Peter's spidey-sense has been blaring at practically everything since the snap and he doesn't know what to do about it. Though usually it helps protect him and keep him on his toes the constant buzzing has prevented him from sensing the very real danger of Flash pushing him into his locker, making his head slam against the metal. A migraine bursts behind his eyes at the sound of the metal clanging against his head and suddenly the lights are too bright.
"Welcome back, Penis!" Flash calls back as he makes his way cackling down the hall with his friends.
Peter rubs the sore spot on the side of his head, groaning, and wonders how everything is so different but still just the same.
He looks up to let Ned and Harley know he's fine, but his brother has already taken off after the bully, his bracelets forming into miniature Iron Man gauntlets and Peter lets out another groan. He can't let Harley get detention on his first day. All of their parental figures would kill them.
"Meet you in class Ned. Gotta go save Flash from IronLad," he says with a roll of his eyes.
He runs without waiting for a response though he can hear Ned's surprised and excited laughter behind him. It's a nice opposition to the sound of Flash screaming as Peter rounds the corner.
"You got a problem with Peter?" Harley says, holding Flash away from the ground and agaist the wall with one gauntlet hand while the other is aimed at his friends who are trying to get the bully down.
"Harley," Peter says once he's taken in the sight, "Put him down."
"Parker! Call off your fucking attack dog!" Flash says panicked. "I was just kidding, you know that. Tell him!"
Peter can still feel the thrumming of his heart in his head from the pain of having his head forced into a metal locker. Harley looks at him like he knows it'd be a lie even if Peter did say it.
"S'this normal for you?"
School hasn't even officially started yet and Peter already wishes it was over so he can go back home and crawl into bed. He heaves a sigh. "C'mon, Harley, just leave him alone."
"Does Pops know?" the blonde says instead.
"Well..."
"Yes or no, Pete."
"Not in so many words."
Harley sends him an unimpressed look but still doesn't move to release Flash.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"He knows something is up, but I told him it was just from...you know."
Harley nods again but still doesn't let Flash go and the other guys have run, most likely to find a teacher.
"So you don't want to beat his ass 'cause of whatever responsibility you think you have and I get that. But I ain't got that same responsibility. Only folks I'm responsible for is you, Ava, and the old man."
Peter doesn't have anything to say to that and Harley knows it. Peter watches in a morbidly curious way as his brother retracts the gauntlet not holding Flash up and punches him square in the face.
And again. And again. "One for good luck and one to grow on," Harley explains after each punch.
He drops Flash to the floor and retracts the other gauntlet before stuffing his hands in his pockets. Peter looks from him to the boy on the floor with bruises blooming onto his face, crying about his parents and lawsuits.
"Ah man," Peter groans out, with his hands in his hair, "Dad is going to be so mad."
"Pops is going to say the jerk deserved it," argues Harley, with his hands still in his pockets. "And he did."
Peter's phone rings as if on cue, but it's drowned out by the sound of the school bell ringing above them. He grabs Harley's wrist and pulls the boy behind him to class as quick as he can, just as he hears Flash's friends return with what sounds like a teacher in tow.
"We're so dead."
"Worth it."
--:--
Tony's going to be a dad.
He's a dad already of course, but now he is going to be a stroller-pushing, bottle-feeding, diaper-changing kind of dad and that is a completely different ballgame. One that was brand new and kind of terrifying.
Tony had never really seen himself as a father, mostly because his Father had never been much of one. He'd fit well enough into the role if Harley and Peter had anything to say about it, but they were both well out of their most formative years when he met them. He was helping shape young minds that had already been raised up and taught for him. Now it was his turn and he wasn't sure if he was really up to the task.
Rhodey walks in around panic attack number 3.
"Tones, what the hell—" Rhodey says as he walks into the lab, but then he sees what's going on and rushes to Tony's side the best he can with the braces. "You need to breathe, okay? Can you do that for me?"
It isn't as bad as most of his other attacks and he comes down pretty easy, but he's absolutely drained by the time his breathing and heart rate are back under control. He's been having a hard time since that morning once he finally had a chance to be alone after Pepper had told him the news.
"Thanks, HoneyBear. So where have you been today? Get Lila to school alright?"
"Stopped by to see my mom and yeah, she got to school fine. What about you, you doing okay?" Rhodey asks ignoring Tony's attempt to brush it off and change topics. "What's going on?"
"I'm fine," Tony says and at Rhodey's look he gives a tired smile. "Okay, so I'm kind of freaking out."
"Oh? I couldn't tell." Rhodey says sarcastically, an easy smirk on his face. Tony snorts out a laugh at that and Rhodey nudges him with his elbow. "Want to tell me what's got you so worked up?"
"Not really."
"Tony."
"Rhodey."
"Just tell me," Rhodey pleads.
"You're going to think I'm being stupid."
"Well are you?"
"...No?" says Tony but it sounds more like a question even to his own ears and Rhodey raises an eyebrow at him.
"No?"
"I— well maybe? It just...it sounds stupid," Tony compromises, "but it doesn't feel stupid."
"I won't say it's stupid," he promises, "but I also can't help if you don't tell me what's going on."
"Do you think I'd be a good dad?"
"You're a great dad, Tones, what're you talking about? We all know that. Those boys loves you. The bots love you. Even Nebula loves you, and she doesn't love anything."
Tony laughs at that.
"I'm serious," he says looking away from Rhodey with a small smile on his face.
"So am I. Where is this coming from? Did one of those assholes say something?"
"No one said anything."
"Okay, well did something happen?"
Tony sucks in a breath. "Pep is pregnant."
"Tony, that's great! Congratulations! And like I said before, you're a great dad. You'll be fine. Plus you're not alone in this, you have Pepper, and the boys, and—"
"And you?" he asks with a shaky voice even though he doesn't mean to feel so nervous.
"And me," Rhodey agrees. "I'm not going anywhere either."
Something about that has Tony breathing even easier. Knowing he isn't doing this alone and that he'll be surrounded by people he loves and people who love him and believe in him when no one else does.
"We're going to have a baby," Tony says. Then he smiles just as giddy as the first time Pepper had told him that morning. "We're going to have a baby!"
Rhodey leans onto the workable with his arms crossed and a smile on his face as he watches as Tony tries and fails to talk himself out of designing a state of the art crib.
They were having a baby and it felt perfect.
-§-
hey futher muckers
an on time update?
new fics in the works?
signing up for [REDACTED] bingo?
who AM i
per usual, this will be on ao3 after i shower
lemme know how yall feel about this chappie cause it kind of gave me a mental panic cause it wasn't doing what i had set out for it to do
needless to say, i was stressed
but i hope this chap was at least a little worth it
love y'all
black lives matter ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
-- angel janeé xoxo 💋