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“Are we near where Ariel lives?” Morgan asked excitedly.
“Um… I don’t think so, kiddo,” Tony answered, shifting her to his other hip, as he tried to remember the details of the movie. Come to think of it, he was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep right after they’d sung Under the Sea.
“I think Ariel lives near the Atlantic Ocean, and this is the Pacific Ocean,” Steve chimed in as they reached the sandy beach.
“Wasn’t the guy who wrote it from Denmark?” Peter asked as Steve nodded.
“Who’s from Denmark?” Morgan’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she tried to keep up with the conversation.
“Hans Christian Andersen, the man who wrote the story of The Little Mermaid,” Tony answered in his usual matter of fact way.
“But Ariel isn’t a story, she’s real!” Morgan eyed her dad curiously.
“Well, I mean-“ Tony tried to find a way to explain it without breaking her fairy tale loving heart.
“Hey Morgan, wanna know what I heard?” Steve cut him off. “Remember Anna and Elsa, and Rapunzel? I hear, they all live near Ariel and Prince Eric.”
Morgan’s eyes grew exponentially at Steve’s revelation. “Really?!” she squealed out in delight.
“Really really,” Steve nodded with that soft smile that was reserved for those moments when Morgan’s attention was all on him. Tony would have been lying if he’d said that wasn’t his favourite look on Steve, really really.
They finished their walk towards the shady part of the beach where they had a picnic table and lounge chairs waiting for them, as Morgan chattered away about tea parties and singing crustaceans with Steve. When they reached the table, Tony set Morgan down, while Steve and Peter unloaded what felt like the contents of the whole house by their feet, and Peter grabbed Morgan by the hand to go run around on the beach with her while Steve and Tony set up lunch.
Tony looked fondly at the two of them, running towards the water. Peter had taken up the role of honorary big brother so easily. He adored Morgan. Was so patient with her and protected her more fiercely than anyone else – maybe even Tony some days. Steve’s arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, Tony letting himself settle against his chest easily, his own hands coming up to lay on Steve’s arms.
“This was a good idea, sweetheart,” Steve whispered against Tony’s ear before placing a gentle kiss in his hair.
They had two weeks straight with Morgan, and Tony had promised Peter they’d go to Malibu at some point and visit the R&D division on the west coast, so they’d decided to make a vacation out of it. The moment they arrived, Morgan had declared they had to have a beach day, and Tony couldn’t deny his daughter’s deepest desires, so he’d planned for just that. Having his own private beach sure didn’t hurt sometimes.
“Thanks for the save with Morgan. I would never have thought of linking those three movies. Good thinking, Cap,” Tony turned just enough to reach Steve’s lips, kissing him sweetly.
“You are very welcome, but I didn’t pull that out of my ass. There are actual theories about it,” Steve smirked.
“When did you start being a Disney conspiracy theory expert?” Tony quirked an eyebrow, as Steve chuckled.
Steve shrugged like it was no big deal. “I learned about robotics and quantum physics so I could keep up with you and Pete, least I could do was brush up on some Disney stuff for Morgan.”
Tony just stared at him for a moment, once again in awe of what Steve would do to make sure his daughter was never left out. “I love you,” he blurted out, not for the first time when he found another amazing trait in Steve.
Steve just leaned down to kiss him as an answer, slow and sweet. Which of course meant that was when the kids had come back.
“Daddy! Less kissing!! I’m hungry,” Morgan whined between giggles as Peter tried to cover her eyes.
“Yeah, less kissing, Mr. Stark,” Peter added.
“That’s rich coming from you, Mr. Made kissy faces with MJ for 20 minutes before he got on the plane yesterday,” Tony snapped back, with a smirk. Steve laughed, and Peter blushed. Tony went back to kissing Steve, who was now turning beet red behind him. Morgan giggled furiously as her dad littered Steve’s face with loud pecks, and Peter made mock-offended sounds in the background.
“Okay, okay,” Steve finally pulled Tony away just enough so he couldn’t kiss him anymore. “Give us 10 minutes, and everything’s going to be ready.”
The kids ran off again while they set out lunch. They came back exactly 10 minutes later, with Morgan brandishing a seashell she’d found along the water. Tony and Steve had settled on opposite sides of the picnic table, and Morgan leapt in Steve’s lap to show him her beautifully coloured treasure. Tony couldn’t contain his smile as he took in the sight in front of him. Steve was engrossed in Morgan’s story about the shell, brushing her hair out of her eyes as he prepared her plate – making sure to add extras of her favourites, but reminding her she still had to eat the one piece of broccoli he’d put on it. He put her hair up in a bun so she could eat, and he continued to talk to her about Arendelle and Atlantica and Corona.
Peter and Tony finished their lunch long before Steve and Morgan. Tony had offered to take over with Morgan so Steve could go do anything else, but Steve had just waved him off, telling him he was perfectly fine where he was. Peter appeared with a frisbee and him and Tony were off.
They spent the afternoon playing in the sun and water, Steve and Morgan joining in once they were done – and after Steve applied another heavy dose of sunscreen on Morgan. They built a sandcastle, and played with the beach balls and water guns they’d brought. They swam around in the ocean for a while before Tony declared he needed a break. He left Steve with Peter and Morgan as he went to the loungers and took a much needed break. Tony closed his eyes, catching his breath as he took in the sounds of the water rolling in on the shore, and his daughter, boyfriend, and practically-adopted-son playing along the beach. The sounds of their laughter and happy shrieks mingling together. Tony let himself drift mindlessly.
This was better than he’d ever imagined, especially when it seemed they had lost so much for a while after the first round of Thanos in their lives. Things had changed over the years, and he truly didn’t think he’d gain this much happiness, and yet, here he was. When things didn’t go exactly as he’d expected with Pepper, he thought that was it, and then… Steve came back in his life.
The sound of Morgan crying snapped him back to reality, and he opened his eyes to Steve crouching over her and Peter running back towards her. In seconds, Steve had scooped her into his arms and was bringing her to Tony.
“What happened?” Tony asked as he sat up.
“She was trying to catch me, and just as she reached me, she tripped and fell in the sand,” Steve explained as he settled Morgan in Tony’s lap. He dusted off the sand from her knees as Tony held her, making sure there weren’t any actual injuries, and dutifully kissed the one she pointed to as being the culprit of her malcontent. When she snuggled into the crook of Tony’s neck, whimpers mostly died down, Steve mouthed ‘tired’ to Tony, with a soft smile.
“Hand me her towel, will ya?” Tony asked as he leaned back on the chair, getting comfortable. He draped the oversized Tinkerbell beach towel over Morgan.
“I can bring her upstairs to bed if you want?”
“Not tired,” Morgan cut in, confirming her statement with a giant yawn.
“I know you’re not, Morguna. Daddy just wants some snuggles for a bit, you can go play again after,” Tony told her as he kissed her head, Morgan already half-way to dream land. He turned to Steve, who gave him another sweet kiss before heading back to Peter with a football for them to throw.
He snuggled in on the chair, Morgan already passed out over him. He watched Steve and Peter toss the ball around, Peter heckling Steve about not using his full strength.
“Oh yeah, Queens? Why don’t you try and catch this then!” Steve yelled out as he chucked the ball with enough strength that Peter couldn’t catch up to it. The whole exchange resulted in a very competitive throwing match between the two that had them running far enough down the beach that Tony could barely see them, prompting Tony to add footballs capable of withstanding super-human strength to his list of things to create. Maybe he could do that with Peter tomorrow.
He closed his eyes again, content and happy with this day. He hadn’t been sure how things would go, the four of them away from New York, alone together for the first time. But from the moment they got on the plane, it was clear that Morgan had adopted Steve as being as much part of her family as Tony and Pepper were. Peter had often told Tony as well how great it was to see him so happy with Steve, and he loved watching the two of them interact. Even though it was only their first full day in California, Tony could tell that they’d be okay.
He opened his eyes to see Steve doing tricep raises while holding Peter by the feet behind his back, lifting him smoothly up and down while Peter laughed hysterically. Tony stifled a laugh at the scene, as he heard Steve count to 20, mumble an ‘I told you so’, and Peter easily performed a handstand when Steve let go of his feet. They were both laughing as they walked towards him.
“Do I even want to know?” Tony asked.
“Trust me, you don’t,” Steve answered back. He and Peter started slowly packing up their things so they could have dinner back at the house. When they had everything ready to go, Steve offered to grab Morgan so Tony could stand up, and before Tony was even out of the chair, Steve was carrying her back, leaving their beach bag full of towels for Tony to bring instead.
When both kids were settled in their rooms for the night, after a late evening making smores and watching the stars, Tony snuggled himself between Steve’s legs on a lounge chair, resting his head on Steve’s chest.
“Today was so nice,” Steve finally said, nuzzling Tony’s dark curls affectionately.
“Thank you, Steve,” Tony replied. He looked up to see a slightly puzzled Steve looking down at him. “Thank you for loving them and taking care of them like you do.”
“Of course,” Steve replied, still looking, and now sounding, puzzled. “They are both so amazing, Tony. Morgan reminds me of you so much. She is so curious and smart. She is an amazing little girl. Peter too. They are both part of your life, and I wouldn’t dream of ignoring them just because they aren’t mine.”
“Lots of people would though. You jumped right in and learned all about Andalusia-“
“Arendelle.”
“-just so you’d have something to tell her, on the off chance it ever came up. That’s more than I ever could have asked for.”
“You will never have to ask me to love your daughter, Tony. I adored her even before we got together, I’ve told you that before. And I meant it. I’m not here to step on yours or Pepper’s toes. You and Morgan come as a package deal, and there was never a doubt in my mind that she had to want me around as much as you did for this to work. And if I need to brush up on some Disney movies and trivia, then it’s the least I can do.”
“Winning Peter over might be harder you know,” Tony added after a beat, trying to tame the emotions burning behind his eyes.
Steve furrowed his brow, “I can wield Mjolnir, and he saw me do it. He knows I’m worthy of you.”
Tony burst out laughing, pulling himself up into Steve’s lap so he could kiss him properly. When they finally pulled back for air, Tony let their foreheads meet, breathing in deeply. “Thank you for loving them as much as you love me.”