Chapter Text
All Peter knew was death.
When he was 4 when his parents died in a plane crash. For days he would ask his Uncle Ben and Aunt May when mommy and daddy would be picking him up. Neither of them knew what to say. After a week, they sat Peter down and explained to him his mommy and daddy wouldn’t be coming back. He sat on the couch, clutching onto his teddy bear. That’s when his anxiety started.
When Peter was 8, his Uncle was shot in a drive by shooting. From that night, all he could remember was his Aunt screaming after she picked up the phone. Peter knew it had to be about his Uncle. The following morning he was told his Uncle wouldn’t be coming home, he sat on the couch, hugging his teddy bear for hours. Silently crying.
Peter was 10 when he walked into the bathroom, his aunt on the floor convulsing, surrounded by pill bottles and a piece of paper. He knew this was a seizure, something he experienced. He called 911. He watched as they pushed his Aunt out of the apartment complex, on a gurney, onto the back of the ambulance. He grabbed his teddy bear, and sat in the back of the ambulance, crying into his teddy bear.
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
“Hello sweetie, my name is Sally, what’s your name?” The older woman said, smiling at Peter over her clip board.
“Peter” he mumbled, looking down at his teddy bear, eyes rimmed with tears.
“Hello Peter, why don’t we go and get something to eat?” She said, extending her hand out for Peter. He shook his head, and continued to sit there.
“That’s ok, is it ok if I ask you some questions?” Peter nodded his head. “Perfect, what’s your favourite book sweetheart?”
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
Tony Stark and Steve Rogers had been together for 1 year. Tony would say that this 1 year was the best year he had yet. He knew he was going to marry him one day.
Tony and Steve were sitting in their lounge, watching Toy Story, a movie Steve had fallen in love with. Steve was laying on Tony’s chest, while Tony stroked his hair. Tony’s phone started going off again.
“This is the third time today that this person has called.” Tony snapped.
“Honey, I think you should answer. It has to be important if they keep calling.” Steve said, getting off of Tony’s chest. He paused the movie as Tony stood up, and walked to the kitchen. Steve stayed on the sofa, straining his ears to hear the conversation.
“Hello.” Tony answered the phone. “Yes, this is me. Yes. No, no I had no idea. Yes. Of course, I understand. Can I get back to you tomorrow, I’ll need to discuss this with my partner. How old? Yes. You too.” Steve had no clue what the conversation was about, but it had lasted for a while.
“Who called?” He asked.
“That was a social worker.”
“Why would a social worker be calling you?” Steve was genuinely surprised by this answer, of all the people he had guessed would be calling Tony, a social worker was not on the list.
“I have a half nephew, and his Aunt just passed.”
“I didn’t know you had any siblings,” Steve said, “what’s going to happen to him?”
“I didn’t know I had any siblings or nephews either. She said she would discuss this more in person if we were to take up guardianship.” Tony said, “what are we going to do Steve?”
“If we don’t take up guardianship, what happens to him?” Steve asked.
“He goes into foster care.”
“We can’t do that to him. We’ve discussed adopting once we get married, Tony, I think this is a sign.”
“But what about Iron Man and Captain America? What if we die? This is dangerous work Steve.” Tony retaliated, “that’s unfair for the kid. He’s just lost his Aunt.”
“Have you heard what happens to kids in foster care? It’s a horror story Tony, we have to do this.”
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
Tony and Steve never had arguments, they had the odd disagreement, but they never fought. This was the first time they ever had an actual fight. Eventually, Tony and Steve agreed to take Peter in.
Tony had admitted to Steve that he was scared he would be like his father, and didn’t want to hurt this kid. Tony finally agreed, with the promise that Steve would be there for him, no matter what.
Tony called the woman, who’s name was Sally. She picked up straight away.
“Good morning, Sally Davis speaking.” She said, her nasally voice making Tony’s already pounding headache worse.
“This is Tony Stark, I’m calling to talk to you about guardianship for Peter.”
“Ahh yes, will you be taking him in?” She asked.
“My partner and I have talked, and yes we will.”
“Perfect, I’ll come around in a couple of days to make sure he has a room fit for him, and to talk to you about him.”
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
It had been 3 days since the phone call with Sally. In that brief timeframe, Tony, Steve, and Pepper set up a spare room for Peter. They knew Peter was 10 years old, and Tony tried to make a room fit for him.
The room was painted a light gray. Tony and Steve had bought a bunk bed, and built it. The bedding was space themed, hoping it was something basic enough for any kid to like.
There was a desk in the corner, and a box filled with toys. They also bought a bookshelf and filled it with a few different book series, including Peter’s favourite series. According to Sally, he loved to read comics, especially the teenage mutant ninja turtles. They were going to wait until Peter arrived, before buying anything more. They didn’t know much about what Peter liked and disliked, so they thought it was best to keep it as plain as possible.
Pepper had ordered a couple shirts, pants, undergarments, and shoes, in a few different sizes, not knowing what size he was.
“Boss, ms Sally Davis has arrived now.” Jarvis said aloud.
“Thanks Jarvis, let security know to bring her straight up here.” Tony left what would be Peters room, and made it out to the lounge with Steve and Pepper following him.
“Yes sir.” The AI replied. A few minutes later the elevator dinged, opening its doors for Happy and Sally.
Sally was a rather short older woman, she looked to be in her mid 40s. She wore her peppered brown hair in a smart, low bun. She was wearing a navy business suit, and matching heels. She had a black briefcase in her hand.
“Good afternoon Ms Davis,” Tony said, walking over to her and extending his hand out for her to shake.
“Hello sir,” she took Tony’s hand, smiling. “You can just call me Sally.”
“This is Steve Rogers, my partner,” Tony said, motioning to Steve, with Steve extending his hand out for Sally, “and this is Ms Pepper Potts, my personal assistant. Harold Hogan brought you up” Happy had already left by this point.
Pepper reached out to Sally, “it was lovely to meet you.”
“Likewise, to the both of you” she replied.
“I’m sorry, but I have to leave now. I have an important meeting to get to.” Pepper said, heading to the elevator.
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
“Your house seems appropriate for Peter. But there is one thing, do you have family or friends that you can count on to look after Peter while you work, for you know. Well when you both are working as Iron Man and Captain America?” Sally asked them. The question didn’t shock Tony, nor did it shock Steve.
“Yes we do, we have discussed this guardianship with both Pepper, as well as my close friend Harold Hogan. Both of whom have agreed to look after Peter while we work.” Tony said, he was still surprised that Happy was willing to babysit this kid, someone they only ever knew existed 4 days ago.
“Perfect. Before you have guardianship over Peter, we want you to know about his allergies and medical conditions.” She said, going into her bag, and pulling out some papers. “He has quite a few allergies, all of which are life threatening.”
“He’s got allergies?” Steve asked, eyebrow raising.
“Yes, as well as some other medical conditions. I hope that’s ok with you both.”
“Yes, that’s ok.” Steve said, before Tony could say anything.
“Perfect. You’ll be left with this paperwork, as well as his paediatrician. His allergies are as follows, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, and strawberries. He-“ she was cut off by Tony asking.
“Strawberries? Like the berry?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I didn’t know you could be allergic to strawberries.” Steve replied.
“It’s not a very common allergy, but yes he is deathly allergic to strawberries.”
“Poor kid.” Tony said.
“As I was saying, he has an epipen for his allergies, in case he does accidentally eat anything he’s allergic to. We are hoping the both of you, as well as ms Potts and mr Hogan, would be willing to go through a first aid course to learn how to use an epipen, as well as other things you may need in the future for Peter’s sake.” She said, smiling once she finished.
“Yes, yes of course. We’ll all go to a first aid course. Is that all?” Tony asked.
“No, he does have a few other ailments. All of which are serious,” she continued, “he has epilepsy, asthma, hay fever. As well as anxiety.”
“Shit.” Was all Tony could say.
“I do understand this is a lot to take in, he has medication for all of this. His epilepsy is under control right now, and he hasn’t had to be hospitalized for his asthma in over 5 months.” She retorted.
That didn’t make Tony feel any better. He felt so trapped in that moment, and he knew Steve could sense that. Steve had grabbed his hand to hold, and started to rub his thumb over the back of his hand. Tony couldn’t understand why Sally didn’t tell him this sooner, but he did suspect if she told him earlier, she thought he wouldn’t take him in. If that’s what she thought, she would’ve been correct. But there Tony and Steve sat at their kitchen table, across from Sally, learning all of this information about this kid. All of which frightened Tony more than anything else.
“Tony? Tony? Honey?” Steve said, tapping Tony’s shoulder.
“Oh what? Sorry I must have- sorry” Tony said sheepishly.
“It’s ok, mr Stark, I know this is a lot to take in. Are you sure you’re ok with this guardianship?” She asked sternly.
“Yes I am sure. When will we get to meet him?” Tony asked, trying not to think about all of the ways he could fuck this kid up, and potentially kill him.
“You can get him today, if you want?”
“Yes.” Tony and Steve said in unison.
“Perfect.”
˚₊𓆩༺🕷༻𓆪₊˚
So there sat Tony and Steve, a pile of paperwork in front of them. They both had a cup of coffee in their hands. Sally had left 30 minutes ago, to file some paperwork and get Peter out of the temporary fosterhome he had been placed in.
“Tony? Honey?” Steve said, staring at Tony. Tony hummed in reply. “Are you ok?”
“Yes, I’m ok.”
“Want to try that again?”
“No I’m not. I’m scared I’m going to kill him. What if we kill him? He has a list of allergies, and then a whole other list of medical conditions. I’ve never dealt with anything like that before.” Tony said, he felt completely defeated, scared to death about this kid.
“It’s going to be ok. You know why?” Steve asked.
“Why?”
“Because I have first hand experience for this type of thing. Before I became Captain America, I was a sick kid. I spent more time in the hospital than any other person I know.” Steve reached across the table to grab Tony’s hand, “he’ll be ok. And if he gets sick, we have his Doctor in this pile of paperwork. We have the medicine he needs. We’ll do this one day at a time.”
“You know how to make me feel better, thank you.”
“It’s ok, I love you, and you’re going to make an amazing guardian.” Steve smiled at him.