Work Text:
The sound of a child's giggles was what alerted the Avengers that there was someone in the building.
Immediately, Natasha looked for Scott and was a little surprised to see him there... Or rather to see him as he was. She was half-expecting him to be a toddler and giggling.
Scott raised his hands up, catching Natasha's train of thought. "That's not me. I'm right here. And a grown man, thank you very much."
Tony knew that sound well enough. He was often the cause of it, loved to hear it over and over. It was music to his ears.
Morgan was in the building which also meant that Pepper was in the building. But why, he didn't know.
When he left the house earlier today, Pepper was in the kitchen making lunch. He had deeply kissed her goodbye because he wouldn't be seeing her for a couple days (not if they were going to pull an all nighter on this time heist).
"Daddy, what about me?" Morgan piped from her chair. She was mincing lettuce with a child friendly knife (they were trying to raise her up the Montessori way and so far it was a blast).
"Well, can't forget about you now, can I?" Tony planted a kiss on the top of her head, savoring the smell of her. He needed it like he needed air. "Don't tell Mommy this but you give the best kisses."
"I can hear you, you know," said Pepper.
Morgan giggled, melodious and clear. She kissed Tony goodbye and that was the last time he thought he'd see them for quite a while.
Turned out he was wrong.
There was a sound of someone running now and all heads turned as a small figure quickly entered the common room, heading towards Tony and burying her face in his legs.
"Mommy told me to come and feed you."
The mysterious giggler was finally revealed.
It was Morgan Stark and coming up behind her was Pepper.
Tony hefted Morgan up in his arms. The little girl scanned the room's occupants and beamed when she saw a familiar face. "Hi, Uncle Bruce!"
The green giant waved.
"Morgan, what about everybody else?" asked Pepper.
"Hi, everyone," Morgan added shyly.
"Hi!" said Natasha, eyes immediately softening at Morgan.
There was an echo of hellos and Tony walked over to Pepper and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing here?"
Pepper pushed past him, smiling and addressing the rest of the team with her reply, "I brought food."
"Food?" Scott's head perked up. He was starving. He was always starving nowadays. It was probably the five hours (years) of fasting catching up to him.
Pepper placed two bags on the table and started pulling out Tupperwares. "Because knowing you guys, you probably only have bread and peanut butter in the compound."
"She isn't wrong," said Scott again, rubbing his hands together and taking a seat.
Steve looked at Tony, almost asking permission, because this was Tony's life now and Steve wouldn't involve the family with what they were doing if Tony wasn't okay with it.
Tony sighed and nodded. He put Morgan down and started the introductions.
"Everybody this is Morgan. Morgan, this is your Uncle Steve, he's older than he looks," he whispered the last part audibly.
On and on he went, introducing each team member to his daughter and giving a description for each one. "Uncle Bruce, you know him, Uncle Scott, loves ants, and Aunt Nat, she's a ballet dancer."
"No way!" Morgan cried, forgetting her initial shyness among these people. She remembered seeing them at the house yesterday but they didn't seem to be in a good mood then. Now, they seemed different. More relaxed.
Natasha waved and walked over to her. "I was at your first birthday, you know." Crouching, she started a conversation with the girl and Tony was grateful.
"This is Pepper. You all know Pepper."
"I don't," admitted Scott. He waved at Pepper and Pepper waved back. "I'm Scott."
"I know."
"Wait, you know? How do you know?" Scott pointed at her. "You're an Ant-Man fan!"
"A what?"
Scottg groaned while Steve laughed.
"I'm kidding," Pepper said, sending an apologetic look at Scott. "Hope told me a lot about you."
Scott's eyes widened "You know... knew Hope?" There was a hint of desperation in his voice, anything to have a connection with Hope again... even if it had to be through another person.
"Yeah. She and Tony bonded when they were younger."
Scott turned to Tony. "You didn't tell me that! She didn't tell me that!"
"We like to pretend we hate each other's guts," said Tony with a shrug. "But Hank Pym probably really does hate me."
"But how do you know Hope?" Scott asked Pepper.
"Of course I know her. We're both female CEOs with idiotic boyfriends."
Tony barked out a laugh while Scott said, "You know you're included in that barb, right?"
"Joke's on you because I'm her ex-boyfriend."
Pepper rolled her eyes before clapping her hands, getting everyone's attention. She was always good at that, thought Tony.
Natasha, Morgan, Bruce, and Steve gathered around the table.
"Okay, so Morgan and I made tacos," said Pepper
"Neat!" Frankly, they could've brought grilled cheese and Scott would still be drooling.
"I chopped the lettuce!" said Morgan.
"Looks choppafied!" Scott winked at Morgan who laughed.
"That's not a word," Tony said to Morgan.
"So, here's the grated cheese, the taco shells, the ground beef, the guac, the yogurt, the diced tomatoes. Tony this is for you." Pepper handed her husband a different container.
"He gets a different meal?" asked Scott, already assembling his taco.
"I'm on a gluten free diet," Tony told him, settling his own lunch down on the table. To Pepper he said, "Can I talk to you for a minute? Don't touch my food," he said to Scott.
Scott wore a face that said he wouldn't dream of eating something so healthy.
Pepper nodded, leaving Morgan to teach Bruce who was pretending to be stumped on how to make a taco.
She followed Tony out to the hall where the gang could still see them through the glass, but not overhear their conversation.
"So, last night was..." Pepper blew out a breath, recalling the intimate moment between them, "Whoo. We should have a Last Night more often."
"What are you doing here?" Tony asked her. It wasn't that he was unhappy to see his family. It was more along the lines of him not wanting them anywhere near here in case their time heist backfired.
"I told you. We brought lunch."
"You know what I mean."
Pepper nodded, her face growing somber. "You and I both know there's only two ways this mission is gonna end."
"Pep."
"So, either way, I'm gonna make the most out of what time I have left with you by bugging you to eat and shower because we know you need the reminder. And what I need you to do, is act normally for Morgan's sake because she's super observant which she totally got from you, by the way. I don't know why she's such a smartass at four years old--"
"You're rambling." She always rambled when she was nervous.
"Who's fault is that?"
And that's when Tony wrapped his arms around her tightly. God, he didn't deserve such a woman.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too."
From inside the room, they could hear Morgan say, "Hey, that's my sled!"
The couple pulled apart to see Steve failing to explain how he got the vibranium shield and did not in fact steal it from the garage.
"You should probably--"
"Yeah, I'm on it." Tony hurried back saying, "Morgan, that's not your sled. That's Uncle Steve's sled."
...
"So you can talk to Ants?" asked Steve, still awed at that piece of information. They've really got it all now, huh?
"Yeah!" Scott said to him, "Want me to call one? Cause I will if Captain America wants me to."
Steve ignored the teasing grin on Natasha's face. He knew Scott was a big fan.
"What do you say, Morgan?" Steve addressed the girl, instead.
Morgan nodded her head vigorously.
"That's a go, Ant-Man."
Scott saluted and barked "Aye, aye Captain!"
Morgan giggled.
Scott closed his eyes and pressed two fingers to his temple a la that bald telepathic character from that really old comic. "Calling ANT-ony Stark, I repeat, ANT-ony Stark."
Tony rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut. He wasn't gonna ruin this moment for Morgan.
"Please fly in the room and land on Morgan's finger."
The whole room was silent. They had seen Scott grow big and small before but never saw him use this particular skill. Bruce was looking on wide eyed.
There was a small buzzing and a flying ant landed on top of Morgan's middle finger.
Scott opened his eyes and grinned, pleased with himself.
"Wow!" Morgan looked up at Tony. "Daddy, can I have a pet ant?"
"Sure, honey. You know, Uncle Scott can make them grow big too."
"Like a dog?"
"You can do that right?" Tony turned to Scott.
"Yeah," Scott said but his heart wasn't much in it anymore. The dog-ant reminded Scott of a time so far away now. Cassie was smaller then.
He made another taco before excusing himself.
"That time travel, phew," he reasoned, "I feel like I'm eating for baby me and old me. I'm gonna go eat this outside. I need some air." He took his taco for to-go and walked out.
"Someone tell him to wait until Nebula and Rocket land their ship or he'll be smelling a lot more fuel than fresh air," said Natasha, wiping her fingers on a napkin.
"Nebula's coming?" asked Morgan with a smile.
The sound of a ship's engine overhead answered Morgan's question and her smile broadened.
"Ah, that's my cue to leave," said Bruce, slinging a messenger bag over his body, and then wrapping his two tacos up too.
"Good luck," Steve said to him.
Bruce nodded and went in the same direction Scott did.
Shortly after, Nebula sauntered into the room, followed by Rhodey.
"I smell tacos!" Rhodey announced, immediately sitting down and grabbing a shell. He finally noticed Morgan sitting beside him and said, "Oh, hey Morgan Freeman."
"Hi, Uncle Rhodey. Nebula! It's snack time! Sit with me!" Morgan placed the taco shell on a paper plate and immediately told Nebula all about the taco and what to put inside it.
Nebula nodded at the child and was picking up the taco when the shell cracked in two right down the middle.
She blinked, not expecting it. She dropped the shell on her plate and rubbed her fingers together to get the crumbs off. "It's fragile. Why is it fragile like your human bodies?"
"Now, that's a word," Tony pointed at Morgan, "Fragile. Means it breaks easily." He handed a new taco shell to Nebula, "Handle with care."
Pepper took over, holding Nebula's taco shell for her while the latter chose and scooped up toppings.
"Daddy, why's the taco fragile?"
"Because it's hollow. And also so that we can learn how to take care of fragile stuff, to use our strength wisely, to protect the weak."
"Wow," said Natasha. "I didn't know you had it in you to wax poetic."
"Every moment's a teachable moment."
"Daddy teaches me lots of words," Morgan informed Natasha while Tony confirmed that with a proud nod. "Last night, I learned the word shit."
Steve sent Tony a horrified look while Rhodey doubled over in laughter.
There was a soft yet familiar sound of something crackling and all heads turned to see Nebula's taco crushed on her plate. Apparently, Pepper had dropped it, startled at the recent reveal.
"You what?" came Pepper's question.
"Oh boy," Steve muttered under her breath.
"I just want to eat," Nebula mumbled, grabbing another taco. This time she did it super slowly and gently.
"No, no, no," Tony said to a Morgan who looked strangely pleased with herself. If he didn't know any better she knew exactly what she meant to say with that sentence. Pepper was right. Smartass. "I said that was Mommy's word. Only she's allowed to say it."
Rhodey laughed harder while Pepper hit Tony in the arm.
"Way to deflect the blame, Tony," said Natasha, shaking her head.
Morgan turned to Nebula, ignoring her parents argument. Nebula was putting lettuce on her taco as carefully as possible.
"Do you like it?" Morgan asked when Nebula had her first bite (finally!) "I chopped the lettuce and I packed it all up properly."
Nebula smiled, nodding as she chewed. "It's tasty despite its physical defects and weak structure."
Rhodey snorted and Tony patted his back. With a look to Nebula, Tony said, "You and I need to work on your choice of words. The taco is not weak or physically defected. Morgan, what's the word mommy always uses?"
"Shit?"
Rhodey was laughing again and Pepper buried her face in her hands.