Work Text:
On Tony's fourth birthday, he asked for permission for Jarvis and Anna to sit at the dinner table. His mother agreed and they had a good time. Tony only looked at the empty chair at the head of the table a few times. Then Anna brought out a cake, a beautiful white frosted triple layer cake, with five candles lit and glowing. Tony said, "But I'm four!" He held up four fingers.
"And one to grow on," Jarvis said.
Tony liked that idea.
Anna added, "If you can blow them all out with one breath, your wish will come true."
"But you mustn't tell anyone what it is!" Tony's mom said, laughing.
Tony took a deep, deep breath, and wished silently with all his might. I wish Capin 'Merica would come back, so Daddy could stop looking for him. and then he blew out all the candles while his family cheered.
On Thanksgiving, when Tony was six, Anna carefully saved the wishbone and when it was dry and brittle a few days later, he sneaked into the kitchen, and pulled it with her. She laughed when he fell back on his butt, still holding tightly to the largest piece of bone. "Lucky break, young master! Your wish will surely come true."
Tony grinned up at her. He had wished so hard that he could be a great inventor like his father. 'Uncle' Obie said he would be able to help make Stark Industries an even greater name in the world.
When he was seven, Tony was sent away to boarding school. The school was all right, but Tony learned things from the other students that weren't in books, so that made the lessons more valuable, even if they seemed silly. Besides, he wanted to fit in. So he blew the fluff off a dandelion one summer's day, and wished he could be a hero, like Captain America.
Many years later, when Tony went through a portal, he saw a star, and thought of his foolish childhood dreams. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. Please, I want to live. I want to fight with the Avengers. I want to protect the world. Then he closed his eyes.
When he woke to Hulk's roars with the rest of the Avengers gathered around him and Steve smiling at him, Tony thought his wish had come true.
Not that he believed in wishes, of course.