Work Text:
Tony didn't bother glancing up when his office door opened, his chin propped on his palm and pen clicking in his hand. "I'm doing the paperwork, Pepper, I promise." She'd practically dragged him from his lab to his office, forcing him to fill out extensive paperwork. He hated doing it, but as owner and CEO, there were always things to sign.
When he didn't get a response, he looked up, expecting a silently angry Pepper Potts. His door was halfway open, no one in sight. "Pep?" He asked, eyes sweeping around the room. Was he imagining things? But the door wasn't open before. Pepper had shut it when she left.
"Hi."
Tony almost jumped out of his skin, dropping the pen. He turned his chair to find a little girl peeking around his desk, holding a stuffed bear against her chest and a shy smile on her face. She was familiar, with long, curly light brown hair and a purple bow on her head to match her dress, and blue eyes that were exactly like-
It clicked.
This was Pepper's daughter, Violet Potts. He'd never met her in person, just made sure she got birthday presents and Christmas every year, and asked Pepper about her once in a while. Not too much, lest his image be shattered. (Not that he had anything to hide from Pepper.)
He smiled. "Hello Mini Miss Potts. What are you doing here? Where's your mom?"
The four year old bounced back and forth on her feet. "Mommy is in a meeting. What are you doing?" She tried to peek over his desk to see but wasn't tall enough.
"Very boring paperwork that your mom has me doing."
"That doesn't sound very fun."
"It's not."
She tilted her head to the side. "Are you Tony?"
"That I am."
"Mommy talks about you a lot."
"She does?" He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "Well, she is my-"
"Yeah, I think she likes you."
He did not expect that. He cleared his throat, trying to ignore the heat climbing up to his face. "How about we get you back to your mom or whoever is supposed to be watching you?"
"But it's so much cooler in here," she protested, looking out at the view of the city through his large windows. "Why can't I stay? Mommy knows you." Her eyes returned to his and - okay, how was he supposed to say no to giant puppy dog eyes?
He sighed, caving. "I guess-"
"Yay!" She put her bear on the desk, then skipped up to him, arms out. Tony hesitated before awkwardly picking her up, settling her on his knee.
"JARVIS, please let Pepper know that Violet is fine when she gets out of her meeting." He couldn't remember what meeting she was in. Probably one of the more boring ones, taking notes for him. He'd know later.
"And the guard who was watching her, Sir?"
"Let em sweat a bit for losing the kid."
"Who's that?" Violet asked, looking around to the voice.
He chuckled. "That's JARVIS, my AI. I say his name is short for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, but he's really named after someone I admired a lot." He still missed Edwin Jarvis. "You can ask him for help with anything. Say hi, J."
"Hello, Miss Potts." He greeted.
She grinned. "Hello, JARVIS!" She waved at the ceiling, something Tony didn't want to admit melted his heart a little.
"She's Mini Miss Potts, J, or Miss Violet. Don't want to get too confused." Goodness, two Miss Potts running around. "What do you want to do, kid?" What was he supposed to do? He'd never taken care of a kid before. What if she got hungry, or started crying, or missed Pepper-
"Do you have crayons?"
"I don't think so." He'd have to invest in some. "But how about - oh." He grabbed a loose piece of paper. "Here's something cool." He folded the paper into an airplane under her watchful gaze. "How far do you think it'll go?"
"To the moon!"
"I don't know about that-"
She crossed her arms, raising a brow in such a way that was so Pepper that he had to bite back a laugh. "Mommy says you can make anything."
Pepper said that? Huh. "I can, but let's aim for the end of the room on this first. Ready?" At her enthusiastic nod, he threw the airplane-
And it hit Happy square in the chest.
The bodyguard was out of breath, leaning on his door frame with his head down, trying to get his lungs working. "Boss, have you seen Pepper's-" He brought his head up, eyes going wide with surprise and relief when they landed on Violet. "Oh."
"I've got her, Hap." He replied, unable to stop his smirk. "I can't believe you lost the kid. Pepper is going to kill you."
His friend groaned. "I know. Don't remind me."
He laughed. "Do me a favor and toss that airplane back. We can't lose the first one of the fleet we're going to make. And go hunt us down some crayons, would you?"
"You sure, Boss? I can take her."
Before the girl could protest, he replied, "Nah, I got her. I can take care of a kid for a while." Could he? He hoped so. "Now shoo. Find crayons."
Happy's smile was fond - too fond. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." He sent the airplane back. It slid onto the desk with Violet cheering and Happy chuckling as he left. Tony rolled his eyes at him.
"You want to make one, Mini Potts?"
"Yes!"
They got to work. He guided her less coordinated fingers into creating the bends and flaps of an expert airplane. By the time they had created four more, Happy was back. He hadn't found crayons, but he'd found colorful pens that sufficed. Tony and Violet drew on their fleet with the girl insisting that they all have names, which included Cupcake, Firefly, Bubbles, and, for some reason that he had no right to question considering his naming history, Tiffany.
He eventually taught her how to successfully launch a paper airplane on her own. He did admittedly over dramatic countdowns before she'd send them across the room, doing loops and glides until they either hit the wall, windows, or floor. They sometimes had to do 'tune-ups' on bent paper, but it was nothing an engineer couldn't fix.
Pepper arrived a couple hours later. He didn't realize she was there until Violet exclaimed, "Hi, Mommy!"
"Hi, sweetheart," she replied, looking over the planes littering the floor. "It looks like you two have been busy."
"We made a 'fleet!'" She called, reusing the word Tony taught her.
"I see."
Tony gave her a nervous smile. "She's been safe the whole time, I swear."
"I know." Her face finally changed into a smile. "JARVIS and Happy filled me in. I'm sorry. She can be sneaky and got away from him."
"What's there to apologize for, Pep? Except for not letting me meet this awesome kid before."
She laughed. It was that soft laugh that he rarely got to hear and made his chest feel all tingly. "Either way, I can take her now. I've got paperwork and phone calls, but I can keep her in my office. The babysitter got sick so I've had to make it work today."
He didn't need to be a kid expert to know that staying in an office without paper planes sounded boring. "She can stay with me, Pep. I'll watch her."
"Tony, I don't know-"
He put a hand over his heart. "I promise to be responsible."
Violet threw in her two cents, giving those big puppy eyes. "Please Mommy, I want to stay with Tony! He's fun!"
Tony guestured to her. "The kid has a point."
The woman looked between them before finally sighing. "Alright." Violet cheered. Tony high-fived her. "I'll be back in a while." She moved and her foot nudged one of the planes. She picked it up, inspecting the drawings with a smile, then the main fold - and frowned. "Tony, did you use the paperwork to make these?"
"Uh... maybe." He hadn't really been paying attention. At her unimpressed look, he added, "I promise to reprint it tomorrow."
"Fine." She sent the plane toward them. It looped, went to the side, and skidded to a stop on the ground. "Behave." She pointed a stern finger at them and Tony wasn't sure if she was talking to him or Violet. Probably him.
They spent the rest of the work day in his office. They shifted from the paper airplanes to him teaching her how to play Galaga. Happy brought them some cheeseburgers and nuggets on Tony's request. Finally, Tony let her watch a princess movie on his computer. He wasn't sure which one, too torn between the anxiety in his chest and the fact that, somehow, he was being successful at this whole babysitting thing.
Eventually, he found himself with a sleepy child who could barely keep her eyes open. He shrugged off his suit jacket and put it around her like a blanket. She settled against his chest, falling asleep shortly after.
"I guess I'm a successful babysitter," he whispered. That was the last thing he thought he'd put in his description. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist - that's what he was was, not a babysitter.
So why was taking care of a kid so much more fun than going out?
"That you are, Sir." J replied quietly. "Miss Potts is almost ready to leave. She had a last minute call."
Tont glanced at the clock. It was almost six, well after everyone else would have gone home. Pepper was so diligent and did more than she had to. She practically ran his life and the company at the same time. He wasn't sure how she did it.
She would be the perfect CEO.
Filing that thought away for later, he made sure to be holding Violet carefully before standing. She barely shifted, mumbling something with her bear held in a fist, and he smiled softly. He rarely used the word adorable, but c'mon - she was adorable.
He went and waited outside Pepper's office, which had a nameplate of "Pepper Potts: Tony Stark's Assistant." Most PA's didn't really get an office. Pepper did so much that she had to have an office, one he was happy to give her.
When Pepper opened the door, her face shifted from surprised to soft in a matter of seconds. "She fell asleep?" She brushed a hand through Violet's hair.
"Out like a light." He answered. "You got a cute kid, Potts."
"I thought you only used the word 'cute' as an insult." She locked the door to her office, bag on her shoulder.
"This is an exception."
When Pepper held out her arms, Tony shifted Violet into her hold. For a moment, his and Pepper's faces were close - close enough for his heart to do that weird flip it sometimes did when she was around. He retreated a step, tucking his hands in his pants pockets.
"Your jacket-"
"Keep it," he replied. "I've got a ton of them, as you know. I'm not going to miss one."
She cracked an amused smile. "Thank you." Together, they walked to the elevator. Tony leaned against the wall, watching the numbers tick down until the doors opened in the parking garage, and then walked Pepper back to her car because that was something a gentleman was supposed to do.
Most wouldn't consider him a gentleman, but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to the Potts duo because he wasn't there.
Pepper settled Violet into her car seat. "She had a lot of fun with you."
"She's a good kid." He replied, following Pepper around to the driver's seat. He held the door as she got in, rolling words on his tongue before they came out. "And Pep, if you want, she can stay with me again sometimes instead of a babysitter, if that's fine with you. We can build more airplane fleets. Happy can even supervise."
She raised a brow. "Really? You know you have work to do that doesn't involve folding paper."
He shrugged. "And I'll avoid that work like normal. It won't be any different."
She sighed, shaking her head. It didn't hide her small smile that let him know he'd won. "I'll think about it." She replied, which was definitely yes. "Thank you for taking care of her today."
"It was no problem."
"Let me do something for you. Taking care of a kid is not easy."
"You do everything for me." She really did. She was probably the only reason he was still alive.
"How about tomorrow morning I bring in a coffee from that place you like?"
He stopped, considering it. "As long as you get one for yourself."
"Fine. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"
"That will be all, Miss Potts." He grinned, moving back where she could shut the door. He waved as she drove off, and stayed there for a long minute, watching the lights of her car get smaller until she turned onto the main road.
He didn't understand the warm feeling in his chest.
He loved it anyway.