“Don't look at me like that. I'm not picking up strays. It was only a business transaction, I was just paying up a debt.” but by the way his lips twitched in a futile attempt to hold back a smirk, he wasn't fooling anyone, let alone Fury and they both knew that.
“Of course not. Although I remember you doing exactly that, a long time ago.” he said.
“Well no offense but you're quite old, you must have mixed up some things, it happens with old age, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Now, I better get going, I'm a busy man, things to invent and all that. Don't call me unless it's a life or death situation.” and with an annoying wave of his hand he left the room.
“Ass.” he mumbled, yet it was said with the fondness he never showed in front of anyone.
Then he sat in his comfy chair, stretched his legs on the desk, it was his office, he could do whatever he wanted and started remembering a certain event that was proof that Stark always had a soft spot for strays.
It was a boring day and that was a big and unusual statement for someone like Nick Fury, who prefered when things were at least somewhat predictable. And just like that he jinxed himself, he knew that when he heard 'Stark's kid' and something about him and a driver or one of the junior agents who wasn't introduced with how smart the kid could actually be and as many before underestimated him. Fury refused to laugh out loud at the few words that reached his ears, coming up to a conclusion without needing to know a lot.
The kid must have done something big or at least as big it could be for a seven year old with pretty high intelligence and a mile long curiosity. For a moment he contemplated gathering information, but then he talked himself out of it. He was training to be immune to the kid’ s puppy eyes and the only way he could do that was by keeping his distance, even though spending a bit of time with the kid would definitely brighten up his day.
And he would never admit that.
Fortunately or unfortunately , he still hadn't decided on which one it was, he was asked, more like ordered to go and take care of the situation. Agent Carter threw a smirk at his direction when he was passing by her office and he knew that she had something to do with the order he'd been given.
You have a soft spot for the kid.
She was infuriatingly right like most of the times, but he wasn't going to mention that, he didn't want for her to have something to tease him about, not that she wasn't capable of coming up with things on her own.
So he ignored her and focused on the problem he had to deal with. After a five minutes long rant about how the kid supposedly hid from the agent, making him think that he lost him, only to return with a stray puppy, Fury lost him after that. It was obvious what happened and the agent wanted to find a somewhat logical excuse for his incompetence, aka for the fact that he probably got distracted and actually lost the kid.
As for the whole stray puppy story, that part might have been true, the kid was incredibly curious and liked animals especially because of the fact that he wasn't allowed to have a pet. So it wasn't something big afterall, in Fury's opinion Tony must have noticed that the agent got distracted easily and used the chance to find a new furry friend, or he might have been upset, so he reacted the way he felt at the moment. Plus, apparently it wasn't Jarvis who went to pick him up from school and every new face was a new experience for the kid, who despite how smart he was, he was naive and showed empathy towards anyone who was sad and ran away from people who seemed hostile. If only it was that easy to read people , besides being attention seeking and always trying to prove himself while soaking in any affection he could get Tony was a magnet for trouble.
Oh, well, it sure sounded that things were about to get interesting. In no time he arrived at Stark's mansion, it was as intimidating and huge as he remembered, the impression it left on Fury wasn't going away no matter how many times he visited the place. Now though his mind was elsewhere so instead of knocking on the front door he used one of the back doors, one hidden in the garden and the same one Tony prefered to use. He was about to knock when Jarvis opened the door, catching him with his hand raised.
“Agent Fury, I assume you've come because of the small mishap with the young master. Would you like to come in ?” they entered the small kitchen, and Nick without waiting asked,
“Uhh...Is Mr. Stark at home ?” he decided to talk to him and see whether he had any complaints, even though he was certain that if he had complaints he would have voiced them out already.
“Not at the moment. Rest assured, Mr. Stark said everything he wanted to the agent and got his point across.”
“I was sent here for nothing.” he mumbled.
“Well, I wouldn't say that...” a wry smile on his face as he continued explaining,
“while Mr. Stark dealt with the situation as effectively as possible, I believe there's still a small issue that requires your expertise.”
“Are you referring to my job as an agent ? Has something happened to the kid ?”
“Young master Anthony is alright, although he...” but he didn't manage to finish the sentence because of the loud cry,
“Uncle Nick! You came!” which was the only warning he got before the kid crashed onto him and clung onto his coat.
“If I knew that I'd get this kind of welcome I'd have come sooner. Would you let me go so I can see you ? Cause I can only see a mess of hair from up here.” with a giggle Tony stepped back only to pull at his hand to indicate that he wanted to lower himself down so they could be facing each other.
And as always, Fury allowed himself to be pulled down, so when he came face to face with the kid, he saw guilt in the kid's eyes.
“How about you tell me what happened?”
“It wasn't on purpose! I didn't want to cause trouble, the skinny agent was mean and I didn't like the way he looked at me...but I wasn't doing it on purpose..”
“Master Anthony, we talked about this, now tell agent Fury what do you need him for and maybe afterwards you can tell him the whole story? I assumed that it was important and urgent ?” he gently interrupted the rant, only to result with the kid frowning before his whole face lit in understanding.
“Yes. Thank you Jarvis. You have to help me uncle Nick, the puppy that I found got lost because of the stupid..” at Jarvis' look of warning, he corrected himself, “I mean the agent, the puppy got scared and ran away, I searched for him, even tried to do it like the detectives in the books do, but I don't know enough. Aunt Peggy says that you're one of the best, that's why we asked her to send you. Will you help me ? Please ?” he wasn't able to say no to those big, sad eyes, so he nodded in agreement although he wasn't fond of chasing dirty puppies across the neighborhood's lawns.
Tony threw his arms around him, overjoyed that someone actually agreed to help him and Nick returned the hug with as much care as he could, completely ignoring Jarvis' smug grin.
"Alright, since we're on an important mission, we should take things seriously. Tell me everything about the puppy." pretty quickly he realized that he should have asked the kid for the short version of the story, but then it wouldn't have been so amusing to watch him stumble over his words in an attempt to say everything at the same time.
Long story short, Tony got bored, the agent was too busy acting like an idiot which resulted in the kid befriending a lost puppy and playing with it not too far from where the agent was waiting for him. Then when he noticed the puppy he scared him away and the kid complained and went after the dog, yet he couldn't find it. Unfortunately for the agent, Tony ran away, successfully hiding amongst a group of kids who were playing in the park next to the school. The final conclusion, the agent freaked out, because he thought he had lost the kid only to find that Tony had returned back to the car and was sulking in the back seat. By the time the mess had cleared up, everyone realized that the agent wasn't good at the job he had been given especially since he seemed to be the panicky type of person.
Nick knowing something about dogs despite never owning one, took Tony along and together they went to visit the park and the neighborhood. He was sure that they made quite the picture, a grown man and a kid looking behind every tree, underneath every bush and in every possible corner trying to lure out a stray puppy. In fact he felt quite silly, but seeing Tony's expression and the enthusiasm, was enough to push that thought out of his mind.
They even crawled down on their knees, trying to retrace the puppy's steps which was beyond ridiculous and pretty soon they got so hungry that they started laughing at each other.
"I don't know about you kid, but I'm starving and no decent agent allows himself to starve on a mission, so how about we find something to eat and come back here to continue our mission ? Who knows we might lure the puppy with the food."
"Yes! I'm really hungry, uncle Nick. What are we going to eat ? "
"How about burgers ? "
It appeared that Tony had never eaten a burger before, he might have eaten something similar, but Jarvis always made sure for the meals to be well-cooked, so Tony was surprised by how good it tasted and had announced it as his favorite meal. Nick almost choked on his french fries when he started laughing in between bites. They brought whatever they couldn't finish along in the park and to their surprise, the damned stray appeared.
"You're the best uncle Nick! I never would have thought to bring food for the puppy." he said while petting the puppy who was too busy eating to complain for the extra attention.
The hardest part was leaving the puppy behind, Nick thought the dog deserved a good home, so he remembered an older man who wanted a puppy since his previous one had died a few years ago, he was the father of one of Nick's colleagues, so the problem got solved. Even though Tony was sad to leave the dog, which naturally responded well to him, the man was kind enough to invite them to come and visit whenever they wanted. Before they noticed, it was almost dark and they were already late, so they rushed back to the mansion only to barely avoid Jarvis' scolding which was quite intimidating.
“You stay out of trouble kid and promise me that you won't go wandering alone even if those incompetent agents annoy you. Now, go before Jarvis kicks me out.” the kid gave him the biggest hug a seven year old could give and with a sincere
“Thank you so much uncle Nick.” rushed towards his room.
The biggest surprise was the thank you he got from Jarvis and the grateful smile he gave him.
While walking towards his home, Nick mused that he could add 'pet detective' on his list of skills as well.
If only all not-boring days were like this.