Chapter 2
Pepper cried for hours when Tony told her. She hadn't believed him, at first. She'd made him show her all the DNA samples, all the tests, and had required Helen's confirmation three times before she believed it. And once she did, she cried for hours.
Once Peter recovered, Tony had Happy drive him back to Queens. Peter didn't know yet. Tony hadn't been able to tell him, not just like that, and not without his 'aunt' May there. He'd talked with Pepper, and the two had come to a decision of how to break the news to them. Which was how, three days after Peter had returned home, Tony Stark was once again sitting in the Parker's living room. This time with Pepper on his right, and May and Peter sitting across from him.
"Okay," Tony said slowly. "There is really no easy way to say this. Have either of you heard anything about my son?"
May shook her head, but Peter nodded. "The one that went missing eleven years ago?"
"That's right," Tony nodded. When May still looked confused, he elaborated. "Eleven years ago, my four-year-old son was kidnapped. He's been missing ever since."
"O...kay," May said slowly. "What does that have to do with us?"
"Well..." Tony glanced at Pepper, who nodded encouragingly at him. "When Peter was with me, for the internship thing, there was a little.. accident. Nothing serious, but he did require a little bit of treatment. My best doctor, Helen Cho, ended up having to take DNA tests, to make sure there would be no... complications with anything she might have to do. And Peter here, his... his DNA almost perfectly matched up with mine."
Peter's eyes widened, looking both shocked and confused. May simply looked confused.
"What does that mean, exactly?" she asked.
"It means that I'm related to Peter," Tony finally just spat it out. "It means... that your nephew, Peter Parker, is actually my son, Peter Stark."
Peter and May looked at them for a moment, before May laughed nervously. "Okay, sure. This is... this is all a joke, right?"
"I would never joke about this, Ms. Parker," Tony said seriously. "Here are the tests and results."
He handed her and Peter a stack of papers, which they looked over together. Peter, having done DNA and genetics in school, clearly understood everything the papers were telling him.
"May, this... this checks out," he said, his voice low. "I think-I think he's right."
May looked vaguely sick. "I-I don't... so what do we do now? I mean, if he's your son, then really, you have all the right over him, but... "
"I'm not going to just whisk him away, if that's what you mean," Tony said. "Pepper and I would love to get to know him, of course, but we don't want to just completely uproot his life, and if he doesn't want us involved in it, then we would absolutely respect his wishes."
"Peter, honey?" May asked. "What do you think?"
Peter looked very sick. "I-I dunno," he said slowly. "I mean, this is... this is all so, so crazy. Not that I don't believe you, Mr. Stark, I do, I believe you, and I would love you get to know you two, you've both been my idols my entire life, but I don't want to just uproot, you know? I'd love to have you in my life, I'd love to get to know you, but I still want to, you know, go to Midtown and stuff, but I can... I can tell you two want me to live with you, I can see it in the way you're looking at me, and I wouldn't even be opposed to that, but I just... I can't just leave May, you know?"
"Yes, we know," Pepper nodded. "We completely understand that this is a lot to take in, and it's confusing and probably very scary-"
"What if you could live with us and May?" Tony blurted.
"What, like, go back and forth?" Peter asked, his brow furrowed.
"No," Tony shook his head. "Like... I was planning on selling the Tower, we were going to move to a compound upstate, but if... if we didn't do that, would you and May come live in it with us? There's a ton of space, and it's close enough for you to go to Midtown still, and then... and then we could figure all this out. I guess the main question is, would you and May want to live in the tower with us?"
Peter looked at May, who looked uncertainly back.
"Would I still be able to get to work?" May finally asked.
"Of course," Tony nodded. "We'd find a way to make everything work out."
"What do you think, Peter?" May asked.
Peter shrugged. "I think it's a good idea."
May was silent for a moment. "Okay," she said. "Okay. We could do that. When would we... when would we move?"
"Whenever you want," Tony said.
"How does- how about over the weekend?" May asked. "Give Peter and I some time to pack up, and... process."
"Of course," Tony nodded. "Absolutely. We'll come down Saturday morning to help move all the stuff over, and we'll get everything ready at the Tower."
"Okay," May nodded. "Okay."
---
Tony sat at a desk in the lab, staring at the flip phone in front of him.
"Tony?" Pepper asked, entering. "We've got one of the penthouse floors all set for Peter and May- what are you doing?"
"Should I just call him?" Tony asked, still staring at the phone. "Be completely honest with me, do you think I should just call him?"
"What do you think?" Pepper asked.
"I don't know," Tony confessed. "I mean... Him and Natasha, and Sam, and all of them, after New York, they helped us look for him for a while, you know? And I told him... we told each other, if either of us ever heard anything we'd let the other know. Steve always said he would have loved to meet him, and now we've found him, and I just... I feel like he should know."
"It sounds like you think you should call him," Pepper said. "And I think you should do what you think is right."
"I'm not going to lie," Tony said slowly. "I miss having them here. Having the team all living here, together. And there are things about the Accords I'm not thrilled about, so maybe... maybe we'd be able to come to an agreement, if we were all being a bit more logical about it? If we weren't so angry?"
"I think it's a great idea," Pepper shrugged. "Listen to your heart, Tony. We all know you have one."
"Har har," Tony laughed sarcastically at her jab to the arc reactor. "Very funny."
"I thought so," Pepper said, picking up a StarkPad and leaving the lab.
Tony sighed, turning back to stare at the phone. Gathering his courage, he picked it up, turned it on, and pressed call before he could chicken out. It was answered on the third ring.
"Tony?" it was Natasha's voice.
"Hey, yeah," Tony said, his voice shaking slightly. "So, let's just ignore the fact that I'm pathetic and only managed to hold out for about a week, and just cut to the chase. I need to talk to Steve."
"I gathered as much," Natasha said dryly. "Hang on, I've got to find him."
"Where are you guys?" Tony asked, hearing some strange whirring noise in the background.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that." Natasha didn't sound sorry at all. "Here's Steve. Try not to kill each other over the phone."
Tony was about to come back with some witty remark, but didn't get the chance.
"Tony?"
Tony's mouth was suddenly very dry. "Yeah. Hey. Hi."
"Hi."
"Listen, Steve, I've got a situation out here, and I thought you might want to know about it," Tony said slowly. "And I know you're probably still mad at me, and God knows I'm still mad at you, but you said if anything ever changed to let you know, so here I am."
"What is it?" Steve asked immediately. "What's going on?"
"Remember, after New York, when you were helping me look for my kid?" Tony asked. "Peter?"
"Yeah," Steve said, after a moment's hesitation.
"Remember when I showed up to Berlin with Spider-Man?"
"Yes."
"Remember when that Scott Ant guy injured Spider-Man?"
"Get to the point, Tony."
"It turns out Spider-Man is Peter," Tony said. Even just saying it brought tears of joy and relief to his eyes. "God, Steve, we actually found him. He's coming to live with Pepper and I in Stark Tower, with his aunt. We found him, Steve."
"You found him?" Steve exclaimed. "Hold on, I'm going to put you on speaker-phone, everyone's here, they all want to know what I'm talking about-" There was a moment of silence. "Okay," Steve said. "Could you say it again?"
"We found my kid," Tony said, a few tears escaping. "Spider-Man's my fucking kid."
"Oh my God, you found him?" Clint's voice spoke. "This is... this is huge Tony... Listen, I know we're supposed to hate each other, but is there any chance you'd let me come up to meet the kid?"
"Listen, about hating each other..." Tony said slowly. "Listen. I know I wasn't entirely right. And you weren't entirely wrong. But that doesn't mean I was entirely wrong and you were entirely right, either. We were all angry, and we weren't thinking rationally, and I just... I really do think we need somebody to be watching us, keep us in control a bit. But there were aspects to the Accords I wasn't entirely pleased with. So... If you're willing to listen, I'm willing to come to some sort of agreement. I... I'm not going to lie, I miss having you all around here. It's too quiet. Course, it's about to get less quiet, I've got a fifteen-year-old and his aunt moving in tomorrow. So if you're willing to come back, I've got a place you can stay."
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"Of course, Tony," Steve finally spoke. "We've missed all of you, too. There is the slight problem of us being war criminals..." "I'll take care of that," Tony interrupted. "I'll have you cleared by ten tomorrow morning." "Then we'll be there by ten thirty." Tony could practically hear the smile in Steve's voice. "And Tony? Congrats on finding the kid. I can't wait to meet him."
"He'll be over the moon to meet you, too, he's a massive fucking nerd," Tony said, causing the team to laugh. The team. The team.
Tony was pretty happy himself.