Spider-Son One Shots

Coming Home

Part two of On The Run

****

"I'm not going back," Peter said. It was as simple as that. Peter wasn't sure if he wanted to go or not, but he knew he couldn't. There was a reason he had left. And that reason was still valid.

Tony didn't agree at all, and he didn't even know the reasoning."No, kid, you are coming back. You know why? Because we thought you were dead, and that was painful-"

"Well, guess what? I'm alive. You know that now. So it'll be less painful when I leave," Peter interrupted, not sure where this surge of confidence was coming from.

"No, kid, it'll be more painful. Instead of questioning if you are dead, we'll all know that you chose not to be with us," Tony said. Despite his angry facade, Tony had his heart breaking. Why wouldn't the kid come back? No, why wouldn't his kid come back?

"At least you'll be alive," Peter snapped, his own anger rising. Why did they have to find him? He could have dealt with the pain without them interfering. Because despite how much he wanted to come back home, that pain would be nothing if Parker Luck took them all.

"What?" Tony said his anger giving away to confusion. Actually, everyone was confused. What was he even talking about? How did those two facts connect? Why did Peter feel the need to say that?

And Pietro was thinking, so the boy that found me is the boy that Tony has been looking for ever since I arrived? Is this kid Peter Parker or Colby Bush? Who's Colby Bush then? Is Peter Parker Colby Bush? Am I thinking into this? Probably. Is Wanda listening? She wouldn't understand my super speed thoughts though.... Oh yeah, back to the situation.

"Kid, you're coming back. There's no escape," Tony said dismissing his earlier confusion. And unfortunately, Tony was right. The room didn't have a window behind Peter, so he could either jump over The Avengers or slam through the wall.

***

Peter Parker was different at the Tower. He was silent, almost mute, and he stayed far away from everyone. He couldn't go outside with super vision, so he just avoided going outside entirely, substituting looking out the window for it. The Avengers didn't like it, and Tony absolutely hated it. In the almost year away from them, these kid had built up walls.

But Pietro knew this version of Peter. Pietro still called Peter Colby. Because that's how Peter was acting, like Colby. Quiet, responsible, yet hesitant with people. But this version of Peter was still kind.

"Kid, you have to talk to us. To me. Please," Tony begged one day, tired of the silence of the lab. He didn't want to play music, he wanted Peter's chatter in the background.

"Fine," Peter said setting down the project he was working on harshly. He turned around to face Tony. "You wanna talk, let's talk. What do you want to talk about?"

"The fact that you ran away, maybe. Or why you're being so quiet and antisocial," Tony said setting down his own project, yet not as harsh as the teenager. Tony also turned around, but he kept the distance between the two.

"It's none of your con-"

"Peter Benjamin Parker, you better not say it's none of my concern. Because it is. You ran away while I was watching you. Now, I don't know if it's my fault but either way it's my concern," Tony said holding back tears at that point. 

"It is your fault, just not in the way you think," Peter said. "Everyone I love dies, okay? And that night, you, Pepper, and Morgan looked like a family. A family I had always wanted. But then I realized if I stayed around, it'd be a matter of time before you and Pepper die. And I can't do that to Morgan. I already had that done to me, and it feels like Hell every time I remember that I'm an orphan. I can't sit around and let someone else become an orphan.

"And anyways, I'm not your child, you have no obligations to me. You don't have to take care of me. But Morgan, she's your daughter. You're supposed to care about her, not me. I'm just a kid from Queens, she is your flesh and blood," Peter said.

"Kid, what the hell was that all about? Yes, you're an orphan. I can't change that, but that doesn't mean you're not my kid. You're my son whether you want to be or not. And I can care about you and Morgan, because you're both my family, even if you're my family in different ways. The Avengers? They're your family, too. And sorry kid, but it is going to take a whole lot more than Parker Luck to kill us," Tony said.