Updated: 10/5/18

Tony was so out of his depth here.

Coming to the rescue of his sort of intern was not on his itinerary. How do you handle a child that just had their entire world shattered? Tony sure didn't know! No one ever showed him when he had to pick up the millions of pieces of his life and glue it back together about a hundred times.

He did know that you do not use Elmer's. Been there, done that, it may have been an emergency the one time, But Never Again! Duct tape might work… But what was the metaphoric Duct tape for a mourning child? Because It wasn't Tony Stark, former-playboy still-billionaire philosophist. That was for sure! Maybe he could be the metaphoric mechanic that finds the tape. He thinks he could handle that after all, Tony is a real, genius, mechanic.

For now he just had to keep a handle of his panic and take care of the heartbroken boy in his arms. He had so far managed to calm Peter down from hysterical sobbing to a much calmer whimpering, so at least he had that going for him. All though, now that it was quieter Tony noticed there was another presence in the room.

Looking up at the woman he realized that she was probably the person he spoke to on the phone. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say...

"So who talks first? Do you talk first, I talk first?"

The woman didn't look amused, just really sad and resigned "Mr. Stark, I'm Mabel Robinson." She spoke professionally. "We spoke on the phone earlier."

"I would say it's nice to meet you, but I could think of nicer ways." Tony probably could have said that a little less bitterly. It's not like any of this was the social worker's fault, but no one ever said that Tony Stark ever knew how to deal with people (or emotions) very well.

"Mr. Stark, are you aware that Peter has no other living relatives, and furthermore that May Parker never filed a will?"

What on earth May? You didn't think to file a will for your minor nephew whom you had legal guardianship over? If the kid can lose both parents and an uncle didn't you realise he could certainly lose you too?

Honestly! It was a sad day when Tony knew what was the proper procedure with a child over anyone else, especially someone who was actually in charge of taking care of said child.

"What exactly does that mean for Peter?"

Tony couldn't help but tightening his hold on the teen in his arms. Only a little though, he didn't want to scare Peter or show the social worker how scared he actually was about this situation. If the way the woman's face (her name was Robin, right?) softened showed anything she had noticed.

"That really depends on what you are willing to do here, Mr. Stark." And if that didn't hit him as unexpected. What exactly was he supposed to take from that statement?

"What do you mean?"

"Do you care for Peter, Mr. Stark?"

What kind of question was that? Who exactly did this woman think she was? Of course Tony… cared for Peter. Wow, way too much emotional confrontation in this conversation.

"I don't make a habit of letting just anyone use me as a human tissue." He commented dryly.

He probably should have just said "yes" because Peter started to whine and pull away, wiping his hands on Tony's shirt in a way that he thinks was supposed to help clean it.

"You're ruining the nice green color you added to my shirt, knock it off."

Tony lightly smacked away Peters' hands and pulled him back into his original position.

Looking back to Robin, he could see she was trying to hide a smile, as it was she was simply smirking and laughter shined in her eyes. It was repulsing really.

"I hate to interrupt the touching moment, but in all seriousness Mr. Stark. Peter is going to be put into the system…"

Even though it was blatantly obvious that Peter had mostly checked out of reality for the moment he must have heard that from the way he tensed up.

"Hold up! You can not, will not dump my kid with a bunch of strangers!"

And if he wasn't busy concentrating on the moment, Tony might have facepalmed at the total paternal-ness of that statement.

"Mr. Stark, if you would like to officially step in and take custody of Peter… I would support you one-hundred percent. However, there is a legal process we must follow."

"Care to explain Robin? Because, holy legal system Batman! I have no idea what you're talking about. Can't I just give the courts an autograph and take the kid home?"

"My name is Mabel Robinson, Mr. Stark, and unfortunately because you have such an… interesting history the courts are going to require a few things from you before you can take a child into custody."

Was the pause really necessary? And what does she mean by interesting? She might as well go out and say what she's actually thinking… scandalous. Tony's heard that word enough to know that is exactly what everyone thought of his past (sometimes present) lifestyle.

"For closer's sake, care to explain?"

"... Mr. Stark, I wish I could say it was as simple as a signature and moving the boy in, but this is out of my hands."

She looked genuinely saddened about it too.

And Tony wished she would stop saying Mr. Stark to begin her sentences. It was starting to grate on his nerves.

Before Tony could voice his opinions aloud, two officers entered the room.

I'm back... I won't give any excuses, just know I had good reason.

This is unbetaed because I am fairly sure I scared off both of my sorta betas with my prolonged absence...

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