Chapter Text
Opening an orphanage didn’t really seem like it would be the kind of thing to be on a legendary play-boy’s schedule – but it was. Unluckily for ‘Mr Stark’ his wonderfully talented secretary/personal assistant/babysitter hadn’t allowed him to back out of it. He could kind of understand why. Homeless kids were important and no matter how many times he’d whined ‘But Pepper….” There hadn’t been a way for him to weasel his way out of the opening ceremony.
Due to one of Tony Stark’s many philanthropic efforts he was in fact part owner of this particular orphanage and the foundation it belonged to. Still, why he had to be here for this he had no idea. All he had done was throw a bunch of money at some foundation one night in a drunken stupor while ranting (crying) about how no child should be sad on Christmas. That had been back in February, Jarvis had informed him before he left. So he’d accidentally half bought a foundation for homeless babies and now he was being herded around the newly appointed ‘Stark Orphanage’ for some good publicity. It was a horrible name. It made the place sound like it was a refuge for all the illegitimate love children the tabloids always claimed he had. He was only twenty-two. How many love children did they think he had time to make? …Yeah, safer if no one answered that.
Now he was being led from room to room while a reporter followed him around with a camera man recording all of these ‘heartfelt’ moments. Tony Stark smiled and congratulated strangers and kids for spending his money.
There was only so many times Tony could look at an empty kid’s bedroom and be impressed. They were nice rooms with singles for the older kids and doubles for the younger as well as group rooms for siblings. The whole facility was really nice, as far as orphanages went, and had a homey feel and a fully stocked infirmary that could easily rival the nearest GP. As well as a fully paid, highly qualified staff – paid by Tony of course.
So here he was, getting a tour of a monstrously large orphanage (and it really was sad that they needed a facility this large) trying to look interested with his press smile at full brightness, when they began the tour of the nursery/baby area.
There was only one baby in the orphanage right now. As soon as they entered the sleeping area Tony’s heart broke to the quiet sound of a baby crying softly. He could tell by the irregular hiccups and shuddering gasps of breath in between sobs that the baby had been crying for quite some time. It seemed a little odd to Tony, why was he paying all these people to take care of kids if they were just going to let a baby cry all alone?
The people guiding the tour snapped into action, but not tot tend to the baby, to try and turn Tony and the camera away from the room. Tony ignored them as they tried to usher him away and stepped further into the room. Drawn to the only cot with a baby, a baby that sounded so lost it was soul crushing. Memories of his own childhood were playing like a broken movie reel in the back of Tony’s mind. He knew what it was like to be ignored and he didn’t like that this baby did too. Ignoring the camera following him and pushing past the people trying to stop him, Tony stepped up to the cradle.
There, wrapped in a white blanket while struggling to free itself, lay the most beautiful baby Tony had ever seen. The biggest blue eyes rimmed with tears on a perfect cherub face. A light crown of blonde curls with cheeks red from crying and frustration. As Tony watched the little one held its breath, struggled for a moment, grunting cutely, before letting out its breath in a fresh round of crying. Little thing had a decent set of lungs, that was for sure.
Tony couldn’t watch this anymore. “Hey, hey,” Tony crooned as he reached down to help the crying infant.
“No!” The woman who’d been guiding the tour yelled abruptly and Tony paused at her tone, worried the babe might be injured or sick or something. It would explain the foul mood. “It’s fine! Mr. Stark, really. He’s just a fussy sleeper, we can go and talk to some of the more pleasant children if you like? You should just leave the baby where he is.” Go talk to the more pleasant children? Yeah Tony Stark was a genius. He wasn’t falling for that.
It took half a second for Tony to catalogue the woman’s expression and tone of voice, noticing the sweat on her brow and the quaver of her voice. She was hiding something. It took less time for Tony to decide to ignore the woman and reach for the baby anyway. He was clearly in distress (and Tony was surprised the baby was a boy, he was way too pretty), lying on his back, trying to free himself from the tightly wrapped cloth he was trapped in.
“Hey, it’s alright, shh,” Tony soothed as he lifted the baby and gently removed his blanket. When he started to unwrap the blanket from around the boy’s shoulders the baby began to scream. Gone was the quiet, frustrated sobbing. Now he was wailing and even Tony could tell he was in pain.
Alarmed, Tony proceeded with greater care. He could feel strange, lumpy, growths moving under the blankets on the baby’s back. Tony gently removed the wrap and slowly revealed two tiny, crumpled wings. As soon as they were free (the baby now half naked) they stretched out and if anything the baby screamed louder as he flapped futilely. His wings were in too poor a state to give them any kind of strength.
With dawning horror Tony began to realize the full implications of what he was seeing. This baby had wings, tiny, underdeveloped wings that were whiter than snow. He’d been wrapped so tightly that even when Tony had first picked him up he hadn’t noticed them. Most of the feather’s on the little one’s wings were crooked and/or broken, sticking out at odd angles. It looked painful and if the baby’s screams were anything to go by, it was. Considering how tightly they’d been wrapped he was lucky they weren’t broken.
Tony held the screaming infant close, resting the baby’s head in the crook of his neck while using one hand to smooth down and sooth his wings. It was odd to be petting the baby’s wings and feeling them move naturally under his hands, but he pushed the oddness of them aside and focused on the baby. After a few minutes the baby had managed to calm down to occasional hiccups.
Tony turned carefully to face the woman who had tried to stop him from seeing the baby. “What the hell is going on here?!” He demanded coldly, keeping his voice quiet enough not to startle the finally settled baby.
“I am so sorry Mr Stark. We were hoping no one would see him. I understand, given his… mutation, that we couldn’t let him be adopted but we thought we could just keep them covered. As long as we kept those deformities hidden he’d seem mostly human. We were going to explore surgical options to try and give him a more normal childhood.”
Tony didn’t even know where to start. He couldn’t even breath for a minute. Surgical options?! He was beyond furious. He’d passed from hot explosive anger and straight down into the ice cold anger that lingers in the stomach. The cold calculating anger that was so much worse than hot anger because it allowed him to plan.
“First of all, you’re fired. So is anyone else in this facility who knew of this child and accepted your flawed reasoning.” Tony pulled out his phone.
The woman spluttered in disbelief, “You-You can’t do that! My father owns half of-?!”
While she’d been choking on indignity Tony had been busy on his phone. “No.” He turned his attention back to her. “I am now the sole owner of the ‘Child with Wings’ foundation.” Tony had to laugh a little internally at the irony of their name. At least he would have if he could see through his anger. “You’re trespassing. Get out or I will call my security to escort you out.” She left and Tony then turned to the camera man and reporter. “I’ll give you a deal. I’ll give you both the exclusive rights to interview me and my newly adopted son,” Money could buy anything, and it could push through paperwork awfully quickly, Pepper was going to kill him. But there was no way he could have left the child here, not now. “If you keep your mouths shut about what really happened here today. Make up something about how I fell in love with the baby and got all goo-goo eyes and took him home or something. I don’t care. I have to restaff this place quickly and I don’t have time to deal with you. So, deal?”
The reporter nodded her pretty brunette head vigorously, “Yes Mr Stark, of course. Let me reintroduce myself, my name is Rachel Williams of News Network. It’s going to be a pleasure working with you.” She smiled. She knew she was getting a good deal out of this, she gave Stark a nod, which he returned before turning his attention back to his phone. All the while gently bobbing the baby in his arms. Rachel would much rather this arrangement then having to deal with the legendary team of Stark lawyers.
At twenty-one Tony Stark had taken the reigns of his company, he was a young genius and his company had flourished under his rule, his intelligence leading to new innovations that had only ever been dreamed of before Tony Stark entered the scene. He’d also built himself quite the play-boy reputation. Now, at twenty-two, Rachel had the exclusive rights to document his miraculous turn around to be a responsible adult due to parenthood. Oh yes, Rachel was getting a good deal. She’d make sure Stark looked good as well of course.
In minutes Tony organized his adoption, firing all the old staff and hiring new staff. Each and every new member of staff were not only qualified but also had ties to human/mutant rights groups. Hopefully he’d get some more tolerant people working here, either way he’d be keeping an eye on this place. Or rather, Pepper would be keeping an eye on this place. Same thing.
The ’Oompa Loompa’ song from Charlie and The Chocolate factory began to play from his phone. Ah, there was Pepper now. He answered the phone a little bit away from his face, prepared for the screeching that followed.
‘Why did I just get adoption papers saying you adopted a child?! How did this happen?! How can you find trouble in an orphanage of all places?!’
This was going to be a long conversation. “Pepper, Pep, Pep, listen-”
‘Don’t you ‘Pep Pep’ me! This is ridiculous! What do you even know about raising a child? What on earth possessed you to think this was a good idea?!’
A quick glance around the room found that Tony was now alone with… his son. He took a deep breath. “They were hurting him Pep.” She silenced immediately. It made Tony smile. “I couldn’t leave him here.”
‘Ok, but shouldn’t you have just hired new staff? Why did you adopt him?’
She was listening, this was a good thing. “He’s a mutant.” Tony hated that word but he needed to make his point quickly. Mutant rights weren’t anywhere up to par, which Tony found ridiculous because human rights should apply but apparently there were a lot of people who didn’t see it that way. “And a baby. He won’t get adopted, and if he does the odds are less than 0.03 percent that he’d be cared for properly.” Unfortunately for his little charge, the odds really weren’t in his favour. “I will treat him right. I will give him a good home, one-hundred percent guaranteed. I can provide him with anything he could ever need.”
‘Raising a child takes more than money Tony.’
“You think I don’t know that? Look Pepper, he needs me.” And wasn’t it a strangely wonderful feeling to be needed? To be the person relied on for once, instead of relying on others. He was going to change himself for the better, he was going to be better. For his son.
Pepper sighed and Tony knew that sigh. That was the ‘I’ve given up, not because it’s smart but because I just don’t have the energy to deal with you’ sigh. ‘So what’s his name?’ She asked after a few moments.
Tony blinked and looked down at the now sleeping, drooling mass in his arms. The baby’s face was smooshed into Tony’s chest and he was getting drool on his new Armani but it was probably the cutest thing he had ever seen. The little wings were tucked up close to his back and looked a lot better than before, although Tony frowned when he noticed the little red patches between the feathers. Some of the skin was rubbed red and raw, and there were feathers missing now. He hoped they’d grow back. He made a note to hire the best child doctors and mutant experts he could find to help him, but right now he had to think of a name.
“Jonah.” Tony started, it was a good name. A bit biblical perhaps but considering the wings… “Jonah Angel Stark.”
‘We’ll need your signature to make this final but, congratulations Mr Stark. It’s a boy.’