Rising Star of the Business World

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: Xander's a confusing boss.  He's also great to work for.
Word Count: 735
Rating: Gen

          Krista wasn’t sure what to expect working for the rising star of the business world, especially since she’d gotten in on a pretty flimsy application.  The interviewer she’d never even met again (and wasn’t honestly sure he worked here, but the boss himself had come and met her and shook her hand like he was expecting her and was charming and polite and enthusiastic and bounced like a little kid as he took her on the tour, and ignored her staring impolitely at the eyepatch, though he did keep calling her ‘Miss Chase’.  She’s pretty sure she’s never heard him call her that since).
          He’s pretty informal, is Alexander Knight.  She’s not sure of his middle name, mostly because the press doesn’t even know.  They also don’t know how he earned the eyepatch, either, and there’s a flurry of speculation.  And wild theories on how his business is growing so fast, but there’s no doubting that he’s a genius.
          There’s another flurry when he reveals that he hasn’t technically graduated college.  But he’s working on it.  Another when he’s finally ready to talk about Sunnydale, which everyone knows is that California town that neatly disappeared down a sinkhole with no warning.  At least it quiets the rumors about the eyepatch.  Everyone assumes, and it seems he’s content to let them.  And that definitely explains the ‘hasn’t graduated’ bit.
          There’s also gossip in the workplace.  Apparently he might’ve taken the unassuming if sweet Mr. Wells from the Testing Department out on a date, but Andrew just kind of freezes up and stutters if anyone asks and Knight smiles friendly and says nothing at all on the matter.
          He’s a laid-back guy.  He came in to work in his office, and a guy named Phil who’d been showing her the ropes flagged him down, and she almost died of nervousness, particularly when Phil started talking to him like he was just an average guy but he didn’t act like the boss.  He smiled and nodded and responded as your average person might, and then at the end of the—it was turning into a rant—he just said simply, “I think it’s within budget, so go for it.”
          Her eyes bugged out, and she might have made a strangled sound, and he glanced up and got a soft, amused smile on his face.  “And hey, if you’re at all normal, unlike me, you’ve been around for long enough for a coffee break, so go, have fun, loosen up.  Don’t burn the building down in your wild crazy dance rituals.”  It turns out that he was only kidding about burning the building down.  Not the dancing.
          He’ll join them when they’re in the break room dancing to the latest dance game, and he’ll look completely goofy and rather than worry about dignity he’ll just laugh about it.
          That’s why it’s a shock to see him actually being professional.  There’s a representative from another company, a weapons company, that visits.  He calmly listens to the entire proposal but isn’t gentle or amused and doesn’t treat it like a joke.
          And then he firmly says ‘no’.
          The whole room is holding its breath, and the man demands, angry and rude, for an explanation.
          “I made this company to make the Earth better,” he says quietly but firmly.  “I assume you’ve heard the saying about what happens when someone hands you a hammer.  I don’t have any intention of going down those lines with my tech, so it wouldn’t be beneficial for you to associate with me.  I trust we won’t be contacted by your company again.”  He stands and moves toward the door.
          They nearly have to call security, but the man eventually leaves of his own volition, though the number of glares and obscenities muttered under the breath is unpleasant, and Knight ends up looking vaguely hurt and empty.  It’s not much.  For someone who’s often amused or emotional or putting on a show, he doesn’t tend to be very expressive with his real emotions, but seeing him like this just seems wrong.
          She knows he’s referring to the ‘hammer and nail’ cliché, but…  “Every problem starts to look like Loki?” she mutters under his breath, and he hears and it catches him off guard.
          He begins laughing helplessly, so bad that he has to lean against the wall in order to not fall over, and she smiles, pleased.