Pepper groaned when she saw the reminder on her phone. Today she would have to first drag her husband out of bed, sternly encourage him to dress appropriately, then make sure he actually attends the meeting instead of pretending to go then darting into a nearby closet (True story).

She knew he wouldn't want to go, but he also knew he had no choice when Pepper planned something for him.

He'd probably come up with some excuse, like he "caught" asthma or he needed to go meet someone for plans he made up two minutes ago. Or his more recent favorite, he'd say today was father-son bonding day…Which always conveniently ended up on the same days as meetings.

And that's when the perfect solution came into her head. She hopped off the couch, heading towards the bedroom on the right.

"Ferron? Are you awake?"

"Do I have to go?" Tony whined as Pepper pulled the blazer about his shoulders.

"Really, Tony? You completely skipped the bribing stage today."

He groaned, stepping away to look at his hair. "It never works, so I figured there was no point."

Pepper sighed, laying her head on his shoulder. "So whining is more efficient now, huh?" Tony tucked his hands in his pockets and yawned loudly. "I'm tired." He tried once more.

Pepper walked away from him and out of the bathroom. "Touch luck."

Tony followed her out into the living room. She was pulling a small dark blue blazer onto Ferron. She was talking softly to him and he was giving her small nods in return.

"Why's he all dressed up?"

Pepper didn't even glance at him. "Well, since you claim it's father-son day, I figured you could spend it by taking him with you."

Tony's grumpiness lifted a little. "Alright, but I'll warn you ahead of time, bud, work is the devil's spawn."

Ferron smiled boyishly. The father and son were dressed similar, both wearing dark pants and blazers, with white undershirts. Ferron's hair was spiked up like Tony's and the young boy tucked his hands into his pockets.

Pepper approached her husband, fixing a ruffled collar. "You'll be fine, honey. It's just a quick meeting for any new product ideas. You should be home in two hours or so."

Tony let out a low sigh. "That's two hours too long."

Pepper cast him a look. "Deal with it."

She walked into the open elevator after giving them both a kiss. "See you two later."

Tony glanced at his watch. "Okay Ferron. We leave in thirty minutes. It starts in ten, but late is expected for me."

Forty minutes later, they duo arrived at the office building. They crossed the lobby with multiple "Good Morning, Mr. Stark"s and a couple "awws" and coos for Ferron.

Tony led his son into the elevator and pressed the floor button of the meeting. "Okay, Kid, I'll warn you now, it's going to be a really boring two hours. We'll probably talk about nothing important for an hour, I'll pretend to pay attention but I'll probably be annoying your mother with text bombs."

Tony looked back at the elevator door, which slid open. "This is the part that a normal boring dad would tell you to behave and be considerate and blah blah blah. Do what you want, Gears, I don't give a crap when a meeting is involved."

As they walked down the hall, Ferron smiled to himself. Little did his father know he already had set instructions from his mother. This was going to be fun.

They arrived at a meeting room, in which Tony twisted the handle and waltzed in, Ferron following closely behind.

A group of people already sat in the chairs, leaving one extra at the head of the table. Tony pulled up a chair for Ferron and flopped into his wheely chair.

"Good morning–or should I say afternoon, Mr. Stark. I can see your two hours late, as usual." A gray haired man with a short beard said.

Tony smirked and clapped. "Congratulations! You can tell time. Somebody give the man a medal."

The gray haired man frowned, but didn't pursue the argument. "Anyway, Mr. Stark, would you like to introduce this young lad to us?"

Tony stood and bowed extravagantly. "Yes, of course. This be Ferron Stark, master Gandalf."

He spit out the tease with scorn, mocking the slight accent of the man.

Tony sat back down as the man started to talk about different ideas for Stark Industries.

Ferron sat quietly, awaiting the moment his mother had told him would come.

He watched his dad, who seemed to be looking under the table. Ferron glanced quickly under and saw the billinaire's phone in his hands. His fingers were tapping away at the screen before he tucked it back into his pocket.

After that, Tony grabbed a few pens and mechanical pencils. Ferron watched with keen interest as he switched parts and twisted plastic.

Before he knew it, his father had made a mini launcher.

He gestured for Ferron to watch and pressed the end of the pencil. The top suddenly sprung off and into the air, reaching its peak, then hitting the center of the table. Tony then quickly flung away evidence of the missile before some of the board members looked at him. He shrugged casually and they carried on.

Finally, Ferron heard the question from the gray haired man. "Do you have any input, Mr. Stark?" he practically growled.

Tony barely looked up from where he was tinkering with his watch. "No, but I have something I would like to 'put in' your a–"

"Dogs."

Tony glanced up. "What?"

Ferron stood up slowly, feeling a little shy. "Dogs. Cats. Pets."

Tony's attention was completely drawn from the watch to his son, as was the rest of the room.

"You know how some families want pets but can't get 'em cause they're allergic? What if we made anti-allergy pets?"

He let the idea sink in. Tony leaned back in his chair, his hand resting on his chin.

"You could program all kinds of things- tricks, commandments, even things like eating, so there's still some responsibility involved." Ferron concluded. He bit his lip, waiting to see if his mother's plan worked. He also hoped the idea was good, because Pepper told him to come up with that part.

Tony moved first. He leaned close to Ferron. "You are a genius, Kid."

His father's brown eyes shined with unspoken pride. "Of course, why didn't I think of that! A full out anti-allergy pet! I'm not much into animals myself, but it's a great idea, Ferron."

The young boy felt his chest almost burst with happiness. His dad liked his idea! He didn't care what his father thought of meetings, Ferron thought that this one turned out pretty successful.

Tony went on to rambling how he would design it and that Ferron would help, of course. The board members wrote down furiously and then scheduled a second meeting to turn in the designs. Tony ignored him, but Ferron asked JARVIS to plan it for them on his phone. And to send the date to his mother, because if he was anything like his father, he'd probably forget too.

Tony ignored the gray man, but Ferron shook hands with him eagerly, and the man whispered, "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Stark."

Tony drove home fairly happy, discussing all kinds of ideas with him. "You're gonna start working with me in the workshop. You'll be great, if you're anything like me."

Pepper was already home when they walked through the elevator door. "You look happy, did you skip the meeting?" she greeted, coming up to give Tony a light kiss. Over his shoulder, Ferron gave her a thumbs up.

"No, but our son is a future me. He came up with the best idea today." Tony began to rave on how smart his son was and how he needed to go brag to the guys downstairs, not even whining once about the meeting.

Pepper decided then and there she was definitely using that plan again.