Chapter Text
Tony is nervous. That’s putting it delicately; he’s borderline panicking, about to have an anxiety attack.
Apparently, his wife notices. He’s acting the same way he did when Morgan was born, and four years ago when Eddie was. Pepper, who is in the room with Y/n, texts him, “I can literally feel you worrying in here. Get Eddie from Happy, have Happy come here, and go do something with Eddie.”
Tony shoots her back a thumbs up, pocketing his phone and taking deep breaths to calm his nerves and shaking hands. He shakes his head briefly, turning on his heels and heading for the elevator. He tells FRIDAY to relay the message to Happy as he heads down to the garage.
Happu arrives in record time, passing Eddie off with his usual gruff, grumpy demeanor hiding the fondness he holds for the eldest Stark grandchild.
Hopefully not the only one, Tony thinks worriedly, before chiding himself for the negativity. Y/n will be fine, the twins will be fine.
Tony takes the preschooler from his driver, a genuine smile growing just from holding his grandson. Maybe Pepper was right, doing something with Eddie probably will calm me down.
”Nonnino!” Eddie cheers, the word meaning little grandfather. Tony flashes back to the first time Eddie said that.
Y/n was determined for her son to call her father by the Italian term for grandfather, Nonno. To the extent that, whenever anyone referred to him as anything else when talking to Eddie, she would level them with a glare that made them pale and quickly correct their error.
So, it was inevitable that what Y/n wanted, would come to pass. Tony personally didn’t care, although it did warm him that his daughter was so invested to his mother’s heritage that she wanted to keep it involved in the family in some fashion.
One day, Y/n was playing with Eddie on the carpet in the living room, pointing to objects and saying them. Eddie would try repeating them, mostly coming out as gurgles and adorable, barely-understandable mispronunciations.
Tony had walked in and was watching them with a fond smile as they continued their play. Eventually, after a bunch more objects, Y/n got to him. “And that’s Nonno!” She informed Eddie lightly.
”Non-ni-no!” Eddie repeats proudly, accidentally adding a syllable.
Y/n giggles before clapping her and Eddie’s hands together. “That’s right! Good job! Nonno is little!”
Tony lets out an offended scoff, showing just how happy he was with being called little. “Am not.”
Y/n grins at her father mischeviously, Eddie mimicking her expression. “Are too, Tiny Stank.”
Tony groans dramatically. “Never should’ve let Rhodey tell you about that. And who are you calling tiny? You’re shorter than me, kiddo.”
Y/n shrugs, still grinning. “Yeah, but it’s normal for women. Sorry, Tiny Stark.”
”You’re not letting that up, are you?” Tony sighs, coming over to sit cross-legged on the carpet. He pretend-glares at Eddie. “This is all your fault, you know that?” Eddie just stares at him innocently, drool dripping onto a block. Tony shakes his head, beginning to fly his grandson around. “The things I do,” he grumbles, although the fondness in his tone belies his true feelings.
A flash goes off, prompting him to look at you as you snap another picture. “Rhodey better never find out about that name,” he warns playfully.
”Too late,” you reply, far too gleefully. “I already had FRIDAY send him the security footage with sound.”
Tony shakes his head regretfully. “At least I have time to get Eddie to switch to Nonno instead.”
Three years later, Eddie never had corrected the name. “You know, one of these days I’m going to get you to call me Nonno, kiddo.” Tony warns playfully.
Eddie giggles, shaking his head vehemently. “Mamma says no!”
“‘Course she does,” Tony mutters, no real heat to his words. Adjusting the four-year-old on his hip, he asks, “Whaddya say to some man-to-man time, hmm, tigrottino (little tiger)? Go get some ice cream, head to the park or a museum or something?”
“ICE CREAM!” Eddie cheers forcefully.
”Wow, how come I didn’t get that level of excitement?” Tony asks, feigning hurt.
“No!” Eddie exclaims, wrapping his small arms around his grandfather’s neck and hugging tightly. His face saddens, obviously taking Tony literally at face value. “I lub you, Nonnino!”
Tony awws internally. Never thought there would be a kid as cute as Y/n, but Eddie and Morgan sure give her a run for her money. And he has no doubt that the Y/n’s newest will be the same way.
He presses a kiss to his grandson’s mop of hair. “I love you too, tesoro.”
The two end up heading to the park first, and then to a museum that Eddie falls in love with spectacularly. Tony manages to focus on his grandson, not his daughter currently in labor with twins, and finds himself calm and happy. He soon ends up forgetting to check his phone for updates on the situation, too relaxed and content to remember to do so. He and Eddie have a good day, leading Tony to realize that this is one of the only days the two have gotten out of the tower by themselves. Sure, they do it, but with Y/n or more people, and their only one-on-one time is at home. Maybe I can make this, say, a monthly tradition… Tony muses.
Eventually, literal hours later, they get to the ice cream place. “Down!” Eddie commands once they get in. Tony complies, but keeps the boy’s hand tightly grasped in his own, although he allows himself to be tugged to the counter.
The shop is mostly empty, and they’re used to Tony’s visits, thankfully giving him outs when paparazzi try to find him. As a result, he’s invested heavily in the shop.
Eddie is enthralled by the different flavors of ice cream, standing on his tiptoes to try and peer into the tubs.
“Want me to lift you so you can see?” Tony offers, not just doing so. He doesn’t want to deal with a screaming toddler throwing a tantrum right now, and he has a feeling that the teenager at the counter doesn’t want to either.
Eddie thinks about it, pensive. “Mhmm,” he finally agrees decisively, and Tony complies. Staring at the ice cream from above, Eddie quickly comes to a decision. “That one!” He exclaims, pointing to a red-and-gold ice cream that Tony hadn’t noticed yet. “I want IronMan ice cream!”
Tony smiles a little, checking the menu. “You’re in luck, kiddo, that ones a sherbet, so your Mamma won’t kill me if I let you have it.” He feels bad that you and Eddie both are lactose intolerant to the extent you can’t have ice cream—not bad, just a bit restrictive; you can both still have some dairy—which is part of why he loves the ice cream place’s plethora of dairy-free options. To the cashier, he says, “One kids scoop of mango-cranberry sherbet, sugar cone, please.”
“Any mix-ins?” The teen asks genially with a smile at Eddie.
“Marsh cherries!” Eddie declares, causing Tony to grin and the cashier to chuckle. “And marshmallows!”
“One kids cone, mango-cranberry sherbet with marshmallows and maraschino cherries, coming right up,” the teen says, naming off each thing as he puts it in. He mixes the latter two in before presenting the to Tony with some napkins. “And for you, sir?”
“Waffle cone with butter pecan, please.”
“Any mix ins with that?”
“No thanks.”
“And will that be all?”
“Uhh…” Tony glances at his watch and notes the text from Pepper. Get here ASAP . “Can we get two ice creams in cups with lids, one london fog ice cream and one lemon dandelion sorbet?”
“Sure thing.” The cashier quickly complies. “Your total is-“
Tony presses two hundred dollars down, effectively shutting him up. “Thanks, kid, keep the change.”
“Th-thank you, Mr. Stark,” the employee stammers out.
“No problem. Stay in school.”
As Tony carefully drives a focused Eddie eating his ice cream in the back, going as fast as he can without it being dangerous or illegal, he can’t quell the anxiety at Pepper’s uninformative text. Intellectually, he knows that it’s fine, but with the twins being a high risk pregnancy and the lack of details, Tony can’t help the way his mind rushes to the worst explanation.
They soon pull into the hospital parking lot, though, and Tony holds Eddie’s hand as the two walk inside. Eddie is stil eating his cone contentedly, Tony holding his half-melted, almost untouched one and the small freezing container for Y/n and Pepper’s cups instead.
Happy quickly takes Eddie’s mostly finished cone, which the kid is done with, and the ice cream container from Tony. “I assume there’s none for me?” Happy deadpans.
Tony winces. “Sorry, Hap, I should’ve-“
“No, you’re fine.” Happy claps his boss and friend’s shoulder. “Go see your daughter.”
Tony smiles gratefully before turning and straightening his jacket, exhaling heavily. He runs a hand through his messy hair, catching his reflection. He has a couple small handprints of dirt on his shirt, and some drops of red-and-gold ice cream, but overall, the day was good. I really am going to have to start making a monthly thing out of it , Tony realizes.
With that, he heads into the hospital room with his grandson in hand, going to check on his daughter, wife, and the newest additions to the Stark bunch.
Tony really, really loves his family.