Chapter 81

As August drew on and summer slowly came to an end, Toni felt herself growing nostalgic. Peter would be back at school soon and Steve still spent most of his days at the Compound. While he hadn't gone on as many missions since the Accords Council had taken over, she still knew it was really only a matter of time before he was asked to go on a trip somewhere and would leave her behind.

It wasn't as if she had nothing to do and was just sitting around. She refused to go on maternity leave until she absolutely needed to, but at the same time Pepper had been taking on more and more of her duties, not wanting to overwork Toni. So much so that Pepper had hired her own assistances to help her out.

She still had a little less than half her pregnancy left, and she knew that Steve and Pepper were one step away from ganging up on her to get her to take it easy, so she relished all the time she had left in her lab. She'd planned a few months' worth of releases so far and had been handling her board meetings in stride as she knew it was important now more than ever to make sure the company would be in stable shape for when she took leave. Pepper had promised to step in as her interim while she was gone, and there was no one she trusted more than Pepper Potts to manage her company.

She walked down the hall and stopped herself as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. It wasn't the dark circles that caught her, or the way her curls were a bit of a disaster at the moment.

No, it was the sight of her stomach, which bulged out ever so slightly. She'd never been extremely conscious of her figure despite the constant comments in the media, but she knew she'd looked good. And now, seeing the bulge, she couldn't stop the swell of emotion that raced through her.

She placed her hand on her stomach as she felt a rush of happiness, knowing that the bulge was her baby. Her and Steve's baby.

And she could see her pregnancy.

It wasn't that she wasn't aware of the way her body was changing. Her feet hurt, and her hormones were still a disaster. And she'd stared at her stomach more often than not, trying to see if she was starting to show.

But until this moment, she hadn't fully noticed how big the changes were. How pregnant she was.

She knew, in the back of her head, that rumours would begin to start soon, and she'd eventually have to arrange a press conference. But for now, this little bean was just between their family and those that she'd loved. And she wouldn't need to share it with the world until she was more than ready to do so.

"Darling?" Steve said, coming from the kitchen as he caught sight of her. He frowned slightly, looking concerned, "What's wrong?"

"I can see the bump," she said, as she sniffled slightly. Her hand still rested on her stomach, as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Steve approached her with a wide smile, as he saw her stomach.

"That's our baby," he said, sounding awestruck.

"Our baby," she repeated, with a stupid grin on her face.

"You look so beautiful," he said, as he bent down to properly see her stomach. He placed a hand on it, as he gently caressed her belly. "With your stomach swelling with our child. I love you so much, Toni."

"I love you too," she said as he stood back up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a tender kiss. His arms circled her waist, as he held her gently as to not hurt the child. She knew he wouldn't; nor could he. Steve was a wonderful father to Peter, and she knew he'd be a wonderful one to their unborn child as well.

"Can you guys not be like this so early in the morning?" Peter grumbled from the kitchen. "It's nauseating. I just wanna eat my cereal in peace. Is that so much to ask?"

Steve escorted her towards the kitchen, and she kissed her son on the head as she sat down beside him.

"Just you wait til you get your first girlfriend," she said wagging a finger at him, "Or boyfriend. Then you'll understand."

"Mom!" he said, looking red. "Don't be weird."

"Just for that, I'm going to be extra weird," she told him solemnly. "I'll make it my civic duty to remind you of how you said it was gross when you father and I kiss but how it's perfectly acceptable if and your partner do the same. Then you'll see."

"Toni," Steve sighed, looking exasperated with them both, "We are not going to show up our child and his future partner. Let them be in peace."

"Yeah!" Peter said, pointing his spoon at her, "Leave us in peace."

"You two aren't allowed to team up against me," she pouted, "That's definitely not fair."

"Life's not fair," Peter said with a shrug.

"Who taught you to be sarcastic?" she asked, in mock outrage, "You were such a good boy and now you're being sarcastic."

"I learnt from the best," he said, looking at her pointedly.

"Oh, well then it's acceptable," she said, flipping her hair behind her back. "I am the queen of sarcasm after all."

"That you are, Miss," JARVIS chimed in, and she beamed at his sensors.

"And don't any of you forget it," she said.

Steve shook his head, but the smile didn't leave his face as he held her hand tenderly. She stared sadly at the cup of herbal tea in front of her, wishing desperately it could have been coffee. She knew why she couldn't have coffee and had no plans to drink any.

But that didn't make her wish she couldn't have it anyways.

Still, sitting here with Steve and Peter, it just reminded her of how perfect her life was.

Even if she didn't have coffee.


Peter worked his way through the lunch line as the lunch lady dropped a scoop of pasta onto his plate. He tried not to look too disgusted by it, at least to her face, but there was no denying that the pasta would be less than amazing.

It didn't help that his adoptive mother had insisted on making pasta for him from scratch alongside the sauce, as she replicated a recipe from her childhood. So he knew what good pasta was supposed to taste like. And this wasn't it.

"Dude, there's a free table over there," Ned nudged him as they exited the line. He pointed to a table at the back of the cafeteria and Peter nodded gratefully. The novelty of his adoption was slowly wearing off and people were starting to treat him like normal again.

Well.

Most people were.

"Not getting your lunch catered, Parker?" Flash said as he came up behind him. "Eating what the rest of us peasants eat now? Or maybe your new Mommy doesn't really care too much about what you eat. You served your purpose and got her good publicity, didn't you? In fact she's barely mentioned you at all in the press recently. I wouldn't be surprised if you spent all summer alone in that tower."

"Go away, Flash," Peter said, with a roll of his eyes.

In truth, Toni had talked to him and said she didn't want to do frequent press releases about him unless it was necessary. She'd been in the spotlight her entire life, and she'd hated it. She never had a moment of privacy, and she'd said she couldn't offer him complete privacy given the adoption and who his parents were, but she could offer the best she could.

And he appreciated that. He knew Toni and Steve loved him. He knew that he was more than a publicity stunt. But he also knew someone like Flash would never believe that.

"Just cause you can't handle the truth doesn't make it any less true than what it is," Flash said with a shrug.

He turned around as he followed Ned to the table they'd scoped out, and he was more than grateful that Flash seemed to bore of him as they walked away.

"You know what he says isn't true, right?" Michelle said from the table beside theirs, and she looked at her in surprise. The girl hardly talked to them. She hardly talked to anyone, like she was some sort of enigma on a plane way above theirs.

"Sorry?" he asked in confusion.

"Flash?" she said, looking at him like he was stupid. "He's wrong about your adoptive parents. It's clear that they love you very much. I've seen Toni Stark drop you off in inconspicuous cars and wearing some disguise or the other so that no one would notice her bring attention to you. Or any time either of them look at you. It's clear in all the photographs that they both care about you."

"Thanks," he said, sounding grateful. He knew he didn't have a lot of friends at the school. And while he'd gotten an influx of attention from people who wanted to be his friend now, Ned was one of the few that he trusted not to have an ulterior motive. And well, he never really knew where he stood with Michelle. But she seemed to not hate him, and by Michelle standards, that said a lot.

"Whatever," she said, as she went back to poking her food with a fork.

"So dude," Ned said, gaining his attention back, "I got a new Death Star Lego set the other day and it's insane! There's like three thousand eight hundred and three pieces and it comes with figurines of all the characters. Wanna build it together? I can ask my parents if you can come over, but I doubt they'll say no. They love you."

"Actually, do you want to come over instead?" Peter asked, testing the waters.

"Like to the Tower?" Ned asked, eyes widening.

"Yeah," Peter said, with a shrug, "I asked Mom about it and she said she didn't mind. She likes you."

"Holy shit, Iron Woman likes me," Ned said, and Peter wondered if he broke his best friend.

"You've met her before, Ned," Peter reminded him. "A few times."

"Look, just because you've gotten over your awe of Toni Stark from when you were a kid doesn't mean I have. I haven't had years to come to terms with it," Ned said, with a shake of her head, "Iron Woman likes me."

"I'll take that as a yes," Peter said, laughing, "I'll let you know which day works best?"

Ned couldn't help but nod for lack of being able to find any other words to say.

He looked up then as a group of senior girls walked over to a table near theirs, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he looked at one of them in particular.

Liz Toomes.

Holy she was beautiful.

He tried not to gawk at her, but just seeing her laugh with her friends made him fall a little bit more for her with every smile.

"Dude if you stare any harder, you're going to start drooling," Michelle said, and he tried to straighten himself out, so he wasn't blatantly obvious.

"You're a goner," Ned said, sagely. "No shame in that, Parker. She's a beautiful woman after all. But way out of our league."

"I know," he sighed. And he couldn't help it, but she was beautiful.

He wondered if perhaps he'd be able to talk to Steve about it. His dad had done the huge romantic gesture to win over his mother on national television. And it certainly had worked well in his favour.

He shook the thought out of his head.

There was no way Liz would ever like him back, so was there even a point in speculating?

Still, he couldn't help but wonder: what if?


Peter perched up on the roof as he scarfed down the sandwich from Mr Delmar's. It had been hard for him to go back to the Deli after everything that had happened with his uncle, but he knew it hadn't been the fault of anyone but the criminal who'd killed his uncle.

Still, the guilt ate at him every time he went back, wondering what would have happened if he'd only stopped the man robbing the place. If he hadn't frozen in spot.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. He'd already stopped a bike robbery earlier, and thought he was stopping a car robbery when really the guy was just trying to get into his own car. Whoops, he still felt a bit guilty over that.

He scanned over the city and saw a group of men entering a bank. And they were wearing Avengers masks. He sighed, knowing whatever it was they were planning couldn't be good.

"Yo, this high tech stuff makes it too easy," the robber wearing the Thor mask said.

He crawled in carefully behind them as he watched them using some high-tech guns to break into the ATM.

"Told you it was worth it," the one wearing the Captain America mask said. The ATM burst wide open then.

"Okay, go, go, go," the fake Iron Woman said, and he stood guard as the other three began bagging the cash.

"Oh nice!" the Hulk exclaimed.

"We can hit, like, five more places tonight," the robber who was wearing the Thor mask said in agreement.

He dropped down carefully to the ground, as he tried to look casual.

"What's up, guys? You forgot your PIN number?" he asked, nonchalantly.

The four of them turned to face him in surprise.

"Whoa! You're the Avengers. What are you guys doing here?" he asked them in surprise, "And here I thought you guys were busy with other stuff! What no hello for your favourite hero?"

Or son, he thought in amusement as clearly none of them knew of his connection to Iron Woman or Captain America. He felt a sense of satisfaction as he webbed up his parents.

"Thor! Hulk!" he said with a gleeful smile, "Good to finally meet you guys. I thought you'd be more handsome in person."

His mother would probably kill him for the cheek, but she wouldn't know til later when she watched the footage.

He jumped to the roof as he kicked Thor down to the ground and took the Hulk's gun from him with his web shooters to knock out Captain America who'd gotten free.

Iron Woman lunged at him, throwing punches, as Peter casually dodged each of them, "Iron Woman. Hey, what are you doing robbing a bank? You're a billionaire!"

The Hulk picked up a gun just then, as Peter dodged his fake mother's punch, who ended up falling and punching the Hulk as they both went down.

Captain America picked up one of the high-tech guns that they'd use to break into the ATM, and Peter lunged at him, only to be frozen in air.

"Hey!" he said, as he noticed that his voice felt distorted, "Wow this feels weird!"

He didn't have time to say anything else, as he was thrown against the wall.

"Whoa, what is this thing?" he asked, as the man picked him up with the gun and threw him against the roof and ground several more times, "I'm starting…to think...you're not...the Avengers!" he managed to get out with his breath shaking.

He held onto the ground with his fingers as he aimed a web shooter at the desk behind him. He pulled it forward and knocked Captain America down to the ground.

"Alright guys, let's wrap this up. It's a school night," Peter said, and despite the joking tone in his voice, he knew his parents wouldn't be pleased if he was out past his curfew.

He kicked Thor into the glass wall, as the man left a giant crack in it. Iron Woman aimed the gun at him once more, but Peter webbed him up as he took a peek behind the mask.

"So, how do jerks like you get tech like this?" he asked, knowing it was a point of concern.

The Hulk fired up the secondary device, and his eyes widened as he knew what the device could do if it hit him.

"No! Wait, wait, wait!" he tried, as he dodged out of the way, carrying Iron Woman with him. Only for the device to go off and hit the store across the street. Mr Delmar's store. He watched in horror as the deli he loved so much burst into flames.

He let out a worried sound, as he swung across the street.

"Mr Delmar!" he screamed, "Hey, Mr. Delmar, you in there? Is anybody in here? Hello?"

He heard the man coughing, and he ran over to him, as he helped the man out of the store. He passed the cat over to the man and turned to face the bank, only to find it empty. The robbers had escaped.

"Oh come on! You've got to be-" he let out a disgruntled sound, as he heard the sirens in the distance. "

He swung away then, as he perched himself onto a roof, and dialled his parents.

"Peter?" his mother said, picking up. "What happened?"

"There was a robbery at a bank," he said, "The robbers were wearing Avengers masks, but that's not what's important. They had tech, Mom. Highly advanced tech. it cut through the ATM like it was nothing. And these were low level robbers. Where would they even get something like that? And one of the guns went off and hit Mr Delmar's. He's okay but his store won't be. It's his livelihood! What will happen to him without it?"

"We'll make a donation to the store," she told him gently, "I know how much he means to you."

"And the weapons?" he asked, "Should I go after them?"

"No!" she said quickly, "Peter, if their weapons were as advanced as you say then I don't want you anywhere near it. You could get hurt. Seriously hurt."

"But I can't let them remain on the streets!" Peter exclaimed, despite knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"I'll look into it, okay?" she promised him, "Just come home. It's still a school night."

He sighed, as he knew he wasn't going to convince her. He scanned the city quickly and saw that the men were gone. He wasn't going to find them tonight even if he wanted to.

So he swung back to the Tower, as he took in the city below him. He landed on the building beside the Tower, as he aimed one of the web shooters across to his home and scaled the Tower. He opened climbed into his bedroom's roof and stripping off the mask and throwing it onto the floor before landing on the ground.

He turned around then, and saw Ned sitting on his bed with the Death Star Lego set, as he dropped it to the ground, breaking apart all three thousand eight hundred and three pieces.

"What was that?" Toni asked from the kitchen.

"You're the Spider-Man!" Ned said, looking shocked. "From YouTube."

"I'm not. I'm not," Peter tried to deny quickly. He pressed the spider emblem on his chest, as the suit released from his body.

"You were on the ceiling!" Ned exclaimed, hyperventilating.

"No, I wasn't! Ned what are you doing in my room? In the Tower?" he asked, as panic began to fill him.

"Mrs Stark-Rogers let me in!" he said, "You said we were gonna finish the Death Star!"

"I didn't say today!" he said, "I said I'd get back to you!"

"I was excited!" Ned defended himself, "I thought you were going to be home. I didn't know you were Spider-Man!"

His mom entered the room then, and she raised a brow at the sight of him in boxers with the suit at his ankles and Ned on the bed looking shocked.

"Do we need to have a talk?" she asked them, and Peter's face went red. "I'm guessing you didn't know your friend was visiting today?"

"If I had I wouldn't have climbed in through the window!" Peter said, as he sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to hide the truth from Ned.

"Okay, looks like we need to have a talk then," she said, "Ned, why don't you join me in the kitchen? Steve's just finishing up dinner. Let's give Peter a chance to put on some clothes, then we'll have a talk about this okay?"

Peter nodded in defeat, as Ned looked like he was going to pass out from glee.

"It's going to be okay, Peter," his mother said reassuringly, as she closed the door behind her. He quickly threw on some clothes and ran to the kitchen to see Ned sitting there while Toni finished setting the table and Steve brought in the chicken he'd made.

"Sit down, Darling," his mom said, as he plopped down beside Ned. "Now, Ned, I know you weren't aware about Peter's identity, and it's up to Peter to decide how much detail he wants to tell you, alright?"

"I can tell him?" Peter asked, looking at her in surprise.

"He already knows about you, Peter," she told him gently, "But how much you want to tell him is up to you. It's your secret after all."

"You can't tell anyone else," Peter said, looking at Ned solemnly. "I mean it. Nobody. No one else knows other than the Avengers."

"Are you an Avenger?" Ned asked in awe.

"Yeah, basically," Peter said with a shrug.

"Not basically," Steve scolded, "Not until you're old enough. And even then, we need to discuss it."

"Whoa," Ned said, looking at them all in shock. "Dude how?"

"That trip to OSCORP like a year ago," Peter said, "I got bitten by a spider while I was there. And it gave me powers."

"That's insane," Ned said, and Peter knew he was going to burst.

"You can't tell anybody about this. You gotta keep it a secret," Peter pleaded.

"A secret? Why?" he asked in shock.

"Because I don't want the world to know about me. It's bad enough that they want to know everything about me because of my adoption," he said, before shooting his parents a grateful look, "Which I can handle because I know how lucky I am. But if I tell the world I'm Spider-Man? It'll put a target on everyone's back. Any attempts of normalcy will be long gone."

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," Ned said slowly like he was trying to take it all in, "I'll level with you. I don't think I can keep this a secret. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, Peter!"

"Please?" Peter pleaded again. "I know it's amazing Ned, but please. I need you to do this for me."

"Okay," Ned said after a moment. "I swear I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you," he said gratefully, as his mother placed a piece of meat on his plate.

"Can I try on the suit?" Ned asked after a moment.

"No," Peter said instantly.

"How does it work? Is it magnets? How do you shoot the strings?" Ned questioned again.

Steve gave Toni an amused look and he started going into detail as he answered all of his best friend's questions. He wanted to glare at his parents for finding the situation as funny as it was, but if one thing was clear, it was that Ned Leeds was able to sit at a table with Toni and Steve and not die of fangirling over them. Because he was too busy fangirling over Peter being Spider-Man.

He sighed to himself.

So he answered every single one of Ned's questions, only to be asked more and more.

And at a certain point, his father had stepped in, saying it was getting late, and all but ushering Ned out the door.

Maybe it wasn't the worst thing for his best friend to know the truth about him.

Maybe it would even give him someone to talk to about it.

Maybe.