"There is not a single thing purer in this world, than the love of a dog."
Aphrodite Harper.
I met Rocky and Princess secretly, while Peter was helping Tony with his suits.
They were the cutest pups ever.
Rocky was a sleepy boy, and Princess was an active girl.
They slept in the backseat as I drove home, and I spent the entire drive thinking about how much Peter was gonna love this.
I parked the car in the driveway, smiling to myself and looking at the backseat.
I got out the car, and opened the backdoor, waking the pups up, as they looked at me happily.
"Hey cuties." I whispered, scratching Rocky behind the ear, and he quickly jumped up, Princess following him.
"You two are gonna make a boy very happy today." I whispered, grabbed the adoption form Tony gave me, folding it and putting in under Rocky's collar.
I picked them up and put them in a box with holes in it so they could breathe, and I carried it inside, as easily and gently as I could.
"Friday, tell the boys I'm home, would ya?" I asked, and put the box on the floor in the living room.
"Yes, Miss Harper."
Tony and Peter came upstairs shortly after that, and Tony stood next to me, behind the box.
Peter stood on the other side of the room, looking confused.
"What's in the box?" He asked, and I smiled.
"Would you like me to open it for you?" I asked, and he nodded.
Tony smiled at me as I knelt down, and opened the top flap of the box.
Immediately, Princess jumped up, and tumbled out of the box.
Peter gasped, which caught her attention, and Princess ran straight over to, jumping in his arms.
He started laughing as she licked his face, and he beamed at us.
"Is she mine?" Peter asked, and I nodded.
"Her name is Princess, and she's all yours, Pete." I said, and he held Princess at arms length so he could look at her.
"Hi Princess! I'm Peter!"
She responded by yapping, and he cuddled her close.
"That's not all though, kid." Tony said, and Peter put Princess down, and she started running in circles.
"What's next?" He asked, looking like a child on Christmas day, and I looked down at the box.
I picked Rocky up, holding the tired puppy in my arms.
"This is Princess' brother, Rocky." I said, and Peter gasped, walking over to my and holding his arms out.
"Is he mine too?"
"Yeah." Tony said, and Peter looked between us, and took Rocky from my arms.
"They're so wonderful, thankyou." He said, tears brimming at his eyes as Rocky fell asleep in his arms and Princess was jumping around.
"There's one more thing." I said, and he looked surprised.
"There's more?" Peter whispered, trying not to wake up Rocky, and Tony and I nodded.
I took Rocky from Peter's arms, and led Peter to the couch.
He sat in between Tony and I, and I placed Rocky in my lap.
Princess jumped up onto Peter's lap, and sniffed Rocky before settling down.
"Look at Rocky's collar." I said, and Peter noticed the slip of paper, pulling it out from under the collar and opening it.
"What is this?" He asked, and Tony smiled.
"Just read it, kid."
Peter started reading it, and we sat in silence for a moment, before tears started falling down his cheeks.
"You want to adopt me?" He asked, and I nodded.
"I know you don't know us very well, and you're going through a lot right now, but we think you'd like living here permanently, if you want to." I said, and Peter covered his face as he cried.
"You don't have to, kid. You don't have to call us mum and dad, we'd just be your legal guardians on paper." Tony said, and Peter looked at both of us.
"It's not that at all, Mr Stark. I'm just so happy you want me around." He said, and Princess jumped into action, licking his tears away and making him laugh.
"Is that why you were so on board with getting all these pets? Because you were building up to ask me?" Peter asked, and I nodded.
"I thought it would be better for us to be a family if you had some pets here." I explained, and he nodded.
"So, what do you think?" Tony asked, and Peter picked up Princess, placing her on the floor.
"You really want to be my parents?" He asked, and I put Rocky on the floor with Princess, and they cuddled up together.
"If you want us to be, Peter." I said, and he stood up.
I followed his actions, and he quickly embraced me in a tight hug.
"I would love that."
I hugged him back, and he started crying into my shoulder, making me rub circles into his back as Tony stood up behind Peter.
"Thankyou." He whispered, and I felt tears soak my shirt, making me start tearing up.
"It's okay Peter. We want you to be happy." I said, and he let go of me, turning around to face Tony.
"Can I hug you, Mr Stark?" He asked, and Tony nodded, wrapping his arms around Peter and pulling him in.
Tony gave me a small smile, and I knew we made the right decision.
Rocky and Princess started chasing eachother around the room, and I grinned at the sight of them.
'We're parents.' Tony mouthed to me, and I nodded, smiling at him.
It's not the way I planned on becoming a mother, but I would definitely take this over anything else.
We needed Peter as much as he needed us.
"So, do I get my stuff and move in here? Do I move schools?" He asked, pulling away from Tony and looking at us.
"You'll probably have to, Pete. I know you have Ned and MJ back home, but if you want to fly down and see them sometimes, you can." I said, and Peter nodded, beaming up at us.
"This is so exciting!"
I was about to respond, but my phone started ringing, and I saw a missed call.
1 missed call from Star Spangled Man.
My body froze for a second, and I turned my phone to Tony when Peter wasn't looking, and he scowled.
"Tones, do you want to take Peter back to Queens, and I'll take care of the pets while you're gone?" I asked, and they both nodded.
"Sounds good honey. Let's go, kid."
They walked out the room, and I looked at the missed call for what felt like hours, but it was probably just a minute or two.
What does he want?
Why would he call me?
I sat on the floor, putting my phone on the floor next to me and clicking on his contact.
Rocky and Princess started jumping all over me, barking and hitting eachother over my lap.
Steve picked up after a few rings.
"Aphrodite?" His voice came through the phone, and I almost smiled.
Almost.
I didn't forget what he did to Tony.
"Steve." I responded, and he sucked in a breath.
He didn't say anything, making me roll my eyes.
"What do you need?" I asked, and Princess licked my face, so I scratched her behind the ear.
"What makes you think I need something?" Steve responded, making me laugh.
"Why else would you call?"
Rocky barked at Princess, and Steve paused.
"Do you have a dog?"
"I have two dogs." I responded.
"When did you get dogs?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Today, Steve."
"Oh, that's nice." Steve said slowly, and I was confused.
He did call me because he needed something, right?
"So, why are you calling then?" I asked, kissing Princess on the forehead.
"I just wanted to see how you and Tony were." He mumbled, making me chuckle.
"Tony isn't going to talk to you, Steve. You're lucky I am." I responded, making him sigh.
"I know. I'm sorry. I just needed to know you were okay."
"I'm okay, and so is Tony." I said, and we were silent for a second.
"How is everyone." I grumbled out, not wanting to ask, but wanting to know.
"They're good. Buck is under ice. He didn't want to hurt anyone." Steve responded, making me nod.
"Fair call."
"What do you and Tony do these days?" Steve tried to converse with me, and I let him.
"He makes suit after suit. I take care of Peter." I said briefly.
Truth is, we did more than that, but that's all I really felt like saying.
"Peter?" Steve asked, and I noticed Princess pounce on Rocky.
"Spiderman. You dropped a gangway on him at the airport." I said, and Steve gasped in realisation.
"Why do you take care of him?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Tony and I adopted him."
"Oh." Steve said, and it was silent for a second.
"Why did you-"
"His family is dead. We're all he has left." I cut him off, throwing a pillow lightly at Rocky, sending him tumbling.
"I'm sorry."
"Not your fault. How is Nat?" I asked, and Steve paused.
"She's good. Sam, Nat and I are dropping off the grid so Ross can't find us." He said, and I nodded.
"That's probably a smart idea."
"What are you and Tony going to do?" Steve asked, making me smirk to myself.
"We got our names cleared."
"What? How did you do that?" Steve gasped, and Princess came running over to me, making me pat her.
"I spent some time in prison. Tony gave Ross more than enough money to clear us." I explained, and Steve chuckled.
"How many times have you been to prison now?" He asked jokingly, and I lightly smiled.
"What's it to you, Cap?" I said, and I heard him snicker.
"I just don't want to be friends with an ex con, Harper." He responded, and we fell silent.
We weren't friends.
"Look, Steve. I'll talk to Tony about paying Ross to drop charges against you, Sam and Nat." I said, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief.
"You don't need to do that, Aphrodite."
"It's what I do." I said quickly, and Rocky same to settle on the floor next to me.
"When am I going to see you again?" Steve asked, and I looked at the ceiling.
"I'm not sure, Steve. Tony and I don't talk about it, but what you did still gives him nightmares. You really fucked him out, man." I said softly, making him sigh.
"I know. Did you get my letters?" He asked, hope in his voice.
"We did. Thankyou."
"Have you been in contact with anyone?" Steve wondered, but I chuckled.
"I saw Vision." I admitted.
"Yeah? How is he?"
"Good, I think. He and Wanda are off somewhere. I could check his transponder, but I don't want to." I said, making Steve chuckle.
"I always knew those two were going to happen." He laughed, making me smile.
"Yeah, me too."
"Have you heard from Thor or Banner?"
"No, you?" I asked, feeling hopeful, but that didn't last too long.
"No. I'm kind of worried about Bruce. Thor is fine though, he always is." Steve said, and I nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure Banner will turn up, Steve. Worry about yourself first." I told him, and he sighed.
"I just can't help but think about the others, you know?"
"I know, but things are different now." I said, making him pause.
"I know."
"You can't expect everyone to be okay, but they will be." I said, and when he didn't respond, I continued.
"I'm sure whatever problem arises next will bring us back together. When that happens, we'll see eachother again, Steve."
"I hope so, Aphrodite." Steve responded, and I smiled at the sleepy puppies in front of me.
Could we ever be friends again?
"I better go. Sam just walked in complaining that Nat is taking too long in the shower." Steve said, and I chuckled.
"Where are you, by the way?" I questioned, making him scoff jokingly.
"What's it to you?"
"Fair enough Rogers. Fair enough."