She sits on the bed while Peter chatters about causal things like school, trying to distract himself from all the hectic events of the last 24 hours.
"May?" Peter asks after about twenty minutes. "Do you think he'll come back any time soon?"
May purses her lips. Almost immediately after, the door swings open and Mr. Stark steps in. He smiles at Peter, which momentarily takes away the boy's anxiety.
May chuckles shortly and says, "speak of the devil."
"What?" says Mr. Stark.
"Nothing," Peter assures.
"How are you?"
"Good. Better."
"Good."
"Well, um, I guess you're Peter?"
May's eyes dart back and forth between the two as they converse. "I'll leave you guys alone."
Not that it is just Mr. Stark and Peter, Peter has to decide what he wants out of this.
At the most, a godfather. At the least, some more pain pills and a selfie, Peter decides. But judging from Mr. Stark's blanched face and nervous ticks, the most the older man seems to want out of this is survival.
Peter clears his throat and says, "Yes, I'm Peter."
"I'm sorry," Mr. Stark begins hurriedly. "I'm not very good at this stuff. Emotions and first meetings and kids. Well, I mean, I'm just sorry I'm probably not going to live up to your expectations."
Peter frowns. He knows May always figured Mr. Stark wouldn't make a good parent, but Peter doubts that.
"Are you kidding me? You're Tony Stark!"
"Exactly, kid. Exactly." With every word, the man takes an edging step towards Peter.
"I'm not radioctive," the teen says.
The smirk Peter has known as Tony Stark for many years finally emerges. "Maybe not, but you're definitely flammable."
"Ha-ha." The banter comes easy.
As Mr. Stark's shoulders relax, Peter takes the opportunity. "So, how'd you know my parents?"
And Mr. Stark tells him. His mom came to SI to talk about a childcare initiative. His dad held a garage sale a few years before that, and Mr. Stark's friend James Rhodes bought the whole thing and decorated Mr. Stark's college dorm. Mr. Stark and Peter's parents used to do crazy shenanigans, the three of them, like travelling to Minnesota just to see of physics lecture or buying birds from the pet store and setting them free in the parking lot. ("Your mom was very humanitarian," Mr. Stark tells Peter.) They also did chill stuff, like days at the beach out of town or dinner in the evenings. Mr. Stark was under a lot of pressure in his life, and Richard and Mary brought out the human side in him.
Peter soaks all this information in. Mr. Stark shares how he wishes he hadn't grown apart from Peter's parents.
In return, Peter tells Mr. Stark fun baby stories. He tries to remember as many as he can. Eating a ton of chocolate. The park with his parents. His mom rocking him to sleep and the songs she sang.
It's dark out before Peter even realizes his throat is sore from talking so much. Mr. Stark laughs once more at a cute family memory and bades Peter goodnight.
"Thank you for this," Mr. Stark says softly as he closes the door behind him. "I hope you're up and at 'em again soon, Peter."
"Same. And thank you too."
Mr. Stark nods and exits.
Peter checks his phone before bed.
A text from May saying she'll swing by in the morning. A text from Ned, checking in.
And when Peter opens Google, all over the news:
Peter Parker, Godson of Tony Stark
Mysterious Midtown High School Student Seen With Tony Stark
Unofficial Child of Tony Stark's?
Tony Stark Saves Boy From Fire
Peter shuts off his phone and curls up under the white sheets.
He sighs.
Tomorrow's going to be a weird, long day.
Thank you so much for reading! If you have any ideas of what else you'd like me to write, or if you just wanna talk about how your day is going, feel free to reach out! Have a great day/night!
Bye :)