Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eventually Jarvis informed the “youngins”, as Tony liked to call them, that the adults finished their discussion and that they were welcome to join the main living area again.

Of course, Peter quickly accepted and went to look for Tony seeing as he was wondering what he and the others spoke about. Rhodey wanted to actually finish his breakfast, so Anthony reluctantly agreed to join.

With the help of Anthony, Peter was luckily able to manage throughout the large house and found Tony in the kitchen.

“Hey, whatcha doin’?” Peter asked Tony as Rhodey and Anthony sat in the dining room connected to the kitchen.

“Making you more food. You barely ate breakfast, and the portion you had for dinner was criminally small for you.” Tony said in allusion to Peter’s fast metabolism.

Tony was at the stove behind the counter making some omelets and pancakes, so Peter took it upon himself to join the man and mix the pancake batter while he focused on the eggs.

In response to Peter’s help, Tony ruffled his hair and muttered a quick thanks.

“You know, I really hate when you do that.” Peter groaned as he attempted to tame his hair despite having leaned into the touch.

Tony playfully rolled his eyes. “Why? I like your hair like that. And last I checked you love it when people mess with your hair.”

“Shut up! You know what I'm talking about.” Peter blushed slightly in embarrassment.

“Mhmm.” Tony hummed before plating the omelet for Peter and pouring the pancake batter onto the pan.

“Ooh wait, let me do it! I’m a total pro at flipping pancakes.” Peter said in an excited voice.

“Uh, not too sure I want the kitchen to become decorated in your failed pancake attempts.”

“C’mon! I’ll show you how it’s done, move over.” Peter pleaded.

“Fine. I hate when you use that tone, makes me feel like I’m kicking a puppy if I say no.” Tony said as he moved aside and allowed Peter access to the stove.

As promised, Peter flipped the pancake perfectly and widely grinned at the successful landing. “See, told you so! Admit it, that was pretty cool right?”

Tony, being the prima donna that he is, tried his best to look unimpressed. “I don’t know underoos, looked pretty average. Bet I can do better on the next one.”

“Oh, I see how it is. Go on, show us if you do any better.” Peter put his arms up in fake defeat.

Tony took the challenge and made sure the flip the next one even higher. “And that’s what I call pro pancake flipping.”

“That was literally mediocre at best. Move aside.”

In an attempt to outperform Tony, Peter flipped the pancake as high as he could. However, it broke in half mid-flip. Despite catching one piece in the pan, the other ended up landing at the edge of Tony’s hair and sliding down his face.

Peter covered his mouth in what looked to be shock at first, but then broke out into a fit of laughter. Tony tried his best at holding in his laugh as well as he wiped the pancake off his face.

“I can’t believe I didn’t get a photo of that.” Peter managed to get out between his laughs.

“I think it’s safe to assume I’m more of a pro in the kitchen than you are. And that says a lot.”

“I’m only agreeing because I was able to get this moment out of it, don’t think too highly of yourself now.” Peter said as he pulled himself together and helped Tony get out a small piece of pancake from his hair.

“Bon appetit~” Tony said as he put the non face contaminated pancakes onto the plate and ever so graciously handed them to Peter.

As Rhodey was eating his waffle, he tried his best to not stare at the two in the kitchen. But it was almost impossible not to.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. Was this really Tony? Was he actually this… paternal?

Anthony, who sat beside Rhodey, kept his head down despite catching a few glances. This was way too much information for him to process in one day.

Without having noticed the two seated in the connected dining room before, Tony and Peter took their seats at the table.

“Oh. Hey. If I’d seen you guys I would’ve offered some food.” Tony said plainly to Rhodey and… well, himself.

Anthony’s eyes awkwardly shifted back and forth between Peter and Tony.

“It’s fine. What were you guys talking about after sending Peter and I off?” Rhodey questioned.

“Yeah I was gonna ask you that too, got sidetracked.” Peter added after swallowing his food.

“Nothing important.” Tony responded, not wanting to cause any further concerns. “I could ask the same to you, what were you guys up to-”

“Nothing.” Anthony quickly interrupted, not wanting his little emotional breakdown to be the topic of discussion.

“Dude… don’t tell me you're embarrassed of your own self.” Rhodey said in genuine bewilderment.

“Don’t even start.” Anthony groaned.

“No, now I wanna know.” Tony said curiously before turning to Peter. “Mind sharing what happened, Pete?”

“Peter, don’t.” Anthony cut in again.

“Um. I don’t really know what to do, how did I end up in the middle of a dilemma between two Tony Stark’s?” Peter laughed nervously.

“Are you seriously gonna listen to this guy? You’ve known me for how long and just met him.” Tony feigned hurt.

“You’re literally the same person.” Rhodey said, already becoming exhausted by the two.

Peter nodded to which Anthony spoke up again. “Doesn’t matter, we’re not talking about it.”

“Overruled.” Tony declared.

Though Rhodey found the comment to be humorous, Anthony hit his arm.

“That was so uncalled for, I can literally expose you right now man.” Rhodey said before hitting him back.

“Ah yes! Please do so.” Tony encouraged.

“Honestly, if he’s embarrassed, wouldn’t you probably be embarrassed too, dad?” Peter said before gulping down some orange juice.

“No, I was a little bitch back in the day. I can totally take it now.” Tony shrugged.

“Language.” Peter mocked, making Tony laugh. Of course, the other two didn’t quite understand what appeared to be their inside joke.

“Would’ya look at that! Rhodey, you’re all done eating. Let’s go.” Anthony said while practically dragging his friend out the room.

“Yup, total drama queen.” Tony said once the two were out of the room, making Peter grin.

Throughout the day, the four kept unintentionally crossing paths. They weren’t purposely avoiding each other, rather they simply opted to stay out of each other’s hair. Clearly it wasn’t working.

Anthony noticed a few things about himself and Peter:

1. Tony messed with Peter’s hair a lot and often had his arm thrown around the kid’s shoulder.

2. Peter and Tony enjoyed teasing one another. Whenever bickering, he often heard them speak of a Pepper for whatever reason. Probably another inside joke.

3. Tony smiled. A lot. Well they both did, but for himself it was a bigger deal.

He would never admit it himself, but seeing their interactions would put a smile on his face.

Rhodey on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind calling him out.

“You’re smiling.” Rhodey poked Anthony’s side teasingly, much to his annoyance.

“That’s my resting face.”

“Your resting face makes you look pissed off, nice try though.” Rhodey grinned. “It’s nice.”

“What’s nice?”

“Seeing your future. I’m glad to see you happy is all.”

“Don’t get all mushy on me, Rhodes.”

Peter reluctantly, but ever so kindly, let go of Tony's arm; allowing him to spend some time with his family. For the better half of the previous hour he’d been holding on for dear life.

Or at least that’s what Rhodey thought. Attachment issues much? Who would’ve thought the emotionally unattached and guarded Tony Stark could produce such a clingy child.

Maybe it was karma. Or exactly what the man needed. Rhodey was intrigued to say the least.

Anthony on the other hand… well he was also intrigued. Mostly observant and frankly a bit off put by the gross overly affectionate displays of love. In reality, Peter and Tony had been acting fairly normal, but to Anthony, this was uncharted territory.

When did he get so soft?

Even more interesting was the dynamic between Howard and Peter. As Tony had wandered off to his mother and Jarvis, Peter stayed sat in the open area with Howard.

Rhodey rolled his eyes at the sight of Anthony spying on his son and father. For christs sake the two were merely sitting calmly on the open chairs; Peter with an apple in hand which he was tossing and Howard with a mug of coffee and the newspaper.

How dramatic- was what Rhodey had been thinking until he heard his best friend's father speak.

“Stop playing with your food. It’s inappropriate and distracting.” Howard groaned in frustration.

Anthony had tensed immediately and was plagued with frantic thoughts. Meanwhile, Peter had just rolled his eyes.

“It’s disrespectful to ignore your elders, has your father truly taught you no manners?” Oddly enough, Howard’s tone was not harsh. Anthony would categorize his father as sounding uninterested and slightly… amused?

“I uh, I thought we already had this conversation yesterday. Are you planning on lecturing me about my lack of manners or dad’s bad parenting ‘cause… I’m not exactly interested if that’s the case.” Peter continued to toss the apple in the air.

Is this kid fucking insane? Anthony was fully freaking out around the corner at this point.

Again to his surprise, Howard let out a short, and likely ingenuine, laugh. He slowly got up from his seat before sarcastically saying, “I’m sure your father has an amazing time putting up with you daily.”

This seemed to make Peter tic slightly. “Yeah, and I’m sure he has an amazing time putting up with you daily. Don’t know how he does it.”

Howard deadpanned at the teen before exiting the room. The look in his eyes was again one of slight amusement, but this time with a tinge of annoyance.

Once assured he was alone Peter ran his hands through his hair, clearly aggravated. “Fuckin asshole.” He muttered before making ineligible utterances which appeared to just be him mocking the man.

Anthony, followed by Rhodey, rushed out from his not so secret hiding spot (of course, Peter’s senses made him aware of their presence from the start).

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you fucking stupid? You have a death wish or something, man?” Anthony sounded pissed, but his expression betrayed him.

“Easy man, that's your... kid.” Rhodey winced, he still wasn’t fully used to the whole time travel situation.

“Me?” Peter replied with a bewildered look on his face and tugging at his brows. “What’s wrong with me? Are you serious? I’ve been here less than a day and he’s driving me insane.”

Rhodey squinted. Anthony was clearly too frantic to notice, but the kid’s wording was too strange to slip past him. Either Tony had cut his dad out of his life or… well his dad was not exactly up and running anymore.

“No stupid, the other idiot in the room. Obviously you.” Wow, Anthony’s age really was showing. It amused Peter. “You can’t just talk to him like that. That’s… your… grandfather.” Even Anthony sounded grossed out saying it.

Peter’s previous frustration faded and evident enjoyment grew. His face was an open book. Again, Rhodey didn’t know how this was possible considering the guy his best friend was. Was this really his kid?

“Huuuh~? Why noootttt?” The boy exaggerated his words with a cheesy grin plastered across his face. “I won’t be here much longer anyways, I say that gives me free reign to act as I please.”

Nevermind. Definitely his kid. Rhodey concluded.

“Do you always act like this?” Anthony asked incredulously.

“No. Actually, you always act like this. It’s hard putting up with a man baby. You get what I’m saying, right Colonel Rhodes?”

“Excuse me, did you just say Colonel?” Rhodey sputtered.

“Shit.” Suddenly, Peter’s look of confidence fell and his face went ghost white. He called out for Tony. “D-dad. We uh, we have a situation.”

Seconds later Tony came rushing through, accompanied by Maria and Jarvis.

“Kid, what’s wrong? Are you ok? Why do you look like that, what did you two idiots do to my kid?” Tony stressed as he grabbed Peter’s face, almost as if looking for an injury.

Anthony looked uncomfortable witnessing this, but proceeded to scoff at the accusation from his older self. “As if we would do anything. He just spilled the beans on some top secret future shit.”

Tony facepalmed. “What did you say?”

“I-I said, I called Rhodey by uh, his title.”

“Oh.” Tony looked over at a shocked Rhodey. “Surprise?”

“Tony, this is starting to become a bit… worrisome. How long until your friend picks you two up?” Jarvis said warily.

“It’s not like we’re waiting on a car ride. We’re kinda, y’know. Stuck thirty years in the past.” Tony bit back with no real heat to his words but frustration evident.

“Dad I really didn’t mean to.” It wasn’t the worst slip up to have made. There was plenty worse to have said. But still, saying anything could screw up their future if this was their timeline. If not, they were still messing with another universe which was probably against some time travel rules if there was a rule book.

Peter was clinging to Tony again now. His arm tugging at the long sleeve of Tony’s shirt. Everyone noticed the action. Nobody remarked.

“I know you didn’t mean it, underoos.” The strange nickname made Anthony’s jaw drop. No way was he that soft in the future. “Listen, why don’t you just hangout with Jarvis for a bit. Sound good?” Tony figured that would be the best choice since the kid didn’t know much about the man.

“Yeah. Great. Sounds great. Let’s get to hanging. Jarvis, my man, what’s up?” Peter awkwardly shuffled out of the room hoping Jarvis would follow. He did.

With only Maria, Tony, Anthony, and Rhodey left, the room fell into a silence. Unable to be in the same room as himself, Anthony went to his room and Maria went looking for her husband.

That left none other than Tony and his Platypus.

The two took a seat, Tony leaning his head back against the chair. He didn’t know how to address his closest friend who was now only eighteen. Barely much older than Peter.

Rhodey on the other hand didn’t seem to mind that his friend was a middle aged man.

“Hey, Tones?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t kill me for asking. You know I gotta ask you, right?” Rhodey gave an uneasy laugh.

“What is it. You’re freaking me out a bit, Honey Bear.” Tony shifted his gaze to his friend while keeping his head back against the sofa. It was way more comfortable than he had remembered.

“Are you happy?”

“Oh.” Tony lifted his head. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting an existential question. What happened to giving a friendly heads up?”

“What were you expecting me to say?” Rhodey shot his eyebrow up.

“I don’t know! Something stupid like, ‘Are we still best friends?’” Tony waved his hands around. His mannerisms remained the same, Rhodey noted.

“Well. Are you gonna answer.”

Tony remained silent for a few moments. He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply before looking over at his lifelong friend again. He was thankful for finding himself Rhodes, everyone deserves a Rhodey.

“Yeah.” Tony smiled. It was a genuine smile. Rhodey isn’t sure he’s seen his friend smile like this yet. “I’m really happy, man. I’ve got you, Peter, some other people I probably shouldn’t mention. I’m doing shit I wanna do, not things I’m told to do. Sounds nice, right?”

Rhodey frowned a bit. Of course he was relieved to hear his friend found purpose in life, but his reason for joy being as simple as having friends, family, and free will… it made Rhodey feel a bit shaky. He wished Tony was able to achieve those things much earlier in life.

“Sounds great. I’m happy for you, y’know?” Rhodey said honestly. “I… I get worried for you sometimes man.”

Tony seemed shocked at that.

“You get drunk sometimes at the dorms and say shit. Scary shit. I don’t like leaving you alone at night because of it.” Rhodey admits.

And now Tony feels like crap because he didn’t think his early alcoholic tendencies made his friend worry about whether or not he was planning on self-destructing.

“I’m sorry. If… if it puts your mind at ease I’m not gonna off myself.” Tony winced. He’s still bad at comforting and emotions.

“Clearly.” Rhodey joked. That much was obvious seeing as Tony was alive and well in the future.

“I never planned on it either. I just liked drinking since it took my mind off of things.” Tony admitted despite his discomfort over talking about his past alcohol issues. He still didn’t like talking about it.

“Liked? As in you don’t do that crap anymore?” Rhodey caught on quickly at the use of past tense in Tony’s statement.

“Mhm.”

“Good for you, man. I’m proud of you.”

Tony felt his eyes water a bit. “Thanks. And thanks for sticking with me for all these years. You were all I had for a long while.”

Rhodey smiled. “I’m sure being your closest friend is the greatest honor of mine.”

“Shit. When did you become a sap?”

“Way to ruin the mood.” They both laughed.

Maria and Peter were sitting at the piano together as she taught him a song. It was Peter’s favorite memory so far from their time travel endeavors. Of course, Dr. Stephen Strange chose then to finally show up. Peter internally cursed him.

Externally however, he ran over and shouted for Tony in excitement.

“DAD! HE’S HERE!” Peter shouted for everyone to hear and be aware of the current state of affairs.

Strange cocked his head to the side; likely due to Peter referring to Tony Stark as his father.

The others came rushing out from their locations. Tony of course had bolted once he heard Peter’s announcement. He was more than ready to leave. The others gawked at the portal in awe, including Howard. Ha! Peter thought once he noticed this.

“Lovely of you to finally show up. It’s only been, what, twenty hours.” Tony said sarcastically.

“Sorry, I didn’t exactly have it on my tab to search the multiverse through the time stone to find two people who I had thought were geniuses. Apparently I was wrong.” Strange responded equally sarcastic.

“I recommend you say farewell, Stark. You too Peter, I’m sure you’ve gotten well acquainted by now.” The doctor continued, this time more serious in tone.

Maria had a pained look in her eyes. She had been noticing odd discrepancies in behavior between her son and grandson. Everything pointed her in the direction of believing her and her husband were no longer around.

She grabbed onto Tony and pulled him into a tight hug. Her voice was shaky as she spoke in a hushed tone for only her son to hear. “Anthony. I’m so sorry.”

Tony knew what she was trying to say, and he hugged her back even more tightly if possible.

“I’m sorry I left you all alone. I showed you enough love, right?” Her voice now teary.

He sharply exhaled and took in the feeling of his mothers warm embrace one last time. “Yeah. You loved me enough, mom. Thank you for everything.”

Jarvis was next. His butler surprised him with a hug as well. “Keep taking good care of your son, okay?”

“Of course.” Tony promised before releasing from the hug and smile.

To nobody’s surprise, he didn’t have a heartfelt goodbye with his father. Just a simple nod and short final quip. “Don’t disappoint me too much.” Howard said with a twinge of a grin on his face. Tony got the feeling his father had picked up on their absence in the future as well.

“Don’t expect too much.” Tony shook his head lightly with a short laugh.

Just as the two were approaching Stephen, Anthony caught a hold of Peter’s hand. Peter gave him a quizzical look, awaiting some sort of goodbye. Instead, he was met with a crumpled paper shoved in his hand and an embarrassed look on Anthony’s face.

Peter understood and flashed his cheesy grin. “I’ll see you in a few years.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

As the portal closed, Pepper stood on the other end with her arms crossed and an irate look.

“You two are officially banned from the lab for a week.” She said before walking away.

“Really Pep? No warm welcome?” Tony shouted in her direction as she wandered off.

“Absolutely not.” Pepper said before exiting the room.

“First, we’re totally gonna veto that decision right? I mean, she can’t ban us from the lab–” Peter began before being cut off by his dad Mr. Stark.

“Nope. You don’t want to tread those waters. What she says goes kiddo.”

Peter groaned. “I’m still vetoing it. Secondly, I should probably come clean. Dr. Strange sir I- I uh kinda let a few things slip. Did I break time travel law? Am I gonna be arrested?” Though it wasn’t his goal, both older men laughed.

“No Peter, you’ll be fine. They don’t remember anything.” Strange said before gathering his items and preparing to leave the tower.

“Huh? I’m totally lost.” Peter said. Luckily, Mr. Stark looked just as confused which made him feel like less of an idiot.

“I used time manipulation from the time stone. It reversed the flow of time to the moment before you two arrived. Luckily for you guys it had only been approximately twenty hours. Anything more than a day's time could have led to some potential risks with the time continuum.” The doctor announced before pressing the button for the elevator.

“Man, I wish I knew that.” Peter puffed out his cheeks. “I totally would've told younger you all about Iron Man and how I’m Spider-Man! Imagine the look on his face. Don’t even get me started on War Machine, Rhodey would’ve lost it!”

Tony laughed and ruffled his fair. “Ha ha how funny, you wanted to give your old man a heart attack?”

Peter flushed a bit at the comment. They weren’t in 1986 anymore but Tony still referred to him as his kid.

He quickly collected himself while being followed by reality slapping him in the face.

“Shit. May is gonna murder me.”

Once Peter was seated in the car with Happy he felt the crinkle of paper in his pocket.

Oh yeah. Mr. Stark gave him something in the past.

He carefully unfolded the note and began to read it despite knowing it would give him car sickness. That always happened to him whenever he attempted to read in the car.

Peter,

Uh. I feel pretty weird writing this but I know I’ll regret it if I don’t, so… yeah.

Not to sound like a stalker, but I was watching you all day. Okay. I sound like a stalker. But technically it’s my home so if anything you’re the one who broke in, not me. Anyways. I was watching you and… well, me.

Peter laughed at the awkward demeanor of the younger Tony. It felt oddly reminiscent of himself.

I noticed a few things. I seem to mess with your hair a lot. Your face always scrunches up but you relax into my hand every time. Are you at ease around me? I also have a habit of keeping my arm around you or resting a hand on your shoulder. You lean into my touch. Do you feel comfortable with me?

Another thing I noticed, we have a lot of inside jokes, I kept hearing of a Pepper, I think? That and we laugh at each other at every chance we get. My dad never jokes with me. I hope you know my teasing isn’t to be taken seriously. I don’t want you to take my words the wrong way. I know words can hurt.

What I noticed most was how much I smiled. Do I do that a lot? It looked genuine and happy. I think know it’s because of you. Thanks for making me smile. Rhodey tries. It doesn’t work all the time but I hope he knows I appreciate it.

My favorite thing was your smile though. It reminded me of the Cheshire cat, but not creepy the way he looked at times. It made your eyes crinkle and your nose scrunch. I could tell it was genuine. I hope you look at me with that smile every day. I think I’ll know true happiness when you do.

When I argued with you for talking back to my father, I noticed you were grinning at me most of the time. I wasn’t actually mad at you, I was frustrated with myself. Why couldn’t I be more like you? I had just met you, yet I felt some odd sense of pride. My father isn’t proud of me. He calls me a disappointment. I hope I never call you that or make you feel like one.

Anyways. I guess I’m rambling now. My point was I wanted to say thank you for being in my life. I’ll see you in the future, okay?

From,
Tony Dad.