Chapter Text
Routine had never been an essential element in Tony’s life. Far from it, really. Even through his carefully structured childhood he never followed a routine, despite much planning from his nanny’s and mother. But since Peter had arrived it had crept it’s way into their lives.
As Peter hit the eight month mark, Tony began to realise how he had unintentionally invited the idea. Peters day consisted of waking, feeding, playing, lunch, nap, exercise, bath, feed, sleep. Almost always in that order. And whilst Tony had yet to realise it, Tony had made his own routine too, sleeping when Peter was sleeping and eating when Peter was eating. Pepper had watched from afar as his life had taken order, surprised, despite the fact that she was sure Tony could no longer do anything to surprise her. He had even become more involved in the company meetings, realising he had more duties than those of parent hood, like having a continuous cash flow coming in to ensure the best future for Peter as possible, even if he had more than enough money to send him to Harvard 5 times over.
He hadn’t even been out in the suit more than three times a week.
And it wasn’t just Tony that was changing. Steve and Peter had both been in his life exactly 3 months and 6 days, a date he thought was impossible to forget. And in that time the blonde soldier had adapted from a 1940’s style life to comfortably operating in the 21st century. It was almost astonishing the progress he had made, although when Tony mentioned it to him over dinner he insisted Tony had adapted too.
“You’ve become a father. And a wonderful one at that”
Those were his exact words, and Tony had unconsciously carved those words into his memory. The one thing he never thought he could do, and he had done it without even realising.
Tony was currently in his office, paperwork stacked high on his desk and a baby monitor balanced picariously atop one of the paper skyscrapers. He had just finished going through a new contract and was about to sign when Steve burst through the door with Peter in one arm.
“Tony” he said, a little breatheless. “You won’t believe what just happened”
“Is something wrong with Peter?” Tony almost fell over as he dashed across the room to Peter, checking his forehead for a temperature but Steve continued.
“No, no. He’s fine. But I was just changing him and, well, do you have the cameras in the room?” he quirked an eyebrow.
“I have them in every room, why?”
“Go to 10.34AM on that camera, you need to see this”
Tony picked up his tablet off of the coffee table, quickly tapping the screen as Steve watched over his shoulder.
“There” Steve said as a sign to stop on the part of the video Tony was currently fast forwarding through. “Just there”
They watched as Steve finished changing Peter. Almost a minute went by consisting of Steve blowing raspberries on the childs stomach, to which Peter responded by emmiting a shrill giggle. The blonde stood to his full height, walking across the room to put a dirty diaper into the bin. When he walked back over her ruffled the childs hair. Peter responded by pointing up at him and speaking.
“Pahpah” the child said, pointing up at Steve and pushing his nose with his petite hand.
“What did you say, Peter?” you could clearly see the awe-struck expression on his face.
“Paaaaapa” the child sang, pointing toward Steve again.
Tony would have been amused by Steve running around the room chanting “Oh my gosh” over and over with panic if it weren’t for his own shock.
“He called you Papa...” Tony stated obviously.
“I know!” Tony looked up at Steve, watching his face as it contorted between a variety of emotions. “But why? And what do we do? Do we let him keep calling me that or do we teach him Steve. It’s a reasonably easy word he would probably pick it up quickly”
Tony smiled, taking Peter from Steve’s arm and balancing him against his own hip. “Why don’t we ask him? Peter” he looked at the child, pointing to himself. “Who am I?”
“Daaaadah!” he sung, reaching his little arms up to grab a stray lock of Tony’s dark hair.
“And who is this?” he pointed to Steve.
He turned his attention to the blonde man, moving his hands to reach for a button on his plaid shirt.
“Papaaa” he sung.
The two men looked at each other as Peter played with the button.
“Sorry, that must make you really uncomfortable...” Tony trailed off, for once in his life not having the words to continue.
“No, no. Honestly. He’s just a baby, he doesn’t know any different. Besides” Steve smiled at the child. “I kinda like it”
Tony took a moment to examine Steve’s face, melting at the adorning expression he was projecting towards their son.
Wait.
His son.
He resisted the urge to face palm to avoid questions from Steve as the blonde returned his attention to Tony.
“Right, come on mister. Shall we go and play with your toys?” Steve mused, taking the child from Tony again.
Peter squealed in delight, putting his hand in Steve’s pocket to play with the material and pulling out a piece of paper. The child waved it above his head with a giggle whilst the soldiers face began to turn a bright red. Peter opened his hand a little more than expecting, watching the folded paper float gently to the floor. Steve watched as Tony bent down to pick it up, every way this situation could go wrong racing around his mind.
“Oopsy” Tony waved the paper infront of Peter, before handing it back to Steve, still folded up tight. He accepted it, pressing it firmly into the palm of his hand and thanking Tony before leaving for the playroom.
“Thank goodness” Steve exhaled when he was sure Tony couldn’t hear him, letting his mind calm down and reminding himself Tony didn’t know. It was only when he got to the play room and set Peter down infront of one of his toys he leant back against the wall, opening his palm to reveal the now creased paper. He breathed in, opening it to reveal the drawing he did earier this morning. The curve of Tony’s jaw, the unruly was his hair fell naturally, the dark sphere’s that his eyes consisted off.
He folded it again, putting it back in his shirt pocket and sitting down next to Peter to play with him.
“It’s ok” Steve reminded himself. “No one knows...”
“Hey Steve” Tony addressed the soldier lying on his sofa as he entered the room. “Did Peter go down ok?”
“Yeah” he smiled reassuringly. “He’s absolutely fine. Went out like a light”
Tony seemed to calm down at this, his shoulders relaxing and a small smile portraying relief spreading across his light lips.
“Thanks again” Tony said, shrugging off his suit jacket and landing on the sofa next to Steve, stretching his arms out. “Whatcha watching?”
“The news channel. Jarvis found it for me” Steve smiled. “Things really have changed...”
“Huh? What do you mean? News is news. I thought that would be the one thing that had stayed the same”
“It is similar” Steve assured. “It’s just reminding me how much things have changed. This one guy, he had a robot eye put in him today, and it works like a human eye!”
Tony let out a small chuckle. “In all honesty, that’s a pretty modest leap forward compared to last year, never mind the 40’s”
They both relaxed for a while, sitting comfortably in silence and listening to the reporter rattle on about the events of the day.
“In other news, gay marriage was legalised in the United Kingdom today. The bill was passed this morning after a vote in the houses of parliment. Ronald Goone is in London with more on the story...”
Tony noticed the change in Steve’s face.
“You ok there, cap?” Tony asked, a small smirk playing on his lips.
“Gay marriage...like, two men?”
“Or two women” Tony added. “Let me guess, ‘It’s unnatural’ and ‘God hates gays’. All that jazz, right?”
“No...quite the opposite” Steve still seemed shocked, although given his response, so was Tony.
“Wait, Captain America supports gay rights?” his dark eyebrows rose further.
“Very much so” he turned to look at Tony, continuing when Tony had nothing further to add. “Sexuality is no more a choice than the coulor of someone’s skin. Why should someone be treated differently from another due to something they have no control over?”
Tony’s jaw hung. It wasn’t often someone got to oppotunity to describe the Tony Stark as speechless. At this Steve began to smile.
“What? Most politicians were prejudice in my time, hence homosexuality being illegal. But there were a small amount of people who believed in complete equality, me being one of them”
“That’s...surprising” Tony concluded, finally closing his jaw. “Is this because you were in the army? I mean you always here about the solidiers bumping uglies in the showers but I didn’t think it really happened”
“No! No, goodness no!” Steve’s cheeks reddened at lightening speed, much to Tony’s amusement. “No, it was illegal. Soldiers were some of the most law abiding citizens you would find. Also some of the most prejudice, but still...”
“So” Tony turned his body to face Steve, crossing his legs. “What team do you play for? If you don’t want to answer, don’t. I’m just curious”
“Team? I don’t play for any teams...” Steve’s furrowed in confusion, a gesture so adorable Tony’s nose almost bled.
“No, I mean which way do you swing?”
Steve gave him the same baffled look again.
“Are you interested in men or women...or both?”
This seemed to drill the questions real meaning into Steve’s head, as his eyes grew wide and he began stuttering.
“Well...I-I...”
“If you don’t want to answer don’t” Tony raised a hand. “I shouldn’t have asked”
Steve looked down at his hands for a moment, shifting himself so he was sat up and facing Tony.
“Do you promise you won’t tell anyone?” he asked, sincerity and trust sparkling in his blue eyes.
“Of course”
“I...I kinda had feelings for someone. Once...”
“Peggy Carter?” Tony asked.
“No. That was a ruse for the public. It portrayed the image of a ‘true’ America. We never actually dated, we never even kissed”
“Really?” Tony seemed a little shocked at this. Who knows why. As someone who’s image and life had been contorted by the media since birth, he shouldn’t have been so surprised.
“Really. But I grew up with someone, I was always really close to them. We even got to work together in the war. But I never told anyone. Not even...him...” Steve was hesistant, but looked down at his hands and continued. “His name was Bucky and we grew up together in Brooklyn. We met when we were 7 and we were practically inseperable. Then when we went to school Bucky started making comments about some of the girls when we were walking in the street. It started happening more often and I found myself agreeing with him just to feel normal, but really I had been thinking the same things, but...only for other men...”
Tony listened intently, having an internal battle about whether or not he should rest his hand on his shoulder in a reassuring manner. However he feared that this would shock Steve and he would stop talking to him, something Tony wished to avoid at all costs.
“Me and Bucky started growing apart. He joined the army and started going around town with different dames, and I was trying and failing to get a place in the army whilst trying to earn enough money to pay for my mothers medication. Then I got the serum and I finally got to see him again. But not long after he was killed in action”
Tony emitted an expression portraying sadness, to which Steve waved a hand half-heartidly.
“It’s not as if anything could have happened. It was illegal, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t feel the same way about women. I felt awful for having those thoughts in the first place. I still do...”
“No” Tony’s voice was stern. “No, Steve. Like you said you can’t help your sexuality any more than you can help the coulor of your eyes or the shade of your skin. You shouldn’t be ashamed. You’re a good person and that’s all that matters”
A smile, a small as it was, spread across Steve’s face. An essence of relief seemed to reflect in his eyes for a moment.
“Thank you” Steve spoke quietly but honestly. “For everything”
And with that he stood, walking off towards his room. He stopped short in the door way, turning back to Tony.
“Good night, Tony” he smiled, then turned and continued down the corridor.