Anthony Stark Jr. My father is the greatest inventor of all time, And my mother is the Black Widow.
“I don’t know,” she responded with a shrug. “My parents aren’t that bad. Honestly, you survived meeting Alex. That’s the worst part. But you don’t have to meet them. I’d understand if you didn’t want to.” She knew enough about what Tony was like before they started dating to know that he wasn’t really into everything that came with a committed relationship. And that was okay with her. She wasn’t going to force him into something he wasn’t comfortable with. “I don’t know. We have three months to figure that out.” Molly grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. “I know you have been. And I’m really proud of you.” She smiled at him. “And I’m sure I could arrange some kind of award for you,” she added, a little impish gleam in her eyes. “But anyways, I don’t think we should plan out our summer. I think we should just… live. Be spontaneous.”
“I’ll meet them if you want me to,” Tony shrugged and gave her a smile. “That’s true. Let’s make these three months count then because god knows they’ll be over before we know it. Hm, an award?” A small smirk crept up across his face. “I have a feeling any award coming from you will really make me feel this was worth it,” he grinned. Taking another bite from his slice of pizza, he nodded in agreement. Finishing chewing his food, he beamed, “We make a good team, you and me.” Teasingly, he continued, “How did you get so lucky?” With a laugh, he leaned in close to her and kissed her. “I’m kidding. I think I got lucky too.”
“You Starks are so full of yourselves.” Molly rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing I’m attracted to confident guys, or you’d be out of luck.” Tony was borderline cocky, but she didn’t mind it. He at least knew when and where to turn that off. “Yeah, I guess they wouldn’t be happy. Have you even met my parents yet?” That was a scary thought, having him meet her parents. On the one hand, that was always kind of a big step. On the other, he’d already met her brother, and in her opinion, Alex was much harder to impress than either of her parents. “That sounds like it would be nice. I haven’t been to Malibu in years. I’m sure it’d be much better this time around. I imagine this whole trip will be very rewarding.” She grinned and leaned in to kiss him when the doorbell rang. “Pizza’s here!” Molly announced cheerfully, hopping off the sofa and heading for the door. Paying the delivery man, she took the pizza from him and, making a quick detour into the kitchen to grab some plates and two cans of soda, returned to the living room. “Oh my god, it smells so good. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”
Tony shook his head before responding, “No, I have not. Uh, do I want to?” Admittedly, he wasn’t too sure how he felt about meeting her parents. Meeting parents was never part of his M.O. because he never really chose to have long-lasting relationships. And he was certain he was still not Alex’s favorite person. “Yeah, I’ll make it worth your while,” he flashed her a wide grin. “Thank god. Yeah, I’m starving too. But that’s not anything new,” he half joked once she’d returned. Eagerly, he grabbed two slices and set them on one of the plates before beginning to eat. It didn’t matter if it’d been five hours since he’d last eaten or five minutes, Tony’s appetite often seemed never ending. “Malibu it is,” he finally said once he was halfway done with his first slice. “What else do you want to do this summer? Because I don’t know about you, but my plan’s to make it my best one yet. I’ve been doing fairly well at this no-drinking thing. I deserve an award and a sober summer.”
“They’re not fine, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m done working myself too hard on anything. I can-… Never mind. Anyway, it’ll be nice to have you all around. I missed my babies. Can I call you my babies?” Natasha laughed and walked back over to the stove to pick up the pot of noodles. “Can you get the meat balls out of the oven, honey?” She shook the strainer full of noodles in the sink and looked over her shoulder at him. “I know how you all act, Tony. Has anyone actually tried talking to her instead of chastising her for her emotions and words?” Natasha looked over her shoulder at him while she reached into a cabinet for a glass bowl.
“Right,” Tony replied, knowing it was best to not push it; it wasn’t his place too anyway. They’d work it out. They always did. With a small laugh, he nodded, “I guess you can call us your babies. Even if we’re all fairly grown. Well, except Chloe. She can be your baby.” Nodding, he did as he was asked and took the meat balls from the oven and carefully set them on the kitchen counter. “It smells good,” he said and he realized now just how hungry he was. “Uh, no,” he finally admitted. “I’m not any good at that, honestly. I know I’ll end up making her angrier and we all know how that goes. Haldor just calls her out on it and half the time I’m waiting for her to kick his ass again. You know what’s strange? Or maybe it’s not so strange, I don’t know. But Chloe’s got the better head on her shoulders. Maybe because she’s lived less so she’s not jaded and cynical. She’s the one that’s been putting us in our place,” he chuckled.
Natasha turned her back to him and began to break noodles into the pot of boiling water on the stove. “I tried telling your father that she doesn’t mean to be so angry, but I’m pretty sure it went in one ear and out the other.” Natasha knew her children and that meant that she knew their personalities better than most. “Listen, honey,” she said, placing her elbows on the island counter. “I’m sure she’s just stressed like you said. She’s like me, she gets stressed and she lashes out. Not that that’s a good trait to have, it isn’t, but she’s not being malicious for no reason.” It wasn’t the least bit surprising that he was contributing to the stress in the house, she was sure they all were in one way or another. Placing her hand on his cheek, she rubbed her thumb across it and smiled. “I think you kids could use some time away from there. How about you come stay here for a while.” The idea of having her kids there was welcoming, she had missed them and it felt like forever since she had seen or heard from any of them.
“No, I know that. She just makes it hard to talk to her, you know? Like I don’t really know how to make things better at home. It’s like walking on eggshells or not wanting to set any mines off,” Tony sighed. “How are things between you and dad?” He asked curiously. Smiling back at her, he nodded in agreement. “God, yeah. I agree. I’ll bring some of my stuff over tonight or tomorrow night. I think dad needs the break from us too, honestly. I don’t know how he does it. This is a nice place by the way,” he smiled. He was looking forward to a change of scenery and it also meant he’d get to enjoy his mother’s cooking.
“Oh really? What’s that supposed to mean, Stark? You making comments about my driving?” She nudged him in the rib, rolling her eyes despite the playful smirk on her face. “You’re so sure of yourself. I bet there are a million other people who could be just as good companions as you are… if not better.” Molly raised and dropped her eyebrows in a quick flourish, grinning broadly at him. “I don’t think I’d count myself lucky, but somehow I’ll survive it. Somehow.” She snuggled a little closer to him with a soft sigh. “Yeah, that weekend would be good. Too bad we can’t go sooner. Do you actually have to be present to graduate? I mean seriously, could I just hire a substitute and be done with it?”
“Maybe just as good, but I think that’s overreaching. As for better? No chance. No one’s better than a Stark. It’s not even a matter of opinion. It’s only a fact of life,” Tony grinned as he looked over at her. Kissing her, he simply shook his head. “Yeah, sooner would be great but what’s a few extra days? You’ll have fun. I promise. It’ll be over before you know it. You probably could hire a substitute for the right amount of money. Your parents wouldn’t be happy,” he said. “Anyway, did we decide where we want to go? We could go west. Hit up Malibu,” he shrugged and tried to come up with more suggestions.
Natasha smiled at Tony and set the dishtowel down on the counter. “I’m okay. You know, just taking things day by day. It’s all we can do, right?” Opening the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of Perrier and furrowed her eyebrows. “Why does interesting sound like it’s more of a cover-up for stressed and nerve racking?” Setting the bottle down, she reached up into the cabinet and pulled out a glass and poured some scotch into it for him. “I can tell when my son needs a drink, don’t go expecting me to make you one all the time,” she said with a wink. It was nice to have someone to talk to keep the silence and thoughts at bay. Even if at times she felt as though she was putting up a facade for the sake of everyone around her was going to fall. She just hoped that she could keep it up for a bit longer. “Be honest, what’s going on? I hear that Herdis is mad at your dad. Which I never thought I’d hear that.”
“You caught me. I was trying to make the situation sound better by calling it interesting. Half of us are bad liars,” Tony said with a hint of a laugh. With a slight shrug, he continued, “Yeah. It’s been stressful and all that for more than one reason.” He happily accepted the drink from her and took a long swig. “Thanks,” he said. He wasn’t even sure where to start with what was going on. Things had taken a 180 degree turn at home. “Well, as it is things got tense since you went missing. And from what I’ve overheard, Herdis kind of blamed dad for…for what happened to you,” he sighed. “I don’t think she means to give him all this grief about it but she’s just so, I don’t know, stressed? That she lashes out at whoever. And I’ll admit I probably haven’t been the nicest to dad.”
Natasha had been in the kitchen cooking when she heard the knock at the door. She hadn’t been expecting visitors and she had given Sebastian a key, so the sound took her by surprise. The only other person it could be was Tony and they weren’t exactly on speaking terms right now. Not bothering to check the monitors to see who it was, she dried her wet hands on the towel she was holding and opened the door. A wide smile spread across her face when she saw her son standing there and she ignored the pain in her abdomen and hugged him. “I’ve missed you, honey.” She said quietly and led him inside. It was nice to have the company of one of her children with her. Especially since it had been far too long since she had seen any of them. Closing the door behind them, she went back into the kitchen. “I’m cooking if you want to come into the kitchen, or you can sit on the couch. Either or is fine with me. How are you?” She hoped that taking the focus off of her would keep him from asking too many questions.
Returning the hug, he said, “I missed you too, mom.” It was good to see her smile but Tony could sense she was far from okay. Following her inside, he took a look around and could already tell that he loved the look of it. Good taste ran in the family it seemed. “I’ll join you in the kitchen,” he answered as followed her into the kitchen. Setting the bag of skittles on the kitchen counter, he smiled, “I brought you candy. I thought you’d be happy.” Leaning against the counter, he shrugged. “I’ve been better. Things at home have been…interesting. Yeah, let’s go with interesting. Anyway, how are you?” He wasn’t really expecting her to let on about what had happened. If anything, she’d probably brush it off and say she was fine and that everything was fine. But Tony wasn’t an idiot. He didn’t know the extent of her injuries but they’d landed her in the hospital. And she had to have a good reason to suddenly move into a new place.
“I think maybe they’re just strong in different ways.” Molly offered him a reassuring smile. “I love you too.” She sat in comfortable silence until he spoke again. The idea of taking a little trip to the beach, just the two of them, was something that definitely appealed to her. “We could take a road trip.” It was kind of a spur of the moment suggestion, but it didn’t sound like such a bad idea. “I’ve always wanted to take a road trip. Just never had the right motivation. Or a decent person to go with.” She nudged him in the side gently, smirking. “That is, if you think you could deal with me for a few days. Might be kind of tough, since I’m just so disagreeable.”
“Road trip sounds like a perfect idea. As long as I’m the only one allowed to drive,” Tony teased before giving her another kiss. Excitement was something he’d been craving and now he had the perfect opportunity. He let out a small laugh before smiling, “Good think I’m more than a decent person. I’m the best person you could go on a road trip with.” As he responded, he nodded, “Yeah, you are a pain. Too much of one.” He managed to maintain a straight face before he burst out in laughter. “Can you deal with me for a few days?” He questioned with an eyebrow raised. “Wait, don’t answer that. I know the answer already. You would count yourself lucky too,” he smirked. “When do you want to go? We can leave the weekend you graduate?”
