*
*
December was an interesting time for Anthony Edward Stark. On one side, he had the holidays and a family to spend them with--a loving wife, a son whom this was his last Christmas and New Years before he left off for college to become his own man, a little girl who is beginning to act just like him. Sass and all. ("Morgan, luce stellare, can you say it for me? Say Dada.", he tried coaxing, only to be met with silence and eyes that never focused on him. Pepper shrugged. "It's probably not gonna happen." Tony huffed, handing the baby to her mother when she reached out for Pepper. "I heard her say it earlier.", he pointed out, heading towards the exit of the room. As soon as the man left, Morgan noticed a picture and pointed at it, shouting in a clear voice, "Dada!")
But on the other hand, the month brought a couple of memories that he would rather just forget. The big one, decorated with flashing lights, glitter, the whole shebang, was the death of his parents.
The past couple of years taught him to not hate his father to the degree he did before. Sure, there were still a couple of actions that he still couldn't forgive, but others... In all honesty, it was surprising to even himself how much the man had learned to move on from Howard.
He always grieved his mother though.
Whenever he thought of Maria Stark, he thought of gentle comfort. He thought of the smell of his favorite dessert waiting for him in the kitchen after he had done something especially rewarding, like ace a test he had pulled all-nighters to study for; the sound of the piano in the living room graciously playing "Try to Remember" on particular days and his shoddy attempts at playing it to comfort her in return, which led into him learning how to play from Maria only because that was their special time and a teacher would just take that away from him. When he thought of Maria, he thought of a homey warmth, like a gentle furnace on Christmas Eve. And it may just be his aging eyes getting to him, but there were times when he would see a reflection of her in his children.
She would have loved to have met her grandchildren. And would've spoiled them rotten at every opportunity.
Ah well, he wasn't really able to dwell around thinking about it this year, even if he wanted to. The man had too much work to do if he wanted to avoid working on Peter's Christmas break. Stark got up from his seat, picking up a nearby StarkPad and starting to work. It was mainly all contracts that needed adjusting or signing, with the exception of a few conference calls or projects. It wasn't like any of those calls accomplished anything; he spent most of his attention on Morgan, who was happily either napping or enjoying her homemade playpen. The other executives were having difficulties of their own, anyway.
And so, through most of the month, Tony let the pattern of borderline overworking himself take it's course. He would wake up, kiss his wife good morning, feed their daughter and start breakfast for the two of them. Then, depending on the day, one would take care of Morgan in the morning while the other was handling meetings and things like that, trade off at lunch, then the other would handle the afternoon. It was a somewhat stable routine, but it seemed to work. When the day he anticipated finally came, Stark was hoping he could use it to his advantage to make the day fly by.
Of course, for thematic appropriateness, the forecast had declared that it was going to be bleak and cloudy all day. Not enough for rain, but certainly enough to block out any hopes of sunshine. Which, considering it being December, meant that the day was nothing but cold. Always lovely.
The man woke up, following the same routine as always. He headed into the kitchen, one-year-old in his arm, and gently set her down in her booster seat. Morgan squealed excitedly as she followed his motion to the 'treasure chest' (Read: the fridge), only to go absolutely crazy when Peter walked into the room. "Bubba! Bubba!!", she cheered, clapping her hands. Tony, not turning away, remarked, "Yeah, yeah. Your favorite person in the world." The teen kindly smiled at his younger sister before turning towards his father.
"Hey, Dad.", Parker-Stark greeted through a yawn. "Heya, hermit.", Tony replied, pulling out the fruit cocktail. Peter had mostly been spending most of his time in his room studying for finals or sending in college applications. The only times he ever came out was for food. "Get any sleep last night?", the father asked, voice laced with concern. After pausing for a moment, Peter shook his head. "Not really."
Tony hummed in attention, sitting down and trying to feed Morgan; emphasis on the word tried. "What's up, luce stellare? You usually love this stuff.", he muttered, setting the bowl away after she refused it for the fifth time. "Can I try?", Peter piped up. The man glanced at the time, before getting up and heading back to the kitchen. "The floor is yours.", he muttered.
"Hey. Moorgan. Guess who?", his son started talking in a quiet, playful voice. Tony smiled to himself listening to it. He always loved it when his kids played with each other. Brought up that happy, fuzzy feeling in his heart. While listening to his son coax her into eating, the man decided to start getting breakfast ready for everyone else.
Which, judging by the way everyone ate it, was well received. Peter helped clean up, when Tony brought up a little idea. "Hey, whaddya say we all go to the park or something after my meeting, huh? Might do us both good to get some fresh air." Peter just gave a nod in response. "Yeah, especially considering New York's fresh out of sunlight." Tony gave a half-hearted chuckle to the comment, before pausing for a moment. The man would never be able to tell you why; he had just, plainly, lost his train of thought.
Peter, noticing the pause, took no hesitation in wrapping his arms around his father in a tight hug. "...Dad?", the teen asked quietly. At the sound of the voice, Tony responded by doing the same around his son. "You alright?", the teenager asked, using the same meek tone as before. Tony took a deep breath, running a hand through his son's curls. "I will be, kiddo.", he answered honestly, giving a little peck on the cheek before Peter buried his head into the crook of the father's neck. "Mmkay?", Tony asked in confirmation.
"Ok. Just wondering." The teen yawned again, not moving from his spot. "I think that a certain Spider-Baby needs to go back to bed.", Tony remarked with a soft smile. "'M not a baby.", Peter protested weakly, using his sticking powers to climb onto the side he had buried himself into. "Yeah, yeah. C'mon Morgan. Let's tuck your brother in." Picking up his other baby in the other hand, Tony carried the two over to Peter's room. Despite being a hermit for the past couple of weeks, said room was surprisingly clean; except for the messed up bed.
Stark gently set his son on the bed, pulling the sheets around him. "Nice and tight. Like a Peter burrito.", he remarked, adjusting the sheets accordingly. Carding the teen's brown curls one more time, he bent over and kissed said teen's head. Morgan bent over as well, giving her big brother a big fat kiss on the cheek. "D'aww. Did you kiss your Peter night?", Tony cooed, holding her back up. "Wave bye.", the man instructed once they were at the door. Morgan innocently followed his example, waving as the door was shut behind them.
The meeting, which Morgan had to come with on, went about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. Morgan was excellently behaved, (It turns out Morgan has a really good judge of character. She nearly bit the hand off of one of their shareholder's chairmen, and threatened to scream every time he talked, but he was trying to push a shady contract that would've seriously scammed SI the entire time. Tony is now considering bringing her to more meetings.) and apart from the incident, everyone's contracts were negotiated and accepted. It flew by, in all honesty.
When the two arrived back to the penthouse, Tony quickly changed into a far more casual attire while Pepper took their daughter and finished up her own lunch while starting to feed Morgan. As if on time, Peter arrived through the hall, midway through slipping on his jacket and making a sandwich. "Going somewhere?", the mother asked, chuckling at the mess Morgan was making. "Yeah, Dad suggested we all go out to the park. Wanna come with?"
Pepper shook her head. "If I could, I would. You two have fun though." "Sorry to hear that, Mom. Wait, Morg's not coming with?" "Probably best if she didn't. Poor thing doesn't like the cold too well." The teen nodded in understanding, sitting down at the table by Pepper. "Taking the suit?", Tony noted with a raised eyebrow. The vigilante shrugged. "Thought about patrolling afterward. Besides, there's a heater for poor spider-themed superheroes who just happen to lack thermoregulation like myself, in which all the jackets and thermals in the world wouldn't be enough to keep me warm." "Don't I know it. Just be careful about eating in it. You get to clean it if anything spills.", Tony remarked lightheartedly, sitting across from the three as he ate his microwaved leftovers. After that, no one really said anything; no one needed to. The two men said their goodbyes before going down to the garage and picking out a conspicuous enough car to take into town.
"So, how was your nap?", Tony asked. "Well needed and well received. 10/10, would do it again. What about the meeting?", Peter, who had far more emotion than earlier, remarked. "I ended up having to take Morgan; she may have saved the company.", he summed up, making another turn, into a more suburban area. "I figured nothing less."
Finding an abandoned park with a track, the father-son duo parked and started walking to warm themselves up. Peter really had made the right call to bring that heater of his.
The two walked in silence for a minute before mumbling, "...ESU." "Pardon?", Tony asked politely. "I applied for ESU. Last night. That's why I was up so late." "Yeah?" "Yeah. I applied for a lot of the local colleges, so that way I can keep being Spider-Man. But I also applied for a couple of others, like MIT, like you suggested.", Peter explained. "And I'm sure any one of them would be begging for you to come.", Tony reassured positively. "Well, yeah, but that doesn't make choosing which one any easier. Y'know?", Peter shrugged nonchalantly.
"...More or less, to be honest. I didn't really get this choice.", the man admitted. He was just sat down by Howard and Maria one day and told which university he was going to. In all honesty, he was just happy about getting away than to actually react to being told what to do; he was used to that.
"I'm just, trying to think about where I'd rather be after the fact. Sure, MIT's one of the main figures of STEM, but Empire State's got one of the most renowned business schools in the country. It's just...so many options... What if I make the wrong one?", the senior rambled, physically making himself smaller. Tony sighed, looking at his child before instructing, "Pete, buddy, kiddo, c'mere." Taking a deep breath, the man wrapped an arm around Peter pulling him into a side hug.
"In all the years I've known you, after all the crap you and I have gone through together, I have learned this: You have the strongest resolve and moral compass I have ever seen. It is physically impossible", Tony emphasized by shaking his son a little, "for you to make the wrong decision. The laws of the universe won't allow it. If you believe that it's the best choice, then believe me. It's the right one. And I'll stand by your side, no matter what. Got it?" "Got it.", Peter confirmed with a nod. "Good. I don't want you forgetting that last part.", Tony remarked with a pat on the shoulder.
"Now, how's that girlfriend of yours?", Tony asked, doing a 180 on the atmosphere. Peter groaned into his hands. "Daaaaaaad." "Whaaaaat? Can't a faaaaaather ask about his sooooon's loooove liiiiiife?", Tony returned with a chuckle, poking at particular ticklish spots when he emphasized those words. "No! Wait! Stop!", the teen exclaimed through his laughter. "What? Stop this?", Stark teased.
In the back of his head, Tony thought about how this was similar to the conversations that he had with Maria when he was younger. The kind support and playful remarks. He shook his head, trying to not think about it too much.
"Is everything al-", Peter froze, looking up at the sky. Tony followed his line of vision, trying to squint but not seeing anything. Not a split second later, the Avengers Alarm went off on Tony's watch, automatically forming the Mark LXXXV around him. Peter pulled the mask out of his jacket pocket and threw said jacket underneath the car, along with his shoes and pants. Shooting a web at the nearest building, the two made their way to the danger indicated. In the dead center of Manhattan, because it always is, a gigantic dark portal opened up. Right before the two could land and join the Avengers that were already there, the portal spit something out and shut.
Iron Man landed in the center, with Spider-Man landing more in the back.
"Fri, what am I looking at?", Tony asked, repulser ready to fire. It looked human enough, but Iron Man's dealt with humanoid threats before. "I believe who would be a more accurate question. All scans indicate human.", Friday responded. Tony set the gun down to stun before asking, "Alright then, who am I looking at?"
At that question, the man had become fully conscious, looking around before getting up. "Mr. Stark, what's—?", Peter asked, freezing when he saw the face. "Mr. Stark?", he whispered, unsuccessfully trying to pull Tony out of his frozen state. The man pulled back his faceplate, revealing his confused expression, which the man from the portal replicated.
"Anthony?", the man from the portal asked. Tony sighed. That face, that voice. There was no denying it now.
"Howard."