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“Soooooooo,” Tony drawled out. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation here.”
Steve glared at his partner. “Seriously?”
“Of course!” Tony huffed out with an eye roll. “Emergency services weren’t called, JARVIS didn’t alert us, no call to assemble, and Clint is not involved in this!” He slapped Steve’s behind. “The boys just need to explain what happened. It might be funny and there might be some yelling.” He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “It’s called being a good parent.”
Steve sighed and focused back to the two guilty looking clones standing in what was left of the penthouse kitchen. Graham was fidgeting in his spot, fingers tugging on the singed hem line while his mouth did a perfect interpretation of a goldfish. Patrick, on the other hand, was standing tall with his arms crossed and his face devoid of all emotion. Blue eyes challenged him to a staring contest which Steve happily complied and smirked triumphantly when the boy averted his gaze.
There was nothing salvageable in the kitchen. Whatever caused the fire spread quickly but thankfully it was contained and didn’t destroy the rest of the penthouse. Steve glanced at the smoldering frying pan on the stove before turning his attention to the remains of the espresso machine, Tony was going to have a stroke. The refrigerator was also charred and Steve wasn’t sure how that happened.
“A funny story, actually,” Graham squeaked causing Patrick to chuckle. Puberty hasn’t been kind to the younger genius and from the sympathetic looks from his father, Steve could only assume that Tony’s teenage years weren’t pleasant. Red-faced, Graham cleared his throat, “a funny story, actually.”
“It’s hysterical,” Patrick added gruffly.
Graham gave the older boy a dirty look. “Not helping,” he hissed.
“You’re failing!” Patrick snapped back.
“I’m not the one that set the espresso machine on fire!”
The gasps from Tony and Patrick were comical. “I’m not the one that set the stove of fire!” Patrick growled.
“Because I couldn’t see the frying pan!” Graham snarled pointing at his eye.
“Why would you place a frying pan on the right burner when you know you can’t see shit?!”
“Fuck you, Jensen!”
“Clever comeback from a kid that looks like that little shit from Less Than Zero!”
Graham let out a high-pitch shriek that dropped an octave half-way and lunged at Patrick. The older boy wasn’t expecting the attack and fell to the ground with Graham hitting him. The two were rolling on the floor getting wet and covered with soot while screaming and hitting each other. Steve moved forward trying to separate the two but Tony placed his hand on his shoulder halting the movement.
“Tony.”
“Let them fight this out,” Tony replied. “God knows, I wanted to punch you when we first met.”
Steve raised an eyebrow. “Point.”
Earlier….
“What’s Father’s Day?”
Graham looked up from his tablet and gave Patrick a curious look. “Excuse me?”
Patrick pointed at the frozen image of a father playing catch with his son. The word “Father’s Day” was hanging above the cliché scene. Graham let out a snort, he can’t imagine playing catch with his father. Father and son science time was appropriate or teaching your dad how to play lacrosse was more accurate. Catch with a mitt and ball, not a chance in hell.
“Father’s Day?” Patrick asked again.
“It’s a day that we celebrate dad or anyone that had a fatherly impact in our lives,” Graham answered before returning to his tablet. Five’s emails were always lengthy but highly entertaining making Graham miss his best friend, until said best friend asked for a picture of his brother’s butt without clothing. He’s happy that his friend came out but he wished Five didn’t have a crush on Patrick.
“And we play catch?” The confusion was apparent in the question.
“Why would we….” Graham blinked with sudden realization. “Oh my god! This is your first Father’s Day!”
Patrick wrinkled his nose in discomfort. The concept of family still made the older boy uncomfortable and that made Graham hate HYDRA and AIM even more. “Why should we celebrate? We’re clones of them.”
“Because they’re our dads!” Graham whined. “I mean, yeah you and Steve had a hard time adjusting but they raised us! Fed us! Watered us! They saved the world for us!”
“The last one doesn’t count.”
“Totally does!” He looked at the ceiling. “JARVIS, when is dad and Steve getting home from Napa?”
According to the itinerary, Sir and Captain Rogers will be home around the dinner hour.
“Awesome!” Graham jumped off the sofa but something latched to his wrist. He looked down and there was a worried look on Patrick’s face. “What’s wrong, gumdrop?”
The older boy bit his lip before turning his head away. “Would Steve, I mean dad, be okay with Father’s Day….after everything?”
Graham wasn’t expecting or prepared for that question. Last year did put a strain in his father’s and Steve’s relationship, that Steve had issues about having a kid, plus HYDRA and AIM teamed up, and there was some betrayal but all of that wasn’t Patrick’s fault. A flare of anger that was long forgotten sparked, didn’t Steve explain it to his brother?
“Why wouldn’t he?” he ventured.
Patrick looked stricken. “I mean, would he accept me as his son?”
Graham suddenly understood what Aunt Pepper and Uncle Rhodey meant when they constantly tell him to stop acting like your father because no matter how different Patrick Rogers could be, he would always be Steve Rogers. “I keep forgetting that you two are the same,” he laughed. “And I’m not referring to the fact that you’re a clone. I’m referring to the fact that you two are incredibly self-conscious, which is funny because you were raised by a terrorist group!”
“Dad and I are not like you and Tony.”
“Okay, I’ll be honest, Steve didn’t have that leverage,” Graham explained. “When he saw you, you were already an assassin. You looked nothing like him when he was young and he had some issues with that. Plus, he already had a shit-ton of issues and he shouldn’t have directed them to you. He made a mistake and dad made sure that he understood that. Steve wants you. He did say that to you, right?”
Patrick nodded. “He said it but didn’t he do it just to make Tony happy?”
“I’m not adding Psychology in the degrees I want to earn before I’m twenty list,” Graham snapped. “Steve doesn’t say things to make people happy, you need to know that and accept that. When he says something, he fucking means it.” He poked Patrick’s shoulder, hard. “Believe it or not, he likes you and wants to be your father. And if he doesn’t want you, fuck him, you’re my brother and I want you.”
The answer seemed to calm Patrick down and the older boy smiled. “I guess I should get him something?”
“That’s the spirit Johnny America!” Graham jumped up again. “Let’s get something tacky and make omelets because who doesn’t want omelets?”
Patrick shook his head. “Do you even know how to make omelets?”
Graham waved his hands. “They’re omelets! How hard can they be?”
Six hours, two black eyes, a split lip, and a nurple later….
“An omelet?!” Tony screeched at the boys. “The kitchen caught on fire because of an omelet!?” Steve burst out laughing at the absurdity of the story and just ignored the glare from Tony. “You shouldn’t be laughing! Your sons set the kitchen on fire!”
“They’re my sons when something weird happens?” Steve wheezed. “I want to know how the inside of the refrigerator got charred!”
“Don’t make me talk about the seals!”
Patrick pulled the wet washcloth away from his eye. “Seals?”
Graham removed his washcloth from his lip. “Still don’t know the whole story. We need to ask Uncle Bucky.”
Steve stopped laughing and glared. “You’re not talking to Uncle Bucky.”
The boys looked at each other. “Uncle Bucky,” they said in unison.
Tony smirked. “Don’t like it when they gang up on you,” he retorted.
Steve pointed at the kitchen. “Can we go back to the fact that our sons burnt down the kitchen by making an omelet?” He rubbed his face while counting to ten. They were only gone for a week. A nice long week without duties or children, something they haven’t had since Patrick came into their lives. A relaxing week for him to focus on Tony and catered to every whim.
Tony saw it as the apology as it was and used it his advantage. Of course the genius made sure that there no apology was needed.
“Father’s Day,” Patrick answered, voice soft and unsure.
Tony gave Steve a knowing glance. “You made us omelets for Father’s Day?”
“Well, yeah,” Graham replied sounding just as unsure. “I mean I know we planned to have dinner and what-not tomorrow but this was Patrick’s first Father’s Day and….” He gave a nonchalant shrug. “….and we wanted it to be special.”
Steve felt his heart swelling while feeling like an absolute heel. He forgot about Father’s Day, it wasn’t a holiday that everyone in the tower celebrated but somehow Graham was determined to show Patrick what Father’s Day was all about.
He loved his boys. His sons.
“Aw, you made Steve cry,” Tony sniffed.
Graham huffed. “You’re crying too!”
“Not because of the overly thoughtful gesture but the fact you burnt my kitchen down!”
Patrick stood up and pulled out a soggy folded piece of paper from his back pocket. “We couldn’t find the right card, so we made it.”
Steve took the wet piece of paper and stared at it. It was beautifully made with bold colors that Patrick prefer to use and the penmanship was definitively Graham’s. Tony was looking over his arm, his face scrunched up trying to read the handwriting.
“Exuberant Genetics Solar Day?”
“We’re thinking of sending that to Hallmark because the way AIM keeps cranking out clones….,” Graham started.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a sister,” Patrick added cheekily. “I would like to have a sister.”
“It might be easier to covert that ‘Y’ chromosome to a ‘X’ with dad’s DNA instead of Steve’s,” Graham hummed. “Bruce has all the notes, maybe we can ask him.”
Tony let out a yell. “No! I do not want you two sneaking around our bedroom trying to find a used condom!”
“Oh my god, dad!” Graham shrieked. “That’s disgusting!”
“Twenty bucks you don’t even use a condom anymore!”
“Patrick!” Steve exclaimed equally horrified.
“Get out you perverts and go bother Clint or Barnes or somebody!” Tony looked at the card. “And thank you for the card.” The boys beamed, giving Steve and Tony a hug before running out of the penthouse.
Steve burst out laughing once the elevator doors closed and Tony was right after him. After a few minutes of hysterical laughter, Steve stared at the kitchen feeling oddly content. “Do you always feel like this?”
“All the time,” Tony answered knowing what he meant. He took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Trust me, it does get better.” Steve heard the heavy sigh. “I really liked that kitchen.”
Steve pulled Tony into his arms and kissed the top of his head. “Exuberant Genetics Solar Day.”
“Exuberant Genetics Solar Day, Steve.”