Tony let out a quiet tired sigh, running the back of his hand over his brow, wiping away the sweat as the heat of his lab finally got to him and he sat down the sweltering tool, turning to look as the feeling of being watched overcame him and his eyebrows furrowed as he saw his four year old daughter stretching upwards to try and reach the control panel to open the door but was obviously far too short. He smirked in amusement and turned back, deciding to ignore her, cause she couldn't get in so she'd get fed up eventually and head back upstairs to be Pepper's problem again. And because he turned his back he didn't realize her going back upstairs, as he'd planned in just a few minutes, but then coming back down with the step she used to reach things that were too high up for her. The stool had been his idea, he'd gotten tired of having to reach stuff down for her, so he'd just made a quick little one, sturdy enough to not fall over under her weight and was light enough for her to carry around with her. Pepper hadn't been happy about it, spouting out a whole load of worries about her getting into something she shouldn't, or picking up something dangerous, but to be fair Holly had been able to do that without the stool, he'd never forget the day he walked in after leaving her for a few seconds in the lab to find the counter next to her on fire and the small child was just giggling. He was convinced he'd somehow managed to spawn Satan but Pepper had just made a remark about her being his child and about how they should have seen it coming anyway, and that there was why Pepper didn't want her having a step. But she may have been the boss of Holly, and maybe him but he wouldn't ever admit it, despite going along with everything he was told to, and about everything to do with Holly, because clearly he knew very little about children but he thought the stool was a good idea, so he'd done it anyway, and had given her it when his wife wasn't home, then proceeded to change the code of the lab door so when Pepper came in and found Holly with it, he could hide well, that was, until JARVIS betrayed him.
Holly sat the step down right next to the glass and climbed up onto it, reaching up to enter the code, little hand prints all over the nice clean glass. His head snapped up in surprise at the beep of the door opening and he turned, peering round the workbenches to see his infant daughter crawling across the floor, an excited grin on her face, obviously not realizing that he knew she was there. He gave her a moment as he walked round, his footsteps falling silently while her's managed to find creaks in non-wooden flooring, then coughed and spoke in a serious tone "you'd make an awful spy" his daughter tensed the smile falling away and her eyes widened, and immediate and terribly convincing though obviously fake since he'd seen it a billion times already puppy dog look falling across her face as she turned to look to him and he rolled his eyes, walking towards her and let out a soft exaggerated grunt of effort as he lifted her onto her feet. "Come on" it put a smile on her face and he raised an eyebrow "weren't you supposed to be in bed like an hour ago? Pretty sure that's what your mom said"
She just shrugged "not tired" she told him simply and he opened his mouth to protest before sighing, lifting her to stand on the work bench next to him, holding her still.
"Fair enough, you wanna stay down here till you get sleepy?"
She broke out in a wide grin, eyes lighting up at the prospect of being allowed to stay up later that her bed time "really?"
She sounded so hopeful that he almost felt bad about smiling and ruffling her hair and copying her hopeful tone to say "no" then the smile fell away as did the tone as he put her back on the ground "back to bed, go, now, before your mother kills me" she frowned grumpily, crossing her arms and stomped her foot(a temper she got from Pepper, as much as she denied it) and he rolled his eyes, pushing her head lightly to move her to the door "now that's real attractive" he muttered sarcastically "go, now". She fixed an angry look on him and he tilted his head with a 'try me' look "you get more like your mom every day, unfortunate that"
"I'm gonna tell Mommy you said that"
He rolled his eyes again and smirked "and you can tell her that when you also tell her that you're not in bed, okay?" she glared, leaning towards him with an angry squeak.
"I'll do that, try me"
He crouched to her level, his own mock glare given right back at her "I'm bigger than you, your mom's gonna be mad at both of us but I can run away"
"It's Mommy!" she snapped quickly and he raised an eyebrow.
"No it's- she's not my mother, I don't have to call her mom or mommy, I do that as to not confuse your tiny brain" her poked her forehead softly and a deep confusion fell across her small face.
"What? But… she tells you what to do, isn't that what mommy's do?" she sounded a little upset and confused and her words brought his thoughts rushing, his own eyebrows furrowing as he found truth in her words and he opened his mouth to retort only to close it again, trying another three times before he replied quickly.
"That subject's taboo, go to bed" he pointed to the door and her head tilted again.
"What's taboo mean?"
Pepper then decided to grace them with her presence and her eyes narrowed angrily seeing the child awake and standing in front of him and he let out a quiet "oh no" as he got back to his full height just as she opened the door.
"What is she doing up?" both he and Holly replied at the same time.
"She couldn't sleep"
"He let me stay up" He fixed a glare on his only child and she fixed her own smug one back up at him before he turned to Pepper again, pointing to Holly "she's lying to get me into trouble".
"You're just as childish as she is, dear god Tony. Holly, go to bed, now" her voice was firm and the small girl nodded, walking briskly out the door and up the stairs, bringing her step with her and as soon as she was gone Pepper continued. "God, why do I always have to be the bad guy Tony?"
"I tried! She doesn't listen to me! I don't scare- ah, ah, no, she uh" as the fury on Pepper's face grew he took a few unsure steps back "I'm sorry?" it was a weak attempt "she snuck in! I was trying to get her to leave"
"Be firm, she's four! And she's your daughter"
"She's evil! And manipulative, which, I'm sorry to say she gets from you"
"She's four and she managed to get into your lab by herself, that me too?"
He just shrugged "well, you do always come in here uninvited" he tried to joke but of course it was gonna come full circle and bite him in the ass as her eyes narrowed again.
"I don't need to be invited Tony, I own half of this" she pointed around the room "you may use all this but I keep it running"
"Actually, JARVIS does that, and I built JARVIS so…"
"Uh, uh no, maybe JARVIS does a lot of stuff like heating and defense, but he does not keep you from falling on your ass every day"
"Well, the other day he stopped me from tripping, does that count?" she growled angrily but before she could actually kill him their daughter's voice rang out from the top of the stairs and he sent a silent thank you to her.
"Moooooommmmmyyyy!" Pepper sighed heavily and called back, trying not to appear as angry as she was.
"Yeah honey?"
"I spilt milk in my bed!" Pepper's eyes closed over and she seemed to be mentally counting to ten before she sighed heavily and called up again.
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute" she started towards the door and pointed to him angrily "this is your damn fault, that damn stool was your idea, it's on you" he slumped against his workbench in relief once she'd disappeared, thanking his daughter again for her clumsiness, this time a little more sarcastically. He loved Pepper, course he did and he didn't blame her for wanting to strange him day in day out, but she was terrifying, it was little wonder really that she was the bad guy. He glanced to the stairs behind the glass and gave it give minutes before he made his way upstairs, peering out and saw his daughter, sat on her stool with a bored look, her elbows on her knees and her cheeks smooshed under her palms and he sighed, walking towards her.
"You have the gall to look bored, get up" a momentary anger took him, maybe it was cause she'd snuck in, maybe it was because she was being a brat, especially towards him, maybe it was her lack of respect, or maybe it was just Pepper radiating her anger onto him, but he gripped her arm and yanked her up and harshly as he dated, the other hand reaching down to pick up the step before he dropped her arm and made his way out towards the balcony and Holly followed, eyebrows furrowed.
"Daddy? What are you doing? Daddy? Daddy!" he ignored her, getting a firm grip of the step, stopped at the edge of the balcony, moving his arm back before tossing it forward with all his might and letting the step go, watching as it disappeared into the wild blue and white water below. And he turned just in time to see the traumatized shock on Holly's face, her mouth opened and her eyes wide as she stared at the spot the step had disappeared into before she turned, fury alighting on her face as she began throwing punches and kicks that actually kind of hurt as she screamed at him. "How could you!? How could you?! That was my step! Mine! Now I'm gonna have to go get that and I'm probably gonna die and then Mommy'll be so super mad at you! Cause it'll be all your fault!" he leaped to stop her as she tried to pull herself up over the balcony edge and dragged her inside, kicking and screaming.
"Holly!" he snapped angrily "your mom hates that step, and I hate the grief I get for it, you'll have to live with it, get used to asking for stuff, and you shouldn't come into my lab without either of us knowing, you'll get hurt so if I see you in there again I will ground you alright? And I'll keep you in your room, I control JARVIS, now go, go to your damn bed, right now!" the girl blinked, fear on her face cause she wasn't used to him yelling at her, he never lost his cool, that was Pepper. She just stared at him and when he didn't back down and apologize and grovel she turned and fled back towards her room, a loud wail leaving her and the anger faded into surprise and guilt. "Ah shit" he pinched the bridge of his nose, slowly making his way down the hall after her only to stop as Pepper came out, milk stained sheets in her arms and a frown on her face.
"What was all that about? You yelled at her "
He threw his arms out in exasperation "what do you want me to do Pepper? I get in trouble for being too lenient and then for yelling as well, I don't have a happy medium"
There was silence for a few minutes before Pepper sighed heavily and shifted the sheets in her arms "she's crying, first things first you're gonna go apologize, you're the favorite and I doubt you want her to continue to be terrified of you, or let her hold it over you, though she'll do that anyway. What did you do?"
"I… I uh… tossed the step off the balcony" his wife's eyes widened in shock and she tossed a pillow case at him.
"What did you do that for?"
"You said you hated it! And you're right, it's a pain in the ass, she'll learn better this way!"
"Look, just stop getting yourself so worked up about being an authoritive figure, that ship's sailed, I'm the man of the house so to speak Tony, just…"
"Pep, I suck at this, I can't even get her to take me seriously, I have to go to these kind of lengths just to get her to understand that I'm deathly serious otherwise she laughs in my face. It's not like I want you to be the bad guy all the time, but she doesn't respect me enough to do what I tell her to do"
"Tony, listen to me very carefully here, that little girl loves you with all her heart, I'm fine being the bad guy sometimes and you scared her, go and apologize, it's not like you ever listen to anyone, now you know how the rest of us feel, go" she reached down to pick up the pillow case "go be super dad again"
He grinned, leaning over to give her a kiss "thanks Pep" then hurried down the hallway, stopping behind his daughter's room door and winced at the hiccupping sniffling cries his daughter was making and stepped forward the door sliding open so he could step inside "Holly? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, or throw your step off the balcony, I'll make you a new one, I promise, i… I love you okay? Please don't cry" the child looked up at him, pouting sadly, tears sliding down her little cheeks and he looked physically pained at the fact that they were there and he dropped down next to her own the bed, reached to wipe them away but she looked hesitant, even moving back slightly when he got to close and he sighed "I'm sorry, please don't hate me" the next time he tried she let him get the tears from her cheeks before he reached for one of the tissues in the box on the dresser drawers and helped her blow her nose, something that made him wanna puke but he soldiered through it for one, quickly disposing of the tissue in the trash can at the bottom of the bed then brought her into a hug "I'm sorry"
The girl sniffled again quietly and turned, arms slipping around his waist to hug him and pressed her face into his stomach and he heard her murmur quietly, something that made him laugh because he'd expected this of her "you have to build me one of your cool suits now, to make it up to me"