Doro’s cheerful “Grandpa!” left Tony genuinely speechless.
What Tony did not know was that Sherlock had never cared much about the legal guardianship issue in the first place.
He was already an adult, so even if Tony’s claim was legitimate, it no longer carried any practical authority.
The title of godfather mattered even less.
Sherlock had not grown up in a culture where godparents played any meaningful role, so the whole concept felt distant and largely irrelevant to him.
Telling Doro to call Tony “Grandpa” had been nothing more than retaliation.
After all, who could have predicted that the infamous billionaire playboy would turn out to be Sherlock’s legal father figure?
Sherlock was equally unaware that Tony did not actually care whether he called him Dad.
At least, not yet.
Tony had only brought up their relationship because he thought it would give his warning more weight.
Nor was Tony completely convinced by Sherlock’s claims about alchemy.
Everything Sherlock had done in the Middle East looked far more like magic than the alchemy Tony had imagined from old stories.
Doro’s existence did not prove much either.
At most, she confirmed that Sherlock had created some kind of living magical creature.
Still, if Sherlock truly possessed anything that could reasonably be called alchemy, Tony would be more interested in studying it than almost anyone else in the world.
Whether he believed Sherlock or not, Tony was now glad he had insisted on bringing the group home himself.
The rest of the flight passed beneath a strange silence, with everyone lost in their own thoughts.
When the plane finally landed, Tony was the first to step outside.
Pepper immediately hurried over and wrapped him in a relieved embrace.
Then she noticed Sherlock following behind him.
Before he could introduce himself, Pepper blurted out his name.
“Sherlock?
What are you doing here—with Tony?” That was the first moment Sherlock seriously considered that Tony might genuinely have been his legal guardian.
Tony gave them a quick introduction, then tried to brush the situation aside with the vaguest explanation possible.
“Sherlock and I happened to cross paths along the way.
He’s my beloved son, after all, so I figured I’d give him a ride.” Tony refused to meet Pepper’s eyes and kept rubbing his nose, making his guilt painfully obvious.
More importantly, the excuse was so ridiculous that no reasonably intelligent person would have believed it.
Pepper, who had spent years managing Tony Stark, was far more perceptive than most.
She clearly did not believe him, but she was smart enough not to challenge the lie in public.
Instead, she calmly ushered everyone toward the waiting vehicles.
Fortunately, Tony was wealthy enough to have arrived with an entire convoy.
Otherwise, finding room for three additional adults and one half-sized passenger might have been difficult.
Doro herself was hidden inside Sherlock’s backpack.
She had eaten almost continuously throughout the flight, and now that her stomach was full, she was sleeping soundly inside the bag.
The moment Tony and Pepper entered the same car, Pepper demanded a real explanation.
Tony knew there was no point lying to her and described everything that had happened.
Pepper found the story difficult to accept.
For the past five years, every report she had received about Sherlock described a quiet, polite young man who rarely left his home.
The idea that this withdrawn and apparently harmless child was secretly a powerful alchemist seemed absurd!
Unlike the events Sherlock remembered, Tony did not immediately hold a press conference announcing the closure of Stark Industries’ weapons division.
Pepper first forced him through a complete medical examination.
Only afterward did Tony bring everyone back to his seaside mansion.
Once they were inside, Sherlock opened his backpack and released Doro, who had only just awakened.
The unfamiliar mansion immediately excited her.
Her stubby legs moved in a blur as she raced from room to room, exploring everything she could find.
Doro’s cartoonish appearance initially startled Pepper, but that reaction did not last long.
Doro soon discovered an orange in Tony’s kitchen.
Rather than eating it herself, she carried it over to Sherlock with both tiny hands, gazing up at him eagerly as she offered it to him.
Pepper’s heart nearly melted.
After receiving Sherlock’s permission, she lifted Doro into her arms.
The creature’s soft, jelly-like body and highly expressive chibi face immediately awakened every maternal instinct Pepper possessed.
Sherlock watched her reaction and began to suspect she was preparing to challenge him for custody.
His suspicion proved entirely justified.
Almost the instant the thought entered his mind, Pepper carefully cradled Doro and asked whether she could take her along for a while.
Sherlock liked Pepper considerably more than Tony, so he agreed without hesitation.
Tony stared at him with deep resentment.
He had been fascinated by Doro since the moment he saw her, but Sherlock had refused to let him hold her even once.
Doro obediently followed Sherlock’s instructions, so whenever he said no, she refused Tony as well.
Tony had even tried to grab her during the flight, only for Doro to evade him effortlessly with her absurd agility.
Now the strange little creature he had desperately wanted to examine was sitting happily in Pepper’s arms, smiling with complete innocence.
Tony’s jealousy nearly overwhelmed him.
Fortunately for him, the situation did not last long.
Sherlock remained at Tony’s mansion, while John and Helen left with Pepper and Doro.
They had come to Los Angeles for a vacation, after all, and Pepper had offered to help arrange everything.
Sherlock had several reasons to stay.
First, there was the inconvenient fact of his relationship with Tony.
Neither man particularly wanted to acknowledge it, but that did not make it any less real.
Second, Sherlock was still waiting for Tony to upgrade his truck.
Tony, meanwhile, wanted to show Sherlock his laboratory and finally see his alchemy firsthand.
With all of those factors combined, Sherlock ended up remaining at the mansion.
Once everyone else had left, Tony released a deliberately casual sigh.
“Come on, kid.
Let me show you my laboratory.” Sherlock followed him without hesitation, but he had no intention of letting the opportunity pass quietly.
“Tony, there’s something I’m curious about.
Why didn’t you shut down Stark Industries’ weapons division the moment you returned?”