Little Miss Stark, Rating G
Title: Little Miss Stark
Summary: Who says that raising a teenager is easy?
Fandom: Iron Man
Characters: Tony, Pepper, and Stacy
Disclaimer: All characters except for Stacy belongs to Marvel. Stacy belongs to me. Many thanks to SilverHeart09 and thatpersonwhoisthatperson for betareading this.
Rating: G
Words: 1,145
Genre: Family
Little Miss Stark
By Marie Nomad
Pepper entered the manor after a long day at work and heard the familiar sounds of a father and a daughter arguing.
"Forget it, Dad! It's my party, I am going to do it the way I want to!"
"Hey, I'm paying for everything, so I have a say in all this." Tony argued back.
"I am going to be sixteen years old and I want to have my own party the way I want to!"
Pepper groaned as she listened to the pair argue. They were so different and yet so alike. Stacy was normally a sweet girl but now she was a teenager with all the teenage hormones and age had not made Tony Stark any less stubborn. They butt heads on a daily basis on everything for different reasons.
Stacy ran past Pepper and into her room. Jarvis' hologram appeared and stated, "Miss. Stark had just initiated Privacy Security 1. Do not let anyone in her room unless it is an emergency. Do you wish to override?"
"Give her time. She will get out by dinner." Pepper told Jarvis.
"That kid..." Tony shook his head. "Palace made of ice, over a dozen attendants to carry her onto the stage, an authenticate Gucci dress made just for her, a giant mechanic robot and she doesn't want any of it! I don't get it! What's wrong with the party that I planned out for her?"
"What did she want?" Pepper asked, wanting to smooth out the latest fight.
"She just wanted a bunch of her friends here, a birthday cake and Jarvis playing the music. It's all so boring." Tony pouted.
One thing that Pepper was proud of was the fact that Stacy had grown up to not be spoiled. The day Stacy was born, Pepper and Tony vowed that their little girl would not be like those spoiled heiresses that got into trouble. They succeeded. Stacy loved simple things and didn't care much for showing off how rich she was. Unfortunately, Tony still loved to be extravagant when it came to parties. "She's growing up and she wants to have her own birthday party, and we have to respect that she wants something a little less... extravagant."
"But it's her sixteenth birthday. I thought that all teenage girls want a lot of bling for their parties. I could afford it."
Pepper chuckled. "You know that the other parents have the exact opposite problems. Like with Rhonda? She wanted Alpa Chino to sing to her for her birthday and Rhodey didn't want that because of his songs."
"Oh yeah. I had to bail Rhodey out of jail and use all my charm on Alpa." Tony winced as everyone learned not to mess with War Machine's little girl. "I guess it could be worse."
"Talk to her; she's your daughter. You have to compromise and give a low key event like she wanted."
"But I already made my mechanic robot. I named it Iron Stacy."
Pepper glared at him.
"But I'll talk to her. Are all teenagers this hard or is it just us? Because I don't remember teenage girls being this hard to handle when I was their age."
"You weren't a father back then."
Tony slowly walked up to Stacy's door. He couldn't believe that he had to negotiate with his own little girl. "Pumpkin? It's Daddy, can I talk to you?"
Stacy sighed and said, "open."
Tony took a deep breath and walked in. Stacy was lying in her bed with her iPad to the side. "I talked with your mother and she thought that you are old enough to decide what you want for your birthday party and so if you want something small, I'll give it to you."
"Thanks, Dad."
"But, why do you want a small party? I can give you the biggest, most awesome birthday party that anyone has ever seen."
"That's just it." Stacy grabbed a pillow and held it. "Do you remember my fifteenth birthday?"
"Oh yeah, it was awesome." Tony grinned. "I had actually booked two bands and rented the Roman Coliseum. I pulled a few strings to make that happened."
"I didn't know 90% of those people! There were so many party crashers that the Italian Army had to interfere. I wanted my party to be about me; not about the fact that my father is so rich and powerful that he could rent ancient monuments! I heard all year about how that my party will top that but nothing about how that it's going to be about me being sixteen. I just want people that I actually like there. I... I just want to have a party that doesn't brag that I'm the Stark Heiress."
Tony felt his heart break a little. He had no idea how much his extravagance was affecting his little girl. "I had no idea."
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
"I guess that the party was about me. Before you were born, my greatest accomplishment was being Iron Man. I could do all sorts of stuff in my suit. I could fly, blast stuff, and play movies for long flights. When you were born and I saw you for the first time, I felt awesome. There you were, a creation of both Pepper and me, something new. Every birthday, I just wanted everyone to feel how I felt that very first time. I guess I got carried away. I'm sorry." Tony put his arm around Stacy.
"It's okay. You mean well." Stacy hugged her father.
"But, I still want to do something awesome for your party."
Stacy pondered and said, "There is something you can do."
XXX
"Wow." Rhonda said as she and Stacy watched Tony sang. "I can't believe that he's singing."
"I know. He wanted to do something and I really couldn't disappoint him. He's pretty good."
"He could have given you anything you wanted."
"But this is what I wanted." Stacy gestured to the party. Everyone was having a good time and it was only the few that Stacy really considered to be her friends.
Rhonda stared at her. "You are a crazy little rich girl."
"The word is eccentric."
The End