Chapter Text
MAY 2008
You were young when Tony was in Afghanistan; five, to be specific. Easily impressionable, despite how much you would refute such a claim—if you understood it, that is.
At first, you had been confused. Why isn’t Daddy coming home? You had wondered. Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey, hopes still high, had assured you that he’d be home soon. It was only around a month in, when said hopes began to wane—although they hadn’t petered out completely—that they had told you about him being missing.
Ever since the news broke to you, you had begun to cling to Pepper like a koala. Happy had stayed over to watch you while Tony was gone, but with your new attatchement to your father’s P.A. (everyone took care not to call her his ex-P.A.), the woman in question had moved in, not only to the mansion but to your room specifically. When you woke in the middle of the night with nightmares, she was quick to comfort you; when you got sick, she was by your side; she went to your award ceremonies at school and your recitals and shows; through everything during those next two draining months, the highs and lows both, from helping with homework to having tea parties to crying together over Tony, Pepper was there for you. In fact, it was during these months that you began to view her as a mother—you two were already close, but now, as she adapted to the role temporarily to care for you, you both realized how she had kind of always been like that. It was actually during those months that you began to address her as ‘Momma’.
The day your dad came home was a day that, despite your young age at the time, you will never forget. Wary of getting your hopes up just to crush them by seeing your father’s quite possibly mutilated self, Pepper hadn’t told you anything after Rhodey’s call, just telling you that she had to go help your Uncle in question. Happy went with her, the plan being that after taking your dad to the hospital, Happy would pick you up and take you there as well.
As it was, due to the press conference, which Pepper managed to get together on the way to S.I., no one came to pick you up. Obie (who you had had an ‘aversion’ to after your father’s disappearance due to an incident of him trying to kill you that has no place being delved into currently) wasn’t allowed to watch you since you had started crying whenever in his presence, so your Momma, Uncle Rhodey, and Uncle Happy had decided to leave you in your older brother, J.A.R.V.I.S.’s capable hands—metaphorically, at least.
Eventually, though, the press conference was over, and your father and his posse wasted no time in getting back to the mansion—the former aching to see you and hold you for the first time in three excruciatingly long months.
“Y/n, there is a surprise waiting for you in the foyer,” J.A.R.V.I.S. informs you, interrupting your discussion with your animals that both you and the AI had ignored the anxiety running an undercurrent of due to being home ‘alone’ for so long. There was a note of joy, relief, and… longing? present in his voice as he said so.
Cautiously, you stand, clutching the stuffed animal your dad gave you just before his disappearance that had become your constant companion since you learned he was gone. “It’s… it’s not Obie, right?” You manage to say, voice wavering with fear.
“No, it’s not.” J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice is compassionate. “But I would recommend hurrying.”
You nod, face determined as you run as fast as you can down the stairs and to the door. “Momma?” You call out in question as you do so.
You hear Pepper respond, “In here!” And quickly move to meet her. When you get to where you can see her, though, you freeze in shock, eyes wide as your brain tries to compute and attempts to catch up with what your eyes are seeing. Y/n Stark.exe has stopped functioning.
Before you can even process what you’re doing, you’re somehow running faster than before as you barrel into your father and wrap your arms around him in a crushing hug with a scream of “DADDY!”
Tony lets out a small oomph at the impact, wrapping his arm not in a sling around you to reciprocate the embrace. You two stay there for a moment, before you pull back with shining eyes and the biggest smile since Tony disappeared placed on your face. You hold your hands up for him to pick you up, and it takes a little bit of maneuvering, but he succeeds in placing you and holding you on his hip with the arm not in a sling. You hug his neck, arms wrapped around it in lieu of burying your face in the crook of it, and rest your head sideways on his shoulder, looking at Pepper. Tony raises an eyebrow at his friends, an obvious what are you looking at ?
Pepper gives a soft smile at the picture before moving to walk ahead, their arguing having been stalled momentarily due to your presence. “What do you want to eat, Tony?”
“Pizza!” You cheer.
Tony glances at your head on his shoulder. “Pizza? Pizza sounds good. J?”
“Your usual order has been placed, Sir. And may I say, I’m glad to have you back.” As the A.I. speaks, Tony moves forward, the others at his side. They’ve come to an unspoken truce with you around, allowing them to just be happy in being together again.
“Glad to be back, J.”
When the quartet reaches the living room and you make no move to get down, instead clinging tighter, Tony adjusts you so as to sit down without relinquishing you. If he’s being honest, he didn’t want to do so in the first place, not even to eat, so the arrangement works fine. As he does so, he notices the stuffed otter in your hand that he gave you right before leaving. The animal has obviously been spritzed with his cologne, making it smell like him, and it’s not like it takes a genius to figure out why. Tony’s heart clenches in a confusing mixture of love and pain, although the two go together often enough that it’s not foreign.
“Who is-“
”Olly Olly Otter-free,” you chirp happily, proud of your ‘word play’ of changing oxen to otter.
”Wh...” Confused, Tony looks to Pepper, who shrugs in response.
The rest of the night passes relatively uneventfully, with you eventually going to bed and forcing Pepper to come with you, following the pattern established prior to Tony’s return. The real drama comes when, also common before Tony’s return, another one of your nightmares occur.
— - — - — - — - —
You wake from your nightmare with a start, breathing heavily. You note Pepper being asleep where she usually is in your room, somehow having not awoken. Usually when you have a nightmare, she’s the one to wake up you , but not tonight. You guess it’s because of how tuckered out she probably is.
Too scared of what happens when you close your eyes to try and go to sleep, you instead head downstairs, buzzing with nervous energy. You wander directionlessly around, ending up in the kitchen. What you were not expecting to see (relegating it to a dream before your nightmare) was an exhausted Tony Stark getting coffee. His sling was removed and he had changed into something more casual.
The only alert Tony has for the small child running at the speed of light towards him is the small pitter-patter of feet. He barely has time to set his coffee down and move to your level, bracing himself for the impact, before you’ve wrapped your arms around him and are sobbing into the crook of his neck. His hands quickly wrap around you, and he presses a kiss to the top of your head, rubbing your back. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here,” he whispers, repeating the words until you’ve calmed down enough.
He attempts to pull back to wipe your face, but you press your face harder into his neck instead. “I thou-thought it was a-another drea-eam,” you hiccup into his shoulder, voice muffled by his shirt as the words cause a vibration against his skin.
Tony swallows the lump in his throat, moving a hand to run through your hair. He’s helpless, at a loss for words. After all, how does one prove to their child that one is there in the flesh, not a strange hallucination?
“Can you touch me?” Tony asks. You nod vigorously against his shirt fabric. “Then you know I’m here, that’s proof. You can see me, hear me, smell me, feel me, although I’d rather you not try and taste me, even if you’ve turned into a vampire or something.” That, at least, elicits a hiccuped giggle. “See? I’m here.”
You quickly turn serious again, though. You’ve managed to quiet the hiccups, them coming further apart. “I thought you were gone, not gunna come back,” you whisper, although Tony catches it.
“I’ll always come back, kiddo,” he responds clearly. “I promise.”