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Tony Stark didn’t want kids. Tony Stark didn’t like kids. The extent of his contact with children was some baby he’d signed by mistake in 2007. Tony Stark was far too busy, far too brilliant to be singing lullabies and giving baths and cooking pancakes. A kid was a risk, a liability, and a chance at failure.
Because with a kid, you only get one shot. You can’t rewire a kid, or do another test run, or call in backup to defeat it. Kids are fragile, you can mess them up and you can’t take back your mistakes.
Tony had learned that the hard way.
He’d learned it from a Dad who never seemed to try, or perhaps he had simply failed over and over again, until he had a son who was beyond repair. Who pushed people away and kept secrets because that felt safer. Who was certain he could never be a father.
Unfortunately for Tony, he was also a superhero.
And Superheroes can’t exactly ignore a little boy curled up in an alleyway at 2am.
He’d been out on patrol (although he knew Pepper would be calling it a joyride) practicing flying as close to the ground as he could manage (okay… maybe it was a joyride) when an alert had lit up his whole screen, and Jarvis had practically screamed into his ear. “SIR!”
Tony had swung his arms involuntary, spinning wildly and dangerously close to the ground for a few moments before slamming into a bus shelter, collapsing it instantly.
“Jarvis!” He scolded, though he knew it was his own fault. He’d been flying half-asleep since he’d only gotten 5 hours of rest total that week. “Quieter, please!”
“There’s a child sir.”
“I know I’m immature, but-”
“Sir. There’s a boy in an alleyway. My estimates put him at 6 years old. He appears to be homeless.”
“You’re not going to let me ignore it, are you?”
“No sir.”
“Fine.”
Tony untangled himself from the bus shelter’s debris, muttering something about building a higher-tech version as a replacement.He could see a small child now, out of the corner of his eye. Curly brown hair and even browner eyes peeking around a faded brick corner.
“Iron Man?” The boy whispered, his eyes so wide Tony was worried they might fall out.
“Who else would I be?” Tony scoffed. “Kermit the Frog?”
“You kinda sound like him.” The kid giggled, before adding in a terrible Kermit voice “Iron man to the rescue!”
“I would never say that!” Tony declared. “That’s absurd!”
The boy responded by pulling a small toy from his pocket, a cheap Iron Man action figure, with a large button in the middle. He gave it a soft press, and instantly the toy lit up and screamed out “IRON MAN TO THE RESCUE!” followed by a tacky-sounding theme song.
“Give me that!” Tony demanded, but the kid pulled it away.
“No, it’s mine!”
“Where are your parents?” Tony asked. Maybe they could talk some sense into him.
“Parents?” The kid repeated back, tilting his head. “Whatsat?”
“You don’t know what parents are?” Tony asked, entirely incredulous.
“‘Everyone keeps asking me if I have some…” The boy crossed his arms and pouted as though his lack of parents was simply inconvenient. “But no one tells me what they are.”
Tony thought for a moment, then crouched down to the kid’s level. “Adults that take care of you. Do you have anyone that takes care of you?”
“Nuh-uh.” The kid shook his head, then glared. “You still haven’t told me what parents are.”
“Mm.” Tony hummed in agreement, entirely unsure of what to say.
Silence followed… well, as silent as New York City could get at 2am. Then…
“What if I was your parent?”
“Do I have to pay you money?”
“No, you don’t have to pay me money.” Tony laughed. “C’mere. You wanna fly?”
“YEAH!” The little boy shrieked. “CAN I FLY THE SUIT?”
“Not a chance.” Tony scoffed.
The child gave a small pout at that, and mumbled something about wanting to be a Superhero too.
“You can be a superhero when you’re 40.” Tony said, lifting the kid up and wrapping his arms around him. “Now hold tight.
“ ‘kay.” The boy wrapped his arms around Tony, tight enough that you’d think he was glued to the man.
Tony was slow to fly home (Having lost access to the boosters in his hands, and because he was holding a small child) but eventually he made it through the door. Every light was off, the house uncomfortably silent.
“Jarvis?” Tony whispered cautiously.
“TONY.” A woman’s voice sliced through the quiet of the home, as each and every light flashed on, entirely blinding.
“Shit.” Tony muttered, much to the shock of the kid, who let out all small gasp.
“Is that a child?” Pepper demanded, rushing towards the little boy, and pulling him from Tony’s arms, onto the ground. “Tony, did you steal a child?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘Steal’ per say…”
“TONY!” She snapped. “Do you even know his name?”
At that, Tony looked to the child.
“Peter!” The boy exclaimed helpfully.
“Peter.” Tony repeated with a confident nod.
“His FULL name?”
“Well, the plan is to have it be Peter Stark.”
At that, Peter let out a small squeal of shock before clasping his hands to his mouth.
“Tony-” She began, and the Iron Man winced, knowing he was in for a rant, but, shockingly, she stopped herself, her eyes softening.
“Finally giving into my playboy charms?” Tony tried, but she walked straight past him and scooped Peter into her arms.
“He’s sleepy.” She whispered, cradling the boy.
“Am not!” Peter tried to argue, but he was fighting to keep his eyes open, already curling into Pepper’s arms.
“It is past your bedtime, kiddo.” Tony decided, reaching for the boy, though Pepper only held him closer, her eyes narrowing.
“Speaking of bedtime,” She began sharply, “he doesn’t have a room.”
“He can stay in mine tonight. Safest room here.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“You’ll sleep on the-” She sputtered, before rolling her eyes. “I told you that you needed guest rooms.”
“Guest rooms would lead to guests, which I absolutely despise.” Tony proclaimed. “Now come on, because in case you haven’t noticed, Peter is sleepy.”
Pepper tsked, but said nothing, walking alongside Tony, cautiously on her toes, as though the sound of her heels might wake Peter up.
Tony’s room was already set up when they reached it; He had asked Javis to get someone to prepare it, and he had to admit, they’d outdone themselves. Little star lights floated across the ceiling while
the softest blankets he owned laid across the covers. A fluffy red stuffed bear from who-knew-where was laid against a pillow, right in the center.
Peter had instantly wrapped his arms around the bear when Pepper set him down, making a soft, happy hum.
It was only after the kid was safely in bed, and Tony and Pepper were far, far away from his room, that Pepper turned on him, eyes filled with flames.
“You can’t just impulsively adopt a child!”
“I can do whatever the hell I want!” Tony shot back.
“He’s had a difficult life, do you really think being adopted by you will make things better?”
“Like leaving him to fend for himself is supposed to be a good idea?”
“What about child protective services?”
“I can’t trust them.”
“You can’t trust them?”
“No!”
“Why on earth not?”
“They let the kid wander the streets for 6 years, and we’re supposed to trust them to take care of him now?”
There was silence for a long moment. Pepper sighed, resting her head in her hands.
“What happened to never wanting kids?”
“I met Peter.”
Pepper glared at him, before shaking her head. “I’m not helping you with this.” She didn’t wait for the protests he knew she was expecting. She simply walked out, heels clacking behind her.
Tony stood alone for a moment before letting out a sigh, pressing his head against the wall.
What if I made a mistake?
What if I can’t take care of him?
Why did I think I could do this?
“Mr. Stark?” A small voice cut through Tony’s spiral.
“Hey kiddo…” Tony whispered, crouching down to his level, because that seemed like something a dad should do. “What’s going on?”
“You never told me what a parent is. You just said that you would be mine.”
Tony stared at the little boy for a moment. For all his brilliance, he couldn’t seem to find a good answer.
“A parent…” He began. “They take care of a kid like you. For… for their whole life. And they love that kid and they’re proud of that kid, even when they’re mad at that kid.”
“Do you love me?” Peter asked, little eyes wide.
“I’m not quite sure yet.” Tony scooped Peter into his arms. “But I’ll take care of you until I know if I do, how’s that.”
“M’kay.” Peter mumbled, resting his head on Tony’s shoulder. “G’night, parent.”
Tony felt his heart melt, just a bit at that, and in that moment, he knew, Peter would be his son. He’d always be his son. “Goodnight, Peter.”