PTR Arachnid 24601

Ch 31 - You were there and I felt sick

3rd POV

"What?" the younger, mysterious voice asked for the millionth time, annoyed that the static interfered with their little chat.

"The plan, you idiot!" a rough voice roared impatiently. "How much farther along are you?"

"I've befriended him," he answered coolly, making sure his hate towards the other man was not shown. "He's comfortable in my presence and I don't see any signs of mistrust or unease. I've even been to the tower, though it wasn't exactly by direct invitation," the young man chuckled at the fond memory.

"Good. We will be continuing to the next part of the plan."

"I," the younger corrected, hiding his growing grin by looking down.

"What?" they faltered, confused.

"I will be continuing. You said 'we' but I don't see you doing much of the work."

The person on the monitor didn't know how to respond. His mouth opened, then closed. You could almost see an embarrassed blush on his face if it weren't so dark. 

Growing frustrated, he yelled out, "You brat! I'm the one who made the plan. I'm the one who offered to help you. I'm the one who will be finishing this."

With a sigh, the recipient to the anger pushed the older's patience, "You may have made the plan and the offer, but without me, you'd have nothing. No leads, no options, no Spider. You'd have lost your precious weapon forever."

The older clenched his jaw and ended their meeting through gritted teeth.

When Harley had his back turned and attention on Fury, Peter dragged Stark around the corner.

"Explain!?" the teen whisper-yelled, gesturing wildly to the general sound of the conversing voices a few meters away.

A half-smirk crept its way onto Tony's face. "Steve I have decided to adopt," he said, despite them not even being together or married.

"You mean you barely discussed it with Steve and then semi-went behind his back to adopt." Peter crossed his arms and gave him a disappointed parent look. If it weren't for their obvious age gap, one might think Tony was the kid and Peter, the father.

"Okay, yeah, but when Harley came home he didn't look surprised so he's fine with it."

Spider closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten like how Dr. Banner advised. He exhaled quickly and met Tony's twinkling eyes. "So he's your son now?"

"Legally, yes."

"And he'll be staying here?"

"Well, yeah. This is his home now."

"How old is he?"

"Ask him yourself." Stark peered around the corner to Harley, who seemed to be searching for him, but was then distracted by a disordered Steve. (Poor kid looked intimidated by him).

Parker just sighed again and turned to walk back to the kitchen, but was stopped.

"Wait." The billionaire motioned for the two to walk a few meters further away so it was more private. "You should tell him about Spider-Man. Your choice, but since he'll be living here, I figured it'd be difficult to hide your alter-ego from him."

"Can I even trust him?"

"Yup," he replied without a second thought.

Peter gave him a withering, skeptical look that reminded him of Natasha.