A/N: Thor, IronMan, and IronMan 2 have already happened. I'm trying to have this scene occur before Avengers does. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep Teen Wolf and Percy Jackson canon. This is fanfiction, so I'm trying not to get too caught up in trying to force the timelines to align. I guess I'll just have to see how this goes.

"Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop! Pop. Pop."

Peter signed in humour and exasperation. How was this his life?

"Pop. Pop. Pop! Pop. Pop."

"Oh my gosh! Why isn't he awake yet?" Darcy demanded as she walked in on Peter and Emma waking Tony up.

Tony groaned as he finally peeked out from under the pile of blankets and Emma on top of him. "I was awake 10 'Pop's' ago," he grumbled tiredly.

"Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop." Emma continued on obliviously, bouncing up and down on the bed as she continued to chant.

"Yes, Emma?" Tony asked as he raised himself up onto his elbows so that Emma would notice he had finally joined the land of the living.

"Pop!" Emma squealed in delight as she jumped on top of him.

"Oooof!" Tony let out as he went back down under the weight of Emma. Darcy smiled with amusement at the familiar sight. Well, familiar in that, she was used to watching Tony go down under one of her siblings weight.

Peter apperently took pity on the old man since he frowned a little in worry before gently tugging Emma up and off Tony. Tony sighed in relief.

"Sir, now that you are awake, perhaps you should head to the kitchen? Young Mr. Harley appears to be having some difficulties with the eggs." Jarvis' voice seemed to be infused with a little bit of humour.

Darcy's eyes widen. "Shit! Did he drop them? I told him to wait for me to come back!" Darcy hurried out of the room with Peter on her heels.

Tony smiled wide as he swung out of bed. "Did you have sweet dreams, Emma?" He asked her as he pulled on his sleeping robe.

"Yep!" Emma dragged out the 'p' the way Stiles did every time he responded to a question with just that one word. Tony smiled down at her in fondness. The thought made a frown appear slightly on his face, but he did his best to keep the smile on his face for Emma. After all, it wasn't her fault that he couldn't help but feel a little anxious every time he thought of Stiles living all the way in Beacon Hills, California.

Tony regretted that he couldn't keep Stiles to himself all the time the way he managed to keep Darcy, Peter, Harley, and Emma. He understood that Stiles was happy with his stepfather in Beacon Hills, but he still couldn't help but wish that Stiles lived with him. He was glad that Stiles had a responsible parent who kept tracked of him and loved him dearly, but Tony loved him too. It was too bad that Stiles had been an accident that his mother had kept. It was too bad that Stiles had been raised by his mother with a stepfather constantly in the picture filling in Tony's role. Actually, it was great, and Tony knew this. He just really wished there had been a way to keep Stiles around more often.

Of course, Tony was grateful that Claudia had notified him of Stiles' birth, and he would always be eternally gratified that Claudia and John had allowed him visitation rights. He always looked forward to all the pictures that Claudia and John sent him of Stiles as he grew up. Stiles always made a point out of spending most of his summers with him too, and Tony made a point out of calling Stiles once a day or sending a text once a day when he couldn't take the time to call. It was already April, and Tony was very much looking forward to the end of May. From there, it'd be two weeks before Stiles would come by.

It'd be nice if Stiles could spend the entire summer with him each year, but apperently, Stiles made a point out of visiting his mother's side of the family for two weeks at the beginning of each summer. Thus, Tony didn't get him until after those first two weeks of Stiles' summer. Tony also got him every three Christmases.

"They kicked me out!" Harley shouted as he interrupted Tony's reminiscing.

Tony shook himself out of his thoughts and noticed that Emma had gone back to her chanting in the few minutes he had been out of it.

"Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop!"

"Yes, Emma?" Tony asked again before turning to Harley. "Who did?"

"Darcy and Peter! They think that because they're older and I spilled a few eggs, then that means that they get to kick me out of the kitchen! It was my idea to make the omelets for your birthday! I should've been allowed to participate too!"

Tony winced at the shouting before responding, "A few eggs?"

Harley blushed as he admitted, "I dropped two boxes, but it was an accident!"

Tony sighed and opened his mouth to scold Harley before deciding he just didn't want to do so today. It was his birthday, damn it. Nothing was going to faze him today. He was going to spend the day with four out of his five children, and then he was going to spend a few hours on the phone with Stiles. This was going to be a good day or so help him.

He leaned down to pick up Emma and kiss her cheek before deciding to go with, "Let's just go eat, Harley."

Harley looked a little annoyed that Tony wasn't siding with him before deciding to grab the hand that Tony held out to him. He gave a small smile when Emma leaned her cheek down in a clear request to be kissed. Harley leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. Tony smiled in amusement.

Moments like these reinforced just how great of a decision Tony made the day he met Harley and decided to keep him.

When Tony met Harley, he had been spending the day with all three of his children (it had been three kids back before Harley and Emma joined his family), and they had all been spending the day at one of the museums Tony owned. The beauty about owning a museum was that Tony could make everybody leave and keep the museum to himself and his kids for a few days. It was always a constant struggle trying to make sure the paparazzi never caught him with any of his children in public. He just didn't even want to begin to think about just how hard his kids' lives could become if the world were to find out the value on their lives.

Anyways, Tony had been yelling for Darcy to slow down and make sure nothing happened to Stiles or Peter. Darcy had been quite eager to get to the dinosaur room the museum had been promoting quite heavily over the last week.

Darcy had shouted back an exasperated fine before rushing back, grabbing ahold of Stiles and Peter, and full out sprinting down the hallway dragging the other two along.

Tony couldn't help but laugh even as he became very worried that they would all go crashing down soon. Stiles had a tendency to flail all over the place, and Tony didn't know how he felt about him being dragged along by his sprinting older sister. Tony knew Stiles had a tendency to trip over thin air while walking. He was concerned about how Stiles would fare if he were trying to keep up with a Darcy trying to get to "only the best dinosaur room ever, Dad!"

There had apperently been no need to worry though since Stiles appeared to be just a bit more graceful while were running. He was still very clumsy in comparison to other kids, but on the Stiles meter, he was running practically outright gracefully down the hallway after his siblings.

Peter too was a little awkward back then compared to other kids, and he had once been a lot smaller than his big brother and sister; nonetheless, the 10 year-old managed to jog along as he was pulled further and further away from Tony and towards the dinosaur room.

Tony had picked up his pace in an attempt to keep up with his 10, 12 (turning 13 in two weeks), and 16 year old. He saw them turn a corner and presumably stumble into the room since he heard a door crashing close not too long after they turned the corner.

Right as he too was about to turn down the right hallway in the direction he had seen his kids go, he heard a faint crash come from down the left hallway. Tony had paused and looked towards the door at the end of the left hallway curiously.

Looking back, it was like he had been at a crossways. Tony will always be glad he turned left to investigate himself rather than calling in Happy to investigate.

He had found Harley trapped behind some shelves. Harley had been seven at the time. He had also been alone, and he had looked so frightened.

"I'm so sorry!" Harley had shouted when Tony walked in. "I only wanted a piece of that cake! My sister was just born, and it should be one of the first things she tries! I was just going to grab a little, promise! I didn't mean for it to fall."

Tony saw there was some spilled cake a few feet in front of the shelves.

"How did the shelves fall?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"I had to get to the counter somehow," Harley responded. Tony had looked at him and compared what he must look like in comparison to the height of the counter. Okay, then, so the kid had climbed the shelves trying to cut some of the cake for himself.

"Where's your mother? Father? Grandparent? Guardian?"

"Dead," Harley responded succintly.

Tony had felt a spike of pity for the boy, and he had just opened his mouth to apologize for asking when Harley followed up his short statement with a little bitterness in his tone, "Or buying lottery tickets."

If Tony had met Harley before he had any kids, he'd have probably told Harley that dad's left, and he shouldn't be a pussy about it. Alas, he was a father himself now, and he knew better. The good ones never left willingly. Tony would personally need to be dragged away kicking and screaming before he let any of his kids think he left them. It already hurt every time Stiles left him.

"Well, where are you living?"

"At the orphanage. I've been there a couple months," Harley had apperently decided to keep the bitter tone.

"With your sister?" Tony had wanted this clarified.

"Yeah. Mom went to heaven when my sister was born. Or that's how Mrs. Smileen says it."

"How did you get in here? Why isn't someone watching you?" Tony wanted to know.

Harley had looked down to the left and opened his mouth about to tell a clear lie. Tony didn't care to hear one, and he noticed the shelf shift a little. Immediately concerned that the child should be taken out of the shelves, he started going around the shelves trying to calculate where the best point would be to life from.

Once he had Harley out, he called Happy to come watch the kids. He led Harley out to meet the others and told them Harley would be staying with them tonight. He followed that up by apologizing that he needed to go fill out the paperwork to pick up Harley's sister as well. The others had been disappointed, but they had immediately lightened up when Tony promised them he'd get home as soon as he could.

Harley had followed him out of the museum to another car Happy had arranged for in disbelief. "Are you going to adopt him?" He finally asked in confusion.

Tony could recognize the signs of a neglected kid. He had been one himself after all, and the wary, defensive posture Harley wore rang all sorts of bells and raised all sorts of red flags in his head.

"Yeah. I need a minion, and you clearly fit the bill."

"What? Seriously?" Harley exclaimed.

"No, it's just you look like a mess kid, and you're wondering around by yourself. That's not okay. Ever. And you say you have a little sister? A few weeks old? Yeah, she needs a home and so do you. I don't ask just anybody you know. I suppose I can just see myself in you. I could see it almost immediately. You and me, kid, we're going to have a great run. Promise." Tony tried to give the kid an encouraging smile, and he felt a little bit like he was failing until Harley let out a tiny smile and his eyes shined a little.

Yep, no regrets, Tony thought later that day as he walked out with Harley and a baby Emma in his arms.

Pepper had been exasperated when she learned that Tony just adopted two kids out of the blue without consulting her first. Tony knew better though. Pepper was quite clearly smitten with Harley and Emma the moment she met them; she was just annoyed that she would be attending more meetings herself as Tony's schedule would have to be cleared up so that he could make time for the two newest additions to his home.

When he arrived at the mansion, he found Darcy, Stiles, and Peter waiting in the front hall (clearly Jarvis had alerted them when his car entered the premises) looking excited and wary themselves.

The three of them and Harley had stared each other from opposite sides of the room for a few minutes. The atmosphere had actually gotten a little awkward as all four clearly looked out of their depth. Fortunately, Emma had chosen that moment to open her eyes and sniff a little in irritation.

Once she started fussing, Tony knew he had to get her taken care of which meant he'd have to move on to his room. Pepper had already sent a message saying she had set up the basics in his room, and the rest would be arriving the next day.

As he took a few steps towards the stairs, Harley's eyes had widened, and he had looked honestly terrified at the idea of being left to fend by himself against the other three. Peter had looked sympathetic at the face Harley pulled and had taken a step forward. Peter had always been the bravest of the three.

"Do you want to play Mario Kart?" Peter asked Harley.

Darcy had immediately wrinkled her nose, "Again? Do you really want to lose again? Let's play something else!"

"Oooh! You should see our playground! It's epic! Dad always changes it up each year." Stiles exclaimed. The other two immediately looked on board with the idea.

Stiles and Darcy had each grabbed one of Harley's arms as Peter started leading the way towards the backyard chattering away about all the changes that had been made to the playground over the years.

Harley had looked overwhelmed but a lot less terrified.

By the time Tony had time to come back downstairs after he had finally gotten Emma to sleep in her new crib, the four had been making cookies in the kitchen with Pepper and Happy's help. All six of them were laughing hard at some story Darcy was telling.

Tony had immediately joined in. He didn't even need to hear the story himself. He had just felt really alive and in the moment and exuberantly ecstatic at that moment.

"Dad! Stop falling asleep! Let's go!" Tony heard Harley exclaim from halfway down the stairs.

Tony put five year old Emma down and followed them towards the kitchen.

A/N: Please leave any suggestions or critiques.