I: "Appear"

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"You've got to be kidding me," Anthony Stark groaned, leaning on the elevator walls. "You're not kidding, are you, JARVIS?"

JARVIS, Tony's AI (he had built it himself and everything) spoke almost sympathetically (you know, if he could feel emotions and stuff). "Unfortunately not, sir," he replied. "Mr. and Mrs. Stark have left for the summer to go on a holiday in the Bahamas. As such, they will not be back until after you have returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

"And Pep?"

"Miss Potts has left a message for you," JARVIS said. "It would appear she has a new internship outside of California. I have sent a message to a local florist, requesting a bouquet of flowers to be sent to her directly, congratulating her on your behalf."

"Thanks, JARV; you're a life-saver." He made an annoyed noise. "Now what am I supposed to do for the summer? Are Rhodey and Happy—?"

"Mr. Rhodes has joined the air force and is undergoing extensive training and Mr. Hogan is out-of-state with his family," JARVIS continued.

The elevator doors opened and Tony found himself in an empty building. His father's mansion. He entered the living room and flopped on the couch. Usually his father wouldn't allow JARVIS be around much (Tony was limited to speak to him only in private [basically just his room] because Howard didn't believe that he could keep all the 'Stark Secrets' [did they even have any secrets? Well, Tony wouldn't know about them, Howard obviously didn't trust him enough to let him know about them] and he, was, as Tony figured out, jealous that his son had created a working AI before he did) but there was no one to stop him now.

"So . . . you got any recommendations?"

"I imagine you will just spend your summer in your workshop," JARVIS said. "Though I would recommend you actually go outside."

"Of course you would. I don't like outside, JARVIS. Outside is scary. Outside is bad. Too much sunlight. Not good for my complexion. Plus there's nothing of interest for me out there, on earth, at all." He waved a hand. "I don't have any ideas."

"I believe you had started an idea focusing on this 'Iron Man' suit that you talk about so often," JARVIS offered. "Run by the power of your Arc Reactor, perhaps?"

The Arc Reactor. That was a funny story (that really wasn't funny) involving a terrorist group who had actually kidnapped him from school. They'd originally wanted to blackmail his dad into giving them money and weapons but as soon as they'd realised that he was just as smart (or smarter) as him, they decided it would be far easier to torture him because A) they already had him B) he was younger and could make weapons for longer and C) he probably had a low-pain threshold (which would be right). At some point (all the days had melted into each other and he couldn't remember all of what happened and he didn't know if he wanted to) something had exploded and people had dug around in his chest and he ended up with a fucking magnet in his heart, powered by a car battery. Once he got home (because his best friend Rhodey somehow found him), he fixed it up and now he's got himself a magnet powered by Arc Reactor technology (and his dad is super-jealous but, then again, he did help Tony synthesise a new material so that the Arc Reactor didn't poison his bloodstream with palladium [long story] so maybe he should give the old man some props).

And the "Iron Man" suit. That was a whole new level. It was a whole suit of armour (run on the Arc Reactor technology also) that could fly and had weapons attached to it and was just awesome. Tony would never admit it out loud, but he had always, sort of, wanted to be a superhero. And Iron Man was his chance to do that. As soon as everything was sorted properly and he was certain his father wasn't going to take it from him and steal the tech (which wouldn't be the first time but that was a press conference for another day) he was going to come out as, you know, a superhero.

"Sir?"

"Hm?" Tony lifted his eyes, which had drifted to the blank TV screen whilst he thought, to the roof (despite JARVIS not having a physical presence, Tony always looked towards the roof or the nearest computer when he paid attention to him). "What was that, JARVIS?"

"I suggested that you go for a walk, sir," JARVIS said. "If you are going to spend the rest your break in the workshop, you may as well get some fresh air now. Vitamin D so that you don't get rickets."

"Right. Okay. Whatever. Thanks, JARVIS. I'll be back soon. Look after the house." Because, on most occasions, if JARVIS wanted him to do something, Tony usually ended up doing it sooner or later.

"Always, sir."


a/n: this idea came from a prompt on avengerkink. if I didn't make it clear then all of the Avengers are about teenage-age. think about 15-18 somewhere. I imagine Tony about 17/18.

there'll probably be lots of possible ships and tension. if you have a preferred ship, just call it out and I'll probably put it in (but my soul lies with Stony or Captain Hammer [ehehe, Thor and Steve are adorbs], Angry Birds/Hulkeye [ehehehe], etcetera. but whatever floats your boat [/ship] just call it and I'll put something (it might not be shippy, just friendship) in.

I have lots of the chapters done so far, but all of them are pretty short (think: shorter than this ehehehe). the plot is sort of wavering and you might not see any action for . . . well, I'll let you know when I write it. )

smokyMACE

xxx