Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rhodey makes his way through the compound, not paying too much attention to where he’s going, just politely nodding a hello to people who recognise him as he walks by.

It’s been a few weeks since he’s last seen Tony, and that’s usually not a good sign. A quiet Tony was a Tony that was either drowning his anxiety in drink or was running on nearly fifty hours of no sleep and close to blowing himself up because of the sleep exhaustion.

Although, the first one was not as likely nowadays, as it seems like his friend has mostly given up drinking…which was a big shock to him when Tony had told him that he was cutting back on the alcohol. Proud, but shocked.

From the brief conversations he’s had with Pepper, apparently Tony wasn’t quiet because he’s working himself to death…or at least not more then usual. No, he’s been quiet because he’s been preoccupied by an intern…a personal intern.

Which is odd because in all the years he’s known his friend, Tony has always said that he’d never have an intern because they’d never keep up with him…however, according to Pepper, this intern and Tony are quite close, and Tony’s not a fan of getting close to people.

Pepper didn’t tell him much when he asked about the intern that had to be smart enough for Tony to work with. She mostly just said that he should see the intern and how Tony is with him, with his own eyes because he might not believe it otherwise. Which just makes him more intrigued by this mysterious intern.

He guesses that the intern is a bit on the young side, maybe late teens, because during the conversations with Pepper, the only other thing she would say about the intern was how adorable he is. Which again, make him all the more intrigued.

So, he figured it was time to meet this intern, especially since Tony is getting close to him. His friend has had enough people betray him, so even if the intern has Pepper’s seal of approval, Rhodey needs to check this guy out for himself.

“Good evening, Colonel Rhodes” FRIDAY’s voice rang out as Rhodey enters the elevator.

“Hey, FRI. Tony in his lab?” the question was rhetorical. When wasn’t Tony in his lab.

“Yes, shall I take you to him?”

“Please” Rhodey leans against the wall of the elevator to take some of the wait off his leg braces. Most of the time they are fine, but if he walks around in them for a while, they start to get a little uncomfortable. Though, he much prefers having these leg braces to having a wheelchair.

The elevator doors open and Rhodey makes his way into Tony’s personal lab.

“Hey, Tony Stank” Rhodey starts speaking as soon as he opens the door, “what’s this I’ve been hearing abou-“.

Rhodey freezes mid-step and mid-sentence when he see’s Tony… or more accurately when he sees a kid sitting next to his friend.

…a kid that, when he and Tony look up at him entering the lab, looks freakishly like Tony did when he first met him back at MIT.

It may have been 30 years, give or take, since he met his best friend, but he’d never forget the first time that he met the skinny little kid that had a busted lip because he had mouthed off to one of the much older students.

He’d never forget that little face.

The face that he was suddenly seeing all over again…sat next to his best friend. 

He has the same curls that Tony did when he was 15, before he started cutting his hair shorter to get rid of them in an attempt to stop looking as young. It was hard enough being 15 and in college, he didn’t want to look as young as he was too. The kid also has the same freaking eyes as Tony. Big and brown, like bambi. Even their noses look almost the same.

He was seriously looking at 15-year-old Tony all over again.

When the hell did this happen, and why the hell didn’t Tony call him and tell him that he found out that he has a kid?

“Honey-bear” Tony grins, “what are you doing here?”

“Figured I’d drop in” Rhodey slowly walks over to towards Tony and the kid, still trying to process just what the hell is going on.

Rhodey watches the kid’s eyes go wide as he looks at him, “y-you’re Colonel Rhodes… War Machine… It’s amazing to meet you, Sir. You’re just…you’re awesome”.

Tony rolls his eyes, but the grin stays firmly on his face, “you can just call him Rhodey, Pete…and he’s not as awesome as me”.

Peter snorts a laugh, “keep telling yourself that”.

“You little shit. You’ve clearly gotten way to comfortable with me” Tony says with no heat in his voice, only fondness, and Rhodey watches completely fascinated by the scene, “what happened to the star-struck Peter who used to stutter when he saw me?”

“The star-struck Peter disappeared after you got attacked by Dum-e and the fire extinguisher…for the third time…in the same day”.

“That stupid bot. I really am going to donate him one of these days” Tony grumbles and Dum-E lets out whiney beep from the corner of the room, “yes, I am, because your useless” Tony shakes his head as he turns back to Rhodey, “where were we?”

Rhodey points to Peter.

“Right, Honey-bear, this is Peter”.

“It’s nice to meet you, Peter” Rhodey smiles the boy.

“It’s nice to meet you too…and I already said that…when you first came in…” Peters cheeks turn red in embarrassment as Tony smirks. He finds joy in the kid’s embarrassment, and lucky for him the kid is easy to embarrass.

Before anyone can say anything else, Peter’s phone rings and he fumbles to answer it, “Aunt May!... Uh…Oops, I guess we lost track of time...” Peter looks up at Tony, who looks at his watch and swears under his breath when he sees it past 7 and Peter was supposed to be back at his aunt’s at 7 because it’s a school night.

He fishes out his phone and sends a quick text to Happy, “Happy will take you back, he’ll be waiting outside”.

Peter nods and returns his attention to his phone, “I’m leaving now May, be back soon” he moves to pick up his school bag, “and don’t worry my homework, it’s all done. See you soon”.

Peter puts his phone away and heads towards to elevator, “Bye Mr Stark, Colonel Rhodes. See you on Saturday”.

“Cya kid, we’ll finishes these then” Tony motions to the web-shooters that they had been working on, and then watches the boy leave with a soft smile on his face.

Once the elevator closes Rhodey turns to Tony, “he calls you Mr Stark?”

Tony groans, “trust me. I’ve tried to get the kid to stop, but he refuses to call me anything but Mr Stark” Tony shakes his head, but the smile still on his face shows that he finds it more amusing than annoying, “I’m pretty sure he’s doing it on purpose, because he’s a little shit. Pepper doesn’t believe me because she hasn’t seen the snarky, little shit Peter yet. She’s only seen the innocent, butter wouldn’t melt Peter”.

Rhodey just blinks at Tony, still trying to get his head around what just happened and that he wasn’t told about Peter. He knows Tony can get carried away with things and then suddenly days have gone by without the man realising it…but forgetting to tell his best friend that he found out he has a kid?

“What?” Tony asks after a few moments of Rhodey just staring at him.

“You want to tell me why I wasn’t told I had a nephew?”

“Your sister had another kid?” Tony’s eyebrows frown in confusion.

“What? No”.

“…then what are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about?” Rhodey stares at Tony incredulously, “Peter”.

“What about Peter?”

“Are you purposely avoiding right now?”

“Avoiding what?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you found out you had a kid?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa” Tony’s eyes go wide as he finally realises what Rhodey was talking about, “I don’t have a…Peter he isn’t mine. He’s just my intern”.

“He’s the intern Pepper was talking about?” 

“Yeah” Tony says like it should have been obvious.

“He’s like 14”.

“15 and he’s a genius. He may even become smarter than me one day. He definitely has the potential to make the world a better place with his brain” Rhodey is finding it hard to believe that Peter still isn’t Tony’s kid because of how proud the man sounds as he talks about how smart the kid is, “I mean, he made and perfected his web formula by himself in his chemistry class”.

“Web formula?” Rhodey frowns.

“Shit” Tony winces, he forgot that he never actually told Rhodey who was under the Spider mask. After what happened at the airport and the Siberia, he was more focused on just helping his friend get some legs. Plus, for the first couple of months he wasn’t really too involved with Peter, only listening to the messages the kid left on Happy’s phone.

“Tony” Rhodey says slowly.

“You remember that kid in Germany? Spider-Man?”

“No” Rhodey shakes his head, staring hard at the man, “do not tell me you brought a kid to a fight, Tony. A kid!”

Tony sighs, running a hand over his face, “trust me, I regret doing that. I just…at the time I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted Rogers to stop trying to tear us apart and I figured if it look like he was outnumbered he would just let us take him in and we could work things out. And I figured that if a fight did happen, it wouldn’t be a rough fight because we were supposed to be friends. Then the fight started getting rougher, and the kid got hit and went flying, so I sent him back to the hotel with Happy”.

Rhodey closes his eyes and sighs, “it’s still not okay that you brought a kid into something he wasn’t apart of”.

“I know, and like I said, I regret it”.

The lab is quiet for a moment, and Rhodey can see just how guilty Tony is over bringing the kid to Germany. It’s written plain as day in his eyes. So, he’ll drop it for now as his friend is clearly beating himself up enough for the both of them and he already has a bad habit of self-deprecating, so there’s no point in making him feel even worse.

“You said he made his web formula himself? So, it’s not…coming from him? “Rhodey asks, genuinely curious, “did he just decide one day to become a superhero and theme it after spiders?”

Tony chuckles, “no, actually he got bit by a radioactive spider and, while shooting webs from his body isn’t one of them, it gave him powers”.

Rhodey looks at Tony for a moment and blinks, “wait…your serious?”

“As a heart attack” if Tony didn’t know Peter, he would have called bullcrap on the kids’ story. However, he does know Peter. “He was on a field trip to Oscorps” Tony rolls his nose up at Osbornes company, “and one of their little experiments escaped and decided to bite Pete” not really that surprising that Osborne has crappy health and safety in his labs. “He said that he was sick for about three or four days before waking up and feeling better than ever”.

“And you said he got powers from the spider”.

“Yeah, the kid can stick to walls like actual spiders. He likes to sit on the ceiling to do his homework, which is both amazing and terrifying to watch…mostly terrifying when its two in the morning and you just wanted to grab a glass of water from the kitchen and you look up to see the kid is just chilling on the ceiling reading a book, because he couldn’t sleep” Tony shakes his head at the memory, “he’s also faster and more agile then normal people, and he’s as strong as Rogers is…maybe more, we haven’t actually gotten around to testing that yet, which we really should”.

“That little kid is as strong as Rogers? Damn” Rhodey can’t lie, he’s pretty impressed.

“He also has this…sixth sense, kinda thing. Him and his friend have named it his ‘Spidey-sense’, but it’s basically like his body has an early warning system that alerts him to danger…which with the amount of trouble he seems to get into it’s a damn good thing he has it”.

“Huh…he’s always seems to find trouble?” Rhodey smirks, “now why does that sound familiar?”

Tony rolls his eyes, “shut up, platypus”.

“How did you find this kid anyway?”

Tony groans, “he was swinging around Queens, in a freakin onesie, fighting crime. A onesie!” Tony groans again, remembering how the stupidly unprotected Peters first suit was. “Even before everything that happened with the accords, I was looking into this Spider-guy that had been popping up. I figured I’d track him down and see if he wanted to be an avenger, but when I did track him down, I found out that Spider-Man was more like Spider-Boy. I decided to leave it a few years before talking to him about the avengers, but I did start making him a suit because the one he was using was just ridiculous” he’ll admit, it wasn’t too bad for a first suit…but still, it’s a freakin onesie. “I thought that if the kid was going to go after bike thieves and what-not then he should at least be as safe as a vigilante can be, so-“.

“So, you made him a suit with, I’m guessing, a whole bunch of safety features”.

“Yep, I was going to give it to him and just let him continue on helping the little people…but then the accords happened and Rogers…”.

“And now…after Germany? I mean, you’ve made him your intern”.

“For the first couple of months I stayed away and had Happy watch him-“.

“Bet Happy loved that” Rhodey chuckles.

“Peter…is like an over excited puppy. He filled Happy’s phone with texts and voicemails in the two months he was watching him. Anyway, me staying away…didn’t really work out so well. Admittedly, he saved the day in the end, but still...it got a little messy and I think I started talking like my dad at one point. Anyway, after his aunt found out about his little Spidey secret, and after she understandably yelled at me, we came to an arrangement. Every Wednesday after school Peter comes here to work in the lab for his internship, and every other weekend he also comes here to train, so he’s better prepared and safer when he’s out fighting crime”.

“That’s good” and rather responsible. He understands what Pepper meant when she said he had to see it for himself, “you said his aunt…what about his parents?”

“Died when he was about five or six, and then his uncle died last year too. His aunt is all he has left”.

“Poor kid”.

Tony stands up and stretches out a little, working out the knots that had formed as he and Peter had worked.

“So, you just decided to drop in?” Tony raises an eyebrow.

“I hadn’t seen you in a few weeks, so I was getting worried about you. I had heard from Pepper that you had an intern, and I figured I should meet this guy…only for him to be Peter”.

“Aww, Honey-bear” Tony coos, “it’s sweet to know you care”.

Rhodey just rolls his eyes, but a smile finds its way onto his face.

Tony sits back down on his stool, picking up the web-shooters and looking them over. He wasn’t going to finish them because they are Peters and the boy liked working on his stuff, but he just wanted to make sure that what they had done so far looked good.

“Why did you automatically assume that just because I hang out with a kid, in a none creepy way, that he has to be my kid” Tony asks, confused as to why people seem to think that. When Vision had met Peter, the android thought the same thing too.

“You’re kidding right?” Rhodey huffs as he takes a seat, “he’s basically you”.

“Just because he’s smart-“.

“I thought he was your kid before I found out he was smart”.

Tony looks up at Rhodey and frowns, “then what did you mean when you said he’s basically me?”

“How have you not noticed? I met you when you were the same age as Peter is now and looking at him is like I’m looking at 15-year-old you all over again. He has the same curls that you did before you chopped them off, you got the same nose and my God…you have the same freakin eyes. Exactly the same. Peter looks almost like you did at his age” Rhodey points out, “now add on the fact that he’s a genius and has a thing for finding trouble…”.

Tony feels his heart pounding against his ribcage, “…he doesn’t look like me”.

Rhodey snorts, “trust me, I’ll never forgot what you looked like when I first met you. Peter looks just like you did. He really looks like he could have been your kid”.

Tony’s eyes widen and his brain is thinking to fast to form proper thoughts, until one thing…one sentence sticks out, ‘he kinda looks like you’. Pepper had said that first time she had met Peter. And then another one, ‘the kid’s self-preservation skill are about as good as yours’. Happy had said that after Peter had stopped the Vulture. ‘He reminds me of you’, that was Pepper again, she had said that after Peter had stayed over longer than normal a few Wednesdays ago and had dinner with them. ‘You both have rather similar facial features’, that’s what Vision had said after he met him.

‘He really looks like he could have been your kid’.

He couldn’t have a kid…he’d ruin a kid. Break them.

No…no.

…no.

There was no way Tony could have a kid, especially one like Peter. The kid is way too good and pure to have come from him. It isn’t possible.

Plus, the chances that the random kid that he found from YouTube turning out to be his son? That sort of thing would be way too much of a coincidence, and it just doesn’t happen.

Nope.

Anyway…loads of people have curly hair and brown eyes. The most common eye colour in the world is brown. It doesn’t mean anything. And the kid’s parents had been scientists, so of course Peter was going to be smart.

Okay, sure…Peter is the right age to line up with his playboy days.

…but even when he was drunk, he was still smart enough to use protection. He always uses protection.

Although, condoms are only 98% effective.

…no…no, no.

It’s just…it’s not possible.

It was all just a coincidence…it had to be…right?

“-ny. Tony, you need to breath” he can barely make out Rhodey’s voice, which is strange because the man is sitting right next to him, “Tones, look at me okay. Try and focus on me, try and match my breathing”.

His chest is feeling painfully tight.

“Come on Tony, copying my breathing” he feels Rhodey squeezing his shoulder.

Right…yeah, breathing is something he needs to do.

“Take a deep breath in and try and focus on me”.

He finally manages to take a shuddery breath in.

“That’s good, real good. Just copy me” Rhodey encourages him, and five minutes later Tony’s panic attack has mostly gone.

“Sorry” Tony mutters, exhaustion starting to hit him.

“You have nothing to apologise for” Rhodey pats Tony shoulder.

“I just…I started remembering things that Pepper had said, and Happy and Vision…different things about how Peter is…”.

“Like you” Rhodey says gently.

Tony nods.

“Tony, I could be wrong. Hell, I probably am wrong. Loads of people look like each other and have no relation to-“.

“He was born during my playboy, party days…so it’s not like it isn’t impossible” Tony balls his hands into fists, squeezing so hard his knuckle start to turn white, “what if…it can’t be possible for the random kid I’m mentoring to turn out to be…but what if he…”

“Tony-“.

“I think I’m going to be sick” and Tony does look an odd shade.

Dum-E wheels over, waving a trash can around in his claw, almost knocking Tony in the head with it, in his hurry.

“Thank you, Dum-E” Rhodey grabs the trash can before the bot does actually hit either of them with it.

“Look, there’s no point in getting freaked out over something that you don’t even know is actually real” Rhodey says, trying to keep his friend calm.

“…you’re right. I need to find out if it is real and then I can freak out”.

“No, that’s not quite what I-“.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, run Peter’s blood against mine. I want to know if we’re a match…paternally”.

“Right away Boss”.

It was lucky that he already had Peter’s blood on record. He had one of the medical staff take Peter’s blood a few weeks back, so that he and Peter could study it and see what changes the bite had made. He may not have a degree in genetics, but he knew enough and was fascinated to see what the spider had done.

“Tony, just wait for a second” Rhodey places both of his hands on Tony’s shoulders, trying to keep him grounded.

“Why?”

“Because you need to just take a moment”.

“I don’t need a moment” Tony snaps, “I need to find out if Peters…”

Rhodey watches his friend try and get his breathing under control again. If he knew opening his big mouth would lead to this, he would’ve stayed quiet. Then again, if the boy really is Tony’s…then the man has a right to know.

God, he wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen when he woke up this morning. All he thought he was going to do today was talk to Tony’s new intern. Now, instead, he’s about to find out if he has a nephew or not.

Tony’s about to find out if he has a son or not.

“Tones, you said Pepper had mentioned that Peter was like you” Rhodey says in a soft voice, hoping to keep Tony calm, “why didn’t you think then that Peter could have been your kid?”

“When Pepper said it, it was like an off handed comment that neither of us thought much about” Tony runs a hand over his face, “and Pep didn’t know me when I was 15, you did and your saying that he looks exactly like me”.

“And like I said, a lot of people in the world look like each other, so Peter looking like you could mean nothing”.

“Or it could mean everything”.

“Yeah…it could” Rhodey agrees, the problem is, will Tony be able to handle it if Peter is his kid?

Personally, Rhodey knows Tony would make a good father. He’s always had protective and caring instincts, even if they are usually buried deep for only a few to see. Just from the few minutes that he saw Tony and Peter interact, it was clear as day that Tony already cares for the kid, and tries to protect him with the new suit and the training.

However, he knows his friend will think that he’d be the worst father in the world. All because of Howard. The son of a bitch still messing with Tony’s head from six feet under.

“Boss, I have the paternity results” F.R.I.D.A.Y’s voice makes Tony freeze.

This is it.

Holy shit.

He definitely might be sick.

Rhodey squeezes Tony shoulder, letting his friend know he’s right here for him, as Tony let’s out a shaky breath, “and?”

“It’s a match, Boss. Peter is your son”.

Chapter Text

Tony suddenly felt hot. Very hot and clammy… And his throat feels really tight.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

Oh God.

Everything feels kinda…fuzzy and hazy. He feels a little, or a lot, dizzy.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

His chest feels like it’s being stabbed. The pain getting worse when he attempts to take a deep breath.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

How can he be Peter’s father? How could he have possible produced something so good and pure and kind?

How can the goofy, nerdy and, damn it, adorable boy have come from him?

He doesn’t deserve Peter. He doesn’t. He’s a mess. Always has been and, while he’s been getting his act together, he’s still always going to be a mess.

A mess that Peter doesn’t need.

All he’ll do is end up breaking Peter, like his father broke him.

Look at him, look at his life! Drinking and drugs. Out at all times and only ending up in a bed when it was to have sex with another nameless woman.

…and one of those nameless women was Peter’s mother. Except she wasn’t nameless.

Mary Parker.

Of course, the name doesn’t ring any bells, why would it? He would have been drunk and/or high when they would have created Peter.

He only knows her name now because he found it when he first found out the identity of Spider-Man.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

There’s no way he can blame Mary for not telling him that she was pregnant. Not in the slightest.

Back then, there is no chance that he’d have been a good father.

Not that he’d be a good one now.

But he’d have been an even worse one 15 years ago.

She made a smart decision in not telling him. It meant Peter got to grow up and have a good life. Away from the cameras and paparazzi. Away from the pressure of being a Stark. Away from a crappy father.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

For as long as he could remember, he decided that he wouldn’t have children.

It wasn’t that he necessarily didn’t want to have children. It was more that fact that he couldn’t bring a child into the life that he had.

Cameras always in his face, seeming to capture him at his worst more often than his best. Simply because the worse he looks, the better the story. The press are assholes.

A father that couldn’t even take the time to tell him he was proud of him when he got into MIT at 15, or when he graduated just two years later.

Never having any privacy.

Never having his father even telling him that he liked him.

Never being able to be himself.

No…

He couldn’t do that to a child.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

He’d be like his father, like Howard. It’s inevitable. If he were to have a kid, he’d end up like Howard, and no kid should have to have a father like that.

So, no…

He wouldn’t have children.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

But…he does have a child. A son.

A son that he’s going to destroy, just like Howard did.

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

Shit! He’s really hot. Did F.R.I.D.A.Y turn up the temperature? Is that why he’s dizzy? Because he’s hot?

He feel’s like he’s going to throw up too. It’s like his stomach is churning.

And his lungs are burning. Why are his lungs burning? Actually…when was the last time he took a breath?

“It’s a match Boss, Peter is your son”.

Peter’s his son, and he’s Peter’s father.

.

..

…

Huh, the floors suddenly looking really close to his face…

Rhodey watches Tony carefully as F.R.I.D.A.Y reveals the results.

For a moment it’s like Tony had turned into a statue. He’s completely still. Then, barely three seconds go by, and Tony’s breaths are suddenly coming out short and sharp.

“Tony. Tones, it’s okay. Take a deep breath, Tony” Rhodey attempts talking to Tony, but it’s clear that his friend can’t hear him.

He takes Tony’s face in his hands, making the man look at him to try and get him to focus…but it was like he was just looking through him.

Then he just stops breathing altogether and begins to sway.

Rhodey tries to steady Tony as he wobbles in his seat. However, the man slips off his stool and crumbles to the ground anyway. The stool banging to the ground next to him, the sound echoing around the quiet lab.

It takes Rhodey a moment to maneuver his way to the floor because of his leg braces, and during that moment Tony’s hand started clutching his chest.

“Tony, come on. You really need to breath” Rhodey grips Tony’s shoulders as the man begins to gasp for air, “seriously Tony, you need to snap out of this and breath”.

Tony continues to choke on air as he attempts and fails to breath.

“Sorry about this” Rhodey mutters as he grabs Tony’s arm and pinches it as hard as he can.

He aware this isn’t the best thing to do, but he needs Tony to focus on something else to snap out of his panic attack or otherwise he’s going to pass out. His friend has heart problems and he’s already had one panic attack today.

Tony yanks his arm away in surprise and pain, spluttering as his lungs start to fill with air once more.

“That’s it” Rhodey keeps a firm grip on Tony’s shoulder, “take a deep breath, like me”.

For the next ten minutes the only sounds in the lab are Dum-E and U beeping and whirling in the corner, and the heavy breathing from Tony and Rhodey as they start getting the man’s breathing back to normal.

Tony’s eyes flutter shut as he leans back against the table legs, “…what am I going to do?” His voice is quiet and vulnerable. More vulnerable then he ever wants to be.

“Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours” Rhodey says softly, although he’s pretty sure he knows the general idea of what Tony’s thinking.

“I…I can’t be a father”.

“Why not?”

Tony huffs and shakes his head, “why not? Come on…look at me. I’m a mess, I’ll just screw the kid up”.

“Okay first, the kid is 15 so you’re not going to screw him up because he’s already mostly grown. Second, yeah you used to be a mess, but you’ve gotten a hell of a lot better and I’m pretty sure it’s because of Peter that you’re doing better. That’s something good parents do. Change and get themselves better for their child”.

“No, I’m not…I…I’ll be just like Howard”.

“Tone’s, the fact that you are worried about turning out like Howard just proves that you won’t be like him. That you’ll be better than him, you already are”.

“I brought Peter to Germany, Rhodey! I was selfish and I put him in danger. I gave him a suit and let him just continue his crime fighting-and oh God, the vulture! He almost drowned and then the ferry…I took his suit. The suit that was meant to keep him safe-I just took it and then he had a building fall on him. A building! And he was on the plane when it crashed! All in the same night while wearing his unprotected onesie because I took his suit!” Tony’s breaths start coming out short once more, “he almost died like three times in a week!”

Rhodey’s eyes widen in shock, wow…he really is Tony’s kid.

He’s going to come back to the drowning and the building falling on the kid and the plane crash in a bit, he’s got to stop Tony from freaking out first.

“Tony, you’re not going to be perfect. No parent is. You have to learn from your mistakes, and you did. You gave him the suit back and you’re training him. You’re in contact with his aunt, right? So, you’re watching out for him, keeping him as safe as you can”.

“Not safe enough!”

“Tony-“.

“I’m not like Howard, I’m worse”.

“Stop” Rhodey says firmly, “you’re not Howard, Tony, or worse than him. You are so much better than him for one simple reason, you care about Peter”.

“Yeah well, I’d like to see you spend more then five minutes with him and try not to care about him. The little brat is like a freaking puppy” Tony mutters and Rhodey smirks.

“Already wrapped around his little finger”.

“Again, I’d like to see you resist his bambi eyes. Teenagers are meant to be gross and hormonal, not adorable. It’s hard to say no to him”.

“Well, as his uncle, I’m not supposed to say no to him. I’m meant to spoil him” Rhodey shrugs with a smirk.

Tony huffs, a small smile flickering on his mouth before he rubs his hands over his face and groans, “what am I going to do?”

“Tones-“.

“I’ll ruin him. You don’t think I will, but I’m not meant to be a father-“.

Rhodey snorts in disbelief, “you’re kidding right? Tony, you’ve basically been like a father for years, ever since you first built Dum-E. You treat those bots like they are your kids. I mean, you even send them to the naughty corner when the misbehave”.

“Yeah, because threatening to send them as scraps to colleges is something a good father does” Tony says sarcastically.

“All the bots know you don’t mean it when you say it because they know you love them. So yes, that’s something a good father does, let his kids know no matter what he loves them”.

“Rhodey-“.

“And you looked after them team” bringing up the avengers is a sore spot, but he needs Tony to get it in to his thick head, “you gave them a home. Completely free. You were constantly upgrading all their suits and weapons to make sure they were as safe as possible when fighting… And now, with Peter. You’re being responsible with him. You stopped drinking, which I’m pretty sure was because of him, and you watch over him” Rhodey make sure that Tony is looking at him, “you are a good father”.

Tony sniffles and quickly wipes at his eyes.

Starks don’t cry, that’s what his father would say.

But Peter’s a Stark, and Tony’s spent time, after the boy’s had a nightmare, letting him cry on his shoulder and telling him that it’s okay to let it out. Telling him that crying doesn’t mean you’re weak.

“Right, now that you’re calm-“.

“I was calm before” Tony mumbles.

“-let’s talk about this. Peter’s your son”.

Tony takes in a sharp breath, “apparently”.

“If we ignore the fact that you think you’d make a crap father, which again is bullshit, what do you think about him being your kid? It can’t be to bad, can it? You already like him”.

“Peter’s the best of us…I couldn’t even dream of having a better child then him. He’s perfect…well almost perfect. I could do without his ability to find trouble”.

“Yeah, well, he clearly takes after you” Rhodey smirks, karma is sweet.

Tony groans, “I don’t want him to take after me. I was awful. Drinking, drugs, parties and meaningless sex”, he shakes his head, “I don’t want Peter to be like me, I want him to be better”.

“And he’s going to be, because he’ll have you helping him avoid the mistakes you made" Rhodey points out, "don’t you think that, if Peter’s as good as you say he is, you should give being his dad a try. I think Peter deserves the chance to have you be his dad... You should try it, for him…and for yourself”.

The lab is silent for a few minutes, aside from the bot’s and their beeping, as Tony continues to try and get his head around the idea that he has a child. And not just any child, but Peter. The kid that somehow managed to worm his way into his heart without him even realising he’d done it until it was already to late and he was wrapped around his little finger.

Peter is truly an amazing boy, and the fact that he’s Tony’s…it’s hard to believe. The boy is unbelievably kind and caring, and has an amazing amount of faith in people. He’s incredibly smart and not at all arrogant about it. He’s very loyal and always see’s the good in people.

Wow…Peter really is like a human version of a dog.

He’s also so trusting…which does worry him a lot, because he can totally see Peter being one of those kids that gets in the creepy white van because he was told there was candy. Yeah…Peter could do with being a little more cautious.

There’s also the fact that Peter got his powers when he was 14, and instead of using them to become cooler in school, which any other high schooler would have done, he became Spider-Man. He helps out the little people not to be famous, but just because he felt like it was his responsibility now that he has powers.

How could this kid, be his kid? No matter what Rhodey says, he’ll never deserve Peter. Though, he’s not sure that anyone deserve Peter.

But…he could try, for Peter, to be a dad…if that’s what Peter wants. Hell, he’d move the moon if Peter wanted him to.

He’ll just have to take things slow and make sure he doesn’t turn into his father.

Rhodey watches Tony as the man thinks everything through. He knows it’s going to take a lot more than a few words of praise before Tony finally, if ever, believes he’s a good dad, but if they can just get past the initial panic then he thinks that things could go well.

And it’s not like Tony will be alone in this. He’ll have him and Pepper, and Happy too, helping him out. They’ll be there to enjoy the good days, and be there to remind Tony that he’s not a bad dad on the not so good days.

It’s what families do.

Tony slowly lets out a sigh and looks at Rhodey, “I have a son”.

“You have a son” Rhodey nods and smiles at the man who is basically his brother, “…now, what was that about my nephew almost drowning, having a building fall on him and being in a plane crash?”

Tony’s leg bounces nervously as he sits on the couch waiting for Pepper to get home. Rhodey had left about an hour ago, after he reassured him for the seventh time that he’d be okay by himself until Pepper got home. He needed a little time to himself before his beautiful fiancée got back to try and figure out what he was going to say to her.

He’s put her through so much already that it was a miracle to him that she actually agreed to marry him.

…and now he has to tell her that Peter’s his son.

He knows that Pepper likes Peter. She finds him adorable… But he was still a little worried that finding out that he had a kid, whether it was Peter or not, would upset her.

Tony shoots up from the couch as the elevator opens and high heels click against the floor.

“Sorry, I’m late honey. One meeting ran late which lead to a domino affect with the other meetings, you know what it’s like” Pepper smiles sweetly at Tony as she walks into the room, but frowns slightly at how much Tony looks like a frightened animal, “are you okay? Rhodey said he’d be stopping by today, was everything alright? Is Peter okay?”

“No, no…uh, everything is fine…well I guess it’s fine…kinda. I mean, Peters fine, he’s at home with May…and yeah, Rhodey stopped by…” Tony rambles nervously, everything he planned to say just flying out the window, along with his nerves.

“You’re starting to worry me. What’s wrong?” Pepper comes to a stop just a few steps away from Tony.

“…I have a son” Tony blurts out before he realises it.

That’s not quite how he wanted it to come out.

Pepper blinks at him for a moment as she unconsciously sits on the couch, wrapping her head around what he just said. “…right…okay”, she always wondered whether Tony would have any children out in the world as a result from his…wilder days. And while it should be a little expected, because of his wild days, It’s still a shock.

She knows she can’t be mad at him for getting someone pregnant before they were even a couple…but it does hurt a little. Even though being a father does suit Tony. He’s become much more responsible since Peter’s come into his life.

Tony quickly realises what he said could sound really bad, “I didn’t cheat on you. I could never-“.

“I know”.

“This was years ago, before we were together-“.

“Honey, I know you wouldn’t”.

“I love you so much Pep, I could never in a million years be with anyone other than you” Tony kneels on the floor in front of her, “you have to believe me-“.

“Tony” Pepper raises her voice slightly to get Tony to shut up, “I trust you. I know you wouldn’t cheat on me. I already figured that this must have been from years ago”.

Tony sags in relief, his head resting on Pepper’s lap as her hands run through his hair.

They stay like this for a few minutes before Pepper get’s back to business, “what’s his name? And why are you only finding out now? Did something happen to his mother? Do I need to talk to the lawyers?”

“It’s Peter”.

“Huh…that might get a little confusing having two Peter’s but-“.

“No, no. There’s only one Peter” Tony lifts his head from Peppers lap, and she gives him a confused look, “it’s the same Peter”.

“…Peter…as in, Peter Parker?” Pepper asks and Tony nods, “as in your intern, who is also Spider-Man…that Peter? He’s your son?”

“Yeah, I had a hard time believing it too…still am” Tony mutters the last bit.

Pepper bites her lip to try and stop herself from laughing, but it doesn’t work. Tony stares at her in confusion, as she falls back into the couch laughing.

“What?” Tony frowns, “I don’t see how this is funny?”

“It’s not…it’s just…” Pepper takes a breath to composes herself before she smiles brightly at Tony, “it’s just that Peter, the boy who you’ve basically already been parenting, turns out to be your son”.

“I haven’t been parenting him” Tony protests.

Pepper raises one of her eyebrows, almost challengingly, “honey, last month you grounded him for a week from being Spider-Man. And instead of getting lab time with you that Wednesday, you made him wash all your cars”.

“He was Spider-Manning past his curfew. We had a deal that on school nights he has to be back at his aunts at 11, he came home at almost midnight!”

“On the weekends that he stays here, you cook him breakfast”.

“He has a fast metabolism; I don’t want him passing out from lack of food…again. Plus, breakfast is the most important meal of the day” says the man who rarely eats. Pepper has to force herself from rolling her eyes.

“You fuss over him during his training”.

“I do not fuss! Old women and mother's fuss. I watch out over him during training” Tony scoffs as he stands up, his back and knees protesting slightly. God…when did he get old?

“You created the ‘scrapped knee protocol’ to alert you of any injuries that are worse than bruises or cuts”.

“The kid is notorious for hiding injuries. If I didn’t create that protocol, I’d never know when he’s hurt himself because the idiot always thinks that he’s fine. Even when his arm is broken in two places and is healing wrong, so he has to get it re-broken”.

“You help him with his homework”.

“He doesn’t really need help, sometimes he just needs a little push in the direction of the correct answer”.

“You have a copy of his report card hanging on the fridge”.

“Between being Spider-Man, going to school, doing homework, seeing friends and coming up here, the fact that he’s still maintaining good grades is something to be proud of, so of course his report card is on the fridge. It’s important to show him that his hard work isn’t going un-noticed and that I’m proud of hi…” Tony pauses, “…oh crap…I’ve been parenting”.

Pepper nods with a soft smile on her face, “you’ve been acting like Peter’s dad for a while now and I have to say, it’s a very good look on you. And you’ve become a lot more grown up and responsible too, which I like”.

Tony sits back on the couch in shock. He’s been parenting Peter for the last few months without even realising it…and it wasn’t horrible…he wasn’t horrible. The kid is still alive, which is the main thing, and he seems happy, which is always good.

He’s managed to look after a kid and keep them alive and happy…

Maybe, possibly, he just might be able to actually do this.

Maybe, possibly, Rhodey wasn’t that crazy when he said that he was doing better than Howard…maybe.

Tony looks at Pepper, “so…you’re not mad or upset about…this?”

Pepper shakes her head, “shocked and maybe a little upset, but after finding out that it’s Peter…honestly I’m actually rather pleased”.

“Yeah?”

“You know I love Peter, he’s adorable and so sweet. He also has amazing manners that most teenage boys lack” Pepper smiles, “he didn’t get his manners from you, thank God”.

“No, that’s all down to May. She and Ben raised him, they did all the hard work and helped make him the kid he is now” a part of Tony is upset, now that he’s had sometime to come to terms with everything, that he didn’t get the chance to be in little Peters life. However, he knows that it was for the best because back then he was not the kind of person who should have a kid…not that he’s the best option now, but he would have really messed little Peter up.

He’s glad that his son…that’s going to take a bit of time to get used to…had May and Ben. They did such a good job raising Peter. He’ll never be able to thank May enough, she’s an incredible woman.

“Speaking of May, have you told her yet?” Pepper asks.

Tony shakes his head, “no, I only found out about Peter barely two hours ago. Only you and Rhodey know at the moment, but I figured that I should tell her before Peter because she knows him best, she’ll know how best to break the news to him”.

The thought of telling Peter about their relation sends a slight swirl of panic through him.

“You say ‘break the news to him’, like finding out you’re his dad is going to be awful for him. It may be a shock and he may need some time, but he idolises and loves you. I’m positive that he won’t react as bad as you are thinking he will”.

“Yeah, well…we’ll see” Tony sighs and Pepper shakes her head at his self-deprecating thoughts, “I’ll talk to May tomorrow while Pete’s at school”.

“Good idea” Pepper nods, “you could hash out some ideas about what’s going to happen, after Peter finds out, while your there”.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to have Peter live here full time?”

“No…I don’t want to take him away from May. She raised him and he loves her so much. For the past year it’s just been them. She’s all Peter has, and Peter’s all she has. I can’t take him away.”

“So, talk with May and do what divorced parents do. It’s kind of like what you’re already doing with Peter, visiting on Wednesday’s and every other weekend, but make it more official. You could see if maybe you could have him for a few more days too, once Peter has had time to settle over finding out you’re his father”.

“…I’d like that” Tony mouth betrays him as it twitches into a grin and it makes Pepper smile too, before she remembers the other major thing that they’ll have to deal with, aside from telling Peter and May, and living arrangements.

“Press” Pepper sighs.

“Nope” Tony vehemently shakes his head, already knowing what Pepper is going to say, “I don’t want him to have to deal with those vultures”.

“Neither do I, but unfortunately he’ll have too eventually”.

“Years from now if I can help it. I want him to actually have a life before the world finds out about him and then follows him everywhere, giving him no privacy”.

“We’ll keep quiet about it for as long as we can. Only people who need to know, will know and they’ll sign NDA’s. However, we should come up with some ideas on how to handle the press, should they find out about Peter”.

Tony remembers practically being shoved into the flashing cameras as a child by Howard and it was horrible and scary. There was no way he was going to do that to Peter.

“I think we should discuss this in more detail when Peter and May can have a say about it” Pepper suggests and Tony nods in agreement.

The two of them settle into the couch, sitting in silence, as their minds try to comprehend all that’s happened in the last few hours.

Pepper frowns slightly in confusion, “how did you find out about Peter being your son? You've been spending time with him for months now, so how has this just been discovered?”

“Rhodey can take all the credit for that” Tony huffs before explaining what happened when Rhodey stopped by for his visit.

Chapter Text

Tony stares at the Parkers door…just like he’s been doing for the past 20 minutes. He’s been trying to get the courage to knock but has only gotten to the point of raising his fist before he hesitates and lets it fall back down to his side.

Being the wonderful fiancée that she is, Pepper had offered to take a couple of hours off work to come with him, but he figured that this was something that he should do alone. Though he’s regretting it now since he can’t even work up the nerve to knock on the door.

He doesn’t think he’s ever been this nervous before, but how can he not be? Because May Parker is a lot like Pepper Potts. She is a woman you don’t want to get on the wrong side of…a side in-which he’s already been on.

Christ…that woman can be truly scary when she’s angry and has just found out her teenaged nephew is the web-slinging hero that’s been swing around Queens.

He’s only just started getting the woman to stop hating him, which was mostly down to Pepper working her magic and having lunch with May. Okay…maybe he’s being a little dramatic, he’s Tony Stark when isn’t he being a bit dramatic? He and May get on reasonably well. She’s never been a huge fan of his, which considering his past, he can’t blame her. And, of course, finding out about his part in Peters extracurricular activities didn’t do him any favours, it only got him a very painful slap…for a small woman she has a lot of force in her swing. But after they came up with a plan for Peter, and Pepper had lunch with her, May warmed up to him a little.

…and now he has to tell her that Peter is his son.

Tony is pretty sure, she’s not going to react well to the news, and that terrifies him because she could stop him from seeing Peter, and he’s positive that he couldn’t live his life without Peter in it. He needs Peter in his life. Even before he found out that the kid was his kid, he had to have Peter in his life, because without him…everything seems so…quiet and almost…lonely.

Sure, he has Pepper and Rhodey, Happy too, but having the kid around just seems to make everything better and brighter.

So, the idea that May might be angry at him for being Peter’s father and forbidding him from seeing him again is what’s making him hesitate at knocking on the door.

The thought kept replying in his mind all night, so he hardly got any sleep…well less than his usual amount.

Pepper told him that he was worrying over nothing and that May wouldn’t stop him from seeing Peter. That he was imagining that May disliked him more than what she actually did, and while she’ll be shocked at the news, she wouldn’t be angry at him.

But, of course, he doesn’t believe that because things never turn out well for him in the end. Look at what happened with the Avengers. He’s still waiting for Pepper to realise she’s better off without him, and he’s sure that after he tells Peter he’s his father that something bad is going to happen.

Shit… What is he doing? Things are fine the way they are now. Does he need to tell May and Peter about sharing half of their DNA?

Maybe it would just be best to not tell them and pretend like it didn’t happen. That way things won’t change, and he can’t lose Peter.

Before Tony can turn around to leave, the door he’d been standing in front of, for almost half an hour, swings open.

“Tony?” May looks at the man questioningly, surprise to find him standing in front of her door.

“May…hi” Tony says awkwardly, giving her a grin that looks more like a wince.

“Pepper texted me early and said that you’d be stopping by, I was just going to nip to the shop and get some more coffee since you nearly drained us dry the last time you visited, but your already here”.

“Yep” he popped the ‘p’. Of course, Pepper messaged May. She knew him to well, she knew he’d freak and try to back out.

For May, it wasn’t unusual for Pepper to message her. They regularly text each other and have lunch a couple of times a month. It’s nice having another woman around to have some girl time with since neither of them really had many friends, they mainly had acquaintances and work friends.

What is unusual is for Tony to stop by the apartment when Peter wasn’t there. So, when Pepper had text her saying the man would be stopping by because he had something to tell her…she was a little worried.

Most of their conversations were based around Peter and his well-being. He’d give her weekly reports on what Peter had been up to as Spider-Man and any injures he acquired… Unless Peter had hurt himself enough to require medical attention, then he’d call her straight away. He also backed her up with the rules that she had put in place after she found out Peter was Spider-Man, which had shocked her to start with because she was sure that the billionaire, who had given her 15 year old nephew a super suit, wouldn’t follow the rules or bother to keep Peter following them. But he did. He even grounded Peter if he broke the rules. Which both pleased and shocked her. The only times that he forgot rules was when they were in the lab and they lost track of the time that Peter is supposed to be home.

As much as she disliked him at the start, especially after finding out about Spider-Man, she couldn’t deny that Tony had gone up in her books. She was very impressed with how he handles and looks after Peter, and how seriously he’s taking Peters safety. She saw how Tony always makes time for Peter and she can see how much the man cares for him because she isn’t blind. It’s obvious, he always gets a twinkle in his eye whenever Peter is in his sight.

She never thought that Tony Stark would ever be father material…but the way he is with Peter…he really is like a dad. A proud dad too, because Pepper had sent her a picture of the copy of Peters report card on their fridge.

It’s also nice for Peter to have another male figure in his life, especially now in his teen years… May never thought she’d be glad to have Tony Stark around her impressionable teenaged nephew, but that just proves how much things have changed.

She completely trusts Tony with Peter.  

That’s why she had asked him if he’d be Peter’s secondary emergency contact for the school last month.

Plus, before Tony, and frankly Pepper too, had come along it had just been the two of them. Which, while nice, was also a little frightening. She knew that if anything had happened to her, Peter would have ended up in care. Now, however, she feels happier and secure in the knowledge that, should anything happen to her, Peter would have people to help him though it and look after him.

May opens the door wider and steps to the side, “are you going to come in and tell me what’s going on? Because you’re acting strange and it’s making me nervous” worry suddenly flashed across her face, “Peter’s okay, isn’t he?” because May’s only ever seen Tony look like this when Peters been hurt.

“Yeah, he’s fine” Tony steps into the apartment, his stomach twisting horribly as he tries to keep calm, “but…uh, this is about Peter”.

“Okay…what about him? His grades are still up, he’s doing all his homework and he hasn’t broken curfew since you ground him for it the last time and made him wash your cars”.

“Uh, no… Peter hasn’t done anything” his fingers drum against the kitchen countertop nervously, “I just…I found something out…about Peter”.

“Found out what?” May follows him into the kitchen.

“Look…you have to know, I had no idea about this. I swear” Tony looks over at May, then back down at his tapping fingers, “I only found out yesterday”.

“Tony” May’s voice is a little strained and it makes the man look up, “what did you find out? You’re really starting to worry me”.

“I’m sorry, I just…it’s still kind of unbelievable to me and I just…I don’t know how you’re going to take it” Tony lets out a long breath as he composes himself, “…Peter’s my son”.

May stares at him before she breathes a sigh of relief, “Jesus Tony! You had me worried that something bad had happened” May sits down at the kitchen table as she shakes her head, “I have to say, I’m a little surprised, considering how emotionally constipated you tend to be, that you actually admitted that you see Peter as your son. I figured that you’d take longer to realises how much of a dad you are to him-“.

“Okay two things. One…are you and Pepper taking about me and how I apparently act like a dad to Peter when you have lunch together?”.

“Among other things” May nods.

“And two, I didn’t mean I see Peter as my son…which…well, I guess I do, but I meant…he is my son…like…biologically”.

“What?” she blinks at Tony, not fully comprehending what he just said.

“I ran mine and Peters blood against each other…and biologically…we’re father and son” Tony pulls out the paternity results from his jacket that he had F.R.I.D.A.Y print out and passes them over to May. He doesn’t take a seat at the table, he just nervously hovers over her.

May looks over the paper that Tony handed her, and while she may not be a genius like Tony or her nephew, she is a nurse and she know exactly what this piece of paper is saying.

“What the fuck” she mutters, her eyes wide.

“Yeah…” Tony swallows nervously.

“How did this happen…I mean, I know how… Just…fuck” May puts the paper on the table and is really glad that she’s already sat down, “you didn’t know?”

“I swear I didn’t” Tony shakes his head, “Mary must have decided that it was best not to tell me, which I can’t say I blame her for. I was a complete mess back then. I wouldn’t have wanted little Peter to have been around the kind of person I was back in my twenties”.

“How did...you and Mary?”

“Honestly…I don’t know. She was a scientist, so it would have probably been at some convention or conference…but I can’t pretend that I remember her. I would have been completely drunk, and there have been so many conventions and nights just like that, that I can’t pick out one woman from another” Tony says, and May can hear the regret and shame in his voice, “I’d love to be able to say that I remember Peter’s mother and that I knew things about her that I could tell Pete…but unfortunately I can’t”.

“And you really had no idea?”

“I’ve had a few women try and say I got them pregnant, but a DNA test has quickly proven them wrong. Mary never got in contact with me or Stark Industries, and like I said, I can’t really remember that night with her” Tony slides into the seat across from May so he can look into her eyes, so she can see he’s being truthful, “I had no idea about Peter until yesterday. I promise”.

“So…you finding him as Spider-Man and taking him as an intern and being all parent-y…that’s all really just a huge coincidence?”

“I know, it’s hard to believe” Tony sighs, “Pepper thinks that maybe it was ‘fate’ leading us together”.

“Wow” May mutters, sitting back in her chair.

Tony watches May for a moment, tapping the table again out of worry, before he can’t help himself and just has to know, “you’re not…angry at me?”

May frowns at him, “why would I be angry? I believe you, that you didn’t know about Peter. If you had known…then I’d be pissed. But…shocked, yes. Angry, no”.

“So…You’re not going to…I can still see Peter?”

“What? Of course, you can still see Peter. Why wouldn’t you? Especially now”.

“I just…I thought you might be mad that I’m Peters…father, and that you’d…that you wouldn’t want me to be involved with him anymore”.

“…I really understand what Pepper means when she says that for the being the smartest person in the world…you can really be stupid sometimes” May shakes her head at Tony, “I could never stop you and Peter from being together. You’re like two peas in a pod…which now makes me wonder why I never thought about how much alike you both are” May leans in to look at Tony, grabbing his chin to pull his face closer, “God…you have the same eyes”.

“That’s what Rhodey said” Tony mumbles, pulling away from May’s grabby hands.

“Back to my point. Peter has lost so much in such a short time, and Ben’s death…it really hit him hard” May pauses briefly, her mind flashing back to her husband, “…he became a lot more quite and closed up, and I wasn’t sure how to help him because as much as I love Peter…I think he needed a man in his life. A male role model. Then in you came and yes, at the start I wasn’t keen on you or the idea of you hanging around my nephew…but I’ve seen so much more of the old Peter, the one before Ben died, since you came into his life. There is no way I could turn around tell you to stop seeing Peter. It would crush Peter if he couldn’t get to see you. He loves you”.

Tony’s eyes widen at that.

“Oh please” May rolls her eyes, “he looks at you like you hung the moon and stars. Even before you were Ironman, Peter thought you were amazing and now…you’re practically his favourite person in the world” May smiles fondly, “I could never ask you to stop seeing Peter. Plus, being a single working parent is hard so knowing that I have you helping me out with Peter has made my stress levels drop…only slightly of course, since my nephew decide to become Queen’s vigilante and that doesn’t help my blood pressure”.

Tony snorts, “or mine. I wasn’t grey till I met him”.

“The joys of having kids I’m afraid…no matter what, you’ll never stop worry over them”.

“Yay” Tony says sarcastically, “might as well start buying hair dye in bulk”.

They sit in silence for a moment before May looks over at Tony, “I trust you with Peter, and Peter is everything to me. So, I’m telling you that I trust you with my whole world. I’ve seen how much you care about him and how much you do for him. I know that Peter is in good hands with you-“.

“Have you forgotten who I am?”

“Nope, but who you are now and who you were are two different people. Past Tony…yeah, I would have kicked you out and wouldn’t have let you near Peter. But you, now…you’ve been acting like Peter’s dad for awhile and he’s already lost two father figures, I’m not taking another one away. Peter needs you and I need you. So, stop doubting and putting yourself down because like I said, you’ve already been parenting Peter and you’ve been doing well. There will be times when it’s hard and you think you aren’t doing a good job, that happens for all parents trust me, but that’s why you have me and Pepper to help you”.

“Thank you” Tony says because honestly…what else could he say? She wasn’t taking Peter away from him and she thinks he’s been doing a good job with Peter already.

“Why did you decide to run a paternity test on Peter yesterday?” May asks.

“My friend Rhodey stopped by the lab yesterday when Peter was still there. He knew me back when I was the same age as Peter, and according to him, Pete looks just like I did” Tony huffs, running a hand down his face, “after Peter left, he confronted me about not telling him I had a kid. One thing led to another and with my…history, I ran the paternity test…which, obviously, came back positive”.

The pair sit in silence for a few minutes, Tony letting May fully digest the news. She looks over the paternity results absentmindedly wondering how this could even be her life. Her nephew got bit by a radioactive spider and got powers from it, which led to him now becoming a superhero. The same nephew that is also Tony Starks son…

May bites her lip, “when Mary told us she was pregnant…me and Ben…we did wonder, at the time, if the baby was actually Richards”.

“What?” Tony’s eyes widen slightly in shock.

“It was just…it all seemed to happen so fast” May frowns as she thinks back, “she had gotten pregnant so quickly after they got together. Just weeks after Richard had introduce us to Mary, she was apparently pregnant. So…we wondered if maybe they had been together for longer than what they were claiming…or if…”.

“If the baby was even Richards” Tony finishes.

May nods, “we never asked them about it, we didn’t feel like it was our place. Besides, when Peter was born, Richard was treating him as though he was his son, so it didn’t matter whether or not they were biologically related. Richard said Peter was his son, so that was that. Frankly after Peter was born, we kind of forgot about the possibility that he wasn’t Richards”.

“Well, family doesn’t always mean the people you share blood with. Neither Rhodey nor Happy are related to me, but they are my family”.

“Agreed. Peter isn’t related to me by blood, but he’s still my kid”.

“Which brings me on to our next topic” Tony takes in a deep breath. He now knows that May won’t take Peter away…but will she let him have more time with him? “I might be Peters father, but you’ve raised him, he wouldn’t be who he is today if it wasn’t for you and Ben, which I couldn’t be more thankful for, so…I don’t want to take him away from you”.

May feels relief flood through her. She had been a little worried that Tony would want Peter to live with him, leaving her all alone. She couldn’t keep Peter away from Tony…but she didn’t want to lose Peter either. He’s a part of her life.

“Pepper suggested that we do what we’re doing now. You know, share him, like divorce parents do…but, uh…maybe I could…”.

May raises one of her eyebrows when nervous Tony makes a reappearance, but she thinks she understands what he’s trying to ask, “have more day’s with Peter?”

“If that’s okay with you, and with Peter of course” Tony hopes that as he stares at May that he doesn’t look like he’s completely desperate for her answer to be yes.

“I’m sure we could work something out” May nods, “maybe on the weekends that he already stays with you, he can be dropped of on the Friday after school instead of arriving on the Saturday. Also, when I have a night shift Peter could also stay with you”.

Tony nods his head vigorously, happy to accept any extra time with Peter.

“I’m sure that in a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, once everything settles we can get into a some kind of routine and get everything figured properly because this is just a lot to take in right now” May sighs, “I know Peters going to need sometime to get his head around all of this once you tell him”.

“I was hoping that you’ll be there when I tell him. I figured he might feel more comfortable if he has you with him” Tony says.

“That’s probably a good idea” May thinks to how sensitive her nephew can be at times, “he may react a little… Well, he may not handle the news well at first, but I promise that it won’t be because he doesn’t want you to be his father. He’ll just need a bit of time to get his head around it”.

“I really think you and Pepper are spending to much time together, because she said something similar to that”.

“Great minds think alike” May smirks, then turns serious again, “I’m guessing you’re worried that Peter won’t want you to be his dad…but I’ll let you in on a little secret. A couple of weeks ago, when me and Peter were having dinner, he referred to you ‘dad’ without even realising it until nearly a minute later”.

Tony’s breathing stops for a moment, his breath caught in his throat. Peter actually sees him as a father? As his father?

“So, after you tell him, it may seem like he’s rejecting you…but trust me he’s not. He’s just going to need some time to think about it, and that usually means that he’ll want to be alone to do it”.

“Okay” Tony quietly says, hoping that she’s right.

Tony’s phone pings, which indicates that F.R.I.D.A.Y needs to talk to him. He had put her on emergency mode so that he didn’t get disturb while talking to May, so if F.R.I.D.A.Y is active, then something has happened.

“F.R.I, what’s going on?” Tony pulls out his phone and works his fingers across the screen.

“The ‘Scraped Knee’ protocol on Peter’s suit has been activated, Boss”.

Tony feels his heart stop, “what? He’s supposed to be in school, isn’t he?”

“Midtown School ended 23 minutes ago” May and Tony both look to the clock in the kitchen and saw that they had been talking for longer than they realised. “The reports I’m reading from Peter’s suit indicate that he has a wound on his leg and it’s bleeding profusely”.

“What kind of wound?”

“I’m not completely sure Boss, but from the readings it is an inch thick in diameter and has gone through his leg”.

“What?” Tony will later deny that his voice went up in pitch.

“As per the ‘Scraped Knee’ protocol the suit’s AI is calling you”.

“Answer it” Tony tries to take a steady breath to keep himself calm. This kid is determined to turn him completely grey.

“-ease don’t call Mr Stark” Peter’s pleading voice comes from the phone as F.R.I.D.A.Y answers Peter’s AI call.

Due to the fact that Peter had a habit of not calling for help when he get’s hurt because he thinks he’s fine, Tony also designed the ‘Scraped Knee’ protocol to connect him straight away to Peter, whether the kid wants to talk or not.

Clearly it was a good idea to add that on.

“Hey Underoos” his voice is tight.

“…hey Mr Stark! I was just about to call you”.

Tony looks over at May, who has her face in her hands and is shaking her head.

“Were you now?” even though the boy can’t see him, he raises an eyebrow at the phone.

“Yep!”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y told me you’re hurt”.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a scratch really” however Peter’s voice sounds a little pained.

“Peter” Tony uses his best ‘don’t-bullshit-me’ voice, “What happened?”

“Really Mr Stark. I’ll be fine…my leg just got a little…impaled. But it’s fine!”

“What!” both Tony and May yell.

“May?” Peter’s voice is still a little pained but is now laced with confusion, “why are you with Mr Stark?”

“I don’t think that’s what important right now Peter. You got impaled!” May’s glad that she’s sat down because her legs don’t feel very stable right now. However, she does feel slightly relieved in the fact that Peter is awake and alert.

“I heal quickly remember. I’ll be fine. I just have to get the pole out first and th-“.

“Whoa, whoa! Your still impaled?” Tony is already calling a suit to pick him up so he can get to Peter, “don’t you dare touch it. Stay where you are, I’m coming to get you”.

“No, Mr Stark that’s not necessary! I’m fine. It’s not even a big pole”.

“I don’t care how big the pole is. I care that it’s in you!” this child is unbelievable, “I’m coming to get you and if you’ve taken that pole out by yourself, you are going to be ground until you 30”.

“That seems a little unreasonable” he hears Peter mutter, but he ignores the boy in favour of texting Happy to come and pick May up.

“Happy is going to bring you to the compound, while I go pick up the spider-baby” Tony turns to May.

“Not a baby!” he again ignores Peters protest as he instead messages the medical bay at the compound to expect a patient.

“Boss, your suit has arrived and is outside waiting for you” F.R.I.D.A.Y says.

“Thanks F.R.I. Be a dear and create the quickest path to Peter’s location” Tony heads towards the door, calling to May over his shoulder, “Happy should be here in about half an hour”.

“Thank you, Tony” May stands from the table and walks Tony out, “just make sure Peter’s alright”.

“That’s my job” Tony does a little salute before he quickly leaves the apartment and heads down the stairs to get to his suit. His heart is pounding so hard he can practically hear it. It hasn’t even been a full 24 hours since he found out he has a son, and said son is already hurt.

Logically, he knows that if he hadn’t have found out Peter was his kid, Pete still would have gotten hurt…but he still feels like it’s his fault.

“It really is fine Mr Stark. It doesn’t even hurt that much” Peter says. Tony almost forgot that the boy was still on the phone.

“…are you really trying to lie to me?” Tony shakes his head in exasperation, “your leg has a pole jammed into it! Of course it hurts and it most certainly isn’t fine”.

His latest suit, Mark 56, opens up as he walks towards it, allowing him to quickly slip inside. F.R.I.D.A.Y automatically switches Peter’s call from his phone to his suit, as it closes up.

“Show me where he is girl” Tony says and the pre-made route is displayed for him.

Peter mentally groans, instead of groaning out loud because Mr Stark is still on the phone, as he hears the distinct sound of the Ironman repulsors getting closer. It had barely been five minutes since Karen had snitched on him to Mr Stark.

Stupid ‘Scraped Knee’ protocol.

It’s not like he’s a baby! He doesn’t need to be patched up every time he gets a little scratch… Okay, this is a little more than a scratch, but still! Once the pole is out his healing will take care of it. He’ll be good as new within a few days.

Although, it would be really nice to have some of his specially made pain killers right about now.

It wasn’t even his fault that he got this pole in his leg…not really. It was MJs. He caught her walking home from school as he started his patrol and he got distracted by the way her hair bounced as she walked…the way the weak winter sun reflected off her smooth skin…the way that she looks beautiful even in her casual jumper and jeans.

She distracted him so much that he forgot to shoot a web, as he was totally not following her home and even if he was it was to make sure she got there safe, and he ended up falling into an ally. An ally that had a bunch of broken poles leaning against one of the dumpsters.

Mr Stark is going to tease the hell out of him for this.

Speaking of, the Ironman suit comes into view and it lands a few feet away from him. It opens up and Tony quickly stumbles out and crouches next to Peter. Even though the only reported injury is the pole in the boy’s leg, he still gives him a quick once over just to make sure that there aren’t any other major injuries. Carefully checking there aren’t any people around, he pulls of the Spider-Man mask, so he can look over Pete’s face too.

Once he’s happy that it’s just the kid’s leg, he lets his eyes roam over it.

“Christ Underoos” Tony mutters. He knew that Peter had a pole in his leg…but actually physically seeing it just makes it real. The kid, his kid, has somehow managed to get an actual pole in his leg.

“It’s just a little impalement” Peter says weakly.

“No impalement is little Peter!” Tony’s voice raises slightly, and he feels bad because Peter winces at it.

Don’t be like Howard. Don’t screw this up.

“It’s going to be fine Pete. I’m going to carry you back to the compound and the doctors will fix you up”.

“Can’t I just pull it out and let my healing do the rest?” Peter pouts and if Peter’s health wasn’t on the line, Tony would let him pull it out because that damn pout and those damn puppy-eyes!

“Kiddo, you’re in a dirty ally. The pole is in a dirty ally and there’s no telling how long it’s been here. It could have all sorts of nasty germs and diseases on it. Sure, your healing should fix you up and anything that pole has on it shouldn’t affect you, but I’d rather have the doctors take a look at it. Plus, we don’t know if the pole has caused any damage inside your leg”.

Peter frowns but nods, “fine”.

“Don’t worry, you’ll only see the doctors that already know your Spider-Man” knowing how much trouble Peter always manages to find, Tony figured it was best to have a couple of doctors know who the boy really was so that they would be able to treat him properly, due to his different DNA. Tony, of course, had them sign NDA’s so Spider-Man’s identity would still remain a secret. “Do you think you can web the pole in place, so it doesn’t move around and cause any more damage?”

Peter nods, wincing as he adjusts his position slightly to start securing the pole.

Tony takes this time to try and calm his fast beating heart. Peter was fine, apart from the obvious injury, and he’ll get patched up in the safe hands of qualified doctors.

This kid really is trying to give him a heart attack. Even before he found out that Peter was his son, whenever he got hurt it always sent a rush of panic through him, showing just how much Peter had wormed his way into Tony’s life.

He didn’t think he’d see Peter so soon after finding out that he’s the kids’ real father, he thought he’d have a few days to work out how to tell him since he wasn’t supposed to see him till the weekend. He figured he could maybe write a script on what he wants to say to Peter when he tells him, or maybe just bullet point important things to remember to say.

Now though, all he can do is look at Peter and start picking out what the kid got from him or his family and what the kid must have got from his mother. He can see what Rhodey and May meant when they said they had the same eyes; Peter is just somehow able to use them better than he ever could, especially when he adds in his pout. They have the same jaw line too. Their noses aren’t exactly the same, Peter’s looks more like his mother’s…wow, it’s been a little bit since he thought of his mum and it not be because of Rogers… Quickly moving on, he remembers the curls that Peter has in the mornings when he has breakfast, before he’s had chance to gel them down, and he remembers how much they annoyed him when he was younger and went to MIT. However, on Peter, they look so good. Makes the kid look younger, especially with the baby fat the kid still has in his cheeks. He should make the kid stop putting gel in his hair. Let the curls run wild.

Really, the only main thing that Tony can pick out that’s obviously different from him and Peter, is his mouth. Peter must get his mouth from Mary or someone from her family because it isn’t from him. But other than that…he can totally see what Rhodey was talking about and he’s kicking himself for not seeing it sooner.

“Uh…Mr Stark?” Peters voice brings him back from his thoughts.

“Yeah kiddo?”

“I said I was finished…and you’ve just been staring at me for like a full minute” Peter raises an eyebrow up in a silent question of ‘why were you staring at me?’

“I wasn’t staring…anyway, let’s get you out of here. I’ve only been here two minutes and I feel like I need five showers to get the dirt off of me” Tony quickly changes the subject and climbs back into his suit as Peter put’s his mask back on.

The Ironman suit lift’s Peter up bridal style, slowly and gently so that the leg nor pole get moved too much.

“This is so embarrassing” Peter grumbles as they take off towards the compound, “can’t you carry me a different way, instead of bridal?”

“Well if you insist on getting hurt, then you can think of this as a form of punishment to try and encourage you to be more careful”.

“You can’t punish me for getting hurt, it was an accident” even though he can’t see Peter’s face, Tony knows the boy is pouting.

“How exactly did you get ‘accidently’ hurt?” and Tony immediately knows something happened because the boy clammed up, and Peter always has something to say, “…Peter”.

“It was nothing. I just…fell?” Peter says it more like a question than a statement.

“You just fell?” Tony’s voice is full of disbelief.

“…yeah?”

“Alright, say I believe that. How did you ‘just fall’ Pete?”

“I just…did?”

“You do remember I can just watch what happened via the ‘Baby Monitor’ protocol, right?”

Peter sighs in defeat, “I did fall…I just got a little…distracted”.

“You’re telling me that you let yourself get distracted while you were swinging around? Do you know how dangerous that is Peter! You could have ended up a lot worse than having a pole in you leg!” Tony can feel his blood pressure raising again.

“I know, but it’s not like I meant it to happen!” Peter huffs.

“When you’re on patrol you need to stay focused at all times”.

“I won’t let it happen again”.

“You better not, or you’ll be grounded until you can learn how to not get distracted so easily. Do you understand?” Peter would argue but he could hear the tone of Mr Stark’s voice, and it was a tone that said ‘don’t-even-try-and-talk-back’.

“Yes sir” Peter mumbles.

“Good. Now, what were you distracted by?”

“What?”

“Well, you usually are pretty vigilant, with your Spidey-sense and everything. So, what caused you to get distracted?”

“Uh…a…cat?” Peter knows he’s never been good at lying, but this is bad. Even for him.

“A cat?”

“It was a fat cat”.

“A fat cat caused you to lose focus and fall into a disgusting ally?” Tony’s voice is flat, and he’s completely done with this.

“A very fat cat?”

“Again, ‘Baby Monitor’ protocol” Tony reminds the young superhero.

Peter groans, “you’re only going to laugh at me”.

“Whatever it is, caused you to get distracted and hurt yourself, so I don’t think I’ll laugh”.

“I…well…I saw MJ walking home from school…” Peter says quietly in the hopes that Mr Stark won’t hear him.

“Your friend, MJ?” unfortunately he does hear him.

“Yeah…I kinda started following her home…which sounds like I was stalking her, but I wasn’t! I was just making sure she got home safe…you know, because that’s the kinda thing Spider-Man does” Peter is glad that he’s wearing the mask so Mr Stark can’t see how red he is. Why can’t he just be normal around girls he likes? He was weird when he like Liz too.

“Right…” Tony says slowly, “so, you started following her home and got distracted?”

“Yeah”.

“By her?”

“…yeah” Peter sighs.

Tony can’t stop the smirk that’s spreading across his face. His son has a crush. “So, you like her, that’s cute kiddo”.

Peter groans loudly, “it’s not cute Mr Stark! This is serious. I have to un-like her because I don’t want to ruin our friendship, but it’s so hard to not like her more than a friend because she’s amazing and beautiful and smart and really scary, but in a good way…if there is a good way to be scary, and she’s just…she’s perfect. She cares about a lot of issues that most people don’t, and she doesn’t care how she looks, yet she still looks beautiful in whatever she’s wearing. She funny too and does these drawings of people that are really good…and it’s awesome whenever she knocks Flash’s ego down with only a sentence. And, did I mention that she’s smart, because she is”.

Tony whistles and tries not to laugh at the poor boy, “sounds like you’re screwed kiddo because you have been well and truly bit by the love bug”.

“I know” Peter pouts, “what am I going to do?”

“You know, you could always try asking her out” Tony suggests as the compound comes into view. This is the sort of thing fathers and sons talk about, right? Helping out with love advice…not that Peter should really take advice from him about love and romance considering what his past is like.

“Mr Stark! I can’t do that!” anyone would have thought he asked the kid to kick a puppy at how horrified Peter sounded, “did you not hear the part where I said I don’t want to ruin our friendship?”

“Well, what if she likes you back? That wouldn’t be ruining your friendship, it would be starting a relationship that started with the foundations from your friendship. Those are the strongest relationships, or so Pepper tells me anyway”.

“I don’t know…” Peter bites his lip nervously, “I think I’ll stick with not telling her”.

“And just continue following her home and pining after her from a distance”.

“Yeah, I think I’m fine with that for now”.

Tony shakes his head but knows that there isn’t any point in pushing the matter at the moment, Peter can be pretty stubborn at times…which he can now say that he probably gets from him.

Tony lands on the landing pad at the compound, and because he already contacted the doctors at May’s, he deposits the kid onto the waiting gurney.

“I don’t think I need a gurney” Peter tries to protest.

“And how were you thinking of getting to the med-bay? Hopping? Walking on your hands? Or did you want me to continue carrying you down there?” Tony steps out of the suit and raises an eyebrow at Peter.

“I’ll just take the gurney”.

“Thought so” Tony nods at the doctors and they start taking Peter towards the elevator, Tony following close behind.

Chapter Text

Due to the fact that Peter’s identity as Spider-Man is a secret and, because of said secret, the boy spends a bit of time in the med-bay, Tony set up a private room just for him. It’s at the end of the med-bay and only the staff who signed the NDA’s and know of Peter’s identity have access to the room. Well, apart from himself, Peter, Pepper, Happy and May of course.

Since it’s Peter’s room, and only Peter’s room, Tony may have personalised it a little. He couldn’t go crazy, like he did with Peter’s actual room at the compound, because it’s still a medical room…but he was able to change the bed covers to Star Wars ones. Those made the boy go red when he saw them the first time. Tony also made sure that the room had comfy seats because he wasn’t going to get a numb ass sitting in a crappy chair waiting for the spider-child to wake up.

Like he’s doing now.

Tony look’s up from Peter’s sleeping form when he hears the door open and sees May walk in.

“Hey” Tony sit’s up in his chair, stretching his back. He had been slightly hunched over as he sat next to Peter’s bed. He’d been having an inner debate in his head about whether or not he should hold the sleeping boy’s hand.

“How is he?” May asks, her face fully displaying her worry as she makes her way further into the room and sit’s in the chair on the other side of Peter’s bed. Her hand immediately attaching itself to Peter’s and her other hand settling in the boy’s hair, slowly stroking the curls.

“Fine. He managed to get his leg impaled by a pole, but the doctors took it out and stitched him up after they checked that there wasn’t any internal damage. Gave him some of his pain med’s while they did it and now he’s just sleeping it off” Tony explains, “he’ll need to be off his leg for the next day at least. So, no school tomorrow, but he should be fully healed by Monday”.

May blinks at Tony in shock, “…he got impaled by a pole? In his leg?” May shakes her head and sighs, “only Peter could manage to do that to himself”.

“Yep. The kid is amazing at finding spectacular ways to hurt himself”.

“How did he managed to impale himself?”

“Turns out, Petey has a little crush” Tony smirks, “he saw her when he was starting his patrol and got distracted because he was watching her, causing him to fall and get hurt”.

“Peter likes someone? Who?” May let’s a smile form on her face, “is it MJ? Because he’s been talking about her a lot more recently”.

“Got it in one”.

“Good, I like her” May hums her approval, her hand still absentmindedly stroking Peter’s hair, “since it’s Friday tomorrow and he needs to keep off his leg, he might as well stay here. Especially since it’s his weekend here anyway”.

“Well, that way F.R.I.D.A.Y can keep an eye on him for when he inevitably ignores our orders and tries to walk” because Peter is Peter, and of course he’s going to not listen to the doctor and will try to use his leg.

May nods her head in agreement, because she knows what her nephew is like.

There’s a gentle knock on the door and it opens slightly, Pepper poking her head into the room.

“I heard that Peter got hurt” Pepper opens the door and steps in, “my meeting ended early and my last one isn’t for a couple of hours, so I figured I’d have a little time to come and check in on our kid. How is he?”

Our kid.

Tony smiles at that.

May’s, Tony’s and Pepper’s kid, because it’s a simple fact that any kid of Tony’s was going to be hers too and it was great how amazing Pepper is being about it all.

“Good…well, he will be after some rest” Tony answers as Pepper walks over to sit on the armrest of Tony’s chair.

“So, did Tony manage to tell you the news before Peter got hurt?” Pepper looks over at May.

May let’s out a sigh, “yeah. Still trying to get my head around it to be honest”.

Pepper nods, “after everything that we’ve been through, I still didn’t see this coming. I mean, I did think that there was a possibility that Tony would have and child or two out there, but finding out his child is the one he’s already been getting to know…it’s kind of crazy”.

“You’re telling me. I never in a million years could have ever thought my nephew was Tony Starks son, nor did I think I’d be okay with him being Peter’s father, but here we are”.

“Yes, we are, me included” Tony sulks, “so, if you could not talk about me like I’m not here that would be great”.

“Sure, we’ll just save talking about you for our lunch” Pepper smiles sweetly at her fiancée.

“Thanks” Tony rolls his eyes.

“Your welcome” Pepper turns back to May, “did Tony ask you about the possibility of having more days with Peter?”

“Yes, I did” Tony huffs, “I can do things by myself sometimes”.

Pepper and May share an amused look with each other, then May leans back in her chair slightly. The hand in Peters hair leaving but the hand holding Peters still firmly in place, “I’m fine with Peter spending more time with Tony, but it’ll probably be best to figure out a routine once Peter’s had time to adjust to everything”.

“I think that’s a good idea” Pepper agrees, “we just want to do what best for Peter and what he’s comfortable with”.

“That reminds me. The press” May bites her lip and looks at Tony, “you’re a famous billionaire and a you’re Ironman. The second the press find out you have a son, they’re going to be all over him”.

Pepper looks at Tony with a raised eyebrow, “I thought this was one of the things you were supposed to talk with May about”.

“I was going to get to that but before I could somebody decided to jam a pole in his leg” Tony huffs before he gives May his most reassuring look, “trust me, I don’t want those vultures anywhere near Peter” his eyes sweep over Peter’s face before looking back at May, “we are going to keep this as quiet as we can for as long as we can. Anyone who gets informed about who Peter is will have to sign NDAs”.

“At the moment, the only people who we’re going to tell will be the lawyers and the PR team. It’s best for them to know about Peter so they can prepare for when the press do find out about him, because unfortunately they will find out eventually” Pepper sighs.

“Because they’re vultures” Tony almost growls. He grew up having to look over his shoulder for cameras and journalists, who were looking for their 15 minutes of fame, whenever he went out. Eventually he stopped caring about the cameras, about the same time he stopped trying to impress his father, and that’s when the photos of him drunk in clubs started appearing in papers.

The same thing will not happen to his son.

Peter shifts slightly and lets out a soft moan, indicating to the three adults in the room that he was waking up. May moves to the edge of her seat, sitting closer to Peter as he wakes, and Tony unconsciously does the same. Pepper threads her hand into Tony’s hair at the nape of his neck, hoping to give some comfort to her fiancé.

Peter scrunches up his face and lifts his hand, that isn’t being held by May, to rub over his face. He blinks a few times before his eyes open fully.

“Hey sweetie” May smiles at him.

“May” Peter smiles back, slightly groggy from the pain med’s that are still in his system.

“How are you feeling?”

“M’fine”.

May raises an eyebrow, “really?”

Peter nods.

“Okay then…” May’s smiles turns more into a smirk, “Tony tells me you have a crush”.

Peter’s smile is wiped clean off his now red face and he groans, closing his eyes, “why would you do that Mr Stark?” he whines.

“Consider it part of your punishment for not paying attention on patrol” Tony smirks.

Peter just covers his face with his hand. It was just so embarrassing! It was bad enough that he got so distracted by MJ that he fell, but having May and Mr Stark know about his crush… He’s never going to hear the end of it.

He sighs, looking on the bright side…at least MJ didn’t see him fall, or at least he’s pretty sure she didn’t, because if she did, well… he may as well just die from embarrassment now.

Dropping his hand, he looks over to his other side to look at Mr Stark, “how is my leg?”

“Luckily the pole, somehow, didn’t do any damage to your leg”, he has no idea how there was no damage. but Tony isn’t going to question it. “You’ll need to keep off it for a day, doctors’ orders, and when I say off it I mean you will be resting in bed and not hopping about anywhere”, Peter gives Tony an offended look at the implied tone in his mentors voice that suggested that he’d go against the doctors’ orders , but Tony just raises an eyebrow back because they both know that Peter would try to get out of resting. 

“Since you have to stay off your leg, you won’t be going to school tomorrow”, May picks up the conversation, “and we figured that since tomorrow is Friday, that you might as well stay here since it is your weekend at the compound anyway”.

Peter grins. He was definitely okay with having an extra day with Mr Stark at the compound…even if he has to ‘rest’. He has enhanced healing…surely, he doesn’t have to stay off his leg all day…right?

“For now, it’s probably best if you get some more rest” May says, returning her hand to Peters hair and stroking. “Resting always helps move things along better”.

Tony nods in agreement, “we’ll wake you up when it’s time to feed that spider-baby belly of yours”, que Peter’s groan at the nickname, “but till then, it’s best to go back to sleep because I know that the med’s are still running through your body right now, which means your already ready feeling tired anyway”.

Peter pouts and attempts to glare, but the effect is ruined by two things. One, Peter basically looks like a puppy so he can rarely pull off a glare, only when he’s actually and extremely pissed off do his glares work. And two, the big yawn that escapes the boy’s mouth, followed by his eyelids that are starting to flutter shut.

“May…stop it” Peter mumbles as he tries to move his head away from May’s hand.

“Nope” May continues running her hand gently through her nephew’s hair, “go to sleep”.

Peter’s eyes finally shut completely as another yawn, smaller than the last one, leaves his mouth, “n…not…fair…”.

Tony’s eyes flicker from the now sleeping Peter to May in shock, “how did you do that? I was certain he’d fight off sleeping for longer than that. He usually does”.

“He likes his hair played with” May smiles warmly at Peter, “always has. Even as a baby he liked having a hand stroking his head and it almost always helped get him off to sleep, even when he didn’t want too and it’s something he’s not grown out off”, May stops stroking Peters hair and sits back in her chair. “When he first came to live with me and Ben after his parents died, he’d have nightmares and he didn’t want to sleep. All we’d have to do is lay in bed with him and play with his hair for about ten minutes and he’d be out like a light”, May explains, “…it was the same after Ben died”.

“Well, that’s useful information to know for when he’s being difficult about sleeping in the future. I’ll just stroke his hair” Tony’s mouth twitches into a small but happy smile, because seriously? How does this kid manage to continue getting cuter?

“It just proves that he’s even more like you” Pepper huffs, her face full of amusement.

Tony frowns, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You like having someone run their hands through your hair. It may not put you to sleep like it does with Peter, but still it’s just another thing that he must get from you” as if to prove her point, Pepper resumes threading her hand through the back of his hair and Tony can’t deny that it feels so nice.

His eyes flicker back to Peter and he still just can’t believe that he has a son. That he helped to create half of this kid laying in the bed on front of him.

“You know, I’ve never seen a teenager pull off looking adorable like Peter can” Pepper coo’s as she looks at Peter while he sleeps, “I mean, look at his curls and that little pout he has”.

“I think the fact that he still has a little baby fat in his cheeks help with that” May smiles as she reaches over to give Peter’s cheek a stroke.

There’s another knock on the door before it opens to reveal Happy, who was wedging himself in the doorway as though to prevent anyone else entering, “I figured it wouldn’t be a problem, but I thought I’d better check. Rhodey, he can come in here right? He knows about the kid?”

“Yeah” Tony nods but frowns because how did Rhodey know Peter was hurt?

Happy opens the door further and moves to the side to allow Rhodey in, and Rhodey roll his eyes as he walks past Happy and mutters, “I told you I knew about the kid”.

Happy merely rolls his eyes back as he closes the door, “how’s the kid?” while he may grumble here and there about the kid being annoying and how he never shut’s up, the truth was…Peter had grown on him, kind of like a fungus, but still somehow the kid made him care about him. So, he wanted to make sure the boy was okay.

“Yeah, he’s going to be fine. He just needs a day of rest and he’ll be crawling on the ceiling like normal” Tony states before standing up to give Rhodey his seat, “Honey-bear, how did you know Peter was in the med-bay?”.

“Didn’t. I came by to see you and F.R.I.D.A.Y told me you were here with Peter” Rhodey sits down in the chair that Tony vacated, “I stopped by to check on you since you basically got a bombshell dropped on you yesterday. I wasn’t just going to leave you to deal with it”.

Happy frowns, “what’s going on? What bombshell?”

Tony blinks and looks to Happy and then to the rest of the people in the room, “we forgot to fill Hap in on the news”.

“We forgot? It’s your news Tony” Rhodey shakes his head, a smirk playing on his lips.

“What news?” Happy narrows his eyes. News involving Tony was normally not so…good.

Tony takes a deep breath, “Peter’s my son”.

“…what?” Happy says slowly because…what?

“Peter. He’s mine. You know, my flesh and blood. He’s biologically my child. My sperm help create him. He’s made up of my DNA. He-”.

“I think he understands Tony” Pepper interrupts him.

“You really could have just stopped after the first part, I didn’t need to hear the sperm bit” disgust flashes across May’s face.

“You’ve gone a little pale there Happy” Rhodey leans back in his chair, enjoying the moment.

“Peter is your son” Happy’s eyes widen.

“Apparently so” Tony nods.

“Peter…the kid who can literally just walk into trouble on accident?”

“It was you who said that Peter’s self-preservation skills are as bad as mine” Tony shrugs, “now we know why”.

“…I knew Peter was like you in a lot of ways…but…Oh God, two Tony’s…” Happy shakes his head as Rhodey muffles his laughter, “I can’t handle another Tony. The first one gave me grey hair and health problems-“.

“Hey!” Tony protests.

Pepper rolls her eyes, “honey, be realistic. Looking after you and making sure you didn’t get yourself killed was not an easy job”.

“Not at all” Rhodey mutters in agreeance, “Happy’s right, all my grey hairs are because of you”.

“Where’s the loyalty” Tony glares at everyone…apart from May and Pepper because he values his life.

“You gave me grey hair before I was 30”.

“Then you’ll be happy to know that Karma exists because Tony is constantly saying how Peter is turning him grey” May says, smirking at Tony, before giving Rhodey a polite smile, “hi, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m May, Peter’s aunt”.

“Rhodey. It’s nice to meet you. Tony said that you raised Peter, and from everything that I’ve heard about the kid, it sounds like you’ve done an amazing job” Rhodey smiles back, “and it definitely feels good to know karma works”.

“I’m sorry, can we get back to the fact that Tony has a kid and that kid is Peter” Happy’s voice sounds a little strangled and he still looks a shade paler than normal, “when exactly did you find out about this?”.

“Well thanks to Rhodey, I found out about Peter yesterday after the kid went home” Tony says.

“I came by yesterday to see this intern that Pepper had been telling me about, only for the intern to be Peter” Rhodey explains, “when I saw the kid I thought he was Tony’s because of how much he looked almost exactly like Tony did back at MIT at his age. After Peter left, I asked Tony about it, he freaked out and ran a paternity test that obviously came back positive”.

Tony scoffs, “I did not freak out”.

Rhodey rolled his eyes but doesn’t comment because he knows his friend wouldn’t want him to bring up the fact that he had a couple of panic attacks.

“Does the kid know?” Happy asks, finally stepping further into the room.

And there’s that tight clenching around his heart again at the thought of telling Peter and Peter rejecting him, “no…not yet. Didn’t really get the chance with the fact the kid got himself injured…again”.

“Karma” Rhodey mutters and Tony glares at him.

“When are you going to tell Peter? I know you said you’d like me to be there, but I don’t think telling him now would be a good thing, with him not being able to move because of his leg” May gives a gentle look because she knows that Tony isn’t as emotionless has he portrays and that he’ll be hurt at the idea that Peter will want space. “Like I said early, after you tell Peter, he’s going to want some time to think about everything…and he’ll want that time to be away from you so he can collect his thoughts properly. So, telling him now, when he’ll then have to spend the next day and the weekend here…it wouldn’t end well”.

Tony nods and swallows the hurt down at the thought of Peter not wanting him around, “then maybe Sunday evening? Before Happy takes the kid home, he could bring you up and we’ll tell him then. That way he’ll have a few days to process everything…or well, he can have as long as he needs, I can postpone his visits here until he feels comfortable to come back” Tony shut’s up before he starts to ramble even more.

“That sounds like a good idea” Pepper agrees, her hand moving to hold Tony’s in reassurance.

“So, hopefully the next time I see the kid, I should be uncle Rhodey” the man grins, hoping to break the anxiety that was being to form in his best friend, “actually I will be uncle Rhodey because I won’t answer to anything else”.

Happy rolls his eyes, because if anyone should be the uncle it should be him. He’s known the kid longer.

“Well, I need to get going or I will be late for my next meeting” Pepper brushes a kiss to Tony’s cheek.

“I’ll drive you” Happy says, already opening the door.

“Would you mind dropping me back home as well?” May stretches as she stands up and looks at Tony, “now I know Peter is okay, I’ll leave him in your hands”.

“I’ll keep you updated incase he decides to be stupid and walk on his leg” Tony drops down into the seat that May left.

“I’ll see you on Sunday” May gives Tony a reassuring smile before she plants a kiss on Peters forehead and follows Happy out of the room.

Pepper squeezes his shoulder, “I’ll be home later, love you”.

“Love you too” Tony says before Pepper leaves Peters hospital room.

Silences fills, the now much more empty room, for a few moments. Tony taking in the sight of Peter and Rhodey watching Tony. He’s suddenly hit with just how much his best friend has changed and grown as he sees the gentle relaxed look on Tony’s face as he looks at the kid. It’s the kind of look that he rarely gets to see because of how closed of the man had always been. Yet, in only 24 hours he’s seen that look several times. Either because he was looking at the kid or talking about the kid.  

Rhodey is extremely grateful for Peter Parker. He’s grateful that the kid managed to wiggle his way into Tony’s life, because even before the man found out about their blood relation, it was clear from the small interaction that he witnessed and everything that Pepper had told him, that Peter was giving his best friend a second chance at life. A happier, more relaxed life.

Exactly what he deserves after everything he’s been through and sacrificed.

“How long are you here for?” Tony asks, looking away from Peter.

“A week, then I have to head back to the base” Rhodey pauses, not really wanting to bring up the accords and ruin the peace, but also needing to know if there had been any developments, “how have the accords been going?”

“Slow… Ross is a dick and he’s being difficult” Tony huffs.

Rhodey smirks, “we already knew that”.

“Some of the countries are okay with the amendments I’ve asked for, others are on the fence and a few are being as difficult as Ross. Though I think that if Ross wasn’t involved or around to stir up trouble that things would being going both faster and smoother”.

“I still wonder how he got this roll”.

“Me too” Tony sighs, “anyway, if the accords get the changes I want…it’s still a matter of getting the ‘rouge’ avengers to sign, which could be problematic since Rogers couldn’t even be bothered to read the last one before he ran off”.

Tony knows that Rogers and his band of merry men will be reluctant to sign anything. Even though they need to be held accountable for damages and such, which is what the accords is about. What it was always primarily about, if the man had even bothered to read it. Anything else in the accords, especially anything added in by Ross, has to go…but they have to be responsible for what they do.

“At the moment, while I try to get the amended accord through, I’m trying to find away to get Barton and Lang home for their kids sooner. I’m trying to get the committee to agree to some kind of house arrest or something” Tony adds, “again, that means that Barton and Lang would have to agree to it, and the hell if I know if they’ll take it. They probably won’t because they don’t like nor trust me”.

“I think if you give them the opportunity to see their families, they’ll take it”.

“We’ll see” Tony shrugs, his face wondering from Rhodey back over to Peter, “actually…yeah…they’ll take it. Just have to get all the countries to agree too”.

“Fingers crossed, though I’m sure that you’ll get them to agree with you. You usually manage to get everyone to give you what you want” Rhodey relaxes more in his chair and looks over Peter, who was now curled up like a ball in his medical bed. “How does a teenage boy manage to look adorable?”

Tony groans “wait till he’s awake and giving you his puppy-eyes. It’s literally impossible to resist!”.

After waking Peter up later in the evening for dinner and feeding the boy, the doctor stopped by to check him over and agreed to let Peter leave the med-bay with the reminder that the boy has to keep off his leg for the next day. Much to Peter’s annoyance, Mr Stark was taking the doctors’ orders seriously because he made the boy sit in a wheelchair and he wheeled him up to his room. There wasn’t much left of the day after that, so all Peter did was text Ned and watch countless Buzzfeed videos until he fell asleep for the night.

In the morning, Tony helped Peter into the living room and settled the boy down on the couch, because Peter didn’t want to be stuck in his room all day and at least there he can watch the T.V. Once he got Peter on the couch, Tony then started piling pillows and blankets on and around the boy to help make him comfy.

Peter had no idea that there were so many pillows in the compound, or even just in Mr Stark’s floor at the compound. It was ridiculous. He was practically buried under them.

After making sure Peter could breath under the pile, Tony had to go to a meeting. While he was no longer the CEO and didn’t have to attend as many meetings as he used to…he’s still the owner and still has certain meetings that he unfortunately can’t avoid. Well…he could avoid them, but then he’d have to change his name and move to a new country because Pepper would hunt his ass down.

Luckily it was only the one meeting and it was only a few hours. So, once it was over with, he could join Peter on the couch and binge watch ‘The Big Bang Theory’. Tony felt rather content, happy to relax with his son…who didn’t know he was his son.

He was going to enjoy this weekend and soak up all the time he had with Peter while he could, because who knows what’s going to happen once he tells Peter the truth.

Once Pepper finished work she also joined them on the couch, with Thai take out. Though they instead decide to watch a movie…well Pepper wanted to watch a movie and both Peter and Tony agreed because you should always agree with Pepper, no matter what.

After that Tony decided it was time for Peter to go to bed, and he let the boy walk to his room by himself since his 24-hour rest was up.

When Peter woke up on Saturday, he felt a lot better because he was now allowed to walk on his leg, and he was ready for his weekend at the compound.

A normal weekend at the compound would usually consist of Peter, and sometimes Tony, sleeping in until at least 11. Then the pair would have brunch and then spend the afternoon training Peter, as per one of May’s conditions for Peter being Spider-Man. Then on Saturday’s they’d relax in the evening after dinner by watching a movie or two, and on Sunday’s Happy would take Peter back to his aunts in the evening.

This weekend however, due to Peter’s leg, it would be slightly different. While his leg is better and he can walk on it, both Tony and the doctor agreed that he should still take it easy for a couple of days just to make sure it’s alright. Which mean’s training is off the table, and instead the training part of the weekend is replaced with working in the lab.

Which Peter does not mind at all. Not one bit, because who wouldn’t want more lab time?

So, he and Mr Stark spent the weekend mostly in the lab, apart from the time in the evening when Pepper forced them to stop. It was one of the best weekends he’s had at the compound so far. Though, he did notice that Mr Stark was acting…a little…off. The man kept staring at him…a lot. And he spent a lot of time just twiddling with his tools instead of actually doing anything with them. It was almost like he was fiddling with them because he was nervous.

But why would Mr Stark be nervous?

Also…the bots were acting odd as well. All three of them were paying him more attention than they usually do. Dum-E kept trying to give him oil smoothies, which he’s never done before. U kept following him around the lab any time he got up. While Butterfingers kept trying to help him with his web-shooters. Usually the bot’s mind their own business in the corner of the lab and sometimes come over to cause mischief…but this time they just seemed to want to be around him for some reason.

Tony was bewildered by the bots and their sudden fascination with Peter, until he remembered that they were there when he found out Peter was his son. Clearly, they figured that meant he was their brother and now won’t leave him alone.

He found it quite sweet.

Tony was a little surprised that working with Peter in the lab after finding out he was his son didn’t feel any different to before he found out. Although he did spend more time staring at Peter than usual, but that was mostly because he couldn’t help himself and he just wanted to keeping finding what Peter got from him and what he must have gotten from Mary.

Before either Peter or Tony knew it, it was Sunday evening and time for Peter to go home. Tony stands nervously by the couch, shifting from one foot to another, waiting for both Peter to come into the room and for May to arrive. He’s gripping on to the paternity results firmly and his palms feel sweaty.

God…he feels like he’s going to be sick.

Pepper had, again, offered to be here with him, but Tony thought that it should just be him, May and Peter. Though he did asks her to stay nearby incase he did need her.

“Are you okay Mr Stark?” Peter’s voice startles Tony from the panic that was beginning to tighten around his chest.

“Yep, all good kiddo” Tony gives a tight smile and he knows he’s not fooling Peter.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird all weekend” Peter frowns, biting his lip. He was worried that he’d done something to upset or disappoint his mentor… Maybe him getting distracted and hurting his leg on patrol made him more mad than he thought. “Have I done something wrong?”

“What? No, no, no. You’ve done nothing wrong Pete…but I do need to talk to you about something before Happy takes you home”.

Peter feels dread wash over him, Mr Stark may have said that he’d done nothing wrong…but the tone of his voice clearly said that something was wrong.

The doors to the elevator glide open and May walks in. She gives Tony a reassuring smile because she can see the man is practically bouncing with nerves.

“May? Why are you here?” now Peter is totally confused, though he’s still worried.

“We figured it was best that I was here for this” May says, sitting down on the end of the couch, pulling Peter down with her.

“Okay…now I’m really freaked out”.

“Don’t be, it’s not anything bad…it’s just…surprising and it may take a little time to get used to” May runs a hand through his hair a couple of times to try and help calm her nephew.

“On Wednesday, you met my friend Rhodey” Tony starts, taking a seat on the coffee table so that he could sit opposite Peter, “well…Rhodey knew me back when I was your age and well…he basically said that you look just like I did back then”.

Peter’s face brightened up and a small smile formed on his lips, “really?”

Tony nods, his heart warmed at the thought that Peter seemed happy that he looked like him, “yep. You look so much like me that Rhodey thought you were my kid and uh…that got me thinking…because of my past…well, I can’t sugar coat it because pretty much everyone knows I had a wild life…that I slept around-“.

Peter’s face scrunches up in disgust. Yes, he knew that Tony had slept with a lot of women…but he didn’t need to hear about it, “you don’t have to go into detail”.

“Right, sorry” Tony pauses, fiddling with the paternity papers in his hand, “like I said, I started thinking about how you looked like me and my past…and I started wondering if there was a possibility that…uh…shit” Tony looks at May because he has no freaking clue how to say it. May nods to the papers in his hands and he sighs, “look Peter…there’s no easy way for me to tell you this but…you’re my son”.

Peter blinks and then frowns, “…what?”

“The reason why you look like me, is because you’re my son”.

It takes Peter a moment to realise that Tony was holding out some papers for him. He takes them hesitantly and looks at them.

They’re paternity results.

Positive paternity results.

Positive paternity results with his name and Tony’s name on them.

“I had no idea about you until this week. Your mother never told me about you, not that I blame her. She was only doing what she thought was best for you…and I wouldn’t have made a good father 15 years ago”.

Peter could hear Tony talking…but he sounded funny. Like he was underwater. He could feel May next to him, her arm around him, but at the same time he couldn’t actually feel her. Just the weight of her arm.

It felt kind of hard to breath.

Richard Parker wasn’t his dad…Tony Stark was. It felt like everything was a lie.

“Peter, honey?” May says softly, her hand threading through his hair to try and coax the boy out of wherever his mind has gone.

Peter clutches the paternity results in his trembling fingers. He takes in a shaky breath, “can we go home?” he looks to May, “I can’t…I need to…”.

“Of course, sweetie” May says gently, her eyes flickering over to Tony. She could see the devastation in his face. No matter how much she and Pepper told him that given some time Peter will be fine with the idea that he’s his son, it wasn’t going to stop the man feeling rejected.

Peter practically races to the elevator, almost running into the doors because he got there so quick. May on the other hand squeezes Tony’s shoulder and offers him a smile.

“Just give him some time” she says before she follows after Peter.

Once the elevator doors close, sending the Parkers down to Happy, Tony stays sat on the coffee table, unable to move because his son just ran from him.  With his elbows resting on his knees, he lowers his face into his hands and tries to take steady breaths…but all he could think about was Peter’s retreating figure…

He felt shattered.

Pepper slips into the room and quickly makes her way to her distraught fiancé. Tony lifts his head up long enough to wrap his arms around her waist and then bury his face into her stomach. Pepper simply holds him, one hand gently stroking his hair.

“He’ll be fine. He just needs a few days to wrap his head around this” Pepper says softy.

Peter had gone to his room pretty much immediately after they arrived back to their apartment and had stayed there the rest of the evening. Just lay on his bed, the paternity results still in his hands because he had completely forgot he had them.

He didn’t get much sleep that night.

May offered to call the school and let him have Monday off, but Peter needed to get out and have some kind of distraction. Any distraction, because he can’t think about Mr Stark or the paternity results.

However, all he can think about is Mr Stark and the paternity results. Peter’s lost count of the amount of times Ned had nudged him throughout the morning when he noticed that he wasn’t paying attention in class.

Eventually lunch rolls around, but before they can go to the lunch hall, Ned drags Peter into the boy’s bathroom.

“What’s going on with you Peter? I’ve never seen you so distracted” Ned watches his friend, concern written all over his face. He was pretty sure Peter was fine over the weekend because his friend had texted him plenty of times and nothing seemed off then. So, something happened either last night or this morning. “Is May okay?”

Peter shakes his head, “May’s fine”.

“Then what is it?...Is it Spider-Man?”

“Ned” Peter hisses, his eyes wide. He quickly scans under the toilet stalls to make sure no one is there, “no, it’s not Spider-Man”.

“Talk to me Peter…Somethings bothering you, big time. I’m your best friend. Let me help”.

Peter huffs, “I’m not sure how you can help with this”.

“Well unless you tell me, we won’t know if I can or can’t help”.

“…Mr Stark…he’s my…dad”.

Ned’s eyes widen and his jaw drops.

Peter continues, “apparently he found out last week…did a paternity test and everything”.

“Oh…My…God” Ned whispers, then suddenly his voice gets louder, “Tony Stark is your dad!”

“Shhh” Peter flaps his arms around in the air in a panic before slamming his hands over Ned’s mouth, “keep your voice down!”.

“Dude…what is your life!”

“Tell me about it” Peter mutters. He sinks down to the ground wrapping his arms around his legs.

Ned frowns, “you’re not happy that he’s your dad?”

Peter sighs, letting his head rest against the wall, “it’s not that…well I don’t think it’s that…I just…” Peter groans, “I don’t know! I just have so many feelings and thoughts that I don’t know what I’m feeling or thinking”.

Ned sits down next to Peter, “it’s okay to not know…I mean, finding out your dad is someone else from the person you thought it was… it’s going to be a lot to take in”.

“I feel like I don’t know what to trust…like dad wasn’t my real dad, so what else in my life isn’t how I thought it was? I mean…am I still me? Because I feel like I don’t know who I am now. And also, if I accept Mr Stark as my dad…does that mean I’m betraying my dad?” Now Peter’s started he can’t stop rambling every thought that’s past through his mind since finding out. “And was Mr Stark telling the truth when he said he only just found out, or has he always known but he didn’t think I was good enough? Plus, he’s Ironman…he could get hurt or worse he could die, and I’ll lose him like I lost mum and dad and uncle Ben. And would seeing Mr Stark as my dad be an insult to uncle Ben because I never called him dad even though he raised me?”

“Peter!” Ned interrupts because his friend needs to take a breath, “how about you take some breaths and we’ll work our way through your thoughts”.

Peter nods and takes several deep breaths, calming down his racing heart.

“Okay, first I don’t think you’d be betraying either your dad or uncle by accepting Mr Stark as your dad. I think they’d be happy for you. Plus, people can have more than one dad and it’s okay to see and love them both as your dad. Second, even if you had a regular guy as a dad, some guy who work in a shop or something, there’d still be a chance he’d get hurt. Sure, being Ironman increase the risks, but bad things happen…you more than most know that. Third, why would you not be good enough to be Mr Starks son?”

“Mr Stark was in MIT at my age…I’m still in high school. He had so many achievements by the time he was my age, whereas I haven’t…” Peter pulls at some loose string on his jumper, “what if he only wants something to do with me now that I’m Spider-Man?”

“I think if he was only going to tell you that he was your dad because your Spider-Man, he’d have done it a lot sooner. Plus…do you really believe that he’s only interested in you because of Spider-Man? Because you’ve told me that you’ve had movie nights with him. You. Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man”.

“…yeah…you’re right. Mr Stark wouldn’t do that”.

“Of course, I’m right” Ned let’s a moment of quiet go by before he speaks again, “and as for wondering who you are now. You’re still Peter Parker. Finding out that Ironman is your dad doesn’t change the fact that you like Star Wars…or that for some weird reason you like your sandwiches squashed…or the fact that you're a really good person with a big heart and you just want to help everyone…or that you're my best friend”, Ned waits for Peter to look at him before finishing, “you are Peter Parker. Nothing is ever going to change that”.

Peter gives Ned a small smile.

“You feeling any better now?”

“I’m still not really sure what I’m feeling…but yeah, I do feel a little less jumbled than before” Peter nods, “thanks Ned”.

“I’m your guy in the chair. It’s what I do”.

Peter spent the rest of the week trying to sort out his feelings. After his talk with Ned, Peter decided to talk with May. And that conversation also helped him unscramble some of his thoughts and feelings. He also had a few chat’s with Karen because she’s always been pretty good at talking him thought stuff.

He didn’t go to the compound on Wednesday because he was in no way ready to see Mr Stark. It was just to soon and he hadn’t worked through everything yet.

But now, five days after finding out, he thinks he’s ready to talk to Mr Stark. It’s Friday, and he’s currently sat on a random building watching the sky get darker. He’s trying to work up the courage to go to the compound, so he’s in his Spider-Man suit because he’s always more confident when he’s his other self.

Tony was currently trying to bury himself in work to try and forget the fact that his son didn’t want anything to do with him. Of course, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey, who had left the day before because he had to go back to work, all said that Peter just needed time and that he’d be back soon.

Tony wasn’t holding his breath though because why would Peter want him as a father?

He’s so glad that most of the alcohol is gone and that the only alcohol left is locked up and only Pepper has the override to unlock it, because he’s sure that if he could get his hands on some, he’d be drunk off his ass by now.

As it was, he hadn’t slept since Tuesday because after May had called him on Wednesday to tell him Peter didn’t want to come to the compound, Tony basically locked himself in the lab and hasn’t been out since.

Even the bots seemed sad when they noticed Peter didn’t visit on Wednesday.

“Boss, Mrs Boss is requesting you to come to the living room” F.R.I.D.A.Y’s voice interrupts the music he had playing.

“Tell her I’m working”.

“Mrs Boss says for you to come now because Peter is here” and at that Tony freezes, the tools in his hands dropping and clanging on the floor.

Did F.R.I.D.A.Y say what he thought she said? She couldn’t have…

“What did you say?” Tony is aware that his voice sounds shaky, but he ignores it and ignores U, who came over to pick up the tools from the floor.

“Peter is here, Boss”

Tony almost runs out of the lab and towards the living room. However, he stops just before he walks into the living. A wave of nerves washes over him. Peter could be here for one of two things. To either tell him that he wants nothing to do with him…or because he wants something to do with him.

God, he’s hoping it’s the second one.

After taking a second to collect himself, Tony walks into the living room and see’s Pepper and Peter sitting on the couch. His eyes immediately fall on Peter and he notices that the boy is wearing his Spider-Man suit, with the mask off, and that he looks nervous.

Peter’s eyes are already on him when he walks into the room, obviously the kid heard him coming with his heighten hearing.

Pepper stands up from the couch and gives them both a warm smile, “I’ll leave you both to talk”, she leans down and brush a kiss to Peter’s forehead before walking over to Tony to kiss his cheek as she leaves.

Tony and Peter stare at each other in an awkward silence, that just makes both of them more nervous the longer it lasts.

While Tony would love to start telling Peter how much he means to him and everything, he knows that the boy needs to talk first and that he needs to listen. He has to let Peter lead the conversation.

“I uh…I’m sorry for showing up unannounced” Peter shuffles nervously in his seat.

“It’s fine, Pete. You can stop by here whenever you want”.

Peter nods before biting his lip, “…I..I want to talk about…you know…”.

“Okay” Tony moves into the room and sits on the couch. Not quite next to Peter, even though he wants to, because he doesn’t want to make Peter feel like he’s crowding him.

“I’m sorry for not showing up on Wednesday”.

“It’s okay. You needed some time” which everyone had told Tony that Peter would need, but instead of listening, Tony may have overreacted a little bit and instead he thought his relationship with Peter was over. Clearly, he should have listened to them better.

“I don’t want you to think I’m mad at you…I’m not. I just…I was always Richard and Mary Parkers son, and now I’m not and I was worried that meant I wasn’t me…but I realised, with some help, that I’m still me. I’m still the same Peter Parker I was last week”.

“Which is good because I happen to really like Peter Parker. He’s a good kid” and Tony feels pretty proud of himself when Peter grins at him.

“I was also worried that I’d be hurting dad, Richard, and uncle Ben’s memory by replacing them with you. But I also realised that I wouldn’t be replacing them. They’re still a part of my life, it’s just that you would be to now…if that’s what you want” Peter hastily adds, looking away from Tony.

“More than anything” and Tony can see Peters cheeks flushing red, even if the boy isn’t looking at him.

“I uh…I was also worried that…that I wasn’t good enough, to be your son…that you wouldn’t be proud…to have me as your kid” Peter mumbles, his eyes finding the carpet fascinating and Tony’s heart clenches. If anyone isn’t good enough it’s him, not Peter.

He slides close so that he is now sat right next to his son. He taps Peter’s chin to make the boy look at him, “Peter, at 14 years old, you got superpowers. Instead of using your powers to make yourself popular, you use them to help people. The people that sometimes get overlooked because it’s too little a crime for the police to deal with. You spend your free time helping others, while still maintaining amazing grades at school. You’ve been though more than anyone should, especially for someone your age and yet you remain a kind-hearted person. How the hell could I not be proud of you? And as for not being good enough…Underoos, I could literally not dream up a better kid then you”.

Peter eyes filled with tears, but he was determined not to cry. He’d already done that a few times this week and he wanted to be done with the tears.

Tony couldn’t stop himself; he pulls Peter into a hug and holds him tight. Mostly because he’s a little worried that this was just a hallucination from the lack of sleep he’s had, but the warmth from Peter’s body tells him it’s not.

It’s real.

Peter is here and from everything that Peter has said…it seems like he may want to give the father and son thing a go.

Chapter Text

The start of the second series is now up for you guys! It's called 'As We Roll Down This Unfamiliar Road', so go and check it out and I hope that you guys enjoy :)