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Family was a term that Tony believed he never really understood. Of course he had one growing up, but as he grew older, he realized that it never really felt like one. See, in his childhood years, the Starks were the perfect nuclear family. A hard working father, a loving mother, and their (occasionally troublemaker) son. Along with a butler and a couple home-made robots, of course. Despite the fact that Jarvis spent more time with Tony rather than his own father, they were painted as the perfect little family. However, things only proceeded to go south as Tony grew older.
After years of trying to win over the approval of his father, Tony gave up. His pride and stubbornness never allowed him to mend his relationship with his parents. Yet when the thought did come to mind, it was too late.
Despite never really having a good memory or image of a family to look back on, it didn’t take long for Tony to realize that, over the years, he had already created one of his own. Family didn’t have to strictly look like a father, a mother, and children. Sometimes, family was a personal bodyguard that was a borderline helicopter parent. Sometimes it was your best friend from college that also happened to be a US Air Force Colonel. Sometimes it was your assistant turned CEO of your multi-billion dollar company that, somehow, fell in love with you and became your wife.
And sometimes, family was your five year old daughter sneaking around the living room way past her bedtime.
That’s right, Tony had caught a glimpse of Morgan peeking out from under the tented blankets out of the corner of his eye. She had made a fort out of the couch cushions and throw blankets earlier that day and, using her usual puppy dog eyes, convinced Pepper to leave it up until tomorrow morning. No one could deny Morgan with that face. At this rate, she was definitely capable of getting whatever she wanted in life, whenever she wanted. Tony couldn’t have been more proud.
Despite having seen Morgan, Tony pretended he was completely oblivious to her presence. Instead of acknowledging her, he simply waltzed through the living room and into the kitchen, opening up the refrigerator. He whistled a made-up tune as he did so, just to really seal the deal.
“Boy, am I hungry. I could really use a midnight snack right about now…” Tony said, obvious by the tone of his voice that he was playing dumb. He peeked around inside the fridge, dramatically scanning around for food. “Let’s see. What could possibly be the perfect snack?-”
“Juice pops!” Morgan exclaimed, immediately revealing herself from her fort and running to her father. Tony scooped her up in his arms, allowing Morgan to wrap her arms around his neck. He then turned back to the open refrigerator, letting Morgan peek inside too.
“Juice pops, huh? Are you sure we shouldn't have a, I dunno. Healthier midnight snack? You know how your mom is about all vegetables and stuff,” Tony remarked. “See? Look what we got in here. Carrot sticks, apples… oh, what about some broccoli?”
Morgan was quick to refuse, her entire face scrunching up in a look of pure disgust. It wasn’t until after a few moments of playful protests and teasing that Tony put Morgan down, opened the freezer, and grabbed two red juice pops for each of them. Then, Morgan led him back to her fort, but not without passing through the dining room, where Tony had been working. After a few seconds of trying to get her father inside without completely destroying her fort, the two Starks were finally settled.
“What were you doing?” Morgan asked curiously, taking a bite out of her juice pop. It’s red coloring was already beginning to stain her teeth and the sides of her mouth.
“Nuh-uh. I get to go first. The real question is what were you doing? Your mom and I tucked you in about an hour ago! What’re you doing sneaking around under the blankets for, missy?” Tony asked, raising a brow. She definitely seemed to be taking after her father on the whole “no sleeping” thing. They had to keep their voices to a soft whisper to ensure they wouldn’t wake up Pepper. The responsible thing to do was to probably just put Morgan back to bed, but to be fair, Pepper had always been better at enforcing the rules anyways.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Morgan simply replied. She was much too focused on trying not to let her juice pop drip onto her favorite princess nightgown. “Now it's your turn!”
Tony had to take a moment to think about his answer. Of course he would never lie to his daughter, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to tell her the truth about tonight.
The truth was, Tony had figured out the formula for time travel. As unbelievable of an answer that was, it was true. He had spent all night trying to figure something out, just for the Avengers’ sake. They had practically begged him on his doorstep to help them out with their little, what was it called? Time heist. They were convinced that they could somehow undo what Thanos had done five years ago, but they couldn’t achieve that without Tony’s help.
He really wished they hadn’t come. God, that sounded selfish, but it was what Tony honestly felt. After the Avengers were torn apart, after not hearing from one another for so long, they had the audacity to come crawling back, expecting him to come up with a genius solution on the spot. It wasn’t that Tony couldn’t; he of all people was most capable of helping in a situation like this. It was that he didn’t want to.
How could he? How could he tag along with them on their little quest to save the world when now, Tony had so much to lose? He had a home, a wife, a kid, for crying out loud. After Tony married Pepper, he made a commitment. Iron Man was no longer a priority. Being the best father he could be was the only goal. All that mattered now was protecting and loving his girls, regardless of whatever chaos was happening around them.
The battle on Titan had just hit too close to home. He nearly died, and when he didn’t, he was forced to witness everyone around him fade away. He remembered the feeling of his stomach dropping once Peter disappeared in his arms, and the immediate dread that washed over him as he wondered if Pepper had disappeared back home too. It was just too much for Tony to handle. It put everything in perspective for him, and that was when he finally decided to leave Iron Man behind.
Yet there he had been, working on trial after trial, trying to figure something out. There was a certain nostalgia to it, brainstorming all night like he did during his early days of becoming Iron Man. Yet it also came with a certain feeling of apprehension and anxiety, knowing that now there was a solution, Tony’s mind wouldn’t let him rest.
Deep down, he knew he had to go through with the Avengers and their mission. Even if doing so put his life at risk, Tony wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t at least try to bring back half the population. It may have been a small chance that the plan would work, but there was still a chance. And that was a chance that Tony was willing to take if it meant bringing everybody back.
So no, Tony wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Morgan the truth tonight. He simply didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d probably have to leave home with the Avengers. Nor did he have the heart to tell her that there was a high possibility that leaving meant he most likely wouldn’t come back.
So, staring back down into Morgan’s eyes, just beaming with curiosity, Tony pulled her in close. He wrapped his arm around her, giving her a tight squeeze. Naturally, Morgan only leaned into her father’s embrace. It may have only been a small gesture in the grand scheme of things, but to Tony, it was everything.
“I couldn’t sleep either.” He finally said.
And with that, the two continued to eat their juice pops in Morgan’s makeshift tent, talking and giggling the night away. Tony may have discovered the secret to time travel, but that wasn’t important right now. He could deal with that another day. Only this moment mattered, and you’re damn right he was going to hold on to it for as long as he could.