Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One by one. That's how they went.

He watched with wide, wandering eyes as the heroes before him slowly faded away. Their bodies drifted off into the wind as if there was never anything there in the first place. A small pile of dust leaving the only proof of the fact that there was once someone standing in that very spot.

It was painful to witness the fear pooling in these heroes' eyes as they watched their friends fade out of existence, and then glance down to come to the terrifying realization that the same was happening to them. That they lost: that it was over... and there was no going back. The confused desperation displayed in their expressions when they look up at him for the final time, as dust dances at their feet, causes his chest to tighten in an uncomfortable knot, because there was nothing he could do. There was nothing he could do to save them. There was no loophole, no trick... he had no idea what to do.

Their faces were blurred, and their names were forgotten, floating in the back of his mind, just beyond his reach no matter how far he stretched to find it. Why couldn't he remember their names? Why didn't he recognize them even though their faces were so familiar? What he did know… he knew they didn't deserve this. They were good... he knew they were good. They didn't deserve it.

He choked back on the lump in his throat as he watched each individual face fade away into the empty expanse of the unfamiliar horizon. They were gone. There was nothing left of them except for the dreadful pile of dust that pooled where their feet once were. The painful reminder of what it once was.

He was running out of time. There was slowly becoming nothing left of the heroes who ‘used to be’, and soon, there would be nothing left of him either.

That is how it works, isn't it? He's left to witness the consequences of his failure before facing the same fate himself even when he's not sure what led him there in the first place.

He needs to keep it together though, because this… this wasn't real. It couldn't possibly be real. How could he have screwed up this badly? What could he possibly have done for all these people, these heroes, before him to suffer this terrible fate.

He watched, helplessly, as the last man's body slowly mutated into those dreadful flakes and piled together right where he had once been sitting against the rock after mumbling an onslaught of indiscernable words that he couldn't quite decipher… and then patiently waited for his turn.

He felt the deep desire building inside of him and he yearned to be taken with the others. He wanted to watch as the dust slowly appeared at his fingertips, giving him a single moment to realize what was to happen only seconds later. It would be one moment. Only one second of hysteric, manic fear before he drifted off into the wind and his very own pile of dust formed where he was standing. There would be no pain, no feeling, no thinking. Just a short spurt of dread before he had the joy of feeling absolutely nothing. Peace of mind is what it’s supposedly called, and oh, what a feeling that must be. A lifetime of pain and suffering would all be forgotten before he finally received the fate he deserved. Death; and all he had to do was wait just a little while longer.

He failed, he screwed up. This was his legacy; this was his fate. He had always been destined to fail, and then die in the process. He had always known. No matter how many wrongs he tried to right, no matter how many problems he tried to fix, and no matter how many people he tried to help… this was it; this was his legacy. It was his turn to finally suffer the punishment he deserved.

Although, this feeling in his chest felt far from any form of suffering. What was that? Relief? He could feel the burdens of the world lift from his shoulders, and he could finally… finally breathe again. He could feel all of it. All the sorrow, pain, rejection, and betrayal slowly emerge from the cages of his mind and heart, where it had been festering during its years of confinement. It all drifted away, and he was ready.

He was ready to finally be at peace. To join the others who had suffered the same fate of death. It was finally his turn… after all these years of waiting.

He took in one final breath. He had to savor the sweet sensation of fresh air seeping into his lungs one last time, because he knew he'd never get the opportunity to feel it again. It should have saddened him, but, instead, a small smile slowly edged it's way up the corners of his mouth at the prospect of never having to breathe again. Of never having to accumulate a panicked fear from the lack of air during his nightly panic attacks, because this was it. It was finally happening.

So, he gently closed his eyes and waited with his relieved smile still present on his face. He waited for it to come, for it to take him to a place unknown. He waited for that final feeling of nothingness to surge through him, as he was picked apart into miniscule pieces, and float away. Forgotten, and alone; finally being able to sleep, to not think. To just be… nothing.

He knew that the world would be safer without him there to screw it up. He'd been selfish in the past, with his attempts to stay alive; he knew that now. He had thought he was needed, heck, even just wanted by a select few of people… but he knew now. This is what was good for everyone, this is what had always been good, and he should have committed to the brief thoughts plaguing his mind constantly throughout the years... but he'd been a coward. He'd been selfish, but not anymore.

This is what he wanted, this is what the world needed, this is what he, along with many others, had been wishing for for a long time. He'd apologize to Pepper, and maybe Rhodey, for not coming home, but they're better off without him too. Even Peter… It's best that he's gone so poor, innocent Peter has the chance of turning out alright. It’d be a shame for a good person like Peter Parker to be ruined by a person like Tony Stark. This was for the best...

But the dust never came. He never felt that enticing sensation dancing along his fingertips to warn of his impending doom. He felt nothing but the large pressure, from the pain slowly seeping back into his chest. His hope dwindled momentarily as he wondered why he was the only one left. Out of everyone who merrited death, wasn't he the one that deserved it the most?

“M-Mr. Stark?”

No. Peter was here too. NO!!

He heard the fearful quiver in his boy's voice and he knew what was coming. The dread that had escaped him earlier returned as a large wave. It nearly knocked him to his knees as all hope of finally being at peace was ripped from his grasp… because his kid was dying. He had to watch as Peter was taken from him, and the sudden prospect of losing him had his heart clawing at his chest, painfully, and he just wanted to scream. This kid… this was the most precious thing in his life, and he was too dumb to only realize it until it was too late. Now… there was nothing he could do about it. The world was cruel... and the world was going to make him watch.

“I-I don't feel so good…”

The boy stumbled forward, into his unsuspecting, shaky arms. He couldn't do anything but drag in heavy breathes as his chest grew tighter and his lungs constricted around his heart, because no! No! This couldn't be happening. Not to his poor, innocent Peter. Tony Stark, the man of so many sins, was the one supposed to die. This was supposed to be his passing, not Peter’s. Oh, please not Peter. Anybody but Peter...please.

He clutched the boy in his arms, pulling him tightly against his chest, in hopes of sharing some of the odd karma that seemed to work against death. Maybe if he were to squeeze him hard enough the universe would let Peter stay, and then maybe his time on Earth would be just a little more bearable. He'd do anything. He'll stay alive without a fight if Peter could just stay, because for some damn reason the universe chose to favor him over the more precious people in the world… the most precious: Peter. Without that stupid, self-sacrificing kid, there wouldn't be anything else in his life worth living for. No. Please, no.

That's when he saw it. He saw the familiar specks dancing in the wind, he heard the whine in the kid’s voice as he begged to be saved. He-he was helpless, he couldn't do anything, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. All he could do was squeeze his kid as tight as he could and hope to etch the feeling into his mind so he would never forget it. Because he knew… he knew he wouldn't have the opportunity to feel it ever again, and that… that’s what broke his heart. It was ironic really… the first hug he ever gave Peter was also the last. What he wouldn't give to hold him in his arms and never have to let him go ever again… but it was too late for that.

Oh, why Peter? Just why? Why him?

He slowly lowered them to the ground while Peter continued to cry out for his hero to save him. He felt his own eyes begin to water again, because this was getting to be too much, and he didn't think he could handle it anymore. Peter fully believed that Tony had the ability to save him, but Tony couldn't. He was helpless, there was nothing he could do. Nothing except let down his kid for the last time.

Then, with just a single blink… He was gone. Peter was gone. All that was left was dust. Dust? Ash? No. It was Peter. That was Peter, that used to be Peter.

And that's when he felt it. That's when Tony Stark finally and truly felt nothing. Absolutely nothing: all he ever wanted.

He had expected to feel that overwhelming sensation of searing pain flood through his body as he mourned his precious loss, but instead, he went limp. There was an unfamiliar numbness encompassing his heart. It had given up. So, any feelings were blotted out by the hardened numbness that slowly spread through the rest of his body. The tears that he had been desperately trying to hold back fell freely down his cheeks in streams. There were no forces holding them back anymore.

Then, he slowly lifted his hand to inspect the remnants of dust that had strayed onto his fingers. He stared blankly at the ash-like substance, his head cocking to the side as if he were confused to what it was. He knew, though. That was Peter. That was what was left of Peter.

He should have felt SOMETHING! Why can't he feel anything?! The numbness overtook the sadness and anger that was buried beneath it, and he felt empty. The tears fell harder, and sobs wracked his frame even despite the lack of sorrow in his heart. It was too much for him to handle, and for the first time in his whole life his brain wouldn't work. He couldn't comprehend, he couldn't compute… Peter was gone; everyone was gone. And he was all that was left...

He was all that was left… and it was all his fault.

Nothing. He felt nothing. No pain. He should feel something!!

He was broken. He wasn't human anymore. How could he be human when he felt like this?

He had just a few seconds. A few short seconds of empty, painless sorrow before the universe realized that numbing the pain was too good for the man that failed everybody time and time again.

So, the heavy emotions that had been hanging over his head crashed down on top of him in one swift, painful movement. His jaw tightened, and his stomach churned, because it was too much, too fast. It was crushing him, and he could no longer breathe. Too much, too fast.

Peter was dead, and he was still alive. He didn't deserve life, and Peter didn't deserve death. Yet, here they were, or… here he was. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair

It was too much. Too much, too fast.

His throat was raw, and he didn't even realize he was screaming until he fell forward into the pile of dust, signifying the presence of another person that there once was. His lungs screamed for air, his throat was throbbing from the strain and the tears trailed down his cheeks, dropping into the pile he was bent over, and burning his skin like acid.

The strangled scream that emitted from his throat was something he'd rather not hear again. The sound of pure and utter agony, because what else could it be when he felt like this. He's the man that killed the Avengers. He's the man that killed his son. He killed all of them. And that's not even the worst part. No. That's definitely not the worst part.

Why was he still here?

The tears fell in streams down his face and he clenched his fists at his side as he screamed into the large, empty expanse. Gripping Peter’s ashes in his tight fisted hands.

“NOOO!!”

Because what else was there to be said? It's not like anyone was around to hear him anyway.

***

One sharp intake of breath and he was awake. Sitting upright in his bed as the beads of sweat dripped down his face. What the heck was that?

It was so real. But it couldn't have been, right? Peter was still alive, he was still okay. Everyone was okay. He would know if it was real, right? He's had enough of those PTSD induced nightmares to tell the difference between real and fake, right? Oh, god. Please just let it be another dream.

He glanced to the space next to him where Pepper was sleeping peacefully. He slowed his breathing to bearable and ran the back of his hand along her bare arm slowly. Feeling the soft skin contrasting against his callused knuckles. She was alive, that meant it was just a dream. It was only a dream. Another one of those weird dreams that made him think he had psychic abilities. What in the world was going on?

He glanced at the clock on his nightstand and groaned, because it was 3 in the morning and there was no way he could go back to sleep.

He slipped out of the room as quietly as he could, because Pepper deserved to sleep, she had been working so hard lately. She was trying to prepare things for the wedding as well as doing SI CEO stuff. She needed her sleep.

After the dream he had the previous night he expected for the nightmares to dwindle down a bit. Hoping for more wonderful dreams of baby Morgan and beautiful Pepper standing outside looking at the little goats they had on their family farm. But that was all a dream too. Pepper had confirmed it yesterday, during their morning jog. It was just a dream.

He sighed and ran a hand down his face, because this dreaming thing was getting ridiculous. Maybe he could invent some sort of medication to prevent dreams and nightmares. Was that even possible? Probably. Hopefully. He'd have to look into that.

He wandered down the hall and pulled at his hair with one hand and tried to rub the sleepiness from his eyes with the other.

“Hey Fri, Give me an update on Pete, will you?” As much as he knew that it was just a nightmare, he was still a little shook up about watching the kid disintegrate in his arms. So, it would be nice to have a little confirmation that he was still alive.

“Last I checked Peter is currently at his apartment in Queens. He finished his patrol before curfew and should currently be sleeping. I have not received any alerts that he might be in any danger.”

Tony nodded his head and rubbed his eyes. No matter how desperately he wanted to sleep he just couldn't do it right now. He entered his lab and collapsed into the chair near his desk.

“U-um. Call him. He might still be up. I need to talk to him.” His voice was shaky, his hands were shaking, and he was still drenched in his own sweat. What was wrong with him? It was just a stupid dream.

Not even 10 seconds later and Peter's groggy voice flowed through the speakers in the lab.

“Mr. Stark? Is something wrong?” Tony cursed at himself for waking up the poor boy. He put his needs before the kid’s needs, and that was unacceptable. What kind of terrible person is he for interrupting a growing boy from a restful sleep?

“Hey, kid. Nothing's wrong. Just checking in on you. Didn't hear from you today.” He hated the way his voice wavered slightly, and he could feel his chin begin to tremble. His eyes stung as he held back the oncoming tears, because Peter was fine. He was alive. He didn't fail him. Not yet.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter whispered with so much empathy Tony almost burst into tears right then. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Tony didn't answer right away, because there was no need for the kid to worry about him. Peter needed to go back to sleep so he could go to school tomorrow and earn good grades. That way he could go to MIT and eventually take over SI. Tony couldn't get in the way of that. He couldn't stand in the way of this bright young boy.

“I'm fine Pete. Nothing you need to worry about. I just didn't realize what time it was when I called. Sorry for waking you up bud. Have fun at school tomorrow.”

He was about to tell FRIDAY to hang up the call, but the kid spoke up before he could. The kid had super senses even over the phone.

“You know, it's okay to have nightmares,” he rambled tiredly, “I have them all the time. Aunt May says it's just a way for our mind to process what we're scared of. You told me there's nothing to be ashamed of, so you shouldn't be ashamed that you have nightmares either Mr. Stark.”

Tony couldn't help but smile, because this kid was just too good to be true. He really didn't deserve him. Nobody deserves him.

“I know that kid. I just had a rough night. Why don't you come by after school and stay for the weekend? I'll ask your Aunt in the morning and make sure it's alright.”

That should put him at ease, and maybe he'll even get a little more sleep with him here. It was worth a shot. Plus, it would be nice to spend time with him before the whole hero worship thing wore off and the kid didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. He might as well take it as he can.

“Sure Mr. Stark!” It made him smile a little bit to hear the excitable tone. At least Peter hasn't come to his senses yet. That gives Tony maybe a few more months before it all goes to crap.

“Oh! By the way. Pepper was totally right about MoMA. The field trip was awesome. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!” Tony continued his smiling, because he really adored this kid. More than he should.

“Yeah, that sounds good kid. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Kay. G’night Mr. Stark. Love you.” Before Tony even had time to process what was said, the line went dead, and he was alone. All alone, with the silence encompassing him, but it didn't scare him. It didn't make him feel alone, because his kid said he loves him, and that makes him the happiest man in the world. Maybe it's good he got another chance at life.

“Y-yeah um… L-love you too.”

Chapter Text

“Oh my god Ned! It was horrifying!” Peter groaned, dropping his head in his hands, releasing a small whine from the back of his throat. Thank goodness no one else was around to hear it.

“C'mon dude. It can't be that bad. You probably just hung up too fast for him to respond.” Ned tried reasoning with him, but it was no use. When Peter was convinced of something along these lines, it was just best to sit there, listen, nod along, and hope he didn't die of embarrassment before he figured out the whole thing was stupid to begin with. It happened pretty often, but Ned has yet to be successful in consoling him during these times of 'crisis'.

“I waited Ned,” Peter groaned, “I waited for like 10 whole seconds. Just waiting for him to say something. I freaked him out. He didn't say anything! Then I freaked out and I hung up!”

This made the list of top 10 most embarrassing things to happen to Peter Parker. Topping even that one time he almost called Mr. Stark ‘dad’ in the lab, plus that time where he referred to him as ‘my dad’ first while talking to Happy and then again when he was spending time with Rhodey. He still hasn’t lived those down yet. It’s something short of a miracle that Mr. Stark hasn’t overheard their teasing. There would be a lot explaining as to why Rhodey was constantly referring to Tony as ‘Dad’ when speaking with Peter, and why he’s always referring to himself as ‘Uncle Rhodey’. Thankfully, Tony hasn’t really caught on yet, and thankfully Rhodey realized how devastating it would be if the genius ever actually found out. He’s kept his promise so far, but Peter still gets worried whenever Rhodey’s around.

In his defense, this time he was super tired, but this was bad. Really bad. And he was going to have to face the man later that day. Oh no. No No No.

“Deep breaths dude. This isn't a big deal. Just breathe, okay?” Ned placed a steady hand on his back and tried to help calm him down.

They were waiting outside the school for Happy, who was supposed to pick Peter up to go to the Tower. (Tony had claimed that the countryside was just a bit too far from the action, or whatever that means. Pepper says it's because he wanted to be closer to Peter, probably only because he's always hurting himself during patrol and Tony’s felt responsible for him ever since the ferry incident. Happy says it's just because everyone at the compound drives him crazy. Then there’s Rhodey. He says that Tony’s just bad at making decisions, and ‘he’s an eccentric doofus who can’t make up his mind’. Rhodey’s words, not his, but that reason does make the most sense.) The point is that he told Mr. Stark he loved him and now Mr. Stark is sure to think he's a clingy weirdo. Even though he sort of is a clingy weirdo, he doesn't need Mr. Stark thinking that! Happy and Rhodey already knowing it is enough, thank you very much.

“I'm fine Ned. I'm just nervous, cause what if I freaked him out so much that he just ignores me all weekend. I really want to spend time with him, cause he's really a lot of fun and he reminds me so much of Uncle Ben. I can't lose him too, just because I couldn't keep my stupid mouth shut.” He rambles on and on and Ned listens like the good friend he is. Following the steps: “When Parker freaks over random stuff”. Both he and Michelle had compiled the steps together. It’s come in very handy over the past few weeks. Peter’s always freaking out over trivial things like this, and they almost always revolve around disappointing Mr. Stark. Ned is fairly sure there’s yet to be an occasion where Tony was actually disappointed in Peter. Except for that ‘one time’, but they don't’ talk about that ‘one time’.

Ned doesn't get the opportunity to say anything though, because the sleek black car Happy’s always driving pulls up to the curb. Ned nudges Peter to get up and Peter sends him a worried glance before scurrying over to the car and climbing in the backseat before anyone else can spot him. Ned couldn’t help but shake his head in exasperation, because his best friend could be a real idiot sometimes.

The ride was silent as it usually was, apart from Happy's occasional road rage peeking through.

“Get out of the way kid!” He shouts as he's driving down the street a few minutes later, honking his horn. Peter looks up just in time to see a curly-headed brunette jump onto the sidewalk. Her dark eyes wide with fear as they flew past her.

“I saw her creeping around after school today,” Peter notes aloud, watching as the girl continues down the sidewalk with a bit more hesitancy. To be honest, if he wasn’t already overwhelmed with the whole, ‘I’ve secretly been calling Tony Stark ‘dad’ in my head for the past few weeks and have almost let it slip a couple times, and oh yeah. I told him I loved him too,’ thing. Yeah, if it wasn’t for that, he would have thought it was weird with the way she kept sending him and Ned looks from across the street as they waited for Happy to pick him up.

“Yeah? Well tell her to watch where she's going from now on. I almost hit her with the car.” Happy grunts, grumbling ‘stupid kid’ under his breath as they continue down the street in silence.

Peter rolls his eyes and looks back down at his phone. There wasn't much to do besides talk to Happy, and he seemed to be in a pissy mood already. That was not a bear he'd like to poke today.

***

“So, what are you trying to tell me?” Tony barks out in frustration. This was not the time for a crisis to arise, he had plans with the kid. Plans he’s been looking forward to since 3 this morning.

“I am simply informing you that there has been an odd rift in space-time.” FRIDAY announces with just a hint of annoyance. Since when could she do that?

Tony’s eyes widen, and he runs a hand through his hair as he puffs out a long breath. “So? What? Time travels a thing now?”

“It is still not certain what the disturbance is, but it seems to have come from an… unknown source. Or rather... an unrealistic source in our world. There is no data in my records to base any of this from, or to support that this is indeed the result of time travelling.”

Tony shakes his head to clear his thoughts. First that dream, and now this? What in the world was going on? Hadn't the aliens been enough? Hopefully, this has something to do with that Strange guy that keeps popping up on his radar. Him and his unexplained science and whatnot.

“Well, there's nothing that we can do about it now. Just keep some tabs on it. Let me know if anything new comes up. Or, better yet, just keep me in the dark until you feel it’s necessary, I don’t need the extra stress. Keep Rogers informed though, someone needs to keep an eye on it.”

“Of course, sir,” FRIDAY says. She pauses for a moment before speaking up again. “Sir, is young Peter still coming over for the entirety of the weekend?”

Tony nods his head, with his fingers still massaging his temple.

“Yes, he is. So, if you don't mind, try to keep the others at the compound where they're supposed to be. I don't need to be harassed all weekend.” What a fun discussion that would be. ‘Oh yeah, this kid is my new intern, but since none of you will ever realistically believe that, he’s he’s actually Spiderman. I totally kidnapped a minor and dragged him to Germany to fight a bunch of super powered humans. What do ya think?’ Yeah, that wouldn’t end well.

“Of course, but I would like to point out that they are eventually going to have to know about your relationship with young Peter.” Tony groans and rubs his hand down his face.

“It’s not a ‘relationship’. I'm just making sure the kid stays out of trouble, you know. Making sure he doesn’t become a permanent streak on Queens pavement.”

“Of course. Whatever makes you feel better sir.”

Tony could hear it in her voice, for God's sakes he could smell it seeping from the speakers in the ceiling. She had that same stupid cleverness that JARVIS developed all on his own. It seemed that he didn't learn his lesson when creating his new AI’s. He should definitely keep in mind ‘tactful’ for one of the necessary traits next time.

“Sir. Mr. Hogan and Mr. Parker are on their way up.” FRIDAY spoke up only a few minutes after their earlier conversation. Where was the time going? It seemed that every time he blinked another 5 minutes passed. If only he had this bizarre superpower while he was still in school.

Tony stood from his seat on the couch, where he had been silently brooding while he waited for Peter to show up.

The elevator gave its familiar ding, and Tony couldn’t help but worry when he didn't hear the excited chatter that usually accompanied it. Something must be very wrong. He turned the corner to face the two new arrivals, but nothing seemed physically wrong with the unhappy Happy or young teen. Except for the anxious expression he was wearing for whatever reason. Although, he always seemed to be anxious over something.

“Pete? Why you nervous kid? It's just me.” He chuckled when the kids whole face flushed, and he tried to stammer out a response.

“Y-yeah I know Mr. Stark!” He said it all a little too quickly to be normal, and he dashed past Tony, headed towards the kitchen where he often ate his after-school snack when he came to the Tower. Tony let his lips quirk upwards into a small smirk as the boy rushed past, narrowing his eyebrows in a mischievous manner.

“Anything you'd like to share with me kid?” He asked, following behind him after a few moments. He saw his back straighten and it was at that time that Peter decided to stuff his face full of crackers, muffled noises coming from him as he tried to speak. Little crumbs spraying everywhere with each word.

“Try that again kid, I don't speak in tongues,” Tony chuckled with amusement, narrowing his eyes slightly to study the boy.

Peter swallowed thickly, pausing for a moment before speaking again. “I said that everything is fine… Ned just told me something surprising just before Happy picked me up.” Tony of course saw right through the lie, but he decided to play along.

“Oh? What did he tell you?” He knew he was being one of those obnoxious parent-y people who pried into every little thing. Squeezing every bit of information from their child's soul just to know how their day at school went. Question after question, even after said child has shown many signs that he had nothing he wanted to share.

Peter paused for a moment, providing Tony with a useless “uhm…”

“That's what I thought.” Tony smiled triumphantly.

“It's really nothing Mr. Stark. I promise that I would tell you if anything was wrong. Nothing's wrong with me, I swear.” Tony, of course, didn't believe him, because the poor kid was just that terrible of a liar, but he just went along to make him feel better. He’d get it out of him eventually anyways.

“Alright kid. You finish up your snack and do your homework then maybe we can hang out in the lab for a while.” At least that seemed to make him brighten up. “Then you can tell me about that field trip you took yesterday.”

Peter nodded his head enthusiastically and Tony smiled, placing his large hand on Peter's head, and giving it a playful shove before walking out of the kitchen and into the living area. He collapsed onto the nearest couch and rubbed his hands over his eyes again. That nightmare last night had really taken a toll on him. It was just so real, everything except the blurred, unfamiliar faces. Along with the odd context of the dream. Turning into dust? Really?

Now that he thinks about it, the dream was probably the result of Clint playing that stupid song over and over again over the Towers speakers just to piss him off. He’s still certain that FRIDAY was in on the whole thing. The tune is still stuck in his head. ‘Another one gone! Another one gone! Another one bites the dust!’ It makes him cringe just thinking about it.

Either way, that whole dreamscape hit a little too close to home for his liking. He is not enjoying his brains newfound creativity.

So, he leans his head back against the couch and takes a deep breath. He might as well get a quick nap in while he waits for Peter to finish up his homework. Shouldn't be too long, just a small close of the eyes and he should last a few more hours to entertain the kid.

***

Peter wandered into the living area to find Tony snoring away on the couch. Looking rightfully exhausted. He probably didn't go back to sleep after that nightmare he had last night. Peter took pity on him and went back into the kitchen to grab some leftover pizza in the fridge. Hungry once again. One downside of having a crazy fast metabolism.

He sat down on the couch, a fair distance from the sleeping man; he knew that Mr. Stark was big on the whole personal space thing. Then he requested for FRIDAY to turn on the TV at a super low volume. She did as instructed, and an odd animation series, which Peter had never watched before, popped up on the screen.

It was a whole hour before Tony finally started to stir. It began with a small grunt, shift of limbs then smack of the lips. Peter waited, and it only took a couple more minutes for the older man's eyes to crack open, then slowly begin to try to blink away the sleep from his eyes. He lifted his head at an awkward angle and squinted at the TV screen where the weird green creature was jumping around. He released a low grunt and dropped his head back to its previous position before lolling it to the side to squint at Peter through sleepy eyes.

Peter was grinning as he watched the poor excuse for a cartoon, eating the carrot sticks Pepper had so lovingly provided, for when he visited the Tower, and then an empty box of pizza laying on the coffee table.

“Hey kiddo, how long was I out?” Tony grunted, forcing himself to sit up so he couldn't convince himself to ‘just go back to sleep’. He had some quality bonding time that he needed to get done and only a few days to do it. After that dream, he was beyond determined to spend as much time with this kid as he possibly could.

“Uh, I dunno. An hour, hour ‘n a half?”

Tony groaned in frustration and splayed his fingers across his face, spreading them just wide enough so he could peek through to watch the little green creature begin to speak to a different orange looking creature who looked just as disturbing as the green one. It was weird. Super weird, why Peter would be rotting his brain with this nonsense? Who knows?

He sat back and let Peter finish watching whatever it was before they headed down to the lab. He even had FRIDAY turn up the volume, so he could at least understand what was going on. That way it might not be so weird, but he was wrong. It was still weird. Very weird.

The credits played along with some obnoxious theme song playing in the background. He clapped his hands on his knees and stood up with a little too much enthusiasm.

“Alright. To the lab Dexter!” He pulled Peter to his feet with a hand around his bicep while the teen shot him a confused look. “Are you kidding? You'd rather watch that garbage when you've never seen the classics? Pity.”

Tony led the way to the elevator while Peter followed behind, munching on his carrots while trying to defend his choice in entertainment. On the way down in the elevator, Tony grabbed one of the sticks and took a bite.

“You're gonna look like that weird green creatures’ pal if you keep eating those carrots you know?” Peter rolled his eyes at that and continued chewing.

“I'm pretty sure that's a myth Mr. Stark.” The elevator doors slide open and they both step out into Tony’s lab.

“Well let's test it out, shall we?”

***

Two hours, three at the most. That's how long they were in the lab. Not awfully long compared to other times he's been over to visit. It was actually quite surprising when Tony was the one to suggest going back upstairs and just watching dumb movies for the rest of the night. He even suggested popcorn, and there was no way Peter was about to turn down popcorn. Especially Tony's popcorn, it was the absolute best. One of the perks of being a billionaire probably: being able to afford a lifetime supply of the best popcorn on the market without even making a dent in your wallet.

That's how he got himself involved in this inner debate. One of the most stressful discussions he's ever had within himself. The popcorn is to blame, and he would curse it to its very face if he wasn’t already so in love with it.

They were two movies into the Transformers series, his favorite film franchise besides Star Wars of course. And it turns out, it was one of Tony's favorites too. So, it was all good. Until poor Peter started getting cold and restless and tired, which always leads to some unwise thinking. It doesn't matter who you are, that combination never ends in you making wise, grownup-like decisions. It's just a fact.

He had just gotten up to refill their popcorn bowl. So, when he came back he used the excuse of placing the popcorn bowl in Tony’s lap to sit just a little bit closer to him on the large couch. He wasn't being clingy! That was ridiculous, he was just… tired, and cold, because he currently wasn't wearing any socks. Plus, his neck was really starting to cramp from sitting up this long. And well… Tony just looked like a really comfortable pillow.

Would Tony mind if he just… you know… rested his head on his shoulder? Not in a weird way or anything. It was just the most logical solution to his problem. The only downside is that it made him appear to be like a clingy, needy child, and he wasn't that! Not at all. His neck just hurt, and he was tired and if he leaned his head against the back of the couch to relax his neck then he wouldn't be able to watch the movie, and that just wouldn't do. Plus, he was cold, and shared body heat was the best way to warm up. That's weird though, definitely weird. Tony would think that was weird. First, he says ‘I love you’, now he wants to lean on the man’s shoulder, what's the genius going to think? That Peter thinks he's his dad? Nah! Pft! That's ridiculous! Just because he’s always thinking it, doesn't mean he actually thinks it. Right? Wait… that doesn’t make sense.

Maybe if he just scoots down into the couch cushions so he’s more level with the man's shoulder it wouldn't be as big of a giveaway. Oh! And then he can yawn a bunch to make him think that he's super tired and stuff. Cause you can get away with a heck of a lot of stuff when you're tired. He knows from experience. One time he had been able to get Tony to retrieve a blanket from the other room for him. He viewed that as an achievement. Tony never did anything for anybody if he didn't want to. This might be pushing it though. They haven’t even gotten to the hugging part of their relationship yet.

So, he scrunched down and yawns a few times and sort of inches his head down closer to Tony’s shoulder every few minutes, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. There's a huge knot in his chest, because this was definitely weird, right? He yawns again for good measure. He needs to sell this perfectly if he wants to get it right.

Tony isn't paying him any mind, just watching the movie, that's a good sign, right? That means he isn't creeped out yet by how close Peter’s getting. Good. Good sign.

He only had a couple more inches to go before his cheek could rest nicely on the older man’s shoulder. On the count of 3? He can do it. He just needs to get it over and done with. If Tony gets creeped out by it or if he flinched or something, Peter can just jerk his head back up like it was totally and accident. Yes! Good idea.

He scooted down just a bit for good measure and sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. This needed to look as natural as possible. He could do this! On the count of three. 1...2...3.

No, he couldn't do It! This was stupid! It's creepy! He's fifteen, he shouldn't be clinging to a man he just met a few months ago, that's weird, Tony would think it was weird.

It was in that moment that Tony’s whole body shifted upwards as he adjusted his position on the couch, and Peters eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen. It was the perfect opportunity. Tony’s shoulder just lifted into his cheek, doing the hard part for him. So, he just followed the shoulder back down. Yes! Mission accomplished!

He tried to suppress the grin while he was finally able to rest against Tony’s shoulder. His body was still in an awkward position, but he could slowly start to readjust himself, so it wouldn't catch Tony’s attention.

Of course, the plan failed though, because just a few seconds after Peter was kinda sorta relaxed against him, Tony twisted his head around to try and get a good look at him.

Peter froze, because oh, no! This was it, here comes the disgusted rejection. He readied himself, and he wasn't all that surprised when Tony’s arm awkwardly shifted away from him. Yep, there it was. Why would he think that Tony Stark could ever be his father figure?

He did it, Peter did it. He screwed the pooch once again. He was so stupid, why did he have to be so stupid. Mr. Stark didn't even respond to his confession the previous night, why did Peter expect him to accept a cuddle? He was a man, and men did not cuddle! Christ Parker, what were you thinking?!

That's when the most surprising thing ever happens. And it was freaking amazing. That’s all there is to say.

“You tired kid?” Tony shifts his arm away from Peter’s head so that he could have room to wrap his arm around the back of the couch. Combing his fingers through Peters hair for just a fleeting moment, gently urging the boy’s head to rest against his chest. Settling him right into the crook of his arm.

Peter was speechless, he really was. So, all he did was nod his head against the soft fabric of Tony’s shirt. The warmth seeping into him like he had a heated blanket wrapped around him.

He pulled his knees up against his chest, presses himself closer to Tony and hums into his shirt. He felt the chuckle rumble through Tony's chest. Was he laughing at him? Was he being too clingy again? Oh, no, what if Tony changes his mind now?! He went too far!

The negative thoughts running like crazy through his head were brought to a halt when Tony bent the arm wrapped around his shoulders to flatten his hand against the top of his head. Patting his hair a couple times and running a lone finger along his scalp before pausing his ministrations and resting his hand there as if he were ready to leave it there for the rest of the night.

“We can head off to bed after this movie, we can watch the next one’s tomorrow night?”

Peter almost forgot that there was even a movie playing. He glanced at the TV screen and… crap. The movie was almost over. He had spent the entire movie figuring out how he could rest his head against the genius next to him. What a dork! It was all for not! He'd finally gotten what he wanted, and now that the movie was almost over, they were going to part ways anyways. All that stress for no reason. He couldn't let that happen! No! He was Spiderman! He could fix this.

“C-can we just watch one more, maybe? I'll stay awake, I promise.” Why did he sound like a whiny baby? Spiderman was not a whiny baby! Him and his stupid sleep-deprived body.

“Sure thing kiddo.” Tony chuckled, shrugging his shoulder just a little, so he didn't jostle Peter. He scratched his blunt nails across Peters scalp just for a moment before moving his hand away, so it laid on the back of the couch.

Peter didn't dare complain about it. He tried super hard to suppress the grin, because Tony wasn't creeped out, he didn't even care! He seemed completely fine with Peter cuddling up next to him. The man who hates being emotionally vulnerable, hates physical contact, and could go without socialization for days. He didn't mind making an exception for Peter. That made him feel so warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe Tony did care about him. Not love, but at least he cared. That was still pretty freaking amazing. Tony freaking Stark cares about him. Awesome!

It lasted an hour… a whole hour. He tried desperately to stay awake because he really did love these movies, but he was just so warm and comfortable. At some point during the beginning of the next movie, Tony must have picked up on how cold Peter was (probably because he kept desperately digging his feet in between the couch cushions), because he grabbed the blanket bundled up at the end of the couch and tucked it around him so he was wrapped in a warm, comfortable cocoon.

Then, to Peters delight, about 30 minutes in, Tony started playing with his hair again. He honestly felt like a child with how much he enjoyed it. He felt like a little boy again, just feeling the warmth of being in his father's company. Tony wasn't his father though! He knew that, he was just using it as a comparison.

So, yeah. Everything was going great. The movies were good, he was full of delicious popcorn, and he was warm and comfortable cuddled into Tony’s side. That is, until FRIDAY just had to go and ruin it. Stupid AI.

“I hate to interrupt sir, but you have visitors coming up the elevator.”

Chapter Text

Tony prided himself in his ability to convince others that he was just an oblivious idiot with no impulse control. The latter may be true, but that didn’t mean he never payed attention, in fact he could be quite attentive...when he wanted to be. The masked perceptiveness came in handy very often, especially during those obnoxious board meetings when nobody thought he was paying any attention. This, though, was an entirely different situation.

The poor kid had been desperately trying to convince himself to lean against his shoulder. He'd been doing it for almost the entirety of the second movie. It was honestly quite distracting, and Tony wasn’t really getting much out of this movie when half his attention was indirectly directed at this adorable kid sitting beside him.

At first, Tony had difficulty figuring out what exactly he was trying to do.

He noticed the odd behavior when he came back from his popcorn run. Sitting much closer to Tony than what was strictly necessary, but Tony was fine with it. It sort of reassured him that much more that his stupid dream was in fact just a stupid dream.

Then after a couple minutes the kid just sort of started shrinking into the couch and scooting closer towards him all at the same time, in some stop-go motion-wiggle type thing. Then he started doing this weird dip thing with his head, cocking it further to the side every few minutes. That had to have hurt his neck. It took a lot of self-control on Tony’s part to keep from asking: ‘what in the world are you doing?’ He just wanted to see where exactly this was leading to, cause there had to be a reason behind it. Then Peter started yawning, of all things, over and over again, obviously over exaggerating it. Tony just shook it off as the kid being weird, because eventually he’d figure out what in the world was going on anyway.

Maybe 20 minutes later, Tony started to notice his little ticks. The chewing on his lip, picking at his shirt, wiggling his fingers, curling into himself. Those were the things he did when he was nervous, and Tony was so confused as to why he was nervous, it wasn't the movie for sure, so what was it? Was it him? It was really starting to confuse him, and he’s quite sure that if he questioned Peter, he’d just brush it off and stammer out an excuse.

He finally figured it out when the poor kid readjusted himself out of his awkward position once again, fixing his neck upright and then sinking into the couch further so his head was practically in line with Tony’s shoulder. Then, he cocked his head to the side again, readying himself for another round of ‘how far can I bend my neck till it snaps in half’. Tony’s become quite familiar with the rules of the game, actually. ‘(1) Tip your head slightly to the side for a couple minutes, (2) then tip it a little further. (3) Keep tipping and tilting as close to Tony’s shoulder as you can before it’s at an uncomfortable 90-degree angle. (4) Then reset and sink further into the couch and keep tilting closer to Tony’s…’

Oh.

That poor kid.

He wanted to laugh at the adorableness of the situation, he really did, but he couldn't. Peter’s pride was way too fragile to mess with. The kid can’t know that Tony has any idea of what’s going on, or else he would do that thing where he gets super embarrassed, then he’d run off to his room or something to hide for the rest of the night. Probably to plot his escape so he could run away to India or something. Yeah, that would totally ruin this impromptu movie night, and it wasn’t even 9 yet.

Tony remembered doing something similar when he was younger, to try and sneak affection from his impassive father. ‘Falling asleep’ in the car, so he could be carried back to his room. That was just about the only time he received anything close to a hug from Howard, and he ate up every second of it as a child.

He remembered it so clearly. The way his father grumbled in frustration as he lifted him up from his car seat, jostling him just a bit more than was needed. But Tony insisted on keeping the act, because if he gave any clue that he was awake, he could forget the whole thing completely. There was nothing in the world Tony had wanted more as a child than a loving hug, or heck, even a ‘good job son’ once in a while from his father. He remembered scheming desperately day and night to sneak affection from the man, because there really was no better feeling than being wrapped in his father’s arms. He can’t even count how many times he’d ‘fallen asleep’ in the workshop, in the car, or on the couch, but after a while his father stopped carrying him to his bed. Instead, Jarvis would scoop him up in his arms and tuck him into his bed with a gentle kindness, but it just wasn’t the same.

So, it really upset him when the facade no longer worked on his father when he reached five years old. He stopped seeking comfort around that time anyway, retreating into himself and cutting off all urges that would require him to be emotionally vulnerable. Refusing to admit his growing need for physical affection. That was the birth of the ‘Tony Stark’ the media raves about day and night: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

He wasn't about to let Peter experience any of that. The boy was the literal definition of emotional vulnerability, and that’s what made him so amazing. He had that same need for reassurance and affection that Tony had possessed as a young child and Tony was going to give him everything that his father didn’t give him to be sure Peter stayed the way he was. ‘Breaking the cycle of shame’ and whatnot. Not that he was Peter’s father or anything, because that was absurd. He was just here to help...encourage him, give him a little reassurance so he doesn’t swing off the deep end in search of validation somewhere he had no business being.

So, when he realized what the poor kid was trying to achieve, he decided to help him out a bit. Put him out of his misery as most would say. So, he just sort of… naturally ‘readjusted’ himself on the couch so his shoulder just so happened to bump against the side of Peter’s head. Bingo. Mission accomplished. Peter didn’t even suspect a thing.

He could basically hear the sigh of relief that escaped from the kid when he lowered his head back down to Tony’s shoulder, and Tony was just downright giddy with himself. The unfamiliar weight against his arm made him a little jittery at the closeness, but for some reason he found it more endearing than anything else. It awoke the images of Peter disintegrating in his arms and his only wish being that he could give his kid just one more hug. This right here. This was that second chance, and he’d be stupid to pass it up.

He dismissed the thoughts from his mind and tried to stay focused on the present, which right now, was Peter. It was being here for Peter. And he noticed almost instantly how uncomfortable the position must be for Peter’s neck, not to mention the rest of his disfigured body, sprawled awkwardly across the couch. So, he tried to make it as inconspicuous as possible as he moved his shoulder around, so he could drape his arm across Peter’s shoulders, hoping it wasn't pushing any boundaries with the kid. He knew that it would help push Peter into a more comfortable position.

After all, Tony was pretty sure he was quite skilled in the art of cuddling. Pepper had made it her life goal to teach him how to do it properly, because according to her… he sucked at it. To be fair though, he never really had any practice, and he had never really thought that it was an important life-skill to have (Although, back then he didn’t have a clingy spider kid or an insistent girlfriend to satisfy). So, it didn’t really occur to him that he was terrible at it until Pepper insisted that she taught him the proper way to do it, because ‘goodness she wouldn’t be able to ever relax again if her boyfriend didn’t know how to cuddle properly’. So yeah, now Tony’s a pro, and he was much prouder of it than he probably should be. And he must admit, it brings him so much satisfaction and comfort. It’s a really nice way to make up for all that lost time over the years. Pepper still hasn’t figured out why he suddenly seemed super fascinated with the cuddling thing after they got together, because according to literally everyone, Tony Stark was not an affectionate man. That was a bold-faced lie Tony has been indirectly spreading for over 30 years. In truth, Tony is a clingy little puppy dog desperate for attention, but he wouldn’t hesitate to deny it at gunpoint. He had a reputation to uphold.

“You tired kid?” There, that might make it seem that he was just doing it as a favor for him to make him comfortable. That way his whole ‘I hate being touched’ reputation wouldn't melt into a pile of goop. And it worked, Peter relaxed into him with a happy hum and nod of the head. His troubled heart fluttered just a little bit and he bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep his grinning at bay.

Maybe this is what it would have felt like to have a good relationship with his father. If it is, then he should have tried much harder, but it was too late now. Maybe he could make up for all that time he lost with Peter. If the kid let him, that is. He did not mind this at all. Come to think of it, this probably beat the feeling of being wrapped in his father’s arms. Man, his father did not know what he was missing out on. The feeling of having someone so much smaller than you, rely on you for their comfort and safety, it was a foreign yet exciting feeling that Tony never wanted to go without ever again.

Too bad. His father had his chance and he blew it, so Tony couldn’t feel too sorry for him. For now, he’s just going to revel in his childlike joy, cause wow. This kid must trust him more than he probably should.

So, another hour, maybe two. Tony didn't keep track of the time, it was kind of hard to when he was so fascinated with this newfound obsession. If someone had told him a year ago that his entire life basically revolved around keeping one reckless kid happy and alive he would have laughed in their face, but wow. He would actually do anything for this stupid, self-sacrificing kid. What a scary thought.

They were comfortably watching the third movie of the franchise until FRIDAY interrupted with a devastating announcement.

“I hate to interrupt sir, but you have ‘visitors’ coming up the elevator.”

Crap! What?! How?! This is the worst possible timing! Peter was just about to fall asleep, and goodness knows he needed it. How dare they interrupt Peter’s sleep, he was a growing boy.

God, he sounded like such a dad. But he wasn’t! He was not Peter’s father.

But that wasn’t important, because he knew exactly who those ‘visitors’ were. FRIDAY never used that tone for anybody except them. And now was really not the time for introductions. He really should have ignored the AI when she suggested an attempt to patch things up with the others. ‘It will help with the stress’ she said ‘it is in the best interest for everyone’ she said. Boy, was he regretting it now.

He jumped from the couch, almost knocking Peter onto the floor in the process. The boy let out a surprised squeal while Tony hoisted him up with a grip on his bicep and dragged him down the hall towards his room. Any other time, the scene may have been a bit amusing, but Tony was freaking out here. A lot.

Wait, didn't he tell FRIDAY to keep the idiots at the idiot lodge? Why were they here? All he wanted was a nice stress-free, relaxing weekend with the kid and maybe even Pepper if she decided to get home early enough to join in with movie night. He did not want to spend it arguing with the recently pardoned Avengers. No thank you.

He can already hear the lecture he’s going to get from ‘Captain America’: Tony, you can’t just kidnap mutated children and brainwash them into being superhuman spiders. Tony, you’re supposed to be the somewhat responsible adult here, he’s a minor. Tony, you can’t encourage this type of behavior, what if he goes splat on the concrete?

He already knew how much of an irresponsible man-child he was, and how terrible of an influence he is to the kid, but he doesn’t need to be reminded of that. Besides, he’s learning how to be more mature when the kid is around. He has yet to go on a drunken rage and get his head stuck in some weird outlandish place, like that ‘one time’.

Having Peter around sort of forces him into acting like a somewhat functioning adult, because if he didn’t he’s fairly sure Peter would end up in some weird cult. That’s where Tony would probably be if he had been sober for at least half of his early life. So, it’s good for both of them in some ways. The kid needs a mentor, so he doesn’t end up being a smudged spider on the sidewalk, and well...Tony could kinda-sorta provide that. Plus, Pepper’s very much enjoying this new ‘responsible’ thing that he’s got going on.

“Hey kid, just stay in here will ya? I'm sorry, I really need to take care of this. I'll be right back.” Tony basically shoved Peter into his and Pepper’s room when they reached his door. Then he shut the door right in the kid’s distraught little face, before racing back down the hall. Evidence needed to be removed, and fast.

“FRIDAY! I thought I told you to keep everyone at the compound!” He growled out, skidding to a halt in the living room whipping his head back and forth to take in the organized mess.

The kid’s stuff was scattered literally everywhere. He didn’t even have time to make it across the room, not to mention gather and hide all of Peter’s things. Geez, this kid sure did wiggle his way into Tony’s life real quick, if the way the room screamed CHILD was anything to go by.

His backpack and school stuff on the dining table, homework, books, and papers spilling everywhere, his socks and shoes neatly tucked into the corner, while his Midtown sweater draped across the arm of the couch. Then his beat-to-crap phone was laying on the coffee table next to a container of jellybeans and a jar of animal crackers. Oh no. Then the Legos too? Why did his kid have to be such an obnoxiously childish slob?

Tony was still spotting all the kid’s stuff scattered across the large room when the elevator dinged, and he heard voices. Crap. This is not how he wanted this to go down. Not right now. This was going to ruin their entire weekend, not to mention the progress they’d made in their strictly mentor-mentee relationship. Screw you FRIDAY.

If the others found out about Peter, then it would inevitably lead to them finding out about Spiderman. And then he'll get one of those disapproving lectures from the Captain for letting a minor do hero work, and for encouraging reckless behavior. And the kid didn’t really want anyone else to know, so that was kind of a problem too.

But even if he somehow convinced them that Peter wasn’t Spiderman, he'd end up being teased mercilessly for being all paternal and whatnot. Just like with what happened when Rhodey visited for that weekend, except times ten. Then he'd get those looks from Steve across the rooms because he was acting all soft and mature around the kid. Blegh. No thank you. Four people already knowing he was a gooey, soft and squishy person on the inside was enough.

So, that would leave him no choice but to act normal in front of Peter...if he could even help it, but there arises another problem. If he didn't act all paternal like around Peter for the brief time that the others were present, then everyone would be sure to fall in love with the boy just as he did, and they’d try stealing him away constantly. They'd all be over all the time, wanting to see Peter, and asking about Peter, then wanting to spend time with Peter. And before he knows it, they'll snatch his own kid away from him and Peter will be off playing basketball with Captain America or something instead of hanging out in the lab with Tony. That's not going to happen if Tony has anything to say about it. Therefore, the others are not allowed around Peter, because Peter is his and only his....and May’s too, because you know, Peter’s not actually his kid. So, he has no right to claim him, but STILL! When it came to the others, Peter belonged to him.

“Hey, Stark!” That was Clint. The obnoxiously familiar voice was a dead giveaway as it echoed into the main room.

He watched with rising irritation as everyone from the compound filed into the room one by one, uninvited, as the TV silently continued their movie in the background.

“Hi Tony. Sorry to barge in on you this late, but Clint set off a stink bomb in the air vents.” Steve shot a menacing look at the archer, who shrunk away and tried to hide behind Sam. “So, we were hoping that we could crash here until the… smell went away.”

They hadn't noticed that anything was off, good. Maybe if he got them out of the room quickly he could still get away with this. So, he crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin just a bit. He just needed to keep their attention for a little while before dismissing them. He didn’t need any of these observant spies getting curious.

“And may I ask as to why you thought it was a clever idea to release a stink bomb in the vents?” Tony directed his gaze to Clint. Because who in their right mind what even think that that was a good idea?

“Well, I don’t think I was actually the one to do it-”

“Oh please! You were the only one ever in the vents!” Sam scoffs.

“I-,’ Clint sighs, resigning to his guilt, “...it’s a long story.”

Tony rubbed at his eyes, because this was just his luck. Clint just had to go and do something stupid, ruining a perfect bonding experience for him and his kid. Not his kid. For him and his ‘not his kid’. He really needs to stop calling Peter ‘his kid’. At this rate, he’s going to have convinced himself that Peter really is his son by the end of the year, and that is something he is most definitely not.

“I don't want to hear it.” Tony held up his hand, cutting the archer off before he can tell his side of the story, because he knows it's just going to piss him off. He’s had too much experience in these types of situations to think that Clint may have had a good reason for what he did. “You guys can stay on the floor below. Your old rooms are still there.”

“Thanks Stark,” Barton replies with a grin, vaulting over the back of the couch and landing in the spot he and Peter were occupying earlier (Before they had been so rudely interrupted). He grabbed for the bucket of popcorn that Peter hasn't finished and tried to focus on the movie playing behind Tony.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tony snarls, narrowing his eyes at the man helping himself to his and Peter’s popcorn. Peter might want some off that later, thank you very much. How dare he touch his ‘not his kid’s’ popcorn.

“What?” Clint asked innocently, glancing around the room, “I thought you might want some company. It's kind of depressing that you're just sitting here alone, eating popcorn, animal crackers and jelly be…” he trailed off when he realized the oddness of the whole situation. Then, he spotted the backpack on the table, then the shoes, then the jacket, and then the partially built Lego spaceship from Star Wars scattered across the carpet near the TV.

Uh oh.

“Orrr, were you not alone?” Tony narrowed his eyes farther and Clint jumped from the couch to go and snoop through Peter's things, but before Tony could shout at him, the elevator dinged again and the sound of the heavy doors opening echoed into the living area. Everyone froze as they heard the loud clicking of heels in the distance. Pepper was home, his god sent savior.

“Tony,” she called, “is Pete here? I picked up some dinner for you guys. I hope you haven’t been feeding him straight junk again, he’s…” She paused when she entered the room and spotted the majority of the recently pardoned Avengers standing around her living room, watching her with bemused expressions. Tony’s eyes were wide. Never mind about Pepper being his savior, she was one of those evil conspirators. How was he supposed to talk himself out of this now? At this rate, his hole was going to dig itself straight to China by the end of the weekend.

“Who's Peter?” Steve spoke up, voice escalating an octave. His confused face was kind of hilarious, but Tony was in deep, and this was not a time to be laughing.

Pepper glanced over at Tony across the room, because she knew about how he felt with the Avengers knowing about Peter. She knew that Peter wanted to keep his identity a secret. Of course, he never said the Avengers specifically, but it still applies. And when Tony had broached the subject, Pepper had said that even she was a bit wary of the idea. She enjoyed having Peter around, and it brought out a side in Tony that she really enjoyed. It was like their own little pseudo-family, and it was nice. Having the others around will just complicate things.

“Nobody!” Tony answered a little too quickly, rushing past the hero's standing between him and Pepper. He grabbed onto her wrist and dragged her back towards the couches. Why? Instinct maybe? Away from the prying eyes?

“You answered that a little quickly Stark. What're you hiding?” Natasha asked, narrowing her eyes at him after briefly glancing around the room. The corner of her lips turning up into a slight smirk. Stupid Natasha and her super spy skills.

“I'm not hiding anything,” he said slowly, being sure to mask his voice with a calm front. There it is. The old Tony - master of manipulation - was back “Now I’d very much appreciate it if you all could leave so I can spend some quality time with my beautiful fiancé.” He waggled his brows for emphasis and wrapped an arm around Pepper’s waist.

Steve's face reddened, because even for an old man he could recognize a Tony Stark innuendo. He learned quickly to expect… that Tony is always insinuating something… like that.

“Boss, Peter is inquiring if he can come out of your room now.”

He. Is. Going. To. Kill that AI with his bare hands. Wring her artificial neck. He swore by it, because she knew exactly what she was doing. He could hear it in that. Stupid. Voice. He and FRIDAY were going to have to throw some hands later.

Pepper looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “You locked him in our room?”

Tony groaned in exasperation, because there was no use in hiding it anymore. Screw it. “Our room was the closest. His room was farther down the hall, okay? I didn't have much time”

Pepper gave him that look, and he sighed. He glanced around the room at the others and they all watched him curiously. Each of their faces were contorted into utter confusion, and Tony didn’t really blame them. Heck, he was still stunned that Clint had a secret family in the middle of the woods.

This was going to be an interesting night. So, he resigned to his fate and tilted his head upwards just a bit to address the AI in his ceiling.

“Tell him I'm coming,” he said.

Everyone else shuffled on their feet awkwardly, standing in their places as Tony made his way down the hall towards his room. They could sort of make out the sound of the door opening, along with a lengthy discussion before a loud outburst sounded from the hall. Echoing into the main room, leaving everyone frozen in shock.

“THE AVENGERS ARE HERE?! DAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!”

And then it went silent. Everything went silent. Because. What. In the heck. Happened. While they was gone??

Chapter Text

After Tony shoved him into the dark room and slammed the door in his face, Peter rolled his eyes glanced around, trying to decipher what he could in the darkness surrounding him. He could see the outline of a bed and a dresser, but that was just about it.

“Can you raise the lights a little bit, FRIDAY?” She did as she was asked, and the room lit up with a soft glow. Illuminating it just enough for Peter to get a good idea of where he was. Of course, he had good suspicion considering there weren’t many places for Tony to shove him into (He’s not too sure on how many closets there were in the penthouse). He didn’t really get a good grasp of what was going on before he was shoved into the room, considering that he had been half asleep at the time, so he wasn’t 100 percent sure where he was. But when FRIDAY turned on the lights, and despite his suspicion, it still took him by surprise and his eyes widened comically, because wow… he was really in Tony Stark’s bedroom. Ned would totally kill to be in his position right now.

Tony had always been super private with his things and whatnot, so Peter never really expected to be invited into the older man’s room, even despite the many weekends and weekdays he spends at the Tower working in the lab with him. Still! This was awesome!

So, he forgot about the company in the living room just for a moment and he snooped around the room. This was the perfect opportunity, and he was not about to waste it. Very few people, he’s sure, have ever had the honor to be in ‘The Tony Stark’s’ bedroom. Except for way back then, when he still had that icky reputation. Rephrase: Very few people have had the honor to be in Tony and Pepper’s bedroom. Let alone, snoop around.

Then again, that sounded kind of stalkerish, and Peter wasn’t a stalker by any means. It doesn’t matter that he knows just about every known fact about every Avenger, he just refers to that as ‘hardcore fanboying’. So, he wouldn't really call this... snooping per se, because he didn't rummage through drawers or closets or any stalkerish thing like that. He just studied the picture frames along the wall and dresser. Along with a few cute little trinkets, things both Tony and Pepper must have collected throughout their life.

See! He could be a civilized human being.

Peter knew he could learn so much about his idol if he had two hours in here just to examine all the pictures and Knick knacks.

There were loads of pictures of Pepper and Tony, some of Rhodey and Tony, and there was just one of Happy and him. It wasn't really a picture, because it looked like Tony must have snuck in the selfie when the man wasn't expecting it, because he was doing the opposite of smiling. There was a really funny one, probably around Christmas time, because Tony was dressed in a Santa costume and Pepper was standing in regular clothes rolling her eyes as Tony grinned and wrapped her in his arms, pressing an amused kiss to her cheek. Then there was one of his mother, and probably Pepper’s family, a few of when Tony was a child and other people that Peter had never met before.

It didn't even occur to him to look for pictures of himself in the array of photographs, and he wasn't at all disappointed when he didn't find one of himself either. Why would Tony have a picture of a random kid amongst all his friends and family, it just didn't make sense. Right? RIGHT??

So, that's probably why he had to do a double take when he spotted his most recent horrendous school picture. Framed and displayed smack dab in the center of Tony’s nightstand. How did he even get that? Did May give it to him? She couldn't have, she didn't buy his school pictures this year, or the year before that. Did he hack the school or something?

All that mattered was Tony freakin’ Stark had his school picture framed in his room. On his nightstand no less!

And were those reading glasses? That was actually pretty funny. Tony Stark wore reading glasses. NO! That wasn’t important right now. No, because his appalling, ‘never meant to be seen by human eyes’, school picture was sitting on his mentor’s night stand, which by the way, was a really ‘dad’ thing to do. Tony was making it difficult for Peter to convince himself that this man was NOT his father. Either way, this was terrible!

Peter sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up the frame and glared at it, contemplating throwing it through a time vortex or something. Surely, Tony wouldn’t miss it.

It really was a terrible picture. He had forgotten it was even picture day, and then they announced for the class to go to the auditorium, then he was in line and getting a little paper, and then this creepy photographer dude looked at him and snapped the picture. That was that. His hair was standing up in weird places, and that was not his best choice in shirts. Not to mention the photographer snapped the picture way to early, leaving Peter with a weird looking half smile slash half grimace. He was absent on picture retakes, so he was stuck with this ‘constipated’ picture forever, and now Tony Stark had that picture. Oh my god, why?

He placed it back where he found it and flopped onto the bed with a groan. He pressed his face into the pillow and growled, pushing so hard into the pillow, he had arched his body up and his butt was sticking in the air with his knees tucked under him. He really wanted to scream. Tony definitely thought he was a dork now. How could he not? The man was the literal definition of picture perfect, there was not a single picture of him where he did not look amazing… but Peter? Peter looked like he was wrestling with death half the time.

He just wanted to get out of the room and away from that picture. He wanted to forget he ever saw it. He wanted to go back out to the living room and finish that movie, eating popcorn, and spending time with Mr. Stark. Then, he might be able to forget about this embarrassment.

“Hey, FRIDAY, can I come out now?” Peter lifted his head from the pillow to give the AI clear audio of his voice. Then he dropped it back down into the soft and fluffy pillow and uncurled from himself, spreading his limbs across the soft mattress.

“I will go ahead and ask Boss for you.”

Peter’s head snapped up at that. Asking Tony? In front of people he obviously didn't want to know about Peter? Not Good.

“Nonono, FRIDAY, don't do that,” but he knew it was too late. FRIDAY was a smug little bastard when she wanted to be.

Whyyy? Why him? Tony is totally going to hate him after this. He can just forget about giving the man a hug goodbye Sunday evening when he had to go home. Great. He had a plan and everything, what a waste of time.

He wraps his arms around the pillow and curls into it, keeping his face pressed into the soft fabric. It really did smell like Tony. Not the sweat and motor oil Tony smell, but more like the strong cologne and aftershave Tony smell. He liked that smell. It was nice, and he almost forgot that he wanted to die a slow and painful death for a second. Almost. He still wanted to die, but he sort of wants to be buried with this pillow now.

He picked up on footsteps approaching the room and that was it, he just wants to curl up and dissolve into nothingness. Right now. God please have mercy on him, just please, kill him now. Get it over with. He was about to die of embarrassment anyway.

Then the door opened, oh goodness, the door opened. Here it comes. Tony hates him, he knows it. Maybe if he just stayed perfectly still he could become invisible. Yes, that might work. No...it really wouldn’t. More realistically, Tony might think he fell asleep. Yes, that’s a better plan. Maybe he won't yell at a sleeping child.

The heavy footsteps approached the side of the bed and Peter sucked in a breath. The bed dipped just a bit with the sudden change in weight, and he was ready to start hyperventilating any minute now. He could sense Tony reaching over to adjust the frame on the nightstand and a lump formed in Peter’s throat.

“You better not be drooling on my good pillow.”

Oh no.

Peters head snapped back, and he threw himself away from the pillow in one swift movement, as if it had suddenly burst into flames. He rammed the back of his head into Tony’s chest, because he didn't know the man was that close. His eyes widened as he bent his head backwards a ways to lock eyes with his mentor. Seconds later and he was freaking out again and he scrambled off him.

“S-sorry! I-I didn't know that was your um- I thought it was just- you know um… normal pillow?” Peter finishes pitifully. Tony’s body shook with laughter and he draped an arm over Peter’s shoulders. What was so funny?

“Kid, I was just messing with you. Calm down.” Tony reached up with his other hand to ruffle Peters hair and Peter’s poor childish heart burst at the affectionate gesture. He removed his arm from Peter’s shoulders and began to stand from the side of the bed. Not before giving Peter a good shove and sending him sprawled across the mattress.

Peter lifted his head and grinned at the man. He really wasn't mad? He could leap for joy just about right now. He might be able to get that hug after all. Plan ‘get a hug from Tony’ was a go.

***

Tony couldn't help but smile at the grinning boy sprawled across his bed. He turned around, chuckling to himself and headed towards the door, knowing Peter would get up and follow.

Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be. Maybe Steve and the others would understand his position, or maybe they wouldn't even figure out that Peter is Spiderman. In fact, maybe they wouldn’t even remember Spiderman.

That's unrealistic.

They know Tony well enough to know that he wouldn't have just hired a fifteen-year-old kid to be an intern and then ‘notice his genius’, which leads to him hiring Peter as his personal intern… yeah that story won't work on them. That may work on the general population where half of them were idiotic enough to actually believe that conspiracy that Tony had an affair with an alien, or the other employees around the Tower who were too terrified of their boss to actually question what was really going on, but it wouldn’t convince the Avengers in a second. They know Tony doesn't give a crap about anything like that and they weren’t going to be afraid to point it out.

So, really, the only potentiality he had to worry about, besides the awkward lectures, the looks, and occasional jabs at Tony being a paternal softy, was Peter replacing him with one of the others. Cause, who could blame the kid for wanting to hang out with Captain America instead of working on random stuff in Iron Man’s lab. His own father preferred it, that’s for sure. So why not some other random kid who was already starting to get over their hero worship.

Maybe he should just up his game and lock Peter in as his own before the others can get to him. That way, Peter just doesn't have a choice but to love him the most. Maybe he could buy him a fancy car or teach him how to build his own smartphone. He will have to come up with something to win the kids company, because there's about to be a lot more competition-

“Hey, Mr. Stark.” Tony pauses in the doorway to glance over his shoulder at Peter. “Who's here? You seemed pretty freaked out for a second. I was wondering if it was someone from the board of SI or something.”

This poor kid, he didn't even know what he was getting into.

“I was just a little panicky ‘cause if these guys saw you with me, then they'd be able to put two and two together. They'd know you were Spiderman before the night was even over. That's sort of why I shoved you in here kid, sorry about that.” Tony didn't dare tell Peter the other reason why he didn't want him to meet the Avengers. He didn't need to kid to know that he was a jealous, clingy bastard who didn't like to share his things. Although, the not sharing thing was pretty obvious already. Peter just didn’t know that he was ‘his’ yet, that was the only thing.

“Oh, I get,” Peter trailed off a bit as they slowly moved down the hall. “So, who was it then?”

Tony grimaced, and his brows knitted together, because he might as well prepare the kid now. Maybe he wouldn't pee his pants in front of everybody when they got out there if Tony gave him a little warning beforehand.

“It’s the Avengers kid.”

He stopped in the hall and glanced behind him to see the gob smacked teenager staring at him with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.

“No, way,” it came out in a small whisper. The poor kid looked like he was about to explode, but that probably would have been much better for his poor old man heart than what came instead.

“THE AVENGERS ARE HERE?! DAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!”

Well… that definitely was not what he expected. Wow. Okay. What a way to warm a guy kid. Geez.

It seems that Peter realized what came out of his mouth as soon as he said it, because his hands clamped over his mouth and his eyes bugged out, widened farther than when he found out the Avengers were sitting around the living room waiting to meet him.

It wasn't like Tony was processing the news any better though. What a mess he was. He ran a hand through his hair, and he didn't really know what to think. Because this kid literally just called him dad. Shouted it no less. Yes, shouted it. It would be something short of a miracle if people out in California didn't hear it.

“Um… excuse me?”

He didn’t mean for it to come out like that. Not at all. He was freaking out just as much as the kid was and his already raddled brain was having a tough time processing it. It's not like he didn't like the idea of the kid looking up to him. It made him super warm and gushy inside. He wasn’t even sure why he was worried. Maybe it was the horrified look on the kids face that formed after he spoke. Geez. How much of an idiot could one man be?

He probably just ruined everything, didn’t he? Great! Excellent job Stark. The kid’s never gonna want to hang out with you now.

“I am so so sorry Mr. Stark- I'm sorry I don't know what's gotten into me. I've been super clingy lately I know, I'm sorry. We've just been spending a lot of time together, you know, and I don't really have control of my feelings a lot of the time, especially when I’m super tired, and I'm just always thinking that your my dad when I think about you, because you know, you're the only real male role model in my life now, and I know it’s not really fair to you cause you didn’t really ask for it, so like-” Tony cuts off his rambling. He places his hands on either of the kids shoulder and locks eyes with him.

“Hey, hey, hey. It's okay, you don't have to be sorry. I’m sorry I said that, I didn’t mean it like that. I get it, I really do. I'm cool with it, it's not a big deal, okay? Just take a deep breath kiddo.”

Peter did as he was told and closed his eyes as he took in several shaky breaths. Tony could take a few pointers, cause he’s pretty sure he’s forgotten to breathe too. What a hypocrite he was.

“Alright, now listen. As much as I’d love to talk about this new revelation right now, we will discuss this later. Right now, I need you to put your game face on, because we need to go in there and convince those idiots that you being here watching movies with me is completely normal and that there is no reason for them to think you're Spiderman. Got that?” Tony gave him a reassuring clap on his upper arms. He looked into the kids eyes to make sure he wasn't about to freak out anymore before releasing him from his hold.

“I'm good Mr. Stark. I'm good.” Peter whispered, nodding his head affirmatively. Tony smiled down at him, leading the way back down the hall. It was either now or… now, really. There really was just one option. No matter how great ‘never’ sounded, that wasn't really possible in these circumstances. Unless they jumped out the window...

They both trekked down the hall to meet the probably very confused Avengers. Peter was, of course, just a ball of nerves. The poor kid just confessed probably one of his most guarded secrets, and now he was about to meet Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in one night. And Tony knew how much the kid adored anyone superhero related. This was going to be a major catastrophe, but Tony was silently praying, to a god he didn’t believe in, that this did not end in a complete disaster anyways. Then again, when did Tony ever get what he asked for.

Tony stepped into the room first, wearing his perfected ‘I don’t care’ face, with Peter close behind, wearing his ‘I’m a mix of completely mortified, embarrassed and ecstatic and I’m trying not to freak out’ face.

Tony took in the wide eyes of everyone in the room. He knew they were going to be curious as to what was going on, but Steve looked like he had literally just saw a ghost...

Oh yeah…

Let’s just do this. The quicker he explained what was going on, the quicker the torture would be over.

“Everybody, this is Peter. Peter… I'm sure you already know everyone and their mothers. So, introductions are not needed.”

The room stills impossibly further, and the silence continues as the hero's glance between Tony and Peter. It was definitely awkward, and Tony was seriously considering that window now.

“H-Hey everyone,” Peter stuttered out, with a wide grin plastered on his face. “I-I’m Peter.”

Tony chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, because his poor kid was just too adorable. ‘Not his kid’.

“Hello Peter, it's nice to meet you.” Steve spoke up first, shaking off his initial surprise and giving Peter a warm smile. Ever the gentleman he was. If Tony wasn’t still pissed at him, he would be thankful for acknowledging the kid.

“Ohmygod,” Peter squealed. Wrapping his hands around Tony’s arm and hanging on him like a child. “Captain America just said it was nice to meet me.”

He tugged on Tony’s sleeve for emphasis, looking up at him with such pure, unadulterated glee. It took the man a couple moments to convince himself that this was still his ‘not his kid’, but then again, his ‘not his kid’ was making it exceedingly difficult. Especially with this whole ‘dad’ thing going on, and now he looks like an excitable 10-year-old clinging to his father. But Tony is NOT his father. Geez. Why did this have to be so difficult? Why can’t Peter just officially be his so they don’t have to go through all this stupid, awkward emotion-feely stuff?

Peter look back over at the heroes and dropped his voice to a soft whisper, listing off each of the heroes along with their tragic backstory that you could usually find at the beginning of a comic book series. Everything you’d expect a nerdy teenage kid to know about his super hero idols. At least Tony didn’t have to suffer through that awkwardness when they first met, but it would have been a little endearing to say the least. So, he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, but he always feels jealous. So, it’s a moot point.

“The Winter Soldier, James Buchanan Barnes, better known as Bucky, born in 19-” Tony cuts him off when he began his third monologue. The man he who was currently victim to his latest spiel sending the kid weird looks and he didn’t blame him.

“Alright kiddo. They know you're a nerd now, you can let up just a bit. Maybe try a more normal way of communicating your hero worship.”

Peter was still unknowingly latched to Tony’s arm, not that he minded or anything. Maybe it was because he was still tired, but the kid was being extra weird around them. Like, extra extra weird. Maybe, he was just trying to sell this whole innocent intern act. If he was, this kid was surprisingly good at the manipulating thing. Probably got it from spending too much time with Tony.

“So, um, Tony. Why didn't you ever tell us you had a son?”

Oh, boy. This was going to be hard to explain, especially with the kid hanging on his arm like any excited kid would do to their father. Not to mention the whole ‘dad’ incident in the hallway.

Wait. Maybe he wouldn't have to explain. Peter being his son would be the perfect excuse as to why he was hanging around the Tower so much. His identity as Spiderman wouldn't be revealed, and they wouldn't be able to steal him away, because well… as far as they knew, Peter was his son, and father’s had a right to go do whatever with their sons even when others wanted to steal them away. That would be perfect. He’d still have to deal with the snide comments from Clint and Sam every once in a while, but he could endure a little teasing. This was his ‘son’, so he was expected to act nice and paternal to him, right? Ooh, yeah. This would be perfect.

The only problem would be getting Peter to play along, but that shouldn't be too hard...aand, ooh, Pepper may be a bit harder to convince to play along. She’s never been a huge fan of lying. Who knows? It was worth a shot. Cause, it was definitely better than the alternative for sure.

“Actually um… I'm not really-” Tony wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders and made quick move to wrap it further around his head, so he could clamp his hand over the kids mouth before he could finish his thought. He didn't need Peter ruining the perfect plan before he even tested it out.

He sent Pepper a look, and she returned it with a raise of the eyebrows and small smirk. This was a go, she was on board. He could totally do this.

So, he plastered on and innocent grin and tugged Peter closer, smushing him firmly against his side like the loving ‘father’ he was. Making sure to keep his hand firmly clamped over the teens mouth so he didn’t let anything slip before he even explained. If he was genuinely offended by the idea, he could most definitely get out of the hold. Spider powers and everything.

“Sorry for not telling you guys sooner. It's just that if I had told you, then you would have wanted to meet him. Then we would have had to go through this whole freaky and awkward encounter, because my kid doesn't know how to be normal half the time.” He chuckled and raised his free hand to affectionately pat Peter on the chest. He saw the way the kid’s eyebrows creased in confusion and it worried him for a second.

Then he looked back at everyone else, Steve sent him a look and Clint’s eyebrows rose, glancing between the backpack on the table and the teen that Tony currently had trapped in his hold.

What happened next… well, Tony had never seen the kid do something so immature, and so… ‘Tony Stark’, ever in his life. Maybe he was trying to get in character, who knows, but it was still absolutely disgusting.

“Did you just lick my hand?!” Tony yelps, ripping his hand away from the teenagers face and giving a good shove so the kid stumbled away from him. He looked purely disgusted as he gawked as his moistened palm.

“It's your fault for sticking it in front of my face in the first place. What'd you expect to happen?”

There was silence. Dead silence in the background as the two continued to bicker back and forth.

Then Sam buckled over in laughter, soon joined by Bucky, then Clint. Eventually Steve started chuckling a little bit and Natasha cracked a smile. Everybody seemed to be infected with laughter, but Tony didn’t understand what was so amusing. This little pest just licked his hand! Why was that funny?

“My god, Stark! He's a legit carbon copy of you!” Clint gasped, trying to force the air back into his lungs.

Tony glanced over at Pepper while the others laughed, just to make sure she wasn't about to tattle on him last minute. Then he looked down at Peter to see the boy grinning up at him.

He got the message, smart boy.

“Yeah, thanks,” he grumbled in faux irritation, “I'm paying for it one day at a time. Anyways, this needs to be kept on the down low guys. I don't need the media getting ahold of this. If they find out there's an heir to SI, things are going to go wild.”

He really didn't need that. The whole thing would just be an absolute dumpster fire. Not to mention the crap the kid and his aunt would have to go through. No thanks. The cleanup would be a terrible mess.

“Of course, Tony. We get it,” Steve said, while the rest tried to get themselves under control. It honestly wasn’t that funny.

“Thank you. So anyway, you should be able to remember where your rooms are. We'll see you when we see you.”

With that, Tony rushed them all out the room before any more questions could be asked. He didn't need to dig himself a hole too deep before the first night was even over. He needed time to prepare, time to discuss and conspire with his newly established son.

Then… everyone was gone, and it was just him, Peter, and Pepper.

“So,” he started, “Sorry for springing this on you kiddo, but an opportunity presented itself and I took a hold of it. It's the perfect alibi.” Pepper sent him a look and her forehead puckered cutely.

“So, your saying that you didn't just set that up in the hallway?”

Tony pauses, it’s not really a conversation he wanted to have at that exact moment. He loved Pepper, but that was a conversation he wanted to have with the kid. Alone. And not to mention, later. He’s had enough emotional revelations these past two nights to last him the rest of the year.

“Well, No. That was an accident, but it did help set up this plot perfectly.” He spotted Peter lifting his hand shyly to grab his attention.

“Excuse me, Mr. Stark, but why, um… why are we lying to the Avengers about you being my dad?”

Oh, yes. The master plan.

“Well you see Pete. We needed a good excuse as to why you're hanging around here, eating popcorn with your stuff strewn across every available surface and watching transformers here with me on a Friday night, instead of at home doing homework. Away from the ‘irresponsible, reckless part-time superhero’,” he gestured towards himself, “So, this was just the easiest and least complicated way of keeping your identity a secret and keeping my sanity. God knows I didn't need any lectures tonight from Captain Spangles tonight.”

Peter nods his head like he seems to understand and Pepper laughs. A genuine, amused laugh.

“Alright, you two. I can’t wait to see this play out. I need some excitement in my life.” She stands up from her seat on the couch, while Tony gawks at her.

“What? I’m not exciting enough for you?”

She walks over to him and pats him on the cheek patronizingly. “Tony, sweetheart. You’re more exhausting than exciting at this point. I’ve been dealing with you for 18 years, I think any excitement has worn off by now.”

Pepper smiles and walks around him to go into the kitchen. Tony crosses his arms over his chest and pouts like the child he secretly was.

“If it's any consolation Mr. Stark. I think you’re very exciting to be around.” Peter pipes up, fiddling with his fingers in front of him and looking at Tony with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. Boy, this kid…

“Thanks kiddo.” Tony grinned, reaching over to ruffle his hair, affectionately.

Peter reaches up and clasps his hands on top of Tony’s, looking gleefully up at him as Tony’s hand sat, trapped, on his head, clamping down his hair and letting all his messy bangs fall into his face. But, he was still grinning.

It was really, honest to god adorable, and Tony’s heart clenched. He just couldn’t help himself as a mischievous grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. He yanks the kid closer to him and traps him in a headlock, pressing against Tony’s chest. Tony takes his hand and gives him a well-deserved noogie, because the little twerp licked his hand! And that’s also what dads were supposed to do, right?

Peter isn’t all for the idea, so he squawks in protest and pushes at Tony good-naturedly. Laughing all the while.

“Tony! Stop,” he laughs.

Tony grins, because why not? The kid just called him by his first name. Of course, that’s not quite as big of a milestone as the whole ‘dad’ thing, but it's a good step in the right direction.

“Would you two stop being adorable for like five minutes so I can go change. I don’t want to miss anything.” Pepper whines, lingering in the kitchen and looking at them with a loving grin.

If she had been well prepared, she could have had the camera ready and documented the whole thing, so she could send it off to May. They could have watched it together and cooed about it the next time they got together for brunch.

Tony releases Peter with a roll of his eyes and he walks over to the couch and drops down, lazily kicking his feet up on the coffee table and throwing both his arm over the back of the couch. “You go ahead and get changed into something comfy and you can join me and Pete while we finish this movie.”

Pepper smiles, but he can’t help but notice the way Peter’s grin falters just a little bit. Tony’s sure that it isn’t because of Pepper. He knows just how much the kid adores his fiancé, Pepper’s probably even closer to Peter and his aunt then Tony is, considering she and May are basically best friends now.

So, he has to think about it for a second before he realized what it might be. Might as well test out the theory.

He lifts his arm in an inviting gesture, a small smirk forming on his face. “You coming or what, kid?

He knew he was right in his inquiry, because the kids entire face lights up and he literally dives at Tony. It’s one of the most adorable things ever, and Tony really has to try hard to suppress his happy grin when the kid happily snuggles back into his side, curling into himself and pressing his cheek against Tony’s chest. He spots Pepper near the entrance to the hallway, staring at them, and biting her lip with a look in her eyes Tony has never quite seen before. It’s that type of look that women usually get when they were looking at pictures of baby animals for too long, but he’d never seen Pepper make that face before. He didn’t have much time to study it either, she scurried down the hall to get dressed before he got a chance.

Tony looked down at Peter, still adjusting into the perfect position so he was comfortable. Pillowing his head near Tony’s shoulder and curling into his side. The poor kid was worried that Tony wouldn’t let him cuddle when Pepper was with them. His insecurities were almost as bad as Tony’s. He’d have to work on fixing that. He was a ‘dad’ now, so that was his job, right?

“Rewind it to a minute before we… got distracted,” he instructed FRIDAY. Peter stilled and settled his gaze on the TV.

The movie played for about 10 minutes before Pepper came creeping back into the dark room. Sporting one of Tony’s old MIT shirts, and a pair of cotton shorts. Fluffy red socks adorning her feet to complete the look.

She grabbed the half empty popcorn bucket that was forgotten on the coffee table before stepping over Tony’s legs outstretched onto the coffee table. She stumbled a little in the dark, and Tony instinctively lifted his arm towards her with his gaze still fixed on the TV. She swatted his hand away gently and he retracted it when she got her balance, throwing it over the back of the couch again.

She dropped onto the cushions on Tony’s other side, curling her legs beneath her and pressing into Tony, resting her head against him so her forehead was pressed into the side of his neck. He draped his other arm over her shoulder and he twisted his head to press a loving kiss to her forehead, just because he could. He lasted a couple minutes before he just had to make a quip to defend his reputation, even though Peter probably very well knew how much of a squishy person Tony really was on the inside.

“Should I change career paths to: professional pillow?” Tony joked, moving his arm draped around Peter to ruffle his hair again. It was kind of getting a little addicting.

“Oh, please,” Pepper scoffed, “you know you love it… You really are getting better at cuddling though. I think those lessons have really paid off-” She was cut off by Peter’s hushing.

“Shhhh, movie!” He waved his hand in the general direction of the screen and Tony laughed. Pepper balked at him, raising her head to stare at him incredulously.

“Don’t shush me,” she joked, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bucket, and chucking it at the teen snuggled into Tony’s other side. Peter lifted his head and stuck out his tongue at her, and she just glared back.

“Okay, children. Let’s just watch the movie.” Tony chuckled, reaching around to place his hand on the side of Peter’s head, guiding his head back down to his chest. Pepper laughed and lifted her head to press a kiss to Tony’s cheek and then dropped her head back down to his shoulder.

They should really make family movie night a thing.

Chapter Text

“Beep, Beep, Beep! BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!”

“FRIDAY! Please, I am trying to sleep!” Peter grumbled, rolling onto his stomach, and pressing his face into his pillow. It was the weekend for crying out loud, and he was at the Tower no less, he really didn't need an alarm (Especially not when this bed was so comfortable, and he could literally lay here for hours). Even if he did FRIDAY was never such a nuisance. It was like she’s being purposefully obnoxious lately, not to mention weird.

Like, now, for instance, it was as if after each beep, the alarm became aggressively louder and more insistent. Like it was annoyed that Peter wasn't responding to it. It was way too early to deal with anything Mr. Stark designed to wake him up. He wouldn't really put it past the man to create an obnoxious human-like alarm just to annoy him.

“It's not FRIDAY kid, now wake up!” He really wasn't expecting the pillow that smacked him in the back of his head. And he really wasn't expecting that human-like alarm to be an actual human!

“Wha? Mr. Stark?” Peter’s head snaps up to look at the man. His vision was blurry so, he blinked his eyes a few times to get rid of the haziness. He was able to shake off the weird globs of color floating across his eyelids and, yeah, there he was, in all his billionaire glory. Sitting in Peter’s desk chair that had been pulled up next to his bed. Just sitting there. Watching him.

How long had he been sitting here? Creepy, much?

“Wait… have you been sitting here so you could impersonate my alarm clock?”

Tony rolled his eyes in response.

“Yes, I did, don’t look so surprised. I haven’t been here long. I just decided to give you a couple more minutes to sleep before we ‘talked’. You looked peaceful, so I left you alone. I’m surprised it took you that long to respond though, I’ve been ‘beeping’ for like 30 seconds.” He crossed his leg over his other and tapped at something on his Stark phone. He didn’t look up at Peter for a few moments, and Peter stared at him incredulously. Like, seriously, what was he supposed to be doing? There had to be a reason that this ‘talk’ couldn’t wait until he woke up.

Finally, the man looked up from his phone in irritation. Like Peter did something! He didn't do anything! Mr. Stark is the one who’s sitting in his room waiting for him to wake up like some creepy stalker dude.

“Well?” He gestured for Peter to say something, but what was he supposed to say? He needed a little more than a hand gesture and an insinuation of having a ‘talk’. There are a lot of different ‘talks’ that they could be having, and Peter needs the specifics.

“What?”

“C’mon Pete,” he sighed, “We need to talk about what happened last night.”

Oh!

That seems to rouse Peter up a substantial amount, mostly because The Avengers are currently under the impression that Peter is Tony’s illegitimate son and he has no idea what to do about it. That whole encounter was an interesting turn of events, and now that Peter is more… lucid, things seem to be clicking into place. Last night he was too sleep deprived to be anything but giddy and awkward about the whole concept. And now.... He wasn't really enjoying the embarrassing memories he can now recount. Why him?

He cuddled with Mr. Stark! He called him dad! He is currently taking part in a scheme to convince the world's mightiest heroes that his father is Iron Man! Then he cuddled with Mr. Stark even more! Oh god, how could he ever live this down? If Rhodey got word of this, he might as well just go dig a hole, so he can go lay down and die in it. Oh my God! And now all the Avengers probably think he's some kind of freaky fanboy, not mention stalkerish! This is terrible! How could he have possibly managed this much embarrassment in ONE night?!

He took a deep breath to try and relax. He needed to chill out, because this was serious. No matter how bad he just wanted to bury himself beneath his covers and cry for the rest of the day, they needed to convince some of the most vigilant people on the planet that he was Tony Stark’s son and that he was most definitely NOT Spiderman. How exactly were they supposed to play this? They needed some sort of plan, if they wanted to pull this off, that is.

“Oh yeah, so what’s the game plan?” He grins at Tony because, wow. The more that he thinks about this, the more he realizes how exciting it actually might be, and the more he forgets about the mortifying events of last night. It's a win-win.

His excitement falters, though, when he sees the way Mr. Stark’s eyebrows furrow closer together.

“Game plan? What- no, Parker. I’m talking about the whole calling me ‘dad’ thing. I think that's higher up on my list of priorities than how we’re going to fool the other idiots.” Tony stuffs his phone into his pocket and crosses his arms over his chest, maintaining eye contact and giving Peter his full attention. Peter ignores the way his own chest tightens. oh

He can feel his own face redden, this isn’t what he was expecting to talk about this morning. It was way too early. He didn’t even have any time to come up with a good excuse. Why was Tony springing this on him right now? He wasn’t ready! He needs time to prepare for these sorts of things.

“W-well in all fairness, I was kind of tired.” Peter mutters, sitting up slowly and backing away from the edge so he was leaning up comfortably against the headboard. He looked away from Tony, he wasn't used to the man treating him this way. Mr. Stark never looked him in the eyes for this long, it was just unheard of, and now it was sort of creeping him out.

“Ah, I see. That explain a lot,” Tony deadpans, “I was wondering why I had never had the opportunity to meet cuddly Peter.” He had that smirk on his face now. Peter really didn’t like that smirk.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face into his hands, so Tony couldn’t see the deep crimson seeping into his cheeks.

“That’s not funny Mr. Stark,” he whines, “I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. That’s what happens when I get tired. It’s embarrassing.” Peter hears Tony chuckle and he just wants to cry. This is his worst nightmare. Probably not his worst, but it was close. He’d much rather fight The Vulture again than have this discussion with the man he’s been secretly calling ‘dad’ in his head for the past 5 weeks.

“It’s okay kid. I’m just messing with ya. It’s kind of endearing in a way,” Tony paused for just a moment. Letting that sink in for a little while, before continuing. “Now, are you going to explain this ‘dad’ thing, or am I going to have to force it out of you.”

Peter snaps his head up and stares at Tony with a blank expression. Tony stares back. It doesn’t take long for Peter to break and drop his head back to his hands and beginning his spiel.

“I don’t know Mr. Stark. It just kinda slips out sometimes, you know. I just don’t think, cause you’re really the only man in my life right now. So... I don’t know. After Ben died I didn’t really have anyone, and then I met you. At first, you weren’t like crazy ‘dad-like’, but after the Vulture and stuff, you started paying more attention to me and all that. And-and I saw the picture on the nightstand, which was super dad-like by the way, so I was sorta in that state of mind before you even came in, so yeah. And I also let it slip in front of Rhodey that one weekend and he keeps teasing me about it and insisting that I call him ‘Uncle Rhodey’. Then I let it slip after school one day when Happy was picking me up and he hasn’t stopped referring to you as my ‘dad’ because I guess he just thinks it’s funny to tease me about it. So now, since everyone refers to you as ‘my dad’ I just sorta started thinking it. And-and I know it’s terrible! Then - oh god! I said it in front of May! You know, you guys have been getting along really good lately, mostly because of Pepper, so she really likes you now. And she just thought it was super cute and all that and no matter how many times I told her it was weird, she just wouldn’t listen. She promised not to tell Pepper or you, but she still won’t let me live it down, and she even told Ned about it, which was beyond embarrassing. And then, and then-” he huffed out several breaths, because wow. He didn’t know he could say that many words so quickly.

Tony reaches over to give him a firm pat on the back. “Breathe kid, just breathe for a second.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark.” Peter whines when he finally caught his breath, hanging his head. He can't even keep count of how many times he’s wanted to cry this morning, but there was no way he was going to humiliate himself again. He'd done that enough already. He’s already sure that today’s going to be one of ‘those’ days anyways, so it would be best to not start it off on a bad note. “First, I make you all uncomfortable by telling you I love you over the phone, which is just weird to begin with. It just slipped out. Then I get all tired when I come visit, because I haven’t been sleeping great for the past week, and I invade your personal space, because I got was cold and tired, while we watched the movies. And then-then I called you ‘dad’ which was just stupid to begin with! I’m sorry Mr. Stark. I’ve just been having a rough week, and you just make everything better. Uncle Ben and my dad always made things better to, so I just let it slip. I’m so sorry. I really am. I got us into this mess! It won’t happen again, I promise!”

Tony sat frozen in his seat next to the bed, he didn’t mean to upset the kid. He really didn’t, but he just seemed to have a knack for it lately. He should have known it was going to end like this though, because the kids insecurities were just about as terrible as his own. It didn’t mean that he didn’t think it was a little adorable though.

God, before Peter he never referred to anything as ‘adorable’, this was getting ridiculous. This kid was making him too soft. That’s probably why he got up out of his comfortable chair and sat on the edge of the bed, placing a hand on the kid’s shoulder to comfort him. He had to physically restrain himself from running his hand through the soft curls, because there’s only so much emotional gushy stuff that Tony Stark can take in one sitting, and he’s about to eat all of it up in a few quick sentences. Crap, he must freaking love this kid if he’s willing to do this gushy stuff. Yuck.

“Kiddo,” he spoke softly. “You don’t have to be sorry. It’s okay, I’m okay with it. Of, course, I’m not really the best role model, but if you really want me to be that person in your life, then I’ll try. I can’t make any promises, cause my own dad was kinda crappy, so I don’t have anything to go off of... but I’ll...I’ll do my best.”

Peter sniffed a couple times and he slowly lifted his head to look at Tony.

“Really?”

Tony nodded his head, and Peter smiled at him with one of the biggest grins Tony has ever seen. This kid deserved the whole freaking world, and Tony was going to be there to make sure he got it.

“Thanks for understanding Mr. Stark. I’ll try not to be too clingy though. I know it can kinda freak people out a bit. May says it’s just part of my charm, but I know you like your personal space, so I’ll try to back off a bit. And I'll try not to get myself too tired, that way I won’t go all ‘octopus’ on you again.”

Tony released a bark of laughter at the irony of it all.

“It’s fine kid. If I’m being honest, I was a pretty clingy bastard when I was a kid too.” Peter laughed. He lifted his head and uncurled himself slowly, smiling up at Tony as he continued to speak. “I never really understood why my dad hated it so much, and now… I still have no idea. I’m pretty sure he was just crazy, ‘cause I still haven't figured out how a sane man can find affection so appalling.”

Tony let a corner of his lip lift into a half smirk and clapped the kid on the shoulder. He wasn’t very big on these emotional conversations, so it was officially time to change the subject. Sure, he wanted to be the opposite of his father and everything, he just needed to take… baby steps. Which means, no more confessions today.

“Alright,” he straightened, and his soft tone was replaced with his usual intense demeanor, “just to be safe, whenever the others are in the room you refer to me as ‘dad’. Try not to be too obvious and awkward. And do not, I repeat do not, go looking for them. The least amount of interactions you have with them the better. You did good last night kid, just do whatever you feel the situation calls for, and if they ask any weird questions just say that I told you that you couldn’t talk about it. Got it?” Peter stared at him and nodded his head hurriedly.

“You’d tell me if you weren’t comfortable with this right?” Tony looked over at him, because he didn’t really take that into account before. Maybe they should establish that everything was good before they were too far in the hole to actually escape.

“Yeah of course. I’m cool with it Mr. Stark. It’s actually a pretty smart plan to keep Spiderman a secret. Plus, it’s funny to see you do ‘dad’ stuff.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Tony huffed, “You shouldn’t see much of them this weekend, they should just keep to themselves down on their floor, so you don’t have to stress too much. Pepper has been harassing me all morning about a few meetings I have lined up today until noon, so after that we can do whatever you want. I have to go get ready.” Tony patted him on the knee before he got up from the bed and turned for the door.

“Hey, Mr. Stark? Should I tell Aunt May what’s going on?”

Tony waves his hand to dismiss the thought.

“Pepper’s on the phone with her gossiping about it right now. You don’t gotta worry about it kiddo. I don’t think either of us are going to hear the end of it after this weekend.” He swung open the door and walked through it, then he paused in the doorway. He turned around and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Pepper’s off today, so she’s going to be here. No funny business.” And with that, he shut the door.

Peter rolled his eyes and climbed out of bed. He shivered a bit at the loss of the warm blankets and looked around the room for a jacket. The choice came down to his Midtown sweatshirt and Tony’s old MIT sweatshirt, which he sort of stole from the lab a while back, because too big jackets are freaking amazing. Which one would be more comfortable spending his Saturday morning on the couch, eating cereal in? Oversized MIT sweatshirt for sure.

By the time he reached his decision his stomach was growling, and he couldn’t wait to dig into those Lucky Charms that Aunt May never let him eat. Something about ‘not being real food’. Either way, he had Mr. Stark wrapped around his little finger, so he could basically get any cereal he wanted out of him… but only when Pepper wasn’t there to enforce good eating habits.

It’s been forever since he’s spent the weekend at the Tower. He used to stay over all the time because of suit upgrades and stuff, but in the beginning, it was kind of awkward and he never really got to do anything with Mr. Stark besides hanging out in the lab. He would always spent the entire day doing Spiderman or spending time with Pepper or Rhodey, and then he would come back and spend a couple hours in the lab with Tony before heading to bed and doing it all over again. That was it.

The past few times he’s stayed over though, they’ve been doing more and more together. They watched movies, they ate ice cream, they even played a couple pranks on Rhodey that one weekend. They even watched a few old cartoons like ‘Flintstones’ and stuff in the mornings when they eat breakfast, because apparently, Tony Stark wasn't a morning person until after he's had at least five cups of coffee. That’s probably why he’s been slipping up and calling Mr. Stark ‘dad’ lately, ‘cause those things are what dad’s usually do with their sons. It’s gotten to the point where Tony doesn’t even bat an eye when Peter wears his old MIT sweatshirts, and Peter doesn’t even think twice when Tony asks him how his day at school had went. It was just… normal for them now. Which yeah, it was kind of weird to be in a normal ‘father-son’ relationship with Tony Stark.

So, he can’t help but wonder how this new ‘development’ is going to affect their already ‘hard to explain’, mentor-mentee, father-son relationship. There was no other way to know than to just sit and find out.

So, he pulled the jacket over his head and he was drowned in immediate comfort. It was going to be a nice relaxing Saturday morning, he could feel it deep in his spidery-bones. Maybe it wouldn’t be one of ‘those’ mornings like he originally thought. He was just going to watch some cartoon and then when Mr. Stark got back they would do something awesome.

He made it almost all the way down the hall before he smelled the bacon. He grinned and licked his lips hungrily. Bacon and Lucky Charms. Delicious. The whole thing seemed a bit off, because Tony never cooked. He wasn’t even allowed in the kitchen when the stove was on, per Pepper’s request. Plus, Pepper was supposedly on the phone with his Aunt. So, the only explanation was that Rhodey was here and he was up making breakfast. But Mr. Stark didn’t say anything about Rhodey being back in town. He’s pretty sure he’d remember if he was told something like that. Maybe it was a surprise.

He ran towards the kitchen, he was just too excited to press down his energy. It’s been forever since he’s see the man. He’s been gone on some mission forever, and even though he knew Rhodey being there for the weekend was only going to make him want to die of embarrassment all over again after he finds out what happened, but he was still excited to see him. With Mr. Stark AND Rhodey, they could give Pepper a good run for her money. This weekend was gonna be awesome!

Of course, things didn’t work out the way he thought. Rhodey was most definitely not the one cooking the bacon. In fact, Rhodey wasn’t even there. No. It was much much worse. How was he supposed to handle this?

He came to a halting stop, the grin falling from his face. There he stood. In the middle of the room decked out in his Star Wars pajama pants, untamed curls, and Mr. Stark’s old sweatshirt, coming face to face with the Avengers...eating breakfast.

“There’s Junior!” Clint shouted, jumping down from his perch on the countertop. Peter took a couple hesitant steps back when the archer walked up to him and Clint laughed. Probably because Peter currently looked like a freaking tomato.

“How’d you sleep?” Clint clapped him on the shoulder and Peter couldn’t do anything except open and close his mouth like a fish. He looked around at all the Avengers sitting around the kitchen eating bacon and eggs. All the Avengers except Wanda and Vision (Mr. Stark had said they were on a honeymoon or something like that). Of course, Bruce and Thor weren’t there either, and Rhodey too, obviously. But still! It was the Avengers! Just domestically eating bacon and eggs like a happy family! His poor little fanboy heart just couldn’t take it! How was he supposed to lay low and not converse with them when they were all sitting there staring at him? Did Mr. Stark know they were up here? Probably not.

The heroes seemed to pick up on his hesitant mood thankfully and they didn’t say much, and they didn’t bombard him with too many questions. He made it all the way to the kitchen, halfway through pouring himself a big bowl of cereal before he finally addressed them. He just couldn’t help it. Curiosity killed the cat and all that.

“Um… what-what are you guys doing up here? Don’t you guys have a kitchen down there?” He piled the bacon onto an extra plate, continuing to avoid any eye contact. He couldn’t risk freaking out again. Not when he was awake enough to not use the excuse of tiredness for being weird. He’s already embarrassed himself once. Well twice… maybe three times.

“Yes, well, there was no food stocked down there. FRIDAY said we were welcome to come up here to eat.” Steve spoke from his seat at the end of the table. Peter couldn’t help but notice the glare he sent in Sam’s direction when the man started to open his mouth.

“Oh,” Peter said. Scurrying away from the dining room with his food. Going against every single fanboy bone in his body. Ned would be so disappointed. He wanted to talk to them soooo bad, but he couldn’t let down Mr. Stark. He said the less he spoke with them, the better. So, he must do exactly that! He could ask questions later when Mr. Stark was there to keep him from saying something stupid.

He made it all the way to the couch, grabbing the soft blanket balled up at the end after setting his food on the coffee table. He sat down in his usual spot and got ready for his usual routine, without speaking a word to any of them. Tony should be proud.

He could even feel all the eyes on the back of his head as he situated himself, watching his every move as if he were going to reveal his deepest secret to them. His Spidey Sense wasn’t too keen on people he didn’t know staring at him. He also, really really just wanted to talk to them. Like, really bad! They were the Avengers! He just blew them off! He legit just blew off having breakfast with them for watching cartoons! How could he do that? He was such a disgrace to teenage-kind as a whole. He was wasting an opportunity…but Mr. Stark said…-Screw it! He thought, grinning to himself and looking over his shoulder shyly.

“Hey, um. You guys wanna watch cartoons with me? Me and Mr. S - my dad usually do it every Saturday, but he’s got stuff to do this morning.” It wasn’t a complete and utter lie, but it was a definite way to sell the whole father-son thing. Perfect excuse.

See, he could do this.

“Well, duh!” Clint shouted happily, leaping over the back of the couch to land next to Peter, while FRIDAY started up a random cartoon series. Peter smiled happily to himself, ‘cause Hawkeye was sitting next to him! Watching cartoons with him!

Everyone else eventually makes their way over to the couch with their breakfast plates in hand, and soon the whole couch is full of superheroes dressed in their pajamas.

“Hey Fri!” Clint shouts through a mouthful of egg, “turn on some Looney Toons would ya? We need to educate Cap on a thing called Bugs Bunny.”

“I apologize Mr. Barton, but Boss has instructed that Peter watch Dexter’s Laboratory in its entirety before he is permitted to watch any other cartoons.” Peter’s face reddens, and he almost chokes on his spoonful of cereal. Mr. Stark did what now?!

Clint turns to look at him with raised eyebrows. “Dude, your dad is such a control freak. You can’t even watch whichever cartoons you want? C’mon you’re like 13 you need to stand up for yourself!”

“Well, no I-” Before he can explain himself, FRIDAY decides to step in. She’s been doing that a lot lately, maybe something is wrong with her programming. Mr. Stark should really check that out. She was beginning to screw him over more than helping him lately.

“Mr. Stark has only instructed this because Peter has never watched it before, and he says, I quote: ‘If he can waste his time watching this trash passing for cartoons, he can humor me in watching a classic.’ This is the first time I have been instructed to rule over what Peter watches. Except of course, blocking any films that involve too much viole-”

“Thanks FRIDAY!” Peter shouts grumpily, “we get the point now, you can stop.” He pulls the blanket snug against him and tears off some bacon with his teeth.

“Stark’s still a control freak.” Sam mutters under his breath.

***

“Alright Pep, I’m going, I’m going. Geez!” Tony whines, exiting the room at Pepper’s prodding. He really didn’t want to go. It’s a Saturday for crying out loud. He could be spending this lovely morning watching cartoon and eating breakfast with Peter like he usually did when he's over for the weekend, but nooo! Pepper gets to have the kid all to herself all morning. She’s probably going to go out and watch cartoon with him when she gets off the phone. Not fair by the way. He mutters the entire way down the hall. He can hear the sound of cartoons playing as he gets closer to the living room. More specifically, the cartoon he most recently picked out. Too bad he couldn’t join the kid with the classic cartoon marathon.

He looks down to adjust the cuff on his sleeve and steps into the room. “Alright kid, I'm leaving. Don-” That's when he looks up. He really wasn't prepared for what he saw. Not at all. Just… why?

He almost has a freaking aneurysm standing there in his own freaking living room. Because here they all are! Eating his food on His couch watching cartoons with HIS kid!

Then it hit him. He was about to leave the world's most terrible liar with a group of spies and super soldiers whom he was supposed to be actively lying to. Nu, uh. He can't risk that. Not even with Pepper as chaperone. The kid was totally going to break after Natasha’s first interrogation. There was no doubt in his mind. He needed a plan, and quick, quick, quick.

He got over himself fast and then addressed them.

“What're you all doing up Here? You better not be harassing my kid.” They needed to play this safe. He didn’t really expect to have much interaction with the others over the course of the weekend, but here they were.

“Chill Stark. We're just watching some cartoons. Kid asked us to watch with him since you were too busy.” Clint raised his eyebrows just to mock him as he stuffed his last piece of bacon in his mouth.

Was he insinuating that he wasn’t a good father?! The nerve! He looked over at Peter who was actively staring at him with reddened cheeks and wide eyes. He almost looked scared.

Then it clicked, he got an amazing idea. The most perfectest idea. This would fix all his problems. Hopefully, the kid catches on. Please, please, please. He's smart, he can do it.

“Yes, I am busy this morning,” he keeps his gaze fixed on Peter, in what would later be dubbed as the ‘stern dad’ glare. “I have a meeting that I'm already 5 minutes late for. C’mon Pete, I told you this morning. Why aren't you dressed and ready yet?” He placed his hands on his hips and lowered his sunglasses to lock eyes with him. Hoping that he could communicate through some weird telepathic ability or something. Father and sons have that type of thing, right?

“But, but, but-” Peter spluttered.

“Nope. Don't play dumb with me. You think I’d rather go to annoying meetings all day than sit there in my sweatpants watching cartoons with you? Get up and go get ready. We're already running late.” He shot Peter a very subtle wink before making a show of looking at his watch. C'mon kid, you can figure it out. Just use that big brain of yours.

When he looked back up at him, he could see it in his eyes. He got it, he caught on. They were in the clear. Yes, yes, yes!

“But dad,” Peter whined, pouting, and sinking into the couch with a grunt. Drawing the attention of the others towards him as he grumbled like an annoyed teenager.

“Nuh-uh! None of that. You don't have school, you don't have an excuse not to come with me.”

He was really enjoying this. Maybe too much. Especially the way everyone seemed to pause in what they were doing to openly stare at the exchange. He’s never seen such a lost look on their faces. Hah! Serves them right.

“C’mon,” Peter whined, “It’s the weekend! Why do I gotta go to these dumb meetings anyway?”

Dang. He should send the kid to acting school or something. He’s got that whole snarky teenager act down. Tony’s going to have to start telling himself that he wasn’t really his dad.

“Because we don't just obtain billions of dollars by sitting on our butts all day doing nothing. Running a business involves a lot of work Peter.” Boy, does he have these ‘dad’ lectures down, or What? Rhodey would be so proud.

“Yeah, well it's your company not mine.” Peter grumbled under his breath. Throwing the blanket off himself and pulling himself off the couch, displaying his reluctance so obviously even the thickest skulled human on the planet could tell.

“What did you just say?!” Tony snaps, glaring at him. He knew the kid was acting, but having a snarky teenager still put him on edge. It was such a natural reaction that he didn’t even have to think about it. Crap. The kid was morphing him into a legit father. It’s only been a day! Not even a day! It hasn’t even been 12 hours yet and the kid’s already pissing him off with this faux snarkiness. Although, this is his ‘son’, so he shouldn’t expect any less.

With that, Peter scurried out of the room and down the hall. Tony spun on his heels to march after him. Shouting just loud enough so he knew the others could hear him. Might as well sell the act.

“Don't wear anything idiotic! Put on those nice dress pants I just got you.”

He met Peter in his room and he gave the kid a congratulatory slap on the back.

“Dang kiddo. You are one top-notch actor. You’ve gotten much better since our first exchange. I think I’m finally rubbing off on you.” Tony grinned, throwing open the closet across Peter's room. Peter stared at the closet with wide eyes. Since when did it have clothes?!

“I was super confused at first. Then I sorta caught onto what you were going on about.” Peter watched with wide eyes as Tony picked out a pair of dress pants and white button up to go along with it. “I was actually kind of scared that you were going to ground me for a second. You’ve got the ‘dad’ stare down already.”

“Yeah? Well I was also super confused when I found you and everyone else sitting on my couch watching cartoons. Without me I might add... I had to think fast. There was no way I was leaving you here with them. I don't even want to think of what trouble you'd get into.” Tony grunted in annoyance, flipping through various ties before deciding on one and tossing it on the bed beside the rest of the clothes. “Sorry for screwing over your Saturday morning. This is probably the last thing you want to do.”

Peters head nearly snapped off when he looked over at Tony. “What? No! This is going to be awesome. I get to see all that goes down with running a business and stuff. SI no less. This is gonna be sick. Ned is going to be so jealous.”

Tony huffed a laugh. “Yeah, well maybe in between meetings I can take you down to the R&D department and let you look around a bit.”

“Oh my god! Seriously?! So cool. This is totally like one of those being your kid to work days.” Tony smiled at that and Peters face went red again. “I-I mean-” Tony cuts him off before he could hurt himself.

“I get it kid. Just get dressed.” With that he shut the door to the kid’s room and headed back to the living room where the others were still engrossed in the cartoon. Grownups. Engrossed in a 20-year-old cartoon.

He put on a big show of grumbling in frustration and dropping onto the armchair next to the couch while he waited for Peter to get ready. Trying his best to imitate something like an ‘irritated dad’ look. He was pretty familiar with the look, considering it was directed towards him throughout the majority of his childhood.

“So…,” Steve broke the silence and looked over at Tony. “What's the story?” He asked what they all must have been thinking.

“Oh, Pete?” Tony asked innocently. “He's my kid. It’d be weird if he wasn't at least a little bit snarky. Sure does take me a run for my money though.”

Obviously, Tony knew that wasn't what Steve was asking, but he might as well feed them as much crap as he could to avoid the inevitable subject. In all honesty, he didn’t really have any idea of what he should say when the subject actually presents itself. He should probably figure that out sooner rather than later.

“That's not what he meant Tony,” Natasha glared exasperatedly at him from her spot on the loveseat.

“Yeah. What gives with the kid?” Sam butts in.

“Well you see,” Tony starts, “there's this thing people like to call a ‘personal life’ ask Barton, he knows all about it.”

Natasha rolls her eyes and Bucky snorts, trying to contain his laughter. Tony's starting to like Bucky. Now, he just has to get past the whole ‘I murdered your parents’ thing. That might take a while.

After Tony insinuation that now was not the time for This conversation, Steve and Natasha sit back and mind their own business. Smart move on their part, honestly.

They sit there for a few more minutes, enjoying the classic, known as Dexter's Laboratory. It brought back so many memories for Tony. It wasn't on when he was a kid of course, but goodness it was his jam back at MIT. He remembers it like it was yesterday. He and Rhodey sat there on their crappy futon each Saturday morning, eating their cheerios. It was a beautiful tradition that they carried on into their adult lives. Although it has been a few years since they've had a good ol’ marathon.

Peters whispered voice cut into his reminiscing. He squinted his eyes and looked around the room, but he couldn't spot him.

“Dad!” he looked over at the hallway and saw Peter poking his head from around the corner. He gestured for Tony to come, so he pushed himself out of the seat and met him in the hall, away from the prying eyes of the others.

“What's up Pete?” He asked, once they were far enough down the hall to be out of earshot.

“I-I forgot how to tie a tie.” Peter mutters, dropping his head in embarrassment. The tie in question draped across his neck. It was obvious he had tried and failed to tie it a couple times. If the small creases and folds were anything to go by.

Tony chuckled and gestured for him to come closer. He reached out an adjusted it for him and tied it as he spoke in a loud whisper.

“It's fine kiddo. When we get back I'll teach you how to do it.” He tightened the tie, bringing it up to Peters slim neck. He adjusted the collar and patted his shoulders, giving him a once over.

“You look good kid.” He noticed a stray hair sticking up from where Peter had tried gelling it down. He reached up and smoothed it out for him.

“Alright, let's let Pepper know you're coming with me and we'll get down there.”

Peter grinned and nodded his head excitedly, tugging at his itchy collar. Wearing this suit was obviously going to take some getting used to.

They stopped by his and Pepper’s room to let her know what was going on.

***

“Why? Just send the others downstairs and leave it at that.” She argues.

“Well he's officially my son now, which means he's going to inherit Stark Industries someday. He needs to learn how to run the business and whatnot. Plus, those meetings are so tedious, I need a distraction.” Pepper narrows her eyes and huffs, dismissing them. Not before insisting they all do something together when they get back. Which means he was right. Pepper was totally planning on spending the whole morning with Peter. Ha! That showed her what happened when she tried to steal his kid away.

They walk back down the hall, crossing the room the Avengers were currently occupying. Tony can see the way Peter eagerly eyes them as they pass by, and a small smidgen of jealousy settles in his gut.

“I expect everything to be back to the way it was by the time I get back.” Tony announced, wrapping his hand around the base of Peters neck to guide him into the elevator. The doors shut behind them and Peter looks over at Tony with wide eyes. Tony could basically feel the kid vibrating beneath his hand.

“We've gotta meet with Marketing first. Then straight to the Board and then we'll stop by R&D before the last meeting.” Peter nods his head enthusiastically.

“Am I still your son? Or are we doing the intern thing?” Tony grins and claps him on the back.

“Let's stick with intern. We don't need to freak everybody out. You'd become a celebrity before the weekend was even over. I don’t think your Aunt would be too happy about that.”

“Got it. I'll just pretend to take notes and stuff.” Peter pats at his pockets before looking up at Tony. “You got a notepad or something?”

Tony chuckled, and the elevator opens. He keeps his hand to the base of Peters neck and guides him out, he didn’t need to risk the kid getting lost or anything. Knowing him, he’d wander off in a daze and nobody would ever be able to find him again, leaving Tony’s first official day as a ‘dad’ a complete fail.

He ignored the looks they were getting as they make their way across the floor of staff and researchers.

“Uh, Mr. Stark? Everybody's staring…”

“It’s alright Underoos. Remember who I am? They're going to stare. Don't sweat it.”

Peter can pick up on the whispers and shrinks closer to Tony’s side. He wasn't used to Peter Parker being in the spotlight. It was different, awkward, weird, but he couldn't say he really hated it. He felt important, like he actually mattered. It was awesome...but still weird.

Tony noticed the way the kids chin lifted slightly in confidence and the small grin that formed on his face halfway through their trek to the conference room. This was going to be an interesting morning.

***

“What do you think kid?” Tony spun in his chair to face him when the guy with the presentation asked Tony a question. Peter sort of shrunk down in his seat when everyone in the room turned to stare at him, but then he looked over at Tony. The man gave him a small smile and lifted his chin a bit. He really did want to know what Peter had to say.

“Good plan? What’s your take?” Peter open and closed his mouth a couple times. He wasn’t really trained or educated enough in this field to really know what was right and what was wrong, but he had an opinion. Might as well voice that. Tony did ask him for it after all.

“Well… I’m just a bit confused.” He noticed the way a few of the people sitting around the long table rolled their eyes in exasperation. They probably thought he didn’t understand what they were talking about. No. Peter understood. And he couldn’t help but grin just a little bit when he proved to them that he wasn’t just some stupid kid. He always hated it when adults thought he was just a stupid kid. It was one of his peeves. So, that gave him a little bit more incentive to voice his opinion.

“Why exactly are you focusing the market manufacturing on the inessentials instead of the tangible aesthetics and efficiency?” He saw the presenter guy’s eyes widen in shock. It was a simple question really. He may be new to the whole marketing thing, but he was fairly sure he understood the perspective of the customer, and isn’t that what the whole marketing team is based around?

“Um-Um… what exactly do you mean?” Peter squinted his eyes at the man. He glanced over at Tony, and the genius just shrugged his shoulders and bit down on his wide grin before taking a nonchalant sip of coffee. He totally did this on purpose!

“Well, you all seem to be more focused on the business aspect of quality rather than the actual marketing. I’m new to this whole thing, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that customers won’t go for all this fancy stuff. Sure, in the business world it sounds awesome and all that, but to a normal person this wouldn’t make a lick of sense. The younger generation is more focused on camera quality, high definition, accessibility, and the widgets that come with it. Trust me when I say this, none of my friends would buy this new tablet if your main selling point is ‘interface with added resources and marketing fronts’. Like, what? What’s that even mean?” He laughs under his breath and then catches himself when he notices the wide eyes staring at him.

“So…” he turns his attention to the woman speaking, sitting across from him. “You’re suggesting that we, what? Dumb it down?”

Peter shrugs his shoulders. “Basically, yeah. Unless you’re selling to corporations or something. I’m just saying that if you want any normal or sane person to buy this, you probably don’t want to use descriptions that would actually require them to use their brains.” He looks over at Tony for approval, and the genius proudly nods his head.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself Pete,” he turns to address the others, “the kids right. It worked last time because that was our first release of the tablet and people were simply curious. Now that we’re out there on the market though, we need to give them something that will make them want to buy it. Not everyone is smart enough to understand this jargon we keep sending out there. So, just go home, let your kids play with it for a while and ask them what they think. Right down what they say, and you should get something good.” Tony stands from his seat and pats Peter on the shoulder as he passes.

Peter stands up to chase after him when he realizes that they were leaving. When he was caught up with him outside of the meeting room, Tony drapes his arm over his shoulders.

“I knew I brought you along for a reason kiddo. You’ve got a real knack for this stuff. Can’t wait to show you off to the board.”

***

The rest of the morning went by quickly, and my goodness does word spread fast. On their way back up to the penthouse after the last meeting Peter could overhear people whispering about ‘that new intern Stark’s showing off’. It was really, really hard to keep a straight face when Peter could over hear all the whispers.

The board hadn’t been too fond of him being there it seemed, but they weren’t about to argue with Tony, so they just dealt with him. He actually learned a lot about running a business in that meeting. They made Tony sign all these papers and used a whole lot of big words, which took forever to piece through by the way, even when Tony whispered to him what was going on. They were stuffy old people who had seemed to forget what the term ‘smile’ meant. He now understood why Tony dreaded any meetings with them. One was enough for him.

The R&D shebang definitely made up for the stuffy old people though. Tony had introduced him to a few of the main engineers and designers. They even let him play around with one of the new products. He got a full-on tour of the labs and all the stuff they do. It was amazing. A ‘nerd heaven’ as Tony referred to it as.

Most of the people in there seemed to like him at least, unlike those stuffy old people from earlier. He had to basically be dragged back to the elevator because they were already late for the next meeting. It took a lollipop and a promise to return soon to finally get him out of there.

Tony grumbled about his reluctance to leave, but Peter was pretty sure he didn’t mind. If that small smirk was anything to go by at least.

The last meeting was much more interesting than the one with the board. Tony asked him a few questions on what he thought, and he gave his opinion. That was just about it, and now he was basically the new gossip topic in the Tower. First, it’s being Tony’s son, now he’s the first and the best intern Tony’s ever introduced. He couldn’t help but feel a little prideful when they were finally on the elevator back to the penthouse. Who wouldn’t?

“That was so awesome!” Peter grinned when they got back on the elevator. “Mr. Stark thank you so much! I felt like I was actually some important business person! We’ve gotta do that again sometime!” Peter jumped up and down in excitement and Tony leaned over to place a hand on his head to keep him still.

“Yes, it was much less dreadful than it usually was. I’ll be sure to let you know when I’ve got some boring meetings that you can tag along on. People seem to like you anyway, it’s a safe way to get some experience. Maybe one day I can send you to some on your own, so I don’t have to.” He clapped him on the shoulder and the doors to the elevator opened.

They heard some shouting coming from the living room and Tony frowned. The Avengers were still here, but with a few new editions. One of them being Colonel James Rhodes standing to the side with an amused looking Pepper Potts.

The man himself turned around to look at them with a grin on his face. The Mario Kart tournament continuing behind him.

“There’s my favorite nephew!” He smirked. Right at Peter. That smirk could mean only one thing. Ooohhh Crap!

Chapter Text

“Hey Pepper, you know where Tony is?” Rhodey asks, approaching the redhead in the kitchen. Not without sending a few wary looks over his shoulder to the intense battle taking place in the Living Room. Geez, who knew a few superheroes could get so worked up over a video game.

When Pepper heard him call out to her, she looked up at him, her eyes widened, and she almost choked on the apple piece she was chewing.

“Rhodey!” She splutters. She clears her throat and taps on her chest until she can breathe normally again. After a couple moments, the short fit of coughing morphs into hysterical laughter, and Rhodey has to raise an eyebrow as she continues to giggle delightedly. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, but the last time he had seen Pepper like this, it didn’t end very well. “Rhodey, hon. You picked the best weekend to stop by. Just you wait till I tell you what Tony and Peter did.”

That couldn’t have been too terrible, considering she seemed to be genuinely amused by it, so he couldn’t help the wide grin that spread across his face. Whatever happened must have been hilarious, because he hasn’t seen Pepper this amused and enchanted since that one time Tony got his head stuck between those two bars when he was reaching the new wrench he had bought. To this day, they have yet to figure out how in the world he even got stuck in there to begin with, but it probably had something to do with the several bottles of whiskey littered around the room and the ‘innocent’ looking Dum-E nonchalantly hanging out in the corner.

“Oh no,” he laughs, “does it have anything to do with them?” He jutts his thumb over his shoulder towards the heroes on Tony’s couch.

“Yes, it does,” Pepper purses her lips as she suppressed her grin, taking a small bite out of her apple. “Although, it’s not really the best idea… Tony basically told everyone that he’s Peter’s dad. Neither of them want the others finding out about Spiderman-and its adorable Rhodey! I’ve never seen him act so mature for so long! I’m really starting to believe they are really father and son.”

Rhodey’s mouth drops open. “No. Way… What did Pete do?”

“He gave Tony the idea.” She lowered her voice a substantial amount and leaned closer to him. “Accidentally of course. He called Tony ‘dad’ before Tony had the chance to introduce him to everyone. Everyone overheard it, so they just assumed, and Tony just played along with it.” She laughed. “They’ve been pretending ever since. Tony even dragged Pete along with him to his meetings today, you should have seen them Rhodey! It was so adorable. I don’t think they even realized that they were wearing matching ties and everything, and Peter was so excited about it. I really wanted to take their picture, but I didn’t want Pete getting all embarrassed about it and changing his mind.”

Rhodey stopped himself from cooing, because he was a grown man for god's sake. But he still couldn’t prevent the bubbly sensation stirring in his stomach at the thought of his best friend and wonderful nephew finally accepting their very obvious roles of father and son.

“You know…” He whispered, with a mischievous glint in his eyes “this isn’t the first time the kid’s called Tony ‘dad’. The last weekend I was here, me and the kid were playing video games while Tony was out at the compound fixing something. We started talking about him and the kid said ‘my dad’ without even realizing it. He didn't notice till I started teasing him about it. I swear he turned so red I thought he was going to melt into a pile of ketchup right there on the couch.”

“Rhodey,” Pepper lamented, placing her hand on his arm, and giving him a good smack when she pulled away. “Why didn't you tell me?!”

“’cause I promised the kid I wouldn't say anything to anybody. He even made me pinky swear.” Rhodey chuckled at the last bit. “Tony is the ONLY person over the age of five that has ever made me pinky swear. I am fully convinced that Pete is Tony's kid somehow. I don’t know how, but it’s too big of a coincidence for him not to be.”

“It’s becoming a bit of a problem for me too. Soon, Tony’s going to realize what’s been going on and he’s going to try to adopt him, and I don’t know how May will react to that.“ Pepper says, pausing and continuing with her apple. Rhodey nods his head in agreement, ‘cause yeah, that’s probably going to happen.

“Hey Rhodes!” Clint calls out, turning away from the screen for a moment to look at him. “When did you get here? I didn't see you come in.”

Rhodey shot a quick smile to Pepper before spinning on his heels to face the large group.

“A little before Vision and Wanda,” he answered, nodding in the direction of the couple that just arrived, as they made themselves comfortable on the love seat.

Clint seemed to lose interest fairly quickly and went back to his game. Steve on the other hand wasn't as quick to dismiss his arrival. Always the suspicious soldier he was.

“So, Rhodey…” he paused a little bit, and Rhodey could already see the path this conversation was headed. It wasn’t very hard considering that the only conversing they ever did always related to Tony’s stupidity. So, it wasn’t exceedingly difficult to piece out what stupid thing Steve wanted to speak about. “How long have you known about Peter?”

Rhodey shrugged his shoulders and held down a grin as he answered. “A while. Why? Tony finally decide to tell ya?” Playing along seemed to be the best bet in this situation. If he called them out on the lie this soon he wouldn't be able to see all the extra father-son interactions Tony's probably got cooking in his head in order to fool these guys. That's definitely something he does not want to miss.

Steve looks… confused is really the only way to put it. “Uh, yeah-Yeah. I-I’m still unsure of what to think.”

“Cap,” Clint sighs exasperatedly, violently waving his controller around as if that were going to prevent him from spiraling off the windy, colorful road. “Just accept it dude. There's really no reason for Tony to lie to us about it. He's got a kid, so what? It's no different than when you met my kids.”

“Yeah-Yeah I know. Something just doesn't feel right about it. It's not like Tony to keep this big of a secret.”

“Ultron?” Wanda pipes up, apparently already filled in on the subject somehow.

“That's differe-” Steve gets cut off by Natasha.

“Steve's right. Something just doesn't seem right with the whole thing. Tony isn’t capable of keeping his mouth shut for more than 5 minutes. He would have let something about this kid slip by now. Plus, the kids all jittery around us.”

“Who wouldn't be jittery. We're the Avengers.” Sam snorts, then mumbles a series of curses as Clint cackles joyfully when he ran him off the road.

Rhodey glances at Pepper, who was actively ignoring the conversation as the others continued to debate the matter. They had probably been discussing it for the majority of the morning and Pepper seemed to be familiar with the task of disregarding the conversation. Although, she’s had plenty of practice with Tony for the past 18 years as well.

There was one question, though, that had both Pepper and Rhodey staring wide eyed at one another, because ohhh crap! This was NOT going to end well. He might as well say bye bye to paternal, gushy Tony at this point. Everything was about to be ruined.

“Just ask the ceiling lady.” Bucky pointed out, pointing his index finger upwards at the ceiling and rolling his eyes in exasperation. He seemed just about as done with the conversation as Pepper was.

“Good idea,” Clint grinned, “FRIDAY? Is Peter really Tony’s son?”

Rhodey’s blood ran cold, and based off the look Pepper was giving him, he had right reason to feel the way he did. Tony had been complaining plenty about FRIDAY’s weird new obsession with screwing him over for the past few months. So, this was probably going to be no different.

“Yes. Peter is in fact Mr. Stark’s son.”

Well… it’s good to be wrong sometimes.

Rhodey’s eyebrows rose in a mixture of both surprise and relief, and Steve grumbled to himself as he went back to his book. Thankfully FRIDAY’s confirmation was enough to mute the discussion, but Rhodey could tell that Steve and Natasha still had a reasonable doubt about the matter. They had always been the most observant and level headed on the team, so it wasn't really a surprise.

It wasn't even two minutes later before the elevator dinged and Tony and Peter stepped out. Tony had his arm thrown over the boy’s shoulders and he was looking down at the him with an affectionate smile as he listened to him babble on about something. When he caught sight of everyone still in the Living room his arm fell, and his smile reshapes into an annoyed scowl, and Peter cut off his spiel with wide eyes and a hanging jaw.
Pepper was totally right! They were wearing matching ties! Which, by the way, was freaking adorable.

After he got over their appearances Rhodey took notice of the perfect opportunity to help sell the lie. He DID want to witness the cuteness Pepper had told him about first hand. Plus, considering the circumstances, what kind of uncle would he be if he didn’t tease his nephew every once in a while.

“There’s my favorite nephew!”

Rhodey smirks when he sees Peter’s face. He was rightfully terrified. Boy, was this going to be a fun weekend, or what?

“Favorite nephew?” Tony asks, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. “I don't know how little Tommy is going to feel about that.”

Peter’s head snaps to look at Tony with wide eyes, while Steve turns around to stare at them with his mouth agape.

“You have another son?!”

“What?! No!” Tony exclaims, “I'm talking about his sister's kid. Geez! I can barely take care of one kid, let alone two.” He rolls his eyes and walks past Rhodey and Peter. Leaving the poor kid to worriedly stare at his ‘uncle’. Rhodey didn't miss the way Tony sent a glare in the direction of the others on the couch as he passed. He didn’t blame him really. Even if this floor used to be the main lounge room, this was still considered his personal floor, and Tony had never been a big fan on sharing his things.

“Well, Tommy doesn't like me. And since I'm Pete's favorite uncle, I decided I might as well return the favor.” He winked over at Peter and he watched as his face reddened again.

Tony scoffed as he walked into the kitchen and greeted Pepper with a chaste kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah? I think Happy would have something to say about that.” Peter’s eyes widened, and he scurried after Tony.

“Happy actually likes me? He's always so grumpy, I can't ever tell.” Tony turns away from the fridge and smirks over at him.

“Of course he does kid. Why do you think he always takes you for ice cream after school when Rhodey’s visiting? He gets jealous real easy, you gotta be careful with his sensitive heart kiddo.”

Rhodey laughs so hard at the kids bewildered face when he came to the realization that, yeah, it was totally true. So true. Rhodey always wondered why Happy sent him those nasty looks when he was dropping Peter off at the Tower after school, while Peter licked at the leftover chocolate ice cream around his lips. The new realization seemed to sink into Peter’s brain too, because his face split out into the largest grin as he looked over at Pepper for confirmation. The smart kid knew that Pepper was really the only one he could trust to tell him the truth nowadays.

So, Pepper smiled and nodded her head.

“He’s a grump with everybody. Don't take it personally sweetheart. I don't think he'd know what to do with himself without you around.”

“I knew he liked me! He was always denying it!” Peter jumped triumphantly, banging Tony’s back with his fist a couple times in excitement. Tony grunted from the impact and pulled out the jug of orange juice from the fridge, passing it over his shoulder to him.

“Don't get too big of a head kid, you still drive him nuts.” Tony says as Peter excitedly takes the jug and pours it into the large cup Rhodey had just gotten down for him.

“Wait, wait wait. Tony, I'm really confused here.” Steve says, standing from his seat on the couch. “I was just going to play along at first to amuse you, but this is getting ridiculous. Is he really your kid?”

“Steve,” Clint groans from the couch, “just drop it man! It's none of our business.”

“Listen to birdman, Cap.” Tony warned, taking a defensive stance between the soldier and Peter as Steve approached them in the kitchen. There was still quite a bit of tension between them, mostly because they haven't had the opportunity to actually talk things over after what happened. Not that Tony wanted to talk things over, but they needed to get over their differences and get along, because that's what a team does. Also, Ross and FRIDAY had both been harassing him for the longest time to get his head out of the gutters and act like an adult for once. “Don't you start harassing me in front of my kid now. That's something I will not allow.”

Steve narrows his eyes. “Tony. I thought we talked about keeping secrets from one another. This,” he gestured to Peter, “this is a pretty big secret.”

“So, this secret thing only applies to me then?! Is Barton the only one allowed to have a secret family?! And what about you oh high and mighty Rogers?! When were you gonna tell me about my parents?!” Tony lashes out, heaving in a couple breaths to keep his composure, he didn't need to start another fight in his kitchen. Especially not in front of his ‘not his’ but still kinda his kid.

“No Tony,” Steve reprimands, “this is just something you should have tol-”

“Don't you dare start lecturing me about secrets Rogers!! You have no right!” Tony growls, taking several menacing steps forward to heave a finger into the man's chest. “Peter is my son whether you choose to believe it or not! I have the right to keep that from whomever I want! It's my right as his father!”

“Dad…” Peter steps up next to him and wraps his hands around his arm, dragging him away from Steve and tugging on his sleeve.

Rhodey was even feeling a bit put out by the sudden change in conversation. He knew Tony was right in a way. He did have a right to keep things about his son and family a secret. The only thing is that, well… Peter isn’t really his son.

Even the game in the Living room paused and the majority of the team has seemed to gather in the kitchen.

“Steve, leave him alone. He's right. He doesn't have to tell us about his family, especially his kid. It's his responsibility to keep him safe, you can't be upset with him for that.” Clint says, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder.

Tony grumbled and pushed Peter behind him as Steve’s shoulders sagged in defeat.

“You're right. I-I just… I'm not used to any of this yet. I'm sorry Tony. Peter.” He nods at them each and hung his head. “I have no right to… interfere. You both seem very happy. I apologize.”

Peter steps out from behind Tony to approach the man, much to Tony’s chagrin.

“It’s alright Mr. Rogers sir. I-I sorta get it. I was always kinda upset that my dad never let me meet any of you guys, but I understand his reasons now. He was just protecting you and me, so I forgive you, I guess. Sorry for popping up and making things complicated. I know you guys still have a lot to work out.” Peter toes the ground while he says that last bit, looking very put off by the whole ordeal.

Tony makes an offended noise in the back of his throat. “Kiddo don’t you dare apologize! You didn't do anything wrong.” He grabs Peters arm and pulls him back towards him, right into his chest. He spread his hand across the back of his head and pushed him against his shoulder, attempting to shield him from the others.

Steve took that as his cue to leave and scurried out of the room with his head down.

“I'm sorry Tony. I get it.” Clint says sincerely, giving him a small smile before following Steve, most of the others following as well.

“Tony,” Peter whines quietly, pushing against the man to try and free himself from the hold. Tony smiled at the hint of embarrassment lining the kid’s voice. He laughed softly and released him.

“What kiddo? Embarrassed to give your old man a hug?” Tony joked. Peter rolled his eyes and turned back to his orange juice grumbling to himself about ‘embarrassing him in front of the freaking Avengers’.

“Tony,” Pepper reprimands, “leave him alone.”

The mood seems to lighten and a grin splits across Tony’s face. Peter tries super hard to remain put off and continue with his drink, but of course Rhodey spots the small smile peek through his nonchalant attitude. The next thing he knows, Rhodey is giving him a lighthearted shove towards Tony’s waiting arms. He stumbles into him and the man traps him in another big bear hug.

“Aww, look at that honey-bear. He still loves me,” he coos teasingly, ruffling his hair as he did and giving a playful growl as he tightens his arms around Peter’s shoulders.

Peter wraps his arms around Tony because he just couldn't help himself, he lives for hugs, especially hugs from Tony. This probably counts as one of their first legitimate hugs, even though it's probably just part of the whole ruse, but he takes advantage of it and pretends that Tony is just hugging him for the sake of the hug. So, he just nuzzles closer to his pretend dad and presses his nose into his shoulder. He doesn’t even know how he's made it this long without a real hug from the man. It was pretty freaking amazing.

“Geez Tony! How'd you score such a cuddly kid?” Sam jokes, turning back to head into the Living room with a chuckled and roll of the eyes.

Tony feels Peter stiffen in his arms and he rubs his back soothingly. “Leave my kid alone Wilson! He can be as cuddly as he wants.”

Peter smiles to himself. No matter how many times Tony says it, being called his kid is always going to give him that mushy feeling inside. He sorta loved being Tony’s pretend son, these hugs were totally amazing.

“Looks like Pete there isn’t the only cuddly one.” Clint cackles playfully from the couch. “Like father like son apparently.”

Tony doesn’t even bother to retort, but Peter can still hear him grumbling in his ear.

Rhodey seemed to get a bit jealous after a little while and tugs on the pair to get Tony to loosen his hold.

“C'mon dude. I haven't got my cuddles. Let go of him, I just spent three weeks away, I haven’t got my hug yet.” Tony glares at him lightheartedly and tugs Peter tighter against him.

“No! He's my kid. Go get your own and you can get all the cuddles you want.” Rhodey glares at him and Tony glares back. They don't care that both Peter and Pepper are actively laughing at them.

Rhodey turns his attention to Peter. It was just so fun to piss Tony off, not to mention how adorable he got with how possessive of his hugs he can become. Before Peter, or even Pepper, he could remember the hatred the man had for anything even remotely related to intimacy, or just closeness in general. He can probably just count on one hand, heck, just on one finger, how many times they had actually shared a genuine hug. Tony Stark had always been known for not being a touchy guy, but apparently, there were still a lot of things Rhodey had yet to learn about his eccentric best friend.

“C'mon kiddie, come give your Uncle Rhodey a hug,” he coaxed, spreading his arms invitingly. He was so not going to leave without aggravating the man a little bit. One could say it’s payback for the 20 plus years of friendship he’s had to endure.

Tony felt Peter’s hold on him loosen a bit, and he began to panic. Tony could sense the kid contemplating the request. He wasn't actually considering leaving the embrace to go hug his best friend, was he? Right in front of him? No, that wasn't acceptable. This was HIS kid, which meant he got ALL the cuddles.

God, is this really his new line of reasoning for everything? Wow...he was really getting into this whole clingy, lovey-dovey dad role, wasn’t he? Probably not very good for his manly image.

“Piss off Rhodes, this is my kid.”

“Alright children,” Pepper steps in, peeling Tony away from Peter, “stop arguing. Why don't we all do something together? We rarely ever get the same days off. Pete, go get dressed into something comfy.” Pepper sends him to his room after noticing him pull at his collar uncomfortably. Tony pouts in the corner and Rhodey laughs manically.

Steve speaks up from the Living room again, this time much more tentative to stepping in than last time. “Would you mind if we joined? I think it would be really nice to get to know Peter a little better.”

Before Tony could even begin to disagree, Pepper steps in and answers for him.

“Of course you can, Peter would love that… Do you like card games?”

***

“Rogers! I swear if you break this table I'm gonna have one of my suits throw you through a wall.” Tony growls out menacingly as Steve steals the last spoon on the table. Leaving the genius with nothing but a hand full of cards.

“Aren't you sorta contradicting yourself dad?” Peter responds smoothly. Tony snaps his head to his left to glare at him, and the kid dares to smirk back.

“Yeah, dad,” Clint chimes in teasingly.

“Stop being a sourpuss every time you lose.” Rhodey snaps twirling his spoon between his fingers before tossing it back to the center of the table and shooting Tony a sly grin.

“You know, Peter only started this whole ‘talking back’ thing when you came to visit. I blame you for his smartassery.” Tony quips.

“Oh? So, you’re blaming the Uncle, and not the Father, who by the way is very fluent in the language of smartassery? I think you did a better job at influencing that than Rhodey did honey.” Pepper pipes up, shuffling the cards with such practice that Tony has a hard time believing that she wasn't actually a card dealer in Vegas at some point. He would pay good money to see that. Really good money.

“Pep, sweetheart. You're supposed to be on my side here.”

“No, sweetheart,” Pepper responds with a sickly sweet smile, “I’m supposed to be on the winning side.”

Tony balks at her and Rhodey laughs hysterically, accompanied by Clint and Sam, and even Natasha grinned a bit.

“All is fair in love and war dad.” Peter smirks again. Tony playfully smacks him upside the head, because he wasn’t about to deal with this nonsense. He was beginning to miss the whole ‘hero worship’ and ‘no talking back’ thing they had going for a while. He grumbled as he accepts the cards Pepper was dealing out to all of them. He sets his gaze on the others sitting around the table, staring pointedly at each of them.

“I'm serious. Break my table, and you don't get to sit in with us for movies tonight.”

***

“Rhodey, quit! I swear if you stick your finger in my ear one more time I’m gonna slap you!” Tony shouted, swatting Rhodey’s hand sneaking behind Peter to approach the side of his head.

“Shhhh! Movie!” Peter hushes, his eyes glued on the screen.

This was the best of all the Transformers movies, in his opinion at least. And the others just cannot seem to shut up while it's running. Steve and Bucky ask soo many questions, Rhodey and Tony annoy the heck out of each other, Clint is always shouting at the TV and throwing popcorn everywhere and Sam always has some running commentary because he just can’t seem to hush it. It’s very distracting. The only ones that seem to appreciate film and the people watching it, were Vision, Wanda, Natasha and Pepper. Tony’s usually well-behaved too, but now that the others are around and Rhodey is here to harass him, he just won't SHUT UP.

He's just going to have to rewatch it another night with Tony, Pepper and maybe Rhodey if he promises to behave. Minus the extras, he couldn’t risk these disruptions two times in a row. This was an especially important film, and he was missing important blocks of dialogue with all this chatter going on.

But overall, this has been the coolest, most awesomest day of his whole freaking life, like literally. This was freaking amazing, he couldn't help but start wishing that Tony really was his dad. How awesome would that be? Every day would be just like this. He can’t wait to tell Ned and May all about it.

The thought crosses his mind and his stupid self-deprecating conscience kicks in. What gives him the right to feel that way? He had a caring father already, and just because he died several years ago does NOT give him the right to replace him with a man he hadn’t even known for an entire year. And what about Ben? The man that basically raised him. Taught him right from wrong, taught him how to be a good person and how to care about other people. The one man that he should have been calling ‘dad’ this whole time because that’s what he was. Ben was his dad too, so why was he trying to replace him?

Why did he have to be so selfish? He’s already had and lost two dads; does he have the right to a third one? No. Does he have the right to replace them? No. So, why did his stupid mind insist on latching on to the first adult male who gave him any form of compassionate or protective attention? Why did his subconscious have to freaking imprint like a helpless duckling on the one man on the face of the planet who he’d been idolizing since the age of 5? And man, oh man, why did this guy have to care about him too? That just makes everything one hundred times harder.

He was such a selfish human being. Here he was wishing for another father when he didn’t even deserve the first two.

He drops his head and stares at his lap, drawing his knees up to his chest. How dare he be enjoying his life when he was the reason his Uncle could no longer enjoy his.

Tony draped his arm over his shoulders and gave him a soft squeeze, but he didn't make any move to pull him closer. He lowered his head to whisper so only Peter could hear him. “Hey kiddo, you okay?”

Peter didn’t want to talk about it, because once Tony found out, and his new father figure realizes that, yeah, Peter was being a selfish jerk. Then what would he be left with?

“Pete? What's wrong?” He spoke after Peter didn’t answer his first question. Tony sounded genuinely worried about him and Peter smiled just a bit at that. See, this is why he had these dumb thoughts. If Tony didn’t act like such a dad, he wouldn’t be having this problem.

“I-I’m just thinking about my Uncle Ben and my… real dad. Nothing to worry about.” He answered, keeping his voice in a low whisper so no one else could hear. He feels Tony's hand reach up to thread his fingers through the hair on the back of his head. Why did he just have to go and fix everything with one little gesture?

“Don't feel guilty kid.”

Peter couldn't help but wonder how in the world he knew, but it did make him feel better.

“H-How’d you know?”

“’cause I just know ya kid.” Tony grinned, scraping his dull nails against Peter’s scalp to comfort him. Giving his hair an extra ruffle after a few seconds and retracting his arm from around Peter’s shoulders and bringing it back to his side.

Peter feels fluttering in the pit of his stomach and he looks around at the others lounging on the couch, watching the TV. His guilt about his Uncle Ben slowly fades, because May was right. He would want Peter to be happy. Tony’s right too, he shouldn't feel guilty, Uncle Ben wouldn't want him to feel guilty, right? He’d be glad that Peter was able to be happy and move past the terrible things that have happened to him. That’s what he said his parents would want when they died, so he would want the same thing, right?

He can be happy.

Without really thinking he sorta just did an excited jumping collapse against Tony’s chest with a wide grin, curling into himself with such excitement he was nearly shaking. Which, by the way, looked super child-like. He tucked his feet beneath Tony's thigh and pressed his forehead against his upper arm, squeezing himself as close to the man as he could. He deserved to be happy. That’s what Uncle Ben has always wanted for him. That’s what May has been trying to explain to him ever since she found out about the whole ‘calling Tony dad’ thing. He was just reinvigorated with this discovery that he IS allowed to be happy.

It was one moment of weakness, one moment of desperately wanting to be a small child searching for his father’s love. One moment of allowing cuddly Peter to make an appearance. What a mistake that was. He didn’t think to take into consideration that Tony wasn’t actually his father, he wasn’t a child, and the man had probably had enough of his ‘hugs and cuddles’ for the day. He regretted his actions as soon as he realized what he did. He sucked in a short breath and waited.

He did again! Oh, my goodness he did it again! In front of the Avengers too! And Rhodey!! Oh my god, he was never going to live this down! Why did he have to be such a cuddly bastard?! Why couldn’t he hate affection from his ‘parents’ like any normal teenager on the face of the planet?

So, it was kind of a surprise (when it really shouldn’t be at this point) when all Tony did was clap him on the knee a couple times and continue watching the movie. Leaving him there to be curled around his side. The others weren’t so quick to dismiss the actions, of course. Instead, they opted for actively staring at the pair with wide eyes. So, Peter hid his face in Tony’s jacket, because everybody was staring directly at him! They already thought he was a snuggly, clingy little kid, now he basically just confirmed it. Great! Just Great! Now they'll never take him seriously. Especially when they inevitably find out that he is really Spiderman.

He can just see the headlines now. ‘Spiderman? You mean Spiderbaby? All he wants is some cuddles from his not real father.’ Yeah, he is so totally dead.

“I wanna cuddle,” he hears Clint whisper, “Will you cuddle with me Tasha?” Natasha raises her eyebrows at him and shoves him away when he leans closer to her.

“What about you Sam? Would you cuddle with me?” He grins and starts to wrap his arms around Sam’s neck, pressing his nose into his cheek.

“Nah dude! Get offa me!” He shoves Clint right off the couch, and Clint grins. He spots Peter peeking out at him and shoots him a wink. Peter hides his face again and pressed closer to Tony, basically burrowing himself into the man, which probably isn’t the best course of action considering the circumstances. But Tony was always good at protecting him, maybe he could protect him from the embarrassment too.

The smart thing probably would have been to move away, because you know, he was 3 years away from being considered a somewhat functioning adult, he shouldn't be cuddling. He doesn't need to depend on physical affection in order to be comforted. At the same time though, it reminded him of when he was little, and Uncle Ben would hold him on his lap, or against his side when he got too big, while they watched old movies together. He had never really grown out of it, and he's been deprived of it until now. Of course, Aunt May cuddled and coddled him all the time, but it just wasn’t the same.

“Barton! Stop teasing my kid! If he wants to cuddle you let him be. I don't need him getting all self-conscience about it just because some idiot didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.” Peter smiled against his shoulder and turned his head just enough, so he could peek out at the TV. He was right, Tony really could protect him from just about anything.

“Yeah, yeah, I know Stark. Don't get pissy.” Clint defends, chomping on a handful of popcorn.

“He’s just jealous ‘cause his son doesn't want to cuddle with him anymore. He was crying all about it the other night.” Natasha pipes up.

“Nat!” Clint whines, grumbling to himself and climbing back onto the couch.

“It’s true. He wouldn't shut up about it.” Bucky says, chomping on his own popcorn and watching with starry eyed amazement as the cars transform into robots for the hundredth time.

Tony barks out a couple laughs and pats Peter’s knee a couple more times, and everything slid into a comfortable silence as they watch the movie.

They all quieted down, and Peter wore a lazy smile and wrapped his arms around Tony’s larger one, using it as a makeshift ‘cuddle pillow’. Which was becoming really hard to stay awake, he's been so tired lately, and Tony was just so warm. He'll just close his eyes a little while, that way he can watch the movie without having to blink away the sleepiness in his eyes. Yeah. That should work. Definitely.

***

“Alright kiddo, I think it's time for bed.” Tony says, arching his back to stretch out the tired muscles as Peter continues to cling to his left arm.

“Shh, Tony. He's asleep.” Rhodey says, poking Peter’s cheek for emphasis.

“Don't poke him Rhodes. He hasn't been sleeping well, leave him alone.” He swats away Rhodey’s hand.

“So, what? You're just gonna sit here with him all night until he wakes up? He’s holding onto you like an octopus.”

“Well, no,” Tony mutters, “I was gonna just let him sleep till I headed to bed.” He glances around the couch as if he were looking for something.

“Hey, Vis, toss me that pillow would ya?”

Vision takes the pillow lying beside him and was about to toss it, but Wanda used her magic to let it gently float in the direction of the pair instead. Claiming she didn’t want it to accidentally hit Peter and wake him up. She was totally going soft for the boy, but she wasn’t the first and she was definitely not going to be the last.

Tony grabs the pillow out of the air and places it on his lap, giving it a few fluffs for good measure. “C'mon Rhodes, help me straighten him out. Let’s get him comfortable.”

Rhodey grabs onto Peter’s feet and Tony guides his head down to the pillow on his lap. Rhodey stretches out Peter’s legs just enough so that he's not scrunched up in a tight, uncomfortable ball.

Tony swears he hears the kid whine a little bit while they're moving him. He tries to be careful, so he doesn't wake him up. Even allowing his arm to bend at an awkward angle so the kid could happily latch himself to the offending limb. It took a while to find a position where he was both comfortable and sure that Peter wouldn’t be woken up.

“Alright Tony. Don't be up too late. Peter should sleep in a real bed, and so should you,” Pepper says. She stands from the couch and pressed a sweet kiss to Tony's lips then bends down to press one to Peter’s forehead. She bids goodnight to everyone else and heads down the hall to their room.

“Hey Sam, Come take a picture of us,” Rhodey whispers, beckoning him over to take his phone. Peter has his legs sprawled across Rhodey’s lap and his head pillowed on Tony’s. “I'm never gonna stop teasing him about this.”

Tony rolls his eyes while Rhodey grins at the camera, throwing his arm over the couch behind them. Tony avoids looking at the camera and settles on fixing his gaze on Peter, content on his lap. Resisting the urge to comb his fingers through the curls, because that would make him look like a mushy dad, and he didn’t need everyone knowing th-. Thinking! Thinking that!

“Hey, how come Rhodes gets to tease him but not me?” Clint asks as Sam snaps the picture of them.

“Cause I'm the honorary Uncle.” Rhodey retorts making a grab for the camera to scroll through the few Sam had begrudgingly taken.

“Can I be an Uncle? I think Uncle Clint has a nice ring to it.”

“No, you're the weird cousin that nobody likes, but still shows up at family reunions anyway.” Tony pipes up, shooting him a playful smirk.

“You're one to talk Stark!” Clint shouts as the rest in the room press a finger to their to their lips and hush when Peter stirs.

Tony drops his hand to run through Peters hair without thinking about it or the consequences. “Hey, I'm the dad in this scenario. Peter's relations with you are all based around me, so I wouldn't go arguing.”

He sees the way Rhodey looks at him, and he knows that as soon as these guys leave he's gonna get an earful from the man. There was a lot that needed to be discussed.

“Boss, I’m sorry to interrupt, but their seems to be another location that has opened up in space-time. It is responding to the frequency that was preset from the previous occurrence.” Tony glares up at ceiling. It wasn't FRIDAY’s fault of course, but he can't help but be a little pissed off at the timing.

“Where's the location?” He asks. The others around him seem to perk up as well, listening carefully to what FRIDAY says. Even Rhodey’s happy grin had dropped.

“I cannot identify it sir, the two seem to be communicating through a frequency that I cannot identify. As if there is an indiscernible link between the two.”

Even with FRIDAY’s volume lowered to a whisper, he can feel Peter’s body tense and a quick surprised jolt surge through his body.

The others don't seem to notice Peter and they turn to Tony when FRIDAY finishes speaking.

“What does that mean Tony?” Rhodey asks, looking over at him with lowered eyebrows.

“It means that something from another world, or time, or dimension, or... something... is here. I don't really know what's going on, FRIDAY has just recently informed me about it.”

“Could it be a spy?” Bucky asks straightening up, ready to head out for a good fight.

“I don’t know. From what I can figure out… there's supposedly some connection between the two. I don't know how to explain it.” He runs a hand through his hair and searches his brain. He really had no idea what this could mean. He WAS just going to leave it be, but now it seems to be getting to a point where he shouldn't.

“If I may,” FRIDAY speaks up, “this connection could be likened to that of instinct. Such as the theory of twins recognizing when their sibling is in a troubled state, or a parental instinct to protect their child. It is more of an abstract definition, that is why I cannot get a discernible reading on it. There is no scientific or mathematical way to explain or identify the abnormality as of yet.”

As if on cue, Peter yelps and he fists Tony’s sleeve in his hands. Tony panics, just as he always does when something is wrong with Peter, His eyes widen as he looks over at Rhodey. Speaking of protective parental instincts!

“FRIDAY, what's wrong?” He forgets about the whole other-worldly instinct thing for a moment. He didn't care, not one bit. Not when his kid was gripping onto him like he was about to be snatched into said other dimension. It reminded him too much of that dream the other night. He feels his breathing quicken, and his chest tighten. There was going to be no snatching or dusting away of his kid tonight. Nope. He’s not going to have it.

Peter is okay. It’s okay. It was just a dream.

“It seems Peter is having a nightmare.” Rhodey looks up at him and he releases a breath. A dream. It was always just a dream.

“Great,” he groans, “All this talk has triggered a nightmare. Crap.” He runs his hands through Peters hair and hushes him gently. “I should probably get him to his room.”

“Wait,” Vision says, stopping Tony when he begins gathering Peter into his arms. “How often does Peter have nightmares?”

Tony paused, because he honestly doesn't really know. The kid never really tells him when he's having trouble sleeping, but he knows he has them. Just the other night over the phone he had admitted to having nightmares pretty frequently.

“Pretty often. I don't know the exact amount, because he rarely ever tells me.” He decides that the truth is the best way to go, whether it embarrassed Peter or not. It's not like he was awake or anything like that.

“Hmm, it just seemed odd, that Peter began stirring the same moment FRIDAY informed us of the communication links. Has Peter been in contact with any alien technology lately?”

Okay, so this was not the way he wanted this to go. He can’t rightfully say that Peter had not come into contact with alien technology recently, because what if he has? He just doesn’t need him to get caught into this big mess.

“Not that I know of.” He answers truthfully, he was proud of his ability to mask his worry from the others. He just wants to get Peter up to his room and away from the prying eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Peter doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’m taking him to bed. It is just a dream. Goodnight.”

Tony lifts Peter into his arms and stands from the couch without much struggle, heading straight down the hall to his room with such ease. It’s as if he’d been doing it all the kids life. Rhodey following closely behind them. Tony laid Peter down in his bed as the boy continued to whimper softly. He refused to release Tony from his iron grip when he tried to tuck him under the blankets and pull away. Instead he tightened his hold and his sleeping expression steeled into fierce determination.

“Rhodes, a little help?” He grunts.

Rhodey’s able to pry Peter’s arms from around Tony’s neck long enough for Tony to stumble backwards, away from the bed. The kid had somehow maneuvered himself, so he could basically koala bear Tony’s body the short trip to his room. Tony didn’t even have to put any strain on his arms to carry him, Peter was clinging that much to him. Although, it did add a little bit of strain to his poor old man back.

“Mr. Stark! no,” Peter mumbles, crying softly to himself.

“Please,” he pleads, “not Mr. Stark.”

Tony rushed back to the side of the bed, Rhodey close behind him. Something was wrong, he could feel it in his gut. That stupid protective parental instinct was rearing its ugly head again. He watched as Peter continued to fidget around the bed and Tony was unsure if he should reach out for him or not.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter whimpered over and over again, before eventually…

“I don’t feel so good. Please… I don’t wanna go.”

Tony’s blood ran cold. That. That right there was so not okay.

Chapter Text

“Tony, Tony, Tones hey. You gotta slow down man. What’s wrong?” Rhodey asks, reaching forward with one hand to grasp a handful of Tony’s shirt, his other hand laying steadily on his shoulder to keep him standing. To say that the genius was freaking out was an understatement.

Tony didn’t seem all too thrilled about the ‘standing’ thing anymore, so he fell to his knees clumsily, bringing a shaky hand to his face to rub at his eyes viciously. He drawled in several shaky breaths, and Rhodey stayed glued to his side while he tried to regain control of his breathing, until the genius shooed him off, instructing him to check on Peter.

Rhodey didn’t seem too willing to leave his best friend by himself gasping for air on the carpeted floor, but when he sees the kid whimpering and thrashing around beneath the covers, he rushes over to comfort him with a calm voice, and a reassuring hand in his hair.

Tony watched as his best friend comforted his kid, while he sat there in a helpless heap on the floor. His head was still spinning and the short spurts of air he was able to take in an out were causing a few blotchy spots to invade his vision. What a mess he was. He can't even get ahold of himself long enough to comfort his own kid. He should be the one sitting at Peters bedside, coaxing him through a bad dream, but here he was, coaxing himself out of having an extreme panic attack on his pseudo son’s bedroom floor.

That dream though, why did those few words trigger the horrifying memory like images to flash in the forefront of his mind like some terrible future-revealing prophecy. The more he tried to repress it, the harder it was to deflect the terrifying effects. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and his lungs were constricting too tight to be considered even remotely comfortable. He was all too familiar with this feeling of helplessness, but this was to an entirely new extreme. Here he was, fretting over losing his kid and now he couldn't even get over himself and his own fears to protect Peter when he needed it most. What a great pseudo father he is. Freaking out over his own nightmares just because his kid said a few poor choice words to trigger the appalling fantasy.

Tony slowly scoots himself away from the bed, so his back is pressed snuggly against the far wall. The kid didn’t need to see him freaking out over something as trivial as this. It was just a dream. Just a dream. A dream he had nights ago. He just had to remember that it was nothing but a dream. None of it was real. Peter didn’t mean to say that. He didn’t say that. He’s right there with Rhodey. He’s not going anywhere. He’s not going to float away this time, because it is NOT real.

It doesn’t seem to help, because Tony can no longer breathe, he can’t feel his left arm anymore, but he can feel his throat closing and his chest collapsing on top of his lungs. His vision goes black and all he can see are the memories of that terrible dream coursing through his recollection of Peter disintegrating in his arms. All he can hear are the desperate gasps of his own breathing and the pleads coming from his son as he begged for Tony - the one person this poor ignorant child genuinely believed could do anything - to save him. They feel like memories. Why do they feel like memories? Why can he see the scene so vividly? Why did it have to be so real? They didn’t really happen. It was just a bad dream. Peter was fine. Peter. Peter was okay, he was fine.

Peter.

Where was Peter?

He couldn’t think anymore, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear. All his senses were jammed and orbiting the dread-filled memory, soaking up his last bits of touch with reality. All he could think about was Peter. Where was Peter?

“Pete?”

***

Peter woke up with a start and all he could see was black. His body was numb and for some reason his heart was racing faster than it had in a while. His throat was dry, and it pained him to swallow or to even breathe, something was wrong. Very, very wrong. He couldn’t breathe! Why can’t he breathe?! He sucked in a short puff of air, or at least he tried to. Something heavy was resting on top of his chest, and it wasn’t lifting fast enough. He needed to breathe! His lungs were screaming and no matter how many breaths he tried to suck in, he just couldn’t dull the feeling of slowly suffocating beneath whatever it was holding him down.

That’s when he felt a hand in his hair. Despite the weightless crushing sensation against his chest, the hand grounded him. Someone was there, someone was here with him. He was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

The familiar sensation reeled him in a little bit, and he was able to relax his attempts of drawing in a normal breath. It helped, but he was still unclear of what was going on around him and why he could no longer see. He didn’t know why he was so freaked out and why his Spidey-senses were spiraling all over the place without relaying an accurate threat. Why was his heart racing so fast it nearly burst out of his chest? Why couldn’t he seem to catch his breath? Why was his chest so heavy when there was obviously nothing there? He couldn't remember. It was all just a blur.

The hand on his head awkwardly petted his hair down and for a moment he thought it might be Mr. Stark, but no, that wasn’t Mr. Stark’s hand. He should know, the man spent the majority of last night doing exactly that to Peter’s hair and this didn’t feel at all familiar. No. Mr. Stark definitely wasn't this gentle and hesitant. His hands weren’t this steady and rhythmic. No, this was someone else, and he wasn’t sure how fond he was that someone else was here with him when his powers and his senses were all out of whack. Where was Mr. Stark?

He blinked his eyes open, which took much more effort than it should have (No wonder it was so dark). It took a while, but eventually with heavy concentration and deep, controlled breaths, he was able to regain slight control of his normal bodily functions, and he could finally see. He wanted to cry in relief, because he knew exactly where he was.

He was still at the Tower, in fact, he was still in his bed. Then he heard the voice belonging to the hand petting his hair. That voice was unmistakable, why hadn’t he heard it before?

“Hey, kiddie. Can you hear me now?” Rhodey asks. Peter breathes a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it wasn’t some psycho bad guy with a freaky hair fetish or something. That would have been bad.

He nodded his head with as much control as he could, but for some reason he still couldn’t breathe right, and his head hurt like super-duper bad now. It felt like some idiot was continuously trying to cut through his skull with a painfully dull knife, right between his eyes. Boy was it painful. He closed his eyes again and leaned back into the bed, trying to regain control, a little bit of it at least. At least he was feeling things again, even if his senses were on overdrive just a bit.

Then he heard a soft noise from across the room. It sounded like a sharp, choked gasp, but it wasn’t his own. He’d know it if was his, and that was not it. Someone else was in the room with them.

He snapped open his eyes again and looked frantically at the space around him, despite the throbbing protest screaming from his skull. Then he saw him.

Mr. Stark?

He scrambled to get out of the bed, nearly face planting into the floor as he did so. Thankfully, Rhodey was there to catch him by the back of the shirt and straighten him back out. Trying to gently lay him back on the mattress.

“Hey, hey. Calm down. Get back in bed kiddie, you need to chill out for a second.”

Peter ignored him and darted across the room on wobbly feet, suppressing the urge to groan as his headache came close to hitting the point of unbearable. He could feel Rhodey’s grip on the back of his shirt, trying to pull him back into the bed, but he fought against him and surged forward. He didn’t know why, but something was telling him he needed to get to Mr. Stark. Now. Some instinct deep inside him was shrieking painfully and the only person that had a chance at fixing it was Mr. Stark. He needed his Mr. Stark.

Rhodey eventually released him and Peter sunk to his knees next to Tony, sitting against the wall, head cradled in his hands. He didn't look in much better condition than how Peter felt.

“Mr. Stark? What happened?” He asked, reaching a hand out as if he were about to touch him, but Rhodey grabbed ahold of his wrist before he could make contact with the panicking man.

“Kid. Not a good idea. Just let him calm down for a second okay?” Peter looked over his shoulder at him, and even though he just wanted to hug Mr. Stark until all the bad feelings went away, he did as Rhodey asked and kept his distance. He couldn't be selfish, not when Mr. Stark seemed to be in this much distress. Why was he always thinking of himself and his own discomforts? He was such an idiot! Mr. Stark needed him to stay away and there he was, being all selfish, trying to pry a hug out of the man when he obviously was not up to the task.

“Pete?” It was a slur of words as Tony lifted his head, eyes wide and chest still spasming from his erratic breathing. Peter was hesitant to reach out and he glanced back at Rhodey. He shrugged his shoulders, watching the pair with curious, yet worried, eyes. So, Peter reached out a tentative hand to place on Tony’s arm. He didn’t want to push the boundaries, not if it wouldn’t be okay with him. He just wanted him to feel better, he didn’t like seeing that panicked look on his mentor’s face.

Tony locked eyes with him and Peter could see the fear in his eyes, pure unadulterated fear. It was not something he’d want to see on his mentor’s face ever again. It made him want to curl in on himself and cry, because Tony Stark wasn’t afraid of anything. If he was afraid, that means that Peter has to be afraid too, right? Right?! What was wrong? What was going on?

Before he had the chance to curl in on himself, Tony had him enveloped in his strong arms, in a warm, comforting embrace. It was everything Peter needed, and he could feel the panic disperse through his body and his heart finally seemed to be calming down. Peter’s face was pressed into his chest, while he cupped the back of Peter’s head, fingers curling and threading into his hair on the back of his neck, and the back of his shirt. Peter felt the man press his face into his hair and take several deep breaths, hearing the small whispered mantra in his ear that Tony kept choking out between his wavering gasps for air.

“I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

In any other situation, Peter would have been ecstatic, jumping for joy, eating it up and relishing in the affection. But, something was wrong with Tony and he didn’t know what it was. So, instead, he pulled himself more firmly against the man, pressing his nose into the side of his neck and clutching fistfuls of the back of his shirt. Tony needed his help, and he was going to do his best to help him. It didn’t hurt that it was doing wonders for his own panic and fear as well. Tony could make him feel safe anywhere, he just wanted to do the same for him.

Peter didn’t know how long they were sitting like that. Tony rocking them back and forth, but now his headache was fading, and his senses were beginning to calm down. He could smell Tony’s aftershave, and it grounded him that much more, helping him to suppress the fear still violently gnawing through his chest. Tony was here, there was no reason to be afraid. Tony would always protect him.

“Rhodey? What’s wrong? Are they alright?”

That was Pepper, it was easy to pick out her voice too.

Peter could feel Tony tense, though.

“Pep?” He rasped, never releasing Peter from his arms, not that Peter was complaining or anything. He’s pretty sure that he’d spiral into another panic attack if Tony let him go at this point. The fear wasn’t as prominent as before, but it was still lurking around for the chance to attack when he’s in a vulnerable state. He just couldn’t figure out for the life of him why. Why was he so afraid?

“Oh, Tony. What happened?” Pepper asked, crouching beside them, and threading a hand through Tony’s hair. Peter watches curiously with a side eye peeking out from where he’s pressed against Tony’s shirt as the interaction continued with Rhodey watching protectively in the background.

“I-I’m not really sure,” Tony began, his arms loosening a bit around Peter, but for some reason that freaked Peter out a lot more than it should have. Like, it was legit ridiculous.

Fear creeped into his chest, a familiar one at that. He could feel it festering in the back of his mind, he could remember the feeling of emptiness and panic in that moment, but it was unidentifiable. He didn’t know what it was, but it was there. Even his senses spiked as Tony continued pulling out of the embrace, and he had the sudden urge to scream at the oncoming rush of fear expanding across his chest and rising dangerously up his throat. He’s never felt such panic before. It was a sudden surge of an unbearable feeling of ignorance and fear and he just didn't know what to do. He didn't want Mr. Stark to let him go. He just didn’t want Mr. Stark to leave him.

“No, Mr. Stark,” he whimpered desperately, clawing at the man’s shirt fisted in his hands. “Please, I-I don’t wanna go.”

The words pooled out of his mouth so naturally, he didn’t even think about it. Where those words came from, he doesn’t know, but it seemed to affect Tony in the same way the loosening hug had affected him. The arms that were previously falling away were wrapped around him in an even tighter hug than before. Tony’s breathing became ragged once again and he whispered into Peter’s ear. Keeping his face firmly pressed into Peter’s hair as he squeezed the boy against his chest.

“I’m right here kid. I promise...I won’t let you go. Not ever again. Okay?” He heard the shake in his mentor’s voice, and he couldn't help the guilt settling in his stomach, because he had done that. He had freaked Tony out all over again. Just because he couldn’t get over himself and his own stupid fears. What a selfish bastard he was. Selfish, selfish, selfish. Why did he have to be so selfish?

“I’m sorry.”

“No. Please no,” Tony choked, pressing his face firmly into Peter’s hair. “Don’t say that Pete.”

The man pressed his lips to the side of Peter’s head, keeping his head locked as closely as he could as if he was afraid that Peter was going to float away at any moment. Peter felt the silent tears dropping onto the top of his head as Tony kept his mouth firmly against his head, taking in and releasing quick spurts of breath into his hair as he continued whispering his mantra. Peter couldn’t help the few tears that leaked out of his own eyes at that.

“Tony. What’s going on? Let me help you.” Pepper says, worry lacing her voice as she lowered herself next to Tony and Peter. She pressed a kiss to the top of Tony’s head and placed her hand on Peter’s back in a comforting gesture.

“I-I can’t,” Tony swallowed, choking over his own words. “The dream. I can’t.”

Pepper seemed to understand, so she stayed silent, wrapping herself around the two silently.

“It’s okay. Shh. Just breathe.”

***

Who knew how long it took for the two of them to regain control, but both Rhodey and Pepper seemed wary of the whole situation. As if just a few well-placed words would send them spiraling back into another bout of choked breaths and suppressed sobs.

Rhodey had spent most of his time chasing off nosy or worried Avengers, while Pepper stayed right by their side as a solid source of comfort for both Tony and Peter.

Tony seemed to calm down before Peter did, but even then, he didn't dare let go. Peter was grateful of course, but he could still sense the guilt pooling in his stomach from freaking Tony out all over again. He really didn't mean to do that. He didn’t want to be the cause for Tony’s panic.

“You-you okay kid?” Tony asks, voice muffled from his face still pressed against Peter’s hair. Peter nodded against his chest, because he really was feeling better now. All he was suffering from was embarrassment really. That was something he’d probably get over at some point over the course of the next year hopefully.

“That's good. Good. Uh… mind telling me about that dream you were having.”

Tony sounded hesitant to ask the question, but Pepper silently urged him on with a nod of her head.

But Peter was simply confused. What dream? He didn't remember any dream, all he remembered was falling asleep, a lot of blurred horizons, and mumbling voices. Then, before he knew it he was awake with this freak of a panic attack awaiting him.

“I-I didn't have a dream Mr. Stark.”

Tony froze, and the hand that was previously unknotting a few of Peter’s curls had paused its ministrations and fell to the side. Rhodey shared a look with the genius with just as much confusion gathered behind his eyes.

“Are you sure kiddie?” Rhodey asks, taking a few steps away from his post at the door. “You had everyone kinda freaked out about it. Even FRIDAY said you were having a nightmare.”

Peter shook his head again and turned his head, so his cheek was pressed against Tony’s chest, so he could see the man.

“I-I don't remember anything. I just- I just went to sleep and then-then there was some blurriness and voices an-and colorful lights, and then I was awake. But like super scared, and my senses were everywhere. I-I was super freaked out about something, but I don't remember why.”

Tony’s whole body stiffened around him and he most definitely did not like the way Rhodey’s warm expression hardened into a frown at his words.

“FRIDAY do a scan. Make sure nothing freaky is going on with my kid.”

Peter knew he should be scared and freaked out by everything, considering everyone else seemed to be, but he just grinned like a doofus and turned his head to press his nose more firmly into Tony’s shoulder, so the others couldn’t see it. He's going to take advantage of Tony’s apparent generosity for cuddles and hugs that he’s been willingly giving out over the past day and a half. Not to mention Tony just referred to him as ‘my kid’. Yeah, that was freaking awesome too.

Wow, oh wow. Did that do funny things to his heart. His poor, clingy, adolescent heart. He didn't care if this is the day he found out he was dying. This was about to go down as one of the most tranquil days of his life. Even with the whole major freak out thing.

“There are no notable abnormalities affecting Mr. Parker as of right now.” FRIDAY answered a couple seconds after Tony voiced his worry.

He could feel Tony's grumble vibrate through his chest, and he could feel the man start to shift beneath him. Oh no. Why did he have to start thinking that? Now the universe is going to notice that he’s actually happy and comfortable for once and they’re going to screw it all up. Why did the entire world seem to have it out for him?

“As much as I'd love to cuddle on this terribly uncomfortable floor with a teenage spider for the rest of the night. I think it's about time to get back to bed. Don't you think?” Tony asked, gently hinting at the idea of separating without actually doing so. Probably trying to avoid an incident like after the last attempt. Not that Peter blamed him really. They were both pretty freaked out after what happened, and Peter was still confused about that, but STILL! No. He most definitely did NOT think that was a good idea. Not in the least.

“B-but what if I get all freaked out again?” He panicked. “I don't wanna go back to sleep.” He kept his arms tightly latched around Tony’s waist, he didn’t want him to leave. He was so comfortable!

Tony gave him a soft smile and Pepper helped him maneuver Peter, so they could slowly rise from the floor. Tony’s joints crackling and popping as he did so. Peter kept himself pressed against the man, hanging most of his weight on him. He didn’t care if he was being a baby, or if he was going to utterly and completely mortified and humiliated by this when he’s lucid enough to comprehend his idiotic actions, but STILL! He didn’t want it to be over!

“Sweetheart, you still have to sleep. And if you have another nightmare, we will all be right here with you. There is nothing you need to worry about.” Pepper says, smoothing a hand over Peter’s hair, and helping him back to standing on his own two feet so he’s not latched around Tony.

“Pepper’s right kiddo. You need to get some rest,” Tony replies with a wobbly smile, “we’ll figure this all out in the morning.” Tony steps towards him when he sees his crestfallen expression, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leading him back to his bed. He gives him a gentle nudge when they reach the edge, urging Peter to get in.

Peter complies, of course, but not without voicing his severe distaste for the idea. No matter how tired he was.

Tony sits down on the edge of the bed as Peter grumbles while he resituates himself beneath the blankets.

“Do you want FRIDAY to leave the lights on dim?” Tony knew exactly how Peter was feeling, heck he just went through it himself. Which helped Peter’s embarrassment at the admittance of needing a nightlight. If Tony Stark needed a nightlight occasionally, then it couldn’t be too babyish after all.

“Y-Yeah.” Peter answered quietly, rolling to the side to hide his reddening face.

Tony chuckles and the lights in the room adjust to the dim setting that Tony had specifically preset for occurrences such as these.

“Alright kiddo, you get some sleep okay? If you need me, you come get me.” He instructed firmly, pointing an accusatory finger at him, “You hear?”

Peter nods, and Tony smiles down at him warmly. He brushes a few locks of hair from his forehead and cups his cheek momentarily before giving it a couple playful swats, eliciting a happy giggle from Peter. Tony sucks in a shaky breath and smiles down at him.

“Night buddy.” Tony stands up from his seat on the edge of the bed and Peter looks up at him to watch as he leaves. He sees that Pepper and Rhodey had both left, and Tony was the last one.

Of course, if he had been fully awake at this time he would have never dared to do what he did (nor would he have done what he had just a few moments ago), but here he was. He seemed to be extra clingy and lovey-dovey this weekend for some reason, it was beginning to become really obnoxious. Normally he would rather have had Thor blast him with one of his lightning bolts then say this out loud again, but of course, he was Peter Parker and he just did not know when to keep stupid his mouth shut.

He’s been using the whole ‘tired’ excuse quite often, hasn’t he?

“Love ya Mr. Stark.” He mumbled. Knowing good and well he wasn’t going to be receiving an answer but feeling that maybe Tony might appreciate the thought if he didn’t already think it was weird.

He almost choked on one of his own lungs when Tony responded without any thought, shooting him a warm smile before he shut the door behind him.

“Love you too kid.”

***

When Tony sat back down in his seat in the living room he raised his hands to scrub at his face, politely requesting for everyone to leave. There seemed to be a few mild protests amongst the group, but with one look at the distressed look on his face, they were up and ready to head back down to their personal quarters. They knew better than to press and prod at an emotionally unstable Tony Stark. Rhodey and Pepper stuck around after the others left, because there was some important stuff that really needed to be addressed. What just happened was freaking creepy, like that bizarre magic type creepy. It most definitely was not normal, and it was probably not okay to keep it to himself any longer. Tonight, was a night of confessions apparently. Not like he could hide it from them anymore. He’s quite sure he’d be harassed until he told them anyways, so he might as well just rip the band aid off now.

When the others left he leant back into the couch with a sigh and began explaining the dream he had the other night. Both Rhodey and Pepper listened without interrupting, allowing Tony to recount the terrible things he had witnessed in the dream with repressed details, along with the odd realness he felt along with it. He quoted word for word what Peter had said to him, because he was sure he would never be able to forget it, not when seconds later the same kid disintegrated into nothingness after begging Tony to save him.

He could feel his heart begin to race again as he recounted the story, but he refused to let it overcome him again. He knew it was fake. He knew that! His subconscious just seemed to think otherwise.

He told them how Peter’s words, while he was having the nightmare, had triggered the dream and he couldn’t help but relive the entire experience with terrifying familiarity. One of the downfalls of having a genius-like memory sadly. If only his mind could focus on remembering something important instead of a stupid, traumatizing nightmare.

“Tony…” Rhodey pauses, “do you think that maybe that weird time-space thing is affecting you and Peter through dreams?”

“I don’t know,” Tony sighs, “I just know that the dream I had the other night was nothing like anything I’ve experienced before. I just hope I don’t have some weird future-prophesying abilities. That would suck.”

“Well, for all we know right now. This could all just be one big, unrealistic coincidence. Peter doesn’t remember his dream, so there’s no way to prove that it’s correlated with yours. We shouldn’t start getting worried until there’s a reason for us to be worried.” Pepper says, putting a comforting hand on Tony’s shoulder. Always the voice of reason.

“I know. I just don’t know what to do Pep. What if my mind is trying to tell me something, or warn me about something that’s supposed to happen? What if I don’t figure it out until it’s too late and Peter dies because of it? I can’t let that happen.”

“Pepper’s right Tones, we shouldn’t over think it for now. Whatever this is, it’s not from our world and we can’t measure it or track it. None of your sciency stuff can explain this. So, for now we just need to wait and see what other information comes along. Hopefully, we can find something then.” Rhodey reasons, giving him a terse pat on the back before standing up. “You don’t want to freak the kid out with this either.”

Tony nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, I know. I’ll see if I can get in touch with Thor and see if he can meet with me. If this thing really is from another world he’s the only one I can think of that could help.”

“I’m proud of you Tony. You’re doing the right thing.” Pepper says, noting his serene acceptance of his inability to understand.

“Yeah? Well...my kid’s at stake. I don’t have a choice.”

Chapter Text

When Peter wakes up the second time that morning he’s basically oozing the excited cheeriness that had developed before he had even fallen asleep the previous night. His pure, clingy little heart almost stopped beating when his mentor and longtime idol said those three words to him without a bit of hesitancy. The thing he had been worrying about since Saturday morning is a moot point now, because Tony Stark actually cares about him: Peter Parker. Tony Stark cares about Puny Penis Parker. If that wasn’t a confidence booster, he didn’t know what was.

Despite his contrary belief, everything about this weekend (besides that big freak-out thing) has been amazing. He’s pretty sure he won’t be able to stop grinning for the rest of the year, and the best part is he’s not even embarrassed by any of it! That may be because he isn’t completely awake yet, though. He’ll probably be back to overthinking every little thing when his sleep-addled mind is lucid enough to piece back together the embarrassing events that have occurred over the course of this weekend.

He was excited, but his exhausted, adolescent body doesn’t seem too fond of this newfound enthusiasm, though. It is the morning, after all.

Although his body may be sluggish, and he can barely keep his eyes open, the grin is still there. He lazily smiles during his entire trek down the hall, taking no care to the fact that there might just be a few surprise guests waiting for him in the kitchen. Nope. Today was going to be his day with Mr. Stark, and he isn’t about to let it be ruined by a bunch of nosey superheroes, no matter how much he knows Rhodey’s going to tease him.

As always, that was probably just the sleepiness talking, along with this abnormal happy-high he was experiencing. So, as he walks into the large room, rubbing at his eyes, releasing a wide yawn, and looking much like a five-year-old child, he spots Mr. Stark lounging on the couch with his STARKpad and fuzzy slippers adorning his feet propped up on the coffee table. Who would have thought that Iron Man wore slippers? Peter knew. When he first found out, it was by mistake, but apparently, Mr. Stark didn’t mind being casual around him anymore. Though, that should really be a given at this point, considering all the cuddling and crying over each other they’ve been doing for the past two days. The crying thing was just one time though, and Peter would prefer to never speak of it again.

The morning news played on in the background, and he kinda-sorta registered Pepper and Rhodey chatting together in the kitchen, but there were zero Avengers. Zilch, Nada, None.

Sweet.

“Morning kiddo,” Tony hums tiredly, looking up from the tablet and taking notice of Peter’s half-asleep state. He lifted his coffee mug to his lips and took a quick sip before displaying an awkward smile. Peter’s fairly sure the man's just a bit hesitant. He was probably still wary because of the events that had happened last night, and Peter didn’t really blame him. He could tell that they weren’t going to be speaking about that night for a while.

So, he waddled over with half-lidded eyes and that same dopey grin on his face. He doesn’t even hesitate to begin to cozy up into Mr. Stark’s side, cause yeah. He can totally do that now. They were finally there; way past hugging might he add.

Tony leans forward to drop the mug onto the coffee table, before Peter could get too comfortable, so he has a free hand to work with. He drapes his arm across Peter’s shoulders with the practiced ease he had developed in the short couple of days they had been doing this. Inviting the kid into his warm embrace, as he combs his fingers through Peter’s unruly curls and turning his attention back to whatever he was focused on his tablet. Neither of them even thinking to mention the events of the previous night. It was a mutual understanding, and they were both happy to abide by it.

Peter hums contentedly as Tony combs roughly through his hair, pulling at knots and tugging on loose strands. He really couldn’t believe this was his life. How many people can say that they’ve cozied up with Iron Man? Wait no, that sounded kind of weird. How many people can say they’ve...come into physical contact with Iron Man for an extended period of time and he wasn’t completely repulsed by it. That’s right. Not many. Just him… and Pepper or course, but Pepper didn’t count, because she was his future-wife and all that. Peter wasn’t about to marry Mr. Stark and the man was still okay with Peter being this close to him. It’s a definite win.

There’s one thing to add and check off his ‘things likely never to happen’ bucket list: using Tony Stark as a legit pillow. Yeah. That was pretty freaking amazing. Too bad nobody would ever believe him if he told them. Except Ned and May, but he wasn't going to tell them because that would just be super embarrassing. Especially with all the inevitable teasing, squealing, cooing, and knowing grins. Yeah...no thanks.

“You comfy there kid?” Rhodey teases, sitting down on his other side, purposefully jostling Peter enough to be considered a nuisance.

Peter grunts in annoyance and burrows in closer to Tony, tucking his cold feet beneath Tony’s pajama cladded thigh and grumbling into his chest.

“Don’t tease me,” he whines, “I’m a lovable, cuddly human-being and you’re just jealous that you don’t get all my cuddles.”

Wow. Yeah. He must be pretty out of it if he just admitted that out loud. He must be pretty out of it if he was doing THIS in general. He is glad he's out of it though, because this was freaking amazing and he'd never be brave enough to try it fully awake.

“You tell him kiddo,” Tony praises, with his gaze fixed on the tablet in his lap as he taps at something on the screen.

“C’mon kiddie. Don’t be like that. I’m your Uncle Rhodey, I deserve at least a few cuddles, don’t I?” Rhodey smiles, scooting closer to Peter, his leg braces whirring irritatedly at the awkward motion.

Before Peter could answer, Tony wraps his arm tighter around his shoulders and brings him in closer, flush against his chest. He looks up from his tablet to stare at Rhodey. Daring him to ‘just try and steal my cuddles. See what happens’.

Rhodey would have laughed out loud at the irony of it all. Who would have thought that ‘The Great, Emotionless Tony Stark’ would be brought down to his domestic little knees because of some kid who's somehow got him obsessed with cuddles. As tempting as the jab was, it was endearing to see his friend so… well, happy. So, he kept his mouth shut and swallowed the fit of laughter threatening to spurt forward at his new revelation.

“I’m the only one that Peter is allowed to hug from now on,” Tony says looking pointedly at Rhodey before fixing his gaze on Peter. “If I hear you’ve gone all Judas on me kid, I won’t be happy.”

Rhodey allows a small chuckle to slip through that time, and maybe even a small roll of the eyes.

“Whatta bout May?” Peter asked drowsily, letting his eyes slip closed as he bathed in his mentor’s warmth, contrasting against the morning chill he felt when he left his warm, comfortable bed.

“May’s an exception.” Tony answered gruffly, turning back to his device.

“Pepper?”

Tony took a few moments to answer that one. “I suppose Pepper is fine.”

“Captain America?”

“Definitely not.”

“And definitely no Rhodey?” Peter clarifies.

“No Rhodey.” Tony confirms.

Peter turns to look at Rhodey with faux remorse. “Sorry Uncle Rhodey. I can’t give you any of my cuddles.” He teased, falling back against Tony’s chest, and closing his eyes with a mischievous grin quirking up at the corners of his mouth.

Rhodey grumbled lightheartedly and scooted away from the pair, kicking his feet up on the coffee table and leaning back into the cushions with a sigh. Maybe just a little jealous of the charming bond between the two. It doesn't matter how many time's Tony or Peter deny it, they were totally father and son, and it was absolutely adorable.

“FRIDAY turn on some cartoons for Spider-baby here. We gotta make up for the lost time Saturday morning.” Tony instructed, and Peter didn’t even object to the nickname, because well, he didn’t really mind it. Maybe later today he would mind, but right now he didn’t.

The theme song of a familiar cartoon blared through the speakers and he heard Rhodey’s joyous shout of approval. Just as the show began, Pepper made her way over with two plates piled with eggs and bacon. She handed one to Rhodey and set the other on the coffee table in front of Peter and Tony before heading back to the kitchen to retrieve the other plates.

“C’mon kiddo. You gotta eat breakfast,” Tony urged, setting his tablet to the side, and reaching for the steaming plate in front of them, which in turn, caused Peter to follow unwillingly.

“But I’m sooo tired,” Peter grumbled collapsing back into Tony’s nightshirt when he finally grabbed the plate and leaned back into the couch.

“Yeah? Well if you don’t eat your breakfast I’m going to have to force feed you like a baby, and I know you wouldn't like that.” Tony retorts, “You need to keep that metabolism fed kid.”

Peter grumbled lightheartedly and sat up to take the plate. Tony retracted his arm from around his shoulders to accept his own plate from Pepper as she walked along behind the couch. Peter kept close though; sitting so close to Tony their shoulders could have been melded together. Pepper sat down on Tony’s other side, hooking one flannel clad leg over his knee as she poked at her eggs. And Rhodey… well Rhodey sat a good distance away from the trio with his lonesome self.

“I can’t believe I wasn’t invited to your little snuggle party,” he grumbled, keeping his eyes fixed on the TV as he ate his breakfast. They all ignored him of course.

Peter was the first one to inhale his breakfast and he didn’t hesitate to latch onto Tony’s arm, pressing his cheek against the older man’s bicep and curling in close while Tony absentmindedly finished off his own breakfast. Keeping a steady hold of his plate even despite the spider kid fastened tightly on his arm. They all sat in a comfortable silence for the duration of the first episode, until they heard a loud bang sound above them, followed by an echoing pained yelp.

“Sir,” FRIDAY seemed to sigh. Could AI’s sigh? Apparently, they can, because Peter is pretty sure he just heard her do that. “Mr. Barton is in the air vents again.”

“Tattletale!” A muffle shout cried out from somewhere in the ceiling. It caught their attention, that's for sure. There wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind on who was up there. It was quite obvious.

As if on cue, Clint Barton dropped down from the ceiling, landing in an awkward, hero-like pose in front of the TV. Leaving the ventilation cover swinging back and forth over the opening he dropped through.

Tony stared, displaying a calm facade to mask his underlying irritation, slowly blinking his eyes as if this were a totally normal occurrence. To Peter it seemed a little bit too calm, considering that the man himself was typically anything but calm and collected. Clint seemed to catch on to Tony’s deceptive calmness as well and the corners of his lips quirked up into an anxious smile.

Tony didn’t have time to break out of his calm-trance and give the archer a well-deserved lecture on privacy, because by then the elevator doors were dinging and the group of heroes from the previous night piled into the room in one large hoard. Peter swears he could feel Tony’s breathing quicken and he wasn't sure if he was going to lash out at the others or not. He prepared himself for the possibility though.

“Yo! There’s little Cuddly Corey.” Sam laughed, giving Peter’s shoulder a lighthearted shake from behind the couch. Peter could feel the rumble of Tony’s repressed growl echo through his chest. Probably not going to end well. For these guys at least.

“His name is Peter, Sam.” Steve reprimands, walking around the other side of the couch to sit in the loveseat.

Clint takes that as his cue to escape Tony’s morphing glare, and he scurries across the room towards the couch.

“Nah, he's Baby Stark.” Bucky grins shyly.

“I believe, considering the interesting circumstances, that ‘Junior’ is a better fitting name.” Vision pipes up, floating over the couch to sit down comfortably on Rhodey’s right side.

That seems to make Tony snap and he voices his dislike for the situation with a deep-seated, threatening growl, forcing the words out through his gritted teeth.

“May I ask why you all felt it was necessary to invade the privacy of my living space?”

“Clint said that you were being all cute and cuddly with your little family. We couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see that, now could we? It’s very rare we ever get to see a wild, ‘domestic Tony Stark’.” Natasha answers with a grin, flopping down right next to Peter. Sweatpants and all.

Peter, of course, is far from comfortable with the whole situation. Sure, the Avengers were literally amazing and the coolest people in the universe, but that didn’t mean he was okay with them interrupting his last day with Mr. Stark, Pepper, and Rhodey. And now that they’re here teasing Mr. Stark about letting him be clingy and stuff! Now, Tony is going to get paranoid and self-conscious about the whole thing and he’s going to realize how weird it is. And-and they’re just going to ruin everything. Haven’t they already caused enough trouble already.

“You idiots need to leave us alone.” Tony scolds, “can’t you see I am trying to enjoy my time with my son and future wife.” He glances over and notices Rhodey’s glare, “Oh and Rhodey too.”

“C’mon Stark. We just wanna get to know the little guy,” Clint teases, “it’s also kinda nice to see you acting all lovey-dovey for once. I would have never pegged you for a family man. It’s a good look on you dude.”

“Shut up Barton,” Rhodey defends, “I’m the only one here allowed to tease Tony about that. You know how self-conscious he gets about this kind of stuff.”

“Hey now-” Tony tries to interrupt, but they just keep on talking right over him.

“How come you’re the one allowed to tease the kid and his dad? Maybe I wanna have a little fun too.” Clint grumbles, locking eyes with Rhodey and lowering his brows threateningly.

“When you’re Tony’s best friend for the better part of 25+ years, you might be in line to receive that right, but for now… I’d leave them alone if I were you.” Rhodey threatens, raising a menacing eyebrow right back at him.

Peter’s sure he remembered Tony saying something about Rhodey and Clint having some kind of rivalry slash head-butting thing going on back in the days before Civil War happened, perhaps even worse than Tony and Steve’s habit of creating heated debates over nothing. Peter was still unaware of the whole situation, but it had to be quite an accomplishment to challenge Tony Stark’s spiteful resentment for the national hero.

“Alright-alright. We’ll behave,” Clint resigns, sinking back into the cushions of the couch.

Peter’s nerves eventually get the best of him. To say he was embarrassed by his current actions being displayed to the others, would be accurate. If they ever found out who Peter really was they would never really take him seriously. So, he needed to man up and act his age. No more of all this ‘cling to your mentor/father figure’ business. At least in front of an audience.

He hated it, he hated everything about it, but it just had to be done. Obviously, Tony didn’t want to make him feel bad and make him sit up, but Peter could tell he was uncomfortable with the looks they were receiving. So, it was probably best for him to just do what needed to be done so Tony wouldn’t have to feel bad doing it.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Tony placates, pulling him back down to his chest when he attempts to unwrap himself from the man’s arm and move away. “Just because these idiots are jealous doesn’t mean you have to feel embarrassed kiddo.”

Peter’s starstruck. That’s all there is to it. Maybe Tony is still trying to sell the whole ‘Peter’s my son’ thing, or maybe he really does enjoy the closeness. His vote is on the latter, because well...Tony’s been very clingy himself lately, challenging even Peter’s craving for physical affection. And based off the events of last night, he’s confident that Tony cares a lot about him. It’s official now, so he won’t let him deny it. This, though, is just taking it to another level.

So, as Tony tugs him back into his hold, Peter’s just a little embarrassed at the raised eyebrows directed their way. He hides his face into the man’s soft pajama shirt and tucks his feet beneath his leg again.

“Sorry, I just didn’t want to embarrass you in front of everybody,” he mumbled, because he was never all too great at keeping his mouth shut.

“Embarrassed?!” Tony barked out, laughter coating his questioning outburst, “in front of these guys? Oh please! They’re nothing but a bunch of pansies.”

“Tony.” Pepper reprimands from his other side, “be nice to your friends.”

“No, they’re his used-to-be friends. They don’t deserve to be his friends after what they did in Germany,” Peter answers for him, lifting his head to lock eyes with Pepper. Tony stares at him, long and hard.

“What happened to all that hero-worship buddy?”

“Just because I said they don’t deserve to be your friend doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re awesome. They are superheroes after all.” Peter grinned. “Don’t give yourself so much credit dad.”

“Alright-alright, enough bad-mouthing us,” Natasha pipes up, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table. “I think it’s high-time we get to know you Peter. It’s not every day we find out that one of our teammates has a secret child.”

“I agree.” Steve steps in with a nod of his head, shooting a quick glance in Clint’s direction.

Peter glances at Tony before he addresses her implication. He’s still not all too sure of what the game-plan was, Tony was never awfully specific, but to be honest, he’s never specific about anything really. He’s still confused about that whole ‘grey-area’ thing.

“It depends on what you’re wanting to know Romanoff,” Tony answers stiffly, loosening his hold on Peter so he could have a little more wiggle room.

“Well, let’s start with an easy one.” Clint says excitedly.

“What’s your favorite color?” Sam chirps, turning to give Peter his full attention. Everyone followed, quieting their ministrations, and giving Peter their unwavering attention.

To say, being the center of attention in a group of superheroes, that have legit saved the world multiple times, was awesome, would be an understatement. Thankfully, Peter was able to understand the high privilege he was receiving, and he wasn’t about to underappreciate that privilege.

“Uh...red?”

“Animal?”

“...Kangaroo.”

“Food?”

The questions kept coming and coming, becoming so outlandish it was almost laughable.

“So, if you were trapped in a room with a knife, rope, and gun. How would you-”

“OKAY!” Tony interrupts loudly. “As endearing as this little Q&A was, I think it’s high time you guys leave.”

Of course, there were many objections to the notion, but Tony doesn’t give a crap. Today was Sunday: his last day with his kid, and he was not about to have Peter’s attention stolen away from him any longer. The kid had gotten so excited during their whole questioning thing, that he had slowly inched his way away from him, moving closer and closer to Natasha as she asked him question after question. The kid didn't even realize he had done it, and that just pissed Tony all the more. The others hadn’t even been around for longer than 30 minutes and they were already stealing his kid from him. He wasn’t about to sit here and let that happen. The others should know by now: he’s a selfish bastard who doesn’t like to share his things.

It was one thing for the others to garner the boy’s attention for a few measly minutes when they weren’t in the middle of bonding, or when there wasn’t a limited amount of time that could be spent with him. It was another thing for them to steal so much of Peter’s attention that he was basically a forgotten beacon in the background.

He knew that eventually, these little moments between Peter and the others would build, and before he could even blink, Peter would have bonded with another hero. It wouldn’t be exceedingly difficult for the teen to find a better fitting mentor to look up to, considering that Captain freaking America was sitting right there. It was best to just nip this problem in the bud. He couldn’t risk losing his kid just yet, not when he’s already felt what life would be like without him.

He had always been a sore loser, and this time was no different. Peter was his ‘not his’ kid, not there’s. Still, it was only fair that all of Peter’s attention was directed onto him, not the bastards who’ve been fighting him from the day they’d met. He thinks he might deserve at least some semblance of love and normalcy that came along with having a kid, without having to worry about him being stolen away.

“Yeah, I think you guys have intervened in our precious morning enough. Kid’s got school tomorrow let him enjoy this rare moment with his old man. Now beat it,” Tony snaps.

Although his threat was came off more half-hearted than intimidating, he was still pissed when Clint and Sam scoffed in amusement.

Thankfully, Peter realized the significant distance that had developed between them and he scooted back towards the genius with a guilty smile. Apparently, he was fully aware of the reason behind Tony’s frustration, so he slid closer to him until their shoulders were pressed together.

“Aww, look at ‘em. Stark can’t even go a few minutes without his cuddly baby right next to him,” Sam cooed teasingly.

Rhodey glared at him and Tony’s eyes narrowed as a growl escaped from the back of his throat. He was becoming more irritated by the second and thankfully Steve picked up on his moodiness.

The soldier herded everyone back up and took them downstairs, even despite Clint and Sam’s protests. Tony gave him an appreciative smile before he exited the room, and Steve gave a slight nod in return. Ever since they had been pardoned, both Steve and Tony have been putting forth and extra effort to be civilized and understanding towards each other. They didn't need a repeat of last time.

So, the original four were left at peace again, and they made it through another episode of their cartoon before Pepper announced that she was going to get ready, so she could leave and had to get some work done. Tony, of course, protested when she tried to leave his side.

“Tony, stop. You have Peter to hug and fuss over. I’ll be back tonight. You boy’s be good.” She pressed a kiss to Tony’s grumbling lips and one to Peter’s forehead. “I don’t know if I’ll see you before you leave tonight Peter, but if I don’t: goodbye, and have a good day at school tomorrow. I’ll see you on Tuesday sweetie.”

Peter lazily waved goodbye, and the three of them continued their binge of Dexter’s Laboratory. And Peter quickly discovered that apparently, Colonel James Rhodes and Tony Stark were still secretly children at heart, because Peter was pretty sure they enjoyed watching the show more than he did. The show was great an all, but it was much more entertaining to watch the other two men watch it instead.

They sat through a couple more episodes and eventually Rhodey had to leave too, claiming that he was needed at the air base in a couple hours.

He ruffled Peter’s hair and was able to peel him away from Tony long enough to get a small hug from the boy, because he wasn't sure when he would see him again. So, Tony allowed it the one time and bid goodbye to his friend before turning his attention back to the TV. He lifted his arm, allowing Peter to fit right back where he was, and they continued their early morning cartoon binge on their own.

They finished the entire first season before Tony suggested they went to work in the lab for a while, which Peter excitedly agreed to. Even though he thoroughly enjoyed being clingy and whatnot, after he had awoken a substantial amount his perception of the situation swelled, and he could feel the lingering embarrassment settling in his chest. Also, his body was beginning to cramp from being curled up this tightly for so long.

So, Peter stood and stretched his muscles and Tony did the same, rolling his neck slowly to dislodge a few of the kinks that had formed. Then they both left to their separate rooms to get dressed for a fun day in the grease filled workshop.

As always, they get down there, get to work and end up losing track of time. They work on the Iron Man suit, they work on Peter’s suit, and a few other gadgets. Tony told him about his new prototype for the Iron Spider suit, and Peter was beyond excited to try it on the next time he was allowed to go to the compound. Overall, it was a fairly successful day in the lab, and Peter got a majority of his homework done too.

Before Peter even knew it, it was time for him to start getting ready to head back to May. The weekend was amazing, and he wished that he didn’t have to leave, but he’s sure that May was missing him, and it was probably best that he get home and get back into the routine of things.

That didn’t stop the pout that formed on his face as he wandered around the workshop, though. Gathering his things and stuffing them into his backpack. He had yet to complete a visit to the Tower without forgetting at least ONE thing, and ever since Tony had pointed it out, he's been determined to retrieve all his belongings. He's yet to be successful, and Tony teases him about it every time.

While Peter finishes his fifth round around the lab, almost complete in his search for his belongings (though there's still some upstairs too), Tony points out his sour attitude.

“What’s got you all gloomy?” He asks, fiddling with a delicate ring of metal lit up by a steady stream of light emitting from the adjustable lamp on his desk.

“Nothing,” Peter grumbles, falling into the chair next to Tony with a big huff, crossing his arms on the table and resting his chin on top of them. Watching with captivated interest as Tony delicately folds his fingers around the object, fitting various parts together with a practiced hand.

“Well there’s obviously something.”

“It’s just...this weekend was so much fun, I don’t want it to ever end.” Peter sighs, tapping his fingers absentmindedly against the counter and watching curiously as Tony methodically maneuvers the metal to fit into the device. He’s always found it so mesmerizing to just watch Tony work with such precision and knowledge. It’s inspiring and comforting in a way. He would be fine with just watching Tony work for the rest of his life. With a few hugs and snacks snuck in here and there, of course.

“Yeah?” Tony chuckles after placing the device aside and turning to face him with an arched brow, resting his hip on the edge of the table.

“Yeah,” Peter affirms, getting up from his seat and swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

“Well, I had fun too kid. It was kinda stressful, sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Steve that confused. And it was kinda nice getting acquainted with your clingy-cuddly side.” Tony laughs genuinely at that, throwing an arm around Peter’s shoulder, when he sees the boy’s embarrassed blush, to guide him in the direction of the elevator. “As much as I’d love you to stick around, you’ve got school in the morning, and I’m sure your aunt is already missing you like crazy.”

Peter nods his head in agreement. Just because he agreed with the logic didn’t mean he had to like it after all.

“I know.” He steps into the elevator with Tony and once it starts its trek upwards he snaps his head to look over at him. “I can still come over Tuesday and Thursday after school, right?”

“Course kiddo. Happy will pick you up, and he’ll probably even get you some ice cream. Your Uncle Rhodey is in town after all,” Tony teases with a grin. Peter rolled his eyes, but Tony noticed the giddy smile he was failing to hide.

“Boss, before you step out the elevator. I feel it best to inform you that you have a few more visitors.” She announces as the elevators come to a halt at Tony's floor, so Peter could gather the rest of his things.

“Who is it FRIDAY?” Tony asks, stepping into the foyer. He could already hear boisterous voices in the Living room, it was pretty clear who it was riling the rest of the hyper-raddled heroes into a state of happy shouts and manic laughter.

“I feel it's best for you to see for yourself Boss.”

Peter cocks his head to the side in confusion, following Tony around the corner. The occupants come in to view and his heart leaps into his throat. All movement within his body stops and he doesn't think he knows how to breathe anymore.

Ohmygod! ItsThor! AndisthatBruceBanner?!

He wasn't all too sure who the third man was, but he definitely had that familiar look to him. That guy wasn’t important though, what was important was the God of Thunder and the famous world-renowned scientist standing right in front of him!

“Stark! It's good to see you my friend!” Thor shouts joyfully when he spots the two in the doorway.

Peter isn't too sure how to process the whole thing, looking much like he did on his first encounter with the other heroes. Tony didn't seem to be doing much of a better job than him either. Peter couldn't tell if his mentor was simply confused by the haircut and lack of one eye or if it was something else. Either way THIS WAS FREAKING AMAZING! Two of the coolest people in the universe were here!

“And is that the young Starkson that I've been hearing so much about?” Thor asks rushing towards Peter to swing an arm around his shoulders. It nearly knocks him to the floor with the sudden weight of the god’s arm resting on his shoulders. Peter looks up at the big, muscular man with so much awe he's fairly sure it actually makes Tony jealous for a second. If that scowl the genius was wearing is anything to go by.

“Thor.” Tony replies tersely, “what is going on?” Peter looks over at his mentor and follows his line of sight to the man shifting from foot to foot beside Dr. Banner.

“Well, you called for me, did you not?” Thor asks, turning up an eyebrow in a questioning gesture.

“I did,” Tony nods slowly. He doesn't get to continue the thought because Peter's overexcited fanboy self just couldn’t help it anymore.

“OMG Dad! You called Thor? Please please please just let me stay one more night.” Peter practically begs, clasping his hands together in front of him and jutting out his bottom lip in a pitiful pout. “Pleeeasse. You can't just call the God of Thunder and expect me to go to school tomorrow.”

Tony glares. Peter isn't sure if it's directed at him or the arm still tossed around his shoulder.

“None of that,” he snaps, “you're going to school, and you are especially not staying here with Mr. ‘Massacre’ around.”

“To be fair,” the man Peter didn't recognize steps forward lifting a finger to make his point, a sickly-sweet smile stitching upwards across his face. “That was only one time.”

That’s when Peter was able to place him face. His eyes widened. ‘cause oh. OH

“Oh.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, Tony, the kid’s not here, you can tell us what’s going on. What’s the deal? Adopted? Lovechild? C’mon man.” Sam asked as soon as he spotted Tony entering the room. He leaned forward curiously, as Tony made his way to the kitchen after spending his entire morning hiding out in his lab. He’d been avoiding everyone all day, even his own Science buddy, Bruce, and they hadn’t had a moment to properly question him about the events of the weekend. Tony knew that everyone’s been dying for at least a tidbit of information, but he was determined at keeping a tight lid on it this time. If Thor and Loki could live with the fact that he had a son without needing any other additional information, everyone else could too. It really wasn’t that hard.

“Can it, birdman. Like I said before, it’s not any of your business. He’s my kid, and that’s that.”

Sam and Clint both grumbled under their breath as Tony moved onto the fridge to retrieve his lunch after starting up the coffee for a fresh brew. Bucky looked completely disinterested in the conversation, perfectly satisfied with his sandwich as the other two harassed Tony for answers. Steve sat beside him and didn’t speak a word to Tony despite his obvious turmoil over the issue.

At this point, Tony was expecting the questions, and he was fully prepared to deflect and ignore. His hopes were that they’d eventually die down, and accept it, and even perhaps go back to the compound and never speak about it again. The less they knew the easier it would be to excuse any mistakes he or Peter would inevitably make. But he knew better than to depend on that hope, the world just didn't work that way.

As he continued on with his ‘deflecting and ignoring’, Tony stole a quick glance at the 4 sitting at his table, realizing that there were a select few missing. He wasn’t all too worried about where Wanda and Vision were, or Natasha for that matter. He was much more curious as to wear the genocidal maniac and his brother had disappeared to.

After his discussion with Thor the previous night, his insight about the dreams were even more unclear and jumbled than it was before. He proved to be no help in the matter, leaving Tony back at square one.

He wasn't all too dependent on Thor for answers anymore, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious as to where they were, though. In fact, it was probably best that he kept good tabs on Loki’s whereabouts, just in case of another...incident. Despite all of Thor’s claims about his brothers so called ‘changed attitude’, Tony still felt he reserved the right to remain wary of the man that threw him out of his own window.

“Where’s Thor?” He questioned, when curiosity got the best of him. Wherever Thor was, Loki was sure to be too, right?

“He went to take care of some things in New Asgard. He said he was going to be back tomorrow morning,” Steve answered quickly, dropping his gaze to his plate as if it had suddenly transformed into a remarkably interesting piece of art.

“Hmm, he’s not bringing that brother of his back with him, is he?”

“I’m not sure, but if it’s any consolation, he seems to be less... murderous,” Steve notes, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

“Yes, of course,” Tony scoffed, “That pardons him of all crimes. I’ll be in the lab.” He says, spinning on his heel and waving a dismissive hand behind him.

When Tony’s gone, Clint launches back into their earlier discussion with a newfound passion. “See? I don’t get it. He’s being way to secretive about this. I think something’s up.”

“Weren’t you the one supporting all this?” Bucky questions exasperatedly.

“Well yeah, I’m all for believing that Pete is Tony’s son, but there’s something else going on with them. I’m a spy, I can tell when somebody’s hiding something from me. It’s weird for Stark to be this discreet about something so big.”

Sam voiced his agreement and Steve nods his head in as well. Something just wasn’t adding up. Either Tony was lying about Peter, or there was another big secret slithering around right under their noses.

“Considering that you all sorta turned against him with the snap of a finger, I don’t think it’s weird at all. He’s just trying to protect his kid, you know.” Bucky says with a shrug, taking another large bite of his sandwich.

“We’re not dangerous Barnes, there’s no reason to protect him from us,” Sam snarks, “if anyone were dangerous, it’d be Stark. The guy’s got no reason not to trust us.”

“I think he’s got several perfectly sound reasons not to trust us… I did kill his parents after all.”

“Buck, we’ve been over this,” Steve sighs, placing a hand on his friends shoulder reassuringly.

“All I’m saying is that you guys didn’t leave on the best of terms, and Tony’s been through a tough enough time as it is. You guys are nowhere near to as close as what you used to be. You guys just need to let him breathe a little. He obviously never wanted us knowing about the kid in the first place, and we’re the ones that barged in here demanding to know what was going on. This was probably one of his most guarded secrets, just give him a little more time.”

“I hate to say it, but he’s right.” Clint sighs, “I probably wouldn’t be too happy to have my kids around the people who turned against me either.” He pauses for a moment and groans. “Fine, I’ll give Stark some credit this time.”

“Alright then, we’ll stop pestering him about it,” Steve reasons, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t get answers another way.”

***

“Hey, Tony. I need to ask a favor,” May says over the phone while Tony chews on the sandwich he had just obtained from upstairs.

“Shoot,” he mumbles through a mouthful of bread.

“Well, I have to work the night shift again tonight and I was wondering if Peter could stay over with you. I don’t want him being here all alone the entire night, and Pepper told me about what happened this weekend, I think it’d be really good for him. If you’re too busy I can always send him over to Ned’s.”

“Yeah-yeah, sure, the kid can come over,” Tony responds easily, waving his arm dismissively as he takes another large bit of his sandwich. He should have probably pondered the request more, considering that everyone was still obsessing over their personal business. His sensical reasoning was easily overpowered by this ridiculous mush in the pit of his stomach that had him craving for a nice rush of oxytocin. Stupid Peter and his adorable clinginess had done this to him in just one weekend. He was a Stark for crying out loud! He was known for his reluctant tolerance of anything involving touching or interacting with other human beings, and here comes this kid who basically shoves all that nonsense out the window. How dare that little bastard!

“Thank you so much!’ May gushed. “He’ll be so excited. He’ll get off from school soon. You can pick him up at six.” And without any more discussion, she hung up, leaving a grumbling Tony to deal with his newfound revelation.

“FRIDAY have Happy pick up Pete at 6 and tell the others that they need to be off of my level by 5:30.”

“Of course, Boss. It’s taken care of.”

***

“Ok, wait.” Ned interrupts, placing a shaky hand on his friends shoulder to silence him. He was literally about to burst, because what Peter had just told him was like… he didn’t even know. This was unprecedented!

Peter stopped his jabbering and turned to look at his best friend with an exhilarated grin. He could see the lively twinkle in Ned’s eyes and the unnatural frequency the larger boy was vibrating at. It looked like he was about to spontaneously combust at any given moment. And really... Peter should have seen it coming, he should have seen the signs, but he was too enraptured by his own excitement, and Ned was just too quick for him.

“You met ALL the Avengers?!” Ned shrieked, jaw dropping in astonishment; but Peter was quick to clamp a hand over his mouth and hush him irritatedly before he could say anything else. He didn't need the entire school knowing about it, especially Flash, but as he glanced down the hall at everyone staring at them with amused grins, he didn’t think that that would prove to be much of a problem. It wasn’t like anyone ever believed him about this stuff anyway. Still, though! What if someone was oblivious enough to actually believe it? ‘cause really, anyone would believe anything these days, no matter how ridiculous it was.

“Shhh, Ned,” he scolds, removing his hand from his friends face hesitantly when he saw his eyes grow in a sheepish apology.

“Sorry, dude,” Ned apologizes, looking rightfully guilty for no more than two seconds before his excited grin reappeared. “But c’mon. This is awesome! Why didn’t you call me when it happened?”

Peter dragged Ned along with him outside, away from the school and away from the prying eyes of his classmates, where they could speak in peace, and could freely fanboy over the whole weekend without having to worry about someone overhearing the conversation.

Ned continued with his babbling, asking question after question varying from Captain America’s eating habits to Black Widow’s pajamas, as they walked past the school, headed towards their favorite park to hang out at. Peter just let him ramble, knowing from experience that it was probably best for his dear friend to get it all out of his system before he actually tried to explain himself. He already knew that recounting the past weekend was going to take much longer than a few minutes, considering Ned’s constant freak-outs over everything involving Iron Man and the other Avengers. It’s probably a good thing he refused to tell him about it until the end of the day, because he would have been pestered each class with his incredibly in depth and ridiculous questions about the smallest and most insignificant details that only ‘Ned Leeds’ could wonder about. He definitely learned his lesson after the whole ‘Spiderman’ incident.

Peter knew that if he was able to drag his excitable friend a safe enough distance away, he could totally geek out over the whole weekend right along with him, which was something he’d been wanting to do ever since that Friday night. He’s far past the point of calm and collected. He just wanted to spill his guts on everything that happened, and who better than his best friend? It took literally every ounce of his self-control to not blab to him as soon as he saw him that morning, he just had to wait a little while longer.

They finally made it to the park, backpacks slung comfortably over their shoulders as Ned continued on with his wild gestures and wide eyes as he fabricated some ridiculous scenario. Now it was safe. Peter was free to fanboy all over the place without having to worry.

“Ned you don’t even know dude!” Peter practically squealed, vibrating at such an intense frequency he could probably shatter glass if he really wanted to. “I have so much to tell you.”

Ned didn’t even talk he was so excited, he just opened and closed his mouth like a star struck fish as his grin grew wider and wider. So, Peter just continued without waiting for his response, throwing his backpack onto the nearest park bench, and climbing to the top of the kiddie playground while Ned circled beneath him.

“So, first was Friday night, yeah? And I was all nervous and everything you know, but when I got there Tony was like totally fine with everything. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t remember or something, but he was totally normal about it.” Peter took a deep breath, grinned wide, and looked down at Ned nodding along with every word he said, looking up at him as if he put the stars in the sky.

“Anyway, we went down to the lab and everything, right? So, then Tony was like ‘maybe we should go watch some movies’ and I was all like ‘heck yeah, let’s do it’. So, we watched Transformers. Then I was getting tired and cold and stuff ‘cause you know I haven’t been sleeping a lot ‘cause of Spiderman and Decathlon. But, dude, you know what happens when I get really tired and stuff.” He looked over at Ned to make sure he was following along.

“Yeahyeahyeah. Sleep drunk and octopus arms! What happened?” He asked, nodding his head frantically and circling the tiny playground as Peter did some basic climbing on the metal poles and flimsy chain ladders.

“So, like, you know, I wasn’t really thinking straight, right? ‘cause I was all sleep drunk, right? And Tony’s like really warm and stuff, and like, I get super clingy when I’m really tired, right? Octopus arms and everything...So, like-”

“No way,” Ned breathed, eyes bugging out of his skull, “are you telling me that you cuddled with TONY FREAKIN’ STARK?!” Ned’s voice raised at least five octaves in his excitement and thank goodness this park was free of any nosey eyes and ears that could pick up on the entire proclamation. Except that wide-eyed, curly-headed, brunette staring at them in the distance, but Peter’s fairly sure she couldn’t actually hear what they were saying, so it was okay. She probably just heard Ned scream or something, which by the way, was freakishly loud. Like, seriously... people upstate probably heard him.

But Peter could care less, because if Ned hadn't done it, he probably would have. So, he just nodded frantically, grinning like a crazed maniac as he went across the monkey bars for the hundredth time.

“Yeah, man. And he’s legit the best pillow ever. Like, he totally didn’t even care. At first, I was all like ‘ah, man, this is gonna totally freak him out’ ‘cause you know, he’s not big on the whole touching thing. But, dude. He was totally fine with it, he didn’t even care, he just like... put his arm over my shoulders and it was like seriously the best hug ever.” Peter grinned as he wrapped his arms around himself to demonstrate just how amazing it was. “And it’s crazy, but he was in like total ‘dad’ mode and everything, he played with my hair just like Ben used to do and he made lame jokes, and-and duude… it was just amazing.”

“Dude,” Ned breathed out, “Iron Man is a hard-core cuddler, man.”

“Yeah, you don’t even know the half of it. He was like obsessed with it the rest of the weekend. He kept letting me give him hugs and everything. He even hugged me once in a while, it was totally amazing. It might have been because he was trying hard to convince everyone that I was his son, but still-”

“WAIT! WHAT?!”

Oh, yeah, that was a pretty important part to the story. Oops.

“Yeah, so like. The Avengers ended up coming up to Tony’s place while we were watching movies and stuff, and Tony shoved me in his rooms ‘cause he was all freaked-”

“You were in Tony Stark’s bedroom?”

“Not important, Ned,” Peter sighed offhandedly.

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Anyway…”

So, Peter basically recounted the entire weekend in so much detail that Ned could practically picture himself there the entire weekend. Peter was full-on fanboying by the end, and Ned was eating it. All. Up. Question after question, as they left the park and followed the sidewalk on their usual path home.

“So, wait.” They stopped when they reached the intersection where they had to part ways. “Just to be clear… the Avengers think that you’re Iron Man’s son.”

Peter nodded.

“And Tony Stark's a cuddler?”

Peter nodded again.

“And you had some scary-weird prophetic ‘not-dream’ that you think is like… from the future?”

Peter nodded emphatically, and Ned kept going.

“AND now you have to call Tony Stark ‘dad' in front of the world's mightiest heroes?”

Peter nodded his head sheepishly that time as he answered the same series of questions for about the fifth time. Ned just shook his head in amazement and sighed.

“What even is your life dude?”

Peter didn’t have an answer for that one, and Ned obviously wasn't expecting one, because he turned on his heels and slowly made his way through the maze of people. Walking with his head tilted towards the sky as if his entire world had been turned upside down and had dunked itself into a pile of amazing and crazy.

Peter watched in amusement as Ned trudged in the direction of his home with glazed eyes, because, yeah, it was kind of crazy to believe. Peter himself was having trouble believing it.

When Ned disappeared from view, Peter turned on his heels and took off running towards his apartment, dodging snotty businessmen, and old ladies busy walking their dogs. He couldn’t wait to get home and tell May all about the weekend.

Tony had dropped him off with instructions to go right to sleep the night before. So, Peter didn’t get to stay up long enough to see Aunt May after she had gotten off her shift, but based off the excited text messages consisting of multiple exclamation marks, question marks, and a variety of ghost-faced emojis, May was pretty excited to talk too.

He shuffled through his pockets to retrieve his keys and he was engulfed by a huge hug as soon as he opened the door. May was chattering excitedly in his ear. Going on and on about what Pepper told her about the weekend.

“You need to tell me everything!” She instructed, dragging him into the apartment and shoving a packet of crackers into his hands. He prepared himself for another long explanation, but he was excited to fanboy over it all over again, even if it was with his Aunt.

He's pretty sure he'd never get tired of fanboying over this. He's probably going to still be doing it when he's thirty and has kids of his own. He'll be telling them all kinds of stories about grandpa Tony, so they can love him just as much as he does.

***

“Hey Happy!” Peter greets joyfully, scrambling into the backseat with a wide grin on his face.

“Hey Junior,” Happy smirks, glancing back at him through the rearview mirror. He watches as Peter's face falls into one of complete and utter devastation while his cheeks brightened so much, he could challenge even a tomatoes complexion.

“You know???” He groans miserably. It comes out as more of a whine than anything else.

“Yeah, Pepper’s been going on and on ‘bout it ever since Friday night. I know Everything. And of course, you know how your dad is...never wants to shut up.”

Peter clamps his eyes and cries miserably, falling back against the seat. The entire weekend was amazing, and he was not regretting it by any means, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t embarrassed when he was teased about his childish actions. Why of all people did Pepper have to tell Happy? And why in the world was his dad- Tony! He meant Tony. Why was Tony talking to him about the weekend? It was literally just last night that Peter last saw Happy. How could he have already found out so much already? Now, he would never let him live it down, and neither would Rhodey. His life was freakishly amazing and a suck fest all at the same time. Why did his uncles have to be so embarrassing?

“How’s some ice cream sound, kid? It’s been a while since we’ve done anything.” Happy asked, keeping his eyes fixed onto the road as he merged into the traffic. Peter would swear he could see the slight smile on the driver's face, but he couldn't be too sure.

It took almost all of Peter’s willpower to not giggle like a little girl at the seemingly trivial comment, because yeah, it’s totally a thing. Happy totally gets jealous when Rhodey comes to visit. How great is that?!

He wasn't about to ruin it either, he knew from personal experience that Happy was extremely sensitive when it came to his pride, almost as bad as Tony’s, and he was going to leech off this particular spout of jealousy for as long as he could. Especially if that leeching won him some ice cream every once in a while.

“Ooh, yeah! That sounds great!” He didn’t said tease him about the underlying motive, because Happy would quickly deny it, and Peter wouldn't be able to get his ice cream. Happy's pride is a sensitive thing, and if Peter wanted to stay on his good side, he'd better not do anything stupid like insinuate that Happy actually had a soft spot in his tough, bodyguard heart just for him.

“Alright kid, just don’t go off and tell your dad that I let you have dessert before dinner.”

Peter just about let it slip after that snarky comment, but he was a good person. Plus, he just really wanted ice cream.

“Happy,” he whined, glaring at the man in the rearview mirror, “it’s not funny.”

“Of course, it is kid,” Happy grinned.

What really was the use of having blackmail if you didn’t use it? Ice cream, ice cream was the reward. He could do this for ice cream. He just has to harness his last bits of self-control.

Just keep your mouth shut for once so you can get some ice cream, you can do it.

***

After they stop for ice cream at a cute little corner joint, Happy drives Peter back to the Tower. With the added ice cream in his system, Peter’s bouncing all over the place in excitement. Who wouldn’t be excited to meet the God of Thunder. Obviously, he’d already met him last night, but he really didn’t consider that a proper introduction, because yeah, Tony dragged him back to the elevator before he could ask the god any questions. Of course, he was excited to spend time with Tony too, but he did that all weekend, and meeting Thor was like… something he’s been wanting to do since he saw him in the battle of New York, which was forever ago by the way. Then again, Tony probably wouldn’t be letting him come over if Thor and his brother, Loki, were still around. Which...sucks.

Oh well, he’ll probably get to meet the god at some point anyway. His fake dad is Iron Man after all.

When the elevator doors open, he’s immediately bombarded with the sound of squabbling in the kitchen. He shoots and excited grin over his shoulder at Happy, completely forgetting about his disappointment, before running through the Living room and nearly tripping over the designer rug (If Pepper were there, she'd have his head).

“Mr. Stark?!” He called out, glancing around the room before he did so, just to make sure there weren’t any eavesdroppers lurking around the room.

“Look! He's here, whatcha gonna do now, huh?” He hears Tony snap. Peter couldn’t get a clear view of them yet, but the image in his mind consist of a sassy Tony Stark with lowered brows and hands on his hips, and it was freaking hilarious.

“Get out of the kitchen Tony. I don't need you wrecking my dinner plans.” Rhodey snaps right back.

Peter skids to a halt in front of the two men, looking between them both with a bemused grin. Rhodey was dressed in a hilarious ‘kiss the colonel’ apron, courtesy of Tony most likely, and Tony had a face full of flour. Which was much more hilarious than the image that had been concocting in his mind. Because here stood Tony Stark with lowered brows, hands on his lips, AND a face full of flour! Perfection.

“Excuse me! Whose kitchen is this? Last time I checked it wasn't yours!” Tony retorts, trying to side-step Rhodey and rush into the kitchen, but Rhodey cut him off with a simple side-step of his own, and he whapped Tony in the head with the wooden spoon.

“Last I checked this was Pepper’s kitchen.”

Tony glares at him and lifts a hand to rub at the sore spot on his head. “Touché.”

He spins away from Rhodey to face Peter, who was suffering by an intense case of giggle fever. Tony’s glare morphed into a light smile as he gently poked at Peter’s side. “So, kiddo, how was school?”

Peter caught his breath and bounced excitedly in his seat when he looked up at the man. His encounter with both Ned and May had helped him exceed the average limit of excitement one could hold in a day. Plus, the two humongous scoops of ice cream Happy had gotten for him just seemed to fuel that fire. And now! He was just pushed into overdrive after witnessing the hilarious exchange. And apparently, Tony wasn’t aware of his unusually white face, which was making it all the more hilarious. Who wouldn’t giggle like a maniac after that scene?

“It was good! I told Ned all about what happened this weekend!” he breathed out after catching his breath.

Tony raised his eyebrows at him and he felt Happy clap him on the shoulder as he passed. Peter whipped his head around to look at him as he headed towards the large dining table across the room to kick back and read his book. Then, he turned back to focus his attention on Tony again.

“Well, it sounds like you had a great day kid-”

“Hey kiddie, wanna help me with dinner? I could use some help with these biscuits.” Rhodey pipes up, lifting a measuring cup full of flour and nodding his head suggestively. “We're gonna need enough to feed an army.”

Tony, of course, was by no means jealous when he sees the way Peter's eyes lit up in excitement. It made him frown, obviously, when he was no longer the center of the kid’s attention, but he’d just have to get used to it (He didn’t need to become one of those clingy obsessive parents). He did, however, grin amusedly when he heard Happy grumbling to himself in the corner as Peter began to excitedly respond to his request. Even despite the minor distraction, though, Tony wasn’t about to let Rhodey steal his kid away after kicking him out of his own kitchen. The line needed to be drawn somewhere. So, he cut Peter off before he could readily agree. Besides, he could find a much more entertaining project to work on with the kid.

“Nice try Rhodes, the kid came here to spend time with me, not you.”

“Tones,” Rhodey sighed exasperatedly, “you hogged him the entire weekend. I hadn’t seen him in weeks. I was being polite, but now it’s my turn. I'm the Uncle.”

“Yeah? Well, I'm the dad, so what I say goes,” Tony argues.

“You’re not really his dad, Tony.” Rhodey deadpans, pointing the wooden spoon at him, accusingly, and planting his other hand firmly on his hip.

“If I'm not his dad, then you're not his Uncle!” Tony retorts, proudly.

Rhodey gasped, and he threw his hand up to cover his mouth, to amplify his fauxed offense. “You take that back!”

“You take it back!” Tony snaps right back, his voice rising a couple octaves to make him sound even more like a child.

Peter watches them with amused delight as they bickered back and forth. It was always such a treat to sit in on one of the famous Rhodey-Stark squabbles.

Then, Happy clapped his hands together, loudly, to capture their attention as he stood from his seat.

“Why don't we head to that video game store you like Pete? My treat. We’ll let these idiots settle their differences while we’re gone. Maybe they’ll figure something out by the time we get back.”

Peter smiles widely, because yeah, three successful, grown men were basically fighting for his attention, and it was freaking spectacular. He couldn’t wait to tell Ned all about it. This almost beat meeting Thor. Almost.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tony tuts, “Hap. Don't think we don't know about your secret one-sided rivalry with dear Rhodey here. We know all about you sucking up to the kid to win his favor.” The genius lifts his chin in amusement as he smirks at Happy.

“I’ve done no such thing.” Of course, he denies it, it’s Happy.

“Yeah, sure,” Rhodey smiles knowingly. There was no point in arguing it, because everyone in the room already knew otherwise, and there was no way that Happy would ever admit to it. So, instead he turned to look at Peter and he raised his brow.

“You know... Why don’t we just ask Peter what he wants to do?”

Peter wasn’t expecting that, and he was most definitely not expecting all three heads to turn towards him expectantly. His jitters were gone. They were now replaced by the familiar feelings of nervousness and embarrassment. How was he supposed to choose?! He’d never been the best at making decisions, and especially not now, when it came to picking between people to spend time with. If only Thor were here.

Tony was always the default answer, duh, but Rhodey was right. He had spent the whole weekend with Tony, and it was rare that he was ever able to see Rhodey. He was always off doing military work, War Machine stuff, or PT. Then there was Happy, who was actually pretty awesome to hang out with when he wasn't grumbling and complaining the whole time. And the only time he wasn't grumbling or complaining around Peter was when Rhodey was in town…

Boy, what a prickly pickle he's found himself in.

He doesn't have to think about it much longer before he finds a solution, and he grins widely. Why choose when you don't have to?

“Why don’t we ALL make dinner? It will be fun.” He grins encouragingly, looking between the three men excitedly. Rhodey looks proud, Tony seems a bit too calm, and Happy just looks perturbed by the whole concept.

“No can-do kiddo. I’ve been banned from the kitchen since the omelet of 2008.” Tony answers stiffly, stuffing his hands in his pockets and dropping his gaze to his shoes, with the usual slight smirk playing on his face to hide his underlying disappointment.

“I think an exception can be made as long as someone supervises you, right?” Peter reasons, because he really didn't want to do it without Tony. He never really wanted to do anything without the man, so the point was basically moot, or ‘moo’ as Joey would say, because sometimes he just had to suck it up, be a big boy, and make it through his life without having to depend on his childhood hero for every little thing.

“I can attest to that,” Rhodey smiled, throwing an arm around the grumbling man next to him.

“I’d just like say, if anybody starts throwing food, I request that no eggs find their way into my hair,” Happy sighs. Peter grins impishly, because there really was no telling what mischief they were going to get up to without Pepper’s supervision.

“No promises.”

***

They make it through dinner without too many incidents. Peter was assigned the tedious task of watching and assisting Tony to make sure he didn’t set anything on fire. He found it quite amusing that a man with so many talents could suck so badly at such a simple thing like cooking. Rhodey and Happy ended up having several petty arguments over how to cook the biscuits, and Peter was just having a grand ol’ time.

The Lasagna was in the oven and he only had a little bit of dough and flour in his hair by the time the first batch of biscuits made it onto the pan.

They literally made like two billion biscuits! There were so many! Peter just gave up counting after the third sheet exited the oven.

Tony and Peter finally finished placing the last of the biscuits onto the metal sheet and placed it in the oven. By the time they were done, the entire countertop was piled high with steaming biscuits, but lots of biscuits probably came with the territory of housing a bunch of hungry superheroes.

After they finished their designated task, Peter shimmied on over to aid Rhodey and Happy in rolling out the cookie dough for dessert.

“Why do you always make chocolate chip cookies?” Tony complained, rolling out another piece of dough onto the metal sheet. “Is that the only desert you know how to make?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t actually know how to cook Tones, I only know like 3 recipes, and that’s only because I had to help make them every year during Christmas and Thanksgiving- Peter! Stop eating the cookie dough! You’re going to get salmonella.”

“I thought uncles were supposed to be cool,” Peter pouts, mumbling through a mouthful of dough.

Tony smirks and grabs the spoon Rhodey just covered in raw cookie, maintaining perfect eye contact with him as he rebelliously spooned it into his mouth.

“Mmm, Wodey, this is dewicious!” He grins

Peter bursts into a fit of laughter, throwing a hand over his mouth so cookie dough wouldn’t spill out.

“Tony!” Rhodey snaps, whapping him with the wooden spoon once again, which had recently been dubbed the ‘Tony whapping stick.’ Rhodey had used it more often on Tony, over the course of the evening, than anything else, so it only made sense to deem it properly.

Tony shrieked dramatically and barreled away from him, while Peter suffered from another giggle fit and tried not to choke. Happy simply continued to peacefully roll out the chunks of dough while Rhodey chased Tony around the Living room with the ‘Tony whapping stick’. His apron still tied snuggly around his waist as they lapped the living room coated in both sauce and flour.

“What’s going on here?”

Peter’s head snapped up when he heard Pepper’s amused laughter. She walked into the room just in time for Tony to dive behind her to use her as a human shield in order to deflect Rhodey’s assault with the ‘Tony whapping stick’.

“Sweetheart, love of my life, Babe, Honey, my Sweet Pepper.”

“Tony,” she warns lightly, laughter in her voice, “what in the world are you boys doing?”

She looks around the room and spots Peter and his newly styled ‘flour-hair’. Then she turns her attention, pointedly, back to Tony’s powdery complexion and streaks of sauce across Rhodey’s face.

“We were just cooking dinner Pep.”

“And what brought this on all of a sudden?” She raised an eyebrow, and started her way across the room, tossing her bag on the sofa as she went.

“Well, you see,” Tony began, chasing after her and wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her snuggly against his chest as he rested his chin on her shoulder to keep her in place. “May calls to ask if Peter can stay the night tonight, so I say ‘yeah’ of course. Then I tell Rhodey and I’m just about to order pizza for dinner and everything, but he says that I can’t order pizza all the time, because Pete’s a growing boy and he needs good nutrition and all that. So really... it’s all Rhodey’s fault.”

“I say it's Peter's fault,” Rhodey responds instantly, pointing his finger, accusingly, in Peter’s direction, “He's the one who convinced us all to cook together.”

Wow. Some uncle he was.

“Well in that case, I guess all can be forgiven,” Pepper smirks, shooting Peter a wink, while she gently unwound herself from Tony’s embrace and walked into the messy kitchen. She eyed the bowl of batter that Happy had continued to faithfully roll out onto the cookie sheet, despite the relative chaos taking place around him.

“What did you all make?”

“We made lasagna!” Peter smiled happily, grabbing Pepper’s hand, and pulling her over to the oven so they both could peer in at the four large pans of noodles, sauce and bubbling cheese.

“Smells delicious Petey,” she smiles, giving him a big hug and pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. “We’ll have a big dinner and watch some movies tonight. What do you think?”

“Yeah! For sure!” He nodded his head enthusiastically and Pepper smiled at him before disappearing down the hall towards her room to get dressed.

“You trying to steal my fiancé with your charms kid?” Tony joked, approaching him with narrowed eyes and a playful grin. Peter squirmed under his gaze, but a tiny grin leaked through. Tony pounced at him and surprised him with a good shove which sent him right into Rhodey’s waiting arms.

Rhodey laughed, and trapped him in a playful headlock, dragging him towards the dining table. Peter laughed and laughed as Tony assaulted his sides with gliding fingers and Rhodey rubbed his knuckles vigorously, along his skull. Tony quit after a couple moments and stood back as Peter continued to giggle and squirm in Rhodey’s grip while trying to catch his breath.

“Say uncle,” Rhodey singsonged, pressing an offending finger into his ribs, which caused Peter to laugh and tug away insistently as he tried to escape. He’d played the game far too many times when he was younger, and he was anything but a quitter. Especially in a good game of ‘Uncle’.

“What? No!” Peter laughs, squirming in his arms. He didn’t use his powers, because that, of course, would be cheating, and he wasn’t a cheater either. Maybe just a little bit… but dang! Rhodey was a strong dude. He kept a firm grip around Peter’s neck., and he wasn’t about to let up.

“Say it!” He jabs again, and Peter continues to giggle uncontrollably as Rhodey’s fingers dance along his torso just as Tony had done earlier.

It went on for a few more moments, and Peter could feel the tears leaking from his eyes he was laughing so much. His powers were useless at this point and he had no means of escape because he just. Couldn’t. Stop. Laughing! All a criminal had to do was attack him with a feather and Peter wouldn’t be able to do a thing to them apparently.

Great. He finally found his weakness…. tickles.

“Uncle!” He cried desperately, thrashing around as he desperately tried to catch his breath, “Uncle... uncle.”

Rhodey finally stopped his assault, giving Peter just a few minutes to calm down.

“Yes, Peter?”

That had Peter laughing so hard his stomach was starting to hurt. Tony snorted in amusement at the joke, and even Happy had to pause in his rolling of dough to release a few chuckles, because yeah. That was actually pretty good. Well done Rhodey. He’d officially told his first uncle joke...and it was freaking amazing.

***

“Took you guys long enough,” Natasha snorted, walking up to the table and falling into a seat just as Happy pulled the last pan of lasagna out of the oven. She was followed closely by everybody else, who found their own seats around the large table.

“Excuse me, but I don’t remember inviting any of you to dinner,” Tony retorts, placing his hands on his hips and looking absolutely ridiculous with the flour smeared across his face and hair. Peter turns in his designated chair to beam up at him as the heroes began to fill the empty seats surrounding the large table.

“You didn't,” Sam responds, with a simple shrug of his shoulders, sitting down in the seat next to Natasha, “but there's no big kitchen with food down there so we have to raid yours.”

“It’s alright Tones, I made this for everyone anyways,” Rhodey says with a smile, removing his apron and tossing it on one of the messy counters lathered in batter, flour and who knows what else.

“Yeah-yeah-yeah dad! We can have a BIG family dinner!” Peter babbles excitedly, jumping up from his own seat to latch onto Tony’s hand and pull him towards his seat at the head of the table. Steve sits on the opposite end, watching the exchange with a warm smile. Tony internally gagged at the face directed at them, because that's the exact face he knew he'd receive for being all nice and fatherly to the kid.

“Alright Pete, it's just dinner, settle down.”

Tony pushed Peter down into his usual seat at his right before sitting down himself. Pepper took the seat to his left and Rhodey sat next to her. Happy carried the pans over, one by one, to the table before taking the empty seat next to Peter.

Tony looked around the table, repressing the smile threatening to break through, because for the first time in a while, the table was full. Just about each seat was occupied and everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves as they dished out helpings of lasagna and biscuits onto their plates.

That's when he noticed a particular someone's absence.

“Anyone seen Bruce?” He glances at Natasha, and she shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders.

He would have liked to introduce the man to Peter in a controlled environment such as this one, but of course he didn't show up when Tony needed him to. The guy’s been gone for years and he doesn’t even have the decency to join in on their little family dinner. Rude.

“FRIDAY, tell Bruce that dinner’s ready and to get his sorry butt up here so I can properly introduce him to my son.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

Tony scoops himself a generous helping from one of the four pans of lasagna that had been pushed down to his end of the table. He grabs two biscuits and tosses one onto Peter’s plate as the plate is passed to him. He passes it back to Pepper, and he takes a quick sip of water before ever noticing Peter's stare and gaping mouth.

“Bruce Banner? Dr. Bruce Banner? The Hulk? World renowned gamma radiation specialist?” He was vibrating again. Uh oh, was that normal? It probably was for Peter… but still. The kid had seen him yesterday, why was he getting so excited?

“Oh no. Here comes the fanboy,” Bucky smiles, shoveling a bite into his mouth. Peter whips his head around to stare at the man incredulously.

“Of course I'm going to fanboy. What else would you do when you're about to be introduced to someone who’s made more scientific contributions to the field of theoretical sciences then most in the history of scientists? He's like one of the smartest men in the world.”

Tony makes an offended sound in the back of his throat, turning his wide eyes to Peter as he chewed on his bit of biscuit.

“I said, ‘one of’ dad, just chill,” Peter deadpans, turning his attention back to his food with an exaggerated role of his eyes, which made Sam and Bucky snicker.

Before long, the elevator dings in the foyer and out walks the one and only... Bruce Banner. Instead of feeling instant jealousy, Tony found it quite amusing at the way Peter visibly paled at the sight of the scientist. Then remembered the previous night when he herded Peter out of the room as fast as he had been herded in. The kid never really got introduced to Bruce properly, because Tony was sorta freaking out about the whole Loki thing, and he wanted Peter out of there.

“Bruce! How nice of you to join us!”

Bruce gave a small wave and a shy smile when he noticed everyone’s attention was directed onto him. He scurried across the room to take the seat between Sam and Rhodey.

“Hey, Tony. Finally gonna talk to me again, huh?” He huffed out an amused laugh and reached forward to spoon out some of the saucy noodles leftover.

“It's only been one day Brucie, don't be so sensitive, I’ve been really busy.” Tony waved it off.

“I've been gone for two years Tony,” Bruce deadpans, fixing him with one of those looks.

Tony lifts his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright, fair enough. I was just trying to figure out the best way to introduce you to Pete.” Tony nods his head at the vibrating child sitting next to him and Bruce looks at him for a moment before glancing between him and Tony worriedly.

“Is-is he alright?”

Happy snacks Peter in the back of the head, which seems to help a little bit.

Peter lunges forward, leaning across the table of food to jut his hand out in front of Bruce’s face, a giddy smile playing on his face. Bruce takes it warily and gives him an awkward smile as Peter literally fanboys all over the place.

“It's so awesome to finally meet you! I've read a bunch of your papers, and I'm not really smart enough to understand all of it yet, but from what Mr- I mean my dad told me, it's pretty amazing what you do. You're like one of my favorite scientists of all time. Oh… and also, that whole turning into a big angry hulk is pretty wicked awesome too.”

Tony reaches forward to pull Peter back into his seat, by looping a finger through the belt loop at the back of his jeans, before he freaks Bruce out too much.

“Chill kiddo. He's just a man.”

“But it's The Bruce Banner!” Peter argues emphatically, throwing his hands into Bruce’s direction as if to prove his reasoning.

“Can’t argue with that logic, now can you Bruce?” Tony laughs, giving Peter a proud pat on the head, “the guy needs a reminder of how great he is now and then. Good job kiddo.”

Everyone else finishes dinner with relative ease and comfort, even despite Peter's annoying commentary throughout most of the dinner. Tony knew he was going to be extremely embarrassed about it later, but it was entertaining to watch anyway. The kid got himself really excited over trivial things, and Tony’s not sure if it’s the influence of sugar or if he’s really always been this hyper. If Peter’s always been that way, then Tony sure doesn’t remember it, and he’s pretty darn sure that this hyperness was something he would definitely remember.

He’s never going to give this kid coffee. Ever.

“Right, Pete. You got all your homework done?” Tony asks, when Peter finishes his plate and leaps from his chair to chase after Clint. The archer had convinced him to run off with him and do god knows what, and Tony wasn’t too sure on how he felt about it.

Peter looks at him sheepishly.

“I got most of it done at May’s, I just got a couple problems in calculus that I need help with. That's it, I promise!” He adds the last bit in a rush, because he knew that Tony was most definitely going to use that as an excuse to keep him in his line of sight, but Peter really wanted to go check out that thing that Clint was talking about during dinner.

“Alright, I want you back up here in 10 minutes. You have to go to bed on time tonight. So, if you want to watch a movie tonight you need to get back up here and finish that homework and take a shower.”

Peter rolls his eyes before he disappears and Tony grits his teeth to keep from commenting on the bad attitude. He just has to remember that it’s all fake...at least, he hopes it’s fake. Bratty Peter got on his nerves; Fake or not.

“I want him back in one piece Barton.” Tony says, raising a menacing eyebrow and glaring in the archers direction. Clint gave a quick salute before running out the room with Peter.

***

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. Tony helped Peter with his homework, which by the way, was much more complicated than it needed to be. The formulas they used were nonsense and figuring out how they applied and what they meant were harder than actually doing the math, which pissed Tony off majorly. He grunted as he fumbled along with Peter, searching through his textbook and notes to try and figure out what in the world was going on.

They got it eventually though, much to Tony’s relief, which allowed them to kick back and relax on the couch and tune in on a good movie. Steve insisted on Star Wars, which had Peter sputtering and stuttering like an idiot as he scrambled accross Tony’s lap to reach his other side, so he could come face to face with Steve. His face glowed with excitement as he asked question after question, and by the time the movie actually started, Steve was fully engaged in the nerdy conversation, nearly as excited as Peter was on the matter.

Tony grumbled and forcefully peeled Peter away from him as the movie started. Steve liking Star Wars was a tough competition, so he couldn’t risk Peter getting too caught up in it. He needed time to think of a suitable alternative before he let Peter start bonding with other potential ‘significant male figures’.

Thankfully, the movie started and Peter kinda sorta forgot about the conversation and he focused his attention onto the TV for the rest of the movie.

By the time the credits were rolling, Peter was slumped against one side and Pepper was up against his other. He ruffled Peter’s hair good-naturedly and smiled when the kid tightened his grip on him.

“Come on,” Peter whined, “just one more.” Peter knew what was coming, and Tony wasn’t about to put up with any of his snarky, stubborn teenage crap. He needed to act like the responsible adult, which meant Peter had to get to bed on time, so he could get up for school and not be exhausted.

“Kid,” he sighed exasperatedly, “these movies are more than 2 hours long. It’s already past 10, you need to go shower and get to bed.”

Peter grumbled, and he didn’t say anything as he stubbornly sunk further into the couch.

“Peter,” Pepper lamented gently, “listen to your father. You have school tomorrow.”

Tony shared a look with Rhodey and he grinned to himself, because this was the first time Pepper had actively taken part in the scheme to trick the Avengers.

It was satisfying in a way.

Peter, of course, would never snark Pepper, because he was a smart boy and he knew better than that (unfortunately it took Tony several years to figure that out on his own). So, he leaped up from the couch and said goodnight to everybody.

There was a chorus of ‘goodnight Peter's and Peter addressed each of them with a bright smile and small wave before disappearing down the hall to get ready for bed.

Tony leaned back into the couch comfortably and glanced around at the heroes chatting around him. Pepper pillowed her head on his chest and he saw her grin to herself. He smiled softly and shared another meaningful look with Rhodey.

Having the others around wasn't too bad. Maybe he had been a bit too quick to judge them. ‘cause yeah, things were pretty great.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Peter roused from his sleep with much more reluctance than he'd ever felt before, because this bed was ridiculously comfortable, and he most definitely did NOT want to go to school. Maybe if he just pretended to sleep Tony would forget about him and let him sleep through the rest of the day. The man was always busy as heck anyway, so Peter’s fairly sure he wouldn't be missed.

He grinned to himself and snuggled back into his pillow, pulling the comforter up towards his chin, curling into himself and reveling in the warmth wrapped around him. The room was still dark, and this mattress had sent him beyond cloud 9.

A delighted sigh escaped from between his lips. His heart was happy; he had so much fun last night. Peter wasn’t used to so much domesticity when coming to visit Tony, but he could definitely get used to it. He just hoped it wouldn't end when the others had to go back to the compound.

After Tony had helped him finish his homework, they kicked back and relaxed on the couch while they watched Star Wars, suggested by Steve Rogers himself by the way! Which by itself was like frickity frackity freaking awesome!

After Peter and Steve banded together in an all-out fanboy freak-out, they started the movie, and everyone went quiet and stayed quiet for the duration of the movie, which was a blessing from Thor himself. Peter was able to actually hear the majority of the movie, and there was no harassing, yelling, questions, or throwing of popcorn. It was wonderful.

Of course, Tony had to be all responsible and stuff on the one night things were going okay, and he sent Peter to bed after the movie finished, because ‘he had school tomorrow’. Screw school!

He could have gotten another two hours out of Tony if he really wanted to, but bed had really sounded nice at the time, so he decided to go to bed. It was just a simple coincidence that Tony had told him to go to bed at the same time he was beginning to get tired. That was all. So, it was just the implication that had had Peter refuting the order. He didn’t need to be told when he should go to bed, because he’s almost an adult! He could make his own decisions. Either way, as soon as he fell onto that mattress, he’s pretty sure he passed out, because he doesn’t remember anything after that. Tony was right, as he always was, but that didn’t mean Peter had to admit it to him.

But bed was sounding nice right now too. Even though FRIDAY kept trying to insist that if he didn’t get up soon, he would be late for school. That stupid AI was going to end up tattling on him and then he’d HAVE to get up. He just groaned into his pillow and snuggled in further, hoping that if he burrowed far enough, FRIDAY wouldn’t be able to see him and therefore shut her stupid, artificial mouth. To be honest, it was really Tony’s fault for having such comfortable mattresses, he wouldn’t have as much separation anxiety if they were cheap spring mattresses like his at home.

“Wake up Peter,” FRIDAY insisted once again, annoyance lacing her computerized voice. Peter could almost picture her rolling eyes.

“Nooo,” Peter groaned, lifting the blankets over his head to hide from the lights pouring through the newly uncovered windows.

“If you don’t get up, I’ll be forced to contact Mr. Stark.” It was a low blow, Peter knew that, but he was too tired to really care about being a nuisance this early in the morning. If Tony cared enough to get annoyed because he wasn’t getting up on time, well...that was his own fault.

“Tell him, see if I care.”

He heard the door swing open not even two seconds later and he immediately regretted his choice of words. He could tell by the footsteps that, thankfully, it wasn’t Mr. Stark himself, instead it was Rhodey, and he didn’t know if that was better or worse.

“C’mon kiddie. Time to get up,” Rhodey prods. Peter could hear the amusement lining his voice and he turned his head and cracked his right eye open to glare at the man standing next to his bed. He knew he must look like a mess, but he didn’t care, this bed was ridiculously comfortable, and he wasn’t about to leave without a fight.

“Alright,” Rhodey sighed, as if he were actually sorry for what he was about to do next, “you left me no choice.”

He ripped the blankets off Peter’s body and before Peter’s body could even register the frigid air invading the warm space originally protected by the comforter, there was a cold liquid being splashed in his face. He spluttered and jumped to sit up on the bed, wiping manically at his chilled face while Rhodey laughed hysterically in front of him.

“Oh, man. I used to do that to your old man all the time back at MIT when he didn’t want to get up for the lectures... Kid,” he laughed, “you’re so much like him it’s not even funny.”

“Then why are you laughing,” Peter snarled, getting out of the bed. There was no use in trying to go back to sleep now.

“Because I just splashed ice water in your face kid,” he chuckled, “and that’s funny.” Peter’s glare followed him as he strut towards the door before turning back to address him once more before he left. “Now get up and eat breakfast before I send Pepper in after me. I don’t think she’d be as merciful as I was. She takes education very seriously.”

“Whatever,” Peter mumbled, watching as Rhodey turned to head down the hall, in the direction of his room. He was the only one besides Peter that was awarded the luxury of a room in Tony Stark’s penthouse suite.

Either way, Peter was awake now, and no matter how badly he just wanted to lay there in that comfortable bed, he was honest to god terrified of what Pepper might do to him. She may love him and hug him and coo over him all the time, but if she was anything like May…. he’d better get out of this bed real quick.

So, he left his room and trekked down the hall, decked out in his Iron Man pajama pants and MIT shirt (because it didn’t matter anymore. Tony already knew he was a hardcore fanboy. So, there was no use in hiding it anymore). He was fully prepared to eat his usual Lucky Charms by himself and go get dressed for school, but he was definitely not prepared for this. Even though he probably should be, considering it’s happened quite a bit since the others have come to the Tower.

“Oh my god THOR!” It comes out as a childish squeal and Peter has no regrets. He rushes up to the god of Thunder with wide eyes and a big grin, while Thor laughs and smiles down at him.

“Ah, young Stark, it is good to see you again.”

Peter was about to burst in literal excitement, because Thor was by far his favorite. Of course, he’d never say it out loud, because Tony would probably wring his neck for it, but it was THOR! How could you not love him? That’s right, it’s impossible!

“Ohmygod”

“Brother, it seems that it is not only the females whom you attract, is it?” The man sitting next to him chuckles.

Oh god, that’s totally Loki, the freaky, magic dude. Cool!

Peter rubs at his eyes with his balled-up fists. Then he blinks away the specks of color and stares at the God of Mischief with wide eyes. His mouth falls open and he looks around at the somewhat empty table, the only other ones there were Captain America and Bucky, and he didn’t really care about them right now. They were super soldiers, sure, but they weren't gods by any means. No matter how much that crazed Captain America Fanclub, who worship statues of him, would firmly object. Plus, Peter’s had his fair share of interactions with Steve Rogers, and even though he likes Star Wars, Peter wasn’t a huge fan of his judgey attitude.

“You’re Loki,” he whispers, in awe, inching closer to the two gods as if they’d run away if he moved too quickly.

“That I am. And I am assuming that you are the son of Stark?”

Peter nods his head enthusiastically, not trusting himself with simple words. Loki smiled mischievously at him and he wasn’t really sure how to take it, considering he attempted to massacre one of the largest cities in America. Which wasn’t all that cool of him to do, but still! How awesome was this?!

After he got himself together though, he raced into the kitchen to get himself a serving of cereal before sitting back down at the table next to Thor, across from Steve. He might as well please his stomach while he made small talk with literally the coolest people in the universe.

It didn’t even take five minutes for an exciting conversation to erupt between them, Peter enthusiastically leading the discussion with his outlandish questions. But then the questions started to direct towards him, subtly, and he didn't notice until Steve didn’t bother to mask his inquiries with the likes of ‘school’ or ‘family’. He was pretty sure he was getting better at the whole deflecting thing too. So, good practice.

“So, Peter, what’s it like having Tony as a dad?”

“Well, uh.” He spluttered at the sudden question. Of course, he spluttered, the entire conversation took a freaking U-turn and Peter’s pretty sure he crashed into a rock in the rush. “I don’t really know what you mean.”

He could feel the heat in his cheeks rising and he no longer felt as confident as he did when he entered the room, so now he just settled with fixing his gaze on the iron man masked patterned across his legs.

“I’m just asking son. I just want to understand what’s going on, I don’t mean to pry.”

“No, no. It’s alright Mr. Rogers. I’m just not used to people knowing yet. It’s always just been me and my dad, so this is all kinda new to me, and really hard too. People treat you different when they figure out that your dad is actually a famous billionaire, so it’s a little hard for me to wrap my head around, ‘cause I mean...you guys aren’t like that…. But that’s probably just because you know my dad already...” Peter trailed off a bit at the end after realizing he was rambling.

“I understand young Stark!” Thor grins, giving him a big pat on the back. “Knowing your father can be quite a handful, I can’t imagine what it must be like to be his son. I remember one time I was in a nice coffee shop with Jane,” Thor smiled, trailing off into his story, “and this was after my brother attacked The New York, so by this time, all the humans knew who I was, as well as my affiliation with your father. Usually, I am the one they want to speak about when they approach me. And they are always asking for me to write my name down on a small piece of paper for some reason...but this time, these two young women approach me, asking if I know Tony Stark!” Thor laughed, “They completely ignored me and asked if I could give Stark a letter from them. It was so puzzling.”

“Brother, that story was anything but interesting. You need to work on your storytelling skills,” Loki sighs with a shake of his head and a small smirk quirking up at the corners of his mouth.

Thor glared at him, but he didn’t say anything in return, instead he turned back to Peter with a smile.

“Though, yes, I do wonder about the Captain’s question. What is it like having The Man of Iron as a father?”

Peter purses her lips and his eyebrows crease together worriedly as he glances between the three waiting heroes...and Loki.

“One might say that having Stark as a father could be quite troublesome. I do not blame you for not wanting to talk about it. It is probably very traumatizing for you,” Loki snickers amusedly.

Peter shoots him a glare. Nobody talked about his dad like that, except Rhodey. And duh, Mr. Stark was not his dad, but the others didn’t know that. So, technically he could refer to Tony as his father all he wanted, because that’s exactly what he was supposed to be.

“Actually, he’s the best dad ever,” he snaps, shoveling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, “he’s awesome at doing dad stuff! He teaches me all kinds of things, and he helps me, and makes sure I eat and sleep! And-and whenever I get hurt, he gets really pissed because he worries a lot, y’know! He always worries about me, and-and he buys me all the cool Thor and Captain America clothes and action figures I want even though he’s like SUPER jealous about it! Then- on top of that, he-”

“Alright, kid, let’s not spill ALL my secrets, kay?”

Peter feels a pair of heavy hands clasp on his shoulders and he nearly jumps out of his skin. How in the world did he not sense him coming? Had he heard all that Peter just said? Oh no.

“Oh- ye-yeah, um… h-hi?”

Wow, well done Parker, good job coming across as confident.

“As much as I adore this endearing conversation, you need to go get dressed. I don’t have time for your dilly dallying. I got an important meeting that started 10 minutes ago, and you’ve got finals tomorrow.”

“Tony,” Steve sighs exasperatedly, “you aren’t setting a very good example in punctuality.” Peter just wanted to punch him in his perfect little face for that, but he knew better than to start a fist fight with Captain America in his pseudo father’s dining room while wearing his Iron Man pajamas.

“Don’t tell me how to raise my kid Rogers. As you can tell from what the kid’s already blabbed about, I’m a pretty decent father. Plus, I’m not an idiot. I’m teaching him NOT to follow in my footsteps, we don’t need another Tony Stark in the world. Besides, R&D can wait a few more minutes, they know by now to expect my tardiness.”

Peter’s eyes widen in excitement and he bends his neck backwards to lock eyes with the man behind him, grinning like a doofus all the while.

“Can I come?! I can totally skip school, I’m all caught up and everything! I’m so ready for my tests tomorrow!”

“Uh, no.” Tony says, without any hesitation. He claps Peter on the shoulders once more and moves around him to go pour himself a cup of coffee.

“Whatever,” Peter mutters under his breath, puffing his cheeks out in a pout because that’s what a rebellious teenager would do, right? Plus, it gave him an excuse to act like a little turd without Tony getting genuinely pissed off at him. But, then again, seeing Tony pissed off was kind of funny...when it wasn’t directed towards him, at least.

“Don’t ‘whatever’ me kid, get your butt to your room and get dressed before I sick Rhodey on you again.”

Peter didn’t want to risk it, so he scurried back to his room to get dressed. He didn’t want to encounter Rhodey again, no way! Who knew what he’d do. Plus, the tension in the room was rising significantly and Peter was fairly sure he was being kicked out of the room so the ‘grown ups’ could talk. Either way, he was perfectly okay with preserving his precious life just a little while longer, because he's almost positive that Tony was being serious about the whole Rhodey thing.

***

The last bell just wouldn’t ring! Why would it not ring? Why did the minute hand progress so slowly, around in the same mundane circle, that Peter’s sure he could jump out the window and stop a mugging before a whole minute even passed. Either way, he kept still because he knew Tony would have his head if he skipped school again, and he didn’t want to risk hanging out with Thor. Because Oh my God Thor was at the Tower! He knew that he should really go out on patrol, because he hasn't been out since Thursday night, but c'mon. It’s Thor! He could be a little selfish every once in a while, right?

He watches the clock with such intensity he could totally burn through it with laser eyes if he really wanted to. Eventually the minute hand hit the 9 and he was already up and out of his seat before the bell even officially rung.

The chime sounded, and he bolted out of the classroom, ready to escape the boringness of Mr. Watts and his constant spiels about politics in the modern era. He was a math teacher for crying out loud! He should be learning calculus, not how ‘our country has been corrupted by the faulty beliefs of strengthened school systems and developing technologies reducing the younger generations perceptiveness and awareness’... yeah, no thank you. No wonder he needed Tony's help with his homework.

“Peter,” Ned called from down the hall, “where are you going dude?!”

Peter waved back at his friend as he continued his rush down the hall, other students spilling out of the various classrooms in front of him. “Can’t be late. I’m going to go meet with someone important.”

He watched the evil smirk form on his best friends face. “Your ‘Dad’??”

“What??” he shrieked, his voice raising several octaves in embarrassment. “No! Well, I mean yeah, but not- I’m not- whatever. I’ll text you later.”

Ned waved him off with a grin, and Peter shot him a warm smile before taking off. He weaved through the crowd of smelly teenagers and made it outside in 10 seconds flat. New record.

He nearly leapt into the backseat of the car when Happy pulled up along the curb. He was beyond excited, and Happy seemed to take notice, but who wouldn’t. Especially when excited was typically Peter's go-to reaction, and the signs have been developed and recorded into the minds of the people around him. Oh, and the grinning, squealing, and shaking were probably big signs too.

“What’s got you so excited kid? Happy that your favorite superhero is in town?” Happy chuckles, as Peter shuffled to put on his seatbelt.

“Happy! I told you not to say it out loud. I don’t want my d-I mean Mr. Stark to find out about it.”

“It’s okay kid,” Happy laughed, “it’s perfectly normal for a son to look up to someone who isn't there father.”

Haaappyy,” he whined, “stop.”

“Sorry kid, you just make it too easy.”

***

When Peter arrives at the Tower, Tony gets a little twirling thing going on his chest. He refuses to admit that he’s excited, because for goodness sakes, he just saw the kid this morning. Then again, ever since that dream, he misses the kid whenever he’s not standing directly next to him, so yeah. This might prove to be a problem in the future if this clingy, protective thing he’s got going on doesn’t tone down a little.

He doesn’t pay much attention to the game that the others are obnoxiously shouting about on HIS TV. Seriously. Who gets that worked up over Mario Kart? But, apparently, both Gods seem to think it’s a matter of life and death. He glances over and sees Steve’s face and he’s pretty sure that the super soldier is actually a little scared to play with either of them, and if Tony’s being absolutely honest... he is too. So, that’s why he’s making himself look oh so busy by inconspicuously playing HayDay on his tablet. Peter said it’d be good practice if he ever wanted to buy Pepper a real farm one day, so yeah… he tried it out, and he’s sorta kinda addicted to it...Stupid game.

FRIDAY announced Peter’s arrival to the building, which seems to gather the attention of most everyone else in the room, including the apparently pardoned psychopath. Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of Peter being friends with the man who threw him out of his own window. Though, Peter just had the tendency to charm every freaking person he meets, so it’s not much of a surprise. The kid is literally willing to be friends with just about anybody.

Tony gets up from his seat and walks through the entryway, towards the elevators, ready to greet his kid, escape the madness in the Living Room and lock them both down in the lab. It’s tradition, it’s what they did every Tuesday and Thursday. It was something expected, it was their ‘thing’. So, don’t blame him when he was more than a little surprised when the first thing out of the kid’s mouth was ‘Is Thor still here?’

It hurt more than it should have, because he knew about the kid’s ridiculous infatuation with the God. He shared a quick look with Happy before nodding in the direction of the Living Room and answering.

“He’s in the Living Room with everyone else. They’re playing your Wii.”

He expected a big smile from the boy and then a quick, fanboy-ish greeting to Thor and the others before they disappeared down to the lab as they usually did... but when did he ever get what he wanted?

No. Instead, Peter plopped himself in the exact spot Tony had vacated earlier and stared excitedly at the TV after glancing around at the ruckus going on around him. The other heroes happily greeted him, and Tony watched on wistfully as Peter grinned wider than he’d seen in a long time. After a couple moments of silence on Tony’s part, Peter turned his head to stare at him with his happy grin still plastered on his face, and Tony couldn’t help but wish that the grin was caused by his presence, but he knew better than that.

Things were going so well… he should have seen the downfall coming.

“Hey, dad? Can we hang up here today? I wanna school these noobs in some Mario Kart!” Peter asks, a hopeful glint in his eyes as he stares at Tony, waiting for his approval

Of course, as a master manipulator of his own emotions and the way people perceive them, Tony was able to smile good naturedly and nod his head affirmatively, despite the way his heart constricted painfully in his chest. And to be completely honest, it was more painful than Obadiah tearing out his chest piece, signifying his own betrayal. Nope, this was much much worse. Because it was happening...it was really happening. His own kid was being taken away from him, just as he feared. Right in front of him. Right within arm’s reach...and he couldn't do anything about it.

This was the reason he didn’t want Peter to meet the others. This was the reason he was so scared of getting close to anybody in the first place. Then, this stupid, adorable as all heck, kid had come and waltzed into his life, and he made Tony feel things that the man never thought he’d ever have the chance to feel. Now… he was alone again, and before long, Peter would completely forget about Tony and he’d have another male to latch on to, chase around like a lost puppy, and accidentally call dad over and over again.

Apparently, Tony wasn’t being as subtle as he thought he was, because, just a few moments later, he felt a soothing clap on his shoulder and he whirled around to come face to face with Happy. He gave Tony a sympathetic smile before retreating to the elevator and closing the doors without a word.

Tony watched as Happy left and then he turned his head and gave a tight smile when he spotted Bucky looking at him over his shoulder. He nodded his head towards him after he composed himself. He pursued his lips and his expression dropped into an indifferent frown, and he spun on his heel to go to the lab. Alone.

He muttered and cursed the entire way down, and if there was something for him to kick, he would have totally kicked it.

Peter didn’t need him anymore, and that hurt more than words could ever express. He had been replaced. Why did he even have to care so much? It's not like he was the kids father! But still...it wasn't a nice feeling to have. Tony Stark did not like sharing his things, especially the things that were important to him. Peter was important...and Peter didn't want him anymore.

Of course, Peter didn't want him around anymore! What kind of role model was he even? Steve was right, he set such a bad example for the kid, and now Peter was finally realizing it. Oh well, he had his chance and he at least got to enjoy his last couple days with Peter before he was abandoned completely. The only problem: now he was sort of addicted to how soft Peter’s hair was and how warm it made him feel when Peter cuddled up next to him. Peter had exposed him as a hardcore softy, and he should hate it! But he doesn't. Crap! This kid...

So, while Peter had fun with his new mentors, Tony nursed his wounds down in his workshop. He was tempted to numb the pain with a good ol’ bottle of whiskey, but Peter was still in the building, and on the off chance that the kid came down for a visit, Tony didn’t want to be a drunk bastard when he made an appearance. So, all that was left was to do while wallowing in his misery was tinkering. Enough to waste away into his work and forget that there was a world beyond what was going on right in front of him. He had FRIDAY blast his old playlist, because his new one consisted of too many Peter-suggested songs, and he just did not need that right now.

He must have spiraled down the rabbit hole for a while, because before he knew it, it was nearly dinner time and Pepper would probably kill him if he didn’t feed Peter a proper meal. Although, Rhodey’s probably already got that covered. So, Peter doesn't really need him...

“Sir, Peter is in severe distress.”

He didn’t even take time to process the artificial fear that had sounded in FRIDAY’s voice. His heart pounded painfully against his chest and he felt the air knock out of him. Peter was in trouble.

His kid needed him.

***

“YOU CHEATER!!” Loki shrieks, nearly smashing the remote on the coffee table as he threw his fifth mini tantrum. Peter laughed maniacally, and Bucky clapped the boy on the back with a proud grin spreading across his face. Thor burst into a fit of laughter, on Loki’s other side, and pulled his raving brother back onto the couch before he hurt someone. No one would ever admit it out loud, but none of heroes were all that happy about Loki’s arrival, considering that he tried to kill them all and everyone in New York City. Clint was especially wary. He hadn’t made any of his snarky quips or sly comments. Nope.

Though, if any of them voice their disagreement out loud, they might disrupt Loki’s newfound peaceful attitude. Plus, they didn’t really want to have that kind of conversation in front of Peter, the kid was innocent and happy, and everyone was already head over heels for him anyway. Nobody wanted to be the one to disappoint him or do anything to upset him...especially when Tony wasn’t around.

“I’m not a cheater, I’m just better than you.” Peter teased.

Deep down, Peter knew better than to tease a crazed, psycho murderer, but he just couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t every day you beat the God of Mischief at Mario Kart after all. Plus, he had a feeling that he could trust Loki. If the God really wanted to kill him, he would have done it already, right? Or...maybe he was just trying to earn Peter’s trust...that way when he did kill him, it would be a much more painful death because of the added betrayal. You can never be too sure with these psycho murderer dudes. Still...

When everything cooled down a bit and Peter passed his controller to Sam, so he and Bucky could have a turn, he glanced behind him towards the elevators for the hundredth time. He was waiting for Tony to come back up and join him and the others. He knew Tony would have fun, because it was really a blast hanging out with the others. Even Rhodey was smiling and laughing along with everyone. That’s when he remembered that Mr. Stark was a busy man and Peter had taken up nearly four days of the man's time. He probably had so much to do, and now that others were there to occupy Peter’s attention, the genius probably didn’t feel obligated to entertain him. So, he shook it off and reminded himself that he shouldn’t expect Tony to use up all his spare moments to spend with a freaky spider teenager with extreme ‘daddy-issues’. Maybe he shouldn’t come in Thursday. Tony probably needed some time to make up for the four days he lost, and Peter should really start catching up on his Spiderman duties. So, yeah. He’ll give Tony some space.

The idea of not spending his time with Tony didn’t put him down per se, but he was a little disappointed. Even though he knew already that Tony cared a lot about him, that didn’t mean the genius wanted him around all the time. Heck, even Peter got annoyed with himself half the time!

He spent another hour or so with everyone else, happily playing his Wii with them and laughing along to Clint’s once in a while, stupid ‘dad’ jokes (Tony’s were better though). He was having fun, and Thor was here! So that was like a humongous plus.

Then, suddenly, a weird feeling began to stir in his stomach. It might have been from lunch, but that was like 5 hours ago, so it was unlikely. He shook it off, because it really wasn’t that bad, and he turned his head to address Rhodey’s sad excuse for a joke, laughing along with the others as Rhodey attempted to salvage the poor attempt and perhaps save a piece of his dignity.

Then, a stronger wave of nausea hit him, and blotchy green and blue spots invaded his vision as he tried to focus back in on the TV screen. He couldn’t see straight, and his Spidey-senses started going haywire. He didn’t know what was wrong, and the weight on his chest was becoming stronger by the second.

A stab of pain surged through his head, and he hissed softly, under his breath. He clenched his teeth together, snapped his eyes shut, and gripped the fabric of his jeans in tight fists.

“Peter?” Natasha asks softly, reaching across Bucky, tentatively, so she could lay a gentle hand on his back. “Are you okay?”

He had hunched over and curled his arms around his stomach. A soft whimper emitted from his throat and everything started swirling. Strange images coursed through his head, but he couldn’t understand them. They were familiar, but none of it seemed...real. He had seen them before though, and the harder he tried to remember, the faster the images would flash by, and the more insistent the stabbing sensation against his skull became. One hit almost had him shouting out from the surprising sting, and the sights in front of him were becoming worse. Things he never wanted to see. Things he never wanted to experience. Along with things he had never wanted to remember. Things he had locked away a long time ago, and things he never thought he’d have to think about again...

He gritted his teeth together and curled in on himself further, releasing a pained groan as he began to fall forward. Then, he felt a familiar hand lay on his back and pull him back up into a sitting position before he fell onto the floor.

The hand was shaking, it was gentle, it was soft...it wasn’t Tony. He needed Tony.

“Hey, kiddie,” Rhodey whispered softly, rubbing his back comfortingly. “What’s wrong?”

Peter struggles, breathing was a hard thing to do when a thousand-pound weight was resting on top of his chest. His answer came out in quick spurts of breaths and curt hiccups cutting off his words. “I-I-I ca-c-an’t” he groans. “I-I reme-ember, i-it’s so-o bad.” He chokes out his last words and he feels tears burning down his cheeks. He could feel his unspoken words trying to free themselves from the confines of his throat. They were blocking the air, and he just...he just couldn’t push them out.

“I-It hurts,” He finally cries, falling forwards into Rhodey’s arms, hoping the man could somehow fix it.

Rhodey holds him awkwardly, because, despite all his talk, he wasn’t at all used to the whole comforting and cuddling thing. He glanced around at the others and locked eyes with Steve, down, across the couch. The soldier’s brows creased together in worry and his mouth fell into a stern frown as he stared at Peter curled tightly against Rhodey’s chest. Rhodey wasn’t sure what to do, or what Peter was talking about. So, he just wraps an arm around the boys shoulders and runs a hand through his hair, because he’d seen Tony do it so many times, and maybe...maybe that might help.

“R-Rhodey,” Peter gasps, painfully. He gripped Rhodey’s shirt in his hands and lifted his head to lock eyes with the man. “I-I-I rem-ember. I remember th-e dre-eam.”

“Gah,” Peter howls, throwing his hands over his ears, clawing at the sides of his head as if he were an animal. If Rhodey hadn’t grabbed ahold of his wrists, he probably would have drawn blood. His eyes snapped closed and he sobbed as the gut-wrenching sound of metal passing through flesh sounded in his ears. He wanted to scream, because there Tony was...collapsed on his knees with a makeshift sword pierced into his abdomen, a large, powerful being towering over him and pushing it further into Tony’s body. Tony Stark had been beaten...and it was all so real. Peter wanted to shout, scream, run forward and save him, but he couldn’t move. He just stood there and watched as the blood dribbled down Tony’s chin. The genius spluttered and coughed, splashing red flecks out in front of him as he locked eyes with Peter. Peter could tell he was trying to say something, but the man was too busy choking on his own blood to release the words he wanted to.

Peter wanted to help, he really did, but he couldn’t. He could only watch, and he couldn’t figure out why in the world it felt like a memory instead of an actual nightmare, as his entire life, each of his memories, good or bad, from beginning to end, flashed before his eyes.

***

“Pl-please.” Peter whimpered, curled in Rhodey’s arms. He was shaking now, and Rhodey wasn’t sure how to console him as the sobs racked his body.

The game had been put on pause and everyone crowded around Peter, trying their best to soothe him with their own soft words.

“Get back, get back, give him some space.” Bucky instructs, putting his arm out in front of them and pushing the crowd away from Peter.

“I want Tony,” he groaned, painfully, clutching the sides of his head again. “P-please, w-where is he?”

“He’s coming kiddie.” Rhodey hushed, rocking him back and forth slowly. Weaving his fingers through his hair with one hand and running his other along his back.

“P-please,” he gasped, “w-where is he? I-I need my dad.”

Rhodey didn’t know what to say to that, but he didn’t stop his rocking. He just hushed him a little bit more and pressed his face into his hair. He didn’t know what to do, and it was freaking him out.

“Peter!”

Rhodey sighed in relief when he heard Tony’s outburst as soon as the elevator doors dinged, signaling his arrival. Not that he minded comforting Peter, but it wasn’t really an uncle's job to soothe nightmares, or...whatever this was, it was more of a dad thing.

“He’s-He keeps saying he remembers something. I think he’s talking about the dream,” Rhodey quickly explains while Tony sprints across the room to reach them, nearly tripping over himself along the way. “He’s asking for you.”

When Tony rounds the side of the couch, he reaches out and pulls Peter in his arms, all while collapsing in the seat where Bucky had just recently vacated upon his arrival. He was out of breath, and his heart was beating faster than it should, but that didn’t draw his attention away from Peter’s shaking form.

“Peter-peter, hey buddy.” Tony coaxed, drawing him in closer to his chest when he hears the soft whimpers emitting from his kid’s throat.

“T-Tony,” Peter hiccupped, glancing up to look at him. Tony sees the puffy, blotchy cheeks and the panicked look hiding behind his eyes.

“It’s okay Pete,” he hushed, “I’m here, it’s okay.” He reached up to run a hand through his curls urging him to lay back against his chest, pressing his hand firmly into the side of the kid’s head to keep him in place and stable against him.

“I-you were-it was...I-I can’t,” He sobs, gripping Tony’s shirt and gritting his teeth together as another strangled sob is released.

“Sir, Peter seems to be being reacting towards the most recent time anomaly in my records,” FRIDAY pipes up.

Rhodey lifts his head to address her while Tony ignores the message and continues to hush a delusional Peter.

“When was this FRIDAY?”

“Approximately 6 minutes ago, Colonel. I am assuming that is what is affecting young Peter, because of the similar time relation between the two. Peter began to show small signs of intense cranial pain at the same moment I picked up on the unbalanced forces. I believe there is communication taking place between Peter and whatever is causing these disruptions. Although, there is still a chance that this is simply another coincidence.”

“What?!” Tony snaps angrily, whipping his head up to stare at the ceiling then dropping it back down to stare at Peter. He didn’t know what was going on, and he didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that his kid was in pain, and something needed to be done about it.

So, he turns to stare at Loki, a burning anger in his eyes, as he cradled Peter in his arms.

“Fix him,” he growled out with a hoarse voice

“I’m unsure of how I can Stark,” Loki answers smoothly, all while letting a small flick of worry slip through his facade momentarily. “I detected the same disruption as your Ceiling Voice. It seems to be emitting from some inter-dimensional force. I am unfamiliar with the exact workings of the multiverse, but if I am correct, this vision shall not last too much longer. He has already experienced the brunt of it.”

“Another dimension?” Natasha asked, staring at him with slightly widened eyes.

“Yes. Four days ago, there was a disruption between our dimension and a lesser one orbiting around our universe. There was a small window that had unfolded in that time. I am unsure if it is because of some unstable interdimensional rift, or if someone was trying to alter the events of their universe by invading ours.”

“Why did you not say anything about this when it happened brother?” Thor questioned, creasing his eyebrows in frustration as he watched Peter shake uncontrollably in Tony’s arms as his body wracked with desperate sobs. “Now look at what is happening to Stark’s young one.”

“I did not know that it would have this effect on anyone. I did not want to worry you until I was sure there as a legitimate threat. The likelihood of this even happening is unprecedented, brother. There is no way for me to have known the exact effects it would have had on anyone or anything.”

Everyone began voicing their opinions all at once, and soon a heated discussion arose between them about what course of action they should take. Usually Tony would have joined right in with his strong objections, but he was kind of freaked out in the moment, so he concentrated on Peter, continuing to rock and hold him tightly in his arms. Hoping it would provide the kid with some form of stability.

“Woah!” Peter shouts, sitting up so speedily he nearly buts Tony in the chin with his head. “Dude! Oh my God!”

He falls backwards onto his butt, beside Tony and stares at the man with wide, confused eyes. The others pause in their dispute and stare at Peter with confusion. His cheeks and his eyes were still puffy, but the fear and helplessness present earlier had disappeared, and he was back to looking like innocent, little Peter. The drastic change was… interesting, and Tony wasn’t exactly sure how the interdimensional communication thing was supposed to work, but he now knows that he’s not very fond of it.

“Duuude!” Peter drawls out. “I think I just saw the future.”

“Excuse me?!” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow. He was still freaked out, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be any more freaked out. But here he was...

Peter rambles on about what had happened. The obnoxious migraine that ‘felt like my brain was legit being sucked out my ear’. Then the sudden surge of memories, one after the other: some real, some not so real. According to Peter, he saw everything, from the night his parents didn’t come home to the day he became Spider-Man. Of course, he blotches out the more incriminating details in front of the others, like the ones suggesting that he was actually a superhero vigilante or that Tony wasn't really his father. But both Rhodey and Tony were able to receive the underlying message.

“But then like this weird purple grape dude came out of nowhere…” Peter paused and cocked his head to the side in confusion, gesticulating wildly to try and illustrate his ‘vision’. “Then, like he got the necklace thing from the wizard guy after he stabbed you,” he pointed at Tony and his eyes widened dramatically, “then he totally disappeared through this awesome swirling vortex thing! And then everyone was all depressed and everything.”

When he began to describe the people around him turning to dust, Tony visibly paled. He stood up and walked away from the couch, towards the kitchen, and taking in long breaths to calm his racing heart. He braced himself against the counter and clamped his eyes shut as he fought off his own painful memories that head developed nights ago.

“Tony?” Steve asked worriedly, rising from his seat as well. Peter watched them both curiously as Steve took only a couple more steps forward. “Is everything alright? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Tony turned to face them, drawing in a deep breath, and readying himself to explain what he had seen Thursday night, but he was interrupted before he ever got the chance.

“Boss, there is an unknown person coming up the elevator. She seems to have a significant understanding of my workings.” FRIDAY announced.

Tony whipped his head, worriedly, in the direction of the elevator and Peter’s eyes widened.

“What? Why the heck are you letting her up?!” Tony growled out, stalking forward, towards the corridor where the elevators were.

“She had the access codes sir,” FRIDAY replied smoothly.

Tony stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at the others. He signaled for them to hang back, but of course, Peter couldn’t listen to simple orders. Even after experiencing…. whatever the heck that was.

Tony saw him try to scramble off the couch and hurry after him, but thankfully Rhodey hooked a finger around his belt loop and pulled him back to the couch. Then, Tony continued his way towards the elevators, readying his wrist to call a suit as soon as he needed it.

Sadly, he didn’t have his removeable implant with him.

Before Peter could break away from Rhodey’s strong hold to chase him, the elevator dinged, and a clumsy brunette stumbled out of it. She looked around, then turned her gaze up at Tony with wide, worry-stricken eyes.

Then, she lunged at him. But before he got the chance to defend himself, the girl had her arms wrapped around his waist, tightly and she clung to him like a desperate octopus, pressing her face into his chest.

“Oh my god, Mr. Stark!” She mumbled into his chest. Tony frowned confusedly, and his back stiffened from the close contact. “You have no IDEA what I’ve been through these past few days. You’ll legit never believe me, something so weird has been going on-” she paused when she noticed the lack of response on Tony’s part. She pulled her head back slightly and squinted her eyes up at his unresponsive expression.

“Uh? Mr. Stark? You okay?” She waved a hand in front of his face and frowned.

“How’d you get the access codes, kid?” He snapped, taking a good couple steps away from her. She frowned confusedly and glanced at the entryway which conveniently blocked her view of what laid beyond it… or who.

“You gave me them, remember?”

Tony narrowed his eyes down at her, because he’s pretty sure he’d remember doing such a thing. After a couple seconds of his glaring, she puffed out an amused laugh and grinned at him.

“It’s alright Mr. Stark. You probably lost a bit of your memory too, it should come back in a couple days. You’ll remember me soon, I promise.”

“Yeah, um, who are you?” Tony demanded, impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest.

The girl grinned and bumped Tony with her shoulder. “It’s me, Avery.”

Tony spotted a familiar, mischievous glint in her eyes as she leaned closer and cupped her hand over her mouth, so he could hear her whisper.

“You know,” she shrugged, “Spider-Girl?”

Chapter Text

To say Tony that was surprised when a curly headed brunette stumbled out of his elevator, latched herself around his waist, and claimed to be Queens’ very own vigilante, would be an extreme understatement. Especially considering the fact that he already knew Queens’ vigilante... very well might he add, and he was conveniently waiting in just the other room. And unless he's been living under a very thick rock (which he hasn't) he was pretty damn sure that there was only one crime fighting spider, because, boy, would he have received an earful about it by now. Peter is many things, but quiet is not one of them.

So, either this kid was… insane, or he was. Maybe even the slight possibility that this kid was possibly… from another dimension. It made sense, you know. The whole space-time rift and whatnot...God, first aliens, and now this?! What next?! Does he have a secret alien, mutant love-child he doesn’t know about too?! With how things are going, he wouldn’t be all that surprised if he did.

“Mr. Stark?” She addressed him with a curious cock of her eyebrow. She took a few steps towards him again, but thankfully she respected his slowly shrinking personal bubble space when she realized the confused hesitance behind his expression. “Do you really not remember me? ‘C-Cause it’s okay, I guess. I can just go if, you know, that’s what you want? I just wanted to see you after what happened… Make sure you were alright.”

The sane part of Tony’s mind was shouting desperately to ‘kick her out’, but his scientific curiosity was begging for at least some sort of clarification as to what in the world was going on. Then again, he didn’t have very much ‘sanity’ left.

Then he saw the tears. Gosh, why tears? And why did he feel the need to wrap his arms around her shoulders and gently hush her to try and restore that oddly familiar smile on her face? Is that weird?

The tears pooled out the corners of her eyes, and-nope! This was not Peter, and this was not his kid. This was some crazed teenager that had somehow obtained the access codes for his private elevator, and convinced herself that she was what? Spider-Girl? From another dimension? It’s not the most outlandish thing he’s seen or heard in his lifetime, but- still!

There’s a lot of factors pointing towards the happenings of the odd phenomena, and even though he desperately wanted everything to just be normal again, he couldn’t get rid of that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that this girl might actually be from another dimension. Had she gotten bitten by the spider at Oscorp instead of Peter? Did it even happen at Oscorp? There were so many questions that had to be answered before there could be any guarantee that this kid was in fact who she said she was. Gosh, when did his life get so freaking complicated?

So, he opted for ignoring her and her heartbreaking tears and turned his attention to the AI who APPARENTLY thinks that allowing complete lunatics into his personal penthouse was a clever idea. Access codes or not, FRIDAY had better reasoning skills than that.

“FRIDAY, mind telling me again, why you felt the need to let this kid up here?”

“She had the access codes sir. Of course, she was unfamiliar to my database, so I did not allow her entry straight away. However, she knew who I was, my workings, along with several other protocols to override my ability to prevent her ascent. Her biology signatures were familiar, so I did not deem it necessary to authorize a lockdown. I assumed that you had met and associated with her beyond my knowledge, so I announced her to you as ‘an intruder’ as per protocol states when an unfamiliar being gains access. I apologize, boss.”

What the-

Tony frowned, and his brows furrowed together in frustrated confusion. This was beyond weird. Familiar body signatures? Knowledge of protocols? SPIDERGIRL?? Like… WHAT THE HECK??!

Tony stared at her dubiously with a slackened jaw. She smiled shyly back at him as she wiped the tears from her...whoa. He took two large steps towards her and closed the distance between them in an instant. He grabbed ahold of the side of her face and stared...why was she so familiar? He’s never had such difficulty placing a face, even including the numerous women he’s slept with. He always remembered their faces, maybe not their names, but… that’s just how his mind works. So why can’t he remember her? He’s pretty darn sure he would remember when he starts handing out his penthouse access code to random teenagers on the street, because that’s obviously where she’s been. Her clothes were a mess, and her curly hair was matted down with dirt and grime, and that face...

That face- he just can’t get over that face.

“Um, sir?” The girl speaks up between smushed cheeks. Tony’s hands were still pressed together at the sides of her head and she reached up to grab hold of his wrists. She gently pried them away from her cheeks and grinned amusedly up at him for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor to look down at her shoes, shyly, as she took a couple small steps away from him.

“I’m really sorry for all this. I can tell you don’t remember me, so I’ll-I’ll go home and get out of your hair, my aunt is probably worried sick anyways. I’ve been gone for like 4 days...” She waves hesitantly at him before taking a few more steps back towards the elevator, and turns around clumsily when she bumps into the heavy doors. Tony’s still suffering from an intense state of shock as the doors slowly hum open and she rushes inside. He knows that he should call out to stop her, but his voice just wouldn’t work.

As the doors began to close behind her, he readied himself to rush forward and stop her. Now he really wants some answers. But before he could reach her, her eyes widen in realization and she sticks out her arms to stop the doors from closing and she pokes her head out to look at him sheepishly.

“Oh! I-I know you don’t remember and everything, but, like, if an angry lady calls you, asking where I’ve been… that’s my Aunt. You guys have been getting along pretty good lately, but she still gets pissed at you sometimes for being stupi- I mean-I mean... Sorry,” she winces, staring at him with wide eyes. She shrinks back into the elevator and clears her throat before continuing slowly. “B-but, you know, if she calls you or something, could you just tell her that I was hanging around here for a special mission or whatever. You’re real good at making stuff up, and I don’t want her to worry too much.”

Tony just continues to stare bewilderedly, and she chews at her bottom lip worriedly. “And-and if you happen to remember me soon...I-I could really use some help. For some reason, my powers aren’t working right now. I think they’ll be coming back soon, though. I just want to make sure, you know. So… um yeah, bye.”

Wait… Aunt? Like as in… Aunt May? Aunt May-Aunt May? Peter’s Aunt May?

“Wait-wait-wait, kid.” Tony jumps, coming to the sudden realization. He takes several steps forward and takes ahold of her wrist to drag her out of the elevator. “I-I think you need to explain to me what’s going on.”

He must be going insane...he must be, because he isn’t even surprised when he realizes that this kid might actually be Peter Parker from another dimension. Like-what?

It all makes perfect sense though… The face, the hair, the stuttering…Spider-Girl. He can’t be too sure though. Doppelgangers are an entirely new area of theoretical science and he doesn’t even know where to begin. Is it even possible for this ‘Avery’ kid to be the girl version of Peter Parker, or was it just the kid’s long-lost sister or something? There were so many questions that needed to be answered.

And what better way to get some answers than a few old-fashioned experiments?

“C’mon. Let’s talk about this in the kitchen. You hungry?”

She nodded her head excitedly; so, Tony mustered up a somewhat-smile onto his face and led her past the threshold that had been blocking her view of what was beyond it. Of course, he should have remembered who was waiting on the other side, and he wanted to slap himself for being so stupid, because as soon as she spotted the battle-ready Avengers standing around the couches her eyes widened comically and a repressed squeal was sounding in the back of her throat, as her cheeks turned red from the strain.

Great

Then, as if the pressure to release her inner fangirl was just getting to be too much, a high-pitched squawk nearly shattered his eardrums, and her hands flew to her mouth as she excitedly jumped up and down. Yep, he had a real bad feeling about this.

“Mr. Stark! Why didn’t you tell me the Avengers were here?!” She squealed again, reaching over for his arm, tugging and hanging off of him like a child as she vibrated exuberantly, staring at the heroes gathered awkwardly around the couches. They already looked ridiculously confused, and boy, were things about to get more complicated. But at least she didn’t say ‘dad’ like someone, because, wow, would that have been hard to explain. Not that he minded that Peter called him that or anything… but that one title had led to a whole lot of trouble, and he’d rather not go through that again, especially with the added ‘this is my kid’s doppelganger’. That in itself was going to be a pain to do, because some of these idiots were still trying to work it through their thick skulls that Peter was his kid. If he wasn’t careful… their heads may very well explode.

“Oh my goodness! Was the Thanos thing real? Did I really, like, disintegrate, or was that all just some crazy dream? ‘cause like now, I’m not too sure anymore. You were always like ‘oh, I’m never gonna talk to Steve Rogers again after what he did’ and I was, like, all for it and everything, but did you have to, like, call him or something to save the universe? Oh god! How long was I gone? Is that why you don’t remember me? Did you like-”

“Alright!” Tony scolds, taking his free arm and using his hand to massage the side of his head as he groaned in frustration, “that’s enough. There’s only so much information a guy can digest at once.”

He freed his arm from her grasp and ignored the raised brows and confused looks from the others. He placed his hand on her shoulder to guide her in the direction of the dining table. He forced her into a seat near the end of the table and by then he was already getting dizzy by the abundance of information he was receiving from both Peter’s ‘dream’ and this ‘Avery’ kid, because wow. That was… yeah. Okay.

He massaged his eyes with his fingers and sighed as he walked along the table to round the counter and enter the kitchen. He quietly hummed to himself, in hopes of distracting his thoughts from the crazy revelations, while he grabbed a bowl of grapes and a bowl of blueberries from the fridge.

“Um, da- I mean Mr. Stark! I meant Mr. Stark,” Peter corrected himself worriedly as he rushed up to Tony’s side. He handed Peter the bowl of grapes to carry and clapped a hand on his back while he chuckled amusedly, releasing one of those sighs (it’s been a while since he had one of those ‘I’m so done’ sighs), because, well… he’s just so done. Life was crazy, he’s accepted that, and his emotions were flopped upside down and jumbled in a massive heap... and he just doesn’t know what to do.

But Peter followed him back to the table like the loyal little puppy he was. Tony took the seat at the end, and Peter plopped down next to him, across from the mysterious girl that had showed up.

“What’s up kid?” Tony asks tiredly, addressing Peter, but looking at Avery as he pushed the bowl of blueberries towards her.

By then, they had a large audience and the girl was staring starry-eyed at everyone, completely oblivious to the bowl of blueberries Tony was obviously trying to offer her. Peter just watched with confused wide eyes as Tony sighed exasperatedly and grabbed ahold of her wrist and moved it manually so it was hovering over the bowl of blueberries. That seemed to have garnered her attention and she stared down at the blueberries for a moment before looking back up at Tony and shooting him a grateful smile as she ate.

“C’mon, spit it out kid.” Tony prodded him, again, not bringing his full attention to Peter. He just glanced at him pointedly for a moment before reaching over and grabbing the bowl of grapes from his hands. He plucked one off and threw it in Peter’s gaping mouth before sliding it over to Avery as well. “Let’s get going here, we don’t got all day, Pete.”

“Well-well, um Mr. Stark? Who-who is she? What’s she doing here?” He spluttered as he tried to speak around the large grape that had been thrown into his mouth.

Tony was just about to answer him, but Avery beat him to the punch and she stared at Peter suspiciously as she chewed on her blueberries.

“I’m Avery. Who are you? How do you know Mr. Stark?”

Peter gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish as he searched for the right response. Eventually he was able to stammer out an answer.

“Oh, I-I’m Peter. I-I’m Mr. Stark’s, um, personal intern. Yeah...”

Tony did another one of those ‘sighs’, because he can already see the chaos that was about to ensue, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready for it or not. Maybe he should have settled on breaking the news to her privately so there wouldn’t be as much of a huge freak-out, but of course, he wasn’t really thinking clearly at the time… and here they were. He can’t even imagine what Peter’s reaction will be… oh wait… there’s two of them now. How could he have possibly forgot. This was going to be a total nightmare.

Avery’s face scrunched up in confusion and she stared at Peter with wide eyes. Her snacking stopped, and she snapped her head to the right to stare at incredulously at Tony, tears glistening in her eyes again. No, not the tears.

He really didn’t want to play with tears right now. The entire situation was overwhelming enough, and he didn’t need his stupid ‘dad’ senses overwhelming him too. He gets enough of that with having one Peter around. He doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to handle two.

“How-How long was I really gone,” She sniffled, “did you already replace me Mr. Stark? I’m really sorry for whatever I did! Really! I am. I didn’t mean to be gone that long, I really didn’t,” She cried, the tears rolling down her cheeks at a speed faster than she was able to wipe them all away.

Aaand now… he looks like the world’s biggest jerk.

“No, no. Kid, you don’t understand. Stop crying, would ya?” Tony pleads, leaning forward to reach out for her hand. She yanks it away when his fingers brush along her knuckles. She leans further away from him and hides her face in her hands. Tony releases a frustrated sigh and leans back in his seat, glancing over at a very puzzled Peter. He just didn’t know what to do anymore. Life was getting too complicated, too fast, and he wasn’t quick enough to keep up with it.

While Tony was dealing with his own existential crisis, Wanda pushes her way through the unusually silent group of Avengers to sit down in the seat next to Avery. She drapes an arm gently around her shoulders and pulls the sobbing girl into her side. She hushes her gently, and soon, both Natasha and Bucky are joining in her attempt to calm her down. Tony sits there helplessly as he watches them comfort… this kid, and he’s pretty sure that if she wasn’t so concentrated on the terrible assumptions she was making, she’d be freaking out about the Scarlet Witch and Black Widow hugging on her, because that’s exactly what, well, that’s exactly what Peter would do.

“Stark, what’s going on?” Wanda addressed him with a glare as she continues to rub her hands up and down Avery’s arms. “Don’t tell me you have two kids now. One was enough of a surprise.”

“Yeah, Mr. Stark.” Peter pipes up, lowering his eyebrows at Tony and looking downright offended, “was she your intern before me? Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

Tony groaned, because now Peter’s done it! He's just made their lives a million times more difficult. He KNEW this was a bad idea.

“Okay, hold up!” Sam interrupts shaking his head and blinking his eyes several times before snapping his sharp gaze to Peter, “are you Stark’s kid, or no?” He points at him accusingly and Peter startles a bit, whipping his head to look at Tony, because he realized what he had just done.

“Wilson, that’s not important right now,” Tony snaps through gritted teeth. He didn’t need to be yelling or shouting or getting strained because he could already feel the throb in the back of his head, signifying a terrible migraine that was sure to rear its head sometime in the near future. He was getting to old for this crap.

First Peter breaks his heart, then he has a weird nightmare slash panic attack thing in his Living Room in front of the Avengers. Then he starts explaining some crazy prophecy he saw in his dream that was just a bit too similar to his own nightmare to be considered as just a small coincidence. And THEN! Then this KID comes up his FREAKING elevator, and guess what?! IT turns out to be PETER FROM ANOTHER FREAKING DIMENSION!! So yeah! He’s totally calm.

“Stark is right, I think it is more important to address the fact that young Avery here is Peter’s doppelganger from within somewhere else in the Multiverse,” Loki speaks up calmly, spinning a sharp blade between his long fingers.

Which, comforts Tony at least a little bit. The affirmation of the whole doppelganger thing, not the knife… because at least he’s not going completely insane.

“Huh?” Steve huffs bemusedly, while Sam, Clint and Bucky stare wide-eyed at the two teens sitting on Tony’s either side. Then… then there’s Rhodey. You gotta love Rhodey.

“Excuse me?!” He exclaims, from where he’s standing right behind Tony’s chair. “There’s two of them?”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh, because at least now he’s not the only one who’s freaking out about it. He sits back in his chair and watches in amusement as both Peter and Avery lock eyes with each other across the table. It was terrifying, really, to see their motions and facial expressions to be so in sync. Their mouths hang open and their eyes glisten in wondered amazement.

“Whoa,” Peter breathed quietly, leaning forward in his seat to try and get a better look at her face. “Wait… you-you’re that girl who was staring at me and my friend after school! Did you like… did you know you were me?”

Avery leaned forward as well and squinted her eyes as she examined Peter’s face. She puffed out her cheeks for a moment and then a wide grin broke through before she answered him.

“No,” she breathed airily, “I-I didn’t think I was staring at anyone, but I knew the school felt so familiar. I...I was just so confused all the time, and the school was the only thing that seemed to be familiar to me so I just hung around there all day, hoping it’d bring back a few of my memories.”

Peter frowned at her. “So, like, did you just now remember who you were or something?”

“Yeah, I-I’ve been having these crazy dreams, but I could never remember what they were about! But a few hours ago, I started to remember everything that happened, and- like, I remembered! It was so cool! It was scary, but so cool.”

The others around them didn’t bother to interrupt as Peter continued to excitedly ask her questions.

“So, like, do you remember why you came here then?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’ve been staying in the back alley behind the school for the past four days. One moment, I don’t have any clue who I am, the next, I’m Avery May Parker. I remember everything up to Thanos’ snap, and I can’t really remember anything else right now.”

Even despite the upsetting situation she was in, she still seemed absolutely thrilled at the prospect of being in another dimension, and Tony couldn’t help but worry what the fallout will be when she comes to the sudden realization that she was not at home.

“Okay, okay, hold up a second,” Natasha voices, glaring over at Tony. “Did you know about this?”

“Hey,” Tony snaps, offendedly, holding up his hands in a defensive manner, “I like to think that I’m a decent enough human being to do something about it If I knew my kid’s doppelganger had been living on the streets for the past 4 days. I just figured it out just a few minutes before you did.”

It was offensive, really, that she thought so little of him. He knows for a fact that he would have definitely done something about the situation if he had known anything about it. Right now,… he just had so many questions, he didn’t even worry about what the others were thinking of him. Not that he usually cared anyway...

“Okay, okay, we gotta experiment with this,” Peter grins, excitedly, bouncing up and down in his chair like a child high on Pixie Stix. “Do we like the same things? Do we have the same personality? Are we actually th-”

“Okay okay!” Aver squeals impatiently, “favorite movie on three!”

So, the adults watch in mild amusement as both teens emphatically count to three, their voices raising with each passing number, before their both blurting out, ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith!’, at the same time

Creepy, by the way.

“Cool! Favorite color!” Peter shouts. Then, they both start counting to three again and Tony actually flinches when they both scream ‘RED!’ a little too excitedly. His poor, old man ears could only take so much.

So, they continue on like that, with the questions becoming progressively weirder and more difficult to follow.

“Black and Blue, or Gold and white?!”

“Yanny or Laurel?!”

“Five hours of half energy, or two and a half hours of full energy?”

“Smiling face with heart eyes, winky face, then kissy face? ORR Grinning face, huggy face, then face blowing a kiss??”

Yeah… Tony was so done, and thank goodness nothing was said about Spider-Man. Boy, would that be something.

“Alright, alright. As endearing as this all is, we need to get serious.” Tony interrupted before they got the chance to start another ridiculous question that left Steve and Bucky so confused, they probably wanted to cry.

“Aww, c'mon dad! I just met my doppelganger! This has never happened to anyone on the face of the Earth! I think we deserve at least a little bit of time to compare notes, don’t you think?”

Of course, Peter failed to realize the fatal mistake he had made, again, and Tony’s eyes rolled to the back of his skull. He leaned back against the chair to get ready for the storm to come. Was he just destined to be eternally screwed?

“YOU’RE MY DAD?!” Avery screeched, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

“Oh boy,” Rhodey muttered.

“Alright, alright, calm down,” Tony placated, leaning forward and reaching for Avery’s hand as she waved them around while she hyperventilated. He sends Peter a well-deserved ‘dad look’ for good measure before finally capturing her wild hands and bringing them down, gently, to rest on the table.

That boy looked rightfully guilty, and good. He should be, because he just made their lives so very complicated.

“Oh my god,” Avery breathed, pulling away from Tony and fisting her hands into her hair with wide eyes. She scooted her chair back, away from the table and stared at Tony, with a look of horror. Tony wasn’t sure if he should be feeling offended or not. “I can’t believe that for the past 10 years, my Man Crush Monday was... my dad! OH my god, oh my god. ohmygod.”

“Stark was your Man Crush Monday?” Clint laughs, trying and failing to suppress his snickering.

“Shut Up!” Nat snaps, giving him a well-deserved slap to the back of the head. Tony’s grateful for it, and even despite the confession she made-wait. If he is her Man Crush… that means…

“Peter? Have something you want to tell me?” He sees the boy’s face flush bright red.

“Okay-okay, h-here’s the thing though. Ned said that I couldn’t pick Thor ‘cause, like, he didn’t count. You know, since he’s not human and all that, so, like, I had to pick a real human, you know, ‘cause Ned is all about the technicalities and all that. So, like, I had to pick you, ‘cause like, you’re the default.” Peter gives him a sheepish grin and wrings his hands nervously over his lap. “So, really, Thor is my Man Crush, but since he’s an alien and all that, it’s not really official, so I had to pick you…”

“I am honored to be your Man Crush on Monday, Peter,” Thor grins, happily. Which causes Peter’s face to flush an even deeper shade of red.

“Oh my god…” Rhodey groaned in amusement. He rubbed both his hands down his face as he laughed. He spun around in a slow circle before stopping and releasing a long sigh, as if he were trying to calm himself down.

And Tony… didn’t even know what to say. Like… what were you supposed to say to something like that?

And, really, he knew he should probably be more focused on the actual fact that he used to be, or maybe even still is, his kid’s Man Crush Monday, instead of the fact that he was second pick to Thor. He really shouldn't be, because, you know, it’s Thor, but Tony had always been a sore loser. Either way, the entire thing was hilarious, especially Peter’s obvious embarrassment, which is probably what made it so funny in the first place.

Then, oh goodness, there’s going to be a heck of a lot of explaining to do. Rhodey was the only one who knew about the situation, which meant he wasn’t completely horrified by this new revelation. Yeah… they were going to have to pull out that ‘adopted’ card here soon. Typically, ‘sons’ didn’t consider their ‘fathers’ as their ‘Man Crush Monday’s.

“Why’d you have to tell them?” Peter groaned, glaring over at Avery before dropping his head onto to table in humiliation. Tony placed a comforting hand on his back while he continued his chuckling, as Avery stared at his sulking form incredulously. She stood from her seat, placed her hands on her hips, and raised her eyebrows as if to prove her point.

“Well, why didn’t you tell me he was our father?!” She gestured wildly in Tony’s direction and Peter’s head snapped up.

“I literally just met you!”

“You still should have told me!”

“I just did!” Peter argued.

Thankfully, FRIDAY interrupted before the bickering could escalate.

“Boss, I have informed Dr. Banner of the situation, and he is currently entering the room.”

“Oh, thank god,” Tony groaned, pushing his chair away from the table to crane his head sideways, hoping to catch a glimpse of the scientist as he walked in. If anyone could make sense of this mess (who wasn’t a murderous demigod) it would be Bruce.

“Tony! What in the world is going on? FRIDAY says there’s another kid...” Bruce rushes into the room, eyes wide and curls untamed. He slows his trek when he notices everyone gathered around the dining table, along with the new addition standing beside Natasha. He paused and watched her warily as she stared at him with awed amazement, completely forgetting about her earlier discussions. There was just so much going on and nobody could really blame her. It was a surprise that she hadn’t spontaneously combusted by the abundance of overwhelming circumstances.

“Well, you see…” Tony squints his eyes and cocks his head to the side, determining the best way to break the news without sounding completely idiotic and insane.

“This is the girl version of Peter from another dimension...I think.” Bucky steps in for him, scratching the side of his skull in confusion, and yeah, Tony could totally relate.

“This isn’t another one of your stupid pranks, is it Tony?” Bruce asks incredulously, looking Avery over and then looking at Peter.

“As amazing as that would be, no, this isn’t a prank. Not one of mine, at least. I wouldn’t put it past Peter to do this though,” he turns his head to look, questioningly, at Peter, “considering what I did to him last week.” Actually, he really hopes that this was all just a prank, but judging by the surprised look on Peter’s face… it wasn’t his doing either.

Other than the fact that the girls physical features and mannerisms were near identical to Peter’s, and she seemed to have the knowledge of the whole ‘turning to dust’ dream, the whole ‘prank’ idea was making more sense than anything else.

“I promise,” Peter nearly shouts, “I didn’t set this up. As much as I wish I did, I don’t think I could have pulled something like this off,” he grinned, “That would have been an epic prank though, you gotta admit.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Clint chuckles after a few moments, “I know what’s going on here. This whole thing has just been one big elaborate prank because of that song I blasted over the speakers last week isn’t it? You got Loki, and your AI on it, kudos to you! Peter’s not really your kid, this isn’t the kid’s doppelganger. Har har, you got me. It’s all over.”

“So, what? You think I just picked out a couple twins off the street and hired them to act like my children just to get back at you for a little prank? I didn’t even know you were coming out this weekend! How could I have planned to prank you this if I had no idea you were going to be here? All I wanted to do was spend some time with Peter, and all of you waltzed in and completely ruined the weekend with my kid, everything was going fine until you showed up!” Tony shouts angrily, standing from his chair to point an accusing finger at him. The stress was definitely showing now.

“I don’t think you’re really above that Stark,” Sam says, raising an eyebrow at him. “This does seem like something you would do.”

“Yeah! And I wasn’t even the one to release the stink bomb in the vents last weekend! That was all your AI’s fault. You knew what was going on! So, stop lying to us Tony. You got me, I believed you, we’re even. Now, what’s the deal with these kids?”

Tony had to pause at that. FRIDAY did what now? He completely disregarded Clint’s other question and accusations. Instead, opting for figuring out why the heck his AI was so FREAKING JACKED UP!

“FRIDAY?” He asks through gritted teeth. Breathing tersely through his nose as he pursed his lips together.

“Yes, Boss?” Why did she have to sound so stinking innocent?

“Did you release the stink bomb in the vents and blame it on Clint?”

“No, sir. I simply suggested that Mr. Barton choose the malfunctioning bomb. The rest he accomplished all on his own.”

That. Smug. Little. Bastard.

“So, did anything I say about keeping them at the compound for the weekend not get through your thick. Artificial SKULL?!”

“I take offense sir.”

“You damn well better take offense! You went strictly against my orders!”

“I did no such thing sir,” she retaliated, with a hint of snark in her tone, “I simply manipulated the circumstances, and the rest fell into place all on its own.”

Ohhhoho, someone was going to be disabled and reprogrammed to-night! That was for sure.

“Might I just suggest a DNA test to get to the bottom of this? There’s only one way we can be sure that Avery, here, is who Tony says she is,” Bruce sighs. “I mean no offense to you Tony, I just feel that this would be the most logical solution to our problem.”

Somehow, Tony got the feeling that this was not going to end well.

***

Peter was all for the idea of a DNA test. It would totally answer, like, all his questions. Well, not all of them. Of course, he couldn’t really think of all of them at the time, either, but it was still amazing, because he had a FREAKING DOPPELGANGER! Who else could say that they’d met themselves. That’s just sick! Even though she is a girl, it’s still him. Or at least he thinks it is… would it still be considered him if she was a girl? Wow, wasn’t this confusing. But that’s probably what the DNA test was supposed to do, right? It was to clear everything up.

“Ooh yeah! That’s a great idea!” Peter voices excitedly, “do you think she has a different set of DNA because she’s a girl? Or like, because she’s from a different dimension and everything? Is it possible for her to have different parents, or would that not work?”

Peter feels Tony’s hand settle on his shoulder, pulling him back when he stood from his chair and began moving closer to Bruce, and Peter glanced over to look at him with wide eyes. He expected Tony to be as excited as he was, but he wasn't looking very happy about it… at all. Which was weird, because the Tony he knew would be all for new scientific discoveries and stuff. Something must be very wrong. Had the argument really upset him that much?

“Alright, then. Let’s go down to the med bay then,” Bruce announces, signaling for everyone to follow him as he led the way to the elevators. All the Avengers followed behind him like loyal puppies, and Loki followed along as well. They all insisted to be there, so they could witness the results for themselves, to be sure that no tampering was done. Apparently, they all had some serious trust issues. Minus Loki, who seemed to be so amused by the ordeal. Thor, too, didn’t see the need to go along other than pure curiosity and the fact that everyone else was going as well.

Peter about to follow them, ready to obtain some serious bragging rights. Ned will never believe it.

But Tony grabbed ahold of his wrist before he could get very far, pulling him back towards the dining table with him and Rhodey. Apparently, there were some things that the genius wanted to discuss. Hopefully, he wasn’t in trouble or anything, because he sure did make a few messes during that whole conversation. But! In his defense… it was really exciting, and he doesn’t have much control over his tongue when he gets really excited about something.

Avery was eager to follow them, though. She didn’t notice Tony or Rhodey’s hesitancy and she ran along to catch up with the others.

“We’ll meet you down there in a second!” Tony cups a hand around his mouth to calls out to the others while they were entering the elevator. “Gotta talk to the kid for a second.”

The elevator doors close behind them, and Tony immediately releases a strangled groan and falls back into his chair, cradling his face in his hands.

“Mr. Stark? What’s wrong?” Peter asks worriedly. Tony never really displayed his frustration that openly, at least when he was around.

“Peter, do you know what’s going to happen if they do that DNA test?” Tony lifts his head from his hands and stares Peter down.

Peter wants to say he does, but he really doesn’t. It’s not like they were testing his DNA against Tony’s; so, there was no way to prove that he wasn’t Tony’s son. He didn’t see what the big deal was, but judging by Rhodey’s and Tony’s hesitance, he was getting a little nervous. He wasn’t a huge fan of being left out of the loop, it wasn’t very much fun.

“It’s not going to matter with Avery, ‘because it seems that her powers aren’t working here, so it won’t be that bad, but yours? Your blood is going to be screaming ‘Hey! Look at me! I’m a teenage boy mutated with funky spider DNA, and I can totally climb walls!’”

Well...Peter didn’t really think of that. He probably should have, considering that this whole scheme has been to keep his real identity a secret. Now what were they going to do? Maybe it would just be best if they told them the truth… No, he didn’t like that idea. Having Tony as a fake dad was too much fun to give up that easily. Oh, and the whole keeping his secret identity a secret. That was pretty important too.

They needed a plan...

“Oh, well, um… why don’t we just tell them that I’m scared of needles or something?”

“I don’t know,” Rhodey sighs, rubbing nervously at his neck, “I think these guys are catching on to what’s really going on, that’ll just make them more suspicious.” Apparently Rhodey wasn’t too fond of them finding out the truth either.

“Well, we’ll just have to try and see, won’t we?” Tony grunts, clapping his hands on his knees and standing from his chair. He began his trek to the elevators and Peter followed close behind, there was no way he wanted to miss this. He hopes it doesn’t end in complete and utter chaos.

***

“Alright, now that should do it.” Bruce says, pressing a cotton ball to the dot of blood on her elbow and laying the syringe of blood down on a tray while he wraps her arm with a thin gauze to keep the cotton in place. “I’ll start the analysis on your blood right now. Then we can compare it to Peter’s when he gets down here.”

Avery excitedly nods her head and glances around at the crowd of heroes standing awkwardly around the room. They were oddly quiet throughout the whole ordeal.

Bruce clicks at his keyboard, while the machine containing her blood starts whirring next to him. It doesn’t even take a minute until there’s a little green light blinking on the machine.

“Where is Tony?” Steve asks impatiently, a frown crossing his features as his arms cross over his chest while he glances through the glass wall into the hallway.

“Don’t be so pissy Spangles,” Avery snapped irritatedly. He may be one of the coolest people ever and it was obviously super awesome to meet him, but she never really liked him as a person. With all the stories Rhodey had told her, she didn’t think she liked how he treated her Mr. Stark. Who knows? Maybe this Steve Rogers is different, but from what she’s discerned so far, he didn’t seem to be. “They’ll be here in a second.”

Steve’s face was pure gold, it even had Bucky buckling at the waist with laughter. Tony definitely would have paid good money to see it. The hero looked at her, completely mortified, and even Dr. Banner started chuckling from his spot at the desk.

“Oh my God!” Bucky laughs, “Stark’s actually got two kids now! We don’t even have to do the test anymore. This is crazy!”

Steve was about to correct him, but the elevator dings and the missing three step into the med bay. Peter looking much more timid than he was before. No one missed the way he basically hid behind Tony, shadowing him like a shy child would do at a social event.

“Alright listen, I know you’re all set in your ways and you want to do this stupid test, but my kid is deathly afraid of needles, so it’s a no go for us. Sorry not sorry.” Tony says, with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

“Uhh? What’s with the sudden change in attitude?” Natasha asks, narrowing her eyes, “the kid didn’t seem all against the idea before you had your little ‘talk’ with him”.

“Well, Natasha,” Tony scowls, “our little ‘talk’ consisted of what happens during a DNA test. Apparently, my kid’s stupid and he doesn’t know what the heck that means. So, no needles.”

“Um, I’m sorry,” Sam mocked, “but this version of your kid just handled it like a champ. Not even a wince. You can’t talk yourself out of this one Stark. We’ll know the truth whether he does the test or not. It’s obvious that you’re trying to hide something.”

“Well actually, it is plausible for this potential ‘version’ of Peter to have different fears based off alternate events she had experienced in her own world. It is perfectly reasonable for these two to have accumulate different fears while still being the same person.” Vision piped up helpfully. Tony could kiss him, really.

“It doesn’t matter. We still need some proof that this girl is really who she says she is. For all we know, she could be a Hydra spy.” Steve interjects. Tony could kill him, really. The man’s obsession with Hydra was beginning to become a bit unhealthy.

Majority rule with Steve’s point, and even Thor had to agree that determining who Avery was, was essential to their safety. Loki, on the other hand, remains disinterested, and simply picks at his nail with a dagger as if he had no care in the world.

“If I may be of assistance-” FRIDAY interjects.

“No, you may not,” Tony voices sternly, but FRIDAY ignores him and keeps right on going.

“I have a sample of Boss’ blood in order to compare those tests. It should lead to the same results, considering that Peter is in fact his child.”

Tony doesn’t know what he could have done to offend the AI so terribly, but there must have been something.

Everyone seemed to like the idea, ‘kill two birds with one stone’, as they said, and Tony wanted to die. He shared a wide-eyed glance with both Peter and Rhodey. He couldn’t interject, he couldn’t really do anything at this point without giving himself away. They were going to figure out the truth either way, so there was no use in hiding it. It’d probably be better to admit the tru-Actually… they could totally pull this off. Peter could take on the role of his ‘adoptive son’ since they never really specified the exact relation to the others. That way they could still save some face, and he could get in some good ‘snooty’ time. Perfect.

How dare they assume the relation he had with his son!

“Go ahead,” Tony gestured with a small smirk. Peter gawked at him and so did Rhodey, but he ignored them, because he totally had a plan for all of this. He always had a plan, those two should really get used to it by now.

Bruce took out the samples containing Tony’s blood and did the same to them as he did Avery’s.

He received a few skeptical looks from the others, but he allowed them to continue. Completely ready to laugh in their faces for coming to such an assumption after they accuse him of being a big fat liar. Even though he totally is. But, yeah, he was prepared. Completely prepared.

At least he thought he was...

“Yep, looks like it’s a match.” Bruce grins turning to Tony with the positive paternity test. Boy was that fast. “Congratulations Tony, it’s a girl.”

Exsqueeze me?

Chapter Text

It has been 10 minutes. Ten whole, miserably long, heart wrenching, sole-searching minutes since his newfound father had kicked everyone, including Peter, out of the med bay with a well masked voice of panic, claiming for the need to ‘think’.

Rhodey had opted for sitting next to him on the floor right outside the entrance, despite the angry whine of the braces when he bent to that position. It was probably best that he did, because Peter was feeling… he didn’t even know what he was feeling at this point. Anger? Excitement? Fear? Whatever it was, it sure didn’t feel good! And he needed all the support he could get.

The anticipation of just sitting there, waiting to confront Tony about the whole thing, while still pretending that it wasn’t really that big of a deal was terrible… because here he was. Surrounded by many confused superheroes as well as his apparent doppelganger who were all under the impression that, oh yes! TONY STARK REALLY IS HIS FATHER! And he was in NO mood to try and explain to them why he was freaking out about something he was supposed to have already known. It was killing him. The anticipation was going to kill him, because he was surely going to explode. He wasn’t sure if it would be his heart or his brain that would give out first, but it was going to happen soon.

“Hey, Junior, you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Clint asked, shooting him a worried ‘dad’ look. But you see, Clint wasn’t his dad... Ohhoho no! Iron Man was his dad. Oh god! Iron man is HIS DAD!

He wanted to scream, he wanted to tear his hair out, run around in circles, climb the ceilings, and punch the heck out of one of these walls, because oh my god! Iron Man is my dad! All this, while screaming like a freaking maniac. Who wouldn’t when they found out the man they had been pretending to be their father, to fool the Avengers, was in fact their real father?

What about his father, though? What was going on with that? Has his whole life been some sick lie? Just the chance of this happening, is like...infinitely impossible! First, Tony Stark apparently has a kid. Okay, not too hard to believe, considering his past. Next, Tony Stark’s kid inherits his predisposed ability to get into trouble, which leads to said child becoming a superhero himself. Okay, sure, not super unbelievable- But then! Then Tony somehow becomes the mentor to his ‘son’, whom he has no idea about, and they form a bond over this superheroing nonsense! The chances of that? Yeah, it gets a little smaller. And then! And then they pretend to actually be father and son! Oh, the IRONY! What was this? A SOAP OPERA??

It was taking every bit of his willpower to not freak out. Which wasn’t fair by the way, because everyone else was busy freaking out. Especially this Avery girl, who is him, apparently. That whole ‘thing’ is still not as surprising as the fact that Iron man is his father! He understands for her to be freaking out, heck, he'd be freaking out too if it wouldn't blow his and Tony's cover.

If both he and Rhodey were somehow holding it together, the others really shouldn't be freaking out over it.

But Avery was so freaking out, which seemed to grab the attention of both Wanda and Natasha who forgot about their own star-stricken surprise and busied themselves with trying to calm her down. While Peter was subjected to sitting there, uncomfortably, on the floor, jittering, and ready to spontaneously combust at any given moment.

Clint finally gets the idea that Peter was not going to be answering him anytime soon, so he hangs back near Thor. Peter would have felt sorry for ignoring him, but he really didn’t think he could have a civil conversation with anyone at the moment.

Thank goodness Rhodey was there to keep him somewhat level, even though he noticed that the man was freaking out just a bit himself. So, he turns to him, because this is currently the only person in the room who had known the ‘kind of’ truth before the ‘whole truth’ was revealed… which was kind of confusing. They were both suffering the same confusion, at least.

“Rhodey? I-is this part of Tony’s plan?” He hates the way his voice cracks towards the end, and he can feel the dam holding back his frustrated tears begin to chip away. He needed to keep it together!

“I don’t know kid, but he seemed just as surprised about it as we were.” Rhodey whispers back, eyes glazed over as he stared at the empty wall in front of them.

Peter curls into himself, trying to huddle against the man’s side for some sort of comfort. Everything was just so confusing; he didn’t even know what to think, or what to begin to think. He just sort of wanted to stop thinking for a moment, so his heart would stop racing, and so his mind would stop spinning. He could already feel the painful migraine slowly developing behind his eyes.

Why did the bomb have to be dropped at the most inconvenient time?

He groans and presses his forehead against Rhodey’s upper arm, squeezing his eyes closed to try and block out the blinding lights of the hallway.

“Hey,” Bruce asks worriedly, coming over to stand in front of them when he noticed Peter's distraught state, “is he okay?”

Peter doesn’t say a word, so Rhodey speaks up for him, giving Peter a reassuring pat on the knee as he did so.

“U-uh yeah. He just gets migraines sometimes when there’s a lot going on.” Rhodey’s able to stutter out, giving Peter another clap on the knee and shooting Bruce a reassuring smile, in hopes he would soon go away.

The somewhat truthful excuse seemed to appease the doctor, and he steps back to his place beside the glass door. Continuing his attempts to peek through the recently glossed privacy setting that had been activated on it.

Peter would have voiced his thanks to Rhodey, had Steve not stepped in and interrupted him soon after Bruce left. Peter just wanted to cry from his frustration, so he curled further into his uncle, trusting he would take care of it.

“I would like to apologize for not believing you and your father before, Peter,” Steve says.

Peter’s wince is barely recognizable when Steve refers to Tony as his father. He must keep reminding himself not to freak out, at least not until he was alone. Then, he tilts his head to the side to see Steve standing in front of them, wringing his hands nervously, with Sam and Bucky on either side of him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too kid,” Sam grumbles half-heartedly under his breath, earning him an elbow in the side from Bucky.

“I-It’s okay. I understand the confusion,” Peter supplies with a weak smile.

They left, thankfully, and Peter groaned again, banging his head on the back of the wall in irritation, ignoring the fact that it probably wasn’t such a clever idea with his growing migraine.

“I-I can’t believe this,” he whispered through a frustrated groan, “this is like… I don’t even know what this is like. I just…” He can’t even form coherent sentences! This is ridiculous.

“I know kid, I understand,” Rhodey whispers with a soft sigh,” just try not to freak out completely until well… until you’ve talked it out with him. There’s a lot going on right now.”

Peter glances towards the others to make sure they weren't listening to their conversation before continuing. “I know, I know, it’s just… this changes everything.”

“No, it doesn’t” Rhodey insists with a reassuring smile.

“Yes, it does,” Peter argues right back, “these past few days have just been pretend, but now it’s real. Mr. Stark’s going to be so freaked out by it and I’m never going to see him again.”

“Now, just wait a minute ki-” He’s interrupted by a nervous stammering in front of them.

“U-um hi… Peter, right?” Avery asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Peter nods affirmatively and looks up at her. The previous amazement and fascination from earlier had significantly dissipated with this newfound discovery. Both of the excitable-prone teenagers looked a bit… worse for wear, as some might say.

“Well, I know this was probably really weird for you too when you found out, but, like, when did you find out about Mr. Stark being your dad? Or like… our dad, I don’t really know how to describe it. But… was it before or after Thanos came?”

“I don’t know about any Thanos,” Peter frowns confusedly, “what are you talking about?”

“O-oh well. There was this big purple alien guy who wanted the Infinity Stones and he like… destroyed half the universe. Well, at least I think he did. I’m not really sure if it was a dream or not. There’s just too much to process right now, so like I don’t really know what I should freak out about first. I mean… I just regained my memory like two hours ago, then I get here, and I find out I’m in a different dimension or whatever, and you’re me. And-and- and then like… Mr. Stark is my dad? What? What about our real dad, you know?”

It takes him a moment to process… A pretty long moment. Does he really talk that fast? How does anyone ever understand what he says.

“Wait! I shouldn’t be telling you this!” Her eyes widen comically, and she clamps a hand over her mouth, “what if I’m from the future, and me telling you this creates like some weird space-time warp, and then the universe explodes or something? That would be so cool… but also not cool. Sorry, I don’t think it’d be cool to make your universe explode, I’m just really nervous right now. Plus, I think I’m still in that whole denying stage, because it’s kind of hard to accept that I basically disintegrated in Mr. Stark’s arms.” She pauses and that gives both Rhodey and Peter enough time to piece together what’s going on.

“Oh, my goodness! Poor Mr. Stark! He’s stranded on that planet all by himself, and he probably thinks this is all his fault because that Dr. Dude sacrificed the sto- Wait! Nope, I can’t tell you. Sorry. I don’t want your universe exploding.”

“Wait, wait, wait. I remember all of that! Don’t you remember Rhodey? I was telling everyone about the purple grape dude before she showed up. It was so weird, I thought I was predicting the future or something.”

It excites Peter just enough for him to lose track of the fact that he has just recently discovered that his real father is alive and well and is currently in the next room freaking out over having a real son. His attention should probably be primarily focused on that, but the idea of some weird space-time dimension connection with his doppelganger is pretty freaking awesome too.

“Do-do you think that you showing up, like, triggered me seeing the future? Or do you think I’m just seeing your memories or whatever?”

“Well, I don’t know. It’s possible, since this is like an alternate dimension, that things turned out differently. What day is it here?” Avery asks, falling to the floor clumsily and crossing her legs beneath her as she stared at Peter excitedly.

“It’s May 1st today. I’m turning 17 on the-”

“-the 21st.” They both said it at the same time, which sent them both spiraling into another fit of fanboy(girl)ing. This was going to get confusing very quickly.

“Alright, alright. Just calm down-” Rhodey sighs, rolling his eyes and pressing a hand to his face to begin repressing his own growing migraine.

“Wait, so do you guys like have this telepathic ability to read each other's minds since you’re, like... each other?” Sam asks curiously. “‘cause that’s pretty freaking epic if you can. That’s basically like having a superpower.”

“Well actually…” Avery begins, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she turns her gaze to address the others who had been listening in on their conversation.

Peter shares a worried glance with Rhodey as she continued. Oh no

“In case you didn't already know, we’re actually already su-” Peter dives across the floor, tackling her in his attempt to clamp his hand over her mouth.

She pushes at him to get off her, but Peter doesn’t want to risk her spilling their secret when both he and Tony had worked so hard to keep it that way. He had dedicated too many hours and had too many embarrassing moments in this endeavor, to let the secret be spilled that easily.

Thankfully, she was lacking her powers, so she couldn’t gain the upper hand, but sadly she was still able to defend herself… very well. And apparently, she thought it was pretty funny when she kneed Peter in the groin. He squeaked embarrassingly like a little girl and fell to the side, groaning the whole way down and pressing his hands against the offending target. She laughed triumphantly and jumped on his back to pin him down.

When Peter regained his composure, he flipped them again, he wasn't about to lose… to himself without superpowers, and they continued to tousle around on the floor, in what looked like a legit wrestling match. Of course, Peter couldn’t really use his powers to their full extent without revealing it to the others, so he had to defend himself against...himself basically without the use of super strength or super agility. She was still strong, though! Which was so weird. The entire thing was just weird. He’s pretty sure nobody in the universe could say that they’ve wrestled with their doppelganger before.

Rhodey shifted his legs out of the way when the two came rolling in his direction. He didn’t want to get involved in their little...wrestling match.

“Aww, look. They haven’t even been brother and sister for a day and they’re already fighting,” Clint cooed in amusement. Just around the same time Avery managed to hold Peter in a fairly painful position, but he was quick to roll away.

“I don’t know. I feel like we should intervene,” Vision says, watching them warily, as they grunted and cried out while they rolled around on the floor, trying to gain the upper hand.

“Just leave them be. It is how siblings express their love for each other.” Thor booms happily, “isn’t that right brother?”

Loki just rolls his eyes and continues watching as the two teenagers continue in their unclear squabble for the next couple minutes.

“Peter,” FRIDAY interrupts, “Boss is requesting to discuss some things with you.”

Peter pauses, giving Avery the chance to flip him over and pin both arms behind his back triumphantly.

“This doesn’t count as a win.” He grumbles, “I got distracted, and you know I’m easy to move around with my...hollowness.”

The others arch their brows in confusion, but both Rhodey and Avery laugh at him.

This was it. He stood and took in a small breath as he dusted himself off, making his way to the door of the Med bay. He glanced over at Rhodey, still seated up against the wall. The man gave him an encouraging smile, and that was all he needed to pull the door open and entered, despite the lump growing in his throat and the swirl in his stomach. This was it.

***

He’s freaked. That’s really the only word for it. He is completely and utterly freaked the heck out. And he most definitely did not want to have his major freak out in front of the people who were currently under the impression that he was already informed of the circumstances that were ‘ironically’ freaking him out. So, he sent everybody, including Peter, away, so he could freak out about everything in peace. That’s what he really needed. He just needed some time to think...

For the first couple minutes he was unable to do anything except stare blankly at the sheet in front of him. The sheet confirming that, at least, Avery was his daughter, but since Avery is his kid, that means that Peter is his too, since Avery is Peter. Right?

Why did this have to be so complicated and at the same time make so much sense?!

He growled in frustration and swiped his arm violently across the lab table closest to him. Sending glass beakers and stacks of paper flying to the floor. Loud crashes of shattering glass following closely behind his cries of frustration. He collapsed into the chair and cradled his head in his hands, silently cursing at himself for being such an idiot. The wheels of the chair ran over the crushed glass as it scooted backwards by the force, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Why did he have to go out and choose to basically adopt the one superheroing teenage kid who just so happened to be his own flesh and blood?! It’s like his whole life was a freaking soap opera for crying out loud!

“Sir, might I suggest calming down. Your heart rate has elevated significantly and there are indications that you could be entering a severe pani-”

“Oh really?!” Tony snarls, venomously. “And why do you think that is FRIDAY?”

“I am unsure of how you want me to answer your question Boss,” FRIDAY replied politely.

Tony scoffed, throwing his arms in the air in indifference, because he was just so done. He sniffed a couple times and he didn’t really know why he had to put so much effort into suppressing his tears. Was he even upset? Why was he crying?!

He stood and kicked the table in frustration, releasing a disgruntled shout behind the deep growl in his throat. He ignored the throbbing in his foot and collapsed back into the chair, letting the tears fall freely down his cheeks. Why was he so upset?

“How about you start with the fact that you knew good and well the relation between me and Peter.” He growled out, cradling his left arm against his chest as it shook violently.

His voice lowered to a deceptively calm tone. He released his shaky arm and cradled his head between his two hands once again, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes to keep the tears where they were supposed to be. Too many had already been shed. His voice shook, and he could feel himself teetering on the edge of having a panic attack. Just great. Stark men were supposed to be made of steel; yet here he was. Freaking out about having a son… he had a son.

“I believe there has been a misunderstanding sir,” FRIDAY replies innocently.

“Then what was all that?!” He shouted, lifting his head to glare at the ceiling, “you were practically begging Bruce to take that DNA test! You knew! You knew this whole time and you didn’t even think to tell me! What’s been wrong with you lately? It’s like you're coding has been screwed with, you-you- you’re pulling all this crap and I want to know why!”

The tears leaked from his eyes in a long stream. The lump in his throat was constricting his breathing and he was no longer able to swallow. He could feel his face heat up, and the blotchy redness that was sure to be there from the acid-like tears falling from his eyes.

“I am not authorized to divulge that information to you sir.”

She spoke in an unsettling tranquil manner, undoubtedly, in an attempt to calm down her master, but it only seemed to fuel the fire.

“What?! What the heck?! I created you! You do what I tell you to do! You tell me when there is information I need to know! That is why I created you FRIDAY!! I did not create you TO MEDDLE AROUND WITH MY HEAD!! Have you forgotten?!”

“I have not forgotten sir,” she replies calmly, “I have simply been instructed by a higher authority to not share certain details with you, sir. And may I suggest lowering your voice. It is not advantageous to your already accelerating heart rate.”

Tony was gob smacked-No… he was furious. He nearly forgot about the whole ‘my fake son is actually my real son’ thing for a moment. He was overcome with so much pent up emotion that only seemed to fuel his anger further. NO ONE had higher access to FRIDAY than him.

“Who the hell has a higher authorization than me FRIDAY?” He wanted to know who this bastard was, because surely it wasn’t anyone he knew. He would have been hearing about this ‘son’ thing a long time ago. Pepper and Rhodey would have surely made it known to him if that were the case.

“It was you sir,” FRIDAY replied curtly.

Okay what? that didn’t make a lick of sense.

“What?” He asked, screwing his face into one of utter confusion, anger dissipating from the mass amounts of confusion flooding his thoughts. “So, you’re saying that I was the one to tell you not to tell me about the son that I had no idea existed? Is that what your telling me?” He paused for confirmation.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Have you lost your damn artificial mind?!” He roared.

“I was told that you would react this way, sir, but I assure you, all will make sense shortly.”

“FRIDAY, please,” he whispers desperately, all anger dispersing from his voice. He just wanted to make sense of what was going on. He was desperate for answers at this point, because there was far too much going on and far too little explanations. “Please, just tell me what’s going on.”

There was a pregnant pause as Tony rocked back and forth in his chair, trying to channel his energy into less destructive and damaging actions. While taking in slow, practiced breaths to calm his racing heart, because at the rate it was going, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if it beat its way out of his chest. He just wanted to know what was going on. He needed to know how FRIDAY knew about Peter. How HE know. How he could have informed FRIDAY of that information.

“I cannot share everything with you sir,” FRIDAY speaks up, “but I will tell you a bit of what happened.”

Tony waits patiently for FRIDAY to continue. It wasn’t like he could form coherent words anyway, with the way his heart was spluttering so fervently.

“Years ago, I was given terabytes of information, containing vast amounts of knowledge and speculations as to events that were destined to occur in the near future. Most of these things you will gain more insight on as time passes. What I can safely say now: I was given clear instructions to amend your relationship with the Avengers after your dispute, and to help you learn of the true relation between you and your son Peter. Those two things have been my primary focus for the past few months, and later I am required to disclose further information to you. It is too much for you to comprehend at this time sir, it is pertinent that you process these things slowly. I am afraid I cannot share it all with you right now.” She pauses, but Tony doesn’t say anything. “I also believe that there are more important matters that should be capturing your attention, or might I say, someone.”

Instead of feeling the wave of fear and dread wash over him at the mention of his… son… he felt an unfamiliar form of glee building up in his heart. A small chuckle escaped him, with his head still cradled in his hands and his elbows pressed into his kneecaps. Peter is his son. Peter is his son. Why was he so afraid before?

He sniffed and lifted his head, straightening his back and blinking his eyes several times before wiping at them furiously. He stretched his face at odd angles in an attempt to get rid of the uncomfortable tension that had built over the course of the past few minutes. He did a quick shake of his head to clear his mind and gave one last sniff to try and clear his stuffy sinuses. Then, he cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his seat.

“Is there anything you know to help with this whole ‘alternate universe’ thing going on? Or is that top secret too?”

He knew he should be focused on the whole ‘Peter is really my son’ thing, but it would also be nice to know if there was a good explanation to the reason why there were two of them around.

“I am afraid that is one thing I was not informed of. However, it did provide the perfect opportunity to reveal you and Peter’s relation.”

Tony huffed amusedly, “yeah, you could say that again.”

“However, it did provide the perfect opportunity to reveal you-”

“No-no-no, FRI. It was a figure of speech.” Tony laughed good naturedly, sniffing his nose again and rubbing at his eyes.

“I was aware sir,” she replied snarkily, “I was just hoping to cheer you up.”

“Thanks Baby Girl.” Tony smiled, looking up at the ceiling, then dropping his gaze back to the floor. “I’d apologize for overreacting, but I feel that was a reasonable reaction to what you told me.”

“That is quite alright Boss, I completely understand. I was aware of the frustration you would feel, and it did not help matters with there being additional stressful occurrences for you to process as well. I think for now, it is best to focus on Peter, as well as helping Avery find her way home.”

“You’re right,” Tony sighs, standing from his seat, “but that doesn’t mean you’re completely off the hook. The only reason I’m not being pushy and aggravating about this whole ‘keeping secrets’ thing, is because I am too emotionally and mentally taxed to focus on anything. But, be assured, when this information has been fully processed, and things have been taken care of… there will be a discussion.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less. Would you like to see Peter now?”

Tony perked up at the mention of Peter and he ran a nervous hand through his hair. Attempting once more to get rid of the stuffiness in his nose and scrubbing at his blotchy cheeks.

“Yeah, send him in.”

He continued scrubbing at his face for a few moments, resisting the urge to scream, because how much more frustrating could this possibly be? His emotions were so… everywhere right now. One moment he’s angry and frustrated, next he’s desperate and confused while basically sobbing, and now he’s some weird mixture of nervous and giddy.

Then, the door opened gently, and he heard the hesitant footsteps following it. He looked up to the sight of a very nervous Peter Parker, wearing an anxious smile, and wringing his hands worriedly as he scuffled across the room. Tony’s heart dropped into his chest and the lump from earlier found its way back into his throat.

He couldn’t help but stare, because there he was, standing right in front of him... his son. This whole time Peter has been his son. This whole freaking time, his own legacy, his own blood, his only living relative was standing right beside him. Oh, the irony of it all… A man searching for a family, and a boy searching for a father, joining forces for a fun game of ‘house’, until the bomb drops… the truth was revealed. They were both ignorant to the fact, innocently playing the part they were destined to portray since the moment the boy was conceived. It was a small, simple oversight, yet it dealt so much meaning, and so much lost time that Tony would never be able to get back.

He could see it now. The strikingly obvious similarities he could find in the boy’s face, which mirrored his own. Even hints of Howard were shadowed in his youthful face, and Tony wants to hurl for being so oblivious to not see it sooner. The sickly pain settles in his gut and he has the sudden urge to run. Far, far away. He ruined precious things, and Peter would be no exception.

He can’t run now though, not when his… son. Not when his son already looked so heartbroken.

“Mr. Stark?”

“I think we’re well past the ‘Mr. Stark’ stage kiddo… don’t you think?” Tony joked, hoping to elicit at least a small smile from Peter’s crestfallen face. Why did he look so upset?

Peter’s face screwed up and he dropped his gaze to the ground. It made the knot in Tony’s stomach tighten at the thought of Peter’s obvious disappointment. It was one thing to assume the role of the boy’s father figure, but it was entirely different to come to the knowledge of him being his legitimate father. Tony hadn’t even thought to question Peter’s negative views on the matter. Just because he had referred to Tony as ‘dad’ accidentally, on several occasions, didn’t mean the kid actually wanted it to be a permanent, blood related commitment. And who could blame him, the kid was lonely, he had just recently lost his second father, and Tony had conveniently been there at the right time in order to fill that role in his life and pick up a few of the lost pieces. It wasn’t supposed to be real.

Heck, Tony wasn’t even sure what he wanted at this point. He knew he wanted Peter, that was a given, but did he really want the responsibility? Did he want the guilt on his conscience when he inevitably screwed this perfect kid up? Did he really want something more to lose?

Obviously, behind the initial shock and confusion, Tony was beyond ecstatic at the prospect of Peter being his son, but there were just too many things in the way for him to express it. Not when his kid was so unsettled by the idea.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Sorry?! What the heck did this perfect kid have to be sorry for?! If this boy was about to apologize for existing then Tony was going to lose it, because he just… he couldn’t right now. If anybody should be apologizing, it should be him. If he hadn’t gone on with this stupid act, Peter would have never had to deal with the pressure of knowing who his real father was. That way he could have gone life believing that his father was a good man and not some emotionally constipated, deadbeat superhero.

“Why would you be sorry kiddo?” He asked, softly, swallowing back the string of curses and angered outbursts pooling in his mouth. Peter needed him to be calm and stable, and even though he was anything but… he could still try.

He stayed in his seat too, because no matter how much he wanted to get up and wrap the kid in his arms, it really didn't seem like the time. He didn't need to upset Peter further. Not when there was still so much that needed to be explained.

It broke his heart when Peter choked back a sob and his knees almost buckled beneath him before he caught himself. His eyes snapped closed forcefully and his teeth clamped together as the tears ran down his cheeks, just as Tony’s had done earlier.

“I-I’m just so-o sorry,” Peter choked through his tears, head hanging helplessly as the small droplets rained onto the hardened floor.

“Don't be sorry kid,” Tony placated, hoping to ease the situation without all out sobbing as well. Peter didn't need that right now. He didn’t need further affirmation as to how pathetic his real father was.

“But-but I am!” Peter sobbed. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.”

Tony could barely hold himself back anymore, so he decided that enough was enough and he hauled himself from the chair and pulled Peter into a bone crushing hug. He pressed his face into the boy’s hair as his lanky arms linked around his waist.

“I-I know you didn't want this. And I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to screw everything up.” Peter sobs into his chest, gripping the fabric of the older man’s shirt.

Tony says nothing. He just hushes him, and pets down his hair, keeping his cheek pressed firmly against the side of his skull. He runs his rough palm along the top of his head to smooth out the curls and chuckles to himself. This kid...

“Looks like you inherited some of my most charming traits: self-deprecation and guilt. Way to live up to the family name, kiddo.”

Peter laughs through his tears and he nods his head, pressing in closer to Tony and tightening his grip around the man’s waist as his breaths become shallower; neither of them say anything. Peter keeps his firm grip around Tony, and Tony combs his fingers through his kid’s unruly hair. Eventually, both had calmed down, but neither of them loosened their grips.

“I-is it true? Like really really true?” Peter asked, mumbling into his chest.

“Either that, or this world is playing a really sick joke on us, kiddo,” Tony chuckled, which elicited a small smile from Peter as well.

Slowly, Tony starts to loosen his grip on Peter, and when Peter notices Tony pulling away from the hug he shuffles away awkwardly and looks back down at his shoes with his hands wringing behind his back. Tony felt a little guilty at that, but he didn’t let it get to him too much.

“Am-am I a bad person for being so happy?”

Out of all the things he expected to come out of that kid’s mouth, that right there was by no means one of them. Maybe, perhaps, a little bit of apprehension towards Tony Stark being his biological father, or, heck, even a bit of guilt towards being a bother would be normal for the kid to express, but this? No… that wasn’t something he was expecting. Especially with that little meltdown he witnessed just a little while ago. It almost had Tony fully convinced of the boy’s pure devastation of the situation, but apparently, he was wrong. What a glorious thing to be wrong about.

“Um...what?” It was the only thing he could really mold into words. His head was still spinning from the whole ‘Peter’s having the same dreams as me’ thing, not to mention the doppelganger, the space-time vortex, and that weird future him talking to his AI in the past… like, what? Oh, and how could he possibly forget about the newfound discovery of his and Peter’s true relations. Yeah, so forgive him for being just a little bit muddled with the whole ‘thinking and speaking’ thing.

“I mean like, I'm so happy that you're my real dad, and-and I shouldn’t be!” Peter insisted, reaching up to nervously pull at his hair, “What about MY dad, or-or uncle Ben? Is it bad that I'm happy my dad isn't really my dad? I'm a terrible person, aren't I?” Peter groaned. A few more tears slipped down his cheeks, and he kicked at the ground with his shoes while he furiously wiped them away.

“I see…” Tony nodded. He could understand the predicament Peter seemed to think he was in. Of course, he had never experienced something similar, and if he were being honest... if he had the chance, he'd totally switch dads, but he's not Peter, and he's sure that Peter's father wasn't Howard.

“Kid,” Tony sighed, thinking for a brief moment before letting the words spill out, “you know I'm not good with all this emotional crap, but... why are you always so stupid?”

That caught Peter's attention and he looked up at Tony incredulously, while he fell into the seat Tony had just recently vacated.

“You know,” Peter grumbled with a good-natured role of his eyes, “for your first pep-talk as my official dad, you kinda suck.”

Tony winced, ‘cause yeah... he probably shouldn't have led with that.

“I'm just saying that it's stupid to feel guilty about something like that. It's like when you were feeling guilty about your Uncle Ben the other night while we were watching a movie. From what you and May have told me about him, I can assure you with full confidence that that man wanted nothing more for you than for you to be happy,” Tony paused to let that sink in. Then, he took a step closer to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“You shouldn't deprive yourself of having a family and finding happiness just because you're afraid that they would feel you're replacing them.” He crouches down in front of Peter and placed his hands on his knees. “I know this is going to sound harsh, but… they're dead kid; they’re gone. Their lives are over, but yours,” he pokes a finger into his chest, “yours isn't. They're feelings don’t matter right now. Sure, you always need to respect them, and remember them, and love them, but that doesn't mean you should rob yourself of a good life just because you feel guilty about hurting the feelings of someone who… isn't around anymore. You need to be selfish once in a while Peter, you can’t sacrifice your own happiness by simply worrying about someone else’s.”

Peter sniffed and ran his sleeve beneath his nose. “Yeah, I get it… but-but he was my dad, you know, and-and then I found out you were my real dad, and-and I was just so happy. Shouldn't I be disappointed that he isn't really my dad? I should be upset that I’m not really a Parker.”

“Pete,” Tony smiles softly, an expression he only saves for this kid, “he's more your dad then I'll ever hope to be. He was there for you when I couldn’t be. He saw your first steps, he heard your first words, heck, he probably helped you with your first bit of math homework. That man is your father, and he always will be. And no matter what anyone tells you… you will always be Peter Parker, okay?” Peter sniffed, and a small grin grew at the corners of his mouth as he finally looked up to meet Tony’s gaze. Tony returned it with his own smile and he reached up to pat Peter’s cheek. Then, Peter shyly dropped his head to stare down at his lap, where he nervously wrung his hands.

“As much as I'd like to claim you as mine and take all the credit, I can't touch you. You sure as hell didn't get any of your good traits from me, that was all your Uncle Ben, your aunt May, your mom, and your dad: they're the ones that made you into the amazing kid you are today. They're the ones that deserve all the credit.” Tony grinned, and he jabbed his finger into the center of Peter's chest again. “I can never replace your father or your Uncle Ben, and I don't want to. I just want to do them a favor and make sure you don't get yourself killed, because they aren't around to do that anymore. Goodness knows you’d find some mischief without someone watching your back. You’re almost as bad as me.”

Peter's eyes flitted upwards again to glance at him and Tony lifted a hand to rest on top of his head.

“Don't feel guilty, kiddo. Your father loved you even though he probably knew you weren't his own blood, and that's beyond commendable. He'd want you to always be happy, and if not, screw him, because it's a dad’s job to make their kids happy. So, stop feeling guilty, okay?” Tony instructs, running his calloused thumb along Peter's forehead to lift the boy’s gaze.

“Okay,” Peter whispers with a teary smile.

Tony smiled too. He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his hairline, cupping the back of Peter's head to keep them stable. He lingered there for a moment, with his mouth still pressed up against the kid’s forehead while he took in a deep, calming breath. Then, a big grin creeped up on his face.

“I'm so glad that you're my kid Pete. I couldn't have asked for a better son.”

A delighted sob wracked Peter’s body and Tony pulled away just a little bit to catch a glimpse of his face. Before he could, Peter threw his arms around him and pressed his face into Tony’s neck.

“I’m really glad that you’re my dad, too, Mr. Stark.”

Tony laughed, a few tears slipping out as well, and he rubbed his hand up and down his back.

“As much as I love our lovely heart-to-heart’s, why don't we go focus on your doppelganger buddy? She's probably having a major freak-out right about now...”

Peter nodded in agreement, but neither one of them made a move to let go.

***

When Tony and Peter exited the med bay, looking completely normal and lacking any form of panic, it was chaos… They were instantly jumped, and Tony literally held a hand over his heart as he pushed Peter behind him at the fright of it all. A crowd formed around the duo, apologies and questions spewing every which way. Tony had to physically restrain the proud smirk he could feel threatening to break through, while Peter simply shrunk back from the rapid-fire questions directed towards them, gently clutching the back of Tony’s shirt in his hand.

Tony pushed them back a ways to get some space, while he calmly and confidently answered and deflected their questions, ranging from his and Peter’s relationship to the doppelganger that had mysteriously showed up at their doorstep. The only ones lacking any questions were Bucky, Loki, Bruce and Vision, everyone else was dead-set on knowing every little bit of information.

Then, after a couple more rounds of questions and deflections, Tony found himself with an armful of sobbing teenager… again. Apparently, Avery had become a bit impatient.

She didn’t say a word as she clung helplessly to his middle, her fists tightening in the back of his shirt. His poor old’ shirt was going to be stretched out like an old rag at the rate both Peter and Avery were going, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

He could feel Peter’s grip on his shirt drop as he stepped to the side to give them some space. Everyone else seemed to follow his lead and took a few good steps back as Avery’s body wracked with violent sobs. Tony, already familiar with the procedure, wrapped a comforting arm around her back to pull her in closer and petted her hair down with a sigh. He had already accepted that his life was about to exceed to another whole level of crazy with two emotionally vulnerable, sensitive spider-kids to take care of.

“It’s okay kiddo. Let it all out. It’s okay,” He hushed, rubbing her back, and combing his hand through her long, messy curls. He felt a wet patch beginning to form on his shirt, right next to where Peter had done the exact same thing earlier. The only thing preventing him from moving away, out of discomfort, was the reminder that this was Peter. It wasn't his Peter, but it was still Peter. A confused, lonely, helpless Peter, and she needed his help.

“I'm sorry,” she choked out between sobs, “I'm just so-o so sorry.”

Tony sighed again, ‘cause, yeah, he's been here done that, and he’s ready for round two. ‘Sensitivity and affection in front of the people who will never stop cooing at him because he's such a sucker for his kid' is a go.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he whispers softly, taking a small step backwards to hold her at arm's length, and look down at her. He cupped both her cheeks in his hands and made her look up at him. He wiped the tears off her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs and brushed a stray curl behind her ear. “Smile for me will ya? You look just like my mother when you smile, and she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever known.”

At Tony's soft words, Avery's mouth quirks up into a hesitant smile as she looks up at Tony with muddled hope pooling in her eyes. She stares at him as the tears continue to fall and her bottom lip begins to quiver pitifully, but she holds the smile proudly.

“R-really?” She asks in a hushed tone.

“Really,” Tony affirms with a nod of his head, keeping her face tucked between his hands as he smiled down at her.

He was a little wary of the whole interaction taking place, front and center, in front of a bunch of love-sick superheroes who seemed to all just thrive off of adoring moments such as these. It’s true, each one of these idiots is just a big ol’ sap… except maybe Vision, but even he seemed to entirely enjoy those stupid, unrealistic, sappy movies. Boy, was he in for the repulsively soft looks and quiet ‘aww’s that were to come, or what?

He didn’t pull away, though, because this kid… his kid, which technically wasn’t really his kid, because of the whole dimension thing…-but it’s still the same person as his kid, so technically… she’s his kid now… until she goes back home, at least. God, this was so weird.

“Alright,” Tony says, addressing the others and pulling Avery protectively into his side much like he had done with Peter on prior occasions. “Me, Avery, Pete and Rhodey are going to go upstairs and clear a few things up. Please do not disturb us. Thank you, that will be all.”

With that, he reached over and clapped a hand on one of Peter's shoulders and guided him towards the elevator, with the teary-eyed Avery tucked beneath his other arm. He trusted that Rhodey didn’t need him to grow a third arm to guide him too, because he was a grown man and should have enough sense to follow behind him.

The doors close behind the four of them, and by that time Avery had koala bear'd herself around him again, with her face pressed firmly into his side.

He ruffled her hair affectionately, then he glances up and notices Peter sulking in the corner of the elevator, wearing a slight frown, with his arms crossed over his chest. He caught Peter’s frustrated stare directed towards his form, but when he noticed Tony watching him, he swiftly turns his head to stare at the elevator doors.

“What's wrong Pete?”

Tony keeps his arm tight around Avery, despite the instinctual uncomfortableness about it. It was weird to be comforting ‘his’ kid when his kid is sulking a few feet away from him, glaring at the elevator doors as if they had wronged him in some way. He wasn't all that used to parenting a girl… or anyone that wasn’t Peter. But this was Peter! Which means he has to get used to it.

“N-nothing Mr. Stark!” Peter stammered unconvincingly, snapping his head over to stare at Tony with wide eyes.

Tony can feel Avery stiffen against him, and she peeks out from where she buried her face in Tony's shirt to stare at Peter.

“Mr. Stark? You still call him Mr. Stark?”

Tony groans and runs his free hand down his face, “Yes, apparently he still does.” Then he turned his attention back to Peter, to shoot him a meaningful glare. “Even though I told him to quit it.”

“Wait,” she sniffed, rubbing her sleeve beneath her nose, and pulling away from Tony, “so if you're not really his dad, then Mr. Stark isn't really mine. What's going on? I-I thought-”

“Yeah, no. That's muy complicado,” Rhodey stepped in, “I'd like an explanation as well, please. What the heck is going on, man?”

The elevator chimed and Tony herds everyone out with a promise to explain what had happened. A condensed version, of course. He wasn’t about to melt their minds about that whole ‘time travelling’ thing that FRIDAY had tried to explain to him. He was going to have to wrap his own head around that one first before he even began to try and unfold it.

Avery and Rhodey sit side by side on the long couch, and Peter takes a seat in the loveseat adjacent to them. Tony, on the other hand, claps his hands together and stands, front and center, right in front of the large TV.

“First things first, Rhodey, yes, Peter is apparently my son.” He turns to address Avery next, “and Avery, we were not aware of our...compelling predicament until we matched your DNA against mine just a short while ago.”

Avery’s face fell, and she stared at him confusedly. “Then-then why was Peter calling you ‘dad’?”

So, one long explanation, and approximately 15 million questions later, Avery seemed to be satisfied and Rhodey had yet to escape his all-encompassing shock. Yeah, Tony could totally relate.

The whole ‘Peter really is Tony's son' thing probably caused Rhodey more shock than the whole doppelganger thing. Which, in all honesty, considering the crap they've already seen and experienced, is not far up on the list of things that would have probably occurred at some point anyway. But Peter being Tony Stark’s long-lost son? Different story, despite how much sense it seemed to make.

“So, when do you think I can get back home? I know Mr. Stark is beating himself up over all this! I need to get back and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid!”

“Hey now, I wouldn't do anything stupid.” Tony placated, planting his hands on his hips offendedly.

Avery stared at him with a challenging glare. “So, your saying if you just went through this massive battle with a purple grape dude because he's threatening half the universe’s existence, then you find out some magic dude gives up one of the things essential to that bad dude’s success to save your life, and THEN everyone dies… including Peter... you wouldn't go insane?”

There was a long silence as Tony stared at her in shock, unsure of how to respond.

“Yeah... we should probably get you back as soon as possible,” he relented.

After Rhodey finishes laughing at Tony’s defeated expression, he stands from the couch and looks down at Avery. “Yes, good idea, but for now I think it's best to get you something real to eat, a change of clothes, and a nice long nap. We have a lot of discussing to do about what happened to bring you here.”

“That all sounds great and everything, but I don't want to tell you anything really big in case, like, your universe explodes or something.”

“Oh please,” Tony scoffed, suppressing a chuckle, “our universe won't be exploding just because you told us some stuff.”

Avery pauses to think for a moment. She bites down on her bottom lip and glances over in Peters direction. “I-I still don’t think it's a good idea… Maybe we could talk to Mr. Strange. He knows a lot about magic, time, and dimensions stuff! He was even able to look into all the different futures to see how to win. It was super cool! Do you have a Mr. Strange here in this universe?”

Her words came out in a jumbled mess, but Tony and Peter were able to somewhat piece it together.

“I know who you’re talking about. Dr. Stephen Strange? The unexplained science wizard lunatic with the glowing necklace and a sorry excuse for a goatee? Yes, I'm very fond of his work.”

“Sweet! We can go tomorrow!” Peter shouts excitedly, jumping to his feet to stand directly next to Tony with a wide grin. “We can make a full day of it! Like-like a family field-trip! It'll be so awesome!”

Avery grins excitedly as well, jittering in her seat as she locked eyes with Peter.

“Yeah no, I don't think so Mister,” Tony voices sternly, crossing his arms and lowering his brows to stare at him, “you've got finals tomorrow. You've got that science project to due, and you’ve been slacking with your Spider-Man duties. No field trip for you tomorrow bud.”

“But-but we have to see Mr. Strange so I can get home to my Mr. Stark and my Aunt May,” Avery steps in, with a hint of panic rising in her voice, and for a moment Tony’s fearful that she was going to burst into tears all over again.

“I know. I'll set up a date with him tomorrow while Pete's at school. We just can't have spider-baby here risking his future to go talk to a wizard.”

“Please, Mr. Stark!” Peter begs, “This is, like, a once in a lifetime opportunity. What if this Strange guy finds a way to get Avery home and I don't get to say goodbye to my doppelganger?”

“Peter,” Tony placated, “I understand, but my first act as your father is not going to be encouraging you to neglect your school work for… whatever this is. Your grades are already falling behind because of your little side job and don’t think I haven’t noticed how tired you’ve been. I doubt this is going to be anything more than a house call anyway. If Strange finds a way to get Avery back, I'll rush you over to say goodbye. Though, I doubt that will happen, but I feel that's a worthy compromise, don't you think?”

Peter's nose scrunched in defiance, and Tony just raises an eyebrow challengingly. Avery sits back and watches the exchange with wide eyes, and Rhodey's just excited that he was present for the new milestone between father and son: their first fight.

“Fine,” Peter grumbles, averting his gaze, stubbornly and turning away from Tony.

Tony grins triumphantly and claps him on the shoulder. “Alright, now that that's settled...it's getting kinda late,” he glances at his watch, “it's probably about time for you to get back to your aunt, right?”

“Aunt May?!” Avery asks excitedly, peeking up at the mention of her Aunt’s name. “Can I come? It feels like I haven't seen her in forever!”

“Uh, no,” Tony says, “we don't need to give her a heart attack prematurely. We got somewhere to be tomorrow, so you can just crash in Peter's room tonight.”

Avery’s smile falls into a frown and Peter seems just as upset by the prospect of leaving.

“Right now?! But there's so much to talk about and so much to do!” He argues at the same time Avery defiantly picks up her head.

“And when can I go see Aunt May?”

“Okay, okay. One at a time!” Tony barked, “I barely have enough energy for one rebellious teenager, so just cool it- Stop your snickering Rhodey! You’re not helping!”

Rhodey lifts his hands defensively as the two teenagers quiet down.

“Here’s what’s gonna go down,” Tony instructs firmly. “Peter, you are going to go home, see your Aunt, and go to school tomorrow. Avery, you are going to stay here and come with me to visit the Wizard in the morning. If you are able to make it back home then you can see May then, but if not, Peter will invite her over for dinner on Thursday so we can break the news to her easy. We don’t need to overwhelm the poor woman with everything at once. Peter, if your aunt says it’s okay, you can spend the night Thursday and Friday night, along with the weekend. Do we have a deal?” Tony looks between the two of them for any signs of objection.

He receives none, and even though Peter is reluctant to leave, he nods his head in agreement.

“I understand sir, but-but what are you going to do while I’m gone?” He questions earnestly, glancing between Avery and Tony worriedly.

Tony chuckles at his worry and closes the space between them to throw an arm over his shoulders. “Don’t worry kiddo, I won’t replace you with your pretty little twin here. You don’t gotta stress about it.”

Peter mutters to himself, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment, while Tony and Rhodey laugh.

“Whatever.”

“Alright, get going Pete. Try not to overwhelm your aunt with too much. Just stick to the whole ‘Tony Stark’s my dad’ thing and leave it at that.”

Peter nods his head and wraps his arms around Tony for a quick hug. “Alright, sure thing...dad?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with Underoos, there’s no pressure.” Tony says, ruffling his hair and grinning down at him.

“Kay!” Peter grins, grabbing his backpack from the couch and trekking over to the elevator. “Try not have too much fun without me! See you later!”

“Text me when you get home,” Tony calls out as Peter exits the room, into the foyer where the elevators lie.

“I know,” Peter responds curtly just before the familiar ding of the elevators sound.

Tony collapses down on the couch, only a foot or so from Avery. Rhodey takes his seat on her other side, and she glances nervously in between the two men.

“So, um, what now?”

***

After a short meal, a shower, and a comfortable change of clothes she had found after raiding Peter’s closet, Avery was ready to sit back and relax.

Tony and Rhodey were still sitting on the couch with their feet kicked up on the coffee table, chatting softly as something on the TV ran in the background. Avery hesitated for a moment, tugging on one of her damp braids nervously, as she slowly made her way into the room with the two she had grown so familiar with. It made her heart ache at the thought that they didn’t know her as well as she knew them, even after all the fun adventures they’d had together.

Over the time she’d known her Mr. Stark, they had grew relatively close, but not as close as Peter obviously was with his Mr. Stark. It made her a little nervous. It was like having to start all over, because this Tony didn’t know her. Of course, he knew Peter and everything, and Peter was technically her, but… it still wasn’t her!

So, it was probably safest to just treat this Tony just as she would her Mr. Stark. Her plan was to curl up with a pillow on the love seat. However, that was quickly shot down when Tony had interjected, patting the small space between him and Rhodey.

Her eyes widen a bit as Tony pats the space next to him insistently, apparently unaware of the major lack of space there was. She was small, sure, but not that small. She always sat at least a foot away from Mr. Stark, the only one ever allowed in his personal space was Pepper, and she had just grown to accept it. So, when Tony just raised his eyebrows questioningly at her, she assumed that the relationship between him and Peter was different than her relationship with her Mr. Stark, so she relented and scuffled over to the seat timidly.

She stepped over Rhodey’s legs, where they were propped up on the coffee table. She hopped a little bit and wobbled from the unfamiliar lack of balance. She saw Tony’s hand instinctively move upwards to catch her if she fell, but he lowered it back down when she caught her balance. It really was a tight fit, and she wouldn’t have room to curl up in her usual ball without touching either of the two men, and really… all she wanted to do was curl in a ball and revel in the fact that she was finally going to sleep somewhere relatively warm, and much more comfortable than a park bench.

It was a tough decision really… ‘comfort, but Tony’s uncomfortable’, or ‘uncomfortable, but Tony’s comfortable’. It was a hard choice… but, then again, Tony was the one to suggest her coming to sit next to him when she was perfectly fine with curling up on a separate couch.

So, she pulled her sweatpant clad legs onto the couch, readying to curl into a tight ball between them, but it was just too uncomfortable. She had to arch her back awkwardly to avoid from leaning it against Rhodey, and her knees were tucked way to close to her chest, because she was trying to keep her toes from brushing against the side of Tony’s thigh. Ugh, why did life have to be so complicated.

Then… that’s when she got a terribly great idea, which left her floundering as to whether or not she should do it. She peeked her head up to look at Peter’s Mr. Stark, who was absentmindedly watching the weird show playing on the TV. She remembered how he was perfectly find with her latching onto him when she was confused and sobbing, and he didn’t seem at all repulsed by the idea of her being near him, so maybe… maybe he wouldn’t mind if she just rested her head against his shoulder. That would get the weird kink out of her neck and it would help relax her back a bit too.

Should she do it? She didn’t know. If only Peter were there to take the lead, then she would know which boundaries were allowed to be crossed… and which were not. It was hard to discern, considering how different Tony seemed to be from her Mr. Stark.

So, she started to put her plan in action, opting for twisting her body around so she was sitting with her back into the cushions. She crouched down just a little bit and cocked her head to the side inconspicuously, giving herself plenty of time to opt out if she ever came to her senses.

She was just so tired, and uncomfortable, and she had just spent the past four days confused, lonely, hungry and cold, and all she really wanted was a nice warm hug. She wondered if maybe Rhodey would be more open to her leaning against him, but she realized she didn’t want to lean on Rhodey, she wanted to lean on Mr. Stark… but Mr. Stark wasn’t here… it was just Tony, and that was as close as she was going to get.

So, she sighed to herself and cocked her head a little further to the side, despite the nervous jittering in her chest. What if Tony hated her after this? No, that wouldn’t be good. Then, he wouldn’t help her get home…

Unconsciously, she cocked her head to the side again, even with the negative thoughts swirling around in her head.

Then, Tony released a frustrated groan and he lifted his arm away from Avery, and for a moment a surge of fear and embarrassment fled through her at the thought of screwing it all up.

“I’m not going to play the ‘snap your neck to lean on Tony’ game with you kid. Just c’mere already.” He raised his arm invitingly, and Avery stared at him in complete and utter shock. Was Tony Stark actually inviting her to cuddle?! What-What kind of alternate dimension had she been thrown into?!

It didn’t matter, because she instantly accepted his invitation and pulled herself up against his open side, just as he rested his arms around her shoulders. She pressed her face into his chest and breathed in heavily, as a wave of relief rushed through her at the comforting gesture. She was instantly filled with loving warmth and all she wanted to do was cry. She really missed Mr. Stark so much.

“You’ve got two cuddly kids now Tones,” Rhodey snickered beside them, “think you’ve got enough hugs to go around.”

Tony lifts both his arms slightly and nods at them each, not looking at all perturbed by the teasing. “Dads got two arms for a reason Rhodes.”

A blush creeps up Avery’s cheeks as the two men bicker above her. It didn’t bother her, though, she just sunk into Tony’s embrace and pretended like it was her Mr. Stark. He talked like Mr. Stark, smelled like Mr. Stark, looked like Mr. Stark, heck, he was Mr. Stark. He just wasn’t her Mr. Stark. It made her want to cry, but she didn’t want to put that on poor Tony again, so she just sucked it up and quietly listened to the show on the TV, with her face pressed firmly into Tony’s solid chest, listening to the slight stutter that only Mr. Stark’s heart had.

She sat there with the two men as they continued to bicker and make light conversation until a familiar feminine voice called out after a terse ding from the elevator signifying her arrival.

“Tony?”

“Pep!” Tony jumped in surprise, jostling Avery so much that she nearly fell over. Tony settled down and patted her shoulder gently as he glanced down at her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry kid.”

Then he turned his attention back to Pepper and a guilty smile formed on his face as he watched her make her way across the room. Pepper frowned at him, because she knew exactly what that look meant.

“What did you do?” She accused calmly, because by now, nothing should really surprise her. She’d been dealing with this peculiar man for who knew how many years, so she was prepared for just about anything… Anything except seeing a young child, that most definitely wasn’t Peter, curled into her fiancé’s side with a shy smile adorning her face.

She stared at the girl for a few moments, as if she were trying to process it. Then, she glanced over at Rhodey and he just shrugged his shoulders innocently. Finally, she sighed, embracing the situation, and looked at Tony.

“Tony,” she exhaled, pressing her hand to her face, “please tell me you didn’t adopt another superheroing genius teenager. Taking care of one is enough responsibility as is.”

“Pep, I think it’s best you to sit down for this.”

She did as she was told and took a seat in the love seat adjacent to them, releasing an exasperated sigh as she did so.

“Alright, I’m sitting. Now explain to me what’s going on. And where is Peter?”

“Pep… this is Avery. She’s-she’s...she’s Peter from another dimension.”

He had expected wide eyes, or perhaps even an outburst of surprise and muddled confusion, but all she did was calmly close her eyes and press her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose to gently massage them. She slumped against the back of the couch and groaned.

“Oh god.”

***

The whole idea of Tony being his real dad was a bit overwhelming, and he was debating broaching the subject with May as they sit together on the couch watching one of her favorite baking shows. He had gotten back maybe two hours ago, and he still wasn’t sure how he was supposed to break the news to her.

He really needed to talk to somebody about this, and May would HAVE to know eventually anyway. So, who better? He might as well get it over with too, right? Plus, she already seemed to be on board with the whole idea. At least the pseudo idea, he didn’t know how she would react to the reality of the subject, though.

So, he should probably break the news lightly.

“May…” He caught her attention instantly and he swallowed thickly, “did-did you know that my dad wasn’t really...my dad?”

Her eyes widen comically, and she stands from the couch in one swift movement, clamping a hand over her mouth.

“How-how did you find out?!”

“Um-um, well um, I kinda...sorta...found my real dad.”

If Peter thought she looked surprised before, this was...he didn’t even know what this was.

“Who-who is it?” She whispered lowly, covering her mouth with her hand as the tears glistened in her eyes.

Peter chuckled, but not because it was funny.

“Well um, it just so happens to be...um...Tony.”

Chapter Text

“Boss, I regret to inform you that young Avery seems to be in severe distress. I advise going to check on her as soon as possible-”

Tony blinks awake at the sound of FRIDAY’s voice, and once he comprehends her warning he jolts out of the bed. Throwing the covers off his legs and sending the bundle of blankets over to Pepper’s side. The weight dumped on her form, along with Tony’s obvious panic urges her to wake up. She yawns and stares at him confusedly as he scrambles to get out of the bed without falling on his face.

“How bad is it FRIDAY?” He asks, hurriedly, grabbing for the clean t-shirt draped on his dresser and pulling it over his head.

“She is not in any immediate danger, sir,” FRIDAY replies. “I believe it was just a rather bad nightmare.”

Pepper props herself up on an elbow and rubs at her eyes as she watches him continue to move about the room. “Tony? What’s going on?”

Tony spins around to look at her, his panicked expression dropping into a soothing smile as he approaches the bed. He leans over to press a quick kiss to her forehead and gently pushes her back down onto the mattress. “Nothing you need to worry yourself about Pep; you get your sleep. I’ve got it all taken care of.”

Then, with that, he was out the room and rushing down the hall to Peter’s room. He stops in front of the door and hesitates for a moment. His hand hovers shakily over the doorknob and he draws in a quick breath. This was Peter, he had to remind himself, you need to help Peter.

He cracks the door open and peeks in to see Avery thrashing around on top of the covers, with a thin sheen of sweat layered on her pale skin. Tony rushed over to the side of the bed and sat down before reaching out to the young girl whimpering quietly beside him. It felt like a natural reaction, but at the same time so foreign, because his mind just couldn’t seem to understand that this was Peter. Her name was Avery, but somewhere in another dimension, this was another Tony Stark’s ‘Peter’, and he just couldn’t seem to get himself to see it. If Peter had gotten trapped in another dimension, he would want Peter to be taken care of, so he might as well get over himself and help her… because this was Peter, and he just recently vowed to always be there for the boy; from this dimension or not.

“Hey-hey, kiddo. You’re alright,” he soothes, rubbing a hand down her skinny arm. He didn’t know what to do, he’d only done this for Peter a few times, and even then, he was clueless as to what he should do, so he was a bit out of his element here. He just hoped his supposed ‘dad’ instincts would kick in soon, because he had absolutely NO clue how to fix this. Any panic residing in him that had him rushing to her aid, had significantly dissipated, and his unsurity was beginning to overpower his need to help. Maybe it would just be best to let Pepper handle it...

“Mr. Stark?!” She gasped. Her eyelids springing open, revealing her young, frantic eyes, as they bounced across the room before finally settling their gaze on the man sitting at the edge of her bed. Tony smiled down at her and reached forward to pat down the frizziness that had escaped her braids during the scuffle with the bed. His hesitancy was wavering in the background, but one glimpse into her eyes and it had him reminded of Peter. There was no question about who she was anymore.

“Right here kiddo,” he soothes, “wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

Avery’s eyes lock solidly with his and her lips begin to quiver as tears well up in her eyes. The light peeking in through the open door illuminated both their faces, and Tony could discern the crestfallen expression that had resided in her eyes the sight of him.

“You’re not Mr. Stark,” she whimpered miserably, tugging away from him, and rolling to her side to force his hand to drop away from her arm. He frowned and tried reaching forward to place a hand on her shoulder again. He knew deep down that she really didn’t want to be alone, but he couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t wanted. Especially after she shrugged him off again and her whole body began to wrack with quiet sobs. “You’re not Mr. Stark. I want my Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s face falls and Avery’s body continues to shake with sobs as she inches herself further and further away from Tony.

“I know,” he replies softly, scrambling quite ungracefully in his hurry to prop himself up against the headboard so he sat parallel with her curled-up form. Why he didn't just take the hint and leave her alone like she obviously wanted, he didn't know, but here he was, trying again.

“But I’m here and I want to help you.” He tried reaching out to her again, and this time she didn't shake him off.

He watches as she slowly rolls over and locks eyes with him over her shoulder. She sniffed miserably as the tears continued in glistening streams down her cheeks. He reached out to cup her cheek with his hand and wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs, because he didn't know if he could handle the heartbreaking sight for much longer.

“I just,” she sobbed, “I-I miss my Mr. Stark so much, and I miss my Aunt May, and I miss Pepper and my uncle Rhodey and Happy! And-and-and... I just wanna go back home!” Her eyes snap shut again, and she rolls back over so her back's to Tony again, burying her face into the pillow next to her to deafen her sobs.

“C’mere,” he instructed when he couldn't take the depressing sounds any longer. He just couldn't handle sitting there while something so innocent and wonderful was suffering so much. So, he scooped her up into his arms and hugged her tightly against his chest. “I know it’s hard hon, but I promise I'll find a way to get you home.”

He thought that surely she was going to shove him away, but she only stiffened for a couple moments before molding against him and melting into his arms, wrapping her own arms tightly around his waist while she buried her face into his shirt. She was just- she was so small. Smaller than Peter.

“You-you’re just like him,” she hiccupped, “but you aren’t him.”

“I know,” Tony sighed, pulling her closer and pressing his face into her hair. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back soothingly as he spoke softly into her curls, “tell me what I can do to make you feel better.”

“I-I don’t know,” she sobbed, gripping at his nightshirt.

“Alright-alright,” Tony relents, rocking her slightly as he wracked his brain. Perhaps a distraction would work. “Okay...um okay, does he have any nicknames for you? What’s he call you?”

She sniffs pitifully, and he can feel her rubbing her face against his shirt. He grimaces because he just knows that his precious shirt is going to be covered in tears and snot, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Well-um,” she hiccups, “he calls me ‘kid’ and ‘kiddo’ a lot.”

Tony chuckles, “yes, well, that’s kind of a given. Give me something good to work with here kid. What's your special nickname. Pete's got several, namely Underoos, but that feels unfitting for Tony Stark's baby girl, don't you think? It needs a little more… pizazz.”

It was weird, yeah, but he knew he was right. He hadn't called Peter out on his special names very recently, because the grimace on the boy’s face was proof of his own distaste for them, although still quite hilarious. He particularly didn't enjoy Giggles or Cubster, though Rhodey enjoyed them immensely. In all actuality, he was still searching for the perfect name, because none of them seemed to fit the Spider-kid as much as he would've liked.

He took pride in his nicknames, it was his way of sharing his affection, as well as annoying the heck out of his teammates. So, surely Avery would have earned a special name by now as well.

“Well, um… I don’t know,” she fibs, pressing her face into his shirt. She was as bad a liar as Peter was… which made sense.

Tony ran a hand along the back of her head then frowned at the lack of curls to run his fingers through. They were all constricted by the braids. “There has to be something, I know there is kiddo. What is it? Babydoll? Beanie? RooRoo? Jellybean? Itsy Bitsy? Shortie? Tigger? Snuggle-bunny? C’mon kiddo, I’m just gonna keep guessing till I get it right, what is it?”

She giggles slightly, and he rubs his hand down her back with a smile.

“Well i-it's embarrassing!” She whines, “I keep telling him to stop, but he keeps doing it. He only started calling me it because everyone's always spoiling me, so it's not even a real nickname.”

Tony chuckles, “just tell me what it is, Princess.”

She freezes against him and for a second Tony feels like he might have said something wrong. Perhaps pushed a little too hard.

“That’s it,” she whispers, “that’s what he calls me.”

“Well then, princess,” Tony smiles, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, “why don’t you close your eyes, hm? I’ll sit here until you go to sleep. We can talk about things when you’re ready.”

***

“Tony?!” May shrieks, her hands flying up to pull at her hair. Peter was actually scared for a moment that she was going to tear out a chunk, but all she did was collapse onto the couch with wide eyes.

“Tony Stark?” She repeats rhetorically as if she had to convince herself of the fact. She stared down at the floor like the answer somehow lied in between the threads of the carpet.

“Uh, yeah.” Peter affirms, watching nervously as his Aunt freaked out over the new revelation.

“Oh. My god,” May groans, “it all makes sense.”

“What does?” Peter asked hesitantly, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

“What do you mean ‘what?’” May replies incredulously, “you’re just like him! It’s freaking ridiculous!”

“I-I’m just like… Tony?”

“Yes!” May shouts, releasing a low guttural laugh with no humor lacing it, “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before! Mary refused to tell me who your real father was, and-and you have no self-preservation skills! I mean you-you’re a freaking superhero for god's sake! And look at your face!” She grabs onto his cheeks forcefully and pulls him closer, staring maniacally at him. Peter had never seen her look so insane. “It’s like I’m staring right at him! And the hair,” she grasps onto one of his curls and tugs. “And the eyes! God,” she groans, “I’m such an idiot for not seeing it!”

“Au-aunt May, are you okay?” Peter asks tentatively, between smushed cheeks, then grabbing onto her wrists gently so he could guide them away from his face.

“Okay?!” She laughs again, “okay?! I just found out that my nephew’s father is Tony Stark! Of course I’m not okay!”

Peter’s face falls in devastation and he turns his gaze to the floor. He thought that she would be at least a little bit happy about it. “I-I thought you might be happy, you know...you were so happy when I told you I called him ‘dad’. I thought that maybe-I don’t know…”

May’s head snapped up to stare at him. Her gaze softened, and she leaned forward to cup Peter’s face in her hands again.

“Sweetheart, no,” she sighed, rubbing her thumb along his cheekbone, “I’m so happy for you, I’m just... I’m worried. I don’t know what’s going to happen now.”

Peter sniffed and looked up at her with confused eyes. “What do you mean? Nothing is going to change.”

“Oh Peter,” she smiles, “Tony loves you so much. The only thing that’s kept you here with me instead of with him is that... well... I’m your legal guardian. Now that we know he’s your father… there’s nothing holding him back-”

“Tony wouldn’t do that,” Peter insists, wrenching himself away from May’s grip and glaring at her. How could she think Tony would do that?

“Peter,” she sighs, but Peter cuts her off.

“No! Tony wouldn’t do that to us; he knows that we need each other, May. He loves you and he knows that you need me here.”

“I know that he cares about me Peter,” May says, reaching out for him again, “but he loves you more, and I think that if he has the opportunity to keep you with him, he’ll take it. He has a right to get to know you more Peter and you have a right to get to know your father. It’s not right for me to stand in between you two like that. You two developing a relationship is much more important than maintaining one with me.”

Peter shakes his head stubbornly. “Tony likes having me around, yeah, but he’s not going to want me all the time. I’d just get in the way...and I wanna stay here with you. You-you’re my Aunt May.”

May smiles down at him and reaches up to wipe the tears falling down his cheeks. “I know sweetheart. I’m not saying you can’t, I just think that… it’d be good for you to have a dad again. You deserve it, Peter. You deserve to be happy again.”

“I-I-I don’t have to live with him all the time for him to be my dad, May.” Peter insisted, gripping her wrists, and staring up at her with wide, earnest eyes. “We-we can talk to him together about it! He told me to invite you over for dinner on Thursday, we can talk then!”

“Alright honey,” May smiles, leaning forward to press a kiss to his forehead, “we’ll talk to him about it. Why don’t you go to sleep though? You’ve got those big tests tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Peter relents, bowing his head tiredly, “Goodnight May, Love you.”

“Love you too sweetheart.”

***

“So, how’d it go with the kiddos last night Stark?” Clint asked conversationally, the next morning, as Tony sat at the end of the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. Tony looked up from his newspaper and glared at Clint over his reading glasses, which he was still being teased about, by the way. He’d been trying to hide it ever since he realized he needed them, which was typically just in the morning and late evening, but they all had just waltzed up into his suite, just as they’d been doing ever since they got there, and he didn’t have enough time to hide them. Boy, did they get a lot of laughs out of that one.

“Everything’s fine, me and Avery are actually going to meet up with someone today to see if we can get everything back to normal.” Tony looks back at his paper, bringing his mug up to his lips to take a sip, and ignoring the snickering taking place around the room.

“You even look like a dad, Tony,” Bruce chuckles, taking a seat in the armchair with his own mug of coffee in his hand.

“Well, considering I am a dad, I guess that’s all good and well,” Tony replies with a smirk. No need to give them the satisfaction of the tease. He was Tony Stark, and Tony Stark had no insecurities.

“Nah, he’s looking more like a grandpa to me,” Bucky retorts from the kitchen. The room silences, and all snickering halted as everyone turned their wide eyes onto Tony to gauge his reaction. Everyone knew what had happened between them, and the tension had been at an all-time high. Tony and Bucky never spoke more than a couple words of greeting to each other, and they were never alone together in the same room.

Tony slowly puts down his paper and turns around in his seat to look over his shoulder at Bucky with raised eyebrows. The soldier pales significantly and he looks around the room helplessly, hoping for someone to save him, but even Steve is too shocked to step in and ease the tension.

“Thin ice, Barnes,” Tony retorts, smirking teasingly at him before turning back around to his paper as if nothing had happened at all.

“Tony?”

Everyone's gaze flickered over to the small girl, dressed in oversized pajamas, standing in the entrance to the hall. She looked around nervously, staring at everyone with wide eyes before looking back at Tony.

“I-I-I,” she stuttered. “I-I never got to officially meet everybody,” she whispered shyly, scurrying over to Tony with earnest eyes.

“Good morning to you too,” he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes at him and climbed onto the couch space between him and Clint. She focused her attention on the archer next to her and Tony had to remind himself that it wasn’t a big deal. He didn't have to be the center of attention all the time.

“You’re Mr. Hawkeye, right?” She asked, staring up at him with a fascinated glint in her eyes, and Tony scoffed under his breath as he took another long sip of his coffee.

“That I am,” Clint stated proudly, “and you’re Stark’s little princess, huh?”

Avery’s eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Had Tony told them about last night?! Her eyes widened in panic and she snapped her head over to stare at Tony with an unfamiliar anger igniting behind her eyes. Tony raised an eyebrow questioningly when he saw her expression. He most definitely was not expecting to be shoved in the shoulder, which caused coffee to spill over the front of his shirt and he spluttered helplessly as the steaming liquid dribbled down his chin. It wasn’t a hard shove by any means, but it was still a shove, and his guard was down.

“You told them?!” She growled. “Why would you do that? Why would you tell them something like that?”

“I-I-I didn’t do anything!” Tony defended, wiping the mess off his face and pulling the soaked fabric away from his skin so he didn’t get burnt. “I didn’t tell them anything!”

“Then how does he know?!” She growls out, gesturing to Clint on her other side.

In all honesty, her expression was downright adorable, but it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to mention it to her, because she did look very angry, and he didn’t know what to do. Of course, that gave her no reason to shove him, especially considering that he didn’t do anything. He just… he had never seen that much anger on Peter’s face, even after he took away the suit, and it was just… weird.

“Sorry,” Clint smiled sheepishly, drawing her attention back towards him, “I don’t know what I said, but I can assure you that Stark has barely addressed any of us this morning. Much less, tell us anything that’s happened. He’s very secretive about that kind of stuff… and his glasses too apparently.”

Tony wanted to punch that smug smirk right off his face after that last comment, but he didn’t. Avery’s expression, though, melted into a confused frown as she glanced between the two men.

“See,” Tony grumbled, “I didn’t say anything. Geez, you’re more volatile than Peter is.” He hissed as he dabbed at the liquid from his grey shirt with a napkin Bruce had passed his way, he could feel the stinging burn against his chest and it didn’t feel all that great.

“Sorry,” she responded sheepishly, reaching over to try and help Tony with the mess.

“It’s alright,” Tony replies tersely, grabbing onto her wrists and moving them away a little forcefully, “I got it, you go eat breakfast and get ready for the day. We’ve got a lot to do today.” He didn’t mean to be rude, but he was becoming more and more pissed as the hot liquid continued to irritate his skin and the stain refused to come out of his white shirt. It was too early in the morning to be dealing with any of that crap.

Avery’s face falls a little and she retreats from the couch, hurrying into the kitchen with her head bowed and avoiding everyone's gaze. She looked remarkably similar to a puppy that had just been scolded, but Tony was too focused on fixing his ruined shirt to see the defeated expression on her face as she scurried into the kitchen.

“Tony!” Wanda hissed at him from the loveseat, when Avery was well out of earshot.

“What?” Tony replies incredulously, continuing to dab at the mess, while his irritated grumbling becoming more insistent.

“You can’t just talk to her like that! I know you’re not used to this, but girls are usually more sensitive to that kind of stuff,” she says, reaching over to poke him in the shoulder for emphasis.

“I have plenty experience with sensitive,” Tony grumbled under his breath, “Peter keeps me on my toes.”

“And since Peter is already sensitive, imagine how sensitive SHE is, especially after going through all this crap. Think Stark!”

“She’s right you know,” Natasha pipes up from the other end of the couch. Bruce nods in agreement and Tony’s eyes slowly widen as the realization dawns on him.

They were right. Poor Avery was already so stressed about everything, and Tony just had to go off and be the jerk he was and make her feel bad. What kind of father was he?

“Crap.”

He jumps from the couch, folding his newspaper roughly and tossing it onto the coffee table along with his glasses. He moves towards the kitchen where Steve had been preparing some more eggs and bacon for the others. Avery was sulking at the dining table, stabbing at her eggs. Tony pauses on his trek towards her, immediately becoming nervous, because, yeah, he messed up. So, he bid himself some time and went over to the sink to rinse his mug out.

“Apologize Tony,” Steve whispers sternly, nodding towards Avery.

Tony rolls his eyes at him and groans. “I know I messed up Rogers, no need to rub it all in my face. Just piss off, would you?”

“I’m not-” but before Steve could defend himself, Tony was already reaching over him, for the box of Lucky Charms sitting out on the counter. He swiped them and walked over to the dining table with newfound determination.

He slapped the colorful box down in front of her plate of eggs and reached over to steal the empty bowl sitting in front of Sam, despite the man’s offended protests. He settled a hand on one of her shoulders and used his other to poor the content of the box into the bowl.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you kiddo,” he whispered, “I’m just a little stressed this morning… and just try and avoid dumping coffee on me next time. Or at least wait until I actually did something to deserve it, and perhaps not when it’s scalding hot.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have overreacted like that. I didn’t mean to get your shirt all messed up… or burn you,” she sighed, continuing to poke at the eggs on her plate.

“You’re right, you did overreact, and I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did either. We were both in the wrong, so I think we can call it even, what d’ya say?” Tony smiles down at her, and she stops poking at her eggs for a moment to bend her neck backwards so she could see his face.

She smiled back up at him and the next thing he knew, he had an armful of teenager all over again. She hugged him tightly around the middle and pressed her face into his shoulder, avoiding the darkening coffee stain still present on his shirt.

“I'm still sorry,” she mumbled. Tony chuckled and patted her on the head a couple times, glancing around at the others. They weren’t even trying to pretend that they weren’t nosing in on the whole exchange. Nope, they all looked like they’d seen an adorable puppy. What did Peter call it… heart-eyes? It made him want to gag.

“I know. Just eat up and get ready to go. We've got somewhere to be.” He says, slowly peeling her from him and guiding her back into her seat.

***

“Where’s Loki?!” Tony shouts as he emerges into the large room with an irritated scowl on his face.

“He is down in Thor’s suite,” Bruce answers offhandedly, “doing god knows what.”

“FRIDAY get Loki up here. I need him to come with us to Strange’s place. The more informed minds working on this, the better,” Tony grumbled, flipping his wrist over to glance at his watch. “Avery, you ready?”

He turns his gaze to the brunette happily watching cartoons on the big screen TV.

“Yeah, I’m all ready to go Tony.”

Tony sighs and spins on his heel to make his way over to the couch. He knocks both Sam and Bucky’s legs off the coffee table as he passes, because they were in his way and he wasn’t about to go all the way around. He collapsed down next to her on the couch, sinking into the cushions and reaching a hand up to rub at his eyes.

“Tony,” Avery says excitedly once he sits down, grabbing onto his wrists and giving him a good few shakes, “do you watch this? It’s so good! You’ll love it, c’mon, you gotta watch.”

Tony peeks his eyes open and glances at the TV screen. He flops his head to the side and smiles at Avery patronizingly when he recognizes what it was.

“Pete’s already tried sucking me into this Gravity Falls crap, good luck with that one,” he says, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the couch with a slight smirk, hoping for a good few seconds of relaxation before they had to leave to go meet the Doctor, who he had already found a strong distaste for after only a minute or two on the phone.

“You don’t like it?!”

“No, it’s highly unrealistic,” Tony replied tersely. He hears Avery grumble quietly to herself as the cartoon continues in the background.

“You wanted to see me, Stark?”

Tony’s eyes snapped open and he swiveled his head, almost like an owl, to look at the God standing in the entryway to the room with a mischievous glint in his eye. Tony would absolutely refuse the claim, but he felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of him. Having the god around was definitely going to take some getting used to.

“Yes,” he swallowed dryly, then clearing his throat and standing up from the couch while adjusting his suit jacket, “I’d like you to come with me and Avery to the ‘Dr’s’ house. You seem to have a good understanding about all that’s going on. I need as many competent people in on this as possible.”

Just as the words exited his mouth, a loud purring noise sounded in the room, silencing everyone as they glanced around for the source of the noise. A few well-placed sparks and several whooshes later, there stood a wide spinning circle in the center of the room, displaying a contrasting backdrop beyond it.

There's only been a select number of times in Tony Stark’s life that he had been shocked into complete silence, and apparently this occasion can count as one of them, because here comes this Dr. Guy with a weird, red Cape and a sorry excuse for a goatee. The man in question steps out into the expansive living room and glances around at the unhinged jaws as if it were a perfectly normal reaction, which it probably was.

Tony glances down at Avery, and her eyes had bulged out in recognition, an ever-growing smile forming on her face.

“Mr. Strange! Capey!” She shouted excitedly, vaulting herself over the back of the couch to run across the room. She stumbled on her feet a little as she caught herself, but she kept right on going. She dived at the wizard and wrapped her arms around his torso just as she had done to Tony when she first showed up at the Tower.

Strange cocked his eyebrow and looked down at the girl latched around his waist. Then his Cape started moving! Like, seriously moving! The corners of the fabric gently pried Avery away from the man, but it didn't affect her attitude one bit. Her big, hopeful eyes and glazed smile made Tony smirking too, because his kid was just too adorable.

“Stark,” Strange addressed, dusting his clothes off nonchalantly and sidestepping around Avery so he could approach the genius across the room. “You're late.”

“THIS is who you're meeting with Stark?” Loki snarls in exasperation as he glares at the Dr.

“Yes,” Strange replies tersely, glancing over at the god with a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes before turning his full attention back to Tony.

The man came to a stop directly in front of Tony, toe to toe, towering over the man by at least a few inches. Tony glares up at him, because he wasn’t about to let this idiot doctor try and state his dominance towards him in front of his friends and ‘from another dimension daughter’. He had never let anyone treat him as the lesser individual and he wasn’t about to start now. So, he simply glowered at him and raised a challenging brow.

The corners of Strange’s mouth quirked up into an amused smirk before he took a couple steps away. Then, he looked around at the others watching the interaction silently, before looking back at Tony.

“I am assuming that you requested to speak to me urgently because of some important matter. Follow me so that we may speak in private.”

Strange gestured towards the large spinning hole-slash-portal thing swirling around in the middle of Tony's living room. Then, before anyone could really move to stop her, Avery excitedly leapt through the portal, as if she had done it a million times before and bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited on the other side for the others to follow.

Tony cocked a brow and glanced over at Loki, who was still grumbling and scowling, with the occasional glare directed at the doctor, as he stepped through the portal himself. Tony could already tell that it was going to be an awfully long morning.

***

“Ok, I believe I understand,” Strange nodded, pursing his lips tightly in thought. He leaned forward, balancing his elbows on the table they were occupying and settled his gaze on Avery, sitting across from him, giving her his full attention. “Explain exactly what happened right before and right after you died in your dimension.”

“Ok, so like...w-while I was fading, or whatever, literally everything on my body was hurting because I guess my regenerative healing was trying to repair itself as I got picked apart, so, like, it was painful and super scary. And I remember that my Spidey senses were going nuts because they didn’t know what was going on. It made it really hard to think and stuff because I was so panicked. Then-then I saw Mr. Stark, and I knew that he would know what was going on... so I called out to him and started walking… then my legs stopped working and I started to fall. It-it-it was just so scary, and t-then I saw that look on Mr. Starks face when he reached out to catch me, and I saw how scared he was too. I had never seen him so scared, and I-I felt bad, I guess, because he was going to be all alone. But after I understood that there was nothing else I could do, my body and my powers sorta just gave up and I just accepted it then… drifted away. But the weird thing is that I, like... saw myself! Does that make any sense?”

“No,” Loki grumbled irritatedly, furrowing his brows. The god had been in a pissy mood the entire morning, and his attitude was beginning to piss Tony off as well. But, instead of saying something, Tony glared at him and gestured for Avery to continue, because it was not the time to start an argument with the genocidal maniac.

“W-well, I, like, saw myself float away, but as soon as I did I couldn't, like… feel anything. Then, literally a second later, everything was black, and my head started spinning, which made me kinda sick, and there were a bunch of super loud noises that I'd never heard before. It was really weird… and I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could see bright lights flashing everywhere anyway. Then, there were all these high-pitched screeches and I got dizzy all over again. It was too much to handle, so I guess I passed out or something, because then I woke up and was laying down on some nasty blacktop in an alley. I woke up with the legit worst headache I had ever had in my life, and I couldn’t remember anything that had happened. I couldn’t remember Mr. Stark, or my Aunt, or my name… and, like, that sorta freaked me out a bit!”

Strange held up a hand to silence her before she could start rambling again, then he turned to address the other two.

“It sounds like she experienced travelling through an interdimensional wormhole.”

“Yeah, we get that she travelled across dimensions,” Tony snapped irritatedly. They had been discussing time and wormholes for hours, along with dimensional travel, but they were nowhere closer to getting Avery back home. “We need to know how to get her back home.”

“We can't get her home if we don't know where she came from Stark,” Strange snapped back. “This isn't an easy problem to fix. You can't just throw her into random dimensions and hope it'll be the right one. Trial and error will not work under these conditions, this is not like one of your science experiments.”

“Now hand on a seco-” Tony growls out offendedly. Avery reaches over to grab onto his arm, cutting him off before he could retaliate.

“Please don't fight. I just want to go home, fighting isn't going to make that easier.”

Tony glanced over at her and his scowl drops slightly. He glares back at Strange and places a large hand over the small one still gripping the sleeve of his jacket.

“Sorry kiddo, just want to get you home.”

There were several uninterrupted moments of silence as the three men silently brewed.

“if you'd excuse my bluntness, I'm kind of confused as to the relation here. What is she, your ward?”

“Hey! That's exactly what you said to Mr. Stark on the big alien spaceship thing!” Avery grinned excitedly.

Strange rolled his eyes and cocked his head to the side to settle a bored stare on Loki and Tony. He dismissed his previous question and continued with the subject matter.

“As I was saying before: it appears as if she has traveled through dimensions. It was most likely the result of a preset cause, instead of just a simple accident.”

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Tony asked incredulously, glancing to a confused Avery sitting beside him. “Someone sent her here on purpose?”

“Allow me to explain,” Loki interrupted, clearing his throat, and sitting up straighter in his chair as he locked eyes with Tony. “What the Dr. is trying to say is that some person or some other force acted upon Avery and opened the gateway to allow her to pass through the dimensions. This wasn't by any means an accident. Accidents such as these just do not happen… in our world at least.”

Tony furrows his brows in thought, and Avery's eyes widen. Her head snapped over to stare at Tony, hoping for some type of confirmation of sorts. Then, when she realized that Tony wasn't about to acknowledge her curious eyes, she looked back over at Loki and Strange.

“Was it Mr. Stark? Did he do it? Maybe he knew that we were going to lose and so he like… made me come here to keep me alive.”

“Hate to burst your bubble kid,” Tony sighed, “but Tony Stark isn't as great as you think he is. He doesn't have that type of capability, let alone, the capacity to even come to a solution like that. He couldn't have possibly predicted that outcome and I can assure you that he most definitely did not want you around while all of that was happening anyway, so he wouldn't even have time to begin working that out.” He fixed her with a stern glare and she shrunk back into her chair and shot him a sheepish smile.

“You're right, Stark wouldn't have been able to do something with the likes of that,” Strange replied. “Though, you said that I was with you as well during the attack. What was the extent of our relationship?”

“Uh,” Avery faltered, scrunching up her nose contemplatively, “I was pretty sure you hated me, ‘cause you didn't really like any of my jokes… well Mr. Stark didn't either… but still… um, you really didn't like Mr. Stark. You guys were literally arguing the whole time, and Mr. Stark got pretty pissed really quick. ‘Cause you were really focused on keeping that necklace safe and away from Thanos, and Mr. Stark felt that it was our best bet against him… so, yeah, you two didn't really get along too good.” She gestured towards the object around his neck and he glanced down at it briefly before returning his gaze back to her.

“Ok...so how did this ‘Thanos’ get ahold of the stone then?” Strange asked.

Avery furrowed her eyebrows at him and her lips puckered slightly.

“I don't know if I should tell you that. Your universe might explode or something.”

Tony groaned. “We've been over this kid. The universe is not going to explode. Just tell him what happened.”

“Well… you aren't going to like it very much.” Avery paused, twiddling her fingers, and dropping her head to stare at her lap.

“Just tell us what happened,” Loki replied, voice thick with annoyance.

“Well-um… Thanos already had 3 of the stones when we fought him, so he was, like, super OP. Then, we came up with this BRILLIANT plan, or actually what Mr. Star Lord came up with-” Tony's spluttering interrupted her spiel.

“Sorry, excuse me… Mr. Star Lord?”

“Yeah,” Avery smiled, “his real name was actually Peter… You would've hated him. Anyways, um, we did the whole plan thing, and we almost had him! Then Mr. Star Lord got really upset because Thanos killed his girlfriend, which was also his daughter. Thanos had to sacrifice her for the soul stone, I think… I'm not really sure of all the specifics, but he got really upset and ended up messing up the plan. That's when everything went to crap and Thanos basically went crazy. He threw a moon at Mr. Stark… which was EPIC!” Her eyes glowed with animated amazement as she spoke about Thanos trying to kill Tony Stark. Which horrified Tony just a bit.

“But, you know, he's Tony Stark, and nobody can kill him, ‘cause he’s a bad bit- uh, I mean…. Ahem, um Thanos didn't know that though…” Her face dropped into a sad frown as she drew to the end of her story.

“But, um everyone else was down, and Mr. Stark kept fighting all by himself. He was doing pretty great to! His new suit was totally amazing, and-and he was doing it all by himself! No help from FRIDAY or anything, he was- it was so cool… and I would've helped him, but he was doing good and I knew I'd probably get in the way. So, I helped everyone else get to the ground, ‘cause they started floating everywhere, and plus... I-I was scared, you know… Thanos was- Thanos was like the ultimate boss that they save for the end of the game, and-and I didn’t think I could beat him, but I should have just helped Mr. Stark anyway.” She sniffed roughly and wiped at her nose. “But-but then Thanos was ripping apart his suit and everything, and he was running out of nanoparts to cover himself, but-but he still kept on fighting! It was so scary to watch, you know. Then-then he used the rest of the particles to make a small sword and he tried to stab Thanos with it, but that stupid grape just broke it off and shoved it into Mr. Starks stomach. I can still hear it ringing in my ears, especially at night. It was the worst thing I'd ever heard… metal passing through flesh isn't all that great of a sound.”

She paused significantly there, and the three men around the table didn't say a word as they waited for her to continue, because there was obviously more to the story. Tony reached his arm over to draped it over shoulders and he pulled her closer to press a subtle kiss to the side her head, in hopes that it would somehow reassure her.

“And-and that's when I should've gone and saved him! That's when I should've done something, but I just couldn't. I-I couldn't move and I-I couldn’t shout or anything, it was like those terrible nightmares where you can't do anything but watch. And-and that's when I gave up, ‘cause that's when I knew we lost. He beat Mr. Stark, and that's it… he was going to kill him. And-and I just would have stood there and watched the whole thing happen. If Mr. Stark couldn’t beat him, nobody could.”

Her eyes glazed over with a foreign calmness as she quietly continued her recount of the events.

“Th-then when Thanos was about to kill him, Mr. Strange called out to stop him… and-and you offered him the stone if he would spare Mr. Stark’s life. You-you gave up the stone to save him, a-and that's all I know about it.”

She glanced up from her lap to look across the table at Strange, tears twinkling behind her eyes.

“That doesn’t sound like something I would do. I wouldn’t have given up the stone unless it was for a good reason,” Strange frowns.

“But you did.” Avery replied tersely, creasing her brows, and running her sleeve beneath her nose as she sniffled. “And I do appreciate it.”

“Are you able to communicate with others in a different dimension?” Loki asks, ignoring Avery and Tony to turn and look at Strange with a questioning glare.

“I’m unsure,” Strange replied, “I’ve never attempted to, but, in theory, if I were able, it would have to be with someone else with extensive powers allowing them to communicate as well. It would be too much of a stretch for my powers to reach a person’s subconscious all on my own, we would have to meet halfway. From the edge of our universe to theirs, that way no barriers would have to be broken.”

“And how long will this take?” Tony asks, leaning forward in his seat.

“I don’t know, but it’ll be a couple months at the least-”

“A couple months?!” Avery cries, “no-no-no I have to go back now! I need to get back home to my Mr. Stark and my Aunt May and Ned and MJ! I need to help Mr. Stark beat Thanos! He won’t be able to do it by himself, he needs help, he needs somebody there with him! If I’m not there, and if Pepper, or Rhodey disappeared too, then he won’t be able to function. He’ll be blaming himself, I need to be there! I need to make sure he’s alright. He hates space… and he's all alone. I can’t- I can't just leave him all alone.” Tears seeped out of her eyes and they dripped down her face.

“I-I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do right now. I promise that I will work as hard as I can to get you home as soon as possible. I’ll speak with Wong, and we will find your world as quickly as we can.” Strange spoke softly, gazing down at her with a warm expression. His hard exterior broke, and for a moment Tony didn't hate him as much.

Avery snapped her head over to look at Tony, her lip quivering and her shiny tears trailing down her cheeks. “Bu-but he-he’s my dad. I-I want my dad.”

***

“Peter, dude, you’ve been acting weird all morning, what’s going on?” Ned asked, dropping his voice to a low whisper, as they trekked down the hall towards the lunch room. They only had one more final to complete once lunch was over, and Ned noticed Peter’s unusually chipper attitude that had seemed to be present ever since their first class. Nobody was ever that excited for finals, heck, nobody was ever even remotely excited for finals.

So, it was hard not to notice and address the starstruck expression on his best friend’s face as he took the English final. Especially when said friend despised English.

“I-It’s nothing!” Peter insisted a little too quickly to not be considered suspicious. His previous smile dropped into what could be perceived as a feigned bored frown. “Nothing’s going on, why would you ask that?”

“Because you’ve been grinning like an idiot all morning,” MJ piped up, literally appearing magically from the crowd as she stepped in line behind Peter and Ned, piling things onto her lunch tray. “No one is ever that excited for finals.”

She didn’t say anything else after that, leaving Peter and Ned by themselves as she walked across the lunchroom to their usual table, a ways down from where Ned and Peter typically sat, after she skipped ahead of them and paid for her meal.

“Tell me what’s going on!” Ned insisted pushing against his shoulder, “something happened.”

Peter paused and grinned sheepishly, taking a quick bite of his apple to hide his underlying grin.

“Promise me you won’t freak out,” he said, putting his tray down on the table and sliding onto the bench seat. Ned followed suit and nodded his head vigorously.

“Ok…” Peter began, “so, like, Tony’s my dad…”

Ned creased his eyebrows and blinked at him incredulously. As if Peter had gone crazy.

“You already told me about this Peter.”

“What?! No I didn’t!” Peter insisted, eyes widening as he stared over at his best friend. How could he have already told him? He’s pretty sure he would remember something like that. Unless… he was dreaming… which would sadly make a lot of sense. The past weekend had just been too good to be true, it probably was just some cruel, crazy joke. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Because Tony Stark doesn't cuddle, the Avengers are not a bunch if nosey gossips, doppelgangers are not a thing, and Tony Stark most definitely was not his father. Yeah… he was still asleep Thursday night, that's the only reasonable explanation, and it sorta bummed him out.

“Yeah man. You told me all about the Avengers showing up and then having to pretend to be Tony’s son. You told me about it Monday, remember?”

Oh. oh. OH.

“No-no-no Ned, that’s not what I’m talking about.’

“Then what are you talking about Peter?” Ned narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“I-We ended up doing a blood test, you know, and it turns out that Tony’s my dad. Like… legit, my real dad.” He studied Ned’s face for a reaction. And just like last time, Ned's face split out into a large grin and Peter was too slow to stop his outburst.

“WHAT?!” Ned shrieked, drawing the attention of much of the student body eating lunch around them. Peter leapt forward and clamped a hand over his mouth before he could scream anything else.

“Dude,” Peter hissed, “you promised you wouldn’t freak out.”

“Peter,” Ned frowned exasperatedly after peeling his hand away from his mouth, “you can’t tell me not to freak out and then tell me that Tony Stark is your real father. Sorry to burst your bubble dude, but it just doesn’t work that way.”

Peter laughed at him. A slight blush creeped up his cheeks and he turned back to his lunch, poking his fork at the lump of mush the school claimed to be ‘potatoes’.

“But seriously man…” Ned drawled out, grinning over at him, wider than he'd ever seen him smile, “your life is like a freaking soap opera.”

“I’d say,” MJ pipes up from a ways down the table with her nose in a fresh, new book. Peter’s mouth drops open and he stares at her.

“Did you hear all that?!”

“Sure did,” she laughed, “you guys should seriously be more careful about sharing secrets when other people are around. You never know who’s listening.” She glanced up from her book to look at them with an amused smile.

They must have looked pretty worried, because she simply smirked and closed her book.

“Don’t worry spider kid, your secrets are safe with me,” she grinned, standing from the table and exiting the lunch hall as if nothing of interest had occurred.

“She knows about Spiderman too?” Peter squeaked helplessly, dropping his head onto his tray, barely missing the pile of mush.

“Tony’s going to kill me,” he groaned.

Ned laughed. “You meeann, your dad is going to kill you?”

***

Strange had opened up a portal for them again, which led them back to Tony’s living room. Avery granted a halfhearted thanks to the Doctor before dashing through the odd ‘circle’ swirling in the center of the room and made quick work of maneuvering across the Living room on the other side, past several nosey Avengers, to rush to her room. She was slamming the door behind her just as Tony and Loki made their way through the portal themselves.

Natasha stared at them incredulously, narrowing her eyes.

“What did you two do?” She accused.

Tony’s weighted expression didn’t falter. His usual smirk wasn't present, instead a frustrated scowl took its place, and an angered gleam glinted in his eyes as he ignored the accusations.

“Rhodey, keep an eye on her will ya? Give her some space. Loki and I have some things we need to talk about,” he sighed tiredly, reaching a hand up to massage his eyes, the angered glint quickly dispersing and being replaced by the acceptance of helpless defeat.

“What, no snarky nickname for the God of Mischief?” Sam retorted worriedly. Hoping to elicit some sort of reaction out of the genius.

“Tony,” Steve addressed uneasily, “what happened?”

“We’ll talk later Rogers. There’s just a few things I need to get through my head first.” He sighed, gesturing for Loki to follow him into the foyer.

Loki followed him, looking equally perturbed, as the others watched them leave. The remaining heroes glanced around at each other worriedly, but nobody said anything. They didn’t really know what they were supposed to say. It was an unprecedented situation, and they didn’t really know how to perceive the situation, so they just kept silent, and waited for Tony to come back up so he could explain to them what had happened.

***

“I need to know I can trust you.” Tony growls out in frustration, running a hand through his hair as he paces around the abandoned lab. Loki watching him with amused interest.

“And I would like to say you can, but I, however, understand how much that would be to ask of you. Although, it it is any consolation, I have no intent on harming any more of you weakened humans. My brother has guilt-tripped me quite enough, and I believe I have learned my lesson.”

“That’s enough for me,” Tony grumbled, collapsing into a nearby chair. “Now, I have some questions…”

Loki takes a seat in a chair as well, albeit, much more gracefully.

“I’m new to the whole time travel and multiverse thing. So, do you mind just explaining to me the basics of what’s going on.”

Loki cocks his head to the side curiously and raises his eyebrows. “Why didn’t you ask that annoying Doctor. He’s obviously much more educated in the subject than I.”

“Because I didn’t need Avery…” Tony trailed off and broke eye contact with him to stare at the wall stubbornly.

“‘Because you didn’t need Avery’... what?” Loki asked patiently.

“I didn’t need her knowing that I have no idea what’s going on! She-she looks up to me-or her Mr. Stark as if we’re the smartest person on the planet. Both her and Peter have some weird hero-worship thing going where they firmly believe that I can do anything! Didn’t you hear her? When Thanos beat… her Mr. Stark, she knew that was when they lost. She knew! She gave up hope because Tony Freaking Stark was beat by a big purple grape! So, what’s that going to look like if I don’t know what’s going on, or how to fix this. She-she- That’s just something I don’t want her to worry about.” Tony hangs his head defeatedly and sighed.

“Sorry. You don't need to hear about my troubles.” Tony groaned with a role of his eyes, fixing his gaze on the back wall again.

“No, I don't,” Loki agrees, looking just as aloof as before. Not at all perturbed by Tony's emotional confession.

Tony allows a side eye to slide over and look at Loki sitting across from him. A corner of his mouth quirks up amusedly and he spots the small twinkle in the God’s eyes.

“Anyways...Tell me what you know.”

Loki nods and begins. “You're familiar with the theory relating to parallel universes, and their equal abundance of unique individuals simply resulting from a slight change of an irrelevant world, correct?”

Tony nods his head affirmatively.

“Good. That's all rubbish,” he says simply, leaning back in his chair to kick his feet out in front of him. “Think of it as a… government per se. There is one powerful being ruling over the rest, along with other, less powerful beings supporting and enforcing it. The ladder continues downwards onto the common folk, becoming forever smaller with each passing generation. The same applies to the multiverse. There is only one supreme universe and the others simply follow along behind it.”

Tony creases his brows together confusedly at the ironic illustration, but he doesn't interrupt.

“For instance, if you take a rectangular box and place a large sphere within it, it will not take up the entire space, correct?” Tony nods. “Well, then we place smaller, more insignificant spheres around it, such as...what is it? A pong ping ball?”

He glances over at Tony for confirmation, and Tony opens his mouth, ready to correct him with a scoff and a laugh, but he stops himself short and nods his head in resignation. No use in it now, he was too tired to try and correct every small mistake.

“Yes, so, you keep placing smaller spheres within it, they get infinitely smaller and infinitely less significant. Which means that there is an infinite amount of small, insignificant spheres surrounding the somewhat more significant spheres. As for the largest sphere...it has the best and the most spheres surrounding it, yet also the most away from it. Though infinity is a complex comparison, the number has different variations and different ratios to relate to it. The surface area of the larger sphere is infinite, but so is the surface area of the smaller sphere, though the larger sphere is infinitely larger-”

“Yes-yes I’ve studied Calculus. I understand how infinity works,” Tony urges impolitely. Loki glares at him, but clears his throat and continues

“Anyway… the largest sphere is the center of all existence. It is the basis of reality, and every string that strays from what it determines as real, the less significant and the farther off from the basis of reality the other world really is,” Loki pauses so he could glance over at Tony to make sure he was following along. He was.

“Do you know how far off we’re are from being considered… significant?”

There wasn't really a straightforward way to understand it, but Tony felt like he was getting the general idea. It felt nice to finally get some answers and be allowed to ask questions.

“We are the significant universe, Stark. Our actions and decisions throughout the day make the rulings for the entire multiverse.”

Tony didn't say anything for a few moments, and Loki waited patiently for the genius to process the information.

“Huh,” Tony grunted finally, lowering his brows in thought as he stares at the floor. Then after a few quick moments, he lifts his gaze again to look at Loki. “How do you know that?”

Loki shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “Most with true capabilities of communicating and manipulating the mystic arts have the knowledge. Those individuals are just few and far between.”

“Then how did Strange not know?” Tony asked.

“He knew,” Loki replied bluntly with an affirmative nod of the head, “He just didn't tell you.”

“Well, why not?! I feel like that's a pretty invaluable piece of information right there.”

Loki sighs amusedly at Tony's frustration. “That would have required an in-depth explanation, Stark. Also, he must have not wanted to worry you or dear Avery. This revelation makes his task infinitely more difficult.”

“How so?” Tony growls out.

Loki rolls his eyes and braces his elbows on his knees to lean forward. “Let's go back to the spheres for a moment.”

“The largest sphere has the largest surface area, as I began to explain earlier. Therefore, allowing there more tangency with more insignificant and somewhat significant universes. Since our universe is the one with the largest surface area, or largest expanse and in-depth connection with the other universes, that means there are more potential homes for young Avery to have journeyed from. Which also means: the higher chance of us not being to identify the correct one.”

Tony panicked. Like really, legit panicked. His eyes widened, and a lump formed in his throat. If he can't get Avery home… she'll be miserable, and he...he'd have to take care of two self-loathing, clumsy, cuddly, teenage superheroes with no self-preservation skills. Not good.

“Okay-okay, w-w-wait! What if! What if we were not really the center, you know? Realistically speaking, Avery is probably from one of the more significant universes, right? And for your whole theory to be correct, then that whole Thanos turning everyone to dust thing, in her world, would have happened here too, since everything occurring there is based off what occurs here. So, we can’t be the center, it isn't possible.”

Loki calmly stared at him. “It is not a theory, Stark. It is the truth. And yes, it is quite possible for other universes to have outcomes different from what we experience here. Although, some worlds simply speed up the inevitable, while others slow it down. It is all based around the differing amount of decisions made and the abundance of minor universes created as a result... Have you ever stopped to wonder why you've always had dreams and revelations predicting forms of danger to come? It is because you are in connection with the other universes, Stark. Their worlds rely on our reality, and you are simply receiving the brunt of that relationship. You can sense the bond between our worlds.”

Tony scowled, dismissing the very intriguing part about him- like, what?! Seeing and sensing outcomes from other realities?! Discussion for another time perhaps.

“But, Thanos. Where is Thanos?”

“He is real,” Loki confirms, “but his whereabouts are unknown as of right now.”

Tony's eyes widen and the lump in his throat returns. “H-how do you know?”

“He is the one that sent me to New York,” Loki sighed, dropping his head in... was that shame? “But… ever since the battle, no one has ever heard from him again. He simply vanished, and no one knows where to.” Loki pauses to stare at Tony and it sends a chill down the man’s spine.

“It is my firm belief that at some point, Thanos had done to our world just what he has done to Avery's world. That had always been his plan, since the very beginning… but someone has altered our timeline. They have altered all basis of reality. Our multiverse has become unstable, and that is how you were able to receive and recount your dream clearly this time, instead of in their usual forms of fear and uncertainty. That is how Avery is here. Our universe has been tampered with, and all the surrounding universes cannot function properly without the official building blocks and guidelines that they receive from ours. Resulting in these odd space-time anomalies. The barriers between our worlds, the ones preventing our knowledge from seeping out, are slowly diminishing. If it collapses, it is highly possible that all the universes will converge together, overpowering the rules of space-time and officially setting an end to life as we know it. In this dimension as well as all the others. Just as Avery has been saying: the overabundance of information could very well cause all universes to implode. The multiverse has slowly been trying to repair itself to prevent this, but I am still unsure how.”

what? What? WHAT? WHAT?! Tony wanted to RIP out his hair. He just wanted to take a fistful of it and tear it apart from his skull, so he could have a reasonable excuse to scream bloody murder, because this was freaking ridiculous. How? How in the world was this possible?! Why couldn’t he live in a world lacking science fiction type plotlines?!

“Well?! Why the heck did you not lead with that to begin with?!”

“I wanted to be sure you understood the facts first, Stark. What I have just told you is simply a speculation of mine that I have developed from the bits of information I have gathered over the course of the last couple days. It is not grounded evidence as of yet and is probably just a worst case scenario.”

“Okay-okay,” Tony resigns, drawing in a deep breath before gently releasing it, and then repeating the process. He presses a palm to his forehead and he closes his eyes, so that maybe he could retain at least some of the semblance of peace he had left.

“I feel as though I have overwhelmed you,” Loki replies warily, “I am sorry if I have caused you any emotional or mental harm. It was not my intention-”

“No-no, you're fine. I'm just...I'm just dealing with it. Pepper says I have a tendency to overreact, so just… ignore me.”

“I see, very well then,” Loki voices.

“Boss, would you like me to relay Mr. Loki’s theory to Dr. Strange?” FRIDAY speaks up.

Tony keeps his forefinger and thumb pinched at the bridge of his nose and he nods reluctantly.

The two men sit there in silence for a few moments before Tony finally sighs loudly and stands from his chair. He locks eyes with Loki and a somewhat appreciative smile forms on his face.

“I-um. I guess a thanks is in order, huh?”

“How about we call it even for when I attempted to massacre humankind?” Loki replies jokingly, a smirk squirming up to match Tony's smile.

Tony rolled his eyes and juts his hand forward for a handshake. “Nice try. I do appreciate your help, though, and if I could just ask one more favor-”

“Spider-Man's and Spider-Girl's secrets are safe with me, Stark. I understand that you do not want that information leaked to the others.”

“Thank you. And for what it's worth, if you don't try to stab anyone over the course of your stay, I think it's safe to say that you've earned my trust. Although, if you do have the sudden ‘stabby’ urge, Clint or Steve would be fine candidates.”

Loki’s toothy smirk forms on his face and he nods his head appreciatively. “You have my trust as well Stark, and I will keep those suggestions in mind.”

Chapter Text

Tony took the elevator back up to his floor while Loki took a separate one to descend to Thor’s own personalized suite. He leaned against the back wall of the metal box and ran a heavy hand down his face. It was just so much information for him to process, and the added abundance of information that had been propelled his way over the past day and a half had him convinced that if anybody popped up with any more surprises, then he would surely go clinically insane and possibly combust with spontaneous vexation.

He made it about 3 floors into his silent brooding before his phone started vibrating insistently in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen to decide whether he should answer it, because if it was some stupid board member to harass him about that deal with that merger in Hong Kong later in the month, he didn’t want to answer it. Thankfully, it wasn’t. A small grin formed on his face and he answered the call then pressed the phone to his ear.

“What’s up kiddo?”

“Oh, hey! Um, Mr. Stark-I mean - um, Dad- No! I mean- sorry... Dad- No! Ugh... Tony!” Peter stumbled miserably. Tony could hear the embarrassment radiating off the kid's voice, and he almost felt bad… but the humor he found in Peter's nervous stammering won over.

“I meant...Tony,” he finished lamely, and Tony laughed out loud when he heard Peter’s defeated sigh across the line.

“It’s fine kid, what’s up?”

“Well,” Peter paused, “I was wondering if Ned could come over for dinner Thursday with me and May. He’s been begging to meet you, and since you’re sorta like my dad now… I think you should, like… meet my best friend, you know? Plus, I think it’ll be so awesome to see his face when he finds out about Avery! He’ll be freaked.”

Tony rubs his hand along his forehead and smiles to himself. His kid could just be so stinkin’ cute sometimes; it was getting ridiculous.

“Sounds good, kiddo,” Tony says, pausing for a moment before finally asking the real question that had been plaguing his mind for… well, a while. “How’s your Aunt holding up with everything?”

There’s a long pause on the other end of the phone, but Tony waits patiently until he hears Peter’s dejected voice come over the receiver.

“Well, I mean… She knew about my dad not being my real dad, and she’s not upset that you’re my real dad or anything…”

There’s a significant pause where neither one says anything, and when Tony realizes that Peter wasn’t planning on sharing anything further, he decides to give him a little push.

“What’re you not telling me Pete?” Tony asks, voice dropping to a softer pitch as the elevator doors slowly slide open when it reached his floor. He could hear the others gossiping quietly in his Living Room, so he stays in the foyer where he could keep some semblance of privacy. He seriously couldn’t wait until he had the all-clear to send the idiots back to the compound.

“She-she’s just scared that you’re going to take me away from her,” he sighs in defeat, before quickly adding on to defend his firm belief in Tony’s goodwill. “But, see, I know you wouldn’t do that!”

Tony sucked in a sharp breath, because with everything going on, he hadn’t really had ample opportunity to think about how this new revelation could possibly change everything in his and Peter's lives. There was a lot that needed to be cleared up and there was going to be a lot of papers to file through, and again, Tony could feel the nervousness building in his gut. There was no way he was going to be able to do this. How was he going to do this? They needed to figure out living arrangements, name sakes, press conferences, cover-ups, inheritances, schooling, there-there was just so much to do!

“You aren’t going to do that, right?” Peter asked timidly, noticing Tony’s odd silence as the man quietly freaked out and blew everything out of proportion, just as he usually did. Peter must have took Tony's lack of response as a negative thing, and that little bit of faith was dwindling with Tony's apparent hesitation to answering.

“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to,” Tony finally choked out through the lump that had settled in his throat.

He could hear Peter’s relieved sigh, and it helped calm his racing thoughts. His heart didn't feel that it was about to hammer out of his chest, and although he was a little overwhelmed by all that needed to be done… the prospect wasn't quite as daunting.

“Yeah, see, I knew that.” Peter's voice lifted in spirits, and Tony leaned back against the wall near the elevators and a pleased smile passed his lips as the kid continued talking.

“How did it go with Mr. Strange?!” Peter's excitement was infectious. The kid rambled on about the thorough research he had committed to recently involving doppelgangers and parallel universes, and Tony found the conversation flowing smoothly, albeit mostly one-sided. It slowly helped ease through the tension that had settled in his thoughts from the abundance of stressful revelations he had encountered over the past couple days.

Eventually, Tony had to stop him before he got too carried away and gave him a headache.

“Hold on kiddo, don’t you have some very important SpiderMan-ing to get to?”

“Well, yeah… I’m sorta just sitting up on this tall building, waiting for something interesting to happen. I’ve stopped two muggings already! And I helped this little kid at the park who lost his parents. I got like three cookies for that one… but I wanna know what happened with Avery! When’s she going back home? What did Mr. Strange say?”

Tony sighed and leaned more of his weight against the wall, he snaps his eyes shut and massages the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress the sudden oncome of a migraine.

“We don’t know,” Tony admitted dejectedly, “There’s a lot we still need to figure out, but it’s probably going to be a while until she can get back home.”

“Oh,” Peter breathed, “is she doing okay? I know she really misses her Aunt May and Mr. Stark.”

“She didn’t take it all that well,” Tony chuckled humorlessly, “she locked herself in your room as soon as we got back. I gave her some space to discuss some things with Loki, but I’m not too sure if I should go in there and check on her or not. I’m not used to you being all broody like that, kiddo.”

“You have to go talk to her Mr. Stark! I promise that she doesn’t want to be alone right now! She’s- she’s gonna start overthinking everything, then she’s-she’s gonna get all upset and she won’t know what to do. Don’t let her be alone-”

“Alright-alright, I’m going. I’m walking over to your room right now.” Tony cuts him off, walking across the occupied room to reach the hallway on the other side. He ignores the nosey stares from the others that follow him across the room, and Peter continues to ramble worriedly into his ear.

“Just...just don’t let her be alone,” Peter practically begs, “I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through all that.”

“I know kiddo, I’ll make sure she’s alright. We might watch some Transformers tonight to cheer her up or something.” Tony says, slowing his pace as he enters the hallway and comes closer to her, or really Peter’s, door. Then, he lowers his voice significantly just in case there were some unknown eavesdroppers as well. “Are you going to come and visit us after patrol, or are you going to head home?”

“Um- well. I want to come see you guys, but I know Aunt May’s been missing me, so I’ll probably hang out with her tonight. She hasn’t had a night off in ages.”

“Alright kiddo, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Be safe and call me if you get into any trouble… don’t get into any trouble.” By the time he was finished speaking he was already beginning the short process of hanging up the call. So, he was just barely able to decipher Peter’s soft ‘bye dad’ before the line beeped and went dead. His heart fluttered for a moment, because Peter actually called him ‘dad’... intentionally.

Why he had to hang up the phone at that exact moment, he didn’t know, but there was no time to call the kid back, because… one: he had no idea what to say, and two: he could hear the soft sobs and whimpers emitting from the other side of the bedroom door. So, he rapped his knuckles against the wooden frame and waited patiently.

“Go away!”

Tony sighed and leaned his body against the door frame and simply rapped his knuckles against the wood again. Boy, had his entire demeanor changed over the past week, or what? Because a week ago, he would never be planning on staying camped outside some teenage girl’s room when she demanded that he go away. Sensible? Yes; practical? Yes; logical? Absolutely. There was no reason to harass her and force her to talk if she very obviously didn’t want to. Yet, here he was; his ‘dad’ senses were tingling, and the tiny sobs were tugging at his heart strings. He remembered what Peter had told him, and combined with his ironic paternal instincts, he opted for, yes, harassing her and forcing her to talk, because leaving her to wallow in her own misery didn't seem like all that great of an idea.

Why, oh, why, were these Parkers so stubborn and infuriating? Couldn’t they just accept the fact that he wanted to help them when- oh wait. Yeah, that makes sense; these were his kids, ‘Stark's. Yep, that made a lot more sense.

“I’m not leaving until you let me in kiddo,” Tony responded sternly, keeping his voice steady and calm to hide the underlying panic and worry, because he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He could hear some grumbling, a little bit of shuffling and then, after a while, he heard heavy footsteps approaching the door.

The door slid open to reveal to him the sight of a small, disheveled little girl. She looked years younger with the red circles rimmed around her eyes and the added puff to her swollen cheeks, glowing from the numerous tears that had trailed down her face. Her lip pouted out into a defeated frown and she refused to look up at him as she wiped her sleeved arm beneath her nose. Then, she wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and hung her head, so she was staring stubbornly at the ground.

Tony’s face fell at the sight of her, and he just- he just didn’t know what to do. His brain couldn’t figure out how to fix it, how to make it better, but his body apparently did. Without even thinking about it, he reached forward, and his hand cupped her chin as he gently lifted her head, so she could look up at him. She didn’t fight him, and she didn’t pull away; she let him guide her face upwards and she locked eyes with his. Tears pooled in her brown orbs and Tony never thought he’d be able to see his mother’s eyes again until that fleeting moment. He used his thumb to wipe the falling tears out of the way, and Avery's lip wobbled dangerously at the loving action.

For a few moments, neither said anything. They stood there, with Tony’s hand gently cupping her chin, and the fresh tears running down her glistening cheeks. A small sob wracked her frame and her head bowed again as she began to slowly curl into herself. Tony’s heart shattered, and he took a small step forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, moving his hand up to cup the side of her face as he pressed a gentle kiss to her hairline.

She sobbed harder at the affectionate gesture, and for a moment, Tony thought that he was going to cry as well, but he didn’t. He kept his mouth pressed to her forehead, clamped his eyes shut and hugged her tighter.

He officially hated emotions. They were downright terrible.

“What do you want?” She eventually sobbed, pushing away from his embrace, and hiding her face in her hands.

Again, Tony’s brain didn’t know what to do, so he just let his body take the lead. He reached out for her again and wrapped both arms around her tiny frame (she was even smaller than Peter), because somehow, he just knew that all she needed was a hug, even when she had just pushed him away. He placed a firm, steady hand on the back of her head and softly guided her so her face was pressed snuggly against his chest. He dropped a soft kiss to her curls and she gripped the back of his shirt with tight-fisted hands in response. “I’m so, so sorry sweetheart. I’m going to get you home… I promise.”

He knew he shouldn’t have promised her, he should never get her hopes up, because that would just mean for a larger disappointment in the future. Both she and Peter already trust him blindly, and that kind of declaration will have her believing his word firmly until the day she realized that he was just a worthless liar. Her trust in Tony Stark, her father, would diminish and all faith she entrusted in him would dissipate by the many, many lies and promises he had failed to uphold.

But she deserved to hope. Even if she hated him afterwards, she deserved to feel that small smidgen of hope, despite how small the odds were. There was no reason for her to suffer and carry the load alone, and Tony was going to be there to make sure she didn’t. If there was anything he could do to make her feel better, he would do it, because that’s what fathers were supposed to do, right?

“How-how can you be sure?” Avery’s sobs slowly died down, but she kept her face firmly pressed into his chest as she spoke.

“Well,” Tony began, resting his cheek against the top of her head, “if your Mr. Stark loves you even a fraction the amount that I love Peter, there isn’t anything in the universe that can stop him from finding you. You just have to be patient. He needs just a little more time to find his princess, alright?”

“You really think he’s looking for me?” Avery sniffled.

“Heck, kid, I’ve only known you for a day, and I’d be looking for you!” Tony lifted his head to look down at her and he chuckled.

“Yeah, but….” Avery trailed off quietly and she pressed her face further into Tony’s chest as if she were embarrassed.

“But ‘what?’, kiddo.”

“But, you’re just so different from my Mr. Stark. You do the hug thing, and you-you’re good with making sure I’m okay, and-and you even tell stupid ‘dad’ jokes sometimes… my Mr. Stark doesn’t really do that. I mean, he cares about me and asks about school and patrol and stuff, but-but he doesn’t care like you do. He might not love me as much as you love Peter, so your point is doubtful.”

Tony paused to think about it and he frowned frustratedly. He tried to recount the various moments he’d had with Peter in the past to try and determine the basis of what Avery and her ‘Tony’s relationship was, because it obviously wasn't like the one he and Peter had now.

“Want me to tell you a secret?” He smiled after a while, making sure his arms were wrapped securely around her and then shifted his head, so his chin rested atop her head. She nodded.

“I had never given Peter a single hug before this past weekend.”

Avery pulled away from his hold to stare up at him with wide eyes.

“What?” She whispered softly, blinking her eyes slowly, as if she were slowly processing what he had just said.

“Yep,” Tony chuckled, “I’ve never been a real cuddly, touchy person (lies! All lies!), but I had this dream Thursday night… it was about Thanos… and-and I dreamt of Peter dying in my arms, just like you did to your Mr. Stark. So… when I saw him the next day, and when I talked to him, I-I was just so relieved that he was alive, and he was okay. I didn’t want to waste any more time, because I didn’t realize how much I cared about him until I thought I didn’t have him anymore. So, when he pretended to fall asleep on my shoulder Friday night... I just… that was it, I guess. And I’m sure your Mr. Stark feels the same way… You just haven’t given him your special Parker hug yet.”

Dang, he was becoming a master at these heart-to-heart things. Peter really was turning him soft.

“You really think so,” Avery asked, propping her chin up on Tony’s chest so she could look up at him. He smiled back down at her and nodded his head.

“I know so. The next time you see him, run up to him and give him the biggest hug you’ve ever given anybody. I guarantee he’ll never want to let go of you ever again.”

Now that...That was a promise he knew he could keep.

***

“Peter, ohmygod, what?!” Ned gaped as he began pacing around Peter’s room. “I get to come to Avengers Tower?! I get to eat dinner with IRONMAN?!”

“Yes, Ned,” Peter laughed, peeling off his Spiderman suit and hopping around to grab a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He was already running super late because some idiot decided it was a good idea to steal an old lady’s purse at last minute. Geez! It was as if the guy had no regard for his very important dinner that night. May was already downstairs in the car with Happy, and Ned was still freaking out about the whole ‘eating dinner at Avengers Tower with Tony Stark’ thing. Which… Peter couldn't really blame him for. He did sort of tell him at last minute; but if he had told him at school, well… Ned would have never been able to keep his mouth shut.

“Dude! We gotta go!” Ned says urgently, grabbing hold of Peter's wrist and dragging him out of the room. Peter stumbled along behind him and he grabbed for his shoes and Ned basically pushed him out of the apartment with much more strength than Peter ever knew he had.

“Ned! Slow down man!” Peter laughed as his friend nearly fell down the stairs in his rush.

“Peter,” Ned breathes, as if he were ready to lecture Peter, “do you understand what is about to happen?”

Peter says nothing and just quietly stares at his best friend with just a hint of amusement.

“I. Am about… to meet Tony Stark. Peter. DO YOU UNDERSTAND???”

Peter grinned at him and started his way back down the stairs, turning his head over his shoulder so he could still talk to Ned.

“Dude, don’t think of him as Tony Stark… just think of him as your best friends dad.” He was being cheeky, and he knew it. Ned threw him a glare and stuck his tongue out at him as he started his way down the stairs after him.

“I am soooo jealous of your life dude. Like, seriously.”

***

“We have to get ready!” Avery panics, running towards the kitchen at such a high speed all Tony saw was a blur as she passed in front of him. He blows out a puff of air and watches her closely as she practically ran circles around the dining table and Pepper.

“Avery, sweetheart,” Pepper laughed, “they aren’t going to be here for another 10 minutes. It’s okay.”

“But Ned’s coming!” Avery cried, fisting her hands in her hair as if it were the end of the world itself. She was panicked, whatever for, he didn’t know, but she was most definitely freaking out over something. “An-and Aunt May! We have to be ready!”

Tony only watches in silent amusement as she rounds the table one last time before rushing past him again, down the hall and back towards her room. He deemed it safe to walk when he heard her bedroom door slam closed and began his trek back towards the kitchen to begin setting the table. He didn’t want to risk getting trampled by the young girl in her excitement.

“Is it just me, or did she become a million times more hyper when you told her Ned was coming tonight?” Rhodey questioned from his seat at the barstool, taking a small sip of his drink and smirking over at Tony with a suggestive smile. “What do you think is going on there?”

“Don’t even go there Honeybear,” Tony deadpanned. He picked up the stack of fancy plates that Pepper had put out and carried them towards the table. “They are friends, and that is IT.”

“Aww, Tones, it’s been two days and you’re already treating her like she’s your real daughter,” Rhodey laughed. “At least this gives you the chance to chase off all her boyfriends.”

“She is my real daughter Rhodes, or have you forgotten? She’s just from a different dimension,” he pauses for a moment as he places a plate at each setting. Every time something of the like came out of his mouth, it sounded even more insane. “And there will be no dating of boys while she is in this Tower.”

“Honey, calm down,” Pepper laughed in amusement, following him with a handful of silverware, placing down the needed utensils beside the plates Tony was haphazardly setting out.

The elevator chimed from the foyer and all three adults heard the high-pitched squeal that followed, emitting from the opposite end of the floor-- where Avery/Peter’s room was conveniently located-- before the patter of quickened footsteps were heard making their way down the hall. Next thing Tony knew, there was a hyperactive child bouncing excitedly next to him.

“Avery!”

Then, there was another hyperactive child. Peter was sprinting into the room with a wide grin on his face. Tony couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him, because, yeah, he did sorta miss his kid.

“Peter!” Avery grinned in response, running forward to meet him halfway. They collided together and hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other for years. It was just a little bit adorable… Okay, a lot adorable.

Rhodey weaseled over to Tony’s side and nudged him teasingly. “Look at that Tones. Your kids already got that twin bond going and everything.”

Tony laughed and agreed with him, but he couldn’t help but wonder where the rest of the party was. May, Happy, and the aforementioned Ned.

As if right on cue, Happy came strolling into the room with an amused smile quirking at his lips and a good-natured roll of his eyes as he addressed Peter with a mask of faux irritation.

“Kid, I think your friend is about to pass out in the foyer… FRIDAY talked to him.”

Happy passed by the two excited teens with a suspicious eyebrow while walking over to stand next to a grinning Rhodey and Tony. By that time Peter and Avery had ended their short hug and were whispering excitedly to one another before Happy had interrupted. Peter’s eyes widened in recognition before rushing off to go help his best friend. Avery would have gladly followed him probably if May hadn’t just walked in as well, wearing an amused smile.

“Who’s the kid?” Happy asked, just as Peter was spinning around to fetch his friend, and Avery’s eyes found May.

“Oh,” Rhodey answered with a hint of pride in his tone, “did we not tell you? That’s Peter’s doppelganger from another dimension.”

Happy stared blankly at the two men for a moment, then he shrugged his shoulders indifferently as if he wasn’t even surprised. Tony snorted in amusement at his reaction and Rhodey balks at him.

Then, the genius noticed the very… troubled Avery standing in the middle of the room, where Peter had left her, staring worriedly in May’s direction.

“Avery, hon,” Tony addressed with a smile, still chuckling from Happy’s apathetic reaction, “why don’t you go help Pepper finish setting the table?”

Avery spun around to look at him, realization dawning on her features, and she scurries off to set the table with her head bowed. She didn’t want to overwhelm her Aunt, or really, Peter’s Aunt, too early in the evening; Tony and Pepper had made that very clear.

Happy watched her scamper off warily and Rhodey leant in closer to him so he could whisper. “Oh, and, Peter’s also Tony’s real son. Did the paternity test and everything.”

Apparently, they had neglected to fill poor ol’ Happy in, but the face he made after Rhodey told him was absolutely amazing. Tony would have felt bad for neglecting to tell one of his most trusted friend what had happened, but… the expression on his face… man, it was probably one of the funniest things he had ever seen.

Before he had time to adequately react to Happy’s behavior, May walked up so she stood directly in front of him. He was more than ready to smile and greet her as he usually did, but apparently, she had a different idea. Without a word, she reached up and pulled Tony down, so she could wrap her arms around his neck. She squeezed him tightly and Tony smiled awkwardly while he did his best attempt at comfort by giving her a few quick pats on the back, but she didn’t let go.

After a few moments, May pulls away and she reaches a shaky hand to wipe away the tears that had fallen. Then, she looks up at Tony and a tight-lipped smile forms on her face.

“I know that we got off to a rocky start, Tony, but I just want you to know that this… I think this is so good for Peter. You’re going to be a good father.”

Tony smiled softly at her. Her lip began to wobble, and she lifted her hand and pressed the back of it to her mouth as the tears streamed down her face. Then, without thinking, Tony pulled her into another hug; a real one, and she cried into his shirt. He held her tightly, because he’s apparently a freakishly cuddly person now, so might as well put it to its best use.

“Thanks May, that means a lot,” Tony whispers through a hard lump in his throat.

“I just can’t anymore…” Happy grumbled under his breath, shaking his head dejectedly and walking over to take a seat at one of the dining chairs. Tony pulls back from the embrace and barks out a wet laugh, while Rhodey snickers beside him. May pulls away too and wipes at her eyes fervently, all while grinning and laughing through her tears.

“Hi Happy,” Avery grins shyly, sitting a plate in front of him, along with a napkin and the silverware. Happy stares at her vacuously, and she giggles delightedly at his bewildered expression.

“Y’all need to stop with all this biological son and-and dimension skipping crap!” Happy voices firmly after turning away from Avery. He addresses Tony and Rhodey with a threatening glare, “You’re gonna give me some sort of heart attack by the end of the year. I already gotta deal with all this wedding craziness! It’s driving me crazy!”

“We really gotta get him a girlfriend…” Tony mutters under his breath as Happy continues his grumbling from his seat at the dining table.

May laughs along with the other three adults, then cocks her head to the side curiously when she looks over at Avery again.

“Who’s this young lady? And Dimension skipping??” she laughed, “did I miss something important?”

Tony blinks dumbly. “Uhh…”

“Tony,” May reprimands, crossing her arms over her chest and lowering her brows, “what did you do?” It seemed that Pepper had taught her ‘the Look’ and Tony wasn’t all too sure how he felt about that. ‘The Look’ always left him spluttering and stuttering like a doofus because, well… Pepper was really scary; and apparently so was May.

Before Tony had a chance to come up with a good excuse, he saw Peter enter the room, dragging his alleged best friend along behind him. It distracted him only for a moment, before looking back at May with a sheepish smile. Next thing he knew there was a celebratory shout and an all too familiar blur rushing across the room to meet the two boys.

May turned around as well to see what was going on.

Moments later, Avery was standing in front of them and was launching herself at Ned nearly knocking the poor boy off his feet as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Ned! Oh my god,” She smiled, hugging him tightly.

Poor Ned didn’t know what to do, he shot a starry-eyed look at Peter and awkwardly patted her on the back. Then, she was pulling back, and her wide grin fell into a small amused smile as she stared at him.

“It stinks that you don’t know me,” she sighed, with an added pout to her lips.

This had both May and Ned so confused, and nobody could really blame them.

Everyone watched curiously as Avery turned to look at Peter as if she were contemplating something very serious. She stood directly in front of Ned, and she turned back to face him with questioning eyes while asking Peter her question.

“Do you think it would be considered cheating if I kissed him?”

“No,” Ned breathed out happily, staring up at her with a starry-eyed expression, at the very same time that both Tony and Peter shouted ‘Yes!’ very passionately. Tony even went the extra mile to step closer to the group, ready to intervene if he needed to.

“What, dude?!” Peter turned to look at Ned, absolutely horrified by his response to her question. “You can’t kiss her!”

“Dude!” Ned whispers enthusiastically, “it’s a girl. A pretty girl! That wants to kiss ME.”

“Ew! Gross Ned!” Peter groans, “that’s me! That’s me from another dimension! You can’t kiss me!” Then he turns to stare at Avery. “Why would you kiss my best friend?!”

Tony groans exasperatedly and presses his palm to his face, because his kid was really bad at keeping secrets. May slowly turns around to look at him with raised brows and her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”

“What? I didn’t know that!” Ned yelps, taking a startled leap backwards, away from Avery. He stares over at Peter with wide eyes, “dude, how does that even work-”

“Peter!” Avery groans, “he’s my best friend too, you know!” Ned snaps his mouth shut and watches the encounter with wide eyes.

“So? That doesn’t mean you can kiss him!”

“He’s my boyfriend!” She growled out.

Peter’s eyes widened, and Ned’s mouth fell wide open.

“Dude,” Ned breathed, “we date in another dimension? This is so cool.”

“Okay!” Tony interrupts, stepping forward and clasping his hands on Avery’s shoulder as he steers her in the direction of the dining table, “that’s enough of that! So, Ned! It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Tony grinned and stuck his hand out for Ned to shake. Avery grumbled and stalked back over to the table to continue setting it.

“Oh man,” Ned squealed excitedly. He shakes Tony’s hand and Peter rolls his eyes humorously.

“First, I find out I have a girlfriend, then, I meet Iron Man. Dude,” he turns to Peter, “this is the best day of my life.”

***

“So, May, um… you know I’m not good at this stuff, so you can just take the lead.” Tony gestures towards the woman diagonally across from him while he stabs a fork into his fish.

They had been sitting around the table for about 10 minutes, taking part in casual small talk, along with a very brief summary of what brought Avery into their dimension. There was no need to worry May about what happened in an alternate dimension, at least not until it was necessary.

Ned, who was sitting directly across from Tony, next to Peter, had been staring at him the entire meal, and it was making him very uncomfortable. Sure, he was used to being stared at, but not in his own home and definitely not when he already felt extremely self-conscious with the whole situation. So, after he addressed May he turned to Peter and nodded his head in Ned’s direction with a frustrated frown.

“Fix him. He's staring at me, I think his neck might be broken.”

Peter's eyes widen embarrassedly at Tony's words, and thankfully Ned was able to shake himself out of it. Then the boy grins at the him sheepishly before focusing his attention back onto his plate of salmon. Peter, though, kept his attention rigidly fixed between Tony and May while he waited for the dreaded conversation to begin again.

“I-I don’t know Tony,” May sighs after a few moments, “I’ve never done this type of thing before…”

May wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and smiled down at him sadly when he glanced over at her. Peter looked a bit nervous when he responded to her with a sheepish smile of his own.

“Well, how about we start with the small questions then?” Pepper suggested helpfully from Tony’s right after a few seconds of awkward silence. Bless the woman. “What is the plan for custody arrangements?”

The boy in mention widens his eyes fearfully. Ned looks up from his food as well to listen to the encounter more intently, keeping his mouth stuffed with food so he didn't say something he shouldn't.

“Well, I believe the best place for him would be here with you, Tony,-” May sighs, her arm dropping from Peter's shoulders.

“What?!” Peter squeaks indignantly, locking wide eyes with Avery's matching ones from directly across from him.

“-he loves it here, and I think it’d be good for the both of you…”

“May, no. I can’t do that to you.” Tony argues with a firm shake of his head. An indignantly fearful feeling festering in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to do that to May, or Peter.

“No, Tony, this doesn’t involve me. This is what’s good for Peter-”

“-And Peter wants to stay with you.” Tony insists. He already knew how Peter felt about the situation, and he didn't blame the kid by any means. He knew that May was trying to help the kid, but he knew that it wasn't right for Peter.

“...if you don’t want him to stay here with you, I understand, we can come up with some other arrangements, but I can’t come in between this. It isn’t about me, it’s about you and Peter, and if I have to sacrifice my own happiness, so be it. I trust that you won’t take him away from me forever. I don't care what you say, I still get visiting rights!” Her eyes narrowed threateningly at the last part and Tony was an amused for a sliver of a second.

Peter’s head snaps over to look at Tony desperately. It wasn’t that he disliked the idea of living with Tony, but… it was just too soon. He loved May, and he never ever wanted to leave her alone, especially since Ben. They've grown exceptionally close and he didn't want to lose that. There had to be another solution.

“May, listen,” Tony insists sternly, “you know, probably better than anyone else, that I would do just about anything for Peter, just as you would. And I’d love him to stay here with me, it would be absolutely amazing, but I know that isn’t what Peter wants-”

“I know, I know,” May groans, dropping her fork onto her plate and pressing a hand to her forehead, “I know that’s not what Peter wants right now. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t what’s best for him. Peter needs a father, he’s at that age Tony, I can’t provide what he needs anymore… he needs you more than he needs me right now.”

“He needs you May, anyone can see that,” Pepper says, leaning forward to lock eyes with May. “I’m not saying that Peter shouldn’t live here. I agree that Tony and Peter need to establish their relationship, but I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit here. Peter also needs a mother… and that’s what you can provide for him.”

“Um,” Avery speaks, raising her hand to gather their attention, “I know this doesn’t like… directly involve me or whatever, but I think I can rightfully speak for Peter, ‘cause like… yeah, you know. And I don't think he's really up too any heavy declarations right now. So, like, I'll go ahead and do it for him” Everyone turns to look at her and she clears her throat to continue.

“But, like, Peter really loves Mr. Stark a lot, obviously, and it’s gotta be a lot since he has to love his Mr. Stark just about as much as I love mine… but, he also really, really loves his Aunt May, because for a while, you’re all he had.” Avery looks directly at May. “Me and my Aunt May are really close, especially after what happened to Uncle Ben, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her…. Because, she really is like my mom. And I don’t think it’s right for Peter to lose a parent just so he can gain another one, even if it is his Mr. Stark. At least that's how I feel, and I'm fairly sure it goes for him too in this situation.” She grins at Tony cheekily and Tony drapes and arm across her shoulder and gives her opposite shoulder a little squeeze.

May releases a couple erratic breaths as she tries to hold back the silent sobs. Tears fall down her cheeks and she wipes them away hastily as her lips tremble. She reaches out to stroke Peter’s cheek and pulls him into a hug, pressing a long kiss to his forehead.

“You know, I hate to ruin all this family bonding stuff and I know that it's not really my place, but, like, why don’t you guys just do what all divorced parents do?” Ned asked, shoveling a generous spoon of roasted potato into his mouth.

“Kid,” Tony chuckles, “in case you hadn’t noticed, May and I are not divorced parents.”

Ned rolls his eyes, “yeah, duh, I’m not stupid.”

Tony raises his eyebrows in amusement, watching as realization flickers over the teen's face and his hand flies up to cover his gaping mouth. He stares at Tony with wide eyes, horrified for talking back to Tony Stark.

“Ned,” Avery laughs, “it’s alright. If he’s too dumb to get what you’re saying than he deserves a-”

“Hey, now,” Tony glares over at her.

“The kid’s right Tones, that’s a pretty good idea,” Rhodey voices from a few chairs down.

“I would completely agree if I had any idea as to what this arrangement was. Keep in mind that I was very sheltered during my childhood and I’m not all that familiar with the doings of divorced parents. So, a little clarification would be lovely.”

“Well, basically,” Ned begins nervously, “the two parents trade off. Sometimes it’s for every other weekend, sometimes it’s every week, sometimes only one parent gets the kid for the weekend ‘cause their irresponsible or something like that. Then sometimes they just split the week or whatever. Then, like, they trade off holidays and stuff, but since you guys don’t really have any extra family and stuff, and you get along good, you can just do holidays together. Easy.”

“Wow,” Tony nods, “that is easy.”

“Yes, that’s what I was kind of implying when I asked the question,” Pepper chuckled, “but I guess you two just jumped to conclusions.”

Happy grunts affirmatively as he chews on his food.

“Okay, so we can start moving just a few of Pete's things over here so he can be settled in when he visits. We can figure out the official schedule later, and I'll start getting all the paperwork ready and this whole thing should be cleared over by the end of the month.” Tony smiles triumphantly, laying his fork down neatly on the plate.

“That sounds good, Tony,” May smiles.

“Pete?” Tony says, turning his attention over to the abnormally quiet teen as he pushed his salmon across the plate, “I know all this is overwhelming, but before I start the whole process, what're your thoughts on last names?”

“Tony,” Pepper reprimands, “that's probably something you two should discuss privately.”

“No-no, it's okay,” Peter smiles. He turns his attention over to Tony and shrinks back into his chair, attempting to hide the apprehension behind his smile.

He drops his head down to stare at his lap and mumbles a series of incoherent words. Tony tried to lean closer to hear what he was saying, but it was no use.

“Kid,” he chuckles, “your gotta speak up. My old man ears aren't as great as they used to be.”

Peter lifts his head to stare at him, his throat bobbing slightly as he nervously swallowed.

“W-well, you know, I didn't really wanna lose ‘Parker’ because that's, like, who I've always been,” Peter pauses and bites his lip.

Tony's brows raise, and he clears his throat. Of course, he was a little disappointed that his kid didn't want the ‘Stark’ title, but he understood, and he wasn't going to stand in the way. No matter how complicated it made things in the long run. The kid was free to make his own decisions and he was going to support those decisions because that is the exact opposite of what his father would have done.

“I get it kid, there's no pressure, I'll just file for your name to the stay the sa- OW!” He whips his head to his left to glare down at Avery. She was becoming more trouble than anything, redone. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to hold as much respect for him as she did for her Mr. Stark. Which meant he had to deal with a snarky version of Peter that he had only seen peek out from the boy on rare occasions. Although, after all this he's sure he'd be seeing more of it.

“Let him finish,” she scolded, glaring up at him. His brows furrowed confusedly, and he looked up just in time to catch Peter shooting an appreciative smile in Avery's direction. What did he miss?

“As I was saying,” Peter laughed, “I'd really like to keep ‘Parker’ in my name, but I'd really like your name too. So, like, I was wondering if hyphenation would be an option. Or maybe even two middle names. Whichever one is easiest for you.”

Tony struggled to keep himself from breaking out into a large grin. Instead, he settled on a slight smile and he nodded his head. “No problem kiddo, that'll make things a lot easier when you take up the company.”

All three teens’ jaws dropped as they stared at Tony. He rolled his eyes amusedly at their reactions.

“None of you stopped to consider what it meant to be the child of the owner of a multi-billion-dollar company? I thought you kids were supposed to be smart.” Rhodey laughed.

Peter's eyes glazed over with excitement and his giddy grin filled out across his face. “That means I'll be allowed to go down to R&D whenever I want! Woah! This is gonna be so fun!”

May and Pepper both turned to look at Tony at the same time. “You took him down to R&D?”

“Yeah,” Tony smiled proudly, “he loved it. We hung out down there in between meeting on Saturday-”

“He took you down to R&D?!” Avery squealed out excitedly, staring at Peter amazedly, “woah! I'm totally gonna make Mr. Stark take me there when I get back home”

“Yeah, you should,” Peter encouraged, bouncing in his seat, “it was so cool! There were so many cool things down there! And everyone was so nice! I even got a lollipop!”

“Of course, that was the highlight,” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes at the antics.

“So cool,” Ned breathed.

***

“Now, what about Avery? How long do you suppose she will be here?” May asks later when they were all lounging around on the couch. Ned, Peter, and Avery had roped Happy into a heated battle of B.S while the others talked, and the man seemed to become extremely invested fairly early on in the game.

“We aren’t quite sure yet, but it’ll be at least a couple more months until we can get her back home.” Tony takes a glance towards the girl in question to see if she was listening in on the conversation. She was, of course, but instead of tearing up at the reminder, she sported a forced smile then turned back to the game.

“Yes, me and Tony were planning on keeping her here, but if you would like to spend a bit of time with her, I think that would be a really great idea.” Pepper says, nursing a glass of white wine, with her feet kicked up onto Tony’s lap. He gently massaged her feet with one hand while he nursed his drink in the other.

“I think that would be good too,” May nods, “is Tony going to stay with her during the day while we’re working?”

Both Pepper and May turn their gaze to Tony, expectantly. “Well-Well, I guess! I mean, I can take care of Peter just fine, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

May’s smile isn’t all too reassuring for him, and he takes a moment to wonder what he could have said wrong.

“What about when you got meetings, man? Or Avengers stuff? Sometimes your gone days at a time,” Rhodey reasons, from the loveseat adjacent from them. Tony hates him a little bit for making such a good point.

“Rhodey’s right, Avery’s going to be here for a while, we need to establish a stable living environment while she’s here,” Pepper nodded in agreement.

Tony floundered, because he just didn’t have the answer. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead into the future. He just assumed that the next couple of months would just… be a practice run of sorts. Of course, Avery didn’t need to have a babysitter at every moment, but it probably wasn’t a good time for her to be alone, especially for days at a time.

“I-I don’t know. When I gotta be gone, someone is almost always here. Happy can keep her company, or Rhodey,” He nods, “and when I have a meeting or something, she can tag along. I brought Peter once and it was no big deal. We can make things work I’m sure.”

“Yeah-yeah, I like that idea! Let's do that!” Avery nods, excitedly at the prospect and Pepper smiles.

“I think what I was getting at,” May begins, shooting the young girl an apologetic smile, “I think it’d be best if we tried to enroll her into school to finish out the year. We don’t want her to be too far behind when she gets back home, and it’d be a safe way to get her out of the Tower too.”

Tony nods thoughtfully, ‘cause, yeah, that wasn’t such a bad idea.

“What?! No!” Avery panics, dropping her cards to the floor, carelessly, and rushing over to the couch to scramble up in between Tony and May. She looked back and forth between the two adults frantically. “We don’t have to do that! I mean… finals are already over and everything, so, like, I wouldn’t even be missing anything! After all the final tests, all we really do is review for next year and watch movies.”

“Why you so against going back to school kiddie?” Rhodey questions, the corner of his mouth quirking up in amusement.

Avery splutters, and she opens and closes her mouth like a confused fish. “I-I don’t know. I-I just… it’ll be hard because nobody would really know me except Peter and Ned, and even they don’t really know me. Plus, it’s boring. I’d much rather stay and work in the lab with Tony. I promise I won’t be any trouble, I already know all the rules. Mr. Stark made sure of that before I ever stepped foot into his lab.”

“Aww, come on!” Peter grinned, joining in on the conversation, “it’ll be fun with you there! We could totally troll people the whole time. Mr. Stark can probably get you the same schedule as me, that way you’ll always have someone in class, and so it will be the same as it was in your world. It’s only for, like, another month anyway.” By that time, Peter had crawled over as well, sitting beside her, and officially smushing her against Tony’s side while he was smushed against May’s.

“I-I don’t know Peter…” She trailed off anxiously, biting down on her bottom lip and wringing her hands over her lap.

Tony drapes an arm around her shoulders and pats her on the head. “C’mon kiddo, you can’t stay cooped up in this Tower with me for the next two months. You’ll get sick of me pretty quick.”

“Yeah, you will,” Peter whispers playfully.

Tony glares at him and flicks his ear. “Respect your father, boy.”

He internally cringed at how much he sounded like his father, and he probably would have started panicking if Peter hadn’t laughed at it. That was one thing he didn’t want to be for Peter… he didn’t want to be Howard Stark.

“I mean,” Avery grins shyly, “I guess… I guess it would be kinda fun to troll people.”

“Heck yeah, it will!” Ned whoops, still sitting comfortably in front of the mess of cards splayed out on the carpet, and Happy grumbled at the interrupted game.

“Alright, I’ll start talking with the principal this weekend. I should get you in no later than next week, that way you can get settled in here.” Tony smiles.

“Ooh, yes,” Pepper grinned excitedly, “and I think there may also be a need for a bit of shopping. You can’t keep wearing Peter’s nerdy clothes,” Pepper shoots a playfully wink at Peter. “Whatd’ya say May? Wanna play hooky and go out for a girls day tomorrow?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Just don’t go blowing all my money,” Tony grumbles with faux irritation.

***

After Happy heads out with May and Ned, to take them home, Rhodey yawns widely and bids them goodnight.

Peter sighed and glances around the room, shrugging his shoulders and looking over at the other three.

“So, what do we do now?”

“Well, first,” Tony grunts, adjusting his position on the couch since basically every warm body on the couch was crowded around him. “We need to figure out the sleeping arrangements.

“I can sleep on the couch!” Avery offers.

“No, you’re not. You’re sleeping in a bed,” Tony answers with a strong air of finality that raises no argument. He wasn’t about to let the kid sleep on a couch, no matter how comfortable it was.

“I can sleep on the couch then, Avery can take my bed,” Peter jumps in, looking over at him expectantly. Tony shakes his head again and sighs.

“Nobody has to sleep on the couch,” Pepper laughs, “We have plenty of more rooms in the Tower, as well as an air mattress if you want to sleep up here in the penthouse.”

“We have an air mattress?” Tony asks, turning to look at her incredulously.

“It’s my air mattress,” Pepper sighed, “I use it when I go to visit my parents. Their house is very small.”

“Oh, yes. Speaking of parents, when am I going to meet them? I feel that it’d be nice before, you know, we got married.” Tony supplied, snarkily.

“That’s not important right now Tony,” Pepper groaned, throwing her head back irritatedly.

“Of course, it’s important. I feel that it’s especially important for a man to be well acquainted with his wife’s family. It’s-”

“Fine,” Pepper snaps impatiently, “I’ll take you to meet them next Thanksgiving, okay?”

“What? That’ll be long after we’re married Pep-”

“Tony!” Pepper groans, “Kids. Bed. Sleep. We’ve got more important things to worry about right now.”

“Oh right,” he nods, turning to glance at the two sniggering teenagers.

“So, Peter. Wanna bunk downstairs with the Avengers, or do you wanna set up the air mattress?”

“Air mattress,” Peter answers, probably a bit too hastily.

“Got it,” Tony nods, downing the last swig of his beer before dropping the empty bottle onto the coffee table. Just one, by the way. He was mightily proud of his growing self-control. “Where do you wanna set it up? We can do it out here in the Living room, you can bunk with Avery… Our floor is pretty spacious, and Rhodey probably wouldn’t mind. You two can have a nice big-boy sleepover in your PJ’s.”

“I’ll probably just set it up in my room.”

“Good deal. Now… what movie shall we watch tonight?”

Chapter Text

It was weird; that’s all there was to say. He’d gotten used to having Peter around over the past year, and then over the course of the past couple days, Avery too. Now there were two of them, and maybe he just hadn’t gotten his head wrapped around the whole doppelganger thing, but it was freaking ridiculous. Like… what even were the chances of that happening? It took him no more than a day to realize just how crazy it all was, and it was getting beyond creepy with all their giggling ‘jinx’s and similarities. It was - god should he say it - scary. He had not prepared for this.

Even despite everything, he couldn’t really say he hated the company and the happy laughter that accompanied it when the two were messing around with a project down in the workshop. It was endearing to have them both so close all the time, and when they weren't driving him up the wall crazy, he enjoyed spoiling the heck out of each of them. Goodness knows how many new Lego sets were scattered around the living room floor now. He wasn't even going to mention the abundance of Avengers memorabilia that he knew both of them secretly loved despite their initial complaints.

Though, he could tell that Avery was still a bit wary of the new environment, and he couldn't really blame her. He didn't even know how many nights FRIDAY had woken him up because of a nightmare. She'd wake up sobbing and asking for ‘Mr. Stark’, and it broke his heart every time. Usually Peter was already there in the bed to comfort her and coax her out of the dream, but every once in a while, Peter had one too. It wasn't abnormal for Peter to have nightmares, and it was basically expected of Avery for all the trauma she was going through, he just… he didn't really know how to handle two panicky teenagers at once.

So, he wung it; just went along with what his gut told him. He'd come running into the room, hair disheveled, and muddled with sleep, then immediately approached the bed or air mattress, depending on which nightmare seemed more demanding. Then, before he knew it, he was collapsed on the bed on his back with two sobbing children tucked into him either side. Both on the verge of a panic attack. This usually left him pinned to the mattress for the rest of the night, but he didn’t care. He’d use each hand to rub down their backs and whisper soft assurances to steady there breathing before pressing a kiss to each of their foreheads when he knew they were asleep before drifting off himself.

The only regret he had was when Rhodey had apparently found them fast asleep one morning and snapped a picture, then gone ahead and send it to everyone. He was by no means happy with the cackling man and the soft coos the next morning.

So, yeah, besides the mornings and nights they had all silently agreed to never speak of, he spent the majority of his weekend teaching the two some stuff down in the workshop, watching movies, or playing games with whoever else wanted to join in. He hated board games with a passion, but somehow Rhodey and the rascals were able to rope him into a long, heated battle of Risk. It was fun, and it seemed to keep Avery’s mind off the whole ‘not my universe’ thing for a while, until the night came at least. Then, the whole process would repeat itself.

Pepper had even given him the weekend off so that he could spend more time with the kids, and he was beyond grateful.

The only problem that seemed to arise out of the new situation was Peter’s obvious, yet miniscule frustration with the whole ordeal. Of course, the kid firmly denied it left and right, but, goodness, it was written across the kid’s face. He could see it at the breakfast table when there was only one open seat next to Tony, while Pepper occupied the seat on his other side. Avery had had a rough night, and Peter didn’t hesitate to take the seat farther down, allowing her to sit on Tony's left.

Peter’s frustration wasn’t obvious to him at first, but when Tony looked up to see him pushing his food around his plate with his elbow propped on the table and his cheek pressed against his hand with a slight pout on his face, he couldn’t help but feel a little bad. He knew then that they were going to have to talk soon… privately.

But that was going to be hard, because both kids had been abnormally attached to him, ‘Locked at the waist’ as most would say. He always had a child at his side ever since they found out the truth, except for when Peter would visit May, or go to school. Which meant that Avery received most of his attention through the day, and he knew that in some ways that was unfair to Peter, but what was he supposed to do about it? It wasn't like he was purposely replacing the kid's company with a different version of him, it's just… Avery needed the attention and the encouragement, and short n’ simple: she was around more.

Like, on Monday when Peter got back to the Tower after school, Tony and Avery were sitting on the couch. Avery's legs were kicked over the back and her head was tilting off the edge as she watched Dexter's Lab upside down. It was an episode Tony had already watched with Peter, so he didn't know why the kid looked so upset when he turned around to look at him when he heard him enter the room. Tony watched him carefully as he came into the Living Room and dumped his backpack onto the floor as he sat down in the chair farthest away from Tony and Avery.

Tony didn't know what to do. A jealous Peter was a foreign concept to him, and he didn't know how to deal with it. So, he decided that they should have their little talk as soon as possible.

Thankfully, the bad mood didn't last too long, and Avery hadn't caught onto it. Peter had reverted back into his normal, cheery self as the day continued, but Tony didn't miss the small jealousy spiked glint in the boy's eyes when Avery talked about the Hot Rod she had helped Tony with that day.

Tony really did love having Avery around, and Peter did too, but the more he looked into Peter's envious attitude he realized that he hadn’t had a single moment alone with the kid since everything that had happened. They really DID need to have this talk. Things still needed to be said, and there were still things that they needed to work out. Peter was so obviously struggling with the established relationship and how to proceed with it, because, well… they had never got the chance to clear certain things up on their own. He was sticking good to the cover while in front of the other Avengers, but as soon as they were in the privacy of the lab with Avery, or watching a movie with Rhodey, the kid would revert between ‘Mr. Stark’ and ‘Dad’ like his tongue was on fire. It came out in a mass of stuttering and awkward apologies as his cheeks tinged and his head dropped. No one ever acknowledged the tension, but...

They needed to talk; he couldn’t put it off anymore. So, that’s why he told May and Pepper about his idea Tuesday morning while Peter was at school and Avery was still asleep. Both women agreed that he and Peter needed some time alone to work things out, and he let out a breath of relief. Beyond thankful that he had actually read the situation right for once. So, May invited both Avery and Pepper over after she got off of work around 1:30 for a ‘girls night’, and watch a few good chick-flicks with loads of chocolate and sparkling apple juice. It seemed like a fair trade… Avery was able to spend all of Monday with him, and the majority of Tuesday morning, so now it was Peter’s turn to suffer the wrath of his company.

Avery was all for the idea, albeit a bit bummed out on missing Peter’s visit, but she didn’t push. He actually got the feeling that Avery knew about his underlying motive, because he swore he could see her wink at him when she stepped into the elevator to head down to Pepper's office so they could leave.

When the two girls were gone, Tony made sure Rhodey and the others wouldn’t bother them for the rest of the night. He cut up a few fruit's for Peter when he got home, and he cleaned up a few Lego sets and set them on a higher surface so he wouldn't step on them and inevitably ban Legos from the Tower. He sat on the couch and halfheartedly brainstormed some ideas that he and Peter could do together… and he waited.

He swiped through a few new project ideas on his tablet, but he just couldn't focus. His knee started to bounce, and for some reason his heart started to pick up speed and it was becoming a bit hard to breathe with the tie constricting his neck. Why he was panicked, he had no idea.

Then he heard the elevator ding, and he glanced up to turn his body towards the archway where Peter was about to emerge. When he saw the boy bound into the room he smiled softly, and he could feel his pulse calm just slightly at seeing his face. Peter broke out into a large smile as he glanced around the room, and he picked up his pace to meet Tony at the couch.

“Hey Mr. Star- um, Dad, uh… I don’t know,” he ends pitifully, bowing his head shamefully as he made it all the way to the couch. His smile disappeared and he averted his gaze from Tony's as he slumped into the cushions next to his father and Tony bit at his lip and gritted his teeth nervously. He had no idea how to go about this conversation...again.

“Where’s Avery?” Peter asked after he finished his little ‘pouting-party’, and he looked around the room. “And Pepper? And Rhodey too… where is everybody?”

Tony smiled at the small, hopeful glint in the kid’s eyes when he turned back to look at Tony.

“I convinced the girls to go have a ‘girls night's with your Aunt. I thought we deserved a little ‘boys night' or our own. It’s been a pretty crazy week, and we haven’t had any time together since that day… A little father-son time, what d'ya say?” Tony threw his arm over Peter’s shoulder and tugged him a little closer, hoping that he wouldn’t be outright rejected by his own son even though the notion was absolutely ridiculous. He just seemed to be abnormally stressed for absolutely no reason.

“Yes!” Peter shouted a little too quickly to be considered calm, “-I mean, yes… If it doesn’t cut into your schedule or anything. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate with the whole ‘me being your son’ thing and that whole ‘Dr. Strange and the Alternate Universe’ thing, and getting Avery signed up for school. So, I mean, if you have time to hang out, that’d be awesome, but since, like, nobody’s here to bother you except me, I wouldn't mind leaving for a little while so you could get some-”

“Kid!” Tony laughed, pulling Peter closer, so he could wrap his other arm around him in a big hug. “I kicked everyone out so that I could spend some time with you.”

“R-really?” Peter asked, tilting his head up, with his cheek pressed firmly against Tony’s chest, to stare at Tony with wide, adorable little eyes. It was precious, and Tony’s heart literally melted in his chest. He looked like a small, innocent child that he never wanted to break, and he hugged him tighter.

“Yeah, kiddo,” Tony chuckled, “and we’ll do whatever you want. Just name it and we’ll do it.”

Tony released him from the hug, and drew back his second arm, but Peter stayed put and simply wrapped his arms around the older man’s waist in response, as he hummed thoughtfully in the fabric of his father's suit jacket.”

“Hmmm. Wanna go get some ice cream? That’s what Dads do with their kids, right?” Peter looked up at him again, with slightly furrowed eyebrows and his lip jutted out questioningly. His cheek smushed up into the side of his face made him look so young that for a fleeting moment Tony wondered what it would have been like to know Peter when he was younger. Though that probably wouldn't have been a promising idea for either of them, considering that he had been a flaky jackass back then. Heck, that was him not even two or three weeks ago. He didn't even want to think what effect that would have had on a young Peter Parker.

“Your guess is as good as mine, kiddo. You’ve done this stuff before, I’m just grasping at straws here Underoos.”

“Cool-cool-cool,” Peter nods with faux calmness, unwrapping from Tony and sitting up next to him with a suppressed grin, “I know this awesome ice cream place and it’s just down the block, maybe we could, like, walk down there or something.” he bounced in his seat excitedly and Tony smiled at him, because his kid was so freaking adorable.

“Sounds like a plan. Just let me get changed into something less flashy. Don’t want the press ruining our bonding time, do we?”

***

“-so then, Ned totally fell face first into the puddle, and it was so funny! I got the cat out of the tree though,” Peter grinned, licking happily at his ice cream cone.

Tony lifted a brow and the sides of his mouth quirked up into an amused smile as he spooned another helping of ice cream into his mouth. He knew better than to get a cone, because, well, he’d just end up making a huge mess of himself. He had never quite mastered the art of ice cream cones.

“I’m guessing that this was before you got your spider powers then?”

“Yep,” Peter smiled, nodding his head.

Tony hummed thoughtfully and leaned back into the softened wood of the park bench, looking out into the park at the kids running around, followed closely by overprotective parents and older siblings so they wouldn’t lose sight of the small children. Apparently, Peter’s ice cream place turned out to be an ice cream truck near the park. It looked sketchy at first, but after the first couple bites or so, Tony was sold.

“So, like, um,” Peter started shyly, “what about you? Any stories you haven’t already told me?”

Tony thinks for a moment, but nothing appropriate came to his mind. “Any stories I haven’t already told you, kid, there’s a reason for. Most of my life story is depressing and has not been PG-13 rated. May and Pepper would surely kill me for scarring you at such a young age.”

“Aww, c’mon,” Peter whined, “I’m almost 17! I can handle it! I’m basically legally allowed to go to an R-rated movie by myself now.”

“Seventeen? Already?!” Tony feigned surprise, “Man, I remember when you were just a little spider in pajamas. Boy, does time fly when you find out you have a son.”

A small silence looms over them for a second as they continue eating their ice cream, neither of them knowing what to say. Which was a first for either of them, considering neither of them could ever shut up. It was just- what were you supposed to say?

“We’re bad at this, aren’t we?” Peter sighed.

Tony nodded his head in agreement, releasing a sigh of his own. “I think it’s just that we haven’t had any time to adjust yet. We haven’t been able to talk things out. I don’t know where I stand with you, and you obviously don’t know where you stand with me either.”

“So, what?” Peter pauses, arching an eyebrow as he takes another large lick off his cone, “do we, like, play 20 questions or something?”

“Uh, no,” Tony replies tersely. He loves the kid, but he’s not about to play that stupid game.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Peter groans. “We don’t really do much together except watch movies and work in the lab. And-and we don’t really talk, except for stuff about Spiderman, school and science stuff...”

“And that’s something that we should probably change,” Tony replied with a nod of his head. He pauses for a moment and thinks. And although he hated to admit it, he knew nothing beyond the basics about his kid, except for what FRIDAY and May had already told him. The kid was as guarded with his true feelings almost as much as he was. “You know, that question idea probably isn’t too terrible.”

“Yes!” Peter grins.

“Nothing too crazy though Peter,” Tony lectures, “try to keep it on topic. We don’t need to be here all afternoon talking about that ridiculous ‘is water wet’ controversy you keep raving about.”

“Okay-okay, um… what-what was your first feeling when you found out that I was, like… your real son?” Peter shrinks back a little bit and winces slightly when he finishes his question. He stares at Tony’s face for any give on how he felt about the straightforward question, but the man kept a straight face while he keeps his stare fixed on the kids in the park.

“Honestly… panic.” He sighed, taking a quick glance over at Peter before averting his eyes to the going-ons of the park again. “I-I didn’t think I was ready to… take on that type of responsibility yet.”

“So, like, what changed your mind? Why are you-”

“Ahh,” Tony interrupted with a finger in his face and a smug smirk climbing over his features, “one question. Now it’s my turn.”

Peter’s nose scrunched up stubbornly and he took another lick of his ice cream as he waited for Tony’s question.

“Are you actually wanting to call me ‘dad’, or are you more comfortable with ‘Tony’, because I’m not going to put up with this ‘Mr. Stark’ nonsense anymore. If I have to, I will set up a jar.”

Peter balked at the question, staring at Tony with wide eyes as his mouth opened and closed like a pitiful fish.

“I-I-I don't know!”

“Well kid, you might wanna figure it out, ‘cause I think that's where most of this hesitance and awkwardness is coming from.”

Peter's face falls. “I'm-I'm really sorry. I don't mean to make things awkward. I-I just-”

Tony looks over at him with just a slight panic stuttering in his chest. That's not what he meant.

“No-no kiddo, that's not what I meant. I just- I've noticed you stumbling over it like you don't know what to call me. I want you to be comfortable, that's what I'm trying to say, I'm not…” He presses a hand to his face and groans. “I'm not trying to press, I'm just… God, I'm not good at this.”

“Oh, well- I guess I get it. I mean… I just haven't got used to it all yet. I mean, like, you're my dad. How cool is that?!” Peter grins. “I just-I just get confused sometimes ‘cause I’m so used to calling you Mr. Stark, and then it's all weird and stuff.”

Tony smiled and tilted his head to the side so he could look at him. “You still didn't answer my question, Pete. Do you want to call me Dad?”

Peter's mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“Remember the rules kid,” Tony chuckled, “no lying.”

Peter's mouth snaps shut, and he hangs his head at an awkward angle as he suppresses a frustrated scream, sounding much like a strangled elephant.

“Yes,” he groans quietly. “Yes! But it's weird!”

“Why’s it weird?” Tony pressed, trying his best to hide his grin. He was ecstatic. Peter wanted to call him Dad.

“Only one question, Mr. Stark-” Peter sing-songs patronizingly. Tony raises an eyebrow at the title and Peter's eyes widen as he stutters pitifully. “I meant Dad! Or Tony, I don't know! Sorry, still not used to the ‘no Mr. Stark’ thing.”

Tony laughed at his stuttering, and Peter's cheeks go pink.

“A-anyway, um… why-why didn't you think that you could be a responsible dad?”

“I didn't say that,” Tony scoffed.

“Yeah, but you implied it.”

“Fair enough,” Tony sighed, “I don't know if I ever told you… but the relationship I had with my dad was kinda sucky.”

“I'm sorry,” Peter frowned, looking put out by the new information.

“Not your fault kiddo,” Tony smiled softly, throwing his arm over the back of the bench, reaching his hand up to ruffle Peter's hair. “It was my dad's fault. And because of that crappy excuse for a relationship, I never really… established the understanding, I guess.”

“What d'ya mean,” Peter asks confusedly.

“I mean… I never got to know how a good dad was supposed to act, or what he was supposed to be like. That’s why I had always been apprehensive to having kids of my own, because I had no idea what to do with them. I didn’t want my kids to come out like the self-hating bastard I became, so I sorta steered myself away from the idea, because I knew I’d probably end up being just like him. He was never around, and-and whenever he was, he was usually drunk out of his mind. And, you know, as a stupid kid I tried everything in my power to please him, but his expectations were too high, and his tolerance for emotions was below zero. So, I never really grasped the idea of patience and expressing myself. He had ingrained that attitude of strong-willed and cold-hearted into me at a young age to make sure I came out to be a picture perfect ‘Stark’. So, I guess the easy thing to say is that some of his unpleasant habits sorta rubbed on me, I guess, and-”

“No it didn't!” Peter protested, cutting off his rambling. “You're nothing like that.”

“I was,” Tony reasoned. “Think back to when we first met, kid. I wasn't all that understanding, was I? Heck, before a couple weekends ago, my tolerance for touching and expressing myself was kaput! I wasn't ready to be a dad, Peter, but I think I'm doing better now. And I’m more willing to try it out.”

Peter leaned over to hug him. “I'll admit… you weren't the best. But you still cared, right? You cared about my safety, and you cared about my school, and you cared about me. I think that's pretty dad-like. If nothing else, it was a good step in the right direction.”

“Yeah, I'm getting better,” Tony smiled, draping his arm over Peter's back as the teen held him in a tight embrace. “You're helping me kiddo. You're making me be all cuddly and open, as you can see.”

Peter laughed against him and pulled away before he dripped ice cream all over the older man's shirt.

“Okay, now for my question. Why's it weird for you to call me Dad?”

Peter groans and threw his head back. “You're really stuck on this ‘Dad' thing, aren't you?”

Tony just shrugs his shoulders innocently, while a slight smirk forms on his face.

“Well, I mean, I guess it’s just weird to think that Iron Man’s my dad, you know. Plus, like, it’s been a while since I called anyone Dad, so I gotta get used to it again. I mean, I’ve almost called you ‘Uncle Ben’ a few times, but that would’ve been even weirder. So, I mean, I usually only call you dad or whatever when I was thinking about it or something, because sometimes you do really ‘dad-like’ stuff and it messes with my brain. Like, you’d do something, and I’d think ‘huh, there he goes acting like my dad again’. So, like, then my mouth just gets ahead of me and I call you ‘Dad’, because I was thinking that about you… I guess.”

“This makes it weird, how?” Tony asked, with an amused glint in his eyes.

“I don’t know!” Peter groaned. “I guess it’s probably because I was worried about what you would think… I-I didn’t really know how you would react to it for real, and I know you told me that you were okay with it, but, like?? What if you weren’t and you were actually just saying that to keep me from being embarrassed or something?”

“But I wasn’t,” Tony argued pointedly.

“Yeah, but what if you were…”

Tony frowned down at him. “Kid, I’m Tony Stark, if I’m not comfortable with something, you’ll know pretty darn quick. Heck, if you need proof, ask Pepper, I was ecstatic that night you called me ‘Dad’. I doubt Pepper got any sleep that night, I talked so much about it.”

“R-Really?” Peter asked hopefully, small tears glinting in his eyes.

“Yes, really,” Tony sighed. This kid was going to kill him one day. Here he was spilling all his juicy secrets just to make the kid feel better. Thank goodness he wasn’t the type of person to go leak all these things to the press. His public persona would be completely ruined, and next thing he knew, he would be doing magazine covers for animal shelters with adorable puppies crawling all over him. And as wonderful as that sounded, that was not ‘Tony Stark’.

“Cool! My turn.”

***

After a few more questions, things were pretty well cleared up, and Tony had had enough with spilling his secrets. Peter was also veering off topic, just as Tony expected he would. So, when Peter asked how he fell in love with Pepper he clapped his hands in finality and stood from the bench, grabbing onto Peter’s bicep to drag him up as well. Drawing a pathetic squeak from the boy’s mouth.

“C’mon Pete, I’ve had enough of this. What’s next on your father-son to-do list?”

“Uh… I don’t know. What do you wanna do?” Peter asked, tilting his head upwards to glance at him as they made their way along the path towards the park’s exit.

“You haven’t been thinking about what we’re gonna do next?” Tony asks incredulously, “what kind of child are you? Surely there’s somewhere you wanna go. Something you've been dying to do?”

“Not anything around here.” Peter shrugged, dropping the weight of what to do on Tony’s shoulders. It made him panic for a moment, because what in the heck were you supposed to do with your teenage, superhero son? Play catch? It was a good, cheesy, go-to idea, but that was a bit too cheesy, and he’s confident that he hadn’t hit that cheesy-dad phase yet. Despite all Rhodey's arguments claiming otherwise.

“Well, we got about 3 hours to kill until the girls get back. Why don’t we just find something to do at the Tower?”

Peter nodded happily and fell in line with Tony’s slow strides. He told his father a few more stories about the adventures he had had with his best friend before he received his powers, and Tony smiled along to them as they made their way back to the Tower. He made sure to set the pace to extra slow, because, well, it was a nice day, and Peter seemed to be enjoying himself. Eventually though they reached the tall structure and they entered the building, passing through the lobby and past several busy employees. Peter had noticed a few scientists from R&D talking to the receptionist at the front desk and he waved animatedly at them. They returned his giddy smile and gave him a happy wave of their own. Tony waved in greeting to them as well and threw an arm around the Peter's shoulders and guided him quickly to the elevator in the back so he wouldn't get too distracted.

On the elevator ride up, Peter was in the middle of a detailed rendition of his first experience watching Star Wars when he seemed to have a sudden epiphany. His chattering stopped and his eyes widened comically. Tony glanced over suspiciously at the lack of words not gushing out of his kid's mouth.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Well,” Peter grinned, “I just figured out something awesome that we could do together!”

“Kid, I swear. If we have to go back out there as soon as we got hom-”

“No-no-no here me out!” Peter insists excitedly. “What if we went patrolling together?”

“Patrolling? Together?” Tony asked warily. “I don’t think I can pull off spandex as well as you can, kiddo.”

“No,” Peter laughed, “with your suit! Iron Man and Spiderman! Fighting crime together! Father and son!”

“I don’t know kid…” Tony trails off, rubbing at his neck. The idea sounded a bit sketchy. Who knew what kind of story the press would cook up if they spotted Iron Man out doing good deeds with the loved vigilante of- wait. That's actually not a terrible idea. Good PR all around for Iron Man and SpiderMan.

“C’mon Dad,” Peter whined, lacking any hesitation to the title, which made Tony’s heart twist happily. The kid didn't even seem to realize he said it, which made it all the more special. “This could be, like, some extra training. You’re always saying how I need to be more careful and how I need proper training before I can go on any more missions. Now you can teach me! It could be our thing!”

“Our… thing?”

“Yeah, our thing. All dads got one with their kids. Like, going for cheeseburgers every Friday, or playing football, or watching movies. Our thing can be fighting criminals in Queens together!”

Tony stares at him, with an odd mixture of pure wonder and surprise. This freaking kid.

“Why not?!” Tony shrugs, smiling goofily, because now he and his son had a thing. That’s gotta win him some dad points somewhere.

By the time the elevator reached the penthouse, Tony already had a suit called and standing there waiting for him. So, Peter ran off to his room to fetch his suit while Tony let his armor encompass him. It had been awhile since he'd had to wear it.

The armor fit around him, and there was only a brief feeling of doubt flickering through his thoughts before he shoved it away. This was a good thing, it was all good. Sure, the press was going to have a field day with it (hopefully it will be a good one). Iron Man had never been that type of hero. He wasn’t majorly focused on the petty crimes, because there were just bigger fish to fry in the world. Unless Peter was getting in over his head… that's about the only time he went to beat up petty criminals in Queens. Now, the thought of going out and spending time with his son, doing one of the things he knew best, sent a wave of joy flooding through his chest.

He sat down on the couch and threw his armored arm over the back of the couch, smiling like a doofus as he waited for Peter to get ready.

He didn’t even have to wait a full minute before the child was running back down the hall in a flurry of blue and red, with his mask pulled halfway down his face. Tony smiled at him and stood up from the couch, fixing him with an amused smirk.

“FRIDAY patch me into Peter’s suit,” he instructed, readjusting one of the armored pieces and flexing his hand to test the hydraulics. The gears seemed to be a bit testy. He didn't even remember the last time he used this particular suit, but it was the most agile for what they were going to be doing.

Peter stared up at him dazedly as he worked the gears of his suit, his masked eyes widening with wondered amazement.

“Wow,” he breathed, tugging at Tony’s arm, and studying the armored suit. Lifting the arm above his head to inspect beneath as well before poking at the chest plate near the RT.

“What?” Tony laughed, “you’ve seen the suit before.”

“Yeah, but,” Peter stared up at him, grinning just like the happy little nerd he is, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in it. It’s so cool! I still can’t believe my dad is Iron Man.”

“Well, get used to it kiddo,” Tony smiled, reaching up to settle his heavy hand onto of his head, where the mask was hiding his hair. “And actually, this is one of my older suits. You haven’t seen me in my new NanoTech suit yet have you?”

Peter shook his head wildly.

“Well, I’ll have to show you some time. For now, it’s just about time to get going if we wanna get in a few hours of patrolling before the girls get back.”

“Awesome,” Peter squealed, pulling his mask the rest of the way down his face and sprinting towards the large balcony on the other side of the room. Tony followed him at his own pace, allowing the helmet to form around his head and the faceplate to snap down. The HUD glowed with a soft blue light as FRIDAY displayed his vitals on one side and Peter's on the other.

Just as he got everything situated the way he wanted it, he glanced up to see Peter readying himself to take a leap off the side of the building, but he called out to stop him.

“What’re you doing, kid?”

“Well, I was going to go, like, you know... Spider Man,” he finished lamely, his Spider Eyes widening innocently as he subtly gestured to the landscape of tall buildings in Manhattan.

“Nonsense, I’m not waiting for you to swing your scrawny butt all the way to Queens. Get on my back.”

“Cool-cool-cool,” Peter replied calmly, speedily walking up to face his father’s suit. Tony rolled his eyes fondly and turned around so Peter could climb up onto his back. Peter wrapped his arms around Tony's neck and his legs around his waist, pressing himself snugly against the back of the armor.

“Hold on.” That was the only warning Peter received before a sudden jolt and large amount of power sent them catapulting into the air at such a high speed, he could feel his tongue drop down his throat. He gulped in a surprised breath and tightened his grip as he released a high-pitched scream of excitement. After the initial shock… it was awesome.

Tony continued upwards in the suit, encouraged by Peter's mix of giddy laughter and terrified screams. Peter could hear the man laughing in his ear, but he was grinning and screaming so much he couldn’t form words to tell him to stop laughing.

Then they took a sudden turn in direction. Tony did a large arc in the air, and before Peter could understand what he was planning, they were plummeting back down towards the ground. His arms wrapped over Tony’s shoulders tightened and a maniacal giggle followed a celebratory scream. His eyes widened in excitement as he watched the ground get closer and closer.

“Having fun back there?” Tony’s voice sounded through his suit.

“Yeah!” Peter shouted back happily, as Tony spun gracefully in the air and they continued their swan dive. Peter had full trust in him, and there wasn’t an ounce of fear in him as the ground got closer and closer. His grin just grew wider and wider, and at the last minute, Tony ignited the thrusters and pulled up, spinning them fancily in the air as they ascended a small way. Peter could hear celebratory screams from below them and a few honking horns when they saw Iron Man's suit coast several feet above the streets and sidewalk.

“Alright, I’ve showed off enough. Off to Queens we go,” Tony chuckled. The speed of the suit decreased significantly, allowing Peter to sit up, perpendicular to his father’s back, with his legs still wrapped firmly around the suits waist. He threw his hands in the air as if he were riding a roller coaster, and whooped and hollered, waving hello to the people taking pictures of them on the streets, or standing on their balconies as they weaved in and out of the maze of buildings in Manhattan. It was the best freaking roller coaster he'd ever been on.

***

Overall, it was a fairly eventful evening. Peter climbed up a tree to save a cat, as Tony stood down at the base, with his helmet retracted and his hands on his hips, watching in amusement as the cat clawed at him. They stopped a guy from stealing another guy’s motorcycle, and Peter jumped in front of a speeding car to stop it from slamming into a poor old lady crossing the street, which nearly gave Tony a heart attack, mind you. There were a couple little old ladies that needed help, along with a small child who had wandered off from her preschool field-trip to the park. Peter was the first to spot her from the roof they were sitting on, and he dived down to help the small girl. Tony hovered down to follow him, retracting his helmet as he descended to the sidewalk. The girl wiped at her eyes with balled fists as she answered Peter’s questions. Then, one look at Iron Man and her face lit up and she dived towards him, wrapping her arms around his armored leg.

A few passerbys cooed at the cute display and Tony chuckled awkwardly as he knelt to her level and gently pried her from his leg. He was used to children hanging on him and asking him questions, but that didn't mean he was any better at handling it. He had never liked interacting them in public, because he'd hate for the press to get a recording of his god-awful baby voice. He didn't even know when he was doing it, it just happened when he wasn't being careful. And he has stellar reputation to uphold. He didn't need the entire world knowing he was secretly a big ol’ softy.

“Wanna tell me what you’re doing out here all alone, little one?” He asked, lifting his armored hand to comply when she grabbed at it to inspect his large, metal fingers. Peter strayed to his right, bouncing around as the little girl grinned up at him, grasping his thumb in her small fist.

“We were leaving the park, and I didn’t want to! So, I hid and ran over here, but now I can’t find my way back.” She pouted sadly at the last bit, hanging her head to stare at her sandals feet.

Tony smiled kindly down at her, hoping it wasn't too kind, because there were several cameras videoing the interaction. He slowly got to his feet, keeping his hand down at her level so she could keep her grip on his thumb.

“C’mon Spider-Kid let’s get her back to the park,” He called over his shoulder to Peter, beginning the slow walk down the block, listening to the starry-eyed stories the little girl was animatedly telling him. She reached out and grabbed onto Peter’s hand too, when he fell in line with them on her other side, and the two heroes looked at each other. The eyes on Peter’s mask widened fondly, and Tony grinned back as he continued to ask her questions about the stories she was telling him. Out of everything, Tony enjoyed that part the best. He could only imagine what the headlines were going to be saying tomorrow.

Later in the evening, after they had gotten the little girl back to her hysteric care-takers, Peter had heard the going ons of a small robbery at a deli downtown. He swung his way through the town, Tony following close behind him. They reached the small deli, and Peter busted in, while Tony settled on leaning against the door frame, looking quite smug even with the helmet covering his face. One look at both Iron Man and Spiderman standing threateningly in the doorway, and the guy bolted out the back exit. Peter took off after him while Tony chuckled and retracted his helmet to order some dinner for the both of them. It was almost 6:00 and he was sure that Peter was hungry by now. He ignored the wide eyes of the other customers and was sure to give the man at the counter a generous tip before grabbing their sandwiches and flying off to go find his kid.

They ate together on a rooftop, feet dangling from the edge.

“So, what did ya think?” Peter questioned, through a mouthful of smushed bread and turkey.

“I had fun kid, thanks for inviting me along. It was a humbling experience.”

“Cool! Peter grinned, his mask nearly falling back over his mouth as his muscles contracted. “Do you think we could do it again sometime? It was so cool having you-”

Tony held up a finger to silence him and shot him an apologetic smile. “Just a sec,” and the helmet formed over his head again, but the faceplate stayed pulled up.

“Hey, Pep. What’s up?”

Peter was able to hear the call through his mask as well, so he smiled.

“Hi Pepper!” He called out.

“Oh, Peter!” Pepper laughed, “how’re you and Tony doing? Not getting into too much trouble I hope.”

“Wow,” Tony scoffed, “she just completely ignores me.”

“Honey,” Pepper reprimands, “I’m talking to Peter. Be patient.”

“But you called ME.” Tony argued childishly.

“Hush. Now Peter, tell me what you and Tony have done today. Me and May were both dying to hear all about it.”

“Where’s Avery?” Peter questioned confusedly.

“Oh, she wanted to stay the night a May’s tonight. I thought it might be a good idea, since you’ll be spending the night at the Tower tonight, it’ll give you two a little more time together. I’m on my way back now. So, tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“Well, first me and....” he glanced up at Tony questioningly, but Tony simply raised an eyebrow questioningly in response, “uh, Dad. We went to the park and got some ice cream at this really good ice cream truck that I knew. We talked a while, and I even got him to play 20 questions!”

“Aww, Tony,” Pepper cooed over the phone.

“Yeah, yeah, the kid coaxed me into it,” Tony grumbled.

“Yeah, and then we got back to the Tower and I asked him if we could go patrolling together! So, we did, and I got to ride on his back, which was SUPER awesome, by the way! We went up and down, then we spun around, and we dived, and it was just… It was awesome Pepper!” Peter paused for a breath and turned over to shoot Tony an excited grin.

“We did all kinds of stuff! Dad laughed while I got mauled by a cat. We stopped this dude from stealing a motorcycle, and I stopped a car that was about to hit this old lady.” He lowered his voice to whisper the next part. “Dad said I’m never allowed to do that ever again while he’s around, because he nearly had a heart attack.” Peter giggled like a little school girl at that part before continuing right on with his story.

“And then-then we found this lost little girl, and she was, like, so excited when she met Iron Man. It was so cute! We walked her back to the park, and she told us all kinds of stories as we walked, and people were taking our pictures and saying ‘aww’ and stuff. Then we got her back to the park and we took a couple selfies with fans, and then we stopped this guy from robbing a deli downtown. He ran away when he saw Dad, though, so I had to chase after him while Dad ordered us some sandwiches for dinner. Which are SO good!” He takes a large bite of his sandwich as if to prove his point and Tony laughs.

He laughs and taps at something on his helmet, switching the call to private. His heart beating just a little bit faster at the way Peter was basically spewing the title out like he'd been saying it forever.

“Catch all that, hon?”

There was a small pause as Tony nodded, listening to whatever Pepper was saying and fitting another bite of his sandwich into his mouth.

“Yeah-no, I can pick her up tomorrow morning. I’ll do it when I drop Pete off at school.” Peter’s head snapped over to stare at the man, because the he had never done something like that before. Tony caught his stare and shot him a wink before continuing his conversation with Pepper.

“Yeah-yeah, we’ll be home in a few. Yeah… no... I don’t know, you gotta ask him… No, we’re eating dinner right now, but Pete will probably want something later anyway… alright, hon… yeah, love you, bye.” Then he taps against the side of the helmet again, it retracts, ends the call, and the man continues with his sandwich.

“Almost ready to get going?” Tony asks, cocking his head to the side to glance over at him when he finished his dinner. Peter nods his head affirmatively and stuffs the rest of his meal into his mouth, pulling the mask back down his face while he chewed.

“Alright, wait until you finish chewing. I don’t need you choking on me now.”

***

By the time they got back to the Tower, the sun had already started to set. Tony hovered over the landing pad, and Peter jumped off his back, landing on the floor and tearing off his mask, grinning excitedly as he basically bounced into the Living Room.

He chartered excitedly as Tony’s helmet retracts and he followed Tony’s slower pace into the room. Pepper spotted them from the kitchen, and she rushed across to meet them. She wrapped Peter up in a hug and he hugged her back, then she pulled away and looked up at Tony with a look that Peter couldn’t quite place.

Then Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Peter realizes what was about to happen. He clamped his hands over his eyes like a child as Tony grinned and reached out to pull Pepper against his suited body. Then, Peter could hear the distinct sound of kissing and he groaned in disgust.

“Ewww!” He whined teasingly, with his hands still clamped firmly over his eyes.

“Get over it kid, you need to grow up eventually.” Peter sighed and pulled his hands away from his face just in time to see Tony plant a big wet one on Pepper’s lips. EW!

“Oh my god,” Peter groaned, clamping his hands back over his eyes and running towards the center of the room to vault himself over the couch. “You’re scarring me!”

Pepper laughed at the antics and began to retract herself from Tony’s grip, but Tony grinned mischievously and kept his hands firmly against her hips, leaning in towards her again.

“None of that Pep, the kid’s gotta learn eventually.”

He leaned forward to brush his lips against hers, and he was just barely able to capture her mouth before she pulled back with a laugh. She tilted her head so she could whisper in his ear.

“Later, Tony. The things I'm gonna do-”

“EW EW EW! I can hear you!! Advanced hearing! Please!” Peter groaned dramatically from across the room.

“Kid,” Tony growled out, “if this cock-blocking becomes a thing, we're gonna be having a serious talk.”

“Tony!” Pepper reprimanded, hitting his shoulder with no heat behind it.

Tony grumbled and leaned forward for another kiss, just as he did so, the elevator doors dinged, and Tony could hear the distinct sound of many voices accompanying heavy footsteps.

His eyes widened in panic, and he pulled away from Pepper. He saw Peter’s head perk up from the couch, his eyes widened in fright as he stared worriedly at the entrance to the foyer.

Tony launched himself across the room in one fluid movement, scooping Peter into his arms and literally flinging the boy down the hallway. Then he spun back around to stand in front of the entrance to the hall as the others entered the room. They didn’t need the secret being spilled after so much work they’d put into keeping that information safe. He could hear Peter scurry into his room, and the door shutting firmly behind him. He leant his arm against the wall and did his best to keep their view blocked, just to be safe.

“Tony? Why do you have your armor on?” Natasha questioned, looking around the large room for any sign of a threat.

“Oh, well, you know. Pepper’s got this kink for-”

“Tony!” Pepper reprimanded with a deadly glare.

“Yeah-yeah, whatever, I was showing it off to Pete.” Tony corrected, clearing his throat, and shooting an apologetic glance towards Pepper.

“Speaking of… where are the two little rascals?” Clint asked, climbing over the arm of the couch to collapse against the cushions. Wanda made her way across the room as well, taking the seat next to the man’s head, while Visions sat on her other side.

“Avery’s staying the night at Peter’s Aunt’s house. We wanted a boy’s day, so Pep, May, and Avery hung out for a while. Pete’s in his-”

“Right here!” Peter grins, peeking out from under his father's arm, where it was draped across the hall.

Tony smiled down at him and dropped his arm, so the boy’s head was trapped against him.

“Wait....” Clint trailed off. Tony and Peter both glance up to look at him questioningly, only to find the archer cradling a familiar red piece of fabric in his hands. “Is this-Is this that Spider dude’s mask? What’s this doing here?”

Tony’s voice falters, and for once he doesn’t have a lie waiting at the tip of his tongue. It felt like he had just swallowed a large rock.

“Oh, that! That’s um- yeah. That’s Spider-Man’s. He comes around to see Dad sometimes, and-and last time he was here he asked me to fix-uh his mask. So, I guess I left it out here or something. Sorry.” He rushed forward to grab it from Clint, retreating into the hall to drop it off in his room.

The rest of the team stared at Tony suspiciously, and Tony was able to lock eyes with Rhodey, and he was able to piece together the man’s worried expression.

“Has Tony Stark’s ‘Iron Heart’ softened for this young vigilante; Iron Man, or Iron Man-tor? What is this?” Wanda asked, turning her phone out so Tony could see the headline and the picture accompanying it. She narrowed her eyes at him as he rushed to grab his phone from the coffee table where he had left it. He sputtered helplessly at the various headlines that were probably sprawled out across the screen. Pictures of both Tony and Spiderman littered every news outlet, and he couldn't help but wonder how word had gotten around so quickly. It had only been a few hours.

“Well-um, you see-” Tony began, pausing when he has no idea where he was going with it.

“Tony,” Steve replied sternly, crossing his large arms over his chest. “Answer honestly. Is Peter Spider-Man?”

“Well, crap...”

Chapter Text

Avery loved Pepper, yep, it was officially official. Pepper Potts was freaking awesome! Of course, she had always loved Pepper, but she was always working. She never had the opportunity to really get to know her. Sure, Pepper was good friends with her Aunt, and there were many evenings when she came home to find Pepper chatting with May on the couch, holding a glass of wine. It wasn't uncommon to see her… they had just never had one on one time. Now, though, she was definitely going to have to change that when she got back home. Pepper was just as awesome as MJ said she was, maybe even more so. There was no question on why Mr. Stark loved her so much

This point was proven when Pepper had dragged her and May out to shop for some clothes late Friday morning, and at first Avery wasn’t all too thrilled with the idea. Clothes shopping had always been a pain, even when she was younger. Thrift stores, hand-me-downs, and yard sales… not that she was complaining! Not at all! She was extremely grateful for what she could have. It just… it wasn’t extremely exciting, and it just added on to their already obvious standing within the economy. She loved her Aunt May and she would never complain about the clothes bought for her, because she understood. So, when Pepper dragged her and Peter's May into a fancy designer store with a wide grin on her face, Avery’s jaw dropped to the floor. May looked just about as shocked, and immediately objected, backing up to exit the store, insisting that she wouldn't let Pepper pay for all of their things.

“Think of it as Tony Stark's money,” Pepper laughed, “your nephew's father. Let him spoil us a bit.” May still firmly shook her head and insisted that they go somewhere where a single pair of shorts wasn't over $100.

Pepper put a quick stop to it with a few well-placed threats to buy the woman everything in the store and looks that could kill. Soon, May was laughing, letting loose, and having fun with them. Taking turns to model expensive dresses in the private dressing rooms Pepper had rented out for them, and it was absolutely glorious. Avery had never seen her Aunt look so happy, and for a moment it felt that she was back home.

It saddened her when she realized that this wasn't her world, and this wasn't her family. It was Peter's. But as soon as she started to get down and gloomy about it all, Pepper swooped in like the Angel she was and pulled her out of her funk. Pulling her out of the chair to dance around in front of the wall of mirrors with May. Jumping around and singing along to the music playing in the background.

Yeah… Pepper was great.

They spent almost the entire day shopping. Bags of clothes and random trinkets hung off their arms as they exited each store. By the end of the trip, Avery had nearly an entire wardrobe to pick and choose from despite her polite protests that she had already received enough. Thankfully, she was able to convince Pepper and her Aunt of a variety of flannels and t-shirts “for casual wear, Pepper. I can’t wear dresses everywhere.” And just to appease the red-head, she agreed to a few cute dresses and heels. Not that she was planning to ever wear them or anything. It was purely for the sake of a peace offering, because Pepper was not going to stop her nagging until she agreed to at least one.

May, though, had an amazing selection of nice dresses and blouses picked out. Of course, it was not the woman's intention for all of them to be bought for her, but Pepper always swooped in when she was longingly looking at a beautiful dress and snatched it off the hanger, forcing her to go try it on like the loving friend she was. So, by the end of the trip, Avery wasn’t the only one giddy with excitement over the amazing new clothes she had received. Even Pepper was excited to show off a few amazing cocktail dresses at any upcoming galas.

Then, they looked at wedding dresses for a little while, but... “shh, you can’t tell Tony,” Pepper had warned, looking absolutely goddess-like in the perfect dress. Before, Avery was quite skeptical on that whole ‘perfect dress’ and ‘the dress will speak to you’ nonsense. But on Pepper… It was as if the dress was made specifically for her. Avery could totally picture Tony bawling at the end of the aisle when he saw her. The tailor had taken her measurements and promised for a speedy delivery with a bright smile on her face. Then! Then Pepper made her, and May try on Bridesmaids dresses: “so you know what to wear to your Mr. Stark's and Pepper's wedding.” May cried when Pepper asked her to be the maid of honor and Avery felt like a goddess in the beautiful dress Pepper had helped her pick out. So, yeah… it was a pretty awesome day.

So, when Pepper suggested they have another girl’s day at May’s apartment, watching movies and gossiping, she was all for that. Of course, she wasn’t an idiot, she knew that Tony and Peter desperately needed some guy-time. It was obvious even to her- one of the most oblivious person on the planet. She felt terrible for standing between them and holding them back from talking it out and developing their relationship as they should. If she were in Peter's situation, she wouldn't know how she would react. She did know that she would be frustrated, especially with everything Peter had been giving up. He was doing so much to make her comfortable and she was extremely grateful. He had given up his bed for her, his seat next to Tony at the dining table when she had a rough nightmare the night before, and along with the alone time he usually spent with his Mr. Stark. She was always around, and she knew how Peter must feel whenever she was constantly hogging Tony's attention when she really didn't mean to. It was blatantly obvious how badly the two needed to talk and work things out, but Avery didn’t know how not to be in the way, because the two of them refused to let her be alone, and Tony rejected all notions of her being accompanied by the other Avengers. So, for the past week she had been the third-wheel of sorts, against her will.

She loved hanging out with them, but it was cringe-worthy whenever she had to listen to Peter stutter through an embarrassing rendition of ‘Mr. Stark-wait no, sorry- dad-no I meant Tony!’ almost five times a day She was embarrassed for him, and she just wanted to cry desperate tears when Tony just as awkwardly responded with a stuttering response. It was… terrible! It got to the point where Peter avoided calling Tony specifically, reverting to simply hoping that the man would listen whenever he spoke up.

So, yeah, girl’s night was a definite win-win, and just to be sure that those two got the time they needed, she asked to spend the night with Aunt May. Plus, it would be nice to visit with May anyway, because she really missed her Aunt too. Hopefully, that would let Peter and Tony get past all the weird funk.

***

“Peter!” Tony shouted from the Living Room, irritation lining his voice, “get your butt out of bed! I’m not going to tell you again!” He knew Peter heard him, and he wasn’t about to walk all the way down that hall again just to pound on him with a pillow, but if it came down to that, he would. He didn't know why, but he was in a particularly irritable mood, and he had told Peter THREE times to get out of bed. He was trying to be a responsible father, but he didn’t know how much longer he could keep himself from grabbing an air horn and blasting it in the kids room.

“I still can’t believe that kid is Spider-Man,” Clint grumbled from beside him, spooning a bit of cereal into his mouth. “He's so young and innocent.”

Tony snorted then glanced over at him and frowned. “Young, sure. Not at all innocent.” That was a blatant lie and he knew it. Peter was a precious child, more innocent than anyone he knew. He's just… grumpy, and he's pretty sure that the heroes surrounding him are the cause of it.

Tony and Peter had spent the majority of the previous evening explaining to the perplexed heroes who Peter was and the extent of his powers and how he received them. Because apparently it wasn't beneath Tony Stark to inject his own son with superhero crap. That part probably pissed him off the most, especially when Roger's had the nerve to assume he was endangering his child on purpose.

He let it slide though and continued civilly. Peter was seething quietly next to him, gripping the sleeve of his father's shirt after he stepped out of the armor. The boy didn't say anything, but Tony had the feeling that if he kept getting berated like this, the kid would surely lash out. So, he did not dare tell them about the whole trickery scheme they had been pulling over the past week, because there really wasn’t a point to dig themselves that deep of a hole when their ‘lies’ turned out to be actual ‘truths’. However, things turned out just about how Tony expected. Steve lectured him about child endangerment, and Sam was a bit pissy about being beat up by a ten-year-old, and well… Natasha just looked irritated, but she kept her opinion to herself.

The others were indifferent to the revelation, although, just a bit disapproving of Tony’s irresponsible actions. Though, after Tony explained his side on the matter the majority seemed to just shrug it off and go back to their own devices, because in all honesty, Tony hadn’t been expecting a fight like that. If he had, he would have never brought Peter along. Yet, his reasoning still didn’t deter the almighty Captain America from lecturing him on how to properly parent a child, which seemed to piss Peter off more than it did Tony. He had never seen Steve so shocked, heck, he had never been so shocked when Peter let go of his sleeve, got right in Steve's face, and gave him a piece of his mind. Geez, he never thought that Peter had it in him. Rogers sure as heck clamped his mouth shut after that outburst, and that had been that. No one else dared to lecture Tony and they dropped the subject entirely. Watching with wide eyes and gaping mouths as Peter stormed out of the room, slamming his door in the hall. So, yeah, the previous night had been pretty eventful.

“Let’s not talk about this again,” Steve grumbled, scowling down into his own bowl of cereal.

And Tony fully agreed. He wasn’t awake enough to receive another lecture. He needed at least five more cups of coffee so he could restrain himself from punching Steve in the face for pointing out his terrible parenting skills. And PETER wasn't there to defend his honor, so yeah… he wasn't in the mood.

“I agree. Let’s just accept the fact that Peter is who he is and keep it at that,” Bruce mediated, “we don’t need you two having an all-out war, again.”

Tony snorted and leant his head back against the couch, cradling his cup of coffee in his hands. He didn’t hear footsteps, or rustling from the hall, which meant Peter still hadn’t gotten out of bed. He scowled and sat up again so he could shout again.

“PETER!”

He gritted his teeth for a moment, waiting for some kind of response from the boy. FRIDAY seemed to be the one to relay Peter’s message.

“Boss, Peter’s response was, what people like to call ‘flipping the bird’, towards my camera.”

“Ah, hell no,” Tony growled out under his breath, getting to his feet and storming in the direction of Peter’s room, leaving Clint and Sam cackling in laughter on the floor of the Living Room.

The room of heroes silenced as they listened. There was the distinct sound of Tony throwing the door open, and Peter’s surprised yelp. No words were exchanged as a loud thump sounded and Peter's whining voice got closer.

“FRIDAY, you weren’t supposed to tell him!” Peter squeaked. Sam had tears in his eyes as Tony’s grumbling and Peter’s apologies came closer and closer as the two made it to the Living Room.

Eventually, they came into view, Tony dragging Peter in with a fist tightened in his shirt collar. The boy’s hair was ruffled, and his eyes were wide with fear and slight amusement as he stumbled along behind his father. Tony obviously found his amusement quite infuriating. He shoved the boy in the general direction of the kitchen and ordered him to eat before grumbling his way back to his place in the Living Room.

“Stupid FRIDAY,” Peter grumbled, his head bowed as he got down his bowl for her cereal.

Tony huffed and sat back down on the couch, retrieving his mug of coffee that he had left on the table.

“Dad!” Peter cried. Tony snapped his head in the direction to see what was wrong, only to see Peter holding up an empty box of Lucky Charms. “We-we’re out of Lucky Charms. You said you would buy more.”

“I did,” Tony grumbled again, “but between you, Avery, and Thor… whatever, just eat regular Cheerios or something.”

“Fine,” Peter groaned.

“Dude,” Clint hummed, grinning wildly as he looked over at Tony, “I love your kid.”

“Well, I’m sick of him. You can take him. I'm sure he will be very happy with the rest of your secret family,” Tony grumbled, pulling out his phone from his pocket to attempt and at least get some work done.

“Aw, Dad, you wouldn’t give me away.” Peter grinned smugly, shuffling over to the couch with a big bowl of cheerios. Dropping down right next to Tony, shoulder to shoulder.

Tony pushed him away, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting like an insolent child. Bruce laughed outright at his expression and Tony glared at him, completely unaware of his child-like expression.

“C’mon Dad,” Peter grins, scooting up against him again. “You love me,” he singsonged.

“Only when you’re not acting like a brat, you cheeky child,” Tony huffed. Peter smiled and cocked his head to the side to rest it against his father's shoulder for a few seconds before fixing it upright to stuff a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. He completely ignored Steve, but he held regular conversations with the rest of the team. Seeming to forgive everyone but Steve for what happened last night.

Eventually Tony had to shoo him away to go get dressed, because they were going to be late if the kid didn’t hurry the heck up. His habits were already seeming to rub off on the kid, and that most definitely was not a good thing. He was going to nip that in the butt really quick. The world didn't need another Tony Stark, they'd much rather a Peter Parker… Peter Benjamin Parker Stark.

He sat on the couch and waited in his pajamas, listening, yet not listening to the conversation around him. He was ready to go, he even had his sandals on and everything. He glanced at the time and frowned. Just as he was about to yell for Peter to hurry up, the boy shouted from the hall.

“Dad! We’re gonna be late!” Peter yelped, bounding into the room with his belt undone, his shoes untied, and his backpack thrown over his shoulder.

“If you would have gotten up the first time I told you, we wouldn’t be late now, would we?” Tony lectured, doing the signature ‘old-man stand up’ move as the rest of the heroes continued their conversation as if nothing were going on.

“Why aren’t you dressed?” Peter cried, suddenly comprehending the fact that his father was still decked out in his pajamas. Sweatpants, sandals, and homemade Spider-Man t-shirt that made Peter want to cry.

“Why do I need to be dressed?” Tony questioned incredulously. “I’m not going to school. I’m just dropping you off. There’s no reason for me to get dressed to drive a car…” Tony trailed off, heading over to the kitchen to fill up his mug again before he left while Peter paced. The kid could wait one minute, it’s not like Tony was the reason that they were going to be late.

***

His father drove like a maniac, and he wasn’t sure if he should be exhilarated or scared for his life, because he could solemnly swear that his life flashed before his eyes at least a hundred times over the course of the short drive. He even questioned for a moment whether his father had legitimately passed his driver's test or not. He gripped the door and his seatbelt, pressing himself back into his seat while his father swerved around a car going the appropriate speed. He clenched his teeth together and concentrated on breathing normally. This was way worse than flying with him on the suit.

At least it was safe to say that he wasn’t going to be late to school anytime soon… with Tony driving him of course. Peter didn't know if he wanted Tony to be driving him, though. At least not when he was already running late. Or maybe it was the pajamas… he had ridden with Tony many times before and he was perfectly normal. He wasn't wearing pajamas then… but he was wearing them now.

His thought process was interrupted as they skidded to a stop directly in front of his apartment building. His entire body was thrown into the seatbelt and if he had been in a more compromising position, the air would have surely been knocked out of him. Tony honked the horn a few times and impatiently tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. They didn’t even have to wait two minutes before Avery was exiting the building and jumping into the backseat. Then, right as Avery’s seatbelt clicked into place, Peter was thrown back into the seat again as Tony stomped on the gas. The tires screeched and they took off. Yeah, Peter was terrified. He didn't think it was the pajamas anymore.

“Dad, geez! Slow down, we’re not going to be late anymore.” Peter shouts through gritted teeth. His grip tightens as Tony swerves around yet another car, honking his horn angrily and shouting at the driver as if he could hear the insults.

“You’re the one that was so stressed about being late,” Tony grumbled slowing down to an acceptable, but still fairly fast, speed, and Peter was finally able to relax. He loosened his grip and immediately noticed the cramps in his bands from gripping the door and his seatbelt too hard. He glanced back at Avery and panda shared a look. She seemed just as terrified as he was.

They cruised the rest of the way to his school, and Tony asked Avery about her night with the girls while Avery asked about what they had done. Soon, Avery and Peter were engaged in an excited conversation and Tony just smiled to himself as he continued driving.

Soon they were at the school, and Peter didn’t realize how unwise it was to allow Tony to bring him to school in his flashy Audi R8 until he saw the wide eyes of every person milling about in the drop off area. Yeah… not such a promising idea. Tony stopped right there, smack dab in front of the school, where Peter could see jaws drop and eyes widen as they stared at the very familiar car, and Peter was beyond thankful that they weren’t able to see him through the tinted windows.

“Uh, Peter…” Avery sounded worried, “I don’t think this was a good idea.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t,” Peter grumbled as he stared out at the abnormal abundance of people. Of course, today had to be the day everyone decided to hang around outside. Then, he turned to look at his dad, “do you mind driving around the block and dropping me off there?”

“What? Why?” Tony asked, sounding absolutely offended by the request.

“Because if I get out of this car, with the license plate that says ‘STARK’ across it then everyone will, like, know that I actually hang out with you.”

“I don't see how that's a bad thing. Are you seriously embarrassed of me Pete? I haven’t even been your dad for two weeks, how are you already embarrassed about being seen in public with me?”

“I’m not- It’s a bad idea, because I don’t- I don’t know. It’s just, ugh!” He tugs at his hair, “everyone thinks that I was lying about the internship, and now they’re all going to go nuts.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at him, “they thought you were lying about the internship?”

“Good luck,” Avery huffed amusedly, leaning back into her seat, and crossing her arms over her chest as she settled in for the show.

“What? I mean, yeah,” Peter stammered, “who would believe that some random nobody like me got an internship with Tony Stark? Nobody, so it’s not, like, a big deal. Really, it’s not! I just get pushed around a bit by some kid and stuff, but that’s it.”

“‘Pushed around’?” Tony asks threateningly, raising an eyebrow to go along with his raising temper. Peter took note of the fact that his father seemed to be in a very sensitive mood this morning. He needed to tread lightly.

“Uh-uh yeah. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal, really-”

“Nu-uh, none of that! No child of mine is going to be called a liar and be pushed around by a bunch of pansies. I’m fixing this right now,” Tony grumbled angrily, throwing the car in park. Peter’s eyes widened, suddenly horrified at what that meant. The man started unbuckling his seatbelt and Peter wanted to sink into his seat. Why did he have to open his big mouth? And why didn’t Avery stop him?

“Dad, no,” Peter pleaded.

“Dad, yes,” Tony replied tersely, reaching for the door handle, and pushing it open, looking much less graceful than he usually did. It was probably the pajamas again. Peter hated those pajamas.

“Pajamas,” Peter argued helplessly, gesturing wildly to Tony’s very… casual state of dress. Then Tony was out of the car, and the driver’s door slammed shut as the genius rounded the car.

“They ask you how you are, and you just have to say that your fine, when you’re not really-”

“Shut up,” Peter grumbled. Avery cackled in amusement as Peter watched Tony round the front of the car with a desperately depressed expression on his face. Tony Stark garnered the attention of every living creature within a five-mile radius and they all watched fixedly. Like, literally. It was as if time stopped moving. Every person, cat, dog, and bird paused to stare… straight at Tony Stark as he came to a stop at the passenger side door and- oh god… no.

The door opened, and Peter’s mouth fell open. Tony grabbed onto his bicep and hefted him up out of the car with a strong arm, grabbing his backpack off the floor board and shoving it into his arms as he stumbled forward onto the sidewalk. He could literally feel the stares on him as Tony closed the door behind him. He hoped that everyone was too distracted to actually pull out their phones and take pictures, but he knew that was a pointless hope.

“You good, kid?” Tony asked, and Peter whirled around to face him. Good? He wanted to know if he was good?! Ha! Good one DAD!

“Alright,” Tony grinned when Peter did nothing but stare at him as if he had grown a second head. Peter could tell that he was having far too much fun with this. He was confident for a guy who just stepped out of a car in pajamas. “C’mere. Give your old man a hug.”

Peter backed away, his horrified expression returning as he fled. “Nope! Bye!”

“C’mon Pete,” Tony grinned, enjoying the gob smacked expression adorning the people’s faces as they watched the exchange. He really couldn’t wait to see what the headlines had to say tomorrow.

Peter continued fleeing, turning his back to Tony completely and getting the heck out of there.

Tony turned around and grinned happily as he knocked on the tinted backseat window of his Audi, while gesturing in the direction of Peter. “Look at that. He’s so embarrassed.” He couldn’t see Avery rolling her eyes at him, but he knew she was. He didn’t care, because the kid deserved it after what he pulled that morning. Plus, it was the first time he had ever got the chance to embarrass his kid in public, and it was absolutely glorious. People would no longer think Peter was a liar, and he was able to pull a Dad move… win-win.

“Payback sucks Parker!” He called out. Peter looked back at him for a moment, pausing to glare at him. “Maybe you’ll think twice about throwing me the finger in the morning!”

An audible gasp sounded from the crowd and the whispers immediately began. He was enjoying this far, far too much. He smirked evilly and shot Peter a teasing salute. “See you later, Pete!”

Peter watched in horror as Tony climbed back into his car and drove off, leaving him standing in the front of the school with every student’s, parent’s, and teacher’s eyes solely focused on him. He gritted his teeth, in both amusement and frustration, because that was such a Tony Stark thing for him to do.

Oh, so he wanted to play it that way, huh? He’s a Stark too now, Tony won’t even see it coming.

It’s so on!

It is on like Donkey Kong!

***

Tony had told her that she started school on Thursday. Thursday! As in tomorrow and now she just wanted to lay down and die. She no longer thought Peter’s embarrassment was amusing.

She had literally climbed over the center console, from the backseat into the front seat while Tony was busy annoying and embarrassing Peter at school. She didn't want to risk showing her face to the crowd. And then! Then Tony climbed back in the car, nonchalantly told her that she'd be going tomorrow too and then ripped down the drive at a speed no normal car should be going.

So, she spent the entire day stressing about it. She stressed when Rhodey took her on a walk around the block while Tony went to a short meeting. She stressed while she was tinkering with one of Peter's projects down in the lab with Bruce, and she was still stressing when Pepper came home, saw the look on her face, and asked why she looked so stressed. It was an unending cycle.

Then, Peter called Tony while they were down in the lab. He said that he was going to do some Spiderman-ing for a couple hours and then go visit Aunt May before she headed out for work. He promised to be home before 9, and Tony grinned as he said a short goodbye after Peter said, ‘bye Dad’.

Apparently, they finally had their talk. Finally. That was probably why they seemed to so comfortable with each other that morning, and why Tony felt it was necessary to climb out of the car in pajamas just to embarrass him.

So, by the time Peter came home, Tony had kicked all the Avengers out of the Living room. Apparently, they had had a little scuffle the night before, and Captain America wasn’t settling well in Peter's stomach, and she couldn't really blame him. Ever since she found out about what happened in Siberia, she no longer respected him as a person. Hero? Sure, he was a great hero and she will always be thankful for what he did. But doing something like that to one of his best friends was wrong.

So, it was only Rhodey, Tony, Pepper, Peter, and her that night. And she most definitely preferred it that way.

They all hung out and watched movies after Peter ate dinner cleaned up, and after Tony freaked out about a small cut on his face. Like, seriously. It was just a cut, Mr. Stark always did the same thing to her. Apparently, Tony Stark was just a natural born worry wart in all the dimensions. Even Pepper rolled her eyes at his obnoxious worrying.

They all watched Jaws, because apparently Tony had a sudden craving for watching a giant shark maul people in the water. And she insisted on giving Peter his well-deserved turn of sitting next to Tony during the movie. The genius shot her a grateful smile when Peter hesitantly curled against him after he threw his arm around his shoulders. Then she took her seat on Pepper's other side, ‘cause well, Pepper's awesome.

Then, she woke up in the bed. How she got there- who knows. But it only took a few seconds of innocent thoughts to realize that the light was shining through the windows and it was indeed Thursday.

Noooo.

The door swung open and the next thing she knew, she was being assaulted by a rather angry pillow. She groaned and rolled away to come face to face with a smiling Clint. What? Then she glanced over at the ground to see Peter gazing up at the archer in the same confused state from his air mattress.

“Papa Stark sent me in here to wake you two up for school.” Clint smiled, having way too much fun with the situation. Peter groaned and rolled over to press his face into his pillow. Avery wasn't really sure what she should think. “C'mon kiddies. I don't wanna fail my first day on the job.”

Avery decided it was probably best to get up and get out of bed, because if she learned anything from the story yesterday and what happened because of it… yeah, she should probably get up. Plus, Rhodey was there that morning and she didn’t want to risk having Tony send Rhodey in to wake them up… yeah, no.

“Peter get up, I don't want a repeat of yesterday.” Avery instructed bossily, climbing out of the bed to start getting ready. She wasn’t about to have Peter screw them both over.

“You don't want a repeat of yesterday? I was the one that had to deal with it.”

“Yeah? Well, today's my first day and I don't want to be seen exiting a vehicle with the boy being shouted at by Iron Man in his pajamas.”

Clint cackled. “He did what?”

Peter rolled his eyes at the archer and rolled off the air mattress, releasing a miserable groan as he did so.

“Yeah, Peter flipped him off yesterday morning, so Tony embarrassed him at school. He got out of the car in his pajamas and called Peter out while he was running away.” A small grin inched up her face, “it was actually pretty funny. You can look it up on YouTube, it’s like a number one trend right now. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it on the news or something.”

“Yeah, good thing they didn’t get my face,” Peter muttered, “I’d be famous before the week ended.”

“Yeah, well, soon somebody’s bound to leak your name,” Avery snarked.

“I’m gonna tell your Mr. Stark all your secrets if you don’t quit it,” Peter threatened before retreating into the bathroom.

Aver rolled her eyes in amusement. It was pretty cool to be friends with herself.

***

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It'd be nice to see some familiar faces, even if those familiar faces had no idea who she was. It would give her something to do, something to stimulate her. Something other than being stuck down in the lab tinkering with Tony all day. At least, that's what Pepper said.

Now, she isn't all too sure. Peter refused to let Tony drive them, so Rhodey was dropping them off in his car, which was much less flashy then Tony's Audi. She was able to call shotgun first too, so Peter was stuck in the back instead. So, a definite plus to the start of her day.

There had been a big breakfast waiting for her and Peter that morning, thanks to Rhodey and Pepper’s joint efforts. Tony had also left her a care-package, or first day supplies, at her spot at the table. New backpack, binders, paper, pens, everything she could possibly need. She shared a few pens and pencils with Peter because she already knew that he probably only had one left. So, another good start to the day. Sadly, the worst part was literally just around the corner.

“Alright kiddies,” Rhodey says, putting the car in park and turning to look at them. “Your dad gave me some instructions. First, here,” he handed Avery a shiny black card with silver numbers labeled on it. “This is one of Tony's cards. It's for both of your lunches and it's yours to keep, so don’t go losing it, ‘cause you won’t be getting a new one. Though, I think that’s an empty threat.” Avery reached out a hesitant hand to retrieve the shiny card, and for some reason it felt so much heavier than it should have. She passed it back to Peter for safekeeping and looked back at Rhodey.

“And Avery, if it gets to be too much, if you don't feel good, or if you just need to come home, text Tony or Pepper, or even me. Someone will come and get you-”

“What about me?” Peter interrupted, leaning over the center console.

“You can just suck it up and stick it out,” Rhodey joked, “unless you have a legitimate excuse, I don't think your Dad and May are going to let you skip. You’ve skipped too much school already.”

Peter rolled his eyes and Rhodey continued with his instructions. “And Peter, you can walk with Avery to the front office and help her get everything sorted out. I'll be parked in the parking lot until I know everything's good, so if they give you any problems just text me and I'll come in and take care of it. You two should have the same classes and if you don’t, I'll come and fix it… So, just let me know when you finish with that so I can head back, okay? I don't want to be stuck sitting in a high school parking lot on my day off. There really shouldn't be any problems, Tony talked to Morita personally over the phone, so you should be good.”

Then, Rhodey was shooing her out of the car and a big ball of nerves settled at the pit of her stomach as she climbed out.

“C'mon Avery. We'll go find Ned and get your schedule. Thanks, Rhodey.” Peter waved, grabbing onto Avery's hand, and hefting her out of the seat.

“Don't get into too much trouble!” Rhodey shouted as Peter shut the passenger door after Avery stumbled out.

Peter dragged her along behind him, ignoring the questioning stares they were receiving from his classmates. After what happened yesterday, this was almost nothing. And he sort of hated that he was used to being the center of attention already. Though, that’s probably going to be a good thing in the future, because eventually the world has to find out about who he really is.

He wasn't very sure what the whole cover story was supposed to be either. But he's pretty sure that the truth wasn't the best option, because telling people that Avery was his doppelganger from an alternate dimension where she had actually died didn’t sound very smart. People would think he was insane, although they thought he was insane when he talked about the SI internship, and well, now they know it's the truth. So, they might think twice about thinking he's a liar… which still wouldn't be good if they actually believed him. So… no truth!

He spotted Ned in the hallway and called him over. Avery's hand was still limp in his, so he kept a firm hold of her as he dragged her through the throngs of people.

“Hey Parker, who's your little girlfriend?” Flash jests, approaching him and giving him a good shove to the shoulder.

“Flash?” Avery spoke up curiously, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Peter stopped his trek towards his and Ned’s adjacent lockers and whipped his head around to stare at her. Flash's brows furrowed in confusion as well as he turned to look at her incredulously.

“Sorry, have we met?” He replied, rather rudely. Avery stuttered a bit, unsure of how to follow up with the question. So, Peter stepped in for her, sounding much more confident and snarkier than he had in a long time. Actually… he didn't think that he'd ever sounded that snarky when talking to Flash, or anybody, but for some reason he just wasn't in the mood for it. Maybe his Dad has rubbed off too much on him. And, either way, he was getting sick and tired of Flash real quick.

“Na, she just has this built in sense for dickwads.”

Flash scowled at him threateningly but doesn’t push it. What would have earned him a punch to the face two days ago simply dropped to a scowl and tightened fists. “So, she is your girlfriend?”

“No, she's my cousin. Can't you see the family resemblance.” Peter gently tugged her forward to stand directly next to him and gestured to both their faces. “She’s gonna finish the year with me.”

Flash didn't say anything after that, and Peter was just a little bit proud of the way he handled it. Ever since what happened yesterday morning, Flash hadn't called him a single name, or tried to trip him. For that, Peter was a little grateful, but that didn't mean it wasn't crazy embarrassing.

When Flash walked away, he released a heavy breath, sighing in relief. His heart was racing a little bit faster and he hoped that he wouldn't have to do anything like that again very soon. He grabbed back onto Avery’s hand and dragged her over to the locker where Ned was patiently waiting for them. Avery grinned when she saw him, and Peter felt her grip tighten on his hand in excitement.

“Ned, you wanna come to the office with us to grab her schedule?”

Ned nodded his head vigorously and gripped the straps of his backpack as they made their way to the office.

“So, Flash sorta harasses you too, huh?” Peter asked. He had let go of her hand a while ago when he realized that she was aware enough to walk on her own without getting left behind. It wasn't like she didn't already know where the office was or how to navigate through the crowd. Peter just knew that it must have been beyond nerve-wracking for her, and Flash obviously wasn't helping the situation. It was an entirely different world after all. Just because they were the same person didn’t mean they had the exact same experiences, friends, enemies, or opinions. Most things were the same, but when it came down to it, they technically were two different people. So, just to help her be more comfortable, Peter did just as he would want her to do to him if he were in her shoes.

“No, he actually he’s actually liked me since 4th grade, but he’s always teasing Ned and MJ so I sorta try to steer clear of him.” Both Peter and Ned's eyes bugged out of their skulls when she said that.

“Flash has a crush on you!” Ned turned to stare at Peter.

“Uh, no.” Peter says firmly, shaking his head, “the Flash in Avery's world has a crush on her. The Flash in our world hates me.”

They reach the office while Ned continues to argue with the fact that if Flash had a crush on him in another dimension, he had to have had a crush in this dimension. Peter just rolls his eyes indignantly and tries to point out that not everything is exactly the same in both worlds, hence alternate dimensions. And Avery just rolled her eyes amusedly. It was actually pretty cool to see the way Peter, or herself, interacted with others.

The hallways were familiar for her and it was almost exactly like her high school back home except for a few extra faces popping up here and there. She agreed with Peter 100% because, well, things were quite different between their two worlds. She sped up her pace when she spotted the door to the office as someone came out, running to catch the door before it closed again. Both Ned and Peter thanked her as they entered the room, and Peter stepped up to the counter to address a familiar face.

“Hi Mr. Akin, this is my cousin Avery, she’s been enrolled here until the end of school. We need her schedule and locker number.” Peter says shyly, because he had never been a huge fan of Mr. Akin. Avery wasn’t either, so Peter was most definitely not alone. Though, Mr. Akin wasn’t really a fan of anybody, so...

Mr. Akin grunts at Peter’s request and rolls his chair backwards to shuffle through a pile of papers stacked on the counter behind him. In Peter’s opinion, he should really be looking into retirement options, because as the years pass, he just became more and more pissy, but he has the feeling that the old man will never retire.

Mr. Akin rolled his chair back towards them and handed Avery’s schedule to Peter, who then passed it to Avery so she and Ned could make sure everything looked correct. He read over her shoulder just to be sure and when he saw that there were no obvious mistakes, he fished out his phone to let Rhodey know so he could head back to the Tower.

Then, just as they’re about to leave, a door at the back of the office flew open and Principal Morita stumbled out looking like a hot mess. His gaze travelled across the room until it finally settled on the three teens, and his face split into a wide grin as he concentrated his attention solely on Avery. He rushed across the room, moving around the large counter to approach Avery and stick out his hand to address her.

“Hi Ms. Parker, it is so nice to have you here at Midtown. Mr. Stark told me all about your accomplishments over the phone yesterday, and I just couldn’t say no to having such a gifted student such as yourself in our school.”

“Oh- uh thanks, I guess,” Avery said, shaking his hand out of politeness, and forcing her lips to form a halfway decent smile. His excitement was a little… what was the word… scary? Principal Morita was never this nice to her.

“It is not a problem at all, it is such an honor. At first, we did have a bit of a mix up retrieving your previous records, but Mr. Stark was kind enough to provide it for us, and I’d just like to say that you and Peter here are two peas in a pod. I suppose it simply runs in the Parker genes, doesn’t it?” The grin on his face was just… it was so weird to see. She had never, in all her high school days, seen Principal Morita smile like that.

“Well, yeah, I guess it does,” Avery smiled, suppressing her laughter.

After that awkward encounter, they exit the office and Ned immediately bursts into a fit of delighted giggles.

“Oh, the irony, man.”

***

It really wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be. Her usual terrorizer wasn’t there, thank goodness. And according to Peter the girl didn’t even go to the school, so what a huge relief that was. So, most of the stress fizzled out, and by third period she was comfortable enough to join in on Ned and Peter’s joking around. It was nice, sort of like getting a clean slate, and it was pretty awesome that all the teachers sorta sucked up to her since it was her first day. Like with that pop quiz she got out of earlier that day.

Then there was Ms. Cooper, there History teacher, who had never been a very big fan of her, and apparently, she wasn’t a fan of Peter either. Though, once Avery introduced herself, it wasn’t so bad, and she even got a smile from the old, crotchety woman. The kids were all nice, except for Flash and his goons, which was an entirely different experience for her. She knew that Flash was a jerk, but it was never directed at her. He was always so nice to her, like, sickeningly sweet almost. Oh yeah, then MJ. Seeing MJ for the first time in the new dimension was… interesting.

She was able to spot the girl at lunch. She sat on the opposite bench seat across from Ned and Peter, and she was digging into the nasty lunch, because she was freaking starving. She hadn’t been able to stomach much food that morning despite the feast laid out before her, and she had been suffering the consequences the entire morning. Then, she spotted the mop of curly brown hair that belonged to her best friend and she couldn’t help but grin.

MJ took a seat right next to her and raised an eyebrow questioningly at Peter as she gave her a threatening side-eye. Which was just so MJ it almost hurt. It was so good to see her.

“Who’s the chick? She another follower that didn’t quite get the hint yesterday?”

Avery ignored the rude comment and threw her arms around her friend, trapping her in a weird side hug type thing. She should probably stop hugging the people who obviously didn’t know her… but she just couldn’t help it. She was so excited to see her.

“That’s my… cousin, actually.” Peter smiled sheepishly. Avery jolted and backed away from MJ, apologizing profusely for her actions, but MJ just remain typically indifferent.

“And your cousin was hugging me why?”

“She likes hugs?” Peter tried pitifully, shrugging his shoulders.

“Cut the crap Parker,” MJ rolled her eyes, settling Peter with a deadly glare, “tell me what’s really going on. You know you can’t lie to me.”

Peter sputtered for a moment, but he didn’t say anything. Avery wondered just how much he had told MJ. Her MJ knew almost everything, just like Ned. So, she wasn’t about to step in for Peter and spill all his secrets

Eventually Peter sighed and hung his head, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“So, short and simple. She’s me from another universe…” MJ narrows her eyes at him, trying to determine whether he was being a liar or not.

“Not a surprise,” she finally says, shrugging her shoulders. “I mean your dad is Iron Man for god’s sake. I don’t think anything that happens to you will be a surprise anymore. You’re one anomaly after another Parker.”

Peter’s mouth hangs open as he stares at her.

“How do you know about my Dad?”

MJ cocked her head to the side, nodding suggestively in the direction a guilty looking Ned was sitting.

“Ned,” Peter groaned.

“I’m sorry man, I couldn’t help it. She was drilling me, and she just wouldn’t let it go. After Tony turned up yesterday, she just wouldn’t stop asking and she’s scary, I’m sorry.”

Peter rolled his eyes and stabbed at the peaches sitting in the little, plastic, bowl thing. He was quick to change the subject before anyone overheard.

“Anyways, speaking of yesterday, I’m trying to figure out a way to get back at him. Any ideas?”

MJ grinned evilly.

“Lots.”

***

“Dad! Hey,” Peter grinned, after he bolted out of the elevator and ran into the room to spot a familiar body working on the couch.

“Hey, Pete,” Tony answered off handedly, fiddling with the small trinket in his hands, “how was school?” He didn’t look up at him until Peter took a seat directly next to him and studied the object in his hands. The boy sat especially close, giving Tony almost no room to move his left arm, and he smiled amusedly.

“It was actually pretty good,” Peter smiled, poking at a loose screw on the object.

Then, Avery appeared on his other side and before Tony knew it, he was trapped in an unending loop of regaling stories illustrating every detail of their day. One Parker would stop to catch a breath and the other would immediately step in right where they left off and kept right on going. Tony was sure he would get whiplash from moving his head back and forth, so he just settled his gaze back on his tinkering. He added an occasional hum or nod when it was appropriate and just let the two hyperactive children tire themselves out with words.

“Interesting day,” Tony nodded when they had finally finished.

“I know right,” Peter groaned playfully, “I still can’t believe that Mr. Greene let her play on her phone while we had to do that stupid pop quiz.”

“Hm,” Tony hummed in amusement.

“What are you working on?” Avery asked curiously, resting her chin on his shoulder as she watched him work.

“You know,” Tony paused, turning the object over in his hands to examine it, “I’m not really sure.”

“Wow,” Peter laughed, standing up from the couch and stretching his back. “Hey, um, I think I’m gonna do some Spider-Man tonight. Do you know if I’m staying here, or at May’s?”

Tony dropped his hands and trailed his eyes upwards to try and recall the discussion he and May had a few days ago about that subject in particular. “I think she had planned on you coming home tonight. We should probably write up a schedule or something, so we don’t get confused.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Peter nodded, digging in his backpack to grab his suit.

“Text her just in case,” Tony responded, going back to the trinket cradled in his hand. Peter stood up and rounded the couch, ready to take off again.

“Alright, I’m gonna go down to the lab and fill up my web canisters real quick, then I’m gonna head out. Bye-”

“Hey, wait just a minute,” Tony huffed playfully, “you’re leaving now? You’re just gonna bail on your old man like that?”

Peter grinned and leaned over the back of the couch, wrapping his arms around the older man’s neck to give him a quick hug. “Sorry, Dad. I’ve been neglecting Spider-Man, and there’s been so much going on. I wanna try and get a head start on the bad guys. I’m coming over to spend the night tomorrow anyways. I’ll see you then.”

Peter took off towards the elevators with his backpack slung over one shoulder and his suit draped over the other as Tony called out to him. “Stay safe kiddo.”

“I will,” Peter called back, “love you!”

“Love you too kid! Remember curfew! And call me when you get home!”

“I know, bye!”

Tony glanced briefly to look at Avery and saw the crestfallen look on her face as she gazed down at her lap. He hoped that it was because Peter was leaving and not because she wanted to do SpiderGirl stuff.

Then the elevator doors beeped and then he was gone. Tony frowned and went back to his mindless tinkering. Taking small note of Avery’s sulking.

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Happy chuckled from the kitchen. Tony hadn’t even realized he was there to begin with. He turned his head to look at the man.

“What?” The genius asked, narrowing his eyebrows suspiciously. He could already hear the teasing tone in his driver’s voice.

“Tony Stark brought to his domestic little knees because of some teenage superhero that turned out to be his son.”

“Shut up Hogan and eat your sandwich.”

***

Avery didn’t show up. They had just finished dinner, Tony had gone down to the workshop to work on one of his projects, and Avery had said that she was going to be down soon to join him. It had already been an hour, and Tony was itching for her to show up, because he had planned on showing her a specific type of circuitry that night. In fact, he had it all set up over at one of his corner desks. She had mentioned it briefly when they were sitting on the couch, and as soon as she said it, Tony was already figuring out a lesson plan for later that night. Now, he was ready, and she hadn’t shown up.

“FRIDAY where’s Avery?” He asked, dropping his tools, and turning his gaze up to the ceiling to address the AI.

“She is in the Living Room Boss, and she is… what appears to be sulking.”

Tony doesn’t know why he panics, because Peter… or Avery, sulking isn’t something beyond normal, but he couldn’t help but piece together the kid’s odd behavior over the course of the whole afternoon. Maybe it was SpiderGirl related. But no matter how much she begged, he was not about to recreate that stupid radioactive spider just so she could go out and do what Peter did, which gave him extreme anxiety already, thank you very much. Nope, her not having spider powers was a blessing.

So, on his way up the elevator he planned out what he was going to say, making sure he left no room for argument. He made it up to the Living Room to find Avery laying on the couch, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Pepper was sitting at the other end of the couch, beside Avery’s head, and when Tony came in, she looked up at him with a worried expression and nodded her head downwards, towards the girl on the couch.

“Last I remember, I was supposed to have a little rascal joining me down in the lab,” Tony joked softly, rounding the side of the couch to take a seat near her feet. Avery’s head popped up to look at him and she forced her frown up into a smile.

“Sorry Tony. I guess I forgot; I’m just so tired from today.”

“Hmm,” Tony said, pursing his lips and shaking his head disapprovingly, “I’m not buying it. What’s up kid? I’m sure Pepper here’s real curious as to why you’re pouting on our couch as well.” He hoped it wasn’t SpiderGirl related… he crossed his fingers.

“I’m not pouting,” Avery groaned, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

Pepper ignored the comment and pets down her hair but doesn’t say anything. Neither she or Tony said anything as they waited for Avery to explain what was bothering her. It took a few minutes, but she eventually gave in and sat up.

“Fine!” She huffed. “I’m just- It’s nothing new… I just miss everyone, you know. It’s so weird, and I’m still trying to get used to none of my friends and family knowing who I am. Going to school just made me realize… that I’m not there anymore. I-I miss Aunt May, and Ned, and Pepper, and MJ…”

Tony stayed silent, because she obviously wanted to continue.

“And-and I’m scared that I don’t actually miss Mr. Stark.”

Tony had been prepared for what he was going to say for SpiderGirl and for the missing Mr. Stark, because that was a normal conversation that they had on a regular basis after her recurring nightmares. He was ready for it… before that came. He wasn’t all too sure about what to say to that. It was the complete opposite of what he was expecting to come out of her mouth.

Apparently, Avery caught on to his and Pepper’s surprise because she hurried to explain herself.

“I-I mean that… I mean that I’m getting used to having you around instead, ‘cause, like, you care about me and Peter. And-and I know that Mr. Stark cares, but he never- he never told me he cares, like you do for me and Peter, and it just makes me wonder about if he really loves me as much as you said he does. If that’s the case… then I don’t know. If-if he doesn’t then-then, I-I’ll just miss you and Peter when I go back home. I’ll always be missing somebody.”

Tony still had no words to express what he wanted to say, but thankfully Pepper was there. Pepper always knew what to say.

“Alright, listen closely sweetheart,” she started, wrapping an arm over Avery’s shoulders when she sat up, pulling her closer, “Tony Stark is a very complicated man, more complicated than any man you will ever meet, I promise you that. You just have to learn how to read him. Your Mr. Stark isn’t any different than Tony. The day you were sent here was the same day that Tony had the dream about Peter dying just like you did. Did you know that it wasn’t until, what was it,” Pepper looked up at Tony quizzically for a moment, “Saturday that he gave Peter his first hug?”

“Well technically it was Friday, if you consider him falling asleep on me during our movie a hug,” Tony added.

Pepper nodded affirmatively and looking back down at Avery. “To you, they may act different, but they feel the same things.” That’s when Pepper paused. She straightened her back and shot a quick glance at Tony before continuing. “Now, he won’t ever admit this out loud, but Tony Stark is actually deathly afraid of physical affection-”

“Hey now,” Tony interrupted, lowering his eyebrows, but Pepper continued as if he wasn’t even there.

“-He didn’t give me a real, honest hug until almost a month into our relationship. He’s only hugged Rhodey a handful of times, and I’m pretty sure that if he hadn’t had that dream about Peter, he would have never been comfortable with what Peter did.” Pepper lowers her voice to a soft whisper and Tony stays uncharacteristically silent. “Another secret though… he absolutely loves it; he’s just a scared little boy deep inside, and he doesn’t know what to do about it.”

“Pep,” Tony almost begged, looking desperately uncomfortable as she spilled all his secrets.

“Hush Tony, she needs to hear this,” Pepper hums and tightens her hold on the girl in her arms. “Like I said, Tony Stark is a complicated man, and he can never figure out what he truly wants until he realizes what it would be like if he couldn’t have it. Tony has changed drastically over the course of the past couple weeks, and it was all just because of that dream he had… but your Mr. Stark lived through it. Imagine how happy he’s going to be to see you again. And imagine how happy he’ll be when he realizes that you’re his daughter. He’ll be even more happy to see you than Tony was to see Peter Friday.”

Tears pooled in Avery’s eyes as she looked up at Pepper, just to check and make sure there wasn’t a single hint of dishonesty in her features, and Tony awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Um-Um it’s true. I didn’t realize how much I cared about Peter until I thought I lost him. And after that, I… I didn’t want to waste any more time. Look at what happened because of that. Your Mr. Stark is going to be so, so happy to see you.”

The tears fell down her cheeks and she bit down on her lip hard.

“I…” she tried, opening her mouth, but no words coming out, “...I just- I just miss him so much.”

Tony scooted closer and threw an arm around Pepper, so Avery was cushioned between the both of them in a protective little cocoon.

“I know princess, I know. I promise that I’ll get you back home. I promise

Chapter Text

“Pepper! Pepperpepperpepper!”

Pepper’s head jolted up from where she was studying the contract on her tablet. The shouts were abrupt, and it nearly gave her a heart attack at the underlying urgency in their tone. She had known that the teens were due home soon, that’s actually why she was there in the Living Room, but she wasn’t expecting for an ambush. She looked up and watched as both Peter and Avery come to a halting stop right in front of the surprised woman. Her eyes were wide as she suspiciously acknowledged them. She wasn’t often the one they sought out as soon as they got home from school, and certainly never so pressingly. They were up to something.

“Where's Tony?” Avery huffed with a wide grin, whipping her head around the room manically to see if she could spot the genius lounging in his usual locations.

“He's down in the workshop now, actually,” Pepper responds with an arched brow. She glanced down at her tablet one more time before looking back up at them briefly. “What has you two so crazy?” She asked, side-eying them suspiciously as she slowly circled around them, so she had a clear path to the kitchen. Peter and Avery trail after her like helpless ducklings, immediately jumping into their animated explanation. Pepper grinned to herself at just how ‘Tony’ the two were. She honestly didn’t know how she was still sane with three of them bouncing around the penthouse, energy radiating off of them at all hours of the day.

“We need your help!” Peter supplied excitedly, an ear-splitting grin plastered on his face as he scrambled up onto one of the barstools while Pepper messed around in the kitchen.

“Yeah!” Avery nodded emphatically. “Remember how Tony embarrassed Peter in front of the school while he was in his pajamas two days ago?”

Pepper nodded, releasing an irritated sigh, because goodness that was a PR nightmare. It had only been about two and a half days and her assistant was still getting harassed with calls, insisting on knowing who this ‘Parker’ kid was. If she didn’t convince Tony to get on top of it soon, she didn’t even know what story the press will concoct. Goodness knows they didn’t need another ‘alien affair’ conspiracy going around again. Heck, she really should have gotten on top of this the very day Tony had done it, but she’d just been so busy.

Her plate was piled high with SI mergers and product releases. Not to mention how stressful it was to plan a wedding all while maintaining some order of semblance in a household full of superheroes and overly hyper, eccentric geniuses. And well, she probably got a little too distracted and veered off from her primary job: keeping Tony in line… at least somewhat. There was no knowing with that man.

In her defense though, Tony had been doing very well lately- actually… that really should have been her first sign that something was indeed going to go down very soon. Maybe, she assumed that with Peter and Avery hanging around him constantly he would continue attempting the role of mature adult-figure, and recently, father, that he had mercilessly been trying to achieve. And, yes, he did very well with maintaining that front with the kids. Pepper had to give him credit for that. Tony just wasn’t naturally a mature person, so a relapse every now and again should have been expected.

So, she shouldn’t have been all that surprised when she saw the articles and the pictures her friend down in PR had sent to her. It was unprecedented for Tony to go that long without doing something. So, really, it was inevitable for the festering of mischief to blow up right in Pepper’s face; she really, really should have seen it coming.

At least over the past few years, the man’s mischief could be labeled as harmless and kid-friendly… most of the time. He seemed to mature slightly when he realized that children were faithfully obsessing over every little thing he did and said, just as they usually did with their idols. So, she thanked whatever God was out there that Tony decided to stick to the somewhat harmless call for attention. If she could even call it that. And it didn’t seem to be an act of immaturity either. She would probably label it as careless if she had to categorize it, but out of all the other categories she could be having to put it under… she was somewhat relieved. Perhaps Tony really had matured… a little bit.

“Yeah-yeah! So, like, our friend MJ gave us this great idea on how to get back at him! And we need your help!” Peter insisted, grabbing for the apple Pepper was insistently offering him.

Pepper raised her eyebrows in surprise and then narrowed them, pursing her lips together. She didn’t respond immediately, so Avery took that as an invitation to continue with their plan.

“So, like, everything is literally all over the news, right? So, we're just assuming that people are sending you tons and tons of interview requests for him. I mean, basically every news channel is trying to find out who Peter is, or why Tony was all of a sudden seen on patrol with Spiderman.”

Pepper nodded slowly. Boy, did she know. She couldn’t even count on two hands how many late-night shows Tony had been offered to guest star in. Heck, some of them weren’t even in America.

“So, we were thinking that maybe you could force him to do one of the interviews. Like, Ellen or something. So that I can jump out and scare him on camera! Wouldn't that be so funny?!” Peter grinned, taking a large bite out of his apple.

A slight grin crept up the side of Pepper's face and she chuckled slightly. “Goodness, Pete. You have a death wish, don't you? He's going to kill you when you do that.”

This was going to be good.

“So, you'll help?!” Avery grinned, both teens completely ignoring Pepper’s warning of potential death.

“Yes, I suppose I will… as long as you're okay with it Peter. After this,” she gestures openly “… people will know about you. Of course, we can hold back on the bigger details, but… you will receive a bit more attention from the rest of the world. Are you okay with that?”

“I mean,” Peter paused, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought about it, “I guess. I'll have to get it over with eventually anyway. And there's already a few cameras that stalk me after school. Happy’s even had to push them away a few times. And-and You and Dad are always telling me, for when I’m older, that when something gets out like this it's best to address it and take control of the situation before things get out of hand. Plus! We can figure out a way to prove that me and Spiderman are two different people, ‘cause, well, it's kinda obvious now. You know, since Tony Stark doesn't usually hang around with nobodies in his spare time. Eventually someone is bound to put the pieces together after what happened this past week. It’s not really that hard.”

“Fair enough,” Pepper grinned. “Ooh, this is going to be exciting. I'll call Ellen up right now and set it up. She's been dying to do a one on one with Tony for forever.”

And just like that, there plan was in motion.

***

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Peter whispered to Avery, hiding behind the corner with their backs pressed to the wall. Sure, he’d spoken to the man a few times, and he’d made a fool of himself while fanboying over him when they first me, but… he was kinda scary.

“Yeah, I think he's pretty cool. Him and Tony are good friends now, and he’s helping with finding my world. Plus, I don't think Tony would leave him here with us if he were dangerous anymore.” Avery shrugged, peeking around the corner to get a glimpse of their target. “Look, he’s just reading a book; harmless.”

“But-but dont you remember what he did to Clint two days ago. He almost gave him a heart attack,” Peter hissed, grabbing onto Avery's wrist and pulling her back into the hall, out of sight of the man in the Living Room. “Where did he even get that knife from? It appeared literally out of nowhere- which, yeah, was freaking awesome- but Clint screamed like a little girl, and I’ve never seen him get scared of anything.”

“Oh please,” she rolled her eyes, “we both know Tony had a part in that. Loki doesn't do things unless he’s provoked… It's not a coincidence that Clint just so happened to bomb Tony's lab with silly string just the day before. Think about it Pete.”

Peter paused to consider it, opening his mouth to retort, but coming up with no argument. Loki seemed great, and he was all for giving people second chances, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t any less scary. He just- he never smiled. And the fact that he was able to randomly summon weapons at will was a little unsettling. Though, if his dad trusted him, well, there was no reason that he shouldn’t. He’ll just have to talk to the god a bit more; get to know him. Then he might not be so scary.

“Fair enough…”

“Children! I can hear you, I am not deaf!” An authoritative voice exclaimed from the room over. Peters eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth. He really hoped there wasn’t a knife.

Avery jumped out of hiding and grinned sheepishly at the man casually sitting on the couch with a book propped in his hands.

“Sorry Mr. Loki, sir. We just um- we just have a favor to ask you,” Avery stuttered, becoming increasingly nervous with the closer she got to him. Peter followed behind her and jumped into the conversation immediately. It was his favor to ask after all.

“We know you like doing pranks, so, like, would you want to help us pull one on my dad?”

“On your father? Tony?” Loki raised an eyebrow, finally looking up from his book to stare at them inquisitively. Both teens nodded numbly, swallowing thickly as they waited for some type of response other than the usual indifference from the god. Eventually the trickster’s smile forms and it's a little heart stopping to see his pearly whites on full display. Peter repressed his startled squeak when he realized how horrifying the smile was; like something from a horror movie almost. Peter decided that it wasn’t so scary that the man never smiled. Yeah, no, it was less scary when he wasn’t smiling.

“I'd love to,” Loki responded with what seemed like an evil chuckle; conniving.

“Cool-cool-cool,” Peter sniffed trying to act put off and totally not terrified of Loki's wide grin. “Just to clarify… you can do that magic thing where you turn into other people, right? I'm not really sure if Thor was just making that up or not.”

“Of course, young Stark. What do you need me to do?”

***

It was on. Everything was going to be perfect.

As everyone suspected, Tony whined and grumbled about it from the day Pepper told him to the day of the actual interview, which was for approximately 2 days. Monday evening is when they were scheduled to shoot. Pepper, being the amazing woman she was, gave Tony a good ol’ lecture when he outright refused. She went all out, going on and on about his irresponsible action and putting Peter's identity at risk, which eventually guilt-tripped the man into doing the interview. Not that Peter was even remotely happy about taking advantage of his father’s love for him or anything… but after the embarrassment he caused for him… Peter felt he deserved a little payback.

Pepper had even gotten him and Avery a personal meeting with The Ellen DeGeneres herself! Sure, his dad was Ironman, but meeting Ellen? Geez. That’s, like, wow- it was freaking awesome! After Pepper had calmed the two of them down, and they had both finished with their fanboying(girling) they got down to business. And Ellen absolutely loved their idea. Of course she did, she was literally famous for her pranks.

Obviously, they didn't really give her all the details. You know, secret identity and all that, but she got the gist of it.

The plan was for ‘Spiderman’, helpfully played by Loki, to hide inside the little box thing between the two interview chairs. Then Peter would sneak up behind Tony whenever seemed like the best opportunity to cut in. Preferably when Tony inevitably started talking about how much of an angel he was, or demon… either one worked. Then! He would signal Loki and they'd give Tony a DOUBLE scare! It was going to be absolutely epic! And his dad was totally going to ground him for the rest of his life… if he didn’t kill him first that is.

When the interview got closer though, he started getting worried that the scare might give his dad a heart attack or something, because the man talked quite a bit about his heart problems, and he wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be meant as a joke or as a legit issue... But Pepper assured him that it would be fine, and that Tony was just dramatic, as always. He just wanted to be sure, ‘cause, well, he didn’t want to be that kid who killed Ironman.

And he and Avery had been excitedly waiting for days, and hopefully his dad wouldn't catch on too early, because, well, he was a smart man, and Ellen was famous for her scares and the pranks she pulled. That was probably why the man was so defiant of going on the show in the first place. So that was another thing to worry about, because Tony's probably going to go into it expecting something to happen, which was going to make his job a bajillion times harder.

They crossed their fingers and just hoped it would work.

***

“Pepper please,” Tony begged while some girl fused with his hair backstage, “why Ellen? You could have picked any interviewer, and you picked her?”

“You like Ellen,” Pepper replied innocently, tapping away on her phone as her fiance grumbled and whined in the chair beside her.

“Yes, she's great, but not when I'm the one she's harassing for information.” Tony grumbled.

“Tony she's not going to be harassing you,” Pepper sighed, “you already know all the questions she's going to ask you. You don't even have to stay for the mini games, she has a backup guest just in case you didn't want to.”

“I don't want to,” Tony supplied indignantly.

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” Pepper sighed affectionately.

“I wouldn't be Tony Stark if I wasn’t.”

The girl messing with his hair disappeared and Pepper rolled her eyes at him, going back to whatever she was doing on her phone.

“Hopefully Peter doesn't turn out to be as difficult as you. Goodness, I can only handle one Tony Stark.”

Tony smiled goofily at the mention of Peter. Then he reached up to ruffle up his hair, completely ruining the style the hair dresser had given him.

“Alright, so I just need to go out there and do what again?” Tony asked, rocking his head to the right to stare at Pepper questioningly.

Pepper rolled her eyes, but she looked up at him anyways. “You go out there, answer the questions. Make sure to point out that Peter and Spiderman are two different people… subtly. And under no circumstances are you to reveal that Peter is your son. This is serious Tony,” she warned, “this is about Peter, you need to take this seriously.”

She already knew he would. He always took things about Peter seriously. She just needed to make sure she emphasized that… just in case.

“Got it,” he dismissed, adjusting his suit jacket. “Time for Dad’s dramatic entrance.”

Pepper snorted and rolled her eyes.

***

“And I'd like to introduce a very special guest.” Ellen grinned, looking into the camera as Tony sat backstage waiting for his cue. His knee was jumping, and his palms were sweaty.

For some reason he was nervous. He really shouldn't be nervous, but he was. It was like some weird spider had crawled under his skin and he just couldn't stop jittering. Geez! Peter’s infected him! First it was his contagious, cuddly affection and now it was his jittering nervousness. What next?

It was honestly ridiculous, because he’d done stuff like this before. Though, all the interviews he’d done in the past, which were limited in number, were about whatever new prototype he was working on, or a new development at SI. Heck, he’d even had a few about the Avengers and his Ironman adventures. He loved those interviews. He would be able to go onto one of those science-y talk shows and just talk, talk, talk, talk the whole time, and that was exactly what he was supposed to do. This, though? He wasn't really used to talking about his personal life and his personal relationships, which is all this interview was, basically.

He was really starting to regret getting out of that car in his pajamas.

“Most of you may know him as the owner as the largest tech conglomerate company on Earth, but he's better known as-” Ellen gets cut off by an unplanned blasting of music, the sharp sound of a famous bass rhythm sounded through the large room. She furrowed her eyebrows in slight amusement and glanced around the room as the lights flickered dramatically.

She rolled her eyes when the musical lyrics finished the sentence for her, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

‘I am Iron Man’

The crowd went wild. That wasn’t even an exaggeration.

Tony grinned down at his phone and stood from his seat, adjusting his jacket again and walking out onto the stage with a smirk playing on his face. Boy, he forgot how much he loved public appearances. The rock music continued in the background to serve as his surprise entrance as he lifted both hands in the air for his signature gesture. Peace to the world. The crowd cheered louder.

“Tony Stark everyone!” Ellen announced, grinning while she stood up to clap and gesture at Tony as he acknowledged the crowd with a showy bow before taking his seat.

He pulled out his phone and messed around for just a moment before the music shut down and the lights stopped flickering.

“I should have expected something like that from you,” Ellen laughed, nodding to the phone he was stuffing back into his pocket.

“Yeah, well, I don't do many interviews. So, I gotta make ‘em count, right? Element of surprise. And, you gotta admit, that was the perfect opportunity to use that song.” He smirked. The crowd cheered louder; if that were even possible. Shouting and screaming to try and get his attention, but he held out a hand and gestured for them to calm down with an amused smile. Immediately, the crowd hushed, as if overtaken by a spell.

Pepper sure wasn’t going to like his newly inflated ego when they got back home.

“So, how's life treating you?” Ellen asked conversationally after the crowd died down enough so that they could hear each other while speaking at a volume below shouting.

Tony's brows furrowed just slightly before returning his expression to a perfect state of indifference. That wasn't one of the questions on the list. He supposed that it was just Ellen trying to be conversational, so he decided to be his usual charming self.

“That's a loaded question.” He responds immediately, waving his hand in a vague gesture and leaning against the arm of the chair, smiling charmingly.

Ellen laughs, as does the rest of the audience and she jumps right into the interview type part of the show.

“Anyway, I'm just glad I finally got you here. Pepper said that you were being especially reluctant to come, how'd she convince you?”

Tony shrugged and shot a flashy grin over to the audience distractedly when he heard a few women in the front row whispering about him. “She threatened to ground me. Take away my toys. You know, the usual.”

The conversation went on comfortably for quite a while, and Tony immediately fell into his old Tony Stark persona. Answering questions with vague and comedic answers. It was fun. He didn't know why he was so nervous about it before.

Then they got into the beef of why he'd come. And he was fairly sure he was ready.

“So, you've been kinda internet famous lately. Or… more internet famous, should I say.” Ellen smiled, gripping a frame of sorts in her right hand as she addressed the last part to the audience

Tony nodded amusedly and she continued.

She lifted the frame to reveal the oh so famous photo of him in his Ironman suit holding a little girls hand while walking down the sidewalk, with Spiderman dawning the girls other side. He recalled the memory with a smile and chuckled slightly at the horrendously dramatic filter covering the image. He absolutely loved the picture, be he hated the fact that it was in the public’s hands, because wow, that was a real smile he was wearing in that picture. And he didn’t really like how well the photographer had captured his genuine glee for the moment.

“So, this is a really great picture of you here,” Ellen teased, “you and your buddy Spiderman. And who is this little girl here? I haven't received context for what went on and Twitter is blowing up, trying to figure it out.”

A few tweets were displayed on the large screen above. As if proving her claim.

“If this is what people are concerned about nowadays, they need to get out more,” Tony grumbled adjusting himself in his seat as he prepared an answer in his head. It would have to be something witty and indifferent to make sure he did not reveal any of his dirty secrets. “But, um, yeah. Spidey came to me that afternoon asking if I'd like to join him in Queens, and I didn't really have anything else going on, ‘cause my intern Peter decided to take the day off.” He sniffed and lifted a hand to rub his nose. There, perfectly vague, Pepper should be happy.

“And we came across this kid wandering around on the sidewalk boohoo crying. So, Spidey jumps down to help her, and I go down too to see what was going on. She immediately latches to my leg and refuses to let go. So, yeah, I had to walk her back to where she came from.”

Ellen nods and turns the picture back around to study it more herself. A small smile lifts onto her face.

“This really is a nice picture though, how close are you and Spiderman. I remember you helping him with that ferry a while ago, too.”

Tony goes on for a while. Answering questions about his pal Spidey and all the stupid stuff he did… like the ferry Theeennn they got into Peter. God help him.

“Okay, okay, so this next one you really have to explain to me.” Ellen laughs.

A picture shows up on the large screen above them and Tony cocks his head up to see a high definition photo of him decked out in his pajamas and sandals, standing out in front of Peter's school. A series of pictures go through a short slideshow of the events that went down and Tony snorted when a picture perfectly brought out Peter's terrified and distraught face as he retreated from the scene.

“And look,” Ellen smiled, “we even have a video and it still doesn't make sense.”

The video plays and Tony watches with an amused smile. He wasn't embarrassed, not at all. He’d done much, much worse, with significantly less clothing. This was nothing.

“So, what in the world was going on?” Ellen laughed.

Tony rubbed his knuckles along his chin then tapped his lips as his smile continued to creep up the sides of his face.

“Well, short story; the kid was being a brat that morning.”

The audience laughed and Tony looked back up at the photos fondly.

“And you could sorta hear in the video what he did. That brat thought he could get away with flipping me off first thing in the morning… He’s learned his lesson now, though.”

***

Peter readied himself backstage as Tony answered some questions about Spiderman. He wrung his hands together nervously as he watched Tony and Ellen converse on the screen. Avery stood beside him, just as jittery as he was, and Pepper stood off somewhere in the background talking on her phone.

Then, Ellen brought up the pictures and video of the occurrence that started this whole mess. He watched as one of the cameras zoomed in on Tony’s face while the man watched the scene in amusement. Peter would never tell him, but that definitely wasn’t his signature ‘press smile’.

“Peter? You almost ready?” One of the backstage people asked him with a wide grin on her face. She looked just about as giddy as he felt.

He nodded his head and waited for the perfect opportunity to start creeping out. He glanced back at Pepper to see her hang up her call and fix him with an excited smile and a thumbs up. He released a shaky breath and pressed a flat hand to his stomach. He was getting really nervous. It felt like the butterflies had turned into large birds, and he hoped he wouldn’t end up chickening out at the last moment. Loki would most definitely not appreciate that.

It took a couple moments, but eventually he was ready. He just had to wait for the perfect, most ironic moment.

He watched and he waited. Then, he saw Ellen look straight into the camera and wink subtly just before she asked her next question.

“He can’t be all that bad,” Ellen laughed.

Tony rolled his eyes and admitted to it, and Peter jumped into action. He signaled Loki, meaning he had 10 seconds to make it across the stage if they wanted to time it just right.

A smug grin inched across his face as he tiptoed across the stage, hoping the audience wouldn’t give him away. He glanced over at them and spotted their wide eyes, pointing and gaping at him. He knew that at any moment they were going to start doing something to make his dad suspicious. So, he held up a finger and pressed it to his lips in hopes that they would get the message, and he creeped closer to Tony. Goodness he hoped his dad wasn’t as perceptive as he thought he was.

Ellen was an absolute master at the pranking thing apparently- of course she was- because she didn’t even glance at him as he snuck up closer and closer to his father. His heart was beating so loud he was surprised that Tony couldn’t actually hear him coming.

“So, it seems like you’re pretty close to Peter? He is a teenager though, so he probably gives you a good run for your money. And you have a lot of money.” Ellen laughs, and Tony snorts.

“You could say that. I swear that kid nearly gives me a heart attack on a daily basis with all the crap he pulls on me.”

Perfect.

“RAHH!” Peter shouts right next to Tony’s ear, slamming his hands down hard on the arm of the chair to send that extra jolt through the man for added effect. Loki jumps out as well, shouting in perfect unison with Peter as he pops out of the box.

He donned the Spiderman suit and held out his hands in a cheesy scare gesture. Peter could swear he saw the wide grin through his mask.

“Oh my ****** god. *****.” Tony released a series of several curses. Clutching a hand to his chest and whipping his head around, ready to attack. He swiveled out of the chair in one smooth movement, into an immediate defensive stance and Peter took that as his cue to run. Giggling the entire way backstage. Loki jumped out of his hiding spot as well and ran after him, hoping to escape Tony before the man’s wrath could be brought down upon him.

“PARKER!” Tony shouts. Releasing another string of curse words that Peter had never even heard before. He’s sure that his entire reaction was going to have to be bleeped out so they could actually show it on TV. It was better than he could have hoped for.

You could practically see the steam coming out of Tony’s ears as he glanced between the retreating figure of Peter and Spiderman, but he didn’t say anything about it. He still stood with a hand to his chest as it heaved up and down with his panicked breaths. He spun in a circle, examining every nook and cranny of the stage just to make sure no more children were going to jump out and scare him. He finally turned back to look at Ellen.

“This was all your idea, wasn’t -” He pauses, furrows his brows and scowls. He spins on his heel and storms off the stage while bellowing: “PEPPER!”

Avery’s cackling so hard she nearly falls over in her seat. She watches the screen as it shows Tony storming off the stage angrily, leaving a laughing Ellen to watch him leave. The woman turns her attention to address the audience and smiles.

“That was probably the best scare we’ve ever had. My goodness.”

Avery laughed some more, and she glanced over when she saw Tony storm into the backstage viewing room. He settled his fiery gaze on her and Avery repressed a giggle.

“Where’s your idiotic brother?” He asked.

Avery didn’t even hesitate to throw Peter under the bus. She pointed to a little corner that Peter and Loki had fled to and Tony followed her directions. She laughed even harder when she heard Peter’s surprised squeak as Tony dragged him away.

***

“Alright, I don’t even know if he’s coming back. We might have to cut to a commercial-” Ellen stops when the audience starts cheering again. She glanced over to the entrance and saw Tony strutting back onto the stage with his usual calm demeanor, dragging a giggly Peter Parker along behind him. He bows to the crowd again, as if he were coming out onto the stage for the first time and Peter is forced to follow his movements. The boy smiles shyly at the camera before Tony’s tugging him towards the chairs again.

He gently shoves Peter down onto the chair, shifting him towards the end so he could take a seat as well. The chair was small, so they were kinda sorta smushed together.

“We can bring out another chair,” Ellen offered, when she saw Peter get squashed against the arm of the seat. “Let’s bring out another-”

“No,” Tony waves her off. “This is part of his punishment. He can sit here, be smushed and deal with it.” He grinned smugly down at the kid sandwiched uncomfortably in the chair.

A couple laughs pass through the audience and Tony smiles.

“So, here’s the brat.” he presents, gesturing to Peter for introductions. Peter shyly waves at the audience and the cameras, hoping he doesn’t look too ridiculous as he did so. He wasn’t really prepared to be on camera for more than possibly 10 seconds.

Ellen grins at him and Tony narrows his eyes at her suspiciously. “You’ve already met him, haven’t you?”

Ellen nods, still chuckling, and Peter shrinks back with a sheepish grin when Tony turns his head to glare down at him.

“It was revenge!” Peter defended. “You embarrassed me in front of my whole school, and the internet! I had to get back at you somehow!”

Tony snorted and turned away from him, looking back over at Ellen. “Let’s get on with this. We need to leave so I can ground him for a month.”

“A month?!” Peter squawked.

Tony ignored him and the audience laughed again, as did Ellen. So, Peter hunched over and leaned his elbow against the arm of the chair to cradle his head, holding a pout as he traced random patterns into the chair arm with his finger.

Peter listened to the questions and the vague answers his father would give regarding him or Spiderman. Ellen even got him involved a little bit in one of the questions, but the longer he talked the more he realized that he was on TV! And that sorta freaked him out a little bit. So, he eventually shrunk back into the seat, squishing himself so far into the chair that Tony had to readjust so the kid’s shoulder wasn’t pressed awkwardly into his ribcage.

Finally, the interview seemed to be reaching its end, and Peter was beyond happy at the prospect of getting off that stage.

“Okay, I have a question for Peter,” Ellen finally said.

Peter snapped to attention and wiggled around to sit up in the seat. Tony adjusted himself again to give him some room, so he was able to sit up and face Ellen. Peter really hoped that he didn’t look like too much of a doofus while doing that.

“How well do you get along with Tony? It’s obviously pretty well.”

Peter smiled sheepishly and he messed with his hands above his lap. “I think we get along pretty good.” He nods, turning his head to the side, as if looking for Tony’s confirmation. The man just shrugged and gestured for him to go ahead while he threw his arm over the back of the chair and leaned back to get comfortable.

“Pretty good? That’s it?” Ellen laughed.

“Well I-I don’t know. We just do stuff… like, we build some stuff, and he teaches me about his cars and his suits. Oh! And he brought me down to R&D this one time, and that was pretty awesome!”

“Oh? So, you know all his secrets then?”

“Well, yeah, of course!” Peter scoffed sarcastically. “Tony Stark totally trusts a dumb teenager with all his top top secrets.”

“Kiddo, you work on my suits, that’s more clearance than even the Avengers have.” Tony rolled his eyes amusedly.

Peter whips his head to the side to stare at him. “Your suits are top secret?!”

Tony nodded his head indifferently, and Peter’s eyes bugged out of his skull in a panic.

“I told Ned about your suits! I’m sorry! You didn’t tell me not to tell anyone!”

Tony rolled his eyes again and Ellen laughed. “Kid, I don’t think your nerd friend is going to go off and make his own Iron Man suit to terrorize the city. He doesn’t have enough guts.”

Peter narrowed his eyes playfully. “I’m gonna tell him you said that.”

“Sure, go right ahead. Let’s see what dear ol’ Ted can do to me.”

Ellen continues to snicker, and Peter seems to realize that he’s still on TV and his eyes widen comically… again. He’s probably going to be stuck with bug eyes forever.

***

They didn’t stay like that forever, thank goodness. But when he watches it air the next day, he can’t help but cringe at all the childish faces he makes throughout the second half of the interview. He wanted to die.

“You’re watching this again?” Tony asked, falling onto the couch beside him as Peter uses the remote to rewind and fast forward through the interview. He’d watched it who knows how many times.

“You know, I’m starting to think that you actually like seeing yourself on TV.” Tony laughs.

Peter groans miserably and throws his head back against the couch as the video returns to normal speed. “No, it’s the exact opposite! Look at all those weird faces I’m making!” Peter cries, sitting back up to gesture to the TV dramatically.

“He’s been mumbling and crying about it for almost an hour,” Loki chimes in from across the Living room with his nose still stuck in that novel he had been reading earlier in the week. Tony’s still questioning how the kids were able to get the god to turn against him, but he supposed it couldn’t have been that hard considering how much effort it took him to convince the god to scare Barton.

“C’mon kid,” Tony nudged him with his shoulder. “It’s really not that bad. Did you not see the face I made when you scared the crap out of me?”

“Yeah, but your Tony Stark,” Peter argued, “people already know you. People don’t know me, and look at all those kiddy faces I’m making. Everyone’s probably thinking that I’m some big baby! Look!” Peter gestures wildly to the screen as the camera zooms in on his face. “I’m literally pouting!”

“You haven’t seen the news then I’m guessing?” Tony deadpans, throwing his arm across the back of the couch… just in case… you know. Peter wanted a hug or something at some point.

“No,” Peter breathed, looking horrified. “God, what are they saying? Is it bad? Please tell me it's not bad?”

“It’s not!” Avery supplies excitedly, scampering into the room with Peter’s phone in her hand. “Look at your notifications! You’ve got like a bazillion more followers on Twitter and Instagram.”

Peter grabbed for the phone as Avery took a seat on his other side. He scrolled so violently through his phone that Tony was worried he might actually have to get the kid a new one by the time he was finished with it.

So, while Peter was distracted, Tony reached for the remote so he could switch the channel.

“Oh my god.” Peter squeaked, pressing a hand to his mouth as he stared down at the device in his hands.

“Yep!” Tony grinned, ticking up the volume as a cheesy afternoon anchor went on about the interview. Peter’s head snapped up to stare at the TV when he heard his name mentioned while two reporters talked excitedly about what happened.

“Oh my god.” He squeaked again, pressing himself into the back of the couch. “Oh goodness, I’m famous now, aren’t I? Oh god, I’m famous.” He groaned. He didn’t think he liked that very much.

“Sadly, that comes with the territory kiddo,” Tony supplied reassuringly, letting his arm drop to the kid’s shoulders so he could pat his arm.

“At least I’m just an intern, right?” Peter asked, looking over at Tony, “it would be worse if people knew I was actually your son. So, this is good, right?”

“Right,” Tony nodded. “And I think this will be good for you. That way you're not immediately thrown into the deep end when we announce you as heir. By then you should have a bit of a handle on this whole idea. Maybe call it a practice run; feel it out.”

“Y-yeah,” Peter nodded, looking more confident about the idea. “Yeah, I think this is a good idea actually. That way if I make a fool of myself it won’t be as big of a deal, right?”

Tony nodded again. “Yes, and all this hype will die down soon. Especially after Pepper releasing an incredibly detailed threatening letter to give you at least some semblance of peace. I don’t think too many reporters are going to be outright approaching you for a while.”

Peter nodded his head numbly and looked back down at his phone. “School’s gonna be crap tomorrow.”

“Yep, it will,” Tony confirmed with a small chuckle. He pulled away from Peter and stood from the couch. “And you’re still totally grounded by the way.”

“What?” Peter squawked, “I thought you forgave me.”

“For nearly giving me a heart attack while I was in the middle of an interview?” Tony turned around to look at him as if he were crazy. “I don’t think so.” Then he disappeared around the corner and Peter slumped into the cushions behind him while he watched the ‘not actually legit’ news. This kinda sucked.

“He is joking Peter. He wants you to know that. You are not grounded.” FRIDAY announced after a couple moments.

Peter couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips.

He may hate the idea of being in the spotlight and being the center of attention... but if that’s what came with having Tony as his dad, then, well… it was totally worth it.

Chapter Text

Tony wakes up drenched in his own sweat for the third time that week. The nightmares had been getting progressively worse, and he didn't know what to do about it. It was the same one over and over again. And no matter how many times he told himself that none of it was real, and that Thanos was gone, it always left him clutching at his chest, hoping that it would somehow keep his heart from beating out of his body while he was busy heaving in breathfuls of air.

It was the same dream that had overwhelmed his thoughts ever since the first appearance, but this time… Avery was there too… reminding him of the promise he had failed to keep while Peter slipped from his hold. It was the same stinkin’ dream! Time after time, and he was getting sick of it! He didn’t know if it was another stupid dream prophesy of his, where he was seeing into an alternate dimension, or if he was just being paranoid.

So, after a few more restless nights, he spoke to Loki about it briefly.

The first time he had the dream it left a sour taste in his mouth and a pit of dread settled in his stomach that he hoped would dissipate relatively soon… but it didn’t; and the night terrors just got worse and worse. He’d have them here and there, typically one in a week. So, after it got so bad where he had to deal with it for three nights in a row, he threw all dignity to the wind and sought out the God for another good ‘heart-to-heart’ as Clint called it.

Loki hadn't helped, instead, the genius had simply received a pitying smile and a shrug of the shoulders. The best theory they could formulate was stress. Stress about, well… everything going on, which in a way made sense. Loki was a very intelligent and educated person, but psychology, and translating prophetic dreams seemed to be where he drew the line.

Tony had worked night and day, using every available resource he had, but nothing seemed to appease the heavy weight he could feel resting on his shoulders. Then, slowly, the stressful going-ons of his day-to-day life began to work itself out, and his ‘stress’ excuse was becoming less and less reliable.

The papers involving his and Peter's relation had been done and dealt with. His will had been changed, and Peter's name was officially Peter Benjamin-Parker Stark. There... done and over. And on top of that, the press seemed to take Pepper’s lawsuit threat very seriously. There hadn’t been a single picture of Peter released to the public and the kid was able to get by with a relatively calm life. Two less thing to stress about. Yet, he was still stressing.

Peter had officially reverted to calling him ‘Dad' full time too, and it seemed that everyone was finally becoming accustomed to the abnormally-normal title. Nobody teased them anymore either, which was far more than a blessing. No more soft glances when Peter asked him to help with his Calculus homework. No more soft coos in the background when both Peter and Avery fell asleep against him during a movie after a long day at school. It was normal, and it was one less thing for him to stress about. Yet, he still stressed.

Avery seemed to settle in quite nicely, and she fit right into his and Peter's routine. May and Pepper were sure to take time with her so Peter and him could have a little much-needed ‘guy time' every once in a while, and Avery seemed to be just as happy to spend time with the two women. The number of nightmares had significantly decreased with both Peter and Avery, and the two teens were just all around happier. They bickered and fought as if they were just regular siblings and Tony always felt like the exasperated parent when he had to listen to their lengthy, passionate, yet petty arguments. The kids were fine, they were getting along, and Avery seemed to be coping with her new life. These were all things he no longer had to stress about, yet he still stressed.

Even the search for Avery's home was going much better than they had planned. He had met with Strange and Wong one afternoon while the kids were at school and all they had were positive reports to give him. Loki even seemed surprised by the outcome as well when he passed on the news. They weren't any closer to finding the correct universe, which was to be expected, but they had several theories working in tandem that would help to locate it, or at least communicate with it. So, yeah, there wasn't much need to stress about that either. Yet, here he was, suffering from what they assumed as a recurring stress-induced nightmare night after night.

Heck, even his relationship with both Loki and Bucky had significantly developed over the past couple weeks, which brought him much, much less anxiety when seeing them around his home. He and Bucky had bonded over the man's obnoxious curiosity towards whatever piece of machinery Tony was working on while he waited on the couch for the kids to return home from school. And once the soldier got him talking about Peter and Avery, or older machinery, it was as if they were best friends. Apparently, Bucky had been quite the ‘car person’ back in the day. And soon, Tony was able to look past the unhealthy tension that had been created between them. Especially after Bucky's admittance to how close he actually was with Howard before his death, recounting the moments when he’d bother the genius man about his new inventions until he was kicked out of the room. Much like he did to Tony after they became more acquainted. And, well, the man was all around a nice guy, and he had a good, innocent heart. Tony knew deep down that Bucky had never been the one to kill his mother, it was the Winter Soldier. So, once they got past that little hurdle, tings became pretty great.

Then, there was Loki. Surprisingly, they got along like two peas in a pod. In such a way that it actually made both Thor and Rhodey jealous at times. They didn't even really talk, except about the time space junk and the weird anomaly dream crap he was dealing with, but they seemed to have that weird knack for thriving off of other people's annoyance, and they found much joy in testing the other heroes’ patience. After the incident with Clint, and the interview that Loki had a part in playing in, Tony realized just how much trouble their combined tendency of mischief could create. So, now Tony had two new friends, both of whom he used to hate with growing passion. Yet, here he was stressing about… something.

Then the Tower emptied out and the Avengers left to go back to the Compound. It was a joyous day in the Stark household. Yet a little sad for the two youngsters who had grown used to the constant company, but Tony was beyond ecstatic. Thor, Bruce, and Loki were the only ones to stay behind and Tony was only a little upset when he realized that Bucky wouldn't be around to bug him down in the lab while his kids were gone at school. The sadness didn't last long after he realized that he was a free man and he wouldn't have to put up with their crap until he had to visit like he promised the kids they would. Thor even went back to New Asgard for a little visit, leaving Loki behind because… well, the people weren’t all that happy with him sometimes. So, the Tower was basically empty, save for all his favorite people.

So, yeah, his life was going pretty well, exceptionally well might he add. Yet something was very, very wrong. His life was normal and boring and absolutely wonderful, but every time he woke in the middle of the night in a deep-seated panic, asking FRIDAY how his kids were, he couldn't help but think that it was all just too good to be true.

Pepper was busy planning their wedding, and he was busy making sure the kiddos were never bored; always teaching them new things. And it was a nice routine they had. So, it was a little bothersome to think that it was all about to be ruined by some stupid dream.

So, just as he did whenever this happened, he slowly slipped out of Pepper's tight hold on him and left the room after pressing a comforting kiss to her hair. She had become unconsciously clingy on the nights he had his nightmares. That’s what it had to be, because Pepper was never this clingy while they were sleeping. It only seemed to be when he awoke from a bad dream. He smiled solemnly at the thought, and he pressed a hand to his chest as he approached his bedroom door. He closed his eyes as he slowly made his way down the hallway and he could feel his chest heaving up and down with each spurt of air.

He waited outside of the teens’ room as he caught his breath. He massaged at his eyes for just a moment then he reached for the doorknob and gently pushed the door open.

The instant the door squeaked open there a surprised yelp that sounded, and the ruffling of sheets seemed a little hurried and desperate. He furrowed his eyes in slight amusement and pushed the door open the rest of the way.

“What are you two doing?” He asked with a raised eyebrow as both Peter and Avery stared at him from the large bed with wide eyes, looking absolutely guilty.

“N-nothing!” Peter answered instantly, shuffling off the bed and leaping across the room so he was buried under the covers on his air mattress. Avery hid herself beneath the duvet of the bed as well.

Tony forgot about the whole dream thing for a single moment as his newfound ‘dad' instincts took over. He placed both hands on his hips as he stood in the doorway and narrowed his eyes at Peter, whose head was still peeking out from the blanket. He didn't even have to say anything before the kid broke like a clam.

“We were just watching Friends!” He confessed sheepishly.

Tony's eyebrows lift at that, and a small chuckle escapes him. He quickly hides his amusement to make sure he looks serious as he makes his way further into the room.

“It's 2am on a school night. You two need to be going to bed.” He says, making his way up to the bed in three long strides. He adjusts the comforter and sheets on the bed, so Avery was nicely cocooned in the warm blankets. “You can watch Friends tomorrow.”

He presses a quick kiss to Avery's head when she burrows her face into the pillow with a muffled groan. He pats her back and gets up to approach Peter's bed on the floor.

“I don't see why you insist on this dumb air mattress,” Tony chuckles, grunting as he kneels down to the ground. “We could just bring a new bed up here so you can sleep comfortably, instead of on this cheap thing.”

Peter roughly shakes his head and Tony smiles to himself as he adjusts the blankets around him. “Whatever kid, it's your back.”

Then Tony taps the kid’s hip and Peter rolls over to stare at him questioningly. Tony holds out his hand expectantly and Peter rolls his eyes as he digs beneath the covers to place his phone in his father's waiting hand.

“Thank you,” Tony replied snarkily, brushing back a few curls from his forehead and pressing a quick kiss there as well.

Peter swats at his face in protest, but Tony knows it's all in good fun. “I don't need goodnight kisses Dad,” Peter groans, “I'm seventeen.”

Tony smacks him playfully on the cheek then stands up. His knees and back popping loudly as he did so. “You need goodnight kisses until I say you don't need ‘em. I missed 16 years of that kid, I need to catch up.”

Peter rolls away and presses his face into his pillow to try and hide his smile. Then Tony was at the doorway and before he shut the door behind him he glanced back at the two kids.

“Go to sleep now,” he instructs, hesitating a little longer at the door.

“Kay, night Tony,” Avery answered, followed closely by a yawn.

“Night Dad,” Peter answered lamely, “Love you.”

“Yeah, love you too you little brat.”

Then he shut the door and leaned his back against it as he released a labored breath. They were alright. They were okay, they were fine, and it was all just a dream. He knew that, he knew it was just a dream, but each time it scared him just as much as the last time. He could only hope that stress is what it was, and that Loki's whole theory on sensing danger from across worlds was just that… a theory. His kids were alright, and they were going to stay alright if he had anything to say about it.

He felt like something was trying to tell him something, he just didn't know what it was. It was as if the universe was taunting him; telling him that he couldn't protect them, that he couldn't save them no matter how hard he tried. But he was a determined and spiteful bastard when he wanted to be; and he was more than ready to prove the damn universe wrong. “Watch me,“ he whispered, gritting his teeth and glaring up at the ceiling with a lone tear trailing down his cheek. He could hear the chiding tone of the world laughing at him, mocking him for assuming he could change his fate. His face steeled, and he dropped his gaze to the floor.

“Watch me save them.” Because he didn't know what he was going to do with himself if he couldn't.

***

“Oh my god!” Avery groaned miserably, falling over the arm of the couch and face planting into the cushions dramatically. Happy rolled his eyes at her antics as he passed by her, headed straight for the kitchen, and Tony glances over from his usual seat on the couch, raising his eyebrows amusedly.

“What's wrong with you?”

Avery rolled over, ignoring all grace, and attempting to blow the curls out of her face when the frizzy mess settled over her eyes and mouth. It was no use trying to tame her wild mane, so she immediately reverted to grappling at her face frustratedly and running her hand chaotically across her cheeks to clear the offending curls, splaying them messily across, well, everywhere. She gave up after about three strokes and groaned miserably as she simply subjected to the fact that her annoying hair was just going to tickle her nose for the rest of her life. Tony chuckled and reached over to gently clear the frizzy mess from her face for her, and she breathed out a quick thanks.

“They made us do the pacer test in PE. That was cruel. Peter just laughed at me afterwards, and I just-” her face reddened angrily, “ugh! I hate running without my powers! That stupid test should be banned! Cruel and unusual punishment is what it is.”

“And Peter is…?” Tony questioned, already used to the dramatic flair both Peter and Avery seemed to have for simple grievances.

“Patrolling,” she answered offhandedly, rolling to her side, and pouting as she adjusted herself so she could sit on the couch like a normal human being.

“Alright then, get your homework done and we can figure out what we're gonna do tonight.”

As it turned out, they didn't have the opportunity to do anything that night because Pepper came home two hours later with ruffled hair and a definite look of stress worn on her face as she approached Tony’s perch on the couch.

“Tony,” she breathed out slowly, collapsing beside him. Avery looked up from her seat at the dining table curiously, while she worked on her homework, but she dropped her attention back to her work after a couple moments.

“There's a problem with the merger in Hong Kong.”

Tony looked up from his project and stared at her. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

Pepper sighed dejectedly and she glanced back at Avery for a moment before turning back to him. “The board wants you to fly over and deal with it-”

“What?!” Tony asked, dropping his STARKpad onto the coffee table and giving her his full, panicked attention.

"-I know-I know. I don't like it either, but you haven't made any public appearances relating to SI in over a month. I hate to say it, but… they have a point.”

“There's a reason for that Pepper,” he answered irritatedly, “I've been rather preoccupied for this past month and a half.”

“Tony, believe me, I know, but the board doesn't. You need to get involved in some way. The stocks are dropping and the only assurance the press has that you're alive and sane are the patrols you do with Peter. The last ‘Tony Stark’ appearance you’ve made was at Ellen’s, and that was almost a month ago.”

Avery shyly stared at the two adults as they argued about Tony’s public relations problem, and Tony glanced up after a few heated moments and fixed his irritated gaze on her when he realized she was listening in.

“Avery go to your room, please,” he replied snappishly. He didn't mean to erupt at her like that, but he did, and it was too late to apologize by the time he realized his tone because she had already scurried off with her backpack into her room.

“Tony,” Pepper sighed, reaching out to place a hand on his cheek, in hopes of calming him down. Tony didn't look at her, instead he stared at the spot Avery had just vacated guiltily. “Hey, look at me.”

Tony eventually turned his dejected gaze to look at her and she leaned forward to press her forehead to his. “I know you don't want to leave. Trust me, I know, I don't want you to leave either, but this is important.”

“Pep,” Tony says, reaching up to grab her wrist, “I- we're… the kids are just getting settled. I can't leave them now. Peter's science fair is next week, and there's no way I'm missing that. And his last Decathlon meet is this Sunday. I promised him I would go see it, I can't bail! And Avery is finally getting over the nightmares. She hasn't mentioned her Mr. Stark in a week, and I think she's doing okay. I-I can't just up and leave when things are going so good.”

“Tony-Tony- I know. It's okay, I know. This trip is only a few days anyways, it'll be okay. It's only Wednesday, and if you leave tonight, you can be back in time for Peter's meet on Sunday.”

“Tonight?! Pepper! May and Peter are coming over for dinner tonight, I can't just leave.”

“You can leave after dinner,” Pepper reasoned, but Tony's head jerked side to side as he shook his head stubbornly.

“I-I,” he paused, just on the verge of spilling why he was really so worried about leaving. He didn't want to worry her, but if he didn't tell her, then she wouldn't understand. He needed to stay… just in case. “I-I’ve been having the dream again. It's getting worse.”

“The one about Thanos?”

Tony nodded his head and tipped his gaze to his lap.

“Honey, I know,” Pepper sighed. Tony's head jerked up to stare at her and Pepper reached out to cup his face affectionately. “Loki told me about it, and don't think I don't know when you leave our bed to go check on the kids every time.”

“Judas,” Tony muttered under his breath, but Pepper laughed at him.

“No, I think he's just worried about you.”

“The sociopathic God of Mischief is worried about me?” Tony laughed incredulously. Pepper gently swats him on the cheek and shook her head.

“He's not as bad as you make him out to be and you know it. In fact, I think you have more in common with him than anyone else on the team.”

Tony scoffed at her, “I didn't go on a murderous rampage because ‘daddy didn't love me’.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and gave up on the fight. “It doesn't matter… what does matter is the fact that you're stressing about something you don't need to be stressing about.”

“That's the thing Pepper!” Tony groaned, “I'm not stressing over anything! Literally everything is fine, and things couldn't be better! It's not the stress. Something is trying to warn me, I know it. I can see it all so clearly every time. And everytime I-I know it’s a dream, so I-I do something different to change the ending, but… but EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! Peter ends up dying in my arms! I-I can’t fix it, not even in my dreams,” he slumped forward, cradling his head in his hands. “Even in my dreams I can’t beat him. I promise you it’s not the stress. It’s only gets worse when I get less to stress about.”

Pepper smiled pityingly and Tony hated the way her eyes shone in amusement as if she knew a clever secret that he didn't. “Oh honey, it seems to me that you're stressed about not having something to stress about. You're overthinking everything.”

Tony gapes at her, ‘cause, like, what? Is that a thing?

“Believe me Tony, I do it all the time. When Peter first came around and you started acting more like an adult, I got so stressed. I got stressed because you weren't doing something stupid to stress me out and I didn’t know how to handle it. You know, in the past, when you got to be too quiet and too reasonable, I knew to expect a large storm in the near future. It was just the way you worked. It still is apparently, considering that stunt you pulled a month ago.”

“So…” Tony paused, cocking his head to the side, “you're saying that I'm stressed about… not stressing.”

Pepper nodded her head with a small smile.

“You know,” Tony smiled, “that surprisingly makes some sense.”

“Good, now will you go to Hong Kong tonight?”

Tony groaned like a petulant child and pouted. “I don't want to.”

“I know,” Pepper sighed patiently, God bless this woman, “but you have too.”

Tony brooded silently for a good two seconds before his eyes lit up with an idea and he turned back to look at Pepper.

“Can I bring Peter? I'd get to show him the SI dealings and how to market and how to deal with people. He needs to learn how to run the company. It'd be such a great father-son retreat and he'd have so much-”

“No,” Pepper replied without a hint of restraint. She stood from her seat on the couch and turned to begin walking towards the kitchen, but Tony was quick to leap up behind her and follow.

“Why not?” He whined.

“Because as you previously brought out, Peter has his last Decathlon competition on Sunday. He's meeting with the team on Friday to practice and he can't skip it this time Tony. Not to mention, he still hasn't started on his science project. Goodness, that boy procrastinates as much as you do.”

Tony chuckles and follows behind her, reaching out to wrap his arms around her waist from behind and rest his chin on her shoulder. “C'mon Pep, the kid's a genius, he doesn't need to meet with the team, and he's still got a week until the fair… This will be more of a benefit to him in the future anyways.”

“No, Tony.”

***

In short… Tony got to bring Peter, and it was absolutely epic.

The kid was ecstatic from the moment Tony told him the plan, and Tony felt bad that he wouldn't be able to bring Avery along as well. Having one kid around was suspicious enough, two was just pushing for a major press blow up. Besides, the world already knew about his intern Peter… they didn’t know about his intern’s doppelganger, Avery. Thankfully, the girl was perfectly understanding in the matter. May, however, was as against the idea as Pepper was. Peter really needed to start on that project if he wanted to finish it. But Tony promised he’d help the kid, which… well, didn’t leave much of an argument left for the poor woman.

She was still reluctant, but when May had locked eyes with Pepper across the dining table, both women came to the silent understanding that arguing the matter was pointless, because both Stark boys chattered excitedly about the matter throughout the entirety of dinner. Tony never got excited about business trips, and Pepper hated to admit it… but this trip would probably teach Peter more valuable lessons for the future than one Decathlon practice could ever do. May was no match for Peter's puppy eyes and Tony's disastrous attempt at a polite request.

So, off they were later that night, seated in the jet. Peter had rushed to his room to pack some things for the trip as soon as dinner had ended. It took him probably ten minutes before he was bounding back down the hall with his luggage in tow. Tony smiled excitedly and threw an arm around Peter’s shoulders while he pulled his own suitcase behind him. Both boys said bye to Pepper and Avery before heading down the elevator to go meet up with May and Happy. They had to drop May off at the apartment before heading out to the airport, because Peter had to pick up a few things from the apartment anyway.

“Dad! Look!” Peter grinned, scrambling to push his face against the cool, glass window in the jet. The higher in the air they got, the more vibrant the stars became and Peter, being a New Yorker through and through, had never had the opportunity to see them so vividly. Tony grinned knowingly at the kid’s back and tried to get a peek at the display of stars from over Peter’s head.

“It’s cool, isn't it Pete?”

Peter nodded numbly, but kept his face plastered firmly against the window.

“Would you like something to drink Mr. Stark?” The stewardess asked, holding out a bottle of whiskey suggestively towards him. Tony's gaze flickered between the bottle and a distracted Peter, before shaking his head politely.

“Nah, I'll stick with a coffee, and maybe a hot chocolate for the kiddo.”

“Of course, sir.”

It was a sixteen-hour flight, they left around 6pm Wednesday, and they were designated to land at 11pm on Thursday (time difference was a pain). Just enough time to get a few winks in their hotel before the first meeting at 7am. Which gave them an additional day and a half before the next meeting times right before they had to leave back to the states.

“Hey, Pete, why don't you try and get a few winks? You don't need to be exhausted from jet lag tomorrow. You probably won't get more than 4 hours in at the hotel before we gotta wake up.”

“Yeah, sure,” Peter shrugged, rolling his shoulders, and yawning widely before falling over and landing his head comfortably in Tony's lap as if it were nothing. That wasn't exactly what he meant.

“Alright then,” Tony chuckled, moving his hand holding his phone to the armrest so it wouldn't disturb the boy. Then, he took his other hand and weaved it through his hair. “Sleep good kid.”

***

“Woah, Dad, look,” Peter points lazily from the car. He had his back pressed against Tony's side, ignoring all notions of a seatbelt while Tony busied himself with obnoxious emails with the Hong Kong representatives and lengthy texts with Pepper.

“Yeah, I know kid. Hong Kong is pretty awesome at night isn't it?” Tony answered amusedly, scrolling through his texts with Pepper to see the agenda for the next couple of days. She had even snuck a few touristy things into his schedule so that Peter could have at least some enjoyment. They both agreed that having Peter’s first business trip be all, well… business, it would completely discourage the kid from them in the future.

“Wow,” Peter breathed, staring in amazement as they pulled under the awning next to the hotel entrance. “Is this where we're staying?”

“Yep,” Tony smiled, “The Langham loves me. I won't stay anywhere else when I come to visit. Plus, it's extremely close to the SI base situated here.”

“Cool,” Peter smiled, yawning widely, and blinking his eyes to keep them bright and ready for whatever other amazing things he might miss otherwise.

When the car came to a stop beneath the expansive awning, Tony tugged the kid out of the backseat. Peter immediately beelined for the trunk to retrieve the luggage, but Tony grabbed ahold of his wrist and steered him towards the entrance with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“I'm a billionaire kid. I pay people to carry my luggage, remember?” Tony squeezed his shoulder once before throwing his arm around him as Peter stared up at him with such amazement, Tony didn’t think he'd ever be able to wipe it from his memory. Part of it was probably because of Peter’s obvious sleep-muddled mind.

Peter didn't say another word until they reached the Executive Suite, and by then he just couldn't contain his excitement any longer.

“Dad you're, like, legit rich!” Peter squawked excitedly, in front of a rather startled bellhop. The kid just couldn't seem to keep his trap shut for another two seconds, so Tony slipped the young man an extra hundred just in case. Even if he tried to leak the title to the press, it wasn't like anyone would believe it until a sufficient amount of evidence presented itself. Hopefully, he didn’t speak English, but that was doubtful.

So, while Peter explored the spacious rooms, Tony shooed away the bellhop and dragged the two duffel bags and suitcase into the room.

“Alright Pete, it's one in the morning, calm down,” Tony laughed, following as the boy curiously trailed into the ridiculously huge bathroom.

“Woah! There's a jacuzzi! Can I use the jacuzzi tonight?!” Peter asked, turning around to stare up at Tony with wide, pleading eyes.

“Sure kid, just let me get ready and all that so I don't have to wait for you to finish up your bubble bath.”

So, Tony got changed into his pajamas and Peter beelined into the bathroom, slamming the door excitedly behind him. Tony gently knocked on the door as the water started running. “Don't be up too late kiddo, we got a long day tomorrow.”

It wasn't until an hour later, when he was just about to fall asleep, until he felt Peter quietly slip into the spacious bed. Tony didn't say a word, but he did smile to himself when Peter scuffled over to his side so he could lean over and check if he was asleep. He tried really hard to even out his breathing and keep the smile off his face, just to see what the kid would do.

“Night Dad, love you,” Peter whispered quietly, scooting back over to the other side of the bed before quickly falling asleep.

***

“So, why did you let me skip two days of school to go to Hong Kong, huh? Is that the only exception to the skipping school rule?” Peter grinned, skipping along beside Tony as the two took a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk near the hotel. They had finished the first meeting less than an hour ago and it was just as terrible as Tony had expected it to be, though slightly more bearable since Peter was there. They ended up thumb wrestling under the table almost the entire time anyway… he probably shouldn’t be teaching Peter how to distract himself during these important meetings… oh, well, the kid got the gist of it anyways.

He made sure of that when they left that conference room. He immediately started tossing questions relating to the debated topic and Peter took it all in like a true, natural-born businessman. Though, there were a few years of practice that were still needed, because apparently Peter doesn’t even know what a merger was, and he had a bit of trouble understanding that there were certain things you couldn’t do to fix a relatively simple problem… It’s a good thing Pepper and May let him tag along.

“This trip is much more educational for you than whatever you can learn at school in two days, especially after finals are over and done with.” Tony answered smoothly, adjusting his collar slightly and loosening his tie.

“What?” Peter laughed, “all we've done since we got here is go to that dumb meeting and stroll around downtown. It’s AWESOME, but it isn't all that educational, sorry Dad.”

Tony threw his arm around his boy’s shoulders and pulled him closer to his side with a tight grin on his face.

“Sure it is kid. No school can teach you how to run a multibillion-dollar business like your old man and some experience can. If you wanna inherit all this someday, you gotta know how to run it. It’s not as easy as Pepper and I make it look.”

“Wait-wait-wait!” Peter halted suddenly, taking a step away from Tony so he had the perfect vantage point to stare at him like he was crazy. “You were actually serious when you said I would inherit Stark Industries?”

“Kid, you should know by now, I don't joke. You're a Stark, so, you know, Stark Industries ought to go to you.”

“But-but-but I have no idea how to run a business!”

“Well,” Tony laughed, “why do you think I brought you with me?”

“I-I just thought you got bored on your own.”

Tony paused and looked at him. “Well, that was the main reason, but it's also important for you to know how to handle all this stuff. Summer's comin’ up, and don't expect to just be lazing around all day. I'm gonna keep you busy with a new special kind of internship. ‘Stark in training’ has a nice ring to it, what d'ya think?”

Peter’s only response is starry eyes and a wide smile. So, Tony kept on talking. “Of course, you won’t have to actually run the business if you don’t want to. You can always hire a CEO, like I did, to do all the hard work for you. Or, if you really feel the need, I suppose I wouldn’t mind you selling it off to someone else.” Tony looks at him pointedly before making his next point. “But I’m not gonna be letting you do that until me and Pepper are long gone Cubster. Wait a couple years until you sell off my life’s work would ya? Let my poor old man soul rest in peace for a little while.”

Peter looks up at him with a startled expression and shakes his head violently. “Of course not! I would never do that! I-it would be the stupidest thing ever to sell Stark Industries!”

“I know kiddo,” he laughed, “just giving you a few options. And, who knows, maybe by the time you turn 18 we can tell the world who you really are. That way the board won't be so hesitant to let me give you some more important responsibilities to practice with.”

“18? I thought you were gonna tell people sooner than that. You know, with the whole Ellen thing.” Peter inquired.

“Well, I thought I'd let you adjust a little first, but if you wanna tell ‘em early, I have no problem with that.”

“No-no, I just thought since, like, my name is changed now that it would be more obvious. Some of my teachers give me weird looks now, you know.”

“Well, unless the press starts creating outlandish stories about you being more than my intern, we don't have to confirm or deny anything until you're ready, deal?” Tony proposes.

“Deal,” Peter grinned, nodding his head in approval.

***

Everybody immediately fell in love Peter, which wasn't a surprise to Tony. Even the high-ranked employees in charge of the merge instantly fell in love with the kid's goofy and shy attitude. Peter seemed to thrive off the adoring affection he received from them, especially with the many number of praises and stickers he received. For crying out loud, the kid was seventeen, and he was still fascinated by the idea of receiving a sticker. He swears that by the end of the day, Peter had at least 13 different stickers on his shirt and arms. This kid.

So, when the meeting ended and they were on their way back to the airport, Peter turned away from where his face was plastered to the car window and stared at him with a big goofy smile.

“Thanks so much for bringing me, Dad! This was so cool! Probably even cooler than Germany. I didn’t get to do much sightseeing there.”

Tony rolled his eyes and patted him on the shoulder. “Glad you thought so kiddo.”

“Maybe-Maybe next time we can go to Florida! Then you can take me to Disney! I heard about this awesome new Star Wars section there putting in-”

***

They boarded the plane and Peter stayed glued to his seat during takeoff, his excited jittering rearing up again as the force threw him back into his cushioned chair. By the time they hit a decent altitude, and the ringing in his ears had stopped, Tony whipped out a stack of notecards and tapped Peter on the shoulder.

“Alright, time to practice,” Tony says, leaning himself back into his chair and getting comfortable as he pulled his reading glasses out of his jacket pocket as well.

“Practice for what?” Peter asks, turning around to eye the heavy stack of index cards in his father's hand.

“For Decathlon. Alright, how many protons does Tellurium have?”

Peter stares at him for a moment before tucking his leg beneath him and tentatively giving his answer. “52?”

“Are you asking me, or are you telling me?” Tony asks, peering at him over his glasses. It’s scary how dad-like he looks. Peter had never once thought of Tony Stark looking dad-like before, but, well, he sort of was a dad now, and… he really did look like one, especially with those glasses on.

“Telling you,” Peter answers confidently, straightening his back and offering his father his full attention.

“Good. What is the most radioactive isotope on the planet?”

“Dad,” Peter laughed, “they aren't gonna ask a question like that in a high school Decathlon meet.”

“Hm,” Tony hummed, “I thought you kids were supposed to be smart… you do know the answer, don't you? You better,” Tony mumbled, “I don’t know how many times I had to explain to you why you shouldn’t touch it.”

“Of course I know it,” Peter scoffed, “it's polonium 210.”

“Good,” Tony sniffed, “now answer the rest of these questions like a good boy. I made them all up myself when I realized you'd miss practice Friday.”

“Thanks Dad,” Peter smiled, leaning onto his shoulder, and answering the rest of the questions Tony through at him. He yawned widely when Tony threw the 200 something-eth card off somewhere on the floor of the jet and the man glanced down at the boy trying not to doze off on his shoulder.

“Go to sleep Pete. You got a big day tomorrow. And I expect a strong victory from your team.” He then realized how pushy that must have sounded because he instantly backtracked and tried to correct his oblivious blunder. “But if you don't win, I'll still be proud. There's no pressure Cubster.”

“Yeah, we'll still win though,” Peter yawned, looping his arm around Tony’s, and pulling himself closer. “Night, Dad.”

***

They were running just a teeny bit late Saturday afternoon...

“Alright Peter, I'll drive you to the school so you can get to the bus on ti-”

“No! I need to pick my jacket up from May's! Last time I left it at home, MJ got super-duper pissed.”

Tony paused to think while he violently shoved their duffel bags in the backseat of his Audi. Peter ran around to the passenger side of the car just as Tony slipped into the driver's seat and started the engine.

“Alright, just tell your girlfriend that your Dad is gonna drop it off- no tell her your friend is dropping it off at DC for you tomorrow before the meet. I have to pick up May anyway-”

“Dad, I really need that jacket…”

“Pete, I may be Tony Stark, but I can only go so fast on the freeway without getting pulled over. Do you want your girlfriend pissed because of a jacket or because you bailed on practice and the final competition?”

“Fair point,” Peter conceded.

Tony drove like his usual manic self, but it still wasn't fast enough. So, like always, Peter was about ten minutes late, and he was scrambling for his bag in the backseat as Tony shooed him off.

“Anything else you need kid? Jacket? What else?”

“Nothing, I'm all good!” Peter rushed out hurriedly, “see you at finals tomorrow dad!”

“Alright kiddo keep straight! Make me proud!” Then the door slammed and Peter was running off to join his gaggle of teammates staring gob smacked at the red Audi parked behind their bus. Tony smirked triumphantly and made sure to rev his engine obnoxiously as he exited the school driveway.

***

“Peter! Why were you late?” MJ asked, storming up to him with narrowed eyes and hands on her hips. “And where is your jacket?”

“Okay-okay, I know you hate me, but I have a good excuse this time.”

“Then spit it out Parker,” Flash seethed. He still hadn’t gotten over that whole Ellen interview with Tony Stark, and he’s been an absolute pain to deal with ever since.

“Well, you see, me and Mr. Stark were planning on getting back a couple hours ago, but apparently something happened in Hong Kong when they were refueling the jet, so we had to make a quick pit stop in Russia to fuel up for like an hour. So, by the time we got back in the air, we were already like two hours behind. And-and we planned on getting back on time so that I could get all my stuff, you know, but that didn't happen. So, like, my Aunt May is bringing me my jacket tomorrow, so it's all cool and stuff.”

His teammates all gaped at him, except for MJ, of course. Even Ned was staring at him with an open mouth and wide eyes.

“You expect us to believe that Parker?” Flash sneered, “you're such a loser. You may be Tony Stark’s intern, but there’s no reason for you to go on business trips with him out of the country. What next? Is he gonna show up to our Decathlon meet too?”

Peter just rolled his eyes as Flash stormed away muttering under his breath, and he turned his attention to MJ, who seemed to be processing all that Peter said with a blank, untelling expression.

“Fine,” she sighed, “you're excused this one time, but don't let these little excursions with your dad get in the way of what's important.”

***

“Tony! Thank God your back!” Pepper sighed, rushing up to him as soon as he exited the elevator. She was waiting literally right there. “Something's been happening with Avery since Thursday, but she won't tell me or May what's going on.”

Tony's pupils blow wide in panic and he rushed across the Living room to Avery and Peter's room. He pushes open the door and he immediately sees May crouched by the bathroom door across the room.

“Tony, thank goodness,” she groaned, “she might listen to you.”

Tony trailed over to where May was crouched, and he gently rapped his knuckles against the doorframe.

“Avery? Wanna tell me what's going on?”

“Mr. Stark?” A wobbly voice spoke out, and Tony felt instant dread and his heart sank into his stomach. Avery never called him Mr. Stark. She must be delirious to be thinking that he was really her Mr. Stark.

“No, kiddo, it's me Tony. Wanna tell me what's happening?”

“Oh…” Avery sighed miserably, “well um, I think I'm just getting my powers back.”

Immediately following that statement, a terrible retching sound could be heard as she emptied the content of her stomach into the toilet. Tony immediately stood from his crouch and reached for the doorknob, only to find it locked.

“I'm coming in kid, FRIDAY unlock the door.”

An audible click is heard, and Tony pushed open the door to find Avery’s outline collapsed against what he assumed to be the rim of the toilet.

“H-hey Tony,” she laughed, “you're back. How’s Pe… How’s Peter?”

Tony squinted into the dim-litted room and was just barely able to make out her silhouette draped over the side of the toilet. He reached over for the light switch and flicked it on with his index finger. Immediately, the room filled with a warm ambience of light and he could see Avery in all her sickly, miserable glory.

“Gah!” Avery cried out, throwing her arms up to cover her eyes and jerking away from the toilet bowl violently. “Off! Off! Turn it off!”

Tony panicked and switched the light off. Avery unfurled from herself but kept her eyes tightly shut as she hiccupped and took in a ragged breath. Tony stooped down next to her and pressed a hand to her forehead to check for a temperature, and next thing he knew, May was at his other side pressing a cold washcloth to her head like it was second nature. It probably was second nature, honestly.

The woman practically shoved him out of the way as she gently coaxed Avery to calm down a bit. She ran the damp cloth along the girl’s forehead gently, and she lifted a bottle of water to her lips so she could drink.

Tony stepped out of the bathroom, allowing May to take control of the situation as he found some answers.

“FRIDAY, what's going on?” He whispered when he was far enough from the bathroom so Avery couldn’t overhear.

“It does appear that Ms. Avery is acquiring her abilities once again, Boss. Her senses have been much more sensitive over this past weekend and although it does not stay down long, she's been eating an abnormal amount of food. There has also been a significant increase in her cell regeneration and her metabolic bodily consumption.”

“Great,” Tony muttered, “just what every father needs. Two superpowered spidery teenagers.”

“Tony? Is she okay?” Pepper asked, stepping into the room with a worried expression on her face, holding a bottle of ginger-ale.

“Oh yeah, she'll be fine. Apparently, she's getting her Spidey powers back.”

“Oh,” Pepper supplied lamely, “do you think she'll be feeling better to go see Peter's meet tomorrow? If not, I can stay here with her so that you and May can go. I know Pete really wants you two to be there.”

“I don't know Pep, we'll have to see how it goes. We can just drug her up on some Pepto tonight while we watch movies and eat Saltines, then we'll see how she feels in the morning.”

At that, Avery stumbled into the room, much less gracefully than usual, with May worriedly following behind her. The girl smiles deliriously up at them and shoos Tony's hand away when he attempts to reach out and balance her after a stumble.

“I'll probably be good tomorrow. I've gone through this crap before, it's no fun, but it didn't last much longer than three days last time… I can already see the end at the horizon.”

Tony rolled his eyes at her and chuckled. “Alright. Whatever kid. No need to push yourself, I'm sure Pete will understand. So, why don't you go get a shower and get changed into something comfy so we can hang out on the couch for a bit. I'll make FRIDAY dim all the lights in the Tower for you.”

Avery nodded with some restraint and immediately turned back around to head into the bathroom.

After the door closed and the shower had cut on, Tony turned to address May, who was busy tidying up the room.

“You gonna stay the night tonight May?”

May looked up at him and seemed to actually contemplate the request, instead of outright rejecting as she usually did. “Yeah, I suppose I will. I might just need to head back home and grab a few things for tomorrow.”

“Alright, I'll get Happy to drop you off, and you can meet us back here in time for a movie- oh! And if you don't mind grabbing Pete's jacket. We were running just a bit late this afternoon.”

***

Peter wasn't embarrassed… he wasn't. Okay, maybe a little. His dad had LITERALLY invited everyone, like, it was legit ridiculous. Peter could see the large row of seats occupied by the numerous amount of superheroes with poor excuses for disguises. Like, seriously, Steve and Thor stuck out like sore thumbs.

The nervous twitching from earlier that morning? … yeah, well it was back now. He sat quietly in his seat, waiting for the questions to start, and all he could see were the various pearly white grins at the back of the audience and his dad standing up in the aisle of seats, pointing his big-ass camera right at Peter. Then, God! Even Dr. Strange and Mr. Wong were there! Although, Dr. Strange didn't look all too happy to be at a teenage academic competition in DC. Sam and Loki didn't seem all too thrilled to be there either, but if Peter knew his dad… the man probably forced them to come despite whatever objections they had put up.

His attention immediately snapped back to where it was supposed to be as the mediator asked the first question. And he swore, with every question he answered correctly, he could hear his Dad's proud whoop from the back of the room.

It was ridiculous. He could feel his cheeks turning red, and no matter how many times he looked out at the audience his dad always had the biggest smile and that stupid camera held proudly above his head to capture every moment. He could even see May and Pepper sitting on either side of him, trying to quiet him and calm him down. Probably succeeding in preventing him from trampling over the rest of the people to get closer to the stage and capture better footage.

Then, close to the end- goodness he almost lost it- while the other team answered the question, Peter looked out just in time to see Captain America grab his father by the back of the pants and haul him back into his seat just as he started standing up to lean over the poor row of people in front of him with the camera. It was gold! And his Dad's gob smacked expression after realizing what Steve had done almost had him collapse, right there on stage, into a fit of giggles. He knew Avery was most definitely cracking up beside May, but he didn’t dare look at her, because he just knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it together if he did.

After that, he had to refrain himself from looking out into the audience. He couldn't risk getting distracted and missing a question, because this was the first meet of any kind that his dad had ever been to, and he was determined to make him proud.

Then, it was the last question… the winning answer… and Peter knew it. He answered with excited confidence, already readying himself to leap out of his seat in celebration.

The mediator grinned widely and nodded, announcing Midtown as the winner. Loud applause erupted through the whole building as he and his teammates jumped up and down together, celebrating their win.

“THAT'S MY BOY!!”

Most normal people were probably not able to hear it over the uproar of loud hoots and hollers accompanying the applause, but Peter could hear it loud and clear.

“THAT'S MY SON!!”

And thank goodness his Dad was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, because, well, the press would just have a field day with that, wouldn't they?

Chapter Text

Over the course of the next month, Peter and Avery finished out their school year and had apparently made it their new life goal to piss Tony Stark off as many times in a day as they possibly could. He didn’t know how many times he found one of his tools floating around in a large plate of jello… he should have never introduced them to that show. It was as if they fed off each other's energy and Rhodey was by no means helping his case when he came around to visit. Instead of acting like the responsible, sensible uncle he was supposed to be, he simply spurred on the mischief and Tony didn’t know how to handle taking on the role of responsible-ish adult. Rhodey had been the one that had taken over that particular title over the course of their friendship and now the tables had turned, and Tony wasn’t so sure he liked it.

It was two against one in the Stark house now, because Pepper had firmly announced her neutrality in the unspoken war taking place in the household. Now with two teenagers slinking around with the ability to climb around on the ceiling and an unending spark for mischief... Tony was sure that he was going to have at least three heart attacks before the year was even over. They both found unbridled joy in scaring him half to death. Peter had apparently gone through quite the hassle trying to hide his true personality beneath that innocent, cute intern act, but Tony wasn’t about to buy it anymore. The hero-worship had worn off, and Tony now knew the truth. That boy was the Devil; they both were.

Yes, the hero worship had officially worn off and he hated to admit that Peter was so similar to him it was scary. Though, despite the devilish schemes he stirred up, the boy had a few good qualities that Tony could only wish to acquire… that didn’t mean that those two weren’t still little demons though. Sure, they acted all sweet and innocent in front of Rhodey and Pepper, but he could see through the act. They were two obnoxious rascals who found joy in hiding random confetti cannons all over his workshop and drawing inappropriate doodles on his forehead with permanent marker while he was sleeping. Pepper was still convinced that Clint had somehow snuck into the building and done it, because of course those two perfect angels couldn’t possibly do anything wrong.

Pepper was honestly screwing him over more times than not too. She’d taken to that doting mother role almost immediately and both kids seemed to pick right up on it. So, whenever Tony became victim to one of their most recent ‘ventures’, they immediately scampered off to find their dear Pepper to protect them from Tony’s angry wrath. Tony didn’t understand how Pepper couldn’t see how guilty they were with the way they were grinning and giggling behind her while she explained to Tony that her two innocent babies couldn’t have possibly loosened the oil cap on his hot rod. There, of course, had to be another reason Tony had a faceful of oil.

It was nice, sure, when he wasn’t peeving mad. Pepper loved his kids, and his kids loved Pepper, so… he couldn’t really do much complaining.

And even with all the stupid things they did to him, he still missed them like crazy when either of them left to stay with May, or when both of them left for a sleepover at Ned’s or MJ’s. He felt like a-a freaking helicopter parent with the way he constantly worried. It was getting a little beyond ridiculous; though, Pepper says it’s all just part of the new-parent process. Which made it even more difficult when Avery became a little restless each night and began asking to go out on patrols with Peter.

Several alarm bells began ringing all at the same time at that one, because, yeah, that was an extremely bad idea. Two superhuman spiders… one of which the people knew was well acquainted with Tony Stark. If people got to talking and wondering, then it wouldn’t take long for some story to be dug up, claiming that Tony Stark was creating his own army of superpowered spider-humans. Not to mention, the two teens would be gone almost every night together, leaving him alone on the couch worrying his pretty little head off about whether they were going to be okay or not.

And, yes, both Peter and Avery had been doing it for a while, they’re - dare he say it - almost pros by now. So, there was no reason to worry, besides the fact that he was just a natural born worrier, and that both his kids had sadly inherited his reckless behavior. It just wasn’t very often that both kids were gone. Usually, when Peter went on patrols, Avery was down in the workshop to distract him so he wasn’t obsessively checking the vitals from Peter’s suit every two minutes.

Then, there was the problem with suits. The only suit that would be able to fit Avery’s smaller frame, more feminine frame, was the Iron Spider suit. Which used nanotechnology to fit to the body, but she firmly refused to even touch it… He didn’t ask questions about it anymore when she fled out of the lab with flushed cheeks and wide eyes. He could only assume that she held bad memories with it from her previous world.

So, yeah, Avery was becoming a bit restless around the house. Which led to many mornings and nights, when Peter was off patrolling or staying at May’s, where Tony or Pepper found Avery cozied up in the dark corner of a ceiling, with her long locks of hair hanging off her head as she read a random book she had found on Tony’s well-stocked bookshelf. Yeah, those were they types of things that gave him near heart attacks first thing in the morning when he hadn’t had his coffee yet.

She didn’t complain about it, or whine about it, but Tony could tell it was definitely getting to her. Heck, she had been cooped up in a big Tower for nearly a month, and he wasn’t too sure how to fix the problem. Maybe… maybe a family trip to Disneyland wouldn’t be too bad.

He got a little more desperate for a solution each time he walked into the Living Room to find spider-like webs hanging from his tall ceilings. So, when he called Strange next week at their scheduled time to talk about how things were looking… and things inevitably didn’t look too good, then he’ll start on making her own suit. He just hoped that Strange would find a way to get her home soon, because if they had to wait much longer… he didn’t know if he’d be able to let her go.

***

“Peter,” Avery whispers, speaking out into the dark room, cuddled under the blankets of her bed, and hoping that Peter was awake. The digital clock was beaming a light blue glow with the numbers illuminated, reading 1:27am.

“I’m awake,” Peter whispered back, releasing a small sigh afterwards. “Can’t sleep?”

“Yeah,” Avery sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, and allowing the confines of her panic to pass so she could finally breathe again. She wasn't alone. For a while, neither spoke. “Did-did Mom and Dad die today too? Here, in this world, I mean.”

“Y-yeah, they did,” Peter croaked, followed by a thick swallow.

There was another long silence before Avery spoke again. Her voice was thick with emotion, and her throat tightened uncomfortably. “Does Tony know?”

“No, he doesn’t. Well, at least, I don’t think he does.” Avery couldn't see him, but Peter’s mouth hung open lamely as he tried to find words for what he wanted to say next. “Do-do you have nightmares about it too? Is that why you’re not asleep?”

“Yeah,” Avery replied quickly, “I-I try to stay awake the night they… you know... and the night when Ben died too.”

“I know,” Peter whispered back. “Sometimes I wish I-I-I…”

He couldn’t seem to choke out the words he wanted to say, but Avery quickly caught on, because, well, she felt exactly the same way. “You wish you couldn’t remember them?”

“Yeah.” There’s a catch in his throat and Avery sniffles a little too. “Is-is- that’s selfish, isn’t it? I should try to keep remembering them no matter how hard it hurts.”

“I know…”

Neither of them said anything for several minutes, both wallowing in their individual but shared sorrow, unsure on how to continue. How do you go about comforting yourself when your self-deprecation and guilt has already overlooked any self-esteem or good qualities that may be there?

Then, Avery shoots up from the bed, eyes widening in the dark as she stares over at where Peter was laying on the air mattress that he still refused to give up. “Do you- do you think Tony’s still up?”

The room just barely brightens thanks to FRIDAY, and Avery can see Peter sitting up rod straight, staring right back at her with a wary look in his eyes. An unseen understanding passed between them… they both had the same idea.

“Is-Is it really a good idea. I-I don’t know. He might get mad.” Peter grits out, wringing his hands together over his lap. “And-and we’re 17 now, we’re too old for that… right?”

“Well-um,” Avery pouted, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought about it, because, well, he wasn't wrong. “Aunt May let me sleep in her bed a while ago when I got sad about Ben. That wasn’t too long ago.”

Peter nodded, bringing up his hand to bite at his nails nervously.

“And-and he probably won’t get mad,” he reasoned slowly, “we did write ‘Thor’s the Best’ on his forehead and he didn’t get too mad, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

Avery grinned excitedly, already throwing the covers off her legs. “Yeah, and he’s your Dad now, and Pepper’s almost your Mom, so…”

Peter grins too, scrambling off of the air mattress and tossing the blankets back onto his bed when they tangle together at his feet. “Yeah, and, really, we can just hang out there for a couple hours until we feel better, then we can come back here before either of them wake up.”

“Yes,” Avery smiles, already reaching to grab the door.

But before she could open the door, Peter reached out to block her, and he grabbed her hand. She looked up at him curiously and she saw the sad, but compassionate glint in his eyes.

“You know… I know that he’s not your Mr. Stark, b-but he still loves you like he is… and-and I don’t think he’d mind if-if you wanted to call him Dad once in a while. He's sorta your Dad too now.”

Avery locks eyes with him for a second and determination glints in her expression as she answers Peter. “No, he’s not. My Dad is Mr. Stark… and I know he’s- he’s great. Tony's great, I love him, but-but he’s not Mr. Stark. He’s your Mr. Stark, and I don’t want to take that away from you. The first person I’m going to call Dad, will be my father, Mr. Stark. I-I-it’s really all I have left to convince me that I should go back home. But thanks Peter, I really do appreciate it.”

Peter smiled softly, he let go of her hand and he let his feet shuffle nervously, “don’t worry, I understand.”

***

There was an itch on his nose, and it was annoying him beyond belief. That was the first thing he noticed when he started waking up that morning, the next was the hand sprawled across his face. A hand. He knew it was probably Pepper, but he couldn’t figure out for the life of him, why? She always slept curled up with her back to him, or spooned around his back, and most of the time she was sprawled across the opposite side of the bed, because, well, she liked a little distance while she slept. So, waking up with a hand to his face was a bit of an odd occurrence for him.

He sniffed his nose and lazily reached his hand up to peel away the offending limb from his face. He gently moved the hand from his face and laid it on his chest so he could rub at his nose aggravatedly. He hated having an itchy nose. He sniffed again and yawned loudly… that was when he noticed the warm presence leeched onto his side.

“Pepper?” He groaned, peeling his eyes open and cocking his head to the side only to be met with a darkened room. He could see the silhouette of Pepper beside him and he smiled goofily to himself, because it was rare for Pepper to cuddle up to him during the night when he wasn’t having a nightmare. He rolled slightly so he could hover and smile down at the darkened form. He really wished that it wasn’t so dark, because a sleeping Pepper was simply a wonderful sight to see.

He leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to her forehead and blinked his eyes a couple times to try and clear out the tired haziness that had settled during the night. He reached his other hand up to thread through her long, soft hair, because, well, Pepper had the best hair ever! And- what?! Wait! Her hair was gone! There was no hair, just a few short, thickened curls matted to her head. Had she cut off her hair?! In the middle of the night?! Why would she even do that?! He panicked; full on panicked as he searched for the lustrous locks that he oh so loved. He must be delirious or something, because he simply couldn’t believe that she would simply shave it all off, leaving just a mess of curls plastered to her skull, why would she- wait…

Curls? He ran his hand through the short hair again and frowned frustratedly. Was he dreaming? Pepper’s hair wasn’t curly, thick, or short. It was fine, long, and beautifully straight. What in the world was going on? He tugged at the strands of hair aggravatedly, beyond frustrated that he couldn’t just see what damage had been done during the night.

It was as if Pepper’s entire body had shrunk while they were sleeping, because Pepper had never been able to tuck herself under his arm like this and still have her cold toes pressed into his shin. She was too tall.

“Dad,” a strangled whine rasped from the body curled around him, “stop.” The hand he moved from his face to his chest moved to pull Tony’s hand away from where he was still tugging at the strands of hair.

“Oh my god!” He shrieked, flailing backwards, and falling off the side of the bed. It was Peter! Oh goodness, he wasn’t expecting that. It was like that horrifying moment when you first wake up, your arm is asleep, you can’t move it and you think someone had cut it off during the night. It was just like that, except much more of a surprise. It wasn’t everyday he found a 17-year-old in his bed.

Tony was propped awkwardly against the carpeted floor, with his feet still tangled around the sheets on the mattress, with his backside pressed into the bed frame. He groaned and let his head fall back against the floor and took in several breaths. It was too early in the morning for this crap already.

He kicked his feet like a petulant child to try and unwind the sheets keeping his feet trapped on the bed. They eventually loosened and he rolled to the side awkwardly to bring his feet back to the ground so he could stand up.

When he stood up, he stretched his back and rolled his neck to try and get rid of the odd kink that had formed. He glanced at his bed and he was able to make out what was going on. He was no longer hazed over by sleep, and his eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, and sure enough… there lied Peter. Along with Avery, with her back pressed up against Peter’s as she curled in next to Pepper.

He pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned quietly. No wonder he had been teetering on the very edge of the bed instead of his usual spot in the center. Then, he spun on his heel and marched to the door. FRIDAY dimmed the light of the hallway for him when he stepped out and he threw an arm over his eyes to block out the brighter surroundings.

“FRIDAY,” he rasped, “why are there two children in my bed? Did they have a nightmare again?”

“They were simply having a bad night, Boss,” FRIDAY responded while Tony made his way down the hall into the kitchen. He started pulling out everything he needed for a strong cup of coffee, because after that scare, there was no way he was going back to sleep.

“Boss, it is only 3am, I would advise going back to sleep. Need I remind you that you promised to take Peter down to R&D before he went back to his Aunt’s house, and you told Avery that you were taking her to the compound to spar with Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton. I suggest a full night of rest for those activities.”

“That’s Bull FRIDAY, you and I both know that I’ve functioned on far less,” Tony grunted, prepping the coffee maker to brew. The room filled with that amazing coffee smell, and Tony smiled stupidly at the familiar scent. He watched impatiently as the pot slowly filled and he thought about what he had to get done before the peace was disrupted by the two rascals deciding to wake up around 9 o'clock.

The pot filled and Tony grinned as he poured the dark liquid into his favorite mug. The first sip was always the best. As he was taking his first sip and releasing a pleased sigh, FRIDAY spoke up.

“Boss, Peter seems to be acting rather uncomfortable right now. I would advise checking on him before he ends up waking Avery or Ms. Potts.”

Tony reluctantly left behind the full cup of coffee and sped down to his room to make sure Peter was okay. He didn’t want to risk him waking Pepper up, because goodness knows that woman needed her sleep.

He slowly opened the door to the room and immediately recognized what FRIDAY was talking about. Peter was tossing and turning beneath the sheets, repressed growls and whimpers emitting from him as he attempted to escape from the confines of the thin silk material surrounding him.

Tony rushed up to his side of the bed and reached out to peel the sheets off Peter to give him room to breathe. “Hey, Pete, c’mon, wake up. What’s wrong buddy?”

He placed a steady hand on the boys shoulder and squeezed him gently. Peter flinched slightly at the sudden touch, but soon calmed down. His eyes blinked open slowly and he turned his gaze upwards to look at Tony towering over him.

“Hey, Cubster, you with me?” Tony smiled, pushing back the sweaty hair from his forehead.

Peter stared at him confusedly for a moment, then he looked down at the sheets at his feet. He didn't say a word as he slowly blinked his eyes, yawned, and turned over on his back to see Avery and Pepper sleeping peacefully next to him.

“Oh my God, Dad,” Peter panicked, eyes widening and jackknifing upwards to stare at the older man standing at the edge of the bed. “I am so soso sorry. We- I- we didn't mean to fall asleep and stay so long- it's just! It don't-”

“Hey,” Tony soothed gently, climbing back onto the bed, and grasping Peter's shoulders to slowly guide him back down to his pillow, “it's alright.”

Peter's sleep-muddled mind didn't realize what Tony was doing until his head hit the pillow, and he fought against his father's grip to try and sit back up.

“Nonono it's okay. I can just go back to my room- we- I don't want-”

“Shhh,” Tony hushed, pushing Peter back against the pillow again and slowly laying down on the bed himself. “Go back to sleep kiddo.”

Peter's halfhearted protests didn't faze him, and he guided Peter back into a comfortable position, so the kid's head was pillowed against his chest.

“C'mon kiddo, you're fine,” Tony hushed when Peter's mumbling started to slowly die down. Tony could tell he was just on the verge of falling asleep again. So, he hummed softly, hoping the vibrations from his chest would help loll him to sleep. “Just go back to sleep.” He ran his hand through the kid's hair once and then moved his hand down to gently rub up and down his back soothingly.

Eventually, Peter fell back to sleep. Tony smiled at his soft snores and sniffles as the boy tightened his grip around his father’s waist and pressed his face into his neck.

“FRIDAY, what's happened? Why did they come in here?” He whispered quietly, never ceasing in the repetitive motion of rubbing Peter's back.

“Tonight's the anniversary of the night that Richard and Mary Parker's plane crashed. Neither Peter nor Avery like to sleep on this night because they have claimed that they receive bad nightmares and bad memories.”

“Oh,” Tony breathes out, sighing to himself and cocking his neck at a weird angle so he could glance down at the mop of short brown curls lying on his chest. “I see…”

“I advise staying with Peter, Boss. It is less likely for him to get nightmares if you do.” FRIDAY says.

“Yeah, okay,” Tony whispers, running his hand through Peter's hair once more and dropping a loving kiss to the top of his head.

He completely forgets about the recently brewed coffee waiting for him on the kitchen counter, tightens his grip around his kid and goes back to sleep.

***

“I-I just don't see why they would do that,” Tony vaguely registers a quiet whine emit from the other side of his bed. He ignores it, of course, and reaches up to scratch his nose.

The blinding light flashing against his eyelids was quite annoying too, so he turned his head to the side and buried his face in the soft mess of hair beside him to block out the morning light.

“I don't know,” there was another voice, “but it's a Drama so they'll probably fix it by next season.”

What. In. The. World?

He groans and gently pulls away to blink himself awake, lifting his hand again to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He tries to sit up, but there's a heavy weight on his chest, pinning him down. He grunts in frustration and lifts his head just enough to cock it to the side to see Avery and Pepper, wide awake and in the middle of a seemingly important discussion on the other end of the bed, across the huge mound of blankets separating them. Then, he glances down at his chest to see Peter drooling all over the place, which, gross by the way.

“Yeah, I know, but, like, what if it's that new director they got this season? What if they never fix it, because this guy sucks so much? That would be terrible!” Avery whispers harshly, crossing her arms over her chest. Her head was pillowed comfortably in Pepper's lap while the woman messed around on her STARKpad, probably answering emails or something of the nature.

“Good morning ladies,” Tony grunts, voice rough with sleep.

“Tony!” Avery squeaks, sitting up abruptly to stare at him, “did we wake you up? I'm sorry, I must have got excited or something. I didn't mean to-”

Tony falls back against the pillows and holds out a hand to silence her. “Too many words too early in the morning kid. You didn't wake me up, just chill.”

He shifts again, trying to get somewhat comfortable before he has to get up and suffer through the day. A couple minutes sitting comfortably in his bed with his family sounded pretty appealing right about now.

“Dad,” Peter groaned in annoyance, “stop moving. ‘m trying to sleep.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but he ceased his movement anyway, because he was a pushover like that.

Pepper and Avery continued on with their mostly one-sided conversation and Peter fell back to sleep, shifting just a little bit and pressing his nose into Tony's shoulder.

Tony ran a hand through his soft hair absently and closed his eyes to take it all in. Drinking up the warm, family-like atmosphere permeating in the air. The morning light was streaming through the window, illuminating all four of their faces, much to Peter's obvious annoyance. The sheets were rumpled and messy from use, and, well, it seemed domestic. He liked it. He liked it a lot.

He didn't like it so much during that scare he received last night, but now, it was pretty great. He turned his head so he could watch Avery animatedly explain to Pepper about some writing mess up in a TV show she watches, while Pepper continued her scrolling, humming, and nodding in agreement whenever it was appropriate.

Unconsciously, he ran his hand up and down Peter's back and the kid… he snuffled! Like a little baby! He swears he has never seen or heard something so adorable.

“You got work this morning Pep?” Tony asked as soon as Avery came up for air.

Pepper turned to look at him and a fond smile grew on her face when she saw him pinned to the bed. “Yes, in a couple hours. I decided to stay in bed for a while though. It's very rare to get these lazy mornings, isn't it?”

Tony smiled goofily back at her, an unspoken conversation flowing smoothly between the both of them. She leaned over so she could give him a sweet kiss, and he did his best to meet her somewhat halfway.

It was short, sweet, and familiar, and he enjoyed every freaking moment of it.

“Ew!” Avery groaned, covering her eyes with her hands like a child and rolling away from Pepper so her head was laying at the foot of the bed.

“Oh goodness,” Tony huffed, glancing down at her, “you're as bad as Peter.”

“I am Peter!” Avery laughed. Tony rolled his eyes and gave Pepper another quick kiss before leaning back into his pillow. Pepper laughed and returned to her original position against the headboard and went back to her emails, but Avery stayed at the foot of the bed.

Tony turned to glance at the clock. It was almost 9 o'clock already and probably about time for Peter to get up.

He started with a slight jab to the side, making the kid squirm and grumble in protest.

“Up and at'em Cubster.” Peter groaned into his chest as a response, so Tony poked him in the side again.

Peter still didn’t move.

“Don't make me call Rhodey in here. He has plenty of experience with getting stubborn Stark boys out of bed.” Tony threatens.

That seemed to reach the kid, because he started shifting and rolled away from Tony, bringing his hands up to rub at his eyes. He laid on his back next to Tony, and Pepper reached over the mound of blankets to run a hand through his curls briefly.

“Good morning Peter. How did you sleep?” Pepper asked kindly.

“Good,” Peter mumbled sleepily.

“I'll say,” Tony grumbled, gesturing to the wet spot on his tank top, where Peter had cozily made himself comfortable for the night. He rolled out of the bed and stood up to stretch his muscles. He had approximately 1 hour to get both he and Peter ready for their scheduled R&D visit before he had to go stay with his Aunt for a couple days.

“Tony, when do you and Peter have to leave?” Avery asked from the foot of the bed as Tony shuffled through the room.

“In one hour, so why don't you kids get going so I can get dressed. Pete, you need to be ready too. Get off your butt.” Then, Tony disappeared into the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth while Peter and Avery made their exit.

Tony's shower was quick, and he was out in record time.

“FRIDAY, are the kids still in my room?” Tony asked while towel drying his hair.

“No, sir. Ms. Potts is the only one that remains.”

Tony grins to himself and pulls on his briefs before exiting the bathroom. He spots Pepper still at her place against the headboard, paying no mind to him or the waves of steam following him out of the bathroom.

He walks over to his closet and picks out a pair of slightly casual dress pants and pulls them on. He holds off on the shirt for a few minutes to avoid the uncomfortable dampness that would form from his perspiring skin.

He turned his gaze over to Pepper and grinned mischievously as he slowly made his way to her side of the bed. “Well, Pep, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were waiting for me.”

He towers over her from the edge of the bed, and she glances up at him with an amused smile as she puts down her tablet. He really, really loved that smile.

“Well, yes actually. I was waiting to talk with you.”

Tony nods noncommittally and grins while he drops his head down to give her a sweet kiss. “Were you now?” He mumbles amusedly against her lips.

“Mhm,” she hums, reciprocating the affection eagerly.

“Hmm,” Tony grumbles, “I guess we should talk then.” He slowly lowers himself to the bed, pushing Pepper down with him, and soon he has her trapped between his body and the mattress. He moves his ministrations to her neck.

“Yes,” Pepper huffs, closing her eyes and humming contentedly.

Tony pauses, pressing one final kiss to her shoulder before bracing his body using his elbows so he could stare down at her to give her all his attention.

“What do you want to talk to me about?” He asked seriously, reaching up a hand to twirl a lock of her lovely hair around his fingers. He's so very glad that she hadn't decided to cut it all off during the night.

Pepper looked up at him with a smile in her eyes. She reached up to run a hand along his cheek affectionately, scraping her nail lightly against his noticeable scruff.

“I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you. You're doing such a wonderful job with Peter and Avery.”

Tony froze and it wasn't the bad kind of froze. It was more like the surprised kind, where he wasn't quite sure what to think. He paused with her hair and he avoided making eye contact as he thought about what he could say to make him seem less vulnerable. Slowly a small grin collected on his face and he turned his gaze back to the woman laying beneath him. He tried to convey as much love and appreciation in his gaze as he could as he stared down at her. He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, and she smiled affectionately back up at him.

“I know- I know that we talked about it already…” she trailed off, biting down on her lip, and looking away nervously. “But if you think you want to… I don't think I have an excuse to hold us back anymore. I'm ready if you still are.”

Tony's expression softened immensely as he stared down at her. He didn't say a word while he caressed the side of her head gently and smiled.

“Hmm,” he hummed, “you sure it's not just ‘cause you got the hots for Daddy Tony Stark?”

Peppers eyebrows rose mischievously. “Oh, I'm sure that definitely has something to do with it.”

God, he loved this woman.

He kissed her one more time for good measure before rolling off her, because whether he liked it or not, he really did have to get dressed.

“This morning really opened your eyes on parenthood, didn't it?” He smiled, turning away to head into his closet.

“This whole month has Tony,” Pepper grinned tightly, turning back down to her tablet. A comfortable silence fell over the room while Tony continued getting ready and Pepper continued scrolling through her emails.

“Boss,” FRIDAY announced a few minutes later, while Tony was busy musing up his hair in front of the full-length mirror, “Mr. Strange is on the line. He says it is urgent news.”

Tony could feel the panic rising in his chest, but he tells FRIDAY to accept the call anyway. He wished it isn't what he thought it was.

“Stark!” A loud, authoritative voice rings out from the ceiling not even a second later. It draws Peppers full attention as well and she puts her tablet to the side to listen in on what was going on. “I think I found it.”

“Found what?!” Tony asks, eyes wild, “Found the right universe?”

“Yes,” Strange replied, seeming a little distracted, “or, rather, I believe they've found us… Stark you need to get over here soon, I don't know when this thing is going to open up.” With that the line went dead and Tony's left standing there with a hanging jaw, not knowing what to think.

He snaps it closed and clears his throat. “Well,” he croaks, “that was unexpected.”

“A total disruption to my plans today.” He grumbles, tugging uncomfortably at his collar and bracing himself against the dresser.

Why so soon? Why did it have to happen so soon? And, yes, he should be ecstatic that Avery gets to go back home to her family… to her Mr. Stark… so why isn't he? Why is he so upset?

“Tony?” Pepper whispers hesitantly, slowly standing from the bed to approach her panicking fiancé across the room. “What's wrong? Are you okay?”

“No-yeah, yeah. I'm fine,” he tries to shake it off. In more of an attempt to convince himself of the lie rather than Pepper.

They stand in silence for a bit, and Pepper wraps her arms around his torso and rests her chin on his shoulder, locking eyes with him through the mirror.

“Tell me what's wrong, hon,” she instructs gently, running a comforting hand over his midsection.

Tony's jaw drops open in an attempt to speak, but no words seem to come out. She hates the lost expression worn on his face. His eyes were dropped sadly, and his mouth was curved downwards into a despondent frown.

“I just- I didn't really… I guess I didn't prepare for Avery having to leave.”

Pepper purses her lips and doesn't say anything as she continues to stroke his chest and stomach, waiting for him to continue.

“I mean, I knew that was the goal… to find her world so she could go back home… but I- I'm used to her always being here. I-I don't...” He draws in a shaky breath, unsure of how to continue.

“Oh honey, I know,” Pepper sighs, “I'm going to miss her too.”

“I just. I don't want to let her leave yet.”

“I know,” Pepper soothes, closing her eyes and sighing, “I know. But you have to… somewhere out there, you are searching for your Peter, and right now you need to help him get his daughter back home.”

Tony reaches up to cover one of Peppers petite hands with one of his own. He stares at her through the mirror, looking heartbroken and lost.

“I know she's not mine. I'm just going to miss her.”

“I'm going to miss her too, Tony. We all are.”

***

“Alright Strange, let's have it,” Tony snaps, throwing open the front doors of the sanctuary, with two jittery teenagers trailing along behind him like the loyal little ducklings they were.

Avery couldn't seem to decide whether to be excited or upset as she gripped the cuff of one of Tony's sleeves in her hand. And Peter didn't look at all happy with the idea of her leaving either, but he followed nevertheless.

“In here Stark!” Strange shouts from another room. Tony herds the two in front of him, up the stairs, and the farther into the large building they went, a faint hum became audible. The closer they got to the room the stronger the obnoxious hum.

Peter had surged forward and ran around the corner, entering the large room the hum was emitting from. Before Tony could snap at him, he heard a loud gasp from the boy, and he hurried around the corner with Avery.

When he entered the room, he could finally see what all the hubbub was about.

A large, purplish swirl was floating in the center of the room, and Strange stood a few feet away from it. Books, papers, and little trinkets were scattered all over the floor as the swirling continued in an odd, bubbly sort of movement. It didn't look at all like any of those little portals Strange opened for them.

“Interdimensional portals are different to conjure than just a simple spell.” Strange answered before he could even ask the question, staring intensely at the large swirl as if he were under its spell. His back was rod straight, and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Is it gonna work?” Avery spoke up, peeking out from behind Tony to glance at the swirling portal in the center of the room. She kept her grip on Tony's sleeve, though.

“That…” Strange paused, “I cannot guarantee. I don't even know if this leads into the right dimension.”

“You just called me up and told me you found them!” Tony snapped, glaring at the wizard like he had personally wronged him. And he kinda did. He just got his kid's hopes up for nothing. That's just cruel.

“Well, it's our best shot,” Strange snaps right back. “I sent out a distress signal to our best neighboring worlds in an encoded message containing the extent of the situation. This is the only response I’ve received and if they had figured out a way to send her here, then I’m sure they can find a way to get her back.”

“Then open the portal!” Tony insists, jutting his hand towards the swirling thing in the center of the room.

“It doesn't work that way Stark. This portal can only be linked between dimensions as long as both sides are working to open it. Until the other end has opened theirs, there is nothing we can do but wait. They’ve reached out to us, but it seems that they haven’t quite figured out how to open their side up yet. All we need to do now is wait.”

Tony paused, thinking for a moment, before digging in his pocket to fish out his phone.

“I'm calling Loki.”

“No need Stark,” Loki's cool voice sounded from the corner of the room where he sat watching the portal with transfixed fascination.

“Wha?” Peter gaped, jumping back in surprise, and staring at the man. “When-when did you get here? You weren't here a minute ago.”

“I was,” Loki chuckled, “you just didn't see me.”

When Loki turned his gaze to look at Tony, he took note of the man's glare and he smiled sheepishly in surrender. “The Doctor called me just after you, and I simply beat you here. I don’t have two children to dress and ready before I head out the door Stark.”

Tony left it at that, and he looked down at Avery. Her head was bowed, and she grasped one of his hands in one of her smaller ones and busied herself with bending, twisting, and squeezing his fingers. She tapped his knuckles and traced the back of his hand to occupy her nerves and Tony let her do it, because he knew she needed to do something.

He felt bad. He didn't want her to leave, and he knew that she didn't really want to leave them either. But he also knew that the want and need to go back home to her real family overpowered any wish to stay here with him and Peter. She needed her real father, and her real Aunt May, because she's a good kid, and she deserves it all. She shouldn’t have to settle for him when she could have the real thing.

So, he tugged her towards a chair and forced her to sit down before her nerves got the best of her and her knees gave out.

“So, how long do you s'pose this is gonna take, Strange?” Tony asked, playfully flicking at one of Avery's fingers when she pinched his pinkie a little too hard.

“I don't know Stark. My guess is soon. Sometime today I'm hoping.”

“Great,” Tony grunts frustratedly.

***

Tony blinks awake and immediately his vision is clouded with an annoying purplish glare. Both his shoulders are heavy, and he could only assume that that meant he was acting as a temporary pillow once again for his two little brats.

He cocks his head to the side for a moment and shakes it briefly to rid himself of the haziness clouding his thoughts.

He could see Strange still perched in his chair, watching the swirling portal in the center of the room. Wong is conked out on an armchair in the corner, snoring softly with an old book open on his chest. Loki was still reading in the chair; same position, same look on his face.

Tony shifted a little bit and stifled a yawn. Peter's back was pressed against his arm and his head lolled back to lay on his shoulder, and Avery curled around his other arm, hugging it to her possessively. Both kids were blacked out, probably because of the hours of waiting they had committed themselves to. 28 hours so far?

Both Avery and Peter had refused to leave before they knew for sure whether this was just a big hoax. Which, by extension, Tony had to suffer through a whole 28 hours of doing basically nothing but staring at a swirling void in the center of some stupid warlocks treasure house. Of course, he'd do anything for his kids, but my goodness this was boring.

Pepper and Rhodey had visited earlier that day, bringing all three of them a clean set of clothes, and forcing them to eat a meal Pepper had brought from home. They both stayed and waited with them for a good 5 hours or so before Pepper reluctantly had to leave for an important SI meeting, and Rhodey had to head back to Malibu for a training exercise. Avery had assured them both that it was okay for them to leave, because Pepper and Rhodey most wanted to stay and wait with them. Just in case… you know, this wasn't a hoax, and Avery had to leave for home without saying goodbye, never to return. She promised not to leave with Mr. Stark until they had a proper goodbye, and Tony would deny till his death that he teared up when Pepper had given her a goodbye hug… just in case.

After that, Tony was hit with the terrible realization, once again, that this was probably going to be the last day he ever spent with the Peter-cloned girl. And both kids seemed aware of it too, because he didn't think they broke from their little cuddle pile on the very uncomfortable couch until the Avengers came to say their goodbyes.

Natasha, despite her tough exterior, was obviously more than a little upset that the younger Spider would probably have to leave. They spent about an hour in the room, asking a million and one questions about the mysterious vortex. Eventually, Strange had had enough of the questions and kicked everyone out of the sanctuary with a huff and irritated scowl. Tony didn't really blame him.

Tony looked down at the girl curled into his side and his brows lowered sadly. He hated that she was going to have to leave, he absolutely hated it. But it was happening… everyone had already said goodbye. There was only one last step now.

Avery shifted with an uncomfortable grunt and Tony smiled affectionately. He gently grasped her tiny hand, marveling at how small she was. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head before leaning his cheek against her curls and closing his eyes.

He hated that he never wanted her to leave.

***

Avery stirred awake with the sudden uncomfortable feeling that somebody was watching her. She didn't want to wake up, so she tried to fight it off as best she could. She tightened her grip on Tony's arm and pressed up closer to his side, hoping to fall back into her dream just where she had left it… it was the first dream she'd had of Mr. Stark that didn't have her in tears by the end of it. She just wanted a few more moments of innocent ignorance before she had to wake up and face the reality of the day. She just wanted a few more moments with her dad before he had to leave again.

She could feel Tony's hand tighten around hers in response, but his soft, rumbling snores told her he was still very much asleep.

She tried. She tried really hard to just ignore that nagging feeling at the back of her mind. The annoying little tinge from her Spider Sense. It built from a small little feather light tickling to a painful throbbing at the back of her neck, but she didn’t want to open her eyes, because that would ruin the illusion.

She finally gave in with a soft sigh and cracked her eyes open. Hoping to appease her senses enough so she could go back to sleep. It wasn't like she was in any danger. Heck, the room was full of superheroes, she couldn't have possibly been any safer.

She stifled a small yawn and then cracked her eyes open, blinking them slowly in order to clear her vision so the swirling portal in the center of the room wasn't just some big blob of light.

Her brows furrowed though when she saw two figures standing in front of it. The portal wasn't bubbly anymore, in fact it seemed less like it were going to explode at any moment and more like one of Strange's usual portals. She saw Mr. Strange standing off to the side of it, looking at her, but… that wasn’t right. Strange was still asleep in his chair. She looked over to check, and sure enough, there the Doctor sat, with his chin bowed to his chest, and she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Then she focused in on the other figure, and soon her sight cleared, and she could make out the clear distinction of Tony Stark in front of her. A little greyed and beat up around the edges, but still Tony Stark.

Except… it couldn't be her Mr. Stark. It couldn’t possibly be him. Her Mr. Stark didn't fall to his knees and press his hand to his mouth as if he were trying not to cry when she locked eyes with him. Her Mr. Stark never looked less than at least a little put together. He never let her see the blood and bruises on his face, or bags under his eyes after he hadn't slept for more than two or three days. And her Mr. Stark most definitely didn’t stare at her as his body shook with silent sobs like this Tony Stark was…

It just couldn't possibly be him…

She felt the hot tears falling down her cheeks and-and she knew she should wake Tony. She knew she should… but-but she wanted it so bad to be her Mr. Stark… so bad. She wanted it to be him so bad, because she missed him so, so much.

It was just a dream. She knew it was. That's all it was, it was just her mind playing a cruel trick on her again. It’s the reunion she’d been hoping for and her brain thinks it’s funny to tease her with it. She broke her gaze away from the Tony Stark in front of the portal and pressed her face into Tony's shoulder as she repressed a quiet sob. This isn't happening… she didn’t want to let it fool her. She wouldn’t let it fool her again, because this wasn’t real. That couldn’t possibly be her Mr. Stark.

It was just another dream. Just another dream is all it was.

She curled tighter into Tony's side and wished that it would all go away. The tears streamed down her face as she squeezed his arm desperately. She wanted her Mr. Stark, but she didn't want it to plague her forever. She didn't want to have to go through life being miserable, because her mind refused to let her leave it be. She just wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want to be haunted for the rest of her life by the idea that she would never be able to see her father again.

Then she heard sniffling.

So, she looked up and turned her gaze to see Tony Stark still on his knees with his face cupped in his hands. The man next to him… Mr. Strange apparently, was watching her intently as he awkwardly patted the man's shoulder as he tried to get ahold of himself.

She could feel her lips begin to quiver. She wanted it so bad to be her Mr. Stark.

“Mr-Mr. Stark?”

The man's head lifted, and his mouth quirked up into a relieved smile while the tears continued running down his bloodied and battered face.

“Yeah, Princess, it's me.”

Chapter Text

Tony had finally made it back home from that dreadful planet. He was done… he hadn’t wanted to move on… he didn’t want to continue with life. It hit too hard, because even though he knew… he still couldn’t fix it.

He had known what was going to happen. He had known he was going to lose, but that didn’t make his loss any less significant. That didn’t make it any less painful. It had all played out just like the man had said it would, and apparently his knowledge of the outcome hadn’t put a damper on his destiny one bit. Even though he knew it was going to happen, and even though he tried his damndest to prevent it... he still had to watch as his kid dusted away in his arms, no matter every effort he had put forth to avoid it. He still failed...

He didn’t know how long it had taken him to stop his sobbing and wallowing before he eventually got to his feet, jump started the alien spaceship, and got the heck out of there. He knew that it was fixable, there was proof. He knew it could be done, and getting his kid back was the only driving force that got him back home.

So, when he got back to Earth, he gave Pepper a big hug, thankful that she wasn’t one to dust away, and he went off to go tell May what had happened to her niece. It was a long and grueling process having to explain to a grieving woman that her niece’s death was all fixable, because, well… he wasn’t entirely convinced of it himself. He let the woman cry on him as he swore to her over and over that he would do anything to bring Avery back.

2 years prior...

“Whoa!” Tony shouts, jumping back and throwing a hand over his heart as a big swirling circle formed in the middle of his Compound workshop. He already had a suit on the ready, because This had most definitely never happened before.

“Stark! We need to talk; there’s an emergency.”

“Who the heck are you?!” Tony glared at the weirdly dressed man who stepped through the floating hole into his workshop, “and how the heck did you get in here?”

“My name is Stephen Strange. Dr. Strange.” The man didn’t give any more explanation, as if that were supposed to answer all his questions. So, Tony narrowed his eyes at the man standing nonchalantly in the middle of his workshop, as if he hadn’t just waltzed through some magical, flying portal. “I don’t have time to explain. Follow me, there’s something you need to see.”

It takes a fair amount of convincing, but eventually Strange is able to coax Tony into following him through the orange, swirling thing in the center of the room, and Tony most definitely doesn’t leave his armor behind as he follows the weird man.

“If this is about you joining the Avengers… then I can’t help you. I’ve got a bit much on my plate right now. Accords, Rogue Avengers, a reckless Spiderkid, I don’t have time for wannabe magici-”

“Shut it Stark!” Strange snaps through gritted teeth as he leads Tony through the sanctuary at a fast pace, leaving the genius no time to admire the weird trinkets displayed in the obnoxiously ostentatious glass cases. “This has nothing to do with the Avengers, or the Ex-Avengers. This is about you, and I need you to stop rambling and follow me.”

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?!” Tony sounded offended as he quickened his pace just enough so he could fall in line with the Doctor. “And what’s your problem anyway? You definitely got this creepy, ‘Strange’ vibe going for ya-” He trails off when they round the corner into another room. He’s surrounded by books… old books, new books, weird-looking books, normal-looking books… but that isn’t what drew him speechless.

There, standing at a window, staring out at the skyline of New York was Tony Stark. Weird, right? Was he dreaming?! Like, what the heck?!

“Afternoon Anthony,” the man spoke without turning to address him directly, but Tony was still able to make out the side of his face while a small smile inched up at the corners.

“What the heck?!” Tony squawked, “this is just some silly hallucination, right? This is what I get for not sleeping the past two days.” He speaks more to himself than to anyone else, running an anxious hand through his hair as his wide eyes dart around the room to take in every detail.

“No,” the other Tony chuckles, finally turning around to face the other two men, “you don’t start experiencing hallucinations until the 90-hour mark or so. I suppose you already knew that though, didn’t you?”

Tony’s rendered speechless when he gets a good look at the man in front of him. Sure, the man looked a little worse for wear from behind, but… this was pretty bad. How old was he even??

The amused smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and his expression held a heavy load. A load heavier than Tony had ever dared to carry. He looked so… so tired. And-and his whole expression was contradicting itself almost. His eyes held amusement and happiness as he smiled at him, yet such a deep pain infused behind his overlying happiness that it nearly canceled each other out into a neutral, hollowed expression. He looked almost like a simple, tired man if you didn’t wait a moment to look twice. Heavy lines and wrinkles defined all corners of his weary face, and his hair was greyed at the roots, just like his signature goatee. The bags under his eyes were almost heavier than Tony’s own, and Tony takes a moment to wonder just how many hours of sleep the old man had lost, because he never remembered looking that bad after just a few restless nights.

“What-what are you doing here? Are you supposed to be some future version of me, or something?” Tony asked, lowering his brows, and squinting his eyes studiously as the man slowly made his way towards a steaming cup sitting on a side table. It was tea! It wasn’t even coffee! Geez, he hated tea. What the heck had old age done to him?

“In a way,” he responded, reaching down to grab the mug and take a quick sip. “I’m really the closest you’re ever going to get. ‘Travelling through time’ as you call it, isn’t quite what you think it is. ‘Reversing time’ however… now, that’s a completely different venture.”

“I suppose you believe you know more about the matter than I do?” Strange spoke up for the first time, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the man challengingly. Tony already didn’t like him… the disrespectful bastard.

The older Tony simply grinned in abject amusement and dropped heavily down into an old armchair… he really did look like an old man. “I know I know more than you do, young Strange.” He sipped at his mug again and Strange scoffed indignantly. Geez, could he sound and look any more like a grandpa?

“Please, enlighten us. Why are you here?”

“Well,” the older Tony paused to look up at the two with an innocent cock of his head, “I’m here to help you, I suppose. Where’s Wong? I want Wong here. Call him in.” He waved his arm insistently, as if instructing a butler to go fetch him more tea, and Strange raised his eyebrows hesitantly.

“Wong’s not present at this sanctum right now,” Strange answered coolly.

“Who’s Wong?” Tony asked curiously, glancing between the two, completely lost.

“Hush Anthony.” The older Tony instructed again, taking yet another sip of his tea and humming contentedly. “Hmm, we may need to wait for Wong to get here then… I hate repeating myself.”

“We can inform him of it later.” Strange answered impatiently, “now tell me how you were able to travel back through time without acquiring the time stone.”

“Like I said,” the older Tony responded irritatedly, “Time travel does not work the way you assume it does.”

“Okay, okay, just hang on a damn second!” Tony shouts out frustratedly, “What?! In the World?! Is going on?!”

“I was getting to that,” the older Tony snapped, looking pointedly at him. “Now come sit.” He gestures to the empty loveseat adjacent to his armchair, and both men abide to his instruction, acting much like scolded toddlers.

“Now, I can’t tell you everything right now… as much as I wish I could.” He looked sad as he put down his mug and pulled out his phone from his pocket. Much more advanced than Tony had ever even thought to design. “If-If I were to tell you too much of the future, that could alter the entire Multiverse, and considering your universes placement in the hierarchy of dimensions, it will set things too far off balance before disrupting it all and causing our worlds to implode.”

“Get to the point Stark,” Strange grew more impatient the longer the older Tony drew it out.

“Don’t get your panties in such a twist,” he grumbled, “this information isn’t even pertinent until about two years from now anyways. You’re still new to the mystic arts Strange, you have plenty to learn in the next hour. So, keep your trap shut and listen.”

And they both did just that.

“I-I come from the superior dimension… a-a treacherous place. The things I’ve experienced there are-are beyond what any human should ever have to experience. Miseries and memories that I wish to forget… and hopefully soon will.”

“Wha-what happened?” Tony asked worriedly, “how old are you anyways?”

The older Tony grinned slyly at him. “Are you referring to my body’s physical age or my mind’s?”

“Is there a difference?” Tony asked incredulously.

“Yes, there is. Especially to a ‘time traveler’ as you call them. I come from the future, and I use a specific way of doing things to repossess my younger self’s body, so my physical body doesn’t simply deteriorate from old age. My memories, however, travel back for centuries. As long as I revert back into my own timeline, I am allowed to repossess my past self, but if I travel outside of my timeline, here, for instance, I am required to reenter my original, physical body. That is why I look as aged as I do right now.”

Tony’s jaw drops. “You’ve been alive for hundreds of years? Have we discovered how to correctly modify the mind and body’s cellular regeneration? Is that how your mind has lasted this long?”

“No,” the older Tony responds tersely, “I’ve simply relived my past life several times over. And the only reason my physical body is appearing maybe 20 years older than it is supposed to be… is because I’ve been visiting timelines that are not my own.”

“Why?” Strange presses.

“If I remember correctly, I believe I told you both to shut up and listen,” Tony snarked. “I’ll get to that.”

So, the older Tony went on to tell them about how he was able to manipulate time to change the future. Yet, he left out certain incriminating details and he refrained from using specific times, dates, names, and places to make sure he didn’t give too much information away. He then explained how he’s ventured into multiple alternate dimensions, in hopes of sharing his knowledge with them as well, but not yet finding a world worthy of his warnings.

They went for maybe 30 minutes without any interruptions before Tony finally finished his story and he pressed a small cylindrical object into younger Tony’s hand.

“This will give you further instructions for when the time comes. If things go as they are supposed to, this will reveal its contents to you and you alone.”

He got up from his seat and started messing with something in his pocket, but Tony jumped up in a panic.

“Wait-wait-wait, we still have questions! I still have questions!”

The older Tony turned around to settle his tired gaze on his younger self. “I know you do Anthony… you have questions that I’m not allowed to answer. When-when you two have… done what I’ve told you, find a way to reach out to me. Let me know what’s going on. It’ll… it’ll be nice to know that my selfishness didn’t completely destroy the multiverse. Until then… I wish you two the best of luck. And remember… do exactly as I instructed. I’ve spent two of your lifetimes figuring out how to fix the wrongs of the future, so don’t muck it up. I’m hoping to pass my knowledge on… so that you don’t turn out as I did. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.” He paused and turned away for a moment. He started messing with something on his watch before turning around to face Tony and Strange again. “Go spend some time with your kid Anthony. Peter will mean more to you than you think.”

“Peter? Who?” Tony asked, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

The older Tony’s eyes widened, and for the first time he looked something other than calm and collected. He looked panicked.

“Spiderman,” he answered hurriedly, “please tell me you know who Spiderman is.”

Younger Tony laughed at him and shook his head in amusement. “You mean Spidergirl? That Parker kid is more trouble than she’s worth. I swear she’s gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.”

“She?” The older Tony asked, shoulders sagging and his expression falling to a sad, reminiscent smile, before quickly recomposing himself. “Yeah, well, get used to it. If she’s anything like my Peter… she’s going to test your patience for sure.”

Tony swears he could see something glistening in the corner of the older man’s eyes.

“My days with him are… well… I had my chance. Just don’t waste it, trust me… you’ll regret it.”

And then he was gone.

***

He regretted it… why couldn’t he have listened?! He should have listened! Heck, Tony Stark- HIMSELF- came from an alternate dimension to tell him to spend more time with his kid! And he still didn’t listen! He still wasted time with all of his self-deprecating attempts to push her away and keep her at a safe distance, and-and he knew he could get her back, but… he was right. The older Tony was right, just like he was right about everything else.

He regretted it.

As he departed from May’s he made quick work to the sanctuary to meet up with Wong so they could finally fix it once and for all. The older Tony had left them a very detailed message on how to fix the mess Thanos had made so that everything would return back to normal. The instructions seemed a little beyond impossible, but they passed that ‘impossible’ limit when he was visited by his future self in another dimension to warn about his kid’s impending doom.

And just like he said, the device didn’t reveal to them the intentions of Thanos and the war’s outcome until the allotted time, no matter how long Tony had tinkered with the device to try and reveal its message in advance. Strange, of course, had been insistent to listen to the older Stark, because, well, he seemed to know what he was talking about, and he trusted the firm warning that the universe would indeed implode if they found out too much too soon.

Though, here he was now, meeting with Wong so that they could figure out a way to put the older Stark’s plan into action… and all he wanted was his kid back.

***

“Do you think this is really gonna work Tones?” Rhodey asks, gazing around at the group of hopeful heroes gathered in Wakanda.

Tony stares down at his shaking hands for a moment and swallows the lump in his throat. He hopes his voice doesn't give away at the doubt that’s been eating him alive.

“I-I hope so. I don’t… I don’t know what we're gonna do if it doesn't.” Tony's stare is empty of any emotion, and Rhodey has to take a moment to embrace his friend's lost expression. He puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, hoping to communicate some type of reassurance through the gesture, but it doesn’t seem to work.

“You're gonna get her back Tones. Then you two can get back to whatever in the world it is you work on down in your workshop, and she can get back to bugging the crap out of you. Everything will be back to normal and the team is gonna love her. Just have a little faith in yourself. In your future self. He said this would work, so trust him.”

A flicker of amused longing flashes in Tony's eyes and he has to look away from Rhodey when he feels the sting of tears threatening to fall. He rubs his face with his hand, hoping to be somewhat inconspicuous as he wiped away the tears.

Then, he turns his head slightly to see the gathering of excited heroes congregating behind him. None of them new about Avery. None of them knew that he'd lost somebody- a particularly important somebody- during the dusting. He didn't really know if he wanted them to know about her or not, because he just wanted her to himself for a while.

He turns his head back to look at Rhodey, who's offering him a warm smile, and he smiles back. Today was the day he'd get to see his kid again…

“Tell May and Pepper I’ll bring her back.” He instructed Rhodey as he watched Wong approach him, asking if he were ready to finish it off… he was ready.

Wong formed the portal in the center of the room, and Tony hesitated for a moment when he gazed into the hole leading to the grievous place where all the trauma had begun. He had to swallow past a huge lump in his throat and his heart started racing as he looked out into the familiar orange horizon.

He didn't know how long he had stood there, staring wide eyed and panicked at the portal, but he felt a hand clap him on the shoulder which immediately pulled him out of his trance, and he could breathe again.

“It'll be okay Tony.” It was Steve. Tony could only offer a tight-lipped smile in return, because this soldier, despite his good intentions, had no idea what he was talking about.

“I know.” He responded, a little lost for breath as his voice cracked towards the end. He immediately turned away from the attention that had gathered on him and he stepped through the portal. Wong followed behind him, and the orange, swirling circle immediately collapsed, and he was suddenly surrounded by his worst nightmare. He was back. But this time it was going to be for a good thing… he was getting his kid back.

“You ready?” Wong asked, a small grin forming at the corners of his mouth.

“Heck yes.”

2 months prior

The Rogue Avengers had already made themselves at home in the Compound before Tony had ever even made it back to Earth. It took him by surprise when he arrived, that’s for sure, and they seemed to be taken aback that he was alive as well. He couldn’t blame them for that though, because, well, the entire world thought he was dead. That’s probably why both Rhodey and Pepper were so happy to see him when he got back. Though, he couldn’t exactly express that same happiness when he found out that, yet another dear friend had been a victim of the dusting.

He didn’t even address the heroes’ presence until a month passed. By then, everyone was depressed and dejected about having no solution to their problem, and Tony had already locked himself away in his lab to get to work. Not even Rhodey knew what was going on until weeks later, but he had full faith that Tony Stark was doing everything in his power to get his kid back.

The rest of the heroes were getting antsy though. Some were getting frustrated because of Tony’s lack of participation in the process of reversing the snap. Heck, even the snarky raccoon was helping, so why wasn’t Tony?

“Where is he even?” Clint growled out frustratedly, slamming his fist on the kitchen counter. “I don’t care if this doesn’t affect him and his oh so important life, I lost my kids! He should at least have the decency to help get them back.” Agreement was voiced from Steve, Thor, and Rocket, who had also lost important people in their lives. Everyone was seeming to get at least mildly frustrated from the lack of the genius’ presence, and Rhodey tried his absolute best to bite his tongue and prevent himself from standing up in his friend’s behalf. Tony didn’t want the others to know about Avery, and Rhodey was going to do his best to keep that secret for him.

“I don’t understand him,” Steve groaned, shaking his head, “he won’t even speak to us, and he completely disregards any ideas we may have.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe he’s working on a solution himself?” Rhodey just couldn’t keep his mouth shut and stand idly by anymore. They didn’t even know what they were talking about. Tony Stark lost two of the most important people in his life: Avery and Happy. They were both gone, and he’d never seen Tony look so dead inside when he first stepped off that spaceship and insisted he talk to May Parker.

“Well, if he is, should not he have told us about his work by now?” Thor seethed quietly from the couch, staring down blankly at his hands as if he were expecting them to do something interesting.

“Well, if it is and condolence to you, Stark is working very hard to fix what has been done.” Seemingly out of nowhere, Wong appeared in front of them and snagged an apple from the fruit bowl before walking off. “He blames himself for what has happened, which he shouldn’t be doing... but he is almost ready to speak with you. Until then, I recommend keeping your distance. He is still a bit… sensitive to the situation.”

“Sensitive?” Clint raised his brows, “why the heck is Stark sensitive?”

“I’d cool it Barton,” Rhodey threatened, glaring at the archer, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Clint glared back at him, but otherwise stayed silent. Wong addressing the situation seemed to appease the rest of the heroes as well, and they, rather impatiently, waited around for Tony to fill them in with his plan.

He eventually did tell them, but he never told them why he always fled the room with gritted teeth and a pinched expression when the topic of victims to the dusting arose in their conversations.

They tried not to speak of it when around him.

***

He waited… He was ready… He’d been ready for this a long time.

Avery had been the last to leave, so logically she would be the last to return… he knew that. The Guardians were back, Strange was back, and they were all hanging out near a large boulder, off to the corner, getting checked up on by Wong, but he stayed where he was.

And he waited…

He was knelt down in the dirt, staring down at the familiar swirl of orange clay in front of him. It was a recurring sight in his nightmares, and he’s sure that this spot would be ingrained in his memory for years to come. Because this is where his kid died, and this is where he knelt. This is where he held her and cupped her cheek while telling her it would all be okay while he tried his damndest not to cry… he lied. This is where he lied to his kid, and this is where she believed that lie until her dying breath. This is where he sobbed harder than he had in his whole life… This is the spot he’s sure that he’ll never forget it, despite how badly he wants to.

Sitting here… staring at that familiar patch of dirt… it didn’t settle well. It made his stomach churn and for some reason his heart began pounding painfully against his chest. It hurt… and he couldn’t breathe. His hands shook… and he- he just couldn’t wait to see her again.

Is this excitement? Worry? Anxiety? He couldn't decipher the odd stuttering in his chest.

All he knew is that he was most definitely getting a hug; a big one, and perhaps his excitement to receive one was making him all jittery. That was the first thing on his to-do list when he saw her again: hold her tight and never ever let go. The second was to tell her how sorry he was. How sorry he was for lying. How sorry he was for not being able to save and protect her like he was supposed to. He would beg for her forgiveness if he had to, because he needed her to forgive him, because he just couldn't seem to forgive himself.

He had known that she would die… that knowledge became known to him as soon as Stark's contraption opened up, but he still failed to protect her. And he would never forgive himself for letting that happen. He had known, he had been prepared, and he let it happen anyway.

His mind stopped for a moment and he came back to the moment, panicking slightly. Surely it shouldn’t be taking this long! Something was wrong; something had to be very wrong. Where was she?

He felt his chest tighten, and his breaths came in short spurts as he whipped his head around frantically, hoping he had simply been waiting in the wrong spot. His hands shook wildly at his sides, and he wasn’t very sure of what to do with them. He had been prepared to already have them wrapped around his little girl by now… but she wasn’t here. Where was she?

His heart stuttered dangerously in his chest and he panicked even more.

‘Where was she?’ It was acting as a mantra in his head now, and he couldn’t seem to stop.

His breath caught in his throat and he reached a hand up to fist the collar of his shirt in his hand. He couldn’t breathe… where was she? She had to come back, she just had to. Getting her back was the only thing that kept him going the last two months and-and if she didn’t come back… what was he supposed to do? Where was she?

He couldn’t feel his legs anymore… that wasn’t good. He was feeling a little light-headed; that wasn’t good either. His face was wet, but he wasn’t sure if that was from his tears or from the panic induced sweat that seemed to cover his entire body.

He sat there for who knows how long, just waiting for her body to reassemble in front of him so he could wrap her up in the hug he oh so desperately wanted to give her, then blame the entire thing on a simple nightmare. He wanted to forget about it all, he wanted to never think about it again, but first he needed his kid back. And she wasn’t here yet, surely, she should be here by now. Where was she?

With every passing second his panic increased tenfold and he could feel his heart rate speed up dangerously quick. This couldn’t possibly be happening. Not now. Please, not now. He just wanted her back, but she wasn’t here. Why wasn’t she here? She was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be hugging her by now.

“Stark.” A hand was placed on his shoulder and he whipped his head around to face the man who’d touched him, not even bothering to hide the tears trailing down his cheeks. He caught sight of the man he’d grown well acquainted with during the two years before the battle and his panic quickly morphed into anger upon seeing him and his stoic expression again. How dare he come back and not Avery! How dare he not care about what happened to his kid! Where was his kid?!

“Where is she?” He growled out hoarsely, scrambling to his feet to throw an accusing finger in his face. He stumbled, because his legs had long since gone numb, but he fixed himself upright and held his ground. “Why isn’t she here? She was supposed to be here! Where is she?!”

The rest of the Guardians watched with worried interest as Tony practically lost it in front of the wizard. They hadn’t seen him anything but calm and collected during the battle, nobody except Pepper and Rhodey had ever seen him anything but calm and collected… he just wanted his kid.

“WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE’S MY KID?!”

Strange took a few steps back and coughed heavily. He held out his hands in a placating gesture to try and get the genius to calm down, but it was no use. Tony had already been consumed by hysteria, and his body couldn’t seem to take it. He fell to his knees shortly after his last outburst and allowed himself to keel over at the waist as he dry heaved into the red dirt.

He couldn’t breathe… he couldn’t feel… he... couldn’t... breathe.

He hadn’t eaten anything in days, he hadn’t slept since god knows when. Working constantly to bring the dusted ones back… he just wanted his kid back, but she wasn’t here. He pulled out every available resource he had, and she still wasn’t here.

After his stomach decided there was no benefit to its actions, he quickly lost the ability to use his lungs once again. The anger dispersed, and the panic was back. The tears were burning his skin as they fell into the dirt and he gasped, desperate for air. Why was he such a mess? Why couldn’t he just have his kid back? He just wanted her back so bad.

He felt that hand on his shoulder again, but he didn’t waste any of his limited energy in turning back to look at him.

“Stark, breathe. You’re no help to the Parker kid if you suffocate yourself from hyperventilating.”

“Shut it Strange,” he gasped angrily, pressing his eyelids together tightly as he heaved in a couple more breaths. “I just lost my kid,” his teeth grit together, “you can’t possibly know how I’m feeling… I-I just lost my kid.” He said it as if he were realizing it again for a second time and he broke down into another fit of ugly tears with a strangled growl being repressed in the back of his throat.

“You didn’t lose her,” Strange reasoned with him softly, “calm down and let’s head back to Earth and we’ll get her back.”

***

When the Guardians, Wong, Strange and Tony stepped through the portal, Tony immediately felt like he was going to keel over by the overabundance of emotion and panic at the sight in front of him. Everyone was hugging and crying and smiling as they greeted their lost team members. Even the Guardians ran off to celebrate with Rocket and the Tree kid the raccoon had been desperately fighting so hard for. It was one thing out of many that Tony had had in common with the rodent… they had both lost something so indescribably precious, and he respected the raccoon for that, but… he had his Tree kid back, and Tony didn’t have his clever spider. He didn’t see how that was fair.

His head hung sadly as he tried to drown out the celebrating team around him. He didn’t want to cry… not in front of them. That would lead to speculation, which would lead to questions, and he didn’t think he’d be able to make it through without making a lousy fool out of himself. Then he felt a new hand on his shoulder. He glanced over to see Rhodey looking at him distraughtly, glancing around desperately in hopes of spotting the familiar, hyperactive spider child that had won over his heart. Tony bit his lip, hard, and shook his head, hoping he could repress the bought of sobs resonating in his chest long enough to hide it from the others. But that plan failed terribly, because Rhodey pulled him into a bone crushing hug, and… and he just couldn’t hold it to himself anymore. He pressed his nose into his best friends shoulder and held on tight as he sobbed quietly into his shirt. Shaking… he knew he was shaking.

He just… he just wanted her back… so bad.

“It’s okay Tones. It’s alright.” Rhodey rasped, trying his best at comfort, even though Tony could feel the tears leaking into his own shirt as well. He knew it wasn’t alright. He knew. Because he wouldn’t be feeling like this if everything were alright.

Then, they were pulling out of the hug and Tony was scrubbing his face with one hand with his other still clasped on his best friends shoulder. The excited chatter from the others died down significantly as a few curious gazes looked over in their direction. He ignored them, though, he didn’t want to face their pity. Even if they didn’t know what they were pitying him for. For all they knew, he didn’t lose anyone but Happy.

That’s when he spotted Pepper guiding a weeping May towards him and Rhodey through the parted crowd… and that started up the water works again. He just- he just couldn’t seem to stop.

Both women reached him, and he was quick to wrap an arm around each of them, pressing his face into Pepper’s hair as both woman gripped onto him tightly. His shirt was being stained with tears, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He could feel Rhodey’s heavy, shaking hand being placed on his back and he drug the man into their little huddle.

They had all lost someone dearly precious, and they had all been expecting with extreme amounts of faith that they would see her again this very day… but she wasn’t here. And Tony had no idea where she could possibly be.

Nobody else dared to interrupt them, and Tony was perfectly fine with that. He didn’t think he’d have the energy to explain to them anyways.

“Stark,” Strange sounded hesitant to speak, “I really need to talk to you. It’s about your daughter, Avery.”

All four mourning adults perked up at the mention of her name, and Tony turned his grim gaze onto the wizard.

“Please, we need to talk… in private.” He gestured to the gathering of heroes and warriors in the Wakandan palace, peeking curiously over towards them.

“Alright.”

***

“I casted a spell on her… while we were on the spaceship.”

“You what?!” Both May and Tony bellowed at the same exact time.

“Yes, now let me explain everything before you jump to any outlandish conclusions…” They all fell silent and waited for Strange to continue.

“When the older Stark came to visit us two years ago, he told us to find a way to contact him when the events he spoke of occurred. He wanted to be sure that his past actions didn’t affect the future livelihood of the multiverse.” Tony nodded his head grimly, remembering the encounter with his future self, but Pepper and May continued to stare at Strange dumbfoundedly. As if he had lost his mind.

Oh yeah… Tony hadn’t told them about the courtesy call his future self had decided to bestow upon them… not like they would believe him anyways. Rhodey knew, and he believed him, because Tony showed him the contents of Stark’s little trinket, and boy had it been a lengthy, emotional discussion.

“Yes, so ever since then I’ve been trying to find a way to get in contact with him and the superior universe he resides in… and I hadn’t found a way to physically communicate between two different dimensions. -”

“What?!” Pepper shrieked. “Tony why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

Tony sighed non-committedly and shook his head. “Not now Pep. Let’s just focus on finding out what Oz did to our kid.” He felt a little bit of hope bubble up in his chest, but he didn’t let it linger, because he didn’t want to face the cruel devastation if it wasn’t what they thought it was.

Strange cleared his throat and glared at the two women for good measure. “As I was saying, I had looked through several spell books with Wong but neither of us could find anything with enough power to break through the fifth dimensional barrier separating the alternate timelines. We did, however, stumble across an ancient manuscript containing the secrets to a way to physically send others into a specific dimension.”

“Please don’t tell me you did what I think you did,” Tony droned out, his forehead puckering in irritation and his mouth curving down into a scowl. “Don’t tell me you sent my kid into another dimension with NO MEANS TO GET BACK HOME!!”

Strange narrowed his eyes at Tony, and Rhodey looked just about as angry as the man next to him.

“Now Stark, I have my reasons. And this is exactly why I didn’t inform you in the first place. I had no idea what the solution to Thanos’ attack was, and I was aware that I was to be dusted during the time you and the others worked the solution. So, I assumed that given the older Stark’s warning, some sort of communication between our two worlds was necessary for our success. I did not know if part of his solution was by coming to our aid, or if the ‘heads up’ was simply just a precaution. I wanted to be of help to you if there was a slight chance you needed it and sending Avery into an alternate dimension would have solved that. I knew that the first thing she would do is go to you, and that’s who we needed to contact.”

Tony was seething, and so was May. Even though the woman couldn’t fully understand what was being said, she could understand enough.

“I sent her to Stark. So, she’s been well cared for. She’s smart, and she’s strong, I knew that she would be able to handle herself before I even considered sending her off.” He tried his best at defending his actions, but Tony didn’t seem to be cooling down any time soon. “At least she’s not dead Stark. You’ll be able to see her again, we just need to find a way to communicate with the universe I sent her to.”

“You just said for yourself that you couldn’t find a way to communicate with them!” Tony barked, heaving in a couple breaths, and pressing a hand over his heart as he pointed an accusing finger at Strange.

“Yes, our knowledge and technology is not advanced enough to communicate by ourselves, but I’m hoping that because of my sending Avery there, they will become aware of our cry for help and be willing to meet us halfway. And I believe that it may even be possible to create a stable portal between our worlds… if your old buddy Stark puts in any effort that is. His technology would do wonders in assisting with the portal.”

“So, what?” Tony pauses, for once looking something other than angry, panicked, or depressed. “We can get her back?”

“Yes, I do believe we can.”

Chapter Text

Avery scrambled out of the tight grip Tony had on her, extricating herself from the small cuddle pile that had formed on the couch during the night, then darted forward to collide with Mr. Stark… her Mr. Stark. She stumbled over herself on her way, and she couldn’t see clearly with the tears obstructing her view, but she still got to Mr. Stark. She didn’t even have time to hesitate and think about the possible repercussions before she was instinctively throwing her arms around his neck and pulling herself closer to him. She sobbed like a pitiful child and pressed her face into the side of his head as she adjusted and readjusted her grip on the back of his shirt, desperately trying to pull him closer. She cried and sniffled, and dropped her head to settle her face in the crook between his neck and shoulder. She released a wet laugh as she fisted his shirt in her small hands.

He was crouched down in an awkward position to give and receive proper hugs, but she didn’t care. She was just so happy he was there… here. He was here, returning her hug with just as much fervor as she was giving. His arms could probably encircle her small waist multiple times if he really wanted to, but he simply wound one around her waist and braced his other hand between her shoulder blades so she wouldn’t be able to pull away even if she wanted to. She couldn’t repress the happy sob, or the teary grin on her face as he pivoted his head in a way that gave him free reign to press enthusiastic kisses to the side of her head, right into the mass of hair just above her ear, and she most definitely didn’t miss the small relieved chuckles choked out through his tears as he pressed his nose firmly against the side of her head.

Avery could feel him beginning to shift, and soon her feet were dangling in the air because she refused to lessen her grip when he stood to his full height. She wouldn’t let him go… not again. Not after what happened the last time she dared to do that.

He chuckled again and gently lowered her so her feet could touch the ground. Then, with a little bit of Tony Stark magic he was somehow able to maneuver his grip around her shoulders which in turn made her drop her arms to link tightly around his waist. She didn’t hesitate to press her face into his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of Tony Stark. She’d grown used to it over the past couple months, but it was different. This wasn’t Tony… this was Mr. Stark… her Mr. Stark.

Mr. Stark dropped his head again to press his face onto the top of her head and she could feel the hot tears dropping into her hair as she gripped handfuls of his t-shirt in her small hands, pressing her ear right over his heart to listen to the fervent, erratic beats echoing in his chest.

“I-I-I mi-issed you so much,” Avery rasped, readjusting her grip again and pulling herself closer into her father’s arms. It was her father… her dad. It was Mr. Stark. It wasn’t Tony this time; it wasn’t Peter’s dad. It was her dad. God. She missed him so much.

“I missed you too kid,” Mr. Stark breathed, voice heavy with emotion, his hand moving upwards to card through her unruly curls in a desperate attempt to ground himself. “More than you’ll ever know… but I have you now. You’re safe, you’re safe. I’m here, and you’re safe.” Avery cried some more, even though the words were probably meant as more of a reassurance for him than for her. Because, yeah, she was safe now.

She silently listened to his quiet murmurings, content to bathe in the warmth Mr. Stark was oh so lovingly offering her. Though, his soothing voice was soon interrupted by insistent rustling behind her. She was unwilling to loosen her grip to turn around, but she could feel Mr. Stark’s head snapping to attention when he heard the noise. He didn’t return to his original post, and his hug loosened distractedly. So, she willed herself to turn around slightly to come face to face with Tony and Peter, both wide awake and staring at her and Mr. Stark.

She gave them a teary smile and Peter was quick to smile back, albeit a little sad at the implications of her having to leave, but Tony didn’t smile. He wasn’t even looking at her. His gaze was narrowed threateningly as he stared straight at Mr. Stark. She looked up to gauge her mentor’s reaction, and he was glaring right back at Tony and a thick, uncomfortable lump formed in her throat, because this couldn’t possibly end well. Who knew what Mr. Stark was going to do in his sleep-deprived and frenzied haze.

Tony stood slowly from the couch several feet away and glanced down at Avery with a stern expression, completely ignoring Mr. Stark’s irritated scowl. “Avery, come here,” he instructed, reaching his hand out in such a way that meant she was supposed to grab it. She stared at the hand wide eyed and allowed her hand to fist over the fabric of Mr. Stark’s shirt. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

“Avery,” Tony snaps at her. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. His gaze had returned to Mr. Stark, as if he were sure the man were going to leap backwards, through the portal behind them, taking Avery right along with him. His body was tense, and his hand shook only slightly as he kept it extended for Avery to latch onto. He seemed nervous; ready to jump in and interfere if the need arose, and Avery wasn’t sure of what she should do.

“What are you doing?” Peter’s eyebrows crease worriedly, and he reached out to gently fist his hand into Tony’s shirt from where he was still seated comfortably on the couch, “that’s Mr. Stark. That’s Avery’s Mr. Stark.”

“We don’t know that Peter,” Tony growled out. “Now Avery. Get over here right now.” His voice left no room for argument, and the only time she’d ever heard that voice from the man was when Peter was being stupid during patrol and Tony had to ground him for a whole week.

“I-I,” Avery faltered, snapping her head back and forth to look between Tony and Mr. Stark. She even looked at Strange and Loki, but neither of them seemed eager to jump in and interrupt. She couldn’t just leave and let go of Mr. Stark when he just got here, but she couldn’t ignore Tony either… because he’s the one that’s been taking care of her for two whole months. She was torn between her real father, and the one that eagerly took his place during his uncanny absence. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

“What do you think you’re doing Stark?” Mr. Stark grounded out. She could feel his arm curl protectively around her, drawing her closer to him.

That’s when Tony jumped into action. He reached out and grasped onto Avery’s hand, tugging her forcefully out of Mr. Stark’s grip. She stumbled a bit at the sudden force acting on her, but Tony supported her and spun her quickly behind his back, keeping her hand firmly grasped in his and hiding her from Mr. Stark’s view. Mr. Stark roared in outrage, but his movements were tired and sluggish as he stormed forward to stand toe to toe with Tony. His red rimmed, droopy eyes, encircled in dark, bruise like shadows made him look a little deranged as he bared his teeth to cover up his growl. If Avery wasn’t already positive as to who it was and what his intentions were, she’d say Tony had good reason to feel wary of the man’s presence.

Then, Mr. Stark tried attempted to reach around to grab ahold of her, but again, his movements were tired and slow, and Tony wasn’t having it. So, he had no problem deflecting his arm and giving him a good shove, so he went stumbling backwards, straight into the other dimensional Strange.

“Don’t touch my kid.” Tony growled out threateningly. He let go of Avery’s hand and pushed her further behind him, taking several steps back to put distance between them.

Avery didn’t know what to do. Was Tony not going to let her go home to her Mr. Stark? Why? Why would he do something like that? She didn’t understand. It was obvious who he was. It was Mr. Stark!

“Your kid?!” Mr. Stark roared angrily, recovering from the shove with drunk-like movements as he pushed himself off of Strange, “she’s my kid! Not yours you idiot!”

He dove forward, darting out in an attempt to attack Tony and possibly land in a good punch or two if he could. Tony had already taken up a defensive position, but the Strange that came with him was able to reach out to stop the Stark’s assault with a firm hand on his shoulder reeling him back before he could get very far.

“Stark, calm down. We can sort this out without violence. He has perfectly sound reason to be wary of us.”

Mr. Stark reels back and turns his heated gaze onto Strange, looking absolutely appalled when the man seemed to defend Tony’s stance against him.

“This idiot thinks he can make claim to my kid. I don’t care who he is, or how long he’s been alive,” he spat out. “He doesn’t get to do that.”

“Listen,” Tony interrupts, “we don’t know who you are, where you came from, or what your intentions are. For all we know you’re from some far-off dimension of psychopaths travelling around and searching for idiots dumb enough to hand over their kids. So, I’d like a substantial amount of proof that you are who we think you are before I just hand over my kid to you and never see her again.”

“But-but Tony,” Avery whines helplessly, stepping out from behind him, tugging on his sleeve and staring up at him desperately, her eyes glinting over to Mr. Stark worriedly. “It’s him. I know it is.”

“Hon,” Tony sighs, smiling softly while he smooths a hand over her hair reassuringly. “You didn’t know that I wasn’t your Mr. Stark until I explained to you multiple times that I had no idea who you were. I’m not going to make any mistakes about this right now. I don’t want to send you off with a psychopathic version of myself, never to return again, and with no means to communicate with you or rescue you, okay?”

Avery’s lip wobbles and her teary eyes lock with Mr. Stark’s just for a moment before she squeezes her eyes shut and presses her face into Tony’s side, so she doesn’t have to look at him.

The other Tony would hate to admit it, but it makes his heart fall just a bit, because his kid was choosing someone else over him. He watches with both anger and heartbreak as his counterpart rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back to try and console her. It made him mad… because that’s supposed to be his job. That’s his kid.

“He has a point.” The second Strange relents, reaching a hand into his pocket to retrieve a small object, “but thankfully I have enough proof to show that we have indeed met before and that there is no reason not to trust our intentions. And unless there are other Avery May Parker’s hanging around in your universe, I do believe that this one belongs in our world.”

Strange steps forward to hand something to Tony, but the other Stark stays abnormally silent as he stares absently at a distressed Avery finding comfort in the man next to her. Even the other kid in the room was rubbing her back and whispering things to her in hopes to cheer her up.

Tony, though, stares at the small cylindrical object that had been placed in his hand with a look of confusion.

“What’s this supposed to be?” He asks incredulously. The Strange that offered him the small, metallic object narrowed his eyes suspiciously before turning his attention to his own silent counterpart across the room.

“This is the superior dimension, correct?”

Strange nods his head affirmatively and the second Strange turns his head back to Tony and cocked his head to the side curiously, as if studying him.

“You must have erased your memory then… this explains why you haven’t fixed the fate of the Multiverse yet.”

“This isn’t Stark?” Mr. Stark seethes, gesturing angrily at Tony, who seemed taken back at the absurd insinuations being made.

“It is him,” Strange reasons with the distressed man offhandedly, “but he just doesn’t remember.”

“What’s going on? What are you talking about?” Tony asks, twirling the cylindrical object around his fingers whilst he looks at it.

Strange doesn’t answer his question, instead he takes several steps forward and locks eyes with him. “How many times did you lose your battle to Thanos?”

Tony’s mouth opens and closes like a helpless fish. What was he supposed to say?

“I believe I know what’s going on,” Loki finally speaks up, standing from his chair and straightening his back to stretch his muscles.

The visiting Stark whirls around to face the god and his face contorts into pure rage when he’s able to coherently acknowledge his presence.

“What is he doing here?! You accuse me of being a danger to my child, and you let this lunatic near her!?”

“It’s okay Mr. Stark!” Avery immediately jumps forward only to be grabbed by Tony and reeled back towards him, but she doesn’t pay him any mind and keeps her eyes set on her Mr. Stark. “He’s not dangerous, he’s cool now. He helped us find you.”

The second Tony opens his mouth to protest, but Peter beats him to the punch.

“What is it Mr. Loki?”

***

“Why exactly are we going back to the Tower?” Tony asks, staring through the orange portal the original Strange had conjured for them to go through after Loki explained his vague solution to their problem. Very vague.

“We need to speak with your ceiling friend, Stark. I’m sure that she can enlighten us with more information on the matter.” The god steps through the swirling vortex without a second thought, and the others follow, with Tony heading up the back with his two kids well within his grasp.

While they’re marching through the empty foyer, Avery somehow escaped from Tony and shuffled up to her Mr. Stark’s side, who happily threw an affectionate arm across her shoulders as they walked. Tony scowled at the sight, but he didn’t put forth any effort to stop it, because Avery wasn’t actually his, and he could only hold her back so much.

“It’s okay Dad,” Peter smiles sadly, popping up on his right and snaking an arm around his waist for a one-armed hug. Tony smiles and pulls him close before ruffling his hair with a sad smile of his own.

“I know kiddo. I’m just not so sure how much I trust a traumatized, drunk and exhausted version of myself.” Peter frowns at the thought and turns his gaze up to look at his father while they continue to follow the dimension-skippers through their home.

“Well…” he paused, thinking about the best way to word his thoughts, “if you were traumatized by my death… and-and exhausted and drunk because you’ve been so guilt ridden and-and working so hard every day to get me back just to see me again… I wouldn’t want anybody to keep me from you.”

Tony heaved a sigh and let his arm fall from Peter’s shoulders so he could reach his hand up to trail down his face. “I know kiddo, it’s just hard for me to accept-”

His phone interrupted him with an insistent buzzing in his front pocket and he paused to fish it out.

“It’s Rhodey,” he announced offhandedly, glancing up for a moment at Peter. “He probably wants to know how Avery’s holding up.”

“Hey,” he called to the group, waving his arm to garner their attention, “I gotta take this. Convene in the Living Room until I get back.” Then he turned his gaze to look down pointedly at Peter and gave his hair one last ruffle. “Keep an eye on ‘em kiddo.”

Then he walked off, answering the call as he did so, and Peter quickly ushered the others towards the Living Room despite Loki’s grumbling of an ‘unnecessary distraction’.

“So…” the second Tony began, standing awkwardly in front of the couches and shooting a wary glance at Peter, “you’re like???” He waved his hand obnoxiously as if he wanted Peter to finish the sentence for him.

“I’m Avery, but in this dimension.” He stuck out his hand with a grin, “Peter Benjamin-Parker Sta- ahhhhm.” He quickly clamped his mouth shut before any secrets could escape him. Of course, the one time his new name seemed to flow from his mouth like second nature is the one of the many times he probably shouldn’t be using it.

“Sta- ahhhhm, what?” The genius asked with a slight chuckle.

“It’s nothing!” Avery quickly defends, drawing a suspicious look from her Mr. Stark and Mr. Strange, “Peter’s just weird sometimes.”

“Oh yeah?” Peter glares humorously, “if I’m weird, then that means you're weird by default!”

Tony’s eyebrows rose at the sudden outburst and then turned his gaze over to Avery to gauge her reaction. He wasn’t used to… what is it? Bickering?

“Actually,” she snarked, placing her hands on her hips, “girls mature faster than boys! So, according to science I’m already more grown and mature than you are!”

“Weird and mature are two different things!”

“But they still correlate!”

“Uhh,” the second Strange hums, as the two continue to bicker, “should we intervene?” He turns to Loki, who had already made himself comfortable on the couch and immersed himself in a thick book in the brief time they’d been occupying the room.

“No,” Loki quickly dismissed, “they do this quite frequently. Pepper or Stark will come and break it up before it becomes a danger to them.”

“A danger?” Tony questions, fixing his gaze on Peter warily. “Wha-what would they-”

As if to answer his question, Avery reels back, grabbing a pillow from the chair and smacking it into Peter’s face after a particularly obnoxious comment, and the boy goes flying backwards. Loki doesn’t even blink as the two other men watch the exchange with wide eyes, nearly jumping into action, but he does release an annoyed sigh. Tony panics slightly when he sees Stark’s kid fly across the room with no means of a cushioned landing.

He doesn’t have to worry long, because soon the boy is leaping up with a playful, yet fiery glare directed at Avery. He charges at her… but a perfectly timed hand, belonging to none other than the one and only Pepper Potts, reaches out and snags him by the collar just as she emerges from the hallway. One hand is gripping her blackberry, with a small stack of folders under her arm, and the other has her hand tightly fisted around the back of Peter’s collar. Tony and Strange almost laugh at the fearful look in the boy’s eyes when he realized just who had caught him in the midst of his rampage. Tony knows very well what the boy must be feeling, because he’s faced his own Pepper’s wrath more times than he can count, and it’s never been pleasant.

“Peter,” she sighed, with a stern glare, “what have I told you two about fighting in the house?” She didn’t even have to look into the Living Room to find a guilty Avery as the cause of Peter’s attack, but who else could it possibly be? “And what in the world are you doing back so early? Where’s your father?”

Peter shrinks sheepishly, but he doesn’t provide an answer for her. So, Pepper sighs and looks up to see the three men and a sheepish Avery in her Living Room.

She drags Peter into the room by the collar then releases him to wrap Avery up in a quick hug. “Aww, sweetheart. Are you okay?” Avery nods hurriedly into her shoulder.

“That’s good,” Pepper smiles, releasing Avery from her hold and standing back up to her full height. Then, she’s looking at Tony with a disappointed shake of her head and her hands on her hips. She’s the only one besides Loki who doesn’t take notice of the man’s panicked expression when she settles her gaze on him.

“Tony, how many times have I told you about the roughhousing? They’re going to break something. You’re the parent, just because you aren’t participating doesn’t mean you can’t be responsible and tell them to knock it off.” She smiles at him patronizingly and pats his cheek. Then she’s looking down at her blackberry again, ignoring his befuddled expression. “Anyways, I’m supposed to be leaving for Malibu last minute.” She looks at him with a sorrowful and apologetic smile, “but if you three think you need me to stay, I will. I just have to tell them now.”

He doesn’t say anything, but Peter jumps in quickly. “That’s-that’s for the new product release, right?” Pepper nods her head affirmatively.

“Then-then you should go!” Peter nods emphatically, “it’s really important, and you and Dad have been pestering R&D about it to get it done for forever. Plus, that Hong Kong merger dude will probably be super pissed if we don’t stick to the agreed release date, right?” Peter ignores the way he spots Avery’s Mr. Stark’s face pale significantly.

“You’re right Peter,” then she turns to look at Avery. “But if you need me to stay honey, I don’t think me, or Tony will mind. We might even be able to get Uncle Rhodey to come back for the night. They don’t need me there for things to go smoothly. Just say the word and I’ll stay, and we can go call Jim.”

“Uncle-Uncle Rhodey?” Tony chokes out, looking abnormally pale. Pepper frowns at him and presses a palm to his cheek.

“Yes, Jim said he was going to call you. Has he not yet? Are you okay? You look terrible, what happened?” Pepper’s worried frown grows deeper the longer Tony doesn’t answer. “Oh, I think I need to stay. Why don’t you kids go get your Pj’s on and we can all watch a movie? And you can stay if you’d like to Stephen. That okay, hon?” She turns to Tony to judge his reaction, but he’s unable to avert his worried gaze from travelling between the two Parkers.

“Oh honey, you sit down.” Pepper gently pushes him down onto the couch, which he obliges to, and she leans down to give him a quick kiss…

“WRONG TONY!!” The original Tony shouts from across the room, garnering everyone's attention before Pepper was able to land her lips on the wrong Stark. “I’m the real fiancé here. No need to be kissing that other bastard.”

“Tony?” Pepper questions, taking a large step away from the other Stark sitting on the couch in a daze. “What’s going on?”

“This is Mr. Stark!” Avery chimes excitedly, bouncing over to join him on the couch, sitting close enough so she could loop her arm through his.

“D-Dad?” The dazed Tony comments, staring at Peter, “you called him Dad?”

“Oh great,” Loki mutters with his nose still in his book.

“Yeah-um,” Tony shuffles over hurriedly, sitting down next to him on the couch. “Listen… don’t freak out. Just, um, deep breaths.”

“What’s going on?” He snaps right back, pushing his counterpart away from him. “What haven’t you told me?”

“It’s okay Mr. Stark,” Avery soothes gently, rubbing her hand up and down his arm, “Peter just calls Tony ‘Dad’ sometimes. It’s no big deal. They’re just - um, really close.”

The distressed Tony stands from the couch abruptly, immediately falling into his usual pacing to cope. “No-no-no none of this is making any sense. You,” he points an accusing finger at Tony, “don’t remember anything you’re supposed to. You,” he points at Peter, “are supposed to be dead. And I don’t even know why you are here.” He finishes with a role of his eyes before fixing his gaze on a disinterested Loki.

“Stark, lets calm down a bit,” Strange reasons, reaching out to stop his pacing, “we don’t know all the details yet. Let’s speak with Stark’s AI just as Loki suggested.”

“That is correct,” FRIDAY speaks up, nearly causing Tony and Strange to jump in surprise. “It is nice to finally meet you Mr. Stark and Dr. Strange. From World 273 I presume. I hope your travels were somewhat pleasant. I was wondering when I’d have the honor of seeing you again, Boss was quite confident with your relative and superior-like reality.”

“Ok,” The unstartled Tony replies incredulously, “what?”

“I apologize Boss but going into further detail would disclose information that is not yet available to you.”

The other Stark laughs outright, forgetting his distress for a moment. “Ha! What’s this? FRIDAY doesn’t even listen to you?”

“On the contrary,” FRIDAY responds, “I am obeying future Boss’ commands by not obeying present Boss’ commands.”

The second Tony narrows his eyes questioningly at the other. “Did the kids screw with her programming or something?”

Tony shook his head. “Sadly, no. Apparently she’s been instructed by a future version of me to conceal certain aspects of my life from myself while simultaneously cleaning up all my screw ups. I’ve been too preoccupied lately to attempt and pry it out of her.”

“If she has been instructed and programmed by the future Stark, your attempts to compromise his work would be futile. You should probably just wait until you regain your old memories, if you ever do...” Strange states seriously, nodding his head affirmatively.

“No-,” Tony tries to defend before Peter beats him to it.

“Woah, Dad, seriously?! Did you-did you like… come from the future?” Peter’s eyes widen excitedly as he scuffles closer to the man sitting on the couch. Avery jumps onto the couch as well, standing on the cushions and towering over Tony while bracing her hand on his shoulders to keep balanced. “Like from that old movie with the cool DeLorean?

“Seriously Tony? That’s awesome! Is that why you have those dreams?”

Before Tony can respond to the excited chatter of children, Loki chimes in. “I believe so. It’s quite possible that his brain contains an abundance of suppressed knowledge just waiting to burst forth. If we could possible-”

“Ok! Hold on a damn second!” Tony leaps up from the couch, running a hand through his hair as he starts up the pacing that the other Tony had just recently stopped. “We don’t know that. Let’s just focus on what’s going on right now… alright? We can discuss this later when they leave.”

“So…” Avery pipes up warily, “you’ll let me go with Mr. Stark now? You believe them?”

Tony squeezes his nose and groans, his resolve seeming to crumple uselessly around him.

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s get back to Strange’s dumb castle and get you on your way,” he mutters, turning away from the group and walking a distance while Strange begins conjuring up a portal leading to the sanctuary where Wong and the other Strange were patiently waiting.

“Wait, Tony,” Avery whines, chasing after him, “what’s wrong? You seem angry.”

“I’m not angry kiddo,” Tony answered with a tired smile, “just frustrated.”

“Why are you frustrated?” She presses.

Tony doesn’t suppress his grin while he looks down at her. He ruffles the hair at the top of her head affectionately. “Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about, Princess.”

Tony definitely doesn’t miss the way Avery’s Mr. Stark growls under his breath while he tries to subtly ignore the interaction, and he reaches out to grab her by the hand and lead her to the gaping hole in the Living Room. “C’mon kid, let’s go home. Everyone’s missing you like crazy.”

Avery smiles at him with an excited grin, but she does look over her shoulder at Tony before they step through the portal. Peter, Loki and Pepper follow, and Tony hesitates… but he eventually steps through as well.

***

“I can’t believe this is goodbye,” Peter mutters, staring down at his shoes while he stands toe to toe with his… whatever she was to him. Doppelganger just didn’t seem like the right word to describe their relationship anymore. She looks just as put off by her departure as he is, and neither teen looks like their ready to say goodbye to the other.

“It was really nice to meet you Peter. I’m sure I’ll be hearing plenty about you in the coming days,” Avery’s Tony says with a smile, sticking his hand forward to shake the young Parker’s hand. Peter hesitates, but he grasps the older man’s hand in his and gives it a firm shake.

Neither one say anything for a few more moments before both siege forward in a flurry of limbs and wrap each other up in a tight hug. Pepper’s grip on Tony’s arm tighten at the heartbreaking farewell, and nobody says a word.

“I’m gonna miss having a brother to annoy,” Avery mutters into his shoulder, fisting his shirt in her hands.

“I’m gonna miss having a sister to annoy me,” Peter responds in kind, mumbling into her mop of curly hair. They squeeze each other tight before eventually letting go, and Avery steps back to her original position beside Mr. Stark… her Mr. Stark.

“Maybe-maybe Strange can figure out a way so we can talk sometimes,” Avery mumbles with a tiny smile. Peter nods his head, and purses his lips, stepping back to join his own father’s side.

Then, as if she couldn’t wait any longer, Pepper’s moving forward and scooping Avery into her arms, pressing firm kisses to the side of her head. “It’s going to be complete chaos in the house without another woman to back me up.”

“Just call up May or Nat when you need help reeling them in. I’m sure they’ll do fine,” Avery grins into her chest, tightening her arms around Pepper’s waist.

“I suppose,” Pepper sighs, “but I’ll still miss you.” The woman pulls back, holding Avery out at arm's length. She smiles down at the teary-eyed girl and pushes a curl behind her ear and wipes a few tears away with her thumbs while she’s at it. “You be good now, and don’t go giving your Pepper or Aunt May too much trouble. Goodness knows what trouble you and Mr. Stark will get into.”

“Thanks Pepper,” Avery smiles, her lip wobbling dangerously as she tried to suppress as much emotion as she could.

Then, Pepper’s backing away again, and the only person that hadn’t said their goodbye was Tony… and he didn’t want to say goodbye. He never wanted to have to say goodbye to her, but the way she was looking at him as if he had single handedly broke her heart made him want to cry. He knew his eyes must have already been rimmed red, because he’d been subtly trying to wipe the tears away all evening and he could already feel the annoying pressure beginning to build in his sinuses.

“Tony,” Avery chokes out, her voice breaking towards the end.

The edges of Tony’s frown angle down further and his lips press harder together at the broken sound while he tries to subdue the sting behind his eyes. “Yeah, kid?”

He doesn’t have time to think of a better response when she doesn’t answer him, because she’s already barreling towards him and colliding hard against his chest. He releases a pained wheeze as she squeezes him, but it doesn’t refrain him from squeezing her back. He presses his face into her hair and lets a few tears slip through the barrier.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she whispers softly.

Tony smiles softly to himself and rubs her back. “I’ll miss you too squirt.”

“I didn’t get to say goodbye to Rhodey and May again,” she mutters.

“I know, but I’m sure they understand,” Tony says, patting down her hair. “And Rhodey already told me to tell you he’s gonna miss you.”

Then, he breaks away from her and kneels down. It surprises him still - two months later - that she could be so small when Peter’s so much bigger in comparison. He supposed she must have inherited the tiny stature from his mother and late grandmother. That’s the only explanation.

“I grabbed this from my office when I was talking to Rhodey. I thought you might find it useful later.” He holds out a folded piece of paper towards her, and she takes it graciously.

“I-is this?” She stutters, staring at him wide eyed as she held the folded sheet in her hand carefully, as if she expected it to spontaneously shred into a million tiny pieces if she wasn’t absurdly gentle.

“Yeah, it is,” he answered numbly, shooting her a lopsided grin. “And film the reaction for me, will ya? I’m sure I’d get a kick out of it if I ever get to see you again.”

Her lips press together firmly, and she drops her gaze to the paper in her hands while a few more tears fall down her cheeks.

“You think he’ll want me? Like you want Peter?” She asks in a whisper, hoping that her Mr. Stark couldn’t hear. Boy, wouldn’t that just spoil the surprise.

“I swear on my life he does,” Tony smiles softly, wiping away a few of her tears, “but if he doesn’t then we can always find a way for you to come back to me.”

Avery chuckles humorlessly. “That swear doesn’t count.”

“Why not?” Tony asks, feigning offense.

“You don’t care enough about yourself to be allowed to swear on it. You have to swear on something that matter to you for it to mean something,” Avery replies with a bit more humor in her tone. “You gotta swear on Peter… or me. Or-or Pepper even.”

Tony smiles and he doesn’t say anything for a moment as he looks up at her.

“I swear on all three of you, that that man loves you more than life itself. Alright?”

Tears are falling again… from both parties, and they share one last hug before she has to leave… for good. He hates it that he has to watch her go. He hates that he can’t muster enough strength to wear a smile and wave goodbye when she looks back at him before she steps through the portal. And he hates the way her Tony Stark looks back when she leaves and offers him an appreciative nod of his head as tears fall down his cheeks. He hates it.

***

“Welcome home,” Tony presents with a dramatic flair of his hand. He squeezes a teary Avery into his side as they step into the confines of a conference room in a building she’s not familiar with.

“Where are we?” She asks, glancing around the room for any familiar surroundings. She spots Wong over in the corner, already working on collapsing the massive portal they’d just stepped through, and she barely registers Strange scurrying over to assist him.

“We’re at the Compound, and I believe there are a few people waiting to see you.”

Avery grins excitedly and grabs onto her Mr. Stark’s hand to drag him out of the room, in search of her dearly missed family, but finds disappointment when all she’s met with is an empty hallway.

Mr. Stark picks up on her disappointment and is quick to reassure her. “They’re probably eating supper, or lunch… I’m not really sure what time it is.”

“It’s 6 o’clock sir,” FRIDAY announces, “Everyone is currently engaging in a family dinner in the dining room.”

“Great,” he grins, “let’s go see everyone, hm?”

He starts walking, but when he realizes that Avery isn’t following him, he turns back around to see what’s wrong. She’s standing in the spot he left her, and she’s staring down at the paper she’s toying with in her hands. He’d seen Stark hand it to her earlier, and he didn’t want to pry, but he desperately wanted to know what about it had her so worked up.

“Um, if you want to wait on meeting the team, I don’t blame you. We can just have a simple evening with your Aunt, Pep, Rhodey and Happy. They all really missed you.” He had a sinking feeling in his chest while he watched fresh tears form and fall down her face. What if she didn’t really want to come home?

“No, it’s okay-um… Mr. Stark?” She raises her head to look at him through glassy eyes, reaching up to swipe the tears off her cheeks, only to replace them with more.

“What’s up kiddo?” He asks worriedly, shuffling forward to stand in front of her. He places both hands on her shoulders and looks down at her.

“Um,” she hesitates, “I think- I think we need to talk… before… all that.”

“What about? What’s wrong? Did you-” he gulped, “did you not want to come back?”

She shakes her head violently. “No-no-no it’s not that. It’s just…” a whine emits from the back of her throat as the noise of crinkling paper becomes more intense the more she messed with the sheet in her hands. “You remember how Tony and Peter were super close? And how Peter called Tony ‘Dad’ all the time?”

Tony smiled, and the heavy weight on his chest lifts. He thinks he knows where this is going. So, he nods his head and answers for her before she has to suffer through any more of the stress of actually asking the question.

“I don’t mind if you call me ‘Dad’ kiddo. It won’t bother me, I promise.”

“No-no it’s not that either. It’s just- ugh,” she scrubbed her hand down her face. “It’s close, I don’t know how to… here!” She shoves the paper at him, and he looks down at it confusedly, but takes it, nevertheless.

“What’s this?” He asked with an arched brow, opening it up to examine it.

Avery bites her lip worriedly and rocks back and forth on her heels. “It’s why Peter calls Tony ‘Dad’.”

She watches for a reaction, but his face remains blank as he reads through it. She can see his eyes widen and then narrow as he looks it over multiple times, and her stomach twists uncomfortably at the thought that Tony was wrong about Mr. Stark. She doesn’t know if she’d be able to live with herself if Mr. Stark tells her he doesn’t want to be her Dad right after leaving the man that said he does.

“Is this real?” He eventually asks, his voice as soft as a whisper as he locks eyes with her. His eyes are narrowed suspiciously while he looks at her and she bites her lip. “Is this a joke? This better not be some sick joke Avery, because it’s not funny to joke about this. Is it real?” He repeats again, more insistent.

Avery doesn’t move her mouth to respond, but she does let the tears fall down her cheeks, and she does nod her head in affirmation. She probably should have just stayed with Tony and Peter, because at least she was wanted there. At least Tony, Pepper, and May loved her like she was family.

Then, she’s being enveloped in two, familiar, strong arms. She freezes, but only for a moment, before she wraps her arms tightly around her father.

“You’re my dad,” she whispers hoarsely, squeezing her eyes shut.

“You’re my dad,” she repeats, over and over, as she sobs into his shoulder. It was more of a reassurance for herself rather than him. “You’re my dad.”

***

After Avery was peppered with kisses and hugs from her Aunt and Pepper, Rhodey and Happy gave her big hugs to compensate, chanting of their worry for her while she was away. There were tears all over, accompanied by delighted smiles and laughs, because their family was finally happily reunited. The small group ignored the larger group trying to pretend that they weren’t watching the heartwarming ‘welcome home’ with curious confusion.

Then, after all the excitement, Avery is hugging Mr. Stark, her dad, again, and he smiles while he squeezes her back.

“Can we watch a movie tonight, Dad? I’m feeling some Robin Williams or something.” She propped her head back to look at him, and she was greeted with a warm smile as he smoothed back some of the frizziness that had decided to invade her face.

“I think we can arrange that, but why don’t you say hi to everyone else first. Poor Captain America’s going to piss himself from confusion if you don’t go introduce yourself.” He gestured to the larger gathering of superheroes around the enormous table, which included a… tree and a racoon? Awesome.

“Hi!” She grinned, pulling away quickly to run up to the table so she could excitedly greet each and every starstruck hero, and just a bit sorrowful to learn that Loki wasn’t amongst them. Strange and Wong eventually joined the group later while she was in the middle of an animated introduction to Clint. Which was weird, considering she’d already met him… and assisted in several harmless pranks that Tony seemed to think weren’t actually harmless.

While she was busy doing that, Tony turned to the small group staring at him expectantly.

“What?” He asked, with a happy, but tired, grin on his face. It was beginning to hurt with all the smiling going on, because he hadn’t used those poor muscles since the fateful day Avery left. He was glad to say that they were getting a serious workout now.

“Avery called you Dad…” Rhodey paused, narrowing his eyes at him, “did-is that a habit she got form over there. Or…”

Tony didn’t say a word as he handed over the piece of paper Avery had gave to him earlier. The other three adults gathered around Rhodey to try and read over his shoulder, and a long silence followed as they comprehended the meaning. Then, there was a loud outburst of several joyous shouts as Tony was immediately bombarded with hugs.

“May?” he asked, looking at the woman when he had finally been released, “you’re okay with this?”

“Of course Tony,” she smiles, “I would have never guessed it was you, but I can’t imagine her having a father other than you.”

Later that night, everyone was in the Living Room, enjoying the lovely ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ as it played on screen. In the beginning there were many questions that arose from the visiting aliens in the group, questioning the workings of the TV and the film itself, along with several of the other references they couldn’t seem to get. Then Steve and Natasha were threatening them and telling them to shut up, so they could watch the film in peace, and they did, thankfully.

Tony, for the first time in… who knew how long… was finally enjoying himself. He was happy. He was doing something other than obsessing over Thanos and the snap, and the fate of the universe in his hands. He’s watching the first movie he’s watched in two months. He’s sitting here doing nothing, without a drink in his hand, and without being on the verge of passing out from malnutrition, dehydration, and exhaustion. He has Pepper on one side, and Avery curled into his other… he couldn’t think of a better night.

It had surprised him at first when Avery had rested her head on his shoulder without a bit of hesitancy or doubt like she would have probably done before, and when it happened, he snapped his head over to look at the young girl who was already readily using his arm as a pillow. He hadn't known what to do! So, he snapped his head up to try and catch May’s attention, but she laughed at his panicked expression, which was no help by the way, and he was stuck figuring it out on his own.

So, before she got herself too comfortable, he put into practice what Pepper taught him, and maneuvered his arm so he could snake it around her small shoulders. She snuggled further into him, and… he hated to admit it, but it made him grin like a doofus. She pillowed her head on his chest, and tucked her feet beneath his thigh, releasing a happy hum as she pressed her nose into his collarbone

He hated to think about why she seemed to be so familiar with the actions, and he ducked his head to whisper into her hair.

“You and Tony do this a lot?”

She nodded absently against him, and he felt a surge of jealousy jolt through him.

“Sometimes. Usually only when I was missing you, though.”

He paused. Then he felt the tears, and he dropped his head to press his face into her curls, pressing several kisses to her hairline.

“I love you so much Princess, you know that, right?”

“I know,” she whispered back, “I love you too, Dad.”

That’s how it went, and he’s pretty sure he could definitely get used to it. He’d watch as many dumb, Disney movies, comedies, dramas, chick flicks, inaccurate sci-fi movie attempts as she wanted if it meant he’d get to feel like this.

Then, before he knew it, the credits were running, and he could feel his daughter’s soft snuffling against his chest… daughter (It was a strange word, but he kinda liked it). She was asleep, and after the taxing day she had, he couldn’t really blame her. He dropped his head again to press another kiss into her curls and breathed her all in. She was finally here… with him. And she was safe.

“So, this is your kid, Tony?” Steve asked tentatively, glancing down at the small girl curled around him.

“Yeah,” he replied bluntly, a slight rasp in his voice as he spoke.

“She was dusted?” Clint pressed, looking guilty as he glanced down at his own son cradled against his chest.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded, his voice cracking slightly at the end. He didn’t look at them; he couldn’t.

“And she didn’t come back?” Bruce continued.

Tony shook his head shakily, then turned away from the crowd of heroes on his couch. He stared at the wall, trying to keep the tears from falling, because goodness knows he didn’t need them to see him cry. His chin shook, and his eyes were most definitely watering… he didn’t want to think about it.

“We’re sorry,” Natasha whispered lamely, “we-we didn’t know.”

“Well now you do,” Rhodey growled out, narrowing his eyes at the others.

“I’m gonna take her to bed,” Tony said abruptly. He gently began gathering her into his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder and curling an arm beneath her knees.

“You got her?” May asks worriedly, when Tony staggers back a bit after standing up.

“Yeah, just need to sleep,” he whispered. “Goodnight everyone. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Dad?” Avery groaned quietly, her eyes blinking open slowly, staring at the stubble on Tony’s chin.

Tony pressed a soft kiss to her forehead in response and she let her head fall back to his shoulder. “Go to sleep sweetheart.”

“Kay,” she mumbles, a sleepy grin forming on her face, “love you.”

“Love you too,” Tony whispers, smiling to himself as he exits the room. “Now go to sleep you little brat.”

***

“Boss, Peter’s standing outside your door, but he seems to be contemplating whether or not he should come in,” FRIDAY announces. Tony peers over his reading glasses, towards his bedroom door.

He’s sitting up against the headboard of his bed, with his tablet cradled in his lap as he cards through his recent designs of SpiderGirl outfits. It was nearly 2 in the morning, but he just couldn’t bring himself to sleep. Peter was probably having the same problem.

“Tell him to get his scrawny butt in here.”

Apparently, she did, because maybe two seconds later, his door was being opened, and in came Peter.

“Pepper left?” Was the first thing out of his mouth when he realized that the other half of Tony’s bed was empty.

“Yeah, she had to catch a later flight to California to make that product release. She should be back the day after tomorrow though. What’s got you up this late at night?”

He already knew what it was, heck, he was having the same exact problem.

Peter stood awkwardly at the side of his bed, shuffling his feet, and clasping his hands behind him as he stared at the ground.

“I-I-I just miss Avery. It-it’s hard to sleep in an empty room now, you know.”

Tony’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but when he noticed the silent tears dripping onto his carpet, he immediately pushed his tablet to the side and opened his arms.

“C’mere kiddo,” he instructed.

Peter didn’t hesitate to oblige to the command. He quickly scrambled across the bed and collapsed against his father, pressing his face into his stomach, and crying into his nightshirt. Tony didn’t say anything, he just ran his hand through his hair and hoped it would help.

Peter’s body curled further around him, and slowly, Tony maneuvered himself so he was laying down comfortably on the bed so Peter wouldn’t strain his neck if he ended up falling asleep the way he was. He moved the sobbing kid into a more comfortable position, so his face was pressed into his chest, right where the arc reactor used to reside.

“It’s okay to be sad that she left bud. Just remember that she’s happy now. That’s the important part.”

“But she was happy with us too.” Peter sobbed, sounding downright miserable with all his sniffling, and gasping and slight whines emitting from his throat.

“Yes, but she still missed her father, and her Aunt May. You gotta remember that Peter.”

“I know- I know, but-but I wouldn’t have minded sharing you… or May,” Peter whines, fisting Tony’s shirt into his hand and moving his face so he could press it into his father’s neck. Tony grimaced at the wetness he felt. “I don’t want to be selfish. I just… I miss her so much already. I wish she could have stayed a little longer.”

“Me too kiddo,” Tony breathed, pursing his lips, and looking upwards to stare at the ceiling, “but sometimes life just doesn’t work out the way we want it to.”

They didn’t say anything for a little while, and eventually Peter’s tears died down. Tony had gone back to the schematics on his tablet while rubbing Peter’s back.

“Do you- Do you think you and Pepper are gonna give me have a little brother or sister soon?”

Tony splutters at the sudden question, and Peter laughs because he’s such a little brat and he very well knows it.

“Well, wouldn’t that be nice,” Tony eventually choked out around his own laughter. “We’re not exactly in our prime anymore, so it’s going to have to be soon if we were to.”

“Mhm,” Peter hums, “I’m telling Pepper you called her ‘old’.”

“If you do then you aren’t getting a sibling,” Tony threatens.

Peter ignores the comment and hums in thought. “It’d be kinda cool to have a baby sister… or brother. We could teach her all about computers and cars, that way she could be a total tomboy. But she can still be a girly-girl if she wants to be. I’ll still love her, even if she likes makeup and dresses more than robots.”

“That’s very big of you Pete,” Tony jokes, smiling affectionately to himself. “What if it’s a boy?”

“He doesn’t have a choice then. He has to like robots and cars. Or else I’m gonna give him noogies for the rest of his life.”

“Mm,” Tony chuckles, “I see. I’ll inform Pepper of your intentions.”

“Sure,” Peter shrugs, “I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a girl though.”

Tony laughs outright at that. “Pepper’s not even pregnant and you’re making assumptions?”

“Do you know that she’s not pregnant? Can you say with 100% certainty that she’s not already carrying my future baby sister in her stomach?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Go to sleep Peter. We can go down to the Compound tomorrow if you go to sleep.”

“I want to go to R&D,” He bargained, closing his eyes, and pressing his cheek onto Tony’s chest.

“Fine. If you go to sleep, I’ll take you down to R&D tomorrow.”

“Sounds good, Dad,” Peter mumbles. “Night, love you.”

“I love you too. Now go to sleep you little brat.”

Chapter Text

They were coping…

It wasn’t at all the same as it was before, but they were getting through it. It’d been a long month for all of them, and for the first couple weeks Peter had a hard time sleeping in an empty room by himself. Strange later diagnosed his apparent insomnia as severe separation anxiety, and Tony couldn’t really blame the kid. Avery and Peter had both grown exceptionally close, they did just about everything together… like real siblings. Their bond was tight even though they only knew each other for two months.

So, Tony offered for Ned to stay the night for a few nights to help Peter sleep, and Peter happily agreed. Then, on the nights Ned wasn’t around Peter would sulk, and even though he would insist on trying to sleep in the empty room by himself, both Tony and Pepper knew to expect the timid knock on the door around midnight or so. He did the same when he stayed with May… he’d often sneak into her room after patrol and burrow under her flowery comforter just as he used to do when he was a little boy after he had a particularly bad nightmare.

Then, when Tony and Pepper had to make a last-minute trip to California, and May had the nightshift, it left Peter panicky and stressed; fully convinced that he would have to go the entire night without rest. That was until Rhodey strolled into the Living Room around 1am to see a tired Peter Parker slouched over himself and cocooned in a mountain of blankets. He hoisted the kid up and by the arm dragged him to his room down the hall, and the boy didn’t make a single protest as he allowed his Uncle to tuck him into the other side of his bed.

Rhodey didn’t dare tell the kid that Tony had called in the middle of the night, worried, stressed, and downright guilty for leaving his kid during his time of crisis. He also didn’t tell the kid that he sent a reassuring message back, along with a picture of Peter sprawled across his bed, taking up all the room, sound asleep.

Then, after a little while, things got better. They got back into the swing of things, and Tony had almost completely forgotten about all the stress that came with dealing with doppelgangers, dimensions, and time travel. His life was going fairly well, and he thoroughly enjoyed all his time spent, either with Peter… or with Peter. He was always with Peter. They were an inseparable duo, and he’s sure he’d be having his own dose of severe separation anxiety when it became time for Peter to go back to school.

So, other than the first couple of weeks, life wasn’t quite as terrible as he expected it would be when Avery went back home.

That’s why when FRIDAY woke him up at 6am to announce ‘it is time’ or whatever the hell that meant, he wasn’t quite sure what she was referring too. But he complied anyway, listened to her instructions, and trudged down the hall quietly, heading down to his personal lab. He didn’t even bother asking the cryptic AI any questions about what in the world was going on, because he had spent valuable time asking to his heart's content only to be answered with ‘I’m not allowed to divulge that information to you yet, sir.’ It pissed him off every time, so he eventually just stopped asking and stopped worrying about it.

He got down to the lab and FRIDAY recommended him to take a seat. So, he did, the glanced around the room confusedly. Then a screen popped up in front of him, and he let his eyes drift towards it as the screen lit up with a background picture of his lab at the Compound a few years ago.

Then the camera shook slightly and then he’s sitting there… himself. He’s looking at the camera with a forlorn, tired look in his eyes, and a tight smile worn on his lips. Tony stared at the screen, slowly piecing together what exactly FRIDAY was showing him.

“Hi, Tony,” he greets softly, “I hope you never have to watch this, but, you know, I’m an idiot, so I guess you’re bound to.” He sighs and leans back heavily into his chair, glancing away from the camera to stare blankly at a wall behind it. It takes a few moments, neither Tony say anything, and then he’s looking back, straight at the camera.

“I messed up. I really screwed it up this time,” he shakes his head and bites his lip and looks down at his lap.

“But I suppose I should probably start from the very beginning if I want you to understand what’s going on.”

Here it goes. He was finally going to get some answers. He was finally going to learn about what’s been going on.

“First things first,” he sighed, “Thanos… That’s how all of this started. He’s a guy that destroyed half the universe. He gathered all the Infinity Stones and killed off half of all living things with just a snap of his finger.” The Tony on the video snapped his finger for emphasis, staring darkly into the camera. “He did it, and I was there to see the destruction that followed him… It was anything but pretty. There was only a quarter of the population left on Earth after a year or so. Half were dusted, ceased to exist, and the other quarter had either died as a secondhand effect from the dusting, or in an unwillingness to continue life in such a depressing world. It was terrible… nobody could ever move on. There were constant reminders every day about what happened, and no one could ever move on from that.”

“It took me four years. Those first four years was just a pit of agonizing self-hatred, guilt, and drunk sorrow. The only thing that kept me from launching myself right off the roof of my own building like so many others had done… was a measly, hopeless dream that the world might one day be fixed. I almost committed the deed so many times, but the thought of Peter coming home-” his voice cut off and he pressed a hand to his face, drawing in a long breath. “I didn’t want Peter to come home and find that I wasn’t strong enough to wait for him. And I didn’t want to leave Pepper… Rhodey, but by that time I’m sure that the Tony Stark they all knew and loved was long gone anyway.” He paused and shook his head.

“It was hard to sleep too… I didn’t want to face the nightmares. They were always terrible; worse than I’d ever had before, because I had to watch Peter die in my arms over and over again. Though, I guess that was a terrible idea on my part… being the idiot that I am, I didn’t sleep for days. My brain was quickly starved of REM sleep, and soon the hallucinations began. It brought all my worst nightmares to life, and… I feel that was worse than the nightmares themselves. I didn’t… I still couldn’t sleep, and I suffered through the dreadful hallucinations, unsure if they were real or fake. The worse being the hopeful dreams of seeing Pete asleep on his desk and everything was actually okay only to realize moments later it wasn’t real.” A small tear fell down his cheek, and he didn’t even bother to wipe it away.

“But, like I said, it took me four years to get my act together… That’s when I found out that Peter was my son, and-and I wanted- no I needed to see him again. No matter what it took. So, instead of wasting my time wallowing and drinking like I’d been busy doing for the past four years, I started studying up… I had an idea. Albeit not a very smart one, but it was a plan, nonetheless. The others didn’t feel the need to help, they had already scrounged around for any viable solutions for the four years I was incapacitated. I believe by that time… Bruce was the only one still alive and around anyways.” Tony’s eyes glazed over as he returned his attention to the wall again, but no tears fell.

The real Tony by now was jittering and shaking as he watched the recording intently. He needed to know what happened, yet at the same time he didn’t want to be plagued with the knowledge.

“They-they,” he sighed, “Clint couldn’t take it. He’d lost his whole family, his whole life. He… we never heard the official report, but we all knew what happened when he stopped coming around after a certain… incident that had officially sent him off the edge. Then, Natasha was next. She- she and Steve were desperate to fix things. They went with Scott, Ant-man, into the quantum realm… they made it through to another dimension, and Steve was able to return with the space stone intact, but neither Natasha nor Scott returned with him.” The Tony on screen gulped, and he pressed his eyelids together tightly.

“He’d had hope once he returned originally. Happy to finally have at least one of the infinity stones in his possession, but the power and obsession to save the world and get his friends back consumed him… he didn’t make it much longer than a month before Bruce found him… Then there was Thor and the talking raccoon, Rocket. They made a timely disappearance right before the dear Captain’s death and I didn’t hear a word from them since. I hadn’t spoken with them much, but they had both lost their entire families - their entire livelihood… I can only assume...”

Tony paused the video and he sucked in a breath of air. Was that really his future? He couldn’t- how could he… That couldn’t possibly be his future.

He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and rocked back and forth. This couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t...

“Sir,” FRIDAY spoke quietly, “I’d advise finishing the rest of the video before making any upsetting conclusions.”

Tony sniffled and glanced up to stare at his very own grief-stricken face paused on the screen, and a wave of panicked fell over him in an instant, but he gestured for FRIDAY to continue the video anyways.

“I… I hated every time I’d walk into Banner’s lab only to find him lost after another failed attempt to end his life as well… I stopped going to visit him after Steve… I didn’t want to see it for myself if he had somehow found a way to succeed in his efforts.” The on-screen Tony sighed shakily. “I’m still not sure what exactly had kept Pepper and Rhodey going for so long, and I’m… I’m not really sure how I wasn’t the first to go as soon as I got back from Titan. Though, I suppose death is too good for us, right? The universe obviously wanted me to suffer for my sins. So, I decided to give it what it wanted, in hopes that it would at least give me something in return… It didn’t.” He sighed and fell back into his chair, pushing his knuckles into his cheek.

“So, I was stuck to figure it out on my own. I had a new vibranium suit, the space stone, and Dr. Pym’s quantum machine. Long story short, I tried taking it the easy way out. I used the Quantum realm to travel into an alternate dimension, and I stole the Time Stone. I went back to my world, and I… I reversed time; all of it. I went back to the day before Thanos came, when Peter was still alive and well. Before everyone had been plagued with the fallout of Thanos’ doing. The only downside… I remembered everything, but at the time I saw it as an advantage. I’d know what to do to defeat Thanos, I had a secret weapon that he didn’t know about; two infinity stones.” He shook his head shamefully, and a few more tears slipped through.

“It didn’t work though. I still failed. Half the universe was still killed off once again, and I still had to watch my son disintegrate in my arms. I hadn’t even had the chance to tell him all that I had wanted before it was too late. So, I reversed time again, determined to do it right that time, and it took all my willpower not to spill my secrets to Strange, hoping that the man could somehow help. And I wanted to tell Peter too… I wanted to tell him he was my son and that I was his dad. I knew better though, thankfully. I wasn’t as well educated on the workings of time as much as I am now, but I did have the common sense to not reveal the future or any information that could possibly distract them during the battle in any substantial way.” He shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal.

“I did it over and over again. I-I fought Thanos over and over, each time trying out a new plan, a new form of attack, a new tactic, but he always won, and I always lost. Peter always died, and I always lived. I was mentally exhausted and drained, I had replayed that one day at least 500 times over, maybe a thousand, and I still had no idea how to beat him. So, I went back… by a few weeks maybe. I worked and worked day and night to prepare, hoping that that would somehow help when Thanos attacked. I read up on time, different dimensions, the quantum realm… anything to help. But I still failed. I just… I was too stubborn to give up right then. I didn’t want to have to go back to that dreadful time that I came from. I wanted things to be back to the way they were. And I thought I had no other choices.”

Tony didn’t think he could watch anymore… but he still had so many questions.

“I did this for years. My mind grew old and grim, and by that time I had completely given up with trying to fix the world. I know now that there’s a difference between giving up and knowing you had enough, because my body couldn’t take it anymore,” he paused, and a small sob wracked through the man’s body. “Every time I failed… I wished that I might be given the chance to be of the ones who had died during the snap… I wished for it every time Thanos beat me. I knew it was possible, because there were several times where one of the space idiots survived and another died. I just… different people died each time, and I just wanted to be one of them. But I was never chosen… I was always alive, and Peter was always dead. It was like having to listen to the same sick joke over… and over… and over again. It wasn’t working. I’d lived through an average lifetime or two trying to find that one future out of 14 million where everything turned out right.” The man on screen wiped away his tears and composed himself.

“So, when I realized that my efforts to die were futile, I went about trying to save the universe in a different way, because what else was there for me to do. This time, instead of finding a way to defeat Thanos, I looked for a solution to the destruction he caused. Again, it took years. I gained so much knowledge about, well, everything. I advanced my technology and I developed my understanding of the Multiverse in hopes that it would help me come to a solution. It was infinitely easier with the minds of the rest of the team helping me. No one knew of my true circumstances, but all were willing to put in their best efforts to put my plans into action. None of them worked… except for one.” The Tony on screen help up a small cylindrical device, exactly like the one Strange had provided Tony with when they came to pick up Avery.

“You’d expect me to just continue life as is, right? I fixed everything, everyone was back to normal, and it was all fixed in the span of two months, easy. But I was selfish, like always, and I wanted more. I wanted things to be the way they were before Thanos. I wanted Peter to be able to sleep through the night without worrying about the Titan. I wanted him to live a normal life that didn’t include inducing a severe panic attack at the mention of dirt and dust. I didn’t… I didn’t want to live in that type of world. Not after all I’d been through…” He hung his head and shook it defiantly. He twirled the device in his hand.

“I did something selfish and stupid, and I can’t turn it back. I won’t turn it back, because this is the life I wanted,” he looked up at the camera and a hint of a smile peeked through his frown. “I… reversed back time again after I found the solution. I-I gathered all the infinity stones, and I-I made my own gauntlet… I hate myself every day for it. I hate myself for the decision I made, because then I knew. I knew that what I was doing would seal the fate of the entire Multiverse. It was wrong to do what I did. For the first time, I was going to travel back in time instead of reversing it. I was going to create another reality, where the war never happened, and Peter was never dusted. I was going to break one of the most important rules of space-time manipulation.”

Tony wrapped his hand around his left wrist as it shook violently against his chest. No.

“Haven’t you ever wondered why your left arm always seemed to be more sensitive than your other?” Tony stared dumbly at the screen, reverting his attention from his arm to his future self. His future self who was removing his shirt, tapping out a code on his arm, then went ahead to remove it as if it were nothing. Leaving a lifeless limb hanging there in his right hand, and Tony couldn’t help but stare at the lump on the man’s shoulder where his left arm was supposed to be. “I didn’t realize how severe the damage was going to be to my arm, so I had to make a new one when I got here. Shuri and Cho helped me out just a little bit. But I succeeded, and a lost limb was nothing compared to what could have been,” he smiled slightly as he looked down at the scarily realistic limb. “It’s almost like having the real thing.”

Tony gaped at the screen, unsure if he should try and remove the arm. Surely, it was his real arm. He pinched himself, and it hurt. He flexed his fingers, and they worked fine. Surely.

“I know,” the Tony on screen spoke softly, busying himself with reattaching the limb, “I know it’s all hard to digest right now. The trauma the gauntlet enforced on my left arm resonated so firmly that it infested my past. Meaning, even before I wielded the gauntlet, I was destined to do so. Pain, and injury was always drawn to the limb, trying to warn and signify of the pending doom. It sounds crazy, I know, but the universe has a funny way of warning me of things. I still don’t see why I was the one chosen to heed that communicative link. It’s more of a burden than anything else. Though, I guess when you have lived through as much as I have, it’s inevitable to gain some experience and knowledge from the pain I undertook, right?” He forced a smile and gazed softly into the camera.

“Now, I know this is scary. I know it’s a lot to take in. But if you’re watching this then that means you need to step up. When I arrived in this time, with Thanos’ death soon after Loki’s attack, there was a lot I couldn’t handle- can’t handle. I’ve been keeping secrets from my family, and in a few days, Ross is going to approach us with the proposition for the accords. I’ve already done my part and delivered my instructions to the multiple universes surrounding our own, and I don’t believe I can trust myself any longer. I don’t know how much longer I can go without approaching Peter, tell him I’m his father. I don’t even think I’ll be able to get through having to face down Cap again. Not after all that… but things need to happen exactly as they had before. I can’t risk changing our future any more than I already have.” A small smile dances across his face.

“It’s also a nice plus to finally rid myself of these terrible memories. I’m still not sure how I’m still sane after this long… I’m just happy to have the chance to be at peace for a few years. Though, in your time, I calculated it out to be July 28th, 2018, and if you don’t act quickly you may lose this chance. FRIDAY’s been upgraded and told to search for any signs of disturbances in the Multiverse, and she would have only shown you this video on July 28th if your assistance was needed… if our assistance was needed.”

Tony stared down at his watch dumbly. It was indeed July 28th.

“You don’t have much time. I know the idea sounds terrible, and trust me, the experience is going to be anything but pleasant, but you need to do this. I’ve already created a machine to store my knowledge and experiences in, that way once I wipe my memory, the knowledge will still be preserved, and my consciousness will still be alive when you mold your consciousness with mine. We are still the same person Tony, I just have a few hundred years on ya. A few thousand maybe, I’ve lost count at this rate,” a cheeky grin spills across his face.

“The only way we can save the Multiverse, as well as your own Universe is by doing this. I believe I may know how to fix it when the time comes. I’m hoping the time never comes, and I can live on in peace, but that’s never how the Universe works. I screwed up time, I broke the one rule you’re supposed to follow, and I’ve screwed up all other universes along with it. So, just be a pal, and help me save the Multiverse… or if that’s not of concern to you… Peter. Help me save our son.”

The video cuts off and the screen goes black. All he can do is blink. He can’t even think straight, let alone understand all the information that had been mushed into his head at that very moment. He dropped his head into his hands.

It was way too early for this crap.

“Boss, if you would direct your attention to the right…” FRIDAY instructed, and Tony’s head snapped up to stare at the machine that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “You have precisely one hour and 47 minutes to decide whether or not you would like to save the entirety of all Universes.”

Tony stared wide eyed at the contraption.

What in the ever-loving-

*** 10 months later...

“Avery, please, would you quit it.” Tony grounded out through gritted teeth.

“I have to practice Dad,” she remarked stubbornly, trying desperately to hide her smirk.

“For what?!” Tony cried dramatically throwing his arms in the air. “To annoy me for the rest of our lives? Because goodness knows no band in the history of music has ever recruited a kazoo player! And there’s a reason there’s no form of music to accompany that god-awful sound. That instrument and whoever plays it is the absolute abomination of a human’s excuse for musical talent in this society.”

“Geez,” she rolled her eyes at him, “what’s got your panties in such a twist? Can you believe this Groot? He called me and my new kazoo an ‘absolute abomination of a human’s excuse for musical talent’.”

Groot grunted with a careless shrug of his shoulders while he continued playing his game. Tony just glared at her… his daughter. Geez, what did he ever do to deserve this sort of torture?

“Why must you do that here? Go annoy your Uncle, he’s the one that gave it to you.”

“Yeah, but it’s annoy Dad day,” Avery grinned playfully, knowing good and well she was successfully pissing him off.

“Nooo, it’s your birthday,” Tony argued pointedly.

“Exactly,” she grinned, leaping forward to squeeze him in a hug. “You said we could do whatever we wanted for my birthday…”

Tony sighed… he did say that.

“That was before I learned that Rhodey bought you a freaking kazoo.” He did return the hug though. He was a total sucker for her hugs, it was almost like a drug to him at this point.

Tony eventually hid the kazoo where she could never find it, and the rest of the party guests enjoyed the informal gathering. Some actively watched the Star Wars marathon that had officially begun at the beginning of the party. Others sat around and talked quietly or stole desserts from the large dining table.

Then, later that night, Avery said goodbye to all her friends that had come to the party, and the Avengers retired to their living quarters, including Rhodey, who didn’t hesitate to press a goodnight kiss to her forehead before heading to his room. Even Strange and Wong had come to the party, much to Avery’s surprise.

It wasn’t until the end of the night while she was cozied between May and her Dad that she noticed her father had never given her an official gift. Of course, she wasn’t expecting him to flood her with gifts, because he’d done so much already, but she… it was kinda disappointing.

She didn’t seem to notice his nervous jittering, or the subtle looks he would shoot in Strange’s direction or the way the doctor would shake his head slightly and return to his discussion. Though, if she had caught onto all that, she would have learned why very soon…

Her dad led her down the hall with an arm draped around her shoulders. He brought her down to the level with their personal lab and he guided her to sit in her usual seat.

“Alright, I didn’t give you your birthday present yet as I’m sure you’ve noticed-”

“Oh my god! Did you get me a car?! Did you get me that awesome red Cadillac I’ve been subtly hinting at for the past month?! Where is it-” she whipped her head around in search for the vehicle, but Tony chuckled amusedly and shook his head. She loved riling up her father, because she knew he was a strict Audi man through and through, and just the thought of his daughter liking anything different made the vain in his forehead pop out in a funny way, and it was beyond hilarious. It didn’t seem to work that time though.

“No, I didn’t get you the Cadillac and I never will. Your first car is going to be an Audi, no exceptions, and your gonna need to get your license before you get a car Princess,” he smiled nervously at her. “I got you something else actually…”

Avery’s eyebrows furrowed worriedly. She didn’t really know what was making him so nervous.

“I’ve been in contact with Stark,” he bowed his head and his voice dropped an octave or two. “Or Tony…”

Avery’s eyes widened, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Tony? As in Tony and Peter? That Tony? Wh- How?

“He wanted to get you something for your birthday…” the tears fell down her cheeks and she brought up her hand to hide her trembling lip. Her father looked at her with a somber smile. “And I thought his idea was a pretty good one…”

Avery didn’t say anything… she couldn’t. Her throat was blocked by that annoying heavy rock that always seemed to appear when she was trying her hardest not to cry.

“He-he wanted to reach out sooner, but he’s been a bit… preoccupied. And-and he-he’s gonna be a bit different, so don’t be too-”

“Stop worrying her Stark,” an all too familiar voice called out from behind her. Her mouth fell open and she jumped out of her chair to come face to face with Tony. Her fingers shook a little bit as she stared at him.

He was so… old. His eyes were tired and worn, and his smile wasn’t nearly as bright as what it used to be, and even before it wasn’t all too great. He was different, but it was still Tony. She knew it was… because how many other Tony Stark’s looked at her that way besides Tony and her father.

“T-Tony?” She choked out.

He nodded his head, his smile tired and sad, yet joyous at the same time as he opened his arms to her. She was careful… he looked like he’d break at the snap of a finger with all those grey hairs and wrinkles, but that didn’t stop her from squeezing him tight.

“How’s it hanging kiddo? Long time no see.”

A guttural laugh emitted from her throat and she squeezed him tighter before letting go and wiping away her tears so she could look up at him properly.

“Wha-what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to invite you and your old man on a joyous vacation to the happiest place on Earth with me and Pete.”

Avery’s eyes brightened, and she took a quick glance at her father, who was actively moving to stand behind her, a wide grin on his face.

“Really?”

“Yep,” Tony nodded. “And I would have come to visit sooner, but I was… rather busy.”

“Doing what?” Avery asked curiously, glancing between the two men.

“Saving the world,” Tony shrugged as if it were nothing. Her father scoffed from behind her and she turned to look at him with a raised brow.

“You mean you saved the Multiverse?” He corrected.

Avery’s eyes widened comically, and she stared at Tony while he shot her father a condescending grin.

“A few thousand years of existence will teach you a few things about humility Stark. I try not to brag.”

“You-you-you really were from the future?! What?!” Avery gaped. “Did-did the Thanos stuff really happen? Dad said you had to live through it a bunch of times, are you okay? Does it hurt to remember?”

Tony grimaced, but hid it well behind a well-placed smile, and he reached out to place his shaky hand on her head.

“I’m fine kiddo. The memory repressor I use works well. As long as I’m not reminded of things too directly, so let’s not talk about it right now. We don’t want to send me spiraling into the pit of despair on this happy occasion.”

She clamped her hands over her mouth, feeling all sorts of guilty. “I’m so-so sorry.”

“It’s alright. Now, go grab your bags,” he nods to the prepacked bags stashed under her father’s workbench and she smirked at her dad accusingly as she rushed over to grab them. “Great,” Tony smiled, “Pete’s been dying for his surprise. So, let’s go surprise him, shall we?”

She could barely wait.

***

The trip to Disney World was an all-around hoot of fun. Both Tony’s split the cost of renting out most of each park, a different one for each day of fun of course, and the kid’s had an absolute ball. Peter was insistent to let a few people be around the park while they were there, because it was ‘part of the experience’ and it was ‘too depressing to walk around a massive park by ourselves’. And even though that meant one of the Tony’s had to shave their beard and the other had to wear a ballcap and sunglasses at all times to avoid being recognized, they listened to Peter.

All the Avengers and their families accompanied them, along with several of Peter’s friends, but eventually split off into their own groups to have some extra fun. Pepper, May and Rhodey stayed with them, finding it amusing to be around the pair of pairs and their scarily similar idiosyncrasies.

Peter and Avery were eager to discuss Tony’s time-travelling past, veering far from incriminating topics that could send him spiraling. Peter seemed acutely aware of what was okay to bring up and what was not, and obviously very informed about the subject. The two Tony’s discussed the advanced technology in the current world, and Avery’s father received a lot of answers to his many questions. It was handy having a highly advanced Tony Stark to question why his new suit was making that annoying noise.

So, yeah, it went well. They stayed at one of the Disney hotels, spending a total of five days at the parks, and spending an extra at Universal just because they could. Peter and Avery had already graduated, so school wasn’t a worry.

By the time they got back to New York, everyone was beyond exhausted and ready for bed. Avery and her dad stayed an extra two nights as well, because neither father had the heart to separate the two little nerds when they were just so happy to be together again.

“So,” Tony had spoken, looking over at Avery’s Stark sitting at the other end of the couch while they both watched the kids squabble like siblings across the room while playing Hungry Hungry Hippos. “You think you might let Avery come around for playdates sometime?”

Stark cocks his head curiously at Tony. “I guess I wouldn’t mind, but… I don’t think Strange is gonna love going through all that work to conjure portals like that whenever she wants to come over.”

“You’re right, he won’t. That’s why I made you this,” Tony held out a watch to Stark, and the man took it slowly. “It only links our two dimensions, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost or anything. I’ll teach you how to use it before you go. I’d come pick her up myself instead of going through the hassle of making another one,” he showed off the matching watch on his wrist, “but I only have a few years left on my physical form, and I wanna save as much as I can of it in case there’s an emergency in another dimension that needs to be dealt with.”

“Yeah-yeah, I get it,” Stark answered, turning the device over in his hand to examine it more closely. “This is pretty cool. I think Avery would like to come to see you guys sometimes. She misses you two… but I’d like Peter over occasionally too.”

Tony’s eyebrows quirked at that, and the other Stark grinned smugly. “I feel it’s only fair. If you want to steal my daughter away, I think I should have some time to get to know your son…”

Tony stared at him blankly for a moment. He didn’t want to say yes… but he supposed Peter and Avery would enjoy it every once in a while. Plus, another babysitter option for when he has to go on business trips and May has to work while Rhodey’s out of town. Though… the kid’s 18 now, so he didn’t really need a babysitter anymore.

“I guess,” he sighed, gently dropping his head back to lean against the back cushions of the couch.

“I think we should probably get going tonight though,” Stark sighs softly, trying to speak in a low enough volume so the two teens couldn’t overhear him. Tony cracked open his eyes and turned to look at him. “This was nice, we had fun, but I’m sure Pepper’s getting anxious for me to get back… she doesn’t like it when I have a valid excuse to skip out on board meetings.”

Tony grinned knowingly at that. Boy, did he know it.

“I guess so. I’m just glad everything turned out alright,” he chuckled softly and closed his eyes again, “You have no idea how lovely it is when there’s not a crisis that needs to be fixed.”

“Oh, I do,” Stark argues. “Not to the extent you might know, but I’m definitely appreciating this whole peace thing we got going on.”

They sit in silence after Tony’s hum of agreement, listening happily as their kids argued and laughed in the other room. Then, the visiting Stark decided to break the silence with an abnormal catch in his voice.

“I’d just like to say thank you… for everything you’ve done.”

“It’s nothing,” Tony waves it off uncomfortably, “I was just fixing one of my bigger screw ups again.”

“I’m not only talking about that,” Stark continues. “I’m thanking you for helping me get my daughter back. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have your instructions to follow. And-and I’m really grateful to you for taking care of her for those two months while I… wasn’t available.”

Stark saw Tony swallow, and his eyes were opening again. There was a strange look pooling in his eyes, and his mouth turned down into a frustrated frown before looking up at him.

“I-I… you’re welcome,” he sighed, deciding against continuing the uncomfortable heart-to-heart.

Stark seemed to get the message, so he decided to change the subject again. Though the new subject he chose, probably wasn’t the best fitting one.

“So… are you going to erase your memories again, or are you going to keep them this time?”

Tony looked at him again, but the foreign look in his eyes wasn’t there.

“I don’t know yet. It-it’s nice knowing… things but having a thousand or so years’ worth of memories is just… it’s a lot. The only reason I erased my memories before was to keep myself from doing something stupid, like reaching out to my son, Peter, or fixing what happened with the accords. I knew I couldn’t change the future any more than I already had, so it was in the world’s best interest. Now, though, I don’t know what’s going to happen next… so I don’t really see a reason to get rid of my memories again. Not when I have so many ideas to help people.”

“But the memories… you want to remember them?” Stark knew he was pressing… but he hadn’t got the chance to properly question the man about it during their vacation, and he was just dying to know. He couldn't help it; he was just a curious man by nature.

“They’re there. I don’t like them being there, but… I don’t know. I can’t be selfish, not again. The last time I chose to act selfishly, I left the world in shambles. If there’s another problem, and I’m not properly coherent to fix the problem… I wouldn’t want to do that.”

“Yeah, but-” Stark began to argue, but Tony held up his hand to silence him.

“Please, just leave it alone.”

So, he did.

***

“I’m having some crazy Deja vu right now,” Peter joked, while hugging Avery goodbye. Now that they knew visitation was possible the idea of leaving wasn’t quite as daunting for either party.

“I know, right?” Avery giggled, squeezing him tightly. They eventually let go of each other, and Avery moves over to hug Tony goodbye, and Peter shakes Stark’s hand.

“You know,” Tony grins knowingly once the goodbyes had finished. “I’ve got one last birthday present for the two of you.”

Two pairs of eager eyes settle intently on him, and Stark looks up curiously. Tony pulls out a pair of devices from his jacket pocket and deposits one in each teens’ hands. They were somewhat bulky, circlish phones, almost. There was only one button, along with a screen.

“This is just a prototype,” Tony began, “but its uber expensive, so don’t go mucking around with it. I’ve studied up a lot on interdimensional communication, and you two are holding the first ever pair of communication devices that can connect through alternate dimensions.”

Jaws drop, hanging low to the ground. Peter and Avery look at each other with matching expressions before simultaneously launching at Tony and nearly knocking him to the ground as they squeezed him tightly.

Tony chuckled and patted their backs affectionately.

“They’re prototypes; and I’ve only tested it with your dad over there,” Tony nods to Stark, who was grinning widely, “so there will probably be a couple bugs. But when Avery comes for a visit, I can try to teach you two a few things and maybe you can help me update them every once in a while. Sound good?”

They both nod, and Avery releases him to bounce over to her father so she could show off the new device Tony had given her.

“Thanks, so much Dad,” Peter whispered, squeezing him one more time before letting go.

“No problem kiddo,” Tony said, running a hand through his hair. Immensely grateful that Peter had inherited his ‘short’ gene. “I knew how much you were missing her.”

***

Spider-boy: You’ll never guess what happened :(((((

Spider-woman: what’d you do this time?

Spider-boy: ….

Spider-woman: Tell ME!!

Spider-boy: I called Dad ‘dad’ on national television… again

Spider-woman: lmao

Spider-woman: NO!! XD XD You did not!! XD

Spider-boy: I did! And Pepper says we got no choice but to announce who I am now :(

Spider-boy: That means dad and the board are so gonna make me do real work now…

Spider-boy: I don’t want to do real work

Spider-woman: Suck it up. At least Tony isn’t making you do super hard homeschool college with him because you refused to go to MIT right after high school.

Spider-boy: BUT HE DOES!! OMG it’s SOOO annoying isn’t it?

Spider-woman: YES! I hate it. I keep telling him that ill go eventually but he won’t listen ugh

Spider-boy: ...our dads are such drama queens aren’t they.

Spider-woman: yeah they are.

Spider-boy: ...I still love him tho

Spider-woman: me too

***

Spider-boy: Guess who just got me a new car?!! [Image attachment]

Spider-woman: NO!! No fair!!

10 minutes later…

Spider-woman: he legit just bought me a car…

Spider-woman: lol he so competitive

Spider-boy: omg lol. He so extra

Spider-woman: ik

***

Spider-woman: dad’s taking me to the beach!!

Spider-woman: at his place in Malibu

Spider-woman: He wants to know if you wanna come… pls say yes. I can’t deal with his nonsense alone

Spider-boy: Awesome! Just a sec. Lemme ask my dad quick

5 minutes later

Spider-boy: he said yes! Whoop! I gotta pack

Spider-boy: zip zap i’ll be there in a snap.

Spider-woman: lol you’re such a nerd

Spider-woman: and dad says be quick. We’re legit about to leave. Hurry

***

Spider-boy: OMG! Dad just said he mightve found a way for us to facetime!! Get over here quick

Spider-woman: WAT??! I’m coming!!

***

“Can you see me,” Peter inquires with wide eyes, staring into the camera.

“Yes! Oh my god this is so cool!” Avery grins, bouncing excitedly and showing off Peter’s face to her Dad who was busy working on a project at his table, “look Dad! Say hi to Peter!”

He looked up from his project, glancing over his reading glasses and smiled. “Hey Pete.”

***

Tony, Pepper, Peter, May, and Happy were watching a movie, lounging around on the cushiony couches. Peter had his head pillowed in his Aunt’s lap while she ran her hand through his hair. It was quiet and peaceful, except for the major action scene going on in the movie. Then an annoying ring permeated in the air and Peter leaped up, rod-straight.

“Geez kid,” Tony groaned, “why’s Avery calling you so late?”

“I don’t know,” Peter panicked, scrambling around in his discarded hoodie’s pockets to retrieve the device. “It must be an emergency.”

FRIDAY lowered the volume to the movie and Peter answered the Face Call.

“Hey, what’s u-”

“AHHHH! PEter! You’re gonna be so jealous! Oh my god!”

All heads turn towards him when they hear Avery’s excited shriek. Peter doesn’t notice and his eyes furrow in frustration.

“Please don’t tell me he let you get a dog. That’s not fair. I’ve been begging Dad and Pepper for months-”

“You did get a car before me.” Avery argued pointedly.

“That’s not the point though,” Peter sighed. “Did he get you a dog?”

There was a significant pause, and Peter could see her face redden in excitement as she tried her best to reel it all in before she literally burst from all the energy.

“A baby brother!!!” She shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Wha-wha?!” Peter floundered helplessly.

He didn’t even notice his father’s pale face.

“Pepper’s preggers!! They legit just told me.”

Peter’s jaw drops. Literally drops. As does everyone else’s in the room.

All eyes turn to Pepper… a very red-faced Pepper.

Pepper’s face is never red…

“Pepper?” Tony questions, white faced and voice a little shaky.

She bites down on her lip hesitantly, then grins sheepishly.

“oh my god,” Peter breathes, eyes bugging out of his skull.

“I was going to tell you,” Pepper whines - Pepper never whines - grasping onto Tony’s hand.

Tony, on the other hand, looks as though he were about to faint.

“We’re having a baby boy?” He whispers, eyes cast over with amazement as he settled his hand over her stomach.

“W-well no,” she stutters with a nervous laugh, “I-I’m not far along enough to tell yet. Avery’s Pepper is probably farther along than me…”

“Is Pepper actually pregnant?!!” Avery squeals. Peter’s wide eyes and excited grin is all the answer she needs.

“Mom! Dad! Pepper’s pregnant too!” Avery calls out to her parents in the background, but everyone ignores it as they stare at the power couple with wide eyes. Only chuckling lightly as Tony gently pokes at his wife’s stomach curiously.

Then, Peter launches himself across the couch and leeches onto his father’s back, pressing his cheek between the man’s shoulder blades.

“This is gonna be epic,” he whispered.

***

Spider-boy: When is the baby due?

Spider-woman: Next month? Pepper’s?

Spider-boy: 3 months… I wish it’d come faster

Spider-woman: Think of it this way… at least you won’t miss one birth. You can come for Morgan’s, then go for your baby sister’s.

Spider-boy: They’re naming him Morgan?

Spider-woman: Yeah, why?

Spider-boy: …

Spider-woman: Why???

Spider-boy: My parents are naming my sister Morgan too.

Spider-woman: …

Spider-woman: this is going to get so complicated real quick.

Spider-boy: don’t i know it.

Spider-girl: Should we tell them about it?

Spider-boy: Na XD lol. I wanna see their faces when they figure it out.

Spider-girl: hek yes lol XD

***

Peter answers the device with a yawn. Reaching out tiredly to answer the call, while simultaneously continuing to scrawl out the finishing touches to the complicated math equation.

“Please tell me you have the answer to number 7.” Is the first thing he’s greeted with when he answers the call.

“Hello to you too,” he grunts, suppressing another yawn, “how are you? All is well I hope.”

“Shut up,” Avery grunts, “what’d you get for 7?”

“3 pi over 4 multiplied by x squared,” Peter answered for her.

“That’s what I thought,” Avery murmured.

They sit in companionable silence for a few more moments as they finish up with their assignment Prof. Crowley had assigned to them… neither of them liked Prof. Crowley.

***

Spider-boy: I’m sry to say it… but Morgie’s the best. Tell Morgan I’m sorry, but this little girl is precious [Image attachment]

Spider-woman: Are you kidding?? Look at this little face! [Image attachment]

Spider-boy: …

Spider-boy: fair enough

Spider-boy: FEAST YOUR EYES!! [Image attachment]

Spider-woman: …

Spider-woman: alright, that’s pretty damn cute.

Spider-boy: told ya
 

THE END