As you walked home from school, you couldn't help but feel awful. Your life wasn't awful, you knew people who had it "worse", yet everything felt awful.
Your foster parents said it was because you were a teenager, your friends said you were probably mentally fucked, and you'd decided that you just– didn't have the opportunity to feel overjoyed most of the time. You were too busy focusing on the things and people around you.
It didn't really make a lot of sense, but you'd decided your problems were just normal things that you needed to get over, and you always shrugged off any other feelings telling you otherwise.
There were a few days where you didn't shrug everything off, where you listened to how weird everything felt, the feeling that something wasn't right.
Today was one of those days.
You knew shit was about to go down as soon as you'd seen the vibrantly colored car parked in your driveway. You didn't know what type of car it was, but you knew from the design and paint job that it had to be expensive.
The next thing that told you life was different, was the fact that the great Tony Stark was in your living room, chatting with your 'father', Jerry, about the car parked outside.
This had to be about your abilities, and how Mr. Stark had found out about them was beyond you, but you were more concerned about what he was going to say while he was here. Your foster parents didn't know about your abilities, after all.
You closed the door with more force than usual, causing Mr. Stark and your 'guardians' to flinch and look in your direction. You didn't bother to put on a fake look of surprise or plaster on an empty smile like your 'guardians' had, instead choosing to look at Mr. Stark with a blank expression, a sigh escaping your lips as you looked over to your 'father'.
"Did you get a new job?" you ask, ignoring Mr. Stark's presence. You loved the guy, sure, but that didn't mean you wanted him here, with these awful people.
Jerry cracked a grin, trying to hide how frustrated you'd just made him as he spoke, "They said they'd get back to me, but I'm hoping." he answered cheerfully.
"So I'll take that as a no." you nodded and looked to Mr. Stark, the corner of your lip turning up slightly as you began to walk past them and over to the stairs.
"Y/n." Jerry called, his voice sending awful shivers up your spine, "We have a guest."
You ignored him, continuing to walk up the stairs, "I know, he's rich too, just your type, huh?" you smiled to yourself, even if you knew you'd pay for it later, "I'll be right down, I just have to put my bag in the room." you called, not bothering to look back at Jerry's probably angry expression.
As promised, you were back downstairs within a few minutes, now noticing your foster mother, Janet, sitting in the armchair. This meant you'd either have to sit next to Jerry or Mr. Stark.
Ha, like that was a hard decision to make.
You gladly walked over and sat next to Mr. Stark on the couch, crossing your legs and sighing as you looked over to the man next to you with tired eyes.
"Y/n, this is–"
"Anthony Edward Stark. I'm aware." you cut Jerry off, rolling your eyes as you extended a hand, "Be sure to keep your keys and wallet close, and don't be afraid to leave when you get uncomfortable." you joked. It was pretty close to the truth though, your foster parents liked sucking rich people dry, but they didn't always have the opportunity, so...
Mr. Stark took your hand and shook it, "I'll keep that in mind, but I was just waiting to talk to you. Do you mind if we step outside and talk for a sec?" he asked, nodding towards the front door.
You shrugged and started to get up when Jerry stopped you.
"I don't think that's a good idea." he started, "It's freezing outside."
Tony just chuckled, "So? She has a jacket, doesn't she?" he asked, then shrugged, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."
With that being said, the two of you went outside.
The crappy part about being this far north? It got cold outside. Thankfully, that part didn't really bother you, but the slipping and falling on the ice did.
Unfortunately, not even the great Tony Stark saw the fall coming.
The impact of the cold and hard sidewalk knocked the air out of your lungs, but you got over it quickly, stammering a thousand apologies as Mr. Stark helped you up.
Now you had a couple of small cuts on your hands, but the cool November air helped with the stinging.
"Are you alright kiddo?" Mr. Stark asked, gazing down at you with concerned eyes, "Cause that was quite the fall there."
You shrugged it off, letting your mask fall, "I've had worse falls. I'll be fine." you smiled, "Besides, you're probably here to talk to me about what happened when I was smaller and younger, right? Don't wanna get in the way of that."
Mr. Stark just quirked a brow, "Am I that obvious?" he asked, half joking.
You chuckled, "Nah, I'm just that good." you waved a dismissive hand, casting a worried look to the house behind him. You wondered if Jerry was still in the living room. Could he see the two of you?
"You okay kid? Cause you're looking at that house like it's haunted."
You nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," you answered, looking back at Tony, who was standing before you, unamused.
"Okay kid, you're obviously lying." He deadpanned, "So why don't we try this again. Where I ask and you tell me the truth and I try to help, okay?" His voice was kinder than Jerry's but it still reminded you of him, and you hated that.
"Firstly, I'm almost eighteen, so I'm not a kid. Secondly, why would you care about what happens in my foster home, anyway?" you asked. You'd hoped this would go better than it looked like things were going to.
"What's wrong?" he asked; the look of concern appearing in his eyes yet again.
You sighed, rolling your eyes as you surrendered.
"The people in there," you nodded to the door behind him, "are complete assholes." you answered, a dry laugh escaping your lips, "And complete leeches. They don't actually care about any of their foster kids, myself included." You watched as Tony's eyebrows started to raise, but you weren't done yet.
"They have us for the extra cash, and Jerry gets handsy with Malissa." you added, squinting at the memories, "And we can't do anything about it either. They look too perfect for the group homes to believe us. No criminal record, nice jobs, etc." your expression grew darker, "So, we tried taking matters into our own hands." you shrugged, "We stopped him by pulling Malissa away." you sighed, "But he just yelled at us, grounded us, and 'accidentally' locked us in our room sometime after we'd fallen asleep." you rolled your eyes and forced a thin smile onto your lips, "Betcha didn't see that coming." you rolled your eyes again and dropped the forced smile.
"And you said Jerry did that?" Tony asked; as if he were taking notes of some sort.
You just nodded, trying to refrain from rolling your eyes again. "Yep. That's his name."
Tony ignored your tone, making a plan of action in his mind. His plan was to adopt you anyways, he was here to ask you if you'd be okay with that, but now he was thinking about the other kids in this house.
"How many other foster kids are there?" He asked, finally looking back up at you.
"Uh..." you did a quick mental calculation, "Six, not including myself," you answered, doing a quick run through of everyone to make sure you were right. Katie, Chloe, Micheal, Scarllet, Maverik, and Malissa. Yep, that was six.
Tony's eyebrows raised even higher, "How old?" he asked, sounding concerned.
"Ranging from six to about seventeen." you answered, "Most of us are teenagers," you added. What was he planning?
Tony looked up, a pros and cons list starting in his head. So far, the pros of having seven kids were winning, but then he thought of more cons.
You, being the smart teenager you are, quickly read his mind, "Hold up." you grabbed his attention, chuckling slightly as you thought of the possibilities, "You're not actually thinking of adopting seven kids, are you?" you chuckled again at the thought, having a hard time believing he could be that responsible.
Tony took a deep breath, "I know, I was thinking of having some of the other Avengers adopt most of you, but I don't know how they'd feel about that..." he sighed, still trying to work everything out in his head.
"You guys don't mind queer people, right?" you asked, going out on a limb and hoping for the best.
Tony gave you an odd look, "Uh, no. Why?" he asked.
You chewed your lip, taking a deep breath and hoping your sibs from other cribs would forgive you, "If you're going to take anyone, I want you to take Malissa. She's..." you didn't want to out her as trans, but you knew she wouldn't mind if it meant ensuring her safety, "the reason she's getting picked on the most is that she's trans. Jerry says girls get treated the way he treats her, so..." you shrugged, "Most of us are queer, but we aren't out yet. Mainly for that exact reason." you explained, "So if you were going to adopt me, don't. I want Malissa to go in my place." you told him firmly.
Tony sighed, taking in the information carefully as he studied you. You had the chance to be free, but you gave it up for someone else. Perfect hero material as far as he could see. He hated the idea of letting the seven of you stay here if you were being oppressed, but he had to talk to the rest of the team before he could go and adopt seven kids.
So, that's what he was going to do.
A/n: I know this seems odd, and Tony doesn't seem like the type to just– do this sort of thing, but the Tony I remember is pretty impulsive so why not? (Pun not intended)