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Chapter Text

When the rumour spread that Howard Stark has definitively moved to Malibu and left the Stark Mansion to his butler and his family, Jarvis had quite a time in kicking off journalists from his door. They had to call the police twice, because some paparazzi has trespassed the gate and they were trying to have a picture of either the mansion or the family living there. With an herculean effort, they’ve managed to take the kid away from the journalists’ radar, and also to protect him from the growing mess.

But after a couple of weeks they grew very tired of the situation and they decided to go away on holiday.

By checking better inside the box, they’ve discovered that Mr. Stark has left them many other things, like a pair of cars, shares, and also Mrs. Stark’s small cottage near the Canadian border. They decided to go there on holiday till late September, to escape from the journalists’ curiosity.

Tony loved the place, and in particular to play outside with either Ana or Jarvis or both, and to help his parents in repairing the old cottage. He revealed himself quite good in fixing electric devices around, and Ana started to buy him utensils to create his stuff in the garage. By the end of the summer, the kid has assembled (with Jarvis’s help) a little car with pedals that alimented a battery.

“My sweet little genius!” Ana called him by kissing him on his cheek.

Tony loved to be cuddled, and he spent the evening on either his mother’s or his father’s lap while they read him stories. His language skills were getting better, but Ana has made a point on not having the kid lose his Bulgarian mother tongue, so the Jarvis family was learning Bulgarian as well.

They came back at the Stark Mansion when it was getting too cold to remain at the cottage, and Tony was showing the first sign of a cold. One evening he coughed a bit, and the day after his fever raised and he had to remain in bed for days. That would have remained a constant for his whole life. Apart from that small issue, Tony was a healthy and clever kid, a real jolly little fellow.

Back in New York, Jarvis and Ana had a very intense moment when they opened again the Stark Mansion to take possession of their new home, but in particular when they prepared for Tony the room his mother Maria has destined to him, with the painted planets and the stars on the ceiling. Now the kid seemed fascinated by his new room and he loved the planets that made him look like a space adventurer. But since he was still scared of darkness, Jarvis bought some glowing stars and they attached them on the ceiling together.

One evening, while Jarvis was making the dishes and Ana was helping him, they got stunned by the sound of some piano notes whose tune sounded strangely familiar to both of them. When they rushed in the living room, Tony was sitting in front of the piano and he was staring with concentration at the keys, by trying one after the other like he was following an inner motive. Mistur Mustatsi was by his side, and she meowed in disapproval whenever he played the wrong note.

“Opitvam se da zapomnya (I’m trying to remember)!” the boy told the cat.

Ana was the first to put herself together, and she joined their boy.

“Do you know how to play, sweetie?” she asked.

“No, mom… but I like… this song…” he said and he tried again a first sequence of notes.

Jarvis recognized the melody with a hitch of pain.

“Like this?” Ana asked, by putting her fingers on the keyboard and starting slowly to play the full song. The cat purred in approval.

“YEAH!” the kid exclaimed with enthusiasm. “Play it again, mom!”

“Sure thing, my boy…” Ana said while she was looking at the musical script in front of her.

On the left corner there was still Maria’s handwriting saying: “Perfect song for my future child!”

Jarvis remembered how Maria used to play it at almost every hour, especially when her belly was starting to grow, because she has read somewhere that music helped the baby’s development. And the song Tony was trying on the piano was exactly Maria’s song.

“Did the nuns play it to you, Tony?” Jarvis asked, by coming closer to his family.

The boy shook his head. “No, tatko… different piano in church… but this… this like pamet.. memory…” he passed his fingers on the keyboard and then he turned to Ana: “Could you teach me, mom?”

“Of course, sweetie!” she said, by hiding her tears.

They’ve decided not to tell Tony anything about his real parents. For good or bad that was, they didn’t feel ready for such a conversation. And the kid never asked.

Tony seemed indeed quite happy like he was, and after having moved from different houses in the last half year, he visibly felt better when they’ve finished to move in the former Stark Mansion, now nicknamed “Shtastie” that is “Happiness”.

Since neither Jarvis nor Ana had to go to work, they spent the whole day always together: sometimes they went outside to museums or simply to walk in the park, sometimes they did gardening outside, but almost every day they cooked together and played on the carpet. They’ve bought many educative toys for Tony, through which they were helping him perfecting English, but also learning other things. Without surprise, they found out Tony was a sort of science genius: the visit at the Brooklyn Children Museum turned out to be one of the best experience for the boy, and they went there again and again.

Halloween was one of the kid’s favourite moment, and the three of them prepared an elaborate family custom thanks to Ana’s tailoring skills: Tony was a brave knight and he rode a sort of kick scooter they’ve disguised as a pony, while Ana was the princess and Jarvis… the dragon!

“Very funny!” he commented, but he was amused and he challenged Tony in a rodeo in the living room.

Ana made a small dress also for Mustatsi who very patiently allowed them to dress her like a squire and then she posed for the family picture like a real diva.

If the kid had fun at Halloween, during the Christmas period he got very impressed by the lights and colours around, by the ice skating Rink at Rockfeller center and the big Christmas trees. They also tried to ice skate, and they had a lot of fun, even if they fell down countless times. They passed a wonderful Christmas, with Jarvis dressed as Santa Claus, Ana like an elf and Tony with a big brown pyjama and a pair of reindeer horns. They’ve also put a bowtie on Mustatsi and she appeared quite proud of it. They took a family portrait to be added at their growing collection in the corridor, which started from the charcoal made in Montmartre.

“Each time we dressed up for a holiday we’ll take a picture and we’ll add it on the wall, together with the date!” Ana has established, and the boys have both agreed.

In January Tony took the flue, and his fever was so high that he was almost not recognizing them for a week. Mustatsi remained always by his side, and after having scared his parents to death, the kid got better.

When they were reaching the first year together, Tony worked hard to prepare a gift he proudly showed them one evening. It was a sort of cartoon box with different images passing by if they turn the crank: the kid has also recorded a story that was played automatically at each image, like an hand-made cartoon. He told Tony’s story: how he felt lonely and sad at the orphanage, despite the nuns being nice; how a man with white hair and moustache has come to see him but then he has run away, how Mistur Mustatsi has found him one evening when he was sick and how the big cat became his friend, and finally how he has found a family with his father and mother, and all the happy moments they’ve lived together in the last year.

Both Jarvis and Ana were quite moved when it was over with the last sentence “And they lived together happily ever after”. They hugged and kissed their brilliant son, and established that that day would have been their “family anniversary”. Then Ana went to the piano and played their favourite song, which they agreed on being their hymn.

Jarvis felt something humid in his eyes, while in a corner of his mind he wondered what Howard Stark was doing in that moment.

Few days later, he would have discovered that Mr. Stark has married one of the Hollywood starlet he was dating, only to divorce a couple of months later.

In September of that same year, Tony was supposed to start school.

Jarvis was not fully persuaded that it was a good idea, and he tried to insist to home school the boy, but Ana opposed.

“He needs friends his age!” she stated.

Even if they feared that moment, Tony understood immediately that they weren’t abandoning him at school, also because they found a nice private institute that allowed parents to remain with their kids at the beginning and gradually leave them for the whole day (quite a progressive thing back then!). The serious issue was that, after only two weeks, it was evident that Tony was miles away from the others, especially in math and science.

“He’s gifted, that’s for sure!” the headmaster told his parents. “And he had an attentional disorder… hyperactivity! No, don’t worry: it’s not that bad! Tony has difficulties in focusing on one task at a time, and his mind needs constant stimulation… but he’s brilliant! I’ve never seen a kid with a mind like his own!”

“W- what do you suggest we do?” Jarvis asked.

“Well, he needs to move to upper class, with teachings up to his level or he will get bored and, possibly, turn anger and violent against the others… or himself!” the headmaster assured.

“We understand, but we wanted Tony to have friends his age… the human side is important too!” Ana replied.

“I agree, Mrs. Jarvis” the headmaster said. “That’s why I’m making you a proposal. We’re in contact with a nice institute not far from here, reserved for gifted kids: Tony could follow the lessons there, and come here for the afternoon activities, like theatre, sports, yoga… obviously we re-discuss the tuition, but I’m sure we’ll find an agreement.”

They decided to give it a try till December and that see what to do next.

Tony indeed liked the new school, and even if he was probably the youngest one, he has befriended another young kid named Reed Richards, and a black girl named Lunella Lafayette. The trio started to meet also after school, mainly at the “Shtastie” since Tony had the largest space. By Christmas they’ve built a sort of rocket they claimed it could reach the moon. Jarvis stopped them before they could start the engine, and he took the rocket back to their school, where the three received a reward.

In the new year, it was clear that Tony preferred to spend time with his new genial friends than to go to the ‘normal’ school: he didn’t like sports too much, neither to play nor to watch because he got bored quite soon, theatre stressed him, and the only thing he seemed to appreciate was yoga (a “hippie thing” as someone labelled it, but the kid liked it). So they decided to inscribe him to a yoga class opened to families, and they went there together one evening a week, while the other days Tony played or studied with his friends or alone in his room. Ana was also teaching him a bit of piano, and on Friday evening they went to a Bulgarian association so that the kid kept practicing his native language (Jarvis had some difficulties, but Ana had quickly grasped the basics and she was less shy than him in trying and making mistakes). Ana has also started to refresh his native Hungarian, so at the “Shtastie” there was usually a mix of language, in particular when they were in a hurry.

Years later, for Tony 10^th birthday they made the usual big party with the kid’s friends from school, their parents, but also their friends from the Bulgarian association, with a mix of foods and languages for the whole day. Tony received many presents and he was playing outside with his friends, thanks also to the sunny and warm May they were having.

They were in the middle of the celebrations when Jarvis heard the phone ringing.

“House Jarvis, how can I be of assistance?” he answered, while he winked at Ana who was taking more pastries from the kitchen.

“Hi, old pal!” the known voice of Howard Stark cheered him. Despite the words, he sounded wasted.

“Mr. Stark!” Jarvis didn’t hide his surprise, by quickly glancing at his boy playing outside. “W- what do I owe the… ehm…pleasure?”

“You know, Jarvis… i-it’s his birthday, isn’t it?” Howard replied in a whisper.

Jarvis swallowed but he didn’t answer.

“I- I only wished to know if he’s fine… if you all are, I mean… I- I miss you… all of you…”

Jarvis knew from the scandal journal that Mr. Stark was at his third divorce by now, and that despite being surrounded by people, he was basically alone. Even Agent Carter was out of duty, and the rumours were that she had dementia or something.

“I say it could fly! Trust me, Reed!” Jarvis heard Tony shouting from the outside.

“Jarvis? Are you still there?” Howard called him.

“I’m here, Mr. Stark” he replied in a sigh. “And I don’t know what do you wish to accomplish with this call, but this time I can’t help you. I’m sorry... I’ve remained by your side in many occasions, when you were targeted by all the secret agencies, every time you went in those absurd mission in Artic to find Captain America… gosh, I stayed by your side even when you were planning that crazy trip to Eastern Europe! But what you’ve done… that’s unforgivable! You had no idea of the damages you have caused, of the sufferance you’ve managed to create!”

“I didn’t mean to!” the other man almost cried on the phone. He must have been drunk, by judging from the way he mumbled some vowels. “I thought he would have been fine there… better than with me…”

“I don’t care!” Jarvis cut it off; he had enough of Howard’s self-pity and excuses. He breathed: “Mr. Stark, I know it was difficult for you but, honestly, I don’t care anymore. You’ve caused this, and this time there is no way to remedy. The boy has suffered enough, Mr. Stark, not because you left him there in the first place, but because you went there and run away! Do you deny it?”

Only silence followed his question.

“I- I’m sorry… He looked so much like Maria… I wasn’t ready…”

“That’s your problem, Mr. Stark! Now Tony is here, and he’s happy with me and Ana. He’s our son, and he will remain our son forever. And you should better remember it before trying to call again!”. He paused and took a long breath before adding: “Now I’ll beg your pardon, but I need to go seeing my son blowing his birthday candles!”

He put the phone down in anger without hearing the reply. Jarvis was simply fuorious: how did he dare to call them today? How did he dare to ruin their perfect day?

“Tatko?”

Tony’s voice brought him back to reality with a gasp. His boy was standing there with his birthday hat and his big brown eyes staring at him. He moved close to him, and pulled his sweater.

“What’s wrong, tatko?” he asked with his still childish voice. He hasn’t grown up much, but the doctor said there was nothing not to be worried about, that he was probably just a late bloomer.

Jarvis waved tears away, and he knelt in front of his son.

“Nothing, my boy!” he said, by caressing his face. As always, Tony moved closer to his hand to enjoy it fully. Jarvis smiled and then raised him like he usually did despite the kid’s age. “You’ve become heavy, you know?”

The kid laughed by attaching at his neck like he has done since their first days together, and they went back outside to enjoy the party.

“What happened?” Ana asked her husband that night, when everyone has gone home and they’ve put Tony to bed, exhausted after the day.

The house was a mess, but they had plenty of time in the following days to clean it up. They were only collecting the ribbons and tapes, before Mistur Mustatsi decided to swallow them since she has already stolen quite an amount of pastries.

“Howard called” Jarvis revealed with a snort.

“What did he want?” Ana asked, clearly not amused.

“He felt lonely…”

“As they say, whoever is the cause of his illness, cry himself!”

“Ana…” Jarvis tried.

“Don’t start again, Edwin!” she replied, furious. “Every time that man calls you’re ready to leave everything behind or to defend him! Well, not this time! This time is not only about me, but also about Tony!”

“I know!” Jarvis said by raising his hands in sign of submission. “And that’s why I told him not to call again!”

Ana was taken aback. “Oh!” she only said. “Well, that changes everything…”

She moved closer to him and kissed him. “How do you feel?” she asked him.

“Bad…” Jarvis admitted. “But it was necessary!”

His wife nodded, then she caressed his face and said: “May I try to cheer you up?”

Jarvis blinked, perplexed. “What do you have in mind, Mrs. Jarvis?”

“Well, Mr. Jarvis” she replied, maliciously. “The house is a mess, and the kid is sleeping… I think we both deserved a good bath in the giant Jacuzzi in the master room… together will be nice!”

Jarvis blushed but he followed her lead.

_________________________________________________________

(8 years later)

Jarvis was reading the last book on composting in the living room of their big Boston apartment. He had put the soft lights not to disturb his wife in the bedroom, but he heard her moving.

“What are you doing still awake, Mr. Jarvis?” she asked by putting her head in the room. “It’s 4 AM in the morning!”

“It’s either quite late or very early!” Jarvis joked. Then he smiled tenderly to her: “Go to bed, Mrs. Jarvis. I’ll wait until Tony comes back.”

“It’s his 18^th years old birthday party… they’ll stay out until dawn!”

“Then, one further reason to wait until our grown-up boy comes back home! But there’s no reason we both stay up… go to be, darling! I’ll let you know when he arrives!”

“Oh for sure I’ll hear him as well!” she smiled before greeting him good night.

Jarvis kept reading his book but his mind was not really focusing on the different methodologies of composting for better recycling fruits and vegetables.

He closed the book and picked up the journal of the previous day, and opened it at the cultural pages, where his son Anthony Edward Jarvis was smiling proudly in front of his new invention: two robotic arms that have just managed to fix his tie and shoelaces. With that, Tony has won the first price at the MIT annual fair for young undergraduates, and there was the rumour that many companies have started to court him for entering their engineer team. Curiously, the journalist noted, Stark Industries was not officially among them.

Jarvis caressed his boy’s face on the newspaper.

He was astonished by how quickly time has passed: it seemed like yesterday when he and Ana have made their way to a small orphanage outside Sofia, and adopted a little kid with big brown eyes and a black and white cat named Mistur Mustatsi, who was now sleeping on the couch next to Jarvis, also waiting for his young master to come back.

Jarvis perfectly remembered the first days together, how it was difficult to communicate among them, the first time Tony called him tatko “dad”, or when he was scared they were going to “open him like a fish” while they just wanted to check if he was healthy or in need of therapy. He also remembered when the kid has started the school, the special one for gifted guys, and with his friends Reed and Lunella have built a rocket in the garage.

Now the previous mates have gone separated ways, with Reed at Yale and Lunella at Harvard, while Tony has entered MIT for engineer and mathematic at only 16 years old. The whole family has moved to Boston, where they’ve purchased that big apartment, and they came back to the “Shtastie” for Christmas, whereas they spent summer on their cottage by the lake. They were indeed quite wealthy, even if not billionaire-like wealthy. But most of all they were happy.

And now Tony was turning 18 that night and he was out with his friends to celebrate. And, like every time Tony was out with friends, Jarvis has remained awake on the couch to wait for him to come back.

One hour later he heard the unmistakable noise of a pair of keys turning in the door, and young laughs from the landing. Few seconds later, Tony and a tall black guy entered the house, by desperately trying to stop laughing.

“Have you seen Justin’s face?” Tony was saying with a drowsy voice.

The tall guy was pressing a hand over his mouth not to laugh, when his eyes recognized Jarvis, who has raised from the armchair and was approaching them.

“Good evening, Mr. Jarvis… or morning!”

“Good morning, Mr. Rhodes. Did you have fun tonight?”

“Tatko!” Tony exclaimed, by launching in his arms. He was clearly drunk, as he openly admitted a moment later: “They made me drink, but not that much… I’m peeeerfectly fine!”

“I can see, my boy!” Jarvis smiled.

“Rhodey has kept me out of trouble and called a taxi… I could have perfectly driven…”

“You’re drunk, Little T! And you don’t know how to drive!” Rhodey pointed out. He also appeared quite high.

“Boring…” Tony snorted. But then he turned to Jarvis and smiled. “I don’t like whisky, tatko!”

“Noted that, my boy.”

“Martini is classy…”

Tony swung so heavily that Jarvis had to pass an arm around his waist.

“Let’s get to bed before your mother sees you!” he suggested, but he was not worried. He wasn’t expecting anything different from that birthday party. “Have you only drunk, my boy, right?”

“Yes, tatko… no drugs no no…” he replied by shaking his head in that peculiar way he did since he was a kid.

“No drugs, Mr. Jarvis, I’ve kept an eye on him!” Rhodey assured, by leaning against the wall not to fall down. He was some years older than Tony, and both Jarvis and Ana felt reassured when he hanged out with their boy.

“Thank you, Mr. Rhodes. If you like, the guest’s room is ready for you, as always… I hope you could manage alone, while I put the birthday guy to bed!”

“Nighty, Platypus…” Tony greeted with a loud tone.

“Hush, my boy, or you’re going to awake your mother!”

“Sorry, tatko…” he whispered, by grabbing at him and snuzzling his nose against his neck, again like he did since they’ve taken him in Sofia.

Jarvis had to help him undressed and also washed his teeth because he smelled like a liquor store. He gave him something to drink for the side-effects of the binge and adjusted the coverts over him.

“Tatko?” Tony called, half asleep.

“Yes, my boy?” Jarvis smiled.

“Thank you, tatko…”

Jarvis left him sleeping, and went back in his bedroom, where he slipped next to Ana as silent as he could.

“How much has he drunk?” she asked with a yawn.

“Uh… enough!” Jarvis smiled. Then she kissed her and added: “Goodnight, Mrs. Jarvis! See you in a couple of hours!”

As expected, the two boys woke up for lunch and they both had a generous headache. Jarvis has prepared his famous “hangover special” which he used for Mr. Stark (it seemed like a lifetime ago…) and after less than 20 minutes the two guys seemed brand new… and also quite hungry!

Ana has prepared her famous goulash (or gulyàs) and Jarvis has helped her with the dessert, the Somlói Galuska, consisting in three types of cake, plain, walnut, and chocolate, served with whipped cream on top, dark chocolate sauce, raisins, and more walnuts. It was one of Tony’s favourite dessert, even if he was particularly fond of the pie with raspberries and blueberries that Jarvis prepared for him in summer after they’ve collected the fresh berries in the woods.

“It’s delicious, Mrs. Jarvis!” Rhodey was complimenting the cook, and he was rewarded with a second portion of goulash and fresh bread.

“Mom, you’re really the best!” Tony added with his mouth stuffed. Then he turned to him and smiled. “You too, tatko! Don’t get offended!”

“I won’t, my boy!” he joked. “I’m perfectly aware that your mother prepares the best goulash… but, if you allow me, I’m the master of soufflé and desserts!”

“That’s for sure!”

They laughed and smiled for the whole lunch, and then Tony blew the candles on his cake, while Rhodey took a picture of the whole family… also including Mistur Mustatsi who has taken advantage of a moment of distraction to put her nose in the cream.

“That’s fantastic!” Rhodey laughed by looking at the images emerging from the polaroid.

“Ela tuk, losha kotka! (Come here, bad cat!)” Tony was saying by chasing Mustatsi around. Despite her age, the big black and white cat was always full of energy.

Later that afternoon, while Rhodey has greeted his way out to go visit his parents, Jarvis and Ana asked Tony to meet them in the living room. They were both quite tensed, but they’ve acknowledged that the time had come to tell their son the truth about his origin. They’ve talked about that issue for months, or years, since the boy was 16 and he’s been admitted at MIT, the youngest ever, but they’ve kept postponing it.

“Have a sit, my boy” Jarvis waved him to the armchair, while he and Ana were sitting on the couch. As in that day of February, Ana was squeezing Jarvis’s hand, almost putting her nails in his flesh.

“What’s wrong, tatko? Mom? Are you… are you okay?” Tony asked, worried. “It’s because I was drunk? I swear, I only drank for my birthday… and I haven’t done anything weird or…”

“No, sweetie, it’s not for that!” Ana said immediately. “We knew it’s normal for guys your age to get a bit high on their 18^th birthday… and we trust you!”

“Then what is this about? You look like you’re about to give me some terrible news…” he was trying to sound funny but he was clearly tensed. Mustatsi raised from his spot and purred against his legs, by then jumping on his lap to calm him down like she has done for the boy’s whole life.

Jarvis exchanged a look with Ana, who nodded. Then he said: “It’s about your parents, Tony… We- we wanted to talk about your parents now that you’ve come at age.”

“I- I don’t understand… aren’t you my parents?”

Ana and Jarvis exchanged a strange look. Then Tony let out a tensed laugh.

“You should see your faces!” he added. “I’m sorry. I perfectly remember that you picked me up at that orphanage in Bulgaria... and that I was scared you were going to sell my organs or eat Mistur Mustatsi…”

The cat opened one eyes at hearing her name, but then she came back to sleep.

“I remember everything… I’ve always done… But you are my parents, aren’t you?”

“Of course, Tony!” Ana replied immediately, by stretching to pat him on the leg. Tony smiled shyly, a bit reassured.

“What we meant” Jarvis added, “is that we wanted to talk about your parents… your biological parents, that’s to say!”

Tony sighed and looked away.

“Don’t you want to hear about them, sweetie?” Ana asked, worried by his reaction.

The boy closed his eyes for a moment. They waited until he opened them again and faced them. But what he then said took them completely aback.

“Are you finally ready to tell me that I’m Howard Stark’s son?” Tony asked.

Ana paled while Jarvis was like frozen on his spot.

“How do you know?” he managed to ask.

“So it’s true…” Tony sighed, by shaking his head. Then he explained: “Anthony Edward is not properly a Bulgarian name, you know? It sounded more like British or American…That was one of the reason they mocked me at the orphanage. They call me “enemy” or “weirdo” to say the best. Then, when I arrived here in the US and I had the occasion, I did a small check, at the library, and there weren’t many British or American lads traveling in Bulgaria in the ‘70s. And then I read the newspaper with the obituary of Maria Carbonell-Stark and her unborn son Elmonzo… gosh, I’m glad she hasn’t named me like that! Ouch!”

Mustatsi has bitten his hand out of the blue.

“Izvinyavaĭ, kotka! (Sorry, cat)” Tony murmured to her, by petting her head. The cat calmed and purred under his touch.

Jarvis and Ana were astonished.

“Since when do you know?” she asked, still incredulous.

“Since when you brought me at the Children Museum in Brooklyn the first time… well, that was when I’ve started to suspect. When we went there, I saw a picture of Howard Stark like he was back then, not the ‘fake youngest’ version of him I’ve met that time with the Pontiac… I haven’t recognized him back then, because he has coloured his hair and cut his moustache, but when I saw him in the picture at the Museum I’ve recognized him as the man who came to the orphanage when I was 3, looked at me in the eyes and run away!”

He was trying to act cool, but a single tear drop felt on his cheek.

“After that it was pretty obvious… especially since Mr. Stark has left us his whole house!” Tony went on. “I went to the library many times, you know? For school… but in reality I also read the newspaper reporting the Starks’ journey in Eastern Europe and there was a picture of Mrs. Stark looking very pregnant… then the obituary… and then Mr. Stark left us his house, the Stark Mansion, I mean! There were pages and pages on that in the news, and I remember when you, tatko, kicked away those journalists and then brought us away at the lake to escape them… you were right! They were writing all sorts of things about Mr. Stark’s decision: that he has turned crazy, that you two were just social profiteers, crazy things about your past, tatko…”

A thick silence felt among them. Jarvis painfully remembered the rumours that have spread during that period and for much he has tried to avoid them, he has later read every single line.

“Why haven’t you told us anything?” he then asked aloud. “If you knew or suspected… why haven’t you confronted us before?”

Tony shrugged like it wasn’t important.

“What for?” he asked indeed. “I don’t care if I was born from Howard and Maria Stark. They left me in an orphanage in Bulgaria and you two came and picked me up, and loved me since that moment in the courtyard… I’m your son, a Jarvis, and I’m pretty fine like this!”

Ana couldn’t hold any longer and quickly jumped up to hug her son, by sitting at his side on the armchair, and kissing him on the head. As always, Tony closed his eyes and enjoyed his mother cuddling him like he was a baby boy.

Jarvis was also quite moved, but there was something he needed to say.

“You have to understand one thing, Tony” he said slowly. “Your mother… Maria, I mean. She hasn’t abandoned you. She died! She got sick on the train to Sofia, but the train had broken so they rushed where they thought there was a doctor. While she was dying, she told the Mother Superior she wanted her kid to be safe, to tell you that she loved you and she will be proud of you… she passed away wishing you to be safe and strong. That… that’s what the Mother Superior told us that day, when we came to pick you up!”

They were all crying.

“Did you know her well?” Tony asked.

“We were friends” Ana told him. “Your child room at home… we’ve decorated it together! And we’ve chosen your clothes, and toys… we’ve given everything to charity when we believed you were death with her. Howard didn’t bear to see them around and he has also sealed the room…”

“But he knew I was alive!” Tony replied, anger now. “He knew and he left me there… twice!”

“I know…” Ana whispered, by trying to calm him down.

“I know Howard since the war, my boy” Jarvis told him. “I’ve been with him through good and bad moments, and he is… peculiar. Somehow you resembled him… a better version of him, though!”

“That’s because I’m your son, tatko!” Tony replied, by fixing him in his eyes. “And I’ll always be a Jarvis not a Stark, not matter what will happen!”

“What do you mean, sweetie?” Ana asked, worried.

Tony sighed: “After I’ve built those robots, I was contacted by various companies: Hammer, Fujikawa… and Stark Industries!”

Jarvis was astonished: they knew Tony has received various stage offers, and also something more from the Fujikawa, but he has never mentioned Stark Industries.

“What happened?” he asked. “Did you talk with your… I mean, with Mr. Stark?”

“Nah! He doesn’t waste time with this stuff! He sent his vice-CEO, Mr. Stane” Tony replied, then he told them everything. “Obadiah Stane went to the MIT fair and he was quite interested in my work. We talked a lot and then he told me that I remembered him of someone. He asked my name and then he said that it was curious because Mr. Stark had a butler named Jarvis. So he asked me if we were somehow related… you should have seen his face when I told him I was your son! He kept questioning me about my studies, and my robots, and the MIT director was praising me without understanding what was really going on. And Mr. Stane… he kept staring at me in the eyes, and somehow I felt that he knew that I knew the truth… then he marched away by saying he had to talk with “the dear old Howard” before offering me a place in the company, because for sure I deserved one. That was one week ago… I haven’t heard from them since now, so I guess the “dear old Howard” has decided once again he didn’t want to have anything to spare with me. Which is actually good! I didn’t want to be put in an awful position just because he now realizes I’m not a piece of garbage to be left behind!”

This time Jarvis raised as well to hug him from the other side. Mister Mustatsi didn’t move from the boy’s lap, and they were like holding together.

“I’m fine, tatko!” Tony murmured on his shoulder. “I- I’ve been lucky: I’ve you and mom, and you both love me… and we’re quite rich too, so I don’t need anything from him…”

They stayed silent for a long moment, before Ana moved away. She exited the room in silence, and when she came back she had an album and an envelope.

“That’s for you, sweetie!” he told Tony by giving him the envelope Howard has left at the former Stark Mansion, almost 13 years before.

Tony took it and put it aside by pointing at the album.

“I’ve thought… I’ve thought you wanted to see her… not only from the newspapers!” Ana said, by opening the album. Jarvis recognized immediately many of those pictures showing the four of them through time: Jarvis, Ana, Howard and Maria, but also Peggy Carter, chief Souza, Mr. Stane with his now passed-away wife, and other friends or simple acquaintances that have crossed their path for a while.

“Look! Here’s your mom at the piano!” Ana said by pointing at a small polaroid picture.

It showed Ana laughing next to the piano where Maria was playing, also with a laugh: she had the clear sign of an advanced pregnancy despite her tailored dress. Jarvis remembered to have taken that picture only one week before the Starks left for that tragic journey.

Tony caressed slowly Maria’s face by failing at stopping tears: the resemblance between them was beyond incredible.

“She’s playing our song, isn’t she?” he asked. “The one I remembered despite having never listened to it…”

“She played it every time, sometimes also in the middle of the night if you kept her awake or she didn’t manage to sleep!” Jarvis told him with a sad smile. “She loved you so much, even if you weren’t born yet…”

“I wish I knew her…” Tony said softly, by then taking shelter in his mother Ana’s arms.

“Hush, my boy! I’m here… we’re here with you! We’ll always be with you!”

The talk about Tony’s origins has been painful, but in the end it has reinforced their bond.

The boy has been very clear on the fact that he considered them as his parents and he didn’t want anything to spare with Mr. Stark. That was why, at the end of June, he was planning to take Hammer Industries’ offer and do a traineeship by them on the upcoming summer.

“I don’t understand, have you turned crazy?” Rhodey shouted to Tony one afternoon, while the two were studying for the upcoming exams. Officially, Mr. Rhodes had a room at the MIT campus, but he was always at Tony’s house, since Tony was too young to be allowed a place in the campus (he has never complained…).

“Why? It’s a nice traineeship and we’re going to consider whether to enrol me in their team next year!” Tony replied. “I could finish the college while working, and then having a permanent job guaranteed! What can I ask more?”

“But you will basically work for Justin Hammer! Justin Hammer, little T!” Rhodey sounded outraged.

Jarvis was in the kitchen preparing an elaborated Hungarian cake named Dobostorta, but since the guys were like shouting he couldn’t avoid to listen to what they were saying.

“Actually, the company is run by his father…”

“But when he retires, Justin will inherit everything and become your boss! Do you seriously want to work for a guy who wouldn’t have passed his physics class if it wasn’t for a smart 16 years old freshman now sitting in front of me? Jeez! You will get crazy and…”

“I will do a job that I like and bring regular money home! Do you know how old my parents are? I need to think about it and about them, like they’ve done for me!”

“Listen, T!” Rhodey went on by moving next to him. “I know you’re worried for your parents getting old and all this stuff… but you can’t put yourself in the position of having to take orders for a dumbass like Justin Hammer for the rest of your life! You’ve had other offers, I know it! Gosh, the vice-CEO of Stark Industries has come to MIT four times only in the last two weeks, and he kept offering you a place there… why are you refusing that work? Many will kill to be offered that position!”

Jarvis has completely forgotten about the cake, and he was now standing tensed at the kitchen door, by peeping through it to study his boy’s reaction.

“Because they aren’t offering me that place because of my abilities, Platypus” Tony told his friend with a flat but trembling tone. “They’re offering it because of who I am…”

“And who are you, T? I don’t understand…”

Tony sighed and he told the truth to his friend: “I’m Howard Stark’s biological son!”

It Tony had said to have two heads, Rhodey would have been less surprised.

“W- what?”

“Yeah… you know I’m adopted, right? Well, my tatko was Mr. Stark’s butler and when he discovered he has left me in an orphanage in Bulgaria he picked up mom, and they went there to adopt me. When Mr. Stark found it out, he left us his house and run away… again... I’ve never heard from him since my 18^th birthday, when my parents gave me a letter he left me…”

“And what did it say?” Rhodey asked with curiosity.

Jarvis was now so closed to the door that he has practically melted with it. For all these years he has been tremendously curious to know what Howard Stark had written to his son.

Tony sighed heavily before he answered: “He told me his reasons... that he was scared I was going to die as his wife did, and then that he couldn’t bear my presence because I reminded him of her… they say I’ve got her eyes, and that’s also how mom and dad recognized me in the first place when they came to Sofia…”

“And he didn’t say anything else? I don’t know… did he ask for forgiveness or…?”

“Forgiveness? Howard Stark?” Jarvis was thinking it, but Tony told it out loud.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s something he’s capable to ask for!” he said indeed with a scoff. “No, he only said that since I’ve got his blood in my veins, whenever I proved worthy he would have considered to make me the heir of his company… and from Mr. Stane’s repeated visits, I guess the moment has come… still, I don’t want to have anything to spare with him!”

Jarvis heard Rhodey trying to object to this decision, by enumerating the different reasons why Tony should consider that offer and take advantage of it, the good he could have done to their country and to the world with his brain and Stark Industries facilities.

But Jarvis’s mind was thinking something very different, and a plan has started to form in his mind.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Jarvis?” Ana asked him that evening. Husband and wife were eating alone: Jarvis has burnt the cake, while, after an intense quarrel among them, the guys have decided to go out to take a “cheeseburger of peace”.

Jarvis told her everything he has heard that afternoon, and also what he has read in the letter Howard Stark has left to Tony.

“Edwin!” Ana protested. She always called him with his first name when she was upset. “You shouldn’t read private letters!”

“If I haven’t, our son will still be in an orphanage in Bulgaria!” he pointed out, but his ears have turned red. “And Tony has left it open on his night table!”

“Mr. Jarvis, I wish to remember you that the curiosity will kill the cat!”

“MEOW!” Mustatsi said aloud, in overt disapproval.

“Sometimes I swear this cat is human…” Jarvis mumbled.

He knew Ana was right, but he couldn’t refrain himself from knowing what Howard Stark has written to their boy years before!

“Let’s drop the issue, Mr. Jarvis” Ana was going on, by studying him with her intense look. “The question now is: what do you intend to do with this information?”

And Jarvis told her about his plan. He was a bit astonished when she approved without reserve.

“Be careful, though!” she only told him. “We don’t want to lose our boy for this, right?”

“Never! I love our malko dete (little child)!” Jarvis smiled.

“You always pronounce it bad…” she mocked him.

It took Jarvis all his courage to call Stark Industries and fix an appointment not with Howard himself, but with Obadiah Stane.

He has never liked that man too much, but he knew that he might have left instructions to answer the calls from a certain “Jarvis”, while a direct approach with Howard would be useless. So Jarvis went back to the Stark Industries’ facility in New York for the first time in many years. A part for some devices of the personnel, nothing seemed to have changed.

“Mr. Jarvis, what a pleasure!” Obadiah greeted him with an open smile, even if from his face it was clear that he was expecting another Mr. Jarvis, a younger one. “It’s been a very long time, my friend…”

“Let’s skip the courtesies, Mr. Stane, if you don’t mind!” Jarvis cut him off by sitting in front of his desk. “We’ve never been friend, and you’ve always considered me like a servant with too much confidence with his master…”

Obadiah smirked but said nothing. It was not new that the two men have never liked each other much, especially after Howard has come back alone from his European journey. A journey Stane has strongly supported and Jarvis has briefly tried to oppose to.

“But I bet we both preferred to leave the past where it is” Jarvis went on. “Stark Industries has always been more focused on the future, if I remember correctly…”

“Well, that was the line I made up myself twenty years ago” Stane replied.

“Indeed, Mr. Stane. And it was a good marketing strategy!” Jarvis praised him.

They studied themselves in silence for a while, until Stane relaxed in his chair and asked: “What do you want, Mr. Jarvis?”

“Oh, I guess you know very well, but I’ll state it out loud. I wish to know what are yours and Howard’s intentions with my son!”

Stane didn’t answer immediately, but he poured himself a glass of whisky. He offered it to Jarvis who denied it, always silently. The vice-CEO studied his glass for a moment then he revealed: “Howard doesn’t know much of this. He’s in Malibu, almost buried under debts after his fifth divorce. I’ve enrolled a strict secretary and put my men on him to avoid he sold the company as well to pay his jinks… two years ago he almost died in a car accident because he was too drunk to drive! That’s how we discovered his other issues… If his mind doesn’t fail before, in five or six years his heart will quit. But for now all I could do is to force him to follow a strict recovery program for alcohol… and to make sure nothing of this arrives to the press!”

Jarvis was astonished, both for Mr. Stark’s issues and for Mr. Stane’s behaviour: he has never been of the caring kind, so his actions were somehow incredible.

“W- why are you doing this?”

“Why, do you ask? Has it ever occurred to you that I’m the vice-CEO of this company but since Maria died I’m doing all the job?! Still, do you see my name at the main entrance of the building?” he replied, a long repressed anger hiding behind his words. “Howard is the genie out of the bottle, though. With him or his mind gone, this company isn’t going to survive up at its stake for long… and I can’t bear it! I can’t afford to see everything I’ve contributed to create just being wasted because that fucking son of a bitch couldn’t get over his wife’s death!”

Jarvis said nothing but inside he knew that Stane couldn’t understand. How could he? He has married for profit, with a woman he has never liked, and they’ve lived like strangers for all their lives. Jarvis has known from the journals that she has passed away five years before, only because she has left all her belongings to charity, since they haven’t had kids. And said belongings included Stane’s own house, since it was under her name, so the vice-CEO of Stark Industries has found himself on the street and there was the rumour he was sleeping at the company for a while.

But Jarvis couldn’t focus on this memory, because Stane was following by pouring another glass of whisky.

“I’m going around the colleges and campuses to find fresh minds for our company, because now we are in desperate need of them. When I heard the MIT director praising this genial kid, I was thinking to have found the solutions to our problems. Jeez, I’ve seen his projects and they were so futuristic… I was very surprised when I met him and I saw how young he was… but talented, terribly talented! Those robot arms were just a snack… he could do great, I’ve a special sense for this!”

Jarvis had to recognize it: in all his career, Obadiah Stane has always had a good sense of business and also to find talent behind the surface or in the strangest side of the planet. It was only thanks to him and the team of engineers and researchers he has built if Stark Industries was still on top despite Howard’s excesses.

“Imagine my surprise, then, when I’ve asked the guy’s name and discovered he was not only related to you, but your son!” Stane smirked, by looking at him. “It occurred only two hours to have the record of your adoption from a lost orphanage in Bulgaria, and less to connect the dots with Howard and Maria’s journey back there… I’ve rushed to Malibu to face Howard and he had to admit everything! That son of a bitch admitted to have left the kid there because he was so little and he looked too much like Maria… damn stupid brat! And he dared to cry while he was telling me that!”

Jarvis felt pain inside his heart for Mr. Stark: after all those years, Howard was deeply regretting his choices.

“Maybe Mr. Stark has been punished enough for a moment of weakness” he said aloud. “Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Stane: what Howard Stark did to my son is unforgivable… but somehow I’ve come to the conclusion it’s not up to us to decide whether he deserves forgiveness. This is a thing only Tony can decide upon!”

Stane raised an eyebrow with scepticism.

“So you’ve come here after all these years to lecture me on forgiveness?”

“No, Mr. Stane. I came here because Tony is about to make a dumb decision and only because he’s stubborn and proud like his father… both his biological and his adoptive father, I mean!”

Stane considered his words for a moment than he asked him to explain himself, and Jarvis told him about Tony’s almost decision to accept a traineeship at Hammer Industries and from that probably a place in their engineer team.

“HAMMER?!?” Stane shouted with his face red like a tomato, by jumping up. His watch emitted an alarming sound and he was forced down on his chair. His phone rang a moment later and he answered with impatience: “Yes, miss Chander… I’ll take my medicine. No, no need to call the doctor, it was just a momentary issue… yes, yes, I’ll avoid it!”

He opened the drawer and took a bunch of pills he took with his glass of whisky.

“Heart-issues” he revealed to Jarvis. “One of the painful consequences of a life of excesses… and it’s not even the most traumatic one. I’ve cancers, plural: liver, kidney, prostate, lungs… it’s everywhere! I’ve found out three months ago, after a routine check for my heart. The doctor gave me one year, maybe less, but in six months I’ll start to show the signs and from that moment on it will be a one-way road till New York central cemetery! I’ve already booked a place, just to have everything ready!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stane!” Jarvis said, honestly.

Obadiah looked at him and behind those proud and greedy bright eyes, Jarvis could see fear. He didn’t know that Mr. Stane was sick: that must have been a top secret information, because if the stock market sensed that Howard Stark was under alcohol-therapy and his vice-CEO was dying for cancer, the company would have been doomed. Jarvis started to understand now why Mr. Stane has become so obsessed with Tony, especially after he has found out who he was.

“I guess you’ve got the point, Mr. Jarvis!” Stane said aloud, by turning back into his ‘business modality’. “I’m many things I don’t deny: a misogynist, a racist, a shark greed bastard… but most of all I’m proud of what I’ve managed to build. And I can’t afford the thought of all this going wasted when there’s a genial guy out there who could have it all!”

“What do you mean, Mr. Stane?”

“Tony!” he replied. “Even before meeting him, I’ve been emailed his scores and projects by the MIT director and I’ve decided to enrol him. I haven’t much left, but the kid is a genius and with a good training and the full supportive team of secretaries and bureaucrats I’ve created he will manage the company when I and Howard were gone! The only issue would have been to make him inheriting everything without raising a huge legal case, but since he’s technically Howard’s boy it’s going to be super-easy, barely an inconvenience! We only need Howard to officially recognize him as his son, and maybe the boy to take back his real surname…”

Jarvis moved in his chair, uncomfortable.

“Actually, that could be a problem…”

Stane looked at him by narrowing his eyes. “You won’t tell me you will oppose at your kid inheriting all of this just because of a surname? I’d like to remember that he’s 18 now, so this decision is up to him!”

“Oh, I don’t need you to remind me how old my kid is, Mr. Stane!” Jarvis replied, icy. “And as for the decision, I’m here exactly because of this. As I’ve told you, Tony is about to take some stupid decisions, because he thinks that you’ve valued him only because of his lineage… and he didn’t want to have “anything to spare with the man who abandoned me”. Those were his words not mine.”

They remained silent for long.

“Why are you here, then, Jarvis?” Stane asked. “Because if it was to tell me to stay away from your son, you could have done it on the phone… why did you come and let me talk for so long?”

Jarvis sighed, by hoping he was not going to betray his kid’s faith.

“I’m here because I believe in second chances” he said. “And because I love my son, and I don’t want Howard’s sins to fall on him… again!”

Stane relaxed on his chair and waved him to follow.

“We both know Tony is a genius as well as we know that his genius was going to be repressed or wasted if he ends up working for Hammer. One of the first thing his school teachers told me and my wife was that gifted guys need constant stimulation or they’ll turn violent against themselves or the others. And I think we could agree that this will be Tony’s destiny after college if he works for a lousy and arrogant man like Gerard Hammer… and from what I heard, his son Justin is even worse!”

He stretched forward. “So that’s my proposal, Mr. Stane. You’ll persuade Howard and I’ll persuade Tony.”

“What for?”

“A dinner” Jarvis said. “A brunch, or a picnic… a meeting that’s to say. An informal and calm meeting in a controlled environment, with all of us also present, but with enough space for them if they wanted to talk privately.”

“And where do you suggest we could have such meeting?”

“At Stark Mansion!” Jarvis said. If he has said “on the moon”, he was sure Obadiah Stane would have been less astonished.

“Are you… crazy?”

“Trust me, Mr. Stane. I’ve worked for Howard Stark long enough and I’ve raised Tony since he was 4… I knew how they think, and how they deal with emotions!” then he smiled at the vice-CEO and added: “We need to be sure they are both aware of who they are going to meet, and that they are not going to be left alone. We don’t need any surprise effect: they get stressed by surprises!”

Obadiah nodded. He then agreed on everything Jarvis was proposing, after having careful planned that strategy with Ana.

“You’re a hell of a butler!” Stane told him with one of his smirk.

Jarvis took it as a compliment.

Obadiah Stane called them two days later to say that Howard has immediately accepted the meeting and he couldn’t wait for it. Conversely, it took Jarvis and Ana two weeks to persuade Tony to accept their plan. Tony and Jarvis have almost quarrelled like they’ve never done in their lives.

“Just tell me I’m not enough for you and you wish me to be someone else!” Tony has shouted to him at the peak of his frustration.

Jarvis has remained speechless, while the boy rushed in his room and loudly closed the door behind him. Ana has had to recollect her husband and put him together on the couch, before knocking at her son’s door.

“Sweetie? May I come in?”

She slipped inside and emerged with Tony by her hand like a baby boy ten minutes later. She guided him on the couch and had him sitting between herself and Jarvis, like they usually did during movie night.

“I’m sorry” Tony and Jarvis mumbled at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled tenderly.

“I’m sorry, my boy” Jarvis repeated, by taking his hand. “As I told you once, you’re perfect!”

Tony nodded. “I- I’m sorry for having shouted at you… I know you love me, tatko!” He took also Ana’s hand and added: “And I love you, both of you! You’re the best parents one could dream of having… I- I’m just scared that this meeting could change something between us… because I don’t want to lose what I have now! I don’t want to lose you!”

“And as I told you before, sweetie, we’ll always be by your side!” Ana added. “We don’t care if your name is Tony, Jarvis or Elmonzo… we love you because you’re… you!”

Tony lowered his head and nodded.

“Listen to me, my boy” Jarvis told him. “I know it’s hard for you, and I don’t want to force you: so if you really don’t want anything to do with your father, I’ll understand…”

“It’s not my father!” Tony pointed out. “You are!”

“I’m your tatko, Tony, and nothing is going to change it!” he replied. Then he sighed: “As I told you once, I’ve known Howard for almost his whole life and he is… complicated! But now he’s sick and he’s also quite old, so I suspect he hasn’t much left to live, especially if the company will collapse on itself when the news of Stane’s illness will spread. But don’t get me wrong, my boy, I’m not worried for him, but for you! I’m worried that in the future you’ll look back and wonder: what if I’ve given my biological father a second chance? What if I’ve tried to forgive him instead of living with this burden on my chest?”

Tony considered his words before asking: “Then why did you tell Howard not to call again?”

Jarvis was taken aback. “W- what?”

“At my 10^th birthday … you’ve gone inside to take the lemonade but you weren’t coming back, so I went to check. You were shouting on the phone and you were quite angry. But when I’ve called you, you acted like nothing has happened… it was him on the phone, wasn’t it?”

“Y- yes… Howard called for your birthday… he said he missed us, that he was lonely… And I told him not to call again! I’m not proud of myself now: I’ve been selfish, maybe, but back then I was feeling it was the only thing to protect you… well, all of us!”

He saw Ana nodding in understanding.

“We can’t bear the whole world on our shoulders, Mr. Jarvis” she stated. “You did what we both thought it was good back then, for Tony and for our family. But now it doesn’t concern us anymore. This time the decision is only yours, Tony. But please, sweetie, remember that whatever you’ll decide we will always remain by your side! Ti si nashiyat sin! (You’re our son)”

“Köszönöm, anyu! (Thanks, mom)” Tony replied in Hungarian.

Jarvis rolled his eyes. “Why I don’t have some fancy language for a reply?”

“Because you’re a boring British old man!” Ana laughed, and they all imitated her.

Then Tony leaned with his head on Jarvis’s shoulder and he closed his eyes, like he did since he was a child. They stayed like this for a while, perfectly silent, just hearing the noise of their breaths.

“You’ll be there as well? For the whole time?” Tony asked. “You’ll never leave me alone?”

“No, my boy” Jarvis assured. “We’ll be there by your side, unless you’ll explicitly ask us to be left alone with your f-… with Mr. Stark!”

Tony nodded and then whispered: “Okay, then… But I want also Mistur Mustatsi!”

And the big cat immediately meowed in approval.

It was a sunny Saturday, and despite being the beginning of October it was still quite warm outside. After some discussions, they’ve set for a sort of brunch at 11 AM, at the former Stark Mansion. Ana has carefully prepared the dining room, while Jarvis has woken up at 5 to cook everything… in reality, he couldn’t sleep!

“It’s like to be pushed back in time!” he thought. How many times he has done the same for Mr. and Mrs. Stark’s meetings?

While he was taking a freshly baked cake out from the oven, he got surprised by seeing Tony observing him from the door. The resemblance was astonishing and Jarvis stopped right before saying aloud: “Your coffee is ready, Mr. Stark!”

“My boy! What are you doing awake at this hour of the morning?” he said instead.

“I could ask you the same question, tatko!” Tony replied by taking a sit at the breakfast table and taking a pastry. “I’ve thought it was an informal thing…”

“Well, yes… this is informal…”

“Then why have you cooked for an army?” Tony joked, with a tense smile.

“I guess this is your father dealing with stress!” Ana mocked him, by entering the room. He kissed Tony on the head and wished him good morning. “Did you manage to sleep, sweetie?”

“A bit… I kept remembering that time he went to the orphanage and run away… it’s like a fading memory, but it’s still here…”

He played a bit with his mug of coffee, and then, for the first time, he told them what has happened that day.

“I was so excited because the Mother Superior has told me my father from America was coming to take me. I’ve already prepared my luggage and couldn’t wait to meet him. The other kids were extremely jealous but the Sisters were telling them they should be happy for me. I remember I came down jumping one step after the other because I couldn’t wait to meet my father… and then I faced this tall man, with his white hair and moustache and he appeared so strict and scaring… but the worst thing happened when the Mother told me to greet Mr. Stark and I’ve just said “Good morning, Mr. Stark. My name’s Tony”, when he… he looked at me like he was seeing something disgusting! Then he turned to the Mother and told her something I didn’t understand and he run away! The Mother was horrified, and rushed behind him by calling him aloud, while I was left there with Sister Margaret. She took me back upstairs and emptied my luggage. I wasn’t understanding what has happened… all I knew was that I wasn’t good enough for my father to take me away from the orphanage! Then the Mother came upstairs and told me she was sorry, but that man wasn’t my father. She told me that he has come to the wrong orphanage, but I understood she was telling a lie… Now I get that she and the other nuns really cared for us: she was the Mother Superior and she told an explicit lie to soft my pain!”

He wiped away the tears, by playing with the pendant with the Holy Virgin he sometimes put on, especially when he was stressed: it was the pendant the nuns have gifted to their little kid going to America when the Jarvises have adopted him. A memory from the orphanage.

Now Ana was patting Tony’s shoulder, while Jarvis has taken his free hand. Mistur Mustatsi appeared in the kitchen and meowed until the boy took her up on his lap.

“She appeared out of nowhere some days after that episode!” Tony told them, by pointing at the cat. “I was always alone also before… I guess it was because the other kids knew I was not like them, that someone has promised to take me away… they were jealous and I can’t blame them! But after that episode… well, the other kids mocked me and played tricks at me… they said some Americans will maybe come just to open me like a fish because I was worth nothing. They called me chudak “weirdo”, and threw things at me when the nuns weren’t watching. Then I got badly sick because I’ve hidden in the bell tower to escape them, and it was raining hard… I was in bed with high fever when Mustatsi jumped from the window and reached my bed: she licked me on the face, and then she slept by my side. When someone came in, she hided under the bed, and then she came back at her place… The Mother was not very pleased when she found out, but Sister Margaret told her that guardian angels took many forms, and they left me the cat…”

For the first time, Jarvis wondered if Mistur Mustatsi was really some sort of angel, or maybe Maria herself back in that form to take a look over her kid after Howard has left him alone. That would have explained many things, including the cat’s love for cream pastries…

Jarvis shook the thought away: it didn’t matter what that cat was, but he was glad that Mustatsi has helped his son in the most difficult period of his life.

Tony was now caressing the cat, with the same focused expression he put on when he was worried by something.

“A dollar for your thoughts” Jarvis told him with a smile.

“Do you think I’ll manage to talk to him?” Tony mumbled. “Do you think I’ll be able to look at him and not feeling like that 3 years old kid abandoned at the orphanage?”

Jarvis didn’t know what to answer, but lucky for him Ana did.

“Of course, sweetie!” she said. “You’re a brilliant young man now, and most of all you’re not alone! We’re with you, and we’ll never leave you!”

“And you don’t have to prove anything, Tony!” Jarvis added. “Not to him, nor to anyone else! Don’t feel like you have to impress him or having him to like you…”

“O- okay, tatko!” Tony replied by smiling at them. “Thanks… for being my parents!”

“You’re really very welcome!” Ana mocked by kissing him again.

As they suspected, Tony spent the remaining of the morning in the garage, by working on something Jarvis swore to have heard talking with a female voice. It was rather this or he was turning senile.

Few minutes before 11, he heard a car engine approaching and, shortly after, the 1973 Stutz Blackhawk of Obadiah Stane parked in front of the main entrance. Jarvis has gone outside to meet them, while Ana has gone to call Tony.

“Mr. Stane!” he greeted when the big man exited from the driver seat.

The door from the passenger’s seat opened and Jarvis had to appeal to all his self-control not to gasp. He knew that man was Howard Stark because he knew he must be him, but who went off the car with some difficulties was not at all the man he remembered. Howard was more or less as old as Jarvis, but now he looked wasted, thin and a bit bowed on himself, with his face hollowed, and a pair of white moustache that made him look older than he actually was. Only his eyes betrayed his wit, and he was also dressing with style and care.

“I can walk by myself!” he told Stane with anger, while the other was trying to help him. But he had to lean on a cane to walk the few meters that separated him from the porch.

He and Jarvis stared for a moment, with none of them able to utter a word.

“Mr. Stark!” Jarvis finally greeted.

The man opened in a smile that made him look more like himself.

“How do you do, old pal?” he said. “You look great!”

“And you look miserable, Howie!” Stane joked by his side. “Should we go inside, Jarvis?”

He escorted them by feeling weird, because that has been actually Mr. Stark’s house, but now it didn’t look like it. Mr. Stark didn’t seem to care about the redecoration, but when Jarvis lead them in the living room, instead of taking a place on the couch next to Mr. Stane, Howard went to the big piano and passed his fingers over the keys. With one finger he pressed a few notes, then he retracted, by shaking his head.

“I’ve never learnt how to play that…” he confessed.

Jarvis and Stane exchanged a look, then the vice-CEO asked for a glass of water to take some meds. He has just swallowed a bunch of pills, when Ana finally arrived, with Tony by her side. With a look, Jarvis got that Tony has made some resistance, maybe hiding in a corner or in a wardrobe like he did as a child.

“Mr. Stane, what a pleasure to see you again!” Ana cheered, by trying to break the ice.

“Mrs. Jarvis, if it’s possible you look younger than I remember!” Stane replied, by staying at the game.

“Stop flattering, Mr. Stane, I’m married woman!”

“Well, that has never stopped me!”

She consciously didn’t take the hint, and she turned to Howard. “Mr. Stark! I’m glad you’ve accepted our invitation. May I introduce you to our son? Tony, please, say hello to Mr. Stark!”

But Tony was like frozen on his spot, with eyes moving from his biological father to the piano, incapable of uttering a word. And then, Howard made a few slow steps towards him and stretched his hand.

“Good morning, Mr. Jarvis junior. My name is Howard… Stark, obviously!” he said.

They all saw Tony was slightly trembling but then he accepted the hand that he has been offered.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark” he said. “I’m Tony… you can call me Tony!”

“Tony!” Howard repeated, slowly, like he was tasting his name.

Then Tony turned towards Stane to shake his hand too.

“Glad to see you again, Mr. Stane” he said.

“Why shouldn’t we take something to drink?” Ana asked. “Please, make yourself at home, gentlemen. I’ll go get the refreshments!”

They’ve studied that dance with precision, to let one of them always in the same room with Tony. With a look, the boy understood what was going on, and Jarvis was sure the other men got the same. Stane and Howard took the couch, while Jarvis and Tony sat on the two armchairs at the opposite sides of the chimney, with Tony closer to the piano and also, awkwardly, to his father.

Jarvis and Stane exchanged a look but said nothing. They started to talk about the weather and sport cars just to fill the silence.

Howard and Tony were studying each other by trying to avoid to fix themselves in the eyes.

When Ana came back with the (not alcoholic) refreshments, Tony and Jarvis both stood up at the same time to leave her a place to sit.

“Thank you, gentlemen!” she smiled, but then she took Tony’s place, by waving him to sit with her on the border. Then Ana tried to involve Howard in a conversation by asking about Malibu, the style, the cars, and if he still had that stuffed flamingo.

“Do you mean Bernard?” Howard asked with a soft laugh.

“Oh my gosh! What a memory!” Jarvis said by rolling his eyes.

“Who was Bernard?” Tony asked without understanding.

“A flamingo Mr. Stark has bought from… where, exactly?”

“Oh, old pal, the hell if I remember!” Howard laughed. “It was a very funny and pleasant company!”

“Pleasant? You weren’t the one chasing him in the garden for hours!”

“Come on, Jarvis! It kept you fitted!”

“He made me swear like a docker, that’s for sure, Mr. Stark!” Jarvis replied with a honest smile.

“Do you have any pet?” Howard asked towards Tony. It was the first time he asked something directly to him.

They all stayed silent, like waiting for the boy’s reaction.

“A cat” he replied. “She was with me at the orphanage and we brought her back.”

“Whiskers, right?” Howard went on. “I think I’ve met her the first time I saw you near my Maserati…”

“Pontiac” Tony interrupted.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It was a Pontiac you drove here. I was curious and you opened the hood to explain to me how the engine worked. Then mom went out and you run away…” Tony fixed him in the eye. “I remember everything, Mr. Stark. Even something I am not supposed to remember!”

“Like what?” Howard challenged him, but he was sweating.

Without a word, Tony raised and sat in front of the piano. Then, slowly, he started to play: he has never been good with piano, but with a big effort he has learnt that and a few other songs. That one remained his favourite.

While he was playing, Jarvis noted that Howard was as pale as a sheet and he had tears in his eyes.

“Maria always played it when she was expecting you…” he mumbled when he finished.

Tony didn’t say nothing for a while, still caressing the keyboard. Then he turned and out of the blue he asked him: “Why did you leave me there?”

“I- I wrote you that…”

“I want to hear from you!”

It was such a direct attack that took them all aback, even if they knew it would come. Only Howard seemed to be expecting it, because he didn’t lower his eyes and answered: “Because I am a coward!”

Then he looked down at his feet and followed: “I loved your mother… I mean, Maria… I loved her a lot! When she died, I knew it was my fault! I’ve insisted on her being with me despite she was pregnant… very pregnant! The doctors have warned me it was dangerous but I insisted. And that morning too… she was so tired and she told me she wanted to rest, and I got mad at her… I told her such terrible things that I could never apologize for! And then when they told me she was… when they told me she was…”

He burst into tears like he was just living that same pain again. Jarvis wondered if he has ever really moved over that moment, or if a part of Howard Stark has remained stuck in that convent in the middle of the Bulgarian countryside.

“Howard…” Obadiah tried to pat him on the shoulder. He was clearly uncomfortable.

“When the doctor came outside and told me there was a chance to save the kid, I couldn’t believe it… but then when they took you out of her body, what I could see was only blood… Maria’s blood was everywhere in that room. And you were screaming but you looked so little… they told me you were too little to survive, that your organs may be incomplete and that you would have died in the following months… and I- I couldn’t bear it! Then a nun told me they could take care of you, give you a chance… so I’ve paid them and left you there. They made me sign papers… I didn’t even care… Suddenly it was like being swallowed by darkness. I’ve realized what has happened only when I was back on my jet and I saw a black coffin being carried inside… I- I may have also asked where Maria was and to wait for her before taking off…”

He had to pause and asked for a lemonade.

“Well, that’s what happened… but I imagine you wanted to know why I left you there the second time, right?” he then asked to Tony.

He silently nodded, with a hand grabbed at the piano: his knuckles have turned white.

This time Howard didn’t lower his eyes from him. “You have your mother’s eyes! God, you look so much like Maria that every time I see you it’s like to see her… apart from your mouth, that you took from me! But yeah…” He paused and then he said: “When the Mother Superior wrote me that you’ve turned 3 and that you were probably out of immediate danger, I immediately took my jet and went to Sofia without thinking twice. But then, they stopped me various times and the more time it was passing, the less sure I became of my decision. Then when I arrived at the convent, I… I guess I’ve lived everything again. It was like I could still here Maria’s ranting while she was calling me aloud… and I was there, powerless… I’ve all the money and technology of the world, but I couldn’t save the love of my life from dying in an absurd way! And then when the nun came back with you, and I saw your eyes… all I could see was regret and reproach in those eyes… and I couldn’t…”

There was a long silence.

“That’s not an explanation” Tony pointed out. “You came there, you saw me and you run away… why?”

“I told you… I saw something in your eyes! I felt like your mother was back to judge me!”

“It wasn’t your wife, it was me! And I was but a kid!” Tony was shouting.

“I- I don’t know… I- I’m sorry, Tony…”

“You’re sorry??? That’s what you have to say?!”

It was evident that it wasn’t enough for Tony, because he jumped up and marched outside the room, despite Ana calling him.

“Well, that didn’t go as I’ve hoped to!” Stane pointed out. From his behaviour, he had clearly heard the whole story for the first time. “Next time, Howie, I’d wish to know every damn mess you’ve done! Before the meetings would be nice! Don’t you have some whisky, Jarvis?”

But Jarvis didn’t bother to answer, by waving to Stane where the liquors were. He raised up to follow his son. As he suspected, Tony has taken shelter in the garage, where he was just let off his anger by throwing things around.

“Careful, my boy, or you’ll make something to explode!”

“It’s nonsense, tatko!” Tony shouted. But he stopped and Jarvis could see he was sobbing hard. “W- Why should I forgive him?”

Jarvis came closer and hugged him, but putting his head to rest on his shoulder like always. He hold him thigh until he has cried all his frustration out.

“We’re not asking you to forgive him, my boy” he said, slowly. “I just want you to listen to him and give him a chance to explain and, maybe, to redeem himself… whether or when you may be ready to forgive him for what he has done to you, that will be only up to you! But the point was not what has happened in the past, but what you could take for yourself for your future!”

Tony nodded on his shoulder, but it took another moment before being ready to come back to the other. In the meanwhile, Ana has invited their guests to take a sit at the table and was serving some appetizers. She caressed her boy’s face when they came back.

“I’m fine, mom…” he said, by taking a chair as far away from Howard as he could, and directly in front of Obadiah Stane.

“You said you wanted to talk to me, Mr. Stane” he said indeed. “You said you have a proposal… then, shoot, what’s this proposal? And it must be really good, because the Hammers are offering me a full position!”

“Pf! Hammer?!” Howard said with indignation. “I’ll never allow you to work for those idiots!”

Jarvis rolled his eyes, perfectly aware that it was the last thing Mr. Stark had to say. But since Tony seemed on the verge of exploding again, he took better to say something aloud.

“Actually, Mr. Stark, it’s not in your power to allow or not allow something. This decision belongs to Tony, and to Tony only!”

“Well, to make a decision one must evaluate the different offers, don’t you think, boy?” Stane immediately went on, by glancing Jarvis a grateful look. “So let’s start from the beginning: I saw some of your projects, and your ideas are brilliant, far more advanced than everything I’ve seen around this country, and I’ve travelled a lot. With you at the lead of research and development, we could outmatch the competition for the next twenty years… and just with your first ideas! Then, I’m positive you will continue to create, so the gap will only grow!”

Tony managed to put something in his mouth, by thanking his mother with a wink.

“So, are you offering me a place at research and development?”

“We’re offering you a three months training period to start with” Stane went on, by generously serving himself. “This beef tastes amazing, Mrs. Jarvis! I was saying: we’ll give you three months, fully-payment, with access to the facility and the most advanced instrumentation we have there. You won’t work at any ongoing project we have, but develop one on your own, from scratch till presentation. You may ask for help for specific parts, and I’ll give you a support team to estimate the budget and economic part, but the scientific project must be entirely your own, and we expect a prototype to be further developed in our facilities after your training period!”

Tony considered the proposal. “Will you retain intellectual property after my traineeship?”

“We’ll give you the royalties and attribution for your invention whether we decide to commercialize it!” Stane answered, but he has smirked at the question. Jarvis knew that this meant that he liked the boy already.

“So you want something to be sold…”

“That’s natural, boy! We’re a company not a charity act!” Howard intervened. He was glanced a bad look from his vice-CEO, so he focused back on his plate: “This cheese-thing is good, Ana… and your soufflé is always the best, Jarvis!”

Tony didn’t pay attention to him but focused again on Stane. “What will happen after that project?”

“If it’s good enough, we’ll make you a formal job offer. These will be the terms: a part-time job until you finish your studies, with specific projects to be developed and duties to be fulfilled during that period, with a strict timetable to be respected! After you graduated, we’ll talk about a permanent position. But I must be clear with you right now: during your part-time you won’t work in one single department, but you’ll change every three or four months. You’ll start from the selling and marketing, then you’ll move to economy, legal and then to the different engineer sections, software and hardware, not to mention the logistic! I’m expecting you to take active part in meetings, and to be ready to present and write reports, but most of all to know the people working for you!”

“For… me?” Tony asked, by dropping the fork he had in his hand.

Stane bite his lip and waved to Howard. “Your turn, Howie!”

Mr. Stark put his cutleries down and stared at Tony in his eyes. “If you pass your traineeship, as we all believe you will, we want to train you for the following years, at least two years and a half, maybe more if we’re lucky, but the time is running against us. After you’ve passed your traineeship, I’ll officially nominate you my vice-CEO, and you’ll share this position with Obadiah here, until he manages... During this period you’ll work part-time, as Obie has told you, and you’ll manage to graduate on time… and after you’ve done that, you’ll be enrolled full time as my vice-CEO!”

The room fell perfectly silent. Jarvis and Ana exchanged a look over Tony’s shoulders: they were expecting something like this, especially since they’ve known that Stane was dying and Howard’s mind fading away, but that was really something big to be heard aloud.

Tony, however, wasn’t answering. He wasn’t actually saying a word, which wasn’t usually a good sign.

“What if I refuse?” he asked.

Howard turned tensed but Stane shrugged.

“The company will survive for the upcoming six months, until the voice spread that I’ve a collection of cancers growing inside my body and I’m on borrowed time!” he said, by filling his glass with red wine. He smirked at Tony’s astonished face. “Since I have to die, I don’t want to waste any occasion to taste something good! Don’t you agree, boy?”

“A- are you going to die?”

“Everybody’s going to die… But yes, I’m dying right now. The doctor gave me one year, more or less. And, without me, rest assured nobody will manage to keep the wheel straight in position!”

Tony wasn’t understanding. “What about you?” he asked to Howard. “The company has your name, after all…”

“It may have his name, but he’s lost all the credit after his last two marriages and that scene in front of the judge!” Stane replied in Howard’s place. Then he explained: “He arrived in court heavily drunk and was detained for a couple of days. I needed to put all our lawyers at work to take him out. The stakeholders don’t trust him anymore. Plus, he had other issues he will may decide to talk to you about!”

But Howard shook his head on a side, and in that moment Jarvis recognized that was a thing Tony also did when he was upset.

Then Stane assumed the typical pose of a lecturer and told Tony: “You have to understand, boy. Running a company means also managing the stakeholders: they were the ones to give you the money in the first place, so you have to manage to please them… and not to scary them! Howard, here, with his instability in the last years has worried them: now they think he’s not able to carry on his company, and they haven’t run away only because they saw me as a fixed guide… they have their reckless genius here for creation, but when they talked money they turn to me. Now, imagine what will happen when the news spread that Howard Stark is following a program for alcoholism and he has other issues, and his vice-CEO has six months left to live?”

Tony swallowed. “The stakeholders will abandon a sinking ship… nobody was going to invest in Stark Industries anymore because they saw a company without a future…”

“The shares at the Stock Market will crash, and in a couple of days will lose everything we have built so far!” Stane concluded. Howard was more paler than his moustache.

“W- what will change with me?” Tony managed to ask.

“Everything!” Howard exclaimed. “You’re already quite a legend in our small circle, and everyone wants you on board… jeez, the Fujikawa are getting crazy and they were doing everything to have you, but they weren’t the only one!”

“Well, you’re doing the same…”

“Of course! With one project with your signature under the label of Stark Industries we will spur the stakeholders that we are a solid reality, ready to invest in the new generations. So when they’ll discover Obie’s sickness they won’t turn completely crazy… especially when we’ll tell them that you’re actually my son and that I’ve planned to leave the company to you!”

“WHAT?” Tony, Jarvis and Ana shouted at the same time.

Stane seemed amused by their reaction, while Howard blinked at them in an apparently honest misunderstanding.

“I’ve thought it was obvious!” he said. “For Tony to inherit my company, I have to officially recognize him as a Stark, my son and heir. This, and that new amazing thing they called DNA test will spare you a lot of legal issues and contestations when I’ll be gone!”

Jarvis was simply furious.

“Let me see if I’ve understood correctly” he said. “You came here to finally talk to MY SON after all these years, you told me through your right hand man that you just wanted to make peace and offer him a place in your company… and now you wanted to take him away from me? How dare you, Mr. Stark?!”

“Tatko!” Tony called him, by putting a hand over his arm to calm him down. He looked perfectly in control. “It’s okay, tatko! It’s good they exposed all their conditions, so that I could make my decision… now, let’s finish the brunch. We’ve wasted too much time discussing, and you’ve have spent hours cooking. Try this, Mr. Stane: it’s called meggyleves and it’s an Hungarian cherry soup mom always makes in summer. Careful, it’s really sweet!”

If Jarvis and Howard could have solved the issue with punches they would have. Instead they were forced down eating and chitchatting of general topics like the weather, the results of the new car races, and the place of high-tech in the upcoming world. After the first reticence, Tony was also quite involved in the discussion, especially when he and Howard started to talk about a possible green power source of energy for propulsions but also light.

They kept discussing until long past 4PM, when Stane informed they needed to be on their way home, because they had other tasks to attend to.

“He has a chemo, and I’ve my therapy session!” Howard grunted, by greeting them on the door step. He indulged a moment to look around at his former house, but he seemed less older then when he entered. Then he turned to Tony and said: “Just think about it, Tony, okay? I know you don’t want anything from me, and I respect your decision… but don’t let your past interfere with your future! You could do great things not only for this company, but also for this country… and from that, who knows?”

That was an incredible wise speech, and Jarvis was almost sure Maria has told him the same once. Almost to confirm his words, Mistur Mustatsi appeared out of nowhere for the first time in the whole day.

“Mustatsi! Kŭde beshe? (Where were you?)” Tony asked, by trying to lift her up.

But the big cat gave him the tail and marched towards Howard, by starting to rub against his legs and then accepting to be caressed on his back. Her behaviour strongly contrasted from the first time, when she has hissed to Howard for the whole time.

“Mister Whiskers eh?” the man asked by cuddling the big cat on the belly. “He’s a gorgeous cat!”

“Actually, she’s a female” Tony replied by coming closer. “I’ve called her Mistur Mustatsi before I knew that… because on that spot on her face, you see? Then they told me she was female, but the name remained.”

“So Mustatsi means… whiskers?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark” Tony confirmed. He pointed at the cat’s face where a black spot on her white fur could indeed resemble a pair of moustache

“Please…” Mr. Stark said with an hoarse voice. “Please, call me Howard. I- if you want…”

Tony thought about it and then he nodded.

They rubbed the cat together, until Stane rang the horn with impatience. Jarvis silently swore at him.

“I have to go, I guess” Howard said. “Bye, Mistur Mustatsi. Will I see you again, Tony?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark… I mean, Howard!”

While their car was disappearing, Ana grabbed Jarvis by his arm. “It’s true what our son said that time, you know, Mr. Jarvis?”

“W- what?”

Ana smiled by pointing at Tony who was still playing with Mustatsi.

“Cats know best.”

______________________________________________

(Epilogue)

It took Tony a couple of weeks to make up his mind. A couple of weeks, two crisis, and hours of calls with Reed, Lunella and Rhodey, until all his friends gathered at the “Shatsie” like it was a board meeting. They were all of the idea that Tony should accept, but the more they showed him reasons, the more Tony became stubborn in refusing.

“It’s about the surname, isn’t it?” Jarvis heard Rhodey asking his friend one evening, while they were drinking a beer in the porch.

“Yeah, mostly…” Tony replied. “And also because I’ve got the impression that he came here and he like pretended to buy me back, you know? Like I was really a piece of meat! Maybe those kids at the orphanage were right and he just wants to open me like a fish… in this case, to get the ideas from my brain!”

“Don’t say this, little T!” Rhodey told him, by patting him on his shoulder. “Have you tried to talk with your parents?”

“They kept saying that whatever I’ll decide they’ll stay by my side…”

“And isn’t this good?”

“Yes, but… somehow I’d have preferred them to tell me what to do… like when we were kids, you know? Tony drink your milk, wash your teeth, have you done your homework?, let’s go to a museum…”

“It’s called growing up, T! And since you can’t do it with inches, at least you can do it in your brain!”

“Oh, shut up, Platypus! You’re not that older than me!” Tony mocked him.

Jarvis and Ana were seriously worried.

They didn’t want to scare Tony, but they knew that Mr. Stark could become very obsessive with the things he wanted. As well as they knew they haven’t done a complete legal thing during the adoption… especially for what it concerns a letter written by “Mr. Stark” in which he authorized the Jarvises for the adoption. Jarvis himself has faked Mr. Stark’s handwriting and signature like he has done many times in the past. Now they were afraid Howard Stark was going to use it against them through his lawyers.

“He wouldn’t dare, would he?” Ana asked him one evening, while they knew Tony wasn’t listening because he was playing Dungeons and Dragons in the basement with his friends Rhodey, Lunella, Reed and his “not-girlfriend” Susan.

“Howard would dare everything to save his company!” Jarvis replied, by marching back and forth the room. “I knew he would have done something sooner or later, but this… asking the boy to take his surname! Like he could wipe us away with a signature on a check!”

Ana agreed. “Still, this behaviour of yours is not helping… gosh, you remind me of Maria when he had to marry Howard! She also didn’t want to lose her surname!”

Jarvis stopped in the middle of the room. “What did you just say?”

“I say that you remind me of Maria…”

He blinked a couple of times, then he launched over the bed and kissed her. “You’re a genius, Mrs. Jarvis!”

Then he run downstairs to tell Tony his idea, without minding to have interrupted a glorious fight between the “Amazing Four” and some Demogorgon.

The first week of January 1989, Tony started his traineeship at Stark Industries, while contemporary taking top scores at his MIT exams.

By late February he was ready to present to the whole Board meeting and to the chief engineer a prototype that he called “Nerra”, which Jarvis got to be a D&D reference. The model created a series of mirrors to actually hide everything in plain sight. Tony gave a demonstration by making himself disappearing from under their nose and stealing Stane’s cigar before reappearing right in front of him. But the thing about Nerra was that its mirror mechanism could be installed literally everywhere, and activated at needs; and even with a quarter of the mirror not working, the decoy will offer a good refuge. According to Tony’s plans the Nerra could be installed on the uniforms of special unit soldiers, as well as on jets and planes, but also on theme park attractions.

“Not to mention when you have to escape from a bedroom because the husband has arrived!” Stane joked aloud, and many laughed.

Other than Nerra, Tony presented also two others full-functioning prototypes, that is a laser gun and a communicative device, plus a thing he called USB and that served for storing data… way more data than the present-day floppy disks. And he pretended to be able to create also digital storage points in the internet, like clouds in the sky.

“That’s the future, guys!” he told them. “Nanotechnology, untouchable things… and among all of them, the good old rifles for our friends in the Army!”

That took him an admired pat on the shoulder by Obadiah Stane.

“Well done, Mr. Jarvis!” he praised him aloud. “I’m sure you’ll be an indispensable value to our company from this moment on!”

That Stane was not feeling well it became evident inside Stark Industries a couple of months later, when his secretary, Miss Chander, had to call an ambulance after the big man has fainted during an animated discussion with one guy at their selling department. The news leaked shortly after and the repercussion on the Stock Market were as bad as they were expecting.

That same evening, though, Howard Stark called a conference press in which he announced that he has made the decision to flank a new vice-CEO to Mr. Stane, since he was sick and in need of rest. When he announced Tony’s nomination many of the Board meeting grimaced, by asking publicly for an explanation. And that was the occasion Howard Stark needed to announce that Tony was his lost son, and that he will rule the company after a period of training and when neither Howard nor Obadiah would be there anymore. Huge legal cases opened, but Stane had their offices ready. The DNA helped them a lot.

The side-effect on the Stock Market was a bit uncertain. But then Tony presented FRIDAY, a talking artificial intelligence, and he also announced the launch of a new series of product for communications, like a mobile phone flexible and light he called “Stark phone”. When the first models went out, the market went completely crazy: all the stakeholders came back and bet on the “golden boy” has they kept calling him. It also helped that Stane presented a full team of experts in various departments to support the “new kid” in the transitory phase.

Obadiah Stane passed away 15 months after that lunch at Stark Mansion, even if he has spent the last 6 in a hospital bed, frequently visited not only by Howard and Tony (who was still in his training period), but also by Ana and Jarvis. The former butler was indeed with him when Stane’s heart stopped working, and the vice-CEO of Stark Industries passed away by holding Jarvis’s hand.

Howard Stark followed the same destiny a year later. In the end he has fully reconciled with his son, and Tony suffered a lot for his loss.

In the meanwhile Stark Industries was rocking the market, and even after both Stane’s and Howard’s deaths, the company remained strong, especially under the new leadership and trends imposed by “the new kid”, very focused on communication and green energy.

When they put Tony’s face on the cover of People and then of Times, Jarvis and Ana knew this was just the beginning. Tony was highly requested not only for his work, but also by the society, even if he still preferred to come back to sleep at home, and to spend Sunday afternoons with his parents, just gardening or playing cricket outside.

Because despite the world knew him now as “Tony Stark”, his complete and official name was and would always remain “Anthony Edward Jarvis-Stark”. Like his mother has been “Carbonell-Stark” before him. A Tony’s tatko’s idea.

“You’ll always be my mom and dad!” Tony told them one evening with his head on Jarvis’s shoulder, while Ana was patting her kid’s legs.

“We’re proud of you, son!” both of them told him.

Then Jarvis closed his eyes and kissed his boy on the head.

THE END