In which Steve is totally not upset that Tony isn't crying right now.
"Alright, Tony. Promise me you'll have a good first day at school?" Steve crouched down, adjusting the straps on Tony's backpack, filled with child-friendly school supplies and his lunch. Tony nodded enthusiastically at him, curly hair bouncing as he did.
"Yes, Daddy. Can I go now?" He tugged on Steve's hand, desperate to go inside, where the children who were no longer crying over their parents leaving sat and began to play, the kindergarten teacher talking with a parent right beside the door.
"Okay baby." Steve sighed. He kissed the top of Tony's head, blinking away tears as he did so. Tony gave him a small hug, then began to dash straight into the classroom, finding his name on one of the tables without any help from the assistant teacher. Biting his lip, he noticed the teacher moving towards him, saying goodbye to the parent as she did.
"Mr. Rodgers, it's nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out, and he gladly shook it, giving her his trademark smile, one that he usually used with the press.
"Miss Robertson. You got my message about Tony?"
"Yes." She smiled, looking back in the classroom. Tony was already sitting with a few other children, taking part in building a tower. "We usually don't allow children under six, especially one his size, but his tests were marvelous. I've never seen a child under the age of eight test at the fifth grade level." She looked proud, and he was glad she didn't find it freaky.
"I know. He's extremely smart, and wants to do everything, but he's simply too little to actually do what he wants."
"I understand. We have a clinic here if he gets too out of breath, and he will be attending some advanced classes-"
"With older children?"
"No, it will be one on one. If he was older, we'd usually stick him in the older classes for subjects, but I fear his classmates would reject him if we did so."
Steve nodded. "And he'll be able to stay in the kindergarten class?"
"Yes." She smiled. "All of these children are the kids of Shield agents. We've had the Barton's kids, agent's ten through twenty' children- we want to make sure that these kids have a mostly normal learning experience. You're the second Avenger to have children here, Mr. Rodgers, and I don't think you'll be the last."
He smiled at her, and turned to look in the door. He managed to catch Tony looking around, and gave a goodbye wave, and was thankful that he got a enthusiastic one back. Miss Robertson patted him on the shoulder, and smiled. "The first goodbye is always the hardest. Now, I have to go wrangle some children. It was nice meeting you."
He watched as she skipped back into the classroom, clapping her hands to get attention. Just as the door finished closing, he managed to get one last look at Tony, and smiled proudly at the fact he stopped playing, and looked to the teacher. He shuffled past all the Shield Parents, some of whom were still crying.
He got into his car, and began to blast the radio. He let a few tears fall, and laughed sadly. He couldn't help it: he was watching his son grow up, and couldn't do anything about it.
----
"Let me guess; he didn't cry when you dropped him off." Clint asked, small smirk on his face. Steve groaned from his position on the couch, surrounded by photo albums and home videos playing on loop. "I'm going to take that as a yes."
Steve sat up, rubbing his face as a few books went tumbling to the ground. "He asked if he could go. Then he went straight in. All of the other children were crying their eyes out, and he's still a year behind in emotional development." He sighed. Clint sat down next to him, patting him on the shoulder.
"Hey, him not crying means he knew he was ready. He knew you weren't leaving him for good, just leaving him for the day." Clint told him. "You know what else?" He nudged Steve with his shoulder. Steve smiled back at him.
"What?" He jokingly raised an eyebrow.
"My kids cried forever on their first day of kindergarten. Wouldn't stop giving me hugs and kisses." Clint managed to hop up and dash out of the room before Steve could process the other man's teasing. "Catch me if you can, old man!" Laughing, Steve shook his head, and began to chase after him.
--
Around lunch time, they all got a call to assemble. It was easy, just some asgaurdain monster that could create its own portals. They finished within the hour, with no injuries or deaths from any civilians. The monster had been more confused and scared than intent on hurting anyone.
They had ended up doing their debrief at the main Shield building in DC, where the school was held. The meeting was the shortest one yet, since the battle itself had been short. Arriving at the facility had been fun; they had seen all of the older kids peek out and wave from their respective classrooms, Clint's kids included.
"The school is letting out early, if any Agent is set to leave in the next hour you may pick up your child now." The voice of Maria Hill came over the intercom, Clint and Steve smiled at each other from across the table. The usual plan was that Clint's oldest would pick up his sister, and then had permission to pick up Tony, so they could wait together in the Avengers meeting room.
At least Tony's first day of school went well. The little boy came running out of the classroom, right into Steve's arms.
"Daddy, I saw you! You fought an ice monster!" He giggled and cheered, patting Steve's still-cold cheeks. Steve smiled back, hugging the little boy to his chest.
"I did. Did you have a good first day?" He asked, setting Tony down and grabbing his hand, adjusting and zipping up the backpack, sliding it on to his shoulder. The little boy nodded enthusiastically at him, curls bouncing as he did.
"Yeah! I made two new friends. Alli's daddy is a scientist here and James's mommy is a secret agent! Except it's not so secret when we're here."
"Why's that?"
"Because everyone was supposed to tell everyone what their name is and what their mommies or daddies did," he began, "and everyone was surprised when I said you were my daddy." He swung their hands as they walked, Shield agents stopping in their doorways to stare. "Alli said her mommy had a crush on uncle Bruce because he was so smart." Tony told him, leaning in, like it was a secret.
Steve laughed, and helped buckle Tony into the helicopter. The little boy kicked his feet, absentmindedly humming as he began to color on the tablet Natasha had set up for him. They usually wouldn't fly home-but they had no other way, and this was his helicopter. No way he'd leave it at Shield for the engineers to experiment on.
"Daddy?" Tony asked, looking around the arm rests to the front, searching for Steve.
"Yes, baby?" Steve turned his head over his shoulder, still facing the front.
"Who was Tony Stark?"
Steve thanked God in that moment that he wasn't driving. The AI took over immediately, as Steve's heart raced and stopped at the same time. He turned, cooling his face into a calm expression.
"He was... He was of friend of mine. A very good friend." He choked out. Tony scrunched his face, thinking.
"Was he a avenger?" Tony asked, kicking his feet as he colored, obviously not recognizing his Father's discomfort.
"Yes. He was the best Avenger. He sadly... He couldn't stay. Daddy, Aunt Tasha and Wanda and all your uncles had to say goodbye to him a few years before you were born."
"So my name was his name?" He asked, blinking up. Steve nodded, then decided on the verbal answer.
"Yes, baby. I named you after him." Tony seemed satisfied with that answer, and went back to kicking his legs and coloring. Steve thought about asking why Tony was curious, but that was a road he never wanted to travel on. Blinking back a headache and tears, Steve let the AI control their descent, and sat next to his baby.
He hoped he'd have much more time, a lot more years to explain why. But for now, he cuddled his baby, watching as Tony stayed within the lines, perfect colors-even if a giraffe wasn't supposed to be green and purple. At least he wasn't growing up too fast.
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