Chapter Text
The key turned in the ignition, the only sign the car was going. There was no noise from the engine. Tony had spent… probably too long, actually, making it smooth after Annabeth had told him that the noise annoyed her.
He looked down at his five year old daughter, where she was rambling about some maths she had read about in that book of hers. The other children wouldn’t learn about it for another five years, minimum.
She finished, a proud smile on her face after having explained it sufficiently. Her smart eyes, big and grey as the moon, stared up at him expectantly.
Tony ruffled her hair and she her brow furrowed, in the cutest way ever. He wondered what he did to deserve her.
The moment gave him the courage to say something he had been meaning to for a while.
“I love you, heron.”
She huffed a breath. “Herons and storks aren’t the same thing! They’re two different animals, I told you this!”
He laughed. The ‘heron’ thing had started when she was three, and had accidentally pronounced ‘Stark’ as ‘Stork’. He took to calling her heron, something she took great offense to.
He was glad it had overshadowed the ‘I love you’ bit. Saying that felt like vomiting bricks, but he had to make sure she heard it once. Tony never had. Not from Howard, anyways.
They arrived at his Malibu house. It was modern. Nothing like the family home, no, he couldn’t stand being in that house anymore.
He hoped, with a new start, he could finally be what Annabeth needed.
He could finally be what she deserved.
——————
The illusion hadn’t lasted long.
After a week, he had drunk himself halfway to death before sleeping with a new woman.
Tony groaned, rolling to face the nighttable groggily and checking the time. 6:49. Curse his insomnia, he could never get enough sleep. At least it was early enough to slip away unnoticed.
He looked over at Cheryl, or Charlotte, or whatever her name was. She was still asleep. Right, perfect opportunity to haul ass.
Silently, he rose, slipping out of bed and into his clothes. He buckled his belt before calling for a ride.
“Hey, Happy,” he started, lowly as to not wake Chanel. “You wouldn’t have my location, would you?”
——————
Tony stood on the doorstep and pulled the door open slowly, bracing himself for Pepper’s complaints.
But when he stepped inside, all he got was a tiny human crashing into his legs.
“Daddy!” Annabeth squealed, burying her face into his calves, which was about as far as she reached.
“Hey, heron.”
She raised her head and his smile melted away. Her eyes were slightly red, and she had bags under her eyes like she had stayed up all night. This hadn’t happened before.
Tony bent down to her level, his brows pushing together. “Annabeth, you okay?”
She focused anywhere but his face, obviously trying not to cry. “Why weren’t you here last night?”
“I… had some business to take care of.” He felt bad lying to her, but she wouldn’t understand. “I’m sorry Annie, I’ll do better next time.”
She nodded, but he knew that wasn’t why she was upset. It wasn’t like her.
“There—“ She swallowed nervously. “There were spiders.”
Tony couldn’t help it, he laughed. He shouldn’t have, but he did. Later he’d blame it on the hangover.
“This is serious!” she told him indignantly, and he nodded solemnly, trying to school his expression. “They were huge and they bit me.”
Immediately, he took her more seriously. Was his sweet girl hurt?
“Where?”
She pulled up her sleeves, but it was completely clear.
“They’re gone,” she mumbled, staring at her arms as if they were lying and giant red welts would spring up any second.
“Must’ve been a nightmare.” He got to his feet again, trying to ignore the betrayed look on her face, and put a hand on her back. “Let’s get you fed, huh?”
“I already ate. Pepper made me chicken!” she said, a smile on her face and the topic of the nightmare pushed out of the way by the both of them. They all knew they were only pretending to move past the subject.
“Oh,” he said, once again reminded of his inadequacy. “Was it nice?”
“Yeah.”
Pepper came out of the shadows. “I’m an excellent cook, Tony.”
“Okay, Batman.”
Annie snorted.
“We have that gala at 6,” Pepper said. “You have to go. So do we.”
Father and daughter both rolled their eyes in unison, making his assistant laugh a bit, though it was more for Annie’s sake than anyone. He could see that Pepper was still mad at him.
And when she looked at Annabeth, it was almost pity. That was what hurt him most.