Negotiating Intervention
Silence permeated the small living room as the older half of the Parker family contemplated everything she just learned.
May had so much going on in her mind that she couldn't concentrate on any of them. Confusion didn't start to cover everything she was feeling; fear and rage mixed with a sudden and unexplainable hopelessness that she could only hope to disentangle.
With a sigh, she looked at Stark with a not-really-a-glare but close. "You swear you didn't know?"
"On my mother's grave, I promise I only learned about this when Peter saved our butts."
May nodded and her expression softened momentarily before it once again became serious as she faced Peter.
"You're not apologizing."
Tony blinked in surprise and realized that she was correct. Peter, who dropped the word 'sorry' left and right had yet to say it even once after confessing.
"I'm not," Peter said, not firmly, but something in his voice made it obvious that he meant it.
"Peter, you have been moonlighting as a vigilante for months, you lied to me, you dropped your extracurriculars and you have the gall not to even say you're sorry! What the fuck, Peter!?" May stood up. Both males recoiled, Peter obviously from seeing his guardian angry and Tony from remembering his late mother.
The teen was evidently not going to back down, though, if the way he set his shoulders was any indication.
"I'm not apologizing for trying to save people. I have powers, and Ben always said that with great power comes great responsibility. How can I just stay home when I can hear people from blocks away – blocks away! – begging for help!? I know the media mostly see me helping old ladies carry their stuff or getting cats out of trees, but I have stopped muggers, killers, rapists and car accidents! I have saved people from fires, talked them out of killing themselves and helped kids find their way after being lost!" Tony was staring at the teen wide-eyed, just now coming to terms with what he actually did. "I… I hate the idea that I would hurt you, May but… I… I can't stop… Not anymore."
Tony wondered if he should step out and let them solve all of this first between them, but a look from May had him rooted to his seat.
"You said you had something else to say, so what is it?"
With a sigh, Tony answered. "Nat… Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, gave Peter the ninth degree. He was just as stubborn in saying that he wouldn't stop being Spider-Man or put off for a few years as he is right now."
"So what? You're going to encourage my kid into keeping this whole thing going on?" May challenged him with narrowed eyes.
"No. It's more like knowing when it is a battle that I won't win," the woman looked like she was going to speak but Tony decided to press forward. "That's the reason I wanted Peter to tell you the truth. I can't stop him, and even I have my doubts that you will," Tony manfully ignored the quiet sob May let out along with Peter's accompanying sniff. He knew his comment had to hurt, but there was little he could do about that if he wanted to nail the point home. "If we can't stop Peter, and after seeing the videos of him stopping buses with his hands and witnessing him single-handedly stopping the most prolific super-assassin in modern history, I don't believe we can –short of emotional manipulation or keeping him sedated, which would be all kinds of fucked up– I was hoping that we could work together to keep him as safe, sane and sound as possible."
—
It took hours, a lot of back and forth, several compromises (many of which Tony suggested even before May could voice them) but Tony walked out with a contract signed and a new mentee under his wing.
There were a lot of preparations that he would have to make, personally, too, as he wanted to ensure that everything went smoothly, which included: talking with Midtown (again) about Peter's more permanent position, telling Pepper that the Parkers had accepted their offer, contact Doctor Cho about performing several diagnosing exams to understand how Peter's enhancements worked (plus develop the necessary medicine accordingly), updating FRIDAY (and Happy) on Peter's new clearance level, see about how the US version of the Sokovia Accords would affect Peter and tweak it as necessary (probably make arrangements with law enforcement about working together with Spider-Man, introduce Peter to the remaining members of the team, since he might need help with some of the aspects of training a teenage superhero, begin planning how they will handle PR when the world eventually learned about his apprentice, design Peter a new suit (surely the kid will also have ideas, so it would be a fun little project), plus anything else that might come up. And he would have to do most of it twice over, too.
The Keeners were on their way, after all.