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Tony had accepted long ago that he had no soulmate. In his twenties, he had seen it as a blessing; he was able to be with whomever he wanted without any guilt looming over him. He sat comfortably on his cushy throne as the hottest bachelor, gracing the pages of tabloids year after year.
When the subject was inevitably brought up in interviews, Tony would make the cheeky comment that his lack of mark was the universe deeming him untamable, like some wild stallion. He dreaded the day he’d eventually get paired as he knew it would put an end to his playboy days. While the public revered (or tolerated, depending on who you’re asking) his antics, he knew that if he gained his mark, they would turn on him if it was discovered that he fell into bed with anyone other than his soulmate.
As he grew older, his feelings on soulmates evolved. Waking up to find a soulmark on his forearm turned from a dreaded nightmare into a longing dream. By the time his forties rolled around and he began to play with the idea of settling down, he realized how challenging it would be to ever have a future with someone when they weren’t his soulmate. Realistically, his only options were the unfortunate individuals whose soulmates had died at some point in their time.
While once upon a time, he had believed the universe was giving him the gift of freedom; now, he realized that the hand he had been dealt was actually a curse.
In the years leading up to the boy’s 18th birthday, had Tony ever once thought that he would be Peter Parker’s soulmate? Heavens no.
Had Tony dreamed a life where he was Peter’s soulmate? Although he had no intentions of admitting it, absolutely.
But it was purely a work of fiction; it wasn’t real. There was no feasible scenario where the clock would strike midnight and a matching mark would appear on their forearms. Tony would never let himself indulge in that type of ridiculous notion. He would be setting himself up for disappointment if he let even a sliver of his consciousness think it could be possible. He knew that would hurt greater than the ache he currently felt each and every time he was reminded that Peter was turning 18.
If someone made mention of soulmarks to Peter in Tony’s presence, he could feel his heart constrict like crumpling up a ball of newspaper.
To him, Peter getting a soulmark would mean the demise of their relationship. Maybe not at first and not all at once, but as soon as the boy met his soulmate it was only a matter of time before he started to drift away. The late-night lab sessions would grow few and far between… The movies nights would likely stop altogether. Or even worse; Peter would insist on bringing his soulmate along and Tony would be forced to witness everything he had ever wanted but knew he could never have.
Although he dreaded the day, he made sure to foot the bill for however extravagant of a party Peter wanted. In true Parker fashion, the boy had elected for a far humbler affair with only his aunt, his two friends, and the other Avengers present.
Tony’s mind was frantic as the countdown to midnight began. He attempted to bargain with a god he didn’t believe in, desperate for more time. Maybe Peter would be older than his soulmate and they would have a few years left?
Or better yet, perhaps the universe would find him as worthless as it had found Tony and not give the boy a soulmate at all. That way, the boy would never be compelled by nature to leave his side.
No. His stomach soured at that idea. He knew he didn’t mean that. The thing he wanted most in the world was for Peter to be happy, even if that meant a future where he left the older man behind.
Besides, no universe could be that cruel to a boy that pure and good hearted.
The moment the clock struck midnight and Tony felt a searing heat on his forearm beneath the layers of his bespoke suit, he exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.
At first, he was repulsed that his body would concoct the phantom sensation. It had been described to him enough times that he was certain his genius brain could have spontaneously fabricated it. He didn’t dare check his arm for conclusive proof; he felt that checking it would be setting himself up for disappointment when the skin was clear.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t check Peter’s arm though, right? It was fairly customary for partygoers to take a gander, which was exactly why it was common for 18th birthday parties to happen around midnight. The whole tradition had always seemed so crude. But at that exact moment, he had never been more grateful for such an archaic custom.
He cautiously joined the others and let his eyes trail over Peter’s arm. His breath hitched the moment he saw the symbol now etched on the younger man’s delicate skin. While the spider was very prominent in the design, the melding of his original arc reactor design was poetically subtle.
For anyone else, the symbol meant nothing. But to Tony, it meant everything.
To the untrained eye, the spider’s legs were just that. No one would see what Tony could clear as day, that the legs of the spider were actually acting as the accelerator magnetic coils of the arc reactor he used to have firmly implanted in his chest. The universe clearly had a sense of humor putting a depiction of Tony’s heart on Peter’s sleeve.
Tony’s eyes left the mark to finally look at the boy. When Peter’s gaze finally left his friends, he managed to catch the older man’s stare. He looked for any sign of recognition that the 18-year-old had figured out the identity of his soulmate, but he was only met with the boy’s wide grin of excitement at the prospects of his future.
He felt a sense of guilt knowing that the truth of who his soulmate really was would peel the smile from his face.
Then why tell him? Why ruin this moment by spilling the truth of how royally fucked up the universe was? He could only imagine that awkward silence that would creep across the party if Tony revealed the truth; the look of hurt and disappointment that would line Peter’s face.
“Good for you, kid,” Tony finally said, patting his unsuspecting soulmate on the shoulder, trying to project the mentorlike persona he had concocted over the years.
He could let the boy have that final night of blissful ignorance before the older man finally confessed. He would come clean to Peter the following day.
Except he didn’t come clean.
He couldn’t bring himself to do it. A day turned into a week, which turned into months. While Tony knew that Peter ached to know who his soulmate was, it would cause far more damage if he knew the truth.
At first, Tony wanted to approach the issue as he did with most inconveniences in his life; complete avoidance.
But the idea of removing Peter from his life made him sick to his stomach. Tony wondered if that was a symptom of their bonding or if Tony was just selfish and far too keen of having the spiderling at his side.
A year of hiding his soulmark had passed before it all came to a head one evening as they were wrapping up on an extended lab session at the compound.
“If you pick the movie, I’ll order the food,” Tony said casually as the two of them made their way toward the exit, repeating words he was used to saying almost every Saturday night.
“Uh, actually I can’t,” Peter responded bashfully. “I’ve got a date.”
Tony’s legs stopped moving, his feet cemented to the floor. “What?” He couldn’t have heard correctly.
“I said I’ve got a date,” he repeated.
Marked people didn’t date. Or if they did, it was seen as scandalous and the equivalent of having an affair, even if you had never met your soulmate. Not that Tony was one that could talk about scandals (glass houses and all), but he never would have thought Peter of all people would cross that line.
The jealous monster that took up penthouse level residence in Tony’s head pushed words from his mouth. “Kid, it’s only been a year since your mark; you shouldn’t just give up looking.”
“I’m not—I—I actually—I found my soulmate,” Peter said timidly, a light blush coating his cheeks and ears. He nervously picked at the strap of his bag slung across his chest.
Tony’s heart plummeted in his chest. As someone who has literally had his heart ripped from his body, the feeling seemed pretty comparable. “What?” he repeated again, far more forceful sounding.
Peter’s timid grin dropped from his face as he stared at his mentor. “I—I thought you would be happy for me.”
Clearly Tony’s face had revealed far more than he had intended. He tried to soften his features to not give himself away, but he couldn’t help but have his hands at his sides, curled in tight fists. “I am—I just—Are you sure it’s really them?” It wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t. The mark on his own forearm that he spent the last year hiding under long sleeves and coverup was proof of that. “Like 100% sure it’s them?” He subtly cleared his throat after speaking, having heard the wavering shakiness of his own voice.
Peter huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure. He’s got my mark.”
Tony’s mind raced, having difficulty wrapping his brain around what the boy was saying. It was an impossibility. There was no way it was identical. While there had always been rumors of soulmate throuples, he knew in his gut that Peter was his only missing piece.
Perhaps the soulmarks looked similar? And once the two met in person, they would compare their forearms and see it was an honest mistake. Maybe the mysterious stranger was destined to wind up with some other arachnid-themed vigilante?
Tony thought optimistically when deep down he knew the truth: whomever Peter was talking to was lying to him.
As a confession began to form on the man’s lips, he bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking.
Maybe this was a good thing?
While he hated the idea of someone lying to Peter, who was he to judge? Was he not doing exactly the same? Maybe this stranger was in love with Peter and thought he could give Peter the happiness that his real soulmate couldn’t? One of the main reasons Tony felt guilty about lying to Peter was because the boy would know he had a soulmate walking the Earth but would feel the heartache of never actually finding them. This would eliminate that problem entirely.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter’s voice said, breaking his mentor from his trance. “You okay?”
No, he wasn’t. The idea of someone else living his dream of holding Peter in his arms in bed while idly tracing the boy’s soulmark with his finger caused bile to form in his throat.
But this would be the best thing for Peter, no matter how much damage it caused Tony. And Peter’s happiness was far greater than his own.
“Yeah, kid,” he finally said. “Congrats. I hope you have fun night. Remember, don’t do anything I would do,” Tony joked, his words echoing past advice from a lifetime ago.
Peter’s brows were furrowed, but he mustered up a smile. “Thanks, Tony.”
As expected, Tony loathed John with a passion.
He feigned a toothy smile when Peter introduced them. The arm he extended to shake Tony’s hand clearly displayed an exact replica of their soulmark. Seeing it in person caused Tony’s jaw to clench, keeping his secret from spilling out.
Tony wondered what John had used to create the duplicate. Did he goes as far as getting a tattoo or was it just temporary? Was it covering up his real soulmark or was he unmarked?
Of course, he had done a thorough background check with help from F.R.I.D.A.Y. Apart from being the fraud Tony knew he was, the teenager was squeaky clean. Good grades, not even a speeding ticket to his name, and he was elated to find out that by “some total coincidence” he had managed to wind up in the same 4th period Spanish class as his soulmate.
It took all of Tony’s restraint to not roll his eyes when he heard the story for the fifth time about how the happy couple came to be. When the two visited the compound for a movie night, the other Avengers ate that fluffy crap up with a spoon. Tony, however, felt as if he was choking on it.
But Peter looked happy.
Tony could see how the boy bubbled with excitement as his eyes moved between the two men as they shook hands. Tony’s eyes, however, kept trailing over the fraudulent soulmark on display with John electing to wear a t-shirt.
He wanted nothing more than to scrub the mark from John’s arm and call him out as the imposter he was.
But Peter looked happy.
So, despite feeling like his soul was screaming inside his chest, he stayed quiet.
Tony immediately regretted his choice of seat in the private theater at the compound they used for movie night. When Tony watched the two walk hand-in-hand toward the group of seats in front of him, the older man could feel a foreign ache deep in his chest.
He was jealous.
Tony Stark was jealous? Of a gawky, dull teenage boy nonetheless. It was a somewhat unfamiliar feeling for him; the man who can have everything his heart desires doesn’t get jealous. He was Iron Man for fucks sake. The kid probably had a poster of him on his walls at some point or another in his life.
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen Star Wars before,” Tony could hear Peter say in utter disbelief to John echoing the recent revelation that determined their movie selection for the evening.
“Uh, yeah—not really my kind of thing,” the other boy responded. “Never been big on all that sci-fi stuff.”
Tony cringed. While he could only see the back of Peter’s head, he didn’t need to see his face to know he would have been disappointed to hear that.
“Oh, well that’s okay. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up loving it,” Peter replied optimistically.
“Yeah, maybe,” John responded back, doing very little to hide his skepticism.
“Did you know that—”
Peter’s voice was cutoff by the arrival of Rhodey plopping down into the seat next to Tony with a bowl of popcorn. “Are we chaperoning or something?”
“Hmm?” Tony asked, tearing his eyes away from the two teenagers to look at his friend, idly grabbing a handful of popcorn that Rhodey had no intention to actually share.
“Well with the way your eyes were drilling their way into the back of their heads, I just assumed,” the other man said, pulling his snack away from grubby hands.
“Is that your way of hinting that we need to have trivia playing on the screen as a distraction before the movie starts like they do in theaters? Or maybe some dancing popcorn and Raisinets?” Tony deflected before shoving the handful into his mouth.
“Jesus Christ, when was the last time you went to a movie theater?” Rhodey responded.
Tony shrugged. “I dunno, the late 80’s and 90’s are kind of a blur.”
Rhodey was about to open his mouth with a rebuttal when he was interrupted with another unsuspecting hand grabbing his popcorn.
“Hey! Get your own,” he shouted at Clint who had scooped out a handful of popped kernels.
“But it tastes so much better when it’s someone else’s,” Clint grinned before taking his seat next to Natasha. Rhodey rolled his eyes before turning back to Tony who had returned to staring at the back of Peter’s head.
“Just—don’t burst a blood vessel,” Rhodey cautioned, finding it mildly amusing with how intensively Tony was focused.
“Shut up and watch the damn movie,” he grumbled, signaling F.R.I.D.A.Y. to begin playing A New Hope.
If Tony hadn’t seen the movie a hundred times before (the vast majority at Peter’s request), he couldn’t have possibly told another individual what happened. He spent the entirety of the film watching the two teenagers in front of him, analyzing each of their moves.
His first bout of discomfort came when John casually threw his arm around Peter, allowing the other boy to sink into his side. Tony thought about how malleable Peter could be for him, curling up in his arms with a satiated look of bliss on his face. He imagined burying his face in his headful of curls to plant a kiss, innocent in intention but with all the love in the world behind it. It made him ache knowing that he would never be able to feel and dote on him like John was so casually doing. John could never appreciate him like Tony would… but it was about what was best for Peter, not Tony.
By the time the trash compactor scene came on screen, John had closed the distance between them and kissed Peter. The sight caused Tony’s blood to boil, his fists clenched tightly.
Nostrils flared, he only had one word cycling over and over in his mind that was overpowering any other sane thought: mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.
But he wasn’t.
He couldn’t be.
That was the whole point of John; to make sure exactly that didn’t happen. That he didn’t chain Peter to a life of misery as the soulmate of the broken, trainwreck Tony Stark.
When Peter pulled away from him, the older man listened intently, doing his best to ignore the sounds of shouting in the movie as well as his own internal psychosis.
“But this is one of the best scenes—” Peter protested, his eyes flickering back and forth between the screen and his companion. Tony would have laughed had he been in John’s position; allowing Peter to return to watching the film. Though, he would know better than to distract the boy during one of his favorite parts.
John, on the other hand, brushed Peter off with a casual, “You’ve already seen this movie before” before pulling him into another kiss.
Peter’s shoulders sagged as he relented to the other’s touch.
Tony felt bile burn at the back of his throat. It seemed like such an insignificant moment, but Tony knew how disrespectful it had been to Peter. He didn’t care if the boy had seen the scene over a thousand times; he would never take that away from him. Not only that, but he would watch Peter instead of the screen, tracing each line of excitement that would light the boy’s face.
As John continued his ministrations, Tony was heated.
“You okay, man?” Rhodey asked him out of concern, noticing his friend’s curled fist on the arm of the chair.
Before he did something he would wind up regretting, like exposing John for the liar that he was, Tony got out of his seat and swiftly left the little theater, refusing to look back.
Jealousy burned under his skin each and every time Peter would bring John around the compound. Tony felt like an idiot letting his jealousy get to him. He had literal cults of people congregating together to obsess over either being Tony Stark or being under Tony Stark. And yet here he was, painfully jealous of an 18-year-old boy.
He had to wonder if his irrationality was a symptom of refusing their bond, never having felt the level of possessiveness bubbling away at him.
When Peter brought him to the lab, he just about lost it. Over the past couple of years, Peter had slowly infiltrated Tony’s lab and managed to make a portion of it his own. Of course, Tony was more than willing to share with Peter (and only Peter). He knew that the spiderling had every right to show his area of the lab to whomever he wanted to (who had passed the security clearance of course), but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
He could feel his muscles immediately tense up as John crossed the threshold into Tony’s sacred haven, hating the idea that an imposter was trapsing around his territory. He forced himself to relax the moment that he heard Peter’s voice, always finding comfort in the sound.
“I know science really isn’t your thing—but isn’t this place amazing?” Peter said to John in awe, still not used to the beauty and wonder of Tony’s elaborate setup of multi-million-dollar equipment. John, on the other hand, looked bored, his eyes barely bothering to look.
Tony scoffed under his breath, trying to focus instead on the soldering he was currently working on. John couldn’t even feign interest in one thing that fell second in Peter’s line of interest (first being Spider-Man, of course). Peter was soon going to be double majoring in biophysics and biochemical engineering, but his alleged “soulmate” had no interest in science at all?
“Yeah, it’s cool,” John replied with a smile that couldn’t have appeared more fake than if he had tried. After a beat, he casually added. “Couldn’t we just go back to your room and hangout?”
Hearing the suggestiveness in his voice, Tony’s hand slipped, causing the tip of the soldering iron to come into contact with skin. “Ah!” he exclaimed, throwing the device on the table and clutching his burn.
“Shit, are you alright?” Peter asked with immediate concern, making a beeline over to Stark to check on him.
His skin stung, but it would just become another one of many burn marks he had on his hands and arms. He wanted to tell Peter just that, but when Peter began to cradle his hand to examine it, he fell silent.
“Hang on, let me go get the burn gel,” Peter said before rushing off into the next room to get the first aid kit. Tony’s heart melted when he saw the level of concern on the boy’s face.
Unfortunately, his departure meant that Tony was alone with John for the first time since the start of his charade. While the older man was perfectly happy staying in awkward silence, John decided to speak up.
“Are you really that desperate for attention?” John said snidely.
Tony’s eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?” As much as he detested John, that was certainly not the response he expected to receive from someone he barely knew.
“Purposely getting injured just to get Peter riled up? That’s pathetic.”
“I don’t know where you get off—” Tony started to say.
“Hopefully with Peter soon enough,” he responded crudely causing Tony to feel anger bubbling over, seething at the audacity of a teenager who was under his roof.
“Get out,” Tony demanded, seeing that John was taking pleasure in Tony’s irritation.
“Not without Peter,” John responded back.
“I’ll let him know you had to run. I’m sure he’ll be just fine here without you. Thrilled even that you left on your own accord rather than me throwing you out.”
“What makes you think you know anything about what he wants?”
“Because I’m—” Tony could taste copper as he both metaphorically and literally bit his tongue. “Because I care about him.”
“Obviously not enough to tell him the truth,” John pushed with a devious smirk.
Tony’s face fell. “The hell is that supposed to mean?” Tony hissed. His heart thundered in his chest, his mind swirling about other things he could be talking about. There was no way some greasy-faced teenager had figured out the secret he had managed to hide from even some of the world’s greatest spies.
“Oh please,” John rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen the way you look at him. The way you look at my mark. I may not be ‘The Tony Stark,’ but I’m not an idiot.”
So, the fraud knew the truth. The boy knew that he was flaunting his relationship around in front of the man who was Peter’s true soulmate. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he doubled down with a glare.
“Sure, whatever you say,” John conceded unconvincingly with a cocky attitude. “Just know, Peter’s with me now; he’s no longer your little pet project. You’re just an old has-been way past his prime.”
Tony seethed. His fears of John truly being an asshole were coming to light. A part of him was cut down by what the boy said to him, but he knew truths that John was seemingly oblivious to. For starters, Peter has never been just a little pet project of his, acting as his mentee to shape into whatever he desired. While he was Tony’s mentee, the man had only ever encouraged the boy to be whatever he wanted, not at all forcing him into a mold. “I’ll tell him,” Tony threatened after a moment of consideration.
“No, you won’t. If you were going to, you would have done it by now,” John called his bluff.
“I can tell him you’re not his soulmate.” Even though Tony didn’t have the courage or the right to tell Peter that he was his true soulmate, he could at least expose John for the imposter and dick that he was. Telling him about this conversation between them would be a great place to start.
“I’m sure any cameras and recording equipment you have around this place can see clear as day that I’m his soulmate,” he responded, finger gesturing to the air around him before lightly slapping the faux soulmark on his forearm to prove his point. “Which means I’m the best thing for him.”
Tony opened his mouth to provide a rebuttal but nothing came out. The turd was right. Even if he wasn’t really Peter’s soulmate, he was still the best thing for him, right? Sure, Tony loathed him and could easily see through his façade, but that was better than the boy knowing the truth, wasn’t it? It had to be. Tony couldn’t fathom a world in which Peter was unhappy. So, if John is what actually made the boy happy, then he had to concede.
“Here we go,” Peter said, emerging from the other room with the kit in hand and the burn gel ready to go.
“Let’s get out here and leave Tony; he seems busy. We shouldn’t interrupt,” John told Peter, putting on his charming façade again.
Peter frowned, passing the kit off to his mentor. He looked hurt, like Tony was personally kicking him out. Tony meant to clarify that he wanted just John to leave, but that would raise further questions than he intended on answering. “Oh, okay. I guess we’ll see you around, Tony.”
As John escorted Peter out of the lab, Tony couldn’t help but notice the placement of his hand on the boy’s lower back, just as he guided Peter a hundred times before.
He knew he needed to get back to work, desperate for any distraction.
By the time Peter’s 19th birthday rolled around, it had become exactly what he had always feared. Their lab sessions were fewer and further between; any time there was a movie night, John would tag along. On more than one occasion, Tony would excuse himself as soon as he saw signs of John taking what was actually his in the darkened space of the theater.
Despite the fact that John was a poor excuse of a soulmate, Peter seemed relatively happy. And that’s what mattered most, wasn’t it?
The party that took place was substantially different than the previous year’s small affair. But Peter had asked Tony with his wide eyes about a more extravagant event with an extensive guest list. Which, of course, Tony obliged. He would give Peter the moon and stars if he could, as long as Peter asked.
While the party was in full swing, Tony made his escape to get away from overwhelming crowd and public displays of affection being instigated by John.
“How come you left the party?” a timid voice asked from behind Tony as he bustled around the lab, desperate for a distraction.
Turning around he saw a lone Peter standing inside the lab, looking sheepish. Tony sighed quietly, assuming that Peter wouldn’t even notice in the crowd that he had disappeared. Yet here he was, looking hurt and abandoned.
“Just needed a breather,” Tony replied with a feigned smile. “I’m not as good with big crowds as I used to be.” It certainly wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie. In his later years, dealing with the PTSD that plagued him, the loud, rowdy parties that once gave him life were now an easy trigger to set off an attack. Galas and charity events were little to no dangers, but parties where it’s not unheard of for a person to shout or scream in delight were too triggering.
“It’s a bit much for me too, with my senses. I would have been happy to just have the party be us like last year, but John said…” he trailed off, shifting uncomfortably in his stance. “Not that I’m not super grateful,” he frantically corrected, worried to have offended Tony who had obviously footed the bill.
He had thought it seemed out of character for Peter to have requested a party with such a long guest list, but he was willing to give Peter anything he’d ask for without question. Yet another piece of proof that John didn’t care or know about what Peter really wanted.
“Is that why you’re here?” Tony asked. Hurt washed over Peter’s expression, causing the older man to backtrack. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just don’t want you to miss your party. If you want, I can kick everyone out.”
Peter shook his head. “John and I got into a fight earlier, and it just came up again, and I just… I needed some air.”
The older man’s jaw clenched at the sound of the name. “What’d he do?” he responded accusatorily. Realizing his mistake, he softened. “I mean, what happened?”
“Well, I got stabbed…” Peter started to say.
“He STABBED you?” Tony bellowed. He had never understood the expression ‘seeing red’ until that exact moment. His mind began to race, debating his next course of action. Did he first check to see if the boy was alright or did he summon the suit to hunt the fraud down? Obviously if he weren’t alright, Peter would have said something about it earlier, which means—“F.R.I.D.A.Y.—get…”
“What? Oh, God, no, no,” the boy said frantically. “I was stabbed by a mugger…”
Tony’s body was still tense, his own heartbeat still booming in his ears. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. – get…”
“Who is currently in police custody,” Peter cut him off once more, his eyebrows raised seeing his mentor’s reaction.
The older man exhaled; his muscles released. “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes now examining the boy for any sign of damage. Considering he had been at the party for the last couple of hours, it most likely happened some time ago, long enough for him to repair.
“I’m fine,” the younger man responded, suppressing a smile at the clear concern. The last lines of worry softened from Tony’s face at the reassurance.
“You gotta be more careful, kid,” Tony sighed.
“Which is exactly what John said,” Peter explained with a nod.
“Well, he’s right.” Words he thought he would never utter in his whole existence. As much as he loathed the teenager, his level of concern for his faux soulmate was settling.
“Is he right about how I should give up being Spider-Man?” he asked timidly, his hand nervously fidgeting.
“What?” Stark questioned as his brows furrowed. As much as the thought of Peter getting injured caused the sensation of immense weight pressing on his chest, he would never tell Peter to not be Spider-Man. At least not after the whole ferry fiasco. No one, not even May, had the right. “He said that?”
“Yep,” Peter replied despondently. “He told me I needed to choose if I wanted to be with him or if I wanted to be Spider-Man. He said it was too dangerous.”
“Of course it’s—” Tony paused and changed his mind on what to say. “I thought you were still trying to keep your identity under wraps. You just met the guy.”
“He’s not an idiot; my contribution to our soulmark isn’t exactly discreet. He eventually would have put two and two together even if I hadn’t told him,” Peter pushed back. “Besides, he’s my soulmate.”
“He’s not—” Tony immediately bit his tongue as his impulses almost got the better of him. “He’s not like us.”
Tony knew better than anyone what it was like having a relationship with a “normal” person when you have a superhero alter ego. Iron Man had put a strain in his relationship with Pepper from the very beginning. Having had her soulmate die, she was overly protective of him. Eventually the stress of the dangers of being Iron Man had been too much for her to handle, causing them to separate once and for all.
“Does he have a point, though?” Peter asked him, eyes pleading for guidance from his mentor. “I mean—Ever since I got my powers, it’s always been just me. But now that I have a soulmate—don’t I have to, I dunno, do what he says?”
“Not if you don’t want to,” Tony said as a knee-jerk reaction. He fell silent for a moment. “I might not be the best one to be asking about this.”
“But you were with Ms. Potts… you know what it was like, even though she wasn’t your soulmate,” Peter replied.
“Yeah, and look how that turned out,” he cringed. Alone, pining for a soulmate who will never love him. “Listen, kid… It’s important in a relationship to learn when to pick your battles. With me and Pepper… Iron Man would always come first, no matter how hard we tried to compromise.”
Tony wondered if he would give up being Iron Man if Peter had asked. It was possible, but he knew that wasn’t anything the boy would ever ask him to do. Just like how he would never make Peter choose between him or being Spider-Man.
He understood how terrifying it would be in John’s position, seeing a loved one risk his life on a daily basis just to protect strangers he had never met, as if his life was worth less than theirs. But he couldn’t help but loathe the man for giving Peter an ultimatum.
Of course, Tony had planned on never speaking any of these thoughts aloud. But then Peter asked, “What if it was you?”
“I told you—with me and Pepper—“ Tony started before Peter cut him off.
“No, I mean if you were my soulmate. What would you do?” the boy asked nervously, clearly not knowing how realistic his question actually was.
It was at that moment that he noticed how close Peter had gotten to him, barely an arm length away. He looked at Tony with big, pleading eyes and all the older man could think about was how badly he wanted to wreck that boy to the point that he couldn’t even recall John’s name.
“I would never make you choose,” Tony said gruffly,
The spiderling’s shoulders sagged as if he had been tensely waiting for a response that would bring upon some sort of epiphany. He ruminated on the answer the man provided before probing further. “Why not?”
“What do you mean?” Tony asked.
“If I were your soulmate, why wouldn’t you tell me to quit being Spider-Man? I could die…”
Tony swallowed hard, curious to know where the kid was going with his line of questioning. He wondered if he were jotting notes down to present to John as ammo. “Because I know what it’s like better than anyone else,” he admitted plainly. “I know what it’s like to have a partner that resents the superhero persona that I’ve built. I know that no matter how much you try to bury it, there’s a persistent itch that will pester you, reminding you that you could be doing so much more good in the world than you ever could with your suit hung up. I would never, ever put you through that.”
A soft smile formed on Peter’s face as he listened intently to each of Tony’s words. “It sounds like you would make an amazing soulmate,” he smirked.
The words flooded through Tony, causing his heart rate to quicken. Hearing those words coming from Peter’s mouth were heaven. He had spent the vast majority of his years on the planet being grateful that he didn’t have a soulmate because he knew he could never live up to their expectations. No matter how many gifts he could shower them with, he could never give them what they wanted.
But here Peter was, his true soulmate, telling him plainly how worthy he could be.
He had spent the past year hiding the truth from Peter because he knew—he thought that he could never be what Peter needed. But as Tony stood there in front of the love of his life, he thought back to all the moments since he met John in which he proved he would be the far superior soulmate to Peter.
He would let Peter be exactly who he needed to be; he would spend each and every one of his last remaining days on Earth trying to make the boy as happy as possible. The question that the boy had posed to him was the final, solid proof that he was the best thing for him.
Peter seemed surprised when Tony closed the distance and covered the boy’s lips with his own. Despite the action being unexpected Tony’s heart sang when he felt Peter’s soft lips begin to move against his own. At first, it was merely a light brush of lips. When Tony realized that the spiderling was not pushing away, he tested the waters by deepening the kiss.
Swiftly moving to hold the boy steady at the hips, a segment of his brain was screaming at him to stop. It reminded him that Peter didn’t really want this; he wanted a nice, normal soulmate that he could build a family with. He wanted a happily ever after. He didn’t want or need Tony.
But he blatantly ignored the voice in his head, greedily taking what he knew was truly his. His soulmate. His love. His everything. All were at the fingertips he had clutching at the lithe waist of the boy who deserved so much better.
When Tony’s tongue pushed past the seam of Peter’s lips, an unholy moan fell from the boy, sending a signal directly to Tony’s cock.
He licked his way into the younger man’s mouth, reveling in the sweet taste of what he presumed was birthday cake. Though he wouldn’t have been surprised if he came to find that Peter just naturally tasted as sweet.
When Tony felt Peter’s tongue meet his with intense vigor, the older man lost all sense of restraint that was holding him back.
Peter was his. He would always be his, no matter what any imposters wearing marker on their forearm had to say about it.
He had spent so much time overanalyzing his sense of worth in Peter’s life that he never stopped to consider that he was the best thing for him because he could love him more powerfully than any other individual could fathom.
Alarms were still blaring, wondering why Peter wasn’t pulling away; why he didn’t stop Tony from wrecking him as he had desired for far longer than what was appropriate. “This is wrong,” he mustered up the courage to finally say before swiftly returning to the boy’s lips.
“Please don’t stop,” was the breathy begging that came out of Peter’s mouth before it was once more devoured.
Peter began to pull Tony closer, their bodies now flush with one another. Tony’s heart raced when he felt the sensation of Peter’s hardening cock pressed up against him. Heat pooled in his belly as he reveled in the feeling of want and need radiating off of the boy.
Desperate for more contact, Tony backed Peter up against the lab wall that had conveniently been behind him. Removing his lips from the other man’s mouth, he pulled aside his collar to latch onto the boy’s neck, licking and nipping up the column. Another delicious moan fell from Peter when Tony sucked at the skin with the intention of leaving a mark. He may have let his soulmark be replicated by an imposter, but he’d be damned to ever allow that to happen with the mark he just made.
He felt an ache to scatter other marks claiming him throughout the entirety of the Peter’s body, not leaving any surface of his soft, unblemished skin unscathed.
As he continued to ravish his mentee’s neck, the boy threw his head back to give the man better access, his mouth falling open with his panting. Tony felt compelled to roll his hips, pushing his own length against Peter as proof of his desire to claim him.
“Oh, god,” Peter whined, his own hips thrusting against Tony’s out of reflex.
Tony’s head spun, still not fully comprehending that this wasn’t a dream or a delusion. Had he merely fallen asleep in the lab? He had previously had an innumerable amount of dreams like this that featured Peter, but they were never this vivid; this tactile. He may be a genius, but he didn’t think his own imagination could properly concoct the desperate pleas and noises of pleasure that were swiftly falling from Peter’s mouth as he continued to move his straining cock against the other man’s.
As Tony returned to Peter’s lips, the boy frantically fumbled to undo the button and zip on the front of Tony’s pants before undoing his own.
Not ceasing his movements and only speaking in between kisses, Tony panted out a question that he was struggling to cope with. “What are we doing?”
It was a valid question. As far as Peter knew, he was cheating on his soulmate at that moment; his “soulmate” that was merely a couple of floors up at a party that was thrown in Peter’s honor. Hell, John was probably busy looking for him.
The idea of John walking in on them as Peter reached into Tony’s pants to pull out his cock was delightful imagery.
“Doing something we both want,” Peter finally responded before finally wrapping his hand around the heat of Tony’s length. The older man hissed at the sensation, focusing on not coming embarrassingly fast.
Following suit, Tony placed his own callused fingers around Peter’s cock, pulling it out in order to properly stroke him. The look of sheer bliss on Peter’s face was something he would never let John see. Now that Tony knew Peter wanted it, he would never let him go.
When the both of them were out of the confinement of their pants, Tony took both their cocks in his hand and began to stroke, using only pre-come as lubricant. The feeling of bare-to-bare skin contact was like nothing he had every experienced before. Although he was quite familiar with this particular interaction, it had never felt this intense before; like fireworks going off in his brain. He had always figured people were full of it when they said that sex with their soulmates was better than sex with anyone else. Sleeping with a hundred men and women were nothing in comparison to just this minor sex act with Peter. If just this small bite was as scintillating, he couldn’t even imagine how full-blown sex would be. But god was he going to find out.
Not now, though. Peter deserved to be spread out across his king size bed, begging and pleading for relief as Tony worked his mouth over every square inch of him. Not only that, but with the intensity of the feeling of their cocks moving in and out of his closed grip had him quickly teetering over the edge, faster than he would ever admit.
Unable to control the heavy breathing, Tony pressed their foreheads together, their lips ghosting over eachother with each thrust.
“Tony,” Peter panted, his body moving to match the rhythm of his mentor’s strokes. “I’m—fuck, I’m so close,” he whispered as a plea, desperate to have Tony continue.
Tony’s eyes remained glued on Peter, watching him as he reached utter ecstasy, his mouth hanging open chasing his bliss. Wanting to tip him over the precipice, the older man quickly sped up his strokes. Throwing his head back, Peter cried out as he spilled over onto Tony’s hand, his hips sputtering.
Seeing the sight of heaven before him, it only took a few more tugs before Tony was coming in his own fist, his come mixing with Peter’s.
As they stood there catching their breath, the reality of the situation fell over him. Without saying a word, he grabbed a towel to clean them both up, spending that time to think of a plan. Peter was intently staring at him, waiting for him to say something. Anything.
He studied Peter’s face, expecting to see the boy trapped in his own thoughts, horrified about the action that just took place. Apart from the fact that he just cheated on the man who he believed to be his soulmate, but it had also been with the man who had been his mentor since he was 14. But when he looked, he saw no signs of regret; none of the inner conflict that Tony was currently experiencing.
The fact remained: he needed to tell the boy the truth. All cards out on the table, no matter how much Peter detested him for it afterward. Worst case scenario, he would insist on never seeing Tony ever again. Best case scenario, he would be upset but would try to make things work.
As a confession formed on his tongue, Tony took note of the mischievous grin that was alight on his face. Tony’s face dropped, having a sudden epiphany. “You knew…” he breathed, his heart continuing to hammer in his chest.
It was the only possible conclusion as to why the boy looked perfectly content. Had John been his true soulmate, he knew that Peter would never have done what he did. And if he had, he would be riddled with guilt.
Peter’s smile widened as a lyrical laugh left his lips. “Of course I knew.”
Tony felt both breathless and delirious from this new information. “How long?” was all he could think of asking. His mind was reeling, trying to think back to the past year where he might have slipped up. Had he not covered up his mark well enough? Had he said something that showed his hand? Nothing immediately came to mind.
Peter squinted as if he was trying to wrack his brain for the information, as if it wasn’t on the forefront of his mind. “About… fifteen seconds after I got my mark.”
He was dumbfounded, obviously having severely underestimated Peter’s observation skills.
“You think I don’t know what the original arc reactor looked like?” he practically giggled. “Not only that but I could hear your heart racing after seeing it. I was able to put two and two together pretty quickly.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” was Tony’s next line of questioning.
The smile fell from Peter’s face as he remembered back to the night of his 18th birthday, seeing the look of discomfort on his soulmate’s face. He tried to feign his smiles, but his heart clenched as Tony fell silent, not daring to be the one to say anything. For the longest time, he thought Tony had stayed quiet because he was disturbed by the reveal.
Who wouldn’t be? The man had gone years thinking he had no soulmate. Finding out that his soulmate was really some teenage kid from Queens had to be jarring. He figured that he just needed to give Tony some time to adjust and not cause a scene at the party. But when days past and words were never spoken, Peter had thought Tony was upset and was rejecting him.
But then Tony kept inviting him around. If he wanted nothing to do with Peter as a soulmate, why wouldn’t he make it a clean cut and just start avoiding him? Also, Tony was a naturally tactile individual, but the touches the man would give him after the reveal seemed more intimate. More solid.
It wasn’t until Peter began to notice the lingering stares that he realized there was more to it than he had believed. “Because you needed to figure out on your own that you actually deserve to be happy,” Peter confessed.
“But John…”
“Johnny’s just a friend,” Peter assured him, reveling in the possessive glint of hope in Tony’s eyes. “You actually know his sister, Sue Storm. I’m surprised that didn’t come up in the background check I’m sure you ran as soon as soon as I gave you his name. He's not actually a jerk, by the way. A little hot-headed, but not the asshole you saw."
Tony looked relieved, as if he had delusionally thought for a moment Peter would have stuck by the other boy’s side even after the big reveal.
“I’m sorry for lying to you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I knew you would have been too stubborn if I just came out and told you that you actually deserve this—you deserve to be happy. And I promise I can make you happy,” his wide eyes looked up at Tony, begging to be seen; to be heard.
“Peter—there was never a doubt in my mind that you would make me happy. It was about me not being good enough for you,” Tony admitted for the first time out loud. The words felt like sand in his mouth, but they needed to be said.
Peter looked at him sorrowfully, his eyes shining as he stepped forward to lessen the distance between them. “Of course you’re good enough for me. You know all of my favorite stuff and don’t ever make fun of me watching Star Wars for the hundredth time. You listen to everything I say, even when I get a little too excited and ramble a bit too much. You know me better than almost anyone else and you still love me for it. You have the biggest heart and are the bravest man I will ever know. If anything, I’m not good enough for you. You’re Tony Stark for fuck’s sake. You’re perfect—”
Tony snorted a laugh. “Kid, I am far from perfect.”
“You’re right. You’re not perfect. But you are perfect for me. And there’s concrete, proof from the universe of just that,” he pushed, exposing his arm that displayed their soulmark in all its glory.
Before Tony could restrain himself, his hand immediately reached out before he ran his fingers across the skin, tracing each and every line of the soulmark as he had dreamt of doing. It was the first time he had dared cross that line.
Peter involuntarily shivered at the touch, goosebumps forming on his arms as if it was a sign from the universe that they were in the right place.
The boy decided he needed more and grabbed Tony’s arm, rolling up the sleeve of the long-sleeve shirt he had taken to wearing. When Peter saw a matching soulmark etched on the man’s skin, he felt like weeping. Even though he had absolute confidence that Tony was his soulmate, it was still surreal seeing the black mark to match his own. He spent a moment tracing the outline of the arc reactor before leaning forward and planting a chaste kiss on the skin as if to finally seal their match the way it was meant to be.