A/N: So it would seem that somethings weren't made clear in the first chapter, I already talked to naelacy about some of it, but mostly I fixed one problem [which was a error that I was supposed to delete] the other is in regards to Rhodey and Zay, if you're not familiar with Marvel then you don't know that Tony considers Rhodey his family, they roomed together at MIT, they've been friends for decades, they're more like brothers. I went into this story with that in mind, Happy and Pepper are in the same boat, along with Jarvis the AI and Tony's bots DUM-E and U, that's his family until the Avengers. Sorry I didn't clarify that, but I hope that you will still enjoy the story as it goes along.
Now for the second part of this Author's note - this is more of a heads up, I have a two month deadline to finish up a manuscript I'm writing, so it might push back some of my fanfic projects, maybe not I don't know yet. I'm going to try and keep updating this fic as much as I can as well as my other fic... I just need a schedule to go by.
Chapter Two – Mornings are about Trial and Error…. A lot of Errors
Mornings are something else in the Stark house, for one Riley would be lucky if she could function without coffee something she inherited from her father, and something her mother wished she hadn't. Breakfast normally consisted of whatever was on hand in the kitchen, cooking was a rare occasion unless Vision was around to cook something, but ever since he got together with Wanda that was rare, but he did have weekly dinner dates with both her dad and her. This morning on the other hand saw a rare sight in the kitchen, her father cooking breakfast dressed in a full three-piece Tom Ford suit.
"Well either I'm hallucinating or you've been taken over by the pod people," she said as she sat down on the counter next to the coffee machine.
Her father laughed as he pulled out two plates and started spooning eggs and bacon into the both of them. "No pod people, but I figured that if we were going to fight the wolves today we might as well be well fed."
Riley sighed, she knew what was going to happen, they had discussed it after Uncle Nick had come over, today marked the beginning of their six-month deal. The world would know that she was a Stark only after he had revealed that he was the Director of SHIELD and not Uncle Nick.
"I know this is hard dad, but in the end the world would have had to know," she said knowing the extent of what they were about to do. "You can't keep hiding behind Uncle Nick, you really can't. You pay for everything you sign all of the paperwork, even though you say you hate it I know you really love it, they need to know or else it would just blow up in your face the minute they find out the truth."
He looked at her, while holding out a plate full of food. "I doubt myself, you know that. I'm good with machines, but people not so much, and yes I know a lot of people but how many of them can I actually say are close to me. I keep everyone at a distance for a reason."
There were many reasons, but they all stemmed to trust issues that kept getting worse over time, only a select few had gotten close to her father to the point where he would let his guard down. Outside of them, he had this mask, a fake persona that her mother hated, but was good for getting the job done at S.I. In front of Riley her father was a different person, and she wished that the outside world would be able to see that man because he was nothing like what the tabloids painted him as.
They ate in silence, which wasn't normal for either of them since they both liked to talk, but the weight of their morning kept them from saying anything that would shatter the resolve her father had built up. When they were done, they called Happy to drive him to the Academy, while Riley rode her bicycle, the school was close so it would take her twenty minutes if she went through the woods. Her father was going to drive around which would take him about ten minutes, less if Happy drove at top speed.
"I'll see you later Dad," she said as she took off. At school he would be Director Stark, just the man who ran the Avengers. She had always wished that she would be able to call him Dad in public, she dreamed of it, but she's never had the chance because of course no one knew she existed.
Riley knew the route to school by heart, she had been riding it every day since she was told that she could go to the Academy. It was bumpy and crazy, and she loved it. There was no set path in the woods behind their house except for the tracks from her mountain bike, the fresh air in her face, and the thrill of pedaling as fast as she could. She always wondered if that's how her father felt when he flew, and wished that the day she would be able to fly next to him would give her the greater thrill.
As she reached the hill behind the Academy, she smiled and rode towards the ramp near the front to see how fast she could hit it, she ending up going up the ramp a little too fast before she went flying towards the entrance. Her eyes went wide as she nearly collided with a boy with dark sandy blonde hair and green eyes.
"Watch out," she yelled as she turned her body hoping to stop her decent before she could hit him.
Lucas was excited because it was the first day, and although it was only orientation he couldn't believe that he was getting this opportunity at all. He jumped out of bed and looked around at his room, the students at the school each had their own room, but shared a bathroom with their neighbor. Farkle, lucky for Lucas was his neighbor so they already knew their morning routines, Lucas liked to jog early in the morning while Farkle normally slept until seven. But since it was the first day neither one would be sticking to their normal daily life, instead Lucas looked at the orientation schedule as he got ready and waited for Farkle to finish.
"Dude what's taking so long?" Lucas said to the closed door as he heard the water running on the other side.
"Sorry," Farkle grumbled. "Go walk around outside, I'll meet you in ten."
"Alright, if you see Isa, bring her with you," Lucas said before walking out of the dorm room.
All around him everyone was waking up and talking to their new neighbors, it was strange, there was only about twenty of them living there, and less than fifty who were admitted. It was a pilot program for SHIELD, or at least that's what Sharon had told him. They wanted to train the best and brightest for the future of the agency, which meant that it was going to be a long road ahead of him. He walked to the mess hall and found Isadora sitting at a table typing into her laptop, a cup of tea and a tray load of muffins surrounding her.
"Hey Isa, what are you doing?" he said sitting down and grabbing a muffin off her tray.
"I've been trying to get a handle on the security of this place," she said looking up at him and glaring at him for stealing her muffin. "I almost cracked it this morning and then got booted off by someone with the username FRIDAY, what kind of handle is that anyway?"
"Seriously we've been here for less than a day and you're already trying to hack into the place, did the wall piss you off or something?"
"No," she said taking the muffin back from his hand. "Get your own food Luc, there's a whole cafeteria here you know, and anyway I just wanted to add some of my own stuff into the system, but apparently if I want to do that I have to talk to the director which is stupid since I doubt he knows anything about complex security systems."
"Not really I mean isn't the director of the school also the director of SHIELD," Farkle said as he joined them. "I on the other hand want to get a look at the labs, I heard that one of the lab teachers is the Hulk and I want to ask him about somethings regarding gamma radiation since he's an expert in that field."
"My friends are trouble makers I swear," Lucas said rolling his eyes, he loved them anyway. "Don't get into too much trouble. I'm going to look around outside before orientation."
"Whatever, and take the muffin since you already tainted it," Isadora said handing it back to him. She always fought him when it came to food, especially since her family didn't have much while she was growing up. Her first laptop had been his old one and she took it apart within five minutes of him giving it to her. Farkle was a different story, his family had money, but he just ignored it and studied science, all the sciences in fact, it was a wonder that he had went to school normally and hadn't gotten into Columbia or NYU.
He wandered around the grounds near where the forest was lined up near the entrance, he was curious as to why the place was in such a closed off location, it wasn't an army base, but no one was around for miles according to the map of the area. If they wanted to go somewhere they needed to take shuttle buses provided by the school, across the way he can see the Avenger's Facility, it was strange being so close to the world he has wanted to be a part of for so long.
He hadn't been paying attention when he heard someone scream out to him and a bicycle came flying towards him. Jumping out of the way he landed on the grass as the rider slid to a stop on the pavement.
"Are you freaking nuts or something?" he yelled out as he stood up off the ground and came face to face with a brunette girl with wide eyes smiling at him.
"It can be debated, though I didn't think that anyone would be near this area when I decided to ride my bike today," she said as she pulled off her helmet revealing long soft curls of hair.
He couldn't understand why she captivated him so instead he focused on his anger. "I'm pretty sure you flying out of the woods like that is reckless, and why were you even in there?"
"I always ride through there," she said to him dusting off dirt from her jeans. "Why were you standing so close to the trees anyway?"
"I was just freaking walking, and I'm pretty sure you're trespassing on private property if you were in those woods. This land belongs to a government agency, so unless you want someone to arrest you I'd suggest you stop whatever it is that you do in there."
"Well excuse me sassy pants, I just didn't want to be late, so I'll be going now," she said to him taking off on her bike, her hair flying in the wind.
"Late for what?" he said to himself before looking at his watch realizing that he was going to be late for orientation. "Crap."
Riley couldn't believe the guy had the nerve, of course she knew the land was privately owned, because it belonged to her family, she wasn't going to tell him that but she wanted to. She rode her bike to where the rack was and locked it into place. No one would steal it, especially since it was the only bike around and it was a secure facility but she knew that you could never be too careful. The bike was built by her father as a present when he realized just how much she liked to ride through the woods, and after destroying two different bikes he wanted her to have something that would last.
"You know you have this weird look on your face," she heard someone say from behind her, when she turned around she came face to face with Zay.
"Hey there," she said pulling him into a hug. "I'm so glad you're here, I need a friendly face."
"Care to hug me too," said a familiar voice from the other side, smiling she turned and saw Peter standing there. She launched herself at him and pulled him close. Peter wasn't going to be a student full time, he wanted to stay in Queens with his Aunt, but he had decided on doing weekend work at the school, which meant they were going to be able to hang out together during that time.
"My friends are here," she said pulling both of the guys close. "Now I can be happy for a little while."
"What happened?" Zay asked looking at her.
"Nothing, just ran… well almost plastered another student with my bike, but the guy was a total jerk he threatened to have me arrested for trespassing."
Peter laughed, which made Zay laugh, Riley just rolled her eyes and looked around, one person was missing from their group, she spotted Ned sitting in the shade not too far away. Riley knew that he couldn't really keep up with Peter but tried his best, she walked up to him leaving the two laughing behind her and put her arm around Ned.
"I say we have a tournament this weekend," she said to Ned smiling.
"That's something I can get behind," Ned said smiling back at her. The two of them bonded over video games after they had met, and continuously have online matches whenever they could.
After Zay and Peter regained their composure, the four friends walked to the school, only Zay knew who Riley really was, Uncle Rhodey was family, he had always been family, ever since her father went to MIT, but she wanted to tell Peter, because she wanted to help him like Ned did whenever he was Spiderman. She wanted her own team, so that maybe she could one day help her father instead of just being in the background.
They walked into the hall that was holding the orientation, less than a hundred students along with teachers, who were either Avengers or SHIELD agents, it was a madhouse. Everyone was talking all at once, excited tones from them all, being chosen as the first students was a huge step, her father knew that this was an important venture but mostly he wanted all of these people to live up to their potential. They didn't have to become a part of SHIELD afterwards, but they would be given the option.
Tony had gone through his speech several times, he had gone through it with Rhodey and Maria Hill who was working with him and Pepper in the background. Pepper was running Stark Industries, Hill was working between him and Fury. He didn't know if this was a good idea, he kept doubting himself, but he made a promise to his daughter and he wanted her to be proud of him more than anything. He had been the shadow of SHIELD for a while now, he was the director even though Fury acted as though he was at the helm. In the reality of it all the reason he hadn't come forward earlier had been because the Avengers were once again under the same umbrella and he didn't want to end up fracturing it.
It was guilt that kept him from saying anything, he couldn't talk to them anymore and the ones he still talked to he couldn't bring himself to tell them either. It was a secret he had wanted to keep, but Riley has been his cheerleader behind the scenes and if she wanted to tell the world that she was a Stark then he could be truthful as well. Happy had driven slowly on purpose, his friend and driver knew that his choices were eating at him. He didn't argue with Tony about right and wrong, instead he was just there as a friend like Rhodey and Pepper had both been. His little family.
The Accords were needed, they still were needed, maybe not the way they had been initially but he had worked through them and made sure that the former Avengers were absolved of what had happened. He stepped back after the War with the Infinity Stones, he had hid himself from them, and worked on what was normal. He was trying to be good and not stir anything up, but he couldn't ignore the threats coming, they never ended, so in the end he needed to do what he did best, he needed to push his feelings aside and work on keeping the world safe.
Fury was waiting for him the moment he stepped inside of the school, it was built with his tech, FRIDAY ran security while he went back and forth from his own house to the Avenger's Facility across the way. Usually he only hung out with Bruce in the lab, but now all of the Avengers had to be on hand with the students, they needed the next generation of SHIELD more than anything. The threats kept building up and in the end they couldn't do it alone anymore.
"You know," he said as he walked with Fury towards the hall. "I keep thinking that this is a horrible idea, one of many, but I also know that the world needs us, and we keep working to keep it from falling apart."
"I know you don't want to do this," Fury said to him stopping just outside the doors. "So tell me Stark why now?"
"I made a promise," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I for one want to keep it, even when it will probably go to shit the moment I utter the words Director Stark, Rogers will probably be on my ass the moment I step outside of the room."
Fury nodded and walked inside, the curtains covered his face, no one knew that he was there, all they knew was that the Director of SHIELD was going to give the welcoming speech. And Fury was going to be the one to introduce him, but it didn't stop him from wanting to bolt out of the room and hide in the office he had across the giant lawn. An office he hadn't used because no one knew it was him running everything.
"Bad idea," he said.
He remembered something that Riley had told him after the airport fight, after the fight in Siberia, after he had made sure that Rhodey could walk again. "You shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to do something right, it's their fault for not listening, not yours, remember you have your family, and if they don't realize just how much they screwed up, well screw them."
A broken family was what they all were, Riley knew that and she wanted him to mend those broken fences, even if it meant doing something that would cause another rift. He had almost missed his name being called by Fury, but he walked out and looked around the room. Nearly two hundred people looking at him with surprised faces. He spotted Riley, along with Peter and Zay who were all smiling at him. Those kids were as much his family than anyone else. The next generation. Then he saw Rogers standing across the room, his eyes wide, it was the first time they had physically been in the same room since Thanos, that battle was over, but onto the next one.
He took a deep breath before he spoke.
Steve's morning had been so normal, he was excited about the students coming in, it was different, it was another distraction. He ran at five in the morning with Sam and Bucky, more like he ran while the other two jogged and talked. Distractions that's what his morning were filled with. He had breakfast with Natasha, who wasn't in the mood for anything that morning because she had to deal with so much so early in the day. For someone who was a trained assassin, she hated mornings the most.
"I'm more of a night person," she had told him once and he just laughed.
Seeing all of the students walking into the new school building gave him hope for the future, that maybe Tony would show up and they could finally have a proper talk. When Fury had told him that Tony was going to have an active role in the school, as well as SHIELD he had given Steve hope for something he thought that he would have to give up on. Hope that he would be able to repair their friendship completely. To fix their makeshift family.
So there he was standing there in a room full of students mostly under the age of twenty-one, with a shocked look on his face as Nick Fury, who he had thought was the Director of the place, was introducing the Director of SHIELD.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Director of SHIELD, Tony Stark," Fury had said. Steve felt the floor fall beneath him, he didn't want secrets but apparently they had kept the biggest one from everyone in the place. He looked over at Nat who had had a surprised look on her face before schooling her features like she normally did. Across the room Bucky and Sam both had similar looks on the faces. Steve couldn't move, it was like the air was being sucked out of the room, and then Tony started talking.
"This may come as a surprise to many of you, but there are reasons why my position hadn't been revealed until now, but that's not what we're here for, what we're here for is the next generation of SHIELD, the next generation of the world's intelligence community, as well as the scientific community, and the security of the world. You are all the future of our world as we know it, the best and brightest, and I want to give you all the warmest of welcomes as you become the first students of this little Avenger's Academy. Your teachers, Avengers and SHIELD agents, are here to help you, that includes myself. I want something more this place, and something more for the world we live in. I don't want people to live in fear of those who have powers, or those in power," Steve felt the air leave his body, this was directly said to the Avengers, not the students. Steve knew it, because in the end he knew Tony was trying to tell him something.
"We need to work together because even though we know that there are worlds outside of our own, this planet is our home and we need to protect it." But we do protect it you idiot, he thought to himself. What he truly needed to say, was probably sorry for causing the problem that had fractured their family, that was another conversation.
"So I welcome you, the next generation, to the new face of our agency, and I hope that you are all ready to change the world, to keep it safe. That is the first mission I'm giving you all, the world needs us, and we need them. Their protection is our number one priority, so let's work together to keep it safe."
When Tony was done he smiled at everyone before walking off of the stage, everyone in the room was stunned at what had just happened but Steve moved the moment Tony started walking. He hadn't seen the man in such a long time, he didn't know if he would ever have this chance again, but when he reached the corridor, the man he was searching for had disappeared.
Tony was hiding, he knew that they would come out looking for him the minute he had finished talking, he had kept it short on purpose. He was acting like Riley had when she was five and had broken a vase that Pepper had said cost ten grand. He hadn't cared about the vase, he would have burned it if he could, he cared about whether she had been hurt. In the end he knew they, mainly a specific they, wanted to make amends but in the end the hurt was still buried in his heart.
Instead of waiting to be found hiding in a dark corner, he walked away and went to his office, because he'd be damned if they found him hiding. He might as well face them on his own terms instead of being somewhere that they could gang up on him and have the whole world see. He hadn't been inside of the office since he finished the remodel, in fact he had locked it up and made sure no one except the cleaning staff went inside. On his desk was a picture of Riley with her arms around Zay, and Peter, Ned standing next to him, while Tony was behind Riley, and Rhodey was next to Zay. It was a family photo, to replace all the ones he had thrown into a box so long ago. It was also the first on where he was with his daughter and it wouldn't look suspicious to anyone outside of his inner circle.
He thought back to the time him and Steve shared a room at the Barton farm, how he had almost told him about Riley, because he wanted to make sure that at least someone had known. Instead he talked about everything but that, while Steve told him to shut up around two in the morning before turning away from him and falling asleep. He had been more afraid of the nightmares coming back, they had been few and far between but sometimes they lingered. So he was surprised when he ended up sleeping through the night, only waking up to the feeling of being overly warm, with Steve wrapped around him like an octopus. It took him a good ten minutes to untangle himself, and he regretted it because it felt comfortable, but he didn't know how the other man would feel.
"So many things I would have done differently," he said to the empty office.
The chair at his desk turned around revealing a familiar red headed assassin looking back at him, the last time he had seen her she had been blonde.
"Nice to see you went back to normal," he said to her giving her a small smile. "Now get out of my chair, I'm exhausted."
"You have a couch right there Stark," she said making him wince at the use of his last name. "Everyone else is looking around for you near the hall, of course I knew better."
"Yeah yeah," he mumbled as he walked over towards his chair and propped himself on his desk. "What do you want Widow?"
"Why?" she asked looking at him. "Why have you been hiding, why all the secrecy, why all of this? Tony you pay for everything and yet you act like you're not a part of the team anymore."
"Because I'm not, I'm the Director of SHIELD and your boss."
"Honestly you and Rogers need a swift kick in the ass, how long are you both going to keep dancing around each other?" she covered her eyes for a moment before looking back at him. "No more of this, whatever it is, you have to talk to each other, Steve feels awful."
"About which part," he interrupted her. "The hiding the truth part? The part where he smashed in the reactor in my suit and almost killed me by smashing the one in my chest? About leaving me in Siberia with a disabled suit? Yeah Widow, I know he feels guilty, we had this talk before but in the end, I did everything for the Avengers, for all of us and in the end you all left me in the end, my own family or at least those I thought were my family, but I guess in the end there's no one to blame but myself, for getting comfortable."
"Tony," she said but the door slammed open and the man of the hour was staring back at him. The man looked like a Greek god hell bent on finding his mark. Romanoff stood up and walked to the door, "Talk now," she said before she disappeared.
"I'm sorry Tony," Steve said closing the door behind himself cutting off the only way Tony had to get out. "About everything."
"I don't care about it," he said trying to push his way past a super soldier.
"I heard what you said to Nat, and you're right we all took advantage of you, and we all need to make amends for how we handled everything, it's going to take some time but we need to work together on this."
Tony huffed for a moment looking at the man in front of him. "You came here for another reason, that was only a part of it, you don't like the fact that my position was kept from you, but I doubt any of you ever noticed who signs your paperwork."
"I don't care Tony, I think that it's a good idea for you to be the Director, in the end you might be the only one truly qualified for it outside of Nick Fury."
"Yeah well when I took over and recreated SHIELD I wanted to have the top position, call it ego if you want."
Steve sighed, he knew that this was going to be difficult, he had forgiven Tony for everything a long time ago, when he ran into several problems with some of the missions he had been running as the Nomad, it was when he had realized why parts of the Accords made sense. It had been too late at that moment, he had only had a one train of thought during that time and it all had to do with keeping Bucky alive. All of the mistakes had been made, and in the end of it all a lot of those mistakes had been his own.
"I know I should have brought you in when I found Buck, I know I made mistakes, we all did, but for once can we try and put it all behind ourselves and try to move forward?"
When Tony didn't say anything Steve just stood there eyeing the man hoping that if they were locked in the room long enough they would get somewhere.
Natasha sat outside of the office feeling that if those two didn't come out fixed, or at least talking again. She knew she should have stayed with Tony after Leipzig, that she should have not helped Steve. She was the one stuck in the middle between the two most stubborn men on the planet, and all because she was their friend. By picking to help Steve, by ignoring Tony, she felt like she had picked between her family. They were all at fault for everything that had happened, but it feels like she was carrying around a lot of the baggage over it all because her decisions caused the catalyst for everything else.
"You know you don't have to feel guilty over everything that happened," James said as he stood next to her.
"The guilt is my own," she said to him.
He sighed and pulled her closer to him. "Then it's mine as well, we both have a lot of guilt when it comes to those two, we made decisions and in the end they all backfired."
"You didn't make a lot of those choices on your own, you were a brainwashed assassin remember?"
"Yeah but you were also being controlled by the Red Room, and don't start on the, I knew what I was doing I wasn't brainwashed like you were shtick, they controlled you as much as Hydra controlled me."
"You think if those two ever knew about our joint past they would be angry, they only know that you shot me to get to your target, they don't know the rest," she said leaning into him. They had found comfort in each other after the war with Thanos, it was strange because it reminded her of the past they had shared.
"Just stop thinking about it, one day when everything is back to normal, well at least the normal from before it all went to shit, then maybe we can tell them together. For now let work on getting them to stay in the same room without everything exploding."
Inside of the room neither man had said a word, they just stared at one another as though they were in the longest staring contest in the history of man.
"This was a mistake," Tony had said after another five minutes, he should have stayed a secret, stayed away from the facility.
"No it wasn't, I don't care that you're the director, I don't give a shit," Steve said and Tony tried to stop himself from laughing because the man had cursed but he couldn't help himself and started laughing.
"I never thought you would ever curse," he laughed even hard remembering that day at the Hydra base in Sokovia when Steve had called him out for using the exact same word.
"Seriously, that breaks the tension one curse word, I could have just said the word fuck and you would have laughed."
Tony started laughing harder to the point that he was hugging himself, the Captain had said a dirty word and his brain automatically reacted. It took him five minutes of gasping for air before he regained his composure.
"Let's do this, in baby steps," he said once he could breathe again. "The Avengers meetings, briefings, tech upgrades, and dinner once a week with the new recruits, we all do this together."
"What like therapy?" Steve said astonished at the change of heart.
"In a way yeah, I mean it's better that way I guess," he was trying to be an adult, but he was also hoping that it didn't blow up in his face. "I mean I probably need a lot of therapy but I can't keep all of this bottled up anymore. Someone told me that I just need to learn to let go and move on, maybe this is the first step I have to take."
"That was a very wise person," Steve said looking Tony in the eye. He wasn't going to tell the man that the person who had said that to him was a teenage girl, or that she was someone he would have to deal with in class the next day.
"That they are, now go away I have papers to sign and missions to set up, and Director things to do," he said waving his hand hoping that Steve would take the hint and leave.
"See you later Shellhead," Steve said before walking out of the room leaving him alone with his own thoughts.
"What have I gotten myself into," he said as he sat down on his chair, it was a really comfortable chair, and he could pass out in it but instead he decided to be an adult and actually do his work since he promised someone that he would be home for dinner.
He thought back to when Riley had told to learn to live and let go, she had been worried about him, and although he didn't have a therapist, his daughter was someone who would always listen to him and come up with the best solutions. She was going to be a wonderful leader one day, or a really cleaver super villain.
Riley was pacing around the hallway near her father's office, everything happened so fast and she went there without thinking. Peter, Ned and Zay had all followed her, since they all knew her father in one way or another, and they wanted to check in with him. Her worry was more about whether or not he was alright, but when they got near his office Black Widow and the Winter Soldier were waiting outside of the door. The four friends just spied from afar, they couldn't hear anything the two former assassins were talking about. Well maybe Peter could but he didn't say anything so they just waited. It took another ten minutes before they left, and Steve Rogers came out of her father's office.
"Let's wait to make sure no one else is coming out of the room," Peter said holding them back.
So they waited another five minutes before making their way down the corridor towards the Director's office.
"Who's first?" Ned asked them as they stood outside the door.
"Maybe one by one, I mean he did just have two former assassins and a super soldier outside of his door," Peter said.
Instead of waiting Riley just opened the door and stuck her head in, "Hi," she said as her father looked up from a stack of papers in front of him.
"Hey sweetheart," he said making Riley cringe, her father caught on and realized his mistake. They weren't at home so anything father daughter related was off limits. The door swung open when Peter pushed against it, shocked from the endearment.
"Well this is a little awkward," Zay said knowing the secret.
Riley grabbed Ned and Peter and pulled them inside before closing the door, Peter looked stunned for a moment before he could say anything. Ned was just looking at the wall like he was trying to ignore what had just happened. Riley watched as her father rubbed the bridge of his nose before sighing.
"Bad ideas today," he murmured before looking back at the four friends. "Peter, Ned sit down for a minute so I can explain something, and to print out the non-disclosure agreement."
"Wait Mr. Stark… what exactly is happening?" Peter said when the stunned expression left his face. "Are you and Riley, in some kind of relationship?"
"Eww no… just no," Riley said as Zay started laughing.
"Riley's my daughter Peter, the NDR is so that you don't tell anyone about her, it's a Stark family secret," he said as the printer started printing out the forms without being prompted. FRIDAY was on top of it.
"I knew you were keeping something from me," Peter said looking at Riley who just shrugged. "Why not tell me in the first place?"
"At first it was because I was mad at you, because my dad brought you in made you a hero and I was stuck at home being a good little Stark, afterwards well it was a secret, Zay knows because of Uncle Rhodey, but no one, not even the Avengers knew about me… Well except Vision but he used to be JARVIS, but anyway…. I blabbing."
"Yes you are," her father said smiling, before getting up and pulling her into a hug. "Anyway, the NDR is a precaution and I trust you both but it has to happen."
"Why keep it a secret?" Ned asked.
"To give her a normal life, and Starks are not normal, but I wanted her to have that chance."
"Does this mean we can finally go to that wing of your house that we're never allowed to go to?" Peter asked curious.
"No," Riley answered. "You're not allowed anywhere near my bedroom Peter."
Lucas couldn't believe anything that had happened, any of it. His day had been half great because he could see his hero, and half a big mess that started the minute some ridiculous girl almost ran him over with a mountain bike. Now it turned out that the man he had despised was actually the head of the organization he had wanted to be a part of all of his life.
"That was unexpected," Farkle said but Lucas pulled away from his friends and went looking for Sharon.
The blonde wasn't far from the exit where all of the other students were walking towards, since the reception was outside on the lawn between the school and the Avengers facility. He looked at his cousin for a moment as she directed people left and right before walking up to her and pulling her aside.
"Is this for real?" he asked, knowing that Sharon knew what he meant.
"Lucas, I don't know why you don't like Tony Stark but you can't let it get to you, even Aunt Peggy told you that you should be kinder to those around you," Sharon said as she put her arm around him. "You're my family and I love you but you have to get your head out of your ass."
"Yeah well it hasn't been a good morning," he mumbled knowing that she heard him.
"You sound like the grouchy little boy I remember," she ruffled his hair and walked him towards the reception area. "Just give him a chance, a lot has changed since the Civil War."
"Yeah you stopped dating Captain America."
"Well that was inevitable considering it felt like I had become a placeholder for someone else, anyway the two of us are better off as friends."
"Whatever, maybe I should have let that girl slam her bike into me this morning just to put me out of my misery."
"I'm going to put you out of your misery, just buck up and grow up, we can't all have some idealized future. Plus, Steve is one of the commanding officers and he's also training you all, so you still win in a way."
Sharon was attempting to make him feel better and it was working until he saw her again, that girl who nearly ran him over. He had sworn that she had been trespassing but there she was talking to three guys, smiling, he could feel a tug in his chest, but he pushed it aside for a moment. He had a chance to make it right with one person at this school, but instead of going to her and saying something he held himself back, talking to Sharon, introducing his friends to her as she introduced them to other SHIELD agents. All the while he was watching this girl who had appeared out of nowhere and turned his life on its side for just a moment.