note; rewritten 01/14/2022
• switched from first person to third person
• more detail added
"THERE IS NO way that i am going to be tony stark's little poster child!" cindy shouted as happy latched onto her shoulders, pushing her down into the car as tony slipped in from the other side. "for all i know, this could be a trap! you could just be taking me to jail!"
"i'm not going to do that," tony sighed, buckling his seatbelt and pinching the bridge of his nose. "so for the love of god, please shut up."
"no!" cindy screeched, trying to unlock the door only for happy to lock it once again. "olivia! olivia!"
"she can't do anything about it," tony spoke whilst he waved goodbye to olivia. "she's not your legal guardian anymore. so i'm not gonna tell you again to shut up."
cindy sighed in utter defeat, her arms crossing over her chest, happy slamming her door shut. she could see his lips move as he grumbled and cursed under his breath, making his way over to the other side.
"why do you even wanna take me in anyways? i didn't take your side," she spat at him, her glare a dagger into his skin.
"it's a shame for powers like yours to go to waste," he spoke. "as long as you can handle the big leagues."
he reached into his coat pocket, her phone between his fingers and she practically lunged for it, scrolling through her notifications.
"she gave it to me before we left," he said, referring to olivia. "you're not very popular, you know."
"what's that supposed to mean?" she sharpened her glare, texting ella to let her know that— at the very least of all that was going on right now— she had gotten her phone back.
"i mean, you only get texts from like one person," he scoffed. "sad."
she scowled once more, scrolling through the rest of her notifications.
one motivation piqued her interest, her eyebrow rising to her hairline in something she can't pinpoint as being shock or suspicion.
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____________________
"no."
her arms crossed over her chest, tony and happy both eclipsing the sunlight peeking through from the open car door. with his thumb and forefinger, tony massaged the bridge of his nose, eyelids squinted shut in attempt to ease the ache in his head.
"i'm not going to ask you again to get out of the car," tony snapped, his patience running thin. "out of the car, now!"
"no, you can't make me," she spat back, squeezing her arms closer to her chest.
"actually, i can," he replied as he quickly unbuckled her seat belt, her legs immediately springing into action, kicking back against his stomach. he grunted, grabbing onto her ankles, happy standing by and watching as the scene unfolded.
"let go!" she shrieked, her arm outstretching towards his head, silk shooting out from her fingertips and towards his forehead. she tugged as soon as they attached to his forehead, slamming his head down against the top of the door.
his fingers unlatched from her ankles, holding his forehead in the palm of his hand, murmuring a string of curses underneath his breath.
"what's it gonna take for you to get out of this car?" he questioned. "money? how much do you want?"
"take me back home," she answered, glaring up at him.
"funny of you to say," he chuckled sarcastically at this. "considering your record says you have run away from eight difference foster homes. you don't even understand the concept of a home."
cindy pouted, glancing down to her crossed arms. she hated the idea that he had a point— but she wouldn't dare admit it.
"which means i'll have no problem escaping your house," she replied in a grumble, continuing to pout.
"i'd like to see you try," he tittered before squatting down to her level, his expression all the more serious. "now get out the car."
"no."
"happy, help, please."
______________________
"i can't believe it took an hour to get her out of the car," tony sighed as he held onto her arm, happy holding on to the other. they led her into a building— no, not even a building— a tower. she strained her neck to look up, recognizing the building as the avengers tower, her feet halting underneath her body.
"come on, don't tell me it's gonna take an hour to get you into the tower too," tony whined, tugging her towards the entrance. "what's the issue?"
"i— i can't go in there, i'm still wanted," she stuttered. "are the other avengers in there?"
he scoffed and grumbled as he finally gave her one last final push inside the building. "no, they're away. you have nothing to worry about right now."
she tsked at "nothing to worry about", as if she hadn't just been taken in by the man she had fought against nearly three months ago.
"happy, take care of her, would you?" tony released the deep breath he had been holding in, raising his eyebrows at the man. happy narrowed his eyes as he looked over at cindy, grabbing onto her arm.
"and here we go again," she grumbled, struggling against his hand.
"let's just do this the easy way, yeah?" he mumbled before beginning to lead her towards the elevators, pressing the 'up' button. they soon stepped onto the elevator where he had finally let go of her arm, pressing a button leading up to the penthouse.
"where are you taking me?" she questioned with an eyebrow raiser up to her hairline. cindy fumbled with the backpack straps lounging on her shoulders as the elevator made its lengthy ascent up to the top floor.
"to your room," he replied. "so i finally don't have to deal with you anymore."
cindy pursed her lips at this, gazing up at the ceiling.
"great," she mumbled underneath her breath, the doors finally sliding open. "woah."
"this is tony's apartment," happy replied as he continued walking, gesturing for her to follow him. "come on, i have to show you to your room."
he led her through the corridor, stopping in front of one of the many doors, his hand reaching for the handle. she held her breath as he turned the handle, pushing the door wide open for her to see inside.
and her jaw dropped.
the room was bigger than any bedroom she had ever seen, a king sized-bed a stark difference from the twin mattresses she was used to sleeping on. the room was very white, not a single trace of color in sight. white bookshelves, white desks and tables, white rugs-- it was as if everything had been drained of life, as if the room itself were a canvas, waiting to be painted on. only, she never had a space like this before, a space where she could make a mark, a space that she could call her own.
"is this-- is this, all mine?" she questioned, dropping her backpack next to the bed and turning back around to happy as he stood, his expression as bland as his personality.
"um, yeah," he nodded as he spoke rather nonchalantly, leaning against the door frame, glancing down to his watch. "and if you're done sightseeing, tony wants to see you in the living room."
she scowled-- she had been under the impression that she would finally get some alone time to let all of today's craziness marinate. although, she'd admit, it was about damn time she got some answers. she inhaled a deep breath, sauntering her way back over to happy as he led her back through the corridor and to the living room where low and behold--
--sat tony stark.
"she's here," happy chimed in a not-so jolly tone, making his way over to the bar whilst she marched around the couch, facing her new legal guardian. tony glanced up from his, locking it before stuffing it back inside his pocket, patting the cushion beside him.
"sit," he said. "we've a lot to discuss."
with a wrinkle in her brow, she complied, setting herself down on the couch cushions, making sure there were just a few extra inches between them two.
"listen, if this is about germany, then please, i really didn't know anything going in. clint took me in and obviously, i wasn't going to turn down an avenger and--"
"can i talk? because i thought i was the one talking," tony interfered, ascending a hand between them. "i wasn't going to talk about germany."
although only slightly, she could feel her muscles somewhat relax, and she let herself sink further into the couch cushions. she locked her fingers together in her lap, her thumbs going to war with one another.
"then, what were you going to talk to me about?" she inquired, shifting her feet around. he, too, locked his fingers together, setting them in his lap, his body much more relaxed than hers was.
"i'm sure you have lots of questions about you know, why," he lifts up both his hands, gesturing to the air.
"uh, yeah," she replied, scoffing. "it's one thing to pull me out of school to 'talk,' but it's a completely different thing to legally adopt me."
"i didn't ask you to talk," he narrowed his eyelids, putting a finger to his lips to shush her before pointing at himself. "the adult is talking."
her eyes rolled in their sockets and she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to continue.
"anyways, as i was saying, you probably have a lot of questions as to why i decided to take you in," he began. "and even i don't know why i decided to do it myself, but here we are."
she sighed-- she thought tony was the type to get straight to the point.
"so, when are you gonna start explaining things to m--"
"i said the adult is talking."
"oh, sorry," she apologized sarcastically, re-crossing her legs.
"anyways, i don't know how to explain it, so i'll just say it. i saw something in you in germany, and don't ask me what it was because even i don't know myself, but the point is, i saw something," he rambled. "i saw something and now we're here and i don't know if i've made a mistake or if i made possibly the greatest decision of my life"
she was flabbergasted, to say the very least. she couldn't make sense of it, she couldn't make sense of absolutely anything he was saying. none of it made sense, how could it? she still wasn't sure whether or not she should trust him, whether or not she should believe anything coming from his mouth.
"okay, so, what does that have to do with adopting me?" she asked, confusion laced in every single syllable.
"because it says here you have a record of running away from foster homes," he cleared his throat as he reached behind him and pulling out a folder, holding it up. she scoffed, rolling her eyes, and reached out, grabbing it from his hands.she flipped through the different documents inside the folder, her eyes growing wider and wider by the second. the folder had almost everything about her in there, a copy of her birth certificate, the file of her birth parent's missing persons cases, copies of all her report cards up to now, etc. etc.
nothing about where her parents could've possibly gone.
"where the hell did you get all this?" she exclaimed, eagerly reading through the files, her life typed on pretty much all of these pages.
"well, it's easy when you're me," he gave a cheeky and sarcastic smile afterwards, and she scowled.
"how did you even find this?" she questioned, holding the file containing her birth parent's missing persons cases. "its been thirteen years since they've gone missing. the case went cold ages ago, i doubt anyone at the police station even remembers them."
"as i said, it's easy,."
"so, you know where my birth parents are then?" she queried, trying her best to be sarcastic, but a hint of hope still laced her tone, a glint in her eyes to match.
"well, no," he stuttered, scratching the back of his neck. "but believe me, i checked, and there's no more information about your birth parents. it's as if they just snapped out of existence."
she fell back into the couch cushions, and although she had grown accustomed to the disappointment, she couldn't help but feel it. if there were anybody in the world who could help find her birth parents, it was him. alas, not even the great tony stark had any leads.
"don't be too disappointed, least you got me," he grinned. her eyes rolled and she stood, making her way around the couch.
"i'm going to go lay down," she announced, rolling her neck and cracking her knuckles "i'm tired."
whatever else he was saying became nothing but distant background noise, drowned out and muffled by her own flood of thoughts. her mind had become a sea, her ocean swarming with different kinds of feelings and emotions, even resurfacing old ones.
she didn't know why she expected him to know so much, especially if it was about her parents. she'd have to face it-- her parents were gone.
but even then, she knew she couldn't stop trying to find them.
as she stepped into "her" bedroom, she gently closed the door shut behind her and sunk into it, her eyelids fluttering closed as she inhaled the deepest breath she could. she didn't know what to think, she didn't know what to think of tony stark, what to think of the avengers, of her parents, of anything. she didn't know what tony stark could've possibly seen in her that day, what anybody could've possibly seen in her.
she staggered over to the bed, unzipping her backpack and rummaging through her things before she caught it and pulled it out. her suit-- silk's suit. staring at the suit was like staring into a mirror only, she wasn't even sure if she was looking at herself. she pursed her lips, tossing it over to the desk in front of the grand window, running her fingers through her hair.
she glanced around the room, finally taking notice of the suitcase beside the bed. she made her way over to it and tossed it onto the bed, unzipping it to see all of her clothes and belongings, neatly tucked and folded. there wasn't much to unpack-- she never had much to call her own anyways.
she almost found it ridiculous that she was doing this, accepting the fact that this is where she was staying.
she could only guess that she knew she wouldn't be getting out of this one any time soon.
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