It's a Secret to Everybody

by Snapdragon_in_the_Snow

Summary:

“I have kids," Clint said. "I know dad behavior when I see it.”
Tony blinked multiple consecutive times, processing the statement. “Excuse me?”
“Tony,” Steve said now, “how long have you had a son? And how come we’ve never known about him?”
“Yeah,” Clint spoke again, “I thought I was the only one with a secret family. Turns out you’ve had one longer than me!”
-------
Peter gets to spend all summer living in Avengers Tower with Tony. When the Rogue Avengers get pardoned and come back to live at the Tower too, they're confused as to who Peter is. However, once they see how Tony acts around Peter, that confusion goes away, as they know for certain who Peter must be - Tony's secret son.
Tony and Peter decide to make the most of the situation, and play along. They hope they can keep up the act all summer. But they soon learn that they barely have to act at all.

Notes:

(Edit: In case you're wondering, yes I did change my username.)

Chapter 1: There's 104 Days of Summer Vacation

Notes:

After writing my REALLY SAD Endgame-compliant story, I had to write some nice fluff. That's what this is! I hope you all like it. If you ever want to read some really sad stuff though, you can go read my sad fic right here. But if not, keep reading this for some fluffy good happy times!

(Also yes the title of this fic is a Legend of Zelda reference. And the title of this chapter is a Phineas and Ferb reference lol.)

Peter was excited, because one: school had ended, and two: he was going to get to spend the whole summer with Tony at Avengers Tower. May was doing some volunteer hospital work around the country for the summer, and Tony agreed to let him stay at the Tower during that time. Ever since Peter stopped the Vulture and Tony gave him back his suit, they’d grown closer. Peter would go over to the Tower on the weekends or even some days after school and help Tony in his lab. Sometimes he’d stay for dinner, they’d watch a movie, and sometimes Peter even stayed overnight in his own room in the Tower. Tony mentored him, in superhero life and in teenager life, and became a prominent father figure to Peter. Peter even accidentally called him ‘Dad’ a couple times, like that one scene from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Happy picked Peter up from his last day of school and drove to the Tower. The kid’s suitcases and bags from his apartment in Queens were already packed into the trunk of the black Audi SUV. Peter was glad Tony decided not to sell Avengers Tower after all, because Peter would hate to have to drive for 3 hours back and forth between upstate NY and the city to go do Spider-Man stuff this whole summer. The Tower was right in the middle of Manhattan, so Peter would just have to swing out his bedroom window. Peter wondered why it was still called Avengers Tower, though, since most of the Avengers had moved out of the building ever since Cap and his friends went rogue the previous year. The only Avenger left living in the Tower was Tony. Vision lived there for a bit at first after the Civil War, Peter knew, but then he left to go find Wanda. It wasn’t completely loney for Tony though, because Pepper lived with him, and Rhodey came to visit often. And of course, he had Peter too.

Happy pulled up to the front of the Tower, unloaded Peter’s bags, and helped him carry them to the private elevator. They went up to top floor - Tony’s personal floor - where Peter’s room was. Peter was still a little stunned that his room was on Tony’s floor, and not with the rest of the Avengers’ dorms. Well, he used to have a room in the Avengers’ dorms, but then Tony found out about his nightmares and moved him up to a room on his personal floor. That way Tony would be closer to him in case Peter ever needed him after waking up from a nightmare. Peter had said it wasn’t necessary, but Tony insisted.

After dropping off his bags and thanking Happy, Peter ran back to the elevator and asked FRIDAY where Mr. Stark was.

“Boss is in the common room on the main Avengers level. Would you like me to take you there?” The AI’s voice rang through the elevator.

“Yes please!” Peter said. He was so excited for this summer. He and Mr. Stark were gonna build so much stuff in the lab and make so many upgrades to their suits and watch so many movies maybe Ned and MJ could even come over and maybe Shuri would come visit from Wakanda and maybe-

The elevator doors opened into the common room. Tony was nowhere to be found, but sitting on the couches in the lounge area were the Rogue Avengers - Steve, Natasha, Sam, Bucky, Clint, Wanda with Vision - all of them, just there, casually sitting on the couches. They fell silent as they saw the elevator open and Peter standing inside.

Peter blinked. Then he screamed.

“OH MY GOD! Oh my god! The Avengers are here! They’re back!” He ran to the couches. “H-Hi! I-I’m Peter! Wow, it’s so awesome to finally meet all of you for real!”

The Rogue Avengers stared at the teenage boy in front of them. They were too stunned to speak.

Luckily, Peter never shut up. “I can’t believe you’re all here! This is so cool! That means the pardon must have finally gone through! Speaking of which, um, where’s-”

“Tony?” Steve spoke up and finished Peter’s sentence. “He just went to get his coffee. He forgot to bring it up from his lab.”

“He left the room literally a second before the elevator opened,” Natasha added.

“Oh, that makes sense why FRIDAY told me that he was here,” Peter said.

The rogues looked stunned again, because they thought only Tony, Pepper, Happy, and the Avengers we able to talk to FRIDAY.

“Anyway, Peter,” Steve continued to say, “Who… exactly are you, kid?”

“Oh! Right! I’m-” Peter cut himself off. He was about to say he was Spider-Man, but he didn’t know if he should reveal his identity or not. After more than a few seconds of hesitation, he thought it was better to play it safe and go with the cover story. “I’m, uh, Mr. Stark’s personal intern.”

“Right,” Steve said, not sounding convinced. The other Avengers didn’t looked too convinced either. Whoops. Peter hoped his voice didn’t give him away and they they didn’t suspect anything.

The sound of footsteps drew near, and in the next moment Tony had entered the room, coffee in hand. “Ok, I’m back-”

Tony froze. He looked between the Avengers and Peter, then put a hand to his worried-looking face. “Right. Pete, sorry, I forgot to tell you-”

“Mr. Stark! This is awesome! The Avengers are here!” Peter ran up to Tony so he was next to him. “So that means the pardon went through?”

“Yeah, kid, it did. Sorry I forgot to tell you. They just arrived a few hours ago while you were at school. How was your last day, by the way?”

“It was boring, we never do anything the last day of school, and anyway- ” Peter turned back to the Avengers, “this is way more interesting than school!”

“Peter, calm down,” Tony placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder. He felt how Peter was vibrating with excitement. “Did you eat today?”

“Yeah, I had breakfast.”

“Did you eat lunch?”

“No, they didn’t have anything even remotely edible today. School lunch is gross.”

“Go to fridge and get something to eat before you pass out.” Tony pointed towards the kitchen connected to the lounge area of the common room.

Peter sucked his teeth. “Oh my god, I’m not gonna pass out! You’re so dramatic. Besides, I wanna meet the Avengers!”

“You’ll have plenty of time to meet them after you eat a grilled cheese, young man.” Tony took Peter’s shoulders, turned him to face the kitchen, then pushed him lightly. “I gotta talk to them first anyway. Now go eat!”

“OK, OK!” Peter said and scampered off to the kitchen area.

Tony turned back to the Avengers and let out an exhale. “So that was Peter.”

“Yeah, Peter your ‘personal intern’?” Clint said with a bit of sass in his voice and making air quotes. The the rest of the rogues also looked at Tony suspiciously.

“Yeah, he is,” Tony said, looking confused back at them.

“Bullshit, Tony,” Clint continued. “I have kids, and I know dad behavior when I see it.”

Tony blinked multiple consecutive times, processing the statement. “Excuse me?”

“Tony,” Steve said now, “how long have you had a son? And how come we’ve never known about him?”

“Yeah,” Clint spoke again, “I thought I was the only one with a secret family. Turns out you’ve had one longer than me!”

“He’s not-”

“He’s a terrible liar, Tony,” Natasha said. “You wouldn’t even need my expert spy skills to notice. He hesitated for a long time before telling us who he was, trying to think of a cover story.”

Tony placed a hand to his forehead. That was about Spider-Man, wasn’t it? Peter didn’t know if he should tell them that he was Spider-Man, so he hesitated and went with the intern cover story. And now the Avengers think he’s Tony’s son because of that. “Didn’t you guys hear him call me Mr. Stark? Did he ever call me Dad?”

“He didn’t get the chance to call you anything before we asked him who he was,” Steve said. “He only started to call you Mr. Stark once he said he was your intern.”

“And he was able to use FRIDAY,” Sam added. “I don’t think a kid that was just some intern could do that.”

“Tony, when I say you showed some dad behavior,” Clint started to say again, “I mean you really did.” The other Avengers nodded and made sounds of agreement. “You hit all the nails on their heads. You asked him about school, you told him to go eat, you even called him ‘young man’! You really expect us to believe he’s only your intern?”

Tony didn’t know what to say. Did he really say all that? He did, didn’t he? Damn, that really was some dad behavior. He didn’t realize he was that close to Peter. It warmed his heart, honestly, that they could be mistaken as father and son. Tony didn’t admit it to Peter, but the boy was like a son to him. Tony loved to mentor him and help him with homework and suit upgrades. He enjoyed Peter’s company when he stayed for dinner and when they watched movies and TV together. He didn’t mind helping Peter calm down from his nightmares, or helping him after he got hurt while out on patrol. If fact, he wanted to help. He wanted to help and protect Peter in any way possible. He wanted to make sure Peter was always safe and happy.

In a way, Peter was Tony’s son, in all but blood. Peter had even accidentally called him ‘Dad’ once or twice and then had gotten really embarrassed about it afterwards. When that happened, Tony just laughed and said he was flattered, ruffling the kid’s hair. They had similar hair, now that Tony thought about it. Peter’s was more curly than Tony’s, but they were both similar shades of brown. And Peter’s eyes were also a similar brown color to Tony’s eyes.

Tony got an idea.

His back straightened a little with confidence, and his lips curled into a smile. The Rogue Avengers had returned, and he’d forgive them for what had happened a year ago with the whole ‘Civil War’ thing, but that didn’t mean they were best friends again. After what they - especially Steve - did to betray his trust, Tony thought he had permission to mess with them a little.

“Fine, you got me,” Tony threw his hands up in defeat, channeling the best Oscar-worthy acting he could do to look convincing. “Peter’s my son.”

The Rogue Avengers looked satisfied. Tony looked to Vision, who was the only one on the couches that knew the truth, but Vision gave Tony a little smile and nodded. Very subtly, without the others noticing, he made a zipping and locking gesture across his lips.

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Steve asked.

“Yeah. He could’ve babysat my little rascals,” Clint added.

“I’ve wanted to give Peter the chance to live a normal teenage life.” Tony, unlike Peter, was an excellent liar, and sounded very convincing. He decided to bring in a little pathos to this fake backstory. “When I was a kid, my father paraded me around as his poster boy ‘wonderchild’. I was in newspapers, on TV, everywhere. I was a celebrity from birth. I didn’t want Peter to have to experience that. He goes to school with the fake last name ‘Parker’ and gets to live life as a normal teenager. Sure, he had to sacrifice being able to meet you guys, but he was able to deal with that.”

“How old is he?” Natasha asked.

“FIfteen. He’ll be sixteen this August.”

Nat squinted. “You haven’t been with Pepper for anywhere close to fifteen years.”

Uh oh. Well, time to lie again. “He’s not Pepper’s.”

“Then whose is he?”

“Listen, you guys know my crazy past,” Tony flung his hands up at his sides. “I fooled around with a lot of people. One day I got a woman pregnant. She gave me the baby and left, never to be seen again.”

“So you’ve raised him all on your own since then? Damn, you’re really good at keeping this secret,” Sam said.

“Yep, all on my own since he was a baby,” Tony said, smiling proudly. He’d really convinced them.

“That’s a lie.”

Tony and the other Avengers turned to see Peter had returned, stuffing the last bite of a grilled cheese sandwich into his mouth. Tony got a bit nervous.

“You didn’t raise me on your own. Stop taking all the credit, Dad,” Peter walked over to Tony. “There’s this woman named May who lives in Queens - I call her Aunt May cuz she’s basically an aunt to me. She’s helped us out a lot. Her last name’s Parker, so that’s why my fake last name for school is Parker.”

Tony let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief and smiled. Not only was Peter going along with the lie without Tony even asking him - and actually being a good liar for once - but also Peter had just called him ‘Dad’ in doing so. That made his heart swell with a kind of paternal pride and happiness that he rarely felt. It was nice.

“Right, right, I suppose May has helped out a lot,” Tony said, ruffling the boy’s hair. He turned back to the Rogue Avengers. “Now are you guys done interrogating me? God, you finally come back and I’m immediately bombarded with questions about my personal life.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, Tony,” Clint said, smiling a bit. “I’m not mad you didn’t tell us. I get it. I’m just excited to get to know Peter now.”

The other Avengers said similar statements expressing their excitement to get to know Peter.

“Ok, ok, fine,” Tony said, turning to Peter. “Go kiddo. Bombard them with your fanboy questions now.”

“Yes! I’ve waited so long!” Peter returned to his state of excitement from when he first walked into the common room through the elevator. He sat on one of the empty couches and began talking a mile a minute, fanboying over each Avenger and asking them all kinds of questions. Tony just smiled and sat next to his son.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

At the end of the day, once the sky had gotten dark, it was time for everyone to go to bed. The Avengers went to their bedrooms on their floors and Tony and Peter took the elevator up to the top floor. It was the first time they were alone together for the whole day. They looked at each other, then both immediately started laughing.

“Oh my god!” Peter said. “They really believe us!”

“They do, kid,” Tony slung an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “We got them good. I thought you weren’t gonna go along with me at first.”

“Nah, I could hear you guys from the kitchen. My super-hearing let me hear it all loud and clear. I can’t believe they really thought I was your son!”

“Well, it’s not that hard to believe. You’re already basically a son to me.”

Peter looked up at Tony, eyes wide. “Y-You really, uh, you really mean that?”

Tony smiled at the kid’s reaction. He looked so overwhelmingly happy, like it was everything he ever wanted to hear. “Of course, kiddo.”

Peter grinned. “Wow. Thanks. You’re, uh, you're a pretty good father figure, b-by the way.”

Tony chuckled. “Well, I already know that. You’ve called me ‘Dad’ by accident before.”

“Oh my god stoooooppp don’t bring those times up! I was so embarrassed!”

Tony laughed again. “No reason to be embarrassed about it. How was it like calling me ‘Dad’ all day today? Was that weird?”

“No no, it was fine,” Peter said, looking a little sheepish. He didn’t want to admit it to Tony, but it actually felt really normal to call him ‘Dad’, like it came naturally.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Peter stepped out. “How long are we gonna keep this up?”

Tony followed. “Let’s see if it can last all summer while you’re here.”

Peter grinned widely, half excited-looking and half mischievous-looking. “Awesome.”

“Yeah, now go to bed. It’s late.”

“Ok,” Peter started to walk in the direction of his room. “Goodnight, Mr. Stark.”

The formal title caught Tony a little by surprise. He was so used to Peter referring to him as his father all day that he forgot he didn’t normally address Tony like that. To be honest, it made his heart hurt a little that Peter felt the need to called him ‘Mr. Stark’ when they weren’t around the other Avengers, but it only made sense. Why would Peter call him ‘Dad’ when it was just the two of them in the room? Peter wasn’t his actual son.

Why did Tony feel like he wanted Peter to be his actual son?

He gave a small smile and waved to Peter as he walked away. “Goodnight, kid.”

 

Notes:

Hope you like it so far!! Please leave kudos and comments if you do! If you wanna read something else while you wait for this fic to update, you can go read my really sad fic here Thanks again for reading!

Chapter 2: He Sounds Familiar

Summary:

Tony reveals the plan to Pepper, and the Avengers get to know Tony's "son" some more.

Notes:

OMG I AM STUNNED AND AMAZED AT THE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION THIS GOT!!!! Over 500 kudus in just a few days!!!! This has more kudos than my sad fic (which is finished now btw) ever got!! I want to thank all of you so so so much for really and enjoying my fic!! All your comments are so nice! I'll try to update this fic on a regular schedule, I'm thinking like every Sunday and Thursday. Again thank you so much everyone reading this. I'm really glad you like the fic so far and I hope you like the rest. Enjoy this chapter!!!

Pepper’s plane had just landed back in New York. She had been on a business trip to South Korea for 5 days for some Stark Industries stuff in Seoul. As CEO, she had to go on many business trips like this. She was used to it. As she rolled her suitcase through the airport on her way to Happy, who was waiting to pick her up in the car, she turned her phone off airplane mode. She blinked in surprise as she saw she had multiple missed calls from Tony.

Worried, she immediately called him back as she continued to walk to the pick up place. Tony picked up after one ring. “Hey, Pep.”

“Hey, Tony. I just landed. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. I just need to warn you about something.”

“Oh no, Tony. What did you do? Did you get into a fight with the Rogue Avengers already? They’ve only been at the Tower for what, 2 days?”

“No no, don’t worry. No one’s fighting. Everything’s fine.”

“Then what is it?”

“Ok,” Tony’s voice sounded excited. Pepper hadn’t heard him like this in a while. “So, me and Peter have managed to convince the Avengers that he’s my son.”

Pepper stopped walking. “You did what?”

“They totally believe us!” Tony continued. “We’re gonna try to keep it up all summer while Peter is staying with us in the Tower. You gotta be on board though.”

Pepper shook her head in disbelief and started walking again. But the slightest smile was on her face. God, her boys. Of course they did that. They were basically father and son already.

Now, Pepper wasn’t nearly as close to Peter and Tony was, but they were still close. She’d talked to him many, many times when he came over for dinner at the Tower or when they all three sometimes watched a movie together. If she was going to play along with this, she was going to have to play her part. “So do you want Peter to call me ‘Mom’?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Tony said. “Either way, it works with the cover story I gave them.”

“Oh my god, you really went deep into this. What’s the cover story?”

Tony told her everything. He explained how the rogues didn’t believe that Peter was his intern and were convinced he was his son. He told her the fake backstory he’d made up that he’d gotten a woman pregnant in his crazy days and was left with the baby, which he then kept a secret so Peter wouldn’t have to grow up being stalked by the media.

“So,” Tony concluded, “whether you’re comfortable with him calling you mom or not, both work with the backstory, since he’s not biologically yours. We can say that out of respect, Peter still calls you your name. Or, we can say that you’ve basically been a Mom to Peter for the years that we’ve been together, and now that we’re married, he calls you ‘Mom’. You can decide either way. Whatever’s comfortable to you.”

Pepper couldn’t help but laugh a little. This was so ridiculous - them all lying to the Avengers like this. But, she had to admit, this would be fun. “Sure, he can call me ‘Mom’.”

“Yes!” Tony said on the other end of the phone line. “Thanks, Pep. See you in an hour.”

“See you in an hour, honey.”

Pepper hung up, right as she reached the pick up station. She recognised Happy standing outside the black Audi SUV. She waved to him and she walked over. Happy greeted her, put her suitcase in the trunk, then sat in the driver’s seat. Pepper sat next to him.

“Did Tony tell you about his little prank on the Avengers with Peter?” Pepper asked Happy as soon as she closed the door.

“Yes,” Happy rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe it. The kid called me ‘Uncle Happy’ yesterday.”

“Aw,” Pepper said. “Come on. Don’t you think it’s cute? They’re already basically father and son.”

“I don’t like all this mushy stuff,” Happy said as he drove off.

Pepper just smiled and gave him a knowing look. “I know you’re happy, Happy.”

“Stop.”

“You’re just as relieved as I am that Tony has been getting his life together over this kid. Ever since Peter showed up, Tony quit drinking, he’s gotten fewer panic attacks, and I’ve seen him smile and laugh more now than he has in the past ten years! This little prank thing is going to strengthen their bond even more, and it’s going to make Tony even happier.”

Happy didn’t answer.

“You know I’m right.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Tony hung up his phone after just finishing talking to Pepper. He was standing in the middle of the living room on his private floor.

“What’d she say?” Peter asked from where he sat on a nearby couch, quickly scoffing down the last of his breakfast.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Tony said. After the Avengers pointed it out to him, he became self aware of how dad-like he sounded when he talked to Peter. They honestly barely needed to pretend at all to pull this whole lie off. They already sounded like father and son.

Peter swallowed his food. “Sorry, Mr. Stark. What’d she say?”

“She said you can call her ‘Mom’.”

“Yes! I think that’ll be way more convincing than the other option!”

“I think they’re already 100% convinced either way, kid. But this will definitely help. Did you tell May?”

“Yeah I texted her last night. She thinks it’s hilarious and is willing to do whatever she can to play her part if necessary, but she’ll probably be too busy with her job anyway.”

“Great. Also, I’ve informed FRIDAY of the situation and she’s made any necessary changes to her code so she plays along too. I still need to call Rhodey and tell him, but I’ll do that later. He’s not coming to visit until tomorrow. Let’s get downstairs before they’re wondering why we’re taking so long.”

They two walked to the elevator, and FRIDAY took them to the common room. Peter was excited to get to talk to the rogues some more. Natasha seemed to be the nicest, to him at least. Sam seemed really cool. Clint lived in his own house with his family and not in the Tower, but was at the Tower so often that it felt like he lived there. Peter thought he seemed really nice too. Steve still looked a bit nervous about talking with Tony again, after what happened between them. Peter understood why, because he was there at the airport battle and understood all that Accords stuff, and Tony had told him what happened in Siberia. At least Steve seemed friendly now.

Wanda and Vision didn’t seem to talk with the group much, choosing to hang out with each other separately most of the time instead, which Peter didn’t mind. And the Winter Soldier - Bucky, his name was - he didn’t talk at all. In fact, he seemed really uncomfortable, probably because he and Tony… didn’t have the best past, to say the least. Bucky would just stay by Steve’s side and listen into the groups conversations, not speaking. Peter hoped Bucky opened up to them soon, because he seemed really cool, especially with his cool new metal arm that Shuri made him in Wakanda.

The elevator opened, and Peter and Tony saw Steve, Sam, Bucky, Nat, and Clint were in the kitchen area getting food from serving platters.

“Oh, were we having team breakfast together?” Tony said as he entered the room, Peter by his side. “Sorry, but we ate upstairs already.”

“You’re missing out on Steve’s amazing omelettes then,” Natasha said, scooping one of said omelettes onto her plate. “But you two can still come sit with us at the table.”

“Yeah! I wanna talk with Peter more!” Clint said. “We barely got to see him yesterday.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Peter said. “I was up in my room all day doing all my summer vacation homework. I wanted to get it all done in one day so I wouldn’t need to do any during the rest of the vacation.”

“That sounds like hell,” Clint said, taking his seat next to Natasha at the table. “I used to procrastinate my summer homework until the last week of vacation. Then I’d spread it out through that week.”

“Nah, once I start doing the work, I need to finish it.” Peter sat down at the table, and Tony sat next to him. “I don’t care if I stay up all night, I just want it to get done.”

“That reminds me of someone,” Steve said as he sat down, eyeing Tony.

“Yeah,” Natasha agreed. “Do unhealthy working habits run in the family?”

Tony laughed, “Yeah, I guess it does.” He looked to Peter. “Did you really finish all your work?”

“Yeah! I did the research paper for AP Chem, plus the essays for both APUSH and AP Lang.”

The Avengers let out some impressed whoops. “Damn, kid,” Nat said. “That’s a lot of APs.”

“Sounds like we got another Stark genius,” added Sam.

Peter blushed. “I mean, i-it’s only 3. I know kids taking 4. I-I was gonna take 4, actually, but then it would lengthen my school schedule to be longer than a normal schedule and then I would have less time to-” Peter stopped himself. He was going to say he’d have less time to go out on Spider-Man patrol, but he remembered he wasn’t telling the Rogue Avengers that he was Spider-Man.

“What’s wrong kid?” Steve asked.

“N-Nothing!” Peter said, quickly thinking of a lie in his head. “I-I just… didn’t know if I’m allowed to say that I help Dad work on his suits. Am I allowed to say that?” He looked to Tony.

“Yeah, kid. You're not a secret to these guys anymore. You can say all that kind of stuff.” Tony waved his hand.

“Cool. Then yeah, I didn’t take 4 APs cuz then I’d have less time to help Dad work on his suits, a-and I like to help.

The Avengers made little excited ‘ooo’ sounds. “That sounds fun,” Nat said.

“And complicated,” Steve added. “You really are a smart kid.”

“Smartest kid at his school,” Tony bragged, a big smile on his face. He ruffled Peter’s hair. “He’s at the top of his grade. He probably could’ve graduated early like me.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t wanna leave my friends,” Peter said, face red from everyone’s compliments. “And I didn’t wanna be a fifteen year old in a college full of people older than me.”

“I know how much that sucks firsthand.” Tony said, his tone sounding very sincere. “Don’t worry, kid. I wouldn’t let you graduate early. You’re still a child. Just because you’re intellectually ready for college doesn’t mean you’re mature enough to go. Hell, you’re barely mature enough for high school.”

“Hey!” Peter pushed Tony’s arm, laughing.

The Rogue Avengers watched, in amazement and awe, that they were witnessing Tony Stark be so domestic with his actual son. They never would’ve imagined.

They finished breakfast rather quickly, continuing to talk to Peter and ask him questions to get to know him better. By the time everyone was done eating, Tony turned to Peter and said that they should be heading to the lab now.

“Can I bring some food?” Peter asked.

“Kid, we just ate breakfast.”

“Yeah, but you know,” Peter tried to find a way to bring up his Spider-metabolism without outing himself as Spider-Man, “my growing teenage boy metabolism is gonna make me hungry again in like an hour. Can I just bring a sandwich or something?”

Tony smirked at the lie, but he nodded and understood what Peter meant. “Yeah, yeah, ok, kid. I’ll go set up in the lab and you can meet me there.”

“Ok, Dad!"

A smile tugged at Tony’s lips as he approached the elevator and left the room. The rogues walked over to the couches and Peter walked over to the kitchen to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, Buck.”

Peter could hear Steve talk in the other room. Anyone could, probably, since the kitchen wasn’t that far away from the lounge area. To a normal person, it just might sound muffled or a little too quiet, but Peter’s super-hearing made it sound perfectly clear to him.

“Tony’s not mad at you anymore, I promise. And if he says anything disrespectful, I’ll kick his ass.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Oh? Then what is it?”

So when Bucky whispered his response as quietly as he could to Steve - clearly not wanting Peter to overhear him - Peter couldn’t help but hear what he said. It was his powers.

“Peter’s voice sounds really familiar,” Bucky murmured to Steve.

Peter’s blood ran cold.

“How do you mean?” Steve whispered back just as quietly. It was no use though, as Peter heard every word they said.

“Do you remember the guy in the red and blue suit from the airport battle? Spider-Man? He blocked one of my punches, and then spoke. And the way he spoke sounded… really similar to how Peter sounds.”

Peter tried not to freak out.

“How do you remember what Spider-Man sounded like?” Sam’s whispered voice now joined the conversation. “The airport battle was a whole year ago. I don’t remember his voice, and I was there with you when you fought him.”

“I don’t remember what his voice exactly sounded like, per say. Cuz yeah, that was a long time ago,” Bucky responded. “But I do remember how he spoke. He talked all excited and rambly like Peter. And when he caught my arm - I’ll never forget this cuz I was so shocked - he said, ‘You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!’ Is that not something that sounds like how Peter speaks?”

“He’s just a kid,” Natasha’s voice quietly said. “All kids are like that. Clint’s kids talk like that, too.”

“So you guys don’t think I’m right? Am I just being paranoid?”

“I don’t think Peter’s Spider-Man, but I will admit that it’s a pretty valid suspicion,” Steve said. “They are pretty similar, but I think that’s cuz they’re both young. I think Spider-Man’s a bit older than Peter, but still pretty young, because like Peter, Tony calls him ‘kid’.”

“How many kids has Tony been keeping a secret from us?” Clint said, a smile clear in his voice.

The rogues shared a little laugh, still trying to be quiet. Peter sighed in relief as he spread peanut butter on a piece of bread.

“Still,” Peter heard Nat say, “to be fair to Bucky, we have no definitive evidence either way. It’s unlikely that Peter is Spider-Man - cuz I don’t feel like Tony would let his own child do any crazy dangerous stuff like that - but we don’t have any proof that he isn’t Spider-Man.”

Oh no, maybe Peter sighed in relief too early.

He heard fingers snap. “I know,” came Steve’s quiet voice, “Spider-Man told me he’s from Queens. If he was Peter, he’d say Manhattan or something.”

Peter felt relief sweep over him again.

“Maybe he was still trying to hide being Tony’s son, just in case,” Peter heard Clint say now. “So he lied and said a different borough. Didn’t he say that Aunt May lady was from Queens?”

“Oh yeah,” Sam said, “He did, didn’t he? That’s a big coincidence. Maybe he tried to come up with a lie quickly on the spot and thought of her, so he said he’s from Queens.”

God, Peter could not catch a break.

“And,” Nat said, “Before the airport battle, I went up to Tony and told him we needed more people on our side in the fight. I went to get Black Panther, and I asked Tony if he knew anyone else that could help us, and he was just like ‘yeah, I know a guy’. Spider-Man wasn’t even a known figure yet. I don’t think anyone knew about him yet, actually. How would Tony know about him?”

“Unless Spider-Man was someone Tony already knew,” Bucky said. “Like his own son.”

“I’m invested in this theory now. It actually makes a lot of sense.” Clint sounded rather excited. “We should ask Tony more about Spider-Man to try and get some information.”

The Rogue Avengers all made sounds of agreement, and Peter realized his palms were sweaty. He took his completed sandwich, made his way back to the elevator, and told FRIDAY to bring him up to Tony’s lab.

He entered the password into the glass door of the lab and swung the door open.

“Hey, Pete. Took you long enough-”

“The Avengers think I’m Spider-Man.”

Tony silently turned around in his seat at his work table. He paused for a moment before saying, “What? ”

“I overheard them talking and Mr. Barnes said he thought he recognised my voice from the airport battle and they all lowkey believe he’s right cuz they starting making all these theories and they said they’re gonna ask you-”

“Woah kiddo, slow down,” Tony held his hand out. “You’re ok. There’s no need to worry about this. They have no proof.”

“I dunno, it’s still getting me nervous though,” Peter said and sat next to Tony.

“What’s so bad about them knowing you’re Spider-Man anyway?”

“I dunno. I guess I just don’t fully trust them yet, after like, what they did. Plus I like Spider-Man being a secret - well, mostly a secret anyway.”

Tony nodded. “I get it. Don’t worry, really. We’ll sort that all out.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” Peter was finally able to sigh in relief. “What're we gonna do?”

“To stop their suspicions? I don’t know yet.” He clapped a hand onto Peter’s shoulder. “However, I can tell you what we’re gonna do in the lab today. Hand me that wrench.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Pepper arrived just before lunch. She walked into the common room and was greeted by a group of smiling Avengers. Natasha ran up and gave her a hug, which Pepper happily returned. When Natasha was undercover as Pepper’s assistant all those years ago, they’d become really good friends.

“It’s nice to finally be able to see you all again!” Pepper said. “There hasn’t been any fighting yet, has there? I don’t want to have to kick you guys out again so soon.”

“No, no more fighting,” Steve said, face slightly blushing in embarrassment. “Sorry, by the way. For everything.”

“It’s all in the past,” Pepper waved her hand. “Tony already told me that you two made up.” Then her eyes lit up a little. “He also told me that you guys found out about Peter!”

“Yeah, we met the little rascal,” Clint said. “He’s a great kid. Really smart, like his father.”

“He can talk a bit too fast, though,” Sam smirked.

“Yeah, he’s a hyper kid,” Pepper let out a little laugh. “Are he and Tony up in the lab?”

“Not anymore.”

Pepper turned around and the rogues looked over her shoulders to see Tony and Peter stepping out of the elevator. Tony smiled widely as he saw his wife. “Hey Pep. FRIDAY alerted us that you arrived.” He approached her and gave her a kiss on her lips.

Pepper returned the kiss. “Hi Tony.”

“Ewwww, gross.”

Pepper looked behind Tony at the owner of that high-pitched voice. “Peter, I’m allowed to kiss your father. Especially when I haven’t seen him in 5 days.” She kissed Tony again.

“Oh my god, Mom, I’m gonna throw up.”

Pepper laughed. Yeah, this ruse was really fun. She held her arms out. “Come here.”

Peter ran over to her and hugged her. Pepper wrapped her arms around him back.

When he let go, Peter looked up at her. “Dad and me worked on the Iron Spider suit to make it more energy efficient. Now it can run for twice as long!”

“Well, I bet Spider-Man will be happy to hear that.” Pepper was facing away from the rogue Avengers, so they didn’t see her wink at Peter.

“Speaking of Spider-Man,” Clint said, raising his pointer finger, “we wanted to ask Tony if we’re ever… gonna see him around.”

Peter tried to not look visibly nervous. Sure, it was easy to keep up the act that he was Tony’s son, because he basically was his son. But trying to act like he wasn’t Spider-Man? That was much harder, because Spider-Man was such a big part of him. He was barely able to do it at school, let alone in front of the Avengers .

Tony shrugged. “You’ll probably see him around. He mainly hangs out in Queens though, stopping thieves and rescuing cats.”

Peter squinted at Tony. He did much more than that. Tony probably said that on purpose just to tease him, because he knew Peter wouldn’t be able to defend himself without looking suspicious.

“But,” Tony continued, “sometimes he swings by to pick up his new suits once we finish working on them.”

“Maybe we’ll see him on the next Avengers mission?” Steve asked.

“No, no way,” Tony said. A very certain kind of protectiveness shown in voice. Something almost paternal . “No, Spider-Man’s not an Avenger. He doesn’t do missions.”

“Sometimes he practice fights with Vision,” Peter piped up. He hesitated before added. “I-I like to watch.”

“I’d love to practice fight him,” Steve said. “I think we could use a little rematch.”

Peter wanted to say that yeah, Spider-Man would love to have a rematch, and that Spider-Man would kick his ass this time, but he didn’t want to seem suspicious. Instead, he turned to Tony. “Weren’t we gonna eat lunch now? I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry,” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair and walked over to the kitchen. The others followed him. The Rogue Avengers exchanged glances.

 

Notes:

More chapters to come soon!! Again, thank you everyone for reading!! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave kudos if you haven't already, and I love reading your nice comments so leave those too!

(And if you wanna read my now completed post-endgame Irondad Spiderson fic that's really sad you can click here.)

Chapter 3: What's the Word...

Summary:

Rhodey comes to live at the Tower. The Avengers are reminded of the airport battle, but luckily, Peter is there to resolve the tension.

Notes:

Thank you so much to everyone for reading, leaving kudos, and commenting!! I am so grateful!!! Just btw, this story is kinda pre-written (not the whole thing, but I've written like 4 chapters ahead so far lol). So, as I continue to write, the tags may change a little. I've already edited them a bit, and I doubt it really matters to any of you lol, but I just thought I'd tell you.
Enjoy this chapter! I think you’ll like it. It’s very fluffy!

“Shouldn’t we be a little more prepared?”

Tony, sitting in his armchair on his private floor, glanced away from the emails on his StarkPad and over at Peter, who was laying across the couch, his Nintendo Switch (that Tony had bought him) lying abandoned on the coffee table. “What do you mean, Pete?”

“I mean, about the whole father-son act we’re doing,” Peter clarified. “Shouldn’t we be more prepared? Like should we photoshop some fake baby photos or something? I could get May to send us some.”

Tony chuckled. “As much as I’d love to see you as a chubby little baby, I don’t think that’s necessary. If they ask, we can just say that all photos and videos of you growing up are on some deeply secure, unhackable server that I don’t wanna bother opening just to show them a couple baby photos.”

“Cool, OK.”

They both resumed what they were previously doing - Tony returning to his StarkPad and Peter to his Nintendo Switch. But the boy couldn’t focus on fighting bokoblins in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. His mind was too focused on thinking about their father-son act. Because so far, it had been too easy. The Rogue Avengers had been back for almost a week now, and none of them had suspected a thing! Not even Natasha or Clint, who were trained super spies for S.H.I.E.L.D. No, they were all more suspicious about Peter being Spider-Man, but that was a different problem to solve a different time.

“Still,” Peter spoke up again, putting his Switch back on the coffee table, “there’s gotta be something more we could do.”

“Like what, kid?” Tony said, not looking up at him this time.

“I dunno. I just feel like it’s been too easy to get them to believe us. All I had to do was talk to you and they thought I was your son instantly!”

“That’s because you basically are his son,” Pepper then entered the room and sat on the couch next to Peter. She smiled to herself when she saw Peter’s sheepish face in reaction to her statement. “What? You know it’s true.”

“I-I…” Peter stuttered. Both Pepper and Tony clearly didn’t understand just how much that meant to him when they said that - to be considered Tony Stark’s son. Tony Stark, the man Peter had admired more than anyone since he was a little kid, the man that had become his mentor when he was lost at the beginning of his superhero adventure, that man he wanted to make proud more than anyone, Iron Man . Peter didn’t want to get all mushy-emotional right then and there though, so he changed the subject. “A-Anyway, shouldn’t we, I dunno, have more of a backstory? What if they ask about what I was like as a little kid? What are you gonna say to that?”

Tony looked up at that. “Yeah, you’re right. Gimme some inspiration kid. What’s some embarrassingly adorable stories from your childhood?”

“Noooo, I don’t wanna tell you any of those! Can’t we just make something up?”

“You’re going to give Tony the power to make up whatever embarrassing stories about you that he can think of?” Pepper smirked at him. “I’m sure that’s worse than anything you could tell us right now.”

Peter groaned, because - like always - Pepper was right. “Fine. Lemme think of a story first.” He couldn’t help but notice the grin on Tony’s face. “Mr. Stark, you’re too excited about this.”

“I wanna hear about the dumb things you did as a kid. Not that you’ve stopped doing dumb things or anything.”

“Hey!” Peter laughed and threw a pillow from the couch at Tony. Tony easily caught it and laughed back.

Peter thought for a minute, trying to think of a story that wasn’t too stupid or embarrassing. His eyes lit up as the perfect one popped into his head. “I know! This one’s perfect, because you were there too!”

“Well that doesn’t count. I mean when you were really little, kid. Not from this past year. I remember all of those stories.”

“No no no, this is a story from when I was little! I was like, 8 or 9? I think? It was at the Stark Expo! I was there when the Hammer Drones attacked. I got separated from May and Ben, and - well, I was wearing one of those fake Iron Man masks that you can buy, and the Hammer Drones must’ve had some sort of facial-recognition program to target your mask, so one of them targeted me, thinking it was you, and-”

“Wait wait wait,” Tony raised his hand, silencing Peter. He remembered this story very well. The kid in the Iron Man mask then held his arm out in the classic Iron Man pose, like he’d actually be able to defend himself against the Hammer Drone. If Tony hadn’t swooped down and blasted the drone away in time… “That was you ?”

“Yeah, it was,” Peter laughed, almost nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve been meaning to tell you that. And to say thank you for, you know, saving my life.”

Tony rested his head against his hand like the dad from that one vine . “Oh my god. I can’t believe my kid is that kid.”

Peter laughed and tried to hide the happiness blooming in his heart. Tony had called him his kid. They weren’t even in front of the Avengers, and he called him his kid. “Is that a good story to tell them?”

“No! That’s gonna make me seem like an irresponsible parent!”

Pepper laughed at him. “Like you’d be a responsible parent. You’re barely responsible enough for yourself.”

Before Tony had the chance to defend himself, FRIDAY’s voice filled the room. “Boss, you have just received a text message from Colonel Rhodes. He says he’s around 5 minutes away.”

“Great,” Tony said. “Tell him that Happy will meet him in the lobby and help him bring his stuff to his room.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Peter was glad that Rhodey was moving into the Tower too. He’d gotten a little closer to the Colonel since the airport battle, since he visited Tony a lot. Rhodey knew he was Spider-Man, and Peter had even helped Tony work on Rhodey’s leg braces a couple times.

“Should I call him ‘Uncle Rhodey’?” Peter asked Tony.

“Yes, definitely,” Tony said smiling. “That’d be perfect.” Then, suddenly, Tony’s face fell with dread. “Wait, shit. FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Boss?”

“Scratch what I said before. Tell Rhodey that I’ll meet him in the lobby, and that I need to tell him something very important.”

“On it, Boss.”

“What do you need to tell him?” Peter asked.

“I forgot to tell him about out little prank on the Avengers,” Tony said as he ran down to the elevator. “Don’t worry! I’ll tell him before he comes up!”

The elevator doors closed, and Pepper started to laugh again, covering her mouth. She turned to Peter. “He’s really invested in this prank, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he is. It’s really funny,” Peter replied. “Did you hear him accidentally call me his kid a few minutes ago? The Avengers aren’t even here and he said ‘my kid’.”

“Oh, Peter,” Pepper looked at Peter like he was a naive little boy, “Tony’s been calling you ‘my kid’ for a long time.”

Peter stared at her, stunned. “W-What?”

“Yeah, you haven’t noticed?” Pepper smiled and ruffled Peter’s hair. “I told you, you’re already like a son to him. He’s never said ‘my son’, per say, but he’s called you his kid for a while now. This whole ‘prank’,” she made air quotes, “is barely a prank at all. That’s why the rogues believe you guys, and why it’s felt ‘too easy’, like you were saying before.” Pepper then stood up. “Come on, let’s go down to the common room and tell the others that your Uncle Rhodey is almost here.”

Peter just looked at her, blinking. She was right, wasn’t she? This ‘act’ was barely an act at all. Peter knew, because it sure didn’t feel like an act to him most of the time. It felt, well, normal.

Pepper was always right. If Tony ever taught him anything, it’s that Pepper was always right.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The room was, tense , to say the least.

Rhodey and Tony had come up the elevator and entered the common room, which was filled with Avengers. Peter happily greeted him with a smile and a “Hi, Uncle Rhodey!” Rhodey smiled and waved back, but then no one else in the room made a sound. At first, Peter didn’t understand what the big deal was, but then he saw the light glint off of Rhodey’s leg brace.

Oh, right. That . That was because of the airport battle. Because of the ‘Civil War’.

Rhodey had been walking around like his legs were fine for so long that Peter had almost forgotten that he even wore leg braces. Tony’s tech was just that good.

Tony clapped his hands and broke the silence. “So, Rhodey’s moving in. His room will be with the rest of the Avenger dorms. Happy’s moving his bags there now. Should we order something in for dinner? What’re you guys thinking of?”

But the rest of the Avengers didn’t match Tony’s tone, sullen looks still on their faces.

“Colonel Rhodes, um,” Sam spoke up, and Peter remembered he was the one that dodged Vision’s laser, the one that hit Rhodey, “I’m, I’m sorry-”

Rhodey waved his hand, silencing Sam, “It’s all in the past. See, look, my legs work just fine.” He swung his leg out and bent it. A soft, mechanical whirring was heard as he did so, making some of the rogues’ faces look even more guilty. Rhodey then looked at Vision, “And I don’t want to hear any more apologies from you , Vis. I already told you it’s not your fault.”

The room went silent again, Tony’s question about dinner forgotten, and Peter knew he had to do something. Something to lighten the mood, to cheer everyone up. Something to make everyone feel like a team again.

“Hey, Dad,” Peter piped up, trying to not sound nervous at all, “How about we eat shawarma for dinner?”

All the Avengers turned to him. Peter gulped.

“I-I mean, cuz, you know, that’s what the Avengers eat after missions. And now that the Avengers are back together - well, Thor’s not here, and Dr. Banner is still missing, but besides that - since the Avengers are mostly back together, wouldn’t it be nice to, y-you know, eat shawarma together,” he hesitated before adding, “like old times?”

The Avengers all exchanged looks, except for Tony, who was smiling at his kid. He then turned to Steve. “What d’you say, Cap?”

Steve looked around at his teammates and shrugged. “Sure, we’re up for it.”

“Alright. Shawarma it is, then.”

Tony told FRIDAY their order, and they waited for the food to come. They made a bit of awkward conversation in the meantime, but they had at least loosened up enough to not be standing around in tense silence. When the food arrived, the Avengers all sat around the large kitchen table and unpacked their dinner, passing around everyone’s orders. Peter sat between Tony and Pepper, and Rhodey sat on Tony’s other side. They all dug into their food.

After only 10 minutes, it was like the Rogues had never left. They were all laughing and teasing each other and telling stories of past missions. It was really fun for Peter, who had never heard most of the stories. It was also fun because he felt like he belonged , like he was an Avenger. Even though Spider-Man wasn’t actually an Avenger (not that the Avengers knew he was Spider-Man anyway), he still felt like he was a member of the team. Maybe ‘team’ was the wrong word then, since he wasn’t an Avenger. What was the word…

“And then ,” Cap was laughing through a story of when they all raided some Hydra base, all the Avengers around the table laughing with him. He pointed to Sam, “Sam, do you remember this?”

“Of course I remember this!” Sam gestured back to him with his napkin. “You took your shield and hit them all in one throw like a pinball machine! And then that one guy-”

“-fell through the roof and jumped on you!” Steve said at the same time as Sam as he finished his sentence, gasping for breath between laughs. “He must’ve been enhanced in some way in order to survive that! Remember how he just fell -”

“Dude he just fell right through the skylight above us!”

The whole table was cracking up. After everyone caught their breath Rhodey spoke up. “Man, I remember that too. That was crazy. Hey Tones, remember when you almost fell through the skylight at that party back at MIT?”

“Oh god, please no, Rhodey-bear,” Tony covered his face with one hand and lightly pushed Rhodey’s shoulder with the other. “Don’t tell them that story.”

“It’s my job as your best friend to tell embarrassing stories about you from your college days.”

“No it isn’t! The only one here whose job is to tell embarrassing stories about someone else here is me . As Peter’s father, it is my job to tell embarrassing stories about him.”

“He’s right. That is a father’s job,” Clint said from across the table, giving him a knowing look. “How about you tell us one, Stark. I’ve told you guys plenty of stories about my kids. Now that we know about your secret kid, how about you tell us one about him.”

The other Avengers nodded and goaded Tony on to tell a story. Tony looked at Peter, a big smirk on his face, and Peter could practically see the many ideas of made-up childhood stories flying through the man’s head.

“Noooo please! C’mon Dad! Don’t embarrass me in front of the Avengers!”

“Sorry kiddo. You heard Legolas over there - it’s a father’s job. Now, lemme see. What’s a good story…” He placed a finger on his chin and thought.

Meanwhile, Peter let his forehead drop down and collide with the table in mortification.

“I know!” Tony said, his finger now pointing in the air, “One time, when Peter was around - what, nine years old? Ten? Anyway, he was in the lab with me-”

“Peter was in the lab with you when he was that young?” Wanda asked.

“Of course he was,” Tony said nonchalantly. “Used to have his own mini work table in there with a bunch of safe-for-kids building stuff on it, too. I couldn’t leave him unsupervised while I was in the lab, right? So I just brought him with me. He’s spent a lot of his life in my lab. Isn’t that right Peter?”

“I’m scared about which story you’re gonna tell,” Peter grumbled, his head still against the table.

Tony chuckled - or was it evil laughter? “Anyway, I was working on something, and Peter was taking apart some old computer on his mini work table. When all of a sudden, I heard this loud ‘bang!’ coming from Peter’s direction.”

Peter’s eyes widened with realization. He knew this story. How did Tony know this story? His head shot up from the table and he waved his hands frantically at Tony, fear clear on his face. “Nonononono please Dad oh my god don’t tell the freaking Avengers this story-”

“I look over,” Tony continued, and without looking at Peter, grabbed Peter’s hands and flattened them against the table, “and I see that something in the old computer must’ve overheated and blew up, because it’s smoking, and Peter-” Tony started laughing, “Peter looks like a cartoon character! There’s smoke residue on his nose and hands, the edges of his eyebrows are a little charred off, his hair is sticking out all messy. I have pictures. You wanna see?”

“Yes!” Many of the Avengers shouted.

“ How do you have pictures of that?!” Peter’s voice was super high-pitched from embarrassment. “I-I mean, how do you still have pictures of that?”

“All pictures of you are stored in your secret secure server. You know that,” Tony said.

“B-But,” Peter spluttered, “You don’t wanna go through the trouble of opening that server up just for a few pictures of when I was little, right?”

Tony smirked at him and shook his finger. “It’s not a big deal at all. FRIDAY can send them right to my phone. You’re not getting off the hook that easy.”

Betrayed. Peter had been betrayed by his own ‘father’.

He held his head in his hands - his face, ears, and neck completely red - as the Avengers excitedly rose from their seats and went to stand behind Tony to look at photos of ten-year-old Peter that Tony had somehow managed to get a hold onto. Peter didn’t know how that could’ve happened. That story was true . Well, mostly true. When he was around ten years old, he was taking apart an old computer in his room in Queens when the computer overheated and caused a mini explosion. Peter wasn’t hurt at all, but he sure looked like a mess afterwards. Aunt May and Uncle Ben came into his room and laughed their asses off, comparing him to a cartoon mad scientist. May even took photos of him because she swore it was so funny.

The Avengers must’ve been so distracted by getting to see funny childhood pictures of Peter that none of them noticed that the background of the picture wasn’t Tony’s lab, but of Peter’s room in Queens. To be fair, both rooms were gray and filled with technological equipment, so they could look really similar if one isn’t paying attention

However, as incredibly embarrassed as Peter was, he also felt… happy? Because it was fatherly to embarrass your kid like this, and Peter hadn’t had a father figure since Ben passed away. Tony really was like a father to him, doing all this.

Plus, the Avengers were laughing, but not at Peter , per say. They weren’t making fun of him. They were like aunts and uncles laughing at any other family member’s old photos. They were accepting him into the team, except team still didn’t feel like the right word…

“How you doing, kiddo?” Peter heard Tony say.

Peter’s head was still in his hands. He decided to play up his embarrassment and drop his head to the table again. “I hate you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I’m gonna yeet myself out of this room and never come back.”

“You’re gonna what ?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Peter said, raising his head from the table and looking at Tony. He couldn’t help but show the smile on his own face. When he caught sight of the old photo on Tony’s phone, his smile only widened. He started laughing himself. “Oh wow, that actually does look really funny.”

“You honestly have no reason to be embarrassed, Peter,” Natasha said, still standing behind Tony with the rest of the Avengers. “We’ve all seen Tony look like that plenty of times.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, “if anything, it just shows your resemblance more.”

Peter loved when the Avengers compared him to Tony like he was actually his son. Those were his favorite compliments. “Thanks.”

“I’m glad we found out about Peter,” Clint said. “He’s fun.”

“Yeah,” Nat leaned over and ruffled Peter’s hair. She looked at him fondly in a way that reminded Peter of Aunt May. “He’s a great addition to our family.”

Family . That was the word Peter was trying to think of. Peter felt like he had a whole family .

“Th-Thanks,” Peter said again, shyly looking at his hands.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

At the end of the day, everyone went to bed. They all got in the elevator and FRIDAY took them to each of the Avengers’ dorm floors. As soon as it was just Tony, Pepper, and Peter left on the elevator, Peter turned to Tony and asked, “How the hell did you know about that story?! And where did you get those pictures?!”

“I texted May while we were waiting for the food to arrive,” Tony said smiling. “I asked her if she could think of any embarrassing childhood stories I could use in our backstory, since you wouldn’t tell me any good ones. I thought getting real stories would be better than just making them up, cuz then your reaction would be more genuine - and I was right.”

“She even sent you the pictures?”

“I didn’t even have to ask. She texted me them as soon as she finished telling me the story. It was the only story that she had pictures from.”

“Wait, so she told you more embarrassing stories of me than just that one?”

“Oh yes,” Tony’s smirk was pure evil. “You’re lucky I didn’t tell them about the time you were six years old and bit into a bar of soap because you thought it was a pastry.”

“Oh my god , she told you that one?!” Peter was blushing red all over again while Tony and Pepper laughed. “I was six -”

“I know, kid,” Tony slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Seriously, I hope I didn’t overstep. You OK?”

“Yeah, actually,” Peter said, a smile returning to his face. “I feel fine - more than fine. The Avengers were all really nice to me. Black Widow called me family! ”

Tony’s own smile softened. “Yeah, she did.” He hesitated before saying, “We haven’t all felt like a family in a long time. And after the whole - what did the media call it? Our ‘Civil War’? Yeah, after that , I thought we’d never feel like a family again. You being there really helped us feel like that again. Thanks for helping us have a good day together, Pete.”

Peter looked down at his hands. “Uh, yeah. No problem, D- Mr. Stark.”

Tony pretended not to notice Peter’s slip-up, not wanting to make him feel even more embarrassed that day. But honestly, if it was up to Tony, he’d let the kid call him ‘Dad’ all the time, not just when the Avengers were around.

But he wouldn’t dare tell him that.

 

Notes:

Hope you liked the chapter! Since I'm sticking to my upload schedule, the next chapter will be posted on Thursday at 8pm EST, so set a reminder lol. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4: Do You Really Forgive Him?

Summary:

Peter talks to Steve Rogers one-on-one for the first time since the airport battle.

Notes:

Sorry this chapter is a little late! I actually graduated high school today lol so that's why I'm a bit late posting this. I put Iron Man on my graduation cap too lol. Anyway, this fic hit over 1000 kudos!!! Thank you so much everyone! I’m so grateful and happy that you are enjoying my fic!
Also, the ‘Minor Background Steve/Bucky’ tag finally applies in this chapter! I’m a big Steve/Bucky fan, so I had to put some in. Fellow Stucky fans, I hope you’re happy too lol. If you don’t ship Stucky, don’t worry, because it’s really, really minor.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Peter woke up early for once - well, early for summer vacation at least. He looked at his phone and saw that it was 8:35 am. He was feeling wide awake, which surprised him, because he was usually really sleepy and sluggish in the mornings. Peter decided to use this opportunity to start his day off right. He got dressed in jeans, Converse sneakers, and a nerdy pun t-shirt, then made his way to the elevator and rode it down to the common room. He hoped Tony was still asleep. Tony barely got any sleep since he pulled so many all nighters, so he needed the rest.

When the elevator doors opened, he made his way to the kitchen, but stopped dead in his tracks. There in the kitchen - the only other person in the whole common room - was Steve Rogers, who was almost done making his breakfast. Peter was alone in a room with Captain America - a man he’d admired since he was a child. He didn’t admire him as much as Tony Stark - no way - but he still admired him and was still slightly fanboying inside.

Steve waved to him casually. “Good morning, Peter.”

“G-Good Morning, Mr. Rogers. Or, wait, I mean Captain Rogers. Mr. Captain Rogers sir.”

Steve laughed as he spread butter on a piece of toast. “Just Steve or Cap is fine, kid.”

“O-OK, uh, Cap,” Peter managed to respond. He sat down on a high stool at the kitchen island, his feet dangling off, not touching the ground.

“Your parents still asleep?”

“Yeah, but they need the rest. I thought I’d come down here and eat before them.”

“That’s nice of you. Bucky needs his rest, too. He’s still in our room.”

Peter squinted. “Your room?”

Steve let out a little laugh. “Yes, our room. Tony didn’t tell you, did he? I guess he’d have no reason to.” He turned to look at Peter. “Me and Bucky are a couple.”

Peter blinked. “Oh wow. Cool.”

“It’s still weird for me to say out loud. Back in my day, you couldn’t say that kind of thing out loud.”

“Right,” Peter said. He was still a little stunned. Captain America was gay - or bi. That was really cool. Peter suddenly felt very OK with his own bisexuality.

“I’m glad Tony finally let us meet you,” Steve then said. “Or, I guess we kind of found out about you on our own, didn’t we?”

“Y-Yeah.” Peter chuckled awkwardly.

“What’s it like, knowing that your father is a superhero that knows a bunch of other superheroes, but he doesn’t let you meet any of them?”

Peter swallowed thickly. OK Parker, time to lie. You better not fuck up lying, Parker, or else the whole ruse will be ruined and Mr. Stark will be disappointed in you. Just… make something up, and make it look like it’s not made up. Sounded easy enough, right? “Uh, yeah, it was kinda weird, I guess. I wanted to meet you guys, for obvious reasons. B-But I understood my dad’s reasoning for why I couldn’t meet you guys, so it was fine. At least I get to meet you guys now.”

“Right, yeah.”

Steve was much more soft spoken in private like this, Peter thought. When he was with the group of Avengers, he was louder. When he addressed the public he was strong, stoic, and serious. But one-on-one like this, his voice was quiet and gentle. It made his words sound more meaningful, like they were precious.

Steve arranged the last of his breakfast on his plate, then turned to Peter. “You want something to eat, kid?”

“U-Uh, I-I can make it, sir. It’s fine-”

“No way,” Steve’s smile was gentle like his voice, “back when we all lived here in the Tower, I was always the one cooking. I’m the best cook on the whole team. Now what do you want? Eggs?”

Peter decided not to argue with Captain freaking America . “S-Sure, sir.”

“How many? And I said Steve or Cap is just fine.”

“R-Right, um,” Peter usually had six eggs for breakfast, because of his Spider-metabolism, but he didn’t want to give anymore evidence that he was Spider-Man, so he’d have to eat a little less that morning. That was fine, he could always eat later. “Four eggs, please. Over Easy.”

“Four whole eggs?” Steve chuckled as he grabbed a carton from the fridge. “That’s a lot. Although I suppose a growing boy like you eats a lot. How old are you again?”

“Fifteen. I’m be sixteen in August.”

“Ah, another summer birthday,” Steve said. He put some oil in a pan on the stove. “Mine is too.”

“When’s yours?”

“July 4th.”

Peter blinked. “You’re birthday is July 4th ?”

Steve laughed. “Yep. Captain America’s birthday is July 4th. What a coincidence, right?”

“Y-Yeah, wow.” This was nice, Peter thought, talking to Cap. To think that a year ago the guy had dropped a jet bridge on him. Well, not that Steve would know that. Steve thought he did that to Spider-Man, not Peter.

“What’s Tony like as a father?”

Peter snapped out of his thoughts. “Sorry, what?”

“I’ve been wondering since we’ve found out about you,” Steve said. A loud sizzle erupted from the pan as he cracked an egg into it. “What’s Tony like as a father? Not that you really need to tell me. I guess that’s kind of a personal question.”

“No, it’s OK,” Peter said, even though it wasn’t OK. Not for the reason Steve said - no, it was because Peter would have to lie again. Quick, what would Tony be like if he was actually his father? Would he be a good father? Would he…

Peter shook his head. What was he talking about? He didn’t have to lie about this. He already knew the answer, even if Tony wasn’t actually his father.

 “He’s great,” Peter said, and his voice didn’t shake. “He’s really great, actually. He always makes sure I eat enough, and when I need help with my homework he always helps me. I get to help him make Iron Man suits in his lab and that’s awesome. And he, um, h-he helps me feel better when I get sad, or when I have nightmares. He’s the best dad I could ask for.”

“It’s nice to know he’s a good father.” Steve then hesitated. He flipped the eggs, then asked, “What was it like for you when he got captured in Afghanistan? Do you even remember it?”

Peter tensed. OK, OK, stay calm, Parker. He wouldn’t have to lie completely. He remembered when he was little and Tony Stark went missing. It was all over the news for weeks. He remembered feeling worried, because he admired Tony, even though he wasn’t even Iron Man yet. Little Peter still admired the man for being a technological genius. But how would he react if that was his dad ? Not just a man on TV?

Peter then thought of his parents - his real parents, Richard and Mary Parker - and how he felt after they died. Maybe that’s how he would’ve felt.

“Well,” Peter started to say, “we all thought he was dead. I was…” the memory of Aunt May telling him that his parents were never coming back ran through his head. His voice cracked as he spoke his next words, “I-I was really sad, to say the least.”

“I’m sorry, Peter. I shouldn’t have asked-”

“No, it’s OK,” Peter said, “Because Dad came back. He wasn’t dead. He came back and he became Iron Man, which was awesome.” Peter smiled to himself.

“Right.” Steve put down a plate of four eggs in front of Peter, making a soft ‘clang’ against the table. “Here you go. Breakfast is served.”

“Thank you, Captain Rogers- I mean, um, Cap.”

Steve laughed. “You’re a good kid, Peter. We really enjoyed your company yesterday at dinner. The team hadn’t felt that friendly with each other in a long time, and you definitely helped us break the ice.”

“Thanks. My dad told me kinda the same thing,” Peter thought, thinking back to their conversation on the elevator the day before. He started to eat his eggs. “I’m glad I could help. I guess I just want everyone to get along.”

“I want that too,” Steve said. “After all that fighting, I thought we’d never be a real team like that ever again.” He sighed. “I was feeling really guilty about it, honestly.”

“Really?” Peter looked up at Cap. He was surprised the super soldier was opening up to him like that.

“Yeah,” Steve said. He picked up a dishrag from the counter next to the sink and started fidgeting with it. “I mean, especially after what happened in Siberia.”

Peter’s body tensed a little at that word. Siberia .

He remembered when Tony told him what happened in Siberia. Peter remembered getting angry and throwing a fit. Tony didn’t even tell him to calm down, because Tony was still angry at Cap at the time. When Peter went home that day, he took all his Captain America merch (which wasn’t nearly as much as the Iron Man merch he owned) and threw it all in the garbage. He couldn’t stand to look at anything associated with the man that had betrayed his da- his father figure .

But now, Peter had processed the information. He wasn’t angry at Cap anymore. He’d forgiven him, because Tony said he’d forgiven him. He might not still completely trust him - after all, he still didn’t feel comfortable telling Steve that he was Spider-Man - but he didn’t hate Steve anymore. Steve and Tony had apologized to each other over the phone before the Rogues arrived. They’d made up. Peter took that as a sign that he shouldn’t be mad at Cap anymore.

“Well, my dad’s forgiven you, so I have as well. You and the rest of the Rogues are welcome here.”

Steve threw a faint smile towards Peter, but his eyes looked disbelieving. “Thanks kid. You have a good heart.”

Then the elevator doors opened.

Peter spun around in his stool to see who’d walked in, and saw that it was Tony.

“Hey Dad!” Peter said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. Even if Tony and Steve had forgiven each other, he knew this was going to be tense. 

“Hey kiddo,” Tony said, his eyes locked on Steve. “Rogers.”

“Tony,” Steve said, fidgeting with the hem of the dish towel again.

Peter realized that if he wasn’t there, this would’ve been the first time Tony and Steve were alone together since Siberia.

Tony walked over and saw Peter’s half-eaten eggs. “You eating breakfast without me?”

“I didn’t wanna wake you up. You need the sleep in case you end up pulling a 3-day-long allnighter.”

“You know me too well,” Tony chuckled, his mouth barely curved into a smile. He sat down on the stool next to Peter, then pointed to his plate. “D’you make those?”

“No, Cap did. I-I said he didn’t have to, but he insisted. He said he used to cook for you guys all the time.”

“Yes,” Tony looked up at Steve, “he did.” Peter couldn’t tell if he was glaring or just looking.

You definitely helped us break the ice , Peter thought back on what Steve had told him.

“Hey, Dad, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Peter said, which made Tony stop looking/glaring at Steve and look at him instead, “Ned’s been dying to come over to visit soon. He heard that all the Avengers came back and that I met them, and now he wants to meet them too. Would, um, would that be OK?”

Tony thought for a moment before deciding on his answer. “Sure, Ted can come over.”

“You know it’s Ned, Dad.”

“Who’s Ned?” Steve asked.

Peter answered before Tony could, “My best friend. He goes to school with me.” He turned back to Tony. “Maybe I can invite MJ over too? She hasn’t come over yet like Ned has, and she hasn’t asked to come visit, but, I-I don’t know, it’d be nice if she came over too.”

“Yes Pete, the girl you have a crush on can also come over.”

Peter straightened his back, startled, “I-I don’t have a crush on her! W-What? No!”

Tony finally let himself smile fully. He ruffled Peter’s hair. “Sure, kid. How about you invite them all over next week on Friday. King T’Challa and Princess Shuri are coming to visit for a few days, and that’s when they’re arriving. You wanted them to meet Shuri, right?”

“Oh my god, yes! That’d be perfect! I’ll tell my friends right away!”

Peter and Shuri had started texting each other a few months ago. She’d found out that Peter was Spider-Man while she had been hacking into some S.H.I.E.L.D. databases. She also found out his cellphone number this way and immediately texted him, saying that she was so happy that there was finally a superhero kid her age that she could talk too. They bonded over science, engineering, and internet memes, and had become close friends. Peter really wanted her to meet his other friends too. Heck, he wanted to meet her. They’d only texted, but they’d never met in person.

“King T’Challa and Princess Shuri are coming over?” Steve asked.

Peter and Tony both looked at him. “Yeah,” Tony answered. “Pepper and I need to discuss some business stuff with him. We’re going to form a sort of partnership between Wakanda and Stark Industries. We think trading our technologies and insight will be beneficial for both of us.”

“That’ll be great,” Steve said. “They’re amazing, those two. They really helped Bucky after… everything that happened.”

“Really?” Tony asked, finally saying something to Steve with no underlying malice in his voice.

“Yeah. Shuri managed to get the Hydra programming out of Bucky’s brain. Plus she made him a new arm. He’s all better now because of her brains and T’Challa’s kindness.”

“That’s great,” Tony said, and sounded genuinely happy for Bucky.

“Yeah. Shuri’s a genius . Smartest kid I’ve ever known. No offense, Peter.”

“Oh, none taken!” Peter said, waving his hand. “I know already. She’s wayyy smarter than me!”

“She’s smarter than me ,” Tony added. “And that’s saying something. She’s probably the smartest person on Earth.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Steve said.

All three of them realized in that moment that Steve and Tony had just agreed on something. Peter smiled.

The elevator doors opened again, and this time Natasha, Sam, and Bucky walked in. Steve put more eggs on the stove and started to make everyone breakfast.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The day went by fast. Peter helped Tony in his lab, played video games, went out as Spider-Man - all part of a normal day. During dinner, everyone was happy and laughing again, just like the night before. Peter wondered why, when they were in a big group like this, Tony and Steve were able to get along just fine, but when they were alone together they were more tense. Maybe something about being with the rest of the Avengers made them more comfortable. Maybe it reminded them of the good old days before the ‘Civil War’, and then when they were alone, all they could think about was Siberia.

Peter remembered Steve’s disbelieving eyes when he said that Tony had forgiven him. And then right after that, Tony acted rather coldly towards Steve. Peter wondered if Tony truly did forgive Steve or not. And if Tony didn’t actually forgive Steve, then Peter didn’t forgive Steve either. He wondered that if he just asked Tony what the truth was, he might actually tell him.

It was worth a try.

That night, before they went to bed, Tony was sitting on the couch on his private floor, checking the last of his emails. Peter was about to go to his room, when he stopped walking and turned to face Tony instead.

Tony looked up when he heard Peter’s lack of footsteps. “What’s up, Pete? You need something? You hungry?”

Peter didn’t respond, just shifted his weight between each of his feet, staring at the ground.

That made Tony look worried. “Peter?”

“Do you actually forgive Captain Rogers?” Peter blurted out before his brain could stop him. He looked up to see Tony had visibly tensed at the question, clearly not expecting that. “I-I’m sorry. I-It’s none of my business. I just keep wondering because you and Cap were really tense around each other this morning, and-”

Tony held up his hand, cutting off Peter’s rambling. He hesitated a few more seconds before finally saying, “How about you sit down next to me.”

Peter forced his nervous legs to go sit on the couch next to Tony.

“I told you about Siberia, right?”

Peter nodded.

“Cap and I... we’ve been through a lot,” Tony said, carefully thinking about his words, “We’ve always fought, but that last fight… it was bad. I forgive Bucky, because I know he was brainwashed. It wasn’t his fault. And Steve… well, Steve was just helping his boyfriend. It makes sense. I would’ve helped Pepper in the same situation.”

“But you didn’t answer my question,” Peter said. “Have you actually forgiven him?”

Tony looked at his hands. He took a deep breath in, then let it out in a long sigh. “Can I forgive the man who betrayed my trust and has hurt me in ways that still haunt my nightmares?” He leaned back on the couch. “I don’t know, Peter. I really don’t know.”

Peter felt his blood run cold at the sentence. Tony hadn’t forgiven Steve yet.

“Why’re you suddenly asking me, kid?”

“If you don’t forgive Cap, then I don’t forgive him either,” Peter said, his face very serious.

Tony smiled faintly. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I mean it. I want us all to get along and be happy, but… if you still don’t forgive him, then I won’t be as friendly to him as I’ve been.”

Tony frowned at that. “Hey, I don’t want you treating Cap with anything but respect, OK?”

“But why?!” Peter raised his voice, then quickly lowered it when he remembered Pepper had already fallen asleep in the master bedroom. “Mr. Stark, to be honest, I’m still mad at him! I’m not as angry with him as I used to be, since he seems nice now and all, but I’m definitely still mad! He hurt you! And I-” Peter stopped himself. He was about to say that he couldn’t respect anyone who hurt his dad. Good thing he cut himself off, or that would’ve been embarrassing, right? “And it’d be hard for me to respect someone who’s hurt you.”

Tony didn’t respond right away, and Peter was nervous that he’d said too much. But then Tony gave a weak smile and reached up to ruffle Peter’s hair. “Well, as nice as it is to have someone in my corner, I think you should forgive him, Pete. You’re a kid. Kids shouldn’t hold grudges for fights between adults.”

Peter wanted to say how it wasn’t just ‘adults’, that it was Tony, but he held his tongue. “OK. I’ll try to forgive him. But only if you try to forgive him too.”

“I’ll try, just for you,” Tony said, his smile not so weak anymore. “I promise.”

Peter smiled back. “OK. Cool. Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

Tony hesitated. Peter wondered what was going through his mind.

“I don’t like that you call me Mr. Stark. It’s so formal.”

Peter’s eyes widened in surprise. But he shouldn’t have been surprised, shouldn’t he? He’d been calling Tony ‘Dad’ while around the Avengers for around a week now. Maybe… Maybe Tony would say that Peter could call him Dad all the time?

Peter blinked the thought away. Of course Tony would never say that. That was just wishful thinking.

“What should I call you then?”

Tony just looked at him for awhile, the gears in his head clearly moving. Peter waited nervously, wondering what his mentor was thinking.

Tony was contemplating whether Peter would want to call him ‘Dad’ all the time or not.

“Just call me Tony,” he finally said, despite what he wanted to say.

Peter tried to hide his disappointment. “Cool! OK, um, Tony.”

What’s wrong with me? Peter thought, Tony would never want me to call him ‘Dad’ with the Avengers not around. I’m too much of a loser. It’s only for the prank.

What’s wrong with me? Tony thought, Peter would never want to call me ‘Dad’ all the time. I’m too messed up for that. It’s only for the prank.

Notes:

Hope you liked this chapter! Thank you so much for reading! Leave kudus and comment if you liked it! Next chapter will be posted Sunday!

Chapter 5: The Nightlight Protocol

Summary:

Tony wakes up in the middle of the night.

Notes:

Hope you enjoy the chapter! Thanks for 1400 kudos!!!

A few days passed, and Peter realized that Stark Tower held many secrets since the Rogues had arrived.

One - the “secret” that Peter was Tony’s biological son had been “revealed”.

Two - the real secret that Peter wasn’t Tony’s biological son and was actually his intern/mentee.

Three - the secret that Tony (and Peter) hadn’t forgiven Steve yet.

And four - the secret that Peter was Spider-Man, which the Rogues were close to finding out for themselves.

All these secrets were tiring Peter out. He wasn’t that good at keeping secrets - barely being able to hide his Spider-identity at school - and now he had to deal with more . He sighed as he flopped onto his bed for the night, dressed in his pajamas. He crawled under the covers to think. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for the rest of the Avengers to know that he’s Spider-Man. It wasn’t like they’d tell the public. It probably wasn’t as big a deal as Peter was making it out to be.

But then he thought, no, it was a big deal. He didn’t trust Cap enough yet to reveal that he was Spider-Man. Peter had definitely forgiven the other Rogues, because he wasn’t mad about anything that had to do with the Accords. He was mad that Steve betrayed Tony’s trust, and that was something Steve did alone.

It was just hard. How could he forgive Steve Rogers for doing something like that to his dad?

Peter, still lying in his bed, blinked to himself in shock. No, not his dad, he reminded himself. Tony Stark was not actually his dad. It was just pretend, a ruse, an act.

He was just sleep deprived. That was all.

Peter decided that he’d tell the Rogues that he was Spider-Man, but not yet. He’d tell them when he fully trusted them. Plus, it was funny to see them try to figure out evidence. He’d find the right moment to reveal himself as Spider-Man eventually.

Peter imagined different scenarios in which he’d tell the Rogues he was Spider-Man as he drifted off to sleep.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“Boss, wake up.”

Tony startled awake. Quickly looking around to check his surroundings, he saw that he was just in his bedroom, Pepper sleeping next to him in their bed. He checked the digital clock on his bedside table, and the holographic blue display read that it was just after 3am. He rubbed his eyes as his brain registered that FRIDAY had woken him up. “What is it, FRI?” Tony asked quietly, making sure not to wake Pepper.

“Peter is in distress, presumably from a nightmare. According to the Nightlight Protocol, I am to notify you if such a thing occurs.”

Tony sighed. The poor kid had nightmares almost as often as Tony himself. After years of superheroing, plus the trauma that came with it, Tony was able to deal with his nightmares pretty well by now, only having a couple of really bad incidents a month. But Peter had only been a superhero for around a year and a half. Plus, he had previous, non-superhero-related trauma on top of that, with his parents and uncle dying. The kid was only fifteen, not a grown man like Tony. He’d been through so much and really didn’t deserve it.

Good thing Tony was there to help him.

As Tony walked down the hall, the sound of Peter’s heavy, frantic breathing grew louder. Tony reached Peter’s room and knocked on the door. “Hey kid. Everything OK?”

Tony heard the teen curse under his breath, followed by him muttering something like, “Goddamnit, FRIDAY. Stupid Nightlight Protocol.” Peter then raised the volume of his voice. “Everything’s fine, Mr. St- I mean, Tony! I’m fine!”

“You’re not fine, Pete. Can I come in?” Tony was used to this back and forth, of Peter being too proud to ask for help. Tony knew he just had to be patient.

After a bit of silence, he heard Peter mumble. “Yeah, OK.”

The door creaked open, shining a small sliver of light into the room. Tony entered to see Peter sitting on his bed, knees tucked into his chest, wearing his Hello Kitty pajama bottoms and an old AC/DC shirt that Tony had given him a long time ago. Tony paced across the room and sat next to Peter, wrapping his arms around the boy and hugging him close. “It’s OK. I’m here.”

Peter let out a few tears, then quickly wiped them away.

“You wanna talk about what happened in your nightmare?”

Peter shook his head. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yes, but-”

“Dammit. I’m sorry, you need the sleep-”

“Kid, it’s fine, really. And stop deflecting, that’s my thing. You know it helps to talk about your nightmares after you have them. Tell me what’s up.”

Peter didn’t answer. He stared at his lap.

Tony maneuvered Peter’s shoulders so that the boy faced him. “Was it the dream about the building collapsing on you again?”

Peter hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Tony could tell there was more to this nightmare than Peter’s usual collapsing-building ones, but he decided not to push it. The kid was being extra reluctant to tell him what was wrong tonight for some reason. Tony held Peter close to him again. “It’s OK. I gotcha.”

Peter let himself cry quietly into Tony’s shoulder. He slowly wrapped his arms around Tony in return. It was a little embarrassing to have Tony - Iron Man - see him like this, but he’d comforted Peter from plenty of other nightmares before, so at least he didn’t feel as embarrassed as he used to.

Still, Tony could see the kid was embarrassed from the red blush spreading to his ears. He thought of something that would help Peter feel more comfortable. “You know, I had another really bad nightmare a few nights ago, too.”

Peter looked up at him.

“Normal deal. I was in the cave in Afghanistan, being waterboarded and yelled at. You know, my usual nightmare stuff. Then the guys torturing me threw me onto my back, and suddenly my surroundings changed to Siberia, and Steve Rogers jumped on top of me. He beat me up with all his energy, then lifted his shield, and slammed it down towards my neck to kill me. I woke up before it could land, though. That kind of thing’s only been appearing in my nightmares for the past year. Don’t you love it when your close friend traumatizes you?” He laughed weakly.

Peter had stopped crying by now, his mind distracted from its own scary thoughts and focused on Tony’s story. He blinked up at the man, his eyes wide.

Yeah, he wasn’t revealing that he was Spider-Man to the Rogues anytime soon.

“So you have nothing to be embarrassed about. We both have nightmares in this house. It comes with the superhero job.”

Peter nodded. “I, um…” he hesitated, glancing at the floor, then spoke again, “I didn’t have just a normal building-collapsing nightmare.”

Just as Tony thought. “You wanna say what was different?”

Peter nodded again. “Um, so, the building collapsed, but not on me. It fell on… well, you. It collapsed on you, without your suit, and since you don’t have super strength like me… i-it was… it was too much for you. And I… I-I couldn’t…” Peter started crying again. His voice cracked, “I couldn’t save you.”

Tony’s face twisted with empathy. “Oh, Pete,” he held Peter tightly in his arms again, “Don’t worry. I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

After Peter’s tears subsided, Tony looked him in the eyes again. “You think you could go back to sleep?”

Peter shook his head.

“Alright, watching a movie it is.” Tony stood up and started walking towards the door. “Come on, kid.”

“Y-You don’t have to go with me, Mr. Stark. You should go back to sleep.”

“I’d rather watch Star Wars for the hundredth time with my favorite Spider-kid.” Tony threw Peter a warm smile. “And what did I say about calling me Mr. Stark?”

Peter couldn’t help but smile back. “Uh, right. Thanks Tony.”

The two left Peter’s room and stepped into the elevator, taking it down to the lounge area. They sat on one of the couches in front of the TV. Peter looked through the movies they had.

“Kid, just pick one already.”

“But I dunno which one I wanna watch - Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi… Or maybe we should watch one of the prequels.”

“I refuse to watch one of the Star Wars prequels again. They’re horrible.”

Peter gasped and put a hand to his chest in fake offense. “How dare you! The Star Wars prequels are meme masterpieces of cinema! That’s it, we’re watching Revenge of the Sith right now!”

Tony didn’t argue. He hid his smile. To be honest, he didn’t care what movie they watched. As long as Peter was happy and his mind was distracted from his nightmare.

When they were barely 5 minutes into the movie, The elevator door dinged. Peter paused the movie. When he and Tony looked over, they saw Natasha silently stepping out from the elevator.

“Hey Romanoff,” Tony called to her, waving from the couch. “You’re up early.”

Natasha whipped her head around to face the voice. Once she saw Tony and Peter, her face relaxed and she sighed. “Oh. Hey you two.”

“Hello there,” Peter said, smiling to himself like he’d said some sort of inside joke.

“Seriously, what’s up?” Tony asked.

“I woke up in the middle of the night. Then I heard the elevator moving and got worried someone was sneaking around the Tower. I decided to investigate, but it turns out that it was just you two.” She sighed again and shook her head, her red hair swaying around her face. “Sorry. I guess I’m still paranoid after being on the run for so long. What are you guys doing up?”

“Pete had a bad dream. We’re calming down with a terrible movie.”

“Oh my god Dad stop , the prequels aren’t that bad!” Peter whined.

Natasha smiled. Wow, this was so different than the Tony she was used to. He was really soft around the kid. He was actually staying up with him after he had a bad dream. It must’ve been a really bad dream if the kid needed this to calm down.

“You wanna come watch with us, Nat?” Tony offered.

Natasha shrugged. “Sure, why not? It’s not like I’m gonna be able to fall back asleep.”

“Great. You OK with that, kiddo?”

Peter smiled. “It’s fine. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.”

Tony gave Peter a confused look as the boy started giggling to himself. “Sorry, sorry, it’s a meme,” Peter explained between laughs. “It’s a meme from the Star Wars prequels.”

“You kids and your internet memes,” Tony said. “I can never keep them all straight.”

“That’s cuz you’re old, Dad.”

“Hey!”

Natasha laughed with Peter as she sat down on the couch next to him. Peter tensed a little as she did, suddenly remembering that holy shit that’s Black Widow sitting next to him about to watch frickin Star Wars with him and he hadn’t said anything but prequel memes to her like a loser since she walked in.

Before he unpaused the movie, Peter turned to her and stuttered, “I-It’s really not that bad of a movie, Ms. Romanoff. I swear.”

Natasha laughed. “Oh please, you’re Tony’s son. Call me Auntie Nat. That’s what Clint’s kids call me anyway.”

Peter’s face lit up. “O-OK, um, A-Auntie Nat.” He unpaused the movie.

A thought then suddenly entered Peter’s brain - if the rogues knew he wasn’t actually Tony’s son, they probably wouldn’t be as friendly towards him.

That made Peter a little sad, but he shook it off.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Steve Rogers woke up that morning in his bed in Avengers Tower, Bucky lying next to him. He wasn’t used to sleeping in an actual, comfortable bed. He’d been living as a fugitive for a little over a year, and now he was suddenly thrust back into life in the Tower like everything was back to normal. He supposed everything was “back to normal” now, but it still didn’t seem like it was. He’d forgiven Tony, and he even felt guilty about his actions in their so-called “Civil War”, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Tony hadn’t truly forgiven him yet.

Steve heard Bucky grumble awake next to him, the Winter Soldier’s eyes blinking open. Steve smiled. “Hey, Buck.”

Bucky smiled sleepily back, “G'morning, Stevie.”

Steve’s worries left his mind. As long as Bucky was with him, he’d get through anything. He was with him till the end of the end of the line.

The two super-soldiers got dressed and ready for the day, then took the elevator up to the lounge area for breakfast with the team. The elevator doors opened to see that only Natasha was in the kitchen, making herself some scrambled eggs.

“Good morning you two,” Natasha gave them a small wave. With her other hand, she used a spatula to stir the eggs around in the pan.

“Morning, Nat,” Steve waved back. “Are we the only ones awake and down here so far?”

Natasha smirked. “Well, there’s a couple more people down here,” she gestured with her spatula across the common room towards the lounge area’s couches, “but I’m not so sure about the ‘awake’ part.”

Steve and Bucky looked over to the couch in front of the TV, and sure enough, there was Tony and Peter, asleep. Tony had an arm around Peter, and Peter’s head was resting against Tony’s shoulder like a pillow.

“I found them here a little after 3 am,” Natasha continued. “Tony said Peter had a bad dream so they decided to watch a movie to take his mind off it. They both fell asleep only 30 minutes into it. I stayed to watch the whole thing, though.”

“And what were you doing up?” Bucky asked her.

She shrugged, pouring her eggs on a plate, “Normal paranoia, making sure we’re safe and all that. Anyway,” she quickly changed the subject, “I was thinking, Peter’s dream must’ve been really bad if he, a grown fifteen year old, needed his dad to watch a movie with him to calm down. Most teenagers don’t get dreams that scary, but you know who does? Superheroes.”

The two super-soldiers gave her knowing looks. “Superheroes like Spider-Man ,” Bucky finished Natasha’s thought.

“Exactly,” she pointed to him. “Plus, the movie he turned on was a Star Wars movie, and Spider-Man talked about Star Wars at the airport battle.”

“You’re really coming around to my theory.”

“There’s quite a bit of evidence,” Natasha said.

“Sorry guys, but I still don’t fully believe it,” Steve said and looked at his boyfriend. “It’s still hard for me to believe that Tony would let his own kid swing around the streets and stop dangerous crimes all day, let alone something even more dangerous like the airport battle in Berlin.”

“Yeah, I understand what you mean,” Natasha said. She looked back over at the couch. “God, look at them. They’re so soft. That’s Tony’s old t-shirt that the kid’s wearing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I’ve never seen Tony be like this before,”

“Me neither,” said Bucky, “but to be fair, the only other times I’ve ever seen him were times he was focused on killing me.”

“Buck-”

“It’s fine,” Bucky waved off whatever Steve was going to say. “I don’t blame him. I’m glad we can all get along now.”

Steve’s worries entered his mind again, and this time he decided to voice them. “I feel like Tony still hasn’t forgiven me yet.”

Bucky sighed. “Yeah, I understand. I feel like he hasn’t forgiven me fully either.” He fidgeted with his metal arm, “Although, who could blame him for that.”

Steve was about to tell Bucky to stop thinking like that, when Peter snorted awake. Natasha covered her mouth with her hands to stifle her laugher.

Peter rubbed his eyes, then took in his surroundings. He saw Tony next to him, still asleep, and smiled. Tony needed all the sleep he could get since he pulled all-nighters way too often.

“Good morning, Peter.”

Peter whipped his head around and looked across the common room into the connected kitchen/dining room. His eyes widened as he saw Natasha, Steve Rogers, and Bucky Barnes all looking at him. Peter then also realized he was still wearing his pajamas.

He scratched the back of his neck and couldn’t help the blush blooming on his face. “H-Hey Auntie Nat. Guess I fell asleep during the movie. Did you watch the rest of it?”

“Yeah, I did. It was pretty good. You want eggs?”

“Th-That’s OK! I-I can make them-”

“It’s alright, kid,” Steve entered the conversation, “Now that I’m here, I’ll take over the cooking.”

“Uh, OK. Yeah, sure, I’d love some eggs, um, Cap.” Peter wasn’t quite sure how to talk to Steve anymore. Tony hadn’t truly forgiven him and Tony still had nightmares about what Steve did in Siberia. But Tony told Peter that if he made an effort to forgive Steve he would too. So Peter would be friendly towards Steve if it meant Tony could find a friend in him again.

Just then, Peter heard a yawn behind him. He looked over to see Tony sit up and blink his eyes open. “Good morning, Dad.”

Tony, who was still half asleep, smiled at the word. He was so proud to be Peter’s dad. He was happy the kid started calling him that. “Mornin’ kid. You sleep good?”

“Yep,” Peter answered. “Steve said he’s gonna cook breakfast. You want some?”

Tony’s brain then fully woke up and flooded with information. Oh, right. He wasn’t Peter’s actual dad, and Peter didn’t start calling Tony ‘Dad’ on his own accord. They were playing this little act to fool the Avengers.

It really didn’t feel like an act to Tony.

“Yeah, sure. I guess I’m hungry,” he answered Peter’s question, then looked across the room over at Steve. “Hey Cap, do me a favor and make Peter’s breakfast bigger than a normal serving size. He’s a growing boy.”

“Sure, Tony. How much bigger you thinking?”

“Uh, like around the size you eat.”

Steve turned around and stared at Tony in disbelief from across the room. “You think he’s gonna eat the same amount of food as me? With my super-metabolism?”

“Trust me, he’ll eat it.”

Steve shrugged and turned back to the stove.

Peter looked between Tony and Steve. They seemed to be getting along. It was clear that Tony had completely become friends with the other Rogues again. Tony was especially nice to Natasha, even inviting her to watch the movie with them last night. Maybe that was because Tony had met Natasha before the rest of the Avengers and they were closer. And since Natasha was good friends with Pepper.

And now, Tony was treating Steve like any other friend. Maybe he was making an effort to actually forgive him like he said he would.

“You know who might also have a super-metabolism?” Peter heard Bucky whisper to Steve and Natasha. “Spider-Man.”

Peter smiled slyly and pretended not to hear him. He’d tell them eventually, but for now, it was fun to keep them guessing.

 

Notes:

I just miss Tony and Natasha :’( Why did Endgame have to do that? Also, since I ship Steve/Bucky, you can imagine how much I hated Steve’s ending in Endgame too lmao. Anyway, this fic is what’s canon in my mind lol Endgame and Infinity War who??? Thanks for reading!! Next chapter will be posted on Thursday at around 8-9pm EST!

(Also if you're interested the prequel memes that Peter referenced are this one and this one respectively.)

Chapter 6: (Captain) America's Birthday

Summary:

July 4th isn’t just America’s birthday, but also Captain America’s birthday. The Avengers decide to celebrate.

Notes:

I saw Spider-Man: Far From Home!! That movie was a wild ride. And obviously this fic is not compliant to it lol. (Please don’t give spoilers in the comments because people still haven’t seen it). Also, I’m posting this chapter on July 4th, so I had to write this chapter about Steve’s birthday! This chapter is over four thousand words oof I think it’s the longest chapter I’ve posted so far. Usually the chapters are like 2,500-3,500 words long. Anyway, I hope you like it!

“Shit!”

“Language.”

Peter laid across a couch, playing Hearthstone on his StarkPad. He, Tony, and the other Avengers were all sitting in the lounge. He answered Tony’s remark. “Sorry, Dad. Shuri just played Ragnaros.”

Tony, who sat on the same couch, Peter’s legs across his lap and Rhodey sitting next to him, squinted his eyes at his ‘son’. “Shuri did what ?”

“It’s uh, it’s from a video game,” Peter clarified. “We were texting earlier and then she challenged me to a game of Hearthstone, but she’s uh… she’s wayyyyy better than me.”

“You sound surprised.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be, should I?”

“Um, wait, I’m sorry,” Natasha spoke up, sass clear in her voice, “We’ve all been making fun of Steve for saying ‘language’ for years - you especially, Tony. But now we learn, that during all this time, you’ve had a kid that you scold for his ‘language’ too?”

“That’s because Pete’s a child, Nat,” Tony said back. “There’s a difference between scolding my son for swearing and Cap telling me I can’t say ‘shit’.”

“You’re right,” Peter said without looking up from his StarkPad, “Only Mom’s allowed to tell you that.”

“Right you are, kiddo.”

“Boss,” FRIDAY interrupted the conversation, “A package for you has just arrived in the lobby.”

“Great, I know what that is. Tell Happy to bring that up to my floor.”

“On it, Boss.”

Peter finally broke his eyes away from the screen in front of him to give Tony a confused look. “What is it?”

“That package? Oh, I bought you a new Lego set since you finished the last one.”

Peter shot up into a sitting position. “W-What? You didn’t have to do that! That costs money and-”

“Pete, it’s fine. You keep forgetting I’m rich. This is barely even pocket change for me.” Tony tried not to laugh at the kid for being so concerned over the price of a Lego set .

From across the room, Natasha squinted her eyes in confusion. Why would Peter be worried about Tony spending money? Didn’t Peter grow up with his rich dad buying him things left and right? Didn’t he already know Tony didn’t have to think twice about spending money on little stuff like Legos? Wasn’t Peter used to Tony buying him whatever he wanted all his life?

She decided that she was probably overthinking this, but stored the information in the back of her brain anyway, in case something like this ever came up again.

Peter glanced at the ground. “Right, yeah, OK. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, kiddo.”

“Still,” Peter continued. “You didn’t have to buy me it. It’s not like it’s my birthday yet or anything. My birthday’s next month.”

“I know,” Tony said, then reached over to ruffle Peter’s hair. “You don’t think I know when my own son’s birthday is?”

Peter smiled at that. Tony calling him his son never got old. “Yeah, you’re right. But still, it’s not my birthday yet. It’s only July 4th-” Peter blinked in recognition, “Oh wow, hey, it’s the Fourth of July today.”

“There you go. Think of it as your Fourth of July present.”

“That’s not a thing, Dad!” Peter laughed, then suddenly stopped and went very serious. “Wait… July 4th…” His eyes lit up and turned around, looking towards Steve on another couch next to Bucky and Sam, “Isn’t it your birthday, Cap?”

Steve looked like he’d just realized it too. “I guess it is, yeah. Wow, that came fast.”

“So how old are you now?” Sam elbowed Steve. “And I mean your real age, old man.”

“Yeah Capsicle, you hit the big one-zero-zero yet?” Tony teased.

“Something like that,” Steve side-eyed him.

“We should have a birthday party!” Peter said, thinking any excuse to eat cake was a good one. Plus, maybe they could all grow closer as a team some more.

Steve shook his head. “We don’t need to have a party-”

“Oh, come on, Steve! Let’s have a birthday party for you!” Clint said. “Doesn’t have to be anything big, we’ll just all have some fun for the day.”

“How about we go out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant?” Natasha suggested.

“Nope,” Tony said. “If we do anything outside the Tower, then Peter can’t come with us.”

“Oh!” Peter held his hands up, “I-I don’t have to go with you guys! You guys go have fun! I can stay-”

Multiple Avengers quickly shushed him and told him he was definitely coming with them, and Peter suddenly remembered how him being around was probably the sole reason Tony and Steve hadn’t started fighting again.

“Honestly.” Steve finally said, “all I want for my birthday is to relax here with you guys. We can order in food later.”

“We gotta do something special,” Sam said.

The room went quiet for a moment, and Peter knew this was one of those times where he had to say something. “Maybe we can watch a movie? Cap can pick, since it’s his birthday.”

“That’s a great idea,” Clint said. “Remember team movie night? Every Friday we’d all watch a movie together. I miss that.”

“I miss that too,” Steve said. “Sure, yeah. Let’s watch a movie later, after dinner. Just like the old days.”

The group went quiet again, but this time, surprisingly, Tony broke the silence.

“We can start team movie night again.”

All the Avengers turned to look at him. “You sure?” Steve asked.

“Yeah,” Tony shrugged like it was nothing. “I, um, I miss it too.”

There was another beat of silence in the room, before it got too awkward, Peter turned to Tony and said, “Can we get cake, too?”

Tony laughed. “Yes kiddo. We’ll get cake.”

“Now?”

“You want to get cake before dinner? It’s only like 3pm right now.”

Peter nodded. “Why not? Please?”

Tony sighed. “You know I can’t say no to that face. Fine. FRIDAY, order three cakes from that place on W 57th street. You know the one.”

“Right away, Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice filled the room.

“God, Pepper’s gonna kill me.”

“You didn’t have to order three ,” Peter said. “I mean, that place is expensive and-”

“Kid, with your appetite and Steve’s metabolism, plus the rest of us, I should’ve ordered ten. Don’t worry about it.”

Everyone pretended not to notice that was the first time Tony had called Steve by his first name since arriving back at the Tower.

Peter smiled. Everything was going to be just fine. Everyone was going to get along. He was going to have a real family .

Natasha wondered why Peter cared about Tony spending money again, this time the question lingering in her mind longer than before.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

There were other rooms besides the common area and the communal Avengers floor of the Tower. Another room was the bar, which had obviously been fully repaired since Ultron had almost torn it apart. It was a large space, with the bar along one wall and multiple sleek couches around a wide coffee table. This is where the Avengers, along with Pepper and Peter, ate cake and talked while waiting for their take-out food to arrive.

Their conversation was loud and full of laughter, just like their first dinner all together that summer. Peter was immensely happy, sitting between Tony and Pepper, feeling like he belonged.

“Come on Steve! Just pick a movie for tonight!” Sam was saying.

“How about something old,” Natasha smirked, “like you.”

“Guys, stop,” Steve said, but smiled at the teasing, “I honestly don’t know what to watch. Peter, what do you think?”

“M-Me?” Peter stuttered out.

“Yeah, you’ve been good at thinking up things to do. What movie should we watch?”

“Uh, I dunno. I would say let’s watch Star Wars cuz like I love Star Wars but Dad says I watch it too much and honestly he’s probably right.”

“I’m always right,” Tony said and pointed at him.

“Um, no, Mom’s always right. You’ve said it yourself.”

“Yes,” Pepper laughed, “And Mom says you’ve watched enough Star Wars movies for 20 lifetimes. Pick something else.”

“OK, well, uh… I dunno. I’ll think about it as we eat. I’ll get back to you later.”

The other Avengers asked Peter more questions about movies he liked, and after Clint proclaimed that he “felt like he could ask Peter questions all day”, the conversation soon revolved around getting to know him again, which Peter didn’t mind so much. It just stressed him out a bit whenever he had to lie.

Somehow, the conversation had become about Peter’s family. They asked how long had he called Pepper ‘Mom’, which he lied about and said a few years now. They asked if there was anyone else he called ‘aunt’ or ‘uncle’ besides May, Rhodey, and Happy, and Peter said, “No - well, except for Auntie Nat, cuz she said I could call her that now.”

“How about your grandparents?” Wanda asked.

“No, my grandparents passed away before I was born,” Peter said, not sounding sad or anything. He was just stating a fact.

His mind suddenly filled with panic. He was talking about his real grandparents - Mary Parker’s parents and Richard Parker’s parents. They died before Peter got to meet them, and that’s why Aunt May was his last living relative. He forgot to lie. It had just slipped his mind. He was going to look so suspicious now.

But, wait, he realized that that was true for the father-son ruse too. Tony’s parents had passed away way before Peter was born. And he didn’t know if the same was true for Pepper’s parents, but since they said she wasn’t Peter’s biological mother, what he said could still make sense.

Relieved that he hadn’t just blown his cover, he paid attention to the room again. However, what he saw confused him. Most of the Avengers looked at him with a bit of pity showing on their faces - that made sense - but then Peter looked over at Steve and Bucky. Their faces were pale, their eyes wide, and their backs stiff. Peter squinted, wondering why they were so-

Oh right .

The Winter Soldier had killed ‘his grandparents’.

Peter laughed nervously, trying to defuse the tension. “A-Anyway, um, about the movie tonight, I-I just thought of something!”

“Great! What movie?” Steve asked, sounding a bit too excited. Like Peter, he was also trying to defuse the tension.

“W-Well,” here’s the thing though - Peter hadn’t actually thought of a movie. He just lied and said he had so the conversation could change quickly. He’d have to think fast. “Well, I-I have a few choices, actually. What genre you thinking of?”

“Hm,” Steve thought for a moment, “Not something too action-packed. Our lives are filled with enough explosions and fights. I don’t need to watch that in movies.”

“Cool, so now, like, most of my choices are disqualified cuz they’re action movies,” Peter said and the others laughed. Peter laughed too, but more because he was nervously trying to cover up the fact that he actually had no choices in his head, and was just stalling for time. “Hm, OK, something not too action-packed…” Luckily Peter’s movie-nerd brain was chock full of films, “Well, Blade Runner’s really good. It’s done in like a noir-style so it’s not really action-y. It’s more serious and really aesthetically beautiful and amazing.”

“You like sci-fi, don’t you kid?” Clint said.

“Yeah, I do,” Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “Sci-fi’s my favorite.”

The conversation moved on from there, and Peter was grateful that everyone seemed to have forgotten about the tension that filled the room after Peter said his grandparents were dead. Although, he glanced over at Bucky, and he still seemed to look kind of uncomfortable. Peter realized that Bucky barely ever spoke when they were in a group like this. He hoped that would change soon. Maybe he’d do something about it, if the chance came up.

That chance did come up later, after dinner when everyone started doing their own thing for a while. Tony had offered to do the dishes and surprisingly, Steve offered to help him. Bucky - who was usually always glued to Steve’s side - offered to help too, but Steve insisted that Bucky took the time to relax. Bucky protested, saying Steve shouldn’t do the dishes on his own birthday , but Steve insisted. Bucky then silently understood that Steve wanted to talk to Tony one-on-one. He was concerned, but let Steve do what he wanted.

So now, Bucky sat on the couch, alone.

Until Peter walked over and sat down next to him.

Bucky didn’t look like he was going to make any attempt to speak to him - in fact, it looked like he tensed as Peter’s weight shifted the couch cushions - but Peter really wanted to get to know Bucky better. Luckily, he could do enough talking for the two of them. He looked up at him, a big smile on his face, and his words raced out of his mouth.

“You lived in Wakanda for a while, right? Shuri told me she made your arm. I’m friends with Shuri, too. We text and FaceTime a lot. You’re gonna have to show me the inner workings of your arm - i-if that’s OK, I mean - cuz Shuri’s only briefly told me about it and I’ve been dying to see how it works! Shuri also told me that she showed you a bunch of memes and vine compilations. That’d be so cool if you understand any references I make, cuz right now only Vision understands because his basically the Internet with legs and-”

The rest of Peter’s ramblings fell silent as he caught the look Bucky’s eyes. He looked completely shocked and confused. “What is it?” Peter asked.

Bucky blinked. “Why… are you being so nice to me?”

Peter didn’t fully understand. Sure, he’d understand if Steve asked him that question, but not Bucky. He’d completely forgiven Bucky, just like Tony had. “Why would I not?”

“I…” Bucky looked at his hands folded in his lap, “I killed your grandparents.”

Oh, right. That.

Peter wanted to say not to worry, that they weren’t actually his grandparents, but quickly shut his mouth to make sure he did not say that. He thought about what to say instead - something that didn’t blow his cover, but also make Bucky feel better.

“The Winter Soldier killed them, not you.”

Bucky looked back up at Peter.

“My dad said that it’s not your fault, since you were brainwashed. I agree with him, so I don’t blame you either."

Bucky blinked again. “Stark said that?”

“Yeah, he did. We blame Hydra, not you. And now, Shuri got all the Winter Soldier stuff out of your head, so you’re fine. If Shuri trusts you, then I definitely do too.” He hesitated a little before saying, “A-And, Spider-Man told me that he fought you at the airport, but he still thought you were really cool. He has a lot of respect for you, and a lot of the other Rogues too.”

Bucky was quiet. He didn’t know how to respond to all that. “Thanks,” he finally said, and Peter swore he could see the far corner of his lips curling up slightly.

Peter smiled back, although much wider. “No problem! But seriously, what vines did Shuri show you? I wanna know what references you’ll understand!”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Everyone else was still in the bar - far away from the kitchen, where Tony and Steve did the dishes. After a couple of minutes of terribly awkward silence, Tony finally snapped. “OK, what is it Rogers? You clearly want to talk to me, so what is it?”

Steve took the plate he was scrubbing and put it in the dishwasher. “I wanted to tell you that it looks like you’ve been a great father to Peter.”

Tony was a little caught off guard at the words. “Well,” he quickly recovered, “it was pretty easy. All I had to do was do the opposite of everything my father had done. That way I’d know I’d be at least decent.”

Steve laughed softly - soft like how his voice was when he talked one-on-one with people. He picked up another plate. “It’s so strange to me to think of Howard as a father. But to be fair, it was hard for me to think that you could ever be a father until I saw you with Peter. You really are great with him.”

It was still weird to Tony that Steve knew his father - like knew his father, when they were younger. Steve knew Howard before Tony even knew his father - but, honestly, did Tony ever really know his father? “Well, as I said, it’s easy. I don’t compare him to you on a daily basis, and that seems to work pretty well for his self esteem.”

Steve didn’t laugh at that, but Tony didn’t care. Tony thought that maybe he always fought with Cap because Howard had always compared Tony to him as a child, making him feel inadequate. He hated Cap as a kid. Maybe some of that hate carried on into his adulthood. He wasn’t just mad that Steve betrayed his trust, he was mad at that stuff too.

Steve suddenly interrupted his thoughts. “I’m sorry, Tony.”

Tony blinked. “I know, we said so on the phone before you moved back in.”

“But that was on the phone,” Steve said, putting the plate he was holding down. He looked at Tony, his eyes full of sincerity. “You deserve to hear it in person. I’m sorry, for everything.”

Tony took a deep breath. He thought about Peter, and how angry he was when he told him about Siberia. And yet, the boy was still making an effort to be as kind and friendly as he could to Steve now.

Suddenly, the exchange he and Peter had after the ferry incident popped into his head.

I just wanted to be like you!

And I wanted you to be better .

God, Tony thought, the kid was already so much better than him.

He could learn a thing or two from Peter.

“I’m sorry, too,” Tony said, even though he thought Steve had more to be sorry for, he still thought an apology was in order anyway. “And I… I forgive you. It’s all in the past now.”

For Peter’s sake , he thought.

Steve smiled at him. “Thank you, Tony.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony waved his hand at him and picked up another plate. “Just… be nice to Peter, OK?”

Steve handed him the dish soap. “Of course. How could I not? That kid’s amazing. I can tell you really love him.”

The word almost made Tony choke on his breath. Love . He was terrified of that word. But it only made sense for Tony to love his ‘son’. So, he told himself, for the ruse, he’d have to lie and just say it.

“I do,” Tony didn’t meet Steve’s eyes. He looked down in the sink. “I do love him.”

But Tony knew it wasn’t actually a lie. As much as it scared him to admit it, he truly did love his son.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

When Steve and Tony came back from washing the dishes, they were surprised at what they saw.

Peter and Bucky sat next to each other on the couch, huge smiles on both their faces. Neither of them had noticed Steve and Tony’s arrival. They were too wrapped up in their conversation - a conversation that made no sense to the two onlooking Avengers. Both of them were saying sentences that seemed random to Steve and Tony, and were laughing like they were the funniest things in the world. Steve and Tony exchanged a glance - what was going on?

“OK, OK,” Bucky calmed himself down a bit, “Shuri also showed me the one that was like… it’s like in some diner, and a guy is trying to order his food, but two of the employees behind the counter start fighting and-”

“CAN I GET A WAFFLE?!” Peter suddenly yelled, surprising the hell out of Tony and Steve. “CAN I PLEASE GET A WAFFLE?!”

The two burst out laughing again. “Yes! That one!” Bucky managed to say. “That one’s so good.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Tony walked over to them.

“Shuri told me that she showed Bucky a ton of vine compilations,” Peter answered, “so now Bucky’s telling me the vines that he remembers from them.”

Tony rolled his eyes, remembering the few vine compilations that Peter had forced him to watch. “Your generation’s sense of humor is weird, Pete. I’ll never understand it.”

“Hey! Bucky thinks they’re funny, and he’s an even older generation than you !”

“I never said I thought they weren’t funny, I just said that you’re weird.”

“ You’re weird!” Peter laughed and pushed him a little. Tony laughed back.

“Hey guys!” Natasha called over to them from the door. “The rest of us are in the lounge we’re about to start the movie. I hope you decided on what to watch, Peter.”

“I did!” Peter said excited. “We’re going to watch Blade Runner!”

“We’ll meet you there in just a sec, Nat,” Steve called back to her. She nodded and left the room. Bucky stood up and followed her, Tony following him. A few paces behind Tony was Peter, and Steve took the chance to tell Peter what was on his mind the second he saw Bucky smiling like that.

“Thank you, Peter,” Steve said quietly to him, and his smile was genuine. “Today was a lot of fun. And whatever you’re doing with Bucky, keep doing it. I haven’t seen him laugh like that since we arrived at the Tower. He’s been having some trouble feeling like he belongs here. It’s nice for him to know that you don’t hate him.”

“I definitely don’t hate him! Mr. Barnes is so cool! Shuri likes him and, I forgive him,” Peter said. He looked down and shuffled his feet along in the hallway. When he was brave enough to look up, he said, “A-And, I forgive you too, you know. I mean it.”

Steve look at him, his eyes shocked.

“I dunno if my dad forgives you yet, but I do.”

Steve’s stunned face broke into a laugh. “I didn’t expect that. I thought if anyone was to hold a grudge longer than Tony, it’d be his son.”

“I mean, when I first found out, yeah, I was really mad at you. I never wanted to meet you, ever. I probably would’ve punched you if you returned sooner. I still didn’t fully forgive you when you returned, to be completely honest,” Peter admitted. “But you’ve been nothing but nice to me and Dad since you’ve come back, and… and holding a grudge is honestly just tiring , man. I just want everyone to get along. Whenever we all hang out, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life . I’ve never had such a big family before, a-and so it’s nice to have all of you around.”

And Peter meant that. He knew Steve thought he was talking about his ‘family’ of Tony and Pepper, but Peter meant it for real. His family had always been small. He barely remembered his parents, so his family had always been just Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Then when Ben died, it was only him and May. And May was great, he loved May so much. But sometimes Peter would go to Ned’s house and meet his siblings and see all the pictures of his family framed on the walls and Peter would just feel… jealous . He never had that. When Tony entered his life, he was happy that his family was finally expanding a little. With Tony came Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. And now, all the Avengers. Peter finally felt like he had a family.

And he wasn’t going to let some fight that happened over a year ago ruin that for him.

“Thank you, Peter,” Steve said. “This is the best birthday ever.”

They all sat down on the couches in the lounge. Peter sat next to Tony, and Tony slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders. In the far distance outside, the July 4th fireworks could be heard. FRIDAY turned down the lights, and they started to watch Blade Runner.

The Avengers were united again - and Peter didn’t know it, but it was all thanks to him.

Notes:

This chapter will wrap up the whole ‘forgiving Steve’ thing cuz that plotline really just took off and became it’s own thing, and I wanna write more chapters that are more centered around Peter and Tony’s father-son fluff!!! Also, Blade Runner is like my favorite movie so I knew I had to reference it somewhere in this fic lol. In the next chapter, maybe Peter will finally feel confident enough to show the Avengers that he’s Spider-Man?? Tune in next time to find out! Next chapter will be posted on Sunday!
Also btw I think I want to write this story during this whole summer, since it takes place during a whole summer too. So expect this to be a long fic, like probably over 20 chapters. I hope that’s OK with you guys! Thanks for reading! Leave kudos and a comment if you liked it!

(Also if you want the link to the vine Peter referenced it's right here.)

Chapter 7: Who is Spider-Man?

Summary:

Spider-Man finally meets the Avengers for the first time since the airport battle, but the Avengers swear he sounds familiar.

Notes:

Thank you so much everyone for your kudos and comments! This fic got way more attention that I ever thought it’d get - just over 2000 kudos now - and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for reading!! I love you all so much!!
Also, since I decided this will be a pretty long fic, I’ve titled the chapters and will be titling all future chapters. That way you (and I lol) can remember which chapter is which. Hope you enjoy this new chapter!

A few days later, after lunch, Peter had excused himself to go to his room and talk on Discord with his friends.

“What’s Discord?” Steve asked.

“It’s kinda like Skype, but better,” Peter answered.

“What’s Skype?” Steve then asked.

“Oh, Capsicle. You’re such an old man,” Tony teased him. “Go ahead, kid.”

Peter then ran to the elevator, assumedly to go up to Tony’s floor to go to his room.

Now, a couple hours later, the Avengers sat on the couches in the lounge together, the sun shining in through the many floor-to-ceiling windows. Natasha and Clint were talking. Steve, Bucky, and Sam watched the news on TV. Wanda and Vision were cuddling next to each other and half paid attention to the TV as well. Tony sat on a couch next to Rhodey and worked on Stark Industries stuff on his StarkPad. Sure, Pepper was CEO, but he still had to do some work related to the company. He was still the owner, after all.

“This just in,” the news anchor said on the TV. “Another crime has been stopped by New York’s very own Spider-Man.”

The sound of Spider-Man’s name got everyone in the room’s attention. Natasha noticed how Tony quickly looked up from his StarkPad with an expression on his face that looked almost… worried .

The news anchor continued, “A bank robbery was in process in Manhattan on West 50th Street when the amazing Spider-Man swung in to save the day. We have obtained cellphone footage from inside the bank as this occurred, provided to us by Twitter user @SpideyFan3000.”

The news feed then cut to a vertically filmed video of the bank during the robbery. Suddenly, Spider-Man swung in through the open door. He quickly webbed the guns away from the robbers before they could even realize what was happening. Spider-Man then perched on a bank teller’s desk.

“Who robs a bank in broad daylight?” Spider-Man said. “You guys sure are some stupid criminals.”

A bunch of the Rogue Avengers looked at each other. That really sounded like Peter’s voice.

Back in the video, one of the robbers lunged at Spider-Man, but the masked vigilante easily avoided him and webbed him up against a wall. “Anyone else want some of this?” He taunted. When none of the robbers made a move to attack him, he said, “No? Too bad.” He webbed the rest of the robbers against the wall too. “I can’t have you running away! Now, just sit tight. The police will be here soon. See ya, everyone!”

Spider-Man waved and swung back out the door. The footage ended and the TV cut back to the news anchor behind his desk.

“OK, that’s it,” Clint said and turned to Tony. “Tony, we know that Peter is Spider-Man.”

Tony didn’t look phased. Peter had told him a couple days ago that he was going to tell the Avengers that he was Spider-Man eventually, so it wouldn’t be fair for Tony to just out him right now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He sounded exactly like Peter in that footage!”

Tony shrugged. “I can see the similarities, but Spider-Man definitely has a bit of a stronger New York accent than Pete does.”

“Tony,” Natasha said, “We know it’s Peter.”

“They’re two different people, Nat. I don’t know what else to tell you.” Tony then took out his StarkPhone. “Tell you what. I’ll call Spidey right now and you can see for yourself.”

The Rogues all glanced at each other. Tony seemed so confident. Maybe they were wrong.

Tony told FRIDAY to call the AI in the Spider-Man suit. Before Spider-Man could even say anything, Tony spoke. “Hey kid. I’m here at the Tower with the Avengers. We saw on the news that you were in the area. You wanna swing by and meet them for real?”

“Oh hell yeah, Mr. Stark!” The voice on the other end of the phone line answered. “I’ll be over in a few. See ya!”

“See you in a bit, kid.” Tony hung up. The Avengers stared at him. “See, his New York accent was much stronger than Pete’s right? Sounded nothing like him.”

The Rogues were still suspicious. Maybe… maybe they were wrong. Maybe they were just two different people with similar voices.

In less than ten minutes, there was a loud thud against the window, causing the Avengers to jump in their seats. Bucky and Sam even let out high-pitched shrieks in surprise, causing Steve to laugh at them. They all looked to the window to see Spider-Man stuck to it.

“Hey everyone!” He said, his voice muffled behind the glass. He pressed his masked face to the window. “Mr. Stark! Open the window for me!”

Tony rolled his eyes. “FRI, let the kid in.”

“Yes, Boss,” the AI responded

The window opened. Spider-Man slipped inside, crawling along the ceiling, then dropped down to the floor. The window closed behind him.

“Hey Spider-boy,” Tony said.

“I’m Spider- Man , Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway kid, look here. It’s all the Avengers that you fought at the airport in Berlin. They’ve been dying to meet you - in, you know, a not-fighting-each-other scenario. Why don’t you introduce yourself? Because right now, they think you’re Peter Parker.”

“Peter Parker?” Spider-Man laughed. “That wimpy intern of yours? Yeah right. He just helps make my suits.”

“Hey, don’t talk about him like that,” Tony said.

“OK, OK.”

The Rogue Avengers exchanged glances. Tony used Peter’s fake last name when talking to Spider-Man, and it seemed Spider-Man didn’t know that Peter was Tony’s son. And the more Spider-Man talked, the more the Rogues started to think that yeah, maybe Spider-Man did have a stronger New York accent, and maybe even a little bit of a deeper voice. And Spider-Man seemed to carry himself much more confidently than Peter. Maybe they really were two different people.

Or, Natasha thought, maybe this was all just part of the act, and that really was Peter under that mask. Although, she doubted it. Peter could barely hide the fact that he was Tony’s son when they first met. Peter seemed like he was terrible at keeping secrets. He probably couldn’t keep a big secret like being Spider-Man.

Oh, if Natasha knew all the secrets Peter was keeping.

“How about you take off that mask of yours to prove to us you aren’t Peter,” Clint said.

“No can do, Legolas,” Spider-Man said, knocking on his head. “My identity is a secret. Doesn’t matter if you’re the Avengers or not.”

“How about this,” Steve said and crossed his arms, “You and me have a rematch down in the gym. If you win, then you don’t have to tell us your identity. If I win, you have to tell us.”

Spider-Man thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright then, that sounds fair. You just have to promise, if I do end up revealing my identity to you guys, that you won’t tell anyone else.”

“Our lips are sealed, Spidey,” Nat said, doing the zip and lock motion across her lips.

“Cool. Let’s go.” Spider-Man leapt up and flipped over the couches, then made his way to the elevator. The Avengers followed him.

Once they all got to the Tower’s giant gym, Spider-Man took his place on one side of a training mat. Steve grabbed his shield from its wall rack and made his way to the other side of the mat.

Internally, Peter was very excited, he’d wanted a rematch with Cap since the moment their fight in the airport had ended. He was definitely going to win this time.

“Alright,” Tony said, “first one to tap out loses. FRIDAY, can you referee?”

“Of course, Boss. Ready, you two?”

“Ready,” Steve said and smirked at Spider-Man. “How about you, kid?”

“Born ready,” Spider-Man said, stretching out his arms.

“Alright,” FRIDAY said. “Three… two… one… begin!”

Spider-Man immediately shot webs at Steve’s legs. Steve gasped as the ground was pulled out from under him, but quickly cut the webs with his shield and stood back up, just in time to see Spider-Man’s foot to coming straight for his face. He blocked the blow, grabbed Spidey’s foot, and threw him to the ground.

The rest of the Avengers watched intently as Cap and Spider-Man continued to fight, Spidey occasionally throwing in a sassy comment here and there. Most of them were fairly confident Steve would win, but Tony wasn’t so sure. Peter was stronger than they knew. Not that they knew it was Peter, anyway. Tony wondered if Peter would actually reveal his identity if he lost.

After around 10 more minutes, Peter was able to web Steve’s shield away from him. He flung it with his web to the other side of the room, hitting the wall with a loud, echoing clang. The two then fought hand-to-hand close combat for a while, punching, kicking, and dodging. Spider-Man was way better at dodging than Steve was, since he had his Spidey-Sense. He was eventually able to land a punch straight at Steve’s face, knocking him back.

Steve stood up and wiped his nose, which bled a little. He looked down at the blood on his hand and couldn’t help but smile. “You hit hard, kid. I’m not used to someone matching my strength.”

“You giving up?” Spider-Man taunted, shooting a web to the ceiling and hanging from it upside-down.

“Not giving up,” Steve said, “just… tired of fighting. Even if it’s only a training fight.”

“Yes! I won!” Spider-Man cheered, pumping a fist in the air while still upside-down. “You saw that, Mr. Stark? I won!”

“Proud of you, kid,” Tony called to him, showing a wide smile.

Steve stood up straighter. “A deal’s a deal, so you don’t have to tell us your secret identity.”

“Nah, it’s OK,” Spider-Man said. Still hanging upside-down, he pulled off his mask.

Brown, curly hair bounced in the air as the mask slipped off. The boy’s face looked up at Steve, who’s blue eyes met those familiar brown ones.

Steve just smirked back in return. “I should’ve believed Bucky.”

Clint slapped his thigh and pointed at Peter, his eyes wide and serious. “I knew it! I knew it was you! I knew it was you, kid! Ha!”

Peter looked at the rest of the Avengers watching, most of which looked proud of themselves for figuring it out, especially Bucky, who had proposed the theory in the first place. 

“You know,” Steve said, “I didn’t wanna believe it, cuz I didn’t wanna believe that I dropped a jet bridge onto a 15-year-old kid, but after that fight, I now know you were strong enough to handle that.”

Peter couldn’t help but feel extremely flattered that Captain America admired his strength . “Th-thanks, Cap.”

The Avengers all noticed that Peter went back to his shy self when the mask was off. Being Spider-Man seemed to boost his confidence a whole lot.

“We should’ve all known from the very start,” Sam said. “Only the son of Tony Stark would make that many sassy comments during a fight.”

They all laughed, and Peter got down from his web and stood on the floor again.

“I want to know everything!” Clint exclaimed. “When did you become a superhero? How did your dad react to you being a superhero?”

Peter glanced at Tony. They hadn’t thought about that. How would Peter change his backstory to fit their father-son ruse?

“How about we go back upstairs to a more comfortable room,” Tony suggested, “and you guys can ask Peter all of your Spidey-related questions.”

They did just that, getting into the elevator and taking it back to the lounge area, Peter still dressed in his Spider-suit.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“Alright, tell them the story, Pete,” Tony said, sitting down next to Peter, who was still wearing his Spider-suit, “from the top.”

The Avengers all sat on the lounge couches in front of Peter, anxiously anticipating Peter’s origin story. On the elevator ride up, Tony had subtly texted Peter some ideas he had for a backstory. They were more prepared for this than they were in the gym, but they still didn’t have a solid story down. They’d have to do a little improv.

“OK,” Peter said, taking a deep breath. Luckily, the beginning of the story was mostly the same as the truth. “A year and a half ago, my school went on a trip to OsCorp - I know, ew, OsCorp, an enemy of Stark Industries. Anyway, they had this experiment with radioactive spiders, and one of them escaped and bit me. Ever since then, I’ve been able to climb on walls and ceilings and stuff, and I have this sixth sense that warns me of danger, which I call my Spidey-Sense.”

This is when things got different. “I always wanted to be a superhero like my dad. But he’s really overprotective-”

“ Hey- ”

“-so he’d never let me be ‘Iron Man Jr’ or something,” Peter continued, ignoring Tony’s interjection. “So after I got these powers, I thought I’d become my own superhero. I made my first web fluid, webshooters, and a costume with an old red hoodie and a red ski mask. I started sneaking out and stopping local crimes around the city. After a couple videos of me made it onto YouTube though, it didn’t take very long for Dad to take notice of a new superhero in town. Very soon after that he discovered it was me.”

“FRIDAY ran a bunch of scans on the videos,” Tony explained. “She checked Spider-man’s body proportions and measurements, plus she analyzed what little voice recordings she had of him. All tests came back positive for Peter.”

“You were so mad at me,” Peter said, shaking his head and channeling all the acting talent he could muster up. He tried to look like he was thinking back on the memory of his angry ‘father’ telling what the hell he thought he was doing, becoming a superhero and putting himself in danger like that. It wasn’t that hard to pretend that memory existed. He just thought back to the scolding Tony gave him after the ferry incident.

“Not mad for the reason you thought, though,” Tony said. “I wasn’t mad at you for becoming a superhero. I was mad that you weren’t being safe . That’s why I made you the suit, to protect you. It was much better protection than the onesie you were wearing before.”

“It wasn’t a onesie.”

“Yes it was, kid,” Tony gave Peter a mocking look. He then turned to the rest of the Avengers. “Alright. The board is open for questions.”

Peter tried not to look nervous. The Avengers could ask him anything . If there were any holes in his answers, they’d get suspicious and the father-son ruse would fall apart. He was terrible at thinking of lies on the spot, but hopefully Tony would help him.

Clint immediately asked, “Did Tony force you to go fight in Berlin with us?”

“No way,” Peter answered firmly, just as quickly. “I wanted to help my dad. Plus, I agreed with him about the Accords.”

“Does anyone else know you’re Spider-Man?” Nat asked.

“Not many people,” Peter internally sighed in relief. He wouldn’t have to lie for this answer. “Mom and Dad know, obviously. Uncle Happy knows, and Uncle Rhodey knows already too. Vision knew also, but he was sworn to secrecy like Rhodey. Aunt May - that woman in Queens - she knows. My best friend Ned knows too. I think Dr. Cho knows? Cuz sometimes she has to patch me up in Tower’s medbay after I get hurt. Princess Shuri from Wakanda knows, cuz we’ve become really good friends ever since Wakanda came out of isolation. And also my friend MJ knows, but I didn’t tell her. She just kinda, figured it out herself.”

“That’s quite a few people,” Sam said.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Peter scratched the back of his neck. “And now, with all of you guys, it’s even more. I’m gonna have to get used to that.”

“How about we do two more questions?” Tony said. “So choose them carefully.”

“Why don’t you come on Avengers missions with us, Peter?” Steve asked. “You could help a lot.”

“Nope,” Tony said before Peter could even begin to answer that. “I don’t want my son out there fighting the kind of threats that we face. I don’t wanna put him in that kind of danger.”

“Dad, I’d be perfectly fine fighting in Avengers missions with you guys-”

“Nuh-uh, we’re not having this conversation again. I mean it. There’s a big difference between your muggers and bank robbers and our aliens and Hydra agents. It’s my job to keep you safe.” Tony faced the Avengers again. “Last question.”

The Avengers all glanced at each other, thinking of their last question.

“I know,” Sam spoke up, “I asked you this all the way back in Berlin, but I never got an answer. Is that stuff coming out of you?”

Peter laughed a little. “No, I make it in Dad’s lab. It’s just a few chemicals mixed together. A simple formula, really. I came up with it myself.” Peter held up his hands. “These are called my webshooters, and they allow me to shoot the web fluid out of my hands. I press these buttons to dispense it. I designed these myself, too.”

“Damn, you really are a Stark,” Natasha said, amazed. “You’re just another genius in the bloodline.”

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Peter felt his face heat up. Since he wasn’t actually a Stark, that was a huge compliment to him.

“OK! The Q&A’s over. Everyone back to work,” Tony said and stood up from the couch.

“What work?” Natasha smirked. “We don’t know of any threats going on. Our trackers and radars aren’t signaling anything to us. Hydra seems to be taking a break for once and it looks like the aliens are staying in space. It’s about time we just chill.”

“ You guys might not have any Avengers work to do,” Tony said, “but I have a company to run.”

“Mom runs the company,” Peter quipped.

“Shut it, you,” Tony pointed at him. “I still have work I need to do for Stark Industries, even if I’m not the CEO. See you guys later. Pete, you wanna come with me?”

“I thought you were doing boring Stark Industries work.”

“I can do my boring Stark Industries work in the lab while I supervise you working on the Iron Spider prototype suit - only if you want to, of course.”

“Um, hell yes?!” Peter beamed, jumping up from his seat. “Let’s go!”

“Thought so,” Tony said as they both started walking towards the elevator. “You go up to your room and change into real clothes, then meet me there.”

“OK!”

The entered the elevator and the doors slid closed.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Manhattan, there was another tower owned by another rich man (although not nearly as rich as Tony Stark). Many stories below the ground level of this tower was a subterranean facility filled with workers, carrying boxes and checking lists on clipboards. Down a hallway was an office, one that looked much fancier than the other offices on this secret underground floor. Inside the office was a man, sitting in his brown leather desk chair, facing away from the door. He was a very large man - more than 6 feet tall and over 400 pounds of pure muscle. His head was shaved clean, and in his sausage-like fingers he held a ballpoint pen. He clicked its spring slowly, over and over, waiting, impatient. He was faced away from his desk, which was mostly bare, except for some files of papers, a couple more pens, and a plaque that read a name -

Wilson Fisk.

There was a knock at the door.

Fisk stopped clicking his pen. “Come in.”

A worker from the facility carefully stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Fisk ominously turned around in his swivel chair to face him.

“Mr. Fisk. A letter has come back from the State regarding Adrian Toomes.”

“Please tell me it’s good news,” Fisk said.

Sweat dripped down the worker’s forehead, but he kept a brave face. “They say thank you for the offer, but they will be keeping Toomes in prison despite your… proposal .”

“Dammit!” Fisk pounded his fist on his desk, the raw strength nearly cracking the mahogany wood. “They always accept my bribes to free prisoners! What’s so different about Toomes?”

“I don’t know, sir,” The worker said, worried that fist might collide with his face next. “Perhaps there was a change in management.”

“Adrian Toomes was our best weapons provider in the whole city, no, in this whole country !” Fisk kept ranting. “He was the only one to get his hands on that alien tech! We need those cutting-edge weapons again! Without them, I’ll lose power, and then my empire falls. I can’t let that happen!” Fisk’s face twisted into a disgusted frown. “It’s all because of that Spider-Man . He’s the one who got Toomes locked up in jail! He’s the one who took away my primary weapon’s dealer! He is a danger to my empire and needs to be stopped!”

“Sir, our research teams have been investigating Spider-Man, as you’ve asked before,” the worker said, “but we’ve still come up with nothing. His identity is a secret. Without his name or his face, we don’t know anything.”

“Then try harder!” Fisk stood up from his desk, and the worker flitched back. “Get back to your station and find me Spider-Man!”

“Yes sir, r-right away, sir.” The worker stumbled out of Fisk’s office, shutting the door behind him.

Fisk sat back down in his leather chair, and spun it back around to face away from the door. He began to click his pen again.

“I’ll get you, Spider-Man,” Fisk said to himself. “And you’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

Notes:

Hoped you liked it! Next chapter, Shuri comes over! I love Shuri so much and I’m so excited to have her in this fic. Get ready for Shuri & Peter meme antics lmao. Next chapter will be posted Thursday around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 8: Science Bros 2.0

Summary:

Shuri comes to visit and she and Peter become inseparable. Tony learns to never put two genius Generation Z kids alone in the lab together.

Notes:

I’m happy to see you guys like that Kingpin’s gonna play a role in this story, as shown in the last chapter. Now, we take a small break from your usual Irondad content to bring you the BEST BroTP of all time - Peter and Shuri! This chapter is pure fluff and I’m actually really proud of it lol. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

“Kid, calm down before you burst a blood vessel.”

Peter was basically vibrating with excitement in the back seat of the Black Audi SUV. It was finally the day Shuri and T’Challa were coming to Avengers Tower! Tony had sent Happy to pick them up from the airport, where they were arriving in their high-tech Wakandan private jet. Peter asked if he could come along, because he was just dying to finally meet Shuri in person and so the sooner he could, the better. Tony let him go, with much grumbling from Happy.

“Sorry, Happy,” Peter said. “I’m just so excited to finally have her come over! We’re going to do so much science stuff! Ned and MJ were gonna come over too but Ned’s visiting family and MJ’s on vacation but it’s OK cuz they’ll meet her eventually and- OH MY GOD THERE THEY ARE!!!!”

Out the car window, Peter saw T’Challa and Shuri walk out of the fancy jet and onto the tarmac. Happy unlocked the car doors and got out to get their bags, while Peter flung his door open and immediately ran to Shuri.

“SHURI!”

Shuri looked over at the boy speeding right for her, and a huge smile formed across her face. “PETER!”

Peter basically tackled her into a hug, and it reminded him of those videos of kids meeting their internet friends for the first time. Peter then realized that was exactly what this was. “I’m so excited to finally meet you in person!”

“I’m so excited too!” Shuri said. “You’re going to show me all your Spider-Man stuff, right?”

“Yep! And you’re gonna show me some of your tech too, right?”

“Of course!”

“Awesome!” Peter was so distracted by Shuri that he forgot to address the literal king standing next to her. “Oh! And, uh, hello to you too, um, Your Majesty.”

The king of Wakanda smiled and laughed. “You are Stark’s son, yes?”

Peter blinked. Tony must’ve told him. OK, so they were pulling this prank on the actual king of Wakanda now too, no big deal. “Y-Yep! That’s me! I’m Peter, b-by the way.”

“Brother told me that Stark told him that you’re his son!” Shuri said excitedly. “How come you never told me?”

He nervously scratched his neck. “I-It was kind of a secret. Then the Avengers at the Tower found out, so I guess Dad’s been telling every superhero now.”

Soon, after Happy packed their bags into the trunk, they all got in the car - Happy driving, T’Challa in the passenger seat, and Peter and Shuri in the back seat. They drove back to Manhattan, the two adults in the front quiet while Peter and Shuri both rambled on about science-y stuff.

Around halfway through the ride home, Shuri got distracted by an orange street sign out the window. Her face lit up, and as the car passed it, she yelled the words printed on it, “ROAD WORK AHEAD?!”

Peter immediately yelled back, “UH, YEAH, I SURE HOPE IT DOES!”

The two kids burst into laughter. In the front seats, T’Challa rested his head on his hand and let out a tired sigh. Happy let out a more frustrated sigh, and as he rolled his eyes, he pressed a button on the car console and the soundproof divider slid up. That just made Peter and Shuri laugh harder.

“He hates you!” Shuri teased him.

“Nah, Happy likes me, he just hates fun,” Peter said, citing a quote from Tony. “Anyway, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“You have to keep it a secret, OK?”

“OK? Peter, what the hell is it?”

“OK, so,” Peter hesitated a moment, then said in a much quieter voice, “Tony isn’t actually my dad. We fooled the Avengers into thinking he’s my dad, but actually I only met him a year or so ago and we’ve gotten really close. What I told you through our texts - about my Aunt May and living in Queens - that’s all true. I’m just staying over at the Tower for the summer while May’s doing volunteer work around the country. So we’re saying that I’m Tony’s son to prank the Avengers.”

Shuri’s eyes went wide and she opened her mouth in surprise. “ What?! You’re pranking the Avengers ?!”

“I know right! It’s really funny! I wanted to let you in on it though because- I don’t know, I feel like you could help. Plus I felt weird lying to you.”

Shuri’s face went very determined. “This is the coolest prank ever and I am going to help you so much.”

“Yes! Um, the divider’s up, so Happy and King T’Challa didn’t hear me tell you. Happy already knows about the prank, but you can tell T’Challa too if you want-”

“No way!” Shuri said. “Any excuse to pull a prank on my brother is a great excuse!”

Peter - if it was even possible - was more excited now than he was on the way to the airport.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

When they arrived back at the Tower, T’Challa shook hands with Tony and Pepper.

“I am looking forward to our partnership between Stark Industries and Wakanda,” T’Challa told them.

“We are, as well,” Pepper said.

Before they walked away towards a board room, Peter quickly asked, “Dad, can me and Shuri go to the lab and do stuff?”

Tony crossed his arms. “You want me to leave you in the lab unsupervised? Remember what happened last time I let that happen?”

“I promise I won’t accidentally set anything on fire this time! Please? Plus Shuri will be there! She’ll keep an eye on me.”

T’Challa laughed at that. “Like Shuri is any more responsible than you. She sets something in her lab on fire at least once a week.”

“Exactly!” Shuri said. “So, if Peter does set something on fire, I am very experienced in that matter and will know just how to help!”

“I don’t think that helps your case,” T’Challa shook his head.

“ Please , Dad?” Peter blinked his puppy-dog eyes at him.

Tony sighed. “OK, fine. Just please be safe.”

“We will!” Both Shuri and Peter said before running to the elevator. They zoomed up to Tony’s lab and entered it, forgetting to close the door behind them. Shuri put down her backpack in a table and Peter waved to DUM-E, who was in his usual corner. Peter then started showing Shuri all his cool Spider-Man stuff. He showed her his suit, KAREN, the formula for his web fluid-

“And these are my latest webshooters!” Peter handed Shuri the small, metal devices. “They use web fluid way more efficiently than my last ones.”

“Woah…” Shuri turned them in her hands, examining them from all angles, “Have you tested them out yet?”

“Yep! Just a couple days ago, actually. Me and Cap sparred a little and I got to use them.”

“Woah! You sparred with Cap? Did you win?”

“Uh…” Peter smiled and shrugged his shoulders, “Basically, yeah.”

Shuri laughed and started tapping Peter’s arm. “Oh my god, Peter!” She then lowered her voice and made it sound very serious, “How did you take down Captain America?”

Peter knew exactly how to respond. He bit back his own laughter and said in his best (bad) German accent, “We shot him in ze legs because his shield iz ze size of a dinner plate and he iz an idiot.”

The two kids laughed to themselves. It was amazing to Peter that Shuri was from all the way on the other side of the planet, but she still knew all the same vines and memes as him. The power of the Internet.

“Bucky told me you showed him vines!” Peter said excitedly. “Did you show him that one?”

“I did! He thought it was so funny!”

“Oh my god did he really?!”

“Yep! He said he wanted to show it to Captain Rogers once he left Wakanda. Do you know if he did?”

“I haven’t yet, no.”

Peter and Shuri both turned towards the new voice coming from the doorway. There stood Bucky, leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed, and a smirk on his face. Peter smiled. It was great to see him not looking all awkward and uncomfortable anymore.

“Hey, you two.”

Shuri’s eyes lit up. “Bucky!” She ran over to him and hugged him. “How’d you know where I was?”

“I ran into Stark and saw he was with King T’Challa,” Bucky said. “I asked if you were here too and they told me you were up here in the lab with Peter. I heard you two are pretty good friends.”

“Yeah we are! We’re science buddies!”

Bucky nodded in Peter’s direction. “Did he tell you he’s Stark’s kid?”

OK, Peter thought, don’t freak out. It was time to see if Shuri was a good liar.

“No, he didn’t tell me because he’s a bad friend,” Shuri said. “But T’Challa told me when Stark told him.”

Peter put a hand over his heart and made a fake-shocked face. “Wow Shuri, I’m hurt.”

“Um, then you should’ve told me the truth from the beginning, Baby Stark!” Her eyes lit up with realization. “That’s it! Your nickname’s Baby Stark now!”

Peter groaned. “Oh my god nooooo don’t call me that! I’m not a baby!”

Shuri just laughed, then her mouth curved into a very mischievous smile. She began singing Peter’s new nickname to the melody of that kid’s song that went viral. “Baby Stark doodoodoodoodoodoo, Baby Stark doodoodoodoodoodoo-”

“ OH my GOD, Shuri! I hate you!” Despite his words, Peter laughed too and pushed Shuri playfully. She just laughed harder. “Don’t sing that horrible song!”

Shuri ignored him and turned back to Bucky. “You wanna help us in the lab?”

In just a split second, Peter’s mind completely moved on from Shuri’s teasing and instead thought of a very exciting idea. “Yeah! Please, Mr. Barnes? Can you guys show me how your metal arm works?”

“Yes! We have to!” Shuri joined Peter’s excitement. “Can we please show him, Bucky?”

Bucky shrugged. “Fine, fine.”

The two kids cheered. “Great!” Shuri said.  “Come with me. We’re just going to open up a panel of your arm and show Baby Stark how it works.”

“ Don’t call me that!”

“If you complain about it anymore I’ll start singing that horrible song again!”

“Nooooo OK fine you win!”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

After the Stark Industries business meeting, Pepper left to do more work - a CEO’s work is never done. Tony and T’Challa headed to the elevator to check up on the crazy teenagers they’d left unsupervised in the lab.

“So Peter is Spider-Man?” T’Challa asked Tony in the elevator.

“Yes, he is,” Tony answered.

“I remember him from the battle in Berlin. He handled himself very well,” T’Challa said. “Shuri tells me about his and her conversations. He is very smart for his age. You must be very proud.”

“Yes, very,” Tony said back, without even hesitating. “He’s an incredible kid.”

The elevator door opened, but not on the floor of the lab. Instead, the sliding doors opened to reveal Steve Rogers standing before them. He blinked at them in surprise. “Oh, hey Tony, Your Majesty. You going up?”

“Yeah,” Tony responded. “We’re going up to my lab. Peter and Shuri are there right now.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Steve entered the elevator. “Bucky went up there so he could see Shuri. They became good friends in Wakanda after she helped him, you know.”

“Well, at least they’re with an adult,” Tony said.

“Yes,” T’Challa added, “Hopefully they didn’t blow anything up under his supervision.”

Steve chuckled. “Bucky’s not the most responsible adult to ever walk the Earth.”

The three superheroes arrived on the correct floor. They walked to the lab, and saw that the door was left open. Tony usually left it closed and password-locked, so it was strange to see.

What was even stranger to see was what was inside the lab.

In the center of the room, Peter and Shuri were fighting with very realistic-looking lightsabers. When they moved, they made the classic lightsaber vwwmm sound when they collided, they let out a crashing noise just like in the movies. The two kids were laughing, obviously having the most fun they’d ever had in their lives. Peter did flips and jumps all over the place to dodge Shuri’s strikes, even sticking to the ceiling to avoid her at one point. Meanwhile, Bucky sat at the lab’s workbench, smiling at the kids. None of them had seen the other Avengers at the door.

“This isn’t fair!” Shuri said, but still laughed. “Your Spidey-Sense warns you when I’m about to hit you!”

“Um, it’s not my fault I can actually use the Force, Shuri!” Peter said. He thrust his lightsaber at her.

She blocked it and disarmed him. The beam of light from Peter’s lightsaber disengaged, leaving only the handle to clatter across the room, “Ha! So much for ‘actually using the Force’, you Sith scum!”

“Hey, why am I the Sith? I thought we were both Jedis and Bucky was the Sith Lord.”

“We were,” Shuri said, “But then when Bucky stopped playing, in my head I started pretending you were the Sith Lord instead.”

“Why’d you guys make me the Sith Lord again?” Bucky asked.

“Because you have long hair,” both kids answered at the same time.

“Both Anikin Skywalker and Kylo Ren have long hair like you,” Peter then added. “That’s the only reason.”

“Come on,” Shuri said. “Don’t you wanna play again?”

“Yeah!” Peter said. “Do the arm thing again!”

“No, guys. I’m tired,” Bucky waved his hand at them.

The two kids began chanting “Arm thing! Arm thing! Arm thing! ARM THING!”

“OK, OK!” Bucky caved and stood, a smile still on his face. “You win. I’ll do the arm thing.”

Peter retrieved his fallen lightsaber and turned it back on, which made the classic turning-on-a-lightsaber sound effect. Bucky grabbed another realistic lightsaber from the work table and turned it on, its light a bright red.”

“Come… wait, what is it you told me to say before?” Bucky said.

The two kids shouted, “Come at me, rebel scum!”

“Right, right. Come at me, rebel scum!” He said, with a little less enthusiasm than the screaming children in front of him.

Tony, T’Challa, and Steve watched, completely stunned, as the man that had been the Winter Soldier - Hydra’s deadliest weapon - now played with Peter and Shuri in a mock lightsaber duel.

It was intense - he had to defend himself from two highly trained Jedi-children, after all. He held is ground for a while, fighting off and blocking the two teenagers’ blows. Then Peter struck him on his shoulder, right above his metal arm.

“Ahhh it hurts!” Bucky said in fake pain. He reached his non-metal arm behind his metal shoulder and pressed a button. There was loud ka-chuck sound as Bucky’s metal arm unlatched and fell to the floor. “Oh nooo you cut my arm off!”

Peter and Shuri were giggling so hard. “Come on, Bucky!” Shuri said between laughs, “You can do better acting than that!”

Bucky was about to respond when another sound interrupted him, something that sounded like a muffled laugh. The three lightsaber wielders turned to look in the direction on the noise - the door to the lab. Both Tony and T’Challa stood there in shock, while Steve’s hand was over his mouth, stifling his laughter. Steve finally couldn’t hold back and let himself laugh out loud, tears pricking at his eyes. He thought his boyfriend was insanely adorable.

Bucky blushed, embarrassed that he’d been seen. Before he could greet the men at the door like a normal person, Shuri smiled mischievously and said in a very exaggerated German accent, “Vell if it izn’t Captain America.”

The three in the lab then burst into laughter again, and the three in the doorway just looked more confused. Steve’s laughs died down as he tried to understand what was so funny now.

Bucky waved his hand, “Sorry, guys. It’s from some internet thing. Steve, now you have to respond ‘but it is me.’”

Tony looked to his fellow Avengers. “OK, is no one gonna question why the hundred-year-old man over there knows more about the internet than me ?”

“If you let me show you more vine compilations, you’d understand, Dad,” Peter said.

“Also,” Tony ignored Peter’s remark, “did you two make real lightsabers?!”

“They look so real, right?!” Peter said excitedly. He turned his off and on, retracting its beam of light and making it glow again. “But me and Shuri made it so it’s just light! It’s not like, a killer lazer or something. They’re not dangerous. They can’t actually cut through anything. They just bounce off of stuff like plastic swords. They’re so much fun to play with!”

Tony continued to look at Peter in complete confusion, his mouth still slightly agape from shock. “How… did you manage to do that?! Light doesn’t have mass! How can it collide with things like it does?!”

Peter just pointed to Shuri. “Ask her! She’s the physicist! You know I’m better at chemistry and engineering than I am at physics. She did something with some vibranium she brought-”

T’Challa spoke now, “You brought vibranium here from Wakanda? Across our boarders?” He put his hands on his hips. “Sister, you’re not allowed to do that.”

“What? It’s not illegal or anything. Besides, I knew me and Peter were going to need it,” Shuri smiled. “It wasn’t a lot . I just put 100 grams in my bag before we left.

“One hundred -” T’Challa stopped himself and took a breath. “Just, don’t do it again. I want the Starks to have to pay for the materials that we’re selling them.”

Shuri and Peter laughed. “Yeah, OK,” Shuri said, “That makes sense. I won’t do it again.” She winked at Peter, clearly lying.

T’Challa rolled his eyes. He knew there was no stopping his sister from doing what she wanted. “Anyway, it is time for us to leave now. We have to go to the Wakandan Embassy. I’m sorry I have to separate you two.”

“Awww,” both teens whined, and even Bucky made a disappointed face. While all this was being said, he was putting his metal arm back on.

Shuri turned to Peter and hugged him. “Goodbye, my fellow genius Generation Z kid.”

“Bye, my fellow Jedi,” Peter squeezed Shuri in his hug back. “Will I see you again while you’re here in New York?”

“I’m afraid not,” Shuri frowned, letting go of Peter. “Me and my brother are going to be so busy doing work at the Embassy for the next few days, and then we’ll be leaving.”

“Aw,” Peter said. “Well, we’ll still call each other and stuff. And I’m glad I at least got to see you today. This was so much fun! I hope to see you again soon!”

“Me too, Peter,” Shuri said. She then turned around and ran into Bucky’s arms, since he had both of them attached to him now. They hugged. “Bye, Bucky! I hope to see you soon too.”

“You definitely will,” Bucky said. “You’ll come visit us again. Or maybe we’ll come visit you?”

“ Oh my god! ” Peter basically screamed. “Oh my god! If I got to go to Wakanda ?! I’d probably faint from the shock of seeing all the cool stuff.”

“I can confirm that you absolutely would do that,” Tony said.

Shuri grabbed her bag and walked over to T’Challa. “OK. I’m ready to go.”

“Good,” he said. “Stark’s driver is waiting for us downstairs.”

“Alright,” before leaving, Shuri turned to face the lab again. “Bye Bucky! Bye Baby Stark!”

Tony snorted a laugh as Peter looked very embarrassed. “ Shuriiiiii …”

“Uh-uh! No complaining about it! Or I’ll start singing again!”

Peter sighed. “Right, right. OK. Bye Shuri! See you soon!”

“See you soon!” Shuri repeated, then she and T’Challa left the room, making their way to the elevator.

Tony shot a smile at Bucky. “I should ask you to babysit, if I should ever need one.”

Bucky laughed, his face still a little red. “Yeah, well, I uh… They’re nice kids.”

“Sure are,” Tony said, now walking towards Peter. Peter smiled at the both of them, happy to see that they were getting along. When Tony reached Peter’s side, he lightly ruffled the boy’s hair. “I should ground you, honestly.”

Peter looked up, eyes wide with confusion. “W-What?! What’d I do?”

“You scared me half to death, that’s what!” Tony said, his finger pointing its signature ‘dad point’ at Peter. “I thought those were real lightsabers when I first walked in here! Like actual deadly lasers that you could actually use to cut off arms!”

“Yeah but they weren’t! It’s fine!” Peter defended himself. He smiled like he was completely innocent. “Everything’s fine, Dad! We didn’t accidentally mess up the tubing at first and burn a hole in the wall at all ,” he chuckled to himself. “ What are you talking about, honestly.”

Tony blinked at Peter, then turned to Bucky, who was now standing next to Steve. “Did you witness this?”

“When they burned a hole through the wall? Yeah,” Bucky said, and pointed to a hole around the size of a quarter by the window. “Almost seared right through Peter’s hand.”

“Snitch,” Peter frowned at Bucky.

“You snitched on yourself,” Bucky said.

“Not about the hand thing!” Peter said back.

Tony just rubbed his eyes, then laughed a little in disbelief. “Well, at least you’re OK.”

“So I’m not grounded?”

“No kid, you’re not grounded,” Tony said. “I almost cause major damage to myself in the lab all the time. I guess I’d expect you to do the same.” He clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go upstairs. It’s time for dinner.”

“OK, Dad.”

Notes:

Hope you guys enjoyed that! I know Tony wasn’t really in this chapter as much and I’m sorry, but I love Shuri so much that I just had to write a chapter centered on her! I hope you liked all the vine references (I had fun writing them in) and the links to them are below if you’re interested lol. I also hope you liked Bucky aka the ‘fun uncle’ and I hope I didn’t write him too ooc. Leave kudos and comments if you liked this chapter! Next chapter will feature MUCH more Tony and will be posted on Sunday around 8-9pm EST!

(Vines referenced: Road Work Ahead (an absolute classic), How did you take down Captain America, and Well if it isn’t Captain America.)

Chapter 9: Obligatory Beach Episode

Summary:

The Avengers want to have some fun outside the Tower, so they decide to go to Coney Island.

Notes:

I used to watch a lot of anime when I was younger and one of the absolute CLASSIC anime tropes I remember was the Obligatory Beach Episode™, which was a complete fluff episode where all the main characters just went to the beach for the day. SO many different shows had this trope. Since this fic takes place in the summer, I knew I had to include a Beach Episode™ here. Hope you enjoy it!

“Does Peter ever leave the Tower?” Natasha asked Tony over breakfast. It had been a few days since Shuri was over. “Like, besides school and being Spider-Man, I mean? I don’t think we’ve seen him go outside as just ‘Peter’ for the whole time we’ve been back.”

“He can,” Tony said carefully. “Most of the time when we’re seen outside together, the media finds out and speculates who he his, but Pepper always fixes it.”

“I usually just put out a statement saying he’s Tony’s intern,” Pepper explained.

“Yeah, like one time Dad came to see me at my school’s science fair,” Peter added. “I saw an article on some news site the next day that said I might be his secret son, but then Mom cleared it up.”

“Back when Peter was little,” Tony said. “We could never go outside together. Cuz he was too young to be my ‘intern’ - he was just a little kid. So he could only go outside for school or with May. He couldn’t be seen with me at all. Right Pete?”

“Uh, yeah,” Peter hoped his lie was believable. “I uh…” Then he smiled as he thought of something funny to say, “I was like Rapunzel trapped in the Tower by an evil witch.”

“ Hey ,” Tony elbowed Peter in the seat next to him.

Peter laughed. “But it’s fine now. We can be seen outside together, but just not too often, or people will get suspicious. I’ve already seen clickbait articles on the internet saying stuff like ‘Tony Stark aka Iron Man has Secret Son!’ but luckily no one believes those articles.”

Natasha nodded and kept her line of questioning, “So if we were to all be seen outside with Peter, that’d be too suspicious, wouldn’t it? Cuz why would your Stark Industries intern know the Avengers?” 

“Probably,” Tony said. “Why’re you asking anyway?”

Natasha shrugged. “It’s such a nice day today and I wanna go do something outside, but I don’t want us to hang out without Peter. He’s like, the best part of our group now.”

Peter looked down at his lap. “Oh, wow, thanks Auntie Nat.”

Tony thought for a moment. “I mean, I’ve never told the media that Peter’s my Stark Industries intern. I’ve always said he’s my personal intern. That could include knowing the Avengers.”

“So we can all go out and do something today?” Nat smiled.

Tony turned to Peter, who nodded excitedly. Tony turned back to the table. “Alright, sure. Hopefully, no one notices - which is extremely unlikely - so when people do notice and eventually the media finds out, me and Pepper will clean it all up.”

Many of the Avengers cheered, and it warmed Peter’s heart. He felt so loved at that table. “What d’you guys wanna do then?” He asked.

“I don’t know, just as long as it’s in the sun,” Natasha said.

“We could go to the beach,” Rhodey suggested.

“Yeah!” Sam said, “Let’s go to Coney Island!”

“Nah,” Steve said, “Coney Island’s always packed in the summer. It was like that back in the 40s, and I know it hasn’t changed. We’d be trampled by fans.”

“What, we can’t just tell them to leave us alone?” Sam countered. “We’re Avengers! They’d listen to us!”

“I think Steve’s right,” Bucky said. “Cuz even if they’re not crowding around us and talking to us, they’ll all try to sneak pictures and videos on their phones.”

“I’ll just rent the beach for the day.”

Everyone turned to face Tony at that statement

“Tones,” Rhodey stared at his best friend with disbelief. “You’ll what ?”

“What?” Tony shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll just call them and tell them to have the beach cleared - or at least a section of the beach cleared.”

“Tony,” Pepper put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Yeah it is. I’ll just donate money to some city fund and in exchange they’ll let us use a section of the beach” Tony stood up from his chair at the dining table. He started to slowly make his way across the room to the elevator, still facing Pepper as he walked. “Plus, this way, less people will see Peter, and the less work you’ll have to do calling up newspaper companies to shut down any speculatory articles.”

Pepper sighed, but didn’t respond any more than that.

Peter, however, was sputtering like crazy. “T- Dad! What the hell ? You can’t just rent out Coney Island ! It’s not a restaurant or a studio! It’s public land! The city owns it! It’s basically a landmark -”

Tony waved his hand, dismissing Peter’s comments. “Don’t worry about it. I can call the mayor and make it work.”

“You’re gonna just call the mayor ?!”

“Yeah? And pay the city to use the beach for the day.”

“It’s gonna be like, a million dollars!”

“Luckily, I have billions of dollars, kid. What’s the point of having so much money if you don’t spend it?” Tony shot a finger gun at Peter before finally stepping into the elevator. “FRIDAY, take me to my office. I need to make a phone call.”

“Right away, Boss.” The elevator doors closed. The rest of the Avengers were left at the table, stunned.

Natasha thought to herself. Sure, this would cost a lot of money - much more than cakes or Lego sets. But she thought Peter still shouldn’t have a reason to worry. Wasn’t he used to his father spending large amounts of money on things? Why did he always worry so much whenever Tony spent any money at all? It was like he wasn’t used to being rich.

Natasha stored information in her mind, adding it to the list of things that seemed slightly off about Peter and Tony.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

An hour later, Peter, Tony, Pepper, and the other Avengers arrived at Coney Island.

Tony has managed to get half a mile of Coney Island’s 2.5-mile-long beach cleared for the Avengers to use. He donated a couple million dollars to the Keep Coney Island Clean fund and in return, the mayor agreed to close off a section of the beach for the Avengers that day. It was the good section too - the part right in front of Luna Park and the main entrance. And yeah, would the general population be annoyed? Sure. But there was plenty more beach for people to use. The Avengers deserved this. They needed a day for some fun in the sun. Sometimes it felt like the only time they went outside is when they were fighting some big threat.

After quickly shuffling by crowds of people screaming for them on the boardwalk, the Avengers made their way to the soft sands of the beach. Many of them took off their shoes before they walked all the way up to the shoreline. As Peter felt the sand move between his toes, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy for some reason. He tried to shake the thoughts away. He wanted to have a good time at the beach with his family.

Near the water’s edge, they set up their beach towels and umbrellas, surrounded by no one for a quarter mile in either direction. The Avengers took off their outerwear and revealed their swimsuits. Everyone was ripped and super muscley. And, as Peter took off his shirt, he knew he himself was ripped, too. Good thing he told the Avengers that he was Spider-Man, because it would’ve been hard to explain how he - a ‘normal’ teenager - had a six pack. And good thing no regular people were close enough to see him, because they’d question that, too.

“Hey Peter!”

Peter snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards the voice. “Yeah, Auntie Nat?”

“We’re all gonna go into the water,” she gestured to the Avengers around her - Rhodey, Clint, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Wanda. “You wanna come with us?”

“Uh…” Peter hesitated. Sure, he had thought he wanted to swim. He’d prepared to go swimming. He was in his swim shorts. But, now that he was there, face to face with the ocean, he couldn’t help but think of the time the Vulture dropped him into that lake - the parachute surrounding him like a plastic bag, the water flooding his lungs, unable to move or breathe.

He looked out at the ocean again, and he didn’t want to go swimming anymore.

“Actually,” Peter tried to sound casual, “I-I think I wanna, you know, tan a bit on the beach first.”

“OK,” Nat said. “Join us later when you’re ready.” She and the other Avengers then ran into the water, laughing and smiling.

Peter had no intention of joining them later.

He looked around at the little settlement of towels and umbrellas surrounding him to see who wasn’t playing in the waves. Vision, who couldn’t go in the water, began to float over anyway, hovering just above the water’s surface so he could still join in the fun. Pepper was just finishing putting on her sunscreen, about to run into the water too. Tony laid down on a beach lounge chair, a virgin pina colada in his hand. On his lap was a book about astrophysics. He wasn’t in a swimsuit, and instead wore shorts, a black tank top, and a pair of iconic Tony Stark sunglasses.

Pepper was about to join the others in the water, but first turned to Tony. “You sure you don’t want to go in the water, honey?”

Tony pulled his sunglasses slightly down to look at Pepper over them. “You know I don’t, Pep. Don’t worry about me. Go have fun.”

“OK. I just don’t want you to be lonely here.”

“Pete will keep me company until he goes to join you guys, too,” Tony said, pushing his sunglasses back up. “Don’t worry about it. I brought my book.” He put his pina colada in a cup holder on his chair and opened up the book on his lap.

“Alright,” Pepper finally said, but her tone was still unsure. She still ran to join the others anyway.

Peter sat on the beach towel next to Tony’s lounge chair. It was only the two of them now. “Why aren’t you going swimming?” Peter asked.

“Don’t like the water,” Tony responded, not looking up from his book.

“Why?” Peter asked. He started putting his shirt back on, since he realized he definitely wasn’t going swimming either.

“Because,” was all Tony said as an answer.

Peter didn’t question it any further than that, seeing that Tony clearly didn’t want to talk about it. “Why’d you even bother renting the beach if you weren’t gonna swim?”

“The rest of you were going to. The team deserves to have some fun. Besides, I don’t mind just lying here and soaking up the sun.”

Peter looked back out at the Avengers laughing as the waves crashed over their heads, soaking them underwater. Peter grimaced. “I… actually might not end up swimming either.”

That caught Tony’s attention. He put his book back down on his lap and pulled down his sunglasses again as he looked Peter in the eyes. “I thought you told Nat that you were gonna swim later?”

“I, um, lied,” Peter said, looking away. “I was excited to go swimming as we drove over here, but now that we’re here , I… I dunno. I remembered that… I don’t really like the water now either, I guess. Plus, this whole place is kinda giving me uneasy vibes even though I used to go here all the time as a kid. I dunno what’s up with me.”

“Why don’t you like the water?”

“Why don’t you like the water?

“Nuh uh, kiddo. Deflecting is my thing. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Peter sighed. He might as well. “Remember… when the Vulture dropped me in that lake? And you had to rescue me from almost drowning?”

Tony gave him an understanding look. “Yeah, I get it.”

“Yeah,” Peter echoed. He hesitated before deciding to say, “So… will you tell me why you don’t like the water now?”

Tony didn’t respond right away. “Multiple reasons,” he finally said. “When the waves crash over me or when I go underwater at all, suddenly my mind is back in that cave, being waterboarded by the Ten Rings.”

Peter looked down. “Oh.”

“Also,” Tony continued, “I almost drowned when the Malibu mansion got blown up. I fell off the cliff and right into the water. I just barely saved myself.”

Peter nodded, still not meeting Tony’s eyes. “Right, yeah. I remember that. Everyone thought you died. And - obviously I hadn’t met you yet  - but I still got so sad.”

“Aw, you did?” Tony’s expression changed to a much happier one.

“Of course I did!” Peter said, embarrassed. “You were my favorite superhero! Still are.”

Tony’s lips quirked up at that. He exhaled. “I can’t believe I spent 2.7 million dollars to rent out an empty lot of sand just for you to not have fun.”

Peter’s eyes grew at the number. He struggled to find words, “Wha- Tony, how- what- what do you mean? Two point- holy shit! Are you- Are you kidding me?!”

Tony laughed at the boy’s sputtering. “Don’t worry, the others are having their fun without being bothered by fans, so the money’s not going to waste. However, I do want you to have fun, too. Play in the sand or something. If you start building a sand castle, I bet when the others come back they’d love to help you with it.”

Peter nodded, still in shock by the amount of money Tony had spent. He crawled to the edge of the beach towel he was sitting on and raked his hand in the semi-wet sand.

That’s when it hit him.

That’s why he was so uneasy here. This was where he had his final battle with the Vulture. This is where the Vulture clamped his metal claws around him and slammed him into the ground, into that very same sand. He could almost feel the heat of the flaming plane wreckage around him. He started to feel like he couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, Peter felt a hand against his back, grounding him back into reality. He turned to see Tony, now sitting next to him, his sunglasses off. “What is it, Peter?”

“I don’t want to be on the beach anymore!” Peter said quickly. “I-I’m sorry! I don’t want you to have wasted your money, b-but, I c-can’t be here anymore! The fucking Vulture ruined it for me! He ruined the water, and he ruined the beach! This is where I fought him for the last time. I crashed your plane here, and then fought him. I thought I was gonna die-”

“Hey hey, shh…” Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, and the boy fell into the embrace. “For the last time, don’t worry about my money, Pete. How I spend my money is my business. The others are having fun and getting my money’s worth anyway, so it’s fine. But what matters to me is how you feel. I want you to have fun too.”

Eventually, Peter nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s OK,” Tony pulled away from the hug. “Besides, there’s plenty more to do at Coney Island than swim in the ocean or play in the sand.”

“But people will see us if we leave the beach.”

“They’ll see me . Nobody’s gonna recognise you. And I ,” Tony reached into his nearby backpack and pulled out a baseball cap, “have a disguise .” He put the cap and his sunglasses on. “How do I look? Can you tell it’s me?”

“Of course I can tell it’s you,” Peter laughed. “But maybe the other people won’t.”

“Perfect,” Tony stood up. “Put some sandals on. What do you wanna do? Go on some of the rides in Luna Park?”

“Uh, no thanks,” Peter said, slipping on his sandals. He wasn’t ever a huge fan of amusement park rides, but now that he was Spider-Man, he especially didn’t like them. His Spidey-Sense made him feel twice as nauseous. “But I love the arcade! Can we go to the arcade?”

“Sure thing,” Tony smiled, reaching a hand toward Peter to help him stand up. “Let’s go.”

It was a miracle that no one recognised Tony in his ‘disguise’ on the crowded boardwalk or in the just as crowded arcade. But, since the arcade was so dimly lit - showing off the neon lights of the arcade machines - it made it hard to see Tony’s face clearly, giving him even more of a cover. Plus, most of the general public was used to seeing him in a suit (or an Iron Man suit), which was very different from the tank top and shorts he wore now.

Peter and Tony had a lot of fun in the arcade. Peter’s Spidey-Sense, as it turned out - while terrible for rides - was just perfect for a bunch of the arcade games. His aim was perfect in Skee Ball and in the mini basketball free-throw game. He beat Tony in three games of Air Hockey. And even though it was just on a screen, his Spidey-Sense worked perfectly for the Fruit Ninja game. He won so many tickets.

They had just exchanged Peter’s tickets for a couple stupid little plastic toy prizes and were about to leave the arcade when something caught their eye - a claw machine full of Avengers plushies.

Peter stopped in front of it, eyes full of child-like wonder. Inside were dolls of all the Avengers, and of Spider-Man. With a huge smile on his face, he said to Tony, “I thought I wasn’t an Avenger. Why am I with all you guys?”

“You’re not an Avenger,” Tony walked closer to him and the claw machine, “but all your merch distribution is handled by the same people I hired to do the Avengers merch distribution. You get lumped in with us a lot.” Luckily everyone else in the arcade was preoccupied with themselves and weren’t paying attention to Peter and Tony’s conversation.

Peter kept looking through the glass of the machine. “It’d be cool if I could get one.”

“I’ll get you one,” Tony immediately offered.

“Nah, it’s OK” Peter said. “All these claw machines are rigged. Look how badly designed the claw is so it doesn’t grab things well. It makes it almost impossible to win a prize.”

“Yeah, almost ,” Tony countered. He inserted a coin into the machine. “But I’m Tony Stark . I’m the king of machines. I could win you a toy no problem.”

Peter laughed. “Don’t be too loud. You’ll blow your cover.”

“Which one do you want?” Tony ignored Peter’s comment.

“Uh, I dunno. You or me. No wait, get one of me.” Peter thought about how he already had enough Iron Man toys. He could use a doll of himself instead.

“You got it. One Spider-Man, coming right up.”

With incredible precision and concentration, Tony moved the claw machine’s joystick until the claw was directly above a Spider-Man doll. He pressed the button to drop the claw with complete confidence. The claw opened and fell right on top of the doll. It closed around it, but right as the claw lifted back into the air, the toy slipped from it’s grasp back into the pile of plush Avengers.

Tony scowled. “That should’ve worked.”

“I told you! They’re all rigged!” Peter laughed.

“I’m trying again.”

“No, you’ll just waste your money!”

“I said don’t worry about my money.”

Tony tried to get that Spider-Man doll 12 more times, but that claw just could not lift the damn thing up for the life of him. He got actually frustrated.

“Tony, really, I don’t need a Spider-Man doll,” Peter was almost crying laughing at how serious Tony was about this.

“No, now it’s personal,” Tony said, hyperfocused on moving the joystick absolutely perfectly. “I will defeat this machine.”

“Top 10 strongest Iron Man villains,” Peter giggled to himself. “I can’t believe the claw machine is number one on that list.”

Tony pressed the button, but the claw still did not pick up the Spider-Man doll.

“That’s it,” Tony said. He brought his hand up to tap the side of his sunglasses. “FRIDAY, you there?”

“Always, Boss,” the AI’s voice said quietly as little blue screens appeared on the sunglass lens.

“Hack into this poor excuse of a machine and break it.”

“Right away, Boss.”

Peter’s mouth fell open, shocked. “Tony! That’s illegal! ”

“Keep your voice down!” Tony whisper-scolded, but his mouth was curved into a smile.

After a few more seconds, there was a small cracking sound as the little metal trapdoor inside the claw machine broke and fell open, letting all the Avengers dolls tumble into the winning zone. FRIDAY’s voice returned. “System override has been complete.”

“Thank you, FRIDAY. If the others are out of the water by now, alert Pepper to have them all meet us where the beach meets the boardwalk.” Tony then turned his attention to Peter. “Go on, kid. Get one of each.”

“Tony! That’s stealing!”

“The rigged machine was stealing my money. It’s only fair to steal back. Come on, help me grab one of each. Let’s go give everyone their respective doll.”

Peter couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he helped Tony collect one of each Avenger doll that had fallen into the winning zone. With their arms full of plushies, Tony then quickly motioned to the exit, whispering, “Come on, quickly. Before anyone notices.” Peter was laughing his head off, despite Tony shushing him.

At the edge of the boardwalk, Tony took off his ‘disguise’ and took a couple steps onto the beach, while Peter sat on the wooden steps. Soon, the other Avengers walked over to them.

“Where’d you guys go?” Rhodey asked. “We were all wondering.”

“Peter and I decided swimming’s boring and went to the arcade instead,” Tony casually explained. “We won you all these.”

“Dad means he couldn’t win anything so he hacked into the claw machine to get them,” Peter smirked.

“Yeah, so I won them, in my own way.” Tony turned to the Avengers. “Come on, come get your doll-self. You all deserve it.”

Soon Tony was crowded by superheroes, all reaching for the dolls like a group of children. Soon, each one of them was holding their doll look-alike, admiring it or examining it for mistakes.

Tony walked over to Peter on the boardwalk steps and handed him the Spider-Man doll. “There you go, kiddo.”

“Thanks.” Peter took it and examined it. “They got the eyes wrong.”

“Yeah, they’re cheaply made,” Tony said, examining his own Iron Man doll. “Look at mine. The shade of red is all wrong. It’s supposed to be much darker than that.”

Peter chuckled and kept looking at the doll.

“D’you have a nice day after all?” Tony spoke up again.

Peter looked up. Tony’s face looked a little… concerned. “Yeah,” Peter smiled back. “I had a really great day. Thanks D- uh, Tony. Thank you… so much.”

That made Tony smile - his soft smile that people other than Peter, Pepper, and Rhodey rarely ever saw. One day, he thought, one day he’d tell Peter he could always call him Dad. Just… not today.

Especially not when there was now a small crowd of people forming on the boardwalk behind them, whispering to each other and staring at the Avengers all holding dolls of themselves. Most of them had their phones out, snapping pictures and taking videos.

Tony sighed. “Alright. I think that’s our cue to leave. Let’s go, Pete.”

Peter stood up, Spider-Man doll in hand, and followed Tony onto the boardwalk, followed by the rest of the Avengers. They quickly ran to their self-driving cars in the parking lot before the fans could trample them.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The next day, under Fisk Tower, workers ran around like ants in an underground colony. In one room, with walls covered in various screens, workers searched for the identity of Spider-Man.

The door flung open, and all the workers flinched as they turned to face it. In walked Wilson Fisk, holding a newspaper in his hand. He slammed it down on a table with it open to a certain page - the headline reading ‘Avengers have a Fun Day at Coney Island’ . Underneath the title was a large picture taken of the Avengers, all holding their matching dolls, as they made their way across the boardwalk to the exit. Fisk pointed a finger at a certain boy in photo.

“Do you see this kid?” Fisk snarled out.

One of the workers - a woman with her hair in a ponytail - was brave enough to answer. “Yes, sir.”

“This article calls him ‘Tony Stark’s intern’. Do you see the stupid toy he’s holding?”

The workers all leaned in closer to see the image better. “It’s… a Spider-Man doll?” a male worker with brown hair answered.

“Exactly,” Fisk said. “Can you idiots piece together what that means?”

“They’re all holding their respective doll,” the woman spoke up again. “Tony Stark is holding an Iron Man one, Steve Rogers is holding a Captain America one… the boy is holding a Spider-Man one.”

“That’s not much of a lead,” another male worker, this one with blond hair responded. “Maybe the kid wanted a toy too, and the only one left over was a Spider-Man one, so they gave it to him.”

“It’s the only lead we’ve got!” The woman raised her voice, determined. “We know Spider-Man is a teenager based on the few voice samples we have of him, and we know his suit is also made by Tony Stark. Calling him ‘Tony Stark’s intern’ would be a perfect cover.” She turned to Fisk. “Mr. Fisk, sir, we’ll find out more into this boy immediately.”

Fisk smiled cruelly. “Excellent. You lead the investigation.”

Notes:

Hope you liked that absolute fluff (with a little drama at the end!) I’ve outlined pretty much the whole story now and there's probably gonna be around 22-23 chapters in total! In the next episode - Peter might get to meet some certain Asgardians?? Tune in next time to find out!! The next chapter will be posted on Thursday around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 10: He Belongs Here

Summary:

Peter catches up with Aunt May. Then, some familiar faces return from space to live in the Tower.

Notes:

Thank you guys so much for over 2600 kudos!!! Now it’s time for some Loki!! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

The line rang once, twice, three times. Peter groaned, sitting on his bed, holding his StarkPhone to his ear.

The line clicked, and that familiar, sweet voice greeted him. “Hello Peter, baby!”

“Hi Aunt May!” Peter said, a smile spreading across his face. He and May had talked on the phone twice a week every week since they’d parted at the beginning of the summer. “It’s so nice to hear your voice again.”

“Oh, Peter. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to call yesterday. I was moving locations.” She chuckled, “This organization has me working in all sorts of cool places. Good thing they pay for the plane trips, right?”

“Right, yeah,” Peter laughed with her. “So, how’s the volunteering going?”

“Peter, it’s not called volunteering if I get paid. It’s a job, even if it’s only for the summer.”

“But I thought you said it’s a non-profit?”

“Yeah, you still get paid when you work at a non-profit, Peter.”

“Right, right. OK, then how’s the job ?”

“It’s just fantastic!” May was absolutely gushing. “I belong here, Peter! This is my dream job. I feel like I’m actually helping , like I’m actually doing something with my life! We visited this orphanage the other day and - god, those poor kids - they were all malnourished and sick. But they’re in our hands now, we’ll help them.”

“Wow, that’s amazing, May!” Peter was so happy for her. He loved hearing her so lively like this. “You’re a real superhero.”

“Well, you’re the superhero, Petey.”

“No way, May. Now you’re definitely a superhero, too. I’m so happy this place accepted you. You were made for this kind of job! You’re so kind and nice! Where are you stationed now?”

“Some rural area in Northern France.”

“Woah! That’s so cool!” Peter said, awed. Then he squinted, “Wait, France ? I thought this organization was only working in America.”

“Oh! I thought so too! But apparently not - it’s worldwide! I’m going to get to go to all sorts of places in all sorts of continents!”

“Wow, May! That’s amazing!” Peter said. “You’re gonna see so much cool stuff-”

“Oh my god!” May suddenly exclaimed. “What’s wrong with me? Peter! This is an overseas call! That’s gonna cost so much on your phone bill-”

“Wait wait wait, May, it’s OK! Tony got me a new phone with a better wireless plan a while ago, back at the beginning of the summer. He saw me on my old one and then gave me a brand new StarkPhone! For free!”

“Peter! A StarkPhone?! That’s like, a million-dollar phone! You can’t just accept that from him!”

“I know I know and I refused at first, but then he said, ‘no son of mine is using technology that ancient.’ It’s for the prank, May. If the Avengers saw me using a phone that wasn’t Stark Technology, they’d get suspicious.”

“I saw on the news a few days ago that you all went to Coney Island. Sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun.”

“Yeah, it is fun, actually,” Peter said. “Tony’s really nice, too. We’re putting the finishing touches on this new Spider-suit for me that’s made of the same stuff as his Iron Man suits!”

“He’s Tony now?”

“Y-Yeah, he said to call him that. But I call him ‘Dad’ more often, honestly. Cuz of the prank. We’re usually around the Avengers so I have to call him ‘Dad’.”

Peter could almost hear May’s smirk through the phone. “Aw, that’s sweet.”

“Mayyyyy…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m just so happy that you’re enjoying your time there.”

“And I’m happy you’re enjoying your time there , with your organization.”

“I am. I really, really am. Looks like we’re having some pretty great summers, aren’t we?”

Peter nodded, even through May couldn’t see him. “Yeah. It’s great.”

There was a beat of silence, before May spoke again. “I gotta go, Peter. My shift starts soon.”

“Alright! Have fun! Love you!”

“Love you, too!” The line clicked and the call ended.

Peter lowered his StarkPhone from his ear and placed it on his bed next to him. He sighed. It was strange - he thought he’d miss May more. But with Tony and all the Avengers in the Tower, Peter and May’s twice-a-week phone calls were enough for him, and they seemed to be enough for May too.

Peter thought about when the summer would eventually end, when they’d have to tell the Avengers that Peter was just an intern and he’d go back to living with May, back in his apartment in Queens. There’d be no more Avengers family meals or movie nights for him, because he wouldn’t be a part of the Avengers family anymore. He’d be Peter Parker, not ‘Peter Stark’, Tony Stark’s secret son. And as much as he loved May, he just felt like he belonged at the Tower, just like she’d said she felt like she belonged at her job.

Peter never wanted to leave that Tower. He never wanted to leave his family, his father -

Peter shook his head again. No, not his father. Tony Stark wasn’t actually his father.

Eventually, he’d have to stop playing pretend.

Peter shook his head. The day had just begun - he wouldn’t let himself get sad so early in the morning. Spending the day with the Avengers would cheer him up. He stood up from his bed and walked into his room’s adjoining bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for the day.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“Boss?”

“Yes, FRIDAY?” Tony asked from his seat on a couch in the lounge, sitting with Peter and his fellow Avengers. “What is it?”

“There seems to be an… aircraft above the landing pad outside.”

Tony, along with everyone else, looked out the huge floor-to-ceiling windows to view the landing pad outside. It was on the same floor as the common area, just outside through a door. It’s where Loki opened up that portal all those many years ago. And now, sure enough, a strange-looking aircraft - no, a spacecraft - was hovering just above it.

It landed on the tarmac with a small crash - if there was such a thing as a small crash. Whoever was driving was clearly not experienced with the vehicle. The door opened, and out stepped two people.

“Oh my god!” Steve said. “Thor’s back!”

“He got a haircut!” Clint noticed.

Tony smiled. “And he found Brucie-bear!”

Then, a third figure stepped out of the spacecraft.

Every Avenger in the room gasped.

“Is that-”

“That’s Loki!”

“What the hell is he doing here?!”

“Why the hell do Thor and Bruce look so buddy-buddy with him?!”

Thor noticed them through the window. A huge grin grew across his face and he waved at them. “Hello friends!” His voice was heard muffled through the glass.

The Avengers inside continued to stare in shock. Steve gave a small wave back.

“FRIDAY,” Tony said, “Unlock the door… I guess?”

The door clicked, unlocking itself. When the four people from the spacecraft entered, Thor immediately bellowed, “Fret not, my fellow Avengers, I have returned! And I have found Banner! And of course, you all know my brother, Loki.”

“Yeah, hey Point Break,” Tony said, his sassy voice masking his anger. “Listen - what about ‘tried and imprisoned in Asgard’ did I not understand? Because it looks like that same murderous psychopath from all those years ago is in my house right now.”

“Calm down, Stark,” Thor’s smile remained. “I understand where you’re coming from, but my brother has changed. He is a good man now.”

Loki rolled his eyes behind him. “I wouldn’t say good -”

“Loki, you’re not helping your case,” Thor told him.

“How about we just all sit down in the lounge and talk?” Bruce said. “We’ve been through a lot. It’s a long story. And guys, I know it’s hard, but try to trust Loki?”

The other Avengers blinked, stunned that Bruce was also defending Loki.

“Alright,” Steve spoke up. “We’ve also been through a lot while you were gone. Let’s all talk.”

Everyone sat on the couches again and talked for more than an hour. First, Thor and his crew retold their story - Hela, Sakaar, the Grandmaster, Bruce being the Hulk for years, the revolution, Ragnarok, and finally Asgard blowing up. Thor said he established New Asgard in Norway and made his friend Valkyrie its ruler. He also said that he made himself a new hammer since Mjolnir was destroyed by Hela. Then they flew here to the Tower to reunite with the other Avengers. From the story, they could see how Loki was… good …now. But they still didn’t fully trust him.

 Then the Avengers who’d been in the Tower this whole time told their story - the Sokovia Accords, the airport battle, the ‘Civil War’, how Bucky’s Hydra programming was removed, and how everyone was forgiven and living together again now. Thor and Bruce paid close attention, but Loki didn’t seem to care about what the Avengers said.

“And who is this boy?” Thor gestured at Peter.

Peter, who’d been quiet this whole time and was internally fanboying heavily over the Avengers he hadn’t met in front of him, pointed to himself. “M-Me?”

“This,” Tony answered for him, ruffling Peter’s hair, “is Peter. He’s Spider-Man, who we mentioned fought in the airport battle.”

“Ah, I see,” Thor said. “Nice to meet you, Peter Tonyson.”

Peter almost choked on his breath at the last name. “But, Dad didn’t even tell you I was his son yet! How could you tell?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Thor just shrugged.

“Wait,” Bruce blinked in shock, “Tony, you have a son ? What- Where has he been all this time?”

“Yes, I would also like to know,” Thor added.

Tony smiled and told the cover story for their ruse again. It was even more believable now that he was so used to saying it. “Now,” Tony said afterwards, “how about we all have some lunch. You’re probably hungry.”

“ Starving ,” Thor beamed. “I hope you still have Pop-Tarts. I missed eating those.”

“You can have some from Peter’s stash,” Tony smirked. Peter was still too shy and internally-fanboying to argue.

The Avengers, now reunited, all ate lunch around the kitchen island, some of them sitting and some of them standing. They all talked and laughed and got to know each other again.

However, Peter never really worked up the courage to speak, so he lingered in the corner of the kitchen. Eventually, he noticed the one other person that also wasn’t speaking and was lingering in the opposite corner - Loki. He looked lonely, and Peter actually felt bad for him. For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to walk over to him and make him feel not so lonely, despite being scared out of his mind.

Loki noticed him approach, but pretended to ignore him.

“Uh,” Peter stuttered, “So um, you’re like, good now?”

“It varies from moment to moment,” Loki responded ominously, clearly wanting nothing to do with Peter.

Peter thought that yeah, he should probably leave. But for some reason, he really cared that Loki seemed lonely by himself and wanted to make him feel included. Maybe he was just too pure and innocent. “I uh, I heard you do, like, magic? Can you show me?”

Loki’s gaze at Peter looked more like a death glare. He didn’t speak or do anything except stare at Peter dead in the eyes. Eventually he raised his hand and, while maintaining his scary eye contact, summoned a rather ornate dagger like it was the most casual thing in the world.

And sure, Peter knew he should probably feel threatened by that, but he just witnessed something get summoned out of thin air! His little science nerd brain went crazy . “WOAH!!! THAT IS SO COOL!!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT??? Because matter can’t be created or destroyed and it looks like you just created matter right there and that’s physically impossible!! Or is there like some place somewhere that’s just filled with millions of daggers and you just summoned this dagger from there? Cuz that would make much more sense cuz then you wouldn’t be creating matter, you’d just be moving it here. But how’d you even move it here?! Like how was that possible to do because they do not teach us stuff like that in physics class and- Why are you staring at me like that?”

While Peter was talking, Loki’s death glare had become a look of absolute surprise and confusion. He de-summoned the dagger. “You are a… strange child.”

Peter laughed and nervously scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry I got carried away. I can be a huge nerd sometimes - well, all the time, really. I just really like science.”

“Like your father?”

“Y-Yeah! Just like my uh, my father.”

Loki squinted, and his mouth that seemed to stay in it’s permanent frown transformed into an evil smirk. “You’re lying.”

“I- w-what?”

“Stark is not actually your father.”

Peter felt like he stopped breathing. He heard his heartbeat in his ears. “I-I have n-no idea what you’re talking about!”

“There’s no use lying to me , child,” Loki said, sounding rather devilish. “I can spot a liar so easily, I could do it in my sleep. They don’t call me the God of Mischief for nothing.”

Peter’s eyes flicked around nervously, not wanting to reveal the truth, but he eventually caved. He sighed, “OK, fine. Tony’s not actually my dad. Not biologically or anything. But we, like, kinda act like father and son, so we’re playing this prank on the Avengers and tricking them into thinking that we actually are father and son. Please don’t tell them!”

“I see,” Loki said, wicked smile still on his face. “Well, any excuse to play a prank on my brother is a good one. Don’t worry, I won’t reveal your little secret to the others. I love tricks like this.”

Peter briefly remembered Shuri said the same thing when she found out about the prank. “Cool. Uh, thanks.”

Loki shrugged. “They don’t call me the God of Mischief for nothing,” he repeated.

Peter smiled. It was wild that he was actually having a civil conversation with Loki of all people. But Loki actually seemed pretty awesome. He was even going to help prank the Avengers with Peter. “You know, I think you’re really cool. I hope the others will see that soon, too. You’ll be a great addition to our family.”

Loki froze, his smile dropping. “Family?”

“Yeah,” Peter shrugged. “It’s what Natasha says we are. I would say ‘team’, but not everyone here is an Avenger - I’m not, Pepper’s not, and I don’t know if you’re gonna be one or not. But even if we’re not Avengers, we’re still part of the Avengers family.”

Loki looked away. “I’m… not very good with families. My own family’s kind of a mess, and my father - well, my adopted father - he wasn’t great, at least not to me.” He gazed at the Avengers, all smiling and laughing with each other. The look in his eyes was almost… jealous .

Peter was suddenly filled with even more of an urge to make Loki feel included. “Well, I’m sure this family will treat you better. Just as soon as they see-”

“Peter?” Suddenly, Tony was approaching them, the other Avengers still having their own conversation around the kitchen island. Tony put an arm around Peter and protectively pulled him away from Loki just a bit. “I was so busy catching up with Bruce that I didn’t see where you went. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, it’s OK!” Peter said. “I was just talking to Loki!”

“Yeah…” Tony made eye contact with Loki, “I can see that.”

“He’s actually really cool! He does this magic stuff that I have no idea how to explain with science!”

“Uh huh. Cool, kid.” Tony kept his eyes on Loki. The look on his face clearly said ‘stay away from my son’ .

Loki chuckled. “Long time no see, Stark.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Tony said. “I think the last time I was face to face with you, you threw me out the window.”

“Yes, you must forgive me for that. The Mind Stone wasn’t the healthiest for my brain, but I’m all better now.”

“Are you?” Tony squinted. “I’m sorry if that’s hard for me to believe.”

“Tony,” Peter tried to relieve the tension. He seemed to be good at that when it came to the Avengers. “Trust me, he’s OK. He’s even gonna help us prank the Avengers.”

“You told him?” Tony looked to Peter.

“No, he uh, figured it out.”

“The child’s a bad liar, and I happen to be the master of lies,” Loki said, smiling wickedly again. “I don’t think you want to make an enemy of me, Stark. I could be very helpful for this trick you’re playing on the others.”

Tony stared at Loki, clearly thinking hard. Peter could almost see the gears working in his head. After a long pause, he finally said, “Well, if Peter trusts you, I suppose I can consider you an unlikely ally.”

Peter smiled. It was a start. Soon, all the Avengers would accept Loki as a part of the family, just as they’d done for him. It’d take much longer, but this was definitely a good start.

“Hey! I have an idea!” Peter said, just loud enough for all the Avengers to hear. Everyone stopped their conversations and turned to face him. “How about we all watch a movie together? I know it’s not movie night tonight, but wouldn’t it be cool to watch one now with everyone finally together again?”

The other Avengers looked at each other, looking uneasy. Clint looked especially shifty, which only made sense since Loki had mind-controlled him that one time. God, this was gonna be harder than Peter thought.

“Yeah,” Natasha said carefully, “That’d be great. It’s just that… you know…”

“That none of you trust me?” Loki finished her sentence for her. The Avengers all glanced nervously at each other again. Loki rolled his eyes. “Oh please, it’s obvious what you’re all trying to say. Stop dancing around it and just say it - you don’t trust me!”

Thor held his hand out, “Brother-”

“No, Thor, it’s fine. I understand. After what I did here, It only makes sense.”

“Brother, it wasn’t you. The Mind Stone made you think terrible things.”

“Yes, but then I still did those things,” Loki said. He laughed to himself. “You know, I told you this would happen. I should just go back to New Asgard with Valkyrie.”

“No!” Peter said, maybe a bit too quickly. All eyes in the room were suddenly on him. Peter grew nervous under the attention. He really wanted Loki to stay. He wanted Loki to feel like he was a part of a family, since he’d never felt like that before. He wanted Loki to feel like he belonged here, just like how Peter had gotten Steve and Bucky to feel like they belong here.

Just like how Peter felt like he belonged here.

“I trust Loki,” Peter said bluntly. “I believe Thor and Bruce. I think we can trust him. I actually think he’s really cool.”

“But, Peter,” Clint said. “Don’t you feel something with your - what’s it called - your Peter Tingle?”

“My Spidey-Sense , you mean?”

“Yeah, that. Isn’t it, like, going off right now?”

The Avengers all stared at him expectantly. But to be honest, he wasn’t even thinking about his Spidey-Sense, because it wasn’t going off. That just made him trust Loki even more. If Loki had some sort of secret, evil intentions, Peter should’ve felt at least something - even if it was just the smallest tingle in the back of his brain. But he felt nothing like that. “Nope, it’s not. I don’t sense any danger nearby.” He looked up at Loki and smiled.

He swore Loki flashed the faintest smile back at him.

The Avengers seemed to loosen up at that statement. Peter 

“Well,” Steve said, looked at his fellow Avengers, “If Peter trusts him-”

“Then I suppose we can give it a try,” Clint finished the sentence. The rest of the Avengers nodded in agreement.

Peter sighed in relief. “Great! Now let’s go watch a movie!”

Tony, whose arm was still around Peter, couldn’t help but smile at his kid’s adorableness. “You have something in mind, bud?”

“Yeah! I really wanna watch Jurassic Park today for some reason.”

“Alright. Jurassic Park it is.” Tony started to walk over to the lounge, bringing Peter along with him. The rest of the Avengers followed.

“What is it with you and former murderers, kid?” Tony said so only Peter could hear. “First you get Bucky to soften up around us, and soon you’re gonna get us all to like Loki , of all people.”

Peter laughed and shrugged. “I dunno. I just want us all to get along.”

Tony smiled. “Well, you’re doing a good job of that, kid.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Minutes into the movie, an argument broke out. But not an angry argument. It was… an interesting argument to say the least.

“Just look at him, Bruce!” Thor was shouting, pointing at the screen as it played Jurassic Park. “That’s the Grandmaster!”

“No, Thor. That’s Jeff Goldblum,” Bruce said. He almost sounded annoyed at how ridiculous the statement was. “He’s an actor here on Earth.”

“You’re not looking close enough!”

“Here, I’ll look closer then!” Bruce snatched up the remote from the coffee table and paused the movie, freezing the frame on Jeff Goldblum’s character.

“See! That’s the Grandmaster!”

“Thor,” Tony said, “calm down. I’ve met Jeff Goldblum. I know he’s an eccentric guy, but he’d not an alien -”

“Holy shit,” Bruce’s voice cut him off.

The Avengers looked at him. “What is it, Bruce?” Tony asked.

“I…” Bruce’s eyes were wide with shock, “I think Thor is right .”

“Are you kidding me?” Tony laughed. “Brucie-bear, that’s ridiculous-”

“No, Tony, you don’t understand,” Bruce looked dead serious, “He looks exactly like him! That’s him !”

Tony exhaled loudly. “How about you, Loki?” He said, looking at Loki, who sat on another couch.

Loki looked just as surprised as everyone else that Tony was actually starting a conversation with him. But his answer sounded as smooth as his words always were. “Well, I spent quite a lot of time with the Grandmaster - more than these two ever did, since I was often in his private quarters-”

“Why were you often in his private quarters?” Thor asked curiously. This was the first time he’d heard this news.

Loki waved the comment off. “None of your business. Anyway, I’ve looked at the Grandmaster’s face a lot is what I’m trying to say. And yes, I can confirm that that actor on the screen looks exactly like him.”

“Holy shit,” Peter said, laughing in disbelief, “I can’t believe Jeff Goldblum is an immortal alien god. I’ve seen him in interviews and honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s awesome.”

Tony shook his head, also laughing. “You guys are ridiculous. And watch your language, young man.” He ruffled Peter’s hair.

Peter smiled to himself. He was just happy that Loki was being included in the Avengers’ banter. He grabbed the remote and unpaused the movie.

Notes:

Yes I referenced this tumblr post in this fic lmao. I thought it was really funny so I knew I had to include it somewhere. I also managed to sneak a little FrostMaster in there because I think FrostMaster is funny lol. Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter! I’ll post the next one on Sunday around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 11: Video Game Miniboss

Summary:

Fisk continues his search for Spider-Man. Peter and the Avengers fight a killer robot.

Notes:

OK so the woman that Fisk assigned to lead the investigation on Spider-Man in chapter 9 returns in this chapter, and I kinda gave her way more dialogue than I thought she was ever gonna have, so I gave her a name. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

“Tell me about the boy.”

Wilson Fisk and a few of his workers were in the research room in the underground facility under Fisk Tower. The women worker with the ponytail - the one who Fisk chose to lead the investigation - her name was Claudia. She stood in front of a hologram and waved her fingers across it, bringing up the results of her team’s research. She faced Fisk and answered him. “The boy’s name is Peter Parker. He’s almost 16 years old and goes to Midtown High School of Science and Technology. According to our findings, his parents - Mary and Richard Parker - died when he was very young. Now he lives with his aunt, May Parker. It also says here that he’s been interning for Tony Stark for a little over a year - roughly the same amount of time that Spider-Man has been seen in his Stark-made suit.”

“Anything else connecting him to Spider-Man?” Fisk said.

“Not much,” Claudia said. “ We’ve tried to run a comparison analysis between the few audio files of Spider-Man that we have and audio we’ve found of Peter Parker from videos he’s posted to his social media, but our audio samples of Spider-Man aren’t a good enough quality for the analysis to work. But,” she swiped her finger across the hologram screen and more pictures came up, “there is a lot of information connecting him to Tony Stark. Here’s Stark at Parker’s science fair just last April. And there have been several sightings of Stark’s personal driver, Harold Hogan, picking up Parker from school in one of Stark’s cars. See here,” she zoomed in on a picture, “that’s him entering a car that has one of Stark’s license plates.”

“Well of course there’s a lot connecting him to Stark. He’s his intern!” Fisk frowned. “It’s not enough of a lead. I need to be sure that he’s Spider-Man . Once we know who’s behind that mask, we can figure out a way to make him useful to us.”

“After today, we will know,” Claudia said sharply. “Shall I proceed with what we planned?”

Fisk’s mouth shaped into a crude smile. “Yes. Commence the next step as soon you’re alerted that Spider-Man is out on his daily patrol.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter was super excited today. He and Tony had finally finished working on his new suit, which they’d dubbed the ‘Iron Spider’ suit. Today he was going to use it on patrol for the first time.

The finished product was amazing. When deactivated, it just looked like a little model of the Spider-Man logo, about the size of his palm. But then, if he pressed it to his chest, nanobots were released out of it. The nanobots spread around his body until it formed a full suit. Tony had also made a nanobot suit - it’s housing unit was an arc reactor instead of a spider.

Peter put on the finished suit in the common room in front of all the Avengers to show it off. He immediately wanted to jump out the window and start his patrol, but Tony double-checked that everything was working before he did.

“You have enough web fluid?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Your comms are working?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Your emergency parachute is installed?”

“ Yes , Dad, oh my god ,” Peter inched away from Tony, moving backwards towards the open window behind him. “Everything’s all good! Can I pleeeeease go on patrol now?”

“Did KAREN finish being downloaded into that suit?”

“ Yes ! She’s here, the comms are, you’re gonna be able to track all my vitals and stuff. It’s all good. I’m leaving now.”

“Just be safe, OK?” Tony’s face didn’t hide his concern. “If the suit starts malfunctioning or something, just call me. If you run into any sort of trouble that’s too much for you to handle, just call.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Peter kept backing up towards the open window until he was right against it. “OK! Bye! I’m leaving now!” he backflipped out the window, shot a web, and swung away.

The sight of Peter falling out the window gave Tony a mini heart attack, but as soon as he saw Peter safely swinging away in the distance, he sighed in relief and rubbed the stress out of his forehead.

Rhode smirked at him. Imitating Tony’s voice, he said, “‘Oh! I’m not overprotective!’”

“Shut it, Rhodey-bear,” Tony said back.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re such a dad.”

“Well, I’m not his dad when he’s Spider-Man. He has to call me Mr. Stark while he’s in that suit to hide his identity.”

“That still doesn’t stop you from being his dad.”

Tony gave off the faintest smile. Rhodey knew the truth - that Tony wasn’t actually Peter’s dad - so when he said that, he really meant it.

Meanwhile, Peter was shouting and cheering as he swung through the streets of Manhattan. This new suit felt so good. The more aerodynamic design and material allowed him to swing faster through the air. He heard the wind rush past his ears beneath the suit. When he was little, he wished he could fly like Iron Man. Now, he thought swinging was much cooler.

In under an hour, he stopped two muggings, caught a car thief, and webbed up some people stealing from a store. The car thief had even tried to shoot him with a pistol, but the Iron Spider suit was pretty much as bulletproof as Tony’s armor, so it didn’t do anything. The look on the thief’s face as Peter webbed him up was hilarious. It was a very productive day, and Peter was feeling very confident. Then KAREN gave him an interesting notification.

“Peter, a large, weaponized robot has appeared in Times Square.”

Peter froze at the words, getting so distracted that he almost swung into a wall. “W-What?!”

Videos of the robot posted to people’s social media accounts appeared on Peter’s HUD. It looked like a giant cube with a lot of mechanical legs, the whole thing painted black. “According to eyewitnesses, flying drones carried it in and dropped it in the middle of the street. It has now started tearing up the road and smashing the electronic billboards. It doesn’t seem to be targeting humans, so its goal just seems to be to wreak havoc. However, it could quickly start to cause many accidental injuries to nearby citizens.”

“Alright. I’ll go there now. Show me the fastest route to it.” The directions appeared on Peter’s HUD, and he started swinging in that direction.

Sure enough, when he arrived in Times Square, a cube-shaped robot was there, causing all sorts of chaos around it with its multiple arms. It was even bigger than it looked in the videos. Peter gulped.

“Peter,” KAREN said in his suit, “My analysis shows this robot is very strong. I recommend you call Mr. Stark for help.”

“Nah, KAREN. I can do it.” Peter thwipped out a web and swung closer to the robot. “Hey!” He shouted at it. “I don’t remember this level from Portal! The cubes in it aren’t big and evil like you!”

He landed on one of the sizes of its cubic body. He tried to punch it, kick it, shoot it with a taser web, anything to damage it, but the robot’s exterior was too fortified. One of its arms then collided with Peter’s back, flinging him into the side of a building.

Peter groaned and regained his strength, stuck to the side of the building. The robot, surprisingly, didn’t attack Peter more after that. It stayed near him, but just kept damaging the ground and billboards around him. It didn’t seem to be programmed to attack Peter or any other person directly. It just ran around and failed its arms.

Peter didn’t think much of it. It would just make it easier to defeat. He’d just have to find a weak spot in that exterior.

“Incoming call from Tony Stark,” KAREN’s sweet voice rang in his ears.

Peter’s eyes widened under his mask. “No! Don’t answer!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Peter. I’m letting it through.”

“No-”

“Hey kid,” Tony’s voice came through. “One of our radars here at the Tower just went off. Turns out there’s a giant robot attacking Times Square. Then we turn on the news to learn more and I see you fighting it all by yourself. You didn’t think to call me?!”

Peter landed on the robot again. “I-It’s fine, Dad! I mean- Mr. Stark!” Damn, he’d gotten so used to calling Tony ‘Dad’ that the word just slipped out. Luckily, all the civilians had cleared Times Square by now and no one could hear him. “This robot is badly programmed or something. It must not have a targeting system. It just keeps flailing its arms around and hoping it hits me.”

“We’re on our way to help you.”

“It’s fine! I can do it-”

“No kid, trust me. It looks like you need help. Plus, we’re all bored here at the Tower. We’re on our way to you now. We’ll be there soon.” The call ended.

Peter sighed. Well, whatever. He supposed he could use the help.

In just a few minutes, all of the Avengers arrived to help Peter - even Loki. Peter smiled. If Loki helped defeat this thing, then the other Avengers and the media would see that he wasn’t bad anymore.

“Hey, you guys!” Peter waved to them from the robot’s back. Just then, a mechanical arm knocked him onto the ground.

He heard Tony laugh through the comms. “You said you didn’t need help?”

“I’m fine!” Peter said cheerfully and stood up. “See! Everything’s A-OK.”

“Yeah, sure kid. Now let’s take this thing down.”

The Avengers all attacked the robot’s cubic body. Tony fired his repulsors and Cap threw his shield. But they didn’t seem to cause a dent. Its armor seemed indestructible.

“God, what is it made out of, vibranium?” Clint groaned, shooting it with a bomb arrow

“OK, new plan,” Steve said in his leader voice. “Go for its arms instead.”

They all started to attack its arms at Cap’s orders. Luckily, the arms were not indestructible. Tony blasted a few off, Cap’s shield sliced a couple off, and Thor cut off many with his new hammer - Stormbreaker. Loki even used his telekinesis to crush some of them until they were just metal stumps. Soon, the giant cube had no arms left and fell to the ground.

Until one of its sides opened up and twenty more mechanical arms came out.

Peter sighed. “Goddamn it.”

The other Avengers expressed similar sentiments through the comms.

They all attacked the robot again, half the group continuing to cut off its arms and the other half trying to break the armor of its body. Still, no matter how much they hit its armor, it didn’t break.

In anger, Thor’s eyes lit up electric blue. He rose into the air and swung Stormbreaker with all his strength into the side of the robot’s body. It still didn’t break its armor - however, it did send the robot flying down the street and knocked it on its back.

“Yep,” Clint commented, “Must be vibranium.”

“So how are we gonna kill it?” Wanda said, tearing one of the mechanical legs in two with her telekinesis.

Just then, as the robot laid on its back, struggling to stand up again, Peter saw something on the underside of its cube body. Hidden amongst its mass of metal tentacles was a smaller cube attached to its main body. This cube was glowing red, almost like it wanted to be visible.

“Hey guys?” Peter said into his comm, “Do you know the video game Legend of Zelda?”

“Oh my god, not with this again,” Rhodey’s voice came through the channel. “We can’t defeat every enemy like a movie or video game, kid.”

“No, listen!” Peter swung down the empty street to the robot, who was still lying on its back, “In the Zelda games - well, in most games, honestly - the boss enemy always has a big, obvious weak point! Just like this robot guy has! Attack its red glowing thing!” Peter was then close enough to shoot a taser web at the glowing, red cube.

The robot’s arms went crazy, flinging around everywhere, before it managed to get itself upright again, when it then continued to damage the city. Now, however, it moved around slower, and sparks were coming out from where it’d been hit.

“I think you managed to do some damage, kid,” Tony sounded impressed through the comms.

Peter smiled. “Thanks! In games like Zelda, you always have to hit the weak spot 3 times before the enemy dies! I wonder if this robot’s the same way!”

“Only one way to find out,” Cap said. “Thor, knock it over again!”

Thor swung his hammer at the robot and sent it flying onto its back again. All the Avengers were close enough to attack its glowing weak spot. When it got up again, it walked around very slowly. Its seemingly endless supply of arms started to cease a bit. After knocking the robot on its back and attacking its glowing weak spot one more time, the giant robotic cube shuddered, discharged a bunch of sparks, then fell apart into pieces - defeated.

Peter threw his hands in the air. “Yes! We did it!”

“Good job team,” Steve said, and many more of the Avengers congratulated each other too. Most of them also complimented Peter on finding the robot’s weak spot, which Peter bashfully thanked them for.

Tony, still hovering above the street in his Iron Man suit, looked around at Times Square. The road was torn up so much that it barely looked like a road anymore. Shattered glass was everywhere from the broken electronic billboards. Tony sighed, “Yeah, I’m gonna have to donate more money to the city to fix this up, aren’t I?”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Later that day, in the research room under Fisk Tower, Claudia was smiling as her assistants played her the new voice recordings of Spider-Man they received that day. “Perfect. Just perfect. The boss will be very pleased.”

Just then, the door swung open, and Fisk walked in.

“Speak of the devil,” she said, her smile wide and confident.

Fisk rolled his eyes. “Just show me the results.”

“Yes, sir.” Claudia pressed a button on a holographic screen, and some statistics appeared. “The recording devices on the robot worked perfectly. Spider-Man was able to get close enough to speak into them clearly as he fought it, giving us these lovely voice samples,” she pointed to the screen. “They’re the clearest voice samples we’ve ever had of Spider-Man, and are much easier to analyze than our other samples.”

“And so, does Spider-Man’s voice match Peter Parker’s voice?”

“Yes it does, sir,” Claudia looked very proud of herself. “We’ve run tests comparing our new Spider-Man voice samples to the audio samples we’ve collected from videos Parker has posted to his social media accounts, and the voice is a 100% match.”

Fisk grinned. “Excellent.” He looked very scary when he smiled, and some of the less-confident workers looked away from him in fear. Fisk continued to stare at the pictures of Peter and Spider-Man on the holo-screen. “I’ve got you now, Spider-Man.”

“Sir, I know it’s not my place to say,” Claudia spoke up again, “but I’d like to ask - Why didn’t we just kill Spider-Man with that robot? Why did we make it so easy to beat so Spider-Man could defeat it?”

“Because all we needed it to do was collect information. Spider-Man might be more useful to us alive than dead,” Fisk said. “Did you learn anything else from the voice samples? Perhaps he said something that will let us know more about him.”

“No, sir. It didn’t sound like he said anything that’d be of use.”

Fisk set his jaw. “Play them for me. I’d like to hear them myself.”

“Yes, sir.”

Claudia tapped a few buttons and played the three audio samples of Spider-Man they collected that day. Fisk listened to all of them through. Afterwards, he was quiet, thinking.

“Sir?” Claudia looked a little nervous, not as confident as she did before.

“Play that one again,” Fisk gestured vaguely to the screen.

“Yes, sir.”

Peter’s voice came from a speaker, “I don’t remember this level from Portal! The cubes in it aren’t big and evil-”

“No, not that one! That one!” Fisk pointed clearer.

“R-Right, sir. Right away.” Claudia tapped the correct audio file.

“I-It’s fine, Dad! I mean- Mr. Stark! This robot-”

“There. Right there,” Fisk raised his finger. “Do you hear that? Play that part again.”

A worker pressed a button, and the audio played again.

“I-It’s fine, Dad! I mean- Mr. Stark!”

“Did you hear what he called Stark?”

Claudia blinked, stunned. “Y-Yes. I-I did. Do you really think-”

Fisk cut her off with a loud laugh. The workers in the room flinched, as Fisk’s laugh was cartoonishly evil. When his laughter died down, he spoke again. “This little spider weaves an elaborate web of lies, I see. First he hides his face and name, and now we see he also hides the fact that he’s the son of Tony Stark.”

“But,” Claudia sputtered, “we found information about his parents and aunt! The Parkers-”

“That’s most likely false information that Stark has put out to hide the boy’s true identity,” Fisk said. “The truth is the boy’s words. Why else would he call him ‘Dad’ if Stark was not actually his dad?”

“True,” Claudia said, but still sounded a bit unsure. “And, I suppose that’s why he corrected himself and said ‘Mr. Stark’ - because he accidentally slipped out the truth.”

“Yes, exactly,” Fisk said. He then grinned wider, an idea clearly popping into his head. “I know just what to do to make Spider-Man useful to me now.”

“What is it, sir?”

“We don’t need Adrian Toomes anymore,” Fisk said. “I know a better way to get some high-tech weapons.”

Notes:

What’s Fisk planning??? I won’t confirm anyone’s theories in the comments, but it’d be interesting to see what you think! Leave kudos and comments if you liked this chapter! The next chapter will feature MUCH more fluff than this one and will be posted on Thursday around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 12: Scales and Arpeggios

Summary:

Peter is bored, but then remembers there’s a piano in the back of the lounge. He attempts to play it.

Notes:

THANK YOU GUYS SOOOO MUCH FOR 3000 KUDOS!!! I am so amazed and grateful to all of you for reading! I’m so happy that you guys like my fic so far and I hope you’ll continue to like it as I write more! I love you all 3000! (Get it? Cuz 3000 kudos?)

This chapter is very s o f t so I hope you enjoy it lol.

Over the next few days, Tony was very busy.

Firstly, he needed to find out what the hell that robot in Times Square was and where did it freaking come from. He had FRIDAY run all sorts of scans on footage from the fight, trying to figure out where the thing had come from. Plus he had collected some pieces of the robot after it had been defeated, and now he and Bruce were running tests on them, hoping to find out who manufactured it.

Secondly, since they’d brought Loki to help fight the robot, the public found out that Loki was back on Earth. That caused a huge media storm. Reporters were calling Avengers Tower nonstop and asking all sorts of questions. Pepper was usually the one that handled overzealous reporters, but there were so many this time that Tony had to help her. They released all kinds of statements saying that Loki had changed his ways and that he now fought on the Avengers’ side. Hopefully people were fans of the Avengers enough to trust their word.

And lastly, he had to deal with Nick Fury, who was now breathing down his neck and asking him all sorts of questions about Loki, too. He, luckily, wasn’t alone in dealing with this, as many of the other Avengers helped him defend Loki, saying he really helped in the fight against the robot and that they trusted him.

So yeah, Tony was having a busy week.

Now, he and the other Avengers were on yet another hologram-call with Nick Fury, trying to sort out rules and regulations for Loki.

Meanwhile, Peter was down in the Avengers lounge, sitting on the couch by himself.

Peter hadn’t gotten to hang out with Tony in a while. Tony was too busy with the aforementioned activities to be able to work on suit upgrades or watch movies with him. For the past few days, Peter had mostly been hanging out with other Avengers. He’d gotten much closer to all of them, and he’d even helped Loki come out of his shell a little. And when he wasn’t talking with the Avengers, he was swinging through the streets as Spider-Man.

But that day, not much had happened out on patrol. He’d been out there for hours, but there just didn’t seem to be much crime that day. So after a while, he went back to the Tower.

Now he just sat on the couch, bored and alone.

He could call his friends, sure. But for some reason, he didn’t feel like it. They were great and all, but he didn’t feel like talking to them right now. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now. He was in that weird, teenage-angst mood where he wanted to be left alone, yet he wanted someone to come talk to him at the same time.

That someone being Tony.

Peter had barely even seen him since the day they fought that robot. Tony was so busy - and Peter knew it was selfish to think this - but he just wanted Tony to stop working for a while and hang out with him.

He had been scrolling through Twitter and Instagram for the past hour and a half, lying on the couch and overall feeling really dead inside. He only stopped when he accidentally turned his phone off instead of taking a screenshot like he meant to. That was enough to snap Peter out of his mindless scrolling. He groaned into the couch cushions and forced himself to stand up and actually do something.

That’s when it caught his eye.

In the back of the lounge, there was a large grand piano. Peter rarely remembered it was even there because no one ever played it. Maybe playing around on it would entertain him until the Avengers came back.

He walked over to the piano and sat on its bench. He almost didn’t even want to touch the keys because they just looked so fancy and expensive. He didn’t want to accidentally break them or something, and with his super strength, he probably could. But he pressed a key down anyway - lightly. He pressed a couple more, wondering what the hell he was even doing.

The extent of his piano knowledge was a couple of songs from the Star Wars and Legend of Zelda soundtracks that he half-remembered from when he tried to teach himself how to play them a few years ago. And he could vaguely remember being a little kid and trying to learn that first song that the kittens sing in that Disney movie Aristocats - ‘ Scales and Arpeggios ’ it was called, if Peter remembered correctly. He picked out a couple notes, trying to see if he could re-teach it to himself.

It was actually pretty fun, trying to figure out how to play it. It was like trying to solve a puzzle. Each time he hit a note that sounded correct, he was filled with a great sense of accomplishment.

So, an hour later, this is what Tony walked in on - Peter sitting on the piano bench, hitting keys with his inexperienced pointer finger, as he mumbled what lyrics to ‘Scales and Arpeggios’ that he managed to remember. “ ...Do mi so mi do mi so mi fa la so it goes, when you do your scales and your arpeggios… ”

Tony, of course, didn’t know the song, but he heard Peter singing it in his high-pitched voice and couldn’t help but think his kid was absolutely adorable. “Whatcha playing, Pete?”

Peter yelped and quickly stopped his quiet singing, embarrassed that Tony had heard him. He turned to face where Tony stood, his face red. “I-It’s um, it’s from some old Disney movie. Did you finish talking with Mr. Fury?”

“Nope, but I couldn’t stand being in that boardroom anymore, so I just got up and left,” Tony walked over to Peter’s side. “He can sort the whole Loki thing out with the others. I don’t need to be there. What I do need is a break.”

“Yeah, you’ve been pretty busy.”

“Don’t remind me. Luckily, I think this is the last meeting we’re going to have with Fury for a while, and me and Pepper have finished talking to the last of the reporters. I should be returning to my usual schedule tomorrow.”

Peter’s face lit up. “So we can work in the lab together tomorrow?”

Tony smiled and ruffled Peter’s hair. “That’s right, kiddo.” Then his eyes glanced over at the piano. “What made you want to play the piano today?”

“I got bored,” Peter said. “I keep forgetting this thing is even here cuz no one ever plays it. Why d’you guys even have a piano if none of you know how to play it? Is that like some rich person thing? To just have a grand piano for decoration?”

Tony laughed. “Yes, it is, but not in this case. I actually know how to play the piano.”

Peter looked up at him. “You do?”

“Yep. My mother taught me when I was little.” After a moment of hesitation, Tony added, “Do you want me to teach you?”

Peter couldn’t hide the smile grew wide on his face. “You would do that?”

“Of course,” Tony said, undoing his blazer button as he sat on the piano bench next to Peter. “How much do you know already?”

“Well, I know which notes are which - A, B, C, and all that. And I tried to teach myself some Star Wars songs and Legend of Zelda songs when I was younger.”

“And what were you playing just now?”

“Um, it was a song I tried to learn a long time ago, when I was a little kid. It’s from Aristocats.”

“From what ?”

Peter snorted. “I need to show you more Disney movies, Dad.”

Then Peter’s hand slapped over his mouth as he realized his mistake. “I-I’m sorry, I mean-”

He was cut off by Tony laughing and waving his hand, dismissing Peter’s apologies. “It’s OK, Peter.”

Just say it , he told himself, just say it’d be fine if he called you that all the time .

He took a deep breath - but he couldn’t do it. “You’ve had to call me that a lot in front of the Avengers. I understand if it slips out once and a while they’re not here.”

Coward , the voice inside his head told him.

“Y-Yeah,” Peter looked down at his hands, still looking embarrassed. “Thanks for uh, for understanding.”

“No problem,” Tony said, but the mood of the conversation had changed. It wasn’t lighthearted anymore. Peter had shifted a little away from him on the piano bench. Distance grew between them, physically and emotionally.

The only thing on Tony’s mind was he had to fix that.

He hugged his left arm around Peter’s shoulders, pulling him closer to him. He then faced the piano, put his right hand on the keys, and played a couple notes. When he spoke again, his voice had unconsciously gotten so much softer that he barely recognized it as his own. “What song should I teach you?”

“Um, I dunno,” Peter said, a smile creeping back onto his face. “What’s your favorite to play?”

“My favorite to play… Hm, let’s see…” Tony thought back on the songs his mother used to play, and of course his mind eventually settled on the last memory he had of her - when she sang ‘Try to Remember’ , minutes before she and Howard left, never to come back alive.

Maybe Tony could make some better memories to associate with that song.

“Do you know ‘Try to Remember’ from the Fantasticks? Jerry Orbach sang it.”

“ Who ?”

Tony laughed. “You know all those old movies but you don’t know any old music?”

“The only old music I really listen to is the Ramones.”

“Well, at least you have some taste.”

“ Hey -”

“Alright, now you’re gonna wanna put your hands here,” Tony cut Peter off and started to guide his fingers to the correct keys. He taught him the names of the song’s accompanying chords and showed him how to play each one - G major, A minor, etc. Then he had Peter play that while he gradually remembered the main melody, humming the notes and finding them on the keys. Peter was almost surprised to see how softly Tony could play the piano, since he was so used to those calloused fingers working with wrenches and soldering irons instead.

Soon they were able to play the song together, Peter playing the left hand and Tony playing the right. Tony mumbled the lyrics, closing his eyes as the music washed over him. When he opened them again, he looked at Peter, who was staring up at him with wide eyes.

Tony’s fingers went still against the piano keys. He laughed, “You good there, kid?”

Peter blinked and looked away. “Uh, sorry, I’ve just never heard you, like, sing before.”

Tony laughed a little again. “Was I singing? I didn’t even mean to.”

“Yeah, it was good!”

“Thanks kid, but you’re still a bad liar. I know I’m not a good singer.”

“I-I wasn’t lying! I swear!”

“I know,” Tony chuckled, running his hand in Peter’s hair. “I’m just messing with you, kiddo.”

“No way, Tones. He’s definitely lying. You’re a terrible singer.”

Peter and Tony turned to face the new voice in the room. Over by the elevator stood Rhodey, a sly smirk on his face. Behind him were the rest of the Avengers.

Tony smirked back. “Hey Platypus. Nice to see you’ve all returned in one piece from being chewed out by Nick Fury. How was it?”

“Would’ve been better with you there,” Steve said.

Tony swatted his hand at him. “Nah, I needed a break from all the yelling. I came down here where it’s nice and quiet to hang out with Peter.”

“And the kid managed to not run his mouth nonstop?” Sam teased.

Tony laughed at that. “Yes, he did.”

Peter looked at the Avengers from over Tony’s shoulder, a big smile on his face. “Dad’s teaching me to play piano!”

“You play piano?” Bucky asked Tony, his tone of voice clearly surprised.

Tony shrugged. “My mom taught me when I was little. I thought Peter should learn, too.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes. “And you’re just starting to teach him now? When he’s almost 16?”

“We’re just getting around to it,” Tony said, sounding as casual as possible.

“Sure,” Natasha still looked suspicious. She was slowly gathering plenty of evidence that there was something odd about Peter and Tony’s relationship.

She only had one hypothesis - that Peter wasn’t actually Tony’s biological son.

She didn’t know who Peter was instead. Her guess was that he was a poor orphan that Tony adopted around the time of the ‘Civil War’. That would explain why Peter seemed scared of spending any amount of money. And that would explain why Tony hadn’t taught Peter piano yet - something you usually teach a kid when they’re little. But it wouldn’t explain how Tony had embarrassing pictures of Peter when he was a young child, or how Peter was so close to Tony. Usually, it took Tony years to get close to someone. If Peter had only known Peter for a year or so, how did he break down all of Tony’s walls so fast?

Plus, why would Tony and Peter even lie in the first place? Unless it was some sort of prank, which Tony wouldn’t do… Actually, no, that’s totally something Tony would do.

Natasha kept all this to herself. She didn’t have enough evidence to prove her theory, but she knew that something was definitely up. She was a trained spy. She would figure out the truth eventually.

For now, she was just happy that Tony was happy. Prank or not, she was relieved that Peter was there to make Tony smile.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

That night, Peter had another nightmare.

He woke up screaming, grabbing the blanket around him in fists. He started hyperventilating and hugged his knees into his chest.

“Peter,” FRIDAY’s voice filled the room, “Due to the Nightlight Protocall, I must-”

“Just call him!” Peter shouted, his voice sounding weak and raw. “Call him, please! I need him!”

“Calling Mr. Stark…”

Within minutes, Tony was at Peter’s door. “Kid, you OK? FRIDAY said-”

“You can come in!” Peter said.

Tony opened the door. The light from the hallway rushed into Peter’s room, illuminating the boy’s face. The skin around his eyes was red from crying.

Tony’s face filled with pity. He walked over to Peter, sat beside him on the bed, and wrapped his arms around him. Peter leaned into his embrace. If Tony wasn’t so focused on making Peter feel better, he’d be feeling happy that Peter was more comfortable with asking for his help.

“What was your nightmare about?”

Peter sniffed. “I-I don’t wanna talk about it yet. Right now, I just… I just want hugs.”

“OK, then. Hugs now, talk later.”

Tony held Peter close to him, running his fingers softly through the boy’s hair - soft like how they were on the piano. Unconsciously, Tony started humming the melody to the song they played that day. After a while, Peter’s sobs against Tony’s shoulder died down.

“You wanna talk about it now?”

Peter wiped his eyes. “It was so weird. We were on this battlefield with all the Avengers and the Wakanda army. And we were fighting this big, weird, purple guy and his army. And in order to defeat him, we had to get this weird glove with glowing gems on it. A-And then you got the glowing gems, a-and you used them to defeat the evil guy and his army, b-but then it was like, too powerful or something,” Peter’s voice started to crack, “and it made you d-die, a-and I watched, a-and-”

“Shh, OK, that’s enough,” Tony rubbed Peter’s back. “It was just a dream. Just a dream, kiddo. I’m right here.”

Peter’s breathing returned to normal. He looked up at Tony and said in a small voice, “Can we go watch a movie?”

“Of course, Pete. Let’s go.”

They left Peter’s room, took the elevator down to the lounge, and sat on the couch in front of the TV, Peter staying close to Tony’s side the whole time. Peter could be pretty clingy when he was upset, but Tony didn’t mind at all. Tony was just glad that Peter seemed to know he didn’t mind now.

“You wanna watch Star Wars?” Tony asked, turning the TV on.

Peter shook his head. “Can we watch the Iron Giant?” He asked, his voice still small and quiet.

Tony tilted his head to the side. “The Iron Giant?”

“It’s a really good animated movie. You’d like it. It’s got a robot.”

“Is it a Disney movie? You said you wanted to show me some more of those.”

“No, it’s not Disney, but it’s still good. Can we watch it?”

“Yeah, kid. FRIDAY, play the Iron Giant.”

The opening logos of the movie played on the screen as it began. Not even 3 minutes into the film, Peter rested his head against Tony’s shoulder. Tony chuckled.

“What?” Peter asked him.

“Nothing, it’s just that the main character kid in this movie looks just like you.”

A small smile crept onto Peter’s face, and Tony silently celebrated his victory in cheering the kid up. “Yeah, I know. He really does. Just wait till a bit later, though.”

“What’s later?”

“You’ll see.”

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, the supporting character, Dean, was introduced into the story. Peter pointed at the screen. “See? He looks like you .”

“He does not .”

“He looks kinda like you.”

“OK, kinda . Sure, kid.”

Later in the film, during the coffee scene, Tony had to stop himself from laughing so hard and disturbing Peter’s position against him. “Pete, he’s literally you .”

“And Dean’s literally you ,” Peter said, sounding very sleepy.

Tony looked down at him. “You tired, bud?”

Peter just hummed in response.

Tony’s expression softened. “FRIDAY, lower the volume of the TV,” he asked the AI, and she did as he said. “Goodnight, Pete.”

Peter’s eyes were closed by now. His response came out mumbled from exhaustion. “G’night, Dad.”

Tony smiled and didn’t bother correcting him. The kid was probably asleep already anyway.

Notes:

I watched Aristocats the other day and when they sang Scales and Arpeggios I thought “omg I can totally hear this song in Peter’s voice I need to write this into my fic” and so I did lol. Then I watched the Iron Giant a few days later and I remembered how much Hogarth and Dean were like Peter and Tony so I knew I had to include that too. If you haven’t watched either of those movies, don’t worry, I included links throughout the fic to the relevant scenes for you to understand what’s happening.
I hope you guys enjoyed this very soft chapter! Leave kudos and comments if you did! In the next chapter, maybe Ned and MJ will come over? Tune in next time on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST to find out!

Want more Peter & Tony content? I posted an Irondad & Spiderson one shot the other day, and I would appreciate it if you read that too! It’s an Adopted Peter AU that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and if you guys like it, I’ll write more in that series too! You can read it right here!

Chapter 13: A Rainy Day

Summary:

Ned and MJ visit Avengers Tower and get to meet a surprise guest.

Notes:

Hey guys! So, I’ve planned out the entire plot of this fic now and I’ve even written some later chapters already. So now that I know exactly what’s going to happen in this fic, I re-did the tags. Nothing too drastic, I just re-ordered them and added a few more. Also, there’s a little reference to a joke from Far From Home in this chapter. It’s not a spoiler or anything like that, it’s just a reference to a joke they make in the movie. This chapter is still safe to read if you haven’t seen Far From Home yet. Enjoy the chapter!

Peter woke up on the couch alone the next day. He looked around to see where Tony went. He looked towards the kitchen, and there Tony was, a cup of coffee in his hand. He was surrounded by many other Avengers, talking and cracking jokes with them. Steve was making breakfast, as always. Thor had a poptart in his hand, munching it as he listened to the conversation. None of them had noticed that Peter woke up.

He looked out the large, floor-to-ceiling windows. The sky was light gray with clouds, and rain was lightly tapping against the reinforced glass. That was the best kind of rain, Peter thought. It wasn’t too heavy, and the sky wasn’t too dark. It was the perfect rainy day aesthetic. It made him want to listen to lofi hip hop radio all day.

This is how he always wanted to wake up, he suddenly thought to himself. His super-hearing made him very sensitive to every sound near him, and this was the most pleasant combination of sounds he’d ever heard - the light tapping of the rain, the sizzle of breakfast in Steve’s pan in the kitchen, the distant sound of his family conversing and laughing, his father’s witty remarks in response-

He didn’t bother to correct himself in his head. They were just thoughts.

“Ah, look who’s finally awake,” Tony said as he caught Peter’s eye, making the rest of Avengers turn to look at Peter, too. “You sleep good?”

“Yeah,” Peter responded. He didn’t have another nightmare since the first one, and even though he didn’t voice that, he knew Tony understood.

“Good,” Tony said, still across the room, “Come over here. Breakfast’s almost ready.”

Peter stood up and padded over to the kitchen.

“Also,” Tony said to Peter, handing the boy his phone, “your phone’s been blowing up for the last half hour.”

“Oh, thanks,” Peter unlocked his phone and sure enough he had a ton of new messages from Ned. As he read them, a huge grin grew across his face. “Ned’s back from vacation! He’s asking if he can come over right away! Please, Dad? Can he?”

Tony chuckled. “Of course Fred can come over today. You’re not busy.”

“You know it’s Ned, Dad. I literally just said it,” Peter said as he texted Ned back, telling him to get his ass over here as soon as possible. He contemplated texting MJ, too. He knew she was back from her vacation as well, but he didn’t know if she’d want to come over. She’d never told him that she wanted to come over like how Ned was always telling him. Peter wanted to ask, but he was scared she’d say no.

His thumb hovered over her contact in his phone, indecisive.

Tony noticed and smirked at Peter. “Just text her, buddy. It’s not that hard.”

“But it is hard!” Peter whined. “What if she says no? I’d be so embarrassed! And how would I even ask? How would I phrase the question?”

“How does Tony Stark’s own son not know how to talk to girls?” Sam teased him, and the other Avengers laughed.

Peter waved them off. “I’m being serious!”

“And I’m being serious too, kid,” Tony said. “You’re already her friend, right?”

“Yeah?” Peter said hesitantly.

“Then it won’t be weird to ask her to come over,” Tony clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Besides, Jared will be here, too.”

“ Oh my god, Dad, it’s Ned !” Peter laughed and pushed Tony’s hand off his shoulder in fake offense.

“Oh, and just so we know,” Steve began to ask, “do these friends know that you’re Tony’s son? Or have you told them your intern cover story?”

“Um…” Peter thought for a moment. He’d told Shuri about the prank, so he might as well tell Ned and MJ, too. “Yeah, they know.”

“OK, good to know,” Steve said.

Peter looked back down at his phone, took a breath, and began to text MJ.

The Avengers cheered as he did, which made Peter blush. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“Peter’s gonna get a girlfriend,” Natasha wiped a fake tear from her eye. “Our baby is growing up so fast.”

“Oh my god, stooooop!” Peter whined. But as he typed on his phone, he smiled. The Avengers’ teasing just made him feel more like a part of the family.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter waited in the Avengers Tower lobby for his friends to arrive. Ned had just texted him saying he’d be there in 5 minutes. And luckily, MJ had said yes to Peter’s invitation and was also on her way.

Ned arrived first, and MJ came shortly after. Ned was vibrating with excitement, while MJ looked indifferent like always.

“Dude!” Ned exclaimed, “This is my first time in Avengers frickin Tower! This is so cool!”

“Ned, we’re only in the lobby,” Peter said.

“So! Cool!” Ned just repeated.

“It’s nothing compared to what you’re about to see,” Peter laughed. “You’re about to meet the Avengers.”

“I KNOW DUDE I’M FREAKING OUT-”

“Can you losers stop talking so loud?” MJ said in her usual, disinterested voice. “People in this lobby are starting to look at us, and you know I hate being stared at.”

“OK, OK,” Peter lowered his voice. “Before we go upstairs, I have to tell you guys something.”

“What is it?” Ned lowered his voice, too.

“Me and Tony…” Peter trailed off. He was going to tell them about the prank, but what if someone in the lobby overheard them. “You know what, I’ll tell you guys in the elevator.”

Ned and MJ nodded and began to walk towards the big elevator in the center of the wall next to them. Peter waved his hands at them. “No, wait guys, we’re not gonna use that elevator. That’s the public elevator. Follow me.”

Peter turned and walked to a smaller elevator in the corner of the lobby, Ned and MJ following him.

“This is the Avengers private elevator,” Peter explained. “It lets you go to the Avengers’ floors. The public elevator doesn’t let you do that. Watch this.” He looked into a camera next to the elevator doors, and they slid open.

“Welcome, Peter,” FRIDAY’s voice rang out as they entered.

Ned turned to him, eyes wide. He mouthed the words ‘so cool’.

“Hey, FRIDAY,” Peter said as the doors closed. “Can you take us up to the common area? And take your time. I gotta tell my friends something.”

“Gotcha, Peter,” the A.I. said. The elevator began to move upwards.

“OK,” Peter turned to MJ and Ned. “So, at the beginning of this summer, when the Avengers first came over, they thought I was Tony’s son.”

Ned blinked, “ What? ”

“Yeah, I know right? Wild,” Peter said. “Anyway, me and Tony decided to go with it, so we’ve been pretending to be father and son this whole time to prank the Avengers. So-”

“YOU’VE BEEN PRANKING THE AVENGERS ??” Ned shouted. “WITH TONY FREAKING STARK ??”

“Yeah,” Peter gave a little laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. He could see how that could seem crazy to someone not close to the Avengers like he was. “Anyway, I told them that you guys knew I was Tony’s son, too. So just like, please help me prank them, OK? Don’t blow my cover, please? I mean, we’ll only see them for like a minute anyway before we go hang out in my room but just in case-”

“Oh my god, I’m going to prank the Avengers ,” Ned said excitedly to himself. Then his eyes widened in realization. “My best friend is Tony Stark’s son!! ”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Peter said, then turned to MJ. “I-Is, um, is that good with you too, MJ?”

“Yeah, sure,” MJ shrugged.

“Come on, MJ,” Ned said to her. “Aren’t you at least a little excited to be meeting the Avengers?”

“I am,” MJ said. “Just cuz I’m not freaking out like a nerd doesn’t mean I’m not excited.”

Peter smiled a little. Then the elevator doors opened.

Ned’s jaw dropped.

There in the lounge, sitting on the couches, were each and every one of the Avengers. They stopped their conversation when they heard the elevator ding. They all waved towards the kids and shouted their greetings.

“Hey guys!” Peter said, casually stepping into the room. MJ followed behind him, less casually. Ned had to force his legs to move - he felt frozen. “These are my friends, MJ and Ned!”

“Peter’s told us a lot about you two,” Tony, who was wearing his rose-tinted glasses, stood up from the couch and walked over to Peter and his friends. He reached out to shake Ned’s hand.

Ned tried to suppress another squeal as he shook Tony’s hand. “Oh my god, Tony Stark has heard of me.”

“Yeah,” Tony said, smirking, “I heard that you hacked the multi-million dollar suit I made for Peter.”

Ned’s face switched from excitement to immense fear. “I-I’m so sorry, sir! Please don’t have me arrested!”

Tony laughed. “It’s OK, kid. I’m not angry…anymore. Honestly, if you can hack into something as complex as Peter’s suit, you could be a real asset to Stark Industries.”

Ned’s jaw dropped again. “I… I… idhfjcjdk-”

Tony ignored Ned’s sputtering and turned to MJ. He offered his hand out for her to shake. “And I hear you’re the captain of the decathlon team.”

MJ looked Tony dead in the eyes and firmly shook his hand. “Yes I am, Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s face molded into a smirk again. “Peter’s told me quite a lot about you-”

“OK!” Peter suddenly interrupted, his voice more nervously high-pitched than usual. “You guys have seen everyone, so now let’s go up to my room! Come on!” Peter started pushing his friends back towards the elevator before his family could embarrass him.

They entered the elevator and went up to the top floor.

Peter guided his friends to his room. On the way there, Ned looked around at all the expensive-looking furniture and decorations. Even MJ couldn’t help but glance around at them, too.

“Bro,” Ned said, “I can’t believe you have a room on Tony Stark’s private floor. That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, wait a sec,” MJ narrowed her eyes, “Why isn’t your room with the rest of the Avengers’ rooms?”

“Uh…” Peter didn’t wanna tell his friends that the reason Tony had a room for him on his private floor was because this way, Tony could easily get to Peter if he had a nightmare. He’d gotten good at lying through this whole father-son prank thing, right? Maybe he could just make up another reason. “Cuz, you know, I’m not an Avenger. I couldn’t have my room be with the rest of the Avengers if I’m not an Avenger.”

“Dude, you’re basically an Avenger, though,” Ned said.

“No, I don’t go on Avengers missions. Tony says they’re too dangerous for me - which is totally untrue, by the way. I’d be able to handle them. He’s just overprotective.”

MJ smirked. “Wow, he really is your dad.”

Peter just laughed.

They entered his room and starting hanging out like teenagers do. They watched funny YouTube videos, played video games, posted Snapchats of each other, all that stuff.

Around 30 minutes into their hangout session, Peter’s phone started to ring. He paused their game of Mario Kart and went to grab it.

“Who is it?” Ned asked.

Peter’s eyes lit up. “It’s Shuri! I wonder why she’s calling!” He answered his StarkPhone, and a blue hologram of Shuri appeared above it. “Hey Shuri! Wassup?”

“Peter!” Shuri shouted her greeting. “I just checked your Snapchat! Your friends are over right now? You know I want to meet them!”

“They wanna meet you, too!” Peter said. “You wanna FaceTime with us for a while?”

“Actually, I can do something better,” Shuri said with a sly look on her face. “My brother and I are at the New York Embassy today. I didn’t want to tell you because I was probably going to be too busy to see you and I didn’t want you to be disappointed. But, I really want to meet your friends, so I’m going to beg my brother nonstop if I can go visit you until he eventually gets annoyed and lets me go.”

Peter’s face was beaming. “Yes! Shuri, that’d be so awesome!”

“OK, see you soon!” Shuri’s blue hologram disappeared.

Peter turned back to his friends and waved his arms in excitement. “Did you hear that?! Shuri’s gonna come over!”

Ned was just staring blankly, in shock about the whole situation. “Your phone… a frickin hologram … that was Princess Shuri…”

And MJ’s usually disinterested face was actually smiling. “We’re seriously gonna meet Princess Shuri of Wakanda? She’s so cool!”

Peter gave her a sly look. “Hey, look at you! You’re - and I quote - ‘freaking out like a nerd’!”

Ned snapped out of his shock to laugh at that. MJ just crossed her arms, but kept smiling to herself.

Shuri arrived after 20 more minutes. FRIDAY alerted Peter, and Peter told the A.I. to send her up in the elevator, since Shuri knew how to get to his room.

Soon there was a knock on the door, followed by a voice. “Peter! Do I get to meet your American friends now?”

“Shuri! Come in!” Peter said cheerfully. He paused their game again, stood up, and ran over to the door to open it. In the doorway stood Shuri. They hugged their hellos, then Peter gestured to his friends. “This is Ned and MJ, my friends from school.”

“Hello!” Shuri greeted.

The look on Ned’s face warned Peter that he was going to fanboy again, but it was too late for Peter to stop him. “Oh my god! You’re the Princess of Wakanda! That’s so awesome! You’ve made, like, everything! Your lab must look crazy!”

“Maybe one day you guys can come see it,” Shuri said with a smile.

Ned became a sputtering mess again, being too excited to form words correctly. Shuri chuckled and turned to MJ.

“Hi,” MJ said, and - to Peter’s complete surprise - she actually sounded a little shy. This was the girl that, not even an hour ago, had stared Tony Stark in the eyes and firmly shook his hand. “I’m MJ.”

Shuri put her hands over her heart and looked up at the ceiling in an exaggerated show of relief. “Thank Bast! A girl!” She then reached out and hugged MJ. “I’m always surrounded by so many men, and the women around me are almost always adults! It’s so nice to talk to a girl my own age!”

MJ was visibly tense under the hug - half in shock and half because she didn’t ‘do hugs’ - but she soon relaxed and hugged Shuri back. A smile crept across her face. “Uh, th-thanks. Or, I guess, you’re welcome.”

Shuri released MJ from her grip. Then Peter stepped over to them. “OK Shuri, you wanna join us in Mario Kart?”

Shuri narrowed her eyes competitively. “Oh hell yeah. You guys are going down.”

Every friendship is strengthened after a good game of Mario Kart. It makes players very competitive and makes them show their true colors. After a very serious game, filled with angry shouts, wails of disappointment, and cheers of victory, it felt like Shuri had always been a part of their group of friends.

Rain continued to lightly tap against Peter’s window as they played.

After they finished playing video games, they all sat around and talked about the usual things teens talked about. Peter and Shuri sat on his bed, Ned sat in Peter’s bean bag chair, and MJ sat on the floor, leaning against a wall and doodling in her sketchbook.

“What?! You haven’t seen Umbrella Academy yet?” Ned was exclaiming to Peter.

“I know! I know! I really wanna see it, but ever since I’ve become Spider-Man, I’ve had less time to watch shows so I can go on patrol instead,” Peter defended himself.

“It’s literally about superheros, Peter! You’d love it!” Ned just kept shouting.

“I know, Ned! I read the comic that its based on!”

“You did?”

“Yeah! It was written by Gerard Way! Of course I read it!”

“Then you need to watch the show!”

“I will! …When I have the time.”

“Oh please, Baby Stark,” Shuri said. “Even I saw that show, and I’m nowhere near as big a nerd as you.”

Ned and MJ turned to Shuri, their faces confused. Peter closed his eyes and sighed, sensing what was coming next.

MJ’s face slowly turned into a grin. “What did you just call him, Shuri?”

Shuri was smiling slyly now too, knowing Peter hated the nickname. “Baby Stark. You can sing it to that dumb song. Watch - Baby Stark doodoodoodoodoodoo. Baby Stark doodoodoodoodoodoo-”

“Baby Stark doodoodoodoodoodoo, Baby Stark,” MJ and Ned joined in.

Peter let out a long groan, “ughhhhhhhhh.” He let himself fall backwards onto his bed. “I hate my friends. My friends hate me .”

His friends stopped their singing to laugh. MJ threw the eraser she was using at Peter. “I hate you too, loser.”

Peter felt his heart skip a beat, and his body decided to not work for a moment. Because of this, he didn’t catch the eraser with his advanced reflexes like he normally would’ve, and instead the eraser lightly hit him in the chest. MJ and Ned laughed, and Peter laughed it off with them, while Shuri stared at him with a knowing look.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Soon it was around 7 pm, which meant it was time for MJ and Ned to leave. They all took the elevator down to the lobby and waved their goodbyes. Then Ned and MJ left out the large revolving door of Avengers Tower, into the light rainfall outside.

Peter turned to Shuri. “Do you have to leave, too?”

“Yeah, I should probably get going,” Shuri answered, but gave no sign of leaving. Instead, her mouth curved into a very mischievous smile.

“What is it?”

“Earlier today, when MJ threw her eraser at you - You froze!”

“I did not , Shuri!”

“You totally did! You got a cruuuuush! ”

“I don’t like MJ like that!”

“You are a terrible liar, Baby Stark,” Shuri started laughing.

“Oh my god, don’t call me that!” Peter swatted a hand at her arm, but couldn’t help but laugh, too.

They would’ve play-argued more, but Shuri received a text on her kimoyo beads from T’Challa telling her to come back to the Embassy immediately. The two kids hugged each other, and then Shuri left through the revolving door and into the rain.

As Peter walked back into the elevator, he felt strange. He should’ve felt happy after having such a fun day with all his friends, but he didn’t. He didn’t know exactly what he felt. He didn’t feel bad per say, but he definitely didn’t feel good. He just felt… strange. Maybe the rain outside was putting him in a mood.

“FRI?”

“Yes, Peter.”

“Is Dad- I mean, is Tony in the lab?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Can you take me to him?”

“Yes, Peter. Going up.”

In less than a minute, the elevator doors opened again. The sound of classic rock music got louder as Peter walked towards Tony’s lab. It sounded deafening to him when he punched the code into the keypad on the door. He swung the door open, and Tony didn’t seem to hear him come in due to the loud guitars wailing from the speakers.

“FRIDAY, pause the music!” Peter shouted, covering his ears. His Spidey-Senses made him way more sensitive to loud sound than Tony was.

FRIDAY’s voice didn’t come, but the music stopped, filling the room with silence.

Tony turned around in his seat. He was wearing welding goggles, which he took off when he saw Peter. “Hey, Pete! Sorry about that. If I knew you were coming, I would’ve lowered it in advance. You OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Peter said. The loud music didn’t bother him that much, honestly, especially now that it was gone. He walked over to Tony and sat on the stool next to him. Tony just looked at him. Peter forced a smile on his face.

“You sure you’re good?” Tony asked again. “You don’t look too happy.”

Peter sighed. There was no use hiding it. “I dunno. I dunno why, but I feel kinda sad. But I shouldn’t be sad, right? I just had a great day with my friends.”

“Maybe you’re socially exhausted,” Tony said. “After talking with people for so long, sometimes you just need to relax by yourself and recharge for a while.”

“No, I… I dunno. It’s like I feel… lonely ,” the realization suddenly dawned upon Peter. “Even though I hung out with my friends all day, I still have this lonely feeling in my chest. I dunno what it is.”

Except he did know what it was. He wanted to hang out with Tony. Sure, he loved his friends, but this was different. His brain was thinking back to the weird dream he’d had the night before - fighting the big, purple guy, Tony with the glowy stones, watching Tony… watching Tony die .

He was still scared of that dream, to be honest. And Tony helped him not feel scared.

Tony gave Peter a look that showed he understood. He put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Is this about your dream last night?”

Peter nodded, the motion small and frightened.

Tony gave Peter a warm smile. “Don’t worry, kiddo. It was just a dream.”

“I know,” Peter said. “It’s just… I don’t wanna think about it. About… what I saw . While my friends were here, I was distracted from it. But now that they’re gone, my mind’s back to being anxious about it.”

Tony understood that a little too well. Whenever he had a nightmare, he’d go to the lab and get distracted in his work to stop being anxious.

Peter looked over at the workbench in front of them. “Whatcha working on?”

“Improving the stabilizers on my gauntlets,” Tony said, picking one up. “You wanna help? It’d get your mind off things.”

Peter smiled and nodded, this time a bit more excitedly. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

“Great,” Tony passed him part of an Iron Man gauntlet and a screwdriver. “Just start unscrewing those panels for me and then I’ll tell you what to do next.”

“Cool,” Peter said and got to work.

Tony picked up a pair of needle-nose pliers and continued to fix the wiring of the gauntlet in front of him. “Should I put the music back on? Listening to music can help distract your mind from its anxious thoughts, too.” Tony knew that from experience.

“Sure,” Peter responded. “Just not too loud.”

“Of course,” Tony said. “FRI, turn the music back on. Start the playlist over.”

“Yes, Boss,” FRIDAY said, then Back in Black by AC/DC started to play.

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I love Led Zeppelin!”

Tony dropped the pliers he was holding onto the table, resulting in a loud clang against the metal. He looked at Peter with a dead stare. “I’m disowning you.”

Peter blinked up at him, half because he didn’t know what he did wrong and half because of what Tony was implying with that sentence. “W-What?”

“This is AC/DC, kid.”

“Oh,” Peter said and laughed, only looking just a bit embarrassed. “Well, I did tell you yesterday that I don’t know much about old music.”

“Yeah, you’re too busy listening to your Panicking Discos and your Falling Out Boys.”

Peter laughed louder at that. “I know you know those aren’t the correct names.”

“And your Twenty Two Pilots and your Chemically-Imbalanced Romances,” Tony just smiled and kept listing off incorrect band names.

Peter kept laughing. “How do you even know what kind of music I listen to?”

“Well, for one,” Tony said, “there’s a couple band posters on the walls of your room. And two, I can see what music you listen to on patrol through your suit using KAREN.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Peter said. He grinned to himself, because Tony actually bothered to remember what music he listened to. “I like your old music, too, though. I just don’t know it as well.”

“Maybe I should give you a little history lesson about my ‘old music’ then.”

Peter laughed a little again. “Yeah, maybe,” he said, then went back to work on the tech Tony had given him.

AC/DC continued to play not too loudly in the background, mixing with the sound of the rain outside.

Notes:

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!! As always, leave kudos and comments! The next chapter will be posted on Thursday around 8-9pm EST!! Thanks for reading!!

Also! I’m gonna plug my other Irondad & Spiderson fic here again lol. In addition to this story, I’m also writing a post-endgame, adopted Peter, Iron Fam fic! In it, Tony survived endgame, he’s the best father to Peter and Morgan, and Peter’s the best big brother to his little sister. It’s Tony & Peter centric, and it’s kinda angsty, so if you like that sort of thing, you can read it right here!

Chapter 14: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Summary:

Peter, Tony, and the rest of the Avengers go to a baseball game.

Notes:

Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about baseball lmao you’ll still be able to understand what’s going on. I like going to baseball games so I wanted to include the Avengers going to one in my fic! Hope you enjoy this Avengers family shenanigans fluff!

Thor picked up Stormbreaker. “And how will this benefit me, Tonyson?”

“It won’t benefit you, per say,” Peter said, standing next to him. They were in the Avengers’ gym. Around them, the other Avengers worked out and sparred with each other. “It’ll make you sound really cool, though.”

“So this is a term that ‘cool’ Midgardians say?” Thor asked him.

Peter nodded, looking very excited. “Yes! Definitely! So will you do it?”

“I am always trying to learn more about the Midgardian people, so yes, I will,” Thor said and lifted Stormbreaker above his shoulder.

“Wait wait wait wait!” Peter took out his StarkPhone and started recording a video. “OK, now say it!”

“Alright.” Thor held his hammer in a throwing position and bellowed, “This bitch empty. YEET!” He then threw Stormbreaker as hard as he could across the room. A large crash could be heard, followed by Peter’s hysterical laughter.

“That was amazing!” Peter managed to say through his laughs. He stopped recording. “I need to send that to Shuri right now! And I’m gonna post it to my Spider-Man twitter account!”

“Pete, what are you doing?”

Peter turned around to see Tony, his eyebrows raised in an expression that looked more disappointed than angry. Next to him were the other Avengers, many of whom had their arms crossed. Bucky’s reaction, however, was very different from the other’s - his was covering his mouth with his hands, suppressing his laughter.

Peter nervously scratched behind his neck. “I’m recreating vines with Thor. Don’t worry! We’re not making a mess!”

“Kid,” Tony deadpanned, “there’s now a hole in the wall.”

Just then, Thor called Stormbreaker back to him, making another crashing sound before it returned to his hand.

Tony sighed. “Now there’s two holes in the wall.”

“Um…” Peter gave a smile and a nervous shrug, “Sorry?”

Tony just shook his head and chuckled. “You’re ridiculous. Are you really that bored that you’ve resorted to recreating silly internet videos?”

“Um… yeah,” Peter snorted another laugh, “Yeah, I am. There's not all that much to do in the Tower, and it’s been like, a week since I saw my friends.”

“Has it really been that long?”

“Yeah. Since then, all I’ve been able to do is go out as Spider-Man, play video games, or hang out with you guys. So yeah, now it’s the first day of August and I’m bored .”

“I’m bored, too,” Natasha joined the conversation. “I’ve been sparring with Clint for the past hour and it’s getting too easy for me to beat him now.”

“Hey!” Clint said in protest. “Come on, let’s go again! I’ll beat you this time!”

“Stick to long-range weapons, birdbrain,” Nat smirked. “Get as good at close-combat as you want, but you’ll never beat me .”

“There’s gotta be something we can do to keep us entertained,” Steve said.

“How about we go somewhere again?” Sam suggested. “That day we went to the beach was really fun.”

“Yeah, and no one was even that suspicious that Peter was with us,” Bucky added. “Especially after Tony and Pepper released that statement saying Peter’s intern cover story.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Tony said. “The media didn’t go too crazy with speculation about him. OK, let’s go somewhere. Where should we go?”

The team all thought for a while, then Peter snapped his fingers as he got an idea. “I know! Let’s go to a baseball game! It’s still early in the day, and I’m sure that since you’re the Avengers we’ll be able to get seats.” Uncle Ben used to take him to baseball games all the time during the summer. Peter hadn’t been to one since he passed away.

“Great idea, kid,” Tony said. “I’ll buy some Yankees tickets right away-”

“ No way, Tony,” Steve voice sounded very stern. Bucky stood next to him with the same serious look on his face. “I refuse to go to a Yankees game! The Yankees suck !”

“What? What’re you talking about, Rogers?” Tony said. “I’m not a huge sports fan or anything, but I know they’re one of the best teams in the league.”

“I hate the Yankees,” Steve said, then looked wistfully into the distance. “Back in my day, we had the Brooklyn Dodgers. They were the best.”

Peter wondered to himself if this was the start of the Avengers’ second Civil War - fighting over sports teams.

“Listen, Capsicle. The Dodgers moved to LA. Now the two major league baseball teams in New York are the Yankees and the Mets.”

“I know. It’s stupid,” Steve crossed his arms. “But I’ll agree to go to a Mets game. At least it’s not the Yankees.”

“Well I don’t care either way,” Tony said. “Again, I don’t really care that much about sports. Is everyone OK with going to a Mets game?”

Everyone nodded. Peter was happy. The Mets’ stadium - Citi Field - was in Queens, and Peter was from Queens, so he liked the Mets better (even if they tended to lose more games than the Yankees.)

Tony bought tickets to that day’s game and soon they all left the Tower.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter breathed in the smell of hot dogs as he entered the baseball stadium. He tried to not pay much attention to the people around them doing double-takes as they saw him and his family. His enhanced hearing picked up whispered voices in the crowds.

“Wha- are those the Avengers?! ”

“Oh my god, look, it’s Tony Stark! And Steve Rogers! And- Oh my god, they’re all there!” 

“Who’s that kid with them?”

“That’s Tony Stark’s intern. I read about him in the New York Times. Said he might be the heir to Stark Industries.”

“No way. His life must be wild, getting to hang out with the Avengers all the time.”

Peter tried to ignore what they said, but his mind couldn’t help but run a mile a minute, thinking holy shit was he the heir to Stark Industries? Had Tony said that?

He felt a hand against his upper back. It was Tony pushing him along as they moved through the crowds. “Don’t worry, kid. I know you don’t like crowds, but it’s OK. They won’t go all zombie hoard on us with all the guards here. Let’s just get some food, alright? What d’you want?”

“Yeah, um,” Peter tried to clear his head. “Can I get uhh… an Italian-style hot dog? With the peppers and onions and stuff? And also can I get fries? And a Coke?”

Tony chuckled. “With your metabolism, of course. Let’s go to one of the vendors.”

The Avengers got in line at the Nathan’s hot dog vendor. As they waited, Peter could hear the cracking sound of a bat against a baseball. The audience cheered and the organist played a classic jingle that sounded through the stadium’s speakers. Peter smiled. He missed this. Sure, he was a nerd, and he didn’t care about sports - like, at all. But going to a baseball game wasn’t about the actual sport. It was about having fun, eating classic stadium food, and enjoying the company of the people you came with.

The Avengers all ordered their food when it was their turn. The workers behind the counter looked nervous and focused really hard on getting the freaking Avengers’ order right. Soon they brought out everyone’s hot dogs and gave Tony the receipt. “Y-Your total is $76.25, Mr. Stark sir.”

Steve gaped next to Tony. “Seventy six dollars?! You’re kidding me!”

“Steve, buddy, it’s OK,” Tony held up his hand and gave the cashier his credit card. “There’s over 10 of us here and we all got a lot of food, so it makes sense. You gotta remember I have plenty of money. This is nothing-”

“It’s about the principle , Tony!” Steve said, more shocked than angry. Bucky was next to him, staring down at his hot dog, looking equally as shocked. “Lemme see the receipt,” he took it from Tony’s hand. “Six dollars per hot dog? That’s crazy!”

“Steve, there’s been a lot of inflation since you last bought a hot dog back in 1943 or whatever. Food isn’t ten cents anymore.” The cashier handed him back his card and he smiled at her, “Thank you.”

“Listen, ma’am,” Bucky said very carefully and politely to the cashier, leaning closer to her. “Me and Captain America here are each over 100 years old. You sure we don’t qualify for some sort of senior’s discount?”

“Um, well-”

“Alright , that’s enough, you two,” Natasha started dragging Steve and Bucky away from the food vendor. “Let’s go to our seats.”

After maneuvering through more crowds, the Avengers finally arrived at their suite . Tony opened the door, and Peter looked around, stunned. It looked like a hotel room. There were couches, chairs, a coffee table, air conditioning, - there was even a TV! Plus it had a little mini buffet bar full of even more food like chips and dip. The wall at the far end of the suite was entirely glass, with a door that led to some seats outside where you could watch the game.

Peter had never sat in a suite at a stadium before, but of course that’s what Tony had bought. He was rich, and these were expensive seats. Plus, this way, other people wouldn’t be around them. They had the whole suite to themselves.

As he stepped inside, Peter immediately ran to one of the couches and laid across it. “This is so awesome! I’ve never been in a suite before! It’s frickin air conditioned in here! There’s a frickin TV ! Why is there even a TV? The game is right outside! If someone wanted to watch the game on TV, they could’ve just done so at home.”

“I dunno, Pete,” was all Tony said. “But I’m glad you’re excited. You wanna sit in here or go sit in the seats outside?”

“Let’s all go sit in the seats outside!” Peter exclaimed. He stood up again and made a beeline for the glass door that led to the outdoor seating.

Meanwhile, Natasha eyes narrowed, growing even more suspicious. That was just more evidence that Peter wasn't actually Tony's son. Peter had never seen a suite before? Had Tony never brought him to any sports games ever in his whole life? That seemed unlikely.

Outside, Peter stared out into the stadium. The seats were really good. He could clearly see the whole baseball field, and there were enough seats for all the Avengers to sit. Soon, they all followed Peter outside. Tony sat down next to him, and Pepper sat down next to Tony. Then Loki sat down on Peter’s other side.

“You’re going to have to explain to me how this game works, Little Spider,” Loki said to him, looking almost sheepish. “I’ve never heard of this Midgardian sport.”

“Oh! I can definitely help you then!” Peter answered cheerfully. “So - to say, like, the bare minimum - there’s the pitcher, the catcher, and the batter, see?” Peter said, pointing to the players’ places on the field. “The pitcher throws the baseball and tries to get the catcher to catch it. But the batter - who’s on the other team - he wants to hit the ball so it goes flying into the outfield,” Peter pointed to the outfield. “Then the batter runs to first base and tries not to get ‘out’ by the other team. If there’s another player on second or third base already, they try to run to home base.”

Loki blinked, trying to comprehend all the rules that Peter was telling him. Peter spoke really quickly when he was excited, so it was a bit hard to understand. 

“If the batter hits the ball out of the park, he’s able to run around to all the bases,” Peter continued. “That’s called a home run. You get points every time a player runs all the way around to home base. If the batter hits the ball and it goes out into the side stands, it’s called a foul ball, and it’s no good. If the batter misses the ball, that’s called a strike. Three strikes and you’re out, and after three outs, the teams switch offensive and defensive positions.”

Loki was still staring at Peter, processing the explanation. “This is… very different than the sports we had on Asgard,” he finally said.

“Oh really? What were the sports on Asgard like?”

“They usually involved more…  weapons, and… combat.”

Peter paled. “Oh! Um… cool, I guess.”

Thor came and sat down next to Loki, and Peter’s eyes lit up with realization. “Thor! The pitcher for the Mets - Noah Syndergaard - his nickname is Thor cuz he has long, blond hair like you used to have!”

Thor grinned. “I am honored.” 

The game continued on. The Mets were losing, but it didn’t matter because the Avengers were having so much fun. They chanted with the rest of the stadium’s audience whenever the announcer told them to say ‘Let’s Go Mets’ or ‘Charge’. They ate their hot dogs and Peter shared his fries with Tony. The announcer even said that the Avengers were there, and the Jumbotron showed them sitting in their seats. The crowd cheered loudly. Peter, along with some of the Avengers, waved towards the camera.

“Which team do you want to win again?” Loki asked Peter later in the game, a very curious look on his face. He seemed to be fascinated by the human sport.

“The Mets. They’re up to bat right now,” Peter said. “That means the batter is one of the Mets.”

“So,” Loki said, his mouth slowly becoming its usual mischievous smirk, “we want him to get a home run, right? That’s how the game works?”

Peter looked at Loki cautiously. “Loki… What are you thinking about doing?”

Just then, the cracking sound of the bat hitting the baseball echoed throughout the stadium. The crowd erupted into cheers as the ball flew out of the park.

Peter tore his wide eyes away from the ball and whipped his head around to face Loki again. “Loki! Did you do something?! What did you do?!”

Loki shrugged, still grinning. “I merely used my telekinesis to - how would you say it? Ah, yes - yeet the ball out of the park.”

Peter took a deep breath in, the palms of his hands together. “While I highly appreciate you using meme vocabulary, I gotta tell you that you can’t use your telekinesis on the game, Loki! That’s cheating!”

“I am the god of cheating.”

Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.

Loki frowned a little. “Did you like it?”

“Like what?”

“I made the team you like get a point. I thought…” Loki glanced at the floor, “I thought you’d be happy.”

Peter stared at Loki. Poor guy, he thought. Loki just wanted to be loved. He just wanted to make others happy, but he didn’t know how. He was flawed, but he had good intentions.

The expression in Peter’s eyes got softer, and the corner of his mouth curled up in a slight smile. “Yeah, Loki. I did like it.”

Loki met Peter’s eyes again, looking hopeful.

“Just… don’t do it again? OK?”

Loki’s usual mischievous smirk returned. “OK, Little Spider.”

Peter smiled at the nickname.

Eventually, near the end of the game, Peter and his spider-metabolism wanted more food. “Dad,” he turned to Tony. “Can I go get another hot dog?”

“Sure, kid. I’ll come with you,” Tony rose from his seat. “I need to stretch my legs anyway. Don’t have too much fun without us,” he said to the other Avengers, then left the suite with Peter.

They went down the escalator and got in line for another food vendor. After Tony bought Peter another hot dog, Peter asked, “Can we go stand outside in the stands for a few minutes? These seats are so much closer to the field. I wanna watch the game there for a while.”

Tony shrugged and agreed, so the two walked out into the stands to watch the game there. Peter devoured his hot dog fairly quickly, all while standing up.

A Mets player went up to bat. Peter didn’t recognise the name, but why would he? He wasn’t super into sports. He just casually liked going to games with his family. He and Tony watched the pitcher throw the ball. The batter hit it, and the crack echoed through the stadium like usual. However, this was clearly a foul ball. It was going wide into the stands.

It was headed into the stands near Peter. Right towards him.

Without even thinking, his Spidey-Senses instinctually made him lift his hand up. The crowd cheered. Peter blinked, processing what just happened. He looked down at his hand, and there was the foul ball, caught snuggly in his hand. He laughed nervously to himself and looked at Tony. Tony just looked back at him, stunned by the kid’s reflexes.

“Well look at that,” the announcer’s booming voice filled the stadium.

Peter looked up at saw he was on the jumbotron. His face turned red and gave a shy smile and wave.

“Looks like Tony Stark’s intern has some Major League potential!” The announcer said, and Peter’s face went even more red.

He looked at Tony. “O-OK, let’s go back to the suite now.”

Tony was chuckling to himself. He clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder and they walked back to the escalator, Peter’s foul ball in his hand.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“How’s the plan coming along?” Fisk asked one of his workers - Mikey - in his underground lair.

“Everything is on schedule, sir. We’ll definitely be ready by the deadline in mid-August,” Mikey replied. “We acquired the vibranium handcuffs yesterday from our usual seller. Although, he asked for a larger payment, since he’d been told the cuffs were going to be used on the famous Spider-Man .”

“And did you pay him what he asked for?”

Mikey wasn’t very scared to talk to Fisk, which was rare amongst Fisk’s workers. Therefore, there was not a glint of fear in his eyes when he answered, “Yes, sir. We paid him the larger amount.”

Fisk merely grumbled. “Whatever. It couldn’t be helped. Anything else?”

“Claudia recommended something to me this morning,” Mikey said. “She says the cuffs will be strong enough to hold him, but he’ll still struggle quite a lot to the point of it getting more than annoying. She suggests that we give him a hallucinogen of some sort. That way, the illusions will fool his special 6th sense, and he won’t struggle as much.”

Fisk thought for a moment. “Look through my contacts for a Mr. Quentin Beck. He’ll have the hallucinogen you need.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll do so right away.” With that, Mikey walked down the corridor into another room.

Immediately after that, Claudia approached Fisk. “Sir, I know we’ve already proven that the boy is Spider-Man, but I thought you’d still want to look at this.” She held up her phone, which projected a hologram screen into the air. It started playing a video - part of the highlight reel from the Mets game that occurred the day before. It showed Peter catching the ball perfectly with lightning-fast reflexes.

Fisk grinned cruelly. “Look at that. That sure is Spider-Man, alright. And look who’s there next to him? His father.”

“Precisely, sir,” Claudia said and retracted the holoscreen.

“I have a good feeling about this, Claudia,” Fisk said. “Soon, Spider-Man will be in our hands. Then, those weapons will be mine .”

 

 

Notes:

Writing Loki saying "yeet" made me so happy lmaoooo. Sorry this chapter was posted a little late! Hope you liked it! Leave kudos and comments if you did! The next chapter will be posted on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 15: Bring Your Child to Work Day

Summary:

Tony invites Peter to sit with him during a shareholders meeting. Things… don’t go as planned.

Notes:

OK just a little bit of a WARNING, this chapter includes a kinda detailed description of an anxiety attack. I based it off of my own personal anxiety attacks, plus how Peter’s Spidey-Sense would be affected added onto that. I think it’s still absolutely fine/safe for everyone to read, but if that stuff can be triggering for you, be careful as you read. And don’t worry, there’s a lot of comfort by Tony afterwards! Hope you enjoy this hurt/comfort-filled chapter!

“You know, Peter,” Natasha said, sitting down next to him on the couch, the other Avengers sitting on the couches around him, “Both of our superhero names are based off of spiders.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Peter said back.

“Maybe you should call me Auntie Spider instead of Auntie Nat.”

“That’d be cool! I can do that, Auntie Spider!” He laughed a little at the name.

Natasha smirked. “And I can call you Baby Spider!” She ruffled Peter’s hair.

“Hey!” Peter kept laughing and pushed Nat’s hand away from him. “Why does everyone always call me a baby? Shuri even calls me Baby Stark.” Some of the Avengers chuckled at that.

“Well, I can’t speak for Shuri,” Natasha said and wrapped her arms around Peter in a big hug. “But I know I call you that because you’re our baby, Peter. You’re the baby of the family.”

Peter smiled to himself. He loved it so much whenever the Avengers referred to him as part of the ‘family’, and Natasha did that the most, even if she was secretly questioning if Peter really was Tony’s son or not. But Peter didn’t know about that. And Natasha knew that even if Peter wasn’t actually Tony’s son, she’d still love him like family anyway.

Peter didn’t know that either, though.

“Nat, can you stop choking my kid?” Tony, who was sitting on Peter’s other side, said to her, not even looking up from his StarkPad.

Natasha reluctantly stopped hugging Peter after one final squeeze. “What’s so engrossing on that tablet of yours, Tony?”

“I’m trying to get myself out of going to this shareholders meeting for Stark Industries today,” Tony said. “Pepper says I have to go, but god , I don’t want to. Shareholders meetings are so boring.”

“S-Speaking of, um, Stark Industries,” Peter spoke up in a small voice, “I-I overheard some people talking at the baseball game the other day. They were whispering to each other saying…” Peter hesitated, contemplating if this would blow the whole father-son prank he and Tony were doing. But Peter decided that this question he had was too pressing and he needed to ask it now before he forgot to ask again. “They were saying how I was the heir to Stark Industries. Did… Did you and Mom say that? Like, did you tell the press that in your statement of who I was?”

“Yeah, I did. I thought that they might as well know.”

“They might as well know…” Peter repeated. “B-Because, because it’s true? A-Am I the heir to Stark Industries?”

Tony stared at him. “Of course you are, kid. You’re the most qualified person for the job. I know the future of Stark Industries would be safe in your hands.” He paused. “Plus, you’re my son and all, so of course it’s going to you.”

Peter blinked in shock, then looked down at his shaking hands in his lap.

Natasha eyed him suspiciously. This was more evidence to add to the growing list in her mind. It really seemed like Peter might not actually be Tony’s son. She couldn’t believe the others hadn’t noticed yet.

She was honestly about to bring this up, but Peter spoke up before she could. “R-Right, yeah. That’s how it usually is with this kind of thing, isn’t it? The company goes to the oldest son or whatever, so of course I’m the heir.”

Tony smirked. “Pete, you’re not my oldest son.”

Peter stared at him, panicked. Was Tony dropping the prank? Why? What was he saying? Natasha also looked to Tony, curiosity in her eyes. Would this prove her theory?

“You’re my youngest son,,” Tony said, still smirking. “DUM-E is my oldest son. I had him when I was only 15 years old.”

Peter burst out laughing, all panic erased from his mind. “Right, right. That’s true. You became a parent very young, Dad.”

“Yes, becoming a teenage parent was hard, but it didn’t stop me from working hard and achieving my dreams,” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair.

Peter smiled at the touch. “Who are my other brothers? U and Butterfingers?”

“That’s right. You can even argue that Vision’s your brother,” Tony gestured to Vision on another couch. “He’s me and Brucie-bear’s baby, after all.”

“And mine,” Thor spoke up. “If it wasn’t for my lightning, Vision wouldn’t have been born.”

“Huh, you’re right,” Tony said. “Vision, you have three dads.”

“Yes,” Vision just smiled, “I’m very aware.”

Tony looked back to Peter. “So, you’re heir to the company, even if you’re my youngest. Imagine if I gave Stark Industries to my oldest son.”

Peter laughed. “DUM-E would run the company just fine.”

“You and I both know that’s incredibly untrue.”

“Aw, come on. I believe in him.”

Tony was about to retort, but FRIDAY’s voice filled the room before he could speak.

“Boss, Ms. Potts is calling you.”

Tony sighed. “Answer it, FRI.”

Pepper’s voice now replaced FRIDAY’s through the loudspeaker. “Tony, I swear to god, you better get your ass down here in 5 minutes, or so help me-”

“OK! OK, honey, I’m coming down,” Tony stood up from the couch. “It’s just, do I really have to? You’re the CEO. Why do I even have to be there?”

“Because you still own the company, Tony,” Pepper responded. “I’m in charge of it, but it’s still yours. Stark Industries. Now, the meeting already started, so you better get down here-”

“OK, I get it. I’m coming down, I mean it. FRIDAY, end call.” Tony began to walk towards the elevator. But then he froze in place. He turned around to face Peter and snapped his fingers. “You know, speaking of the whole ‘heir’ thing, how about you come to a meeting with me? Come see what it’s like.”

Peter blinked. “Y-You sure?”

“Yeah,” Tony said, smiling. “Plus, I won’t be as bored with you there.”

Peter stood up from the couch, looking excited. “OK! Let’s go!” He ran over to Tony and began walking in step next to him

Tony chuckled and clapped his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “That’s my boy. Come on.”

They walked into the elevator. The doors closed, and Tony didn’t even need to tell FRIDAY where to go. She already knew where Pepper wanted him.

Peter shyly turned to Tony. “Did… Did you really mean all of that?”

“All of what?” Tony said back.

“About me being the heir to Stark Industries,” Peter clarified. “You’re really choosing me? I’m actually your heir? That wasn’t for the prank?”

Tony laughed. “No, kiddo. That wasn’t for the prank. I meant what I said. You’re the most qualified kid I know. You’re a tech genius. The company would flourish under someone like you.”

Peter actually blushed at that. “W-Wow, um, thanks. Thanks, Tony.”

Meanwhile, back in the lounge, Natasha grew even more suspicious, because why would Tony’s son - who was already disguised as his intern - never have been to a Stark Industries meeting before in his whole life until now?

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Tony showed up to the shareholders meeting fashionably late - like usual - with Peter right behind him. He opened the double doors to the chosen meeting room, interrupting whatever conversation the people at the table were already having. It was a nice room - simple, but nice. Three of the walls were light gray with some pictures hanging up on them, and the fourth wall was entirely a floor-to-ceiling window. The table was long and had a glass tabletop, while the legs were metal. The chairs were all black office chairs, able to spin and roll on their little wheels.

The people in suits that sat around the meeting table stared at Peter as he followed  Tony, who walked towards the floor-to-ceiling window. In front of that window was an empty chair at the head of the table, where Tony took his seat. Honestly, Tony thought Pepper should sit at the head of the table, since she was CEO, but since Tony still owned the company, he sat at the head.

No one expected Peter to come, so there wasn’t a seat for him at the table. He awkwardly rolled an extra chair over from the corner of the room and slid it next to Tony at the head of the table. He made sure his chair was on the tallest setting before sitting down in it.

People kept staring at him. He was beginning to feel very anxious.

Tony rested his elbows on the table. “Continue,” he said casually.

The people in suits began their discussion again.

Peter didn’t speak a word, just watched and listened as the meeting continued. He tried to listen to as much as he could, but it was so boring . He kept spacing out. No one seemed to pay him any mind though, so it was fine. Peter noticed that Tony, uncharacteristically, didn’t speak too much during the meeting either. He did contribute a considerable amount to the discussions, but Pepper definitely spoke the most. Peter thought it was cool to finally see strong, no-bullshit businesswoman Pepper in action.

As the meeting continued, and as Peter half-listened and half-spaced out, he only grew more and more anxious. He didn’t understand anything that these people were talking about. He didn’t know anything about stocks or bonds or any of that economy stuff. He wouldn’t take an economics class until his senior year of high school, and even then, school was bad when it came to teaching that type of stuff. He doubted his school’s economics class could prepare him for running frickin Stark Industries . Holy shit, he was going to have to run Stark Industries. How the hell was he supposed to do that? Tony said Peter was the most qualified, but Peter really didn’t feel like that was true. He was just a tech nerd. And sure, maybe he was a bit of a science genius, but that didn’t make him a business mogul.

His anxiety only grew stronger. He tried to get his breathing under control, but his mind was spiraling into an endless pit of worries about the future. What if when he ran Stark Industries, he lead the company into bankruptcy? What if he had to sell it off or something? What if he messed up really bad and all the products they sold didn’t work? What if he disappointed Tony? God, what if he disappointed Tony?

“Kid,” Tony whispered next to him, “you OK?”

But Peter was lost in his own mind. When he got anxious, all sorts of other fun topics to worry about popped into his head, too. It was like once there was only one leak in the Anxiety Dam in his brain, it completely broke and flooded his mind with things to be scared of. Images from his nightmares flashed across his mind’s eye - images of Tony dying, the emptiness behind his eyes. What if Tony died and never got to help Peter figure out how to run Stark Industries? What if Tony died and Peter messed up the company and ruined his dad’s legacy?

The hairs on his arms stood on end.

God, sometimes Peter just fucking hated his powers.

Sometimes when he got really anxious like this, his body started thinking he was actually in danger, which heightened his Spidey-Sense. And right now, he was so sensitive to everything around him that it gave him a headache. He heard every one of the arguing voices of the people at the table, all at the same time, each one of them as clear as day. He heard the wind outside the window. He heard every little squeak the office chairs made, and the slight rolling sounds of their wheels on the carpeted floor. All these little sounds boomed in his ears, like they were being blasting at full volume on speakers in his eardrums.

But that wasn’t everything. Every smell in the room was stronger to him, too. Everyone’s sweat, perfume, and cologne mixed and intensified to one overwhelmingly noxious scent that entered his nose with every breath. His sense of touch was also hyper-focused. The glass tabletop against his fingertips was suddenly too cold, and so was the air-conditioned air in the room. Every little wrinkle on his shirt that lightly pressed against his body was now unbearably uncomfortable. He could feel every particle of dust against him, tickling the hairs on his arms. He squinted his eyes. Everything he saw felt so bright, like his pupils were letting in more light than they were supposed to.

He could barely think straight. His mouth was so dry. His breathing became quicker.

“Peter,” Tony tried to get the kid’s attention again, “what’s wrong?”

Don’t disappoint him, his anxious brain kept repeating. Pay attention to the meeting. Know what’s going on. Learn how to run a business. Don’t disappoint Tony.

“I-I’m fine,” Peter said. His voice came out a bit louder than he’d meant it to, and the people speaking at the table stopping their arguing to listen. Peter, now the center of attention, just got even more nervous. “I’m fine. I-I just, I’m just g-gonna get some water.”

“You sure you’re good?”

“I’m fine, Dad!” Peter said, his voice high-pitched and laced with fear. His brain was thinking so messily that the word just slipped out. “I-I mean, Mr. Stark! I’m just, I’m gonna, I-I’m gonna get water.”

Peter ran out of the room, trying to ignore everyone’s stares, even though his Spidey-Sense made him feel every single one of them.

Tony didn’t even bother excusing himself from the table. He didn’t care about the stupid shareholders meeting. He cared about his kid. He stood up and left the room as well.

Now outside in the hallway, Tony looked around for Peter. Boy, that kid sure could run fast. He said he was getting water, right? Tony walked towards the water fountain, but Peter wasn’t there. Maybe he went to the bathroom.

That’s where Tony found him.

He opened the unlocked door of the single-stall bathroom and saw Peter, sitting with his back pressed against the white tile wall, hugging his knees into his chest, breathing quickly and shallow.

“Woah, hey, kiddo, what’s going on?” Tony rushed over to Peter and sat on the title floor next to him.

“T-Too loud,” Peter whimpered. “Everything’s too loud, a-and too bright, and… and too everything .”

“What do you mean?”

“S-Spidey-Sense,” Peter stuttered out. “Dialed to eleven.”

Tony thought back to the first day he’d met Peter, when he told him about his senses being ‘dialed to eleven’. He’d never seen Peter like this before, though. Internally, he was freaking out, because why the hell was this happening? But he knew the most important thing to do right now was to stay calm for Peter’s sake. When Tony spoke again, his voice was as quiet as he could make it. “What do you need me to do?”

“Noise canceling headphones,” Peter’s voice cracked. He was crying now. “I-In my room. Top drawer of m-my desk. For… F-For emergencies.”

“You sure I should leave you here, kiddo?”

“It’s OK. Just, just get them. Please.”

Tony stood up, left the restroom, ran for the elevator.

He came back less than 5 minutes later with Peter’s noise-cancelling headphones. He opened the door as carefully and as quietly as he could. He walked back over to Peter and handed him the headphones, but to his surprise Peter’s hand flinched back at the touch of it.

“What’s wrong?” Tony whispered.

“C-Cold,” Peter said. “And, a-and dusty. My hands… t-too sensitive.”

Tony just nodded. He brushed the dust off the headphones and knelt down in front of Peter. He held the headphones out in front of him and gently slipped them over Peter’s ears himself.

The boy visibly relaxed.

With that done, Tony was now able to speak normally and not bother Peter. “FRI, you there?” he asked the ceiling.

“Always, Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice replied.

“Dim the lights in here to 10% brightness.”

“Yes, Boss.”

The room plunged into darkness, just barely illuminated enough for Tony to see. Peter’s breathing slowly settled down to a normal pace. Tony just sat in front of him, letting him inhale and exhale.

Eventually, after many minutes, Peter’s hands - much less shaky now - took the headphones off of his ears. “Thanks,” he mumbled, and even in the dim lighting Tony could tell his face was red with embarrassment.

“No problem, Pete,” Tony said, his voice soft. “Can I upper the lights a bit? I can barely see you.”

“Y-Yeah, I… I should be fine now.”

“FRI, raise the lights to 30%.”

Without a word from the AI, the lights in the room got a bit brighter, reflecting the dried streaks of tears on Peter’s cheeks.

Tony frowned. “What happened back there, kiddo?”

“I, um,” Peter looked at the floor, “I started getting really anxious, and sometimes when that happens it makes my Spidey-Sense act up and all my senses get super heightened. It doesn’t happen a lot , but… it happens enough that I know how to deal with it. I bought the noise cancelling headphones a long time ago to help.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more,” Tony said. That whole time, he’d wanted nothing more than to hug Peter, to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be alright, but he knew that wouldn’t help.

Peter shook his head. “No, thank you. Thank you so much. You helped a lot. I…” he looked away again, “I’m sorry that I got like this.”

“Don’t apologise,” Tony’s voice was still so soft. “Just tell me what caused this. What made you so anxious in that meeting? If you got super bored, I’d understand. But anxious? What happened?”

Peter hesitated.

“You can tell me, kiddo. It’s OK.”

And Peter knew it was OK. When he heard that phrase in Tony’s voice, he knew everything was going to be fine. “I got really worried and stressed about being heir to Stark Industries.”

Tony sighed, and he even smiled. “That’s all?”

“I mean,” Peter shifted in his seat on the cold tile, “it spiraled into a lot of scary thoughts, but pretty much, yeah, that’s all.”

“Oh, kid,” Tony reached a hand out in front of him and placed it on Peter’s shoulder. “You don’t need to be worried about taking over for Stark Industries. You’re going to do great.”

“But I’m not!” Peter raised his voice, just a little bit. “I-I don’t know why you think that! I didn’t understand anything that those people were saying in that room! I don’t know anything about running a company or about stocks or the economy or-”

“Peter,” Tony cut off the boy’s rambling. “Of course you don’t know any of that yet. You’re 15. You’re not going to take over the company tomorrow . You’re gonna take over many, many years from now, when I’m super old and retired.”

The corner of Peter’s lips curled into a small smirk. “You’re already super old.”

“ Hey ,” Tony chided, but there was a smile wide on his face. Peter making jokes meant he was feeling better. “I mean it. By the time you take over the company, you’d have gone through college already. You’ll take plenty of business electives while getting your engineering degree at MIT. Plus, you’ll be working at Stark Industries for a long time before you’re actually in charge of it. You can be my real assistant, not just an intern. I’ll teach you everything you need to know before I retire and leave Stark Industries to you. So don’t worry,” Tony combed his fingers through Peter’s hair. “You’ll be just fine. I know it.”

Peter didn’t respond right away. He blinked out of his stupor. “Y-You… you’ve really thought all that out?”

“What d’you mean?”

“You’ve thought about sending me to college?” Peter said. “A-And about me working here when I’m older? You’ve planned that all out for me?”

Tony was caught off guard by the question. He didn’t know if Peter was implying that this was a good thing or a bad thing. Because yes, Tony had thought about all of this. He thought about it all the time. He’d planned out many potential lives for Peter in his head, just like any parent would for their child.

Tony closed his eyes for a moment to internally scold himself, Not my child. Peter’s not my actual child. “Yeah kid, I have that all planned out. I’ve always thought that you’d, you know, go to MIT and… follow in my footsteps.” He hesitated. “I-I mean, if that’s what you want to do! I don’t want to force you into a life that you don’t want! I just thought, I dunno, I thought you wanted that, too.”

“I-I…” Peter was mesmerized. “I mean… I…”

Now it was Tony’s turn to be anxious. God, he was such an idiot! He should’ve asked Peter if he wanted to be heir to Stark Industries. He should’ve asked if he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Of course the kid didn’t want to do that! Why would Peter want to be like Tony? Peter was so much better than him. Peter was too good for his company with its bloodstained past. Tony had to stop projecting his perfect son aspirations onto Peter, because Peter wasn’t his son. Peter wasn’t his-

“Of course I’d want that,” Peter said, cutting off Tony’s spiraling thoughts. “I’d love that. That’s… That’s what I’d want to do more than anything else in life. It’s just I… I can’t. I can’t do it.”

Tony tried to process that whole statement. Peter wanted to follow Tony’s plan for him. Everything was going to be alright. Peter truly was his son-

No, no he isn’t, Tony, he scolded himself. Get it together. Just because he’s exceeding every expectation you have for him doesn’t mean he’s your son. “Why? What do you mean you can’t do it?”

Peter looked at the tiled floor. “Aunt May and I can’t afford to send me to MIT.”

Tony blinked, taking in the sentence, before letting out a rather loud laugh. He didn’t mean to, but the fact that Peter thought that was just hilarious to him. “Oh, kiddo, you’re crazy if you think that I’m not gonna pay for your college tuition.”

“W-What!” Peter sputtered. “Y-You… No, Tony, you can’t. You can’t do that. That’s very nice of you, but no thank you.”

“Why not?” Tony said. “You think I’m gonna let you go to a college that’s not at your level? No way, kid. You’re a genius. You only deserve the best. And if that means I’m paying for your tuition, then of course I’m doing that. I’d do that for you in a heartbeat. You’re my-” Tony cut himself off.

Son . The unspoken word hung in the air.

He paused, before finishing his sentence with different words. “You’re… the heir to my company.”

Peter stared at the ground, fidgeting with his hands. He was honestly about to cry. Everything he ever wanted, Tony was going to help him do. He was actually going to be able to go to MIT. He was going to get a job at Stark Industries and work alongside Tony. He was going to take over the company one day - and now, that thought didn’t seem so big and scary. He’d felt so lost before, lost in his anxious mind. But now he knew everything would be fine, because Tony was always going to be there for him, helping him along the way.

“Thank you,” he said, tears of joy threatening his eyes.

Tony chuckled and carded his hand through Peter’s hair again. “You’re welcome, kiddo.”

Peter flung himself at Tony, wrapping his arms around him. “I mean it. Th-Thank you so much.”

Tony smiled. “Anything for you, Peter.”

Their hug lasted a little longer than normal, inching into potentially awkward territory, but neither of them seemed to care. “Should we go back to the meeting?” Peter asked.

Tony let out a laugh. “Nah, let’s ditch ‘em. Let’s go up to the lab and work on something more fun.”

Peter laughed a little, too. “Yeah, that’s something I actually know how to do.”

They stood up and made their way to the elevator.

Meanwhile, Pepper was very expertly avoiding questions and covering up the fact that Peter had called Tony ‘Dad’ in a room full of shareholders.

Notes:

This is probably one of my favorite chapters that I’ve written so far. Hope you liked it too! Leave kudos and comments if you did! The next chapter will be posted on Thursday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 16: Bambino

Summary:

Tony has a strange dream. Peter gets sick with a cold. Natasha confronts Tony about her suspicions.

Notes:

Oof this is a long chapter - over 4500 words! I felt like writing some kid!Peter so I wrote about Tony having this dream lol hope you like it. Also, for those of you waiting for Natasha to reveal that she’s suspicious, wait no further! Enjoy the chapter guys!

ALSO THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!! This fic has hit 70000 hits and I'm so grateful to all of you!! Thank you all so much for reading!! I love you all 3000!! <3

Tony walked through the halls of Avengers Tower. He wore his casual, working-in-the-lab outfit - just a black hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. His mind felt a little foggy, but he excused it as exhaustion. He entered the elevator and took it up to his private floor. When the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by the sight of Peter sitting on the living room couch.

But it wasn’t his normal Peter.

It was a little kid, around 6 or 7 years old, with big ears, curly, brown hair, and large, innocent, brown eyes. He was so small, shorter than 4 feet tall. He looked so different from almost-16-year-old Peter, yet so similar.

Tony wasn’t phased at all. He reacted like nothing was out of the ordinary. His brain acted like that’s how Peter always was. That was his Peter, his son, his precious boy.

“Daddy!” The 6-year-old-Peter called out in his high-pitched voice when he saw his father.

“Hey there, kiddo!” He ran up to Peter and lifted him up in his arms, making Peter let out an adorable, childish giggle. “I’m back from work!”

Peter, propped up against Tony’s hip, looked up at his dad with his childishly wide eyes. “One day, I’m gonna work in the lab with you! Not just watch you sometimes.”

“Yes you sure are, bambino .” He kissed Peter’s forehead and put him back down on the couch. “But not yet. It’s too dangerous for you right now. Someday when you’re older, though.”

“But I built the, the, the green board thing. What’s it called?”

“Yes, you did build your first circuit board!” Tony sat down next to his son. “And I am still so proud of you for that! You are so smart!”

Peter smiled really wide across his face. “Am I smart like you, Daddy?”

“Yes, smart like both Daddy and Mommy,” Tony then looked around. “Speaking of which, do you know where Mommy is, honeybun? Is she still working?”

Peter nodded his chubby-cheeked little kid head.

Tony looked out the window to see that it was getting rather dark outside. He checked the expensive watch on his wrist. “Well, we should get you to bed, bambino . It’s almost 8 pm.”

“But I’m not tiiiired ,” Peter whined.

Tony tutted and lifted Peter up again. “No complaining. It’s bedtime.” He carried Peter to his room.

Many crayon drawings were taped onto the walls of Peter’s room. On his kid-sized desk was his Iron Man bookbag packed for school. The floor had all kinds of toys scattered across it - Legos, Star Wars figurines, Pokémon plushies, Avengers dolls and action figures, stuff like that. It was just like any other room belonging to a kid Peter’s age.

Tony placed Peter on the Star Wars sheets of his bed then went over to the dresser. He opened the top drawer, “What pajamas do you want, kiddo?”

“Iron Man pajamas!”

Tony smiled, taking out the Iron Man printed pajamas from the drawer. He laid the pajama shirt and pants on Peter’s bed. “Now, you’re getting to be a big boy now. You think you can get dressed by yourself?”

Peter nodded excitedly. “Yes I can!”

Tony chuckled and stood by the dresser, staying close by as Peter got into his pajamas just in case he needed help. He only needed to walk over at the end, where Peter got confused between the arm holes and the head hole of his pajamas shirt, and Tony helped him out.

“ Va bene , bambino . Time for bed now. Let me tuck you in.” Tony helped the child into his bed and pulled the Star Wars covers over his small body. After pressing a kiss to Peter’s forehead, he then walked over to the room’s light switch panel and turned off the lights.

“Goodnight, Pete,” Tony said. There was so much softness and lovely-ness in his voice - and he thought of it as so normal, like he did this everyday.

Peter didn’t say goodnight back. He made a little sound, something like a squeak.

“What’s wrong, buddy?”

“Nightlight.”

Tony smiled. Of course. How could he forget? He walked back over to Peter’s bedside and turned on his nightlight, which projected little blue silhouettes of stars and planets onto Peter’s ceiling. “Is that better?”

In the dimly lit room, Tony saw Peter shake his head and point to Tony’s chest. “No. The other nightlight.”

In realization, Tony sighed. “You want me to lie down with you until you fall asleep?”

Peter nodded. “I… I’m scared I’ll get another bad dream.”

“OK. Don’t worry, tesoro . I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.” Tony pulled off his hoodie, revealing the black t-shirt he was wearing underneath it. Through the thin cotton fabric, the blue glow of his arc reactor could be seen. He laid down on Peter’s bed next to his son.

Peter’s little hands immediately reached out to touch the arc reactor’s light, his eyes shining with its reflection.

“Goodnight, bambino ,” Tony whispered to his kid.

Peter snuggled into Tony’s chest, his head near Tony’s neck, just above the arc reactor. “Goodnight, Dad.”

Now Tony just had to wait for Peter to fall asleep, then he’d return to his own bed. He wondered if Pepper was back from her office yet, and if she might come check in on Peter to see if her son was asleep. Tony’s eyes were growing heavy. He wondered if Pepper would see him when she checked in, asleep next to Peter. God he was tired. It had been a long day. He… Actually, he didn’t quite remember what exactly he did that day, but it must have been tiring because boy, was he tired.

His eyelids drooped, slowly squinting shut, soon closing all the way.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Tony’s eyes snapped open.

He sat up in his bed. His bed. Pepper was lying next to him, still asleep. He took deep breaths, his brain grappling with what had just happened.

It was a dream.

Tony breathed easier. God, what a strange dream. It felt so real .

Little kid Peter was so adorable . His young face looked like it came straight from the old pictures May had sent him. His voice was so high and child-like. And his eyes - oh, his eyes looked exactly the same as the eyes on the Peter he knew. Those big, brown, innocent eyes - he’d recognize them anywhere.

Peter was his son in that dream. His real, actual son. And it had felt so normal.

God, and Tony himself in the dream. His voice had sounded so much softer, so soft it was almost unrecognisable. And he hadn’t spoken Italian in years , let alone words like bambino and tesoro . Those were nicknames his mother would sometimes call him. She was Italian herself, after all. Even though Tony was half Italian and liked that part of his heritage, he pretty much stopped speaking Italian after his mom died, burying the language along with her. His brain must have, in an attempt to try to make his dream-self sound more soft and comforting - more like his mother - made him call young Peter those Italian nicknames.

He should start speaking Italian again, Tony thought. The language couldn’t be completely forgotten from his genius brain. He’d just need to refresh himself with the basics and then he’d remember the rest. Maybe he should start calling the teen Peter he knew by those Italian names.

No, Tony told himself, what was he thinking? Peter wasn’t his real son like in the dream. He couldn’t call him names like that.

He recounted everything that happened in the dream again, burning it into his memory, not wanting to forget it. Tony was still in awe of how real it felt. Too real.

It was a dream, right?

Suddenly, Tony was very nervous that he’d been transported to another dimension where Peter was a 6 year old instead of a teenager. It was a ridiculous and irrational fear, but he still felt it. Not that transporting to that hypothetical dimension would be the absolute worst thing in the world, but he’d prefer his whole life and memories to not be a lie.

Tony felt his chest, remembering the arc reactor being there in his dream. However, it wasn’t there now, just like how it hadn’t been there for years. His detachable nanobot compartment rested on his side table. Tony let out a sigh of relief. OK, it was just a dream. It was just a dream…

He needed more proof.

He rose from his bed, making sure to not wake Pepper, then tiptoed out the door and through the hall, until he reached Peter’s room’s door.

He slowly, carefully opened it, not wanting to wake Peter. He peeked his head inside.

There were no blue night-light stars on the ceiling, nor were there any childish crayon drawings taped to the walls. No, on the walls there were only a few posters - a couple Star Wars ones, a Ramones one, and a Panic! At The Disco one. There weren't any action figures or Pokémon plushies scattered across the floor. Instead, the floor was clean, except for a couple dropped pens and crumpled up pieces of paper. And, in the bed in the corner of the room, under a plain, gray blanket, was a very teenager-looking Peter Parker, sound asleep.

Tony sighed, relieved. That was his Peter, alright.

He closed the door, then went back to his room. It didn’t take him long to fall back asleep.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The next morning, Peter was sick.

Tony noticed when Peter didn’t come down to the kitchen for breakfast with the rest of the Avengers. He went to the kid’s room to see if he was upset or something and was surprised to find him curled up in his bed, surrounded by used tissues. It wasn’t like he was super sick or anything, it was just a little cold, but it still had Peter blowing his nose and coughing every 5 minutes. He would have to stay in bed for the day.

“How’d I even get sick?” Peter asked after Tony had brought up some soup for him. “Thanks, by the way.”

“No problem, kiddo,” Tony sat down on the edge of Peter’s bed. “And it’s not that uncommon to get a cold, even in the summer.”

“But with my metabolism and spider-power stuff, I usually don’t get sick.”

“Well then these must be some particularly strong germs. That, and factoring in how you’re constantly sleep deprived. That probably has something to do with it.”

Peter laughed a little. “True. But being constantly sleep deprived also sounds like you. Maybe you shouldn’t hang around me today. I don’t wanna get you sick, too.”

“You sure?”

Peter shrugged. “I’ll be fine. Do Asgardians get sick? Maybe I’ll ask Thor and Loki to come up.”

Tony hated leaving his kid in other people’s hands, but in addition to not wanting to get sick, he also had a lot of work to do that day. “Sure, I’ll call them up for you on my way down.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Peter smiled, scooping another spoonful of chicken noodle soup into his mouth.

Tony left Peter’s room, saying he’d see him later, then rode the elevator down to his Stark Industries office. On the way there, he told FRIDAY to notify Thor, Loki, and anyone else that may somehow be immune to human diseases were free to go hang out with Peter.

Only 10 or 15 minutes later, Loki materialized in Peter’s room.

The boy let out a squeak. “Ah! Oh my god, Loki.” He let out a sigh of relief that then turned into a laugh. “You kinda scared me.”

“Hello, Little Spider,” Loki said. He wore a somewhat warm-ish smile on his face, which was very rare for him. “Stark has informed us that you are ill.”

“Yeah, it sucks, but I’ll probably be better by tomorrow,” Peter was happy that Loki came - even happier that he came by his own choice. He’d been growing closer to him and was starting to wonder if they were actually considered friends. This showed that Loki definitely thought of him as one. “You’re the only one coming up? Not Thor, too? Not that I care or anything. I’m fine with it being just you-”

“I don’t know where Thor is,” Loki said. “He’s out of the Tower for the day. Contrary to popular belief, we are not joined at the hip.”

“OK,” Peter ate more soup. “And you can’t catch my sickness?”

“Nope. I can’t catch human illnesses.”

“Cool.”

They talked for a long time. Well, Loki did most of the talking because Peter’s throat was scratchy and Loki liked being the center of attention anyway. Loki told him legends of Asgard and childhood stories of himself and Thor. Peter liked those the most.

“You stabbed him?” Peter said in reaction to one of Loki’s stories.

“I have stabbed Thor many times,” Loki said plainly. “He can handle it. It’s basically how I show him affection.” Peter laughed, and Loki smiled at that. “It’s the truth! Did I ever tell you about the time when we were 8?”

“No. What happened?”

“I transfigured myself into the form of a snake. Then, I slithered up to Thor, knowing that he loves snakes. He picked me up to examine me, then I transformed back into my human body and stabbed him.”

Peter covering his mouth to restrain the avalanche of giggles falling out of him. “Loki, stabbing isn’t always the answer.”

“I’m pretty sure stabbing is the answer 99% of the time.”

Peter just shook his head and laughed.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Most of the other Avengers spent the day working or relaxing.

Natasha, however, was sitting in her room, researching.

She wasn’t… hacking into secret, secure Stark Industries databases - that would be rude. No, she wasn’t hacking, she was just… researching .

She just wanted to see if she could find Peter’s birth certificate. That’s it. She just wanted to see any proof that Peter was in fact Tony’s son.

After getting yet another error message on her computer, she cursed out loud. She really shouldn’t underestimate Tony’s cybersecurity. These files were under lock and key and their firewalls seemed unbreakable. She sighed and decided that researching in this way was getting her nowhere. She needed to find a new plan.

“Hey FRIDAY?” She looked up at her room’s ceiling.

FRIDAY’s voice answered, “Yes, Agent Romanoff?”

“Just Natasha is fine. Anyway, you wouldn’t happen to have Peter’s birth certificate on file, would you?”

“Yes, I do.”

Natasha’s face lit up. “Can you show me it?”

“No, I cannot.”

Nat deflated and rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s that. Is there anything you can show me? I just want to see if Tony really is in fact Peter’s father, because I can tell that there’s something off about their story.”

“Why don’t you ask the Boss himself?”

“No, not yet. I’m like 90% sure I’m right, but what if I’m wrong? I don’t want to come across as rude. I’d rather have some solid evidence first before I confront him.”

“Boss has just finished his meeting with the Japanese Ambassador,” FRIDAY said. “He has a bit of free time now. You can go ask him anything you’d like.”

Natasha thought about it. She was 90% sure something was going on. Maybe that was enough of a hunch to ask Tony about it without any solid evidence. “OK. Where is he?”

Natasha rode the elevator down to the highest Stark Industries floor in the Tower. She knocked on the door to Tony’s office. “Hey Tony, it’s Nat. Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure,” she heard him answer from inside the room. “Come in.”

Natasha opened the door and entered, then closed it behind her. She turned to Tony and gave him a friendly smile. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Tony responded. He was sitting with his feet kicked up onto his desk. “Have you heard from Peter? Is he feeling any better? I already texted him to ask, but he hasn’t answered.”

“Last I heard, Loki’s with him,” Nat said. “He’s probably too engrossed in Loki stories to answer.”

“OK, that’s good,” Tony looked up at her, and there was a paternal protectiveness in his eyes that really made Natasha question her entire hunch. “Why’d you wanna see me?”

“I…” Well, she thought, it was too late now. She had to ask. Plus, she was dying to know the truth. “I know there’s something you’re not telling me about you and Peter.”

Tony just stared at her, the expression on his face not changing a bit. He didn’t even flinch. He just slowly blinked, and said, “What d’you mean?”

Natasha then realized just how hard this was going to be, because Tony was probably the best at lying than anyone else on the team. She took a deep breath - might as well rip off the bandaid. “Is Peter actually your son?”

Again, Tony didn’t even flinch. He stood up from his desk chair, fastening the button on his blazer. “What would make you think he’s not?”

“He seems to not be used to being, well, rich,” Natasha explained. “Any time you spend any amount of money on him, he seems afraid you’re gonna run out. When we went to the baseball game, he’d never seen a suite before. He seemed amazed by the very idea of it. And he didn’t even know he was the heir to Stark Industries! What kind of son doesn’t know he’s the heir to his father’s company?”

“Peter’s had to live a very sheltered life,” Tony said, his face a calm mixture of being casual and being serious. “It’s hard to grow up as a billionaire’s secret son. I would argue that it’s much easier than if he’d been raised as not a secret - being thrust into the media spotlight from the moment he was born. But being a secret definitely still has its own difficulties. I don’t know why he’s like that when I spend money on him. Maybe he thinks some reporter will find my bank statements and get suspicious that I’ve bought so many Star Wars Lego sets.” He chuckled to himself. “And I don’t know why he didn’t know that he was my heir. I sure thought he knew already. Perhaps he was so used to being a secret, that he’d convinced himself he’d be a secret forever.”

“And will he be?” Natasha asked, still not fully convinced. “When will you tell the public that he’s your son?”

Tony hesitated at that, and Natasha could finally see his calm demeanor crack just a bit. “I don’t know that, either. But I will eventually. At least he’s not fully a secret to the public anymore. They all think he’s just my intern.”

Natahsa didn’t miss that Tony changed the subject, but she let him keep talking.

“We used to never be able to be seen in public together. Because of that, I’ve never been able to take him basically anywhere - including sports games. That’s why he’d never seen a suite. But now, he can finally be seen with me and no one bats an eye. I think I’m gonna bring him to the gala.”

Natasha squinted. “The gala?”

“Oh right,” Tony said. “I haven’t told you guys yet. There’s going to be a charity gala at the Plaza Hotel soon. It’s actually happening the day after Pete’s birthday. I’m thinking about telling him he’s able to come with me as a surprise birthday present. He’s never been to any kind of party with me before, let alone something huge like a gala at the Plaza Hotel. He’ll be so excited.”

All of Tony’s explanations to Natasha’s suspicions made a lot of sense, but Natasha still had a feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her. It was a certain kind of gut feeling that she’d learned to trust as a spy for SHIELD. But, she could clearly see that Tony had no intention of telling her what secret truth was, so she sighed and dropped the topic. “That’s great. I hope you two have a lot of fun there.”

“‘You two?” Tony repeated, then laughed. “Oh, no, you guys are all invited. We’ll be going as the Avengers. The media will love seeing us all happy back together.”

Nat smiled. “Woah, really? That’s great! That’ll be so much fun.”

“Just don’t tell Peter, OK?” Tony said. “You can tell the others, but not Peter. I want to surprise him.”

“Sure, yeah. Of course.”

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice suddenly came through the loud speaker. “Your 4 o’clock is starting. I recommend you leave now so you can avoid facing Ms. Potts’ wrath.”

Tony let out a quiet laugh at that. “Yeah, OK, FRI. Tell her I’m on my way.” He waved at Natasha as he walked past her towards the door. “See you later, Nat. If you see Peter today, tell him to check his phone and answer my texts.”

“Sure thing,” Natasha said. She felt so unsatisfied. She was no closer to knowing whether Peter was actually Tony’s son or not. Sure, Tony had given some pretty well thought-out excuses, but she knew Tony was great at lying on the spot. He could’ve been lying now. She just wanted solid evidence. She just wanted a straight answer .

“Is he really your son?” She asked again.

Tony, halfway out the door, stopped and turned to face her again. “Come on, Nat. Why don’t you believe me?”

“I’m a spy. It’s hard for me to believe anything,” she threw him a small smile.

Tony chuckled. “Right, right.”

“Can you just… answer me?” Nat said. “Just, tell me the truth. If I’m wrong, don’t you wanna prove me wrong?”

Tony didn’t answer right away. To be honest, he didn’t even know why he was still lying about this whole thing to Natasha. She’d figured it out - it’d taken the trained spy a whole month, but she’d figured it out. Mostly. And if Tony did tell her the truth, he knew she’d love to play along and keep it a secret from the other Avengers, too. But here’s the thing.

Tony didn’t want to tell her.

It wasn’t about ruining the prank or anything like that, he just… physically didn’t want to say the words out loud. ‘No, Peter is not my son.’ He didn’t want to say that. He had said it in his head plenty of times to convince himself, but he didn’t want to speak it out into the world.

He didn’t want it to be true.

He let out an exasperated breath. What was one more lie?

“I don’t know what to tell you, Natasha,” Tony said and shrugged. “Peter is my son.”

He could see on Nat’s face that she still wasn’t fully convinced, but he left the room for his meeting anyway.

It’s just because Peter would be upset if I ruined the prank, Tony told himself. That’s the only reason I told her that. 

But Tony was an expert liar. He knew when he was lying.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Loki talked with Peter a lot more throughout the day. Some other Avengers visited Peter too, just to check in and say hi. Natasha stopped by and told him to text Tony back, which he then did. At one point, Bucky stayed with him for a while, claiming that since he was a super soldier, he couldn’t get sick. He told Peter lots of stories of when he and Steve were younger, back in the 1930 and 40s.

Eventually, it was nighttime and Peter was getting sleepy. Now alone, he got ready for bed, brushed his teeth, turn off the lights, and slipped back under his blanket.

Only a few minutes later, the door to his room creaked open, sending in a sliver of light that cut across Peter’s bed. Tony popped his head inside the room. “Hey, buddy. How you holding up?”

“Much better. I think I’ll be all better by tomorrow,” Peter’s muffled voice came from his bed, his mouth half-covered by his pillow.

Tony chuckled and walked over to sit by Peter’s bedside. He was going to tell him that Natasha was catching onto them, but then decided against it. “Is there anything I can get you?”

“No, I think I’m all good, thanks.”

“You sure?”

Peter hesitated. “I don’t have a fever or anything, right?”

“Nope, it’s just a cold,” Tony said, but checked Peter’s forehead for a fever anyway. “Yep, you’re fine.”

“OK, cool,” Peter said. “I just… I don’t wanna get any bad fever dreams.”

Tony gave Peter an understanding smile. “Don’t worry. I have a good feeling that you won’t get a nightmare tonight. Unless Loki told you any scary stories.”

Peter laughed. “No, Loki’s stories were awesome. He does stab Thor a bit too much, though.”

“Yes, well, we already know he’s rather stabby, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Peter laughed a little again. There was a beat of silence, then Peter looked up at Tony with a sleepy grin on his face. “Goodnight, Tony.”

Tony’s expression grew even softer. “Goodnight, bambino .”

Then his face sharpened. He hadn’t meant to say that, but putting Peter to bed like this reminded him of the dream he’d had the night before.

Peter blinked, looking up at Tony curiously.

“M-My mother used to call me that when I was little,” Tony tried to brush it off like it was nothing. “It’s basically like saying kiddo. It means child in-”

“In Italian, yeah I know,” Peter said. “May’s called me that a few times.”

Right. Tony forgot May was Italian. “Sorry, it just slipped out.”

“No, it’s OK,” Peter assured. “It’s… It’s fine. Maybe you can call me that more often. F-For the Avengers prank, I mean.”

Tony gave a small smile. “ Va bene .”

Peter laughed a little. “How do you know Italian?”

“My mother was Italian-American. She taught me bits and pieces. As I got older I learned the rest for myself.” Tony gave a small smirk. “ Parli Italiano? ”

“ Un po ,” Peter said, returning the smirk. “Only stuff that May’s taught me. And some swear words - like I know cazzo , cuz Ezio always says that in Assassin’s Creed.”

“Hey, language,” Tony smirked, and Peter laughed. “Maybe I could teach you some more Italian, words that aren’t swears.”

“You can try. Second language is my worst subject at school.”

“You got a 93% average in it last year.”

“That was my lowest class grade!”

“Sure, right, you’re terrible ,” Tony said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. He paused before saying, “You should probably sleep now. The more sleep you get, the easier it is for your body to heal from your cold.”

“Yeah, OK.” Peter sleepily buried his face deeper into his pillow. “You know, it’s a good thing I got sick today, rather than like, a couple days from now when it’s my birthday.”

“True, true.” Tony said. He had the strongest desire to peck a kiss on Peter’s forehead, just like he had in his dream last night, but he quickly pushed the thought away. He stood up and walked back over to Peter’s door. He stepped halfway through it, then turned around to look at Peter. “Goodnight, bambino ,” he whispered.

“Goodnight, Dad,” Peter said, already half asleep.

Tony just smiled and shut the door.

 

Notes:

Hope you liked the chapter! Also, just a disclaimer - even though I am Italian-American, I still don’t speak fluent Italian lmao. I only know a little, so if any of the Italian’s wrong, please tell me and I’ll fix it. I love it when people write Tony speaking Italian and I really wanted to too so here it is! Hope you liked the chapter! Leave kudos and comments if you did!

In the next chapter, it’ll be Peter’s birthday! And then after that chapter is the gala! I hope you guys like where the story is going! The next chapter will be posted on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 17: Spider-Birthday (Alternatively Titled: Pepper Proves Once Again That She’s the Only Smart Person in the Tower)

Summary:

Peter celebrates his birthday. Tony asks FRIDAY to do something.

Notes:

Yesterday was August 10th, aka Peter’s birthday, so I knew I’d have to post a chapter about his birthday today! Also, do you guys like the alternate title of this chapter? Lmaoooo hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

Peter woke up on the morning of his birthday absolutely bursting with energy. He rolled out of bed and checked his phone, finding texts of ‘Happy Birthday’ from his group chat with Ned and MJ. Smiling, he replied back his thanks and reminded them where they were gonna meet up that day to hang out.

He also had a text from Shuri. He opened it.

Shuri: Hey wassup Baby Stark I made you a present hope you like it

Shuri: <Link: YouTube - Unlisted video: A personalized vine compilation for my friend Peter>

Peter clapped a hand over his mouth. He quickly typed out his reply.

Peter: Omg Shuri I’m cryinggg you didn’t

Shuri responded a minute later.

Shuri: Yes I fucking did now watch it

Peter: Hecc yeah ok I’ll watch it now

Peter clicked the link and watched the vine compilation Shuri had made just for him. Some of the vines were just vines Shuri knew were his favorite, but other vines had text laid on top of certain people in them like in a fandom crack video. The text would say his name or the names of other Avengers, which showed how they acted similarly to the people in the vines. Many of them were about Peter and Shuri, and many others were about Peter and Tony. Peter wasn’t at all surprised when the ‘You are my dad, you’re my dad, boogie woogie woogie’ vine came up and Peter and Tony’s names were pasted over the father and son. Peter wasn’t surprised, but he still laughed at it.

Peter texted Shuri back when he finished watching it.

Peter: Shuri tysm my crops are watered my skin is clear my wig is snatched and my hotel is trivago

Shuri: Lmao yw spider boy. Have a good day of  b i r t h

Peter: T h a n k

Peter then got dressed and ready for the day. He ran to the elevator, willed it to move faster than its already high speeds, then slid on his socks into the Avengers common room.

The Avengers were already down there, like usual. Most of them were in the kitchen, waiting for breakfast. They cheered when they saw Peter, shouting things like, “Hey look! It’s the birthday boy!” And Peter, for once in his life, adored being the center of attention.

Tony walked over to him, wearing the usual warm smile that was reserved just for Peter. “Happy Birthday, kid. You wanna open your presents now or later?”

“Um, later,” Peter decided. “After I hang out with my friends.”

“What’s the plan for Peter’s big day?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, it’s his sweet 16,” Natasha added. “Are we inviting your friends over and throwing a big party?”

“Nah, I’m just gonna go hang out with Ned and MJ. We’re gonna eat at this diner we really like, and then we’re gonna go to the comic book store,” Peter said. “Then I’m coming back here and Dad says that we can order in shawarma to eat for dinner! Then I get to pick a movie to watch!”

“And that’s it?” Rhodey asked. “Tony’s sweet 16 was way more… extravagant , you could say.”

“Nah, I don’t really like big parties. I…” he glanced at Tony, then back towards the other Avengers, “I just wanna hang out with my family.”

Some Avengers said ‘aw’ at that - the loudest coming from Natasha.

“A-Anyway,” Peter said, “I’m gonna swing over to meet them now. We’re meeting pretty early so I have time to hang out with you guys in the afternoon.” He swung his bag off his shoulder, reached into it, and took out the nanobot housing compartment for his Iron Spider suit. He attached it to his chest and double-tapped it, and the nanobot suit quickly enveloped him. He slung his bag back on his shoulder and started running to the side of the room.

“See ya!” Peter called behind him, then promptly jumped out of the open window.

Everyone else in the room flinched. A couple people gasped. But they all calmed down once they saw Peter fling up into the air, his webbing in his hands.

Tony sighed and laughed to himself. “God, that kid’s turning my hair gray."

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

While Peter was still out with his friends, Tony did a lot of work for Stark Industries. After he was done with it all, he went and worked in his lab. He didn’t have anything to fix, so he just made some minor upgrades to his suit. It was just something to do until Peter came back.

Since this wasn’t the most intensive work, his mind kept wandering. He thought about the dream he’d had the other night - the one where Peter was a little kid, and he was his actual father. It was rare for Tony to have a good dream, so this one really stuck in his mind. He couldn’t help but feel like it meant something. The thought was eating away at him, wondering what it could mean.

Sure, it could be Tony’s brain trying to tell him that he loved Peter like a son, but he already knew that. He just didn’t want to admit that and scare Peter off. It had to mean something else.

Then it hit him.

“Hey, FRIDAY?” Tony hesitantly asked the empty room.

“Yes, Boss?” FRIDAY’s disembodied voice answered him.

“I was just wondering…” Tony stopped himself. This was stupid. This was a stupid idea. It wasn’t going to pan out the way he wanted it to.

But what if… what if it did?

“I was wondering,” Tony said again, “do we… still have samples of Peter’s DNA on file? You know, from when we were running tests to see how his Spidey powers affected it?”

“Yes I do, Boss.”

“Can you… I dunno…” Tony felt almost ashamed to ask. Why’d he feel like that? He was the only one in the room. It’s not like anyone would know . And then if everything turned out the way he wanted, it wouldn’t have seemed so weird to do. “Can you run a paternity test on Peter’s DNA?”

The AI actually hesitated , like she was surprised at him - silently judging him. Tony wanted to take it back, say ‘nevermind’, but… he couldn’t. He had to know.

“I can,” FRIDAY finally said, “But it’ll take a while, even for an advanced AI like me. I’d estimate it’d take roughly twenty to thirty minutes.”

“Do it.”

“Alright, Boss. Starting the test now. This may slow down the servers, as I’ll have to focus a lot of my attention on this.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just… yeah.”

Tony busied himself with his work again. He tried not to focus on ‘what ifs’, but he couldn’t help himself. If Peter was biologically his son… god, imagine? He wondered if Peter would be happy, or if he’d be upset that he’d been lied to about who his father was. Tony hoped not, but even if Peter was upset, it wouldn’t matter. He’d help Peter get over it. He’d help Peter see that he could be his father. He’d be the best father. Maybe they could even convince May to let Peter live in Avengers Tower. He’d have the right to keep him, since Peter would be his biological child. That way Peter wouldn’t have to leave at the end of the summer. Peter could stay. Peter would call him ‘Dad’ and actually mean it-

“Tony, what did you get yourself into?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, he whipped his head around to face Pepper, who had just unlocked the door to his lab and was now walking towards him. She didn’t look angry, just a little exasperated.

“What d’you mean, Pep?”

“I mean ,” Pepper was now right in front of him, “that I asked FRIDAY to search through my emails for something, and when it was taking her longer than usual, I asked her what was up. And then she tells me that her systems are running slower because,” she began to imitate FRIDAY’s irish accent, “‘Boss asked to run a paternity test on some DNA!’”

Tony, who didn’t plan on telling anyone about this until he knew the results, promptly started internally freaking out. “Pepper, I can explain-”

“Did some woman come in here claiming to be pregnant with your baby?” Pepper asked sternly. “Or did someone come in here claiming to be your long lost kid? Because we’ve dealt with all those kinds of people before-”

“Pep, it’s nothing like that-”

“-and they’re always fake. You know these people are always just looking to get our Stark Industries money. And since this has to do with the company, I think I deserve to know what’s going on. So just tell me who’s bothering you about this. I’ll get the lawsuit started and-”

“It’s Peter’s DNA, Pep!”

Pepper froze. She blinked, clearly not expecting that. “What?”

Tony rubbed his temples, then looked away. “No one’s pushing me to do this, Pep. I… I just… was wondering.”

Pepper’s face immediately softened. She let out her sweet laugh that sounded like ringing bells. “Oh Tony, what is going on in your mind right now?”

“I just thought, you know, what if?” Tony picked up a screwdriver from his worktable and started fidgeting with it. “What if, back in my wild days, I actually… did meet Peter’s mother. She was a physicist. I could’ve met her at some science conference, and… well, I could’ve-”

“Tony,” Pepper brushed some hair hair out of her husband’s eyes, forcing him to finally make eye contact with her. “I think this whole prank thing has gone too far. You’re starting to believe your own lies.”

“But what if it’s not a lie? Peter and I have the same eyes and hair and-”

“It’s ridiculous, Tony. So don’t worry. Peter isn’t your biological kid. Everything’s gonna be just fine.”

Tony’s eyes broke away from Pepper’s again. He stared at the floor.

The realization hit Pepper like a train. “...Oh!” she continued to stare at Tony. “You… you want him to be your biological kid.”

Tony didn’t answer.

Pepper sat on the stool next to the one Tony sat on - where Peter usually sat when he and Tony worked in the lab together. “I understand why you want that. I know how much you love him.”

Tony flinched a little at the word. Love . This was the second time someone had said something like this to him. First, Steve did, all those weeks ago, and now Pepper. But unlike with Steve, Tony didn’t even try to lie to himself when he responded. “Yeah, I really do.”

Pepper smiled softly and started playing with Tony’s hair. “You know, families aren’t just built on blood. Loki and Thor are definitely brothers, and they don’t have any blood relation.”

“I know that,” Tony said. “But what if Peter doesn’t know that? What if Peter won’t see me as his father unless I’m actually related to him?”

He heard Pepper choke, and he turned to face her. She covered her hand with her mouth, stifling laughter, until she couldn’t hide it anymore and let herself laugh out loud. Tony just stared at her, confused.

“Oh, honey,” Pepper said after she calmed down. “For a genius, you’re such a fucking idiot.”

Tony sputtered, “Wh-What?”

“Peter already sees you as his father.”

“No, Pep,” Tony said. “Sure, I know he sees me as a father figure . I’m not oblivious . But he doesn’t see me as his father . Not as his real father.”

“He does, Tony. Trust me. He really does.”

“You know that I always trust you, Pep,” Tony said. “But this time, I’m going to have to disagree.”

Pepper sighed and didn’t even try to convince Tony any further. She could see it was a lost cause. Tony wasn’t going to believe it until Peter told him himself, and like that was ever going to happen. The boy was so shy, he’d never admit something like that to Tony. Pepper laughed again at the ridiculousness of it all. God help these two idiots.

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice filled the room.

Tony instantly sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes wide with anticipation. “Have you finished, FRI?”

“I have. Would you like to hear the results?”

Tony took a deep breath. The moment of truth. “Yes. Tell me.”

The very air in the room seemed to stand still as FRIDAY said the results of the test.

“Peter Parker’s biological father is Richard Parker.”

Tony blinked.

Well, what else was he expecting? He knew it would’ve been too good to be true.

He felt a hand on his back - Pepper. “But luckily, it doesn’t matter what the results of that test are. You two are already family,” she said. “Like I said before, families aren’t always built on blood. Just ask Natasha. Just ask Rhodey . Rhodey’s not blood related to you, but you still call him your brother, right?”

“Of course, yes,” Tony said, almost defensively. “But that’s different-”

“ No, it isn’t, Tony. It really isn’t. You and Peter are father and son, even if you don’t share any DNA. And I know he feels the same way. I can see it in the way he looks at you. The way he ‘accidentally’ calls you Dad even when the Avengers aren’t around.” Pepper looked a bit longer into Tony’s eyes, then chuckled and shook her head. She stood up and walked to the door of the lab. Before leaving, she turned back to him and said one last thing. “I mean it, OK? And remember, you’re the one who says that I’m always right.”

She shut the door, leaving Tony alone in his thoughts.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter came back the same way he’d left - through the window.

He and the Avengers then ordered shawarma from their favorite restaurant. At dinner, they made lively conversation, full of jokes and laughter and stories. After they cleaned up, Peter set up Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on the TV. But before they all watched it, it was time for Peter to open his presents.

To his surprise, everyone had bought him gifts.

They all sat on the couches in the lounge as Peter ripped open the wrapping paper of present after present. Each Avenger got him something, ranging from video games to books to nerdy t-shirts. Loki and Thor even got him some cool Asgardian stuff. He was absolutely astounded. Tony had bought him some ultra-rare vintage Lego set that he’d been raving about one day in the lab. Tony managed to find it online and got it for him.

When he finished opening presents, he felt tears at his eyes.

“Aw, what is it buddy?” Tony asked him.

“It’s just…” Peter sniffed, “I’ve never had this many people get me presents on my birthday before. I-I… I’m so happy! Th-Thank you guys so much!”

“Oh, Peter,” Natasha walked over to him and hugged him tight. This lead to the other Avengers walking over and also hug Peter in a big group hug. Peter laughed through his tears of joy. He’d never felt so loved before in his entire life.

“I’m so glad I got to meet you guys,” he said.

The other Avengers said how they were glad they finally got to meet him, too.

When they released Peter from their group hug, Tony stood up and clapped his hands. “Now, Peter. I have one more present for you.”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “What? Really? What is it?”

Tony walked over to another couch with a blanket over it. He lifted the blanket and revealed a navy blue Tom Ford suit, just washed and pressed from the dry cleaners.

“Woah! A suit?!”

“Not just a suit, kiddo,” Tony smiled. “I’ve already told the others about this, but I wanted to tell you today as a surprise. Tomorrow, there’s going to be a charity gala at the Plaza Hotel. Super fancy party. So many people will be there - tech geniuses, celebrities, movie stars, pop stars, basically anyone with large amounts of money. The Avengers and I have been invited,” he looked Peter in the eyes, “and I’m going to bring you with us.”

Peter’s jaw dropped, “ What?! ”

“That’s right.”

“Y-You’re letting me go? To something like that ?!”

“Yep! The media’s convinced that you’re my intern, so why not? It’ll be fun.”

“ Fun ?! I-It’ll be more than fun! It’ll be amazing !” Peter was standing now. “Oh my god, I’ve never gone to a gala before!”

“I know,” Tony said, walking back over to Peter and ruffling his hair. “I think this will be a good first one to go to.”

Peter looked up at him, eyes shining. “Thank you! Thank you so much, Dad!”

Tony’s expression softened very visibly. And for a moment, he thought to himself, maybe Pepper’s right .

Peter wasn’t his kid biologically, but Peter was definitely still his kid . And Tony was his dad, no matter what their DNA said. And if Pepper was right - which, honestly, she always was - then that meant Peter felt the same way.

Maybe Tony would finally tell Peter how he felt. Maybe he’d tell the kid that he could call him ‘Dad’ all the time, even when the Avengers weren’t around. Because, if Pepper was right, then Peter would be happy to.

He decided right then. After the gala tomorrow, when they got home, he’d tell Peter.

“You’re welcome, son,” Tony said. “Happy birthday.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

At the end of the day, Peter sat on his bed in his room and called up May on his StarkPhone. She hadn’t called yet to wish him happy birthday, but he honestly didn’t mind. She was probably super busy with her work. He listened to the phone ringing on the other end of the line, waiting for May to pick up.

They hadn’t been calling each other as often as they had at the beginning of the summer. They used to call each other twice or even three times a week, and they’d text everyday. Now, in August, they called each other once a week, and only occasionally texted. But Peter didn’t mind that either. He had the Avengers to talk to.

May finally picked up. “Hey Peter! Happy birthday! Don’t think I forgot - I didn’t! I’ve just been super busy-”

“I know, I know,” Peter said. “That’s what I thought. Don’t worry about it.”

“And I’m sorry I took so long to answer the phone! I was asleep. It’s 3 am here in Italy.”

“Oh, wait, really? I’m sorry, May. I forgot about time zones for a second,” Peter laughed nervously to himself. “Did you say Italy? Is that where you are now?”

“Yep!” May said cheerfully. “Just flew in 4 days ago. We’re in this really rural town. It’s so beautiful. It’s also nice to be in a country where I actually speak the language. When we were in France, it was a nightmare. I can’t speak French to save my life. But you know my Italian’s pretty good.”

“That’s awesome, May. Did you know Tony speaks Italian, too?”

“Does he now?”

“Yeah! He said he might teach me some.”

“That’s great, honey. I always wanted to teach you more Italian, but I was always too busy with work.”

“Yeah I know. It’s OK though, cuz now I’ll finally get to learn some.”

“How was your birthday with the Avengers?” May asked.

“Oh my god, May, it was so much fun! ” Peter basically squealed. “First I hung out with Ned and MJ, but then when I came back home, everyone gave me presents - and there were just so many - and then we watched Star Wars which is always fun, of course. And Dad told me that he was gonna bring me to this big gala tomorrow and I’m so excited to go!”

On the other side of the world, in Italy, May smiled to herself as Peter rambled on about his day. She didn’t miss how Peter called Avengers Tower ‘home’. She definitely didn’t miss how Peter called Tony ‘Dad’ - however, she didn’t know if it was an accident or on purpose. She decided not to point it out either way. Peter sounded happier than she’d ever heard him sound, and she was so, so happy that Peter was happy.

“ And we ate shawarma for dinner!” Peter finished his rambling

“What, not Thai food?” May teased. “We always eat Thai on your birthday.”

“Nah, that’s our thing, May.”

“And shawarma is an Avengers thing?”

“Yeah,” Peter smiled to himself. “Yeah, it is.” He hesitated, before asking, “How’s your work going?”

“Oh my goodness, Peter,” May began to start rambling herself, “it’s the hardest I’ve ever worked, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love this job so much. This small, rural town didn’t have any doctors or nurses as well-trained as us in this organization. There are so many people here that we’re able to help that wouldn’t have been able to be helped before we got here. It feels like my destiny, doing this kind of thing.”

“Wow, May! That sounds amazing!”

“I know, right? It’s great. This job is great. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted to do. Honestly, I just wanna do this kinda thing here forever.” She sighed and went quiet, then quickly spoke again. “Not that I want to leave you all alone in Queens or something! Oh my god! I didn’t mean it like that! I just, I meant-”

“May, May, it’s alright! I understand what you mean,” Peter said. “I… I feel like I wanna stay at the Tower forever too, you know? That doesn’t mean I want to leave you alone in Queens, though.”

May let out a relieved breath. Then she laughed a little. “We’re both having dream summers, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we are,” Peter laughed too, weaker.

“Soon the summer is gonna end, though,” May said.

“Yeah.”

Peter didn’t want to think about that.

“I gotta go,” he said. “I should go to bed soon, and I should let you go back to sleep.”

“Alright. See you, baby. Love you!”

“Love you too, May.” He hung up.

Peter stared at the poster-covered wall of his room. He felt… weird.

Over this past summer, he and May were becoming more distant. May was really happy where she was. She loved helping people there. She’d said it felt like her destiny , like everything she’d ever wanted to do. And Peter was happy where he was - more than happy. So he didn’t even feel upset that he and May were becoming distant. They were both happier now than they ever had been before.

Peter felt torn. Of course, he loved May. He loved May so much. But things felt… different now. 

Peter felt so close to the Avengers. The Avengers felt like his family. And Tony… Tony really felt like his dad. He didn’t want to leave his dad.

And sure, when he would eventually go back to living in Queens, he could still go visit Tony and the others at the Tower, but it wouldn’t be the same. He wouldn’t be living at the Tower, in his room. He wouldn’t get to eat his usual family breakfast with the Avengers every morning anymore. Tony wouldn’t be just down the hall to help him when he had nightmares. No one knew how to help him with his nightmares better than Tony, because Tony was a superhero just like Peter. He understood. Whenever May caught him having a nightmare, she’d just get worried, which would make Peter even more worried and it wouldn’t help at all - which wasn’t her fault, but it still didn’t help. Only Tony knew how to help.

He didn’t want to go ‘home’ at the end of the summer. Avengers Tower felt like home now.

Home was where Tony was.

Peter blinked to himself. He shook his head and told himself to stop being ridiculous. He was supposed to be happy . It was his birthday. He was supposed to feel happy that day. And he was happy before, but now he just felt sad. He was going to have to go back to living in Queens at the end of the summer - in just a couple weeks - so he might as well accept it, even if it made him sad.

Come on, Parker, he thought to himself, That’s who you are - a Parker, not a Stark. You’re not Tony’s son. You’re not Tony’s son. It was your birthday - a good day. Be happy again. Think of good things. Tomorrow Dad’s taking you to the gala and that’s gonna be so much fun. Think about that instead.

Peter took a deep breath. He lifted up his blanket and laid down on his bed.

He didn’t even catch the ‘mistake’ he made in his internal monologue.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“Mr. Fisk?”

“Yes, Claudia?”

“The package from Mr. Beck has finally arrived. It contains the hallucinogen. We’re all ready.”

Fisk smiled and turned in his leather desk chair to face Claudia. “You better make sure that the fanciest clothes in your closet are clean and ironed. We have a gala to go to tomorrow.”

“And you’re absolutely sure the boy will be there?”

“I’m certain,” Fisk smiled his cruel smile. “Stark brings his son everywhere nowadays.”

Notes:

Are you guys excited for the gala? Or are you nervous lol? Tune in next time to find out what happens! Hope you guys liked the chapter! Leave kudus and comments if you did! The next chapter will be posted on Thursday at around 8-9pm EST!

(Edit: I usually respond to everyone's comments but now I'm getting so many that I won't be able to answer all of them, so sorry if I don't answer your comment! Don't worry, I will definitely read all the comments and I appreciate every singly one of them! Thank you for leaving comments and kudos!)

Chapter 18: The Gala

Summary:

Peter, Tony, and the other Avengers go to the charity gala. What could go wrong?

Notes:

It’s finally here! The gala! Enjoy the chapter!
(And if you’re worried about any possible whump/triggers, check the end notes for trigger warnings, but just know that they'll spoil some of the chapter for you. Be safe!)

“Bring the wide end in front, then pull it underneath and slide it through the loop.”

Peter squinted at the man in the YouTube video.

He was in his bedroom, staring at his laptop, which rested on his bed. A video titled ‘How to Tie a Windsor Knot’ was playing, but it was not helping Peter at all . He was currently being choked by the fancy tie that Tony had bought him, which he’d tied - apparently - very incorrectly.

He was already wearing the expensive dress shirt, pants, and shoes that Tony had bought for him to wear to the charity gala. The fancy-looking blazer jacket that matched the rest of the suit was folded on his bed, waiting to be put on as soon as Peter finished tying his tie. But he just couldn’t figure out how to do it right.

“Come on ,” Peter pleaded with the tie, but it was no use. As the video ended, his tie looked nothing like how the man in the tutorial said the end result should look like. Peter sighed and undid the knots he’d made. He started the video again. Maybe he’d get it right the fifth time.

There was a knock on his door. “Hey Pete,” came Tony’s voice. “You ready?”

“U-Uh, just a second!” Peter stuttered. It would be embarrassing if Tony knew he couldn’t tie a tie for himself. “I’m just doing my tie.”

“You need help?”

“No! No, I’m good!”

He heard Tony’s laugh as the door creaked open. Tony stepped inside, already fully dressed in his expensive, three-piece, Tom Ford suit. “Lemme help you.”

“I-I can do it!”

“It’s alright, bambino . Now watch me.”

They stood in front of the mirror as Tony taught Peter how to tie his tie. “First, you gotta make sure this side is longer than the other… Good, now cross this over…” Peter tried to listen as closely as he could and followed all of Tony’s directions.

“There!” Tony said when they finished, “Good job, kid. A perfect windsor knot.” He stepped back from his handiwork.

“Thanks, Tony,” Peter said, only a little embarrassed. He grimaced.

Tony looked at him closely. “Something’s wrong, isn’t there? What’s up kid? You nervous about the gala? Cuz I’m telling you, you’re gonna be fine.”

“No, that’s not it,” Peter said, voice getting quiet. He sat down on his bed. “Well, that’s part of it, but it’s more… something else.”

Tony sat down next to him. “You can tell me, kid. You know that.”

Peter sighed. “I… I had… the dream again. Last night.”

“The one where I die?” Tony said like it was the most casual thing in the world.

Peter didn’t want to say it out loud, so he just nodded.

“I’m sorry, buddy. Why didn’t you tell FRIDAY to get me?”

“I… I’ve actually been getting it a lot these days. I’ve had that same dream like, 4 times in this past week.”

Tony stared at Peter. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I-I dunno,” Peter said. “I was kinda able to handle it myself? Like, I’ve had it so often now that I know how to deal with it. It’s just still… scary . Really scary. Not as scary as before, but still really scary.”

Tony rubbed Peter’s back. “You can always come talk to me about your nightmares. You know that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“OK. I’m glad you’re able to handle them better, but it sucks that you have to go through that for so many nights.”

“Yeah, well, it’s just like what you say,” Peter said, and was able to smile a little. “It’s just a bad dream.”

Tony returned the smile. “Right. It is.” He took a breath, then ruffled Peter’s hair. “Now go fix up these curls of yours and then we’ll be on our way.”

Peter ran into his room’s adjoining bathroom to do his hair.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter sat between Tony and Pepper in the limousine as Happy drove them to the Plaza Hotel, where the gala was taking place. The other Avengers - including Loki - sat in the other seats around him. Peter was bouncing up and down in excitement. So many famous people were going to be there. Maybe if he was lucky, Tony would introduce him to some of them.

“Remember, kid,” Tony turned to him, “you have to call me Mr. Stark while we’re in there. You’re going as my personal intern. We don’t wanna blow your cover.”

“Right, right,” Peter nodded.

When they arrived, the valets opened the doors of the limousine, and the Avengers all stepped out, wearing their fancy outfits. Behind the barricaded path to the doors of the hotel, cameras flashed and reporters shouted questions at them. Fans screamed and held out photos for them to sign. The Avengers smiled and waved at them, and even managed to sign a few autographs before they stepped inside.

Peter gazed around the inside of the Plaza Hotel, wide eyes filled with wonder. It was so fancy and beautiful. The walls were cream with plenty of gold-trimmed designs. From the high ceiling hung a huge chandelier that glistened like a giant diamond. Extravagant bouquets of technicolored flowered lined the halls. And the people - god, there were so many people. Peter already saw like 4 movie stars that he recognised. He felt like he was walking in a dream. It all left him speechless.

In the back of his head, he felt a tiny, lingering itch. He recognised it at his Spidey-Sense going off. He touched the back of his neck. That was weird - it didn’t seem like there was any danger nearby. It must just be going off because there were so many people he didn’t know here.

“Hey Pete. You alright?”

Peter turned to face Tony. “Yeah, D- Mr. Stark. It’s just… really awesome here. I’m, uh, I’m nervous.”

Tony smiled warmly. “Don’t worry. Just stick by my side and you’ll be fine.”

Peter nodded, feeling relieved. But the little tingle in his head didn’t go away.

Peter did just as Tony said and stuck by his side. As Tony charismatically talked with famous person after famous person, Peter stood awkwardly next to him.

“Tony!” A voice behind them shouted.

Tony turned around. “Ah, Bill! Long time no see!”

Peter stared in complete shock. Walking over to talk with Tony was Bill freaking Gates . Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Of course Tony knew Bill Gates - they were both billionaires because of their tech - and now they were talking like they were good friends. Imagine just casually talking to Bill freaking Gates . But, that’s what the life of a billionaire was like, Peter supposed.

God, Peter thought, remember when he used to think it was weird to talk to Tony , a billionaire and Avenger, so casually? That was so long ago. They’d gotten so much closer since then.

Peter then felt Tony’s hand clap on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. “This is my personal intern, Peter Parker.”

Bill Gates smiled at him and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Peter.”

Peter shook Gates’s hand and tried to not sound like an absolute nervous wreck.  “H-Hi! N-Nice to m-meet you, s-sir.”

Gates chuckled at Peter’s shyness. “You must be pretty smart if you’re interning for Tony personally.”

“Yeah, he is,” Tony bragged with the confidence of a parent talking about their kid. “He’s a genius. A little prodigy, a regular boy wonder.”

Peter’s face turned red at the compliments.

“And I hear he’ll be the heir to Stark Industries?” Gates asked Tony.

“Mostly likely,” Tony responded, and the two continued to talk about other things.

That’s how most of the night went. Tony would excitedly introduce Peter to his celebrity friends, and Peter would give a shy wave and try not to fanboy. Sometimes Pepper would join Peter and Tony as they talked to each celebrity, or sometimes one of the Avengers did. Many of the people Tony talked to seemed genuinely interested in Peter. This surprised Peter, since he thought the celebrities would just brush him off as some commoner boy or something and just ignore him, but Tony’s famous friends actually seemed to enjoy his company. A lot of them asked if Peter was the heir to Stark Industries, just like Bill Gates had, and Tony always responded that he was.

And as shy and nervous and Peter still was, he was absolutely loving this. This was amazing. Within two hours, he’d met Bill Gates, Oprah, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, and freaking Beyoncé . And they’d all smiled and talked to him. And Tony told them all he was his heir and that he was a boy genius . And sure, his face would blush with embarrassment when Tony bragged about him, but he also felt so happy . Tony sounded so proud of him, and that was everything Peter could ask for. This was one of the coolest days of his life.

So why was his Spider-Sense still lightly going off in the back of his head?

Peter followed Tony as they walked, grabbing hors d'oeuvres to eat off the trays the waiters carried around, when Tony suddenly stopped.

Peter stopped too and looked up at him. “What is it?”

“Let’s… not go this way,” Tony said, his face twisting a little in disgust.

“Why?”

Tony nodded his head to point across the room. Peter followed the direction he was gesturing to and saw a large, bald man wearing an all-black suit.

Peter’s Spider-Sense became stronger.

“Is that… Is that Wilson Fisk?” Peter asked.

“Yep,” Tony frowned.

“Why is he here? Isn’t he like… a mafia boss or something?”

“Yeah, he basically is. In the underworld, he’s known as Kingpin. He does a lot of bad things - sells to the black market, steals from people, gets his competitors killed, tax evasion - all that stuff.”

“Why isn’t he in jail then?”

“Because he’s good at being a mob boss,” Tony said. “And a good mob boss never leaves any evidence. There’s technically nothing to prove that Fisk has done any of those bad things. And when there is proof, he pays off the police or even the government to keep himself out of jail. So now he’s here as the CEO of Fisk Industries, and everyone here that talks to him just has to pretend that’s not a front for his mafia.”

Peter touched the back of his neck again. “Yeah, I think he’s making my Spidey-Sense go off.”

“Makes sense. He’s a bad dude. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some sort of secret, evil intentions for being here. Let’s just stay away from him. I don’t wanna talk to him and have to pretend he’s a nice guy.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Peter said and followed Tony as they walked in the opposite direction of Fisk.

Luckily, Tony immediately ran into another famous person he knew. “Ah, Jeff! Good to see you again!”

Peter looked up to see that Tony was now talking to Jeff Goldblum , and the first thing that came to Peter’s mind was Thor and Bruce saying that Jeff Goldblum was actually some crazy alien guy they met in space.

Tony must’ve remembered too, because he chuckled and said, “You won’t believe what my Avenger buddies were telling me. They were saying that you were some kind of immortal alien god from space, and that you held them prisoner and tried to kill them! Can you believe that?”

Jeff Goldblum laughed at that, probably a little too hard. “That sure is crazy. And absolutely untrue, obviously.”

“Of course,” Tony said, squinting suspiciously. “I didn’t believe them.”

“Good, good,” Jeff Goldblum said and let out a nervous laugh.

The night continued to move on. Tony talked to and introduced Peter to even more famous people. Peter’s Spidey-Sense decreased its tingling as they moved farther away from Fisk, but it was still there in the back of his head.

Later, since he wasn’t paying attention to what Tony was talking about with his famous friends, he looked around the room and Jeff Goldblum caught his eye again. This time, he saw Loki walk up to him. If he was a normal teenager, he wouldn’t be able to hear them, but because of his Spider-Man super-hearing, he could hear them just fine.

“Nice to see you again,” Loki said.

Goldblum wore a sly smile. “What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you in my entire life.”

“Oh please, Grandmaster, you can drop the act.”

“Oh, keep your voice down, Loki. Someone will hear you.”

Peter’s eyes widened. Holy shit, Jeff Goldblum actually was an immortal alien god.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time,” Peter heard Loki say. “You could say I’ve almost missed you.”

“Well, if you miss me so much,” Goldblum - or, should Peter call him the Grandmaster - said, his voice sounding mischievous, “why don’t you follow me up to my hotel room. I’m sure we could have some fun up there.”

Loki smirked. “Of course, Grandmaster.” Then the two maneuvered through the crowds of people and left the room.

Peter just stared at where they once stood, looking absolutely dumbfounded. He shook his head, regained his composure, and tried to pay attention to what Tony was saying to the famous people he talked to.

Eventually, the gala was almost over. The Plaza Hotel wasn’t as packed with people as when they arrived, and the sound of people talking and laughing had gotten significantly quieter.

“We’re gonna head out of here soon, kiddo,” Tony turned to Peter and said. “We just gotta find Pepper and the other Avengers so we can all leave at the same time.

“OK,” Peter said. “You go do that. I’m gonna go use the bathroom.”

“Meet you at the front exit?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

Tony walked away to find his fellow Avengers, and Peter searched for the bathroom. Before he could get there though, he heard a woman’s scream nearby him. He turned to see what was going on.

A man in an all-black suit approached the woman. “Claudia, what’s wrong?” He said.

“My bracelet!” She cried out. “Someone has stolen my bracelet!”

Peter’s Spidey-Sense blared. Fisk probably stole that women’s bracelet or something. His superhero instincts took over him and he ran over to her.

“Don’t worry, Miss,” Peter said to her, “I’ll find your bracelet.”

“Oh, thank you, dear child,” said the woman - Claudia, Peter remembered that’s what the man had called her. She smiled, but there was something about it that seemed… off . It seemed much too cold to be a grateful smile.

“Hey, kid,” the man grabbed Peter’s arm roughly. “I think I saw the thief go this way.” He started pulling Peter in a certain direction.

“Um, O-Ok,” Peter said, confused as to why the guy was being so rough.

In less than a minute, the man had guided Peter straight to none other than Wilson Fisk. Peter knew he was behind this. His Spidey-Sense was so strong it was almost giving him a headache.

“Fisk! Did you steal that woman’s bracelet?” Peter said with the same confidence as if he was wearing his Spider-Man mask.

Fisk turned around and smiled as he saw Peter. “There you are, Peter. I’ve been looking for you.”

The ominous statement caught Peter off guard. “W-What? How do you know my name?”

“Now that you’ve finally left your father’s side, we’re able to talk,” Fisk continued.

“F-Father?!” Peter stuttered. “No, M-Mr. Stark isn’t my dad. I’m j-just his intern.”

“Right, right, sure,” Fisk said sarcastically. He turned to the man that still held Peter’s arm. “Good job, Mikey. Let’s wrap this up and go.”

“Yes, Boss,” the man said.

“W-What are you talking about?!” Peter shouted. “Let me go! Let me-”

The man, Mikey, put a cloth against Peter’s mouth and nose - chloroform. Peter couldn’t fight the sleepiness that suddenly came over him. He fell limp into Mikey’s arms.

Fisk rubbed his hands together. He laughed, cruel and cartoonishly evil. “Perfect! Everything is going perfectly. Mikey, bag the boy up. Claudia, you were excellent. Now let’s get out of here.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Tony was worried. He’d found all the Avengers, but now he couldn’t find Peter .

He wasn’t waiting at the front exit like Tony had said to do. Tony checked every bathroom, every room they’d been in, everywhere , but he couldn’t find him. Goddamnit, this was the one time Peter wasn’t next to him during the entire night and Tony loses him.

“Tony,” Steve tried to calm him down, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Yeah, Tones,” Rhodey said. “Maybe he’s waiting in the limo instead.”

Tony took a deep breath. “Sure, yeah. Maybe he is. Let’s go check.”

The Avengers walked outside. There weren’t as many fans and reporters out there now as there were when they walked in, but there were still quite a few behind the barricades, screaming and flashing their cameras. Tony ignored all of them, stone-faced and serious. Usually, he’d revel in the attention of his adoring fans, but now his mind was only thinking about one thing - Where the hell was Peter?

The valets opened the limousine doors for them, but Tony didn’t get in. He immediately ran up to Happy. “Hap, has Peter been out here?”

“Peter?” Happy asked. “No. Isn’t he with you?”

“He didn’t come outside?”

“No, why? Is he lost?”

“I can’t find him. One minute he was there and the next minute-” Tony trailed off and someone caught his eye.

Down the street, Fisk and his associates were getting into his fancy, black Cadillac. At least three of the associates were carrying a huge, black duffle bag that seemed to be pretty heavy. They then put in the trunk, and Tony thought, Why the hell would someone bring a duffle bag to a charity gala?

And then it hit him.

‘Yeah, I think he’s making my Spidey-Sense go off,’ Peter had said to him when they saw Fisk early that night.

Peter was in that bag. He just knew it. His kid was in a bag and Fisk was driving away with him .

“Get in the car,” Tony said, his eyes angry and determined.

“Tony, what-”

“Hap, I said get in the car!” Tony shouted and turned to the other Avengers. “Everyone in the car now !”

“Tony,” Pepper said, “but Peter-”

“Fisk is kidnapping Peter.”

“ What -”

“I said everyone get in the car!”

The Avengers quickly jumped into the limo, and Happy zoomed off.

“Follow Fisk’s car,” Tony said to Happy, leaning over into the driver’s seat. “Catch up to it! He’s getting away!”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Happy said. “Remember, this is a limo, not a sports car. I can’t go as fast as him, and we can’t turn corners as well as him, either.”

“That’s my son , Hap!” Tony yelled, not even registering exactly what he said. “You floor the fucking gas pedal right now!”

Tony was very scary when he was angry, so Happy did what he said. The limo sped up.

Tony was nervously grabbing at his hair. “I should’ve brought my nano-suit. Why didn’t I bring my nano-suit?!”

“Tony,” Pepper tried to calm him down. “You couldn’t have known.”

All the other Avengers in the car were freaking out as well.

“Um,” Wanda spoke up, her voice shaking, “O-OK, h-how about I use my mind powers on Fisk’s car? I could destroy a part of it and cause it to stop driving so fast-”

“No!” Tony cut her off. “We can’t risk doing anything like that to the car! We might accidentally hurt Peter!” He didn’t mean to yell at her like that, but he was just so scared for Peter’s safety that he couldn’t control his emotions. “We just have to try and follow it!”

“Tony, listen,” Pepper attempted to calm Tony down again. “It’s going to be OK. We’re going to get Peter back. Even if we can’t get him now, we will get him back.”

Tony could barely hear her. He felt himself going into a panic attack. His breathing sped up and his ears rang.

Pepper grabbed his hand. “Tony, breathe.”

“I-I can’t-”

“Yes you can, Tony. Come on-”

“He took my son , Pep! He has my kid in the trunk of his car!”

“I know, Tony. I’m worried as all hell, too, but you gotta breathe. Here, just like this,” She took deep breaths, and Tony followed her lead. “We’re going to get him back. I promise.”

“Hap, what’s our status?” Tony called to the driver’s seat.

Happy didn’t say anything.

“Hap?”

“Tony, I think I lost the car.”

Tony’s eyes filled with worry and leaned over to the front seat again. Sure enough, Fisk’s black Cadillac had disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Tony started hyperventilating again.

Notes:

(Trigger warnings: Kidnapping, chloroform, panic attack.)

Oh you thought this chapter was going to be all fluffy content with ‘Jeff Goldblum is an alien’ jokes that reference this tumblr post again, plus some cute background FrostMaster? NOPE. Time for the ‘some whump in later chapters’ tag to finally apply to this fic! Sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger. Tune in next time to find out what happens next! The next chapter will be posted on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 19: What Do You Want?

Summary:

The Tower feels empty without Peter in it. Hopefully, Tony can figure out how to save him.

Notes:

OK guys WARNING!!!! There’s a good amount of whump and angst in this chapter. See the end notes if you wanna see more detailed trigger warnings, but just know that they’ll spoil some of the chapter for you. Be safe! This is probably the whumpiest chapter of the fic, so don’t worry - everything gets better after this! Enjoy the chapter!

Tony couldn’t sleep.

Neither could the rest of the Avengers, honestly, but Tony was having the worst time of it.

He didn’t even try to sleep. As soon as Happy drove them back to the Tower, he immediately went to his lab. He told FRIDAY to do anything she could to track Peter, but there wasn’t much she could do. Fisk seemed to have left Peter’s phone at the Plaza Hotel, because that’s where his phone tracker said he was. Peter wasn’t wearing his suit, obviously, so it’s not like Tony could track that. He didn’t know what to do. Luckily, he remembered Fisk’s license plate from when they chased him down the street, and he was now having FRIDAY check every security camera in the city for it. But that was going to take a long time to search thoroughly, so Tony couldn’t do anything but wait.

It was now that he realised that in the limo, he’d called Peter his son - twice . He didn’t even mean to, it just slipped out. It felt like the most natural word to call Peter in that moment. Because yeah, Peter was Tony’s son. He really was.

And now, he was gone.

Tony rubbed his temples. “FRI, what time is it?”

“4:15 am, Boss.”

Tony groaned. God, he needed a coffee.

He left the lab and took the elevator to the Avengers lounge room. Before he could walk into the kitchen to get his coffee, he saw all the Avengers there, sitting on the couches.

“None of you could sleep either?” He asked them.

They turned to face him, pity on all of their faces. “Tony,” Natasha started to say, “I’m so sorry this happened-”

“It’s going to be fine,” Tony said to her, but sounded more like he was trying to convince himself instead. “We’ll find him.”

Natasha nodded. She felt so, unbelievably guilty . All this time, she was gathering all this evidence for this stupid conspiracy in her head - that Peter wasn’t actually Tony’s son. She actually confronted Tony and accused him of being dishonest to his face . But now, she’d seen how Tony acted in the limousine. It was obvious that Tony was Peter’s actual father. The way his face filled with parental worry, the way he shouted for his son . How could she doubt what Tony and Peter said? She was always so paranoid about everything. She felt guilty that she even questioned whether Tony was Peter’s real father or not. They were telling the truth.

“Let’s try and solve this together,” Steve said, being the leader that he was. “Fisk must’ve taken him for a reason, right? What do you think he wants?”

“I don’t know, Rogers!” Tony snarled. He really didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want to talk with anyone . He didn’t work well with the team when he was angry. He just wanted to solve things by himself. Talking about it with the Avengers was just going to spiral him into another anxiety attack. “I don’t know what Fisk could want with my son!”

There was that word again - son .

Well, he thought without humor, at least he wasn’t blowing the cover of their little prank.

“He must want something for ransom,” Clint said. “You think he wants money?”

“No, Fisk is plenty rich already,” Pepper said. “He must want something else.”

“But what?” Steve said. “What could he want?”

“I, I don’t know,” Pepper said solemnly.

“Is there any other way we can track Peter’s location?” Thor asked.

“No,” Tony spoke up again, walking over to the couches instead of the kitchen. His coffee would have to wait. “Peter’s phone was his tracking device, but Fisk got rid of it when he captured him. I… I was thinking about making Peter a watch or something, one that’d be able to track him and send me his vitals and all that good stuff his suit does. We could make it together in the lab.” Tony’s breathing started to quicken. He sat on the couch with Rhodey and Pepper. “But I built other stuff with him instead. I thought to myself that I’d have the time to build it later. And now it’s too late. N-Now they took him. They took my son. I lost him. I lost him -”

Multiple people were shouting his name, but Rhodey was the one closest to him. His best friend took his hands. “Tones, you gotta breathe for me.”

“I’m trying-”

“Breathe with me, just like in the car with Pepper. Breathe in,” Rhodey took an exaggerated inhale, “and breathe out.” Rhodey exhaled loudly.

Eventually, Tony was breathing steadily again, but the panic was still bubbling in his chest. “Th-They took my son -”

“I know, Tony,” Rhodey said, moving Tony’s head so he looked him in the eyes. “We’re gonna get him back. You know we will.”

“It’s my fault. If I had just brought my suit-”

“No, Tony, it’s not your fault,” Pepper rubbed his back. “Don’t blame yourself,”

But that’s all Tony’s mind knew how to do - blame himself. He always thought everything was his fault. His weapons in the wrong hands all those years ago? His fault. Ultron? His fault. Sokovia? His fault. Peter having nightmares about being trapped under rubble with no fancy StarkTech suit? His fault.

This? Him losing Peter?

His fault.

Everything was always his fault.

He didn’t even notice he was hyperventilating again until he realized Rhodey was telling him to breath in and out again. He followed his friend’s breaths and tried to calm down the best he could. He rubbed his temples. God, he was so tired but he couldn’t sleep. He just needed a freaking coffee.

“Boss,” FRIDAY suddenly said.

“What is it FRI?”

“A secure, unknown number is attempting to call you. Should I put it through?”

Everyone’s head perked up at that. Tony, filled with newfound energy, stood up from the couch. “Yes, FRIDAY. Put the call through.”

“Yes, Boss. Right away.”

“Try and track where this call is coming from.”

“Of course, Boss.”

FRIDAY then projected a large, blue hologram into the room. It was of Fisk, with his bald head and wide shoulders, standing at his full height.

“Hello, Tony Stark,” Fisk’s ridiculously evil-sounding voice came through. “I knew you’d still be up at this hour.”

“Where’s Peter?! I know you have him!” Tony said through clenched teeth, seething. He wasted no time getting straight to the point.

“Oh? You mean your ‘personal intern’, Peter Parker?” Fisk taunted.

“Yes, that’s him! I know you have him! Where is he?”

Fisk laughed. “You know,” he said, “when I first started tracking down Spider-Man …”

Shock flashed across Tony’s face.

“…I didn’t expect everything to go quite like this .”

“What are you talking about?” Tony said defensively.

“Oh, please, Stark. There’s no need to hide it. I know all your little secrets, like how Peter is Spider-Man.”

“No he isn’t!”

“He is ,” Fisk said firmly. “That’s why he broke through the first 3 pairs of handcuffs we put him in. We had to finally lock him up in some vibranium ones.”

Tony gulped. He didn’t want to think of the image of Peter being handcuffed. “Fine,” he said. “What do you want with Spider-Man , then?”

“Oh, the question isn’t what I want from Spider-Man ,” Fisk’s hologram smirked. “It’s what I want from you .”

“Me?”

“Yes, Stark. I know your other little secret, too.”

Tony looked genuinely confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Please, don’t play dumb with me, Stark. I know that this Peter boy is your son .”

Tony’s heart felt like it stopped. “ What?! N-No, no he’s not! Peter’s just my intern-”

“Just your intern, you say?” Fisk taunted. “Then how come he’s been yelling for his father the whole time he’s been with us?”

Tony’s mind raced. “H-He… he’s been what?”

“We researched your ‘intern’,” Fisk scoffed. “If the little cover story you clearly made up for him was correct, then his ‘real father’ was supposed to have died in a plane crash over a decade ago, right? So who else would he be calling out for now other than you ?”

Tony’s hands were balled into fists. His face was stone, his teeth grinding in fear and anger. “Why did you take him? What do you want?”

“Ah, I’m glad to see you’re finally willing to negotiate,” Fisk said. “You see, several months ago, your son - as Spider-Man - sent a man named Adrian Toomes to prison. Does that ring a bell?”

Yes, it did. Adrian Toomes was the Vulture. “What about it?”

“Adrian Toomes was my best weapons dealer. He could get me weapons that no one else had. They were highly advanced - the most advanced on the market - because they were made with alien tech. And then, when Spider-Man sent him to jail, I was robbed of that precious resource. Do you understand?”

“What do you want me to do about that?!” Tony shouted. “I can’t get him out of prison for you!”

“Oh, no Stark. I don’t want you to do that,” Fisk’s hologram said. “I’ve thought of a much better way to get high-tech weapons. And with your son in my hands, I will get them.”

“What are you talking about?”

Fisk smiled, cruel and uncaring. “Stark, before your fun little trip down to Afghanistan, tell me - what did you used to manufacture?”

Tony’s stomach dropped. “ No -”

“You made some very high-tech weapons, if I remember correctly. Am I remembering correctly?”

Tony didn’t respond. He just glared at the blue hologram of Fisk.

Fisk just laughed. “You don’t like thinking about that era of your life, do you, Stark? Well, too bad. Because I need you to make some of those advanced weapons for me.”

“Stark Industries doesn’t manufacture weapons anymore-”

“But you still know how to make them. You were the idea man, after all. I’m sure all the blueprints are still in that genius brain of yours.”

“I do not make weapons anymore!”

“And what do you call your suit, Stark? Is it not a weapon? And what about everything that you make for your fellow Avengers? You need to stop kidding yourself. It’s time for you to share some of those weapons with the people.”

“I will not make any weapons for you!”

Fisk smirked. “Well, then I guess you’ll never see your son again.”

Tony set his jaw.

“It’s a very simple deal, Stark. You make me the high-tech weapons I want, and I’ll give you your son back. Simple as that.”

Tony couldn’t think straight. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t make weapons for Fisk, but he needed to get Peter back. His mouth felt dry. “Let me see him.”

“See who?”

“My son! Let me see that you really have him!”

Fisk laughed. “You seemed very certain that we had him at the beginning of this phone call.”

“I want to see him!” Tony said louder. “I need to see proof that you actually have him. Alive. Then I’ll… I’ll give you what you want.”

The Avengers looked at Tony with worry. He wouldn’t really do what Fisk asked, right? There had to be another way to get Peter.

Fisk’s smile was wide, his eyes shining with the rush of victory. “Excellent,” He turned his head to look off camera and said more quietly, “Take that off his mouth. Stark will want to hear him.”

Tony’s heart almost stopped. Peter… Peter was right there ?

The hologram of Fisk faded as the camera moved away from his face. Soon, another blue-tinted hologram appeared, and Tony couldn’t help but let out a gasp. The other Avengers did as well, some of them covering their mouths in shock.

The hologram showed Peter, sitting in a metal chair, his arms wrapped around the back, locked in handcuffs. He clearly had been beaten up - bruises covered his exposed skin. His nose looked broken, which explained his two black eyes. The kid probably had a concussion, too. He looked completely out of it. His eyes were half closed and he was mumbling to himself, delirious, “Dad? Dad, please… No…”

“P-Peter! Peter, it’s me, it’s dad. I’m right here. It’s OK. I’m gonna get you out of there.”

Peter stirred. All his motions looked heavy and labored. “D-Dad…?”

“That’s right, bambino . I’m here and I’m gonna get you out of there. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

Peter’s half-closed eyes blinked slowly. He groaned. When he spoke again, his words were somewhat slurred. “No… imp’ssible… Dad’s… Dad’s dead. He’s dead. I saw ’im die… I saw ’im die…”

Tony’s heart broke. He covered his mouth, struggling to contain his emotions. “No Peter,” he finally managed to say. “It’s just a bad dream, remember? I’m not dead. You’re just having your nightmare again.”

Fisk’s laugh came from off camera. “Oh, damn. That’s pretty bad, isn’t it? We only gave him one dose. Didn’t expect that -”

“ What did you do to him?! ” Tony said, his voice unrecognisably vulnerable.

“Just beat him down to size and made him breathe in a bit of hallucinogenic gas - Mysterio, I believe it’s called. Makes people see all sorts of illusions. We used it to mess with his 6th sense, so he doesn’t struggle against the cuffs as much, you know? But damn, little Peter here must be really fucked up in the head if he saw that -”

“You have no idea what you’re messing with,” Tony said, seething.

“Luckily for me, I don’t have to deal with what I’m ‘messing with’, do I? Cuz now that you’ve seen your proof, you’re gonna make me the weapons I ask for and we’re not gonna have any problems, right Stark?”

Tony wanted to scream. He wanted to cry .

“Remember Stark, you have to agree, or else you’ll never see your son ever again.”

Tony let out a breath and rubbed his temples. “I know. I know. I agree. Just tell me what you need.”

The Avengers looked away from him. Now out of disappointment or anger, but out of pity.

Fisk spoke again, but decided to keep the camera on Peter, probably to torture Tony even more. “I’m sending you a document.”

FRIDAY then received a document and projected it onto a holo-screen. Tony couldn’t believe his eyes. The list was 6 pages long, single-spaced, in a very small font. Dozens - no, probably hundreds of high-tech weapons were listed, all in detail of the exact parameters Fisk wanted.

“Th-This is impossible! All Stark Industries weapons factories are shut down! If I were to just make these myself, it could take months !”

“Then we’ll keep the kid with us until you’re finished.”

Tony was cornered. He didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t felt this weak since he was trapped in that cave in Afghanistan.

“I recommend you get started, Stark.”

Tony swallowed thickly and stared at Peter through the hologram. “Don’t worry, Pete,” he said in a soft, quiet voice. “I’m gonna get you out of there. I’m gonna get you out. Can you hear me?”

Peter stirred again, still completely delirious. “’M s’rry, Dad. ’M s’rry… ”

Tony let out a shaky breath. “Peter…”

Kingpin laughed. “I think that’s a good place to say goodbye.”

And with that, the hologram turned off, and the Avengers were left to themselves in the room again. None of them spoke. They were all too much in shock.

Tony covered his face. Sobs were threatening to burst through him and he didn’t want the other Avengers to see. “F-FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Boss?”

“Did… d-did you manage to track that call?”

“It was very secure, but I was able to uncover the general location of where the call came from. I think they underestimated what kind of hacking power I have.”

If Tony wasn’t already so crushed from seeing Peter like that , the hope he now felt would’ve shown on his face. “So where is he?”

“I don’t know the exact location, but I will narrow my search of the security cameras around the city to the general location of the call that I uncovered.”

“Good. Get on that FRIDAY.” Tony made his way over to the elevator. He was going to his lab and was going to watch every moment of FRIDAY’s search.

“Tony,” Steve called after him, “where’re you going?”

“To find out where my son is.”

The elevator doors slammed shut and he was gone.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The Tower felt empty without Peter.

FRIDAY was taking a long time with her search, but she couldn’t help it. From Fisk’s call, she was only able to narrow down Fisk’s location to a 50-square-block section of Manhattan. Now, she had to search every security camera in that space for Fisk’s licence plate. And as fast as a computer that she was, this was still taking quite a long time.

Needless to say, Tony didn’t get any sleep that night.

 The Avengers, especially Rhodey and Pepper, were trying their hardest to help Tony not fall into a deep depression. Of course, they were all extremely worried about Peter too, but Tony was affected the hardest. They tried to get Tony to eat but he couldn’t. He just spend hours in his lab, watching as FRIDAY search through security footage.

Right after Fisk had called, and Tony was finally alone in his lab, only then did he allow himself to cry. He couldn’t help but think this was all his fault. Peter was his responsibility, and he lost him. He lost him.

God, May was going to kill him.

But he was scared of way more than just what May would say to him. No, his mind kept replaying the image of Peter, beaten up and under the influence of that hallucinogen, not knowing that Tony was trying his hardest to find him. His son was being tortured right now and there was nothing he could do but wait.

There it was again - son . He kept calling Peter ‘son’, and Peter had called him ‘Dad’. Fisk said he was yelling for ‘his dad’ the whole time they had him.

This whole year, since the so-called ‘Civil War’, Tony and Peter had gotten close, but they’d gotten even closer over this past summer. The whole ‘prank’ thing definitely added to that. Tony was starting to believe that Peter was actually his son. He was going to tell Peter that, after the gala. He was going to tell Peter that he thought of him as his actual son, and that he could refer to him as ‘Dad’ all the time if he wanted to. Pepper had said that it would be fine, and that Peter thought of Tony as his actual dad.

And… if Peter had been calling for his ‘dad’ when he was with Fisk, maybe Pepper was right.

Peter - his son - was the best thing to ever happen to Tony, tied with Pepper.

And now he’d lost him .

He heard the signature beeping of his lab door being unlocked.

Tony blinked, breaking him out of his thoughts and back into his reality. Right, he was in his lab, his head resting on the worktable in front of him. He slowly sat up and rubbed the tears out of his eyes. Only four other people besides him could access his lab, one of which was Peter. If someone was unlocking his lab door now, that meant it could be one of three people - Pepper, Bruce, or-

“Hey, Tones.”

Tony turned to face Rhodey, but didn’t say anything.

Rhodey set his jaw. “God, you look like shit.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“It’s past noon now. You’ve been here since the phone call?”

Tony nodded.

“Any progress?”

“Yep, it’s just… taking a while.”

Rhodey sat down next to Tony. “We’ll find him.”

“I’m starting to think… What if FRIDAY can’t find his exact location, Rhodey?”

“She will.”

“What if she doesn’t? What if I… What if I have to make Fisk weapons?”

“You won’t have to, Tones,” Rhodey didn’t shout, but his voice got more serious. “FRIDAY is going to find Fisk’s car and follow it on its path home, and that’s where Peter will be.”

“But what if he’s not? What if they transferred him to a different car? What if the general location that FRIDAY detected is fake, and Fisk’s people just made it to trick her?”

“No way - you made FRIDAY, Tones. She can’t be tricked by anyone else’s technology. You know that.”

“What if making the weapons is the only way to get him back?” In contrast to Rhodey’s voice, Tony’s voice was still weak and vulnerable from crying. “I might as well start now. The longer I take, the longer he’s over there, being tortured by those monsters -”

“You know he’s doing this not just to get high-tech weapons, right? You’re a genius, Tony, you gotta see it. He’s gonna take you down in the corporate world like this, too. If any of his men get caught and the authorities find out that Tony Stark is supplying the mafia with weapons? Well, say goodbye to a free, happy life. You’d go to prison ! And then you’d really never see Peter again-”

“I’m not an idiot!” Tony raised his voice. It still wasn’t in the yelling range, but it had a spark in it that wasn’t there before. “I know what he’s doing. I know all that. I don’t care. As long as Peter’s safe, I-I don’t care!”

“Who’s to say Fisk will keep his word and actually give him back after you’re done anyway? You have no way of knowing that.”

“It’s my only shot, Rhodey.”

“ No ,” Rhodey said, staring harshly into Tony’s eyes, attempting to motivate him, “Your only shot is using that genius brain of yours and getting Peter back on your own terms. I’ve known you for a long, long time Tony, and there’s one thing I know for certain about you - you never give up. There’s no problem that you can’t fix.”

Tony took a deep breath. “Right. You’re right. Thanks, Rhodey.”

Rhodey was able to smile a little. “Don’t worry. FRIDAY’s going to find him.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

“You boys talking about me?”

Tony and Rhodey both looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah, FRI,” Tony said. “You have anything to report?”

“Well, I still haven’t been able to find Fisk’s car.”

Tony’s face fell.

“ But ,” the A.I. continued, “I have found something else.”

“What is it?” Rhodey asked.

“While I’ve been searching the security footage, I’ve also been scanning the buildings in this 50-square-block area,” she said, “and I’ve noticed a building that might just be the location we’re looking for.”

“And what’s that?” Tony said.

“Fisk Tower.”

Tony closed his eyes and put a hand against his forehead. For a genius , sometimes he could be so stupid -

“I doubt it,” Rhodey said. “You really think his evil hideout would be in his own building? It’s not much of a hideout if his name is slapped on the side of it.”

“I think it’s our best lead.”

“She’s right,” Tony said. “And even if he’s not there, we could maybe interrogate some of Fisk’s workers to tell us where he is.”

Rhodey stood up and started making is way towards the door. “Come on, then. Let’s tell the others and suit up.”

“Right,” Tony said, following him.

Rhodey smiled at him. “I knew you’d solve this.”

“Of course I would,” Tony said with newfound confidence. “It’s just like you said - there’s no problem that I can’t fix.”

Notes:

(Trigger warnings: Non-consensual use of hallucinogenic gas, some canon-typical violence, more panic attacks)

See guys everything’s gonna be fiiiiiiine!! Hope you liked the chapter! Tune in next time for Peter’s rescue mission! Next chapter will be posted on Thursday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 20: Boss Battle

Summary:

The Avengers go to Fisk Tower to get the baby of the family back.

Notes:

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR OVER 84,000 HITS!!!! I love you guys all so so so much!!! Also, this is the longest chapter of the fic so far! It’s just a little over 5,000 words!! I hope you guys like it!!

“OK, can we run through the plan one more time?” Bucky asked into his comm. He and Natasha were near the back entrance of Fisk Tower. Clint and Wanda were near a side entrance. Steve, Thor, and Loki were near the front entrance, hidden by Loki’s magic. Tony, Rhodey, Sam, and Vision were on the roof of the building across the street from Fisk Tower. Parked in front of that building across the street was an Avengers-grade ambulance disguised as a normal truck. Sitting in that back of that trunk, surrounded by medical gear, were Bruce and Dr. Cho.

They weren’t even under the cover of night - it was only just after 2 pm, and plenty of people were walking down the Manhattan streets. As soon as Tony came up with the idea to raid Fisk Tower, the Avengers all immediately made their way over there. They didn’t want Peter to be captured for another minute.

“My group goes in first to draw attention to the front of the building,” Steve answered Bucky through his comm. “The ones that can fly will enter through the windows and draw away even more attention, while also trying to find out where Peter might be. Then when the coast looks clear enough, you and Nat enter through the back, while Clint and Wanda enter through the side. Both of those groups will sneak around and try to find Peter.”

“And if we find Peter?” Natasha asked.

“Secure him and notify us on the comms. Then get him the hell out of here,” Steve said. “Take him to Bruce and Cho. Don’t even wait for us, just leave.”

“No, wait for me,” Tony’s voice entered the chat. “I need to be at his side in the ambulance. Don’t worry, as soon as you tell us you got him, I’ll head straight for Bruce and Cho. I’ll meet you there.”

“Sounds good,” Steve said. “Everyone got that?”

A resounding chorus of “Yep,” and “Got it, Cap,” rang throughout that chat.

“Alright,” Steve then took his hand away from his earpiece and turned to Thor and Loki. “Let’s go.”

Loki uncloaked them. Now out of hiding, they busted through the doors of Fisk Tower. Security guards immediately started to fight them. Steve saw one of the guards call for backup into his walkie-talkie. Their plan was working smoothly so far.

Overhead, the sound of glass shattering could be heard as Tony drove his Iron Man suit straight through a window on the 10th floor. He was quickly followed by Rhodey, while Sam and Vision crashed into another floor. There, they encountered more guards and quickly incapacitated them. They moved along the hallway, looking through the doors for any place Peter could be hiding. It seemed they were on some science research floor because when they looked into each room, people dressed in white lab quotes dropped their supplies and fled at the sight of an Avenger.

Tony, face red with anger behind the emotionless Iron Man mask, managed to grab one of these scientists. He held him in a choke hold. “Where is he?” He said through clenched teeth, seething.

“W-Who?” The poor scientist stuttered.

“The kid! Where are you hiding him?!”

“I-I d-dunno about any kid-”

“ Where are you hiding my kid, goddamnit?! ”

The scientist passed out in Tony’s arms right as Rhodey pulled him away. “Tones! You need to calm down. I know you’re angry - we all are - but if you let out that anger in an uncontrolled way, you’re going to make mistakes.”

“I can’t help it, Rhodey,” Tony said, but he knew Rhodey was right. He took a breath to try and calm down. “I’m just so worried about him.”

“I know. Don’t worry, we’re gonna find him,” Rhodey said. “Save all that uncontrollable rage for when we inevitably have to fight Fisk himself.”

“You’re right,” Tony said. He took another breath, then punched the wall for good measure. Its plaster crumbled around his metal fist. “OK. One of these guys gotta know where Pete is. Let’s go find out.”

After interrogating a few more scientists, Tony eventually found one that wasn’t screaming in fear, but instead reached for his phone and began tapping out a message. His lips were pressed into a thin line.

Tony knocked the phone out of the scientist’s hand before he could send his message. He pushed him against the wall. “What d’you think you’re doing, huh? Telling your dear old boss that the cavalry's here?”

The scientist didn’t say anything.

Tony pressed a hand against the man’s throat. “Where’s my kid?! I know you know where he is! You look way more evil than the other scientists here.”

Fear started to pour into the scientist’s eyes, but he still remained silent.

With his free hand, Tony raised his Iron Man gauntlet up to the man’s face. He palm began to glow blue, and the signature whirr of his repulsor blast rang out as it began to charge up. He teeth ground in frustration. “You tell me where my kid is or I will blow your head off. Don’t try me.”

That finally broke the scientist. “H-He’s in the basement!” He choked out, Tony’s hand still on his windpipe. “He’s in the basement! The kid’s in the basement!”

Tony smiled beneath his mask. “Thank you for your cooperation.” He slammed the man into the wall again knocking him out this time. He let the limp body fall to the ground as he began to talk into his comm. “Peter’s in the basement.”

“Nice job, Tony,” he heard Steve respond. “We’ve been thinning out the amount of guards down here. Back entrance group and side entrance group, I think you should be safe to enter unnoticed. Does it look like it?”

“Me and Bucky have just entered,” Natasha’s voice came through.

“Wanda and I as well,” Clint said. “We’ll sneak around and look for an elevator or stairs so we can go to the basement. If we find Peter, we’ll notify you.”

“Great,” Steve’s voice returned. “And if you see any guards that stayed behind, try to take care of them silently.”

“Of course, Cap,” Nat said.

Steve spoke again. “And flying group? You guys try and make your way to the basement, too.”

“Way ahead of you, Cap,” Tony said. He stood in front of an elevator. Rhodey soon joined him at his side. He pressed the down button, and they patiently waited for the elevator to arrive.

After waiting for a total of 20 seconds, Tony groaned. “Oh my god , I cannot wait this long!” He punched his hand in the middle of the elevator doors and pried them open. He then flew down the elevator shaft. Rhodey sighed and followed him.

They flew all the way down to the basement level. Tony pried the doors open there, too. He and Rhodey then began to search all through the basement. There didn’t seem to be anyone there, though. It was just a bunch of storage rooms. Tony turned over tables and pulled file cabinets back to look behind them. FRIDAY didn’t detect any secret doors or anything like that.

Tony’s frustration eventually boiled over again. “OK, so he’s not in the basement. That asshole lied to me.”

“He’s not there?” He heard Steve ask over the comms.

“Me and Rhodey just searched the whole place.”

“Wait a sec, guys.” Natasha’s voice came. “We just found an elevator with two basement levels.”

“ What?! ”

“Yeah, it’s like, there’s the normal basement ‘B’ button, and then under that there was a tiny metal door that was locked. But Bucky was able to rip off the little door with his metal arm and behind it was another button with a ‘B’ on it.”

“You think Fisk has a secret basement?” Sam’s voice came through.

“I mean, that has to be what this is, right?” Natasha asked.

“Wow, hidden underground lair,” Rhodey said. “Classic.”

“I’m sending my coordinates,” Natasha said, and sure enough, her coordinates showed up on Tony’s HUD. “Everyone come to this specific elevator. I think it’s the only one that can access this secret basement.”

The Avengers, now with barely any guards to stop them, all converged on the coordinates Nat sent. They all decided to take the elevator down at the same time. That way in case they were faced with a large amount of resistance, they wouldn’t be outnumbered. It was a very large freight elevator, and was able to fit all of them as it rushed down to this secret basement floor. Hopefully, no one notified anyone down there that the Avengers had arrived.

They all stood there in silence for several minutes. The elevator was pretty speedy, but the ride down was still taking a long time. The underground lair must’ve been really far underground.

Eventually, there was little ding sound, and the doors slid open into a large, dimly lit room.

The Avengers were now face to face with the many workers and guards that moved around the area.

Natasha leaned over to whisper in Cap’s ear. “They haven’t noticed us yet. Should we try to sneak-”

“Hey!” One of the guards finally spotted them, alerting everyone else in the room.

Natasha rolled her eyes and readied her pistols. “Nevermind.”

A huge fight broke out. The scientists and workers scurried away as Fisk’s guards began to attack the Avengers. They were relatively easy for the Avengers to take down, but there were just so many of them down here. This underground bunker was very well defended.

Amongst the flurry of punches, kicks, repulsor blasts, and bullets, Fisk was nowhere to be found.

While Tony was busy blasting away a couple guards, he heard Cap’s voice come through the comm in his ears. “This is a waste of time! We don’t need all of us to fight these guys at the same time! Some of us should go search for Peter!”

“I’ll go!” Tony quickly volunteered as he punched another guard in the jaw.

“I’ll go, too,” Natasha’s voice came through the comms.

“So will I,” Loki said.

“Great,” Steve spoke up again. “Loki, you take this hallway on the left. Nat, you take the one on the right. Tony, you take the third one near the back.”

“Sure thing, Cap.” Tony engaged his thrusters so he was hovering just above the ground, then zoomed down the back hallway before any of the guards could stop him.

Tony flew through the hallway, the sounds of gunshots and yells in pain getting quieter as he got farther from the main room. He looked inside every room he came across, almost ripping each door off their hinges. He only ran into a couple or so guards as he did this, whom he quickly incapacitated.

After what felt like hours of searching, but was actually only around 5 minutes, Cap’s voice came through the comms again. “I think they finally ran out of guards down here. We knocked them all out.”

“We should start to help search the halls now,” Bucky responded to him.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Steve said. “Everyone go down the hallway closest to you.”

“Don’t bother checking the rooms behind me in this hallway,” Tony decided to add to the conversation. “They’re all empty.”

“We’ll double-check, just in case,” Steve answered, before the chat fell silent again.

Tony continued to search through the hall. It was like a goddamn ant farm. The tunnelling hallways seemed endless. They forked and converged on each other, forming multiple pathways like a maze. Tony flew through hall after hall, trying not to get lost.

“How could Fisk’s workers work in this shit?” Tony mumbled to himself as he busted down another door. He checked inside the room.

His jaw dropped.

Inside this room was Peter, still handcuffed to a chair. Over him stood a woman with brown hair up in a ponytail. She held a gas mask to Peter’s face and forced him to inhale a pale green smoke. She flinched at the door slamming open, and her eyes widened with fear as they fell upon Tony, who hovered in the air in his Iron Man suit. His mask’s glowing white eyes glared down at her as he raised his right gauntlet. He would’ve blasted her away immediately, but she was too close to Peter. Tony didn’t want to risk accidentally hurting him.

“I found him!” Tony yelled into his comm. “He’s here! FRIDAY, send my coordinates to the others!” Before he could even hear the other Avengers’ responses, he turned off his voice chat so he could focus all his attention on this person who was hurting his kid .

“Step away from him right now ,” Tony growled at her.

The woman put her hands up and backed away from Peter, carrying the gas mask away with her.

“I will keep you alive,” Tony kept a steady hand trained on her, ready to shoot, “if you tell me about what the hell kinda drug you’ve put him under.”

“I-It’s called Mysterio,” the woman stuttered out. Tony read the name badge pinned to her white lab coat - Claudia. “W-We get it from a man named Quentin Beck. It makes the user see very vivid hallucinations. Usually its effects last for 5 hours, b-but the boy’s metabolism is enhanced, so his body eats through it much faster than a normal person’s. I-I have to re-dose him every 2 hours.”

“This whole time you’re held him prisoner, has he slept?! Has he eaten?!”

“N-No, sir.”

Tony’s mind was racing with anger. Peter was probably starving . And he hadn’t slept, so his mind had been tortured with illusions this whole time that he’d been captured. That was almost a whole 14 hours. Tony powered up his repulsor, making its signature sound echo in the small room.

Claudia began to look even more scared. Before she could say anything, Tony’s repulsor blast shot out of his hand, sending Claudia flying across the room. She collided with the wall, knocking her head, then fell to the ground, unconscious.

Tony quickly sprung into action. He asked FRIDAY to search the room for the key to Peter’s handcuffs. She found it in Claudia’s lab coat pocket. Tony grabbed it, then rushed over to Peter and unlocked his hands from behind his back. He then looked stood over Peter and tried to get him to move. At the moment, his eyes were closed and he mumbled quietly to himself.

“Come on, Peter,” Tony said as calmly as he could. He didn’t know if Peter was asleep of awake, so he shook his shoulder. “Are you awake, kid? It’s me. I’m here. I’m gonna get you out of here, OK buddy?”

Peter’s eyes slowly blinked open. He looked up at Tony, but his gaze looked blank, not registering what was in front of him. Then his eyes seemed to focus. They widened and Peter’s whole face filled with dread. “N-No!”

Behind the Iron Man mask, Tony’s brows furrowed with worry. That drug must’ve been making him see things. “It’s OK, kiddo. It’s just me-”

Peter’s breathing quickened. He tried to back away from Tony, but he just fell off his chair and onto the floor. He mumbled under his breath, “Z-Zombie… Iron Man zombie…”

“No, no, kid, it’s just me! Look,” Tony’s suit opened and he stepped out. Sure, if any of Fisk’s guards came in and saw him, he’d be completely undefended and most likely shot, but he didn’t care at the moment. All that mattered was calming Peter down.

Tony crouched down to Peter’s level. “It’s OK, bambino , it’s just me.” He held his bare hand out, palm facing up, and slowly moved towards Peter - like he was trying to get an animal to trust him. “It’s me. It’s Dad. You’re safe now, kiddo. I’m here.”

“D-Dead…”

“No way, Peter. I’m not dead. That drug is just making you get hallucinations of your nightmares. I’m alive and I’m right here. Come over here so I can carry you out of here.”

Peter blinked, then rubbed his eyes. Tony thought he might actually be getting through to him, but then Peter collapsed onto the ground and erupted in loud, wailing sobs. “N-No! No… D-Dad’s dead… I-I saw it…”

Tony’s heart broke into a million pieces, but what did he expect? He just saw that evil scientist lady give Peter another dose of Mysterio not even 5 minutes ago. He wasn’t going to break out of his hallucinogenic prison that easily.

“Come on , Peter,” Tony said in a broken voice.

Just then, Tony heard footsteps fast approaching, followed by Steve’s and Rhodey’s frantic breaths as they entered the room. Rhodey ran to Tony and crouched next to him, disengaging his War Machine mask, while Steve ran over to Peter and scooped the hysterically crying boy into his arms. He was too weak to fight against his super-strength.

Rhodey saw Tony’s eyes glistening with unshed tears. “H-He,” Tony was really struggling to hold them back, “he th-thinks I’m dead, and there’s nothing I can do to help-”

“He’ll be fine,” Rhodey tried to keep Tony sane. “We just need to bring him home.”

“But he’s suffering now -”

“So the sooner we get him out of here, the better.” Rhodey stood up as Steve - carrying Peter, rushed out of the room. “Come on.”

Tony took a deep breath and nodded. He stood up and got back into his Iron Man suit. Then the two men followed Steve out the door.

They ran through the maze-like hallways, making their way back to the elevator. Steve told the comms that he, Tony, and Rhodey secured Peter, and for everyone to meet up by the elevator.

They arrived at the main room before anyone else. They looked towards the elevator and froze in their tracks.

Standing in front of the elevator, blocking the doors, was Fisk.

Tony instantly raised his arm and started charging up his blaster. “You’re a dead man for what you’ve done, Fisk.”

“I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you, Stark,” Fisk said, sounding surprisingly calm given the circumstances. His hand was in his pocket, and Steve - who didn’t have armor like Tony and Rhodey - prepared himself in case Fisk was holding a gun.

“Give me a single reason why I shouldn’t send all of my heat-seeking missiles at you at this exact moment,” Tony seethed.

Fisk laughed and slowly took his hand out of his pocket, but his hand didn’t retrieve a gun. No, instead he held a little glass vile that contained a green liquid. “This is more of the Mysterio drug. The second it makes contact with the oxygen in the air, it’ll turn into a gaseous state and spread throughout this room. All I need to do is shatter this vial on the ground, hold my breath, and go up this elevator behind me, leaving you all suffering terrible illusions with no way of-”

Suddenly, the air around Fisk’s hand glowed red, and he gasped as his hand was forced to let go of the vial. It quickly floated over to the left side of the room, where many more Avengers had finally arrived. The vial finally stopped floating over by Wanda, who smiled as she caught it in her hand and placed it in her pocket. She high-fived Natasha, who stood next to her.

“You forget that you’re not just fighting Stark,” Wanda said.

“Peter might be Tony’s son,” Natasha said, “but the rest of us are still his family.”

“That’s right,” Thor’s voice came from the other side of the room. He and the rest of the Avengers had just entered the main room, too. All the Avengers were together now. “If you want to hurt Peter, you’ll have to go through all of us.”

Tony couldn’t stop the smile from forming on his face under his mask.

His hand shot out a repulsor blast, hitting Fisk right in the chest. But Fisk was strong - pure muscle - and the blast only caused him to groan a bit. He reached into his other pocket and this time, he did pull out a gun.

He aimed it at Peter and shot.

Tony flew in front of Peter within a split second. The bullet crumpled against the bulletproof Iron Man armor. He took a deep breath, then looked Fisk in the eyes.

“Stay away from my son .”

An all-out fight against Fisk broke out. All the Avengers rushed at him to defend Peter. Fisk ran forward into the fray, continuing to shoot his gun. Tony blocked all his bullets and shot back at Fisk with his repulsor, but Fisk seemed to almost shrug off the attacks.

Steve threw his shield at Fisk, but with Peter in his arms it was hard to aim. Luckily, it managed to knock the gun out of Fisk’s hands.

Then Bucky came from the left and punched Fisk square in the jaw with his metal arm, causing him to stumble backwards. “I won’t let you get near him,” Bucky snarled. “That boy was the one who got me to finally believe that I’m not a monster! You’re the one who’s a monster!”

He punched Fisk again, a third time, but the fourth time Fisk managed to deflect Bucky’s fist and slip away. He ran towards Peter again - somehow thinking he had even a chance at winning - but he was interrupted by Natasha’s foot kicking him in the face.

“Get away from my Baby Spider! ” Nat kicked him again, this time square in the chest. He must’ve been weakened by everyone’s collective hits, because that finally sent him to the ground. Fisk quickly started to try to get back on his feet.

“Oh no you don’t,” Loki pounced on Fisk and summoned a dagger into each of his hands. He stabbed one deep into Fisk’s shoulder, then held the other against Fisk’s neck, pinning him to the ground. Loki continued to speak, his voice bubbling with rage, “I will not let you continue to hurt the only human I actually like , and not just tolerate the existence of! That boy is the best thing on this stupid planet! I will not hesitate to kill you after what you’ve done to him!”

Loki felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw that it was Tony. The other Avengers had also gathered around them, their weapons at their sides. The fight was over. They had won.

A sly smile spread across Loki’s face. “Actually,” he stood up, and Wanda kept Fisk pinned to the ground with her telekinesis. Loki gave Tony a nod, “I think you should be the one to deal the final blow, Stark.”

Tony nodded back at Loki, then turned to look at Fisk. The glowing eyes of his mask stared at him with a piercing, steely gaze. He wanted to kill that man. He wanted to kill him for what he’s done to his boy. But he weighed all of his options, and decided on something else.

He disengaged his helmet, revealing his face. “You know what, I have a better idea.” He looked over at Wanda. “You still have that vial?”

Wanda smiled. Since she was using both her hands to hold FIsk down with her powers, Clint - who stood next to her - took it out of her pocket and handed it to Tony.

“Thank you,” Tony said, fake sweetness in his voice. He looked back down at Fisk and gave him a scary smile. “You made my son suffer with this,” he said and held up the vial. “Now it’s time for you to suffer just as he did.”

Tony made his Iron Man helmet form back around his face and began to walk towards the elevator. The other Avengers followed him. Steve continued to carry Peter and Wanda kept Fisk pinned to the ground. Tony pressed the up button on the elevator and its doors slid open immediately. The Avengers entered it.

“Hold your breath everyone,” Tony said, then threw the vial into the room towards Fisk. It broke on impact, making the sound of glass shattering echo throughout the room.

Pale green gas exploded from where the vial landed. Wanda let her grasp on Fisk go, which made him cough and gasp for air as he stumbled back onto his feet. However, that just made him inhale the Mysterio drug.

“No!” Fisk shouted. “No! You won’t get away with this Stark!”

“I just did,” Tony said as the elevator doors slid closed. He waved, “Bye, big guy. I’m sure the police will be happy to know about all of this.”

Right before the doors shut, he and the Avengers saw Fisk crumple back down to the ground, screaming and covering his eyes.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The disguised ambulance outside Fisk Tower didn’t have enough room for every Avenger to sit inside. Once they gave Peter to Bruce and Dr. Cho, Tony also climbed in and stayed with Peter on the ride back to the Tower. The other Avengers rode in the cars they’d taken there.

Bruce had Peter lie down on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance. He had his eyes screwed shut and was shaking in fear, still mumbling to himself, but that was the most he moved. He didn’t struggle when Dr. Cho hooked him up to an IV or when she drew his blood to run tests on.

“Have you heard of this drug? Mysterio?” Tony asked her, worry laced in his voice.

“Yeah,” Cho said. “It’s manufactured by this crazy guy named Quentin Beck. The police keep trying to arrest him but he keeps slipping from their grasp.”

“The woman administering it to Peter said it’d wear off for him in 2 hours.”

“That sounds right. When we get back to the Tower medbay, I’ll give him some sleeping medication. Hopefully he won’t suffer from this stuff as much in his sleep.”

“This… this drug…” Tony said carefully, “it’s not gonna have any… long-lasting side-effects, right? He’s gonna be OK after it wears off?”

“From what I’ve heard about Mysterio,” Cho responded, “after it wears off, it just feels like you’ve woken up from a bad dream. No long-lasting side-effects, he just might be a little shaken for a while.”

Tony was still worried, but he figured nothing would quell his anxiety until he got to see Peter fully conscious again.

They eventually arrived at the Tower, and Peter was rushed to the medbay. Tony sat by his side as Dr. Cho and Bruce got him settled in. Pepper showed up soon after and stood by Tony, and soon after that the rest of the Avengers arrived. They all surrounded Peter’s battered body laid down in a hospital bed. Peter still had his eyes shut tight and continued to mumble incoherently to himself.

Cho finished her full examination of him, and she informed Tony of his injuries.

“He’s pretty OK, considering,” Cho said. “Just a lot of bruising and lacerations. No broken bones or damaged organs. Those guys probably just wanted to hurt him bad enough without actually causing too much damage so he could keep being Fisk’s bargaining chip against you. The worst thing is the Mysterio in his blood, but as I told you before, it should wear off in a couple hours, and he should be fine after that. I’ll give him some sleeping meds now.”

Just a couple hours, Tony thought to himself. He just had to wait a couple hours, and then his son would be free of this pain.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Cho,” Tony said to her, but kept his gaze on Peter.

Cho nodded and left the room.

Tony then pulled a chair over to be right next to Peter’s bed and sat in it. He pet Peter’s hair. His son… His son was back. His son was safe and sound in front of him.

“Hey, Peter,” he whispered. “Don’t worry, kid. You’re going to be just fine. I’m so sorry that I ever let you out of my sight.”

Peter eyes opened the tiniest bit, and his unintelligible words became a little more intelligible. “Dad?”

Tony’s eyes lit up. “Yes, bambino . It’s me. It’s Dad. I’m right here.”

“N-No, no,” Peter’s eyes closed again. His words were still all slurred together. “D-Dead… I saw…”

The light from Tony’s eyes immediately faded again. “Goddamnit…”

“I-I, I can hear ’im, Mom,” Peter continued. “I c’n hear ’im. Bu’ he’s dead…”

“I’m not dead, buddy. I’m right here.”

At this point, the other Avengers were beginning to file out of the room, giving Tony and Peter some privacy. The only other person who stayed was Pepper, and Tony beckoned her forward. She walked closer to him and Peter. “Tell him I’m not dead. I think he’s hallucinating talking to you. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

“I think we should just let him be, Tony,” Pepper said, rubbing her husband’s shoulders. “His mind will come back to us in a couple hours. Dr. Cho said so. We just have to wait.”

“I don’t want him to be in this emotional pain for another minute ,” Tony said through his teeth. “Plus, what if when he wakes up, it turns out that he’s been under this drug for too long, and he doesn’t believe I’m real. What if he’s been too psychologically damaged-”

“Tony, don’t dwell on ‘what if’s. You know that.” Pepper bend down and kissed Tony’s head. “Cho said he’ll be fine when he wakes up. We just need to wait. You should go eat something-”

“I’m not leaving his side.”

Pepper closed her eyes and smiled, letting out a quiet breath. “Right. Of course.”

“Please, just humor me. Tell him I’m not dead.”

She sighed, leaned slightly over Peter at his bedside. “Peter, sweetheart, your dad’s alive.”

It only then occurred to Tony that Peter had still been calling him ‘Dad’ this whole time, and that he’d referred to himself as Peter’s dad - multiple times. He’d called Peter son a lot, too. And Peter had also called Pepper ‘Mom’.

“You’re hallucinating,” Pepper continued, petting Peter’s arm. “This is all just a bad dream. Dad’s right next to you.”

“Y-You said…” Peter spoke up again in his slurred voice, “y-you told ‘im we’d be fine but ‘m not! ‘M r’lly not…”

“Peter, sweetie, look. He’s right here. Look up. Please.”

Peter shifted over. His eyes were a little more open, his eyelids now only covering half of each eye. He looked right at Tony.

Tony held his breath and Peter held eye contact with him. “D-Dad?”

“Yes, tesoro . I’m right here.”

Peter didn’t burst into tears, he didn’t scream, instead he just… smiled.

Tony took this as a good sign.

Peter’s eyes closed again. His head fell limp against his pillow. Dr. Cho’s drugs must’ve finally kicked in. He’d fallen asleep.

 

Notes:

Yayyy Peter’s back and he’s OK! Be sure to leave kudos and comments if you liked this! The next chapter will feature lots of happy reunion tears and emotions! I hope you guys are excited! The next chapter will be posted on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 21: Is This The End?

Summary:

Peter’s back at Avengers Tower now that Fisk has been defeated. Tony and Peter talk. The summer is almost over, and everything seems to be coming to a happy ending.

…..but is it?

Notes:

Get ready for some happy reunion emotions! Enjoy the chapter! (Also there are some slight Far From Home references that are kind of spoilers? Idk don’t worry you’ll be fine if you haven’t seen Far From Home yet it’s fine.)

After 2 and a half hours, Peter woke up. He blinked his eyes open, trying to make sense of where he was, and what had happened.

He remembered the gala - boy that was fun. But then… Right, then he was taken by Fisk. And after that… after that it was all fuzzy. He remembered Fisk’s henchmen locking him in vibranium handcuffs and beating him senseless. And then he remembered them forcing a gas mask on his mouth, and a pale green gas filled his lungs. That’s when the fuzziness in his memory began.

He looked around and noticed he was in the hospital wing of Avengers Tower. At his side, he saw Tony, working on his StarkPad.

Suddenly the fuzziness in his memory became clearer.

The gas must’ve been some sort of hallucinogen, and it made him see his weird recurring nightmare - the purple alien guy with the big chin, the glowy glove, and… Tony dying. He’d watched Tony die again. He had cried and mourned. But it was worse than his nightmares. Way worse. It was much more vivid. He’d seen Tony die over and over, and then after that the ‘nightmare’ continued on with new content he hadn’t seen before. He’d gone to Tony’s funeral and cried even more. And he’d met some weird guy that had what looked like an upside-down fishbowl on his head, filled with green gas - just like how the gas he breathed in looked. And after that, he’d seen… god, he didn’t want to think about those terrifying illusions.

It all felt so real at the time, but now… now it seemed so far away, like a dream. Just like his nightmares. It still felt scary and confusing now, but at least now he knew it wasn’t real.

He was back. He was back at Avengers Tower. His dad was alive. His dad… His dad was alive …

Peter sniffed, trying to suppress his sobs of relief.

Tony immediately looked over at the sound. Relief spread across his face. “Peter-”

“Dad-” Peter’s voice cracked. He couldn’t hold back his tears.

Tony put his StarkPad down and rushed to sit next to Peter on his bed. Peter quickly sat up, wrapped his arms around Tony, and cried into his shirt. Tony squeezed him back and ran his hand through Peter’s hair over and over.

“It’s OK now, son. I’m here. You’re right here with me,” Tony couldn’t keep his own tears back either. “It’s OK. Let it out. I know everything that they did to you. They made you take some kind of hallucinogenic drug. None of that stuff you saw in there was real, buddy. They were just illusions. This is real, right now. You’re home. We’re both safe here at home.”

When Peter was finally able to speak again, he shifted up and buried his face in Tony’s neck, wanting the most comfort he could get after going through hours of nightmares. “I-I-I, I saw you die…”

“I know, bambino . It’s OK now. I’m right here. I’m alive.”

“I saw you die over and over …”

“I know. Don’t worry, I’m right here.” Tony continued to rub Peter’s back and pet his hair.

Peter wanted to keep talking. He wanted to say everything he saw. Those horrible illusion-memories were bottled up inside his head and he wanted to get them out. “Th-Then we all went to your funeral. Oh my god, I could barely handle it. It all felt so real. And then this crazy fishbowl-head guy showed up, and he made me see all these new scary things. H-He even made me see you crawling out of your grave like a zombie and oh my god it was so scary-”

“Shh…” Tony finally managed to snap out of his shock. He had froze when Peter started to describe his illusions. “Th-That… Jesus, that must’ve been horrible.”

Peter sniffed. “I-It doesn’t feel real, now that it’s over.”

“Good, that’s good.”

“Now it just feels like a bad dream.”

“That’s right, buddy. Just a bad dream.”

Peter didn’t care that he kind of felt like a little kid. He wanted to be held and comforted. He wanted his dad. After all those nightmares, he just wanted to be held by his dad.

His… dad … 

Holy shit, he’d been referring to Tony as his dad this whole time.

It hadn’t even occurred to him to call Tony anything else but ‘Dad’. His face suddenly went red. Tony was probably feeling super awkward right now, wasn’t he? He was probably weirded out that Peter thought of him as his father-

“Kid, you good?” Tony asked as Peter went tense in his arms.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing, Da- Tony! Oh my god, I mean Tony .” Peter pulled away from Tony and looked at his lap. God, what was wrong with him?

He felt Tony’s hand on his shoulder. He nervously looked up, and was surprised to see Tony smiling - his soft smile that he reserved only for Peter.

“Pete, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Peter gulped. This was it. This was when Tony would tell him to not call him dad and that it was weird and awkward and-

“Do you… see me as your father?” Tony actually looked nervous , something Peter rarely ever saw Tony be. “I mean, not just a father figure , but your father . Because if you do, you can definitely call me ‘Dad’ all the time, not just when the Avengers are around. I wouldn’t mind.”

Tony hesitated for a moment, while Peter stared at him in shock. This wasn’t what he expected. Before Peter could respond, Tony started speaking again.

“I-I wouldn’t mind at all,” Tony said. “I’d… I’d prefer if you did that, honestly. Because I… I see you as my son.” He finally met Peter’s eyes, “You are my son, to me at least.”

Peter blinked.

That… That wasn’t at all what he expected.

He felt his eyes welling up with tears.

“Of course, if you don’t want to do that, that’s fine, too,” Tony quickly backtracked. Peter saw him try to reach for his sunglasses in his pocket, but he didn’t have them with him at the moment. “It’s not a big deal or anything, I just-”

He was interrupted by Peter’s flinging his arms around him again.

“O-Of course I see you as m-my father,” Peter started crying again, but these tears were much more happy. “I’ve been thinking of you as my father for this whole summer. I-I didn’t think… I just… I didn’t think you thought of me as your son.”

“You didn’t think- Peter ,” Tony let out a laugh, “How much more dad-like do I have to be for you to realize I see you as my son?”

“I-I dunno. How about you, though? How much more son-like do I have to be for you to realize I see you as my dad?”

Tony just laughed again. He wasn’t used to feeling so happy and honestly it was scaring him a little bit. He hugged Peter closer. “Kid, I have some fatherly wisdom for you.”

“Um, OK,” Peter replied hesitantly. “What is it?”

“No matter what you think, no matter how smart you are, no matter how sure you are of yourself,” Tony took a deep breath before finishing his sentence, “Pepper is always right.”

Peter giggled. “You already taught me that, Dad. Why’re you saying that now? Did she say something to you?”

“She might of.”

They fell into peaceful silence for a moment after that, still in a hug. Then Peter spoke up again. “S-So, I can call you ‘Dad’? Even when the Avengers aren’t around?”

“Yes, you can.”

Peter smiled against Tony’s shoulder. “OK. Great.”

They soon broke their hug after that. But Tony continued to sit next to Peter on his medbay bed. He slowly brushed his hands though Peter’s hair over and over. The soothing motion almost lulling Peter back to sleep. His eyes would flutter closed and then snap back open as Peter clearly fought his body’s desire to take a nap.

“You should let yourself sleep, kiddo,” Tony said softly. “You still need to heal from what Fisk and his guys did to you.”

“I don’ wanna sleep…” Peter said rather sleepily.

Tony laughed quietly through his nose and continued to pet Peter’s hair. He really wanted to tell Peter that he loved him. It was on the tip of Tony’s tongue - ‘I love you, kid.’ But his brain was still too scared to say it.

Whatever, he thought. He’d already just told Peter that he thought of him as his son. That was enough emotions for one day. There’d be plenty of time to say the word ‘love’ later.

“You gotta sleep, kid. You need to heal. Don’t you feel tired?”

And yes, Peter was tired. He slowly drifted back to sleep, listening to the comforting reverberations of his dad’s voice. He knew he was safe now.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

On the first day of being back at the Tower, Peter stayed in bed the whole day. Since he had no broken bones or anything really bad like that, his super healing was able to take care of his injuries easily, and he was physically all healed up by the end of that first day back. He probably would’ve been able to walk around, but Tony said he should rest in bed the whole day anyway, just in case.

Also on that first day back, Peter called May and told her what had happened. He told her that Fisk kidnapped him but then Tony and the Avengers rescued him. She was very concerned at first, but Peter managed to calm her down. He was sure to mention how he was captured for less than 24 hours - that’s how fast the Avengers had come to save him. After Peter calmed her down for a bit longer, she sighed and said she was just thankful that Peter was OK.

“Yeah,” Peter had responded, smiling to himself. “I’m more than OK.”

He didn’t tell her how Tony said he could call him ‘Dad’ now. He didn’t know how she’d react. He’d tell her eventually, and hopefully she’d be OK with it.

During that whole first day back, as Peter was confined to his hospital bed, Tony sat in the visitor’s chair next to him the whole time. He cancelled all his meetings and just spent the day with Peter. They talked a lot, but for most of the day, they just sat in silence next to each other - Tony working on his StarkPad and Peter playing on his Nintendo Switch. That was all Peter needed, was to see that his dad was alive.

At one point, Peter turned on the TV in his hospital room. It flicked onto the news, which was in the middle of a report.

“-and has been arrested on multiple charges, including kidnapping. Eyewitnesses say they saw the Avengers enter Fisk Tower, then exit soon afterwards with the rescued victim. Wilson Fisk has been heavily rumored to be in charge of a large underground crime syndicate, so many rejoice at his recent arrest…”

Peter looked to Tony. “You guys got him arrested?!”

Tony shrugged. “We didn’t even have to alert the police. People saw us entering Fisk Tower and must’ve called the police themselves. They arrested him a couple hours after we left.”

“That’s great!” Peter said. “Now all his mob crime stuff will stop, too!”

Tony chuckled. “That’s right.”

Peter turned back to the TV and continued to listen to the news report.

“…Many are wondering who the kidnapping victim was. In photos taken when the Avengers left Fisk Tower, we can tell that the victim is a child, although the Avengers seemed to make sure they were covering the child’s face as they exited, blocking them from any cameras. We’ve called the Avengers, but they’ve chosen to keep the child anonymous…”

“That was nice of you guys,” Peter said to Tony.

“Don’t mention it,” Tony smiled at him.

Pepper and the other Avengers visited Peter on that first day back, too. He received many hair ruffles from them, and Natasha gave him a big hug. They all asked if he was sure that he was feeling alright, and Peter assured them that he was feeling just fine.

He fell asleep rather early - at around 8pm or so. Tony thought it was for the best. The kid really needed to sleep.

At that time, he was still in the visitor’s chair by Peter’s side, but Pepper was also in the room. Once they heard Peter’s breathing even out in peaceful sleep, Pepper stood up and walked over to Tony. She stood behind his chair and hugged him from behind. “I’m so relieved that he’s doing well.”

“God, me too,” Tony said, holding onto Pepper’s hand. “I talked to him, by the way.”

“About what?”

“About the father and son thing.”

Pepper smirked from behind Tony. “And how did that go?”

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“It went… great.”

“You’re fantastic at using one-sylable adjectives, Tony.”

“OK, he said he sees me as his father, just like you said,” Tony turned in his seat to face her, smiling up at her. “You were right, like you always are. I’m sorry that I ever doubted you.”

“You should be,” Pepper gave Tony a kiss. “Is he gonna refer to you as ‘Dad’ from now on?”

“Yep.” Tony couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“Even when he goes back to living with his aunt?”

That made his smile falter. “I mean, he’ll still visit after school and on the weekends.”

“Well, at least you’ll still get to see each other often,” Pepper said. “I’m gonna miss having him live here, though. He was always so nice to talk to at breakfast.”

“I’m sure May will let him sleep over occasionally. Then he’ll still get to eat breakfast with us sometimes.”

“That’s good.”

Tony sighed. He was really gonna miss having Peter live at the Tower, but at least he’d still get to visit. And besides, the summer wasn’t over just yet. Peter didn’t start school until early September, and it was still August. Peter would still be living with them for another few weeks.

Pepper squeezed her arms around Tony again. “We should go upstairs and get some rest.”

Tony laughed. “Funny, you think I’m leaving his side.”

Pepper chuckled and shook her head. “Right, right.” She kissed Tony again, then walked towards the door. “I’ll be in our room. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Pep.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too, honey.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Tony wasn’t surprised when Peter woke up crying at 1 am.

Tony hadn’t even fallen asleep yet, even though it was late. He barely ever slept, so it was fine. He was used to it. He was editing some blueprints on his StarkPad when he suddenly heard Peter’s previously calm breathing quicken into something more frantic. Tony looked over right as Peter shot up into a sitting position, shouting and shaking with sobs.

Tony quickly moved next to him and put a hand on his back. “Hey there, kiddo. It’s OK. You’re alright. You’re safe.”

Peter reached out his arms and latched onto Tony, quieting his cries on his shoulder. Tony hugged him back, carding a hand through his hair

“You’re safe, Pete. I’m here.”

Peter was able to calm down within just a couple minutes, his breaths evening out again. He looked up at Tony, the skin around his eyes red from crying. “Thanks, Dad.”

Tony smiled at the word. “No problem, buddy. I’ll always be here for you.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The week continued on, and Peter continued to heal - more mentally this time, rather than physically.

He was finally able to leave the medbay, and after a few more days of hanging out with Tony and the Avengers again, he was feeling a lot better. Everything seemed to go back to normal.

And - contrary to what everyone, including Peter, expected - he actually got less nightmares in that week than he’d had the week before. Yes, despite Peter being recently kidnapped, he only had 2 nightmares that week, unlike the previous week’s 4 nightmares. And they weren’t even that bad of nightmares either. Just like the one he had on the first day back, Tony would just calm him down, and he would easily be able to go back to sleep. He didn’t even have to watch a movie to do so. It was as if Tony and Peter telling each other that they thought of each other as father and son single-handedly improved Peter’s mental health.

When he went to bed at the end of that week, Peter felt really good. After saying goodnight to Tony and Pepper, he walked down the hall to his room. He thought about what he and Tony built in the lab that day, and the cool stories Loki had told him at lunch. He thought about how Bucky quoted a vine at him that afternoon and how Natasha sparred with him in the gym that morning. He’d really recovered surprisingly well from the whole getting-kidnapped thing. Now that he was back home with his family, everything was fine. He was happier than ever.

Peter entered his room. Right as he closed his door, his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He reached for it and looked at the screen. May was calling him. Strange - wasn’t it late at night where she was? And besides, they had already called each other that week. Usually they didn’t call each other more than once a week. Maybe May had something to tell him.

Peter jumped into his spinning desk chair, the momentum sending it rolling a few feet, and answered the call. “Hey, May! How’s it going?”

“Hey, Peter! It’s going… it’s going great.” May’s voice didn’t have its usual sunshine in it.

“You sure? Cuz you don’t sound too great,” Peter said. “Is something wrong?”

He heard May sigh. “Peter, I have good news and bad news.”

Peter’s stomach dropped. “Um, good news first?”

“The good news is that this summer job isn’t just for the summer anymore. They’re hiring me for a real, permanent job! I start in a couple weeks!”

“Oh my god!” Peter’s face lit up. “Oh my god, May! That’s amazing! That’s so great!” May would be so much happier doing this work that she actually loved to do. Plus, she’d make much more money. “What could the bad news possibly be?”

May sighed again. “The bad news is that the job is here, in Italy.”

The smile didn’t leave Peter’s face. “Yeah? So?”

He heard May laugh weakly on the other end of the line. “Peter, that means we’d have to move to Italy .”

Oh.

Oh.

Peter’s whole body turned to jelly. He gripped the cold, plastic arms of his desk chair. “May-”

“I know, I know, I don’t want to move either, honey,” May said quickly. “But you gotta understand, this is such a good opportunity for me and my career and… Come on, Italy is such a cool place, right? We’ll have fun! I’m stationed in this small town in the south, which will be… I dunno, a nice break from the city that you’re used to? Plus, you’ll be going to college in just a couple years, and then you can leave and go dorm there instead. But for now, I’m gonna have to move you out of New York really soon.”

“But May, New York needs Spider-Man! The crime rate would soar without me! A-And, I go to Midtown Tech! That’s like the best S.T.E.M. high school ever! And I’m only there because of a scholarship! I’m not gonna find an amazing opportunity like that for me over in a small town! And my friends! May, it took me 2 years of high school to make only two good friends there! How am I gonna make friends as great as them at a whole new school in a whole new country? I can’t even speak Italian! I know you can, and Tony’s been teaching me a little, but I don’t know enough to live there-”

“Peter, Peter, sweetheart, you need to calm down.”

Peter didn’t realize how fast he was breathing. He tried to take deep breaths but he couldn’t. Tears were pricking at his eyes. He didn’t even get to say the main reason he didn’t want to move - he didn’t want to leave Tony. He couldn’t leave Tony. At least if he went back to living in Queens, he could still visit Tony at the Tower all the time. But if they moved, he’d barely ever get to see him again.

“I-I’m sorry, May. I’m so happy for you! This is a great opportunity for you, and I know you love this job but… but I don’t know if I can move. There’s too many things for me here in New York. New York needs Spider-Man.

“I know, Peter. I’m sorry.” May sounded genuinely guilty, and Peter hated himself for it. May shouldn’t have to feel guilty about getting promoted .

“N-No, I’m sorry,” Peter’s voice cracked, “I shouldn’t be ruining your big opportunity.”

“Peter, listen to me,” May said, and Peter listened close. She sighed, “If there was a way for me to keep you in New York, and have only me move to Italy, I’d do that in a heartbeat. I want you to be happy, Peter, and I know you’ll be happier in New York. It would be a little hard living apart at first, but hey, we’ve been apart all summer and look how good we’re doing, right?”

“Right, yeah.”

“But sadly, I’m your only guardian. I’m your last living relative. So you have to come with me. There’s no one in New York I can leave you with permanently.”

Silent tears streamed down his face. He was going to have to move. He was going to move away from New York, his home, his city. He’d have to leave his friends. He’d have to leave the Avengers - his strange, hap-hazardly duct-taped together family that he loved so much.

He’d have to leave Tony. He’d have to leave his father.

Peter wiped his tears away. “OK.” Peter’s voice was raw and weak.

He could hear the heartbreak in May’s sigh on the other end of the line. “I’m so sorry, Peter. I mean it, really, if there was a way that you could stay in New York and only I would move here, I would make it happen. I really would. I want you to be happy.”

“I know, May. I know you mean it. It…” Peter sniffed back a sob, “It’s just a shame that can’t happen.”

They were both quiet for a few moments, before May said in a whisper, “It’s late. I have to go. Bye, sweetheart. I love you so, so much.”

“Love you too, May.”

Peter hung up the phone and let his sobs consume him.

 

Notes:

I’m sorry to leave you guys on that cliffhanger! I actually kinda feel bad lmao. Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine. Remember! This fic is tagged ‘Happy Ending’!!! Leave kudos and maybe comment what you think is gonna happen in the next chapter! I won't confirm anyone's theories, but I bet you can guess what's gonna happen. Tune in next time to see what events unfold! The next chapter will be posted on Thursday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 22: Be There For Me

Summary:

Peter is upset. Tony needs to fix this.

Notes:

You guys ready for some ANGST and then happiness? This is probably my favorite chapter of the fic. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

--

Edit from August 3rd, 2023:
Yeah it's been four year since I posted this story and I haven't been involved in the irondad fandom for a while, but I just thought of a way I could make a couple lines in this chapter make more sense so I just edited it a little bit lol.

Peter slept surprisingly easily that night. He just begged sleep to take hold of him and make the sadness go away. But when his consciousness returned, so did the crushing feeling of having to move away from the one place he ever felt like he truly belonged.

He avoided the Avengers as best he could the next day. He ate his breakfast early when no one was in the kitchen and then went out as Spider-Man. He might as well - he only had a few days to swing around his city until he’d have to move to a small freaking town in Italy . His Iron Spider suit was in the lab for repairs, so he changed into his classic blue and red spandex suit instead. He swung down the streets and just drowned in his thoughts.

He wasn’t oblivious to what he obviously wanted. The best solution would be for him to just continue to live with Tony, but he knew it wasn’t possible. Sure, Tony had agreed to take him in for the summer, but there was a big difference between staying with someone for the summer and staying with them permanently . And Tony wouldn’t want Peter to live with him permanently. That’d be too much of a burden on him. Peter was sure of it. Besides, he wasn’t even sure if it was legal for Peter to stay with Tony, since Tony wasn’t his legal guardian or anything like that.

After swinging around the city for hours, KAREN notified Peter with her sweet, motherly voice that Tony was calling him. She put Tony’s contact info on his HUD.

Peter told KAREN to decline the call.

He didn’t want to talk to Tony. He was going to push Tony away from him as far as possible. That way, when he finally did leave for Italy, it wouldn’t hurt either of them so badly.

“Peter,” KAREN said, “Mr. Stark is insisting that you pick up the phone.”

“I don’t wanna talk to him.”

“My systems are being manually accessed, I-I-” KAREN’s voice cut out, and a different - but just as familiar - one replaced it.

“OK, kid,” Tony’s face showed up on Peter’s HUD, “you gotta tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong, M-Mr. Stark, I’m fine-”

“Woah woah woah, hey, what? Mr. Stark? Buddy, I thought we were long past that.”

“T-Tony, I’m fine. Really. I just… I just wanna do some patrolling right now, that’s all.”

“Peter -” Oh god, Tony had said Peter - not kid, kiddo, Pete, not some fun nickname - Peter . He only ever did that when he was being serious. “I know something’s up. You’ve never not sat with us all for breakfast before. I didn’t even see you this morning. Now tell me what’s going on.”

Peter didn’t answer. He just continued to swing past the buildings of 2nd avenue.

“Peter, come on-”

“Why do you care?” Peter snapped. “Why do you even care what I’m doing? It’s not like you’re my real dad!”

Tony went silent. Peter refused to look at Tony’s hurt face on his HUD, but his eyes betrayed him and flicked over to glance at him. God, he hated himself. He shouldn’t have said that.

But he had to. The more Tony didn’t like him, the easier it would be for Peter to move away.

God, Peter really didn’t want to move away.

“KAREN, end the call,” Peter said, his voice devoid of emotion. Tony’s face left his display. Peter tried to hold back the tears threatening his eyes.

“Peter, there seems to be a mugging happening in an alleyway 2 blocks away,” KAREN’s A.I. voice said, just as soothing and calm as ever.

“Good,” Peter’s voice was anything but. “I-I mean, not good, but- I just, I meant that-” he sighed. “I-I just need a distraction.”

He swung two blocks over and sure enough, there was a man being mugged in an alleyway by a guy with a knife. Peter swooped down and landed next to them.

“Hey man, that isn’t very cool of you,” Peter tried his usual witty banter, but his tone fell flat. As he webbed the knife away, he tried to pull himself together. He shot another web at the mugger, sticking his arm to the side of his body and making him double backwards onto the cement.

Peter checked on the victim, who thanked him and quickly rushed away to safety. Peter turned back to the mugger, preparing to web him up more.

His Spidey-Sense felt the gunshot before he heard it,

The mugger, with his free arm, held up a pistol from the ground and shot it. Why was he even using a knife before if he had a gun all along? The loud bang sound it produced briefly reminded Peter of the July 4th fireworks from the beginning of that summer, all those weeks ago, when he sat on the couch and had his first movie night with his family, his dad beside him.

His Spidey-Sense flared red in his mind, but his body couldn’t move in time. His mind was too preoccupied.

The bullet tore through his arm, but the excruciating pain radiated throughout his entire body.

Peter cursed and stumbled backwards, then quickly shot as many webs as he could at the mugger before he could shoot that gun again. He was only satisfied when a translucent, white cocoon had formed around the man. Only then did he allow himself to assess his wound. He sat against the brick wall of the building beside him.

“KAREN, what’s the damage?”

“The bullet has gone completely through your bicep, Peter. It hasn’t damaged any major arteries, but you are still losing blood. I’m contacting Mr. Stark.”

“N-No! It’s OK, I’ll just… I’ll just swing back to the Tower. I heal fast. I’m sure it’ll be fine in like 2 hours.”

“You need urgent medical attention. Due to protocol, you cannot prohibit me from calling Mr. Stark. Calling now…”

Peter sighed and leaned his head back against the wall, holding his arm in his opposite hand.

The line picked up almost instantly. “Peter?! What’s wrong?! FRIDAY says you’re injured. I’m pulling up your vitals right now and- Oh my god, you were shot? !”

“I… Yeah. I was.”

“FRIDAY, tell Bruce to prepare the medbay and to call Dr. Cho. Peter, sit tight buddy, I’m coming to get you now.”

“You don’t need to-”

“I said , I’m coming to get you now .”

The call ended, and all Peter could do was wait. He felt so tired, and little lights danced around in the corners of his vision.

Unconsciousness swept over him easily, like it had the night before.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

When Peter came to, he still felt tired and didn’t want to open his eyes just yet, but his other enhanced senses told him were he was - the medbay. He felt the cotton sheets of the hospital bed under him that he’d laid in after so many injuries. He heard a heart monitor beeping to his right, the fan whirring above him, and the low volume of the hospital room’s TV tuned in on the news. He also heard the faint sound of breathing to his left.

The bright lights of the room shined an uncomfortable red-orange through his eyelids. He groaned and squirmed in the bed.

“Peter?”

That voice… That was his father’s voice. His dad was here. He’d be safe since his dad was here.

Peter tried to find the strength to respond, or to at least open his eyes, but he couldn’t. All that escaped his lips were a few incoherent mumbles.

“Shh, shh, it’s OK buddy. I’m right here.”

Peter felt his father’s familiar warm hand as it held onto his arm, his dad’s calloused thumb softly brushing across his skin in comfort.

“You feeling alright?”

Peter was only able to hum in response, but he didn’t sound at all in pain.

“Good. Dr. Cho gave you Cap’s good pain meds - the strong stuff, so your metabolism doesn’t eat through it too fast. She said with your super-healing, you’ll be all better in 6 hours or so.”

Huh, 6 hours. That was longer than he thought. Guess this was pretty serious. However, he literally just got shot , so maybe he should’ve known that already.

“Just get some sleep, alright? You need it. You’ll wake up and feel all better.”

Peter mumbled again, but no real words came out. He was so tired. He tried again. He wanted to say this. He needed to say this. Still no coherent words.

“Don’t stress yourself out, Pete. Just get some rest-”

“‘M s’rry…” Peter’s mouth finally worked, at least a little. “‘M r’lly s’rry…”

He couldn’t see how Tony reacted, since his eyes were still closed, but he did hear his response. “Don’t be, kiddo. It’s OK. But don’t think this gets you off the hook. As soon as you wake up, you’re telling me what’s got you all upset.”

“‘K… g’night, Dad.”

He heard Tony chuckle. Peter didn’t know it, but it was only around 1 pm. “Yeah, goodnight, kid.”

Peter’s heartbeat synced up with the comforting rhythm of Tony’s thumb stroking against his arm, and he fell back asleep.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter’s eyes blinked open.

He glanced around and saw that he was still in the hospital bed in the medbay. Out the large windows, the sun was about to set. The heart monitor still beeped beside him, and the fan still whirred above him. Peter’s mind wasn’t sluggish anymore, and his body felt fine. He felt the itchiness of the IV tube in his arm. He lifted his opposite arm and reached to scratch at it.

“Hey, hey, don’t do that, bud. Don’t touch it.”

Peter saw a hand come from the corner of his vision, which then took his own hand and guided it away from the IV tube. He looked over to his other side, opposite the window, and saw Tony leaning over him, sitting in the visitor’s chair, which had been moved from it’s normal place against the wall to be right at Peter’s bedside.

“It’s itchy,” Peter responded.

“I know. You’re getting it out soon. Don’t worry.” Tony looked at him, his previous concerned expression being overcome with relief. “You’ve been asleep for awhile. It’s almost 7:30 pm.”

“And you’ve been here this whole time?”

“Yep. You doing better?”

“Yeah, much better,” Peter said, although he didn’t quite remember what he was comparing his condition to. Why was he here in the medbay again?

Oh, right. He’d been shot.

And the day before, May had told them about… the thing. And then, just before he got shot, Tony had called him and Peter said… that.

“I’m sorry.”

“You apologised already, kiddo. I said it’s OK.”

“When did I-”

“You woke up when you were all drugged up. You wouldn’t remember.”

Peter vaguely remembered it - something about being lulled back to sleep by something comforting. “I’m still sorry.”

“And I said it’s alright,” Tony rested his hand on Peter’s arm. “And another thing I said was that when you woke up, you were gonna tell me what’s wrong.”

Peter looked away. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Come on, Peter. Tell me. I want to help.”

“I don’t wanna tell you,” Peter said. “If I tell you, it’s gonna make me more sad, and you’re gonna get sad, and then you’ll probably tell the Avengers too and then they’ll get sad, and I-I don’t want m-my last few days here t-to be all sad -”

“Woah woah woah kid, calm down. Breathe.” Tony squeezed his arm. “After saying that, now you gotta tell me what’s up. Why would we all be sad?”

Peter sniffed and tried his best to hold back his tears. “May called me and said we have to move away.”

Tony blinked, his eyebrows furrowed. “What? What do you mean?”

Peter explained everything - May’s new job, how he’d have to move to Italy with her, how he really didn’t want to leave, how May said she would’ve wanted him to stay in New York, but she had no choice and he had to move with her. Peter managed to say it all without bursting into tears, only having his voice crack a few times.

Tony leaned back in his chair and took a moment to process what Peter said.

“I’m not letting that happen,” Tony sounded scarily calm, an angry tone lying under his words. “I can’t let that happen.”

“I know. I don’t want to either. But I have to-”

“No, Peter, I can’t let you move halfway across the goddamn planet!” Tony raised his voice now. “What if you got hurt as Spider-Man out there, like you did today? What would happen? There’s no Avengers-approved doctors in some small town in Italy that know how to help an enhanced individual like you! And you can’t just walk into a normal hospital! They wouldn’t know your healing factor time or your proper medication dosage! And you couldn’t tell them without everyone finding out your true identity! You’d be hurt and have no place to go! And I wouldn’t be there to protect you!” Tony took a deep breath, then said calmer, “You’re not moving. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of this.”

“But what can you do?”

“I’ll call May up right now,” Tony stood up and took out his StarkPhone. “I’ll call her and offer her a job in one of the Stark medical labs. I’ll have her paid twice whatever those other people are paying her. She can do all her hospital work here instead.”

“Tony, you don’t get it. This is her dream job. This whole summer, she’s been helping sick orphans and people in struggling neighborhoods. Now she’ll get to do it as a job permanently .”

“There are hospitals that help sick orphans here in New York!”

“But there are plenty of qualified people in New York!” Peter said. “May wanted to be a part of an organization that went to places that weren’t so lucky. She’s finally doing what she wants, it just… sucks that it’s in Europe. Trust me, she’s not gonna accept any job you offer her.”

“I don’t care. I’m still calling her. FRIDAY, call May Parker.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Peter shook his head. “What are you going to say?”

“Something! Anything! I have to try!” Tony looked at Peter in the eyes, his phone raised to his ear. Tony looked determined, but behind that there was… fear. “You… you do want me to try, right?”

Peter was tired of holding back his tears. They flowed silently down his face as he nodded. “Please,” he sniffed. “I don’t want to leave-”

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” Tony said, rushing over to comfort Peter. “It’s OK.”

“Please, Dad, I don’t wanna go! I don’t wanna go!”

“I know, don’t worry,” Tony repeated. “I’ll fix this.”

Tony’s phone finally picked up. Due to his super-hearing, Peter heard May’s voice clearly on the other end of the line. “Hello, Tony. How can I help you?”

“Hey there, May! Sorry it’s so late for you over there,” Tony said, his tone of voice doing a complete 180 and changing to something much more pleasant. He started pacing around the room, eyes away from Peter.  “Peter informed me of your recent job offer. Congratulations, by the way.”

“Aw, thank you,” Peter heard May say through the phone. Then her voice got a bit sadder, “I’m sure he also told you how we’ll have to move away. The job’s in this town in southern Italy, and I start very soon. Peter’s gonna have to move out here in just a few days.”

“A few days -” Tony raised his voice, but then quickly stopped himself. He even stopped pacing. He took a breath, then continued to speak and walk around the room. “May, please, there’s gotta be something I can do. You sure you really want this job? I can offer you a job at Stark Medical. I’ll pay you so much higher than-”

“Thank you, Tony. Really. But this is my dream job,” May said, just like Peter knew she would. “I don’t care about the pay. The program I work for does a very specific kind of work that is rarely done anywhere else in the world. It's a type of medical treatment that's not even available in some major cities, let alone a small town like this. I feel like I'm actually making a difference here. Trust me, I know it’s bad for Peter to move here with me. If he could stay in New York while only I moved to Italy, I would do that. If Peter moves with me, he’d be leaving his friends, his STEM school, the city he protects, you and the Avengers - but I’m his last living relative.”

“May, please-”

“I have no other options, Tony. I’m his only guardian.”

“May, there has to be something -”

“Tony, he needs to live with an adult. It’s not like he can go off living on his own or anything - he’s still a child! There’s no choice. He has to move here with me.”

“I won’t let you take my son away from me!”

Peter’s whole body froze. His eyes didn’t blink. He stared at Tony, who stared out the window at the night sky, his back facing Peter. Peter’s eyes were locked onto the back of Tony’s head, unable to see the look on his face. He’d… he’d really said that. Tony said ‘son’, and his voice was filled with so much raw emotion. Peter didn’t think he’d ever heard Tony sound like that before.

The room was silent, minus the heart monitor’s beeps and Tony’s frantic breaths.

May’s voice on the phone finally spoke up. “I just got an idea.”

“What? What is it?” Tony said.

“Why don’t you adopt Peter?”

Tony stood up straighter, still facing away from Peter. Peter’s brain was in shock. He had difficulty processing the words he’d just heard. Peter felt like those words carried all of the sun’s warmth in them. Tony adopting him, becoming his real dad. It sounded too good to be true.

“Are you sure, May?”

“Yes! It’d be perfect!” May answered. “I know he’d be happier there in New York. We could still call all the time like we’ve been doing this summer, and I can come visit during vacation days.”

Peter was still shocked. It would be perfect. He’d get to stay in New York, he’d get to stay with Tony .

The real question was, would Tony agree to that? Having Peter live with him permanently would be such a burden-

“You’re a genius, May. An absolute genius. That would be perfect,” Tony replied to May before Peter could even finish his self-deprecating thoughts. “I’ll talk that over with Peter right now. Thank you. Goodbye.”

“Bye, Tony. Call me back once you have more of a plan.”

“I will. I definitely will.” Tony turned his head slightly, and Peter could see a smile creeping across his face. “Bye,” he said again, before hanging up the phone.

When he turned back to Peter, he was met with the boy’s teary eyes and beaming face.

“Peter,” Tony began to say very carefully, “Would that be OK? Would you want me to adopt-”

“Yes,” Peter interrupted him, his voice cracking. “Of course, Dad. Please.”

Tony’s eyes closed in relief. His mouth twisted into the most sentimental and vulnerable smile that Peter had ever seen him wear. When he opened his eyes again, he walked as quickly as he could back to Peter’s bedside. “C’mere, kiddo.”

Peter held his arms out as Tony sat next to him on the hospital bed and enveloped him in a hug - one hand around his midsection, the other supporting the back of his head, running his fingers through Peter’s soft curls. Peter hugged Tony back, squeezing tightly around his ribs.

“I’ll g-get to live h-here now?” Peter shakily asked, tears of joy streaming down his face.

“Yes you will, son,” Tony said, and Peter melted at the word again. “You’ll sleep in your room just like you’ve been doing all summer. Happy will drive you to school when it starts again, you’ll get to be with your friends, you’ll get to keep being Spider-Man - it’ll be perfect. You can call May every week just like you’ve been doing. You can call her every day , whatever you want. I’ll call my lawyers as soon as I can. They’re really good, and they’ll have all the papers ready for us to sign faster than any other lawyers would.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s hairline. “My son. Everything’s going to be alright, my son. You’re not going anywhere. Don’t worry, my boy, everything’s gonna be just fine. I gotcha. I gotcha.”

Peter couldn’t help but let out the quiet, hiccuping sobs that were escaping through his mouth. He buried his face in Tony’s shoulder. He was so overwhelmingly happy . He took in each of Tony’s words like they were drops of life itself - ‘ my son’, ‘my boy’. Tony called him that and meant it. It was everything he’d ever wanted Tony to say to him and more.

Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s hair again. “I love you so much, son.”

Peter’s eyes went wide. That… that was the first time Tony said that to him, wasn’t it? How interesting. That was the first time Tony actually told him the words ‘I love you’, but Peter had known Tony loved him for a long, long time already.

“I love you too, Dad.”

Notes:

Made myself cry writing this. Hope you like this resolution! I planned a long time ago that this was gonna happen near the end of the story. Like I made that decision when I first started writing this fic - I knew I wanted this to happen at the end. And now, all this stuff is coming up with Spider-Man and the MCU and Sony and I just, I dunno, this ending just seems even more fitting now. I just really want Peter and Tony to be happy together as father and son.
There’s only one more chapter of this fic left after this! Leave kudos and comments and thank you for reading! I’ll post the next chapter on Sunday at around 8-9pm EST!

Chapter 23: And School Comes Along Just to End it

Summary:

Tony and Peter have something to tell the Avengers. Time for the secret to be out. Then, Tony thinks Peter deserves a little vacation.

Notes:

This is the last chapter and it’s super long!!! It’s almost 7,000 words!!! (6,902 words to be exact.) It’s like how the last episode of a TV show is twice the length of a normal episode lol. I hope you all enjoy this very long finale! Thank you all for reading till the end!!

(Also if you read the title of the first chapter and then read the title of this last chapter, you’ll see a Phineas and Ferb reference lol.)

“There’s something we need to tell you guys.”

Tony and Peter stood in front of the couches in the lounge area. Sitting on the couches were the rest of the Avengers, all looking up at them. Some of them looked nervous. Tony had told them that he and Peter had a big announcement, but they had no clue what it might be.

Tony took a deep breath. “We’ve gathered you all here today to tell you that Peter isn’t actually my son. However, we’ve also come to tell you that actually, he is my son.”

The looks on the Avengers’ faces just became even more confused.

Peter burst into laughter next to Tony. “You guys got PRANKED!”

The Avengers’ confusion did not leave their faces.

“Tony,” Clint spoke up, “may I ask - in the most polite way possible - what the fuck?”

Tony also began to laugh. “To put it more clearly, at the beginning of this summer, Peter really was just my intern. He lived with his Aunt May - who’s actually his aunt - in Queens, and he got to spend the summer here at the Tower while she’s been away. We decided to prank you guys after you were so convinced that he was my secret son. But in fact, he’s not my biological son. All that backstory we gave you guys were lies for this prank. In reality, I only just met Peter last year, right before our little battle in Berlin.”

The Avengers all stared blankly at Tony and Peter, until Natasha finally spoke up - or more so, shouted at the top of her lungs.

“ I KNEW IT! ”

Everyone turned to look at her. She had stood up from her spot on the couch and was now walking to the other side of the room, her arms in the air in disbelief. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING GOING ON! I CALLED IT!”

She turned back around and walked towards the couches again. Peter was almost worried that she was angry, but when she turned around she revealed a huge smile on her face. She pointed at Tony. “ YOU! You damn liar! I knew something was up and you lied to my face!” She was laughing now.

Tony smiled back at her and shrugged. “Sorry Nat, but I couldn’t just give up on the prank for you. I was dedicated.”

“You sure were,” Bruce said. “You were calling Peter ‘son’ the whole time Peter was kidnapped. You didn’t think that maybe you should’ve dropped the act by then?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Tony said. “That’s the other part of our announcement. Peter actually is my son, just not biologically.”

The Avengers went back to staring at Tony and Peter blankly.

“Tony, stop confusing them,” said Rhodey - who already knew about the prank. “Just give it to them straight.”

“But toying with them is so much fun, Rhodey-bear,” Tony smirked at him. “Fine, OK, I will. So, Peter isn’t biologically my son, but we’ve uh… we’ve grown rather close. So…” he held his hands out, “I’m adopting him!”

That Rhodey did not know about. “ What?! ” He turned to Pepper, who sat next to him, “Did you know about this?”

“Tony asked if it was OK with me earlier today,” Pepper answered. “I said of course I was OK with it. I’d love for Peter to keep living with us.”

“Yeah!” Peter spoke up now. He began to explain the story in more detail to the Avengers. “So May called me and said that for her new job she was gonna have to move away, and since she was my last living relative and my only legal guardian, I would have to move away with her. But I really didn’t wanna move away from Dad and from you guys and from New York City and my friends and all that, so she came up with the idea that Dad could become my official dad and actually adopt me.”

Rhodey smiled. “That’s great, Peter. I’m glad you can stay.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m really glad, too.”

“I’m still confused,” Steve said, looking at Tony. “So before, Peter was your son, but he wasn’t actually your son? But now he actually is your son? But actually it was like he was your son all along?”

Tony and Peter looked at each other. Then Tony turned back to Steve and said, “Yes.”

“Which is it?” Steve said back.

“All of that,” Tony said, gesturing with his hand. “That whole thing was correct.”

“You know what?” Clint said, leaning back on the couch and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table, “I’m just not gonna think about it. As far as I’m concerned, nothing’s changed.”

Tony pointed a finger gun at him. “See, Clint’s got the right idea.”

“Have you filed the paperwork already?” Rhodey asked.

“I’ve done everything I could for now,” Tony said. “My lawyers are on it. Usually, this kind of thing could take months -even years - to get official papers for, but luckily my lawyers are amazing. They said they’ll probably get everything finalized in a few weeks.”

“Wow! That’s great!” Natasha said.

“I know, right?” Peter beamed. “Now you can be my real Auntie Spider!”

“Oh, Peter,” Nat chuckled. “I was always gonna be your Auntie Spider, even if you weren’t Tony’s son.”

Peter smiled at that, but then it changed into a mischievous grin. “I can’t believe you guys all thought I was his biological son this whole time!”

“Well, in our defense, you two were pretty convincing,” Sam said. “Him adopting you just proves my point. But yeah, I admit, you guys got us good.”

“Yeah, you really pranked us,” Bucky said. “You even pranked Fisk!”

“Yeah apparently,” Tony said, then looked at Peter. “I wonder how he found out about it.”

Peter shrugged. “I dunno. Also, I’d like to thank Rhodey, Vision, and Loki for not spoiling the prank, since you guys already knew the truth.”

“ Loki knew?” Thor said, surprised.

“I figured it out the first day I was here,” Loki smirked. “But I can’t resist a good trick, so I happily agreed to not share Peter’s secret. And I’m very glad that you’re going to be staying with us, Peter,” Loki turned to him and said. “This place would be hell for me if it was just the rest of these people without you.”

Peter laughed, “Thanks, Loki.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait! Loki! Now we’re adopted buddies!”

Loki raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, you were adopted, and now I’m adopted! We’re adopted buddies!”

Loki smiled - a softer smile that Peter had never seen on Loki before. “Yes, I suppose we are…as you say…adopted buddies.”

Peter grinned. “OK! Now that we’ve told you guys, I’m gonna go tell my friends! See ya!” Peter then ran towards the elevator and left.

Tony watched him leave and smiled. “He’s so excited.”

“ You look excited too, Tony,” Steve said.

“I am,” Tony kept grinning. “I really am.”

“I still can’t believe you fooled me in the end,” Natasha grumbled. “I was right all along.”

Tony just snickered, then sat between her and Pepper as he turned on the TV.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”

Peter turned down the volume on his headphones. He was currently sitting on his bed in his room, with his StarkPad in front of him, on a video chat in Discord with Ned, MJ, and Shuri. He’d just told them the big news. “Ned, not so loud please?”

“I’m sorry Peter! Oh my god, this is wild !” Ned said, only slightly quieter. Luckily Peter had lowered his volume. “At first, my best friend was Tony Stark’s prank-son, AND NOW YOU’RE ACTUALLY TONY STARK’S SON OH MY GOD-”

“Ned! My super-hearing!”

“Right, sorry Peter! I’m just so happy!” Ned jumped up and down in his seat. “ And I’m so happy you don’t have to move! Oh my god that would totally suck !”

“I know right! I’m glad I get to stay, too,” Peter said.

“Me too,” MJ said. “Even though you’re a loser, I like hanging out with you. So I’m glad you’re not leaving.”

Peter’s heart skipped a beat and he tried not to blush. “Th-Thanks, MJ.”

“I’m also very happy, Peter,” Shuri said. “I’ll get to see you way more often since you’re living in Avengers Tower now! Every time my brother visits to make trade plans with Stark, we’ll get to hang out!”

“Yes!” Peter cheered.

“Also,” Shuri smirked, “Your nickname makes even more sense now, Baby Stark!”

Peter groaned and rolled his eyes. “Just please don’t sing the song.”

Shuri laughed, then asked, “Is the public gonna know? Or are we being let in on super top-secret Avengers information right now?”

Peter thought for a moment. “I dunno. I’m gonna have to talk with Dad about the details like that. I’ll text you guys when I find out. But for now, don’t tell anyone.”

“You just called Tony Stark ‘Dad’ oh my god this is crazy-”

Peter burst out laughing. “Ned! Stop fanboying for 5 seconds!”

“I can’t help it, Peter!” Ned said excitedly. “I’m just so happy for you!”

Peter smiled. “I’ll talk to you guys again soon. I’m gonna go talk to Dad about the question you had, cuz I just thought of a couple questions, too. See you guys later!”

His friends said their goodbyes, and they all left the chat.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter took the elevator down the lab, where Tony was alone. He entered the code and walked through the door.

Tony looked over towards the sound of the door unlocking. When he saw it was Peter, he smiled. “Hey there, bambino . You finished talking to your friends?”

“Yep,” Peter sat down in his normal seat beside his dad. “I wanted to ask you a few questions though, about the whole adoption thing.”

Tony’s face didn’t show it, but inside in mind he started worrying. Peter wasn’t second guessing his decision to let Tony adopt him, right? He didn’t meet Peter’s eyes and continued to fix whatever tech was in his hands. “Sure, Pete. Ask away.”

“Are you gonna… tell the public that you’re adopting me?”

Tony stopped what he was fixing, pausing to think. “I’d want to,” he said, turning to face Peter. “I want everyone to know you’re my son. However, if I did that, you’d become a celebrity like me. The media would cover your every move. Reporters would crowd you on the way to school, tabloids would start rumors about you, all that stuff. You’d hate it.”

“Yeah, I don’t want that,” Peter said. “So, if we don’t tell the public, what am I gonna say to kids who ask me why Happy’s picking me up from school everyday? And what are you gonna say to reporters when they ask why I’m around you all the time?”

Tony shrugged. “We’ll just say that you’re my intern, like we’ve been saying.”

Peter began to laugh. “So, the same idea as my fake backstory that we told the Avengers at the beginning of the summer?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Tony smiled. “It’s just like I said - It’s hard to be a billionaire’s secret son.”

Peter continued to laugh. It was like their prank became their reality. “I have another question.”

“Shoot,” Tony said, not worried at all anymore.

“Is my last name gonna be changed?” Peter asked.

“Not if you don’t want it to,” Tony said. “ Do you want it to? I’m fine with whatever you decide to do. You’ll be my son either way.” 

“I…” Peter hesitated, “I feel like I shouldn’t, cuz like, I don’t wanna erase my past family. But on the other hand, I really want to change it. I’d be absolutely honored to be able to have the last name Stark. So I don’t know what I should do. Should I change it or not?”

Tony smiled. “You don’t have to worry about it now, how about that? You can keep Parker for now, and maybe in a couple years - once you’ve thought about this for a long time - you’ll want to change it to Stark, or to Parker-Stark. But for now, it doesn’t matter. Besides, it’ll be easier to hide your identity right now if all your official documents say ‘Parker’.”

“Right, that makes sense. Yeah, I’ll definitely think about it.” Peter then thought of another question. “When do you think we should tell the world that I’m your son?”

“I dunno,” Tony said. “Maybe in a couple years when you go off to college at MIT. Or maybe even later than that - after you graduate college and start working full time at Stark Industries. Whatever you want.”

“Cool,” Peter said. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Now I have a question for you .”

“What is it?”

“When do you start school again?” Tony asked. “I forgot, since, you know, I didn’t expect that I’d be getting Happy to drive you there.”

“Right, yeah. I start school on September 5th,” Peter answered. “New York schools start kinda late compared to schools in other states.”

“So you have around 2 weeks of summer left.”

“Yeah, more like a week and a half.”

“How about we go on vacation?” Tony suggested. “Let’s go somewhere nice for the rest of the summer. A little escape from the city.”

“But I need to stay and be Spider-Man for the city,” Peter said.

“Kid, you’ve just finished recovering physically and mostly finished recovering psychologically from being kidnapped and drugged. I think you deserve a little vacation from Spider-Man.”

Peter knew Tony was probably right about that. He sighed. “OK. Yeah, a vacation would be nice. Just not too far. Where would we go?”

“Not too far, you say? I have just the place,” Tony responded, snapping his fingers. “Pep and I just recently bought a really nice cabin by a lake. It’s upstate. You’d love it. It’s really calm up there - peaceful. Completely off-the-grid.”

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. “You? Completely off-the-grid?”

Tony smirked at him back. “You know me too well. OK, it’s not completely off-the-grid. There a lab in a secret basement.”

“Yes!”

“But we won’t be using it,” Tony said. “It’ll be a vacation. We’re going to do fun, relaxing vacation things as a family.”

“Alright, alright,” Peter laughed. “How big is that place anyway? Cabins aren’t very big. Is everyone gonna have a place to sleep there?”

“I was uh, I was thinking that only you, me, and Pepper could go up there,” Tony said, almost hesitantly. “Is that OK?”

Peter smiled. “Yeah! No, yeah, that’d be fine! That’d be great! I’d love to go!”

“Good,” Tony smiled back. “We can leave tomorrow. So make sure you pack a suitcase tonight.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The other Avengers weren’t that upset when Tony informed them that he, Peter, and Pepper were going on a family vacation to their lakehouse. Well, they weren’t upset at all - they understood that the newly official Stark family needed a nice vacation to themselves - but they pretended to be really upset about it. Natasha and the others begged Peter to stay with them, saying the Tower would be boring without him. Eventually, they quit the act and wished the Stark family safe travels on their way upstate.

Tony drove them there in one of his flashy, fancy cars - his pale blue-gray Audi R8 Spyder, to be specific. Pepper rode in the passenger seat, while Peter sat in the back. Tony blasted his classic rock music as the convertible zoomed down the highway. Peter leaned on the door to his right, his head resting on his folded arms, the wind blowing against his face and hair.

It didn’t take long to arrive at the Stark cabin, since it was upstate. It only took around 3 hours to drive there. It was a nice, big cabin right by a lake in the Catskill Mountains, surrounded by tall trees. It was made of wood and stone - so different from the metal and glass Avengers Tower that Peter was so used to. The cabin had a large front porch with wooden benches and chairs on it. It looked like such a nice, simple little home.

The first thing Peter said when he got out of the car was, “It’s so quiet here.”

Pepper took in a deep breath of the forest air. “I know, right? It’s amazing.”

“I’ll have to get used to it,” Peter said, laughing quietly as he pulled his suitcase out of the trunk.

The forest wasn’t completely quiet. There was the sound of the small waves in the water of the lake, splashing against the shore. There was the buzzing of cicadas and the beautiful singing of birds. It was rather peaceful, Peter supposed, although he thought the sounds of New York City could be quite peaceful, too.

The inside of the cabin smelled like pine and oak. The unfamiliar yet soothing scent engulfed Peter’s Spidey-Senses as he entered. Tony showed him to his room and he started unpacking.

He was excited for this vacation, but to be honest, he was also kind of nervous. He had a weird, new anxiety in his chest. What if on this trip - without the lab to work in, without going out as Spider-Man - Tony saw Peter for the burden he thought he was.

Peter barely remembered his birth parents. And now that he had parents again, he was worried he’d forgotten how to be just a normal son. Not a superhero son, not a genius son - just a normal 16-year-old kid in a lakeside cabin with his parents.

His actual parents.

He was terrified they’d decide they didn’t want him anymore. It was really too good to be true.

He decided right then that he’d be the best son he could be during that vacation. He’d do an amazing job at everything that he was asked to do. He’d show Tony that he wouldn’t regret his decision in adopting him. He’d show Tony that he could be the next Stark wonderchild, just like Tony was at his age.

That first day at the cabin was mostly spent unpacking and setting up stuff. They’d arrived midway through the afternoon, so it wasn’t long until night fell. Peter said goodnight to his parents and went to bed.

But he couldn’t sleep.

It was so quiet outside. And so dark. He wasn’t used to it. He wasn’t used to there being no cars rushing by, no street lights lit, no sirens, no rattling of subways. He wasn’t used to the deafening quiet of the forest, its silence broken occasionally not by cars or subways, but with crickets and cicadas.

It made him uneasy. It was like reverse-sensory overload. His Spidey-Senses weren’t sensing enough , and his brain thought that was very wrong.

Not knowing what to do, he got out of bed, walked to the living room, and turned on the TV. It was an antenna TV - no cable, no internet to watch stuff on streaming sites. But it had a few channels that Peter could flip through. At least that filled the air with some sound, even if he kept the volume very low.

It must not of been low enough, however, because shortly after he did this, Tony entered the living room as well. “Whatcha doing, Pete?”

Peter didn’t want to say. He was embarrassed about it. But he told Tony anyway. “It’s… too quiet. I’m not used to it. It’s kinda… scary, honestly.”

Tony’s face changed from concern to a gentle smile. “That’s alright. I get it. Turning the TV on was a good idea. You wanna watch a movie, like we’d do when you’d get a nightmare?”

Peter nodded. He really wanted Tony to stay next to him.

“Alright then. Late night movie time.”

Tony sat on the couch next to Peter, and Peter leaned his head against his dad’s shoulder. Tony smiled, picking up the remote. “It’s weird to use a TV that isn’t connected to FRIDAY.”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, it is. When I came in here, I asked her to turn it on, but nothing happened. I got scared that she broke or something, but then I remembered that she’s just not here.”

“Right, which means we don’t get her endless supply of movies that I have downloaded onto her cloud,” Tony said, flicking through the limited channels of the TV. “Let’s see what movies are playing.”

He flicked through a couple more channels, when suddenly they stumbled upon some very familiar animation of a young boy that looked very similar to Peter.

Peter’s face lit up. “Hey! The Iron Giant is on!”

“Look at that,” Tony said. “That’s perfect. You wanna watch it, bambino ?”

Peter nodded, still lying against Tony’s shoulder.

“Alright then,” Tony put the remote down.

The once too-quiet cabin was now filled with quiet white noise. Peter still heard the insects outside, but now he also heard the low-volume dialogue on the TV. And right beside him, he heard Tony’s steady breaths, and Peter’s super-hearing was able to pick up the calming rhythm of his heartbeat.

Peter fell asleep in just a few minutes.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The next few days were much better.

The Stark family went on hikes in the woods and went for motorboat rides on the lake. At one point, Pepper convinced Tony and Peter to go out on the boat, just the two of them, and go fishing, claiming it was “a classic father-son bonding activity”. Tony grabbed all the fishing gear they had and packed it in the boat. Then he and Peter left the dock and zoomed into the middle of the lake.

Peter wasn’t very good at fishing.

He had a lot of fun though, talking with Tony in the middle of the lake. The nature around them was beautiful and he enjoyed gazing at it in all its almost-Autumn glory. He even saw wild animals, like a couple of deer in the woods by the shore. He even saw a beaver, which he’d never seen in real life before. It slapped its tail on the surface of the water, then dived beneath it while Peter stared in awe. Maybe this whole off-the-grid vacation thing was pretty fun.

Too bad he couldn’t catch a fish. This was supposed to be a father-son bonding activity, like Pepper had said. If he couldn’t catch a fish, was he being a bad son? Was he being a disappointment? Was Tony not going to want to adopt him anymore? Peter had promised himself at the beginning of this vacation that he’d be the best son ever and impress Tony so much that there’d be no chance he’d ever change his mind about adopting him.

Peter started to get more worried.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

A little after halfway through their vacation, it rained. Hard.

That meant no hikes, no fishing, no outside activities at all - so they basically couldn’t do anything except watch their antenna TV, which Peter got bored of that very quickly. However, he didn’t want to complain, fearing he’d be a bad son, so he kept his mouth shut.

Luckily, Tony also got bored of the TV.

“Come on , Pep!” He whined, lying across the couch as Pepper stood over him. “Let’s just turn on the emergency wifi!”

“You installed emergency wifi in here, Tony?”

“You know I would. Come on, Pep. It’s me ,” Tony said.

Peter, who was sitting on a nearby armchair, was giggling his head off.

“No, Tony,” Pepper said sternly. “You promised me we would have a relaxing, no-electronics, off-the-grid vacation. You’re living up to your word.”

“Then what are we gonna do?”

Pepper raised her index finger in the air, indicating she had an idea. She walked over to the wooden TV stand and opened its cabinet. Inside were dozens of board games and card games. “We are gonna play one of these .”

They played Scrabble, which Pepper absolutely crushed them both at. Then they played Uno, which had a bit more even competition, but Pepper still won again in the end. Then Pepper took out a normal deck of 52 cards and they set up a game of poker, using potato chips instead of poker chips or money.

Peter wasn’t good at that either.

He won a couple rounds, but he didn’t win many. He still had a lot of fun, though. It was fun to try and see if either Tony or Pepper was bluffing. And it was cool during the few rounds that he won and was able to rake in a bunch of potato chips. But he didn’t really know what he was doing. Just like with fishing, he hadn’t done this before, so he wasn’t good at it. And, in turn, he was worried he wasn’t being a good son, impressing his parents at every turn. Pepper and Tony seemed to be having fun with him around, which was a nice consolation, but Peter knew he could do better. He’d set some very high standards for himself and he was intent on meeting them.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

On the last night the Stark family was at the cabin, Peter couldn’t sleep again.

He laid in his bed and stared up at the ceiling, listening to the cicadas and crickets singing outside in the trees. His mind was racing down an anxious spiral.

The whole time he’d been on this vacation, he’d been trying to be the best son Tony and Pepper would ever want. He tried to do everything the best he could, tried to impress them every chance he had. But he kept messing up. He wasn’t good at any of the stereotypical son things that he should’ve been good at, like fishing and playing games with his family. And sure, Tony and Pepper seemed fine with him, but that anxious feeling in the back of Peter’s brain told him that they were probably just hiding their disappointment. Peter was only good at building computers and making web fluid - good at being an intern - not at all this other stuff. He wasn’t good at being a son. He didn’t know how to be a son - let alone the wonderchild son of the genius billionaire Tony Stark.

After spending an hour trying to fall asleep, Peter got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. Maybe he just needed a glass of water to calm his nerves. Then he’d be able to sleep.

Peter sat at the kitchen bar and sipped his water slowly, barely aware of what was happening around him. All his focus was on the thoughts in his head. That’s why he didn’t even notice when Tony walked into the kitchen as well, when Peter’s water glass was only around half full.

“Pete?”

Peter flinched, almost spilling his water. “H-Hey, Dad! Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Tony smirked. “Your Spidey-Sense couldn’t feel me approach?”

“My Spidey-Sense only does that for threats.”

“Glad to know I’m not a threat,” Tony said. He sat at the kitchen bar in the seat next to Peter. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and quiet - reverberating deep from his chest, “May I ask why you’re awake?”

Peter just shrugged. “Couldn’t fall asleep.”

“Too quiet again?”

Peter shook his head. “No, it’s… it’s something else.”

“Is it the nightmare?”

“Nah,” Peter shook his head again. “I haven’t had the nightmare in over a week.”

Tony smiled. “Well, that’s good to hear at least.” The room fell into silence for a moment, before Tony spoke again. “What is it then, Pete?”

Peter hesitated. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Come on, kiddo. You can tell me.”

Peter took a deep breath. He had a lot of fun during this vacation, but his anxiety had been in the back of his brain the whole time, filling him with self-doubt and insecurities. He just wanted to let it all out now. He wanted to stop worrying. “Are you sure you want me?”

Tony blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Are you sure you want to adopt me?” Peter asked, his voice cracking just a little. “Do you really want me to be your son?”

“Of course I do, Peter!” Tony said. He moved his seat closer to Peter’s side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “What would make you think otherwise?”

“It’s just…” Peter sniffed, and tears pricked at his eyes. “Y-You wanted to have a nice off-the-grid vacation, and, I dunno, everything I’m good at involves technology and science and, you know, on the grid stuff. I-I don’t really know what I’ve been doing while we’ve been here. I’ve gotten a lot of things wrong and I’m not being like the genius kid you expect of me. I’ve been really scared that during this vacation, I haven’t been doing a good job at being your son-”

“Peter-”

“And I just-”

“Nuh-uh, no more out of you. The adult is talking,” Tony said, but his voice was still gentle and soothing. He placed his hand on the back of Peter’s head, running his fingers through the short hair by his neck. “There’s no such thing as doing a ‘good job’ at being my son. You being a good son is just you being you .”

“But I’m a Stark now! I have to be good at everything!”

“No, you don’t, Peter-”

“You built a circuit board when you were 4! A-And an engine when you were like 6! I didn’t even know what a circuit board was until I was like 7, and I haven’t even touched an engine! And that’s technology stuff! That's the stuff I’m supposed to be good at that! Let alone fishing and cards and all this other stuff that sons should be good at-”

“Peter, listen to me,” Tony took Peter’s hand and spoke calmly and firmly. “There is nothing you should be good at. You’re fine just being you. The kid I want to adopt - the son I want - it’s you , kiddo. Not this crazy expectation of you. I want the you that I know.” Tony took a breath. “You’ve been doing a great job being my son so far, OK? You’re the best son I could ever ask for because you’re you .”

Peter hesitated, taking in Tony’s words. Once his brain decided that they were genuine and true, he nodded, struggling to hold back his tears. He didn’t want to cry, but he wasn’t able to help it. Tears spilled from his eyes as a couple sobs racked his body. “O-OK, Dad.”

Tony gave Peter a pitied look. He held his arms out. “C’mere.”

Peter leaned forward and let Tony’s arms encircle him. His crying was very quiet. He felt Tony squeeze him tighter, and Peter held him back.

“I just…” Peter sniffed, “I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

“Oh, Pete,” Tony said, rubbing his son’s back, “you could never disappoint me. You’re already so much better than I could ever hope for.”

They stayed there in their hug as Peter quietly cried out all his tears, letting out all the anxiety he’d kept stored inside him.

“I hope all this worrying hasn’t been keeping you from having fun,” Tony said after a while. “Did you have fun here?”

“Oh, yeah, I definitely did,” Peter said, wiping his eyes. “I had a lot of fun with you guys.”

“Good. That’s what’s most important.”

“Although,” Peter started to say. His voice was getting more steady and a smile even started to show on his face. “I have missed the lab.”

“Yeah, me too, kid,” Tony said, leaning back and looking Peter in the eyes again. “I’ve been itching to get my hands on a soldering iron again. I can only live out in the woods for so long.”

Peter laughed, his voice still quiet. “Yeah, I feel that. This has been nice but, I’m excited to go home.”

Tony nodded, but then his eyes lit up in a way that Peter had come to recognise as meaning Tony had an idea. “You know, I promised Pepper I wouldn’t, but ,” Tony stood up, “since we both wanna build something so badly, and since she’s asleep,” Tony walked over to a door that they hadn’t gone through the whole time they’d been at the cabin. He opened it, revealing a staircase down to a basement. “How about we go to the secret emergency basement lab I told you about?”

Peter’s eyes sparkled. “Yes! Oh my god, can we? Please?”

“Of course, come on,” Tony chuckled, motioning Peter over with his hand. “Just don’t tell your mother, OK?”

“OK, Dad,” Peter laughed.

Tony and Peter walked down the stairs into a pitch black room. Peter tried to feel a lightswitch against the wall, but he couldn’t find one.

“FRIDAY? You there? Can you turn the lights on?”

“Of course, sir,” the familiar Irish-accented AI’s voice rang throughout the room as the lights turned on.

Peter stared in awe. It looked like just a smaller version of the lab they had back home. “FRIDAY’s here?” He asked excitedly.

“Yep,” Tony answered. “Only down here in the basement, though. Now, I know exactly what we’re going to build.”

“What is it?”

“We,” Tony pulled out a door of supplies, “are going to build an engine.”

Peter’s eyes lit up again. “Really?”

“That’s right, bambino ,” Tony walked back over to Peter and ruffled his hair. “You were saying you’d never built an engine before. Now, I don’t think that’s because of anything that has to do with your intelligence. I think you’re plenty smart enough to be able to build an engine, you’ve just never had the opportunity to do so. So,” he gestured a hand across the materials, “here’s your opportunity.”

Peter was overwhelmingly excited, but that anxiety still whispered in his ear. What if he couldn’t figure out how to do it? What if he disappointed Tony? What if this was a test, and if he failed, Tony wouldn’t adopt him?

He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I can feel you worrying from here , kiddo,” Tony said, soft and gentle again. “It’s OK. I’m going to help you. I said we were building it, didn’t I? I don’t want you having all the fun without me. I want to build something just as much as you want to.”

Peter smiled at that. “Alright. Cool. I’m ready.”

“Great,” Tony said, patting Peter’s back. “Let’s get started.”

Tony let Peter do most of the work, but he was always there to assist him or to show him a trick or shortcut. After a couple hours, they finished, and Peter had built his first engine. It revved to life, and Peter threw his hands in the air in victory.

“I did it! Oh my god, I did it! I actually did it!”

“Hell yeah you did! I knew you could do it!” Tony cheered with Peter. He then looked at his son with a loving gaze. He let out a chuckle and ruffled Peter’s hair. “I’m so proud of you, kid.”

Peter almost cried all over again, but out of happiness this time. Instead, he just smiled and hugged Tony. “Thanks, Dad.”

Tony hugged him back, holding him in his arms. “I love you, son. And I mean it. Don’t you forget it.”

Peter let out a wet laugh. He won’t forget it. There was no doubt in his mind anymore. Tony wanted him. He really wanted him. “I love you too, Dad.”

When Peter and Tony left the lab and went back to their rooms, it was around 4 am. Peter collapsed on his bed and promptly passed out, his mind finally letting him rest.

In the morning, he woke up, packed his backs, and they drove back home.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

A few days later, Tony and Peter were standing in the lounge, the other Avengers eating their breakfast behind them.

“You have everything? Your books? Pencils and pens?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“You did all your summer homework, right?”

“Yes, Dad.” Peter began putting on his jacket and bookbag.

“And it’s in your bag?”

“ Yes , Dad. Oh my god, I have all my stuff.”

“OK, OK,” Tony held his hands up in defeat. “I believe you. You’re all ready for school. You feeling nervous?”

“Not really,” Peter said. “I’m kinda excited, honestly.”

“Nerd!” Natasha called to him from her seat on the couch, a smirk on her face.

“I meant it!” Peter said, kind of sheepishly. “I can’t wait to see my friends on a daily basis again.”

“We’re gonna miss you, Pete,” Bucky said, also on the couch. “The Tower will be so boring without you in it.”

“I’ll be back at like 3:30!” Peter laughed. “I’m not gonna be gone forever.”

“That’s right,” Tony said, walking closer to Peter. “I made sure of that, didn’t I?”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah, you did.”

“Yeah, I did.” Tony lifted his hand and combed Peter’s bangs out of his eyes.

Peter pushed the hand away. “Dad! Don’t mess up my hair!”

“I’m not messing it up, I’m fixing it,” Tony said, reaching his hand out and brushing Peter’s hair back again. “Did you even comb it?”

“Yes!” Peter was going to push Tony’s hand again, but he gave up and let his dad fix his hair. “Well, kind of. I woke up a bit late and I didn’t have time to comb through it completely, so I only ran my hands through it a couple times, but it’s fine! I looked in my bathroom mirror and it looked fine.”

“ Sure it did,” Tony said sarcastically. He stepped back, “There you go! You look much better now.” Then Tony’s eyes squinted. “Is that jacket warm enough? It’s almost Fall now, you know. It’s kinda chilly outside.”

“ Yes , Dad! I’m fine!”

The other Avengers in the room laughed. “Tony,” Nat spoke up again, “quit being such a dad.”

“I am a dad now, Romanoff,” Tony looked at him and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Literally, officially, and legally.”

Peter looked up at him and smiled.

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice came over the loudspeaker, “Mr. Hogan is calling you.”

“Patch it through, FRI.”

Happy’s voice now rang through the room. “Tony, I swear to god! If you want me to drive the kid to school, at least send him down here on time! We’re going to be late!”

“That’s our cue to leave!” Tony said to the Avengers and pulled Peter towards the elevator. “Let’s go, kid. I’ll take you to the garage.”

“I’m coming with you guys, too,” Pepper said, and slipped into the elevator just before the door closed.

They rode the elevator down to Tony’s massive garage, filled with various Audis and vintage cars. They walked over to the black Audi SUV that was parked over by the exit. Its engine was running and Happy was standing on the outside of it. Once he saw Peter, Tony, and Pepper walking over, he started opening up the car doors. “C’mon, kid,” he called over to Peter. “Hurry up now. I don’t want your father yelling at me if you’re late, even though it wouldn’t be my fault at this point.”

“I’ll be there in a sec, Happy!” Peter called back to him. He turned around to face his parents - his parents . God, that felt so nice to say. He had parents .

Pepper hugged him first, squeezing tight. “Have fun on your first day of school, sweetie!”

“I will, Mom. I will,” Peter hugged back.

They parted and Peter turned to Tony. He crashed against Tony, almost tackling him in a hug. Tony had to step back a little just to keep his balance. He laughed and hugged back, “See you later, kiddo. Be safe and have fun.”

“I will! See you later!” Peter let go of his death grip on Tony and ran towards the open door of the black Audi SUV. He waved at Tony and Pepper, then shut the door. Then he opened the window and waved at them again as Happy started driving off. “Love you guys!”

“Love you too, Pete,” Tony calling after him, while Pepper said something similar next to him.

The car soon drove out of sight. The garage, which had just been filled with shouting the sounds of the car engine, now fell completely silent.

Pepper turned to Tony. “I’m surprised you said that.”

“Said what?” Tony squinted at her.

“‘Love you,’” Pepper clarified.

“Well, he’s my son. You know I love him.”

“I know you do,” Pepper said. “I’m just surprised you actually said it. Out loud.”

Tony chuckled, but didn’t respond, because honestly, he was just as surprised he’d said it, too. He still wasn’t that used to casually saying ‘ love ’. It took him months until he was able to casually say it to Pepper. Until he got to that point, he would just whisper it to her in private, like it was a secret.

With Peter, it was different. This whole summer had been filled with secrets. And sure, their future would be full of secrets, too. But right now, in this moment, Tony just wanted the world to know the truth - the truth that he was finally able to admit to himself.

He loved his son.

And that was no secret.

 

 

Notes:

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR STICKING AROUND AND READING THIS WHOLE ADVENTURE!!!!! I hope you liked this final chapter, featuring Tony’s cabin from Endgame! I also hope you loved reading this story as much as I loved writing it!! This is the most attention any of my writing has ever gotten, so really honestly thank you all so much!!! Thank you for all of your kudos and comments!!! Reading all your comments always made my day!!! I love all you guys 3000!!! <3

Since a ton of you guys keep commenting that you want me to continue this story, I might write a sequel?? I kinda doubt I will though lol. I have a bunch of other ideas for stuff I wanna write at the moment instead.

Again, thank you guys so much for reading this whole fic!! I love you 3000!!!

Chapter 24: BONUS CHAPTER: When Worlds Collide

Summary:

Peter gets an unexpected visitor, leading him to make some unexpected friends. They go on a little adventure, in which Peter finds the answer to something he’d been wondering about for a long time.

Notes:

SURPRISE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I’m back with an over-8,000-word-long bonus chapter lmaooo. Think of it as a holiday special. This idea crashed into my brain a while ago and I NEEDED to write it. I finally finished so here you guys go! A bonus chapter! Think of it as a one shot that exists in this fic’s universe after the main story. I hope you enjoy it!!

Also THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR NICE COMMENTS!!! AND THANK YOU FOR OVER 126,000 HITS AND OVER 6,000 KUDOS OMG!!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS ALL SO MUCH!!!!

Enjoy this bonus chapter!!
SPOILER WARNING FOR SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE, aka one of the BEST movies of all time and one of my favorite movies ever. Seriously all of you should watch it it’s the best!! OK enjoy the chapter!!

School had been going on for a week or so, and Peter’s life was starting to fall back into that normal school year rhythm - or, as normal as that could be, what with being Tony Stark’s actual Secret son now. But really, life seemed pretty normal. Each day Peter did what little beginning-of-the-year homework he had. Now it was Friday. When the dismissal bell rang, he met up with Ned and MJ outside of school and walked to the nearby Panda Express to eat some food and hang out.

They talked through their usual conversation topics - class, TV shows, latest drama between students, all that. Eventually they started talking about what they learned in physics that day - the theory of alternate dimensions.

“Ms. Warren’s class was super interesting today!” Ned said. “All that stuff about alternate dimensions was wild. Do you really think it’s true? Or just a theory?”

“I think it’s totally true, dude,” Peter said. “Or, at least I want it to be true. How cool would that be?”

“Infinite parallel dimensions…” Ned said dreamily. “Do you think the Ned Leeds in every dimension is just as cool as I am?”

“ Duh , dude. Absolutely,” Peter laughed with Ned, then shovelled a forkful of chow mein into his mouth.

“What about you, MJ?” Ned addressed her now. “Do you think there’s a bunch of other dimensions out there?”

“I dunno,” MJ shrugged, picking at her honey walnut shrimp. “I mean, theoretically, yeah, it’s possible. But I dunno if that actually means it’s real. I’ve read a lot about this sort of thing, actually.”

“Really?” Both Ned and Peter asked, intrigued.

“Yeah, but less about the science stuff and more about the, like, superstitious aspect of it.” MJ stabbed one of her shrimp and popped it in her mouth. “It’s pretty cool. Like, some people think that when you get deja vu, it’s because you and your alternate dimension self get connected for a split second.”

“Woah,” Peter said. “That makes sense. That’s so cool.”

“And,” MJ kept saying, “some people think that your dreams are actually you looking through the eyes of your alternate dimension self while you’re asleep.”

Peter became tense.

His mind filled with memories of his nightmares - of the giant, purple alien, the golden glove with its 6 glowing stones, of Tony dying . If those were all things that happened in some other dimension…

Peter shuddered. He was suddenly very thankful for being born in the dimension that he was born in. He got a happy ending. He felt bad for the Peters that didn’t.

“You good there, Peter?” Ned elbowed him.

Peter blinked and snapped back to attention. “Y-Yeah, I’m just… I’m fine.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

That conversation had only happened 2 days ago.

It was now a bright, sunny Sunday. Peter swung around the streets of Manhattan in his classic spandex Spider-Man suit. There wasn’t much crime going on. So far that day, he’d only helped a couple tourists with directions. It seemed like just another normal day, when something really strange happened - and Peter was used to some pretty strange things.

He was swinging over some apartments when he heard the weirdest sound. It sounded like… glitching? He didn’t quite know how to describe it. He looked up, and his jaw under his mask fell open with shock. The air above him was exploding with little pockets and crumples of color. The colors kept expanding until it formed a… a gap? A hole? A tear in the space-time continuum? What was happening?

Then something fell through the tear. It was a human-shaped body, wearing a dark teal bomber jacket over a red hoodie, and black shorts. On his feet were red, white, and black Air Jordans, the shoelaces untied. And under all that, Peter could see it also wore a black bodysuit with red accents. It kinda looked like Peter’s suit…

Before Peter could finish that line of thought, the falling body collided with him. They tumbled through the air and crashed onto the roof of an apartment building.

“Ow.” Peter sat up and rubbed his head. He hurt a bit, but he was fine. What he was more worried about was this other guy. He stood and stepped over to them. Now that Peter had a closer look, damn , that really did look like a Spider-Man suit. It even had a cool graffiti logo of a spider on it.

The other Spider-Person groaned and sat up. He looked at Peter, and Peter suddenly felt a kind of Spidey-Sense that he’d never felt before.

“Y-You’re like me,” Peter said.

“Woah,” the other Spider-Person said in the voice of a young boy, “So, you’re the Spider-Man of this dimension?”

“Dimension? What?”

“Right, sorry,” the other Spider-Man pushed up his mask, revealing the face of a boy only a bit younger than Peter. “My name’s Miles Morales. I’m from an alternate dimension. I’m guessing your name is Peter Parker?”

“Uh, yeah,” after hesitating for a moment, Peter pushed up his mask, too. As weird as this was, it was also awesome . Multiple dimensions? They were just learning about that in physics class the other day and now there seemed to be proof of it right in front of his eyes! His science nerd brain was going crazy. The fascinated grin on his face must’ve been huge.

Well, since this Miles guy was another Spider-Man, Peter might as well be completely honest with him. He’d already revealed his secret identity to him anyway. “Well actually, it might become Peter Stark or Peter Parker-Stark eventually, but for now I’m Peter Parker.”

“Stark? Like Tony Stark? Iron Man?” Miles said in awe.

“Yeah, exactly. He uh, he adopted me.”

“Woah, that’s wild! So in this dimension, Peter gets adopted by Tony Stark! And you’re… younger.”

“I’m 16.”

“Woah, I’m 14. That’s crazy. The Peter from my dimension was 26 before, um, before he… died.”

Peter’s face dropped. “I-I die?”

“In my dimension, Peter Parker dies. This guy called Kingpin - Wilson Fisk - killed him. Do you have Kingpin in this dimension?”

Oh boy, he sure did. “Yeah. He uh… He’s kidnapped me before. Luckily he didn’t kill me, though. So, then you took over as Spider-Man after your Peter died?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Woah, that’s wild! And your suit, oh my god, it’s so cool looking! I love it!” Peter tried to take a couple deep breaths to control his fanboying, but it was hard. This situation was just so crazy . “How did you even get here, man?”

“Right, right, OK. So, it’s a long story, but basically, in my dimension, Kingpin tried to open a portal to other dimensions. It was unstable, really dangerous, all that. It brought a whole bunch of Spider-People from other dimensions into my dimension. We all teamed up and stopped him, and then they went back to their dimensions. But we were still friends, you know? We wanted to see each other again. We had a little bit of a mental link kinda thing with our Spidey-Senses, but that was it. Then one of the Spider-People, Peni Parker - she’s Peter Parker’s daughter in her dimension - she’s really good with robots and stuff. She was able to build a way for us to travel between dimensions. See?”

Miles held up his wrist and showed Peter the gadget-watch he was wearing. “It finds the Spider-Person from other dimensions, tracks them down, and lets us travel to them. I have my friends’ dimensions bookmarked right here, that’s how I travel to them. But today I thought hey, how about I go meet the Spider-Person from another dimension that I don’t know about.”

Peter’s mind was blown. “H-Holy shit, that’s amazing! That’s crazy! ” Peter pulled his mask back on so the Baby Monitor Protocol could see the dimension-hopping watch. “KAREN, are you getting this?!”

“Of course, Peter.”

“Great! I’m totally gonna show this to Dad later.”

When Peter pulled his mask off, Miles looked curious. “Who’s Karen? There’s no Karen in my universe.”

“Oh, KAREN’s the AI in my suit.”

“You have an AI in your suit?!”

“Yeah, my dad built me this suit, so it has a lot of Iron Man influences. I make the web fluid though. I made the formula for it and everything.”

“Woah, that it so cool!”

“Cool?! Dude, you have a dimension-hopping watch! I think you win at cool!”

“Eh, my friend made it for me. I’m good at science and math stuff too, but I’m really into art more. It’s more fun.”

“Oh, really? That’s awesome. My uh, my friend MJ’s an art kid, too.”

“Bro, you have an MJ, too?”

“Yeah!”

“Stands for Mary Jane?”

Peter’s eyes squinted in curiosity. “Interesting. No, it stands for Michelle Jones.”

“Huh, woah.”

“Yeah. Here I’ll show you a picture of her and my other friends.” Peter opened a blue hologram in the palm of his Spider-Suit. After swiping through a few menus, Peter found a picture of him with his friends. Before Peter could even open his mouth to say each of his friends’ names, Miles’s jaw dropped.

“YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH ZENDAYA?!” Miles shouted.

Peter raised an eyebrow. “Who?” He followed Miles’s gaze to see who he was staring at. “No, that’s MJ - Michelle Jones - who we were just talking about.”

Miles blinked and tried to get a hold of himself. “Sorry,” he said, “it’s just, she totally looks like a celebrity from my dimension.”

Peter smiled. “That’s so awesome. Anyway, yeah, that’s MJ. Next to her is my best friend Ned, and then next to him is our friend Shuri.”

Miles’s eyes widened again. “Shuri?! Like Princess Shuri of Wakanda?!”

“Yeah, dude! She’s so cool!”

“Bro, you’re friends with her? That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

“Now I want you to see my friends,” Miles said. “Better yet, how about you come meet my friends!”

Peter’s heart was beating like he was on a rollercoaster. “L-Like, I can travel to their dimensions with you?!”

“Yeah dude. I mean, if you want to-“

“ Want to?! Bro, I’d love too! Let’s go meet your friends, and then let’s go look at a bunch of other dimensions!” Peter was practically bouncing with excitement.

Miles, too, looked equally excited. “Yes! That’d be great!”

“Awesome! Just… as long as I’m not gone for too long.”

“Oh don’t worry, dude. Time is weird in between dimensions. We could be gone for hours, but then I could transport you back here like you’ve only been gone for 30 minutes.”

“Sweet! Let’s go!”

Miles instructed Peter to hold onto his arm while he put coordinates into his dimension-hopping watch. “Hold on tight.”

Soon, the air crackled around them, colors exploding from where there was once nothing.

Peter felt the ground fall away from under his feet.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

When solid ground returned, it wasn’t just Peter’s feet that landed on it. His entire body collapsed forward as he face-planted into a cement sidewalk. He was still holding Miles’ arm, as Miles made an equally un-graceful landing. Luckily for them, the street was empty, so no one had to see that happen. They soon stood up.

Peter looked around. It was still New York - that much Peter could tell. It seemed just a little different, though - a little pinker and bluer, more neon. “So this is your universe?” He asked Miles.

“No, this is my friend Gwen’s,” Miles answered. “We’re gonna get her to come on this dimension-hopping adventure with us. She wouldn’t wanna miss it. Follow me. My watch says she’s this way.”

The two boys put their masks back on, shot their webs into the air, and started to swing down the street.

 They eventually landed on the fire escape of an apartment building. Miles knocked on the window, “Gwen! Gwen, it’s me, Miles! You won’t believe who I just met!”

Soon, a young girl with blonde hair styled in an undercut ran into the room and rushed to the window, opening it. “Oh my god , Miles! You’re lucky my parents aren’t home or else they’d be so confused as to why someone’s knocking on the-” Gwen froze as she caught the eyes of Peter’s Spider-Man suit behind Miles, “Hey Peter… You got… smaller …” 

“No Gwen, watch this !” Miles said excitedly, hopping into Gwen’s room through the window. He took off his mask, now that he knew he was safe from onlookers. “Peter! Come in and take off your mask! Gwen,” he turned to her, “You’re not gonna believe this!”

Peter entered Gwen’s room through the window and took off his mask. He gave a shy smile and a small wave. “Uh… hi! I’m Peter! I… I guess I’m from a different dimension, aren’t I? Wow…”

“Woah, you’re so young!” Gwen said. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

Gwen laughed out another, “Woah! The Peter that me and Miles know is like, forty-something. He’s from another another dimension.”

It was impossible for the wide smile on Peter’s face to leave. This was too cool. “So, you’re the Spider-person of this dimension!”

“Yep!” Gwen said.

Miles re-entered the conversation, “This Peter is from a dimension where he gets adopted by Tony Stark!”

“Tony Stark? Like Iron Man?” Gwen’s jaw dropped.

“Yeah,” Peter tried not to sound awkward. He wasn’t the best at talking to new people, even if they were fellow spider-person. “That’s, uh, that’s my dad.”

“Awesome!” Gwen beamed.

“Peter wanted to travel to a bunch of dimensions on a big adventure with me,” Miles said. “You wanna come?”

“Hell yeah I do!” Gwen said. “Lemme just change into my suit.”

After Gwen got changed, and after Peter fanboyed over how cool her suit was, the three teens went through another glitchy portal to another dimension.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

In this dimension, Peter Parker met Peter B. Parker.

Peter B. was at home with his newborn daughter, while his wife, MJ, was at work. When three teenager-sized spider-people suddenly appeared in his room, he was only a little spooked - this wasn’t the first time something like this happened to him. However, this was the first time he saw a teenager-sized spider-person wearing a red suit.

“Peter!” Miles said once he’d stood up. “This is also Peter! He’s from another dimension!”

When Peter regained his footing, he stood up and came face to face with a man that kind of looked like him, just older. It was trippy, and Peter had to blink a couple times before he registered what he was seeing.

Peter B. stared back, then put his hand on his forehead and laughed. “You kids gotta stop messing with alternate dimensions. One day you’re gonna mess something up.”

Miles explained their plan to Peter B. In return, he warned them not to talk with too many more Peters in other dimensions, cuz it might not be good for the space-time continuum. The kids shrugged and said OK, then moved onto the next dimension.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The spider-kids fell into a new dimension. 

“OK Miles,” Gwen said. “My watch says that the Spider-Person from this dimension is this way.” She pointed down the street.

“Mine also says that,” Miles agreed. “Let’s go.”

The spider-gang swung down the street. It was dark outside - the sun was setting and the streetlights were on. They finally arrived at a building with Oscorp proudly emblazoned on the front of it.

“Oscorp?” Peter squinted, “But that’s where I got my spider-powers - from a radioactive spider that Oscorp was experimenting on.”

“Maybe the watches are just reading the radioactive spiders inside the building,” Miles said. “Let’s just say it is, cuz I don’t wanna break into the main Oscorp building to just meet a fellow spider-person. We have plenty of other dimensions to choose from.”

“Yeah, facts,” Gwen agreed. “Let’s go-”

“No, wait,” Peter stopped her from tapping out new coordinates on her watch. “I- I might just be too excited about this whole dimension-hopping thing, but just while we’re here let’s go find me or my dad in this dimension? Just while we’re here? Please? Oh my god, this is so cool !”

Miles and Gwen laughed at Peter’s enthusiasm. “Sure, yeah, why not, nerd boy.” Gwen said.

Peter laughed with them. “Let’s check out Avengers Tower here first. It’s closer than my house in Queens.”

The spider-kids swung off towards Avengers Tower.

“Wait, how’re we gonna get into Avengers Tower?” Miles asked as they swung. “We’re not gonna break in, just like how we wouldn’t break into Oscorp.”

“I know the best windows to look through,” Peter assured him. “And… I might know a few secret entrances, too.”

“Nope, that’s illegal Peter,” Gwen said. “It may be your home in your dimension, but it’s not in this one.”

Peter sighed. “OK, fine. You’re probably right. We’ll just be sneaky and look through the windows.”

When they arrived at the Tower, Peter first noticed that the usual ‘Avengers’ logo was not there. Instead, large letters reading ‘Stark’ replaced it.

The spider-kids climbed all the way to the top floor penthouse, and Peter brought them to the window with the best view of the living room.

The eyes of his spider-suit went wide as he saw what was inside.

In the living room of the Stark Tower penthouse, Tony Stark - who looked a bit younger than Peter was used to - was sitting on the couch, looking at some holograms in front of him. An episode of Pokémon was playing on the TV in front of him, but he wasn’t paying attention to it. Sitting next to him was a little boy that looked only 6 or 7 years old. His hair was brown and curly. He leaned against Tony and stared at the TV with his big, brown, innocent eyes.

Peter would recognise those eyes anywhere.

“Peter…” Gwen started to say, “Is that… Is that you ?”

“Yep,” Peter said, his voice a little choked up. “That’s… that’s me as a little kid.”

“Woah,” Miles pressed his face closer to the window. “You must be Tony Stark’s biological son in this universe.”

Peter was honestly about to cry from how cute the sight was. It made him feel even more validated about being adopted by Tony. Tony absolutely wanted him as his son. It was meant to be - so much so that the multiverse made him Tony’s biological kid in a different dimension.

Little did Peter know, Tony had a dream about this dimension before.

The young Peter on the couch next to Tony yawned, then his eyelids began to droop over his brown eyes.

Tony took notice. He looked at the time, then he spoke. Because of Peter’s advanced hearing, he was able to hear him through the reinforced window. “How did it get to be so late? It’s past your bedtime, mister.”

Young Peter sleepily looked up at his father. “I don’ wanna go to bed.”

“Oh c’mon, sure you do, bambino .” Tony scooped the little Peter up in his arms and stood up. He began to carry him over to the living room’s exit. “If you’re scared, I can turn on your special night light again.”

“The one in your chest?”

“Yeah buddy, that’s the one.”

The father and son turned the corner and left the room.

“That was adorable,” Gwen said. “To the next dimension!”

Peter took a moment to engrave the scene he just saw into his head, before responding. “Yeah, OK. Next dimension.”

“Alright, let’s try… this one.”

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter, Miles, and Gwen fell from their portal into an empty room - a storeroom, from the looks of it. It was filled with cleaning supplies and other stuff you’re find in a storage closet. After the spider-kids stood up and found their bearings, they found the door to leave the room, wondering what this dimension was like.

They walked out the door and into a huge indoor space, filled to the brim with people. But not just normal people - all these people were dressed up as characters that Peter recognised. He saw a bunch of Star Wars cosplayers, as well as others dressed up as people from anime, cartoons, and video games. He even saw some people dressed as some of the Avengers.

“Woah, we must be at some other universe’s Comic-Con,” Peter said excitedly. “This is awesome! I’ve never gotten to go before!”

“So this is the Comic-Con that Peter B. told me about,” Miles said to himself.

“This is so cool!” Peter kept fanboying. “I’m gonna take a picture with those Star Wars cosplayers over there! Their outfits are so-”

“Woah!”

Peter, Miles, and Gwen turned their heads as a young woman with dyed purple hair ran up to them.

“You guys’ cosplays look so good! Can I take a picture with you?”

Peter blinked, confused.

“Oh my god! Even the eyes of your suit move! How’d you do that?!”

“U-Uh…” Peter then realized that he, Miles, and Gwen all still had their spider-suits on. Luckily, people apparently dressed up as superheroes at Comic-Con in this universe, so it was OK. “Y-You know, engineering and all that. But sure, we’ll take a picture.”

After taking a picture with the the purple-haired girl, she thanked them and ran off.

“That was funny,” Gwen said. “I’ve never been mistaken as a cosplayer of myself. Anyway, I’ll check my watch. Let’s see where the Spider-Man of this dimension is.” After clicking a few buttons, the eyes on her Spider-suit went wide.

“What is it, Gwen?” Miles asked.

“Um, Miles, can you check your watch? I think mine’s malfunctioning.”

“Uh… sure, OK.” Miles checked his watch and pressed a few buttons. “Woah, what the hell?”

“What is it?” Peter asked.

“There doesn’t seem like there’s a Spider-Person in this dimension,” Miles explained. “Or at least, there’s no one with genetically-modified spider blood that my watch can pick up.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Peter said. “That girl just recognised our costumes. That means… wait, that means not only does a version of me exist in this dimension, but versions of you guys do, too!”

“So there should be at least three readings on our watches!” Gwen checked her watch again, but she got the same result - no spider-powered people from this dimension could be found.

“So… what the heck?” Miles said. “If there’s no spider-people here, then how come our costumes got recognised?”

“Oh my god!” Another voice came. A group of teenagers ran up to Peter, Miles, and Gwen. “You’re cosplays are so good! Can we have a picture!”

After taking another confusing picture, one of the teens asked, “Are you guys gonna go to the Marvel Studios panel?”

“The Marvel Studios panel?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, it’s in a few minutes. If you wanna make it in time, you’ll have to hurry. We’re on our way there. Wanna come with us?”

Peter looked at Miles, who shrugged and looked at Gwen. She looked at the teenagers. “Sure, yeah. Lead the way. We’re not super sure about where it is.”

“Cool!” The same teenager said. They started walking. “On the way there, can we get you guys’ Tumblr usernames? I wanna see your other cosplays! You guys must be super popular with quality suits like those!”

“Uhhh… maybe later,” Gwen said. “After the panel.”

“Why are we going to this?” Peter whispered to Miles. “What the hell is a Marvel?”

“I dunno,” Miles whispered back. “But maybe it’ll give us some clues about why people recognise us even though there’s no spider-person in this dimension.”

Another Spider-Man cosplayer walked by them. Peter and Miles stared at him.

When they reached their location, the teenagers entered and said they’d meet up with ‘their new favorite cosplayers’ after the panel. Peter, Miles, and Gwen somehow managed to find a way to sneak into the panel despite not having Comic-Con entry badges, tickets to see the panel, or whatever the hell Comic-Con in this strange dimension needed from them. Benefits of being Spider-People - knowing how to be sneaky.

The spider-kids only had to wait a little bit for the panel to start. They stood near the back of the audience, trying not to draw suspicion.

The announcer said an introduction, then started announcing people onto the stage.

“Everyone give a warm welcome to the one and only Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr!”

The audience cheered and clapped loudly, and Peter’s jaw dropped. A man that looked exactly like Tony Stark walked onto the stage, waving to the audience. He even wore a nice suit like one his dad would wear. It was so weird.

“OK so, apparently Iron Man’s name isn’t Tony Stark in this universe,” Peter whispered to Miles and Gwen.

“And if there’s an Iron Man, where’s Spider-Man? Why can we see his reading on our watches?” Gwen asked.

The announcer then spoke again. “Next, please welcome to the stage, the one and only Spider-Man - Tom Holland!”

Again the audience cheered, the sounds of screaming fangirls being particularly loud. Then a young man who looked exactly like Peter walked onto the stage and sat at the panel seat next to Tony- Robert .

Miles looked down at his watch. “I don’t get it! I can’t read his spider-blood on my watch!”

“Me neither,” Gwen said. “This is so weird.”

The person named Tom Holland greeted the audience, and Peter heard he had a British accent. It was weird to see a different voice come out of what looked like his mouth.

The announcer called the other Avengers onto the stage one by one. They all had different names than from Peter’s dimension, but they all looked just like them.

“I’m so confused,” Peter whispered to Miles and Gwen. “You still can’t get a read on this Spider-Man?”

“No, the watch still says nothing,” Miles said. “I don’t know why.”

The announcer then spoke again. “In honor of Avengers: Endgame becoming the number one highest grossing movie in the world-” the audience cheered in response, “-we will be showing the bloopers to the movie here on the big screen before we start the panel.”

The audience cheered again, and the spider-kids all looked at each other - shocked.

“Oh my god…” Miles said. “We can’t see this Spider-Man on our watches because-”

“-he doesn’t have Spider-blood,” Gwen finished his sentence. “He’s… an actor . All of them are. They’re just actors.”

“We’re… We’re fictional characters in this universe,” Peter said, feeling lightheaded. “Holy shit. In this universe, we’re just fictional characters played by actors.”

“This is making me dizzy,” Miles said. “I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, me too,” Peter said. “You know what. I think… I wanna go home. That’s enough dimension-hopping for me. If I see too many more versions of myself and my dad, my brain might rip in two.”

Miles and Gwen laughed. “Perfectly understandable,” Miles said. “But first… I kinda wanna see the bloopers for this movie.”

Peter laughed also. “Alright, sure. I wanna see them, too.”

The bloopers played, and Peter was amazed to see the Avengers he knew and loved in front of green screens and not actually using their superpowers. They didn’t have superpowers in this dimension. That was still crazy to Peter.

After the bloopers finished, Peter, Miles, and Gwen quietly snuck out of the panel room, just as sneakily as when they snuck in. They made their way to the empty store room that they first appeared in. Once they were alone, Miles held up his watch, “Let me just go to my bookmarks and we’ll get you back to your dimension.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence as Miles searched. Peter watched as Miles’ face went from calm, to confusion, to absolute dread.

“What?” Peter asked, nervous, “What is it?”

“I…” Miles hesitantly looked up, “I might have… forgotten to bookmark your dimension.”

“WHAT?!” Peter shouted

“ Again , Miles?” Gwen laughed in disbelief.

Peter didn’t register what she said. He was too busy freaking out. “W-What do you mean? So we just don’t know - out of an infinite number of dimensions - which one is mine?! I’m never gonna get to go home?! I’m never gonna get to see my dad-”

“Peter! Peter, calm down!” Gwen said, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. Miles has done this before. The first time he came to visit me, he forgot to bookmark his own dimension in his watch. We know a way to find out what dimension you came from.”

Peter looked up at her. “R-Really?”

“Yeah, man. Sorry about that,” Miles laughed nervously. “Our friend Peni will be able to figure out where you came from. She’s super smart and science-y. But we’ll just have to go to her dimension in order for her to fix this.”

After Peter’s worry subsided, he let out a sigh. “OK. That’s fine. Let’s go.”

Miles entered Peni’s coordinates, and the three portaled to her dimension.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

Peter thought Peni was super cool. In her lab, they talked about a lot of science stuff while she hooked him up to some special scanner and ran tests on him. Those tests would read Peter’s atoms. Then, after Peni put his atoms’ data through a few formulas, she’d be able to narrow down the number of possible dimensions Peter was originally from from infinity to two or three. 

“Aha! There we go!” Peni said when she finished her calculations. “Peter is from either one of these two dimensions: Earth-199999 or Earth-22112.”

“How were you able to narrow it down to those two?” Peter asked, fascinated by the science.

“The dimensional atomic signature from your atoms align with that of these two dimensions. The signatures from these two dimensions are very similar, so it’s hard for me to tell which of them is the correct universe, but it won’t be so hard for you guys to just check both dimensions.”

“Woah, that’s so cool!” Peter beamed. “Is there like, a way for me to see this dimensional signature thing? I’m such a nerd, I gotta see it!”

“Sure, took a look,” Peni tilted her computer screen in Peter’s direction. Gwen and Miles crowded behind Peter, also wanting to see. The screen was blue, with lighter blue lines branching out like tree branch across it.

“This is a dimensional map,” Peni explained. “As you can see at this point,” Peni zoomed in on a particular spot where a light blue line branched out from another line, “Earth Earth-22112 split off from Earth-199999. That means there’s only a few major differences between them, and that’s what makes their signatures so similar. In fact,” Peni zoomed again, revealing the line labeled ‘Earth-199999’ with thousands of tiny lines coming off of it, “a lot of new dimensions were split off from Earth-199999. Some super major event must’ve happened in order for that to happen. Good thing I was able to narrow your dimension down to only these two. The other dimensions that split off of 199999 have some minor differences that I can detect.”

Peter was eventually able to tear his eyes away from the awesome science in front of him. “This is so cool. Thank you so much, Peni. I’m gonna try to go home now.”

“Alright,” Peni smiled. “See ya, Peter! I was nice meeting you!”

“Which dimension should we try first?” Miles asked Peter. “199999 or 22112?”

“Let’s do 199999,” Peter said. “Since that’s the one with the big event. Maybe that big event was my dad adopting me.”

“Sure, yeah.” Miles readied his watch. “Alright, grab on.”

The air glitched around them and they went through another portal.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

When Peter landed on Earth-199999, he breathed a sigh of relief. This looked familiar.

“I think this is it,” Peter said, smiling.

“Remember Peter,” Gwen said. “Peni said that this dimension and the other one she found were super similar. So let’s check to make sure this is for sure your dimension before we leave you here.”

“Right, yeah, OK,” Peter said, a hint of confidence in his voice. “We’ll just go to Avengers Tower and ask my dad a bunch of questions to make she he’s really my dad. Let’s go!”

The three Spider-People put on their masks and swung off in the direction of Peter’s home.

When they got there, they landed on a roof of a building across the street of the Avengers Tower. Or, at least what Peter thought was Avengers Tower, since the Avengers logo was no longer on it. It appeared to have been sold to a company.

Peter’s face dropped. “OK, nevermind, you’re right. This isn’t my dimension. That’s not my home.”

“Alright,” Miles readied his watch again, “22112, here we come-”

“No, wait,” Peter said. Under his mask, his face was very serious. “Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Miles asked.

“In my Spidey-Sense, I… I feel something . It’s like nothing like I ever sensed before.”

Miles and Gwen gave each other confused looks. “I dunno what you’re talking about, Peter,” Gwen said.

“It’s something about… this dimension’s Peter,” Peter’s eyes lit up as the realization dawned on him. “Maybe that’s why only I can feel it.”

“What does it feel like?” Miles asked.

“It feels…” Peter thought for a moment, trying to put it into words. “ Sad . Like really, really sad.”

“You think the Peter of this dimension is feeling sad right now?”

“I guess so,” Peter said. “There’s something else. Maybe it’s just my curiosity overpowering me, but I feel like my Spidey-Sense is telling me that I have to go see this Peter.”

Miles and Gwen exchanged a glance again. “Don’t you wanna go home?” Gwen asked.

“I do! Of course I do!” Peter defended. “It’s just… Let’s explore one more dimension, alright? Then I’ll go home.”

“OK,” Gwen chuckled a little, shaking her head. “That’s fine with me.”

“Me too,” Miles said. “Let’s go see this dimension’s Peter.”

“Great!” Peter smiled. “I sense that he’s in this direction. Follow me!”

The spider-teens all swung into the street, Miles and Gwen following Peter. They swung for a long time until they finally reached their destination.

A cemetary.

Peter landed just inside the gate, Miles and Gwen soon landing behind him. Peter squinted in confusion. Maybe this dimension’s Peter was visiting Uncle Ben’s grave and that’s why he was sad - but Uncle Ben wasn’t buried in this cemetery. Peter didn’t recognise this one. Maybe Ben was buried in this cemetery in this dimension.

They continued to walk into the cemetery, Peter being guided by his Spider-Sense, which grew stronger and stronger inside of him.

Peter froze when he finally saw the back of a figure that looked a lot like him. He even wore the same kind of nerdy outfit that Peter always wore. He, Miles, and Gwen all ducked behind a large gravestone, peeking out to spy on the other Peter.

Peter saw that other-Peter was crying. From behind, the spider-kids could see how other-Peter’s shoulders wracked with violent sobs. He fell to his knees and wept loudly. There was barely anyone else in the graveyard - no one was in sight nearby, so other-Peter had his privacy.

Peter looked around the scene more. In front of other-Peter was a large grave, but he was too far away to make out the name on it. In front of the grave were tons of flowers, pictures, candles, and all sorts of things. Peter even saw dolls in front of the grave. Why would Uncle Ben have so much in front of his grave?

“KAREN,” Peter whispered to his AI, “Can you zoom in for me?”

“Sure thing, Peter,” KAREN responded, and Peter’s vision zoomed in.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the dolls were Iron Man dolls. Why would there be-

Oh.

Oh.

Oh shit .

Peter clapped a hand over his mouth and ducked behind the grave again. He felt tears in his eyes.

His mind flashed back to his nightmares. The alien man, the glowy glove, and Tony…

“Peter?” Miles whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Peter sniffed back his sobs. “R-Read the name on the grave.”

“It’s too far away for me to see,” Miles responded. “What does it say?”

Peter tried to calm himself down. This wasn’t his dimension. This wasn’t his dimension. This was the dimension from his nightmares. MJ was right - his dreams were him looking through the eyes of his alternate-dimension-self.

“I-It says,” Peter took a deep breath, “It says Anthony Edward Stark.”

Miles covered his mouth, and the eyes of his suit widened. So did Gwen’s as she did the same.

Peter stood up. “I know why my Spidey-Sense led me here. I have to go talk to him.” Peter immediately started to walk over to other-Peter before Miles or Gwen could stop him.

When he got closer to other-Peter, he slowed down. He didn’t want to spook him. Other-Peter’s tears were quieting down, but his body still shook with silent sobs. The sight broke Peter’s heart.

From only a couple feet behind him, Peter spoke. “Hey, Peter.”

Other-Peter whipped his head around, scrambling to his feet. He blinked multiple times in confusion. “W-What-” Then their Spidey-Senses connected, and other-Peter relaxed just the tiniest bit. “Y-You’re like me.”

Peter let out a weak laugh. He looked left and right, making sure no one else was in sight in the cemetery, before taking off his mask. “I am you - from another dimension.”

Other-Peter’s eyes went wide. “N-No way…”

“I, um,” Now Peter didn’t know what to say. Plus, this was so weird - just staring at a mirror image of himself. “I didn’t actually mean to come here, but while I’m here, I wanted to meet you. I’ve been having dreams about your dimension and I… I just…” Peter sniffed, wiping his eyes, “I’m so sorry, man.”

Other-Peter sniffed, too. “Did you know him, too?”

“ Know him?” Peter laughed weakly again. “I… He…” It was at that point that Peter didn’t know if he should tell other-Peter what happened in his dimension. He didn’t want this other-Peter to feel jealous of him - that he got a happy ending while other-Peter didn’t. “Yeah, I knew him alright.” Peter walked closer to other-Peter and put a hand hesitantly on his shoulder. “Let’s just… sit here, and… have a good cry. I think we both need it.”

Other-Peter’s tears were already flowing again. He fell back down onto his knees. Peter sat down next to him and gave him a side hug as he started to cry, too.

He tried to not think about how trippy this was. After months of looking through his eyes in dreams, Peter just wanted to comfort other-Peter.

“H-He was like a father to me, you know?” Other-Peter managed to say between sobs.

Peter sighed. “Yeah, I know.” Boy did he know.

“I never got to tell him that,” other-Peter said. “A-And I never got to tell him how much I loved him.”

Peter bit his lip. “God, I’m… I’m so sorry, Peter.”

Other-Peter wiped his eyes. “I-I mean, at least I have Morgan, you know? She’ll never replace him, but… She’s like my little sister, and we’re helping each other heal.”

Peter squinted. “Who’s Morgan?”

Other-Peter blinked up at him. “You don’t have Morgan in your universe?”

“No. Who is that?”

“Sh-She’s Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts’ daughter.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “Woah. No, she’s not in my dimension.” Peter then wondered if a Morgan would ever even exist in his dimension.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, man,” other-Peter said. “I-I don’t know how you’re coping without her.”

Peter blinked, confused again.

Oh , he realized. Other-Peter thought that Tony died in his universe, too.

Peter’s blood ran cold. He was so lucky that Tony was alive in his dimension. He was so lucky that Tony was his dad in his dimension.

He didn’t know if he should tell other-Peter that. He really didn’t want other-Peter to be jealous of him, or to hate him for getting a better life.

Peter decided to stay silent - to neither confirm nor deny other-Peter’s statement.

“Just remember, dude,” Peter said, putting his hand on other-Peter’s shoulder again. “You’re not alone. I… I really want you to feel better. And I know that’s gonna be super difficult - like super difficult, cuz Tony means so much to us - but you just gotta remember that you’re not alone. You have others to support you. You have Morgan, like you said, but you also have Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Natasha-”

“Natasha’s not dead in your dimension?”

Peter blinked. “Oh my god, Natasha and Tony are dead in your dimension?”

Other-Peter sniffing back more tears was all the answer that Peter needed.

“O-OK, well, there are other people that can support you, too,” Peter continued, “I said Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey already, but you know, there’s also Bucky, and Loki-”

“Loki?” Other-Peter sounded very confused. “Loki’s a good guy in your dimension? He didn’t try to take over New York?”

“Oh, he did,” Peter explained, “but then he turned nice again. He’s a good friend of mine now.”

“I see,” other-Peter said. “I never got to meet him, but I think Thor told me something like that at Mr. Stark’s… a-at Mr. Stark’s funeral…” Other-Peter sniffed, “He’d said Loki had turned good, but then he was killed in space-”

“ Loki’s dead, too?!” Peter was starting to get angry now. He stood up and shouted in the general direction of the sky, “What the fuck ?! What the fuck, universe?! You really did that ?! You took away this Peter’s Tony, Nat, and Loki?! Are you kidding me?!”

Peter took a breath to calm himself down, while the other-Peter stared at him like he was insane. Peter tried to think back to his nightmares for any sign that Nat and Loki were dead. He would’ve remembered that if that was shown in his nightmares.

Peter instead realized something else while searching the memories of his nightmares. “Hey, did you have to fight a weird guy with a fishbowl on his head?”

Other-Peter nodded. “Yeah, you mean Mysterio?”

Peter nodded back. That was the name of the drug that had caused him to see the fishbowl guy, so it only made sense that that was his name in this universe. “Yeah, him.”

“Did you have to fight him, too?”

Peter tilted his head, thinking of how to phrase this. “Uh… kinda… yeah. It’s complicated.”

Other-Peter squinted, confused, but didn’t question it. “Yeah, I hate that guy. But, you know, at least the whole thing with him wasn’t completely terrible. I mean, now that me and MJ are dating-”

“ What ?!” Peter shouted. He started to sputter, to shocked to form words. “You- What- Y-You’re dating MJ?”

“Yeah, you’re not?”

“MJ likes us back?!”

Other-Peter actually managed to smile at that. “I mean, she likes me back. I dunno if the MJ in your dimension likes you back.”

Peter really hoped that she did. “How long have you two been dating?”

“Only for around a week. We’re actually gonna go on a date tomorrow. I’m gonna swing around Times Square while she holds onto me. Are Aunt May and Happy dating in your dimension, too?”

“ Aunt May and Happy ?! What?!” Peter almost gagged. “No, no, they’re not. In fact, May doesn’t even live in Queens anymore in my dimension. She moved to Italy.”

“Italy?” Other-Peter squinted. “Then where do you live?”

Peter’s stomach dropped. “I-I live in Avengers Tower… with… the Avengers.”

“You do?” Other-Peter asked, and Peter tried not to panic. “You have Avengers Tower still?”

“Yep! Anyway-”

“And the Avengers let you in? Why would they? I don’t know any of them that well. I was only close to… t-to Mr. Stark-”

Other-Peter’s eyes lit up in realization. His face fell, his expression going cold.

Peter started to panic.

“Mr. Stark didn’t die in your universe, did he?”

Peter gulped. “Hey man, I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I just wanted to help-”

“Oh, you just wanted to help ?” Other-Peter was angry-crying now. “I’ll tell you how you can help! Take me with you!”

“W-What?”

“Take me with you back to your dimension!” Other-Peter pleaded. “I-I, I need to be where Mr. Stark is alive.”

“No, Peter, calm down.” Peter gripped other-Peter’s shoulders. “You just started dating MJ! She’d want you to stay! Your dimension needs you. That girl, Morgan, she needs you. All those people that are there for you, you also need to be there for them. Plus, we can’t have two Peters in one dimension for an extended period of time. That would probably mess with space-time or something.”

“I don’t care!” Other-Peter yelled, pushing Peter back. Peter stumbled, forgetting other-Peter matched his strength. “I-I need to be with Mr. Stark! I can barely stand living without him! He’s my third father-figure to die on me! The third ! I need to be in a universe where he’s still alive!”

“Peter?” Miles’ voice called out, followed by the sounds of his and Gwen’s footsteps running towards the two Peters. “You OK?”

“Are you two gonna fight?” Gwen called too. “Do you need backup?”

“No, it’s OK, guys,” Peter said to them as they arrived at his side. He turned back to other-Peter. “These are my new friends, Miles and Gwen. They’re spider-people from other other dimensions.”

Other-Peter stood, stunned. “O-OK.”

Peter took this opportunity to try and calm other-Peter down again. “Look, Peter, you can’t come with me. The people here need you. Plus, with Iron Man not around. I’m sure Spider-Man’s gonna have to step up and kinda fill his shoes.”

“Don’t say that!” Peter’s voice broke, threatening to cry again. “D-Don’t say that to me. Everyone wants Spider-Man to be the new Iron Man, but it’s so stressful. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that.”

“Hey, listen,” Peter put a hand on other-Peter’s shoulder. “Yeah, that sounds super stressful right now. But that doesn’t mean you’ll never be ready.”

Other-Peter wiped the tears out of his eyes and looked up at Peter. “H-How will I know when I’m ready?”

Peter didn’t know the answer to that.

Luckily, next to him, Miles did. “A wise man once told me that ‘it’s just a leap of faith’.”

Other-Peter sniffed. “Did Mr. Stark say that to you?”

“No,” Miles smiled a bit. “No, it was actually a different Peter, from another dimension. He’s a much older Peter. Maybe… Maybe when you’ll older like him, you’ll be ready to be ‘the next Iron Man’, too.”

Other-Peter absorbed all these words. He nodded to himself. “O-OK, yeah.”

Peter shot him a weak smile. “I’m really sorry, Peter. Before I go, I just wanna say…” Peter gulped, wondering if he should tell him this. “Apparently, our universes are very similar. So, if your Tony was anything like my Tony, just know this. Tony loved you very much, OK? He loved you so, so much.”

Other-Peter felt himself starting to cry all over again. “Y-You think so?”

“I know so, Peter. Trust me, I know,” Peter said. He patted other-Peter’s shoulder. “Bye now. Maybe I’ll see you again sometime.”

Other-Peter just shrugged and waved. “Bye.”

Peter waved back, and Miles entered the final coordinates into his watch.

And with that, a partial opened, and Miles, Gwen, and Peter disappeared, leaving other-Peter in his sad, sad dimension.

 

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

 

The portal opened, and Peter stepped back into his own universe. He breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s good to be home.”

He said his goodbyes to his new friends, before they portaled back to their own universes. Then Peter swung home. And sure enough, Avengers Tower was there, standing tall, the Avengers logo emblazoned on its side.

Peter rushed inside and entered the elevator. He told FRIDAY to take him to wherever his dad was.

Tony happened to be in his lab. When Peter arrived on the right floor, he ran to the lab door, entered the code on the keypad, and went inside.

“Hey, Pete!” Tony greeted him with a smile. “How was patrol? Did you catch any-”

Tony was interrupted by Peter almost toppling him over in a hug. Peter squeezed him tight and buried his face in Tony’s shoulder.

Tony laughed a little. “What is it, kiddo? Something wrong?”

“No,” Peter sighed. “Nothing’s wrong. Not with me.”

The strange answer made Tony’s eyebrow raise. “Did something happen, bambino ?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of cool stuff to tell you,” Peter said. “Just… In a second. Right now, I just need some hugs.”

Tony chuckled. He hugged Peter back tighter. “Well, I can do that.”

Peter stayed in Tony’s arms for a while before saying. “I’m so, so happy that you’re alive.”

Tony frowned at that. “Did you have your nightmare again last night?”

“No, it’s… I’ll explain in a second. I’m just… God, I’m so happy and grateful that I was born in this dimension, Dad. I’m so happy. I’m so happy that you’re alive and that you’re my Dad.”

Tony laughed and ran a hand through Peter’s hair. “So am I, kiddo. So am I.” He lifted Peter from where he was buried in his shoulder. “Now, do you wanna tell me what happened today?”

Peter grinned, so excited to share his adventure. “Dad, you’re not gonna believe it.”

 

⎊  Peter and Tony will return   ⎊

 

 

Notes:

HOPED YOU LIKED IT!!!! You can tell I’m still coping with Endgame even though it came out months ago oof lmao. Once again THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING ALL THE WAY TO THE END OF THIS FIC!! Thank you for leaving kudos and all your nice comments too!! I love all you guys so much!! Have a happy holidays!!

(Shoutout to my friends from high school. When Peter and his friends are hanging out in Panda Express at the very beginning of this chapter, that’s a reference to how me and my friends always would hang out at Panda Express after school. Love you guys!!! <3 )

(Also when Miles sees MJ and thinks she's Zendaya, that scene was inspired by this Tumblr post lol it's very funny)

 

You can read some of my other Irondad fics if you want!
Take Me Under Your Wing: (Ongoing) Urban Fantasy AU where everyone rides a dragon. Tony teaches Peter how to ride a dragon and much more.
Feared and Loved: (Ongoing) AU where Peter is a transgender boy and Tony is a mafia boss who adopts him.
One Big Happy Iron-Family: (Ongoing) Angsty, whumpy, hurt/comfort, adopted Peter AU, post-Endgame where Tony lives, featuring little sister Morgan.
Irondad & Spiderson Febuwhump 2020: (Finished) Unrelated whumpy and hurt/comfort one shots using the Febuwhump prompts.
Some People Move On, But Not Us: (Finished) REALLY SAD and angsty post-Endgame fic that I wrote right after seeing endgame lol if you wanna cry read this.

Notes:

If you wanna read my other Irondad and Spiderson fics, they’re all right here!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of My Irondad and Spiderson Fics