The Rogues
Peter talked to Ned and MJ almost every day and they kept him updated with school and the drama going around the halls. Their most asked question was always if Peter was going back to Midtown. The truth was, he didn’t know. He lived at the Compound now, which was at least a couple of hours away from the City. It wouldn’t be logical to keep going to Midtown, but they were in the middle of nowhere. Peter couldn’t imagine there’d be any schools around here. And he really loved Midtown.
But he didn’t exactly know how to bring it up with Mr Stark. He was scared he might come across as cheeky and rude and he didn’t want to offend Mr Stark after everything he’d done for him so far.
It turned out, he didn’t even need to have the conversation with him.
A week after May’s funeral, Tony took him into the city to meet with his social worker to see how everything was going. They were in the car with Happy when Tony had said something that had startled Peter.
“And then we’ll go to the tower and you can pick some stuff out for your new room. I know Pepper and I decorated your room at the Compound but at least this way you can have it however you like.” Tony hadn’t even looked up from his phone screen.
“W-What? The tower? Didn’t you sell that ages ago?” Peter asked.
Now Tony looked up at him. “What, you thought you were gonna commute to Midtown from the Compound every day?” He raised an eyebrow. “Kid, come on. You’re supposed to be a genius, right?”
“I—I get to stay at Midtown?” Peter stuttered, hope fluttering in his chest.
“Kid, of course you do. Unless you don’t want to, I don’t wanna uproot yet another thing in your life. I don’t wanna make you leave Ned and MJ. Enough has already changed for you the past couple weeks, where you go to school shouldn’t have to change too.”
Peter almost cried right there in the car.
“Hey, did I—did I say something wrong? What’s up?” Tony grew concerned and Peter shook his head, smiling.
“No, no, no. I just—I’m glad I don’t have to change schools.”
“You were worried about it?” Tony asked and Peter nodded his head, blushing slightly.
“Kiddo, why didn’t you just talk to me about it? You can tell me anything, bud. I don’t want you to worry when there’s no reason for it.” Peter smiled and nodded but didn’t say anything.
“W-When do you think I can go back?”
“Well we should be moving into the tower in the next week or so. How about Thursday? That gives you a couple of transition days to get back into the swing of school and it means we have a date we can tell your social worker.” Tony suggested and Peter nodded, smiling.
“That’s great,” he pulled out his phone immediately to tell Ned and MJ that he was coming back. “What does this social worker want to talk to us about anyway?”
Tony shrugged, going back to his phone. “I don’t know. Just checking in, I guess. Making sure that you’re healthy and happy and you’re okay with living with me, that sort of thing.”
“So what, if I say I’m not happy they move me?” Peter asked, teasing Tony a little. The man flashed him the side eye and shook his head.
“Go ahead, Parker, do your worst. You’ll end up in a shitty group home in the Bronx and not in your own private suite in a penthouse in Manhattan. Your choice.”
Peter grumbled. “You’re no fun.”
“No, but I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
The meeting was exactly what Tony had said. Arthur, his social worker, wanted to make sure he was keeping up with his homework and wanted to know when he was planning on going back to school. Tony said that they were moving back to the tower and he’d been happy that Tony was prioritising Peter’s school life. He’d spoken to Peter on his own for a little while, asking questions like did he enjoy living with Tony and was everything safe. Peter had talked Tony up so much he was glad the man wasn’t there — he wasn’t sure he ego could have survived a boost like that.
Happy had then driven them to the tower to have a look around. Most of the floors were how they’d left them. The new owners hadn’t gotten around to a lot of the renovations in the top floors, which was where the living areas were. They didn’t go on the Avengers floors, but Tony assured him that they were all still as they were. Even though the penthouse hadn’t been touched either, Tony said that they were going to redecorate and have a fresh start, and the guest bedroom that had been on their floor was now going to be Peter’s room.
Over the next few days, Peter was a big part of the planning for the new penthouse, choosing colours and furniture for his bedroom and offering his opinion on other areas when Pepper asked for them. He was surprised with how quickly it was done, but probably should’ve expected it given how much money Tony actually had.
Moving was quick too. Tony said that he could leave some of his clothes at the Compound so that he wouldn’t have to take a bag with him every time they went back. New clothes were being ordered for Peter’s room at the tower. They officially moved in on Wednesday morning, the day before Peter was supposed to go back to school.
Peter was off in his room unpacking when Tony’s phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket but the screen was black. His fingers shook ever so slightly when he pulled the other phone out of his pocket. The very old, very battered flip phone that Steve Rogers had given him after they’d ‘broken up’. It was ringing.
He flicked the lid up and pressed it to his ear. He didn’t say anything, but he heard someone on the other end of the line.
“Tony? Is that you?” Steve’s voice filtered through the crappy old speaker.
“C-Cap,” Tony said, rolling his eyes at how pathetic he was being. He cleared his throat.
“Hey, Tony.” Steve’s voice was softer. “I—I was wondering if we could talk. Maybe in person? We know that you got us cleared and that the Accords are gone.”
Tony had been so busy with getting Peter sorted and thinking about the move that he’d forgotten about that. The Rogues were being pardoned and could finally come out of ‘hiding’. Tony had known where they were the entire time, of course, but now they could finally stop running. He’d been expecting the call for a while.
“I—uh, I think—”
“We want to get the team back together.” Tony sucked in a breath. “We—we’ve spoken to Fury and we all agree that the best thing for all of us would be to get the team back together.”
Tony didn’t want Peter to overhear their conversation. He still had to talk about the Rogues to him.
“Cap, do you mind if we table this conversation? Look, h-how about you come over tomorrow or Friday during the day and we can talk then?” At least Peter would be in school and Tony could hopefully get it sorted out before he got back.
“That sounds great. Thanks, Tony.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you soon, Cap.” Tony hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
Peter wasn’t stupid. This was something they’d already established. So he knew that something was wrong with Tony. But he didn’t know what. He seemed to be distracted, messing up the simple tasks that Pepper was giving him. His mind was somewhere else.
“Hey, that’s not where that goes, Mr Stark.” Peter put his hands out to take the toaster from Mr Stark. It most definitely did not belong in the fridge.
Tony seemed to snap out of it and shook himself. “Sorry, kid. Thanks.”
Peter placed the toaster on the worktop. “What’s going on, Mr Stark? I know something’s bothering you.”
Tony seemed to hesitate for a moment, wondering if he should tell Peter everything. He finally relented, slumping into one of the chairs at the kitchen island. “Steve called me this morning.”
“Steve Rogers? Captain America?”
“The very same. H-He wants to meet up and t-talk. He wants the team to get back together.” Tony said simply and Peter studied his face for a moment before talking.
“And you think it’s too soon. You’re not ready.” Peter said. It wasn’t a question, it was more of a statement.
Tony nodded. “I—I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. I figured there’d be a little breathing time. Their pardons have only just been granted and I—”
“You haven’t worked through everything that happened in Siberia yet.” Peter finished for him and Tony’s head jerked up.
“Y-You know about Siberia?”
Peter flushed red with guilt when he realised he wasn’t supposed to know about that. “I—I’m sorry! We were having a lab day and I was messing around on the server and I found an unmarked file and I—FRIDAY played it and it was the footage from your suit and once I realised what it was I was gonna stop watching it but then I—then Captain America attacked you and I thought—I—”
“Breathe, kiddo,” Tony said soothingly and Peter stopped ranting to take a couple of breaths. “I thought I told FRIDAY to get rid of that file. Must have slipped my mind. You shouldn’t have had to watch that.”
“They—he—he was your friend and he—he hurt you like that. I’m not surprised you’re not ready. I saw you when you came back. You were—you were dying. I mean I literally thought you were going to die things were that serious. You had hypothermia and there was so much blood and you had a gash right across your chest from the shield and you were so close to dying it was terrifying.” Peter rushed out again and Tony’s eyes widened.
“You saw me?”
“Well I—when they didn’t know where you were they came and asked me and I—I helped them find you and bring you back. I’m the one that got you from the cave, Mr Stark.” Peter found something really interesting on the worktop to focus on. “And then we came back and I went back home and after I watched that footage I kept having nightmares of him slamming the shield into your chest and finding you like that and I—”
“Kid,” Tony said and Peter’s eyes flicked back up, “come here.” He held out an arm and Peter walked around the island. Tony tugged him into his arms and held him close. “Thank you for saving my life.” Tony rested his head on Peter’s shoulder and hugged him tighter. “Thank you.”
“Of course, Mr Stark. I’d do anything for you.”
“I’d do anything for you too, kiddo. I hope you know that.”
Peter chuckled. “Yeah, I think the taking me in thing kind of gave it away.”
They spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing whatever Pepper told them to do. Her compromise was that as soon as it reached six o’clock, they could stop and order takeout and watch a movie, which is exactly what they did. Peter picked a really old movie called The Parent Trap and Tony had appeared wounded and insulted when he showed him an up-to-date photo of Lindsay Lohan, informing him that she was actually 35 years old now.
Peter was sent to bed early because he had school the next day and Tony wanted to factor in the likelihood that Peter would have a nightmare at some point. He didn’t want the kid falling asleep at school or lagging behind because he hadn’t had enough rest.
As predicted, Peter woke up around 2am from a nightmare, and Tony was there to comfort him like he always was. He slept the rest of the night next to him, running his fingers through his hair and trying to soothe him.
Happy was the one driving the kid to school in the morning and Peter had managed to convince Tony that he could take the subway back to the tower afterwards. He didn’t want all those people seeing him getting into Mr Stark’s insanely expensive cars and wondering what the hell was going on. He didn’t need people asking more questions. So, with a full stomach and a hug goodbye, Peter left Tony in the penthouse, riding the elevator down to the garage to meet Happy.
“You looking forward to going back, kid?” The man asked, slamming his door shut and starting the engine.
“I’m excited to see Ned and MJ again,” Peter said. “Not so excited for the exams I have to do that I missed, though.”
“You study for them?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you’ll be fine, kiddo.” Happy sent him what he thought was a reassuring smile, but was probably more of a grimace.
Peter felt a little weird walking back into Midtown Tech after a while away. It had been a few weeks now. He wondered if people knew what had happened, if anyone knew that his Aunt had died and he was now living with Tony Stark. He briefly wondered if Tony had remembered to take May off his emergency contacts list and list himself as first. He wondered who his second contact was now. Probably Pepper, maybe Happy.
The school day was pretty average, he got to sit with Ned and MJ at lunch and someone must have said something to Flash because he kept away, which he appreciated. He thought he’d gotten away with it until after last period and Flash seemed to have woken up properly by then.
“Hey, Penis Parker!” He called down the corridor and Peter cringed. This was not what he needed his first day back.
“What do you want, Flash?” Peter spoke through gritted teeth.
“Alright, alright, jeez. You got somewhere to be or something?” Flash held his hands up, grinning.
“Yeah, I gotta get home.” Peter said sternly.
Flash raised an eyebrow. “Oh, home, is it? That’s been quick, hasn’t it? I bet May’s body isn’t even cold yet and you’re already calling this new place ho—”
“That’s enough, Flash.” Ned warned, seeing the anger in Peter’s eyes.
“Don’t you dare talk about my Aunt. Don’t you dare. You don’t know anything about me, Flash.” Peter warned. He didn’t want to get into anything on his first day back, but Flash was pressing all the right buttons.
“Oh hey, look who grew some balls after his little Aunt May died. Is it tough growing up in the Foster System, Parker? You had to do a little growing up?” Flash teased.
Peter took a step forward and Ned planted his arm straight across his chest. “Peter, no. Just go. He’s not worth it.”
Peter glanced at Ned, slinging the strap of his rucksack over his shoulder. “I’ll see you later, Ned,” he mumbled before walking off. He stuck his earphones in and played some random music while he walked to the subway station, scanning his metro card and getting on.
He couldn’t even get through one day. Not one day of peace.
He wasn’t forgetting May. He—he wasn’t, it was just—it wasn’t even the tower. They’d just moved into the tower, it wasn’t his home yet. That’s when it hit him that it was Tony. For him now, home was wherever Tony was. And right now, Tony was at the tower, so the tower was Peter’s home. He found himself actually missing him, something that he didn’t think would be a thing. But he was, he actually missed Tony. A part of him wanted to have the Spider Suit with him so that he could swing back to the tower faster, but instead he rode the subway to the nearest stop and walked the rest of the way to the tower. He used the private entrance Mr Stark had told him was reserved for them and rode the elevator up to the penthouse.
“FRIDAY, is Mr Stark home?”
Boss is in the penthouse, Peter.
“Great, thanks.” He leant against the cool metal and sighed. He was exhausted. Today had taken it out of him. All he wanted to do was collapse on the sofa and talk to Tony, maybe have a nap and a little food or something.
“So how’s things?” Steve asked a little awkwardly after they’d finished talking about business. “We, uh—are you okay?”
Tony deadpanned at his ex-best friend. Was he okay? He’d been attacked and betrayed and almost killed by his teammates, forced to sort out the accords and their pardons so they weren’t classed as criminals, and then his mentee had lost another parent and had come to live with him and now he was dealing with a grieving teenager that was sort of like his kid but also sort of not.
“I’m fine.” Tony’s voice was clipped and he cringed at himself. He didn’t think it would be this awkward. Well no, he did, but he didn’t think they’d stay this long. It wouldn’t be long before Peter would be home and that would be another can of worms Tony was not ready for.
He saw Nat glance around the room, spotting the red hoodie on the stool in the kitchen and a pair of trainers bu the island. He’d forgotten to move them, or he’d forgotten to ask Peter to move them. Oh god.
“Does—is there someone else living here with you, Tony?” She asked simply and Tony sighed, not really knowing how he could explain everything. The whole ‘intern’ thing wouldn’t explain why a kid’s clothes and shoes were in his penthouse.
Oh well, worth a shot at least, right?
“My—they belong to my intern, he’s always leaving stuff up here, forgetting things when he goes home.” Tony brushed it off and waved his hand at the stuff in the kitchen.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Forgetting his shoes? When he goes home?”
Ah, crap.
“Tony, who is he?” Nat asked, leaning forward a little.
“Have you spoken to anyone? Pepper or Happy or—”
“Rhodey,” she admitted. “We—I call him every so often to check in with him and see how you’re doing. It slipped out that you had some kid living with you at the moment. A kid called Peter?”
Okay so the idea that they already knew that Peter was living with Tony wasn’t exactly reassuring. But he guessed that he could trust Nat. Although, he’d trusted her before and she’d still betrayed him.
He swallowed hard. “I—yeah, I—there’s a kid here. I’m not really willing to disclose any information to you guys at the minute without talking it through with him.” Tony tried to keep his voice steady, but he codlin’t help being worried about everything and thinking that it was all about to go to shit.
Nat nodded. “I get it, it’s okay.”
“A-And I don’t want you trying to do a background check on him or anything. Stay out of this, Nat.”
She held her hands up in a surrender position. “I promise, I won’t.”
Instead, when the doors dinged open at the penthouse, Peter Parker nearly had a heart attack at the ripe old age of fifteen. Steve Rogers was on the sofa in the living area, in between Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson. And Tony was nowhere to be seen.
Metal against metal. A cry of pain. Friend fighting friend. Cold.
Peter suddenly became very upset and very angry very quickly. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Steve stood up immediately and held his hands out. “Tony—he’s just gone to the bathroom. We—we were having a meeting.” The man had the decency to look guilty and apologetic.
“What are you doing in our home? You’re not welcome here.” Peter spat through gritted teeth.
“Kid, just calm down, alright?” Sam held out a hand to placate Peter but it only made him more angry.
“Do not tell me to calm down."
“Listen, kid,” Steve started. God, he’d wondered what Tony meant when he talked about a kid living with him, but there was no mistake. The boy standing in front of him was definitely a Stark. He looked so much like his father it was uncanny, and he had his attitude. “We didn’t—I didn’t know that Tony had a son, I—”
“You what? You wouldn’t have fought him if you knew he had a kid? You wouldn’t have tried to kill him? You wouldn’t have buried your shield in his chest and then left him in a cave in the middle of Siberia with a broken offline suit and no way home?” Peter’s hands were starting to shake. “Are you all saying that if you knew he had a kid you wouldn’t have fought him?” He looked to Natasha, who looked a little surprised. “That you wouldn’t have betrayed him? That Rhodey would still have a set of working legs?” Sam’s jaw snapped shut and he sank back into the sofa, silent.
Steve cringed. “I—I’m sorry. Really, I am. We all are. I just—I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Really? You didn’t know what else to do? How about not almost killing the man you called a friend.”
“He was going to kill Bucky—”
“Because he killed his parents! Tony eventually would’ve understood that Bucky couldn’t control what he was doing or have any sort of knowledge that what he was doing was bad, but you? You kept it from him and then you tried to kill him when he found out!” Peter’s voice raised to a shout and Steve flinched.
Tears started to roll down Peter’s cheeks and he wiped them away in frustration. Steve looked a little panicked. Clearly this wasn’t the introduction he’d been hoping for.
Luckily they didn’t have to wait much longer because then Tony was coming back into the room, stopping dead when he saw Peter.
“Pete? What—are you okay?” His eyes flicked to Steve, who looked guilty and worried. “Rogers, what the fuck did you say?”
“I—nothing, I just—”
Tony walked over to Peter and wrapped his arms around him, holding him tight. Peter sank into the hug, something he’d been looking forward to since the second he’d left that morning. He clung tight to the man, remembering how beaten and broken his body was the last time he’d seen Steve Rogers. He’d never forgive him for what he’d done.
“Peter, buddy. Talk to me.” Tony mumbled, pulling away slightly.
“What are they doing here?” Peter whispered.
“I—I forgot to tell you that they’d still be here, I’m sorry. I wanted to be here when you met them so that—well, so that something like this didn’t happen.”
“Too late for that,” Peter said under his breath.
“Yeah, it looks like it. Come on, let’s go sit down.”
Peter shook his head. “No, I—I’m tired, I need to go lie down.”
Tony nodded. “Okay, do you need me to come with you?” Peter thought for a moment. He would really like Tony to come with him, but he knew that he needed to sort some stuff out with the team, so he shook his head.
“No, just make sure they’re gone when I come out?”
“Of course, kiddo.” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s hair and watched as he walked down the hallway and into his room.
Tony walked back to the sofa and settled down opposite Nat, Steve and Sam.
Nat shook her head slowly. “I can’t believe you have a son, Stark. And you’ve kept him from us this whole time,” she said, almost in disbelief.
Tony didn’t care to correct her. “What? You’re surprised that you couldn’t dig this up in your background check on me?”
“Tony, we just wanted to—”
“To talk, yeah, I got that. But that changed when my son walked in and you made him cry when he’s already had enough to deal with over the past few weeks. So, move back in, don’t move back in, I couldn’t care less. Your rooms are all the same, your floors haven’t been touched. Barnes can come too if he’s not gonna cause trouble, so can Wanda—I think she’s off with Vision. But let me get this clear: if you’re going to move back into my house, you play by my rules, you leave my son alone. Am I understood?” Tony asked without a slight hesitation. It seemed to work, because all he got were nods in return. “Good, now I’m gonna go check on Peter. You all better not be here when I come back out again.”
With that, Tony walked down the hallway to Peter’s room.
“Oh my god,” Sam said.
“I know.”
“He’s really a dad,” Steve muttered.
“I know.”
“And he’s—he’s a good dad,” Sam added.
Nat nodded her head, her eyes following Tony’s retreating footsteps. “He is.”
“How have we never—I mean the kid looks like him.” Steve said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“He must have had his reasons,” Nat said, shrugging her shoulders. “You guys didn’t know Clint had a family until we went to their house.”
“Yeah but Clint didn’t live with us a lot of the time. We lived with Tony, we literally spent weeks, months, in the same building. The Compound—how could we not notice?” This was really bugging Steve.
“He’s Tony Stark. He can do whatever he wants, I’m sure he found a way around it.”
“We nearly made that kid an orphan.” Sam looked down to the floor. “We could’ve killed him.”
“You mean I could’ve killed him. We weren’t trying to really hurt each other at the airport. But in Siberia… in Siberia I didn’t hold myself back.”
Nat stood up. “Well, you can spend the next however many months trying to make it up to Tony and earn his kid’s trust and forgiveness.”
“You okay, kid?” Tony stuck his head round Peter’s door.
“I’m fine, I just—I just didn’t expect them all to be there. It surprised me, that’s all.” Tony walked in and sat next to Peter on his bed.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve called ahead and said that they were still here. They just—they came over and we lost track of time and it took a lot longer than I thought it would.” Tony explained, settling onto the pillow. “But hey, I never got to ask—how was your first day back at school?”
Peter shrugged his shoulders. “It was okay.”
Tony raised an eyebrow. “Just okay? I thought you were excited about going back?”
“I was, I was, it’s just—”
“That Flash kid giving you trouble again? You know I can always have him expelled.”
“It was—we almost made it the whole day but then he just had to have a dig before I left. It was fine, I just walked away, I didn’t start anything or—”
“You wanted to hit him?” Tony asked and Peter hesitated a second before nodding slowly. “Y’know, if he starts something with you, if he hits you, you can hit him back.”
“B-But I’m a lot stronger than him. I could really hurt him.”
Tony shrugged. “Okay, so maybe you pull your punches a little but you still defend yourself. I know you don’t like hurting people but this kid is an asshole and if he goes for you I want you to defend yourself. Don’t just stand there and take it. You got that?”
Peter nodded slowly.