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Tony had just gotten out of the shower when FRIDAY announced that the recently pardoned Avengers were approaching the entrance. He sighed and slipped into a pair of jeans.
“Alright FRI, bring them up to the living floor, I’ll be down in a minute.” He pulls a black tanktop over his head, leaving his feet bare as he left the room.
He took the elevator to the floor below where he found Peter sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of fruit loops, in nothing but sweats and an oversized hoodie.
“Pete, you know that I have a perfectly good kitchen upstairs right?” Tony laughed and made his way over to the boy when he shrugged.
“FRI said we were having guests so I thought I’d come down to meet them, never having been properly introduced and all.” He mumbled around a spoonful of cereal.
The engineer laughed again, “Finally get to meet your heroes huh, is that it?”
Peter scoffed as if offended, “Nah, my hero is a lot smarter.” grinning at the smile he received, he couldn't help but tease, “I mean, Dr. Banner is ten times cooler than any of them.”
The boy laughed at the pout that Tony gave him. He set his bowl next to him before sliding to the edge of the counter and letting his feet dangle. Tony took full advantage at the closeness and reached over to ruffle his hair, both laughing when the elevator doors opened.
Tony sighed and turned around, putting his back to the kid to face his guests. Peter, still sitting on the counter right behind him, put a hand on his shoulder in silent support. He grinned up at the boy before moving from his grasp, stepping forward and shaking Natasha's hand.
“Welcome back.”
Nat smiled but raised a brow when she noticed the kid. Steve and Wanda stepped out next and only Peter, Natasha and Clint noticed the way Tony slightly flinched. He motioned for the group to move to the couches, sighing when Pete moved from the counter to stand next to him. He ignored the groups questioning glances at the kid and clapped his hands with a smile.
“So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit.”
“We need a place to live.” It was Steve who spoke, leaning forward in his seat from where he sat on the couch between Wanda and Sam.
If anyone noticed Peter go stiff next to Tony then nobody commented on it. All eyes falling on Tony and waiting for an answer. He sighed but nodded, figuring as much now that the accords were adjusted enough that the “Criminals” were now free of previous charges, he’d even gotten Barnes’ charges dropped.
“Alright, but there are gonna be ground rules, and if you don’t like them then tough, you can leave. FRIDAY?”
“As per Mr. Stark's request, you have full access to this floor and all training rooms. All facilities are open to you under the notion that every room you go to will be noted, any weapon you take will be cataloged and any quinjet will be tracked. The labs are open for all, excluding Mr. Stark's personal lab. His lab as well as the floor above are Mr. Starks living quarters and will be off limits to any that are not his family.” FRIDAY’s voice came over the speakers as she laid down the ground rules, “You will each get new badges that will have to scan if you want entranced into any room past this point, Mr. Stark will have them ready for you all by morning, it will grant you access to almost any door.”
“That seems fair.” Clint spoke with a shrug, getting nods of agreement from the rest of the room.
“Right, so your rooms are all as you left them, if you have any further questions than just ask FRIDAY, she’ll help you with whatever.” Tony shoved his hands in his pockets, wanting to leave.
“You’re gonna go, just like that?” Steve stood, looking almost offended by Tony’s intention.
Peter moved just in front of his mentor as he spoke, “Sorry Captain- Mr. Rodgers, sir. We are both just itching to get back to the lab, he’s helping me with a project.”
Nat raised her eyebrow at the purposeful positioning that the kid had made, putting himself between Steve and Tony. By Tony’s furrowed brow, it was safe to say that he noticed as well.
“What kind of project, for MIT? You look a bit young to be a student there.” Sam threw out, to the confusion of both Peter and Tony before Wanda motioned to the hoodie the boy was wearing.
“Oh, no. I go to school at Midtown High, this is his.” Peter shrugged and motioned back to Tony.
“I’m sorry, am I the only one who doesn’t know who you are. I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?” Steve interjected again, staring down at the kid.
Both Peter and Tony tensed at that and Tony moves a hand to Pete’s shoulder, but Peter was having none of it and jerks out of the hold to move forward. A defensive anger in his eyes that Tony had never seen.
“I live here, why are you here?” His voice was calm but his shoulders were stiff and his hands kept clenching and unclenching at his sides.
Steve looks slightly taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness from the teen.
“Peter-” Tony started but was cut off when the boy turned back to him.
“No, why is he here, why are any of them here, last I heard they all betrayed you.”
“Now Son, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Peter whirled around back to Cap, angry tears in his eyes, “Don’t I? Because I know that he’s worked the last year to fix the accords and get you all pardoned. I know that you went off and became a criminal when you refused to sign the damn paper and started fighting police officers. I know that all he wanted was for you to sign them so that you could work together to break them down to something more reasonable. I know that he came home, bloody and bruised, and immediately destroyed his suit. I know the helmet cam showed me you beat him up and left him for dead in subzero temperature with no way to get home. I know that he came home with your shield and told me not to worry about it. I know that your face has been on the most wanted list for the past year. How about that for things I don’t know.”
The room fell into a shocked silence besides for Peters heavy breathing, he flinched when Tony’s hand landed on his shoulder but he refused to turn and face him.
“Pete, I deleted the cam video from that fight after I destroyed the suit, how did you see it?” Tony’s voice was soft but had an underlying frantic tone.
“Right when you got back, you were so beat and bruised, I was worried so I asked FRIDAY but she said that it was classified so I hacked the suit when I was supposed to be working on homework in the lab that Friday.” His voice was pained, like he didn’t want to say.
Steve opened his mouth to say something but Peter shook his head and spoke, meeting the captains eyes.
“You are here out of the goodwill of that man, because he knows how important it is to have a team as powerful as this when bad things happen. But I don’t like it, I don’t like you, and I don’t want you here. This is Tony’s home, so you better damn well be respectful. You’ve already betrayed him twice, both in the span of days. So do not think for one moment that I will hesitate to put you in your place if you get out of hand.” Peter sighed and glanced at the others in the room, “It was nice to finally meet all of you face to face, and I hope one day I can look up to you as the hero’s I know you can be. But Tony is my father and there isn’t a damn thing on this planet that I wouldn’t do for him.”
They could all tell the kids flare of anger was gone, leaving just a broken teen with his heart on his sleeve. Tony squeezed his shoulder and he turned back to him with a deep sigh.
“Come on kid, let’s go upstairs and get you to bed.” Tony spoke softly, guiding the teen towards the elevator, thanking the gods that no one seemed to protest their leave.
“‘m sorry, didn’t mean to go off, can we go to the lab still.”
“Of course Pete, as long as you promise that you won’t catch my hoodie on fire.” They both laughed slightly and Tony wrapped an arm around his boy with a grin, “FRI, take Pete and I down to my lab.”
“Yes Mr. Stark, but can I suggest a detour for food first, Peter has not eaten enough to counter his fast metabolism.”
“How does Thai sound, kid?” When Pete’s face lit up, Tony laughed, “Order our usual from Pete’s favorite Thai place.”
The two entered the elevator as FRIDAY confirmed the order, leaving the silent group alone in the living room. After a minute or two it was Wanda who broke the awkward quiet that had fallen around them.
“Did anyone else know that Tony had a kid?”
“I don’t think they’re blood related.”
“You sure Nat? They looked quite similar.”
“Either way Sam, I don’t think it matters, that relationship is definitely that of a father and a son. I never thought I’d say this but Tony seems to be a pretty good dad.” Clint rubbed the back of his neck almost thoughtfully.
“That kid definitely loves him something fierce, I’ve never seen someone talk to Steve like that.” Sam noted, getting nods of agreement from the others.
Steve just sat quiet and stared at the elevator, maybe the kid had a point, maybe he wasn’t as right as he thought he had been.