Hi! I've already posted this on AO3, and now I'm posting it here. Enjoy!
It's exactly eleven pm on the dot when Peter Parker gets back to his house in Queens, his entire body aching as it usually does when he goes on patrol.
He's since swapped his suit for normal clothes, his backpack slung over one shoulder as he struggles to pull his keys out of his pocket. He's soaked, as the rain had picked up in the last fifteen minutes. When he finally does, he spends another two minutes trying to jam each key on the keyring into the doorknob, each attempt unsuccessful as the last. Just when he's sure he has it, the door unlocks from the inside, and MJ pulls it open, an amused smirk on her face.
"You were taking too long," MJ says, pulling him inside by the arm. She's in her pajamas already, her curly hair tied up into a bun.
"Babe, we've talked about this," Peter sighs, pushing the door closed and locking it. MJ throws him a towel, and he uses it to dry his hair and face. "I don't like you opening the door this late at night. It's too risky."
"So what, you don't think I'm capable of fending for myself?" MJ crosses her arms, eyebrow cocked, but Peter knows she's not angry.
"Nope, that's not what I said," Peter says, setting his backpack down onto the ground. "Trust me, if a robber or murderer came by while you were here holding down the fort, I'd fear for their life. But robbers and murderers aren't what I'm worried about."
"I know," MJ gives in, uncrossing her arms and letting them fall by her sides. Peter takes one of her hands in his own, pulling her close.
Peter knows that it's hard for her. Him being Spider-man leads to a very risky lifestyle, and although he does his best to keep his family off the record, he's always aware that there's a chance something bad can happen.
"I just don't know what I would do if something happened to you or the kids," Peter admits, but he knows the confession doesn't surprise MJ in the slightest. That's the thing Peter loves most about their marriage—there are no secrets, no held back feelings, no lies. Just the truth.
It feels good to not have to lie anymore to at least one person. He's had to keep secrets and lies his entire life to the point where he had started to question what about himself was real or not.
Now he knows.
"You'd probably starve to death," MJ says matter-of-factly, and suddenly the mood is immediately lightened. "And you'd probably never have clean clothes."
"All the more reason to keep you safe," Peter chuckles, and his heart swells with unconditional love for his wife. He really wouldn't make it without her. "Are the kids in bed?"
"They'd better be," MJ glances towards the top of the stairs. "I told Ben that if he gets out of bed one more time, I'm going to cancel his birthday party at the zoo next week."
They gravitate towards their bedroom, Peter ready to get off of his feet and into bed.
"If I'm being honest with you," MJ continues, "I'm kind of hoping he does. I really don't see the point of going to the zoo—you see the same thing every time and half of the animals you can't even see."
"Luckily, he's three," Peter reminds her with a small smile. "He's just going to run around, eat ice cream, and yell at the cages no matter if there's anything in it or not."
"Remind me why we had kids?"
Peter opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, the doorbell rings. They both frown, glancing from each other to in the direction of the front door.
"Who the hell could that be?" Peter keeps his voice low, just in case they can somehow hear him from all the way from the back of the house. The thunder booms and the rain starts to pour down even harder onto the roof.
"Maybe you should go look," MJ suggests, matching his tone. "I'll go grab the baseball bat from the garage."
Peter nods and walks to the front door, but he's puzzled when he can't see anyone on the porch while looking through the peephole. He slowly unlocks the door and opens it cautiously, making sure to only open it a crack. His gaze shifts downward, and he's startled at the sight in front of him.
Standing on his front porch is a young girl not a day over eleven. She's peering up at him with deep brown eyes, her hair and clothes soaked to the bone. Her long brown hair is tucked behind her ears, and Peter swears she looks familiar, even though he's pretty sure he's never met this girl in his life. She shifts from one foot to the other, obviously nervous, both of her hands holding onto purple backpack straps.
"Um… can I help you?" Peter says, not unkindly, and looks up for a second to make sure there wasn't anyone else with her. Nope, it was just her. He pulls the door open wider.
"Uh, yeah, um…" the girl stutters before taking a deep breath. "My name is Morgan, and I think you're my brother."
Peter just stares at her, unable to process what she had just said.
"What?"
"I think you're my brother. Legally, that is—I don't think we're actually related by blood."
The realization hits Peter's brain, and suddenly he thinks he understands, but he has to be sure.
"What's your full name?" Peter asks her, even though he knows. He just has to hear her say it.
"Morgan Stark," Morgan answers. "My mom and dad are—"
"Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, I know," Peter finishes for her. He knows why she's familiar now; Morgan was spotted all of the time with her parents in public, and recently she'd even gone to a few Stark Industries charity events. He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. What's the protocol for this kind of situation? Do her parents even know she's here?
Peter takes a wild guess at that last one and assumes, no, her parents don't know she's here.
"Peter? Who's at the door?" Peter looks over his shoulder at MJ, who has their son's Paw Patrol baseball bat gripped in her hands, ready to swing and knock someone straight back onto their ass.
God, he loves her.
But he can't have her hitting Tony Stark's daughter with a baseball bat, so he holds out a hand in a calming manner.
"It's uh," Peter glances back at Morgan, who is now hugging her arms around her middle and shivering. "It's Morgan Stark."
"Is that supposed to be a joke, Parker?"
"Surprisingly, it is not," Peter sighs. What even is his life? Then, to Morgan, he says, "Why don't you come inside and get warmed up? We can talk over hot chocolate."
Morgan nods and steps inside. Ten minutes later, Peter is sitting down at the kitchen table across from the girl, a mug of hot chocolate in front of both of them. MJ had gone to bed a few minutes ago, kissing Peter goodnight on the cheek before going into the bedroom and closing the door behind herself gently.
Now it's just him and Morgan. Peter can tell that the kid has a lot to say, but she's waiting for him to prompt her. He does so after taking a sip of his warm drink and leaning back in his chair.
"So, how did you find me?"
"It was by accident, really," Morgan starts, pushing her hair back behind her ear. Her eyes are downcast onto the table. "I hacked into my dad's files the other day—"
As kids do, Peter thinks to himself amusedly, but it's not like Peter's shocked or anything. If the point hasn't already been made, this is the child of Tony Stark.
"—And really deep down, I found a joint custody agreement form that he had signed, like, a long time ago."
She stops, looking up at him, and suddenly Peter can't find it in himself to meet her eyes.
"It had your name on it," Morgan states the obvious. "And I was—curious why I'd never heard anybody talk about you ever. So I asked my mom, but she got really weird about it and told me to forget about it and not bring it up again. Especially to my dad."
"So you decided to take the subway to Queens at eleven o'clock at night to find me and ask me about it?" Peter looks back at her and raises an eyebrow, and Morgan shrinks into the chair.
"It's the only time I could get away with no one noticing. They think I'm in my room asleep."
Peter takes a moment to study her and decides that he kind of likes the girl. She's as persistent as her father, that's for damn sure. Furthermore, Peter can see himself doing the exact same thing at her age—if he had wanted answers as a kid, he went and got said answers, no matter the cost.
That was how the whole Vulture thing happened.
God, that was so long ago.
"Why is this so important to you?" Peter asks. Morgan seems to shy at the question, her little pale face starting to take color. "Why go through all the trouble to find me?"
"I'm an only child," Morgan explains, looking down at her lap. "But I've always wanted a brother or sister. So when I found out that maybe—maybe I could have a cool older brother out there…" she pauses, and takes a deep breath, looking up at him so that their eyes meet. "I wanted to know at least who he was, and why he wasn't in my life."
Peter takes a shaky breath, carding a hand through his messy, half dry hair. He wonders, for a moment, what he should tell her. How he should tell her. Because he believes that the girl deserves answers—God knows she worked hard enough for them—but honestly, he doesn't even know where to begin.
But then, he looks at her and finds that her wide, hopeful brown eyes are trained on him, and he realizes that when he was her age, he would have wanted the truth, no matter what it was. In some cases, like now, secrets are no good.
"I used to be really close with Mr. Stark—your dad," Peter begins, setting his hand back down onto the table. "I was an intern for Stark Industries, and he was my mentor. Well, we got so close that he and my Aunt May decided that they would share custody of me since she had to work a lot and he was practically a father to me in every way except legally."
"So what happened?"
"Hydra happened."
It was supposed to be an easy mission.
A "get in, get out" situation. Peter knew that Tony would have never allowed him to come on a mission that was too dangerous for a seventeen-year-old, so when his mentor called him asking for his assistance with flushing out a Hydra base, he had agreed without any hesitation. The base was on the outskirts of the New York, hidden in plain sight, but with Tony's tech, it was a piece of cake to find.
The mission started out like any other. They'd used the element of surprise as long as they could, quietly taking out soldier after soldier—Iron Man blasting them and Spider-man webbing them up. Then, alarms were sounded, and an influx of Hydra agents was suddenly swarming them to the point where Peter couldn't see Iron Man anymore—it was just him, alone with a bunch of guys dressed from head to toe in all black.
Peter was shooting webs left and right while at the same time blocking kicks and punches and dodging bullets that were coming his way. One agent caught him off guard, pointing a gun at Peter's face, but he managed to web the guy to a wall, taking the gun and emptying it of its bullets.
He wished he had been able to avoid the bullet the agent had shot straight at his stomach before he'd taken care of the situation.
Peter didn't even hear the gunshot, and it took him a minute to feel it too. But once he does feel it, the pain made him want to double over.
"Hey, uh, Mr. Stark? I think I'm hit," Peter said into the comm.
"Hit with what?" Peter couldn't detect Tony's tone, but he assumed his mentor was concerned. He always was. "A bullet?"
"Yeah," Peter confirmed, glancing down to see his hand soaked with blood.
"Okay, I'm coming to you," Tony announced. "Stay put."
The Hydra agents had disappeared, and Peter briefly wondered if that was a bad thing. Probably.
Peter's Spidey sense started to flare up, and just as Iron Man came into view, Peter was suddenly grabbed from behind. Something metal was pressed to his head, and it took him a moment to realize that it was a gun, and oh God he's being held at gunpoint.
"Freeze, or the Spider gets it," a voice said, and Iron Man stopped in his tracks, holding his metal hands up into the air in surrender.
"Okay, I'm freezing, no problem," Tony's robotic voice said cautiously. "Just, put the gun down, alright? We'll cooperate, but don't hurt him."
"Get out of the suit."
The Iron Man suit folded up back into Tony's watch, leaving the man vulnerable in his normal dress suit.
"Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head, Stark," the Hydra agent ordered. Tony complied, putting both hands behind head and kneeling down onto the ground. Peter felt himself getting drowsy, probably from the blood loss, and his vision started to go black around the edges.
"Cuff him," the Hydra agent barked, and two other agents quickly put Tony in handcuffs, being more aggressive than Peter liked. "Now put them away. It looks like we have a new participant for Project X."
Project X? Peter thought the name sounded stupid, but even if he had wanted to voice that opinion, he certainly didn't have the energy for it. He didn't have the energy for much of anything, and the Hydra agents had to practically drag him to a small dark cell that was located beneath the base. They threw both he and Tony into a cell, and the moment Peter's body crumpled to the hard concrete ground everything went dark.
"Kid?"
"Pete? Can you hear me?"
"Peter! You need to wake up, buddy."
It took Peter a moment to register that someone was calling his name. Their voice was getting louder and louder, and he found it annoying because he just wanted to sleep, damn it. But the voice persisted, so he forced himself to open his eyes if only to tell whoever was yelling to shut up.
His mask was off. He was laying on his back, so the first thing he noticed was the damp ceiling above them that was dripping with condensation. The second thing he noticed was Tony kneeling next to him, the man not bothering to hide his worry.
"You with me, kid?" Tony sounded… nervous. It was so unlike his mentor; usually, he was confident, or at least he pretended to be.
Peter nodded slowly.
"Good," Tony sighed, falling back into a sitting position and running a hand through his hair. "I don't know how long you were out, but it felt like a while."
"What happened?" Peter managed, his voice hardly a whisper.
"We got captured by Hydra. Oh, and you were shot in the stomach."
That would explain why Tony was nervous.
"I got the bullet out, and your healing is taking care of the rest," Tony finished. "Now I'm just hoping Rhodey can find us in time. How are you feeling?"
"Tired," Peter admitted. "And in a little bit of pain, but I can deal."
"...Okay. Good," Peter knew that if these were different circumstances, Tony wouldn't even come close to being able to accept that as an answer, but they didn't have many options—so Tony would just have to settle with an 'okay'.
"Stark, it's so great of you to join us," a rough voice said, and Peter and Tony both looked over to see a man in a white lab coat approaching their cell. "I'll admit when I requested test subjects for my new experiment, I wasn't expecting someone as valuable as you."
Tony didn't say anything, just glared at the man, and for the hundredth time in his life, Peter thought about how much admiration he had for his mentor.
"I've been working on Project X for quite some time, and now I finally get to execute it," the man said, and Peter wanted to groan because he was way too tired for another villainous diabolical plan speech. "Project X deals with the brain, or more specifically, the hippocampus. I wanted to be able to not only wipe out memories altogether but to pick and choose what memories get eliminated."
Well, now Peter was just confused, and judging from the look on his face, so was Tony.
Suddenly, three Hydra agents entered the cell and grabbed Tony, two handcuffing him and forcing him to stand up, while one held a gun towards Peter.
"I hope you've said all of your 'I love you's, Stark," the man in the white lab coat said. "Because if everything goes according to plan, the person who means most to you will be eradicated from your memories forever."
Peter's stomach dropped, and he was pretty sure it wasn't his bullet wound acting up. Miss. Potts. If the man managed to do what he said, Tony would forget about Miss. Potts forever. He looked up at Tony and was startled by the intense and wild fear built up in his mentor's expression.
"You—you asshole, that's not even possible—" Tony snarled as the agents shoved him out of the cell and down the hall. "Don't you even dare mess with my head or I swear to God—"
And just like that, a door slammed shut, and Peter was left alone in a dark holding cell.
Time passed; Peter wasn't sure how much exactly—he had no way to tell. He was now sitting against the wall, his stomach wound almost completely healed.
Would Tony never remember Miss. Potts again? The thought made him sick. The couple was engaged and finally happy. Tony had even let slip a few weeks ago that the two were thinking about having a baby.
No one deserved each other more than them, and Peter couldn't believe that one stupid mission would jeopardize all of that.
More time passed until the door swung back open and Tony was thrown back into their cell. Once the agents were gone, Peter practically launched himself to his mentor's side, only to realize that the man was completely unconscious.
"Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark, wake up!"
Peter kept yelling, hoping that maybe his mentor would wake up and laugh in the scientist man's face because it didn't work. It didn't work, right?
Tony opened his eyes, and Peter sighed with relief at first, but dread was still pooling at the bottom of his stomach.
"Mr. Stark? You remember Miss. Potts, right? Your fiancee?"
"Pepper? Yeah, I remember her," Tony sat up slowly, confusion on his face.
Peter deflated with relief.
"Oh, thank God, I knew it was a load of horseshit—"
Peter stopped when he realized that Tony's expression hadn't changed, and the dread came back.
"Uh, kid? Who are you?"
Morgan looks like she doesn't even believe him at first.
"He just… forgot about you?"
"Yeah," Peter nods, running his finger along the rim of his mug. "Dr. Banner looked into the experiment later; the science was there."
"That… that sucks," Morgan says, obviously at a loss for words. "Whatever I was imagining… it wasn't that. I just figured you and my dad just had a big fight and never saw each other again."
"Nope. Honestly, I wish that was the case," Peter glances over at the clock and does a double take when he reads twelve fifteen on the clock. "Jesus, kid, it's getting really late. How about I drive you home?"
"What? That's it?"
"Well… yeah… " Peter frowns at the girl. "There's not really much more to it."
"You guys didn't even try to get his memories back? You just… let him forget?" Morgan seems appalled, so Peter decides to backtrack.
"Of course we tried to get them back," Peter says. "We tried everything we could think of. But sometimes… sometimes, things are better left unfixed."
War Machine saved them an hour later.
It wouldn't have mattered if it had been an hour or a month or a year, because the damage had already been done.
War Machine burst into their cell, with the Black Widow right behind him, and while Rhodey makes a beeline for Tony, Natasha Romanoff knelt down in front of Peter, who was now on the opposite side of the cell than Tony.
"Are you alright, malen'kiy pauk?" Natasha asked him quietly, looking Peter up and down to try and find injuries. Peter gave a small nod of his head, but he didn't think he was very convincing.
Rhodey was helping Tony up, and Tony glanced over at Peter.
"Hey, I don't know who that kid is, but get S.H.I.E.L.D. to find his parents, okay?"
Peter saw Rhodey stumble, probably in shock, but to his credit, he kept moving.
"Peter, what happened?" Natasha's face was now very serious. "What did he mean by that?"
"There was a scientist Hydra guy… he… he did an experiment on Mr. Stark—" Peter hated that he was starting to cry in front of the Black Widow, but she didn't seem phased by his tears. "Mr. Stark doesn't remember me…"
"We need to find the experiment files," Natasha said, standing back up. "Barton, can you come get the kid?"
Hawkeye showed up a few minutes later, and the Black Widow disappeared, leaving Clint to help Peter to the quinjet.
"It's going to be okay, Peter," Clint tried to comfort Peter, but his words were lost on the teenager. "We're going to figure this out."
To all of their credit, they tried, and Peter had nothing but appreciation for everyone who tried to fix what had been done. Hawkeye and the Black Widow went on countless missions, trying to find the guy responsible. Each time they came back empty-handed, they always worked hard to find a new lead.
Doctor Banner spent hours down in the labs, often with Peter, researching the brain and how it worked. In fact, they spent so much time together that they started using the cover story that Peter was Dr. Banner's intern instead because Tony had begun to get curious why a teenager was in Dr. Banner's lab all the time.
No matter how hard anyone worked, nothing was found.
Months passed. Peter gave up a fraction of hope every day, until one day, he found that he'd ran out.
Doctor Banner had told him that he knew a man who had used to be a neurosurgeon, and he'd been in contact with him.
"I invited him over later today so we can get his opinion," Dr. Banner had told Peter earlier that day. Peter had only nodded in agreement. Now, he was on his way to the conference room where they were all meeting with Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon who also dealt with his fair share of superhero stuff.
On his way to the conference room, Peter sees Tony out of the corner of his eye. Pepper was behind him, her stomach swollen; he'd heard that her due date was only in a few months.
Peter was just glad they got to have their happily ever after.
Pepper saw him as he was walking past towards the elevator, and her eyes turned sad. She looked like she wanted to call out to him, but Peter just gave her a small smile before getting on the elevator and pressing a button. The elevator let him out in a few moments, and he entered the conference room.
Rhodey, Dr. Banner, Clint, and Natasha were all sitting around the table. A man unfamiliar to Peter is standing up, his hands behind his back, and Peter assumed that was Dr. Strange.
There were a lot of medical terms thrown around, terms that Peter didn't have the willpower to even try and understand. All he could think about was the smile that was always on Tony's face these days.
Before that fateful day, Peter had never seen Tony smile quite that much.
"Peter? Peter, are you listening?" Dr. Banner nudged him back to reality. Peter looked up to see Dr. Strange's wise gaze searching his face.
"You can spend forever trying to find a cure," Dr. Strange said. "But your best bet is getting him to remember on his own. Whatever they did to him created a blockage—but if his memory is jostled enough that blockage can be cleared."
"So basically, if Peter spends enough time with him, Tony might be able to get his memories back?" Natasha said, arms flat on the table. She sounded doubtful.
"Theoretically," Dr. Strange said, and then he sighed. "With this amount of blockage, however, it could take a long time. And of course, there is the chance they'll never come back."
"Peter," Rhodey's said from the other end of the table. "You're being awfully quiet."
"Yeah, well…" Peter trailed off, and he knew that what he was about to say would cause a lot of protests. He sat up straight in his chair, clearing his throat nervously. "Maybe… maybe it's just best if we leave it alone."
Silence. And then,
"What?" Clint was on the edge of his seat. Natasha looked like she'd seen this coming all along.
"I'm just saying that…" Peter swallowed, trying to stop the tears from coming. He was successful for the moment. "Maybe it's better that we just… let him forget."
"Peter, you know Tony would smack you into tomorrow if he heard you say that," Dr. Banner said, and Peter knew that.
But his Tony was gone, and there was no getting him back.
"I just, I see how happy he is these days without—without being responsible for me all the time."
"Peter," Rhodey said sharply, but Peter just shook his head. He stands up from his chair.
"Is it so wrong of me to want to give him the chance to be able to focus on his own family? Like, he has his baby on the way, and he's planning on retiring soon, and I just—" Peter paused. He looked out the glass window and saw Tony was approaching, this time without Pepper. "I think it's for the best. For everyone."
Tony opened the conference room doors and frowned at the sullen mood.
"Okay, who died?" Tony asked, half joking. No one said a word. Tony noticed Peter standing in the middle of the room and said, "Hey you're Bruce's intern, right?"
"Right," Peter nodded. He looked around the room. "I'm—I'm going to go. Seriously, thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate it."
With that, Peter left the conference room, doing his best to avoid looking at his former mentor. Rhodey followed him out, managing to keep up with Peter's quick pace even with his awkward metal legs.
"Peter. Kid," Rhodey called out. Peter stopped in his tracks, turning around to look him in the eyes. Rhodey paused for a moment, searching for the right words to say. "You just need to know that... anyone who's close to Tony knows that you were his family. You still are. He just doesn't remember right now."
When Peter said nothing, he continued.
"You said that Hydra wiped out the person who meant most to him. Peter, you were the most important person in his life, and I know you know that," Rhodey said. "So when you're ready to come back to him… he'll be ready. He'll always be ready."
"Thanks, Colonel," Peter gave a shaky smile, the tears that he'd previously pushed away threatening to spill.
With one last nod, Peter turned around and left the Avengers compound, and later, he fell into Aunt May's arms, wondering why his damn Parker luck never gave him a fucking break.
Peter leaves a note for MJ in the kitchen in case she wakes up and he's still gone. Then, he and Morgan get into his car, on their way to where Tony now lives with his family. The girl seems significantly more satisfied than she'd been earlier, and Peter's glad she's gotten all the answers she needed. Her backpack is in her lap and she's twiddling with the straps.
"Just so you know?" Morgan starts, and Peter glances over at her before focusing back on the road. The rain had slowed down to the point where it's almost gone. "I think your reason for leaving was stupid."
"Noted," Peter snorts. God, she's so much like Tony it's not even funny.
"I, uh, I didn't mean that in a mean way," Morgan quickly backpedals. "I just think that it would have been worth a shot to at least try. I mean… do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you'd stayed?"
Peter presses on the brake when the light ahead of him turns red. His hands shift on the steering wheel.
"All the time, kid," Peter admits, looking out the window. More and more trees are starting to appear. Tony made a good choice, Peter thinks, moving his family out here. It must be nice and quiet for them.
They fall into silence. Peter keeps driving and is starting to consider turning on the radio when Morgan speaks up again.
"You should come back."
She says it kind of quietly, and Peter might not have heard it if he didn't have enhanced hearing.
"What?"
"I said, you should come back. Maybe you can still make him remember you," Morgan tries to convince him, and for a fraction of a second, Peter really, really wants to.
But then reality sets in.
"I think it's a little too late," Peter says. Twelve years too late.
"It's never too late until you're dead," Morgan declares. Peter laughs.
"That's true," Peter agrees, "But it's just all really complicated."
"I know," Morgan nods. She's looking straight ahead at the road, pointing him in the direction of her house. "I wish it wasn't. You seem cool."
Peter pauses, glancing at her again, and notices that she seems like she's running out of hope.
Just like he had all those years ago.
"Look, I don't know you very well, but I…" Peter bites the inside of his lip. "I think you would have been a great little sister. And I'm—well, I'm really glad you found me. Maybe a little late at night for my taste, but… I'm glad I got to meet you."
They pull up to the Stark mansion, and Peter can't help but notice how big it is. It had to have at least four stories. Not that he's too surprised.
"I thought you said earlier you guys live in a small house?"
"Size is all relative," Morgan says. "And honestly, did you expect anything less from my dad?" Peter just shakes his head, a smile growing on his face because no, he didn't. He parks his car out in front of the house. Before he gets out, however, he takes a receipt and writes his email address down on the back of it. He hands it to Morgan, who just stares at it.
"Just email me if you ever need anything, okay?" Morgan nods, stuffing the paper into her backpack. "And my door is always open."
"Thanks. That means a lot," she smiles at him. Then, she looks at the house and horror spreads across her features. "Oh no. The lights are on. They must know I'm gone. Dude, Mom's gonna kill me."
"Well, it was your poor decision to sneak out of the house this late at night," Peter reminds her. He opens his door and gets out of the car. Morgan follows suit, her backpack slung across one shoulder. "C'mon, kid, the sooner you get inside, the shorter your sentence will be. Besides, I'm sure Friday already told them that we're here."
Morgan climbs up the steps to the front double doors, Peter following from behind. She opens the door and they're immediately met with an angry Happy Hogan, who looks actually sixty percent angry and forty percent worried. He's in his pajamas, slippers on his feet and a nightcap on his head.
"Young lady, do you know what time it is?" Happy fumes when he sees Morgan. "You know what, I'll answer that for you: it's one forty-five in the morning."
He's about to say something else, but then he sees Peter and whatever he was going to say dies on his tongue.
"Pete?"
Peter thinks that this is the first time Happy's ever been not annoyed at his presence, but he has to guess that that's what time does to people.
"Hey, Happy," Peter greets the man. "She was with me—I know that doesn't make things better, but at least she wasn't wandering the streets aimlessly."
"Morgan? Morgan, where on Earth have you been?" Pepper Potts-Stark comes down the staircase, wrapped in a robe. "You just about had your father dusting off his Iron Man suits to come and find you. Do you know what time it is? What were you—Peter?"
Pepper freezes when she sees him, and Peter can't help but notice that she hasn't aged a day since the last time he'd seen her.
"Hi, Mrs. Potts, I was just telling Happy that she came to find—" Peter is cut off by Pepper grabbing him and pulling him in for a hug, holding onto him so tightly that Peter wonders if he'll ever be able to breathe again.
"Peter, I've missed you so much," Pepper whispers over his shoulder. Her touch is firm but gentle, and suddenly Peter feels like he's fifteen again instead of twenty-eight—a mere child in her protective grasp.
"I've missed you, too," Peter says, returning the hug.
After a minute, Pepper pulls away, and Peter sees her quickly wipe a tear from her eye. Then, she turns back to her daughter.
"Morgan, go upstairs to bed. Your father and I will discuss your punishment and we'll all have a chat in the morning," Pepper orders, and Peter has to work hard to suppress his laughter when he sees Morgan visibly gulp. "But first, say thank you to Peter for driving you home."
"Thanks for driving me home," Morgan spares him a smile, although Peter knows she's probably thinking about all the different ways she could be punished come tomorrow. It'll be a long night for her, that's for sure.
"It was no problem at all," Peter waves his hand in the air. Morgan disappears up the stairs, leaving Peter with Pepper and Happy.
"So… how've you been, kid?" Happy tries to act nonchalant, but Peter can see right through the act.
He's missed me, Peter realizes.
"I've been good," Peter answers, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward. "I'm married with two kids, and I have a business that's taking off."
"Still Spider-manning?"
"Always, Happy," Peter smiles. "Who else will help out the little guy?"
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, kid," Happy says, and Peter swears his tone is quite fond.
"Well, I'm so sorry she bothered you so late," Pepper sighs, glancing up towards where Morgan had disappeared. "I don't know what's gotten into her these days."
Peter remembers what it's like to be her age. It's the age where you're old enough to understand that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows, but you're too young for the adults around you to take you seriously. It's a hard age, especially for someone like Morgan, who is growing up in the limelight. Peter was just a normal orphan boy from Queens.
"She just wanted the truth," Peter says. "So she went and found it."
Pepper gives him a look, a deep, intense look, and he knows that she's studying him, looking him over.
"I'm glad she brought you back," Pepper's voice is quiet, but she manages a smile. "It never was the same without you, Peter."
Before Peter can respond, a familiar voice comes from the room over.
"Hey, Friday said Morgan's back home?" Tony Stark enters the room, in his pajamas like everyone else. His eyes fall on Peter, and a grin spreads onto his face. "Did you bring her back home? Thank you so much. That girl is a handful, but let me tell you, she's going somewhere."
Tony holds out his hand for a shake, and Peter hesitates for a moment before taking it. His eyes meet Tony's, and something flashes across the older man's face.
"Say, have we met before? Because you look familiar…"
"I used to be, um, Bruce Banner's intern a long time ago," Peter says, and as he does he makes a mental note to check up on the doctor sometime soon.
"Yeah, that must be it…" Tony says, but he seems unsure. Peter holds his gaze for a moment longer before letting go of the mechanic's hand, taking a step back.
"I'd better get home," Peter says, gravitating towards the door.
"Of course," Pepper says. "Have a safe drive home, and thank you again."
Peter nods his head, looking into his former mentor's eyes one last time before walking out the door into the rainy night. As he drives back home, he notices that a piece of paper has been left in the passenger seat. He reaches over when it's a red light, and finds that it's an address—an address to the Stark mansion, along with an email address. The note is signed 'M.S.'
Something tells Peter that he'll be seeing more of the Stark family in the near future.
After all, he is apart of it.
For now, I'm leaving this as a one-shot, but it's highly likely that I'm going to add a second chapter. Thanks for reading :)