This fic spawned from various (emotion filled yelling) conversations with (and is for) @blossomsinthemist . And also many thanks to Aeniala for the shepherd’s pie recipe in this, it sounds so good! This fic is pure unadulterated fluff set in the Ults verse, taking place in a sort of nebulous time-frame. Mind the read more! Or read onAo3.
Summary: After a long week that takes its toll on them both, Tony takes a weekend off with Steve. Realizations, dancing, and more fluff than you can shake a stick at.
It’s been sleeting all week, that kind of damp cold that sneaks beneath layers of clothing and steals the breath away. Steve has incredibly high tolerances for temperatures both high and low, but that doesn’t change the fact that he hates the cold most of all. It doesn’t help that their last few fights have taken place outside with the cold icy slush pounding down. It makes him shorter with replies, and gruffer if that’s possible. He can see people skitter away as he walks down hallways later after the debrief. Beneath his gloves his knuckles are smarting; in a few hours they’ll be completely fine, but it’s just one more aggravation on his miles long list.
“Looking awfully grumpy there, handsome.” Tony’s warm tones draw him up short. He’s leaning in a doorway, all insouciant grace and languid poise. Steve feels the tips of his ears go hot when Tony meanders closer and drapes an arm over his shoulder. Steve doesn’t shrug it off the way he might have once. Not now, not when there’s this thing between them. Besides, he likes it. Likes having Tony close, the easy warmth of him there, his quick, clever fingers, and warm affectionate words.
“Stark. Thought you’d be long gone by now.” Despite his best efforts, he still sounds a little hopeful. Sure enough Tony catches it, lips turning upward as he moves his arm from around his shoulder to give his waist a quick squeeze, before letting it drop away so they can walk down the hallway side by side.
“Come with me.” Tony licks his lips, blue eyes lifting to meet Steve’s. “We’ve both had a long week, I thought you might like to relax.” Tony’s gaze darts from side to side. Steve has noticed since they started this that Tony only ever truly looks nervous when he’s talking to him. “The car is around the front, what do you say, weekend getaway?” Tony smiles, stroking a hand down his back with a featherlight touch. Steve just barely represses a shiver, eyeing Tony for a moment. With other people he’s always a little shuttered. Here though, with Steve, his expression is unguarded, eyes bright with hope. He looks a little strained though, as if the week has taken its toll on him as well.
“Okay. Yeah, I don’t want any parties though, you got that?” He grumbles, raking a hand over his face as Tony leads him out to a waiting town car.
“Crystal clear, darling, don’t worry; that wasn’t what I had in mind as it was.” Tony says almost softly, climbing into the backseat beside Steve. The ride doesn’t take very long, but Tony wastes no time getting right up in his space, laying his head on his shoulder and stroking over Steve’s arm and side. It makes something knot up in Steve’s stomach, a lump in his throat when Tony leaves a gentle kiss against the clenched hinge of his jaw.
“We should meet for another debriefing this afternoon. Everyone good for around 3:00?”
“Sorry, Rogers.” Tony said, not glancing up from his phone. “Peter’s out at 3:15.”
Natasha rolled her eyes. “Have Happy get him.”
“No can do. It’s Friday.”
The entire team just stared at him. Tony snorted in indignation.
“Friday is Ice Cream Day. Kid and I are working through all the joints between his school and the Tower. I can’t ditch Ice Cream Day.”
“Tony, this is a meeting about how we’re going to deal with an elusive but highly volatile terrorist network.”
“Sounds like a meeting that can wait until the kid’s on patrol.”
Steve sighed, running a hand down his face. “When’s his patrol?”
“8:00 to 11:00 on weekdays. He gets to stay out until 1:00 on Fridays, though.”
Rhodey didn’t even try to muffle his groan. “Let him go out early, Tony. The kid’ll be thrilled and we can get the meeting over with when it’s still daylight.”
“Nope.” He said, popping the ‘p,’ “Routine is important for teenagers, and he usually eats dinner at 6:30.”
“Which means he could leave at 7:00.”
“Gotta have time to let the food settle, Rhodey. He’ll make himself sick otherwise.”
“I swear-” Sam threw his hands up in the air, laughing a little hysterically, “is this actually happening right now? Is everyone else hearing this?”
“Hearing what?” Tony snapped.
“You,” he replied, gesturing wildly at where the billionaire was sitting casually in one of the leather conference chairs and looking completely oblivious, “being a dad.”
Tony just stared, and then spoke in a deadpan. “I’m not his dad.”
Sam snorted. “You know his schedule.”
“I’m his mentor, it’s my job to check up on him.”
“You got new curtains in the Compound because the kid didn’t like the old ones.”
“The kid said that yellow makes him anxious-”
“You can name all his favorite songs in order.”
“You do know that. I’ve heard you list them.” Rhodey added, a little apologetic. “And I mean, Tones, you’ve got his report card hanging up in your lab.”
“Kid got straight A’s in all his AP courses! That’s impressive!”
“You’re his dad, Tony.” Steve broke in, trying to cover a smirk. “Honestly, I think the only person who doesn’t know that is you.”
There’s a moment where Tony just blinked, and then sighed. “You forgot Peter.”
Rhodey laughed so loudly that the entire room jumped. “Peter knows it better than anyone, Tones. In fact, the poor kid would probably be heartbroken that you didn’t know it, too.”
“He doesn’t want me as a role model.”
“You wanna bet?” The Colonel tugged out his phone with a smirk. “I think a little demonstration is in order.”
“He’s at school.” Tony muttered. “You can’t call him.”
“He’s at lunch right now, which you know very well.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Because I’ve heard you talk about his schedule more than I’d like to admit.” He hit dial and turned the line to speaker as it rang.
“Mister Rhodes, Sir?” Peter’s voice was breathless with excitement, and Tony smothered a fond smile behind his palm. “Is everything okay? Is Mister Stark alright?”
“Everything’s fine, Pete. Tony is, too. Just saw him, actually, and it got me thinking.”
“Oh, yeah? About, uh, about what?”
“Well, remember when you asked me about Father’s Day?” Tony’s eyes snapped up to meet Rhodey’s, and the Colonel just winked. “I think he’d like the first idea you had.”
“You think?” There was a pause, and Tony could practically see the kid scuffing the toes of his ratty Converse against the school’s linoleum floors. “I kinda feel stupid about doing something at all, honestly. What if he thinks I’m being, like, too forward about it?”
“Oh no, Peter, he wouldn’t think that at all. He was just raving about you in the meeting, actually.”
There was such a delicacy to the hope kid’s voice, and it nearly crushed Tony. “He was?”
“Absolutely.”
“Oh, that’s… that’s really nice.” Another pause. “He’s getting me for ice cream today.”
“I heard. He’s really excited.”
“He is?”
“Ice Cream Fridays, right? Made us schedule a meeting around it and everything.” Rhodey smiled. “Hanging around you is good for him, kid.”
“It’s-It’s good for me, too, Sir. It’s… really nice to have him around. I-I’ve always had May but then Uncle Ben and I-well, I didn’t really think I’d have that again, you know?”
Rhodey kicked his feet up on the table, braces whirring mechanically, and went in for the kill.
“Didn’t think you’d get to have another father figure, you mean.”
“Y-Yeah. A father figure. That’s-That’s what he is.” Peter sighed. “Is it… okay, do you think? For me to think of him like that?”
The entire room swiveled to look at Tony, and Rhodey held out a hand in an invitation for him to give or deny his consent.
He bit his tongue and rolled his eyes, shooting the Colonel a begrudging thumbs up, hyper-aware of the reaction it would incite. Sure enough, the rest of the team scrambled to muffle their amused laughter behind elbows and cushions.
“I think it’s totally fine, Peter.” Rhodey shot Tony another wink. “Something tells me he’d love it, actually.”
“Oh, that’s good.” In classic Parker fashion, he whiplashed the conversation from serious to lighthearted in a split second. His demeanor re-inflated, and his next words were practically vibrating with energy. God, Tony thought, I love this kid. “Do you need anything else from me, Mister Rhodey Sir? It’s just, it’s not like I don’t love talking to you, but I’ve got a Calculus quiz in a bit and I’d love to run through some of my notes before-”
“You’re good, kid. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah! Of course! Oh, and if you see Tony again? Will you, uh- actually, no. Nevermind. I’ll tell him myself. Bye, Mister Rhodey!”
“Bye, Peter. Good luck on your test.”
“Thank you!”
Sam was the first to speak once the line went dead, voice dripping with satisfaction. “Not his dad, huh?”
“Oh, fuck off, Wilson.” Tony pointed dangerously at Rhodey. “And you’d better not spill that kid’s Father’s Day plans, Rhodes. I want it to be a surprise.”
Thanos: Anthony… you and I, we share the same burden. I can see it in your eyes. I can see you in my dreams. This knowledge… There is no one else who could understand you as I do.
Thanos: *other romantic bullshit* Forget about Rogers, be mine.
Tony: Steve? psh – I don’t care about him. But you? you’ve got quite the mouth on you, let’s see what you can do~
Steve: *wakes up from nightmare* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Tony: No steve, I don’t want to sleep with Thanos, he’s a self-important asshole who wants to kill half the universe… that’s kind of a turn off.
Tony: besides, he looks like a purpler, uglier version of Obadiah Stane. I may have daddy issues – but not those kinds of daddy issues.
this is objectively the worst thing I have ever made and I blame @itsallavengers
thor (2011) is an interesting movie to me because i think, despite a few flaws, the reason it never really took off the way iron man or cap:tfa did was because the audience it reached didn’t match the intended audience. the intended audience was so confused by what they saw because it didn’t reflect their ideal in terms of what they thought a thor movie would be, while the audience it ended up attracting claimed the empty spaces and turned their “sub-fandom” into something that practically rejected the fandoms of mcu!iron man and cap at that time
what i’m trying to say here, in essence, is this:
thor (2011) is a chick flick
to prove my point, i went to the world’s most trustworthy database on film analysis, urban dictionary, and found a few definitions obviously written by men
A film that indulges in the hopes and dreams of women and/or girls. A film that has a happy, fuzzy, ridiculously unrealistic ending.
word which refers to movies characteristically geered at young females in their twenties and late teens. Must include: love scenes, kissing, something sad, a happy ending
A sappy film that is generally geared towards women. It is always a love story, usually a comedy, and nausea inducing in men.
Term for a movie geared for women. Quite often seen on cable TV like The Hallmark Channel and endorsed by people like Oprah. These movies make women the heros and show life from a woman’s perspective. Most men hate these films cuz they are cheezy and dumb. Pussy-whipped men like them…or pretend to.
A movie that embodies all that is wrong with the world; a movie which displays a gross over-indulgence into, and exploration of, the workings of the female psyche and the accomanying emotional tendencies.
Pornography for women.
every complaint i have EVER seen about thor (2011) was about anything contained to earth: jane, darcy, not so much selvig, thor being hammer-less and learning to calm down and be gentle, women only liking it because hemsworth is a 6′3 outback steakhouse victoria’s filet mignon with twinkly dream eyes
but i think that’s because that’s the sentimental part of the movie, the emotional part. it’s driven by a romance and the intellect of a woman (arguably two). thor has to learn to get in touch with his softer side in a world that’s a bit more fragile than his own, furthermore there’s no other steaks– i, em, i mean men like him to balance out. there’s no male audience vessel in this movie
none
oh, you’re thinking selvig? i’m thinking not! there’s no male audience vessel.
men can’t relate to this movie
oh, you think they can relate to THOR? in the words of drax, “this is not a dude, you’re a dude. this… is a man”. thor is the ideal boyfriend figure, he belongs to everyone who wants a boyfriend, all the thor stans i know are women and/or like men, if you’re a thor stan and a straight guy i automatically have my suspicions and my eyes are guarded by red flags
#THOR 1 IS A SHAKEPEAREAN CHICK FLICK #THOR IS FOR WOMEN AND THE GAYS AND THAT’S JUST FACTS #the reason why thor’s been called unrelatable for so long was #cos cishet dudes could not fucking relate to him #COS HE A KING MADE OUT OF SUNSHINE WHO LEARNS AND APOLOGISES #FOR HIS MISTAKES #SOMETHING THEY’RE INCAPABLE OF (via @spacefloozy)
You had me at
hemsworth is a 6′3 outback steakhouse victoria’s filet mignon with twinkly dream eyes
ok, but what if peter finds all those children’s drawings tony keeps and finds the one he sent to iron man after being saved by him at stark expo and tells tony he’s the one who drew that
tony would be weeping like a baby
Oh look my hand slipped
“Hey, this is mine!”
Tony looked up from where he was moving boxes around. The lab was getting a bit crowded with him, Bruce, Vision, and the bots in there already, and with Peter joining them more often, accidental bumping was becoming a more common occurrence. So, Tony had decided to clean out the back storage space of the lab so he could expand it, that way everyone would have their own little corner. However, that involved cleaning. Which meant going through a bunch of boxes and deciding what to keep and what to move into storage.
Peter was sitting hunched over a box he’d just opened, holding and slightly crinkled piece of paper in his hands.
“What are you talking about, kiddo?” Tony asked, dropping the box on top of the stack next to him.
Peter got up from his own box and brought the paper over to Tony, shoving it in his face.
“That box had a bunch of kids drawings and stuff and Iron Man stuff, so I wanted to see what all was in it,” Peter said, smiling at the paper in Tony’s hands, “and I found my drawing!”
Tony looked down at the drawing in his hands.
On it, a little boy in Iron Man armor was fighting off a bigger, clunkier suit of armor, standing next to a taller, more adult looking Iron Man armor. They stood side by side with their hands out, shooting repulsors at the cluncky armor. A speech bubble popped out of Tony’s armor, saying “Nice job, kid!”
Tony recognized the drawing. It had been one of his favorites. He’d gotten it not long after the Stark Expo incident of 2010, and it had really helped him feel better after the whole “Tony Stark, not recommended” fiasco. If he remembered correctly, the picture came with a letter from some kid, telling him that they were excited they got to see him at the Expo, even if “Mr. Hammer” had ruined it for everyone in the end. The letter was probably over in that box where Peter had found the picture.
“This was yours?” Tony asked, a weird, warm feeling spreading through his chest. His throat feels weirdly tight, and he’s sure it’s probably just dust or something kicked up from moving boxes that’s making his eyes water, too.
“Yeah!” Peter nodded enthusiastically, “look at the back.”
And sure enough, there on the back, printed in somewhat jagged child crayon block letters, was the signature P. Parker.
“I remember drawing it and sending it to you after you saved me at the Expo that year.”
Ice suddenly floods Tony’s veins as he flips the picture back over. The memory of a kid, a stupid, stupidly brave kid standing up to a Hammer drone with nothing but a plastic Iron Man mask and a fabric glove with LED repulsors built in. If JARVIS hasn’t called the boy to his attention as he flew by, that kid would’ve been—
“That was you?!” Tony practically shouts, his head swinging back up to look at Peter with wild eyes.
Peter doesn’t seem to notice Tony’s freak out in front of him, his eyes still dancing over the picture.
“That was the coolest day of my life, honestly. I couldn’t believe I actually got to see you in the armor. I don’t think Uncle Ben really believed me when I told him, now that I think about it, but he helped me send this to you to say than— Hey, Mr. Stark, are you okay? You look a little pale, do you need to— oomph!”
The breath is knocked out of him when Tony suddenly grabs onto Peter’s t-shirt and pulls him against his chest. His hands come up automatically to rest loosely on Tony’s back, the exact opposite to the way Tony’s hands are clenched in Peter’s shirt, his old drawing crinkling slightly in his clenched hand.
“Uhh.. Mr. Stark?” Peter says timidly, suddenly unsure of himself, “Are you okay?”
“Shut up, Pete,” Tony says into his shoulder. Peter’s eyes widen at how choked Tony sounds, and he almost thinks he feels wetness on his shoulder where Mr. Stark’s eyes are.
“Is this— is this a hug? Because if it’s not I don’t want to make it weird again—“
“Kid, just let it happen.”
Peter stands shocked for a minute before shrugging within the hug.
“Okay!” Peter says brightly. He brings his arms up to wrap tighter around Tony’s chest and he lets his head rest on Tony’s shoulders, a small smile pressing against Tony’s shirt.
Tony just clutches him tighter.
Stupid dust in my eyes, he thinks, ignoring the warmth he feels spread in his heart when Peter hugs him back.
marvel is disney’s forever cash cow! it appeals to children, teens, and sweaty adults! it’s all quite loud and colorful, with the same safe formula every time, but with different directors and tweaks to make it whatever the fuck memorable each time. plus the reliance on violence to push the plot will give them those dank US military checks until explosions go extinct. truly we live in horrific times but i don’t really care
thank u all for letting me know the military quit cutting checks for the MCU after Avengers because they got offended bc the fictional magic men are an alternative to the american military. i’m sorry i was misinformed but more importantly that’s really, really, really, really, really fucking funny
now, you might think a disagreement of such proportions would send fandom into a tailspin. whom do you believe? MUST WE PICK SIDES? IS THIS WHAT THE PLOT OF CIVIL WAR IS REALLY ABOUT?
luckily, the answer is simple
Steve and Peggy disagree on whether or not oral counts
what i do is not up to you 