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It’s been a few days since Peter had first met the Rogues, and he hadn’t seen too much of them since that Decathlon competition. He’d stayed at the Tower all weekend with permission from May. Tony had seemed slightly worried about what May would think about them pretending to be father and son, but he didn’t have to be so nervous.
When May heard of what had happened, she laughed so hard she started crying.
Neither of the two men seemed to understand why she found it so amusing, and their tiny faces on the video call app must have been ridiculously hilarious because it sent May into hysterics, her laughter so violent that she rolled off the couch. May could barely talk, just managing to give permission for Peter to stay the weekend and wheezing out an “I larb you” before hanging up.
Sunday was spent mostly in the lab with Tony, and in the kitchen on the Avenger’s floor for some snacks, and ‘to show everyone that we’re both still alive’. Then that had led to a team dinner. It seemed like the Rogues were trying their very best to not pry into his and Tony’s relationship, but there were a few curious questions that Tony was quick to smoothly move away from.
Monday morning went pretty similarly to Saturday morning. Tony woke Peter up, Peter spent too much time on Twitter, Peter had to rush around while Tony was watching him with amused eyes, and then distracted goodbyes.
This time, however, Peter pauses right before he slips away from the room, turning around with a flushed face and says, “bye Dad, love you!”
A grin lights up Tony’s face, and before Peter could run out on him, he drags his kid towards him for a hug and a soft kiss to the forehead. “Love you too, kiddo. See you tomorrow.” Even Tony is surprised with how easily it leaves his mouth.
Now it’s Peter’s face that’s grinning, chuckling when Tony pushes him towards the elevator with a ‘I’m not going to make you late on your first day of school since I became Dad’.
Peter was going to back to his apartment in Queens since May would be home in the evening, and he’d been neglecting his Spider-man duties in the weekend. Tony was going to miss him, but he knew that Peter would be coming by Tuesday afternoon before swinging back home for the night. Maybe he’d even manage to convince May to let him stay the night again.
Now that he was alone in his penthouse again, Tony went down to his lab. Might as well get a headstart on his office work so Pepper wouldn’t scold him for ignoring his work for Peter again (Pepper’s reaction to the situation was to laugh at his face before wishing him and Peter a goodnight).
Peter was almost to the lobby before remembering that he’d left his earphones in the common room, groaning and telling FRIDAY to bring him back up. He hoped that the Rogues were still asleep so he wouldn’t be interrogated before he left for school.
The elevator doors opened, and his sensitive hearing could pick up on noises. He inwardly groaned, jogging towards the living room area—
“Uncle Rhodey!” Peter exclaimed, surprised that the man was here. Tony hadn’t told him he was visiting.
Rhodey turns around, grinning at the boy who was currently barreling towards him. “There’s my favorite nephew!” He catches the small body, his leg braces whirring to support him. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”
“I didn’t know you were coming!” Peter gushes. “Dad didn’t tell me. Ugh, and I have to go to school or I’ll be late.”
“Then you better get going, kid. I don’t want Tony to yell at me for being the reason you’re late.”
Peter nodded, finding his earphones and waving goodbye to both Rhodey and the rest of the Rogues, which he had just realized were also there. He briefly worried that Rhodey would ruin their father-son fun of the weekend, but seeing as Rhodey didn’t call him out on Peter calling Tony Dad (which he didn’t even realize he did), Peter assumed Rhodey had been informed.
He was wrong.
Rhodey hadn’t been informed of the situation prior to coming to the Tower, not thinking anything would be too different. The Rogues, obviously, were going to be different, but he was already used to seeing them in the years before the Civil War. When Rhodey checked up on his friend, slightly worried about his mental well-being from being in close proximity to his former teammates, he’d gotten a photo of Clint hanging half-in half-out of the vents while Sam screamed at him. He was doing fine.
So, when he walked into the common room he wasn’t expecting much to be different. The elevator doors opened and he walked out. He heard a yell, and Clint smacked into the floor from wherever he was hiding, lifting his face up to look at Rhodey with a huge grin. “Rhodey! Man, it’s good to see you again!”
Rhodey chuckled at his antics, grasping the outstretched hand and doing that bro clasp thing that involved smacking the other guy’s back. “It’s good to see you, too, Clint.”
“Rhodey? Hello, it’s nice to see you again.” Steve popped up from behind the wall, face lighting up when he spots the Colonel.
There is an exchange of greetings throughout the room, and Rhodey thinks ‘hey, this is pretty normal’ and then Sam starts questioning him. “So, uh, you know about the kid?”
“The what?” Kid? “Who?” Did they know about Spider-man?
Clint raises an eyebrow. “Little dude? About ye tall? Curly brown hair? Acts exactly—”
“—Like Tony?” Rhodey finishes, nodding in understanding. “You’ve all met Peter?”
Before anyone else can respond to him, he hears a familiar scream of “Uncle Rhodey!” Speak of the devil. His face splits into a grin as he turns around to find Peter’s young face speeding towards him.
When Rhodey hears Peter call Tony ‘Dad’, he thinks nothing of it. They’ve been joking around with those titles for months, and Rhodey already declared himself the Fun Uncle (insert Happy’s not-so-happy reaction). After sending Peter back on his way with a wave from everyone, he turns back to the Rogues standing behind him. They didn’t seem too surprised with the visit. “Anyway, you’ve all met Peter before, right? Pretty cool guy.”
“Yeah, we met him a few days ago. He’s a lot of fun to be around. But how did Tony manage to keep his son a secret from his teammates for so long?” That was Wanda, being as blunt as ever. She didn’t mean any harm, she was simply curious.
Steve is quick to butt in though. “We were just surprised when we met him, is all! He’s a very sweet kid.”
Rhodey’s mind is whirling. Son??? What in the world happened when he was gone? Luckily, he was quick at thinking on his feet. “Peter is really sweet, probably the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet. How did you guys meet him?” He needed to figure out what was happening lest he ruin whatever Peter and Tony had going for them.
He was quickly filled in about their first meeting and how they had caught Peter calling Tony ‘Dad’ and how unbelievably paternal Tony had been all weekend. Rhodey wanted to snort when he learned exactly why they all believed Tony and Peter were related.
It took him weeks of teasing before they were even able to call each other by those titles, and that was only jokingly. Who knew it would just take a few Rogue Avengers walking in for them to be open about it?
But this was the perfect opportunity to embarrass them, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face. “How about I tell you a bit more about Tony’s Dad-like tendencies?” Rhodey didn’t spend hours consoling a very frantic Tony Stark about his emotions for no reason.
And that’s how Tony finds them later, laughing at him.
Rhodey’s voice carries over to him. “And once Peter didn’t reply to his texts for hours and he was about ready to get into one of his suits and fly over to his school.”
Natasha was smirking at him, having been the first to notice him walk in. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Clint is giggling. “‘Cause after finding out that he actually did fly his metal ass across New York because of an accidental butt-dial, that seems pretty chill.” That makes everyone in the room start laughing.
Tony raises an eyebrow, understanding showing across his face. “So I leave you alone for a day and you’ve all already started talking shit behind my back?”
The Rogues sober up immediately, Steve especially, and Tony feels a little bad because they'd been able to get along so well without an argument so far, but Rhodey is quick to break the tension. He continues to tease him, “This is what you get for forcing me out of a very important meeting to ask me to check up on the kid when you were out of the state.”
The billionaire rolls his eyes, smiling at his friend, knowing he didn’t mean any harm. While he was a little uncomfortable with his old teammates knowing all the stupid things he’d done since he started caring for the Spider-ling, it would be a good way to ease back into their old dynamic. They used to tease each other all the time.
As Tony was getting more coffee (a new pot, since he was sure Clint had drank straight from the old one), Rhodey walked over to him. “So, when was I going to get the memo that my nephew was now public information?”
Tony cringed. “Sorry, platypus. I didn’t think you’d be coming for another week at least. But yeah, he’s now publicly my son.” He said the last bit in a low voice, but kept to his cover just in case anyone else was close enough to overhear.
Rhodey nodded. “About time. Is he going to be here tonight?”
“Nope, but he’ll be back tomorrow.”
“What? Peter won’t be here?” Steve questioned.
“Nope.” Tony responded casually, as if the information that his son didn’t always stay with him was common knowledge. “C’mon, do you think I would have been able to keep him a secret if he lived with me 24/7? He’s with his aunt.”
Natasha and Clint shrugs, seeming to accept that reasoning. It would explain why neither of them had found Peter in the years before, but they would have expected Tony to try and keep Peter even farther away because of the Civil War fiasco. Natasha is still slightly suspicious, but Clint knows what it’s like to want to keep family safe and leaves it alone.
“Huh. Gonna be weird without him here.” Sam remarks. “Was gonna tease him about the time he fell asleep standing up and nearly gave you a heart attack in the middle of the night.”
Tony raises an eyebrow at them. “Just how much did Rhodey tell you guys?”
He gets smirks in response. “Enough.”
Rhodey smiles. “How about I show you guys that ugly Dad sweater—”
“I will actually throw you off of this Tower if you even try, honeybear.” He narrows his eyes at his best friend, but before they can continue the conversation, his phone rings in his pocket. The Mii theme plays, and he immediately knows it’s Peter calling.
He plucks it out of his jeans, already swiping answer without hesitation as he walks out of the room, ignoring all the knowing looks his teammates are sending him. “Hey, Pete. How’s school?”
“Sucks, but not why I called.” Peter’s voice comes from the phone.
“Shoot.”
“May’s asking if we both can go to the Tower tomorrow? She says she wants to meet the other guys, and she knows Pepper is arriving tomorrow too and she wants to hang out and drink wine or something.”
Tony shrugs even though he knows his son can’t see him. “Why not? They’ve just asked me why you aren’t coming back home today. It would make sense to introduce them both. Plus, Pepper was bugging me to invite you both for dinner already. Win-win.”
“Yes! Thanks, Dad. See you tomorrow!” Peter cheers. Tony’s heart does the funny flip thing it does every time Peter calls him Dad.
He chuckles warmly. “No problem, kid. Stay safe, and see you tomorrow.”
As he hangs up, he wonders what adventures tomorrow will bring.