Chapter Text
The street is dark and all the lights are off in the house at the end of the lane. All is silent. No crickets, no animals scurrying in the nearby nature preserve. Inside the home a little girl lays curled up in her bed clutching to her pillow. Her chest tightens and her face scrunches up at the uncomfortable thump of her heart against her ribcage. She buries herself further under the covers so only a tuff of wild brown hair can be seen.
“NO! PLEA-“ The shout of a man is cut off and a thud is heard through the wall.
“Mn?” Mari murmurs as she leans her head out from her cocoon. She looks towards the wall where she heard her father’s voice and wipes at the sleep congealed in the corners of her eyes. “Da?”
She stares at the wall but only hears the shuffle of movement in the next room. With a yawn, she slides out of bed and stumbles to the door. She pulls it open and peeks out into the hall.
“Da?” she calls in a louder voice. “Was that you?”
Her eyes go down to the shadow moving under the door down the hall. The sound of shuffling paper and something knocking against the wardrobes can be heard through the door. Mari moves closer with soft footsteps.
“Da? Mama?” she calls, moving closer to the door.
All sound coming from the room stops and the shadow disappears from under the door. Mari purses her lips and glances back at her door before taking a deep breath and going up to open the door to her parent’s room. She looks around and is surprised to find the room in disarray. Clothes are hanging over the edge of drawers, the paper work from her father’s brief case is scattered around the floor, and the decorative box her mother kept her jewelry in lays on the floor with its lid ripped off. She turns to her parents who are lying in bed, still.
“Mama. Da,” she says as she reaches for her father’s shoulder and shakes it. “What happ…”
A warm wetness spreads across her palm as she shakes her father’s shoulder. She pulls her hand back and tries to make out the stickiness on her hand. She goes to the lamp on the bedside table and pulls the chain. Her eyes widen when she sees the substance on her hand is red. She jerks her head up to her father’s sleeping form and sees red soaking into the sheets and splattered on the wall and across her parents’ bodies. Tremors quake through her body as her mouth struggles to form words.
A low rumbling growl causes her body to stiffen. She turns slowly to look behind her as tears form in her eyes. The door to the closet creaks open and a bulky shape leans out of the door frame. Black shadow stretched over the hulking mass of a coiled predator. Sharp pointed fingers slide over the door and inky lips stretch across white needle like teeth into a wide smile. When a small whimper escapes past her lips the growl turns to a quiet, deep chuckle.
“Run,” the creature rasps out before roaring and leaping forward.
With a shriek she dives for the door and tears down the hall into her room. She slams the door and wretches the window on the opposite wall open. When she hears the crashing of the monster clambering down the hall, she ducks under the bed. The door to her bedroom slams open and she covers her mouth to hold in her yelp. She watches as dark legs move to the window and hears two sharp sniffs. The legs turn away from the window and step back to the middle of the room.
“You’re still here, aren’t you Peterdottir. Come out, come out where ever you are.” It punctuates its sentence by throwing the dresser across the room.
Despite the hand clasped tightly across her mouth a squeak escapes.
The monster which had taken to tearing through her closet did not miss the little sound and takes a step towards the bed.
“Come out and play little Peterdottir.” The hulking form comes to stand inches in front of the shaking toddler. “Are you under here?”
Mari shakes uncontrollably as tips of a dark clawed hand reach under the bed. She jumps at the sound of a sharp chirping. The hand jerks back and the monster stands. It growls deep in its chest as the chirping cuts off with a beep.
“You’re lucky little one,” the deep raspy voice hisses. “It seems I have to leave you now. But know this, if you tell anyone about me I’ll rip you limb from limb. Slowly.”
The chirping starts up again and is cut off with another beep. Mari watches as the looming figure moves to the window and disappears out it. She does not dare move. She stays under the bed and tries her best to muffle her sobs into the carpet.
A year later…
Ironman rockets through the skies and comes to land in front of the concrete building. Tony steps out of his suit and onto the sidewalk, walking briskly past the black car, with his bored bodyguard leaning against it, and towards the entrance.
“You’re late,” says Happy.
“Close but I go by Tony,” he says back over his shoulder before passing through the doors.
He walks down the hall lined with offices before strolling into the one he is looking for.
“Hey! Hope you didn’t start the fun without me.”
The billionaire leans over and places a kiss on his frowning husband’s cheek before taking a seat next to him.
“You’re late.” Steve snaps.
“Your pet names for me aren’t as cute as they used to be.”
“Um,” a portly woman sitting behind the desk opposite them breaks in. “Now that Mr. Stark is here, maybe we can proceed with things?”
“Proceed away,” says Tony.
“Well you’re past most of the paperwork and you’ve been cleared to have a child placed with you. Now it is just a matter of matching you up with one. You were wanting to adopt an infant boy?”
“Yes. We’ve talked about this a lot and we want a boy,” says Steve.
“We have a handful of boys in our nursery. Would you like to meet them now? See if any are a good fit?”
“Of course. We can’t wait to start a family,” says Steve as an excited smile stretches across his face.
Tony can’t help the small smile that appears on his, even if it does not reach his eyes as he watches his husband.
“Well then,” says the caseworker as she stands, gathering files in her hands. “Just follow me.”
Steve gets up and takes a step to follow her but pauses when Tony only stands and stays rooted to the spot by his seat.
“Tony, they’re children, not Doombots. You’ll be fine.”
“To be honest I’d rather face the Doombots.”
Steve gives Tony a smirk before taking his hand and pulling him down the hallways the caseworker leads them down. After a few turns that take them into the middle of the building they come to a nursery. The room is filled with whining infants and young toddlers that still wobble on unsteady legs. The two heroes interact with the kids. Steve is a natural that soon has the little ones tugging at him for attention. Tony is awkwardly bouncing the first baby he is given before it spews spit up onto his suit. His face scrunches up in horrified disgust and he stills.
“Steve. Steve. STEEEEVE.”
“Hm? Oh!” Steve stands and takes the baby from Tony’s outstretched arms. “Why don’t you go clean up?”
“Yeah.” Tony turns and grabs a box of wipes as he retreats out the door. He wipes at his suit hoping that the damp toilettes can save the fabric. “Ew.”
Tony’s head jerks up when he sees a fast moving figure out of the corner of his eye. His body tenses for a fight before he gets a better look at it. He watches as a young girl with fluffy brown hair race down the hall. She stumbles to a halt when she passes the potted plant sitting next to the bench Tony is standing in front of. She back pedals and jerks the fake plant and dirt out of its large pot. She climbs into the pot and replaces the plastic shrubbery back over the top. Tony arches an eye brow when he hears a winding noise from the inhabited pot. The plant pops back up and a small arm escapes out to place a windup toy on the ground. When she lets go the toy goes racing down the hall and bounces off the walls. He watches as the toy disappears around the corner.
“Marianna!”
He turns again to find a frazzled looking woman run past him and down the hall. He watches her disappear around the corner after the toy and stares. He waits a moment before turning to the potted plant.
“She’s gone.”
“She hasn’t doubled back?” asks a muffled voice.
He looks back one more time before taking a seat on the bench and setting the used wipes aside. “Nope.”
He hears a sigh of relief before the plant moves again and a young girl climbs out of the pot and onto the bench next to him.
“Woo! That was close!” she says, trying to catch her breath. After her chest slowly stops heaving she turns to eye the well-dressed man up and down. “You’re Tony Stark, aren’t you?”
“Yep. The one and only.”
“The famous people channel says you and Captain Rogers are looking to adopt. The spit up stain on your shirt says you’re looking at babies.”
“Just one. A boy.”
“Might I suggest you adopt one of the older boys instead? Babies get adopted all the time. They’ll find a home. But the older kids have a tougher time because they aren’t as cute. I-I think Ivan Smith would be a good fit for you guys. He’s s-smart and really go-good at sports.” Tony smiles as she struggles to form her words clearly and stumbles over certain pronunciations. “But um Richie Volcrum would be good too. He can belch his ABCs backwards. I don’t know about you but I can’t belch past h going forward. Oh and there’s a boy who’s at the same foster home as me that is really good at guitar. I mean he’s still learning and stuff but he’s pretty awesome for six. His name is Lance Alvers.”
“What about the girls? Think any of them would be a good fit?”
“Well there’s Juli Albatross she’s the fastest puzzle piecer togetherer I know. And then there’s Winivere Clothem who tells the funniest jokes. Like,” she pauses to snicker. “Like what is a goose’s least,” she breaks off to snicker again. “What is a goose’s least favorite pie?”
“What?” he asks smirking.
“G-GOOSEBERRY!” she stutters out before collapsing into laughter.
“What about you?”
“Well, my Mama used to make a lamb pie that was dreadful but chicken pot pie is the product of Sata-“
“No, what are you’re good points?”
“My good…oh you don’t want me. I’m de-I’m defoonk-I’m broken.”
“People aren’t machines that can be broken. Or at least that’s what Steve tells me.”
“Well I am,” she says as she pulls her shirt up.
Tony looks and sees a kidney pump imbedded in her stomach.
“I have CKD. Ch-chronic Kidney Disease.” She puts her shirt back down. “Parents want healthy kids. Not ones that are gonna die in ten years…and I have ADHD. That puts people off a bit.”
“Amen to that.”
“Marianna Peterdottir!” a shrill voice yells.
“Uh-oh,” murmurs Mari.
Tony turns and frowns to see the frazzled social worker stomping back down the hall. Her shoes make loud snapping noises as they make contact with the tile floor.
“How many times have I told you not to run off!?! Now stop bothering this man and get going. We’re late for your doctor’s appointment.”
“I don’t want to go to the doctors,” says Mari as she hops down from the bench and stomps her foot. “They just tut around and don’t ever have anything good to say. Last time I went they put a tube in my tummy!”
“Get moving, now. I’m done playing your games. Sorry sir.”
“She wasn’t a problem,” Tony said as he stood from the bench.
“I find that hard to believe.”
Mari flicks her tongue out at the social worker.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
The social worker holds her hand out to Mari.
Mari only sighs and takes the hand. Before the woman can start leading the way she turns to Tony and says, “Don’t forget what I said about those kids.”
“I won’t,” he answers and watches her leave with a thoughtful frown on his face. He sits back down, thinking over the nagging feeling in his gut.
Just as the social worker and the little girl disappear around the corner Steve pops his head out of the nursery.
“Tony? You’ve been out here a while.”
“Hm? Oh yeah. I’ve been thinking…”
“About what?” Steve asks as he comes out into the hall and joins Tony on the bench.
The former playboy is silent for quite a while before he says, “Do we really want a boy?”
“Pip, we’ve talked about this, you’re ready to be a dad and so am I. Don’t back out now.”
“I’m not backing out. It’s just boys are so rowdy and dirty and when they hit puberty they are constantly humping everything.”
“Like you’re one to talk.”
Tony gives him a tired annoyed look. “I was just thinking that girls are so much easier and cleaner.”
“What about all those raging hormones and periods you were so terrified of?”
“All teenagers have hormones Steve; at least in girls we can combat it with chocolate. As for the periods….well….we can ask Pepper.”