Chapter Text
The night didn’t start abnormal. Tony was drinking in his living room while Pepper lectured him on Stark Industries. Tony was bored. The lecture was the same one he got last week, how his reputation could negatively affect the company blah blah blah. The lecture was cut off by a loud knock at the door.
“Jarvis, Who is that?” Pepper asked the AI. “Tony, you better not be giving your address out to groupies!”
“A Miss Mary Fitzpatrick was at the door. She left something at the door.” Jarvis informed Pepper as she headed to the door.
“Mary...Mary… Oh! The hot scientist from the Gala!” Tony recalled, picturing the young woman.
Pepper made a sound of annoyance before opening the door. Then she gasped. “Tony! Get over here right now!”
“Jeez, what did I do now?” Tony grumbled. When he got to the door however, he understood. On his doorstep stood a car seat for a baby, with a small baby inside of it, an envelope taped to the seat.
“What the fuck?!” Tony shouted, waking the baby.
It woke with a whimper that reminded Pepper of a puppy before it started to softly cry. Pepper grabbed the car seat and brought it inside. She picked up the baby and rocked it as Tony read the letter.
Dear Tony,
You probably don’t remember me but I’m Mary Fitzpatrick, soon to be Mary Parker. Ten months ago we met at a charity Gala. I was there with Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I am one of the head scientists there. Normally, what happened between us wouldn’t have happened, but you were handsome and smooth and I had just had a fight with my boyfriend. We slept together and went our separate ways the next morning. But I got pregnant and I know the child is yours. A child would ruin my career right now. I got engaged my boyfriend and while Richard has been very understanding about the whole thing, I still know keeping him isn’t right for me. So, I decided it would be best for the boy, Peter, to be with his father. Good luck.
Sincerely,
Mary Fitzpatrick
Also inside the envelope was the child’s birth certificate. The baby, Peter Benjamin Stark, was only two days old. But that didn’t really matter to Tony at the time.
Tony was dumbfounded. “No, he can’t be mine! I’m always careful!”
“Stop shouting, Tony! You’re upsetting the baby.” Pepper hissed as she rocked the whining infant. Babies were never her thing, but someone had to soothe it and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Tony. “You can do a DNA test, dummy. They aren’t that difficult.”
Tony gave a sigh of relief. “You’re right.” He then sped off to his lab and returned with a cotton swab, he got some of the baby’s saliva and disappeared back into his lab. Pepper rolled her eyes and looked down at the infant’s large brown eyes. The baby had been irritated by the cotton swab being shoved in his mouth, but Pepper knew this was the quickest way to handle the problem.
“For your sake, I hope he isn’t your dad.” Pepper muttered to the baby.
It was agreed the baby would stay until Tony had the results of the DNA test Jarvis was running. The baby slept in its car seat and Pepper had diapers delivered. A few hours later, Tony was staring at a screen. Pepper had gone home, leaving Tony with the child, Peter. He put the boy, still in his car seat, in a safe area of the lab. And now, the results were staring him in the face. The kid is his.
“Fuck.”
Two months into having the baby, Peter he kept having to remind himself the baby was named Peter, and Tony was starting to look more closely at his options. He took care of Peter, but it wasn’t something he enjoyed doing and he got furious easily when it came to the baby. He didn’t think of Peter as his son, even knowing Peter was his didn’t help, he only saw the baby as an inconvenience. Adoption was starting to look good when he went to Afghanistan. He hadn’t told anyone besides Pepper and Jarvis about the baby and that wasn’t really a choice. It wasn’t like giving up the child would be a big deal. No one would even have to know! Then, he left for Afghanistan.
It was February of 2005 that Tony’s life changed. During what should have been a normal test of the new Jericho missile for the United States Air Force, there was an attack that killed the airmen with Tony and Tony was kidnapped. A bomb, one of his bombs, went off and his life was just barely saved. Yinsen, a doctor who had also been taken captive, had saved Tony’s life and befriended him in that hellhole. The bomb had done serious damage, so much so that the only way to save his life was to put an electromagnet in his chest to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart. After being tortured, Tony made a deal with his kidnappers, he promised to make a bomb in exchange for his freedom. Tony of course knew they wouldn’t set him free, but he agreed to find a way to escape.
For months he worked, telling his kidnappers it was a missile he was building, but it was really a suit and a miniature arc reactor to replace the electromagnet. The whole time he was there however, the thing he’d been trying to ignore in the United States was all he could think about in that little cave. All he could think of was Peter. That tiny little baby that he had would never get to see grow up. The baby, his baby, that he never even gave a chance. He had pushed Peter to the side, putting fatherhood on the back burner. Peter would never know that Tony changed his mind and wanted him. Tony would never get to be a good father, the father Peter deserved. He imagined Peter’s face in his mind all the time. Those round cheeks and big doe eyes. His eyes were always so inquisitive. He wondered how Peter had grown in his absence, who had looked after him. Had Peter been taken away by Child Protective Services? Tony had no way of knowing and it tore him up inside. And in a great twist of irony, the first time Tony told anyone he had a baby, it was Yinsen.
“Do you have a family?” Tony had asked.
“I do and I will see them when I leave here.” Yinsen answered. “And you Stark?”
“A son.” Tony said without thinking. “A little baby, named Peter.”
Yinsen had given him a smile and Tony couldn’t help but smile back. Somehow, it felt good to admit he had a child. After months of hiding it, Tony was proud to be a dad. If you asked him years later, he’d say Afghanistan changed him for the better.
Escaping hadn’t been easy. Building the arc reactor and the suit had taken time. Yinsen had almost been killed due to all of it. Tony hadn’t realized that he’d grown fond of the man till the moment he saved Yinsen’s life. The people that had taken him, The Ten Rings, demanded to have the Jericho Missile the next day. He spent the night finishing the suit and preparing to get him and Yinsen out of there. Members of the Ten Rings tried to open the door and the bomb went off. They didn’t have enough time so Yinsen went to buy them time. His heart had dropped when Yinsen ran out with a gun. By the time Tony was able to go in his newly made suit, shit had hit the fan. He hit terrorists left in right, knocking them easily to the side. To Tony’s absolute horror, Yinsen had been shot and when Tony got here it was too late to save him. Yinsen telling Tony that dying had always been the plan for him, hurt Tony deeply. He thanked Yinsen for saving him and listened to Yinsent beg him not to waste his life. Then he left his friend, his ally to die.
He deflected bullets with his suit and set the Ten Rings and their weapons on fire. Then, things went south again. Tony was able to make the suit fly away just enough to escape and be safe from the blast. Then he fell and his suit was destroyed. He walked in the desert for who knows how long till he saw a helicopter and was rescued. Rhodey, his best friend, was there and took him back to the states. The whole ride home he thought of two things: Yinsen and Peter.
The second he got back to the States he knew what he wanted. Pepper was there waiting, but Peter was nowhere in sight. They got in the car and Pepper began talking about taking Tony to the hospital.
“No, I’ve been in captivity for three months.There’s three things I want.First is my son and second is a cheeseburger.” Tony began.
Pepper’s jaw dropped. “Peter? You want to see Peter?”
“Yes and that’s first. Where is he?” Tony demanded.
“He’s at my place. A babysitter is watching him. I was in the process of having him adopted.” Pepper explained.
“Then cancel that. He’s my son. He’s staying with me. We get Peter and then we get a cheeseburger and then, I want a press conference.”
“Wait, Tony has a son?” Happy asked, blinking in surprise.
“Yep, a beautiful baby boy. Now take me to him.” Tony ordered.
They got Peter first and Tony couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face. Happy couldn’t help but gawk at the baby that was apparently the next generation of Stark but quickly hid it. Peter had grown and didn’t recognize Tony at all, but Tony didn't care. He cradled Peter in his arm, refusing to put him in the car seat until they got his cheeseburger. He didn’t take his eyes off his son the whole ride. As they got to the press conference, Obadiah Stane, Tony’s mentor was waiting for them.
“Happy, take Peter. We don’t need the press seeing him yet. Keep him safe.” Tony order firmly before getting out of the car with his last cheeseburger. Before Obadiah could start, Tony took over. He talked about what he saw in Afghanistan and announced that he was shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of his company. Obie rushed him off the stage as the reporters went crazy.
After the conference, Tony got into an argument with Obie. He then showed Obie the arc reactor in his chest. Obie got excited but tried to pressure Tony to let Obie handle this. He agreed to lay low. When he got home, he put Peter down for a nap, ordered baby things for Peter and then got Pepper to help him with the arc reactor. He got a better one but needed Pepper’s help. Once it was done, Pepper asked him to never ask her to do it again.
“I don’t have anybody but you and Peter. And Peter’s too young to help me with this.” Tony said with a shrug.
He promised himself that from now on, everything he did would make him a better person and a better father. He had a little boy that only had him in the entire world. He made some people very unhappy, even got in an argument with Rhodey who he thought was his best friend. It proved to him that this road he was on wasn’t an easy one. He started making a new suit with the hope it could do some good and when he wasn’t doing that, he was with Peter. He made sure Peter had the best nursery a baby could ever want. It was bright and lively. His crib, changing table and dresser were beautiful. The room had toys and books as far as the eye could see. Tony found himself reading a picture book to Peter every morning and every night. He fed Peter his bottles and sometimes soft, mushy food. It was gross, but the look on Peter’s face was worth it every time.
His new suit, Mark 2, would have been made sooner if it weren’t for his new found devotion to his son. He wanted to announce to the whole world he was a father, but decided against it. He remembered how awful it was growing up in the spotlight and he didn’t want that for Peter. He wanted a happy childhood for his son, and if he made an enemy out of everyone to do it, he would. In the middle of working on Mark 2 Obie came one day. Peter was sleeping in his crib, so Tony went up to talk to him. He was going to tell Obie, a man who was like an uncle to him, about his son when Obie announced the company was claiming he had post traumatic stress disorder and was filing a junction against him to lock him out. And he was pissed with that, so he went down to the shop. He continued to work and take care of Peter and the baby was coming to associate Tony with safety, warmth and food. He had issues with the suit and surprisingly parenthood was the easiest of the two to learn and manage.
He did his first flight after about a month and it was amazing. With Jarvis in the suit it was easy to work with and control. It wasn’t until he got too high and ice build up, causing a malfunction in the suit that he went down. He managed to break the ice and got home, only he made a hole in his home. The car alarms woke Peter, causing Tony to deal with his scared, screaming son before anything else. Once Peter was calm, he took Peter down to the lab and saw the gift from Pepper.
“You see that Petey? It’s proof your old man has a heart.” Tony cooed to the infant in his arms.
He then worked on his suit before seeing that his benefit was happening without him.
“Jarvis, did we get an invite for that?” Tony asked.
“I have no record of an invitation sir.” Jarvis replied.
When the reporter stated no one expected to see him, he smirked. “Jarvis, Peter’s sleeping in the nursery. Take care of him. I’ve got a benefit to attend.”
He arrived to the benefit with the smirk still firmly on his face. He walked past many reporters, greated Hugh Hefner and walked up to Obie.
“What has the world come to that a man’s gotta crash his own event?” Tony said quietly to Obie.
“Look at you.” Obadiah clearly wasn’t expecting him.
“I’ll see you inside.”
“Take it slow. I think we’ve got the board right where we want them.” Obie said.
“Got it. It’s just cabin fever.” Tony said, it wasn’t even close to how on point that was.
He went over to Pepper to flirt. She looked beautiful and he’d been even more attracted to her than normal as she’d been helping him with Peter. They had their usual banter as they danced and it was nice. They went out for some air and bantered some more. Pepper was nervous people would think they were sleeping together so he went to get drinks for Pepper. While getting drinks he ran into a reporter, one he had slept with before, Christine Everhart. Then he heard about what Stark Industries was doing in Gulmira and he was pissed. He confronted Obie and he realized that Obie was the one who filed the injunction and the first thought he had was how glad he was that he didn’t tell Obie about Peter. He went home and held Peter, kissing his head and thinking about how lucky he was that Obie didn’t know about his baby. He worked on his suit, listening to the news about Gulmira. Something had to be done. He damaged his lab testing his suit and than suited up, ready to be the person to do something.
“Jarvis, have Pepper look after Peter for me. Tell her it’s urgent.” Tony said and with that, he flew off to Gulmira. When, he arrived, it was a war zone with families caught in the middle. He arrived just in time to stop a man from being sho. He broke it up, killing the members of the Ten Rings and protecting the people. When he saw a son run to his father, embracing him, he thought of his own son who had come close to losing his father in the past too. Then he grabbed the last member in the village and threw him to the villagers to handle. Then he started flying home, only to be shot out of the sky.
“Fuck!” He cried as he went down, then blew up the tank that shot him down.
He took out the missiles, leaving the Ten Rings without weapons in Gulmira. He started flying home again, thinking about taking his son and holding him close for at least an hour. When the United States Air Force took notice and sent planes his way, he got a call from Rhodey. Rhodey asked for his help, but Tony was still bitter about what happened when Tony tried to talk to Rhodey earlier so he declined.
“Just tell me if you got any tech that I should no about.” Rhodey huffed.
“Nope. Nada.” Tony lied.
“Good, because we’re about to shoot it to high heaven.” Rhodey said and hung up.
They started shooting at him, just like Rhodey said and Tony struggled to stay up. Then he called Rhodey back.
“Hi Rhodey it's me.”
“Who?” Rhodey asked sarcastically.
“Me. You asked if I had anything out there and I lied.” Tony admitted.
Rhodey began chewing him out. “You don’t send civilian equipment into a warzone.”
“It’s not a piece of equipment its a suit! It’s me!”
He clung to the plane and they shook him off, sending him into the other plane and damaging it. He airmen went down and Tony went after him and got his parachute out for him and then flew away.
“Tony, you still there?”
“Yeah thanks.”
“You crazy son of a bitch. You owe me a plane, you know that?”
“Yeah well technically he hit me.” Tony teased. “Now you gonna come by and see what I’m working on?”
“No, the less I know the better. Now what am I gonna tell the press?”
“Training exercise.”
To Tony’s amusement, that’s exactly what they did. When he got home, Pepper came down on him getting the suit off.
“What’s going on here?” Pepper gasped
“Let’s face it. This isn’t the worst thing you caught me doing.” Tony joked.
“Are those bullet holes?” Pepper breathed, looking terrified.
Tony soothed her worries, getting the suit off and then went to check on Peter. Peter was wide awake in his playpen, his rattle in his mouth.
“Hey Petey-Pie, Daddy’s back. Were you good for Pepper?” Tony asked, scooping up Peter in his arms.
Peter smiled and dropped the rattle. The drooling sixth month old was unaware of all that was going on, the danger his father was in. All Peter knew was that he was safe and warm in Tony’s arms. He held Peter, bouncing him and cooing at him before putting him down to go back to his shop. Then, Tony sent Pepper on some errands. First he needed her to go to Stark Industries and hack into it, they’d been dealing under the table and Tony wanted those weapons osut of enemy hands. At first Pepper tried to argue, but Tony shot it down, making it clear that this was it from now on. And she said she quit.
“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefit of destruction and now that I’m trying to protect the people I put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?”
“You’re gonna kill yourself Tony, and leave your baby all alone. And I’m not gonna be apart of it.” Pepper went for the low blow, bringing up Peter.
“I shouldn’t be alive. Unless it was for a reason. I’m not crazy Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it’s right. And I know if I die doing this, that Peter will grow up knowing his father died trying to right the wrongs that happened by his own hands.” Tony said firmly.
Pepper took a deep breath and agreed to do it. “Okay, then what’s the other errand?” She asked.
“When you have time I need you to help me find a pediatrician for Peter. Someone who will keep it quiet.” Tony told her, causing her to laugh.
“I’m sorry, it’s just, with what the first errand was I expected the second to be more extreme. I’ll get on it right after this.” She smiled and left.
Pepper went to Stark Industries to hack the mainframe and Tony went to Peter’s nursery and played with Peter some more before feeding him. Peter made a mess eating his squash like he usually did and Tony just grinned at his son, letting him get him dirty as well. He then cleaned them both up and set Peter down for his nap. While in his living room he got a call from Pepper. When he went to pick it up, Obie paralyzed him and did what every movie villain did and explained his evil plan. He ripped out the arc reactor from Tony’s chest and continued to talk about how beautiful it was and how it was his legacy, it would create so many weapons. He threatened Pepper and left. As soon as he could move, Tony rushed to the shop. All he could think about was Pepper, Obadiah was gonna kill Pepper. He crawled to the original arc reactor, trying desperately to grab it and fell. Then Dummy gave it to him.
“Good boy.” Tony praised before smashing the frame and installing the arc reactor. He heard Rhodey yelling and then Rhodey came down to his shop.
“Where’s Pepper?” He demanded.
“She’s fine. She’s with five agents, they're about to arrest Obadiah right now.” Rhodey told his friend.
“That’s not gonna be enough.” Tony whispered.
He let Rhodey help him up and then rushed to his suit. Rhodey was gawking at him when Peter’s cry filled the house.
“What the hell?” Rhodey asked.
“That’s Peter, my son. I gotta go, I gotta stop Obadiah. Rhodey, please, stay here and take care of Peter.”
“Your son? When did you have a son? Why didn’t you tell me?” Rhodey demanded.
“When the hell was I supposed to tell you Rhodey? This is the first time we’ve talked about anything other than my suit sense I got back! Now stay here and take care of my son!” And with that, he was off.
He made it just in time to stop Obadah from hurting anyone. Then there was a long fight and with the help of Pepper, they killed Obadiah. The first thing he did when he go home was cuddle his baby. The night had been beyond overwhelming and while he was holding his son, he could at least pretend the world was a better place than it truly is. The next morning he had a press conference, he wasn’t supposed to take any questions. It didn’t stop Christine Everhart however and it frustrated Tony. So, he abandoned the cards.
“I am Iron Man.”
And then he left.
“Tony what the hell?” Pepper hissed as he exited the doors.
“Didn’t feel like lying. Where’s Peter?” He asked.
“Really, you’re just gonna go hide away in Peter’s nursery after causing that shit storm?” Pepper demanded.
“Yep. See you later Pepper!”
“Tony!” She cried after him, huffing in annoyance.
Tony spent all day with Peter, ignoring the backlash of his announcement. Peter didn’t mind, the baby was happy to spend time with his dad. Midway through the day, Rhodey came into the nursery.
“So, I realized you were right last night. I didn’t give you time to tell me about Peter. Because you weren’t making weapons anymore, I basically tuned you out. I’m sorry.” Rhodey apologized.
“Apology accepted.” Tony said stiffly.
“Who’s his mother?” Rhodey asked, coming closer to the child on the floor. Peter was currently playing with blocks, mostly just waving them around.
“A scientist I met at a Gala. She dropped him at my doorstep with his birth certificate and a letter signing away her parental rights.” Tony admitted, watching Peter with a smile.
“How old is he? I’m guessing you got him after Afghanistan.”
“No, I got him two months before. He’s six and a half months old, but it wasn’t till I was in that cave, thinking I’d never seen him again that I knew I wanted him.”
Rhodey nodded slowly and looked again at Peter. “Hi Peter, I’m your uncle Rhodey. I’m gonna be the guy that makes fun of your dad with you when you grow up.”
“Hey! Peter would never make fun of me!” Tony cried with a mock gasp.
“Sure he wouldn’t. Just wait till he’s a teenager.” Rhodey said with a mischievous grin.
And life went on. Pepper found a pediatrician for Peter, one of the best in the area who agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement. Peter was growing well and apparently was showing high intelligence for his age. This made Tony beam with pride. He spent the first couple months after his announcement ignoring questions about being Iron Man and doing missions. He spent a lot of time with Peter, still hiding his son from the public. As Peter grew, it became increasingly obvious that he was bright for his age and Tony feared putting his son in the spotlight would only add pressure for Peter, making Peter feel like he had to follow in Tony’s footsteps. Peter was crawling at seven months and started talking at nine months; his first word being “dada”. Then, when Peter was ten months old, a member of the paparazzi got a picture of Tony getting into his car holding Peter. Peter’s head was buried in Tony’s chest, so all they saw was his hair, but the media went wild with it.
“You don’t have to address this, Tony.” Pepper told him.
“Yes I do. I don’t want Peter growing up thinking I’m ashamed of him.” Tony said firmly.
“But I thought you didn’t want him in the public eye.” Pepper reminded him.
“And he won’t. I’ll just acknowledge that I have a child and want him growing up out of the public eye.” And that’s exactly what Tony did at the press conference.
Of course they wanted to see his face, know his name, know who his mother was. The press wanted to know everything, but Tony kept it under lock and key. Peter wasn’t anyone’s business but his and maybe Pepper’s. Tony and Pepper were growing closer and Pepper was somewhat of a mother figure to Peter. Peter took his first steps when he was eleven months old and by the time Peter’s first birthday rolled around, Pepper was just as attached to Peter as Tony was, only she didn’t admit it. For Peter’s birthday, Tony had cupcakes ordered from his favorite bakery and invited Rhodey, Happy and Pepper over for a celebration. Tony got Peter a ton of toys and let Jarvis sing Happy birthday with them before Peter tore into the cupcake. It was a huge mess but seeing the smile on Peter’s face made it all worth it.
“Happy Birthday, Little guy.” Tony whispered once Peter was down for his afternoon nap.
Tony placed a kiss to Peter’s forehead and watched his son sleep, knowing that his son’s future was bright. And if he had nothing else, that would be enough.