Fanfiction: The trouble with old-timers

[nessaniel]

Title: The trouble with old-timers
Fandom: Iron Man Armored Adventures
Author: nessaniel
Beta: pinku_keks (but since none of us speaks English as well as we would like to all mistakes are mine)
Rating: PG-6
Warning/AN: Uhm, a bit of drama if you spy very hard? It's for rei17 because she asked for some ff.
Summary: Tony and his dad have a talk in the garage about cars, life and pandas.

„Dad?“

„Down here, Tony.“

Of course. Down there with all the old-timers. Tony trotted over, hands in his pocket, the blue prints for the improved version of the Earth Mover project under his arm.
The rows of shimmering cars aligned his way to the back of the bright room – the walls were mostly windows after all – where his dad was lying under a blue Pontiac Firebird. When Tony approached he crawled out from under the metal belly, wiped his hands on his already dirty jeans and gave Tony a broad smile.
“How are you?”

“Great”, Tony answered grinning and proudly held up the plan he had worked on all night. “I’ve finished the last calculations. Should be running nice and fine.”

“My brilliant genius son!” Howard proclaimed and did a mocking little bow. “How did I ever run this company without your talent?”

“Beats me.”

Both erupted in laughter. Tony sat down next to his dad on the car’s hood and handed him the plan, so Howard could go over it again. Tony let him: his dad was as much of a control freak as he himself was. He extended his arm towards the window until the warm sunlight covered it and made his skin appear golden.

“Dad?” he said after a while.

Howard looked up from the plans. “What is it, Tony?”

“I am just wondering.” Tony pointed to the dozen and more old-timers standing around them. “Why do you love those old cars so much? We have the newest and fastest ones in the garage but you insist on coming here every week and taking care of those personally…”

He looked at his dad: Howard gave him a surprised look, then he laughed and ruffled Tony’s hair.
“Oh boy, where did that come from now?”

“Sorry” Tony admitted, feeling a bit sheepish. He didn’t quite know himself why he asked the question but he wouldn’t admit that. “It’s just… I am just curious.”

Howard shook his head in amusement. “Nothing wrong with that at all”, he said and cast a long look around them and Tony could see the nostalgic smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “We sure do have a lot of those”, he remarked and Tony laughed.
“I like to remember the past”, his father then continued. “There are many good things in it.”

Tony shot him a skeptical look and gestured to a BWM 327 Cabrio. “You have good memories of the 1930’ies?”

Howard groaned. “You are insufferable, my boy”, he said but his smile betrayed his words. Tony grinned.

“What I actually meant”, Howard continued, “is that the past holds much more value for us who can look back at it. It is important to know where you come from if you want to see where you will stand in the future.”

“But isn’t that why we build new machines?” Tony didn’t want to let go of the matter just now. “Faster ones? Stronger ones? To surpass the past?”

Howard laughed again. “Quite philosophical today, aren’t we, my boy?”

“Come on, Dad…” Tony scowled.

“Alright, alright.” His dad held up his hands in defeat. “Yes, perhaps, one of the things driving us… inventors is a strong determination to better our ancestors. To make life easier and to help people with technology as best as we can. But you shouldn’t forget your past, Tony.” He brought his hand to Tony’s face and caressed his cheek. “Do not repeat the same mistakes, my boy. It’s not worth it.”

Tony opened his mouth but when he saw how serious and with how much love Howard looked at him he couldn’t bring himself to destroy the moment. There was something else in his father’s eyes that he couldn’t quite understand but he knew that he never wanted to see it there ever again. He swallowed.
“I won’t, Dad, I promise.” He cleared his throat. “Or you can ground me from the lab for a year!”

Howard laughed and the tension Tony had felt a moment ago finally vanished.

“I will. Trust me. And now, go wash your face you look like a panda.”

“What? I do not!”

“Oh yes you do.”

And with that Howard clutched Tony’s face in his hands and left huge greasy black specks on his cheeks. He stood up and laughing dashed away for dear life.

“Dad!”

Rubbing angrily at his face, Tony took up pursuit and together they bumped into cars and crashed into tables until their merry laughter died down to heavy breaths and Howard declared defeat. To seal his victory Tony demanded his favorite meal and together with his dad they emerged from the garages and went up into the bright home above them.

-End- 

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