Chapter 6
It was a beautiful day to have a picnic in the park - at Steve’s suggestion. Harley was even starting to warm up to Steve, holding the Alpha’s hand as well as Tony’s as they walked to the park. Steve was carrying the basket, but his full attention was on the pup who was telling Steve about his new favorite dinosaur.
“And! And, it’s skull is one third of its entire body!!”
“Wow, that’s so cool Harley,” the Alpha said with a bright smile. Tony watched the two and fell just a little bit more in love with the blonde.
“Harley, you wanna pick the spot for our picnic?” Tony asked his pup, chuckling when the boy took off running and danced at a spot under a tree.
“Here Daddy! Put the blanket down here!”
“Oh good, because I actually forgot sunscreen,” Steve said, the Alpha sighing adorably as he started pulling a blanket out. Tony chuckled and helped him lay out the blanket before reaching in the basket for the ball Harley wanted to kick around. He tossed it to the pup who chuckled and caught it with his hands.
Tony moved away from the food, anticipating his son’s next move as the pup dropped the ball and kicked it at him. It came at him faster than usual, so Tony ducked at the last minute and let the ball fly.
“I’ll get it David Beckham, you stay here and help Steve get the food out,” Tony said with a laugh before taking off after the ball. Well, walking after it. He was barely starting to show and since they still hadn’t told their families, they really didn’t want the public to find out first.
So he walked after the ball in one of Steve’s comfy hoodies, enjoying how the sun felt against his face. He should’ve known his good day wouldn’t last, as a purposeful cough caught his attention just as he reached the ball.
Tony looked up, immediately freezing when he saw who the cough belonged to.
A man he thought he’d never see again.
Tiberius.
“Tony, darling, you’re looking lovely as always! How have you been?” The Alpha practically purred out, looking the same except now sporting a full beard.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Ty?” Tony growled out, resisting the urge to hold his belly protectively.
“Oh come on, love. You’re really not happy to see me? It’s been years!”
“Six and a half, Ty. Now I’ll ask you again, what the fuck are you doing here?” Tony asked with his arms crossed over his chest. Instead of answering, Ty looked behind the Omega and spotted the pup.
“Is that our son?” the blonde asked with a smile. “He looks just like me.”
“Just your hair and eye color…” Tony said angrily, looking over at his son who was thankfully distracted by Steve. “And you signed away your rights, remember? He’s my son. Now why are you here?”
“My father’s ill, Tony. I’m here to see him and take over Stone Inc. And I thought...since we’re in the same city...I’d meet my son. What’s his name?” Tony stared at him hard, disbelief in the sheer audacity of this fucking Alpha.
“His name is none of your goddamn business cause he is not your son. I’m bonded, Ty. I have a new Alpha and soon he’ll adopt my son .” The mention of Steve finally got the smile off Ty’s face, whose scent changed as well.
“I have a right to meet him, Tony. Here, take my card. When you grow up and realize that pup deserves to meet his Alpha parent, call me,” Ty said as he handed Tony a card before finally walking away. The Omega took a second to collect himself, putting the card in his pocket before turning back to head towards his boys.
Who were both now looking at him, reminding Tony he’d came all the way over here for the ball. Shaking his head, he went back and grabbed it before continuing his walk back. As he got closer he could see the concern on their faces.
“Daddy? Who was that man?” Harley, the innocent six year old asked, breaking Tony’s heart. Tony looked over at Steve, who was frowning as if he were putting the pieces together, before remembering he always tried to be honest with his son.
“Harley, baby...that was your birth father,” Tony answered after a moment, holding his breath as he watched his son’s face scrunch up in confusion.
“That...that was my father?” Harley asked, face changing to excitement and secretly breaking Tony’s heart. He looked over to Steve to gauge his reaction, but the Alpha was just staring distantly in the direction that Ty had walked off. “I thought he lived on the other side of the world? What did he want Daddy? Didn’t he want to meet me?”
“He...he apparently has moved back to take over his father’s company. And yes, Harley, he does want to meet you,” Tony said, eyes still on Steve who deflated from the statement.
“But Daddy! Why didn’t he come over here? When can I meet him? Can we go catch him?”
“I’ll need to think about it, baby. Steve and I will need to talk about it.”
“But, Steve would let me meet my father. Right Steve?” Harley asked, turning to the Alpha who looked absolutely heartbroken but put on a smile regardless.
“Yeah...yeah of course. I think your Daddy means we have to talk about when’s a good time you can meet him. Okay, bud?” Steve offered, hurt evident in his voice.
“I hope he likes dinosaurs!” Harley exclaimed excitedly, oblivious of the two adult’s anguish as the pup ate some fruit. They ate lunch in silence while the pup occasionally asked curious questions regarding his birth father.
Tony answered them as politely as he could, looking at his Alpha who was cringing throughout the conversation. The Omega himself was still experiencing a bit of emotional whiplash, but tried to push his feelings aside to help his mate feel better.
He pushed reassurance through the bond as well as love, finally smiling when Steve smiled back at him. Tony felt fuzzy inside when he felt loved being pushed back through their bond.
They could get through this.
After several conversations with Steve and a few negotiations with his ex, they finally decided to meet up at a mall. Tiberius had begged Tony to let him take the pup shopping, so Tony scheduled for him and Steve to get massages for an hour before the four met up at the food court again.
The Omega had kind of secretly been hoping his Alpha would be too big headed to let Ty back into their lives, but then he wouldn’t have been the Alpha he fell head over heels for.
Instead, to Tony’s disappointment, they headed to the mall the following Saturday.
For all of Harley’s talk throughout the week about how excited he was to meet his father, the pup was quiet as they parked the car.
“You still wanna do this bambino?” Tony asked, secretly wishing for a different answer. But his stubborn pup nodded before grabbing his Daddy’s hand and leading the three inside the mall.
The Omega’s nerves were starting to settle in as they approached the food court. Ty had apparently beaten them there, sipping on a coffee and looking down at his phone. The Alpha looked up as they approached and offered a toothy smile.
“Hello! You must be the famous Harley I’ve heard about. Do you know who I am, pup? I’m your Daddy.”
“Um, I have a Daddy. And he says you’re my father.” Tony couldn’t help frowning at the scoff that came out of his ex.
“Oh Tony, leave it to you to not follow tradition. That’s right, pup. I’m your father,” Ty said as he turned back to the boy, leaving Tony to reach over to squeeze Steve’s hand as he noticed the Alpha’s scent change to one of offended.
“I’m Steve, by the way,” his handsome Alpha offered, extending his hand in greeting. But Ty being the asshole he was, ignored Steve altogether and focused on Tony’s son.
“So, Harley, wanna go on a shopping trip with me? I heard you like...dinosaurs?”
“I do! I love dinosaurs!” the pup cried in excitement, turning to Tony as if needing his final permission. So, being the bigger man, Tony offered his pup a smile and a nod.
“Go have fun, we’ll meet back here in an hour,” Tony said encouragingly, releasing his pup’s grip with all the strength he could muster. “An hour, Ty,” he said with a small snarl towards the blonde Alpha, knowing he never arrived on time to a thing in his privileged life. He couldn’t help but actually snarl a little when his ex just scoffed at that.
“Come on, Harls. Let’s go to the toy store,” Ty said with a smug grin, one hand outstretched towards the pup who immediately accepted the invitation.
“Nothing dangerous!” the Omega called after the two, hating that neither even looked back to respond.
“Come on, love. Let’s go get massages,” Steve said, wrapping his hand around the Omega’s waist and placing a kiss against his temple. But Tony wasn’t satisfied with that after seeing his baby walk away, so he turned to his Alpha and pulled him into a heated kiss.
One that almost inspired him to skip out on the massage in favor of having some afternoon delight with his mate. But alas, the two had to enjoy relaxing massages for an hour until he could see his pup again.
And of course, because his ex was a piece of shit, he had to wait an hour and seventeen minutes before seeing him again.
“Daddy guess what? Father bought me this cool robot dinosaur and he said we could assemble it together! Isn’t that awesome?” Tony took a moment to hug his son before turning to his ex.
“Father?” Tony asked Ty, hearing his son show Steve his other bags of toys while the blonde Alpha shrugged smugly.
“It’s what I am, isn’t it? And plus, you already took Daddy.”
“I took Daddy because I was both his Mother and Father you piece of shit,” Tony hissed at the Alpha, but still quiet enough so that his preoccupied son couldn’t hear.
“Hey we should get going if we’re going to host game night tonight,” Steve said a little louder than necessary, offering the Omega a pointed look. They had plans later with Bucky, Clint, Sam and Natasha - for the exact purpose of getting their opinion on Ty and offering emotional support.
“When can I see Father again, Daddy? We need to build the dinosaur robot together!”
“What if you came over next weekend for a sleepover?” Ty asked, cause he was a dick Alpha with no boundaries or common courtesy.
“We’ll talk about it bambino. But Steve’s right, we should get going,” Tony said, unable to help the sneer he threw his ex’s way.
“Can I have a hug, little guy? I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, Father,” Harley said, hugging the Alpha before turning back to beam at Tony. The Omega offered him a smile before shooting his ex a glare.
“We’ll be in touch, Tiberius,” Tony said, grabbing his pup’s hand and leading his family away from his past. Even though he knew deep down this wasn’t the end of that son of a bitch ruining his life.
They ended up letting Harley see him the next weekend for a few hours, since Tony wasn’t ready to let him spend the night. He dropped off his pup at the hotel Ty was staying at, forcing a smile as he watched his son run into Stone’s arms. The Alpha was a little taken aback, but still lifted the pup into his arms.
Tony had a flash of anger course through him, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. That asshole could have had this the whole time. Instead he fled like a coward, waltzing back in when he damn well pleased.
Steve had reminded him that Tony had the ultimate veto power, he could keep Stone out of Harley’s life...but the way his pup had lit up at the mention of a man he’d never even met before...Tony couldn’t see it in himself to deprive his son of knowing the Alpha.
No matter how much of an asshole he actually was.
Case in point - when he picked his son back up from Ty’s later, Harley was somehow both hyper and cranky after only being with the Alpha for a few hours.
And what made matters worse, was how inadvertently rude he was to Steve.
The three were sitting around the kitchen table eating pizza when Harley started talking.
“Steve did you know Father can speak seven languages? You can only speak two, right? Did you know that Father has met two princes!! He’s even on the list to go to space! Father says he’s from a long line of rich Alphas, and that the richest Alphas are the most powerful! Your Pop doesn’t come from money, right? That’s why you joined the Army?”
“Harley, that’s enough,” Tony snapped at his son, knowing it wasn’t the six year old’s words coming out of his mouth. He heard Ty’s philosophy on money while they were dating. “I know these are Ty’s words, not yours, but they are very rude.”
“How are they rude?” Harley asked, getting defensive instead of apologetic. Tony knew his son would be an Alpha when he eventually presented by how controversial the pup has always been. But Tony wasn’t offering any change in his smell to give the pup any wiggle room, letting disappointment seep through his scent.
“Money isn’t everything, Harley. We are fortunate to not live on the streets, but we don’t judge those less fortunate than us. All that Alpha was doing was bragging about his extravagant life that was handed to him. He never worked for any of that, pup. And it’s not about being a powerful Alpha, it’s about being a good one. And Sarah Rogers - your Poppy who loves you - is one. Just like Steve, who is also a decorated war hero. Regardless of his reasons for joining, he signed up to protect this country which is something your cowardly father would never do.” Tony had finished his speech with a snap, partly because his ex makes him so mad and partly because his son knew better than this.
Harley, being the strong-willed pup that he was, kept his chin up and just glared back at Tony.
But the pup got his stubbornness from Tony, who lifted an eyebrow and stared back until the pup caved first and looked down at his plate. The Omega looked over to his Alpha, who was quiet and contemplative during their talk, now looking sad and small.
It seemed like this thing with Stone was only the beginning of their troubles.