"We have a new cook?" A fifteen-year-old Eleanor Stark asked with a wrinkled nose. "Why? I can just get something after school."
Pepper Potts rubbed the gap between her brows soothingly, a headache forming before the conversation even continued. "Because," she stressed out for the umpteenth time. "It's something we all think would make it easier on you and give you some healthier options than fast food."
It might have been a slight jab at the roundness of Eleanor's face (which she would soon contribute to not losing all of the baby fat yet) and it might have been a jab at her lack of self-care. The "we" Pepper spoke of had to be Tony, Rhodey, and herself - maybe even Happy - if she had to guess.
But, Eleanor wasn't a kid back at the estate where her butler had passed and needed someone to take care of her. No, she was a teenager, more of an adult than her idiotic brother if she were honest, and there was no need to hire someone to feed her.
Pepper must've seen the mutinous look because hastily amended, "It's just a test run, El. You've been so focused on preparing for your undergrad, which by the way is still a good year away at least, that you've started to skip some meals."
"And a cook is supposed to remedy that?" Eleanor was incredulous by the sheer implication that some stranger would suddenly fix all of her bad habits. How could she possibly think that she would agree to something like -
"Tony is really concerned, El. He said that if you tough through it then so will he."
Ah, so Pepper had a trump card up her sleeve. A trump card that was, and is, still the ultimate weapon to get the youngest Stark to do her bidding.
She did not miss the triumphant smirk on the assistant's face.
"Is this the test?" Eleanor droned, head in her hand as she drew shapes on the table with her finger. "Like, if the food is good, he'll stay and if not, then he's kicked off the island?"
Tony leaned back in his chair with a slight shrug. "More like, if it's edible then he'll probably stay. So don't spit it out just to be a shit."
"Can you two please not start at the dinner table?" Pepper admonished tiredly, and Eleanor glared at her brother.
"Yes, Mom," the Starks groaned out in unison, and Pepper was sure that this was it, this was the time when she struck her boss.
The smell of the food caught Eleanor's attention. It was a simple dish, pasta, and despite her earlier reservations, she could definitely enjoy home cooked meals. There's no chance her brother would cook, and she would rather test her skills before having Pepper make dinner on top of the workload she already had.
"It certainly smells good," Pepper complimented, thanking the man as he set a plate in front of each of them. She gave a stern glare to the siblings. "I'm serious when I say you two need to eat everything off of your plate."
"Yeah, Ellie, listen to what your mother says or -"
"I need to go to the hospital."
There was a pause. It felt long, almost as if they could hear the clock ticking each second. Pepper stared at the small Stark, noticing an immediate flush to her cheeks and hives starting to cover her skin. She was confused for another brief second until the girl leaned over and vomited, and Pepper scrambled out of her seat. "Oh my god!"
"What sauce did you use?!" Tony yelled at the cook, giving JARVIS quick instructions to get a car prepared to leave. Pepper opened up every cabinet at her disposal finally finding what she was looking for, uncapping it, and injecting the epinephrine into the thigh of the now wheezing girl.
"P-Pesto, sir..."
"How could you forget she has a severe allergy to nuts?! That includes pine nuts, you fucking moron!"
Pepper ignored the sick on the floor and carefully helped the teen out of her seat. "Don't panic, El," she muttered rapidly, trying to get rid of her own panic. "We'll get you all checked out and get some of that fast food, huh?"
"Your panic is making me panic," Eleanor mumbled out, tired despite the injection, leaning against Pepper as they finally got into the seat of the car, Tony flying behind them with her other EpiPen in his hands, a mix between anger and worry on his face. He turned to face her when he got into the driver's seat and gave her thigh a firm pat. "Nothing we haven't dealt with before, right Ellie?"
She just hummed, stomach rolling and throat starting to tighten as she watched Tony zoom past everybody and everything to get to the emergency room.
"And she's okay now, right?" Pepper asked the doctor, wringing her hands nervously as she kept stealing glances to the teen hooked up to an IV. Eleanor looked worn out and a little pale but fine, nonetheless. Irritated was more like it since Tony put it upon himself to pester the allergen out of her. "There's no reason to stay any longer?"
"Miss Stark is perfectly fine," the doctor assured. "Perhaps a little nauseous or fatigued, but that's normal. She can leave as soon as she feels up to it."
"Let's go! Take this out before I do!" Eleanor demanded from her position, jabbing a finger to the needle in her vein. Tony slapped her hand away as it inched towards the needle, sternly telling her to wait.
Pepper was relieved to be back in the car and on their way to a drive-thru after the horrible dinner fiasco. She was startled from her musings by the young Stark barking out a laugh suddenly.
"What are you laughing about back there?"
"Just that it seems that I always eat something bad around you, Tony, who should be someone that keeps up with that stuff."
He spluttered from his front seat, glaring at her through the rearview mirror. "That is not true! Pepper was there last time!"
"That's because you didn't tell me your sister had a nut allergy!" Pepper argued back, offended at the thought of being associated with him when it involved almost killing his precious sister. "I felt that was an important piece of information!"
"If I had to learn the hard way then so do you!"
"Hey, Ellie, do you want to sneak some of that Halloween candy from my room?" Seventeen-year-old Tony asked his little sister, mischief in his eyes. Their mother had made it clear that the girl wasn't allowed anymore sweets after dinner because she ate the majority of her share, and Tony couldn't bare to not let his cute sister take some of his. And she didn't seem to object to the idea either.
A grin split her face, her own eyes mirroring his. "As long as you don't tell Mom, then I won't!"
And so, the two siblings made sure to avoid their mother's eye and letting Jarvis know that he could wait a little more time before getting Eleanor ready for bed. Tony poured his stash onto the floor so they could pick through it. He let her rummage through it, and she grabbed the chocolate bar, staring him at with a question in her eyes. "Is this good?"
She was holding a Snickers, and Tony felt almost offended that his sister had never had one in her seven years of life. His mouth dropped and he even felt like cursing his parents for keeping such an important milestone from her.
"It's great! Try it!"
And so she did.
Tony watched with eager eyes as she took a large bite, hoping to see the moment where she realized it was the best thing she ever had only to be disappointed when she immediately spit it out.
"What's wrong? Is it not good?"
"I need Jarvis!" she choked out, crawling away from her brother, panic in her eyes, vomiting on his floor without a care in the world. Tony scrambled after her. "W-Wait, what's wrong, Ellie? Was it a bad batch?"
And when she started to wheeze and her face turned blotchy, Tony slammed open his door, frantically searching for their butler, who luckily was close.
"Jarvis!" Tony yelled, grabbing the older man by his shirt and pulling him to his bedroom. "Something's wrong with Ellie! I-I just gave her some candy and then she started throwing up and wheezing and I don't know what's wrong and she told me to get you -"
Jarvis moved past the teen, his own worry in his eyes as he pulled a pen out of his coat, obviously prepared for this situation. Without wasting a moment, he pushed the needle into the little thigh of Eleanor and scooped up her huffing form and moving past her brother again.
"What did she eat?" Jarvis asked, not unkindly (he could never say an ill word to his wards), already heading to the car and not even alerting their parents. "It'll help when we get to the ER, sir."
"ER? Uh, well I just let her have a Snickers because she never had one before. But, I didn't think it was going to make her sick!"
Instead of reprimanding him like he should've, Jarvis just shook his head, placing the tired girl in the seat and motioning for Tony to sit in.
"The Miss has a severe nut allergy," Jarvis explained, and Tony felt a sudden cold rush as he looked down at the girl leaning into his side. Jarvis hurriedly added, "She forgets about it so much that it was only a matter of time before she ate something with nuts, sir, so don't feel guilty. I'll show you how to use the EpiPen when we return, and I'll give you a few to carry on you."
Tony blinked at the ease in which the butler was discussing the serious condition before agreeing and giving his sister a pat on the head. They were both idiots, huh?
"You should take Ellie out to lunch, Pep," Tony offered, not looking up from his tablet. "You two seem to be getting on better, and it'll be a good thing for both of you. Here, use my card," he fished it out of his pocket and flung it at her, not waiting for an answer. "Go somewhere nice, eat until you throw up, have girl talk, you know, the good stuff."
Pepper gaped for a second in surprise before picking up the card. "Are you sure? What does she even like to eat? What if she already ate?"
Tony cut off her slew of questions and waved her off. "Just go to a steakhouse, she'll eat anything. I mean, honestly, she's at the age where she'll eat more than me. Should I be worried? Does it make me less of a man if my baby sister eats more than me?"
And with that, Pepper left her boss to his own devices and currently had the younger Stark sitting across from her waiting for their meal to reach the table.
"How's school?" Pepper couldn't help but ask, still feeling a little awkward around the girl sometimes since there wasn't a lot they really had in common. "Anything... interesting happening?"
If Eleanor was annoyed by the bland question, she didn't show it. Instead, she just shrugged and sipped on her water. "Not really," she admitted. "I like differential equations enough to not get too bored and my anatomy class gives me a little joy in the grand scheme of things. I almost want to start back up on engineering and focus on the mechanical or nuclear part rather than the chemical and biomedical branch, but I don't want to feel like offing myself."
Pepper's brain hurt just from the thought. "Sometimes, I wonder how you manage having a brain that big, El," the woman relented, almost sighing in relief from her slightly above average intelligence. "It sounds like too much work, to be honest."
Eleanor nodded sagely. "I am only slightly willing to sacrifice myself for the greater good of the mediocre."
"Now, you're being rude."
"Sorry, but hey, the food's here at least!"
The steaming plates were set down in front of the two and after thanking the waiters, they dug in.
"Hey, Pep," Eleanor's voice cut through the amiable silence. It was nonchalant and unassuming. "Can you hand me my bag? And get the car ready?"
"Sure? But we just got our food -"
"The green beans had walnuts in them and I ate it."
On cue, the girl emptied her stomach and held a hand out for her purse that Pepper finally shoved into. The woman started to freak out, unsure of what was going on until Eleanor rummaged through her purse and yanked out a pen that even she was familiar with.
"Y-You're allergic?!" she shrilled, immediately standing and hovering over the calmer teen. "We need an ambulance!"
"No, no," Eleanor denied quickly, already gathering her things together, lamenting the fact that they couldn't finish lunch. "Get the car and drive me to the hospital."
If it was any other situation, then Pepper would have argued against the lack of urgency the girl exhibited. But since it wasn't a situation Pepper was familiar with, and obviously Eleanor was, she decided to follow the young Stark's advice.
"Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you order it if it had walnuts in it?!"
"I forgot, and who puts walnuts in vegetables!"
"I still think that was something you should've warned me of," Pepper restated, arms crossed petulantly. "She could've died!"
"Ah, but I didn't," Eleanor pointed out, popping a few fries in her mouth. "So it's all fine!"
"It's not all fine! Honestly, how have you got into that situation so many times?"
The teen glanced to her brother, who offered a shrug in response, in which she reciprocated.
"I forget about it," was the simple response. "It's a good thing I have you two around, huh?"
A good thing, indeed.
