Family
“Oooh fancy outfit, you look cute Petey. Going somewhere?” Morgan asked.
Tony had been too nervous to come inside, so he decided to wait out for a bit. It was a weird on look on her dad because he was usually the most outspoken person in the room and wasn’t afraid of confrontation.
“Coming back. Had an important business meeting for a new product launch and I don’t look cute. I look like a sophisticated and mature adult who can be relied on,” Peter corrected, “right?”
He nervously tugged on his navy blue tie.
It was quite obvious how Peter had tried to make himself look older by gelling his hair back neatly, and wearing a simple white dress shirt with black trousers instead of his usual vibrant and colorful clothes that often had science puns on them.
It was funny because his attempts to change his appearance somehow made him look even more childish.
Peter might’ve gotten a bit taller, but looking back at old photos, his appearance hadn’t changed much at all over the years. He still looked like a small teenager despite being a grown twenty-six year old.
He always had looked young for his age.
“Uh... you look like a child trying to look like an adult?” Morgan said innocently. She reached out and ruffled his curls to flaunt her height advantage.
She had been doing that ever since she crossed Peter’s height, which was when she was about thirteen. She now stood at a whopping 6ft and 2 inches while Peter stopped at about 5ft and 5 inches (or 6 as he claimed) when he was twenty.
Sometimes she felt bad for making fun of him all the time, but it was just so hilarious watching him get all annoyed and flustered when she brought it up.
“Hey! I’m still older than you!” Peter swatted her hand away. His brows were scrunched in annoyance, but he was just so small and cute that Morgan couldn’t help but think of an angry bunny and laugh.
“Ugh I miss the times when you were little and asked me to carry you around everywhere. You were so nice back then.” Peter reminisced sadly, “I knew I shouldn’t have bought you all that strawberry milk from the supermarket! I’m sorry world, for I have created a monster.”
“Hey! You drank it every time we went too, what happened to yours?” Morgan raised her brow in challenge.
“Oh, you did not!”
“Oh yes I did.”
“Never mind, Harley thinks I look like a mature adult, right babe?” Peter called out as a tall figure emerged from the kitchen that was connected to the living room.
“Uh...I love you?” The blonde offered, and Morgan burst into another loud fit of laughter.
“You’re sleeping on the couch.”
“Babe, I’m sorry. I was wrong. You look so old, you could basically be mistaken for my dad.” Harley corrected.
“What? That’s creepy!”
“I don’t know what you want from me!”
“All I want right now is a camera.” Morgan giggled at their antics.
“And what are you laughing at pip squeak?” Harley questioned, southern accent thick as the first day they met despite living in the city for more than five years now, ”I’m still taller than you.”
“For now.” Morgan said smugly, “You’re twenty-seven. I’m only sixteen. A few six, seven inches here and there is nothing for me.”
“Let’s see.”
“Mo, do you mind closing the front door? It’s still open.” Peter noticed, “We don’t want any bugs coming in. Not after last time.”
Harley shuddered at the thought.
“Actually, Petey, I left it open on purpose.” Morgan shifted nervously, “There’s actually something, someone, I wanted to show you.”
All the previous playfulness in her voice had died down, and she now stood in front of Harley and Peter with a serious look on her face. She rarely ever got like that, so Peter dropped what he was doing and gave her his full attention, “Go on, I’m looking.”
“You might wanna sit down for this one.” She chuckled softly. She didn’t know how he would react to seeing Dad after more than ten years of him being gone. From what she had heard, the two of them seemed to be pretty close before the snap.
Maybe Peter too would cry tears of happiness like she did. There was only one way to find out.
She took a deep breath, “Okay dad, you can come in now.”
Peter’s eyes widened.
Tony, who had been anxiously watching the encounter from outside, now stood with this back pressed against the wall. It was time. He couldn’t mess this up. He had to make things right.
The man tightened his fist to muster up all the courage he had left in his worn out body before taking one final breath.
He then slowly walked out from his hiding spot with a sheepish smile.
Peter stared into his eyes with the most heartbroken expression. He remained silent for a few moments, just to take everything in.
It must’ve been a lot for him. It would be for anyone. Tony just appeared out of nowhere after more than ten years, looking exactly the same, while they had all become grown adults.
Though Peter hadn’t change much in terms of appearance, Tony observed. He was still quite small and looked younger than his years. However there was now an air of maturity in the way he handled himself.
Even though he looked the same, he didn’t feel like the same naive kid who would fall into the footsteps of anyone who showered him with a bit of attention. He didn’t do his usual word vomit thing anymore either, Tony had noticed. He seemed to think things through before speaking now.
He had truly grown up.
“Kid I-“
“Mo, are you feeling okay love?” Peter turned to Morgan. There was concern etched into his features.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I couldn’t be any happier.” Morgan looked towards her dad with a grin, and Tony gazed back with a soft smile.
“Mo,” Peter glanced at Harley, who simply offered a confused shrug, “There’s nobody there.”
“What?” Morgan and Tony said at the same time.
She took off her glasses, rubbed her eyes and looked again. Her dad was still standing right there, same as ever. There was no doubt about it.
Tony looked pretty confused himself. Was there an invisible invisibility cloak on him or something? He could see everyone and everything just fine. How come Peter and that other kid Harley couldn’t see him?! Every time Tony thought this day couldn’t get any weirder, the universe came and proved him wrong.
“Here, I think you should sit down Mo.” Peter spoke cautiously but his voice held no judgement, only care and concern, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Morgan’s brows furrowed.
If they couldn’t see her Dad, there was no way she could explain this without sounding delusional.
She took a deep breath.
“Ha! I got you! You should see your faces!”
“What?”
“You’ve been officially pranked!” She clutched her stomach and laughed as loudly as she could.
“O-okay...” Peter raised his brow. He didn’t look completely convinced. Morgan had taken the loss of her dad pretty hard after all.
She still woke up in the middle of the night sometimes, screaming, despite it being over ten years since the... event. He couldn’t blame her, she had seen things nobody should’ve had to see in a lifetime. It would’ve scared even the strongest of adults.
He couldn’t help but feel concerned as to why she was acting out like this all of a sudden.
“Ha, gotta admit, that was a good one.” Harley chuckled. At least he seemed to fall for it.
Peter still eyed her with a worried look.
It was hard getting anything past him. He always appeared to have some kind of third sense for these kind of things. Even though his powers were gone, it seemed like his “Spidey Sense”, as he used to call it in his stories, was stronger than ever before.
“Man, I’m starving. What’s for food?” Morgan quickly asked. If she couldn’t convince Peter, she had to distract him, and he was never one to let someone go hungry.
“Harley and I were both out all day, so we didn’t exactly prepare anything,” Peter said, “How about Delmar’s?”
Tony had to admit, Morgan’s ability to divert attention and change topics at the snap of a finger rivaled his. He didn’t know if it was a good thing, but she was definitely a smart kid, that’s for sure.
“Again?” Morgan whined.
“What? They have the best sandwiches!” Peter defended.
“Yes, but not when we have to eat it three times a week darlin’.” Harley agreed with Morgan.
“You guys are just too spoilt for choice.”
Tony chuckled at that. He hadn’t listened to many of the kid’s voice messages, but he had heard the name Delmar come up like at least once in each one he had.
Tony had even tried it once out of curiosity, but he never had the heart to tell the kid that it just tasted like lumps of bread slathered in bacon grease when he liked it so much.
“I want Pizza.” Morgan said.
“I second that.” Harley nodded.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Peter crossed his arms with a pout. He was trying to look angry but all Harley and Morgan could think about was he cute he looked when he did that.
“C’mon don’t be like that~” Harley pulled his boyfriend into a side-hug, “Let’s go to your favourite ice-cream place after okay?”
“The one by the lake?” Peter mumbled with his big puppy eyes.
It was an hour drive from home, but how could Harley ever say no to that face? It had to be illegal to be that adorable.
“Of course.” The blonde pressed a kiss against his boyfriend’s curls.
Morgan scrunched her face in disgust at the display. “I’ve got some homework to do so I’ll just be in my room. Call me when the pizza gets here!”
She didn’t wait for an answer before quickly escaping into the corridor by the living room.
As much as she loved hanging out with Peter and Harley, she also wanted to talk to her dad and figure out what was going on. She couldn’t do that in front of the them. She had managed to distract Peter once, it was unlikely that she would be able to get away with it again.
Tony followed Morgan towards the end of the narrow corridor. He was still trying to get his head around the fact that she had a room in Peter’s house. They must’ve been pretty close, though that was easy to tell even from their short interaction.
It looked like Peter had taken good care of his daughter. He couldn’t be more grateful.
“Here it is...” She said softly so the duo in the hall didn’t hear. Though they were too busy being lovey-dovey to pay any attention anyway, “My room.”
She opened the door to reveal a small messy space filled with books, handmade paintings, trophies, toys, photo frames with pictures of Peter and Morgan growing up along with some of Pepper and himself too. There were a bunch of intricate Lego structures displayed on the shelves consisting of boats, castles, spaceships. He remembered seeing some of those in the hall too.
It warmed his heart to see that Morgan still enjoyed playing with Legos. It was something the two of them had always done together when he was... well, alive (he didn’t really know what he was anymore). It seemed like Peter had passed down his obsession with Lego to his daughter too.
The most fascinating thing about the room that Tony had noticed when he walked in though was the ceiling. It had been painted like a galaxy.
“I know what you’re thinking. Wanna see something even cooler?” Morgan smiled playfully. She didn’t wait for an answer before switching off the lights.
It was absolutely breath taking. The stars glowed in the dark...
“Peter and I painted it together when we first moved in.” Morgan said proudly, “He needed a ladder but I only needed a stool.”
“You guys did this yourselves?” Tony looked surprised. He could’ve sworn he thought it was done by a professional painter or something.
“Of course, I’m really good at Art you know?” Morgan smirked.
“I know...” Tony remembered all the paintings she used to make for them. He always smiled when he saw them on the fridge covered with stickers and magnets, “You always have been a very smart and talented girl.”
Morgan looked like she had been caught off guard by that. Her eyes began to water again but she swiped the tears away quickly.
“Thanks Dad, I missed you. I really, really missed you....”
“I missed you too Baby.” Tony answered sadly.
Morgan had to duck under the door frame to enter the room, and Tony felt an embarrassed blush creep onto his face when he didn’t find the need to do so himself. He always had been conscious about his height, and the fact that his sixteen year old daughter was taller than him didn’t help the situation.
Though he was also happy that she got to live his dream of being tall. They had Pepper’s genes to thank for that. Every time he used to go to have dinner with her family, Tony always felt like he had entered a cave of giants. There was not a person there below 6ft.
He shuddered at the memory.
Morgan slumped onto a knitted hammock hanging from the ceiling and gestured towards the empty bed in front of her, “It’s a bit messy, but make yourself at home.”
And even though it was small and cramped, it truly felt like a home. Tony wasn’t the biggest fan of messes, some people would even call him a clean freak, but despite being messy this room was miles better than that room he had first ended up in.
That room had looked like an expensive suite in a hotel, it was generic and lifeless, but this room just screamed Morgan. It displayed all the things she liked and looked like a place occupied by a real person.
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
“It’s the Pizza!” Morgan bolted to the door without wasting a second. Tony laughed and followed in her wake. No matter how old she got, his little girl was always gonna be a fan of Pizza. Just like him.
“You forgot your chocolate at my house.” A familiar voice grumbled.
“Oh it’s just Uncle Happy.” Morgan looked disappointed.
“It’s nice to see you too.” Happy collapsed onto the sofa. He didn’t seem to notice Tony either, even though the man was standing right in front of him.
So it really was just Morgan who could see him.
“You didn’t have to come back here just to give back a chocolate. We have plenty at home.” Harley opened the drawer in front of him to show that it was completely filled with sweets.
“Well, I don’t like having other people’s things in my house.” Happy argued, placing a melted and deformed chocolate bar on the centre table, “I’m assuming you didn’t completely mess up your meeting?”
Ah there it was. His real motive. He had come to check on Peter. Tony could tell that his bodyguard had really warmed up to the kid shortly after putting them together. Not that he would ever admit it.
It was nice to see that Happy was still the same. Grumpy on the outside but actually a real softie at heart.
“My meeting went really well actually. They are going ahead with my idea and the project will start next week!” Peter exclaimed, “Thanks for being the only one to ask.”
“I didn’t ask.” Happy scowled, but Tony could see the ghost of a smile that had formed on his lips. It would normally be unnoticeable, but working with someone for fifteen years surely taught you some things about them.
“Since you’ve come all the way here, you should join us for Pizza. We ordered quite a bit cuz we couldn’t decide on the flavors.” Peter offered.
“Well, since I’m already here I guess I’ll have some.”
“Don’t lie Peter, we all know you ordered extra cuz you knew Uncle Happy was gonna come.” Morgan smiled smugly.
“Hello, hello!” A boy-ish voice called out from the doorway, “We come bearing gifts.”
Wow, there was a lot of people visiting this apartment for a weekday evening. You could count on Peter to worm his way into everyone’s heart.
“Ned and MJ! I thought you guys were going to see that lost artifacts convention in town!” Peter exclaimed.
He remembered because he was the one who originally promised to go with MJ, but then this meeting came up and Ned offered to take his place. He really was a life saver every single time.
“Yea, it was shit. Just a bunch of old junk with no substance. What’s the point of seeing an artifact if you don’t get to find out the tragic backstory behind it?” MJ said incredulously, “Anyway, we decided to stop by the famous bakery you cows always go on about, and bought a bunch of cupcakes instead. Also before you ask Morgan, yes we did buy the mint chocolate ones you like too.”
“Score!” The teen pumped her fist in the air.
“Pizza Delivery!”
“Pizza is here!” Morgan exclaimed.
“I’ll get it. Harley you get the plates.” Peter said.
“Aye, aye captain.” His boyfriend disappeared into the kitchen.
They all surrounded the small table, pulling out chairs from different places around the house and squeezing into the tiny space. It was beyond congested but they all seemed happy being together and talking amongst themselves.
It was the kind of family Tony could only ever dream of having when he was younger. He smiled softly when he saw Morgan arguing with Harley over who got the last slice of Pizza.
It seemed like he was worried for nothing. His daughter was strong and perseverant. Even though her own family had fallen apart, she managed to find a place where she belonged.
She managed to make her own family with Peter.
Suddenly Morgan was staring at him. Her brows were scrunched up in fear and distress. Why did she look like that?
Tony gazed at his hands to see that they were now glowing, fading. But he didn’t feel panicked or frightened. He felt calm and at peace.
He now understood why he had come here. Why only Morgan could see him…
His time in this world was long over, but he couldn’t pass without checking on his daughter one last time.
She was okay. She was happy...
That’s all Tony ever wanted.
“Morgan, you and I both know I don’t belong here. Not anymore.” Tony spoke, “I’m happy that I got to see your smiling face one last time, but it’s time for me to go now.”
“No, you can’t leave me.” Morgan called out, earning weird stares from everyone on the table. But she couldn’t care less. She couldn’t watch her dad disappear, not again.
“I’m so proud of you my brave girl. I wish I could stay with you forever but I can’t. You belong here, with them, not me.” He pointed towards the table, “You don’t need to worry, I’ll never really be gone. I’ll always be watching you, but from up there.”
“I-…promise me?”
“I promise.” He turned to Peter even though he knew the kid couldn’t see him, “Thanks kid. I could always count on you to help me out, whether I ask for it or not.”
Peter looked up in surprise. He felt something brush against his shoulders. It felt warm and comforting. It felt familiar.
“I love you three thousand.” Tony smiled at Morgan one final time before disappearing into thin air.
“I love you three thousand...” Morgan whispered back.
“Okay, who wants cupcakes?! First come first serve!” MJ called out.
“Mint chip is mine! Don’t even think about touching it Harley!” Morgan called, taking the precious piece before anyone else could get their filthy hands on it.
“That shit tastes like toothpaste anyway.”
“Harley!” Peter gasped, “No swearing in front of Morgan!”
“Oh please, you don’t know the things this brat says when you aren’t looking.” Harley argued.
“Yeah cuz you keep trying to corrupt her with your-your-your potty mouth!” Peter fumbled for words.
“Potty mouth? Seriously?”
“Yes seriously. You have a potty mouth.”
“Okay, can you guys stop saying potty when we are trying to eat chocolate cupcakes here?” Ned scrunched his face in disgust.
“Potty, potty, potty.” MJ repeated, continuing to eat her cupcake with a straight face.
“Remind me to never go to a convention with you again.”
“Can you kids keep quiet for like ten seconds? See, this is why I hate coming here.” Uncle Happy grumbled.
Morgan looked around to the table to see all of them arguing and hurling insults at each other for one second, and then laughing about the most random thing the next.
They were her family, and even though she no longer had her father, and her mom was always busy with work, she knew they would have her back. No matter how wild or crazy they could get.
“Hey Morgan!” Ned whisper-shouted, “Don’t tell anyone cuz they would have my head, but I got you an extra mint chip cupcake and it’s in the fridge, so you can eat it whenever you want. I suggest you do it quickly though because these hooligans won’t let it last long.”
“Thanks Ned. You’re the best.” She smiled.
Yep, she loved her family.