Iron Legacy

Smells like Teen Spirits

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FLASHBACK NOVEMBER 2005

It had been a week since Elijah was delivered to Tony's front door, the kid sure has loosened up a little, but he still didn't seem to want to connect with Tony at all, he would talk with Pepper but around Tony he would just shut down. Of course Pepper is great with people, but Tony never would have thought she was such a kids person. It truly made him look at her with even more amazement.

Tony tried multiple times to talk to Elijah but after three failed attempts he didn't feel like trying a fourth time, he thought Elijah must not like him, after all he wasn't that good with kids. Hell he wasn't even a people person at all, he was pretty sure 90% of people he meets doesn't like him, they respect him sure, but that is not the same.

It was pretty much confirmed now Elijah wasn't going anywhere, especially after Pepper made Tony turn one of the guest rooms into a bedroom for a 5 year old boy. They let Elijah pick out most of the furniture and decorations, having mostly picked out blue colored things and some cool car models they put a bookshelf up for.

Tony had pretty much given anything this little boy's heart desired, but he did it more to convince Pepper he was a good person, that much was certain. He noticed how much Pepper connected with Elijah. Most days Pepper would stay at the Stark mansion until it was Elijah's bedtime and she would put him to bed, even reading him a story. Of course Tony would be staring at them from the door opening still scared of raising an actual child. At nights Pepper wasn't there he would try getting Elijah to bed failing miserably each time, in the end Elijah would just put himself to bed most times.

"Come on kid, work with me will you?" Tony said, he honestly didn't know what he did wrong and why the boy would not accept his attempts to connect a little.

"My name is Elijah." Elijah spoke out one night after the constant use of 'kid', making Tony look up in surprise with the full sentence the kid would finally say to him. Instead of the usual sad look Elijah put up around Tony, he now expressed a more serious and irritated face.

"Alright, Elijah." Tony said correcting himself. "Do you want a -uh- story, or something?" He asked almost unsure or himself. "Where is Pepper?" Elijah asked ignoring Tony's question.

"uh- Pepper is -uhm- away. She'll be back tomorrow." Tony said trying to convince himself he can so this. Tony looked around trying to find a story book but gave up as he thought all the stories were boring.

"Why does Pepper not like you back?" Elijah said breaking the silence in the bedroom. Tony turned to look at him confused as to why he would ask that.

Tony briefly scratched the back of his head. "What- What do you mean with that, Eli?" Tony asks.

"You like Pepper." Elijah states, making Tony's eyes go wide and his jaw drop. "I think you are mistaken there bud."

Elijah shrugs at Tony's denial causing another deafening silence in the room.

"Do you like it here, Elijah?" Tony asks now that the boy actually spoke. Elijah looks his father in the eyes and shrugs again. "You just want to send me away." Elijah says, apparently he has been quite observant of Tony's initial reaction from the first moment Elijah arrived and was still convinced Tony looked at him this way.

It finally became clear to Tony why Elijah gave him such a hard time with trying to connect. Tony knew he should probably tell him otherwise, that this wasn't how he looked at the situation anymore but instead he pulled the blanket over Elijah and left the room quietly turning off the light switch on his way out.