The Kid Will Be Fine: Blaine-Anderson Stark Universe
By: Katerinaki
Published: May 4th, 2012
Beta'ed: No
Notes: This is another One-shot from the Blaine-Anderson Stark Verse on tumblr. It takes place in Westerville and Blaine is five-years-old. I apologize for mistakes, it's fairly rough.
It was Pepper's idea. It was always Pepper's idea. If it were up to Tony he would spend all his time in the lab fiddling around with missiles. But Pepper seemed to think it was important to "run the company". Tony kept trying to explain to her that that was Obadiah's job, but women, what can you do?
They were in Ohio for a Board inspection of one of their primary weapons manufacturing plants. Tony was really getting bored with the dull landscape. This Podunk town had absolutely no nightlife, as Tony had discovered the night before, and the board members were always such stiffs.
"We're passing near Westerville on our way to the airport this evening," Pepper commented.
Tony drew his eyes from the acres upon acres of farmland to his lovely assistant. Pepper had been with him from the beginning.
"And what's in Westerville?"
"Blaine and Maria."
The names didn't really ring any bells. Well, maybe a vague one in the back of his mind. A really tiny bell.
"Your son, Blaine," Pepper supplied.
Ah, right. The little rugrat. "Aren't you supposed to handle that?"
"I do," Pepper replied. "But you've never even seen him. It might be nice if you at least met your only son…" Pepper gave him a pointed look across the limousine, the kind that made Tony groan and begrudgingly agree because it was 'the right thing to do'.
But Tony didn't want to give up the fight just yet. "Hey, look at this," Tony told her, smiling that award-winning, irresistible smile. "Does this really look like it's ready to be a baby daddy?"
"You already are, Tony," Pepper drawled. "Blaine just turned five a couple of months ago. You bought him a Gameboy, remember?"
"Ah, I have such good taste."
"Of course you do."
They fell into silence, Tony not really wanting to stop by Westerville but Pepper's judgmental stare was wearing on his resolve. Tony knew that he should stop by. 'Do the right thing' and all that junk.
"Fine," he conceded. "But five minutes and that's it. I'm not going to miss my flight."
"You are flying on your personal jet. I don't think it is going to leave without you," Pepper retorted, but she'd gotten her way. She handed a slip of paper with the address on it to the driver and directed him to take them there before they go to the airport.
"Obadiah isn't going to like this one bit," Tony warned her.
"Since when have you ever done what Obadiah wanted?"
Tony winced. "Touché."
They pulled up to the small house in Westerville, Ohio around 7:45 at night. As soon as they stopped Tony wanted to leave. But Pepper insisted he go inside and at least meet his son.
"I haven't seen Maria in what—"
"Six years. Well actually five years and eleven and a half months, but who's counting?"
"Exactly! She's probably forgotten all about me and we should just—"
"I seriously doubt that. Now be a man. Go." Pepper gave Tony a push towards the front door before following after him like a slave driver. Tony never realized just how short the walks to these little houses were until he was standing on the porch much too soon. He stared at the maroon-painted door for a moment; at a complete loss for what the hell he'd even say when she opened the door. Maybe she'd just slam it in his face and he could just shrug and go home.
"You have to knock first," Pepper said from behind him.
"I'm well aware, Ms. Potts, thank you," he shot back. 'Come on, Stark. It's just a little kid and another ex.' He reached up and pressed the bell. Tony never realized any doorbell could ring with such trepidation.
The door didn't open for a moment and Tony was ready to just say "Oh well, we tried, let's go home", but then he heard the lock click and the door swung open.
'Damn, she's still hot,' he thought as Maria herself opened the door. She maybe looked a bit older, had more lines in her face, more curves to her body, but damn, he'd still tap that.
'Damn it Stark, don't think like that! That's what got you in this mess in the first place!'
Maria looked surprised and then confused. "What are you doing here?"
Tony shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. "I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by and see how little uh, Blaine was doing."
"He's asleep."
"Oh, uh—"
"Mommy? Who's that?"
A sleepy-looking little boy wearing Pokémon pajamas and toting one of the 101 Dalmations appeared behind Maria. She turned around and picked him up, balancing him on her hip like she was obviously used to, but not before shooting Tony a warning look.
"Blaine, sweetie, this is…Tony. He's an old friend, of Mommy's."
"Hello!" Blaine greeted Tony, smiling brightly, apparently not sleepy anymore. "My name is Blaine! I'm five and one quarter."
"Uh, nice to meet you, Blaine."
Blaine stuck out his hand confidently and Tony had to keep from laughing as he shook the five year-old's hand like he would an Army general's or the CEO of a major corporation.
"Do you like Pokémon?"
"Sure," Tony replied.
"I just caught a Dratini. That's a water Pokémon. I'm going to make it evolve so I can have a Dragonair like Mitchell Reiner."
"Huh. Well, uh, good luck with that."
"Blaine, it's late. You should be in bed," Maria said.
"Okay," Blaine agreed, yawning.
'That's got to be the best-behaved five year-old I've ever seen,' Tony thought. Maria turned to take Blaine to his bed but in the process she left the door open. Tony hesitated in the doorway but Pepper pushed him inside before stepping through herself and closing the door. She took the lead, obviously having been in the house before. Pepper led the way down the hall of the one-floor house to where Maria was tucking Blaine into bed. The little boy looked half-asleep already but as Tony stepped up to the doorway with Pepper he heard the boy ask for a 'bedtime song'.
"Okay, sweetie," Maria replied, stroking the little boy's floppy curls. "Close your eyes and I'll sing you a song."
Blaine yawned and his eyes drifted closed. Maria sang softly as she stroked his head, her voice light and soothing.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are grey.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away."
Tony cocked an eyebrow at the song choice but his eyes never left Maria as she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the already sleeping boy's forehead. He and Pepper retreated as Maria turned out the light and left the room, closing the door almost all the way.
"Kitchen," Maria said simply and led the way back down the hall to the kitchen off the living room. They sat down at the table as Maria made coffee and placed a mug in front of everyone. Pepper's she seemed to know how to make but Tony she gave milk and sugar for him to mix himself.
"How have you been, Pepper?" Maria asked.
"Good," Pepper replied. "And how have you and Blaine been?"
"Blaine likes the Gameboy very much. He hardly ever puts it down. I have to buy double A batteries in bulk now," Maria replied with a chuckle.
Pepper chuckled as well. "I'm sorry. If you'd like help defraying the costs—"
But Maria waved the offer aside. "It's just batteries. Did you receive the photo I sent you?"
"Yes we did," Pepper replied.
Tony felt thoroughly left out of the conversation as he stirred his black coffee rather unnecessarily. He hadn't put anything in it. He never did.
Pepper and Maria went back and forth, like two old friends, catching up. Mostly they talked about Blaine. How he liked school, cute little things he did. Apparently Blaine had asked to learn how to play the piano and so Maria asked Mrs. Wright down the street to teach him like she did other kids in the neighborhood.
"He learned how to play Yankee Doodle this week and has been practicing on the keyboard every night. I find myself humming the tune at work because I just can't get it out of my head!" Maria laughed.
"He's really very sweet," Pepper replied. "I'm sure he'll make a fine pianist."
Tony snorted, drawing both women's attention to him. "Please, the kid's five."
"And I seem to recall somebody bragging about how he built his first engine when he was just six, only last week," Pepper retorted. "That was, you right?"
"I don't pay you to be sarcastic," Tony grumbled.
"No, you pay me to keep your head on straight and make sure it doesn't get left behind," Pepper replied. "Making sure it doesn't get too big is purely in my own interests."
Maria watched the exchange, an interested look in her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you have a long flight back to Malibu ahead of you," she said, getting up. Pepper rose gracefully and Tony stood hurriedly, almost knocking over the chair behind him.
"Yes, thank you for having us," Pepper told her politely.
"Yes, uh, what she said," Tony added. Maria nodded to him and gave Pepper a hug goodbye. Maria walked them to the door and Tony led the way out of the house, first to the limo that was still waiting outside. Pepper lingered on the porch step, saying her goodbyes to Maria as Tony began to get impatient. Finally she broke away with one last wave goodbye and joined him in the limo.
"The airport, please, Daniel," Pepper directed as the limo pulled away from the curb. They rode in silence for a while, Pepper staring out the window and Tony staring over at Pepper. Finally his assistant seemed to get annoyed because she turned on him with a huff.
"What?"
"Glad you got to catch up with your good friend Maria," Tony commented, sarcastically.
"Don't be ridiculous," Pepper dismissed. "I hardly speak to Maria except when it is necessary because of Blaine."
"Which is, evidently, a lot."
Pepper fixed Tony with an annoyed expression. "Well if you want to get to know Maria again, you deliver Blaine's presents each year."
Tony balked at the idea. The kid had been cute, but Tony wasn't the fatherly type. He was too good-looking for that. "Well I—that is, I don't—"
"Nobody is keeping you from Westerville, Tony," Pepper reminded him, speaking slowly like she was explaining something to a small child, or an adult that just didn't understand a simple concept.
"You saw me with the kid. I'm not really the 'dad' type," Tony insisted.
"Then don't criticize me for my relationship with your son and your ex." She turned away from Tony to look out the window but Tony still caught the murmured barb. "Blaine deserves someone at least."
For some reason, it stung. More than Tony expected it to. His mind fell back to his own childhood, spending time with nannies rather than his own father, who was always busy running the company, building new and better things. But look how he turned out. I didn't really have a father and I turned out okay, Tony reasoned. Blaine would be fine. He had Maria, and from what he'd seen, she loved her son more than anything in the world. Definitely more than Tony.
The kid will be fine without me.