Model Employee

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: You make the joke once and Tony never lets it go. -Xander
Yeah, that's cause it's really clever. -Tony
Word Count: 420
Rating: Gen

          If he squints, really squints, he can see Cordy in her.
          It’s not like he’s looking to replace his dead ex or anything.  He’s gotten to the point in his life where he gets that dead people are not the same as lost possessions and you can’t just buy a new one and forget the old.  It doesn’t work like that.  Mostly it’s…he’s fascinated.
          The two seem nothing alike, on the surface.  He can’t see the components that mean that they’re fashioned from a little of the same source.  Krista isn’t the queen bee.  She doesn’t break hearts and people by incisive commentary.  She’s actually kind of shy, which is endearing.  She’s usually good-natured and has a smile for most of the people she meets.  She has good taste in clothes but is hardly the fashion palette (mostly, Xander muses, it’s a difference in household budget, from all available evidence, but he’s not going to ask; he does think about what he says now and then).  She respects other people and their opinions, which is nice but also means that she doesn’t get herself heard as often.
          It’s once she figures out about the secondary life of himself and his friends that she truly begins to shine.  Contrary to what one might expect, she completely loses all her worry about him and how he’ll react once she learns that he’s a superhero.  Confused respect leads to unbridled enthusiasm and lack of any worries about being fired or anything like that.  She opens up in a way that not even Willow’s done in years. 
          She does turn to sarcasm, occasionally.  Sometimes it’s even really biting sarcasm, but it’s generally meant as a joke.  Her confidence looks like forgetting to be self-conscious.  What had been a matter of gradually taking on responsibilities and learning the ropes is replaced by the metaphorical equivalent of an unannounced and rather enthusiastic cannonball.  She refuses to be embarrassed by anything, which is definitely something she shares with Cordy.  She’ll only get really mean when she’s especially sleep-and-caffeine deprived, and then he can definitely see the family resemblance, but for the most part it’s joking and only directed at those who can take it.  It’s an indication of respect, that she thinks you can take it, and she’ll only truly relax and grin when she gets as good as she gives.
          But when she’s in full-on geek mode and is taking charge like nobody’s business, even with all the jokes and the smiles, he can see it.