Work Text:
Florence had been sat by the door for an hour now. While she wasn't exactly bored, she was getting impatient. In the time she'd been waiting for Tony to come back, she'd filled three pages of drawings. They were all of the same thing: Iron man. She knew it was a tad pathetic but hey, you can't get mad at an artist for having a muse.
She checked the clock again.
9:36 pm
She'd been waiting all day for him to come home but it was only after dinner that she decided to sit by the door and wait for him to show up.
Tony had been on a trip to Tokyo with Pepper for three days and Florence had been trusted to stay home by herself but Pepper had come back early due to being needed in the city. So Florence had stayed home alone but was now only waiting for one parent to come home since Pepper had said she was going to be in the city for a week or so, depending how things went. Florence had no idea about the technical sides of Stark Industries but she gathered it was a busy job. She understood why Tony gave CEO to Pepper because my god did it seem like a lot of time and effort.
She tapped her feet on the wall, hearing the pitter patter of rain begin to fall outside the cabin. She sighed frustratedly. While no, Florence didn't mind being on her own, there were only so many thoughts and feelings she could deal with herself. Being alone with her mind was ok for a day, maybe two, but three was pushing it and she needed someone else's voice in the room rather then her own jabbering thoughts bugging her.
Most of all, she just missed Tony.
Finally, during her daydreaming and excessive thinking, the door handle turned and swung open, revealing a very tired looking Tony. He paused, seeing his kid laying on the floor with her feet up against the wall, twiddling a pen in her fingers, flipping it about like it was the most mundane thing in the world.
"Hey kid" he remarked, having missed all of her silly quirks. Florence jumped up, waking up out of her trance and bounced about happily.
"You're back!" she cheered, hugging him tightly.
"Have fun on your own? Did you survive?" he joked, looking around, expecting a mess or dishes to be piled up to the sky but the house looked...completely normal. It wasn't what he was expecting, a normal teenager wouldn't clean or tidy up after themselves but then Florence wasn't what he'd call a normal teenager.
"It was fine, got a bit boring near the end" she shrugged, admitting her itching for someone else to be in the room with her.
"Hence the sitting by the front door" he nodded, understanding the odd behaviour now. She nodded in reply and turned back to the living room, sitting down on the sofa.
"So how was Tokyo?" she asked expectantly. Tony sighed deeply.
"Very very exhausting" he admitted.
"Did your...meeting things go right?" she asked. Tony laughed and appreciated her asking about his and Pepper's work, even if she clearly had no clue what it was about. The sentiment was all the same though.
"They went good kiddo" he replied, pouring himself a drink of water before sitting down next to Florence.
"Then why was it exhausting?" she asked curiously.
"Tokyo is a very busy place with very demanding people...and the press was everywhere" he complained. "And I'm not the biggest fan of travel, especially when Pepper isn't there, it's more her thing"
"I see" Florence responded, like she was trying to decipher something.
Because she was. Tony looked different, paler maybe.
"I'm gonna head to bed Flo, we'll catch up in the morning yea?" he asked, sitting up, not bothering to move his bags from the front door. Tony going to bed early? This was unheard of. Definitely cause for concern. Alarm bells blasted in her head.
"Are you okay Tony?" she asked slowly. Tony smiled lightly.
"Yea kiddo, I'm ok, just tired" he replied, heading down to his bedroom. Florence shrugged, she had never been out of the country so maybe travelling was all that tiring, she wouldn't know. She watched as he walked away and decided that if he was going to bed, maybe she could too. She walked to her room, happy that someone was in the house with her now, it was comforting. She flipped on her lamp by her bed and cracked open one of her windows, letting the air in. She decided to watch a movie because there was no way in hell she was going to fall asleep at 9:56pm. It wasn't in her nature. She and Tony normally had that in common.
She didn't wake up to the sunrise coming through her curtains like she thought she was going to, instead, she heard the footsteps and moving of dishes coming from the kitchen.
"FRIDAY...time?" she croaked out, wondering who was up this early. Well, she knew who since it was only her and Tony in the cabin.
"It is currently 6:43am" she responded. Florence groaned, rolling over, cursing Tony for getting water or whatever he was doing this early. Both Pepper and Tony rarely woke up this early, while Pepper was normally up at this time for work and such, they avoided leaving there room since it became apparent how much of a light sleeper Florence was. After three incidents where Florence had woken up and been unable to fall asleep, Tony and Pepper agreed to avoid the kitchen until at least 8am.
Florence found it mad at the time but Tony insisted that they didn't mind. Now she was wondering why he was awake at all. If he was as tired as he seemed yesterday, wouldn't he be in bed, passed out and wake up at 10? That's what Florence would do.
Then there was a loud crash and a bang.
Florence was up in seconds.
She ran to the kitchen to see Tony swearing at a glass which had fallen in the sink, spilling shattered glass inside the sink, thankfully not on the floor. He looked up at Florence's scared face and immediately regretted his decision to look for the stronger painkillers.
"Shit, sorry kiddo" he sighed.
Now, Florence wasn't the smartest kid, but she knew when things weren't right, especially with people she loved and knew. So there was something very off about Tony. His movements, the way he spoke, going against his normal routine. It was all wrong.
"What's going on?" she asked, looing at Tony's pale face and blood shot eyes. Her first thought was that he was drunk but she remembered Tony hadn't had a drink in years. Not since she became his intern actually so it couldn't be that.
"It's ok kid, just go back to sleep" he coaxed.
"We both know that isn't happening" Florence remarked, crossing her arms. Tony sighed in defeat, rubbing his hands on his back.
"Alright" he began. "I'm totally fine, just have a bit of the flu" he admitted. Florence's eyes narrowed, that would make sense. "I got it after Pepper left, planes are the worst place for germs let me tell you" he explained, coughing slightly in between words.
"So what were you getting?" she asked, looking at the empty cupboards.
"Painkillers, Pepper has the good ones in here somewhere" he muttered, turning his attention back. Florence walked over, spotting the packaging and jumped to grab them, swiftly depositing them in Tony's hand. "Thanks Flo" he sighed, swallowing them dry.
"You're gonna be ok?" she asked nervously. She'd never seen Tony ill, is she was being honest she didn't think he could get ill with him being Iron Man and all that. Yes, she knew logically that Tony being Iron Man had no special healing benefits, she just couldn't see a superhero like that catching something as ordinary as the flu. It just didn't seem natural.
He chuckled slightly. "Yea kiddo, I'll be fine. It's almost gone now anyway" he replied softly. "You try and go back to bed, no normal human being should be up before the sun" he scoffed, looking at the pitch black abyss beyond the windows of the cabin. Florence nodded wearily, wondering if Tony was telling the truth or just trying to get her to go back to sleep.
She walked back to her room, her feet pattering against the floor, making her body shiver from the cold wood and lack of heating so early in the morning. Closing her door behind her, turning on her small lamps scattered across the room, she flopped onto her bed, sighing into her duvet as she curled into a small ball.
She didn't expect to fall asleep, since it wasn't in her nature but apparently her body didn't want to be up that early either. Weirdly enough, she didn't feel rested. It was nine am now, and you'd think with three extra hours of sleep, she'd feel rested, but no. There was this dull ache in her bones, making her stretch before getting up, wincing as she felt her neck twinge.
"Hey kiddo" Tony said, now standing in her doorway. She jumped lightly, not realising he had been stood in her doorway for who knows how long. Tony chuckled in response to her flinching. "Didn't mean to scare you Flo" he apologised walking over. He certainly seemed less pale and dull looking.
"You look better" She stated, noticing he was back to his polished self, with a couple of faults here and there, like his eyes being a bit bloodshot still and a cough that would appear every so often. But he seemed to be back to his classic Tony Stark self.
"The worst of it was experienced aboard in a hotel room" he said, opening the curtains and showing the sun blasting in the window. Florence squinted, shielding her eyes from the abnormally bright laser in the sky, threatening her retinas. "You ready for breakfast?" he asked, moving towards her door.
"Not really hungry" Florence admitted, wondering why that was. She was a breakfast girl, it was the one decent thing about waking up. Tony knew that too, which is why he hesitated at the edge of her door, turning back to get a good look at his kid, looking for any anomalies.
"Okay, well, just say if you want anything" he replied, trying not to overthink it.
Florence had been looking forward to spending some time with Tony, which is why they were both currently in the lab, toying with the idea of a pink iron man suit for shits and giggles. At least that's what Florence suggested. However, instead of drawing a colossal amount of concept art like she would be normally, she was diligently sat on the sofa, adding music to her and Tony's playlist. He tried not to overthink it, since that was his default setting, to overthink any minor change in behaviour but he let it go.
"Hey Kiddo, come over and look at this" he mused, looking at his computer screen. Florence jumped up from the sofa with her normal gusto, but faltered for a second, feeling the world jump beneath her and black spots become speckled in front of her eyes. She held her hands out for a moment, waiting for it to go away, wondering where it ahd come from. Tony watched from afar, tilting his head at the kids odd movements.
"Sorry- stood up too fast I think" she muttered, slightly embarrassed, walking over to see Tony's screen.
She gasped loudly. "Oh my god" she gaped. On Tony's screen was the blueprint for something she'd made. The first thing she'd made. Bucky's new (was new at the time) arm. And in the corner of the schematics was her name.
'co created by Florence Winslow-Stark and Tony Stark
Designer Florence Winslow-Stark'
"Holy shit" she muttered, hoping Tony hadn't heard.
"Holy shit indeed kid" he mused, enjoying his kid's reaction immensely.
"This has my name on it" she gasped.
"Well you did help create it" he replied.
"Yea but you built it, I just drew a picture" she scoffed, unable to take her eyes off the trademark and copyright.
"You did more than that Flo" he insisted.
After the shock wearing off, Florence went back to drawing things here and there in the workshop. She didn't have any design ideas that were particularly useful, but she decided on something else. Tony was busy at work, fiddling around with something in a suit and she decided this was it. That was her muse. She got out a pencil and started sketching from afar, drawing Tony doing what he did best, be a mechanic. She scribbled and shaded, making a very rough sketch of him sat there.
After an hour she had a full fledged drawing in her sketchbook. She liked it well enough, it wasn't the best thing she'd made, but it looked exactly like Tony and that's what she was aiming for.
She placed the book down, going to get a glass of water, her throat feeling dry and annoyingly sore for some reason.
When she came back, Tony was staring at the page she'd just finished. His eyes were wide with that shock anytime he looked at one of her drawings but there was something different with this reaction.
"This is amazing Flo" he replied staring at her with wonder. "Like, actually incredible" he whispered.
"Oh- thanks- it's not really done" she stammered at his unusual sincerity.
"Can I have it?" he asked hopeful, still staring at it.
"Oh! - I mean, sure I guess?" she replied, not understanding his enthusiasm. It was just a sketch, nothing too revolutionary, she'd spent at most a couple hours on it, some of her pieces she'd shown him had taken weeks. But his was the one he was taken with. She was confused.
"This is going in a frame" he whispered to himself, making Florence laugh a little at his amazement.
The next time she looked over to him, there was a frame with her drawing sat in the centre of his desk, next to his picture of him and Pepper getting married.
The next day, she felt like she'd been hit by a ton of bricks that were rattling round her head, smashing into her skull at every small movement.
The lights were too bright, noises somehow too loud and everything was dialled up to 110%. Her throat burned as she swallowed and her eyes stung as she sneezed. She wanted to go back to bed but the sweat dripping from her forehead made her shuffle to the bathroom. She glanced up at the mirror, seeing her bloodshot eyes and pale skin, with a white sheen over it, making her have a sickly glow around her.
Somehow she felt small, alone even. She knew that wasn't the case. It didn't remove the feeling, no matter how much she told her slow brain that she was being ridiculous. Stumbling back into her bedroom, she tripped, catching herself on her desk, somehow slamming her hand into the corner as she fell. She yelped out in pain, looking down at her hand which seemed like it had been tortured with a cheese grater. She whined, throwing her head back in frustration, she swore the universe was taking the piss out of her just for fun.
"Florence, it seems that you are in distress, I am alerting boss now" FRIDAY announced unhelpfully. She rolled her eyes, clutching her torn up hand, pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to get the pulsating and throbbing in her eyes to stop. The stinging coming from her palm was growing by the second, it felt like her hand was on fire.
"Don't do that FRIDAY" she mumbled out, sneezing suddenly, feeling pain shoot up her throat. She cried out, swearing under her breath as she went to go sit on her bed but only managed to take a couple steps before her door swung open, revealing a very worked up Tony in the doorway.
"What the hell happened kid?" he demanded, seeing her rocking frame and fiercely clutching her hand. She wanted to respond. She really did. But suddenly, everything built up. She felt like crap, she couldn't walk without swaying like she was drunk and everything hurt, all at different rates and ways. So her body gave in. Tears fell down her face and she sobbed into her hands, wondering what it was she did to the universe to wake up to such a shitty morning. "Oh honey" he sighed sympathetically, rushing over, wrapping his arms around her and guiding her back to bed.
After a few minutes of Tony asking questions and Florence completely unresponsive and clearly too overwhelmed to answer, he went to plan B.
"FRIDAY...what's up with the little ray of sunshine here?" he whispered.
"It seems Florence has caught the flu and a few minutes ago, fell into her desk, scraping her hand in the process, all of which seem to be causing her prominent distress" FRIDAY explained in the same hushed tone Tony was using. He nodded, understanding now.
"You caught the bug off me honey, I'm sorry" he said into her ear, getting only a sniffle in response. "Can I see your hand?" he asked softly. She reluctantly extended her arm out, flipping her hand over, showing the torn up skin and redness spreading over her hand. He took a deep breath, carefully easing away and going into her bathroom.
He returned with a warm cloth and a bandage since no plaster they owned would be big enough. "This is gonna sting Flo" he whispered as he dabbed the cloth over her skin, trying to get some of the blood away. She winced, each noise personally stabbing into Tony's already worse for wear heart.
Tony could feel the heat radiating off of her, feeling a pang of guilt as he was the one that brough this home with him, he could've stayed in the hotel for another night but his desire to be in his own home, own bed and see his kid overpowered his rational thinking. Now his kid was suffering for it.
Florence was grateful FRIDAY snitched on her, though she'd never admit it out loud. She could see Tony worrying, the creases in his face as he examined her diligently, like she'd float away if he wasn't concentrating hard enough. She saw all of it but didn't have the energy to assure him she was fine, which was probably part of the problem, a quiet Florence was always a cause for concern.
"FRIDAY, temperature" he said, pressing his hand to Florence's forehead. She did feel a little warmer than usual.
"Florence's temperature is 37.8 degrees Celsius and climbing" she reported. Tony sighed, feeling the guilt pull at his heart. He'd definitely given her what he had. If only he had just stayed in that hotel room for another day, none of this would've happen-
She coughed loudly, snapping Tony out of his self loathing. She doubled over, clutching at her throat, feeling it burn and sting as she breathed.
"It's alright Flo, you're ok" Tony whispered, trying to convince himself more than anyone. She groaned in response, whishing whatever it was that was bothering her to go away.
"Cold" she muttered, moving closer to Tony. He scoffed at that, feeling the heat explode from her. She was anything but cold.
"That's the fever tricking you honey" he replied, inching her closer back to the head of her bed, trying to get her to lay down. She protested slightly, inching closer to Tony as he moved her to lay down. "You need rest" he whispered, pulling the blanket over her. Whining noises of complaint echoed out of her making Tony smile slightly, even when ridden with the flu she still had to put her two cents in.
Florence didn't see why she had to sleep, she didn't want to go back to bed, not when everyone else was up and she was missing everything. What if Pepper came back? She wanted to hang out with Tony, not be asleep. Even if her head did hurt and she felt like she had been plunged in that ice water again so she clung to Tony like it was the only thing keeping her afloat, because in her mind it was.
One minute she was crying about her hand and how crap she felt and the next she was in her own bed again, blinking her eyes open for the second time. She was positive everything was on fire because my god was it hot. She groaned, whining at the annoying heat. FRIDAY must've turned the heat up again. Suddenly there was a hand on her forehead and the weight on her bed faltered, leaning to the right side slightly.
"Hey kiddo" the voice whispered. She immediately registered it was Tony. She grunted it response, wishing she could have a new head attached to her body, hey maybe Tony could invent something?
"Head...hurt...new one -please" she grumbled, making Tony laugh quietly.
"I know honey, I have pain killers for you" he replied, setting a glass of water down beside her. He helped her sit up, moving the hair attached to her forehead from the sweat.
She chugged the glass of water, popping the pills in here and there. The cold water felt like heaven against her throat. It was beautiful.
She sighed thoughtfully, wondering how much longer this would last.
"How're you feeling?" he asked worriedly.
"Fine" she responded, pushing her hands into her eyes. He snorted in response, finding her lies very amusing.
"You don't have to lie kiddo, I really want to know" he explained. She forced a smile slightly, looking back at Tony who was sat at the edge of her bed, looking focused on her every move.
"Then I feel like shit and I have no clue how you dealt with this on your own" she replied suddenly, an edge occurring on her voice. His eyes widened slightly, a small sympathetic smile growing on his face.
"I'm so sorry I brought it home with me" he whispered. He had never considered fatherhood the path for him, not since his own dad was so crappy but something about watching her laying there, looking so small and tired, it woke something within him. He heard people talking about how you just know how to be a dad when you become one, a part of your DNA wakes up and takes charge, he didn't believe that until he and Pepper decided to bring Florence in and save her from that awful home for girls. He never thought he was doing all that well, until now maybe.
He realised there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to help his kid. She could ask for anything and he'd agree. She'd give him his arm if she needed it.
"Not your fault" she replied. Tony didn't agree, not at all but he wasn't going to argue with her, not while she was unwell. Florence went from calm to upright in under a second.
She sprinted to the door of her bathroom and flung herself in, gripping the toilet seat as she threw up all of the water she'd just swallowed. Tony was at the door in seconds, trying to open it but failing miserably.
She'd somehow locked the door.
This kid.
He pounded on it, cringing at the sounds coming from inside the bathroom. She gagged, gasping for air, feeling the small amount of energy she had disappear.
"Kid!" he yelled from outside the door. "Flo, let me in!" he demanded. She cried lightly, about to open her mouth to reply but was promptly cut off by bile rising up and out of her throat.
"No...you don't want to come in here, trust me" she insisted, pulling the chain on the toilet. Tony rolled his eyes, wondering how he managed to adopt a kid that was just like him. He sometimes wondered if some of his DNA wiggled it's way in there somehow.
"Flo, I couldn't care less about what it looks like in there, you're my kid, now open the door or I'm breaking the lock" he replied, pushing his head against the door. There was no reply for a while which elevated Tony's heartrate more than he thought safe. "Flo" he warned, but after a second longer of no reply, he kicked in the door, having the lock busted off it's hinges and the door swung open, revealing Florence on the floor, head against the bin in the bathroom. He rushed over, on his knees in seconds. "Flo, honey?" he asked frantically.
Her eyes opened slightly, feeling his hands on her arms, helping her up and onto the toilet seat, giving her somewhere else to sit other than the floor.
"M'sorry, hurts" she muttered out, resting her head on his shoulder. He sighed with relief hearing her speak.
"You're going to give me a heart attack one day kiddo" he mumbled, mostly to himself but from the corner of his eye, he saw a small smirk sneak onto Florence's face.
"No m'not" she slurred in protest. There was a cold wipe across her face, feeling a wash cloth wipe away the sweat and grime from her face.
"Come on, let's go somewhere nicer" he whispered in her ear, helping her up. Throwing up for hours tends to take it out of you, her legs shaking and body swaying slightly so Tony lifted his hands under her feet and scooped her up, moving to the sofa. She made small movements every now and again, Tony remarked about how light she was, able to lift her to the couch rather easily.
Next minute she was on her bed, wishing she had another body and now she was on the sofa, being propped up by someone behind her, moving their hands up and down on her head, making her shoulders relax.
"You doing ok now?" he asked, "Need to throw up at all?" Florence shook her head, feeling exhausted and mentally exhausted. "That's good, might mean that you've got it all out of your system."
"Hope so, 'cause I do not want to do it again" she sighed.
While Florence drifted in and out of sleep Tony texted Pepper, letting her know about the situation at home and that she should probably stay away until it had run its course.
Pep - Is she alright?
Tony - She's a bit out of it, threw up an hour ago, now she's passed out on me
Pep - aw Xx
Tony - not funny
Pep - Are you sure I shouldn't come back?
Tony - we'll be ok
Pep - you sure?
Tony - Positive pep, we're going to be fine, hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow
Tony watched as she slept, feeling her move and shuffle as time went on, thinking that he couldn't be more content. It was weird. When he was younger, he assumed his happiness would come from continuing being Iron man and making as much money as possible, not sat on his sofa in a remote cabin with his daughter, taking care of a grumbling and snotty teenager would not be what he would consider his ideal situation.
But hey, there's nothing you can do.
He didn't mind really. He felt more complete over helping his sick kid feel better than being Iron Man. Which says a lot.