an: so this is basically my response to all the anti-Tony arguments, because I was blissfully unaware that there are people that hate Tony. This first chapter is in response to the outrage at Tony kidnapping Peter. And while I agree that he endangered the welfare of a child—even though, I think Tony was hoping the dispute could be settled peacefully—there is no way that May was unaware her child was being taken across state lines. In the dark about the real reason? Of course, but if anything, I'm sure that was because Peter needed it to be that way. It was a questionable decision, yes, but damning? Absolutely not. Anyway, rant over—here's May's reaction to Tony after she finds out Peter is Spider-Man.
five times Tony Stark screwed the pooch
1. / that time he sort of kidnapped a fifteen-year-old
"You took my kid," she glared pointedly at him, "and don't you forget for one second that he's my kid, on a life-threatening trip halfway across the globe and you didn't even think for one second that I deserved to know what was going on?"
"If I can interject," Tony starts, but then her hand claps over his mouth, striking a sense of fear so deep in his chest that he thinks maybe he should've recruited her for Germany instead.
"No. I'm going to talk right now, and you're going to listen. And if you're good and manage to keep your mouth shut, maybe I'll fight the urge to scream at you until your ears bleed. Capiche?"
Her eyes were lit with a controlled, simmering anger, narrowed at him. Tony Stark wasn't a large man by any means, but the look May was giving him left him feeling absolutely minuscule.
"Peter is fifteen. Do you remember what you were doing when you were fifteen?"
Tony opens his mouth to answer but the glare she gives makes it clear that the question is rhetorical.
"When I was fifteen, I was sneaking out of the house to go to keg parties and to make out with my boyfriend. Bad decisions? Probably. But I woke up with a hangover as a punishment, not a swollen face and a body covered in bruises. I was worried about washing the smell of cheap beer off my clothes, not blood stains. My biggest fear was being grounded for a week, not dying. Are you following me here?"
He nodded, but she wasn't done.
"But you took my kid to another country and had him fight against some of the world's most powerful people because you're Tony Stark and you know best, right? How many kids do you have, Tony?"
When he didn't answer, she poked him in the ribs.
"You have permission to speak now. How many kids?"
"None," he muttered, never at so much of a loss for words as he was right now.
"Exactly," she whispered.
May paced the carpeted floor of her apartment while Tony sat on the couch, looking like a child in a time-out.
"I don't care how many times you've saved the world or what your SAT score was. You don't know better than me when it comes to parenting. Okay? You don't get to make these monumental decisions behind my back."
She stopped pacing and stood directly in front of him until he looked up to meet her eyes.
"From now on, me and you, we communicate."
May started to tear holes in the carpet again, hands waving in exasperation as she spoke.
"If it was up to me, I'd ban Peter from ever seeing you again. But I know Peter, and I know that for some ungodly reason he looks up to you," she pauses, her voice dropping to a pained whisper, hesitating as if she was debating in her head. She dropped down on the couch next to him.
"He looks at you the way he used to look at Ben."
Tony swallowed, immense feelings of guilt crashing over him.
"And as much as I dislike you right now, I can't take that away from him."
Her arms wrapped themselves around her chest, and she dropped into one of the stools next to the countertop, looking less like an enraged mama-bear and more like a terrified woman who was just trying to do right by her kid.
"But I need him to be safe. I won't be able to live with myself if I can't keep him safe."
She fiddled with her glasses for a second, looking up at the ceiling in thought.
"I never even got a chance to ease into the whole parenting thing. One minute I was the fun aunt and then a man in a suit made me sign a paper and just like that," she snapped her fingers, "my whole world changed. And then I find out that he hasn't been sneaking out to smoke weed or buy booze, which are both things that I can handle, but he's been parading around town in spandex and meeting up with Tony Stark and risking his life on a nightly basis."
She puts the heels of her hand on her forehead, resting her elbows on her knees.
"And just when I thought I was getting the hang of this thing," she laughs weakly.
"I'm not the best surrogate mother. I can't cook to save my life. There are probably a million things I'm doing wrong, but I love that kid more than anything in this life, and I'm trying. So, I need you to be straight with me. No more lies and cover-ups and this "Stark Internship". I don't want to ever find out again, months after the fact, that you used my kid as a weapon for your own agenda. Understood?"
Stark nodded, uncharacteristically quiet.
"I know that telling him he can't be Spider-Man is a lost cause and that it would be selfish of me to hold him back from using his powers to help people. That being said, promise me that when he goes in guns blazing to protect the little guy, you'll back him up. And, the second he gets in over his head, I want you to send him home. Superpowers and a fancy suit aside, at the end of the day he's still just a kid, Tony. He's still just my kid."
He wrings his hands together as her words trail off, an ever-so-slight wetness twinkling at the corner of her eye.
"I was out of line to take him to Germany, period, much less without your permission," he said tentatively, "and I'm sorry." When she didn't cut him off, he continued.
"I know it's no consolation, but I was desperate for help, and I saw this remarkable person on YouTube that fit the bill. I'd hoped that I'd just need him to stay on the perimeter and web up some of my friends, and then I'd take him home. I knew there was a possibility of shit hitting the fan, but I was too stubborn to think it would actually happen, and I brought Peter into a battle that he shouldn't have been at. It won't happen again."
"Good," she said flatly.
"I know I don't need to tell you this, but Peter really is an amazing kid. And I don't know how it happened, but he's got me wrapped around his little finger."
May smiled at him for the first time since he'd walked into the apartment.
"Yea, he's good at that."
The corner of Tony's mouth lifted up in return before twisting into a grimace.
"He deserves better than me," he admitted.
May just gave him a sad look, "Peter deserves a lot more than what he has, but we can't change the cards. We just have to work with them."
She stood up again so that she was hovering above him, but when she meets his gaze, May falters a little. His eyes aren't brimming with the narcissistic arrogance that she'd been expecting; instead, they're clouded with guilt that no amount of admonishing could ever compare to.
"I forgive you, Tony, and if you're going to learn from this, you have to forgive yourself too."
"I know Peter deserves better than me too, but do you know what gets me through the day? The fact that I know Peter will always be grateful for what he has, no matter what. He loves the worst parts of me, and I know that if you let him, he'll do the same for you."
Tony had to look away for a second because the way her eyes were piercing through him, reading him so expertly in a way that very few could, was too much.
"You and me, we're in this together now. That's where we're at. You've made mistakes and you'll make more," she reached out her hand, "welcome to proxy parenthood. What matters is that you learn and try to be better."
He met her eyes again, smiling this time, as he took her hand and shook it.
Then May sat back down and seemed to laugh within herself.
"Great. I'm officially co-parenting with Tony Stark," then a look crossed her face, "not that you should get any ideas—he's still my kid. My rules," she said, trying to look intimidating for a second before giving up.
"The way he looked after Germany—and I am not condoning the actions you took to get him there—he hasn't smiled that big in a long time. So don't ever do that again," she said, "but thank you, for giving him something to be excited about again."
He gave her a half-smile.
"Can I see him? Or is that pushing my luck," he says, "because that whole thing, the whole mom speech you gave to me, I haven't been that scared since my own mother sat me down, and I'd like to not wet my pants in front of the kid."
"Yea," she sighed, "you can see him. He'll be upset all week if you don't, and he's probably been listening this whole time, right Peter?"
At his lack of response, she put a hand on Tony's back and ushered him to the door before whispering in his ear, "make sure to ask about the girlfriend."
They both grinned as Peter whipped the door open, "aw, May, you said you wouldn't tell!"
"What, kid, you found someone to push you on the swings?" he said, stepping inside the room and dropping into a chair.
"Ooh, does she know your secret?" He asked, his voice a terrible impersonation of Batman.
May just grinned, and gently closed the door on a red-faced Peter and a man that was already doing everything in his power to be better.