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2021-08-10
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Not So Sweet Sixteen

Summary:

He should be used to it. Up until the age of eleven Peter Stark had never really experienced a birthday, but that changed when Tony returned from Afghanistan.
It hurt more knowing what he’d lost though, knowing his dad had forgotten about him because of the baby coming.

Notes:

Me? Posting another update? U better believe it. This might be angst fuelled like most of my work but this is my contribution to Peter Parker’s birthday.

This fic is inspired by the amazing inkinmyheartandonthepage’s story ‘Happy belated birthday’, part of the We Forgot Peter series which is honestly one of the most incredible series if you haven’t checked it out yet! That author is honestly gold.

(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)

Work Text:

He should be used to it. Up until the age of eleven when his father finally learnt the word responsibility, he never had a birthday. 

His nanny would always give him a card and some chocolate but that was about it. It all changed, however, when his father became his dad. He always went out of his way for Peter’s birthday after that, even Pepper would get Peter something and the three would go to Coney Island and finish the day at Peter’s favourite restaurant, Betullas. 

He learned to love birthdays, even look forward to them. 

But now Morgan was coming. Pepper was seven months pregnant and for the past six months, that’s what every conversation revolves around. 

Little by little, his dad and pseudo-mom would spend less time with him, and more time fussing over the child that wasn’t even here yet. They’d be sorting things for the nursery, getting doctors in place and going to weird ‘antenatal sessions’ with other couples. 

Slowly, Peter’s insecurities began raising their heads whilst his abandonment issues haunted him every day as he watched his dad make a new family right in front of him. 

Peter told himself it was okay, that everyone was like that with a baby on the way, when she was here, things would be okay and he’d be the big brother he wanted to be. 

It was his sixteenth birthday. The big sweet sixteen. There hadn’t been much talk on it - none at all, in fact - but Peter assumed his dad had something secret and eccentric planned, as he had done for the past few years. 

Peter woke with the same excitement bubbling in his stomach as it always did on his birthday, jumping out of bed and rushing to his parents room as he always did, however his smile faltered when he saw his dads door already open.  Peter was always the one to wake everyone up on his birthday, and Tony would give Peter his Birthday Hugs before going to the living room and opening gifts. He’d never been up first before, but it was his sixteenth, maybe they had something extra special planned. 

Hopeful, he walked towards the kitchen when he heard voices.

“Hurry up Tony!” Pepper's voice came from the living room. 

Peter smiled. They were definitely setting something up, they must have heard him wake up. 

Unable to hold off any longer, he burst into the open living area with a huge grin. 

Only nothing had changed. There weren’t the usual banners and balloons, let alone presents that usually covered the coffee table. 

His heart dropped, looking to his parents who were rushing around. 

“I’ve lost the keys!”

“It doesn’t matter, Happy’s taking us!” 

“Shit, okay I’m coming.” Tony shouted, throwing on some shoes as he stumbled towards the lift. 

“Good morning, Peter.” Pepper greeted when she noticed the teen. “We’re just heading to the ultrasound, help yourself to breakfast!” 

And with that, the lift doors closed and Peter was alone. 

No blueberry waffles or Birthday Cuddles. They didn’t even wish him a happy birthday.

That’s when he’d realised - they’d forgotten him. Yet again, the unborn baby had taken priority over Peter, on his birthday. 

The teen felt so numb he didn’t even notice he was crying. 

It was stupid, it was just a day. It wasn’t anything special and he was sixteen now, he shouldn’t be crying like a baby. 

Sniffing, he wiped his tears away, well aware they hadn’t stopped falling. 

He didn’t feel like eating breakfast, which wasn’t a surprise after his little episode. He always felt nauseous after crying. That was probably childish too, but maybe if he was younger his dad would want to spend more time with him. 

Maybe his time was up for relying on his parents, on getting hugs or attention. He was basically an adult now, he shouldn’t need any of that, so why did he find himself jealous of an unborn baby?

Shaking his head, he went back to his bedroom, finding his phone. 

He found Ned’s number and it rang twice before his best friend picked up. 

“Dude! Happy birthday!” 

Peter smiled, knowing Ned would never let him down. “Thanks, man. What are you up to?”

“I’m visiting my nan for the weekend, remember?”

Peter’s smile fell. “Oh yeah! Sorry I wasn’t thinking. How is it?” He asked, forcing himself to sound happy.

“So hot. Like New York summer time has nothing on this. How’s your birthday? How many cars has your dad bought you?” 

Peter hesitated. “Oh only the one I think. They - Uh - actually want me back now, just wanted to say hi.” 

“It’s good to hear from you, Pete. I’ll see you next week?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And look out for my card in the post!” 

“Dude, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Sure I did! I’d have posted your present too but that’s way too big to deliver, so you’ll have to wait for that.” His friend explained, sounding too happy with himself. 

“Thanks Ned. I really appreciate it.” 

“No problem, man. Enjoy your birthday!” 

Peter smiled sadly, ending the call. 

What was he supposed to do now? Michelle was up state for protests, which meant all of his two friends were busy, and why wouldn’t they be? It was just a normal day, Peter needed to stop forgetting that, and like he would on a usual Saturday, he set out to patrol. 

Part of him wanted to wait for his parents to get home, that maybe they were saving the birthday stuff for after the appointment and they’d go to Coney Island like they always did. Sadly Peter was smart and not so naive. His parents had nothing planned. 

Accepting he was only kidding himself, he put his mask on and went on patrol, leaving Ned's opened card on his bedside table. 

Tony and Pepper didn’t end up getting home until 1pm from the ultrasound due to a backlog of appointments which Tony found ridiculous for private health care. 

He spent the entire ride home ranting about how he should open a new branch of industry - Stark Health where no one would have to wait for an appointment ever. Pepper found that quite amusing. 

“Peter, we're home!” Tony called, once they stepped out of the elevator. 

When there was no response, he frowned and turned to his heavily pregnant wife. 

“It’s a Saturday, isn’t it? He’s probably out patrolling.” 

“Fri?” 

“Peter is currently in Queens on patrol.” The AI answered. 

“See, I told you.” Pepper said smugly, putting the fresh groceries in the fridge. 

“If I may, boss. Today is August 10th.” Friday’s  voice came again. 

“I know, our appointment card clearly stated 11am, Saturday 10th August. What are you getting at?” Tony asked, rolling his eyes. 

“I am merely reminding you of Master Stark's birthday.”

All the blood drained from Tony’s face, eyes widening in horror. “No-“

Pepper looked equally as shocked, one hand covering her mouth. “Tony-“

“Tell me we didn’t…” The billionaire croaked out, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut. 

“Oh god, Tony.” Pepper cried, rushing to Peter’s room. 

“He’s not there. He-he’s gone on patrol.” 

Tony followed his wife, finding her in tears in Peter’s single bed. She held a card in her hands, reading “Sweet Sixteen” on the front. 

This must have been a horrible trick. It wasn’t really August 10th, he hadn’t really forgotten about his son's birthday. 

“How could we? How did this happen?” 

Tony shook his head, choking on the sob that escaped. 

“What do we do?”

“I- I need to find him. I need to bring him home.” 

“And if he doesn’t want to come?”

“Pep-“

“We forgot his birthday. His sixteenth birthday .” 

“Oh my god. I'm the worst father in the world.”

“You’re not-“

“I am! He’s - he’s my son and I completely forgot. We were so busy with all the baby stuff!”

“Please go and get him, Tony. I need him here.” 

“I’m going to. Will you be okay?”

“It’s not about me Tony! I’ll be absolutely fine, go and get our son!” Pepper cried, letting her head fall into her hands. 

Tony nodded, rushing towards the flight dock and letting his suit form around him. 

“Friday, set a course for Peter.” The billionaire demanded once his helmet snapped shut. 

“Plotted. ETA four minutes.” 

“Make it three.” 

Friday obliged, rerouting more of the energy to the thrusters. 

It broke his heart, finding Peter sat on the top of a building, churro in hand looking over Coney Island.

Stumbling out the suit, he could hardly compose himself. 

“Peter!” Tony shouted as he ran to his kid. 

The boy turned his head, looking surprised. 

It broke his heart when he caught a glimpse of his deflated, sad features. His cheeks had dried tear tracks on them and his eyes were still watery and red. 

He did this. He’d broken his kids heart on his fucking birthday. He was the reason Peter had spent the day crying. 

“Peter, I'm so sorry.” Tony whispered, words failing him. 

The younger man shrugged, taking another sad bite of his churro. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does! Baby it matters so much, it’s your birthday for Christ’s sake!”

“It’s just a day. It’s nothing special.” 

“It is. It’s so special and I’m so so sorry I forgot. It’s unforgivable, I know that, but there was so much going on with the baby-“

“Can we just drop it? For once I was enjoying a day where no one would mention the stupid word ‘baby’!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, I get it, the baby is important. My birthday is just a day, and really I should be used to it being forgotten, looking at my track history, but for once could you stop talking about the damn baby?!”

“Peter… Do you not want a sister?” 

“I want a dad!” Peter practically screamed, jumping to his feet. “And I had one! I finally had one when you came back from Afghanistan, but then this stupid baby comes along and it’s ‘baby this, baby that’. I hardly even see you anymore! I don’t know why I expected my birthday to be any different.” 

“Oh kid-“

“And maybe I’m too old to want my parents to give me attention or j-just talk to me or hug me, but I want that. I need it.” Peter cried, looking down at his cold churro. 

“Baby, come here.” Tony croaked, pulling Peter into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Peter. So unbelievably sorry.” 

Peter sobbed into Tony's chest long enough for him to worry he was going to start hyperventilating. “Shh, Pete. You’re okay. It’s okay. I'm gonna make it up to you, kidddo… if you’ll let me.” 

“I j-just want to b-be loved.” 

Tony’s heart shattered into pieces, trying to pull his son closer. “You are loved, baby. You’re so loved. I love you more than anything in the world and I'm so sorry I let you doubt it. I'm sorry I let you down.” 

Peter didn’t respond, only crying more. 

“As soon as we realised, Pepper sent me to get you straight away. She feels as awful as me, she really wants to see you.” 

“Sure she wasn’t talking about the baby again?” Peter muttered unhappily. 

“No. She meant her first baby.”

“I'm not hers.” 

Tony winced. “Will you let me take you home?” 

“Will you spend time with me if I do?” 

“I promise, Underoos. I swear I’ll spend time with you every single day. Every minute if that’s what it takes to show you how much I love you.” 

“So why did you forget about me?”

Tony sighed, feeling unbelievably ashamed. “Peter- baby there’s no excuse. I was sidetracked by everything going on that I forgot the most important thing of all.” 

“How will I know anything will change?” Peter asked quietly, looking at his feet. 

“I guess you just need to trust me, which I can’t ask of you... I’ve let you down so badly, kid. I just need you to give me a chance to make this right. Please, let me try and put a smile on your face.”

Peter contemplated for a minute, not wanting to meet Tony’s eyes.

 “Okay.”

“Thank you, Peter. I honestly don’t deserve you.” 

When father and son returned home, the penthouse smelt of chocolate cake and there were banners and balloons lining the walls. 

Peter felt tears threatening to spill yet again. How had they managed all of this in the time he was gone? 

“Peter!” Pepper cried, rushing forward and hugging him as best as she could around the baby bump. 

Just like Tony, Pepper cried and apologised countless times before Peter could get a word in. She didn’t believe him when the boy said he’d forgiven then, promising to make it up to him for the rest of time. 

“Can we start over?” Pepper asked, cupping Peter’s face with her hands. “Can we give you the birthday you deserve?”

How could Peter say no to that? He nodded, letting himself be pulled into a hug, sandwiched between the two adults. 

“Well, presents first.” Tony declared, turning Peter to the coffee table. 

Peter frowned. “But how-“

“We’ve had most of these gifts for months, just waiting to give them to you.”

“And the others?” Peter asked, looking at the ones wrapped in green paper. 

“Are either Happy’s quick thinking or the man himself.” 

“He didn’t have to do that.” 

“He wanted to, kid. And if he hadn’t I’d have done it myself.” 

Peter smiled bashfully, sitting down on the sofa.

“This one first.” His dad said, handing the kid a small square box. 

All the presents from his dad were wrapped in plain brown paper, finished with a reactor-blue bow. It was Tony’s signature. 

Opening the box he found a pair of cufflinks. 

“They were your grandfathers.” Tony explained. “He gave them to me on my sixteenth birthday, and now it’s my turn to hand them down.”

“Thanks dad. I love them.” 

“Now all you need is a real shirt you can use them with.” Tony teased. 

“I’m sure we can manage that.” Pepper smiled, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder. 

Methodically, he unwrapped each present on the table, revealing an assortment of gifts, including three new Lego sets, tickets to Disneyland and the new Nintendo Switch that Peter was convinced hadn’t even been released yet. 

“Now this is the big one.”

Peter frowned, looking at a box which was the same size as the one the cuff links were in. 

“Go on, open it.” 

The boy did as he was told, lifting the lid and instantly gasping. “Dad, no-“

“Ah-ah. Before you protest, I bought it for less than $4000 - which is a sin I have to say, but I knew you wouldn’t accept a brand new car.” Tony interrupted. “This ones not actually runnable right now, but I was thinking we could work on it together, nurse it back to health before you pass your test?”

“Oh my god yes - that’s… that’s perfect, thank you dad!” Peter practically squealed, hugging Tony. 

“Next time, I’m getting you a new one though. This is your one free pass.” 

Peter laughed, shaking his head. “So when can we get started?” 

“Well, you do have one present left.”

Peter turned to Pepper, holding an envelope out to him. 

“What’s that?” 

“Guess you have to open it and find out.” 

Peter smiled, opening up the letter. He almost expected it to be more tickets to something but it was a piece of paper with more words on than Peter could scan. 

It took him too long to realise what the letter was, enough time for Pepper to shift around nervously. 

Adoption. They were adoption papers. 

Dammit why was he crying again? 

“I’m sorry if it’s too much, it’s just to me, you’ve always been my boy… I changed your nappies and was there for your first steps and watched you turn into the brightest young man and I -“

“Yes. One hundred times yes.” Peter cried, hugging his mom. 

A family was all Peter ever wanted, and now he had it. He had a dad and a mom and soon he’d have a sister. 

“I love you so much, Peter.” Pepper murmured into his hair,  not wanting to pull away from the hug. 

“Don’t forget about me. I love you more, Underoos.” Tony teased, joining in the hug. 

Peter spent the rest of the afternoon working on his new car, busking in all of the attention his family was giving him. The only break they had was when Pepper brought his birthday cake down. Double Belgian chocolate with chocolate filling. 

That night, they went to Betulla’s and Tony ordered Peter his favourite, a 16” ham and pineapple pizza with extra pineapple chunks. 

Maybe birthdays were special. 

 

Notes:

Bless him I love Peter so much 🥺❤️ Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed it please do drop me a comment, even if it’s illiterate keyboard smashes, I love them all <3

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