Tapes
Natasha puts the bowl of dog food for Odie down and watches her chow down. From what it looks like, Odie has been pregnant for at least 4 weeks. Smiling as she pets Odie she whispers, "You're a single mama, huh?" Me too. She hurries over to get the box of tapes. Despite being in a large box, there seemed to only be about five tapes each painted with nail polish in chronological order.
Richard wasn't organizable, she can tell Peter that. Natasha may have been at Richards apartment for a night, but she noticed that his place was a mess. If she could go back in time, she would've seen pizza boxes, a table filled with papers (the same papers she was supposed to get), pencils and highlighters around the floor in any color the store had. The small things she can remember. So, Richard must've had someone arranged the tapes for him.
"Tony!" Natasha calls.
No reply. He must've been down in the lab.
"I'll be right back, Odie," Natasha states to the female dog and jogs to the lab.
Once there, she can smell the oil and smoke along with metal and... food? Natasha can hear him blasting rock music and see him dance to it. It was unusual to see the man dance or even enjoy himself other than when he was next to Peter or with his own pets (DUM-E and Butterfingers). So when she knocked on the glass, Tony jumped and fell onto the floor.
Natasha almost laughs. Almost.
Tony runs to the door and opens the door, his face similar to the grumpy cat Peter showed her a few days ago, "Nat."
"You have a tape recorder?"
Tony blinks, "Why do you need one of those, Romanoff?"
Natasha raises her eyebrow, "It's for me watching these...videos."
Whatever Tony must've thought, wasn't what Natasha was doing but she didn't have enough willpower to wipe off the smug smirk Tony had, "You guys," Tony points to DUM-E and Butterfingers, "Don't touch anything dangerous or you guys will have a problem with daddy, okay?"
The bots whirled.
Tony nods and steps out of the lab, guiding Natasha along the way. Tony eventually goes to the door. It was beige. No decorations except the plague it had which was called: Video room.
"We're here." Tony says and looks at Natasha, "Anything else you need?"
Natasha considers it. Tony is a co-parent of Peter. Even if the man denies it (but Natasha knows that he's a big softie for her son which made her soft as well). He takes Peter to science fairs, amusement parks, even to the zoo at one point. Natasha looks at Tony and nods, "Wanna watch with me?"
"Oh! Uh-- Isn't this kind of thing supposed to be... private?" Tony suggested apprehensively.
Natasha shrugs, "It can, but I want to view Peter's life with you. You're like a dad to him."
It was like something went off in Tony's head. His entire posture changed as he was almost wobbly. "O-Oh." Was all he says before nodding, covering his face as well.
So, Natasha turns the knob and steps inside as Tony clung to her. The room was dark, had dust swaying along to anything but a melody.
"Jee, you don't have a cleaner?" Natasha asks Tony and all the man does in reply is a simple shrug as if to say, No one ever uses this room!
-
After dusting nearly everything, Natasha was finally able to insert a tape while Tony had popcorn and soda. Natasha sits down next to him and watches as the tape recorder runs.
-
Richard was in front of the camera, the walls white contrasting his tan skin and messy brown curls. He had on a striped green shirt with white shorts, his face stoic but it quickly turns to something of a smile.
"Hello, Natalia," Richard speaks and Natasha shifted a little, "If you have these tapes, I dunno what happened but you got them and congratulations. You know you have a little boy named Peter Benjamin Parker."
Natasha nods.
"Right now, he's about eight months, best baby to ever baby, you know?" Richard proceeds to leave the camera to get Peter and Natasha seen him. He wasn't so tiny as when she last saw him as just a baby. He was chubbier, cheeks filled with his fist, Peter's attention on anything but the camera as if he was shy. He was wearing nothing but a diaper but seeing as Peter had chocolate stains on his tummy, She could see why they had him wear anything.
"Say hi to mommy!" Richard says to Peter.
"Hi, mommy!"
Natasha melts.
He puts Peter on his lap and starts bouncing his leg, "Natalia... To be very blunt, I don't expect to live past Peter's third birthday. In fact, it'll be a miracle if I do."
"I'm a... CIA agent. And you know... Some people won't stop for information or anything they want their hands on," Richard swallows, "I have my chance with Peter as of right now and as much as I want it to last..." Richard looks for words that'll seem less hurtful but has no way to sugarcoat it, "It won't. So the tapes aren't so much... maybe four."
Peter gurgles and Richard kisses his head, "I'll put you down, okay?" And he does put him down on the floor. His attention now back on the camera.
"The reasons I did these tapes though, they aren't for me. I can't watch in those moments years later because it's almost impossible. But, you can. I know you would want to have these moments as I have them. You missed out on so many monumental moments, Nat." Richard speaks, his voice leaking sorrow, "I want you to have these moments because I know you'll live longer than me. Even if you are a spy."
Richard breathes in and out. His eyes tearing up as he realizes that he won't ever get to see other milestones, "I just want..." His voice shakes, "You to have these. I don't know when you'll find them. Twenty-two, thirty-four, even seventy. Have the tapes and watch them because you'll fall in love with Peter B. Parker. I fell in love with the kid. I'll do anything for him and all he has to do is ask."
Richard stands up and reaches to the camera. The video was done.
-
Natasha blinks. She felt her nose sting. Tony was quiet.
And from what Richard said, it was mostly true. Richard Parker hadn't lived past Peter's third birthday. He won't ever get to watch these again when he grows older and just wants to remember the times when Peter was easy to carry. It hurt.
Natasha takes out the tape and puts it on the table.
"Next tape?" Tony asks quietly.
"Next tape," Natasha repeats and grabs the number two tape and puts it in.
-
"-- Happy birthday dear Peter!! Happy birthday to you-- Yay!!" Judging from the numbers on the cake, Peter just turned one. Richard was behind the camera as Peter and another woman (Mary) blew out the candles and watched as Peter puts his head on the cake and coming back up with a giggle.
"Peter baby," Mary whines and instead of cleaning it up, she puts a thumb of frosting on his cheek. The smile on Peter's face didn't even disappear as she did that. The camera zooms in to a blue-faced Peter and his chubby cheeks as he destroys the cake with his pudgy fingers.
"Look at him destroying the rest of the cake," Richard says proudly, "That's my son alright!"
The camera zooms out to see Mary rolling her eyes with a smile, "Uh-huh, sure."
Richard runs to the table and puts the camera down. He's in front of the camera but this time with his family. Mary, Peter, and the ghost of Natasha. "Say hi to mommy!" Richard exclaims to Peter.
Without fail, "HI MAMA!"
Mary and Richard chuckled before their son threw a piece of demolished cake to the camera. "Peter," Richard says preparing to scold the boy.
"For mama!"
And that's what stopped the upcoming scolding. Richard smiled and grabs his son before being slapped with cake.
"It's tough when kids smack." Was all Richard says before the camera changes and it's the inside of the house. No, a kids room. It had a samurai jack themed bedroom, posters about planes and other unfamiliar cartoons. But she noticed one thing.
A peter pan book that Richard was reading.
"Mary?" Richard asks.
"Just recording for Natalia." She replies and that's when the tape stops running.
-
As the third tape was rolling, the view was different.
It looked to be on the floor and instead of an older Peter, he was younger. Maybe a few months because he had on those sandals that had velcro straps and a shirt with those striped shorts. He was sitting up by himself and throwing wooden blocks. "Mareeey!" He looks at the camera and Mary (the camerawoman) coos at him.
Peter didn't look satisfied with her reply, so to shock all of them, He goes on his knees and Mary goes to help him but stops when she sees that Peter was attempting to stand.
"Holy shoot... RICHARD!"
A glass object drops to the floor and breaks and Natasha could only assume that it was Richard and there the man comes running to them as life depended on it.
And there Peter manages to put one foot in front of the other.
Richard cheers him on, "Yes, Petey! Come on! Look at Boots with his red shoes!"
Peter looks at the stuffed animal Richard grabbed from the floor and from there baby Peter was so excited, he started to giggle and then proceeds to fall on his bum with a small pout. He looked discouraged and stares at Richard and Mary.
Richard smiles and gives him a thumbs up.
Peter tries again.
He stands and puts his chubby arms out to balance himself. Peter puts a foot in front of the other with anything but ease but he was doing his best.
Peter starts to walk.
It wasn't the best considering he was still new to the skit but he was walking and Natasha couldn't hide her own excitement as she watched Peter take his very first steps.
As he reaches Richard, Peter runs and almost falls flat on his face if it wasn't for Richard catching him quickly. "Aye!" He cheers for Peter and gives him multiple kisses, "Congrats baby!"
Mary runs up to them and gives Peter a kiss on the cheek, "Your mom would love this,"
And Mary was right.
Natasha did love it.
But she felt odd. She missed out on so many things. Her shoulders slumped as she noticed the scene changes to something else.
They were at May's apartment.
Instead of Richard and Mary recording, it was May and what Natasha assumed to be Ben. "Peter, sweetie!"
The camera pans over to a much older looking Peter. He looked to be three at least. His hair growing to the point they used clips to keep his hair from covering his eyes, he was wearing a white shirt, khaki pants, shoes, and a black bracelet.
"Yes, Aunt May?" He questions, his brown doe eyes looking at the camera with innocence.
"What are you doing?"
Peter, who was sitting down was putting beads in a string, "Making a bracelet for Mary and papa," He murmurs.
Ben goes ahead and sits in front of him, "Can I make one for Aunt May?"
Peter visibly perks up at the mention of his favorite aunt, "YEAH! I CAN MAKE ONE FOR HER TOO!"
Aunt May chuckles and walks over to them, puts the camera down in front of them, and joins in on the fun. As the clip goes on, he can see Peter having a color scheme of red, blue, and white while Aunt May had light blue, pastel pink, and white and Ben having dark red, purple, and green.
"Ewww," May teases poking Peter to get to look at Ben's bracelet, "Ugly colors, right?"
Peter shakes his head, "If it Uncle Ben does it, it must be pretty!"
"Awww, thank you, Peter." Uncle Ben says delightfully, "Unlike some people, we have incredible fashion taste."
May laughs and Peter laughs too.
That was before Peter sneezed and something came out of his wrist.
May and Ben looked puzzled, "Peter, what is that?" May asks, "I would say that was boogers but boogers don't come out... like that."
Peter glances down and mutters something.
"I'm sorry?" Ben says, not hearing him.
"Webbing."
The tape finishes there.
-
The clip left a lot in Natasha's mind. Since when Peter had the powers? How did Peter get those powers? How did they come out of his wrist?
"Tony," She looks at Iron Man, "Did Peter ever talk to you about... that?"
"The tapes or-?"
"The webbing. Those just came out of his wrist!"
Tony shakes his head, "Peter always tells me about those kids stuff. Like his crush on Harry (fuck Norman), Spider-Man patrols, You, and so-"
The alarm dings.
Both knew exactly what that meant.
"I'll go get my things," Natasha says and gets up to leave the room.
Now Tony was the only one here and the tape reverses and plays again. Tony walks up to the tape and removes it gently before putting it back in. And for a quiet moment, Tony realizes something.
He wants a kid.
The thought about having a kid used to make him scared. Terrified. Howard's parenting skills left him being completely against having a kid as he fears doing the same to his offspring. But now as he lets his mind indulge in the possibility, it almost seemed like the perfect thing to do. Watch them learn their first steps, hearing them babble about anything and nothing, The kid being adorable and handing their mom a flower.
Tony smiles silently.
As he leaves with the box of tapes, he can't help but mentally thank Peter Parker and Natasha Romanoff.
"Tony! HURRY UP!" He hears Natasha.
"COMING, RUSSIAN ROULETTE!"
He can also hear the eye-roll Natasha gives him.