Maeve grinned.

"Indeed it would," she agreed.

Tony stretched briefly before settling in on the rock again, watching as some of the Staryu and Starmie moved around under the water.

"So what are you doing out here, anyways?" Maeve asked after a moment. "I thought you were working on a new project, and from what I understand you tend to barricade yourself in your workshop when that happens."

"Most of the time," Tony said with a shrug. "But I hit a stopping point, and Lucario refused to let me work any more tonight."

Maeve couldn't help but grin.

"It's good you have her looking out for you, then," she said. "Makes my job a bit easier."

Tony spluttered a bit. "Hey!" He pouted a bit at her. "You don't have to sound so grateful, it's not like I need looking after, I managed just fine on my own."

"I've heard horror stories," Maeve said, raising an eyebrow. "Things like you going days without eating or sleeping when a project needs working on, surviving on nothing but caffeine and alcohol and smoothies."

"Those smoothies are filled with all sorts of good things, I should know, I made the recipe. They've got all the necessary nutrition." Tony was trying not to grin though.

"Caffeine and alcohol and smoothies are not a complete diet," Maeve pointed out. She looked at him. "Anyways, it's good that Lucario looks after you."

Tony waved a hand dismissively, even though he was very fond of Lucario. It had taken a little while, but they were fine now.

"So what's the new project?" Maeve asked after a moment.

"Well, there's a few. The one Lucario is preventing me from working on is a field pad, heat resistant, ghost resistant, surge proof, all sorts of fun goodies."

"Interesting," Maeve said. "Maybe when you need it tested, give it to Julie. She can play around with it and see what all it does properly."

"I was hoping things would work out that way," Tony agreed. "I'll give one to Coulson, too, but he doesn't seem to get into as much trouble as Julie."

"Coulson's not much of a field agent anymore," Maeve pointed out. "He's more a permanent handler. And he's the Director's right hand, so he can choose not to go on field missions."

"Thus why I'm picking Julie to test for me as well." Tony grinned briefly. "She gets out more."

Maeve grinned.

"Good plan," she said. She paused. "And yeah, Jules does get into trouble, but she has me and Typhlosion and Altaria to get her back out of it again."

Tony snickered. "Sounds about right," he agreed, still grinning. "Sounds like she'll be lots of fun to work with."

"I'm sure you and she will have buckets of fun," Maeve said, nodding a bit.

"If and when I can pry her away from Steve," Tony said, snickering.

"They're kind of cute together, I have to admit," Maeve said, shrugging a little.

Tony looked at her, raising an eyebrow at the rather noncommittal response.

"Have a problem with them?"

"No, not really," Maeve replied. "I'm glad they hit it off, it's good." She grinned. "I'm betting they'll be good for each other."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Tony grinned briefly. Of course, the thought had occurred to him that Maeve might be good for him, since Pepper had pointed it out, but he didn't bring that up.

The thought hadn't even occurred to Maeve; she wasn't actively looking for a relationship, after all, so she hadn't thought about it. Stretching a bit, she covered a yawn.

"I think I'm going to head inside," she said. "I think I'm finally crashing."