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You could say, after the Civil War as the media had decided to call it, Tony had gone a little off the rails. Well, more than a little. Maybe (definitely) a lot.
Since Pepper was hardly around to tell him what to do after he got back from Siberia, Tony decided to do everything he had tried so hard to forget about and overcome ever since Afghanistan. He never told anyone about the real events that went down in the bunker, and decidedly, his last friends declared that he had gone there to drive Steve and James away.
He had gone to do the complete opposite, but finding out that James Barnes, The Winter Soldier, had murdered his parents had been his last straw. That factor alone was something else that contributed to Tony's downward spiral, though he pretended it was everything else that had happened.
Without Pepper here with him, he could do what he wanted without thinking he needed to please or impress someone, or live up to someone's standards. Without the Avengers here, he was lonely and hurt, but there was no one to tell him what to do.
He knew that he and Pepper's 'break' wasn't just going to be a break. It was over for them, though none of them wanted to say it. He loved Pepper, he did, but he knew whatever had been there was gone now.
So, as stated earlier, Tony went off the rails. Fully.
He began drinking again, much like the old days, drinking himself to the point where he forgot his own name and who he was. He began to party, he began to worsen his reputation when people spotted him in clubs drinking himself into a stupor, the press began to speculate what he could possibly be doing behind closed doors.
Some of the many news headlines read...
Tony Stark reached breaking point? Split from CEO of Stark Industries and Avengers, read more...
Tony Stark returning to old habits to deal with heartbreak?
Alcohol, Sex, Drugs. What's next for Tony Stark?
(Though, the drugs part was incorrect. Tony would never do drugs.)
Tony Stark spotted in multiple clubs after the Accords and Avengers Split
Is this the end of Stark Industries?
Billionaire, Playboy, Alcoholic. Tony Stark has finally reached the end, and many believe he will really kill himself this time round.
He never listened to them. He never had. He didn't give a shit what the world thought, because he was alone, and he could do what he damn well pleased. If he had to live up to anyone's standards, it definetly wasn't theirs. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted, because no one cared anymore.
He knew where the Rogue Avengers were, of course he did. T'Challa had alerted him as soon as he allowed Rogers came to Wakanda with James, and allowed Tony the chance to bring them into custody if he pleased. Tony liked T'Challa. But despite how much he knew, and deserved, to rat out his old friends, he didn't. He let them hide in Wakanda and pretended he didn't know where they were, and he let James Barnes get the recovery he needed, even if he may not deserve it in Tony's eyes.
He often wondered if they saw all the news about him, and how their fantasies had most likely come true. Stark was finally drinking himself to death!
Hilarious.
Tony knew he had lost it, as soon as Steve slammed that damn shield on his chest. He was broken from the get-go, and now all that was left for him was the alcohol and sex. His old habits. Pepper left him, his friends left him. He was alone, even though he had FRIDAY. Vision had ended up leaving him too, surprisingly. He knew the bot went to Wakanda, following Wanda like a fucking puppy. Ever since he caused Rhodey to lose his legs, Tony knew he was smitten for the witch. Even if he was, technically, a robot.
Even Rhodey and Happy had drifted away from him after learning about his resurrected habits, and didn't seem to want to tire themselves out this time.
Tony was truly, and utterly, alone.
So, he kept drinking. Going to clubs. Having sex with women, sometimes even men when he was in the mood for it. It gave him time to forget about his life, to forget about the Accords and Siberia and even, still, Afghanistan. New York. The wormhole. So much trauma, trauma that had been used against him. Even if he didn't have the Arc Reactor anymore, the heaviness in his chest still stayed with him. Crushing. Piercing. Tony knew the headlines were somewhat right.
He was fucking losing it.
It had been one particular night when Tony went out on a drinking binge, ignoring FRIDAY's concern and warnings, ignoring the dirt the press would get on him. He would have his new driver (who wasn't as good as Happy had been) drive him to the nearest club, one he didn't even know the name of, and drop him off and not come back until morning. Tony would be there somewhere, no doubt, passed out next to a pool of vomit. It was his new reality.
He had gone into the club, ordered drinks from the bartenders, and got himself drunk within the first half-hour. He danced, forgot, and ended up picking up a nice brown haired woman and took her outside. Or, more so, she took him outside. But who was he to complain?
He knew what was coming, he knew he would forget it all in the morning, but he just felt so high right now that he couldn't bring himself to stop. He knew this woman knew he was Tony Stark, and it was pretty obvious she was using him for the fact that he was, in fact, Tony Stark. Tony had become used to that fact. Men and women only used him for either the fame, money, or just the sex. But that was okay, because Tony was pretty much using them to forget all the horrible things in his life.
So, Tony went on with it despite all the alarming factors. He was drunk, heartbroken, traumatized, and he relished in the feeling of being able to forget about it all.
His pants and underwear were down, though not all the way, his dress shirt still on but stained with various alcoholic beverages. She was pressed up against the wall, her very short skirt pulled up, Tony hardly recognizing that she had been going commando. She also had a rather revealing and low cut top on that might as well have not been there at all. Tony went through with the usual, not once thinking about being protected like he usually would have (surprisingly), letting her have her way with him in the darkness of the club's balcony. He pretended he didn't notice people taking pictures of him, or hearing them laughing and cheering them on.
And so, he passed out right there, right after, a mess. He woke up with a pounding headache, sunlight burning his eyes, the air reeked with vomit and alcohol. His new driver, Chad, Tony thought his name was, was gently shaking his shoulder and telling him it was time to go home, pulling his pants up with his other hand. Tony was in a daze, letting some other grown man pick him up off the floor and pull up his pants for him.
Around a month later, he got an alert from FRIDAY that someone wanted to see him. Tony, for once, had been in the lab without a drink in his hand, aimlessly poking and prodding at some old Iron Man armor with yet again, another pounding headache. He had no purpose with this armor, more destroying it than making it better.
After he had done what he had with that woman at the club so carelessly, he got exploited over the news about it, even more than usual. There were pictures of himself, his ass visible in the lowlight, and was being tormented with the fact that he had drunken sex for everyone to see. He was all over the front of magazines the day after, though he hadn't known until that night. He stopped going to clubs and having sex after that, but that didn't mean he stopped drinking. God no, he didn't stop.
The news did catch on to his disappearance, and assumed he was drinking himself to death behind closed doors. Which was, half-right, half-wrong.
Right now, he was merely tipsy, letting some stranger into the Compound without asking FRIDAY who they were.
He only looked up when the person requested access, spotting a woman with brown hair standing on the other side of the glass. He had almost been expecting a certain strawberry blonde haired woman there, putting in her code with a gentle smile on his face, but his heart fell when it wasn't. He often forgot that Pepper wasn't around anymore.
Tony raised his eyebrows, trying to remember who this woman was as he pushed all thoughts of Pepper aside. He had FRIDAY let her in, flinching slightly when she came storming over to him with something in her hand. Why, and how, had he let this stranger into his Compound? How had she even gotten past security?
If Happy, Pepper and Rhodey were here, they would never allow it.
He jumped when she slammed it on his desk, right next to his spanner, Tony blinking in sleepy confusion at the object. It took him far too long to realise what it was, his heart literally stopping and water rushing into his ears. Right there, in front of him, was a pregnancy test. A positive one.
Now, many women had come to him with pregnancy scares. None of them were ever true, so why would this one be any different?
He looked at the woman again, his chest clenching when he began to recognise her. This was the woman he had sex with the club. The one who had made it onto the news. In the pictures, her face was in the darkness, so she remained anonymous. Of course, Tony's face was easily recognised, and his reputation was once again slammed. Tony never had a press conference about it, and Pepper never contacted him. He couldn't believe how fast everyone had left him in the dirt the second things went South.
"What is this?" Tony asked her, not knowing her name.
"Are you fucking serious, Stark?" The woman snapped, and promptly slapped him. Tony felt his eyes burn from the ferocity of the slap, mutely raising a hand to his cheek to rub. "You're the only person I've had sex with, in well, months! I can't believe- I can't believe I let that happen!"
"Actually, you wanted to fuck me." Tony replied, leaning back in case she decided to slap him again. "What was your name, again?"
"Anastasia." She growled, one hand sitting on her stomach. "You got me pregnant, Stark. Don't you realise that?"
Tony didn't know how to answer her. He was... horrified. She took his silence badly, rolling her eyes and running a hand through her long, brown hair.
"I can't believe this. I need you to tell me right now if you want this baby." She continued, giving her a glare that made Tony terrified of what she was going to say next. "Because if you don't, I'm aborting it. I don't have the money. I can't look after a fucking child."
Did she think Tony could do any better? He was a drunk. "I could give you m-"
"No." She snapped, rolling her eyes. "I don't need your money. I never wanted a child, Stark."
He looked at her stomach. There was... there was a human in there. His. A baby. Tony could now see where the tight shirt she was wearing wrinkled a little and puffed out, showing that there was a definite baby bump growing.
If she was actually being for real with him, and that this wasn't a prank, he couldn't stand the thought of his kid being aborted. He was all for other people doing it, because that was their choice. But.. if there really was a child in there, and it was his, and Anastasia was giving him a choice...
"Stop staring at my stomach and answer me, Stark." Anastasia snapped, looking even angrier. "I need to know what you want. I'm giving you a choice."
"I want it." Tony snapped, only realising what he said soon after. Anastasia looked shocked, too.
Anastasia left two more hours after she arrived. They ended up having a long chat, anger and differences put aside, and it was declared. Tony was having a child whether he liked it or not, and he knew for a fact he had nine months. Nine months to get his fucking life in order, so he could look after a baby. Oh, God, a baby. He was having a baby.
His hand hovered over Pepper's name. She would have known what to do.
Instead, he called Rhodey.
The man never picked up.
Tony ended up going through it by himself. With FRIDAY's help, he began to steadily erase his alcohol addiction for a second time, and it was not easy. It wasn't easier than the first time, but somehow, the thought of having a child living with him, his own child, kept him going, and he managed to stop his relapses. The amount of times he had almost called Chad to take him to a club was embarrassing, and he began to dig a ditch for himself. This was not the environment a child should be born into. It was much like his own with Howard, and he was beginning to contemplate whether he should put the baby into the system once it was born.
But could he really life his life knowing that he had put his only kid into a foster home?
Nope.
He trashed all the bottles of alcohol he had in the building with his most aggressive repulser blasts after a relapse, and didn't buy more. FRIDAY locked him out of all of his accounts when he tried, only a day after.
His bots kept him company, Anastasia visited every month with a growing baby bump to check up how he was going. He began looking at baby items to distract himself from the cravings, having FRIDAY help with what he should buy.
It turned out to be a good coping mechanism, looking for baby things online. Everything was just so... cute? Tony rarely called things cute, but looking at all these tiny items made him feel a little giddy inside. It had been a long time since he was happy, and he was beginning to feel a little hope that maybe he could achieve that again.
It was month nine, a few weeks away from the due date, when he was looking at various baby toys, when he received and alert from FRIDAY.
Anastasia had gone into labor. Early.
Tony had absolutely freaked.
He had panicked, he had even cried due to that panic, he had craved alcohol. He was three months clean, and with that thought, he got into the lift that took him down to the garage. He got himself inside of the closest car possible, not bothering to call Chad as he (might have) sped all the way to the hospital Anastasia had been taken to.
Tony was a bundle of nervous energy as he rushed into the hospital, ignoring the surprised gasps from people who clearly recognised him. He slammed his fists on the desk, starling the receptionist who had been typing away at her computer, her eyes going wide when she realised who he was. "H-How can I help you, M-Mr. Stark, Sir."
"I'm here for Anastasia." It was quite sad that he didn't know her last name. "She was brought here an hour ago. In labor."
The receptionist looked down at her computer with wide eyes, keyboard clicking. "There is one Anastasia in the maternity ward-"
Tony took off, charging down the hall and looking at the signs to tell him where to go. Somehow, he managed to reach the floor quite quick, looking through the windows of each room before seeing her. She was laying down, huge belly protruding out of the hospital gown, a pained expression on her face. There was an unfamiliar man sitting beside him, the both of them, along with a nurse, looking at Tony when he pushed the door open.
Later, Tony learned that the man with Anastasia was her short-term boyfriend, James. His stomach turned at his name, James Barnes' face flashing through his mind as he sent the man a tiny nod. Luckily, this guy was a red-head, and had no resemblances to The Winter Soldier.
It wasn't long before nurses and doctors were streaming into the room, Tony standing uncomfortably in the corner as he watched the whole process begin. Anastasia was moaning, not screaming thankfully, as the nurses encouraged her to begin pushing. Tony could see a little crib to the side, his heart pounding unhelpfully in his ears as he watched the whole scene play out. It was surprisingly intimate, even though he was on the other side of the room, and he couldn't help but feel like he shouldn't even be there.
James was holding his girlfriend's hand, sending reassuring glances to Tony every few minutes as Anastasia continued to push and moan. This continued for over an hour before Tony saw the baby fully come out, and then heard the crying. His knees almost buckled when he saw the little human, screaming at the top of it's tiny lungs as it was placed on Anastasia's chest.
The words, "You have a boy!" echoed through his ears as he shuffled over, right after James beckoned him.
Anastasia was looking up at him, smiling genuinely for the first time since Tony had met her. Tony looked down at the baby, horrified when he felt his eyes beginning to burn. He had helped make that.
The baby was soon taken to be cleaned off and diapered, the nurse gently holding his elbow and directing him over. The baby was tiny, little limbs kicking and flailing around as he cried, Tony timidly reaching down to brush his thumb over the baby's cheek. His skin was so soft that it made Tony even more emotional, not realising he was smiling until the baby latched onto his index finger with it's whole hand, squeezing gently and soon quietening down. A pacifier was placed between the child's lips, Tony never thinking he would cry over the sight of a baby suckling on a pacifier.
But here he was.
"Would you like to hold him, Mr. Stark?" The nurse asked, not waiting for him to answer as she gently picked him up. Tony panicked, fearing he would break the child if he held on too tight, feeling grateful for the nice nurse who told him how to appropriately hold the baby. She seemed to not care less who he was, and that went a long way to reassure him.
He looked down, he felt the emotion surge up faster than he could control it. He was holding his baby in his arms. His.
"Do you have any names in mind, Mr. Stark?" One of the nurses asked, smiling kindly at Tony before glancing at the baby. Tony looked down, too, chewing on his lip when he felt another burst of emotion. He had no idea how he thought he would react to his baby's birth, but he never thought it would be this.
Tony shook his head. "There's been a lot on my mind."
"We have a few names." Anastasia spoke up behind him, sounding exhausted. Tony slowly swiveled around, in the fear he would somehow hurt his boy, looking over at Anastasia for the first time since he had gone to look at his son. She was smiling, genuinely once again. She was all sweaty and grimy, nurses cleaning her off as she spoke. "We thought you might be preoccupied."
Her eyes had hardened a little when she said that, and Tony wondered if she meant his drinking. He looked away in shame, chewing on his lip again as the baby shifted in his arms very slightly, which caught his attention. "Are you sure you don't want to look after him?"
"You don't want to now?"
Tony blubbered. "No, of course I do. I just feel bad for..." What did he feel bad for? "He's yours too."
"We can't look after a child." Anastasia kind of snapped, though her calm face returned soon after. How could she look like that just after pushing a baby out of her? If that was Tony, he'd probably still be screaming. "We were thinking Peter. Peter Stark, since he's yours. Or, Thomas. If you don't like those, you can chose something else."
Peter Stark. Thomas Stark. Thomas did not seem to fit the little bundle in his arms, Tony looking back at his son.
"Peter Stark." He murmured, brushing his thumb against the baby's cheek. "Peter."
Peter Stark.
Tony took him home a day later, bidding his goodbyes to Anastasia and her boyfriend. He couldn't help but feel a little scared as he drove his baby home, ignoring the fact that the reporters had just been waiting for him outside. Pictures were taken, the flashes on their cameras had made Peter cry, and Tony had snapped at all of them until they pissed off. It wasn't long before he made it on the news, and countless calls were being made to him by his old friends.
Pepper, Happy and Rhodey all called him at least a thousand times after he arrived home, though he ignored all of them and looked at the little basinet sitting on his dining table. He stood up, walking over to it and smiling down at the sleeping baby, Peter, still feeling at a loss of what to do. "Guess it's just you and me, buddy."
He gently caressed Peter's cheek with just one finger, smiling when the baby's head nuzzled just a little into his touch. If Tony was honest, he knew he had already fallen in love.
The first month was hard. Tony had no idea how.. stressful this would be, and he steadily ignored all of his friend's calls as the news headlines began to die down.
Tony Stark seen carrying a basinet with a young infant inside...
Is Stark capable of looking after a baby?
Who is the mother of Tony Stark's child?
Should a drunken man be given guardianship of a young child?
What is the gender of Stark's child? Is this the new heir of Stark Industries?
A nurse came regularly to the Compound to check up on Peter, and to also assess the living arrangements. Tony had never been so proud when the nurse had praised him, holding Peter in his arms while feeding him a bottle. He eventually got his head around the whole parenting thing, and not once did he attempt to purchase anymore alcohol. For once, he figured he didn't want to anymore.
He managed to hide from Rhodey for three months until he came and ransacked the Compound, demanding that Tony let him in. Or more so, demanding FRIDAY to tell Tony to let him in. Tony let him in because, well, he was Rhodey. Rhodey was his best friend, and even if he had left him all those months ago, he would always let the man back in.
Rhodey had been horrified at first, after stepping into the room and seeing Tony sitting there at the dining table, Peter in his lap, snuffling as he slept. Tony knew the man would have screamed if he didn't see the small bundle, keeping his mouth shut as he walked over and studied Peter. His face soon softened, and he looked at Tony with a slightly saddened expression.
"You had a baby." He had stated, looking back down at Peter with huge eyes. "I can't believe you- is he actually yours?"
"Yes, platypus." Tony murmured, holding Peter a little closer.
"Who's the mother? Where is she?" Rhodey had asked next, slowly sitting down, wincing. It looked like his leg braces needed some looking at. "I can't believe this. Why didn't you answer any of my calls?"
"The mother isn't in the picture." Tony replied, Anastasia's face floating into his mind brielfly. "She's the one the whole world saw me having sex with, if you must know. I didn't answer your calls because I had my hands full, y'know." He gestured down to Peter with a nod of his head.
Rhodey blinked.
Tony was lying, obviously. He ignored everyones calls, because if he was honest, he couldn't be fucking bothered talking to them. He knew he would have lectures about how to be a parent, how he wasn't going to be like Howard (which was one of the reasons why he hadn't wanted kids in the first place), or how he could have let this happen.
"What's his name?" Rhodey had asked, reaching down to rub his thumb across Peter's soft forehead.
"Peter."
Rhodey stuck around. He apologised, they became closer than ever before, and Tony couldn't have been any more grateful, and skeptical, at the same time.
Pepper came around two months later, when Peter was five months old. She had been just as horrified as Rhodey, and nearly hurt that this was the outcome of their breakup. Tony had been offended, but he didn't dare mention it as Pepper studied his baby, who was currently lying on his back on his play mat. He knew she wanted kids.
Of course, Peter chose that time to roll over onto his stomach for the first time.
They didn't get back together, though she began to come around more often and became more involved. It was as if Tony having a child was mending his friendships - although, he wasn't sure if he liked that. He wasn't sure if he liked the fact that if something happened, he would be dropped and smothered into the dirt.
But he had to admit, having extra help lifted a lot of stress of his shoulders. Tony was never one to ask for help, and he hadn't really. His friends had just flocked to him. Even Happy returned, and replaced Chad as his personal driver. Seeing Happy look so sorry had immediately led Tony to forgive him, which was probably a bad habit of his. But he couldn't help it.
Soon, those five months turned into eighteen, and Peter was one-and-a-half years old. The day he had called Tony, Dada, was one of the most emotional of his life. Thankfully, no one else was there to witness his happy tears, Peter giggling and smiling up at him as if he knew exactly what he had done to Tony's emotional state.
And now, at eighteen months, he was saying a few more words and was walking, and doing all the things that one-and-a-half year olds did. Tony found himself slowly getting happier and happier as the days passed, soon figuring that he wouldn't have regretted having Peter for the life of him. Tony suspected, that if he hadn't had Peter, he'd probably be dead by now. He probably would have drunken himself to death.
It was just after Peter's second birthday when the Rogue Avengers were pardoned. They were soon allowed back in the Compound to live, and Tony moved back to Malibu. He didn't see any of them, and they didn't ask for him. He would only go back if Iron Man was required, which was hardly ever, and Tony was able to live his life with Peter away from all of his drama.
Currently, Peter was yanking on his hand in demands of Tony playing with him, whining when Tony didn't budge. "What do you want, squirt?"
"Pway!" Peter snapped, slapping Tony's knee. "Daddy!"
"Hey." Tony warned when Peter went to slap his thigh a second time. "Don't hit me. You know better."
Peter grumbled and continued yanking on his hand with both of his own, Tony mostly just teasing him now. "I'm not playing with you after you hit me, Peter. That was just rude."
"Dadddyy!" Peter whined, still pulling. "Pe'er sowwy!"
"Oh I'm sure you are." Tony rolled his eyes, still not moving. Peter whined again, letting go of his hand and instead climbed up on the couch. Tony laughed when Peter pressed a sloppy kiss on his cheek before wrapping his arms around his neck, something he had been doing to say sorry quite a lot lately. He was mimicking Tony. "Why, thank you."
"Sowwy." Peter grumbled, before sliding of the couch and grabbed Tony's hand again. "Pway now!"
"Fine, fine, since you asked so nicely." Tony said sarcastically, finally letting Peter drag him off of the couch.
And so, that's how he ended up on the floor with Peter, building something from Star Wars out of Lego.
Would it be cheesy if he said, he wouldn't have it any other way?