Chapter Text
It was a normal, pretty boring friday afternoon, early evening.
Tony was just walking downstairs to meet up with the receptionist to talk about his schedule of the day, maybe tomorrow and the lovely amount of meetings. Pepper had the day off and he was really starting to feel his dependence on the woman.
He was looking down on his phone when suddenly a husked conversation caught his attention.
“Well, I don’t know what to do anymore... I’m out of options here. I've tried calling them multiple times, I called their second emergency number, which turned out to be fake and… How could anybody do that….” The unknown woman said somewhat exasperatedly.
The receptionist behind the desk was also desperately typing something in on the computer.
He slowed to a stop and slightly frowned at the pair who still had their backs to him. “What seems to be the problem ladies?” Tony asked with a smirk, eyes hidden behind the colourful glasses.
“Mr. Stark!” The woman previously talking irritatedly, turned around with wide eyes.
He raised his eyebrows in trepidation.
“Well?”
“So uh… You see Mr. Stark… There seems to be a problem with the daycare here at… Stark… Industries…” The woman said trailing off while looking down.
Tony only then noticed the very small human hiding behind the woman’s legs.
“Hi” He said, shocked.
The little guy was staring up at him with sad and droopy eyes. He appeared to be very timid, the fingers of one hand disappearing in his mouth while the other held onto a what appeared to be a dirty rag doll bunny.
He looked back up to the woman “So Deborah-” he said as he looked at her colourful name tag “Then what is the problem, I’m assuming also involves the little guy here with you.”
She looked down at the boy, moving her gaze between them, sighing. “His parents didn’t show up to pick him up… The daycare closed nearly two hours ago and I have tried calling them, but they wouldn’t pick up-” Deborah started to get riled up again so he quickly put up a hand to stop her before she could work herself into a panic attack.
“So… No one came to pick him up…” He repeated, looking down at the boy who was staring at his worn out sneakers with a trembling lower lip.
“That is correct, Sir” She sighed. “His parents have neglected him multiple times before…" Deborah whispered "I mean, his parents barely look after him, there-there were times where he showed up unwashed, multiple times actually and … It also isn’t the first time they’ve been late, but this time they haven’t showed up at all…” Deborah sighed out.
Tony blew out a big breath through his nose as well.
“I’m sowwy” A tiny voice piped up.
“No, no sweetheart… Listen Peter, -” So his name was Peter “None of this is your fault okay? None of it.”
“Bu’ I was bad” He mumbled
“Peter, sweety… No one is mad at you, okay?" Deborah crouched down in front of the kid trying to catch the kid's gaze. " Lisen Peter. I promise you that no one is mad at you for anything. Not for spilling your drink, not for crying when you’re sad, not for having an accident a few days ago, and definitely not for staying a little longer than usual okay?”
The kid, Peter, didn’t seem to agree. He kept staring down at his feet, dragging them across the floor.
Deborah looked down sadly but looked back at a frowning Tony and stood up again. “Mr.Stark there have been clear signs of neglect by his parents and I have called CPS many times but… No one did anything. He still showed up in old, too small clothes, a few days ago even smelling faintly of urine or he would panic after spilling his drink, he isolates himself from other kids, often cries unexpectedly… ” Deborah listed off, also referring to the things she just comforted Peter about.
Which probably hadn’t been the first time either.
The young lady looked absolutely exhausted and out of her depth right now. The boy didn’t look much better either. He was clearly very tired and absolutely heartbroken at being forgotten…
Tony thought about what to do for a moment and weighed his options. “How about you go home Deborah-” Tony started, Deborah looking ready to argue and Peter’s eyes welling up as he looked at the strange man. “I can take Peter here to my lab and have JARVIS use his technology to contact his parents. Maybe show him around a bit…”
Deborah’s shoulders visibly relaxed at being offered an out “What do you think about that Peter? Would you like to go with Mr. Stark and to his lab? I know you love science and are a big fan of Iron man”
Peter stared up at her, only nodding in agreement at her reassuring smile. He removed the hand that was previously still in his mouth and extended it to Tony.
Before she could say anything, Tony grabbed the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the kid’s little hand. “Let’s clean that first huh buddy?” He then grabbed hold of the little hand, having to lean sideways to be able to grab hold of it. “Go home Deborah. You’ve done good, but I’ll take over now, you should head home.”
She looked like she wanted to protest but then nodded solemnly. She quickly gave Tony all the information needed and waved the pair goodbye as they walked back to the elevators.
Peter was quiet the whole way there and awkwardly shifted on his feet standing next to Tony. He realized that the whole situation must be overwhelming for the little guy… Waiting for his neglectful parents to show up and now having to follow some person he’d never met before.
It would be a lot to take in for anyone, let alone a kid like him. From the looks of it he probably was barely even old enough to write his own name.
“So, your name is Peter right?” the young boy looked up at him, but didn’t say anything.
He removed his hand from Tony’s bigger one to hold onto the ragdoll with both hands.
He hugged it close and stood awkwardly staring in front of him as he rubbed his eyes with the dirty... rag . “You tired buddy?” Tony asked. The kid nodded and surprisingly raised his arms in the universal sign of wanting to be picked up. Tony’s eyes widened a bit but did as he was ‘asked’.
He picked up the previously shy kid, who was surprisingly light despite being obvouisly young.
The little guy raised the bunny to his face and rubbed it over his face again in what appeared to be an attempt at comforting himself or rubbing the sleep out of his eyes .
“Does the rabbit have a name?”
“Bean” was the short answer.
“That’s a nice name” Tony smiled awkwardly. He moved his gaze to stare at his vague reflection in the elevator doors when he felt a sudden weight land on his shoulder.
He looked to the side and saw that Peter had laid his small head down on his shoulder. He tried to suppress his smile, shocked at himself for even having to do so, but still failed as a small smile crept on his face..
The elevator dinged announcing their arrival to the lab.
“Good evening, Sir” The robotic voice of JARVIS spoke up making the poor boy flinch.
“That’s my AI. He is a friendly robot”
As expected Peter didn’t respond.
“JARVIS, buddy. I’m going to have you do something for me, can you do that?”
“For you Sir, anything. “
“Yeah, that’s really sweet, listen… I need you to get me information on the on site day care here. A list of names, phone numbers, search for a little guy named Peter.”
He walked over to his desk, still holding a very tired Peter on his hip.
JARVIS went through the database of the onsite daycare while Tony looked at the little note Deborah had given him.
Apparently the kid went by the name Peter Benjamin Parker. The name seemed familiar somehow, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it…
Before Tony could relay the information to JARVIS the robotic voice spoke up again. “I have found one result under the name of Peter.”
“One Peter Benjamin Parker, age 4, is signed up for onsite daycare, under the name of one Mary Fitzgerald.”
“Okay… So search for Ms.Fitzgerald.”
“There is no one by the name of Fitzgerald in the Stark Industries database...”
“What?” He looked at the note in his hand, before looking back at Peter.”JARVIS at what time do four-year-olds have to go to sleep?”
“According to most research kids of the age of 4 should be in bed around 7 pm, Sir.”
“And what time is it now?”
“7:30 pm, Sir.”
“Shi-Shoot…” Tony muttered, looking down at the nearly dozing boy. “Uh, yeah… Gosh you must be tired huh?”
He was surprised by the small hum that followed. Walking over to the couch the man slowly lowered the young boy on the couch. “So, Peter-”Tony started and pulled off the kid’s shoes. “Why don’t you just sleep for a little while while I look for a way of contacting your parents. I know this must be really scary, but I promise you that you’re safe”
“Because you Iwon Man…” The kid mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“Sure kid, that’s right” Tony smiled.
Peter laid down without any protest, soon closing his eyes and curling around one of the very few throw pillows on the couch. The kid was very relaxed and compliant around strangers, yes he was very timid, but was clearly used to just going along with everything and accepting everything as it was presented to him…
Tony grabbed the blanket he kept down in the lab and laid it out over Peter’s small form, who unsurprisingly already appeared to be fast asleep.
He noticed that he didn’t mind being around the little guy but decided not to dwell on that thought.
He asked JARVIS to lower the light at the side of the lab where Peter was sleeping, the only light now coming from the tech around him and the side of the spacious lab where Tony was seated.
He looked at the files JARVIS had pulled up. “So you said, Peter is signed in under the name of one Mary Fitzpatrick, but no one with that name works here at Stark Industries…” Tony asked softly.
“That is correct, Sir”
“What about the name Parker? The name sounds familiar somehow”
“A Richard and Mary Parker have worked here at Stark Industries from the early two thousands, but were fired about a year ago due to suspicious behaviour…”
“What kind of suspicious behaviour are we talking about?”
“Their research was deemed unethical by their colleagues and several complaints were filed. They specialized themselves in bioengineering, but were fired shortly after Stark Industries closed it’s weapon manufacturing. They were rumored to have been building biological weapons to possibly use as biological warfare.”
“Okay…We’ll get to that later. But how come Peter is still signed up at daycare?”
“Young Peter, according to his file, was born in August of 2004. At the time his parents were still employees at Stark Industries and sent their son to daycare when he was around the age of 9 months old. After they were fired in June of 2008, Peter remained signed up at the daycare but under a different last name of his guardian. I had some trouble finding the connection between Mary Fitzpatrick and Mary Parker so they must have attempted to cover their trail to still keep Peter signed up at daycare.”
Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead. This just got a whole lot more complicated.
“There have also been several complaints about the Parkers also coming from the people at daycare. Most of them are suspicions of neglect…”
“Why wasn’t I informed about this?”
“You were, Sir. Several of the complaints have been sent to you, but ended up getting ignored or forgotten. Ms. Potts eventually went over their dismissal after finally receiving a complaint about their weapon manufacturing. She had attempted to talk to you about it, but the situation of Afghanistan got in between, which is why she took it in her own hands.”
Tony sighed. He sat at his desk staring at some old scratches from years of work and tinkering. He never realised the consequences of ignoring most of his paperwork had, until now.
“If I may Sir, they have also received an official warning for possibly trying hack into Stark Industries systems to try and erase certain information”
“Why the hell have they worked here for so long!?” Tone bit out angrily, remembering just in time to lower his voice.
“Mr. Stane was rather fond of their work…”
Of course he was
“That man is still causing trouble even from the grave” Tony murmured.
He turned around to look back at Peter who appeared to still be peacefully sleeping on the couch.
“JARVIS, call Pepper. Tell her I need her”