Dawn of New Change

PREVIOUSLY ON: Dawn of New Change

We get to see the dynamic between the original Stark Industry workers and then the new S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that have joined his team. This is where a Stark intern by the name of Moon Taeil is introduced to a starter S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Kim Jungwoo. Both men are here to help Taeyong on his new mission to gently help Steve Rogers navigate the modern world.

So far, we have discovered that there was a banana pandemic in 1965, something not many people care about. But Steve? Oh yeah, he definitely does.

Taeyong's life in the Avengers Tower was a whirlwind of  trying to navigate his life as a teen and then the son of Tony Stark. Something that the younger boy thought he had a full grasp on. He'd been the son of Tony Stark since birth but only truly got to live with him at the age of eight. 

Now Taeyong sits at the communal kitchen area, the lights at a low 20% dubbed by Jarvis' natural knowledge of how Taeyong would like the day to go.

For starters, it should be noted that on this particular day, Taeyong is turning sixteen. Well, he's already sixteen and it was fine. Being sixteen years-old felt cool he would guess, all he could really think about was the pancakes that his dad had made for him, the little congratulations he was given from the other Avengers that lived in the Tower permanently (Natasha and Bruce). Which was the only festivities he was given before they were called in for a quick emergency meeting, another HYDRA base to destroy and then they'd go back to celebrating with Taeyong.

Except that had been a little longer than any of them would expect. Taeyong didn't mind so much, he had the interns at Stark, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that after two years, finally learnt their rightful place when working at the Tower. Which was actually not the Tower anymore. S.H.I.E.L.D. had definitely grown, with the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a very much alive Phil Coulson), taking the reins and building the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division from the ground up.

Then Mark and Johnny came from Queens to help bake Taeyong's birthday cake whilst filling him up with their lives. Which is probably a good time to explain everything that's been going on in Taeyong's little found family situation in the last two years. 

Mark and Johnny made their move to New York, they lived in a run down area of Queens. A series of block apartments not unlike their old home, but with a bigger shared community space. For the first time that Taeyong had known him, Mark had actual friends that weren't his older brother and Taeyong.

Mrs. Seo, much to Johnny's displeasure, had tried her best to reconcile with her ex-husband. Taeyong didn't even know the man, just that he had come back into her life when she made the move to New York and that he also worked in Queens. He was an electrician and may have been the entire reason for the move itself.

Taeyong didn't know where to sit on the scale between liking or disliking the man. Johnny, apparently, hated his biological father. He absolutely detested the man and didn't want anything to do with him, creating a strain in the family. It also meant that Johnny spent a lot of his time in the Tower, something that Tony got used to. Mark, having been so young and not really understanding the situation, didn't know how to feel.

There was also the fact that Mark was very polite and easily swayed. So when his mother came to him, earnest in her desire to be a whole family, he tried his best. That! Is also where the biggest bomb shell of Taeyong's life was casually thrown about.

"You're what?!" he screeched, looking between Johnny and Mark.

"Yeah," Johnny shrugged, entirely too casual whilst Taeyong was trying his best to understand grasp the information he was given. "He's my first cousin, dad's side," Johnny said, wrapping an arm around Mark's shoulder.

The younger boy pouted and shrugged off his brother's arm. "Don't worry Taeyong hyung," (also a new development, Mrs. Seo wanted her boys to delve further into their Korean heritage and got Mark to address both Taeyong and Johnny with 'hyung') Mark placed a hand over Taeyong's own. "I was exactly like this when mum told me."

"Bu-but," Taeyong shook his head, trying to gather his almost scattered thoughts. "This entire time? You guys- you both- what in the actual fu-"

"What's going on?" Tony asked, walking into the Laboratory (because of course delivering world-shattering news needed to be done in a space that Taeyong could easily set fire to).

"Did you know that Mark and Johnny are cousins, and not actual blood brothers?!"

Tony squinted his eyes, "right yeah... I vaguely remember reading that in their folders."

"Our what?!" the Seo brothers exclaimed.

Tony waved them off, "But does it mean anything in the grand scheme of things? They've been brothers for as long as we've known them."

"Yeah!" Johnny grinned, wrapping an arm around Taeyong and holding the kid into a chokehold. Tony just watched on, content in Taeyong knowledge of how to get out of the grip easily. "Besides, we're brothers, no?"

"Hmmm," Taeyong crossed his arms, still in Johnny's hold. "I guess so."

Taeyong sat in the kitchen space, his legs swinging back and forth on the barstool, Johnny was sitting on his right and Mark on his left. In front of them was the cake they had tried their very best to make. To be fair, the small knife they stabbed into it came out clean and although they've never decorated a cake before, as long as there was frosting on the cake, Taeyong didn't mind.

There were not sixteen candles on the cake, just three because Taeyong didn't think to go and buy some beforehand. He'd have to fix that problem when he turned seventeen, but in the meantime...

"Happy birthday to you~" sang both Mark and Johnny. Taeyong blushed, pressing his cold fingers against his flushed cheek, at the same time, trying to bat away at his two friends. Jarvis put the happy birthday music on in the background so Taeyong assumed that was the AI's contribution to the whole thing.

"Guys," he whined, when Johnny leant against him and Mark clapped along.

"Happy birthday to our dear Taeyong-ie!" Johnny made smoothing noises whilst Mark giggled away.

"Happy birthday TO YOU!" they screamed. Taeyong rolled his eyes, but with a smile blew out his candles. He let the both of them cheer and clap and whoop and do whatever embarrassing things your friends were supposed to do when you had your birthday. Taeyong cut into the cake and set the plates up for three when the sound of a repulsor started to buzz in the background.

"Dad!" Taeyong grinned, jumping from his barstool and skidding his way to the balcony of the tower. He opened the larger doors and waved at his dad who sent him a quick salute before landing to get his armour stripped from him. Taeyong already had a hold of his dad's arm, dragging the man into the kitchen where Jarvis had upped the lights percentage to a good seventy. It was brighter and Taeyong gushed, showing his dad all the decorations that he, Johnny and Mark made.

"See?" he said, looking over at the elevator that dinged. In walked the Avengers, looking tired and beat down, but grinning when they saw Taeyong. "Guys! How was the mission?" he asked, grabbing his plate of cake and thrusting it into his dad's hands. "We made cake! Tell me how it is, because we had to use brown sugar instead of caster so I don't know if that changed the recipe by a lot."

"I-err think itrr did gooood," Mark said, from his mouthful of cake. The boy's eyes were practically starry and glossy from watching Thor. Bless the lad, he was enamoured.

"Ah, we are feasting! And what a grandiose set up," Thor commented, lifting Taeyong onto his shoulders. "It is not everyday that one turns sixteen! How is it?"

"Good so far," Taeyong commented, hands coming up to brush the lighting. He pulled back and grimaced, "dad we need to dust up here."

"Usually people don't know about the dirt on the ceilings," Tony said, motioning for Thor to hand his son over. Taeyong hopped down and let his dad stable him properly. Taeyong shook his head, feeling slightly light headed.

"Whoa... I am definitely made for my height."

"I don't know," Tony said, patting Taeyong's hair. "Could do with growing taller than your old man, huh kiddo?"

"Really?" Taeyong arched his brow, already going back to his cake and cutting slices for everyone. He gave Natasha a wave and handed her the plate. Her eyes were closed as she gave a grateful smile in the younger boy's direction. "That bad huh?"

"I thought we had a no-mission-talk in front of the kids?" Bruce asked, giving Mark a small smile when the younger squeaked in his direction. "Hello."

"Hi," Mark blushed. "I'm Mark."

Johnny snorted, "Mark's read your book, Doctor Banner."

"You have?" Bruce said, "they're usually university level type readings. Did you understand it?"

Mark nodded, "I got Taeyong to help me understand some stuff."

Taeyong also nodded, "and I got dad to help me understand the other stuff. With that said- I can understand university work so I can totally-"

"Nope," Tony teased, ruffling the boys' hair. "You are studying for your age. Live a little," he said.

Steve looked up from his own cake slice. "Didn't you go to college at sixteen?"

Tony made a 'zip-it' motion but Taeyong was all ready for that question. "Exactly! I wanna go, I've learnt everything I need to."

"Except Spanish," Natasha hummed, wincing when Clint went over to stretch her shoulder backwards.

Taeyong blushed, "S'not my fault the school teaches weird Spanish. Baba," he frowned, turning to Tony.

"You're not cute anymore Taeyong," Tony smirked. "Comes when you turn sixteen. The puppy-eyes don't work anymore."

"Baba," Taeyong flopped forward, knocking his head against his dad's chest. He exhaled and let Tony carry his deadweight. "I've been looking at universities and Bruce said-"

"Bruce?"

Bruce at least had a sheepish look when he left the table to grab their pizza orders from the elevator. "I did tell him to wait two more years!"

"And yet, that just enables him more," Tony grunted, unused to his son's floppy nature. Johnny rubbed his hands together, grabbing Taeyong by his hips and lifting him back to sit on the barstools. "What schools then, let's hear it at least?"

"MIT," Taeyong said immediately. "But I've been looking at Imperial College-"

"London?!" Tony exclaimed, much to the amusement of all the Avengers. "You wanna leave me?"

Taeyong snorted, "like you wouldn't just buy a house there and follow me. But Bruce said he loved it in London when he got his PhD there."

"My third one I think?" Bruce squinted, letting Steve help him set up the food on the kitchen table. Taeyong nodded, already thinking it was so cool that Bruce had like seven PhD's under his belt. Tony just thought that was why the man had temperament issues.

"And dad, I'm privileged," Taeyong responded. "Some people can't afford to go to these schools."

Johnny gave a snort but nodded seriously. "Billionaire." 

"Billionaire," Taeyong repeated.

Mark perked up, "is quadtrillion a number? That sounds cooler." 

"Quadrillionaire," Taeyong amended.

Tony rested a hand over Taeyong's shoulder, acting a little more serious but trying to remain light-hearted. "I'm not saying you're not, and I love how self aware you are... slightly scared of it- don't go full supervillain on us yeah?" Taeyong snorted. "But just two more years okay? Two more, you think you can handle it?"

Taeyong, slightly let down, gave a nod. "Two more years!" He tried to add some enthusiasm but from the looks that Johnny and Mark were shooting him, he couldn't fake it to everyone apparently.

***

That night, Taeyong went to his own bedroom. Johnny and Mark shared what was essentially becoming Johnny's new room. Just next door to Taeyong's because he really was spending more and more of his time at the Tower than at home. Tony didn't seem to mind all that much, as long as Johnny was somewhere safe and not out doing weird stuff, everyone was as fine with the arrangement as they could be.

Taeyong was still awake though. He kept tossing and turning in his bed until he eventually left the room and turned his lights back on. Tony was already asleep, or maybe he snuck out to the Labs. Bruce was definitely asleep, the only one who tried keeping to a schedule when a mission was finished. Natasha was in her own room, recovering from any internal injuries and the other Avengers were in their own homes.

Although they had their own rooms in the Tower for whenever they couldn't leave. Either that being an actual emergency or it took too much effort to get back to their own homes, the other Avengers mostly went about their lives. Steve's place in Brooklyn was becoming a bit more homely. Taeyong helped with the decoration last year during a bingeing phase of watching interior design programs on TV. Clint's apartment was a monstrosity of messy, young-adult living. He had clothes strewn all over the place and once, when he really needed TV help, Taeyong had come into his living room to find cable wires all over the place.

Clint got a free Stark television that day and Taeyong decided from then that electricians needed to get paid way more than what they were currently earning.

Taeyong didn't know a whole lot about Thor's whereabouts when he wasn't at the Tower. He talked about Doctor Foster a lot and Taeyong suspected that they might have got a place together for themselves at some point but he never really asked. Talking to Thor was cool though, the younger boy mused. Thor was old and ancient, he had decades of knowledge and centuries worth of stories that kept Taeyong entertained in even the lowest of days.

That was a new development too.

Low days were not nice and Taeyong didn't know what to do about them. He had seen his dad get the same and wondered if this was just a development of growing up. Too scared to risk researching it with Jarvis in all his servers, Taeyong kept to himself. Reading as much as he could through third party means.

Taeyong stood before his floor length mirror. It was long and taller than him, covered in a fluffy blue bathrobe that he had never actually taken off. The only part of the mirror that could be seen was a thin strip from the top right that grew larger by the floor. Taeyong could only see his leg and part of his upper body.

There were low days and Taeyong had a feeling he knew exactly what was needed to get rid of them. Remember this, Taeyong Lee-Stark is a pragmatic boy. He uses logic and equations to figure things out. The only time his heart speaks before his brain is whenever his dad is involved. But this was not about Tony, or his family. This was simply Taeyong, and wasn't that an interesting thought.

Who was Taeyong Lee-Stark without the fancy titles and wicked gadgets? What was under his suit?

NEXT TIME ON: Dawn of New Change 

"Steve is arguably the youngest."

"Did you just-"

"What?!"

"Need i remind you of the 70 year long nap session-"

Steve scoffed, "I wouldn't describe it as a nap."