Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man, Lazy Boy the furniture company, or anything else that is recognizable in this little companion piece.
Author's Note: Wow, I have been out of the game for awile. Sorry it took so long for this to be written but life happened. /: Thanks for all of the awesome reviews and stories that were submitted in 'Frozen Coke Icee'. This story is the third installment of the little miniseries and I promise I am keeping the sex of the baby a secret on purpose. This is the first birthday of the twins.
Tony Stark is absolutely, positively perplexed which is something that is quite rare for someone of his intellect. He notices his head tilt ever so slightly to the right as he watches the little creatures sitting in the matching high chairs across the kitchen. There are two reasons that he is absolutely shocked and dumbfounded.
The first being he has not a clue where the past year has gone. It feels like just yesterday he and Pepper were bringing the little bundles home from the hospital and living through the hell of multiple nightly screaming fits. It felt like it would never end, but here they are at the little creatures' first birthday.
The second perplexing reason is he has not a clue how the hell these two were able to cover almost everything in a five foot radius around them with icing. The cupcakes that were placed in front of them just fifteen minutes ago couldn't have had that much icing on them right? Well, apparently they did because as it was said everything was covered in light icing, including the two before him.
He looks to Pepper who seems to be watching the pair with the same amazed face that he probably has glued to his face and he lets out a low chuckle. She looks at him with her shining sapphire tinted eyes and smiles brightly.
He returns the smile before crossing the room and leaning against the island she is sitting at with a low sigh. She watches him with her usual intense gaze and he just laughs again because he catches sight of what made him laugh across the expansive kitchen.
Pepper has icing in her hair and on her nose.
"What?" She furrows her eyebrows and asks innocently.
"You have icing in your hair," he laughs and leans up to gently kiss her nose taking the pastel icing with him as he pulls back. "And you had some on your nose, but I took care of it."
She laughs back in a slightly mocking tone, "You have icing in your hair too and in your beard."
He frowns before wiping at the expertly trimmed beard and when he pulled his hand away there was a good amount of pastel icing on his hand. Then his eyes drift back two the twins across the room that seem to be actually trying to eat little bits of the cupcakes before them and he cannot help but smile.
Pepper chuckles, "Bath time?"
"Yeah I think that would be a good idea." He pushes himself away from the island and moves with his usual grace toward his two children.
"So who's ready for their birthday bath?" Tony asks chuckling as two mystified sets of eyes look up at him behind a mask of icing which just accent the brilliant shade of shimmering sapphire their eyes are. Before he can continue he feels a third set of sapphire eyes move in on him as the own comes up from behind him.
"I think we all need a bath." Pepper answers before moving to the twin closest to her and undoes the safety belt of the high chair.
"Indeed," Tony agrees copying Pepper's actions and as he picks up the toddler he spins the baby around with a very dramatized swoosh and he feels his heart warm at the sound of the endless giggles that follow.
"Tony Stark, playboy extraordinaire turned devoted father—who would have thought?" Pepper teases as she turns with the other identical twin in her arms as they move toward the doorway out of the kitchen. Pepper places a gentle kiss on the jet black hair of the child in her arms before placing another one on the other in Tony's arms.
Later on that same day it is Pepper's turn to take a shower why Tony is responsible for putting the pair down for their nap and it is not going so well. They are standing in their matching beds staring across the room at him with their young piercing eyes.
Nap time has never been Tony's forte.
Tony dims the lights and looks back at the children whom look back at him with matching gazes as they babble away in their own secret baby language. He furrows his eyebrows and takes a deep breath surprised at his feeling of inferiority when it comes to his children who are freshly bathed.
"So—nap time?" He smiles raising his thumbs up to the identical faces.
They stop their babbling but just stare at him.
Tony feels his skin begin to crawl as he tries to figure out what he should do. Pepper knows he hates nap time, but she insisted that he must learn how to put them down sometime.
"Jarvis?" Tony asks the room and quickly gets a response from the familiar accented AI. "Yes, sir?"
"Could you tell me the best way put these two down for their nap?"
"Miss Potts usually rocks them in the Lazy Boy and sings."
Tony purses his lips, "She sings?"
"Yes, sir."
He pads his way across the room and takes both of the twins into each of his arms before gently lowering himself into the chair. He begins to rock slowly still feeling the eyes of the relaxing 'little creatures' in his arms.
"I will rock you but don't expect singing." Tony says to the two without really expecting an answer, but he still responds to what he interprets as incredulous gazes, "Don't look at me like that!"
He must be going mad as he feels almost guilty.
"You two look so much like your mother," He whispers as he rocks gently and he notices as the both relax against him and the plush chair. "And my mother."
Then the room falls into a comfortable silence for awhile but no matter how long he rocked they still wouldn't drift off to sleep. No matter how tired he knew they were.
"Fine," Tony drawls exasperated, "I will sing."
He thinks for a long moment about what to sing and his mind drifts back to a familiar and almost cliché melody that his mother would always sing…
"Hush little Maria don't say a word, daddy's going to buy you a mocking bird and Annie if that bird don't sing…" Tony begins to sing in a low voice and he is surprised to watch the almost hypnotic effect it has on his two little girls.
Two little girls named after two mothers who were taken away from their children too soon.
Maria Stark and Anna Potts.
As the two drift to sleep and snore ever so slightly, Tony chuckles softly at the memory of pink pastel icing that had covered their bodies earlier that very evening…
I know not my best work, but fingers are a bit rusty because of my absence. Sorry for any mistakes. /:
So I definitely thought twin girls would be cute and I got the story idea once again from real life. When I turned one my parents (when they were still married) got me a little Cookie Monster cake and well like the story I got dark blue icing everywhere except on legs because my dog, Buffy, was always good at keeping me clean. (: Mom, still embarrasses me with the photographs every chance she gets.
Any of you have an interesting early childhood story you want to share?
Reviews are always appreciated.