Summary: Tony may be a little overenthusiastic when Morgan has her first dance presentation.

Rating: T

"Tony," Pepper slowly said from her spot on the couch, in front of the fire place.

Her husband was currently pacing across from her in consternation and didn't seem to hear her call him.

She tried again. "Tony, calm down."

His stopped pacing and faced her. "Don't tell me to calm down!"

Pepper gave him a look. "It's only a presentation."

His eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "Only a presentation?"

Pepper sighed.

Here we go, she thought.

"She needs something to wear," said Tony, resuming his pacing.

"I already bought one," Pepper said.

Tony did a double take. "You bo—you bought one. Without consulting me?"

He looked so sincerely hurt that Pepper almost regretted not consulting him.

Almost.

Pepper raised her hands, palms facing Tony. "To be honest, I was scared you'd outdo yourself like you did for the past two Halloweens."

Tony scoffed and raised a finger to point out that "Halloween is an important holiday. She needed a costume—"

"You made her a tarantula costume!" cried Pepper, her voice rising.

"Which looked very authentic," Tony added, matching her raised tone. "You can't tell me she wasn't the perfect spider crawling around at 8 months old."

"She scared the trick-or-treaters!"

"Which was the point! It's Halloween!"

"Don't even get me started on the dinosaur suit you made her last October. Remember when she ran for a head-butt and went through the fence?"

Tony smiled at the memory. "That was one of my proudest moments. She acted like a true dinosaur."

"This is why I didn't consult you and just bought her a generic, normal costume."

Tony gaped at his wife. "THIS IS HER FIRST DANCE PRESENTATION AT SCHOOL YOU CANT JUST BUY HER A GENERIC COSTUME."

Pepper sighed as Tony plopped on the couch beside her.

"I have to make her one. Do I even have time?" He turned to his wife. "When is it?"

"In two weeks."

"IN TWO WEEKS?"

"Could you just please consider the costume I bought?"

"Fine."

Pepper stood and left the room. She came back a few minutes later, holding a two-year-old Morgan dressed as—

"Nemo?"

"Nemo!" chirped Morgan, walking around like she was swimming.

"She got the role of fish." Pepper took out her phone and told Morgan to stay still. "Say 'cheese,' honey!"

Morgan kept pretending to swim but said, "Cheese!"

Tony groaned, "MY DAUGHTER IS NOT GOING TO PLAY NEMO."

Pepper raised a brow at him. "What do you have against Nemo?"

"Nemo," Tony spat, "is common. Nemo is what all the other children are gonna look like and that'll be embarrassing! Think about it. You go to a party and you find out another woman there is wearing the same dress you are."

"Then she's got good taste." Tony shook his head at her, still against the Nemo costume.

Pepper tried again. "Tony she got assigned to be a fish. Nemo is the easiest one and she happens to like Nemo."

"Absolutely not. Angler fish."

"Angler fish?"

"Goldfish. Puffer fish. Betta fish. Koi. Tons of interesting fish out there. But a clown fish?"

"Tony our daughter doesn't even dance. We're going to be lucky if she even stays on stage."

"She will," Tony said confidently. "She will in the costume I'm gonna build her."

"Please don't let it be a self-dancing fish suit."

"It'll be a self-dancing fish suit."

Pepper buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God."

…

At two years old, Morgan was pretty vocal about whether she liked something or not. She'd say "No, please," when her mom made her eat broccoli.

She'd say "No" when Dad would pick her up from school and she didn't want to go home yet because she didn't get enough time to play in the playground.

She'd say "No shoes" when she wanted to run barefoot in the yard.

And when she liked something, she didn't let it go.

They had a hard time getting her to allow the Nemo costume to be taken off.

"No, please!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks that night.

"I told you. She doesn't want to be Nemo," came Tony's comment as he joined his wife and daughter in the nursery.

Pepper glared at him. "That is not why she's crying." She turned to her daughter. "Honey, you have to take a bath. Think of it this way, you can still go swimming in the tub."

"Swimming?" Morgan asked, eyes suddenly clearing itself of crocodile tears.

Pepper smiled. "Yeah, but we have to take Nemo off."

Morgan shook her head. "No take off. Wear Nemo. "

"I'll handle this," said Tony, reaching down and lifting Morgan in his arms. The toddler buried her face in the crook of her dad's neck. "Get a pair of scissors," he told Pepper.

"Absolutely not! We are not cutting it off."

Tony pouted. Well, he tried.

"Alright, Morguna. In the tub you go." He entered the bathroom and placed Morgan in the tub.

Pepper made a sound at the back of her throat, expressing her displeasure at the fact that Morgan was now pounds heavier with the wet fish costume.

Morgan started happily playing in the tub, splashing and causing the water to spill over to the floor.

Pepper turned to her husband who was now taking his own clothes off.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna give her a bath. And with that fish soaking wet, the foam inside will be heavier, allowing me to take it off easily."

Pepper had to admit that that was a solution if there was any.

She relented and kissed Tony on the cheek. "Okay. But you better wipe the floor when you're done."

…

Tony entered the master bedroom dressed in a bathrobe. His hair was still wet and he smelled divine.

He climbed on the bed next to Pepper and rested on his stomach, his chin in his hands.

"Mission successful."

Pepper cupped his cheek endearingly. "Thank you."

"Oh and I put the costume in the dryer but it's ruined, by the way." He sheepishly smiled at her.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Why do I feel like you ruined it on purpose?"

"I don't know how the dryer works," he shrugged. That was a believable lie. He once flooded the basement when Pepper made him do laundry. "Fish happens."

"Fish happens?" Pepper asked. "You're incorrigible. She's not gonna forgive you for destroying Nemo."

"I'll get her the real deal. It's fine. Look, I promise to make the self-dancing fish suit at least look normal."

Pepper considered that and figured that was the next best thing to a compromise she'd get from the overenthusiastic daddy.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Tony looked genuinely surprised that his wife had given him the O.K. He had expected to do a little bit more groveling considering he destroyed the costume on purpose.

"Okay."

Thinking of pushing his luck a bit further, he scooted a little closer to Pepper and gave her an inviting look. "Do I also get a little something extra for saving the day and successfully giving our daughter a bath? Did I also mention that she's tucked in bed and sleeping like a little angel fish?"

Pepper giggled, giving Tony her full attention now.

"An angel fish?"

"Cause she's an absolute angel," said Tony, sitting up and beginning to untie the robe he was wearing. "And I will stop talking about out daughter now, because I don't want to be thinking about her when I do this."

He leaned down and met his wife's eager lips.

…

Two weeks later, the self-dancing robot fish was an absolute success...even if it was Nemo.

The day after the bath incident, Morgan asked for Nemo and looked absolutely crestfallen when Daddy said it was broken.

So, Tony built her the Nemo suit (Pepper was pretty smug for two days) and Morgan was now wiggling on stage with her classmates (3 of them were Nemos too, but Morgan looked the best of them) while her dad caught everything on camera.

"See? She's dancing!" Tony nudged Pepper.

Pepper smiled. "I still don't know if that's her dancing or it's the suit."

"Does it matter? She looks like she's dancing."

"Tony!"

"Okay, fine, I'll tone it down next time."

"Thank you."