Surrogate Son

The Italy Situation

Summary: Peter and Tony find themselves taking a summer trip to Italy (not in the year 2020) after Tony volunteers himself to be the tour guide. While taking Peter around to his favourite spots, Tony may have accidentally introduced him to one or two (or everyone) people as his "Figlio".

Peter was having a blast. It was their fifth day in Italy and after eating gelato late into the night, Peter was ready to eat more as they toured Rome. Tony had a perfectly planned out itinerary for the day, but Peter knew if he asked, they would drop everything just to do what Peter asked. That wasn't to say they wouldn't get around to the itinerary eventually. Tony was extremely proud of himself for making such a thing and would not let Peter bully him into ignoring it.

"Some things are too important to explore without a list of places to go," Tony had said on the second day. Peter knew how important Italy was to Tony, so after that, he'd stopped teasing him about the itinerary. Besides, the itinerary hadn't failed them yet and without it, Peter wouldn't have had the best pasta he'd ever had.

"Are you ready yet?" Peter whined from the bed. He'd finished getting ready ten minutes ago and Tony was taking forever.

"I'm ready," Tony announced. Peter sprang up from the bed and bounced all the way to the door, watching impatiently as Tony grabbed his wallet and phone before following him out into the hotel hallway. "Apparently the gelato hasn't worn off yet."

"No, it has," Peter said, "But we should definitely get more for breakfast."

Tony turned to scrutinize Peter, pretending to think about saying no. Peter rolled his eyes and pressed the elevator button.

"Fine," Tony ceded. Peter grinned, already trying to figure out which flavour he'd try this time. "Just don't tell May."

"Promise," Peter said.

They walked from the hotel to the nearest gelato shop a couple of blocks away. Tony ordered for both of them, smirking at Peter as he finished in fluent Italian. Most of the trip, they hadn't needed to speak anything but English; Tony, however, still liked to flaunt his knowledge of the language every now and then.

Once they had their gelato, Tony hailed them a cab and they drove to their first destination.

Peter wasn't picky about what they did, he was just thrilled Tony had taken him to Italy for free. He loved wandering the old streets and hearing the locals calling to each other in their native language. Part of him envied Mr. Stark for being able to understand it all and join in any conversation. He even found himself making a mental note to ask Mr. Stark if he would teach it to him. Thanks to his knowledge of Spanish, he was able to pick up on a few things here and there. Every now and then, though, Tony would throw out a word Peter had no luck of understanding. For example, every time they'd come across someone Tony knew from years before, Tony would call Peter "my figlio". After the third time of hearing it, Peter decided to just look up the word while Tony chatted on to his friend in Italian.

Figlio: (Italian) son

Well. That certainly hadn't been what Peter was expecting. Before he could fully process it, though, Mr. Stark was saying goodbye to his friend and pulling Peter down the sidewalk.

"Come on," he said, guiding Peter through the crowded market. "I'll show you where Nonna and I used to feed pigeons."

"Is Nonna your mom?" Peter blurted before he could convince himself not to. Both he and Tony froze, receiving a few angry mutters as people pushed past them.

"Uh, yeah," Tony said awkwardly, looking around before pulling Peter to the side of the walkway so they weren't in the way. "Sorry, I guess I've just been thinking of her as your Nonna this whole time."

"No, it's okay!" Peter said, rushing to reassure him. "I'd never had a Nonna before. Your mom sounds like a good one."

"Oh, she'd be the best, Peter," Tony said with a soft smile. "She'd take you shopping whenever you wanted and keep homemade ice cream in the freezer just for you. I bet she'd even teach you Italian before I could and you would pretend not to understand. She would have been wonderful." A sad smile replaced the soft one Tony'd had before and Peter immediately felt bad for making him think of sad things during a fun trip.

"I'm sorry," Peter said softly. Tony brushed him off and they merged back into the moving traffic on the sidewalk.

"No trip to Italy would be complete without thinking of her at some point," Tony said, plastering a smile they both knew was fake. In a hope to distract Tony from his sad thoughts, Peter pointed out yet another gelato shop and Tony chuckled. "Sure, what harm could more gelato bring?"

It was as Peter was gobbling up his pistachio gelato that the Italian word he'd looked up before came to mind. He glanced over at Tony who was eating his own gelato and glancing around the plaza.

"Hey, Tony?" Peter asked, drawing Tony's attention from the plaza to Peter. "What's figlio mean?"

Tony's eyes widened a little and he nearly missed his gelato when he went to eat some more. Peter happily licked his spoon clean then looked at Tony again.

"You keep introducing me as it," Peter said. Tony awkwardly cleared his throat and looked down at his melting gelato, thankful he'd ordered it in a cup, not a cone.

"Well, um, it means, uh--"

"Son?" Peter offered, trying to help Tony in his stuttering. Tony just nodded, looking more uncomfortable by the minute. Peter grinned. "What's the word for dad in Italian?"

"Wait, wha-what?" Tony stuttered. Before Peter could clarify, Tony realised what he meant and smiled. "Papa. You can either say Papa or Babbo, but personally," Tony said, beginning to ramble, "Babbo sounds a little strange. Of course, they're both fine so it's up to you to choose which you like best, but Papa is--"

"Yeah, I think I'll stick with the regular ol' Dad," Peter interrupted. He liked Italian, but he couldn't help but think of grandfather when he thought of the word Papa no matter what language it was.

"That's--" Tony squeaked, "That's a good choice too," he said, clearing his throat and looking down at his gelato.

"Glad you like it," Peter said quietly, trying not to turn too red as Tony's smile grew. "I kind of like figlio, though, if that's your preference."

"I think the regular ol' Son is good," Tony grinned, pulling Peter into a one-armed hug while trying not to spill his gelato. Peter beamed even when Tony finally let go of him. Gelato was no longer the best thing in his life.