Endeavour Nikolas Stark is perfectly fine as is.
As a child he had been extraordinary, finding a home among the friendliest of people at Charles Xavier's School For the Gifted, and finding himself Gifted in many ways just beyond the X-Gene in his DN...
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Wind comes up.
"I need you to do it for me Pepper." Tony's words came out of nowhere.
The pair had been sitting in the lab at their respective workstations at Stark Internatiofor the past three hours with no words spoken between them.
She barely looked up. "Do what Tony?" Pepper crossed something out on her planner.
"Step in as head of the company."
Pepper Potts paused, looked up, and blinked three times before speaking. "What?"
Tony frowned, he did not really have an answer, but he stood nonetheless making it seem as though he had a plan. He grabbed his shake from the edge of the desk, frowning at the taste as he moved to the door of the lab, Pepper steps behind him.
"I need you to listen, closely." Tony spoke softly as he said it, starting up the stairs and taking deep breaths on every other step. "I want you to take over as CEO temporarily. Just for the year, I am going to focus on the Expo, and I want you to take over day to day operations."
Tony knew it would not be just temporary, but Pepper didn't need to know that yet.
"What?" She had paused behind him, his heels falling silent for less than a moment before starting back up again. "Tony wait-"
"I hereby appoint you chairman of Stark Industries for the forceable future, effective immediately." Tony glanced over his shoulder, smiling at the woman as she took a moment to recognize what was going on.
A hand landed on his shoulder and for just a moment it felt like it was Nikolas'. "Tony you can not just-"
"Actually I can."
He smiled, shaking her hand off of his shoulders as he took a few steps back.
Tony did not want to.
More than anything he wanted to keep going as he always had, inventing and leading the future minds into a world that he would held design. But the Palladium in his chest had different ideas, and without a suitable substitute, he would die.
"As long as it is temporary." Pepper frowned she said it, though Tony could tell that she was gleeful. "You do still have Nikolas as your successor and when he comes home-"
"No." Tony interrupted, his voice firm with no room for discussion. "I mean-"
There was a Nikolas sized hole in the conversation.
Pepper seemed to catch on, her eyes falling as she took a step closer to him and lifted his hands into hers. She smiled, "I would be honored to temporarily be your chairman and CEO."
Tony forced a smile, "Great. I already have your replacement and she is on the way with papers to sign." He squeezed her hands once before dropping them and turning away.
There was still Nikolas. He could hear her wanting to ask about him, about where he was, and about why Tony was so adamant not to discuss him. But she wouldn't, solely because of the fear that was in her bosses eyes.
Pepper Potts had seen both Tony and Nikolas Stark grow up in the time that she had been with them. She was the first person beyond Rhodey to know of Nikolas' gifts, and there for every meltdown and panic attack that ensued at press conferences and public appearances.
She had easily gotten used to the idea of Nikolas, to what he needed and how best she could help him, and in time had gotten use to the eccentricity of his dad Tony.
But this, what she had seen from the older Stark in the six months since the events at the Stark International arc reactor, this was something she had never expected.
Tony seemed lost, as if everything were missing from his life, and he wouldn't speak about Nikolas at all.
It left Pepper wondering.
"Pepper, Natalie Rushman." Tony's voice startled her, she looked up, smiling at the red headed woman. "Natalie Rushman, Pepper."
Tony smiled softly at Pepper.
"I will need each of you to initial these boxes." Natalie Rushman got straight to business and Pepper couldn't help but notice something specific about the air around her. Tony smiled as he signed, his hand shaking slightly with each new initial.
Pepper followed suit easily, feeling a strange sense of peace at the idea of being the boss, whether that be temporary or long term.
"I need your impression Mr. Stark." Natalie had a faint smile as she looked over to the genius.
Tony smiled as he replied, "You have a quiet reserve, oh, I do not know. An old soul?" He laughed as he said it, pressing his fingertip into the black ink box and pressing into the designated square. "That it?"
She shook her head, looking between both Pepper and Tony.
"I will need a signature from a Doctor-" She paused, reading the name on her file before continuing, "Endeavour Stark? As co-CEO, unless he is going to remain-"
"He is."
All humor was gone from Tony as he interrupted the woman. The light previously in his eyes gone as he frowned down at her.
