Chapter Text
Show Me What I’m Looking For
Chapter 1.
A Hell Of A Year
For a man who had always had, at best, an apathy for children it had always seemed strange that Tony Stark would take it upon himself to take care of an orphaned teeanger with more baggage than United Airlines. Peter Parker had stumbled into Tony and Pepper’s life, quite literally, by way of their ventilation system around one year prior to the meeting with the Midtown Principle they were currently in the office waiting for. Peter had, yet again, been beaten up in a fight.
“I’m sure the kid didn’t mean to get in another fight” Tony was saying as the two of them waited in the office for Peter to be brought in, “It was probably that Flash douchebag picking on him again”
“Tony, what have we – sorry, I – spent the best part of a year trying to teach him?” Pepper replied with an impatient sigh
“That violence is bad, and he should rise above it” Tony replied, using the matter-of-fact tone he had which drove Pepper insane at times like this, “But c’mon…can you really blame him? Even you said you wanted to lamp one on the kid after the Christmas fayre. He said you looked like a Stepford Wife!”
“Yes, the difference is, I have the strength of mind not to do it” Pepper snapped, “A quality which you and our nearly-adopted son don’t seem to possess”
“Peter’s got way more impulse control than I have” Tony protested.
“That’s hardly a high bar, is it?” Pepper retorted. Tony seemed to register this as a defeat and slumped in his chair, pulling out his phone as he did so.
“You’re texting? Now?” Pepper asked.
“I’m telling Rogers we’re going to be late for training because the kid got in another fight, if you must know” Tony replied, “And before you say it’s none of Steve’s business let me remind you that the last time Peter got into a fight, Steve agreed if he did it again, we could personally make sure Peter appeared with him in his next PSA. Now, you can’t tell me you don’t wanna see that Pep”
Pepper’s mouth twitched for a second as she imagined the sight. She kicked Tony for making her lose her cool resolve just as an annoyed looking Peter entered the office followed by his principle and Michelle Jones. Pepper and Tony both shot MJ a confused look as she sat down next to Peter, who was avoiding their eye-contact like Medusa.
“Miss Jones insisted on coming to the meeting as she witnessed the altercation” Principle Johnson stated as she took her seat behind her desk.
“Also, I’m doing a report on local troubled teens for the school paper” MJ added, “And Peter here has become something of a muse”
She patted Peter affectionately on the shoulder, but he shrugged her hand off and continued to stare at the wall with a steely expression on his face. Determined not to make eye-contact with either of his guardians. From what they could see, Peter had definitely come off worse in the fight. He had a bloody nose, a black eye and his usually pristine hair was all over the place.
Tony smirked. He liked MJ. She wasn’t afraid to give Peter the grounded teasing that he needed to keep his head in check.
Principle Johnson rolled his eyes and turned to face Pepper and Tony. Peter slumped in his chair and blushed as Pepper leaned forward.
“Was it Flash again?” she asked
“Yes, I’m afraid so” Principle Johnson replied with a sigh, “Frankly, Miss Potts, Mr. Stark, I’m at the end of my rope with the stupid rivalry between these two. This is their seventh altercation is as many weeks and there seems to be no letting up. Both are as bad as one another”
“Except Flash is worse because he’s a sexist, homophobic scumbag and I only punched him today because he made a freshman cry” Peter spoke up, determined to get his side across before Principle Johnson through him under the bus.
“I agree with that, to be fair” MJ piped up. Peter shot her a smile of appreciation.
“Miss Jones, you promised to be impartial” Principle Johnson said icily. Pepper shot MJ a glare. “Now, we understand that Peter alleges that Eugene may have made some offensive comments-
-”I’m not alleging, he did ”
-”But we really need Mr Parker to begin understanding that violence need not to be the answer to every single problem he has”
“Hold up, hold up, hold up” Tony spoke up. Pepper and Peter, for the first time since the latter entered the room, seemed to be on the same page as both sighed and sat back. Powerless to stop Tony making the situation any worse.
Tony faced Peter, who gulped.
“I need you to tell me the truth” Tony said firmly
Peter didn’t reply but did nod
“Did you hit Flash?”
Peter nodded.
“Did you hit Flash first?”
Peter shook his head. Pepper sat up.
“Did Flash make the comments you say he did”
“Yes!” Peter replied angrily, “He walked straight up to Ned and called him a fat, useless waste of space and then called that freshman kid a fag! And he said the usual things he says to me….not that that matters”
Pepper wanted to kick herself as she felt her anger at Peter evaporate upon hearing his words.
“OK, I’m confused” Pepper said, “If you say that Eugene was the one making all these awful comments then why were you the first one to get hit?”
Peter blushed.
MJ tried to hide a smirk.
“I may have….made a joke about the only thing smaller than Flash’s chances of getting into MIT was his... y’know ”
Pepper hid her head in her hands, and kicked Tony as he audibly smirked. The billionaire just about managed to disguise it as a conveniently timed cough.
“I...see…” Principle Johnson said slowly, “That was not the story we got from Mr. Thompson”
“Well, it’s the truth” Peter said. His eyes met Tony’s for a brief second, which seemed to inspire in Peter the confidence to sit up and address the rest of the room directly
“Listen, Principle Johnson….Pep….Tony, I guess” Peter said with a sigh, “I know that I shouldn’t have let Flash bring me down to his level, and I know I need to learn not to hit out at the first sign of trouble but….y’know, like I said, he’s a dick and he goes out of his way to get at me”
“It’s true” MJ piped up once again, “Peter never provokes Flash into anything. It’s always him who starts it.”
“Miss Jones”
“Journalistic integrity, I’m just reporting the facts” MJ said defensively. Tony smirked once again, he liked this girl a lot.
“Regardless, I can’t and won’t have students fighting in this school” Principal Johnson said, regaining his authoritative nature, “Mr Parker will be excluded from school for the rest of the week and if this ever happens again, we may have to think about whether he and Mr Thompson can continue to coexist in the same school”
Peter rolled his eyes. Those exact words had left the Principal’s mouth at least seven times.
“We understand” Pepper replied, “And rest assured Principal Johnson that Peter will be punished to the full extent we deem necessary - isn’t that right Tony”
“No ice cream for a week kiddo” Tony said seriously. Peter and MJ giggled as Pepper rolled her eyes, “And y’know….you will be spending a lot of time with your Uncle Steve over the next week”
The smiley, snarky demeanour fell from Peter’s face pretty quickly.
“I just do not understand why that man still has his job!” Pepper was on a rant as the team sat down for dinner that night, “Here Peter is - sticking up for his friend and a kid he doesn’t even know, doesn’t even throw the first punch and then he still gets the same punishment as the kid who insulted everyone and started hitting out”
“You’ve changed your tune” Peter muttered. Pepper glared at him.
“Well, yes, I have to look...y’know like I don’t think my future adoptive son getting into his seventh fight in as many weeks ” Pepper’s impression of Principal Johnson was uncanny, “Is a good thing - and I am pissed at you for not listening to me after last time”
“So am I, for the record” Tony chimed in
“I’m disgusted” said Natasha over-dramatically
“Kids these days” Sam said with a smirk, pretending to shake his head in shame. Peter laughed.
“Do I really have to do a PSA with Steve?” Peter asked. He was hoping Pepper’s sudden swing to his side of the argument might spare him the humiliation.
Peter knew his wish wasn’t going to be granted as every adult in the room faced him, all of them carrying evil glints in their eyes.
“I didn’t know that was how you’d decided to punish the kid!” Sam said, sounding positively gleeful, “Oh this is gon’ be good.”
“What’s gonna be good?” Steve asked as he walked into the kitchen. Peter slumped in his chair as Steve ruffled his hair.
“Your new PSA with Pete” Tony said, “We’re all very excited to see the end results”
Peter blushed.
“Steve, you don’t have to do this” he said pleadingly, “I mean - I know you all like to kid that you’re all my parents now or whatever but you don’t have to get this involved. It’s not like you’re legally obligated to punish me.”
“No can do kiddo, I already made a promise to Tony” Steve said lightly, “But don’t worry - it won’t be too bad, in fact I think you’ll find it very relevant and helpful”
“Really?” Peter replied, “Cos for what it’s worth I think more kids in my grade started smoking marijuana after your anti-Drugs PSA”
Steve looked a tad stung.
“And were you one of them?” Natasha asked teasingly, “Do we need to search your room and bust you?”
Peter shook his head, ignoring the fleeting feeling of anxiety he got even from just a joke about someone invading his private space.
“No need” said Pepper in a deadpan tone, “We spy on him”
Peter put his fork down in fake disgust.
“You swore to me the A.I. would keep my secrets!” he exclaimed. “What is the point of living with a tech obsessed billionaire if his artificial intelligence won’t even keep your secrets for you?”
Tony smiled at Peter. This had all been such a long-time coming. The boy they’d met a little over a year ago would not have been able to talk, let alone joke, with all of the team as they sat around the table for dinner. He’d done so well and come such a long way, Tony was nothing but proud.
“So, Cap, what’s the subject of the PSA anyway?” Tony asked. Peter went pale, clearly dreading the answer.
“It’s about STDs” Steve admitted.
Peter gawped blankly at Steve
“Are you shitting me?” he barked
“Language, Peter” Pepper reminded him sternly. Peter rolled his eyes but complied and put a quarter in the swear jar.
“Nope, we’re going to be talking about how to have sex safely!” Steve announced, seeming to genuinely miss quite why this idea might be causing Peter the distress it clearly was.
Tony, Nat and Sam had all descended into hysterical laughter. Pepper was struggling to hide her amusement as Peter held his head in his hands.
“I’m never going to fight anyone again!” Peter announced before joining in with everyone else’s laugher.
Peter went to bed pretty soon after they finished dinner, stating that he needed to get his head in order if he was going to be talking about sex education with Steve. As the rest of the team gradually made their own way to bed, Tony and Pepper snuggled up together on the couch.
“You gotta admit, you’re a little bit proud of him” Tony said, giving Pepper a kiss on her forehead, “He’s always sticking up for others”
“I know, and I am” Pepper sighed, “And I’m not really mad at him. I just wish he’d start to take things onboard. He’s a good kid, but he’s hanging on by a thread at that school and I’d hate to see him lose out on an opportunity just because he can’t keep his anger at bay sometimes”
“You’re right” Tony admitted, “As you so often are. Hopefully the humiliation of a sex education PSA might finally straighten him out a bit.”
“Poor kid” Pepper said with a chuckle, “He was on good form tonight. I couldn’t believe how much he was willing to have a joke at his own expense. That’s massive.”
“We’re his family now” Tony said, his heart swelling with pride as he did so, “I think he finally feels safe and happy”
“God, I hope” Pepper muttered, “He deserves it. After everything he’s been through, that kid deserves the world.”
“I agree” Tony stated, “Hey….did you notice how MJ couldn’t keep her eyes off him through that whole meeting”
“Mmmm” Pepper agreed, “D’you think he realizes she’s basically in love with him?”
Tony paused for a second.
“I don’t think she knows she’s basically in love with him”
Pepper curled into Tony’s chest and quickly fell to sleep. Tony sat awake, thinking about the state of the boy who had come crashing through their vent just over a year before. The last twelve months had certainly been unexpected.
A few floors above them, Peter Parker lay awake. He felt….strange. They’d all been laughing at him, but in a nice way, and he’d joined in and it had been fine. It felt right. Like he belonged. Turning over to pick up his phone, Peter grinned as he saw he’d received a message from MJ:
Really sucks that you got yourself suspended Parker. Who am I going to pick on in History now?!
Peter grinned as he reached for his phone to text her back
Haha! You’ll just have to suppress your meanness until next week. Or you can just text me the insults you would have called me throughout the day.
Having friends was another thing that was confusing Peter’s head. He’d never really done the ‘friends’ thing before he’d met Tony and Pepper. Now, he had two really good friends and everyone else at school except Flash seemed to actually like him. Peter didn’t really understand why a lot of the time, but they did.
MJ text back
Gonna be real for a sec: I think you’re really brave for standing up to Flash like you do and it’s really unfair that you got in trouble for it today…..also you’re a loser.
Peter grinned. He felt warm and content. Everything was good, but as always, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was something nasty waiting just around the corner. Things never went this well for this long.
Putting the negative thoughts to one side, Peter looked around his new bedroom and couldn’t help but feel amazed at how much things had changed for him in a year.
It had been a hell of a year.