Author's Note: This is an ALL IN ONE FILL for the following prompts: Glow-in-the-dark, Clouds, Fishing, Friends/Friendship
The fill for the last prompt is a little more implied than stated but it's there.
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“My Daddy used to glow-in-the-dark too, you know!”
Tony’s head whipped around to where his eight and a half year old son was seated in the midst of his cousins roasting marshmallows for s'mores under the watchful eyes of his Aunt Monica and Sharon. Even though it was just twilight now, the clouds were covering the sun, so it was just dark enough for all of the kids to be having fun
wearing those glow-in-the-dark bracelets.
“No way!” he heard a voice reply. It sounded like Rhodey's adorable niece Rylee’s thought.
"Yes way!" his son replied.
Tony smiled, thinking back to earlier in the day when he saw the little girl dressed in tiny water-resistant boots standing in-between her Daddy and Uncle Clint with a tiny fishing pole in her hands. Clint had offered to teach the kids how to fly fishing. Only Rylee and Ethan had seemed interested in learning how to fish and so they had spent the afternoon with their Uncles standing in the water, learning the intricacies of fly fishing.
With those four occupied for the day, the rest of their large group had been divided up into the various variety of pastimes the campgrounds had to offer.
Steve and Sharon had set out on a hike after lunch taking with them Thor and Jane. The four adults wanting to go on a hike had pretty much taken care all of the remaining older kids of the family since they had wanted to go too. In the meantime because he hadn't been in a mood to see that much of nature, Tony had talked Pepper into teaming up to play a volleyball game against Rhodey and Monica.
The remaining little ones had watched their game for a time but then they grew bored and so after that, under the watchful eyes of Natasha and Alyssa, had went swimming in the inflatable kids wading pool they brought with them to the camp.
Now as the day was winding down, they had all gathered together for a dinner of hot dogs roasted over the fire pit with all the trimmings you would expect to have with a summertime wiener roast.
"Uncle Tony! Uncle Tony!"
Tony barely had come to register the little voice before a small body crashed into his own, almost sending them both toppling over from the folding chair he was sitting on. But fortunately Tony was able to put a hand down in time to prevent the fall, and once he had his balance he looked down at the little face looking at his.
"Whoa there, kiddo! Where's the fire?"
Rylee's little face became a perfect example of complete confusion as her face morphed into one big question. The little girl then pointed back at the fire she had just come from, and said, "There, Uncle Tony. The fire's over there."
He smiled, resisting the urge to laugh or roll his eyes then said, "I see that, sweetie, but what I wanted to know it why you were in such a hurry that you almost knocked your old Uncle to the ground?"
"Ethan said you glow in the dark!"
"Glow in the dark?"
"Uh huh! Like my bracelet! See!" the little girl said, holding up her wrist really close to his face so he could see it.
Gently grasping her little arm, Tony moved it away from his face, and said, "Yeah I see that, Ry-Ry. It's a nice, glowy bracelet."
Rylee wasn't going to be deterred about what she wanted to know, "You glow like my bracelet, Uncle Tony? Ethan said--"
"Ah, I think what Ethan said, sweetie, was that your old Uncle Tony **used to** glow in the dark, and he was right. I did use to glow..." He pointed to the spot on his chest where the arc reactor was once embedded, "right there."
"Right there?" Rylee said, touching the indicated area.
Tony nodded, but decided that he didn't need to explain any further because how would he explain something that happened another lifetime ago in Afghanistan?
The little girl leaned closer to look at the area, and her precious face fell when she found no evidence of incandescence there now.
When it looked like she might actually cry he quickly said, "Aww, sweetie, it's okay. No glow is a good thing for Uncle Tony. Don't cry, okay?"
Rylee nodded, still looking at the spot he'd indicated and then to his surprise, she slid the glow-in-the dark bracelet off of her wrist and held it up to him, "Here Uncle Tony, you have this!"
Tony was surprised when he found himself blinking rapidly suddenly. He smiled, taking the offered gift from his niece, and after a moment slid then plastic ring back onto her wrist.
"Thank you, sweetheart, for giving me your bracelet but you know what? Because I know how much you love it, I want you to hold onto it for me. Okay?"
"Okay, Uncle Tony!"
Tony kissed her brow, and put her down, "There! Go eat some more s'mores with your cousins. Okay?"
"Okay!"
"And don't run!"
As he watched her rejoin her cousins and his wife came to sit down beside him with a couple of cold drinks for them both in her hands, he decided that today had been more than just a good day. As they kissed and then began talking to Jane, he decided that today had in fact been the **best** day because they had spent it in the loving warmth of their family, and there was nothing in the world he would trade for being able to bask in the never ending glow.
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