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Tony sighed and leaned back in his chair.
Today had been another bust. Peter was no closer to starting a spark no matter how much he tried. They had all seen how frustrated the young avatar was getting. It was common knowledge that there was always one element that each avatar struggled with and it seemed like fire was it for Peter.
He remembered how his friend had struggled with mastering air.
Tony had called for a break before Peter could blow a fuse and create an earthquake in his anger. Peter had huffed and puffed but agreed to his earth bending master before stomping off further into the compound they were staying at. He had built it shortly after the previous avatar’s death as he and the rest of his friends awaited the next avatar.
At the moment, Tony had retreated to his workshop with secluded training ground behind it that he liked to use when he needed to work some frustration out or work on Peter's earth bending. Tony lifted his hands in the air and a piece of metal on the other side of the room floated. He moved his hands around and watched as the metal twisted and contorted to his bidding. Whatever spirit there was that decided to give Tony metal bending, he wanted to give them a fat kiss on the cheek in thanks.
Letting himself get lost in the mindlessness of his fiddling of metal, Tony remembered the previous avatar – Steve.
Tony yelped as he ducked in time for a fireball to go flying back his head. Sand flew into his face and all over his front. There was a deep rumbling of laughter and he scowled at his friend.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Tony grumbled and got up off the ground, brushing the sand off of himself. “Just remember this the next time Nat chi blocks you and you need someone to drag your heavy ass away.”
“I’m just messing with you, Tones,” Steve laughed and placed his hands on his hips. The blue of his eyes twinkled in the sun and his blond hair swayed softly in the sun. His red and blue swim shorts were a bit damp from his swim earlier and his bare top had droplets of sweat from the heat of the sun and the exertion of their spar. “I knew it wouldn’t have hit you.”
“Because I’m not dumb enough to stand still when a fireball is headed straight towards me,” Tony frowned. He huffed and crossed his arms over his own bare chest, looking down the beach at the rest of team avatar as Clint called it.
Clint and Natasha – the two non-bender chi blockers of the team – were together. Clint was buried underneath a pile of sand and completely asleep. Only his head was sticking out after he dared Tony to see if he could sand bend and the inventor left him there. Natasha was reading a book on a lounge chair with an umbrella shading her and the little bit of Clint that was above the sand. She had a beach shawl covering most of her with large sunglasses perched on the edge of her nose.
Thor, a fire bender who was immensely skilled in lightning generation, was regaling his recently redeemed younger brother Loki with tales of their travels. The water bender who was a master of ice and the deadly skill of blood bending just rolled his eyes and tried tuning out his brother.
Bruce was watching a crab scurry across the sand with interest. The air bender was fascinated by all the sea creatures that were appearing for them. His pencil bobbed furiously as he scrawled across his notepad quickly before his thought was forgotten.
Wanda was sitting on a rock near him in a lotus position as she meditated. Red hair that matched her one piece bathing suit was tied back in a ponytail swayed gently in the sea breeze against her back. She worked on her breath control as the ever-studious fire bender.
“What are you two doing?” Bucky asked as he came up to the two men with Sam at his side. His metal arm was stuff into the pocket of his swim shorts and his button up beach shirt was completely open. Sam was also dressed similarly but his shirt was button closed. His air mastery tattoos were on full display with his shorts and short-sleeved shirt.
“Sparing,” Steve answered immediately.
“You wanna tag in for me?” Tony asked and didn’t wait for an answer as he crossed the line of the circle he made for their impromptu arena.
“A fight against Stevie?” Bucky grinned and pulled his arm out, rolling his shoulders. “I’m always up for that.”
Tony waved a hand over his shoulder at the agreement and walked over to the little cabana he had set his stuff down at. Reaching down, he opened one of the coolers they had brought and pulled out a bottle of soda out. Holding his hand above the top and twisting, he metal bent the cap off and brought the glass up to his lips.
“You look beat,” Sam commented with a snort.
“I came to the beach to relax, not spar with the avatar,” Tony retorted after swallowing and gesturing a hand out towards the two men from a hundred years in the past. “For grandpas, they are pretty spry.”
“Get trapped in ice for a hundred years and I’m sure you’ll feel the same,” Bucky chuckled and dodged to the left as Steve punched into the air and a mound of sand sprang upwards. The avatar jumped in the air and spun around, a stream of fire following the movement. “Hey, we agreed no fire!”
“Sorry,” Steve stuck his tongue out as he didn’t mean his apology at all.
“Punk,” Bucky scoffed. He rolled his metal arm in the air and a cable came out to grab Steve around the ankle. Bucky pulled against it and Steve yelped as he fell backwards on his bare back on the sand.
“Low blow,” Steve chuckled. Bucky shook his head and retracted the metal cable back into his arm.
Sam whistled as he hid a hand behind his back that he twisted around and a gust of wind blew a pile of sand into Steve’s face. The avatar sputtered as the sand got into his mouth and Bucky laughed at his best friend’s discomfort.
“I knew that was you, Sam!” Steve exclaimed as he picked himself up off the ground and brushed the sand off of himself. Seeing that he was fighting a loosing battle, he brought his hands together in front of him and blew out a stream of air and circled around him, catching the bits of sand that clung to him and throwing it elsewhere.
“Hey!” Tony said as he used his own earth bending to get the sand that Steve threw on him off.
“Sorry,” Steve apologized and left the ring. Behind him, Bucky shot Sam a look that the air bender didn’t like and soon enough, the two men started their own earth vs. air spar. Steve came to sit in the cabana next to Tony and the earth bender handed a bottle over. “Thanks.”
“It’s nothing,” Tony muttered as he watched Steve twist the cap off of the bottle and toss it to Tony. The inventor immediately caught it with his metal bending and placed it near his own bottle cap. He watched his friend for a moment before the question that had been bothering him for a while came pouring out of his lips.
“Why do you like fire so much?” Tony asked. “You’re from the water nation.”
“I don’t know,” Steve shrugged with a wiry smile. He took a swig of his drink and leaned forward with his forearms on his knees, looking out across the beach at all of their friends. “Maybe it’s what made me realize what my goal was.” The avatar’s eyes turned to side-eye him. “In fact, I would say it’s all thanks to you I learned to fire bend.”
Tony furrowed his brow as he grew confused. “Explain?”
“Don’t you remember how I struggled learning it even with Wanda’s and Thor’s instructions?” Steve asked and took another swig.
“Yeah, you sucked,” Tony snickered. “Worse than when we first tried to teach you earth bending.”
“Bucky being himself wasn’t helping much,” Steve pouted before shaking his head to get back on topic. “Well, there was something you told me that stuck. You said that fire bending is about the unflinching will to accomplish one’s goals.”
“Well, yeah,” Tony shrugged. “That’s what Aunt Peggy always told me when she practiced her fire bending.”
Steve gave a huff of a laugh and looked down at the drink held loosely in his hands. “Even beyond the grave, Peggy is helping me,” he muttered softly.
Inhaling through his nose, he looked up and back out towards their friends. Clint had woken up and was trying to get out of the sand pit Tony trapped him in. Natasha offered no help, just flipping through her book. Wanda had left her mediation and went over to Bruce to gaze at a pretty sea shell he had found. Thor and Loki had come over to where Bucky and Sam were sparring, each brother choosing a competitor to cheer for.
“It was thanks to those words that I finally realized that I didn’t truly know what my goal was as avatar,” Steve said without looking at Tony. “I thought that by being the avatar, I had to fix everything and that was my goal. In actuality, I never really had a particular goal that drove me – until that moment.”
“And what was the goal that led you to fire bending?” Tony raised an eye brow.
Steve smiled and turned his head to look at Tony. “Why, I wanted to create a safer world for all my friends and family to live in even after I’m gone, even if it is only a little bit.”
Tony snorted through his nose and rolled his eyes. “As if you’re going to die. I bet that you’re going to live so long that the next avatar won’t show up for another hundred years, you fossil.”
Steve laughed and leaned back on one hand, the other bringing his bottle to his lips. “No way,” he snorted. “If I live to be two hundred, you’re never going to let me live down the grandpa jokes.”
“You already aren’t,” Tony retorted and copied Steve’s position.
They watched as Clint started to panic as the tide came in, jerking in the sand and pleading with Natasha to help him out. Bruce and Wanda had come over to them, and the fire bender laughed at the chi blockers predicament while the air bender just sighed in disappointment.
Sam and Bucky were arguing about who really won their spar after both of them landed finishing moves that sent the other flying backwards onto their butts. Loki had grown bored of watching and went to go find a small inlet of water to practice his own bending. Thor trailed after his brother to make sure nothing happened to him.
There were still plenty of people that didn’t forgive Loki’s near take over of New York City.
“So, do you think I did it?” Steve asked quietly.
Tony was caught off guard. “Did what?” he asked.
“Created a safer world for all of you,” Steve answered. He didn’t look at Tony.
Tony thought for a moment before answering as he watched their friends. Natasha had finally worn down and got out of her chair to help dig Clint out. Wanda was digging as well while Bruce used his air bending to push the loose bits of sand off of Clint. Natasha had gotten fed up pretty quickly and called for Bucky to bend Clint out and the ex-HYDRA agent trotted over to help. Seeing that he was alone, Sam followed after with a camera to take pictures.
“I think the world is still dangerous,” Tony started his answer and he watched as Steve’s shoulders drooped slightly. “But I think the world is never going to be completely at peace. There is still going to be those you have power that use it for bad while other will do bad to get power.” Tony looked over at Steve and placed a hand on the avatar’s shoulder. “I think the world is in a better state than before thanks to you.”
Steve’s frown turned into a smile after Tony’s answer.
Without words, the two of them clinked their bottles together and watched as their friends finally released Clint from the sand just in time for him to be knocked over by a stray wave.
Tony was brought out of his memories when he heard a growl of frustration outside of his workshop. Lowering his hand, he placed the ball of metal he had formed on his desk and stood up to find out what was going on.
Peeking out the window, he watched as Peter punched the air in front of him and his mouth pulling further down as nothing came out of his fist. His hands came up to grip at his hair that he pulled at and he kicked a rock.
Opening the window, Tony leaned against his crossed forearms against it. “What’d the rock do to you kid?” Tony snorted.
Peter jumped in surprise and saw his earth bending master watching him. “I was just – um – I was…” Peter shoulders slouched as he knew he was busted. “I was trying to fire bend again.”
“Peter…” Tony sighed and shook his head. He had to go about this gently as Pepper had told him teaching one avatar didn’t mean the next learned the same way. “You know forcing it isn’t going to help the problem.”
“I know,” Peter pouted and shuffled a foot across the ground. He moved his heel to the side and a pebble moved with it as he earth bent it. “I just don’t get why it is so hard. I’ve already figured out earth bending and now I know the basics of air and water. I don’t understand how I can’t even make a wisp of fire. Avatar Steve was known for his fire usage and control.”
“Well, that was Steve,” Tony retorted. “You’re Peter. The two of you aren’t the same person.”
“But we are!” Peter argued and stomped a foot on the ground to make the same pebble jump three feet in the air. “I’m his reincarnation! People look at me and expect to see him!” Peter dropped to the ground with his legs splayed out in front of him. “I don’t know what to do, Mr. Stark,” Peter groaned and dropped his head into his hands.
Tony’s heart went out to Peter. His student wasn’t wrong – the current generation expected a lot from the young avatar. Steve had been such a force of nature in his goal of helping the world that everyone expected that from Peter. A thing that didn’t help was that since Steve was frozen in ice for a hundred years, he was all the general population knew from first hand accounts that they put him on such a high pedestal.
There was so much placed on the teenager’s shoulders ever since the announcement that he was the avatar went out to the world. So many countries were demanding that he come to help with their problems that could honestly be fixed if the governments knew how to govern.
Though, Tony wasn’t going to let Peter become a martyr for the world’s problems like Steve in the end. It had been Steve’s last request of him and Tony was going to make sure that Peter could be the child that he was for as long as possible.
But maybe the same thing he said once upon a time to Steve might be the thing to take Peter out of his slump.
“What is your goal in life?” Tony asked suddenly.
Peter furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“What is driving you?” Tony asked. “Why are you trying to hard to master the elements? There is no great war right now. There are no equalists trying to take people’s bending away. No evil spirits wreaking havoc. Why are you so pressed to master the elements so quickly in a time of peace?”
“Because I’m the avatar. I need to be prepared for the day something happens,” Peter frowned. “Why else?”
“That right there is the problem,” Tony said as he pointed at Peter. “You have no drive to your fire bending and that is the root of your issue.” Lowering his hand, he propped it up against the windowsill and leaned his cheek into his palm. “Fire bending is about the unflinching will to accomplish one’s goals. You’re not going to get any fire going without any fuel behind it.”
It took a moment but Tony saw the second Peter understood his words. Tony internally chuckled as he felt that he could almost see the metaphorical gears turning in Peter’s mind.
“I want…” Peter trailed off as he thought. It took a moment before he looked up again into Tony’s eyes with clear determination shining in his own. “I want to create a safer world for my friends and family to live in even after I'm gone, even if only a little bit.”
The nostalgia hit Tony so hard that it felt like a physical punch to the gut. Memories of Steve saying those exact words flashed in his head.
It was times like this that reminded Tony that Peter was Steve’s reincarnation.
“That’s a good one, kid, though I won't let you die before I do,” Tony said in a choked voice with a shaky nod. He jerked his chin forward at Peter. “Now, give it a try again.”
Peter looked confused but got up off the ground anyways. He got into a wide stance like Thor had shown him and bent his arms in a rigid position by his chest. Curling his hands into fists, Peter took a step forward and punched into the air…and his eyes grew wide as a small stream of fire followed suit.
“I…” Peter gasped and he looked down at his hands. His shot up and he regaled Tony with excitement dancing in his eyes. “Mr. Stark, I did it!” Peter jumped around in the air, punching a fist upwards. “I can fire bend!” Just to get clarification again, Peter stopped jumping around and flicked his hand up in front of him and marveled when a small ball of fire came to life.
For a moment, Tony was brought back to the time he inadvertently also taught Steve how to generate fire. Steve's bright smile as he held the flame out towards the metal bender, the light reflecting off of his blue eyes.
And the next, Tony is brought back to the present with Peter in front of him. Peter was holding the flame in his hands out towards Tony with a bright smile, the light reflecting off of his brown eyes.
Tony’s smile became soft and nostalgic. Raising a hand, he plopped it down on Peter’s hand and ruffled his hair. “Good job Peter. You can now bend all four elements.”
“Good job Steve. You can now bend all four elements,” a younger Tony had said to a younger Steve almost thirty some years ago.
Peter shivered in excitement and he dropped his hands, releasing the flame to dissipate in the air. “I have to go tell Ned and Michelle!” he preened and rolled his hands in the air. Tony could only chuckle as Peter jumped up with on leg crossed on top of the other with one foot pointed down to ride his air scooted away.
Tony just blew a breath of air out of his mouth and watched the trail of dust that Peter left behind settle back down. “Well, that was a success,” Pepper commented as she made herself known. Tony had known she was there the entire time from the seismic vibrations that tickled at his bare feet from the ground.
The non-bender strolled up near Tony as the metal bender turned around to lean against the edge of the window. “What can I say,” he shrugged with a proud smirk. “I’m a good teacher.”
“I think some earth benders out there that tried to learn from you would say otherwise,” Pepper snorted. “But, you’re doing a great job being his mentor,” she continued.
“I’m his earth bending master, not his mentor,” Tony corrected.
Pepper smiled softly and shook her head. “You may be his earth bending master, yes, but he had so much stronger of a connection with you than everyone else. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was your kid.”
“He is my kid,” Tony rolled his eyes. “My pain in the ass kid that I’m trying to keep out of the line of fire until he’s twenty-five. I’m already teaching a second avatar in my lifetime, I’m not teaching a third,” Tony sniffed and looked away.
“Oh, Tony…” Pepper sighed. She came up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I think you’re doing a good job.”
“Tell that to May,” Tony muttered and dropped his cheek against the top of Pepper’s head. He wrapped his arms around Pepper’s shoulders and hugged her back. “She’s about ready to go after me with her kitchen knife.”
“You must be trembling in your slides then,” Pepper laughed and patted Tony’s chest once before taking a step back. “How about we go take a walk before dinner?”
“That sounds nice,” Tony smiled and held his elbow out for Pepper to hook her arm through. The two of them had just left his workshop when Peter came tearing down the hallway. He paused slightly before Tony and gave a short bow towards him. “Where are you going in such a rush?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Peter looked around, his feet still marching to run if needed. “I may have been showing off that I could fire bend and may have accidently set Master Natasha’s book on fire.”
Tony’s mouth dropped open in shock before he started to laugh. “Oh Pete, it’s been nice knowing you. I’ll be sure to teach your reincarnation how to metal bend.” Pepper gave his chest a smack in scolding but Tony knew it was worth it.
“Peter~” Natasha’s voice called down the hallway. “Come here and let me show you why I’m the best chi blocker around.”
Peter squealed in fright and went rushing down the hallway in a blink. Natasha was like a tiger in movement as she stalked after him. She gave Tony and Pepper the barest of nods as she passed them. “Please don’t make a fire nation avatar be born already. It took so long to find Peter,” Tony called after her.
“No promises,” Natasha called over her shoulder.
Tony shook his head with an amused huff and he gestured for Pepper to follow him. He should have known that something like this would happen with Peter finally learning to bend fire. Steve had done something similar when he learned air.
Tony snickered to himself at how Steve ran for the hills after accidently creating a gust of wind so strong that it knocked a candle over and enveloped the book that Natasha was almost done with in flames. Even with different avatars, the same event seemed to happen.
There were so many similarities between Peter and Steve that it made Tony’s heart hurt and he knew he wasn’t the only one to feel that way. Through the earth, he could hear how Natasha’s heart beat as she ruefully remembered stalking after Steve the same way.
Bucky was finally learning that Peter was not Steve but it didn’t stop the metal bender from looking for signs of his best friend in the young avatar. He and Sam were coming around more often to learn more about Peter and to help with his training. Clint was finally warming up to the teenager and Loki was finally making the trip down from the North Pole to give Peter a proper water bending teacher.
They were all accepting that Steve was gone and that Peter was the new avatar. It was hard to not compare the two avatars as they were different people even if they spiritually felt the same.
Peter may not be Steve but that was okay.
Because Peter was his kid and Tony was going to make sure Peter would become the greatest avatar in history.