#HumbleTinyStank
Tony knocked insistently on the door to the block of flats.
Then the doorman let him in.
Then, he was ushered up to the penthouse suite by the concierge.
"Mr Potter will either let you in or he won't. It's a bit hit or miss sir. Mr Stark sir, ma'am. Mr. Sorry." The man stuttered.
Tony ignored his bumbling, and banged on the door with his fist.
Harry opened the door after some grumbling, and smiled at Ollie- the concierge.
"Oh great." He scowled when he realised who Ollie had brought to his door.
"It's my day off Mr Stark." Harry mumbled, before opening the door wide enough for the older man to enter his home.
Tony looked around the suite critically. It was clean, and had a black and white theme.
White tiled floor, black couches.
The kitchen island was white marble, and the cupboards had black handles.
It was tasteful, chic even.
Harry- looked like a dust mite.
"I'll go and change." The teen mumbled, gesturing to his wrinkled pyjamas and scurried down a hallway to what Tony assumed was his walk in closet.
As the boy freshened up, Tony stepped up to the mantelpiece to look at the pictures on it.
There were a few pictures. The largest one hung right above the mantelpiece, a portrait really.
It looked like a photograph, but- as Tony stood so close to the image, he realised it really was hand painted. The brush strokes too tiny and intricate, the image fit the illusion of a still taken by a camera.
Harry sat in a regal looking room with a tiny child cradled lovingly in his arms. The baby was swaddled in a red cloth, and a tiny hand peeked out to clutch Harry's slim finger.
The image below it, also framed in gold, showed Harry hugging the baby close. The swaddling covered everything except that one errant hand.
Tony cast his eye over the two pictures either side of it, and smiled at the sight of a bunch of red heads with Harry being cuddled by the mother in the middle. The other frame held the image of Harry dressed up at a wedding. It was the same group of red heads along with a bushy haired bride hugging Harry.
Tony turned around and took a seat on the couch just as Harry shuffled back into the kitchen.
He wore fluffy beige jogging bottoms and a hoodie.
"Cuppa?" Harry asked as he turned the kettle on.
"I didn't know you had a son." Tony chose to reply with.
Harry froze in his move to get a couple of tea cups and saucers from his cupboard of fine china.
"I don't." He resumed his task. "That's my godson Teddy. I share custody with his grandmother." Harry brought the tray of tea and biscuit selection round to the coffee table and placed it in front of Tony.
"Sugar?" Harry asked as he poured the milk into the elegant tea cup.
Tony stared at him for a second. "Go on then. One spoon."
Harry busied himself with pouring the tea, adding the sugar and stirring the drink until a vortex was created in the centre. Tony watched all of this with a rather judgemental eye.
Harry passed the authentic white and blue Faberge to the older male, and took a long sip from his own- sugarless- drink.
"What happened to you?" Tony asked rather rudely, just as Harry took a second sip. The boy choked and spluttered as he gasped at the question.
"What?!" Harry sputtered some more, coughing to dislodge the liquid in his windpipe.
"Your tweets?" Tony took a tentative sip. "You've lost everyone, and I just want to know how you can still be such a kind person after all of that. How do you afford this? How can you take care of such a young child when you're a child yourself? I could never manage and I'm fully grown."
"If you came all this way just to interrogate me, I'm afraid you've had a wasted journey. It's my day off." Harry stood up and plucked the saucer right out of Tony's hands. He set it down gently on the table, and walked over to the door. He opened it.
"I cherish my days off Mr Stark. And while you're my boss from Monday to Thursday 9-5, you're not the boss of me. Take your leave, and I shall see you on Monday when I pick up the gremlins to go and see Nigel Farrage play Rishi Sunak at the tennis court. In my opinion, both are self serving, arse kissing, pretentious twats. Leave, before I ask the board to sub you in."
Harry swung the door back and forth impatiently.
"Go on. Get out."
Tony stood up, and found his feet leading him out of the penthouse suite.
His mouth hung open all the way home, and Pepper eventually came back to find her fiance sat- mouth agape- on the sofa at eight that evening.
Tony had never been spoken to like that before. Not by an employee, and certainly not by a teenager.
Harry rocked up to work on Monday sporting a rather spiffing headache.
"HELLO YOUNG HARRY!!!!!!!!!!!" Thor boomed as he picked the boy up like a rag doll.
He shook him around like one too, and Harry sighed as Steve came over for a tentative hug.
"What are we doing today?" Harry asked Steve.
"We're going..... drum-roll please!!!!"
"Shopping at the SUPERMARKET!!" Thor announced.
"Kill me now." Harry rolled his eyes, and led the two out of the building to their 'adventure mobile' as Thor called it.
Tony, who's morning nap had been interrupted by Thor's loud trumpeting, watched Harry hold the pair's hands out of the lobby to the car park on the security cam monitor. A frown marred his usually peaceful face.
Tony didn't like enigmas.
Nothing was difficult for the genius.
And yet, this prickly teenager stood up to him online, and in person.
A challenge.
Tony smirked as he watched Harry make sure both superheroes were strapped in properly, before slipping into the shotgun seat.
It was kind of obvious now, that he looked after a child so young.
Harry treated Thor and Steve like his own, no matter what he may say about them being annoying.
Tony didn't lose. And he wasn't about to start losing now.
IAmIronMan@TinyStank
I'd let Harry raise my babies if I had any. Oh wait I am, Steve and Thor should call you daddy @GoldenBoy.
HPB@GoldenBoy
I don't know what game you're playing, just know it's not working.
IAmIronMan@TinyStank
I never lose.
SIIntern@PBP
That's ominous. I don't like it. Muuuuuuuuum!!!!!!!
PPotts@TheBoss
Stop it Tony. The games you play with people's lives always backfire. Stop while you're ahead.
IAmIronMan@TinyStank
:( I'm going to help Harry. He needs a good reliable adult in his life. I can be that. :(
HPB@GoldenBoy
I quit.
HPB@GoldenBoy
You won't see me at work tomorrow. Sorry Steve, Thor. It was nice working with you. I hope Thor finds that bilge-snipe he lost, and I hope Tony falls in a hole for a few days and when he's rescued, has made a better man of himself.
HPB@GoldenBoy
I have an abundance of days off now. So don't bother me. I'msleeping.
PPotts@TheBoss
ANTHONY EDWARD STARK!!!!!
SIIntern@PBP
Eeeesh. Full name and everything. @TinyStank you're dead meat mate. See you on the other side.
PPotts@TheBoss
@TinyStank You lost us our best employee. You are in big trouble when I get home. I've told you to keep your meddling sticky fingers out of other people's lives and you never listen.
PPotts@TheBoss
@GoldenBoy would you reconsider if I told you that I would deal with Tony? We really love you here.
HPB@GoldenBoy
I love you too Miss Potts. But your partner really needs to learn to stop meddling, stop demanding things like he's owed, and he needs to be humbled. So no. I shall find work elsewhere. Thank you, and have a good day.
~~~~~~
Papercut@OUCH
That whole thread is so chaotic. But like: #humbletinystank.
SmackMyAss@LikeADrum
#humbletinystank. That man needs a real talking to. Pepper Potts shall deliver.
PPotts@TheBoss
I shall indeed. #humbletinystank
HPB@GoldenBoy
Good.