losingmymindtonight:

“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.”