Hello everybody! This is my first Iron Man/Avengers fic! Please read the prolog. You will be lost without it, because I changed a shit-ton of history. Seriously, it's really important.
disclaimer : I own nothing. thanks and enjoy!
I imagine Antoina looking like this ( art/Rooney-Mara-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tattoo-278421 521 ) without the pearcings, if it helps. Thanks for reading!
-May 29th, 1993-
A scream shot out in a small private room. A woman lay in the bed there atop the pristine white sheets, her husband clutching her hand.
"Push!" The doctor yelled. A push was all it took to bring Antonia Edwin Stark into the world.
-June 26th, 1997-
She wandered down into the bowls of their mansion for the very first time. The door into the lab was huge, she couldn't even open it herself. It was good that she was so adorable, otherwise Jarvis never would've let her in.
And then she never would've done it.
She sat in the middle of the floor surrounded by little bits and pieces of metal, turning something around in her hands. It was a circuit board, nothing too fancy. It just turned a light on and off. It was extrodanary simply because she built it all by herself.
"Madam?"
"Hmm?"
"I think your father would like to see what you've made."
"Mkay." She said scuffling over to Howard. "Daddy, look." She said handing it up to him.
"Toni, did you make this?"
"Yep. All by myself. Did I do good?"
"Yeah kiddo. You did real good. How bout we put up another workbench in here for you? Would you like that? We could even work together."
"Yeah!"
A week later there was a big red workbench across from Howard's with tiny child-sized tools scattered on top.
-October 3rd, 1998-
Her father launched investigation after investigation, and nothing was found. Not a thing. All the evidence said that Maria Stark threw herself off a cliff.
But even five-year-old Tony Stark knew better. She was pushed, they could tell. But who would want to kill her mommy?
A push was all it took to take Maria out.
-August 8th, 1999-
She had been standing here for about an hour looking over his shoulder. She couldn't bring herself to speak, to interrupt his project. She hasn't gotten much (positive) attention after her had passed.
"Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you just gonna stand there, or do you need something?" She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her side of the shop. They stopped in front of something big covered in a black sheet. He scowled.
"I wanna show you this." She said pulling off the cover. There on the low table sat a v8 engine, signed Tony Stark in red paint marker. "Did I do it right daddy?" She whispered as he walked closer and inspected it.
He said nothing as he patted her on the head and walked away.
-February 20th, 2003-
Tony wins the 9th grade science fair easily. None of the other kids had a chance really, even though shes only 10. Then she thinks, no, it's not good enough. Because Daddy isn't smiling at Tony like the other parents are doing with their kids. He's just looking at the board, and turning Tony's adorable robot dog over and over in his large calloused hands, and he's not saying anything at all. Tony wonders what she did wrong, why she's never good enough. When her teacher comes over to take a picture of them, she can't help but glance up at her father, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he will be smiling, and proud of her. But he's not, and the hand on her small shoulder is almost punishing in its grip. Tony thinks that she'll have to do better next time. She can't keep failing.
-November 3rd, 2003-
Tony hates having to go to stupid parties with her dad, but she's almost 11 and Daddy says it's time to start learning to act like a lady. That means sips of wine, and it means chatting pleasantly with the idiots that fill these things, and not running off to build things down in the lab. Tony cannot let her father think that she's weak, or failed again. She cannot afford that. She smiles and nods at everyone that talks to her, and attempts to impress her father's friends.
But she can tell she's failed when Howard looks at her as he leaves the room with a pretty woman, the look in his eyes says it. She wants to scream at him, wants to ask what she's done wrong. But she sits there quite and docile, just as he taught her, in hopes of him telling her she's done good.
"Your dad only has time for the pretty girls, huh?" The man next to her says. She smiles at him, but says nothing as a thought comes to mind. Does that mean she's not pretty? She thinks to herself.
"Jarvis, I wanna go to bed." She whispers behind her after a moment.
"Yes, Madam." He says sweetly back. "Would you like me to run you a bath?"
"No. I want to do it."
"As you wish." He says helping her slip off her shoes and socks. "Will that be all?"
"That will be all Jarvis. Thank you."
"It's my pleasure Madam."
She undressed quietly and looked at her reflection.
-May 29th, 2004-
Jarvis was the only one to remember. She got nothing from her father, and he was hammered by noon.
"What flavor would you like your cake to be this year, Madam?"
"I don't want one this year Jarvis, but thank you." She whispered. "I don't want to have to blow the candles out alone."
"How about we have our own party then, Madam. No one should spend their birthday alone."
"Thanks, Jarvis. Can I help make the cake?"
"Yes, Madam."
"You can just call me Tony, Jarvis. Really, it's okay."
-June 14th, 2006-
She'd just been accepted at MIT, even though she was only 13, and for once her father had decided he gave a shit about her for almost five minutes and decided to have a party.
Not that it was much of a party. He didn't invite any of Tony's friends, for example. Of course, She didn't have any friends other than Jarvis, so maybe that was a moot point.
Still, even though it was a boring-ass affair attended entirely by Howard's drunken friends, it wasn't entirely without merit. There was booze, and he was able to get pretty smashed without anyone taking note. As it turned out, the party wasn't so much for her as it was for people to congratulate Howard on his genius progeny, so she just grabbed a bottle of vodka and retreated to the balcony.
No one missed her.
She settled down in a swing and nursed the bottle, rocking back and forth and looking up at the sky, naming all the constellations she could remember. She pulls her the last cigarette out of her carton and lights it. She sits in the dark obscured by the sweet musk of White Diamonds and the fragrant curl of smoke from menthol cigarettes.
"Aren't you a little young for that stuff?" A gruff voice behind her said.
Tony grimaced. It figured that the first person to notice her would be Obidiah. "Uh, could you not, uh, mention this to—" Pointing to the bottle with her cigarette.
He sat down next to her, placing a hand on her knobby knee. She breathed in his ear, "Your secret's safe with me, Tony, don't worry."
His close proximity was making her uncomfortable, to say nothing of how his hand was creeping up her thigh, when a finger slipped under the red, silky fabric of her dress. Tony wiggled away from him and stood, swaying. "Uh. Maybe I should go to bed." She gestured with the half-empty bottle. "Kinda had a lot to drink."
And she was starting to feel sick.
He stood up, too, grabbing her tinny hand. "Sure. Let me help you, Tony."
He had a certain look in his eyes that she couldn't place, a look she hadn't been on the receiving end of before.
She was so confused, why did he keep touching her? She pulled away. "No, I think I can—"
She was cut off abruptly when he bent down and pressed his mouth to hers. Tony was so surprised that she just stood there, letting him explore her mouth with his tongue for almost five seconds before she pushed him away. "What the fuck?"
"Surely you know what a kiss is Tony." She was completely baffled by what was happening. She was drunk, Stane was here, and she was confused. Beyond confused. Why would he want to kiss her?
But he did. And that was a good thing. Right? His demeanor abruptly changing from amused back to something she couldn't quite place, he took her hand again, rubbing a small circle on her delicate wrist with his thumb. "Want to go up to your room?"
Tony did, desperately. She just wanted to go to bed, go to sleep, pass out, anything to stop the way her head was spinning. She just nodded and flicked her cigarette off the balcony. She let him lead her back to her room, and he took her to bed. But he wouldn't let her sleep. And they did significantly more than just kiss.
And as...weird, and gross, and sick and used as she felt afterwards... She just told herself that was normal. It was her first time, after all, and she didn't know what to expect.
Maybe that's what sex is supposed to feel like?
-August 29, 2006-
Tony was insane. Certifiably nuts. Practically every time James saw her she was building something that nobody had ever built before, starting fights she couldn't possibly win, or running like hell. If she was running looking scared, James got behind her, ready to intercept whatever Tony was running from. If she was running and grinning James stood by for whatever show Tony had cooked up. The kid treated smoke bombs and flares the way other kids treated flaming bags of dog shit and she was the queen of all pranksters. James's favorite was when she rewired the security PA system to a receiver that works with her Stark-Phone and then hid the receiver in an obscure piece of ceiling tile and controlled the overhead music in the student center for three solid days. Tony had great taste in music.
-November 12th, 2007-
"Get drunk and make bad decisions" was practically the Stark family motto. Tony felt legitimately that not all of this could be pinned on her. At least some of it had to be genetic.
"You get drunk too much. You're just a kid, Tony."
"Fuck you. A real friend would support me and my hobbies. They wouldn't judge me for not being as perfect and hot as they are."
"...Um..."
"...Did I say that part at the end out loud?"
"Uh, Tony. I'm not really sure – "
"Of course when I say hot I don't mean, you know, hot. I mean something more like, like, beautiful or fuck – "
"Tony?"
"Gorgeous..."
"Tony?"
"...I gotta go."
"Slow down, tiger. You can let yourself get good and embarrassed later. For now let's try to deal with one crisis at a time. Keep your head bowed over the toilet, okay?"
"You called me tiger."
"Yep."
"Like it. Tiger is a wicked nickname. Seriously kick-ass. Now I need to find a awesome nickname for you. Cool like tiger."
"You do that. Drink this water."
"You're so nice to me."
"How are you getting drunker?"
"I think you mean 'more drunk.' Or is it more drunker?"
"Tony?"
"So fucking nice."
"Yeah, I'm a real sweetheart."
"Nice. Sweet. Like a...pineapple. Ima call you Pineapple."
"Sounds like a wicked nickname to me, Tony the Tiger."
"Sorry I yelled at you, Pineapple."
"No, no. Drink the whole glass. Don't stop."
"Ahaha. Tony the Tiger."
"Yes. Very good. You got it. You're a real genius, Kid."
"Rhodey?"
"What is it Tony? No! Jesus! Don't just drop the glass onto the tile like that! I don't need to start my day dragging you off to an emergency room for stitches."
"I think you're grrrreat!"
"Cute Tony. I don't think you're too bad, either."
-January 16, 2008-
"Call. Now." Rhodey interrupted. He stood with her phone in his hand, looming over Tony where she laid on her hospital bed.
Tony started to object, but James stared her down. And stubborn as Tony was, she was shaken, and Rhodey was sure.
With a resentful glare Tony grabbed her phone, tapping the screen viciously. She settled in as it rang, and Rhodey sat back 's head was tilted down, resting on one fist, broadcasting how much she hated this with every line of her body. Too bad. Her father needed to know she was here.
Eventually there was a faint noise on the other end, and Tony actually seemed to brighten for a second, her head moving up more.. "Jarvis? Hey! How's it hanging?" a pause, and Tony's lips tightened a little. "Yeah. I know. Thanks J." Another pause. "Im in the hospital."Tony drummed her fingers on the nightstand, getting tenser by the second. "I fainted, apparently. I know, I'm sorry J. I'll call you next Tuesday, ok?" She looked like she wanted her phone to explode as she was waiting for Jarvis to give the phone to Howard.
Tony closed her eyes when the next faint voice came up over the receiver. "Hi dad. No, there's no emergency… Fine? Well, I don't know if I'm-" another pause. Tony had the phone pressed hard against her ear with a boney white-knuckled hand, and Rhodey couldn't make out what the voice on the other end was saying. "No. No immediate danger, just-…I know. I know. Work stuff, yeah. Well, I just-… Actually, I'm in the hospital. No, I know you're busy. I know." Tony's eyes opened, and she trained them on the ceiling. Her voice was sounding completely calm, totally casual, even through her breath between words was shuddering and looked painful. Even though her eyes were shining and she looked like he might throw up. "Is that Obi? Do I hear Obi there with you? Put him on, I-…Look, Can I please just-" her eyes snapped shut again as she tilted her head back. She shifted her head, as if trying to relax her neck or throat. "But dad- no, don't- please-" She pulled her phone away from her ear with a sigh.
"See why I don't call?" He pulls her into a tight hug.
Reveiws are always great! Thanks for reading!