Chapter Text
One of his life’s biggest regrets was his relationship with his son. Or more accurately, the lack of one.
Sitting in a military plane, with an overpowered magnet in his chest and a sling supporting his arm, all Tony could think about was Yinsin, and how he looked at him with pity when Tony told him that he had no family.
Tony hasn’t seen his son since he was six years old, when he shipped him off to a boarding school on the east coast. Even before that, he couldn’t remember a single conversation they had had together, or a day spent doing traditional father-son activities. They were so estranged that, when he asked Rhodey to make sure that his son was waiting for him at home when he arrived, his best friend just gave him a weird look.
He felt the plane descending, and all he could think about was getting over with his press conference, so he could finally go home to see his son.
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Peter was still confused about being back in Tony’s house. He knew that the man was kidnapped three months ago while doing a weapons’ demonstration in Afghanistan. He also knew that he was found alive, and that Colonel Rhodes was bringing him home. What he still couldn’t compute was, that he was pulled from school -for the first time after he was shipped there, eight years ago- by Ms. Potts. All she told him was that he Father requested that he be present when he got to his house.
Maybe it was to discuss the fact that he was almost revealed to the public? He wasn’t sure, but he thought that if the man was declared dead, it wouldn’t have taken the press too long to figure out that a fourteen years old kid named Peter Parker inherited most of the billionaire’s fortune. Or he assumed he would have inherited it, he wasn’t sure what Tony’s will was like.
He sat alone in the living room, doing his best to ignore the hallway leading to the north side of the property. He was not in the mood to recall the awful, lonely six years he spent confined there, with a revolving door of cold nannies.
He startled out of his thoughts when he heard a car driving up to the house. He looked around him and bit his lip. Was he supposed to stay where he was, sitting on the sofa? Or was he supposed to stand by the door to welcome the man?
His hesitation made the decision for him, because the door was opening, and Tony was coming in.
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Tony has never been more nervous in his life than he was right now. The thought of meeting his son, for the first time in eight years, was more nerve wracking than the thought of shutting down the weapons’ development sector of SI, or than having to face the board of directors to justify his decision.
Going inside his home for the first time in three months felt great, it settled a weight he wasn’t even aware that he was holding on his shoulders. And hearing JARVIS’ customary greeting of “Welcome back home, Sir. We missed you dearly.” felt like a balm to his fried nerves.
“Good to be back J”.
He looked around the entrance hall, but he couldn’t see his son, so he turned towards a camera that was set in the right corner of the ceiling and asked “Where’s the kid at, J?”
JARVIS was prompt with his answer, as usual “Mr. Parker is in the living room, Sir.”
Hearing his son be referred to as Mr. Parker was jarring. Intellectually, he knew that his son did not share his name. It was a decision he took the minute he knew that he was going to be a father. He justified it by saying that it would be safer for the kid to not be known as a Stark, that growing up in anonymity was the best thing for him. But he knew that he was lying to himself. He did not want to be a father, he did not want to have to be forced to be a father, which would have happened if the public knew about his son. Obie would have forced him to interact with the kid, would have forced him to play the part of the doting Father. It would not be good for the company, for the stocks, if he was known as a deadbeat father by the public.
While walking towards where his son was waiting for him, the thought of changing his name to Peter Stark kept running through his mind. He wanted to claim his son, wanted to build a relationship with him, wanted all the things that used to scare him before… before. Before he was kidnapped, before he had his eyes opened forcefully, before he was faced with his own mortality.
Finally turning around the corner that was blocking him from seeing into the living room, Tony came face to face with his son. His son. His eyes roamed all over him, trying to take him in. He had gotten tall, just a few inches shy of his own height. His brown hair was curly, the same as it was when he was a child. He was biting his lips and looking at the floor, so he couldn’t see his eyes. He thought they were brown, but he couldn’t trust his memories. He was dressed in his school uniform, which did nothing to hide that he was still in that awkward phase of growing up, with lanky limbs, and broadening shoulders.
Tony cleared his throat, then licked his lips and finally said “Good to see you, Pete”
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Peter was startled at hearing Tony’s voice. He darted his eyes up, meeting the older man’s eyes for a second, before he dropped them back down to the floor. Theway he was so intently looking, you would think that his shoes were the most fascinating thing in the world.
Come on Parker, man up and reply to the man, don’t make things even more awkward.
With the small pep talk out of the way, he opened his mouth, closed it again, then finally rushed out “Uh, Good to see you too… Mr. Stark?”
His greeting faded into a whispered question by the end, he didn’t know how to address the man. He wasn’t allowed to call him Dad, that was something he remembered quite vividly from his early childhood. But he also thought that it would be rude to call him Tony. He was an adult after all.
With his eyes on the floor, Peter didn’t see the way Tony flinched at the address, how it made the pain in his chest intensify.
Darting his eyes up again, Peter rushed out to greet the other people that came in with the older man “Nice to see you too Ms Potts, Colonel Rhodes and Mr Hogan”.
Everyone kept darting glances at each other, not knowing how to navigate this situation. Thankfully Ms Potts, being the one most used to navigating awkward situations caused by her boss, took over.
“Why don’t you guys take a seat? I will work on ordering Dinner. Is everyone ok with Thai?”
While the men were shuffling towards the couches, Peter turned towards Ms Potts and hesitantly said “Um, Ms Potts, I am allergic to peanuts. So if you guys are ordering Thai, can you make sure they package it separately?”, and before she could even reply, he added “Or you know what, never mind. I can just have a bowl of cereal or something, no need to bother”.
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Tony couldn’t take his eyes off of his son. He was just so grown. His last memory was of a child that barely reached his hip, but the boy in front of him now, he was more than halfway into being an adult himself.
Then he noticed how hesitant, how self conscious he was being. Even at his lowest, with self esteem hitting rock bottom, Tony was not as bad as his kid. And wasn’t that a slap to the face? Tony was such a villain, that his own son was afraid to ask for food he could actually eat.
So Tony just turned to Pepper and said “How about pizza? I missed having a good slice of pizza while pretending to be a cave dwelling mole.” Then he turned towards his son and said “You are not allergic to anything that traditionally goes on pizza, right?”
Peter just shook his head, then he turned around and sat on the couch. As far away from Tony as he could manage, the man noticed.
Tony looked towards Rhodey and Happy, using his eyes to try and ask for help. He was not good with kids, and was even worse with his own Son. Thankfully Rhodey came to the rescue, like he always does.
“So Peter, how are you doing? How is school?”
Darting another look around the room, Peter turned to look at Rhodey, or more accurately at a point over his right shoulder.
“I am doing good, Colonel Rhodes. School is fine too. Busy”
“You can just call me Rhodey, kid. That’s what your old man has been calling me since we first met. He wasn’t that much older than you then too.”
“Um, sure thing, uh Mr Rhodey.”
Trying to lighten the mood, Rhodey said “Well, at least you dropped my rank, that’s progress.” Then turning to his best friend, he threw a wink “I don’t know how, but Peter here seems to have taken all the politeness that was meant for the whole Stark family. Man, Mama would be gushing about his manners”
Tony pretended that he was wounded “Hey! I can be polite too!”
Both Rhodey and Happy snorted at that.
The conversation and the light atmosphere faded again. It was obvious that Peter was uncomfortable with them. He was taking as little space on the couch as he could, kept his eyes down and did not speak if not spoken to.
Thankfully Pepper was back, and she turned towards the teen with a determined look in her eyes.
“Did you settle alright Peter? Are you all unpacked?”
Peter looked at her with wide eyes, the look in his eyes seemed to screen what do you mean lady?
“I put my bag in a guest room that JARVIS said I could use. But I didn’t really bring anything with me that would need unpacking.”
And it hit him again, his son did not have a room in his Father’s house, he had to use a guest room, because that was what he was, a guest . And it was obvious that he thought that he was there for a brief period. Tony thought that it would be obvious that he was bringing his son back home for good. But apparently this was another one of his failings. He would need to sit him down, to tell him that he wanted him to stay with him, that he wanted him to never go back to his school.
But then another thought came out of nowhere, what if Peter did not want to stay? We are practically strangers, his teachers in school are family to him more than Ihave ever been. What if he insists on going back?
Feeling himself spiraling, Tony tried to push that thought away. He would convince his son to stay with him. Then turning to said son, he said “That’s ok, we can just have JARVIS order you anything you need, just make sure to ask him if you find yourself needing anything. Alright Pete?”
His son finally looked him in the eyes -and yes, his eyes were brown, just like how he remembered- and replied “Sure, but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t forget anything, so there’s no need to bother.”
He was saved from answering by the bell, it seemed like their dinner had arrived.