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“Sir, Peter says that he needs to have his Star Wars shirt for movie night, but he is currently in a very important discussion about The Force Awakens with special agent Barton.” JARVIS’ voice was dripping with sarcasm. Tony occasionally considered changing his AI’s accepted speech patterns. But then again, the sarcasm was very funny when it was directed at someone else. “Can I tell young master Stark that you will grab it for him on your way down?”
Tony mumbled an affirmative, distracted by a bug in the new StarkPhone OS. Whenever he tried to open an e-mail, the app just… quit? “Sure, sure, tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He could multitask. He was great at multitasking.
Still looking at his screen, he stood up and walked over to Peter’s room right across the hall from his and Pepper’s bedroom. He had moved into their penthouse long before the adoption was finalized and official. The bug was intricate. When he force-quit all other apps and then opened an e-mail, everything seemed to work fine. Now, where was that T-shirt? He opened Peter’s build-in closet and started rummaging through it absentmindedly. The app once again shut itself off when he tried to open an attachment (a photo of a puppy in a Transformers costume that Clint had captioned ‘lol this is u’.) Oh right, Peter kept all his geeky junk – Star Wars shirts, Captain America pajamas, the works – in a box under his bed. He sent a bug report down to the StarkPhone applications department. He knelt and reached under the bed for the box. Maybe he could get a head start on figuring out the bug after the movie tonight, but Pepper wouldn’t be happy if he stayed up all night again. He opened the box.
Well, he sure as hell grabbed the wrong box. Tony put his phone away and picked up the deep pink dress that was right on top of the box. He shifted a few other garments and found some sandals and high heels. His eyes widened when he saw the lingerie. His breath hitched when he saw the photos. It was only a small stack of polaroids. The first one was of Peter in the pink dress and sandals. He flipped to the next one, a picture of Peter in a short skirt and a tank top. He quickly put the photos back where he found them. Peter really didn’t need Tony to go through his stuff. Why did he even have pictures like that? Better yet, why did he have women’s clothing and lingerie? What was going on?
“Sir, you have an elevated heart rate and heightened body temperature, suggesting high emotions. Am I correct in assuming that you are surprised by the garments you found in Peter’s possession?”
Still tightly clutching the pink dress, Tony sat down on Peter’s bed. He ran the fabric through his fingers. “Of course I am surprised! Why the fuck does he have these clothes?”
“Young master Stark has not confided in me,” JARVIS said, in reply to Tony’s rhetorical question. “However, I took it upon myself to search the internet for an answer. Shall I share what I found, sir? I think you would find it interesting.” Tony could only nod. “Cross-dressing has been practiced throughout much of recorded history and in many societies. There are many examples in Greek, Norse, and Hindu mythology. There are many different reasons why an individual might engage in cross-dressing behavior. One might cross-dress as a form of art, as a rebellious statement, to express their gender identity, for sexual gratification, out of aesthetic preference, or for many other reasons. One’s tendency to cross-dress does not define one’s sexuality or gender identity. Many cross-dressers are heterosexual and many cross-dressers are in the LGBT+ community. It may also be an indication of a person’s gender identity, with many cross-dressers later identifying as either transgender or nonbinary gender. Many cross-dressers struggle with self-acceptance and experience intense shame and fear of others finding out when they fail to accept themselves.”
Tony’s head was spinning. It was all a lot to take in. Did he tell Peter that he found out? He didn’t want to lie to Peter, but Tony had always hated it when his father looked through his stuff. Oh God no, it would look like he went through Peter’s stuff. He cradled his head in his hands. Tony had never had a lot of boundaries, but he had learned early on in his relationship with Peter that he really needed to respect his son’s privacy. Peter deserved not to have his secrets outed like this. But alas, the secret was out now. How should he handle this?
“Sir, although it is not in my general programming, I feel obligated to inform you that Peter is taking the elevator up to his room at this very moment. Estimated time of arrival is thirty six seconds from now.”
Tony’s head snapped up. Peter was coming? In thirty seconds? Fuck it all to hell and back, why did he have to design the fucking elevators to be so fucking fast? He jumped from the bed, holding the pink dress firmly in his balled fists. Could he still hide the evidence before Peter walked in? Should he?
The door creaked slightly when Peter pushed it open. Tony made a mental note to get Dummy to lubricate the hinges before focusing all his attention on his boy. For a very long second, they both stood still, looking at each other with wide eyes. Then, with superhuman speed, Peter lunged towards Tony and ripped the dress from his hands. He shoved it into the open box unceremoniously and shoved the entire collection far under his bed, out of sight. He stayed in his crouched position with his back to Tony. He took a deep breath, still not facing his father. Tony just stood, unsure of how to proceed. They didn’t exactly cover this situation in Parenting for Dummies.
When the tension became too much for him to handle, Tony cleared his throat. “Hey kid, will you look at me?” When Peter didn’t, he continued, “Okay, I’m just gonna talk anyway, alright?” He perched himself on the edge of Peter’s bed, quite close to where Peter was still crouching, and laid a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “So, JARVIS just told me a lot about cross-dressing and I honestly already forgot most of it, but he says you probably feel ashamed about it. Is that right?”
Tony had no idea how to deal with a cross-dressing Peter. This was completely new territory. An ashamed Peter, however, he could work with. Peter could be somewhat fragile, so Tony often had to reassure him and cheer him up. And he didn’t know everything about parenting, but he knew how to cheer his son up. And judging by the shaking of his shoulders, Peter could really use some cheer right about now.
Peter was still pointedly looking away from Tony, so he didn’t see the slight smirk on Tony’s face. “Well, I also would be ashamed if all my clothes were off-the-rack. Did I really just see an ASOS label in that dress?” That made Peter look up, alright. Through his tears, his eyes lit up. Tony reached out and wiped a teardrop from his cheek. His heart broke at the sight of his crying son, but he kept talking. “I’ll take you to a good tailor soon, okay?”
Neither knew what else to say, so Peter just hugged his father and whispered “Okay.”
It took a long time for Peter to let go. When he did, they both ignored the wet spot that his tears had left on the collar of Tony’s expensive suit jacket. Peter sat down on the bed next to Tony, who poked him in the side, earning him a giggle and a shove.
“Do you want to tell me more about it, son?” Tony immediately realized his mistake and started backtracking. “Well, I mean, if I can still call you ‘son’? I could say ‘kid’, it’s gender neutral. I can do that, if you-”
“No, dad, ‘son’ is fine.” Peter sighed and let his eyes sweep the room like he always did when he was thinking of the right words. Tony waited patiently. “I’m pretty sure I’m a boy. But I do really like girls’ clothes. It’s pretty and it’s different and it’s… it’s sexy.”
Tony laughed at that. “Oh dear, do we need to have the talk?”
“I would really prefer to limit the amount of embarrassing moments to one per day, if you don’t mind.”
“Alright,” Tony conceded, “but I’m definitely not letting that one slide.”
Peter groaned and dropped his face to his hands. Tony nudged his shoulder.
“Does Pepper know?”
Peter shrugged and shook his head. When he spoke, with his head still in his hands, his voice was small and apologetic and made Tony’s heart break. “Didn’t know how to tell either of you.”
Tony slipped an arm around his shoulder and pulled his son close to his body. “Want to tell her together?”
---
Peter didn’t know exactly how his parents had convinced him to wear a skirt to movie night, but sure enough he was on his way down with the elevator wearing exactly that. He felt a strange combination of comfort and nervousness when the elevator stopped at the right floor and the doors opened for them. The little family entered the team’s shared spaces and Peter started fiddling with his skirt. Pepper slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You look great.”
And he did. After Peter and Tony broke the news to her, she helped him color-coordinate his outfit. He was surprised to find out that his mustard yellow shirt and favorite dark blue skirt did in fact not clash. He thought that it was probably breaking all sorts of fashion rules, but Pepper had insisted that the colors worked together. Pepper always looked so amazingly put together, so Peter just took her word for it. And when he looked in the mirror, he really liked the way he looked.
Nonetheless, when they entered the media room, his heart sank all the way to his shoes and then even further down into the lobby. He was wearing a skirt while in a room full of other people. What would they think?
“You lazy bums! You haven’t even gotten the snacks yet?” Tony sneered.
Sam turned in his seat. “Shut up, Stark.” He spotted Pepper and Peter. “Hello, my two favorite Starks. Trying out a new outfit?”
Before Peter could even get self-conscious, Tony struck a model-like pose. “Yes,” he purred, “I am indeed wearing a brand new tailor-made suit. Thank you for noticing. Oh you were talking to Peter? No, that is not new, and I really feel like you should be paying more attention to my new suit.” He winked to clarify that he was joking, but they all knew that he wasn’t joking, not really.
Sam opened his mouth again, but Natasha was quick to cut him off. “Don’t be like that, Tony. I think it was very polite of Sam to notice how good that color of yellow looks on Peter.” She patted the seat next to her on the couch. “I saved you guys the good seats.” Peter silently thanked her for her obvious dismissal of the situation and went over to sit next to her, his parents following behind.
“Anyway, as I was saying,” Sam finally managed, “we are not lazy bums. Clint is getting the snacks.”
“Yes I am!” proclaimed Clint from the doorway to the kitchen. His arms where filled with bowls of popcorn and bottles of soda. He shoved a relatively small bowl into Bucky’s hands while grumbling about ‘disgusting salty popcorn, yuck’ and handed out the other bowls to the others. As he handed a bowl of buttery sweet goodness to Peter, he looked him over. “What’s up with your clothes, squirt?”
Natasha didn’t even try to pretend the kick to his shin was an accident.
“Ow, Natasha, rude.” Clint dropped a bottle of coke to rub at his bruise. He pretended not to see Tony’s glare. “Also, Peter, very rude of you that I am now the only one wearing a Star Wars shirt. You promised that we would show these old farts-“ he gestured to Steve and Bucky ”-what they’ve missed out on, but now you’re all dressed up.”
Peter grinned, “Oops?”
A moment passed. Peter could feel everything settling down and he took his first breath in what felt like an hour, when Clint cried out.
“wait - NATASHA, you let Peter take my seat!?”