Chapter Text
“Pete, do you think you could help here?”
“I am helping,” Peter replied, making faces at Morgan, who was balanced against his thighs as his legs were drawn towards his chest as he lay on his bed. “I’m entertaining the Morgs Monster.”
May stared at him exasperatedly. “Peter.”
Morgan gurgled at him, her cheek dimpling. Peter wasn’t quite sure if it was a smile or not, but he liked to think it was.
“Peter, where’s the travel adaptor?” May asked him.
“On my desk,” Peter replied distractedly.
“Aha.”
Morgan gurgled again, sucking on her fist. Peter ran his finger along her velvety cheek, wiping a bit of drool from her chin.
“Alright,” May announced finally, closing the suitcase. “You are packed, my boy. Hand over my goddaughter.”
Peter turned his head towards her, as she beckoned to him impatiently.
Peter wrinkled his nose slightly, but lifted Morgan up, kissing her cheek before handing her over to May.
“Don’t puke all over Aunty May like you did to me earlier,” he warned her.
Morgan just cooed.
They were having a family dinner at the Parkers’ apartment the night before Peter would leave for Europe. Peter had already packed, but then May had taken one look at his open suitcase and proclaimed it a disaster, taking it upon herself to repack it while Pepper and Happy cooked dinner. Tony had left Morgan with Peter while he went in search of a neck pillow- something May had just thought of and insisted Peter needed for the plane. Peter pointed out that he didn’t need one and if he decided he did, he could buy one at the airport.
But May had insisted and begun to freak out, so Tony had offered to go get one before Peter could begin to freak out. He’d spent much of the past five weeks since Morgan had been born trying to keep Peter excited about Europe and not freaking out about being away for two weeks.
“Here you go, kid,” Tony said as he walked through the door, tossing a pillow to Peter.
Peter caught it automatically, groaning as he saw that it was covered in a design that looked very similar to Spider-Man’s web.
“Dad, seriously?” he complained.
“I could’ve got you the Iron Man one,” Tony retorted, and Peter considered that.
“This is fine,” he sighed, making a mental note to shove it in the bottom of his backpack. Or maybe conveniently forget it all together.
Tony grinned knowingly, ruffling his hair as he passed him.
Peter tossed the pillow onto his bed and then helped Tony set the table as May kept bouncing Morgan in her arms, her nose pressed to Morgan’s head. Peter was pretty sure that she was just inhaling the baby smell, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. Morgan usually smelled pretty good- dirty diapers aside.
Peter didn’t have much experience with babies or little kids, save for the ones he met on Spider-Man patrols, but he was sure that Morgan was the easiest baby to ever grace the planet Earth. Of course, he was not at all biased in this decision.
Dinner was fun, as it always was. Tony took great joy in finding reasons to make Happy hold Morgan, who still wasn’t comfortable holding her. The only time Peter had ever seen Morgan cry when she wasn’t hungry, tired or needed a diaper change, was when Happy was holding her.
“Babies are like horses, they can sense fear,” May told Happy.
“Hey, I’m not afraid of her,” Happy said defensively. “She’s two feet long, what’s to be afraid of?”
“This is my point,” Tony retorted.
“Don’t worry,” Pepper reassured Happy. “Once she’s a little older, I know you’re going to be wonderful with her.”
“You can have Downton Abbey tea parties with her,” Tony teased and Happy glared at him while Peter choked back a laugh.
They had all agreed that May would be the one to take Peter to the airport the next morning- so as not to create a crowd at the airport. Which meant that Peter had to say goodbye to Tony, Pepper and Morgan that night.
“You’re going to have so much fun,” Pepper said with a smile, folding Peter into her arms. “Make sure you send us a lot of photos, ok?”
Peter nodded against her shoulder. “I will. You’ll send me photos of Morgan, right?”
Pepper kissed his cheek. “I will spam you with photos constantly,” she promised.
Peter smiled and bent over the car seat on the table where Morgan lay sleeping.
“See ya, Morgs,” he whispered, although Morgan could truly sleep through anything.
A few times already Tony had taken her down to the lab with him while she was sleeping- though never while he was working on anything dangerous, and although his music wasn’t being played at its usual volume, she still slept through it all.
Peter kissed the top of her head, inhaling the sweet baby smell and then straightened up.
Tony immediately snagged him for a hug and Peter hugged him tightly, burying his face against Tony’s neck.
“You call me if you need anything,” Tony said quietly. “Any time. Got it?”
“Got it,” Peter mumbled, his voice muffled.
Tony had been very unhappy with him a few weeks ago, after he’d had a bad nightmare and hadn’t called Tony. It had been four am, and he’d felt bad about the idea of calling Tony now that he had a newborn daughter. May had totally snitched on him to Tony the next morning when she’d discovered what had happened, and Tony had been at their door forty-five minutes later, whisking Peter out the door and into the car with as grim a face as Peter had ever seen on him.
“You got your phone, kid?” Tony asked as he drove.
“Yeah?” Peter asked confusedly.
He handed it over to Tony when he put out a hand, watching in bewilderment as Tony unlocked it, opened his contacts to pull up his own name and pressed the dreamcatcher icon.
Immediately Tony’s own phone sounded, and Peter flinched a little at the volume. He’d never actually heard what happened on Tony’s end whenever Peter pressed the button.
“Oh, look. It does work,” Tony said in mock surprise, silencing his own phone and handing Peter’s phone back to him.
Peter sighed, slumping down in his seat. “May snitched on me,” he said glumly.
“If this is third grade, then yes, she absolutely snitched on you,” Tony agreed.
He said nothing else for the whole drive back to Lenox Hill until he parked in the garage. But instead of getting out of the car, Tony turned to Peter.
“Why didn’t you call me, Pete?”
Peter lowered his gaze. “It wasn’t that bad-”
Tony cut him off, making a sound like a buzzer.
“Try again, Pinocchio.”
Peter sighed. “I didn’t want to wake Morgan. Or you or Pepper,” he admitted.
Tony reached over the centre console and tapped the underside of Peter’s chin, making him look up at him.
“One more time for the people in the back,” Tony said firmly. “Make sure your super-hearing is really tuned in, alright? Focus up. Morgan changes nothing with you and me. Operations as normal. Status quo is ongoing. Meaning you call me- any time for any reason. I’ve gone seventy-two hours straight without sleep before more than once. Your sister’s sleep schedule isn’t even in the minor leagues of sleeplessness. It’s not even little league. It’s essentially a game of catch. You hear me?”
Peter nodded. “I hear you.”
“Good,” Tony said and opened his door.
Peter blinked, a little startled. “That’s it?”
Tony scoffed. “That’s it from me. You gotta answer to Pepper now.”
Peter froze for a moment, then scrambled from the car and hurried after Tony.
“Oh, come on,” he protested.
He’d never had occasion to be in trouble from Pepper before, but he knew this was not going to be pretty. Pepper was generally content to leave any Spider-Man matters for Tony and May to deal with, and he just never had any Peter Parker situations that really required her to step in. But half an hour later, Peter truly understood why Tony never crossed Pepper, and he had promised that he would never again not call Tony for any reason.
The group from Midtown who were going to Europe had to meet at JFK airport at seven o’clock in the morning. When May dropped Peter off, she hugged him tightly.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned him. “You stay in touch, you be safe and you bring me back a really nice present. Ok?”
Peter laughed. “Ok, May,” he agreed. “Love you.”
She smiled softly. “Love you too, honey. Have fun.”
Ned and MJ were already there when Peter found the meeting spot, Ned looking half asleep.
“Nice pillow,” MJ greeted Peter with a smirk.
Peter made a face, glancing at the travel neck pillow attached to his backpack that in the end, he hadn’t managed to leave behind.
“May insisted I need one, so naturally, Dad bought the most embarrassing one he could find.”
MJ laughed.
Their classmates arrived in trickles. Betty arrived with her best friends Dot and Susie, and after getting their names checked off by Mr Harrington, they made a beeline for Peter.
“Do you have new baby photos?” Susie demanded eagerly.
Peter grinned at them, pulling out his phone.
“Only like, a thousand,” he confirmed.
Even after being personal intern to Iron Man, adopted by Tony Stark, gaining Pepper Potts as a stepmother and hanging out with the Avengers, Peter had never been more popular in his life than the last week of the school year after Morgan’s birth had been announced- mostly among girls. Fortunately, his baby sister was Peter’s favourite topic of conversation.
Pepper and Tony were keen to keep their kids as far from the public eye as possible. As with the adoption, Morgan’s birth had been announced via a statement through Stark Industries, accompanied by a few carefully selected photos- one of Pepper, Tony, Morgan and Peter; one of Pepper and Morgan; and one of Morgan sleeping.
But on Pepper’s personal Instagram, the photo she’d posted had been the one she’d taken of Peter holding Morgan for the first time, gazing at her in wonder as Tony perched on the arm of the chair beside him, watching them both with a soft smile.
Pepper had captioned the photo with ‘A proud Daddy and his babies’ with several heart and heart eye emojis. Peter couldn’t even really muster up the energy to be indignant about the caption, he’d been too overcome with feels. He had that photo as the lock screen on his phone now.
He happily scrolled through endless photos of Morgan on his phone to show Betty, Dot and Susie until at last Mr Harrington called for everyone’s attention to direct them to the check in counter. In the end, they were a group of about fifteen- some of the seniors had summer plans or jobs, some had family obligations, or their families couldn’t afford it. Aside from the fact that group of fifteen included Flash and one of his friends, Peter was pretty happy with their group.
Flash was bragging about how his parents had paid for him to have a first-class ticket. Peter chose not to point out that while Tony had offered the same for him, Peter had declined so that he could sit with Ned and MJ.
When Peter got to the front of the line, the woman checking him in smiled at him as she tapped away at the keyboard.
“Alright, Mr Parker. It looks like you’re all checked into first class.”
Peter’s eyes snapped up from where he’d been stuffing his passport back into his backpack.
“First class?” he repeated. “There must be some mistake.”
The woman’s brow creased as she stared back at the computer. “No, it says right here. Peter Parker… oh.”
Peter would never get used to that sound- the glint of recognition when people recognised his name. It didn’t happen too often- it depended on how much attention paid to Tony to whether they remembered the name of his adopted kid.
The woman’s smile softened as she handed him the ticket. “It’s no mistake, Mr Parker,” she reassured him. “Here you go. Have a wonderful time. And may I just say, your sister is the most precious baby I’ve ever seen.”
Despite himself, Peter couldn’t help but grin. “She is,” he agreed. “Thank you.”
He’d only just turned away when he heard Ned gasp and utter a high-pitched, “Dude.”
Peter turned to face him to see Ned gaping at the man checking him in at the next counter. A sudden suspicion took root in Peter’s mind and he grinned as he was ushered through. When Ned and MJ met him on the other side of check-in, Peter’s suspicions were confirmed. All three of them had received mysterious upgrades to first class.
“Your dad is the best,” Ned told him solemnly.
Peter beamed. “I know.”
Once they were through security, Ned went to buy snacks and MJ went browsing through magazines. Peter pressed his back against a nearby pillar by the wall and pulled out his phone to call Tony.
“Hey, kid,” Tony greeted him as he picked up.
“Hey, Dad.”
“You at the airport?”
“Yeah,” Peter nodded. “Just got through security after checking in.”
“Ah,” Tony replied, and Peter could practically hear him grinning.
Peter grinned himself. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, Pepper wouldn’t let me offer the SI plane for the trip, so I figured this was a better alternative,” Tony said nonchalantly. “It’s a long flight, you know this kid. You’re not going to spend all that time cramped in economy.”
Peter snorted with laughter. “Dad, when was the last time you flew economy?” he asked him.
“You sound like Pepper,” Tony complained, not answering the question.
Peter laughed.
“How’s Morgan?” he asked. “What’s she doing?”
“Uh, judging by the face she’s currently making, she’s contemplating making a very big poop,” Tony replied, and Peter snorted again.
His phone buzzed against his ear, and Peter pulled it away from his ear to see Tony had sent him a photo.
“You did not just send me a photo of Morgan’s poop face,” Peter deadpanned.
“You’re the one who was worried about missing stuff,” Tony retorted.
Peter rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Dad. I’m going to go get some food before we board.”
Tony’s voice softened fractionally. “Alright, bud. Good idea. Who knows what they’re going to give you on the plane.”
Peter laughed again. “Love you, Dad. Ned and MJ say thank you too.”
“Love you too, kid. Text when you land.”
Peter promised and said goodbye, hanging up the phone and opening the photo from Tony.
“Morgan?” Ned asked unnecessarily, appearing next to him.
“Yeah. Apparently this is her ‘poop’ face that Dad thought I needed to see,” Peter rolled his eyes.
Ned laughed. “I wonder if Jacob was this cute when he was born and I was just too young to appreciate it,” he wondered.
“He was definitely cute, but not as cute as Morgan,” Peter grinned.
He couldn’t wait for Ned and MJ to meet Morgan. Tony and Pepper were keeping her pretty isolated so far- only family and the Avengers had met her thus far. So Peter had been bombarding his friends with photos until they got to meet her in person.
By the time they boarded the plane, Flash was still bragging about his own upgrade, loudly telling his friend that he would see him when they landed, because he was only in economy. Flash’s smug comments persisted all the way down the jet bridge and onto the plane, until Peter, Ned and MJ found their seats in first class.
“How the hell did you two get upgrades?” he demanded of Ned and MJ. “Did you parents sell a kidney? Pull a bank heist?”
“My dad upgraded them as a surprise for us,” Peter replied, fighting to keep a straight face. “He knew I wouldn’t leave them alone in economy, so he upgraded us all.”
Flash’s friend was passing through on his way to his economy seat and a look of envy crossed his face. Flash had the decency to look shamefaced as he sank silently into his first-class seat.
Peter settled into his seat and set about making himself comfortable. He had the sunglasses Tony had given him long ago and the new headphones Clint and Laura had given him after Morgan had been born.
“You’re supposed to give the older siblings a little gift when you give the baby a gift,” Clint had explained to Peter. “So they don’t feel left out, you know?”
Peter frowned. “Isn’t that when the siblings are like little kids?”
Clint shrugged. “I can take them back-”
“No,” Peter said hastily. “Thanks, Clint. They’re awesome.”
Clint grinned knowingly.
The flight to London passed quickly. Ned and Peter watched movies and played games while MJ read or slept for the whole time. The food, as Tony had predicted, wasn’t great. Especially when Peter’s only real experience with plane food had been on the SI jet.
It was about nine-thirty at night when they landed in London and almost eleven before they had arrived at their hotel and checked in. Ned and Peter were sharing a room and Ned claimed the closest bed.
“This is going to be the best summer,” he vowed to Peter, texting his parents to let them know they’d arrived safely.
Peter grinned, writing his own message into the family group chat.
Peter: We’re here! At the hotel. All safe and sound x
Pepper was the first to reply.
Pepper: I’m glad, honey. Get some sleep. We all love you and miss you.
This was followed by a photo of Morgan staring wide-eyed at the camera with her fist in her mouth, wearing a onesie that read ‘I get my awesomeness from my big brother.’
Peter chose to blame the time difference and the long flight for the sudden tears that sprung to his eyes. He sent back a series of heart emojis to Pepper and then got ready for bed.
It was going to be a great trip, he knew. But suddenly, he wished he was back in New York.