A year to Remember. Part 3, The Conclusion

The Sons of the Father

knock knock knock*. Rhodey looks out from his bathroom, now in sweats and a tank top, he can't even reply before the billionaire barges through the door. He also doesn't bother much, letting Tony pace around while he finishes washing up. "Well Platypus, what the hell are you doing? Can't you see I'm panicking here?"

He wants attention, he often does when he's like this. "Come in. Hi Tony, no I haven't gone to bed yet. Yes I'm happy to talk". Rhodes deadpans, catching them up to the discussion, Tony grumbling at the response. "I'm serious platypus".

Chuckling, he does what they always did. "Ok, Tony, sit down and vent". He grabs Tony on both shoulders and drags him to a little seating area in his room. "What's the problem?".

"I called Pete Son", he blurts out, already at the forefront of his mind and fighting to get out. Rhodey's already absolutely stunned, "you called him son? You told him? What did he say?" he rapid fires the questions as soon as he thinks them.

Shaking his head, Tony replies just as quickly and anxiously as Rhodey, "He was asleep, don't think he heard me. What am I gonna do platypus?".

"Adopt him?", Rhodey replies confused, didn't they already have this conversation? "It's not that easy Rhodey", Tony sighs, pressing his palms onto his eyes. Rhodey lightly squeezes Tony's shoulder, a sort of light secret massage, "I'm here Tony, Pep too. Want me to call her?".

He shakes again, "she's already asleep, don't want to wake her". Again Rhodey's struck with Tony both anticipating others' needs and being open about it. "Wait, so if I was asleep would you've stayed agonising over this till tomorrow?".

That's when he freezes, like a child that was caught putting his hand in the cookie jar. "Tony, if you ever want to talk and your anxieties are getting the better of you, please wake me up. I'm sure Pepper has told you the same at least a dozen times", Tony reluctantly nods, "see. Wake us up Tony, or I'll get Peter involved in this agreement too".

Now Tony's the one dumbfounded, Rhodey the one rolling his eyes. "He cares about you Tony, and if he hears for one second you're panicking alone then he's gonna insist you or FRIDAY wake him up just to help you". Tony relaxes, Rhodey sleepily resting his head on Tony's shoulder, "deal?"

"Deal", Tony smiles, a sign to Rhodey it's safe to talk and pry. "Shouldn't we ask Clint or Scott for help on this? They and your lawyers did take care of Wanda and Pietro's adoption a few months ago".

Tony's stirring shakes him off, "Those two blabber mouths? They'd tell half the tower in a few hours". They're not that bad, but Rhodey knows how much this means to Tony, .1% might as well be 50% to him. "And that was public adult adoption, this is different".

That's what Rhodey was looking for, an opening, "How so?", he smirks.

"I need this adoption to be secret. Peter doesn't know this but I made various protocols and got FRIDAY taking down and distracting from any news about him and his friends being interns". Tony explains, "most people don't know they're our Mentees, we had most of the tower's staff sign NDA's, and even then info still breaks through".

Rhodey only looks more and more amazed at how much Tony's done to protect his kid. "If a single reporter caught wind to any adoption documents, poor kid's gonna be swamped with reporters without having asked for it".

"You mean, like you were Tony?" He asks, even through the years there's not much Tony's told him from before they met, but enough to guess. Tony nods, "Kid deserves better than to be under constant scrutiny, he's too good for them, too good for this world".

A quick hug later, Tony continues his point, "since I need this to be secret, the lawyers said it could take months". Rhodey presses his hand on Tony's back, "but it'll be fine, it's only a few months, and I'll be here whatever you need".