important news
the civil war- man, what were they thinking?
it was a complete and utter shit show. that one lil disagreement had quickly split up their whole group, destroying their friendship as they knew it.
to this day, tony himself still hadn't fully healed. after all, almost being stabbed to death in a frozen wasteland by one of your (ex) besties does come with its own trauma y'know. not to mention having part of his family ripped away from his clutches, leaving him to fill the newly-dug hole in his heart- their fight still haunts him to this day.
but things were different now- he had pepper, he had rhodey.
he had peter, a boy who was the embodiment ball of sunshine and the one who helped him back onto his feet when no one else heard him fall. the young, geeky high-school nerd who looked at him like he hung the moon and stars in the sky. oh, did tony mention that peter was also the crime-fighting spider man of queens?
at that point, tony thought that his life was finally beginning to return back to normal.
so just when he thought everything was getting better, reality just had to kick him in the ass.
good news? tony finally had ross- the asshole who started all of this in the first place- fired and the accords had been changed for the better. himself, vision, and rhodey were the ones who had revised it, including things like enhanced individuals, vigilantism, the authoritarian nature of the accords, and more to make sure the accords would be equal, fair, and accommodate to everyone.
to be fairly honest, he worked on the vigilantism part the most mainly because of peter- but that was a story for another time.
bad news? the deal of firing ross included having the rogue avengers move back into the compound.
with tony. and peter.
..fuck.
peter sighed, looking at the scenery outside his window as happy drove to the compound. a lot had been on his mind lately- he just couldn't seem to get a break.
it had been three months since his world turned upside down, aka may's passing which was due to an unfortunate accident where she crashed into a truck while rushing to her night shift. her sudden death had changed his life, the possibilities of what could happen to him running through his head right after her death time was announced.
the numbers one forty-five am still haunted him to this day.
a few minutes later, a conversation with an adoption social worker quickly piled onto his stress-filled brain. she said that, as he was still underage and had no living relatives left, he would have to go through the adoption process to find him a new foster home. peter had heard the nasty rumors of foster homes that floated around the grapevine of queens these days- let's just say that not many were decent.
it was like uncle ben's death all over again except this time, may wasn't there to heal him.
overwhelmed with his aunt's death and the burden of a foster family weighing on his shoulders, he had unknowingly dialed his emergency contact- mr. stark. even now, peter could remember their conversation like it was yesterday.
"mmh, underoos..? why are you calling me at one am?"
peter could hear the gruffness in his voice, indicating that he accidentally woke the man up from his slumber- which was rare, as genius and philantropist tony stark normally never slept a wink.
"m-mr. stark, i-i'm sorry to bother you but m-may- s-she's gone, i-im in the hospital- a-and the social w-worker- a-adoption- i-it's too much and i-!"
"woah, woah, slow down! deep breaths kiddo, alright? i'm on my way, don't worry."
at the time, tony stark had no idea how much those two words had reassured young, panicking peter.
after the man hung up, all peter could remember was crying for such a long time. it felt like months, years even- like time was slowing down just to torture him even more. it wasn't until a pair of familiar, warm arms were wrapped around him did he start to calm down.
from then on, his memory was blurry. he knew mr. stark had somehow sorted things out with the social worker, brought him to the compound, and tucked him into bed. until then, peter honestly never thought the man cared for him that much, if not at all.
yeah, mr. stark did start mentoring him in person more often these days and they did hang out every so often, but peter just thought it was a requirement, something ms. potts probably forced him to do.
but seeing tony's panicked and worried expression as he wiped away peter's tears and the loving gaze in his eyes as he tucked peter into bed- those moments were real, fragile, and precious. it was the first time peter had seen tony stark, not as some higher, untouchable being, but a normal person with feelings just like him.
the next day, he offered peter a room in the compound and said that he could stay here as long as he liked.
a week later, they both couldn't fall asleep and caught the other in the kitchen, with peter making hot chocolate and Mr. Stark sipping some black coffee- clearly, their tastes in midnight drinks were quite different. to peter's surprise, mr. stark then invited him to work in his lab for an hour to calm them down, that hour quickly turning into the rest of the night and being caught by ms. potts in the wee hours of the morning- they both agreed it was totally worth it though.
two weeks later, ms. potts taught him how to bake cookies, which was a great way to pass the time and get to know the woman on a more personal level- they got very close that day.
and they may have pranked mr. stark as well by adding hot sauce to his cookie's frosting, but shh-
three weeks later, a pile of adoption papers was signed by mr. stark and ms. potts, officially declaring peter as their son- he cried a lot that day.
it was like being in a nightmare and a dream all at the same time, it was so surreal there was just no other way to describe it.
losing may was one of the most horrible, heartbreaking, and painful times of his life. he spent a good month breaking down into tears just at the thought of her, nor could he bear to look at anything that reminded him of her. happy had to go pack up his things from the old house, mr. stark helping him keep all of may's family photos until peter was ready to see her face again. he even took a break from spider manning for a week, the guilt of not telling may his superhero secret before she passed making the whole situation feel even worse.
but having mr. stark and ms. potts there to take care of him, to stand beside him and tell him it's all gonna be ok, pete had been so reassuring, so comforting- it felt like he had a full family again. the pair were so loving and kind, patient and caring towards his as they helped him back onto his feet.
mr. stark had pulled him through his first panic attack, taking time to tell peter about his own traumatic experiences and panic attacks he had, letting Peter know that he did know what the young teenager was going through. peter bets they spent a good few hours talking about and exchanging their own encounters with anxiety, letting it all out in the open. rather than pushing them apart, that event had just made them closer.
"oi, we're here now, peter." happy said, snapping peter out of his thoughts.
"oh! thanks, happy! i'll see you during the christmas holidays!" peter grinned as he dashed out of the car, excited to see mr. stark in the lab.
and if happy had smiled at the young boy- well, he didn't need to know.
"mr. stark, i'm back!" peter shouted, placing his backpack onto the sofa.
he raised an eyebrow, curious as to why there was no reply, "uhm, miss fri, where's mr. stark?"
"boss is currently in his lab on an important phone call, i would advise you to stay out until he's finished." she kindly replied.
"ok, please alert me when he's done!"
"will do, peter."
feeling satisfied with the ai's answer, he opened the freezer and grabbed a box of cookie dough ice cream- which was clearly superior than mint, as he had argued to mr. stark the other night.
after telling friday to play a star wars movie, peter got comfy on the couch as he watched the intro play, scooping a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth while waiting for his da- ahem, mr. stark to arrive.
peter swallowed his ice cream while thinking to himself, i wonder if he's doing ok..
"this is not ok!" tony yelled, completely outraged at what the other line was telling him.
the monotone man replied, "i'm sorry but if you want ross to get fired and the accords to be changed to how you want it, this is what they want."
"fuck this shit.." tony mumbled under his breath, "fine, just do it."
"ok, the preparations will be started now. they'll sign the revised accords by tomorrow afternoon and will arrive on thursday. have a good day, stark."
tony let out a groan after immediately hanging up on the guy as he rubbed his temples, frustrated with his current situation.
it was confirmed- the rogue avengers were moving back into the compound.
he and pepper had moved over to the compound for convenience, thinking it would be easier to cater to peter's schedule seeing as the compound was closer to his school and it took peter an hour to web his way to stark tower.
..i need to tell peter. the thought suddenly came to mind, tony's eyes widening in shock.
adopting peter was probably one of the best decisions he and pepper had ever made together. a year ago, he couldn't even carry a conversation with a teenager for a minute. now, he couldn't imagine living a life without peter, without their movie nights as he ran his fingers through peter's curly locks- an action which, he realized, helped him relax and de-stress after a hard day.
a month ago, peter had ran into the lab after friday alerted him that tony was having a panic attack. it was obvious what had caused it, as the video of bucky killing his parents was playing on the hologram screen- he soon found out that tony accidentally opened it while sorting through the old files of his suits.
after calming the man down, tony took the time to explain to peter what truly had happened that night in siberia. peter was the one who actually found tony, pale and on the verge of death in siberia. they had finally found him two days after his fight with cap, all of them worried sick about his whereabouts. he could faintly remember the boy sobbing, pleading him to wake up- after that, he passed out cold. except for pepper, no one knew about the details of what really happened to tony.
but he didn't want to keep lying to peter all the time, he didn't really have any reason to. this was now his son, how could he lie?
so, tony told peter everything. he explained why he was bloody, bruised, and required immediate surgery- including the part where captain america had stuck shrapnel into his arc reactor and caused him to have a near-death experience.
at first, peter's expression was unreadable which was unusual for the boy who's actions and words were like an open book to tony. but it was gone in a flash, peter laying down on tony's chest as he allowed the older man to run his fingers through his hair while friday turned on a movie in the background.
oh, speaking of which..
"fri, where's peter?" he asked, taking out a pack of dried blueberries as he threw one into his mouth.
"peter is currently in the living room, waiting for you while watching a movie." she responded.
Tony smiled, of course peter would be waiting for tony to join him. that was just the kind of person peter was- kind, compassionate, and loving- everything tony wanted his boy to be.
"thanks, girl." he said, waltzing out of the room to find his kid.
"hey, bambino." tony said, taking a seat next to the boy.
"mr. stark, you're finally done!" peter replied with a bright and contagious smile on his face, causing tony to grin back.
tony's hands began to play with his son's hair, "oi, didn't i tell you to call me tony?"
"maybe if you stop calling me bambino, i would consider it."
"well, can you really tell me i'm wrong? i mean, just look at you!"
as peter remained silent, eyes narrowed, tony let out a bellowing laugh, "what, can't refute back?"
peter scoffed, "w-whatever, let's just watch the movie!"
the older man smiled, enjoying their light bickering as he turned to face the screen. yeah, this is how everything should be..
welp, guess who didn't tell peter.
okay, okay, tony knew that he should've given peter a heads up that the mother fucking avengers would be moving in and living with them in less than two days. he shouldn't have been a huge dick and hid the fact that peter's childhood idols would be rooming with them, and oh- he also should've said that the accords had finally been revised, ross was fired, and spider man might have to sign the new accords.
but as he saw peter asleep on the couch, peacefully dreaming, he was too nervous to utter a word.
tony had never regretted bringing peter to germany with him, it was a good fighting experience for the newbie vigilante and would help him develop as a superhero. however, at the time, spider man was just another one of those people that he used to try and placate team cap.
now, he personally knew the boy behind the mask. not only that, but it was his adopted son- he still remembers the hilarious look of disbelief on rhodey's face when he first told him.
and in his chest, he felt a sense of protection that he couldn't suppress. even though he was spider man, he was just a kid- a teenager trying to balance school life and superhero life while living with his adoptive father who happened to be the billionaire and philanthropist, tony stark. that was no easy feat for any adult hero, let alone a young fifteen-year-old one.
he knew that the rogues probably wouldn't hurt peter, but he also knew that steve had stabbed his shield into his chest when they were supposed to be brothers best friends. tony knew how irrational this was, he knew how unreal it was, but this was peter- his pride and joy along with pepper. his newfound parental instincts caused him to throw every other logical thought out the window, determined to protect peter even though he knew the boy was capable of doing that himself.
separating the compound into two parts, the rogues would stay on the floors below while tony, peter, pepper, and the rest of team iron man- if they decided to visit- would stay on the floors above.
from then on, tony decided that both parties could never know about the other.
he would make sure of that.
..right?