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inawickedlittletown · 7 years ago

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Whatever It Takes (4/?)

Summary: It isn’t easy being Spider-Man, but having Tony Stark in his corner makes it that much easier. Or, Tony didn’t know he could be parental or care that much and Peter really needs a father figure.

Note: Apparently I forgot to post this chapter on my tumblr when it put it over on AO3 a little while ago. Just noticing this now while getting the next part ready.

On AO3

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

“Sir, I have found some interesting information about Mary and Richard Parker,” Friday announced.

Tony had forgotten all about the search he’d had Friday do. It had been a background thing that he’d left in the nonexistent hands of Friday and the information was suddenly in front of him and Tony turned away from his work on Cap’s shield to look at the display.

The files were from Shield from the data dump which was surprising at first until Tony realized that Friday had them up because he was looking at a report written by Richard Parker and next to it a lab sheet that had been signed by Mary Parker. They had been Shield agents. Tony leaned back against his work table. That had to mean that their deaths had been due to a mission.

“Was there anything more specific about them?” Tony asked.

“I’m afraid not, Sir,” Friday said, “it seems they kept a low profile.”

Tony nodded. He turned to look down at the shield. The paint had been sanded completely off and Tony had made work of fixing the scratches too with the materials sent over from Wakanda. Tony was really enjoying having King T’Challa’s direct number.

“Music back on, Fri,” Tony said and he got back to work, making sure the Shield was back to what it looked like before.

After the Shield, Tony worked on Clint’s new arrows, and then when he was bored of that, he turned to his newest Iron Man armor.

It was the best preparation that Tony could have for whatever was coming next. His new armor was meant for the possibility that he might end up in space again. Tony was nothing if not prepared and an alien threat meant that things might take place away from Earth. He had also updated the new Spider-Man armor to function in space. It was just a precaution.

He didn’t hear the knock on his door because of the music and jumped when Natasha cleared her throat right behind him.

Natasha laughed and walked to grab a stool while Friday turned down the music. Natasha dropped a packet of paper on the table and Tony rolled his eyes.

“Ever heard of digital copies?”

“There’s probably one in your e-mail by now but you don’t really check that, do you?” She tilted her head and her blond hair hung over her shoulder like a curtain.

“What is it, anyway?” Tony asked.

She smiled. “It’s the completed and approved version. They want us to present it to the rest of the team. They really want them to come home.”

Tony could see the hope in her eyes and Tony could admit that he missed the team too even if them coming back after everything made him anxious. He didn’t think he would be able to handle it if Clint was still blaming him for everything and especially if Steve thought that things could go back to how they used to be with him at the helm and Tony letting him take charge without much argument.

“Are you going to take it to them?” Tony asked.

Natasha shook her head and looked a bit sad about it. “I know it would go better if I did, but it would be stupid to give them up like this. I still don’t trust that the Raft won’t be used again or that they wouldn’t try to track me.”

Tony nodded. He hadn’t liked it one bit when he had to fly to the Raft to see them all behind bars and Wanda actually in a straight jacket. It was exactly what he had been trying to avoid by being the one to bring them in. He hadn’t been able to do anything to break them out or get them out legally, not with Ross there watching his every move and certainly not when there were other important things to take care of. It had always been Tony’s intention later but then Siberia happened and then Tony didn’t have the time or means for a moment and then Steve had done it instead.

“Sir, Peter has arrived,” Friday said, “would you like me to invite him down here?”

“Yes, do that,” Tony said.

“I think this coming threat alone will make them sign it,” Tony said.

Natasha sighed. “It’s not what you would have liked,” she said.

Tony looked straight at her, then. “No,” he said, “because I would have wanted this team to actually trust me and trust that I knew what I was saying and proposing. You understood and even then, even then, at the first chance you let them go because you are all loyal to Rogers.”

“This is literally the divorce that I never experienced my parents having,” Natasha said.

Tony couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, I guess,” he said, “and Steve got the kids. I got the house.”

Natasha grinned. “So you adopted a pet spider.”

Peter was getting out of the elevator as she spoke and Tony nodded. “He’s my favorite anyway.”

“May made cookies,” Peter announced as he walked in, “they’re from frozen dough so they’re actually pretty good.”

Tony extended his hand out and Peter just handed him the plate which had been wrapped in so much plastic wrap that it took Tony a moment to get unwrapped to grab a cookie. He passed the plate on to Natasha and it was a show of good faith.

---

“This…it’s really happening,” Sam said. He was holding the inch thick packet that Natasha had sent them over. Steve held the tablet that Tony had sent over which didn’t diminish how long the new Accords were.

According to Natasha they were long because they were far more individualized and because of all the clauses and amendments that were listed inside. Vision and T’Challa had made sure to detail everything extensively and Natasha had added her own notes. It was as if they were all trying to convince him and through him the rest of the fugitive Avengers that he needed to sign.

Steve knew he had to sign it. He knew it was the only path especially since whatever new threat they were facing would matter far more. It was also possible that things would be different in the future and the Accords moot and unnecessary.

“It is,” Steve said, “it’s our ticket home.”

Sam nodded. “I bet Stark’s loving this.”

“I’m not sure how he feels,” Steve said.

He had been keeping tabs on Tony since leaving Bucky in cryostasis even when they were on the run and hoping from country to country to keep themselves hidden, often separated. So, he knew that Tony had moved to the newly renovated compound, that Tony had gone to multiple UN meetings around the globe – and even been in the same place as Steve a few times at the same time. He knew that Tony had also solved some minor disasters and Stark Industries was rolling out new technologies faster than ever before including a brand new line of bio-mechanical prosthetics that seemed to be the very best in the market and Steve knew to be Tony’s response to what had happened to James Rhodes.

Steve knew that Rhodey was not all better but that he could walk. He kept up with him and Vision and even Spider-Man who seemed to be based out of New York and wasn’t hugely involved with the Accords or even The Avengers even if Iron Man had been spotted helping him. Steve knew that Spider-Man was young, but he also knew he was capable. He had held his own against Steve. Bucky and Sam had spoken about how easily Spider-Man had been able to keep them down too. Still, Tony never officially announced him as an Avenger and he wasn’t even pushed into signing the Accords, and his somewhat low profile and hidden identity seemed to be completely intentional and Steve supposed it was useful. He remembered how Tony had immediately said no when Fury suggested they involve him too and it made Steve wonder about Spider-Man and why Tony seemed to be protecting him even from the things he himself supported.

“Nat said that it’s better than before,” Sam said, “she seems to think they’re still the right thing to do.”

Steve shrugged his shoulders. “She also dyed her hair blond.”

Sam laughed and shook his head. “You don’t really take to change very well,” he stated and then, “Clint didn’t even read his. He’s flying to DC tonight and I think Lang will be joining him. They miss their kids.”

Steve nodded. It had been hard to watch Clint try and find a way back to Laura and the kids but being incapable of even getting in contact with her. His wife was probably still not willing to talk to him anyway, but worse, she was being watched closely. Steve regretted ever including him every time he saw his disappointed face when his wife didn’t pick up on the calls he was making to the phone that had been passed along to her.

Lang was another one. He very clearly did not show that it upset him to be away from his daughter, but it was noticeable especially once Hope Van Dyne managed to meet up with them the few times she’s managed to get away. Lang handled it better, though, probably because of his time spent in jail away from his daughter. Still, it couldn’t have been easy.

“I think we should all go,” Steve said.

“You don’t want to read them completely?” Sam asked and he looked incredulous.

“I will read them on the way, but Natasha wouldn’t have sent us anything unless she thought we would agree to them and we can’t make this any harder. We have to bring the team back together. I’ve made enough mistakes and I don’t want to make more.”

---

“I bet you could probably do that course with no problem,” Ned said.

Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah, probably,” he said.

American Ninja Warrior was literally the only thing on TV that was even a little bit worth watching that day and it was really only on because MJ had demanded an invitation to movie night and they couldn’t start without her and naturally she was late.

“How’s training going anyway?” Ned asked.

“Good,” Peter said, “Mr. Stark’s had me working with Karen a bit more and the hand to hand stuff is getting easier. They say that I’ll get more of a challenge once the rest of the team is back.”

Peter was sort of dreading it, but he hadn’t told Mr. Stark or Natasha. It was partly nerves on his part because those people were his heroes but also because the last time he’d seen any of them was in Berlin and Peter just knew that things wouldn’t be immediately alright between Mr. Stark and the rest of them.

“Is that going to be soon,” Ned asked, eyes wide.

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he said, “but there’s a possibility.”

Ned clapped his hands together. “If they do, you have to introduce me to Captain America. Peter, you have to.”

Peter got out of answering when MJ knocked on the door and Peter had to get up to open it. MJ had a pile of books in her arms but she grinned at him before stepping around him and setting them down on the nearest surface.

“I stopped at this little book market on the way,” she explained, “so what are we watching and do we have snacks?”

“You could have brought snacks instead of books,” Ned said and MJ fixed him with a glare.

It was the first time that they were hanging out with MJ outside of decathlon practice and school and Peter felt a little bit awkward about it.

“I could have also decided to make you guys practice some questions instead of sitting around and watching some weird movie,” MJ said and sat down next to Ned on the couch.

"And we do have popcorn," Peter said, "unless you guys want to make the rest of the cookie dough May left."

MJ made a sound that sounded a bit like laughter but also could have been her choking. "Um, you have cookie dough and you don't want to eat it raw? What kind of person are you, Parker?"

Peter shrugged. "Pretty average one," he mumbled and looked at Ned because so far his best friend had been completely silent but Ned was apparently on his phone and not even paying attention anymore.

Peter gathered what snacks he could find in the pantries which really wasn't much because May hadn't shopped in a few weeks and he and May were so busy lately that they weren't ever home to actually enjoy any snack food.

His finds included a half eaten bag of potato chips, a few mozzarella sticks, and the popcorn he'd mentioned earlier in kernel form because Uncle Ben had always preferred to pop it himself than the microwave stuff and it was what they used to do on family movie nights. Thinking about it made Peter a little sad but he set about making them popcorn anyway and was surprised when MJ joined him in the kitchen. She leaned against the counter.

"I heard that your boss is welcoming back his teammates," MJ said, "I guess that means you'll be seeing more than just Spider-Man occasionally." She cocked her head to the side and Peter felt a moment of absolute panic.

"I don't think so," he said, "and I, um, I only ever saw Spider-Man the one time."

MJ gave him something like a knowing look and then shrugged her shoulders. Peter couldn't help but notice that she was actually quite pretty. He shook the thought and put it somewhere where he wouldn't have to think about it.

The corn began to pop, startling him and he glanced away from MJ back to Ned.

"What are our choices tonight?"

"We have Fantastic Beasts, we could do Any Star Wars obviously, also Hercules snuck in probably my little brother put it in my bag, um, I have Back to the Future too."

MJ laughed. "I knew the two of you would be losers like this so I brought my own movies," she said and out of her bag brought out The Princess Bride and the new Ghostbusters because that felt like something the two of you might like.” She fixed them with a look.

Peter looked between the two them. "Anything is fine by me. You two can fight it out."

So began a long debate over what they could watch until they settled on The Princess Bride when Peter admitted he'd never seen it, but with the promise of watching Fantastic Beasts after.

Halfway through the movie, Peter felt his phone buzz and he pulled it out even after MJ shot him a glare.

"Sorry," Peter mouthed.

It was Natasha.

Black Widow: hey, kid, change of plans for training tomorrow. I'm going back to D.C.

Me: oh, alright. Is it to do with Cap and them returning? Will Mr. Stark be gone too?

Black Widow: yes. I think he's sticking around. Question: why don't you call him Tony?

Me: he's always just been Mr. Stark. It felt disrespectful to call him anything else and he hasn't exactly told me to call him by his first name so...

"Who are you even texting?" MJ asked in a whisper, "all your friends are here."

"Someone from my internship," Peter said.

She eyed him before turning back to the screen. When he looked at his phone again there was another text.

Black Widow: that's odd, he always corrects people. Maybe it's your age.

Me: hey! I'm not that young.

Black Widow: you can't drink or drive - you're young. A tiny spider. It's a good thing. See you when I get back, Spiderling.

Peter couldn't help the small smile as he put his phone away and tried to pay attention to the movie. MJ shot him a couple of glances from time to time, but seemed satisfied that he wasn’t distracted elsewhere. He actually became invested as Inigo Montoya and Westley began their sword fight. Peter couldn’t believe that he’d never seen the movie before. It really did have everything. Ned seemed to be enjoying it too despite his earlier protests.

- - -

Tony felt a bit annoyed with himself for not going with Natasha to Washington DC and yet at the same time he was glad to have stayed behind even if all it did was delay when he would end up seeing the others again. There was nothing to doubt that they were coming home and Tony actually had all their rooms cleaned and ready with everything they had left behind. He’d even put Cap’s shield scratch free right on Cap’s bed.

The only thing that was helping him not sit around wallowing was Peter and how easy he made it for Tony to just ignore his work in favor or hanging out with him or just simply getting some work done in the lab. For all that Peter was genius level smart, he was also still learning. He knew a lot already from his own research and from his own interest at school, but Tony found it refreshing when he had to explain something to him because Peter was quick to pick things up, but also because he just cared so much that Tony knew it wasn’t a waste to teach Peter anything.

Peter also didn’t seem keen on bringing up Steve or the others to him and Tony was grateful. He had enough with Rhodey and Pepper asking him how he was doing constantly. They were worried, he knew, but sometimes it felt overbearing. They also didn’t know the full story. They didn’t know that things were getting rushed because of Fury and because of a threat involving the infinity stones and aliens and space and so much that Tony didn’t want to think about.

So for the three long days, Tony was in the lab usually with Peter and Tony for the most part gave him free reign to pick anything that he might want to work on. For a while it was the Spider-Man suit and improving on the web, but eventually Peter wanted to know more about the arc reactor technology and Tony’s armor. It served a nice distraction until Natasha let him know that everything was going well and they were headed home. It happened faster than Tony had expected and without any of the fanfare that he’d expected.

It was barely covered in the news and Tony suspected that it was all on purpose. Natasha didn’t tell him when they would arrive, either, so Tony was alert for hours after Peter had been taken home by Happy when May demanded that she get see her nephew at least once in a while.

They arrived after midnight and Tony had almost made himself forget about all of it by getting distracted working on one of his cars.

He went out to meet them on the hangar and watched as Natasha got off the quinjet followed by Sam who nodded at Tony. Clint was next and he stepped out slowly and took a look around. It reminded Tony that Clint had only visited the compound once and that was before all the changes. He didn’t say anything, though. Wanda walked out with Steve and she looked every bit the young woman she was. In a way, her youth reminded Tony of Peter and how innocent he was except that he knew that unlike Peter, Wanda wasn’t all good. He didn’t know if it was her power – unnaturally attained through one of the infinity stones – or just who she was as a person, but Tony was aware that Wanda was dangerous, not fully trained, and that she was young but not a child.

Steve still had the beard. He was in civilian clothes, just jeans and a too tight t-shirt and Tony hated how good he looked.

“It’s good to be back,” he said.

Tony nodded slowly and he opened his arms. “Yes,” he said, “welcome back. All your rooms are exactly where you left them and how you left them. I’ve installed Friday here so if you need anything that’s who to ask. I guess that’s all. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

He turned and walked back into the main building and walked until he could get to the nearest elevator to go below to the workshop and back to his cars. It was easier than dealing with any kind of confrontation. Tony was happy to have them back, but he couldn’t help but worry about how well the team would do together after everything especially considering the current threat.

Tony wasn’t surprised when Natasha appeared in the workshop a few minutes later.

“I think that went well,” she said, “they’re settling in.”

“Ah, good,” Tony said, “I expect Cap probably wants everyone to train in the morning or something.”

Natasha smiled. “Probably. He didn’t say anything. He seemed more melancholic than anything.”

“It must be hard to have left his Bucky behind,” Tony said. He walked around the workshop, looking at the latest improvements to the suit that Peter had turned down because making it space proof was not enough. Tony was still making it better and improving upon it because he knew that when it came to the latest threat that nothing would keep Peter away and he was going to need to use the new suit if for nothing else than to make Tony worry less.

“Tony,” Natasha said and it sounded like a warning.

Tony looked at her then. “What?” He asked. “Am I supposed to pretend that he didn’t choose Bucky over…”

“Over you,” Natasha finished with a sad smile. “It’s more complicated than that and you know it.”

Tony did know, but he was also well aware that Steve had had multiple choices. That Tony had offered to help Bucky if he just signed and that Tony had meant it. Had wanted nothing else than to keep the team together Bucky and all but Steve had known about Tony’s parents and maybe that and his stubbornness had made him wary of putting his friend’s life in Tony’s hands. He hadn’t trusted Tony. He never did. If he had, then maybe he wouldn’t have lied to him.

“Well he’s signed them now,” Tony said, “and the team is back. It’s what the two of us wanted from the beginning. We just lost a lot to get to this point.”

“Yes,” Natasha said, “but it doesn’t mean we can’t get it all back. He wants – he needs to speak to you, Tony, and you need to speak with him.”

Tony didn’t know if he could. It had been one thing to see him in D.C. and another to seek him out and actually try and talk things through. Tony had never been the kind of person to do that.

“You’ll have to eventually, Tony,” Natasha said, “if we want this team to be remotely on the same page you’ll need to or it’ll be pointless to have us all together again.”

Tony had been thinking about it a lot and a part of him knew that she was right but another part of him also knew that in the end they might not need to be together but need to split up. If the stones were important then they would need to be split and they would need to guard them.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Tony hedged.

Natasha eyed him and then she shook her head.

- - -

There was only one tiny notice on the news about the return of Captain America and co. Peter despite knowing that it was happening just didn’t expect it when he heard the morning show anchor mention it almost as an aside before he moved on to cover something else.

“They’re back,” May said, “I guess that means you can hang up the spandex, Pete.”

Peter could tell that she said it with some hope and yet she didn’t look like she thought that Peter would actually do it.

“Those guys save the world, May,” Peter said, “I save the regular person.”

She sighed.

Peter hadn’t heard from Mr. Stark all day which he supposed was due to the return of the rest of The Avengers even if Peter knew that Mr. Stark was not necessarily thrilled about it. He pulled out his phone just to see if he’d missed any texts but aside from Ned texting him about chemistry and MJ sending him emoticons and random gifs there was nothing. Not even Natasha had sent anything.

“Well at least don’t do any saving until school’s out,” May said, “and let me know if Stark kidnaps you. I swear, you spend more time upstate than you do here.”

“He did give me a bedroom,” Peter responded as he got up and gathered his things for school. It was an odd morning when he actually had time for breakfast and with May no less.

May shook her head at him. “That doesn’t mean you have to use it more than the one you have here.” Still, she looked more amused than anything and Peter was well aware that while May worried she wouldn’t make him stop being Spider-Man.

May had always been lenient and understanding about nearly everything in a way that Peter supposed that normal parents weren’t. She worried, of course, and got especially more worried after Ben died, but it never stopped her from respecting that Peter was a person with opinions and choices and that she couldn’t control every minute of his life. Sometimes, it made Peter wonder if it was her way of trying to make up for the death of his parents and then later Ben.

School was the usual. Peter wasn’t really challenged by any of what they were learning and to top it off all everyone could talk about was the return of the Avengers. Ned had at least stopped asking if Peter had met any of them once he realized that Peter hadn’t and didn’t want to talk about it.

When his final class ended, Peter made quick work of getting to his locker, grabbing all the books he might need and then running out past all the other students to the front door. He wasn’t expecting to see Happy parked right outside and leaning against the Rolls Royce.

“What are you doing here, Happy?” Peter asked as he approached. “I mean, not that I’m not happy to see you because I am but I just didn’t expect you and Mr. Stark didn’t say anything and—”

Happy shook his head, a little exasperated, “Just get in the car, Parker.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Where are we going anyway?”

Happy walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat without an answer so Peter got into the back.

“Compound, kid,” Happy said and then, “let your aunt know you’ll be home late.”

Part Five

#fanfic #emquin fic #mcu fic #spider-man fic #peter parker #tony stark

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