Pumpkin- Tony Stark

Bonus POV

"I bet he comes down as a chipmunk." Howard said, not unkindly as Maria filled his plate with eggs and bacon. His lovely wife smacked him in the back of the head with the newspaper, before handing it to him.

"Howard." Maria chastised. "What a terrible thing to say!"

"What?" Howard chuckled, "Chipmunks are cute. Small. A little fluffy. Have humongous cheeks to keep their nuts. . ."

Maria smacked him again, this time with her hand.

"Now you be nice to him, no matter how he comes down." Maria demanded. Howard might be the dominant in bed, but his soulmate was the one really in charge.

"Yes ma'am." He said.

"I don't suppose you want any of the french toast that I'll be giving him?" Maria asked.

"Only if it's got powdered sugar and maple syrup." Howard joked.

"Who do you think I am?" Maria scolded, bringing out tall plates of french toast, ends dipped in powdered sugar with cups of maple syrup to go with.

"You're the best." Howard said and suddenly they both heard footsteps on the stairs of the house.

Howard watched his son wake in, hair tousled.

"Morning Sweetheart." Maria greeted him lovingly. "I've already set a plate out for you this morning. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks mom." Tony said, pausing for a moment when he saw his father, before stepping and sitting in his chair, "Morning dad."

"Morning. I see you're still human." Howard said, folding his newspaper down to really look at his son. Recently, he was starting to remind him of someone he'd once met.

"Howard." Maria scolded him as she came in the room again, before turning to their son, "Now, what's the name of your soulmate?"

"Pumpkin." Tony said, "It sounds like a dog name."

Howard went to say, 'I knew someone who had a soulmate named Pumpkin' before he paused. So that's why the man had seemed so familiar without ever having met him. He was from the future, had been from the future. . . his own son.

He wanted to tell Tony in that moment. Wanted to say something, but what could he say? Tell him that one day he'd have two daughters and a son? He remembered the way, he nearly laughed now thinking of how the first name he'd come up with was 'Howard'.

He smiled now, thinking of how the future Tony had asked him why it would be so bad if his child turned out like him.

He felt a rush of affection towards his son. Maria caught his eye and he quickly said, "I was thinking a cat." Tony glanced at him and Howard continued, "Your mother was a cat. A beautiful white cat with fluffy fur."

"Okay, okay." Tony said quickly, shoveling bacon into his mouth. Maria came over, kissing Howard and he kissed back, suddenly feeling lighter than he had.

He didn't have to worry about Tony anymore. Tony had a set, successful future. He invented time travel after all.

"Bet you'll invent time travel son." He said. He wanted future Tony to know that he knew when Tony reached that point.

"Huh?" Tony asked, clearly confused. Maria smacked the back of Howards' head with a newspaper again.

Tony would be fine, he would thrive. And Howard would be reassured about this fact, until the day he would die.