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If you had asked Pepper Potts a year ago where she thought she'd be right now, she would tell you that a hospital bed in the maternity ward was not in her top 50 answers. After finding out she was pregnant, her short-term college boyfriend had abandoned ship and left her on her own.
But she wasn’t really, her best friends were there next to her the entire time. May and Ben Parker had been with her at each appointment and made many midnight grocery runs to fulfill her crazy pregnancy cravings.
Pepper went into labor just after midnight in early August. A relatively easy birth with her friends by her side, a baby boy was born in the early morning on August 10th, and after a brief stint in the NICU to fight jaundice, Peter Benjamin Potts was allowed to go home.
~
If you had asked Tony Stark a year ago where he thought he’d be right now, the maternity ward in a hospital wouldn’t even have been on a list of answers. When one of his many one night (or in this case, three night) stands had contacted him saying that she was pregnant with his baby, he decided not to act on it until he could determine if the baby was truly his.
On August 10th, he received a call from the hospital saying the baby had been born. Tony and his security guard Happy went to the hospital for a paternity test.
The test came back positive a few hours later, and when he went to talk to the mother of his baby about custody and child support, he found that she had abandoned the baby, forcing him to decide if he was going to step up and take care of the baby, or send it into care of the state. He didn’t want to be like his father was, but would sending the baby away be any better than what Howard had done?
And so, after not much debate, Tony and Happy returned to Tony’s mansion with newborn Harley James Stark in tow.
~
Pepper and baby Peter do alright for themselves. After three months on maternity leave, Pepper works as an assistant accountant at Stark Industries. She works there until Peter turns two, and a few months later finds a financial mistake that would have cost the company millions. She's not a perfect parent, hating that she has to leave Peter in the SI daycare so much, but she wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.
Tony learns how to parent through lots of trial and error, determined not to be the kind of father Howard was. He lets Obadiah do most of the company’s business in order to spend more time with Harley. But there’s one day when, just as he’s heading into an unavoidable meeting, he’s stopped by a fierce woman who insists there’s a huge financial mistake on the books.
When she is proven right, he promotes her to be his personal assistant, which–contrary to what one might think–allows her to spend more time with her son since she often works from Tony’s house and Harley is Peter’s age and the two of them like to play together.
~
The first time Peter and Harley meet goes something like this:
Three-year-old Harley is sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching Blue’s Clues, surrounded by wooden blocks and toy cars. Tony sits on the couch behind him, plans for SI’s latest and greatest weapon in his hands.
A soft knock then the front door opens, Pepper and her son Peter walk through, the boy hiding behind his mom, a Blue’s Clues backpack twice his size on his back, a diaper bag slung over her shoulder. Both Tony and Harley turn to look at their invaders, but Harley quickly loses interest, vision blocked by the couch. “Pep! You made it, though I feel inclined to mention the monkey on your leg,” Tony says as he stands to greet them.
A hand on Peter’s head, Pepper says with a chuckle, “Tony, this monkey is Peter. Peter, this is Mr. Stark.”
Tony gives Peter a smile and holds his hand out for a high five, “Hi there, monkey, I like your Thomas shirt.”
Peter looks at Tony before burying his head in his mom’s leg, tugging on his Thomas the Tank Engine shirt.
“Look, Peter, Harley is watching Blue’s Clues. Would you like to watch with him?” Pepper asks, crouching down to his level.
Peter glances over to Harley, then to the large TV. It’s much larger than the one they have at home. He looks back to his mom. “Blue,” he whispers, hands still curled around his shirt hem.
Tony and Pepper both smile then lead him to the plush carpet covered in toys. Pepper takes Peter’s bag and sets it in front of the couch. Peter stares at Harley and his assortment of toys.
“Harley,” Tony’s voice catches Harley’s attention and pulls him away from the adventure on TV. “This is Peter. You two are going to play together while his mom and I work for a bit, okay?”
Harley nods and looks at Peter. He hesitantly holds out a green car, which Peter shyly takes. Harley beeps a car across the carpet and smashes it into Peter’s shoe-covered foot. Peter smiles and sits down to play cars with his newfound friend.
Tony and Pepper smile at their sons interacting before settling down at the table to look over more paperwork.
~
The first time they meet each other’s friends is at Peter and Harley’s combined fourth birthday party. Tony and Pepper had discovered that the boys shared a birthday and had thusly planned a joint party, seeing as the boys shared most of their friends from SI daycare.
The party was being held at an indoor ball pit playground, no way was Tony inviting that many low level employees into his home. Tony originally proposed the idea of a pool party since it would be held in August but then figured that there was too much liability when most of the guest list was likely unable to swim unassisted.
The party starts at 10, and Pepper, Tony, birthday boys Peter and Harley, and Happy arrive at 9:30. For security reasons, and also simply because he can, rather than scheduling a normal party, Tony rented the entire place for the day. After having the staff sign NDAs, the group begins setting up some decorations. Red plastic tablecloths are spread out, light blue balloons are tied to weights for the table. The colors aren’t the best together, but Harley wanted red and Peter wanted blue, and it is their birthday, so what they want, they get (within reason).
May and Ben, Pepper’s best friends from college, are the first of the guests to arrive. They are loaded down with presents for Harley and Peter, despite Tony and Pepper’s insistence that neither boy needed any presents; what with Tony being a billionaire CEO and Pepper being his very well paid PA, the boys had everything they needed and more.
Peter is the first to greet his honorary aunt and uncle, running up and yelling, “Auntie May! Uncle Ben! It’s my birthday!”
“Hiya, bud! Happy birthday!” Ben kneels down to give a high five and a hug to Peter.
“Hi, Sweetie! Happy birthday!” May passes the presents to Ben as he stands up so she, too, can hug Peter.
Pepper looks over to them as she smoothes out another tablecloth. “Hey, you two! Thanks for coming, you didn’t have to bring presents.”
“How could we not? Peter’s just too cute, and we hear enough about Harley that we had to get him something.” May stops to give her friend a hug. Peter loses interest in the couple and instead wanders away.
“Are these the legendary Parkers? Boy, have I heard a lot about you!” Tony exclaims as he approaches, Harley held on his hip.
“Mr. Stark! What kind of things have you heard?” Ben asks, playfully suspicious. “Ben Parker in the flesh. I would offer a handshake but yours look to be a little full at the moment.”
“All good things, I promise. Nice to meet you, Ben. And that must mean that this is the lovely lady is May. We’re so glad you two could make it. This is Harley. Harley, say hi.”
“Hi,” Harley waves.
May coos at him and both she and Ben wave back, “Hi Harley, happy birthday!”
Harley wriggles to be put down and when he is free of his father’s grasp, he goes to join Peter and Happy on the slides.
As the adults talk, the door opens again and James Rhodes walks in, gift bags galore adorning his arms. Introductions go around again, though Pepper has met Rhodey before, but only on a professional basis. He’s never met Peter though, and is highly impressed when Peter runs over to greet him with a high five and says, “Hi, Mr. Rhodey.”
Rhodey smiles, “Hi, Peter. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you, too, Harley.” Harley had followed Peter and give his Uncle Rhodey a wide smile.
The last few finishing touches are made to the event space just as kids and parents start arriving. Small talk is made between the adults as the kids run wild in the many ball pits, slides, and tunnels. It’s beautiful and chaotic but the kids are having fun and the adults, even the ones without kids, are enjoying themselves.
After a little bit of free play time, the kids are gathered to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake and hopefully some veggies. Peter and Harley joyfully blow out the candles on their cakes, Pepper and Tony helping them as they need it.
They wait until the other kids have left then go to the Starks’ house and open the presents that Rhodey and the Parkers brought, as well as the ones from Happy, Pepper, and Tony. The staff at the playground happily clean up, especially when Tony offers each of them a sizable tip.
The boys go crazy over their new toys, especially the new tricycles Tony gives them, driving them around the driveway as soon as they can. Eventually everyone leaves until it’s just Pepper, Tony, Peter, and Harley.
Peter and Harley are playing with their new matching teddy bears that Pepper got for them in some made up game and their parents watch them from the couch.
“Thanks for buying Peter that tricycle. I don’t know that I’ll be able to get him to leave it here, he loves it so much, but there’s just no room for it at the apartment.” Pepper says, shifting so she can see Peter and face Tony at the same time.
“Well, you’re here often enough that hopefully it won’t be too much of a hardship for him. Besides, it was the least I could do for a kid like him. And Harley loves the bear you got him. It’s a good thing the tricycles had baskets on the front, otherwise I think there would have been a meltdown.” Tony fights the urge to take Pepper’s hand in his and instead lays his arm across the back of the couch, confused a bit as to where the impulse came from.
She smiles at him, “Harley and Peter are like two peas in a pod. I saw the teddy bears and knew they had to have them.”
They sit chatting, gathering up the courage to separate the two boys. The way they acted, and especially with them sharing a birthday, it was easy to forget that they weren’t twins or even brothers. Separating the two was always a struggle, even if they knew that they’d see the other the next day.
~
The first time Tony holds Pepper in his arms is the day the boys start kindergarten.
For everyone’s sake, Tony and Pepper decided to send the boys to the same elementary school when they start Kindergarten. They’ll probably be dropped off and picked up together most days anyhow.
They start the day off at their respective homes, the Potts with oatmeal and fruit, the Starks with waffles with and syrup. Then Happy, Tony, and Harley pick Pepper and Peter up at their apartment and the group continues to the school.
The group, minus Happy who stays in the car, stands on the sidewalk. The boys have matching green dinosaur backpacks, their names written in Pepper’s neat handwriting on the handles.
The boys, excited to make new friends are anxious to get to the classroom. Their parents are just plain anxious. What if they fall on the playground? What if their teacher is mean? What if…?
As the boys walk inside, hands clutched tightly together, Pepper and Tony stand on the curb. Pepper sniffles, “Oh, Tony, I don’t know that I can do this.”
Tony puts his arm around her, “It’ll be okay, they were in daycare, what’s so different about this?”
She glares at him, “What’s so different is that the daycare was in the other wing of SI. The school is 20 minutes from work. If they need us, we can’t just run down to them.”
Peter and Harley reach the front door and are greeted by a young teacher. Not long after, they disappear inside. Pepper’s sniffles devolve into quiet sobs.
Tony stares at her for a moment then sighs, pulling Pepper close and cradling her head as he hugs her. His eyes get misty, too, as they stand on the sidewalk in their work clothes crying.
They sway just a little as they try to collect themselves. It’s only their first day, surely the boys will be alright. Pepper takes a few shuddery breaths and Tony reluctantly pulls back, “You good? Ready to go to work?”
Wiping her face with a tissue from her purse, Pepper says, “I’m okay. Don’t know if I’m ready but I’m going to have to be.”
With a squeeze to her hand, Tony nods and takes a deep breath. “They’ll be okay. They’ll make lots of friends and have lots of fun. Besides, we made sure they were in the same class, they’ll have each other. Harley will make sure Peter isn’t too scared, and Peter will make sure Harley doesn’t cuss anyone out.”
“I can’t believe you taught your five year old how to cuss,” Pepper says turning to the car.
“At least I didn’t teach *your* five year old how to cuss.” Tony says, opening the door for her.
Pepper gives Tony a pointed look as the climb in the car. “Stark Industries, please, Happy.”
Pepper ignores the looks Tony gives her all day until they pick up Peter and Harley from school. She also ignores the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.
In turn, Tony ignores the way he didn’t want to let Pepper go and how he longs to pull her in again.
~
The first time Pepper admits to herself that she might have a crush on her boss, just so happens to be the first time she and Peter stay at the Stark Mansion. The Potts’ apartment building was being fumigated for bedbugs (curse you, upstairs neighbors) and the boys had been begging for a sleepover together since the moment they learned about them.
Pepper and Peter enter the Starks’ house piled down with bags. Most of them containing six-year-old Peter’s toys and so-called necessities (“What if they forget to give me an extra blanket at night?” Peter had asked, forgetting that his mom was going to be there with him the whole night).
“Hello? Mr. Tony? Harley? We’re here for our sleepover!” Peter calls, dragging his LEGO-filled suitcase on the floor behind him as he walks into the living room.
JARVIS, the Starks’ AI, sounds overhead, “Welcome, Miss Potts, Master Peter. Sir and Master Harley are down in the movie room. They’ve been alerted that you have arrived.”
“Thank you, JARVIS.” Pepper sets her purse on the couch and her suitcase in front of it. “Peter, put your stuff down and then we can go see what Mr. Tony and Harley are up to.”
Peter chucks his suitcase and backpack down on the floor, taking off his shoes at lightning speed, and races towards the staircase. “Come on, Mommy! Harley told me yesterday that were going to build a fort at our sleepover! We gotta go find him!”
Pepper chuckles, pulling off her shoes, “I’m coming, I’m coming, hold your horses.”
They make their way downstairs and into the home theater. The movie room is something that if Pepper didn’t work with and personally know an eccentric billionaire, she would find overly extravagant and excessive. However, knowing Tony as well as she does, she know that the Starks’ movie room is actually lowkey for them.
The main reason for it is that while Tony wants to afford Harley (and often Peter) every advantage in life, he doesn’t want him to grow up spoiled and entitled. So while they have a home theater and a pool and so many other things that normal kids don’t have at home, Harley isn’t always allowed to use them and has other rules with them. The Potts being over for a sleepover is a special occasion, so Tony is happy to indulge the two boys in their whims, including rearranging his home theater to make a fort.
Peter stops in the door to the movie room, Pepper right behind him. They look down into the room. The bottom two rows of couches have been removed from their platforms and pushed up against the side of the room, a pile of pillows and blankets on them. Several large air mattresses line the platforms in such a way that they are even with each other. Other blanket-fort structural items sit to the side. The third row of couches remains as it normally is, and directly to the right of the door is the snack area, which is filled to the brim with various candy, snacks, and drinks that Peter is usually not allowed to eat.
The two Starks lay on the air mattress, Harley trying to solve a Rubik’s cube with his father’s help, a few other toys scattered about. Peter makes a noise of amazement which makes Tony and Harley look up. “Peter!” Harley exclaims.
“Hi, Harley!” Peter runs over to Harley and sits on the floor.
“Hey! Finally the party can begin. Hi, Peter, have you had dinner yet?”
“Not yet, Mr. Tony! Mommy said that maybe we could order pizza if I was good and asked nicely. Please, Mr. Tony, Mommy, can we order pizza? I’ve been really good.” Peter begs, his puppy eyes coming out to play.
Harley joins in, “Yeah, Daddy, Miss Pepper, I’ve been good too! I want pizza. Please, please!”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Did you do your homework already?” Tony asks pensively, pizza is an important decision.
“No! It’s Friday, there’s no homework on Fridays!” Peter says.
“Yeah, what kind of cruel teacher gives homework on the weekends?” Harley adds.
“Okay, then did you do your chores this week?”
“Yes! I made my bed every morning, brushed my teeth every night, helped Mommy put away the dishes, and sorted my dirty clothes!” Peter recites his chore list with ease.
“And what about you Harley? Did you do your chores?”
“You know I did, Daddy.”
“Hmm I guess I did know that. Okay well, what do you think, Miss Pepper? Should we have pizza for dinner tonight?”
Pepper pretends to think about it, “Well, I suppose, since the boys have been so good this week. Yes, we can get pizza.”
Harley and Peter erupt into cheers, and even Tony does a fist pump in the air. The two young boys begin to discuss what pizza they should get. Tony makes his way over to Pepper, hefting himself off the floor.
“Thanks again for letting us stay for a few nights,” Pepper remarks.
“You know it’s no hardship, especially since Peter distracts Harley enough that he’s not always clamoring for my attention. I love him, I really do. Wouldn’t change him for the world. But sometimes it’s nice to have a break for a bit.”
“I know, it’s nice to not have to be the playmate and just be Mom.” She pauses then says, “Well, the sooner we order those pizzas, the sooner the boys can start their fun.”
Tony orders the pizzas, a classic cheese for both boys to share, a thin crust Margherita for Pepper, and a supreme for Tony.
As they wait for the pizzas, Tony helps the boys build their fort, providing a big enough opening that they can still see the giant TV for their movie night. Then they eat their pizzas, and the boys go to take baths and change into their pajamas for the rest of the night. Harley comes back wearing his Lightning McQueen pajamas, and Peter in his Buzz Lightyear pajamas.
They pick out a few candies and a drink and claim a small bowl of popcorn before finally settling down to watch the movie: Monsters, Inc. The boys sat in the fort with the adults joining them for part of the movie but eventually moving to sit on the couches.
After the movie, the boys continued to play in the fort while the adults moved up to the living room. They sat facing each other on the couch, Pepper with a glass of red wine and Tony with a tumbler of scotch. They sat and talked about their friends. What May and Ben were up to. What Rhodey was doing. How Obie and SI were doing (they never could leave work at work could they?) They talked about the boys and their school.
The boys had been quiet for the past hour, granted they were in the basement while Pepper and Tony were upstairs. Pepper suggested, “Should we check up on them?”
“Nah, JARVIS will let us know if anything is wrong.”
And, thanks to Murphy’s Law, at that moment, Harley and Peter came running up the stairs, both crying. “I’m sorry, Mommy, I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!”
“Daddy, Daddy, it hurts!”
Immediately Pepper turns to Peter, “Shhh, honey, calm down, what happened?”
Peter just cries harder at his mother’s question and buried himself in her neck.
Tony gathers Harley into his arm and pulls him onto his lap, “What hurts, Tesoro?”
Harley points to the side of his head. “Oh, your head? Let me see. Hmm doesn’t look like anything a kiss can’t fix.” Tony presses a kiss to Harley’s hair, right where he pointed. “All better?” He asks, and Harley shakes his head and whines, though his tears have slowed. Tony kisses his hair again, “What about now?” Harley sniffles and shakes his head again. Tony gives him another kiss. And then another, and another. And so many kisses, loudly exaggerating the ‘mwah’ after each until finally Harley is giggling. “Better now?”
Harley nods, “Mhm.”
“Ready to go back downstairs?”
Harley shakes his head, “Uh-uh.”
Tony hums and resituates Harley on his lap, “Okay, well you can stay here until you’re ready.”
Tony looks over to Pepper and Peter, the latter still crying hard. Tony gives a questioning glance, to which Pepper shrugs and shakes her head. “Peter, monkey, can you tell us what happened?”
Peter sniffles and whimpers, “I’m sorry, Mr. Tony, I didn’t mean to! I promise! We were just playing and my hand slipped and I never wanted to hurt Harley. He’s my best friend, I don’t want him to hurt!”
“Shhh, Bambi, take a deep breath. How did your hand slipping hurt Harley?”
A shuddery breath then, “I was holding a car and was going to drive it up the wall, but I slipped, and it flew and hit Harley on the head! I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry, Mr. Tony! I’m sorry, Harley!” Peter starts crying again.
“Oh, Peter, I think Harley will forgive you. It’s like you said, he’s your best friend, and you didn’t mean to, it was an accident. Isn’t that right, Harley?” Tony says.
“I know you didn’t mean it, Peter. I forgive you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“How about you two go on up to Harley’s room and to bed with your bears, huh? I think we’ve all had enough excitement for tonight.” Tony suggests.
The boys nod and after a quick hug, go up the stairs to Harley’s room. Pain, both physical and emotional, forgotten once they remembered his bunk beds and begin to debate who gets the top bunk.
“Ah, drat, I forgot to have them brush their teeth. I’ll be right back,” and Tony follows them up the stairs.
Pepper smiles to herself and feels the fluttering again as she thinks on Tony comforting not only his son, but hers too. And she finally lets herself admit that she likes him a little bit more than she should. Okay, a lot a bit more.
It’s a lot harder for her to keep herself composed around him this time.
~
The first time Harley calls Pepper “Mom” is before she and Tony are even officially together.
The two had been dancing around each other even since the weekend the Potts stayed over at the Starks’ while their apartment was being fumigated. Neither one quite willing to admit what they felt for the other.
Tony had been forced into a weeklong business trip to Afghanistan for SI’s newest missiles. Harley was going to be staying at the Potts’ apartment for the first time, and was so excited to sleep in Peter’s trundle bed.
Once the news had broken that Tony had gone missing while on his trip, Pepper realized that she had to be the one to tell Harley about his dad.
Rhodey had called Pepper just before lunch to tell her that their convoy had been attacked and that after two days of searching, they still hadn’t found Tony. Thankfully, since Tony was away, she didn’t have too much work to do so it didn’t matter that she closed herself up in his office to cry. Rhodey had also told Happy about the situation and he used his worry to fuel his work. This included picking up seven-year-olds Peter and Harley from school.
Happy brings the boys back up to Tony’s office, where Pepper sits at his desk staring out the window. Full of energy, the pair is ready to regale her with a recap of their day but they notice her red eyes and halt in their tale.
“Mommy? What’s wrong?” Peter asks, coming around to stand at her side, dropping his bag on the way.
“Miss Pepper? Have you been crying?” Harley asks, moving to stand on her other side.
Pepper makes eye contact with Happy who stands by the door. “Happy, will you please take us to my apartment, please?”
Happy nods and slips out the door. “I’m okay boys, just a bit sad right now, I’ll tell you when we get home, okay?”
Both boys nod and move to give Pepper a hug once she stands. As she gathers her things, Peter grabs his bag from the floor. Then the trio make their way down to the parking garage, where Happy has the car pulled up. The boys seem sad and confused due to Pepper’s mood and only at her prompting do they tell her about their day.
When they get to the Potts’ apartment, they put their things down and Pepper settles them on the couch. She crouches down in front of them, not for the first time grateful that she wore a pantsuit today, and taking each boy’s hand, her focus mostly on Harley.
“Harley, you remember that your dad had to go on a trip for work right? That he was going to be gone for a week?” Harley nods. “Well, something happened after he was done with his presentation, and he’s missing now. He’s been missing for the past few days, and they’re not sure when they’ll find him. But your uncle Rhodey is out there looking for him. And we trust Uncle Rhodey, right?” Pepper squeezes his hand.
“Right,” Harley agrees.
Pepper then says, “For now what this means is that Harley is going to continue to stay with us. And I promise I’ll tell you when they find him, okay?”
“Okay,” the boys reply.
“Mr. Tony will be okay, Harley. He’s really brave and really smart.”
“I know. He can do lots of things, like that time he made the soda explode!”
“Yeah! If he did that, he’ll figure out how to be found!”
Pepper smiles a little, glad that Harley (and Peter) have enough faith in Tony that they aren’t too concerned over his disappearance.
They stay at the Potts’ apartment for two more weeks, but unlike Harley’s initial reaction, the longer Tony is missing, the more upset he gets. The final straw is Harley knocking at Pepper’s bedroom door late at night, crying because he’s scared for his dad.
“Oh, honey, come here,” Pepper calls, patting the bed next to her. Harley crawls up and snuggles next to her.
“Daddy’s still gone. I miss him. And I miss home. Mommy, what if he never comes back?” Harley asks through his sobs.
Pepper’s heart warms at Harley calling her Mommy, the feeling not unlike when Peter did the same. But this is no time to dwell on that. “I know that you miss him. I miss him, too. But he has so many people out looking for him. And he knows that you’re here waiting for him to come home. And I bet that he misses you just as much as you miss him.”
“He does?” Harley sniffles.
“He does. And because of that, he’s doing everything he can to get home.”
“Okay, Mommy.” As his tears subside, Pepper hugs him and rocks him slightly. Eventually Harley falls asleep and Pepper moves him back into Peter’s room.
The next day, the three move into the Stark Mansion. If Pepper can’t give Harley his dad back, she can at least bring him home where he’ll be more comfortable.
Pepper, Peter, and Harley had been staying at Stark Mansion for two months when, late one night, Rhodey calls Pepper. “I can’t talk long but we found him, he’s beat up but he’s alive. We’re flying out in a little bit, should be home in about 15 hours.”
Pepper is too relieved to say much more than, “Thank goodness, we’ll see you soon.”
In the morning, Pepper goes to get the boys ready for school. In an effort to not distract from the boys’ education, she opts to not tell them of Tony’s return until after school. She sends them off to school, then goes to work herself. Most of the company has not been informed of Tony’s imminent return, but the higher ups knew of it and there was lots to do.
Happy picks the boys up from school and brings them to the daycare center, where they can get their homework done and play with the other kids until Pepper is ready to go home (or in today’s case, ready to go to the airport to meet Rhodey and Tony).
At 5 that night, Pepper and Happy pack Peter and Harley into the car and make their way to the airport. Pepper turns to the boys in the backseat, “Boys, do you remember that when I told you that Tony was missing that I promised to tell you what new things were happening?”
“Yes, Mommy!” The boys chorus. Even after two months, Harley calling her Mommy still warms her heart.
“Well, I broke that promise today, do you think you can forgive me?”
“How did you break that promise?” Peter asks.
“Rhodey called me very early this morning, they found Tony and we’re on our way to the airport right now to meet them.”
“Really?!” Peter exclaims.
“Daddy’s back?!” Harley cries.
Pepper smiles, “Really! Their plane should be landing in about twenty minutes.”
Harley is so excited he practically vibrates in his booster seat. Peter, too, is excited to see Tony again. This is the longest he’s gone without seeing Tony since they first met.
They arrive at the airport tarmac just as they see the plane landing. As Tony and Rhodey step off the plane, Harley runs toward his father. And despite his splinted arm, Tony picks Harley up to give him the biggest hug the world has ever seen.
~
A long string of events happens over the next few years. Obadiah is revealed to have been the one to order the attack on Tony’s convoy, Tony defeats Obie and comes out as the superhero Iron Man, Justin Hammer tries to one-up SI with his Hammer Drones and fails spectacularly, Tony is convinced he’s dying but then figures out the cure and in the meantime makes Pepper CEO, honestly there’s enough material here for several movies. But what the Potts and Starks care the most about is that after years of pining and dancing, Tony and Pepper finally get together.
After building a new headquarters in New York, the Potts-Stark crew moves into the flashy Stark Tower. Captain America is found, and when aliens invade New York, Tony is included in a team of heroes called the Avengers to stop them.
During the battle, Pepper is on her way to DC for a meeting and the boys are staying with May and Ben, who had moved to New York several years prior, in Queens. They’re far enough away that they have to watch the action on TV, and when Iron Man flies the nuke into the wormhole, both Harley and Peter watch in fear as he plummets to the earth.
It’s when Tony and the boys are reunited that Peter first calls Tony “Dad”.
After seeing that the scepter is secured, and Loki is taken back to Asgard, Tony zips his way to Queens. He barely knocks on the door of the Parkers’ apartment before the door is flung open and he is pounced on by 11-year-old Harley. Peter, who was just as worried, reluctantly hangs back, unsure of his place in this moment. After sitting on the couch with Harley at his side, Tony beckons Peter over with his other hand. Immediately, Peter races over, climbing onto the couch and saying, “Oh, Dad, we were so worried about you!”
Harley looks over at Peter when he hears his birthday-twin call his father Dad. Harley had been calling Pepper Mom for years, but Peter had never advanced to calling Tony Dad. Through his worry for his dad, Harley internally fist pumps at Peter’s words.
Tony smiles and hugs Peter to his side, reassuring him that he’s okay. He’s very happy that Peter finally called him Dad. It’s been something he’s complained about to anyone who would listen, including Peter himself, ever since he became Iron Man. Peter only ever called him Mr. Tony, but only Peter knew that he did that only to spite Tony, and had in fact thought of him as his dad for many years.
~
When the boys are 13 is finally when Tony proposes to Pepper.
Tony talks to Peter as soon as the ring comes in from the jeweler’s. He asks the boys permission to marry his mom, to which the young teen replies, “It’s about time! I was starting to think I would have to stage an intervention!”
Next, Tony talks to Harley, making sure that he’s okay with the change in their family. Harley reply is similar to Peter’s when he says, “Dad, they moved in with us like five years ago. This doesn’t change anything except that Mom’s going to have a new last name and Peter and I will finally be brothers for real! But dynamically, nothing will change.”
When Tony actually asks, it’s too no ones surprise that Pepper says yes. They get married the next spring. Tony legally adopts Peter, and Pepper legally adopts Harley two weeks later.
~
Three things happen when the boys are 14.
The first is that Peter gets bitten by a spider on a school field trip. He’s fine for the rest of the day until he and Harley are playing video games before bed. Part way through their second round of Mario Kart, he collapses. Harley screams and yells at FRIDAY to call their parents. Tony picks Peter up and races down to the medbay. Peter is violently ill for two days until he wakes up the third day and is completely fine. Better than fine, even, when he figures out that he has all these new, fancy superpowers.
The second thing is that Happy, Harley, and Peter are involved in a serious car wreck one day as they are driving back from school. Tony, who was waiting in the workshop for the boys to get home, gets the call. He has the ambulances being all three to Avengers’ Tower, desperate to keep Peter’s genetic mutations a secret from the world and have all three of them somewhere he knows they’ll get the best possible care.
He meets them in the medbay, where immediately Peter and Harley are taken into surgery, the back of the car had taken the impact on the side where Peter was sitting. Happy, who was in the front of the car, had a concussion and some sore ribs accented by bruises that felt as bad as they looked.
Tony paces back and forth across the waiting room as he waits for his boys to be done with surgery. Pepper arrives not much later, finally free from an international call that unfortunately couldn’t be ended early. Both adults are fraught with worry as they wait. Harley gets settled in a room first, having been on the side of the impact his injuries are less severe but he did have to have his arm reset and the many shards of glass taken out from his skin.
Peter joins Harley in the room a little while later, having needed his arm and leg reset as they had both started to heal by the time he made it to the medbay. Both are still unconscious from the surgery when the doctors come in to talk to Pepper and Tony. Dr. Cho hesitates just a bit before speaking, “Both Peter and Harley are going to be fine. There is, however, one slight complication with some tests we ran.”
The third thing that happened is finding out that Peter and Harley had been switched at birth. With each other. And no one had any idea until just now.
See, when Pepper’s son was taken to the NICU to be treated for jaundice, that was the same time that Tony’s son was taken for the DNA test Tony had ordered. Some how, during a diaper change, the babies had been swapped in their bassinets before they were returned to their parents. And because babies look very similar in their first few days of life, no one could tell they had the wrong baby.
Tony and Pepper are still reeling with this information when the boys wake up. Unsure of what to do with this newfound information, the parents ignore it for now, choosing rather to look after their injured children.
The truth comes to light a few months later, when the boys are 15. Harley was fully healed, Peter had recovered in less than a week, and the family was sat down for dinner. After his first bite, Tony says, “This is fantastic, Pepper, I had no idea you could cook like this.”
Pepper raises an eyebrow, “You would think that after more than a decade of knowing each other, you would know how well I cook.” Tony shrugs and keeps eating. “Besides, I didn’t cook this, I ordered it in.”
Tony looks aghast, “You didn’t cook this? Virginia Potts-Stark, you lied to me?”
Pepper rolls her eyes at Tony’s dramatic antics. At the same time, Harley says, “Your first name is Virginia?”
“You didn’t know that? You’ve known her for twelve years and they said her full name when they got married,” Peter says incredulously.
“Like I paid attention at the wedding, that suit was too itchy. We’re getting off topic.” Harley turns from Peter to Pepper, “Your first name isn’t Pepper? What else have you lied to me about? Do I even know any of you? Are you even really my dad?” Harley doesn’t realize that his jokes have hit close to home.
Both Pepper and Tony pause at Harley’s and looks at each other with wide eyes. Peter and Harley notice this.
“That was just a joke, we all know you’re my dad, you had that DNA test done when I was born.” A beat, “You *are* my dad, right?” Harley presses.
Tony looks away from Pepper and hesitates, “Actually…”
“Actually?!” Harley interrupts. “Actually, what?”
“When you and Peter were in that car accident, Dr. Cho told us something interesting,” Tony continues.
“Go on,” Harley insists.
Tony takes a deep breath and looks to Pepper for help. “Harley, what your dad is trying to say, is that after your accident, we found out that you were switched at birth,” Pepper says softly.
“I was?” Harley is too shocked to ask anything more.
“Do we know who he was switched with? What do we do now?” Peter asks, watching as his brother’s world crumbles.
“We do, actually.” Pepper pauses then says, “He was switched with you, Peter.”
A second passes and then both boys burst into laughter. Tony and Pepper look at each other in concern.
“Whew, boy! You really had me going there for a minute. That was a good one, how long have you been waiting to use that?” Harley says through his laughter, clutching his stomach with one hand.
“Yeah, I was convinced until I was thrown into it,” Peter chortles, nearly falling out of his chair.
As they calm down, they realize their parents haven’t answered. “Um, hello? That joke? It was a good one, you don’t have to keep it up anymore,” Harley says.
“We’re not joking. The two of you really were switched at birth. Dr. Cho told us that our DNA didn’t match but that’s when she ran Harley’s against mine and Peter’s against Tony’s, that they were confirmed matches. We don’t really know how it happened, but it’s an honest miracle that we met when you were two.” Pepper looks at her family, concern and anxiety coursing through her.
“I need to be alone,” Harley says, pushing away from the table.
Peter looks from his retreating brother, to his parents, to his food before abandoning the family meal and following his brother to his room.
Pepper looks at Tony, “Well, I guess we’re not going to tell them about the babies tonight.”
~
Harley storms into his room, Peter hot on his heels, grabs the teddy bear Pepper gave him when he was little off the shelf, and throws himself down onto his unmade bed. Peter stops in the doorway, turns to his room and quickly locates his matching bear. He returns to Harley’s room, climbing onto the bed next to his brother. “I said I wanted to be alone,” Harley grumbles.
Peter scoffs, “When have I ever counted as a person in that case?”
“Good point.” Harley flips onto his back. “I’m so confused. This changes nothing, but yet, it changes everything.”
“Yeah. Mom is still Mom. Dad is still Dad. But there’s all these “what if’s” running through my head. Most importantly, I could have had your name. That just doesn’t feel right.”
Harley huffs a laugh, “You’re right. You’d make a terrible Harley.”
“And you’d make a pretty lousy Peter.”
“Ick, yeah I would.”
They sit there for a while, thinking about things, contemplating life. Eventually they move onto talking about school and their friends. They cheer up enough to tease each other about girls. Harley making a comment about MJ, which leads to Peter making a comment about Gwen, which then causes Harley to push Peter off the bed. They laugh and finally decide to go finish their neglected dinners. They haven’t totally come to terms about their lives, but in the long run, if they hadn’t been switched, not much would’ve been different.
The family talks through their feelings and eats their cold dinner. It takes a while for the shock of the boys’ true parentage to fade, but when it does, it’s quickly replaced by the knowledge of Pepper’s pregnancy. At first, the boys are jealous that the new babies will be twins for real, instead of step-brothers who were born on the same day and switched at birth. But as soon as they laid eyes on Morgan and Abby, all feelings of jealousy were replaced by love and adoration.
Their family is crazy, and way too complicated to explain, but none of them would have it any other way. Until, at least, Morgan poops on Harley and he begins to rethink his love for her.