#so the way that translates into fic is trying to figure out what to include/exclude since the way they wrote him was kind of inconsistent

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (5/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Four

2012

“Is Tony Stark moving to New York City?” Peter asked.

May Parker was in the middle of cooking dinner and she didn’t know what Peter was talking about. Ever since Tony Stark had told the world that he was Iron Man, it hadn’t come as too much of a surprise that Peter started singing his praises. He had never known of anyone that was as smart or as inventive and amazing as Tony Stark and on top of all that he was a superhero and Peter was obsessed. A part of May didn’t know what would happen if Peter ever found out that his hero was his father and that his father had made the choice to stay out of Peter’s life. She hoped it wouldn’t break his heart.

May knew that in his own way Tony Stark cared. He made sure that they never wanted for anything and that Peter in particular got anything he wanted. Tony had made sure that Peter could attend good schools that encouraged kids like Peter who were curious and interested in learning. Had Peter had an interest in sports she was sure that he would have made that happen too. Tony also paid for Ben’s car when it was crashed into while parked outside their house and he had gone as far as to pay their mortgage too and refused to admit to doing either thing when they tried to speak to him or Ms. Potts about it. The Stark Expo passes had been a gift and a nightmare after everything that happened there. It was the first time that May was glad Peter didn’t have direct contact with Tony because the danger would just be too much.

Then, of course were the other gifts. Science kits and books and all kinds of things that May and Ben had to slowly give out to Peter before it became too suspicious. Sometimes, Tony even sent money directly into their bank account and those were the gifts May hated the most except that the money always came only when they really needed it. It made May paranoid that Tony was monitoring them closely.

“They’re saying that the new building in Manhattan is Tony Stark’s,” Peter said, “and everyone’s saying he might be moving.”

“Well, he has plenty of money to have more than one place to live, Peter,” May said.

“I guess,” Peter said, “but wouldn’t it be cool if he did move?”

May laughed. “Yes. Very cool. Except that it might bring the bad guys to New York just like with the Expo.”

“But Iron Man would protect us,” Peter said.

May just smiled. “Yeah. He would,” she said.

May was still entirely grateful to Tony’s team for getting them out of the Expo. Somehow they had known that they were there and even in the mess of people running away had found them and put them in a car that sped them away across town.

“Do you think I’ll get to meet him someday?” Peter asked.

May nodded. “I think that it’s very likely you will, Peter. Now get back to you homework or we won’t have movie night tonight.”

She heard his book open again and when she glanced at the screen in the corner of the kitchen sure enough they were discussing the building of Stark Tower. They listed the sustainable energy movement Tony was trying to start and showed some footage of Iron Man flying into New York City.

Somehow, the move to New York City didn’t ruin his relationship with Pepper. Tony had thought it might because Pepper insisted that she needed to work out of California for the good of the company. She seemed to do a lot of things for the good of the company and Tony appreciated it, even when it felt like Pepper was more focused on that than him. Then again, they were slightly obsessed with their own work. Still, it helped that Pepper could fly out on the jet without much preamble and that Tony could do the same with the Iron Man suit so they saw each other plenty.

Soon after getting into the city, Tony had reached out to May and Ben Parker and let them know that he was going to sticking around. He had made it clear that he had an interest in Peter but that he wouldn’t approach him without their consent or get in their way. Ben had returned his e-mail.

Mr. Stark,

We really appreciate everything you’ve done for Peter. He’s a really special boy and he hero-worships you. May and I are thankful that you allowed Mary to make a choice on what she wanted to do with her boy even if it meant excluding you from his life. You’ve made yourself known anyway. Peter isn’t aware that Richard was not his father -- I know you know this -- but it is true that you are. I don’t know if Peter needs to know about that right now. He’s still so young and I wouldn’t want him to think that you did not want him or have any interest in him.

Peter is like a son to me and May and we really have tried to do our best to raise him. He has a normal life away from all the attention that you seem to attract. There is attention and danger in your line of work. I do not want to keep you from Peter -- as he is your son -- but there are factors to consider, Mr. Stark, and I would hate to put Peter in any danger or any emotional turmoil.

For now, I think it best that we continue as we have in the past. I admit that Peter has been very excited since you’ve moved to New York and he’s seen Iron Man flying over the city a few times. He wishes to meet his hero and yet would be a nervous wreck if he ever did meet you whether as Iron Man or Tony Stark. He is fan of both. I don’t know how that would translate if he were to find out that you are his biological father. Someday in the future, I suppose we will deal with that.

I do respect the care and interest you have in our boy and I do hope that someday the two of you can meet. In the meanwhile, May and I will send you everything we can to keep you up to date. May says that she might even suggest to Peter that he can write you if only so you can have some form of contact. I know that he would love it if you, his hero, responded.

Thank you,

Ben Parker

As far as e-mails went, Tony agreed with everything that Ben Parker said and he meant it, that he would do as they asked and so despite being a little disappointed, Tony continued to watch Peter from afar and to sometimes try and be seen near Queens hoping that it could give Peter some joy to see Iron Man.

In the weeks leading up the tower being completed, Tony was so busy that he didn’t remember Ben Parker had said Peter might write him until a letter arrived back at the Malibu house and Pepper flew it out with her on the night that Tony was finally turning the tower on.

“It was sent directly to your house,” Pepper said whens she handed the letter to him, “so I figured it was probably Peter.”

Tony opened it at once and sure enough it was from Peter.

Tony had received lots of fanmail over the years. Back before Iron Man some of it had been more in the lines of hate mail but even then there had been fans. Mostly from people fascinated by his work. High School students and College students and plenty of others in between. Then there was the other kind of mail. The weirdly porny mail that came in with full on pictures of men and women alike in all states of nudity and descriptors of everything they wanted to do to Tony. Those had always creeped him out a bit and not stopped at all since he became Iron Man. So, for the most part, Tony didn’t look at the fan mail. There was someone at Stark Industries that dealt with it and actually sorted everything. When they found something from a genuine fan they sent them back a pre-written letter thanking them and then if they found something particularly nice or moving they gave it to Pepper and sometimes she would respond personally or pass it on to Tony to see.

Most of those were drawings or touching letters from people that Tony had directly helped or whose children wanted to write to him. It was all very sweet.

“I think I’ll read it later,” Tony said. He wasn’t sure if he could handle reading his own son’s words.

“Okay,” Pepper said with a small caress to the back of his neck.

“I have to go turn the tower on,” Tony said with a grin. “Are you ready for this to become reality?”

Pepper nodded. As Tony went to suit up, she sat down in front of his computer screens and Jarvis patched her in through he flew out. It was all done quickly and when Tony flew back STARK was lit up as was the rest of the tower. It looked exactly as he had imagined it and because he had designed it, he knew that it was going to work. It meant they could break out the champagne and have a proper celebratory date night. But first, Peter’s letter.

Before he got a chance to read Peter’s letter, they had an unexpected guest that changed the entire course of the evening. Agent Coulson hadn’t shown himself since he’d sent Tony in to talk to General Ross and Tony wasn’t particularly in the mood to deal with Shield so he wanted him to go away. Instead, he persisted and Pepper actually liked Coulson so somehow his plans for the night were changed and he was left to look through all the files Coulson had brought him and Tony would be lying if he said they didn’t interest him. Somehow, he forgot all about Peter’s letter.

Chapter Six

#Peter and Tony fic #MCU fic #Walking The Wire fic #Peter Stark #Peter is Tony's son