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“Why the long face?” Rhodey sidled up to next to Tony at the kitchen island.
Tony averted his eyes from the objects of his attention and looked down at the fruit platter he was making. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit, Tones. I’ve known you for years, you’ve got your pout on.”
“I do not pout –”
“Yes you do,” Natasha said swiftly as she stole an apple slice then promptly left the room as quickly as she had (apparently?) arrived.
“Right,” Tony drew out, eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. He adjusted the platter a little more. Rhodey covered his hands, stilling them.
“What’s up?” Rhodey pressed.
Tony looked at him briefly before his eyes flickered down again and he drew his hands away, wiping the moisture from the fruits off on his jeans. “I said nothing.”
“Tony, when you’re agitated in social situations you tend to hyper-focus on things like food,” Rhodey gave a pointed stare at the elaborate display of fruit on the quite literal silver platter, “or drinks because you don’t have tech to focus on. So what’s wrong?”
Tony’s eyes gave a traitorous and involuntary flicker to the scene in front of him, where Steve and Peter were sitting in the living room, Steve on the sofa pointing at something in Peter’s textbook and Peter sitting cross-legged beside the coffee table, eyes wide and bright.
“Oh my god,” Rhodey breathed, a slight sliver of amusement tainting his voice. “I can’t believe this.”
“Believe what?” Tony asked, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes.
Rhodey gave a sly close-lipped smile and poked Tony in his ribs. “You’re jealous.”
Tony snorted.
“You are!” Rhodey shout-whispered (like a teenage girl, Tony thought bitterly), “You’re jealous that Steve is getting all the kid’s attention!”
Tony turned away. He could see Rhodey’s face light up in understanding from his peripheral. He turned further away and fixed a stray pear slice that wasn’t in line.
“Oh my god, today’s when you and the kid usually work on his suit in the lab, that’s why you have a food prepared! They’re snacks! And now –”
“And now the kid is busy talking to Steve about his goddamn history project,” Tony muttered not at all bitterly, nope.
Rhodey’s eyes grew soft, “Tony, you don’t have to be jealous.”
Tony is not jealous. It’s just that he thought he was Peter’s favorite Avenger and now the kid is fawning all over Captain Spangles over there.
But he’s not jealous. What? Pfft.
Ridiculous.
Except –
Except Peter had only ever looked at him like that, with that same adoration that he had once not known what to do with. Peter was his responsibility, his recruit, his protégé, his little science whiz.
Just.
Peter was his, okay?
And Tony knows that’s not actually true. He doesn’t have a claim whatsoever on the boy and he knows that. But it sure as hell feels like it’s true. Peter had always raved about how Tony was his favorite, how he had idolized Tony since before he had even announced he was Iron Man to the world, a small, scrawny and science-invested little kid looking up to who he considered to be the best scientist in the world, the superhero part just turning out to be the icing on the proverbial cake.
And he had saved Peter at the Stark Expo, shock as it was when Peter had told him that.
So. They had history. Him and the boy. Like history had drawn a little path for them where their lives had intersected briefly, before finally converging on the same road towards the same destination, like it was always meant to. Like, god help him, like it was fate.
Just. He was to Peter what Cap was to Tony when he was young. They had even had a conversation about that.
He was the one that knew Peter liked his pickles ‘smushed’ in his sandwiches, he was the one who knew that Peter bought snacks for when he was patrolling, he was the one who knew Peter’s timetable, his school extracurriculars, he was the one who knew that Peter’s favorite cuisine was Thai and that he prefers his pizza thin crusted, that he had braces for a year and a half and that when he gets sick May brings out his old favorite Star Wars blanket because it makes him feel better.
He knows that Peter gets up at 6:30 in the morning so he can catch the 7:30 train to school, and that he and Ned have a monthly Star Wars marathon. He knows that Peter has a sweet tooth, and will always choose a sweet breakfast like sugary cereal over a savory one like eggs and bacon. And he knows that the kid likes ketchup over mayo.
Tony knows all these intimate details about the kid, and okay maybe that had helped facilitate Tony’s feeling that Peter was somewhat his. Because no one else knew that except May and Peter’s closest friends. And him.
So yeah. Their history, the intimate details that they knew about each other, and the goddamn blindsiding hero worship Peter had for him had Tony feeling like the kid was his.
And then Steve sweeps in and just –
And just makes the kid look at him like that. The same way he had looked at Tony.
And Tony is, god help him, jealous.
Because he loves this kid, alright? Because Peter had, in his own dorky way, brought back light and happiness and some well-needed levity into Tony’s life when everything had seemed so dark.
“–eter adores you, Tony, he’s not just gonna up and replace you with a new favorite,” Rhodey’s voice filters back in, getting progressively louder as Tony comes back to his surroundings.
“You don’t know that,” Tony whispers meekly, absolutely hating how he sounds.
“I do know that. That kid looks at you like you’re his world, Tones. Of course he’s gonna get excited at meeting other Avengers, you’re the one who told me he has action figures of us in his room for god’s sake. Cap’s a living legend, yeah, so of course Peter’s gonna be excited as hell, but you, Tony? You’re his goddamn guiding light. You have been for years.”
“Let’s not go that far.”
“But you are, Tony. That little boy in the Iron Man mask who put his arm up to fight that Hammer drone while everyone else ran away? He did that because you told him, however indirect it may have been at the time, that it was important to stand up and fight back. He found that courage within himself because of you. Not everyone is capable of that.”
Rhodey placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You have guided him for years. No one forgets that.”
Rhodey’s eyes are piercing, and Tony takes a breath.
“Mr. Stark!” Peter calls out. Tony’s head whips around.
The kid is jogging up to the island, his history textbook now hanging off his arm. “Sorry! I got sidetracked! I just needed help with my history project and Cap was right there and yeah,” Peter smiled brightly, albeit a little nervously.
Tony smiled kindly, the weight of Rhodey’s words holding his heart hostage. “It’s alright, kid.”
“So, um, are we gonna go to the lab now?” Peter asks, rolling on the balls of his feet.
And Tony just –
His heart exploded.
"Yes!” he said too quickly, “yes, um, of course. Lead the way, you know where it is.”
Peter nodded and stole an orange slice from the platter Tony was picking up, giving a little gesture to Rhodey before dashing off into the hallway.
Tony turned to go before Rhodey stopped him by the arm, giving him a look.
Told you so.
Tony rolled his eyes, but had a hard time tampering down his smile.
When Tony disappeared down the corridor Rhodey saw Steve approaching the island.
“He’s a good kid.”
Rhodey nodded. “The best.”
“Never seen Tony act like that with a kid before.”
“Yeah, well,” Rhodey shrugged, a smile gracing his features, “that kid is Tony’s whole world.”