Chapter Text
A week into being a brother he'd handled a lot. His legal team was able to speed up the process significantly and he had guardianship over her in five very long days. (Waiting was agonizing.) He'd also formed a list of five schools he'd like her to go into. He'd been hesitant about the more prestigious ones since he absolutely would not stand for her being singled out for being a former foster kid, but he kept them in mind as he researched and had someone else talk to them about options to keep his identity secret while feeling for which one was best.
One thing he'd done as well was get a name change in order. Skye seemed nervous about it but had been thrilled at the idea of ditching Mary Sue Poots for good so he arranged it with his lawyer and went about slowly feeling out whether she wanted to share his last name or not. He was still iffy on it which has his lawyer waiting to take any full action till a decision was made.
One thing he did learn about Skye was her insomnia was somehow worse than his own, she was up at odd hours and cleaned secretly when he was not guarding the house from her guilt laden cleaning despite his reassurances that she didn't need to earn staying there because he most definitely wanted her.
Any resentment towards her built off Howard died with each bright smile that flashed across her face when he bribed her with a lesson on AI and Jarvis's code.
"Just to check in, you didn't ditch the kid right?" he rolled his eyes strongly, typing on his computer.
He ran on a hunch and left some high school level Computer and coding courses on her laptop when he bought it for her. As expected she was taking to programming and coding like a fish to water. She wasn't anywhere near his level of course but he was sure she'd get past him soon enough.
"What do you take me for?" he scowled.
"An idiot with commitment issues and deeply held resentment." he paused, wrinkling his nose at the accusation.
"We're going ice skating this weekend." Rhodey paused on the other end,
"You? Ice skating? You're going to fall on your ass." Tony rolled his eyes
"I'm coordinated."
"You and coordination do not fit in the same category." Tony rolled his eyes.
"I'm telling her you're coming too so I can watch you fall on your ass." Rhodey blanched.
"Don't you dare! You know I'm horrible at skating!" he denied instantly.
"Too bad. You'll disappoint her if you don't come now." Rhodey deflated into his couch at the threat.
"........ how is she settling in?" Tony frowned a little.
"She's doing okay, the parenting books on adoption I've read say trust takes time."
"You....read parenting books." Rhodey's hand dropped from his face, staring wide-eyed at his phone.
"I read three." Tony confirmed " I also consulted with a few child psychologists and apparently I'm doing a few things right. I'm getting her into therapy next week."
"I take back what I said." Rhodey sighed heavily.
"Hmm?" Tony hummed idly, eyes drooping a bit as he glanced over the pages of the book.
"When I said you were a bad option. I've never seen you shift so drastically like this for someone." Tony stilled, silently assessing the past week. He'd been shirking things off on Pepper a lot which was irresponsible like usual sure, but he'd spent the time differently.
Instead of drinking, they watched movies before bed and sometimes he'd carry her to bed and tuck her in in a way he'd remembered his mother doing for him.
Instead of flings, he'd spent his nights studying schools, parenting, and preparing courses for Skye to follow as she progressed through the ninth-grade programming course he'd set her up with.
Instead of parties he'd gone out to a movie with her because she'd never been to a movie theater before, the day after he brought her to an arcade.
He was introducing her to everything she hadn't done before and it was fulfilling in a way he hadn't experienced before well.... ever.
"I don't think I've gotten drunk in over a week," he muttered softly in a small realization that yes, he had accidentally quit his alcoholism cold turkey because he was so occupied with Skye he simply forgot the desire to be drunk or numb the icy loneliness that once filled this entire house.
"Do you think I'll do okay?" his voice was small, Rhodey stilling at the uncertainty lining his tone.
"I think you'll do great." Rhodey reassured him softly before letting out a heavy sigh "When are we going Ice Skating?"
"Five on Sunday." Rhodey smiled a little
"What did Pepper say?" Tony remained silent, wincing visibly at the question. "Tony?"
"I uh... I haven't.....told her yet."
"How long do you think you can go before this becomes an issue Tony? She's in your business all the time. You think she hasn't noticed any of your new purchases or the lawyers being paid for new work behind her back?"
"I'm not going behind her-"
"You usually hand off all legal crap to her to communicate with the lawyers because it's always been a bother to handle it yourself. She'll notice you're doing it on your own for something and realize something is up. You've also always paid them through the company, not personal accounts." Tony winced.
Pepper was sharp, he was right, she probably had already noticed a lot of what he'd done already.
"I'll tell her soon I'm just..... preparing myself mentally." he defended meekly.
"Man up and do it. Why are you avoiding telling your assistant about this? You think she'll call the press?"
"I'll tell her." he scowled. "I'll see you on Sunday." Rhodey tried to speak but he cut him off quickly by hanging up, glaring indignantly at his phone now as Rhodey laughed on the other end, grinning widely at his friend's plight.
Tony begrudgingly texted him the address and time of the planned meet up despite his mild anger towards his friend. He glanced over his contacts, thumb hovering on Pepper's name before he sighed softly.
"Are you calling to fess up?" her tone was sharp as he winced a little. "You've been shirking all your responsibilities to be irresponsible again? Did you get into legal trouble again?"
"No, I'm not in any legal trouble."
"You paid the lawyers through your personal account, Tony. I wasn't born yesterday. Now what is it? We need to handle it quickly before it turns into a PR firestorm." He rested his forehead on the desk, phone set next to him on it.
"I only paid them personally because it isn't company business, and I haven't thrown any parties or been irresponsible all week, I promise." Pepper went silent for a minute.
"What happened then?" her voice was calmer, less angry.
"Someone hacked into the home server and I had Rhodey follow up on it." he admitted slowly, almost feeling her impatience growing with each second his pause dragged on. "Turns out our hacker was a six-year-old girl and Rhodey had a hunch so... he sorta blood tested her against my blood and she's my half sibling. The legal fees are adoption proceedings and a potential name change for her. The contractors were just to customize her room, not for repairs."
"What the fuck." she breathed out softly "What's her name? She's six? Have you gotten her registered for school yet? The deadline is-"
"The end of this week I know. I have three schools I've narrowed it down to now. Her name is Skye and she is indeed six," he answered quickly, sure of his answers.
"I.... okay. How can I help?" she sounded beyond shocked at the new revelations.
"I need to offload on you quite a bit so I'm authorizing new hires to handle the bulk of it as long as you personally vet them. I'm going to be taking a lot more time while she settles in before the school year starts and I'll pick back up on the responsibilities I'm offloading. You'll also be getting a significant pay rise." Pepper's brows shot up.
Tony had never been this put together, that was why he hired her.
"I'll take care of it, but try not to hide things like that in the future. You gave me a heart attack buying kids toys. I thought you had a secret child." he coughed roughly.
"What?"
"You're a playboy Tony, it wouldn't be surprising." she rolled her eyes. "I'll get to work on hiring, enjoy your time off." He deflated against his desk as he ended the call.
"That could have gone worse." he muttered softly, glancing at the clock. He'd left calling Pepper to the last minute so now he'd technically waited a week and a half to tell her.
He pulled on his coat, pocketing his phone for now as he left the office, smiling softly as he watched Skye practically vibrate in excitement. Her excitement was barely contained as they drove to the private ice rink to meet up with Rhodey.
"This is Rhodey, you met him before, he's my friend." Skye nodded slightly, looking a little nervous.
"Fair warning we both suck at ice skating, you might beat us both in coordination." Rhodey grinned at her, earning a smile as she giggled a little.
"I'm coordinated damn it." Tony huffed softly, very carefully setting out onto the ice. Rhodey winked at Skye, starting to record as she glanced between the two.
"You can go faster than that can't you?" he egged him on, watching him poorly attempt to do so before he promptly fell on his ass.
"You were recording?!" he squawked. Rhodey grinning widely, sticking out his tongue as Tony scrambled to get up making a more embarrassing show before giving up and gripping the railing tightly while Rhodey gently guided a giggling Skye onto the ice. She was a little wobbly and shaky but far more coordinated about it than Tony was.
"I hope you know I'm going to hack your phone to delete that." he was panting, gripping the side wall as Rhodey grinned smugly at him.
"I'm having my assistant make a physical copy as we speak." Tony glared at him half heartedly before focusing again, very slowly catching up to them as Skye gradually gained confidence with herself, grinning widely at tony as he struggled.
"I thought you said you were bad at skating?" he stared accusingly at Rhodey who shrugged lightly, a smirk playing on his lips.
"I lied," Tony grumbled softly, his sourness weaning at Skye's infectious grin as she grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the railing. "How are you so good at this?" he laughed softly, still unsteady on the skates as Skye led him along.
"I have really good balance." she grinned widely as Rhodey came up behind them, snapping a picture of the two together.
"We should come back soon, maybe Tony will get the hang of it." Tony gave a half hearted glare to Rhodey as Skye grinned, her face lighting up with excitement before looking back to him questioningly.
"Of course we can come back." there was no way he could say no to her, especially since this was the first thing she actually asked for since she had started living with him.
Thankfully for Tony they only skated for a little while before they got off and Rhodey brought them both to eat afterwards with a few treats added on.
"You're going to give her a sugar high." Tony looked at the bag of sweets as Rhodey grinned, handing them to her as she stared wide-eyed at him as if she couldn't believe they were all for her.
"I'm aiming to be the fun uncle, the sugar high won't be my problem." he grinned widely as he crouched down "Eat in moderation though, if you eat too much you'll feel sick." she nodded quickly, arms wrapped around the bag now.
"Thank you." she smiled shyly, abruptly self-conscious again at the gift. Rhodey just smiled in return.
"I'll visit you again soon, make sure he brings you to a lot of places, he gets lazy sometimes." he chuckled a little as Tony rolled his eyes, unable to keep off his smile as Skye excitedly told Rhodey about all the places they'd gone already. Rhodey, undeniably trapped by her excitement, ended up staying far later than he had intended without complaint before eventually parting ways.
They ended up sleeping on the couch together after Rhodey left, Jarvis quieting the movie that was playing slowly as they dozed off, shutting down the lights in the living room on his own.