Note: This story takes places roughly after the first Avengers film and before any of the phase 2 films of the MCU. Obviously things are different from canon here and there with Peter already in the picture, Tony/Steve pairing etc. So it's not a perfect fit, but at least you'll have some idea of where the characters are at.In my head, I've sort of added two years give or take after Avengers 1 for the couple to actually get together. So kinda messed up the entire timeline :)
Fanfiction allows for breaking boundaries after all.
Chapter 2
"Mr. Stark?"
"Depends on who's asking."
"My name is Alan Fredrick. I'm here on behalf of Mr. Parker, sir."
"Richard? I haven't heard from him in years. How is he? What could he possibly want with me?"
"I'm very sorry sir. I'm afraid Mr. Parker has passed away."
"..."
"Mr. Stark? Are you alright?"
"How did it happen?"
"There was a plane accident. Neither he nor his wife made it."
"Mary? Both of them died?"
"Yes sir, I'm very sorry. I know this loss is hard to take, but it is only part of the reason I am here."
"What could you possibly be here for if not to tell me my friend and his wife have died."
"They had a son."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"He has an aunt and uncle who have indicated they'd be happy to take him. However, Richard made a will stating that you, Mr. Anthony Edward Stark have been given custody of Peter Parker, assuming you accept it. If you choose not to take him Benjamin and May Parker will get custody. Do you understand, sir?"
"The bastard used my full name in his will. He knows how much I hate it."
"Sir? Do you understand what I'm asking?"
"Giving me custody of a child? Of Richard's child? He must have gone mad. I'm not parent material."
"Does that mean you decline, Mr Stark? I need your confirmation in that case."
"Yeah, definitely. Kid will be better of with someone else, anyone else. Where do I sign?"
"I've got the papers right here. To be clear. Once you sign this, you will relinquish every and all rights to Peter Parker. Do you undestand?"
"Yes, yes, give me already!"
As soon as the pen touched the paper a strange sound distracted Tony. Looking down he saw Basil, his daemon. His attention was drawn to something behind the social worker. Tony couldn't be bothered to remember his name. Following Basil's gaze, Tony froze when he realised he was looking at a young child.
Inside the social worker's car sat a young boy, barely visible through the window, curled in a big blanket. Tony couldn't explain why, but he was drawn to the child. He walked towards the car, opened the door and stared at the solemn boy, who's confused big eyes looked up at him.
Silence reigned between them for a while, neither knowing what to say. The kid was probably terrifed, Tony realised. He was nothing but a stranger to the boy and here he was staring at him, not saying a word.
"Hi."
The whisper broke the spell Tony seemed to be under. Having control over his limbs again, Tony kneeled down so as not to tower over the little boy. Basil took this as an invitation and jumped into the kid's lap. With the way the boy was bundled up in the blanket, there was no risk of him touching Basil. Still, the kid tensed for a moment at Basil's action.
"It's alright, he just wants to say hi too."
The young boy tilted his head as he watched Basil, a tiny smile appearing before vanishing just as quickly.
"His name is Basil. I am Tony."
"I know."
"You know me? How?"
"Daddy showed me pictures of you. You were his friend."
Tony felt his throat constrict as strange emotions surged upwards inside him. He hadn't thought of Richard Parker since they parted ways, so many years ago, but it seemed Richard had not forgotten about him. He'd even told his son about him.
"Peter!" A small desert fox crawled out from under the blanket, jumping onto the seat beside Peter. "You're being rude! Introduce yourself."
"Oh right. I'm Peter Parker, sir."
Tony shook off his surprise at the fiesty daemon before putting his hand on Peter's head in a paternal way that was very unlike himself. He just did it on instinct.
"Nice to meet you, Peter. And you weren't being rude, you were distracted."
The fox's ears drooped a little at the minor chastise before flipping upright again. One of Peter's hands removed itself from the blanket and petted her gently and lovingly.
"This is Kalyca. She can be quite direct at times."
"That's alright. I prefer people saying what they mean rather than circling around it."
Basil leaned towards Kalyca, carefully sniffling at her, not wanting to intrude on her space. Not only were he and Tony strangers to them, familiar strangers maybe, but Kalyca and Peter had also suffered a terrible loss recently. Gentle was the way to go.
Kalyca surprised him by licking Basil's nose before burrowing in Peter's side again as the cold wind from otuside howled its way into the car.
"Hey, Peter. Would you like to come inside for a bit? It's pretty cold out tonight and you look like you could use a warm drink. Do you like cocoa?"
Peter nodded fervently and scooped Kalyca up in his arms beneath the blanket. Tony helped him out of the car after Basil jumped down, and led him towards his home.
"Go on inside, make yourself comfortable. I'll be right there."
As Peter and Kalyca disappeared slowly into the house, Tony turned to the patiently waiting social worker.
"Are you still ready to sign the papers, sir?"
"Yes, I am. But I'm going to need the other papers."
Tony never regretted to this day changing his mind that night. Adopting Peter was the best thing he ever did. And now, his little boy was gone.
"Peter?"
Tony stood frozen, watching without looking as Steve crumbled beside Peter. Qatara began to howl and Basil shook beside him, unable to hide or control his emotions unlike his human. Tony did nothing to soothe his daemon. He couldn't. Basil's grieve was his own and just like no one could help him, he couldn't help Basil.
"Peter, please."
Tony struggled to hold a tight reign on his emotions as his husband fell apart before his eyes. Luckily he was distracted by movement in the corner of his eye. Raakel was slowly stalking into the room, as if she were afraid to enter. Upon seeing her, a rage overcame Tony and he turned around and grabbed Banner by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall.
"WHERE WERE YOU!?"
Raakel hissed threateningly, hair on her back standing up. Basil moved to block her, snarling in response.
"Tony, stop!"
Steve pulled Tony away from Bruce as Qatara grabbed Basil by the neck and carried him away creating some distance. Bruce did not move away or try to strike back for which Steve was grateful. Raakel rubbed against his leg in comfort yet continued softly growling, a clear sign that Bruce was still feeling that surge of anger at Tony's actions, despite not wanting to feel that way. However, there didn't seem to be a risk of the Hulk appearing. Bruce had enough control right now.
"Tony!"
Tony had pulled out of Steve's grip angrily pacing and refusing to look at Peter or anyone else. Steve didn't know hwo to help him because he was falling apart himself. He only knew Peter for a few years when he first met Tony, so he had less history with him, but that didn't lessen his love for the kid. Peter was their son and he was dead.
"Tony—"
"Save it, Bruce! There's nothing you can say. My son is dead!"
As if saying it out loud suddenly made it hit home, Tony started breathing heavily and his heart began pounding in his chest.
"Tony, you need to take calm and depp breaths. You're going to hyperventilate."
Tony backed away from Bruce, dodging Steve's reaching hands all the while taking a breath becoming more of chore. Peter was dead. His son was dead. And the last thing he heard from him, was his boy begging for someone to help him, to make the pain stop. Tony's legs gave way and he crashed to the floor in a heap. He didn't have the energy to push Steve away as he held him.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Peter, please..."
The grieving parents were interrupted by a loud screech from Raakel. She was standing next to Kalyca, flattening herself to the ground as if afraid or perhaps shocked? The reaosn became apparent clearly when Kalyca took a breath!
"What?!"
Steve carefully stood up but before he could approach Kalyca, a loud gasp came from the bed. Peter had taken a breath!
"Peter!"
Tony was up and beside his son even before Steve had managed to move. He gently turned his head to him, shaking his shoulders ever so slightly, hoping for a response.
"Peter? Can you hear me, kiddo? Peter?"
"We should move him to medical, Tony."
Tony nodded letting Steve gently pull him back when the medical team Bruce had called, arrived to take his son and Kalyca. All that mattered was that Peter was alive. His little boy was alive.
The slow, steady beep in the otherwise quiet room was only broken occassionally by a deep sigh. Bruce rubbed his hands down his face again as he tried to make sense of what was right in front of him. The data didn't lie, he'd checked and rechecked it so many times his vision became blurred from lack of sleep. The results on his screen were sound and yet he couldn't figure out ho wit had happened. The only person he could ask was currently lying in a bed behind him and had yet to wake up since he sort-of-technically died 5 hours ago.
"Staring at it, is not going to change anything."
Bruce spared a glance at his daemon, sitting on the edge of the desk, eyes focused not on Bruce but towards Peter, or more precisely Kalyca. Raakel appeared calm but Bruce could feel her unease at the situation through their connection.
"Staring at Kalyca is not going to change anything either."
"True, but her situation can change, so keeping an eye on her is time well spent, unlike someone else I could mention."
Bruce purposedly ignored looking at Raakel, not wanting to raise to her baiting, but it was hard to ignore the slight smugness radiating from her end of their bond. He knew exactly what she was getting at, but the prospect of telling the distraught parents what he believed to have happened to Peter was not a good one. Besides he'd much rather wait for Peter to wake up so he could help the teenager through the change first. It was traumatizing enough without the added stress and fear of his parents.
"For god's sake, Bruce! You can't keep them out forever!"
Raakel stalked in front of him, blocking his view of the screen and its data, Her ire was clearly projected through the bond and he couldn't really fault her fort he outburst as she was part of hi mand thus a part of him felt frustrated as well at his lack of action regarding Steve and Tony. They were Peter's parents, for god's sake! They deserved to know.
"I know, I know! I just can't, not yet. Surely you understand, Raakel. You know what it was like."
Raakel settled down, her temper slipping away like smoke on a breeze. She bubbed her head against Bruce's in a comforting gesture.
"I know. I'm sorry. It's hard to see them like this and even harder to know what they will go through."
Bruce took hold of his daemon, taking what little comfort he could in this situation while returning it to his daemon too. After all, her distress was his distress, her comfort was his comfort.
„I hope they wake up soon."
Right on cue it seemed, rapid beeps emanated from the heart monitor. Bruce approached the device to see what was wrong while Raakel moved closer to Peter.
"Could he be waking up?" Bruce turned towards the slumbering teen, observing his rapid eye movement behind closed lids. "Peter, can you hear me?"
"I don't think he's waking up, Bruce." Raakel stepped closer to Peter, sniffing the air. "I think he's dreaming?!"
Bruce reached out to calm the teen but the moment his hand touched Peters' forehead his eyes snapped open as if in shock. Peter moved so suddenly that he caused Bruce to stumble back and when he recovered Peter was no longer on the bed.
"Bruce?" Raakel's voice was distressed, unsettled. Bruce followed her gaze upwards, to the ceiling, where one Peter Parker was hanging from by his feet and fingertips. Bruce's mouth opened out of its own accord as he stared at the teen.
"Peter?"
Peter craned his head backwards to look at him and Bruce could see in the teens' eyes the moment he realised what he was looking at, or rather what angle he was looking from. He snapped his head back foreward and stared for a few seconds at his own hands. Then as if his body caught on to his mind, his fingers lost whatever connection allowed them to stick to the ceiling, and Peter came tumbling down.
"Peter!" Bruce moved to try and catch him before he got hurt, but to his surprise Peter landed without trouble on his feet next to the bed. Bruce put a hand to his chest in relieve as he tried to settle his heart rate. "Peter, are you alright?"
Said teen was not looking at him, but rather at his own hands. Peter didn't know how long he stood there, however hurried footsteps thundered down the hallway, drawing his attention away from whatever had just happened to him. No less than four medical people rushed into the room stumbling to a halt as they stared at Peter. The urge to run, to escape became so strong, Peter found himself moving without consciously deciding to do so.
"Peter, wait!" The familiar voice had Peter turning around to face Bruce despite the urge to move, to get away. Something was wrong!
"It's alright, Peter. I know things are very confusing right now, but I can help you." Peter wanted to believe him, he really did. Bruce was familiar, safe, someone he trusted. Bruce would make it all better, he always did. Peter moved ever so slightly forward when Bruce suddenly looked alarmed and shouted. "Stop, don't-!"
A hand closed around Peter's upper arm and by reflex Peter pulled his arm forward to free himself causing said person to stumble forward so violently he fell forward and banged his head on a nearby table. He was out cold instantly. Peter could not believe his luck. What the hell was happening to him?!
"Stop right there! We will restrain you. We mean you no harm, so calm down!"
Peter did not calm down. He didn't know what was happening to him, already he had knocked out two innocent people without even trying and he needed to see his dads.
"All of you stop, you're only making it worse. Get back!" Bruce tried to keep control of the room but it was getting cinreasingly harder to do with everyone confused and frightened. Having the Hulk roar in the back of his mind about threats and anger was not helping. It was costing most of his attention and energy to keep him at bay and form the look of Raakel shaking beside him, he was losing that battle.
"Let me go."
It was spoken in a whisper and broke Bruce's heart. Peter was confused and scared, it showed in his expression and his stance. His eyes fleeting left and right trying to find a way out. Bruce wished he could check on Kalyca as Peter had yet to make any mention of her, almost as if he'd forgotten about her, but he dared not look away from the teenager who was emotinally unstable while presenting a severe increase in strength and strange ability to stick to ceilings. With Kalyca's change, Bruce knew something had happened to Peter, but this was beyond his wildest theories.
"I'm sorry, Peter. We can't do that. I need you to calm down and let me help you."
"No no no no no no..." Peter turned around as his agitation tried to think back on how he'd gotten here, what had happened to him, but his memory was hazy. All he remembered was pain, so much pain.
"Emergency in medical, send security."
"No stop!"
It was already too late. Startled by the nurse and the following red lights and alarms, Peter ran for the door pushing past the remaining nurse and doctor who didn't stand a chance as they got thrown nearly across the room. Bruce tried to follow but collapsed onto his hands and knees with a pained groan as the hulk pushed to be released. Raakel snarled as she flattened herself to the floor nearby, watching the green snake its way onto Bruce's skin.
Peter was running as fast as he could. He couldn't recall why, only that he had to run. A painful tug in his chest convinced him to stop and draw in desperate breaths of air. The pain did not decrease nor did it increase. Peter was confused and wondered if something was wrong with him. Was this why he was in medical? Was he injured? He couldn't remember. But maybe Kalyca could.
Peter looked around, beside him, behind him. She wasn't anywhere! "Kalyca!?" Where are you?!"
Panic gripped Peter as he turned and turned and looked but Kalyca was nowhere to be seen. His breathing sped up and he started running again. Trying to find her. As he turned a corner he collided with another person who grabbed hold of him before he could fall.
If Peter had been in his rational mind, he would know he was safe in the tower, his home. But he wasn't in his rational mind. He resisted the hold, tried to push this person away. When it didn't work, Peter got angry and pushed with all his might. Horrified he watched the man collide with the wall and drop to the ground unconscious.
"Oh no, no, no, no! I didn't mean to do that?" As he approached, Peter noticed he'd knocked out none other than Clint Barton. He quickly checked for a pulse, relieved when he found one. Illarias his daemon hung from his shoulder, unharmed but out cold much like her human.
Seeing her reminded Peter of Kalyca, or rather Kalyca's absence. The panic and desperation returned full force and he found himself running again before deciding to do so.
Tony had never been a patient man, but now even less. Peter was on lockdown in medical after having d-, after ceasing to be alive, and not even Tony the owner of the goddamn tower was allowed to see him. His own son! He'd been ready to tear into Bruce if it weren't for Steve. His husband was his complete opposite; calm, patient, level headed and ordered. Steve was the reason he was sitting here in the kitchenette, his back to his avenger family seated on the sofa and chairs. They had dropped in one after the other when the news of Peters' situation had spread throughout the team.
"Tony,.." Steve watched helplessly as Tony refused to meet his eyes. The water and food in front of him went untouched. Basil sat under Tony's chair curled in on himself. Not even Qatara's whines could get a reaction out of him.
Steve mentally sighed, Qatara immediately picking up on it through their bond, and walked into the living area. Tony was shut off, nothing would get him to open up now except news of Peter or said teenager himself. Not to say Steve wasn't worried out of his mind. Peter was his son too and he'd died! Be it only a minute or so, but still. He shuddered at the memory prompting Qatara to gently bump her head against his hand, drawing him out of it. He scratched her ear in thanks before looking around the room and noticing someone missing.
"Has anyone seen Clint?"
"He went to the bathroom."
"That was fifteen, almost twenty minutes ago."
Worry nagged at Steve, despite being safe in the tower, their home. However, he didn't want to leave Tony alone either. Natasha seemed ot notice his plight and stood up when an unexpected distraction showed up in the form of Peter stumbling into the room.
"Peter!"
Tony nearly fell on his face in his haste to get to his kid. Too hurried to notice the rapid breathing, the panicked eyes, the wild movements. Tony reached to hug Peter, his very much living son, when Peter pushed him back throwing him clean across the room with little to no effort, only barely missing landing on his own daemon. Steve hurried to his dazed husband, while Qatara growled uneasily.
"Tony! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm think so. What was that?"
All eyes turned to Peter who seemed only to get more distraught, pulling at his own hair to try and alleviate his turmoil. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Why is this happening?!"
"Child of iron, what is the purpose of this?"
"Thor no, leave him be. Something is wrong."
"Fear not, I can handle one human child."
Thor approached Peter with a confident stride, reaching to grab hold of Peter, to restrain him. Peter didn't even notice him, having turned around as if looking for something. As if he had eyes in his back, he spun around, grabbed Thor's hand and flung him effortlessly over his back in a pro-wrestling move. He stumbled back as if confused, steadying himself on the wall as Thor, somewhat startled, scrambled back on his feet.
"Impressive, young one. Again!"
Thor moved forward, eager for a good fight, completely forgotten why he had approached Peter in the first place. "Thor stop!" Steve's warning fell on deaf ears as the Asgardian strode towards Peter. Again Peter deflected his attack, pushing Thor away with one arm sending him crashing into the far wall.
"What the-?" Tony was at a loss for words as he watched Peter fling a god across the room like it were nothing. Even stranger was Peter tugging on his own arm as if to free himself from the wall.
"Not again. Why is this happening. Just let go!" Peter pulled with his entire body but his hand refused to release the wall. With every tug that failed, he grew angrier and more desperate.
"Peter, I need you to calm down." As Natasha approached low to the ground and slowly, Peter seemed to settle ever so slightly. "I want to help you, маленький шпион . But you need to talk to me. Eyes on me, Peter." Peter's gaze returned to Natasha at the calm command after drifting across the room ins earch of something again. Nat's calm composure seemed to have an affect on Peter. It surely helped that Peter had been rather close to her. They'd met several times when Peter was very young due to Fury having sent her to spy on Tony, before Tony became an avenger.
"Talk to me, мой маленький шпион."
"I can't find her."
"Who, дорогой?"
Just then Peter abruptly turned around, crouching into a defensive stance. Standing in the hallway was Clint, Illarias on his shoulder. It looked like Clint got the wind knocked out of him as he held himself even so slightly steady against the wall. Peter shifted and Nat easily read his intend to fight. Semyon whispered in her ear before she could try and soothe him again or potentially restrain him, that someone else was approaching.
"Easy, Peter. It's alright, Kalyca is right here." Besides Bruce, Raakel slowly walked forward. No one understood at first, until Peter gasped and stumbled back in fright.
"There is no need to be afraid. I know this is confusing and scary, but she is Kalyca. You can still hear her, Peter."
"Peter?"
The soft voice was no doubt that of Kalyca. Everyone watched confused as Peter reached out to Raakel, but rather than touch Raakel -whihc Peter would never do normally- he stopped just inches before her. The avengers slowly came closer to see what was going on and then they saw it. A small, purple colored spider slowly crawled off Raakel's head and onto Peter's hand. He gasped upon contact and tears sprung into his eyes, despite his confusion.
"Kalyca?"
"It's me."
"How?"
"I think I can explain that." Bruce said as he looked at everyone in the room. "It's the reason I didn't allow anyone in to see Peter. I needed to talk to him first, because of Kalyca."
"You know what's wrong? What has happened?"
"I don't know exactly why or how this has happened, just what has happened."
"And what is that, exactly?" Tony demanded.
"All I know is that Peters' DNA has been drastically and irrevocably altered. But I do not know how."
Peter looked up at everyone apprehensively, but it was Kalyca who spoke. "We're so busted."
Russian translations [keep in mind, taken from online translator]
маленький шпион = little spy
мой маленький шпион = my little spy
дорогой = darling
Daemons:
Go to my deviantart, Selene467. I've got a separate folder in my gallery just for Marvel Daemons. [unfortunately links no longer allowed here]