Adoption

Tony couldn't stop pacing, desperate for Steve to return home so he could open this stupid letter that held the answer to their future. They had returned from their honeymoon having already put in an application to one of the adoption agencies they found online, they had responded eagerly and by the second week of being at home they had their preliminary interview where they had their fingerprints taken so they could run background checks on them both and they were asked a lot of questions and where they also had a chance to ask a lot of questions for the ones they couldn't find the answers to online and now, four months later the letter with the agencies response. Only, he couldn't answer it without Steve present and it was driving him mad.
He was still pacing hour later, letter clenched tightly in his hands, he was getting close to calling Steve and creating a false emergency to get him home when his husband barged through the front door, stopping in the living room; eyes wide and hands shaking slightly.
"Have you..." Steve paused, sounding uneasy.
"Opened it?" Tony asked, turning to face him, letter in hand.
"Yeah..."
"No, I've been waiting for you," Tony said, "Didn't want to do this alone." Steve stepped a little closer, dropping his coat and bag onto the floor.
"Are you going to open it?" Tony glanced at the envelope, nodding his head as he brought his shaking fingers to the seal and tore it open. He pulled the letter out and let the envelope fall to the floor, he looked up at Steve and took a deep breath before unfolding the letter, "What... what does it say, babe?"
"Dear Mr and Mr Stark-Rogers..." Tony began reading it out loud, eyes quickly skimming the words on the paper, "I am writing on behalf of... We are... We are..."
"Tones?" Steve walked closer as Tony's eyes filled with tears, "What is it?"
"We are delighted to inform you that your application was successful, we'll be in touch within two weeks with further details..." Tony couldn't stop smiling, the tears spilling over, "Steve... We're going to be dads..."
"What?" Tony handed him the letter, letting his husband read it for himself, "Oh shit... we're actually going to be parents."
"We're starting a family, Steve, we're having a child." Tony didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Steve picked him up and spun him around.
"I can't believe it," Steve said as Tony wrapped his legs around his waist, "I've been so nervous."
"Me too, I was so scared something would go against us with the whole gay thing and celebrity status," Tony said, "But in two weeks we are going to be another step further into the rest of our lives."
"When should we start telling everyone?"
"I don't know, I'm scared that if we tell them now then everything will fall through," Tony worried his bottom lip between his teeth, "But then, say everything does fall through then we're going to need the support because I don't know about you but it'd break my heart."
"It would break mine too... I think we should start telling people, I think we're pretty safe now and if not, then it's like you said, we'd have all their support."
"It won't fall through... right?"
"I don't see why it would at all, I know we still have a long way to go," Steve kissed Tony, "But we've made it this far already."
"You're right, I can't afford to think like that... I think I'm just scared," Tony confessed, "I'm terrified that they'll find something that deems us unfit or think because I go on a lot of business trips that it means I won't be home enough to care for them or... or..."
"Baby, shh..." Steve started rocking gently and Tony loosened the grip he didn't even realise he had on Steve's shoulders, "I know you're scared, I am too and that's okay, but we can't afford to think this way because we don't know when they'll introduce us to a child, it's going to be an even longer process than we thought but we will be parents by the end of it and any child that we have will be lucky to have you as a father."
"You're right, we have to think positively," Tony smiled and kissed Steve, "I love you."
"I love you too, now come on, we have to make a call," Steve said, "How are we going to do this?" Tony smirked.
"Who can say no to a party?"

-

Tony couldn't stop smiling as he lowered the music and stood on the platform where the live musicians would be if he hired some, "Can I please have everyone's attention?" he rose his voice to be heard over the chatter and laughter of his friends and family, "Everyone, shut up," he shouted again, laughing when everyone turned to face him and the room fell silent, his eyes focused in on his husband, "Thank you, okay, Steve can you join me up here please?" Steve pushed his way through the crowd and pulled himself upon the stage.
"We doing it now?" He asked, smiling widely.
"Well, I'm not stood up here shouting at our family for the good of my health."
"What's going on?" Bucky shouted, "Getting us all to be quiet only to talk amongst yourselves, what's all that about?" Tony laughed again, taking Steve's hand in his as they turned to face the crowd that had gathered around them.
"Okay, so, this is a party with a purpose," Tony said, "Steve brought something up to my attention before we got married and before we returned from our honeymoon we started putting this next plan into action and... well," Tony looked up at Steve, "We've just been given some incredible news."
"We put in an application for adoption and we got a letter back saying we had been successful," Steve let go of Tony's hand to wrap his arm around his waist, "We're going to have a kid, we're going to be dads." the silence only stretched on for a few seconds as their family started to get over the shock.
"Wait... seriously?" Sarah asked, pushing her way to the very front of the crowd, "You're serious?"
"Yeah mom, we're serious." Steve said.
"Making you a grandma," Tony said, looking down at his mother-in-law, watching the way her face lit up at the word, "And where's Jarvis? Jarvis and Anna? The other soon-to-be grandparents?" Tony asked, looking around the crowd of their friends before landing on the shocked face of his caretaker.
"Grandparents? But..."
"Stop right there," Tony said, cutting off Jarvis before he could continue, "You have been more a father to me than my real dad, it's only right you and Anna get to wear the titles also." Tony didn't get to hear his response before he was being pulled into the crowd below him, a high-pitched scream escaping him at Steve lost his grip and Tony fell into the arms of Clint, "Jesus christ guys!"
"We're so happy for you," Clint said, "Making me an uncle, I can't believe it."
"Hey, you won't be the only one," Bucky said, "I'll just be the better one."
"Not a chance Barnes, not when compared to Uncle Sam," Sam said, crossing his arms and smiling smugly, "I'll be the fun uncle."
"Shut up guys, I'll be the better uncle..." Tony slowly managed to back away from his friends as they began to fight over uncle status, Natasha hugging him quickly and saying how happy she was for them before trying to grab her boyfriend before he started a fistfight over it.
Tony could stop smiling for the rest of the night, not even after all his friends and family had started going home; the boys finally being overruled by Rhodey who declared he was to be the coolest uncle and his second in demand depends on his mood of the day, Pepper cried before introducing them both to her new boyfriend, Happy Hogan, who was nearly as excited for them as Peps was. Sarah and Jarvis stayed the longest, both of them telling Steve and Tony how proud Maria and Joseph would be of them if they were still here today. Both Steve and Tony had cried like babies at that point.
"I feel good having told them." Steve said, climbing into bed next to Tony.
"Me too, it's nice to be able to share out excitement with them," Tony said, snuggling as close to Steve as he physically could, "Everyone seemed so happy tonight, even though I thought we'd lose a few of our friends in a fight to the death over the uncle ranks."
"Rhodey seemed to take good control over that."
"He's a military man, guess you gotta learn how to keep people in line."
"True," Steve kissed his forehead, "That Happy seemed nice."
"Yeah, Peps seems really, for a lack of a better word, happy with him," Tony smiled even wider despite the exhaustion slowly pulling at him, "Still have to get to know him more, just to double check he's okay for her."
"Do you think Pepper would really let a man mistreat her? She's a strong woman."
"Oh trust me, I know, I've been at the end of her wrath way too many times... her and Nat are unstoppable, but still... I love her."'
"I know... mom was really emotional."
"She just found out her only son is having a kid, of course she would be," Tony said, "I'd be surprised if anyone ever expected us to have kid."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, with both our businesses thriving we've been pretty busy, then the fact we're gay and my major daddy issues and all that, I just think people weren't expecting it," Tony laughed, "The media will have a field day over this."
"We'll come to that when we bother to make it public, go to sleep and enjoy it while we still can."
"Oh god, I've just given up my already limited sleep schedule... haven't I?"
"Yeah, I think you have," Steve laughed and kissed the top of his head before reaching over to turn off the lamp, "Now sleep, we're going to have a busy time preparing for our little newbie."
"I love you so much."
"I love you too."