5. Adoption News

When Peter arrived in the Soul Plane, he found May and Ben watching home movies in the den. They didn't notice him at first, absorbed in watching his one-year-old self, toddling between his mother's arms and May's, both of them wearing anachronistic clothing and Peter dressed in blue overalls.

"Look at our boy," Ben sighed.

"He was so tiny," May said.

"He's not that tall now," Ben said with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Peter cried, affronted.

They both spun around to look at him, shock becoming welcome on their faces.

May was first on her feet, dashing around the couch to throw her arms around him and cradle the back of his head. "Oh, sweetie," she said. "We've been waiting."

"I'm sorry," Peter said, immediately repentant. "I should have come sooner. Things just got a little confusing. Believe me, as long as you think you've been waiting, it's been a lot longer for me."

May pulled back and cupped his face in her hands. "Why?"

"You went away to do your training," Ben guessed.

"Yeah," Peter said. "And I learned. I mean I really learned. I am ready."

Ben put an arm around his shoulders and said, "Come sit, Pete."

Peter allowed himself to be led to the couch and he stared at his infant self as he was lifted into his father's arms and spun on the video playing out on the TV. No one could have imagined what that baby's life was going to become—what Peter's life was now.

However, no matter how convoluted and crazy it got, he didn't regret having The Infinity Stones. It was those Stones that had enabled him to save Natasha from death without dying himself. Thanks to Bucky's connection to him and The Stones, Vision now had a human life to live with Wanda. It was those Stones that meant he could come here and see May and Ben whenever he wanted.

Even though it was also because of those Stones that May had been murdered.

She could have had another three years with Happy if Josef hadn't killed her. She could have had additional months with Peter. Despite that loss, despite the fact it was unfair and Happy still hadn't fully recovered, if he ever could, Peter wouldn't choose to change it when having The Infinity Stones meant he would save the world.

May sat on his other side, drawing his attention to the room again, they both shifted closer, surrounding him with their love, and Ben said, "What are you thinking, Pete?"

Peter thought about diverting, talking about training some more, but instead he looked at Ben and said, "We go to court tomorrow to finalize the adoption."

Ben nodded, not smiling but not seeming upset either. "I see. And how do you feel about that?"

"I'm happy," Peter admitted. "I wouldn't have ever thought about it myself if I'd not sent them back. Because me now and me with Stones and without are very different people in a lot of ways. But when he started thinking about it back then, and when he talked to Pepper, I realized I wanted it. I really, really did, do, but I worry that you…"

"Not me," Ben said firmly. "Me and your aunt have already told you we're more than happy for Tony and Pepper to adopt you. The only reason we could let you go after you stayed with us so long was because we knew what you were going back to—parents that loved you as much as we do and would take care of you. How can we begrudge you making it official when it's what we relied on.

Peter felt a lump in his throat. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," May said. "I knew from the moment I came to dinner at the tower and saw you and Tony interacting, saw the bedroom he'd made for you, that he loved you like a son. And when I was dying, in that moment my thoughts were with you and I knew you'd be taken care of by Tony and Pepper. And when I got here, before you brought your younger self, in those weeks you gave me to acclimate, I told Ben all about Tony and Pepper and the life you were going to have."

Peter looked to Ben who nodded and said, "I feel the exact same way."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Thank you, both of you. But… uh… what about my name?"

Ben made a small sound of surprise and May said, "Oh… You want to be a Stark."

"I do and I don't," Peter said. "I'm Peter Parker. My parents were Parkers and you're both Parkers. You're my family."

"But your other family are Starks," Ben said. "Your other parents and your little sister…"

Peter nodded, biting his lip.

May ran a hand through her hair and then laughed. "Why are we tying ourselves in knots about this? Peter, sweetie, you can be both! Peter Parker-Stark, or Stark-Parker."

"Parker comes first," Ben said quickly.

Peter nodded. "Absolutely. So, that's okay? I can be both?" He was really asking Ben as he was the one with the most to lose—Peter was his brother's son, after all.

"You don't need permission, Pete," Ben said. "You're a man now—even though you're only sixteen legally, in all the ways that count, you're a man."

"I'd like your blessing," Peter said.

Ben smiled. "You have that, no question. I want you to make your life work, and if I thought that meant you had to lose Parker, I'd still support it. But you can be both."

"I've been so lucky," Peter said. "I've had three fathers and three mothers in my life, and you've all been amazing. None of you cancel out the other. You just add to the love I have. I've been blessed."

"And so have we," May said. "We wouldn't have known what it was to be parents without you. You were the best thing in our world."

Peter felt tears pricking his eyes, and he leaned into May's open arms and let her hold him, taking comfort in her warmth. He'd been horribly anxious about having this conversation with them. He'd known they'd supported the adoption in theory, but coming down to the day before it was official made it very real. And the Parker/Stark question was always going to be tough.

But he had their full support, and he could become a Stark while still being Peter Parker.

"Do you feel better now, sweetie?" May asked.

"I do." Peter pulled back and smiled at her. "Much better. Thank you."

"Good," Ben said. "Now, have you got to rush back, or can you spend some time here?"

"I left pretty much as soon as I went to bed. I have a feeling Mo is going to creep in tonight, but I've got a few hours at least."

"Then we'll use those hours to watch embarrassing home movies of you," Ben said.

Peter snorted. "Yeah, I get to be embarrassed by out-of-control curls and gap-toothed smiles, but you're the one wearing noughties fashion. I don't think I'll be too embarrassed."

Ben dug his fingers into Peter's ribs, making him wheel away laughing. Despite the fact he was being tortured and May was onlooking without helping, Peter was happy and excited to spend the next few hours with his aunt and uncle before he went back home to make it official.

He was going to be Peter Parker-Stark

xXx

Steve and Bucky killed time while Tony, Pepper, and Peter were in the city by working out in the gym. Technically, they weren't ever going to lose muscle mass, thanks to the serum, but they both liked to build up stamina and resistance.

The compound had an excellent gym that Steve and Bucky had designed the layout and chosen the equipment for. A vast section of it was the parkour course Bucky insisted on Peter having, which hadn't had much use so far thanks to time travel and hunting Kaecilius. However, Steve had more hope for the future now after hearing Natasha and Carol talk about his training.

There was no doubt in his mind now that Peter would win, Though what his life would look like once it was over, Nemesis trapped, Steve didn't know.

He knew Peter had said before that he couldn't go back to school or have a romantic life with The Stones, but how many high school romances lasted a lifetime? Why couldn't Peter be with MJ or someone else for just a while? And school… In the time they spent back with younger Peter, Steve saw how much Peter needed school. His brilliant mind needed to be stimulated, and he needed that—from high school to college to graduate school. Peter needed it all.

But it wasn't going to be easy to persuade him of that.

Steve thought he could bank on everyone else that loved Peter to make an attempt at it, though.

"Want to spar?" Bucky asked.

"Sure," Steve said. "As long as you don't pull any Infinity Stones moves on me."

Bucky laughed. "You know I can't do that, right? I have a connection to them through Peter, yeah, but it's more like they have access to my body. They can use me as a tool, but I can't use them."

"Do you mind?"

"Hell no! How Pete handles having them all in his head like that, and all that pressure of the power… It didn't hit me the same way until I saw him as a fourteen-year-old, worrying about school and decathlon practice and getting cats out of trees on patrol, because I only ever knew him properly with The Stones. Now I see, though, he's incredible. They are so much pressure and power, and he's happy with them. The kid blows my mind."

Steve nodded. "Mine too, Buck. Always, mine too."

They walked together to the locker room to wrap their knuckles, but before they were done, Friday announced Tony, Pepper, and Peter were home.

Tearing the bandages from their hands and tossing them onto the floor, they hurried out of the gym and all the way through to the common room and outside to where Rhodey, having been assigned babysitting duty, was playing Monopoly with Morgan on the deck. Judging from the pile of title deeds and cash, Morgan was winning spectacularly.

"They're back," Rhodey said. "They'll be right—"

"Petey!" Morgan cried.

"Here," Rhodey finished with a laugh.

Peter was ahead of Pepper and Tony, coming around the corner, wearing a suit and tie which somehow made him look younger instead of older. He knelt to catch Morgan as she ran at him and asked, "Did you do it?"

"We did!" Tony said triumphantly. "Morgan, meet your big brother, our son, Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark!"

Steve relished his friend's happiness. It overflowed from him, pure joy, almost seeming to warm the air.

Morgan smiled cautiously, as though she wasn't sure what she was thinking was right but she was hopeful. "You're Peter Stark like I'm Morgan Stark?"

Peter nodded. "Yes, and now every single person that knows our names know we're brother and sister."

Morgan threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. "We have to tell everyone!" she said joyfully, and then began to giggle and whisper in Peter's ear about how this needed a party and how they were going to persuade their parents.

Pepper laughed. "I think the paparazzi outside the courthouse will tell everyone for us, honey."

"Still, we should give an interview," Tony said.

Pepper frowned. "Maybe. Pete, how do you feel about that?"

"Huh, what?" Peter asked.

Steve chuckled. "Little distracted, Queens?"

Peter nodded and rose to his feet, swinging Morgan around onto his back. She clung on like a little monkey and grinned over Peter's shoulder.

"Sorry, Mom. I wasn't ignoring you, I was just distracted," he said.

Pepper kissed his cheek and then Morgan's and said, "Your dad wants us to arrange an interview to make the announcement official. What do you think?"

Peter didn't look particularly excited by the idea, but with Morgan bouncing on his back and saying, "If we put it on TV the whole world will know," he said, "Uh, no TV, I don't want that, but a newspaper or magazine or something, yeah, we can do that."

"Oh…" Morgan pouted.

"No, that's fair," Pepper said.

Steve was surprised that Morgan had requested TV when, as far as he knew, Tony and Pepper had never exposed Morgan to more media attention than absolutely necessary. There was the official birth announcement, and some photos snapped of her coming out of preschool before Tony put a stop to that, but otherwise she was pretty sheltered from media eyes. He supposed she couldn't not know about her parents' lives in the spotlight while surrounded by technology, though.

"I can arrange an interview," Pepper said. "We'll need to work out the publication together."

"Not The Daily Bugle," Peter said quickly.

"God no," Tony said. "You know, I still think we should buy Jameson out."

Pepper laughed. "And you know we said no. Besides, he's laid off since Peter's first night back in Queens."

"I wonder what he would say if he knew about it all, everything you've done. The Infinity Stones and everything…" Steve said.

"He'd have the same opinion as W'Kebe and Thuri," Peter said confidently. "Neither of them could see me as good with The Stones, even though they knew me before and… Well, I wouldn't call us friends, but me and Thuri were allies, at least. Just because I locked time, it doesn't mean they wouldn't have done what they did anyway. That kind of power, my kind… It scares people."

"It wouldn't if they knew you," Pepper said gently, trying to soothe him.

"But they don't so they can't," Peter said, shaking his head. "Me and Bucky are going to have lifetimes to go back and forth on this, but I don't ever want The Infinity Stones exposed. Remember, it wasn't just me that was hurt when W'Kebe came for me; Dad got attacked, too, and it was—" He cut himself off then said, "I wasn't the one with a gun aimed at me to make me behave on The Raft."

"True," Tony said, eyes becoming haunted as he remembered.

Morgan wriggled on Peter's back and said, apparently bored of the serious conversation. "If it's a special day with Peter getting his new name and Mommy and Daddy being his Mommy and Daddy for legal, can we make it special?"

Tony brightened. "What are you thinking, Miss Maguna?"

Morgan slipped from Peter's back and danced to Tony's side, where she took his hand and looked up at him with puppy eyes that would have beaten even Peter's on his best day. "I think we should have Chinese food and I can have soda and you can drink beer and Petey can drink soda because he doesn't like the taste of beer. And we can have snacks after dinner—like pizza rolls and Doritos and the yummy dippy sauces."

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest, but her eyes were smiling. " Another treat meal? We had cheeseburgers yesterday—"

"Because Petey wanted them and he had to go away and I think it was a long time," Morgan interjected.

"And we had pancakes for breakfast with Daddy's special strawberry sauce," Pepper went on.

"Yes, but it was Petey's special day again, because you had to go to the city and to court to do the official. so he needed pancakes."

"And you think he needs Chinese takeout tonight?" Tony asked with a smile.

Morgan nodded seriously. "I do think so."

"How about we compromise?" Peter said. "Me and Bucky know how to make our own Chinese food from scratch, so we could make it, and it would be a little healthier than takeout."

"How do you know how to make Chinese food?" Tony asked.

"T'Challa taught us when we were in the Soul Plane," Bucky said. "No Chinese takeout in Wakanda, so he learned to make his own."

"That sounds like a compromise I can get behind," Pepper said. "But we'll skip the pizza rolls and Doritos in favor of fruit kebabs and smoothies."

"Oh, yeah," Peter said enthusiastically. "That's exactly what I want."

Morgan looked at her brother and then nodded and said, "That's exactly what I want, too."

Peter grinned and swept her up into his arms, jostling her a little and making her giggle. "Great. I'll go change and then I've got to make a run out to buy some ingredients which…" He tilted his head to the side. "Yeah, we're not going to get what we need in town. I'll fly by the city and raid Chinatown."

"You're going to fly?" Morgan asked, eyes narrowed.

"Noooo, not fly-fly," Peter said expansively. "You know I can't fly. I'll ask Uncle Steve really nicely if he'll take me in the Quinjet."

Morgan nodded seriously but Steve thought she knew a lot more about Peter's powers than she was supposed to. She called Peter's powers his magic, and Peter usually limited it to creating butterflies and other similar illusions for her, but Steve thought she was aware it didn't end there. He supposed it wasn't that surprising really. She'd inherited the intelligence and tenacity of both her parents and more than a little of Peter's inquisitive nature, too.

"I'll be happy to fly you," Steve said, thinking it'd be fun to spend a little time with Peter in the city while they were there.

"Thanks," Peter said.

Peter kissed Morgan's cheek and set her down then said, "Okay, I'll go change out of my day-in-court clothes."

"Day in court?" Pepper scoffed. "You make it sound like you were there on trial."

Peter grinned. "Well. I'm not saying I had it tougher than Bucky, but… Well, did you see the way that judge was looking at me? He could tell I was born bad."

The air filled with laughter, which made Peter look a little disappointed. "I could be bad," he said defensively.

Morgan patted his arm. "No, Petey, you're a good boy. You don't do naughty things. Naughty things make you bad." She tilted her head to the side. "Have you ever been naughty?"

"Yes!" Tony said loudly. "Your brother has absolutely been naughty before. He's the one that gave me my first grey hairs."

Morgan looked delighted. "Really?"

"Yep," Tony said. "Your brother was very naughty. He's just thankfully grown out of it."

Strangely, Peter looked a little pleased. Perhaps their laughter had been unkind, but it was hard to imagine Peter as bad. Even in the very beginning, when Tony was the only one that knew him, they had all stood against Thor in favor of protecting Peter, and that was after he'd thrown Steve through a glass door. For them all to do that took more than just trust. They had seen him do the bravest thing any of them could imagine, putting on that gauntlet and snapping, and that had cast him as good to them all.

"Told you. Bad to the bone," Peter said happily. "Born wild."

Steve couldn't help it. He laughed again. They all did. Peter was trying so hard to look fierce and 'bad' when he merely looked innocently endearing in his suit and with his new haircut, like he was here to pick someone up for prom.

Which is what made it all the more jarring when his face suddenly changed into something dangerous and he commanded, "Bucky—Morgan!"

"What about Morgan?" Tony asked reaching for his children.

Bucky was faster, though, and he seemed to know more than the rest of them did; some communication had passed between him and Peter, and Steve believed it was because some threat was approaching.

And he could think of only one threat now.

Bucky grabbed Morgan and ran her back towards the door. Tony caught his arm and shouted, "Give me my daughter, Barnes!" but Bucky didn't even seem to notice. However, he stopped dead as Peter said, "No time, Buck. Hold her."

"What's going on, Queens?" Steve asked.

Peter didn't answer. He waited until Bucky had set Morgan, who was now crying, down on the deck and curled over her like a human shield. With a word from Bucky, Peter waved a hand at him, and a bubble spread over Bucky and Morgan; it looked like a heat haze formed of muted versions of The Stones' light. Tony reached out to touch it, seeming to know better than to use force, and Steve was unsurprised when he met impenetrable resistance.

After all, they'd seen this before.

"Peter, what's happening," Tony asked. "What are you doing to her."

Bucky answered. "She's safe. I've got her and nothing can touch us in here."

Steve had suspected as much, and he turned his attention to Peter, whose eyes were darting around, and his fisted hands were shaking.

"Is it Nemesis?" Pepper asked.

"I don't know," Peter said. "But something triggered The Stones."

"It… uh, it was me," Tony's voice called.

Steve looked from his friend, who was hovering next to his daughter and Bucky, looking stunned and having apparently not spoken, to the side of the building where an exact copy of Tony was walking around the corner, hands raised in front of him and face wary.

"I'm not a threat," he said.

"And you know I really doubt it," Rhodey said harshly.

"No," Peter said slowly. "It's okay. Tony, what are you doing here?"

Steve was struck by the strangeness of the situation: Peter greeting this copy of his father like he was an old friend that popped by for a surprise visit. His initial panic was gone, and he now merely seemed a little confused.

The Tony that had just appeared, took another step forward and his eyes filled with tears as he looked at Peter, seeming to be drawing the sight of him in like air.

"Daddy?" Morgan called.

"Pete?" Bucky said, tone enquiring.

"It's okay, you can let her up," Peter said, waving a hand to disperse the protective bubble around them. "It's safe."

Bucky straightened up, keeping one hand on Morgan, and she looked from her father to the new version of him that had arrived, and her bottom lip trembled.

"It's okay, Mo," Peter said, voice soft. "This is a friend of mine."

"He's not Daddy," Morgan said, sounding remarkably certain considering the fact this person was an exact copy of her father as far as Steve could see.

"He's not," Peter agreed. "But he's a good friend of mine. And he's a good man. He won't hurt anyone."

The other Tony drew a shaky breath and wiped at the tears streaming down his face and whispered, "Thank you, Peter."

"Um… How are you here? Why are you here" Clint asked. "Because we've got a Tony, and we really don't need another."

"Mom, can you take Morgan inside?" Peter asked, his eyes still on the other version of his father.

Pepper looked reluctant, but her daughter's obvious distress at this dual version of her father persuaded her to take Morgan's hand and lead her into the building, saying, "It's okay, honey, Daddy and Petey are going to take care of it."

When she was gone and the door closed behind her, Steve voiced his most pressing question. "So that's really Tony? I mean, it's not Nemesis screwing with us?"

Peter shook his head. "No, that's Tony, he just doesn't belong in this world." He turned his attention to the new arrival and asked, "How are you here?" He tilted his head to the side, eyes distant, and said, "Seriously? And you didn't think about telling me? Well, I'd call it important!"

"What is it, bud?" Bucky asked.

Peter smiled slightly. "Apparently Time and Reality have been keeping track of something, doing some freelance work basically, that they didn't tell me about."

"Yes, it was Time that helped us," the other Tony said.

"Why did you come?" Peter asked. "Where did you come from? What was happening where—" Suddenly, again, the whole world tipped on its head when Peter's eyes bugged and he bellowed, cords of his neck standing out, "Inside!"

Steve didn't have a chance to obey, none of them did, before a white light flew over them, just like at the wedding that turned from a joyous occasion to a nightmare.

Nemesis had arrived.

So… Now the real fun can begin.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx