Father's Day
“So what’s the plan for Sunday?” Peter asked Pepper as she was making breakfast. Tony, for some strange reason, was still asleep and Peter had woken up before him. He figured it was a great time to ask Pepper about Father’s Day without him finding out about anything.
“I’ve invited everyone, including Clint and his family and Scott and Cassie are flying in from California. We’ll get the whole team together and have a big meal. It should be good, it’ll be the first time Tony’s seen Clint or Scott since the whole Civil War thing. I figured Father’s Day was a good time for them to get past everything.” Pepper quickly explained in a hushed voice.
Peter nodded. “Okay, great. I’m gonna go to the store after school and grab a card for him. Are we doing breakfast?”
“Do you wanna make him breakfast?” Pepper asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure you can handle that without burning my kitchen down?”
Peter rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll just make waffles or something.”
“Okay, great. I’ll be at the airport picking everyone up in the morning so I won’t be there. If my kitchen is gone when I get back, I will be very disappointed.” Pepper slid his plate over to him and Peter dug into the food.
“I promise it’ll be here.”
Just like he said, he stopped at the convenience store around the corner from school that afternoon. He told Happy he’d get home on his own, and he was allowed to now since his grounding was over.
All of them were super cheesy and Peter wanted something a little more subtle. If your dad wasn’t a fat bald man that farted and was into golf and beer, then shopping for a Father’s Day card was a near impossibility. Especially for a fairly lean and muscular guy with a full head of hair, an obsession with engineering and an alcohol problem. Tony technically did have an alcohol problem, but it wasn’t something Peter wanted to advertise. He finally settled on a Harry Potter themed one that had a drawing of Voldemort that said ‘Oldermort’ and despite the spelling error, Peter figured it was the best of a bad bunch. He’d already sorted the present out and was planning on giving it to Tony after everyone left on Sunday night.
Peter got everything ready on Saturday night and managed to get a full night’s sleep without nightmares (woo!) before waking up extra early on Sunday morning to make Tony toaster waffles with syrup and a mug of freshly brewed coffee. He put the plate and mug on a tray and stuck the card in his back waistband for the time being, sneaking Tony’s other present in his back pocket.
He knocked on the door to Tony’s bedroom and nudged it open with his thumb. Tony was sat up in bed, messing with his StarkPad. He stopped and looked up when Peter walked in, a smile stretching across his face.
“Hey, buddy, what’s all this?” He put the StarkPad down and sat up further.
“I just thought I’d make you breakfast and I promised Pepper I wouldn’t burn the kitchen down so I—I’m sorry, it’s just toaster waffles.” Peter was already apologising as he put the tray down over Tony’s legs.
“Hey, I love toaster waffles, but what did I say about being in the kitchen unsupervised?” He raised an eyebrow and Peter spluttered in defence.
“I am almost fifteen years old. I can put waffles in a toaster without burning down the kitchen.” He insisted and Tony just deadpanned at him for a few moments. “Okay, fine, I remember the incident. I won’t do it again.”
“My birthday was a month ago, buddy. What’s the occasion?” Peter climbed on the bed next to Tony and took the card out from his waistband, handing it to him.
Peter shrugged. “Just thought I’d do something nice for you.”
Tony took the card and turned it over in his hands. He gave Peter a knowing look and he could already see his eyes going a little glassy. Peter gave him a small smile and a little nod and Tony started to rip open the envelope. He chuckled a little at the cover of the card and then opened it up, reading aloud what Peter had written.
“Dear Tony, I know today can be a hard day for you because of your relationship with your dad. And I know that really, you’re not my father. But you are at the same time. You took me in when I had nobody and you do all the things a dad does. You take care of me and you help me and you feed me and you’ve given me a home. So I figured that today we’d celebrate you. Happy Father’s Day,…” Tony’s voice caught in his throat, “…Dad. Lots of love, Peter.”
Tony looked to Peter with tears running down his cheeks. Peter gave him a hesitant smile. “I—Is this okay? I know we haven’t really talked about this before and I—”
Tony shoved the tray of waffles down the bed along with the card and turned to pull Peter into a bone-crushing hug. Peter relaxed into his arms, holding him just as tight.
“I love you, buddy. More than anything.” Tony mumbled against his ear and Peter got butterflies in his stomach. He felt so loved.
“I love you too, Tony.”
They pulled apart and Peter grabbed the small book he had in his back pocket. It was bound in worn dark leather and fastened with matching strips of leather. Rhodey had pulled him aside a little while ago having found it in a box of old things at his place and suggested he give it to Tony on some sort of special occasion. Peter had a present for Tony, but it was just a little thing. He figured this would be a nice addition.
“W-What’s this?” Tony’s hands automatically reached out and took it gently, his thumb running over the cover.
“Rhodey found it and told me to give it to you. He said it was your Nonna’s recipe book?”
Tony sniffed. “Yeah, I—we only visited Italy a few times when I was growing up as a family. Dad was always working so often it was just me and Mom. I loved my Nonna and she loved me and we used to cook together and she used to make homemade pasta from scratch. She was the best cook ever. Before she died, on our last trip over, she gave the book to my Mom and told her to keep adding to it.” He swallowed uncomfortably. “One Christmas I came home from college with Rhodey and my dad and I had an argument in the kitchen while Mom was cooking. It got… heated, and he grabbed the nearest thing and threw it at me.” He waved the book in his hand. “It was this. I guess I should be thankful it wasn’t a knife or a glass or something. He threw it at me and I walked out. Rhodey and I left and I spent Christmas at his family’s house from then on. I—I didn’t realise that—”
“That Rhodey picked it up and took it with him? He said that you were close to your Nonna and he knew that you wouldn’t take the book then, but that you might appreciate it now. He said maybe you could finally learn to cook and maybe you and I could make memories like you did with her.” Peter finished for him and Tony sniffed again, wiping at the wetness on his cheeks.
“Wow, I can’t believe he kept this all these years.” Tony marvelled, turning it over in his hands and fingering through the delist pages. The handwriting was exactly how Peter would have expected it, an indecipherable scrawl that somehow Tony could read normally. “I can’t wait to cook with you,” Tony said truthfully and Peter smiled. “Hopefully we won’t burn the kitchen down.”
“So Pepper’s at the airport right now picking up Clint and his family and Scott and his daughter,” Peter said once they’d both gotten dressed.
“C-Clint’s coming?” Peter felt Tony’s nervousness and quickly moved to try and reassure him.
“We thought that it would be a good time for the two of you to see each other again. Now that we’re okay with the rest of the team, and they all want everything to go back to normal. And today’s Father’s Day, he’s not gonna start arguing with you or anything today. And I’m pretty sure Scott’s just a Labrador in a human body so he’ll be fine.” Peter rattled off and Tony nodded slowly.
“W-When are they getting here?”
Peter glanced at the clock on the wall. “Uh, any minute now, actually. Come on, let’s go downstairs to the others and wait for them. You can show everyone the soppy card and I can tell everyone that you cried like a child.”
Tony let out a huff. “I did not cry like a child.”
“FRIDAY?”
I can confirm, Sir, that you did cry. A lot. I would compare it to a child’s level of crying, too.
“Traitor,” Tony muttered under his breath.
He took a deep breath in and counted to ten. Today would be fine. Seeing Clint for the first time since the Civil War was going to be fine. Today was a special day. The kid had put so much effort into it, and Tony wasn’t going to let it get ruined over something so petty.
He put his arm around Peter and tugged him into his side, smiling at him. “Okay, kiddo. Let’s go.”
Steve was cooking up a feast when they got to the Avengers’ floor, the smell of roast beef and potatoes filling the air. Peter immediately ran off to the kitchen to help and Tony greeted the rest of the team.
Peter grinned when he could hear Tony talking to them all about the card that he’d given him. The guy was a big teddy bear under all those layers of sarcasm and motor oil.
It wasn’t too long before the elevator doors dinged open and the remaining members of their party joined. Nat was the first one to greet Clint, quickly moving to hug all his kids and say hi to Laura. Tony sidled up to Peter, putting his arm around him again. Whether it was to reassure himself or Peter, he didn’t know. Everyone greeted Scott and Cassie, and Scott kept calling Steve Captain America over and over again, which was going to get very old very quickly.
“Hi, Tony.” Clint said with a small smile.
Tony nodded at him and the corner of his mouth curled up in a half-smile. “Hey, Barton.”
“Listen, Tony, I—about last year—”
“I don’t wanna hear another word about it, Clint. We’ve—we’ve moved on.” Tony said and Clint looked around the group, seeing everyone nod.
He let out a sigh in relief. “Oh thank god.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Tony in a tight hug. Peter ducked away so that Tony had to hug him back. They clapped each other on the back a few times before Tony smiled, really smiled. He took Clint’s face in his hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead—something he’d done to all the team plenty of times—before releasing him.
“It’s good to have you back, Katniss.”
Clint rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s good to be back.” He looked around the room again, his eyes finding Peter. “Did we get a new recruit or something? Branching out into child soldiers now are we?” He wore a confused face on his look and there were a few cringes from Tony, Bucky and Steve. It was a sensitive subject.
Thankfully, Nat was the one to put things straight. “No you birdbrain, this is Peter, Tony’s son.”
Clint’s eyes blew wide. “Wait, what? Tony, you have a son?”
Tony lifted his shoulders in a half shrug and scratched behind his ear with one of his hands. “I—I mean, uh…” he glanced at Peter and was reminded of the card he’d got this morning, “…yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Peter beamed.
“Well shit, kid. It’s great to meet you, I’m Clint.” He stuck his hand out and Peter took it, smiling at the man.
“N-Nice to meet you too, Mr Barton.”
Clint gasped. “He has manners? Okay, this child was not raised by Tony Stark.”
Everyone laughed, nobody bothering to correct Clint and tell him they weren’t biologically related, and Peter relaxed. Everything was going fine. It was great.
“Wow, you look so much like him it’s like seeing double.” Clint rubbed his eyes hard and laughed. “This is crazy, I thought I was the only one with a secret family.”
Peter tucked himself back into Tony’s side, under his arm, and Tony smiled. “What can I say? Strong genes, I guess. He got his dad’s good looks.”
A little while later, they were all sat around the extended dining table, eating together. Well, most people were eating. Vision just had a plate of food in front of him. People always forgot Vision didn’t eat. They were about half way through when Steve stood up to make a speech.
“As the first time that we’re all together since last year, I figured it was an appropriate time for a little speech toast thing.” Everyone set their cutlery down and grabbed their glasses. “First of all, can I just say how great it is to be back here with you all. I know that the past year or so has been tough on all of us, and I’m so happy that we’ve managed to work through it and be together again. Now I’d like to say a happy Father’s Day to all the dads of the team. Scott, Clint, and Tony—a father to Peter and to us all. Happy Father’s Day, guys.” Steve raised his glass and everyone followed suit. Peter glanced sideways at Tony to see the man sobbing.
The rest of the day followed suit. They finished dinner and spent hours just sat talking, regaling past Avengers missions and everyone teasing Tony over being a dad. Every so often Tony would spontaneously burst into tears and everyone would laugh to begin with and roll their eyes but then they’d turn all soft and start hugging him.
Peter had never seen anyone cry more than Tony had cried in the past 12 hours.
Peter had also never seen anyone be hugged more than Tony was hugged in the past 12 house, whether it was in greeting or in comfort in an attempt to stop the crying.
That night, when Tony, Pepper and Peter had escaped from everyone and gone back up to the penthouse, Peter gave Tony his present.
It was just something small, but Peter had been really touched by the collection of photos that Tony had put together for him, and it had given him an idea.
Pepper was quite the photographer, and had pulled out her camera at every possible moment on their vacation in Malibu. Peter had flicked through the ones that she’d sent him and chosen one of the three of them on their private section of the beach. Pepper had a large sunhat on and a bathing suit, Tony had a black tank on as usual—he never went in the sea—Peter had his swim shorts on and a towel wrapped around his shoulders, his hair flopping to one side and sand all over his face. All three of them were grinning at the camera as Peter had held it up. It was a great photo, and Peter had printed it out. He’d made a thick frame out of oak and stained it at school in his Shop class.
“Pete, I—” Tony said as he unwrapped it. “I love it.” He ran his thumb over the glass, smiling fondly at it. “Thank you so much.”
“I know it’s not much but I couldn’t think of anything else. You literally have everything,” Peter chuckled and Tony let out a laugh and sniffed.
“I love it. I’m gonna put it on my nightstand, thanks kiddo.” Tony pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “How did I get so lucky?”
Peter laughed. “A lot of people died and you were the last one left.”
Tony stared at him bewildered for a minute, shock written on his face until it crumpled and he barked out a laugh.
“Okay, I know that was bad, but shit, it was funny.”
Peter grinned.
“No more dark humour from you, okay? I can only take so much without worrying about your mental health. Dark humour’s my thing. I’m dark and gloomy, you’re bright and happy, got it?”
Peter laughed in response. “Got it.”
“Tony has a kid,” Clint said, shaking his head. Once Tony, Peter and Pepper went back upstairs, the others came together in the living area to chat and catch up. Clint put his kids to bed and then came back out with Laura, sitting next to Nat on the couch.
“I know, we all freaked out too when we found out.” Nat said, eating some leftover dessert.
“When did you find out? Like did he call you and tell you or was there like a formal introduction thing?”
Sam cleared his throat. “Me Steve and Nat came here for a meeting with Tony and when he left for the bathroom, Peter came home from school and saw us sat in the penthouse. It was uh—it was pretty awkward to say the least. And a little tense.”
“Wow, I just can’t believe it. I mean, with a career like his, how the hell has he managed to raise a kid that’s so… innocent. Like, he’s a great kid. How has he not followed in Tony’s footsteps? I thought for sure I’d be faced with a teen superhero.” Clint offloaded and a couple of the team cringed.
“Well, actually—” Wanda began.
“Actually, the kid is a lot like Tony.” Nat interrupted, not wanting to spill Peter’s secret without talking to him first. He was okay with the team knowing, but with Clint being semi-retired and having only met Peter for the first time that day, she didn’t want to assume he’d be okay with it. She had a feeling he’d be a lot more judgemental than everyone else had been, given that he was a father himself. “He’s so smart, he’s going to overtake Tony so fast. His team just won the Academic Decathlon, we all went to watch the Nationals.”
Clint seemed impressed, but could tell that there was something the group was hiding from him.
“What’s going on? What aren’t you telling me?” He asked suspiciously and Bucky shifted in his seat, averting his eyes. He felt like he had to stand up for Peter a little more than the others, especially since he’d been so judgemental when he first found out Peter was Spider-Man. Having been given time to think it through and to talk to Peter himself, Bucky felt a little guilty for how he had acted, and he had a feeling that Clint was a guy that would jump straight to conclusions before getting the full story.
“Nothing,” Steve said, smiling awkwardly.
“You think you and Tony might have a catch up?” Laura asked, taking the pressure off everyone to come up with an answer, at least for a few minutes.
Clint shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe? I—I don’t know what he’s thinking, whether he wants us to have a talk or whatever. If he does, I’m game. But I don’t wanna stress him out, y’know?”
Nat took in a deep breath. “There’s probably some things you should go over and discuss, but let’s leave it a few days, okay?
Clint nodded. “Yeah, that’s all good.”
Clint and Tony did have a discussion. Peter joined them for that little talk, and as soon as Clint’s face dropped and he opened his mouth to yell at Tony, he stepped in.
“No, you don’t get to yell at him for this. This is my life, and yeah, I might live here under his roof, but I’m a person with a conscious and I became Spider-Man off my own back. I spent my entire childhood looking up to you guys, knowing that you were good people and that you did the right thing. So I wanted to do the same. I’m not a child. I understand what danger is. But everything that I do, I do because it’s my choice, and you don’t get to let your frustration out on Tony for that.” He stood straight and firm, confident even in the presence of another Avenger that he’d literally just met.
“I—I don’t know what to say, I—” Clint shook his head. “You’re just a kid, Peter.”
“And yet the rest of the team got their heads around it pretty damn quickly and they don’t treat me like a child. I’ve gone through a lot in my life and I’ve had to mature fast. I’m not some juvenile idiot that’s going around the city swinging on webs because it’s fun. I do it to help people. And if you can’t get your head around that then it’s not my problem anymore, and it certainly isn’t Tony’s.”
Tony placed his hand on Peter’s shoulder, making him to look back over his shoulder. “It’s okay, kid.” Tony nodded and gave him a small smile.
“It’s just hard for me, Peter. I have kids that are only a couple years younger than you. And knowing that you’ve been Spider-Man for a while already, just—it’s hard, that’s all.” Clint said, shaking his head. “But I respect that your choices are your own, and I don’t want to cause any conflict between us all. I accept that you’re doing something like this, but all I ask is don’t expect me to approve of it.” He finished and Peter nodded, thinking he could accept the compromise. He didn’t need Clint to approve, he just needed him to not go after Tony about it. He didn’t want another Civil War and to lose all the progress they’d made with the team so far.
He stepped forward and shook Clint’s hand. The archer nodded at him and then they joined the other again.
It was a tense atmosphere as everyone waited to see what the outcome of their discussion had been.
Tony was the one to break it.
He clapped his hands and cracked out a smile. “We’re all good, people. Go back to your newspapers and your video games, there shall be no more wars or death threats between the people in this room. At least not today.”
Steve rolled his eyes and Peter saw the relief in Bucky’s.
That was it, everyone knew. And everything was going to be okay.