A/N: Thank you all for your comments and faves!

Nick Stark's first word was creampuff, and there was a funny story behind it. Tony had realized early in his children's' lives that with his personality, he was eternally consigned to the role of 'fun' parent. Embracing his destiny wholeheartedly, he took to bringing them along on his weekly Avengers training days. With Happy to watch over them in the stands behind reinforced plate glass, the two thirteen month olds gurgled and laughed as their badass action dad handed his teammates their collective asses. His newest suit came with an upgraded anti adhesive gel which rendered Peter's synthetic web useless.

"Come on, Creampuff, gotta do better than that," Tony grinned as Peter paused to catch his breath and recharge his web shooters. Baby Nick clapped his hands, his tiny red covered feet flailing in the air. Tony's heart melted. "What do you think, Nick? Should the creampuff here hit the showers?"

"Creampuff!"

His enunciation wasn't perfect, but the word rang out loud and clear. All training had to be postponed until next week as Tony dragged Happy and the twins straight to Pepper's office. They cooed over their son and filmed him shouting his new word for hours. From then on, anytime Nick caught a glimpse of Peter, he'd point and yell 'Creampuff!" at the top of his lungs. Peter, while annoyed at first, got used to it surprisingly fast.

"It's better than Penis Parker," he said.

With Nick's first word out of the way, attention shifted to Sophie. Born three minutes before her brother, she nevertheless had only baby words to say. Her attempts at language resembled someone trying to speak with their mouth full, but Tony didn't fret. The day was coming when his baby girl would open her mouth and speak her mind, and he knew exactly what she'd say.

"Daddy," he said slowly, making both syllables as clear as possible. Sophie stared at him, her brown eyes wide and inquisitive, but her mouth stayed shut. "Come on, Sophie. Say Daddy. Da-ddy."

"I thought we agreed we weren't doing that anymore," Pepper said, entering the kitchen with Nick in her arms.

"I'm just bonding with my baby girl. Nothing wrong with that," Tony said. "Isn't that right, Sophie? Your daddy loves hanging out with you and having daddy daughter time because he's such a good daddy."

"Creampuff!" Nick shouted.

Sophie let out a stream of incomprehensible babble. To Tony's frustration, none of it sounded remotely like 'daddy'. Pepper shook her head.

"Here, take Nick," she said, handing him the baby boy. She took his place at Sophie's side, wiping a spot of strained peas off her cheek. "Sophie will talk when she's ready to talk and it doesn't matter if she says Mommy or Daddy first."

Pepper tickled Sophie, making her giggle. The sound was infectious, and every ounce of negativity within Tony vanished as Nick fell asleep in his arms and Sophie reached her chubby hand out to him. To think, he used to find babies annoying. Tony carried Nick to the nursery and laid him gently in his crib. He wrapped a blanket around him and placed his favorite stuffed robot where he could grab it. Going back to the kitchen, Sophie's laughter and Pepper's soft voice caressed his ears.

"Sophie, look at Mommy!" Pepper sang. "You love your mommy, don't you? Say mommy, Sophie. Mo-mmy."

"A-HA!" Tony leaped into the room, pointing an accusing finger at Pepper. "What do we have here?"

Pepper turned bright red. "I was just playing with the baby."

"You were trying to make her say Mommy!" Tony planted himself between Pepper and the baby, blocking her view. "It doesn't matter what she says first, huh?"

Pepper's cheeks puffed out. This was the most awake either of them had been in close to a year and it showed. "Well, I just think after carrying her and her brother at the same time for nine months, I deserve a little recognition."

"Oh yeah? Who's the stay at home parent ninety percent of the time? It's sure not you, Ms. CEO. Do you know how many diapers I change a day? Do you know how many?"

Someone coughed and they managed to break eye contact long enough to spot Happy Hogan standing awkwardly in the doorway. He balanced on his heels, hands in his pockets, looking like he regretted his life choices.

"Sorry to bother you," he said. "Are you guys busy?"

Tony relaxed as Sophie bounced in her seat, reaching desperately for Happy. She loved him to pieces for whatever reason. She never cried when he held her and her favorite game was undoubtedly 'pull Happy's hair'. Tony acquiesced to her demands by removing her from her high chair and placing her in Happy's arms.

"Could you take the little princess to her royal chambers while I discuss some things with my queen?"

He smirked at Pepper, who was unmoved by his endearments. Happy seemed to sense the tension and he adjusted his grip on Sophie, preparing to leave.

"You guys have fun with that," he said before tickling Sophie's cheek. "Your Mommy and Daddy are silly people, aren't they, Sophie?"

Sophie grinned a toothless grin. "'Appy."

Everyone froze. Tony's head slowly turned to the side, mirroring Pepper. They gazed at their daughter, who had eyes for no one but the man holding her.

"What did she say?" Pepper breathed.

As if understanding her mother's question, Sophie screwed her face up and spoke carefully: "Ha...ppy. Ha-ppy. Happy! Happy Happy!"

Happy's jaw dropped. He hadn't looked this… well, happy since the day the twins were born. "She- she said my name! I can't believe… this is amazing!"

"Happy! Happy!"

"That's right, I am Happy! You're so smart. You're the smartest girl ever, Sophie."

"Happy!"

As Sophie kept squealing and Happy spun her around, Tony and Pepper slid into the shadows, forgotten and betrayed by their own first born.

"I say we fire him," Tony hissed at Pepper.

"We're not firing Happy, Tony," Pepper hissed back.

"Okay, well let's dock his pay."

"For what? Stealing our baby's first word? That's not a crime."

"It should be! Fine, we'll let the air out of his tires. He'll hate that."

"Tony…"

"Look at that, Pepper. That's our baby. Our baby."

"Happy Happy Happy!" Sophie continued to shout, as Happy held her over his head and spurred her on.

Pepper's eyes darkened. "I'll get the nails."

"I love you, Pep," Tony said.

"I love you, too, Tony."