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Being a Stark [Superfamily]

Chapter 15

“So the mission was a bust?”

“Rumlow escaped before we managed to capture him. Luckily nobody got hurt… He also seems to have taken up the persona of ‘Crossbones’ or something. It’s what his workers call him.”

“That’s a lame nickname, must be a lame guy.”

“He was friendly enough before he turned out to be HYRDA. Then he tried to attack me in an elevator.”

“Elevators aren’t for attacking. Unless it’s of the consensual sexual type.”

“Tony…”

“You’re laughing, and you know it.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

And sure, Steve does.

They’ve been lazy in bed for the past hour since they woke up, but the first half hour had been filled with just making out. Tony has to admit that it had been a bit weird, feeling such a muscular – and masculine – body underneath his hands instead of a lean and slender one. Luckily, Steve seems to have shaved before coming here, otherwise Tony’s mind would have been even more fucked at the addition of sudden facial hair, as well.

After thirty minutes of just breathing heavily together with their lips locked and hands roaming everywhere, the two men take another breather. And that’s when Steve came to lie down on his back, and Tony rolled over to his side, holding his head up in his hand while letting the other one draw figures over Steve’s chest. The sheets are pulled up to their middle, but they’re still wearing their underwear, never having taken them off.

Another chill passes through Tony; he’s practically naked underneath the sheets with Steve Rogers… Who would ever have thought?

When Steve leans up to kiss Tony quiet, their roles reverse. Tony comes to lie down on his back, and Steve leans above him, their eyes looking deeply into the other and their lips stuck in a permanent smile. Tony reaches up his hand to pass it over Steve’s cheek, seeing how the man enjoys the touch.

“I’ve enjoyed this morning lie-in very much, Steve,” Tony starts. Steve’s smile falters a little bit, as if he’s afraid about what’s coming next.

“But…?” he asks.

“But… I have something to report from my side as well, and I really need your input on it,” Tony admits. Steve then visibly relaxes. “What, you thought I was going to dump you already?”

“Well, is it a possibility? To be dumped? Not now, just… in general?” Steve asks, uncertain. Tony stays quiet for a moment while he thinks that through.

“Maybe a bit too soon to decide, no?” he says after a moment of thought. Steve hesitates before nodding, and then he lies back down on his side. Tony copies him.

“What is it you need my input for?” Steve then asks. One hand rests under his head, but the other leans forward and slowly strokes Tony’s side. Luckily, Tony isn’t ticklish or he would have been laughing the entire time.

“I got an automatic message from Mary,” Tony admits, figuring it’s best to get it all out at once. Steve frowns a bit, stopping the movement from his hand for a few seconds before resuming. Then he nods.

“Peter’s mother,” he states. Tony nods “Alright, what did it say?”

“Nothing much, just her apology, and explanation as to why she broke all contact. Also to tell me Peter’s my son.”

Oops, that came out way too casually. Steve’s hand already pulls back in surprise, and he sits up.

“Your son?! How...? Why…? And you’re just okay with that?!” Steve almost shouts. Tony, too, sits up before pulling the blanket back up to cover the two of them again.

“Of course I’m not just okay with that, Steve! I just learned I have a sixteen-year-old son! How do you think I’m feeling?”

“Does he know?” Steve asks, and Tony shrugs.

“He knows. I know he knows. He doesn’t know that I know, though,” Tony explains casually. “That’s the problem, should I tell him I do?”

Steve frowns before taking Tony’s hands into his own.

“Why on Earth wouldn’t you, Tony?” Steve asks, and to be honest, he’s got him there. There’s no good reason as to why Tony would keep his trap shut about it all. What change is it going to bring into Peter? He already knows for crying out loud! Nothing much will change, right?

“I don’t really know how to bring it up, though,” Tony admits. Steve gives him a small smile and reaches out his hand again, resting it against Tony’s cheek.

“Just talk to him. If he already knows, he won’t be as shocked as you expect him to be.”

Steve may be right there. Tony nods before leaning forward once more, crashing their lips together again. Despite the anxiety he’s feeling about having to tell Peter the truth, right now he feels nothing other than contentment.

Steve is here, next to him, and as they continue their kiss, Tony realizes that, all along, Pepper might have been right about this.

It’s taken a whole week for Aunt May to let him off the hook. That whole week, whenever he wasn’t at school or with Mr. Stark, Peter spent trying to help out in the apartment even more than before. He cleaned the floors, filtered his closet by throwing out the clothes he would never wear anymore, and did the dishes and laundry. In the morning, he sometimes even prepared some breakfast for Aunt May, that he would bring to her bed to surprise her.

But now Peter is free again, and the first thing he does is put back on the suit and swing his way through the streets of New York.

It’s been only a week, but it felt like much longer. With school and the internship combined, he already had so little time to just do this, but he has a free day, today, so he’s going to make the best of it. So Peter does his usual patrol, swinging above New York and dropping down whenever he sees something that isn’t alright.

The first example is when a young man suddenly starts running with an old woman’s purse. Immediately, Peter does into pursuit. Without warning, he pulls the guy up, binds him into his web for the police to find, and quickly offers the woman her bag again. He tries to refuse when she gives him a few dollar bills, but she seems adamant on giving it to him.

The second example is the shop mugger, who holds up a gun towards the cashier with a cry that he wants the money – it’s always the same with these guys. Peter quickly pulls the gun away with his web, and then immobilizes the mugger, once more serving him on a platter for the police. He always disappears before they can get there, since they still don’t really like him.

George Stacey must still be rubbing off on them.

Peter’s third ‘job’ is when a bus full of children suddenly seems to lose control. As the thing seems to be heading towards Stark Industries (what are the odds?), Peter quickly jumps to the rescue and stops the thing with all the power he has, including with what must be over fifty webs to pull the bus back. Once he’s sure that the children are safe – and after some reporter took a picture of him with their grateful little faces, Peter hurries off again. By the time he’s on the roof of some random building, once again changed back into his normal clothes, Peter lies back down and takes a moment to breathe.

Sadly, that is not granted to him. His eyes fly open when a cold shudder is going through him again – the Spider-sense! – and before he knows it, he’ll pulled up into the air again. Thanks for the warning in advance, man! Peter thinks bitterly, realizing how utterly useless the spider-sense has been right now.

One look up indicates that, surprise, surprise, it’s once again the Goblin.

“Oh, come on! Aren’t you getting tired of this?!” Peter shouts to the guy. The Goblin just laughs but otherwise doesn’t respond to him. Peter groans and throws his head back, not really keen on falling again. Sure, he’s still on his meds, but he doesn’t want to actively trigger himself into another panic attack.

But the Goblin doesn’t seem to just want to fly him somewhere. That much is clear when suddenly he’s grabbed by the throat and thrown against the wall. A sharp sting hits in his back, and the tears already starts welling up in his eyes. This hurts, damn it!

“It’s about time for me to get rid of you, isn’t it?” The Goblin hisses at him. Peter grits his teeth together and turns his head to the side. There’s no witty comeback coming from him, only grunts and wishes that somebody quickly comes to his help. Normally he would have taken care of the Goblin himself, but whatever he’s done to his back… holy crap, this hurts like hell!

“AAAH!” Peter shouts out when the Goblin pulls him away from the wall, only to throw him back against it. Whatever is stinging into his back only hurts twice as much now. Peter shakes his head, feeling his breath slowly leaving him. “H-Ha-Harry! D-don’t do th-this!”

The Goblin just snorts.

“You’ve forgotten again, haven’t you? Harry’s dead!” The Goblin sneers before throwing Peter away, literally. He feels himself fly in the air at an alarming speed, but it’s not long before the flying turns into falling. With trouble, he reaches up his arm to shoot out some webs towards a building that’s nearing, but in his horror he realizes that they don’t work. The Goblin must have broken them!

Before he can collapse against the building, the Goblin picks him up again and flies him back into the air. Once more he’s grabbed by the throat. Peter’s hands try to get it off him as he’s getting a bit short on breath. He tries to scratch the Goblin’s hands – which is useless since he’s wearing gloves. Tries to kick him in the groin or the shins. Nothing works.

“How you’re feeling right now? Knowing that your friend is currently killing you? That’s how I felt, back when you stabbed me in the back,” the Goblin hisses. There’s a punch into his face. Blood streams from Peter’s nose.

He’s going to kill him. Peter needs to get out of here, now!

With the Goblin still focused on trying to beat the crap out of Peter, the teenager secretly grabs his phone from his coat, making sure that it sticks against his hand. It wouldn’t help if it would fall before he could call for help.

Peter remembers one of the codes FRIDAY gave him. Next to the override-one, there’s also a request for immediate help. It contains a certain combination of numbers that needs to be typed in on the phone, which would alert FRIDAY immediately. Peter can’t care too much right now that FRIDAY keeps watch on his phone in the first place.

So Peter, blindly, types in the combination. +646766234*#. After that, he tucks the phone back into his jacket right before another punch is landed on his face.

Meanwhile, a little further away, Tony and Steve are just about ready to leave Tony’s bedroom at last when FRIDAY shares the urgent news. Tony’s face turns white at the mention of it. Steve gives him one look before nodding, and after that, Iron Man flies away hurriedly, with Vision and War Machine right behind him.

Peter is already sure that he’ll have two black eyes by the time the Goblin seems to tire from punching him all the time. In the small moment of distraction in searching another form of attack, Peter once again kicks him, only this time in the stomach. He uses all the force he has, and he’s glad to see that he’s managed to take the Goblin by surprise.

The hold on Peter’s neck loosens, and suddenly he’s falling – again. But Peter doesn’t scream. All he can do is close his eyes while letting out a long breath.

He’s not worried, because he timed it perfectly. In the corner of his eyes, with the limited sight he has left through his tears, he saw the three figures already nearing them. Which is why he took the chance to land that kick in the first place. That way, two can fly after the Goblin and hopefully catch him for real, and one of them can go after Peter.

He doesn’t know who came to his rescue. He doesn’t care, either, right now. Because ten seconds have already passed, and he’s still falling.

“PETER!!”

That’s Mr. Stark’s voice! Peter opens his eyes, seeing Iron Man hurrying towards him with that usual blunt stare the mask gives off. But Peter is sure that, behind that helmet, the man looks scared, terrified. Peter holds up an arm, reaching out towards Mr. Stark, but slowly beginning to fear that he might have miscalculated by a few seconds. How far is he until he hits the ground?

“Don’t worry, I’m almost there!” Mr. Stark assures him, but Peter isn’t sure what to believe anymore. The sound of the wind is strong in his ears, and they start to hurt a little bit. Further away, War Machine and the Goblin are, once again, throwing punches at each other.

Just when Peter starts to hear the sound of the traffic getting nearer, Iron Man’s metallic arms wrap around him at last. Together they drop a little bit more while slowing down – to lessen the blow – and then the suit starts to fly them back up in the air, speeding all the way until they’re back at the compound where a few other people are watching them land in surprise.

Mr. Stark jumps out of the suit immediately after they’ve landed, and before Peter really knows it, his arms are wrapped around him in a tight hug. Mr. Stark is breathing heavily, in shocks – as if he’s at the verge of crying. Peter wants to assure him that he’s fine, but he knows he’ll be lying about that.

“Peter! I lost it when I got the message! Are you alright?” Mr. Stark asks without pulling away. Peter, with eyes barely able to open, just nods and gently taps him on the back in return. His throat feels hoarse, and he’s sure he’s dripping blood all over Mr. Stark’s shirt.

“I’m fine, sir,” Peter whispers out. Mr. Stark then pulls away and shakes his head.

“No, you are not fine! You look like that creep used you as his personal punching bag, which he probably did!” he tells him. Then he turns around and addresses the few people standing there. “Somebody get Dr. Cho here!”

One woman nods before hurrying inside. Just as she passes through the door, Steve Rogers does the same but from the opposite direction. Once he sees Peter and Tony standing there, he runs towards them. He, too, looks horrified at Peter’s condition.

“Oh my God, what happened?!” he asks, already pulling at Peter’s arm until it’s hanging over his shoulder. Mr. Stark does the same, and together they start guiding him back inside. Peter wants to protest, because he can walk fine on his own – thank you very much – but then decides against it when he feels how much his back aches, again.

“That Goddamn Goblin came back!” Mr. Stark grumbles. “That’s the second time he grabbed him already!”

“The guy’s too unpredictable, we need to bring him in as soon as we can.”

They keep on talking around Peter, but the teenager doesn’t really listen anymore. The words sound faded around him after a while. His head hurts too much to focus on it. After a while, Dr. Cho arrives with a few nurses and a gurney. They put Peter on top of it, and then roll him away towards her office. Peter isn’t really sure about what happens after that. He must have lost consciousness after all, since he suddenly wakes up in a dark room with only the sound of what must be a heart-monitor that fills his ears.

What the hell? Why is his heart being monitored? Peter tries to move, but feels a sudden sting of pain and lets out a groan.

“Don’t try to move, sweety,” Aunt May’s voice suddenly says. Against her advice, Peter turns his head to his left, finding his Aunt sitting there, looking worried. When she squeezes his hand, he realizes she must have been holding it the entire time. “You had a metal pin in your back that punctured your spleen and caused for a lot of internal blood-loss. But they discovered it quickly and they managed to stitch it back up.”

He’s been in surgery? That must be why his throat feels like a tubed has been shoved through it – because there has been one actually shoved through it! Peter closes his eyes and turns his head back until he’s facing the ceiling.

“You’ve got a concussion, as well, hence the dark room, including two concussed ribs. Dr. Cho will come by later to give us some more information,” Aunt May finishes. Peter startles a bit when he suddenly feels her lips on his forehead, but then he lets out a long breath.

“H-Harry?” Peter whispers out, opening his eyes again. Aunt May nods sadly.

“They caught him. They’ve got him somewhere, here. Dr. Cho and her scientists are trying to find a way to cure him from whatever he’s got,” she tells him. Then the door opens again – gently, it seems like nobody wants to make too much noise here – and Mr. Stark walks inside the room. When he sees that Peter is awake, relief shows all over his face.

“Finally,” he breathes out while hurrying towards Peter. Silently, Steve closes the door again behind him, but the Captain stays there, not coming closer. “Hey, champ, how are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been tossed against a building a few times,” Peter tries to joke, but neither Aunt May nor Tony seem to be laughing. They now sit at either side of his bed, but while Aunt May keeps her hand on his, Mr. Stark seems hesitant on reaching out. Instead, he turns his head towards Steve, who is still standing at the door.

“Can you ask Dr. Cho for more painkillers?” he asks, and Steve nods before leaving the room again. Peter doesn’t think he needs more against the pain, but when he tries to shuffle again in his bed, he quickly realizes that, yes, he needs more.

Peter clears his throat, wanting to ask what exactly happened more when he was out. He feels that something happened; things feel a bit awkward here, somehow. Mr. Stark is incredibly quiet, and Aunt May seems to shoot quick glances at the man before focusing on Peter again. Please don’t tell me they did something they shouldn’t have done together, Peter thinks to himself. Sure, he’s aware that his Aunt looks great, but he really doesn’t need anything to happen between her and his father next to him.

“It’s a good thing FRIDAY gave you all of those codes,” Mr. Stark says without looking at Peter. Instead, the man is inspecting the infusion pump and the monitor that keeps on making noise.

“I’m sorry, I promised FRIDAY I wouldn’t use them unless it was really necessary. And now I’ve used two of them already,” Peter whispers, a little bit ashamed that he’s been using Mr. Stark’s codes that freely. Of course, they were both urgent matters, but it doesn’t make him feel less horrible about himself.

“I’m not sorry. We could have lost you,” Mr. Stark says. “I’m glad FRIDAY gave them, just like I’m glad that you’re still here with us, son.”

Then, suddenly, there’s a hand behind his head, stroking through his hair. It’s not coming from Aunt May’s side, so Peter figures it must be Mr. Stark. He shudders a bit before the first tear rolls over his cheek. With a small groan, he turns towards his Aunt with a questioning look. The woman nods.

“He knows,” she says. And then Peter starts sobbing. Not in sadness, but rather out of joy. Because, finally he knows! Finally he doesn’t have to keep it quiet anymore. With the hand that isn’t attached to Aunt May, Peter reaches up towards Mr. Stark to grab his arm in a sudden need for contact, touch. And then the man, his father, responds by taking Peter’s hand into his own. He smiles once he feels a small kiss being pressed against his fingers.

Peter falls asleep again after Dr. Cho’s nurse injected some more painkillers. As he closes his eyes, he still has his aunt and his father holding his hands, and a smile on his lips.







Tony has never met May Parker before now. At least, not officially.

He did see her a few times back when that whole drama with Mary begun, but never had he spoken to her while he’d been sober. He can only vaguely remember her face, but has stated rather quickly that she looks extremely young for her age. She can’t be much older than Pepper, Tony thinks. Probably even the same age.

If she remembers the whole ordeal about Tony drunkenly standing in front of her house, requesting to speak to Mary, she doesn’t let it show at all. The moment she arrived at the Compound, after Tony called her, she’s only been nice to him.

And also completely honest.

“Listen, Peter told me this a little while ago, and he wants to keep this a secret for now but I figure it’s better you know it. He’s somehow figured out that you might be his father, and he’s been trying to spend time with you to figure out if he wants you in his life more permanently. I know he doesn’t want you to know yet, but it wouldn’t be fair to you to keep this quiet.”

And Tony had been surprised, because apparently the Aunt knew as well. So Tony explained to her that he already knows about it, and they got to discuss at how they would tell Peter. Of course, by the time Tony left the room to get to the bathroom, no real plan had been put together and everything had just gone as an improvisation.

With Peter lying between them, and both May and Tony holding Peter’s hands, the two adults sit in comfortable silence. Peter is asleep, having slumbered about ten minutes ago. His face looks peaceful, but that doesn’t calm any of Tony’s nerves.

He’s been so close to losing Peter, today. Heck, it hasn’t even been a week since he found it out, and he’s already almost lost Peter once. It’s safe to say that he’s feeling like a pretty crap father right now.

“Did, uh, did you know? About me being Peter’s father?” Tony suddenly finds himself asking, curious for the answer. May clears her throat a bit, not looking away from Peter in the bed.

“I had my suspicions ever since Mary decided to shut you out right before ending pregnant with Peter,” she admits. “Of course, she never admitted, and I never asked.”

Tony nods, and then there’s another quiet moment.

“He’s going to be out of school for a while,” May suddenly says as Tony is starting to nod off. The man looks up, seeing May still staring down at Peter in concern. In agreement, he nods.

“He is,” Tony says.

“I don’t know how this is going to affect his grades, the woman admits sadly. Tony just sighs, realizing that, indeed, Peter isn’t really at the best spot at school. He really doesn’t need this setback.

“I’ll have a talk with the principal, maybe get his teachers to give him some extra work he can make while he’s at home,” Tony suggests, only to receive a long look from May. When he notices, he frowns for a moment, wondering if he did something wrong?

“You’re not what I expected, Tony Stark,” May suddenly admits. “When Peter told me about you, I couldn’t imagine a worse father for him. But now I see that I was wrong.”

Then she turns her head back to Peter, and starts stroking through the teenager’s hair.

“But that’s not fair of me. It’s probably some bit of jealousy as well,” she admits, smiling with tears in her eyes as she looks down at her nephews bruised face. “After his parents dropped him off at our house, Ben and I took care of him like he was our own. The idea of him having another father running around… I was just scared that he would run off to you.”

“I understand that,” Tony admits. Before he can speak again, the door opens again and Steve steps inside. He looks worried, casting a short glance towards Peter before turning to Tony. Slowly, he makes his way to the three, coming to stand still right next to Tony but still keeping a respectable distance between the two of them.

“How is he doing?” he asks.

“He’s asleep for now,” Tony says. Right now, in this instance, all he wants is to lean towards him, but there are two things holding him back; the first being May still standing in the same room with them, and the second the uncertainty of what exactly they’re supposed to be towards each other.

Then, May offers a simple solution by leaning back and rubbing her eyes before standing up. She lets go of Peter’s hand and starts stretching her arms.

“I’m in need of some coffee. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she says. “You need something?”

Tony shakes his head before offering May a short smile. The woman nods in return. Then she makes her way to the door and leaves them for a little while.

But instead of turning towards Steve immediately, Tony keeps to himself. He holds Peter’s hand, takes May’s place in stroking through Peter’s hair in a sudden need of touch.

Peter is quiet, unmoving. His eyes have already bruised, and there’s a cut on his cheek that has already been stitched by Dr. Cho earlier. His arms and legs look blue and purple as well, and there’s an IV passing some fluids with medication through his veins. Tony hates to see him like this.

“How are you holding up, Tony?” Steve asks quietly, respecting the distance between them. Tony just shrugs.

“I’m alright,” he assures him, but not really certain on who he’s trying to kid here. “I just- I wish he wouldn’t have been brought into this mess.”

“That’s understandable,” Steve tells him. Then, at last, there’s a sudden hand touching Tony’s shoulder. Without thinking of it, Tony leans a bit to the side, dropping his head back until it’s resting against Steve’s chest. The man, in return, lowers his hand until it’s on the small of Tony’s back.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Tony admits. Steve just nods, but doesn’t speak. Together, the two men look down at the sleeping figure of Peter. It’s crazy to think that just a few hours ago he had been lying on the operation table, cut open by Dr. Cho and her nurses as they tried to get the thing piercing Peter’s body out of there.

Tony startles a bit when he feels a sudden kiss on the top of his head, but then he relaxes once more. Steve is here, Peter is safe, and right now there’s nothing to worry about. So Tony turns his head to the side, pressing his face against Steve’s shoulder – trying not to think too much about the fact that he’s already feeling too comfortable with doing that.

Neither man sees Peter opening his eyes for a few seconds, but then closing them again with a smile on his face.

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