[MCU/199999] [The Amazing Spiderman] Fic: All Nightmares End (Eventually)
Title: All Nightmares End (Eventually)
Rating: G
Pairings: None in this segment
Universe: MCU/199999 plus The Amazing Spider-Man
Warnings: None
Summary: Richard Parker happens to be Tony Stark's only college friend. So when Richard dies and his only son Peter is in danger, Tony steps up. In other words, a Tony-adopts-baby!Peter story. This part aligns the events in The Amazing Spiderman to this universe.
A/N: Dedicated to rougewinter, without whom this would totally not exist. Also, many thanks to her for editing for me.
Peter hates high school.
It’s like his world just started to implode as soon as he set foot in it. And just when the whole painful ordeal is almost over (god, less than a year to go!), things just start getting worse. First, his dad abandons him for Malibu to prep for a scheduled missile demo in frikkin’ Afghanistan. Second, he finds out he can’t even stay at home ‘cause his dad’s going to be gone too long for him to be left “unsupervised” (come on, isn’t an all-seeing AI enough?). Third, his crush on Gwen Stacy, perfect specimen of humanity that she is, has only gotten stronger over the years - and she still doesn’t know he exists. Not that it’d make much difference even if she did. Her father’s strong dislike of Tony Stark (and by extension, everything with the Stark name) is legendary after all.
And then there is Flash, who is the absolute worst stereotype come to life. Jock, too much brawn and a not enough brain, and the biggest (literally and figuratively) bully ever. This year, he’s been a million times worse than normal. His dad would probably tell him that it’s because his sulky face is irresistible to bullies everywhere, but his dad also regularly tells him to bribe other students (and even teachers) to restrain Flash (since Peter has already refused, multiple times, to have Flash expelled), so Peter’s pretty sure anything his dad says about his social interactions should be taken with a grain of salt. Actually, an entire ocean’s worth of salt.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May are not going to be happy when they see him.
This is probably the first time Peter’s actually gotten into a fight. Sure, he’s had his fair share of bullies - scrawny as he is. But he is a Stark, and that means that people have generally been too afraid to actually hurt him. Mostly it’s just a lot of taunting, a little bit of pushing, and the (very) occasional locking into storage closets. But then, Peter supposes he’s been tempting fate. There’s just no way Flash would’ve backed down after Peter challenged him outright like that.
Basically, Peter’s been having the absolute worst day to top off the absolute worst month or so of his life. So when his dad calls to check on him and Aunt May reports his little fight, Peter is more than a little fed up when his dad gets on his high righteous horse.
“Look, dad, you’re not exactly a good example of the moral high ground, okay? Everyone knows you have loose morals - and I mean that in all the ways it can possibly mean, not just the implication of extreme sexual activity way. You drink like a fish - hell, you let me drink when I was what? Ten? And you’re basically a warmonger, even if you won’t admit it. For heaven’s sake, you just left your only child to show off a new missile to the American military! Just goes to show what kind of priorities you have.”
Unsurprisingly, the conversation devolves from there, and turns into the worst fight Peter has ever had with his dad, ever. By the end of it, Peter is angrier than he’s ever been, and he vows not to talk to his stuck-up, self-righteous ass of a dad forever.
So, when he finds his real father’s bag in Uncle Ben’s basement, he jumps at the chance to find out more. This is the father he should have had. A good man, by all accounts. Someone who’d never choose a weapons program over Peter. If Richard Parker hadn’t died, he’d never have had to live with Tony Stark, and he wouldn’t have had all the problems he has now.
“I know things with Tony aren’t always good, and I know that it’s been rough on you without your real dad - that you can’t even tell anyone that he even exists.” Uncle Ben says later that evening, when Uncle Ben tells him about his dad and Curt Connors, “I wish I could change it but I can’t.”
Even if his adopted dad sucks, at least he can whole-heartedly say that he has the best Uncle ever.
-----
Peter’s life starts really going to hell a week later. Things actually start out pretty good - he shows Flash up (so what if he broke a basketball backboard? It was totally worth it), has a lot of fun practising using his brand new spider-powers, and gets Oscorp’s cross-species genetics experiment to work with his real dad’s decay-rate algorithm.
But then at the end of the day he fights with Uncle Ben, and Uncle Ben dies.
And then the very next day, before he’s even decided whether or not to go to school, he finds Happy Hogan waiting to take him home. He refuses to go home at first. He thinks Happy's here because his dad’s home and he refuses to see the self-righteous idiot - his dad didn’t even call back when Aunt May left a message about Uncle Ben. But Happy stares at him solemnly and grabs his shoulder in a firm grip to lead him outside. Of course, these days Happy’s strength is absolutely nothing on his own - but something in Happy’s expression stops Peter from pulling away.
There’s a video call waiting in the living room for him, and Auntie Pep tells him his dad’s been missing for a week.
Just a few days before his dad disappeared, he called his dad a worthless narcissistic profiteering bastard. He told his dad he wished he’d never been adopted. He told his dad he never wanted to see him again. And on the day his dad disappeared, the last call Tony Stark made had been to Peter. A call Peter hadn’t answered, with a voicemail Peter hasn’t bothered to listen to since it was recorded.
He doesn’t know how long he sits there staring at Auntie Pep, her teary reassurances barely penetrating his mind. Even though she’s promising him that they won’t stop looking for his dad, that there’s hope yet, he can see how bloodshot her eyes are - he knows that it’s a long shot. Tony Stark went missing after an explosion in the middle of a war-torn country. What are the odds his dad’s even still alive?
After who knows how long, Auntie Pep takes a deep breath and says, “Honey, we’ll find him. I promise we’ll find him.” And Peter can’t stop crying. She only ever calls him ‘honey’ anymore when things have gone way beyond FUBAR. Dimly, he registers Happy trying to get him to go and rest in his room, but he refuses to move and stays on the couch. He stays there, unmoving, for hours, and when nighttime rolls around Aunt May comes and tries to get him to eat or sleep.
He doesn’t want to do any of that though. He feels awful, heavy, and very much like a failure. Uncle Ben told him before all of this happened that his birth dad believed that doing good things for other people is everyone’s moral obligation - and he’s done nothing remotely like that in the past few weeks. Because of that, Uncle Ben is dead. Now his dad might be dead or dying, and his dad might never know how much Peter loved and appreciated everything his dad’s done for him. All he can think of is that he’s spent the past few days obsessing over a father that was already dead, and wasted the time he had left with the one that was still alive. Was alive? Is he a past tense now too? Like his birth dad? Like Uncle Ben? It just doesn’t seem possible.
The next day, Uncle Obie (whom he hates and who gives him the creeps) sends him a message saying that he doesn’t have to do anything - that he can go on as he has been and that Uncle Obie will handle everything. Peter’s never liked anything Uncle Obie has ever had to say, but when Obie tells him to stay with Aunt May instead of home, he’s all too glad to pack his things and move. He doesn’t want to be alone, and he knows Aunt May doesn’t either. Besides, it’s easier for Peter to breathe in Aunt May’s house where there are far less memories of growing up. Staying at home - seeing everything his dad built and remembering all the happier times of his life - he can't take it.
He obsesses over Uncle Ben’s killer because that, unlike the situation with his dad, is something he can actually work on. He visits home exactly once - to build his web-shooters - and doesn’t talk to JARVIS at all. He only sees and talks to Happy or Auntie Pep when he really has to, and avoids every mention of his dad. He wants to stop feeling like a failure, and right now avoiding everything related to Tony Stark and going out every day to look for Uncle Ben’s killer give him a sense of purpose.
But of course, just when things start to look up, everything falls apart fast. He gives Gwen’s dad even more reason to dislike the Stark name through a very disastrous dinner, Dr. Connors turns into a lizard monster hell-bent on transforming the nation into mutated lizard monsters too, and Gwen’s dad dies and makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen.
He wallows in self-pity for what feels like ages, until he buckles down and listens to the two messages he’s been putting off listening since the worst 48 hours of his life happened. He listens to his dad’s first, and it’s short. He cries when he hears his dad’s voice telling him “I love you, alright? I’m sorry I’ve screwed up, but I want you to know that. That I love you and I’m proud of you, because despite everything I’ve done to screw you over, you’re a good kid. A great kid. And I know that one day you’ll be the greatest out there.”
It takes almost an hour for him to gather himself enough to listen to Uncle Ben’s message, and he cries again at the unshakable faith both his dad and Uncle Ben had in him. He realises that he can’t just hole up in a corner and feel sorry for himself. People believe in him, and he refuses to let them down. Not just dad, or Uncle Ben, or Aunt May - but also Gwen and all the people who helped him that night when he fought against Dr. Connor the final time. His birth dad believed that doing good things for others is a moral obligation - a responsibility. His entire life, his dad, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May have always believed that he could be as good a man as Richard Parker - or even a better one. So now he’s got to get off his bum and prove that he’s worth their trust... but to do that he’s got to trust himself.
So he takes life into his own hands. He talks to Gwen, and calls Auntie Pep and Uncle Rhodey for updates on Afghanistan instead of pretending that his dad’s disappearance never happened (or that his dad never existed). He goes back home and works with JARVIS, and does his best in absolutely everything he can do.
This time, when things start to look up, they stay up. His dad comes home. S.I. stops weapons production. Uncle Obie’s evil plans are thwarted. And soon after that, he finds out his dad’s Iron Man.
At least now he knows his dad won’t be too hard on him for his super-heroing sideline. At least he wasn’t stupid enough to reveal his secret identity on international television.
Rating: G
Pairings: None in this segment
Universe: MCU/199999 plus The Amazing Spider-Man
Warnings: None
Summary: Richard Parker happens to be Tony Stark's only college friend. So when Richard dies and his only son Peter is in danger, Tony steps up. In other words, a Tony-adopts-baby!Peter story. This part aligns the events in The Amazing Spiderman to this universe.
A/N: Dedicated to rougewinter, without whom this would totally not exist. Also, many thanks to her for editing for me.
Peter hates high school.
It’s like his world just started to implode as soon as he set foot in it. And just when the whole painful ordeal is almost over (god, less than a year to go!), things just start getting worse. First, his dad abandons him for Malibu to prep for a scheduled missile demo in frikkin’ Afghanistan. Second, he finds out he can’t even stay at home ‘cause his dad’s going to be gone too long for him to be left “unsupervised” (come on, isn’t an all-seeing AI enough?). Third, his crush on Gwen Stacy, perfect specimen of humanity that she is, has only gotten stronger over the years - and she still doesn’t know he exists. Not that it’d make much difference even if she did. Her father’s strong dislike of Tony Stark (and by extension, everything with the Stark name) is legendary after all.
And then there is Flash, who is the absolute worst stereotype come to life. Jock, too much brawn and a not enough brain, and the biggest (literally and figuratively) bully ever. This year, he’s been a million times worse than normal. His dad would probably tell him that it’s because his sulky face is irresistible to bullies everywhere, but his dad also regularly tells him to bribe other students (and even teachers) to restrain Flash (since Peter has already refused, multiple times, to have Flash expelled), so Peter’s pretty sure anything his dad says about his social interactions should be taken with a grain of salt. Actually, an entire ocean’s worth of salt.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May are not going to be happy when they see him.
This is probably the first time Peter’s actually gotten into a fight. Sure, he’s had his fair share of bullies - scrawny as he is. But he is a Stark, and that means that people have generally been too afraid to actually hurt him. Mostly it’s just a lot of taunting, a little bit of pushing, and the (very) occasional locking into storage closets. But then, Peter supposes he’s been tempting fate. There’s just no way Flash would’ve backed down after Peter challenged him outright like that.
Basically, Peter’s been having the absolute worst day to top off the absolute worst month or so of his life. So when his dad calls to check on him and Aunt May reports his little fight, Peter is more than a little fed up when his dad gets on his high righteous horse.
“Look, dad, you’re not exactly a good example of the moral high ground, okay? Everyone knows you have loose morals - and I mean that in all the ways it can possibly mean, not just the implication of extreme sexual activity way. You drink like a fish - hell, you let me drink when I was what? Ten? And you’re basically a warmonger, even if you won’t admit it. For heaven’s sake, you just left your only child to show off a new missile to the American military! Just goes to show what kind of priorities you have.”
Unsurprisingly, the conversation devolves from there, and turns into the worst fight Peter has ever had with his dad, ever. By the end of it, Peter is angrier than he’s ever been, and he vows not to talk to his stuck-up, self-righteous ass of a dad forever.
So, when he finds his real father’s bag in Uncle Ben’s basement, he jumps at the chance to find out more. This is the father he should have had. A good man, by all accounts. Someone who’d never choose a weapons program over Peter. If Richard Parker hadn’t died, he’d never have had to live with Tony Stark, and he wouldn’t have had all the problems he has now.
“I know things with Tony aren’t always good, and I know that it’s been rough on you without your real dad - that you can’t even tell anyone that he even exists.” Uncle Ben says later that evening, when Uncle Ben tells him about his dad and Curt Connors, “I wish I could change it but I can’t.”
Even if his adopted dad sucks, at least he can whole-heartedly say that he has the best Uncle ever.
-----
Peter’s life starts really going to hell a week later. Things actually start out pretty good - he shows Flash up (so what if he broke a basketball backboard? It was totally worth it), has a lot of fun practising using his brand new spider-powers, and gets Oscorp’s cross-species genetics experiment to work with his real dad’s decay-rate algorithm.
But then at the end of the day he fights with Uncle Ben, and Uncle Ben dies.
And then the very next day, before he’s even decided whether or not to go to school, he finds Happy Hogan waiting to take him home. He refuses to go home at first. He thinks Happy's here because his dad’s home and he refuses to see the self-righteous idiot - his dad didn’t even call back when Aunt May left a message about Uncle Ben. But Happy stares at him solemnly and grabs his shoulder in a firm grip to lead him outside. Of course, these days Happy’s strength is absolutely nothing on his own - but something in Happy’s expression stops Peter from pulling away.
There’s a video call waiting in the living room for him, and Auntie Pep tells him his dad’s been missing for a week.
Just a few days before his dad disappeared, he called his dad a worthless narcissistic profiteering bastard. He told his dad he wished he’d never been adopted. He told his dad he never wanted to see him again. And on the day his dad disappeared, the last call Tony Stark made had been to Peter. A call Peter hadn’t answered, with a voicemail Peter hasn’t bothered to listen to since it was recorded.
He doesn’t know how long he sits there staring at Auntie Pep, her teary reassurances barely penetrating his mind. Even though she’s promising him that they won’t stop looking for his dad, that there’s hope yet, he can see how bloodshot her eyes are - he knows that it’s a long shot. Tony Stark went missing after an explosion in the middle of a war-torn country. What are the odds his dad’s even still alive?
After who knows how long, Auntie Pep takes a deep breath and says, “Honey, we’ll find him. I promise we’ll find him.” And Peter can’t stop crying. She only ever calls him ‘honey’ anymore when things have gone way beyond FUBAR. Dimly, he registers Happy trying to get him to go and rest in his room, but he refuses to move and stays on the couch. He stays there, unmoving, for hours, and when nighttime rolls around Aunt May comes and tries to get him to eat or sleep.
He doesn’t want to do any of that though. He feels awful, heavy, and very much like a failure. Uncle Ben told him before all of this happened that his birth dad believed that doing good things for other people is everyone’s moral obligation - and he’s done nothing remotely like that in the past few weeks. Because of that, Uncle Ben is dead. Now his dad might be dead or dying, and his dad might never know how much Peter loved and appreciated everything his dad’s done for him. All he can think of is that he’s spent the past few days obsessing over a father that was already dead, and wasted the time he had left with the one that was still alive. Was alive? Is he a past tense now too? Like his birth dad? Like Uncle Ben? It just doesn’t seem possible.
The next day, Uncle Obie (whom he hates and who gives him the creeps) sends him a message saying that he doesn’t have to do anything - that he can go on as he has been and that Uncle Obie will handle everything. Peter’s never liked anything Uncle Obie has ever had to say, but when Obie tells him to stay with Aunt May instead of home, he’s all too glad to pack his things and move. He doesn’t want to be alone, and he knows Aunt May doesn’t either. Besides, it’s easier for Peter to breathe in Aunt May’s house where there are far less memories of growing up. Staying at home - seeing everything his dad built and remembering all the happier times of his life - he can't take it.
He obsesses over Uncle Ben’s killer because that, unlike the situation with his dad, is something he can actually work on. He visits home exactly once - to build his web-shooters - and doesn’t talk to JARVIS at all. He only sees and talks to Happy or Auntie Pep when he really has to, and avoids every mention of his dad. He wants to stop feeling like a failure, and right now avoiding everything related to Tony Stark and going out every day to look for Uncle Ben’s killer give him a sense of purpose.
But of course, just when things start to look up, everything falls apart fast. He gives Gwen’s dad even more reason to dislike the Stark name through a very disastrous dinner, Dr. Connors turns into a lizard monster hell-bent on transforming the nation into mutated lizard monsters too, and Gwen’s dad dies and makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen.
He wallows in self-pity for what feels like ages, until he buckles down and listens to the two messages he’s been putting off listening since the worst 48 hours of his life happened. He listens to his dad’s first, and it’s short. He cries when he hears his dad’s voice telling him “I love you, alright? I’m sorry I’ve screwed up, but I want you to know that. That I love you and I’m proud of you, because despite everything I’ve done to screw you over, you’re a good kid. A great kid. And I know that one day you’ll be the greatest out there.”
It takes almost an hour for him to gather himself enough to listen to Uncle Ben’s message, and he cries again at the unshakable faith both his dad and Uncle Ben had in him. He realises that he can’t just hole up in a corner and feel sorry for himself. People believe in him, and he refuses to let them down. Not just dad, or Uncle Ben, or Aunt May - but also Gwen and all the people who helped him that night when he fought against Dr. Connor the final time. His birth dad believed that doing good things for others is a moral obligation - a responsibility. His entire life, his dad, Uncle Ben, and Aunt May have always believed that he could be as good a man as Richard Parker - or even a better one. So now he’s got to get off his bum and prove that he’s worth their trust... but to do that he’s got to trust himself.
So he takes life into his own hands. He talks to Gwen, and calls Auntie Pep and Uncle Rhodey for updates on Afghanistan instead of pretending that his dad’s disappearance never happened (or that his dad never existed). He goes back home and works with JARVIS, and does his best in absolutely everything he can do.
This time, when things start to look up, they stay up. His dad comes home. S.I. stops weapons production. Uncle Obie’s evil plans are thwarted. And soon after that, he finds out his dad’s Iron Man.
At least now he knows his dad won’t be too hard on him for his super-heroing sideline. At least he wasn’t stupid enough to reveal his secret identity on international television.