Congratulations, it's a Boy

Chapter 14

Summary:

Tony gets a visitor at the compound.

"Friday, give me infrared. This bastard has some kind of portal technology, but I don't think he's going far." The warehouse was full of crates and boxes, and the guy was using them to hide, somehow bouncing around the structure using some kind of advanced technology. But, as long as none of the crates contained anything warm, finding him with infrared wouldn't be difficult.

Except he'd asked for it a second too late, and a blast of energy hit him from behind and knocked him to the ground.

Tony groaned. Whatever it was packed a hell of a punch.

"The armor is weakened at the shoulder. Another hit like that could disable your entire left side."

"Ugh. It feels like my left shoulder is already disabled." It'd felt like his bones had knocked together inside his shoulder, and it was starting to throb from his shoulder, all the way down to his hand.

"Your shoulder didn't fully dislocate."

"Thanks, Friday. Glass half-full, right? Okay, lock onto his heat signature. I'm going to taze this bastard into next week."

Once the guy was down, Tony called Damage Control Himself. From the investigating he'd been doing, this was the guy who'd created the weapons that had helped Toomes take out his plane - and hurt Peter in the process. He was going to make sure that he was put into a dark hole somewhere for a long, long time.

"Boss, would you like me to notify Damage Control that you'll also need a medic to look at your shoulder?"

"Nope. I'm good. This is nothing a little ice and couple aspirin can't fix."

"Incoming call from Colonel Rhodes."

Tony winced, both at his continually throbbing shoulder, and at the timing of the call. He hadn't told Rhodey where he was going.

"Put him through."

"Tony, your intern is here looking for you. Are you coming back soon?"

"My intern? Peter?"

"Uh… yes. He says his name is Peter. He's here to give you something, apparently."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I wasn't expecting him until a little later in the month, but it's fine. I'm just taking care of something - I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay, where should he wait for you?"

"Wherever. He's been there before so he knows his way around. He usually goes to the gym first, so he can wait there if he wants."

"All right, I'll tell him."

The guy started coming around just as Tony ended the call.

Now that he was caught, he was trembling like a rabbit, not even bothering to pull at his restraints. Not that he had any chance of getting out of them.

"Please, it's not my fault! I didn't mean to do it! I was trying to create helpful things, not weapons!"

"Oh, I see. Helpful things. Like things that could spoof my plane's transponder signal so my security would think the plane was fine while you guys raided it for loot? That kind of helpful? Or helpful things like winged jet packs strong enough to take out cement support columns so you could knock a building down on Queen's local vigilante? Is that the kind of helpful you mean?"

Because yeah, he'd done enough investigation of the collapsed warehouse to be able to put together what had happened. He'd lost a couple nights sleep after he'd finally pieced it together from police reports and Friday's own analysis.

Tony watched the guy squirm, sweating and writhing in his restraints as if he could somehow will himself to disappear.

"Please, I didn't-"

"Save it. I'm done with you." Tony had to walk away before he got violent. He didn't even want to look at the weasel anymore.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Rhodes called again while he was flying back. "So what's this internship about anyway? Is it painful?"

"Painful? What? He hangs out with me, how could that possibly be painful?"

"I don't know, Tony, you tell me. The kid has been looking like he's about to face a firing squad since he got here. I let him in the gym, and he's just sitting on a bench staring into space. He hasn't even moved."

"Okay, this has to be a case of mistaken identity then, because that doesn't sound like Peter. Are you sure that's his name? Did you get a last name?"

"Yeah, Parker. Peter Parker. He's thin, has brown hair, brown eyes… a Midtown High t-shirt…"

"No, that's definitely him."

"Well I don't know what kind of internship you're running, but this kid looks like he's gearing up for torture or something."

"Huh. Okay. I'll figure it out when I get there. Thanks."

Tony flew to the platform closest to his living quarters because he really needed to change and take that aspirin. His shoulder was reminding him how much he hated Chitauri-based technology.

The mirror told him that he had a nice bruise that had already spread across his shoulder blade and down to his elbow, so he put on a dark long-sleeved shirt so Rhodey wouldn't give him any shit. He'd told him that he wasn't going to go after the guys with the alien tech without backup, but this one had been personal.

Rhodey wouldn't understand.

Tony tucked his left hand into his pocket, because good lord, he didn't want to swing his arm, even by accident, and he headed for the gym. He entered from the west side, and sure enough, Peter was sitting on a bench near the far door, just staring off into space.

The kid didn't seem to notice Tony's approach until he called out.

"Hey, Pete. What's up?"

Peter looked startled for a second, but then he blinked and stood up, striding towards Tony with what looked like a trash bag in one hand.

"Just came by to give you this." He tossed the bag at Tony's feet.

Alarm bells started ringing in Tony's head. This wasn't normal Peter behavior. And when he picked up the bag and saw that it contained the Spider suit and… his Stark laptop in pieces? The alarm bells only got louder.

Something was really wrong here.

Of course, Tony didn't know much about teenagers, but he'd heard over and over how they could get emotional over things that adults might consider unimportant. He didn't want to panic prematurely, even though his heart had already started to pound.

Tony decided to tread carefully. Maybe something had happened at school, or maybe Peter had gotten into a fight with his aunt.

"Uh… wow. So that's what a laptop looks like in pieces. Thor accidentally smashed one once, but I've never actually seen one ripped apart. Impressive."

Suddenly Peter's fists were clenched, and his cheeks were turning red with anger.

"I'm done."

"With what, exactly?"

"The internship, the suit, your computer. All of it. Just wanted you to know that." And then Peter turned to leave and Tony started to feel himself giving in to the panic a little.

He called out to Peter's retreating form. "I totally respect your choices, but can you at least tell me why? This is a total 180 kid, and I'm a bit lost."

Peter whipped around again to face him. "Did you pay her off?"

Now Tony was confused. Who did Peter think he'd paid?

"Who, your aunt? What are you talking about?"

"My mother. Did you pay her to leave your name off my birth certificate?"

And that knocked the breath right out of his lungs. He felt dizzy suddenly.

"How did you -

"I guess you never wanted me to find out, huh? Wouldn't want anyone to know that 'Penis Parker the Joke' was actually the son of Tony Stark, right? Wouldn't want to damage your reputation or whatever."

"Wait a second-"

"Why? Why should I wait a second?" And now Peter was practically screaming. "I've waited fifteen years. You never even acknowledged my existence until I became Spider-Man. Well guess what? You can't have Spider-Man! You can't have Spider-Man because you never wanted ME!" Peter was panting as he stared Tony down, as if awaiting an answer.

And Tony didn't know how to address any of this. He didn't even know where to start. All he knew was that his heart was pounding, his head was spinning, and Peter was about to walk away forever because somehow he'd found out the one thing he'd never wanted him to know.

Tony must've hesitated too long because Peter made an inarticulate sound of disgust - almost like a strangled scream - and turned away, marching purposefully towards the door.

"Wait… Peter, wait." But he could barely get the words out, the way his heart seemed to have lodged itself in his throat.

Peter opened the door, but suddenly Rhodey was there on the other side, blocking Peter's exit. "Hey, man. I don't know what's going on, but maybe everyone should just calm down a minute okay?"

Peter looked straight forward, chest heaving. "Excuse me, I'm leaving."

Rhodey stood his ground - and if Tony's brain had actually been operating he would've warned Rhodey. He'd never told his friend that Peter was Spider-man - the kid could throw him across the room with one hand if he wanted to.

"No one's going anywhere until they're calm."

Tony recognized that voice; it'd been used on him before. It was Rhodey's all-business voice. He didn't bring it out often, but when he did, Tony knew there was no use arguing with him.

He wasn't sure if he was on the verge of a panic attack, or about to throw up - maybe both. But something told him he should probably do something because the gym floor was new and vomit was gross. Unfortunately, his feet felt rooted to the floor, and all his muscles had turned to jelly.

But then he was also disgusted with himself. He was the adult here. Peter was upset, yes. Peter might never forgive him, true. And maybe Tony didn't deserve forgiveness anyway, so that was fair. But Peter did deserve answers and they were years late in coming, so it was about time for Tony to suck it up and get on with it.

Or so he told his wobbly legs, as he took a couple deep breaths and made his way over to the door to stand behind Peter.

He cleared his throat to make sure his voice would work. "Hey, Rhodey. We're just… yeah. Peter, let's go to my lab. There's something I want to show you."

And the instant he said it, Tony was almost completely sure that the next words out of Peter's mouth would be something about how Tony didn't have anything Peter was interested in seeing. And Tony wasn't sure he'd have an answer for that because the kid would be right - there was nothing, nothing Tony could do to make this better.

But instead of answering the way Tony expected, Peter didn't say anything.

Tony spoke to the back of Peter's head, since he seemed to be locked in some kind of staring contest now with Rhodey.

"Look, I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm not gonna try to hide that or make excuses. Let me just give you some of the information you were looking for, okay? Then you can go if you want."

Peter's shoulders slumped suddenly, and he looked at the floor. "Fine, whatever."

Tony nodded to Rhodey, and he moved out of the way, letting them pass through the door. Before they turned the corner, Rhodey called out "Hollar if you need me."

And he knew that meant that Rhodey would wait outside the lab - not listening to their conversation, but hanging out nearby. And while he appreciated the thought, if Peter wanted to smash him into a pulp, Tony wasn't going to stop him.

In the lab, Tony grabbed a chair and rolled it up next to another that was seated at a large console. He sat in one, and gestured to the other for Peter.

The kid eased into the chair with an air of reluctance that said that he probably wouldn't stay long.

"Friday, bring up Sandra's email."

The email appeared on the screen in front of them.

"You were 9 when I found out you existed. Your mother only told me because she was dying and wanted me to know what she'd done. At the time, I was suffering from Palladium poisoning and I was pretty sure I was going to die soon too. I looked you up and saw that you'd been with the Parkers your whole life, and it just didn't make sense for me to bother them - especially since I figured I had only about another few weeks to live."

Tony risked a glance at Peter, but he was silent, staring at the screen with a blank face. He figured if there was anything the kid would really want to know, it was more about his mother.

And Tony was the only one left who really knew the story.

"I didn't remember Sandra at first - not when I got the email. But I looked her up afterwards and it all came back. She was 25. She'd just graduated from MIT with her Masters in Mechanical Engineering, and she already had a doctorate program all lined up. I was visiting MIT to speak at the graduation. I'd just turned 30 the week before, and I was in a celebrating mood.

"The girls at MIT were easy to impress - most of them were interested in the kinds of things I excelled at. I could dazzle them with a little science talk and they'd be all over me.

"Not your mother, though. When I was making the rounds after my speech, she walked right up to me and called me out on my bullshit. She… god, I honestly don't even remember what she said, but she was strangely kind about it, you know? There she was, criticizing my speech and accusing me of being under-prepared, and she said it in a way that made me feel like she actually gave a shit - not just about the science, but about me. I just… I don't know. She had this really weird way of being brutally honest, but incredibly gentle at the same time. I forgot about trying to impress the other girls and spent the rest of the night talking to her."

Peter's voice was raw, and almost without inflection. "And then you left."

Tony nodded. "I left at the end of the weekend, yes."

"Why?"

He ran a hand down his face. "Because I was a dumbass. Because I was young. Because I had no idea what a real relationship was supposed to look like. Because she was going right back to school and was going to be busy with her doctorate, and I was busy doing my own thing running my father's company and inventing weapons of mass destruction."

"If she'd told you… when she first found out…"

"I would've come back in a heartbeat." Tony said it without hesitation because it was the absolute truth.

"Don't get me wrong, I would've been the world's shittiest father - I had no idea how to do that, either, but I would've tried." Tony hesitated. "I actually think that's why she didn't tell me. I think she knew that I'd come back, and that it'd be a wreck. She had a way of being able to see right into you - I think she understood that a kid would need better than what I could give."

Peter was silent again, so Tony waited. There was a lot he wanted to explain, but he wanted Peter to be in the driver's seat the rest of the conversation.

Finally, he asked the next logical question.

"After the Palladium poisoning - when you didn't die - why didn't you come find me then?"

Tony sighed. "I thought about it. But then I remembered that a crazy Russian had just built his own backyard iron suit to come fight me so he could prove to the world that Iron Man wasn't invincible. And… " Tony shrugged, "it just never ended. There was always another mission, another threat, another danger… it didn't seem fair to bring you into that. Plus, the Parkers loved you, and you loved them. I wasn't anyone."

Peter's voice was almost too soft to hear. "But you could've been."

And there was nothing Tony could say to that because he was right; he could've been someone to Peter. He could've tried. He could've contacted the Parkers and asked them to allow him a visit. Even if they didn't want to tell Peter who he was, he could've been a part of his life even back then.

But he chose not to do that.

Probably, since Tony was being brutally honest, because it would've been too hard for him to be that close, but always be an outsider looking in. He'd chosen what had been easier for him, not necessarily what Peter would've wanted.

They were both silent for a while. Tony stared at the screen without really seeing it. He had a terrible feeling that this was it. This was where Peter decided whether or not Tony was worth sticking around for. Whether or not he could forgive him. Whether or not he even wanted to try.

Peter stood up slowly. "I've gotta go. I told May I was just going to drop something off and come right back."

Tony closed his eyes and willed his voice not to shake. "Okay. Let Friday get a car for you. Friday?"

"A staff member will be waiting out front with a car."

It looked like Peter was going to leave without saying anything else, so Tony got up carefully, and stepped over to the bag containing the spider suit and what was left of the laptop. He pulled the suit out and offered it to Peter.

"Please keep it. I only made it to keep you safe."

Peter looked down at the suit being held out to him with the same blankness he'd had the entire time they'd been talking. He reached out and took it, tucking it under his arm.

Then he turned and left the lab without another word.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Rhodey came in some time later - whether it was ten minutes or an hour, Tony had no idea - and found Tony sitting on the floor, the crumpled computer pieces in his hands.

He didn't ask any questions, but the email was still up on the screen. Tony watched him go over and read it.

He waited for his best friend's reaction - which he assumed would be disappointment. Surprise. Maybe anger.

Instead, Tony closed his eyes again at the sound of his own name being spoken with nothing but pity.

"Oh, Tony."