Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stephen groaned as he held a hand up to block the sunlight from his eyes, blearily blinking his eyes open. Sighing, he turned around, facing away from the windows and reaching out a hand across the bed. When he didn’t find what he was looking for and could feel the sheets being cold, he groaned again.

He fully opened his eyes this time and pushed himself up, sighing at his protesting muscles. The bed next to him was empty as he had feared.

His need to find Tony exceeded his want to stay underneath the warm covers, so he threw his legs over the edge of the bed and got up, stretching as he walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

As he left the bedroom ten minutes later, the smell of breakfast wafted through the air. Stephen followed it into the kitchen where he found the man he had been looking for.

The engineer was humming, pushing eggs around in a pan as he swayed his hips along to soundless music. Peter and Harley were nowhere to be found, probably already having left for school.

“’Morning,” Stephen smiled, suppressing a yawn as he walked over towards Tony, wrapping an arm around his waist and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Turning his head to meet Stephen in a real kiss, Tony playfully bit his lip, licking the pain away with his tongue.

“Not that I don’t love breakfast,” Stephen hummed against Tony’s ear, “but I missed waking up to you.”

“And as much as I love free-day morning sex,” Tony purred back, soft regret in his voice, “I don’t actually have a free day today.”

Stephen groaned, pressing kisses to Tony’s neck before moving to grab a few plates. Tony gave him an apologetic smile. “Something came up with the company. Pepper begged. I can’t say no to that.”

“I understand, darling.” Stephen did understand, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to be petty about it. He watched with great satisfaction as Tony looked away, flustered grimace on his face and cheeks tinting red.

“You’re evil.” Tony placed the pan on the table in front of them. Since they had started their relationship, they had stopped taking breakfast with the team whenever they had a day off, wanting to enjoy the intimacy of a shared morning and a lazy lay-in. Tony loved those days, basking in spending a whole day with the person he loved.

“You look casual. Finally going to visit Christine?” Tony asked as he took note of the blue jeans and simple white dress-shirt Stephen was wearing. The cloak was sulking somewhere, angry that Stephen didn’t allow him to come with him today.

Stephen shrugged, scooping a bite of eggs into his mouth. “I might as well. If I don’t go soon, she’ll find a way to break into the compound, I’m sure.”

“God,” Tony groaned, “we should never introduce her to Pepper.”

After they had finished breakfast, Tony kissed Stephen farewell as he walked out of the penthouse to meet with Pepper, leaving Stephen alone to enjoy his day off.

He didn’t technically have off days, seeing as he was Sorcerer Supreme and therefore always on call, but there were days – like today – where he’d just finished an inter-dimensional mission and was allowed to rest for a bit. This particular mission had taken him from this dimension – and thus from Tony – for four days, and he’d felt his absence like a missing limb. He was already looking forward to being reunited with the man again tonight. 

He asked Friday for the time, satisfied that it was almost noon. Checking his appearance in the mirror one last time to make sure he was presentable; he made a portal into the Metro General Hospital storage closet.

Sneaking out of the little room didn’t become more dignified with time, but he tried to not let the awkwardness get to him. Recently he was well known as ally of the Avengers and, more importantly, Tony Stark’s boyfriend. It was hard not to feel smug when thinking of his partner. How easily he reacted to his voice and touch, want for Stephen clear in his face.

In all his life he never could have imagined how nice being wanted was. Being appreciated for just being around, having someone who lights up when you walk into the room. Ever since he had met the mechanic, there had been a spark. Stephen had wanted him from day one. There was no denying that Tony Stark was the hottest man he had ever seen.

Falling in love with him hadn’t been difficult, especially after having seen in how many ways the man was ready to lay down his life for Peter, for the world and for one, simple, random stranger.

Stephen dismissed his thoughts as he stepped into the ER.

The room was a mess of noise. Most beds were still empty, but the beds that were occupied, were surrounded by people, both interns and family members alike. Laughter was mixed together with the occasional yelp of pain. Somewhere a phone was ringing obsessively, and loud crying could be heard.

Stephen was hit with the familiarity of it all. How he used to wait around the ER for incoming trauma, hoping to get the most interesting cases, dismissing simple flesh wounds so he would be free for the head trauma and the long surgeries.

Ignoring the group that was apparently still trying to celebrate a birthday despite the man’s fingers lying on a table – very much detached from the man’s body, he walked across the room, keeping an eye out for his friend. He found her behind the information desk, frantically talking into a phone and filling in a chart. The loud crying came from behind her, where a little girl sat on a chair, bawling her little eyes out.  She seemed about three years old. He didn’t think too much about it. Nurses often had to watch kids from parents coming into the ER, sometimes even bringing their own.

He leaned against the desk, catching Christine’s eye. She gave him a pained smile as she continued speaking into the phone, holding up a finger to ask for a minute. She looked haggard; stress lines clearly visible in her features. Being head of trauma at a major New York City hospital would do that to you.

Behind her, the child was still crying, and it was clearly upsetting his friend even more, talking a bit more frantically with every cry. 

He moved around the desk, sitting down in front of the girl. Her crying continued as she noticed him, shoulders shaking with watery hiccups.

“What’s your name,” he asked her, shaking hand moving up to stroke her little arm in soothing motions. The girl continued hiccupping but stared at Stephen in defiance.

“I want my mommy!”

“Do you know where your mommy is,” he asked, glad the girl was at least starting to get distracted from her own tears. Though he had never thought about having children himself, he did grow up an oldest brother and knew the best way to calm down a child was to distract them. How many times had he given Victor ice cream so he wouldn’t tell on Stephen to their parents?

The little child shook her head no, a new wave of tears streaming down her face as she started sobbing again. Stephen glanced curiously back at Christine.

“Well, I don’t know where your mommy is either, sweetheart. Do you mind if I pick you up instead?”

The girl continued crying, but held out her little arms nonetheless, her need for comfort clearly taking over. He picked the girl up, placing her on his hip as he started swaying her around, rubbing comforting circles into her back.

She calmed down a bit, sobbing subsiding but still clearly upset. Tears were streaming down her face quietly now as she moved into Stephen’s touch, gripping tightly at Stephen’s shirt.

Glancing around to see if anyone was watching, he moved his free hand up in front of the girl, twisting his fingers until tiny little blue butterflies were floating around his hands. The girl watched on in intrigue, tears subsided as she reached out to touch. He smiled, the curious eyes reminding him of Tony.

Stephen turned towards Christine again as she ended her call, shoulders tense and still clearly wound up.

“I’m so sorry, Stephen. There is a situation.” She nodded towards Sophia, who blissfully continued playing with the butterflies.

“How long have I been gone that you have a daughter now,” he smirked, only half joking. 

Christine gave him an unimpressed look, but Stephen could see her biting back a smile. “She’s not mine, you idiot. That’s the situation.”

She leaned closer as Stephen frowned, voice falling to a whisper, fury in her eyes. “Someone dropped her off early this morning and just left. We’re trying to track down her parent or guardian or any relatives at all, but with no success.”

Stephen’s face twisted in disgust, looking at the young girl with anger in his heart. “They just left her here? Purposefully?”

“We can only assume, but probably, yeah.” Christine looked tense, clearly just as upset as Stephen at someone abandoning the child. “She was standing outside with a small backpack and a winter coat on. I’ve contacted the police, but they don’t know what to do either. We don’t have a last name and there was no footage of the person dropping her off.”

“Found my mommy?” the girl’s voice piped up, making both adults’ head snap in her direction. She had abandoned the butterflies. Christine looked absolutely panicked, sadness crawling over her face as she turned towards the little girl.

“No, baby, we haven’t,” she replied regretfully. The girl’s face started to twist again, about to start crying once more, but Stephen moved the butterflies back into her line of sight. He changed the colors a few times, regaining the little girl’s attention as Christine touched his arm.

“I really appreciate you coming by – finally,” she gave him a pointed look, “but I’m so sorry there are two separate traumas coming in in five minutes and social services is still on its way and I’m at the end of my rope, Stephen. I don’t know what to do.” She looked around, shoulders riggid as she touched a hand to her forehead.

Stephen shrugged, smiling comfortingly at his oldest friend as he continued to move the butterflies throughout the air. “I can watch over her if you want.”

“You sure?” she frowned, not wanting to saddle this on Stephen, but she smiled as she saw the girl grab at the creatures, earlier sorrow seemingly forgotten.

“Of course.” He turned back to the child. “Do you mind hanging out with me for today?”

She shook her head no. Stephen lowered the butterflies as he stopped the girl from trying to climb up his shoulder to reach them better.

“See,” Stephen smirked, “perfectly fine.”

Christine rolled her eyes but turned to leave with a glance at her watch. She stopped before stepping away from the desk, glancing back over her shoulder. “You’ve really changed, you know.”

Stephen snorted. He guessed he really had.

He eventually had to stop the butterflies as the delicate hand movements were fucking over his hands, but he placed the girl at a table and gave her some paper and a pen. He found a few different colored markers in the nurse’s station and handed them to the girl as well.

He took the empty chair next to the child, smiling as he saw her drawing. It seemed to be some humanoid figure made out of a triangle and a circle with a second triangle on top of it. She was adding details, drawing little squiggles of hair and drawing stars onto its clothes that looked like crosses.

“I like your drawing,” he told the girl. She ignored him, instead continued drawing. He smirked as she reminded him of Tony once more.

“What’s your name?”

“Sophia.” She added a tree in the background, using a blue highlighter to draw dots around it.

“Hello, Sophia, I’m Stephen,” he held out a hand for her to shake. She giggled at the formality but returned the handshake. As expected, she did it with a lot of force, but luckily, he had steadied his hands, prepared for the impact.

“Are you magic,” she asked, returning to her drawing.

“Yes, I am,” he smiled at her. She moved to grab another piece of paper from the stack, handing it to Stephen and shoving over some pens as well. He grimaced, but couldn’t say no to Sophia, so instead he moved over the paper with his fingers, ink seemingly flowing out of them as he made a drawing. Sophia watched him in awe, dropping her pens to try it as well, frowning when it didn’t work.

“Here,” he snorted, placing a shaking hand over her own as she made the movements, letting his magic flow through hers. She squealed in excitement.

They sat like that for a while, drawing picture after picture. Sometimes nurses would come behind the desk, grabbing charts and forms, and they would smile at the sight. Some nurses Stephen recognized, but they didn’t stop to chat, not wanting to disturb the precious scene. He guessed they would discuss it under their break, talking about how Dr. Stephen Strange had been replaced with a clone.

It was nearing four pm though, and Sophia was starting to look sleepy. He could lay her in one of the hospital beds, but they were still filling up with trauma. Apparently, some accident in Soho. He also didn’t want to risk her seeing something she shouldn’t. The ER wasn’t exactly a child friendly space.

Before he could ponder too much about it though, she stood up from her chair and crawled into Stephen’s lap, surprising Stephen as she curled up into his chest, little fist once again grabbing onto his shirt. He put a steadying arm around her, placing his shin on the top of her head as her breathing evened out.

That’s how Christine found them half an hour later. She smiled at the image of the little girl in her friend’s lap, giving Stephen a soft look. She moved to lean against the table as she stared down at them, dropping her voice to a whisper.

“Social services should be here soon. Police is still trying to find the mother.”

“And what if they find her,” Stephen whispered back, anger seeping into his voice, “they’re going to force her to take the child back? She’ll be back here in a week or worse stuck in some shit situation with a mother that doesn’t want her.”

“It’s just protocol, Stephen. Abandoning a child is still illegal.”

“I know,” he sighed, absentmindedly rubbing circles into Sophia’s back as his other hand moved to pinch the bridge of his nose.

They sat in silence for a little while longer, until finally a social worker showed up. Sophia woke up as the woman started talking to her, but clung on tighter to Stephen, pulling her feet into his lap and curling into a ball. Stephen’s heart broke, putting two protective arms around her.

“Sweetie, you have to come with me now. We’ll get someone to take care of you while we look for your mommy.”

Sophia made an upset noise as she shook her head, fear edging into her features. This won’t do.

“I’ll take her.” He said with finality, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he was thinking it. There wasn’t time for doubts or selfishness. Something had taken over his mind, his stubbornness taking the wheel.

“Sir, that’s very kind but I’m assuming you’re not a registered foster parent. We need to follow procedure –“

“I’ll have everything sorted out in an hour,” he interrupted, scrolling through his phone until he found the contact he needed. Sophia relaxed in his arms as he held it up to his ear.

“Hey Stephen, everything alright?”

“Pepper, can you please come down to Metro General? I need your help with something. Also don’t tell Tony yet, I rather ask for forgiveness than permission at this point.” He sighed, giving Sophia a comforting squeeze. Pepper just gave a confused okay, which Stephen appreciated. He wasn’t even surprised at her easy agreement; she was used to dealing with Tony’s shit after all.

The social worker looked up at him in confusion but stayed quiet, probably wanting this to work out as well. Or maybe the names Pepper and Tony in relation to each other was sparkling recognition. Christine just looked up in amusement, planting a kiss to Stephen’s stubborn forehead as she went back to work.

Pepper arrived half an hour later, worry edged into her features as she made her way into the emergency room. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed them.

“Stephen,” she asked wearily, “not that this isn’t absolutely adorable but what is going on?”

“I need you to fill in some documents in Tony’s name. I’m technically unemployed so they won’t accept me as foster.”

Pepper’s face twisted from confusion to acceptance to exasperation in one fluid motion, but she smiled fondly at Stephen. “You want to foster a child? Without talking to Tony about it?”

He glared up at her, arms still protectively circling Sophia. “He won’t mind.” He insisted, hoping his words were true. “You know how great he is with kids.”

Pepper sighed fondly but turned her business persona in the direction of the social worker. “Right. I’m sure there is a whole process for this, Miss …”

“Stanley.”

“Miss Stanley,” she smiled, “but since it’s Tony Stark I’m sure a few exceptions could be made. As you know income or housing isn’t a problem and the penthouse could be babyproofed before dinner.”

Miss Stanley nodded along, smiling as she reached into a binder to pull out a couple forms. “I’ll just need you to sign these then.”

Pepper worked quickly and efficiently; Tony’s personal information still ingrained into her long-term memory. She didn’t have the authority to sign personal documents in his name, but she quickly got a digital signature from the billionaire who signed everything Pepper sent through without second thought.

In the end, the social worker left, thanking both Pepper and Stephen, and Stephen was left in charge of the little girl.

“I’ll call someone to send over some supplies,” she said, resting a hand on his shoulder as he gave her a grateful smile.

“Did the social worker just leave,” Christine asked, coming back up to their little corner behind the desk. She frowned as she noticed Sophia still safely in Stephen’s arms. The girl looked perfectly happy there, softly leaning against his shoulder. Her eyes went wide as she noticed Pepper standing next to them. “You’re Miss Potts, right? I’m Christine Palmer, it’s an absolute honor to meet you.”

Pepper send her an amused smile as she accepted the hand offered to her. Stephen squinted as he noticed the blush creeping up the ginger’s neck. “Yes, you patched Tony up that one time, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.” she replied, sending a look at Stephen, “I know you probably have your own doctors, but Stephen can be a bit overprotective as you can see.”

Pepper laughed, throwing her head back in genuine glee. Stephen rolled his eyes.

“It was nice to meet you, doctor Palmer, but I have to go order a toddler bed now,” Pepper said, giving Stephen a fond look that said ‘I’m the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company this is so below my paygrade’. Her eyes immediately softened when she looked at Sophia though, combing a soft hand through the girl’s hair.

Christine focused on Stephen after Pepper left. “You’re fostering her?”

“Yes,” he replied stubbornly, once again tightening his arms around the toddler. Christine just shook her head fondly.

“I’m so proud of you, I can’t even believe it,” she smiled at him, placing another kiss to his head.

“Hey,” he called out in indignation, but stood up, shifting Sophia so she was resting against his hip, the little girl’s arms immediately circling around his neck. He grabbed the little backpack and coat from where it had been stashed in the corner.

“See you later, Strange.” She smiled, waving at Sophia before leaving.

Stephen rolled his eyes in exasperation but focused on the little girl in his arms. “You hungry?”

When she nodded her head, he opened a portal, not caring about anyone seeing this time.

He stepped out into the Penthouse living room. It was almost six pm, meaning Tony would be heading up soon to start dinner.Peter looked up from where he was sitting at the table with his homework, eyes going wide as he noticed the toddler in Stephen’s arms. The cloak on his shoulders perked up when it noticed its master having returned, immediately floating over to inspect the small person he had with him.

Sophia clung on tighter as she noticed the older boy, but her eyes widened at the floating fabric. Stephen watched as the Cloak’s collar stroked the little girl’s cheek, before rippling in excitement at her surprised squeal.

“Dr. Strange,” Peter asked, glancing at Sophia in awe, “why do you have a baby?”

Stephen stepped up to the table, Cloak following closely, glancing at the papers spread out in front of the teen. “This is Sophia. She’s going to be staying with us for a little while.”

“Cool. I’ll play with you once my homework is done,” the teen replied, going back to cramming historical dates into his head. Sophia smiled happily.

Stephen moved into the kitchen, looking through the fridge for a meal fit for a toddler. The cloak kept hovering, but as soon as Sophia started reaching out to it, he sent the cloak away.

“You can play with her later,” he told the fabric, who dipped its collar in disappointment, but obediently floated back over to settle back onto Peter’s shoulders. Stephen could still see it moping.

“Do you like carrots,” he asked Sophia, who nodded her head. “How about some chicken?”

She nodded her head again and Stephen took the ingredients out of the fridge right as the door slid open. Stephen tensed, recognizing the footsteps as his boyfriend’s.

He heard him greet Peter with the usual hug and kiss, before he walked over to the kitchen. The cloak had hitched a ride on Tony’s shoulder, clearly trying to sneak closer to the girl once more. Stephen sent it back with a pointed look.

“Hey, babe, how was Christ-,” he stopped in his track as he noticed the toddler on his partner’s hip. Stephen refused to look anything other than bored but was surprised to find Tony not looking confused at all.

“You must be Sophia,” he smiled at the little girl, who shyly looked up at Stephen, before turning back towards Tony. “Nice to meet you! I’m Tony.”

“Hi, Tony,” she replied, smiling sweetly.

“Did Pepper tell on me,” Stephen asked, narrowing his eyes at Tony as he watched his boyfriend interact with Sophia.

“Stephen, babe, did you really think I wouldn’t recognize adoption papers? You do realize I have adopted twice before.”

“And you just signed?” Stephen enquired, barely able to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

“Dearest, I trust your judgement.” He leaned forward to kiss Stephen softly, Sophia giggled as she held a hand in front of her own eyes. “If you want to care for this adorable little girl, I’m not going to stop you. Plus, we have like an army of babysitters downstairs.” Tony moved to grab more ingredients out of the fridge, needing to start dinner before Peter started complaining. 

Stephen was still reeling, looking at his boyfriend in awe as he started cooking, love and affection coursing through him. Tony had always been way too caring for his own good, but the trust he’d put in Stephen still always surprised him. With how often Tony had been betrayed and hurt, he’d expected the man to be at least angry with him for going behind his back. He’d have every right to be.

They sat down for dinner. Tony smushing some carrots and chicken together for Sophia to eat. They didn’t have a highchair yet, so they placed some pillows on a chair so that she was safe and comfortable and able to reach her plate. Stephen allowed the Cloak to wrap around her, stabilizing her in her seat. The girl patted the Cloak contently, making it shudder in joy.

Pepper stopped by once the table was cleared, smiling fondly at Peter and the Cloak playing with Sophia on the carpet.

“Harley still at MIT,” Pepper asked as she kissed both Stephen and Tony on the cheek.

“Yup,” Tony replied, going back to putting the plates in the dishwasher. Stephen handed Pepper a cup of coffee. “Big test tomorrow.”

“So, Stephen, what was Sophia’s story,” she asked curiously, taking a sip from her mug, “you didn’t explain before.”

Stephen gave her a pained smile as he glanced over at the kids in the living room. “She was abandoned at the hospital this morning. Someone just left her there around five am.”

“What,” Tony turned to him, frowning in horror. Stephen couldn’t help but kiss the crease between his eyebrows as the man fit into his side. “I assumed her parents had just died in an accident or something.”

Pepper looked just as horrified, glancing at Sophia as she fought away tears. “Are you sure she wasn’t kidnapped?”

“Pep, no one showed up for her. There were no missing kids reported matching her description and she had a packed backpack with her.”

Pepper bit her lip, staring at the floor as she rearranged her face into her business mask. Stubbornly not thinking about the sadness.

“I managed to get most supplies here. Bed needs to be assembled still, but I told them not to worry about it.” She winked at Tony, whose own horror was fading away. “We have an on-call mechanic after all.”

Stephen snorted, slapping Tony’s ass as he moved towards the living room. “You heard the woman. Go make that bed.”

Pepper tried to hide a laugh at Tony’s blush, clearly visible despite his betrayed muttering.

“You’re so not getting any tonight.”

“Your loss,” Stephen yelled back over his shoulder as he joined Sophia and Peter on the carpet. Sophia’s smile brightened as she noticed the sorcerer, immediately crawling into his lap.

When Tony joined them later, his heart soared at the sight of Stephen’s content little smile.

“Thank you,” Stephen muttered against Tony’s crown. Sophia had gone to bed without a fuss, clearly exhausted after such a long day. They had changed the guest bedroom – which was never used anyway – into Sophia’s new room, FRIDAY and the Cloak watching over her as she slept.

Tony moved his head out of the crook of Stephen’s neck so he could look up at him, eyes soft as he pecked his jaw. “I wouldn’t have wanted to see her go into foster care either. At this point I’m ready to adopt her.”

Stephen raised a surprised eyebrow but kissed his boyfriend soundly. “Really?  We’ve never spoken about having kids.”

Tony rolled over, so he was laying fully on top of Stephen, arm resting on his chest for support as he gazed down at his boyfriend. He looked absolutely beautiful like this; hair fluffy from his shower earlier and eyes sleepy, little stubble from the day throwing a shadow over his jaw. “Honestly, I’m getting old, but I miss having babies in the house. You know Peter will leave soon too.”

Stephen snorted, happiness fluttering at his chest, but Tony continued, “I’m more surprised about you wanting kids to be honest.”

“I never really thought about it.” He shrugged. “My life never had space for another person let alone a child. I can’t deny that I don’t love having this little family with you, though. Spending time with you, Harley and Peter … it has made me really happy.”

Tony’s smile was absolutely blinding, leaning down to kiss Stephen deeply. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

It has always been the easiest thing to say.

Stephen had always had a problem with speech. He wasn’t non-vocal by any stretch of imagination. He could talk and talk for hours, but he often struggled trying to talk to people. He wasn’t made for small talk. Didn’t care about the weather or people’s personal lives.

He wanted conversation. To talk about things that interested him.

His annoyance at people not knowing the same things as him often kept him from being able to explain things properly. He always falsely assumed everyone else must know the same things he did.

In the hospital that often led to five minutes of frustration before deciding to just shut up and do it himself. Same thing eventually happened at Kamar Taj, once he had started to surpass the other masters. One of the things that made him happier there, though, was that he could easily reference the book and the other person would gladly look it up. They at least knew that one couldn’t know everything and wouldn’t take offence in being upstaged, as many doctors would.

He would learn from Wong to be a better teacher, to use the source material yes, but to also be able to paraphrase the essence. In the sorcerer world one never knew everything about magic, everyone instead focusing on one little aspect to then combine their knowledge.

Same happened in hospitals between the different specialties of course, but in Kamar Taj he wouldn’t have to be confined to his ‘specialty’. People wouldn’t assume that, because it wasn’t his major field of study, he knew less about it than the ‘expert’. They just had knowledge that some people might lack, and they could complement each other.

Since he started training Avenger recruits and students at Kamar Taj, he had mastered the skill of letting the students read up to a basic level of understanding, before trying to explain his meaning. He had gotten better, but he still often struggled.

He never had had any such problems with Tony Stark.   

Even on that terrible day not more than two years ago, when he had first met the infamous billionaire, he had admired the man. 

He knew he hadn’t done a good job of explaining the plan. There hadn’t been the time and he couldn’t have taken the risk of messing it up. One wrong word could disrupt the course of events leading to their victory. One wrong breath and the entire universe would be lost. 

Tony Stark took it in stride though. Didn’t make a fuss about the lack of communication, lack of certainty. Instead, had put his full faith in the sorcerer, trusting that he would have the world’s best interest at heart. The man understood, understood without thought, the way the world worked. The risk of knowing.

He didn’t press Stephen for answers, for an explanation, knew there wasn’t time. It had lit the first spark of affection in Stephen. Even after watching the man die to save the world 14 million times, it was that simple act that justified his crush on the man. At least to himself.

There were certain things Stephen found hard to say. 

“You know, doc, now’s not the time-“

“Oh, it sure is the perfect time to discuss this,” Stephen yelled back over the comms, using his whips to take down two hostiles.

“Babe-“

“Don’t, babe me right now!”

“It’s so not my fault that  -“

“When were you going to tell me,” Stephen asked, voice hard. He was glad they were in the middle of a mission; he wasn’t lying when he said this was the perfect time. He could focus his anger on the hostiles, helping his mind clear out the mess of emotions running around his head. Anger. Disappointment. Fear.

Especially that last one needed to be wiped away.

“Stephen, it will be fine! It’s a minor procedure, barely any recovery time.”

“I’m a doctor, Tony! You should have discussed this with me.” Their private line was interrupted by Nat’s voice running through the communal one, telling them the mission was a success and that they could fall back now. Rhodey’s voice ran through next, congratulating them on a job well done and thanking Stephen for helping out.

Stephen barely heard any of it. Instead, he let the cloak take him back to the ground, landing in front of Tony.

“Stephen,” he started, lifting up his faceplate. Stephen could see the pain behind his eyes, the worry as he looked at Stephen’s impassive face. He had a mask on, he knew, always keeping his face neutral when in pain. “I’m sorry. I should have talked this through with you first. I’m not used to relying on other people. I just wanted to get everything taken care of because it scares me. But it needs to be done.”

“I know,” Stephen sighed in defeat. He didn’t have the energy to stay angry at Tony. Especially not when looking into his beautiful eyes. He stepped forward to place a trembling hand on Tony’s jaw. He did know, but even though he knew that as a doctor, it didn’t mean he wasn’t terrified. A new sternum isn’t nothing. Isn’t a minor procedure. But Tony needed it, the previous one being too restrictive, too damaged still after Siberia, after Thanos,….

“I love you.”

Stephen had never said it before, never heard it said to him before, the closest thing being Christine’s watch, but he knew what he felt. Not saying it was becoming too much effort and with all the stress he was feeling, it needed to be released. There was no greater truth anyway.

He had been falling for months. Falling into the feelings he experienced whenever he was around Tony. The swirl of his stomach whenever Tony’s eyes changed colour from light caramel to deep chocolate and back. The youthfulness he felt when teasing the engineer, the excitement when they would one-up each other.

He would be grateful for the rest of his lives for having the chance to get to know the man behind the mask. The man who loved his family, would give his life for his kids, for the entire world, who would die to give someone a second chance. The man who made ridiculous jokes to ease the tension, who would never give up an argument – taking it to silly lengths just to be right as long as it was about something stupid. A man who was so frustratingly kind and forgiving.

He had never imagined saying those three words, though, but Tony Stark made everything seem easy.

Tony’s smile lit up his features as he leaned into Stephen’s touch. He could see Tony’s eyes moistening as he stared up at the sorcerer.

Stephen leaned forward because he couldn’t not anymore. Needed to feel the engineer’s lips against his own. To feel the man he loved melt into him. Tony stopped them before their lips met, noses resting together as he gripped onto the sorcerer’s shoulders.

“I love you too, you asshole,” he muttered, making Stephen sag with happiness as Tony pressed their mouths together. Stephen immediately deepened the kiss, basking in their proximity.

Chapter Text

The following day, as Stephen had to go to Kamar Taj, Tony took Sophia with him to SI meetings. Stephen had suggested asking a trustworthy Avenger to watch over her, but Tony said he didn’t mind; the little girl would make his day a lot more interesting.

Luckily, Sophia didn’t seem to be a fussy child. She clung sadly to Stephen at first, but after Tony had helped her get dressed and allowed her to wear her favorite skirt – a fluffy purple monstrosity stuffed at the bottom of her bag – she warmed up to him quickly and allowed Stephen to leave.

The most difficult in the end was trying to convince the cloak to go with Stephen instead of sticking with the child. 

Tony actually felt elated to have the little girl on his hip. She was quiet but curious and she was amazed at the talking voice speaking from the ceiling. A child after his own heart.

“I know these meetings can be boring, so don’t be afraid to speak up whenever the old stuffy guys start to annoy you. Hopefully they’ll leave quicker.” Tony told the little girl as they made their way downstairs. Most SI meetings happened in the city, but whenever Tony had to be there, he insisted on doing them from the comfort of the compound. He refused to lose more time than necessary for something so absolutely dreadful, and it also allowed for an easy escape if he needed it. “Later we’ll go down to the lab. I can introduce you to the bots. You’ll love DUM-E, he’s a big idiot.”

“Tony,” Nat’s curious voice came from behind him, “Who are you talking to?”

Tony turned around with a smirk. He hadn’t seen his friend in two days, and he would love to see her reaction to Sophia. As soon as she noticed the little girl resting her head against Tony’s shoulder, her eyes went wide, hands immediately reaching out as she cooed at the child.

Natasha looked up at Tony in delighted confusion, and Sophia didn’t seem to mind as she was transferred to the ex-spy’s hip.

“Hello, baby, where did you come from?”

“This is Sophia. Stephen adopted her.” He smirked as Natasha’s head snapped up, giving him a doubtful look. “No, really. Well, technically she’s still a foster, but as soon as she comes up for auction, we’re buying.”

Natasha looked delighted, hugging Sophia close and swinging her around, making Sophia giggle. “And just now I’m missing Harley. Super glad I kept you around; I love being an aunt.”

Tony rolled her eyes at his friend. “Love you too, Tasha.”

Natasha just gave him an amused eyebrow raise.

“Aren’t you supposed to go to work? I can watch over this little darling for you if you want,” she shrugged nonchalantly, stroking Sophia's hair.

“Give me back my baby,” Tony demanded as he rolled his eyes. The ex-spy pouted as she stepped away from his reaching hands, but Sophia squirmed, reaching for Tony in turn, so Natasha complied with a sigh. “I need her as distraction today.”

Natasha rolled her eyes but huffed out a laugh. “Oh, Pepper is going to love that.”

Tony shrugged, looking at Sophia with a smile. “Who could say no to this little miss. Besides, don’t you have training to go to.”

“Fine,” Natasha huffed, tickling Sophia’s cheek before turning to walk away. “But I’m coming by later!”

“Don’t tell the team yet,” he called after her and she turned to meet his smirk with one of her own, matching mischief on their faces.

--

As expected, everyone was either confused or annoyed about Tony Stark bringing a three-year-old to their Very Important TM meeting.

Pepper just pretended like nothing weird was going on, used to dealing with a toddler at work.

Sophia mainly remained quiet, playing with some blocks Tony had formed from his nano tech, content with sitting in Tony’s lap. Only when Tony whispered at her to start making a scene, did she comply, and Tony had to excuse himself to “calm down” his daughter.

He gave her a high five as they avoided Pepper’s fond look of exasperation.

Tony liked toddlers. They were fun and interested and so curious about the world. He didn’t have many experiences with children in general, but there had been times when he’d noticed one of his employees bringing their child to work in an emergency, unable to find a sitter, and he’d gladly offered to keep an eye on them. One time he’d gone home with Pepper for thanksgiving, and he’d spent the evening playing with all her little nieces and nephews. Rhodey had plenty of kids in his family as well, though they had all mostly grown to teenagers at this point.

He was great with kids, he just had never really been fond of the thought of being responsible for them. Of having to shape them into a decent human being when he himself was barely holding himself together. Now though, he thought, he has an army of people to rely on. Not only would Stephen take half of the responsibility – and Tony could rest easy knowing that Sophia had a good example to look up to – together he knew they could at least give the child a happy home.

Perhaps not stable, with Stephen often having to leave for a few days and both their jobs having risks, but happy and loving in the least. Besides, he already knew the rest of the Avengers wouldn’t mind helping out when needed. Natasha had already threatened to steal Sophia from them, and he knew Rhodey and Pepper would be great with her as well.

Plus of course she had two wonderful older brothers.

Speaking off…

Tony entered the lab, Sophia looking around curiously at all the machines and computers. He walked over to the couch at the back of the room, sitting down with Sophia in his lap as he asked FRIDAY to videocall Harley.

It rang a few times and Sophia was starting to squiggle out of his lap, so he put her down on the ground. She immediately went to explore the area, Tony keeping an eye on her as DUM-E rolled over to inspect the little girl.

“Don’t you dare douse her,” he warned the robot who beeped sadly in reply and put down the fire extinguisher, making Sophia babble excitedly.

“Dad?” Harley’s face appeared on the hologram FRIDAY was projecting in front of him. It looked like he was in his dorm, sitting at his desk with some books in front of him. According to his schedule he would have one more class later in the day. 

“Hey, kid,” he said, relieved to see Harley was doing well, “how did your test go?”

“Easy,” the kid smirked, “Explain Stark’s nine laws of engineering and describe a situation in which one needs them.”

“If you failed that I’m grounding you,” he replied without any heat. It was an empty threat, sure, but he also knew Harley was brilliant and would pass without much thought.

“I turn nineteen next month, you can’t ground me anymore!”

“I can do what I want, I’m Tony Stark.”

“I’d like to see you try, old man.” Harley grinned through the screen, his smile making him look thirteen again. It made Tony miss him, even though he’d seen the teen the previous morning. Harley had a dorm at MIT, but most nights he flew home in his suit anyway. It wasn’t far and Tony knew the teen loved the excuse to fly. Nothing could calm you down more after a long day.

“Hey, come home for dinner tonight. You need to meet someone.”

“You think I wouldn’t come over for dinner after becoming an older brother again,” Harley asked with an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Who told you?”

“Peter send me some selfies with Sophia and the cloak.” Harley held up his phone to the camera, showing Peter and Sophia making a funny face with the Cloak floating behind them.

“No one appreciates a good surprise anymore.” Tony frowned regrettably. Harley smirked at him.

“I’ll be home around six thirty.”

“Perfect! Any preferences on dinner?” Tony leaned back against the couch, trying to think about his schedule for the rest of the day. Sophia was still playing with DUM-E. Apparently, the bot knew how to play tag.

“You know I’m always a slut for lasagna.”

“Dear god,” Tony frowned, rubbing his hands against his eyes, “don’t say that in front of me again. Just for that I’m making Peter’s favorite tonight.”

Harley’s laugh always rang loud and joyful, but more often than not, it was associated with absolute deviancy and mischief. Tony usually couldn’t even be angry at him, because it was so nice to see the teen so happy. He was such a softie.

“I have to go.” Harley interrupted, glancing at the clock. He smiled at Tony before ending the call with a “Later, dad!”

“Don’t be late!” Tony yelled after the hologram, but he doubted the kid had still caught it.

Sighing, he relaxed into the couch, contently watching as Sophia tried to climb his bots. Noticing the call had ended, Sophia walked over, grabbing his hand as she tried to pull him up.

“Hungry.”

Tony sat up at once, letting himself be pulled up and picking up the toddler. “Of course, princess. Time to meet the team.”

---

“Are you sure about this, Tony?”

Tony grinned, turning away from the mirror to watch Stephen. The man looked exquisite, sitting on the bed in a brand-new suit. It was a simple dark trouser and a navy suit jacket with black accents. He was wearing it with a white dress-shirt and black bowtie. Tony looked much the same, except his jacket was a dark red instead of blue.

They formed an obvious pair. Well, let it not be said that Tony Stark wasn’t extra.

Besides, could you blame him for wanting to flaunt his gorgeous boyfriend in front of everyone?

“Already getting doubts, doc,” Tony asked, stalking over towards the sorcerer as he adjusted his cuffs. He stopped in front of him, smiling as Stephen’s hands moved to frame Tony’s waist of their own accord.

Tony lifted his hand towards Stephen’s chin, tilting his face up into a kiss. He nipped at his lips once more before pulling back and looking into his eyes.

“There are people who will think I got what I deserved when I drove off that cliff. Hell, I did -.”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Tony moved his hand, so it was cupping Stephen’s cheek. The man leaned into it, still maintaining eye contact. He hadn’t looked upset as he said it, it had merely been a statement, a fact. Tony knew there would be people digging into Stephen’s life as soon as they would announce their relationship to the world. He might have been a famous neurosurgeon, but that’s still a pretty niche crowd.

Being known as Tony Stark’s sorcerer boyfriend is something on a completely different scale. People wouldn’t be afraid to be insensitive or rude. If someone had decided to dislike Tony Stark’s Boyfriend, for whatever reason, though, they would find something either way, no matter who that boyfriend is.

“If you don’t want to go public, I’ll understand…”

“No,” Stephen said firmly, pulling Tony closer by the hips and reaching up to kiss him again. “I want people to know. I’m just not particularly looking forward to the question they’re obviously going to direct at me after a simple google search.”

Tony smirked, “you know I could wipe down any mention of your name…”

Stephen rolled his eyes fondly, “don’t bother, love. Hiding the accident away will just fuel the shame.”

Tony smiled, pressing their lips together once more, “I love you. And I can’t wait to show you off.”

Stephen hummed contently into the kiss, before adjusting Tony’s bowtie and getting up from his seat. He placed a soft hand on Tony’s chest, the new surgery scar luckily having healed without any complications. Tony, in turn, grabbed said hand and placed a soft kiss on his scarred fingers.

“Let’s go.”

“… sources say billionaire and director of the New Avengers Initiative, Tony Stark, will in fact arrive with a date tonight…”

“The break with Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark’s own company, came as a shock to everyone. Now, almost four years later, … “

“… the famous playboy hasn’t been seen out with a woman since he broke things off with his CEO, Miss Pepper Potts, …”

“The Annual Maria Stark Foundation charity event in honor of the engineer’s own mother, has been the only event consistently attended by the billionaire. Attendees tonight are confident that he will be present tonight as well, despite Iron Man having been seen on an extraction mission in Indonesia earlier today.”

“Though rumors about the identity of Stark’s mystery girl are sparse, as no one seems to be able to catch them out in public, some people online seem to believe this to be proof that the infamous Iron Man is in fact dating a teammate. Popular opinion seems to go out towards the Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, as witnesses claim the two had been getting close way back in 2011, before the original Avengers Initiative had even lifted off the ground. Shortly after, however, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts made their relationship official, halting further speculation into the nature of their relationship. Have the two rekindled an old spark after all these years?”

Tony burst out laughing as he caught the tail end of the gossip report, making Harley look up from his spot on the couch. Harley himself was also grinning. His smile brightened when he looked over Tony’s shoulder at Stephen who had come up behind him.

Tony turned back towards Stephen, placing his hands on his chest as he threw his head back in laughter once more. “I can’t wait to prove how wrong they are.”

He watched as Stephen smirked back at him, leaning forward to capture Tony’s lips in a kiss once more. “I don’t mind being your mystery girl.” His voice was low as he winked at the engineer, making Tony’s cheeks flush red.

“Alright, you two, get to the event already! This is getting boring.” Harley groaned as he turned back to the television, continuing to zap through the different channels. Peter walked into the living room, carrying a bowl of popcorn as he went to sit down next to Harley.

“Wait, doctor Strange,” Peter frowned back at them, “I thought you didn’t like cars?” His face lit up in excitement. “Does that mean you’re going to portal straight to the red carpet?!”

Stephen frowned, obviously not having considered it yet.

“Of course, we are,” Tony smirked, mischief twinkling in his eyes, “I have arrived every previous year in my suit, I’m not going to step out of a boring car this time, not when I have a handsome sorcerer to show off.”

“Peter, get us some drinks.”

Peter grumbled, but quickly ran off to do as told. Tony rolled his eyes but waited patiently for both teens to be comfortable on the couch, before he motioned for Stephen to go ahead.

“FRIDAY, alert me if these two idiots do something stupid or life threatening or both.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Stephen sighed at Tony with an exasperated smile, before taking out his sling-ring and creating a portal. The sound of the crowd gasping and camera’s flashing filled the penthouse. Tony stepped through with his trademark smirk, linking his arms with Stephen’s as he pulled him along.

Tony knew red carpets. Had been on them since before he could remember. It never became any less disorienting though. Flashes of light came from all angles, microphones were shoved in your face, and fans tried to reach out through the gates. Tony ignored the first two to focus on the fans, shaking some people’s hands and taking some selfies while Stephen watched on in amusement, their hands still linked.

As much as he pretended to enjoy these kinds of things, he was infinitely grateful to have Stephen at his side. To be able to hold his hand and gain comfort from the touch. He could vaguely hear the speculation coming from the gossip reporters. He rolled his eyes at the bits of ‘his friend’ and ‘male companion’.

Back in his early twenties the same comments would be made whenever he had been seen with another man, he had just hoped that in all those years, the world would have evolved beyond such ignorance.

He stepped away from the crowd and grabbed a hold of Stephen, looking into his eyes to find the sorcerer staring down at him with a soft smile. The doctor leaned down, Tony could just make out a glint of a smirk before he was close to his ear, whispering, “Time to prove them wrong?”

Tony leaned back to look properly at Stephen, grinning widely as his love for the sorcerer swirled in his chest. He reached up with his hand that wasn’t linked with Stephen’s to pull the doctor down into a fierce kiss. The sorcerer reacted in kind, swiping his tongue over Tony’s lower lip as he hummed contently against his mouth. They didn’t deepen the kiss though, keeping it politely on the brink of PG 13.

When they leaned back, they were both smirking, the crowd around them had faded into the background but came back with double the volume. He noticed a message from Harley on his glasses. A simple, but elegant, ‘gross’.

Immediately a particularly brave reporter stepped up to them, microphone pushed forward.

“Dr. Stark, is this you confirming your relationship with doctor Stephen Strange?” Tony glanced towards Stephen to find him staring down in amusement at Tony’s clear annoyance.

“No, obviously I’m dating Natasha Romanoff. Have you seen her?” Tony looked around mockingly. “Ah well, being invisible is kind of her job, isn’t it.”

“Come on, Tony,” Tony glanced back towards Stephen, “let’s go be heterosexual somewhere else.”

Tony smirked as Stephen dragged him towards the entrance of the venue, stopping as he noticed another message appear on his glasses.

Natasha Romanoff

Just when I thought I had finally succeeded in seducing you

Natasha Romanoff

Tell Stephen he looks hot

He burst out laughing, taking his glasses off and placing them on Stephen’s nose instead. Stephen smiled before returning them to Tony along with a small kiss.

Tony Stark

Mine.

----

“FRIDAY, can you give me a meal plan for a toddler?” Tony asked as he took Sophia to the communal kitchen in the West Wing.

“Friday,” Sophia mimicked excitedly as she looked up at the ceiling, clawing up Tony’s shoulder to search for the source of the voice.

“Calm down, little miss, there’s nothing to see. Friday is our AI. You’ll probably won’t be able to understand what that is for at least a year.” Sophia calmed down in his arms, looking around the hallway instead. “Maybe for your next birthday we can make one together. A little better than an invisible friend, don’t you think? Speaking off, do you know how old you are?”

“Three,” Sophia replied proudly, holding out a hand with three fingers on it.

“Three? Already?” Sophia nodded. “And you’re so good at counting. I swear you’ll surpass Peter in a few weeks.”

As they entered the common room and everyone looked up at his voice, Tony smirked. A quick sweep of the room showed Rhodey and Carol on the couches in the lounge, Wanda, Bucky and Sam standing in the kitchen, and Steve sitting at the living room table sketching. He knew Scott and Hope had gone to San Francisco for a few days and Clint and Maya were probably making out somewhere. The others would catch them up on today’s developments no doubt.

Bucky and Wanda were apparently making lunch, Sam sticking around to steal a bite when the other two weren’t looking and otherwise distracting the Winter Soldier.

Tony pretended like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Instead, he walked over towards the fridge.

“Boss, most sources suggest a light lunch consisting of a sandwich, pieces of fruit and vegetables, and a glass of milk.”

“No milk!” Sophia protested from where she was hiding in Tony’s neck, intimidated by the amount of new people in the room. Tony chuckled, continued ignoring everyone’s stares and started preparing Sophia’s food, switching the milk for apple juice with Sophia’s consent.

“We should probably get you tested for allergies, hu,” Tony asked as he placed the child on the counter in front of him, handing her some slices of pear as he was cutting them. “FRIDAY, make an appointment for this afternoon. Preferably at Metro General.”

“Appointment scheduled for 4 pm.”

“Perfect.”

“Uhm, Stark?” Tony bit back a grin at Sam’s inquiry. “Whose baby is that?”

“Isn’t it obvious,” Tony asked in mock bewilderment, taking in everyone’s confused glances. Rhodey didn’t even look surprised, just exasperated. 

Carol had come up from the couch and was approaching the counter. Tony guessed she was sneaking in to steal his baby. Bucky and Wanda on the other hand seemed scared of the child. To Tony’s relief, Steve continued sketching, but was smiling.

Over the past year and half things had healed a little bit. Steve was still mostly off active duty, trying to find something to live for that wasn’t war, but whenever he did join for a particularly difficult mission he listened to Carol. He had been surprising Tony with his reactions to Tony’s happiness as well. As soon as the team had figured out Tony and Stephen were in a relationship, he’d apologized to Tony and Stephen for his cruel words. He’d tried to be more open to hearing Tony’s reasoning behind his action and had stopped demanding them in the first place.

They weren’t close, but they were friendly.

“Please don’t tell me she’s a mutant,” Sam asked as he took a step back as if in fear. Carol had successfully approach Sophia and had taken over feeding her fruit.

“No,” Tony deadpanned, “she’s mine and Stephen’s new kid. Say ‘welcome to the family, Sophia’.”

“I’m surprised you made it this far without knocking anyone up.” Rhodey rolled over in his wheelchair, smirking even though he knew Tony was never that reckless. Everyone else just obediently chanted the welcome.

“Shut up, platypus, or I won’t make you godfather.”

Tony jerked to grab Sophia as Goose jumped onto the counter with an innocent miaow.

“Kitty,” Sophia exclaimed excitedly, reaching out to touch, but Tony held her back, turning her away from the ‘kitty’. He hoped Goose wouldn’t take it personal. The cat had always liked Tony.

“Darling, we’ll get you ten kittens, but that’s a flerken, we don’t play with the flerken.” Sophia pouted, but wrapped her hands around Tony’s neck. “Carol, you know I love Goose, but Sophia is a little bite sized so…”

Carol gave him an unimpressed look as she stroked Goose’s fur. “You do know that to him, all of us are bite-sized, right?”

Sam shuddered, taking another step back and turning to go sit with Steve.

“Tony, is Stephen aware of this new child,” Wanda asked, amusement clear in her voice as she stirred the pasta she was cooking.

“I’ll have you know that he’s the one who brought her home without telling me.”

Everyone raised a surprised eyebrow at that. Rhodey snorted. “I knew he was the perfect match for you.”

“Honey bear?!”

“Bear!” Tony looked at Sophia for a second, before moving around the island to place her in Rhodey’s lap.

“Here you go, baby.” Rhodey lit up with the child in his lap, immediately starting to chat and play with her as Tony finished making a sandwich and putting out some crackers. He knew Rhodey loved kids. He had met all of his younger siblings and knew how he used to take care of them when his mother was working.

“You know,” Bucky started, frowning at the child, “she does look very familiar.”

Tony turned at him in confusion, not sure how to answer that. Carol glanced at Sophia as well, taking her in before she replied, “maybe it’s because she looks like she could be Tony and Stephen’s biological child?”

“Really,” Tony smirked at her, trying to hide how happy that made him.

She just shrugged, “Your coloring, but Stephen’s eyes.”

“There you are!” Natasha walked in, immediately beelining for the toddler.

“Tasha!” Natasha smiled as Sophia remembered her name and stole the child from Rhodey’s lap with little protest.

“You knew about this,” Sam asked from the dining table in indignation, “and you didn’t tell us?”

Natasha just shrugged, attention fully on the baby in her arms.

“Pasta’s ready,” Wanda spoke up as she took the pot of the stove.

They all sat down to eat lunch, Sophia sitting in Natasha’s lap. They were halfway through their meal, when Sophia squealed as a portal opened and Stephen stepped out, immediately reaching out her arms to the sorcerer.

“Hey, babe,” Tony greeted his boyfriend as he picked up Sophia and went to kiss Tony. “I thought you had to be in Kamar Taj all day.”

“I decided to stop by before going to the 15^thdimension. I see you’ve all met Sophia,” he answered, sitting down in the empty chair next to Tony.

“Nat has already threatened to kidnap our child.”

“Only if I don’t get enough babysitting time.”

Tony rolled his eyes, giving Sophia a bite of his pasta. “I’ve made an appointment at Metro General today. Want to test her for allergies. Can’t have this one dying on me.”

“That’s actually genius,” Stephen replied as he smiled down at Sophia, who had started babbling about her day. “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

“Don’t be so surprised.” Tony scoffed.

“I’m not surprised at all that you’re a wonderful dad, Tony.”

---

Harley was walking towards his next class when he noticed Peter, MJ and Ned across the hall from him. Ned was talking about something, eyes sparkling as his mouth moved a mile a minute, excitement radiating off of him in waves. For as much as he’d gotten to know Ned over the last few months, that seemed to be his natural state of being.

He guessed he wasn’t talking about anything Star Wars related this time, as MJ didn’t look too bored. He could even see amusement shine through her eyes.

What caught Harley off guard though, was the dull look in Peter’s eyes. He watched as Peter flinched as a kid down the hall slammed their locker a little too harshly.

Harley knew Peter was enhanced. Hearing everything more clearly than others must be exhausting. Peter tried to smile back at Ned though, even as it looked more like a grimace, so Harley pushed it from his mind for now.

He waved as they noticed him, before he had to turn left into his classroom. They would meet up for lunch anyway.

Forcing his face to look impassive as he made his way towards the back of the class, he sat down in his usual seat. The lesson was boring and uneventful as usual at first. He didn’t particularly dislike history but hearing about the second world war got really annoying, really quickly.

“Can I borrow a pencil,” Samuel asked from besides him, making him break out of his thoughts. They hadn’t interacted since their chemistry project had been successfully completed two months prior.

Harley frowned involuntarily but moved to grab one from his pencil case. “What happened to yours? Died in an explosion?”

Sam blinked at him, “you mean one you caused?”

“Listen up you little shit-,” he was interrupted by the noise of ‘itsy bitsy spider’ echoing loudly throughout the classroom. Most kids burst out into laughter, but Harley frowned as he moved to grab his phone from his backpack.

“Mister Keener,” their teacher started, giving Harley an unimpressed glare. “Hand it over.”

Harley was frozen as he stared at his phone screen still flashing Peter’s name, thinking back to earlier in the hallway. He could feel Samuel looking at him in concern.

“I’m sorry but I have to take this.” Harley stood up, not caring about the teacher’s indignant protest as he pressed answer on his way out the door. “Yes, Peter?”

He stepped into the hallway, relieved their teacher at least hadn’t followed him out. Unfortunately, his relief faded quickly, when it wasn’t Peter who answered, but MJ. “Harley! Thank god. Something is wrong with Peter. We’re in front of the Gym.”

“I’m on my way.” Harley immediately rushed over. He found Peter and MJ in under a minute. Peter was lying on the ground, head in MJ’s lap as she tried to calm him down. His breathing was heavy, and he was grabbing at his hair as he curled in on himself. Harley fell down in front of him, letting his voice dip into a whisper.

“Peter, breathe! It’s alright.” Turning towards MJ, he asked, “Do you have any noise canceling headphones?”

“Yes, in my locker. Ned went to retrieve them.” Harley was grateful for how calm she seemed; panicking would only upset Peter. It was a thing he really liked about the girl; how she was quiet and observant and accounted for a grounding presence in the room.

“Good, I’m calling Stephen –“

“We tried,” MJ interrupted, “Peter said he was in Kamar Taj or something…”

“Shit,” Harley groaned. Of course, the sorcerer had just left for another universe today. It would take Tony too long to get here, even with the suit, and then came the issue of getting Peter back to the compound...

He had an idea though, and he quickly fumbled with his phone. Thankfully, Stephen hadn’t left the Avengers without magic users. His phone ringed once, then twice, before Wanda’s voice came through the receiver. She was panting slightly, but there was worry clear in her voice, Sokovian lilt coming through.

“Harley? Everything okay?”

“Wanda, I need you to create a portal to our school. I’ll send a picture.” He took the phone away from his face, quickly took a photo and sent it. “Is dad with you?”

“Yeah, just a second…”

The familiar whizzing and gold sparks of a portal appeared. Wanda stepped through, immediately followed by Tony. Harley caught a glimpse of the other Avengers in the training room, before the portal closed. In record time Wanda had a new portal open, leading straight into the communal living room.

“Pete? Hey Underoos, it’s okay.” Tony had fallen down next to Peter, suit waiting a few steps behind them. He pulled Peter against his chest, the teen shuddering as he managed to pick him up with help from Wanda’s telekinesis powers – he wasn’t getting any younger. “Thanks MJ, we got it from here. You can go back to class now; I’ll have Peter text you once he’s feeling better.”

MJ nodded, sending one last worried look in Peter's direction before stepping away from the scene and walking further into the hallway, probably to tell Ned what happened. Harley trailed behind his dad and Wanda as they stepped through the portal. Tony immediately told FRIDAY to put on the sensory overload protocol, the room falling dark as soon as Tony had laid down on the couch, Peter spread out on top of him. Harley took the empty space next to them, leaning his head against the back of the couch as he focused on Peter’s breathing evening out.

Wanda appeared a second later, placing a calming cup of tea on the coffee table and placing Peter’s weighted blanket on top of him.

“Thanks, Wanda,” Tony whispered, voice tight as he wrapped a calming arm around Peter. The witch didn’t reply, instead she slid out the door, leaving the little family alone to calm down their youngest.

It took a while for Peter to feel comfortable enough to move out from under his blanket, shifting so he was sitting next to Harley instead of lying on top of Tony. He grabbed the mug of tea and sniffed it before taking a sip, glad it wasn’t too hot anymore.

“You feeling better, Petey,” Tony asked softly, sitting up straighter himself. He reached out a hand, letting it hover of Peter’s arm until he got the okay from Peter to touch him. Peter nodded but stayed quiet. He leaned into Tony’s touch though, which clearly relaxed his father.

“Thanks, Harley,” he croaked after a little while. FRIDAY had slowly started lifting the overload protocol, letting light filter into the room slowly over the course of a half hour. By now, Harley was able to make out Peter’s blush as he stared down at his tea. 

“You did me a favor,” he smirked, “if I had to listen to one more word about the heroic Captain America, I would have lost it.”

Harley’s smile softened as he glanced at Tony before continuing. He didn’t want to throw Peter under the bus, but their dad needed to know. “Why didn’t you go home sooner though? I saw how noise was irritating you even before gym.”

“What?” Tony frowned, “Underoos, you could have called me or Happy to pick you up. You don’t have to force yourself into shitty situations.”

“I know…” Peter grumbled. Tony pulled him against his chest again.

“Don’t do these things to yourself, Peter. How many times do I have to tell you that you can ask for help and rely on others? At least ones you trust.”

They sat like that for a little while longer, by which time the protocol had been lifted completely. They relocated to their own penthouse, not wanting to keep the Avengers from going into their living room. They let Peter choose a movie to watch, putting it on low volume, but he fell asleep halfway through, completely exhausted.

Harley texted MJ and Ned in his stead, telling them that he was feeling better, but wasn’t feeling up to screens yet. They thanked him for updating them, but he was distracted by another chat coming in.

German Shepherd

Hey, is everything alright? You looked really worried and didn’t come back.

German Shepherd

Sorry I didn’t mean to pry

German Shepherd

I did grab your stuff though, so come by my locker tomorrow

Harley couldn’t help but smile. He hated the guy, but dammit if this wasn’t really nice. Thinking of a reply, he stood up from the couch and started heading towards his room to change into workout clothes. It was almost time for his sparring session with aunt Nat, and after today, he could really use it.

“Oh, dad?” Tony frowned up at him from his spot on the couch. “If you get a call from our school…”

Tony rolled his eyes, “you won’t have detention, kid, it was an emergency.”

Harley smirked, “not about that… “

Tony let out a long-suffering sigh.

Chapter Text

Stephen returned from the 15^th dimension tired but satisfied. They had actually managed to finish their diplomatic mission quicker than expected and Stephen was already looking forward to returning to his family.

However, Wong halted him as he was about to make a portal. “Do you want to grab something to eat before you go?”

“Not tonight, Beyoncé, but soon, I promise!” Stephen assured him, feeling slightly guilty at turning his friend down. He knew he had been neglecting their friendship, but he really wanted to head home.

“What are you hiding from me?” Wong squinted at him. “You only call me Beyoncé when you’re feeling guilty.”

“That’s absurd,” Stephen scowled, but he guessed the other sorcerer had a point. Couldn’t let him know that of course.

Wong gave him an unimpressed look but shrugged. His face twisted into a frown though, when he noticed the red fabric on Stephen’s shoulder. “What’s up with the Cloak?”

The Cloak was starting to get twitchy on Stephen’s shoulders, patting him against the cheek repeatedly to get his attention, pulling at his neck to hurry him along. Stephen wanted to be annoyed, but he couldn’t blame it.

“Don’t mind it,” Stephen shrugged, “but I have to leave now; it’s almost seven in New York.”

“Fine, I won’t keep you any longer,” Wong waved Stephen off. “Meet me in the New York sanctum at 9 am tomorrow.”

“Of course, Wong. Until then.” Stephen created his portal, cursing the Cloak as it immediately rushed through in search for the kids. Stephen stepped through right as a delighted squeal was heard from the direction of the bedrooms.

Stephen walked further into the kitchen instead, trusting the fabric not to hurt Sophia. Tony was just putting their dinner on the table, eyes brightening as he noticed the sorcerer.

He couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“You made it,” Tony stalked over to press his lips to Stephen’s, resting his face in Stephen’s neck for a short hug before calling out. “Kids! Dinner’s ready!”

Peter ran in first, falling down in his seat as Harley walked in next, Sophia on his hip and the cloak on his shoulders. Sophia once again reached out as soon as she noticed Stephen. He gladly complied, taking the little girl into his arms.

“Hey Harley, good to see you home.” Stephen greeted the teen as he sat down next to Tony, placing a reluctant Sophia in her highchair with the promise that he’d take her back later. “I see you’ve met Sophia.”

Harley gave him an amused look, filling his plate with everything but potatoes. He only liked them as ammo, which Stephen, as a country boy from Nebraska, could never understand. “Yeah, you’re lucky she’s cute.”

“So how did the allergy test go,” Peter asked, stuffing his face as if he was trying to beat a record. He swore one of these days the little spider would choke to death. The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man defeated by a weirdly shaped broccoli.

“She’s apparently allergic to coconut, so everything coconut is now banned from the compound and a company email has been sent out that everyone being caught with banned substances will be thrown off the team.” Tony handed Sophia a plastic plate with some mashed potatoes and vegetables, which she immediately started messily spooning into her mouth, glancing at Peter and Harley to follow their example. “I’m expecting complaints from at least three Avengers by tomorrow morning.”

“Coconut is bad!” She stuck out her spoon in Stephen’s direction, making potatoes splatter over his clothes. Stephen huffed fondly and pushed her little arm back to her plate.

“See, I already trained her!” Tony smiled at Sophia. She really was an adorable child. Her long, curly hair had a color close to Tony’s and her bright blue eyes were warm and inviting. He would never understand that anyone willingly abandoned this baby.

“I’m just glad it’s coconut and not anything else. Ever since my arc reactor was removed, I have avoided coconut like the plague anyway.”

“How so,” Stephen asked with a frown, handing Sophia a cup with water. She took it greedily, but luckily didn’t spill as she downed it.

“The replacement for palladium in my arc reactor made me taste coconut all the time. Luckily, Pepper loved coconut.” Stephen glanced over at Tony, rolling his eyes as the engineer smirked at him.

“Hey, is it okay if MJ and Ned come over tomorrow,” Peter interrupted, “they want to meet Sophia.”

Sophia glanced curiously at Peter at the mention of her name but continued eating. Apparently, she wasn’t a picky eater, which Stephen appreciated.

He had met MJ and Ned a few times before. They were polite and weren’t too rowdy. Stephen liked them. It was a huge change from the kind of kids Stephen used to hang out with. He had been arrogant as early as his teenage years, but people seemed to like him back then. Or at least a certain group of people did. He had stayed away from alcohol and cigarettes, but his ‘friends’ definitely did not. 

He trusted Peter, of course, but it was nice to know the kids he hung out with were just as good and nerdy as him.

“Sure, Pete. Want me to order some extra snacks for movie night,” Tony asked.

“I’m not going to say no to that.” Peter answered as he finished up his plate. Tony shoved a bowl of fruit towards him.

“I’m actually going out with Samuel tomorrow, so it will just be one more person than usual.” Harley shrugged.

“How is our domesticated turkey?”

“Seriously, dad,” Harley blushed at his plate, fighting back a smile, “you’re going to continue calling him that?”

“You brought it on yourself, kid.”

“How is he liking Columbia,” Stephen interrupted, leaning back in his chair as he looked at Harley with amusement. He himself didn’t have much pride for his university. It was a good school and it thought him what he needed, but he hadn’t really cared much for the student life, he just focused on getting his degree. After all, most of his studies he’d spend angry and guilty for Donna’s death.

The college had just been a means to an end.  

“He likes it a lot.” Harley smirked at Stephen. “Not as good as MIT though.”

“That’s my kid!” Tony and Harley high-fived over the table as Stephen rolled his eyes fondly. Children.

“I’m talking about medical, you idiots.” Stephen focused on Harley again. “I’m serious though, how is he doing? Is he regretting not getting a dorm?”

“He’s thinking of possibly joining a fraternity.” Harley rolled his eyes. “God, he’s such a jock.”

“MJ is planning on joining a sorority.” Peter shrugged, ripping apart an orange, “Despite ‘the toxic culture surrounding it, the system is based on community and helping each other achieve both in school and later in life’. Also, she wants a way to make friends. She’s going sorority shopping though, making sure she has the right one.”

“What?” Peter blushed when he noticed everyone staring at him in amusement, even Sophia. “I like to listen to my girlfriend talk, okay?”

“Totally okay.” Tony smirked, “And it’s adorable, kid. You and Ned interested in fraternities?”

“Gross!” Peter wrinkled his nose, making everyone burst out laughing.

“Good,” Stephen said as soon as everyone had stopped laughing, “Fraternities are dangerous.”

Even he had heard stories about the hazing practices and couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable whenever he saw a group wearing Greek letters walk together on campus. One time he’d been backed into a corner by a few drunk assholes after having been “caught staring at a guy’s ass”. They didn’t seem to think his excuse of “why would I want to look at that guy’s ass it’s not that great” was particularly valid.

They cleared the table, putting their dishes in the dishwasher, before moving towards the living room. Stephen took Sophia out of her chair as promised, moving to sit down on the couch with her in his lap.

Tony sat down next to them. Stephen smiled as the engineer leaned into his side. “Yeah, besides, you can still go to the parties, so no missing out there.”

“Weren’t you like… Sixteen,” Peter asked, taking the Snakes and Ladders board out from the cupboard.

“Don’t drink underage, kids,” Tony quickly replied. Stephen smirked at Tony’s slight blush, leaning over to kiss it away. Tony turned to grin at him.

“Oh, don’t worry, Rhodey has told me all about you at MIT,” Harley smirked. Tony’s head snapped back towards Harley. Stephen sighed; it was true, Stephen had been there. It wasn’t the most flattering picture of Tony, but it was cute imagining a teenage Tony sitting in a room full of college students. It did, however, make his blood boil to hear about all the people Tony had been with at such a young age. They should all be in prison. “How do you think I know about the good clubs?”

“Harley, I swear to god I’m forbidding you from talking to him ever again. All he does is lie.” Tony pointed a finger at Harley, clearly embarrassed. “Also, if you get arrested, I will not bail you out and I will take away your suit.”

“At this point I will just make my own.”

Peter looked amused as he glanced between the two, letting Sophia choose what color she’d like to play with.

“Oh, you should totally do that! I’d love to help if you need a hand…”

“Tony, back on track…,” Stephen smirked, letting Sophia take his roll on the board.

“Oh right…,” Tony sighed, taking turn to look Harley and Peter in the eyes. “But really, I trust you kids and drinking a little bit is fine, but don’t overdo it and don’t get arrested. You need a clean record as a superhero.”

“You don’t have a clean record.” Harley grinned, relishing in being a little shit. 

Tony gave up, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Stephen, I’m going to need some help here…”

“Do as he says, not as he does. Learn from his mistakes. Don’t drink and fly – or swing, in your case, Pete – but honestly you shouldn’t be drinking at all. I’m a brain surgeon I can tell you how much brain cells a single beer destroys.”

“Thank you!”

-------

The penthouse was quiet as Stephen sipped his tea . He was sitting at the kitchen island, kitchen dim with only the lamp above the table being lit. Stephen missed Tony, missed the kids. His boyfriend was off to some event, Harley was spending the weekend with his family in Tennessee and Peter was out patrolling. He would have gone with Tony, but he’d gotten back too late to bother, his hands were starting to ache, and he was exhausted.

He’d spent the day collecting lost artifacts, jumping through different dimensions to find them. It was exhausting work; no matter how much research he and Wong did beforehand, the relics never seemed to be where they were supposed to.

He placed his cup down on the table. The tea had lost its heat enough that it didn’t warm his hands anymore, didn’t give his sore fingers any more release.

Glancing at his watch, he guessed at least Tony wouldn’t be gone for much longer.

His head snapped up as he heard the window open and delicate thumping coming from the living area. Stephen turned around just as Peter entered the kitchen via the ceiling, still wearing his suit and grunting as if in pain.

“Peter?” Stephen asked in concern. Apparently, the teen hadn’t noticed him being there, because Peter startled and almost fell down, only steadied by the Cloak who came over to catch him just in time. Peter groaned, eyes closing as he breathed heavily.

“Dr. Strange,” Peter spoke, voice high enough to put Stephen on alert. “I didn’t think anyone would be home.”

“Clearly,” Stephen huffed, getting up and motioning for the teen to come down. “Are you hurt?”

“No! What?” Peter asked, but he came down at Stephen’s unimpressed glare. “I’m fine, doctor Strange, really!”

“Peter, let’s go. Medbay. Now. If you’re hurt Karen has probably already alerted your father anyway.” Stephen opened a portal into the infirmary, lights snapping on as he pushed Peter through.

“Oh, don’t worry, I disabled that months ago!”

“What?!” Stephen stopped to glare at Peter, disbelief making his mind reel.

“Oops.” Peter kicked himself for letting it slip, glaring at the floor at his own stupidity even through the pounding headache he was experiencing. He didn’t dare meet Stephen’s eyes. 

“Peter, you can’t do stuff like that!” Stephen frantically pushed Peter onto a bed, checking him for injuries. The front of his suit was ripped and soaked in blood. “Karen, where is he injured?”

“He has a cut in his lower abdomen that is in the process of healing as we speak. He also has a mild concussion.”

“See! I’m fine!”

“Peter, a concussion – no matter how mild– is not fine!” Stephen snapped in frustration, motioning for Peter to take his suit off so he could inspect the gash for himself. The teen grumbled but complied, probably realizing how much trouble he was already in as it was. “FRIDAY, do we know if Peter’s DNA can heal that kind of brain damage?”

“Though Peter seems to be healing at an accelerated rate, he will still need approximately three days for his concussion to be healed completely. There will most likely be no permanent damage.”

“You won’t be able to hide a concussion from Tony, Peter,” Stephen told the boy softly, watching as the cut started sealing shut. It had most likely been deep. The though made Stephen want to growl. “You will need to rest for the next couple of days. No screens – meaning no TV, laptop or phone whatsoever.”

“Oh come on! I know you can still watch some screens while having a concussion.”

“Consider it your punishment for messing with Karen.”

Peter pouted but didn’t protest it. All of a sudden, he leaned forward, vomiting into a basin Stephen handed him with a sigh. Stephen placed a hand on Peter’s back as if on instinct, rubbing comforting circles until Peter stopped puking.

“Honestly, Peter, things would be so much easier if you had just come home drunk. But don’t let that give you any ideas.”

Stephen grabbed a light from a nearby tray and told Peter to look up at him as he moved it in front of his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust FRIDAY and Karen, he just didn’t want to take any risks. He was an expert after all.

After he was satisfied with his evaluation, he moved Peter into his own bedroom, asking FRIDAY to make sure the kid couldn’t access any screens and to let Tony know he wouldn’t be answering but was safe. The teen moped, but didn’t protest, too exhausted and miserable as he laid down in bed. FRIDAY promised to keep things dark even as the sun would come up in the morning, and Stephen placed a bucket and some water next to his bed.

By the time Tony came home, Stephen was sitting on the couch in the living room. He stood up when the billionaire entered, clearly confused at the messages he had received from FRIDAY.

“Tony-“

“What’s going on? What happened,” he asked frantically, moving towards Peter’s room. Stephen stopped him by grabbing his hand softly, the man stilling at the contact, clearly trying to ease some of the tension from his shoulders.

“Peter’s fine. He has a mild concussion which will heal in a few days. I made sure he’s resting.”

Tony’s head snapped back to look at Stephen. Anger was clear in his features, but Stephen knew it wasn’t directed at him or Peter. “What happened,” he asked again.

“I don’t know. Something during patrol. I’m sure he’ll tell you about it once he’s feeling better. He –,” Stephen hesitated, voice softening as he tried to gauge Tony’s reaction, praying the man wouldn’t blame himself. Wouldn’t be too upset. Of course, Stephen knew, knew it would break the man’s trust. “He disabled Karen’s protocol to notify you of any injuries.”

Tony let out a sigh as he took a step back, falling down onto the couch in defeat.

“I’m going to murder him.” There was no heat in his eyes, just emptiness.

“Tony, sweetheart, …” Stephen kneeled down in front of Tony, urging to grab his hand, but not knowing if it would be welcome.

“Stephen, how often do you think he’s gotten hurt in the last few months?” he bit at him, anger and frustration and fear welling up in his face. “He insisted on going out on patrols despite already helping out with the Avengers, and I let him, because I trusted him.”

Tony buried his face in his hands. “It’s twenty-sixteen all over again.”

“What happened?” Stephen asked, hoping talking would help. Would be a release, a way to see things from a different perspective.

“I was dealing with the aftereffects of Siberia.” Tony looked up from his hands, gazing at Stephen with so much regret it broke his heart. “Healing both physically and mentally and I couldn’t be there for him. He messed up, made mistakes, got into way too dangerous situations for a fifteen-year-old …”

Stephen sighed in relief as Tony leaned forward, seeking Stephen’s touch as comfort. He placed his forehead on his shoulder, and Stephen wrapped his arms around him. “Everything I tried to do to keep him safe, he ignored!”

He pulled away from Stephen, instead getting up to pace the room, jittery energy keeping him from sitting still. “He started lying to me, got rid of the monitors I had put in his suit, unlocked the full potential of the suit without having had training on it, and even got rid of the tracker! The one thing you’d think he’d realise would be important!”

“Eventually I took the suit away, foolishly thinking that would keep him safe! Would keep him from going out to find trouble.” Tony sighed, stopping in his tracks. “Though, I guess trouble found him and it was my mistake to leave him defenseless.”

“Tony,” Stephen said firmly this time, stalking over to where Tony was standing, staring at the floor with his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. “Tony, this isn’t your fault! Neither was him getting hurt before! You were doing what you thought was best for him!”

“Why is it,” Tony looked back up at Stephen, lines hard on his face, hands gesturing as he spoke, “that every time I ‘try to do what’s best’, I fuck everything up? Ultron? The Accords?”

“Tony,” Stephen said once more, voice hard, “Ultron was a mistake, yes, but it wasn’t yours!  Wanda already took responsibility for that, for messing with your head. And the accords? You were right! That whole mess wasn’t on you! And from what you just told me about Peter, it seemed like there was a lot of miscommunication going on.”

Tony huffed, clearly not convinced as he continued pacing.

“You can’t keep feeling guilty for the past, Tony! Think about all the people you’ve saved! The wonderful changes you’ve made to the world! How you’ve singlehandedly revived the Avengers Initiative and took it to heights unimagined! Despite how they’ve hurt you before, you’ve all given them a second, sometimes third or fourth chance!”

Stephen stubbornly stepped closer to Tony, forcing the man to stop and look into his eyes. “You’re the futurist remember? You’re always so stuck in the past that you don’t realize how much good you’re doing in the present, how much good you’re doing for the future! You learn from your mistakes and adapt to prevent future ones. Despite what you might think, intentions matter, even if the results don’t turn out right.”

Stephen grabbed Tony’s arms, pulling him towards the couch to sit down with him once more. Tony was going willingly, keeping his eyes on Stephen. There was something in his eyes Stephen couldn’t place. It scared him, even though it wasn’t anything malicious, just that he didn’t recognize it. It made his chest hurt, breathing becoming harder as he continued, “You may have not been able to stop Peter from getting hurt, and most likely you never will, but you can learn from last time and try communicating with him. Try talking to him about how him getting hurt is affecting you. Most likely he doesn’t care about getting hurt himself, but he would care about not worrying you."

Tears were welling up in Tony’s eyes and he let himself be pulled into a hug by Stephen, holding on to the man tightly.

“I love you,” he sighed into Stephen's neck, immediately sending a spark of relief through the sorcerer's body.

“I love you too.”

---- 

Peter slept for the next day and a half but stayed in his room for the full three days prescribed by Stephen, too afraid to come out. Stephen brought him meals and Tony stayed in the lab the entire time, only letting Stephen pull him out to sleep.

When Peter did eventually come out, it was to find Stephen and Tony sitting in the living room. Peter gulped as he sat down on the coffee table in front of them.

“Pete,” Tony started, Stephen giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

“I’m sorry, okay,” Peter interrupted, eyes watery as he stared at the carpet. “I just didn’t want you to worry every time I got injured.”

“Peter,” Tony tried again, tone steady as he took in the sight of his son, “you’re not supposed to get hurt at all. That’s the point!”

“I can’t control if I get hurt,” Peter protested, “but I’m enhanced! I heal before I even get home most of the time!”

“That doesn’t reassure me! You rarely get hurt during Avenger missions when I can keep an eye on you! You’re already doing more than any child your age should be doing.”

“Dad, that’s because I’m barely doing anything!" He couldn't help the whine in his voice, but steadied his tone. "Yes, I’m helping and it’s important! But the only reason I get hurt more during patrol is because I’m on offense instead of defense or evacuation! And I’m not saying one is better than the other,” he continued before Tony could interrupt, “I’m happy with my role in the Avengers! But I am the only one who can be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!”

“I don’t want you taking risks you don’t have to take,” Tony countered, face hard as he tried to keep the emotion from pouring out. 

“I don’t! I promise,” Peter insisted, forcing his words to be steady as he glanced between his dad and Stephen, “I only stick to small crimes! They’re always just petty criminals. I don’t even take on gang members in groups unless they’re actively bothering someone! It’s just that sometimes those petty criminals have weapons. Again, nothing I can’t handle with my spider enhancements! If it’s anything big or alien tech I stay a mile away, I swear!”

“Pete,” Tony looked at him sadly, “you see why that’s hard for me to believe when you go behind my back.”

Peter looked down at the ground again, face taking on a stubborn edge. “I don’t want you worrying about me every time I get as much as a scratch.”

“Then I’ll tell Karen to only alert me if it’s anything major, but you don’t just disable important functions of the suit without discussing it with me! I’ve been doing this a while, kid; I’ve had to learn from my mistakes. Tracker? Getting kidnapped in Afghanistan. Your heaters? Freezing in Tennessee. Parachute? Rhodey.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter replied, regret clear in his voice as tears started to stream down his face.

“Hey, it will be okay,” Tony assured, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder, pulling him towards him until he was sitting next to Tony, clinging against his shirt as he continued crying into his shoulder. “Just… I much rather worry about you all the time than find out you’re dead and I hadn’t done everything in my power to help you.”

Peter nodded, Tony felt it against his shoulder, and he rubbed his hands over the teen’s back, reaching out a hand to grab onto Stephen’s for his own comfort. “You feeling better, Underoos?”

Peter nodded again. Stephen conjured up a tissue to hand the teen.

“FRIDAY, put on a movie please.”

----

Sophia had been with them for almost two months as they were nearing mid-December. The social workers had come by a few times but couldn’t find any reason to not let them keep their baby. Stephen guessed ‘Living With the Avengers’ wasn’t indicated as a hazard in the official guidelines.

Sophia was adapting perfectly though. She loved spending time with both Tony and Stephen, liked playing with her brothers and was always perfectly behaved whenever she was being babysat by Natasha, Carol or Rhodey.

Only on occasion, like tonight, she would wake up crying in the middle of the night. Even the Cloak’s comforting embrace, wouldn’t be able to soothe her. It was during these times that Stephen and Tony’s heart broke every time she cried out for her mother, asking where she was and not being able to go back to sleep. She was always a lot clingier the day after, and Stephen and Tony would have to cancel their work for the day to spend with her. They didn’t mind too much, but it hurt to see the little girl so upset.

Stephen got up this time. Tony had an important mission the next day, so he softly kissed his sleeping boyfriend before moving into the hallway. To his surprise, Harley’s light was still on, shining through the gap between the door and the floor.

He skipped Harley’s bedroom for now and went straight for Sophia’s.

They had decorated the place in calming pastel purple, which she seemed to like a lot. They had bought her some new toys, which were now spread out around the floor. Harley had given her a build-a-bear with Iron Man clothes, and it was her favorite plushie. The king-sized bed had been replaced by a small white toddler bed, in which Sophia was sitting up, arms outstretched as soon as she saw Stephen enter.

“Mommy!” Her face was wet with tears, lip still trembling, and her little nose scrunched up.

Stephen moved to sit next to the toddler, pulling her into his lap as he started rocking her back and forth. “I’m here, baby, it’s alright.”

She hiccupped as she clung onto Stephen’s white t-shirt, burying her face against his chest. “Bad dream.”

“Shhh, darling, it’s just a dream. The bad can’t hurt you here.” Stephen pulled her closer, her little feet digging into his legs. They sat like that for a little while, until Sophia had finally calmed down again. To Stephen's surprise, her eyes dipped closed against his chest and Stephen didn’t have the heart to put her back down.

He got up instead, holding onto Sophia as he walked into the hallway. When he passed Harley’s room, he knocked before pushing the door open. The teen was sitting at his desk, headphones on his head as he studied. He waved to get Harley’s attention, motioning to take off his headphones.

“Did I miss Sophia’s crying?”

Stephen frowned. “I’ve got it. Go to sleep, it’s late!”

Harley rolled his eyes but yawned. “I just need to finish this.”

“You can finish in the morning. Go to sleep.” He insisted and Harley huffed but complied, throwing the headphones down and falling into his bed.

“Good night,” Stephen smiled at him fondly, turning off the lights before closing the door.

He moved into the living room, sitting down in the corner of the L-shaped couch, spreading his feet out in front of him. He positioned a still sleeping Sophia, so she fit neatly against his side, arms still encircling her tiny body.

He opened a small portal to grab a book and made it elevate in front of his face so he could read without disrupting the sleeping toddler.

“Can I join you guys?” Stephen looked up to find Peter hanging from the ceiling. Either he had learned to be stealthier or Stephen had been more focused on his reading than he had previously thought. “I’m exhausted.”

“Of course.” To Stephen’s surprise, when the teen jumped down from the ceiling, he didn’t just lay down next to them, but curled up against Stephen’s free side, head resting on Stephen’s chest next to Sophia. Stephen smiled and wrapped his left arm around the teen. “I thought you were sleeping at aunt May’s tonight.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Peter muttered into his chest. He was still wearing his Spider-Man suit, but his pyjamas were peeking out from underneath. “Left a note.”

“Okay, cub.”

“Thanks, doctor Strange.” Stephen rolled his eyes at the formality but had given up on letting the kid call him by his first name. This was the teen who had stuck to Mr. Stark until going straight to dad.

Tony found them in the morning, smiling down at them over the rim of his cup of coffee.

“I can’t believe they took my place. Can’t blame them though.” he winked at Stephen, leaning down to peck him against his lips.

“Spidey!” Sophia had apparently woken up, squealing as she noticed the teen lying next to her.

Peter murmured at the noise, blinking his eyes open against his will.

“You know about Spider-Man,” Peter asked tiredly. Tony and Stephen shared a surprise smile, before looking back at Sophia, who was sitting up now, bracing her little hands on Stephen’s chest as she looked at Peter in excitement.

“Spidey! Flip!” Tony barked out a laugh at the toddler, who looked satisfied at the reaction she got from him.

“You heard the little Miss, Underoos. Flip!”

Peter grumbled something about it being too earlier but couldn’t hide his own amused smile as he got up and did as instructed. Sophia squealed in delight clapping her hands before reaching out for Peter to pick her up.

“Can’t believe Spider-Man is her favourite superhero? When Iron Man exists?”

“Love, you can’t be all kids’ favorite superhero. Most likely she doesn’t even know who Iron Man is.” Stephen got up, wrapping an arm around Tony to sate him.

“Blasphemy!” Tony gasped, holding a hand against his chest in shock.

“Come on, baby,” Tony reached out to Sophia, stepping away from Stephen and taking her from Peter with a glare at his son. “We’re going to show you videos of the real superheroes.”

“Really, dad?” Peter threw his hands up in amused frustration.

“Don’t you have school anyway?” Tony hugged Sophia to his chest, blowing a raspberry on her cheek to make her giggle.

“Don’t you have that mission with the Juniors?”

“Pete, what did I tell you about getting smart with me?”

----

After waking up Harley, they headed down for breakfast together. Tony had helped Sophia get dressed, so it wasn’t a surprise that she was wearing a ‘Team Iron Man’ t-shirt. She was contently sitting on his shoulders, Cloak wrapped around her for support.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, Natasha swooped in to take Sophia from Tony, the little girl gladly wrapping her arms around Natasha’s neck instead.

“Aunt Tasha! I want waffles!”

“Of course, baby!” Natasha moved over to sit at the table, with the others, grabbing the plate of waffles and cutting one into pieces for Sophia. “Harley, are you free to spar later?”

“Sure.” Harley and Peter went to sit with Natasha and the other Avengers as Stephen moved into the kitchen to make some tea, Tony following for his second cup of coffee.

He stood against the kitchen island, facing the table with the Avengers, as Tony came up behind him. He placed a kiss below Stephen’s ear, before whispering, “I love you.”

Stephen gave him a pleased smile, but frowned. “I love you too.”

“You looked absolutely adorable earlier; I just didn’t want to say it in front of the kids.” Stephen’s smile widened as he turned to kiss Tony properly. Tony smiled up at him one more time, before grabbing his cup of coffee and moving over to the side with the trainees, needing to discuss the details for today’s mission.

“Mommy!”

Stephen froze. His heart broke, but he hadn't called out for her mother during the day since their first meeting. Natasha frowned up at Stephen, but Stephen shrugged back at her. She didn’t seem upset, so he continued making his tea. He noticed Tony glancing over worriedly, but there was something in his eyes akin to suspicion as he glanced at their daughter. The ex-spy tried to distract her, but a minute later she cried out again, more stubbornly.

“Momma!” Stephen winced.

“Stephen,” Natasha sounded amused as she spoke his name tentatively, “she’s getting upset that you’re ignoring her.”

Stephen’s head snapped up, and indeed the girl’s teary eyes brightened as she gained the sorcerer’s attention, immediately reaching out her arms for him. She was already standing in Natasha’s lap, staring over Natasha’s shoulder at the doctor.

“Mama!” Stephen moved as if in tranced, taking the little girl from Natasha’s arms. Sophia immediately laid her head against his shoulder in contentment. “May I have juice, please?”

Stephen moved into the kitchen, fully aware of everyone staring up at them in amusement. His mind was still reeling, but he couldn’t mind her calling him mom if it at least meant she wouldn’t be upset about her biological mother anymore. His eyes locked on Tony from across the room, the engineer’s eyes sparkling in amusement. Stephen rolled his eyes at him but couldn’t hide the fondness he was feeling.

“Did that just happen,” he heard Sam ask from the table.

“I think it’s cute,” came Wanda’s sokovian lilt. He opened the fridge and took out some juice, ignoring his teammates. He poured some in a plastic cup for Sophia.

“Thank you,” Sophia thanked him politely, bringing the cup to her lips and emptying it. She demanded to be put down after and Stephen complied, letting her run back towards the Avengers. This time, she went to sit in Elsa’s lap.

“Do the magic!” Stephen watched from the kitchen island as Elsa sent Anna an amused glance, before obeying Sophia and forming a tiny ice crystal, shaping it into different flowers.

“You doing alright, love?” Stephen turned to face a smiling Tony with a smile of his own.

“I can’t believe this is my life.”

Tony grinned, wrapping an arm around Stephen’s waist as they looked at their little girl, who ran over to her brothers to show them her crystal.

Chapter Text

Stephen walked through the hallway , adjusting the cuffs of his dress shirt. As he passed Harley’s room, he found the teen lying face first on his bed. His hands were frantically tinkering with a piece of his suit and loud, angry music was blasting through the crack in his door.

He shrugged to himself and continued into the kitchen where he found his gorgeous boyfriend scribbling on a tablet.

“What’s up with Harley,” he asked, sliding up behind the engineer and wrapping his arms around his torso.

“Apparently he and Samuel had a fight, so now he’s moping and not responding to his texts.” Tony replied, attention staying on his work as he leaned into Stephen’s touch.

“Was it about anything serious?” He started trailing his fingers over the fabric covering Tony’s sides, breathing in the scent of his cologne.

“Not that I know,” Tony shrugged, starting to squirm under Stephen’s administrations, “he wouldn’t tell me.”

“Knowing that he’s a Stark, he’s probably just being stubborn,” Stephen smirked, leaning forward to bite Tony’s earlobe.

Tony, affronted, leaned back and pushed Stephen away, making the sorcerer laugh. “Excuse you!”

“I’m just kidding, sweetheart.” He let his old accent slip through, knowing it would sedate the engineer.

Tony relented, sighing as he rolled his eyes at the doctor. “Damn you midwestern bastard.”

“I’ll need another half hour before we can go, I’m afraid. I’m running behind on my paperwork and I’d rather not worry about that on our date.”

“Take your time, love,” he replied, kissing Tony on the cheek as he moved back into the hallway.

He knocked on Harley’s door before stepping inside. The teens’ bedrooms were the standard layout of a bedroom in the compound, with black, sleek king-sized beds and one wall completely made up out of glass. Peter and Harley had both done their best to personalize their respective rooms though.

Both had a desk but only Harley ever used his, Peter preferring to study in the common areas. There were pictures above Harley’s, both of his family in Tennessee and at the compound. He also had a bookcase, one shelf filled with mini Iron Man suits he must have collected throughout the years. The rest was filled with books about engineering and science, but plenty fiction books were present as well. Stephen knew he liked to read in his free time.

There were a few martial arts books on his bedside table and his bedsheets were custom Iron Man bedcovers compliments of Tony Stark himself. The wall above his bed was painted Iron Man red, as the world had dubbed it, and his old potato gun was displayed on it, encased in a glass holder.

Stephen asked FRIDAY to turn the music off.

“Harley,” Stephen asked, making Harley lift his head from where it was buried in the covers. Stephen smirked, already recognizing the stubborn pout of someone – Stark – regretting their stupid dispute.

“What?" he snapped, sighing as Stephen raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He rolled around, facing the ceiling.

“You’re moping. Just apologize.” Stephen moved further into the room, sitting down on the bed next to Harley’s starfish body. He poked the kid’s side, making him squirm but a smile break out over his face.

“You don’t even know what he did!” He protested, glaring up at Stephen.

“Fine,” Stephen admitted, smiling at the teen in amusement, “so tell me.”

Harley was quiet for a while, thinking over his options. His eyes were tracing a pattern on the ceiling as he reached out to the stuffed moose lying between his pillows and pinning it against his chest with his arms.

“He ignored me,” he blurted out, biting his lip as he avoided looking at Stephen. “I know it’s stupid. But every time we’re doing something with friends, he just… I don’t know. Barely pays me any attention? It’s like we’re less than friends instead of … more.”

Stephen snorted, “I knew you were just like your father.”

Harley looked at him in betrayal, but Stephen continued, placing a calming hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. “I’m kidding. Do you know why he does that? Don’t MJ and Ned know it’s more?”

Harley huffed, “I mean his friends.”

“Do his friends know it’s more?” Stephen patiently rephrased the question.

“No,” Harley pouted.

“Why not?”

“Because…,” Harley rolled his eyes, “because I don’t want them to.”

“Why not?”

Harley gave him an annoyed look, “Because I don’t like them. They’re annoying jocks and I don’t trust them.”

“Does he not want them to know,” Stephen asked, frowning at the teen lying in front of him. Had relationships always been this complicated?

“He said he wouldn’t mind if they did.” Harley looked away sheepishly, grabbing the discarded piece of metal to tinker with.

“But then why are you upset that he doesn’t flaunt your relationship in front of them? Isn’t he just following your wishes?” Stephen couldn’t hide the clear amusement in his voice.

“I hate you.” Stephen smirked at the teen.

“Just text him and apologize. And maybe if you want him to pay more attention to you, just ask him to.”

“Maybe…” Harley stubbornly toyed with the moose's antlers in his hand, avoiding Stephen’s eyes.

“Harley –.”

“Fine!” Harley reluctantly sat up and grabbed his phone. “I thought you were supposed to have been shit at relationships before dad?”

Stephen rolled his eyes, “yes, well, I was shit back then.”

“Even as a teenager?”

Stephen gave him an amused look. “Harley, I grew up a bisexual kid in the Midwest. I was perfectly polite, but whenever I dated a boy, we didn’t have a choice but to keep it secret.”

Harley winced, “Yeah, of course…”

“But look at me now,” Stephen spread out his hands with a smirk, “I think things worked out pretty well. And they will for you too, whether it’s with Samuel or someone else in the future.”

“Thanks, Stephen,” Harley smiled, leaning in to pull a surprised Stephen into a hug. When he pulled back, he added, “enjoy your date with dad.”

“I’ll try, if he ever finishes his work.” He got up from the bed, clearing out the creases in his pants. “Call if you need anything, we’re just a portal away.”

“Yeah,” Harley replied, distracted as his phone dinged and he immediately moved to type out a reply. Stephen smiled as he closed the door behind him, ready to head out with his boyfriend.

--

“So, Stephen, …” Stephen looked up from his book, raising a questioning eyebrow at Wong who had taken a seat in the chair opposite his. “How are you doing?”

“Really, Wong?” Stephen raised an unimpressed eyebrow at his friend, but he knew Wong would be able to see the amusement in his eyes. He could never fool the librarian.

“You have been spending a considerable amount of time at the compound, lately, even more than usual,” Wong questioned, taking his cup of tea from the coffee table between them. “Not that there is anything wrong with that of course, but I’m curious by nature. I take it your relationship with Stark is still going strong?”

Stephen rolled his eyes, but felt a guilty blush creep up his neck. He hadn’t exactly told the librarian about the … developments in their growing family. He didn’t even know why; Wong liked Harley and Peter well enough. They stopped by the sanctum sometimes when Stephen was there. Peter liked to come by especially when his sensory overload was getting to him, finding the old environment calming. It was considerably darker than the compound as well, without the floor to ceiling windows and bright lights everywhere. Wong loved to talk to the two, often getting more of a conversation out of the teens than out of Stephen, who usually studied while at the sanctum. 

“How about Harley? How is he finding MIT?”

“He enjoys it a lot.” Stephen replied, trying to pretend to continue reading. “He’s a very smart kid. Peter is awaiting his own early admission letter any day now.”

“Yeah, he mentioned. He texted that his girlfriend already received hers for Yale Law?”

Stephen narrowed his eyes at Wong. “You text Peter?”

“Some people actually use their phone, Stephen.” He shrugged with an amused smirk.

“I use my phone!” He frowned in indignation, giving up and putting his book down. He made sure to carefully put in the bookmark in front of the librarian.

“Only to text Stark.” Wong took another sip of tea, right as Stephen’s phone started ringing. The sorcerer stared at him.

Stephen grumbled, eventually giving up the staring contest to grab his phone out of his pocket.

“Hey babe, you’re not going to another dimension today, right?” Tony's voice came through the receiver, making Stephen smile involuntarily at the sound.

“No, just guarding the sanctum and teaching later, why?” He ignored Wong’s satisfied smirk, twisting away from the annoying sorcerer.

“I need you to come pick up Sophia.” Stephen frowned. He hadn’t taken her with him to the sanctum yet for a reason; it’s not exactly what you’d call ‘child friendly’. The engineer continued, “We’ve all been called in on a mission and Pepper’s in Hong Kong. I’d rather leave her with you than with Steve.”

Stephen kept his face neutral, glancing at Wong who was curiously watching his reaction. Eventually he sighed; he wouldn’t really mind the little girl’s presence, after all. “Of course. I’ll be there in a second.”

“Thanks, love.”

“Stephen, you’re leaving?” Wong asked with a disapproving frown.

“No, I’m just picking someone up. I won’t even have to step through the portal.” He assured him, shifting uncomfortably before taking out his sling ring.

He created the portal, ignoring Wong’s confused look. As soon as the gateway had opened, there was a squeal and an exclaim of “mommy!”, before the excited toddler ran through the portal. Stephen immediately leaned down to pick her up, running a hand over the back of her head as he held her close. “Hello, darling.”

He turned to look at Tony who was already suited up and watching them with a fond expression.

“When do you think you’ll be back?”

“I don’t know yet,” he grimaced. “We’re on hurricane release so it may take a while.”

“Are Peter and Harley coming?” Sophia was curiously looking over his shoulder, taking in the bookcases and glass housings. The Cloak flew in excitedly, sensing the little girl’s presence. She reached out to pet its fabric the way he liked it.

“Those two are their own hurricane.” Tony rolled his eyes. “They’re luckily in school so I don’t have to force them to stay back.”

“Alright, see you tonight, love.”

Tony stepped through the portal for a second, leaning forward to give Stephen a quick kiss. As soon as he was gone, Stephen went to sit back in his chair, avoiding Wong’s gaze as he situated Sophia in his lap.

“Mommy, aunt Tasha braided my hair today!”

“Really,” he muttered, wrapping an arm around her protectively as if to hide her away from Wong. “I don’t see any braids.”

“They itched,” she crinkled her nose, leaning back against his chest as she stuck her little feet out to stare at her shoes. She twisted her head so she could look up at Stephen and whispered way too loudly. “Who’s that?”

Stephen sighed, finally turning back towards Wong who had returned to his own seat and was watching Sophia impassively. “Sophia, this is my friend Wong. Wong, meet Sophia.”

Sophia glanced at Wong. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you, Sophia. Why don’t you go play with the Cloak? It seems very excited to see you. I’d like to speak with your… mommy.”

Sophia nodded. Stephen helped her get down from his lap as he stubbornly glared at Wong. The Cloak immediately swiped her away, making her giggle as she started babbling to it.

“Don’t let her get hurt,” he warned the Cloak, before he turned back to Wong with a sigh. “Look, I know I should have told you –,”

Before Stephen could continue though, Wong burst out laughing, making Stephen look at him in confusion. “What?”

It took a while before Wong regained enough composure to answer, Stephen getting grumpier with each passing minute. “You – I can’t believe this.”

“It just sort of happened, okay?” Stephen hissed, sending Wong into a second fit of laughter, making him squirm in his seat. Stephen noticed Sophia look over, a small smile on her lips at the laughing sorcerer.

Stephen rolled his eyes, before he told the story, immediately sobering the librarian up.

“She’s adorable.” Wong looked over at Sophia in amusement. “Why does she call you ‘mom’ though? Can’t she just call you both ‘dad’? You’re geniuses, you should be able to figure out which one she means.”

“She just started calling me that,” Stephen shrugged, “I think it’s because whenever she called out for her mother, I showed up to calm her down.” Stephen glanced at the little girl. Her curly hair bounced around her head and she was wearing her new favourite skirt; a puffy jeans skirt given to her by Carol. Her shirt was a reference to him for once instead of Tony, probably considered more sanctum appropriate. That kid was spoiled beyond high heaven. “I don’t mind it though; can’t be bothered to relearn her, which will be frustrating on her, heart wrenching for me and I’m not bothered by societal norms either way. According to Pete and Harley, ‘mom’ is a state of being.”

“Mommy,” Stephen looked down as Sophia pulled at his robes. “Daddy says you need to give me a tour.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. Leave it to Tony to annoy him without actually being there.

“You heard the kid,” Wong smirked as he shooed Stephen away. The bastard staying comfortable in his chair and reheating his cup of tea. “Don’t let her touch the relics.”

“Do I look like an amateur to you?”

---

Tony woke up from a loud crash coming from kitchen . He winced when he recognized the clatter of porcelain, sitting up in bed to glance towards the door, noticing Stephen was no longer lying next to him. He got up, threw on a sweater over his pajama pants and headed out into the hallway.

According to the clock, they were expected downstairs for breakfast in half an hour, which meant that Stephen should be the only person awake. Harley and Peter slept in as long as possible or until FRIDAY woke them up on Tony’s orders. Whichever came last.

When he came into the kitchen though, he found no sight of the sorcerer, nor did he find evidence of a crash of any sort. It was unsettling to say the least, his anxiety immediately jumping towards terrible explanations.

“FRIDAY, where did Stephen go?”

“The doctor left of his own volition a few seconds before you walked in, Boss.” 

Tony frowned, looking around the kitchen for an explanation, but sighing when he found none. He probably had an emergency at the sanctum or Kamar Taj and forgot to leave a message. That didn’t mean he couldn’t miss the sorcerer though. Either way he dismissed his worries and made himself a cup of coffee before getting ready to head down as soon as the kids were ready.

He did send the sorcerer a quick text asking if everything was alright, but no response came.

He didn’t hear from Stephen all day, which wasn’t unheard of, but considering his strange (ha) departure from this morning, it was worrying Tony, nonetheless. Stephen also hadn’t said anything about going to different dimensions, which he always did in case ... in case he didn’t come back.

It worried him and haunted his thoughts throughout his daily tasks. When he didn’t make it home for dinner, Tony asked Peter and Harley to skip movie night and instead head down to the lab together. He couldn’t stand the thought of sitting still for two hours.

He was already asleep when he finally felt Stephen slide into bed next to him, and he couldn’t help but sigh contently when the sorcerer wrapped an arm around him, pulling him against his chest. When he reached down to link their hands together against his stomach, the sorcerer moved his hand away, resting it on Tony’s shoulder instead.

It sent a flash of hurt through him and he already missed the arm around his middle, but he tried to ignore it, just focussing on the fact that the sorcerer was there. Had returned, was still pressing against him.

The sorcerer had never stopped him from touching him before. Not even his hands.

The following morning, things had settled back to normal and over time, Tony’s anxiety settled down again. Every time the sorcerer touched him was a relief, until finally Tony felt okay to reach out again first.

Sometimes, his face was so neutral, like it had been when they had first met, that it made Tony’s heart stutter nervously. Every time though, his soft smile came through again after a little while, sending a wave of relief through the engineer. 

It was about a month later when Stephen disappeared again, except this time, he didn’t return at night. It was enough to set him off into a fit of panic, though he tried to control it for the rest of the following day.

The fact that Harley had left for a weekend in Tennessee and Peter was spending the night with May didn’t help either. He had spent the entire day in the lab, hammering things that didn’t need to be hammered just to let out some steam. When ten pm rolled around and he finally heard a portal open, he threw his tools onto the ground, letting it clatter on the floor harshly as he turned around. One look at the sorcerer proved that he was in fact perfectly fine. It only made for a small relief though.

“Where were you?” Tony gritted through his teeth. He could see Stephen wince at his angry expression, but he didn’t care. Couldn’t care with the worry and fear still coursing through him.

“Tony –“

“An explanation would be nice.” He crossed his arms as he leaned against the table behind him. His whole body was tense, strung like a bow as he tried to remember to breathe correctly. “What? You just disappear without a word for two days? Which, whatever, I guess. But twice? Is it going to be three days next month? Until you finally get the guts to tell me you’re sick of me?”

“Tony,” Stephen ground out. Tony could see him start to get wound up as well. Could see he was pushing the sorcerer towards something. But he didn’t care. He was itching for a fight.

He knew it was bad. He had always hated fighting with Pepper, preferring to not have the most important person in his life be angry at him. Knew she didn’t deserve it.

But he was worked up. Hurt. Desperate. And if this wasn’t going to last, he’d rather know so now.

“Not everything is about you.” Stephen was lashing out now, firing back as his face twisted in vicious anger. Tony didn’t like the look on him, but he couldn’t deny there was something there. The truth was buried underneath, and he needed it. “What? Your fragile ego can’t take that?”

“Of course it isn't,” Tony fired back, tone rising, “this is about you, isn’t it? Because for some reason you don’t feel like telling me what’s really going on.”

“Well maybe, because it’s none of your business!”

“Oh, I think it is my business.” Tony stepped forward. His anger was starting to fade, but he was getting somewhere; he could feel it. “If you get to sleep in my bed, I deserve to know why you flinch away from me. Why you feel the need to disappear without a word.”

Stephen rolled his eyes and crossed his arms with a groan. “I really don’t feel like dealing with your insecurities right now, Stark.”

Tony took a step back as if slapped, face hardening as he clenched his jaw together. He knew Stephen was just lashing out, knew he probably didn’t mean it… But didn’t he? Doesn’t the truth come out in anger?

“Fine,” he replied, voice tight. “Have it your way.”

He turned around and left the lab, not being able to stay around the sorcerer any longer.

He was lying in bed but couldn’t sleep. The king-sized bed had never been too big for him before, but he couldn’t help sticking to ‘his’ side of the bed, facing away and curling into himself.

He missed Stephen, missed having his comforting presence lying next to him, touching him, teasing him. He missed talking to him until they both fell asleep, basking in the quiet moments together.

He was so pathetic, he didn’t even yell when Stephen came into the room. Didn’t react when the sorcerer took his place in the bed next to him. Tony’s face was impassive, but his heart ached. He wouldn’t be able to deal with falling asleep like this, Stephen still angry at him even though his own anger had already faded. But the ball was in Stephen’s corner. He couldn’t force the sorcerer to talk and they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere if he didn’t.

“Tony?”

Tony held his breath, hope blossoming underneath the pain. He turned around to face Stephen. He could see the sorcerer’s eyes flash in regret as he noticed Tony’s red ones and he reached out to rest a trembling hand against his cheek. He felt weak for leaning into him, but he couldn’t help it. He barely noticed the shaking was more intense than usual, but Tony thought he finally understood.

He watched as the sorcerer smiled sadly, probably having noticed the realisation in Tony’s eyes.

“I thought magic helped,” he whispered in shame. He should have known better. Should have figured it out quicker. Should have been more patient. He knew the sorcerer couldn’t do small motor movements, but he had never shown any problem with other tasks before, never complained when Tony held his hands.

“Steadying my hands with magic is irritating in the long run, but most of the times I don’t even have to. You’re always so careful and thoughtful, Tony,” Stephen whispered back, moving his thumb over his cheek. “I can’t escape flare ups though. Sometimes I still have a bad day.”

“You could have told me.” Tony wriggled forward a little, needing to be closer to the sorcerer until he could feel the heat from his body.

“I know,” Stephen sighed in regret, reaching out until Tony was pressed against him, face resting against his neck. “I was embarrassed. What I said before… Tony, I was upset about my own insecurities, not yours. I’m sorry.”

Tony just kissed his neck, wrapping an arm tightly around him and taking in the sorcerer’s scent. “Apology accepted. And I’m sorry for getting angry.”

Stephen leaned back, looking into Tony’s eyes. “I love you.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile at the words, reaching up to press his lips against the sorcerer’s in relief. “I love you too.”

Their kisses quickly grew more heated, needing to let out their pent-up anxieties and stresses. And when they fell back against each other, satiated and exhausted, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

--

The holidays had just started,and Tony had gone all out. The compound was decked in Christmas cheer. It had become his way to cope many, many years ago. His first Christmas after his parent’s death, he’d spent the entire month of December in a whiskey fueled haze. Christmas eve he’d spent at a celebrity party, meaning all of his Christmas day was one massive hangover. No one really cared he was underage, after all.

The year after that he’d dropped the whiskey – or at least didn’t go to such extremes – instead, he’d forced himself into a manic episode, pushing his mind to be happier, more excited about the holidays. He’d spend approximately 10k on Christmas decorations alone.

It was only when Rhodey had forced him to come home with him in 1994 that he’d started to heal. Rhodey’s mother was a kind woman and always welcomed him with open arms. Christmas that year was nice, calming, and actually pleasant. He’d gotten Rhodey’s family way too expensive gifts, but he could never make up for the hospitality they had granted him.

From that year on, he spent Christmas with Rhodey and his family and it became something for him to look forward to again. No matter what was going on in his life, that one day a year, he would be able to calm down and come back into himself.

The last Christmas he had celebrated with Rhodey and his family was right before Afghanistan.

It had taught him what was really important about Christmas though, the thing he loved about it now; it was about family. Yes, he’d lost his own during the holiday month, but he still had Rhodey, still had his best friend.

So, yes, ever since Peter and Harley – and eventually Stephen – had come into his life, he’d started getting excited about Christmas again.

Tony was decorating the Christmas tree, with help from the Cloak who enjoyed wrapping it in tinsel and had somehow gotten a bauble hooked into its fabric. Peter was hanging upside down from the ceiling to do his part; annoying Harley by every so often chucking a decoration in his direction. 

“Honey, don’t forget the backside, it’s looking a little neglected,” Stephen commented as he walked in with a bleary eyed Sophia, who had just woken up from her nap.

“I thought I took care of that last night?”

Stephen sent him an unimpressed glare, which only earned him a smirk and wink from the engineer.

“Cookie!” Sophia pointed towards the kitchen and Stephen hugged her tightly before putting her down on the ground so she could go and grab one from the counter. Bucky had given them a whole tin; the man having taken up baking as a hobby. They didn’t suck by any stretch of imagination, and Sophia especially seemed to like them.

Peter threw another snowman at Harley’s head, who was sitting on the couch trying to read. All of a sudden though, Harley took out his old potato gun from who-knows-where and started pelting potatoes at Peter’s face. The little spider screamed, before trying to clamber away to hide behind a lamp. “Dad!”

“You do deserve it, Underoos,” Tony shrugged, placing another bauble in the tree. “Great aim, kid.”

“Mom! Make him stop!” Harley barked out a laugh at the other teen’s words and halted his attack. “What? It fits,” Peter shrugged in defense.

“Yeah, the mom that lowkey helps go behind dad’s back,” Harley grinned.

“Oh, don’t you start, Harley,” Stephen sat down on the couch next to him, rolling his eyes fondly. “So, I’m good cop?”

“You’re both good cops,” Peter intervened, falling down on the couch as well. 

“You just figure out our shit, quicker,” Harley shrugged as he stretched out, placing his feet in Stephen's lap and opening his book again.

“You calling me unobservant, kid,” Tony, offended, dropped his work on the tree to stalk closer to the couch of his miscreants. It quickly replaced the feeling of joy he felt at both Peter and Harley admitting to seeing Stephen as a second parent. That they saw them both as one parental unit.

“Of course not,” Harley shrugged, “I doubt we can keep anything from you, helicopter parent, but you pretend not to know what we’re doing, while Stephen helps.”

“Ever heard of plausible deniability?”

It’s true he supposed. He knew both teens could mess with the other Avengers at times. Hell, Harley used to get into shit at school all the time because he just couldn’t shut the hell up. But he knew that neither one of his kids was screwing up their lives. Knew they were making all the right choices – at least most of the time – and that they were good people. So, what if he didn’t know the exact prank they were planning on Steve at the moment? He knew they were planning something, but he was keeping himself on a need-to-know basis.

Harley snorted. Sophia came running over, holding the tin of cookies and started handing them out to everyone. “Aunt Tasha,” she asked as she handed Tony his.

“They’ll get here tonight, honey.” Sophia looked disappointed but nodded her head. “You’ll get to wear your new dress.”

That immediately cheered her up, already running over towards her bedroom. Tony sighed, “I’ll get her ready. It’s not like she can get it dirty in the next five hours, right?”

All of the Avengers had their own plans and traditions for Christmas eve. The Runaways plus Anna and Elsa would spend it in one of the common rooms with board games, movies and hot chocolate (and probably some unnaturally snowy weather).

The Defenders would go celebrate in the city or something and Clint and Maya would tag along. Scott and Hope had left for San Francisco to spend the holidays with their family, and Steve, Bucky, and Sam would be doing who knows what. The previous years they had disappeared for hours only to reappear at the official Avengers Christmas party the next day, Bucky carrying a box of muffins that looked suspiciously homemade.

Everyone else came to the Stark-Strange family Christmas eve party.

“Babe! Where are the candles?” Tony yelled over his shoulder. He just dodged Sophia as she ran past his legs, getting chased by the Cloak. “If you knock something over, I’m turning you into unflattering curtains!”

The Cloak slowed down a bit.

“Check above the sink,” Stephen yelled back from the bedroom. Tony did and indeed found the little basket with candles. He yelled back a thanks before grabbing a lighter and putting the candles on the table. It was always interesting to see the entire dining table set, it usually being way too big for the family of five.

“Hey, dad?”

“Yes, Underoos,” he looked over towards the living room, where Peter was doing last minute gift wrapping. “Does this look halfway presentable?”

Tony moved over towards the couch, inspecting the monstrosity from up close. Pieces of paper that seemed to come from nowhere stuck out from different angles. Peter tried to tape them down more, but it somehow had the opposite effect. “Who’s it for?”

“Uncle Rhodey,” Peter grimaced, staring down at the wrapping guiltily.

“It’s perfect!” Tony grinned, messing up Peter’s hair as he went in search of his boyfriend.

He found him in their bathroom, buttoning up his dress shirt. Tony smiled as he went to help him, kissing him as he blindly did up the little buttons. Stephen kissed him back gratefully.

“Is it a very bad day,” he asked as they leaned back, searching Stephen’s face for the truth.

“Bad, but not terrible,” the sorcerer assured him, and Tony had no reason not to believe him. They had established that trust ages ago.

His hands acted up from time to time. Tony, who had his own experience with chronic pain, always felt for him. It saddened him to see the sorcerer flinch as he picked up Sophia, knowing the sorcerer couldn’t deny their little girl. Hated how the man despised himself at times for struggling with basic tasks. Other days were better, and Tony reveled in them as much as the sorcerer.

It was all part of their lives though. Part of the little world they had built together. A world where the only thing that matters is their beautiful family. Where other universes and missions and annoying meetings didn’t exist.

“Aunt Tasha!” came Sophia’s excited voice from the living room and Tony rolled his eyes.

“I guess the party’s starting.”

They moved into the living room, greeting Natasha who had arrived first with Wanda and Hill.

“Sophia, meet Maria Hill, aunt Tasha’s girlfriend.”

“Hey,” Sophia said sweetly, arms still wrapped contently around Natasha’s neck, but smiling at Maria, nonetheless. “You’re pretty. I like you.”

“Thanks, Sophia,” Maria chuckled. “I like your dress.”

Sophia lit up like a Christmas tree and Natasha smirked at her girlfriend.

“Suck up,” Tony teased as they went to sit around the living room. He, of course, sat next to Stephen and he immediately curled into the sorcerer. Harley and Peter both ran in wearing jeans and a dress shirt and they greeted their guests before sitting down themselves, immediately taking up old conversations. Peter had gotten his admission letter, finally, so the kid got plenty congratulations. Tony didn’t even have to meddle.

Not that he would have minded, but it did make him proud that both his kids were hard-working geniuses.

“You do look very familiar,” Maria said as she looked at Sophia. The little girl in question sat on Natasha’s lap, and was telling the agents about her day.

Natasha rolled her eyes fondly at the comment. “Just think of her as their biological child. Sam has a bet going with Clint that she was actually created by magic even though Wanda insists that that’s not the case.”

“Why am I not part of that,” came Rhodey’s voice. They stood up to meet him, Carol on his arm, and Pepper and Christine walking next to them. 

Stephen and Tony both did a double take at their linked arms. Tony squinted at Pepper, who was smirking at his gaze.

They both undoubtedly looked amazing. Pepper was wearing a short, black A-line dress with a straight neckline. Palmer was wearing an A-line as well, but hers was a soft pink color that complemented her skin tone. They seemed happy, Christine blushing slightly as she glanced at everyone in the room.

“When did that happen?” Stephen smirked from besides him, clearly not as surprised as Tony. He stored it away to ask him about later.

“A few weeks ago.” Pepper shrugged nonchalantly, but Tony recognized the glint in her eyes. She was happy and excited, and Tony knew the feeling.

“What is this,” Tony squinted suspiciously as he pointed at the two, making Christine frown at him and Pepper roll her eyes fondly, “what are you trying to do here? Cutest couple has already been claimed so can it.”

Pepper rolled her eyes at him. “It’s time you start reading gossip magazines again. We’ve been on the cover of at least three in the last two weeks.”

“Face it, darling,” Stephen grinned, throwing an arm around Tony’s shoulders, “we’re old news.”

“I resent that,” Tony glared at his boyfriend.

--

It was New Years Eve and they had the Penthouse for themselves. They had stopped by the celebrations earlier, but Sophia needed to go to sleep. Both teens were spending their last week of the holidays with their respective families, which meant they had had a quiet few days. Stephen still had to go to Kamar Taj every now and then, but Tony was free for the week, which had left him plenty of time to spend with their little girl.

It was nice to be alone with Stephen again though.

To bask in the quiet together. Tony couldn’t wait for the teens to come back, but he did have an important task to do before then.

“Stephen?”

They were sitting in the two lounge chairs in their bedroom, overlooking the compound lawn from the windows. The sky was clear, and they had turned off the lights, giving them an amazing view of the stars twinkling down at them. Their hands were linked in the space between the two chairs.

Tony couldn’t keep his eyes off the man sitting next to him. The way the pale moonlight shone on his defined features; his cheekbones, his goatee, the grey in his hair… His blue eyes looked a soft grey in the night and Tony still got chills knowing this man was his to love.

Stephen hummed at his enquiry, glancing over at him. As their eyes locked, Tony felt his heart soar, any sense of doubt lost. Doubt maybe, but fear was still there, pumping a steady rhythm behind his ribcage. Yet, he knew what he wanted.

“I know we haven’t discussed anything like this…,” Tony started, voice tight with uncertainty. He could see Stephen’s eyes shift back to him, attention focussing solely on him as he frowned slightly. Tony had been thinking about this for a while. There were plenty of reasons, but only one really mattered. “but I want to call you my husband.”

Stephen’s breath hitched, he could feel it in the tightening around his hand, the twinkle of his eyes, could hear the tiny sound echo in the empty room. Tony felt like he was going down a roller coaster, couldn’t help the smile crawling onto his face. The utter happiness he was even feeling at the thought of them being them. It wasn’t a question, Tony knew. He didn’t want to expect or ask anything from the sorcerer. He knew marriage wasn’t important, not really, but he wanted to be honest, wanted Stephen to know how he felt, why he wanted it anyway. 

It was such a stupid, ridiculous, illogical but sound reason.

Stephen was still looking at him, face unreadable as he stared back.

“Tony,” he whispered. Subconsciously, he knew, he was preparing to be shot down. Had prepared a list of possible reasoning the sorcerer could use. He knew Stephen loved him, no doubt about that, but they weren’t twenty anymore, didn’t need the expenditure, it would complicate matters, why disrupt something that works.

But Stephen just smiled at him, let his soft eyes bore into Tony’s, his crow’s feet lighting his face up in the dark. There was a hint of bashfulness and doubt underneath it all and Tony urged to kiss it away. “I would love to be your husband. Is this you really asking?”

Tony felt pure, unadulterated happiness bloom in his chest, making him shake as he pulled their linked hands up. Stephen watched as he kissed the back of his hands and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. “If I can get a yes now that would be great, yeah. Unless you want me to do something bigger?” He grinned, needing to tease the seriousness away.

Stephen stood up, using their linked hands to pull Tony along as well. Tony went willingly, eyes twinkling happily as he stared at his sorcerer. Stephen placed a hand on Tony’s cheek, and he couldn’t help but lean into it. It always reminded him of that almost kiss from two years ago. When Tony wanted but not yet had. When he had been so afraid of losing another love. Yet here they were, still together, still very much in love and making it forever.

Stephen leaned closer, waiting until their lips were barely brushing together, before he spoke. Tony could feel it against his mouth, the air of his words tickling against his tongue. “Fourteen million six hundred and five times yes, Tony.”

Tony pushed forward, pressing their lips together in a hungry kiss, stealing the words out of his mouth. As they kissed, he reached into his pocket, letting his other hand trail down from the sorcerer’s hair to his neck, stroking the man’s delicate skin.

“I love you, Stephen Strange.” He pressed the words against his lips, before he leaned away and looked into the sorcerer’s eyes. Stephen was smiling in that goofy way that Tony loved, that said the sorcerer was overtaken with happiness. “I know you already said yes, but I did buy this ring.”

He pulled out the box to show Stephen, looking up at the man bashfully. “I made sure it wouldn’t hurt your fingers, but if you’d prefer, I also bought a chain to go with. It’s not your eye of aga-whatever but it should do.”

“Tony,…” was all Stephen could say before he kissed him again and held out a shaky hand. Tony took Stephen’s soft hand in his as he steadied it enough to slide the ring onto it. It was a simple gold band with a small emerald set into it. “You have no idea how much I love you.”

Chapter Text

Tony was working in his lab, happy to finally have some free time. With all the training, missions, SI meetings, and spending time with his family, he hadn’t been able to spend time in his lab. The boys were off to school and though it wasn’t the same without the noise of their squabbling and tinkering, Sophia’s presence made up for it. Natasha was sitting on the couch Stephen had put in the lab two years ago, Sophia in her lap as she braided flowers into Sophia’s hair while the girl toyed with her favourite plushie.

It was a fruitless effort, as Sophia would demand the braids be removed as soon as they were formed, but Natasha didn’t seem to mind.

 “Tony,” Natasha asked, urgency clear in her voice.

“What?” Tony frowned, looking over to where Natasha was prodding at the back of Sophia’s neck, pushing her hair aside and tracing her fingers over the skin, making Sophia giggle.

“Come look at this. Now.”

Tony immediately got up, going to stand behind Natasha’s shoulder. Worry was starting to eat at him, making his heart speed up as he leaned down to look. Natasha looked up at him with just as much worry. Tony followed her finger to a little bump in her skin. It looked like a regular scar though, nothing worth the concern Natasha was displaying.

“This is a scar of chip, Tony,” she hissed at him, hands flattening against Sophia’s ear. The girl didn’t seem to mind, just continued playing with her toy. “I have one of my own,” she pushed her hair aside to show Tony an identical bump.

“FRIDAY,” Tony scowled. Anger and fear were starting to cloud his mind and he hated the feeling. He needed his mind to be clear, to figure out what to do. “What am I looking at?”

“The chip seems to be scrambling its own signal to hide from detection, but its coding is similar to what we’ve seen this far from HYDRA tech.”

“What?” Tony exclaimed, trying not to let his agitation shine through his voice. Sophia would surely pick up on his tone otherwise, and he would only feel worse if he upset the little girl. “Are you saying her parents were HYDRA? And they chipped her? Why would they do that if they were going to abandon her?”

“Tony, this means the mother might not be aware. Or that the mother died and HYDRA had to get rid of her … or,” Natasha halted her summation of options, clearly not wanting to think of the other ones.

“Or what, Natasha?”

Natasha bit her lip. “That they will come get her back later. Hence the chip.”

Tony took Sophia up from Natasha’s lap, her hands eagerly wrapping around his neck as he held her close, breathing in her scent to try and regain some calm. Natasha looked up at him, sympathy and anger clear in her eyes. He could feel himself start to shake slightly, a chill running down his back. So much to lose. “There is no way they’re taking her. I’m disabling the chip.”

“She’s been staying here for weeks. If they’ve been checking her location, they know she’ll probably still be here.”

Tony was trying to calm himself down, but he recognised the symptoms. His heart was starting to pound in his chest, brain going fuzzy with anxiety, thinking about spies lurking in every corner to take his baby away from him.

“Tony, breathe.” Natasha could see the panic in his eyes and was trying to make him look at her. “She’s safe in your arms. You can protect her. We’re in the compound; they can’t get to her here.”

He continued breathing heavily though, his mind not willing to listen right this second.

“Daddy,” Sophia asked worriedly, trying to look up at him, but he just hugged her closer, burying her face in his neck and though it helped to calm him down a little bit, he needed … he needed…

“Stephen,” he croaked out between two ragged breaths, “he can protect her.”

“I’ve already called him, Boss,” FRIDAY spoke up from the ceiling. And thank god for FRIDAY, thank god for his past brilliance of programming her to call Stephen if he were to have a serious anxiety attack.

A second later a familiar portal whizzed open and Stephen stepped through, worry clear in his features. The cloak as usual flew ahead to wrap itself tightly around Tony, applying a comforting pressure. “Tony, babe, look at me.”

Tony did as he was told, grateful to be looking in his beautiful, calming eyes. “They’re going to take her away.” He managed to gasp out, looking up at the sorcerer in fear as he pressed Sophia closer. The little girl seemed to have picked up on the atmosphere of the room, because she didn’t complain, just rested her cheek on his shoulder and let her steady breathing calm Tony down.

“Tony,” Stephen frowned, framing Tony’s face with his scarred hands. “They can’t do that. They have no basis to take her away from us. We’ll win any lawsuit…“

“No! HYDRA,” he glanced at Natasha who stepped over to push him down onto the couch. Stephen looked at the two in confusion, anger seeping into his eyes.

“What is going on,” he demanded. Natasha looked up at him with the same amount of anger and worry, but her steady presence was at least calming. She never got upset, never let it show through to her exterior. It’s a thing he had always appreciated about her in the early days of the Avengers.

Tony tried to collect his breathing as Natasha explained to Stephen what was going on, using breathing exercises he had been taught by his therapist. By the time Natasha was done explaining, Stephen had started pacing. He was angrier than Tony had ever seen him and it both calmed him and made Tony love him even more. They could do this. They could protect their baby together.

Just knowing that he had someone next to him who was just as dedicated as him, one priority; their little girl.

He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t feel that loss again. When Peter had been turned to dust and he hadn’t known if Harley had met the same fate or had been left alone with a dusted mother, he had barely been able to hold it together to stop Thanos. He couldn’t imagine what he would do if they lost Sophia but didn’t get her back, if that feeling of shame and guilt and heartbreak lasted longer than a week.

“Boss, I’ve successfully interfered with the tracker’s signal. The chip needs to be completely removed to be fully certain it is disabled, but for now there is a 86% certainty that she isn’t being tracked anymore.”

Tony closed his eyes as his breathing returned to normal. Stephen had stopped pacing and had instead sat down next to Tony, wrapping an arm around him and Sophia.

“We’ll take her to the sanctum. Tech won’t work there,” he muttered against Tony’s crown.

“Is that a permanent solution?” Natasha walked over as she didn’t get an answer, placing a comforting hand on Stephen’s shoulder. “I’ll call Maria, maybe she can find out more. There’s still a chance they just wanted to get rid of her.”

Stephen nodded, but got up, pulling Tony with him, anyway. “I’ll leave the portal open to the sanctum, but I’d feel better with her safe between four enchanted walls. Putting the same protections on the compound may take some time and a whole lot more sorcerers.”

Natasha nodded in understanding, taking her phone out as she searched through her contacts. “I’ll come down as soon as she arrives. In the meantime, I’m going to try hack into the HYRDA databases and wipe anything I can find on Sophia. Maybe we can make them forget about her.”

---

“Okay, but …”

“No, Ned!”

“Come on! It would be so cool to get an official tour of SI! Way more fun than Oscorp!” Ned whined, Peter shushed him, begging him to keep his voice down. Their tour guide either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the talking teens.

“Dude, you’ve been to the compound plenty of times. SI is just boring business stuff.”

MJ was further ahead, trying to actually pay attention, and Peter’s eyes fell on her as he ignored Ned’s continued begging. Her hair was tied back today, but he noticed her still tug invisible hair behind her ear. She was asking questions and Peter could tell she was paying attention to the answers, even as her pencil was drawing the different scientists around them in her notebook.

Peter tried to follow her lead and listen to the explanations, but he quickly grew bored. Oscorp was mainly biology and bio engineering. Though, still interesting, Peter was more interested in chemistry – to help his web solutions – and actual engineering. Oscorp was mainly theoretical anyway. At least the fun stuff was.

Uncle Bruce on the other hand made biology sound like it was bleeding edge. Maybe that was just because he created bleeding edge biological advancements. Or at least he would if he’d have more time to work. All these people would be out of a job if uncle Bruce put his interest on biology again, Peter couldn’t help but childishly think.

They had almost finished the tour around the lobby. God, this was going to be a long day.

He should have begged Stephen to let him go to that alternate universe with him. It would be killer to suddenly live in black and white. Would they also lose colour? Or was the black and white just their only pigment available? Would the inhabitants notice they’re in colour or are they colour-blind? Either way it would have been more interesting than this.

“Are you thinking about that dimension with the slug-people again,” Ned asked close to his ear, making him jump. Where the fuck were his spider senses when he really needed them?

“No,” Peter replied wistfully once his heart rate had gone back to normal, “the black-and-white-one.”

“Nice.”

“Yo, Penis!” Peter rolled his eyes internally as he glanced over towards Flash. He should probably stop answering to that name, right? He was wearing that douche hat again. Unironically. “That’s you.”

He pointed towards a painting that hung above a set of couches to the left. It depicted a humanoid lizard creature. Just because it had become pretty clear Peter did in fact have an “internship at SI” when Happy had started picking him up from school along with Harley – and Molly and Anna for a while – didn’t mean he wasn’t deserving of bullying apparently.

He might think differently if he knew how close to Tony he really was, that he in fact had been legally adopted. But, thanks to Pepper and SI’s wonderful PR team, the press hadn’t found out about that. They did know Tony had adopted two teens after the Thanos attack, but most people assumed – correctly mind you – that those teens were part of the very secretive Junior Avengers Initiative. Not some ‘random’ kid from queens.

It had proven the right decision to keep their identities a secret, because as soon as someone had figured it out, they had tried to kidnap Harley. They hadn’t counted on Stephen though.

Peter was very glad to have the sorcerer in his life. When they had first met on the donut spaceship, he had already been a badass and reminded him a lot of his mentor. It was after they had been snapped back into existence though, that he had started to fully cling onto the doctor. Tony had always been the one to be there when he needed him. A symbol of things going to be alright. At least most of the time.

He had clung to the engineer, begging for him to stay, and the next moment he was gone. He knew that he had been in the soul stone for a week, but to him it felt like a second. Suddenly he was back on a random planet in the middle of space, and Tony was nowhere to be found. His first reaction had been to panic. He didn’t know if the engineer was alive. Didn’t know how long they had been gone. But the sorcerer had calmed him down. Assured him things would be alright. That everyone was fine.

Most importantly; he had portalled them over towards the engineer. The sorcerer had seen where Tony would save the world for the fourteen millionth sixteen hundredth and fifth time. It was Stephen who had not only been a calming presence in the absence of his mentor, but had reunited them, formed a link between the two.

He still sometimes went to see the sorcerer if Tony was busy. Ever since he had first found the excuse of studying together, he had given up on bothering to find one. Often just hanging out in the training area when he was sparring with one of his students or asking to accompany the doctor to the sanctum if he needed to keep watch.

He ignored Flash as his attention was caught by a man in a lab coat walking past them. Peter didn’t need to use his spider senses to know the guy was suspect.

He frowned as his eyes followed the man around the room. To other people he might just seem confused as he looked around for something, but most people hadn’t been trained to spot suspicious behaviour. The man went to go into a hallway, but then backtracked to the middle of the lobby and looked around at the other exits.

Looking over towards Harley’s class up ahead, he relaxed when he noticed the older teen still being close enough.

“Dude, where are you going,” Ned asked as Peter started moving towards the guy, moving towards one of the pillars circling the atrium.

“I’m just going to check this guy out. Stay with the group I’ll be fine.”

He snuck after the man, glancing behind him to make sure his teachers weren’t paying attention to him. He quickly sent a text to Harley, looking over at him as he reached into his pocket. Harley frowned at Peter’s message and searched around the room. His eyes fell on the guy, going over his outfit and facial expression before finding Peter’s inquiring look.

Harley nodded at Peter, before turning towards Samuel standing next to him. He whispered something in his ear, making the other teen frown but nod. Peter waited long enough for Harley to get away from his own group before Peter was following the guy, trusting Harley to follow after him.

The older teen wasn’t allowed to bring his suit for obvious reasons. Peter only had his because he was going patrolling later today. However, Harley did have his watch that could turn into a repulsor glove. Plus, he was better at hand-to-hand than Peter thanks to training with Natasha. Peter preferred real life experience, though there was no denying the expertise learned by training with the best spy in the world.

The man’s face changed into determination as he seemed to make up his mind and headed into one of the hallways. Using big strides that were a little too harsh to be truly confident.

Harley followed the guy at a close distance, looking like any other intern or student that had gotten lost, while Peter tried to stay ahead of him. The hallway didn’t lead to any secret space though, instead it led straight into one of the busiest spaces of the building they had seen this far.

Yet another red flag.

They had reached a ground floor showing room, designed to let visitors get a gist of what the company did. There were displays everywhere, often manned by an intern to give a demonstration. It was busy this time of day. While midtown High was going to the upper floors to get a tour around the labs, this area seemed to be favoured by local grade and middle schools. The little fun activities sure seemed like a great way to learn about biology and the course of scientific research.

It looked like a science fair, except with actual science.

“Petey,” Harley’s voice crackled through his comm, “I think I just saw a gun.”

“Alright, we need to get these people out of here, but one wrong move and this guy could start shooting.” Peter glanced around anxiously. They couldn’t attack the guy with clear motive or without giving away at least Peter’s identity.

“I have a plan…” Harley started. “Hold on.”

Peter moved to stand close to one of the displays, keeping an eye on the guy as he took in his surroundings. If Peter focussed, he could hear the man’s heart rate start to spike.

“Harley…” he started in warning, glancing towards his brother, who was tapping something into his watch.

Suddenly the fire alarm for the building went off.

Luckily, most of the kids didn’t panic, just rolled their eyes or glanced around in excitement as their teachers started leading them out the door. Peter watched as the man started to get twitchy when the room started to empty out. There were still too many civilians left though, when he seemed to make up his mind and pulled out his gun.

Peter immediately pulled his mask over his head and jumped in front of him. He flinched when the guy shot up to the ceiling twice to get everyone’s attention. The people in the area stopped moving at once, dropping to the floor as screams ran through the room.

“Hey! Hey, stop! Please!” Peter held up his hands as he gained the man’s attention. He looked at him in bewilderment, aiming his gun at Peter’s head at once. “You don’t have to do this.”

Peter was glad he had put on his mask. For one, he would be taken more seriously as Spider-Man instead of some random meddling teen, but also because it kept out most of the noise. The fire alarm was still blaring, and the sound of the gunshots still rang through his ears. From behind the man, Peter could see Harley aiming a repulsor at the guy’s head. He hoped the other teen wouldn’t have to use it.

“This is not of your concern, spider-freak!”

“Uhm I think it is… you see you’re planning on hurting these people and that’s kind of where I come in.” Peter’s eyes roamed the figure of the man. His lab coat had hidden the gun pretty well, and there was no telling what other weapons the man was concealing. “Look pal, you may manage to hurt one or two people, but in the end, you’re going to jail no matter what. The Avengers are already on their way.”

Peter hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Most likely Harley had already alerted someone, but Peter wished to have everything solved before that. What kind of superhero would he be if he couldn’t take on this one guy?

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” the man yelled, face contorted in anger. His hand with the gun in it was starting to shake. “These people are the true villains! They murdered my wife!”

“That sucks, dude, but how do you think people are going to feel when you murder their wives?” Peter winced when Harley spoke up, making the guy jump and turn towards him. He welcomed the distraction though.

He shot a web around the gun right as it was about to go off in Harley’s direction, stopping it from firing and making the guy drop it at the kickback. The Mechanic shot at the man’s legs, enough to throw him off his feet but not injure him too much. Peter webbed his hands against the ground as Harley quickly fell down next to the guy and threw open his coat to search for possible explosives. He found a lot more ammo and two more guns, but luckily nothing more noteworthy.

Peter sighed in relief, but stepped forward towards Harley, punching him against the shoulder.

“Auw!” Harley yelled up at him in exaggerated betrayal.

“Dad’s right, you have to learn to keep your mouth shut!” Peter gasped as the adrenaline stopped coursing through his body. It’s then that he remembered there were still other people in the room. They were still lying against the ground, looking at them with scared eyes.

“It’s okay, you can go now.” The people stood up gratefully and turned to leave before they yelled again.

Peter looked up as Bucky and Natasha ran into the room, matching guns pointed in front of them as they took in the room. Someone shut the alarm off and Peter was finally able to breathe fully again. “Mechanic? Spider-boy?”

“Hey, guys. And really, aunt Nat?" Peter whined, "You know it’s Spider-Man.”

They both lowered their gun and motioned for the civilians to continue heading out. Natasha sighed and ran forward as Bucky got the man out of his webbed bonds and into handcuffs. She threw an arm around a boy each, making sure they were both okay. “I guess we weren’t needed after all. Though your father would be pleased to hear you called for back-up at least.”

“Hey! We were just politely following our fieldtrip.”

“Oh, yeah,” Natasha asked, amusement clear in her voice as she looked at Harley, “Then why is your entire school outside panicking about two missing students?”

“Shit.” He groaned already thinking of the shit he’d get from Flash.

“Don’t worry Pete,” Bucky spoke up, “a girl named MJ apparently convinced the teacher you had been absent the whole day.”

“Yay!” Finally, something was going completely right today.

“Goddammit! Samuel can’t lie for shit.” Harley huffed, probably realising a detention was on the horizon. “I’m going to break up with him.”

“No, you won’t,” Peter snorted, following Bucky and Nat out of the building.

“Aunt Tasha would you please…” Harley pouted up at Natasha, making the agent roll her eyes. Peter could see the moment she caved.

“Fine!” She huffed, grabbing Harley by the collar and dragging him along.

They went outside, Peter had taken off all his civilian clothes and stuffed them in his backpack, leaving him in his Spider-Man suit as they went out to meet with Harley’s teachers. Bucky headed towards the SWAT team to hand over the would-be attacker as Nat resolutely marched over towards the group of seniors, Harley’s face impassive as he hung on her arm.

“Hey,” Peter watched from a distance as Natasha spoke to Harley’s teachers. Claiming he – as an SI intern – had been trained to spot suspects and had only left the group to contact the emergency line. Harley moved to go stand back to Samuel, hitting him over the back of the head. Samuel just smiled and blushed at Harley’s words, saying something to make Harley blush in turn.

Peter rolled his eyes and walked over towards the motorbikes the heroes had arrived with.

“What are you doing, Spiderling? It’s only ten am; school isn’t over yet,” Natasha frowned as she returned.

“Well, apparently, I’m sick today, so…” He smiled hopefully at Natasha despite his mask still being on. He didn’t actually have the option to return to his class though; it would be too suspicious. Flash would probably be annoying as heck after his disappearing act. Probably convinced everyone Peter had ran away scared.

“You boys have too much power over me,” Natasha sighed regrettably.

“Maybe you’re just getting soft,” Bucky winked over from his own bike. He put on his helmet and handed Peter a spare one.

“How ‘bout you captain winter,” Natasha smirked as Peter took a seat behind her, “We better get home before your cookies burn.”

“You baked cookies?” Peter asked hopefully. He could feel Bucky smile from underneath his helmet, but the soldier took off without answering. Natasha quickly pursued and Peter basked in the wind swooping past them as they made their way upstate.

---

Tony and Stephen allowed the Cloak to distract Sophia as they waited in the sanctum, but they didn’t let her leave their sight.

“Stephen, what are we going to do?” Tony’s hands itched, begging for a way to let out the anxious feeling coursing through him. Stephen, knowing Tony better than anyone, took his hands in his, using his scarred thumb to rub shaky circles into the back of his hands. “We can’t ever be a hundred percent sure they won’t come for her.”

“They won’t get the chance,” Stephen growled. The sound immediately sending another wave of comfort through him. It didn’t last though. As much as the sorcerer would be able to calm and reassure him, it wouldn’t be enough. Every time he glanced at Sophia, every time he was afraid she wouldn’t be there anymore, his heart rate spiked back into its anxious beating. “Tony, she’s lucky she’s ours. No one else would be able to protect her like us. They can’t hack us, thanks to you; they wouldn’t dare. We will always be a step ahead.”

“They’re HYDRA, we can’t keep that up forever. We will get sloppy; we will become too comfortable and then we’ll lose her.” Tony was shaking, memories of Afghanistan, memories of the Chitauri invasions, memories of Pepper falling into a flaming pit, memories of Stephen and Peter going up in smoke. Stephen stepped forward, wrapping his arms around him. It didn’t stop the shaking, didn’t stop the chill coursing through his veins, but it helped, nonetheless.

“Daddy? Up!” Tony stepped back from Stephen, leaning down to pick up his little girl.

The little girl who they had cared for and loved for the last four months. The little girl who had brought them even closer together and made their little family complete. The little girl who called him ‘dad’ and Stephen ‘mom’ because she knew they belonged together. The little girl who had gone through too much yet always smiled so brightly. They wouldn’t abandon her and they sure as hell wouldn’t let her go back to the people who did.

With Sophia on his hip, he turned to Stephen with newfound determination.

He could tell Stephen felt relieved at the new hardness in Tony’s eyes, the stern look on his face, the anger replacing the fear. “She’s our baby.”

Stephen hugged them both, Sophia giggling by being surrounded by both parents, and he placed a kiss on Tony’s head. “Of course, she is, love, and we will protect her.”

Tony was glad he had already proposed, or he would have to do so on the spot.

“Stephen, Tony,..” They looked up as Natasha walked through the portal with Hill.

Natasha still looked worried, but Tony had filed his own away. He would be strong, would not let his fear get the best of him. They moved into the dining area of the sanctum, sitting down at the long, wooden table. Maria placed a projector in the middle, opening it up so it showed the files of two agents.

“You were only partially right,” Maria started, standing up as she spoke. “Both her biological parents were SHIELD, but only Jude, the biological father, was a HYDRA spy.”

“That’s why she looks so familiar,” Bucky spoke up, placing his head in his hands. Both him and Wanda had come along; their insight to HYDRA might prove detrimental to figuring this all out. Tony just wanted every bit of information he could get. Needed to be fully prepared.

“Please don’t tell me you killed her parents?” he asked, but there was no heat behind his words. Joking helped.

“No, Stark, but she looks like Amanda.”

“Exactly,” Maria confirmed, “I didn’t place her at first because you’ve been spelling Sophia with a ph.”

“We’re a Ph household,” Tony shrugged. Stephen was holding his hand under the table and the man smirked at him as he squeezed his hand with as much strength his scarred hands could muster. He knew that Stephen was just as upset as him, if not more, but was keeping it together for Tony. Tony wished he didn’t have to do that. He should be allowed to yell and scream like he knew he must want to.

“It’s not Sophia though, but Sofia,” Maria pointed towards the projector as another file popped up, showing the picture of a tiny baby. Stephen and Tony leaned forward as one, scanning over the document with pounding hearts.

“Like the Bulgarian capital where she was born. I worked with Amanda around that time,” Maria continued. “Later I found out she had defected to HYDRA after the birth; probably thought it would be better for Sofia if she could be under HYDRA’s protection.”

Natasha grimaced, looking towards Tony and Stephen as she explained; “Usual SHIELD protocol indicates Sophia should have gone to a foster home as soon as she was born, unless the mother chooses to retire and be put under protection. However, that’s usually still very dangerous and not a lot of agents choose that option.”

Maria nodded with a sad frown. “Most likely, Jude convinced her she would be safe under HYDRA’s protection, along with the baby.”

“Why would HYDRA protect them,” Tony interrupted, anger clear in his voice, “What would they get out of it?”

Tony turned towards Wanda as he noticed her bite her lip. She looked at him and immediately Tony could feel his heart stop. “I have some ideas.”

He moved his hand to Stephen’s knee, needing to be able to squeeze something he wasn’t afraid to hurt. Stephen’s head snapped over towards Wanda as well.

“Would they start that young,” he asked. Tony could see him grinding his teeth, afraid of the answer.

“It depends on what they’d need her for,” Natasha was quick to assure them, “but we don’t actually think they were planning to experiment on her.”

Tony glanced over at Sophia, who had fallen asleep on the couch. She looked even smaller like that, curled into a ball underneath the cloak, her tiny head of hair tangled up around her face.

“We think, considering the timing, that Amanda might have decided to put her in foster care after all.” Natasha followed his gaze, eyes clouding over, “She was getting close to the age where they could start training her as an agent.”

“She isn’t even four yet,” Stephen yelled in outrage. Natasha just shrugged. Tony, who had been guessing this exact answer since they had started, still couldn’t keep his stomach from making a revolting twist.

“So, what now,” Tony asked, squeezing Stephen’s knee in comfort as he took the role of the collected one.

“We’ve picked up some HYDRA chatter around the time Sophia was found. Mostly about one of the agents defecting. We can assume they meant Amanda. However, we have found nothing about Sophia.” Maria sat down, placing her hands on the table in front of her. “Children are valuable to HYDRA to grow their ranks in the future, so we expected to hear something about a tracker being disabled, but we didn’t. Could be that they gave up on her as soon as she came into your custody. They won’t like it, but they can admit when an ally is compromised by the enemy.”

“I checked with FRIDAY’s logs though,” Natasha interrupted once more, “and there has been a spike in hacking attempts since October. FRIDAY, of course, managed to deflect any attacks, but I doubt it’s a coincidence.”

“Hold on,” Wanda spoke up, making everyone look at her. She glanced around in confusion. “why would Amanda abandon Sophia to protect her if HYDRA could just scoop her up again wherever? Did she not know about a tracker?”

Tony frowned. He can’t believe he hadn’t thought about it himself.

“Could it be she wasn’t aware of the tracker?” Stephen frowned

“We’ll try to track down Amanda,” Maria spoke up, “Maybe she can make us understand. Until we find her though, you can just take her back to the compound. It’s a fortress on its own, but it’s also filled with superheroes; HYDRA wouldn’t be stupid enough to go to such extremes for one child.”

--

Stephen carded his hand through Sophia’s hair. The little girl was asleep between him and Tony, the other man watching over her sleeping body.

The entire compound had gotten extra safety instructions to not let any unauthorised personnel into the building, and any worker, no matter how insignificant, had to be accounted for at all times.

Stephen had already asked a couple of masters from Kamar Taj to place wards around the compound. He knew there was no way anyone could get in. Knew that Sophia was safe with them.

That didn’t mean that they didn’t all need the extra reassurance tonight.

They had told Peter and Harley about the day’s developments as soon as they had gotten home. Both teens were now asleep at the foot of the king-sized bed, extra blankets from the living room draped over them. Of course, they wouldn’t miss out on a family sleepover.

Stephen looked back at Tony when the other man placed a hand on his cheek, eyes soft as he leaned forward to kiss him softly.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Stephen smiled in amusement despite circumstance. Tony had that effect on him.

“I love you.”

Ever since Stephen had first spoken those three words, it seemed like a switch had been flipped inside of the engineer. More often than not it was him to say it first and it made Stephen’s heart flip each and every time. It was unbelievable how vocal Tony was with his love as soon as he got the conformation he was wanted.

It showed in his actions with the teens as well. He hadn’t known the engineer before Thanos, but he had deduced from Peter’s surprised expression when the engineer had pulled him into a hug at the end of the battle, that the man wasn’t a tactile person.

However, ever since then, once he knew the hugs were welcomed by the teens, he had seen him become more and more affectionate with them. Pulled them into hugs as greetings, held them close when he could, kissed their cheeks to annoy them, …  

Stephen had said it first, but Tony made sure to repeat it as often as possible, to make sure Stephen knew how much he truly felt.

With every time he said it there was both a reassurance and a question; a vulnerability that showed the man’s truth but also his doubts and fears. Stephen never missed the little insecurity underneath it, the fear that one day Stephen wouldn’t say it back.

But Stephen loved him, and he wanted the engineer to know it too, so he always did. He would reassure the man forever and into eternity.

“I love you too, Tony. So much.”

---

“No…” Soft muttering pulled Stephen out of a dreamless sleep. His brain yelled at him that something was wrong, making him frown as he fought against the exhaustion begging him to keep his eyes closed.

“Can’t…”

Tony.

Stephen sat up at once, head spinning at how quickly his mind went from sleep to fully awake as he turned around to face the man lying next to him. He was twitching in his sleep; his entire body was tense, sweat beading at his temples as he clutched at the pillow.

“Tony? Tony, wake up.” He wrapped a comforting arm around the engineer as he tried to pull him away from his terrors, urging the man to open his eyes. “Tony, you’re safe; everything’s fine.”

He was starting to shake harder now, too caught up in his dreams to hear the sorcerer. His muscles were starting to twitch, brain so lost it forgot it was dreaming, so used to fighting it couldn’t stop even in its sleep.

He trailed a hand over his face, trying to shake him awake, but he kept his eyes closed, breathing coming out more ragged. “Tony, sweetheart, …”

“Pepper!” Tony jumped upright, breaking out of Stephen’s hold as he scrambled on the bed in front of him. “Pep… Pepper she’s… “

“Tony,” Stephen reached out as he leaned up himself, placing a hand on his cheek to force him to face the sorcerer. “Pepper is fine. She’s safe.”

“I just…,” Tony was still gasping, trying to keep his breathing under control and Stephen’s heart screamed out for his love. “She’s… I couldn’t…”

“FRIDAY,” Stephen spoke up, watching as Tony’s wide eyes were starting to focus on him, “Call Pepper, please.”

“Calling miss Potts…”

The phone rang a few times and Stephen could see how every ring was starting to make it harder for Tony to breathe again, face contorting in anxiety and panic.

“Tony? Is everything alright?” Stephen smiled as he noticed Tony sag in relief, tension finally leaving his body as he allowed himself to fall into Stephen. Pepper sounded tired, but her voice was calm and sturdy as usual.

“Everything’s fine, Pepper,” Tony managed to breathe out. “Just wanted to check if you were okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be…,” Stephen could hear the frown in her voice, before her sleepy brain managed to catch on, sympathy clear in her voice. “Oh, Tony… Killian again?”

Pepper couldn’t see Tony nodding into Stephen’s shoulder, but she didn’t have to. Stephen held on tighter, hoping the pressure would comfort him as he breathed heavily. “Tony, I’m safe. You were there for me, even if you didn’t catch me.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Go back to sleep, Tony. It wasn’t your fault. It was all circumstance, and everything turned out alright. You always protect everyone but yourself.”

“Thanks, Pepper. Sorry for waking you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Tony.”

The call ended and Stephen laid back down, pulling the engineer down on top of him. He relished in Tony’s breathing returning to normal against his chest, hoping the engineer would be able to at least get in a few more hours before the day started.

“Stephen?”

Stephen hummed in acknowledgment, moving his hand to start carding through Tony’s hair, rubbing comforting circles into his scalp just the way he knew the engineer liked it.

“Thank you,” Tony moved his head to look up at Stephen and though he still looked wrecked and exhausted, there was a small smile on his face that made Stephen’s heart flutter. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He leaned down to place a soft kiss against the engineer’s lips before he forced him to rest his head on his chest again, until finally his breathing evened out into a hopefully peaceful sleep.

Chapter Text

All the horrible stuff they had learned aside; they had gained one vital piece of information: Sophia’s birthdate.

As the weeks passed and things seemingly continued on as normal, most people were able to breathe again. There was always that bit of knowledge and doubt at the back of their heads, that voice telling them to be careful. But for now, they seemed to be safe.

Stephen still couldn’t fully relax though, and he knew that Tony felt the same way. The man had had more fitful nights than usual, waking up in cold sweat screaming one of the kids’ names. They had moved Sophia back into her own bedroom, not wanting her to get used to sleeping with them or taking her out of her rhythm.

Tony had been reluctant to let her out of her sight, but Stephen had managed to convince the man that she would be perfectly safe. Both them and the brothers would be close by and she was being watched over by FRIDAY at all times. If FRIDAY would fail – highly unlikely – the Cloak would swoop in.

It was all very solid, yet he still couldn’t help astral projecting at night. He had taken to studying in Sophia’s room as he watched over her sleeping form. He hadn’t told Tony about it, didn’t want to fuel the other man’s paranoia with his own, but he had a feeling the engineer knew anyway.

According to the SHIELD file made about baby Sophia though, Sofia Armstrong was born on March 15^th. And though they were definitely going to change her birthname to Sophia Stark-Strange, they couldn’t nor wanted to change her birthday.  

Sophia’s birthday party took place in the big communal area. They only needed space for the Avengers after all. Bruce, Thor and Valkyrie had also made it, though King T’Challa had better things to do than attend a four-year-old’s birthday party. He did send his deepest condolences for missing the event, along with a cat plushie for Sophia.

Sophia was still going strong with her love for purple, so balloons and decorations thrown around the room were colored lilac and violet. The little girl danced around the room excitedly, stopping by all her friends one by one, making sure everyone got the attention they deserved.

Stephen smiled at her from where he and Tony were talking to Bruce and May. Thor was being hounded by Peter in the corner, the teen asking for stories of Asgard and the adventures he had made during his 1000-year-old youth.

“Have you looked for a kindergarten yet?” May asked as she smiled at Tony and Stephen in amusement. Her eyes were pinned on Sophia, who was now showing Happy the pictures she had drawn him.

They had – in fact – already talked about possibly enrolling her in school come September, but it brought along a whole list of issues with it. First, she’d still be a little bit younger than usual and both Tony and Stephen didn’t know if they wanted for her to start school early. But even if they decided to send her the year after, there was the whole security issue.

“We’re still deciding on whether to even send her,” Tony sighed. As much as he knew school would be good for the little girl, Stephen knew the engineer was reluctant to letting her go. He liked to have her around the compound, being able to see her whenever he pleased, and Stephen couldn’t say he didn’t feel the same way. “There are plenty geniuses here to teach her.”

“Babe, I already vetoed that idea. Babysitting, yes, but I don’t trust any of these idiots to take care of her education.”

“I’ll have you know, doctor Strange, that I have seven PhD’s,” Bruce chimed in with a teasing smile. Stephen couldn’t help but smirk in turn. He fully understood why Tony liked the doctor so much, he was timid but intelligent and knew how to make a conversation.

“Doctor Banner, I highly appreciate you, but I’m not sending my kid to New Asgard every morning. Besides, teaching kids to read is below your paygrade, don’t you think?”

“Why don’t you talk to me with this much respect, babe,” Tony asked, looking at Stephen in mock indignation. The glass of juice in his hands swirled dangerously at his theatrics.

“Because you only have three PhD’s, love.”

“You only have one!”  

Stephen ignored Tony, sending him a wink and an amused smirk as he turned back towards Bruce, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist to sate him. The engineer leaned against him, his entire body sighing at the contact.

“We’re still figuring out how to practically handle school,” Stephen continued, “Not only with HYDRA, but also with her being Tony Stark’s daughter. We’ll have to find a good private school that is strict on privacy.”

“Whatever you do,” Elsa spoke up as she slid up beside them, smiling at Bruce and May in greeting. “Don’t lock her up in a tower.”

“What do you mean,” Tony asked, frowning at the blonde.

“I was homeschooled for most of my life because of my powers. My parents just wanted to protect me, but in the end, it only made me miss out on a normal childhood.” Elsa shrugged, glancing over her shoulder at Sophia, before turning back to face the parents. “You just have to believe that you’ll be able to protect her no matter what. And when the time comes, you can teach her to take care of herself as well.”

“Don’t make her grow up behind a glass wall.” Elsa finished right as Sophia ran up to them, holding out a Lego set she had gotten from Peter.

“Can I build this with Peter now,” she asked, smiling sweetly as she looked up at Stephen and Tony for approval.

“Of course, love,” Tony replied with a smile, “it’s your party after all.”

She hugged both their legs as she yelled in excitement, before running back towards Peter and Harley. Stephen watched Sophia with a smile. She truly was a wonderful and intuitive child, quickly having caught up with everyone’s quirks and strengths.

She was interested in everything the compound and its inhabitants had to offer and every time she could learn something new, she took the opportunity. Her favorite was still magic, and Stephen had no doubt that the little girl would have a great affinity for the mystic arts when she was older. The magic in her shone as bright as her empathy and vitality.

---

Harley stepped into the diner. It was a strange feeling. He had stepped into the same diner every day for most of his life, yet there was a disconnect now. He recognised the smell as the iconic cinnamon cheesecake mixed with coffee, knew most of the faces sitting around the booths and would even be able to tell which tiles were loose, and which tables were wobbly.

Except, that the tiles seemed to have been fixed since the last time he had been here. They were even a completely different colour, throwing him off, slightly.

He pushed the feeling aside and instead focused on the people behind the counter. He smiled when he saw his mom fixing a coffee order. Her blonde hair was getting lighter as the brown underneath turned to grey and her face showed more lines than before. She had always been pretty and would probably remain so until the day she died.

His gaze met Ellie’s as she came out of the kitchen carrying a pitcher of Ice Tea. Her entire face lit up as she noticed her older brother, and Harley smiled in relief to see that she still mainly looked the same. It had only been a month since his last visit, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that one day he’d come back and everything would be different.

“Harley!” She yelled as she quickly placed the pitcher on the counter, weaving around it to run up at him, throwing her arms around his neck. He gladly wrapped his arms around her, grinning as he squeezed her close, lifting her up slightly. She smelled different. Or maybe he did. “You’re early!”

“Yeah,” Harley grinned as she stepped away from him. He turned towards his mom who quickly stepped in to take Ellie’s place. He was glad that his mom was as tall as him, so he could easily wrap his arms around her shoulders. The people in the diner gave them a bored look, but otherwise ignored them. “Thought I’d surprise you guys.”

“How are you, Pumpkin?” Harley blushed at his mom’s pet name for him, but couldn't help but feel pleased at the affection. 

“I’m good! How about you, guys?” He asked, turning towards Ellie. “Why didn’t you tell me you work in the diner?”

“She doesn’t work here yet,” his mom gave Ellie a pointed look, “she just likes to help out.”

“Mom thinks I’m still too young.” She pouted, reminding Harley of when she was seven and he’d lock her out of the garage. It made him grin as he chimed in.

“She’s right, you know.”

“See, Ellie.” His mom turned back towards him with an apologetic smile. “Do you mind waiting a bit? My shift ends in less than an hour.”

“Yeah it’s fine.” Harley sat down at the bar, smiling at the familiarity of it all. He almost felt like he should be practicing subtractions. His mom pressed a soft kiss against his forehead, making him smile, and placed a piece of cake in front of him. Harley ate it gratefully, watching as his mom continued making her orders, apologizing to the patrons for the delay.

“So, how is Peter?” Ellie sat down next to him, apparently not caring about helping out anymore. Harley rolled his eyes at the question.

“He’s fine. You’re not going to ask about me?” He teased, making her huff. The gesture made her nose crinkle, accentuating the soft freckles on her cheeks.

“You’re clearly doing okay.”

“How’s my lab?”

“You mean OUR lab.”

“Pretty sure it was gifted to me.”

“Well, you’re not here anymore so...”

Harley sighed. She was probably right. To be fair, he had all the equipment he needed back at the compound. It was just sibling rule nr 1 to never give in.

“So, have you met princess Shuri yet?” She asked eagerly, twisting the barstool around in excitement. “Did you see her latest inventions! They’re so cool! Mom says she’ll take me to California for my fourteenth birthday if I don’t get in trouble.”

“I have actually. She’s really nice and funny.”

“Oooh, do you like her?” Her eyes went wide and teasing, lips twisting in a smirk he had not seen on her before. He was starting to remember that twelve-year-old girls were the worst.

He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes in annoyance, instead focusing on enjoying his desert and her presence and steering the conversation away from that particular topic. Luckily the perfect distraction showed up in the form of his old school bullies.

Harley barely recognised them, to be honest, but he guessed the same could be said for him.

It had only been about two years since Thanos attacked. Harley remembered it clearly, even though he didn’t want to. He knew it was worse for Peter, Tony and Stephen, having been face-to-face with the titan, but Harley still woke up sometimes, remembering that moment on the school bus where half of them had turned to dust.

The fear and panic on everyone’s face as the kids they’d grown up with disappeared into thin air. He remembered running into an empty home, hoping his mom had left for the diner already, the alternative being too horrible to comprehend.

He could still recall the relief he’d felt when he saw Ellie’s name flash on his phone, only for his heart to break the moment her cries were heard through the receiver. Ellie’s bus hadn’t been as lucky as Harley’s. Her driver – a kind woman who had driven Harley when he had still been in middle school – had been a victim of the snap, and the driverless bus had ended up in a ditch.

The wreck wasn’t as bad as it could have been, luckily, but kids had been stuck and scared. Most were no older than twelve and Harley knew some of them wouldn’t have parents to go home to. He had taken them all back to the small-town centre, the walk quiet and filled with tears.

He had never felt happier the moment their mother had returned to them.

He often missed her when he was in the compound, but the experience had only fortified his conviction that he needed to become the next Iron Man. Earth’s superheroes wouldn’t live forever, but the next in line could take over.

Looking at Reagan and Carl now, he could barely belief they were ever part of his life. They hadn’t been bullies per se – no one would dare to touch Harley – but they were definite assholes and had made his life more difficult than it had needed to be. 

Their eyes flashed in recognition when they saw Harley sitting next to Ellie and the sneers Harley hadn’t missed one bit returned at once. He guessed that just because his life had changed so drastically, it didn’t mean theirs had.

“Guess who’s back from the loony bin.” Reagan scorned as he walked up to them. Harley just smiled in amusement. He guessed it would be hard to believe he had left for a ‘Stark internship’ and the small town loved gossip like any other. Before Harley could say anything back or react though, his phone pinged, and he reached for it on reflex.

“What are you smiling at, fag , is that your boyfriend?”

“In a matter of fact,” Harley muttered, barely paying them attention as he typed out a response. “Yes.”

Snapping his head up as soon as he realised his slip-up, he carefully watched their reactions, heart starting to pound in his chest as he held his breath. He felt like punching himself in the face. Perhaps it was finally time for him to learn to keep his mouth shut. Reagan and Karl were clearly taken aback by the bluntness, though, not knowing what to say now.

Harley didn’t look at Ellie and hoped at least his mom hadn’t heard. He hadn’t particularly felt like having that talk with her yet.

“Disgusting,” Reagan said, settling on an old classic, “I guess that’s why they let you out of the nuthouse, too grossed out to be around you.”

“Whatever, man,” Harley shrugged, “go lick your dad’s boots or something.”

He could see anger crackling against Reagan’s face, clearly hitting a nerve. Oops. He sneered though, thinking he still had the upper hand. "At least I have a dad; yours got out quickly enough."

Once upon a time, the comment might have hurt more than he'd let on, but not anymore. Now, he couldn't help but smile, thinking of New York. "Guess yours wasn't so lucky. Stuck with a miserable bastard like you. "

 He lunged forward, but Harley blocked the punch on reflex, twisting Reagan’s arm until he screamed out in pain. Oops again.

Ellie next to him screamed and Harley immediately let go. His mother stood between him and the boys at once, angrily directing them to the exit before turning on him.

“Harley!” Harley looked up at her guiltily. He didn’t want to disappoint her, didn’t want her to regret the boy she had raised, but he hadn’t been able to help it. Besides, they had thrown the punch, he’d only blocked. And they were assholes anyway. His phone pinged again, and he had to fight the urge to pick it up as his mom still stared him down. To his surprise, his mom just sighed and smiled at him. “I’m glad you haven’t changed, pumpkin.”

“What?” Harley asked in confusion, following his mother’s movements as she returned to working behind the counter.

“I always liked that you could stand up for yourself, Harley,” his mom replied, making him blush slightly. “Ever since you met Mr. Stark that is. I guess that man still has a wonderful influence on you.”

Harley smiled in satisfaction. His mom was right. He knew that he was always meant to be at the compound. When he called Tony his dad, he meant it. He loved him and Peter and Stephen and aunt Natasha and uncle Rhodey and aunt Pepper. They had a family there. He was constantly learning and gaining new opportunities and he was going to apply to MIT next month and he was going to be the next Iron Man. He had always been more than this town.

That didn’t mean he didn’t love Rose Hill, didn’t miss his family whenever he was gone. He was grateful that Tony always made sure he saw his mom and sister at least once a month, very aware that if it wasn’t for Tony, he’d probably have already lost his ties to the place. It was only when he arrived that he noticed how much he’d missed it, after all.  

“Thanks, mom,” he blushed.

She finished up her shift, before they headed home. Their house was still the same every time he came back and he always revelled in its cosiness and familiarity. The way they’d sit in front of the old TV, making microwaved popcorn the way they had for years, and rewatching old movies from their DVD collection. The engineer in him sneered at the old technology, but the nostalgia and cosiness didn't allow him to update the equipment. 

It was late into the evening when he was sitting in his bedroom. His mom had already gone to bed. She had taken the next day off to spend with Harley but didn’t want to disturb her natural rhythm. Harley didn’t mind.

He was chatting with Samuel and Peter separately. The spider had been keeping him up to date with shenanigans at the compound, while Samuel was live chatting his thirteenth viewing of Finding Nemo. They had watched the movie together before, but Samuel still somehow always found  new observations and remarks on the masterpiece. They always managed to elicit a laugh out of Harley. 

He hadn’t heard his door open, too engrossed in his screen, so he almost had a heart attack when Ellie jumped up onto his bed, scaring the shit out of him. He’d almost pulled a repulsor on her.

“Ellie! Don’t do that!” He quickly took off his watch and placed it on his bedside table as his heart tried to return to its normal beating.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’ve got a boyfriend?” She just whispered in excitement, making Harley freeze in his tracks. Maybe if he stayed very, very still, she wouldn’t be able to see him. “Is he cute?”

Harley still didn’t know how to react, mind blanking as he just watched her eyes narrow in suspicion before a smile crept over her face. “Is it Peter?”

“What?” Harley exclaimed in disgust, shudder running through him. “Gross.”

“Oh, come on! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” God, little sisters were annoying.

“Fine, okay!” Harley huffed, rolling his eyes as Ellie quietly whooped in triumph. “His name is Samuel and before you get all excited, we’ve only been dating for about four months.”

“Show me!”

He felt like an idiot, but he couldn’t help pulling out his phone to show her a picture. It was a selfie he’d sent him after swimming practice. His dark hair was messy and wet, and his nose was scrunched up in a goofy smile. The navy colour of his tracksuit was just visible in the picture, showing the midtown logo on the collar.

“He’s cute!” She squealed in excitement, leaning into his side to get a better look. Harley smiled. He was indeed very cute.

Sitting in his tiny room in Rose Hill, little twelve-year-old sister sitting next to him on his old – always Iron Man – bedsheets in the dark, he felt happy and giddy, like he was just any other teenager.

---

As the party progressed, Tony and Stephen found themselves sitting in the lounge. Stephen was leaning against Tony on the couch, head resting on his fiancé’s shoulder as they watched Sophia play with the Runaways.

Tony moved underneath him, making him follow his line of sight to where Christine had entered the room, frantic expression on her face. She was still wearing her scrubs, only covered by her coat. They both sat up straight as Christine beelined for them, dragging Pepper along as she came to greet her in confusion.

“Christine, what’s going on?” Stephen asked as he stood up. Everyone around them ignored them, though some people frowned at their confused faces. He watched as Christine gripped onto Pepper’s hand, making the CEO look at her with a worried frown. “I thought you wouldn’t be able to make it?”

“I asked Howards to take over. Stephen,” Christine looked up at him, eyes wide as she glanced at both him and Tony. “I need to talk with you. Both of you.” She glanced around the room. The avengers were watching he four of them in worried confusion, conversation falling quiet as they wanted to know what was going on. “Perhaps somewhere more private.”

Stephen frowned but nodded, taking a hold of Tony’s hand, stilling his fidgeting and linking their fingers together. His eyes found Harley and Peter across the room. Both boys got the hint and started suggesting games to Sophia.

They quickly moved across the hallway into a conference room, curiosity and worry fuelling their actions.

Once they were all inside, Christine turned towards Stephen and Tony once more, reaching into her coat to pull out an envelope. “A woman came into the ER and handed this to me, telling me explicitly that it was for Stephen Strange and Tony Stark.”

Stephen glanced towards Tony. The engineer looked at him with worried eyes, probably thinking the same thing as him.

“What did the woman look like?” Stephen asked as he moved to tear open the envelope, hands steady for once. He glanced up as the door opened and Natasha and Maria slipped inside, but quickly returned his attention to the letter. Tony was standing next to him, arms crossed as he carefully watched as Stephen unfolded the paper.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

Christine repeated her story and Maria had already grabbed her phone before she was finished. The SHIELD agent gave her a line-up of similar looking women, but Christine was able to pick out Amanda as the woman she had spoken to.

"She did have blonde hair instead of brown though, but it looked like a dye job."

“She must have figured out we were looking for her,” Natasha suggested as she glanced at Stephen and Tony. A small frown was visible, but she seemed almost excited at the development, not even knowing if the news was good or bad. Stephen understood though. After weeks of nothing it was nice to have something.

Stephen had to read the letter twice before he felt himself relax, still barely believing the words written.

“Iron Man, Doctor Strange,

It was not my intention to leave Sofia in your custody, but I was compromised and couldn’t take her with me. The tracker you have found was meant to find her once I could safely return. However, you don’t need to worry. I killed everyone who knew about Sofia’s existence and wiped any record of her link to HYDRA. Including Jude. Her secret dies with me.

I promise, for now, you don’t need to worry about HYDRA. They don’t like to advertise it, but their ranks have depleted since the fall of SHIELD. Even the few people I had to take out were massive losses to the organization. For that reason, they will come for me, but they aren’t aware of Sofia. I’m planning on keeping it that way and diminishing their ranks even more.

Wish my baby a happy birthday.

 -  AA”

Stephen noticed that she didn’t tell them not to worry about her, but he sighed in relief, nonetheless, pressing a kiss to Tony’s temple as the engineer read through the letter a third time. He could see the worry lines in his face persisting, despite the clear urge to feel relieved.

“Tony, love,” he whispered, passing the letter over to Natasha and Maria, “she means it. A spell confirmed the words written are truthful and sincere.”

Tony turned, burying his head against Stephen’s chest as he wrapped his arms around his torso. Stephen happily squeezed back. He noticed Natasha sigh in relief as well as she leaned against Maria and he finally felt like he was able to breathe fully again. 

When they rejoined the party, Tony immediately swept up Sophia, smiling brighter than he had in weeks. Sophia squealed as she was suddenly picked up from the floor and twirled around, gripping onto his shoulders for support.

“Isn’t it time for your cake and presents, little miss?”

“Yes!” Sophia eagerly grabbed onto Tony’s neck as they herded everyone together. The cake she had made with Bucky had turned out quite decently and not at all inedible. They had come to expect that from Bucky’s baking, but Stephen had still been worried about Sophia’s involvement. She got a little carried away at doing her own thing at times.

Sophia successfully blew out the four candles and they ate cake together, the whole family talking and laughing together, everyone happy and excited to celebrate Sophia.

"I take it the news was good?" Rhodey asked Stephen as he leaned over the table. He could see the colonel glance at Tony, who was sat next to him, his fiancé talking with Sophia where she was sat on his lap. There was a fond look in Rhodey's eyes, and Stephen couldn't help but copy it as he watched Tony's oldest friend. 

"As good as we were going to get." Stephen smiled, reaching out a hand to pet Sophia's hair. Sophia leaned into the touch, distracted from her conversation with her dad. 

“Present!” Sophia pouted at Tony, making the engineer chuckle.

“I could have sworn we’ve already given you a present. Stephen, didn’t she already get her present?”

“Yeah, actually,” Stephen frowned, barely able to hide his smile at Sophia’s pout. “Didn’t we already…?”

“No!” Sophia yelled as she wrapped her arms more tightly around Tony’s neck. “Please, daddy?”

“Well, I guess if you’re sure we haven’t…”

“I’m sure!” Sophia replied in excitement, turning to look between her parents expectantly. 

“Stephen, love?” Tony smiled up at him and he grabbed his sling-ring from his pocket. “If you would procure our princess’ present, please.”

“Of course!” Sophia sat up straight on Tony’s lap, turning towards Stephen with a curious smile. He created a portal, before pulling out the little kitten they had successfully hidden away for the last week. It had become hard to watch Sophia frown whenever she wasn’t allowed to pet Goose, but both Tony and Stephen still didn’t feel comfortable with letting her. Problem; solution.

They had chosen an adorable little grey kitten that had ended up at a shelter a few weeks back and Sophia immediately reached out her little hands in excitement. “Am I allowed?”

“Yes, baby, this is an actual kitten.” Stephen held out the little cat, placing her softly in Sophia’s lap. The cat was shy but tactile and comfortable around humans, and it immediately started purring when Sophia started petting it behind its ear.

“What is its name?” she asked, glancing at Tony. His fiancé smiled at the excitement in Sophia’s face, reaching out a hand to pet the kitten.

“You can choose, little miss.” Sophia’s eyes went wide, glancing at the kitten as she took it in from every angle. The little cat meowed as it turned around in Sophia’s lap, leaning more into Tony’s touch.

“Miaow.”

“You want to call your kitten ‘Miaow’?” Tony asked, glancing at Stephen with an incredulous frown. Stephen just smirked at him in amusement.

“Aunt Carol called her cat Goose!” Everyone tried to hide their laughter behind their hands, but Carol had no such qualms, throwing her head back in genuine glee. 

-----

He shouldn’t be stressed.He should be enjoying his last few months in high school. The grades were basically fixed. He was already accepted at MIT and even his relationship with MJ was going great, both teens deciding their relationship could withhold the distance, especially since Peter’s new suit had thrusters and therefore, he could easily move from Boston to New Haven.

He had opted on not getting a dorm. He could handle the commute and he had Stephen after all, and he still felt reluctant to give up his Spider-Man duties in Queens. He knew he could take it to Boston, but it wasn’t the same. Wasn’t his neighbourhood. Besides, he liked being home, liked hanging out with his parents and Sophia. Harley barely even used his dorm after all, and they could just share if needed.

Yet, he felt stressed. It felt like things were going too fast. He’d always looked forward. Trying to become an avenger and prove he was mature enough to deal with stuff, but now he was almost turning eighteen, his life changing drastically, ... it was horrifying. He liked the way things were. Liked going to midtown and get picked up by Happy and swing by aunt May whenever.

The upside was that he would be going to the same school as Harley again, but he would prefer it be Midtown.

He glanced around his dark room. While it had looked big and lonely at first, now it felt like home. With the posters and Lego sets and pictures spread around the room. With his clothes spread over a chair in the corner and his closet permanently open with most of its content thrown around the room. With the wall he shared with Harley through which he could sometimes hear the other teen shift in his sleep or blast his music through his headphones whenever he was studying late.

He never even made fun of his music choices even though it would be absolutely valid for him to do so. Harley would kill him if he knew Peter was aware of his secret love for musicals, he was sure. Including Disney musicals, to which he would sing along softly in the middle of the night.

His bed was so big and comfortable, yet he couldn’t get his mind to shut down. He swore equations flew in front of his eyes whenever he closed his eyes.

What if he wasn’t smart enough for MIT? What if the classes would overwhelm him? What if he couldn’t handle the workload on top of being an Avenger and being Spider-Man and what if that meant he’d have to drop something. What if he didn’t make any friends. He had Ned and thankfully, due to them having basically the same extracurriculars and GPA, they had both gotten into the same school, but he was doing computer science instead of mechanical engineering.

There was so much to worry about according to his brain. He constantly felt the need to go out and buy school supplies or to start reading his curriculum for next year. His body was itching with the need to get everything in order, to get some semblance of control over the future.

That didn’t help him at one am though. And he was tired.

Peter sighed and turned around again, exhaustion seeping through his bones even as his mind went a mile a minute. Usually he would have gone on patrol to work off his energy, but that hadn’t worked over the last two nights and he really didn’t feel like doing anything to push his body until it closed off on its own. Besides it was his brain that was causing his problems.

His mind flashed to a few months ago. He had been so stressed out about getting his acceptance letter that he hadn’t been able to sleep either. He dealt with nightmares all the time, was used to them and knew how to deal with his fears. At least he was unconscious. But the anxiety made it worse whenever he did manage to fall asleep.

Except when he’d come back from patrol and fallen asleep curled up to the sorcerer. He had been too tired to be insecure about seeking out the contact and with every minute lying awake now, he could feel his defences slipping. He just really wanted to sleep. Wanted to listen to the doctor’s calming heartbeat and bask in the soft musk mixed with incense.

He felt really shitty about disturbing Stephen and disrupting his parents’ sleep, but he was tired and his need for sleep was getting translated into a need for physical contact with every second he thought about hugging his parents.

So, he found himself standing in front of their bedroom door, only hesitating for a second before he forced himself to knock. There was a sound of acknowledgement from inside the room and he pushed the door open slightly.

Peter could see Stephen and Tony push themselves off the matrass in the dim light coming from the hall, immediately alert when they noticed it was Peter.

“What’s wrong, Spiderling? Are you hurt?” Stephen asked, voice hoarse and worried. Peter glanced at the floor, twiddling his fingers as he didn’t dare look at his parents.

“Can I sleep here with you?” God, he felt like a child. But he couldn’t deny that the prospect felt wonderful.

“Of course.” Stephen was quick to answer. Peter glanced at Tony to find him frowning at the teen.

“Everything okay, Underoos?” he asked, voice tight. He could see the engineer was tense but was relieved when he held out a hand for Peter without a doubt. Peter sighed as he closed the door, climbed over Stephen’s legs and wrapped himself up in a hug with Tony. The sorcerer chuckled at the sight, hand moving up to card through Peter’s curls. Immediately he could feel the stress and tension leave his body, taking in his parents’ scent and proximity, basking in the administrations from the sorcerer.

“What’s wrong, Petey?” Tony asked, voice softer now, but Peter finally recognised the worry underneath, even though he was clearly physically alright.

“Couldn’t sleep.” He just muttered into Tony’s neck, the smell of coffee and motor oil soothing his nerves, brain going fuzzy with sleepiness at once.

—-

Stephen watched Tony over Peter’s shoulder; the man’s face still clearly worried he was missing something. Yet he held on tightly to the teen and Stephen couldn’t help but smile fondly at his fiancé. He continued combing his hand through Peter’s hair, and quickly enough Peter’s breathing evened out into a hopefully peaceful sleep. Tony shifted them so he was lying on his back, the teen’s head resting on his chest, and head turned to look at Stephen.

“He’s okay, Tony.” He whispered in reassurance, moving a bit closer to the pair so he could more comfortably continue petting Peter’s hair. The engineer sighed but the worry still didn’t leave him fully. “He looks perfectly peaceful. We’ll talk to him in the morning about what’s bothering him, okay love?”

Stephen watched as Tony smiled at him, the lines in his face morphing into pure radiance even in the dark room. Stephen smiled back as Tony mouthed “I love you” and closed his eyes.

—-

Peter had apparently been exhausted, because he slept until well past noon. The teen had shifted in his sleep until he was lying in between both parents, leaving room for Tony to get up in the morning and get Sophia taken care of. He called up Natasha to take her for a while and called Peter’s school next to let them know he wouldn’t come in today.

He cancelled his own meetings and plans for the day as well. When he slipped back into the room, Stephen was still watching over Peter’s sleeping form. He was propped up against the headboard, book floating in front of him and cup of tea in hand. Tony smiled at the sight. Stephen always looked gorgeous but there was something about how he looked in pyjama pants and a T-shirt, hair still messy from the night and face unshaven for the day. Tony loved it. He walked over to the sorcerer who looked up with a fond smile at his fiancés return. He leaned down to kiss him sweetly, making the sorcerer scrunch his nose in that goofy smile he loved so much. He only smiled like that because of Tony, only when Tony was being especially silly and affectionate, and he revelled in it.

He broke the kiss after one small lick inside the sorcerer’s mouth, walking back over to his side of the bed as he settled back under the cover. They would sit together until Peter woke up, wanting the kid to be as rested as possible.

They were both worried though. Peter rarely asked for more affection than he was given or what he perceived as allowed, Tony reckoned he was like him in that aspect.

That aside though, the kid had come to them first, taking the first steps in asking for comfort, more so than affection.

Something was clearly bothering him.

Had they missed something while all their attention had been on Sophia?

All in all, though it was a really relaxing morning. They barely had mornings to themselves like this, where they had an excuse to laze in bed all day.  Tony hadn’t even changed out of his pyjamas yet, wanting to create the most comforting environment for Peter as possible. He found he kind of liked it.

When the kid finally blinked his eyes open around 1 pm, Stephen and Tony immediately placed their book and tablet down respectively. They watched with fond smiles as the spider yawned and rubbed his eyes, before he noticed both his parents watching him and immediately sank down underneath the covers to hide his blush with a groan.

Tony smiled as Stephen reached out to card his hand through Peter’s hair as if on instinct, using his other hand to try and pry the blankets away with a smirk. “Pete, you don’t have to be embarrassed.”

Peter groaned in response, before he scrambled up, looking around frantically as he noticed the sun streaming in through the curtains, basking the room in a yellow glow. He almost pushed Stephen over in his haste. “What time is it? I’m going to be late.”

“Down boy,” Tony pressed down on Peter’s shoulders, easing him back until he was almost leaning against Stephen. “I called you in sick. You were clearly exhausted.”

“Pete,” Tony started, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide his worry, so he didn’t bother. The teen immediately blushed and looked away from both parents. “Not that we minded you coming to us, but why? What’s going on? You’ve never searched our comfort like this before.”

“I just...,” Peter frowned, biting his lip as his ears started turning red. Stephen pulled Peter against him fully, his arms wrapping around the teen, who grumbled but melted into the contact. The comforting arms seemed to help as he watched Tony. “I was just stressed out. With MIT next year...”

“Peter, you don’t have to worry about that yet...”

“I know that! I just couldn’t help it.”

“Peter,” Tony’s face hardened in determination. “You have about three months left at Midtown. Focus on that for now. Have fun. Enjoy your friends. In the summer you’ll have three months to prepare. We’ll get you ready. And if you’re still worried, I’ll even go over your courses with you if you want. You’re not doing this alone and no matter what, you’ll always have us. I can always bribe your professors …

“Dad!” Peter protested, but through his blush a small, content smile had started to form. Clearly the words combined with the physical comfort were helping.  

“If you ever feel stressed out again or just want to be close to us,” Stephen started, making love course through Tony at how amazing he was with his kids and how comfortable he looked with the teen in his arms, “you can just ask.”

“Thanks, mom,” Peter sighed. The word sounded so natural coming out of his mouth and, combined with the circumstances, Tony was sure he could see Stephen’s eyes watering. It only made him love him even more as he watched the sorcerer squeeze Peter tightly.

Chapter Text

They had planned a spring wedding, solely due to them wanting to be married as quickly as possible. Stephen wanted to call Tony his husband more than anything, wanted their names to be linked and their lives be tied together for good.

The fact that Tony had proposed was still hard to believe, yet his excitement was clear on his face every time they mentioned their impending wedding day. The ring on his finger had quickly grown into a familiar feeling, fusing together perfectly with his hands. Stephen found himself staring at it on many occasions, easily distracted by the beautiful green and gold, and the memory of Tony’s words in the dark.

As soon as they were married, they would be able to adopt Sophia together and she would be fully, legally theirs. It was meaningless paperwork, but it meant one less thing to worry about.

Pepper and Christine had helped with preparations for the wedding. Not a lot of people would be attending, so a small gathering was all they needed. Victor, who had taken over their parents’ farm in Nebraska was flying over and though he hadn’t spoken to him in a long while, he was grateful, nonetheless.

The only other people flying in would be Shuri and T’Challa from Wakanda and Scott’s family from San Francisco. The others would be brought in through a portal, Bruce Thor and Valkyrie essential company along with Harley’s mother and sister. Stephen knew the Dora Milaje would be present as well, wouldn’t expect anything less from the royals.

Harley and Peter of course were groomsmen, and Sophia had quickly taken to the idea of throwing flower petals around.

Stephen hadn’t really cared about the location, but he had to admit Pepper had managed to secure a beautiful mansion upstate. Happy and the security team had been there all week, setting up checkpoints and installing FRIDAY into the cameras.

They had chosen a navy and gold colour scheme and it was tasteful yet flashy to satisfy Tony’s need to be over the top. By the Vishanti, how Stephen loved him.

Sophia was playing with a doll in the background, Peter sitting next to her and texting - probably either Harley or MJ. He watched them from the mirror as he finished buttoning his jacket.

He looked good in his suit, he knew he did, and he couldn’t wait to see his husband. Couldn’t wait for Tony to rip it off of him later.

He cleared his throat, turning around to face Sophia and Peter who were sat on a couch against the wall. “What do you think?”

“You look great, mom.” Peter smiled at him in excitement even as Sophia crinkled her little nose.

“I miss your wizard clothes.”

Stephen chuckled as he walked over and picked the little girl up. She had the choice of a navy or gold dress, but of course she had chosen for the flashier option; two peas of a pod with her father. “I’ll wear them tomorrow.”

“Stephen?” He turned to greet Christine who stuck her head into the room. She looked beautiful as always and maybe he was being sentimental due to the occasion, but he was overwhelmed by the fondness he was feeling for his oldest friend. They truly had come a long way from meeting to dating to horrible breakup to being friends to becoming better friends as he fixed his life. Christine had basically been the only constant through all of it. “Are you ready?”

Stephen sighed nervously before turning towards Peter. The teen smiled softly at whatever he must have seen in his eyes. He was more than ready.

----

Sophia went first, Peter and Harley already waiting at the front of the aisle.

Stephen sighed as he waited for his cue, hands twitching in excitement as he waited for the moment he’d be able to see his husband.

When the doors finally opened, his heart stopped. Across the room, a second set of doors had opened, revealing Tony looking ethereal.

He was smiling brightly as soon as he noticed Stephen, face wrinkled in pure happiness, eyes glossy as he took in the sorcerer. Stephen guessed he looked much the same. He was already struggling to fight back tears of joy.

He had never expected to end up here. Never once in his life had he dreamed someone would be willing to spend the rest of their lives with him. Yet he had become so, so lucky. That not only was he allowed to love Tony Stark forever; the love was returned. He was loved by the most loving person on earth and he felt it every time the man looked at him. Every time they shared laughter in the dark of their bedroom. Every time their eyes met over a mug of coffee or cup of tea.

He could see Tony staring at him in awe, making him smile bashfully as he stepped forward. Tony copied his movements, meeting each other in the middle. They barely noticed the people looking at them, waiting for them to walk down the aisle together, too caught up in one another.

Stephen reached out his hand to take Tony’s as soon as they were close enough, squeezing as tightly as his scarred hands allowed. Tony’s body shuddered as he released a breath, making Stephen’s heart sing.

He wanted to pull the man close and kiss him, but that had to wait, so all he could do was smile at him and hope his features showed how truly lucky he felt to have Tony. He tried transmitting the love he was unable to word as he looked into his caramel eyes. They sparkled with the gold embroidery of his jacket, looking gorgeous with the navy vest, his entire outfit complementing his own.

“You okay?” Stephen whispered as he looked at the engineer, but he thought he already knew the answer.

Tony rolled his eyes fondly. “Of course, you asshole.”

The soft music they had chosen started playing and Tony’s grin widened as they both started moving to the front of the room. Stephen couldn’t verbalise the happiness he was experiencing looking at the sight of Harley and Peter in their dapper suits, Peter holding Sophia on his hip. Not only would he be allowed to call Tony his husband, this little family would be his. He couldn’t imagine a greater gift in life.

Chapter Text

Over the last few months, Stephen’s affection for the sanctum had returned.

There had been a period where being at the sanctum had been nothing but a chore or job, looking forward to heading home in the evening and spending time with his family. Lately though, there had been a new shift in dynamics for the little family.

Ever since Sophia had been introduced to Wong, there had been no reason to not take her to the sanctum with him. The Cloak always made sure she didn’t touch anything she wasn’t supposed to, and Stephen had gotten used to studying with one eye on his daughter.

Sophia was sat opposite him now. Her markers took up most of the space on the desk, but Stephen didn’t mind, pleased that they were both able to sit together and work quietly. She had accumulated a whole collection of colouring books over the last year, but her favourite remained one from some Disney franchise Stephen had seen her watch with Harley a few times. The pages were crooked in places and most drawings were already filled, but Sophia didn’t seem to mind as she continued the one she was working on now.

Stephen caught himself and stopped staring at Sophia, sighing fondly as he continued reading his book. Across the library from them, Peter was sat on one of the couches watching something on his laptop, Harley sitting a little further away with his own book.

Both Harley and Peter had opted to spend more time at the sanctum, as Tony didn’t have the luxury of a summer vacation and the teens were bored at the penthouse alone. He appreciated their presence, and they were very useful whenever he’d been called out to fix some magical threat.

With Harley having been an older brother for most of his life and Peter’s spider powers, they formed a great babysitting duo.

Stephen didn’t look up as Harley’s phone rang, but he listened to the teen’s footsteps as he left the room to answer. By the time he came back, Stephen had managed to finish his chapter at last.

“Mom?”

Stephen looked up to where Harley was standing in front of the desk, sheepish smile on his face. Immediately, he was suspicious, squinting at the nineteen-year-old. “Yes?”

“Ellie asks if I can take her to Wakanda’s outreach centre in California. She’s been begging mom for years.”

Stephen rolled his eyes at Harley, hiding his fond smile as best he could. “Yes, I’ll make a portal for you guys.”

“Thanks!” Harley’s face lit up, turning towards Peter. “You coming, Spider-boy?”

When there was no response, Stephen looked past Harley to frown at Peter. The mechanic sighed in frustration and pulled off his shoe. Before Stephen could stop him, he pelted the sneaker at Peter’s hunched over form. His spider-senses apparently didn’t count a flying converse as a threat, because it hit him square in the face.

“Hey!” Peter yelped in indignation.

Stephen sighed and gave Harley a warning look, but the teen just shrugged mischievously and turned back towards Peter, stalking over towards him to get his shoe back.

“Are you kidding me?” Harley rolled his eyes as Peter slammed his laptop shut with a flush. “You really watching that Spider-Man Unsolved video again?”

“It’s funny!” Peter blushed in defence, before glaring at Harley. “What do you even want?”

“We’re going to California.” Harley explained, prodding Peter on the shoulder. “You coming?”

“Why not just go to Wakanda?” Peter asked as he sat up straighter, “You know Shuri invited all of us.”

“Ellie’s coming.” Harley shrugged in response.

“Yeah, isn’t that the point?”

“She’ll get conceited.”

“Come on, it’ll make her day!” Peter grinned.

“This is why she’s crushing on you.” Harley rolled his eyes and kicked at Peter’s legs. Peter blushed furiously as a shudder went through him, pulling his leg away from Harley’s reach.

“I’m taking MJ.”

“You better. What about Ned?”

“Kids,” Stephen cut in, rolling his eyes affectionately at the two boys, “I don’t have all day.” He focussed his attention on Peter. “Tell MJ and Ned to be ready if they want to tag along and ask princess Shuri whether she rather have you come to California or Wakanda. She might not even be in the US.”

“Okay.” Peter pulled out his phone to do as told as Stephen stood up and turned towards Harley. Harley’s phone pinged, probably Peter using their groupchat.

“You have a picture of where I need to pick up your sister?”

Harley stalked over, taking out his phone to show a snap of presumably Eleonore’s location. Stephen looked at it for a few seconds before creating a portal.

Harley stepped through and swept up his sister into a hug, greeting his mom who was waiting on them as well.

“Hi, doctor Strange!”

“Good morning, Eleonore.” He greeted the young girl as she stepped through the portal. She looked a lot like Harley; they had the same nose and hair colour, both curling naturally. From the few times Stephen had met her, she seemed just as intelligent as well, though perhaps a little more outgoing than her older brother.

“Good morning, doctor Strange.” He had met Harley’s mother previously as well, and it wasn’t hard to see how Harley had grown into such a good and intelligent kid. There was a strength and livelihood in her that he admired, and her hard work had clearly been a wonderful example for her kids. “Thank you so much for picking up my daughter.”

“It was no problem,” Stephen assured her with a polite smile. “I won’t be able to accompany them though; I hope that isn’t a problem.”

“Of course not,” Misses Keener smiled back, making a dismissive gesture with her hand, “I trust Ellie to keep Harley in check.” She winked at Stephen.

“An impressive feat indeed.” Stephen chuckled at Harley’s annoyed eyeroll. “Ellie can stay in the compound tonight if she’d like. If not, I can drop her off later today.”

“I think Ellie would like that,” she glanced over at Ellie with a knowing smirk, clearly not surprised at the wide-eyed excitement on her daughter’s face. Stephen looked down when his own daughter tugged at his robes to get his attention. He leaned to pick Sophia up, the young girl immediately smiling in triumph as she wrapped her legs around Stephen’s torso.

They said their goodbyes as Stephen closed the portal, turning towards Peter as he joined the group.

“Any word from Shuri?”

“She’s at her lab in Wakanda but wouldn’t mind giving us a tour. MJ is ready, but Ned isn’t allowed to cut his family vacation short.”

“That’s fine.” A portal later and MJ was standing with them, already used to the mode of transportation provided by the sorcerer. She immediately went to stand next to Peter and Stephen smiled inwardly at the content blush on Peter’s cheeks.

“Do you want to come, Sophia,” Michelle asked, smiling at the little girl.

Stephen looked questioningly at his daughter, but Sophia glanced at Stephen and shook her head no, placing her head on his shoulder. “Want to continue colouring.”

“Okay, want me to put you back down,” he asked and, when she nodded, he complied, watching as she went to sit back in her seat.

“Alright,” he turned back to the group of teens in front of him. “Behave. I’m picking you up around seven. That’s our seven so do the math and keep track of time. Don’t even bother pretending you don’t know subtractions. I’ll let your father know he doesn’t need to cook and we’ll have take-out tonight.”

He turned toward Ellie with a smile. “What do you like, Ellie? Pizza? Chinese?”

“I like Pizza,” she smiled shyly, glancing at Harley for reassurance.

“Pizza it is.” He turned to Peter who held out the picture Shuri had sent them and created the portal. “Have fun.”

When the group had left, Stephen petted the back of Sophia’s head as he went to sit opposite her again. The little girl didn’t look up at him but smiled as she coloured another part of the drawing.

They sat in silence for another hour before things went awry. A loud bang was heard from downstairs, someone or something banging harshly against the wards around the sanctum, making Stephen’s head spin as it rang through his magic link with the building.

“FRIDAY,” Stephen asked his watch as he quickly moved to pick up a confused Sophia. The cloak flew into the room, immediately settling on Stephen's shoulders. “Who’s able to babysit?”

“What’s wrong?” She asked in bewilderment. She had been around during emergencies only in the compound, and with the Avengers trained and ready it was always an organised event. This was rushed and panicked, clearly upsetting the little girl.

She was glancing around the room in fear, jumping at the loud noises. Stephen immediately pressed her ear against his chest, covering the other with his hand as he tried to shield her form it.

“Everyone has been called out, Doctor. I recommend miss Potts, currently in a meeting in Copenhagen.”

Stephen grumbled, but at least it was far away from potential threats. He couldn’t send her after the teens either, because then they’d just want to come back and help. If something was attacking the Sanctum with intent and all Avengers had been called out, it was bound to be something big.

He created a portal from the image FRIDAY had procured, everyone in the meeting yelping in surprise as the portal appeared. Pepper jumped herself, but her eyebrows knit together in understanding, immediately holding out her hands for Sophia.

The little girl fussed at the commotion, not wanting to leave the sanctum or Stephen. She clung onto his robes as he tried to hand her to Pepper. Pepper wrapped her arms protectively around the young girl as soon as she was seated in her lap, reassuring Stephen that she’d be safe as he turned to his daughter.

“It’ll be fine, darling. Pizza tonight, remember? I’ll pick you up later today. Be nice to aunt Pepper.” Sophia nodded reluctantly from where Pepper was pressing Sophia’s cheek against her chest. A frown crossed Pepper’s features as worry edged through.

“The hospital-“

“I don’t know what’s going on either,” Stephen sighed as he felt the wards starting to falter. “I doubt she’ll want to leave.”

Pepper rolled her eyes but nodded in understanding. Stephen guessed she was getting sick of falling for selfless idiots. He smiled at her reassuringly. “The Avengers know to keep fighting away from important buildings.”

“I have to go, now,” He turned to leave, not sparing the other people in the room, still looking at them with wide eyes, a second thought. He flew back into the sanctum as he felt the wards starting to give way.

He used his magic to send Sophia’s drawing materials through the portal before shutting it, and let the Cloak pull him towards the entrance hall as he sent a message to Wong to ask for back-up. 

A portal opened to his left and Stephen moved into a defensive stance at once. It wasn’t Wong who stepped through though, or any student of Kamar Taj, but rather Gert and Anna.

“What’s going on?” he asked his students, still hearing sounds coming from outside. He couldn’t leave the sanctum unguarded, no matter how much he’d like to go check with his husband. The fact he hadn’t heard from him at all was worrying to say the least.

“The team’s com systems are down.” Gert answered, petting Old Lace as the dinosaur had followed her through the portal. “A group of sorcerers attacked the compound.”

“Is everyone okay,” Stephen asked, worry edging through his voice.

“They were when we left.” Anna replied, turning to face the doors of the compound. “Tony was worried about you guys, though; knew they were bound to attack the sanctum as well.” She stopped, glancing around her in confusion. Her red hair was tied into two braids behind her back, swishing around with the movement. “Where are Peter and Harley?”

“Wakanda,” Stephen sighed. The doors burst open, and two sorcerers Stephen didn’t recognise stepped inside. They were wearing lime green robes, the bright colour disorienting as Stephen immediately fired a spell at them. Gert and Anna did the same, Gert telling Old Lace to attack the hostiles.

The three of them had managed to push the two sorcerers back outside, when Wong finally appeared with a few other masters from Kamar Taj.

“They’re attacking the other sanctum’s as well,” he answered Stephen’s questioning look at the late response. “Go, we’ll keep our ground here.”

Stephen nodded gratefully at his friend and the other masters, motioning for the Juniors to follow him out onto the streets of Manhattan. There was something huge in the sky, colouring the world in unnatural hues.  Stephen shook as he tried to calm his nerves. It’s not what you think it is. He had to remind himself. The sanctums are holding strong.

“Stephen,” Stephen sighed with ease at the worried voice coming through his watch, immediately tapping its face twice as the technology moved to form a com system in his ear.

“Tony, we’re okay, love.” He quickly reassured his husband, glad the coms seemed to be fixed. “All kids are out of the country.”

Tony cursed as he shuddered in relief. “I’ll have to ask how you managed to convince them to leave.”

“They were already on a fieldtrip to Wakanda.”

“Let’s send them on daily fieldtrips.”

Stephen grinned, but turned serious as he glanced at Anna and Gert. They were trying to watch what was going on, keeping in contact with the other Avengers to figure out where to go from here.

“Anna, Arsenic, join up with the others, I’ll go figure out what’s going on.”

They nodded obediently, Gert forming a portal as they both stepped through, Old Lace following close-by.

Stephen let the cloak fly him upwards, looking for the source of the weird cloud covering half of the city.

“Tony, is the compound still under attack?”

“No, Elsa, Wanda and Nico took them out. We’re in the city now.”

“Okay, protect the sanctum and take out the sorcerers in lime-green robes.” He told his husband, who sent through an affirmation. “Be careful.” He couldn’t help but add, before closing off their communication and heading off.

Stephen landed on top of the old Avengers tower, which seemed to be the source of the growing storm. It all seemed horribly familiar, yet so different at the same time. His heart stopped when the man looked up at him with a smirk, the familiar eyes locking onto Stephen as he continued chanting over the circle at his feet.

Light erupted from the symbol, wafting upwards like reverse dust particles dancing in the wind, forming a pillar that broadened towards the clouds.

He was frozen in place, watching his fellow sorcerer with steady eyes, not knowing how to react. From his peripheral vision he noticed the Falcon land next to him, ready to attack as he glanced at Stephen.

“Everything alright, Strange,” he asked, clearly confused as to why Stephen hadn’t reacted yet. He just continued watching Mordo as his brain started up again, not looking away as he answered.

“I’m fine, Wilson, just catching up with an old friend,” Stephen replied. He thought for a minute, before continuing. “Join the others and keep Iron Man away if possible.”

“I don’t care about your husband, Strange,” Mordo sneered, glancing away from whatever magic he was trying to pull off. Stephen knew the ritual seemed familiar and knew it needed to be stopped, but he couldn’t place what exactly it was supposed to do.

It was too optimistic to hope Mordo hadn’t been following the tabloids, knowing that the engineer formed his weakness. He just hoped he wasn’t aware of the kids. They’re safe, he had to remind himself and besides, he couldn’t even know the attack was personal.  

Yet, they had been friends.

He thought he knew Mordo, once upon a time, but it had been too long, and the man had been too hurt and betrayed for Stephen to be able to guess at what he was capable of now.

But besides Mordo’s intensions, he knew that, where the shapes in the sky looked like Dormammu to him, it would remind Tony of 2012, especially on top of the tower, and he didn’t want those nightmares to make a reappearance for the engineer.

Wilson frowned at him but flew away again, throwing Stephen one last worried look before he disappeared.

They were hard won against sorcerers, Stephen knew. Magic was just too fast, too unpredictable, which is why the mystical world was protected by his fellow sorcerers. But the Avengers had trained against magic users for the last two years and a half, and everyone was paired with at least one of them now.

There were five official magic users in the Avengers, including Anna as a junior. They should be able to handle the stray sorcerers as Stephen dealt with his old friend.

“What are you doing, Karl,” Stephen sighed in exhaustion, making sure to stay alert as he started the conversation. “I know this spell comes from one of the forbidden practices. What happened to keeping up the natural law?”

“This is within the natural law,” the sorcerer sneered back, contempt filling his voice, “We live. We die. This is just meant to fix what you broke.”

“What I broke?” Stephen asked, frustrated disbelief fuelling his words. He needed to keep his head up straight, but he couldn’t help being distracted, couldn’t help the words of his old mentor getting to him. Not when memories of over a hundred different deaths washed over him. “You have no idea of the sacrifices I made so you could live. You got to walk away all high and mighty, without considering the lives that were saved. The bill comes due, I get it.”

Stephen stepped forward, anger coursing through his veins and powering his actions as he was forced to remember The Ancient One dying, Hong Kong, the dark dimension, … “But it will be mine to pay and trust me, I’m pretty sure I already have over and over and over again.”

“You speak ill of the Ancient One,” Stephen continued, Mordo’s eyes narrowing in resentment at the mention of their late mentor. “Yet she has already admitted her mistakes. Do you not get that she managed to keep the world safe for centuries? That she sacrificed her own soul to do so? Forever forced to rest in the dark dimension.”

“Where are we without rules?” Mordo fired back, anguish now mixed with desperation, continuing to hold onto whatever spell he was trying to complete. The light had started to waver with Stephen’s words, Mordo losing concentration as he was forced to listen to Stephen talk. Nevertheless, his eyes were starting to blink green as the spell started firing up more, reaching the end of the incantation. “Are we to follow the words of a hypocrite?”

“Am I a hypocrite?” Stephen asked in turn, stepping forward another step as he stared Mordo down. Disdain leaked into his voice, unable to stop now he was fired up. “You once told me I lack a spine, yet when I did what needed to be done, you dared judge me? I never once preached not to do as I once did. I may have my own values, but I don’t force them on others. And the time stone is lost.”

“Am I doing such a terrible job as sorcerer supreme?” The venom left his words as he continued. Two years ago, he would have cared for the answer. Now, he found he didn’t mind what Mordo’s response would be. He only needed time; needed Wong to clear the sanctum and sent out their fellow sorcerers for back-up.

“Your attention is split between the Avengers! You outed our cause!”

“I am not an Avenger and we’re not monks. I’m allowed a family.” Stephen responded at once, trying to appeal to his reason. Wong had drilled the same words into him for years. “And the world doesn’t know about Kamar Taj; they only know about Avengers with certain skills. Similar ‘mutations’ if you will.”

“Please, Karl,” Stephen tried to appeal once more, taking a step closer to the other master. Mordo’s face hardened in determination instead, moving his hands out in front of him.

But Stephen was ready; he quickly summoned his own spell, anger and desperation fuelling him as he spread out into clones to entrap Mordo, firing the spell from all angles. Mordo tried to dodge, but in summoning a shield, he lost his grip on the pillar of light in front of him, blinking out as the spell slipped through his fingers. Mordo growled, trying to repower it with the new barrier around him, but Stephen didn’t give him the chance.

The Cloak carried him up as he put all his energy towards making his whips strong enough to surpass the blocking spell. The strength he had put in combined with only half Mordo’s attention being on defence helped the whips get through, wrapping around each of Mordo’s arms as he pulled him back. Stephen heard portals opening around them, relieved as Wong finally stepped through.

Mordo yelled as he fought against his restraints, but Stephen used all of his leftover energy to pull him away from the symbol on the ground as some masters moved in to neutralise it. The sky was returning to its usual blue colour by the second.

Wong watched Mordo with silent disappointment as he moved to contain the sorcerer. As soon as Wong had him, Stephen let go, merging back into himself and feeling completely drained.

“Stephen!”

He sighed in relief as the cloak lowered him to the ground, straight into Tony’s waiting arms. For once, he wrapped his arms around Tony, letting the shorter man carry most of his weight as he sighed contently into his neck. Tony chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Stephen’s torso. The extra height from the suit made him as tall as the sorcerer and Stephen always revelled in it.

“Please tell me the compound is still standing after the attack from earlier.”

“Of course, it is.” Tony scoffed. “You think it was built by an amateur?”

“Take me home?” Stephen asked, exhaustion seeping into his bones. He leaned back and glanced over Tony’s shoulder at Wong, who nodded in reassurance that they could handle Mordo from here.

Tony smiled in answer, leaning forward slightly to peck his lips before turning towards Wong and waving him goodbye. “You okay to make a portal or do I need to ask one of the kids?”

“Kids,” Stephen grumbled against his will. He wanted to reserve his last bit of energy to get Sophia back from Pepper, making sure the little girl didn’t have to worry anymore. Still leaning on Tony, he waited for a portal to open next to them, Wanda stepping through with a soft smile in greeting as she created them a portal to their penthouse.

“Thanks, Wanda.” Stephen smiled tiredly at her. “Everyone else okay?”

“Steve and Chase got hit by some pretty nasty spells, but they should wear off soon. Don’t worry about it, you look like you could use some rest.” Wanda replied with a smile, she nodded at Tony before stepping back through her own portal leading towards their common room. Stephen just caught Natasha laying on the couch with an icepack to her head before the portal snapped shut.

“Come on, love.” Tony pulled Stephen through the portal, letting his nanotech bleed back into his housing unit before dropping Stephen on the couch and falling down next to him. Stephen sighed in content as he wrapped his arms around Tony, the other man laughing as he was pulled on top of the sorcerer, snuggling closer against Stephen’s chest.

They lay in silence for a bit, until Stephen felt a little more rested and asked FRIDAY to call Christine.

“Stephen?” came the doctor’s voice through the speakers. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. How are you? Injured?”

Christine chuckled at the question. “I’m fine. I should even get home at a decent hour due to lack of casualties.”

Stephen smiled, pecking Tony’s temple as the man squiggled happily against him. “Good to hear. I’m picking Sophia up from Pepper in a minute. She’ll be glad to hear you’re okay.”

“Oh, shoot,” Christine cursed, “I should probably call her myself. Can’t believe I forgot. She’s going to murder me.”

“Nah,” Tony spoke up from against Stephen’s chest in amusement, “probably have some great sex later though.”

Stephen rolled his eyes and slapped Tony against his ass, making the engineer’s head snap up as he glared at Stephen with dark eyes. Christine only snorted; smirk clear in her voice as she answered. “If only. She’s in Copenhagen until Sunday.”

“You’re in luck then,” Stephen supplied, “because she always uses disasters as an excuse to get back sooner.”

“I’ll bet you fifty dollars that she’ll use Stephen’s portal to get back home herself!”

“I’m not taking that bet,” Christine replied, but happy excitement was clear in her voice. “I’m going to call her now. Maybe I can give her even more incentive.” 

“You do that.” Stephen spoke up. “Tell her we’ll pick Sophia up in thirty minutes.”

They said their goodbyes and ended the call.

Stephen immediately cupped Tony’s head with his hands and pulled him upwards, crashing their lips together in a lazy kiss. Tony followed happily, inching up higher to get a better angle as he deepened the kiss, using his tongue to explore the inside of his husband’s mouth.

He never got tired of the way Tony tasted like coffee, how their lips moved together and the way the other man moaned against his tongue. Tony’s weight against him was comforting, his body heat moving through his under suit and Stephen’s robes. Outside, the sky was getting darker with rainclouds, the living room only lit in the faint glow of the dim summer lighting.

“Thirty minutes?” Tony hummed cheekily against his lips, trailing his hand up Stephen’s leg and over his hip.

“Like I said,” Stephen smirked back, pecking lightly at Tony’s lips before he continued, “kids are out of the country.”

Tony grinned in excitement, throwing his leg over Stephen’s so he was full on straddling his husband. His hands trailed up further towards the sorcerer’s neck as he leaned down to press their lips together once more, stroking his thumb softly over the man’s jaw. Their kisses remained lazy and sloppy, just enjoying each other’s proximity and the cosiness of their position on the couch.

It wasn’t long before Tony was grinding down onto him, making Stephen gasp lightly as their erections brushed together through their clothes. Tony used the opportunity to lick even further into Stephen’s mouth, grinding down again for good measure.

Stephen groaned, pushing himself up off the couch, sitting with Tony in his lap as he threw his legs over the edge. Tony moved towards his neck, latching onto the sensitive spot under Stephen’s ear.  

“Bedroom,” he insisted, even though Tony mewled in protest. When Stephen didn’t let up, the engineer got up off Stephen’s lap, pulling the sorcerer along by the collar.

Stephen felt a new wave of arousal move through him, immediately crowding Tony’s space again as he pushed their lips together. Tony’s hands moved to Stephen’s hair, carding his hands through the dark locks as Stephen’s moved over Tony’s body. The under suit was still skin-tight around him, and Stephen revelled in the way Tony shivered under his touch.

He pushed him towards the bedroom, the door shutting behind them and leaving them in the dark of the gloomy weather.

---- 

They made it to Copenhagen twenty minutes late, and Stephen tried not to feel too guilty when Sophia ran up to him as soon as the portal had opened. The TV in Pepper’s hotel room was still playing a newscast on the latest attack on New York, but it was mainly optimistic as they praised the Avengers for another job well done. 

“You’re late!” Sophia accused him as she buried her face in his neck.

“Sorry, princess, that’s my fault.” Tony stepped up next to him and Sophia immediately leaned away from Stephen to be able to hug Tony as well.

“Daddy!” She was moved to Tony’s hip, remaining there as she frowned up at him. “Is everyone okay?”

“Of course, baby girl,” Tony replied with a pained look towards Stephen. They both hated how much the young girl already had to live with uncertainty, with the possibility of a loved one being taken away. Stephen looked away from him, instead focussing on Pepper with a grateful smile.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“Want a lift,” Tony asked over Sophia’s head, “You can stay for pizza night.”

She rolled her eyes, clearly aware of the conversation from earlier. “Yes, please.”

They gathered Sophia’s colouring supplies and Pepper grabbed her luggage as they stepped out into the penthouse. Tony went to sit on the couch with Sophia, the little girl’s eyes falling closed as soon as they were seated, head resting against Tony’s chest as she breathed heavily with sleep.

Pepper went to call Christine to tell her to come to the compound as Stephen moved to place their usual pizza order for tonight. He hoped the teens hadn’t heard about the attack on New York, not wanting their day to have been spoiled with worry, but he guessed by the lack of messages from them that they had been spared.

He sat down next to Tony, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as the other man looked up at him contently.

Pepper joined them as soon as her call had ended, and they sat in silence so not to disturb the sleeping toddler. They waited together, glad to have a moment to rest.

By the time Christine arrived, Stephen held a finger against his lips and pointed towards Pepper, who had dozed off with her cheek against the back of her chair, feet thrown over the other armrest. 

Christine smiled as she understood what Stephen meant, sneaking closer towards her girlfriend and smiling fondly once she could look over the back of the chair. Her need to touch clearly won against the urge to let Pepper continue sleeping. She wrapped her arms around Pepper’s neck from behind, leaning down over her shoulder as Pepper blinked herself awake. Her smile was sleepy but content when she noticed Christine, leaning into the touch and tilting her head back so she could kiss her.

“You made it!”

“Of course, I did! Move over.” Pepper smiled as she squirmed aside, making room for Christine to sit down as well, throwing her legs over the armrest Pepper was leaning against so they sat in opposite positions, facing each other.

Stephen turned towards Tony again, his husband having fallen asleep shortly after Pepper. Stephen should be tired too, after the exertion from today, but he didn’t feel like sleeping. He was keeping his eye on the clock, making sure he didn’t miss seven pm rolling around, while the rest of his attention was on the sleeping family at his side.

By the time he had to pick up the teens, he placed a soft kiss to Tony’s crown before getting up. They were waiting right where he’d dropped them off and as soon as the portal opened the quiet of the penthouse was disturbed by excited chatter.

The teens greeted their aunts, Tony and Sophia waking up with all the noise and moving to hug them as well.

“Peter, go fetch the pizzas from downstairs before the team steals them.” Peter grumbled in response but did as told, quickly moving into the hallway.

Michelle helped Stephen set the table as Harley went to show Ellie his room.

“I want to help too!” Sophia insisted as she ran over, and Michelle handed her the napkins to distribute.

By the time Peter returned, everyone was seated at the table and chatting excitably about the trip to Wakanda.

“Her lab was so cool,” Peter’s eyes were wide as he filled the table in on her inventions. Stephen listened on in silence, while his husband asked for the details and science behind Wakandan technology.

Ellie was more interested in talking about the teenage inventor herself, making sure everyone knew how awesome and smart she was. Of course, that went without saying, but the fourteen-year-old was still enthralled. Tony discretely leaned over to Stephen, smiling against his ear as he informed him that was what Peter had looked like when he had first met him.  

Stephen could easily imagine it.

“See, kid,” Tony turned towards Harley next, pointing a finger in his direction and disrupting his conversation with Pepper, “that’s how you react when you meet a world-famous engineer.”

“This world-famous engineer didn’t break into our garage.” Harley smirked back, reaching out to grab another slice of pepperoni.

“Oh, Harley was obsessed with you too, Mister Stark! He couldn’t shut up about your Iron Legion project for years,” Ellie helpfully supplied, pleased at being able to embarrass her older brother. With the mischievous smirk on her face, she resembled her brother even more, making Stephen smile fondly.  

“Shut up, Ellie!” Harley grumbled at his sister, but his words were undercut by the small blush creeping up his neck.  He ignored Tony’s fond but smug look of satisfaction. “So, anyway what did you guys do today?”

Tony smirked at the not-so-subtle subject change and shrugged when Stephen met his eyes with a questioning look.

“There was a minor threat on New York,” he supplied as he moved to pick an abandoned crust from Sophia’s plate. Stephen didn’t miss Peter stopping with his attack on the pizza, eyes widening.

“According to the Washington Post every Avenger was called out.” MJ piped up, making everyone at the table look at her, the adults in amusement, the teens in betrayal. “Even Captain America.”

“You knew?!” Peter stared at his girlfriend, before turning back to his parents.

“I’m subscribed on my phone.” She shrugged in response, taking a bite of pizza to hide her blush.

“Why didn’t you call us back?” he asked Stephen instead.

Stephen just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, making him slump in his chair and letting go of the subject. “I was a little busy.”

“They clearly handled it,” Harley spoke up, surprising both parents as they looked at him. He shrugged at the attention. “Ellie.”

The adults smiled in understanding, but Ellie perked up from where she hadn’t been paying attention. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Once the pizza was gone, they moved back to the lounge. Tony put on a movie, but most people weren’t paying attention. Ellie and Harley were making a puzzle with Sophia and Peter was laughing at something with Michelle on one of the recliners.

Stephen leaned against Tony on the couch as they waved their goodbyes to Pepper and Christine. He got up then, kissing away Tony’s concerned look before he moved into the hallway.

“So, you do have my number.”

“Very funny, Wong.” Stephen rolled his eyes, even though he knew his fellow sorcerer wouldn’t be able to see him. “I just wanted to check in on how things were going with Mordo.”

“We can handle him until tomorrow. But Stephen…,” Wong hesitated, but Stephen knew what he was going to say. He had known, deep down, that someday it might come to this; it had always been a waiting game to see if Mordo would reappear. Yet, he had always hoped the man had just decided to leave the mystical world behind instead. “You can’t be biased. He has to be treated like the other rogues.”

“I know, Wong. I’m just not particularly looking forward to taking the magic from the man who gave me mine.”

“He didn’t give you magic, Stephen, he granted you a chance. As you did him.”

Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose, tension coursing through his back.

“Thanks, Wong, but …” Stephen sighed, focussing on the noise still coming from the living room, and letting it wash over him like a soothing summer rain. He dismissed his thoughts, straightening his back. “You sure you can handle him until tomorrow?”

“Yes. Go rest.”

Stephen grunted in acknowledgment. He was forever grateful for the friend that had not only stuck with him but continued showing immense faith in not only his abilities, but also his judgement. Wong was his most trusted friend for a reason and a pillar of advice to lean on whenever he needed it.

Ending the call, he made his way back into the living room. With a cursory glance to check everyone was still here and okay, he finally allowed himself to fall back into Tony’s embrace and close his eyes against his chest.

Chapter Text

Peter liked studying around other people, so he usually got his work done at a decent hour.

Harley on the other hand, found other people distracting. And though he could isolate himself if he’d want to and get his work done throughout the day, that would mean he’d miss out on spending time with his family. He’d much rather stay up until 2 am to review his classes for the following day.

Which is why Harley was on Sophia watch while Peter was sleeping.

She easily slept through most nights, but sometimes she still got nightmares and either Harley or Peter would hear before their parents. It’s not like Stephen or Tony would mind waking up for the little girl, but most of the times he was already awake anyway.

Tonight was no different. With it being the end of September, he was back to late nights of studying, listening to music as he tried to get his math problems solved before he passed out. He liked maths, but he’d pushed his work back because Samuel had been texting him about his latest anatomy course.

He jumped when something touched his arm, his heart going a mile a minute as his head snapped towards Sophia standing next to him. He quickly took off his headphones, cursing himself for wearing them in the first place as he noticed Sophia’s tear-streaked face.

“What’s wrong?” He asked as he picked Sophia up and placed her in his lap, the little girl curling into him immediately.

“I can’t find mommy!”

“Mom’s on a work trip, pumpkin,” he replied regretfully as the little girl’s shoulders shook with a hiccup.  “He’ll be back tomorrow though. Do you want to go find Dad instead?”

She nodded her head and Harley stood up, placing his sister on his hip as he moved towards the master bedroom.

“Boss was called in on a mission with the Avengers, Little Boss.” FRIDAY spoke up from the ceiling. It was a sign of how much Sophia had gotten used to the compound in the year she’d been here that the sound wasn’t enough to distract her.

Harley groaned as he remembered too late his dad popping by to say goodbye. Rhodey’s team was on duty for possible attacks tonight, so even though it wasn’t an all-hands-on-deck situation, Iron Man had still been on call. Usually they’d make sure that only happened when Stephen wasn’t on an interdimensional mission, but there were only so many nights in a row aunt Carol’s team could stay up.

New tears started rolling down Sophia’s face and she dug her head more firmly into Harley’s shoulder. 

He was used to this though and knew exactly what to do.  His parents might curse him about it later and Sophia probably won’t be able to go to sleep for a little while longer, but it was a tried and true method.

“Want to get some ice cream?”

She nodded her head from where it was still rested against Harley’s neck and Harley smiled as they made their way to the kitchen. He placed her in a chair at the kitchen island, the little girl’s tears subsiding as she ran a hand over her cheeks to wipe them away.

Harley absentmindedly grabbed a tissue to dry her face, making her giggle as he placed a kiss on her forehead before he moved to grab a tub of caramel ice cream from the freezer.

He handed Sophia a spoon as he dug in himself, leaning against the table rather than sitting down.

“Why were you upset, Phia?” He asked the toddler, thinking the subject to be safe as the girl happily lapped at her spoon, curly hair a mess around her head. She reminded him of Ellie when they were younger. 

Their mother tried to avoid nightshifts, but sometimes she had to take extra shifts at the library throughout the day, leaving the night to work at the diner.

He would never understand people who condemned hardworking parents. Sure, it was nice to spend time with them, which is hard when they’re constantly away, but his mother had been a great role model to both Harley and Ellie. She always made sure to spend time with them when she could and always knew what was going on in their lives, often more so than the parents of his classmates who were home at five.

“Bad dream,” she mumbled in response, stuffing her face with more ice cream as she avoided Harley’s curious gaze. There was a soft miaow as Mia jumped onto the table, curiously inspecting the carton. Sophia immediately moved to run her hand over her soft fur, smiling softly at the soothing texture.

“Want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head, pouting as her spoon hit the bottom of the ice cream tub.

“You know dreams have hidden meanings, right?”

“How do you mean,” she asked, barely paying attention to Harley as she cleared out the ice cream that was left. Mia had already lost interest – Harley wouldn’t allow her a taste – but she curled into a ball within Sophia’s reach.

“Dreams have secret messages that you have to listen to and then they go away.” This caused Sophia to look up at him, cream smearing over her cheek as she missed her mouth, doubtful wonder in her eyes. “Want to figure out what your dream wants to tell you?”

She nodded and Harley knew he had won her interest. Grabbing a napkin to clean up the ice cream, he asked her to try to remember what the dream was about.

“It was dark. And there were bad guys.”

“What did the bad guys want?”

Sophia shrugged, pushing the tub away as she cradled her head in her hands, looking up at Harley. “What does it mean?”

Harley pretended to think it over for a minute, before swooping up to grab Sophia out of her chair. “It means you need to watch a movie with your brothers.”

“Really?” she asked him, hope peaking from underneath her suspicious glance.

“Absolutely!”

“Yaay!” Sophia squealed as she was twirled around by Harley, making Mia look up at them before relaxing once more. “Can we watch Sofia the First?”

“Sure thing. Go wake up Petey.” Harley placed Sophia down on the ground, fighting back his own exhaustion. If he was going to die tomorrow than so was spider-nerd.

He moved into the lounge as Sophia pattered over towards Peter’s room. He smiled sardonically as he heard Peter whine at Sophia’s insistent yells for him to wake up.

A few minutes later Sophia ran back into the living area, dragging an exhausted looking Peter behind him. Harley felt bad for only a minute, before Peter glanced towards the kitchen, eyes immediately flashing wide awake.

“You had ice-cream without me?!”

“There’s still a box left.” Harley replied as he held out his arms for Sophia to join him on the couch. The little girl bounced over, apparently not only having retrieved Peter but also her Iron Man teddy bear. Harley put on the TV and Peter soon joined them. Sophia lied curled in between the two boys begging Peter for bites of ice cream every so often.

Miaow came into the lounge a little while later, snuggling close to Sophia and purring quietly.

They were halfway into the third episode of Sofia the First when Sophia squealed, waking Harley up from where he had started to doze off on the couch. He glanced around in alarm but calmed down when he realised it had been a delighted yell, prompted by the whizzing of a portal in front of the door.

Peter grabbed Sophia’s arm to hold her back, both boys only relaxing once Stephen stepped through, looking tired but otherwise unharmed. Probably just finished up early, then. They watched the sorcerer sigh at the floor before looking up, confusion settling in as he took in his kids on the couch.

“Mommy!” Sophia tugged at her arm, making peter let go of her, as she stood up from the couch and ran over towards Stephen. Stephen grunted as he picked the over-excited toddler up, but a satisfied smile was still clearly visible.

“Maybe I’m jetlagged but aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

“She had a bad dream,” Harley supplied from the couch, getting up himself as he tried to hide a yawn behind his hand. “Dad’s on an emergency mission.”

Stephen groaned, glancing back towards Sophia who was pleased to hide her face in the sorcerer’s neck. He squeezed the girl closer in a tight hug as he bounced her around. “You want to sleep in daddy’s spot?”

Sophia nodded her head as she stifled a yawn against Stephen’s robes, making the doctor chuckle. Peter stood up too, making his way towards the duo.

“Welcome home.” Peter hugged the sorcerer, Stephen wrapping his arm around the sleepy teenager. Harley snorted as Peter seemed to fall asleep against Stephen’s shoulder, making Stephen’s head snap in his direction. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the abandoned carton on the coffee table.

“Did you give them ice cream?”

“What? No!” Harley tried to deny, feigning an innocent smile which was immediately interrupted by a sigh as Sophia nodded in response.

“Peter,” Stephen shook the teenager, making him jump as he woke up and glanced at the doctor in confusion. “Go to bed. Harley, come here.”

Peter trailed off into the hallway, feet dragging over the floor. Harley grinned sheepishly as he walked over to Stephen, moving in to take Peter’s place in the sorcerer’s arms. Hopefully it would keep the scolding at a minimum. To his surprise though, Stephen just hugged him closer, whispering a ‘good job’ in his ear, before pushing him in the direction of the bedrooms.

“You have class tomorrow. Try to get some sleep.”

“Thanks, mom.” He smiled sleepily as he made his way back to his bedroom. As soon as he crashed into his pillow, he was out cold, still buzzing from the praise given by the sorcerer.

-----

Stephen woke up to soft snoring coming from his husband. He smiled as he opened an eye, pleased the man had managed to find his way back during the night. Apparently, Stephen himself had been too exhausted to notice the engineer’s return.

Sophia was happily clinging onto him, though, making Stephen’s heart flutter at the sight. Tony was lying on his back, head turned towards the windows and arm wrapped around Sophia, her little head resting on his chest and tiny leg thrown over Tony’s hip.

Stephen couldn’t see her face as it was turned away from him, but he knew she still slept with her mouth open, face slack and looking younger than he’d ever known her.  

A glance at his watch showed it was past ten am. He had returned at two am and had no idea at what time the engineer had made it home, so he just sighed and closed his eyes again, looking forward to getting a few more hours of sleep.

When he woke up the second time, it was with Sophia pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around his torso and curls tickling his chin. Her breathing was heavy, apparently still asleep, but a glance to the empty space next to him confirmed his suspicion that Tony had already woken up.

Before he could worry about it, the door to the bedroom opened and Tony walked back in, smiling as his eyes met Stephen’s. Stephen frowned, however, when he noticed the bruising on his husband’s left cheekbone.

He extracted himself from Sophia’s embrace, placing the girl’s head on his pillow as she blissfully continued sleeping. He sat up as Tony handed him a cup of tea, sitting down on the edge of the bed with his own mug.

“What happened?” He asked, unable to keep his hand from reaching out and tracing the edge of the bruise. Tony grimaced in response but leaned forward to press his lips against Stephen’s before answering. Stephen couldn’t help but preen at the affection, immediately relaxing at the familiar feeling of Tony’s mouth on his. When they leaned back, Tony was smiling softly, and Stephen found himself copying the expression.

“Just wasn’t paying attention and got hit by some rubble. It was nothing, really.” His smile brightened as he took a sip from his coffee. “It definitely helped to find you home early though. Not like you missed me,” he added with a glance at Sophia, fake jealousy making Stephen roll his eyes.

“Imagine my disappointment when I hope to surprise my husband by coming home early after three days in another dimension to find him not patiently waiting for me.” Stephen teased, making Tony’s eyes darken the tiniest bit as he leaned forward to capture Stephen’s lips once more.

Stephen moved to place their mugs on the nightstand, leaving his hands empty to find a hold in the little hairs at the back of Tony’s neck. This time he allowed the kiss to deepen.

He truly had missed Tony. Seeing the kids had been a massive relief as well, coming home to find them all together and safe and happy. With Tony back though, the last bit of tension could fully leave his shoulders. He hummed against Tony’s tongue before pulling back, placing a last delicate kiss against the corner of his husband’s mouth.

“Have Harley and Peter already left for school?”

Tony hummed in response, making Stephen sigh regrettably.

“You know what?” Tony spoke up. Stephen glanced at him curiously. He knew that expression. It wasn’t his usual ‘I have an idea’ face that usually meant something was about to go up in flames. Often Stephen’s patience.

No, this was his stubborn determination face that Stephen usually enjoyed.

“We need a holiday.”

Stephen smiled at him wistfully, but his heart fluttered, nonetheless. “Darling, the world doesn’t stop needing us. Plus, Peter and Harley still have classes…”

“I know, I know…,” Tony waved off his concerns, “it doesn’t have to be anything big. I still own that cabin in Montana; why don’t we just go on a weekend? Just the five of us. Hell, MJ and Samuel are welcome as well from nine to five.”

Stephen smirked at his husband, but he couldn’t deny that it sounded absolutely wonderful. It was Friday after all and a glance at his watch showed it was only in the early afternoon still. They could easily leave as soon as the teens returned and be back Sunday evening.

“Fine,” he relented with a sigh, leaning forward to peck Tony against the lips once more. “I’ll call Wong to let him know not to bother us unless absolutely necessary. You do the same for the Avengers and get me a picture from that cabin of yours. A cabin which I have never heard of before, by the way.”

“Really,” Tony asked, feigning confusion. “I could have sworn I had mentioned it at some point… You’re the best, babe.” Tony gave Stephen a quick kiss before getting up again, disappearing into the bathroom to get ready.

Stephen sighed fondly before turning towards Sophia right as the little girl’s eyes started blinking open. She yawned as she noticed Stephen’s eyes on her, pushing herself off the matrass as she looked around the room.

“Where’s daddy?”

“In the bathroom. We’re going away for the weekend, so let’s get you ready too, okay?”

She nodded and held out her arms for Stephen to pick her up but looked at him in confusion. “Where are we going?”

“Montana. There will probably already be snow there.”

She frowned. “We can just ask Elsa for snow.”

Stephen burst out in a laugh as they walked towards Sophia’s bedroom, placing the girl on the floor as he went to look through her wardrobe. “It’s not about the snow, but about getting away. So, we can spend some quality time together as a family.”

“Will Peter and Harley come?”

“Of course.”

“Okay.” That seemed to be enough for the toddler, running forward so she could help look for clothes, shouting her opinion on what to take and what she wanted to wear today.

----

It wasn’t rare that blaring alarms ran through the school. With all the attacks centred around New York, it was only normal that there were plenty of emergency drills. Harley had only known a real alarm once. Most of the attacks were centred more in the middle of the city, and the Avengers made sure to put up a perimeter far away from Midtown High and other schools if possible.

Yet, with Peter’s enhanced hearing, the first drill hadn’t ended well for him. Which is why it was so alarming that Peter fell on the floor in agony now. They had been standing in the hallway, chatting right before their final class of the day would start. Now everyone was running by in a panic.

No matter how often the drills were, people knew the dangers and possibility of each and every one of them being the real deal. They never knew until the “attack” was over.

Peter did always know though, and by extension, Harley, MJ, and Ned. Everyone who was aware of his spider powers. It wasn’t his spider senses going off that usually warned them, but Karen, the AI making sure she knew whenever a planned drill was taking place so Peter could protect himself from the noise.

That the AI hadn’t been aware at all meant it was most likely not a drill.

Doors were slamming shut all around the hallway, and Peter was still lying on the floor, hands clamped around his ears. Before Harley could get them out of the building and suited up though, arms were grabbing the five of them and pushing them into the nearest classroom. Harley held onto Peter as they were pushed under a desk, MJ immediately reaching for Peter’s soundproof earbuds Tony had made him years ago.

Luckily, as soon as the earbuds were cancelling the noise, Peter was sitting up. Harley was relieved the noise hadn’t been enough to push him into a sensory overload.

“What’s going on?” Peter now asked, and once Harley knew he was okay he allowed himself to look around the room. He recognised some students, others were from a different year, randomly escaping into a classroom to be locked in. Some had apparently already pushed desks against the door to barricade themselves in, hiding under them in case the building were to come down.

His eyes found Samuel, standing a little further away, and he allowed himself to relax a little more. MJ and Ned were still sitting with Peter and though the students were staying low and out of sight of the windows, he could see some edging closer to get a glimpse of what was going on outside.

Harley glanced up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning a shaky smile towards Samuel as he grabbed his arm to pull him down.  

Now everyone Harley cared about was within reach, he tapped at his watch. Besides the five of them, no one knew of Peter and Harley’s relationship to the Avengers or Iron Man, so he opted against a face call, instead letting his watch form a com in his ear to contact his dad.

“Harley, are you okay?” Tony’s voice immediately ran through. He sounded strained, clearly in the midst of fighting off whatever had set of the emergency alarm. “I know we’re cutting it close to the school.”

“We’re fine. The emergency alarm went off.” He glanced around the room, some people nervously shushing him. Waving them off, he glanced back at Peter, who was undoubtedly listening in with his enhanced hearing now the alarm had been cut off.

“Is Peter okay?”

“Yes, he is,” Harley replied, “If you can send Stephen to get us we can come help-“

“Stephen’s not here and I’d rather you stay put.”

“But, dad, -“

“No, Peter,” Tony ground out. Harley could hear an explosion in the background. It wasn’t only on the com though, as some people gasped and stared out the window.

It seemed like it had been something in the sky. Rubble would rain down on the city but at least the damage wouldn’t be as extensive as an exploded building. “Unless you want people to figure out your identity you stay put. Scratch that. Stay put either way.”

Peter bit his lip in defiance but stayed quiet. Harley knew Peter wasn’t going to give up his identity. Peter’s own ringtone played then, but it turned out to be May asking if he was okay. They had a quick chat to make sure they were both safe, before they were left waiting.

Harley sighed and leaned into Samuel, his boyfriend immediately wrapping a comforting arm around him. His family may be superheroes, but that also meant they were certain to be in the centre of danger.

With the world being the way it was, most of these kids wouldn’t know until later tonight whether their family had been part of the casualties. Since the Avenger Initiative had been taken over by Tony and restarted after the snap, the amount of people injured in planned missions was about zero percent, emergencies were trickier, yet even those percentages had gone down immensely. There were always days when mass casualties couldn’t be avoided, but they made up for it on other days when damage stayed to a minimum.

Fact remained that the Avengers were the most at risk.

He would feel better if Stephen had been around to keep an eye on everyone – especially their dad. Though not an official Avenger, he had helped save Harley’s family on many occasions.

“What did your dad say?” Samuel whispered. He moved to sit with his back against the wall, Harley leaning onto him as he watched Peter talking to Ned and MJ.

“Didn’t want us to help. Which usually means it’s pretty bad out there, but not bad enough that we’d be at risk either way.” Harley sighed out. Samuel gave him a small squeeze in comfort. “Have you heard from your family?”

“Mom texted she was safe. Dad’s in DC.” Harley relaxed even more in his grip and turned his head to smile up at him. He hoped worry wouldn’t shine through too badly and leaned up to press a soft kiss against his lips.

He wouldn’t have a month ago, not with the amount of unfamiliar people in the room, but now he found he didn’t mind anymore. He simply admired his dark hair and darker eyes and focussed on that. Other people and their opinions couldn't touch him.   

“Would you…,” Harley frowned as he considered his next words. He liked Samuel a lot. He was kind and he was funny and didn’t take Harley’s shit all too seriously. Most importantly: he liked the way he felt around him, and wasn't particularly fond of the idea of giving that up.

"What?"

"It's nothing." Harley tried to wave him off. Leaning away from him to search for a distraction in Peter.

Before he could move too far though, Samuel was pulling him back by his shoulders. Harley dared to glance back and found Samuel watching him with an amused smile. Harley rolled his eyes and looked away again. "What is it?"

He sighed but allowed himself to be pulled back again, forcing himself to relax as he carefully glanced up at Samuel. “You know how I’m going to be the next Iron Man, right?”

Samuel looked down at him with a confused smile. “Yes, you told me, remember?”   

Harley rolled his eyes but ignored him, instead focussing a steady gaze on Samuel's neck and letting his fluttering pulse calm his nerves. “Would you be okay with that?”

“Are you asking for my permission?” Harley could hear the frown in his voice, and his eyes darted up to Samuel’s as he could feel a blush creep onto his face.

“No, it’s just…,” Harley took a deep breath. He was trying to keep the conversation light, but knew he wasn’t fooling anyone. “You know how dad used to date aunt Pepper right?”

He continued after Samuel’s careful nod and frown. “Do you know why they ended things? She couldn’t handle dad putting himself in danger all the time. And I just don’t want-“

He cut himself off and turned away from Samuel, fixing his gaze on the windows instead. It was a stupid notion. They had only been together for six months, and he wasn’t going to be Iron Man until he was ready. He still wanted to get his degree first. He still had years.

But he didn’t want to fall deeper until he knew he wasn’t going to get hurt. Not because of something so preventable. He loved aunt Pepper and respected her choice, but he also knew Iron Man was part of who Tony was, and that he would never be able to put that aside. At least not until he was certain the earth, and the people he loved, were safe.

“Hey,” Samuel tried to get his attention, but Harley stubbornly refused to look at him until he physically grabbed his chin and forced him to look him in the eyes. “Hey.”

Harley glared back at him but didn’t say anything. “As long as you’re not a fool about it, I don’t mind you being the Mechanic. I’m not going to like seeing you hurt, but … I like you and that includes the protector in you.”

Harley couldn’t hide the smile forcing its way onto his face, but he rolled his eyes at Samuel nonetheless before kissing him. “You’re such an imbecile.”

“Says the hopeless romantic.”

Harley grinned and leaned his head onto his shoulder, getting ready to wait out the lockdown. He hated sitting still and not being able to do anything. Luckily Ned managed to conjure up a pack of playing cards from who knows where and the five of them started up a game.

Few of the younger kids were still shaking with anticipation and anxiety, but the older kids in the room were trying to distract them. It was a sick and twisted fact that they were already used to the threat of danger.

“I’m hungry,” Peter whined about thirty minutes later and Harley rolled his eyes at him.

Michelle though, dug into her bag and pulled out three massive bags of M&M’s and threw them at Peter. Peter’s eyes widened as he immediately tore one open and shoved a handful into his mouth.

“God, I love you.” Michelle blushed slightly but tried to hide it by glancing at the floor, while Harley squinted at his brother. The spider apparently hadn’t put any thought into his words as he continued happily munching on the chocolates.  

“You always carry that in your bag?” Samuel asked what everyone else was thinking, immediately clearing the tension from the air. Harley turned to watch as MJ shrugged, shifting uncomfortably with everyone’s eyes on her.

“You try dating Peter.”

---

Tony smiled as they stepped through the portal and into the living area of their new cabin. He totally did not regret the investment. It was big and luxurious yet warm and cosy, with a massive fireplace in the lounge and huge windows overlooking a landscape of snowy forest leading down onto a frozen lake.

Hopefully they could hide away here from now on, whenever they needed a break. He guessed he could also let the Avengers stay here sometimes if they asked nicely. For now, though, it was just their small family.

Sophia let go of his hand, running forward to press her face against the windows with an awed expression. She had dropped Mia in her haste, the cat immediately moving to curl up next to the fire.

“Woah,” came Peter’s amazed voice as he walked in after his dad, rolling on the balls of his feet in excitement. “It really is snowing here!”

“Too bad you can’t go outside, huh,” Harley pestered the other teenager, dropping his bag on the couch before falling after it. “It’s a little too cold for Spider-boy, don’t you think?”

“Harley, be nice to your brother.” Tony sighed as he noticed Peter’s pout, turning around to look for Stephen. The other man stepped out of the kitchen, probably having dropped of the groceries before joining his family.

“Why is Harley not being nice?”

“Petey’s thermoregulation.”

“Ah. Don’t worry, cub,” Stephen replied, moving to stroke Peter’s hair as he walked past him to join Harley on the couch. “I can keep you warm as long as you stay within my range. Let’s wait until tomorrow though, it’s getting late.”

“Thanks, mom!” Peter exclaimed in excitement and immediately beelined for Stephen, curling up next to him as Stephen chuckled and resumed petting the teenager’s hair. Sophia quickly joined them, finding a place between Harley and Stephen.

“Okay kids, what do you want to do? We can watch a movie or play some board games?” Tony clapped his hands together, rubbing them in anticipation as he looked at the bodies on the couch.

“Can we watch Santa Buddies?” Sophia piped up, big pleading eyes on Tony. He thought Peter was bad with his puppy eyes, but Sophia played a whole different ballgame. 

“It’s not even Christmas.”

“It’s snowing!”

“Fair enough.” He sighed, unable to stop a fond smile as he grabbed the remote and fell down on the couch next to Harley, wrapping an arm around the teenager’s shoulders. “Santa Buddies it is.”

---

Tony woke up in a way similar to the day before. Stephen laid next to him, hand placed on Sophia’s back who was lying face-first in between the both of them. They hadn’t wanted to leave Sophia in an unfamiliar room, so she had been allowed to bunk with her dads while the two teens fought over the best room. Tony wasn’t sure who had won as he didn’t really care. There were way too many bedrooms in this cabin for it to have only one ‘best room’.

Tony turned onto his side and took a moment to admire Stephen’s sleeping face, soft and relaxed, hair lightly brushing his forehead. He couldn’t help reaching out, careful to avoid the sleeping toddler as he brushed the hair out of Stephen’s face. He smiled when his husband moved into the touch before pressing his face further into the pillow, letting out a soft breath as he continued sleeping.

He pulled his hand back, moving off the matrass and kissing Sophia on the back of her head before quietly moving into the hallway. He closed the door behind him, listening for any sign of life. Of course, he didn’t hear anything, both teens using the weekend to sleep in.

The kitchen was made out of the same wood as the rest of the cabin, but it held any luxury one might need. One very important feature was the coffee machine, and Tony quickly moved over to make a cup as he suppressed a yawn. He could already tell it was going to be a quiet Saturday, which was exactly what the little family needed.

With coffee in hand, he started preparing breakfast, filling pans with eggs and bacon, and pancakes for Sophia. He was glad this kitchen had big windows as well, giving him an unobstructed view of the white mountains as he worked. Once he was done, he filled a plate for himself, leaving the pans on the stove as he took a seat at the breakfast table.

He ate while checking the news – luckily nothing life threatening was going on, but they were on vacation either way. He had some updates from FRIDAY on how his personal projects were going and he gladly checked those until he heard Sophia’s voice in the hallway.

He looked up with a smile as Stephen entered the kitchen with Sophia, the toddler immediately running over towards Tony to give him a hug and climb into his lap.

“You want pancakes, princess,” he asked the toddler, wrapping his arms around the little form. He glanced at Stephen as the man put on the kettle while making Sophia a plate of food. When he finished and dropped the plate in front of the toddler, he leaned down to give Tony a quick kiss, telling him a good morning in that husky, sleep-ridden tone that had Tony beaming up at his husband.

After Stephen and Sophia had finished their breakfast, they moved into the living room, Sophia requesting to start a puzzle. Both parents agreed to help very much to her delight, and they claimed the huge coffee table as their workstation. As they quietly worked together, listening to Sophia’s running commentary, Tony proclaimed himself a genius.

The plan to take a vacation had been a whim, a moment of need to be around his family, but he was convinced it was the most brilliant idea he’d ever had. Tony hadn’t felt this relaxed in years.

He glanced at Stephen, finding him looking around the table in mild interest, face neutral but for when Sophia looked at him. The little girl always managing to pull a smile from him. He reached out around Sophia’s back to lightly poke Stephen in the side, making the man frown at him. At the sight of Tony’s grin and his outstretched palm, he rolled his eyes in exasperation but grabbed a hold of his hand, nonetheless.

Tony beamed in satisfaction as he tangled their fingers together, leaving their hands linked as they continued working the puzzle single-handed. He definitely didn’t miss the fond smile that now graced Stephen’s features as he continued to look around for all the yellow pieces.

Harley was the first awake, and it didn’t take long for Peter to follow as well. Stephen sent the teens to get breakfast before joining them in the living room. Peter sat at the dining table to do some homework while Harley fell down on the couch with his phone, grinning as he scrolled down on his screen and occasionally typed something out.

By the early afternoon, Stephen had portalled in both MJ and Samuel, the teens moving outside to play in the snow. They took Sophia with them and Tony and Stephen sat in a comfy chair next to the giant windows to watch over them. Stephen’s hands weren’t good for the cold, so they stuck to the warm insides of the cabin. Tony was massaging Stephen’s hands absentmindedly from where he was curled up next to the doctor.

The sorcerer’s eyes were focussed on the kids, especially checking Peter to make sure the warming spell he had put on the teen held up against the snow. Tony grinned as he watched MJ throw a well-aimed snowball at Peter’s face, snuggling closer to Stephen under the blanket as the teen gawked at his girlfriend. A surge of warmth went through Tony as he stared up at his husband, the man’s fond smile lighting up his insides.

Tony leaned into Stephen, turning his head to nuzzle his nose against his neck. He breathed in the man’s natural scent, letting it calm him as they lay together. The sorcerer hummed in approval and squeezed his arms tighter around Tony’s shoulder as the engineer started pressing his lips against his delicate skin. He kept his eyes on the kids outside though, but Tony didn’t mind. This was merely him enjoying the proximity to his husband, the way his chest moved up and down against his.

He turned his head the tiniest bit so he could glance outside again. The teens were still working on a snowman, MJ grinning at something Peter said as Samuel and Harley helped Sophia with rolling the final snowball. Content with the sight, Tony turned back to Stephen’s jawline, pressing kisses under it before starting to nip at his pulse point.

Stephen’s hands moved up, trailing his delicate fingers over Tony’s back underneath the blanket before stopping at the back of his head, moving to toy with Tony’s hair. Tony continued his administrations happily, humming at the affection as he moved his own hand so he wasn’t hugging his torso anymore but wrapping his arms around Stephen’s neck instead.

He was basically lying on top of the sorcerer at this point, sleepily continuing to bury his face deeper into his soft skin. He felt warm and cosy, relaxed in ways he hadn’t imagined was possible for him. Stephen chuckled as he turned slightly to press a kiss to the back of Tony’s head.

“Sleepy?”

Tony nodded slightly in response, barely having to put any effort in his voice due to his proximity to the sorcerer’s ears as he answered. “You’re very comfy. Please halt time.”

Stephen’s chest rumbled against Tony’s with his laughter, pressing the engineer tighter as he replied regrettably. “No can do, darling. Had to give that little feature up to safe the universe.”

“Correction: to save me. To spare my life, remember? I had to safe the universe after that.” Tony stubbornly let out, not able to resist playfully biting at Stephen’s skin.

“You know very well that I knew that was what was necessary.” Tony could practically feel the eye roll in his voice. Stephen was good at that. Showing his exasperation and fondness in a single lilt of his voice, only visible to people who knew him well enough to receive it.

It was mainly directed at Tony, of course; the engineer knew how to press the sorcerer’s buttons in all the right ways. Harley was familiar with it as well, at least more so than Peter.

“Shush, babe, it’s more romantic that way. Giving up the entire universe for me? So, I had to safe the universe in turn to get you and our son back? Shakespeare is shaken.”

“I think it’s supposed to be ‘shook’. And we didn’t know each other yet.” Stephen sighed regretfully. “I wish we did, though.”

Tony smiled as he let go of Stephen’s neck and leaned back, resting his arms against Stephen’s lean chest to be able to look him in the eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” His lip curled up slightly as his eyes roamed Tony’s face. Yet he could feel the seriousness and sadness of the words before Stephen spoke them. “And for the record, I would never have given up the time stone if it would have badly affected the universe. Even if we were already in love and it would have killed me to watch you die. I would never let you be the reason the world ended.”

Tony wished the conversation hadn’t taken such a sad turn, but he couldn’t help the warmth that spread in his chest. He leaned forward to press his lips against Stephen’s, a reassuring gesture that they were here and they were alive and happy.

“Which is exactly why I love you, Stephen Strange.”

“Stark-Strange,” Stephen corrected him with a frown and a half-pout he had most definitely learned from Tony.

Tony grinned, leaning forward to kiss it away like Stephen usually did for him. “Stephen Stark-Strange.”

Tony fell back down against Stephen’s chest, basking in his husband’s content sigh. He was just getting comfortable again when he felt Stephen tense underneath him. Tony sat up at once, carefully searching Stephen’s face. The man wasn’t focusing on him though, attention on the window as his eyes searched the stretch of snow in front of it.

The teens had moved a little further away from the deck, making use of the stretch of lawn to run and pelt snowballs at each other. Their laughter rang loud and was heard through the window’s but Tony quickly realized why the sorcerer was freaking out. Sophia was nowhere in sight.

His eyes roamed the snowy field, checking behind the snowman now standing a few feet away from them and glancing anxiously towards the edge of the forests a little further out. His heart was pounding as he felt frozen in place, hand digging into Stephen’s arms who was starting to move from shocked panic to frantic actions as he leaned up to go and search for their daughter.

Suddenly Stephen relaxed with a huge sigh of relief, Tony’s head snapping in his direction immediately as the sorcerer chuckled, trying to calm his fast beating heart. Tony wanted to trust Stephen’s relief, but he was still searching, unable to relax until he caught sight of her himself.

He registered Stephen moving his hands from his peripheral vision, a string of magic leaving the tips of his fingers as he pointed to a spot a little away from Harley, who was sitting on the floor making ammunition for their fight. Tony sighed and mentally slapped himself when Sophia’s white snow coat turned a bright pink that would probably be visible from space.

Now she didn’t blend in with the snow anymore, Tony was able to clearly make her out. She was sitting in the snow and copying Harley’s movements, a small pile of snowballs in front of her already. Tony sighed again and forced his body to relax once more, leaning back against Stephen. “Who knew parenting was so much panic about nothing?”

Stephen chuckled, and this time Tony allowed the sound to soothe him to his core, as he moved his hands again. Tony recognised the movement as the sorcerer checking and reinforcing the charm on Peter, the teen's aura glowing slightly orange before disappearing again.

“I’m so lucky to be married to a sorcerer.”

“Yes. Yes, you are.”

They lay together as the sun started dipping lower on the horizon.

The sky was starting to darken when Stephen stood up to call Sophia back inside. The little girl didn’t put up a fight, running into Stephen’s arms and eyes already drooping. He allowed the teens to stay out a little while longer as long as they promised to stay in the lights illuminating the deck and the few feet of snow behind it. He knew they were technically adults and all in college, but the mountains were dangerous to everyone.

“Have fun, princess?” Tony asked as they moved into the kitchen. Tony was already standing at the stove, stirring a huge skillet of chocolate milk.

Sophia sleepily nodded her head before accepting her hot chocolate. Tony left the leftover milk in the microwave as they returned to the lounge. Sophia could take a nap before dinner but considering as she still didn’t want to sleep alone at the unknown space, she slept against Stephen’s chest on the couch.

Stephen read his book, Tony sitting on his other side as he worked on some blueprints for Rhodey’s new legbraces. Tony liked to keep them as up-to-date and advanced as possible and Stephen knew he liked to work on them whenever he was feeling especially calm.

Despite how much Tony loved Rhodey and wanted his best friend to be as comfortable as possible, he knew suit updates and other lifesaving stuff were often more important. He only indulged in working on them when he knew he had the time.

It’s why he liked working on them so much; he could work on them without a nagging voice in the back of his head yelling at him.

Another reason he loved it was because he could ask Stephen for his advice and input. The sorcerer was glad to give it to him, not minding being distracted from his reading to answer a question and often pointing out suggestions of his own accord as he watched Tony work from the corner of his eyes.

The teens moved inside a little after six thirty and noticing the sleeping toddler, quietly moved upstairs with their hot chocolate to the common room there. Stephen had noticed the day before that it had a pool table. His husband really had gone all out. 

By seven Tony stood up and kissed Stephen before moving into the kitchen again to start dinner.

Samuel and MJ went home after, and by the time they had to go home Sunday evening, Tony wished they could stay forever.

Chapter Text

“Can we get uncle Rhodey some tomato soup, so he’ll feel better?”

Stephen snorted as he glanced over at Tony, his husband patiently looking at Sophia as he answered. “That’s a wonderful idea, little miss. Maybe another flavour though. Uncle Rhodey doesn’t like tomatoes.”

They were walking through the busy streets of Manhattan, the chilly late October air lapping at their exposed faces. Stephen’s black gloves protected his hands against the dropping temperatures and the tea in his left hand helped warm his broken hands even more.

They didn’t go out a lot – at all, really – especially after Sophia.

However, he was afraid she was turning into a recluse at the compound, so it was nice to make a trip with the three of them.

Sophia scrunched her little nose as she looked up at her dad in disbelief. “Who doesn’t like tomatoes?”

“That’s what I said!” he replied with an incredulous shrug.

“We’re crossing the road now,” Stephen piped up, pulling Sophia’s attention back to where they were going as he tightened his grip on her hand. Tony moved from Stephen’s side to grab Sophia’s other hand.

He couldn’t help but smile fondly at his husband, never quite able to get used to the sheer paternal instinct that was so fundamentally Tony. He talked Sophia through looking left and right before walking onto the street, and even stopped in the middle to look right once more before continuing, much to the chagrin of the New Yorkers bumping into them.

Some people stopped when they recognised Tony and their eyes fell on the little girl with him. Stephen had to fight the urge to roll his eyes as they continued through the city. He had gotten used to the attention whenever he did go out with Tony, but he didn’t want Sophia to have to.
She was a child, and even Harley and Peter still hadn’t wanted to come out publicly as Tony Stark’s sons and heirs.

Luckily it only took some minor magic to glamour Sophia to be unrecognisable, and any phone camera pointed in their direction would mysteriously malfunction. The world wasn’t entitled to her name and face. Most news cycles and gossip magazines had been positive about Tony Stark adopting another kid – this time an actual child – but there had been the usual negativity as well.

Stephen didn’t want any scrutiny on his daughter in general, good or bad, and for safety reasons it was best to keep it so either way.

Once she got older though, there was no use in denying her relation to the Avengers. Stephen often worried about her name placing a target on her back, both from general villains and magical threats, but he wasn’t one to cower in fear. Especially not while they could still keep a close eye on her and hold her as close as possible. In the future, they could always leave the choice up to her.

“We’re almost at the playground, see?” Tony pointed towards the trees becoming visible in front of them, making Sophia start to squirm between them in excitement. She had already finished her hot chocolate, and clearly the sugar was starting to get to her now. He was suddenly glad they had decided to go to the park, it being a great opportunity for Sophia to run off her extra energy.

As soon as they were close enough that the swings and slide were clearly visible, Stephen allowed Sophia to run off. He kept a close eye on her as he felt Tony grab his hand, pulling him closer and wrapping Stephen’s arm around his own shoulders.

He chuckled, complying with Tony’s silent request and pulling the engineer closer. He glanced away to place a quick kiss to his temple. Tony hummed contently against his side, leaning into his touch.

“Mommy! Come push me!”

“Will it be a problem for your hands?” Tony asked, face as devoid of pity as usual. He always asked, but never disputed his answer.

“It should be fine.” He squeezed Tony tightly once more before letting go with a sigh and a small smile. He couldn’t deny that he already missed his husband’s warmth against him.

Dropping his empty cup in a bin, he moved over towards Sophia to do as requested. “Okay, Phia, you ready? Hold on tightly to the chains.”

Sophia nodded, hands turning white against the metal ropes. Stephen started lightly pushing and rolled his eyes when he saw Tony take the seat next to Sophia and started swinging as well. She giggled at her dad and copied the movement of his legs, and it wasn’t long before Stephen wasn’t required to push her at all.

Stephen moved to stand behind Tony’s swing so he could grab him and wrap his arms around his torso to halt his movement, planting his chin on his shoulder so their cheeks pressed together. “You’re going to snap the chords, darling.”

“You calling me fat?” Tony grinned as he turned his head to glance at Stephen’s face, abusing the movement to sneak a kiss to the sorcerer’s cheek. “I’ll have you know this is all muscle.”

“Oh, I’m aware of your muscles.” Stephen purred, eyes on Sophia as she continued pushing her legs back and forth and swinging happily. “I just don’t want you to break your back, old man.”

“Oh, bite me, Stephen Strange,” Tony groaned, but nonetheless continued leaning against him even more.

“Sounds fun, maybe later.” He smirked as his husband rolled his eyes but turned his head to kiss him deeply. “And it’s Stark-Strange.”

“Not when you insult me, it isn’t. You’re so going to be the death of me,” Tony sighed regrettably as he pushed the grinning sorcerer away and got up from the swing. He pointed towards the empty seat with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Your turn.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on, it’s fun!” Tony continued with a devilish smile. Stephen wished the look wasn’t so damn attractive. Luckily, Stephen was born a stubborn bastard. He crossed his arms and stared his husband down. But sadly, for Stephen, Tony didn’t have any qualms about playing dirty. “Princess, don’t you think mommy deserves to have some fun?”

“Yes!” Sophia yelled in excitement, her voice soft and caring as she continued, making Stephen’s heart melt at the nurturing tone in her voice. “Come on, mommy, it’s fun! Dad can even push you if you want!”

“Yes, dad will push you if you want!”

“That doesn’t reassure me one bit.” Stephen sighed but complied, willing to admit that he’d lost this particular game.

“Dad is not to push me though,” he added with a warning look at his husband. Tony grinned and held his hand up in surrender, even taking a step back to give Stephen the space he needed.

He rolled his eyes at him as he started pushing off the ground. The seat was a little too low for an adult man his size, making it a little uncomfortable to swing properly, but he made do, thanking Sophia for her soft encouragements.

His phone pinged with a notification and he checked on instinct, worried it was one of the teens needing something. It turned out to be a picture sent by Tony to their family group chat. He hadn’t noticed his husband taking it, but he couldn’t deny that it was a good one. It showed both him and Sophia on the swing, him smiling over at the little girl who was on the way down and laughing widely.

He rolled his eyes fondly and motioned for Tony to step closer. His husband did as he was told; Stephen spreading his legs so he could move further into his personal space. He grabbed Tony by the collar and pressed their lips together, the shorter man letting out a surprised moan at the contact, happily nipping at the sorcerer’s lips.

“Mommy, I want to try the other things now!” Stephen sighed against Tony’s lips, but pushed him away a second later, immediately getting up and turning towards Sophia. He grabbed her hand as they moved on to the monkey bars and slide.

Tony helped her stay on the bars for a bit, Stephen going to sit on a nearby bench to watch, but she quickly grew frustrated that she couldn’t make it to the other side on her own.

“It’s okay, love, we can move on to the slide if you want. I’m sure you’ll be able to do it when you’re older,” Tony supplied, “maybe eat more broccoli to grow stronger.”

“No! I want to do it now!” Tony rolled his eyes fondly, placed Sophia back at the start of the bars and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She was going to be as stubborn as her parents.

“Okay but be careful. Do you mind if I go sit with mom?” Sophia shook her head no, already focussing on the bars. “Don’t overextend yourself. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, it’s what mom keeps telling you when you stay in the lab too long.”

Tony had to bite his lip to keep from grinning but leaned forward to kiss her head again. “It means to stop when your arms start to hurt. Preferably sooner. Promise and I’ll let you play on your own.”

Sophia nodded and Tony held out his pinkie to link it with Sophia’s. Tony smiled at the serious look on her face as they solidified their deal, and he left her to it as he joined Stephen on the bench. It was right in front of the bars, meaning they had a perfect view of Sophia struggling with the bars again. Luckily, they weren’t too high, so she probably wouldn’t break any bones if she did fall, which they wouldn’t let happen either way.

Stephen was reading a book but leaned into Tony’s shoulder as he sat down next to him. Tony shifted, leaning against the armrest so he could place Stephen against his chest, eyes glued on their daughter.

It was almost six thirty when Tony watched as Sophia managed to actually finish the bars on her own, squealing in excitement at her accomplishment. Both Stephen and Tony grinned and applaud her achievement and she ran over immediately to sit in Stephen’s lap with a toothy grin.

“Great job, darling.” Stephen tickled her stomach, making her giggle and squirm in his lap. “You okay to go now? It’s getting dark.”

“Yes! I’m hungry,” Sophia pouted. Tony was almost surprised she wasn’t tired yet. Even if she’d had a nap earlier in the afternoon, she had been running the bars for about a half hour and swinging and walking around New York before that.

“Good thing I know a great Italian place around the corner. Want some pasta, little miss?” She nodded eagerly and Tony lifted her onto his hip as they moved out of the park.

“FRIDAY, text Harley and Peter and tell them we’re eating out today.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Tony’s AI replied through his earpiece. Stephen linked his hands with Tony’s as they walked, Sophia resting her head on Tony’s shoulder as her eyes were starting to droop after all.

A little while later they got the confirmation that Peter and Harley were ready and Stephen portalled them over as soon as they had reached the restaurant.

The place was cosy and child-friendly, with comfortable chairs and fast service. They got a booth in the back, a little more secluded from the other patrons, leaving their family to talk freely and enjoy a peaceful dinner.

Harley and Peter filled them in on what they had done today – after Sophia had told them all about her day at the park. 

When Sophia started dozing off at the table, they paid the bill and left, making sure to ask for a take-away container of chicken soup for Rhodey.

 —————

It wasn’t often that aliens dared to attack earth. Not after the last two attacks were stopped by the Avengers.

Word of the New Avengers Initiative taking off had quickly spread around the universe thanks to Quill and the guardians and according to them, most planets weren’t stupid enough to attack a group that had managed to stop the Titan at its most fractured and weakest.

Yet, there were still sometimes smaller planets that either hadn’t gotten the message or were arrogant beyond all hell.

No matter that the Avengers always managed to stop them - at least this far - it was never a fun day.

For one they were almost always a complete surprise. Tony was still working on optimizing his detection equipment, and alien tech was still often foreign, never quite the same for two different species.

Alien attacks also almost always left the most damage. They had started to force aliens to land and attack at open areas far away from big cities, but that didn’t always work either. New York was still a favourite tourist destination apparently.

But today, they got a rare treat of fighting off humanoid reptiles in DC.

Tony was busy trying to fight off attacks on himself while keeping an eye on his trainees. There were only a few left, with almost all of them being of age and having joined the official line up. All who were left were Anna and his own kids.

Anna had taken up magic under the tutelage of Stephen and his fellow sorcerers, so Elsa and the other magic users mainly kept an eye on her. According to Friday they were somewhere near the Washington monument and Anna - as well as Elsa and Wanda - were all perfectly healthy still.

Yet Bucky and Murdock had both been injured pretty badly already, being covered now by Echo and Black Widow.

A scan to find Peter showed him fighting off aliens near the centre of the city, but he was close to Jones, Chase and Nico so he’d probably be fine for now.

Harley on the other hand, was somewhere near the residential area. Tony frowned when his scans showed the teen so far away from the rest of the team, but according to FRIDAY he was helping rescue people from a collapsed building. Tony flew to check up with him either way. If the teen was busy helping people without back up, he was an easy target.

He landed on the roof of a building next to the rubble, a glance over the edge showed the courtyard of the collapsed apartment complex. As soon as he had landed, he noticed a couple of aliens creeping up on where the teen was working his way inside.

Tony blasted them with his repulsors at once, the aliens snarling as their attention was forced away from the Mechanic. Luckily, they considered Tony a more interesting target, because they immediately started scaling the building to where he was perched. He didn’t mind, as long as it would keep them away from his kid.

A glance back at the courtyard had his heart jumping up his throat, however.

“Harley! Get back in your suit!” Tony’s heart went a mile a minute as his attention was split between his kid in the courtyard and the aliens still attacking him. Harley had landed his suit and stepped out of it to have easier access to the people stuck underneath some rubble, but Tony hated how it left him vulnerable.

He shot a repulsor, immediately twisting so he had another one aimed at another attacker’s face. His back was unguarded, but he knew how to make up for it. He glanced down again, distracted once more by Harley. He had managed to get out the last of the people and they immediately ran to safety after thanking him.

Tony shot down two more guys but was immediately crowded once more. His suit worked as a second body at this point, so tuned into his will and consciousness it acted before he even needed to think, sending out blasts and knives to cut down the people around them. Problem was that they just kept coming.

Something in his peripheral caught his eye; an alien was moving towards Harley, who was back in his suit but not moving. Tony’s heart made a few stuttering jumps.

“FRIDAY, what’s wrong with the Mechanic suit?”

“It was hit by alien tech and forced to reboot. Rebooting at twenty percent.”

The attacker approached the unmoving superhero, menacing smile on his face as he pulled out a knife. Tony tried to keep his head up straight. They couldn’t penetrate the suit. He had made sure of it. Harley just had to wait it out...

He didn’t do that though. Tony glanced away for a second to get rid of someone’s left arm, but when he turned back, the suit sprung open, Harley ducking out and lurched at his attacker.

“Harley! Suit! Now!” He yelled at the teen, but he was ignored. Tony’s heart dropped, wanting to fly over but still too busy keeping his own attackers at bay.

Harley, however, despite the guy being almost twice his size, ducked as the alien reached for him, making him stumble as he missed the teen. He went for his legs, throwing his shoulder into them and throwing him off balance. He got in a few good kicks and punches, preventing the alien from getting back up, and when he took a step back, his suit was waiting for him, immediately encasing him and webbing up the guy’s hands. Though the swinging was still Peter’s gimmick, the webs were a useful detaining method.

Tony cursed under his breath, making a mental note to thank Natasha later as he fully focused on his own attackers again, flying up even as the aliens stuck to his suit.

“Harley, I swear to god!”

“I’m fine, dad!”

“Yeah...” Tony sighed as his heartrate returned to normal. “Good job, kid. Please think about your old man’s weak heart next time.”

He could feel Harley’s smirk through the comms, but he rolled his eyes softly as they continued getting rid of the invading aliens.

When they made it back to the tower later, there were few serious injuries, but no irreparable damage and definitely nothing they weren’t used to at this point. Yet Tony couldn’t stop thinking about the battle.

—————

“Stephen?”

Stephen hummed from his side of the bed, opening an eye to look at his husband. Tony was watching him from his pillow in the dark and immediately reached out as soon as he got the confirmation that Stephen was in fact still awake. He trailed his hand over Stephen’s forehead, pushing a stray strand of hair out of the way in the process.

Stephen was exhausted, having battled some creatures from another universe earlier today, but he could clearly see something was on his husband’s mind. He shifted onto his side, allowing him to watch Tony with both eyes instead, making sure that he knew he was listening. He reached up to link his hands with Tony’s, pressing his fingers against his lips before resting them in the space between them.

“I’ve been thinking ... I think I need to take a step back from the Avengers.” Tony breathed out the words like someone gasping for air, but his expression was stoic and determined. The words lingered in the darkness around them. Stephen couldn’t say he was surprised.

He had noticed Tony’s reluctance lately. The way he always dreaded going out on missions. He knew Tony would never step back when lives were in danger, but things had been peaceful lately. The Avengers were stronger than they had ever been. All thanks to Tony of course.

Nevertheless, it was a huge thing for Tony to admit wanting to slow down.

Stephen felt like he had to choose his words carefully, not wanting to scare the engineer off of the decision, but also making sure he didn’t press his own agenda. He couldn’t pretend he wouldn’t love Tony taking things easier. Would be home more and in danger less. Yet, he would never force him into a position where he felt like he had to if he didn’t want it himself. Didn’t want him to resent Stephen for not being able to help when people needed him.

Stephen knew what he himself had been like in the height of his surgical career. If anyone had told him to sit out of a surgery or had forced him to resign… he could imagine it wouldn’t have gone over well.

Even now Stephen knew he wouldn’t take well to someone forcing him away from his sorcerer supreme duties. Though he also knew he was mellowing out. Perhaps it was Tony and the kids, but he didn’t feel like his work consumed his life anymore, could imagine the gap for stepping down getting smaller.

This wasn’t about him though – though it was one of their potential futures together.

“Are you sure you would be able to,” he asked carefully, squeezing Tony’s hand encouragingly. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re stuck on the side lines if you don’t want to be.”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while...,” Tony admitted, glancing at their joined hands rather than Stephen. “I don’t think I’d be able to not step in if they really need me ... however I do know that Rhodey’s team can handle routine missions and even attacks that aren’t a code red.” Tony bit his lip, scooting closer to Stephen for comfort.

There were mainly three types of missions for the avengers. Routine or planned missions, where they gathered intel or did organized rescue missions. Second were unplanned; whenever some idiots decided to attack, when they needed to still or mediate a conflict, or aid with natural disasters. For these kinds of missions whichever group was ‘on duty’ would go out. Sometimes people of the other team joined in if they were free and could be useful, and the Juniors who weren’t on the official roster yet, could go if approved by Tony.

Code red was technically not a third kind but a more severe version of an emergency mission. Code red was the all-hands-on-deck scenario. Tony couldn’t dream of not stepping in on these occasions.

“I think you’re right,” Stephen replied, letting go of Tony’s hand to rest his softly on Tony’s hip, rubbing soft circles onto the exposed flesh peaking out from his pajamas. “I think with the work you’ve put into creating the team as it is now... it would be the perfect time for you to take some time for yourself. Why are you hesitating?” He asked, mainly for Tony himself to answer.

“It’s just... it’s always been just me... before. Even with the original Avengers there weren’t enough of us that I didn’t matter.” Tony sighed, reaching up his hand to cup Stephen’s cheek. He watched his own thumb move over Stephen’s cheek instead of actually looking at him. Stephen gave his hip a comforting squeeze. “Now, I know for a fact that if I step away, they’ll be just as strong without me. They don’t need me unless they do.”

There was a new fire in Tony’s eyes, Stephen saw now. Determination and passion as he continued with his future plans. His gorgeous futurist. “With everything going on I haven’t really been putting my time into the training program. I want to search for even more recruits so that one day - hopefully soon - Rhodey can step away too. And so that the others can too, when they feel like they’re getting too old for this.”

“God, Harley turns 21 next year,” Tony groaned slightly, biting his lip as if this was new information. “Though I know he has less of a fire under his ass than Petey and we’ve managed to convince him to take things slow and not rush into danger and he’ll hopefully finish his degree first... I want to put more time into training with him. Make sure he’s prepared for anything. Maybe give him the rundown of how SI works, I don’t know. And I don’t want Sophia to have to worry all the time ...”

“She luckily hasn’t seen too many major injuries yet and fingers crossed it stays that way but one of these days ... I want to spend time with her. I want to spend more time with you. Like when we went to the park. Or have more weekends in Montana.”

Stephen was happy to let him ramble, but he cut in now, needing to make sure that Tony’s expectations didn’t get too high. His words were filled with regret though. “I’ll still be going to other dimensions at times ...”

“I know.” Tony sighed with a soft smile, looking Stephen in the eyes again. “And I won’t ask you to step back from your work as sorcerer supreme ever. Okay, maybe when we’re both getting old,” Tony smirked at the thought, “I don’t want to outlive you. But at least when you come back, I’ll be here. And not on some mission of my own.”

Stephen leaned forward, pressing his lips against his husband’s. “I love you and I want to grow old with you so I’m totally down. But don’t feel forced to. I know how much the Avengers mean to you and more importantly; how much of a martyr complex you have.” Stephen teased, glad that he was able to pull Tony closer against him. Tony immediately tangled their legs together.

“Thank you.” Tony sighed. The breath tickled Stephen’s neck.

“For what?” Stephen frowned, fully aware that the engineer wouldn’t be able to see his confusion from his burrow in his neck.

“Making me feel like I’m doing enough? Being here? Loving me? Giving me so much to live for?”

Stephen’s small gasp was almost inaudible. His heart broke at the words and he pulled him closer, not wanting to let him go anytime in the near future. “Tony, we all love you so, so much. None of this would have been possible without you.”

“Say that again.” Tony leaned back from Stephen so he could look Stephen in the eyes, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Stephen answered his deflection with an eye roll but pulled him back either way.

“You, stupid bastard; I love you. And the kids love you. And the avengers love you. You are the best.” Stephen accentuated his words by kissing whatever part of Tony’s head he could reach. “Now shut up I’m tired.”

Tony snorted against him, but didn’t complain, pushing Stephen back so he was lying on his back, and Tony could drape himself over his chest. Stephen always loved the pressure of his husband against him, so it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. But not before hearing Tony’s soft little snores echo around the room.

---

Three months later

“Sophia! Are you ready yet? Aunt Nat will be here soon!” Tony yelled from where he was preparing Sophia’s lunch box in the kitchen. The nights were already getting longer, which meant it was still dark out. It was a little early for his liking, and he immediately envied Harley and Peter for having afternoon classes and still being able to sleep.

“Just a minute!” Sophia’s voice called back from her bedroom, so Tony sighed with a small smile as he tried to fit the sandwiches into the Iron Man lunchbox. He was moving to grab a juice box from the fridge when Sophia ran in. She was wearing the new skirt Stephen had bought with her over the weekend, and this time a War Machine t-shirt. Most of her closet consisted of Avenger merchandise.

She already had her backpack glued to her back and sat down in her chair at the table with it still on, which immediately had Tony squinting at her. His suspicions were confirmed when a tiny miaow came from the backpack, making Sophia freeze mid-bite of her cereal.

“Little miss,” Tony moved towards the table to stare down his daughter. “Care to explain what’s in your backpack?”

Sophia shook her head no and spooned up another mouthful of cereal. Tony rolled his eyes fondly but moved around her to unzip her backpack. A second later Mia was freed from the contraption.

The cat had made itself comfortable at the bottom of the bag but didn’t resist being pulled out by Tony. She ran off as soon as she was put down on the floor, probably going to hide in her favourite spot on the couch.

“Sophia?”

“Yes, daddy?” God this kid could commit a murder and Tony would let her get away with it. He rolled his eyes fondly and instead took a seat opposite her.

“You know how you’re allergic to coconut?” When Sophia nodded her head with a small frown, he continued, “Some kids in your class could be allergic to cats. And if you sneak your cat into school they can get hurt, because they can’t avoid it like you can coconut.”

“So, they’ll never be able to pet a cat?”

“No, honey.” Sophia pouted at his reply but looked back at Tony with a thoughtful expression. “Will they be able to pet a cat plushie?”

Tony thought it over for a second before nodding, which immediately made Sophia stand up from her seat and run back towards the bedrooms.

“Hey! Little miss! Time for school!”

“We still have a few minutes.” Tony looked up when Natasha walked in, smiling at him in greeting.

“Want some coffee?”

“Already had some downstairs.”

“So still not sick of all those little monsters?” Tony smirked at her small eye roll, but he already knew the answer. 

“Nope, but don’t worry; Sophia is still my favourite.”  She leaned over the table and stole a grape from the fruit bowl.

Tony had almost gotten used to seeing the agent in normal clothes. Even at the compound she usually wore something flexible, always ready for a workout or sudden attack. In the very least all her more casual outfits were black.

Now she wore a simple but colourful dress, though Tony knew with certainty that she would have no problem ripping it off if she needed to jump into action.

Tony leaned against the kitchen island and grabbed his mug of coffee from where he had abandoned it earlier, filling it up again and taking another gulp to wake up more. “Is Happy already downstairs?”

“Should be.”

Sophia ran back into the room now, completely ready for her day, immediately smiling at the sight of her aunt.

“You ready to go?”

“Yes, aunt Tasha!”

“Do I need to check your backpack again?” Natasha gave him a curious glance, but he just rolled his eyes at her. “Do you want to explain to your aunt your devilish plan?”

“I wanted to take Miaow with me,” Sophia pouted as she moved to stand next to Tasha and obediently took her hand. “But I brought king T’Challa with me instead.”

Tony chuckled. “Very creative, Sophia. Have fun in school.”

He helped her put on her coat before putting her lunch into her bag - pushing the cat plushie aside to make room.

They had managed to find a good school upstate, not too far away from the compound. The small town nearby would be easier to shower with NDA’s than a famous NY school. It would also be easier for Natasha to monitor the people around Sophia.

Natasha had infiltrated the school as an assistant. Tony made fun of her for it every chance he got, but he also made sure she knew how grateful he was for her. Tony knew Natasha loved kids, but it was still a huge deal for her to take a step away from the Avengers to go work a nine to five. She still worked with the Avengers whenever she was free, but she easily committed to Sophia’s safety above all else.

Once she and Natasha were gone, Tony went downstairs to get to work.

Now he had taken a step back from the Avengers, he mainly worked on suit updates, new tech to prevent attacks rather than just stop them, and on scouting for new recruits.

He’d already had his eyes on a college student named Riri Williams, who had managed to build something like her own iron man suit. He was sure she’d get along great with Harley and Peter, though he was going to let Rhodey mentor her because he was still focussing on his own kids. She could be his heir.

There were also reports of an enhanced shapeshifter running around New Jersey, a teen who had taken over protecting Bed-Stuy after Clint had left to join the Avengers, and a girl who could talk to plants in Los Angeles. Wanda had also accidentally mutated a kid while trying to heal him and had already taken him under her wing. He seemed to be adjusting to the compound just fine, and as his abilities resembled hers, she was able to teach him.

Tony liked connecting to the kids and resuming his mentoring duties. Especially because at the end of the day he could be waiting when Sophia came home from school. Tony had many roles in his life. Playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, superhero… he found dad to be the only one he really cared about at the end of the day.

Even Stephen had gotten more leeway with his sorcerer duties and barely had interdimensional missions anymore. He often went to Kamar Taj early in the morning, so he too could be home in time for Sophia’s return, making the evenings completely theirs.

He wasn’t surprised when he felt arms wrap around his waist now, Stephen’s body pressing against his back as he hummed in Tony’s ear. Tony rolled his eyes and dropped the tools he had been working with to turn his head and meet his husband’s gaze over his shoulder.

“Wong is going to be pissed that you’re still home.”

“Wong can do without me for the day. Too busy discussing tomorrow’s diplomatic mission with Edwards.”

Tony hummed contently, twisting so his mouth could meet Stephen’s.

“Happy anniversary,” he whispered against his tongue, and he could feel Stephen’s smile against his lips.

“That was a good first kiss, wasn’t it?”

Tony grinned and turned around in Stephen’s arms so he could face him fully, linking his hands behind his neck. “You’re still an asshole.”

“And you’re still a great kisser.”

“Oh, I’d hope so. But I think you should practice more.”

“I guess I should find a practice partner then,” Stephen moved to step away from him, but Tony locked his fingers further against his neck and pulled him down, crushing his mouth against his with a possessive growl.