Work Text:
Scott always felt sort of uncomfortable around the ultra-rich. It wasn’t a political stance, but it felt like no one really needed mansions or private jets or, ahem, towers. So he was, to say the least, a little out of his element in Stark Tower. And maybe a little nervous to be meeting its inhabitants.
Not that any part of the day had been un-intimidating. When his plane landed in New York that morning, he already felt a little nauseous, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t motion sickness. Sure, he’d met a few Avengers before. But that was Ant-Man in battle mode, and this was Scott Lang heading over to sign some papers.
He’d been surprised when the other ‘Rogue Avengers’ had agreed to sign, and he guessed he didn’t have much choice from that point on. He had concerns. Mostly to do with his family. He didn’t want to sign anything that might put his family at risk. He didn’t want Cassie’s life to become a government concern. Plus, he didn’t really think of himself as a big enough deal to need to sign the Accords. Would signing the Accords mean that the Avengers would expect more involvement from him?
But he’d talked to Clint about it, and they kept bugging him about it, so he finally agreed. Clint had assured him that he wouldn’t be putting Cassie at any increased risk, and that they wouldn’t expect too much from him. It seemed like the Accords had been slimmed down a lot, and at this point it was mostly a bureaucratic thing. So if everyone was gonna keep bugging him about it, Scott figured he might as well sign.
And so when he got off the plane this morning, Steve Rogers and Clint Barton were there to meet him. Which again, felt weird. He didn’t consider himself to be in the same superhero class as the Avengers. And certainly looking at Captain America, he didn’t feel like he was in the same class. But they’d been very nice, and Captain America was actually a really friendly guy. They’d taken him to Stark Tower, and past all the security, and up to a conference room with Black Widow and Falcon. And then he’d read a bunch of papers (and had them explained to him), and he signed. It took such a short amount of time that Scott wondered if the trip to New York was a waste. Seems like they could’ve just mailed it to him.
Everyone else also seemed to realize how short the process had been because they made a big deal of him staying to hang out a bit and ‘get to know everyone.’ So, now Scott was sitting on a couch in their common room, dreadfully losing in Mario Kart to Clint and Sam.
“Man, you suck at this,” Sam commented, as Scott finally managed to finish - in last place.
“Yeah,” Scott nodded. “Yes, I do.” He put down the controller and hopped off the couch, eager to get away from that game.
“I’ll take over,” Natasha offered, jumping over the couch to snatch up his remote. Scott could already tell that she would be a much better player.
Scott sighed. Steve looked at him from the kitchen area.
“He should meet Tony,” Steve began.
“You trying to scare him away?” Sam laughed.
Scott watched as Nat’s head whipped around. (Somehow, even with her eyes off the screen, she was winning.) “Steve, that’s probably not a great idea. He’s been, well, a complete prick since his leg snapped.”
“I was kind of wondering about hanging out in Tony Stark’s tower without Tony Stark,” Scott laughed. “What happened to him?”
Scott had found Stark’s absence weird. He hadn’t asked because he thought maybe they just weren’t all on good terms yet. Didn’t want to stir up an uncomfortable topic.
“He, uh,” Steve mumbled. “He broke his leg.”
“Ha!” Clint laughed. “Steve broke his leg.”
“Okay, it was an accident!” Steve shouted. “We were training. I, uh, miscalculated. I guess I sort of forgot he wasn’t wearing his suit.”
“You broke his leg?” Scott raised his eyebrows. “Oof. That probably wasn’t great for morale.”
“That is such an understatement,” Nat shook her head. “It’s a good thing we were all there because Tony was mad . He may not have had his suit, but he had his repulsors and Steve was almost dust.”
“Yeah, well,” Steve shrugged. “Accidents happen. He’s gotta forgive me sometime.” He looked at Scott again. “He would’ve been down here to greet Scott if he was up and walking. They should meet.”
Scott didn’t have time to say anything before Steve was walking to the elevator. “FRIDAY, let Tony know I’m coming up with Scott to introduce them.”
“You’re gonna go to his floor? Are you trying to get him to kill you?” Clint asked, somewhat concerned.
“He’s in a wheelchair! I’m not gonna make him come downstairs.” Steve smirked. “Besides, as long as he’s injured, FRIDAY has to let us onto his floor.”
Sam shook his head. “Yep, he wants to die. Sorry, Scott, best of luck! Try to stay out of striking range.”
Scott felt like he should object, but he didn’t know what to say. So instead, he just followed Steve into the elevator, vaguely curious about Tony Stark’s private floor.
And when the elevator doors opened again he thought it was.. surprisingly welcoming? Scott wasn’t sure what he expected from a billionaire’s living room, but this seemed too comfy. It was a similar layout to the common room, but the couch was a little smaller, and Scott noticed the fuzzy blanket lying across the back. The same white tile that Scott had noticed throughout the building was covered here by a deep blue throw rug. On the kitchen counter next to a fruit bowl were Rice Krispies Treats and juice boxes. Which Scott thought was a little weird, but he figured most billionaires had eccentricities. That was until he noticed the pictures. On the wall and the coffee table were two or three pictures of Tony Stark and some kid. Scott picked up one of the pictures of Tony and the boy off the table. Both of them were smiling broadly and had their arms around each others’ backs. Scott smiled as a realization hit him.
“Hey, I didn’t know Tony Stark had a kid! Very cute.” Scott couldn’t help but smile looking at the picture. Being a fellow dad definitely made Tony Stark less intimidating. How come Scott hadn’t known? Maybe it was a quiet thing to keep the kid out of the spotlight. Celebrities are weird like that. But then again, Scott could understand the desire to protect.
“What?” Steve whipped his head around to look at Scott. “Tony does not have a kid.”
Scott’s face scrunched up in confusion. He looked down at the two figures in the photo, the two heads of wavy brown hair laughing and hugging, and he very much wanted to disagree.
“Oh, I just thought... ‘cause the pictures. Is this like his nephew or something?” He held up the photo for Steve to see and pointed at another photo on the wall across the room from him.
Steve started walking over to Scott, eyebrows furrowed at the picture. “I… I don’t know.”
“Uh hello? What are you doing?”
At some point when they had had their backs turned, Stark had come into the room. Scott jumped out of his skin, nearly dropping the picture in the process. He caught it, but he did notice Stark’s eyebrows shoot up in concern as the picture slipped between his hands. Flushing, Scott put the picture back down on the table. Nice going, Scott thought to himself. Good first impression.
Tony was really having a terrible week. He knew it had been an accident when Steve broke his leg. He forgot that Tony wasn’t wearing the suit. He knew it had been an accident, and that almost made it worse. Because how could you be so careless as to completely forget that your strength could break someone’s leg? Just because it was an accident didn’t mean Tony wasn’t gonna be mad and wasn’t gonna complain.
He was honestly lucky Peter was spending the week with him while May was at a conference. Even though Peter had laughed a bit when he found out what happened, Tony could tell Peter felt bad for him, and having Peter around meant he had almost no reason to see any of the Avengers for the rest of the week. Almost. There was the issue of Ant-Man coming.
Although Tony really wasn’t a people person, normally he would have greeted someone who was coming to his Tower to sign the Accords. But being friendly or helpful or even tolerable was a little beyond Tony right now. Plus, he was irritated enough trying to get used to using a wheelchair between his floor and the lab, so he wasn’t really jumping at the opportunity to show someone around floor to floor.
But just because Tony wasn’t thrilled to move around in a wheelchair didn’t mean that anyone could just come up to his floor whenever they wanted. Except, apparently, it did. When FRIDAY told him Steve and Ant-Man were coming up, he immediately told her not to let them in. He would much rather meet them on the common floor if he had to. But it seemed as long as he was injured, he couldn’t stop his ‘friends’ from coming to his floor. Seemed like there should be some work around there if the ‘friend’ in question was the one who injured him to begin with.
So that’s how Tony ended up wheeling into his own living room to find Steve and a stranger wandering around looking at his pictures.
“Uh hello? What are you doing?” Tony asked.
The stranger practically jumped in surprise, nearly dropping the picture in the process. Tony narrowed his eyes.
“Uh, hi,” Ant-Man squeaked as he put the picture down.
“Yeah, ‘uh hi,’ to you too,” Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he wheeled closer to them. Tony eyed Steve, who was still looking at the picture curiously. “Beginning to think this ‘meeting me upstairs’ gesture is just a plot to infiltrate my personal space, Rogers.”
“Just trying to make things easier for you, Tony,” Steve finally peeled his eyes away from the picture, but the confusion lingered. “Who’s the kid in all the pictures?”
“Irrelevant,” Tony dismissed. He stuck out his hand to the other man in the room, who now looked uncomfortable and vaguely embarrassed. Good. “You must be the bug man.”
“Oh, bug man! Like an exterminator - that’s funny.” Tony looked over to Steve as Ant-Man laughed, too loudly. Tony could tell he was pretty nervous.
The other man seemed to notice that neither of them were laughing, and he gulped. “Yeah, I’m Ant-Man. I mean, Scott Lang. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry about your privacy. And your leg.”
“Well, you didn’t do this.” Cue the pointed glare at Rogers. “Or insist on meeting me on my private floor, I’m sure.” Another pointed glare at Rogers. “So, did you sign?”
“Oh, yeah! Yeah, all signed up.” Tony watched as Scott rubbed his hands awkwardly on his pants. “Yeah, just meeting everyone now. I think we’re all finished with the official stuff.” Scott looked to Steve for confirmation.
“Yeah, he’s all set.” Steve still seemed distracted, and Tony noticed his eyes wandering around the room. “Just thought we should introduce you.”
“Hm,” Tony nodded. “Well, I’m Tony Stark. You’re Scott Lang. It’s been a pleasure.”
Tony began backing up the wheelchair.
“It’s funny,” Steve cut in. “When we were waiting for you, Scott noticed the pictures of you and this kid.” Steve gestured to one of the pictures of him and Peter. Tony’s eyes hardened. “He thought this kid was your son. Funny, huh?”
Steve looked at Tony expectantly, only to be met with silence and raised eyebrows. “So, you know, who’s the kid?”
Tony looked between Steve and Scott, who looked increasingly more uncomfortable as time passed. He really didn’t owe them an explanation for the photos in his living room, where they showed up uninvited . But he figured it wouldn’t help the ‘honesty’ and ‘trust-building’ if he just ignored them either.
“He’s my intern,” Tony offered, hoping naively that that would end the conversation.
“Your… intern?” Steve looked at Scott, one eyebrow raised. “You have a teenage intern? And you’re… close? You have pictures of him?”
Tony crossed his arms. “Yes, I have a teenage intern. He’s very smart. Might even say ‘prodigy.’ You also might even say, ‘None of your business.’”
Steve narrowed his eyes. “It just seems… unlike you. You don’t like kids. Or people.” He turned towards the picture on the wall. “Plus, this kid looks a lot like you. Sure you aren’t related?”
“Yes, I’m sure. We don’t even look-”
Tony was interrupted by the elevator opening behind him. Of course. He craned his neck around to see the topic of conversation walk into the room.
“Excellent timing, kid-” Tony began, sarcastically.
Peter didn’t look up from his phone, which he appeared to be typing on vigorously. “Can’t talk. Essay due, ten minutes. Gotta finish. Go to room now. Talk later.” Peter disappeared down the hallway.
“You’re writing an essay on your phone?!” Tony called after him, but he was gone. Tony turned back to the two superheroes in front of him. He sighed.
“Anyway, I think you were leaving?”
Steve stared wide-eyed at the hallway Peter had just walked down. “You have a kid. My God, you have a kid. How could you have kept a secret kid for this long? How long have you known him?”
“Steve, I do not have a kid. He’s my intern,” Tony tried.
“Oh, come on, Tony, he just came home from school and went to his room!”
Tony’s would-be reply was interrupted by Scott laughing, loudly.
“I have a kid too, man! She’s like a lot younger, and a girl, but you know, we’re kind of in similar boats. You know, like with the dad-ing and the superhero-ing. That’s so cool, man. Does Clint know? I mean, ‘cause he had the whole secret family thing too.”
Tony frowned, deeply, arms crossed as Scott ranted. Scott must’ve taken this as some sign of privacy concerns.
“Oh, no worries! I won’t tell anyone. I mean, like, if you don’t want Clint to know, I just won’t tell him. And obviously like, I wouldn’t tell anyone like, you know, on the outside.” Scott looked from Steve to Tony and back to Steve. Tony furrowed his eyebrows.
“I,” Tony sighed. “I don’t know how to handle this. That’s not my kid. Can I convince you that’s not my kid?”
“No.” Steve paused, thinking. “Well, maybe if he’s like a nephew or a cousin or something. Is he?”
Tony considered it. “No.”
“Yeah, so, I’m definitely not buying ‘intern.’ Can we meet him?” Steve seemed to have moved past his complete shock towards mild excitement.
Tony shrugged. “Didn’t you hear? He’s writing an essay.”
“I finished my essay!” Peter shouted from the hallway. Tony really did roll his eyes this time. “Okay, so, maybe I should have done that last night, like on my laptop instead of my phone, but ya know, it’s finished. And Mr. Dell is usually a pretty easy grader, so…” Peter’s voice trailed off as he entered the room and came face to face with Captain America and Ant-Man. “I, uh,” He looked at Tony, eyes wide, and then back to the two superheroes. And then back to Tony. And then back to the other two. “Hello.”
“Hello.” Steve nodded.
“Hi!” Scott smiled.
There was an awkward pause in which Tony felt three sets of eyes bore into him. He pretended not to notice, until the silence became too irritating. “Oh, um, Peter this is Captain America and Ant-Man. Steve, Scott, this is Peter, my intern .”
“It’s nice to meet you, son.” Steve smiled. Peter seemed to register that Captain America was excited to meet him. Steve stuck out his hand.
“Oh, yeah! It’s, like, so cool to meet you!” Peter shook his hand, vigorously. Steve seemed surprised, and Tony wondered if he’d shown a little too much of his strength.
Scott stuck out his hand next. “Yeah, it’s great to meet you.” He looked at Steve and Tony, a question in his eyes, but Tony wasn’t sure what it was. “I, uh, I also have an intern . She’s much younger than you, but you know, one day she might like to meet another superhero’s, uh, intern .”
Tony covered his face with his hands. He could feel Peter’s questioning eyes on him. “Um, okay,” Peter began. “Yeah, I’d, uh, love to meet her?” Peter looked to Tony for answers.
Tony sighed. “Okay, this is a mess. Peter is legitimately my intern. My literal intern. My very confused, very literal intern.” Tony looked between Peter and the other men. He shook his head. “Not my kid.”
“Your kid? Wait, you guys thought…” Peter seemed to process the implication, and Tony expected him to look embarrassed or flushed. Instead, he laughed. Loudly and for a long time, he laughed. Which felt rude.
“Oh, my God,” Peter gripped his side from laughing. “Oh, my God. That’s hilarious. You guys really thought?” He gestured to Tony. “You really thought he was my dad ?” Peter kept laughing. Tony put his arms on his hips.
“Okay, I don’t feel like it warrants that much laughter.”
“No, no, it does.” Peter assured him. “It’s funny.” Peter looked off into the distance dramatically. “Peter Stark. Heir to the Stark fortune. Hidden from the world to protect his identity. Locked away in his fancy tower.” Peter nodded, satisfied with his fairy tale. “It’s very funny.” He told Tony matter-of-factly.
“Okay, alright, I get it. Laugh it up.” In spite of himself, Tony felt a smile pulling on his lips.
“Uh, what’s happening?” Scott cut in.
“I told you guys he was just my intern.”
“You have a daughter. That’s what you meant?” Peter smiled at Scott.
“Uh, yes.”
“That’s cool, man. I’d love to meet your daughter if for some reason she would like to meet Tony Stark’s intern.” Peter smiled genuinely.
“So,” Steve cut in. “You really have a teenage intern?”
“I really have a teenage intern,” Tony replied.
“He really has a teenage intern,” Peter echoed.
Steve squinted his eyes and still seemed unconvinced. Scott just looked thoroughly confused.
Scott was pretty sure this was a bad first impression. Like definitively on the bad side. Maybe not his worst, though. Still bad.
There was an awkward silence.
“So, what are you guys doing up here?” Peter’s eyes lingered on Steve. “You didn’t come to break my leg too, did ya?”
Scott watched as Steve’s eyes went wide. Tony tried somewhat to disguise his laugh as a cough.
“Uh, no, that was an accident,” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, looking somewhat concerned. “I wouldn’t do that. On purpose.”
Peter smirked. “Just kidding, Captain.”
Steve nodded. Scott felt like he should laugh, but he didn’t want to risk making things more awkward. The silence lingered a little more, then Steve continued. “We were just, uh, introducing Scott and Tony. And you, I guess.”
“Well, I think we’re all thoroughly introduced,” Tony rushed. “Nice meeting you, Scott.”
“Yes! Yeah,” Scott replied, vaguely aware he was speaking too loud and too fast. “It was, uh, very nice meeting you.”
“Cool,” Tony looked at them expectantly. “You guys gonna go now?”
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Steve nodded and started walking towards the elevator. Scott followed.
The elevator doors were closing when Scott heard the kid, Peter, start laughing again. “Come on, Pops,” Peter chuckled. “Lab time!”
The elevator doors closed, and Scott let out a relieved sigh. “That was weird, right?”
“So, so weird.” Steve confirmed, shaking his head.
Scott nodded. He had already felt like the Avengers were a little… well odd. They all lived in the same tower like a perpetual sleepover. And Captain America accidentally broke Iron Man’s leg. And now Iron Man, who is notoriously anti-social, has a teenage intern who despite all signs pointing otherwise is not his son. Or even related to him.
All things considered, Scott felt pretty ready to head back to California.