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Pepper and Rhodey never claimed to be geniuses. No, that was Tony's specialty. But they really thought they nailed it right in the head with their very compelling case.
It all started a few weeks ago. Pepper had extremely important documents for Tony to sign and hurriedly made her way up to the penthouse. Usually she didn't bug Tony about work after hours like this, but it was something that couldn't wait. When the doors to the elevator opened, it revealed a very domestic scene that was unfamiliar to Pepper. Tony was cooking.
He was conversing with a boy who sat at the kitchen island, backpack slouched on the ground with homework scattered all around him. He had beautiful brown curls that rested atop his head and even prettier brown eyes. They conveyed such innocence and knowledge that Pepper was slightly blown away. Overall, this boy reminded her of Tony.
As she approached, she cleared her throat to gain the attention of the other two in the room. The boy's eyes widen and an excited grin curled up his lips, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. You're Pepper Potts!"
He was basically bouncing in his barstool, looking back and forth between Tony and Pepper in excitement. "Wow, kid. You can at least act a bit more enthusiastic." Tony said with a smirk, motioning for Pepper to come closer.
"Tony, stop messing with him." Pepper said, extending her arm to shake the boy's hand, "What might your name be?" His hand flung to take hers, eagerly shaking it up and down, "Peter ma'am! Oh my gosh, it's such an honor. My friend MJ is going to freak out when I tell her about this."
Pepper raised an eyebrow towards Tony, a silent question on to who the hell this boy was. The older man clicked his tongue and flicked his finger against the papers she was holding. "What's this? You know I don't like boring work brought to me after hours."
She admitted that she wasn't going to get an answer right away. Pepper sighed and slid the papers across the island counter, "Documents. Important documents that you need to look over immediately."
Tony yawned and turned back towards the stove, stirring around something in a pot that looked suspicious. Pepper followed him around the counter, "I'm being serious, Tony. We're on a time crunch here and you're not making my job any easier."
"Fine. Let me get this kid some food and then we can look over those boring documents. Want some?" Tony lifted the stew with a large ladle, temping Pepper to want to take a bite. Points to him for trying, but it didn't work. "That doesn't look appetizing at all. Are you seriously trying to distract me with food?"
"Well, that's not very nice. Peter made this from his grandmother's cookbook."
Pepper's jaw dropped and her cheeks flushed, rapidly looking towards the stew and to Peter. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I bet it tastes delicious, Peter."
The boy looked up from what he was writing down and tilted his head in confusion, "What?" A loud bark of laughter sounded from Pepper's left ear and she was seeing red. "Hah, that one was good, Pep. Oh, hey, c'mon! C'mon! It was a joke!"
She shook her head in disbelief while walking down the hallway to set the papers down on Tony's desk. This man just never stopped messing with her. When she made her way back into the kitchen she slammed her hand down, "After dinner, we're going over those papers. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Peter packed up his books awkwardly, "Scary."
The three of them ate their horrible dinner in almost complete silence. Pepper was still mildly annoyed with Tony's jokes and irresponsibility while Peter sat next to her in between sleep and disgust. He had put his spoon down halfway through.
When they had finished and Tony looked at everyone's half eaten plates in amusement, he had taken to packing up the rest of Peter's books and notes into his backpack. "Hey, Pep! I'm going to go put the kid to bed and we'll look over those papers."
She just nodded, arms crossed as she watched the man shuffle a sleepy Peter into his bedroom. A bedroom she didn't even know that he had. She had taken it upon herself to come a little closer to the hallway. She was definitely not eavesdropping.
"You warm enough, Bambino?"
"Mhm. Thank you."
"Alright, I'll see you in the morning. I love you."
"Love you too."
Before Tony could catch her, she silently went back to the spot she was standing before. Did she hear that right? Bambino? I love you? A fond nickname and a declaration of love.
Wait...
Tony never mentioned he had a child.
A million thoughts were racing through Pepper's mind. Who was this kid? Who is his mother? How come Tony never told her about him? How come Tony never told him about her? What chain of events led Peter here? And how come she's never seen him before throughout all the years that she's known Tony?
Her train of thought was cut off when Tony exited the kid's bedroom and silently closed the door. He ran a hand through his hair and made his way towards his office, "Alright, let's get this thing over with."
She just numbly nodded, not knowing what to say after receiving all of this new knowledge. When the two of them reached the privacy of the office, she pulled Tony close to her, "When were you planning on telling me about the kid?"
Tony gave her a look and then scrunched his nose in confusion, "It's not my place to tell? I'm not going to out Peter's life like that. When he was ready, I was going to be ready. Why are you getting so upset about it?"
"Because you hid this from me, Tony! I thought we had some kind of level of trust. When did that stop?"
"It never did! It's the kid's business, not mine! Can we leave it alone for now, please?"
Pepper sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'm guessing you hid this from the rest of the team too?" Tony raised his arms in disbelief, "Yes! I don't know why any of it matters! If it's such a big deal to you, why don't you organize some grand welcome party for the him? I'm sure Peter would love it."
"Fine."
"Fine."
There was an awkward silence before Tony sat down in his chair with a loud sigh, "He's going to hate both of us for this." Pepper thought the painting on the wall was very interesting.
"It's just the Avengers. They won't tell the whole world, they're like family."
The older man ran a hand down his face, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I honestly don't think he'd be too upset about it either. He likes those types of things."
The two of them didn't say anything for awhile before finally deciding to get started on those papers. When they were done, Pepper immediately went to look at color swatches for balloons.
She had a party to plan.
When Rhodey got the text message from Pepper, he could hardly believe it was real. Tony having a kid? He was positive if his best friend had a long lost secret child, he would be the first to know. Nonetheless, he was excited for the big party announcement and went to buying gifts for the both of them.
Rhodey was secretly excited to be an uncle. Wait, that was an extreme understatement. He had been waiting for this moment. He bought the two of them matching uncle shirts, mugs, and hats. The man was excited to meet his new nephew and he wanted him to know that.
He wanted this kid to feel welcomed and not pressured by all the new people he was about to meet. Rhodey wanted to tell him about all the embarrassing Tony moments and take him to ball park games like his uncle used to.
Damn it, he wanted to spoil this kid and he hadn't even met him yet.
The text had specified that it was supposed to be a surprise party for the boy. His name was Peter. There was going to be gifts, cake, and cute bonding activities for all of them. He had heard from Pepper that Peter had really liked Legos, something she had gotten from peeking into his bedroom one day.
Rhodey bought him the newest Lego set.
He figured the best way to get to know the boy was through his father, so he went to pay Tony a visit in the lab when he was sure that Peter wasn't there that day. The man walked in, immediately spotting Tony deep into his project at a work bench. "Hey, Tones! You got a minute?"
Tony just grunted in response, not taking his eyes off of his project. Rhodey figured that this was the best that he was going to get. "I'm going to save all the reprimanding questions for later, but tell me more about the kid. What is he like?"
The other man just sighed, getting up from his slouched position from over the bench, and took a long stretch, "He's super bright, obviously. He talkative, he still plays with Legos, he balances chemical equations for fun. I don't know," he shrugged, "he's the perfect kid."
Rhodey's eyes softened while looking at his best friend try and find words that live up to his son. "You really love him, huh?" Tony looked at Rhodey like he was an alien, "Well, yeah, of course. He got everything from me, why wouldn't I love him?"
He barked out a laugh and clapped Tony on the shoulder, "I'm happy for you, man. I'm serious. You don't know how much I've been anticipating that welcome party."
"Yeah, well. Let's not overwhelm him. He's still new to all of this." He waved his hands around the area for emphasis. "I hear you." Rhodey nodded, looking around the lab and spotting what he assumed was Peter's workbench. The boy had about three different projects he was working on scattered on the table, each one varying in different levels of difficulty. Rhodey let out an impressed whistle, "Wow, you weren't kidding about this kid being a genius."
"If he can keep up with me, he's definitely advanced. Not to toot my own horn or anything." Tony said with a smirk, turning back to what he was working on before Rhodey walked in. "Well, I'm looking forward to next week. The whole team is going to be there—minus Wanda, Vision, and Bucky."
Tony just waved him off, "Awesome." Rhodey just rolled his eyes and made his way back to the elevator, "Don't work too hard!"
"Thanks, honeybear!"
Thankfully, the scene presented in front of Steve didn't ruin the aspect of the surprise party. Instead, it basically knocked the wind out of him seeing Tony so ... vulnerable.
It was a couple of days before the party and the Rouge Avengers, of course, showed up a few days early thanks to Steve's obsession with making a good first impression. Pepper had told him the penthouse was available and Tony was undisturbed, so he took it upon himself to give the man a visit for the first time in awhile.
He certainly hadn't expected to see the man spooning a teenager on the couch, both of them sound asleep. A blanket was thrown haphazardly around their entangled legs and the teenager had a bunch of tissues shoved up his nose. Aw, the kid was sick.
Steve smiled to himself while watching the two of them sleep. Sure, it was a bit creepy, but the human race was always fascinated by things they don't normally see. Pepper told them that Tony had a kid, but he didn't expect him to be this cute. He had a thick head of brown curls, cherubic cheeks, and long thick eyelashes that reminded him of Tony's.
At first glance, yes, this boy was Tony's. In almost every aspect. Steve quietly tiptoed out of the room, his grin becoming bigger the more he walked away. He couldn't believe it. Tony had a kid.
"Okay, okay, okay. Did you guys get gifts? Wait, I already asked that question." Pepper paced back and forth within the penthouse, the rest of the team looking at her with confusion. "Isn't the kid going to be here any minute? Maybe we should stop pacing." Clint spoke up with an eyebrow raised.
Pepper took a deep breath, "Yes. I just want to make sure I didn't forget anything. He might be really nervous and I don't want to make him feel overwhelmed. Tony is very protective of the boy and I just..." She closed her eyes, "I don't want to mess this up."
Rhodey put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, "You did great, Pepper. I'm sure the kid is going to love it. What kid doesn't like parties?"
Nat nodded from the across the room, "I think you did fine. It looks great in here." She offered a small smile. The kitchen island was littered with gifts for Peter and there were balloons in his favorite color strewn around the penthouse. Everyone had kind of went a little overboard upon hearing the news of Tony's kid. Namely Rhodey and Steve had racked up a fair amount of presents for the boy.
"Boss and Mini Boss are on their way up now, Miss Potts." FRIDAY's voice flooded the room. Everyone's eyes widened as they haphazardly tried to figure out what to do.
"Uhm, oh my god. Do I just stand here?" Rhodey said awkwardly, eyes full of panic as he looked around the room. Clint had taken to copying Pepper, pacing around the room, "What if he hates us?!"
Sam had entertained his growing nervousness by mumbling to himself about what he had pictured Peter to look like. Would the boy have brown hair like his dad? Would he have hazel eyes? Was he tall or short? He wouldn't be surprised if he was short, his father wasn't exactly tall.
Nat had also panicked and made sure that the present pile looked okay, nitpicking at every detail and rearranging it until it basically looked like Macy's display racks during holiday season. Steve had stayed calm, but was also awkwardly trying to figure out what to do with his stance. Should he pose? No, ew, that would be catastrophic.
While the Avengers were panicking, the elevator doors opened to reveal what they had all been waiting for. It was Tony's kid. They had all stopped what they were doing, some jaws dropping in disbelief at the young boy in front of their eyes.
He was definitely too innocent for his own good. He had a school bag around his shoulders as his big brown eyes took in his surroundings. He was wearing his signature outfit; a sweater over a button up paired with jeans and sneakers. "Wow!" Peter said in excitement, basically bouncing on his toes.
"Oh my gosh, his little sweater." Nat whispered to Steve. "I know, you should've seen him with tissues stuffed up his nose." The blonde man whispered back, eyes shining at the amount of happiness oozing out of the boy.
"Woah! You guys are the Avengers! Wow, uhm, I—thank you for all of," Peter waved his hands around at the balloons and presents, "this. I honestly didn't think it was that big of a deal."
Tony had walked up to Pepper in confusion. He did agree that this was a bit over the top, even for someone as meticulous as Pepper. Before Tony got the chance to open his mouth, the team rushed up to Peter's side.
"Hey, Peter. I'm Steve Rogers." Peter's eyes widened as he shook the tall man's hand, "I-I'm Peter. Wait, you already know that..." Rhodey came up next and basically shoved Steve out of the way to envelope the boy in a hug, "It's so good to finally meet you. I'm Rhodey, but you can call me Uncle Rhodey."
Peter nervously smiled against his shoulder, "Uh...it's nice to meet you too, Uncle Rhodey?" Clint was next, yanking Rhodey off of the teenager and offering a hair ruffle instead, "I can see where you got all your handsome features." He said with a knowing smirk, glancing back at Tony.
Tony knit his brows in confusion. Eventually, it was all starting to click in his head. Pepper's outburst, Rhodey's excessive interest in Peter, and the dramatic party with a mountain full of gifts. They thought Peter was his son. They thought Peter was meeting the family.
His smirked to himself and crossed his arms in amusement. Oh, this was going to be good.
Nat was next to introduce herself, offering a nice warm handshake, "My name's Natasha. It's very nice to meet you, Peter. We've heard a lot about you." She smiled. Peter's eyes glowed, "Wow! This is so awesome."
Sam introduced himself last, opting to do a nice bro handshake, which Peter took on pretty quickly. "The name's Sam. You look like a smart cookie. You got it from your dad, huh?" Peter tilted his head, "Uhm, I guess so?"
Tony clapped his hands, letting himself have a little fun for once, "Okay guys, I think we should take a look at those presents on the table." Voices of agreement traveled around the room while Peter was seated in a barstool, surrounded by the Avengers eagerly awaiting for the boy to open the gifts they gave him.
"Here, open mine first." Nat said, gently pushing two small boxes towards Peter. "Okay, I'm a little nervous." Peter said with an awkward laugh, shakily peeling away the wrapping paper. He had just received a gift from Black Widow. The Black Widow. Ned was never going to shut up about this.
The first box revealed two small ceramic charms in the shape of Tony and Peter. They had a chain attached to the top, clearly meant to be used as a keychain, charm bracelet, or necklace. To say the boy loved it was and understatement. He lifted up the small charms in his hands and admired it with sparkling eyes, "I love it so much! Look, it's us!" Peter said, excitedly swinging his legs on the barstool. The team 'awed' as Tony ruffled the boy's hair and took a look at it himself, "I'm impressed, Nat. I didn't think you could work on something so delicate."
She shrugged with a smile on her face, "I have many talents. Ceramics happen to be one of them." Peter said three rounds of "thank you"s and moved on through the present pile. Natasha's second gift box included more ceramic charms of each of the Avengers, including Pepper and Happy, much to Peter's enjoyment. He noticed as he continued on within the gift pile, the contents became weirder and weirder. Rhodey had gifted him a new Lego set, but it also came with matching nephew and uncle merch. Not that he was complaining, he was extremely grateful for the gift, but it seemed out of context. Peter just assumed that since he was best friends with Tony, it had to be some kind of inside joke.
He hugged to gifts to his chest and thanked Rhodey, moving along the line. Next up was Sam, who had gave the boy a bunch of gag gifts, like onesies and diapers. It brought a great laugh out of everyone in the penthouse, basically brightening up the place within seconds. Sam eventually revealed the true gift, which was a gift bag consisting of a bunch of different kinds of puzzles. They were the ones that you could put into frames afterwards and display on your wall; the ones Peter happened to collect.
He excitedly thanked Sam and went onto Clint's present. Clint had gotten him a really nice bow with some handmade arrows he had made on the journey to different missions. He had pointed out to Peter that they were made in Japan, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, and the United States. Peter nodded along enthusiastically as the older man explained, thanking him afterwards and moving into Steve's gift.
Steve had gotten Peter a 'comfort basket' as he called it. It had a bunch of snacks, a warm throw blanket, some small activities, and two plane tickets to Malibu, California. "Woah! Are you serious?! I get to go to California?" Peter said, rapidly looking in between Steve and Tony. "Really, Cap?" Tony glared playfully at the other man—who, in turn—patted Tony on the back. "It would be good for him. See who not to be."
Peter giggled, thanking the blonde man and moving on to the very last gift. Pepper had wrung her fingers nervously as the teenage boy grabbed her gift. She really didn't want Peter to get upset and storm off, even though it was highly unlikely since he had been thoroughly enjoying himself so far.
It was true, Peter was having the time of his life. Growing up, he never had any birthday parties because of two problems; he was poor and he had no friends. Walking in to see the Avengers huddled around in the penthouse with gifts just for him, there was no doubt that he was going to have fun.
Peter delicately unwrapped the gift, gasping softly at what was resting on the table. There were two teddy bears connected in the paws by stitches, each one with soft cream colored fur. The one on the left resembled Tony, with it's outfit consisting of a designer suit and small teddy bear-sized sunglasses. The one on the right resembled Peter, with a science pun t-shirt and jeans residing on the bear. They were holding a giant stuffed heart in each free paw; they read "I love my Bambino" and "I love my Dad".
Peter tenderly touched the bears, "Why...?"
Pepper stepped closer to Peter and rubbed her hand on his back, "I thought it would be cute for your room. Tony mentioned you liked teddy bears, so I had some custom-made for the two of you. Welcome to the family, Peter."
Peter breathed out a slow breath and smiled, "Uh, thank you! Really, t-thank you, but I'm—" He looked to all the Avengers with an amused smile on his face, "I'm not sure what this party is for now."
Tony had tried. He really, truly tried to keep it in, but the confused glances of the team sent him over the edge. A loud laugh erupted from the man, nearly sending him on the floor. Everyone watched with their eyebrows knit together.
"Y-You guys—" Tony started, resting himself on the island edge, "—you guys are the most idiotic group of geniuses I've ever met." Peter joined in as well, turning into a fit of giggles while Steve stepped closer, "What's going on here? What's so funny?"
Tony wiped tears from his eyes and used his other hand to rest on Peter's shoulder, "This is Peter Parker, also known as Spider-man." There was a long silence before their eyes popped in realization and they yelled in unison, "What?!"
Questions were flying miles a minute.
"You're telling me this kid is Spider-man?"
"So he's not your son?"
"...Does this mean I don't have a nephew?"
Pepper softly gripped Tony's arm with a worried expression on her face, "What's going on?" Peter hesitantly stood up and raised a hand, "Maybe we got confused? I'm not Mr. Stark's son, but I am Spider-man. I thought the party was to welcome me to the team."
Everyone just blinked rapidly and started their panic, "Wait, but I was talking to you a couple of weeks ago, Tones! You said you loved him because he got everything from you!" Rhodey said, clearly contemplating if his soul was leaving his body or it was just his imagination. "Yes, he did get everything from me! Who do you think made all his suits?"
"Hey! That's the only reason why you love me?" Peter said, playfully hitting out his bottom lip. Tony just rolled his eyes, "It was a joke Bambino. Or should I call you Dumbo instead?"
Steve raised a confused hand and looked between Peter and Tony, "I was up here a few days ago, the two of you were cuddling on the couch. The kid had tissues stuck up his nose; it's obvious the two of you are close on some level. It doesn't scream mentor and mentee to me."
Peter blushed rapidly, mumbling to himself about how embarrassing it was that Captain America had seen him sick. While Peter was figuring out his own crisis, Tony stepped up to the plate, "The kid spends a lot of time here with me. He's got lab days on Wednesday and Friday's and he stays the night on the weekend. I guess somewhere along the line I realized the kid was special; my apologies for not sharing every single detail of my life with you."
Pepper shook her head in disbelief, "But I heard you...you put him to bed and it just looked so domestic to me. You called him Bambino so I just assumed..."
Tony's eyes softened at the woman's words, "Look, clearly there was some misunderstanding along the way. Peter isn't my son, but he does have a room in my house, I constantly feed the kid, I make his suits, we have movies nights on Saturday, so he might as well be mine."
Peter nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! Mr. Stark is the greatest. Sometimes I get nightmares and I'll go to his room and he'll sing me lullabies—"
Tony smacked a hand over the kid's mouth, "That's enough from you."
"Aw, you sing the kid lullabies?" Sam said with a smirk. "Shut up, I don't want to hear another word from any of you." Tony gave a pointed look to Peter, "I'm going to get you back for that."
Peter laughed and made his way back to the kitchen island and enveloped the bear in his arms, "Even if there was a huge misunderstanding, I love all of the gifts everyone got me. I really do think of Mr. Stark as a dad so...thank you." He said, nuzzling his face into the fur.
"He's literally an angel."
"Yeah, how did we think he's Tony's kid? He's way too nice."
Clint and Sam gave each other a look and burst out laughing, "Man, we are idiots. At least this is some party story."
Pepper sighed, a small amused smile on her face, "I'm so sorry everyone. I assumed the wrong thing, but at least we're all here together." Peter smiled, going around the room and thanking everyone again individually. When he got to Rhodey, he enveloped the man in a huge hug, "Thank you for the gifts, Uncle Rhodey!"
If you looked close enough, you could see tears welling up in the man's eyes. This kid truly was an angel. He held the boy closer, "You're welcome Peter."
When they pulled away, Peter playfully bumped him on the shoulder, "Where are going to show off my new clothes?" Rhodey's face broke out in a smile as he wrapped a protective arm around the boy, "Sorry Tones, he's mine now."
Everyone laughed as Tony glared at Rhodey, Peter in absolute euphoria that they were all having a good time. Somewhere along the way, Peter was nervous that the Avengers wouldn't like him. He thought they were going to think he was too childish to be a superhero. Granted, he was a child, but had done way more than enough to prove himself capable. Being here today, surrounded by the same group of superheroes he was worried about, he had no fears at all.
He was foolish to think that, now knowing that they went all out just for him. They had showered him in gifts and love, welcoming him into the family with warm and open arms. No, Peter had nothing to worry about.
He looked at the joined bears and smiled,
Nothing at all.