"You can't be my kid, I've got way too many responsibilities." Tony crossed his arms and stood his ground. This wasn't just an argument over chocolate milk vs strawberry milk. It was battle for dominance.
"It's not like you're winning the fath...
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~~~~~~~~~~~
Maggie shuffled through the different clothes, not really bothering to look at them. She was pretty bored. Not that she didn't like hanging out with Pepper; she really did, but they had already gone to four different stores today.
She overheard the talking of a woman and a little girl from an isle down. She peeked her head over clothing rack to watch.
"Anna, which one do you want?" The woman asked as she held two shirts in her hands.
The blonde little girl rolled her eyes, "Both, Mom."
The mother sighed. "You can't get both. You only need one for the party."
"Mom, I want both."
The mother sighed, "No, Anna, please behave."
The little girl had a look of pure disgust. "I wish you would just go away..."
The mother looked hurt by her daughter's comment, but remained quiet.
No you don't, Maggie thought. She use to get into fights with her mother too. Maggie always wished she was older and didn't have to have a mom to boss her around. But now, Maggie actually wished she had a mother to boss her around and tell her to clean her bedroom and eat her vegetables.
"Are you ready to go, Maggie?" Pepper asked as she suddenly appeared beside her.
Maggie nodded and the two walked over to the cashier. The cashier was a young woman with short black hair and green eyes. Maggie noticed her green name tag that read Rosie.
"Hi, how are you?" The woman - Rosie said in a bored New Yorker accent.
"Good, how are you?" Pepper replied as she dug in her white purse for something.
"Good," Rosie replied.
Maggie frowned at the conversation.
"Why do people always ask that?" Maggie asked the cashier as she began bagging the clothes.
"What?"
"Hi, how are you. Why do people ask that? It's pretty clear that you don't actually care about what kind of day I'm having. I don't understand." Maggie clarified for her.
Pepper stopped digging in her purse and looked at the little girl in shock, as well as Rosie.
"I-I don't know." Rosie stuttered, looking at Pepper for a moment before her eyes returned to Maggie.
"Well, I think instead of saying that, people should say Hi, you look nice today. Or, Hi how can I help you?." Maggie said with a pretty smile at the end.
Pepper and the cashier exchanged a glance before they burst out laughing. Maggie frowned at them, not understanding why they were laughing.
Pepper paid for the items and guiding Maggie out of the clothing store.
"Come on, Maggie," she said as they walked down the sidewalk, "let's go get something to eat."
"'Kay,"
The walked over to a fancy outside restaurant and they ordered their food. They say at a small glass table on the outside patio. The red umbrella over the table cast a nice shadow over the two as they ate their food.
Pepper noticed that on all the tables were containers of peanuts. Pepper grabbed one out and broke the shell off. She popped the nut in her mouth and pushed the bowl towards Maggie.
"Do you want a peanut?" She asked.
Maggie gave a weary look at the nuts and shook her head. "No, I'm allergic to nuts."
This surprised Pepper. But she took the bowl of peanuts back. They ate their food and engaged each other with small talk. For some odd reason, Pepper felt uncomfortable with Maggie. She couldn't quite figure out why.
Perhaps it had to due with the reason that Tony had Maggie with another woman. She had romantic feelings for her boss for a while now. Or maybe she was uncomfortable around Maggie because she was use to talking 'business' with adults. Maybe it was a bit of both.
"What are we gonna do after lunch?" Maggie asked, snapping Pepper out of her thoughts.
"Um, I don't know. What do you wanna do?" The red-head asked as she took a bite of her croissant.
Maggie chewed on the end of her straw before she answered, "I want to hang out with Tony."
"Are you sure? We can stay out longer and do something else?"
"Yeah, shopping was fun, but I want to hang out with Tony. Maybe he will let me in his garage." Maggie said with a hopeful smile.
Pepper shrugged, "Okay, let's head home then."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hello, Miss Maggie," J.A.R.V.I.S. Greeted Maggie as she walked into the mansion after Pepper.
"Hi, J.A.R.V.I.S.!" She smiled as she sat on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. Pepper set the shopping bags on the countertop.
"Pepper! There you are, have you forgotten what is planned for tonight?" Tony said as he came up from the garage.
Realization hit Pepper like a train, and she smacked her forehead with her hand in frustration. "Oh, I totally forgot!"
"What's planned for tonight?" Maggie asked perplexed.
"Tonight, I'm having a party at the Avengers Tower and I'm inviting everyone in I know, which is a lot of people." Tony explained as he walked over behind the bar and poured himself something to drink.
"Oh that sounds fun! Can I come?!" Maggie beamed at him.
Tony winced. He had totally forgotten about Maggie. The party was for adults with alcohol and women in skimpy clothing, not for seven-year-old little kids.
"Mmm, no." He said.
"What? Why?" Maggie pushed.
Tony looked at Pepper for help. Pepper sighed.
"Well, the party is for adults, Mags." Pepper noted.
Maggie frowned, "But the Avengers are gonna be there and I want to see them again."
"We don't have anyone to babysit her either and the party starts in less than half an hour." Pepper said.
"I don't need a babysitter, I've got J.A.R.V.I.S." Maggie retorted defiantly.
Tony took a swig of his drink before answering, "Fine, you can come, but your going to be a major buzzkill."
Maggie smiled victoriously, "Yay! And I don't know what that means, so I'll take it as a compliment."
Tony rolled his eyes. She was just as sarcastic as he was at that age.
"Come on, Pepper," Maggie hopped off her stool, "Let's go get ready!"
This is going to be one strange party, Tony thought and he quickly chugged his glass of alcohol.
A/N;
I'm so sorry this took me forever to publish! I was just busy I guess. My parents and I are renovating are house so that we can sell it and move to another one.
But the next chapter is going to have the Avengers in it! ;-)
