Tony and his Kids

Blueberry Pancakes

Tony got up with a yawn, painfully aware of the empty space beside him where Pepper would be if she wasn't in Japan. He pushed his hair out of his face, scrubbing at his eyes to wake himself up.

He didn't bother changing out of his pajamas- jogging pants and a t-shirt - and padded down the stairs, intent on watching TV until his kids got up. It was only 5:17 a.m., after all. Why would they be awake at this time?

The same question came again through his mind when halfway down the stairs, he hears quiet laughter from the kitchen. He creeps the rest of the way down the stairs and through the livingroom until he reaches the kitchen doorway. Glancing in, he sees his kids ..... cooking?

Nebula stands beside Morgan, who stands on one of the highly-enforced chairs he created. Both of them are leaned over a bowl with some kind of batter, though it looks like more of it was on the counter and stove than in the bowl.

Harley and Peter are having a whispered argument, sixteen year old Peter insistently pointing at the back of a pancake box while fourteen year old Harley waves his hands at the bowl. Vision watches from the corner, eyes darting back and forth between the two.

"Well is clearly isn't right! The batter is too thin!" The blonde whisper shouts.

"It's on the directions. Maybe we did it wrong," Peter says.

"All five of us are math geniuses, I doubt we did."

Tony decides to break his silence. "Need some help in here?"

All five children's heads whip to look at him. Morgan accidentally slaps the bowl off to the tile floor, splattering pancake batter everywhere.

"Oopsie," the four year old says sheepishly. Tony just chuckles, already grabbing paper towels from the nearby holder.

"Accidents happen, Morguna. It's okay," he says as she hops carefully off the chair, Nebula's watchful eye on her as she did. Tony and his kids cleaned up the mess, Tony only speaking after they'd finished.

"So, pancakes?"

They nod, creepily simultaneous.

"Need some help?"

Everyone but Vision shake their heads. The android looks at him, face blank, and says, "if you don't, I'm sure the kitchen will be gone within an hour."

The others start to protest, but Tony just laughs and grabs another bowl, "First things first, you need to....."

One hour later, they are all in the livingroom eating blueberry pancakes. Some have theirs swamped in syrup (aka Morgan, Peter, and Nebula). The first Star Wars movie (Tony isn't going to specify, he doesn't know which one is first anymore. Just whatever Peter and Harley say) played on the TV. 

Then Pepper walks in, home early, takes one glance at their suddenly frozen in fear frames (not supposed to be eating in the livingroom) and pancakes, and says:

"We can break the rules once."

She sits down beside Tony, kisses him, and then steals his last pancake.