Our Dad's an Ir⎊n Dad || Marvel

[twenty]

The months pass smoother than expected. The adjustment isn't as weird as they think it will be at first. Both Peter and Harley adjust to life with Tony better than he thought they would. They had been living with him since the re-snap, but it feels different knowing that they're not leaving. That Krissy or May aren't going to come to take the boys away from him. That they're not going to sue him for being a bad father or something equally as horrendous and absurd. It's a new feeling, but not completely unwelcome.

With a bit of finagling and what feels like a thousand meetings later, the Ex-vengers are now set up permanently in the compound and far away from his family. He's paying for therapy, mostly for Wanda and Barnes, but the Mental Health facilities are open for anyone else who wants to use them as well. Tony feels safer than he has in years. Feels happier than he thinks he ever has.

Pepper insists they get married at the courthouse to prevent all of the crazy party-crashing bound to happen. Tony thinks it's  also because she doesn't want her wedding picture to show her so close to popping, but since Rhodey agrees with her they all head down together to the courts.

They'll just tell the boys after school, it seems like the smart thing to do.

Then the bomb goes off.

--:--

Peter is almost thrilled by the monotony at school these days. Sure, he still sets aside time for patrols as Spider-Man, but he doesn't feel such a burden to stop everything else in his life. He knows that part of that comes from Harley and MJ telling him and Ned to calm the fuck down when they get a little too hype about the weird things going on in New York. He knows a much bigger part of it comes from literally dying the last time he was in the suit longer than it took to patrol.

They're headed to lunch when the bomb hits.

"Dude, was that you?" Ned asks, turning to Peter. He looks a mix of excited and terrified. Peter wishes he didn't have to crush his best friend's hope.

"How would that be him?" cuts in Harley. "He's right here, Ned."

"I don't know, man! I was just hoping it wasn't like a thing."

"Yeah, no, it's definitely a thing," says Peter, shaking his head.

"Look on the bright side," Ned says, changing tactics. "At least it's Friday?"

There's another boom and he's off, his suit encasing him and his normal clothes before he's swinging through the city.

Peter's comms cut on almost immediately once he has his mask pulled over his face.

"Please tell me you're safe." says his dad in a robotic panic.

"Define safe," Peter jokes, because joking in moments of stress is his best coping mechanism. Especially now that he knows he has Iron Man as backup.

"Peter." His dad's voice is stern and it wipes the nervous smile from his face.

"I'm safe," he promises. "I heard a couple of explosions downtown so I started swinging over. I'm barely a block from Midtown."

"Where's Harley?"

"He's still at school. I don't think he wears a full mini-Iron Man suit to class everyday. Just the gauntlets."

"And he's safe?"

"Yes. Dad, we're okay. We're safe."

"Okay. I-I'm on my way. Just..." he hears his dad take a breath. "Just stay on the line, okay."

"You want me tell you about my day?"

"Sure, Pete."

The explosion was luckily a planned demolition of an old underground subway track. Peter wishes he had known that before swinging halfway across New York, but he's glad he was able to get there just in case. He and his dad were able to pose for a few pictures and sign autographs for the children of the demolition workers on site. It's a definite win in Peter's books, and his dad agrees.

But later that night when he's alone in his room, the nightmares come anyway.

Peter's trapped in his suit, the mechanism is frozen and the zipper is broken and he can't get out of it. Then the explosion hits, loud and destructive and he's being buried under so much rubble that he can't breathe. And if he can't breathe he must be dying and he didn't expect to be doing that again so soon. The panic bubbles over and he screams, but it's no use because more rubble is falling on top of him and he's no longer in his suit.

"-eter. Peter!"

Peter's eyes snap open to see Harley standing over him, the lights in his room much too bright.

"FRIDAY, lights please."

Lights at 46%

"Pete, you okay?" asks Harley as he takes a seat on the foot of the bed and leans back on his hands. "FRIDAY said you were having a nightmare."

"Yeah..."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Just trauma stuff that those explosions drug back to the surface. I'm good."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm better than I was, that's for sure. And I'm glad you came to check on me."

"Ava used to have nightmares all the time after our birth-dad left. It was tough, but we got through it. And I mean, you're strong, Pete, you're going to get through this too."

"You're a good big brother."

"And you're going to be."

"You think so?"

"What? Spider-Man? I know so."

Peter snorts. "I'm only Spidey sometimes. Peter Parker's nothing special."

"You are Spider-Man. Suit or no. Besides, I think Peter's pretty cool too." Harley shrugs  as if he hasn't just complimented him and Peter laughs.

"Thanks, Harley."

They talk about anything else after that. Peter thinks it's nice not to be an only child anymore.  Falling asleep with one of his best friends and not having to worry about him ever going anywhere. Knowing that just like Ned (and hopefully MJ), Harley is here to stay no matter what may happen with his Spider-Man stuff.

Peter doesn't know if he's ever been this concerned with family before having one that consisted of more than him, May and Ben, but he thinks he likes it. Maybe dying opens your eyes to life, but after a nightmare like he's just had, he's way too tired to think about that.

He lets his eyes slip closed to the sound of his brother's easy breathing.

-§-

yo futher muckers

just the epilogue left & it's a pretty short one

thanks for coming on this journey with me. love yall!

-- angel janeé xoxo 💋