Putting down roots
”Honey I’m home!” comes Tony’s voice from the entrance of the house, followed by what sounded like a horde stampeding through the hall to the family room.
Looking up from the mission report he was typing out, Steve turned his head just in time to see Pete launch himself into his arms, wrapping around him like a baby monkey and Tony, hair wind swept and perfectly tousled as only his could be, standing near the doorway of the family room. The brunet had an armful of Sam, kissing his dark curls before putting him down on the play mat to join Gwen, who had been amusing herself watching Doc McStuffins reruns and kicking at her Daddy’s legs for the half an hour it took Tony to pick the boys up.
”Daddy—““Hi Pops!” “Where’s lunch?” came the various cries of his children, Harley dragging himself over to the sofa and landing face first into the throw cushions, while Pete dropped a kiss on his dad’s face before jumping up and making a beeline for the kitchen.
Retrieving his StarkPad from where it fell between the couch cushions, Steve pulls Harley to sit on his lap. ”There’s Mac ‘n Cheese in the oven, but wait ‘til Pa and I come to dish, Buddy,”
Stomping his foot, Peter throws a pout Tony’s way. “But I’m hungry now!”
Tony, in turn, just looks at him unaffected, grabbing the oven mitts off the hook by the fridge. ”And I don't want to go to that SI board meeting tomorrow, but hey, we're not all getting what we want. Life’s not fair, Pal, and besides, what's five more minutes? Go take your bag in, Baby. And bring me your lunch box!” he calls as Peter stomps down the hallway.
”Monsters, I tell you,” Tony tells Steve shaking his head exasperatedly.
”Well, they couldn’t all be angels, life would be too boring then,” Steve jokes, saddling up besides the brunet and planting a kiss behind his neck.
”Not going to lie, they were born angels though. Pete came out with harps playing in the background and Jesus himself laying out a red carpet.”
”Okay, true, but consider Harley and Gwen being legitimate cherubs: rosy cheeks, golden hair… my little friend is magical,” the soldier whispers, nipping at his husband’s ear.
Smacking away his husband’s huge form, Tony moves to dish four plates. “I don’t recall you doing anything but dropping seeds, Houdini, I nourished and nurtured, if anything I am magical, let’s be real. And you’re saying all that like Sam wasn’t THE best? You know I’m not one to pick favourites, but Sammy? Easiest baby I’ve had. He got Peter’s curls, and Harley and Gwen’s fat cheeks, so to be honest, win win win. None of them were as calm as he was.”
”All my babies were sweet, don’t bully them, Tony.”
”Say all of that to my cracked nipples,” Tony fires back as he calls the kids for lunch.
”Your fault you insisted on breastfeeding them for at least a year though,” Steve says putting a bib around Gwen.
Tony, doing the same for Sam, rolls his eyes good naturedly. ”Okay, but in my defence, they were all so tiny when they were born, why wouldn’t I? I didn’t want my babies to suffer just because I was uncomfortable. And look at them today,” he says, playing nosy with Sam, “so handsome, and so strong, oh, yes you are, yes you are!”
”Pa, food!” little Sam calls, kicking Tony in the side.
”Wow, this disrespect. I’ve raised barbarians who only see me as a food machine,” Tony grasps at his chest dramatically. “After all I’ve done? Catch me, Stevie boy, I can’t handle it!” he declares, fainting into Steve’s arms and getting a round of giggles from the kids, Steve shaking bodily from holding his chuckles at bay.
***
”Babe?”
”Mm hmm?”
”Whatcha doing there?"
Distractedly typing away, Steve registers Tony wrapping his arms around his bicep. “Just finishing up this report, Fury’s gonna have my ass if I don’t get this to him soon. Why? Was there something you needed to talk about?” the blonde asks, turning to look at his husband, only now noticing the hand wringing and lip nibbling.
”Ah, no, no, it wasn’t anything too serious. I just had an interesting talk with Pete’s teacher today, you know, Ms Cord? But it’s not anything to worry about, you finish up.”
Putting the tablet to the side and shifting to get Tony in his arms, Steve peers down into his eyes intensely and nudges him in the side. “Hey, I want to know what you guys talked about. Sounds pretty important.”
”Okay, well, she asked me if Pete was going to start school over here, and yes it is a bit early to ask, I told her that, but she’s been saying he’s advancing really quickly and that maybe another school would be able to stimulate him better. I of course said that I didn’t know, especially with us still moving between Cali and New York and not really having a permanent place to stay.” Tony says, taking Steve’s hands into his own and looking straight into his eyes, brown meeting blue. “It got me thinking though, back when we lived in the brownstone, that wasn’t too bad right? We had the day-care right around the corner, and Pete’s elementary school, he had friends, that he really misses by the way, but not the point, and we even had neighbours who actually came by and spoke to us. The only reason we moved out here was because SI is here in Cali, but, what if we moved it? Stark Tower is still there and it wouldn’t be too hard to make New York the central base of operations. Pepper will skin me alive yes, but think about it!” Tony rushes out. “We’d have most of our friends there, and if you want, we can even go house hunting in Brooklyn. Show the kids where you grew up and have them share that with you.”
Staring a bit dumbfounded at Tony, the rush of words still knocking between his brain receptors to make sense of what his little brunet was saying, the words finally registered. “You- You want to move to New York? Permanently? Baby, that would mean giving up so much, for you especially. I just – I just want us to think about this a little more. It’s not that I don’t want this, it would mean everything to me, just -”
”Well, of course I wasn’t planning on uprooting us overnight. But just think about, we’ll be closer to the rest of the team, avenging will be easier, for the both of us. We could apply to a few schools in New York, check a few of them out in person even. It’s just – isn’t it time for us to put down roots? We’ve got four kids, Steve. Four kids that anyone of these days will start school and need stability. We can’t just uproot them in the middle of the school year to move to Cali, or fly them back and forth every weekend.” Tony says earnestly. “We need stable ground under our feet, a place to call home, a place where the kids can grow up in and make memories, run around and bring friends over. And no, I’m not talking about that stuffy tower, Spangles. I don’t want to make myself that available for anyone other than the kids.” He says, smiling, hope shining in his eyes.
”So, what’d you say, Spangles? You ready to become grossly domesticated?”