HIATUS

CHAPTER 8: Solo Tour



ETHAN'S POV:
"This is an extremely huge park," I said. I am currently in Central Park, New York. My grandmother gave us a call three days ago. It seems that night grandpa didn't return home. She went to check in his office and saw that grandpa was sleeping in a recliner chair on the balcony, smelling liquor in his breath as he snores. She was worried caused she saw shattered glass and spilled wine on the floor.
When I heard this I was intrigued, to say the least. Grandpa wasn't the kind of man to drink to the point of drunkenness. Then I heard that he was drunk due to one of his war buddy dying. So my grandmother, bless her kind heart decided that when grandpa will go to New York, we will go together. A sort of "family bonding" after attending the funeral.
Right now, grandpa and grandma are attending the funeral, it was scheduled early in the morning. Both my dad and mother decided to sleep-in before we have our "family bonding" with my grandparents.
I decided to sneak out of the hotel room, to tour New York. My first destination, Central Park. Never much of a traveler in my past life, I was more of a stay at home kind of guy.
I was just walking in the park minding the view. When a fairly elderly man came to talk to me, he was with a small child, roughly my age. At first glance, the man looks extremely familiar to me, like I have seen him somewhere before.
"Hello, is your parents nearby, why are you here alone without parental supervision," the man said as he searches the area if I had anyone supervising me.
"I snuck out," I said plainly. Well, this was bound to happen, I am 5 years old after all. A kid my age walking alone would garner attention, obviously.
"Oh my, still so young but incredibly rebellious, remind me of someone I know," he said as he took a quick side glance at the kid with him. "Anyway, I'll take you to your parents if you like," he said.
"Jarvis, come on I wanna eat something already," said the kid.
Jarvis…wait a minute. The person in front of me is James D'Arcy, the one who played Edwin Jarvis in the movie and tv show. This means that kid is…now that I look closely, it's Tony Stark or should I say chibi Stark. He looks adorable as a kid, he still doesn't have the huge ego that he will develop in the future.
"Oh right, oh right, well eat soon. I need to call the police so that you can return home," he said as he grabs my arm and drags me near a telephone booth.
"I don't want to go home, I want to tour this city," I said. I really want to build a connection with Tony Stark, not just because I am a huge fan of course. I'm hoping that I would be able to meet Tony's father, Howard Stark himself.
"Well that's one way to get yourself part of the missing person list," Tony said.
"They can try, but they will never succeed," I said to Tony.
"With your short legs, you stumble even before you can run 10 feet," Tony mock.
"Really now, I…,"
"Okay, kids settle down, Tony that is not how you make friends, and you can't wander around this city without supervision," Jarvis said cutting both of us from our verbal banter.
"Look, let's play a game? A bet," I said with a smirk.
"Sure, I know I can win," Tony said.
"Chess, I saw a few people playing chess somewhere here in the park, will borrow their board, if I win you'll let me go," I said.
"What do I get if I win?" Tony asked.
"Will get to that if you can win," I said.
Jarvis watched the entire thing between the two, two five-year-olds betting. These two children will be having a gambling problem in the future if this continues.
"I believe I know the place, and I also believe they have a telephone I could borrow," Jarvis said.
The 3 of us went to find a chessboard we can use.
I seem to be playing high stakes bet games lately, am I getting Tsunade's betting habits? Is the inheritance of the three sannins, also influencing my behavior. If it is "then I also want the "Senju bloodline", I said to myself, well nothing happened. Stupid "inheritance", only giving me their knowledge, and maybe their vices but not giving me their physiology. Wait…if the inheritance is giving me their vices, would I become a horny bastard in the future…..damn I'm starting to feel slightly disappointed in my future self.
"Hey, we're here, stop pacing out," Tony said.
"This is "Chess & Checker House" built in the 1950s by Bernard Baruch, you two can play here while I go make a telephone call," Jarvis said.
"Prepare to be defeated," Tony said.
"Will see," Tony said.
JARVIS'S POV:
This lady was making an incredibly long telephone call. I mean you have already talked for more than 15 minutes, and base on what I could hear, what you're talking about is "neighborhood gossip". It seems I won't be able to borrow the phone for a while, "you better be done talking when I return lady," I thought to myself. I gave up trying to use the phone and went to check on the kids.
As I enter the room where Tony and that boy.. "hmmm…I never did ask the boy for his name, I'll ask when…" I thought.
My train of thought was cut short due to the fact that as soon as I entered the room, what I saw was a small crowd of people watching the two kids play chess.
"Hahahahaha… it's always nice to see young children play chess, and to play so well, impressive," said an old man as he watches the two boys playing.
"They are good, I wonder who those kids belong to," replied an equally older man.
Look at that, I only leave the two of them behind and they are already the center of attention.
"They're going to rivals that's for sure," I thought to myself as I look at the two kids.
They suddenly smirk at the same time. "Oh no, I sincerely hope that they won't have huge egos in the future," I said to myself sighing.
ETHAN'S POV:
" I win, hahaha. I'm the smartest," I said smirking at Tony.
"NO, again," said Tony as he begins to arrange the board.
I can hear Jarvis asking people to gently make way for him as he gets near the two of us.
"Ok, Children enough of that. You boy, what's your name. I forgot to ask for your name before, and I can't just call you "boy", that's incredibly rude," Jarvis said to me.
"Ethan, Ethan Carter," I said as I stretch out my arm to have an arm shake with him.
"Ah, a child with manners I see, I'm Edwin Jarvis, and this is Anthony Edward Stark, but everyone calls him Tony," he said as he pointed to Tony Stark.
"Stark? Are you related to Howard Stark," I ask with feigning ignorance.
"You know my father?" Tony ask.
"I saw him in one of the documentaries about Captain America," I said to him.
Obviously, I know who Howard Stark is, what type of self-respecting MCU fan won't know who the father of Tony Stark is. They don't need to know that, for them, I'm just a child who somehow became interested in him because of his involvement with Captain America.
After I told Tony my response to his question, his face was suddenly marked with a little bit of annoyance. It seems that Howard has been telling Tony about Captain America and Tony is just starting to get annoyed with it.
"Oh,…." Tony said weakly.
"Well, I really can't leave you alone, where are your parents? If you won't tell me then I need to involve the authorities," Jarvis said to me.
"My parents are staying in the hotel near this area, this is the telephone number I believe," I said to Jarvis. He handed me a piece of paper to write the number down.
"You should have never snuck out, you don't know what could have happened to you. Anyway, I will be right back, I need to call your parents" Jarvis said as left to make a quick telephone call.
"So, another game," I ask Tony. He seems to be still annoyed about the topic of his father.
"Fine," he said no longer enthusiastic about our game.
Shortly afterward Jarvis returns, "Your parents are mad with you Ethan, but they agreed to pick you up in a diner that Tony and I were planning to go," Jarvis said to me.
"Ok," I said to Jarvis. I already know I was going to get an earful from my mother.
"I win 4-2, "I said to Tony.
"Whatever" Tony said annoyed that he couldn't win.
"Mr.Jarvis is Howard Stark going to the diner as well?" I asked. I was really hoping to meet the man.
"I don't know. You're apparently a big fan, huh," he replied.
"Yeah, after watching those documentaries about him and Captain America, I always wanted to meet him, I can't meet Captain America but he's still around," I said to him.
"Well I did tell him where we were planning to go for the day, so who knows really. He may decide to pop up or not," Jarvis said.
"hmmmm….. ok," I said.
Even if I can't meet Howard Stark fostering a relationship with Tony ain't that bad.


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