Chapter Text
Tony had been relaxing in one of the smaller labs of the tower. Well, if your definition of "relaxing" is trying to recount increasingly difficult mathematic formulas. Which his is.
Anyways, he was taken out of said relaxation by a rush of footsteps.
Tony looks up just as Peter stops before him. To put it nicely, the kid looks like he just got hit by a train. And then fell 15 feet straight into a ditch.
"Hey, kiddo," Tony starts, pushing himself off the stool he'd been sitting on. "What's—"
"MJ got me pregnant," Peter interjects. Immediately he takes in a deep breath, like just saying the words made him lose it.
Tony blinks slowly, then faster as he processes the words. "I—I'm sorry what? I—Do you mean you got her pregant?"
"No. I said what I meant."
"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused. Michelle got you pregnant?"
"I'm trans—"
"Yes, I know that."
"—and she's also trans."
"I did not know that part."
"Okay. So she.. got you pregnant. Did you—Did you take a test? Or did May—"
"May doesn't know," Peter blurts out. He immediately covers his mouth with both hands.
"May doesn't know?" Tony repeats. "You're telling me before your Aunt May? Who are you?"
"I'm freaking out could you please can the sarcasm?!"
"Okay, okay, sorry. Just—Okay, just breathe, buddy, it's alright."
Peter takes a deep breath. In through the nose, hold for four seconds, out through the mouth. Tony finds himself copying him. He needs to relax, the kid is stressed enough right now, Tony doesn't need to be too.
"Feel better n—"
"Oh, shit," Peter says, cutting Tony off. "Do we have to get married now? I don't think I'm ready for marriage."
Tony sighs, rubbing his eyes. So much for that. "No, kid, you two don't have to get married. Slow down."
"But I'm—" Peter motions vaguely toward his abdomen. "I can't have a child out of wedlock."
"Jesus Fucking Christ, what are we in, the 1850s? Did we time travel? Did I not get the memo?"
"I'm feeling a lot of negative energy from you. You need to cut it out, it's not good for the baby."
"The baby isn't even a baby yet."
Peter gasps, hand flying to his heart in feigned offense. "How dare you?"
Relax, Tony, relax. The kid is stressed. He's just stressed. He's not being insane on purpose.
Tony looks the kid over. He looks like shit. Tony noticed it earlier, but he'd kind of been blindsided by the whole.. reveal. The bags under his eyes are darker than usual, and he looks pale. Not "about to faint" pale, thank god, but "there's definitely something wrong" pale. Tony's surprised May hasnt figured it out yet. Usually he'd consider that she's just waiting for Peter to be ready to tell her, but Tony's sure she wouldn't wait something like this out.
"Okay, Peter, serious grown-up talk time." Tony sits back down on his stool, grabbing Peter's sleeve to pull him a step closer. "You got a plan yet, kiddo? What do you wanna do?"
"I-I don't know."
"Okay, that's okay. Why don't we start by telling your aunt?"
Peter's eyes widen immediately. "No! What're you, crazy? She'd fucking kill me."
"She won't kill you, Pete, relax."
"Yes she will. She'll either kill me or get stressed out enough to kill herself." Peter gives Tony his best puppy eyes. "Please, Mr. Stark, you cannot tell her."
"So do you want to get an abortion?"
"I—" Peter hesitates, eyes darting away from Tony and to the floor. Poor kid looks like he's about to explode.
"You don't have to know yet, Pete."
Peter doesn't look up. Tony leans back, waiting for the kid to look at him again. Pressuring him isn't going to help anyone, Tony knows that much.
Eventually Peter asks, without looking up, "what do you think I should do?"
"You want my honest answer, or the 'figure it out yourself' answer?"
"Honest answer?"
Tony sighs. Again. He's already got too many grey hairs, this kid is going to be the death of him. Okay, wording matters here. Tony doesn't need to freak him out anymore than he already is. "Alright. Honest answer, I think you and your girlfriend are teenagers, and you shouldn't have to worry about this kind of responsibility."
That's good. That's.. decent, at least. Right? Tony waits again as Peter processes the words. Or maybe as they float right out of his ear, Tony can't tell.
When Peter looks back up, his eyes are glossy. Ah, shit shit shit. Tony fucked up. Where did he fuck up?
"Hey, bud, no, what's wrong?" Tony asks, trying to keep his voice as steady as he can. Shit, shit, shit. "Hey, you don't have to cry, it's okay." He cups Peter's face, running his thumbs underneath his kid's eyes. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay. We'll figure this out, kiddo, I promise."
"May's gonna kill me," Peter whispers, sniffling pathetically. "She's gonna be so disappointed, Mr. Stark."
"No, no, hey. Pete, look at me." Tony waits for Peter's eyes to meet his before continuing. "May isn't going to be disappointed, or mad, or upset in any way. I promise you, okay? She loves you. And this isn't your fault. Or, well, it's kinda your fault. Partially your fault. But it's not like you—" Peter's face crumples even more than it already had, and, ah fuck. Tony's fucking it up again isn't he? "—I mean, okay, no. Restart. Peter Parker, you are.. very decent, as far as rebellious teenagers go—" Peter lets out a little laugh. Progress. "—this was one mistake. You aunt will understand. Okay? And you did the responsible thing, you told an adult, and you're letting me help you. That's good."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. You're a good kid."
"I don't feel like one."
"I know, buddy." Tony pulls him in again, squeezing him as tight as he can. "I know. You don't have to, alright? But just trust me, yeah?"
Peter nods against him, fists clenching in the back of his shirt. “…sorry.”
“If you apologize again, I’m gonna start chargin you.”
"You don' need my money. You're a billionaire."
"And I stay that way by exploiting emotionally vulnerable teenagers."
Peter snorts against Tony's shoulder, which quickly turns into a sob.
"Hey, no. It's okay. Shhhh. Please don't start crying again. If I send you back to May with red eyes she's gonna think I gave you something."
Tony hears Peter laugh again. Apparently, Tony isn't funny enough to stop him from crying, though. (Rude.) Peter grips him tighter, tight enough that Tony's pretty damn sure something's getting rearranged under his skin. Not that he particularly cares right now, his doctors can worry about that later. Preferably after he has them look over the pregnant teenager in his arms.
He waits for the crying to die down again before speaking. "Does MJ know?"
Peter shakes his head.
Alright. So Tony's first to know. That's… way too much responsibility, to be honest. Great. Okay. It's fine, he's saved the world he can handle this. If Peter trusts him enough to come to him about something like this he's gotta be able to handle it.
"Okay, okay. Here's what we're going to do." Tony pulls back to look the kid in the eye again. "First, we can swing by medbay, I'm sure at least one of the doctors in there are qualified for this, I don't remember who. But, whatever, we'll figure it out together, yeah?"
Peter nods. Good.
"Okay, then after that, we get lunch and tell May."
"No."
"Yes." Tony sighs. "Pete, buddy, you've gotta tell her. I like you and all, but I am not equipped for this. And even if I was, she's your guardian. I'm sure there's probably some law against me keeping this from her."
"Can you be there when I do?" Peter asks, giving in far faster that Tony expected, honestly. "So I don't, y'know, chicken out?"
Tony's eyes soften. God, this kid really is going to be the death of him. "Obviously."
"Really?"
"What do you mean, really?" Tony shoots back, feigning offense. "Please, I can survive your Aunt May.”
Peter huffs a laugh despite himself. “You’re scared of her.”
“Terrified, actually."
Peter chuckles and buries his face in Tony's shoulder again. "You ever do this?" He whispers after a couple minutes, so quiet Tony almost doesn't catch it.
"What? Get knocked up? No."
Tony feels Peter laugh again. "I meant on the other side of it."
"Oh, yeah, a couple times."
"Really?"
"Only once when I was your age. That I know of."
"Oh," Peter mutters. "Well that's reassuring."
"Was that sarcasm? I thought we were canning it. You're freaking out, remember?"
"Don't be a dick."
"Do the insults mean you're feeling okay enough to head downstairs, or do we wanna wait a little longer?"
"I—I think I'm ready," Peter replies.
"Good boy." Tony waits a moment, but Peter doesn't move. "Are.. you planning to let go? Or am I gonna have to figure out how to make it to the elevator with you clinging to me?"
"Y'gotta figure it out."
"Of course, okay. Let's go, my parasite."