Tony
Tony once believed he didn’t have a heart, and he tried his best to portray that persona to the rest of the world. They didn’t have any problem believing him. Then, he became well aware his heart is in there, but it’s been broken so many times that he didn’t think he had any use for it anymore. It wasn’t until he got attached to this kid in front of him, this amazing, smart, funny, kind kid, that all the tiny pieces of his shattered heart started putting themselves back together.
It’s different than it once was. It’s damaged. He hardly recognizes it anymore. There are a lot of cracks that remain unfilled, letting unwanted emotions seep out when he least expects it. He never used to feel this much.
Stark men are made of iron. It’s what he’s always been taught. But Tony knows for sure as he holds his crying son in his arms that he doesn’t want Peter to ever feel like he did. He never wants his son to feel like he’s not allowed to cry, or come to him when he’s upset, or enjoy things fully and passionately. Tony may not know how to be a father, but he has a pretty damn good idea of what not to do.
So, he tells his son the truth about everything that’s been going on the past week, his worries and fears about not being what Peter deserves. He apologizes, and when Peter starts crying, Tony holds him through it despite the guilt still raging like a fire through his chest. When he says something that makes peter laugh again, he feels like that’s the biggest accomplishment he’s ever achieved. Nothing else matters to him in that moment other than keeping his son happy.
Which is why he’s immediately concerned when he sees Peter’s smile drop slightly after they were joking around.
“Something else on your mind, bud?” Tony asks casually, trying not to let too much concern leak out.
Peter just shrugs and looks away with a frown.
Tony picks himself up off the floor and sits down on the couch next to his kid, throwing his arm over the back of the couch.
“If something’s bothering you then I’d like to know about it, Pete. Otherwise I can’t help.”
Peter crosses his arms over his abdomen and starts rolling his shirt beneath his fingers.
“I was just thinking…you said my case worker is coming today.”
It’s phrased as a statement, but after what Peter expressed earlier, Tony understands the underlying question.
“Yes, she is.” He responds with a nod. “I was planning on talking to you about it today anyway before all this happened. I had to notify her that you’re here with me since technically she’s responsible for you right now, and she insisted that she has to come see you despite my protests that you needed some time to settle in.”
Tony rolls his eyes trying to express his extreme irritation for this woman.
“Why she’s insisting so hard on coming to visit you here when she left you with those people for almost a year and didn’t do anything about it, I can’t answer for you. Maybe she feels guilty she failed so badly at her job that she needs to do something to make up for it now.”
Peter shrugs, still looking very uncomfortable. “She’s not too bad, really. I’ve had worse ones before. She was nice at least.”
Tony sighs. “Nice doesn’t exactly cut it for this line of work, Pete. Trust me, I feel responsible enough that I didn’t realize what was happening sooner. She of all people should’ve been checking on you and specifically looking out for this kind of thing.”
“Neither one of you is responsible.” Peter responds with a huff. “I hid it on purpose. I didn’t want you to know.”
“I still should’ve noticed.” Tony argues. “You did try to hide it, but it’s not like the signs weren’t there, kid.”
Peter doesn’t retort, but he doesn’t look like he believes a word Tony is saying either.
“So, she knows about everything then?” He asks hesitantly after a moment.
“She doesn’t know the whole story.” Tony explains. “I had to tell her some things, though, so I hope you’re okay with that. She’s seen the report the doctor wrote the other day because, like I said before, in the eyes of the state she’s still technically responsible for you.”
Peter looks over at Tony and his eyes grow wider in fear. “If she’s responsible for me then does that mean she can take me away?” He asks frantically.
“No, of course not.” Tony reassures him, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on the boy’s arm. “I told you I’d never let that happen and I meant it. That does lead to the other thing I had to tell her though. I got a formal paternity test done and sent her over the papers, so she knows you’re biologically mine.”
Peter squints in confusion. “Is that a problem?” He asks curiously.
“Well…no?” Tony responds unhelpfully. “I just never got a chance to talk to you about how you felt about people knowing.”
“Oh.” Peter says. “Why wouldn’t I want people to know?”
Tony sighs, pausing to think of an easy way to explain all of this to a traumatized teenager.
“Do you not want people to know?” Peter asks timidly, taking Tony’s lack of response as a bad sign.
“No, no, that’s not it.” He rushes to reassure the kid. “I hate to break this to you, kiddo, but you didn’t exactly get the easiest person in the world to be related to. Once people start finding out, things are going to change. I grew up in the spotlight of being Howard Stark’s son. I don’t want the same thing for you.”
“Oh.” Peter responds sadly, eyes pointed at the ground. “I didn’t even think about that.”
“Hey, don’t worry so much about it.” Tony instructs, rubbing circles on Peter’s back with one hand while the other goes to tap the boy under the chin to bring his gaze back up to Tony’s.
“We’re going to get everything figured out, you and me. Okay? We’re not going to stress so much about things before they’re a problem. Trust me, I’ve done plenty of that in my time and it always makes things worse.
Peter takes a deep breath before nodding his agreement, leaning into where Tony still has a hand on his back.
Tony takes his as his cue and pulls Peter towards him into a side hug. The kid goes willingly, dropping his head on Tony’s shoulder and taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down again.
“When did you learn to start giving out such good advice?” Peter murmurs into Tony’s shoulder.
Tony just chuckles. “I should probably take offense to that, but in all honesty it’s probably Pepper rubbing off on me.”
Tony’s smile drops. “Oh shit. Pepper.”
Peter removes himself from Tony’s side with a concerned look on his face. “What about Pepper?”
Tony grimaces. “Well we’ve just had so much going on in the last week I’ve kind of been dodging her phone calls because I didn’t really know how to explain what’s going on-“
Peter looks horrified. “You’ve been sending Pepper to voicemail? You’re totally screwed.”
Tony groans. “Don’t remind me. I’ll call her today and we’ll work everything out, don’t worry.” He says flippantly with a wave of his hand. “What do you want me to tell her?” Tony asks. “I don’t like keeping things from her, but I get it if there are certain things you’re not okay with me telling her.”
Peter takes a moment to think before responding. “I’m okay with her knowing everything, I think. It’s Pepper.”
He opens his mouth to add something before closing it again sheepishly and looking away.
“Okay, out with it.” Tony tells him, tapping on the boy’s temple with his finger. “I want to know what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“Do you think Pepper is going to be okay with me living here?” He blurts out nervously. “I mean, I know she doesn’t live here right now, but she did before so like this is kind of her space too and I don’t want to-“
“Pete, hey.” Tony stops him gently. “First of all, Pepper loves you. We’ve been over this. I think she likes you more than me at this point. Second of all, sure, Pepper did live here at one point, but she doesn’t anymore. You do. If for some crazy reason she’s not okay with it, then I don’t care about her opinion. Got it?”
Peter rubs the back of his neck anxiously as his face blushes pink from Tony’s words, nodding his understanding after a moment.
“Good.” Tony tells him, patting him on the back. “Anything else on your mind right now?”
Peter shakes his head no.
“If anything else comes up, you tell me, okay? Anywhere, anytime. Now, how about we get you something to eat. I’ve got that takeout waiting for you in the kitchen.”
“Actually.” Peter begins, standing up from the couch. “You should probably call Pepper sooner rather than later, and I need to call MJ and let her know that I’m doing okay. Uh, if that’s okay with you.” He adds in at the end.
Tony stands as well and starts walking towards his office. “You’re probably right, kiddo. They’ll both have our heads if we don’t give them an update.” He turns back to Peter. “I’ll go talk to her from my office. It might take a little while, so go ahead and get some food if you come out and I’m still in there.”
Peter nods and rushes off to his bedroom without another word. Tony lets out a deep breath once the kid is out of sight and turns into his office like he said he would. He shuts the door behind him and immediately puts the room in soundproof mode. He sits down in the most comfortable chair in there and prepares himself for what he’s sure will be a long conversation before having Friday make the call.
It rings a couple times before she picks up.
“Mr. Stark. To what do I owe the pleasure?” She asks, voice dripping with annoyance.
“Hey, Pep.” Tony replies apologetically. “Listen, I know you’re probably not very happy with me-“
She scoffs loudly. “Not very happy with you?! That is an understatement. You know Tony, I really thought things were going to be different between us this time. I thought I was going to be a priority, then you disappear for a week with no explanation, you stop answering your phone, Friday won’t let me into the lab or the penthouse to see you.”
“Pepper, honey, I promise I can explain.” Tony attempts to interject.
“Oh you better have a damn good explanation if you want me to even consider forgiving you.”
He winces at her tone, but it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.
“I do, I promise. It’s a long story though. It has to do with Peter. Do you…are you here right now? This might be easier to explain in person.”
He wasn’t planning on inviting her up, or anyone for that matter, so soon after Peter getting here, but he suddenly feels like this isn’t something that should be explained over the phone if he can help it.
She sighs. “I’m in California right now for the exec board meeting here this week. If it’s about Peter though then I’ll listen.” She replies, tone already softening. Tony knows she has a bad soft spot for the kid. He does too. Peter makes it easy.
He clears his throat for the long explanation. “Okay, well, this is some pretty big stuff so just…be ready for that. Okay. So first thing you should probably know is that I found out that Peter was being abused by his foster family about a week ago. That’s when I first stopped picking up your calls, and I’m really sorry about that by the way. Bad coping mechanisms and all that.”
There’s silence on the other end for a moment. “Are you joking, Tony? Please tell me this is just some kind of sick joke.” She asks, voice wavering.
Tony sighs. “I wish it was, Pep. It was…it was bad. I won’t lie. I asked Peter permission to talk to you about it just a bit ago and he said it was okay. I found him last week with, uh, belt marks down his back.” Tony almost can’t even get the words out. His throat feels dry and sticky even just thinking about it and he has to fight off an urge right then to just leave to go give Peter another hug.
Pepper gasps on the other line. “Oh god…a belt? How…how long has that been going on?” She asks quietly.
“Kid says since he got to that home, so about a year. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. I called CPS on the bastards and it just made everything worse. Peter convinced the CPS worker that everything was all fine and dandy and I had no idea. I went to go apologize to him on Saturday because we’d just gotten in a big fight, and I, um, sorry.” He says, stopping to take some deep breaths and try not to break down on the phone. Pepper thankfully didn’t say anything. She just waited for him to be ready.
“I went to the apartment to apologize and Bill and Diane told me Peter wasn’t there, but they couldn’t tell me where he was and they were acting really defensive about me coming into the apartment. I convinced them eventually to let me in, and when I did I found Peter locked in a hall closet, handcuffed to a pipe.” Tony can’t help the tears welling up in his eyes as he relives the memory of finding his kid there. He rubs at his chest where the arc reactor used to sit as he gets a jolt of pain there.
He can hear pepper getting emotional too on the other end.
“Did-did you…is he..” she stutters out. He’s only heard Pepper struggle with speaking like this very rarely, and he can’t blame her for being at a loss for words now. He definitely was when he found out.
“He’s fine now.” Tony reassures her. “I took him back with me to the tower. The doctor in the medbay looked him over and made sure nothing was broken. He’s been with me since.”
There’s silence in response as pepper tries to absorb all the information she’s just been given.
“Wow.” She says eventually, breaking the silence. “That really…wow. Okay. I’m glad he’s okay and with you. I wish you’d called me to tell me sooner, but I understand that you’ve been so stressed and busy with all of this. Especially with Peter staying with you. Did you get some kind of permission to stay with you until they find a better foster home?”
“Well…not exactly.” Tony replied hesitantly.
“Tony.” Pepper says with a sigh like she fully suspects he’s done something idiotic. “I promise I won’t be angry with you because I probably would’ve done the same thing, but…are you adopting Peter? Because I know we aren’t engaged or living together or anything but I really would’ve appreciated being considered before you made your decision-“
“No, it’s not that.” Tony interrupts her rant. “Well, not technically. Peter is, well, he’s my son.”
Pepper hesitates again before answering. “Yeah, I understand that he’s pretty much your kid, Tony. But legally you’d need to adopt him or I’m pretty sure it’s considered kidnapping.”
Tony groans internally. Why does this have to be so hard to explain?
“No, Pep. Peter doesn’t feel like my son. Well, he does, but that’s irrelevant. He literally is my son. Biologically.”
“…what?!” Pepper practically scream over the phone. “Peter is your son? And-and you didn’t tell me? Have you known this entire time?! Is that why you hired him in the first place?!”
“No, no, of course not!” Tony rushes to explain. “I just found out a few days ago. That’s what we were fighting about when I went to his apartment to apologize. He’s known since almost the beginning and he didn’t tell me. And I hired him because of the whole Spider-Man accords business, remember?”
“Um, no? What Spider-Man accords business?” She asks, confused.
“Oh, that’s right.” Tony remembers. “We weren’t really…speaking…when all that went down. Uh, pretty much I hired Peter as an intern as a coverup so I could give him superhero training to get Ross off my ass, and then I found out by accident that he’s a little genius and we get along great, so I made it real.”
“…Tony?” Pepper asks after a second, voice tense all of a sudden. “Are you trying to tell me that Peter is Spider-Man?”
Tony’s eyes are immediately wide in fear. He did not mean to spill that many secrets today. “…I wasn’t really trying to tell you that Peter is Spider-Man because I thought you already knew.”
He can practically feel Pepper’s fury from here, through the phone line to the other side of the country. It was that strong. He hears her take a deep breath before speaking again.
“Okay, so this is a lot to process. Your intern, sweet little Peter Parker, is your son and also Spider-Man. I think it’s probably best if I come home and we discuss this more in person once I’ve had some time to think about things and calm down a bit.”
“Yeah, of course. Whatever you need.” Tony replies, readily agreeing with whatever Pepper wants to do. “I think Peter would like it if you came back too. He’s been having a little trouble settling in so I haven’t been letting anyone visit, but I think he would appreciate if you were here.”
“Okay, Tony. Sure.” She agrees, tone softening again. “I’ll just finish up with the meetings and then I’ll come straight back.”
“Okay, Pep. I’ll see you then. I, uh, I love you.” He stammers out, clearing his throat after. He’s never been good at the “I love yous.” But he’s going to work on being better about that. His family deserves that.
“Love you too, Tony.” Pepper replies fondly, making Tony smile even after everything that’s happened recently. He hangs up and gives himself a minute to think in peace. He knows Peter is probably waiting outside, but now that he’s able to sit and gets his thoughts together instead of just focusing on fixing the next thing in front of him, he realizes how much there is to do.
First he has to deal with this social worker tonight. She’s coming over in just a few hours and Tony needs to make sure everything is kosher. He sent over the proof that he’s Peter’s biological father, so nothing should prevent Peter’s care from being transferred to him, but he wants to make sure there’s absolutely nothing that can get in his way. He meant what he said to the kid that he wouldn’t let anyone take him away from here.
Then there’s Rhodey and Happy that will want to come see Peter soon he’s sure. They already have a big day today though so definitely not until tomorrow in the least.
He has to figure out what to do about Bill Patterson. He hasn’t had a chance to speak to Rhodey since Saturday since he’s been so busy with the kid, but they need to get some things sorted out. There will have to be a trial and charges pressed and he told Peter that he would take care of the fact that Bill found out the kid is Spider-Man. The man deserves to die a painful miserable death, and that would just solve all their problems at once, but he knows Peter would never approve of that.
“Fri, text Rhodey and Happy a quick update that Peter is at the tower and doing fine, but I don’t want anyone coming up to see him without warning and at least until tomorrow.”
After her confirmation, he stands up and starts walking back towards the kitchen. He sees Peter at the kitchen counter facing away from him. He looks like he’s scooping some food into his plate.
“Hey kid.” Tony announces as he walks in. Peter must not have been paying attention because as soon as Tony speaks, he flinched so badly that he drops his plate which hits the counter with a loud high pitched crash.
Peter immediately steps back and looks down at the ground, hands behind his back, apologizing profusely. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, sir. It was an accident.”
Tony can’t keep the frown off his face at Peter’s defensive behavior. He knows it’s just a reflex and it’s not his fault, but it hurts all the same.
“It’s alright, Pete.” He says gently, walking over to Peter’s half filled plate. “See look, not even broken. No harm done. I’m the one who should be sorry for startling you.”
He sees Peter let out a sigh of relief from the corner of his eye and take his hands back out from behind his back.
Tony pick up the plate and hands it to the kid. Peter takes it timidly and goes back to getting his food prepared.
“How did your call with Michelle go?” Tony asks, putting a little extra emphasis on the girl’s name and waggling his eyebrows to try to lighten to mood.
Peter blushes red again and Tony has to fight to keep the smirk off his face.
“Fine.” Peter responds. “She was pretty worried after last night. I kinda told her everything.”
“Oh yeah?” Tony asks, finished with his teasing for now.
“Yeah.” Peter replies. “She was a big reason I came to talk to you today. She convinced me that it was a good idea.”
“She did?” Tony questions, surprised. “I didn’t think Michelle liked me very much.”
Peter shrugs. “She doesn’t, but she told me that I deserve people who care about me…like you.” He adds on at the end, staring intensely into his food to avoid making eye contact. Tony figured they were done with the mushy stuff today, but he’s finding quickly that he actually likes the mushy stuff when it’s with Peter.
“She’s right.” He agrees, reaching out and running a hand through Peter’s hair. The boy just hums contently and continues eating his food.
“How did your call with Pepper go? Is she angry?” Peter asks in between bites. Now that they’ve worked through some things and Peter doesn’t seem so anxious, he must’ve worked up quite the appetite because he’s barely breathing around bites of food.
Tony holds up his hand in a so-so motion. “Eh. She’s upset that I didn’t talk to her sooner, but she understands. She’s wrapping up some business meetings in California and then she’ll come back to see us. She misses you.”
Tony sees a small smile appear on the boy’s face. “I miss her too.”
Peter finishes up his food pretty quickly after that and gets up to put his plate in the dishwasher.
“Why don’t you go get ready for your case worker to get here?” Tony asks when he’s finished. “She’ll probably want to see your room so you might want to get all your clothes in the closet at least.”
“Yeah, sure.” Peter responds, turning back to his room. “I’ll go do that now.”
Once Peter is safely hidden away in his bedroom, Tony gets up and starts getting to work around the house. He knows there’s no alcohol here, so that’s a good start.
“Friday, what kinds of things do case managers usually look at during home checks?” He asks his AI.
“From my research, home checks normally involve general safety regulations such as smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and anything harmful to children locked away such as weapons, knives, and poisonous substances.”
Tony rolls his eyes. “Peter isn’t going to accidentally drink bleach, and you’re programmed for fires and to keep him away from anything in the lab that he shouldn’t have. What else?”
“They might also check to see if all rooms are clean and in good condition.” Friday continues. “Also if there’s access to all necessities such as food and clothes.”
“We shouldn’t have any issues there either.” He says with a wave of his hand. “Actually, now that Pete’s living with me I should probably make sure we’ve got enough food here for him. Keep an eye on the kitchen, dear, and make sure we’re never running low on food. Feel free to order a restock if that ever happens.”
Friday confirms she will and Tony’s brain moves onto other things. First things first, he needs to come up with a plan to deal with Bill Patterson. He told Peter he would handle it, and he doesn’t plan on breaking any more promises to this kid as long as he lives.