Chapter Text
Peter adored Morgan and they all knew it. He treated her like a princess and was fiercely protective over her. Pepper and Tony loved how well their two kids got along. Morgan often requested that Peter was to be the one who put her into bed due to the stories he would tell her. They were often of his adventures as Spider-Man or just anything that popped into his head. As bad as he was improvising lies and cover stories, he was great at improvising bedtime stories. Tony complained about it every time he watched Peter bumble his way through a lie that convinced no one, yet turn around and fabricate a tale for a child’s fancy.
It was Morgan’s seventh birthday and Peter had been off all day. He was hovering over Morgan and seemed jumpy and anxious when he couldn’t see her. Peter had been distracted and startled easily. His parents were concerned.
But Morgan came home and after observing her for a minute or two, he seemed to unwind. He was more or less normal after she came home and their worry dissipated. They still found it weird that he chose not to patrol, though. When asked about it, he would simply say that it was the “special lady’s special day, so of course he had to stay home to serve her”.
As usual, Morgan got tired after a while and asked Peter to take her to bed and read her a story. Pepper and Tony smiled as Peter, with his usual remark of “as you wish, my lady” (they never should have let Peter and Morgan watch The Princess Bride so many times) swooped Morgan into his arms and princess-carried her to her room.
After around thirty minutes, FRIDAY reported that Morgan had fallen asleep and that Peter was heading to his room. Though seconds later, she said that Peter appeared to be in distress.
They ran over to his room and heard muffled sobs and hyperventilating. They knocked on his door, but it seemed to be making it worse as his sobs and panicked breaths abruptly stopped. Tony knew that response. The “if I hide and don’t make a sound, he’ll go away” instinct that he had gained living in Howard’s house. It broke his heart for his son to have responded that way.
They heard the shower turn on and looked at each other, confused. They heard a muffled FRIDAY, sounding as worried as an AI can, tell Peter that the water was too hot and that if he didn’t do it, she’d have to cool it down. They heard Peter beg FRIDAY not to do it and her telling him that she had to.
They asked FRIDAY to tell Peter that they were worried about him and to please come out. He didn’t respond.
They left after sitting outside of his door for what must’ve been hours before the water was turned off and FRIDAY reported that it seemed Peter had fallen asleep.
When they asked FRIDAY why Peter was in distress after they had gone to their room, she said that it may have been due to the story he told Morgan. They asked her to play the footage.
A video popped up on the TV in their room. It showed Peter and Morgan in her room, cuddling.
“It’s your seventh birthday, Mor, so I’m going to tell you a very, very important story. You have to remember this one, okay?” Peter said.
Morgan nodded excitedly, clearly excited by the prospect of a special story. “Okay, Petey!”
“There was a boy who was your age. He had a life very different from yours, but to him, it was perfect. He was, however, lonely. He had no friends and his parents were worried about it. But, one day, when he was at the library, he met another boy who was a lot like him. They became quick friends and even his parents fell under the charm of this seemingly perfect boy. But, you see, the other boy was actually a monster pretending to be a friend.”
“Like those aliens that can change their faces?” Morgan asked.
“Not exactly. Those aliens are nice, remember? Miss Danvers explained that to you, right? He was a human, but inside of him, his soul was wrong. It was black and evil and bad. In front of other people, he pretended to have a good soul, but when it was just him and the boy, he didn’t hide.”
Morgan cocked her head to the side. “Why not?”
“Because the boy knew that the monster was bad. When they were alone, the monster would eat his soul, dirty his skin and mind. The monster told the boy that he was corrupted, infected with the monster’s sick soul and that if he told his parents that he was eating his soul, they would hate him and they wouldn’t believe him.”
“Can a monster eat my soul?” Morgan whispered, wide-eyed.
“I won’t let them, that’s why I’m telling you this story. ‘Cause for years, the boy didn’t tell, until the monster had eaten his entire soul and he had nothing left to give. He was so, so tired. So he told. And it turned out, his parents believed him, they loved him and told him they would never stop loving him. So the monster was put in a dungeon where he couldn’t eat souls anymore.”
“What happened to the boy?” Morgan inquired, worriedly. She took after her brother that way, always worried about others—even not-so-fictional boys in bedtime stories.
“With the help of his family, he re-grew his soul. It was never the same, though. At times, the boy will think about the monster and his soul will hurt like it did when the monster ate it. He wishes that he had told his parents earlier. So, Morg, if you ever meet a monster like this, you need to tell me and your mommy and daddy, okay? ‘Cause monsters don’t always come from other worlds, sometimes they look just like us and act just like us. But I will always protect you, alright?”
“I know.” Morgan responded around a yawn. It looked like Peter melted at the lack of hesitation his baby sister had when responding.
“Good. Now, it’s time to sleep. I love you three-thousand.”
“I love you seven-thousand!” Morgan responded.
Peter gasped, “Wow, that much? How did you learn such a big number?”
“I’m smarter than you.”
“That you are.” Peter left her room. The angle switched to the hallway and they watched as his smile dropped and a sort of hollowness and bitterness entered his eyes. The video stopped leaving Pepper and Tony staring at each other, wondering who this monster in Peter’s life was and what exactly he had done.