Mazzy Maria Stark finds it quite strange that the women dancing on the stage behind her father are all wearing tall, shiny boots along with their swimsuits, but when she asks Happy about the strange fashion choice, he just shrugs. Mazzy decides she'll just have to ask her dad later. He was the one who put the show together, after all.

All of the women's swimsuits were made to look like the Iron Man suit, but Mazzy is pretty sure that wearing a swimsuit to a battle wouldn't be a great idea. It would leave way too much skin exposed, making the person wearing the swimsuit extremely vulnerable. Good thing these women are dancing rather than fighting.

From backstage, Mazzy can only see half of the dancers. She likes the song they were dancing to- Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC, it's one of her dad's favorites- but after about thirty seconds of the performance, Mazzy decides it is way too loud. So, she turns off her hearing aids by pulling the battery drawers open just a little bit. She would never tell her dad, but she doesn't much care for this extravagant performance he's putting on. It is a lot. Really. A lot. The flashing lights, the fireworks, the big, dramatic entrance. It is way too much.

Once the dancers strut their way off stage, Mazzy begrudgingly presses the battery drawers closed again to turn her hearing aids back on. She has to hear the speech her dad is about to give, just in case he decides to quiz her on it later. Of course, he never actually does that, but if for some reason he did and Mazzy hadn't been listening, she would feel really bad. So she has to listen just in case.

"I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me," is the first thing she hears, which is soon followed by an overdramatic eruption of applause.

Mazzy doesn't really get how important her dad is just yet. To her, he is just that: Dad. He is Dad, sometimes Daddy or Dada, but nothing more. He isn't Tony Stark, the Merchant of Death, or Iron Man. He is just Dad. So why does everyone feel the need to shout and scream whenever they see him? It is annoying.

"I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history," Tony goes on to say as he holds his arms out at his sides, breathing in the undying, unrelenting love and obsession that wafts its way in from the crowd at his feet. It really floods his heart. And his ego. Mostly his ego. "I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!"

It's interesting, the way he's using his words. Because, of course, by saying that he isn't saying those things, he really is saying those things, only with a thin curtain of humility blocking out some of the egocentrism.

Mazzy is not much like her dad, in that way. Mostly because Pepper is always around to put a stop to any of Tony's annoying habits that Mazzy ever picks up. She teaches Mazzy humility and selflessness- an area Tony somewhat lacks in.

The crowd's cheers get louder once again and Tony shushes them. Please, please. He holds his hand up like it isn't a big deal. I know, I know, you all love me.

"It's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations; what I choose to leave behind for my kid; what you choose to leave behind for yours," he says, his voice soft and meaningful. He sounds genuine. Heartfelt, even. The pathos appeal. Then, the energy spikes again and the corner of his lip quirks back up as he says, "And that's why, for the next year, and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us."

Mazzy isn't even sure what half of all this means. The Stark Expo. Yep. That's what the big screen says. But why? She never seems to understand any of her dad's explanations. She should. She is a Stark, after all. She should be building circuit boards by now. Tony built his first at age four. Not Mazzy. Mazzy can't even remember being age four. But her dad says that was normal; that he can't remember being age four, either.

"Therefore, what I am saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo!" Tony says, causing another explosion of applause from the audience.

Looking up to her left, Mazzy raises her eyebrows at Happy. "How much longer?" she asks. She wants to go home. This place is far too loud, with far too many people. It's overwhelming and, at the moment, she is really craving a bomb pop, which she knows is waiting for her in the freezer at home.

Before Happy can get a chance to answer, though, Tony appears behind Mazzy. He puts his hand on the top of her head, ruffling her hair. "How'd I do? Great?" he asks, looking down at her.

Smiling up at him, Mazzy holds out a thumbs-up. "Very great," she says.

"Great. Let's get outta here. Happy," Tony says, taking Mazzy's small hand in his. Happy nods and begins to lead them through the halls, toward the loud, overlapping voices of fans waiting outside.

This is always Mazzy's least favorite part of going to her dad's events. The crowds. It's hard enough having to hear them shout and scream all night, but that doesn't even compare to having to walk through them to the car while they shout her name, ask bizarre questions, take excessive photographs, and blind her with the flashes of their cameras. She didn't ask for this. She just wants to see her dad. But that's how life is, she supposes.

"Alright, it's a zoo out there. Watch out," Happy warns the two Starks as he opens the door to the outside crowds.

As soon as the three step outside the doors, men and women alike bombard Tony with questions, comments, invitations, and flirtatious remarks. As soon as Tony is asked to sign something, Mazzy's left hand slips out of her dad's, and her right hand instinctively grabs onto the back of Happy's jacket.

He looks back at her for a moment, raising his eyebrows.

For just a moment, Mazzy lets go of Happy's jacket in order to sign the word loud by pointing to her ear and then shaking her hands from side to side, palms down.

Happy nods in understanding and takes her hand in his. Mazzy keeps hold of Happy's hand until they are out of the building, which is when she grabs her dad's hand once again.

"That wasn't so bad," Happy says as they begin walking to the car.

"They're loud," Mazzy disagrees, furrowing her eyebrows.

"It's because they love me so much," Tony jokes, squeezing her hand. Mazzy takes it a little too literally, though. She's confused because she loves her dad so much, too, but she doesn't shout every time she sees him. Maybe it's because she gets to see him all the time.

As they get out to the parking lot, Happy points his keys at a new car. "Look what we got here. The new model," he says.

"Woah," Mazzy breathes out in awe as she looks at the clean, new car. But she is quickly distracted by a woman whom she's never seen before standing in front of said car. 

Oh, great, Mazzy thinks to herself, this is gonna take forever. 

Whenever her dad has to leave somewhere, it always takes forever because he'll say he's going to leave, but then he'll get to the door and start a conversation with someone, and then he'll get to the parking lot and start a conversation with someone there, too. Pepper calls it porch-lag.

"Hey, does she come with the car?" Tony asks, gesturing towards the woman.

"I certainly hope so," Happy says.

"Hi," Tony greets the woman as they reach the car.

"Hi," the woman responds. Mazzy gives her a little wave, and the woman beams at her as she waves back. People often do that to Mazzy. She isn't sure if it's because they really like her, or if it's because they're trying to get her dad to like them.

"And you are?" Tony asks, shaking the woman's hand.

"Marshal," she replies.

"Irish. I like it."

"Pleased to meet you, Tony."

Happy opens the back door of the car and Mazzy climbs into her seat and buckles herself up. Tony gets into the driver's seat and continues his conversation with Marshal, but Mazzy isn't interested in it. She is more interested in the new car they have just gotten into. Happy presses a button and the roof begins to open up, making Mazzy squeal with excitement. She loves convertibles because the wind blows against her face and makes her hair fly everywhere.

All of a sudden, there is a short silence, Mazzy notices. When leaving a big event like the Stark Expo, it's easier to notice the silences than it was to notice the conversations. She looks up at the woman- Marshal- to see that she is trying to hand Tony something.

"Yikes," Tony says, leaning back in his seat.

Reaching across to grab the paper from Marshal, Happy tells her, "He doesn't like to be handed things."

"Yeah, I have a peeve."

"He has a peeve," Mazzy parrots, nodding her head.

Marshal flashes Mazzy a smile before turning to look at Tony again. Her smile drops. "You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM," Marshal says. Oh, boy. That doesn't sound good.

"Can I see a badge?"

"You wanna see the badge?"

"He likes the badge."

Marshal holds up a shiny, silver badge with a big star on it. "That's pretty," Mazzy says as she stares at the metal. There is something about stars that Mazzy has always been drawn to. Something familiar. Something she can't remember.

Tony stares at the badge, too, but he isn't admiring so much as Mazzy is. "Yep," he mutters. He turns to Happy. "How far away are we from DC?"

"DC? 250 miles."

Without a moment of hesitation, Tony presses on the gas and the car zooms out of the parking lot and away from the lady with a badge.

"Daddy, what's the Senate Armed Services Committee?" Mazzy asks, kicking her feet back and forth in the backseat.

After letting out a dramatic huff, Tony hums, like he's thinking. "A bunch of old men in suits," he answers.

"Oh."

✭

"Dad, U is being dumb again," Mazzy huffs, kicking the robot's base.

Tony lets out a dramatic huff as he turns to look at the robot, which is supposed to be making a smoothie. It's failing miserably, though. "U, I swear to God, I'll dismantle you. I'll soak your motherboard. I'll turn you into a wine rack," Tony says to U.

"Yeah," Mazzy adds, giving U one last kick for good measure, "he'll turn you into a wine rack."

"How many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?" Tony asks JARVIS over the loud voice of Mick Jones singing Should I Stay or Should I Go? over the speakers.

"We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir," JARVIS responds.

Mazzy pours what's left of the smoothie U knocked over into a cup and brings it over to her dad at his desk. He grimaces at the green drink, and Mazzy does, too. She pushes it closer to him on his desk so that she won't have to look at it anymore.

"How come you have to drink that?" Mazzy asks, scrunching her face up with disgust.

"It, uh... It makes me healthier," Tony replies before gulping down an entire glass. The real reason is that the Iron Man suit is slowly but surely killing him, of course, but he can't tell that to Mazzy because Mazzy is most definitely not a good secret keeper.

The bad secret keeper herself takes a seat in a spinning chair and rolls it closer to her dad's desk. "Happy wouldn't let me watch you on TV," she tells her dad as she begins to spin her chair in circles.

"That's... probably for the better, from a parental perspective," Tony responds, slightly cocking his head to the side and shrugging his shoulders. He takes something out from beneath the desk that Mazzy can't see. "Check palladium levels," he murmurs. Mazzy is too busy spinning to question what he is doing, so she doesn't think anything of it.

Mazzy likes The Clash a bit more than she likes AC/DC, but she likes both of course. She lip-syncs along with words as they go. If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double. So, ya gotta let knowwww-

"Hey!" Mazzy complains when the music suddenly shuts off. She furrows her eyebrows and stops her spinning, but then Pepper walks into the lab. Mazzy loves Pepper. Pepper is smart, and strong, and stern, and nice, and cool. Pepper is just awesome.

However, Tony doesn't seem so happy with her stopping by. "Uh-uh," he speaks into his glass, pointing at Pepper.

"Is this a joke?" Pepper asks, clearly annoyed by something. "What are you thinking?"

"What? What'd he do?" Mazzy asks, raising her eyebrows up high.

"Tony, what are you thinking?!" Pepper asks again.

Widening his eyes, Tony holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, I'm thinking that I'm busy. And you're angry about something," he says , turning away to look at a different screen. He stands up out of his chair and begins walking around the table. "Do you have the sniffles? I don't wanna get sick."

"Did you just donate our entire modern art collection to the- to the-"

"Boy Scouts of America."

"Boy Scouts of America?!"

"Yes. It is a worthwhile organization," Tony says, pretending to be distracted by whatever he's doing on the screens around him. "I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not our collection. It's my collection. No offense," he adds.

"Dad, the Boy Scouts have cookies to make money off of. They don't need our paintings!" Mazzy says exasperatedly as she gets up off her chair to follow Pepper and her dad around the lab whilst they argue.

"That's the Girl Scouts, Maz," Tony corrects her.

"Oh."

"No. You know what? Back to the our collection thing, I think I'm actually entitled to say our collection considering the time that I put in, over ten years, curating that," Pepper says, holding her laptop at her side.

"Ten years?! Dad, that's older than me. What if you gave me away to the Boy Scouts of America?" Mazzy says in an attempt to get him to understand where Pepper is coming from. Tony rolls his eyes. In every argument, no matter what it is, if it is between him and Pepper, Mazzy always sides with Pepper. Every time, without fail.

He blows air out the side of his mouth. "That is... not even remotely the same thing," he says. Mazzy crosses her arms and narrows her eyes, looking up at him. Tony wants to laugh at her, but he presses his lips together instead. "Besides, the collection was a tax write-off. I needed that."

"You know, there's only about 8,011 things-"

"8,011!" Mazzy emphasizes.

"-that I really need to talk to you about," Pepper says, following after Tony as he makes his way through the space.

"DUM-E. Hey, stop spacing out," Tony says, whacking the machine as he passes by it. "The Bridgeport's already machining that part."

"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time," Pepper says, giving Tony a pointed look.

It has always been this way between them, for as long as Mazzy can remember- which, to be fair, isn't that long at all. But, truly, Pepper has been Tony's assistant since way before Mazzy was born. She had been there for all of the ups and downs, the highs and the low, low, lows. But no matter how long Pepper has been around Tony, they will not stop bickering.

Tony puts his hands on Pepper's shoulders. "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better. Is that ok?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"That's rude," Pepper says, letting out a little cough.

"That's rude, Dad," Mazzy agrees. She is always parroting someone. When she was learning how to talk, she would follow Tony around and repeat every single thing he said. It was adorable, but it also drove him crazy. He tells that story often, but Mazzy can't remember it.

"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo. It's my primary point of concern," Tony reasons.

"Wow," Pepper says, seemingly taken aback. She blinks and gives him an annoyed look. "Your daughter should be your primary point of concern."

"She is," Tony says.

"You just said it was the Expo," Mazzy says, furrowing her eyebrows and placing her hands on her hips.

"The Expo is number two," Tony decides, turning a corner.

"The Expo is your ego gone crazy," Pepper laughs humorlessly.

When she and Mazzy turn the corner, they see Tony picking up a framed picture of the Iron Man suit, one side red and the other side blue.

"Wow. Look at that," Tony says, holding the picture out to the two. They both give him a blank expression as he looks back at them. "That's modern art. That's going up."

"Oh, brother," Mazzy huffs, dropping her head back dramatically.

"I'm gonna put this up right now," Tony says, taking the painting and slipping past Mazzy and Pepper to find a place to hang it.

"You've got to be kidding," Pepper says, unamused by Tony's antics.

"This is vital."

"Stark is in complete disarray. You understand that?" Pepper says.

Gosh, is Mazzy tired of hearing about Stark Industries. If things go how everyone expects them to, Mazzy will be stuck with running that mess of a company herself. She has absolutely no interest in becoming the CEO of Stark Industries. She wants to be a teacher. Nothing more. Just a teacher. Maybe it's because she is only six years old, or maybe it's because she doesn't want the life her dad has. Maybe it's because she sees him every day, being followed by paparazzi and stalked by fans. Maybe she knows she doesn't want that, even at the age of six.

"Pepper, you're not listening to me!" Tony's loud voice snaps Mazzy out of her thoughts. She looks at the two of them and the newly hung piece of artwork behind them. "I'm trying to make you CEO! Why won't you let me?"

Their incessant bickering and talking over each other comes to a sudden halt as Pepper's head jerks backward in surprise. She narrows her eyes and leans in just a little bit closer, getting a better look at Tony's eyes, before asking, "Have you been drinking?"

"Uh, chlorophyll," Tony replies, shrugging his shoulders.

Pepper twists her body to look down at Mazzy, who is standing behind her. "Has he been drinking?" she asks Mazzy this time.

Mazzy shrugs her shoulders, then holds her pointer finger and thumb out, shaking her right hand back and forth to sign the word green. "Green stuff," she says.

"Chlorophyll," Tony repeats, Mazzy having proven his claim. He steps closer to Pepper, placing his hands on her shoulders once again. "I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately," he says. Pepper is frozen in her spot, her lips slightly parted with disbelief. Tony pats her shoulder before walking off. "Yeah. Done deal. Ok?"

Again, the room goes silent. Pepper can't believe what has just happened, but Mazzy is pretty sure that it's a good thing, so she puts on a big smile. "Congratulations!" she shouts, locking her hands together and shaking them in front of her to sign the word. Still, Pepper is silent.

Tony begins to fill two glasses with champagne. "I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not. Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realized... it's you. It's always been you. I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually, I'm capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you," he says, placing a champagne glass in Pepper's hands. "Congratulations?"

Pepper lets out a little laugh of disbelief and excitement. "I... I don't know what to think," she finally manages to say.

"Don't think. Drink," Tony says, sitting down beside her. He clinks his glass against Pepper's and they each take sips of their drinks. Mazzy's smile is wide, both Pepper's and Tony's joy transferring over to her almost overwhelmingly. Bouncing on her toes, she absentmindedly signs the word happy- something she has done for as long as she can remember. Tony glances over at her, then points a finger in her direction. "You should be asleep by now," he says.

Mazzy let out a giggle. "No, I shouldn't," she says.

"No, you shouldn't? Do you know what time it is?" Tony asks, raising his eyebrows. Really, it's only about 9:30, but that is late enough for Tony to decide it is Mazzy's bedtime, and his time to celebrate with Pepper. Celebrate by drinking champagne, which Mazzy does not need to be present for. So, he gets up and scoops Mazzy up into his arms. "Say goodnight," he says, walking toward the door.

"Goodnight, Pepper," Mazzy calls out to her, waving over Tony's shoulder.

"Goodnight, Maz," Pepper replies, smiling brightly as she gives a small wave in return.

With Mazzy's arms hooked around his neck, Tony carries her up the stairs, all the way to her bedroom. He plops her down on her pink butterfly sheets and begins toying with some of her stuffed animals as she climbs under the covers. She is already showered and in her pajamas, so all she has to do is drift off to sleep. When she slips beneath her comforter, Tony tosses a stuffed bear onto her chest.

"What's this one named?" he asks her.

"I told you a thousand times, Daddy. That one's Kenai. The smaller one is Koda, and the other two are Tuke and Rutt," Mazzy tells him, hugging the largest bear tight up against her chest. "Tuke and Rutt are twins, and they're moose on the inside, but bears on the outside. They told me so."

A small, somewhat amused, somewhat loving smile finds its way onto Tony's face. "They told you so, huh?" he asks.

"Yeah," Mazzy says, nodding her head. She lines her bears up beside her. "They also said we need to have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow or we'll be poisoned. Chocolate chip ones... with lots of syrup."

"Your bears sound smart," Tony says as he tucks her hair back behind her ears. He taps her right hearing aid. "Take those off," he reminds her.

Mazzy nods and pulls the hearing aids off and out of her ears, making sure to turn them off before placing them on her nightstand. Sometimes she'll forget to do that and the batteries will lose power extremely quickly. She has only had the hearing aids for a few months now, after all, and before that, she just simply couldn't hear, as far as she can remember. So she's still only getting used to all this.

Tony leans in, pressing a kiss to her forehead, before switching her lamp off and leaving only her nightlight shining in the bedroom. When he reaches the doorway and turns back to look at her one more time, like he always does, Mazzy signs I love you, like she always does. He signs it back just before letting the door click shut.

⭐️

Heyyy!! I know. Strange of me to start with Iron Man 2. But I promise, what was happening during the first Iron Man will be talked about throughout the story.

Also, lmk if you like when I describe the signs when she uses ASL instead of just saying the word she's signing. I thought some people might like that but idk so lmk

Thank you for reading 💫