The Little Stark

by Moon Witch '96

Drabble Series. A curious little mermaid made the mistake of annoying a Sea Witch and a man who was made of nothing but mistakes saved her. Together they make an unlikely family, and show that the world really was changing into something unlikely. Will eventually go through the events of all the Avenger movies. Please Read and Review.

35. Chapter 35

Tony spent the next few weeks of his life watching in amazement, and frustration as Ariel tentatively began to learn to read, write, and speak English, from him of all people. Now that he had found the avenue that she clearly took a shine to, Tony found himself stubbornly determined to teach the girl language through music. It started out simple enough, he at first handed her sheets of lyrics, and played the song to her, at the same time reading it out loud to her from his own copy. It took her a few times to understand his intentions, because while she seemed interested in the music, she would ignore him for the sake of going off to examine whatever the next thing caught her interest. It wasn't until he shut off the music and started reading out loud did she look at him and began to repeat his words back.

It was clumsily, and a struggle between the two of them. Tony couldn't say that he felt as if he was the best teacher. He was impatient, and frankly most of the time he wished to ripe the lyric sheets of paper into the tiniest pieces and use it as confetti. But as he watched Ariel slowly start to understand, and look at him eagerly for each sheet, he softened and tried to keep the lessons as varied as possible. He switched back form the lyrics to the alphabet itself, to books and plays, and was fascinated on how Ariel took to it, like a fish to water. She couldn't exactly speak it, not perfectly, but she had made enormous progress now that it was a focus. She actually was better at writing and reading, though she still struggled sometimes with grammar and the spelling.

It helped a lot that the kid under his care was so damn curious, and their little lessons would usually take a few hours a day, before the blended into other things like building pro-types or working on car engines. She was just as energetic as him, more so really, and was right at his heels whenever he got manic.

For the first time in a long time, Tony Stark felt as if he was actually enjoying life. It wasn't just a high to another high, followed by deep pit of depression that made him chase yet another idiotic, self-destructive thing that had caught his attention but simple little things that used to mean shit to him. Now there was that curious little red-head girl that sang like an angel and tripped over anything and everything.

And as she picked up the latest sheet of music, grinning at him with shinning eyes, Tony thought that was okay.