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Pepper's heels clicked onto the marble floor of the Stark mansion as she walked up to the front door. She opened it, leaning against the doorway as she looked at the men in front of her. Two of them were on the buffer side and reminded her somewhat of Happy, the only key difference being the monotone look on their faces and the dark sunglasses that covered their eyes. The one who stood up front was way thinner, having his own pair of thick glasses resting on the tip of his nose.
Pepper had no idea what they wanted, but with the amount of trouble her boss got into on a daily basis she had gotten some experience with spotting shady people. 'If you don't have an appointment with Mr. Stark, I have to ask you to leave. He isn't doing interviews at the moment.'' She was about to slam the door shut in their faces when the scrawnier man but his foot in between the door. He opened it back up with a quick motion of his leg and straightened the jacket of his suit. ''We have to speak to Anthony Stark regarding his biological son.'' Pepper stared at the man with widened eyes as her eyebrows lifted onto her forehead. ''Pardon me? Mr. Stark doesn't have a son.''
The man with the thick glasses jerked his head towards one of the men behind him, who pushed a little boy from behind his back with such force that he almost tumbled over. Judging by the way the kid looked with his big doe-like eyes and his brown little curls Pepper estimated him to be around the age of five. ''The boy has sadly lost his mother in a car accident only a couple days ago, and since Mr. Stark is his only living guardian, he will be placed in his care-'' Before the man could continue, Pepper cut him off. ''I'm sorry, but without any legitimate proof of your statement, I will not be letting this child enter Mr. Stark's mansion.''
The little kid's eyes widened with shock and a hint of sadness in a way only little children could do. Pepper has never been happier that she had had years to practice her poker-face beforehand. The man op front showed her a dirty smile before placing the suitcase he'd been holding onto on the ground, opening it to search through the many papers that were inside. Within a couple seconds his hands stopped flying through the papers and he straightened his back, stretching his arm out to hand Pepper the documents. Pepper scanned through them quickly before freezing right where she stood, to the amusement of the man from the social services.
''The national police allowed us to use Mr. Stark's DNA for our testing, since his secretary wouldn't let us through.'' The smirk on his face was enough to snap Pepper out of her shock immediately. She scanned through the test results one final time before letting out a tired sigh. Even though she didn't like to admit it, the test seemed to be official. She pressed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger as she put the papers away inside of her blazer. The thought that her unresponsible child of a boss who couldn't even take care of a fish if he had to now had a son wasn't calming her anxious thoughts, but she chose to put it aside for a moment.
With a little flip of his index finger, the social worker signaled the monotone man behind him. He pushed the kid forward, making him stumble through the doorframe only to be saved by Pepper's arm that wrapped around his torso. ''Sadly it's well past my working hours, so one of my colleagues will come by tomorrow to arrange all the required documents.'' Pepper gave the men a dirty glare as they walked to their black Audi's who were parked just outside the tower.
The kid jumped out of her grip and stared around him, looking more excited than when one of her boss’ meetings got canceled. Something about the spark in their eyes was weirdly similar, how they could completely lose themselves in their own worlds.
''Is this the Stark Mansion?!'' Pepper giggled at the excitement in the child's voice. ''Sure is, what do you think?'' Pepper started to walk down the hall into the living room, the boy following right behind her. ''It's so big! Even bigger than on tv!'' The doors to the extraordinarily large living room opened automatically, leaving the little boy in awe. He walked through the massive open space with an open mouth while he twirled around to observe everything around him. The little boy jumped from one of the rocks that were spread throughout the room for decoration before focusing his attention on the amazing view outside the window. He put his little hands up against the glass as well as the tip of his nose as he admired how the waves attacked the rocks of the shore. He giggled before pushing his little face away from the view, quickly wiping his sleeve against the glass as soon as he realized that he'd left a stain.
When he turned around, his hazel brown eyes fell on the massive piano that was standing on the elevated part of the floor. Pepper noticed the way the kid admired the ginormous piano and couldn't repress the grin that faded on her face. ''Peter, was it?'' The little boy nodded firmly without breaking his gaze from the instrument. ''Well, Peter, would you like to play on the piano while I make a phone call to Mr. Stark?'' He stared up at her with big eyes filled with shock, the excitement shining across his irises. ''Really? Yes please, I'd love that!''
Pepper motioned to the black leathered stool in front of the instrument and the boy gladly climbed on top of it. She bowed over the black and white keys and Peter stared as she stretched her arm out. She hesitated for a moment and turned towards him ''Do you know any songs, Peter?'' The kid shook his head from left to right, making his little brown curls dance in front of his forehead. ''Alright, then I'll just show you something simple.''
When Pepper was sure Peter was looking, which he was of course already doing, she started to press the keys in a certain melody, humming along with the music that came from the piano. She played it slowly, holding her fingers in a certain way so that Peter could perfectly see what she was doing. When she was done, she looked back up at the boy. ''This song is called ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’, do you want to try?'' Without waiting to give her a response, Peter lifted his right hand above the keys and placed it down, looking up for confirmation.
''You first start on the G note, which is this one.'' Pepper pressed the note with her index finger. ''And after that, you go to that one.'' Peter pressed the notes in the order Pepper had told him to, and quickly realized that she was right. ''Oh yeah! Thank you, miss.'' Pepper stood up from her half-crouched position. ''You can call me Pepper.'' ''Oh okay! Thank you, Miss. Pepper!'' Pepper scoffed silently. This kid was truly adorable.
She grabbed her phone out of her bag which rested against the coffee table and walked towards the hall. ''I'll be back in a sec, Pete. Enjoy yourself.'' Peter only hummed in acknowledgement at he was now fully focused on his new little task, pressing the piano keys in the right order. Pepper smiled at the sight of the tip of the boy's tongue, which peeked outside his mouth before opening the door.
As soon as she heard the click of the door falling back into the doorframe, the smile on her face disappeared. She scrolled through her list of contacts until she reached the T. Of course, she could just call Happy to drag him out of the meeting, but she knew that even he would have a hard time getting through the security of the building. It was much easier to just call the man himself, it wasn't like he wasn't on his phone anyway.
She pressed the number, flipping her hair to the side before lifting her phone to her ear. Just as she expected, he picked up on the second ring. Judging by the distant sounds of protest on the other side of the line, he hadn't even taken the effort to leave the conference room. ''Pep, did you just butt dial me or did you actually call me in a meeting? Not that I'm complaining-''
Pepper rolled her eyes, and she had a feeling that Tony could sense it. ''Tony, get over here now. Something came up.'' The man let out a surprised scoff before kindly telling something beside him to shut their mouth. ''Wait, you are actually breaking me out of an official board meeting?! I didn't think that this day would ever come! good on you.'' Tony snickered at his own joke, but it slowly turned into a nervous laugh as Pepper's side of the line stayed dead silent.
''Tony-'' Pepper hesitated for a moment. ''Can you just please, for this one time, act responsible?'' Pepper could hear Tony get up and walk through the doors, faint voices yelling behind him. ''Heh, nice one Pep. But where is this all coming from? I mean, I went to the meeting and all.....'' His footsteps became louder as he walked down the hallway of the building, already on his way to the parking garage. ''We got a situation, Tony. And this time, I can't just magically solve it for you. There is someone who needs you right now and I'm starting to question if you're actually up for the job.''
''Did something happen in the company? My god....sound like it's going to be a total party kill. Not exactly excited for that.'' Pepper looked through the glass in the door as a response, spotting the little kid who was starting to move his little fingers faster across the keys. She could hear the distant beeping of Tony's newest scarlet red Tesla, and the opening of the door that followed.
''How long until you'll be here?'' Tony took a quick look at the clock on his dashboard before responding. ''Depending on if these grandmas can actually drive, I should be there in about twenty minutes.'' Pepper let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding. ''Alright. See you in twenty, bye.'' Without waiting any longer, she hung up on her boss and let her head rest in her hands.
She stood there, leaning against the wall trying to collect her thoughts until she realized that the piano playing had stopped. Pepper immediately swung the door open and wended her eyes towards the piano stool, which had been pushed aside and left empty. Instead, the boy was sitting on the couple of stairs that led up to the elevated part of the floor. Peter looked up when he heard the door open, his eyes were filled with sadness but there was no sign of tears. He looked even smaller when he was curled up into a protective ball.
''Is Mr. Stark happy that I'm here?'' Pepper walked up to the kid and kneeled in front of him, placing her hand on top of his brown little curls. ''Of course he is, you'll see.'' Pepper could sense that the boy wasn't as easy to convince as his personality made it seem. ''Mommy always told me that he didn't want us, but I didn't think it was true. He didn't look like a meanie on tv....he looked so cool.'' Pepper was more than familiar with her boss’ charms, and it looked like the kid had fallen for them. Even so, she didn't think that he would be so selfish to abandon his own son if he'd known about his existence, even if he had the gift to lose interest in things in records time.
''Pete, I have known your father for a very, very long time now and I'm sure that he would love to meet you.'' The little bit of hope that flickered in the five-year-old's eyes was more than enough to melt anyone's heart. Pepper smiled as she got back on her feet, dragging Peter up with her. ''Do you want to try the famous Stark couch?'' The boy tilted his head, his eyes sparkling with innocent confusion. ''How famous is it?'' ''Really famous.''
Tony arriver only a little ten minutes later, beating his own record from the conference room to his mansion. And it wasn't like he hadn't tried before; he was a master of breaking the speed limits after all. But it wasn't every day that he heard his secretary use her 'serious voice'. To be honest, it had been years since he'd heard Pepper talk in that manner, and the last time she used it was because he had almost crashed the stock market because he'd gotten just a teeny tiny bit too drunk and completely ruined the entire Stark Expo.
He could laugh about it now, but pepper was still bitter about it every time someone mentioned it. He truly wondered how he had messed up this time, because it had to be something bad. The problem was that the genius himself couldn't figure out what it was. He opened the door from the garage into the hallway and put his keys away in his pocket, but when he lifted his hand to open the door to the living room, he noticed that it was still open. ''Come in, Tony. we're on the couch.''
''We?'' Tony pushed the door further open and walked into the living room. When he turned towards the couch, pointing his finger right at Peter while he stared in Pepper's direction instead. ''Why is there a kid here?'' Pepper saw Peter sink further into the cushions behind him from the corner of her eye.
''Please be a little nicer Tony, he's already scared.'' Tony lifted his eyebrow further up, but Pepper continued before he could express his feelings. ''Today, a couple of men came to your doorstep and dropped him off. I wasn't planning on taking them seriously, since they seemed like scum, but-'' Pepper unfolded the papers that she had tucked away for later. ''They turned out to be social services.''
Pepper handed him the papers, which he scanned quickly as his eyes flew across the document. His face froze as he got to the bottom of the paper. ''His name is Peter Parker, they explained that his mom died in a car accident a couple days ago. They got your DNA from the national police.''
Tony hesitated for a moment before he looked up from the papers. He couldn't help but stare at the kid in front of him, who silently waved in his direction. Tony said nothing back, he just stared at peter with an unreadable expression on his face. There was a short moment of silence before Peter turned his head towards Pepper. ''Are you sure he wants me here? He doesn't seem happy....'' ''Wait, no, hold on a second.'' Tony rubbed his hand in his eyes and brushed his hair back. ''Sorry bud, it's just a lot to take in.''
the little boy nodded in understanding. ''I understand, when Mommy first told me you were my daddy, I was really shocked too. At first, I even thought that she was a little crazy, but after a little while I believed her.'' Tony didn't look back at him, instead, the view outside the window seemed oddly beautiful that day. Peter could distinct some kind of shock and panic on the man's face.
Without saying a word to anyone, he climbed off the couch and sneaked up to Tony. Before Pepper could realize what his little plan was, the kid wrapped his arms around her boss’ upper thigh. ''hug.'' Tony flinched at the touch and stared down at Peter. ''W-what are you doing?'' ''Comfort hug.'' he said as he let the side of his head rest against the black trousers. ''Could you maybe....let go?'' ''No.'' ''Why not?''
Everybody in his inner circle knew what Tony Stark thought about physical contact, and children as a whole. Still, Pepper was surprised that he hadn't given the kid a kick in the ribs yet. ''Because you aren't comforted, and that means that the comfort hug hasn't worked yet.'' The billionaire let out a slight growl. ''I don't have to be comforted, I'm an adult.'' ''Everybody has to be comforted when they're upset, even adults.''
Tony bended down to meet the kid, just to get out of his grip. ''Well, thanks, I guess.'' The boy gave him a welcoming smile in response before it turned into a big yawn. Pepper looked down at her watch and let out a little gasp. ''It's almost nine already! That's probably far past your bedtime, huh Pete?'' He looked away from Tony and shook his head heavily. ''I'm not tired yet! I wanna talk more to him!'' Peter pointed in Tony's direction, who silently begged Pepper for help with his gaze. ''Let's make a deal, okay? Your father-'' Pepper spat the last words out with a stern undertone in her voice, lifting her gaze from Peter to Tony.
''your father will put you to bed, and you'll be able to play with him tomorrow.'' ''Really?!'' Tony looked from the kid to his secretary. ''Yeah, really?'' ''Yep, since I'm in control of said person's schedule, I can make sure he has all the time in the world for you tomorrow. But you'll have to go to bed now.''
''Okay! I'll go to bed.'' Pepper nodded as she walked past the two of them in the direction of the stairs. ''Nice doing business with you.'' She jerked her head upwards in Tony's direction, as a signal he'd have to carry the little boy through the mansion. He mouthed something alongst the lines of 'really?' Before Pepper's pissed glare made him oblige. He collected the kid from the spot where he'd been standing and let him rest onto his torso, holding him up with one arm under the boy's legs. ''Alright, let's move.''
He could feel Peter nodding against his chest, and judging by the movement Pepper had been right, it was far past his bedtime. Tony grunted as he stumbled up the stairs. The kid wasn't that heavy, pretty light even, but Tony just wanted to protest. They eventually settled on a small guest room on the outer end of the hall and put Peter down on the perfectly made bed.
When his back hit the sheets, he grunted slightly, causing Tony to flinch. The last thing the man wanted was to wake up the half-asleep child, and luckily the boy turned around almost immediately. Pepper put the sheets over him and gave his upper arm one final rub before exiting the room with Tony on her heels. When he closed the door behind them, the both of them could finally release the breath they'd been holding in.
Tony brushed the hair that hung before his eyes back with the palm of his hand, surprising Pepper with the amount that his hand trembled. ''Today was quite......eventful, to say the least.'' Pepper chuckled, trying to lighten to mood. Tony returned to short laugh. ''You could put it that way. You know-'' Tony paused for a brief moment to tuck his fists away in the pockets of his jacket. ''When you told me something had happened, I fully expected to meet you here for some kind of financial catastrophe or something, but this.....'' The man let his head fall backwards and hit the wall, Pepper had no doubt it hurt a little.
''I don't know if this is going to work, Pep.'' Pepper sighed before staring into seemingly nothing. ''Do you have a choice? I mean, for once in your life you're going to have to take responsibility for your actions.'' ''I never said I wouldn't take responsibility. I just don't think I'm fit to raise a kid! I mean, I'm always traveling, and-'' ''Tony'' ''-and overall, I'm practically always busy with being a CEO and stuff-'' ''Tony.'' Pepper's voice was starting to sound more serious and less gentle with every time she tried to drag her boss back to reality. Even so, it didn't stop his rambling. ''-And if I got a penny for every time someone called me ‘unresponsible’, even though I find that debatable, I'd have double my net worth-'' ''Tony! you're just making excuses because you're afraid of the commitment!''
Pepper stared at him with little flames dancing behind her eyes. ''What else do you want to do? What other master plan do you have in that thick skull of yours?'' Tony met her flaming sparkling blue eyes, his own shining with a strange kind of seriousness. ''I'm putting him up for adoption. We'll both be better off.'' With those words, Tony passed her and made his way to his own bedroom, fully ready for the conversation to be over.
There was no way Pepper would leave it like that, the clacking of her heels followed Tony's footsteps as soon as she got out of his sight field. ''What is that supposed to mean?! You can't just put him into the system, Tony. He's a Stark! He's not safe out there!'' Tony only fastened his walk. ''I can make sure he gets a good home, Pep. I have contacts.''
''Peter looks up to you. A lot. You can't just abandon him, you're his father Tony!'' ''I'm not abandoning him!'' He turned around and stared into Pepper's face. Most of the fury had already faded out and had been replaced with mere disappointment. Tony sighed tiredly. ''I'm gonna take responsibility for this and make sure he gets a good home, alright? Just not with me.'' Pepper's eyes narrowed as the flames started to kindle again, but she didn't open her mouth. ''Good night, Pep.''
It had taken quite a while before Tony had finally fallen asleep. He was more than familiar with the concept of insomnia and had been having trouble falling asleep ever since he was a teenager. Maybe the events of the last evening had also contributed? He wasn't entirely sure. He cracked his eyes open and judging by the amount of light in the room, it was barely morning yet.
He flinched as he heard a second, smaller breathing pattern right beside him. Peter was lying on the bed right next to him, resting his head against Tony's torso. He sleepily creaked open his eyes at the movement the man made and looked up, blinking sheepishly a couple of times before his brain started to work. He yawned, rolling onto his back away from Tony's chest and opening his eyes fully.
Tony stared at him in shock. ''kid? H-how, why are you here?'' Peter rubbed his little fist into his eye as he sat up. ''I woke up and it was like, really really dark and there was no noise at all. I tried to go back to my dream but I maybe I was a little scared, so I tried to find you.'' Peter stared up at Tony with a mixture of an innocent little smile and sleepy but happy little eyes.
Tony sighed as he kicked his legs over the edge of the bed and picked up one of the hoodies that was spread out across the bedroom floor. He smelled it, and the only semi-disgusted face seemed to be an indication that it was still clean enough to wear. Peter watched as he slid the black hoodie on and turned towards him, jerking his head towards the door. ''uh, you want some breakfast?''
Peter nodded as he jumped out of the bed and darted after Tony. He had a little trouble keeping up with the man's walking speed since his legs were way smaller, but he didn't seem to mind. ''What are we having for breakfast?'' Some wrinkles formed in Tony's forehead as he thought about it for a moment. ''you like eggs? I don't really have anything else.'' ''Sounds good to me.'' In all honesty, it was also the only thing Tony could cook without burning his entire mansion to ashes, but he wasn't going to tell Peter that.
''What came first?'' Tony looked down at the kid with one eyebrow raised. ''What came first, the chicken or the egg?'' ''The egg, of course.'' Peter tilted his head with a little confusion etched into his face. ''But didn't the chicken lay the egg?'' ''No'' Tony walked down the stairs a little slower than he normally would've so that the kid could still hear him.
''Do you know how evolution works?'' Peter hesitated for a moment before nodding. ''As animals get babies and those babies get babies, they change a very little bit every time, right?'' ''Close enough.'' Tony grunted as he jumped down the last couple of stairs. ''Happy that I don't have to give you an entire biology class, kid.''
Peter decided to mimic the older man and jump down the stairs as well, even though it was only the last step because if he did it from any higher he was positive he'd fall. ''Well, in between those tiny changes, there was a point where the mommy could be identified some sort of abomination, and the baby is had as an actual chicken.'' Tony paced across the living room as the orange sunlight that came through the enlarged windows colored his face, with Peter only a meter or so away from him.
They reached the kitchen and Tony flicked the stove on, opening the fridge to seek for a couple of eggs that hadn't passed their expiration date yet. ''But wouldn't the baby that came out of the egg still be first? isn't still chicken then?'' ''No, because the chicken came out of the egg.'' Peter climbed on top of one of the stools that were placed around the cooking island as Tony grabbed a pan from one of the cabinets at his knees ''But could that really count as an egg? It wasn't laid by a chicken.''
''But a chicken came out of it.'' Tony cracked the egg on the side of the pan and watched it slowly turn from its clear liquid like state into something eatable. ''But does that really count as a chicken egg?' Doesn't a chicken have to lay the egg for it to be a chicken egg?'' Tony just chuckled as he turned around, leaning against the counter with his under arms on top. ''An egg is an egg.''
''But then it's no fun! Of course there were eggs before chickens, but that's not what I meant.'' ''Should've been more specific.'' The pouting face Peter made Tony burst out into laughter, only making the child's face look even more pissed. At least he tried to, but it only made him look cuter. ''laughing in someone's face is mean.'' ''Sorry bud, didn't mean to be an ass.'' Peter looked like he was about to make another comment when the anger seemed to fade off his little face as soon as it came. ''Uh, is the egg supposed to smoke like that?''
Tony turner around to see the now half-blackened egg inside of the smoking pan and tried to muffle his swearing because, you know, there was a kid right behind him. Peter's snickers turned into full-on laughter behind him, only fulling his irritation. Peter ended up getting another egg, and Tony was left with the burnt one instead.
It had been a really, really long time since Tony had seen something genuinely enjoy his cooking. He tried to make lunch for Rhodes once, but that had turned into the biggest inside joke that his friend would never let go off anymore. Tony realized that it wasn't that weird that Peter was eating his food since he probably hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, maybe even longer. Judging by the way Pepper talked about the social workers, they didn’t really seem like the best at their job.
''Why are the two of you up? It's not even six in the morning.'' A still half-asleep Pepper stumbled down the stairs, making her way over to the kitchen. ''Did the two of you even sleep at all?'' ''Nope.'' Tony put the last piece of the burned egg into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing. ''So, you decided to stay over?''
Pepper grabbed a bowl out of the dishwasher and poured yogurt into it, mixing it with some fruit. ''Yeah, I decided to stay here until the social services come back.'' ''They're coming back? Why?'' The underlying fear in Peter's voice was something Tony tried to completely ignore. ''Well, they were too lazy to stay and finish their work, so they're coming back today to finish some of the paperwork.''
Pepper wended her gaze to Tony, with some of the same disappointment from the night before mixed with sadness. Luckily, he had grown extremely skilled at dodging said gaze over the years. Instead of the confrontation, he decided to change the subject. ''Why does there always have to be paperwork, I thought I had a day off?'' Peter let out a little giggle, only boosting the man's already inflated ego. ''Because that's how real life works, so get used to it.''
Pepper growled as she grabbed her bowl off the countertop and walked back to her room, followed by two sets of eyes. ''Why is Miss. Pepper mad?'' Tony grabbed Peter's now empty plate and dumped it in the sink to clean up later. ''Don't know, it's probably her time of the month or something.'' ''What's a time of the month?'' Tony chuckled nervously. ''Ask Pepper.''
Tony grabbed an apple out of the fruit basket and threw it at Peter, who managed to catch it. ''Here, eat up. You barely ate anything yesterday.'' Peter took a bite of the apple as he jumped back onto the wooden floor, wobbling behind Tony.
''Wanna watch some TV?'' Peter nodded once and ran towards to couch and jumped on top of it, waiting for Tony to turn the TV on. The man yanked the remote out from in between the cushions and handed it to Peter. ''Here, you can choose whatever you want. I'll just sit here and answer some emails, so don't put it too loud, kay?'' Peter nodded but Tony wasn't sure if the kid could hear him anymore. His little eyes were locked on the remote, staring at it with widened eyes in which the disbelief was easily readable.
Peter had the thing turned on before Tony even got back with his laptop, already zapping through the channels. He opened the computer, and his face was immediately lit up with the blue light that came from the screen. He scrolled through the list of endless emails that he had decided to simply ignore, trying to find something he'd actually get in trouble for not doing.
The annoyingly loud laughter of the yellow rectangle on the screen pierced through his mind, but he tried to not let it show. Tried was the key word, because he could immediately hear the volume being turned down.
He was almost at the bottom of the endless list when his eyes fell on the bar at the bottom of the screen, looking at the date. The fifteenth of August. The date felt weirdly familiar to him, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He had probably been staring at the right corner of his screen for at least a couple minutes before he finally realized what was so special about the date. It was Howard Stark's birthday.
He let out an empty scoff at the memory his father. He'd never had that good of a relationship with him, if what they had even counted as a relationship at all. His father had never really batted an eye at him and remembering his own son's birthday was completely out of the question. Tony had always had a little place in his heart for the man, but the only thing the engineer wished was that his father hadn't......abandoned him.....like that.
''You can't just abandon him, you're his father Tony!''
Tony rolled his eyes at the memory of the last night, but still peaked over the edge of his laptop. Peter was rocking back and forth slightly, his eyes glued stuck to the tv. He seemed fascinated by the animated show on the screen. Tony couldn't even tell if he was still blinking or not.
The both of them shot out of their trans as the doorbell rang through the entire building. Tony immediately regretted putting it that loud. He shot a quick look at the clock before slamming his laptop shut, 09:33. For how long had they been sitting there?
Pepper came down the stairs again, this time with a nice blazer and skirt, her mace fully done and her hair on the back of her head in, tied into a bun. It was a big difference from the sweatpants and worn-out T-shirt from that morning.
''They're here. You want to open the door like that?'' Pepper's finger moved up and down, pointing at the stained black hoodie and the baggy grey-ish sweatpants that he hadn't changed out of. Tony just shrugged and moved from his seat on the couch. ''They better not think that I'm going to show up in a suit anywhere before at least eleven AM.'' He ruffled his hand through his hair quickly to make it somewhat presentable.
The tv got turned off and Tony could hear the little footsteps behind his as he followed Pepper to the front door. When the door swung open, they were met with the not too friendly face of the social worker, and Tony could understand why his companions weren’t too fond of them. The man’s low budget suits were almost embarrassing in comparison to the cheaper ones Tony had stocked away in his closet.
The social worker smiled faintly. “Good morning Mr. Stark. Thank you for having me today.” Tony could feel Peter tensing up beside him and he chuckled. “Not like I had a choice. Come in.” The social worker scoffed nervously, and Pepper let out a groan while she gestured the man to come in. While they walked through the hallway Peter made sure to stay close to either Tony’s or Pepper’s side, as far away from the cheap suit as physically possible.
Tony took a seat in the chair opposite from where the other man sat down, and Pepper and Peter took a seat onto the couch. Pepper crossed her legs in a feminine manner and narrowed her eyes just slightly. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
the man nodded as he leaned back into his chair. “In regards of the death of Miss. Parker her son, Peter Benjamin Parker has been placed into the care of his father.” The social worker nodded in Tony’s direction, who avoided his gaze. “For this to be finalized we’ll need to arrange a couple of documents, so if you’d please-“ The social worker had already started to take a couple of documents out of the inside of his jacket when Pepper cut him off. “That won’t be needed.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?” There was a short silence as neither party spoke. Pepper stared at her hands, and the social worker waited for either of them to continue. The way Peter’s features sank made something in Tony’s stomach twist. His eyes were so confused yet so incredibly sad, Tony wished he could just unsee it.
“You’re just making excuses because you’re afraid of the commitment!’’
Sometimes he’d wish Pepper was less…… convincing. “Mr. Stark has carefully thought about this specific situation, and he has decided to-“ Tony swiftly shot up out of the grey-leathered chair and bended over the circular table with one of his hands leaning on the glass. He snatched the papers out of the still very confused social worker’s hands and grabbed a pen from the table. Pepper’s confused look would’ve made him laugh if he wasn’t as anxious as he was.
Before he could think about his next decision, he scribbled the pen over the paper and slammed them down onto the coffee table. “There. Done.” When the surprised look faded off Pepper's face, her eyes went soft as a little smile danced around her lips, and the kid beside her seemed to be literally beaming. Tony just begged in the back of his head that he’d made the right decision.
Pepper walked the man back towards the door as Tony swiftly looked through the contract he’d just signed. He silently whished that he hadn’t made such a big decision without giving it a second thought. A soft groan escaped his mouth as he realized what he’d done.
“How can you read it that fast? I’m still on the second paragraph!” Peter had climbed on top of the arm rest of the chair and had tried to read along with the billionaire. “you’re on the second paragraph?” Tony raised an eyebrow as he chuckled slightly. “Yes, but the first one was all stupid grown up stuff. When does it get in interesting?” “That’s the problem, it doesn’t.”
Peter whined dramatically. "But then why would you read it?” Tony hesitated for a moment before he threw the papers on the table again, with the blank side on top. “You know what, I like your style. Let’s go do something else.” Peter blinked in confusion. “What should we do?” “Doesn’t matter. Anything’s better than this.” Peter seemed to think deeply before seeming to come to a realization. ''Do you want to hear me play a song on the big piano?'' ''That doesn't sound like work, so I approve.''
Rhodey unlocked the front door of his friend’s mansion with the spare keys he had on him in case of an emergency. A shiver ran down his spine before closing the door. It had been a pretty cold evening and he was slightly curious why Pepper had asked him to come over that late. His question got answered when he walked into the living room and was greeted by Pepper putting her index finger over her lips. He silently continued to cross the room until he reached the grey-white leathered couch.
Tony had completely passed out on the piece of furniture; his chin was on his chest and Rhodey could swear he had spotted a single drop op drool running down his mouth. Even though the sight if his friend in such a deep slumber was quite rare to say the least, the more surprising factor was the little boy with bouncy brow little curls resting his head on the man's shoulder.
''Adorable, isn't it?'' Pepper looked at him with a big grin on her face, like she was finally satisfied with her boss’ actions. ''Yeah, but....'' Rhodey gave her a confused glare, making Pepper scoff slightly at the sight. ''I know. Turns out there was another little Stark roaming this planet for the past five years. After his mother's death they dropped him off here.''
Rhodey's eyes widened so far that Pepper was confident that they couldn't look more surprised. ''Wait, the kid's Tony's son?'' Pepper nodded tiredly. ''He was really persistent on the idea to give the kid up for adoption at first, but when the social services arrived to sign some paperwork, he seemed to change his mind at the very last moment. Of course I'm grateful for his decision, but I just can't seem to figure out why he switched completely in less than 12 hours.''
Rhodey gave her an understanding look as his eyes went back to the passed-out duo. ''If I were to make a guess, I don't think he ever wanted to get rid of the kid.'' Pepper looked at him with slight confusion. ''I think he was just scared. Scared of the responsibility, that he would eventually fail him and leave him off far worse. Maybe he was scared to turn out like his dad.''
Pepper seemed to be staring off into nothing in particular, the bags under her eyes more noticeable in the dim light of the lamps above her. ''You look beat.'' ''I am. I've been busy with arranging everything for Peter, but the Starks just did what they do best, dodge responsibility. They've spent the entire day hiding from me.'' Pepper chuckled with nothing but satisfaction, not even annoyed in the slightest.
''They completely tired themselves out together. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Tony had a little bit of fun with it too.'' Rhodey looked from his friend to the little boy and back, starting to see the resemblance. ''Should we wake ‘em up? I can practically hear him complain about his neck already.'' Pepper shook her head. ''Don't you dare.'' ''Fine, fine. I'll get them a blanket; you should go clean yourself up.'' With one final look over her shoulder she ascended the stairs and disappeared to the floor above.
As promised, Rhodey got a blanket from behind one of the chairs and spread it across the couch. ''You know Tones, this is crazy, even for you.'' ''sh't 'p'' Rhodey squatted down and met the sleepy man's half opened eyes with a dumb grin. ''You made the right choice Tones. Good on you.'' If Tony had actually been by his senses, he would've definitely rolled his eyes all the way back into his skull. Now he just gave the soldier a pissed glare. ''I know I know, it's cheesy. Now, go back to sleep before you wake your little boy up with all your moving.'' ''Sh't up.'' Rhodey snorted shortly before standing up and walking back towards the front door, only turning around one final time. ''good luck.''