It's Like We're Chasing All Those Stars
Peter knew who his soulmate was. He wasn’t a dumb child.
In his dreams he watched as Iron Man fought bad guys. Peter always knew that in the end, Iron Man would win and the bad guys would be put away. Tony Stark was an unstoppable force as he changed his business and slowly got his act together. He protected New York in his own way.
When Peter was about 7, Tony was targeted by terrorists.
Peter forgot what the name was, but they seemed very angry and dangerous.
Peter clung onto his dreams as he watched Tony crash land in Tennessee. Tony seemed to be in a bit of pain, but he would pull through. Then a kid came and Peter felt drawn to the child.
“Do you need help?” The kid had asked Tony, but Peter felt like the boy was talking directly to him.
Peter was upset in the morning when he had to wake up for school. The boy seemed smart and really cute. Not that Peter could really understand it at that age. To Peter he seemed cool, and special. Peter couldn’t help but feel a draw to him.
“May! May!” Peter grabbed onto May’s pants side and tugged. She looked down from where she was grabbing food that Ben had left them before going to work.
“Yes, Peter?” May smiled at him.
“I saw through his eyes again and saw a really cool kid! He helped him build something and take out bad guys!” Peter waved his hands around. May gave a small laugh as she picked Peter up.
“That’s cool, Peter.” May kissed Peter’s cheek and brought him to the table. “Now let’s eat and you can tell me more on the way to school.”
-
Tony knew that today was a special day. He had to figure it out after two years of knowing who Peter was.
Today was Peter’s 8th birthday.
Tony easily found out Peter’s name and birthday throughout the two years that he would see Peter in his dreams. Once Tony knew, he did his research on Peter. Peter was born in 2002 and lived with May and Ben Parker, Peter’s aunt and uncle. Peter’s parents died when Peter was barely four. They took custody of him, being his last living relatives. They took good care of him and they lived in Queens. Tony knew that through Peter’s dreams that they weren’t abusive, so he wouldn’t have to come in and take Peter from them. There was laws where if one platonic soulmate was a minor and the other was an adult, they could take custody of the other soulmate if the home was unfit for children or abusive. It was common and normally the children were happy to be taken from the abusive home.
Tony watched as Peter sat with with family and a few friends. They were chatting and the kids were playing with Legos. Tony had noticed that Peter loved Legos and playing with small machines.
“Hey, Peter!” A small voice asked. Peter’s attention turned to a young girl who had blonde hair. Tony had learned it was a girl named Betty that Peter had befriended over the years at his new school.
“Yeah?” Peter asked Betty.
“Look at the T-Rex I made!” Betty held up a dinosaur looking Lego sculpture that was made mostly of green Legos, but a few other colors here and there.
“Woah it looks so cool!” Peter gushed at her. “Look at my house!”
Peter held up a mismatched colored house that Tony had watched Peter build. Betty smiled then laughed.
“I love it!” Betty held out her T-rex. “It can be my T-rex’s house!”
Peter nodded and Tony couldn’t help but love the childish interactions.
“Hey guys, time to open presents!” May called out to the 8 year olds. They all gasped and got up. Peter had carefully sat aside the T-rex and house before getting up and following.
At the table was a handful of presents from Peter’s friends. Tony recognized two boxes as the ones that he had sent for Peter. Peter sat down and May gave him the gifts. He opened them to find many different Lego sets, money, or trinkets that were Star Wars based. Then there was Tony’s gifts.
Peter hesitated a second before opening them. One was a large Hogwarts castle Lego set. Peter gasped when he opened it.
“I wanted this one badly!” Peter looked up to May, but May just shrugged. Peter opened the next one to see a Stark brand computer. It was one of the brand new models and had a personal AI that was built specifically for Peter. He squealed agani. “May!”
“Wow, Ben. You must have saved up a lot.” One of the parents spoke up.
“We didn’t buy him it. It came in the mail a few days ago for his birthday.” Ben explained.
“Honey, there’s a card sticking out of the laptop.” May slowly slid it out and handed it to Peter. Peter opened it and took out the 100$ that was about to fall out.
“Woooah!” Betty gasped from next to Peter. “C’mon Peter, read the card!”
Peter nodded and opened the card more to read it.
“Happy birthday, Peter. I can’t come down and I don’t know when if I will be able to anytime soon. But here is some presents for you. I saw you looking at the set and thought I would get it for you. The computer is just a small gift to help you explore coding and mechanics more. I know you’re interested in mechanics by how many electronics you destroy in your living room. The laptop has an AI in it that I made just for you. You can name her when you start the computer up. I hope you enjoy the gift, kid. Love, your soulmate.” Peter read it outloud. “Ps. put this money in savings. You’ll need it later in life.”
There was silence before one of the kids broke the silence.
“Peter, your so lucky to have such a cool soulmate! And to have someone who can buy that!” The child was grinning. The kid obviously didn’t understand who it could possibly be.
“I really am lucky, huh.” Peter looked down at the card and Tony could tell he was smiling.
Tony could see out of the corner of Peter’s sight the parents all looking at each other in confusion and shock.
“May… did you know of Peter’s soulmate? He’s rich.” One parents asked as the children started to all talk to each other. Peter started to ramble about the lego set and how much he wanted it.
“He’s told us stories and we have tried to not let it get out.” May replied honestly. “In reality, if people found out who his soulmate was, then they would try to exploit Peter. He’s just a kid.”
“We understand. We promise to not say anything. I’m pretty sure the kids won’t remember or just assume that Peter just has a rich soulmate.” Betty’s mother replied.
“He’s told one of his friends at school once and he reacted badly and called him a liar. We removed them from each other’s lives to stop the kid from harassing and the kid seems to not remember now. We’re just… hoping to protect Peter.” Ben hugged May.
Peter seemed to be paying attention because he paused and looked up to his aunt and uncle directly. Tony wished he could tell if Peter felt remorse or not for what was being said. But he couldn’t feel anything through the connection.
“Hey, Peter.” Betty had sat down next to Peter again. Peter turned to her and Tony could see her semi serious face. She looked concerned.
“Yeah?” Peter tilted his head slightly.
“Who is your soulmate?” Betty asked. “I promise I won’t tell or harass you.”
“Tony Stark.” Peter told easily.
“I believe you.” Betty smiled. “You don’t lie, Peter. That’s what I like about you. You don’t lie like the other kids.”
Tony watched as Peter hesitated before hugging her.
“Thanks, Betty. You’re a great friend.” Peter mumbled.
Tony slowly woke up after that.
-
As Peter got older, he stuck to his nerdiness. Tony watched as a lot of his childhood friends left him and moved on to be their own people. Betty went to another school, so Peter was left by himself in middle school. As Peter started middle school, he met a kid named Ned during it.
Ned was a goofy kid that seemed to also love Legos. They got along easily and constantly spent all of their time together. Peter showed Ned his Stark laptop and Ned was in awe. Ned showed Peter how to code better and how to fix computers when they broke, so if he ever needed to fix his laptop himself. Apparently, the kid was a master hacker and genius at a young age. Peter was also very brilliant and understood mechanics and biology very easily. He loved any science and seemed to always want to show Ned whatever he had just learned.
“So, have you found out who your soulmate is? You’ve said they were loaded.” Ned asked one night that Tony fallen asleep randomly in the lab.
“Yeah. He’s been in my life since I got my dreams. He sends me gifts for my birthday.” Peter explains. “He’s really busy so he can’t visit in person. I know he feels bad about it.”
That was extremely true. Tony hated not being able to go and meet Peter. But the Avengers and Stark Industries took up a lot of his time. Peter seemed to accept the fact and simply understood the situation.
“Who is it?” Ned looked up from the lego set that they were assembling in Ned’s room.
“Tony Stark.” Peter replied. Ned stopped from a moment then started to geek out.
“Wait, you’re telling me that THE Tony Stark is your soulmate?” Ned wheezed out. “DUDE! That is so cool! Do you ever get to see anything cool?”
“I get to see him interact with the Avengers. It’s weird seeing the Avengers go from being domestic to fighting Hydra and bad guys.” Peter picked out more legos that he needed. “I also understand a lot of robotics through secondhand. I also know a lot about the company. I think that if it came down to it, I could just pick up his place in the company.”
Tony knew that was a joke, but Tony really could make Peter the Heir of Stark Industries. Peter could do it.
“Dude, that’s so cool. Mine is a girl. Her family isn’t the best, but she is great. Strong. Independent.” Ned was smiling as he assembled his part.
Peter seemed to stop in his building. Ned looked up, worried.
“What if I don’t deserve to be his soulmate?” Peter’s words struck Tony’s heart.
“Dude, you’re a great guy and smart. You never lie and are one of the most funny guys I know. You’re really accepting and can find good in anyone.” Ned sighed. “Peter, you guys obviously deserve each other. You see what he’s trying to do out there. Change the world to make it safer.”
Tony decided that he really liked this Ned kid.
“Thank’s, Ned.” Peter accepted the hug that Ned went to give. “Thanks.”
-
“Hey, Tony.”
Peter watched as a pretty red headed woman he knew as Natasha Romanoff approached Tony as he at his food in the common area of the Compound.
“What’s up, Little Red?” Tony greeted with a nickname. Natasha rolled her eyes at the nickname and poured herself coffee.
“I saw you sending out a package the other day. What’s the special occasion?” Natasha asked before taking a sip of her coffee.
“My soulmate’s birthday is in a few days. Thought I would send it early before the mission. Don’t want it missing it’s arrival date.” Tony shrugged.
Natasha watched Tony and Tony watched Natasha back. Peter knew they were close, but if he didn’t it would look like Natasha was debating on how to pick him apart.
“Tell me about him.” Natasha asked.
“He’s… younger than me. He is an absolute nerd. The kid… he’s what we’re trying to protect in this world. The people that deserve better than what they get stuck with.” Tony replied honestly.
Natasha seemed to understand what Tony was saying and she frowned.
“Tony, you know that anyone who knows you is blessed. You obviously deserve having a soulmate that makes you happy. He seems to make you happy whenever you make up. And he is lucky to have you as a soulmate.” Natasha answered.
Peter internally frowned. Tony thought he didn’t deserve a soulmate? Thought Peter was better than what he deserved? Peter knew that Tony cared for Peter. He obviously did. Tony shouldn’t have to doubt himself like Peter did.
“I know.” Tony sighed and ate more of his food. “I just.. The kid is too pure. I’m almost am afraid to meet him once the time comes for us to.”
“That’s understandable Tony. I didn’t realize Clint was mine until we became each other’s mission and I was afraid for him to find me.” Natasha pat Tony’s back. “Now stop moping. We have work to do.”