Pepper is sitting on the couch exhausted, rubbing a hand across her stomach when Tony gets back from dropping the boys off. He makes his way over and sits next to her on the couch, letting their thighs touch. He reaches a hand over and lays the back of it across her forhead as though he's trying to check her temperature.
"You feeling okay, Pep?" asks Tony, looking into her eyes closely. He moves the hand from her forehead to the side of her face. "You feeling sick? Want me to call Helen?"
"I'm fine, Tony. I actually...I've been trying to tell you this for a while, but with everything that's been going on..." she shakes her head. Tony grabs hold of one of her hands, bringing it to his lips for a soft kiss.
"So what's going on?"
"Tony," she starts before exhaling and looking into his eyes. He's blown away by the love and compassion he sees there. "I'm pregnant."
There are a million ways Tony has thought this moment might go. He's imagined laughing or screaming and calling Rhodey or being suave and saying something like I know while explaining how with some Sherlock Holmes style antics, but when the moment presents itself, he does none of that. Tony Stark is faced with one of the loves of his life carrying his child and he cries. The smile on his face is immovable, even as tears roll down his reddened cheeks.
"You're pregnant!" he says back to her happily and now she's smiling and crying too. He pulls her in for a kiss then lifts her and spins her around. When he sets her back down his hands linger near her abdomen before she grabs them and places them on the tiny bulge of her stomach. When their eyes meet, Tony almost wants to cry again.
--:--
Peter cries when he sees Ned and Michelle standing at his locker waiting for him.
"Hey, loser, you made it."
He sees her wipe tears from her eyes before smirking at him, but within one breath and the next he's already wrapped in Ned's arms.
"And he said he didn't have any friends," says Harley behind him, but it's low enough that Peter knows he was the only one who heard it even if he wasn't supposed to.
Peter glances back to see his brother leaning against a locker and smiling at him. It's one of those smiles that says I'm happy for you, but Peter can hear the loneliness resonating in it because it's the same smile he gave Tony when Harley had first gotten back with his mom and his sister.
Harley wants this for him, is happy for him, but he can see that his brother just wishes he knew where he fit in in Peter's school life. In their school life now. Because as much as Peter thought it, they really could be brothers soon. He knows that Tony has been signing adoption papers for Harley and discussing the idea of his with May.
It feels as natural as breathing to pull away from his best friend and introduce Harley as his brother.
"But you don't have a brother," says Michelle as Harley steps forward, his blond hair and crooked southern smile so different yet similar.
"I didn't," Peter corrects. Both Michelle and Ned nod, but he knows MJ hasn't dropped it quite yet.
"What's your name, loser?"
"Harley Keener," he throws an arm over Peter's shoulder a little more relaxed at the prospect of not being immediately rejected and he looks into Michelle's eyes.
"You don't sound like you're from around here."
"You caught me." He shrugs, yet the smile never leaves his face. She narrows her eyes at him.
"So what's your deal?"
"Shot a guy with a potato gun who turned out to be worth a lot of money."
"Convenient."
"Like you wouldn't believe."
"Hmm, you don't seem scared enough."
"Of you?"
"Of the rich guy's power." She pauses. "Or me."
"Nothing to be scared of."
"Why," she asks through a fake bark of laughter, "'Cause we're pretty?"
"'Cause Peter likes both of you. The men in our family seem to have a thing for the intense type but they have pretty good instincts."
"Harley," Peter whines and Harley's smile widens exponentially, but Michelle has gone quiet.
"And you must be Ned," Harley says on a roll, looking the boy up and down before winking. Even knowing it's a joke makes Peter blush for his friend and elbow his brother in the side, dislodging his arm from around his shoulders. "That wasn't even flirty. That was friendly."
"Not even southerners are that friendly," Peter says, but Harley only laughs. "Please don't wink at my friends."
The two of them look back at Ned and Michelle who seem to be trying to come to terms with this new accented addition to Peter's life.
"Look! You broke them!"
As if spurred into action MJ blinks then turns around abruptly as her cheeks start heating up.
"I have to get my sketchbook from my locker." She glances back at Peter, finally letting a real smile creep onto her face. "I'm glad you're okay."
Once she's gone, both Ned and Harley turn to face Peter.
"Why're you not dating her yet?" asks Harley, but Peter ignores him in favor of answering Ned's question.
"Are you really okay?"
"Yeah," Peter confirms. "It's been a lot, dealing with being back and everything, but I'm good. What about you, man?"
"My parents were heartbroken, you know? So now they're like really protective. I don't even remember anything. One minute we were all on our field trip and the next we were in the middle of the museum but the exhibit was completely different and they weren't even open. Then when I got home my parents said that...that I'd died."
Ned looks like he's seconds from either crying or having an asthma attack. Peter opens his locker and grabs his friend's backup inhaler and holds it out to him. Ned smiles but shakes his head.
"I forgot you had that."
"I got a couple of epipens too."
Harley rolls his eyes, but he's smiling too even as he coughs out a teasing: Dorks, that has Peter sticking his tongue out at him.
For once, things feel safe and normal even though the two of them aren't at the tower. Peter knows that that should have been a sign.
-§-
yo futher muckers
how goes it?
hope everyones safe & well
as always, lemme know how ya felt about this or any other chappies,
tho i hope yall enjoyed
black lives matter ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
love y'all
-- angel janeé xoxo 💋
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Our Dad's an Ir⎊n Dad || Marvel
Fanfiction[sequel to A Dad of Iron Will] Tony's retired. Mostly. He brought his kid back (and half the population with him), but it's been months since he and Pepper have had a full house. Now Harley's home and Peter's back and not even Tony knows what they'l...
