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“You want to bring what here?” Tony asked, spinning in his lab chair.
“A dog,” Steve said patiently. “Don’t act like you haven’t heard of dogs before, Tony. You’re supposed to be our smartest Avenger.”
“Who’s going to take care of the dog?” Tony asked.
Steve’s blue green eyes crinkled with those laugh lines that he wore whenever he knew he’d won. “I’ll take care of it, of course. But I thought maybe Peter could help. You know, when we’re on missions and such.”
“Pete’s eight.”
“He’s responsible. And it would only be for limited periods of time. Could we, Tony?”
God, he couldn’t say no whenever Steve used that soft tone of voice and he was sure that the captain knew it too. But still… glancing at the soldier, his eyes wide and somehow, innocent, he shook his head. “Why are you asking me? You’re an adult.”
“This is still your place that we’re staying at. And I wanted to be sure, cause with Pete…”
“Pete’s not allergic to animals, as much as we can tell.” Tony crossed one leg over the other, pondering it. Was there any good reason for him to protest? He knew his kid would shit himself with excitement if they brought a dog here. “I like cats better, personally.”
“We could get a dog and a cat,” Steve suggested, a sly smile curving his lips now. He pulled over a stool, sitting ridiculously close to the engineer.
“I haven’t even agreed to one animal, now you’re doubling it?”
“I know you like animals, Tony. I’ve seen you when you think nobody’s watching. Like that dog at the cafe last week-”
“Ah, well he was a very well trained dog-”
“And that time with the cat-”
“It shouldn’t have been so friendly, strangers could hurt it-”
“Tony,” Steve interrupted, grasping his shoulders. “A pet would make me happier. I always had a pet, growing up. Things were different back then but…” He shrugged. “I think it would make you happy too. And I love it when you’re happy.”
The engineer sighed, loud and dramatic, and glanced up at his friend. Steve, so hopeful and soft, so unlike the man from the propaganda. “Well, it’s not just the three of us living here. Ask the others- discreetly- and if they agree, I’ll broach the topic with Pete.”
“You’re amazing,” Steve said, pulling him into a back breaking hug that actually lifted him off his chair. “I love you, Tony,” he added, burying his nose in Tony’s neck.
Tony scoffed, but he patted Steve on the top of his head. “Put me down, you big buffoon.”
“I love you,” Steve repeated, grinning at him. He set him on his feet. “And-?”
Tony chewed his tongue, trying to force away a smile that was escaping along the edges of his lips. “And what,” he shot back, unimpressed.
“And you love me. I’m your best friend.” Steve waited. Patient. Unyielding.
Tony scoffed. Grabbing Steve’s dog tags, he pulled him down to a manageable height. “And I love you,” he agreed like it was a heavy burden, pecking Steve on the cheek. “You big lug. Get out of my sight.”
Steve was motivated; he’d give him that. He’d broached the topic around ten in the morning with Tony. He’d run through the current roster of Avengers living in the Compound by two. “They all said yes,” the soldier said triumphantly, slapping down a hand scrawled list from his little notebook. Names with check marks next to it. Tony took one look at the list and swore colorfully, grinning into his coffee mug.
“I don’t know why I bothered. Okay, Steve. One dog.”
“One dog and one cat,” Steve said back solemnly.
Tony tried to escape by climbing under the car that he was vaguely repairing when he had the inclination. He had the inclination now. He was dangerously close to giggling and that couldn’t be-
Steve grabbed the under car roller and pulled Tony back out, eliciting a squeal and a muffled curse. “A dog and a cat, Tony. And I want you and Pete to come with me to pick them out.”
“Your hand’s like two inches away from my junk-”
“Will you come?”
“Probably not untouched, but if you move your hand just a little-”
“Come to the pet shelter with me,” Steve clarified, tugging Tony closer. Christ. Escaping from Steve on an easily portable cart was one of his worst ideas to date.
“Why do I need to be there? I trust you with Pete- nobody drives slower than you or more cautiously…”
“We need to find a dog and a cat that will get along and they need to love you too.”
They were interrupted by Tony’s AI. “Boss, Peter is home from school and looking for you.”
“Send him here, Fri.” Tony got to his feet, knocking dust from his jeans. “When were you thinking of doing all of this?” he asked, looking at his blond friend.
“As soon as possible.”
And then Peter was there. “Daddy,” he called, slinging his backpack down somewhere halfway between the lab and the elevator. “I’m hungry.”
“Hi Hungry, I’m Dad,” he chanted back. Pete looked like he was going to lose his mind, rolling his eyes like that. ‘So much sass,’ he thought fondly. “Alright, alright, let’s go upstairs. I’ll get you a snack. Steve can make dinner.”
He scooped Pete up in his arms. “Come on, Captain. I know you want to talk to Pete about your latest and greatest plan.”
Steve and Pete were making funny faces at each other in the elevator’s reflection. “What plan?”
“I’ll tell you at dinner, baby bear.”
Tony set him down- Pete was getting heavy and lanky (he didn’t like to think about that)- and the eight year old took off as soon as the doors opened. Zooming through the living room, he shed parts of his school uniform behind him like a snake shedding its skin- first brown loafers, then the high white socks that Pete so detested, then the suit jacket, and then finally a vest, before the door of his bedroom snapped shut.
“At least he waits until he’s in his room to go totally nude,” Tony said conversationally. “That’s growth.”
“He’s getting so big, Tony,” Steve said, sounding almost wistful.
Pete was out again before they could begin to get sad, dressed in sweats and mismatched socks, and chattering about something he and Ned had done at lunch that day. Tony gave him the peeler and a bag of carrots and they listened to him describe his latest lego project in great detail while pieces of carrot fell haphazardly around him.
Tony tried to salvage the vegetables as Pete mutilated them, but otherwise let Steve lead the dinner prep. Watching the super soldier and his son cook together was one of his favorite things to do but he was still hoping to cover this fact with a show of indifference.
“Wait until the water’s boiling-” Steve dragged the step stool over and wrapped an arm around Pete’s chest so that the eight year old was leaning against him.
“-is this too much pepper? We’ll give that to Daddy-”
“Working hard, Tony?” Sam asked, making him jump.
“I’m supervising,” he said loftily. He saluted the super soldier when Steve looked over. Steve grinned. Tony’s stomach flipped.
“So I hear you finally caved,” Sam said conversationally, hopping up on the stool next to Tony’s. “And after very little persuading too.”
“Tony will do anything to make Steve smile,” Natasha said from behind them, making both men startle.
Tony would have protested that more but Steve was laughing at something and he was distracted. He heard Sam and Natasha snickering and slid off the stool, his chin held high. “Set the table. Where are the others?”
“Training.”
“Out.”
He paused. “It’s just the five of us?”
“That’s right. Should we take ours to go, Stark or-?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Pete loved a good gab session. Figures that he’d be attracted over by the obvious stench of gossip. He looked between the three adults expectantly. He played with Sam’s hands. “Talking about me?”
“No… The others are bullying me.”
Peter giggled. “Because you’re short?”
“What-? No!”
“Because of your haircut?”
“What’s wrong with my haircut?”
“Or is it-” But Steve called Pete back over and the kid made to run over. Tony seized the back of his sweatshirt long enough to remind him he wasn’t supposed to run in the kitchen and then the kid was gone. Ducking under Steve’s arm to peer into the oven.
“What’s wrong with my haircut?” he asked again.
“Well, don’t ask me,” Sam said. “That look would never work for me.”
Tony could feel some of Steve’s infectious excitement by the time they sat down for dinner. He tried to boost Pete into his lap; the eight year old allowed it for all of two minutes and then he squirmed down, climbing in between Natasha and Sam.
Steve showed Tony his phone, where he’d pulled up the local animal shelter’s hours. Figured that Steve would finally master technology just to use it for nefarious pet purposes. “It’s open for another two hours, Tony.”
He snorted. “That’s ridiculously convenient.”
“Isn’t it?” Steve’s eyes were shining. Bright blue. Tony shoved another piece of chicken into his mouth and choked on all the pepper.
“We might not find the right… set… today.”
“No,” Steve agreed. “But we could look?”
“But we could look,” Tony agreed reluctantly, giving the others a look when they made faces at him. He rubbed at the arc reactor. Why was his heart beating faster? “Pete,” he said, since the kid was mostly done eating. “Do you want to hear Steve’s news now?”
His son’s eyes lit up; clearly, he’d forgotten. “The plan!”
“The plan,” Steve echoed. “Listen, bubba, I talked to your daddy today and you’re getting to be a big boy. So I could use your help, if you want to. I, uh, I want to get a pet. We were thinking maybe a dog and a cat. Would you help me take care of them?”
Peter had frozen comically, his fork frozen halfway to his mouth. “You broke him,” Sam accused, waving a hand in front of Pete’s face. He snapped his fingers.
Pete blinked. “We could have a pet?” He looked at Tony. “Really? You’re not teasing?”
“I wouldn’t tease about this,” he said softly, and Pete’s eyes watered. “Oh jeez. Come here, baby.” The kid was sniffling. This time when Tony lifted him into his lap, he stayed, tangling his fingers in Tony’s hair.
“Would you like that, Petey?” Steve asked, looking worried now. Tears was not the reaction either of them had expected.
“I can help you take care of them?”
“Yeah, baby. They’ll need lots of love and you’re so good at that.” Steve thumbed away some of Pete’s tears now. “Daddy and I were thinking of maybe looking at the shelter tonight. Do you want to? We probably won't get a pet tonight. Just to look.”
Pete threw his arms around Tony’s shoulder now. “Can we? Please?”
“Yeah, kiddo. Do you want to go now?” Peter nodded, his head bobbling. “Okay, then go put your shoes on. And remember- we’re just looking tonight. We need to get supplies and pet proof this place and that will take time.” Peter put his best serious face on and nodded.
“I’m going to get my coat and then I’ll be ready too,” Steve said, ruffling Tony’s hair. Tony mouthed at him, outraged. Pete slid out of his lap and ran after the captain.
Tony was left with his two teammates, grinning at him with twin Cheshire grins. “Don’t give me that look. What is it?”
“So,” Natasha said, ticking the items off on her fingers. “That’s moving in together, having a kid, and getting a pet. You’re kind of going out of order, Tony, but you’ve got the basic steps down.”
He flapped his hands at her. “What are you talking about?” he demanded. “And we don’t have a kid together. I have a kid. We’re all together. I’m not sharing him with all of you. He’s going to need my lung if he needs a transplant.”
Sam leaned into the trio. “She’s saying ‘man up,’ Tony. You’re already 90% married to Steve, why not make it official? Don’t you want the gratuitous-”
“Shut up,” Tony shot back, his ears turning pink. “I-”
“Daddy, I brought your jacket.” More specifically, he had dragged Tony’s jacket over. “Come on! Steve’s ready!”
“Thanks, honey. Not a word from you two.” He followed after his boys, wondering how he’d got to this point in his life. He let Steve drive, preferring to curl in his seat to talk to Pete, who after his initial onslaught of emotions was now ecstatic.
“You’re smiling,” Steve pointed out when they got to the shelter.
He scowled meaningfully. “No, I’m not.”
“You were! You’re going to love this, I swear.” And he seized Tony’s hand, pulling him along behind them. How could Tony not love every moment with this guy?
“Oh god, Steve, we’re going to end up with every animal in here,” he whispered, watching Pete sitting in the cat visitation room. The eight year old already had a curious ginger and a somewhat more trepidatious gray cat checking him out.
“Would that be so wrong?” Steve whispered.
“Don’t even go there- do you think they know who we are?”
Steve looked around. “Everyone here is over the age of 70. I don’t think they care who we are,” he said, but very quietly so that only the engineer could hear. “Anyways, I found a dog I like. He gets along with cats too. He’s great, Tony!”
“How could you possibly already have a dog in mind? We literally just got here.”
Steve gestured him into the cat room. “I was here last Friday. And I thought you’d prefer cats. So I asked them which dogs got along best with a cat.”
“So what you’re saying is that I have no reason to trust you?”
“I’m saying I’m a great tactician, on and off the battlefield. Hey, Petey. Having fun, baby?” Steve smiled at him over the eight year old’s head and he huffed, but he was undeniably amused. He mouthed, ‘you’re the worst’ at the soldier and knelt down to introduce himself to Peter’s orange companion.
“This was probably long overdue,” he admitted, looking at how ecstatic Peter was. “But you still don’t play fair.”
Steve’s grin was crooked. “All’s fair in love and war.”