They were called adoption parties but Steve didn't understand why if no one actually got adopted that day- and nobody ever got adopted on the day of the adoption parties. They got found, claimed, discovered, whatever you wanted to call it, but no one got adopted. This was Steve's fifth party and Tony had complained the entire way there, up until they had arrived, entered, and been surrounded and ultimately separated by children. That was two hours ago.
Tony, for his part, had peeled away from his husband as soon as he could, letting the children surround him like the child magnet he was and finding a nice quiet corner away from the mess. Tony knew what they were looking for in a child- or more importantly what Steve was looking for because Tony was still convinced he was going to be a horrible father. But he loved Steve and Steve would be a great dad. Steve wanted an older boy, one of the kids that were more difficult to adopt because Steve was a softy and would adopt anything that moved. Tony wanted Steve to be happy, so he humored him and went along to each meeting but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.
The spot he had found was quiet and it took Tony almost ten minutes to realize he was sitting next to a little girl who was silently drawing with a purple crayon.
"Hello," said Tony, a bit uncertain as to what to do. "What are you drawing?"
The girl glanced at Tony, bright purple eyes peaking up at him through soft red hair, before quickly looking down again, ignoring the billionaire.
"I'm Tony," said Tony, trying again. "What's your name?"
Again, the girl said nothing just continued to draw on the paper.
"So I guess you hate these parties just as much as I do," said Tony, looking away from the girl and around the room where other children and adults were playing, laughing, and talking. "I'm only here because my husband wants a child. Don't get me wrong, kids are great and all, but I'd be a shit parent. Damn! Steve said no cursing in front of kids. See? I don't even have a kid yet and I'm already screwing up."
The girl continued to color.
"Anyway," said Tony, leaning back against the wall more comfortably. "Steve wants a boy about nine or ten years old. He's found several that he likes but they get adopted before he can make his move. It's like a curse he has or something. Me, I can't even take care of myself properly. I have some bots at home, they're a bit like having kids I guess but they're dead useless. Dummy can't even make a proper smoothie."
The girl set her picture in Tony's lap and looked up at him with her peculiar purple eyes.
"Is this for me?" asked Tony, confused as he looked at the crude drawing of a robot and what could have been a blanket but was probably a larger robot, and a very large duck.
The girl just blinked up at him.
"Well, um, thanks," said Tony. "It's very nice. Steve draws. He's really good at it. Like, brilliant, I keep telling him he could be an artist if this super hero thing ever fall through. Not that this picture isn't nice as well. It's good. See? This is why I shouldn't be a father, I don't know how to talk to children."
The girl turned her head to the side in a questioning manner that looked funny on someone so small, then reached over, picked up an old broken robot toy and put it in Tony's lap as well. Then she looked up at him expectantly.
"So, you like robots?" said Tony slowly, trying to piece together what the kid meant and finally understanding why Steve would want to skip this not talking phase and go right for the kids who can communicate properly.
The child rolled her eyes at him and pointed to the robot and back to Tony.
"You want me to play with a broken robot?"
The girl shook her head.
"You want me to…fix your broken robot?"
Finally, a nod. The girl looked at him and waited patiently.
"Why not?" sighed Tony. "I've got nothing else to do and Steve's bound to take forever getting to know the kids. Let's have a look."
The girl got up and ran out of the room only to return shortly with an armful of a tiny box that held old tools, wires, screws and other bits and ends she had collected.
"Not much to work with, kiddo," said Tony gravely as the girl immediately handed him a screwdriver to take out the back side of the robot. "But you're a smart kid. Thank you very much. Now, see this bit?"
They spent the next hour working on the robot, Tony telling the girl everything he was doing, showing her different parts and what they did, the girl in turn listening intensely and absorbing everything he told her. Sometimes she would point to things in question and he would tell her what it was, something he told her what to do and let her fix a bit. By the time Steve came over, the two were lost in their own world of mechanics, Tony talking and helping her hold the much too large screw driver in her tiny hand while together they screwed the back on to the robot.
"Well kid, I think that about does it, don't you?" said Tony with a smile.
The girl nodded eagerly up at him with a grin, still having remained silent, and pushed the button on the front to turn it on.
"Good morning," said the robot in a mechanical voice, eyes lighting up.
The girl threw herself at Tony, wrapping her short arms as much around his waist as she could, which wasn't very far but Tony returned the hug enthusiastically.
"Looks like you've been busy," said Steve with a grin, crouching down next to his husband to inspect the robot.
"Hey Ducky," said Tony to the little girl. He had been calling her that for a while since she had drawn him such a large duck and he didn't know her name. "This is Steve. I told you about him, remember?"
The girl nodded and smiled shyly up at Steve, half hiding behind Tony.
"Hello," said Steve, smiling kindly. "Thank you for putting up with my husband, I know he can be a handful."
The girl quickly ducked fully behind Tony, small fist clinging to his shirt.
"It's alright, kid," said Tony, grinning down at the girl and rubbing her back soothingly. "Steve may look pretty big but he's a softy. Steve, you have to sit down if you want to hang out with us. You're too big crouching like that. You're scaring the poor kid."
"Sorry sweetheart," said Steve with a smile, sitting down next to his husband. "Are you ready to go?"
"No," said Tony, arm still around the girl but looking right at Steve. "I want this one."
"What?" said Steve, taken aback. Out of all of the times they had visited different homes, Tony had never shown a particular interest in any of the children, preferring to let Steve interact with them and trusting his judgment.
"I want this one," repeated Tony, pulling the girl a bit closer to make his point.
"I thought we talked about adopting an older boy," said Steve slowly.
"We can still do that but I want her too. I like her. She's mine. We've bonded, Steve."
"Tony, you made a robot together. That's not exactly a lifelong commitment move."
"Everything alright over here?" asked the woman in charge of this particular orphanage, a tall lady by the name of Mrs. Sunset.
"Yes," said Tony, putting on his most charming smile.
"Good," said Mrs. Sunset. "I spoke with your husband a little while ago, Mr. Stark, and he mentioned he was interested in coming in tomorrow for an interview with a few of the boys."
"That's great," said Tony, nodding along. "And I want this one."
Steve put his face in his hands, both amused and embarrassed by his husbands antics.
"Who?" said Mrs. Sunset, looking around in confusion until her face fell when she spotted the little girl who was trying her hardest to become one with Tony's side. "Oh, Emmaline? You don't want her. She's a mess."
"Why do you say that?" said Tony pleasantly, thought Steve could tell he was gearing up for battle; Tony didn't like people messing with what he considered his, which included his family and, apparently, this little girl.
"She doesn't talk," said Mrs. Sunset, her upbeat disposition morphing entirely into pure hatred for the tiny girl. "She's impossible to deal with. She doesn't respond, she's too small to be of any use – honestly the child is four years old but the size of a one year old- she looks like a freak, which is one of the main reasons why she's still here taking up space, ungrateful little thing. She has nightmares. Honestly, you'd be much happier with any of the other children. Mr. Rogers, the boys you want to interview are all lovely children. I would stick with them."
Steve and Tony exchanged a look that communicated more than most couples did during the course of their entire relationship.
"We'll be taking Emmaline home with us now," said Tony matter of factly. "You'll be hearing from my friends down in Child Services within the hour."
"You can't just take her," protested Mrs. Sunset. "That's kidnapping. There are procedures and papers that have to be filed first."
"If you look in your records, I believe you'll find all of that filled out," said Tony, thanking Coulson, JARVIS, and his friends in other adoption agencies for setting everything up just in case something like this happened. "You'll just have to sign off on the correct lines, which are highlighted for you. Agent will be here within the day to make sure it's all done and believe me, he is very good at paper work. Thank you so much for your time."
Tony stood up, pulling Emmaline into his arms where she hid her face against his neck. This close, he could feel her shaking and he did his best to cuddle her closer, whispering to her about how he was taking her home with him and all the cool robots he would show her when they got there.
"If you'll just show me where her things are, I'll pack them up and we will be set to leave," said Steve, glaring at Mrs. Sunset until she nodded meekly and asked him to follow her.
"We'll wait in the car," said Tony.
Emmaline didn't look up until several minutes after Tony got them settled in the car, sitting in the back seat together, Tony keeping up a steady stream of chatter that seemed to sooth the girl.
"There those pretty eyes are," said Tony with a soft smile, one usually reserved for Steve alone. "Is Mrs. Sunset always that rude?"
Emmaline shook her head but then paused, pointed at herself and nodded.
"She's just mean to you?" said Tony.
Again, Emmaline nodded.
Tony wanted to march back in and destroy that woman but he settled for comforting his…daughter. He had a daughter.
"You're going to love Steve," said Tony while Emmaline looked at him with her unwavering gaze. "I told you, I'm going to be an awful father but Steve will be fantastic. And we live in this huge tower with the other Avengers. They're okay, Clint's a bit of a bastard. Dammit! I've got to stop cussing."
Emmaline smiled at that, her eyes crinkling a bit as she did.
"Thor is around a lot," continued Tony. "He's large and loud and a secret cuddler. Natasha still scares the he-heck out of me - see, I'm learning – but she makes the best stew. Nothing else, she can't cook anything else, but she makes amazing stew."
"I borrowed a car seat," announced Steve, opening up the door. "You want to put her stuff in the trunk while I strap it in?"
"Sure," said Tony, getting out of the car, still holding Emmaline.
There was a small bag on the ground, one that couldn't hold more than two changes of clothes, certainly no toys, and the sight of it made Tony sick. Without a word, Tony tossed the bag into the trunk and went around to where Steve was just finished putting the car seat in properly.
"All set," announced Steve.
"Here we go, Ducky," said Tony, setting the kid in the seat and strapping her in.
Emmaline didn't protest, didn't squeak, but she didn't look thrilled either.
When the door was shut, Tony looked right at Steve.
"That's all she had?" said Tony softly.
"Yes," said Steve, anger flashing across his face. "Tony, that poor girl, you should have seen her room. It was a closet. A closet! The light didn't even work, no wonder she has nightmares. From what I gather, her mom was Sunset's friend or something and the woman hates her because the girl's alive and her mother's not or something like that."
Tony nodded sadly, seething under the surface and leaning into his husband's chest.
"I'm sorry to spring this on you," said Tony softly. "I know you wanted a son. We can still get one of those, I swear. I didn't even mean to, I was just sitting there and she was sitting there and there were crayons and robots and I love her Steve! She's mine and I love her and I'm buying that entire home if it means we get to keep her."
"Calm down, sweetheart," said Steve soothingly, rubbing his large hands up and down Tony's back. "You don't have to buy the place, Coulson will make sure Emmaline is ours forever and will put that woman out as well. He's good like that. You did well. I've never seen you so joyful than when you were teaching Emmaline how to fix the robot."
"The robot!" gasped Tony, pulling back.
"Relax," chuckled Steve, reaching over Tony's shoulder to take the robot off the top of the car where he had set it earlier.
"You're the best, Cap," said Tony, kissing Steve's cheek. "Now let's take our kid home."