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If you have to know anything about Tony Stark, know that 3 AM is his prime over thinking time.
You'll catch him up in the lab, chipped coffee cup in hand, work spilled out in front of him, covering the whole table. He wouldn't be doing a single bit of it. The work was simply a cover in case he got caught.
In reality, he was thinking.
Thinking about life insurance and school options. Grocery lists and laundry detergent.
Jack. He was thinking about Jack.
Jack is his kid. And how weird is that to say? His kid?
Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist, who arguably at BEST has a heart and soul, is the legal guardian of eleven year old Jack Denworth. Crazy, right?
And said Jack, is the subject of one of Tony's 3 AM worry sessions, such follows.
Tony massaged his forhead, trying to be interested in his coffee-stained blue prints. But all he was thinking about was Jack. And his politeness. And sheer goodness. The kid was just too damn good.
That's awful, isn't it? Tony sighed, chugging the rest of his cold cup before placing it down, more hardly then it needed to be, on the table.
Why was he fretting about his kid being good? Isn't that every parent's dream? That their kid would be as good as Jack?
He smiled all the time, laughed when it was time to laugh, and told jokes. He had this sweet little britsh accent, ate everything in front of him with no complaints, even the vegetables. Did everything Tony asked without question. Heck, Tony could probably ask the kid to shave himself bald, and the boy would chop off each one of those dirty blonde curls, no questions asked.
And Tony felt so damn off about it.
Why was Jack being so polite? Based on how the two met, which is a WHOLE other story, Tony knew damn well that Jack was as stubborn as they come. Why wasn't he being defiant? No playing his music too loud or leaving his clothes around for someone else to pick up. It was like living with a robot. And even the actual robots Tony lived with had more life then Jack.
"JARVIS, read the room. I mean, really. Read Jack's room. Make sure he's okay."
Tony gave up on trying to be nonchalant about the subject. He had been spinning around in this chair, making himself sick with worry and probably running a hole into the floor for the past two hours. He just had to check.
"Right away, Mister Stark." Rang back JARVIS' voice. The whole ten seconds Tony had to wait for the results filled him to the brim with worry, even more so when the first thing Jarvis said once he got the results were:
"Hm. These readings are odd."
"Odd?" Tony stood up, his stance tensing, glaring up at the tall ceiling like JARVIS could see him. "What do you mean odd???" He demanded.
"Mister Denworth seems to be awake. Typically he's in bed by-"
"8 PM sharp and doesn't stir to seven. I know. That's not right." Tony interrupted.
"His heart rate also seems to be unusually high." JARVIS added.
Tony felt a heavy weight settle right in the middle of his chest. Did it say anywhere in any of Jack's files that that could happen sometimes? Does he have some kind of issue? No, couldn't be. Tony's read them a million times. He wouldn't have missed.
Tony huffed, tugging on the collar of his gray sleep shirt, suddenly feeling too hot.
"JARVIS, gimme the sound of that room, now, buddy."
Tony gave a hard swallow as in live time, whatever sound that was picked up from Jack's room was sounded through the speakers of his lab.
At first, it was nothing. Just the crackle of the speakers, maybe a bit of wind. But nothing out of the ordinary. Then, unmistakably, there was sniffles. Those were cries, and they sounded like they were being smothered into a blanket.
"He's crying." Tony blurted out to the empty room. Well, empty besides JARVIS. "He needs me. I gotta go."
Again, said to no one in particular, a complete mess from the early morning work, Tony rushed out of his lab and to the elevator, suddenly wishing the tower had significantly less floors so this whole "getting to Jack" thing wouldn't take so long.
After buttonmashing the elevator number pad to high hell, he got to the sleeping quarters of the tower, knowing the 5th one on the right of the hall belongs to Jack.
Immediately, he grabbed the handle on the door, going to open it gently. He quickly realized he probably should have knocked first. But it was too late, he had already opened it.
Jack, looking through the sliver of cracked door at Tony wore an expression Tony had never seen on the boy's face before. Fear.
Jack's eye's, one dark ocean blue, the other, forest green, were brimmed with tears and shone in the moonlight. When he saw Tony, he wiped his wet cheeks, drying up his tears. His sniffling came to a sudden, almost forced, stop.
"Tony! Hey... W-what are you doing in my room?" He smiled, tilting his head to the side. Without context, Tony would have found it sweet. But two seconds ago, that kid was crying.
"I heard you crying. You were crying." Tony pointed at the boy, trying to make it clear that he knew he wasn't crazy, before lowering his hand when Jack shook a little. He didn't mean to seem accusatory, but then again, why did Jack shake? Just at the point?
"Well, I uhm, fell out of my bed. Had to be a little bit of a wuss about it... uh... forgive me?" Jack rubbed the back of his neck, disrupting curls that lined the nape of it. Tony reminded himself that the boy needed a haircut.
"You were born like, two night ago. You're forgiven for being a 'wuss.'" Tony walked forward, stepping into the plain room, sitting next to Jack on the equally plain bed. He was tactfully forgetting to mention that he did not think Jack was crying because he fell in the least bit.
Though, he was going to give credit where credit was due. Jack was a good enough actor, and maybe could have fooled someone with less trust issues.
"C'mon, where's the boo-boo?" Tony squinted in the darkness, trying to catch sight with anything actually physically wrong with the kid.
Judging by the uneasy, closing in on terrified expression that breifly broke across Jack's face, nothing much. But mentally? That's a whole other story.
And Jack, deciding that he didn't want to answer that question while also not helping his case, like, at all, wiggled under his covers, putting them over his head like a hood so only his face would peep out, like that was going to protect him.
Tony felt his stomach churn, just now realizing how young this kid actually was.
"Jack... seriously. What's up?" Tony firmed up his voice, trying his best to sound like a father. Well though, not like his father. Just one. Like, one in general. Or something. These were Tony's thoughts and he was thinking them too much.
"Nothing!" That classic, sheepish "I don't know what you're talking about!" Grin etched its way onto Jack's face. But that felt disingenuous too. A character. Jack's brave font. It could be seen, even in the dark, that he was unnaturally pale.
"You're lying to me." Tony simply stated. But if you looked at Jack's face, no, his eyes, Tony could have struck him, he looked so horrified. Horrified someone was at last questioning him, daring to say something even close to you're not emotionally okay right now. You're not doing too good right now. That everything wasn't alright.
Jack blinked once, then again. Tony could have sworn he was blinking back the wetness forming in his eyes. Jack then buried himself properly under the blankets, his back turned to Tony. His voice was still that high, chipper tone.
He turned his back so his face wouldn't give him away.
"Really. I'm not. It's all good. Ihihi'm good..." Giggles began to spill out of Jack. Not the fake ones Jack did when entertaining the guests Tony brought to the tower. Not the real, snorty, red-faced ones Tony sometimes overheard when the kid was watching TV. No, these were wet, littered with hiccups, and lacking any real humor.
"Okay. That's it. Is this a guessing game now? You want me to guess? Because I will. Make it like a game show or something." Tony scooted over next to Jack, who laid curled up. Tony wondered if he was even paying attention, as he fell into a silence that was so unnatural for him.
Jack just shrugged.
Tony sighed. If he thought fake happy Jack was weird, genuinely sad Jack was throwing him in for a loop.
"Please, bud. You gotta talk to me." Tony felt his hands come together, half pleading, half prayer that he would.
"We've known eachother- been family, for, what? A few months now? Well, family talks to one another, and tells eachother everything. It's so they can help eachother. And I want to help you feel better. I bet you wanna feel better, right? So, please. Tell me what's up."
Tony pressed his lips into an uneasy, tight line when he finished that, hoping.
But Jack remained quite for a long time after, and Tony felt the familiar feeling of failure sloshing around in his gut. If Jack wasn't gonna talk, should he stay? Should he go? What could he do to make Jack feel better-?
"I keep having nightmares." Jack at last whispered, so quietly that it would have gotten lost in the wind if Tony wasn't leaning down, trying to catch every word before it could slip away. Jack didn't face Tony at all, but he was talking.
"Nightmares? For how long?" Tony asked, haven not heard about this issue before, as Jack never came to him with any issues. Like he was guided under the impression that if he didn't talk about them, he didn't have them.
"Since I got here." Jack replied, adjusting his pillow, that looked so big against his thin frame. He hugged it tight.
Tony's eyes unconsciously flickered across the dark room, somehow in the dark it looked even more barren. No posters, or toys scattered about. No indication any kid lived here. Or anyone at all. Not even a stuffed animal on his bed. It was a lonely place. He looked at Jack again.
"So why am I just now hearing about this? Jack, you really should have... told me." Tony frowned, trailing off at the end because he felt he sounded too harsh.
"Didn't wanna be a bother. You're so busy-"
"But not too much for you." Tony cringed when he interruped, but he couldn't help himself. He needed Jack to know that he would never be too busy for the child he chose to take in. Besides, Tony would much rather get stabbed then hear such familiar words coming from the kid.
Tony quickly reminded himself this wasn't about him, and continued.
"A-and I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was ever too busy. Because I'm not. I'm here right now, aren't I? Sun's not even up yet and we're here, chatting. I'd chat for the rest of forever with you if that meant you were okay." Tony gave a weak laugh, even though he wasn't being funny.
Jack finally rolled over, eyes red and puffy, finally facing Tony. But it actually felt like he was properly looking at him for the first time, like he was his own being, separate from the fears in Jack's head. He wasn't looking through him.
"If... if I talk to you. Do you promise you won't ever get mad at me? Or tell someone what I said? O-or scream at me?" Jack wrung his hands, the only person his age to do it. Though, Tony also guessed he was also the only person his age with such bad eyebags.
"Pinkie promise." Tony said in all seriousness, holding out his pinkie in his willingness to make such an unbreakable vow. Jack's eyes widened, wanting to believe it was some kind of trick. It was simply easier to be scared. But he didn't want to leave Tony hanging. Maybe he was even willing to take the risk. He wrapped his pinkie around Tony's.
And the vow was sealed.
"Alright. It's settled. So... let's talk."
Jack froze at the suddensss, and Tony worried he would back out. But Jack started to stutter, and then started to form words. They flowed not like a waterfall, but a gushing wound. For it wasn't pretty, and left a bad taste in your mouth.
"It's just that, back at home, the old one, y'know? My dad hated my guts! He kept saying I killed my mother, but I didn't even know her so I dunno how I did! And he was always yelling at me and- and mad! When we were around other people, he was nice enough. But when we would get home, he would yell and throw things and say he was gonna belt me and-"
Tony slowly felt his eyes fill up with tears, a lump the size of a baseball lodging it's way into his throat. He tried to blink them back, swallow it down. But hearing it from the source? Just skinny, lanky kid, who never did anything wrong? It would be kinder to rip out his arc reactor. And Jack wasn't even done.
"So, I ran away right? And I found you! and I promised myself if I got your attention, and you took me in, and I was never bad ever again... You'd like me, just, all the time... And- and it worked! But I was having these nightmares and didn't know what to do and I'm scared to go to bed at night and I still didn't wanna bother you and make you upset so I just..."
Jack hiccuped, thick tears starting up again, he scrubbed them away before they could roll down his cheeks.
"Shut up..." Jack finished, breathing hard from the effort, boney shoulders shaking.
Tony was shaking too.
"Jack. Listen to me. And listen to me well." He found himself saying without his brain even telling him too.
Jack snapped to attention. Remember when Tony was trying to be firm earlier? Well, he was actually doing it now. Jack didn't know how to react.
But Tony kept his tone even, didn't yell, or raise a hand. This was new. New to both of them. But Jack needed to hear this, and Tony needed to try.
"For one, you most definetly did not kill or hurt anyone. What happened to your mother wasn't your fault, okay? She died because after you have a baby, you can get really sick and hurt, and bad things happen. It just does. But it is never the babies fault. Alright? Wasn't your fault."
Jack's head titled to the side, his eyes narrowing, almost skeptically. Not even really shocked, just questioning. Having someone tell you the complete opposite of what you were raised to believe is confusing, but Tony continued on, so Jack continued listening.
"For two, your father is a dickhead and a douchebag." Jack snorted from Tony's use of curse words. "So let's get that out of the way." Tony said.
"People should have noticed something was up, and I'm sorry that they didn't. But hey, guess what? I'm not like your dad. Maybe thats hard to believe right now. I wouldn't blame you if you felt that way, but I'm not. I'd never hurt you. And I've proven that so far, haven't I? That's what smart kids like you want, right? Proof? Well, I'll keep proving it to you."
Jack nodded slowly, shuffling closer to Tony, out from under the covers. Well, if anything, there was proof that today was a day of firsts. Absolutely no one had ever called Jack smart before.
"Yeah, that's right! And really, even if you were to piss me off real bad. Like, I dunno, you summoned demons that kept eating my tech or something-"
Jack let out a little laugh once more, and Tony Stark, who was this centuries' best inventor and like the most famous person ever, has never felt more pride before the day he got his kid to smile.
"That still wouldn't change. I would still be nice to you, and I would still never hurt you. Thats apart of the pinkie promise too, I guess, like a given rule or Natural Law or something."
Jack didn't really know what that meant, but it sounded grown up and important, so he nodded along to it.
"And last but definetly not least- Jackson, you are not a bother to me. You are not a bother for needing help and comfort. You're not a bother for needing reassurance. You can bother me about anything, and I can't get mad. Wanna know why?"
"Why?" Jack asked, confuzzled, Hell yeah, he wanted to know why.
"Because you're my kid and I chose to take you in, so I gotta put up with you being a kid, yeah? Kids are supposed to be nosy and annoying sometimes, and what you're doing is hardly that, but even if it was, that wouldn't change."
"B-but... But why?" Jack pressed, the first time he ever pressed Tony about anything, like the curiosity was killing him.
"Because, I love you Jack. I don't care."
Jack's eyebrows downturned. Tony wanted to throw a hand over his mouth. He can't even believe he said that, he can't just take that back, but what if he made the kid upset? He was almost scared how easily he just... said those words.
He forced himself to look Jack in the eye. They said a million more things then he ever did, for a kid that knew how to ramble. And they sure were talking, just two words: "You do?"
Thankfully, Tony's eyes could talk too. "Yes, I do." They replied. "Yes. I. Do."
Jack shifted closer to Tony. This was the guy who put up with him breaking into his tower, but that's another story. This was the guy he went through a whole adoption case with. This was Tony Stark, his hero.
This was not his biological father.
Jack fell against Tony's chest, and cried.
"God, I hope those are happy, breakthrough tears." Tony mumbled under his breath in a tone he hoped Jack couldn't hear but he most definetly could, he brought Jack close, patting him softly on the back.
"I think... they are..." Jack said through sniffles as Tony held him tighter, like he was trying to hold him up and together. Tony nodded, his chin going to rest on top of Jack's head.
"Good. Okay. That's good." Tony whispered and they just kinda sat there, crying and soothing and doing it all over again. But Tony didn't care about his wet shirt or the sniveling as long as they were both gonna be okay.
After a while, the tears stopped. Like pulling the bandages tight but gently on an open wound. Then just waiting for it to heal.
"Do you... want me to stay...? And maybe you can think about getting some proper sleep?" Tony offered, hoping it was the right thing to offer.
"I... well- I'm... okay. I can be alone tonight, I think." Jack rubbed his eyes before assuming his earlier position of holding Tony captive in a hug.
Tony raised his eyebrow. "Are you saying that because you actually wanna be alone or are you saying that because you don't wanna bother me?"
"Probably the first one." Jack admitted.
"Thought so."
Tony let Jack stay there for a while. His breath slowly, but surely, was starting to even out and slow down. Tony wanted to tuck the kid in, but he didn't think he was letting go anytime soon.
As slowly and carefully as he could, Tony lifted up Jack's quilt, throwing it over the both of them, lying back and trying to get as comfortable as he could with a kid laying across his chest.
Tony felt his own eyes grow heavy, must be after all this plus the long night in the lab. He reached up, patting the kiddo on the head, eventually falling asleep with his hand running through Jack's short, blonde hair.