Chapter Text
Tony Stark was not a morning person. In fact, the only thing that could get him out of bed before noon was a meeting, and even then, it was a toss-up if he would actually show up or not. It was only through Pepper’s determination when she showed up at his mansion and woke him up on days when he had an important meeting that he actually managed to make them.
Today, though, he had no meetings – at least, he was fairly sure of that – so he was dead to the world, passed out in his bed half-naked, skin still slightly stained with oil from working in the garage until late hours of the night. Pepper had the day off, even, so there was no one to disturb him from his sleep.
No one except JARVIS.
The lights flicked on by themselves as JARVIS spoke.
“Sir, there is someone at the gate.”
When Tony did not immediately respond, JARVIS’ voice grew just a bit louder.
“Sir, there is someone at the gate.”
Tony groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.
“Tell ‘em to leave a message,” he grumbled, “It’s too early.”
“It’s 11:00 AM, Sir,” JARVIS said, “And I think you want to see this.”
The tablet next to his bed dinged lightly, and Tony groaned. It was only because he knew he had programmed his AI to only wake him up in case of emergencies that kept him from rolling back over and going back to sleep.
Clumsily, he reached out for the tablet and pulled it to his face. It was already showing the feed from the gates.
A small child was standing at the gate, bouncing on the back of his heels. He was dressed in an oversized, puffy red coat, his hood pulled up over his messy brown curls, and the jacket rising so far up that the only thing that Tony could really see was his wide brown eyes as he looked up at the gate, a few curls poking out around them.
The boy was all alone.
“Uh, J,” Tony said, blinking as he stared at the image in front of him, “Care to explain to me why there is a toddler standing at my gate?”
“Approximately two minutes ago, a blue sedan drove up to the gate. The child got out, and the car drove off. The license plates trace back to a local car rental company.”
Tony furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the scene in front of him, watching as the child reached a small hand up to tap at the gate.
“Hello?” the boy called in a tiny voice, “Mr. Stark?”
“Uh, J? What do I do in this situation?” Tony asked, completely out of his element. What did one do when someone drops a child off in front of their house?
“I recommend calling the authorities for child abandonment,” JARVIS said, “However, you should not leave the child outside alone. He is around the age of three or four years old, and he should not be left alone.”
Tony blanched.
“You want me to bring a child into the mansion?” Tony asked, “Me? My mansion?”
“The other option is to leave a young child outside by himself in the cold until the authorities arrive,” JARVIS said blandly.
“I’m not seeing the problem,” Tony shot back.
“The authorities might.”
“Hello?” the small voice from the tablet called once again, and Tony groaned, leaning his head back on the pillow. Where was Pepper when he needed her?
Well, how hard could it be? He just had to watch the kid for a few minutes. That couldn’t be too bad.
He slid his feet off the bed and grabbed a nearby shirt.
“Open the gate, J. Send him in.”
“Of course, Sir.”
He spared a glance at the tablet as the gate opened. The child jumped in surprise, his brown eyes wide and fascinated, before he began to walk forward. His little legs moved quickly as he made his way up the long driveway to the mansion.
Tony used the few moments before the child made it to the door to quickly throw on some clothes and freshen up just a bit in the bathroom.
The child announced his arrival with a quiet knock on the door.
Tony swung the door open and looked down at the boy. He looked even smaller in person, staring up at Tony like the man was the most terrifying, or the most fascinating, creature in existence.
Then, slowly, the child reached into the pocket of the oversized coat and handed Tony an envelope.
“Uh, thank you?” Tony said, raising his eyebrows. He took the envelope, but his focus was on the child in front of him, “You look a little small to be a mailman.”
The boy’s face scrunched up. He shook his head.
“I’m Peter,” he said, voice tiny and quiet, “Mommy… mommy said to give it to you.”
“Uh huh. What, is she some kind of fan?” Tony asked. He ushered Peter in a bit and closed the door behind him.
Peter just shook his head, the motion barely noticeable in the huge coat.
Deciding that it couldn’t hurt anybody to read some fan mail from whatever deranged woman would leave their child at his gate, Tony opened up the letter and pulled the paper out.
Tony,
I don’t know if you remember me. We met almost five years ago at a Christmas party in New York. My boyfriend and I got into a fight at the party, and he stormed off. You swooped in, promising to make my night better, and I foolishly agreed. You took me back to your house, and we spent the night together.
I left the next morning before you woke up. I could not handle seeing you. I could not handle facing what I had done to my Richard, how I had betrayed him. I tried to pretend that night did not exist. I have been trying to pretend like that night never happened since.
However, I can no longer do so because someone is trying to kill us.
Three weeks ago, someone broke into our house. Luckily, we were not home at the time. Two weeks ago, someone attempted to run us off the road. One week ago, someone shot at us while we were leaving a restaurant. Our assailants have avoided the police at every turn, and while Richard has been working tirelessly to try and figure out who wants us dead, we are at a loss. Whoever it is seems to be stopping at nothing to kill us.
We have decided to leave the country until we, or the police, can track down our assailants. However, without having any way of knowing what lengths they will go, I cannot continue risking my baby’s life. He is innocent. He does not deserve to be hurt because someone is after us.
I wish I could have told you all of this in person, but I could not be seen at your residence.
Please, protect Peter.
Protect our son.
I was never going to tell you. Richard loves Peter as his own, and he has agreed to raise him as such. However, I cannot risk his life. I need you to look after him until we can safely come back to the country. I promise to make it up to you when we return.
Until then,
Mary Parker
The letter fell out of his hands as he finished reading it. He was frozen, staring as the paper fluttered to the ground below him, landing between his feet and the tiny shoes on the child… on Peter… on his son.
“Sir?” JARVIS spoke up, “Should I contact the authorities?”
Tony choked on his own breath. His eyes finally drew from the letter to the face of the child in front of him. Peter looked back at him with hesitant, confused brown eyes. Brown eyes that were the same that Tony saw in the mirror every day.
“Pepper,” he choked out finally, “Call Pepper.”
“Need I remind you that Ms. Potts has the day off?”
“Just call her,” Tony said, “Tell her it’s an emergency. I need… I need… shit.”
He couldn’t think straight. All he could think about was the child in front of him and the letter that claimed he was his.
That was impossible. There was no way that Peter was his son. Tony was always careful. He was always safe. There was no way he could have a child.
But he did remember Mary. He remembered taking a pretty biologist to bed after witnessing a fallout between her and her boyfriend. He remembered assuming that the two had just broken up from the way the man had stormed off. He remembered listening to her tell him about her research.
He remembered her.
“Shit,” he said again, bringing a shaking hand to run it across his face, “Shit. I need… JARVIS, we’re going to run a paternity test.”
“Of course, Sir.”
Mind made up with a course of action, Tony let out a shaking breath. He looked down at Peter, who was still staring at him with those wide, brown eyes, and wiped his hands against his pants.
“Okay, kid. Let’s… let’s get down to the lab.”
The walk to the lab took a lot longer than it should have with Peter and his tiny legs, but they made it. Peter did not protest against the cheek swab, much to Tony’s relief. He sat on the table, stiff in his coat, and watched apprehensively as Tony began to run their DNA.
Tony did his best to tune out the fact that there was a child sitting on his table. He focused on the project at hand. DNA analysis was not something he had ever tackled before, but luckily, he had JARVIS.
And he was a genius. He could figure it out.
He was halfway through the analysis when Pepper showed up. At this point, JARVIS had mostly taken over, with Tony watching anxiously, desperate for it to come back as not a match, for this all to be a big misunderstanding.
“Anthony Stark, this better be good,” Pepper said as she entered the lab, her heels clicking against the floor, “I always make sure to schedule your meetings around my days off, so…”
She trailed off, her eyes falling on the little, red marshmallow sitting on the table.
“Tony, who’s this?”
Tony glanced back at the boy.
“That’s Peter,” he said, “The emergency.”
“Peter,” Pepper repeated, shooting Tony an incredulous expression. She walked over to the boy, her voice falling gentle and soft, “Hey, sweetie. It’s pretty warm in here, isn’t it?”
Peter was quiet for a moment before he spoke hesitantly.
“Hot,” he said, hands fiddling with his sleeves.
“I bet it is,” Pepper agreed, “Why don’t we get you out of that coat?”
Tony glanced over, watching as Pepper helped Peter out of his coat. He had not even considered that, but now that he thought about it, it was too warm for Peter to be in that huge coat inside.
The coat came off, revealing Peter dressed in jeans and a Captain America T-shirt. Tony grimaced at the sight and turned back to the screen as JARVIS continued to analyze the DNA.
“Much better,” Pepper said, smiling at Peter, “Peter, where are your parents?”
Peter shrugged and looked down, fiddling with his hands.
“Mommy said they had to leave for a while,” he said, his voice tiny and quiet, barely audible, “And I have to stay with Mr. Stark until they come back.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” Pepper turned to Tony questioningly, eyebrow cocked, “Mr. Stark did not mention this to me.”
“If I had known, I would have,” Tony shot back tensely, “Kid showed up at the gate this morning. Had a… He had a letter.”
He grabbed the letter and shoved it over to her.
“Have a look at it yourself.”
Pepper took the letter, and he turned away as she read it. His eyes turned back to the screen.
88% complete. 89% complete.
There was a long moment of silence. Tony could feel Pepper’s eyes on the back of his head.
“Tony…” she said, voice quiet.
“I’m confirming the contents now,” Tony said, eyes never leaving the screen in front of him, “There’s no way it’s true. It’s just… this is all a misunderstanding.”
“Even if it is, that doesn’t change the fact that there is a child here, and his parents are probably headed to the airport at this moment,” Pepper whispered, her voice pitched low enough that Peter could not hear her.
“Well, that’s the authority’s problem, isn’t it?” Tony shot back.
It had to be… because it couldn’t be Tony’s.
“Tony.”
Tony ignored her. He turned back to the screen, watching as JARVIS completed the analysis.
There. Just a second more, and this would no longer be his problem. He could call the authorities and send Peter on his way, and he could wash his hands of this nightmare.
He could-
“Sir,” JARVIS said, “The analysis is complete.”
The results popped up on the screen. Luckily, JARVIS did not read them aloud, because Tony did not think he could handle hearing the words displayed on the screen in front of him. Not when Peter was in earshot, just behind him.
Not when it was the scariest thing he had ever read.
Tony was the father.
His legs crumpled, and he sat abruptly down on the chair, chest tight as he stared at the results in front of him.
He was a father. Peter, the tiny, breakable child sitting on the table, was his son.
“Oh, Tony,” Pepper whispered. For once, she did not chastise him. She just placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.
Then, she lifted her hand, turned around, and spoke to the very child whose existence had just rocked Tony’s entire world.
“Peter, why don’t we go upstairs and get something to eat,” he heard her saying, “I bet you’re hungry.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Pepper pick Peter up and rest him on her hip, carrying him out of the lab, leaving Tony alone.
“JARVIS,” he choked out, feeling like the entire world around him was caving in, “Find me everything on Mary Parker. And Peter Parker. Now.”