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Inside the humongous and spacious Malibu mansion, a 10 year old William, descended towards Tony's workshop, who was tinkering away at his suit, trying to get it to fit into a briefcase.
"Tony?", his attention was captured by his adopted son, who was standing at the glass entrance of the garage/workshop. He swiftly got up from seat, ran and opened the door, grasping his hand to support him and led him to his workspace.
"Hey kid! What are you doing down here?", he asked softly, making sure not to make him feel like he was not welcome here.
"Uh, I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to see what you were doing. I hope I'm not disturbing you. I could go back if-"
"No, no. You're not disturbing me. I was just working on my suit that's all.", he interrupted him. He was not disturbing him. In fact, he was glad he was here. Which was weird, because Tony Stark was known as a rude, arrogant, narcissistic asshole. Yet here he was, acting like the complete opposite. The kid brought out the good in him. Everyone close to him could see that.
"Uh could I help?", the whiskey-brown eyed boy asked, in the most most timid voice possible, almost scared that his adoptive father would yell at him and send him away.
"Uh yeah sure!", he agreed, slightly surprising the boy.
"Cool. Uh, What are you making?", he quizzed, feeling around the table, trying to understand his project.
"Um, I want to make a suit that would convert into a briefcase ,you know? Like a...Like a portable suit. Because....because the giant robotic arms are a hassle you know?", he rambled nervously, and internally cursing himself for it. Tony was never someone who wanted to prove his smarts to anyone. Everybody knew he was a genius. But he really wanted William to like him. He wanted him to want to want to spend time with him. Maybe he didn't want the kid to grow up like he did. Thinking that his father didn't love. Always feeling ignored by him. It was true that they weren't at the stage where the boy would address him as dad, but he would do his best to earn that privilege.
"Yeah, I have a couple ideas that could work."
"Great. I will put on some music. You like rock, kid?", he asked with hopeful eyes, though the teen genius couldn't see him.
"Yeah, I love rock.", he smiled a genuine smile, which reached his eyes behind his red tinted glasses.
"Brilliant." Tony grinned back, as J.A.R.V.I.S. blasted 'Back in Black' by AC/DC through the speakers.
And so they worked, for over 30 hours, tinkering away together. At one point, Pepper came down to interrupt them and get William to go to bed. But after looking at how the duo was laughing, and working, lost in their own world, she left them alone. She knew William's addition to the family would really help Tony, and vice versa.
