keep you safe (forever and ever)

august twentieth

Tony woke up with a jolt. Fumbling on the nightstand for his phone, he squinted at the time. 5:30. Fuck. He really didn’t want to be up this early. Sighing, he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but gave up after five minutes and climbed out of bed. He could just make out a figure on the couch as he tiptoed downstairs.

“Pete?” Tony whispered. “Why are you up already?”

“Oh, hey, Mr. Stark.” Peter didn’t look up from his phone. “I told you I get up early. And I fell asleep on the plane, so I wasn’t that tired anyway.” 

“You must be the only teenager in the world who willingly gets up at this hour.”

Peter gave Tony an unimpressed look. “You’re one to talk about weird sleeping habits.”

“Touche. How long have you been up?”

“Like thirty minutes,” Peter said nonchalantly. “I explored the house first cause I didn’t get to do that yesterday. It’s so nice! You bought so much stuff, Mr. Stark.”

“Do you think it’s too much?” Tony’s forehead creased. “I didn’t know what the kids would want to do, so I tried to get a variety of things, but now I’m wondering if I went overboard.”

“I don’t think so.” Peter looked thoughtful. “You should check out the playroom or whatever you want to call it though. Whoever set up did a really good job.”

“Okay,” Tony said through a yawn. “Is there coffee?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t drink it. I can get up and look for it if you want,” he offered.

“Thank you,” Tony groaned. “You’re an angel, Underoos.” He began walking around the first floor of the house, checking everything out. When he got to the playroom, he stopped short, muttering a few curses under his breath.

Oh. Yeah. He could see what Peter meant. Shelves full of kids’ books and games lined the walls. There were big toy chests on the ground, and he could see that a full section was loaded with arts and crafts materials. A rack on one wall had costumes dangling from it.

So maybe he had gone a bit overboard. Sue him. He could afford it. 

“Pete!” he hissed as he stepped into the kitchen. “You said it wasn’t too much.”

“Well, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Peter muttered. “Plus, they’ll be in heaven when they see all of it.”

“Didn’t you read those parenting books? One of the number one rules is to not spoil them!” Tony started breathing heavily.

“Whoa, Mr. Stark, calm down.” Peter patted him on the back. “It’s fine. If you really think it’s too much, we can move some of the stuff to the basement. I kind of think they need to be spoiled a little though.

“I don’t know!” Tony began pacing. “I don’t know anything about this.”

“I think it’ll be okay. Yeah, it’s a lot of stuff, but that also means they’ll have to learn good cleanup and sharing skills.”

“True.” After a minute, Tony’s breathing began to even out. “Okay, I’m fine now. Where’s my coffee?” 

“On the counter.” 

He snatched the mug and inhaled greedily. “My savior.”

“Are you talking to the coffee or me?”

“Both.” He paused. “Wait, did you just hear that?”

“What?”

“Shhh! Listen.” 

Peter turned his head towards the stairs. “Oh, yeah.”

“Can you tell who’s talking?” Sometimes Tony was really grateful for Peter’s enhanced senses.

“Sounds like Natasha, Steve, and Bucky.”

“I’ll go see what’s going on. What time is it?”

Peter looked at his phone. “6:17.”

“Honestly, I was expecting Natasha to get up way earlier, so I’m not even that upset.” Tony climbed the stairs and knocked gently on Steve’s door. The voices stopped abruptly, and he poked his head in. “Are you guys hungry?”

“Yeah!” Steve and Bucky chorused in unison from where they were bouncing on Steve’s bed. 

“Boys, the bed is for sitting or lying down.” Was that good parenting?  Tony turned to look at the redhead, who was sitting on the floor. “Natasha, are you ready for breakfast?” She didn’t respond, but she did squeeze by him and run down the stairs, so Tony took that as a good sign. Just then, Steve bent over and began attempting to hack out one of his lungs. Tony jumped. “Oh my god! Steve! Are you okay?”

“He’s fine, mister.” Bucky’s voice was soft. “He gets like that all the time.” 

“You can call me Tony, okay? Do you know if he has an inhaler?” Tony questioned. Steve was straightening and wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

“What’s an inhaler?” Steve asked.

“Okay, so I’m going to take that as a no. We definitely need to buy you one though.” Tony whipped out his phone and made a note.

“Wait!” Steve shrieked suddenly. “Bucky! Wait for me!”

“I am waiting,” Bucky protested from the doorway. 

“No you weren’t!” Steve stomped his foot.

“Okay!” Tony jumped in before the situation could get any worse. “Why don’t you two go downstairs and see Peter so you can eat.” This seemed to placate both of them for the time being, and they disappeared from the room without further complaint. Satisfied that they would make it downstairs without another fight, Tony went to go check on Wanda, who he could now hear babbling in the next room. They better not get up this early tomorrow.

“Well, hello there.” Tony couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over his face. “You’re pretty cute, aren’t you?” Wanda grinned, showing off a full set of baby teeth, and continued to make nonsensical sounds. “I should probably put some clean underwear on you first, right?” 

“Aaaaaa!” Wanda squealed. 

“Okay, okay. I have no idea how to do this, so bear with me.” Luckily, Wanda was extremely cooperative throughout the whole process. “What happened to you?” Tony wondered out loud. “I don’t think I’d ever seen you smile before, and now all you do is laugh.”

“Eeee!” Wanda shrieked, giggling. “Eeee!”

Tony scooped her up. “Let’s get you downstairs.” After settling Wanda in her booster chair and making sure Peter had everything under control, he headed back up to check on the others. These stairs  were a good workout, he reflected. Thor and Loki were still asleep, but Sam jumped right out of bed and ran downstairs when Tony checked on him. Now he just had one more kid to check on, and it was the one he was the most worried about.

“Clint?” Tony pushed the door open and tried to make his voice as soft as possible. Clint looked up, fear etched in every line of his face. “Hey, buddy.” Buddy? What was wrong with him, he had never called anyone “buddy” in his life- “Would you like some breakfast?”

Clint curled into a tighter ball. 

“You can come downstairs whenever you want, all right?”

“Now?” Clint mumbled.

“If you want to,” Tony said softly.

“Do- do you want me to?” Clint said, shrinking back.

Tony hesitated, unsure how he should respond. “Yes, I would like it if you joined us,” he said, internally slapping himself. He didn’t want to order Clint around. It seemed to do the trick, however, because Clint obediently got up and began walking towards the stairs. Definitely something we need to work on, Tony mused as he followed him. He shouldn’t need a direct command to do anything.

Peter had somehow whipped up pancakes for everyone, and Tony felt a rush of gratitude. At the table, Clint was cutting up Wanda’s food into tiny pieces and feeding them to her as she babbled to him and tried to grab his face. Steve, Bucky, and Sam were also sitting and eating, but Natasha was noticeably not present. 

“Pete, have you seen Natasha?” Tony asked, looking around. A head of red hair and two large hazel eyes popped up from behind the kitchen island.

“She’s right here,” Peter said without turning around from the stove. “She asked if she could help me cook.”

“I am helping,” Natasha confirmed, holding up her spatula for proof.

“Great,” Tony said, trying to sound sincere. “How’s everyone else?”

“Good!” Steve chirped, continuing to shovel food into his mouth. 

“These are good,” Sam chimed in. 

“Obviously,” Peter said, dragging out the word. “I made them.” This got a laugh from both Steve and Sam, but Bucky and Clint continued to sit in silence. 

“Clint, why don’t I take over feeding Wanda?” Tony said. Clint physically leapt away from her as if he had been burned. “Whoa, whoa,” Tony amended. “I just meant that I want you to eat your pancakes

as well.” 

“Okay,” the mini archer whispered.

“Ca!” Wanda yelled. “Ca!”

“Wanda, are you still hungry?” Tony asked. She blinked at him with surprisingly sharp blue eyes and let her last two pieces of pancake fall out of her mouth and onto the table. Tony gagged subtly. “Okay. I’m going to guess you’re done then. Why don’t we go get dressed? Peter, are you okay down here?” 

“I’m good,” Peter confirmed. “We definitely need to go grocery shopping though.”

“Noted. Kids-” Tony turned his attention to the others- “Once you’re done eating, I need you to go change out of your pajamas, okay? There are clothes in your dressers for you. Peter or I can help if you need anything.” There was a loud crash from upstairs. “Oh, no,” Tony muttered. Climbing the stairs quickly with Wanda in tow, he headed into Thor’s room to find a chair turned over.

“Mr. Stark!” Thor exclaimed as soon as he saw Tony. “Loki has wronged me yet again! He snuck in my room while I was still asleep and scared me!”

“Loki,” Tony groaned. “You can’t do that.”

Loki blinked innocently at him. 

“I will hurt you, brother!” Thor shrieked.

“Thor and Loki!” Tony said. Pretend you’re in a business meeting, how would you get everyone to listen to you? “Uh, no fighting. Both of you go downstairs and eat breakfast.” 

“Fine!” Thor stomped off and Loki followed him, smirking. Tony rubbed his forehead and followed them.

Two hours later, everyone was dressed and sitting in the living room. Tony had found a large piece of poster board and a marker amidst all the arts and crafts supplies and was now standing in front of all the kids. “I know that moving here is a huge change for all of you, so I thought that it would be a good idea to come up with some ground rules so we’re all on the same page. Does anyone have any suggestions?

“Don’t go in other people’s rooms!” Thor shouted. 

Tony uncapped his marker. “Good idea.”

“Don’t hit other people.” Steve said. 

“You're such a baby, Steve,” Bucky interrupted. 

“You’re stupid!” Steve retorted.

“Okay!” Tony started writing. He was starting to wonder how well Steve and Bucky actually got along. It was definitely something to pay attention to, at the very least. “Keep your hands to yourself, and use respectful language when talking to or about others. Does that work?”

“Natasha keeps poking me,” Sam butted in. “She’s not keeping her hands to herself. You should punish her.”

“Natasha-” Tony rubbed a hand down his face- “Please keep your hands to yourself, like we talked about.

“Why isn’t she getting in trouble?” Sam said indignantly.

“Sam, what do you think an appropriate punishment would be for that?” Tony asked curiously. 

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know, she doesn’t get to eat for two days or something.”

“What? Okay, no. Food is not going to be withheld as a punishment. We don’t do that here.” Tony was cut off by his phone ringing. “Hang on one second, guys. Hello?”

“Tony?”

“Phil?”

“I have good news. Can you talk for a few minutes?”

“Yeah.” He tossed the marker to Peter. “Take over for me. I’ll be right back.” 

Walking out of the room, he stepped onto the deck and shut the back door. “I’m alone. What’s going on?”

“Well, we figured out how to reverse it.”

Tony fell into the railing and then grabbed it for support. “What? Already?”

“Only for Thor and Loki, though!” Phil said hastily.

“What? How? Why only them?”

“Frigga showed up and said she would be able to fix them, but not the others. They’re gods, so it’s easier to put them back to normal.”

“So do I have to bring them back?” 

“I’m sorry. I know you just got there, but yes. As soon as possible, preferably.”

“How am I supposed to explain to the rest of the kids that Thor and Loki are just going to be leaving?”

“Tell them that their stepmother is going to take custody of them. They should be happy about that.”

“Phil, I’m not going to lie. This is really fucking annoying.”

Phil sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Tony. But I need you to bring them. Please.”

“Fine. But I have to make sure Peter’s okay with being left in charge of the other six.”

“Thank you.” Tony could hear the relief in Phil’s voice. “I definitely owe you one.”

“Send a plane. I’ll let you know when we’re boarding.” 

“Okay! I think we’ve got all the basic rules, you guys. Good job.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Tony said, “But I have an announcement. Uh, Thor and Loki, your stepmother showed up this morning and wants to take you, which means we need to fly out now. The rest of you are going to stay with Pete-” he shot Peter an apologetic glance- “and be very good for him.”

“You’re giving them back?” Steve blurted out.

“I knew it,” Clint muttered. “No one ever keeps us.”

“Guys.” Tony held out both his hands. “I’m not giving anyone away. I adopted all of you, and the only reason Thor and Loki are leaving is because their stepmother is alive, which we hadn’t realized.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stark!” Thor said, beaming. “My brother and I are forever indebted to you.”

“Thanks,” Loki mumbled.

“All right.” Tony clapped his hands. “Thor and Loki, go get ready to leave. Pete, I need to talk to you privately.”

“I’ll be fine, Mr. Stark,” Peter said before Tony could say anything. “Seriously.”

“Six kids is a lot, Pete.”

“I always wanted younger siblings.” Peter shrugged. “This is the closest I’m ever going to get. And I like hanging out with them, honestly.”

“I really don’t like the idea of leaving you alone in a different state. You’re barely sixteen.” 

“Mr. Stark.” Peter sighed. “It’ll be okay. I’ll call you if there are any problems.”

“Fine,” Tony relented. “But don’t leave the house.”

“We need to get food though.”

“Do you know how to drive?”

“...kind of?”

“What does that mean?”

“Like, I’ve driven before, but I only have my permit, not an actual license?”

“Are you going to crash the car?”

“No!” Peter shook his head vigorously. “I won’t crash, honest. And I looked it up already- the supermarket is really close.”

“Fine. Only to the supermarket, though.”

“Yeah, okay!” Peter agreed. “Wait, can I have money?”

Tony let out a dramatic sigh as his mouth twisted into a smirk. “That’s all you ever want from me.” He made a show of pulling out his wallet and slowly opening it.

“You’re not funny, Mr. Stark.”

“Money, money, money. If I wasn’t a billionaire, you wouldn’t spend time with me, would you?”

“I’m not going to spend any more time with you regardless,” Peter grumbled. 

“Well, because I’m so nice and plan ahead,” Tony whipped out a debit card, “this is for you.”

“Whoa!” Peter grabbed it. “How much is on here?”

“Well, it’s connected directly to my personal bank account, but that doesn’t mean you get to waste all my money on Legos. There's a cutoff somewhere. Probably.”

“I’m pretty sure the entire Lego store is sitting in our playroom right now anyway.”

“I will take that debit card back from you.”

“I surrender.” Peter held up his hands. “You win.”

“Okay. Anything else before I leave? Your phone is charged?”

“Yes,” Peter groaned. “I’m good, dad. You can leave.”

“Wait.” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Did you-”

Peter had already disappeared.

Did he just call me dad?

I can’t believe I called him dad.

Peter groaned. Tony had left with Thor and Loki half an hour ago, and Peter hadn’t even been able to look him in the eye when he was saying goodbye.

“I’m ready!” Steve stood in front of him. “Let’s go!”

“We have to wait for our, um, siblings, okay? Thanks for getting ready so fast.” Peter didn’t know if he was supposed to refer to them as siblings, but he didn’t have a better word either, so he figured it was fine for now.

“I’ll go get Bucky!” Steve raced towards the stairs.

Peter sighed and took a seat by the door with Wanda. “Okay, sweetheart, where are your shoes? Daddy said he bought some for you, so they have to be here somewhere.” Daddy? Oh god, Tony would flip if Wanda started calling him that- “Here they are!” He triumphantly held up a tiny pair of velcro sneakers.

“Aaaa,” Wanda babbled, grabbing for them.

“No, they go on your feet, silly! Show me your feet!”

“Fee!”

“Yeah, feet-” Peter whipped around at the tap on his back- “Oh! Clint, what’s up?”

“I don’t have shoes,” Clint mumbled.

“Right there,” Peter pointed. Clint slowly began putting them on. “Steve, Bucky, Natasha, and Sam!” Peter yelled up the stairs. “Are you almost ready?”

“I am here.”

Peter whipped around. “God, Natasha. How long have you been standing there? Uh, your shoes are right over by Clint.”

She gave the sneakers a disdainful look. “I do not want them.”

“Natasha,” Peter sighed. “Please.”

Natasha arched an eyebrow. “No.”

“Okay-” Peter grabbed a pair of flip-flops that looked like they would fit her-Jesus, Tony had thought of everything- “How about these?” Natasha considered for a moment before putting them on. 

“I’m back! And I gots Bucky and Sam too!” Steve had reappeared.

“Great.” Peter massaged his forehead. “Inside voices, okay? And shoes on, and then we’re all going to get in the car.”

Ten minutes later, everyone was buckled in and quiet as Peter slowly reversed out of the driveway. Natasha climbed in the passenger seat, which probably wasn’t allowed, but he figured that five minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone, and it was easier than arguing with her.

“I’m going to push one cart, okay?” Peter said as they walked into the small grocery store. “Can somebody push another?”

“I can!” Steve immediately volunteered.

“Great, thanks. Wanda, sweetheart, you’re going to sit in my cart, all right?”

“Aaaaa!” Wanda agreed.

“Okay-” Peter looked down at his very long, hastily made list- “I know this isn’t so fun, so we’ll try and move as fast as possible. Let’s start in the produce section. If you see anything you think you’d like to eat, let me know and we can buy it, okay? Is everyone good with hamburgers for lunch? It’s one of the only things I trust myself to cook well.”

All of the children ignored his question in favor of looking around.

“There’s so much food,” Clint whispered reverently to Natasha as they began walking. Peter put item after item in the cart as they maneuvered around the produce section. 

“Watermelon?” Peter pointed to the stack. “Will you guys eat that?”

“Yes!” Steve said.

“Let’s get three, then.” 

“Can we get those?” Bucky mumbled, pointing at the strawberries.

“Of course!” Peter said immediately. “Don’t be afraid to speak up, okay? That goes for all of you.” The children all blinked tentatively, and then everyone began to talk at once.

Sam pulled on his sleeve. “Can we get blueberries?”

“Muffins?”

“Ice cream?”

“Carrots?”

“You know what?” Peter cut in, “Anything you see that you want, just grab it and put it in the cart. I think homemade muffins would taste better, though, so why don’t we buy ingredients and then make them at home.” 

The shopping trip ended up going quite smoothly after that, with everyone helping to put things in the cart. Peter noticed that they ended up with quite a lot of junk food, but he figured that it couldn’t hurt.

“Do you guys want to go in the pool now?” Peter asked as they pulled into the driveway. “I know your Dad bought you all swimsuits.” God, Tony was going to kill him if they started calling him Dad.

“I like to swim!” Sam said suddenly, knocking Peter out of his internal debate over how he should refer to Tony in reference to the kids. 

“Great.” Peter twisted in his seat to look at him. “We can swim all afternoon if you want.” Sam studied him, as if trying to decipher whether or not it was a trick, and then smiled tentatively. Peter counted that as a win.

“This is disgusting.” Natasha wiped some sunscreen off her arm, looking unimpressed. Peter was beginning to wonder if she had other emotions.

“Can we go in now?” Steve asked for the third time in as many minutes.

“I’m bored,” Bucky announced to no one in particular.

“Everyone needs to wait at least ten minutes before they go in, okay?” Peter said. “I already said this, guys. The sunscreen is going to wash off otherwise. Oh, wait. Does everyone know how to swim?”

Most of the kids nodded, but Natasha took a sudden interest in her feet. “Natasha?” Peter asked gently.

“I never learned.” She dragged one foot along the ground. “There was no time.”

“Okay, that’s okay!” Peter said hastily. “Thanks for telling me. Seven more minutes, and then you guys can get in, okay? Natasha, I want you to stay in the shallow end for now.”

“I’ll stay in the shallow end too, then,” Clint said. Natasha looked a little happier, and she moved to stand beside him. 

Inwardly, Peter smiled. He could get used to this.