More than a month since half the population came into re-existence and Tony is not quite prepared for the day ahead of him. He is now one piece of an entire parental unit of not one, not two, but three genius teenagers. At least until Rhodey's mother is out of the hospital.
The boys are headed to Midtown, but Lila and Rhodey have both decided that staying at her own school is what's best for her.
Tony isn't sure that either of the kids have been out of his sight for more than a few hours and though this is just more of the same they're not just in the tower hiding out. They're out of his vicinity. He can't just pull Harley in to ruffle his hair if the kid is halfway across the borough.
He wants to be happy that he can help grant them all this slice of normalcy again, but another part of him wants to be greedy and keep them home, Rhodey and Pepper included, and let them properly feel everything. Especially Lila, who he isn't sure ever got the chance to take everything in over the weekend before she was being driven to the tower with Rhodey and a duffle bag full of clothes.
But it was just like a Rhodes to keep pushing through. There was a reason he and Rhodey had gotten so close back at MIT and one of them was his stubbornness.
He thinks about that same streak of defiance he saw in Pepper the first time they'd met when she'd completely verbally reamed him in front of his subordinates. He wonders offhandedly if maybe he has a type.
--:--
Peter is the first to come out of his room to instead lie facedown on the couch, his bookbag leaning perilously on his back.
"You okay, kid?"
Peter groans in lieu of an answer. He doesn't know how to tell Tony that he was tired and things just didn't feel right anymore after having his cells rip themselves apart over and over again, even with the help of his antidepressants. He doesn't want to die but sometimes he feels like he should've just stayed there. That half the population should've come back and he should've stayed in whatever limbo they'd been lifted from.
Luckily the feeling isn't as loud and all consuming as it was before he'd started dealing with his problems, so he feels good enough right now to let out an indistinguishable groan.
"You know," Tony says as if Peter had given him anything other than a groan to work with, "Happy said the same thing when I asked him. He only started talking again when I said I'd drive you and Harley to school for the week."
Peter snorts a laugh even though he hadn't meant to and tries to hide his smile in the cushion of the straight-back couch.
"Really, Pete, how you feeling? FRI said you had a nightmare last night."
"I told her not to tell you that."
"My AI is required to tell me all the important info about my kids. What's going on?" He sits down next to where Peter's head is propped on his folded arms. A hand falls onto his head, starting to run through his curls. Peter looks up at his dad and the concern dripping from his eyes and he can't keep it to himself.
"I'm scared," he admits, his voice tiny in the big open space of the penthouse.
"Scared?" asks Tony looking around. "Scared of what?"
"The last time... Last time I was on the school bus I— I didn't come back."
His dad sucks in a breath and the hand soothing his nerves, if only a little, stalls in its path through the messy locks.
"Peter...kid...bambino, why didn't you say anything. We could have adjusted. Maybe a semester home or online or—"
"I want to go back to school," Peter insists. "I just...I want to know that I'll come back home too."
"Even if I have to hunt you down and drag you back myself." Tony's voice is determined and it does bring another smile to Peter's face as he sits up properly on the couch, his book bag almost sending him sprawling against the floor before Tony grips a strap and tugs the other way.
"You're retired."
"Doesn't mean I'm going to let my little Spider-Baby out of my sight."
Peter attacks him in a hug, the weight of both he and his bag causing Tony to wheeze, though the older man doesn't let him go.
"Oh," says a deadpan voice that Peter has come to know as Harley's, "are y'all having a moment. Should I leave?"
Peter reluctantly pulls away, though Tony keeps a steady hand on his shoulder as he turns to look at Harley.
"What no hug for your old man on the first day of school, Patatino?"
Peter thinks it's the nickname that does it. He's heard Harley been called everything from baby genius to Tennessee to any permutation of the word kiddo. And though Tony will call Peter bambino in a soft little voice it's been earned through pain and suffering and death and neither of them thought much of it.
But he guesses that for his brother, hearing their dad use his mother's language so freely with them is what proves that there are no walls left between them. They're really a family now and no superpowers or doom bots or evil titans could pull them apart. It takes a moment but a raised eyebrow from Tony sends Harley barreling over to the couch and into his arms.
Peter laughs and it feels so freeing that he doesn't even notice when Harley shoves an elbow into his side.
Peter doesn't know what will happen later while they're at school. He doesn't know if everything they've worked for will be destroyed by another mad Titan who snaps their fingers. What he does know is that he has his dad and his brother and Pepper and May and Uncle Rhodey and even Happy. And they're all there for each other.
Everything else will come after.
-§-
yo futher muckers
howre things going?
im not really sure myself
i hope you're all doing well and staying safe
lemme know how ya felt about this, i managed to write it in one sitting oddly enough
as always, hope yall enjoyed
black lives matter ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
love y'all
-- angel janeé xoxo 💋
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Our Dad's an Ir⎊n Dad || Marvel
Fanfiction[sequel to A Dad of Iron Will] Tony's retired. Mostly. He brought his kid back (and half the population with him), but it's been months since he and Pepper have had a full house. Now Harley's home and Peter's back and not even Tony knows what they'l...
