Summary: Pepper should have known that Tony never does what he was supposed to do and leave it at that. This said, even she was confused how a simple visit to the orphanage for PR purposes ended up with Tony adopting 3 of the weirdest kids she has ever met.

Warnings: Genius!Harry. SLASH. De-Aged Golden trio. Stony.

A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful support. Here's the next chapter. If you like my stories, go check out my tumblr at myficscrystal dot tumblr dot com. Enjoy.

Chapter 3

"Hey Stark," said Clint, coming in to the kitchen, already dressed in the outfit he used for workouts, "Is it true that you and Cap are considering getting married and move to Canada with your progenies in tow?"

Tony choked.

"Excuse me?" he spun around to look at Clint, "Where on Earth did you get that information?"

"From TMZ," Clint said, unrepentant and looked down at Ron. "I heard you adopted some kids but I wasn't sure if it was real."

"Yeah, it's real," Tony put a hand on Ron's head, "This is Ron, he's one of the three children who will be living here from now on."

"Three," Clint laughed, "Wow Stark, you never do things halfway."

"Talking about halfway," Tony huffed, turning his attention back to the fridge, "Someone ate half the chocolate cake I have been saving for late. Any ideas on who?"

"No," Clint said, "Of course not."

Sighing, Tony turned to Ron.

"Tell me," he said, "Does Clint know who ate the cake?"

"Yes," Ron replied automatically, making Clint stare at him incredulously.

"Are you going to believe a little brat over your own teammate?" he asked, but Tony ignored him.

"Tell me," he said, "Did Clint eat my cake?"

"Yes," Ron said, smiling toothily up at Tony. Tony smirked and turned to Clint.

"Confess bird brain," he snapped, "Why did you eat my cake?"

"I didn't eat your cake," Clint protested but the way he was biting his lip was a dead giveaway.

Tony sighed.

"You owe me half a cake," he told him, closing the fridge door.

"You're a billionaire," Clint complained, "Couldn't you just buy another cake?"

"Not the point," Tony smirked at him, "It's the principle of the matter."

"I'm telling Cap," the other man whined, sounding for all the world like a 5 years old about to tattle on one of his parents.

Tony choked for the second time during that conversation.

"What are you? Five?" he asked incredulously, "Are you seriously going to go tattle to Steve?"

"Oh Stark," Clint smiled innocently, "I have no shame."

With that said, he turned around and left.

"Well," Tony glanced down at Ron who was now staring out the window in interest, "Hey buddy? What's so interesting out there?"

"Nothing," Ron suddenly said, but his tone clearly showed that something was wrong.

Tony sighed.

"Alright," he ruffled Ron's hair, "I'll wait for you to tell me."

Ron looked surprise at the concession before beaming at him. Tony felt as if he had just taken a big step in their relationship.

"Stark, why are there children here?"

"Natasha," Tony beamed at her and received a glare for his troubles, "Didn't you know? I adopted them."

"And what on Earth made you think that was a good idea?" the assassin deadpanned, "You can't take care of yourself most of the time, how are you going to take care of 3 children."

"I have Steve," Tony pouted, crossing his arms over his chest, "Steve will help me."

"I will," confirmed Steve, coming in to the living room with Hermione trotting behind him, "Hey Nat. It's good to see you again. You're not hurt right?"

"Everything's fine," Natasha confirmed, but her attention was on Hermione. "Hello there."

"Hello," Hermione said, blinking brown doe eyes up at her. She was wearing the same dress Tony had seen her in the first time they had met.

This was not acceptable.

"Hey Nat, Hermione here needs some new clothing. Think you can bring her to the store?"

Natasha looked surprised by the request but the fact that she hadn't refused on the spot gave Tony hope.

"Oh," Hermione bit her lips, looking down, "My cloth are fine Mr. Stark. I don't need new ones just yet."

And that was enough to make the infamous Black Widow melt.

"No, a little girl should have more than a few outfits," she told Hermione, "It's one of the perks of being a woman. Besides, your adoptive father is loaded; it would be criminal not to take advantage of that."

"Don't put ideas in her head," Tony chided her but he was smiling.

From the pockets of his pants, he took out his wallet and extracted a sleek black credit card.

"Use this one," he said, handing it over to Natasha, "It doesn't require a password and you don't have to worry about the limit. I'll be impressed if you managed to spend anything near what this card is authorized for."

"Don't say it like a challenge," Natasha smiled innocently at him before extending a hand to Hermione, "Want to go shop? We can get ice cream on the way."

"Ok," Hermione replied cheerfully and allowed herself to be led out.

"That was adorable," said Steve, looking fondly at where the duo had been, "I never knew Nat was the motherly type."

"She's not," Tony shivered at the mere thought of it, "But I think Hermione is just that good."

"At least that's one kid occupied," Steve sighed, looking a little tired, "I never knew how tough it was to take care of 3 children until now."

"But you don't regret it, right?" asked Tony, suddenly worried Steve was asking to back out.

Steve laughed and put a hand on Tony's bicep; the touch warm and welcoming. Tony shivered a little. Maybe Pepper was right; maybe what he was feeling for Steve was more than simple friendship. It was time for him to man up and admit it, even though anything like that happening between him and Steve seemed impossible.

"No Tony," Steve said softly, "I don't regret it."

"Oh," Tony let out a sigh, "That's good."

They fell silent after that.

"Mr. Stark?"

Tony looked down at Harry. The little boy was standing near the sofa looking nervous.

"Don't call me Mr. Stark," he said, "It's Tony."

"Tony," Harry grinned, "Do you think I can see your lab?"

"Oh," Tony jumped up, "Oh! Of course you can. Is Ron coming with you?"

"No," Harry shook his head, "Ron's taking a nap." He snickered at his own words.

"That's a good idea," Tony said, "I myself have never been a nap person, but I can see the appeal."

"I don't like naps," Harry replied, "I'll sleep when there's nothing else for me to do."

For some reason, that statement felt darker than it was.

"Right," Tony cleared his throat, "Come on now. I'll bring you to the lab and introduce you to my bots."

Dummy was the first to come greet them as they entered. He waved his only arm cheerfully and Harry laughed, delighted.

Smiling, Tony called the other bots over and pointed them out one by one.

"That's Dummy, that's U and that's Butterfingers."

"Those are weird names," Harry commented, looking at each of them one by one, "They're so cool. Are they all programmed with an AI?"

"All of them," Tony replied proudly, "Dummy was the first one I built. That was a long time ago."

"I remember," Harry beamed at him, "I read it once in a news article. You were only 17."

"And drunk of my ass," Tony laughed, not censoring his language as much as he should, "I call Dummy my special bot because he's a little special."

"I think he's wonderful," Harry sat down next to Dummy and giggled when the bot tried to pick him up by the back of his shirt.

"No Dummy," he said but Harry shook his head.

"It's ok," he told Tony, "He's just playing."

"Mr. Stark," Jarvis' voice suddenly interrupted the moment, "Master Ronald wants to speak with you. He's in his room."

"Of course," Tony turned to Harry, "Do you want to come with or stay here?"

"I'll stay here," Harry replied, "Can I fiddle around while I wait?"

"Sure kid," Tony ruffled Harry's hair, "Go nuts. Jarvis, please keep an eye on him?"

"Naturally sir," Jarvis replied.

He found Ron exactly as Jarvis had said, sitting in his room reading a newspaper.

"Ron," Tony sat down next to the boy. "Is something wrong?"

Ron looked up at his words before jumping off the bed to get something from his desk. He came back and handed it over to Tony. The billionaire was surprised to find that he was holding a flight plan.

"British Airways 453; Pepper is supposed to be on that flight. What's wrong?"

Ron shivered, looking down.

"I have a very bad feeling about it," he said, "Maybe Ms. Potts can take a later flight."

Tony's heart skipped a beat.

"Better safe then sorry," Ron said and Tony nodded.

"I'll go make the call," he said, "Thank you for telling me."

Ron nodded but didn't reply. He still looked pretty upset for some reason so Tony reached over and give him a one armed hug.

"Thank you," he repeated, smiling.

Living with two prodigies and one precognitive was going to take some getting used to, but Tony was sure he had made the right choice, no matter how reckless it was.

TBC.