Welcome to Homecoming from Tony's point of view. So, it's pretty much just him being a very stressed parent as his spider-son gets himself in trouble. Enjoy! I'll see you at the end.
A day after the Stark-Rogers family returned from their trip to Wakanda, Peter started his internship. To say the kid was excited was an understatement. Peter was practically bouncing off of the walls as Tony introduced him to the other Avengers. Poor kid looked like he was about to faint.
From there Tony and Peter started having lab time where they worked on making Peter a much safer suit. The kid was enthusiastic and asked all sorts of amazing questions. Peter was going to do amazing things in the future. Tony just knew it.
After they finished the suit Tony installed something called the "Training Wheels Protocol" that drove Peter insane just to think about it. But the protocol was there for a good reason. Tony and Bruce had put all sorts of extra features into the suit and it would take Peter time to learn everything. But either way, Peter was just happy to have a better suit because he could finally go out on patrol. Sure, he had a schedule for it and he hated that, but he was receiving amazing training from all of the Avengers so it was an alright trade-off.
Having Peter visiting the tower was a bit of a blessing for the adults. Turns out that Peter was a pretty good baby sitter. Peter was more than happy to look after the kids for a few hours so the adults could go out and have some fun without having to worry.
Another major highlight was when Tony gave Shuri Peter's number. As predicted the two got along swimmingly and were planning to meet in person as soon as possible. That would totally go well. No disasters at all.
So yeah, Peter's summer had been great. He'd learned so much and felt better when he went out on patrol. But, all good things come to an end and soon enough it was time for school to start again. Because school was important Peter was only allowed to come to the tower a few times a week and he could only join in with the science shenanigans if his homework was done. The same went for patrol.
So, school started, Peter went back as well as Clint's older kids, and honestly, the tower felt quieter. It was… odd. Everyone had gotten so used to having so many kids running around that it felt weird to only have Nicola and Nathaniel during the day. So, for the adults that didn't hold full-time jobs that weren't Avengers related, they had to get creative.
Let's just say that Clint and Sam aren't allowed to do anything with oranges and dish soap ever again.
About a week after school started Peter came over to the tower to do some work on his suit. He was just sitting there tinkering and Tony knew something was off because the normally chatty teenager was silent.
"What's on your mind Pete?" asked Tony as he looked over at where Peter was sitting.
"Nothing's wrong Sir." Mumbled Peter as he tried to focus on his work.
"We've talked about this Peter. Enough with all the "Sir" business. I'm too young for that."
"Aren't you like 46 years old?"
"With the spell Loki put on me I'm 22 ish so I'm way too young for all the formalities. But you're deflecting. So, what's wrong." Pressed Tony and Peter sighed.
"It's just these kids at school. We had to talk about our summer in English class and nobody believes me about the internship. Only my friend Ned, this girl Michelle, and a few members of the decathlon team believe me. And to make matters worse Flash keeps calling me a liar and just generally being a dick." Huffed Peter. He hadn't planned on spilling all those details but he knew he could trust Tony with what was going on.
"First of all, those kids are jerks and I'm going to fix this. Secondly, who the hell names their kid Flash?" huffed Tony
"Well, his name is actually Eugene. And what do you mean you're going to fix this?" panicked Peter once he realized what Tony had said.
"I'm going to show up at your school and set things straight. This way you'll also get school credit for your internship." Explained Tony.
And Peter knew it was useless to try to fight Tony Stark-Rogers once he set his mind on something. So that was when Peter found himself sitting embarrassedly in decathlon practice while Tony talked to Mr. Harrison about his internship. All the other kids were caught between staring at Peter and staring at Tony. He hated everything, but maybe now Flash would ease up a bit.
But still, it was like your mom coming in to talk to the teacher in front of your class. So not cool.
Two weeks later, just after the team had finished dinner, Tony got a very concerning phone call while he and Steve were washing Nicola up after he'd made a mess at dinner. Steve took over the washing so that Tony could take the call.
Well, the call nearly gave Tony a heart attack.
While Peter was on patrol that night, he'd stopped a bank robbery, but the robbers had been using weapons that were using alien tech. Tony freaked out and told Peter to head home where it was safe and he'd tell the other Avengers so they could stop this all. He also told Peter to keep away from all of this. This wasn't something he was trained to handle yet. Peter agreed and soon all the Avengers had orders to look out for alien tech used by common criminals.
And that should have been the end of Peter giving Tony heart attacks. Things were normal for a little while longer. Peter come by the tower often, he worked hard and made amazing progress in all of his abilities whether super or not, and he would occasionally babysit Nicola who just loved having Peter around.
But with Peter being Peter and almost like a less drunk clone of Tony at that age, the kid couldn't leave the matter alone.
Peter had gotten lucky and had gotten an invite to a party being put on by his crush one Friday night. He was so excited and Tony gave him some tips on how to have fun but still be safe. He wasn't about to have this amazing kid fall down the same hole Tony did. The night of the party Peter sent a text letting Tony know that he was alright and there was no alcohol there and that should have been the end of it.
It was not.
Tony had just finished up reading Nicola his nightly bedtime story of Goodnight Moon and had sent his son off to dreamland when he'd gotten an alert that Peter was in danger. He immediately called the other Avengers, gathered all the information they could, and were off to rescue their Spider-baby.
By some miracle, Tony and the others had arrived at Peter's location just in time to see the kid plummeting towards the water while caught in his parachute. The other Avengers started chasing the mysterious villain while Tony raced to go catch the poor kid before he drowned. Peter hit the water with a loud smack and Tony very quickly fished the kid out of the water before he could drown. Tony had to stamp down his own panic attack about being in the water to do it and he just knew it would happen later once he got home.
"You alright kid?" asked Tony once he got himself and Peter back on dry land.
"I'm alright Mr. Stark-Rogers. How did you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit?" asked Peter as he wrung the water out of his mask.
"I put everything in your suit, including this heater." Smirked Tony as Peter slowly began to warm up.
"Pete, what were you thinking? Weren't you supposed to be at a party?"
"I was at the party, but then they kept asking about Spider-Man so I left to put on the suit but then I saw the guys from the bank so I decided to go after them and then this guy who looked like a vulture swooped in and picked me up and dropped me from really high and then you saved me so that's why I'm not at the party." Rambled Peter in a way that would have been almost incoherent if Tony didn't know the kid.
"Peter, you need to be more careful. If somebody is using alien tech then you need to be more aware out there. I've had that kind of stuff used against me before in battles like New York. It's no joke and you could get really hurt. Let myself and the other Avengers take care of this stuff while you're still learning. Stay low to the ground and help the little guys for now. Like that lady who bought you a churro. Be a "friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man" until you have more training. Now, why don't you head back to the party and have a little bit of fun before the night is over."
Peter nodded and once he was warm enough he was swinging off back to the party leaving Tony to have the reality of the situation and the thing with the water finally hit him. Tony had JARVIS alert Steve to what was happening as he clambered out of his suit and curled in on himself as he tried his best not to have a panic attack.
Steve was quick to arrive at his location and he found Tony curled up under the monkey bars of a playground. He quickly rushed over and began the process of helping Tony calm down. It took a while especially once JARVIS explained everything with the water and by the time Tony was calm enough to talk he was exhausted. They made their way back to the tower with a plan to go over everything in the morning.
The Avengers hadn't managed to catch up to the guys using the alien tech. They had some sort of cloaking tech so Tony had JARVIS running new algorithms to try and break it. Thor was really useful in helping decode the alien stuff. Tony worked tirelessly on doing all the tracking. Thor, Bruce, and Rhodey had helped a whole lot as well but Tony was taking this personally. He'd grown attached to Peter and he wanted to make sure he was safe.
But of course, Peter just had to go and do something reckless again.
Peter had left for DC to go to his decathlon nationals and everyone at the tower had wished the kid luck. They were all so proud of him and they hoped that he'd do well. Tony hadn't been worried at all about anything happening. Peter knew to stay away from this Vulture guy so Tony had no reason to think that Peter would get himself into trouble while he was away.
Well… let's just say that baby spiders never listen.
Tony found out that Peter had saved his classmates from certain death at the Washington Monument on the news that afternoon. Tony had been sitting on the couch in the living room working on his tablet with Acorn sprawled across his lap, Steve doing some art at his side, and Nicola having a blast with his blocks on the floor when the news came on. Tony had to take a moment to calm down after seeing that. Logically he knew that Peter was alright but that didn't stop his heart from thundering in his chest.
But oh no, Peter didn't stop there. A few days after the whole incident in DC Peter got himself into even more trouble. Tony knew something was wrong when he went to give Peter a call during his lunch break and the kids blew him off. Tony had this whole spiel about how proud he was of Peter for saving his classmates and being there for them. He was going to tell Peter that he would always support him, unlike his own father who was a right bastard. But then Peter had to go and interrupt him and cancel the call.
The sounds in the background where what tipped Tony off. He had JARVIS track Peter's suit and he very quickly found out that the kid was in it and skipping school. To say that Tony was furious was an understatement. He and Peter had an agreement on when he could use the suit and not while he was still training and in school. Now Peter was out there breaking Tony's trust and having a ferry sawn in half.
Did I mention that he'd as good as sawn a ferry in half!
Luckily Tony was able to fix the damage without anyone getting hurt. But Peter was another story altogether. Tony had sent the kid back to shore where they could talk after all this was over.
"Next on Peter screws the pooch. I told you to stay away from al of this. We had a deal Peter, about when you can use the suit. We had a deal that you'd put school first. We had a deal that you'd stay away from all of this for the time being. And what do you do? You hacked a million-dollar suit to go behind my back and do the one thing I told you NOT TO DO!" yelled Tony in disappointment as Peter looked down sheepishly.
"Is everyone ok?"
"No thanks to you."
"NO thanks to me?!" yelled Peter as he looked up at Tony. "There are weapons out there that need to be stopped. I just can't stand by and let things like this happen. I just wanted you to listen to me."
"I did listen Peter." Sighed Tony as he stepped out of the suit. "I did listen. I have JARVIS running intel. I have some of the team doing underground work. We've started getting names and locations. We're close Peter. This isn't your fight."
"I just wanted to be like you." Whispered Peter as he looked down sullenly. He really knew that he'd fucked up.
"And I wanted you to be better."
The two stood there for a moment just taking in the situation. Peter was trying to keep from showing his upset while Tony was trying to rein in his anger and worry. He was mad that Peter had broken his trust but he was also scared because Peter could have been seriously injured just now. Peter was still a kid. Yes, he had powers and a healing factor, but he was still a kid and kids should be safe and in school, not hacking suits and blowing shit up. OS, with that in mind, Tony did what any reasonable parent would do when their kid messes up big time.
"You're grounded."
"WHAT!"
"You're grounded. No suit for a month. You need to learn that your actions have consequences. So, when you come over to the tower tomorrow You'll give me the suit so you can't go out until this is over."
"But I'm nothing without the suit."
"If you're nothing without the suit then you shouldn't have it."
Tony sighed and looked back at Peter. The poor kid looked horrible but he had to learn that he couldn't get away with this kind of stuff.
"Look, Peter. It's just a month. You're still coming by the tower for internship days if your aunt allows it. I have a feeling that she'll ground you for skipping school. Have her call me to let me know her decision. Now go home kid. You need a break. And don't even think about going anywhere else. I'll know if you do."
All Peter could do was nod and swing off. Tony watched him go before he got back into his suit and heading back to the tower to tell the others what was going on. The second Tony got home he immediately went to search out Steve. His husband was in their room watching something on his tablet and just generally being lazy while Nicola was down for his afternoon nap. Steve saw how exhausted Tony was looking and just scooped his husband into his arms as Tony cried and talked about what had just happened.
Peter did end up getting grounded for a week once May found out he'd skipped school. Peter had dropped off the suit at the tower one afternoon before he went home for the night. But, after that grounding was over the kid was back at the tower to continue his internship duties. And, as punishment for his actions with the ferry and the weapons, Tony had Peter write a 1000 word essay on why you listen to adults when they tell you something is dangerous and why you should get help when you need it.
The only good thing happening as of late what that Peter had finally gotten the guts to ask his crush Liz out to homecoming. He was so excited. The night before the dance May called tony over to teach Peter all the guy stuff that she couldn't. sure, she was able to teach Peter how to dance and be a proper gentleman, but things like shaving and tying a tie was something she wasn't too sure about and Tony was happy to help out.
The night of the dance Tony shot off a text wishing Peter a safe and fun night and that should have been the end of it. Tony certainly wasn't expecting Peter to give him a call around 8 that night that was for sure.
"Peter, I wasn't expecting you to call. How's your dance? Is everything alright?" asked Tony as he picked out the phone.
"Mr. Stark-Rogers. I need help. My date's dad is the Vulture. He knows who I am. I don't know how but he does. He has weapons and he was threatening me and I may have started going after him but I need some help." Rushed out Peter and Tony began to panic.
"Alright Pete, try to stay out of his way. I've got your location I'll be there with the other Avengers in a moment. Don't do anything rash!"
In seconds Tony had a lock on Peter's location and soon enough he'd gathered all the Avengers that he could so they could suit up to go help. Tony was the first to fly off in his armour. He knew that Peter didn't have his suit because it was sitting down in the lab. So, by this logic, Peter had to either just be in his regular clothes that he'd worn to the dance or he was in that horrible onesie of his.
As Tony arrived at Peter's location his heart sunk as he surveyed the area. Where once an old warehouse stood, was now a pile of broken concrete and rebar. Tony quickly began shifting through the rubble as the other Avengers arrived to help.
"PETER! WHERE ARE YOU!?" shouted Tony as he searched for the kid.
"I'm here!" came a small reply not far from where Tony was. "I'm stuck. I need help."
Tony was over at Peter's location in seconds as he used the suit to free the teen from his concrete prison. Peter coughed and sputtered as Tony pulled him free. Seconds later Tony was out of the suit and sitting on the ground with a crying Peter in his arms.
"Shh. It's alright. You're alright. You're ok Pete. You're gonna be ok." Soothed Tony as the teen clung to him. He checked Peter over for injuries and found a myriad of cuts, bruises, and what looked like a badly sprained wrist.
"I'm gonna get you back to the tower Pete. We'll get you all fixed up, alright." Peter just nodded and curled in tighter.
"What about the Vulture? I managed to web him up before the building fell." Whispered Peter as he looked around a bit. Tony looked over his shoulder and saw Thor and Sam bringing the man into custody.
"Sam and Thor have got him. He can't hurt you anymore Pete. Now let's get you back to the tower alright Bambino."
Peter just nodded again and allowed Tony to bundle him onto the jet. Once everyone was sorted and Toomes was with some SHIELD agents Clint powered up the jet and they were flying back home. The whole flight Peter was glued to Tony's side. The poor kid was in shock and Tony was doing his best to make sure he was comfortable. Steve brought over some blankets and Tony thanked him with a smile.
Once they arrived back, Steve helped Tony carry Peter down to medical so he could get checked over. The cuts were easy to treat but it turned out that the bad sprain was actually a break. Dr. Cho was quick to set it and hook Peter up to some pain killers.
"I'm going to go give your aunt a call. Will you be alight for a moment Pete?" asked Tony once he was sure that Peter was comfortable.
"Please don't call Aunt May! She'll be so mad. Please don't!"
"Peter, you're hurt and she's your guardian. She needs to know. I know you didn't want her to know about Spider-man until you were ready but this can't go one. You got hurt tonight kid. She's your family. You don't have to hurt alone."
All Peter could really do was nod. He was exhausted and doped up in pain killers and everything just sucked. He didn't want May to know he was Spider-Man but he was still just a kid and all he wanted was a hug from his aunt to make him feel better.
So, Tony went out into the hall to call May. He told May that Peter had been hurt and he was there with him at the tower. He didn't tell May what had happened, that was for Peter to do. Despite the traffic in New York being awful, May got there pretty quickly. The second she got to the tower she was walking into medical to check in on her nephew. Said nephew was sitting up in bed and watching stupid YouTube videos with Tony on a tablet. The second they saw each other May had pulled Peter into a hug and Tony stood off to the side to await the inevitable yelling.
Peter and May just held each other for a moment as Tony told her all the medical stuff. None of it was too bad but May was still worried about what had happened. So, Peter, despite what he really wanted to do, began to talk.
He told May everything. He told May about the field trip to Oscorp and the spider bite, how he took Uncle Ben's death personally because he felt that he could have stopped it. He talked about his first suit and making his web fluid. He talked about everything, and very slowly, as Peter continued to talk, May turned her gaze to Tony, and she looked angry. Peter very quickly noticed this and jumped in.
"May… I was doing this for a long time before Mr. Stark-Rogers found out. I wasn't going to just stop and standby while I had these powers. It's like what Ben used to say. "With great power comes great responsibility." I knew I needed to help people. Mr. Stark-Rogers knew this too so he gave me the tools to stay safe. It's my fault this all happened. I didn't listen when I should have and now I'm hurt. So, for what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Talk. Now." Was all May said in response as she turned on Tony who was trying very hard not to look as scared as he felt. He never had done well with any kind of negative confrontation.
And Tony, to his credit, began to explain his own involvement to May. He only stuttered a little bit as he spoke and his hands weren't shaking that bed. He told May all of the protective measures that were in the suit. He told May about all the combat training Peter was getting and also all the science they'd do in the lab together. He told May how after Peter had fucked up with the ferry he'd been grounded from using the suit until he could prove that he could be trusted with it again. How he was trying to be responsible.
"I think Peter and I need to have a little chat about all of this." Spoke May, her voice level. Tony nodded and left the room.
As Tony waited for Peter and May to finish their talk, Steve came over and offered his shaken husband some comfort. Tony wasn't feeling alright at all. Between Peter getting hurt and all the yelling, he was just feeling like shit. He was so close to a breakdown but didn't for Peter's sake.
After a little bit, May appeared in the hallway and sat down across Tony and May to talk.
"So, Peter's explained everything to me. I will admit that I'm not happy about him keeping secrets, especially something like this. But, he's still my Peter and I will support him no matter what. Now, I don't know really anything about this superhero business and Peter seems to trust you guys so I'm expecting you to continue helping him with this. I don't want to see him getting hurt anymore of he can avoid it." Spoke May. Tony and Steve just nodded along.
"Mrs. Parker, I promise that we'll continue to be there for Peter. He'll receive the best training possible and hopefully moving forward he'll learn that he's not alone and can ask for help when he needs it so we don't have any more incidents like this." Spoke Steve and May nodded.
They talked for a little while longer before May went back to be with Peter for the night and Steve took Tony back to bed.
From there May, Tony, and Steve made up a new list of rules for Peter to follow while he was still underage. It was pretty much the same rules Tony had given Peter since the beginning but now in formal writing. The kid was also still grounded for a little while.
What surprised Tony and Steve the most about the whole situation was when May showed up at Tony's a week later with papers for joint custody of Peter. May had never had any guardian appointed if something were to happen to her and tony and Steve already treated Peter like one of their own. Plus this also put Peter's Spider-Manning responsibilities in their hands so that he was held accountable for his actions.
Tony had never signed another form faster.
So there, despite all the ups and downs, Peter became part of the Stark-Rogers family along with May. Actually, May and Peter ended up moving into the tower so that Peter could be closer to everyone. It actually worked out great for everyone. May was actually closer to her work so her commute was shorter and she'd found great friendship with Laura Barton. Peter may not be as close to his school as he was but that wasn't a big deal. He liked having his own space in the tower.
Plus this all had the added bonus of Nicola being really excited to have a bog brother of his own. Peter and Nicola got along like two peas in a pod. Seeing his family grow, a family Tony never thought he'd get to have. It made him smile. He knew he'd never be alone in the world. Never again.
So, I recently saw Knives Out and I gotta say, it's amazing! 100% recommend! Chris Evans in a cozy sweater is my new religion. But what do y'all think about the chapter? We now have our spider baby and he's getting the support he needs to thrive and be awesome. Now, just a heads up for the next chapter. It may take some time for me to finish. I'll be done by Christmas for sure but I'll still need time. Reason one is I have a Holiday Exchange Challenge fic due soon and I need to finish that. The second reason is that it's time for some Thanos action. Stay tuned because not only do we get some new fighters on the field but soon all of Loki's actions will be revealed. I'll see you around. -Shadows
