Work Text:
Three sounds echoed across the garage and reached Tony Stark's ears in quick succession, causing him to jump back from the piece of armor he was tinkering with and rush over towards the source of the noise. They were, in order, the loud crash of glass shattering, the distinctive clatter of metal bouncing and rolling across the concrete floor, and, most importantly (and alarmingly) to Tony, the high-pitched startled yelp of his 4-year-old daughter. Morgan Stark was standing stock still near the doorway of the garage-slash-workshop, the remains of a now broken glass jar formerly filled with screws and other metallic odd and ends scattered around her feet and rolling across the floor.
Tony reached his little girl before she'd recovered enough to move and risk stepping in the broken glass. He knelt down in front of her and felt something sharp that he hoped was just the edge of a screw and not a shard of glass pressing into his knee through the fabric of his jeans. Morgan was whimpering a bit now but mercifully unhurt, just a little shell-shocked. Tony cupped her chin in his hand and rubbed his thumb reassuringly over her cheek.
"Hey," he said softly, keeping his voice determinedly light so she wouldn't panic or think he was angry at her. "Don't worry, sweetie, it's ok. Dum-E and U knock stuff over in here all the time too. Place is a mess, it happens. But I need you to stay very still right here while I sweep this up, alright?" Morgan nodded nervously, eyes still darting around to look at the jumble of metal and glass surrounding her. Tony kissed her forehead and got up to get a broom, turning back briefly to remind her - "Don't move."
Once the floor was cleared to Tony's satisfaction and safe for little feet he knelt back down and surveyed his daughter. Morgan was dressed for sleep in his old Black Sabbath shirt; it fit her like a nightgown, the hem hitting only a few inches above her bare feet. "You stealing my clothes again, Maguna?" He teased her and she grinned back at him, doing an adorable little twirl to show off the baggy shirt.
"Mommy said I could."
"Mhmm, I'll bet she did. I can't keep her out of my drawers either. I'm gonna end up with no shirts left between the two of you. Which might actually be her goal, to be honest, your mom is a very smart woman…" He trailed off, clearly having fun with that little fantasy, then quickly focused back on Morgan, who just looked confused. " Now. Aren't you supposed to be in bed, little miss?"
"I wasn't sleepy."
"Oh you weren't sleepy?" Tony reached out to tickle Morgan and the garage quickly filled with the sound of her laughter. "How'd you sneak past Mommy, huh?"
Morgan smiled innocently back. "Mommy was sleepy."
"Well you saw your chance and you took it, can't really argue with that." Tony put his hand on his chin, exaggerating the gesture theatrically, like he was very seriously contemplating what to do next. Tony knew he should probably take Morgan back up to bed, it was way past her bedtime, but he saw the way she was looking around the garage now that the initial shock of the crash had passed. Her eyes were wide and sparkling with curiosity as she took in the glowing holograms and other intriguing gadgets scattered around the room and he didn't have the heart to take her away from all that, not yet.
"Alright then, my little not-sleepy, clothes-stealing gremlin, come here." Tony scooped Morgan up in his arms and got to his feet, balancing her securely on his hip. "If you're gonna stay here with me we're just going to have to find some way for you to make yourself useful."
She nodded solemnly and then pointed at his face. "Your nose is messy."
Tony rubbed at his nose, which sure enough had engine grease on it. "See, you're already being helpful." He smudged some of the grease from his finger onto Morgan's nose with a grin. "There, we match. You look like a real little mechanic now." She beamed back at him. "Hey, how about some music? Any requests?"
Morgan tilted her head, thinking it over, then grinned and pointed at her shirt.
"Very nice!" Tony sounded impressed. "You have excellent taste, my dear. Friday, throw on some Black Sabbath. 25% volume, please. You know what to start with."
Tony carried Morgan the rest of the way over to the table he'd been working at before he'd noticed the pint-sized interloper and sat her down on his lap just as the first notes of "Iron Man" started (quietly) filling the garage.
"So. First thing, and this is very, very important - don't touch anything unless I tell you it's ok. I'll always keep you safe but there's stuff in here that can be dangerous; lots of things that can burn, or cut, or zap if you're not careful, understand?"
Morgan nodded dutifully but she looked wary, so Tony made a bzzt noise and wiggled his finger playfully, pretending to drill it into the tip of her nose, her cheek, her ear, and setting her off giggling again.
"Don't want your cute little hands to end up like mine." Tony held both of his hands out in front of Morgan and flipped them over to show her the mess of scars and old burns on his palms and fingertips. "See?"
She grabbed at his hands almost immediately and planted a kiss in the center of each palm, then patted them comfortingly. "There there." Morgan tilted her head back to peer up at her father with those big brown eyes that matched his so perfectly. "All better?"
"Yeah." Tony hugged her close and leaned his cheek against the top of her head for a second, eyes closed, a little choked up. "All better. Thanks, sweetheart."
"You're welcome, Daddy."
"How did you get to be so sweet, huh?"
"I don't know." A sudden movement on the table in front of Morgan caught her attention and she bounced on Tony's leg, pointing excitedly. "What's that doing?"
One of the gloves from Pepper's prototype Rescue armor was sitting partially disassembled where Tony had left it to go help Morgan, wires trailing out of the wrist. The fingers of the glove had just started opening and closing periodically, seemingly of their own accord, while numbers scrolled rapidly across a holographic screen projected right above it.
"Oh, just running some diagnostics. There's a bit of a lag in the response time on that one, causing problems with precise finger movements. Gotta figure out if it's a mechanical problem or some kind of error in the coding… Your mom and I were taking her new suit out for a spin the other night and-"
Morgan nodded and chimed in, "I saw you."
"Yeah?" Tony was surprised by that; they'd deliberately done the test flight pretty late at night, so there'd be less risk of her needing him or Pepper.
"Mhmm. I looked out the window. The lights were pretty."
Tony thought of Pepper, twirling through the air in the suit he built for her; remembered the way she'd kissed him when they landed, face flushed and heart racing with the thrill of first flight… "Yeah," he sighed, a little dreamily, "beautiful." He looked back down at Morgan as something occurred to him. "Hang on, do you ever sleep?"
Morgan pondered that for a second before responding in her sweet little voice, " Sometimes."
Tony ruffled her hair, amused - his baby girl had clearly inherited his (lack of) sleeping habits along with his looks; he suspected Pepper wouldn't be quite as pleased with this particular shared trait as she was with the latter. "You should try it more often, I've been told it's very good for you."
Morgan frowned skeptically, unconvinced, then turned her attention back to the far more interesting subject of the disassembled Rescue suit. "Can I have one too?"
"Hmm. Maybe when you're a little bigger, munchkin." He knew he'd never hear the end of it from Pepper if he said yes outright even though he was a little bit tempted to.
"How much bigger?"
Tony looked at Morgan appraisingly. "12%."
Morgan was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how much 12% would be, how long she'd have to wait before she could go flying with her parents. She was remarkably good with numbers already, but percentages were still a bit beyond her.
Tony took pity after a few seconds and offered her a different option. "How about this. You can have your very own suit, if we build it together, you and me. How does that sound?"
Apparently it sounded very good, because Morgan wiggled herself around on Tony's lap and gave him a big hug in response. Tony tried not to get too emotional about the fact that just the idea of the two of them building something together was enough to warrant such an outpouring of affection.
"Alright, now that's settled and that," he gestured at the Rescue gauntlet, "is going to be running on it's own for a while, let's find something for us to do." Tony cast his eyes about, trying to find a simple project to do with Morgan, something they could finish before she (hopefully) finally got sleepy. "Hey, I know! You liked the pretty lights, right? Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's make some pretty lights."
Tony pulled out some basic supplies - wires, batteries, LED lights in a few different colors - and showed Morgan how to set up a simple electric circuit. She listened attentively while he explained how everything worked, eyes shining intelligently as she tracked the movement of his fingers, her own twitching slightly in anticipation.
"There. See?" Morgan nodded appreciatively at the little blue LED light now twinkling up at her and then Tony deftly took apart the whole assemblage and scooted the components closer to the edge of the table so she'd be able to reach them. "Your turn."
Morgan eagerly grabbed at the parts and started putting them together. Tony felt a little stab of pride as he watched her working determinedly with the wires gripped in her chubby fingers; she was mimicking his earlier motions perfectly and in no time at all the blue light was twinkling back up at both of them again.
"That's my girl!" Tony cheered excitedly and pulled Morgan in to give her a kiss on the cheek, noting the triumphant gleam in her eyes as she looked at her handiwork.
Morgan was a quick study, adapting readily as they integrated more elements to the simple circuit, adding in on/off switches and more lights in increasingly complicated combinations. Inevitably, however, it happened - she set up a circuit, flicked the switch, and...nothing. The lights stayed disappointingly dark. She twisted around to look at Tony, biting her lip in an expression uncannily like the one Pepper always made when she was nervous or, in this case, frustrated. "It's not working!"
Tony could see immediately what the problem was, a quick swap of two wires would fix it easily, but he was hit with a sudden idea that might be more useful in the long run than just showing Morgan how to correct this specific error. "Friday?"
"Yes, boss?"
"Bring up the old Mark II progress videos, starting with test, uh, 36?" Tony waved his hand to bring up a hologram screen in front of him and Morgan and Friday loaded up the video. He leaned back in his chair and adjusted so that Morgan could see better. "Watch this."
A much younger Tony Stark stood in front of them, his arms and legs wrapped up in a complicated assemblage of metal and wires all threading out from a glowing circle on his chest, an early iteration of what would eventually form the internal structure of the Mark II Iron Man armor. He held his arms out at his sides and activated the thrusters that were meant to lift him off the floor and into a controlled hover. Instead, he shot off the ground like a rocket, slammed face-first into the concrete ceiling, and then crashed loudly back to the ground.
Tony couldn't stop himself from rubbing his forehead ruefully at the memory as the clip came to an end. That video had been one of JARVIS' favorites to play when Tony was being especially full of himself; he thought he'd be inured to it but it'd been years now and he'd almost managed to forget just how spectacularly he'd face-planted on that particular test run.
Morgan seemed to agree; she crinkled up her nose and winced. "Ouch."
"Yeah, not gonna lie, that was not my finest moment. That's the point though, that's how this works. You try things, and a lot of times you mess it all up but then you keep trying again and eventually…" Tony swiped his finger across the air in front of the hologram screen to display the next video, this one labeled test 37, and pressed play.
There was the younger Tony again, with the same skeleton Iron Man suit strapped onto his arms and legs. This time though, he didn't crash into the ceiling when the thrusters were activated - he was a little wobbly, a little out of control, flying with nothing like the practiced ease with which he handled the armor now, but flying nonetheless. He careened around the room, hovering over cars and tables, blowing papers all over the room, before finally landing back where he started with a confident nod.
"Yeah, I can fly."
Tony waved his hand in the air again to swipe the screen away and glanced down at Morgan, who now had a slightly more determined look on her face. "So, what d'you think? Want to try again?"
Morgan finally drifted off to sleep after nearly another hour of piecing together intricate combinations of lights and wires and switches; a 4-year-old, even one with Stark blood, can only hold out for so long. Her head nodded to the side and her little body sank back against her father's. He caught her and hitched her up onto his shoulder to carry her back up to her bedroom, leaving a veritable rainbow of twinkling LED lights behind them.
Unlike Morgan, Tony was still wide awake, his mind buzzing with ideas for new things to share with his brilliant, endlessly curious little girl, already drawing up mental blueprints for projects they could work on together. She'd need her own space in the garage; he could already see it in his head, a little Morgan-sized workstation with all the toys a budding engineer could possibly need… Wait. He'd need to properly childproof the garage first, that was priority number one. An image flashed through his head of what could've happened earlier that night, of his baby girl screaming and crying with a jagged shard of glass sticking out of her foot and he shuddered, angry at himself for still being so careless about lab safety when he knew Morgan would find her way in there sooner or later. He promised her she'd always be safe with him and he was going to keep that promise. Then they could have some fun.
Tony hadn't realized just how much he'd missed having someone with him in the workshop like that - asking questions, sharing in the almost manic thrill of putting something together and watching it work. It brought back memories of long days and nights in the lab with Rhodey, and Bruce, and- and Peter. He tightened his grip on Morgan slightly and tried not to let his mind wander too far down that particular road.
Up in Morgan's room Tony found Pepper still sound asleep on the bed, the book she'd been reading in an ultimately failed attempt to lull the little insomniac to sleep still held loosely in her hand. He sat down on the edge of the bed and just watched her sleep for a few moments, the lamp light shining off her reddish-gold hair and her reading glasses slid crookedly down to the tip of her nose. He could've stayed like that the whole rest of the night and been content but Morgan was starting to get heavy in his arms so he leaned forward and gently nudged Pepper's shoulder until she woke up and blinked blearily back at him.
"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty." Tony spoke in a soft voice, only barely above a whisper; he was pretty sure Morgan was solidly out for the count, but better safe than sorry. "So, did I miss the bed swap memo? Not that I object to the concept but I do think it'll be a bit crowded here with all three of us. Could be fun though, we'd have to snuggle up real close..."
Pepper shook her head and put a finger over Tony's mouth to stop him babbling. "Shhh. Shhh, not awake enough for that."
Tony pretended to pout. "And here I got all dressed up for you and everything."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "That tank top literally has holes in it," she retorted, sticking her finger through one and poking him in the stomach to emphasize her point.
"I know." He flashed her a quintessentially Tony cocky grin. "And you love it."
"Tony." She massaged her temples, trying to force out the lingering disorientation from her lengthy unplanned nap that was not being helped by her husband's incessant flirting (he wasn't wrong though, she did love it). "What happened? Why are we in Morgan's room?"
"You fell asleep and I-" Tony shifted his position on the bed so Pepper could better see their daughter, who was currently drooling slightly onto his shoulder while she slept. "-had a surprise assistant show up down in the garage."
Pepper groaned but Tony could see the amusement in her eyes. "So now there's two of you I'm going to have to drag out of there at all hours of the night, is that it?"
"Yeah I'm thinking actually you might just have to join us, Pep." Tony leaned in to give Pepper a kiss, Morgan sandwiched between them, then sat back with a satisfied grin. "You're outnumbered now."
Pepper shook her head in mock exasperation and got up off the bed. She leaned against the doorframe and looked on fondly while Tony tucked Morgan in, moving extra carefully to keep her from waking up. He took her stuffed bunny (Stark Bunny Mark II, as Tony liked to call it, usually accompanying the name with an impish grin to Pepper) off the bedside table and set it down next to her; Morgan grabbed it instinctively even in her sleep and curled it up to her chest.
Tony brushed a few stray strands of hair off of Morgan's face and let his hand linger there, fingers resting on her cheek. Some of his earlier elation was starting to bleed out into a familiar anxiety that all of this was too good to be true and therefore, logically, wasn't. No matter how much time he spent with her there was still a part of him that couldn't quite believe that the little girl sleeping peacefully beneath his fingertips was real; that kept waiting for the moment when the dream would end and he'd wake up, find himself still drifting in space, or further back, in a cold cave with a hole in his chest and...nothing. The doubt, the fear, seeped in at odd moments like this, just when everything seemed at its most right in the quiet little world they'd built for themselves and it took all his willpower not to grab Morgan back up and clutch her to his chest, hold her tight like she was holding her bunny until he knew, until he was sure.
Pepper saw the faraway look settle into Tony's eyes and knew, she always knew. She moved close to him and he nestled his head against her side with a long sigh. Pepper reached around to stroke her hand gently down Tony's arm, joining her fingers with his and then slowly lifting their intertwined hands off their sleeping daughter. Morgan's long eyelashes fluttered against her cheek as she registered the sudden addition and then removal of pressure, but she didn't stir any further.
"It's ok, honey. She's safe, she's not going anywhere." Pepper whispered soothingly, pulling Tony closer and brushing her fingers lightly through his hair, bringing him back from the edge. "Come to bed."
"Yeah." Tony took a deep breath. "I...yeah. Ok." He thought of tomorrow and the next day and all the days after that, a whole future of tomorrows for the little family he'd struggled and fought so long to have. He glanced down at Morgan one last time and then let Pepper lead him out of her room and into theirs.