Tony Stark
Tony sat on his chair at the table in his large kitchen and bounced his knee nervously. Today was the day that he asked the question.
He had asked Iris to officially be his daughter.
She had been living with him for a year now and it was safe to say that fostering her was the best stupid decision he had ever made.
When he had seen her that second time running from the police he needed to know more about her. Tony was a curious person by nature and wouldn't leave things alone until he got his answers if something intrigued him enough. And Iris Potter was definitely intriguing. So he had Javrvis do a facial recognition search and when he found out that she was in the system, Tony made a spontaneous decision to take her in. It took a little time and a few strings had to be pulled, but in the end, she had come to stay with him.
He had been a little nervous at first, who wouldn't be? She was quiet and shy, and at first, things had been awkward. Pepper had doubted he would be able to properly care for the seven-year-old, and Tony had been rather offended by that. He would show her, he thought.
But then it had been a month and Tony still hadn't made any progress with her. Anytime he came into the room she was in she would always leave, she hardly ever ate anything, and that concerned Tony a lot. Plus she always flinched if Tony or anyone else spoke directly to her and she didn't like being touched. He had started to doubt if it was a good idea to take in a child, especially considering he had to cut back on the drinking and partying. Not that it had stopped completely, mind you.
Tony was struggling with Iris, but he didn't want to be just another home she stayed in out of a long list.
Then one day something changed. Tony had been alerted by Jarvis that the little girl was doing something in the kitchen. He had come down to see her searching around in the cupboards and taking things like a packet of crackers or an apple and a few other stuff. Tony was going to interrupt and ask what she was doing. But he stopped. He had read about hoarding when he had done some research on what he should expect of foster children. So he stood and watched and waited, staying out of her sight.
Maybe she was just getting a snack? But she didn't eat much, not when he was around anyway.
Just as Tony had suspected, she took her small stash into her arms after she had returned everything to its original place, and dashed up the stairs. Tony had followed her up to her room and was lucky enough that the door was open a small crack. So he looked in and watched as she pulled up a loose floorboard and dumped the food into the hole. His heart hurt at the thought of her not trusting him enough to feed her, but he reminded himself that there were probably several different reasons she might be doing this. Until he had a proper talk with her he couldn't assume anything.
She picked up the floorboard and was in the process of returning it to its place when Tony started to open the door. It made a sound when he did and the poor girl had jumped a mile in the air before running to hide under her bed.
Tony hadn't meant to scare her.
"Hey kid, it's alright it's just me," Tony tried. "I'm sorry if I scared you, I just wanted to speak with you."
He had hoped that she would emerge once she realised that she wasn't in any trouble but to no luck.
He came over and sat on the floor in front of her bed, not too close as to scare her. Truth be told he didn't know what to do. He had never had to deal with things like this before. He could call Pepper, but then he would feel like he was passing her off to someone else. So he would deal with this himself.
He sat on the floor next to her bed for nearly an hour just talking about anything and everything. He had hoped that by doing this she might relax enough to come out from under her bed. She hadn't, but that didn't bother Tony because he knew he must have been doing something right when he heard a giggle. He had been talking about how much Pepper annoyed him when she told him off, that was when he had heard the noise. Tony took that as his cue and laid down on his stomach. He could just about see her big green doe eyes staring at him. Her head was resting on her arms that were crossed underneath her and her fiery red hair was fanned out around her.
"Hi," Tony said, giving her a little wave.
"Hi," she sniffed back in a little voice. She waved at him tentatively.
"You wanna come out yet? It's almost tea time."
She shook her head.
"Alright then," Tony replied. "We can stay here for a while."
Iris just stared at him. Tony frowned and racked his brain for something else to say to her. He looked around her room and noticed how bare it was.
"Hey how about we paint your room sometime hm? What's your favourite colour?"
She thought for a moment before replying. "Blue," she said.
"Alright then, Jarvis can you order some blue paint for us?"
"Will do sir," the AI replied.
Tony looked at Iris, she still hadn't moved from her position.
"Look kid, I don't know where you've been or what you've been through, but I can tell it was a lot. Your brave, that much I know."
Tony sighed when he saw the tears welling up in her gorgeous green eyes that looked so sorrowful. He wanted to scoop her up and hide her from the world. But that would be counterproductive right now. So instead he carried on talking.
"I don't know how long you will be here with me, I hope it will be for a while, but however long it is I want you to know that you are safe here. I'm not going to hurt you, and I promise I won't let anyone else hurt you either. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," Tony said as he drew a cross on his chest.
Iris giggled again but it turned into a choked sort of sob. Tony sat up off the floor and crossed his legs. He leaned forward and pulled the redhead out from under the bed by her arms. She squeaked and tried to move away from him. Tony held her firmly and placed her on his lap, squeezing her in his embrace.
"It's alright, I got you, your OK," He whispered to her repeatedly. "Your safe here."
After that incident things slowly got better. Tony had hired a Councillor for her to see every Wednesday and they had talked about her hoarding habit. The shrink had mentioned that she believed Iris had anxiety, but they would have to test that first.
Iris had slowly started talking to Tony more and they had a proper chance to bond when they went out shopping for more clothes, and things to decorate her bedroom with. They had both been surprised by her love of anything pineapple.
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That had all been about a year ago, Iris was eight now, and Tony couldn't imagine his life without her in it. He had gotten to know her better and fell in love with all of her little quirks. So he had set everything up with the social workers, and he was ready to adopt Iris. He just had to ask her if this was what she wanted.
He had expected her to be happy, he had thought she loved him as much as he loved her. But instead, she had thrown a fit. Pepper had run after her when she went to her room. He could hear her crying and it made his heart hurt.
What had he done wrong?
So there he sat waiting for Pepper to come back and tell him what the problem was, except when she did come back she seemed just as confused as him. She had gone back into the living room with Rhodey, Happy and Obadiah who had all come around for the surprise.
So here Tony sat wondering what he did wrong. He was working up the nerve to go up and talk to her because he knew he had to. It seemed like she was just as upset as him. He was just working up the nerve. He would go up in a minute.
Just another minute.
"Sir?" Jarvis broke Tony out of his nervous daze.
"Right, yeah thanks pall."
The man got up and walked towards Iris' bedroom. When he reached her room he could hear he crying inside. So he gathered up his courage and knocked on her door.
"Iris, princess, can I come in?" God, he hated how his voice cracked.
When he didn't hear a reply he sighed and turned her doorknob, entering her room. Tony didn't see her straight away, but then he saw the ends of her hair poking out from under her bed. Tony frowned at the familiar image and got onto his stomach. He looked at the sobbing girl under the bed and waved at her.
"Hi," he said.
Iris let out another sob and hid her face in the crook of one of her arms.
"Hey it's alright, come here, I'm not mad." He reached out for Iris but she shook her head, so he withdrew his hands.
"I'm sorry Tony. I really am," she sobbed.
"What are you sorry for? If you don't want me to adopt you that's fine. This is about what makes-,"
"No!" She interrupted. "I do want you to adopt me, but you can't!" She wailed.
Now Tony was confused.
"Why not?"
"You'll die!" She replied through her tears.
Now Tony was super confused.
"What?" He asked.
"My family always dies! My birth parents were killed! An-and and my first foster family wanted to adopt me too and they died in a car crash and Thalia! Thalia was like my sister and she died and you'll die too. You can't adopt me because I don't want you to die! Please don't."
Tony felt his heart break at the child who was crying her heart out. He reached forward again and pulled her out from under the bed, this time she came willingly. She clung to his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. Tony tried to soothe her for a little while before he tried to talk a bit of sense into her.
"Why do you think that has anything to do with you?" He asked.
''Because I'm unlucky.'' Iris answered back matter-of-factly.
Tony rolled his eyes.
''I promise you princess I am not going anywhere.''
She sniffed before she mumbled into his neck, ''You won't be saying that when you find out what a freak I am.''
Tony was shocked and pulled her back so he could look into her eyes. She had an adorable pout that he would smile at any other time.
''I don't care what you think about yourself, you are not a freak, and I love you ok,'' He told her sternly.
''You can't scare me off with whatever freakishness you think you have. So go ahead, lay it all on me kid.''
Iris gave him a look as if daring him to change his mind. When Tony didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow, she huffed, stood up and took a step back. Tony was about to ask what she was doing when the lights started flickering. He looked up wondering what was going on. Then he saw one of Iris' books floating towards her.
Floating.
It was floating.
Tony squeezed his eyes closed for a minute, then rubbed them and shuffled back. Iris snuffled and her eyes filled with tears again.
''Told you you'd think im a freak.'' she muttered as she plucked the book from the air.
Tony looked between the book and her face, the conclusion that she did that. But how?
Did it really matter? This was obviously what the redhead was worried about him finding out about and judging by her wobbling lip and snotty nose and tear-filled eyes, he was having the reaction that she feared. Did it change anything?
''How- how long have you been able to do that?'' He asked.
She shrugged and bit her lip.
''Since I can remember.''
Ok. Get it together Tony. It's still Iris. She can move things with her mind, but it's still Iris. Little Iris that can move things with her mind. Still Iris though.
''H-how? How does it work?''
Iris looked hesitant, and Tony realised why. She had no idea how he was going to react, if he would use her as a science experiment or not. So he held his arms out for a big hug and offered her a small smile.
''It's alright princess. I'm sorry I'm just a little shocked. And curious. Very curious.''
She took a tentative step forward as if she really wanted a hug right then. But she stopped herself and bit her lip again.
''You still love me?'' She asked.
Tony scoffed. ''Of course, I still love you silly. I told you you couldn't scare me off.''
Yeah, it didn't matter that she could make things float. With her mind?
She smiled before she slowly settled into the hug. She clung to his neck and took a shaky breath.
''My mum was a witch. That's how I can do that. Because I'm a witch too. I don't have a wand yet, and most of the stuff I do is accidental and I don't mean to do it, I was actually surprised when the trick with the book worked.'' She said in a rush, as if afraid of his reaction.
Tony froze for a minute.
''Aren't witches supposed to be green?'' Was the first thin to come to mind.
Iris burst out into a fit of giggles before pulling back and looking at Tony with a smile on her face.
A witch.
A witch for a daughter.
Still his daughter though.
That can make things float.
His daughter that can make thongs float because she's a witch.
Totally normal.
''No silly,'' she chuckled, ''that's only in stories. But we do have wands. And flying broomsticks.''
Tony smiled at her before something occurred to him.
''How do you know that? I thought you went into the system when you were two. You shouldn't remember anything about your parents.''
Iris frowned. ''I have Hyperthymesia. It means I can remember everything, so I remember when I was a baby. My mum did magic all the time and so did my stepdad.''
Tony took that in for a minute.
''What about your dad? Was he magical too? You said your stepdad had magic but did your dad?''
Iris gulped and looked down.
''I'm not too sure you want to hear about him,'' she mumbled.
''Why not,'' Tony asked ''Can't be any weirder than your mum being a witch. I promise I won't freak out.''
Iris raised an eyebrow.
''I'm going to hold you to that. Not that you'll believe me.'' She mumbled the last part.
''Hey no fair, I believed you when you said you're a witch.'' Tony replied offended.
Iris tilted her head.
''Why do you believe me?'' She asked.
Tony snorted. ''Kinda hard not to when I just watched you floating a book across the room. No changing the topic.''
She huffed and crossed her arms.
''Don't say I didn't warn you. My dad is the Greek God of war Ares.''
Tony paused for a minute.
''Yeah, I don't believe you.''
Iris groaned and flopped her arms.
''It's true! Do you remember that camp I went to in the summer? That is a camp for children like me. Demigods.''
''There's more of you?'' Tony asked.
''A whole camp more,'' Iris said dryly.
Tony chuckled in astonishment and rubbed his face.
''So you're telling me that witches and gods exist and you're a witch who also happens to be a child of one of the gods?''
Iris smiled shyly and nodded.
Tony snorted, tickling his daughter's sides.
''You're telling me everything you know. Spill your secrets little girl. Now I definitely want you to be my daughter! This is so cool!''