Chapter 3
Peter gathered his algebra textbooks from out of his locker, it had been three weeks since Mr Stark and Mr Rogers made the announcement that they were expecting and he was thrilled, he had promised Captain Rogers to keep an extra eye on Tony in the lab and not to let him handle anything dangerous - you could imagine how well that panned out, Tony Stark could be very stubborn.
Lost in his thoughts, Peter didn't even notice his boyfriend sneaking up behind him and wrapping him in a hug.
"Hey Harls," Peter greeted, granting the boy with a kiss on the cheek.
"Now is that anyway to greet your oh so amazing boyfriend?" Harley snarked, pushing Peter against the wall of lockers to kiss him properly.
When he arrived in New York a mere five months ago, he was really uncomfortable with holding Peter’s hand and kissing him in public. Peter suspected that’s what growing up in a homophobic town did to you. But now Harley had seen how little the people of New York cared about a gay teenage relationship and he was getting better about his fears of public displays of affection.
The fact that he insinuated a make out session with Peter against the lockers in a crowded school hallway proved that.
“You comin’ to lunch?” Harley murmured against the brunettes lips.
Peter leaned in for one last peck, “Yeah I’m coming.”
The two boys wandered into the cafeteria, hand in hand, eyes scanning the sea of teenagers before finding Ned and MJ sitting at a table towards the back of the room.
“Hey y’all.” Harley grinned, settling down next to MJ, whilst holding Peter’s hand underneath the table.
“Keener, your accent is disgusting.” MJ commented without looking up from her book.
He threw a hand over his chest, “You wound me, Jones.”
“I think his accents cute!” Peter protested.
“Thanks, sweet thang.” Harley drawled, purposefully making his accent thicker. He and MJ teased each other and pretended to argue but she loved him just as much as she loved her other friends.
The four friends ate in comfortable silence for a while, Peter had finished his lunch before everyone else due to his crazy enhanced metabolism and was now picking fries off of Ned’s plate.
“Dude,” Ned said, jokingly batting away Peter’s hand, “I thought Mr Stark made you those extra calorie energy bar things.”
“Oh my god,” MJ laughed, “He is so like a dad to you.”
Peter shrugged, a blush creeping up his neck, “I don’t need Mr Stark to go out of his way to make me things when I can just steal yours!” He explained, innocently.
“Pete, that’s what parents do for their kids.” Ned replied, jokingly.
“Never thought I’d see the day Iron-Man adopted one enhanced vigilante and one cowboy.” MJ snorted, she had figured out about his after school activities pretty soon after the Vulture incident and Peter had confessed to Harley on their first date so everyone sitting at that table knew he was Spider-Man.
Peter and Harley shared a knowing look, their friends had no idea that Mr Stark was going to become a dad to a new baby. It was kind of funny to keep a secret this big.
“Okay what?” Ned asks, catching onto the way his two friends are looking at each other.
“Nothing.” Harley replies a bit too quickly. Ned raises his eyebrows, “We’re, uh, eye fucking!” He hastily explains.
“No you’re not. That’s not Peter’s eye fucking face.” MJ says. The whole table turns to look at her, “What? I’m observant and I had to sit next to him during Chemistry whilst you two were still pining!”
Aww babe, I’m flattered!”
“Shut your mouth, Harls.”
“So what are you hiding?” MJ asks, squinting at the couple. Peter gulps, he’s never been a good liar but especially not to the curly haired girl.
“We’re not hiding anything.”
“Let’s go over the facts. We were discussing Peter’s crazy appetite, Harley being a certified cowboy, and Iron-Man becoming a- holy SHIT!” Ned cuts himself off with a yell of exclamation once he figures it out. MJ raises an eyebrow but her face looked seemingly unbothered, as if she too had figured it out.
“Mr Stark’s having a baby?” Ned said, a bit too loudly, “With who?!”
“Ned keep your voice down!” Peter hissed, sharing another panicked look with Harley.
“Who is it?! Is he cheating on Captain America?”
“Tony would never cheat,” Harley was quick to say. “He’s having the baby with Steve.”
“Oh my god Harley just called Captain America ‘Steve’!”
“Who’s the surrogate?”
Ned and MJ asked their questions at the same time.
“There isn’t a surrogate!” Peter blurts out before he can stop himself.
The silence spreads across the table.
“Peter,” MJ began, “Are you implying that Tony Stark, who is a biological man, is having a baby? With Mr Rogers?”
“I-“
“Whoa whoa whoa,” a voice said from behind Peter’s back, “What lies is Peter spreading about Iron-Man now?”
Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck.
They were so screwed now.
“Flash,” Peter began, “Please go the fuck away.”
“No I don’t think so,” Flash grinned, “How can I when I just found that Tony Stark is pregnant!”
“Flash,” Peter warned.
“Wow I knew you were a loser, Parker. Lying about your internship is one thing but now you’re creating lies about Tony Stark AND Steve Rogers? How boring is your life?”
“Flash I swear-“
“I bet the whole school can’t wait to hear about how Tony Stark is pregnant! I mean wouldn’t the press just love this story also?”
Harley suddenly pushed out his chair and towered over Flash menacingly. Harley was at least 6”2 and Flash was hardly 5”8. Honestly Peter thought the fear displayed in Flash’s eyes was perfectly reasonable.
“Listen here, Eugene.” He hissed, “If you ever repeat anything about what you’ve just heard I’ll fuck you up, hell I’ll even call the entire Avengers team. Don’t spread shit about Tony, or Steve, or his pregnancy. Got it?”
“So-So it’s true then?” Flash stuttered.
Harley seemed to realise what he had said the same time Flash did. Threatening the boy to not say anything about Tony’s pregnancy was sure proof that it was true. Stumbling back, he released the hold he had on Flash’s t shirt and grabbed Peter’s arm.
Hopefully Harley’s threat had worked and Flash would keep his trap shut. On the other hand, the kid was known to blab his mouth any chance he could, especially when it was about Peter. Flash was a ticking time bomb with their secret and they needed to tell Mr Stark the truth before word got out.
“Harley,” Peter mumbled, “We-“
“Fucked up.” He answered, “We need to get to Tony and Steve.”
Peter nodded hastily, with one final glare at Flash the two boys raced out of the cafeteria and out onto the busy streets of Queens.