Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter bounced on his toes impatiently, waiting for the elevator doors to open. He was ecstatic– the Avengers were finally back home after a month-long mission, busting some wannabe HYDRA facility. There was so much he had to tell them, and so much more he just really wanted to tell them.

He couldn’t wait to show Bucky the new prosthetic arm he had finally finished developing, to show Natasha his college level Russian test that he had aced, to show Rhodey all the iron patriot memes he had made (that had consequently gone viral), to show Bruce the results for a couple experiments he had done on himself– 

“Peter, the Avengers are all in the common room. Would you like me to bring you there instead?” FRIDAY’s voice chimed through the small glass elevator. 

Peter thought for a moment, and then shook his head. “No, I’ll go to the lab first. There’s something I wanna show Tony.”

“What is it?” FRIDAY asked. The AI was so conversational to Peter that he was almost positive that Tony had added some coding just for him. 

“It’s this robot thing I got from school. Since today was the last day before summer break, they were throwing out a bunch of stuff from the shop and I found this guy. He wasn’t working at all, but I wanna see if Tony and I can fix him up.” Then Peter grinned. “He can be my Dum-E!” 

“That’s great, Peter.” The AI answered, and the elevator stopped. Peter rushed out the doors as they opened and hurried into the lab– 

It was empty. 

“Uh… FRIDAY? Where’s Tony?” Peter asked. 

“He is upstairs with the rest of the Avengers.” 

“Oh.” Peter said. “I guess I should have listened to you, huh?” He walked over to his desk and carefully laid the robot out. “Alright, FRI, let’s go see our psychotic family.” He walked over to the elevator and the doors closed behind him, immediately moving up. 

He paced from side to side, a slight excited spring in his step, not knowing what a hellscape his life was about to become. 

In three…

Two…

One…

The elevator doors opened and Peter immediately jumped out and yelled for this grand entrance, “YOU’RE BACK!”

His voice echoed through the empty room. 

Peter looked around, confused. “FRI, I thought you said they were in the common room.” 

“They have moved to the kitchen, Peter.”

“Of course they have.” Peter rolled his eyes, a slight smile on his face, and rushed to the kitchen. 

He pushed into the room with his on brand level of too-much-energy energy and grinned at the group gathered around. Even though their backs were turned, he said loudly, “You’re all back!” 

Nobody turned, but all burst into laughter at whatever they were facing. 

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. Were they laughing at him? A slight tingle went down his spine. Why were they ignoring him? Had he done something wrong? 

He went to stand with the group and tried to see what they were looking at, his chin resting on Rhodey’s shoulder as he peered between everyone. 

“PETER!”

Peter jumped at the loud noise and nearly fell over as his uncle realized who was leaning on his shoulder. Rhodey pulled him into a warm hug. “Ah, Peter, we’ve missed you!” He pulled away. “I’m surprised you didn’t make some grand entrance or something.” 

Peter laughed. “I tried twice and nobody heard me!” 

“How we know he’s Tony’s.” Natasha said, sliding over to pull Peter into a hug. “Have you been working on your Russian?” She asked. 

“я делаю успехи.” He answered. ( I’m making progress. )

A slight smile curled her lips. “так я вижу.” ( So I see. )

“Малыш-паук!” ( Spider baby! ) 

Peter grinned at the nickname Natasha, Bucky, and Wanda had given him, and turned to face the super soldier himself. He let Bucky pull him into a tight hug and smiled into his shoulder. 

Peter laughed internally.

Why had he been worried? His family was right here, happy to see him–

“Ah, Peter, you’re back.” Tony emerged from the group of smiling Avengers and pulled him from Bucky’s clutches. “There’s someone I want you to meet.” 

Peter tilted his head in confusion and Tony took hold of his shoulder and pulled him to the front of the group, where he ended up face to face with a tall, sandy haired teenager. The teen had to tilt his head slightly down to meet Peter’s eyes.

“Peter, this is Harley. Harley, this is Peter.” Tony buzzed with excitement as he introduced the two. This had to be important to him if he was letting his excitement show in front of everyone. So Peter gave a smile and extended his hand for a handshake. 

“Hi.”

“Hey.” Harley accepted, shaking his hand. 

“Where are you from again, Hurley?” Sam asked. Peter thanked whatever power controlled the universe for not making him come up with a conversation topic, and turned to listen to Harley (deciding not to correct Sam's mistake).

“Tennessee.” He answered simply. “It’s much more quiet out there, too. I’ve never seen so many people in one place before.”

Peter laughed. “You get used to it.” 

“Yeah?” Harley answered with a grin. “How many times do I gotta get mugged before that happens?” 

Peter laughed again– a genuine laugh. Harley really wasn’t bad, in fact, he was kind of excited to get to know this guy. They were both the same age, with similar interests and levels of intelligence, apparently. It would be kind of fun to have a third in the lab with him and Tony. And since Harley was going to be spending the break at the Tower, too, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other. 

It would be fun. Like having an older brother, or something. 

_______________

Peter had been wrong. Oh, so very wrong. 

Yeah, Harley was smart. That fact just kept getting shoved down his throat, and it was starting to be unbearable. He knew Harley was smart because every time he did anything, the older teen would find some way to outdo him. Would find some way to pull Tony’s attention away, make Tony forget the praise he had just been giving Peter and redirect it. 

Harley was polite, too. Pepper adored him and would often even ask for his help in the kitchen when she cooked, or have him help set the table. He always said “please” and “thank you”-- which Peter did, too, but still. Tony always made fun of Harley when he did that, “Oh, wow, another thank you? You’ve gotten much more polite over the years, kid.” 

Kid.

Harley and Peter also had similar interests, which shouldn’t have annoyed Peter, but seriously . If Tony had wanted to replace him then he should have at least sent him away first!

But then again, Peter knew Harley was too good for him to compare them all the time. Peter would always come up short, would always be chosen second when he was put up against a witty, sarcastic genius teen– he was a witty, sarcastic genius teen, but not as witty or sarcastic or genius as Harley. 

Harley was like Peter but smarter, older, better. Now he knew why Tony had wanted him around. 

Maybe that was why he had wanted Peter around, too. Because Harley was too busy being a good kid and supporting his family back home. 

So yeah, Peter was bitter. It had been a whole month of Harley this, and Harley that, and “maybe later, Peter, I said I’d help Harley” and “not tonight, Peter, I’m busy with Harley”-- summer break was already halfway over, and yet he and Tony had barely been around each other at all. 

First he would be left out of little things, like breakfasts. They wouldn’t wait for him and by the time he came down, they would be gone. Peter could deal with that: he usually made himself breakfast anyway. But then they started “forgetting” to invite him to lab sessions. They always apologized and invited him to stay once they noticed their mistake (or he found them), but it wasn’t the same. Peter began to join in less and less, and eventually even started avoiding it altogether. When he needed to fix up something for his Spiderman suit, he would wait until the lab was empty. If he needed help, he would have FRIDAY help him. Finally, Peter seemed to have faded so far into the background, that even Pepper didn’t notice when he didn’t show up for dinners. One time, Tony, Pepper, Harley, and the rest of the Avengers had gone out for a “family dinner”, and forgotten Peter. Nobody had even noticed until they got home and found Peter sitting by himself in the common room, eating some instant mac ‘n cheese and watching a movie. They had all apologized profusely, and offered to watch a movie with him– but Peter really didn’t want their pity. He had told them that he was already done watching the movie and was actually just about to go on patrol (of course, he hadn’t let Harley hear that part. He may have taken Peter’s place, but he couldn’t take Peter’s secrets). The Avengers had asked him to “just skip patrol for one night, Peter”, but how could he do that? He had already given up so much to ensure Harley had a good stay– there was no way he was giving up Spiderman, too.

Which reminded him. 

Not only had Harley taken his spot as Tony and Pepper’s makeshift son, but he had also won all the Avengers over. When Peter wasn’t there, they were perfectly content with Harley, and when he was, well, it didn’t matter. He had used to be their ‘favorite kid’, but he found himself withdrawing more and more from the group. He wasn’t needed anymore, so what was the point?

Yeah, it was immature. 

That was probably why they liked Harley so much. 

Peter heard everyone laughing heartily downstairs. They were having Saturday Night Game Night (something he had started, by the way) and had decided to do a Mario Kart tournament. 

Harley was apparently winning. 

“Get down here, паук ребенок!” Natasha called from downstairs. 

“Yeah, Pete, we need a hero to save us from Harley’s evil reign!” Clint yelled. 

Peter shook his head. For all he knew, Harley would beat him, and they would realize how useless he really was. At least if he was out of the way, they wouldn’t have a reason to think that. 

“Ah, no! мальчик гений! Not again!” Yeah. They had given Harley his own Russian nickname. 

“ Which shouldn’t tick me off. ” Peter had thought to himself. “ It doesn’t bother me. ”

He pulled his Spiderman suit on and asked FRIDAY to open the window. 

“If anyone asks…” Peter began.

“ As if they would. ” His bitter thoughts interrupted. 

Peter shook his head. “If anyone asks, I’m just out patrolling, ‘kay, FRI?” 

He pulled his mask on, and jumped out the window, happy to finally have a break. This was what he was meant to do, this was worthwhile. Swinging around the city, stopping bad guys, saving people from nightmares… everyone needed a little help every now and then, and Peter was here to give it. 

Peter’s web snapped and he fell onto a rooftop, hard. Clutching his ribs, he pulled himself up to his feet, praying that Karen hadn’t just alerted the tower of his injury. His ankle burned like hell to stand on, but what choice did he have? His arms were also scraped a little, but what were a few scrapes? 

“Karen, did you alert anyone of what just happened?” He winced at how loud his voice was as a pounding headache clouded his senses.

“No, Peter. Would you like me to?” Karen answered quietly, seemingly aware of his headache. 

Peter sighed. “No.” 

Although if he did, then they would have to notice him… he would get some attention, maybe even some sympathy– 

“No.” Peter said again, more firmly. 

He wasn’t going to earn their attention in such a petty way– he wasn’t going to beg. 

The teenage vigilante stood up more straight and prepared himself for a hellish journey home. He raised his hand, and jumped off the building, pushing the button on his web shooter– 

No web came out. 

He tried the other one.

Also empty. 

“SHIT!” He let out as he began the quick trip down. 

Luckily, Peter hadn’t been on a very tall building, and only fell two stories. Also, he landed in a dumpster on something very cushy– he didn’t want to think about what it was either– and while it made a very loud noise and popped his back, he was relatively uninjured. 

But he was also stuck quite a few miles away from the tower with no webs or car.

“ Everyone needs a little help every now and then… what would I give for some of that right about now… ” But Peter shrugged the thought off. “ Harley needs it more than I do. It’s been forever since he saw Tony– I could never take away something like that.”

Peter sighed and climbed out of the dumpster. “Looks like I’m walking.” 

“That was quite a fall you took, Spiderman.” 

Peter looked up and with his night vision, was easily able to recognize the figure walking towards him out of the shadows of the dimly lit alleyway. 

Director (and Uncle) Nick Fury. 

“Oh, please, that was nothing. Some would have even called that flying.”

“I’m not taking that bait, kid. I know what you want me to say, and I’m not going to.”

Peter’s shoulders slumped in a mock pout. “Ah, fine. What do you need, Mr. Director Uncle Fury sir?” 

Fury rolled his eyes and ignored the ridiculously long title that Peter had refused to stop calling him (out of respect or for the joke, he wasn’t sure anymore). “Look, Spiderman, I’m just going to cut to the chase. I think SHEILD might have a mission for you.”

Peter immediately perked up. “What kind?” 

“A stealth mission. We just need you to break into somewhere, collect some information, etc, etc… you know I can’t tell you any more while we’re out here.” Fury motioned around the alleyway and then turned to the street. “Follow me, and I’ll explain.” 

Peter immediately followed the older agent out of the alley and into some armoured black SUV. 

“Make yourself comfortable, Peter.” Fury said. “It may take a while to tell you everything.”

Peter pulled his mask off and settled into the chair. “You know I don’t have all night, right?” Peter joked.

“I know, I know. How about I make it up to you and buy you some food?” Fury asked. He, like everyone else, was very fond of Peter. They didn’t get to see each other very often, mostly because of how busy he was, but also because Tony didn’t like it when he was around Peter (probably because he sometimes asked the kid to do missions like these). 

After a couple hours, Fury had laid out the bare essentials for the mission and given him his new contact information and a meal. He parked the car in front of the tower and looked over to the kid in his passenger seat. “I need an answer, at latest in two days. Any questions?”

“Yeah. Is it Tony or Avengers approved?” Peter asked, folding his mask over and over in his hands.

Fury sighed. “No. They don’t know about it. I personally… don’t really want you to go on the mission. But I’m the spokesman of the group, and I don’t have much of a say. You were the unanimous choice for this mission. It’s…” Fury shrugged with a disapproving look. “It’s your decision.”

“Alright.” Peter said. “I’ll think about it.” 

He jumped out of the car, pulling his mask back on. “Thanks for the ride!” He called. 

“Not like I had much of a choice.” Fury answered with a smile. “Not after finding you taking a nap in a dumpster.” 

“Hey! I had just gone flying off a building!” 

Fury rolled his eyes, hating that he was about to indulge the kid with a pixar movie reference. But it was Peter. He, and anyone else that knew him, would do anything to make him smile. 

“Please, kid. That was just falling with style.” 

He rolled up the window, and drove away. 

Chapter Text

Peter had completely forgotten he was wearing the Spiderman suit. He had literally just put the mask back on less than a minute ago, and he had already forgotten. Well, excuse him for being deep in thought after being asked to go on a dangerous mission halfway across the country. 

How was he going to convince Tony to let him go on that mission? 

The doors opened and he dragged himself through the common room into the kitchen. He was vaguely aware of some loud conversation in the common room, and he did hear someone loudly spit out their drink– but he really honestly didn’t realize it was about him. 

He sat down on the kitchen table and absentmindedly reached up to pull off his mask–

“Uh, Spiderman?” An urgent voice asked from the other room. 

Peter pulled his hands away from the mask and looked up. Why didn’t they just call him Peter? His name was Peter. Were they just tired of pretending that Peter was who they cared about, and not Spiderman? 

He stared blankly at Tony, who was looking from Spiderman to the Avengers (and Harley). Multiple of the Avengers had nervous expressions on their faces as they stared him down. 

What? Was he not supposed to be here? 

“Uh… what are you doing here?” Tony asked nervously. 

Oh, so now he was getting kicked out of his own house? Peter really thought that most of his anxiety over being around the Avengers was based on insecurities, not facts… 

“What? Am I not supposed to be here?” Peter asked flatly, holding his hands out in a small shrug. 

“No, just…” Tony was making a weird expression now, “We weren’t expecting Spiderman to drop in tonight…” He put emphasis on ‘Spiderman’, trying to get Peter to realize that he was the masked, web slinging vigilante right now– he knew the kid was just tired, and wouldn’t want Harley to realize his other identity. At least, not without it being on his terms. 

“Oh, yeah.” Peter replied, and Tony could tell from the sarcastic voice that Peter had not received the message. “Well, you know how it is. Ran outta web fluid and fell off a two story building– just thought I’d come by and pick up some more web formula while I was in the area.” 

Peter glanced at all of the Avengers as they reacted— and his eyes landed on Harley.

Oh. 

Oh.

Oh, shit–

“You what now?” Tony asked, his eyes widening. 

Oh gosh. If he thought Peter was injured he would throw caution to the winds and not give a damn if Harley found out who he was– or, at least, he used to. Maybe things had changed…

“It was a joke, Tony, relax.” Peter answered mechanically, trying to make the man calm down. 

Tony raised his eyebrows, a disbelieving look crossing his features. “Yeah, you sure?” 

“Well, if your web shooters are messed up or something, Peter can fix them. Peter does all you tech, right? HEY, PETER!” Harley called. 

“He’s just trying to help, he’s just trying to help–” But Peter could not convince himself right now, not while his anxiety was so high, while the world was slightly spinning and it was too bright and too loud. 

“No, it was a joke.” Peter said over all the noise. “I was just dropping by to see how everyone was after the mission. I realize I’m a month late, but I’ve been kind of busy.” He gave a quick look over all the Avengers and continued, “Okay, great, all limbs are still attached, that means I can head out with a clear head, okay, see you guys!” 

Tony didn’t stop the kid as he hurried away. He must have finally realized his mistake. Had he actually fallen off a building? He would have to check later–

“FRIDAY, open the window.” 

Everyone spun around to see Peter jump out an open window. 

“Holy shit! Does that happen often?” Harley asked. 

Bucky shook his head, trying not to smile. “Weirdly enough, yeah.”

“Need to make some protocol to get him to use the damn door.” Tony grumbled.

Everyone was too invested in their conversation to notice that instead of swinging away, Spiderman had frantically climbed up the side of the building and back inside through a higher window. 

“Where’s Peter? Spiderman probably should have asked him for more web fluid even if he didn’t run out.” Harley said. “PETER!” He called again. 

A couple of the Avengers glanced at each other, sharing knowing looks. 

Pepper stood up and patted his shoulder. “He might have gone to bed early, Harls. Maybe we should leave him alone.” 

There was a sudden thudding on the stairs and Peter suddenly appeared at the bottom, in his pajamas, (pretending to be) very tired. “What?” He asked. “Is there an emergency or something?” 

“No, Spiderman just came and I thought you’d wanna see him.” Harley said, a slightly guilty look on his face as he realized he had just woken Peter up (or thought he had). 

“Oh, is he gone?” Peter made a show of looking around the room, even craning his neck to look up at the ceiling. 

“No, he just left. Sorry for waking you up.” 

Peter hated how genuine Harley was. He hated that he hated it, too! He really wished everything weren’t so complicated; they could really get along if being around him didn’t mean being ignored. 

“You’re fine.” Peter said, and turned back around to go upstairs.

“Woah, Pete, where are you going?” Tony asked, going to stand beside him.

Peter winced as his ankle flared painfully, and he reluctantly turned around to face Tony. “Bed.” He answered simply.

“Why don’t you stay down here with us? We were gonna watch a movie together.” Tony looked hopefully at Peter, putting a hand on his son’s shoulder. 

Maybe Tony really did want him to stay? 

No. 

He’s just putting on a big show, it doesn’t mean anything. 

Peter really hated these intrusive thoughts, hated how they aimed right for the gut and made their mark every time. But, in the end, he listened to them, and turned Tony down.

“I’m tired. I just wanna go to bed.” Peter said softly, pulling away from Tony. 

Tony looked at him with concern. His kid was never the first to pull away from physical contact, and he had never been ‘too tired’ for movie night. Especially because movie night always meant that Peter cuddled up at Tony’s side and fell asleep anyway. “Peter, what’s going on?” He asked quietly. 

“What? I just wanna get some sleep. I didn’t get much last night.” 

Tony winced. Had Peter’s nightmares been particularly bad? Or was it just an excuse? He never could tell, and he hated it. “Come on, bambino. You can fall asleep during the movie with me, you always do anyway. Nobody will care.” He said quietly, trying not to reach out for his kid again. 

“It’s fine, Tony, just enjoy yourself. Hang out with Harley, he’ll keep you company.” Peter pulled away and headed back up the stairs. 

“Alright, but don’t think I’m not coming up to check on you later.” Tony called up the stairs. 

What was up with his kid? 

Peter laid back in his bed for hours, trying to decide whether he should go on the mission, how he was going to get away from the tower, and whether he should tell Tony. 

He should probably tell Tony. 

Where was that guy, anyway?

“Hey, FRI, where’s Tony?” He whispered, just in case his father was outside and overheard. 

“Everyone has gone to sleep in their rooms.” FRIDAY answered, too matter of factly for Peter to believe Tony had actually programmed her to have emotions. 

“Oh.” Peter said. 

So. 

Tony had forgotten him again. 

A devious plan formed in his head. 

Just how long was it possible for everyone to forget him? 

Well… 

If he went on the mission… 

If they were all going to forget their “favorite spider baby” then he was going to make sure it didn’t go to waste. If he got back from the mission and nobody had noticed he was gone, then he would keep quiet about that mission and maybe even be able to go on a bunch more. If they did notice…well, then that probably meant that they cared. Or that FRIDAY was a snitch. 

Peter pulled out his phone and texted the number Fury had given him. 

When’s the soonest we can leave? 

Peter got a response almost immediately. 

Right now. Are you ready?

Peter shot back another text. 

What do I need to bring?

He waited… and waited… and even started to get worried, when finally, another text came through. 

Just your suit. We have the rest covered.

Peter grinned and deleted the conversation and contact, then dropped his phone into a drawer in his desk. As he collected the Spiderman suit, he began to give FRIDAY instructions on what to do if people asked where he was. 

“But don’t get too outlandish, FRI. You can get creative, but don’t say I went to Japan, or–or really anywhere– you know what? Maybe don’t get too creative, actually. Just say I went to Ned’s or went patrolling if they realize my room is empty, or say that I’m in the bathroom, or working on an important project if they call for me. Just never, ever tell them where I really went, okay?” 

“Alright, Peter. If that’s what you want.” The AI answered politely. 

“It is. Alright, I gotta go.” Peter shoved his suit into a bag, threw it over his shoulder, and made the elevator take him to the bottom floor. 

Fury stood waiting for him. 

Peter jumped. “Woah, you got here really fast.”

“I’m always in the area.” The man shrugged.

Peter raised his eyebrows. 

“Except for when I’m not.” Fury added. 

Peter shook his head with a smile. “Let’s go before FRIDAY changes her mind on keeping this secret.”

“You just expect them to not notice that you’re gone?” Fury asked, leading the boy outside. 

Peter shrugged. “Surprisingly, it’s not that hard anymore.” He slid into the passenger seat, oblivious to the concerned look on his uncle’s face. 

Fury got into the car and started it, pulling away and driving into the city. “What do you mean, it isn’t hard? You can never get a moment alone with all of them doting on you all the time.” 

“Yeah, well. They have two kids to ‘dote on’ now. Clint’s the only guy that understands how to give multiple kids attention at a time.” Peter shrugged. 

“Have you talked to Stark?” Fury asked tentatively. “You know if he realized, he would fix it.”

“I know, I know… I just don’t want to ruin Harley’s time. He doesn’t ever get to see Tony, and I live with him! It’s selfish to steal any attention when I’ll have them for the rest of forever.” Peter sighed and added, “And besides. I… well, I kind of want Tony to realize this on his own. I guess it’s childish, but if he really cared, he’d… it doesn’t matter, it’s dumb.” 

“No, it’s not, Peter.” Fury could tell that the kid had been holding all of this in for a while now… when was the last time he had talked to Tony? Or Rhodey, or Nat, or Bucky? If Tony wasn’t around then one of those three always were. At least he was here now. “You can talk to me, kid.” 

“I know. Thanks, Uncle Nick.” He paused before turning to him with a grin. “You know, I sure do have a lot of uncles… I feel like someone of your ranking should have a more original, official title.” 

“What do you mean?” The agent was slightly taken aback by the sudden change of attitude, but he wasn’t going to make Peter keep talking if he didn’t want to. If the kid wanted to be happy for a minute, there was no way he was going to stop him. 

“Someone with such an active moral compass, like you…” 

Fury snorted. “What are you suggesting?”

“Hmmm… from now on, I will no longer be calling you uncle. From now on you are…” Peter gave a wicked grin before hiding it and saying, “ Saint Nick.”

“What?” Fury asked, swerving slightly. “I am nothing like santa!”

“ Old Saint Nick it is.” Peter pressed his lips firmly together. 

“You little shit…” 

_______________

Fury stopped the car outside of a small warehouse and shook Peter awake. Maybe he should have that kid’s head checked out before he goes on the mission… 

The pair walked inside and looked to Fury for confirmation when he saw the plane. “Where is this mission again?”

“We’re heading over to California. We need you to do some undercover work before the stealth job. Is that okay? We can always get someone else to do it…” 

Peter shook his head. “No, I’ll do it. Who am I going undercover as?”

“Adrian Vandenburg, the heir to Vandenburg Tech.” 

“Sounds pretentious.”

“Oh, it is.”

“Oh, great.” Peter laughed nervously. 

“Well, I hope you can pretend to be classy and suave.” 

Peter shot him a look before adding quietly, “This mission may not go as well as you hoped.” 

Fury laughed and led his nephew onto the plane. “I’ll be in your ear the whole time. I’ll guide you through it.” 

Peter shook his head. “I don’t know the first thing about being suave.”

Fury looked him up and down. 

“Well, getting you a suit wouldn’t be a bad start.” 

Chapter Text

Peter couldn’t believe his luck. 

Well, at this point he wasn't sure if it was good luck or absolutely horrible luck.

He had left the tower two days ago and, after checking in with FRIDAY, nobody had noticed he was gone yet!  This was both fantastic and outrageous. What if he had been kidnapped or something? He could have been dead and they would never know. But then again, he had sort of wanted this, so… could he really complain that his plan was working? 

“Ouch!” He was startled out of his thoughts as Fury ran the comb through his hair just a little too hard.

“Sorry, sorry.” Fury mumbled. “Your hair is too curly for me to be able to brush it out painlessly.” He began running copious amounts of hair gel through his curls to slick back his hair. “You know what they say, Peter.”

“Beauty is pain?” Peter asked. 

“Well– yes, but no.” Fury said thoughtfully, and then paused. “You know what, yours was better, I’m not gonna say mine now.” 

Peter raised his eyebrows and then winced again when the comb pulled his hair again. 

“Alright, Peter, are you feeling ready?” Fury asked. “Who are you tonight?” 

“Adrian Vandenburg, heir to Vandenburg tech, classy twenty-three year old playboy with money to blow and time to spare.” Peter paused. “You know, new teachers at my school still mistake me for a twelve year old. Are you sure I can pass for a twenty-three year old?” 

“Please, it’ll be fine. Nobody ever really cares how old people are anyway, especially out here in Hollywood.” Fury said, then added as an afterthought, “That’s actually more concerning, considering how you’re supposed to be a playboy, and pretty much everyone at this event will be very…” He trailed off. “Never mind. You’ll be fine.”

Peter shrugged. Fury was trustworthy, and if he said he would be okay, then he’d probably be okay. 

Even if Tony and all the other Avengers underestimated him all the time, Fury never made that mistake. 

“Alright, stand up, Adrian, and give me some arrogant greeting.” 

Peter stood up carefully, his usually gangly limbs much less flexible in his brand new (very tight) suit. He turned to Fury, looked him up and down, and gave him a curt nod, extending his hand. “Vandenburg.” And then as an afterthought, “ Adrian Vandenburg.” 

Fury stared at him…

And doubled over laughing. “What do you think this is, Mr Bond, James Bond?”

Peter blushed slightly and put his hand back at his side. “Alright, alright, I admit it was a little too much. Should have just said Adrian, huh? Then add the last name, and act like I'm confused if they don't know what I mean when I just say Adrian? That seems pretty arrogant, right?” 

Fury shook his head, remembering that it was actually very important for Peter’s cover to not be blown. It was actually a little impressive how much thought his nephew was putting into this… “Yeah, that sounds good, actually. Try again with that.” 

After a couple of hours of practicing greetings and situations, they got into a limo with tinted windows and went over the final plan again. 

“So I just have to meet this guy, Zemo, and figure out where his house is?” Peter clarified.

“Yes. I would find his staff and find some way to get them to spill it.” Fury confirmed. He looked his nephew over and put a comforting arm around him. “What, is this your first high society Hollywood party?” 

Peter chuckled at the teasing. He had honestly thought it would be Tony taking him to his first gala. “Yeah, I guess it is. Too bad it’s all for business.”

Fury laughed at this. “I promise you would much rather be in one of these on business than have nothing else to do. They’re a bit overwhelming.” He turned to face Peter, his playful expression suddenly morphing into a very serious, slightly anxious one. “If anything goes wrong, Peter, leave immediately. Don’t wait around, don’t keep trying to get the location– just get out of there, okay? Those guys in there are not the kind of people you want to mess with. Understand me?” 

Peter nodded solemnly, deciding it was best not to argue. He had this covered. He was Spi– he was Adrian Vandenburg! 

The car rolled to a stop, and Peter peered out the tinted window. Cameras were flashing, questions were being shouted– 

“Wow. It’s like my greatest nightmare on steroids.” He muttered. 

Fury gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I’ll be on comms the whole time, kid. We don’t have many of our men in there, though, so be careful . You hear me?” 

Peter nodded. 

Don’t do anything I would do– but definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. 

Peter’s expression dropped slightly at the thought of his father. What was he doing right now? Probably working in the lab with Harley, or maybe having another family dinner with everyone… how long before they noticed that every night for the last few days, his chair had been empty? How could they not notice that food was disappearing at a normal rate? 

…Well, whatever. Peter dismissed it halfheartedly. As long as they didn’t care, he could stay on this mission. He could do the world good. 

There’s this nice grey area… that’s where you operate. 

Well not tonight. Tonight he was Adrian Vandenburg, heir to Vandenburg tech, a classy twenty-three year old playboy with money to blow and time to spare– and he would operate how he wanted, dammit. 

“Alright, kid, this is your stop.” 

Had Peter been allowed to be around Fury more often, he would have noticed the slight shake in Fury’s voice, would have noticed how worried his uncle truly was about him going on this mission. But, since he hadn’t, he turned and nodded at his uncle, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car with a (much practiced) smooth grace. He looked bordely around, and began his walk towards the large, well lit building, ignoring the cameras and paparazzi as he strode confidently down the faux red carpet. 

“Hey! Hey, you gotta introduce yourself! Sir–” 

Peter turned sharply towards the reporter yelling at him and gave him a disdainful look through his tinted sunglasses. 

God, he must look like Tony right now. 

“Is that really necessary?” He drawled. 

The reporter took a half step back, and then continued with more energy. “Sir, could we have a name?” 

“Adrian.” He said, and then added, “Vandenburg.” 

Just like they practiced. 

The reporter shoved a microphone towards him, asking, “And what do you do, Vandenburg?”

He gave a small chuckle and said (with just enough of an air of superiority that it seemed like confidence and charm), “Nothing yet. I’m the heir to Vandenburg Tech.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be attending such a high class party?” 

Peter raised his eyebrows at the reporter and laughed, looking around him. He leaned in and said, “Ah, don’t go around assuming things like age. You know what they say about people who do that…” He laughed again and then leaned back again. “Is that all?” 

The reporter nodded, his mouth a thin line. 

And Peter strode away and into the building. 

He had done it. First step down– get inside. 

“I made it in.” Peter muttered under his breath. 

“Good. Now get eyes on Zemo.” Fury’s voice rang clearly from the earpiece. 

Peter began to walk slowly and without any sense of direction through the crowd, eyes scanning the room carefully. 

There was a tap on his shoulder, and Peter turned around to face the person, eyebrows raised. 

Zemo .

Well that was easy. 

“Excuse me, but you look a little lost.” Zemo said slowly, looking Peter up and down. 

Sizing him up? Did he know?

Peter laughed softly. “I’m sorry I gave you that impression.“

Zemo smirked. “So you aren’t in need of assistance?” 

Peter looked around the room. “Well, now that you say it, maybe I could use an escort to the bar. Wouldn’t want to get lost in the crowd.” 

Zemo chuckled and began to lead him through the crowd, weaving between tall men in dark suits and heeled women in long, glittery gowns. Maybe it was a good thing he got an escort. Even with being one of the tallest in his class, Peter was still several inches shorter than anyone else there. 

“Peter, did you find him?” Fury asked. 

“Yup.” He muttered under his breath. “Headed to the bar.” 

“Good. One of our agents is working there.” 

Peter settled standing in front of the bar next to Zemo, who looked at him expectantly. 

“What do you want?” The baron asked. 

“I’m not sure. What’s good here?” Peter asked back. 

Zemo chuckled again and ordered both of them some obscure drink Peter had never heard of.

Hopefully it won’t be too noticeable that he does not drink alcohol on the regular. 

Peter accepted the drink with a knowing look from the bartender and took a sip. 

Oh, thank goodness. It was just coke and ice. 

“Now, when I asked you the first time, I don’t think you completely understood what I meant.” 

Peter looked at Zemo expectantly. 

“What do you want?” The man asked again. 

Peter looked at him and made the split second choice to play dumb. “I don’t know. Right now I wish I had some more comfortable clothes on.” 

Fury immediately hissed in his ear. “Don’t provoke him, Peter.” 

But Peter ignored him. He had a plan. And besides, he couldn’t really answer without calling even more attention to himself. 

Zemo scoffed and leaned in. “I know who you really are. What do you want?” 

His spider sense had been going off ever since he got to the party, but it suddenly picked up, buzzing more insistently. Peter tilted his head to the side. “Thank goodness. I was beginning to think nobody knew the Vandenburg name.” 

Zemo’s eyes darkened slightly as he looked Peter up and down again, this time clearly sizing Peter up. “I don’t like to repeat myself, Peter Stark. Answer my question.” 

Peter raised his eyebrows.

“Alright, Peter, I’m pulling the plug. Get out of there.” Fury said tensely. 

“Stark?” Peter asked slowly, eyeing Zemo. 

“Peter, no. Get out. Now.” Fury said. 

“Yes.” Zemo answered. 

“I have no relation to the Starks.” Peter returned.

“Sure. Of course you don’t. I will allow us to pretend that’s true.” Zemo sneered. “You still haven’t answered my question.” 

Peter shrugged. “Can’t a guy just go to a party?” 

“I highly doubt you flew all the way across the country just for a couple of hours of mingling.” Zemo countered. 

“Well, that’s why you’re here, right? You have no other, secret reason?”  Peter asked innocently.

Zemo glared at him and leaned in to whisper in Peter’s ear (and right into the mic), “I will be keeping a close eye on you, Stark.” 

Peter glared at him, put a hand on the man’s chest, and pushed him gently away. “You do that. And enjoy all that mingling you came here to do.” 

Zemo sneered again, looking at Peter with a clenched jaw. “ Why are you here? ” He asked again, his anger beginning to show through his low voice. 

“I don’t know, Zemo… maybe I just needed to make sure that you were out tonight. You know. Not at home.” Peter watched the man react slowly, trying to control his facial expression. 

“If anything is different about my house, I’ll know who to kill.” Zemo threatened quietly and spun around, striding away and out of sight. 

“Bit of a weak threat, don’t you think?” Peter muttered to Fury, who gave a very loud sigh of relief.

“I said to get out of there, Peter. Now we have no way to know where his home is, and you’re being threatened already! Peter, we’re five minutes into the mission and I– you know what, I’m pulling the plug. This is over–” 

“I put a tracker on him.” Peter said quietly. 

There was a pause. 

“You did?” Fury asked. 

“Yeah. And he should be heading to his house right now, considering that I just made him think that people are raiding it right now.” 

There was a chuckle from Fury’s end. “Man, you really are something else, kid.” 

Peter smiled. 

And then remembered. If the mission went as planned and stayed secret, his family would never figure out how much they underestimated him. 

At least Fury was proud. 

_______________

Peter slid into the limo and was surprised to see a woman sitting next to Fury. She had an official suit on, a tight bun, and a very serious expression. 

Peter looked from her to Fury, who cleared his throat. 

“Good work, Peter. We have eyes on Zemo’s location, all thanks to you.” 

Peter closed his eyes for a minute, taking in the compliment. He would never admit it, but he let his mind drift away, imagining that it was Tony congratulating him. 

Good work, kid. 

He wondered what Tony was doing now. 

Maybe congratulating Harley for something. 

Something not nearly as cool as what Peter had just done, but Tony would never find out about this. 

So it didn’t matter. 

“And no thanks to you.” The woman said, looking at Fury. She turned to Peter. “Look. We understand how capable you are of doing this mission–” 

“Are you pulling me out?” Peter asked regretfully. If he got fired on his first mission, he would never be asked back again and then all this time with his family not noticing him missing would be wasted– 

“No, Peter.” The woman said. Her tone had softened slightly, but Peter could still see the hostility when she looked at his uncle. “We’re taking Director Fury off the case.” 

Peter’s head shot up. “What? I can’t do this without him!” 

“We understand your hesitance.” The woman said. “We believe Director Fury to be capable of leading missions such as these, but not when the agent is someone he’s close to. He tried to pull you out of the situation at the first sign of hostility, and if you had listened to his instructions– the first phase of the mission would already have failed.” 

Peter looked to Fury, his eyes wide. Fury shook his head. “It’s alright, Pete. If you want to continue the mission, then do it. But if you need me…” 

He looked at the woman, unsure. 

Peter turned to her, too, and gave her his signature puppy dog eyes. “Please, ma’am. I really don’t think I would have even made it this far without Director Fury.” 

The woman sighed. “He can supervise your mission, he can be on comms, but he will not be staying in California.” 

Peter’s face fell. 

So he was going to be completely alone? 

But he couldn’t just back out of this mission… 

The whole point of the trip was the mission, not to actually get some attention and praise from an adult. 

Although that was a nice perk. 

“Alright.” Peter sighed. “If that’s what you really think is best… I’ll go on my own.” 

Peter slumped into his seat, smushed close against Fury’s side. 

“If Tony found this footage, he would be proud.” Fury whispered to the teen.

“No.” Peter answered. “If Tony found that footage, he would be pissed.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, Peter, I've gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay? I’ll be on comms tonight.” 

Peter nodded and then realized that Fury couldn’t see him. “Yeah, okay. Bye.” 

Peter laid in a comfy hotel bed in California talking to Fury over the phone. Immediately after being talked to the night before, the woman had driven to the airport and Fury had boarded a plane straight back to New York. He had ended up getting into a huge argument with the SHIELD agent that was sending him away, begging her to let Peter just go home, but Peter had refused. Fury had left muttering something about ‘the monster he created.’

But luckily, Fury hadn’t been angry enough to ignore him. 

Like Tony.

When Peter got home, if Tony found out… he would be so mad, ‘ignore Peter until he has an emotional breakdown over it’ mad.

Then again, he was getting ignored anyway. 

But it would still be better for Tony to be ignoring him because he was mad, because that at least meant he was thinking about Peter, and wanted to calm down before talking to him again… 

Fury frowned at his nephew’s unenthusiastic answer, but made a silent pact to fix it. “Alright. Bye.” 

The agent hung up, and stepped into the elevator.

“All the way up, Agent Fury?” FRIDAY asked. 

“Yes, thank you.” Fury would usually jolt slightly at the sudden movement upwards that only the Stark elevators could produce, but he was so deep in thought that he forgot to be surprised. 

How badly was his nephew really being neglected? 

How purposeful was it? 

He was going to find out. 

The elevator doors opened and Fury stepped out into the Avengers floor. He looked around, and followed the sound of a very loud argument into the common room. 

He was met with the sight of all of the Avengers, Pepper, and Harley standing in a circle around the table yelling at each other. 

“HE SAID IT WAS A GIRAFFE!”

“BUT WE GUESSED THAT FIRST!” 

Fury looked disdainfully down at the pictionary board on the table. If Tony, or anyone, had realized their son, nephew– whatever relationship he had with them– was in California preparing for a high stakes stealth mission, they would not be playing around. 

If they had realized anything was wrong, they would be working. 

Natasha opened her mouth to yell something when she noticed Fury. Her expression changed to a smile and she slid over to stand next to him. “We need you to judge something for us.” 

“No, I’m actually here on business.” Fury’s voice made everyone look up. It did not escape him how Tony’s expression tightened slightly when he was him. 

“What business?” Pepper asked. “Did something happen?” 

“No, I just wanted to see Peter.” Fury answered calmly. 

“Yeah, and why do you want to see him?” Tony asked (slightly aggressively). 

“ For someone who hasn’t talked to their kid in a few days, he really does seem protective. Time to figure out how involved they’ve been at least before Peter left. ” Fury thought before saying, “He left a web shooter in my car a couple days ago. I was just going to return it.” Luckily, he had gotten one of the extra web shooters from Peter exactly for this plan. 

“Oh, cool. He’ll probably be happy to get that back. He’s probably been dying to go patrolling, you know he can’t last long without doing it.” Bucky laughed. 

Everyone laughed (Tony’s barely passing as real). “Why was he in your car?” Tony asked. 

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Fury faked slight shock. “He ran out of web fluid and fell off a building. I was at the restaurant across the street so I saw the whole thing. His ankle was hurt pretty bad– so I gave him a ride back here.” 

Fury caught sight of Harley, who looked properly bewildered. He also seemed to know that it wasn’t a good time to interrupt and ask for clarification. 

“He actually fell off a building?” Rhodey asked. 

“Yeah. His web broke first, so he ended up falling pretty far onto the roof of that building. Then he tried to swing away, but he was out of web fluid. So he fell again.” Fury answered. “He didn’t say anything? His ankle looked pretty bad.” Yeah, Peter’s ankle had only been slightly bruised and sprained, and it was healed practically instantly with his super-healing, but they didn’t need to know that. 

“What– FRIDAY, where’s Peter? I need to talk to him.” Tony ran a shaking hand through his hair. 

“Peter is currently on patrol.” FRIDAY answered. 

Wow. Peter hadn’t been joking when he said he had gotten the AI to lie for him. 

“Without one of his web shooters?” Wanda asked quietly. 

The group turned to look at her, some of them pailing slightly. 

“FRIDAY, are you lying to me?” Tony asked. 

“Yes.” The AI answered. 

Fury internally face palmed. Because why would Peter have thought to ask her to say she wasn’t lying? 

“Why are you lying?” Tony asked, his voice getting quiet. 

FRIDAY answered, “Peter asked me to.” 

Of course Peter wouldn’t have thought he had to clarify that FRIDAY couldn’t say he asked her to lie. 

“Why did he ask you to lie?” Pepper asked, a worried expression taking its rightful place on her face. 

“I don’t know.” The AI chimed. 

Yeah, there was no way Tony programmed her with emotions. 

“Where is he really?” Natasha asked urgently.

“I can’t be sure.”

“Well track him!” Tony fired back. 

“I cannot do that. His watch and phone are in his bedroom.” 

“Where’s his suit?” Vision asked. 

“He took it with him.” 

“So maybe he really did just go on patrol…” Pepper suggested to the group, hoping desperately that she was right. “FRI, when did he leave?” 

“Three days ago.” 

The room went silent. 

Fury watched as realization dawned painfully on each of their faces, and then remembered that he was also supposed to be surprised. 

But nobody was paying attention to him. 

Tony could feel his heart breaking. His kid was gone? And he hadn’t noticed! Three days, three days– so much could happen in three days, his kid could be anywhere in the world, anything could be happening– and he had fallen off a building! He could still be injured just from that, there was no telling what else could be happening… 

“FRI, run a facial scan on all cameras and media since Peter left.” Tony said, eyes wide and staring at the floor. 

“I’m going to look through his phone. Harley, will you come with me?” Natasha said, heading out of the room. Harley followed her with a blank expression, the thoughts running wild through his head. 

Fury slipped unnoticed out of the room. 

So Peter really hadn’t been exaggerating when he said they were ignoring him. 

“I can only imagine how many questions you have.” Natasha said quietly. 

“Yeah, no joke.” The teen responded, his voice low. He sat down on Peter’s bed and looked around the room. “He’s Spiderman?” 

“Yeah.” Natasha answered.

“That makes sense honestly.” Harley whispered. “The voice, you know. I thought it was familiar.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Is he… I dunno, I guess you don’t either. Never mind.” 

“What?” 

“...Is he okay?” 

“Peter’s very self-sufficient.” Natasha answered gently, finding Peter’s phone in the desk drawer. “I’m sure he’s fine. Why he left though… now that, I don’t know.”

“This is my fault.” Harley said quickly, looking up at the assassin with guilty blue eyes. 

“No, Harley, it’s not.” Natasha answered mechanically. “If anything, It’s our fault. I don’t know how he fell so far off our radar…”

“Because you were with me!” Harley threw his arms up. “He would still be here if… I dunno, if–”

“Don’t say if you didn’t show up. That’s not true.” She responded, looking through the phone. “He doesn’t tell us as much as he needs to. There’s no telling what actually made him leave.” 

Harley sighed. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s my fault.” 

Natasha reached a hand out and patted his shoulder. “It’s not your fault, мальчик гений. We’ll find him, and it’ll be okay.” 

“He seemed like a really good kid. And Tony cares a lot about him. What are we gonna do if we don’t find him?” Harley showed legitimate worry for the boy he barely knew, and Natasha sighed. 

“We’ll think about that if it happens.” She answered softly. 

The two headed downstairs, and joined the group as FRIDAY began to talk to them. 

“Search complete. There are two security cameras and one tabloid camera that caught sight of Peter Parker.”

“Oh, thank god. Where?” Tony asked determinedly.

He was going to find his kid.  

“Los Angeles.” 

“WHAT?” 

“Pull up the footage, FRI.” Rhodey said and put a reassuring hand on his best friend’s shoulder. 

A screen appeared in front of them, and they were met with the sight and sounds of a party. Reporters leaned over a barricade, screaming questions and taking pictures. The camera swiveled as the doors of a dark limousine opened, and a tall man in a nice suit stepped out. 

Peter.  

His hair was slicked back and he wore dark shades over his eyes, so it was hard to recognize him. He began to walk by, but the man next to the camera began to yell at him.

Everyone glanced at Tony. The resemblance was uncanny. 

“I’m going to kill that kid.” Tony whispered. “There’s no way he flew all the way to LA for a party–” 

“Shhhhh!” Pepper shushed him as Peter began to talk to the reporter. 

“ Sir, could we have a name? ”

Peter gave some gesture to show impatience. “ Adrian. ” He paused and added, “ Vandenburg. ” 

“Who the fuck is that?” Bucky asked. 

“Apparently my son ran away to be the son of a different made up tech business owner.” Tony said, his anger lying in the undertones of his panic. 

What the hell was the kid doing?

The first clip finished playing, and then suddenly they were looking at a high class party from a shelf of drinks at a bar. A tall man led Peter to the bar, and they stopped and stood together.

“Wait– is that Zemo?” Steve asked, standing straighter. “He shouldn’t be–”

“Sh!” Pepper shushed again as Zemo began talking.

“ What do you want? ” 

“ I’m not sure. What’s good here? ” 

They watched as they both got their drinks, all of them wondering how Peter had drunk such a strong drink without reacting at all (Tony vowed to remember that and ask about it– there was no way his son was going to end up like him. Not if he had anything to say about it). And then Zemo began to ask Peter questions. 

“ I don’t know. Right now I wish I had some more comfortable clothes on. ” 

“ I know who you really are. What do you want? ” 

Peter raised his head confidently, even as Zemo began to get more intense. 

“ I don’t like to repeat myself, Peter Stark. Answer my question. ” 

“ Stark? ”

“ Yes. ”

“ I have no relation to the Starks. ” 

Everyone flinched slightly. They knew it was probably just for his secret identity, or whatever he was holding up right now, but it almost felt pointed… like he meant it. 

“ Sure. Of course you don’t. I will allow us to pretend that’s true. You still haven’t answered my question. ” 

“ Can’t a guy just go to a party? ” 

The conversation continued, back and forth, Peter deflecting and Zemo getting more furious, until finally, he leaned in, eyes gleaming with hatred and whispered into Peter’s ear. 

“What did he just say?” Tony asked urgently. “What the hell did he just say to my kid?”

Nobody answered, but watched silently as Zemo pulled away from Peter, who showed no sign of worry at Zemo’s obvious anger and proximity, and continued to ask questions. 

They held their breath as Peter revealed that he was a distraction to keep Zemo away from his home.

“He’s on a mission.” Pepper whispered quietly. She wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or infuriated. 

“ If anything is different about my house, I’ll know who to kill. ” Zemo snarled at Peter and strode away. 

“Did he just–”

“Yes, Tony, but please be quiet. The video isn’t over.”

“ Bit of a weak threat, huh? ” Peter mumbled. 

Peter stood quietly at the bar, staring down at the counter. He suddenly rolled his eyes and leaned back. 

“ I put a tracker on him. ” He suddenly said quietly. 

“He has an earpiece in.” Natasha said suddenly. 

They watched as Peter quietly explained what he had done to whoever was on the comms with him. 

“I can’t just sit here and not be impressed.” Clint whispered. “I’m a weak man.” 

Natasha rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder to silence him. This wasn’t a good time for jokes. 

“I wanna know who the hell sent my kid on a mission that involves HYDRA.” Tony said quietly. 

It had been a long time since anyone had seen such blind rage in his eyes. 

And though nobody could see it, his brain was working double time to be able to compensate for all his anxious thoughts along with all of the guilty ones. 

There was no way this wasn’t his fault. 

_______________

“Proceed with caution.” A man’s voice instructed. 

Peter climbed carefully up the wall and slid the vent grid away and climbed carefully inside. 

The grid slid quietly back into place. 

Peter began the long trip through the vents, following the directions he was being given.

Right. 

Left.

Left.

Left.

“If I turn left again, I’ll be going in a circle.” Peter had said with a fake chuckle. The air in the vents was tense and quiet, and his spidey-sense was going into overdrive. He wouldn't be surprised if it didn’t alert him at all of any immediate danger, just being so concentrated on the constant danger below him. 

“Right turn, Spiderman.” The voice said seriously. 

Well, at least now he knew that nobody else here coped through humor. 

“You know what to do if anything goes wrong, right, Peter?” Fury asked. He did not like that his nephew was in imminent danger, and trapped in such a small area. A quick escape was out of the question. 

“Yes.” Peter murmured, looking through a grate. 

“You have arrived. Open the vent once the coast is clear. There should be a flash drive.” 

Peter carefully slid the grate away and lowered himself into the room. 

The room was some kind of office library, with bookshelves and bookshelves, and drawers and drawers… there were quite a few places to search. 

“Where?” Peter asked, hoping they would know.

“We aren’t sure.” The voice answered. 

“Great.” 

He had expected it, but his heart still dropped to his toes. He could hear every set of footsteps, every heartbeat, even from the other side of the house. It would be nearly impossible to tell if someone was outside the door or rooms away.

Peter began with the drawers, carefully putting everything back where it was after he was done. 

He scanned the bookshelves as he crossed the rooms. A red leather book caught his eyes, and he slipped it off the shelf. A black red star was on the cover. 

Peter flipped it open, and a small flash drive slipped out and onto the ground.

“Gotcha!” Peter whispered triumphantly.

This was almost too easy.

Maybe that was why they had asked him to do it.

He slipped the drive back into the book and jumped back into the vent, pulling the grid back into place. 

And he began his way back, a small smile on his face. 

His spider sense spiked, blinding him for a couple seconds.

“What the–” 

A blast rocked the room, and Peter’s world went black. 

Spiderman laid alone in the vents of a HYDRA agent’s house, his blood dripping through the holes that had been created by the explosion. 

A small puddle began on the floor. 

The constant drip, drip, drip of the hero’s blood like a reward to the HYDRA agents. 

“Spiderman? Spiderman, what’s your status?”

“Peter? Peter, please answer–” 

But Peter lay alone. 

Quiet. 

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Chapter Text

“Karen has just connected to the server.” 

The Avengers, Pepper, and Harley all jumped to their feet in unison.

“Great. Now where’s Peter?” Tony asked, pulling an electronic map out of nowhere.

“Karen has her tracker deactivated and I cannot give a location unless she sends out a distress call. If a distress call is sent out, you will have direct access to every deactivated protocol, such as location, vitals, and injury scan.” 

Tony sat back down, his face in his hands. “FRIDAY, have you made contact with Fury yet?”

Immediately after finding out that Peter had gone on a mission involving HYDRA, the group had unanimously decided it must have been Fury who had convinced him to go. Who else had direct access to him, and who else did they have evidence of recently being in contact with Peter? They had FRIDAY trying to reach Fury for hours now, and even after the sun had set over the sparkling city and the stars began to blink to life, they still had no answer. 

Peter was on the other side of the country, and they had no way to get to him. 

“No, he is still unavailable.”

“Well keep trying.” Rhodey said. 

He looked over to his best friend, and he knew that Tony would not be able to handle it if he lost his kid forever. Especially since he had already lost his kid on accident; Tony had so much to work through with Peter and he already despised himself for letting it go this far. 

It was like his kid was already gone.

Minutes passed in silence. 

Finally, FRIDAY shattered it. 

“Karen is sending out a distress call. Level five urgency.” 

Tony jumped to his feet, eyes wide. “Location?” 

A map appeared and a red blinking dot flashed miles and miles away from the closest California city. 

“What’s going on FRIDAY? What’s Peter's situation?” Bucky stood and walked to look closer at the map. 

Another screen appeared, displaying vitals. “Low vitals and thready pulse. Peter has sustained serious injuries and is currently unconscious.” 

“What injuries? FRI, what injuries?” Tony began pulling up different contact information.

Who was in charge of the mission, and who could he contact to send his kid home? 

The AI couldn’t answer fast enough. “He has second and third degree burns to his legs, a severe concussion, and deep lacerations to his chest. He is suffering from major blood loss. The cause seems to be some kind of homemade bomb.” 

“What?” Tony whispered, his expression dropping. He froze, going completely still, save his hands that began to shake against his will. 

“You are receiving a call from Nick Fury.” FRIDAY chimed. 

Pepper threw her hands in the air. “Answer!” 

Fury’s urgent voice echoed through the silent room. “Stark. Peter’s headed home. Have Cho and Bruce ready. He needs surgery.”

“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell from the MAJOR BLOOD LOSS!” Tony finally broke, a hand over his mouth and tears falling from his eyes.

“He’ll be there in less than ten minutes– five if we’re lucky. Please be ready.”

“How? He’s all the way in California!” Sam yelled. 

“We enlisted the help of Dr Strange after things went sideways. He’ll be overseeing the surgery.” Fury answered. “Oh, And Tony?”

“Yes?” Tony’s shaking voice answered.

“We may need your input on treatment.” 

The call went dead. 

 _______________

Orange sparks flew in circles and a portal opened into the operating theatre. Tony, Cho, and Bruce looked up as Dr Strange stepped through carrying a dripping limp body. 

God, the kid looked so small.

The stench of burning skin and thick blood filled the air and Tony resisted the urge to vomit. Just barely. 

Strange set Peter on the table and pulled the slick suit away from the boy’s torso, examining it closely. The suit would go no farther, being slightly burned into the skin. 

“Tony. We need your consent for treatment.” Strange said, pulling away. 

Tony didn’t like the uncharacteristically worried expression Strange wore. 

“What consent? If it’ll help him then yes, the answer is yes!” 

“Tony, our safest option is also our worst.” 

“Just tell me what it is!” The father had been fighting off a panic attack ever since the distress signal had come out. He was about to explode.

“The shrapnel–”

“THERE’S SHRAPNEL IN HIM?” Tony yelled immediately. He looked down at his son and saw many, many small, deep cuts littering his abdomen. The sight was all too familiar to him… 

“We need your arc reactor technology.” Strange said softly. 

Tony looked up, wide, scared brown eyes meeting the worried cold blue ones. 

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed as if to ask, “ It’s that bad? ”

Strange gave a short nod.

And that was all Tony needed. He was off to the races, speeding through the halls and to his workshop.

And suddenly Tony understood why Pepper had hated the arc reactor so much.

One chunk of fallible metal. 

One small piece of metal standing in between Peter and death. 

_______________

The surgery had been a success. Somehow. 

While unable to get all the shrapnel out of Peter, they had set up the reactor to keep him safe while they waited for a less urgent time to complete the surgery. 

“Just like you, Tony. We’ll give it some time and then we’ll get all the shrapnel out.” Bruce had said.

“I hope that wasn’t supposed to be reassuring.” Tony had countered. 

Bruce hung his head quietly and Tony continued, “How the hell can I be calm when there’s shrapnel just sitting there in my kid?” 

Strange and Cho had also worked together to get the rest of the suit away from all the burns in his legs, and he was being treated for his concussion. 

Now Peter lay silently in a hospital bed with a breathing mask over his mouth and bandages all over him. Tony had carefully covered him with the thin sheet and kissed his forehead gently, barely brushing the skin. 

All his fault. 

Tony shook his head, knowing he deserved to think those thoughts but not wanting to all the same. He needed his head clear right now. He couldn’t be distracted– not while the arc reactor was the only thing keeping his kid from dying a slow, painful death, and the tech keeping that from happening hadn’t been used in a year. 

Tony sat back in the chair next to the hospital bed. And watched.

Watched the still blue light that emitted silently from his son’s chest. 

Now Tony understood why Peter had been so comforted by the still blue light: it meant life. 

As long as the light was on, his son was alive. 

His son had a chance. 

_______________

“What do you mean, he’s not the same? What are his injuries?”

“Shrapnel? What do you mean you can’t get it out?”  

“Well, is he gonna live?”  

Pepper shook herself from her flashback. Her son could not end up like her husband. Even if her husband had turned out okay, it had taken time and lots and lots of mistakes and pain. 

She sat on the floor of Tony’s lab, staring at the empty case that Tony had usually kept his arc reactor in. 

She knew why it was gone. But she didn’t want to believe it. 

Another person she loved, reliant on this stupid hunk of metal. 

“I hate technology so much.” Pepper whispered into the silence. 

But she couldn’t really say that when it was the only thing keeping her Peter alive, when it had saved her husband. 

Also… she was the CEO of a tech company. 

Pepper stood up shakily and wiped her eyes carefully. “FRI? How’s Peter doing?” 

“Peter is stable. His vitals and pulse are normal.”

Pepper laughed, relief flooding her senses with hope. Peter was alive. 

Her son had a chance.

_______________

Harley wasn’t sure how he had ended up in Peter Parker’s hospital room. He was vaguely aware that he had asked FRIDAY if he could see him, but he hadn’t been exactly sure why. 

It clicked as Harley watched the pale boy breath slowly, the arc reactor moving up and down in sync with his breath.

Even though Harley had barely seen the kid in the month he had been staying there, he had grown very fond of him. He had actually annoyed FRIDAY at one point after he asked where Peter was too many times in two hours. He had really just wanted to get to know him…

Especially since he was moving into the tower. 

Tony had spoken so highly of him, so affectionately, there was no way Harley wasn’t going to try and win him over. Peter also seemed particularly intelligent– Harley had no doubt that the younger teen was smarter than him, though he would never admit that. 

Okay, maybe he would. 

The few times he had spoken to Peter, he had felt like they could be the best of friends. They could have the best of times– and cause the worst of times (apparently they were both notorious for practical jokes). 

Harley sat carefully at the empty chair at Peter’s bedside. Tony had been sitting there before Strange had pulled him away to talk to Fury. 

So Harley sat alone.

In the silence. 

“Okay, this is unbearable.” Harley finally broke the silence. “Look, I know you probably can’t hear me. But I wish you would wake up, so that you could hear what I have to say…” 

Peter felt like he was floating.

His legs were completely numb, and his arms felt like they were laying in cotton. 

His head was pounding. 

His eyes suddenly sensed dim light through his eyelids and his ears picked up a dull thrumming, a low beeping, and an unsteady heartbeat. And his own heartbeat. 

He listened carefully as the low thrumming became clearer, beginning to turn into words. 

“...And like I know you probably were just uncomfortable being around me, I understand that. I just wish I could have gotten to know you more. I’m so sorry this happened to you, this really is all my fault, no matter what Natasha says.” 

Peter squinted, looking through his eyelids to see who was talking. He could usually tell from the heartbeat, but his brain felt scrambled, fried, and cloudy. He would have to rely on sight. 

Harley stood by his bed, ranting quietly. 

It took a minute to get his voice to work, but finally Peter was able to speak. “I thought I was the only one here who could rant for minutes at a time.” 

Harley jumped and turned to face him, his eyes going wide. “I–” He paused, processing Peter’s words, and a shy smile crossed his face. “Tony said we have that in common.” He whispered. Then he spun towards the door. “I have to get Tony–”

“Please don’t.” Peter whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Harley turned back to him, confused. But he nodded, hesitated, and asked, “Do you want me to stay?” 

“Sure.” Peter smiled as best as he could. It was slightly lopsided, he knew, but he wasn’t in a place for anyone to be judging him. “I wanted to get to know you more, too.”

Harley rubbed the back of his neck and sat down in the chair. “Now may not be a very good time for those 53 questions, huh?” 

Peter laughed quietly, but stopped quickly when he realized how badly it hurt to laugh. “Maybe not.” He whispered, before adding. “What the hell. Were my vocal chords fried?” 

Harley’s eyebrows furrowed and he leaned over to pick up the clipboard at the foot of the bed. He flipped through a couple pages and said, “Well, I don’t see anything… Oh, wait. FRI, are Peter’s vocal chords okay?” 

“Yes.”

Peter shook his head, his tilted smile on his face again. “Well it hurts like hell to talk.” 

“Then don’t.” Harley reasoned. 

Peter laid his head back and whispered, “It’s logic like that that keeps the world spinning.” 

Harley chuckled, but couldn’t find a witty response. He decided to change the subject. “How badly does it hurt?” 

Peter winced as he turned to look at Harley again. “I dunno. Bad?"

“Yeah? Bruce put you on some pretty hard painkillers but he said he might have to up your dose. I can tell him if you want?”

“Yeah. That would be good.” 

Harley nodded solemnly. “Okay. FRI, will you tell Bruce to up the dose?” 

The AI responded affirmatively and the teens turned back to each other. 

“Is your chest sore? Tony said it hurt when he first got his reactor put in.” Harley asked, his eyebrows furrowed in genuine concern. 

Peter stared at the boy.

What did Afghanistan have to do with anything?

Peter squinted at Harley, and then turned to look instinctively at his torso. 

A familiar blue light emitted from a small circle in his chest. 

There was an arc reactor in him.

Peter’s tired brain moved slowly, not processing it completely. “What’s that doin’ there?” He asked. 

Harley seemed to realize that Peter hadn’t been told about the arc yet, and began to try and distract him. What else could he do? He had no idea how bad it would be for Peter’s health if he panicked. 

“Hey. Peter. I have a question for you.”

Peter squinted at him, the reactor fleeing willingly from his mind. “Shoot.” 

“I saw that broken robot on your desk. FRIDAY said you were wanting to fix it up, and… I dunno, I was wondering if you would want to do it together.” 

Peter was surprised. Delighted, but surprised. “That would be so cool. But… summer’s almost over. Don’t you have to go home at the end?” 

Harley winced slightly. “Actually… Peter, I’m… I think I might be moving in here.” 

Peter’s immediate thought was that the world was ending. And then he remembered his situation, and he thought… well, maybe everyone had learned a lesson. And he had no reason to not to want to be around Harley anymore, the teen seemed to think he was alright… 

Harley felt that Peter was taking too long to respond, not realizing that the younger teen’s brain was working half as quickly as it usually did. “But I’m not for sure if I will yet. You know, I’m not completely sure why Tony asked me to, and–”

“Tony sees you as his kid, you know.” Peter interrupted. 

Harley looked slightly taken aback, before a pleased smile graced his lips. “Well that makes the two of us.” He grinned and looked up to Peter, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “You know, I always wanted a brother.” 

Peter’s eyebrows raised in shock, before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards, too. “So did I.” He said.

_______________

“Alright, I understand that you're upset. I put your son in danger.” Fury said calmly. 

“Oh, I'm not just upset! Why the hell would you send him on such a high risk case? He’s a baby!” Tony yelled back. 

Fury sighed. “Peter is much more capable and mature than any of you are willing to admit, but I digress. I didn’t want him on the mission either. Maybe they should have picked someone older–”

“MAYBE?” 

“--But they were unwilling. Spiderman was their best option, and Peter has proved himself capable.” 

Tony put his face in his hands, taking a calming breath. He then pulled away to face the agent again. “That’s it, I can’t even look at you right now. I’m going to see my kid.”

“Not so fast, buzz lightyear,” Fury said. “Peter has been prescribed rest and alone time. He needs a minute to… sort some stuff out.”

“What could he have to sort out when he’s still unconscious from a concussion that he received from an EXPLOSION. IN A HYDRA BASE?” Tony began yelling again, his calming breath going to a complete waste. 

“I assume you remember the circumstances that you found out he was on a mission? You know, after he had already been gone for three days?” Fury answered, returning the aggression.

Tony shook his head and laughed an angry laugh. “You took my kid away on a mission. A dangerous mission. And then you came here and instead of telling us that he was in danger, you just pretended you had no idea where he was, pretended you were just as confused as all of us– my son is dying because of you! Why didn’t you pull him from the mission?” 

“I talked to Peter about how hurt he felt. That’s more than you can say, Tony.” Fury said. “And I was honoring Peter’s wishes. He wouldn’t have wanted me to tell you that he was feeling neglected and alone. He said he wanted you to realise by yourself. I'm just sorry that I had to help push that along.” 

Tony took a deep breath, knowing that Fury was right. 

And it hurt to be so wrong, so rightfully guilty. 

Fury strided into Peter’s hospital room and jerked his finger towards the door when Harley saw him. The teen waved at Peter and left without resistance. 

Fury knelt by the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore. A little happier. I’m glad I went on the mission.” Peter whispered. “Harley’s cool.” 

Fury gave him a small smile. Only Peter would find a bright side to almost dying. “How are you feeling when it comes to everyone else, though?” 

Peter shrugged and hesitantly met Fury’s eyes. “I miss my dad. I want Tony here, but… I don’t know. I’m still hurt.” 

Fury nodded in understanding. “I get it, kid. You know, you can have him here and still wait to forgive him.” 

Peter looked at him hopefully. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah. I think it would help Tony, too. If you forgave him too easily, he might be worried about how nice you are to everyone else.” Fury chuckled. 

Peter rolled his eyes slowly. It hurt to do that, too. “Great.”

Fury stood up. “Well, your dad wants to kick me out, so I’m gonna go before he can do that.” 

Peter gave a small smile. “It’s because you sent me on a mission in Hollywood by myself, isn’t it.” 

“How did you know?” Fury asked with a smirk. He paused, and added, “Just make sure you forgive them at your own pace.”

“You know my pace is too fast for my own good! I have super speed!” 

“True, true… well I don’t know what to tell you, kid. They’ve ignored you for half of your summer break, decided not to portion their time out evenly between you two kids, and didn’t notice when you went missing. That’s extremely irresponsible parenting– or whatever it is they do for you. It’s up to you whether you think it’s worth it to have gone through all of that, only for them to get an immediate apology, and then learn no lesson.”

A sudden silence breezed through the room as Fury waited for Peter’s response. 

“You’re right.” Peter said quietly. “Maybe I’ll ditch my super speed for this one…”

Fury smiled. “Am I still allowed to visit?”

“Of course! It’ll just add insult to injury that the guy they won’t ever let me hang out with is the only guy I wanna see right now.” Peter grinned mischievously. 

Fury shook his head. “And this is exactly why they don’t let me see you.”

The man left the room, and Peter drifted back into sleep almost immediately. 

_______________

Peter woke with a start, sitting up in his bed and crying out immediately at the searing pain in his head. He clutched his head, squeezing his eyes shut. It was a desperate battle against tears and the darkness threatening to claim him again– sitting up always put him on the verge of passing out, especially when it was sudden– the pain in his head quickly became overwhelming. 

It took minutes before it began subsiding, and by the time it did, Peter realized that he was laying back down with a hand pressing an ice pack against his head and another hand running through his hair and brushing it from his face. Silent tears were running down his face, and he took a deep breath as he heard a familiar voice speaking quiet Italian to him. 

Peter usually understood what Tony was saying when he spoke Italian, but he was behind on quite a few miles of brain power. He listened to the comforting voice as his breathing began to slow and even out. 

Peter’s eyes finally squinted open and through the dark. His father looked down at him with barely concealed worry on his face, lit by the blue light from the arc reactor. 

“Hey, bambino.” The man whispered, aware of how irritative Peter’s super hearing had to be. 

Peter, completely out of it, raised his eyebrows in greeting, and closed his eyes again, focusing on his breathing. When it was finally completely steady, he opened his eyes again.

Tony was still there. 

And this simple gesture made Peter’s face tilt into a lopsided smile. 

Tony raised a single eyebrow. “What?” 

“You’re still here.” Peter mumbled. 

Tony frowned. “Of course I am, bambino. Especially after…” He shook his head. “We’ll talk later. We’ll have a long talk about that later. How are you feeling right now?”

“Ha–ppy.” Peter said, drawing out the word. “You’re here.” 

“Well, aren't you easily pleased?” Tony said. Peter didn’t notice the sad undertones to the teasing voice. 

“A li’le floa–ty.” Peter mumbled. 

“Yeah, Bruce gave you the good stuff.” Tony murmured. 

Peter didn’t need to know about the whole fiasco that had happened to make them realize that he needed the ‘good stuff’.. Like how Peter had been just laying in bed crying, completely emotionless and staring at the ceiling, still. They had all freaked out, asking what was wrong when Bruce waltzed in, took one look at Peter and said, “Woah, Harley wasn’t kidding. He does need stronger meds.” 

Tony continued to run his fingers through his kid’s hair, happy that it always relaxed Peter so easily. Happy that at least that hadn’t changed. 

“Why do I have ‘n arc re–ac–tor.” Peter drew out the last word carefully, trying not to mispronounce it in his delirious state. 

“We had to, baby. I’m so sorry. I’ll explain it all later, okay?” He pressed a kiss to Peter’s forehead and continued, “I’m so sorry this is happening. I’m so sorry you have to have one of those.”

Peter shrugged and rolled carefully onto his side to face Tony. “‘S O–kay. ‘S like a noise fan and nigh’ ligh’ all in one.” 

Tony smiled despite himself, and pressed another kiss to his kid’s head. “I love you, Petey. You know that? I love you so, so much, baby. More than you’ll ever know.”

Peter squinted at him and put a hand on Tony’s that was holding the ice pack. “Thanks.” He said, and then said, “I love you, too, dad. But ’m still sad.” 

Tony shook his head quickly, “And you have every right to be, kid. What happened, what I did? It was unacceptable.” 

“I know.” Peter whispered. He was trying desperately to stay awake, but the overwhelming comfort of not being alone was overpowering, and he quickly dozed back off. 

_______________

“I failed?” Peter asked. 

Two weeks after ‘The Incident”, as everyone was calling it (Tony had begged them to stop, but it was already sticking. Kind of like Peter’s hand at the moment. The kid was freaking out), Peter was out of the medbay and was able to roll around in a wheelchair. His legs were still quite damaged, and it would take some more time before he was able to begin walking again. 

Tony patted Peter’s hand that was sticking to his forearm– the closest thing Peter had been able to reach from his lower position. 

“Peter? It’s okay.” Tony whispered. 

“No, I– I… failed?” He asked again, looking up at his father, a bewildered look at his face.

Harley chuckled despite himself, but stopped when Tony shot him a look. Harley put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and explained himself. “That doesn’t happen often, huh?”

Peter slowly shook his head. “But… that’s not even why I’m surprised, I… I got the book, I got the drive! How did I fail?”

“It was a decoy.” Fury explained carefully. “There wasn’t anything of substance in the Winter Soldier Book, and we have reason to believe it was fake. There was nothing on the drive you found.” Fury knelt in front of Peter. “But, kid. You already surpassed our expectations. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

“Yeah, Peter.” Harley said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “It’s not always about drive.” 

Despite himself, Peter cackled. He was still on his pain meds, and was slightly loopy. 

Tony was angry that his kid had been sent on such a high risk mission that ended up nearly killing him, only for it to be pointless– but at this point, he could only be grateful that Peter was still alive. Even though Peter was slightly more closed off than before, Tony had expected and deserved it. 

He would spend the rest of his life trying to be worthy of Peter’s trust. 

Harley pushed the wheelchair gently against Fury, nudging the older agent. “Alright, old man, we were trying to go somewhere before you cut us off.” 

Fury rolled his eyes and stood up. “I am not an old man.”

“Well, that’s not what Peter said while he was on his truth juice.” 

Fury squinted at the two boys, who began giggling quietly. 

“...Right.” Fury continued down the hall, out of their way and out of sight. 

Tony could only be grateful that after everything, Harley and Peter had grown closer. 

_______________

“Peter, wait!” Tony yelled. “FRIDAY, close the window!” 

Peter stopped short in front of the suddenly closed window. “What the heck? Tony–”

“Peter, maybe it’s a little too soon to be out on patrol, again.” Tony gently cut him off, gripping his shoulders. 

Peter pulled his mask off and tilted his head slightly. “But my head’s okay, and I can walk again.” 

“I know, but Peter.” Tony looked down at the arc reactor pointedly, then back at his kid. “That… that’s not something–”

“Look, people are gonna find out at some point.” Peter interrupted. 

“No, that’s not what I’m worried about.” Tony said, his forehead creasing in concern and sympathy. “It’s sensitive technology, Pete. One well aimed hit, or bullet… if it breaks, Peter, we may not be fast enough. And… I don’t think anyone could take losing you again.” 

Peter hung his head. 

A moment of silence passed before Peter whispered, “They need me.” 

“I know, they do, Peter.” Tony said, pulling Peter into a hug and resting his cheek against the top of the younger boy’s head. “But if you die, they’ll be missing you a lot longer.” 

Peter hated that his dad was right, but every day it became easier to listen to him, easier to forgive him. Tony hadn’t been lying when he said he was going to do everything to fix his mistake. 

Peter returned the hug. 

_______________

“Peter?” 

The dining room went quiet at the sight of Peter (standing next to Harley). 

“...Yeah?” He asked, eyebrows raised. 

Harley chuckled and pushed him towards the kitchen. 

“ It’s your first time eating with everyone since ‘The Incident’. ” He whispered to the younger boy. 

“Ah.” Peter glanced at the older teen with a wicked grin as they entered the kitchen to get their plates. “What if I just got a plate, moved towards my chair, and then just left and went back to my room?” 

Harley’s jaw dropped, his eyes glinting mischievously. “Peter Parker-Stark, you’re evil… I support it.” 

The two boys giggled. 

“Tony made a hell of a mistake introducing us.” Harley whispered.

“You betcha. We’re gonna ruin their lives.” Peter laughed quietly as they scooped food onto their plates, and then turned to Harley, eyes alight with excitement. “Oh, I can’t wait for April Fools next year.” 

Harley grinned. “Oh, it’s gonna be hell on Earth.” 

The Avengers listened to the quiet sounds of the boys whispering to each other in the kitchen, wondering what they were discussing. Maybe Harley was trying to convince Peter to stay? 

A sudden round of cackling echoed from the kitchen, and they all realized…

They were doomed. 

_______________

Time passed, and soon school was beginning again. Peter and Harley returned together– though they weren’t in the same class, they had convinced Pepper to enroll Harley into the same STEM school as Peter. Now Happy had to drive two energetic boys to school every morning. 

“It’s a nightmare.” Happy would tell everyone, but would never mention that it was the most tame nightmare he could imagine. They boys always made him smile (more than he’d let them know). 

As the time escaped them, Peter found himself avoiding the Avengers less and less. Though it had taken him less time to forgive the ones he hadn’t been as close to (excluding Tony, who wouldn't leave Peter alone), he was making significant progress with Nat, Rhodey, and Bucky. They had promised him that they didn’t care how long it took him to forgive them (though they hoped it would be soon), but would wait happily until he gave it. Of course they would also be working to gain it. 

And with time, Peter found himself more and more happy and comfortable with his life at the tower. It was just like before, but with the happy edition of an older brother. 

He had always wanted siblings. 

In the few months that Peter and Harley had known each other, they had become inseparable. Though they fought sometimes, they always made up– but that’s just how strong relationships work. They had begun and finished many great projects together, practically ruined Halloween with all the pranks they pulled, and reinstated movie and game night. They had even fixed up that robot Peter had found at the beginning of the summer. They truly were brothers in everything that counted. 

And as Christmas rolled around, they learned of another soon-to-come edition to the family… 

“Merry Christmas everyone!” Peter yelled. Harley entered the room directly behind him, hands on Peter’s shoulders as Peter dragged him around on his socks. 

“Yes, Merry Christmas. I see Saint Nick decided to join us.” Harley said as Peter slid Harley past Fury. 

Fury glared at the teens. 

The Avengers laughed at the ridiculous antics of the brothers. 

Almost six months had passed since ‘The Incident’, and things couldn’t be better. 

Or at least, that’s what they had thought. 

Soon, presents were being ripped open, and people were yelling at each other (thanks and insults due to the many genuine or gag gifts), and Peter and Harley were seeing how many peppermints they could slip in Clint’s hot cocoa before he noticed. 

Suddenly it went silent. 

The shift in mood caused Harley and Peter to turn to each other, bewildered looks on their faces. Looking around the room, they saw the cause. 

Tony and Pepper stood grinning at Rhodey, who’s jaw had dropped, along with a few tears. 

“Wait– no, wait, actually?” He asked. 

Pepper and Tony nodded, equally goofy grins on their faces. 

Rhodey turned to the group to look at Harley and Peter. “Did you kids know?” 

“Know what?” Peter asked. 

Harley rolled his eyes. “They don’t tell us anything anymore, not after Peter hacked–” 

“Hey! What happened to forgiving and forgetting?” 

“Okay, okay, whatever, but now I’m curious.” Harley said, and the two teens turned to face their uncle and parents. (After Pepper and Tony officially gained custody of Harley– big fiasco they decided not to talk about– Harley and Peter had started calling them mom and dad. As a prank at first, but it had ended up making the two cry, and so… they had decided that they were too far to go back. Also, it felt right. Rhodey had then adopted them as his nephews, though he found that he could not sign any paperwork to make it legally binding.) ”What did you have to say to make Uncle Rhodey cry?”

“You didn’t bring up the War Patriot branding change, did you?” Peter asked, faking exasperation.

“Oh, never mind, I don’t know if I can handle another one.” Pepper said, interrupting the boys' prolonged banter. 

“We could probably have Strange reverse it.” Tony shrugged. 

“Wait– another– another Peter?” Harley asked, standing up in fake outrage. “Yeah, I couldn’t handle it either!” 

Rhodey’s eyes widened and he gave a nervous smile. “Yeah… about that…” 

Peter and Harley’s jaws dropped in unison. 

“Wait– what?” 

Their parents smiled at them and rolled their eyes. 

“Rhodey, why don’t you do the honors? I’ve never been great with words.” Tony said. 

Rhodey turned to the Avengers. And yelled, “I’M GONNA BE AN UNCLE FOR THE THIRD TIME!” 

Everyone erupted into cheers and congratulations. The two teens walked together to their parents, eyebrows raised as if to ask, “ ...Is this a prank? ”

Tony shook his head and pulled his two boys into a tight hug. 

“It’s a girl.” He whispered to the boys. They pulled away, eyes wide in excitement. 

“Don’t tell anyone else.” Tony added quickly. “I asked FRIDAY and I wasn’t supposed to.”

They two boys motioned zipping their lips, locking them with multiple padlocks, and throwing away the keys. 

Tony laughed at his kids. 

They would be okay. 

After all, the Stark family was made of iron.