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It was late in the night and Florence had given up on sleep. It just wasn't going well for her so she decided instead of sitting there, angry and pissed off that she couldn't fall asleep, she'd do something.
In hindsight, going on her laptop and looking at the news probably wasn't the best idea. However, it's what her brain first thought of. She had been in the cabin with Tony and Pepper for a couple of weeks now and it was probably the best time she'd had in years. It was peaceful and the quietest her brain had been.
She wondered if anything had changed in the real world.
It was a mistake of course but she knew that deep down already.
It was filled with the normal stuff. Why had Tony moved away? Was he hiding something? Some big secret? Was there something wrong with his newly adopted child?
Then there were different articles, ones about the common clickbait subjects. But one in particular daughter her eye.
'Why so many teenagers are scared to come out to their parents? Click here for more information'
She didn't need to think about that. Not yet. Now wasn't the time. She hoped it would never be the time. Nor Tony or Pepper needed to know.
Florence new she was gay. There wasn't a doubt in her mind. But it wasn't necessarily a secret. She never hid it, but people never specifically asked her if she liked women or not because believe it or not, people don't ask, out of the blue, if you like women instead of men. I know, shocking.
The fear of people judging her or being that percent of people that find it vulgar or some sort of crime against the universe consumed her daily, anytime it was brought up. So she never mentioned it, it didn't matter. Who she was was none of other people's business.
Instead of sitting there stewing in her fear and anxiety, she decided to go walk around the cabin for a bit. Maybe see where Pepper or Tony were. It was past midnight, so she knew the most likely possibility was that Pepper would be asleep. She was different in that way, her sleep schedule was always immaculate. She didn't want to make too much noise, so she decided to use FRIDAY instead.
"FRIDAY..." she whispered. "Do you know where Tony is?" she asked.
"Boss is in his lab" FRIDAY answered quickly. "However you seen slightly distressed Florence, would you like for me to alert him?" she asked.
"No, no" she stammered. "Its fine" she assured the AI.
She slowly headed down to Tony's lab, feeling slightly shaky. She didn't know why. She rarely got like this, not since the accident. She thought it had gone away. It was best to ignore it. She walked thought the doors, hearing a confused hum come from Tony.
"Hey kiddo, what're you doing up?" he asked concerned. "You ok? You look a bit pale."
Florence shook her head, sitting on the chair that was deemed hers since all the late nights and early mornings she had spent tinkering about in here.
"I'm ok, just annoyed I can't sleep" she sighed, running her hands through her hair.
"You should really get some sleep kid" he replied. Florence rolled her eyes. Typical Tony.
"Says the one working at two in the morning" she quipped. It got a smirk from Tony and a small huff which could've been a laugh.
"Fair enough, anything keeping you up in particular?" he asked curiously. Florence shook her head, not wanting to think about all of the articles she'd read.
Florence wondered around the room, hovering over Tony's shoulder as he somehow managed to work on three things at once and be able to have a conversation with her. It was rather impressive.
"Are you sure you're ok? Not feeling lonely or anything?" He asked. She didn't know where she was coming from. "I know we're not the best company to a teenager and now you don't have school there isn't anyone your age" he explained. "No girls to hang out with or boys to see at school, none of the typical teenage fun" he added. Florence froze at the last part.
"Unless you have a friend you'd want to invite over?" he asked. "Or a boyfriend maybe?" he added quickly. "It would be completely ok with me and Pepper" Florence didn't know what to say. So he decided to deflect the best she could.
"I didn't really have any friends before I lived with you and Pepper Tony, I wasn't the popular kind of girl" she explained heavy heartedly, she decided to completely avoid the topic of a boyfriend all together. Tony nodded sympathetically. But his hands stopped typing suddenly. He rose an eye brow at her with a glint in his eye.
"Noticed you didn't deny the existence of a boyfriend?"
Shit.
Then something settled in her.
Now.
Now was the time.
Because she said so. Now was the time. Tony wasn't like that. He said there wasn't anything she could do that would make him hurt her. Nothing. So she wanted to believe him.
Here we go...
"I don't really..." she began. "I never - I hadn't" she stuttered. Tony's attention turned to her, he spun the chair in her direction, like he knew there was something coming. Something she wanted to say. He could see it in her face, the thinking and anticipation. Oh god what was he making her admit.
"I don't like- I don't like guys!" she blurted out. Suddenly she was face to face with him. He didn't seem shocked, or mad, or even confused. "I- I didn't want to tell you - oh shit I shouldn't of said anything!" she cried out, burying her hands in her face. Her hands were shaking more than she'd want and she couldn't meet his face. Suddenly there were arms around her.
"Don't be so scared kiddo" he whispered.
"But- I'm - and, and - I don't want you to think-" she rambled, her mind couldn't form a full thought.
"Flo" he began sternly. "You are perfect how you are. It doesn't matter to me who you like or prefer" he continued. "It doesn't matter to me that you're a Lesbian kiddo. It hurts me that you'd think I'd be upset" he sighed, stroking her arms up and down. "Did I say something? Something to make you think I'd be upset?"
"No, no not really, It's just...you see stuff...online and hear things at school" she began.
"Did people at school know?" he asked suddenly.
"God no, that would've been hell" she scoffed, wondering the relentless teasing and bullying that she would've gone through.
"I'm so sorry kid" he sighed, sitting back down. "I'm so sorry you thought you had to hide this and not tell me"
"I hadn't told anyone...until now" she admitted.
"Well thank you for trusting me" he smiled. "Do you want me to keep it a secret still?" he asked.
"I don't know, the others won't care will they?" she asked carefully. She knew both Steve and Bucky were technically from a different time. She wouldn't be surprised if she was a little hesitant about it.
"No, they won't" he insisted. "And if they do then they won't be welcome here" he stated. Florence was a little shocked. She didn't expect Tony to be upset or mad maybe but she wasn't expecting this much support. Not initially. It was rather overwhelming.
"Thank you, Tony" she whispered, her voice squeaking. She wasn't expecting to get upset. Or emotional. But she was. Of course she was. Tears formed in her eyes even after the protesting in her head.
"Oh, kid" he sighed, watching the tears around her eyes fall faster and faster. He got up out of his chair swiftly and hugged her tightly again, feeling awful she was so caught up over it all. "It's all going to be ok" he soothed.
They stayed like that, in the lab for another hour, until Florence really did grow tired. Of which she was placed on the sofa in the corner of the lab. She fell asleep immediately. Drifting in and out of sleep, listening to Tony tinker away for the rest of the night.
Pepper came down later on in the day, when the sun was up and normal people were awake and about.
Somehow Tony was awake, still smiling and talking somehow. If Florence stayed awake the whole night she'd be a zombie and very whiney child in the morning. While still asleep, in the half conscious state of drifting in and out, she heard Tony and Pepper talking.
"Why isn't she in her room sleeping?" Pepper asked concerned.
"She couldn't sleep, came down here and we...talked for a bit" he explained carefully. Florence did answer that she didn't know if she wanted her little secret to be shared.
"About what?" she asked, an edge being added to her voice.
"Just...some things" he mentioned, trying to change the subject.
"Tony, we said no lying" Pepper hissed, staring daggers into his head as he typed away, writing more code for god knows what.
"She said she didn't want others to know...or at least she said she didn't know" he finally admitted, giving in. He wasn't about to turn on their agreement. technically they did agree on no lying when they got married, that and no secrets were the two pretty big ones. That and Pepper scared him greatly.
Pepper's expression softened slightly. "So she's not in danger or hurting in any way?" she asked.
"No, she's ok" he replied, turning to see her still fast asleep.
Florence then decided to open her eyes. She liked Pepper, she trusted Pepper.
"Oh hey kiddo" Tony said, seeing her stretch. Pepper's attention swapped quickly. She was scanning her body for injuries, maybe some indication that she was unwell or hurt. But there was nothing. He glanced between Pepper and Florence. He could see it in her eyes. That same determination before she told him.
"Are you alright sweetie?" Pepper asked, walking over and crouching down to her. "Tony said you were up late"
"Yea...I was thinking about some things and then I ended up telling him something" she began. Tony smiled from afar.
"Oh yea?" Pepper replied, hope laced within her voice.
"I um- he asked about if I had a boyfriend...and then- then I said- said I wasn't really...into men..." she explained in drips and drabs of talking. She didn't actually know if she made any sense. For all she knew she could've been uttering pure nonsense.
"Oh sweetie..." she smiled, sighing with relief.
"So you're not mad?" Florence whispered.
"Oh of course not!" Pepper cried out. "This doesn't change a thing! I'll love you no matter what sweetie" she insisted.
Florence smiled, partially because she knew that deep down, if she ever uttered a word of this to her parents, they'd never think of her the same. She was never sure how against it they would be, the chance of being kicked out or disowned was always in the air if she ever admitted her secret. But she knew, no matter how she told them or when it would've finally come out, she knew they wouldn't be ok with it, not truly.
But Tony and Pepper were completely fine with it. They didn't seem bothered at all, if anything they seemed proud.
"Thank you...both of you" she whispered, voice cracking again.
They both hugged her tightly and in that moment they were the only three people in the world. No amount of press or slanderous new articles could damage it, because it was hers.
"You don't need thank us kiddo" he replied. "It's what we're here for" he added.
Sometimes Florence couldn't believe her luck.
The good, the bad and the wonderful. It didn't make sense how something so awful could produce something like this. The guilt was too much sometimes, but right now she was just happy to be loved.