GUEST: Thank you, I have spent a lot of time plotting out this fic to make it different. So I'm glad you feel this way! :D

CHAPTER 2
Mentor

Tony hadn't slept well since the day he met that dang kid.

Well really, that was nothing new. He hadn't slept well in a long time, ever since he'd picked up the Iron Man mantle. But that boy, Ryan, well, he had seemed to take an effect on him that he'd almost call alien. He sighed, and rubbed the back of his head thinking about him for the third time that week as he sat up and draped his legs over the side of his bed.

He guessed part of it was thinking about Zelda Turner having a kid. She was one of Tony's most despised relationships given she was a compulsive liar, and even moreso a mean spirited person. Of course, Tony had been the latter once upon a time, so it really spoke volumes on the kind of person she had been. Enough of one that even he couldn't stand to be with her.

He knew there was a snowball's chance in hell she treated Ryan right as his mother. And now where was he? In foster care, facing an equally hard life.

He looked quietly towards Pepper as she snoozed on the left side of the bed. She'd already chewed him out about how he'd handled the situation - as if matters needed to be made worse. Of course he'd handled it terribly, so many of these kids were looking for money, looking to take advantage of him along with their mothers.

Yet this kid? This kid has just been in search of kinship to save him from a hard life and future.

He'd be lying if he said that hadn't freaked him out. Regardless of if it was his son or not, he felt terrible for the kid. Even if he couldn't do anything and he knew it - short of giving the kid a ton of cash, and something told him that Ryan wasn't big on charity.

He decided that given it was already seven in the morning, he'd get up. Maybe grab himself a cup of joe, and read the articles online. Anything to get his mind on something else. He of course had only made it to the kitchen when JARVIS booted up. "Mr. Stark, I've been informed by Ms. Potts that if you got up at any time other than ten-thirty this morning to respectfully remind you that you need to get back to bed. You are losing precious sleep-."

"Duly noted. Tried, couldn't." Tony replied sharply

"She expresses how worried she is about you."

Tony sighed, making his way towards the coffee pot, and immediately setting out to make himself some coffee. "How many times do I have to tell her that I'm fine before she believes me?" Tony asked in frustration. "I've been dealing with insomnia since the incident with Hammer."

"Maybe so, sir. But your mind has been in other places as well." Jarvis replied, making Tony really wish he wasn't everywhere. "Perhaps I could phone social services, see if I can learn more about the boy."

Tony leaned against the counter, shaking his head. "Drop it, Jarvis. The kid shook me up is all..." He insisted with a groan. "And besides if I wanted to do that I could do it myself. I feel bad for the kid, that doesn't mean I want to play "daddy"."

There was silence at that, the only sound being that of Tony pouring his newly brewed coffee into a mug. "Jarvis, I told you to make him get some rest." Right on cue, in came Pepper, likely having just woken up.

"Apologies, Ms. Potts. Mr. Stark is being difficult this morning."

The redheaded girlfriend of said-billionare gave an "oh, really?" look before moving past Tony to grab her own cup of coffee. "Listen, Tony. If you're going to think about him this much, you should at least go and see the kid." Pepper replied. "Figure out whatever it is you need to."

Tony scoffed. "I've never been good with kids. He and I could barely get through a thirty minute limousine ride."

Pepper gave a roll of her eyes, taking a seat on the counter. She gave a look of pure frustration into Tony's eyes that told him he was about to get a lecture. "Tony, you're acting like by just making sure this kid is OK you're already adopting him." She told her boyfriend rather bluntly. "Just go to his group home, ask to see him. See if there's any way you can help him... There are lots of other ways to help kids like Ryan that aren't adoption."

"Who said I cared all that much if my ex's kid is doing OK?" Tony asked pointedly.

Pepper raised her eyebrows, as if he was being stupid again. "Tony, you told me what his mom was like as if you were going over what she did to him in your head already." Tony hated when she did that, reading him like a cheap, predictable book. "You're only going to drive yourself more and more crazy until you go and talk to him..."

"Pepper..."

"Tony." Pepper asserted. "You don't have anything going on today. Just go and talk to the damn kid and stop being so stubborn."

The man gave a grunt of absolute frustration, but after a long, quiet moment, he finally replied. "I'll think about it... In-between working on my new suit." Pepper gave another eye roll as he trudged toward the entrance to his workshop. "And that does not mean you win. That means I'll think about it..."

Pepper already knew that was a lie.

"Wow, is that Tony Stark outside?"

"No lie, you're full of crap."

Ryan raised his head from his homework at the words of his two roommates quietly. Surely that was a joke. Even after he'd seen Tony a few weeks ago, that was so long ago he'd probably forgotten the entire event. He had better things to do - made evident by the fact that he'd just been out of the country saving a small group of people... Or something of that nature.

"Shut up guys, it was a stupid idea, OK?" Ryan spoke up, knowing full well they were probably making fun of him given he'd shared what he did with them. "I need to focus on this algebra homework."

"Uh, dude, we're not kidding." One of them, a younger boy by the name of Tyrese spoke up. "He's literally right outside right now... Holy crap, he has a nice car."

Ryan got to his feet, deciding to just indulge in the joke. But as he got to the window, he couldn't help but look in surprise himself. Because there he was, outside and talking to one of the young women working at the group home. "Wow, what did you do?" Orion, the other boy, asked. "Were you really his kid or something?"

"No. That's what's weird." Ryan murmured.

All the same, he was out the door to his "dorm room" and down the stairs in a flash. Most of the kids were already gathering in pure curiosity. So pushing his way through them was a pain in the rear, but he still did it. Wanting to see just as much as they did what the heck was going on.

"Look, I'm not asking to borrow him long, I just want to..." Ryan heard Tony's voice break through the gathered foster kids. "Hey, there he is. What's up kid?"

Ryan was pretty gobsmacked by the casual way that the billionaire said it. He was acting like there was nothing well, weird about this. Showing up, unannounced at the boys' home that his not-son lived at. "Mr. Stark, don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?" He asked, his voice filled with confusion. "You realize this is pretty much how you get those reporters you were avoiding yesterday on your doorstep."

"You called me out on that crap yesterday first of all." Tony pointed out. "And secondly, you don't like it when someone causes a scene? Oh, well, I just assumed you'd be cool when the shoe was on the other foot."

Gabrielle, the young woman he'd been talking to, shot Ryan a look that said they'd be talking about THAT later. She flipped her hair a bit. "Either way, I can't let you just take Ryan... There are rules against that."

"Ah, I see... How much is it going to take to get around that?"

Ryan looked mortified as Tony, being well, the infamous Tony Stark reached for his wallet. Gabrielle wasn't exactly known for her patience, so before he could go any further, he took her arm. "It's OK Ms. Gabby, I must have forgotten something the other day. This won't be long." He immediately moved towards Tony, and moved him away. "Are you serious right now? Ms. Gabby is the last person you try to bribe. She'll eat you alive." He whispered in an almost scolding way.

Tony shrugged, turning around as he and Ryan walked down the path. "Money talks in most situations like this. Though if I'm going to be perfectly honest, I don't know much about how foster care works." Ryan nodded, that much was obvious. "So, how can I get you out of here for the next hour or so?"

"You're... Kidding, right?" Ryan asked, his voice a little tight. "I thought we were done after the ride you gave me."

That was a good question, but Tony was prepared for it. "Look, I just felt bad how we left things. I'm pretty sure I have a good idea of what life you've had... At least if your mom was anything to go by." He explained, trying to keep things casual. "I thought maybe I could at least be a little nicer to you. Take you out to lunch, something..."

Ryan looked confused, was Tony Stark really asking this? He looked over at Gabrielle, who was tapping her foot. Of course, he knew how to get her to let him go and face trouble for letting him go off with someone not home approved. But... Did he really want to? What was Tony's game anyway?

He took a deep breath, and turned his head toward Tony again. His stomach growling seemed to be the answer, but really... Was he making a mistake? He didn't know. He wasn't huge on trusting easily and the whole situation seemed weird. And yet... Free lunch, and probably at some shwanky place too.

It took a long moment, but they finally decided.

"Wow, I feel way out of place."

It was true, honestly. Ryan felt weird sitting in one of the nicest diners in the LA area in a seat in front of Tony Stark a little bit crazy. But at the same time, he knew part of the answer was to look like he belonged there, and thus was desperately trying. "Yeah, well, don't feel too bad. I'm going to get most of the stares, being with some random kid and all." Tony explained, he shifted a little in his seat and looked at Ryan. "So..."

"So, can we talk about why you invited me to lunch?" Ryan asked. "I thought you would have been pretty happy I didn't show up again."

Tony scoffed a little, and shook his head. "I guess I just had you on my mind lately. Or rather, how your mother used to act." Tony admitted, trying to be honest since he knew this boy was good at catching lies. "I really just wanted to make sure I hadn't kicked down someone who'd had enough of that."

Ryan looked away, not sure exactly how he was going to answer that. He sighed quietly, resting his cheek against his hand. "Like you said, you know what it was like with her. I've had a crappy life, Mr. Stark... But I thought you didn't like sob stories." After a long moment, he added. "If you're asking if I was like... Devastated or something, I can't say I was. I'm used to being let down..."

Tony frowned a bit. "Yeah, well, welcome to life kid. Life is full of let down's. Though I really am sorry I couldn't help you. I mean, I get what it's like feeling alone..." He paused a moment. "Probably not as alone as you though. I had friends, and... Well a man I thought was looking out for my best interest."

"Thought?"

"He tried to kill me later on... It's a long story." Tony tried to get his mind away from Obadiah Stane. "Point is, your situation does suck. So I figured I'd do something to bring at least a little light into your life."

Ryan crossed his arms, clearly not trusting it. But Tony knew it was mostly true - he did feel bad. Even if this was also about his mental state since the event there was truth in that. "And where do we go from here? You think one lunch will do much?" Tony looked ready to argue that, but then set his jaw. "It's really nice of you, just like the ride was. But I need a permanent escape from that place, not just some random rich guy going out and buying me lunch."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure I can help you there." Tony shook his head, raising his eyebrow. "I don't have many friends jumping on the bandwagon of kids any time soon."

"Yeah, and what about you?" Tony would have spat out the water in front of him if he'd been drinking it at that comment. "Relax, dude, I was kidding. You don't look like the type to have kids."

That wasn't entirely true, as the hero could tell him. Tony had been thinking about kids since he and Pepper had gotten together. But that... That wasn't exactly the way he intended for it to happen, and he wasn't about to jump on it either. "There'll be a Tony Stark Jr. or two in my future. But I can honestly say I'm pretty sure my girlfriend would freak out if I brought a teenage boy home." Ryan gave a smirk in response. "You wouldn't want me around anyway. The world can't handle the two of us around each other that long."

"The snarky quips alone would be too much."

"Exactly."

And yet...

Would it have been so bad? No. But Tony was not about to start thinking about that. He and Pepper had been together a month - and the actual thought of being a father right now scared him. But the alternative, well, he had some thoughts. "Look, I get that you need more anyway. So I think I can at least spend more time with you." He explained. "When I'm not busy at least."

Ryan snorted. "You mean like mentoring? Are you kidding? When would you have time. You're a superhero..."

Tony shrugged, then motioned around. "I have time right now. I'm not always out saving the world you know." He looked at Ryan, who was suddenly very interested in his plate. "What? You're not interested in that? Come on, kid. I'm trying to help."

"I've had mentors, Mr. Stark..."

"Just call me Tony already, the "Mr. Stark" thing is getting old."

"Fine Tony..." Ryan then continued with a frustrated sigh. "They come and go... They always do. Just like you would. I don't need another mentor. I need somewhere to sleep where I don't share a room with two other kids. And an actual life..."

"So that's a no then?"

Ryan looked at him with a look that said it all. God, this kid was stubborn. At the very least he could show appreciation for the fact he was offering. "You're really nice to offer, Tony. And if you want to see me again, or be my mentor... That's cool. I'm just saying I don't think it will change anything." He admitted. "Eventually you'll get bored of me. Or just decide you don't have the time."

Tony couldn't believe this. Was this kid that desperate? Enough so that he made it clear that he needed more than that? If he was trying to send the billionaire on a guilt trip, well, he was doing one hell of a job, because he was actually considering it. If only because, well, he felt a great deal of pity for the boy.

But he also recognized he couldn't just uproot his life because he pitied the teen.

So with a sip of his water, he looked Ryan in the eyes. "Let's just get through lunch. Then you can tell me after if you want me as a mentor." Tony explained. "But I'm no guardian kid. I'm not the guy you're looking for. So you're probably right not to get your hopes up there."

If Ryan felt disappointment there, he didn't betray it with any look in his eyes. "Alright, if you insist..." He finally gave in, clearing his throat. "So... Uh, what exactly should I order here? I can't even pronounce half of this French stuff..."

Recognizing his attempt to change the subject, Tony decided to do so as well. At least for the moment, they'd settle this, but before long he knew they'd revisit it. He'd gotten himself into this situation, and now they'd probably forever be stuck in this "yes or no" game of what their relationship was going to be.

"Here, let me run you through it. If anything I can probably teach you a bit about culture."

He didn't know it, but that lunch would be the first step into a relationship with someone he'd never expect.

A/N: Yeah, so this will be a slower burn to Tony taking Ryan in obviously. I don't want to just jump right into that. Their relationship is too complicated for that. :) Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this!