Learning to Be a Family

I'll never make it.

Tony buried his face in his hands, desperate to calm his frantic heartbeat. Peter's tear-stained face was etched into his mind, resurfacing with every thud in his chest.

When he had told him about his aunt's death, the teenager had collapsed into his arms, resting his full weight against him. Tony had become the only bulwark against the despair threatening to drag him under. And…

And Tony didn’t know what to do.

So he had simply patted Peter’s shoulder and murmured there, there, as if he were still a child. And in many ways, Peter was still a child—despite the superhero suit and the falsely confident air he wore like armor. A child whose heart was now broken, whose illusions had just shattered. A child who had just learned, in the cruelest way possible, that life was often nothing more than a series of irreversible losses.

What could he, Tony Stark, possibly do to help?

He was the first to know that things wouldn’t magically be better tomorrow. That the anxiety would slowly seep into Peter’s bloodstream until it became his constant companion—both his best fried and worst enemy. There was no going back, no real happy endings. Just bittersweet ones, if you were lucky.

How could he lead Peter out of the darkness, when he couldn’t even find a way out his own?

OOO

‘How's Peter?’ Pepper asked later that night, sitting beside him on the bed they’d been sharing for the past few months.

Tony couldn’t respond.

She placed a soft hand on his knee and gave it a light squeeze, trying to ground him. ‘Tony?’

Her voice felt distant. Muffled, as though he was underwater. That same pressure weighed on his chest and throat, it was hard to breathe—his lungs fought for air, his heart was thundering…

‘Hey, Tony… I'm here, okay? You and Peter aren’t alone. You’re not alone.’ Pepper leaned toward him, wrapping her arms around him, her auburn hair tickling his nose, her familiar scent making its way to his heart. ‘Listen to my breathing and copy it, okay? Breathe in... breathe out... In… out…’

Eyes shut tight, Tony returned her embrace. He focused on the sensations anchoring him to the present: Pepper’s heartbeat, the warmth of her body, the rhythm of her breath.

And gradually, his own breath deepened.

‘There you are,’ Pepper said, peering into his eyes. ‘You back with me?’

‘Y-yeah. Sorry, Pep. I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘Don't worry.’ She smiled faintly. ‘Bruce gave me a tranquilizer. If you hadn’t calmed down, I was ready to use it.’

‘Good to know you wouldn’t hesitate to drug the love of your life.’

‘It would’ve been for your own good,’ she replied smoothly.

He grimaced, but didn’t argue.

After a long pause, he added, ‘Peter finally fell asleep.’

More accurately, Peter had sobbed in his arms until sleep claimed him, face flushed, nestled against his shoulder. Tony had held him there, afraid to move, afraid to wake him or do something wrong. Then, when his arm had begun to go numb, he had gently shifted him to the bed, tucking him carefully.

Peter hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t even flinched when Tony had hesitantly brushed a curl from his forehead—only to pull his hand back immediately, unsure of what he was doing. Because Peter might be a kid, but he wasn't his kid.

‘We can't leave him,’ Pepper said suddenly, breaking the course of his thoughts. ‘Otherwise, social services will take him, and we'll never know where he ends up. We have to write the judge, to do something to make sure he stays with us.’

‘Pep, I don't know if we’re allowed… foster parents take tests. They’re trained.’ He added, trying to sound confident: ‘The kid could end up with good people.’

‘Do you really believe that?’

He didn’t. Not for a second. And Pepper knew it.

She gave him a faint smile. ‘You wouldn't let just anyone near him. You care too much.’

He clenched his fists. Of course she was right; Pepper was always right, it was not for nothing he planned to marry her.

‘So what are you saying?’ he asked. ‘That I adopt him? That he calls me Dad, and that I take him for weekend joyrides in the Ferrari?

‘You could be his legal guardian,’ she retorted calmly. ’You could indeed take him for drives in your big cars at the weekend, but he would call you Tony. That would be less awkward for everyone.’

Tony couldn't help but smile.

Pepper took his hand, her expression softening. ‘He cares about you, you care about him. He already has a room in the Tower. If you became his guardian, nothing would really change—he’d keep going to Midtown during the day, and hopping rooftops in his pajamas at night. And beyond everything, you’d still be looking out for him.’

Tony's smile turned into an amused grin:

‘You’re almost more invested in this than I am,’ he said.

‘This? He’s not a puppy, Tony,’ Pepper replied, a touch exasperated. ‘He's a human being.’

‘Don’t forget the spider DNA. And the wall-crawling. And that annoying habit of hanging upside down to watch TV.’

Pepper rolled her eyes. ‘He's a human being, Tony. One whose happiness matters. And your happiness? It think it’s tied to his now. Whether you like it or not.’

She squeezed his hand tighter as he replied, desperate, ‘I'm not good with kids.’

‘You love kids. You helped Harley when he needed you.’

‘That was a coincidence.’

‘And still writing to him all the time is also a coincidence?’

Tony opened his mouth to protest but Pepper interrupted him.

‘I know you love Peter, and I know it breaks your heart to see him alone, without his parents or his aunt.’

Tony looked away. Sometimes, Pepper knew him too well.

He confessed, in a low voice:

‘I understand him, because I've been there. I know what it's like… to lose your whole family. I know how much it breaks you.’

He wasn’t even sure she heard him—but when she tenderly placed her forehead against his cheek, he knew she had.

‘We can still help him,’ she whispered. ‘We can be his family. So he doesn’t break like we did.’

Tony stared at her. For once once, she looked just as fragile as he felt.

‘I only have you,’ she murmured. ’And for a long time, you only had Happy, Rhodey and me. Maybe it’s time we stop thinking just about ourselves. Maybe it’s time to be there for someone else.’

He nodded, his throat too tight for words.

‘Don't let your anxiety speak for you, Tony. Be there for him... you're all he has now.’

OOO

When Tony returned to Peter's room, he was surprised to find him awake. He was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling, face pale, dried tears still on his cheeks.

‘Hey, kid,’ Tony said awkwardly, because he had no idea what to say to a fifteen-year-old who had just lost his aunt. ‘Wanna… eat something?

Peter turned toward him, eyes puffy.

‘You need a good burger,’ Tony said, mostly to break the silence. ‘Put on a jacket—we’re going to Burger King.’

‘Burger King?’ Peter blinked. ’B-but Mr Stark... I’m in my pyjamas...’

‘So what? No one will say anything—not with me around. C’mon here—put this on.’

He tossed him an oversized AC/DC sweatshirt. Peter put it on, still sniffling, then slipped on some sneakers. He followed Tony out of the Tower, still wearing his Hello Kitty pajama pants.

OOO

Tony ignored the whispers around them. Iron Man walking into a Burger King with a disheveled kid in pink pajama pants and AC/DC sweatshirt? Yeah, it turned heads.

But Tony didn’t care. He—or Pepper— would deal with the gossip later.

‘Here’ he said, placing a tray in front of Peter. ‘Whopper for you.’

‘Th-thank you, Mr. Stark.’

‘Eat it instead of thanking me.’

He took a bite of his Big King, letting the tangy sauce drip down his chin. Peter hesitated, then bit into his burger—devouring it in three massive bites.

Tony raised an amused eyebrow.

‘Whoa, slow down, Pete. Don't choke, last thing I need is a manslaughter charge.’

‘S-sorry… I-I'll be careful.’

‘Relax, it was a joke. Sort of.’

Okay, not his best joke.

Not the time, Stark.

Peter blushed slightly and finished eating in silence. After a pause, Tony spoke again, softer this time:

‘Look, I know it's not the best timing… but the Tower’s always open to you, you know.’

Peter stared at him like he’d grown a second arc reactor. Tony decided to be a little more explicit:

‘If you want, you can live with us. I mean, with Pepper and me. You already have your room, your school isn't far away, you could continue to be the friendly neighborhood spider... You don't have to say yes. I don't want to force you into anything. I was just thinking that—’

‘Y-you mean… adopt me‘ Peter interrupted, eyes wide.

‘Not quite. More like... become your legal guardian. You’d still be a Parker, no one touches that. But you’d be my responsibility. And I’d do my best to look out for you.’

‘And social services…?’

‘Will stay out of it.’

‘And I can stay… with you?’

‘That's the idea.’

‘Miss Potts agrees?’

‘She was the one who suggested it first.’

For several seconds, Peter remained motionless, staring at Tony in disbelief. Uncomfortable, the man pretended to be absorbed in the contemplation of a tube of ketchup.

He almost jumped when suddenly Peter stood, walked over and threw his arms around him so hard, it knocked the wind out of him.

‘Whoa, easy there! Oxygen is still a thing I need!’

‘Thank you, Mr. Stark. Thank you, thank you, thank you…’

His voice trembled, tears threatening to fill his eyes. Tony stood frozen, not knowing how to react. Having a kid clinging to his neck was a new experience for him.

But it wasn’t just any kid…

‘You're the best, Mr. Stark, and so is Miss Potts! Thank you… b-but... Could I bring my things? My books?’

‘Anything you want, Pete, but you're suffocating me.’

‘Thank you...’

‘Peter, I can't breathe.’

‘I don't know what I would have done without you... Thank you, Mr Stark, thank you...’

No, he definitely wasn't just any kid.

From now on… he was his.

And he would do anything for him, Tony realised as he closed his arms around him.