much more than a platter of food. If you wanted someone to lift weight, you often had to borrow from the outside staff, because garden and garage work demanded more strength.

"I'll come," Happy said, standing up.

It was a good thing he did. The wrecked table had been a massive artifact of hardwood and even in pieces it was heavy. Happy had no idea how mere dancing could have broken it, unless they'd covered the entire tabletop with people. Which they quite possibly had. Happy loaded the remains into a cart to be wheeled away. Two of the guests were dancing on a coffee table, now -- Ferret Man himself and some blonde lady wearing way too many diamonds and way too little dress.

With a sharp snap, one marble panel fell out of the coffee table, dumping Ferret Man into the ruins of another expensive piece of furniture. He wobbled on his feet, looking down at himself in dismay. He stood trapped inside the relatively small hole in the wooden frame. Happy darted forward and caught him before he could fall all the way down and maybe break a leg.

Ferret Man reeked of champagne. Shaky fingers clutched at Happy's crisp white shirt. "Saw a bunch of other guys dancing on a table, thought it looked like fun, turns out, not so much," Ferret Man mumbled into Happy's neck.

Happy lifted him carefully out of the broken coffee table. "Someone will be on duty for first aid," he murmured, dusting marble dust and rosewood splinters off the smart black pants. "Shall I call for help, sir?"

Ferret Man pulled away in alarm, brown eyes going wide. "No, no, I'm fine! See how fine I am? I'm going dancing. On the floor this time, I think." He reeled away in search of his partner, who had vanished into the glittering crowd.

Happy sighed and signaled for another cart. Then he bent down to pick up the thick square of gold-flecked marble.

Even after Happy escaped back to the lounge, it felt like less of a refuge now that the party had intruded on it once already. He couldn't really relax. Happy reminded himself that he was at work and so it didn't matter. He tried to lose himself in the latest issue of Hot Rod.

* * *

Notes:

Servants really are hired for looks over ability sometimes, a tradition that goes way back. This article about Victorian servants gives a good example: footmen were supposed to be tall and handsome, as much decoration as service. In order to keep a household running -- especially if there are many servants and a careless master -- people may make their own arrangements to cover necessary tasks with available help.

Fancy coffee tables sometimes have a wooden frame with several panels of marble, glass, or other material. I found this rosewood and marble example for sale, with a closeup photo; the marble coloration is wrong but the style is about right. The panels are prone to breaking out of the frame under too much weight, because there isn't actually much wood holding them in place.

Hot Rod is one of the leading car magazines. Happy appreciates fine rides.


[To be continued in Part 3 ...]