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“I want to be older.”
Stephen spit his tea out. Peter just stared at him blankly. Stephen looked up at him in shock.
“Why? I thought you didn’t want to age.”
“Changed my mind. I wanna be 20.”
“You know, you won’t get the exact age you,-“
“I know. Make me older.”
“Peter.. I thought the immortality was enough for you?”
The statement came out like a question. He was nervous. He didn’t even know why he was. He just didn’t understand why Peter would want to grow older..
Peter shrugged his shoulders, and sat next to Stephen who was frowning at him. Peter didn’t seem to notice, or even care for that matter.
“I just wanna be older. I can’t even legally drink.”
“Is that all you care about?”
“Maybe. I’m 18 dad, I can make my own decisions.”
Stephen opened his mouth only for Peter to raise his hand and cut him off.
“And I don’t have the mentality of a 16 year old.”
“Peter, as your father, I refuse.”
“You refuse?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Okay then.”
Peter stood up, stretched his arms and yawned. Stephen eyed him suspicious. Peter took a couple of steps back and gave Stephen a smile.
“Good thing I remember where you put the book.”
With that, Peter took off into the library. Stephen’s eyes snapped wide and he shot up from the couch and opened a portal to the library.
When he got there, he searched around for Peter. He finally saw him and ran over while Peter flipped through the boom frantically.
“PETER PARKER STRANGE!”
Peter looked behind him quickly and started chanting he spell. Stephen clenched his fists and tried getting ahold of Peter.
Then there was a poof, and smoke went everywhere. Stephen’s sighed as he waved the smoke away.
“Am I older?”
Stephen opened a small portal to where Peter’s documents were and looked down at the papers.
Then he looked at Peter who was sitting on the floor. He held up the document and shoved it towards him.
“Twenty-two years old.”
“Fuck yeah!”
“I hope you’re happy, Peter.”
Peter got up from the floor. He appeared to be slightly taller than Stephen now.
That wasn’t his concern. His concern was the fact that Stephen looked, and sounded upset.
“Are you okay, dad?”
“Why are you in such a rush to grow up?”
“I just.. wanna be older. I can’t be a kid my whole life.”
“That’s why you wait to grow up!”
“Dad, I have my own life going on now. It’s not my fault you have all these books lying around. I just took advantage. Why do you even care?”
Stephen stayed quiet before turning on his heel and walking out of the library. Peter stood there, shrugging before he took out his phone to text Wade.
He wondered why Stephen was acting so weird.
————————
Peter was in his room, doing some assignments for his college classes, before Tony barged in.
Peter looked up at him with a bored expression. He put his pen down and turned to face him. Tony looked mad? He didn’t know, he just looked pissed.
“What?”
“Why is your father upset?”
“He’s upset?”
“Yes, Peter!”
Well damn…
“I don’t know mom, he’s been acting weird.”
“Don’t lie, Peter. You know why he’s acting weird.”
“I do?”
Peter asked hesitantly. That appeared to make Tony even more mad. It was weird to see him upset. Tony usually never got mad at him, or if he did he never showed it.
But… Tony had changed as soon as he found out Peter was older. He didn’t know if Tony was joking or not, but he just treated him… like he was an adult. Sounds stupid, because technically… he was an adult. But he still liked to be babied in away.
“Really?”
“Mom, look, I really don’t know w-“
“Because you guys have drifted apart ever since you casted that dumb spell on yourself!”
Peter flinched.
“Every night, he regrets learning magic. He regrets leaving. All he wants is for you guys to be close. But now? You’re always out, and only use him for a place to stay!”
Peter stayed quiet this time. Tony rolled his eyes and gripped the doorknob tightly.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself, Peter.”
The door slammed shut, causing one of the framed pictures Peter had hanging up fall on the ground. It shattered, and he sighed as he went to go pick it up.
It was a picture of him and Stephen.
It had been taken recently, when Stephen had first joined the avengers.
They were both in their suits, and Stephen had his arm wrapped around Peter, while Peter held up a peace sign.
He smiled at the memory. Being sixteen was fun..
He sighed sadly and placed the picture down. He felt like crying. He missed being a teen. He missed his dad. He missed his old life.
Not that he would want everything to go back to normal. He had a loving boyfriend, and a new mom… but.. he somehow missed the days were Wanda would be crushing on his dad, and Stephen would play with his hair, and Tony would babysit him…
He missed it. But.. he couldn’t just leave behind Wade. He wanted to be young again but… Wade..
An idea popped into Peter’s head.
—————————
“How is this gonna help us?”
“I’ll be younger, you’ll be younger!”
“How old are we gonna be?”
“If all goes according to plan, I’ll be sixteen and you’ll be eighteen!”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“I’ll be six, you’ll be eight!”
“WHAT!? You sound too excited about this! Cant you just ask your wizard dad,-“
“Wade, it’ll be fine! I know… some magic.”
“By some, you mean mumbling random spells..”
“Yeah, yeah!”
Peter flipped through a boom, reading all the pages while Wade sat next to him. Wade didn’t even know why he was going along with this. Perhaps he was just bored…
Yeah, he was bored.
“Got it! Okay, we must now join hands!”
Peter gently grabbed Wade’s hands, inhaling softly before shutting his eyes.
He started to mumble the spell, over and over and over, until finally there was smoke. Peter never let go of his hands.
When the smoke cleared, they both looked at each other.
“Well?”
—————————
Stephen sat in bed, looking through old pictures of himself and Peter.
He missed having a younger son. Maybe he was just scared if his only kid growing up, but.. so much had happened to him and this was just the cherry on top.
He finally put the pictures away, sighing as Levi flew over to him. The cloak nuzzled its collar against him. Stephen laughed softly.
“Hello to you too…”
The knocking on his door made him jump. The cloak looked ready to attack. Stephen pulled Levi close.
“Dad?”
That didn’t sound like Peter. No, his son had a deeper voice now..
Peter’s voice was deep, and even had a slight accent to it. He didn’t fully understand why he had an accent, but he was assuming it was because of Sherlock.
Anyways, Stephen stared at the door with a skeptical look.
“Come in?”
“Dad! Look! I’m me again!”
Peter came in and jumped onto Stephen’s bed. Stephen froze in shock. He couldn’t even process what he was seeing.
Peter looked younger.
Peter was sixteen.
Peter was a teenager.
“Look! I’m a kid!”
“Peter… what about your adult boyfriend!?”
“He’s younger too! Eighteen! Which is just a two year difference,-“
“YOU PREFORMED A SPELL ON SOMEONE!?”
“It all went according to plan! I’m a sorcerer like you, dad!”
“Oh god…”
Stephen started to laugh, and pulled Peter in for a hug. Peter smiled and hugged his dad back. Stephen held his face up.
“You really are back..”
“Am I still immortal?”
“Yes, you are Peter. Only I can take the immortality away from you.”
“Neat.”
Stephen placed a hand on Peter’s hair, and the boy leaned into his touch.
“It’s good to have you back, Peter.”
“I never left,-“
“As a teen… I’m sorry I was so selfish to you.. I understand wanting to grow up, but we shouldn’t rush it. Okay?”
“Well.. look at me now! It’s okay dad, I’ll only perform spells that won’t change or harm me.”
“…. Want me to teach you magic?”
Peter gave him a devious smile.
“I thought you’d never ask…”