Work Text:
After the first meeting with the Rogues, Tony has been a little more relaxed. Peter had stayed the night, which was a pretty normal occurrence since May had night shifts and didn’t want Peter to always be alone at home, and it not only helped Tony’s stress by knowing Peter was nearby but also helped sell the ruse that they were father and son.
Peter started yawning pretty early into the night, right after dinner. Tony remembered how late he had been staying up to study for a local Decathlon competition with another school, and immediately ordered him to sleep. “Your competition is tomorrow, yeah? Get some rest, it won’t be good if you nod off during the relay.”
His kid nodded sleepily, “I’ll go to sleep.” And then proceeded to curl up, tucking his legs underneath him and shifting to be in a better position against Tony’s side, resting the side of his face on Tony’s shoulder/chest area.
…Well, not quite what he meant.
“You comfy?” Asked Tony, pretty amused. It wasn’t like Peter to be so openly affectionate with people he had only just met (not counting Germany) so Peter must have deemed the Rogues trustworthy. Or maybe he was just too tired to care.
“Mmmh.”
“You know, your bed is more comfortable than my body.”
“Nnnnh.”
“What?”
“Nnnnnnnnnnh.”
“Okay, sure.”
Sam and Clint were quietly snickering at the scene, and Steve looked like he was given a basket of puppies. Wanda looked pretty close to cooing, and even Natasha was smiling at them. While Tony was happy that they seemed to enjoy the adorable mess that was his son, he was getting antsy at all the undivided attention.
“I’ll get Peter to bed. He’s got a big day ahead of him tomorrow.” Tony said, patting Peter’s back.
“Does he do sports? You mentioned a relay competition.” Natasha asked.
Tony shakes his head, “No, not sports. Academic Decathlon. Peter here is in the Honors category.” There was unmistakable pride in the man’s voice when he continued. “He’s got a perfect GPA.” There was a drop in grades when Spider-man became a thing, but a stern talking-to from him and his aunt were quick to save that, and the Decathlon requirements only used the past 2 complete years so it didn’t matter too much.
Sam gave a low whistle. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I see.”
Steve nodded, “I knew he was a genius but that’s still impressive.” He hesitated a bit afterwards, clearly wanting to say something else but not sure if he could.
“Something else to add, Rogers?” Tony questioned, quirking an eyebrow.
Flustered, Steve stuttered. “I, uhm, was just going to, well. Ask if… we could, uh, come watch? His competition, I mean.” His response was a shocked silence so he quickly continued. “We would just like to know you both better. But I understand if you say no, because we’ve only just met him and all, though we would love it if we could help support you both—”
“Calm down, Steve.” Tony interrupted, saving the other from unnecessary rambling. “I think it would be fine if you wanted to come. As long as you stay on the down-low so Peter doesn’t draw any bad attention, I think this could be a fun time.”
Tony was being honest too; he’s only been to a few of the local skirmishes Peter’s team had been in, and had always needed to dress down and wear a pair of sunglasses, but having others who he was familiar with would be great too. Tony would talk their ears off with praise for Peter.
“Mmmhmm.” Peter said.
“And we got the sleepy hum of agreement from the man himself, so you guys can definitely come now.” Tony added.
“Don’t embarrass me, Dad.” The slurred response kicked Tony’s responsible ass into gear.
“Well, Peter’s tired and needs at least 8 hours of rest before tomorrow, so I think it’s time to bid you all goodnight.”
He shook Peter softly so he would unstick from Tony’s side so they could stand, and the rest of the team did the same.
“Thank you for inviting us back,” Steve said. “We had a lot of fun.”
“Us too, Cap. I’ll see you all tomorrow before his competition.”
After a flurry of goodbyes and goodnights, and one ‘see you later, Stark Junior’ which almost made Tony drop Peter in surprise, Tony finally managed to get Peter onto his bed. “Can’t believe you made your old man carry you to your room. Think about my back, Pete.”
Peter was too tired at this point to dignify his taunt with a response.
Tony huffed affectionately, tucking the comforter around his small body, silently thanking the stars that he’d made Peter change into his comfortable clothes after dinner already. The billionaire ruffles the mess of curls on the pillow, and, without thinking, bent down to plant a soft kiss onto Peter’s forehead.
He froze, a little unbelieving that he just did something so Dad-like , but Peter’s sigh of contentment made him relax. “Goodnight, kid.”
“G’night, Dad.” Tony’s heart squeezed at still being called ‘Dad’ even when their audience had long since left. He smiled.
This is nice.
The next day, Peter was thinking the exact opposite. When he had invited his da—uh, mentor, to watch his competition, he was expecting what usually happened. Tony would be in some casual clothes and sunglasses at the back, cheering him on. Aunt May was with him once, and another time Happy was there looking like he would rather be anywhere else.
Peter wasn’t fully awake when he had agreed for the Rogues to come watch him, and now he was really feeling the regret.
Tony had woken him up and sent him off to Happy to get to Midtown early for practice, promising to see him later. Because he was in such a hurry, Peter was only half listening to what he was saying.
“And don’t forget I’m bringing the others with me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I gotta go now, love you, bye.” And dashed to the open elevator, not noticing Tony’s shock or what had just come out of his mouth. When the elevator doors closed though, he fought not to sink to the floor in embarrassment. Tony was never really the type to be blunt about his personal feelings, and even though Peter knows Tony loves him—why else would he do the things he does—but they’ve never said it.
So that was a nice start to his morning.
Now the other school had arrived, the Bronx School of Science, and Peter was staring out to the back row of the auditorium, where a very badly disguised group of Avengers sat.
Tony was always hard to disguise, because his face was well-known with or without sunglasses, but not a lot of people could recognize him when he wasn’t wearing a suit, and he had experience from hiding from the press.
Natasha was doing quite well herself in just a hoodie and jeans, her hair still blonde from the time away, and no one knew the Black Widow as a blonde. But her face was very clearly visible.
Steve was in a hat and a hoodie and cheap sunglasses. No one could hide that hunk of a body.
Sam was chilling in sunglasses and a hat.
Clint wasn’t even trying to hide, only bothering to put on a pair of sunglasses. Peter’s pretty sure that’s a bow sitting in the seat next to him.
There were 4 of them in a row wearing sunglasses. God, who taught them how to disguise themselves? A 6-year-old?
“Oh my god, Peter, is that who I think it is?” Ned whispers in the seat next to him, staring out into the audience.
“Shh! Ned! Stop looking at them.” Peter hisses, elbowing him in the side.
Ned wheezes, tearing his eyes away with great effort. “What are they doing here? Dude, is that really Captain-fucking-America I’m seeing with my two mortal eyes?”
“I invited them by accident.” Peter groans, sinking lower into his seat when he catches Tony’s eye, and the man gives him two very enthusiastic thumbs-ups. He seemed to be enjoying this immensely.
“How the fuck did you invite the Avengers by accident?” MJ says from Peter’s other side, causing Peter to jump. She was so quiet sometimes he forgot she was even there.
“I was tired, okay!” The teen superhero defends himself, huffing. He spots Tony bringing out a camera, no doubt to video the competition to send to May later. He sinks even lower into his seat.
MJ rolls her eyes, not impressed. “Ignore your dad, let him do embarrassing dad things. Pay attention; this school is who we could be up against in the future. Don’t fuck up now because your wack family decided to play dress up and watch.”
Peter blushes at the comments, straightening up. He hadn’t even told Ned that he and Tony were pretending to be related, so the comments from MJ made him wonder if his relationship to the older man was really that obvious to others. He figured the reason the Rogues assumed they were related was because Peter had stupidly called Tony ‘Dad’ right in front of them; maybe even if he didn’t do that, they would have come to the same conclusion.
He shakes off the nerves. Bronx was well-known for their high scores in relays. They’d practiced a lot for the local competitions so they’d be ready for the next rounds, and Peter really didn’t want to lose the first competition the Rogues saw. He was glad that Tony had already been to his other ones so he wasn’t too nervous about his presence.
“Schools, are you ready?” “Yes, sir!”
The questions flew by; since this was mostly for practice, both schools agreed to make the Super Quiz Relay include more questions than usual so they’d be able to get used to it should they move onto the next rounds. Peter was in the Honor’s category with Ned, MJ, and another one of his teammates. Peter was in charge of hitting the bell and stuck mostly to the science questions, while his teammates focused on their categories as well. He managed to lose himself to the pressure of the relay, entirely forgetting he had an audience and focused on smacking the bell as quickly as possible.
“How can monocrystalline silicon ingots be produced?” The teacher asked.
Peter’s hand shot out, the bell making a sound right before the other school could reach theirs. “The floating zone crystal growth process.”
“Correct! Point to Midtown. Next, an approach to thinking about the natural world that can be traced to European intellectuals—”
The pressure was on, and both schools were tied. The next question would be the final one. Peter was starting to sweat.
“What does it mean when a turbine is called ‘full admission’?”
Ding. “The working fluid enters at all points around the parameter of the rotor.” Peter hurriedly shot out. God, I hope that was right.
A dramatic pause… then: “Correct! Midtown wins the relay!”
Peter sagged into his chair in pure relief while his classmates cheer around him. He smiled at them because he was never a fan of the relays; he was glad it was over. Ned excitedly shook his shoulder, whispering a “dude your dad is fucking losing it over there, you gotta see!”
Confused and suddenly remembering he had a group of people that were there to watch him, he spun around to see Tony gripping Captain America’s bicep in one arm, attempting to shake him in pure ecstasy like Ned was doing to him. Of course, Steve didn’t even budge. It was like trying to move Thor’s hammer, and it was honestly pretty hilarious to watch. Tony was shaking Clint with his other arm and was having much more success; the archer was being tossed around like a limp noodle, which was equally as hilarious to watch.
The boys had to snicker at the sight, and when Tony realized Peter was watching he grinned, bringing both his arms up above his head to make a big heart.
“Oh my god, what is he doing.” Peter groaned, hiding his face in his hands.
“Dude, Iron Man himself is giving you a big heart with his arms, don’t leave him hanging!” Ned wrestled Peter’s arms up to mimic the same heart shape despite protests, and Peter’s hearing could pick up on the team’s laughter. His whole face was flaming red by the time he managed to get Ned to let go of him without having to hurt his friend.
“Damn, you know the coolest people. Do you think I can get Black Widow to stab me non-fatally so I’d get a wicked scar so I can say Black Widow stabbed me?”
“Ned!” Peter hissed, aghast as they were walking towards the Avengers. They’d said their goodbyes to the other school and people were already going home, leaving the room mostly empty. “She wouldn’t stab you! Why don’t you just ask for a signature, or something normal like a photo?”
“I’m sure I can arrange something if you’d like.” Natasha smirked at Ned, clearly having either heard his comment or was able to read his lips.
Ned paled in both fear and admiration. “Wow. She just offered to stab me. Peter, I think I might be dead.”
“You’d be dead if you let her stab you.” Tony slides into the conversation, immediately draping an arm around Peter’s shoulders. The teen relaxes his muscles, still tense from leftover nerves.
His friend looks maybe half a second away from dropping to the floor and praising some divine entity, probably Thor. “I’d let any of you stab me, to be honest.” Ned is speaking on autopilot, and it’s clear that he’s not functioning anymore so Peter saves him even more embarrassment by sending him home.
“I’ll message you later, Ned. See you at school!” Peter waves, and receives a half-hearted one in response. He can hear repeated mutterings of ‘would my mom kill me for allowing myself to be stabbed? How expensive would hospital bills me?’ as he walks away. Peter shakes his head in fond exasperation at his friend’s antics.
“Well, I think this calls for a celebration, don’t you think?” Tony says, squeezing Peter’s shoulder.
“You say this after every event you go to.” Peter points out.
“Because you always do so well!” Tony defends. “You did answer the winning question, kid. Nice job.”
He ducks his head at the praise, his face heating up. “Thanks, Dad.” He gets a hair ruffle in response.
“We all agree this deserves celebration, right?” Tony directs the question to the Rogues, and there is a chorus of agreement. “See? They want to celebrate your achievements just as much as I do.”
“I think they just want to have food, and don’t particularly care about the celebrating achievements part.”
“You got me there,” Clint says while grinning. “Your Dad would be the one who wants to celebrate your wicked win up there the most, but we’d obviously want to support you too. Gotta give kids a lot of love and support. You’re the future, bro.”
“Firstly, Legolas is correct. Secondly, never call him bro again.” Tony points at the man, and he just grins wider.
“Sure thing, bro.”
They ended up piling into one of Tony’s biggest cars so they’d all be able to fit, with Tony driving and Peter in the passenger seat beside him. The car was filled with chatter and like 4 different conversations and everyone managed to somehow be a part of each one.
It was a huge mess but Peter was having a lot of fun. They arrived back to the Tower and the chaos carried with them all the way up to the common room.
“But if you cut off your leg, would it hurt?”
“What the fuck? Of course it would!”
“But where would you feel it?!”
“IN YOUR LE—oh. OH .”
“ I KNOW— ”
“Alright! Everyone listen up!” Tony yelled so everyone would listen, clapping his hands. “Since this is a celebration for Peter, we’re going to order all of his favorite things. He’s also allowed to choose the movie tonight as long as it’s not too gory for his young eyes.”
“Dad, I think I can handle some blood.”
“Tell that to the time you threw up on me after watching some random guy’s bone break through his skin on YouTube.” He says in response, already walking to the kitchen to get snacks (not Skittles).
“Dad! You really didn’t need to mention that. Plus, I wasn’t expecting it!” Peter crosses his arms, pouting.
“Dude, Tony is such a Dad. ” Sam whispers to the others around him. “Clint, what do you rate his Dad-ness?”
“Oh, a solid 10 out of 10, for sure.” Clint nods with mock seriousness. “Perhaps an 11 if he wears that ugly Dad sweater he was talking about.”
“Good luck ever getting me back into that thing; it’s hideous. Doesn’t match with anything. Not even itself.” Tony returns with his arms filled with packets of snacks and Steve rushes over to help him. “Don’t help me here, old man. There’s a big ass tray of drinks on the kitchen island that I am not going to attempt to pick up. Get those."
“I can do it!” Peter hops up off the couch, but his father is quick to stop him.
“Ah, ah, ah. You’re the man of the hour, sit down and relax. You’ve earned it after all the hard work you put into studying for it.” Tony gently pushes until Peter reluctantly sits back down.
Tony sits down next to him, already opening a bag of Doritos and passing it to Peter. “What did you decide on for the movie?”
Peter gives him a look. “As if you don’t already know what I chose.”
The older Stark laughs. “Yeah, I do,” followed by a hair ruffle.
Sam leans towards Clint and whispers. “Total Dad.”
“Total Dad.”
Based on what the Rogues have seen that day, Tony had seemed to have known Peter for a very long time. He knew of Peter’s competitions, his favorite foods, his favorite movies, and they always settled into a comfortable rhythm around each other. The man was always so proud and careful with Peter just like any father would be. Tony even made that comment about the onesie when they first met, so Peter must have been quite young.
They didn’t truly believe they were related first because it would be incredibly hard to hide a son for 15 years and not have it be leaked to the media, but after watching them, it was a lot easier to stomach.
The father-son duo weren’t even paying attention to them, and instead were arguing about how eating too many snacks now would ruin their appetite (Tony at Peter) and about how a growing body should get as many types of food as they can (Peter at Tony).
“That’s not how the human body works, Peter! You know this!”
“I can’t hear you over the sound of my body growing!” Followed by the crunch of Doritos.
"Peter!"
Yup, they were definitely related.