Work Text:
Quiet song in the background. Man bustling around the kitchen. The smell of the newspaper and coffee. The feeling of the morning sun on the skin, the teaser of the heat, coming to hit the town later that day.
Tony drew a deep breath into his lungs and took all of that in, trying to calm down his racing heart. He took a sip of his coffee and turned the page of the newspaper, pretending that he was very interested in some actor's death from overdose.
'God, that could've been me a couple of years ago,' he thought darkly. The feeling of displacement hit him once again. A couple of years ago he would be sleeping off the hangover. Now he's sitting at 7 AM in some dingy dinner, waiting for Natasha's signal to start the action.
"Your pancakes." The owner of the place stood next to his table, looking pointedly at him. Tony realized that he stared dumbly through the window.
"Oh, thanks. Sorry."
"No worries. Hey, you look similar to Tony Stark."
Tony chuckled, "Oh yeah, I get that a lot. Unfortunately, I'm not a billionaire."
"Eh, I was hoping for an enormous tip. Anyway, enjoy your meal."
Tony thanked him, the absurdity of the situation making him feel even weirder.
As he cut into his pancake, the bell over the door rang and a lady entered. The owner greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. She sat at the bar and started talking and smiling but it was all static to Tony's ears.
A couple of years ago he would've been disgusted at the idea of sitting in some cheap food place, anonymous, blending into the background.
It was pleasant. He wondered how it would feel to really live that life. Living in a small house in a small town with Pepper as his wife. How would it feel to have a regular lifestyle, a job from 9 to 5, kids, and neighbors? Instead, he had a job that was his whole lifestyle, lived in an enormous facility for superheroes with no neighbors and super tight security. None of it was normal.
But Pepper was his wife and they had a kid. The very happy toddler that had multiple aunts and uncles. And the other kid, that wasn't really his, but still Tony came to consider him as his own. The kid's aunt who became Tony's dear friend. They had barbecue parties and movie nights. It was something that families do.
He entertained those thoughts for a moment while finishing off his meal.
Then, acting on the spot, he unblocked his phone and called the number that he really wasn't supposed to call during the mission. He waited as the call went to voicemail and then recorded his message.
"Hi Pete," he started. "I was thinking about you. We're going to finish here soon and I'm going to come back in no time. I love you, kiddo."
He watched the empty street through the window. Peace and quiet. Just another Tuesday for people at the bar.
The inconspicuous white van rolled into his view. But Tony knew what it meant.
Showtime.
They came back to the compound. After the debriefing, they went to the living quarters.
Pepper was making dinner in the kitchen and Morgan was helping her. Comfort filled his heart when he spotted the strawberry-blonde hair. He approached her, and gently put his hand on her back.
Blue eyes looked at him.
"Hi honey, I'm home." And they kissed.
Some time later he sat in the kitchen with Natasha and he confessed all of his weird feelings from the morning at the dinner. She understood.
"I'm thinking about the same thing sometimes," she said softly. After the pause, she continued carefully, "Normal life sounds tempting but it would turn frustrating very quickly. It’s not really for you or me. And you know that very well.”
They sat in silence for a moment.
“You know,” Natasha suddenly continued. “We really have a lot.”
“Like money?” Tony said dryly.
“Yeah, but I mean. Friends, family. When you’re going to wake up tomorrow, Steve is going to be cooking breakfast, complaining that everyone is late. You’re going to drive Morgan to preschool. Later Happy is going to bring her back, with Peter and you’re going to hole up in the workshop. Pepper is going to drag you out. In the future, we will go on another mission. Then we’ll come back. And everything will repeat.” She talked faster now and had to take a breath. “Just because we’re not a standard family and we don’t have a typical routine doesn’t mean that we’re not family or that the routine doesn’t exist here. It does. It's just… unconventional.”
‘Unconventional,’ Tony repeated in his mind. Yeah, that fitted.
A constant in the world of chaos. He found it.
Tony Stark was a lucky man.