Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Petey, can we go swimming?”

Peter cracked his eyes open from where he was lounging on the beach to see Morgan hovering next to him, toes digging in the sand as she waited for his answer. A strawberry frosted donut floatie was around her waist that she kept spinning around her as she waited for his answer.

It was winter break, just a couple days since his encounter with the Sandman and Tony had whisked the family away to a tropical resort the moment he could. There was predicted to be a particularly nasty cold snap and no one wanted to take the risk with a certain spider infused teenager. With his lack of thermoregulation and the memories of how cold it was while Venom was in control, it was easy to say that Peter wasn’t coping well in the New York City’s winter.

Especially as he always looked over his shoulder for a man dressed in green flying on a high-tech hoverboard and cackles that would echo off the buildings.

No one had argued about it and May had ordered new beach gear for her and Peter using Tony’s credit card. Michelle and Ned were unable to come on this trip as both of their families had already planned something. Most of the avengers had decided to stay back in the city to allow the family to have a more private vacation. They swore that they would be there if something happened - Bucky joking that something would Peter's luck before being punched in the arm by Steve.

So, on this trip it was just Tony, Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, May, Happy, Harley, and Peter. Harley had been a surprise but a welcomed one. Apparently, the mechanic had messaged Tony about his college break starting and that he had been missing everyone. Tony had jumped on the chance to get his other sort-of kid to go on the trip with them and Harley had shown up with packed bags and presents on Christmas day.

Tony had a private island in the Caribbean that he flew them all to the night of Christmas. Peter didn’t remember most of the flight as he slept, tired from his stint from fighting the Sandman on Christmas eve in the cold, getting his stomach pumped from eating those cinnamon roles, and cramming for finals in between patrols. After landing, Tony had shown them to the villa they would all be staying and quick rundown of all the safety features in case something happened.

With Peter’s luck, something probably would.

If anything happened, Peter was so going to blame Bucky for jinxing him.

“How about we take the boat out instead?” Peter offered. He really didn’t feel like swimming and he had just lathered up in sun screen not that long ago. As much as he pretended he didn’t, Peter wasn’t blessed like Michelle or Ned and he burned like a lobster if he wasn’t covered in sun screen and didn’t like it soak.

Morgan tapped her chin in thought before nodding in agreement. “Can we bring Harley?”

“If you want,” Peter shrugged, sitting up and leaned back on one hand. Peter gave a sharp whistle across the beach to Harley would was leaving the house with a drink in his hands. The young adult raised an eye brow at Peter and Morgan as he sipped his drink and came over.

“What’s up?” Harley asked.

“Morgan wants to go on adventure,” Peter answered. “Figured that was right up our alley and we could go sailing.”

“I’ll go get a boat ready,” Harley grinned as he immediately agreed.

“Hold up!” Tony called from across the sand where he was sitting under an umbrella. “Where are you three going?”

“On an adventure,” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Keep up, daddy,” Morgan snarked, making her brothers laugh.

“Yeah, no,” Tony shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “After Hawaii, you two aren’t allowed to go anywhere by yourselves.”

“But we’ll have Morgan with us,” Harley argued.

“Yeah, daddy, I’m here too,” Morgan added with her chest puffed out in pride.

Tony raised an unamused eyebrow at the trio. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”

The six-year-old proud face fell in offence and she puffed her cheeks out, stomping a foot on the ground. Peter reached down to pat Morgan on the head. “It’s okay, Mo. Mr. Stark just hates fun.”

Sputtering in shock, Tony pointed a finger at Peter. “Don’t act like you are innocent in this.”

Peter shrugged with a half-hearted shit-eating grin. “If it’s any consolation Mr. Stark, I held up a volcano by myself last time. If something were to happen, I’m the best person for the two of them to be around.”

Tony pinned his three kids down with a flat look while they held their hands together in a plea. After a moment, Tony sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. “Fine,” Tony sighed in defeat.

“Yay!” Harley and Morgan started to cheer.

“But!” Tony interrupted which made the oldest and youngest groan. “If I feel like something is wrong, all three of you come back the moment I call you.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Peter agreed.

“You are giving in too easily.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Peter.

“I think you’re right,” Peter shrugged. Tony narrowed his eyes further at Peter. “What?”

“You aren’t one to listen to me,” Tony said accusatorily.

“I listen!”

“Rarely.”

“Oh my gaaawwwwd, Mr. Stark,” Peter groaned with his head thrown back.

“I’m just saying,” Tony said.

“Whatever,” Peter huffed and stood up. “Can we go sailing or not?”

“Only if you promise to be safe,” Tony said. “All of you.”

“I promise to stay safe, daddy,” Morgan chirped as she bounced on her toes in excitement.

“I’ll do my best,” Harley shrugged. Tony stared Harley down to which the ladder sighed. “Fiiiiiine, I promise to be good.”

“…I’ll take it,” Tony relented. Looking at Peter, he waited. “Well?”

“I promise to be safe as much as my luck will allow it,” Peter said.

Knowing that was the best he would get, Tony nodded once. “Good. I’ll let the others know where you all went. There is a boat down by the docks.”

All of Tony’s children cheered, making the inventor chuckle and lean his head back against the chair he was lounging. If his kids were this happy, he must be doing this ‘father’ thing right.

Take that Howard.

“Now…” Harley rubbed his hands together with a smile. Striking a pose, Harley pointed at the boat tied to the dock. “Onto an adventure!”

“Adventure!” Peter and Morgan echoed.

“This seems like a good spot to lay anchor,” Harley said. “First mate Peter, if you could.”

“Aye aye first mate Harley,” Peter said as grabbed the anchor to throw over the edge. With his strength, it felt like a paperclip.

“Petey! Harl! I see fishies!” Morgan preened as she pointed at a school of shiny fish underneath of them.

Peter snorted to himself at how Morgan waddled around the boat in her life vest. It was bright orange with reflective tape on the straps. Both brothers had put their foot down when Morgan argued about wearing it. Neither were taking a chance of Morgan going overboard without one on.

“What do you think, captain Mo?” Peter grinned, brushing his hands off before taking a seat at the head of the boat. He sat with his back against it with his arms laid out on the top of the siding. “Fun, eh?”

“Super fun!” Morgan beamed and jumped in excitement. She squealed in shock as the boat rocked with the movement which made her brothers laugh.

“Careful, you don’t want to capsize the boat,” Harley joked.

“Imagine if she did,” Peter snorted. “Mr. Stark would be on our case hard time.”

“He would gloat so hard,” Harley said. Leaning over, he reached into the cooler they had brought with them to grab two sodas and a juice box. Opening the juice box for Morgan, passed it over to his little sister who thanked him with a bright smile.

Harley didn’t even warn Peter before he threw the can of soda at him. The college student knew he didn’t need to with Peter’s senses and reflexes. They kicked in right before they would have smacked Peter and he plucked it out of the air without turning around.

“Thanks,” Peter said and popped open the can.

Harley hummed his response as he opened his own can and took a swing of the cool soda. For a while, both brothers just listened to Morgan ‘ooh’ and ‘awe’ over the various sea life that swam in the clear water below them.

“Man, I want cinnamon buns,” Peter whined out of nowhere and hung his arms over the side of the boat to let his fingers be tickled by the water.

“Dude, how could you still want them after having to get your stomach pumped?” Harley asked with an eyebrow raised.

The college student had strolled into the tower Christmas day after visiting his biological family with his arms weighed down by present to find the common floor. After asking Friday, Harley had made his way to the med bay where Peter was pouting in his bed after having needed his stomach pumped. Apparently, in the growing change of spider DNA in Peter, cinnamon had been added to the list of things that sent Peter into anaphylactic shock.

Luckily, they had caught it early enough that Peter was fine. They were back on track with the Christmas festivities a few hours later – after Tony had made sure to throw away every cinnamon themed snack they had around.

“Because they are so good,” Peter groaned.

“You’re allergic to them!”

“Doesn’t affect how good they taste.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Harley rolled his eyes.

Peter grumbled more and lightly splashed the water with his fingers. “Stupid spider genes. Can’t have citrus or peppermint or cinnamon. What’s next? Chocolate? Doritos? Pizza?!”

“Well…” Harley trailed off.

Peter shot up with a panicked look in his eyes. “No way – I can’t have pizza anymore?!” he screeched.

Harley couldn’t fight the grin that pasted itself to his face. It was so easy to mess with Peter sometimes. “I’m just messing with you,” Harley laughed. Morgan joined along with her giggles that she tried to hide behind her little hands.

Frowning, Peter turned away from his siblings. “I hope you remember this the next time you need to be saved.”

“I don’t have shit luck like you,” Harley snorted. “I don’t think I need to worry about that.” Realizing what he said, Harley’s eyes widen and he looked over at Morgan. “Don’t tell Tony I cursed around you.”

“It’s okay. Daddy also says mommy’s word and I don’t tell her,” Morgan smiled.

Both brothers laughed at that. Peter was going to say something when he felt a shiver run up his spine and cover his arms in goosebumps. Sitting up straight, Peter looked around for what could be wrong. Harley immediately picked up on it and scooted closer to Morgan.

“What’s wrong?” Harley demanded.

“I don’t know,” Peter murmured. Standing up, Peter peered out on the ocean as much as his enhanced vision would let him. There was no other boats on the horizon or planes in the sky to indict intruders were coming. The air was still with the splashing of waves breaking it up.

“Is something going to happen?” Morgan asked. She reached over to grab Harley’s hand in comfort.

The ocean seemed to answer that as the waves suddenly kicked to send the boat rocking side to side. Harley was quick to wrap Morgan in his arms and legs to protect her from all sides. Peter, already not wearing shoes, stuck himself to the boat using his powers and tried to keep the balance so they wouldn’t flip over. There was a rumbling from the land that Peter couldn’t place but he focused more on not letting his siblings fall into the water.

As quickly as it had started, it was over. Peter brought the boat to a standstill before Harley would let up on his human shield around Morgan. “What was that?” Morgan asked.

“I don’t know,” Peter murmured. The water was deathly still now and Peter couldn’t see any of the sea life that had been around before. Shivers ran down him as his spidey-sense started telling him to leave. Looking around, he couldn’t see anything off – but that mean there was no danger. “We should go back.”

“I agree with ya,” Harley nodded along feverishly and dashed over to the motor of the boat. The boat rumbled to life underneath of them. Peter rushed over to the side of the boat with the anchor and reached down for the chain.

Pulling at it, Peter cursed when he realized that it was caught on something at the bottom. Knowing that they had no time to wait, Peter simply tightened his grip around the weak metal – or at least, weak to him – and snapped the chain links.

“Go!” Peter ordered. He came up behind Morgan and used his body to cage her in. If something were to happen like his spidey-sense was trying to warn him, Peter would absolutely use his body as a shield for his little sister. Harley roared the motor of the boat and it jumped as it shot forward. They got all of ten yards when they slowed down. “What are you doing?!” Peter yelled over his shoulder.

“It’s not me!” Harley yelled back. They went from being in a standstill to the boat now going backwards. “We’re being pulled back!” Looking behind him, Harley’s eyes widened. “Brace for impact!”

Morgan came tumbling back into Peter as the back hit a cluster of rocks. They were all jostled but were fine in the grand scheme of things. “What should we do?!” Harley asked as he kept adding more power to the motor and getting nowhere.

“I…” Peter trailed off as he tried to think on what to do.

The water receded from underneath of them at an alarming rate. Morgan yelped as the boat tipped forward with the bow falling into the wet sand. There was a growing noise from behind Peter and looked back – the blood draining from his face when he saw the tsunami sized wave heading right towards them.

“We need to go – now!” Peter yelled. He swiped Morgan up in his arms and jumped off the boat. As soon as his feet hit the wet sand that had been covered by the ocean just moment ago, Peter was shooting off.

“Run Peter! Protect Morgan!” Harley yelled as he jumped off the boat to follow.

Peter slowed just a little bit to not get too far separated from Harley. In the distance, Peter could hear the roaring of the surge making its way back to them. Peter ground his teeth as he held himself back from using his full speed.

“Harley, don’t stop running!” Peter yelled over his shoulder. “Sprint as fast as you can!”

“I’m trying!” Harley yelled back and it sounded much farther back than Peter preferred. Risking a glance, Peter saw Harley a few yards back and the rapidly approaching growing wave behind them. Growling, Peter slowed just a bit so that when Harley caught up to him, it was quick work to switch Morgan to one arm and to throw Harley over his free shoulder. “What the hell?!” he screeched.

“You’re too slow!” Peter said and really put the pedal to the metal. Harley’s eyes grew large as he realized just how slow Peter had been going for his sake as the three of them tore down the sand. The breath was taken from him as he realized that Peter could run really, really fast.

Off in the distance, Harley could see a duo of suits coming for them. “Up ahead!” Harley exclaimed as he pointed at the Iron Man and War Machine suits coming for them. He blew out a breath of relief that their rescue was so close to them.

Peter didn’t say anything as he focused on sprinting. The water was moving much too fast despite how hard Peter pushed himself. Glancing back again, Peter’s eyes widened when he saw just how close the water was. Looking back to the front, Peter saw the suits were in a safe throwing distance.

“Heads up!” Peter yelled. Rearing his arm back, he threw Morgan as high in the air as he could.

Morgan shrieked in fright as she thrown high in the air. The Iron Man suit shot forward more and plucked Morgan out the air before gravity could start forcing her back towards the ground. Morgan’s arms immediately wrapped around Tony’s metal covered neck and she ducked her face against him.

“You’re next,” Peter said as he pulled Harley off his shoulder.

“Peter, don’t you da-AARE!” Harley screeched as he was thrown into the air mid-threat. His arms and legs flailed in the air as he was thrown much higher than he was expecting. The ground was a stomach rolling drop down.

Rhodey grabbed Harley by the back of his muscle shirt just as he started to drop again. With an easy pull, Harley was lifted so that he could sit on Rhodey’s outstretched arm. Harley looked right down at Peter as the high schooler sprinted down the wet compacted sand. What scared Harley more than anything was how close the impending wave of doom was.

“Peter, your turn!” Harley screamed. “Jump like the spider you are!”

Looking up at them all in the sky, Peter nodded and raised a web-shooter equiped wrist at the Iron Man suit.

Just in time for the wave to finally overtake him.

Chapter Text

Peter couldn’t see in front of him.

Just as he had been about to shoot a web at one of the suits, the wave had hit him from behind. At the last second, Peter took in a breath of air and clamped his mouth shut.

Peter was thrown in all directions and he lost track of what way was up. He couldn’t see anything from the murky debris of the salt water that stung at his eyes. It burned so bad and made Peter want to scream - but that would mean losing his feeble amount of air.

Peter was suddenly thrown by the current into a rock back first. The air that he had been holding onto burst out in an exclamation of pain. It was the wrong choice as Peter lost his breath and the salt water rushed in. It pushed up his nose, burning him as it flowed down his throat and choking him.

Up was down, left was right. Peter didn’t know what was going on. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything over the rush of the waves. It all blurred together and Peter wondered if this was it.

At least he was able to save Morgan and Harley.

Peter was about to close his eyes as he accepted his fate when something told him to turn. It was like his body was telling him not to give up and Peter decided to listen.

The guys would never let him live it down if he got taken out by a rouge tsunami wave after everything else that tried to kill him and fail.

Turning in the water, Peter kicked. Something hard met his hand and brushing through it, Peter realized he found the ground. Grinning, Peter turned again so that his feet were on the sandy ground. Putting all the force in his legs that he could, Peter jumped.

Tony felt his heart stop as Peter was swallowed by the wave.

“No!” Tony screamed. With a hand holding onto Morgan, Tony flew down as close to the water as he dared to. It rushed past him, kicking up the sand and sediment to turning the once clear water murky. “Does anyone have eyes on Peter?!” Tony screamed. “Fri?! Rhodey?!”

“I can’t see anything in this murky ass water,” Rhodey answered.

“Negative boss,” Friday answered sadly.

“Shit!” Tony cursed.

“You said mommy’s word,” Morgan whimpered in Tony’s ear.

Tony had forgot that Morgan was in his arms. Gulping, Tony flew up higher to protect Morgan from the water. Placing his free hand on Morgan’s back, Tony rubbed it in comfort. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that with you right here,” he murmured.

“It’s okay,” Morgan muttered and looked down at the roaring water below them. “Daddy is scared about Petey – me too.”

Tony swallowed past the lump in his throat as he also stared down at the water. As long as he had both Morgan and Harley here, he couldn’t dive into the water to go looking for Peter. Sure, either him or Rhodey could hold both under Happy arrived with the jet but there was so much space for just one person to look through. He didn’t even know when to start looking – Peter could been have been washed miles away by this point.

Tony could feel the hope starting to die in his heart and he hated how he was already giving up so early.

Then, a pale hand broke through the surface and a string of webbing at shot at the suit, catching him in the shoulder. The white webbing went taunt as it was pulled on from the other end and Peter came shooting out of the water.

Tony’s mouth dropped open before it shifted to a smile. He shouldn’t have doubted his miracle worker kid so fast.

Wrapping his metal covered hand around the webbing, Tony pulled it up as he made the suit fly higher to bring Peter farther above the surface. Wholly, Peter looked okay besides his coughing. Tears flowed down Peter’s face as they tried to filter out the salt water and Tony’s heart went out to the teenager as he knew it must hurt like a bitch.

“You okay?” Tony called down in worry.

Peter coughed again and rubbed at his chest, grimacing. “Mr. Stark, why does the universe hate me?” Peter croaked a groan.

Tony couldn’t help himself – he snorted in laughter at Peter’s gripe. “Kid, I’ve been wondering that myself. Did your ancestors piss off the wrong god or something?” Tony joked.

“Apparently,” Peter grumbled. Sighing, he raised his other hand and started climbing up the string of webbing. Tony kept on him as he climbed all the way up to the suit and then perched himself on the suit’s shoulder like he did when in suit on the edge of a building. “Hey Mo,” Peter greeted his sister.

“Hi Petey,” Morgan waved shyly. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah,” Peter grinned. Tony could hear the slight strain in his voice as Peter kept clearing his throat, most likely from the salt water that had forced its way down. “I just took a bit of a swim, that’s all.” He patted his swim shorts and pulled something out of his pocket, handing it over to Morgan. “I grabbed you something.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the perfect light pink scallop sea shell. Morgan squealed in joy as she took the shell in her hands, marveling at its size and color. “Pete, how the hell did you get that?”

Peter blew an air of amusement out of his nose. “You think I wouldn’t find Mo a present whenever I can?”

“You literally almost drowned in a tsunami wave,” Tony deadpanned.

“But I didn’t,” Peter snarked back at Tony with a haughty laugh. Tony just shook his head in disbelief the same moment a message popped up on his interface.

[Are the kids safe?] – Happy

“Fri, tell Happy that we got the kids and we are heading in now,” Tony told his AI and spun around in the air. Rhodey, a small distance away with Harley sitting War Machine’s shoulders, noticed and inclined his head.

“Please do,” Peter said and gave a soft cough. He shivered in the chillier air of the sky and Tony took that as his hint to hurry back.

Tony and Rhodey flew through the air towards the Quinjet they commandeered for the trip. As they did, Harley and Peter gazed down at the flooded island that they were supposed to be staying. “Well, that doesn’t look good,” Harley commented.

“Eh, it wasn’t my favorite island anyways,” Tony said.

“You have more than one island?”

“What billionaire doesn’t?”

“Looks like the trip is over,” Peter pouted. They were only on the second day of five and it sucked that it was going to end so quickly.

“Says you,” Tony snorted. “We’ll just head over to the other island. What do you say, do you want to go to Mediterrian or are you feeling more Polynesian? I also got one in Fiji if that spikes your interest.”

“How many private islands do you have?!” Harley exclaimed in shock from Rhodey’s shoulders.

“Enough to have options in a situation like this.”

“I want an island,” Harley grumbled.

“Graduate from college without getting arrested and it’ll be one of your presents,” Tony said.

“Hell yes!” Harley cheered.

“Can I have an island daddy?” Morgan asked. She held her shell to her chest to avoid dropping it in the water below as they got closer to the jet.

“When you’re older,” Tony answered. “What about you, Pete? Want an island while I’m giving them out?”

Peter snorted. “If you’re feeling generous, Mr. Stark.”

“’Roo, please, call me Tony,” Tony groaned. “I will give you an island right now if you call me my name.”

“Tony,” Harley piped up with a smirk.

“Not you,” Tony frowned at Harley.

“Aww man,” Harley pouted.

“Okay, Mr. Stark,” Peter smirked.

Tony just huffed but didn’t fight as they got close enough to the jet. Happy must have saw them approach and opened the back door to let the group in, the two suits clanking to the ground as they landed.

Pepper and May hardly waited for the men to release the children before they were rushing forward to inspect them. May threw a fluffy towel around Peter’s shoulders before crushing him against her in a tight hug. “Oh, my baby,” May cooed.

“I’m fine, May,” Peter laughed but didn’t hesitate to return the hug. “Just had a little dip in the water is all.”

“A little dip?” Harley rolled his eyes as Pepper moved his face from side-to-side to inspect him. “He saved both me and Morgan.” He gingerly took his face out of Pepper’s hands, whispering he was fine, and turned towards Peter. “Pete, since when have you been that fast?”

“Since the spider bite,” Peter shrugged. May let him out of the hug and he grabbed a corner of the towel in each hold to close it around him.

“How come you’ve never told us that you can smoke almost anyone in a foot race then?” Harley questioned.

“I mean, I swing around the city more than I run,” Peter answered. He found a spot to sit down and wrapped the towel around his legs. May stepped away to get a towel to dry Peter’s hair.

“Maybe you should join the super grandpas and Sam for their morning runs,” Tony suggested as he finally stepped out of the suit. “I’m sure you can help bully Sam for not being genetically modified.”

“That’s bullying,” Peter frowned. “But then again…he did show up on one of my dates with MJ with Bucky just to embarrass me. Maybe this will be a good time for revenge.”

“Ah great,” Rhodey chuckled as he also left his suit. “You’re making the kid enter his villain era.”

“So scary,” Happy snarked from the front of the plane.

“I’ll have you know that I am plenty scary,” Peter frowned.

“Sure – if you would stop bantering with your perps so much,” Tony snorted.

“It’s part of shtick!” Peter exclaimed.

“I thought being a spider is,” Harley joined in on the teasing. “Aren’t spiders quiet?”

“Just for that, you better sleep with one eye open,” Peter threatened with a finger pointed at Harley.

“Oooh, so scary,” Harley laughed.

Peter sneezed again, look miserable. “Alright, let’s not bully the hero of the hour too much,” Tony chuckled and grabbed another blanket to throw around Peter’s shoulders. The teenager cooed when he realized that this one was heated and felt the warmth soak into his bones. “So, which island are we continuing our vacation on?” Tony asked Peter.

“Anywhere I don’t have to worry about the ocean or a volcano will try to kill me,” Peter deadpanned. He wrapped the blanket tight around them and tucked his nose into it.

“I know just the place,” Tony laughed.

BONUS SCENE:

On a new island that Tony apparently owned – Peter really wondered how many Tony owned – the web-slinger was sipping a fruity drink by the pool side. Harley was in the pool with Morgan where he pretended to be shark that chased her. Morgan was screeching in joy so Peter had a pair of headphones on to block out the noise.

On the table next to him, he felt his phone buzz. Without thinking much about it, Peter grabbed his phone and pressed the power button to see who was texting him. He let his eyes skim it for a second before his mouth dropped open in amazed shock.

“You’re going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that,” Tony commented as he sat down in the chair next to Peter with his own drink. “What’s got you like that?”

“One of my best friends is coming back to the city,” Peter beamed. His fingers flew across the screen as he tapped out a response to the person that texted him. “He said he’s transferring to Midtown for the last semester. Oh man, this is going to be awesome.”

“Best friend? How do I not know about him?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought Ned was your only friend.”

“Oh, he was my best friend from childhood that had to move away when his parents divorced,” Peter explained. “We met in daycare back when my parents were still alive and just kept in touch even after his move. When things were getting rough between his parents, he would come spend a lot of time over at my place so May really knows him.”

“What’s he moving back for then?” Tony asked. “There’s only one semester left.”

“His mom is moving back to the states,” Peter said. “He says that if he returning to the USA, he wants to go to school with his best bud.”

“Ned is going to be jealous,” Tony said.

“Nah,” Peter waved off the concern. “Those two are going to kick it off.”

“Are you going to tell him about your spidery half?” Tony asked. It was a valid concern – he had no clue who this kid was. Maybe he had seen all the news articles about Peter with Tony and wanted to get in on the spotlight. Ned and Michelle had shown up plenty of times in the papers just from being in the same vicinity of Peter as the paparazzi tried to get a story about Stark Enterprises heir.

“I’ll work up to it,” Peter said. He sent another rapid-fire text before putting his phone down. “Even if we’ve known each other since near diapers, I know to be careful.”

“Good,” Tony nodded and leaned back in his chair to take a sip of his drink. “Now, who is this kid? I want to investigate his parents.”

Pepper called Tony a helicopter parent and he proudly wore that badge if it meant his kids were safe.

“You already know one of them,” Peter said as he went back to his phone to pull up a picture.

“I do?” Tony furrowed his brow. Man, he hoped it wasn’t someone that he had royally pissed off or else that would make things difficult. Thinking, Tony took another sip of his drink.

“Yup,” Peter nodded. “Norman Osborn.” Sticky fruit juice sprayed across Tony’s front as he spat his drink out in surprise. Peter laughed at the reaction. “Did May really never tell you about how I had playdates with Mr. Osborn’s son all the time?”

“Wait a second,” Tony straightened as he remembered a far-off conversation in passing that Norman has a son. “Are you talking about—”

“Duh,” Peter smirked, turning his phone to show a picture of himself with Richard Parker, Norman Osborn, and Norman’s son. “I’m talking about the one and only Harry Osborn.”