Archive of Our Own ^beta

We all know Tony Stark's story. Or, the big lines, anyway. We know he had a distant relationship with his father, and we know that both his parents were killed in a 'car crash'.

But what if they weren't?

What if Howard Stark had been younger, a kid, when the experimentation on Steve Rogers had taken place? What if Maria Stark couldn't conceive, no matter how long they waited? What if Howard Stark, in his desperation to get an heir, went behind her back to get himself a child? What if Maria, who was heartbroken at the news, had run away from Howard, leaving him behind? What if she died in a car accident later on? What if, in his grief, Howard blamed it on his son, who couldn't ever mount up to her or Captain America?

What if that meant that Tony Stark was born later, growing up with Howard Stark still there?

"Hey, JARVIS, can you take me to Mr. Stark?" Peter asked the AI cheerfully. School had finished for the summer, and he was excited to spend some time with his hero and mentor.

"Of course, Mr. Parker," the AI responded politely. Peter frowned when the elevator went up instead of down to the workshop. He figured Mr. Stark was probably waiting for him in the common room. The doors opened and Peter stepped out into the empty common room. He looked at the empty space in confusion, perking up when he heard voices in the kitchen. He froze, however, when he recognized the voice of Howard Stark.

"You're a bad influence on him, boy," the elder Stark said with obvious disappointment.

"I'm an adult, dad. You can't tell me what to do," Tony responded maturely, sounding annoyed in a way that informed Peter that this wasn't the first time they'd talked about it. "Besides, he seems to actually want to come over. Telling him he's not allowed to won't do any good." Howard scoffed.

"He wants to spend time with you?" He muttered, and Peter could hear his mentor set his empty coffee cup on the counter with a little too much force.

"It seems that way, yes. Now, he'll be arriving any minute so how about you make yourself useful and piss off," the younger genius said with barely reigned in anger.

"Alright, fine," Howard said, and Peter pictured the man childishly raising his hands in surrender. "But I don't tolerate that tone, boy." Peter's super-hearing managed to catch the sound of someone bumping into something, presumably a wall, before footsteps faded down the hallway. He heard his mentor sigh and as he rounded the corner, he saw the man leaning with his elbows on the counter, his hands in his hair.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked hesitantly. Tony shot upright, giving him an easy grin that looked too forced.

"Hey, kid," the man greeted. "What's up?"

"I'm good," Peter said distractedly. "What's, uh, what's your dad doing here?" He asked hesitantly. Tony froze just almost imperceptibly before sighing.

"Honestly, I don't know. Something went wrong at the company, and he blames me for it. As usual." The last part was muttered and if it wasn't for Peter's heightened senses, he wouldn't have heard it. "Anyway, that's enough about him," Tony brushed it off, smiling at Peter with his brightly colored glasses on. Peter hid his disappointment at the sight. "You're here now, and we've got limited time, so we better use it well."

He grabbed his refilled coffee and marched towards the elevator. Peter followed him quickly and didn't pursue the subject as it was clear the billionaire didn't want to talk about it. By the time he'd gotten started on his project, Tony correcting his mistakes kindly and helping him out, he'd forgotten about it completely.

It was a bit harder to ignore once they'd come up for dinner, and Howard was waiting in the kitchen. Tony's steps faltered just the slightest bit before he caught himself, walking into the kitchen with his chin up.

"'sup, dad," he greeted him offhandedly, walking past him to grab the leftover food from yesterday.

"Son," Howard said back, but somehow it didn't sound like a greeting. Peter saw Tony tense, but only because he was looking for it. Tony continued what he was doing, appearing uninterested. "Are you going to do what I asked of you?"

"Yeah, on my own time. It's in no hurry, and I'm not about to give all my time to work now that the kid's here," Tony shrugged.

"Well, maybe you should send him home, then," Howard replied through clenched teeth.

"He's in the room too, Howard. Stop talking about him like he isn't here. Hey, kid," Tony aimed the last part at his mentee who was trying to look like he wasn't listening. He looked up at the younger Stark questioningly. "Do you want to go home?" Tony asked flippantly.

"No, sir, I'd rather stay here, if I can," Peter answered immediately. Tony looked at his father, gesturing towards Peter.

"You heard it, the kid stays. So whatever the hell you want me to do, you're gonna have to wait until my schedule's clear, got it?"

He didn't wait for a response, smoothly slipping past his father and giving him a shoulder tap just to annoy him and whisking Peter over.

"Let's go, squirt. We can heat this up in the lab."

Peter obediently followed after his mentor, trying not to look smug at the pure look of annoyance on Stark senior's face. They didn't talk about Howard for the rest of the day. Peter considered mentioning it briefly when Tony seemed to flinch as Howard walked by, but when Tony checked if Peter had seen that, he thought better of it and let it drop. That night in bed he stayed awake for a long time, just looking at his ceiling. He knew both Starks didn't have the best relationship, and he knew the passing of Tony's mother was a factor in that. He just wondered to what extent...

The next day he greeted Tony in the kitchen, who seemed to be working on blueprints. When he looked up to greet him back, Peter froze.

His mentor had a black eye, which definitely hadn't been there the day before.

"Mr. Stark?" He asked, concerned. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Tony looked confused for a second before he realized what the teen was talking about.

"What? Oh, that! Right. Just a late call yesterday about a small mission, nothing to worry about. Want some breakfast? I made omelets." He gestured towards a steaming pan. "... Sort of."

Peter didn't believe his story for one second, but he was also hungry and refused to eat burned eggs for breakfast, and he decided an emotional talk wasn't something that needed to be done on an empty stomach.

Any attempt Peter made to get his mentor talking were cleverly avoided by Tony somehow getting him distracted again. But it was a bit harder to get distracted when Howard Stark suddenly appeared in the lab.

"Anthony," the man called coldly. Tony swiveled around with lightning speed.

"Howa- dad," he stuttered. "Wh-what are you- what are you doing here?"

"Speak clearly, boy," Howard scolded, taking a step forward. Tony physically reigned himself in from taking a step backwards in response. "I need that project and I need it now, you understand me?"

"We had an agreement, dad," Tony cut in, suddenly angry. "I would work for your stupid company and you'd respect my boundaries. The lab is my space, you can't just march in here-"

"Shut up, boy!" Howard yelled, and suddenly Tony was on the ground, his nose bleeding. He distantly heard Peter gasp in shock behind him, but he was too focused on his father looming over him. He quickly scrambled back to his feet but Howard simply pushed him back down, knowing the young man wasn't going to fight back.

"This company, my life is falling apart, and all because I have a lazy-ass son who can't follow simple commands!" He yelled, pushing his son again when he got back up. Tony fell back against the worktable, steadying himself. He noticed detached that his father was drunk. Again.

"We talked about this, Howard," he tried again, his voice sounding small even to his own ears. "You wouldn't get drunk, not around the kid," he pleaded. Howard simply scoffed.

"I don't have to listen to you, you piece of shit!" He yelled, grabbing the nearest tool off the workbench and hitting his son with it. Tony tried to protect his head with his arms as the blows rained down.

Peter watched it happen from a small distance away, anger and disgust building up inside him. He'd smelled the alcohol on the elder Stark's breath the moment he'd made his presence known. The man was radiating anger which he took out on his son, clearly not for the first time.

"She would've been alive if it hadn't been for you!" He screamed. "Why did you have to ruin everything! You don't deserve what I give you, boy. Not even your mother loved you!"

That's when Peter snapped. He'd been locked in place in horror but now he was done watching from the sidelines. He quickly shot out a web from the shooters on his wrist, pulling the tool from Howard's hands. Howard looked up in confusion at the loss of weapon in his hands, his eyes landing on Peter.

"Give that back, you little shit!" He yelled. "I knew my son was a bad influence on you."

"He's the best thing that's ever happened to me, you asshole!" Peter yelled, face red in fury. It only managed to get Howard more mad as the man stalked towards him.

"No!" Tony yelled desperately, flinging himself at his father to stop him from attacking Peter. Howard roared in fury, trying to throw the man off of him, but Tony held on for dear life. "Don't touch him, you son of a bitch!"

"Don't you dare insult me, you worthless-"

"Shut up!" Peter yelled, tears in his eyes as he stalked over to the pair, ripping Howard from Tony's hold and pushing him violently towards the wall. "Don't you dare speak to him that way!" He growled, uncaring of the tears streaming down his face. "He is so much better than you'll ever be! He is kind, loving, caring, and helping and you're talking to him like he's worth nothing. Well guess what? He's worth everything to me, to Ms. Potts, to Mr. Rhodey, to Happy, and you don't deserve him!"

Peter was gasping for air, the anger inside him slowly turning into sorrow.

"If you can't love him for the amazing person that he is, then you can leave."

Howard looked at him, slightly shocked before he stumbled out of the lab. Peter let out a single sob he couldn't keep in, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve.

"Mr. Stark?" He called, looking back at his mentor who was leaning back against the leg of the worktable, eyes closed as he clutched his aching ribs. Peter had never seen him look so young and small. "Are you... okay?" He asked lamely, not knowing what else to say. Tony nodded, his eyes still clenched shut. He reached out his arm, whisking Peter in closer. Once Peter was within reach, he pulled him in for a hug, burying his face in his mentee's shoulder, his whole body shaking. Peter realized dumbly that he was crying.

"Thank you, Peter," Tony whispered. "I never- no one's ever done that and... just- thank you."

Peter leaned into the embrace, slowly letting all the remaining anger seep out of him.

"You're welcome, Tony," he said. "I would do it anytime. I'm sick of him treating you like trash." Tony gave a wet laugh, clutching him even tighter. They stayed like that for a while, both calmed by each other's presence. After a while, Tony pulled back, avoiding Peter's eyes as he wiped at his own, trying to hide his tear-stricken face. Peter let him, knowing acknowledging him would only make him uncomfortable.

"Well, that was fun," Tony said, clapping his hands together before attempting to stand up, clenching his jaw as he tried to look unfazed.

"Do you need some help?" Peter asked dryly.

"Nope. No, I got this. I'm fine, I got this. Totally fi- oh, God, help me."

Peter steadied him helpfully, biting his lip to keep from laughing at Tony's face. Tony scoffed at him.

"I'm sorry, did you just get beat up? No. So you better keep your piehole shut and get me a first aid kit."

Just barely keeping in his giggles, mostly from relief, Peter rushed off to get the first aid. They both took that time to recompose themselves before Peter very skillfully (not) tended to his mentor's wounds. They grew even closer after that, Tony showing a more vulnerable side of himself. But he did stand up for himself more, and when he didn't, Peter was right there to do it for him. Because Tony Stark deserved the world, darnit. And Peter was gonna do everything he could to show him that.