Work Text:
Today it was Jack’s turn to pick Tony up from school.
Since the little boy’s birth, Jack had found himself more involved in his life than he had intended. At first, Jack was simply helping Peggy, who was Tony’s godmother, but little by little, Jack had to face the facts: he loved spending time with the little boy and would do anything for him. And he knew that Peggy and Daniel, as well as the Jarvises, were on the same page as him.
So, when Tony’s family situation deteriorated even further when the little boy was around four years old, Jack, Peggy, and Daniel decided to intervene even more. Unfortunately, they couldn’t sue the Starks for neglect, but they could at least take care of their son when they weren’t.
So, by organizing with Ana and Edwin Jarvis who were mainly taking care of Tony, the three SHIELD agents also took care of their nephew.
And today, Jack had finished work early and had to pick up the 6-year-old boy from school. They would then go to the park for ice cream and do whatever Tony wanted before Jack took him back to Stark Manor where the Jarvises would take over for the rest of the day.
Jack had arrived at school a little early and was waiting, hiding his impatience as best he could, for the bell announcing the end of classes to ring.
When the bell finally rang, Jack couldn’t hold back a small smile. He wouldn’t admit it to many people, but he was looking forward to spending these few hours with Tony. Lately, Jack had been spending a lot of time outside of New York, traveling across the country and even across the Atlantic for work. So, when he got back to New York and could see his nephew, he made the most of it.
That’s why when the bell rang, Jack almost had to force himself not to rush to the gate and demand to know where his nephew was.
Instead, he thought about what he could do with the boy. Sousa had told him about a nice new ice cream shop not far from the park Jack often took Tony to, so they should go check it out. And then maybe Tony would want to check out the new science exhibit in town. Or maybe he’d want to go to the zoo.
Well, whatever, Jack would do whatever Tony wanted to do. He just had to wait until the little boy got out of class.
And just as he was thinking that Jack saw Tony leaving the main building. A big smile, the one he reserved almost exclusively for Tony, appeared on the blond’s face before he noticed the brunette’s attitude.
Where Tony was usually a rather cheerful and outgoing child, here the young boy walked with his head down and he seemed to have no energy.
Frowning, Jack walked closer to the school gate.
“Hello sir, may I have your name please?” The women at the gate entrance asked.
“Jack Thompson. I’m here to pick up Tony Stark.” Jack replied easily, knowing this was procedure and there was no getting around it.
The woman checked the information in her small notebook before nodding. “Indeed, Mr Jarvis warned us this morning that you would be coming to pick up young Tony this evening.”
“That’s right.” Jack said, his attention fixed on Tony, who was approaching with an exhausted look.
“I would like to inform you that since this afternoon, Tony has not been feeling very well.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, on the way back from the cafeteria, one of the teachers noticed that he didn’t seem very well. When she confronted him, Tony claimed that everything was fine, that he didn’t need to go to the infirmary and that he could continue with his classes. We checked on him this afternoon and he seems tired. I suspect a slight illness.”
“I see. Well, don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” Jack assured. “Our ice cream in the park just turned into hot chocolate on the couch, but that’s no problem.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Thompson.” The woman thanked sincerely.
Jack nodded and refocused on Tony, who apparently hadn’t seen him and was waiting to be called, leaning against the wall next to the gate.
“Tony.” The woman at the gate called him. “Mr. Thompson came to get you.”
Hearing that name, Tony looked up and when he saw his uncle, a tired smile came to his face.
“Uncle Jack!” He exclaimed rather weakly as he walked towards the gate and quickly went through it.
Jack crouched down and opened his arms, catching his nephew in them. Tony buried his forehead in his uncle’s shoulder, slumping against him. Immediately, Jack felt that the little boy’s forehead was far too hot. He must have a fever.
“Hey buddy.” He said softly. “Are you okay?”
“I missed you.” Tony mumbled.
“Oh, I missed you too, Tony.” Jack replied. “How about we go home?”
“At your place? I don’t want to go back to the manor... Dad’s mean when I’m sick.”
“Don’t worry.” Jack assured him, getting up, keeping Tony in his arms. “I won’t let your Dad be mean to you.”
That was a promise Jack had made to himself a long time ago. He would never let Howard Stark lay a hand on his son. Jack had never really liked Howard, and that was a fact, but he had to admit that the genius had done them good service. And it was partly thanks to him that Jack had a job right now, Howard Stark being one of the founders of SHIELD. Jack had come to have a certain respect for the character. But as much cordiality as he tried to maintain, if Jack ever caught Howard being abusive to his only son, the blond wouldn’t hesitate to smash his fist in the middle of his face to break his perfect nose. On the contrary, he almost looked forward to an opportunity like this.
But anyway, back to the present moment, when Jack had his arms full of a sick little Tony. “Come on buddy, let’s go home.”
Tony nodded, mumbling softly.
Jack then set off, holding the little boy tightly against him. Since he’d thought they’d go to the park and walk elsewhere, Jack had come to pick Tony up on foot, and that also meant he’d have to carry Tony to his apartment. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t live far away, and it would do him good to walk.
Tony must have been really exhausted because not even 3 minutes after they left school, the little boy had fallen asleep, his head buried in his uncle’s neck.
Jack, rather than finding it amusing, was actually worried. How long had Tony been sick? The teacher had mentioned it after lunch, but for the boy to be this sick, it must have started earlier. But at the same time, Jack knew that Edwin Jarvis would never have sent Tony to school knowing he was sick. There was a slight possibility that Tony hadn’t said he was feeling sick this morning, but then again, Jarvis would have noticed and wouldn’t have let it happen.
Jack would have to call Jarvis later to get the full story. But right now, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Jack now had to take care of his sick nephew. Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time he’d had to take care of a sick child.
He’d had practice with Elizabeth Carter, Peggy and Daniel’s eldest daughter, and his goddaughter, for that matter. He’d lost count of the number of times Peggy had shown up at his house at who knew what time to drop a sick Elizabeth into his arms, asking him to take care of her while her mother went off to save the world. And even though the first time Jack really paniqued, he was used to it by now.
With Elizabeth now 20, the times he had to babysit her were becoming increasingly rare. Jack had also occasionally cared for George Carter, Elizabeth’s younger brother.
All that to say, he was used to taking care of sick children by now and spending the rest of the day with Tony in this state didn’t scare him.
By the time he’d thought all this through, Jack had arrived at the small apartment he’d lived in when he was in New York. It wasn’t anything big, considering he was single, childless, and half the time around the world, but it was enough. It was enough for Jack when he was alone, but he still had room to host one of his nephews or niece from time to time.
After entering the apartment and activating all the safety features, Jack gently placed Tony on the couch while he organized himself and decided what he was going to do next.
Thinking about this, Jack took the school bag off Tony’s shoulders and placed it by the door. He then took off the little boy’s shoes and, without waking him, also managed to take off his jacket, unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt to make him more comfortable. If Tony woke up, he could help him put on the pajamas Jack kept for him for just such situations, but for now, it would suffice.
Jack then went to grab a thick, comfortable blanket and pillow from his room, making Tony more comfortable on the couch. The little boy sighed contentedly as he buried his face in the blanket, but his body was still racked with shivers.
Placing his hand on Tony’s forehead, Jack grimaced. Yes, the little boy definitely had a fever. Not enough to need a doctor, but enough to worry the blond slightly. But hey, it wasn’t time to panic just yet.
Instead, Jack fetched a bowl of fresh water and a clean cloth. He placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch and went to get some reports he needed to work on to keep himself busy. Once that was done, he settled down on the couch, right next to Tony’s head, and soaked the cloth in the water, wringing it out, and then placing the cool, wet cloth on the little boy’s forehead.
Little boy who grimaced but didn’t wake up, so Jack took that as a victory.
Jack then began his vigil, regularly rewetting the cloth on Tony’s forehead. At first, he tried to work on his reports but quickly realized that with Tony sick next to him, he wouldn’t get anywhere, so he gave up. No problem, he could do that later.
About an hour later, Tony woke up with a half-groan. Jack smiled a little and pulled the damp cloth away, running his hand through the little boy’s hair.
“Hey buddy.” He said softly.
“Uncle Jack?” Tony asked, blinking.
“I’m here.” Confirmed the blond. “I picked you up from school, but since you’re sick, I took you home and you slept a little.”
“Hmm, I wanted to spend time with you. I missed you.” Tony repeated as he moved, almost crawling, and only stopped when he found himself in Jack’s lap.
“I missed you too, big guy.” Jack assured, placing a small kiss on the top of Tony’s head. And we’re spending time together.
“But not like that.” Tony pouted.
Jack nodded and thought about what he could offer the young boy without exhausting him. “Here’s what I suggest. I’ll make you a nice hot chocolate and then we’ll go back to the couch, and I’ll tell you stories.”
“Super spy stories?” Tony asked hopefully, his eyes gleaming.
“Super spy stories.” Jack confirmed with a smile.
“Yeah, so cool.” Tony agreed, leaning against his uncle.
Jack smiled once more before standing up, keeping Tony wrapped in his blanket against him and heading into his kitchen.
Luckily, he used to make hot chocolate with a child in his arms, again thanks to Elizabeth and George Carter.
Jack put the necessary milk for hot chocolate in a pot and, after a moment’s thought, added a second helping. Yes, Jack Thompson was a grown man, almost 52 years old. Yes, he was a renowned SHIELD agent. And yes, he was going to have hot chocolate for a snack. He didn’t see the problem.
Once the hot chocolate was ready and poured into two mugs, Jack brought them over to the coffee table and sat back down on the couch, Tony still cuddled in his arms.
Once seated, Tony shifted a bit to settle comfortably against his uncle with his cup of chocolate in his hand. At that moment, Jack’s cat, Marge, finally deigned to come out of the blond’s bedroom and jump onto the couch, curling up on Tony’s other side, who petted her for a little while before turning his wide eyes to Jack.
“Story?” He asked.
And he was way too cute. How was Jack supposed to resist those big puppy-dog eyes? The answer was simple: he couldn’t. So, he gave in. “Which one do you want?”
“The one about the bicycle and the Russian spy.”
Jack smiled at that. To Tony, nothing seemed more interesting and amusing than the time his Aunt Peggy had found herself chasing a Russian spy on her bike with Jack running behind and Daniel waiting in front, eventually tripping the spy so that he fell into the canal, forcing Peggy to jump in after him to stop him since neither Jack nor Daniel could swim very well.
All told, Tony must have heard this story at least twenty times, but he never got tired of it. So here we go.
Therefore, Jack retold the story of the bike and the Russian spy, adding details and changing some, even omitting whole chunks of the story altogether. Because Tony might have been mature for his age, but he was only 6, and no 6-year-old was ready to hear all the details of a chase between SSR agents and a Russian spy.
The story had the desired effect because before the end, Tony was back asleep, still curled up in his uncle’s arms.
Jack finished the story anyway, and once he’d done that, he glanced at the clock. It was already 6:30 PM. And Jack was supposed to return Tony to the Jarvises at Stark Manor by 7 PM at the latest. Which meant they’d have to go soon.
Jack then slipped out of Tony’s grasp and let him sleep a little longer while the adult gathered his things. Once that was done, Jack slipped one of the straps of Tony’s backpack, in which he had put the rest of the little boy’s belongings into his arms before taking his nephew back into his arms.
Jack then left his apartment and walked down the stairs to the garage, placing Tony in the back of the car.
The drive to Stark Manor was silent, and once he arrived in front of the imposing mansion, Jack parked, grabbing Tony’s things before taking the little boy into his arms. Tony hadn’t woken up from the drive, but thankfully, he didn’t seem to have a higher fever than when Jack had picked him up from school.
As he climbed the steps leading to the porch, the door of the manor opened to reveal Ana Jarvis, accompanied as always by Miss Hortense, the second Bernese Mountain Dog of the Jarvis family.
“Good evening, Mrs. Jarvis.” Jack greeted. “And good evening to you too, Miss Hortense.” He added when the dog barked briefly to demand head scratches, that Jack evidently gave her.
“Mr. Thompson.” Ana replied with her usual smile. “Young Tony had a great time, I see.”
“Not really, I’m afraid. When I picked him up from school, the teacher told me that he hadn’t been feeling well since early afternoon and that he did indeed have a fever. He rested well with me and had some hot chocolate.”
“Oh, my poor dear.” Ana said, taking Tony from Jack’s arms and tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear. “Thanks for looking after him, Jack.”
“It’s the least I can do, really. I just hope he gets better soon.”
“I’ll make sure of it personally. Thank you so much for bringing him back.”
“The pleasure was mine, Mrs. Jarvis.” Jack replied, tipping his hat. “Say hello to your husband.”
“I won’t fail!” Assured the Hungarian woman before turning around. “Miss Hortense, please come inside.” She then asked, waiting for the big dog to pass before closing the door.
Jack smiled quietly as he walked back to his car. Maybe Tony’s parents were neglectful at best and abusive at worst, but he also knew the little boy had a solid system in place to take care of him and ensure he didn’t suffer too much from his parents’ absence. And as long as he could, Jack would be part of that system.