All My Life

1| You are not Howard

Tony's pov.

"Jarvis, could you kindly Vac-U-Form a digital wireframe?" I say and then rub my palms impatiently as I watch the suit being scanned.

"Ironman suit Mark XLVI scan complete, sir." Jarvis announces and soon enough the manipulable hologram appears in front of me. I look around the mess that the lab had become, the test flight was, indeed, quite a catastrophe.

"So much for running before walking, sir."

Jarvis had exclaimed sarcastically as I crashed through the ceiling, making a frown etch upon my face.

"Watch it, J. I might as well shut you down." I had said in pure annoyance.

"You love me too much, sir."

I gaze at the destroyed state of my suit and then turn to Dum-E only to find him messing with the fire extinguisher that he had used to dose me with the awful white foam. "Dum-E! What are you doing? Put the extinguisher down, you idiot!" The robot gives two small beeps and then bow its mechanical arm after putting the extinguisher down, making me sigh in exasperation. "Clear up the mess, bud," I order and walk towards the hologram.

"Sir, I would like to remind you that the board members are waiting in the conference room IV for you, " Jarvis informs and I huff in annoyance. There is not even a mild probability that I am going to be in the same room as those idiots. "Let those old bastards go to hell."

"Let's get this done, Jarvis. You ready?" I ask as I feel myself being eager to spring into some much-needed action. "Always, sir." A small smile creeps upon my face on his response and I start fixing the suit up.

**********************

"Sir, Ms Potts is approaching," Jarvis speaks and I look up to see the sun setting after what seemed like hours of continuous tinkering. "I'd suggest you brace yourself, I'm registering high levels of epinephrine."

"Epinephrine? Epi-" I mumble to myself and then it suddenly clicks. "Angry! Why is she mad? Damnit!" I talk to myself and soon enough I am face to face with my fuming assistant.

"Anthony Edward Stark!" She yells and I flinch as her angry gaze settles upon me.

"Ok, you are angry and I'm busy and yo-" I stop myself as I see a glint of fury flash before her eyes. "Wait! Let me rephrase that, I was busy." She crosses her arms and I ask her nervously, "What did I do now?"

How is it that I can destroy an entire fleet of aliens and yet this wonderfully terrifying woman makes me tremble...

"Do you have any idea how long you have been in this miracle dungeon of yours?" She glowers at me and walks to the other side of the lab, towards the work tables.

Miracle dungeon...Now that's a new one...

"Three hours?" It comes out more like a question instead of an answer and soon enough I find myself internally facepalming. She gives me a look of disapproval and then walks towards me with a piece of paper. "Jarvis? What do you say?"Pepper questions.

"Mr Stark has been in the lab for eight hours and forty-nine minutes, ma'am." A frustrated look crosses her features.

"Snitch," I mutter quietly making Pepper's head snap towards me.

"And let me guess, you also forgot about the extremely important meeting with the board that, let me remind you, has been continuously postponed for two months straight now." I remain speechless. "Wait! Didn't Jarvis inform you?"

Uh Oh! Please don't speak for once Jarvis...

"I surely did remind him, Ms Potts," I am so dead. I slowly look up at the woman and regret my decision.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Stark!" She yells with her hands stretched out. "I was injured!" I try to reason helplessly. "Excuse me?" She questions in disbelief. "There was an accident." I regret my decision, again. "You were in a freaking accident?! Are you out of your mind?" She yells as her gaze checks every inch of my body for possible injuries.

"It was an accident!" I whine like a child but soon felt Pepper's delicate fingers trace the sharp cut over my forehead.

"Is he okay, Jarvis?" Pepper sighed. "He certainly is okay, ma'am."

"You will get yourself killed, Tony...Please, try to be at least remotely careful." She pleads and I feel the guilt creep down my spine but soon enough shake it off. She gives me some papers and I look at her questioningly. She rolls her eyes, "I knew you didn't read that either."

"You are getting an intern." My head snaps towards her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me." She shrugs nonchalantly. I rack my brain for some sort of explanation and soon enough remember about the internship program for high schoolers and college students that she had told me about the other day.

"You've got to be kidding me Pep!"

"Not at all."

"But, but kids are rude." She looks at me as if I have lost my mind. I seem to be getting this look a lot these days. "No, they aren't. And secondly, your intern is a teenager, not a freaking baby. "

"Doesn't that makes it worse?" Gosh! This isn't happening, I can't work with some kid.

"Pepper, you know well enough that I'm not good with kids, like, at all. I hate kids!" I run my hand through my hair in annoyance. "No, you don't, Tony. You pretend to hate kids." She speaks calmly, her arms crossed across her chest as she gave me a sharp look.

"I-"

"No, you listen to me, Tony. The decision is already made." She declared. "It will be better for you to be in some company."

"But, I have got Jarvis," I whine, hating the idea of having another human presence in my lab. "A human company. You can't live with non-living machines of yours all the time, that's not healthy!"

"I'm pretty sure Jarvis is offended, Pep." I try to guilt-trip her before my lovely AI decides to interfere. "I can assure that no offence is taken, sir." I sigh for the nth time this day and Pepper smirks. "So, it's sorted then. Your intern will be waiting for you tomorrow." She says before turning on her heels swiftly.

I watch her walk away but just as she begins to cross the door she turns around and look at me. Her eyes soften as she speaks.

"You are not Howard, Tony. You never were."