Chapter Text
It only took a couple of days before everything the kids wanted to keep was moved into their rooms; it was as though the final pieces of a puzzle were put together and suddenly, the house became a home. Once they were settled, Tony organised a ‘welcome home’ party for them, he invited his friends and family, introducing everyone to his kids. The party didn’t happen until a couple of weeks after the official adoption due to Tony needing to be in court -Obadiah would never leave the prison…at least not alive as he received the maximum sentence, getting the kids settled and of course, waiting until his guests were able to come.
——LINE BREAK——
“This is Thor Odinson-Stark,” Tony started; the day after he’d signed the papers, he asked the kids if they wanted his surname or to keep their own -or like Thor, to have it added to their current name. Most of them went for the complete change, primarily the kids who had been abused, but no one simply kept their surname, they all wanted Tony’s either way, “Natasha Stark, Bucky Barnes-Stark, Steve Rogers-Stark, Clint Stark, Loki Stark and Bruce Stark.” Tony went on to tell everyone a little bit about the kids and Phil, who was standing nearby James Rhodes and a tall redhead chuckled as he heard their whispered conversation,
“Oh wow, those names just don’t roll off the tongue.” Rhodey murmured with a grin as he took a sip of his beer, the redhead smacked him, “ouch! Pepper!”
“Shut up,” she hissed, “look at him, this is all he’s ever wanted and the names are fine!”
“I know, I know.” he laughed.
The party ran smoothly, Tony was acting like the proudest dad in the world as he spoke about his kids with a grin to anyone who would listen. It was also the day when Phil became Uncle Phil -or as Tony called him, Uncle Agent, Rhodey became Uncle Rhodey and Pepper became Aunty Pep.
“Hey, Uncle Nick?” Tony called as he followed after his honorary godparent Nick Fury, “Agent Agent said you wanted to talk.” The older man nodded and simply held his arms out for a rare hug, which Tony raced into,
“I’m proud of you, kid.” Fury murmured into his ear causing Tony to burrow further into the hug, “you’re an incredible man.” Tony didn’t know what to say, he was never good with receiving praise…though, that would be because he never really got praised,
“Would you be Granddad Fury?” he joked trying to change the topic causing the one-eyed man to roll his eye, “or I could swing for Granddad Eyepatch?”
“I’d be honoured, you brat.” Tony grinned and they headed back to the party, but before Tony went off in a different direction, he turned back to his uncle,
“So…how much of this did you manipulate or want to happen?”
“I merely pointed Agent Coulson in your direction.” is all the man said and Tony highly doubted that was all, but he didn’t care, he had a family now, he was happy.
——LINE BREAK——
And then the summer holidays were over. The kids were starting different schools, Tony had asked if they wanted to stay at their old ones and all of them had said no. It made things easier because as close as the care home had been to Tony’s, the schools they went to were on the other side of the care home, which would mean they’d all have to wake up unnecessarily early five times a week. So they moved to a closer and nicer school, where there was a zero-tolerance bullying policy, which made it very appealing as Steve had informed Tony one night that they often got picked on for being in a care home.
With the first week of school; Tony woke the kids up, everyone in primary school started on Tuesday, but Thor wouldn’t start until Wednesday. Breakfast was quiet as the kids got ready, Thor was up and about despite not needing to be, he’d promised Bruce, who would be starting his first year at primary school, that he’d be there as Bruce was very nervous.
Dressed and ready, they got into the eight-seater SUV Tony had reluctantly bought -he didn’t like it at all, but it would have to do if he wanted to get everyone in the car. After a short drive, they pulled into the car park. Bruce was clutching Tony and Thor’s hands like it was his lifeline as the new dad looked over at the others; Natasha and Bucky were in grade 5 together but everyone else would be on there own, which was why out of everyone, the two ten-year-olds were the least worried.
“Does anyone want me to take them to class?” He looked down at Bruce when the kid squeaked, “don’t worry little guy, I know I’m taking you to class.” Loki looked like he wanted to say something when Tony caught his eye, “Lokes? Do you want me to come with you?”
“I can go with Loki if that's alright with him?” Thor murmured and his brother nodded his head in agreement, “is that okay Bruce?” the youngest boy said nothing as he thought, before nodding his head in agreement.
“Okay, Loki and Thor together; Bucky and Nat have each other. Steve, Clint, would either of you like me to take you to class?” the two shared a look before coming to an agreement,
“It’s okay, dad, we’ll go together.” Clint said with a smile barely even realising that he’d used the word ‘dad’, but Tony did and the man seemed to freeze as a grin grew on his face,
“Okay, well let’s get going. Good luck today and if there are any problems, get school to call me and I'll come get you, otherwise I’ll pick you up at three. Thor meet me here when you’re done.”
“Will do, dad.” it seemed that all the ‘dad’s’ were coming out and Thor definitely knew what he’d said if the large grin was anything to go by.
It took a while to get Bruce to interact with the other children but a young boy named Peter Parker walked over to him and complimented him on his bag -which was covered with the periodic table and science-y things. It seemed that the two would be great friends.
“I’m going to go now, Bruce, you stick with Peter okay? He seems lovely.” Bruce nodded,
“Bye, dad.” Tony smiled -three ‘dad’s’ in less than an hour, it wasn’t that the kids hadn’t called him dad yet, but they were all still playing tug of war with what to call him.
“Bye Brucie.”
Later that night, after the kids had all attacked him with information about their days and what they loved about it, when they were all in bed and Tony was checking on them before he too would call it a night, Natasha grabbed his arm.
“Thank you for everything, dad.” Tony beamed and bent down to kiss her forehead,
“No worries, sweetheart. You get some sleep, okay.”
“Good night, dad,” Steve mumbled when Tony tucked him under the duvet.
“Night, dad.” was Bucky’s slurred and barely coherent mumble.
From then on, Tony was called ‘dad’ and nothing else. Everything was right in the world.
——LINE BREAK——
Six years later, Tony was turning thirty and Thor would be eighteen shortly and graduating. Life had gone by quickly in those six years as the kids grew up, in fact, they couldn’t really be called kids anymore, they were teenagers, well Bruce was a pre-teen. That being said, they had grown into themselves and were undeniably cheeky, annoying and lovable. So as Tony enjoyed his party, surrounded by his friends and family -his mood had changed drastically compared to earlier that morning when Tony was in mourning about being thirty- the Avengers, as they were dubbed, sat about with their fizzy drinks and a plate of food each, and watched as Tony interacted with the other adults.
“What about Aunt Pepper? Didn’t dad have a crush on her anyway?” Bruce asked, they were all trying to work out who Tony could date because the man hadn’t been in a relationship for a while -at least not one that counted as numerous times the kids had caught onto some very mean people who were taking advantage of their dad.
“Nope.” Clint stated as he popped a blueberry into his mouth, “that’s more of a sibling love or at least it is now.”
“Uncle Rhodey?” Steve mentioned as he watched Tony and James laugh together, Tony leaning against the man when his laughing wouldn’t stop,
“Brotherly love.” Natasha murmured as she ate a strawberry,
“Uncle Phil?”
“No way,” Clint exclaimed,
“That’s a little harsh, Clint.” Natasha stated, “but I agree, I don’t see them working.”
“What about that Quill guy?” Bruce murmured as he searched the room for the man before spotting the man dancing like an idiot, “never mind.” The others nodded in agreement,
“What about that strange guy?” Loki commented from where he sat perched almost regally on the table,
“Who?”
“His name’s strange and he’s a doctor.” He murmured,
“Oh, Dr Strange?” Thor exclaimed with a chuckle at his brother’s description, “I mean they both have an ego.” He continued,
“Actually, they’re really similar. It could work.” Bucky added,
“I thought it was opposites attract?” Clint questioned,
“Well, yes, but that’s not always the case.” Natasha murmured thoughtfully, “you know, it could just work. So we’ll add him to the list of possibilities.” She stated gesturing for Bruce to write down the man’s name on the list they had actually made, so far Dr Strange was the only one on the ‘maybe’ side -there wasn’t a ‘yes’ section, but the ‘no’ side was very full.
“T’Challa?”
“Isn’t he royalty?” Bruce asked,
“Could work.” Steve murmured having been the one to suggest the man,
“Write him down under ‘maybe’.” Nat declared because she had more or less dubbed herself the leader of this ‘mission’, “can we think of any women? He is bisexual and all we’ve got is men.”
“Not true, Pepper was suggested.” Clint stated almost too seriously, “how about Captain Danvers?” He suggested mockingly,
“She’s either in a secret relationship with Uncle Rhodey or a lesbian.” Bucky informed them as he took a sip of his coke, everyone turned to stare at him and he just shrugged before gesturing with his metal arm to the blonde who was interacting with both Rhodey and another woman, they were all touching shoulders and looked very comfortable with one another, “on second thought they may just be in a threesome.”
“Ooh what about Cassie’s dad?” Bruce added as he mentioned a girl from his class, “he’s over there.” The group turned to see a guy pulling a stack of cards out of his mouth,
“Too dumb and ridiculous.” Natasha stated,
“I don’t know, he seems funny.” Clint argued,
“That’s because you’re dumb and ridiculous.”
“Oi!”
“He’s a no, Clint.”
“Fine, you win, Nat.”
“What about Cassie’s mum -oh wait, I forgot she’s married to the cop.” Bruce murmured,
“What about Gamora or Nebula?” Steve suggested as he noticed the sisters,
“a) I’m fairly certain they’re aliens, b) they’d kill Tony and c) Gamora and the Quill guy have a weird relationship.” Bucky stated,
“Oh!” Steve exclaimed, “what about Uncle Rhodey’s friend, Sam?”
“Hell no.” Bucky blurted out, “I hate that guy.”
“Why?” Bucky didn’t reply, “he could be a maybe.”
“I suppose.” Natasha murmured to Steve, “yeah, add him to the maybe list, it’s worth a shot. We could probably add the Lang guy onto it too.” She added when she saw Tony chuckle and shake his head with Scott as they spoke.
They fell quiet as they were lost in their thoughts. Everyone was trying to think about who else they could add.
“Maria Hill?”
“I’d rather not go out with her, she’d eat me alive.” came Tony’s voice as the man appeared behind them, “you guy’s having fun trying to pick me out a date?” they were all blushing in embarrassment for being caught, “you’re not exactly subtle with your staring and everyone but Nat was loud.”
“I…we…sorry?” they stuttered but Tony just laughed,
“Don’t worry about it, it’s amusing. You kids have fun being matchmakers now,” he stated as he grabbed a handful of blueberries and walked back into the crowd of people.
The kids lasted about thirty seconds before they continued trying to pick people out for their dad as the man enjoyed himself and kept an eye on his wonderful children.
“Are you happy, Tony?”
“I am more than happy, Platypus. They’re the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“I’m glad. And I’m proud of you, Tones, you’re no longer the little skinny squirt I had to babysit in college.”
“Oi!” He barked and slapped his best friend before they shared a hug, “thank you, Rhodey.”
“Any time, buddy.”
As the night continued, Tony found himself on the balcony looking up at the starry night sky with a glass of wine in his hands. A body appeared on his right and he placed the glass on the balcony ledge as he wrapped an arm around the redheaded girl, who hugged him. Slowly, the others joined them and they formed a group hug.
“Happy birthday, dad.” they all murmured,
“Thank you.”
“What did you wish for?” Thor asked referring back to the candles on his cake that Tony had blown out about ten minutes ago,
“Dude, you can’t ask!” Clint hissed, smacking his brother’s shoulder,
“I didn’t wish for anything; I’ve got everything I could ever want or need.” He murmured with a smile as he looked at them,
“I think you wished for a growth spurt.” Bucky joked, the sixteen-year-old had recently sprouted upwards and a lot of the others had, in fact, Bruce and Loki were quickly getting taller and Natasha was like an inch taller -not that Tony accepted it at all.
“Ssh!” he snapped jokingly,
“Thank you for everything, dad.” Steve murmured as they all gave Tony hugs individually.
“Yeah, thank you,” Clint whispered,
“We’re really grateful for everything you’ve done for us, dad,” Bruce said with a grin,
“Thank you!” Thor exclaimed as he hugged Tony far too tightly and lifted him off the ground ever so slightly,
“Thank you for your support, dad,” Loki whispered ever so quietly and Tony tightened his grip on the boy in a comforting way,
“Thanks, pop.”
“Bucky.” Tony sighed heavily, the boy could be a handful at times, but the thirty-year-old could tell he was sincere when they hugged,
“Thank you for everything, dad, you’re amazing.” Natasha murmured as she wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly.
“You guys don’t need to thank me, I’ve just been doing everything a father should. Besides, I should be thanking you all for giving my life purpose.” Tony whispered before shooing them off back inside.
Out on the balcony, Tony raised a glass to the sky, a toast to the world for giving him a second chance and a toast to Yinsen out of gratitude for the man helping him in Afghanistan. He wandered back inside with a genuine smile on his face; life was perfect for him and the Stark family.