Happy Birthday Daddy
CHAPTER 6: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY
Anyone who knew Tony knew how extravagant his birthday parties are. Partygoers all over California swarm towards Tony's mansion in Malibu. There would be an overflow of expensive alcohol, a shitload of women in lingerie, and head-blasting music for at least two days.
This year was different. Instead of alcohol, Tony woke up to a glass of lemonade, eggs, sausages, and French toast. His three-year-old managed to make him breakfast in bed and delivered it personally in his jam-covered pajamas.
"Good Morning, daddy! Happy birthday!" Harry greeted with a full-blown smile holding out a handmade birthday card to him. "Lookie, I made you a card! Oh, and Aunt Pepper helped me make you breakfast! Do you like it?" He jumped excitedly.
For Tony, it was the best birthday morning he ever had in his life. It even topped waking up next to Halle Berry. To have him woken up by his little boy on his day made him realize how much he was actually missing out with his constant partying.
He planned on taking Harry out for a week on a secluded island in the pacific. He had it booked a few weeks ago. They were set to leave by lunchtime and Harry was literally bouncing in excitement. Both Pepper and James would be joining them on the weekend.
"Thanks, Hare-bare. I love it so much I'll have it placed on my desk at the lab," he cooed. "How about you go take a bath and change while I finish this. Happy will be over to take our bags in a few hours."
The boy only nods and ran back to his room. Tony got up from the bed and headed towards the kitchen where Pepper was drinking apple juice while working on her laptop.
"Happy birthday, Tony. I'm glad this year does not involve any naked girls walking around the house." She joked. Sort of.
Tony rolled his eyes at her and waved a hand dismissively. "You still are flying out on the weekend, right? You need to relax, Pep. I booked you a massage!"
"A weekend with my favorite man? Of course, I will." She confirmed.
"Aww, Pep. I knew I was your favorite!" Tony gushed.
Pepper cracked a laugh. "Oh no, not you Tony. The smaller Stark." She patted his shoulder affectionately.
Tony grumbled in jest a low 'beaten by my own son' and 'traitor.
"I'm heading out. I only came to help Harry with breakfast. JARVIS called me last night about Harry wanting to make you breakfast himself and asked me for help." She informed. With a quick kiss on his cheek, Pepper vanished from his home.
Tony had the entire 15-acre island reserved. It cost him a whole lot of money but nothing too drastic that would bankrupt his company, just enough to make a small dent.
The jet flew from California to the Banwa Private Island in Palawan at top speed. He hadn't brought any security aside from Happy as the island was private enough to keep unwanted guests away. He did bring his suit though. One never knows when it'll be needed. Happy and his son played with lego blocks on the flight. They were trying to build a prototype of the upcoming Stark tower in New York. Happy, for all his stoicism, was actually good with Harry. Everybody seemed to go soft around his son.
They arrived on the island past 8 in the evening. They were greeted by at least 10 of the staff members and directed to their suite. Dinner would be served in 10 minutes so the trio went to freshen up a little. Tony helped his son change into his pajamas as he noticed the boy was already exhausted.
All the food ingredients were either bought locally or freshly caught by their own fishermen. It was refreshing for Tony since most of the food he had in the US came out of a box. He only changed a little of his diet when Harry came to live with him. His son had to eat his vegetables which in turn forced Tony to eat as well.
While Tony and Happy discussed their activities for the next few days, Harry fell asleep on the table while his fork still held fish meat. They hadn't noticed since Harry was typically a quiet eater especially when he's tired.
As Tony was about to ask his son what he wanted to do first thing tomorrow, he found a mop of black hair against the dinner table. Tony sighed and ran a hand through the boy's curls.
"He always does that. Falling asleep while eating." Happy chortled.
Whenever he took his little boss on a day out, Harry would often fall asleep eating whatever snack Happy would get him before taking him back to his father's office or lab.
The father merely snickered and went to lift the boy out of the seat. He placed one arm under his knees, another on the child's upper back, and carried him to bed.
"Goodnight, Hare-bare."
Tony had Harry over his shoulders as the two of them walked on the beach. He never felt such contentment before his son came to his life. He forgot how much he used to love walking in the sand as a child. He was too caught up with his teenage hatred towards his parents that he somehow overlooked the grand things in life. He lived an awfully fast lifestyle and considered partying hard and building new technology as his only recreation.
But now with Harry, he could finally breathe without even knowing he was suffocating for a long time.
He made sandcastles, collected seashells, swam with fishes, drank from a coconut, and even went camping underneath the stars with his son and Happy.
He especially liked laying on the sand at night with Harry's back on his chest as they watch the stars shine. There were quiet moments where the only sounds you could hear was their breathing and the crashing of ocean waves. And then there were moments where Tony told his son stories of adventures and fantasies. He would wait until Harry falls asleep before carrying him back to the suite.
They would eat among the locals, engage in conversations, and exchange tales. Tony was very thankful the staff members only saw him as another guest and not the Tony Stark. If they knew him aside from his name, they did not show it. He got to spend the week without so much of a problem.
Pepper and James arrived early on Saturday morning; the latter already dressed for the beach.
"Hey, Stark!" James called out. "Where's my little man?"
"Wouldn't get up from his bed. God knows that kid is literally a koala. He sleeps too much!" Tony moaned pathetically and ordered the guy to wake the boy himself if he can.
James dropped his luggage and ran straight inside. Pepper came forward and pecked his cheek.
"This place looks great. How was your week?" She inquired.
"Same old," Tony answered with a smile.
Pepper hummed and smiled secretly. knew it wasn't the case but she let him go. Happy had been notifying her of their activities the past few days and she recalled him saying he had never seen Tony smile and laugh genuinely as much as he did.
A shriek was heard from inside the suite and a few minutes later, they found Harry on James' shoulder laughing hysterically while the man ran towards the ocean chased by a soaked Happy.
"Oh good, he's up!" Tony cheered, making Pepper roll her eyes.
A week after being back in the US, Tony started a new project. He was trying to modify his Stark phone so that it could be used in the wizarding world. He already went to most of the magical villages, sometimes bringing Harry with him, and bought a heap ton of books. By the time he finished reading all of them, he could be considered an expert. At least for the non-magical.
Tony spent hours in his lab, occasionally bringing Harry along and letting him watch cartoons on his desk. The kid knew his father's work is dangerous and important so he mostly kept quiet. It didn't really bother him. As long as he was with his dad, it was fine.
When Harry wasn't in the lab, he was usually playing on the treehouse his father made for him. He liked to imagine he was a superhero like Iron Man and save all his stuffed animals from mean dinosaurs. Other times, he would take them out for a ride on his jeep.
Sometimes he wished he had a friend his age. Grown-ups work a lot. He wanted to play with someone else for a little while. He could always ask his daddy but he wouldn't want him to feel like he didn't like playing with him anymore.
For now, he was contented on playing alone for a while. At least he had JARVIS to keep him company.
Harry was on his way back inside the house when he saw a black car coming towards the house. Aunt Pepper told him once that the house was one of the safest in the world because no one who isn't his daddy's friend can access the gate. Thinking it might be his Uncle James using a different car, he waited on the porch.
Instead of his uncle, a huge black man wearing an eye patch stepped out of the vehicle. Mr. Pirate walked towards him with a raised eyebrow.
''And who might you be?" He asked, kneeling in front of him.
"Daddy says I shouldn't talk to strangers," Harry told him, his British accent evident.
The pirate man merely chuckled and held out his hand. "My name is Nick Fury. And you are?" He inquired.
Harry accepted the hand and bowed slightly, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Nick. I'm Harry Stark."
Mr. Nick's jaw dropped at the child's name. He didn't know Tony had a son. He shook his head slightly and stood back up. "Is your father home?"
Harry nodded and let the man inside.
"JARVIS?" The child called out.
"Yes, young sir?"
"Can you tell daddy Mr. Pirate is looking for him?"
"Of course. And young sir, your father thought you're in your room so he had your lunch brought to upstairs." JARVIS reminded.
"Thank you, JARVIS."
Harry then looked at Nick Fury. He wasn't sure if the man was a friend of his father. He never met him before and he couldn't remember his father mentioning his name. Curious, he asked,
"Are you my daddy's friend?"
Fury could not bring himself to say yes to the child. Tony Stark isn't anyone's friend. The man was too arrogant and self-centered to care for another being. He couldn't imagine Stark be a good father. Yet, there was a child who not only is apparently his son but is also clearly looked after very well. The man he knew to pride himself on his irresponsible spontaneity noticeably had a daily schedule on a whiteboard in the kitchen and children's drawings on the fridge. There were stuffed toys on the couch and a mini safari jeep on the foyer. There might also be a jungle gym in the yard. This wasn't the Tony Stark he knew.
He decided on half-truths instead, "Your father works for me from time to time, Harry."
"What do you do, Mr. Pirate?" The boy tilted his head inquisitively.
"We basically try to stop the bad people from doing mean things in the world."
"Oh." he thought for a second, "I don't think there are bad people in the world, Mr. Pirate. Only bad decisions."
Before the man could respond, JARVIS called the child's attention.
"Young sir, you should be eating lunch. Your father won't have you skip any meals." JARVIS reminded for the second time.
Harry face-palmed dramatically before thanking JARVIS, excusing himself from Fury's presence, and running up to his room.
Tony had just discarded another failed attempt when JARVIS informed him that Harry had him tell his father that Mr. Pirate is looking for him. Knowing exactly who 'Mr. Pirate' is, he cursed and cleaned up as fast as he could. He was dabbling with dangerous elements and cannot, in any case, leave it unsupervised anymore. When everything was stable, he quickly headed upstairs.
"What is the director of SHIELD doing in my home?" Tony nonchalantly asked as he poured himself a drink. Harry wasn't in the room which the father was secretly thankful for.
"I didn't know you had a son, Mr. Stark," Fury commented.
"I didn't know you had to know, Director," He countered. "Now, back to business. What are you doing here?"
Fury turned around and stared at the ocean view from the living room. "We found a strong lead on the location of Captain America." He informed.
Being sick of hearing the man's name since he was a child, Tony only snorted. "And what would you have me do? Go and look for him myself? My whole childhood involved everyone around me talking about the guy and trying to find him. I've had enough of him for a lifetime. Go look for him yourself."
"I'm not here to ask you to look for him, Mr. Stark. I just thought you should know first."
"Yeah, whatever." Tony grumbled before downing his glass of whiskey. "If you do find him, put him back."