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It was all so surreal.
“We won, Mr. Stark.”
“You can rest now, Tony.”
After that, everything went by too fast. Peter felt a hand gently pull him away from his father-figure. And then, there were many people running in front of him, lifting Tony into the air and off into a different direction. Where they were taking him, Peter didn’t know.
Everything was a blur. Somehow he ended up in a hospital waiting room, sitting next to Pepper and surrounded by the Avengers. They waited for hours. It could have been 1, could have been 7.
He rested his head on Pepper’s shoulder and flinched when the door of the waiting room opened. Like everyone else in the room, his head turned towards the door and a teenager, who looked a little older than Peter ran in.
Peter was exhausted, but he sat up fully and threw a hand in front of Pepper. His shoulders dropped slightly when he heard her chuckle and lightly rest a hand on his shoulder.
“Harley, it’s good to see you. Tony’s missed you.” Pepper said with a sad smile. Harley grinned and gave her a hug. They sat down together, and Pepper subtly slipped her hand into Harley’s. She did the same to Peter.
“You know there were two reasons Tony did what he did, and they’re sitting right next to me,” She murmured. They both heard her but didn’t respond. Peter just bit his lip and prayed to God that no tears would roll down his cheeks.
The trio sat in silence for a moment before Harley leaned under Pepper and stared at Peter. Peter hesitantly looked back and Harley smiled. Harley’s hand shot out across Pepper and reached for Peter’s.
“Hi, I’m Harley! Nice to meet ya,” He tried to say enthusiastically. Peter looked at the teen and reached his hand across as well. They ended up talking and turns out they had a lot in common. At some point, Pepper had traded seats with Peter so the boys didn’t have to talk over her.
They talked and talked until Harley looked up and grimaced. He nudged Peter and pointed to the hallway. Helen Cho walked down the hall of the hospital and stopped at the door of the waiting room. She looked exhausted.
“Family of Tony Stark?” She called out. They all stood. Peter looked to Harley, who grabbed his hand and squeezed; Peter did the same with Pepper.
“Well, Tony’s hand a rough night. But, at the moment, he’s stable, and it looks like he’ll make it,” She explained tiredly. The room let out a collective cheer and Pepper grabbed Peter and Harley in a tight hug.
“He’ll be okay,” She whispered. They both nodded.
“I can't wait to introduce you two to Morgan!” She laughed after a minute.
“Who?”
3 months later…
The last 3 months were hard. Really hard. Tony was recovered, slowly but surely, and Peter and Harley had found comfort in each other.
There were hard nights. Where Peter’s nightmares would wake him up screaming. Where Harley wouldn’t be able to comfort him or even touch him, so he just ending up sitting in the corner of the room, watching his brother suffer.
There were break downs. Where Harley couldn’t believe he had left his sister alone for 5 years with his horrible mother. Where Harley would shout at Peter because why was he such a fuck up? Where Peter would latch onto him and no matter how hard Harley would fight, Peter wouldn’t let go. When Harley woke up the next morning and cried because he saw the marks and bruises he left on his brother even though Peter healed fast.
There was the PTSD. Where Harley would be casually talking and suddenly Peter would start breathing quicker than usual and flinch away from Harley when the boy tried to ask him if he was alright. The memories of the battlefield, and the cannons firing all around him as he clutched the Infinity Gauntlet as if his life depended on it because it did. And Harley would just shake Peter but the boy wouldn’t respond. And-
There were days were one of them would refuse to get out of bed and the other would either just lie with them or would force them to do something. Sometimes, Peter would wake up and barely be able to drag himself to Harley’s bed before collapsing in a heap of sobs and sadness. Sometimes he would just stay quiet. Other times, he would scream at Harley and drag him out bed. Eventually, Pepper gave them their own floor as to give them space to heal.
And slowly, oh achingly slow, they were recovering.
They became family.
School was officially starting tomorrow. When Pepper had first sat him down and told him, Peter had flat out refused and had stormed away. But Pepper kept pushing and pushing until finally, she sent him to go see Tony in his hospital room.
Peter almost agreed to go to school right then and there. Peter avoided that room like the plague. If not for his already prominent hate of hospitals, seeing his mentor look so weak definitely did the trick.
The first time Peter went into the hospital room, he wouldn’t even look at or sit near Tony. It hurt, of course, but Peter knew that as soon as he saw his mentor and how badly he had suffered, the floodgates would open.
So, a week before school started, Peter found himself trudging into the room. Tony was awake and was watching some TV with Morgan. As soon as he saw Peter, he whispered something in Morgan’s ear. She looked at Peter and giggled; then ran over and gave his legs a hug. He put on a weak smile for her and she ran out of the room.
“Sit,” Tony ordered Peter as soon as his daughter had left the room. Peter did as he was told and pulled up a chair.
“I heard that you don’t want to go back to school,” Tony commented as he switched the TV channel. Peter nodded slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I know you’ve been through a lot of shit, hell, we’ve all been through a lot of shit recently, but you need to see your friends! You can’t let the last five years drag you down,” Tony continued as he found a channel he liked. Peter again nodded as he kept his eyes trained to his lap.
“Peter, look at me,” Tony asked him softly. Peter tried to bring his gaze up, but settled on the bed for a moment, and then dropped it again. Tony sighed as he rubbed his temples.
“Kid, look at me,” Tony asked again, this time more demanding.
“I’m sorry,” Peter muttered as he dropped his head into his hands.
“No, we’re not doing this again today. You’re not leaving until I see your eyes. Just for a second.” Tony said firmly. “I miss you. Present tense. You live in my tower, and yet you hid from me every single day. Do you know how it feels?”
Tears leaked from the corner of Peter’s eyes but he did not lift his head. “Tony I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please-”
“I miss my son,” Tony proclaimed to the room. “I miss spending time with him, and helping him with homework, and working on Spider-Man suits.”
Tony sucked in a breath. “Peter, I just got you back. Please, I don’t want to lose you again.”
“I’m afraid,” Peter admitted. “I’m afraid that when I look at you, I will be back on the battlefield; watching you snap your fingers and be on the brink of death.”
Peter sobbed lightly. “I don’t want to see that again. Please, Tony.”
“Kid, look at me,” Tony ordered. “Look at me!”
Peter’s eyes rose at the anger in Tony’s voice. He saw his mentors face, with small tears running down it. Other than that, he was pretty much fine. Most of his cuts were healed and so was his arm, well other than the scars.
When Tony’s eyes met Peter’s, Tony let out a pleased grin. “There’s my boy.”
Peter froze. His eyes locked on Tony’s for a moment and then, he bolted. Tony grin fell slightly. “Still progress,” he mumbled to himself.
After that encounter, Peter locked himself in his room for the rest of the day. Not even Harley could get him to open it. But of course, Harley being Harley, overrode the code and kicked the door down. Harley didn’t judge or ask him what was wrong. He said nothing, and only laid with Peter and let Peter cry into his chest.
1 day later…
Peter had his backpack and everything ready to go. Harley had insisted on walking him to school, so there they were. Walking slowly and quietly in the warm morning of New York. When they reached the school, they gave each other a long hug goodbye and Harley shouted: “you can do this, Parker!” before running off. Peter scolded him slightly, but he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his cheeks.
The first thing he did was look for Ned and MJ. He didn’t know if they were snapped or not and he honestly didn’t know what he would do if they were 5 years older than him. Thankfully, Ned spotted Peter and the two had a tearful reunion. Together, they looked for MJ and found her sitting in their first period, drawing in her notebook.
She looked despondent as she drew, but when Ned called out her name, she turned her head a smile blossomed on her face. Very uncharacteristically, she ran and gave them a hug.
The rest of the day, and the week, and then the month was spent playing catch up on what half the world missed. Peter found comfort in his friends and knew he could rely on them. Likewise, MJ and Ned were comforted by the fact that Peter had not fallen like some of the other heroes.
As months passed, Michelle and Peter grew closer until finally, they started dating. It was slow and tentative; they were both testing the waters and boundaries of this new side of their relationship. They were getting the hang of it, but they still had their moments here and there. MJ was the one to push Peter to go back into Spiderman. He had tried it and felt free when he had her talking in his ear, and Harley flying next to him as Iron Lad.
When MJ met Harley, the two instantly clicked and Peter knew he had made a mistake. Many, many prank wars resulted but also many serious late-night conversations happened on the floor of their living room.
Every conversation and every hug helped to heal the hurt inside all 3 of them. The trio found their rhythm and could count on each other. Life became pretty stagnant for a while, until the mission.
5 months later…
Spiderman and Iron Lad were on a mission with the Winter Soldier and Falcon, now Captain America. Alien tech had been reported to be seen in South America, so they were there to check it out.
Turns out, it was tech that could cause earthquakes and split the ground in two. The heroes had split up, Winter Soldier and Captian America went after the bad guys, and Iron Lad and Spiderman were evacuating civilians.
It was a little stressful and they were barely managing as people kept falling into the large crevices created. Spiderman swung from building to building and grabbed people as he went. He then dropped them off as far away as he could and headed back for more. It was exhausting. He was on the last building and everyone was out when he heard faint crying. The building was about to collapse. Peter ignored the fear growing in him and took a deep breath. Someone needed his help and he could not ignore them. He ran back in. He followed the cry and found two children sitting in the corner of a room. One was clearly older than the other and was holding the smaller child to his chest.
He extended his hand, “Hola, quieres venir conmigo?”
Peter waited patiently as the walls cracked around them when finally the little boy nodded and grabbed his hand. Peter waited no longer and grabbed the children. He pulled them to his chest as he jumped out a window and they landed safely on the floor.
The little boy beamed at him but then seemed to remember himself and took a step back with a blush. “Gracias, señor.” He said in a small voice. Peter crouched down next to the boy and reached to lay a hand on the boy’s shoulder, but stopped when the boy flinched slightly and closed his hazel eyes. Peter, immediately noticed the bruises around the boy’s wrists and his frown deepened.
“Hablas inglés?” Peter asked. The boy nodded, and Peter smiled.
“What’s your name, buddy?” Peter asked him. The boy fiddled with the bottom of his shirt and avoided looking at Peter.
“M’name’s Ezra. And this is Isabella,” he spoke as he gestured to himself and the toddler standing next to him.
“Okay, Ezra, where are your parents?” Peter asked in a cheery voice, Ezra was a cute little kid.
Ezra looked at his shirt again, “I don’t have any… Not anymore at least. They went on a cruise a few months ago and never came back. Iz and I were sent to an orphanage,” he explained to Peter.
Peter’s heart broke as he sat down criss-cross in front of the kid. He heard Iron Lad land behind him and start to walk over.
“Do you like the orphanage?” Peter asked as he prayed that what he thought wasn’t true.
“Not very much, Mister.” The boy said nervously. “They are very mean to me and Iz. One of the ladies there…”
Ezra trailed off and rubbed his wrist subconsciously; Peter got the message. Iron Lad, who had also heard that was fuming with anger.
Peter heard Harley start to walk in a different direction, and Peter jumped to his feet. He stood to face Harley, and put his hands up in a non-threatening way “, Harley, calm down.”
Harley turned towards him and Peter could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.
“Listen! I know you want them to pay, but this is not the way to do it,” Peter explained.
“What do you suggest, Parker? We leave them with those monsters?” Harley hissed as he took another threatening step forward.
“No, I suggest we take them with us; try to find them a good home in New York,” Peter suggested as he looked back at the kids who were watching them from the distance. Harley sighed and rubbed the suit’s temples.
“Fine. Hey, kiddos, we’re going on an adventure,” Harley said as he called out for the kids. One woman came forward and reached out for Spider-man’s arm.
“Please, Sir. You cannot them away,” she seethed.
“The way you people are treating them is no way any child should be treated. You’re lucky that I cooled down my friend over there, or you would have bigger problems on your hands,” he somewhat threatened her. She let go of him and glared. He ignored her and walked back to the quinjet, were Harley was already seated, both kids on his lap and it seems that FRIDAY was projecting a movie for them.
Peter took off his mask and sat next to the trio with a smile on his face.
“I’m Peter! And that’s Harley,” Peter introduced them. The kids looked at him for a moment before Isabella gurgled some words, “I, Izzy! My brother, Ez!”
She was absolutely adorable.
Harley seemed to think so too because he gave her one of his softest smiles and wrapped his arms around her more. Peter hadn’t seen Harley look this happy in months. When the Winter Soldier and the New Captain America came back onto the ship, Sam gave them a curious and almost disapproving look. Peter looked up at him and subtly tapped on his leg “long story I’ll tell you later.”
Sam must have seen it because he nodded curtly and headed to the cockpit. The group continued to watch Mulan-- MJ’s favorite Disney movie by far, as the quintet took off into the sky.
Peter was painfully aware of how well behaved the children were throughout the ride. It was like they were afraid to step out of line. Harley seemed to notice too because every time he tried to talk to them and was met with a short and polite response, his smile would tighten slightly, and he would look back to the movie. They sat and watched when Peter felt little eyes staring at him. He looked down to meet Ezra’s eyes, who quickly blushed and looked away.
“You need something, Ezra?” Peter inquired. The boy hesitated and then shook his head.
“Are you sure? You can ask me anything!” Peter said kindly. Ezra’s eyes looked to his and the boy gulped as he gathered his courage.
“Can I… may I… maybe… sit on your lap, please?” Ezra murmured as he played with his shirt. Peter barely suppressed the grin that spread on his cheeks as he lightly grabbed Ezra and transferred him to his lap. Ezra let out a rare smile and leaned against Peter’s chest. Peter’s heart melted right then and there.
Peter didn’t know how they were going to give these kids away; they were already attached to his and Harley’s hearts.
Peter got Harley’s attention and quickly began tapping. “ Harley, I know this sounds crazy. But what if we adopted them?”
Harley had an incredulous look on his face. “ Peter you and MJ are still in high school. We all have just recovered from the last 5 years. Do you really think this is a good idea? Kids are a huge responsibility.”
Peter looked determined as he tapped back. “ It is clear that some child abuse occurred in their orphanage, what if it happened again? We would make it work! Ezra would probably just be entering school and we could hire a babysitter for Isabella for the day!”
Harley thought for a moment. “ There are many, many more factors that play into this but I’m on board. I could watch Isabella during the day, I’m sure Tony would let her come to work with me. All we have to do now is convince MJ.
Peter winced at the thought but nodded. These kids were worth it. Eventually, the group fell asleep.
When the quinjet landed in the Tower, Harley and Peter were quick to get to their floor with the kids. They didn’t want anyone to see the kids, and MJ was also waiting for them. MJ was always there, waiting to patch them up after missions.
When they entered the floor from the elevators with the kids, MJ was already waiting, with her arms crossed and her lips pursed in front of them.
“I got a picture from Sam on your way back,” She proclaimed as she showed them a photo of the four of them sleeping. Harley was leaning his head back, and Iz had clung to him like a koala, while Peter was leaning again Harley, his arms wrapped protectively around Ezra.
“Cute picture,” She commented as Harley led the kids out of the room. “Where did you get them?”
Peter shrugged. “In a collapsing building. They are newly orphans and were getting abused in their orphanage. Harley and I couldn’t just leave them there.”
MJ nodded and walked to the kitchen. ‘So how long are they staying with us?”
Even though MJ did not officially live at the tower, she slept over a lot. Home life got hard after the snap. Her dad had gotten cancer and died during the period of the snap and the rest of her family was not handling it well. They were broken, just like the rest of the world.
“Um actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you… Harley and I don’t really want to… given them away,” She set down the bread she was cutting and raised her eyebrow at him.
“Peter…” she started.
“I know! I know! But we already have a connection with them! And Harley and I have already talked about what we can do with them during the day!” Peter explained.
MJ pursed her lips and sighed. She continued to cut the bread and started putting on the cheese. “Peter, we are all very young. We are only 18 and Harley is only 19. What would we do if there was an emergency in the middle of the day? There are so many new things that we would have to do and prepare for.”
Peter straightened up. “I’m willing to try to make it work, and so is Harley, but we are not doing this without you.”
MJ said nothing for another moment. She turned up the stove and poured some tomato soup into a pot. She then put the grilled cheeses into a pan. “I’m willing to do this. For the sake of those kids,” she spoke after a moment. Peter whooped and ran to pepper her face with kisses. She complained loudly how he was dirty, and tried to push him away but she also giggled, “Go clean yourself off, Parker.”
MJ got back to making her food, and she noticed she was making 5 sandwiches rather than the usual 3. SHe smiled and shook her head.
3 weeks later…
Pepper helped them adopt the kids legally. It usually took way longer than that, but Pepper being Pepper made it happen. The trio decided to keep it under wraps, especially at school. They didn’t want their kids in harm's way.
MJ also decided to move into the tower full time so she could be there for the kids constantly. Peter thought it was sweet, but MJ just said: “Someone has to keep the 4 of you from burning down the house.”
MJ did not share a room with Peter, and the two liked it that way. They would sometimes sleep together, but they also had their own space. Meanwhile, Ezra and Isabella also got their own rooms. Ezra was so excited to have his own room and could not stop hugging the trio; he kept babbling on what he wanted in his room and what colors he wanted the walls.
Peter and Harley grinned because finally, his personality was shining through. MJ did most of the design with Pepper for the kids' rooms (because the boys have no taste) and the rooms ended up looking amazing.
Although it was rocky the first 3 weeks of having the kids, either because one of them would just forget that they had them, or would forget to buy something at the market, or didn’t quite know why the kids were crying, it took a lot of patience. Fortunately, they were slowly figuring it out.