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The first thing Rhoedy notices when he walks into Tony's lab is that there's no music. He's about to turn around, because Tony's obviously not here, before there's noise from across the lab. Tony's voice.
"I'm not a maniac , Peter."
"Diggity denial! I love it." A young voice shouts from across the lab. Rhoedy stares. What the fuck?
"Denial?" Tony shouts, head popping up from behind a workbench. "Peter, my dearest intern, I'll have you know I pay you too much for this kind of sass." The kid makes a face and he taps the table, inspecting his robot. Tony throws a tool to the boy, Peter, apparently, who catches with ease without looking up.
"You don't pay me at all."
"You're in Tony Stark's private lab at Stark tower with every resource known to man at your disposal, are you not?" That makes Peter looks up, sticking out his tongue. “Oh, yeah, real mature.” Tony grumbles. Rhodey clears his throat. Tony turns. “And I’m paying for your college.” Peter’s head shoots up, before he hits it on the desk above him.
“You’re what?” Peter asks, but Tony ignores him.
“Hey, honeybear.” He greets. Peter offers a wave, before wincing and rubbing the back of his head.
“Who’s this?” Rhodey tilts his head towards the boy to his right.
“Peter Parker, Mr- Colonel Rhodes! I’m a huge fan-” Tony breaks eye contact with Rhodey, ignoring the confused eye gestures Rhodey’s trying to give him. So at least he’s not brain damaged. Peter might be, because he stumbles over a lab table and totally ignores the hand Tony had out to put over his shoulder, instead offering to shake Rhodey’s hand.
“You never talk like that about me.” Tony grumbles.
“This is Colonel Rhodes, Mr. Stark!" Rhodey, despite having a grand total of the entire world's confusion floating through his brain right now, smiles at the kid.
"Hello." He gives a small wave. The kid looks like he's about to faint. Tony looks between the two.
"Anything we can help you with?" Tony asks.
"Pepper says you have a meeting. FRIDAY isn't getting through to you, and she's trying to cover for your ass." Tony gasps, covering Peter's ears.
"Mr. Stark, I'm literally in high school. I hear worse stuff all the time."
High school, huh? He looks young. Sophomore?
The kid checks his watch. Starkwatch. Is that model even out to the public? I haven't seen Tony talk about those yet. "Aw! May's gonna kill me! I'm gonna be late again. I'd better go Mr. Stark." He gathers his backpack. "See you Friday!"
"And Saturday!" Tony shouts back. The lab doors close behind the kid, and Tony watches until the elevator doors close after Peter.
"What the-"
"Intern." Tony interrupts. Like that answers anything. Rhodey blinks.
"Right." Sure. "He’s your favorite?" It's a half joke when he asks it. He's not really sure what he's expecting, but it's not the answer he gets.
"Yeah. Yeah he is." Tony turns to him. "What about it? Am I not allowed to have favorites?"
What the fuck is happening right now? Tony had a kid in his lab. A child. Tony "I Don't Like Children, Rhodey, They Give Me The heebie-jeebies" Stark had a child in his lab.
"Isn't he twelve?" Tony's brows furrow. He looks offended on the kid's behalf.
"Sixteen."
Then Tony rushes off to his meeting with another reminder from FRIDAY. Pepper is definitely going to chew him out for that one when it's over. Rhodey just stands in the middle of the lab, not even able to laugh. Which is a pity, really, Rhodey needed a good laugh. His eyes sweep over the lab at the project the kid was working on.
He's almost nervous to touch it, it looks rather delicate. But Rhodey's an MIT graduate, and has many, many, many other achievements, some of which more impressive than that. So, very gingerly, he picks up the kid's work, turning it over in his hands. He stares. Red and gold paint stares back at him. What? What? What is happening? What is- Rhodey's brain halts. Tony never lets anyone near the Iron Man suit. Never. And here this child is, working on it without Tony burning his laser eyes over the kid's shoulder.
Rhodey's impressed. This kid must've done something right, because he's working on the Iron Man suit. Tony's magnum opus. His child. His redemption. His legacy.
Then again, Rhodey thinks, looking around the lab. Little post-it notes about upgrades and Spider-Man, and new inventions, one of which is extra sticky sticky notes with a note by Tony to see if they can get them to stick to Happy's car. Iron Man doesn't have to be the only thing Tony leaves behind.
He sets the plate down, walking out of the lab. The doors whoosh closed behind him. There's some new stuff on the shelves: a Lego set, a plant, a painting of some lily pads that doesn't look professionally done. Rhodey doesn't come up here often, he knows, but how did he miss all of this?
The more he looks the more he sees. Even more sticky notes, some with little drawings, some with kind words, new magnets on the fridge. An academic decathlon trophy in sparkling gold, a bake sale ribbon next to it. Rhodey pauses. It's almost like… family. The word feels foreign. But it fits. Peter is Tony's family. Though Rhodey would expect Peter to only be here by blood, he knows Tony would've told him. He knows. But why else would Peter be here? There's no way all this is here and Peter is just an intern. No way. Being in the lab? Working with Tony? Working on the Iron Man suit? Rhodey's stumped. What makes this kid, a kid, worth getting over Tony's dislike of children?
Rhodey meets Peter the second time over dinner. Peter cooks, Tony hovers, hands stiff at his sides. Whatever he's cooking smells amazing when Rhodey first walks into the kitchen.
"Oh, hey kid. What are you making?" He's back. And cooking this time, apparently.
"Hi Colonel Rhodes! I'm cooking gyoza! It's an old recipe my uncle taught me when I was little. Haven't made it in forever. I got really hungry and decided to try it." An alarm on the stove goes off. Peter perks up, grabbing a cup of water from the counter, turning down the heat and gently dumping it in. Steam explodes from the pan, Tony lurches ever so slightly, before Peter puts a cap over the screen resting atop the pan.
"Do you want any? Spring rolls are in the oven."
"You made spring rolls?"
"Reheated." Peter clarifies. "I only made the gyoza. Chicken, by the way, and the spring rolls are veggie." He hops onto the counter, opening a book. Tony raises an eyebrow.
"Don't you have homework?"
"Finished it at school." Tony nods.
"Anything interesting?"
"History teacher's gone. Haven't seen him since we came back from winter break. The sub is okay, I guess. Someone said he got in a car crash, but the main rumor right now is he's got a new job." He pauses, making a humming noise. "Cindy's back with Abe, the one I talked about with the new job at the pizza place last week, they seemed to have sorted out wherever was going on. Ned's got new shoes, MJ, you remember her right? She stopped sitting on the stairs and sat with Ned and I at lunch today." Tony nods.
"New friend then?" Peter beams.
"I really hope so. She seems nice. Lonely, blunt, but nice." Peter swings his legs, fuzzy Yoda socks stopping just before hitting the cabinets. He's reading a Star Wars book, and his phone case has Star Wars stickers. He's a fan. Rhodey thinks somewhat hysterically. Tony just asked the kid, who is in his penthouse, cooking food like he lives here, how his day was. Rhodey's gonna lose his mind. In fact, he's already lost it. None of this is happening right now, he's hallucinating.
But he doesn't want to be. As out of character as this is for his friend, Tony seems happier. Genuinely, wholly happy. Rhodey wants Tony to be happy. What kind of friend would he be if he didn't? This kid is doing a better job of that than Rhodey managed all throughout college.
Peter picks plates out from the cabinet. "One spring roll or two?"
"Two."
"One."
Tony and Rhodey look over at one another. Peter laughs.
If possible, Peter's food tastes better than it smells. Rhodey goes back for seconds. Then thirds. He hears about Peter and Star Wars and this new thing they're learning in AP Calc, and with every passing moment Tony's facial expression grows more fond, and more soft than Rhodey ever imagined it could. Rhodey, not unlike the last time he met Peter and is utterly dumbfounded, but makes an effort not to stare. He's figured he's embarrassed himself enough with that, and how the hell is he going to be cool Uncle Rhodey if he makes a fool out of himself so early on?
He instead takes little glances, drinking in the domestic feel of eating dinner with his best friend and his not-a-son.
He learns that Peter is very witty, with quips and comments at the ready every time someone gives him the opportunity. He looks sheepish, like it's not normally something he voices, but Rhodey finds them funny (Rhodey finds Tony's annoyance and deep sighs even funnier) which seems to keep Peter going, and therefore, Tony's misery. Rhodey does not need to know much more to love this kid.
The kid falls asleep in the middle of Die Hard, which Peter and Tony have an intense debate about whether or not it's a Christmas movie. Peter has a mischievous glint in his eye when he says it, so Rhodey's leading theory is the kid just wants to ruffle Tony's feathers. Again. Rhodey did say he liked this kid, after all.
When the credits start to roll, and Rhodey starts to pick up the dishes, that's when things really feel like they snap into place.
Peter is curled up into Tony's side in a mess of blankets. Tony, who is just as cozy and just as asleep, has his arm is wrapped around the kid, almost like a hug. But they're not there yet. Rhodey thinks almost hysterically, because it took him years to make it there. To the family circle. And this kid just waltzes in? Rhodey doesn't think so. There's something going on. No way Tony just picked an intern to love like his own, and–
Wait. That's it. Peter is Tony's kid. Biological or not, that is Tony's kid. Which begs the most important question of them all: why didn't Tony tell him? Rhodey's not mad. Or worried. He's definitely not gonna lose sleep over it.
He startles from his thoughts when Tony shifts, blinking awake.
"Hey, man. Sorry, can you clean up out here? I gotta carry the kid to bed." He says very casually. Right. Because that is a very normal, Tony thing to do.
"Of course." Rhodey is surprised that his voice comes out level. This is the craziest thing that's ever happened to him. He washes the dishes, thinking that perhaps the scalding got water will distract him from the fact that Peter is Tony's kid.
When he passes by the guest room turned Peter's room, he sees Tony brush aside the hair on Peter's forehead who leans into the touch.
"I love you, 'ony." Peter murmurs through a sleep-addled haze, and when Tony meets Rhodey in the hall his expression is all gooey and soft.
"He called me Tony." He whispers, sparkle in his eye. It's a good look on him, Rhodey decides. Peter's a good fit here, in their merry band of misfits.
"He's your kid." It's not a question. It's one of the few things in this crazy world Rhodey's sure about.
"Yeah." Tony murmurs, looking at the door with that fond stare and dopey grin. "Yeah he is."
Peter comes and goes biweekly when school starts back up again. He stays the night a lot less, and when Rhodey is around to see him, his eyes are tired and his feet drag as he walks. He’s the same kid, his smile bright and his greetings brighter, but Rhodey can tell that school’s been taking a toll on him. Rhodey remembers those days, and does not envy him. High school was not the best years of his life, and he hasn’t asked, but he’s pretty sure they aren’t Peter’s either.
Peter's passed out on the couch when Rhodey enters the common room, asleep on his stomach with his arm dragging on the floor and a blanket haphazardly thrown over his waist. He's pale and clammy and he looks like shit. Rhodey decides to tell him as much.
"Thanks." Comes Peter's reply, and he sounds like his nose has been stuffed since the dark ages. He sits up and reaches for his water in his backpack. "Don't tell Mr. Stark though, okay? It's a secret." Rhodey pinches the bridge of his nose internally. This is the most Mini-Tony thing Mini-Tony has done.
"Right." Just as he says it, Tony slides into the room and picks up an apple from the fruit bowl of plastic fruits Pepper set out and takes a bite. He coughs and spits it out and curses a bit.
"Those are plastic." Rhodey warns drily. "And also Peter's sick."
"Come on, Mr. Colonel Rhodes, I thought we were cool!" Tony's eyes widen.
"God, you sound prepubescent." Peter groans.
"If I didn't have such a bad headache I'd flop down dramatically. Imagine I'm being dramatic."
"You're always dramatic." Tony tells him. He stands Peter up and tucks the blanket around him like a cape. Come on, let's go get you some meds." He feels Peter's wrist and pauses. "Hang on. Where's your watch?" Peter looks blankly at him. "Oh, don't tell me you lost it. I know you wouldn't. It's impossible to lose."
"I didn't!" Peter protests loudly.
"Then where is it?"
Peter mumbles something Rhodey can't hear. "What was that?"
"It's… in my backpack."
"You went to school sick and didn't keep on the one thing that would let me track your fever?" Peter nods, a smile breaking out onto his face.
"I knew you'd understand." And saunters off toward the elevator, picking up the blanket so it doesn't drag behind him. "Come on, Mr. Stark. Drug time!"
"Don't ever get caught saying that with the wrong people, I won't bail you out of jail." Tony says, following Peter anyway.
"Oh please, you'd get bored without me. You'd have to." Tony rolls his eyes as the elevator doors close.
This time, Rhodey doesn't stare like an idiot. He simply smiles, shakes his head and walks off.
The second time Rhodey meets Spider-Man is in a fight. Pity they keep meeting like this, really. Some stupid guy who wants something stupid and is being an asshole about it is attacking the city again, because fuck all the civilians, right? And now it's Rhodey's problem, because fuck Rhodey's day off, too, while they're at it.
He's not bitter.
The guy explodes a car.
He's a little bitter.
Something crackles over comms. "Hey! Hi. War Machine, sir. Spider-Man, reporting for duty." Great. A child.
"Hello, Spider-Man." He keeps his tone gentle and tries to keep his anger elsewhere. It's not Spider-Man's fault.
"What seems to be the problem here, sir?"
"Guy with fire set on destroying the city. You watch the news, Spider-Man?"
"I avoid it if I can. Spoils all the fun." He says. Then, less cheerful and more of a grumble, "They never catch my good side."
Rhodey watches him sail over the top of a building, into the intersection Rhodey's trapped the villain in.
Spider-Man is ten times as graceful as the last time Rhodey fought with him. He moves a lot less like his figuring out the suit, and more like he's one with it. Rhodey remembers that era. He webs up bits of falling rubble and pulls people out of the firing line and gives Rhodey clear shots.
When they come out of the fight, Rhodey is absolutely sure of two things: One, Spider-Man is an excellent fighter, and a better hero. And two, Peter Parker is Spider-Man. He doesn't say it, not to Peter, because though Peter himself should know better, he's still a teenager, and Rhodey doesn't expect him to be perfect.
That's not to say he's going to chew Tony out either. They're going to have a nice, civil conversation between two friends.
"I know Peter is Spider-Man." He says loudly, walking into the lab. Tony looks over at him. The music stops.
"What?"
"Peter. Spider-Man. You've been hiding it from me."
"The less people that know, the better." Tony sighs. "He told you?"
"I fought a guy with him. I figured it out myself." Rhodey makes his way over to his friend. "He's a kid, Tones. A baby." Sorrow is etched deep into the worry lines around his eyes.
"Yeah. I know. I tried to get him to stop. I did. I made a suit to keep him safe, he fucked up, I took the suit and he still brought a guy down after I told him not to."
"The Vulture." Rhodey and Tony jump at the voice. Peter stands in the doorway, in his Spider-Man costume with the mask off. He nods solemnly.
"He trapped me under a building." Tony's eyes widen.
"Before the plane crash?" Rhodey remembers the plane crash on moving day. His heart clenches that Peter was involved.
"Yeah. I guess I kinda deserved it. I was pretty stupid." What. the fuck.
"What?" Tony asks, voicing Rhodey's thoughts exactly.
"I basically told him 'I've got you!' And he was all like 'No you haven't!' And I was like 'I'm here, aren't I?' And he was like 'I've got you, Spider-Man.' And his big suit took out the support beams in the warehouse and trapped me underneath it." Tony looks like he's going to cry. Peter sees this, rushing to amend. "But it was fine! I cried out for a bit, and then I remembered what you said, about if I'm nothing without the suit then I shouldn't have it, right? And I was all like 'Oh I've totally got this' and I lifted the concrete off my back and chased after him! I needed that to happen so I could realize who I was, you know?"
"You… lifted a building?"
"I needed to." Peter says, shrugging. "It doesn't bother me anymore." He walks over to his bench, dropping off his backpack.
"Anymore?" Tony echoes, or tries to, it comes out like a choked whisper.
"I guess it used to, like walking into buildings and stuff. I'd be like, I dunno. Thinking about if it fell. If I could lift it, if it did. How many people I could save." Rhodey lets out a sharp breath.
"Christ, Peter." The boy just shrugs again, looking unbothered by the fact.
"Like I said. Not anymore." Dum-E mashes his claw into Peter's leg. "Hi, buddy." Peter murmurs, moving to scratch under the claw like the chin on a cat. Dum-E trills happily.
"I'm sorry, Peter." Tony whispers. "I'm so sorry." Peter waves a hand.
"What for? You did what was best. That's what you always do. You just wanted to help me." He smiles widely up at the two, taking out his homework. "Could we get Thai for dinner?" Rhodey stares.
Not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore.
Peter Parker is an undeniable force for good.
Rhodey sees it in his creations during lab time, inventions for less invasive surgery, working on upgrades for Rhodey's legs, improvements to the Spider-Man suit to better help civilians in crisis.
Rhodey knows this kid is a good one, a perfect match for Tony. That's why he loves him so much, Rhodey thinks, smiling to himself as Tony throws a hand over Peter's shoulder or when he smiles when the kid is just mentioned.
This is why Rhodey can't wait to meet Peter's aunt May. She's infamous in the Stark-Potts-Rhodes-Parker tower, as Rhodey had come to dub it, because these days, it's just as much theirs as it is Tony's. Rhodey knows her for her feisty personality, with no fear to tell Tony off after taking her kid to Germany, for her creative Italian curses, and most of all, for loving Peter so fiercely that Peter turned out the way he did. It's nice to know the kid has someone who'd fight tooth and nail for him, even before Tony, Pepper and he got involved.
He wonders when he realized just how much he cared for Peter and their little family.
Tony looks nervously around the penthouse as Pepper stirs the pasta. "Relax, Tony," She says, sensing his tension. "It'll be fine."
"What if she doesn't like it?" Tony asks, turning from his spot at the counter, staring at the elevator to face her. "What if she thinks I'm not good enough? It's Peter, Pep. No one's good enough for him."
"You think she's going to hate you?" Rhodey asks, getting silverware to set the table.
"She already doesn't like me. To hate me wouldn't be a stretch."
"I don't think May doesn't like you. She's just… vaguely opposed to the idea of you being a mentor figure to her nephew." Tony narrows his eyes.
"You're not making this better." Pepper waves him off.
"She told me that months ago, Tony. I hardly think she believes it anymore."
"You talk to May? Oh, I don't like that. Don't like that at all." Tony walks over to the living room, fiddling with some of the pillows and smoothing out a blanket that doesn't need to be smooth, muttering something about how May and Pepper don't need one another to take over the world, but the two of them together would be a force not even the Avengers could stop. Rhodey smiles to himself.
The clock on the wall ticks to 6:25, five minutes before May and Peter are supposed to get there. The elevator doors ding open, and Tony shoots upwards, looking like the end of the world is going to step through those doors.
It's Peter who runs out, wrapping Tony in a warm hug. He knows Peter has been raised in a very physically affectionate house, and the second he got permission from Tony, he's trailed behind him, hugging and smiling, right at home. Tony seems to think it's the greatest thing to ever happen, ever. He always hugs the kid back, with a Hey, Pete! and a wide grin spreads across his face. It's not very mentor and mentee to Rhodey, more father and son, but the two of them are so stubborn, Rhodey hasn't bothered to voice it other than a teasing remark when the kid bounds off after Happy, who grumbles about not being the kids private chauffeur. Tony always has this dopey smile, and Rhodey always says something about the kid being his kid and Tony always denies it.
May follows, with a little less fanfare. She smiles at Rhodey, then at Tony and Peter.
Pepper rounds the corner and greets May warmly. "It's been so long!" She says as they hug.
They move to the kitchen, where Tony plates the food and Rhodey takes it to the table where May, Pepper, and Peter sit. May tries to offer to help, but Pepper pushes her down in the chair and smiles.
"Don't worry about it. Just plating. You're not missing much."
Rhodey learns over the course of dinner that he is a big fan of May Parker. She's witty and kind, just like Peter, but she's warm in this motherly sort of way when Peter talks, a kind smile etched onto her face like Tony gets when the kid does something smart.
They end the night with a movie. It's too late to drive home, so May spends the night, which Peter is overjoyed about. Rhodey's pretty sure this means Tony is officially May Approved.
When Rhodey enters the kitchen in the morning to see May and Peter arguing about how to properly cook a pancake, May catches him with a smile, a joke, and Rhodey knows for sure that this is a place perfect for them to call their second home.