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Being a Stark [Superfamily]

Chapter 39

Peter figures this is the way it should have been the first time around.

Sitting on a fancy chair in a large room somewhere in Geneva, surrounded by about sixty other people and mutants, Peter realizes that the world is a big place. Seeing heroes that he’s never seen before, he’s close to just asking all of their names and getting to know them all. But as it stands, he holds himself in check.

His assigned seat is between Tony and Susan Storm. They’re on the front row, but Tony’s not next to him, instead still in the front of the room talking to the King of Wakanda and Natasha. Peter stays in his seat, wanting nothing more but to take off the mask and be here as Peter Parker instead. But a promise is a promise.

“Are you alright, dear?” Susan asks next to him as Peter shifts in his seat nervously again. Peter turns his head, looking right into the woman’s blue eyes. She’s put up her blonde hair into a high ponytail. She’s dressed in normal clothing, so Peter can easily catch the wedding ring on her left hand.

“Yes, I’m fine, m’am,” Peter responds nervously. “I’ve just… last time they tried to bring up the accords, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.”

Susan laughs and nods in understanding. Then she takes Reed’s hand, who is distracted with his phone, and pulls up his fingers to her lips.

“Yes, they should have brought everybody together instead of going door by door,” she agrees. “Reed immediately signed, and so did Ben. Johnny and I didn’t.”

“Really?” Peter asks. He tries to lean forward and catch Johnny sitting next to Reed, but the guy’s not in his seat.

“No, he thought they were shit,” she laughs. “There was a long argument about it, but we’ve been out of action since then. I’m glad we’re here now.”

Peter turns to look back at his Dad, seeing him laugh with the King and Natasha. He looks happy, for a change. It’s really good to see him like this.

Another look around, and he sees a lot of the other heroes here as well. The X-Men, with Professor X, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm and Cyclops. Then there’s Rhodey who is talking with Sam and Clint. There’s the guy who shrinks – Peter thinks his name was Scott – talking to a woman with brown hair braided together. He doesn’t know who she is.

There are others that he’s never seen before, but then again there are people here from all over the world. Even freaking Deadpool is wandering around here, though so far he hasn’t come to drool all over Peter, so that’s a plus.

The door opens, more people walk inside. Peter bites his lip at the thought that Steve still isn’t there. They’ve all travelled together, though Steve has been transported separately from them ever since they’ve landed in Switzerland.

Peter tilts his head to the side a little bit when Storm walks up to the front and shakes the king’s hand. After that, they kiss each other on the cheek as a greeting. Tony turns back to Natasha and says something to her. After that, he heads back towards where Peter is sitting.

“You doin’ alright, kid?” he asks. He’s got a better grasp at keeping their relation quiet with others around. Peter still has a lot to learn if he ever wants to be as good as him.

“Yeah, I’m fine Mr. Stark,” Peter says. He smiles, but it’s not visible through the mask. Tony then goes to shake Susan’s and Reed’s hand.

“Now where’s that brother of yours, Sue?” Tony asks. Susan shrugs.

“I wouldn’t know, Tony. He’s always where he shouldn’t be,” she sighs while rolling her eyes. Tony laughs. Peter leans forward again, finally catching a glimpse of Johnny Storm standing there with Aunt Sharon and a few other people from SHIELD.

“He’s there!” Peter says, pointing his way. Tony and Sue both follow his finger.

“Ah, he better not be wooing my little cousin there,” he jokes. Susan chuckles. Reed finally looks up from his phone and blinks as if he hadn’t realized Tony’s standing there.

“What did I miss?” he asks. Tony shakes his head.

“Nothing important, Elastic Girl,” he says. Reed frowns and gives Tony a glare.

“What does that make me?” Ben asks from a little further away. Tony startles upon hearing his voice roar out. Facing the fourth member of the Fantastic Four, he bows forward a bit.

“That makes you Rocky, the Horror Show,” he says with a wink. Ben slams his hand on the table and lets out a thunderous laugh. Everybody jumps out of their seat in surprise. Even king T’Challa and Storm turn around to see what’s going on.

After that, Tony walks around the table to get to his seat next to Peter. There’s one more empty seat next to Tony, reserved for Bruce. Just when Peter is about to ask where he is, Bruce comes up from behind him.

“Sorry, I walked in on Strange. We still needed to have a talk about me destroying his house,” he pardons himself. Tony just nods and squeezes Bruce’s shoulder. He gives the scientist a sympathetic look when Natasha walks to the door.

“She’s going to get our special guests,” Tony explains. Bruce nods, keeping his eyes away from Natasha. Peter shifts in his seat, fumbling with the pen on the table. There’s a digital copy of the accords on a tablet in front of him. It’s all one mutual document; if anybody makes a note, everybody can read it and comment on it.

Then the King claps his hands together to get everybody’s attention. A few members of the UN whisper something in his ear as they stand next to him. The King nods and turns to everybody.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you may please be seated, we’ll begin shortly,” he says. Despite the accent, his English is really good, Peter notes. He’s never really heart T’Challa speak, not even in Germany. The idea that he’s fought alongside a King is really mind blowing.

If he’d had his cellphone, he surely would have been texting Ned with all the updates. But cellphones aren’t allowed. Even Tony had to hand in his tech.

The door eventually opens again. Steve, still in his prison uniform, walks in at last. His hands are still tied together behind his back, and they haven’t shaven off the beard or the hair for the occasion. He takes a few seconds to observe his surroundings, but then finally moves forward when one of the security guards assigned to follow him from New York pokes him in the back.

The heroes around Peter start murmuring about it. Peter hates every second Steve is spending bound like this. He hopes they’ll get him free at the end of tomorrow.

Steve gets a seat at another table, his chair next to Sam’s. The guard releases his right hand, but binds his left one to the chair. Sam looks at it disapprovingly, but nobody comments on it. Rhodey takes careful steps until he’s seated behind Tony. Next to him, Sharon starts making her way. Peter wonders why she’s here, since she’s not exactly enhanced? But, on the other hand, she’s also part of a secret organization that works with superheroes. She might as well be here.

After the commotion around Steve has died down, the door opens up again. This time, Peter recognizes the Winter Soldier, who pretty much looks like crap. His hair is pulled together messily, his arm grabbed by Wanda, who talks to him in a hushed voice. The man tries to ignore the fact that everybody’s looking at him. Peter feels sorry for him. When he feels Tony tense up next to him, he puts a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Tony quickly clears his throat.

“Yeah, right,” he mutters out. After that, Barnes and Wanda go to their own spots. When Wanda sees Peter, she gives him a smile and a wave. Peter waves back, glad to see her again after such a long time. They’ll get the chance to catch up later, he figures.

So far, Natasha hasn’t returned. She must be the last person they’re expecting, but Peter doesn’t really know the guests from the tables in the back. When he tries to look up, he’s once again surprised at the amount of people that is present.

At last, the door opens one last time. Natasha walks in, but she’s looking behind her, talking to somebody. Peter leans forward, trying to catch a glimpse of who it is. The person in question seems to hesitate, though, lingering in the doorway.

“Who’s that?” Peter asks his Dad in a whisper. He’s surprised to see Tony smile at him.

“That’s a surprise for you, son,” he says back. Peter frowns, focusing back on the two at the door. At last, Natasha gets in, and she’s quickly followed by the figure behind her.

Who turns out to be none other than Yael. Peter’s mouth falls open; he hasn’t seen this girl ever since the crap with the accords first started! She’d been on a trip somewhere, and practically disappeared from the world! When did she even return?!

Peter doesn’t think. He jumps out of his chair in a smooth motion. Natasha only startles a little bit when there’s suddenly someone next to her. Once she sees who it is, she smiles and moves aside.

“I trust you’ll get her to her seat?” she asks. Peter nods, waiting for her to leave before turning to his friend who is standing there.

She looks horrible, in a way. Not in any obvious manner; her hair is dark again, though her strands are now a washed-out blue. There’s a scar somewhere on her forehead, and her cheeks are maybe a bit hollowed out. She seems to twist nervously, almost continuously looking around as if she’s expecting danger.

“Peter?” she asks, a little hesitant. Her voice sounds even hoarser than before. Peter doesn’t answer. Instead, he pulls her into her arms, giving her a strong hug. In the corner of his eye, he can only catch a small glimpse of red before suddenly there’s a whole other pair of arms wrapped around them.

“Damn it, Wade,” Peter groans out when he can’t get any breath.

“My friends! My lovely friends! Back together! I’m the happiest Pool in the world!” he shouts out. Peter rolls his eyes, but figures this is not so bad. So he takes in the hug and closes his eyes. Things are about to get much better after this all.

It lasts for too long. Even with the small toilet breaks X requested (probably after having read too many thoughts), Peter feels like he’s about ready to climb up the walls. Literally, with the next break he’s running towards the side of the room and climbs up until he’s hanging over the ceiling.

All he gets is an amused glance from Tony, who crosses his arms and shakes his head despite the smirk on his face. Probably his way of saying ‘told you so’.

A few people go to talk with Steve, ask him about the latest update on his life. Bruce even carefully approaches Natasha and the two get to a gentle conversation Peter doesn’t stick around to listen to. He checks on Yael, on Wade, and even goes to talk with Wanda.

But after a while, they must continue, and Peter is put back in his seat after Karen urging him on to listen to the big guy who’s speaking. Peter heard him say his name in the beginning, but he has absolutely no clue what it was.

Around seven in the evening – which means they’ve been here for eleven freaking hours – they announce that they’re finished for today. While Peter thinks they’ve made no progress at all, Sue and Reed seem to agree that things go much better than they would have expected. Sure, there’s some arguing. Mostly Sam and Rhodey getting up their arguments and disagreeing all the time, followed by Johnny Storm – who reminds Peter a little bit of Steve, but more with his Dad’s character traits, if that’s possible? – and then Ben. Wade adds a few comments, but nobody is really sure why he’s even here.

By the time the bosses are out of the large room, the people, too, start standing up to get out. An evening in Switzerland sounds about good, especially during dinner time. Peter wonders if he can convince Tony to take him to a chocolate bar, but knowing all the others they’ll just get a frown in return.

Sharon kisses Tony goodbye, tells him she sees him tomorrow. Tony repeats her words. Then there’s Sue and Reed who say goodbye, followed by Ben and, reluctantly, Johnny. Peter nods towards Professor X when they pass each other. X just winks at him. He takes Yael with him before Peter can even ask if she wants to join them.

A guard takes Steve along. He’s hesitant when he receives a murderous glare from the Winter Soldier, but he does his job anyway. Steve gives Peter a faint smile when they pass each other. Then he’s gone, too. Wanda and Sam take the Soldier with them, followed by T’Challa. Natasha and Bruce then leave, too.

In the end, Tony does take Peter along to grab something to eat. It’s not a chocolate bar, but it’s still a good restaurant. Dressed again as himself with the suit safely tucked in the hotel room, Peter finds himself at the table with Rhodey, Vision and Bruce. They’re all talking to each other about the accords, discussing what they think is good and what they figure isn’t really a good idea. Vision is adding his comments in between eating his portions.

Everything is going remarkably well. Even after Tony pays for the dinner and they leave the restaurant to get back into the snowy landscape to head back to the hotel, the five of them can’t seem to stop their conversation.

The staff at the hotel don’t seem to understand what’s going on. With the sudden addition of probably all the known superheroes in the world, some of the members try and get pictures with their idols while the others try their best at cleaning the more troublesome’s messes.

As it turns out, Wade and Johnny Storm aren’t the best combination. In an attempt to prove who is the biggest lightweight, the two end up drunk off their asses and causing destruction almost everywhere they go. Jean Grey is sitting at the bar a little further away, using her telekinetic powers to clean up their messes. Sue tries desperately to pull her brother away from his drinking partner.

Sharon is somewhere at the side, drinking and talking with Natasha. Peter still finds it weird to see her as a blonde, but he figures he can get used to it. He prefers the red hair, though.

Vision hurries up to Wanda the moment he sees her. Everybody makes an ‘ooh-‘sound the moment the android pulls her into his arms and kisses her on the lips. A few of the audience even start clapping and shouting enthusiastically. Behind Peter, Tony, too, starts clapping his hands.

Everybody seems happy. There’s smiles and laughs. But Peter knows it’s not completely true. Not yet, at least. So Peter hurries to the bar, orders two non-alcoholic drinks, and brings them to Tony, who looks at him with a confused look.

“Go to him. I know you want to,” he says with a wink. Tony snorts, shaking his head and then leaning forward to kiss Peter on the brow.

“You are the best son in the world,” he says. Then he takes the drinks, and he leaves the common room to get to the elevator. Peter smiles as he watches his father leave. After that, he heads towards Natasha and Sharon and takes a place with them.

“Peter! I didn’t know you were here, too?” Sharon asks in surprise. Natasha winks at him and then throws her arm over his shoulder. “What are you doing the entire day?”

Peter shrugs. “Ah, you know, some sightseeing. It’s never dull here in Switzerland,” he says. The two women start laughing again. After that, he listens to their stories about their missions in the past. He feels good, his Dad is about to be better, too.

He can’t complain.






Tony isn’t too surprised when he sees two guards standing in front of Steve’s door. He’s not too worried about them letting him in; they know he’s been visiting in prison, as well as he’s been the one in charge of transporting Steve all the way to Switzerland. After a nod towards the guards, the men give him a long look before finally stepping aside and giving Tony the chance of getting in.

He opens the door, balancing the two glasses with precision. Steve is behind the television when he gets inside. His face is full f surprise when he sees Tony enter. He jumps up from his bed. At least he’s no longer bound. He can walk and stand where he wants to go, except for outside.

“Tony?” he asks. Tony shrugs and drops the glasses next to the bed, on the nightstand. Then he takes off his jacket and throws it onto the chair in the corner of the room.

“Peter kind of urged me on to get here,” he admits. Steve chuckles. They don’t get close, keeping a good distance between themselves. Holy shit, it’s just like before they ever got together, always dancing around each other but never acting on it. “Want a drink? It’s without alcohol, don’t worry about my record.”

“I would love to,” Steve says with a smile. He takes the glass from Tony, and the two clink it together before taking a swing. When Tony realizes just how much sugar must have been poured into this sweet drink, he squeezes his eyes shut. Steve, too, looks like he’s just sucked on a lemon.

“That’s… different,” Tony groans out. “That’s the last time I’m letting Peter chose.”

Steve laughs in return. They put their glasses aside, agreeing that they’re not taking another try of that. Instead, Steve stands up and heads to the mini-fridge where he takes out two cans of coke. One small look towards Tony as confirmation later, the two are sitting on the bed with their backs on the bed board. Their legs are next to each other, but not touching. Neither are their shoulders. Together the two just drink and keep themselves busy watching TV on the first English program they come across. So what if it’s a re-run of ‘Say yes to the dress’? Nobody will ever know about this, after all.

It’s somewhere after the first episode that their hands finally find each other again. Fingers tangled together, Tony allows himself to lower his head until it’s resting on Steve’s shoulder. Neither of them speak about it. And eventually, Tony’s eyes start closing and he’s slumbering away. He’s only barely aware of Steve putting him in the bed in a comfortable position and kissing him on the cheek before turning off the TV and joining him in sleep.

With Steve tucked safely behind him, and his strong arms wrapped around his chest, protectively, Tony has never felt safer.






Peter manages to sneak in Yael room for about an hour. He’s followed by Wade and Wanda, and the four of them are seated on the ground with dessert room-service brought along with countless of drinks. And Yael talks, about where she’s been. And it all sounds extremely weird. The fact that it almost completely matches Bruce’s story is indication enough that she’s not lying. There’s stuff she’s not saying, but nobody asks after it. She’ll say it on her own time. After she finishes, Wade starts talking, too. Bringing up a story about another one of his small adventures with Logan somewhere in Spain. How they got there, he’s yet to clarify. It leads to lots of laughter and tears in the eyes.

Wanda talks about what she’s been doing in Wakanda; the help she’s been giving Barnes in his psychological recovery the moment he’s been awakened. The mood quickly changes when Wade starts asking about the smooching between her and Vision only an hour ago. Wanda, of course, turns red in the face and insists that it’s nothing.

The four of them fall asleep on the floor somewhere during their viewing of a ‘say yes to the dress’-rerun, though overnight Peter notices Yael leaving the room and returning hours later. They’re awakened by Vision, who comes with the news that they should get breakfast. With a groan, the four get up and follow the Android.

Peter knows it’s risky, the others seeing him hang out with this little group. Given the reaction Spider-Man had yesterday, people might put two and two together. But they’re all ‘heroes’ here. Everybody respects each other’s privacy.

When Tony passes them, he puts his hand through Peter’s hair and kisses him on the head.

“Good morning, Dad,” Peter says with his mouth full. “How was your night?”

“Leslie chose the wrong dress,” Tony mutters against his hair. Then he pulls back. Wade points out a finger towards Tony.

“I know, right?! She should have gone for the second dress!”

Tony smirks. “Steve agrees with you there. I was more a fan of the third dress, but whatever. It’s not like anybody will be wearing one for me.” He winks at Peter, ruffles through his hair again and starts making his way to the buffet. Then Yael, Wade and Wanda all lean forward towards him with their eyebrows raised.

“They made up?” they ask simultaneously. Peter blinks for a few times, but then smirks and stands up to get some more bread.

“Of course they did,” he says. “They have me as relationship therapist, after all.” Afterwards he moves away from the table and joins his father at the buffet. “Everything went alright?” he asks, just to be sure. Tony turns to him with his empty plate in his hand, the smile on his lips genuine for the first time in a long while.

“Everything went perfectly, Petey,” he says. Then he bumps his hip against Peter’s and pulls up his hand with his watch on it. “Be sure to get changed in time. And you still know what you’re going to say when they ask you to sign?”

“I’ll say that I’ll sign the moment I’m 18,” Peter repeats what his Dad made him memorize in the past few days. Happy, Tony nods and slaps his shoulder gently. When Bruce shows up behind them, the scientist leans over them to reach for the bread.

“Bruciebear, if you wanted to get close, all you had to do was ask, darling,” Tony jokes. Bruce rolls his eyes.

“Idiot,” he responds. Peter snorts out a laugh but he, too, starts filling his plate. “Good morning, Peter.”

“Morning, Bruce!” Peter responds. Then he makes his way back to the breakfast table. They stay there for about fifteen more minutes before Peter hurries back into his room to get changed. With the hotel being close to the building they’re supposed to be, they all just go walking. Because of the weather Peter dresses for the occasion, pulling out a Spider-Man hoodie he once found in a shop in the streets and putting it on over his suit.

Once inside, he takes his place back between Tony and Sue. The digital copy of the accords is once again appearing before him, but nobody pays attention to it yet. Once again, everybody is talking. Peter even startles when suddenly somebody comes to sit on the table, right in front of him.

“Heya, pal, I’m Johnny Storm, but you can call me Torch if you want,” the guy says out of the blue. Peter looks up, raising an eyebrow though the kid in front of him can’t see that.

“I know who you are,” Peter responds, but accepting the handshake. “Mr. Stark told me to stay away from you.”

“He did?” Storm asks with genuine surprise in his voice. That moment, Tony takes his place next to Peter, quickly coming to realize that he’s being looked at. “Tony, my man, I’m insulted!”

“Whatever I did, I’m sure I had my reasons,” Tony responds automatically. “Now go and be a pretty-boy somewhere else, Storm.”

Johnny snorts but jumps up from the table. “He thinks I’m pretty,” he jokes. Then he nods towards Peter. “We should hang out once or twice.”

“And ignore Mr. Stark’s wishes? I should be ashamed of even considering it,” Peter jokes in return. Johnny lets out a laugh.

“Live to be a rebel, my man,” Johnny returns. “That’s how I got my powers, after all. Sis went on a space trip, and I just followed her.”

“You went to space?” Peter asks, a bit surprised at that bit of information.

“Yeah, I wasn’t supposed to. Who would want a sixteen-year-old in Space, after all?” Johnny laughs. Then he slaps Peter’s shoulder and jumps off the table. “Now please, tell me you’re not one of those guys who dabs his way through conversation? Did you ever pull a Killer Clown prank on anybody?

“You’re weird,” Peter notes. Johnny shrugs.

“I’m spontaneous, there’s a difference.” Then he grabs the water bottle on the table and throws it up in the air, winking at Peter and hurrying back to his own place. When the bottle comes back down, it lands perfectly. Holy crap, a perfect bottle flip, he thinks. Peter snorts, still a bit confused by how much the guy and Steve looks alike. If he wouldn’t have known any better, he would have thought them to be brothers with a larger age difference between them.

Wanda comes back with Barnes. This time, nobody stops talking. Neither do they when Steve returns with his guards. Bruce takes his place behind them. When Dr. Strange walks up to his place, he gives Peter a long stare before looking away. His friend Wong isn’t anywhere near him. Did he stay in New York, then?

Eventually it’s time to continue. They pick up right where they left off. Everybody throws in their notes, but Peter and the others of his age stay silent. They’re not experienced enough to know what exactly they’re supposed to say.

They call for another break after every hour. It’s the perfect occasion for a toilet visit, or to get another cup of coffee. Sharon once takes the moment to hurry towards Tony and ask him something Peter can’t hear. He doesn’t think it’s important since she hurries off again not five seconds afterwards.

At lunch, their break lasts an hour. Somebody brings in sandwiches, and most of them head outside to get a bit of fresh air. Peter just goes and sit with his friends for a bit. Nobody says anything when Johnny sits with them, pretending like he’s been part of the group since the beginning. Nobody minds, either. Wade even seems to like the sudden addition.

The hour goes quickly. Before they know, they’re back on their places to continue. It goes on, and on, and on. And right when Peter thinks he’s about to fall asleep, the man announces that, if everybody above the age of 18 agrees with the accords, they can put their signature underneath the digital copy. It’s a thing they’ve discussed almost the entire time. Or more; it’s something Tony has been insisting on.

So Peter doesn’t sign. Neither does Wanda. They look at each other, and Peter holds his thumb up. Soon, it’ll be their turn, after all.

“Now, for the matter of the Avengers and their role in the former disagreement with the accords,” the man starts immediately afterwards. Peter closes his eyes and sighs. He’d forgotten that they’d indeed not discussed this yet. Tony notices his discomfort and squeezes his shoulder for a moment.

“This won’t take too long,” he assures him.

And for that, the man starts with the Soldier. Bringing up his crimes under the influence of HYRDA, Peter notices the man almost shrinking in his seat. Especially with all the eyes trained on him. Except for Tony’s, who is simply staring ahead, refusing to turn around.

And the man talks; about how everybody agrees with the fact that Barnes had no control in what he did, that he was a victim of a bigger enemy, their puppet. They have his files, probably thanks to Natasha. They know everything that has happened. It’s a mutual agreement with everybody that he’s not to be held responsible for what happened. They clear his name on the spot, and applause comes up. Next to Barnes, Sam throws his arm over his shoulder and gives him a wide smile. Wanda, who is seated behind him, leans forward and pinches his arm lightly.

“As for the Avengers themselves,” the man continues. Everybody turns quiet again.

This is it, after all.

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