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The one thing that people don’t tell you about being a world-famous superhero is that little kids will always come to you when they need help. It doesn’t matter where you are, or what you’re doing, in moments of fear and anxiety little kids will always gravitate towards you. And apparently, that is even the case on the MIT campus, only a handful of minutes before Tony has to go inside to give a guest lecture.
So, when he feels a tiny hand tugging at the hem of his blazer, Tony isn’t entirely surprised. What he isn’t expecting to see, however, is the most adorable kid he had ever laid his eyes upon. It’s a little girl, dressed in a lilac dress that has ruffles at the hem, with a big black bow tied atop her head. She can’t be any older than 5, but the determination he sees in her tear-filled Bambi-sized eyes makes her look wise beyond her years.
Tony gives her a warm smile, before crouching down to meet her at her height.
“Hey there, squirt. Is everything alright?”
The little girl shakes her head, her soft brown curls bouncing as she does.
“I don’t know where my daddy is,” she says, voice small but resolute, “we were walking to the big room but I stopped because I dropped my doll, and now he’s gone”.
Tony watches as the little girl pointedly holds up her doll, a scuffed-up Iron-Man plushie that had seen better days as if to prove the validity of her story. He nods, mentally trying to figure out where her father might be while also making sure not to distress her any further. Time for the dramatics, he thinks.
“Well, you’ve come to the right person. I don’t know if you already figured this out,” he says, before breaking out into a stage-whisper, “but I am Iron-Man.”
This makes the little one break out into giggles before she rolls her eyes in a manner that seems to be too practiced for it to be the first time she’s done it.
“I know!” she laughs, “my daddy has a picture of you on his wall!”
This comment has Tony reeling for a moment, the knowledge that a grown man has a poster of him hung on his bedroom wall being more than slightly disconcerting. However, Tony quickly schools his expression into perfect neutrality, hoping that the little girl didn’t notice that he was slightly disturbed by her comment.
Tony was about to ask her where exactly she had last seen her father, before being interrupted by the MIT tour guide who he had been talking to before the little girl had come up to him. Tony, still crouched down, looks up at the man, who is worriedly checking his watch.
“Excuse me sir,” the tour guide interjects, “they are expecting you to be present in the lecture hall in fifteen minutes from now. It might be in your best interest to ask one of my colleagues to help her with finding her father. Otherwise we might run late.”
Tony scowls up at the man, before raising himself up to his full height. Who did this guy think that he was? If Tony had not already made up his mind about helping out this little girl, he sure as hell was now. As if anyone would mind that Tony Stark wasn’t perfectly on time.
Tony looks back at the little girl, pointedly ignoring the tour guide.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Anna,” the little girl answers, reaching up to hold onto the hand that Tony is holding out for her to grab.
Tony nods, “Alright Anna, let’s go find your dad”.
In the end, after quizzing little Anna on where exactly she and her father had been planning to go, Tony still ends up at the lecture hall. He had been able to figure out that the ‘big room’ she had mentioned was most likely that exact hall. Thankfully, they weren’t too far away from it, arriving after only a short 10-minute stroll.
Anna, as Tony quickly realized during their walk, was an incredibly entertaining child. She asked him plenty of questions about being Iron-Man, but, unlike the many other children Tony had met, actually seemed to consider his answers before asking any further questions. She seemed to be smart as a whip, which made Tony consider whether her father was perhaps a professor at the university. That, at least, would explain why he would take her to a university lecture.
Tony doesn’t have to wonder for long because right as they’re stepping into the building where the lecture is supposed to be held, they hear a man’s voice loudly calling Anna. The kid, apparently recognizing the voice, runs away from Tony’s side to hug the man’s legs before he is able to pick her up.
To say that Tony is shocked is an understatement. Anna’s dad is nowhere near the balding, overweight, middle-aged, nerdy man Tony had imagined him to be. Instead, he’s young, almost twink-like, with curly brown hair and big Bambi-eyes that match his daughter. He’s gorgeous. The absolute epitome of the type of person Tony is attracted to. But, he reminds himself, this isn’t the right moment to start salivating over a cute piece of ass. That’s not what he’s here for.
Tony ignores the awe-struck gazes he’s receiving, as well as the confused looks Anna and her father are receiving, and steps towards the duo. Anna’s face is tucked in the crook of her father’s shoulder, who is rubbing her back and comforting her. The poor girl sounds like she’s crying.
“Hi there, you must be Anna’s father,” Tony addresses the young man, “you raised her well, she knew exactly what to do once she’d lost track of you”.
The younger man’s head shoots up as if he’s only now realizing that he’s still standing in a busy hallway. At the sight of Tony, his already wide eyes seem to get impossibly wider, blinking rapidly in apparent surprise.
“Oh! Yes it’s- I’m her dad. My name’s Peter, it’s wonderful to meet you Mister Stark- uhm, Sir? If I understand correctly you helped Anna, right? Thank you, that’s very kind of you to do, especially because you had somewhere to be,” The young man, whose name Tony now knows to be Peter, rambles.
At the star-struck look on Peter’s face, Tony smiles. He didn’t think it was possible for the young man in front of him to get any cuter, but as it turns out he was wrong to think so. The fact that Peter was still diligently rubbing his daughter's back to comfort her only seemed to add to his charm.
“It was my pleasure, honestly. She’s a great kid. I hope you don’t mind me asking, Peter, but do you bring the little one along to all of your lectures or was this a special occasion?”
At this question Peter’s cheeks blush red, his eyes darting down to glance at the Iron-Man plushie clutched tightly in his daughter’s hand.
“I try not to bring her along too often, but babysitters are hard to come by and I can’t always afford daycare. But she doesn’t seem to mind all that much. When I told her she was coming along today to see you speak she was actually very excited,” Peter admits with a bashful smile, “as was I”.
“Well I hope I can live up to the hype,” Tony jokes, “I assume her mother isn’t in the picture, then?”
Peter shakes his head in answer.
“She moved to Oregon a while ago. She comes to see us during school breaks, though. I don’t really blame her,” he adds after seeing Tony furrowing his brow in worry, “It makes sense that she’d want a fresh start after finding out that the father of her child is really not all that attracted to women.”
Tony, who is pleasantly surprised by Peter’s admission, tries to look nonplussed as he kindly nods along to Peter’s words. So, the younger man doesn’t only look like all of Tony’s wet dreams come to life, but he’s also single and into men. It is really starting to seem like today is Tony’s lucky day.
They don’t get to speak for much longer, the annoying tour guide having made his return to Tony’s side. Tony brushes the man off, his eyes still lingering on Peter’s face.
“I think that’s my cue to head off. Here-” Tony says, reaching into his pocket to pull out his personal business card, “this has my number on it. Feel free to call me later today, I’d love to know you and the little one’s thoughts on my lecture”.
With a final wink and wave Tony walks away, making his way into the large lecture hall. The crowd that had gathered in the hallway seems to follow after him, the space quickly getting emptier and emptier. Peter is left standing in the hallway, holding onto both his daughter and Tony Stark’s phone number. He smiles to himself, before finally following the rest of the crowd in.