Chapter Text
The first time Tony Stark heard Edwin Jarvis swear was when he was eleven years old.
It was the night of the school science fair, and there was a low murmur in the gymnasium, as the other children talked excitedly among themselves, waiting for the doors to open and for the parents to come pouring in. Tony stood next to his table, a sheet covering his project from prying eyes, as he bounced excitedly from one foot to the other, eyes fixed to the entryway.
Finally, at six o'clock on the dot, one of the teachers opened the large double doors, and a crowd of parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and other odd family members came streaming in. Tony stood on his tiptoes, his eyes searching the faces until he found one that was familiar.
“Jarvis!” he shouted, waving his arms back and forth in the air. “Jarvis, over here!”
The butler's eyes found him, and he smiled, making his way over to Tony, with his wife, Anna, on his arm.
“Where's Dad?” Tony asked, as soon as they were within hearing distance. Tony's mother was out of town, but Howard Stark had promised he'd be there.
Jarvis' smile faltered. “He's, ah... He'll be coming later.” At the disappointed look on Tony's face, he knelt down and placed a hand Tony's his shoulder. “Hey,” he said, giving Tony a small smile. “He assured me that he'd be here. Okay?”
Tony nodded. “Okay.” He gave Jarvis a little smile in return. “Thank you for coming, Jarvis.” Jarvis was always there for Tony. It was Jarvis who made Tony's lunches, picked him up from school, and tucked him into bed at night. And when his parents wer too busy or out of town, which was more often than not, it was Jarvis who spent time with him, telling him stories, making him laugh, and putting a kiss and a bandage on his knee when he fell and scraped it. When he was younger, Tony had once asked Jarvis why he didn't have any kids of his own, but Jarvis had gotten a sad look in his eye and changed the subject, so Tony never brought it up again.
Jarvis stood up. “Wouldn't miss it for the world.” He put his arm around Anna. “Tony, I'm sure you remember my wife?”
Tony rolled his eyes. “You only never stop talking about her.”
Jarvis broke out in a grin and Anna laughed. She leaned down and gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek. “It's wonderful to see you again, Tony,” she said. “You've gotten so big!” Her eyes landed on Tony's project, still covered with a sheet, behind him. “And what have we got here?”
Tony smiled proudly. “It's my invention!” he declared. “But I want to wait to reveal it until my dad gets here.”
An hour later, with no sign of Howard Stark, the science fair judges appeared in front of Tony's table.
Tony looked up at Jarvis. Jarvis placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small nod. “Go on,” he whispered.
Tony pulled the sheet from his project, and the crowd that had curiously gathered around to see gasped in amazement. It was a robotic arm, simple in its design, but by far the most complex project on display. Tony flipped a switch on the side of the arm's base and turned towards the crowd.
“This is Dum-E,” Tony said. “Dum-E, say hello.” The arm whirred to life, straightened up, and waved, much to the delight of both the judges and onlookers alike. Tony briefly explained how the arm worked as the judges jotted down notes. When he finished, they gave the arm one more look-over and then moved on to the next project.
Throughout the rest of the night, many other people came over to see Tony's project. Most of them were impressed, though he heard a few parents whispering to each other that Howard must have helped him build it.
They were wrong, of course. Howard never let Tony get within ten feet of his lab. He had told him time and time again that it was not a place for children. Instead, it had been Jarvis who sat by Tony's side, happily playing Igor to Tony's Dr. Frankenstein as he built his creation using materials he salvaged from Howard's scrapped inventions which he had found in the garbage. It had been Jarvis who flicked the light switch up and down theatrically, yelling 'Master! It's ALIIIIVE' (complete with a bad accent) the first time Tony had powered his invention on. And it was Jarvis who helped Tony pack it into the little red wagon he had carted it to school in when the fair was over.
“Do you think Dad would have liked it?” Tony asked, as Jarvis folded up the sheet that had originally covered Tony's project.
Jarvis paused and looked at Tony, a look in his eyes that Tony couldn't quite place. He smiled sadly. “Yes, Tony, I think he would have been very impressed.”
The science fair had long since ended and Tony, Jarvis, and Anna were the last ones there. Tony had insisted on staying as long as possible, holding on to the hope that any minute his father would come rushing through the doors. But it never happened.
“I'm sorry, Tony,” Anna said, running a hand through his hair as the three of them walked to the car, Jarvis towing the wagon behind him. “I'm sure your father just got held up. He's a very busy man.”
Jarvis snorted, an odd sound coming from the usually dignified man. “He's a right bloody arse, is what he is,” he said, angrily, as he fished his keys out of his jacket pocket and unlocked the car.
Tony stared at Jarvis in shock. He was no stranger to swearing; his father cursed loudly and often. But it was never something that he thought Jarvis would do.
“Edwin!” Anna hissed, and Jarvis turned and looked at Tony. He stopped and sighed. He let go of the wagon handle and knelt to be eye level with Tony. It was then that it first occurred to Tony that this simple act of kneeling, which Jarvis performed all the time without even thinking about it, was something that his father had never done, not even once. Whenever Tony talked to Howard, he was always looking up at him.
“I'm sorry, Tony,” Jarvis said, snapping him from his thoughts. “I shouldn't have said that about your father. Especially not in front of you.” Jarvis gave Tony a gentle smile. “Now, let's get you loaded into the car, hmm?”
Tony nodded and Jarvis stood and opened the back seat door for him.
“Tony,” Anna stopped him before he could get in. “How would you like to sit in the front, just tonight?”
Tony's face lit up and he turned to look at Jarvis. “Can I?”
Jarvis pretended to give it a great deal of thought before playfully rolling his eyes. “Oh, alright!” he said, his face breaking into a smile. “But just this once.”
Anna slid into the backseat and Jarvis closed the door before he stepped forward and opened the front passenger door for Tony.
They swung by Jarvis' house on the way home, and Anna and Jarvis let him eat the enormous slice of chocolate cake they had in their fridge, and for a brief moment, Tony Stark forgot about the science fair and his father's constant absence in his life.