Chapter Text
Peter could easily say, in no uncertain terms, that this had been one of the best three and a half hours of his entire life.
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much,” the young woman gushed as Peter handed back her phone. “I’ve been waiting to hear back about a job interview; I’m so lucky you were here.”
Her phone had gotten lost in the park with just the vibration alert on, making it almost impossible to find on her own. The low sound was no match for Peter’s hearing though, and he found where it had fallen into some bushes right away.
“Think nothing of it, ma’am. That’s what I’m here for. Do you need any help getting home?”
“That’s alright, I live really close by. Thank you–what did you say your name was?”
“Spiderman. I go by Spiderman.”
“Then thanks, Spiderman.” She waved goodbye over her shoulder as she headed home, and Peter grinned. He’d foiled two robberies, helped a group of drunk college kids call a cab to get back home safely, saved a dog from getting hit by a car, and guided a lost kid back to their parents. Not bad for a first day.
Quite a few folks were a bit wary of him, but he could hardly blame them for that. If a strange man in a bright red and blue suit came up and asked if he could help find his lost phone, Peter would have a few misgivings himself. Overall, though, the night had been a success.
Peter wasn’t in this to get widespread fame or attention, far from it. But –it would be nice if at least a bit of tonight’s escapades ended up on the news or social media somewhere, as added proof to his parents that this was a good, thought-through endeavor that he could totally handle.
Speaking of his parents, he was supposed to be meeting Tony outside Ned’s house to get a ride back to the tower in five minutes, so he should probably get started on that.
Mentally calculating a route, he quickly swung back to where he’d left his backpack, changed, and ran the rest of the way to Ned’s house. By the time he got there, he had about a minute and a half to catch his breath before Tony was pulling up in front of him.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, kiddo.” Tony looked at him for a second longer than Peter was comfortable with. “How was your night with your nerd friend? You seem . . . out of breath.”
“Yeah, studying didn’t take long and then Ned challenged me to play his new Beast Slayers game. Don’t let anyone tell you video games can’t get intense.”
Tony stared at him for a second longer before shrugging. “No need to convince me–you’ve seen how competitive the Avengers get during Mario Kart tournaments. I’ve seen Natasha less tense during hostage situations.”
Peter chuckled, before his promise to Sam interrupted his happy thoughts, his chest tightening. “Um, hey Dad?”
“Yeah, Pete?”
“I kinda, um, need to tell you and Mom something when we get back.”
“From your tone, I can only assume it’s that you found out you have a debilitating illness, or something equally disastrous.”
Peter snorted. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s good, I promise.”
“So why are you so worried to tell us, then?”
“Well, because you might think it’s not good at first, but it is.”
Tony narrowed his eyes at him, probably recognizing the similar language from when Peter and him had been talking a few days ago in the lab. “Okay. Count me as intrigued. Is this the sort of thing you want Morgan to hear, too?”
“Um, maybe not. At least at first.”
“Okay.”
Okay. No going back now.
Morgan was already in bed by the time they arrived back upstairs, meaning he didn’t have to worry about her overhearing. Tony gestured for Pepper to join them in the living room, and Peter took a deep breath.
“Before I say what I need to say, I just need you to remember that this is really important to me, okay? Like, probably one of the most important things I’ll ever do.”
“Of course, sweetie,” Pepper said, though he noted the concern growing in his eyes. “We’ll always support you, whatever you need.”
That’s certainly the hope. “I’m glad. Well, I guess I’ll just rip off the band-aid then: I’m a superhero.”
His parents froze. Clearly, that hadn’t been anywhere near what they’d been expecting. “What?” Pepper finally managed.
“I mean, it’s not, like, technically official or anything yet? The news doesn’t know about it yet, I only just started going out tonight–”
“You–”
“But that might not come for a while, and that’s totally fine, I’m kinda nervous about what the news will say about me anyway–”
“Peter–”
“But obviously I was even more nervous about what you guys are gonna say, because I’ve been freaking out about telling you for weeks and did all this work to make sure you didn’t find out—”
“ Peter.”
The boy stopped his rambling, looking up at his parents for the first time since he’d started talking. “Yeah?”
Tony already looked like he had a headache. “I’m going to need you to start from the beginning, please.”
“Oh. Right.”
So he did. He told them about first getting the idea of helping people using his powers, telling Sam of the idea, working with the team and building his suit, all leading up to his first patrol only hours ago.
“Dad?” Tony was standing before he even finished, headed for the kitchen.
“Yeah, sorry, I just need a drink before you keep telling me all the ways you lied to us the last few weeks and nearly died several times tonight.”
“Tony,” Pepper scolded.
“What?” Tony snapped, slamming his glass down. “Am I just supposed to pretend that anything he just said is okay?”
“Of course it’s not okay, but–”
“I face enough stress as a parent, you know.” Peter could tell this was directed more at him now, and he cringed a bit into the couch. “Every time you or Morgan go to school, or anywhere outside of my sight– especially now that the world knows about who you are to me–my hair gets a little grayer. And yet you expect to tell me you want to fight crime in your pj’s and I’ll respond with a freaking celebration?”
“They’re not pj’s, it’s a highly durable yet flexible protective suit that I developed with multi-million dollar equipment.”
“That you developed in my lab without my permission, need I remind you.”
Peter stood, needing to defend himself. “I know, and it’s not like I enjoyed keeping this from you, but I knew this was how you would react and I needed to do this because you would have just stopped me before I could even start.”
“We would only be trying to protect you, Peter,” Pepper said. “You may be strong, but you’re not invincible. You can still get hurt just like any other person.”
“My suit’s material is practically flexible kevlar. It’s not perfect, but it’s protection.”
“With the exception of surprise vacations and Christmas presents, people don’t lie unless they know what they’re doing is wrong,” Tony argued, pouring another drink. “You knew that we wouldn’t approve of this. You knew that we would want you to stop, but you continued anyway. You deliberately went against what you knew we would want–”
“What about what I –”
“No, this is where you zip it. The adults are talking. Bottom line, you are not going out as this-this deranged alter ego again.”
Peter almost yelled right back before schooling his features into something calmer. Challenging. “Do you really think you could stop me?”
“ Peter ,” Pepper’s voice was a warning he wouldn’t get again.
Tony scoffed. “Yes, Peter, I think the adult with his own tech company will be able to keep the high schooler from going out to fight crime.”
“Yeah? Go ahead and try.”
He didn’t wait for a response before storming into the elevator. Maybe if his parents had been the ones with enhanced hearing, they would have caught the sobs he let loose as soon as the elevator started moving.
/*/*/*/*/
“Jarvis, if Peter asks you to open any doors or windows, say no.”
“Seriously, Tony?” Pepper crossed her arms. “Your solution to what we were just told is to put our son on house arrest until he does what we want?”
“Yes! No, I–” Tony wanted nothing more than to slam his head into the counter. “Of course not. But you know that the second he leaves he’s just going to go jump off another building.” He hissed. “My left arm is numb, is that normal?”
“Tony, you need to take a breath. Several of them, in fact, before you try to deal with this anymore.”
Nope. Not happening, because if he stopped to think for a second then he’d have to think about the way he’d just used all his fear as an excuse to yell at his son, and he did not plan on doing that anytime soon.
“And just how are you so calm? You can’t expect me to believe that you’re okay with him doing this.”
“Of course I’m not okay with it!” She finally snapped. “But this isn’t exactly my first time dealing with a Stark man having the crazy idea of becoming a superhero.”
“Oh no,” Tony held up a finger, “don’t you dare compare me to him. At least when I decided to become Iron Man, I was an adult. A mature being with my brain fully formed and everything.”
“Tony Stark, I’d put money on that boy being more mature now than you ever were at fifteen. Of course he shouldn’t have lied to us and gone behind our backs, and of course I’m angry, but at least his heart was in the right place.”
“If he wanted to help people, he could have volunteered at the freaking animal shelter or something.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration before turning to the elevator.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go yell at my so-called team for enabling my son to put his life in danger, that’s where I’m going.”
He found nearly the entire group on the common floor, getting ready for what looked like a movie night. Steve was the first to notice him, starting to give a friendly wave until he saw the look in Tony’s eyes. “Tony? Is everything okay?”
“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. How about we start instead with why you all lied to me for three weeks, and helped my son put his life in danger? Starting with you.” He turned to Sam.
The counselor didn’t flinch, though he seemed close. “Tony, you trusted me with your son’s emotional well-being, and that’s important to me–”
“So you thought it was fine to toss his physical well-being out the window?”
“Let me finish. You wanted to know why I initially agreed to help Peter become Spiderman, and there’s a good reason.”
“Well, I can’t wait to hear this.”
“He had Steve Eyes.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean?” Steve spluttered.
“You know that look in his eyes that Steve gets when he has his mind set on doing something stupidly brave that will almost definitely get him killed? So we agree to do it not only because he’s our team leader, but because his mind is set on doing it and it’s better if someone is there to help out?”
“Hey, I know that look,” Bucky chimed in. “He’d always get those eyes when he was about to go challenge someone in a back alley, or when he insisted on lying on his enlistment forms to get into the army even though he had so many medical issues he should have been bedridden, or when he–”
“Okay, I think they get it,” Steve grumbled. “No need to keep going.”
Sam continued. “Peter was sitting there in my office, defending his plans to become Spiderman to me, and that’s when I saw it. I saw Steve Eyes. And I knew that nothing I could say would make Peter give up on this reckless, heroic dream of his. So, I made a decision, the same decision that you have to make now: Peter is going to be Spiderman either way–is he going to do it with his father’s support, or not?”
/*/*/*/*/
Natasha had just been trying to get to movie night on time. But plans change, which is why she was currently curled up with her nephew on the couch in her bedroom. The elevator had brought him to her, where she’d been about to head down to the common floor. Seeing Peter with his eyes screwed shut and his hands pressed over his ears, she gently pulled him into her room, having Jarvis turn down the lights and soundproof the room.
“Do you have your dampeners on you, little spider?” She whispered.
Peter shook his head. She’d quickly realized that his senses had amped up again in his distress, so leaning against her skin or sweatshirt were a no-go. She’d found the softest blanket she owned, wrapping him up in a Peter-burrito. “Left them in my room. I don’t use them much anymore. Don’t need to. Didn’t expect to lose control like this.”
His voice was wobbling by the end, and Natasha shushed him lightly, gently threading her fingers through his hair, waiting for a sign that he wanted her to stop. He didn’t lean into the touch, but didn’t flinch away either, so she continued for now. He sniffed again, and Natasha’s heart panged; no doubt he was taking this sensory overload as proof that he hadn’t progressed with his powers as much as he thought he had, and she wouldn’t be having that.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, little spider. We’re all very proud of you. I’m sorry your talk with your parents didn’t go as you hoped.”
“I mean, of course I didn’t expect them to be totally on board, but I can’t believe they wouldn’t think I was capable of doing this.”
“Did they say that? That they didn’t think you were able to be Spiderman?”
“It was pretty obvious–”
“Peter. In those exact words, did they say that you were not strong, smart, or capable enough to become a hero?”
Peter sniffed, fiddling with the blanket. “I guess not in those exact words.”
“Then let’s not make any extra assumptions. You can stay up here with me as long as you want while all three of you get some time to calm down. And then you can try talking about it again.”
There was a long silence, and then Peter whispered, “I don’t know if I want to try talking about it again.”
Natasha hummed, but didn’t say anything yet, waiting for her nephew to continue.
“I don’t want them to get mad again. Spiderman was supposed to be a good thing, but what if they can never see it like that?”
“Peter. Do you want to be Spiderman?”
“Of course. And I’ll keep being him, whether Mom and Dad approve or not. I just . . . I know they don’t approve, so I’d rather it be something that we just don’t talk about. It’s not like they could stop me from doing it, after all–they can’t keep me from patrolling after school, or-or keep me locked in the tower forever. I can still be Spiderman without them supporting it.”
Natasha studied Peter, not stopping her gentle movements through his hair. Someone without her training might have been fooled by his confident voice, but Natasha could see the way his lip trembled at the last sentence, the way he was shaking slightly despite being wrapped in warmth. Maybe he could continue his vigilante work without his parents’ support, but it was clear he’d be miserable the entire time.
“You asked us for one patrol,” she said finally, “and we gave it to you. Now, I’m asking you for one more conversation. Talk to your parents about Spiderman again, after they’ve had some time to calm down and think about the situation.”
Another long silence. And then, “Can I keep patrolling while they calm down?”
She gave him a look, and he hastily continued. “I didn’t even do anything super dangerous last night! Only one of the muggings I stopped had a gun involved, and I could tell by the sounds it made that it wasn’t even loaded. And that car wasn’t even that close to hitting me; Mom and Dad have seen me actually get hit by a car, so this shouldn’t even be that bad.”
Natasha flicked him gently on the forehead. “I need you to think for a minute about what you just said, Peter. Your parents are some of the most protective people I know, and they’re being forced to contend with a situation where their son is purposefully putting himself in dangerous situations. Think about how they feel about it.”
“But I can handle myself, don’t they know that?”
“Deep down, I’m sure they do, but you’re still their kid. They’re always going to worry.”
“I’m still kinda scared to talk to them about it.”
“That’s okay. As long as you do it.”
“Can I stay up here for the night?”
Natasha made a show of sighing in exasperation. “If you must. But I’m not telling Pepper.”
“Of course not, that’s what Jarvis is for.”
/*/*/*/*/
Footage of Spiderman’s first night out did indeed make it onto the next day’s afternoon news. The police showed photographs of the criminals Spiderman had caught, hanging from the walls by the new vigilante’s signature webbing, and someone had caught on camera the moment he swung into traffic to save the panicked chihuahua from being hit by a minivan. A couple more clips had been caught of him swinging around the city on his webs, and wow did Tony have to skip over those clips if he wanted to preserve his sanity.
Tony had already skipped two meetings today, scouring through the footage, watching and re-watching everything the press was saying about his kid. The reactions were predictably mixed–some praised the new hero, some were wary about his intentions and the fact that they had no idea who Spiderman was, and some–like that prick Jameson at the Daily Bugle–were already calling for the vigilante’s head.
Neither he nor Pepper had gotten much sleep last night. Jarvis had told them that Peter had elected to sleep in Natasha’s guest room instead of his own, making Tony feel even worse than he already was. As soon as he’d gotten back down from the common room, Tony had filled Pepper in on what Sam had said, on why the man had chosen to help Peter.
Sam, as much as Tony hated to admit it, had a point. Despite not being biologically related to him, Peter was just as stubborn as Tony, if not more so. If he was set on becoming Spiderman, Tony doubted anyone could really stop him.
They’d tried to operate as normally as possible this morning, getting Morgan ready for school and glossing over the issue when the little girl asked why Peter wasn’t eating with them. They’d both texted Peter before they went to bed, reminding him that they loved him and wanted to talk more about this after school.
It was halfway through the day that Tony got an unexpected text.
Hey mr Stark, sorry to bother you, but do you know if peter’s okay?? I haven’t seen him today
Tony narrowed his eyes at the text. He had a suspicion, but just to be sure–
Who is this?
oh crap right um this is ned, peter’s friend
Tony sighed. As he’d suspected.
Ned, how did you get this number?
wellllll I mightve saw peter pull it up in his contacts and memorized it because I thought
it was super cool , but that’s not important. is peter okay?
Tony frowned. Jarvis hadn’t said anything about Peter being sick, and Peter wasn’t really one to skip school, even after a hard night. He was like his mom that way, both throwing themselves into their duties when they were upset.
“Jarvis, where is Peter?”
“Peter is downstairs in the lab, sir. I alerted Mrs. Stark when it became apparent he wasn’t planning to go to school, and she said to let him be, that he should be able to stay home if he wished after his . . . eventful night.”
“How long has he been down in the lab?”
“I’m afraid you won’t like the answer, sir.”
“Yeah, I haven’t liked much of anything lately. Hit me with it.”
“Peter has not left the lab since he entered at just before midnight last night.”
“Just before–” Tony glanced down at his watch. “But that’s over twelve hours ago!”
“I have tried repeatedly to get his attention to take a break and eat something, but he is rather, as you say, in the zone, and does not seem to have heard me.”
Peter, not hearing something? That was new. Tony sighed, before remembering what had started this in the first place, and shooting a quick text to Ned that Peter was, in fact, not dying.
He got down to the lab as quickly as he could. “Peter?” He spotted the kid right as he came into the room, Peter’s curls falling into his eyes as he hunched over a table. Coming a bit closer, Tony was able to make out the bright red and blue of the Spiderman suit. Peter had headphones over his ears but, given that he was bobbing his head and humming, Tony went ahead and assumed they were for music and not to try and cope with any problems with his ears.
Peter looked up when he was about ten feet away, pulling off his headphones and smiling tentatively. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey yourself. Jarvis says you haven’t eaten all day.”
“I don’t need to eat yet,” Peter waved off the concern, “it’s only, like, two a.m.”
“Peter. It is past noon.”
The boy blinked. “Jarvis, what time is it?”
“It is 12:14 pm, young sir.”
“ . . . Oh.”
Tony snorted. Losing track of time while working in the lab. Like father, like son, unfortunately.
“So, what’re you working on?”
Peter hesitated, glancing down at the suit.
“Kid. I’m not going to yell again. Take the peace offering.”
Peter huffed, nodding. “Yeah, okay. Um, well, Natasha and I were talking last night, and she said I should try and think more about how you guys feel about all this, and–”
“Hang on.” Tony held up a hand. “If we’re going to actually start talking about this, do you mind if I call your mom down to join us?”
After a brief hesitation, Peter nodded.
Pepper came down quickly, despite Tony knowing for a fact that she’d been in a meeting that was supposed to last until one.
“Hi, sweetie.” She smiled upon seeing him, pulling him into a hug that was immediately reciprocated. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” He whispered, pulling back. “I, uh, was just about to tell Dad about a modification I was making to the suit that I thought would help you guys feel better about all of this.”
Tony nodded for him to continue, trying to push down the anxiety that rose up in him just from looking at that suit.
“Anyway, um, last night Natasha and I were talking, and she said I hadn’t been considering your feelings enough with Spiderman. And, I eventually realized she was right.” He took a deep breath. “I spent eight months on my own, thinking that no one was giving a second thought to my well-being, and barely gave a thought to my own well-being. I guess I kinda forgot how strong of worry parents can have for their kids. I told myself that you guys wouldn’t be too bothered by Spiderman, because you had seen my powers in action and knew that I could handle myself. Natasha reminded me that even that fact won’t stop you guys from worrying. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I know I broke your trust, and that wasn’t what I wanted.
“I’m still going to be Spiderman; he’s my chance to put some good into the world with my powers, to help the people in my city. But I thought it might make you guys feel better if you could see for yourselves that I was okay. So I developed an app, and connected it to my suit–I call it SpiderSpotting.” His smile grew, becoming more animated as he explained what he’d designed, pulling up a holograph of the homepage.
“It has a few different settings. It’s connected to the cameras in my eyepieces, so if you choose ‘1st Person POV,’ it allows you to see whatever I’m seeing. That way you can tell what I’m up against at any time. I wouldn’t recommend watching while I’m swinging, though–I’m sure the perspective of that would get kinda nauseating to other people. It also gets alerted whenever a new post or news story hits about Spiderman, has a tracker, and shows my vitals while I’m in the suit. It’s not quite as advanced as I wanted, but I figured it was a good start.” He blushed. “I didn’t mean to be down here so long, but I really wanted it finished before I patrolled again, and this seemed like the best option . . . what do you think?” His eyes were wide and hopeful, his hands twisting the hem of his shirt.
Pepper took their son’s hands in hers, kissing his forehead. “You’re right: it’s not going to keep us from worrying, not fully. But then again, nothing ever could.”
“It’s very impressive, bambino, ” Tony assured him. “You did such a good job.”
“So you guys aren’t mad?” Peter checked, his voice suddenly small. “Because I know I said I’d be Spiderman no matter what, and I will be, but I’d really, you know, prefer to do it with you guys behind it.”
Tony put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “We’re still not happy that you didn’t tell us, but it’s as we’ve said before–what’s done is done.
“We know how strong you are, especially seeing as you’ve had some pretty good teachers to help you hone your skills.” He winked, earning a small chuckle from the boy. “Thanks for trying to make us more comfortable with this, Pete. No, we’re not mad. We’re your parents–this may not be what we would want you to do, but we’ll always support you. You can always talk to us about this, or call us if you ever need help.”
Peter snuggled closer into his father’s side, squeezing his mom’s hand. “Thanks, guys. I love you.”
“And we love you, Peter Parker-Stark. More than you could ever know.”
/*/*/*/*/
Peter was right, Tony quickly found–it was nauseating to watch him swing on those webs of his.
It also caused his heart to skip several beats at a time whenever Peter allowed himself to freefall so far after leaping off a rooftop, and Tony resolved to stop watching the POV unless the tracker told him Peter was on the ground or his vital signs said that he needed help.
Spiderman was becoming more well-known with every day. There were several social media profiles dedicated to posting about him, and there were sometimes even cheers as people saw him swing overhead. Jameson was still a problem; Tony had strongly considered bringing Iron Man out to deal with it, but Peter had begged him not to, insisting that he could handle the man’s insults. Tony didn’t like it, but he supposed he could handle letting Peter fight his own battles, if that’s what he wanted.
He glanced down at his phone as it buzzed, an alert on the SpiderSpotting app. He frowned, shaking his head. When Peter had set it to notify them of significant changes in his vitals, Tony had assumed that meant if his heartbeat suddenly dropped or he passed out from blood loss after a mugging gone wrong, not that it would alert him every time Peter’s adrenaline or heartbeat spiked during a fight.
As a result, Tony knew whenever Peter went to break up a mugging or worse, and could also tell when it was done by the way his heartbeat would slow back to normal. These times, Tony came to know, were when Peter would make sure the would-be victims were okay, or call the police to come pick up the criminals he’d thwarted.
Tony glanced at his watch. He had time.
Noting Peter’s position on his tracker, he summoned one of his suits to form around him, and flew to meet his son.
He found Spiderman on the rooftop of a local office building, his mask halfway up his face as he finished off what looked to be a churro. The boy waved as he approached.
“Hey, Spiderboy.”
“Man,” Peter protested, though the image was ruined a bit by the ring of cinnamon sugar lining his mouth.
“Sure. Keep telling people that.” Tony exited the suit, sitting next to his son on the rooftop. “How was patrol?”
Peter winced. “You sure you want to know?”
“Your app alerts me of any injuries, so I already know about the bruised ribs from earlier. Any new injuries from that last fight?”
He shook his head. “Nope. That one was easy enough. Spiderman’s reputation is starting to precede me; lately whenever I enter a scene the attacker will panic for a second, and get distracted enough for me to have even more of an advantage.”
“Good. Some people have estimated that the crime rate in Queens has gone down as much as ten percent since you started patrolling regularly a few weeks ago. I have no doubt that number will only grow.” He put an arm around Peter, pulling him close. “You’ve done good work, kid. We’re proud of you.”
Before Peter could respond, his phone started ringing, Pepper’s contact lighting up the screen. Tony gestured for him to put her on speaker. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
A sigh came through the receiver. “Hi, sweetie. Can you remind me where your web solvent is? Morgan somehow got into what I can only assume are your back-up webshooters, and she’s now stuck to the wall.”
On his own, Peter might have been able to keep a straight face, but when he saw his dad’s face they were both done for, bursting out laughing at the image of the little girl stuck to the wall, arms covered in webs.
“Sorry, sorry,” he finally got out. “The solvent’s in my closet, on the top shelf.”
“Okay. Thank you. Are you almost done with patrol? We ordered thai for dinner, it should be here any minute.”
“Ooh, yeah, I’m almost done. Thanks, Mom, see you soon!” He turned to his dad with a sly smile. “Since Iron Man’s so proud of what I’ve done, maybe he’d like to accompany me on one last check over the city?”
Tony stood, letting the suit form around him again. “I think Iron Man could get behind that.”
Peter grinned, and together they jumped off.