Notes:

Sorry guys, lots of notes. I wanted to get this going in time to post it for the "Soulmates" prompt for Flufftober, but I kind of need to start posting it earlier than that, so there is enough of it that they actually are soulmates by the time the prompt rolls around. Or maybe I'm just impatient. I should be updating every week, or more often. Again, the impatience thing. I'm thinking it will be around 10 chapters.

You should be able to read this and understand it all on its own, but if you want more back story on this AU version of soulmates (or if you're looking for more of a romantic soulmate story) start with "From the Same Star," which features adult Peter finding his romantic soulmate, who is an original character. And before that turns you off, I promise there is so much fabulous fluff and lots of Irondad/Ironfamily content too. I'm not anti-MJ, she and Peter just have different paths in this -alternate- universe. :) Let me repeat that for the people in the back: Peter and MJ do not end up together in this universe, but they're still close friends. (My daughters are offended, but still like the stories...) Also, it's not an error that Peter switches back and forth between "Tony" and "Mr. Stark."

Other AU things: Infinity War and Endgame are not a thing here. My happy thoughts say someone else managed to kill Thanos before he got his hands on a second infinity stone. Yay! Bruce listened to Nat and brought the Quinjet back down after the Ultron fiasco. Civil War and Homecoming happened, but by now the Accords were beat into better shape, Ross was discredited, and the Avengers eventually reconciled, though things are still strained. Also, I've backed Tony and Pepper up just a couple years from where they were in the regular MCU so they were just slightly younger than they would be. Is that everything?

Also, I'm probably too old to be on Tumblr (haha) but you can find me there ctrsara. I like friends. :)

"Do you think the universe fights for souls to be together?
Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences."

― Emery Allen

Peter

Peter Parker was studying for his Advanced Physics final one snowy December afternoon when he noticed he just kept scratching at his left shoulder. Did he have a bug bite or something? Oh no, not again! he mockingly thought to himself. Ugh. The less sleep he got, the worse his jokes got.

He got cold easily, so was wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck, and it was impossible to look at his shoulder. He kept rubbing at it, and it actually kind of hurt. He growled in annoyance and shrugged out of his sweater, only getting caught briefly in the neck, prompting the smallest of panic attacks. Just a baby one.

Once he finally got his sweater off and craned his head to inspect his shoulder, he didn't see any bites. It was a little red in spots from the scratching he'd been doing, but mostly the skin looked… paler? And it was vaguely circular, centered on the point of his shoulder. Ugh, it really itched.

"Hey Karen? Call Ned."

Karen did, and she put his phone on speaker mode. Peter heard it ring twice, then Ned picked up.

"Hey. Everything okay?" Peter knew Ned was curious why Peter called instead of just texting him like they normally would.

"Dude, have you heard of any kind of bug bite that makes your skin like… lighter, but itches really bad?"

Ned was quiet for a minute. "Did you see a bug?"

"Well, no, but I have this weird spot on my shoulder that itches worse than a mosquito bite, but it's not a red bump, it's bigger, like a rash, but I've never seen a light-colored rash. It's just weird."

"Uh, Peter? Remember what MJ said about her new blank?" Their friend had gotten a new soulmate patch, commonly referred to as a "blank" almost a month ago, but hers was darker than her normal skin color, with a reddish tone, which meant it would eventually be a romantic soulmate mark.

"Huh?"

"That it… itched like crazy for like 6 hours before it settled down?"

"Dude. There's no way."

"Uh, dude! Yes there is. You're seventeen."

"And a half." Peter could almost hear Ned roll his eyes through the phone, but Peter was a little sensitive that he was a little younger than both his best friend, and his girlfriend.

"That's prime time for a blank to appear, Peter. Weren't you paying attention in the class last year? Or to the like ten people we know that have developed a blank this school year?"

"I was , I just didn't even think of that." Peter could hear and feel his own heart rate increasing as the possibilities overwhelmed him just a bit. "Hey Ned, I'm gonna let you go. I'll text you if I find out anything else, but… you're right. That's the most likely explanation."

"You okay, Peter?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just… wow. I'm good."

"K. Bye. Keep me updated!"

"End call, K."

Peter let himself fall backwards onto his bed, his head kind of fuzzy, and trying hard to breathe normally. Could it really be a blank mark? He had been hoping he'd get one of the marks, which indicated you had a soulmate out there somewhere, but honestly he'd been looking for a romantic one. And, of course, he hoped he matched with MJ.

He'd been feeling really nervous about the future of their relationship since she'd gotten her blank mark. If she had a soulmate out there, and it wasn't Peter, there wasn't a lot of point in letting their relationship get any more serious. Peter knew he might still develop a romantic blank as well, but the odds were against him. And even if he did, that didn't mean MJ was his soulmate. Only about a third of the population got a soul mark at all, and less than ten (closer than five, from recent estimations) percent had both a romantic and platonic soulmate. He just couldn't believe he'd developed a soulmate mark at all. His head was whirling with all the possibilities.

Just then, his phone and watch both buzzed simultaneously. "Video call from Mr. Stark," Karen announced.

"Um… put him through, Karen. Tony had a romantic soulmate: his wife, Pepper. Maybe he'd have some helpful insight. His mentor's face popped up holographically from his phone where it lay next to him.

"Hey, Pete."

"Uh, hey, Mr. Stark," Peter tried to say casually, picking his phone up so it wasn't looking at him from such a weird angle. "What's up?"

"Well, I was pretty sure you were studying for finals this afternoon, since you had to ditch our precious lab time. And your watch says you're home, but it's also been sending me some crazy vitals for the last couple minutes, so I thought I'd check in. Not like you've ever let me assume you were home safe when you were actually out doing something risky," Tony teased, his eyes looking Peter over as carefully as he could through the camera for signs of what might be going on.

The man frowned slightly. "Also, where's your shirt? You're not injured and trying to treat it yourself again, are you?"

"Sheesh, Mr. Stark, you rag me for talking too much," Peter teased back, deflecting. But then he was silent, and so was his mentor, just waiting for Peter to explain.

The man had gotten pretty good at eliciting answers from Peter in the last two and a half years. He'd invited the boy to intern with him officially ( Peter , not Spiderman) about two weeks after Peter had turned down a spot on the Avengers, and at this point they were quite close. Peter probably averaged twenty hours a week with Tony, sometimes after school, and sometimes on the weekends. He even went up to the Compound with Tony when it worked out. He stayed with Tony and Pepper when May was out of town, or working too much, and was almost as comfortable with them as he was with his aunt.

"So… I noticed, as I was studying, that my shoulder was kinda itching, and I wondered if something had bitten me-"

"Not again!" Tony teased.

"That's what I said," Peter exclaimed, "but it wasn't funny then, either." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, that's when I took my shirt off to try to see what was happening and, well… look."

He changed the angle of the phone so Tony could see Peter's shoulder. "FRI, transfer from hologram to high resolution," he heard his mentor say.

"You said it itches?" The man's face was thoughtful.

"Like crazy. And it burns a little too. But it's light, instead of red, like a rash."

"Pete, that looks and sounds an awful lot like a blank soul mark…"

"That's what Ned said. Do you really think it is?" Peter moved his phone to the other hand so he could scratch gingerly at the irritated area.

"Kid, honestly I'd be surprised if it's anything else," Tony said, sitting back in his chair, his eyes wide and soft. "I think congratulations are in order," he said with a grin.

Peter was quiet for a minute, processing. "Can I ask some questions?"

"Of course, Pete. Fire away. I'll answer what I can."

"How old were you when you got your blank?

"I was almost eighteen. I woke Rhodey up in the middle of the night because I was convinced I was having a heart attack. Mine's here," he said, touching a spot below his left collarbone. "Though I think you've seen it before." Peter nodded.

"And how old were you when you met Pepper?"

"Not until I was 34," he said with a sad smile. "Honestly I had given up on ever finding her, and my life was just a long string of bad decisions at that point."

"Title of your autobiography," teased Peter.

"Hey, stop stealing my jokes," Tony mock-glared.

Peter laughed. "So you met at 34 - Pepper was what, like 30? 32?"

"Yeah, 30. Stane had hired her as my PA. Only good thing he ever did. She had decided it wasn't happening either. Honestly, it was a really big adjustment for both of us, and it wasn't all sunshine and roses, but I'd be lost without her."

"Yeah, we all know that."

"Ungrateful. Obnoxious. The worst kid ever." Then more seriously, "Oh, Pete, I'm so happy for you. And remember, most people find their soulmates a lot sooner than Pepper and I did."

"Thanks, Tony" Peter said, laying back on the bed and holding the phone above him with his elbow braced out to the side. "You know, May and Ben were soulmates. They thought it was the best thing ever."

"It is, kid. It is. I know romantic and platonic is different, but I know quite a few people with platonic soulmates too, and they seem to think it's pretty great. If you want to talk to Nat and Clint about it sometime, I'm sure they'd be happy to."

"Oh, yeah. That'd be cool. I'd like that. Sometime soon." Peter was silent for a moment. "Hey, Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, Pete?"

"I don't think my mind can focus to study anymore, especially not with this itching, and May won't be home til about 8. I'm going to go out patrolling for a bit."

"Sounds good, kiddo. I'm sure she's going to be so excited for you, too. See you this weekend, huh?" Peter nodded and Tony smiled at him. "End call."

Tony's face disappeared, and Peter relaxed on his bed for a minute, just trying to fit his head around everything. This was so crazy. He could meet his soulmate tomorrow at school, or on the subway, or at a random restaurant. Or it could be like Tony's experience, and he might have to wait another ten or twenty years. It was rare, but some people never met their soulmates. Peter really hoped his "Parker luck" would stay far, far away from this particular piece of his life.

Tony

After hanging up with Peter, all Tony could do was sit there and process. "FRI, can I see a screenshot of Peter's shoulder again?" Suddenly he was anxious that maybe he had given the kid unfounded hope.

"Of course, Boss. Though it hasn't changed since you saw it on the call."

Tony ignored her snark, and studied the picture she put onscreen in his lab. Yeah, there was no way that was anything else. It looked about the size of his palm and was quite light and very circular. Man, how could Peter be old enough for stuff like this? It seemed like just a few months ago he was a scrawny 14-year-old quipping at Captain America and stealing his shield, just because no one ever told him he shouldn't be able to. Or even a 16-year-old white-knuckling his way through his driver's exam with Tony's encouragement. But a soul mark. And graduating in less than six months, too. Sheesh. The kid… his kid was growing up, whether he liked it or not.

Speaking of Captain Rogers, the 2nd revised Accords had recently been sent for final approval, and Tony would have to see him next weekend. They were back to the point where they could be cordial, and work together when needed, but Tony didn't know if he'd ever be able to trust the man again. Which was still painful, as close as they'd been before the whole Ultron debacle and "Civil War" dumpster fire. But a working relationship was better than no relationship at all. Tony was just glad the Avengers were starting to train together again occasionally, so if something did happen, they'd be able to work as a team to defend earth, or coordinate damage control if there were a big disaster or some other need. He was just glad Peter wasn't going to be coming into such a mess as he got older and started working with the larger group more as Spiderman.

Tony picked up his phone and messaged his soulmate, who was also the super-effective CEO of Stark Industries. Best decision he'd ever made, aside from the one to accept Pepper as his soulmate. He couldn't believe they'd nearly passed on that relationship.

Hey Pep

Hey yourself, handsome

Oh, good. He'd caught her out of a meeting. Or bored in a meeting. It was hard to tell which.

I just had an interesting conversation with Peter

Is he okay?

Pepper didn't spend as much time with Peter as Tony did, but he knew she loved the boy too.

Why do you assume something's wrong with him?

Because he's so much like you, hon.

Hey, I resent that.

Well, I would, if it wasn't so true. And you're all lucky that he's absorbing some of my more charming attributes.

Pepper just sent an eyeroll emoji.

But we were talking because pretty sure he's got a blank forming on his shoulder :)

Oh, Tony! That's wonderful! Light or dark?

Looks like a platonic. He's a little stunned, but excited, I think.

That's fantastic!

Hey Tony, you don't think there's any chance… I mean, you've got that mark on your arm that I swear is a platonic blank.

Pep, we've talked about this. It's unlikely. It's tiny, and wouldn't I have met them by now? I think it's got to just be a scar from something I was too drunk to remember happening.

Huh. I don't know. Just a thought. Why haven't you ever had it analyzed though?

Maybe to avoid more disappointment. Even if it is, it's not the kid. I'm nearly 30 years older than him.

It would be unusual, but not unheard of.

Anyway. Will you be home for dinner? If so, what are you in the mood for? Pete had finals this week, so he didn't come over, and I have time on my hands. Want me to make Italian?

That sounds divine. Is 7:30 okay?

7:30 it is.

Thanks so much for reading. I have had a hard time with this one already, especially trying to handle the MJ-and-Peter-not-being-soulmates thing. It's not easy to write and have the feeling I'm looking for! But let me know what you think! Thanks for giving this a chance!