It started with small comments that confused Peter more than anything.
He was, of course, delighted when Mrs. Potts and Mr. Stark announced that they were expecting. He knew that they’d had their ups and downs, both in their relationship and in life in general, but they were soulmates, and anyone could see it. They deserved to be a happy family and finally settle down, and Peter knew that better than anyone. Peter thought that was it, that the announcement is pretty much where his involvement would end, but he was wrong.
Mrs. Potts and Mr. Stark were being… weird. It started off small: little comments about how excited he must be, which, yeah, he was, but he didn’t know why that was so important. At first, he thought they were just projecting most of their joy on him, and he was glad to be included, but it was still odd. Next came the babysitting comments.
“You must be so happy to have a little friend on the way,” Mrs. Potts had smiled, her hand on her stomach. He’d tilted his head slightly in confusion, but had smiled and nodded anyway, not wanting to stifle her happiness.
“You two will get along great. You’ll have so much fun babysitting.” Mrs. Potts added. Peter had nearly gotten whiplash, but before he could say anything, she had excused herself. He still couldn’t get over that comment, though, because why would he babysit their child?
He wouldn’t have any problem babysitting if they needed it if they asked, but they were just outright assuming that he would babysit. Why? He was Mr. Stark’s intern, and that was about where their relationship ended. Why did they trust him to take care of their kid so much?
It didn’t end there, though. Other people started making comments about it. The other Avengers, some of Mrs. Potts’ friends, who he only knew from how often they were over, and even Happy once or twice. It confused him to no end. He wanted to talk to Mr. Stark about it, but the other man was suddenly so busy with baby related things that they hardly spent any time together anymore.
Peter was only slightly jealous about this, and he didn’t want to make it into a big deal, but it did hurt just a bit that his mentor kept blowing him off. He hadn’t been to the lab in nearly two weeks when he used to go twice a week before. He understood, of course. A baby coming along was a big and stressful thing. He knew that they would need some time, but no one had reached out to him at all.
There was zero communication going on, and it bothered Peter just a little bit. He didn’t plan on reaching out, though, not wanting to bother Mr. Stark when his baby was two months away from being born. Instead, he mostly just talked about it with Ned and MJ.
“It sucks that he’s blowing you off, man,” Ned sighed, resting his elbows on the lunch table. “Maybe you should text him…”
“I can’t do that!” Peter protested. “I don’t want to bother him. He’s probably so stressed and he definitely doesn’t need me messaging him about things that don’t even matter right now.” He shook his head. No, he wasn’t going to do that. He’d just wait it out. Things would get better after the baby was born.
“I don’t think he’s replacing you, Peter.” MJ said suddenly, not even looking up from her book. It was Moby Dick today, which was weird, because Peter knew MJ hated the classics.
“I know that?” Peter said, tilting his head in confusion. He felt like he was always confused these days. “He’s having his first kid, not hiring another personal intern. Why would he be replacing me?”
“Well, Y’know, you’re.. Like… kind of his kid, dude.” Ned shrugged, and MJ nodded in agreement, flipping the page in her book.
“No, I’m not,” Peter denied. “I’m not his kid. I’m his intern who's technically a kid. There's a difference.”
“Yeah, but he treats you like you’re his kid.” MJ said blandly, like she didn’t really care about this conversation.
“No, he doesn’t. Does he?” Peter asked, suddenly unsure. Did Mr. Stark treat him like his kid? He hoped the man knew that Peter was not, in fact, his kid.
“Uh, yeah. He’s, like, totally your dad, man.” Ned said, and Peter let out a breath.
He knew that having Tony Stark as a dad would be so awesome, and he was grateful that the man cared enough about him to consider him his son, but… would Peter be totally selfish for saying that he didn’t really want that?
Mr. Stark was great and a really cool guy, but Peter already had a dad. Sure, he was dead, but Peter didn’t want to replace him. His dad had been a good man, and Peter kept the memories of him close to his heart. He could never replace his dad no matter who it was. No matter how cool or how rich. He didn’t want nor need another dad. It was the same with his mom and Uncle Ben.
He didn’t want to be a Stark, he wanted to be a Parker. He was a Parker, and he was going to stay that way. He hoped Mr. Stark knew that. Peter wasn’t comfortable with anything else.
The next time Mr. Stark invited him over to the tower, it was Friday, four weeks since Peter’s last visit. He’d been hesitant to accept after what his friends had said, but he went over anyway, if just to talk. Happy had picked him up, and they drove to the tower in silence.
When they got there, Peter took the private elevator up as usual, pretending that hearing FRIDAY’s voice wasn’t weird after going so long without hearing her. He’d forgotten how much he’d missed this place in his month-long absence. The doors opened to reveal Mr. Stark’s lab, and Peter walked down the hallway, typing in the code for the door that he’d memorized and could recite in his sleep.
“Underoos!” Mr. Stark said joyously, throwing Peter off for a moment. Mr. Stark rarely called him that name when he wasn’t suited up. Something was going on, Peter could feel it.
“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter said casually, dropping his bag by the door and moving to sit down next to the man at the desk, which was wide and expansive, filled with older and newer projects. “What’s going on?”
“I have a surprise for you,” The man grinned, his hands folded in his lap. Peter raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. “We finally found out the gender! I meant to tell you earlier, but later is better than never. You’re gonna have a sister!”
Peter froze. A sister. The baby was a girl. That was great, but… a sister. Peter swallowed as he realized that Mr. Stark really did see him as a kid. He was flattered, but he knew that he didn’t want this. He felt bad about all of this because he really didn’t want to hurt Mr. Stark’s feelings, but he couldn’t just let this go on forever. Deep down, he knew that.
“That’s great, Mr. Stark,” He forced a smile. “But, I mean, she won’t really be my sister.”
Mr. Stark just waved him off, only looking slightly concerned.
“Well, if you want to get all biological, no, but family is more than just-” He began, but Peter just shook his head.
“I’m not your son, Mr. Stark,” He interrupted, silencing the man. “Biological or… or otherwise. I’m not your kid, nor do I want to be. I’m honored that you think of me like that, but I have a dad already, or.. I had a dad who I loved, and I have no intention of replacing him.”
His feelings were complicated, and that was probably the most eloquent and mature thing he’d ever said, but for some reason, he regretted saying it. The look of shock and disappointment on Mr. Stark’s face made his heart ache uncomfortably, and he suddenly felt worse. He’d rather experience the discomfort of being Mr. Stark’s ‘kid’ than feel like this.
“Oh… right…” Mr. Stark murmured, as if trying to think of what to say. “I’m… I’m so sorry, Peter,”
And that was not what Peter was expecting Mr. Stark to say. He didn’t actually know what he expected, but it wasn’t that.
“I shouldn’t have assumed. You have a family. That was… that one's on me, kid. I’m sorry. Have we… have I been making you uncomfortable?” Mr. Stark asked. Peter blinked. He couldn’t believe this was happening right now, and guilt still clawed at his organs.
“I… only a little bit. Honestly, I’m okay with just being your intern and Spider-man. I’d… I’d prefer it, actually.” He responded, the words feeling bitter on his tongue. He wanted the relationship he had with Mr. Stark previously without all the labels. He didn’t need another dad, but he didn’t want to lose what he had with Mr. Stark. He didn’t know how to verbalize that, so he stayed silent. He’d take whatever he could get.
“Alright,” Mr. Stark nodded. “Just an intern. And vigilante, I suppose. That’s… that’s fine. That’s good.”
Peter nodded along with him, pretending like this wasn’t the most awkward thing ever. To Peter’s surprise, however, Mr. Stark seemed to take it in stride, and they got to work like normal, talking about random things.
It nearly gave Peter whiplash, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, or whatever the saying was. Instead, he fell back into the steady routine.
Everything would be just fine.