The second the music reached his ears he knew that he had been tricked, the door shut behind him and before he could even try to find a way out, he got spotted and that ended any attempt for leaving unnoticed.
“Uncle Nick!”
In front of him stood the reason why he had agreed to come not knowing what the actual matter was. All he knew was that it involved the kid, whose eyes shone with joy the moment he saw him.
“What are you up to kid ? There's no one around waiting to scare the...” suddenly, seamingly out of nowhere came a loud,
“Boo!” he would deny it until the day he died, but he got startled by the loud and quite childish appearance of agent Carter.
Of course it was her
Nick swore that she acted in that way only when she and the kid were together, it was annoyingly adorable, not that he would share that opinion with anyone.
When he didn't give the desired reaction except for a mild glare, he valued his life after all, pointed at her, only to be ignored with a smug grin and a giggle from the kid.
“Oh, cheer up dear Nick, this is a...what did you call it Tony darling ?”
“Operation let's dance!” he chirped while swaying on the spot unable to contain his joy.
“Hell no! I'm not going to participate in anything that requires dancing.” he announced, sounding like a petulant child who was forced to wash its hands before lunch.
“Oh really...” the enthusiasm in Tony's eyes dimmed a little bit while agent Carter's voice sounded too polite underlined with a warning before she added,
“Tony be a dear and remind uncle Nick who is the boss around here”
“Aunt Peggy is the boss and you can't disobey her...I think.” the last word was laced with a tinge of insecurity which made him look even more adorable.
“Alright.” he finally said, despite all of his training and his ever improving reputation of being a serious and tough agent, he wasn't heartless and when it came to the kid, well...he had a soft spot for him.
“Agent Carter can be the boss and leader this time, but after one condition.” he paused for a dramatic effect and continued talking while looking at the kid,
"If you tell me what this operation is about, because I trust you the most. We boys need to watch out back against this mean agent.“ he smiled at the end to show that he was joking assuming that the kid was already familiar with his sense of humor. As expected the kid giggled, shaking his head while trying to reply,
”Aunt Peggy isn't mean, she's the best, you are the best...she just tried to surprise you.“
”And as you can see, she did. Now tell me about this operation.“
”No. You need to guess, right Tony darling ?“
”Yes, come on uncle Nick you'll guess it.“
”Hmmm.“ he mumbled and turned around taking notice of their surroundings while at the same time acting like a textbook detective only for show. Let it not be said that Nick Fury was bad at acting.
”Let's see...wooden floor, almost empty room, music for dancing“ he paused to give a grimace at the choice of music,
”both of you are dressed in nice clothes...so who are we teaching to dance ?“
”Well, you of course. And our dear Anthony who claims that his mother taught him something and since he's the sweetest boy unlike you, he offered to assist you in your learning process.“
Damn
”I know how to dance.“ he actually didn't, but he didn't want to learn either.
”No you don't. Besides that's an important skill that everyone should know, right Tony ?“
”Yes, Jarvis and mom say that every boy and girl should know the most basic dances, it's...good for parties or something. Come on uncle Nick we're going to have so much fun.“
He was being taught life lessons from a six-year-old and he couldn't do anything except to agree.
”Fine.“
Tony clapped with enthusiasm before he grabbed him by the hand and dragged him towards the center of the room.
The music played some melody for waltz something he knew the name of, but couldn't remember and with agent Carter's assistance they started.
One step, two steps, one song, two songs and they were swaying under the watchful eyes of the agent, Tony giggling whenever he stepped on Nick's feet until they decided to take off their shoes and dance barefoot.
”It's funnier like this, right uncle Nick?“ the huge smile that never left his face, warmed up his heart.
”Damn right!“
”Language.“ yet it sounded like anything, but a reprimand.
An hour later, faces flushed from laughing Tony was dancing with him standing on his feet while Nick was doing his best to move properly while carrying the kid's weight as well. Tony was delighted,
”Look aunt Peggy, uncle Nick can carry me too and we're dancing the way you taught us.“
”Well done darling. It seems that uncle Nick could enjoy something once he tries it.“ was her cheeky reply to which Nick rolled his eyes and turned on the spot and stopped.
”I think it's time for a break and afterwards we'll play something interesting, I've had enough of this boring music.“ just on time Jarvis appeared carrying a tray loaded with food and drinks much to everyone's delight.
Needless to say after their break they spent one more hour dancing at silly music not caring about a form or steps or anything as formal as that.
It was a lot of fun.
Nick had never laughed so much in his whole life.
It turned out that being tricked wasn't bad, on the contrary if more surprises included a happy Tony he'd want nothing less.