Chapter Text
On the twelfth hour of the first day of October 1989, forty-three women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer resolved to locate and adopt as many as he could.
He got none of them.
Tony Stark slipped under his radar and went out first. He first heard the news from his AI, Jarvis, and headed out as quickly as he could. He was nineteen and running spite alone. He promised visitation with the mothers and anything else they could possibly want, in the end, none of them accepted.
He got seven of them.
Raising a child had not been high on his to-do list as a nineteen-year-old heir to the family fortune, let alone seven. He wasn’t equipped for his split-second decision, even dead his father sought to remind him every day. Luckily for him, and all involved, he had his friend to help him.
James Rhodes was just a regular MIT student. He also happened to be the only person that could stand Tony Stark and his brash choices. Adopting seven extraordinary children fell under that category.
“C’mon, Tones, just admit that you have no clue what you’re doing,” Rhodey whined when the third baby started to cry.
“No, I know exactly what I’m doing,” Tony tried to say as convincingly as possible, but the wince when the child started to cry was enough to say otherwise.
“I’m calling mom,” Rhodey sighed and stood up.
“No, don’t call Mrs. Rhodes. She’ll kill me, platypus. Let me make a couple of calls,” he pleaded. Rhodey hung up before anyone could answer and stared at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
“You better know what you’re doing.”
In the end, seven fine women were hired to be their nannies. Tony still spent as much time with them as he could, but he was a full-time MIT student and time was hard to find.
Luther’s nanny, Agatha Premellow, was a kind woman. She was cheerful and always took what the kid gave her in stride. She was one of the few that stayed. She was multilingual, able to speak up to seven languages. She would often sing the blond boy to sleep as his new father studied hard in the next room. What she didn’t know was that one German lullaby she sang caused Tony to break down because it reminded him of his mother.
Diego’s nanny, Ms. Rosa Rosalie, was just like the flower she was named after sweet but able to harm in an instant. She treated her charge like her own son, often standing in as a mother figure. She was bilingual and often spoke and sang in Spanish. Most of the time she didn’t seem to notice she was doing it. She was who Tony picked up his Spanish and his love for cooking.
Allison’s nanny, a woman by the name of Aiko Dunn, was often seen as stuck up or snooty. However, she was just a woman raised for the upper-class while born into the middle-class. Oftentimes, Tony would be reminded of his mother in the way she talks to the baby. Aiko talks to the little girl as if she is the most precious thing in the world. Whenever Tony walks by the nursery he most often has the pleasure of hearing that last little bit of a tale that the woman made up.
Klaus’s nanny, the sweetest of them all. Her name was Haven Ramos. A fine choice for Klaus and Tony figured both suited each other perfectly. Klaus was a very giggly and happy baby and Haven fed into that nature. She would nurture the good attributes while filing out the bad, without any even seeming to notice. She spoke the most languages out of them all and often would switch during long-winded rants about how Tony, as a single father, needs a decent sleep schedule.
Five's nanny, originally named Brandon, was named Felicity Harold. She was a portly woman with a no-nonsense kind of attitude. Perfect for the type of baby Five was. Five mostly stuck to himself and wasn’t very outgoing, most often sticking with counting toys rather than playing with his brothers and sisters. Tony felt most like Five in a way, when he was younger he would always choose anything to keep his mind stimulated over the company of others. His nanny only spoke English but she was very proper with it.
Ben’s nanny, Grace Delacour, had been Tony’s favorite by far. She was the only other nanny to stick around after the children started showing what powers they had. Grace had been kind and loving to everyone. She would tuck Ben into bed with a bedtime story then press a kiss to everyone’s foreheads. Often, Grace would check in on Tony too to make sure he was getting the proper amount of sleep. She was the type of woman he wished his mother was.
Finally, Vanya’s nanny, Reine Livingston. She was a beautiful woman with an affinity for music. Late at night, Tony would often hear his mother’s piano being played often followed by the soft giggle of a baby. Reine hadn’t been close to Tony, mostly sticking to her job as Vanya’s nanny, but sometimes he would catch a whiff of her perfume and find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sitting on his desk beside his open textbook.
Each nanny raised the children in their own way. By the time the children started showing Tony was graduating college. Most would say it was early, a twenty-year-old with a Ph.D. But, Tony would argue that it finally happened. Graduating gave him more time to spend with his children and less time worrying about being the top of his class.
The first child to show any semblance of power was Klaus. When he was around seven months old he spoke his first word. It was a German word and everyone was clueless how he learned it. It wasn’t until he was nine months that he started to string sentences together that he yelled out the words “Grandma’s here.” It was Tony’s first panic attack that day. When he recovered he made sure to praise Klaus for all the good work he was doing. Tony told Jarvis to note everything about Klaus after that day.
The second was Vanya. Tony noticed that when Reine played the piano sound waves seemed to emit from the baby. At first, he chalked it up to his lack of sleep, but he kept noticing it. He noticed that the waves would vary based on the tune the nanny played. If it was happy, everyone else seemed happy. If it was sad, etc. etc.
They just turned a year when Reine quit. She claimed to have enough of the weird house she was staying in. That night a heavyweight seemed to settle over the house as it felt too quiet. The only way for Tony to get Vanya to bed was to play for her. He didn’t know many songs but the ones he did know carried a lot of emotions. That night, everyone fell asleep in a somber mood.
The next one to show their power was Diego. They were eighteen months old and playing with Tony in the living room. He would roll the ball to one of them and laugh when they tried to throw it back. The only success had been Diego, every time.
Diego was also the fourth to show powers. It was late Wednesday night when Tony heard a scream from the bathroom. He rushed in and saw Rosa hunched over the tub clutching Diego to her chest. When he asked her what happened she said that she thought he drowned. She turned around for a moment to grab the baby shampoo and the next thing she knows is that he’s underwater. When they checked Diego out they found out that he was perfectly fine. According to Jarvis, he could hold his breath for an unaccounted amount of time. Tony was not about to test it.
The fifth to show powers was Luther. Tony was up getting a drink one night when he almost tripped over the child. He carried him back to bed and was dismayed to see the crib bars bent at odd angles.
The sixth was Ben. His powers showed one night while his nanny was feeding him. Grace had Ben set up in his highchair as she tried to spoon-feed him peaches when a tentacle popped out from under his shirt and slapped it out of her hand. Tony came racing in when he heard the scream but felt distinctively relieved when both his child and the nanny were fine. When questioned Grace said that Ben must have had retractable tentacles. It was later discovered to be a portal.
The Allison and Five showed their powers around the same time. Five’s powers showed when he sneezed in his nanny's lap and ended up on the floor three feet away. To say he was not happy was an understatement.
Allison’s powers showed after she was able to form sentences. Tony noticed one night that her voice seemed to carry the powers of persuasion when he noticed the nanny handing her yet another cookie. After that, Jarvis was told to play loud music anytime he so much as hear Allison mutter “I heard a rumor.” At first, she wasn’t happy but after Tony explained that not many people liked being told what to do she seemed to understand. From then on the music was less and less frequent.