Hello. I'm back with a new story.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Thanks to NeverNik. Who helped me with this chapter and was kind to me.
Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is intended. Disclaimer: I don´t own Iron man.
A hug, have a good day
You make me smile.
You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed, sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head, spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Oh, you make me smile
One: The new girl and the little cave man.
Mr. Stark knows several things about his son.
At five years old he has an intelligence that surpasses that of his own companions. Even that of many of the adults Howard works with.
He's clever, spoiled, and tends to get away with it.
He's naughty, passionate about activities that get his attention, a ball of walking energy, and an emotional child, too emotional at times.
But what Howard's sure he isn't, is a bully, abuser or aggressor. As they call it these days.
So when Director's office, of the Institute that his son attends calls to arrange a meeting, Howard is slightly puzzled.
Especially because they mention that Anthony Edward Stark, is a bully.
He hurt another child during a class.
The school has its policy, which is why it's unacceptable.
"Mr. and Mrs. Stark, thank you for coming with so little notice," a voice greeted at the door.
Howard and María turn their heads to observe a thirty-five-year-old woman, with brown hair in a tailored uniform. It's Mrs. Evans, the director of the Institution.
Who kindly comes to shake hands with both parents, then crosses the room to sit in the chair on the other side of the mahogany desk.
It's María Stark who starts. "We would like to know why you've called us here."
The Director nods her head. Her hands align perfectly with the papers on her desk. "Well, actually, we've had problems with Tony."
"What kind of problems?" Again it's Mrs. Stark who speaks.
The Director's lips form a thin line. "Of aggression."
"Of aggression." Howard Stark repeats with skepticism, throwing a confused look at his wife. They've never raised their child to be violent. They don't even talk about the subject at home.
"Yes," Mrs. Evans confirms. "Tony has hurt one of his companions."
At this, María and Howard raise their eyebrows.
Tony, with his young age, has learned to deduce his companions naturally; can hurt their feelings with his harsh words. But it's a fact that this only happens when he's threatened, mocked by others. It's a defense mechanism.
A mechanism in defense of his early intelligence.
María immediately jumps to her son's defense, saying. "Clearly, this is a mistake!; I'm sure this child must have provoked my son in some way."
"Oh no. Miss Mills, Tony's teacher, witnessed the whole incident," the principal assures her.
"What did Anthony say?" Howard asks.
"He refused to say a word about the incident."
Howard says something unintelligible, moving his head vigorously. María intervenes before her husband speaks again. "Since this is the first time this type of incident has happened, we ask that you not be so rigorous with your punishment," She continues after a pause. "I assure you that we will take care of imposing just punishment for our son..."
"Actually, it's the third time it's happened," Mrs. Evans interrupts while watching María closely. "Ms. Mills spoke with Tony on the first two occasions, when the incidents occured."
María opens her mouth in amazement.
"However, given that the situation persists, I decided to call you in. Our Institution is recognized by its anti-abuse policy, so we do not tolerate this type of behavior."
"And what, specifically, did Anthony do?" it's Howard who asks. "Did he hit the boy?"
María anxiously awaits her response. Mrs. Evans doesn't make them wait long.
"He pulled her hair, destroying her hairstyle. It's the second time he's pushed his companion..."
But she doesn't manage to finish.
"His companion', are we talking about a girl?" Howard huffs even more incredulously.
Mrs. Evans nods. "Virginia Potts, known as Pepper by all her classmates."
María frowns. "I hadn't heard of her; Is she a new girl?"
"She is. It's her third week."
After considering her answer for a few seconds, María says "How do we know that it isn't she who incites this behavior in my son?"
Mrs. Evans sighs. She runs her hands through her perfectly combed hair.
"I have had the pleasure of talking with her several times. She's a very intelligent girl; I would call her brilliant," she pauses. "She moved from Chicago with her father two months ago, after her mother lost the battle she faced against cancer for three years." Her lips form a grimace. "This has made her shy and introverted, especially frail, so no, Mrs. Stark, it wasn't she who incited your son's behavior, especially since at no time did they speak."
Howard's face falls momentarily. María finds herself speechless, and allows herself to agree.
"Tony will be suspended for three days. I suggest that you talk to him in detail."
…
The legs of the child with beautiful brown eyes bounce uncontrollably. One of his hands repeatedly touches his knee, while the other runs nervously through his messy hair. He knows he'll be in trouble.
In a lot of trouble, when his parents come home.
Nervously, he remembers.
Tony Stark stood up with a confident movement of his chair. There's a confident smile on his face as he moved to the blackboard.
Ms. Mills took a step away, letting him sees the problem on the board.
An addition. Too easy! he said to himself. Mathematics is his forte, he's used to solving complex equations with his mother, so a small problem of a single figure is a piece of cake for him.
Tony smiled broadly as he took the chalk between his fingers.
And that was when Pepper Potts decided to appear. "Sorry I'm late, Miss Mills." Her voice was a soft whisper from the door.
Her gaze rested on the ground while she moved her hands nervously. Her dress is white with little bees on it. Her red hair is collected into two pigtails with matching bees, as well.
Tony's eyes get got bigger when the little girl looked up, being hypnotized; He'd never seen someone as cute as Pepper before. Her blue eyes shione, she had a nervous smile and rosy cheeks. Her fists gripped the straps of her backpack.
Tony swallowed, trying to keep the chalk in his hands. When his eyes landed on her freckled cheeks, his own face became hot.
Miss Mills said something, but Tony can't remember what. His mind is blank. He doesn't know why, either.
Then Pepper tilted her head and smiled. Tony's cheeks reddened even more.
The sound of the scoreboard against the ground and the laughter around him brought him back to reality.
He looked at his companions, at Pepper, at the teacher and finally at the blackboard.
Suddenly Tony started to panic. The problem, he's done it wrong.
"Ooohhh! The child genius was wrong!" One of his companions made fun.
"For looking at Pepper."
Tony almost ignored the comment, but then Pepper's eyes turned sad, approaching him.
The laughter, and teasing continued. Tony looked at everyone equally. When the little hand of the girl touched his shoulder, his ears resonated, his heart beat fast and his face felt even hotter.
He hated her, hated her smile, her bee dress and her sad look.
She was about to touch him again, when the chestnut boy pushed her to the ground. "Don't touch me!" he yelled at her.
"Ohhh!" resounds in the room.
Tony's eyes opened wider when he saw the girl fall with her eyes full of tears.
Her smile faded when Tony stopped looking at her.
That was how he ended up in the director's office.
María and Howard find him sitting in the living room, playing casually with his hands.
"Are you well, Anthony?" asks his mother with concern as Howard drags a chair over and sits on it.
He responds quickly. "I'm fine, Mum."
María hums without deciding whether to believe him or not. "You want to tell me what happened?"
Tony raises his hands, rejecting the question.
But she isn't having any of that. If Tony doesn't want to talk, she doesn't care. She wants explanations, and she wants them now.
"What did you do?; Why did you behave that way?" Her voice is hard. Howard grimaces.
Tony doesn't say a word. His fingers drum on his pants.
It's Howard who tries again. He almost smiles, reminding Tony of the routine of the good cop, bad cop, on that TV show he likes. "You'll be punished for three days. That doesn't only apply to school, but here, as well. Zero games, TV, and visits. You will remain locked in your room..."
Tony frowns. "Even if it's her fault?"
He doesn't say it, but María knows he means Pepper.
"What?"
He raises his eyebrows in a childish pout when he says. "Her fault."
"Why is that, Anthony?" Howard inquires.
Tony looks at him carefully, then whispers. "I can't think. "
His mother sits next to him on the couch, gently taking his hands. "Why is that, darling?"
"In the playground when she stops and looks at me.," Tony begins. "I can't think." He pouts again. "I can't think of anything else."
His mother smiles knowingly. Howard's face has endless emotions written all over it.
"So you pushed her," his father concludes.
Tony looks embarrassed, but nods anyway.
That explains the situation. Her son, her little boy, has a crush.
Oh! Not just any crush. His first crush.
He's so enchanted with the girl that his brain is unable to stop to speak, so Tony doesn't react to it.
So he does what is the easiest to do, reject the unknown.
María smiles while Howard's voice continues with the interrogation. "You pulled her hair, damaging her hairstyle, son. Why?"
Tony snorts. "James Robert and his friends make fun of her because of her pigtails," he complains, visibly upset. "I'm doing her a favor!" he assures, without losing his excuse.
"Of course!" his father makes fun.
"What about the ties?"
Tony sighs, frowns and glances at his father, who keeps an interrogative frown at his wife's words, clearly missing something.
"She carries them all the time." His voice is low. "Those ugly ties of colors. When the sun passes through them, the reflection falls on my notebook, making a rainbow."
"It's not pretty?" Howard inquires with curiosity.
"I suppose," he says under his breath with a shrug. "But it distracts me and doesn't let me think, so I took them off her."
"Tony!"
"She's in front of me in all classes." He excuses himself quickly.
María doesn't buy it. There is something else her son isn't saying. She lets go of her hands and crosses her arms. Giving him what both father and son describe as The look.
Tony sighs in defeat. "Her hair is pretty… when it's loose." His face warms at the admission. "It smells like flowers. I like it." Again he is ashamed.
María smiles broadly.
Howard rolls his eyes, but after a few seconds he also smiles.
Two incidents down, one incident remains to be told. "What happened this time?"
"I hate her," he declares quickly, changing the environment. María turns to him with her eyes open wide. Wow!
"She distracted me again, she made me make a mistake.," he complains, crossing his arms.
His father gives him another curious look. Although his son has an intelligence that exceeds the average, it is known that he doesn't tend to get easily distracted, at least with respect to the numbers and activities in which he focuses deeply.
He encourages Tony to continue.
"I was at the blackboard doing a maths exercise, an addition, in Miss Mills's class..." his lip trembles." "But Pepper spoke, and... and... she was wearing that horrible bee dress." His lips move from one side to another. "I got distracted," he manages to say. "I did the exercise badly. Everyone made fun of me. "
Howard gives him a serious look.
"I pushed her again," he confesses, lowering his head. His heart tightens when he remembers the tearful eyes of the little brunette girl.
His mother tenderly raises his face with his hands. Kisses both cheeks and smiles. "What do you think, if instead of pushing her when she smiles at you, you smile at her in return?"
The little chestnut boy thinks for a moment.
His eyebrows are knitted together. He isn't convinced by what Howard adds. "She wouldn't be able to think either. You would balance things out in some way."
His eyes open with surprise.
"And instead of pulling her hair, you could kindly ask her to leave it loose, at least when she sits in front of you," adds María.
"That would do!" Tony declares triumphantly.
María hugs him, telling him how much he loves him, and scolds him too sweetly, if you ask Howard, about his treatment of Pepper. She assures him that he must apologize to her, at which Tony reluctantly agrees to kiss her mother's cheek and embrace her again.
When he walks away, leaving them alone in the room, Howard sighs. "You realize that our son is a little caveman."
María laughs. "Then it's better not to mention how you pulled my hair when we studied together." Her husband lets out a laugh.
He's ashamed of the memory of their school days. He, approaches and kisses her with affection.
"It must be a thing. A family thing."
….
Tony runs to his room. Colored papers flicker in the wind as the little boy's eyes fall heavily on one. A red paper, like the color of her hair.
I'm sorry.
I didn't want to push you.
I didn't want to pull your hair.
Anthony Edward Stark.
PS: I like your hair.
Like you dressed as bees and your pigtails.
Jarvis writes it down, the old butler with a smile at the child's words.
Attached to the letter is a drawing of a smiling redhead girl with a dress of bees and another brown child taking her hand. Made by Tony.
Jarvis doesn't say anything, just smiles at the gesture.
Weeks later.
It happens almost immediately, María can realize it.
Tony smiles a lot more. He speaks effusively of the brunette constantly.
He's in essence much happier, so when the little boy breaks into her kitchen crying, María worries automatically.
"It hurts," says the little boy.
María turns around quickly, dropping the kitchen towel on the table.
"It hurts a lot, Mum." His voice seems broken, as if he's lost something very dear to him. María's heart shrinks when she hears his voice all choked up.
María goes to him carefully. "Tony." Her eyes fill with concern as she sees her son's face, completely red.
He doesn't respond, and instead, pushes himself backward. His face flushes as it transforms into the most painful expression of hurt that María has ever seen in a child.
"What hurts, my boy?" she asks in anguish, looking over his body for possible injuries that could cause him pain.
His lip trembles slightly twice before he is able to respond. More tears cascade from his eyes. "My heart, Mummy. It hurts a lot."
María goes from panic to terror in a second with that statement.
However, she tells herself that she must calm down so she can help him.
She was on the phone to call Emergency when her son speaks again.
"Mike said it." She doesn't understand,.
Tony fights against the tears that run down his face.
"What, who told you that, my boy?" María asks softly as she caresses his back slowly with small soothing circles. His eyes are as red as his face, full of tears shed, his lips forming a straight line.
He's completely upset. She can see that now.
It's a reaction that she hasn't had the opportunity to witness for some time. Not since he was two years old.
His son is spoiled, and he likes to get away with it many times, if not all, but she has never witnessed this level of anguish before.
It's disconcerting.
"James and Pepper are getting married."
Understanding takes over María's face.
His son adores James; he's been his only friend from the moment they moved to the city. His accomplice, and his companion of adventures, it's natural that the little boy feels jealousy, even feels displaced or hurt before the hypothetical loss of his friend.
"You won't lose James." She hugs him against her chest, feeling him tense at her touch. "He will always be your friend, even if he marries Pepper," she says in a reassuring voice.
"But I don't want them to get married!" he lets out between sobs. Tears continue to run freely, soaking his shirt in the process.
"I don't think that will happen for many years, my boy."
"But I don't want it, Mum, it hurts." Her little son sobs uncontrollably.
She rushes calm him down, whispers reassuring words, while kissing his hair again and again.
That seems to do the trick. "Anthony, it's okay, breathe baby!" she says with sweetness. "Look at me." She kisses his forehead and he gives her a watery smile. "You will be friends for a long time. I am completely sure that you will continue to be, even if they do get married," she affirms him in a calm voice, slowly. "You don't have to feel sad."
Tony gives her a cold look. His lip forms an angry pout. His arms cross over his chest. He won't cry again; she's safe.
"But I want Pepper to marry me!"
"Oh!".
The understanding slams into her like a bucket of cold water.
Good.
That's another thing.
"My baby boy, it's a long time before that can happen. It's a decision that two adults make, and it's something that Pepper must think pretty hard about, too," she pauses. "Years for that," she insists.
He grimaces. His mother chuckles.
"Mum?" His quieter voice calls her.
"Yes, darling?"
"So Pepper isn't going to marry James today?" he asks with his eyes lit.
María shakes her head.
His bright blue eyes widen, his whole body stiffens and his mouth forms an 'o'. After thinking about it, he speaks hopefully. "I still have my chance."
María laughs, nodding.
"You still have it, my little caveman of love."
This time, the note written by Jarvis is on a yellow paper, like the color of the bees on her clothes.
Pepper, don't marry James.
It's a long time before that can happen, and it's a decision that only adults take.
It's something that you must think about pretty hard.
Anthony Edward Stark
PS: I still like your hair a lot.
Like you dressed as bees and your pigtails.
If María goes through his room, she will find a love letter for a five-year-old girl with the words she recited to her son.
María says nothing, only allows herself to smile at the gesture.
TBC... More to come.
Note: The letter of the beginning corresponds to the song: Smile. From Uncle Kracker. It's something old, but I like it a lot. Especially with this chapter.
I hope you are with me in this story. There is a fun trip to tell.
If you take the time to read, please take time to comment.
Feel free to let me know what you think. Questions, suggestions, opinions, anything goes.
Kisses and hugs.