Chapter Text
"You have a son?" Steve looked Tony dead in the eye. "You have a son. And you didn't tell any of us?" The entire team was gathered in the kitchen at the Avengers compound. They had all been having breakfast when Happy walked in, asking where 'the kid' was, and why he wasn't answering his phone. This prompted a lot of "what kid?" questions and Tony had no choice but to tell his teammates the truth. Happy quickly left the room, not wanting to be a part of what was about to go down.
"Adopted son. Adopted him two years ago from today, actually." Tony shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.
"Why keep this a secret from us?" Steve asked, the hurt clear in his voice. It had been a bumpy road since their fight in Siberia, but Steve and Tony finally considered one another friends again.
"Can't believe you didn't tell me...I thought we were friends?" Rhodey looked at him in shock.
"You never asked," Tony shrugged. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to make another pot of coffee. Who wants some?"
"Tony. Don't change the subject. Why the hell would we ask if you had a child?" Steve sighed.
"I don't know. You ask about Clint's kids all the time."
"Because we know they exist," Bruce muttered. "Where is your kid, anyway?"
"Back in Queens. I think."
"You don't know where you son is?" Natasha leaned forward in her chair, "I can't believe anyone would even let you adopt a child."
"Okay. First, rude," Tony took a deep breath. "Second, Peter is almost 18. Sometimes he lives here, sometimes he lives at the tower, sometimes he stays with Ned, a buddy of his. Peter does his own thing. He'll show up somewhere eventually."
"Jesus, Tony!" Rhodey dropped his head into his hands, "this is no way to raise a child! What if something happened to him?"
"Nothing happened to him. And nothing will happen. He's more than capable of taking care of himself. Besides, I made him a suit, just in case."
Natasha clenched her fist. She took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "You can't just give a child an Iron Man suit and expect everything to be fine. You better call your son right now-"
"I already did. Peter's fine," a new voice spoke from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Spider-man standing before them, hands on his hips. The wall crawler was the newest member of the team, having joined shortly after Tony took him in two years ago.
"You know about Peter? And you have his number?" Sam glared at Tony. "You trust bug boy with this and not us?"
"Actually, I knew Peter before he was adopted. We went to the same school," Spider-man said quickly. "He's with Ned, by the way. He'll be back later."
"What brings you here, Spidey?" Wanda asked. She still had tons of questions, but she was suspicious about why Spider-man was at the compound. It was a long way from Queens, and the wall-crawler only made the trek if they had a mission or meeting.
"Mr. Stark wanted to meet with me, something about my suit needing fixed?" Spider-man said. Happy had been blowing up his phone for the past few days, demanding that he come back to the compound. Spidey decided he should actually show up before Happy reached through the phone and strangled him.
"Oh, yeah. That's right. I need to put that tracker back in your suit. And you need to stop ripping it out," Tony grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the kitchen.
"I don't need you following my every move, Tony." Peter snapped at his adopted father.
"I'm not following you. Just making sure I can find you if you end up bleeding out in an alley somewhere." Tony muttered. Once they were in the lab Tony locked the doors and got to work on putting the tracker back in Peter's costume. "I guess it's time for Peter Stark to make an appearance..."
"I have to get back to Queens, I have finals tomorrow." Peter sat shirtless on a table, kicking his legs back and forth. Tony had his back to Peter, not letting him see where he put the tracker. The name Peter Stark repeated over and over in his head. Legally, his surname was now Parker-Stark. Although, everyone just shortened it to Stark. Peter still wrote 'Parker' on all his school work.
"This weekend then. Happy will pick you up."
"I can't. I...have band practice."
"You're not in band. Anyway, The Avengers are all up my ass about this. And they aren't going to leave me alone until they get answers. Happy will pick you up from school on Friday. End of discussion."
"Okay, dad," Peter said the last word as sarcastic as possible.
"Spidey! Wait up!" Peter had his hand on the door, about to make his escape when Wanda looped an arm around his shoulders. "Got a second?"
"Not really."
"Great, come with me," Wanda drug him to the lounge, where the rest of the Avengers were waiting. Minus Tony, who was hiding in his lab. "We just wanted to ask you a few questions-"
"Can you ask them later? I-I have to get back to work," Peter stammered.
"Sit down, son," Steve forced him to take a seat in between Natasha and Clint.
"We just want to know more about Peter," Natasha explained, her voice calm, yet demanding.
"You should ask his dad, then. I don't know anything about him," Spider-man shifted around nervously, pulling one of his legs up and hugging his knee.
"That's not what you said earlier," Clint snorted. "You have his number on your phone, dude."
"Okay, I know him. He's a nice dude, with cool hair. And he helped make my suit. What else do you want to know?" Spidey huffed.
"Nice hair, huh? What are you, his boyfriend?" Clint teased.
"No!" Spidey said a bit too forcefully, startling everyone. "I...I'm way older than him. I'd be weird for me to date him."
"Okay, okay. Fair enough," Clint held up one hand. "Must be pretty smart if he made this," he poked the spider logo on Peter's chest.
"What's he look like? Do you have any pictures of him on your phone?" Wanda asked.
"Nope. I really have to get going," Spider-man shot a web at the ceiling and yanked himself off the couch. He did a flip mid-air and landed in a crouch on the other side of the room. Steve opened his mouth to say something, but the Masked Avenger was already running out the door.
Three Days Later
"Hey, Uncle Happy," Peter greeted as he slipped into the back seat of Happy's car.
"Never. Ever. Call me that. Ever again." Happy spoke through gritted teeth. Of course, Happy cared about Peter. But did he like him? Not particularly. Especially whenever the kid opened his mouth. Happy carried a roll of duct tape with him, just in case he ever needed to shut Peter's mouth with something. Thankfully, that was yet to happen.
"Okay, Uncle Happy."
Happy reached for the roll of tape but decided against it. It took them awhile to get to the compound. The rush hour traffic was not helping. And of course, Peter talked the entire way. Happy had stopped listening over an hour ago. Was Peter talking about Star Wars again? God, Happy felt like he was about to lose his mind. These constant drives from Queens to the compound had become the bane of his existence.
"Right after this I'm taking you to get your drivers permit," Happy announced.
"What?! Really?!" Peter leaned against the front seats, way too close to Happy for the older man's liking.
"Yes. The sooner you learn to drive yourself the sooner I can go back to a peaceful existence." Happy muttered. The tires made faint popping and grinding noises as they rolled onto the gravel driveway leading to the compound's living quarters. Tony and Steve stood on the front steps, talking to each other. Happy parked the car, "alright, kid. You can walk the rest of the way."
Peter didn't move. For once he was silent, staring out the window at his father.
"Kid. Get out of the car."
Peter nodded and slipped out of the vehicle. Happy frowned. Was Peter limping? Had he gotten hurt while on patrol last night? It had taken Peter all of five minutes to find the new tracker in his suit and rip it out. So Happy had no way of knowing what had happened to the teen these past few days. He tried tracking his phone, but Peter left it at home when he went out on patrol.
"Peter!" Tony wrapped his son in a tight hug. "Meet Mr. America himself. Mr. America, meet Peter," Tony stepped aside so the two could shake hands.
"Nice to meet you, Peter. I wish I could say that I've heard a lot about you, but unfortunately," Steve glanced at Tony. Tony just shrugged.
"That's okay. Tony was keeping me a secret from everyone for safety reasons," Peter shrugged. "I-It's nice to meet you, Captain Rogers," he said quickly, widening his eyes slightly. He had to pretend he had never met the Avenger before, and that meant acting like a star struck fanboy.
"Just call me Steve. Speaking of names, you call your father by his first name?"
"Yeah, we're not quite...there yet," Tony pat Peter on the shoulder. "He calls me Stark when he's pissed at me. Which happens a lot. So today's a good day if he's calling me Tony."
Tony led them into the building, keeping one hand on Peter's shoulder. Everyone was waiting for them in the kitchen. Tony introduced him to everyone and Peter found it increasingly difficult to play dumb with each 'new' face he met.
"Is something wrong with your leg?" Natasha noticed the limp right away.
Peter shook his head, "I'm fine. Just sore from gym class."
"You didn't get into another fight, did you?" Tony frowned.
"Of course not!" Peter snapped. A shiver ran down his spine. Natasha was staring at him in such a way that he felt like she could see his very soul.
"You sound familiar. Have we met before?"
"N-no. I think I would remember if we had," Peter shifted around awkwardly, leaning on his uninjured leg. He had taken a bad fall and cut his thigh on the side of a dumpster. The entire ordeal could have been completely avoided if he wasn't showing off for Ned and Michelle. Not his most heroic injury.
"Who's turn is it to cook tonight?" Tony changed the subject.
"Mine," Vision raised his hand. Everyone exchanges nervous glances. Having someone without tastebuds cook for you was never a pleasant experience.
"I thought you were taken off the rotation?" Rhodey groaned.
"I'll help him," Wanda assured her team.
Other than a minor fire in the kitchen, the rest of the night was fairly pleasant. After nearly an hour of questioning, the Avengers welcomed Peter with open arms.
"You got anyone you need me to beat up?" Clint offered.
"No...I think everything's good," Peter said around a mouthful of food.
"Okay. But if you do, just let me know," Clint pointed his fork at Peter.
"Ass kicking is our specialty," Sam added.
"I'm well aware," Peter chuckled.
After dinner the team retired the to the lounge. Peter sat with his injured leg pulled close to his chest, his arms wrapped around his knee. The other leg was tucked underneath him. The position reminded Natasha of how Spider-man had sat when they questioned him a few days ago. Clint was currently sitting next to Peter, showing him how one of his explosive arrows worked.
"So, friends with Spider-man, huh? He told us about you." Natasha spoke up.
"Oh great, what did he tell you?" Peter groaned.
"Nothing much, actually." Natasha shrugged. "He said you made his suit?"
"With stuff from my lab and with my help," Tony said.
"Do you know who he is?" Natasha ignored Tony.
"Who?"
"Spider-man. Do you know his real name?"
"I do. And I'm not telling you," Peter shrugged.
Natasha smiled, "good answer. You're loyal to your friends. I appreciate that." She shot a quick look at Tony.
"You're seriously still mad at me?" Tony frowned.
"You kept a pretty big secret for two years. Especially after Siberia. When we all agreed to not keep secrets," Steve pointed out.
"It was for his own protection."
"Protection from what? We aren't a threat to your kid," Clint said, carefully setting the arrow on the coffee table.
"I know that, Barton. But there are a lot of people out there who want to hurt me any means necessary. I couldn't take any risks," Tony tried to reason with them.
"There are people who want me dead, too. That's why I don't really live in any one place. I gotta stay on the move," Peter put in.
"Who would want you dead? What did you do? Is some dad mad because you dated his daughter?" Clint snorted.
"Not exactly," Peter bit his lip.
One Week Later
"Don't touch that. Or that. Especially not that." Tony smacked Steve's hand away from the iron man gauntlet he was working on.
"What's this do?" Steve threatened to push a button on the inside of the wrist.
"Now you're just being an ass. Get out of my lab."
"Natasha sent me to get you. C'mon Tony, It's time for training."
Before Tony could retort, FRIDAY spoke from the intercoms overhead. "Mr. Stark, you have a call from Happy."
"Patch 'em through," Tony picked up his cell phone.
"Hey, Tony, you might want to check on bug boy. It's a good thing you had a backup tracker in that suit."
"What now?" Tony pushed off his desk, propelling his swivel chair across the room. He stopped abruptly at another table, where he picked up a tablet. He swiped through the charts on the screen until he found what he was looking for. "No..."
The chart showed Spider-man vitals. It was reporting an increased heart rate and a significant amount of blood loss. Another chart with his skeleton showed several of his ribs and his left arm highlighted in bright red, signaling they had been broken. Tony felt his own blood run cold. He swiped to the next screen. A tiny red dot was bouncing around a tight area in Queens. Tony picked his phone back up, "Happy, how close are you to-"
"I'm two miles away," Happy's voice sounded grim. "Driving as fast as I can."
Tony tightened his grip on the tablet. The red dot had broken away from the area but only made it a few blocks before it stopped. It bounced between two building for a brief moment before stopping altogether.
An alarm suddenly blared throughout the compound. Loud and angry like a tornado siren.
"What the hell is that?!" Steve clapped his hands over his ears.
Tony slammed a button on his desk. Iron Man parts came flying out from all areas of the room. His body was encased in the gold and red armor in a matter of seconds.
"Tony! What's going on?!" Steve screamed. The skylight slid open and Iron Man blasted off without a word. The alarm was silenced as soon as he left. "FRIDAY, what was that all about?"
"Peter activated his panic button. Which caused the alarms. Peter has been instructed to only use the button in life or death situations." FRIDAY reported, her voice cheerful as ever.
Steve cursed under his breath. "FRIDAY, assemble the Avengers."