Steve meets the family
Tony texted Cooper to let him know they were coming.
Cooper texted back that he and the kids were at the house, no afternoon activities for kids at the center today in the lead up to the holiday.
Tony made note of this.
Steve alternated beteeen being nervous and excited in the passenger seat.
Really, the guy’s inner golden retriever didn’t seem to know what direction to go.
At least he was focusing on the world outside the car and not damaging the upholstery.
He sat up a little straighter a they entered the West Hollywood neighborhood.
A lot to look at there, great for people watching.
Tony glanced over and saw Steve reach for his notebook and pencil.
Who knew what he was about to add to the list…maybe Tony should take possession of the notebook and start having JARVIS assemble daily briefings for Steve on the different things he put on the list…maybe….he’d offer.
They rounded the corner onto Don and Cooper’s street and then past the gate and down the driveway to the colorful and quirky bungalow that had become Cooper’s first real home.
Cooper was sitting on the steps watching an Isaac and Brianna play on the pirate ship. He waved.
There was a pitcher of iced tea with glasses and a plate of cookies on the small table behind him.
A snack to share with company.
Tony grinned and waved back.
When the car was fully parked, Isaac and Brianna abandoned their game and ran over to greet Tony.
Tony accepted and returned the hugs. “Hey guys. I brought t-shirts for summer camp.”
He grinned at the wide excited eyes and confirmed the affirmatives when questioned.
Steve had left the car and reached into the back to pick up the box. Cooper stepped down into the yard and took it from him. “You’ll need arms free for the hugs.”
Steve startled, slightly.
Tony brought Brianna and Issac around to the other side to meet Steve.
And then Steve understood because he was being hugged, by two excited little kids who weren’t in awe of Captain America.
Who weren’t focused on the uniform or some action figure or some story from a book…
Who were just excited to meet Uncle Steve and to drag him inside to see their finished craft projects from the kits he had sent and asking if he wanted a cookie.
His throat felt a little closed up, but Tony helped him out.
“Of course uncle Steve wants a cookie. Can I have one too?”
And there was iced tea and cookies, rather simple cookies, the type that tasted more like home than Steve wanted to admit, without all the frosting and add ins that seemed to be necessities for modern cookies…not as sweet either…
Tony took mental notes. Steve would eat anything, metabolism of the great American hobbit, but that didn’t always mean he enjoyed it.
He’d get the recipe for the cookies off of cooper.
The avengers could make cookies.
Actually…in some ways he doubted that…but the avengers could try to make cookies…
And he employed chefs and bakers who could definitely make cookies, so…there could be cookies for Steve.
When the snack was finished, they went inside. Cooper carried the box, toed off his shoes and then set it down on one of the two coffee tables in the living room. The one next to the chaise in the reading corner.
Steve was given the chance to sit down on the bench and remove his shoes, while Isaac and Brianna balanced next to him and tried to toe off their in the way Cooper had done. Cooper stepped back over and helped with shoe removal as Steve wasn’t entirely certain which direction to move first and was not getting his own shoes removed due to concerns that one or the other kid was going to topple over.
Tony chuckled, removing his own shoes. Steve was going to have a pretty steep genius little kid learning curve.
But the guy looked happy for the first time Tony had witnessed…so…yeah….this was good.
Steve was shown craft projects and then dragooned into a snuggle on the chaise and to read a book to them.
Tony snapped a couple pictures of that.
Then there was the unboxing and decision of what order to wear the shirts in so he could send the list to the other avengers so they would also be wearing the right shirts in the right days.
Don, Charlie, and Ian arrived later, as evening was settling in and Tony and Steve were invited to stay for dinner, though Ian was glaring at Cooper, surreptitiously, and muttering to himself.
Steve could detect the sound well enough to interpret the muttering as:
“Have Captain America over for dinner and not warn a body so proper baking supplies could be brought to make a proper dessert and so I am stuck with whatever you have on hand Cooper and sometimes you do a good job with that and other times you run out of flour and don’t notice for a week. Why do you do this to me? How do you do this?”
Steve hid a laugh behind his hand. Tony leaned close to Steve. “He was equally upset about what dessert he had planned when I dropped in for Chanukah dinner. His grandfather was a famous baker, anything he comes up with will be amazing.”
Steve grinned.
There was dinner.
A variety of vegetables and meats cooked in the grill and Ian had managed to find all the ingredients for chocolate cake with minimal glaring, but plenty of muttering.
Tony made certain that everyone was clear on the itinerary for the first week of summer camp and had photographs of the stacks of shirts in the preferred order.
Tony also made certain the invitation to Steve’s birthday party, only two days away, was also fully RSVP’d in front of Steve so he knew the family was joining them for the wizard of oz. Brianna telling uncle Steve and aunt Camille made sure she had a costume and that papa Cooper had a costume and Isaac did too, but papa Don and uncle Charlie and uncle Ian didn’t.
Charlie grimaced and Isaac looked concerned. “Not everyone needs to wear a costume for the wizard of oz…but we’ll look and see if we have something.”
Isaac and Brianna accepted this.
They stayed until bedtime was fast approaching. Ian and Charlie scooping up Isaac and saying good byes.
Tony collected steve and they headed back to the house in Malibu. “Have a good time, cap?”
Steve nodded, grinning. “Yes….it was great meeting everyone in person after all the letters and post cards.”
“Good. I’m glad. Everyone will have a meet and greet, all together for dinner on the 3rd, then everyone will also be at your birthday…birdbrain will probably be dropping in on them for breakfast tomorrow so he has a solo meet, but he is the only one that hasn’t met them before.”
Steve considered this. “They already knew Natasha?”
“Oh yeah, she came out and was caught trying to be sneaky and observant. The security system is top notch, Ian put it together himself, and she could circumvent that…but not the house full of elderly gays and lesbians. They clocked her pretty quick and alerted Cooper. So she was invited in for a tea party.”
Steve chuckled. “I doubt she was too unhappy about the outcome.”
“Nope, I have it on good authority, she loved it.”
“And they already know the hulk…”
“They know the hulk better than Bruce. But hopefully the hulk will only hang out during outdoor activities and not during inside science.”
Steve considered this and a niggling thought that kept rolling around his brain all evening. “Do they not know I’m captain America?”
Tony shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not, but the part that matters to them is that you’re uncle Steve. Besides, cap, Isaac’s favorite superhero for his entire lifetime has been his uncle Don and Brianna is my goddaughter so you know she likes Ironman best. You’re out of luck on this one.”
“I’m good with that.”