It's a Wonderful Life is the most depressing movie Tony's ever seen.

Tony should have known that, probably. He's seen bits and pieces before, flipping through channels, back in the dark ages when you were limited by what was on TV. But Tony knows that Peter used to watch it with his uncle. Still watches it, each and every year, but probably not this one because if he can barely afford food, he probably can't afford streaming or Wi-Fi. Tony's just so damn glad that he remembers this little tradition that when Morgan wants to put on a movie this is the one he suggests.

It's a bad choice all around. Morgan's bored from the very first frame. "Ugg. Black and white movies are for old people, Daddy." Peter doesn't even snicker. He watches intently in absolute silence, but he keeps glancing at Tony with something stricken in his eye. No laugh track on this film, no siree. But as Tony watches increasingly tragic things happen to an extremely decent person, he thinks he understands a little better what makes his kid tick. The realization makes him sick. It's an awful manifesto: bad things happen to good people, but it's worth it because others benefit. Gawd, it fits the Parkers to a tee. No wonder, after watching this movie so many times, Peter thinks he needs to always put others ahead of himself.

Halfway through the endless misery Morgan wakes from her boredom and sugar-crash induced nap and starts shrieking that she's hungry. Pepper offers to start reheating the leftovers and convinces Morgan to follow. Tony's feeling too queasy to eat, but he's certainly ready for a break.

"FRI, pause the movie." He stands and stretches. "You're in for a treat, kid. Pep's Christmas leftover sandwiches are epic."

"I think that I should go."

Peter's voice is so quiet Tony's not sure he's heard him right. "Go where?"

"Back to my apartment."

"Is there something there you need? Because I can place a same day order for anything we don't have."

For the past half hour Tony's been figuring out the best way to fix all the damage Voldemort wrought while only appearing to watch this black and white cryfest. So maybe he's not fully present in this conversation, and that's why he misses all the cues.

"I just wanna go home, okay?"

The words sting like a slap. Peter's apartment is about as homey as that cave in Afghanistan. Tony has poured all of himself into making this cabin a perfect home, had fantasized for five agonizing years about bringing his son here, and now Peter doesn't want it.

"Excuse me?" He's too shocked to temper the steel in his voice. Peter recoils, and Tony hates that flinch. Hates himself for causing it. But it's like he's caught turbulence in his suit, shaking and shaking and shaking from an unexpected blast, and FRIDAY's down so he doesn't know what's going on.

"You can't keep me here if I don't want to stay."

"Wanna bet, Repunzal?"

It's too much, too far, not funny damnit, and Peter's face crumbles like Tony's heart. "So I'm a prisoner here?"

"Never." Tony reaches out but Peter skitters away from his outstretched hand. "I don't know what's happening, kid. What's changed? Pep remembers you now."

"Pepper remembered me before. That didn't make this my home."

"But it should have been." Tony thought they'd been over this yesterday. Peter is his, in every way but blood. He needs him here now, needs him like oxygen, which seems to be thinning. He feels panic thrumming in his veins. Locking Peter here, just so he can't do something incredibly stupid, doesn't seem like an altogether out of the question option, though his son will never be a prisoner.

Peter gnaws on his chapped lip. "Why are you doing this to me?" he whispers, every syllable bleeding agony. "Just let me go."

But all Tony wants to do is hold on. "Why are you doing this to me?" He steps forward, and Peter steps back. Wrong, wrong, wrong. "You're breaking my heart here, Roo." It just might burst right out of his chest. His bum ticker cannot handle this. "If you really want to go back to the city I'll work on respecting that, but not today, all right? Just stay until tomorrow so we can get some more food in you. And you can't go back to that apartment. You just can't. We'll find you a better place, with heat and a lock. You've gotta give me that."

But Peter just shakes his head, over and over, his arms clutched around himself as he continues to back away.

"What did I do wrong, kiddo?" Tony begs, with half a mind to drop to his knees. "Tell me what I did to push you away and I'll fix it. I'd do anything."

"You didn't do anything wrong!" Something in Peter snaps, lighting him up like a glowstick at the world's saddest rave. "You've done so much for me already. This isn't your fault."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Because I can't stand making you miserable! You've been on the verge of a panic attack since the movie started. I can hear your heart racing, you know. All I've done since you found me is make you upset and ruin Morgan's holidays. This is supposed to be her favorite day ever and you're ignoring her to talk about my stupid problems and that isn't fair. She's your daughter."

"And you're my son." Tony gets it now. As wrong as Peter is—and every tortured word out of his precious mouth is so fucking wrong—the mindset driving those words is familiar. Tony knows a few things about guilt spirals. He creeps forward, aching to pull his kid into his arms, but knowing he's still likely to spook if he tries.

"You haven't ruined anything. But if you leave that will put me off Boxing Day forever. Morgan too. You didn't see her on Christmas before you showed up. Complete meltdown. She's very attached to you already."

"That picture she drew—"

"Yeah, Little Miss knows how to break your heart. Thing is, she's a bit spoiled. Or a lot spoiled, probably. She's used to being an only child. Hasn't had to learn how to share her parents' attention. But she's going to have to learn that eventually. And she's not mad you're here. She just wants to be included."

"But you're upset. I can hear it."

"I am. I'm upset that you went through absolute hell for two months entirely on your own. I'm pissed that you had nothing when I could have taken care of everything you needed a million times over if I'd only remembered you existed. I'm fucking livid that a wizard ruined your life and you don't even want me to do anything about it. It wrecks me to think about what you went through."

All through his little tirade Tony has been steadily drawing closer, hoping Pete would be distracted by his words. He takes a risk and reaches out, resting a hand on his kid's shoulder.

Peter tenses and then relaxes into the contact, so Tony grasps his other shoulder, squeezing gently.

"But you," he says, forcing himself to gentle. All he has to do is look into those precious eyes, wet with tears, and everything fades but his need to comfort. "You're not making me miserable, Peter. I'm ecstatic that you're here. Best damn present the universe has ever given me."

"Promise?" Peter warbles.

"Pinkie swear." But instead of holding out his finger Tony pulls Peter into his chest. The boy exhales a sob and then wraps his arms around Tony so tightly it squeezes the air out of his lungs, just this side of painful. Tony squeezes back, dropping a kiss to the top of his head and then letting himself settle. "I love you, bambino. And you are exactly where you're meant to be. I've already come up with a three-step plan to get your life back on track. Can you at least listen, before you decide to go and exile yourself?"

"I don't wanna go," Peter says into his chest. "I just don't want to make your life worse."

This kid is too good for the world. "Impossible," Tony scoffs. "You make it better, every time. Even when you're giving me all the gray hairs. Except right now. This is not my favorite conversation. Can we never have it again, please?"

"Everything okay out here?"

Tony keeps his grip on his spiderling and shifts towards the doorway, where Pepper is watching them with an understandably concerned expression. Peter presses his face even harder into Tony's chest, staying silent. Tony hopes Pepper can tell from the floundering look on his face that he's out of his depth. But he runs a hand up and down Peter's arm and says, "Sure. Lunch ready?"

Morgan's tablet time is limited, but Pepper has already pulled out the StarkPad loaded with games for child geniuses that they use when they really need to distract her. Tony keeps his hands on Peter's shoulders as he guides him into the kitchen, after handing him a box of tissues and giving him a minute to pull himself together. His grip tightens, bracing them both for whatever damaging thing might come out of his princess's unfiltered mouth.

She fixes them with her bright, calculating eyes. "Mommy says I have to be nice. I can play on my tablet when you have one more boring talk. Then you can't be boring for the rest of the day, and I get to pick the next two activities."

"Mommy is a very good negotiator." He's sure Peter can probably hear his relief, but he can't help it. Pepper's a saint, Morgan's being extremely reasonable, and they might just all make it through this day. "Sounds fair." Tony leaves Peter beside his seat at the table and then scoops his baby girl into his arms, pressing a loud smacking kiss to her forehead that leaves her squirming and giggling. "You know I love you."

"Duh." Her response is so sassy and so automatic it leaves no room for doubt, and of all Tony's many, many accomplishments this fills him with the most pride.

"Duh." He kisses her again, puts her down, and then goes to make Peter a sandwich. He watches from behind the island as Peter turns sheepishly toward his sister, his eyes not meeting hers.

"I'm really sorry for ruining your day, Morgan."

"I'll forgive you, Petey," she says. "If you read me two bedtime stories tonight."

Tony barks out a laugh. It's probably not great that she's mastered manipulation already, but she's his little crackerjack and he hopes he never stops being delighted.

"I can do that."

"Then you're forgiven."

Tony puts a plate in front of Peter, resting his chin on the top of his head. "See. Forgiven."

Peter hums and picks at the food. Tony can tell he's too stressed to eat enough, and no one will have any fun until he lays out his plan. There's a path forward through all this awkward uncertainty and misunderstanding, and on the other side … well. Tony's honestly pretty excited about what's waiting on the other side.

They just need to get there.

Tony abandons his own plate and paces in front of the table. "So. While we were watching the most depressing Christmas movie ever, I came up with a solution. Three simple steps to fix Doctor Dufus's cluster—fudge."

Pepper scowls at his near slip up, but Morgan's too deep in her StarkPad to mind his theatrics and all Tony really cares about is Peter and the way his arms are wrapped around himself and he's gnawing at his lips, his bambi eyes slowly blinking like he's trying to keep tears at bay. Tony needs to be quick and to the point, like no press conference he's attended ever.

"Step one. Restore the memories of a select group of individuals. Friends of Spider-Man 2.0, so to speak. Guy in the Chair, Scary Girlfriend. Happy. Dr. Cho, probably, so she's up to speed if you ever need medical—which let's be honest, you will need probably tomorrow just to keep my life interesting. Who am I missing here?"

"Colonel Rhodes," Peter says.

That stops Tony in his tracks, literally. "I didn't know you and Platypus were so close."

"We're not. But he's like your guy in the chair, right? So he's gonna wonder why you suddenly have some random teenager hanging around. I don't want you to have to lie to him."

Tony's heart flips in his damn chest. "Okay, yeah. We'll tell Honeybear. Anyone else on your wish list?"

"No."

"Come on. Anyone else from school? What about your Decathlon team?"

Peter shakes his head. "They don't need to know. We don't need to tell Ned and MJ either. Just Happy and Rhodey. And Dr. Cho."

"And why would we not be restoring the memories of your best friend and the potential love of your life?"

That's taking it too far—Michelle may not be more than a crush—but Peter doesn't whine or roll his eyes or do anything long-suffering and teenager-y. He sounds like he's lived a lifetime of authentic misery when he answers, "They're better off without me."

"Impossible."

"They didn't get into MIT because of me. They both almost died because of me. Their lives are so much easier now that they're not friends of Spider-Man. It would be selfish to put them in danger again just because I miss them."

Peter is so good that it's maddening. A hero through and through, with all the self-sacrificial bullshit that entails. It reminds Tony of Rogers, as much as he hates the comparison. That had been bullshit too, in the end. And Peter would never ask anyone else to lay down on a wire. He's too determined to cover each and every one himself.

And Tony … well Tony has proven that he can make the sacrifice play, even if he doesn't want to. But for his kids he'd do anything—including not letting them punish themselves.

"And what would they want, do you think? Some boring, easy life without you in it? Or would they be willing to take the risks because it meant being close to one of the best damn people they will ever know?"

"They'd want to be alive."

"They are alive. But safety—that's a mirage, even if you're not friends with a superhero. There's too much in this world that we can't control."

"Knowing Tony puts me in constant danger," Pepper pipes in. "I've been kidnapped. Threatened. Spent countless sleepless nights worrying whether he was alive. Whether we'd ever be okay."

"Not really helping here, hon." Tony knows Pepper must have a point—she always does—but Peter doesn't need any more evidence that loving a superhero is like carrying around a dirty bomb.

Pepper raises one eyebrow and silences him with a scowl. When she turns back to Peter she is the picture of maternal softness, the transformation so quick that it gives Tony whiplash.

"But even knowing everything I would go through, everything I might still go through, I would choose this heroic, brilliant, infuriating man every time. I tried staying away once. It wasn't better. None of my feelings went away with the distance. You can't just switch off caring for someone, even if doing so would be rational."

"Ned and MJ don't know me anymore. So they don't care."

"I call bullshit," Tony says. "I knew something was missing. I didn't know it was you. But a piece of my heart was gone, and I grieved that loss, because I still cared so damn much. And I know those kids are just as confused and just as sad."

Peter wrings his hands. His chin wobbles and Tony just wants to wrap him in his arms and never let go. "You really think they miss me?"

"I know they do. And if you really think they're better off without you, you should give them the choice and let them walk away if they want. But I also know they won't go anywhere."

Peter takes a deep breath and blows it out through his nose. "Can I think about it?"

Tony wants to say no and just steamroll him into agreeing. Honestly he has a bigger ask on the way. He never thought this was the part of the plan that Peter would object to. But he knows the kid needs time to adjust to the fact that his life as he knew it isn't over forever. So Tony forces himself to gentle his tone. "Yeah, bud, you can think about it." Though Tony fully intends to make a more vehement case if Peter doesn't come to his senses on his own.

"That brings us to step two. Custody." Tony sees the way Peter flinches at the word and barrels on. "First off, we'll have FRIDAY backdate an emancipation letter, so CPS won't get near you with a ten-foot pole. She'll file that when she reinstates all your official documents."

"Thanks," Peter whispers, his iron grip on his own knees loosening.

"Of course. Next, legal will have to take care of my resurrection so I can file the adoption paperwork."

Peter's eyebrows jerk skyward and then furrow together. "You don't have to adopt me, Mister Stark. The emancipation papers are enough. I could still stay here—I mean, only if you want me to, of course, I don't want to assume, my apartment is fine—but you don't have to go to all that extra trouble. Really. Just as long as no one comes to take me away."

Tony's brain short circuits at the Mister Stark and the fact his kid still doesn't understand that Tony is never going to let him go anywhere, but certainly not back to that shithole apartment. Thankfully Pepper sweeps in again.

"It's not trouble, Peter. Families take care of each other. And the adoption isn't just a legal safeguard. It's a statement that you're part of this family."

"A non-negotiable statement," Tony adds. "Unless you really don't want this. But I'll need a better reason than you trying to spare us. Because we don't want to be spared from any part of you."

"I do. Want this, I mean," Peter stammers, and something uncoils in Tony's chest. "Of course! I'm honored. So so so so honored. But what if someone finds out? What are you going to say?"

"Ah. Well that brings me to step three. Everyone's going to find out. We're not going to hide you in a closet or something. We just need a media strategy. I should have earned some goodwill from saving the whole damn world, but there are always a few vultures who aren't satisfied unless there's a scandal. When they find out I suddenly adopted a teenager, everyone is going to assume you're a product of my playboy days. So I say, let's lean into it."

"What do you mean, lean into it?" Peter croaks.

"We tell them you're my son."

Tony loves the way the words taste on his tongue. The lightness they leave behind in his chest.

He hates the emotions that flash across his son's face. Shock and want dissolving into resigned despair.

"But I'm not," Peter whispers.

"You are. In every way that matters—"

"Except the way they expect."

"The press is terrible at nuance. If we tell them you're not my son, they'll think I'm lying, or that something gross is going on, and then they'll start digging—into you. If that had happened years ago we could have played the intern card. That story might have held up, at least for a little while. But now, even after we have FRI put all your records back someone's going to realize something's fishy when they can't find even a single sellout willing to talk who actually knows a damn thing about you. And that'll make them even more interested."

"I told you the adoption was a bad idea! We don't have to tell them anything. I'm used to flying under the radar now." Tony can barely hear the mumbled words because Peter is projecting them into his lap, curling into himself. But Tony's done letting the kid think he's something that needs to be hidden.

"Uh-uh." Tony drags a chair across the floor until it's right across from Pete and plops down. He stretches his knees and taps them gently against his kid's. "Eyes on me, Roo, please."

When Pete complies, those eyes are bright with tears. He reaches up to smear away the stains on his cheeks. Afterwards Tony snatches one of those hands from his lap, his thumb trailing a soothing path up and down his pounding pulse point. "I am not changing the way we live our lives because of the damn media. Not anymore. All we have to do is control the narrative. We release a statement that I found out about you when you were fourteen. You were happy with your aunt and I didn't want to disturb that by seizing custody. We started spending time together, including a private internship, then you blipped. After you came back, your aunt died while I was in the coma, but I'd given you enough money you were able to emancipate yourself. When I woke up I realized you were on your own and took you in. We ask to be left alone and when that doesn't work we give one exclusive interview with a source we trust. We keep the story as close to the truth as possible without mentioning Spider-Man. If we're transparent enough, they won't have any reason to go digging."

It should work. Tony has full faith in Pepper's PR magic. He's also confident he can convince even the most close-minded journalist that he's over the moon at finally bringing his son into the family. A friendly one will be no sweat. That part is absolutely true after all.

Peter tries to jerk his hand away, but Tony doesn't let go. He turns towards Pepper, eyes wild, nostrils flaring, like the horse Howard had insisted Tony learn to ride, until it had tossed him off one day and almost broken his neck.

"Miss Potts—this is crazy, right? Tell him this is crazy."

But Pepper smiles, and Tony can see the wheels turning in her head, working out every detail he'd miscalculated or overlooked. "I'm impressed, Tony. Have you been paying attention to everything I've been telling you through the years?"

God he loves this woman. She has every reason to be at least a smidge skeptical, yet she's entirely in his corner. "No need to sound so shocked, hon. Just because I don't typically want to play the press's games doesn't mean I don't understand them. But this is too serious to mess around with."

"It should work. You won't want to wait too long for the exclusive, but we can prep for that. Figure out how much of the truth we can say, and what we need to obscure. You're still going to have papers like The Bugle that will go digging for people who knew Peter growing up, but we'll hit them so hard the first time they print something unauthorized that it should scare everyone else away."

"We keep the focus on me, not Peter. I'll lay on the almost sacrificed myself to save the world schtick hard. Gotta be some perks to losing an arm."

"About twenty percent of news outlets think the Blip should never have been reversed," Peter says. Rage fuzzes out Tony's awareness that any assholes can be so callous, and when he focuses back in on the conversation Peter's turned back to Pepper. "They're gonna say awful things about you, Mrs. Stark. Because of me. And it's not even true."

"Oh honey, they've said all those things before. I've developed quite a thick skin. If they want to try to make me look bad for Tony taking responsibility for something he did decades ago, let 'em. We'll make sure they look like monsters for questioning the savior of humanity's commitment to his family."

Peter looks down at the hand Tony's still got clenched around his own. "They'll think I'm your son," he whispers. Tony hates the wistful sadness in his voice. Will spend the rest of his life doing everything in his power to root it out.

"That's the best damn part." Maybe he's being extra. There's surely a way they could spin the truth, but the moment the idea popped into Tony's head he hasn't been able to think of anything else but shouting to the rooftops that this kid is his. Maybe it's because of those last hours of amnesia, when he'd been so certain he was Peter's father. Or that heartbreaking moment when Peter had assumed the same. Tony knows too much about wanting something you think you can never have. He won't let his children live with the same lack. Peter is his, end of story. Now he just needs to get the kid to turn to the last page.

Said kid looks up sharply, cocking his head like a puppy. He stares at Tony like he's trying to peer into his soul and find some speck of regret. "I'll be living a lie."

But Tony has never been so confident in anything. He scoots a little closer and lays his other hand on Peter's shoulder, squeezing gently. "It's not a lie. You're my son. You're Morgan's brother. It's just a tad more complicated that the public will be led to believe. But that doesn't make it any less true."

Peter just blinks, more tears running down his cheeks. Everything inside Tony aches for the kid, who's been through too much. Maybe he could have sprung this on him more gently, but he can't abide the thought of him going another day without knowing where he stands.

Time for a change of tactic. "You want me to be happy, right, Roo?"

"Yeah."

Tony attempts a smile, as genuine as he can manage. His heart's still bleeding, his mind screaming that there's been too many tears, too much anguish, this is his fault and Peter deserves so much better. Yet he can see beyond this afternoon, a bright and beautiful future, all his favorites people's lives entwined. There is so much joy on the horizon, waiting to break free, and a hope he's never before let himself feel. "Then let me do this for you. Let me fix everything that should never have been broken. I can't bring May back, but I can make sure you never have to face life alone again. Taking care of you, having you here with us, telling the whole world you're a Stark and I'm so damn proud of you, that'll make me so, so happy."

An eternity passes before Peter nods. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

It's like waking up after falling out of that wormhole or seeing Pepper crawl out of that fiery abyss—relief that might bring him to his knees if he wasn't already seated. "C'mere, kiddo." Then Tony is pulling Peter's head against his chest, kissing his temple, combing his fingers through his hair, and Peter is sobbing and shaking and laughing all at once. Then Pepper is there, placing a hand on both their shoulders and muttering something about "her ridiculous boys."

Morgan looks up from her tablet. "What is going on over there? I'm trying to concentrate."

Tony laughs, feeling lighter than he has in years. "Just welcoming your brother to the family."

"You don't have to be so loud about it. Petey's always been part of the family. I've been trying to tell you that for weeks."

Peter laughs into his chest, and Tony holds him just a little tighter. "See that. Maybe we'll just get your sister to do all the interviews."

Morgan grins and slides off her chair so she can join the cuddle pile. "I have a face for television!"

Sorry it's been forever. I continue to be so awed and appreciative of all the love readers have shown for this little AU series I've created. Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to tell me what you think!

There should be one chapter left – I don't think I'm wrong this time. My goal is to finish it before Boxing Day.