Congratulations, it's a Boy

Chapter 11

Summary:

Tony returns the suit to Peter, and May finds out Peter's secret. She's less than thrilled.

It didn't take long to get a new parachute and tracker installed in Peter's suit. Having made the decision to give the suit back, he'd wanted those elements reinstalled.

Hopefully they'd last a little longer this time.

He was leaving the Training Wheels disabled, though, Peter had earned that much.

And since Peter was in the habit of leaving his bedroom window unlocked so he could sneak back in after patrolling, it was easy to deliver the suit without anyone being the wiser. He had one of his drones leave it on Peter's bed just before Peter was due to arrive home from school, that way it was more likely that Peter would find it before his aunt did.

Still, he'd set the suit in a plain box and wrapped it in paper, just in case May happened to get curious and look in the plain paper bag before Peter arrived.

Spending time working on Peter's suit had given him a chance to put things into perspective. Peter was in a good place living in Queens with his aunt. He had friends, he was involved in school - things Tony hadn't had at that age. It'd be wrong to take that away from him, even in exchange for joining the Avengers.

But now that Tony had come so close to Peter actually living in his home something deep inside him shifted. He couldn't stop thinking of ways he could spend more time with the kid.

So he'd come up with an alternative to Peter joining the Avengers.

He left a note with the suit offering Peter an actual internship - a legitimate one this time. With May's permission, he could come out to the compound a couple times a month and they could work on whatever projects sparked Peter's interest. He could still give some input on his suit… maybe he'd even want to take home a stark computer and use a little of his time between visits to come up with ideas. Then they could meet and work on them together.

Also, he was hoping a legitimate internship would give Peter a reason to keep in touch with Tony now instead of just Happy. Of course, Tony realized he was the one who'd set Happy up as Peter's contact to begin with… but things felt different now. He'd always followed Peter's activities pretty closely, but now he wanted something more… now he wanted an actual relationship with the kid. He wanted to get to know him as a person, instead of just a set of data.

So.

Once the suit was dropped safely in Peter's room, it was just a matter of waiting. The note had included his contact information - Tony's cell phone number this time instead of Happy's. All Peter had to do to get the ball rolling was call him up and tell him he was in.

Or shoot him a text. Tony wasn't picky at this point.

Still, he was trying not to let his hope get out of control this time around. The acute disappointment he'd had to bear when things hadn't worked out before was still too fresh and too painful for him to be eager to go down that road again. He was trying hard to have no expectations at all. It was quite possible that Peter wouldn't call. It was possible that he would decide that he just didn't have time in his schedule for a real internship. It was possible that he'd rather concentrate on the decathlon and on spending time with his friends.

All legitimate choices.

Of course all efforts not to get his hopes up went flying out the window the minute his phone rang and he saw Peter's number on the display.

"Peter! Guess you got my package."

"Oh my god, Mister Stark, you've gotta help me! I don't know what to do!"

And that wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. Peter sounded downright panicked. He couldn't be panicking over an internship, could he?

"What's going on?"

"It's May. Oh my god. May found out. I can't- I don't know what to do. I thought I was home alone and I put the suit on and she walked in and saw me. I don't - I don't know what to do." Peter's words were fast and almost breathless.

"Okay, slow down. She walked in on you in the suit. What did she say? Just take a couple deep breaths and tell me exactly what happened, okay?"

"She uh - She screamed 'what the fuck' and then she started crying. I was trying to explain, but she wouldn't let me. She locked herself in her room."

"Alright, that's okay, that's manageable. Sounds like she's maybe a little shocked-"

"A little?! Mr. Stark, I've never seen her like this. She doesn't blow up like this. Not ever."

"Well first thing's first, kid. Take off the suit if you haven't already. Put some normal clothes on, and don't go anywhere. You're going to have to wait her out. Once she's had a little while to process, she's probably going to come out of that room with a lot of questions."

"Right… right. She's gonna - oh man, I hope she doesn't - I can't tell her all the things I've been doing, it'll kill her! I don't know what I'm gonna say to her."

"You'll figure it out, I promise. She loves you, kid, she'll come around."

"But what if - what if she wants me to give up being Spider-Man? What if she makes me?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? Don't start making assumptions."

"Mr. Stark… do you think you could come over? I mean… I know you're not in town anymore, but do you think you'd have time to maybe come by? Just to help me explain?"

And that was all it took for Tony to get moving. "I'm on my way, kid. Just sit tight, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark! Thank you, I - I don't know, I'm so scared right now."

Tony answered from inside his armor, the call having automatically transferred to his HUD when he put the suit on. "I know. It'll be okay. I'll be there soon."

He actually had no idea how May was going to react, or whether or not she'd be willing to hear them out, but one thing was sure - he was going because Peter had asked. Tony wasn't about to let him down.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Tony stepped out of the suit and onto the sidewalk just outside of the Parker's apartment. He couldn't hear any yelling from the street below - he figured that had to be a good sign.

He made his way upstairs and knocked on the door, his mind going back to the last time he'd been here when May had welcomed him in with date loaf and tea - he doubted he'd get a similar reception this time around.

May opened the door swiftly, deceptively calm, with a defiant look in her eye. "Mr. Stark. Peter said you were coming. Won't you come in?"

Tony was perceptive enough to hear the order in what was phrased as a question, and he stepped into the apartment. Over in the living room, he could see Peter sitting slumped over on the sofa, staring down at his knees.

May ushered him in and he opted to sit on one of the arm chairs next to the sofa. He didn't want to sit next to Peter and give May the impression that they were ganging up on her.

"So… rough night?"

May wasted no time. "How long have you known that my underaged nephew was spending his free time fighting dangerous criminals in the city instead of meeting up with his friends and doing normal, safe, teenaged things?"

Tony had to respect anyone who could cut right to the chase like that, and he knew the only way this was going to work out for any of them was if he was completely honest. Or at least as honest as he could be.

"Since not long after he started doing it." Tony saw Peter shoot him a surprised look.

"Explain," May commanded.

"I was living at the tower here in the city. I heard about a new vigilante running around Queens and I got curious. I put my exceptional computing power to the task of figuring out who was behind the mask. It took a few weeks, but I eventually discovered who it was."

"And then instead of telling his guardian, you what? You made him that suit? Peter said you're the one who's been helping him."

"I didn't know at first whether or not you were aware of his… activities. But I do know what it's like to be a kid determined to assert your independence, and I figured it was better to give him a suit with some safety features than try to put a stop to it and have him rebel and run off unprepared."

"So you just decided to make that call all on your own."

Tony winced sheepishly. "I'm sorry for not looping you in. I realize that that was a mistake on my part. As the adult, I should've made sure you were aware of what your nephew was doing so you could make informed decisions about his safety."

May sat back, looking a bit taken aback by Tony's willingness to admit his mistake.

"You said the suit had safety features… what safety features?"

"It has an onboard computer, similar to the one in the Iron Man suit. It has a GPS tracker so that he can be located at any given moment. It has various protocols installed so that when certain conditions are met, I am automatically notified."

"What do you mean? What conditions?"

"There are parameters set for things like his location, his altitude, his temperature - if any of those went out of their given ranges, I would be notified and could immediately assist if needed."

Tony prayed that she wouldn't ask if any of the protocols had been triggered. He really didn't want to tell her about the night her nephew almost drown chasing down arms dealers with alien technology; that was not a story that would convince her that Peter was safe as Spider-Man.

Instead though, May's mind went in an entirely different direction.

"How exactly did this happen? I've seen videos of Spider-Man doing things that regular people can't do. Does this mean… Peter was adopted by Richard and Mary Parker, I don't know if you knew that… but we only ever had information about his mother. Does this mean that Peter's biological father could've been a mutant or something?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Peter look up with interest. He didn't seem shocked, and from the way May had said it, it seemed that Peter had already known he was adopted.

So now was his chance. He could just confess right now that he not only knew for sure that Peter's birth father was not a mutant, but that he even knew who he was.

"Honestly, I have no idea how it happened. That's something I was never able to figure out." He didn't even comment on the identity of Peter's father - it wasn't the right time. It might never be the right time.

Tony watched as May turned expectantly toward Peter. "Well? How did you get these… powers?"

Tony listened as Peter stammered out a story about having been bitten by some kind of laboratory-engineered spider on a school trip. It should've sounded impossible, but with the things Peter could do… Tony felt like Peter could've claimed it was aliens and it would've been believable. The proof was in what the kid could do. Which apparently was May's next topic.

"What exactly are the abilities you got from this… spider?"

"Uh… I can cling to just about any surface, my hearing and eyesight are better, my speed, agility, and reaction times are better… uh… I'm stronger…"

"How much stronger?"

Peter half-shrugged. "I don't really know. I - I can lift a lot now. Like… a lot."

Tony rescued Peter before he could start talking about the specifics of any of the things he'd done. "We haven't run any formal tests, but Peter has been able to lift upwards of 20 tons without straining himself."

While he was sure May would be looking for Spider-Man videos online soon, now was not the time to talk about her nephew jumping out in front of speeding cars or catching jet bridges that had been dropped on him by super soldiers.

"Twenty TONS?! That's… that's more than a car!"

"It's more than several cars."

May sat quietly a minute, seemingly deep in thought. Tony took the opportunity to glance over at Peter. He was still slumped over, elbows on his knees, but he didn't look quite as dejected as before. Tony imagined it wasn't going nearly as badly as he'd expected.

Finally, May spoke up again. "I need to think about this. I'm not even sure… this is nothing I ever thought I'd have to deal with. There's no manual for this."

Tony figured it was time to make a gentle suggestion, just so May would have something to think about. And to prevent Peter from immediately asking for permission to continue doing what he'd been doing; he doubted May was ready for that just yet.

"Full disclosure - I recently invited Peter to take part in an internship with Stark Industries, working personally with me. He could come out to our new facilities upstate a couple times a month and we could make sure he knew how to handle his abilities. And probably get a better idea of exactly what he can do, while we were at it. You'd be welcome to come as well, if you wanted. We have training courses there where he could practice his abilities in a safe environment."

May's eyes narrowed. "Another internship?"

"Another?" Tony glanced at Peter in confusion. Oh no…

He'd heard from Happy that Peter had been telling his friends that he had a Stark internship to explain why he disappeared so much, but he had no idea he'd been telling his aunt about the fake internship. He wondered how often he'd used that excuse with her.

Peter grimaced. "I told her I was working on an internship with you whenever I was busy doing Spider-Man things." He looked at his aunt. "Sorry, May. I didn't know how to tell you."

"So instead, you just let me think that this man was working you half to death?!"

Tony jumped in before it could escalate. "Well, this would be like that. Only real this time, totally legitimate, and I wouldn't over-work him."

-0-0-0-0-0-

In the end, Tony thought the whole thing had gone rather well. By the time he'd left the Parker's apartment, everyone had been calm - at least outwardly. May had promised to consider allowing Peter to participate in an internship, and Peter had promised to lay off going out as Spider-Man until further notice.

Tony hoped May would come around to the idea of her nephew fighting crime, because he doubted Peter could stay out of the suit long. He had a feeling that despite his best intentions, the minute a bad situation presented itself, Peter wouldn't be able to resist swinging into action.

Oddly, that was one way in which they were alike. Tony had intended to quit the Iron Man thing before, and it hadn't stuck. Maybe failing despite the best of intentions was an inherited trait…