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Tony could say he was pretty much used to everything that could possibly surprise him, he had dealt with literal aliens for God's sake. So, when he lifted his face, from where he was working with some delicate stuff in his workshop, to three pairs of eyes staring pleadingly at him, he could be man enough to admit he had not expected that.
"What are you three doing here?" Tony asked once he recovered from the shock. If they were able to bypass FRIDAY, who announced their presence every time they stepped foot in his workshop, he probably should have a nice chat with them about how wrong it was to keep overriding FRIDAY's protocols, though he was sure FRIDAY let them most of the time.
"We wanted to ask you something," Mary said sweetly once she had rounded the table and climbed into his lap.
"And what would that be?" Tony asked suspiciously, brushing a stray of her blond hair behind her ear. They only ever teamed up when they wanted to gain forces to get whatever it was they wanted.
"We want a puppy!" the three of them said simultaneously.
Tony had certainly not been expecting that.
"Why do you want a puppy?" Tony asked them.
"Ned got one and he brought it to class the other day," Peter said excitedly.
"Besides, you said we could ask for anything for our birthdays, so we'll unite our wishes and just ask this one thing," Harley added next to Peter.
Alright, that was a pretty great bargain.
"Have you asked your Papa?" Tony asked.
"No," Mary answered.
It was now obvious they had gone to him on purpose, he could admit he was the more easy-going parent. Steve would complain about him giving them too much leeway and spoiling them, but those were children and if he could he would give them the world.
"If it were up to me I'd say yes," Tony said which immediately prompted the kids to get excited, "but you know who has the final word."
That made them lose their excitement a bit.
"Fine, but you can at least help us convince him," Harley said.
"I'm sure if you ask him as you did with me he'll say yes," Tony told them.
He was sure Steve would agree once he saw how passionate they were about getting a pet. They had been putting it off in the past because they were still too young but now that was no excuse. In some months Harley was going to be ten and the others were not staying far behind, Peter being seven and Mary four. He'd say he missed them being smaller but they had Morgan with ten months to remind them that the toddler stage was better than the baby stage.
"Come one, just one more," Steve said, practically begging Morgan while shoving the spoon full of green pudding that was supposed to taste of broccoli, pears, and peas, only for Morgan to turn her face like she had been doing for the past fifteen minutes. "It's super yummy, see," he said while shoving the spoon to his mouth only to immediately take the thing out. Who the hell thought this was a flavor babies would wanna eat.
"Alright, you win this one, how about some fruit instead?" Steve asked, which only made Morgan giggle. He would take that as a yes.
After having cut a banana into small pieces Steve turned only to be met with three pairs of equally pleading eyes.
Already knowing that they were gonna ask for something, Steve made his way back to Morgan to feed her some fruit, which she thankfully loved.
"Go on," Steve told his three children calmly.
After some seconds where it looked like they were deciding who would be the one to speak, Harley spoke up.
"Can we get a puppy?" Harley asked, and then added sheepishly, "please?"
It was actually a surprise to Steve that they hadn't asked before.
Before Steve could answer Mary spoke. "Daddy said you would say yes."
Of course Tony would let him be the bad cop and have the final say. But also, if Tony were the one having the final say the kids would probably be surrounded by mountains of things they wanted. That didn't mean he was a bad parent but sometimes he wanted to give them too much and Steve had to be there to stop him and remind him that their children loved him even when he had to set his foot down and say no to them.
"You have to know that having a pet is a big responsibility, it is not just playing all day, you have to feed them and take them out," Steve said while still feeding Morgan.
"Of course," Peter said enthusiastically.
Steve had a hunch he would be the one who would have to feed the pet and take them out but he also didn't want to say no, they were good kids and he was sure they would try their best.
"Fine," Steve said, prompting the three children to jump in delight, making Morgan giggle around a mouthful of bananas.
"Not too fast,'' Steve said when they made to go running.
"I expect you to be responsible and not just forget about them once you grow bored, we'll go looking at shelters tomorrow."
"Of course!"
"Thank you."
"You won't regret it!"
And with that Steve was left alone with Morgan once again until a pair of arms hugged him from behind.
"I take it the answer was positive," Tony said as he gathered Morgan in his arms, making her grin.
"Yes, we'll go looking at the shelter tomorrow," Steve said and took the opportunity to continue feeding Morgan while she was still in Tony's arms.
"You hear that little miss, soon you'll have a little friend to play with," Tony told Morgan which made her babble incoherently.
"I love you," Steve said as he pressed a kiss to Tony's cheek.
"What was that for?" Tony asked, smiling softly at him.
"Nothing," Steve answered with a smile of his own.
His family could definitely be a little weird and exhausting at times but there wasn’t a thing he would change about them.