An Unconventional Love

Part Six

The next one and a half minutes were spent in total silence. Peter clinging onto Wades hand like a lifeline. Tony and Steve slack jawed and wide eyed, switching between looking between each other and their son. Wade stroking Peters hand gently as he watched him for any change in emotion. 

It was Steve who broke the silence first with "You're what?" Tony quickly following behind with "You can't be fucking Spiderman! We've worked with him when you've been at home tucked up in bed! You aren't Spiderman! You can't be he's been around for the last year!" He yelled, not because he didn't want Peter to be him but because he couldn't picture his little boy going out and getting hurt. He's seen Spiderman take punches and a lot worse. No he didn't want to picture this anymore "Just.. please tell me you're joking Peter. Please don't say its true." He whispered.

Peter frowned and looked down to the floor "It's true.." He said after a minute of silence and looked back up to his dads brown eyes wide "I'm sorry. It was last year when I had that school trip to Oscorp, we went through the genetically altered spider area and one of them obviously hitched a ride out. I felt it bite me but it wasn't until the next morning that I realized just what it'd done. I was too scared to tell you about it so.. I kept it a secret. I did try and figure out what had happened but I couldn't manage it, and I couldn't ask you for help Dad because you'd be mad that I kept the secret.. So I just decided it was best for us all to keep it a secret for as long as I could. Plus I was so happy that I was able to help you and The Avengers out finally, that I didn't have to sit at home alone while you deal with everything. I'm sorry that I lied to you" He stated truthfully looking both his dads in the eye.

Tony shook his head and went to say something before his mouth clamped shut again "You're grounded" He whispered pushing past Peter, before he had a chance to say anything, to go downstairs to his lab, shutting the door and locking it behind himself like he did when he was upset or mad. 
Steve sighed "He's right. You are grounded. But we aren't doing it because we're mad. I mean obviously we're mad, this is the biggest secret you've ever had and you kept it from us for a year. You could have been killed Peter. Do you not see that? Do you not understand why we made you stay at home every time? Why we've never trained you to help us not matter how much you wanted to? Because we cannot bear to see you get hurt, can't even bear to think about you getting hurt let alone being beaten up in battle. Or worse" Steve slumped down onto the sofa running a hand over his face before chuckling to himself "Now I know just why I felt so upset whenever Spiderman got hurt, not because I saw him as another son and not because I heard so much of you in him. Because he was my son. Because he was the little boy that I was working to protect" 

All through Steves speech Peter had stayed silent not knowing what the hell he could say to make this better, not even knowing if he could make this better. Instead he just buried his face into Wades side, to which the merc instantly wrapped his arm around his shoulder and stroked the side of his neck gently, reassuringly. They both watched as Steve stood and walked downstairs to talk to his husband leaving the couple standing in silence. After a few moments Wade bent down and lifted Peter up bridal style, letting the smaller man nuzzle into his neck and hold on as Wade carried him to the sofa and sat down holding him close, stroking his back gently, content to stay there for as long as Peter needed. 

Peter sighed quietly after a few moments "I never should have told them. I should have lied again, that way I wouldn't have hurt them, they wouldn't be upset right now if I had kept my big mouth shut. I should have stayed quiet" He chastised himself 
Wade shook his head "No. It's better that they know, now you three can work through this and you can get help with anything you need to do with Spiderman. They're mad because they love you, it's clear to see. And it must be nice to have so many people love you. They would have been ever more mad had you kept the secret for longer" Peter went silent again, he knew Wade was right but he was just didn't want to hurt his dads, he never wanted that. He only became Spiderman to be closer to them, to help them both and keep his whole family alive and together. He didn't want another broken family and all he wanted to do was help. 

Steve walked inside the lab to Tony, using the code JARVIS had given him to override any lock down that Tony instigated should he need to. Most of the times Steve left Tony to work through it by himself but when he got really bad Steve would use the code instantly, walk into his lab and hold his husband tight to his chest as he cried. This time was different though, not only was Tony not crying he was also not at his normal work desk. Instead he sat on the floor flicking through holographic screen after screen looking at, from what Steve could gather, were articles, Spiderman articles. Photos of him, videos, pages and pages of writing then files. SHIELD files. "Tony?" The man stayed silent "Tony?" He tried again. Nothing. "Tony? Why are you looking through SHIELD files?" This time he spoke louder and moved to stand in front of the screen so that Tony could see his husband behind it

Finally the man looked up to him "I need to make sure that no one knows who he is. Not even SHIELD. I'm wiping every bit of intel they have on him. But thankfully that's not much, luckily Peter's smart enough not to get caught. Well obviously he is if he can keep the secret from us for over a year" Tony scoffed "A year Steve.. He kept the damn secret for a year. Are we bad parents? Is that why he didn't tell us? Did he not feel like he could trust us with it? Was he scared we'd turn him? What could have possibly possessed him to keep this secret from us for a damn year?!"

Steve frowned and sat down in front of him swiping the screen away "I don't think he was scared of any of that. I think he was scared we'd react exactly how we did. That we'd shout and scream and tell him he couldn't be Spiderman anymore. That we'd try to find a cure for it. Which I don't think we should do" He stated to which Tony looked at his husband with shocked wide eyes
"Just.. hear me out. I think we should train him, in hand to hand combat, so that we know he'll be okay because the best have trained him. We'll teach him our combat scenarios, make sure he can handle himself out on the field, when god forbid we can't help. You can improve his suit, make it bullet proof, fire proof and whatever else you can do. Make it so that he's ready for anything, show him what we've learned over the years, that even though we're mad we're proud of him for what he's done. Because we are aren't we? I know I am" a

Tony nodded "Of course I'm proud of him, he's done so much by himself. Saved so many people, but.." He sighed "What if something happens to him? It's not just Spiderman now Steve it's Peter, our baby. I can't bear to see that"
"I know you can't Tony and I can't either. Which is why I'm bringing in the best" Steve explained hugging his husband