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Peter sat in Tony’s study, looking at the mask. It had been only a few months, nearing a year, and he’d dropped out of school. He couldn’t focus, and Tony had left him more than enough to pursue being spiderman and look after his aunt. He spent most of his time now with Shuri and Harley, improving suits and recovering.
Sundays, though, were spent at the Stark house. Pepper and May cooked, Happy brought dessert, and the kids brought themselves. It was nice to feel like he had a family again - he loved May, and he always would, but having Tony and Pepper, having his new litte brother and sister, meant too much.
“You’re gone and even then you’ve managed to help me.” Peter chuckled softly, running his hands through his hair. “The money doesn’t bring you back, it never will, nothing ever will, but May doesn’t have to worry about money anymore. I’m working with Shuri and Harley, we’re improving everyone’s suits as much as we can, and Mr Banner has been teaching me. Carol is… really cool. She’s looking after space at the minute, but she comes back a lot. Left me in charge of the avengers. I’m doing my best, Tony, I really am. All I want to do is make you proud..” He admitted, not the first time he’d spoken to the mask nor the last. Still, tears sprang from his eyes.
Blue light streamed from the mask, projecting a hologram of Tony on one of the chairs now at the dinner table. Before Peter could say anything, Tony began to speak.
“Pep, if we win, and the kid comes back, you’ll look after him, won’t you? When we lost him, I thought I’d never love a kid more, and then we had Morgan, and I realised I loved her just as much… what am I saying.. He’s a good kid. He’s going to do better than I did. Hope he likes being a big brother, huh? And if this is you, Kid, and you’re watching… I never had a stable figure father, but I hope I was good enough of a father figure while I was lucky enough to be. I believe in you,” Came Tony’s voice, pushing Peter over the brink.
He desperately wanted him back, wanted to hug him. Peter wiped his tears quickly with his sleeve, blinking away the tears as quickly as possible. The door opened, and he felt a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back down to earth.
“Hey, kid.” Pepper sighed softly, sitting next to him on the sofa. “You alright? Wanna talk?” She asked, wrapping an arm around him. “Morgan and May are playing outside, so if you wanna cry, let it out.”
“Thanks.” Peter muttered, still doing his best to keep it in, to be the leader. “Did you know about that?”
“I did. I’ve been through all of those memos. All of the ones addressed to me.” She said, rubbing his back in small circular motions. “Just because Tony thought you should be the leader doesn’t mean that you have to close yourself off, you know? One of Tony’s biggest pitfalls was the fact that he was closed off and stubborn. He believed in you because he knew you’re not like that. If you can’t lead at the minute, that’s fine, yeah? I’m still here, Sam and Bucky are still here. Your health matters more, Peter. We love you.”
His head tightened like a vice as he tried to hold back his sobbing, and relief was almost instant as Pepper embraced him and he sobbed openly into her arms. Peter felt her arms around him, knowing he’d have to apologise for getting her sweater wet with tears.
“It’s alright, Pete, it’s alright.” She told him, now crying herself. Pepper had grown attached to Peter before Tony passed, but as she saw Morgan become so attached to him, as he and his aunt came round every Sunday and he dropped round every now and then to share new revelations or to take Morgan to the cinemas, he realised just why Tony loved him as much as he did.
Peter was exactly what he called himself - a neighborhood spiderman. Just a kid from Queens with a big brain and an even bigger heart who wanted to do his family proud. Pepper swore to make sure that he knew he had already done that and more.
He gets the memo saved to a hard drive as a duplicate, and all the memos on the suit dedicated to him on there as well. There’s one, and it’s just Tony telling him not to worry about fucking up as a leader, because “Good leaders make mistakes, Kid. What makes them good is that they fix it no matter the cost,” He’s reviewing that very one in his head as he waits for Morgan to come out of school one day - Pepper’s at a meeting, and he jumps at the chance to spend time with her.
Tony was scared, Peter realises. Tony was scared about everything good he ever did, minus a few sparks of genius in the lab. When he made mistakes, it took a while, but he fixed it. He fixed it, and now Peter had an Aunt, a Mother, a Brother, and a little Sister.
“Peter!” Morgan called, running over to him with her backpack and lunchbox in hand. Every time her oldest brother picked her up, it meant ice cream and good songs on the radio. Her mum didn’t like new music, only old stuff like Black Sabbath.
Peter high fived Morgan, taking her bags and lunchbox so that she didn’t have to carry them. He looked a little funny with a hello kitty backpack, but he didn’t mind at all as Morgan lead the way out of the school gates.
As soon as they got in Peter’s car, he looked at Morgan. “So, ice cream? Your mum won’t get back for a couple hours,”
“Yeah! Can I put some music on?” She asked, always happy to see her older brother. Sometimes he’d come over and talk to her dad, and Morgan would pretend not to be able to hear him cry until he came out of the study and she’d tell him all about whatever she was doing.
“Of course.” He nodded, driving towards the ice cream parlour. “How was school? Anything good happen?”
“Yeah! I did a drawing, cuz we’re doing about family.” Morgan told him enthusiastically, “And I wrote about my family! The drawing’s in my bag, but I wanna show you and mum at the same time.” She explained, messing with her hair as she rambled.
“If it’s anything like your other drawings, Morg, I’m sure it’s a masterpiece.” He told her, pulling into the parking lot. “Who’s in it?”
“My family, duh! Mum, Dad, you, and Harley!” She laughs, thinking he was joking. She doesn’t see Peter quickly wipe his eyes to stop himself from crying.
When they get back, and Morgan’s still licking the mint choc chip ice cream from around her mouth, she pulls out the drawing out to her mum and Peter. Pepper grins instantly, kissing Morgan on the head and showing Peter.
“Hey, even Morgan knows you’re short.” Pepper jokes, showing Peter the felt tip drawing. There was Pepper, Tony, Peter, Harley and then Morgan at the end. Morgan was shortest, but Peter and Tony were tied for second.
“That’s amazing, Morg. I’m not that short, though, surely?” He laughed, putting it on the fridge with a few magnets.
“Yeah, you are!” She beamed, exploding into laughter that filled the whole house. Tony was gone, but Peter knew he’d be okay if he had his family with him.