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“I say I’m not good with kids
But only half of that is true
See, I’m just not good
No, I’m nothing like you"
Once a month, a random foster child would be selected to spend the day with Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man.
It was originally going to be a one time thing. Months ago, Pepper had suggested he spend the day with a less fortunate child. “Only for a day, Tony,” she had said when he was against it. “If you hate it so much, you never have to do it again! It’ll give you some good publicity while giving the child a day with their hero!”
Yes, it was originally planned as just a publicity stunt. However, there was something that Tony didn’t account for. Something happened that even Pepper didn’t see coming.
He actually enjoyed it.
The selected child was a young girl, Mira, who had just turned seven. She had lost both her parents in a car crash when she was just a baby and had yet to be adopted. Tony couldn’t help but connect with her, his own parents lost to a car crash all the same.
Just as promised (or as Pepper promised), he spent all day with Mira. Anything she wanted to do, Tony would agree to. “I wanna go to the zoo!” she exclaimed, childlike joy and innocence behind her words. It made Tony smile, not his paparazzi smile but a real smile.
“We’ll spend all day at the zoo if you want!”
He received some surprised looks from other guests. Why was Tony Stark giving a seven year old a piggyback ride? Said seven year old was currently pointing at one of the exhibits. “Look Mr. Iron Man!” she giggled. “Look at how long those foxes' ears are! I love them!!”
Tony couldn’t help but smile as well. He thought this experience would be terrible. Before he thought kids were just whiny and annoying. But Mira was so energetic and kind.
At the end of the day Tony even bought her a fox stuffed animal. His heart leapt with joy seeing her hug the plush, which she declared to be named “Iron Fox! After you Mr. Iron Man!”
When Tony returned home beaming, Pepper smirked. “So… was it the terrible experience you thought it would be?”
“Can I do it again next month?”
That’s how the tradition started. Since then the program has become more advanced. At the start of each month, a random child in the foster care system would be selected to spend their day with Iron Man. Throughout the month, Tony would put together a backpack of things the child liked. Their favorite characters, favorite animals, stickers, art supplies, you name it! He would even give some of the older kids Stark brand technology. At the end of each month, he’d spend the day with the selected child and at the end of the day he would give them their backpack full of goodies.
Pepper thought Tony would get bored of the program eventually, but each trip only seemed to fuel his excitement for the next one. He took these kids to amusement parks, water parks, zoos, Build-A-Bear, he even took one kid to Disneyland!
It’s through this program he met the boy he would eventually adopt.
It was the beginning of the summer and Tony was looking through the next child’s information. This child had been in the foster system since early last July. His parents had perished in a plane crash and the boy had no remaining family left to take him in. His file read he was obsessed with Iron Man. Iron Man was his favorite avenger, favorite hero, role model. But further down it said he was also inspired by the man behind the mask - Tony Stark.
“His technology is so cool!” The five-year-old exclaimed. “When I grow up I wanna work at Stark Industries! I wanna be just like him!”
Tony chuckled, although felt a twinge of guilt at the claim. He was a war-profiting monster. He’d ruined people’s lives. Nobody should want to be like him.
But this kid, Peter Parker his name was, looked up to him so much. Tony couldn’t disappoint him!
Tony knocked on the door of Peter’s foster home. “Go open the door, Peter!” could be heard from the inside. Minutes later, the door opened to reveal a child staring at him with big bambi eyes and brown curls.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, mouth wide open in shock. “Guys! Tony Stark is here! At the house!”
Tony chuckled. He loved this part of his monthly adventures. The kids being so excited to see him was a nice change from the critics who argued he was a monster. To these children, he was a hero. “Are you… Peter Parker?”
The boy smiled, wide. A grin that could outshine the sun. “Tony Stark knows my name!” he exclaimed. “Yes, I am Peter Parker, Mr. Stark sir! What brings you here?”
Tony laughed. The boy was being so professional with him despite only being a child. “I’m here for you actually, Mr. Parker. How would you like to spend the day with me?”
“Really?” Peter asked. He looked back to his foster parents, “Can I?”
They gave him their permission, and soon enough Peter was walking with Iron Man by his side.
“What would you like to do today, Mr. Parker?” Tony asked. He made a habit of asking all the kids what they would like to do. Most kids chose to go to parks, zoos, or malls. He wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary from Peter.
So it was an understatement to say he was shocked when Peter said, “I wanna work on Stark Technology with you, Mr. Stark!” he exclaimed. “I have some ideas for you! I’ve always wanted to work at Stark Industries!”
“Wouldn’t you rather go to a park, kid?” Tony asked. “Trust me, Stark Industries can be really boring sometimes.”
“But parks are boring too!” Peter whined. “I wanna work on Stark Tech!”
Tony chuckled, but had to relent. It was Peter’s day, which meant it was Peter’s choice of where they were going. Besides, he couldn’t say no to those bambi eyes. He couldn’t disappoint the kid.
“Stark Industries it is then,”
“This is my personal lab,” Tony explained. The truth was he didn’t feel safe with Peter in any lab, but he figured in his personal one it’d be harder for the boy to get lost. “It’s not that exciting, I’ll tell you that much,” he chuckled. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go to the zoo or something?”
But Peter wasn’t listening to him. He was instead typing on one of Tony’s computers.
“Ah-ah-ah!” Tony exclaimed, “That isn’t a toy, kid. That’s some of my work.”
“I know that Mr. Stark!” he exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “I fixed it for you!”
Tony glanced at the laptop, seeing what Peter did and how he “fixed” his code. Except… Peter actually did fix his broken code. “Well I’ll be…” he mumbled, scrolling through the program. Sure enough, it worked flawlessly now. “How’d you do it, kid?”
“You were using the number one, but everyone knows that indexes start at zero. Do you want me to look at anything else?”
“You can code?”
Peter made a so-so motion with his hand. However, even if Peter could only code a little bit it was still incredibly impressive. The five-year-old spotted a mistake in his code, a rather easy mistake to make, and corrected it.
“This… this is amazing, kid!”
“Thank you, Mr. Stark!” Peter beamed. “Want me to look at anything else?”
Tony and Peter spent most of the day in the lab. Peter was having fun just looking at Tony’s projects and giving him advice. However, Tony eventually suggested Peter start his own project. “How about you make an app or something?”
By the time the sun began to set, Peter had a fully functional game programmed. “It’s a game where you fly around as Iron Man and collect coins!” He exclaimed, showing Tony. It was a rather simple game, but still, extremely impressive for a five-year-old. “I still want to add in some obstacles. Like, I could use an if statement to say if the player flies into a tree, then they lose a point.”
“That’s great buddy, but it’s time for you to go home.”
“Oh…” Peter mumbled. “Home…”
Tony gave Peter a sad smile as he drove the boy back to his foster home. All the kids who were selected each had their own amazing qualities. Smart, kind, funny, etc. However, Peter was really advanced for his age. His smile lit up the whole room and he just wanted to hold the boy in his arms and never let go.
Tony enjoyed hanging out with all the kids who were chosen, but there was something different about Peter. Something that made Tony’s heart ache with how much he wanted to protect and love the child. Instincts that could only be described as parental.
It was a bit ridiculous, wasn’t it? Everyone knew Tony would be a terrible father! His own father was cold and Tony couldn’t bear to continue that cycle of abuse. Especially not on a child so innocent as Peter.
Tony handed Peter a backpack full of Iron Man goodies. “When you’re older Peter, I’d love for you to work at Stark Industries,” he said. They said their goodbyes and Tony thought that would be that.
Except, it wasn’t. When Tony went to bed that night all he could think about was how happy Peter seemed while they worked in the lab together. When Tony woke up the next morning, he was excited to spend the day with Peter once again until he recalled Peter was back with his foster family. Peter wasn’t his son.
Tony shook his head, “I can’t take care of a kid anyway,” he tried to reason. “Peter’s better off with his foster family. And I’m sure he’ll get adopted into a loving, forever family soon!”
Whenever Tony began to miss Peter, he repeated these lines to himself. “Peter’s better off without me. I can’t take care of a kid. I can barely take care of myself!”
“I can’t take care of a kid! I’d make a horrible father!”
“Kids just aren’t for me.”
“He’s probably safer with his foster family anyway.”
Tony knew he was the absolute worst person who should be taking care of a child, and yet he missed Peter anyway. From the way Peter lit up when he was at the doorstep, to how he found an error in Tony’s code instantly, to the way he programmed an app and still wanted to keep working.
Tony loved this boy. He wanted to care for and protect Peter until the end of time. But Tony knew it would never work out.
It wasn’t just Tony who noticed something off after Peter left. While Tony seemed to be missing a part of himself, everyone who interacted with the billionaire noticed his sad demeanor. He would smile, but then frown as he thought of something, or someone else. He mumbled to himself. Murmurs nobody could quite understand, but could only hear bits and pieces of.
“It’s Peter, isn’t it?” Pepper asked one afternoon.
Tony’s head shot up at the name, “Peter? What about him? Is he okay? Is he hurt? Did he get adopted?”
“It is Peter,” Pepper said. “You miss him.”
“No I don’t!” Tony argued. “I do this once a month. I try not to get attached, Pep. That’s ridiculous.”
“I know you try not to get attached, but sometimes these things just happen. Sometimes you can build up barriers and it only takes one smile for all of them to fall apart.”
Tony sighed. “Okay, I miss Peter, so what? It’s not like he could be… y’know… my son. I’d make a terrible father, Pep. Howard was terrible and I would be too.”
“At least you’re finally admitting it!” Pepper exclaimed. “It’s okay to miss him, Tony.”
“I wish I could… I wish I could adopt him… but, it’s just… not possible. I’d do him more harm than good.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Pepper claimed. “You’ve been so excited to go on these outings with these kids! Remember there was a time when you didn’t wanna do this at all. At first it was just to get the media’s attention. Now it’s a monthly program and we continued because you wanted to. All the kids you’ve met so far have enjoyed it greatly.”
“Thanks Pep, but hanging out with a kid once a day is different than taking care of one all the time! I’d be in way over my head.”
“If you say so, but Tony. I think you’re making excuses to stay away from Peter. And I for one think you’d be an excellent dad.”
Pepper left Tony to his own devices. Maybe he was making excuses to not go back and see Peter. To not hang out with Peter. To not adopt Peter.
Then again, it would be a big adjustment! It wasn’t something he could just decide overnight.
Besides, he had other things to worry about. For example, he was being forced to give someone a private tour of Stark Industries the next day. As much as he didn’t want to, Pepper insisted.
That was another reason he couldn’t adopt Peter. As the owner of Stark Industries, he just wouldn’t have time to take care of a child.
But was it really another reason… or just another excuse?
Usually it was rival businesses that scheduled private tours for their C.E.O.s to get inside S.I. and see how it worked. Sometimes it was world leaders or royalty who wanted to meet Tony Stark and speak about having an S.I. location in their home countries.
He would’ve never expected who it actually was.
Because the person waiting for him in the lobby was none other than Peter Parker.
“Peter?”
The boy glanced up from his book, “Hi Mr. Stark!”
“What are you doing here, kid?”
“Mrs. Potts asked if I wanted a private tour! Of course I said yes! I told her about how you said I could work here one day and she said she’s heard. She also said she’s heard a lot about me from you! I can’t believe Tony Stark talks about me to his friends!”
Tony cursed Pepper under his breath. He had a hard enough time letting Peter go the first time, how was he supposed to say goodbye again?
“So, where are we going first Mr. Stark?”
“Right this way, Pete,” he replied.
Tony did his best to focus on showing Peter around. He really tried his best, but all he could think about was the end of the tour when he’d have to say goodbye again. Did Pepper know how hard that would be for him? Was she trying to torture him by making him lose the kid all over again?
Or maybe her plan was to get him to stop moping by inviting Peter back.
Either way, it was torture for him.
He ended the tour by inviting Peter up to the penthouse. He didn’t normally end his tours this way, that was his own personal space, but it was Peter! Of course the boy who was like a son to him would be allowed there. “Would you like to watch a movie before you go home?” Tony suggested.
“Star Wars!” The boy yelled. Tony laughed at his enthusiasm.
“Alright. FRIDAY, you heard him!”
The Star Wars intro began and the boy watched with so much energy and excitement Tony decided he couldn’t lose him again.
“Peter, I need to make a call real quick. Will you be okay on your own for about five minutes or so?” Tony asked. “FRIDAY will alert me if you need anything.”
The boy hummed as he continued to watch the screen. Tony stepped out of the room and called Pepper, “Pep, why did you do this to me?”
“Why did I invite the boy you’ve been missing for three weeks straight back? I have no idea, Tony. Why don’t you tell me?”
“You’re playing dirty and you know that!”
“I thought maybe inviting him back here would give you the push you needed to finally adopt him!”
Tony was silent as he glanced back to the living room. Peter was still completely immersed by the movie.
“So, did it work?” Pepper asked when she received no response.
Tony sighed, “Yeah… it worked… I want to adopt Peter.”
Tony paused the movie, much to Peter’s dismay. “Peter,” Tony began, “There’s something I have to talk to you about. It’s really important, so listen to me closely, okay?”
“Okay Mr. Stark!”
“Have you ever thought about being adopted?”
Peter shrugged, “Sometimes. Why?”
“Well, I… there’s someone who’d like to adopt you and I wanted to know how you felt about that.”
“Really?” Peter smiled. “You found someone who wants to adopt me? I didn’t think I’d ever get adopted, but I couldn’t help but daydream a little, but thank you so much Mr. Stark. When can I meet my new family?”
“You’ve already met him, kid,” Tony smiled. Tears glistened in his eyes, “I want to be your dad, Pete.”
“You want to adopt me?”
Tony nodded, “If that’s okay with you, of course!”
Peter leaped into Tony’s arms as tears spilled from his eyes. He nodded into Tony’s chest, “I love you, dad!”
Tony planted a kiss on Peter’s, on his son’s, cheek.
“I love you too.”