Night had fallen outside of the Tower but the city lights were shining up all the way to the 67th floor. He had FRIDAY dim the windows along with the overhead lighting just enough that he could see the boy next to him. Eyes closed, the kid's face still twitched from time to time in sleep but he did look a lot better, a lot more peaceful at least, his body relaxed. Helen's drug was still doing wonders.
Tony couldn't help but look up from his tablet every so often to make sure that the boy was still there. There was nothing he could do about everything that had happened to his kid, but he would never forgive himself for his own part in all of it. All he could do now, was to try and do better. Not to try, to just do better, no other option acceptable. He tore his eyes away from the kid, back to the documents on the tablet in front of him.
The trail was smudged and it was hard to read everyone's intentions from the little knowledge he had gathered so far. Obi... Obi was simple. Grim Reaper. Just as straight forward. HYDRA, bad guy. Next. It was Clarke that he was hung up on, what the bastard had known and when. Tony would need to know more about the dude because only then could he decided on a plan of attack. He'd need one, a detailed one, had to secure all his bases before he made a move.
The door to the kid's room was pushed open. He didn't even have to look. There was only one person FRIDAY wouldn't announce.
"Hey..." Pepper came up behind him, running her hands over his shoulders, softly trying to coax the tension out of his back. "How about some food, honey? You haven't really—"
"I'm good."
She swallowed hard, making an obvious effort to keep her voice level and soft. "You're not good and that's okay, but you still—"
"I'm not going anywhere, Pep."
"I know, that's not—" She blew out a deep breath. "I'll bring you something. Something hot maybe? I can—"
"Pep, just stop, I—"
She couldn't hold in a low groan any longer. "You're not—"
He shot up from his seat and led her away from the bed, back to the door only to remember that it likely wouldn't help if the kid were to wake up. Maybe the boy's senses would still be dulled enough so he couldn't hear them from across the room, but with Tony's luck, that sense would just fine.
"I know you're worried, Pep. I get it, but I don't have time for any of this right now. As long as they're out there and I don't know how all of this is connected, I can't protect him. Any of us, really."
"It's Clarke, right? He... he knows." She was wringing her hands, clearly agitated. "Is he... is he HYDRA as well? Did you find out if—"
"Shh, I don't..." Tony sighed, a quick look over his shoulder, making sure the boy's eyes were still closed. "I don't think so but he does know something. He has to. We... We'll talk about this later."
Pepper's eyes flickered to the bed, then back to Tony. "He's going to be okay. He looks a lot better already and—"
"As long as these assholes are out there, he won't be. The way they treated him and I don't even know if Clarke knows the worst of it or if all this is just because of the kid's connection to me. If they—"
"Honey." Her hands grabbed both his arms, pulling him out of his thoughts. "You need to eat. You need sleep. You can't take care of him if you don't take care of yourself." She pressed her lips shut, her eyes pleading. "At least let me take care of you, please."
His feet shuffled back and forth, unable to stay still.
Pepper pulled him a little closer, eyes not leaving his face. "I know you're scared. I know all of this is impossible, but they can't touch us, not while we're at the Tower or the Compound. They have nothing on us. Ad—" She gave her head a little shake. "Peter will need you when he wakes up. You'll have to be all here for him."
"I am!" Tony twitched, almost reached up to push her hands off him. "I am here, I'm doing everything I can to—"
"Not if you're strung out with no sleep or food. Have you thought about what you'll tell him? About what will happen to him now? His aunt and—"
He did take a step back then, jaw set. "None of that will even matter if he's not safe. If I don't know what Clarke will do or... or Ross even. With Barnes and Rogers involved, he'll turn up, too. What if they come up with charges after all? Make him take the stand or something. I'm trying to protect him!"
"I know. I know we need to figure all that out, but he needs more from you than that and you can't evade that. I see what you're doing. This is not just about his abilities and what they might do, Tony, it's about why all this is happening, who he is. About what you are to each other."
He waved her off. "I will. I will talk to him. It's just right now—"
"You can't ignore this! He's not just your intern anymore, Tony."
It took all the little control he still had for him to keep his voice down. "You think I don't know that?"
"For god's sake, he still calls you 'Mr. Stark'. 'Sir' even!"
"What do you want me to do about that? Make him call me daddy?" He avoided her eyes. She wasn't all that wrong and he hated that most. The was a vibe about it, a vibe that stank of his own father, but the alternative... He closed his eyes, deep breath. He was losing the little hold that he had on himself.
Pepper just quietly studied him. He could tell without even checking. "How about we start with 'Tony'?"
"I don't— I can't have him—" He bit his lip, effectively cutting himself off. Just the thought made his stomach turn. It was petty and such an obscure detail to be hung up about, but he couldn't get over it. The thought that his son would call him anything but— His eyes were on the back wall, staring at the white surface. He hated this. He hated everything about this.
"Honey..." She did step closer then, a hand on his arm, but Tony couldn't meet her eyes, head hanging low with equal part sadness and embarrassment to blame for it.
"None of that matter's right now, Pep."
"It matter's to you," she whispered.
"It..." He shook his head. "It doesn't, it... at least it shouldn't. It's inconsequential. The only thing that matters right now is to be sure that he's safe from them."
He had to keep his tone in check, his voice was too loud, too harsh. His mind was spiraling with all the worst-case scenarios that could have happened, of what had almost happened because Tony hadn't been there to protect him. He had stayed in the kid's room ever since they had brought him up here for Helen's check-up. They had tried to make him leave but he wasn't having any of that. Not this time. He wasn't going to let Peter out of his sight. The kid's neck was a mess. If he had left at any point, that would have been it. It had been the worst part to stomach when Helen had peeled back the bandage exposing the purple marks and abrasions, the lines of the Soldier's hand clearly imprinted on his boy's skin.
"It's not your well-being versus Addy's, darling. Those are not the only two choices."
He swallowed hard, frustration with everything they had to go through still pervasive in his very core.
"How about..." She got a little closer, her hand finding his. "How about this. We put our old deal back in place. Indefinitely."
His lungs deflated with a big exhale. "Our old deal? Which one of the two thousand four hundred—"
"The big one." Her eyes were firmly on him. "The one were you let me help you. The one where instead of self-destructing, instead of doing it all yourself, you talk to me and you let me help. The one were I get to make sure you're okay so you can take care of everything else."
He tilted his head away from her. "Right. That one."
She pulled him a little closer. "Yeah. That one. The one were you don't get to feel like you're my job or something. The one were you accept my help because I love you."
He did lean into her at that, her lips firmly pressed to the side of his face.
"When he wakes up, you need to tell him, Tony. He trusts you. You can't lie to him."
Pepper's voice was low. Just to be sure Tony shot another look over to the bed, but the kid was still asleep. He leaned in closer to her.
"Not right now," he whispered.
Not today, not right away. The kid had been through too much. He didn't need to worry about what his aunt and uncle had done. Identity theft, possible fraudulent falsification of official government documents. He didn't need to worry about how long his aunt might go to jail for her part. And he didn't need to deal with all those secrets that had almost killed him. Twice.
"He has to find out anyway," Pepper sighed. "It will be all over the press and if he finds out that you keep this from him, that you knew..."
"He's just gonna find some twisted way to blame himself for all this. He needs to rest, to recover. Fucking Barnes tried to kill him."
Pepper shook her head, eyes intent on him. "If he's anything like you which I have a feeling that he absolutely is, then he's going to do that anyway. He's been lied to for so long by so many people. People that he trusted. You can't be one of them. At least if you tell him, you can be there for him. If you tell him, you're not gonna feel like shit for keeping him in the dark."
Tony groaned. It wasn't all that simple. "It's not like that. It's not like I want to lie to him, it's... it's not that easy."
"You're lying to me?"
Tony froze. Both him and Pepper turned around. Peter's eyes were open.
Great. He sent Pepper a look that hopefully conveyed that he was gonna blame her for this. The kid's breathing was still labored and he couldn't seem to open his eyes all the way yet, lids falling shut in regular long blinking motions.
"What... what are you lying about?" The sound of his voice gave Tony chills. It was still weak, a little hoarse from all the strain that had been put on it. "You said... You said you wouldn't lie to me. You... you promised."
Tony had to bite the inside of his cheeks not to curse. It only took a few hurried steps and he was next to the boy, could sit back down in the chair by his bed that he hadn't left for the last few hours. Not until Pepper had come in for a talk.
"I'm not lying to you, buddy. It's... it's just... it's just a secret. We did say secrets were okay. We agreed."
"You... you said no bending the truth, you said to be honest."
"Shh, how's your head? How's the pain?"
"Tell me," Peter croaked. "Please."
Tony shook his head. The kid couldn't even keep his eyes all the way open. This wasn't the time. "You don't need to worry about this. You don't need to worry about anything right now, alright? Just... just get some of your strength back and then—"
"Please. What... what's going on? I... I can—"
To Tony's horror, the kid was moving, maneuvering his arms and started to press himself into a sitting position. "Buddy, don't!"
Tony practically jumped to his feet, his hands on the boy's shoulders, he slowly pushed him back into the covers with very little effort. The drugs were still in his system then, still soothing the kid's body otherwise Tony's efforts would have been useless. The expression on Peter's face spoke volumes, a mixture of pain and hurt. Betrayal. He too had realized that he was too weak to resist. Tony sat down on the bed rubbing the boy's right arm in what he hoped was a comforting fashion.
"Do you know where you are, kid? Remember what happened?"
The kid's eyes wandered down to his bandaged left arm, his wrists. They lingered there, wheels in his head clearly turning. His face twitched as some of the details seemed to come back to him. He swallowed, then screwed up his face. One of his hands shot up and carefully touched the thick compress around his neck.
"You're okay, buddy. You're safe," Tony whispered but the kid wouldn't look at him.
"Is May..." he gulped, his voice thin. "She's dead, isn't she? That's why you didn't want me to—"
"No." Tony frowned and reached for his hand now, squeezed it in both of his. "No, kid. She's at the hospital. She's... she got hurt, yes, but... she'll heal, alright?"
Peter's lashes fluttered and the low sob that worked its way out of the boy's throat sent chills through Tony's body.
"Barnes?" Peter asked next.
Tony squeezed his hand again and shook his head. "Not dead either." Not like he cared much about that one. But it meant that Peter hadn't killed the soldier. Tony could find relief in the kid not having to live with that burden, self-defense or not. He looked up at Tony at last, eyelashes wet with unshed tears.
"I... I don't understand. Why? What... what did I do? Why did he—"
"Nothing, buddy." It physically pained him to see the kid like this. "There's... there's nothing you did that caused this."
"Just tell me... please. I can't with... with everyone lying, I... please."
Pepper stepped closer to the bed. Her hand came to rest between Tony's shoulder blades. He hated her for bringing this up, for the kid overhearing. And he loved her for she was still there, right next to him.
"Nobody is dead, Pete. Barnes is in police custody, or rather the government's." He took a deep breath before he looked right at Peter and continued. "It's a couple of things. One is about your aunt, buddy. It's..." He tightened his hold on Peter's hand as the kid's face distorted in fear. "Shh, it's alright. She's not in any... in any imminent danger."
Tony grimaced and was quick to shift one of his hands back to the boy's shoulder as Peter made to sit up in his bed once more. He didn't push him down, just helped him settle. "Don't, just... just calm down, kid. It's nothing like that, alright? It's more of a legal thing with you... well, with... with your adoption and there..." Tony slowly blew out a deep breath and looked right at the boy. "There are some things to sort out but we can talk about all that in a day or two. You're still not even quite here. Recovering and—"
"I—I'm good, I—"
"You're... buddy, you...." Tony's heart broke a little more from how hard his boy fought to sit up, tried to act all strong and grown-up in the face of yet another battle to face.
"Alright, how about this." Pepper leaned past Tony, one hand on the kid's forehead, then trailed his face down to his cheek. "Tony is right, you need to get your strength back, so I'll get something to eat, for both of you. And some tea. Soup maybe. Dark chocolate helps too, right?"
She gave Tony's shoulder a soft squeeze and made her way to the kitchen, coordinating with FRIDAY on the way.
"Are you... are you really not gonna tell me?" The boy's voice was very low, not just exhaustion but also clear sadness swinging in every word.
"I'm worried about you, kid."
"It's fine. I can... I can deal with it, please, just—"
"You shouldn't have to, Pete. This... none of this—" Tony bit his tongue. The kid wasn't the one he should complain to about this. About how unfair all of this was. How he had never wanted anything like this to happen to him. "Do you... do you remember how a few days ago at the Compound. I asked about your—erm..." Tony pursed his lips and cursed himself for how he still struggled to even say those words out loud. "about your parents. Mary and Richard Parker."
The boy stayed quiet for a moment, eyes still a bit hooded, before he breathed out a low "yes".
"Alright, well, ever since I found out about... about you. About how you... you know, the whole—" Tony looked down at where he was holding Peter's hand. He couldn't even say it out loud, not in front of the kid.
"The whole me-and-Aiden thing," the boy whispered.
"Yeah..." Tony sniffed out a dry sigh. "Yeah, the you-and-Aiden thing."
The kid's eyes flickered to the door, then back down to the sheet. "You don't like it."
"That's not—" He caught a glimpse of how Peter had pulled his lower lip between his teeth, gnawing at it. "You're a clever kid, buddy. You know that none of this is as simple as that. It's the second time within a week that someone threatened your life, almost killed you. More times than I'd like to count that you've been hurt just in the last months. I hate that. Hate everything about it, especially the blame that falls on me for it."
The silence in the room seemed to make the fast rhythm of Tony's heartbeat stand out even more. He wanted to be there for Peter to lean on, to comfort his boy, but it was because of him that the kid kept getting in those situations in the first place.
"The blame's always on the bad guys, Mr. Stark." Peter's voice was still low but his eyes met Tony's when he looked up.
Tony blinked a couple of times trying to think of something to say to that. "Maybe you're just a little too clever to be my kid after all, huh?"
If he didn't know any better he could have sworn that the boy rolled his eyes. "That's what you said to me."
Tony did chuckle at that. "Did I?"
"Yeah. You said... you said that all we can do is... is try and help."
"I really do say some clever shit every now and again, don't I..."
The corner's of Peter's mouth twitched before his eyes darted back to the door.
"Pep on her way back?"
He shook his head. "She's fighting with FRIDAY 'bout... about whether chicken soup or beef broth is gonna help more."
"That's Pepper for you." Tony still clasped the kid's hand steadily. "Your senses coming back then?"
The boy nodded, eyes cast down again. "I hate this, too," he whispered.
Tony swallowed hard. "I know you do, buddy."
"Not... not because of you or... or Miss Potts, it's not that at all I—"
"Alright. I... that's okay."
"Is... is it gonna make things worse? That thing about... about my aunt?"
Tony tried out different responses in his head, but then just went for the truth. "Yeah, I think... I think it will. Complicates things. Plus I..." Tony took one deep breath to try and get his damn voice to hold up. "I'm scared for you, buddy. I'm scared what knowing about all that will do to you."
"I... I don't... what do you mean?" Peter's eyes got a little wider. "What is it gonna do?"
His thumb was drawing little circles on the back of the boy's hand. If he could, he'd never burden the boy with this. Ever. But Pepper was right. With May Parker in police custody already, the truth would come out if Tony wanted it to or not. And that soon. It was better that the kid heard it from him, if for nothing else but that Tony could be there to catch him when the worst of the impact would hit.
Tony sucked in a deep breath. He would never be ready for this.
"When I found out about you, the major question really was, how that was possible. How... how Aiden Stark had turned into Peter Parker somewhere along the line and... and we've managed to find out quite a bit more tracing back what has happened to you over the years. To... to Peter Parker."
"O—okay. Yeah, that..." The kid frowned. "Is that what you were doing? When I was in the med wing?"
His head bobbed in a few small nods. "Pepper and I. And Natasha."
Peter blinked a couple of times, then nodded for him to continue.
"Did you know that the Parker's adopted you? Mary and Richard?"
The boy's hand went soft in his, but he didn't pull away, just shook his head not looking at Tony.
"Do you remember that your aunt and uncle, May and Ben, they too had adopted a little boy."
With a couple of seconds delay like he had to make sure he hadn't misheard that, Peter's head shot up. "What?" His eyes were moving back and forth, seemingly searching his memory. "They didn't. I mean, I'd know. I've... I've lived with them for years, they don't."
"A boy about a year and a half older than you. Born..." Tony held on tightly to the kid's hand now, making sure that he would keep him close if he were to freak out. "Born August 10th, 2001. They em... they called him Peter. He was in the car with Mary and Richard the night they died. He... he died that night, too."
There was a wave of goosebumps that had the hair on the boy's arms, probably his whole body, stand up tall. Tony had witnessed that weird reaction of Peter's senses before but it still left him breathless.
"Wh—what?"
"Your... your aunt and uncle did... they told the police that it was Mary and Richard's son who had died with them. They... they did it to protect you, so you wouldn't have to go back to the adoption agency."
The door to the room was pushed open and Pepper entered, carrying a tray with a teapot, a couple of cups and some cookies. She froze when she saw both of them huddled together, the white mask of shock on the kid's face. Without a word, she put down the tray and scooched onto the bed on the other side of the kid. She put one arm around the boy, the other on top of Tony's hand that was still holding Peter's.
"I... I don't understand that..." The boy swallowed hard, then shook his head. "That can't be true. You must be wrong. It's... It has... has to be a misunderstanding. Some... some wires that got crossed and it... it can't! It's impossible!"
Tony let him talk for a bit. Let him get that first knee-jerk reaction out of his system. The denial, the disbelieve. The boy rambled for a bit then looked up at Tony like he could somehow fix this, like he'd be able to turn things back to the way they were, but that was impossible. The kid's reality was going to shift irreversibly with this.
"I went to see your aunt. Last weekend when you were still recovering."
"You... you what?" The kid's breathing was too shallow, close to shifting to hyperventilating. They should have waited like he had wanted to but there was no way back now.
"After we found out about you and about that other boy, I had to."
"You talked to May?" The boy tried to pull away from him, but Tony kept his grip on the kid's hand tight. "But... but you told me she didn't know! You told me she—"
"And she doesn't. She..." The kid was fidgeting and squirming away from Tony. "Buddy, please, you'll hurt your arm... Shh, it's alright. You're—"
"It's not alright," Peter hissed at him. "None... none of this... none of this—"
"I know, buddy. I know this is a lot. I..." Tony sighed, eyes on the kid who had shuffled away far enough to bury his face into Pepper's side instead. Pepper's arm held him steady and reluctantly Tony let go of the boy. His hands grabbed the edge of the mattress instead, knuckles white. He should have waited. He knew that he should have waited to tell him!
"She doesn't know anything about that! And I didn't tell her anything about that either. You think I would have allowed you to stay in her care if she had purposefully kept you from me all these years? I..." He had a hard time keeping a lid on his agitation.
"Hey, honey..." Pepper leaned far enough across the bed for her hand to slip from the boy's back onto Tony's arm. "Just give him a minute."
Deep breaths. Tony nodded. Right. Like a minute would make any of this any better. She let go of Tony's arm and slowly ran her fingers through Peter's hair, murmuring reassurances. He had to look away, down to his hands on the bedsheet, was almost jealous that it was Pepper's support the boy opted for, not his. Silly, of course. Positively childish, but he couldn't help it so he tried to focus on his breathing instead, his pulse, reigned himself in.
Deep breaths helped and as if his vibes directly affected the kid, he slowly uncurled himself, his face a distinct shade of pink.
"S—sorry, I... I'm sorry, I—"
"You still trust me, kid, right?" Tony searched his face for the telltale signs, eyes shifting away, a lip pulled between his teeth, the signs of shame that would so clearly shine in the boy's face if he was trying to talk himself out of something, would try to deflect. If Peter didn't trust him, he'd be in trouble. There was no containing a super-powered teenager without his trust ignoring drastic measures that Tony wouldn't be willing to take.
But the kid's eyes stayed clear and he gave a short nod. "I... I do. I... it's just..." He lowered his eyes after all.
"It's a lot. I know, buddy. You have nothing to apologize for." Pepper had her eyes on him, nodding encouragingly. "We found another birth certificate. The one this agency originally falsified to hide you. That's how we found out that they didn't really hide you as Peter Parker. All I asked her about was the adoption. And... and the accident. The night Mary and Richard Parker died. Along with a boy that wasn't you."
Peter's hands were both lying on top of his stomach now. He didn't look at either one of them, obviously still trying to process what he had just learned. If only that had been the worse of it. Not that it wasn't bad. Bad enough that the kid would be confused and shocked, that much was a given. An accident that happened to kill his cousin when he should have been in that car as well, that was one thing. But it hadn't been an accident. It didn't just happen. Maybe they'd be lucky and he would recognize Tony or Stark Industries as the catalyst, blame the family he was born into. Tony would gladly take it all, anything if it meant that the kid wouldn't put the burden on himself.
"So... so she lied? May and... and Ben." Peter shook his head, brow furrowed in thought. "But... but that doesn't matter now, I mean, does it? You..." He blinked a couple of times then looked up at Tony. "I mean, you're not gonna sue my aunt or anything. Mr... Mr. Stark, please, you're not, right?"
Tony did his best not to look away. "It's not really about what I want to do anymore, buddy."
"No, but..." The boy's eyes were wide and wet and firmly set on Tony. "Please, I'll do whatever you want, just... just please don't do that."
"I'm not..." The need to reach for the kid's hand again prickled in his fingertips. "Buddy, I'm not the one—"
"Please, Mr. Stark, please... please don't. I... I'll do whatever you want, please..."
"Kid, it's not—"
"I'll... I'll live here and... and never see her again. I.. I'll do whatever, just please..." Tony's heart broke as the kid frantically looked back and forth between both of them, ready to offer whatever they would ask, ready to sacrifice anything he could think of. "I'll never patrol again, anything... anything you want. Please—"
Tony looked over to Pepper for help but by the look on her face, she was fighting her own heartache just as much as he was.
"Darling, that's not..." Pepper sighed, her hand rubbing up and down the boy's back. "That not how it works. There's very little we can do to stop this. It's the prosecution's decision to file charges for a felony. When... when they moved you across state lines the... the whole kidnapping thing became a federal crime. There's... I'm sorry, there's very little we can do."
"They didn't kidnap me though, they... they didn't! I wanted to be with them! I did! I'll just... I can tell a judge, I promise I wanted to stay with them, they didn't do anything!"
"We know that, buddy." Tony had to hold himself back. Every instinct of his screamed for him to scooch onto the bed and hold the boy close. He'd overwhelm him with his need to ease the pain, but they weren't even done. The kid was already crying, both hands hiding his face and this wasn't even the worse of it.
They tried to give him time, Pepper poured some tea, brought in the soup but none of it would really console the kid. He was so agitated, how could Tony lay on even more? Barnes. The accident. All of that was even worse. He had already talked himself out of telling the boy and having FRIDAY monitor all the media the boy would be exposed to instead. No phone, no tablet, just peace and quiet.
"Tony." It was like Pepper could smell his thoughts. Almost creepy. She had her eyes on him eyebrows raised.
She hadn't even said it all that loud but it was enough to get Peter's attention. He rubbed the back of his hand across his face, looking from Pepper over to him. "There's... there's more?"
Tony shook his head and practically jumped out of the chair. Not that he was going anywhere. There was no way he would be going anywhere at all. Two pairs of eyes were glued to him. Pepper's were pleading with him, silently begging him to keep a lid on things and he was trying. He was. The kid's face was almost blank which was alarming in itself. Peter was incapable of hiding his emotions which meant that rather than a calculated cool glance, he just didn't even know what to feel anymore.
His arms were crossed, held close to his body. Where to even begin? He paced back and forth, just a couple of steps, never straying far from the kid's bed. His hands were curled into fists underneath his arms just so they wouldn't shake. Deep breaths, he nodded to himself, then at last he came to sit on the bed, back turned towards them first, but after another couple of deep breaths, he shifted around, facing the boy.
"You asked about Barnes. Why he targeted you."
Peter's eyes were wide now but he nodded.
"Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes..." Tony shook his head. "He's dead. He has been for 70 odd years. Died in action somewhere in the German alps."
"But..." The kid frowned. "But then, did they... did they revive him?"
"I don't know, buddy." His hand tentatively closed around Peter's again. "I don't know if back in '45 he..." Tony shrugged. "If his heart stopped beating and they brought him back or if they just drugged him up with enough serum that he made it through. I know they tortured him. Kept at it, till they broke him, till there was nothing there to resist them. Till they could condition him, control him. A soldier they could use however they please."
The kid just stared at him, hanging on every word. Somehow it felt important that Peter would understand that the devoted war-hero James Barnes and the Winter Soldier were not the same. There was someone left in that body when the Soldier could be subdued, but that wasn't Sergeant Barnes anymore, he was sure of that.
Tony swallowed hard, tightening his hold on Peter's hand. "You remember what happened in Siberia? What... what I found out about how my parents really died."
The boy looked at him in a mixture of shame and barely suppressed interest. "Yeah. Yeah, I remember."
"They didn't die in an accident." Deep breath. "They were murdered and someone made it look like an accident."
"R—right."
Like a coward, Tony had secretly hoped that the clue would have been enough. That he wouldn't have to say it, but the boy's big eyes blinked at him uncomprehendingly. "Buddy, your... your parents. What happened that night was no accident." Another beat of silence for the kid to understand, but Peter just looked at him, eyes narrowed in utter confusion, like he was supposed to decipher a secret code. "I... At the time, in 2008 I was believed to have died in Afghanistan. That was... I was targeted because of my company. Because my business partner wasn't really into the partnership idea anymore. It's... He's the one who set up your... well, you know, Aiden's kidnapping. When he thought I was dead, he hired HYDRA to finish the job. To kill you."
Peter's eyes weren't on him anymore. There were low, staring at the sheets. "But I wasn't killed," he whispered, seemingly emotionally detached.
"No, buddy. But they thought you were."
"They killed my parents instead and... and that other boy."
Pepper's hand came to rest on Tony's arm, her face solemn, her warmth working wonders for him. "Yeah, buddy. I'm sorry."
"Does... does May know?" The kid looked up at him at last. "That they... that they died because of me."
"Kid, you know that this is not—"
"Does she know?"
Tony insides seized at the desperate tone in the boy's voice. "No, buddy. She doesn't know anything about that. Nobody even knows about Stane's involvement, that he paid for the hit on me. Just us and... and a couple of SHIELD people. Nobody knows about this except us and, well, the Rogues."
"Please..." The kid sucked in a deep breath, unsuccessful in pulling himself together, his voice vibrating with emotion. "Please don't tell her. Please!"
It was the last straw. Tony shuffled close enough so he could pull the kid into his arms. Peter didn't resist, on the contrary, he leaned into him, his arms holding onto him for dear life. Over and over Peter begged them not to tell his aunt. As much as Tony wanted to ease his mind, it wasn't a promise he was likely going to be able to keep, so he didn't make it in the first place. Things would come out now. The way he and Pepper had connected the dots it was likely that others would follow the trail as well. With the Soldier in custody, there would be a criminal trial looming and Tony would have to decide if revealing the secrets he knew, it the chance that it might sway a jury to get Barnes into a facility, to get him help instead of a windowless room in the Raft was worth the emotional toll it would have on his kid when all of this would unravel publicly.
Tony leaned back against the bed's headboard, arms still tightly wrapped around the boy, who had his face pressed into the fabric of Tony's shirt, hiding his desperate tears. Neither of them made any attempt to leave. Pepper stayed just as close, taking turns in consoling Peter and lend her support to Tony. It didn't take too long for exhaustion to overpower the kid. He fell quiet after half an hour, then stilled even further, his eyes closed in sleep.
"Boss," FRIDAY's voice rang quietly through the room. "Colonel Rhodes is requesting access to the penthouse."
Tony's eyes shot up at Pepper, but she only shook her head. "Don't look at me, I didn't tell him. I was with you this whole time."
He whispered a low cruse. He should have anticipated this. What had happened in Queens had been all over the internet. Aiden's name was all over the internet. So was Peter's. Before long, Rhodey would be the least of Tony's worries.
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[author's note: Guys, thank you for reading! Thank you for the comments and your enthusiasm for the story. It makes writing it even more fun! :)]