A Heart on Fire // TonyStarksDaughter

4. My Favorite Holiday

~ 2015 ~

Evelyn's POV

"The first few years were, rough to say the least."

"What do you mean?" I say timidly. 

It felt strange, having someone else tell me my life story. 

I've been lied to about this stuff before, which makes me not want to trust anyone. But for some reason as Tony talked, I trusted him. I felt like what he was saying is right. Like some small part in the back of my brain agrees with what he's saying.

"Well, as ashamed as I am to say it now, I didn't want to be a father back then. I was terrified at the thought of being a dad. I didn't want to be like my dad, but this irrational fear caused me to be just like him at first."

"What was your dad like?"

"He was cold, and distant. He barely ever talked to me, never told me he loved me, always kept his distance, and sent me off to boarding school first chance he could. I know now that he was just busy with everything else, but back then it was just painful growing up like that."

"What's boarding school?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. 

"It's... he sent me off to school far away from my home."

I nodded my head, trying to wrap my head around the concept.

"Anyway, as much as I wish I could change it, I wound up being just as cold and distant to you for the first few years. It was really Pepper, Happy, Obadiah, and Rhodey that wound up raising you. They loved the crap out of you, and you were a genius. The press of course went nuts over the fact that I had a genius kid, and you quickly became the most famous kid in America."

"Me? Famous? Really?" I asked, holding back my laughter. "I've lived my life in the shadows, and your telling me I was once the most famous kid in America?"

"Yes. You're my kid, I'm super famous, so by association you were famous."

I let out a deep breath and shook my head in disbelief. 

"That wasn't really the point though. I guess I'm not able to say much about this portion of your life because I wasn't really a part of it. We talked sometimes, and we did a lot of photo opts, but I just watched you from afar really. I missed events, awards, even birthdays. Don't get me wrong, the whole time I was proud of you, but I felt like if I got too close I would ruin you."

I looked down to my feet, nodding my head, and trying to understand what he was saying. But, out of everything that he had just said, one thing plagued my mind.

"When is my birthday?" I ask, looking up to meet his gaze. 

Tony looked back at me, sympathy and sadness in his eyes. I did my best to keep a straight face, but I just hate when people give me their sympathy. 

"Did you not celebrate your birthday for the past, almost 5 years?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. 

"Kinda, not really. Once I met Wanda and Pietro they forced me to celebrate it at New Years. But I didn't even know what New Years was before I met them so..."

I sort of stopped talking and looked bacck to Tony, who had such longing in his eyes.

"May 10th, 2001. Just a few weeks before mine."

I pulled my knees to my chest and nodded my head, a small smile pressing at my lips. 

A birthday. I have a real birth date. Wow.