Ch 52 choosing a nickname is dad’s thing

What's our phone number?" Tony cried from his study, head bent low as he read the next item on the form. He could not for the life of him remember things as trivial as this.

"Just leave it blank," came Pepper's shout from the kitchen. "I'll have Mandy fill up the rest."

Absolutely not, Tony thought. He frowned at the blank space beside TELEPHONE NUMBER. Who still used telephones?

Deciding he'd get back to that later, he continued down the list. "Ah. 'Residential Address.' I know this one."

He wrote down his address and read the next item. "Why do they even want to know where I went to school?" he muttered. "I thought this was about Morgan, not her parents. Is this what they usually ask for in enrollment forms?"

"Almost 90% of forms for new students ask for parental details, boss," replied FRIDAY.

"'Year graduated?' Who the hell remembers that?" Tony frowned.

"Normal people."

Tony looked up as his wife walked towards him, probably to put him out of his misery.

Tony wearily stroked his jaw. "She's just enrolling in a playgroup. Why the hell do they need so much information about us?"

Pepper bit back an endearing smile. Tony had insisted on filling up Morgan's school forms instead of having her personal assistant do it because this was a "dad thing" and "Mandy's not a dad."

"Besides," he had told her , "Other dads sign their kids up to this stuff. If they can do it, I can do it better."

And now here he was, racking his brain for details he had never had to remember once in his life.

"Because. That's just how it is," Pepper told him, taking the school forms from his desk.

"'Because' is not a reason," Tony said, leaning back against his chair and taking a breather.

Pepper nodded as she read the responses he wrote down. He had tried answering most of the fields, whether they were actually accurate was another story. But he got their daughter's name right, at least.

She had to look twice at what Tony put under NICKNAME.

"We are not putting Morganator as her nickname."

"What? That's what I call her."

"At home! And as a term of endearment! But in school? Tony, she's not a terminator."

"What do I put then?"

"Just write 'Morgan.' That's her name."

"No," Tony said firmly. "She has to have a nickname. All her classmates will have one."

Typical of him to be competitive, Pepper thought.

"How about Morgana?" Tony suggested with a smile.

Pepper's eyebrows knit together. "Like The Little Mermaid villain?"

"She loves The Little Mermaid."

"Yeah, the mermaid, not the squid!"

"Well, aren't you helpful." Tony snatched the form from his wife's hands and shooed her away. "It's gonna be fine. I'm the dad. I got this."

Pepper shook her head at him, amused. He was taking this way too seriously.

"She doesn't have to have a nickname, you know."

"I disagree."

...

Tony halted right by the doorway of their bathroom.

"Hey, what do you think about 'Morgan Freeman?'"

Pepper, toothbrush in her mouth, gave him a look.

Tony nodded curtly. "Right. It's too God."

...

"Come on, Morgy!" Tony said, crouching low to his daughter's level. "Time to clean up!"

"Morgy is a dog's name," said Pepper, walking past them.

Tony huffed and called out to his wife's retreating form, "Stop being so aggressively critical! It's starting to affect my self esteem!"

...

"Iron Baby?"

...

"I got it!" Tony cried in bed one night.

Pepper didn't even bother putting her book down. He'd been spouting off nickname ideas for the past two days. Most of them were just plain awful.

She made an inquiring hum but kept her eyes on the page.

"Her nickname, she can be called Sugar!"

Well, that got her attention.

She tucked a bookmark on the page and turned to her nonsensical husband. Well-meaning, but nonsensical all the same.

She raised a brow. "Sugar? Is she a Sugar Baby?" Where did he even get that from? In fact, where did he get all his suggestions from?

Tony cringed. "What? No! Is that what—'Cause you're Pepper. And at first I thought Salt and Pepper would be adorable because you know salt and pepper, but she can't be Salt because salty's a meme now. Remember when Harley called me salty? She can't be salty. So, she's got to be Sugar. It's cute, right?"

He gave his wife a proud smile.

Pepper stared at him.

Tony's shoulder sagged, smile vanishing. "You're right. She sounds like a Sugar Baby. I can already hear all the sexual innuendos when she's older. All those wrinkly old men coming up to her and winking." He lowered his voice and imitated an elderly man,"What's up, Sugar Baby?"

With a groan, he leaned his head back on the headboard, covering his face with his hands.

Pepper patted his thigh. "I told you, she doesn't need a nickname. She's Morgan. Always have been, always will be."

Tony lifted his head. "You're right. I can still call her lots of different names at home. That's fine."

"Yeah. You can call her as many names as you want until she develops some kind of split personality disorder. She'll grow up so confused." Pepper started to laugh and Tony joined her.

"She can't even pronounce her name right!" Tony added. "'Ogan.' She can't even say the M or the R. It's so cute!"

"And Happy thinks he taught her how to say his name!"

They both laughed until tears sprung from their eyes.

"She'll be fine in the playgroup, right?" Tony asked after they caught their breath.

"Yeah and it's time she played with kids her own age."

Tony turned to Pepper slowly, a twinkle forming in his eye. "And we get more time to ourselves when she's in school." He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss against his wife's mouth.

Pepper hummed in agreement.