Chapter Text
“And that’s Mommy.” Tony lifted Parker higher on his hip as the one-year-old tried to grab at the picture frame, which could only end in disaster and broken glass. “And Sissy. And there’s Daddy.”
Parker babbled happily and laid his head on his father’s shoulder. Tony’s heart clenched in delight at how perfectly his son fit into his arms, how safe he felt in his daddy’s hold. He wondered if he ever felt like this in Howard’s arms. If Howard even held him like this at one point in time.
“Yeah, you weren’t around just yet.”
Across the room, Pepper looked up from where she was watching Morgan build the Lego Deathstar. She smiled fondly at her boys. “Still having conversations with him?”
“I will have you know that I can understand him perfectly.” Tony stuck his tongue out at his wife, who raised a brow at his immature mannerism. “He was just asking to look at more pictures, weren’t you bud?”
Parker smiled up at him and giggled. Tony bent and blew a raspberry kiss into his curls as he moved to pick up another photo. He turned his face slightly out of his son’s wayward locks to stare into the eyes of his kid – the one he’d lost. It was the “Game Night” picture, one that never failed to make him so happy and so fucking sad at the same time. sometimes he tried to convince himself to put it away somewhere so that it couldn’t hurt him. Then he saw Pete’s big grin, cheeks dusted red just slightly at the entire ordeal of spending seven full hours playing a variation of board, video, and card games with his heroes. His big brown eyes were crinkled in childish glee, his freckles dotting the adorable nose just like they had when they closed the goddamn coffin-
Tony swallowed. Why did it still haunt him? Could he not just have today? Could he not just hold his son while his daughter and wife sat a few feet away, the morning sun casting a warm glow over the entire kitchen? Could he not stand here and look at pictures of his family without feeling like he had failed the one that mattered most?
Parker reached for this photo too. His little fingers skimmed the frame. “Daddy.”
Tony’s smile returned, his sweet voice chasing away some of his father’s demons. “Yeah, bud. That’s Daddy and Mommy. And there’s Uncle Happy, and Uncle Rhodey.”
His mouth turned dry as his eyes traveled once again to the brown-haired curls.
“Baby.” Parker said, uncharacteristically quiet. His tiny fingers traced over Peter’s young face, completely oblivious to Tony’s shock. “Daddy’s baby.”
Fuck, his kid was so smart. “W-what, buddy?”
The infant smacked Peter’s face lightly. “Daddy’s baby!”
Tony barked out a laugh. “That’s Peter, Parker. Peter.”
“Baby.” The boy seemed adamant on the title. Man, how many times had Tony called Peter that for this child to equate the endearment with his face?
“No, Parker.” The hero shook his head. “Parker, that’s -,” your big brother. “That’s Peter. He was a hero too.”
“Baby.” Parker strained, (how the hell did he know how to do that? Tony needed to stop using so much sarcasm around this kid. He was picking up fast) his tiny eyebrows furrowed in confusion as looked up at his father. “Daddy’s Baby.”
Tony glanced back to the photo.
“Baby?
He blinked the dust from his eyes, dismissed the smell of charred skin and blood from his nostrils.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Baby.”
“Yeah, okay.” He nodded, swallowing the tears that threatened to climb from his throat to his eyes. He readjusted Parker on his hip again. “Okay, bud. That’s Daddy’s Baby. That’s Peter. He’s your big brother.”
“Baby.” Parker nodded, satisfied that his dad had finally agreed with him.
Tony kissed his son’s head. “That’s the only two words you’re working with right now?”
He smiled cheekily at his dad. The man rolled his eyes. “Fine. Man, you and he would have gotten along so well.”
F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice cut through the playlist of Disney soundtracks. “Boss, Captain Rogers is requesting to talk to you.”
Tony sighed, eyes dragging over to his wife’s. Pepper’s fond smile had been replaced by an expectant frown.
“No.” he said.
“Tony…” She gave him a pointed look.
God, he never was going to get a break, was he?
“I hung up the suit, Pep.” He shook his head, eyes memorizing Peter’s face for a second more before placing the photo down and walking over to his girls. “I’m not a super anymore; you know that.”
“Yeah, that worked real well last time you tried it.” She nodded to Morgan, who was happily placing Darth Vader into her Lego creation.
“The world was at stake.” Tony defended. “What was I supposed to do?”
“You didn’t do it for the world.” She answered softly.
Brown eyes, big and trusting. Freckles that came out only when he was in the sun long enough. A laugh that carried to the heavens and made even the angels jealous. A smile that could light up any room he entered. A voice that no one believed could be prettier than the songbird’s but was. A heart bigger than anyone else he had ever met.
A heart big enough to die for a world that didn’t deserve him.
“No.” Tony swallowed. “No, I didn’t.”
“Boss?” The AI asked hesitantly.
Tony and Pepper stared at each other for a moment more before he groaned. He handed Parker off to his mom with an eyeroll. “You owe me dinner.”
Another raised brow. He didn’t question his wife anymore.
“Alright, F.R.I. Tell him I’ll meet him in the common room on level thirty-three.”
“Right away, Boss.”
Tony kissed Pepper’s cheek. “I might not be home for dinner.”
She chuckled. “I know. Kiss Morgan goodbye.”
As if he needed to be told. He knelt down next to his daughter. “Heyah, pumpkin. You heard Mommy?”
“Mmhmm.” She nodded, meeting her dad’s gaze. “Another mission that you always say you’ll never go on?”
Man, her and Parker’s cheekiness was going to kill him. “Yeah, sweetheart. You be good for Mom, okay?”
The six-year-old nodded and hugged her dad tightly. “Love you three-thousand, Daddy.”
Tony closed his eyes and squeezed her tightly, hoping that she understood just how much the words meant to him. “I love you three-thousand too, Morgan.”
She nodded again and pulled away, going right back to her Deathstar.
Tony sighed and exited his family’s story of the Tower, taking the elevator down to level thirty-three. He stuck his hands into his pockets as he strolled down the corridor towards the meeting room, nodding to the employees he passed.
As he grew closer, he heard Steve and Rhodey’s voices.
“He doesn’t have to come.” His best friend was saying.
“I know that, James.” Oh, it was so weird to hear Steve call Rhodey by his real name. “We’re just here to get his insight into the problem. If he ends up joining us, then that’s on him.”
“Yeah, you say that, Cap, but we both know you can bat those eyelashes of yours and talk about civilian casualties until Tones decides the world’s problems are all on his shoulders.”
“This isn’t about the world.” The captain countered. “It’s about Hydra.”
“Fuck Hydra.” Bucky interjected.
“I mean, if you have a thing for multiple-headed reptiles who breathe fire, I won’t kink shame,” Tony said as he entered the room, smirking at the ex-assassin who glared back at him, eyes narrowed and tongue sticking out. “Good morning to you too, Snowball.”
Bucky walked over to shake Tony’s hand. “How are you, Tony?”
“Well,” the billionaire shrugged. “I was having a lovely morning with my family until you party-poopers showed up.”
Steve and Sam winced. Rhodey rolled his eyes. “I told you.”
“It’s about Hydra, Tony.” Sam began.
Tony raised a brow. Pepper would have been proud. “Yes, I think that’s already been stated with Bucky’s sexual tendencies.”
He dodged the thrown grape.
“Look, we knew that Hydra wasn’t really gone, at least not for good. That’s why you and Captain Spandex have been keeping an eye on their old locales, remember? Why is this such a big deal? Are they hurting anyone?”
“They’ve been doing some dangerous research, Tony,” Steve answered, eyes boring into his own just like they used to.
“As in?” Tony urged. “Listen, guys, I’m flattered that you thought of my an all, but I’m not really into the hero gig anymo-,”
“Time travel, Tony.” The Captain interrupted. “They’re researching and experimenting with time travel.”
Everything froze for a moment. “That’s not supposed to happen.”
Sam nodded slowly. “No shit, Stark. They’ve been conducting a lot of crazy experiments in Siberia over the last few months-,”
“Months?” Tony blinked, nose wrinkling in disgusted confusion. “You all have known about this for months and you didn’t think to come to me earlier? Or to deal with it earlier?”
Rhodey held up a hand. “Hold on, Tones; don’t get mad about that. Team America over here didn’t know about the research until Saturday. I discovered it on a military mission. I relayed what I found to them because I knew they were trying to finish off the remaining Hydra supporters.”
Tony pursed his lips, glaring to the side. “Fine. We know where they are, we know that whatever they’re doing is dangerous. Why don’t we just go and put a stop to it? We’re the Avengers for Pete’s sake.”
For being retired, Tony wasn’t very good at staying out of the fight.
“We?” Sam raised a triumphant eyebrow. “Does that mean you’ll come?”
“The Avengers are never complete without Iron Man.”
The billionaire met the supersoldier’s eyes across the table. Something was there, brewing at the edges of his eyes. It was the same look that Tony had seen all those years ago when all they had to worry about was Loki and his squad of man-eating aliens, portals in the sky. When life was easier and happier. When there weren’t as many Peter shaped holes in Tony’s heart.
It was the look of Captain America like he used to be, still so full of that righteous goodness and want to change the world instead of just saving it.
They were both so old now, though neither looked it.
They had talked so much since Thanos had been defeated. It was good to finally be friends again.
“I’m not the boss,” Tony smirked.
“Yeah, well,” Steve grinned. “I am, remember?”
“How could I forget?”
They left for Russia the next day – and of course the stupid Hydra base was in Russia – and Tony took time to kiss his children and wife goodbye a second time before he was whisked off to the Quinjet and they were up in airspace. Tony tried to hold onto his son as he uttered his third word for the first time, but Rhodey’s grip on his arm, ushering him to the jet, were more than a match to Tony’s shocked state.
“He said bye.” He breathed.
“Hmm?” Rhodey asked quietly.
“Parker,” Tony replied curtly. Please don’t let that be the last word he says to me. “Parker told me goodbye.”
“Dad…?”
He shook his head, the image of Peter’s broken body, cold and still in his arms as he whispered his last word branded across his brain. He prayed that the mission didn’t end in a similar way but with Tony cradled in someone’s arms. He had a family to return to. Peter had died so that he could be with his family so that he could live. He wouldn’t give up on them now.
“So, we don’t know anything else about what Hydra is messing around with?”
Sam sighed. “All we know is they were on Compound property, gathering shit from the battle sight.”
Tony scoffed. “What are they trying to do – bring back Thanos?”
“We think that’s exactly what they’re trying to do.”
He jerked his head to stare at Bucky. “What.”
The soldier met Tony’s eyes across the ship, gaze tired. “Think about it. If they could get him back and control him? You were the only Avenger that could lay a scratch on him, Tony. If that was set loose on innocent people? Or if he was used as a bargaining tool to get the UN or something to submit to whatever Hydra wanted? Even if we could defeat him now, it’s still super dangerous.”
Tony shook his head and gripped his head. “Hasn’t Thanos done enough? Geez, I think I get to be free of him finally, and here I am.”
Rhodey placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll stop them, Tones. We always do.”
“Not always.” He snapped darkly. “And usually not soon enough.”
“Don’t remember me by my death, Mr. Stark.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re right. Let’s just get this over with. No one with a sense of sanity wants that purple raisin back.”
He saw Steve’s lips quirk up from the pilot’s seat. That was worth it, he supposed. Steve never smiled enough anymore.
They arrived at the Hydra base during the middle of the night. They decided to go in guns blazing since it was likely that they had noticed Rhodey’s mission the week prior. There was no point in sneaking in, especially with Hydra’s insane security precautions.
Tony and Rhodey went in first since their armor was much harder to lay a scratch on. Cap, Falcon, and Winter Soldier ran in after them, using their many skills to take down as many men as possible.
“Where do you think they’re holding the research or whatever?” Sam asked over the coms as he threw an agent into the wall.
“We think it’ll be on the lower levels,” Steve replied, grunting as he flipped a dude over his shoulder and probably cracked his skull against the concrete floor. “Sensors show a stairwell down the hall and to the right.”
The Iron Man suit slammed to the ground. “Let’s do this quickly. I promised Parker that I’d be back in time for Movie Marathon Night.”
“You and your infant have an agreement about movie marathon nights?” Sam asked incredulously, punching another agent’s lights out as his wings shielding another’s gunshots from behind.
“Of course,” Tony replied, shooting a trio of hydra bastards with his repulsors. They went down with screams of pain. “He picks most nights. Morgan can get a little fussy about it, but Parker’s the baby. His cuteness has to win him some favors.”
The team made their way through the corridors and to the stairwell. War Machine and Iron Man flew down the chute as the others ran to catch up. Tony burst through the door and immediately took down the group of scientists (obviously. They were wearing lab coats) with his tiny missiles.
Upon seeing what was in the middle of the room, he barked, “F.R.I.D.A.Y. scan that thing now.”
It looked like it was alive. A mass of blue and purple color was twisting and turning in the middle of the large chamber, emitting a small pulsing sound. As Tony got closer, he saw in the middle a sort of… glassy type substance. He could see a distorted reflection of himself. And in the middle was the-
“That’s impossible.” Steve breathed.
“Yeah.” Tony nodded, brain trying to comprehend what his eyes were clearly seeing. “The time stone is definitely not supposed to be in Hydra’s hand.”
“Do you have Doc’s number?” Rhodey asked at his side.
He nodded. “F.R.I.?”
“Already on it, Boss.”
“I thought you put the time Stone back where it belonged,” Sam said to Steve. “Wasn’t that the whole point of you going back in time?”
“If they went back and got it, it means that they already discovered how to do time travel.”
Stark, I do hope this is important.” Stephen Strange’s voice appeared over the phone. “I’m kind of in the middle of-,”
“Is the time stone on you?” Tony snapped, eyes never leaving the green stone in the middle of the blue mess.
“What?”
“Do you have the time stone?” he almost shouted, nervousness getting the better of him. Thanos could not come back. He had already taken enough from Tony. Too much.
“What the hell- yes. Yes, I do. It’s around my neck right now. What is this about?”
“Get over here now.” Tony scowled. “Like, yesterday, Strange. This is important.”
Something must have shown in his voice because Doc didn’t make a snarky remark. “I’ll be right there.”
True to his word, within the minute he heard the tale-tell sound of a sling ring and turned to see Stephen stepping out of his portal. Deactivating his suit, Tony stepped out to walk over to him. But instead of looking towards the glowing teal blob in the middle of the room, Stephen’s eyes were wide, shock written across every feature as he looked directly beside Tony.
“Peter?”