"It's fine. Trust me. It's what the website said to do, so we're doing it. And if you end up with circle streaks on your ceiling I hereby declare it not my problem, so."

Tony shrugged in exactly the most enraging way he knew.

"Doing all this, it looks good on my not-really-a-resume. Doing it by hand looks even better. It shows them I'm seriously committed and willing to put time aside for you. Which is something I needed to prove, of course, because I'm Tony Stark. Which seems unfair because when you have your own kid they just sort of let you keep it but whatever."

And wasn't that the real kick in the nuts.

"They said they have to make a decision by August 8th." He sighed and stared at the one white wall left.

"I want you to know I want this. I wasn't ready before. I wasn't ready after the ferry. But I'm ready now, I want this."