Chapter Text
Even with the advanced care and new and experimental treatments, May only made it thirteen months. She went peacefully. The doctors let her come back home to Queens and she passed in her bed, in Ben’s arms. Ben thought he was prepared for the death of his soulmate. It had only been planned for the last year or so. May had planned her funeral to the T. Instead of throwing himself into preparations and planning, Ben lost himself in a bottle. He hadn’t seen Peter in months and was spiraling. After the funeral he hit the road and never looked back. Two month later they were scraping him off the pavement of an interstate in Texas with a blood alcohol content four times the legal limit to drive.
Tony opted for a quiet funeral, for Peter’s sake.
Tony and Peter were able to finalize the adoption a month after Ben passed. By the time Tony could legally call Peter his son, they had fleshed out their routine with school, work, and fun time. Mornings were a routine all on their own with Tony learning how to cook something new every morning to find Peter’s new favorites. After school it was what little homework elementary school students had and then father and son would tinker in their workshop until supper time. Tony would usually cook for supper with the help of Peter. On special occasions, progress reports and break throughs in the shop, they would get all fancy and go eat at their favorite restaurant.
The new girl, Pepper Potts, who Tony made Executive Assistant, helped a great deal in guiding Peter through their everyday life where Tony couldn’t. Sometimes Tony’s advice lacked a sort of feminine, maternal touch that Pepper could offer Peter. She did much more than what her job description said she should and Tony dared to say she loved his son. First grade English was tough for Peter who had a stammer the size of the world, but Pepper had the patience of a saint. She would sit on the floor with him for hours, going over his homework from speech therapy and they would just talk and talk. She helped Peter gain his confidence, the confidence he needed to get his voice in life.
Tony also dared to say he was sent an angel. Pepper went with them to all of Peter's therapy sessions. The psychologists all said that his stammering was directly stress and confidence related and only talking to the therapists and time would help with it. At the advice of the therapists, Tony talked to Peter about what his mom and dad were like, trying to ease any anxieties about that. They also talked about May and Ben but not as often as they talked about his mom and dad. Tony, Peter, and Pepper never shied from 'big' or worldly topics. Peter could understand anything if you just explained it to him.
Pepper even brought up the idea for Peter to switch schools, thinking that maybe he was being bullied. The thought of his son being bullied had never even crossed Tony's mind. He thought Peter would come to him with any problem and that Peter would trust him with anything. Pepper told him that even six-year-olds have pride; especially one with so much exposure to Tony. Tony tried not to take offence to that observation, but he could understand where Pepper was coming from. After taking in over in their next therapy session, Tony decided to put away his pride for now for the sake of his son.
The very next day, a Saturday, Tony woke Peter up and they made their way to the roof of Stark tower. They brought their blankets to shield themselves from the wind because their pajamas didn’t do a very good job of keeping them warm. Tony had made them milkshakes and French fries (a rarity for breakfast) and they were snuggled under Peter's Captain America blanket.
"Hey Pete, what do you think about moving out of the tower?" Peter's head snapped up to look at his dad in alarm. He almost dropped his plate of fries trying to juggle keeping his blanket on himself and holding the milkshake. Tony grabbed it from his and held it out for him to eat off of.
"No, I want to s- stay with you!" Peter scrabbled over the pebbles on the roof and hugged Tony's waist, forgoing his breakfast altogether.
"No, Pete. I'm talking about the both of us, and Pepper and Happy would still be there. It would be a place smaller than what we have now. Homier. What do you think?" Tony ran his hand through Peter's hair and he finally let go of Tony's waist.
"C- can I see the h- house first," Peter asked shyly.
"Sure thing kiddo. Now let's watch this sun rise."
Peter ended up loving the estate in The Hamptons that Tony had picked out for them. It was big enough that Pepper and Happy had their own wings if they wanted. Happy usually took the offer to stay the night. Pepper usually only stayed about half of the times she was offered (she was basically running a company now). It was also small enough that Tony and Peter could just call out if they needed each other now. In the tower, everyone was on a different floor and there was no communication. Sure, Peter’s room was directly across from Tony’s in the tower, but the living room and the workshop were fifty floors apart. It was nice to have a homier home. Peter loved the feeling his new home had.
They lived in the estate until Peter was fourteen and got accepted into Midtown Science High School. It was a school for gifted kids and it mostly specified in, well, science. Peter was beyond good at science. It was in his blood and the way he was raised. It was in the air around him 24/7. Going from his private school at The Hamptons to a public high school in Queens was going to be a big difference but Peter knew he’d make friends there.
The world didn't know that Peter Parker was Tony Stark's son. The world knew that he was close to Tony. Peter was always in and out of the Avengers tower as an intern once he was older. He would be by Tony's side as an assistant on family business trips. Tony also came to some of his school functions. They were always spotted together, and the rumor mill was always going but nobody ever guessed the very obvious. Peter Parker was Tony Stark’s adopted son.
To be fair, though, it would have been very hard to guess it. Tony designed special electric masks that could be programmed and mapped specifically to someone's face. Peter had used them a lot growing up and when they travelled. It's not that Tony was ashamed of him or anything; he was scared for Peter's safety. Tony was Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and that paints a target onto both of their backs.
This became especially true after Tony became Iron Man. Peter hadn't left his father’s side for weeks after Tony came home from the cave. Peter thanked his Uncle Rhodey endlessly for bringing his dad home. Things were even worse after the Battle of New York. The only thing that kept Tony sane during that mess was knowing that Peter was on the plane to D.C. with Pepper and not in the tower with Loki and a Hulked-out Bruce Banner.
Not even the Avengers knew that Peter was Tony’s son. Sure, they'd seen him once or twice in passing while Peter would be making copies of something or doing something dumb that seemed important, but never paying any actual attention to him. Peter liked to be seen and not heard as a young child and Tony was okay with that. None on the Avengers ever laid eyes on him for more than five seconds at a time and that's how both Tony and Peter liked it. Once Peter got bitten by a radioactive spider on a tour of Oscorp’s laboratories as Tony's assistant, Tony knew nothing could change with respect to his identity .
Except, Peter's attitude had changed for the better. He finally started coming out of his shell. He’d make jokes with the security guards at the tower, have conversations with people at school outside of his friend group, and make friends with people online. He had made friends with most the staff and had even started mouthing off to Tony sometimes. Tony didn't call him out on all of his sass. He loved watching his kid bloom into a little socialite with his group of close friends. Tony also like to watch Peter's sassy quips bleed into his vigilantism. It usually got him hit and sometimes it was what he deserved but damn was it funny.
Tony helped Peter build his suit because he knew his kid, and Peter would want to know every spec inside and out. Tony also knew that Peter would go out there in red and blue pajamas to fight crime and sass criminals if he had to. So, Tony made him bullet proof, water proof, and fire proof, and taught him how to fight. Tony even helped Peter build his first AI, Karen
As Peter patrolled the streets of New York City; Tony watched from the sky. He kept an eye on his son. He watched him kick ass and never stepped in unless absolutely necessary. (I. E. nearly getting a building dropped on him by a crazy winged man.)
And half the time, he might just be wearing a Spider-Man shirt under his armor. After all, he is Spider-Man's number-one fan.