Memories - an Irondad and Spiderson story

2. You want to Keep the kid?

Every time Tony Stark reached a wall he turned around, looked at the peacefully sleeping boy on the couch and continued his way to the other wall of the room only to start the procedure again. The pacing had been going on for about twenty minutes now and it definitely made Colonel Rhodes nervous. „Hell, Tony. Sit down and stop torturing my nerves. He's safe now." Rhodey tried to assure his friend but it didn't help. At least Tony stopped pacing back and forth but only to look at Rhodey. „It's my fault! This child has lost everything because of me!" he whisper-yelled in order to not wake up said boy. Rhodey stood up from his chair. „Maybe it is. Maybe it was your repulsor-blast that killed his aunt but it could have easily been one of the Chitaurigun-blasts. Fact is: no one knows for sure!" James Rhodes tried to convince his best friend but it didn't help. „The better question you should ask yourself now is: what are you going to do with him? The best would be to alert Child Services." Rhodey continued. Stark shot him a glare. „What? No! I won't just hand him over to Child Services! He will stay with me! At least until we figured out if he has any other living relatives." Tony sighed while Rhodey stared at him dumbfolded. „You want to keep the kid?"

Yes, Tony Stark really kept the kid. At least the boy was still at Stark Tower, when he woke up. He had never seen such a big living room before and looked around curiously as he sat up on the couch, still wrapped in an Iron Man blanket. „Hey kid. You're awake!" a man said who came towards him. Said man held to mugs in his hands and the boy could see the steam above it. The smell said everything. Hot chocolate!

The man handed the brown haired kid a mug and he took a big sip. „How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" The man asked but the boy shook his head. „What happened?" he asked instead. Tony sighed. He had to tell him. „You are at Stark Tower. You know where and what that is?" The kid nodded big-eyed, mug still in hands. „Well there was this battle with some badass aliens in Downtown. You where there with your aunt." Tony told the child. Suddenly he seemed to remember because tears started to fill his eyes. „You know that your aunt got hit by a blast?" Stark asked and the boy nodded, more tears coming. Tony had no idea what to do so he hesitantly hugged the kid and let him cry into his chest.

When there weren't any tears left Tony gave the boy a tissue. „Am I gonna see May ever again?" he asked sniffingly. Tony swallowed the big lump that had formed in his throat. „No, I'm sorry. She's gone, but before she closed her eyes she was able to tell me something." Tony started and the kid looked at him with his red and puffy eyes. As he continued speaking, he gently stroke a brown curl out of the kids face. „She told me to care for Peter. She said that Peter was the bravest and most wonderful kid she had ever seen. She asked me to protect Peter and tell him that she loves him." The kid sniffed. „And I assume, you are Peter. Am I right?" Tony finished and Peter nodded. „I'm Peter Parker." Tony smiled gently. „Good that we have that sorted out. Now tell me Peter, do you have any other relatives?" Tony asked. Peter sniffed again. „No. My parents died when I was very little and uncle Ben died a year ago." That was hard. Tony Stark felt pity for this kid that had lost everything in only five years of life. „Well then, do you want to stay here until we figured out what to do?" Tony suggested and Peter looked shyly at the older man. „Yes." he said smiling. And well, that smile officially melted Tony Starks heart. Or the ARK-reactor. Maybe both. That smile found it's way behind all the walls a man could build and Tony smiled too. Peter then hugged the billionaire tightly. He wasn't used to such amount of cuteness, but he let it happen and eventually hugged the kid back.

Peter looked at the picture again. He could see how much Tony enjoyed the hug and he had to admit, he did too. He had felt safe with the man even though his aunt had just died. Peter smiled as he remembered the feeling.

Then he turned the page to look at the next picture. It showed Peter when he was seven years old, grinning into the camera. The kid was holding a pen and scribbling something on a document in front of him. Tony remembered that Pepper actually had taken that photo.