Chapter Text
“Petey, can we go swimming?”
Peter cracked his eyes open from where he was lounging on the beach to see Morgan hovering next to him, toes digging in the sand as she waited for his answer. A strawberry frosted donut floatie was around her waist that she kept spinning around her as she waited for his answer.
It was winter break, just a couple days since his encounter with the Sandman and Tony had whisked the family away to a tropical resort the moment he could. There was predicted to be a particularly nasty cold snap and no one wanted to take the risk with a certain spider infused teenager. With his lack of thermoregulation and the memories of how cold it was while Venom was in control, it was easy to say that Peter wasn’t coping well in the New York City’s winter.
Especially as he always looked over his shoulder for a man dressed in green flying on a high-tech hoverboard and cackles that would echo off the buildings.
No one had argued about it and May had ordered new beach gear for her and Peter using Tony’s credit card. Michelle and Ned were unable to come on this trip as both of their families had already planned something. Most of the avengers had decided to stay back in the city to allow the family to have a more private vacation. They swore that they would be there if something happened - Bucky joking that something would Peter's luck before being punched in the arm by Steve.
So, on this trip it was just Tony, Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, May, Happy, Harley, and Peter. Harley had been a surprise but a welcomed one. Apparently, the mechanic had messaged Tony about his college break starting and that he had been missing everyone. Tony had jumped on the chance to get his other sort-of kid to go on the trip with them and Harley had shown up with packed bags and presents on Christmas day.
Tony had a private island in the Caribbean that he flew them all to the night of Christmas. Peter didn’t remember most of the flight as he slept, tired from his stint from fighting the Sandman on Christmas eve in the cold, getting his stomach pumped from eating those cinnamon roles, and cramming for finals in between patrols. After landing, Tony had shown them to the villa they would all be staying and quick rundown of all the safety features in case something happened.
With Peter’s luck, something probably would.
If anything happened, Peter was so going to blame Bucky for jinxing him.
“How about we take the boat out instead?” Peter offered. He really didn’t feel like swimming and he had just lathered up in sun screen not that long ago. As much as he pretended he didn’t, Peter wasn’t blessed like Michelle or Ned and he burned like a lobster if he wasn’t covered in sun screen and didn’t like it soak.
Morgan tapped her chin in thought before nodding in agreement. “Can we bring Harley?”
“If you want,” Peter shrugged, sitting up and leaned back on one hand. Peter gave a sharp whistle across the beach to Harley would was leaving the house with a drink in his hands. The young adult raised an eye brow at Peter and Morgan as he sipped his drink and came over.
“What’s up?” Harley asked.
“Morgan wants to go on adventure,” Peter answered. “Figured that was right up our alley and we could go sailing.”
“I’ll go get a boat ready,” Harley grinned as he immediately agreed.
“Hold up!” Tony called from across the sand where he was sitting under an umbrella. “Where are you three going?”
“On an adventure,” Peter rolled his eyes.
“Keep up, daddy,” Morgan snarked, making her brothers laugh.
“Yeah, no,” Tony shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “After Hawaii, you two aren’t allowed to go anywhere by yourselves.”
“But we’ll have Morgan with us,” Harley argued.
“Yeah, daddy, I’m here too,” Morgan added with her chest puffed out in pride.
Tony raised an unamused eyebrow at the trio. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”
The six-year-old proud face fell in offence and she puffed her cheeks out, stomping a foot on the ground. Peter reached down to pat Morgan on the head. “It’s okay, Mo. Mr. Stark just hates fun.”
Sputtering in shock, Tony pointed a finger at Peter. “Don’t act like you are innocent in this.”
Peter shrugged with a half-hearted shit-eating grin. “If it’s any consolation Mr. Stark, I held up a volcano by myself last time. If something were to happen, I’m the best person for the two of them to be around.”
Tony pinned his three kids down with a flat look while they held their hands together in a plea. After a moment, Tony sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. “Fine,” Tony sighed in defeat.
“Yay!” Harley and Morgan started to cheer.
“But!” Tony interrupted which made the oldest and youngest groan. “If I feel like something is wrong, all three of you come back the moment I call you.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Peter agreed.
“You are giving in too easily.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Peter.
“I think you’re right,” Peter shrugged. Tony narrowed his eyes further at Peter. “What?”
“You aren’t one to listen to me,” Tony said accusatorily.
“I listen!”
“Rarely.”
“Oh my gaaawwwwd, Mr. Stark,” Peter groaned with his head thrown back.
“I’m just saying,” Tony said.
“Whatever,” Peter huffed and stood up. “Can we go sailing or not?”
“Only if you promise to be safe,” Tony said. “All of you.”
“I promise to stay safe, daddy,” Morgan chirped as she bounced on her toes in excitement.
“I’ll do my best,” Harley shrugged. Tony stared Harley down to which the ladder sighed. “Fiiiiiine, I promise to be good.”
“…I’ll take it,” Tony relented. Looking at Peter, he waited. “Well?”
“I promise to be safe as much as my luck will allow it,” Peter said.
Knowing that was the best he would get, Tony nodded once. “Good. I’ll let the others know where you all went. There is a boat down by the docks.”
All of Tony’s children cheered, making the inventor chuckle and lean his head back against the chair he was lounging. If his kids were this happy, he must be doing this ‘father’ thing right.
Take that Howard.
“Now…” Harley rubbed his hands together with a smile. Striking a pose, Harley pointed at the boat tied to the dock. “Onto an adventure!”
“Adventure!” Peter and Morgan echoed.
“This seems like a good spot to lay anchor,” Harley said. “First mate Peter, if you could.”
“Aye aye first mate Harley,” Peter said as grabbed the anchor to throw over the edge. With his strength, it felt like a paperclip.
“Petey! Harl! I see fishies!” Morgan preened as she pointed at a school of shiny fish underneath of them.
Peter snorted to himself at how Morgan waddled around the boat in her life vest. It was bright orange with reflective tape on the straps. Both brothers had put their foot down when Morgan argued about wearing it. Neither were taking a chance of Morgan going overboard without one on.
“What do you think, captain Mo?” Peter grinned, brushing his hands off before taking a seat at the head of the boat. He sat with his back against it with his arms laid out on the top of the siding. “Fun, eh?”
“Super fun!” Morgan beamed and jumped in excitement. She squealed in shock as the boat rocked with the movement which made her brothers laugh.
“Careful, you don’t want to capsize the boat,” Harley joked.
“Imagine if she did,” Peter snorted. “Mr. Stark would be on our case hard time.”
“He would gloat so hard,” Harley said. Leaning over, he reached into the cooler they had brought with them to grab two sodas and a juice box. Opening the juice box for Morgan, passed it over to his little sister who thanked him with a bright smile.
Harley didn’t even warn Peter before he threw the can of soda at him. The college student knew he didn’t need to with Peter’s senses and reflexes. They kicked in right before they would have smacked Peter and he plucked it out of the air without turning around.
“Thanks,” Peter said and popped open the can.
Harley hummed his response as he opened his own can and took a swing of the cool soda. For a while, both brothers just listened to Morgan ‘ooh’ and ‘awe’ over the various sea life that swam in the clear water below them.
“Man, I want cinnamon buns,” Peter whined out of nowhere and hung his arms over the side of the boat to let his fingers be tickled by the water.
“Dude, how could you still want them after having to get your stomach pumped?” Harley asked with an eyebrow raised.
The college student had strolled into the tower Christmas day after visiting his biological family with his arms weighed down by present to find the common floor. After asking Friday, Harley had made his way to the med bay where Peter was pouting in his bed after having needed his stomach pumped. Apparently, in the growing change of spider DNA in Peter, cinnamon had been added to the list of things that sent Peter into anaphylactic shock.
Luckily, they had caught it early enough that Peter was fine. They were back on track with the Christmas festivities a few hours later – after Tony had made sure to throw away every cinnamon themed snack they had around.
“Because they are so good,” Peter groaned.
“You’re allergic to them!”
“Doesn’t affect how good they taste.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Harley rolled his eyes.
Peter grumbled more and lightly splashed the water with his fingers. “Stupid spider genes. Can’t have citrus or peppermint or cinnamon. What’s next? Chocolate? Doritos? Pizza?!”
“Well…” Harley trailed off.
Peter shot up with a panicked look in his eyes. “No way – I can’t have pizza anymore?!” he screeched.
Harley couldn’t fight the grin that pasted itself to his face. It was so easy to mess with Peter sometimes. “I’m just messing with you,” Harley laughed. Morgan joined along with her giggles that she tried to hide behind her little hands.
Frowning, Peter turned away from his siblings. “I hope you remember this the next time you need to be saved.”
“I don’t have shit luck like you,” Harley snorted. “I don’t think I need to worry about that.” Realizing what he said, Harley’s eyes widen and he looked over at Morgan. “Don’t tell Tony I cursed around you.”
“It’s okay. Daddy also says mommy’s word and I don’t tell her,” Morgan smiled.
Both brothers laughed at that. Peter was going to say something when he felt a shiver run up his spine and cover his arms in goosebumps. Sitting up straight, Peter looked around for what could be wrong. Harley immediately picked up on it and scooted closer to Morgan.
“What’s wrong?” Harley demanded.
“I don’t know,” Peter murmured. Standing up, Peter peered out on the ocean as much as his enhanced vision would let him. There was no other boats on the horizon or planes in the sky to indict intruders were coming. The air was still with the splashing of waves breaking it up.
“Is something going to happen?” Morgan asked. She reached over to grab Harley’s hand in comfort.
The ocean seemed to answer that as the waves suddenly kicked to send the boat rocking side to side. Harley was quick to wrap Morgan in his arms and legs to protect her from all sides. Peter, already not wearing shoes, stuck himself to the boat using his powers and tried to keep the balance so they wouldn’t flip over. There was a rumbling from the land that Peter couldn’t place but he focused more on not letting his siblings fall into the water.
As quickly as it had started, it was over. Peter brought the boat to a standstill before Harley would let up on his human shield around Morgan. “What was that?” Morgan asked.
“I don’t know,” Peter murmured. The water was deathly still now and Peter couldn’t see any of the sea life that had been around before. Shivers ran down him as his spidey-sense started telling him to leave. Looking around, he couldn’t see anything off – but that mean there was no danger. “We should go back.”
“I agree with ya,” Harley nodded along feverishly and dashed over to the motor of the boat. The boat rumbled to life underneath of them. Peter rushed over to the side of the boat with the anchor and reached down for the chain.
Pulling at it, Peter cursed when he realized that it was caught on something at the bottom. Knowing that they had no time to wait, Peter simply tightened his grip around the weak metal – or at least, weak to him – and snapped the chain links.
“Go!” Peter ordered. He came up behind Morgan and used his body to cage her in. If something were to happen like his spidey-sense was trying to warn him, Peter would absolutely use his body as a shield for his little sister. Harley roared the motor of the boat and it jumped as it shot forward. They got all of ten yards when they slowed down. “What are you doing?!” Peter yelled over his shoulder.
“It’s not me!” Harley yelled back. They went from being in a standstill to the boat now going backwards. “We’re being pulled back!” Looking behind him, Harley’s eyes widened. “Brace for impact!”
Morgan came tumbling back into Peter as the back hit a cluster of rocks. They were all jostled but were fine in the grand scheme of things. “What should we do?!” Harley asked as he kept adding more power to the motor and getting nowhere.
“I…” Peter trailed off as he tried to think on what to do.
The water receded from underneath of them at an alarming rate. Morgan yelped as the boat tipped forward with the bow falling into the wet sand. There was a growing noise from behind Peter and looked back – the blood draining from his face when he saw the tsunami sized wave heading right towards them.
“We need to go – now!” Peter yelled. He swiped Morgan up in his arms and jumped off the boat. As soon as his feet hit the wet sand that had been covered by the ocean just moment ago, Peter was shooting off.
“Run Peter! Protect Morgan!” Harley yelled as he jumped off the boat to follow.
Peter slowed just a little bit to not get too far separated from Harley. In the distance, Peter could hear the roaring of the surge making its way back to them. Peter ground his teeth as he held himself back from using his full speed.
“Harley, don’t stop running!” Peter yelled over his shoulder. “Sprint as fast as you can!”
“I’m trying!” Harley yelled back and it sounded much farther back than Peter preferred. Risking a glance, Peter saw Harley a few yards back and the rapidly approaching growing wave behind them. Growling, Peter slowed just a bit so that when Harley caught up to him, it was quick work to switch Morgan to one arm and to throw Harley over his free shoulder. “What the hell?!” he screeched.
“You’re too slow!” Peter said and really put the pedal to the metal. Harley’s eyes grew large as he realized just how slow Peter had been going for his sake as the three of them tore down the sand. The breath was taken from him as he realized that Peter could run really, really fast.
Off in the distance, Harley could see a duo of suits coming for them. “Up ahead!” Harley exclaimed as he pointed at the Iron Man and War Machine suits coming for them. He blew out a breath of relief that their rescue was so close to them.
Peter didn’t say anything as he focused on sprinting. The water was moving much too fast despite how hard Peter pushed himself. Glancing back again, Peter’s eyes widened when he saw just how close the water was. Looking back to the front, Peter saw the suits were in a safe throwing distance.
“Heads up!” Peter yelled. Rearing his arm back, he threw Morgan as high in the air as he could.
Morgan shrieked in fright as she thrown high in the air. The Iron Man suit shot forward more and plucked Morgan out the air before gravity could start forcing her back towards the ground. Morgan’s arms immediately wrapped around Tony’s metal covered neck and she ducked her face against him.
“You’re next,” Peter said as he pulled Harley off his shoulder.
“Peter, don’t you da-AARE!” Harley screeched as he was thrown into the air mid-threat. His arms and legs flailed in the air as he was thrown much higher than he was expecting. The ground was a stomach rolling drop down.
Rhodey grabbed Harley by the back of his muscle shirt just as he started to drop again. With an easy pull, Harley was lifted so that he could sit on Rhodey’s outstretched arm. Harley looked right down at Peter as the high schooler sprinted down the wet compacted sand. What scared Harley more than anything was how close the impending wave of doom was.
“Peter, your turn!” Harley screamed. “Jump like the spider you are!”
Looking up at them all in the sky, Peter nodded and raised a web-shooter equiped wrist at the Iron Man suit.
Just in time for the wave to finally overtake him.