The Scattered Stories of Spider-Son and Iron Dad

The 'Father' Dilemma - Family Dinner

The Avengers were many things, but nervous usually wasn't one of them. They were a family—mostly due to Merlin's influencing them to much healthier coping/processing mechanisms than any of them were used to—but so far, any big change in the family had been preceded by a massive event. You know, like the triskelion disaster, and the fall of Sokovia, and the whole Accords mess. Yeah, they got Sam, Wanda and Pietro, and Bucky and the Wakandan royal family out of each of those. But each of them felt some justification in their nerves over this particular change.

Each of them loved Peter in their own way. They all would protect him with their lives, and most of them would kill for him, too. Not that anybody would know that the person in question had been killed... Regardless, they were all of them thrilled about this change. They were just worried about what it would mean for... Everyone else.

Rhodey was already very sure of his place in the Avenger's family. He was Tony's second, his wingman and one of the few 'regular' humans on the team. He was a military connection more than anything, but he had his niche in the Avengers and wasn't going to let anyone change it or take it from him.

He was also fairly certain of his place in the mismatched Stark family: Tony was his brother. Pepper was a good friend and soon to be his sister in all but name—and blood, technically. He was Tony's support, sometimes his conscience and usually at least a percentage of his common sense. And now, he was going to be something new. It was exciting.

The next most comfortable Avengers were an odd mix of Natasha, Bucky, Sam and Clint. Clint already had kids—that Natasha spent a lot of time around, and Sam had his nephews. Bucky, hilariously, was much too used to keeping Steve alive Pre-Serum, and had decided that nothing was going to change between him and Peter. Case closed.

The twins and Vision were mostly unaffected in regards to their 'position' in Peter's family. Wanda and Pietro adored the younger teen, and had bonded with him in ways that none of the adultier adults could have. They—the two of them and Peter—had already agreed that they functioned within a cousin dynamic. And Vision was Vision.

Bruce was always nervous when there was the potential for emotions to run high. But even that wasn't too bad. Peter had proven himself to be quite capable of working with/wrangling the Hulk. Not that any of them wanted to relive the scenario that led to that particular revelation. Either way, the scientist wasn't too worried about upset dynamics in this case.

The only ones really worried about where they would fit in were Chrissy and Steve. And between the two of them, Chrissy wasn't all that worried. She had heard plenty of stories about Merlin's other 'kids'—both legally and emotionally adopted—and was happy to count herself as a part of a very exclusive and surprisingly large club. Steve, on the other hand, had spent way too much time being an angsty and reckless teenager and young adult to think he would be a good influence on anyone. Bucky had jokingly agreed with him when he had mentioned it, and Steve still hadn't brought it up with either Tony or Rhodey since then. But he had thought about it a great deal and still didn't know where he would fit into Peter's family... or where he wanted to fit in.

And all of them were thinking of these things as they lounged around the common room at the compound. It had been seven months since Merlin had sat them all down there to tell them that Peter had been grievously hurt, and almost a full month since Tony had sat them down to tell them about the Adoption plan. Now the plan was in motion, Peter was safe and happier than he had been in ages, and they were all waiting for the Stark family to show up for the Avengers Family Diner.

They were all pulled from their personal reverie or distraction as all of the humans with enhanced hearing looked to the door as they heard the elevator ding down the hall. All the normal people—meaning everyone except Steve, Bucky, Vision and Merlin—had been more than a little attentive to movement, and thus were alerted only a second behind as they watched the others tense slightly or smile. Rhodey was up and walking toward the main doors before anyone else had decided what to do.

Merlin had the foresight to have FRIDAY fog the glass walls that faced the hallway. This allowed the soon-to-be extended Stark family a little bit more time to process what was about to happen. Not that that stopped Rhodey from leveling Peter with the most serious stare Tony had ever seen from his best friend as the group—made up of Tony, Peter, Pepper, May and Happy—rounded the doorway. Peter who had been grinning at something Tony had said, found himself with a completely blank face, and his eyebrows near to his hairline as Col. James Rhodes addressed him.

"You only get one warning, Peter," He said, shocking all of them into a full stop, "I'm telling you right now, if you call me anything other than Uncle Rhodey here or at the tower, you're grounded forever."

Tony laughed out loud as Peter beamed and chuckled. Rhodey strode forward and wrapped the kid in a hug. Responses to the spectacle varied, but most of the Avengers laughed or grinned and then moved to great the family. Everyone took their turn introducing themselves to May, though, wanting to better know the woman that raised Peter. But soon everyone was hanging put, eating the ridiculous amount of food that had been set out, and quietly observing Tony.

He was aware of the scrutiny, and was trying to ignore it. But Peter—who had stayed close throughout the night—saw him getting more tense as time went on. Eventually, Peter made eye contact with May and just nodded once, before walking over to Tony and ducking under his arm. He incidentally joined a conversation with Merlin and Miss Christine, but neither of them blinked at the interruption, simply smiling at him and continuing on.

Everyone in the room was pleased to see Tony instantly relax some, gripping Peter's shoulder lightly. The pair remained together the rest of the night. Even after everyone retired to the couches and chairs in the sprawling living room, Peter and Tony were sat side by side. So it was no surprise when Peter eventually nodded off, his head slipping onto Tony's shoulder.

The older man tensed slightly, and then moved to put his arm around Peter, who startled partway awake. Tony just murmured something as he got his arm behind Peter's back and the fifteen-year-old settle down again. Tony noticed the room had gotten quiet as all this had happened. But he chose to ignore it in favor of running his fingers through Peter's softly curling hair, at least until he felt the full weight of the kid on his side and his breathing even out.

But eventually he had to look up. The first person he made eye contact with, oddly enough, was Chrissy. She was smiling softly, a knowing look in her eyes that was dangerously reminiscent of her brother. He met her gaze and waited, hoping she would speak.

"Italian?" Tony nodded softly. He smiled down at Peter.

"My mother used to speak it to me. At least when Howard wasn't around. There's lots of good memories there, and I'm hoping to pass those on."

When he looked back up to her, he couldn't help but glance to her brother for a moment. But Merlin was watching his sister with a soft smile of his own. Tony raised his brows at Chrissy as they looked at each other again.

"I wanted to learn everything after Merlin found me. I was young, and a quick study thanks to the serum, so he started with a little of everything. But languages were my favorite. There would be days when he would only speak in Latin or French. I loved it."

"Mom was the same. He's really good with Spanish, too. Knowing how smart he is, he'll probably be spouting Italian off at me before I know it... I'm just glad I have the chance to have this with him."

Chrissy nodded, leaning into Steve a little more. And everyone was thinking along the same lines: they were an excellent example of how family had nothing to do with blood. There were siblings, parents and children, all of them without anything to connect them, except each other. They had all chosen each other—albeit after they were forced together at least once. But they had all chosen to lean into and on each other. They had protected and held up and fallen apart on each other.

The situation with Peter might be a bit more legal, a bit more binding. But he was as much Tony's son right then as Rhodey was his brother. And every person in that room—without much discussion amongst themselves—had decided that Peter was part of their family. The rest was just formality.