Family Secrets

Maria isn’t sure when it happened but she drifted off to sleep at some point because one minute it was dark out and she was listening to Peter's breathing and the next there was sunlight coming through the curtains and Peter’s wide awake face was inches from her’s. 

Maria flinched back instinctively and nearly reached for the gun she had hidden before her brain became aware of her surroundings. 

“Morning kiddo.” She greeted her nephew groggily. 

“What are you doing here Aunt Ria?” Peter questioned, his head still resting inches from hers on the pillow. 

“Can’t an aunt drop by and see her favorite nephew?” She asked him as she tried to sit up. “Pete get up so I can get up.” Pete did as he was told and got out of the bed as Maria sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. Maria patted her pockets and looked around the bed. “Peter, have you seen my phone?”

Peter looked around before he spotted the phone on the floor. He bent down and picked it up and handed it to her. Maria grunted her thanks, which caused him to laugh. “Does Uncle Ben know you’re here?”

Maria looked up at her nephew. “No Pete. I climbed up the wall last night just to see you.” She told him sarcastically. 

Peter laughed again. “No you didn’t.”

“Nothing gets by you.” She told him with a small smile as she opened her phone to check her messages and noticed it was much later than she usually slept. Rhodey had left her a voicemail letting her know that Stane was dead and Tony was alive. Pepper had left a little more detailed message on Tony’s condition but the key detail was that Tony was okay.

Her brother, on the other hand, had cowardly elected to simply text his sister that he was okay and he would talk to her that night when she brought Peter home. She wanted to strangle him. She was snapped out of her anger at her brother by her nephew, who had retrieved her shoes for her with a smile.

“Thanks kiddo.” She told him as she took them from him and pulled him in for a hug before something dawned on her. “Pete.”

“Yeah Aunt Ria?”

Maria released him from the hug but kept her hands on his shoulders. “You can’t go around telling people I’m a spy. It’s dangerous.”

“But I only told Aunt May and Uncle Ben.” Peter protested.

“Peter Benjamin Stark.” Maria warned him.

“Okay Aunt Ria.” He said quietly, looking down at the floor. Peter knew he messed up if his aunt was using his full name.

“Hey.” She said to him as she lifted his chin so that he was looking at her. “I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re not?”

“Not at you.” She assured him. “This is something that we should have talked about when you first found out.”

“Okay.” He said, starting to perk up a little.

“Come on.” She said as she stood up. “Let's go and find something to eat for breakfast.”

She grabbed her gun and holstered it before she led Peter out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the kitchen. As they got to the end of the hall, she was met with the sight of Ben sitting in a chair in the living room drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.

He glanced up at the pair and nodded towards the kitchen. “There’s stil coffee in the kitchen.”

“Thank god.” She groaned as she walked into the kitchen. “Come on Petey. Let's get you food.”

“Pete knows where the cereal is.” Ben called. 

“You heard him kiddo.” She said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Peter went to the cabinet and picked out his Fruit Loops and then went to the fridge to get the milk. After both the cereal and milk were on the counter, he looked up at one of the cabinets and then to his aunt as she was stirring her coffee.

“Let me guess, the bowls are up there.” Her nephew nodded and Maria moved over to the cabinet and handed him a bowl.

Peter thanked her with a smile and went back to the table and poured the cereal into the bowl and was about to pour the milk in when it was snatched out of his hands by his aunt.

“How bout you let me do that before the milk ends up on the floor.” Maria told Peter who laughed in response. Maria poured the milk into the bowl and then put the carton back into the fridge while Peter sat down at the table and started eating. 

Maria was about to sit down next to her nephew when Ben called to her. “Your brother made the paper and all the news channels.”

Maria groaned and made her way over to a smirking Ben Parker, who was holding out the paper for. Taking the paper, she looked at the front page and immediately saw a picture of Tony’s suit of armor under the headline ‘Battle at Stark Industries’.

“God damnit Tony.” She sighed.

Peter chose that moment to come up and stand next to his aunt and uncle and look at the newspaper. “Cool! Dad got the new suit working!”

Ben looked at his new nephew, confused as to what he was talking about. Maria on the other hand, pinched the bridge of her nose, already feeling a Tony induced migraine coming on and she had yet to talk to him. “Peter. How many times did I talk to you while over the summer?”

Peter shrugged as he looked up at his aunt. “I don’t know. A bunch I guess.”

Maria nodded her head, still pinching the bridge of her nose. “And you didn’t think to mention that you or your father were building a…. I don’t even know what to call that. A suit of armor?” 

“Wait.” Ben interrupted. “Are you saying that Tony was in that thing?”

Maria nodded and sighed. “He was in the smaller one.” She finally looked down at her nephew. “Still waiting on an answer.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think about it.” He told her. 

“Okay, let's make a new rule. If you and or your father are making…,” She began trying to think of the best way to word it. “ something like that again, you call me and tell me. Understood?”

Peter happily nodded and went back to the table so that he could finish his cereal. Ben meanwhile, looked over to Maria. “Do I even want to know?”

Maria handed the paper back to Ben. “No. I don’t even want to know but I have to because my brother’s an idiot.”

Ben looked at the front page again, looking at the picture. “How much did Pete actually help in making this?” 

Maria shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee. “I’m honestly not even sure. I know he was with Tony every step of it but I’m just not sure how much he had a hand in it.”

Ben looked over at his nephew, who was happily eating his Fruit Loops and was reading the back of the box. “Should I be worried about this?”

Maria shook her head. “No. This is Tony doing all the things Howard never did for him.” Maria explained. “Howard left Tony to figure everything out for himself and Tony doesn’t want that for Peter. He’s practically a helicopter parent. Was for me and is now one for Pete.”

Ben nodded. “If you say so.”

Maria finished off her coffee before saying. “Peter. Your dad wants me to take you home today so start packing your stuff.” 

Peter let out a whoop of enjoyment as he ran to his room, causing both adults to laugh.

“I swear that kid finds joy in everything.” Ben said, still chuckling. 

“He really does.” Maria said before she looked over to him. “I hope you don’t mind..”

“His place is with his father.” Ben interrupted her, easing any worries that she had. “Having him here was just a little bonus for May and I.”

Maria nodded. “Do you know when she’ll be home so Pete can say goodbye?”

Ben shook his head. “I don’t. I’ll call her and try to find out but worst case you can always stop by the hospital on your way to the airport.”

“Sounds good.” She told him, making her way to the door. “I’d better go and make sure Happy knows and get my bag so I can get changed.”

Maria walked out of the apartment and made her way downstairs. Once she made her way out of the building, she saw Happy’s Suburban still parked in the same spot only now he was fast asleep in the driver's seat with a ticket on the windshield.

“Profesional my ass.” She growled.

She made her way into the street and smacked the driver's window, scaring Happy. 

“Wake up!” She yelled.

“I’m up, I’m up!” He yelped, now wide awake. 

“If you’re on guard duty you don’t fall asleep!” She yelled at him.

“You were inside with him and your Marine buddies are around here somewhere!” He said as he looked around before he looked back at her. “Speaking of, do you really want them seeing you here?”

“I don’t really care at this point.” She told him and she looked around to see if she could spot them. “My brother said it's safe to take Peter home so we’re leaving today.”

“Good.” Happy said.

Maria made her way to her car to get her bag. As she approached the car she was finally able to spot two of the guards in a car by hers, who were both equally surprised at seeing her. Maria smiled at them as she closed the car door and flipped them off as she walked past them, getting them both laughing at her. 

She made her way back upstairs in time to see Peter dragging his bag out of the bedroom, still in his pajamas.

“Peter.” Maria sighed.

“What?” He asked as he looked at his aunt.

Ben turned to look when he heard Maria’s tone and saw his nephew. He immediately started laughing at the sight of Peter.

“You were supposed to get dressed and then pack your bag.” She sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose again. It seemed like both male Starks were trying to see how big a headache they could give her this morning.

“Oh yeah.” He said with a laugh as he turned and dragged his bag back towards the room.

Ben was still laughing as he got up. “I’ll help him while you get ready.” 

“Thank you.” She sighed as she made her way to the bathroom so she could take a shower and get changed. Once she was done, she exited the bathroom and put her bag by the door with Peters. Her nephew was now sitting on the couch watching TV with Ben, which just so happened to be talking about the Iron Man that appeared at Stark Industries. Peter was explaining to his uncle that the suit wasn’t actually made of iron and she could see that Ben was just nodding his head like she usually did whenever Peter had one of his Tony moments. She came around and sat down in the chair Ben had occupied earlier. As soon as she sat down, Rhodey appeared at a podium and began reading the “official” version of what happened. Maria started to zone out, knowing she could get the cliff notes later. 

“Hey its dad!” Peter called out excitedly, snapping her attention back to the screen.

“Oh no.” Maria groaned.

Tony began reading from his index cards at the podium. “Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop…”

Tony was soon cut off by a woman in the front row. “I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you

honestly expect us to believe that that was…”

“Hey. I think that's the lady that talked to me at the party.” Peter said as he pointed at the screen.

Maria’s head snapped to her nephew. “What did she say?”

Peter shrugged. “I can’t remember, just that dad got really angry at her and said that he would end her.” He said, still looking at the TV, not noticing how angry his aunt and uncle were getting.

Maria looked at Ben and mouthed, “I’ll get a name”, to which she got a nod from him before they refocused on the TV.

“It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero.” Tony rambled.

“God damnit Tony.” Maria murmured as she started to get a feeling that her brother was about to do something incredibly stupid.

“The truth is….. I am Iron Man.” He announced, causing all the reporters to jump up.

“What the fuck!” Maria yelled as she put her head in her hands. It seemed Tony won the who could give her the biggest headache contest.

“Aunt Maria, you said a bad word.”

All Ben could do was shake his head. “Not the time Pete.”