All My Life

32| He called me dad.

Tony's pov.

I remember meeting Peter for the first time, wide eyes and a gaping mouth as Natasha held him at a gunpoint. He was scared, just like any person would naturally be, but, the fear hadn't completely managed to hide the child-like wonder and admiration in his eyes. That's the thing about Peter Parker, no matter how bad the situation is, there's always that little ray of sunlight peeking through the dark clouds in his case. Maybe. that's what makes him stand apart, makes people fall in love with the kid.

My eyes fall upon the kid sitting on the ground, his back supported by a concrete wall as the street light illuminated his features making the tear tracks on his normally smiling face visible. I turn to his friend, the one who called me, only to find him staring at me with a sad a look. I clear my throat, trying to pull myself together, "You have a ride home?"

The kid nods before speaking up, "My mom's waiting at the main exit." I find myself being thankful at the thought of getting to talk to Pete without another presence. "Okay, I've got him. Thank you for...for looking after him." I say before glancing at the kid with drooping eyes.

The sober boy complies to my request and I watch him walk away before turning back to Peter. I feel a heavy weight settle upon my chest at the thought of everything that was going on. The exhausted and hopeless look on Peter's unconscious face not helping in the least.

I walk towards him, my steps small and measured. I crouch once I reach in front of him, My stomach clenching painfully at the sight of red rims all over his eyelids. I hesitantly reach out for his slouched shoulders before shaking him. "Pete, come on buddy. Let's get you home." He opens his bleary eyes making the redness in them visible and I find myself confused if they were a result of alcohol or him crying. Probably, both.

"Dad?" My heart drops at the foreign word leaving his mouth, his voice shaky and small. No, he doesn't know what he is saying, it's the aftermath of the alcohol. Of course, it is. So, why does it make my mind go hazy as the single word continues to repeat in my head?

"Why do you hate me?" I find myself speechless, no snarky remarks or sarcasm that could shield my already hurting heart. I never thought it could get this worse, so worse that I'll have to see my kid's face devoid of any happiness. "I don't, kid. It's not possible for me to hate you. You make it quite difficult for people to do that."

A bitter laugh escapes his mouth. "Flash would disagree with you." His voice comes out a bit slurred burdened by a heavy sadness. He found out. This is worse, so much worse than I thought. "When did you find that out?" I ask, not trying to avoid the topic.

"You knew that tooooo?" I sigh, feeling as if I was sinking deeper and deeper into the mess. He goes silent leaving me alone to deal with my thoughts. How do I make him believe it's not his fault when he thinks every single thing is his fault. It's going to kill him, his mind is going to kill him before his recklessness. "Why did y-you leave me?" He breaks the silence and I take in a sharp breath.

"Do you seriously expect me to abandon my own child?" I yelled at the red-haired woman in front of me. She looked at me with a guarding expression, her arms wrapped around her as I felt my world falling apart around me."Yes, I do."

"I'm so sorry, kid." I watch as a sob escapes his mouth followed by another and in no time he is a shaking mess. I feel my eyes water as I watch him wallow in his sorrow, each sob feeling like a dagger straight to my heart. I wrap my arms around the sobbing boy as the continuous tears make him choke upon his own breath. "Shhh, I'm sorry, Pete. Please, just-just breathe for me, buddy."

"Why-why do I hurt everyone?"

"You don't, Peter. You didn't hurt anyone. I promise." I feel him shake his head as his tears continued to soak my shirt. "I-I didn't mean to dis-disobey you. I was, I was scared and-"

"I know, kid. I know." I was wrong, I was wrong for lashing out on him when he was simply scared for me. Yes, he was stupid, stupid to jump in between a dangerous mission but, I was wrong nonetheless. He didn't deserve that.

"I thought, I thought I'll be able to forget but-but, it got worse. It got so much worse." I squeeze my eyes at his painful whine. The thought of him having to deal with so much all at once making it much harder for me to help.

"Can you walk to the car?" He nods his head and I help him get up. He stumbles a little making me grab his arms and steady him before finally reaching to the required place. I shut the door before securing the seat-belt around him. I get into the car and turn the ignition on before catching a glance at the barely conscious boy.

The quiet neighbourhood soon turns into the busy city but my thoughts remain unchanged. My mind keeps on going back to the single foreign word repeatedly, no matter how much I try to forget the incidence.

Dad...

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I feel my hands loosen around the barely conscious boy as my eyes fall upon the entire team sitting in the living room, every single person staring at the two of us. My heart escalates as I feel Peter's knees buckle beside me but feel relieved at the sight of the red hue surrounding him. I turn back to find the similar scarlet glow covering Wanda's palms and watch her slowly move Peter to the empty place beside Natasha.

"Is he drunk?!" My head snaps to Natasha who stared at me with disbelief. "Can we just leave it?" She gives me a sharp glare before turning to others and I follow her lead to find the remaining five people giving having the same look as Natasha plastered over their faces.

I'll take that as a no...

"After you decided to lock yourself into your lab? You wish." Pepper speaks up and I frown, surprised to find her back. "When did you come back?"

"Glad to know that someone decided to fill you in with that piece of information." She glances at Natasha before turning back to me. "Look, I know you guys are mad-"

"So, we are back to stating the obvious?" Clint quips in and I feel the urge to groan. "But, there's more important shit for us to worry about." I complete my statement, ignoring Clint's previous remark.

"Like?" Bruce raises his eyebrow at me and I notice the absence of Steve at the absence of someone correcting me for my language. I push the observation aside before turning to Bruce, finding myself unsure of what to say. Is it worth letting them know? But, they are going to find out no matter what. There's no point of hiding the information, not this one at least.

I take a quick glance at Peter, his eyes closed, a peaceful expression covering his face, making him look younger than he already was. "He knows I am his father." Several gasps echo around the room and I receive nearly the same amount of concerned looks.

"And you were going to leave that information hidden?" It's Sam who breaks the silence and I cringe at the accusation. "Look, honestly, I have no energy to address this situation right now. Let's just leave it for tomorrow." Almost everyone seems reluctant to the suggestion when Natasha speaks up, "I agree. We can deal with this tomorrow."

I feel extremely thankful to her for stepping in. Other's sigh in agreement before standing up from there places. "I'll get him to his room." Wanda offers, her eyes glued to the sleeping boy. I nod at her and watch her palms glow with the familiar colour.

In no time, the room is emptied, leaving only me and Pepper. She stares at me, a knowing look plastered across her face. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?" I frown at her unexpected question, my mind still going over to the previous incident, Peter's voice continuously echoing in my head. "I know that look, Tony. What's going on in that head of yours?" I blurt the words out without a second thought, not able to hold myself back from spilling the truth.

"He called me dad."

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A/N

Finally, I've waited so long for this chapter. What are your thoughts? I hope you guys enjoyed it. That is it for today!

See ya! ;)