"Dads!" A loud high pitched voice screamed at the other end of the hallway.
"Dads!" It sounded again but this time nearer.
Tony shared a look with his husband just a second before their seven year old son came running into the room.
"Dad's!" Peter exclaimed happily and ran towards them then jumped on the sofa to sit between them.
"Dads." He said again a little breathlessly and looked up at them with wide eyes.
"Yes sweetheart?" Tony and Stephen said in unison.
"I want to be a mermaid." He pleaded.
"Can we go swimming like mermaids?"
"Of course we can." Tony told his little son immediately who smiled wide.
"No!" Another voice from across the room cried suddenly.
"Harley." Stephen said gently.
"No! I will not go mermaid swimming with you!"
"Yes you will. We will have a lovely family day and you will have fun." Tony began.
"Last time it was your choice what we were doing on family day. Now it's Peter's turn." Stephen finished.
Peter cuddled against his parents sticking his tongue at Harley. His brother began to pout.
"I will not go!" He said again with crossed arms.
******
With just the exact same expressions Harley stood at the edge of the pool that Sunday, scowling at the silicon fish tails.
"I want the red one!" His little brother cried and ran forward.
"The one with the blue fin or the yellow fin?" The instructor asked
"Blue!" Little Peter demanded with outstretched hands. The instructor smiled at him and handed him the fish tail.
"And what about you?" The woman asked as she turned to Harley. Harley just deepened his scowl.
"Ooh. Take the red and silver one. You would look sooo pretty!" Peter exclaimed excitedly and waved his hands to the one he deemed perfect for his brother. During his wild gesturing his own tail fell down and he quickly grabbed it back up.
Without waiting for his approval Harley found himself with a handful of silicone.
"Papa, you take this!" Tony and Stephen watched as their son shuffled forward to the rest of the tails and grabbed a gold fin, belonging to an otherwise red tail, and waved the end in Tony's direction.
"Oh it's very beautiful. What a nice choice." Tony said and ruffled Peter's hair as he was handed the tail. "Now which do you think your daddy should take?" Tony asked and crouched down.
Peter's gaze drifted over the ones left, deep in thought.
Suddenly he perked up and brightened. "This one." He ran forward and stopped by a blue one but with red fins.
"I think that would fit him very well. Don't you honey?" Tony called over his shoulder to his husband.
"Yes, it will look wonderful." Stephen smiled but inwardly he cursed. He hadn't thought he would be part of this and could get away with just making pictures. At least he could keep his disdain hidden unlike his oldest.
When they were done with the instructions and exercises they were finally allowed to get into the water. Stephen and Tony helped their sons into their tails first. Peter was easily done and happily rolled around, admiring his tail.
Harley was another matter. Tony scolded him as Stephen managed to wriggle his legs into the colourful silicone. They decided to get them into the water and join them when they knew they had their fun and were safe.
Peter seemed disappointed to have to stay at the edge but he smiled as soon as he was able to try out the fish tail.
"Dads, look! I'm a mermaid." The little boy cried out as he wriggled to stay above the water.
"Yes, you are." Stephen answered with a smile and took a few pictures with his phone.
"Harley, don't you want to join your brother? Look how much fun he has." Stephen asked his oldest who sat with a pout on the first step to the pool.
"No." Harley answered dismissively.
"Harley." Tony warned but then sighed and looked at his husband. "Maybe he'd say yes if his father would take the first step."
"Probably." Stephen answered and tried to ignore the expectant look on Tony's face. "Do you want me to help you?"
"No, I can do that just fine. But I think you might want some help." Stephen knew he had lost and pouted but walked over to where his fish tail was waiting for him.
When he finished getting it on he shuffled into the water.
"Oh my boys, you look so great." Tony said and sat on the edge to press a kiss to Stephen's pouting lips.
Stephen saw his opportunity and quickly grabbed the other man by the waist to drag him into the water.
Tony was surprised but when they came up again he hooked his arms around Stephen's neck.
"My beautiful merman, saving me from the dangers of the sea." Stephen smirked and leaned in to kiss his husband.
"Gross." Harley cried out before they could do anything.
"I see you finally came in." His father said as they saw he was now sitting in the third step. He crossed his arms defensively.
"Come on. We know you love swimming."
"But not with a fish tail!" He exclaimed while swinging his legs.
"Maybe you should change too." Stephen said as he turned to the man still in his arms.
"Yeah, this will be so much fun!" Stephen had no idea why someone would be so excited to swim like a fish.
Stephen watched as Tony made his way to the steps and nudged their son lightly before stepping out of the water and into his own red fish tail.
"Dad!" He turned to see Peter trying to swing towards him. With outstretched arms he welcomed his youngest.
"Swim with me." Stephen chuckled at his son's demand and watched him swimming away. Stephen made to follow him but then remembered the tail. With an annoyed huff he used his arms to move forward.
His movements were sluggish but he was surprised by how much power was behind the fin.
He turned around abruptly when he heard a splash behind him. He only saw a disappearing golden fin and started to laugh at his son's stuttering expression.
"And here we see a Harley Stark in his natural habitat." Stephen started, bemused as he swam forward to coax his son further into the water instead of letting him crawl out.
"Harley!" The boy jumped when suddenly his little brother appeared at his side. Before he could wonder where he came from he saw his papa holding Peter up by the hips. Traitors, the lot of them.
He decided he wouldn't let them mock them anymore and with a smirk he splashed water at them and then dived down and escaped between the colourful tails. As he surfaced behind their backs he splashed some more water at them and swam away before they could get them.
He would forever deny it but swimming like a mermaid was actually kind of fun.
No, not mermaid. If anything he would be the king of the sea. Now that sounded a lot better. He would be the one saving mermaids from all the dangerous sea monsters.
As he was lost in thought and swan around in the pool he didn't notice his family coming nearer.
His father seemed to have adapted to swimming with a fishtail just like he had while he noticed his dad and peter were a bit slower with following them.
As Tony tried to reach for him he easily slipped out of his grip. Maybe, just maybe, he laughed.
"I will get you!" Tony screamed and followed him.
On the other side of the pool Peter was swimming circles around Stephen as he tried to dive under his arms.
"Can we play something?" He asked with wide eyes but before Stephen could ask what he wanted to play Harley cried all over the pool.
"I AM THE KING OF THE SEA! YOU WON'T GET ME, SEA MONSTER!"
When his youngest just dashed away he felt he wouldn't need to ask anymore and just watched as his sons attacked the sea monster.
Mentally he asked himself if he should help his sons or his husband. He swam over and shared a glance with Tony and decided everyone would fight for themselves.
As he watched his family splashing about he had a feeling this would be a more than one time occurrence in their lives from now on. He found he didn't particularly care. They had fun, even Harley.
And anyway it wasn't like Tony had already ordered customized fish tails, right?