Rhodey now knows
After Tony cleaned up his mess with one of the napkins lying on the coffee table, Natasha said, “Is that a surprise Tony,” with an impish grin, making it clear that she knew exactly who Peter Parker was.
Tony doubted she had told Cap though, or anyone else. Natasha, being a former spy, valued secrets and wouldn’t out Peter like that.
The fact that Peter was his son, his biological son, made Tony feel a whole range of emotions. The prominent emotion he felt, after the shock wore off, was fear. His own biological son, the boy he had already felt paternal towards, was risking his life everyday, dressing up in spandex and fighting crime.
Peter being Cap and his son weirdly made sense though. Peter shared Steve’s unyielding attitude, adamant on using his powers for good despite the fact that it put himself in danger and refusing to back down from fighting the vulture, despite Tony taking his suit away.
He also had a strong aptitude for science and, based off of Happy’s word and the texts and voicemails Tony had seen, had crazy ideas coming from his mouth a mile a minute. Like Tony, Peter had a constant need to fix things, make them better. At least that’s what Tony had gauged from all of the boy’s dumpster tech.
Similarly to both men, Peter had a massive guilt complex. Tony knew that guilt was behind why he was using his powers for good. He knew it was somehow connected to his uncle’s death just a year ago, but Tony never pried, because their relationship wasn’t there yet.
It had been two weeks after the whole Vulture incident, after Peter turned down being an Avenger in order to stay close to the ground unless there was a world ending threat. The fact that the kid had made a mature decision, at only 15, almost caused Tony to almost doubt Nat’s claim.
Since then, Tony hadn’t really talked to Peter. He left his phone number in the bag with the Spider-Man suit, so that Peter could call and text him instead of Happy, but Peter hadn’t done anything with the number.
It wasn’t like Tony was mad that Peter hadn’t texted him, he had regretfully not made any effort to keep in touch either, dealing with the accords and Rhodey’s legs keeping him busy. Also Peter had declined the Avengers, had a life far removed from Tony’s.
Tony doubted that Peter would want to text and call a billionaire superhero the same way he called and texted Happy.
Still, Tony wished that he hadn’t given Peter his number, because he missed hearing about Spider-Man’s hijinks across Queens. Most of them weren’t all that serious or life threatening, but they never failed to warm Tony’s heart.
Tony’s thoughts were interrupted by Steve’s sigh, “Look Tony, I know this is a shock. And I know that we haven’t been on the best terms since Siberia, but I was hoping that we could tell the boy, our son,” Steve’s demeanor changed a bit with that phrase.
“We should tell him about his heritage, who he is, together.” Steve gazed at Tony resolutely, waiting for his former friend to respond.
To be honest, Tony didn’t hear a word Cap said. It sounded important, but he was too busy staring at Steve’s face, matching similarities in his face shape to Peter’s. After a moment of silence, Tony finally remembered that he was supposed to talk,
“Uh, Capsicle, could you repeat that. I’m still processing the fact that you and I have a kid together.” And I recruited said kid to fight you 7 months ago, went unsaid in Tony’s head.
“We should tell, our son,” Tony cringed, he was never going to get used to the fact that him and the hero his father had idolized had a kid together, “Where he comes from. He deserves to know.”
Judging by Steve's intent stare, and the background look of guilt, the man was dead set on spilling the beans to Peter. Not because Peter needed to know, he would probably go about his life fine and happy without knowing about this bombshell, but because Cap felt guilty about not telling Tony a huge secret, and was now adamant on not making the same mistake twice.
Tony got it, he had become a superhero because of guilt after all. But the thought of Steve and Peter meeting, Peter’s identity ultimately being revealed to Cap, was a situation that he did not want to happen.
If Steve knew that Tony had recruited a 14 year old kid, much less their own son, to fight him in Germany, their fight in Siberia would pale in comparison to the fallout that would happen. But Tony knew that he couldn’t just shoot down the idea, Steve was too adamant.
“So you just want to show up to some random kid’s house, Avengers in tow, and tell him that he’s related to Iron Man and Captain America. That his whole life’s a lie?”
Tony said this in a flippant attitude, so when Cap nodded earnestly, expression looking eerily similar to Peter’s that one time he got the suit, Tony rolled his eyes to the back of his head. Steve wasn’t going to be deterred.
To make matters worse, Natasha, who Tony was 99.8% sure knew about Peter’s vigilante status, spoke up, “We have to tell him Stark. He might have inherited powers from Steve, so for safety reasons, he has to be made aware of where he comes from.”
Tony glared at Nat. She knew exactly what she was doing. Nat smirked in response. “I have Peter’s address right here,” Nat held up her stark phone and Tony got a ping from her,
Triple Agent:You don’t need the address ;)
“We can all take my rental car,” Nat motioned to the rogue Avengers, “And Happy can drive you guys.”
Tony stood up, nervously rubbing his hands together, “Okay then, let’s go.” He could already tell this was not going to end well.
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Only Tony and Rhodey sat in the car while Happy drove them through standard New York City traffic. Vision opted to stay at the safe house with Wanda. Honestly, Tony didn’t blame him since he had no stake in this overly dramatic situation.
Rhodey started trying to comfort his friend, “Tones, how are you holding up wi-” only for Tony to immediately cut him off.
“Rhodes, I screwed the pooch hard.” Rhodey started trying to say something only to be interrupted again, “You know the kid, Spider-Man, well-”
“Jesus Tones,” Rhodey’s eyes widened.
“I know,” Tony ran a nervous hand through his hair.
“You mean to tell me that that kid in spandex, who beat the giant guy with a pop culture reference is your son?” From the front of the car, Happy turned to look at the two incredulously. He quickly turned back to pay attention once the light turned green though.
“Yes Rhodes,” Tony hadn’t even noticed Happy’s reaction, “And Cap cannot know. If he knows I recruited his own son to fight him in Germany, Siberia would pale in comparison to what will happen.” Happy’s eyebrows raised higher than previously thought possible.
“Just, Jesus Tones,” Rhodey pinched his brows, “So how are you going to hide this from Cap? Isn’t the kid a fan of him or something? Would he announce himself to Cap once we came to the apartment?”
“I have his phone number,” Tony slowly said.
“So then call him!” Rhodey was exasperated with this situation. It was crazy and insane before Spider-Man was involved. Somehow, Rhodey always became involved in his best friend’s craziness, which he wasn’t complaining about.
“I am!” Tony yelled back, but with nervous energy instead of anger. The phone rang for about a minute before Peter’s voice mail greeting went off, “Hello this is Peter, sorry I can’t take your call. Please leave your message after the beep.” The phone beeped just as Peter’s voice cracked.
“Hey, underoos, this is Tony. Uh, sorry I haven’t called you at all since you crashed my plane,” Rhodey turned to look at his friend, “Anyways, the Avengers and I are coming to your house in 15 minutes. Don’t reveal your secret identity.”
Once Tony ended the message, Rhodey asked incredulously, “He crashed your plane.”
Tony waved his hand, “It’s a long story.” He changed the subject, “I can’t believe the kid didn’t answer me. He’s usually overly excited at communicating with me. You should have seen all the voicemails he sent to Happy.”
Rhodey smiled at his friend’s almost paternal expression, clearly this boy had wormed his way into his friend’s heart before today’s revelation. He came across to Rhodey, from the airport fight, as an overly enthusiastic kid who was an asset on the field, having sheer strength and creative battle plans, but lacking fighting experience and relying on his webs too much.
That didn’t make Tony dragging a 15 year old, no 14 year old back in June, to a fight that was none of his business any better. Yes, they desperately needed the backup, but Tony still should have known better. Also what was this business of his nephew crashing a plane? Rhodey was going to have a long talk with Tony after all of the crazy settled down.
While Rhodey contemplated what had happened, Tony texted Peter,
Tony Stank:the Avengers and I are coming to your house in 10 minutes Tony Stank:under no circumstance will you reveal your identity
Tony Stank:this is not a mission
Tony Stank:also don’t act like you know me
Tony turned off his phone. They were almost there, so by this time, Peter would have either gotten the messages or this day would end up in chaos. Peter was in school though, not patrolling, according to the tracker in his suit, so Tony was confused why he hadn’t responded. Either way, he had made his bed and was going to lie in it.