Chapter Text
In the course of the days after promising Peter to finally come out, Tony snapped at almost everyone daring to speak to him. He was scared shitless about everything, yet he felt like he didn’t have any other choice…He didn’t want to lose his angel, he couldn’t.
On the day of Peter’s birthday party, the man was a mess, unable to take even a small bite of dry toast without feeling as if he’d had to throw it up again.
“Are you sure you’re not sick?” Pepper asked for the hundredth time. Tony was tempted to smack her hand away when she placed it on his forehead.
“I’m fine,” he growled, hiding his face in his hands. Seven more hours until the party started. Maybe he should get it over with already. He had to tell her first, he owed her that and if he didn’t want her to say anything fatal during the party, he had to do it now.
“Pepper, I…there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Me too.”
Tony looked up, utterly confused. “Oh yeah? Uhm… is it okay if I go first? I really need to get his off my chest.”
“Uhm, sure, what’s wrong, sweetheart?”
The man flinched when he heard the nickname. Should he…? No, he couldn’t turn back now, Peter would never forgive him if he did. His decision was irretrievable.
“I…I need you to know, that I… I’ve always loved you and I will always love you, Pep, but-“
“W-W-Wait, are you breaking up with me?” Pepper’s face was distorted in fear and shock, her hand clutching her belly as if she suddenly felt sick too.
Tony sighed deeply, not daring to look her in the eyes anymore. “I’m sorry. I wished I didn’t have to do this, but I can’t continue living a lie.”
“W-what l-lie? W-what did I-did I d-do wrong?”
“Nothing. You’ve been amazing and as I said, I will always love you, but-“
“W-why are you d-doing this then? Now that I…I-I mean… why, Tony?”
Now that she what? He was tempted to ask, but did I really matter? He’d already taken the first few steps, he can’t chicken out now. “I…” Tony took a deep breath. Fuck it. “I’m having feelings for a man.”
A few seconds went by without anyone saying a word. The sobbing woman was staring at him with wide eyes, too perplexed to react immediately. “W-What?”
“I guess I’ve been bisexual for all my life, but lately, it’s turned more towards g-gay. I’ve tried keeping it a secret, but it is eating me up inside and… I have had these feelings and… Pepper, I swear, I tried to ignore them with all my heart, but it’s not possible anymore. Y-You don’t deserve this.”
Tony’s voice broke slightly, and he desperately tried to withhold tears. This was harder than he thought.
“Is it B-Bucky? Have you c-cheated on me with him?”
“No, nonononono, it’s NOT Bucky and I… No, I haven’t cheated on you with anyone, I haven’t even kissed t-that guy yet, it’s just… Even if me and him didn’t work out, it still wouldn’t be fair to you to pretend any longer.”
Tony then told her about his lifelong struggle and why he had always been so afraid of coming out. He made sure not to mention Peter or his anonymous visits to clubs and brothels with any word, but apart from that, he answered every question Pepper had as truthfully as possible. After almost three hours of talking, Pepper was still devastated and furious about the whole situation, but eventually accepted that she couldn’t change anything about it.
“I need some time to get over this, Tony. I hope it’s okay if I don’t attend Peter’s party today. Give him a hug from me, please.”
“I will. Thank you for being so… understanding. I never meant to hurt you.”
The woman’s face was blank. “Will you tell the others?”
“I will. T-Today.”
“And… the public?”
“N-not right now.”
Pepper hummed a sad ‘Mhm’ and got up, intending to leave the room. It was only then that Tony remembered something. “What, uhm… what did you want to talk about before all this?”
The woman froze and for a few seconds, she kept standing with her back towards Tony before eventually turning around, shaking, new tears streaming down her cheeks. “T-There’s no need f-for it a-anymore. E-E-Excuse me.” With loud, broken sobs, Pepper turned around again and hurried out of the room as fast as she could, leaving behind a confused, extremely guilty man.
Peter was horribly jittery and anxious when he stepped out of the elevator. All day, no, all week, he hadn’t been able to think about anything else except what they would tell everyone today, hoping with all his heart that they would understand and be accepting of both Tony and of their relationship as well. Speaking of… his boyfriend was standing alone in the kitchen, his face oddly crestfallen and serious. Was he feeling that bad about-
Peter’s heart and stomach clenched when the man stepped forward. “Can we talk in private?” he whispered in his ear and pulled him aside without even waiting for an answer. Peter’s legs threatened to buckle and he almost tripped when Tony led him away from Happy. “N-No, I-I d-don’t want to hear it.”
“Hear what?” Tony asked and turned him around the corner.
“Y-You’ve c-changed your m-mind, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t,” Tony said, causing Peter to feel so thoroughly relieved he broke into tears. “Y-You haven’t? Then why-“
“I just want to make sure you don’t expect me to tell everyone about us today too.”
With the blink of an eye, Peter felt panic overcoming him from head to toe once more. Was this another one of Tony’s tricks? “W-Why not?”
“Because it would be extremely weird. Yes, I know that the age of consent here is seventeen, but not everyone is from New York and I don’t want them to think that we’ve been keeping this from them for a while. If…If you don’t trust me, you can make a recording of me promising that I will tell them in a month, all right? If I don’t, you can use the video to bust me.”
Although Peter smelled trouble, he told Tony he trusted him, but in reality, he felt like he didn’t have any other choice. If he didn’t trust him anymore and recorded that video, their relationship would be doomed, wouldn’t it?
“Thank you, baby. I think, uhm… we should maybe head back now? Oh, one more thing, though… Pepper won’t be here. I, uhm, I already told her earlier. About me.”
Peter felt his spidey sense sending a shiver running down his spine. “W-Why?”
“Well, we’ve dated for a while and I always cared a lot about her. I owed telling her before everyone else finds out. I don’t want her to think that it’s her fault.”
“Her fault?” It broke Peters heart when he remembered that Tony’s mother had used almost the exact same words when she found out about her son kissing another guy. “It’s nobody’s fault, Tony. You are the way you are, you have no influence over it and-“
“Well, you know what I mean, we don’t have time for this now.”
“How did Pepper react?”
Tony sighed, looking slightly crestfallen. “She was quite understanding about it, I guess. Confused and a little…angry, maybe, because I didn’t tell her earlier so we could have ‘officially’ broken up before all this but…I mean, it was also her desire to wait, so I don’t feel too guilty about it.”
Something seemed off, spidey sense or not, but Peter didn’t want to question it. He just wanted Tony to get it over with, so he took his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “I’m sure it will be fine. They won’t treat you any different, trust me.”
Three minutes later, they were back in the living room, seated around the dining table, clinking glasses and eating cake. Peter had sat down next to Tony, therefore he could almost feel the fear radiating from him. After a while, he wasn’t the only one anymore who noticed something was up.
“Aren’t you feeling good?” Steve, seated opposite of them, seemed concerned. “You’ve barely touched your cake.”
“I…actually, t-there’s something I need to tell you. A-All of you!” Tony had raised his voice slightly and suddenly stood up from the table, clearing his throat noticeably. “I uhm…I know it’s Peter’s birthday today, but since you’re all here, I want to take the opportunity and uhm… tell you that-… H-He already knows because I just, uhm, told him and… Pepper knows too. That’s why she’s not here right now, actually. Uhm…”
Peter felt tears welling up in his eyes when Tony dabbed his forehead with the napkin, drying it from sweat. Promptly, the boy felt horribly guilty. Although he was convinced that it would be better for their relationship as well as Tony himself if he came out, he somewhat coerced him into doing this, didn’t he?
“Hey, relax, whatever it is, you can tell us. We won’t judge you.”
Did Steve know? His poker face was unreadable, but the way Bucky suddenly glanced over at him did raise some questions. Fortunately, Tony didn’t seem to have noticed anything, though; he was staring blankly at the table.
“O-Okay, I…I’mbisexualandhavefeelingsforaman.”
Although Tony had spoken, no, mumbled way too fast, his friends seemed to have understood at least part of it. Both Natasha and Clint reacted at the same time. “You’re bisexual?” - “You’re gay?”
Tony sat down, looking like he’d throw up any second. The arm pits underneath his shirt were drenched in sweat. He tried to speak, but the only sound coming out of his mouth was a weak wheeze.
“You do know that what we’ve told Peter and Wanda and Bucky goes for you as well, right?” Steve eventually said with a kind smile, “You don’t have to be ashamed of your sexuality. I always had a feeling that you-“
“-were hiding something,” Peter finished hastily, not missing the dangerous twitch in Tony’s muscles, “but it doesn’t change who you are. Not even in the slightest.”
“It does, actually,” Bucky said to everyone’s surprise, only to grin brightly a few seconds later, “It makes you free. More powerful… More confident. It’s never too late to finally enjoy life to the fullest. I’m proud of you, man. I really mean it.”
“To enjoying life,” Nat quickly smiled, apparently smelling danger as well, and held up her glass of champagne once more. “And to new beginnings.” She winked at Tony, who forced his lips into a fake looking, tense smile when holding up his own glass. “Yeah. Uhm, thank you, everyone. For-For saying that.”
Peter didn’t miss how badly his boyfriend’s hand was still shaking when he put the glass to his lips and drank.
After everyone had overwhelmed Peter with even more presents than last year, Tony quietly exited the room, leaving the others alone. Immediately, they started talking about the reveal, causing Peter to shift from foot to foot uncomfortably.
“I always thought he wasn’t completely heterosexual,” Steve said, confirming the boy’s worries. Thank god he had interrupted him earlier… Tony would have strangled him.
“Really? I never expected him having the hots for dudes as well,” Clint exclaimed. “Just think about all the women he had…”
“Ever heard of overcompensating?” Natasha snorted. “I’m happy he told us, it’s obvious how afraid he had been, but… I just feel really bad for Pepper right now. I’m sure she had no idea and is heartbroken. I actually thought they’d announce their engagement or anything soon.”
Peter’s stomach twisted painfully. He had no intention of hearing anything about Nat’s reasoning for this statement, so he excused himself instead and went looking for his boyfriend. He found him in the bathroom, splashing water on his face. “There you are… why did you leave?”
“Because I couldn’t stand it anymore. The way they were looking at me…”
“Uhm, what way? They are completely fine with it, trust me, Tony. You heard what Steve and Bucky-“
The man snorted so loudly it shut Peter up. “Bucky… what gave him the idea that I was interested in hearing his opinion?”
“He was just trying to be nice. If anyone knows how you feel, it’s him because he’s technically even been older than you when he came out. And he had had girlfriends before that too, if I remember correctly.”
“Oh, yeah? How would you know?” The man’s eyes were gleaming dangerously.
“Because I read, Tony. And I heard him speaking to Steve about it once. Can you please not be so upset about all this? Nobody has any negative feeling towards your coming-out, and we-we can finally focus on being us and figuring out how we’re telling them. I know you did this for me and… it makes me so happy I can’t even put it in words. You couldn’t have given me a better birthday present.” Peter moved closer, nuzzling his face against the crook between the taller one’s head and his shoulder blade. “I love you.”
With a sigh, Tony put his arms around the boy’s slender body, pulling him even closer before placing a tender kiss on his forehead. “I love you too, baby.”