Chapter Text
"Dad, do you have to go?" Charles asks him for the millionth time as they ride in the car on the way to drop him off at his school. After that Tony has to catch his private jet for a trip to Afghanistan.
"The answer is the same as the last time you asked," Tony says as patiently as he can. It's not like he's looking forward to going, but it would be easier without Charles, with his six-year-old earnestness and bluer than blue eyes, practically begging him not to.
"Why can't Obi go?" He asks next, in a clear attempt to continue manipulating him until he gets the answer he wants.
"The point is to actually make a sell, kiddo," Tony answers in humor, ignoring his son's petulance since he knows he had been the same way when he was feeling abandoned – even if Charles knows that's not the case here.
Pepper snorts a little at his joke. Charles on the other hand deflates beside him.
"Then why can't I go too?"
Tony snakes his arm around Charles' shoulders in an effort to comfort his despondent son.
"Well, you have school for one," he says. Charles practically scoffs because he's got the intelligence that seems to run in their family gene pool. Tony knows he could, in theory, make up any missed work in a flash especially since he's only in first grade even if in an advanced program, not to mention school will be out soon, but that's still beside the point. "And for another thing it’s just too dangerous over there right now." That's the real reason. It would be irresponsible of him to put him in that kind of danger.
“Which is why you shouldn’t go!” Charles protests loudly.
Charles then twists and buries his head into Tony’s chest. Tony’s mind is almost always open to him so he can feel the worry that the boy can’t quite stop from being broadcast along the edges of it. He does his best to counter it by sending soothing thoughts toward him. He looks across at Pepper who seems both sympathetic and in silent agreement that it’s probably not smart to go into a mounting war zone.
Tony holds Charles close the rest of the drive to the school and continues to do his best to reassure him mentally. The only indication he has that it's doing any good is that Charles isn't outright crying. But when the car stops at Charles' school Tony suddenly realizes how much he really, really, really doesn't want to go either, and not just because it entails work. He doesn't often leave Charles for business trips he can't tag along on and he's never left him for more than forty-eight hours. This trip will likely be seventy-two to ninety-six if it stays on track. A day or two more shouldn't be such a big difference, but it is. Or at least feels like it is for some reason.
"Please don't go," Charles mumbles into his chest, obviously knowing they've arrived by the way the vehicle has stopped. "Please."
Tony almost gives in.