"I can't believe this is happening," said Steve for the tenth time, anxiously bouncing on the balls of his feet, staring at the elevator with such intensity that it was as if he thought staring alone would make the object of his desire appear. It didn't work but that didn't stop him. If Steve was anything, it was stubborn.

"Me either," said Tony, standing half a foot behind his husband, hands itching to do something until Steve's warm one found one of Tony's scarred ones and they settled.

"What if he doesn't want us to adopt him?" worried Steve, still unable to tear his eyes away from the door.

"He already knows that adoption is the end game," said Tony far more calmly than he felt. "Agent said he talked to the kid about it a few hours ago. He knew his last home wasn't permanent but this one will be. He wouldn't have agreed if he didn't want to have a forever home. Besides, this is different, it's not like Emmy. This kid wants a home."

"I know, I know, I just never really thought this would happen. Not like this, not with emergency custody because of overcrowding of all things."

The two super hero's stood in silence for a minutes. The normally busy common room was empty of everyone but Tony and Steve; Natasha and Clint were off on a short mission, Thor was off planet, Bruce was in his lab avoiding everyone, and Bucky had taken Emmy to her room to play before bed. They had decided it was best to give the new child space, not overwhelm him with a ton of loud people.

Tony had a point, Emmy had given up hope of ever being adopted after years of abuse and neglect, this boy had not. He had only entered the system a few months before after living with his ailing aunt for several years. His parents had died in a car crash when he was five. When his aunt got to the point where she could no longer care for him, she placed him in the care of a family friend who was young and agreed to take care of him when until he was adopted. It wasn't ideal, but the young lady loved the boy and when Coulson found out about the situation he knew just who to call. When the boy had been not only receptive but ecstatic to hear he had a family who wanted him, Coulson called Steve and set up the meeting.

"What if he doesn't like Emmy?" asked Steve. "I thought we would have more time with her, get her more settled, before adopting another kid. What if she thinks we're trying to replace her?"

"We'll show her that's not going to happen," said Tony confidently, though honestly he had been wondering the same thing. They hadn't gotten to explain to Emmy that she was getting a brother yet and Tony worried that the sudden new addition to the family would unsettle her barely settled world.

The elevator doors opened and Agent Coulson walked through with a smiling young boy with messy brown hair, pulling a suitcase larger than the boy behind him.

"Hello," said Coulson blandly. "Peter, I'd like you to meet Steve and Tony Stark-Rogers. Steve, Tony, this is Peter Parker."

"It's nice to meet you, Peter," said Steve with that warm smile he had that instantly put the boy at ease. "How old are you?"

"I'm ten years and two months old," said Peter proudly with an impish grin. "I'm tall for my age."

"I can see that," laughed Steve. "Why don't we sit down?"

Coulson nodded approvingly and the four made their way to the living room. Peter sat on the couch comfortably, looking around the room with interest while Coulson took a seat next to him and Tony and Steve sat on the adjacent couch.

"So you guys really want to adopt me?" said Peter without preamble, leaning forward eagerly in his seat. "Because it's not like I don't love Miss Sharon, she's great, but I've always wanted a real family. And Coulson said you were serious and he doesn't really seem to joke around, so you must be serious and you really do want to adopt me."

"If you would like us to, yes," said Steve. "We would very much like to adopt you."

"Why?" said Peter, eyes narrowing – not out of suspicion but curiosity, as if they were a problem he wanted to figure out.

"You need a home," said Steve. "We have a home we want to give you. Tony and I can't have children on our own but even if we could we wouldn't want to, not when we know someone out there already needs a family. We want to be that family for you, we want you as part of our family."

Peter seemed to think on that some more as he looked around the room again.

"So what do I call you guys?" asked Peter after a minute.

Steve and Tony grinned in relief at the statement.

"Daddy!" screamed Emmy, sprinting into the room, Bucky hot on her heels.

The four year old completely ignored Coulson and Peter, launching herself at Tony, sobbing.

"She freaked out," said Bucky gruffly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "It was my fault, I bumped the light switch while we were playing and the lights turned out but her lamp wasn't on so it was all dark. Sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, Ducky," said Tony, standing up and walking around the room, soothingly rocking from side to side as he did, patting Emmy's back and letting the girl sob into his shirt. "You're okay. I've got you. You're here, not there. I promise she can't hurt you anymore. Come on, you're fine."

"This is our daughter, Emmy," said Steve, feeling like he needed to explain to the boy. "She's had a bit of a rough time of it and doesn't really talk. We were going to introduce you two at breakfast in the morning."

"It's okay, I already met her at school," said Peter, not at all concerned. "Flash pushed me and I accidently knocked her over during the fire drill and walked her outside when we got separated from our classes."

"You're the nice big kid?" said Steve with an adoring smile. "Emmy told us all about you."

Peter beamed at the praise and Steve finally understood exactly what Tony had meant the day they met Emmy, how the billionaire had talked to the girl and just known she was the one.

"Tony," said Steve softly as Tony came back and sat down on the couch next to him, Emmy still shaking in his arms but no longer sobbing. "He's mine."

"Now who's possessive?" grinned Tony

*The end. I can't believe it's over. I hope you enjoyed it as much as me. Now for the next question.

Sequel or no?

Always-Ari