A/N: Christmas shopping is done! And finally some more time to write this. I didn't re-read it before I posted it like normal so hopefully there isn't too many mistakes. Thanks for the reviews! This chapter's told in Jared's POV
He was bored.
But the term 'bored' was probably an understatement as he sat there and watched the many dancing couples scattered across the ballroom. He spotted his mother and father lingering amongst the crowd near the rather enlarged Christmas tree and he smiled warmly when he noticed his parents dancing very animatedly. He watched as his father threw his arms at every direction and that very notable expression of embarrassment emerging on his mother's face.
He didn't know exactly what was between his mother and father but he knew whatever it was, it was really special. It was something greater than anything he had ever seen before and anything he ever learned in school. It was something that was greater than numbers and science. He knew how much his father hated being interrupted while he was working in his workshop. But he always knew when his mother interrupted, his father's expression always softened. It was as if his mother had this special way of capturing his father's complete and utter attention.
He tried it sometimes to get his father's attention when his father was busy and to a certain degree he was able too. But nothing like his mother. He did note however that whenever it was Uncle Happy or even Uncle Rhodey, his father completely ignored them so it made him feel a bit better that he had at least some response.
He smiled smugly to himself as he glanced down at his PDA.
This was the fifth Christmas party they had attended in the past two weeks and normally his father and he spent the time learning how to hack in the men's toilet much to his mother's dismay. But this time around it's the Avenger's Christmas Party and he knew how much his father enjoyed this particular party. He didn't know exactly what the Avengers did or how his father helped them. But he knew it had something to do with his father being Ironman and it didn't really bother him that much because he had his PDA anyway.
"Hi!"
He looked up from his PDA to the little girl standing before him.
"Um...Hi," he greeted politely.
"I'm Amelia and I'm four years old and my daddy is Spiderman," she grinned as she held out three fingers to him.
He chuckled and stretched his hand out to extend an extra finger from her hand.
"There, you're four now," he said with a smile.
"Oh..." she hummed as she looked at her fingers, "I frowgot...I'm not good with numbwers..."
"That's alright," he smirked and nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Jared," he said softly. "And my daddy's Ironman."
"Ohh...the robot man," she cooed.
"Yeah, kind of," he replied.
"That must be really cool to have a robot as a daddy," she said amazed and dazzled as she looked at him.
He raised a brow and smiled, "Well, he's not really a robot..."
"But he's made of metal."
"That's just his suit."
"Oh...like my daddy's Spiderman suit?"
He nodded, "Yeah, it's kind of like that."
"What is that?" she asked as she looked eagerly at the PDA in his hands.
"It's a PDA," he replied swiftly.
"PDA?"
"Personal Digital Assistant," he said, "But my daddy configured it a little different."
She looked at him and asked seriously, "What's configured?"
"Um..." he stalled and looked at his PDA, "Kind of like when you change the settings on something."
She tilted her head and blinked at him. "What's settings?"
"Uh...I-"
"Jared, I see you've met little Amelia."
He glanced to his side and thankfully met his father's amused gaze.
"Uncle Tony," he watched as the little girl beamed and threw her little arms around his father's neck.
"Hey, hey! Where's my kiss?" his father murmured.
He smiled as little Amelia gave his father a kiss on the cheek.
"Your daddy is looking for you," his father said softly to her.
She beamed a grin before she turned to him again.
"It was nice meeting you Jared, say hi to your robot daddy for me," she mumbled before she scampered away in search for her father.
"She doesn't know who you are?" he asked his father sceptically.
"No," his father answered swiftly, "It's difficult to explain to her that I'm Ironman too."
"Oh..."
"I saw you had a little trouble explaining some things to her," his father started.
"Yeah...it was a little hard to explain what configured and settings mean."
His father smiled proudly at him for a moment before throwing his hand around his smaller shoulders.
"Not every kid your age will know stuff like that, Jared," his father said softly. "I think I've suffocated you with too much knowledge."
He glanced questionably at his father.
"But I suppose it has its highlights too," his father nodded as he mumbled to himself. "What about we hack into the Avenger's mainframe?"
His eyes sparkled. "Really? But don't you want to dance with mommy?"
"Nah, she's having fun talking with the others and I'm a bit tired of dancing anyway," his father murmured. "Well, unless you want to dance of course."
He blinked and quickly shook his head. "No, hacking's better."
His father chuckled and stared at him for a moment before shaking his head. "You're really something, Jared my boy."