But He Likes Parker More

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/17866775.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Iron Man
(Movies)
Character: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Peter Parker
Additional Tags: Parent Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark Friendship, Tony Stark
Angst, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting,
Tony Stark Is Not Helping, Uncle Steve Rogers, Child Neglect,
Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Series: Part 4 of Dad!Tony Stark
Stats: Published: 2019-02-20 Words: 1,829 Chapters: 1/1

But He Likes Parker More

by orphan_account

Summary

Y/N had felt like she had lost her father's attention to his new intern Peter Parker, who was
everything she wasn't: Smart, good at science, literally a superhero and lived up to Tony's
expectations. Steve was more of a father to her than he ever was, and after months of
watching her suffer he confronts Tony about his behaviour, who is horrified to discover that
he is exactly like the man he hated most as a kid: his own father.

Notes

not going to lie, this isn't fantastic and is very dialogue based but I hope you enjoy anyway

4 hours. It had been 4 hours since you were supposed to leave for school and your dad was still yet
to notice the fact that you were sat in the living room playing video games and blasting Metallica
from your speakers. He was home. Even though you hadn't seen him all morning, not even for him
to wish you a good day or to say goodbye, you knew he was in the tower because you could hear
him in the lab with Peter, who had called in sick from school so he could work on a project with
your dad. You huffed, an odd pool of jealously spiralling in your stomach. It wasn't fair. It was like
he had completely forgotten that he even had a daughter because he was so bothered about the boy
he treated like a son.
"Y/N?"

You turned to see Steve in the door way, an eyebrow raised at the fact you were still in your
pyjamas and on your Xbox at 12pm.

"Hey Uncle Steve" you greeted. Your voice sounded quite chipper, unlike your mood.

"Hey Kid, shouldn't you be in school?"

You groaned, pausing your game. Yes, at 15 years old you were still huffing when an adult said
something sensible that you disapproved of.

"didn't feel like it" you replied, sadness lacing your voice. "plus if Peter gets to bunk off and stay in
the tower all day then why can't i?"

He shook his head and let a slight chuckle escape his lips as he strolled over to the sofa you sat on.
He took a seat next to you and made himself comfortable. "you know your dad is going to be really
annoyed" Steve pointed out a matter of factly. Laughing sarcastically, you turned to face him
properly.

"bold of you to assume he'll even notice that I'm not there. I've been here all morning in plain sight
and he is still none the wiser. Maybe if he'd drove me to school like a normal dad i wouldn't have
chance to bunk off"

Steve could tell how pissed off you were and pulled you into a hug, rubbing small circles on your
back and sighing. He wanted to argue, but honestly he saw your point and to an extent agreed with
you. Maybe not the skipping school part, but the fact that Tony barley paid any attention to you
since Peter came along. "i swear you give me more affection than he does"

He pulled away from the hug and held you gently at arms length, looking into your eyes with his
own sad, sympathetic ones. "he loves you Y/N"

"maybe, but regardless likes Parker more"

Were you being dramatic? Maybe. But you couldn't care less. In your head you were being
perfectly reasonable.
"you should talk to him about this" Steve suggested, releasing your arms. You groaned.

"I've tried. More than once. He always tells me that he's too busy and that whatever it is can wait"

Captain Rogers looked angry, but seemed to remain calm. It annoyed him how much the girl he
saw as family was hurting, and that the only person who could fix it was blissfully ignorant to the
fact that she was upset.

yeah. Okay. Yes I'll talk to her. Uh huh. Right. Yeah I'll send her in as soon as I can. Thanks for
letting me know. Bye

You sighed and mentally debated whether you would have time to run and hide from your father,
who sounded more than pissed off on the phone. However, before you could even stand up he
appeared at the door. He looked absolutely furious.

"dear daughter of mine" he began

"oh good. You are aware of my existence after all. I was starting to think otherwise" you
interrupted, sarcasm leaking from your words.

"don't play smart with me young lady" he snapped. You rolled your eyes. "can you please explain
to me why I've just had a phone call from your teacher complaining about the 'father-daughter trip
to the beach' I've apparently pulled you out of school for?"

Smirking, you shrugged. "what is it? Not a fan of the beach? Neither am I to be honest, but i had no
idea what a father daughter trip actually looked like so i had to use my imagination. If it makes you
feel any better, next time you can choose the place we don't go"

Before he could reply, you stood up off the sofa and stormed away, accidently nudging Steve who
was still sat beside you, probably wishing he was still frozen at this point.

Tony looked defeated and sighed, then glared at Steve. "Why didn't you tell me she was still
here?"
He sighed and began explaining himself. "I've only been here a few minutes. I'm surprised you
eventually noticed she hadn't left" he snapped

A look of guilt spread across Tony's features, but was soon replaced by anger. "excuse me?"

"have you even spoken to her today before now? She seemed pretty upset, have you even noticed
that? For days she's been slumping around and looking depressed. Have you even asked her why?
Or were you too busy for that? Do you know what she said to me earlier? She thinks that you like
Peter more than her. She sounded so distraught and i wanted to tell her that wasn't the case. That
she was wrong. But i couldn't because I could see exactly what she means". Steve continued
ranting at your father, who stood completely speechless. He wanted to argue, to defend himself but
for once he realised he was in the wrong. "remember how you felt as a child? When Howard talked
endlessly about me?"

"oh god" Tony was as white as a sheet. He ran a hand over his forehead and sat down. "I've done
the exact same thing to her haven't I?"

Rogers nodded.

Tony thought he was going to vomit. He had become the man he had spent his whole life
resenting. Pushed his own daughter away, just like his dad and done to him. Spent all of him
energy on someone else, just like he did. "Fuck. I'm gonna go talk to her. Try and fix this"

There was a light knock on your door, which you ignored. Whether it was Steve or your dad, you
weren't in the mood. You had spent the last few months dealing with everything on your own and
you were more than willing to continue that no matter how much it hurt. Regardless, your dad
entered your room and stood sheepishly at your door. "can we talk?"

All you had wanted for the last god knows how long had just been offered to you, but right now
you felt reluctant to accept it. "you actually want to talk? What happened- Parker lose his tongue?"

"I'm sorry"

You sighed, letting all of your defences drop. Those were the words you had wanted to hear from
him for weeks now, so the least you could do was hear him out. You didn't have the energy to fight
with him anymore. And honestly? You craved attention from your father so now that you were
finally getting it you were so scared to lose it. "yeah. I am too"
Tony physically winced as he heard the crack in your voice as you spoke. As much as he wanted to
deny it, he had hurt the person he cared about more than anything else in the world. Because of
him, his precious little girl felt alone and unloved, in someone else's shadow like he always had and
he just prayed that she would forgive him.

"Cap talked sense into me" he began. "i didn't realise until now how much I was hurting you"

Tears built in your eyes and threatened to fall, yet you managed to keep them at bay. "please say
something"

"don't get me wrong. I love being a Stark, i wouldn't ever change it. But it isn't easy; there's a lot to
live up to"

That feeling was all too familiar to him. The fear of not being enough, the worry of disappointing
his father.

"I feel like Peter lives up to your expectations a lot more than I do. I've tried to change, to be better
at science and maths but no matter what i do I can't get it right. I Can't be what you want me to be:
what Peter actually is. It's like he has so much more in common with you; he's a superhero for
starters. But me? I like music and literature, not physics and algebra. I can't save the world, i can't
invent anything or fix something. The shit I'm actually good at makes so little difference to
people's lives and I can't make you proud like he can"

Tony could feel his heart physically break in two. He had failed as a father, become all of the
things he swore he would never. Everything he hated about his father he had come and he despised
himself for it.

"baby" he whispered, pulling you into his arms. "I'm truly so sorry. I swore I would be a better
father than my own and it turns out i'm exactly like him. Please let me make it up to you"

"what happened with your dad?" you asked. You knew your grandfather was a sensitive subject to
him but you were curious and if you were honest, you believed you were owed an explanation. It
seemed your dad agreed.

"he put too much pressure on me to be like him. When i wasn't, he never seemed proud of me. I
tried hard to impress him and i never could. But captain perfect downstairs? He was exactly what
my dad wanted in a son and would never stop talking about him. It broke my heart, i was so
insecure because of it and i was so oblivious to the fact that I've done the exact same thing to you"

You curled into your father more and lay your head on his shoulder. "i know you didn't mean to"
you whispered. You could never hate your father, no matter how angry you were at him. You
knew that he had a good heart and tried his best, even if his priorities got mixed up sometimes

"one thing he never said was that he was proud. I think that was the worst thing. So i want you to
know that I am so so proud of you baby. I don't care that you don't like science, i couldn't give a
damn whether you want to be an engineer. I know how talented you are. I've read what you write,
I've heard you sing and play. it's incredible You are so wonderfully creative and i am so sorry it
took me until now for me to tell you all of this"

"that's okay dad. I love you"

"i love you too, bug"

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