Shadowplay | Tony Stark

FORTY SIX - HAPPY BIRTHDAY

After endless back and forth with Steve, Tony had finally managed to make the rest of the team agree to hold off on the mission for an extra day.

It seemed slightly absurd to the other Avengers that Tony would delay something so important for a child he hadn't looked in the eye for six weeks, but it was evident that there was going to be no changing his mind.

Admittedly, Tony too felt incredibly nervous about the whole thing. He hadn't heard from Mila in the month and a half they'd been separated and he'd managed to stop himself from calling her, too.

It had been almost impossibly difficult to keep the space between them, Tony finding himself wanting to jump into his car and drive through the night to see them on more occasions than he'd care to count, only to dismiss the thought after a few seconds when he realised that it would only pour salt into an unhealed wound.

Tristan's birthday, however, was a different matter. As much as there wasn't a co-parent situation going on like there perhaps would've been if the child had been his flesh and blood, Tony still felt a responsibility to remind Tristan that he did have a father that loved him, even if his role in his life had changed.

Tony immediately felt out of place when he pulled onto the gravel driveway leading up to Mila's home. There were at least half a dozen cars parked on the sides and as he crawled closer to the house, he saw red and white balloons tied to the front porch with streamers hanging from the ceiling, a banner reading happy birthday strung diagonally across the front door.

He wasn't sure why the thought hadn't crossed his mind, but Tony hadn't imagined he'd be walking in on a birthday party. Perhaps it was because he'd never seen Tristan playing with other kids his age or heard him talk about his friends, or simply because he still hadn't truly adopted the mindset of a parent.

Either way, he felt like a complete idiot when he parked his car behind the rest of them, sighing loudly and staring at the house with one hand still on the steering wheel, debating with himself whether to bite the bullet and go inside, or just drive home.

Part of him didn't want to see Mila and Tristan. And that wasn't out of spite or hatred, it was because he knew he'd have to say goodbye all over again and after the last time, he wasn't sure he was strong enough to do it again, never quite feeling the same since.

Being a parent was about being selfless, he'd learned that much. So the same way Mila tore herself away from the only thing that had ever made her feel alive for the happiness of her child, Tony would force himself to walk straight back into a fire for the happiness of his son, too.

He felt himself physically shaking as he walked up the steps to the porch, looking down at the place Tristan had asked him to be his father and feeling a twist of pain in his gut at how different things had become.

He could hear children's laughter and chatter from outside, seeing the house appearing full from a quick glance through the windows before he rest his hand on the door handle. He paused to pull a deep breath into the bottom of his lungs, trying to shake the lightheaded feeling that had made his body feel like it was falling to pieces since he'd stepped out of the car.

Tony was thankful when he appeared to slip into the home unnoticed. He stayed lingering by the door with two large gift bags filled with presents in his hands, trying to peer through the crowd of parents that were scattered around the edge of the room.

The couches had been moved and there were even more streamers and balloons filling the downstairs of the house. Pictures of every superhero known to man were pinned to walls and the fireplace and endless scraps of wrapping paper littered the floor, the house not feeling still for a split second as there was constantly a scream or a laugh from one of the children that came running through into the living room.