mar.

The post was getting a little long BUT @illogicalkat and @smidnite are so amazing for this!

Previous posts from the last addition done here:

@smidnite @winterspiderpurrs of course I had to add to this! ~~~~ In the earliest days after rehab, when Peter was recovering from childbi

And cause I loved it.... imma add a little more :D

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Steve went to get Sarah; his mom on the phone. She was always a voice of reason with him. He was hopefully she could shed some positive light in this situation.

"-That child has known you practically his whole life. You're his papa. Doesn’t matter what some... DNA test says A leanbh. " her Irish accent became more prominent, the more she talked.

" But a man has a right to his child. I know it's going to be hard. And poor Peter! Having to face that man again! I woulda hit him!"

paging @smidnite so you don't miss this either :)

~~~~~~~

Bucky shifts his daughter to sit on his hip, lifts his hand to knock on his son’s bedroom door, and hesitates. He just wants to check on Harley, but the chances are higher than not that Harley will demand the promised explanation, but that’s a conversation that Peter needs to lead.

@winterspiderpurrs and @illogicalkat 12 hour shifts -- not including getting ready for, driving to, and then driving home -- are a DRAIN! I just got home and will have a less than 9-hour turnaround, but. WORTH IT.

I'm running off of 4 hours of sleep, this is going to LOOK like that 😅

--------

Virginia Potts, beta second child of two beta parents, had never had major aspirations when she worked through her business master's, but she wanted to be the very best that she could. Her beta older brother had gone lawyer, she chose business. With a head for numbers and business savvy, and above all, a drive for professional perfection, Majoring in and pulling Bachelor degrees for Marketing, Finance, Accounting, as well a minor in Psychology had been an enjoyable challenge.

Landing a spot within the Stark Industries Accounting department, beating hundreds of other applicants, was a surprise, but not a shock. After all, she was GOOD at what she did. So good, that when she spotted discrepancies in minor subsidiaries (only found because she was checking over a co-worker's spreadsheet. Excel wasn't for everyone) she was handpicked to do work for bigger accounts. Unknown to her at the time, it was Tony Stark himself who picked her.

More discrepancies were found, fingers pointed, and skeletons unearthed. The figurative heads of a handful of board members were rolled, and Virginia, now nicknamed "Pepper" by Tony, once again gained a new job title, one Personal Assistant to the CEO of Stark Industries.

It was a challenge, one that Pepper wasn't sure she'd be able to handle. Smoothing ruffled feathers when Tony ran late for a meeting, or picking up the pieces after the social explosion that was Tony would exhaust ANYONE.

But then came Tony's last alcohol and cocaine-fueled business party, and subsequent paparazzi photos. Pepper all but threatened to quit if he didn't check himself into rehab and sober up.

Out of spite, he picked the most underfund one he could find, and threw money at them to get his own private office area so he'd be more likely to be left alone while he worked.

And then he fell for that parasite, Peter Parker.

During telephone conferences, Tony talked about him day in and day out. Pepper had never done a background check so thoroughly as she did for Peter.

Biochemistry engineering drop out, dead family all around, a massive amount of debt, eviction, and in rehab for a heroin addiction.

And an unmated omega.

Pepper did her best to keep Tony busy, but Peter seemed to be there at every turn. When she physically showed up for document signatures instead of having Tony e-sign via JARVIS, he was sitting on the incredibly worn sofa right next to Tony. When she was present for private conference calls, Peter was waiting for Tony right after.

She had thought that bringing in prototypes from R&D for Tony to work on would keep him away from Peter for a short while. They were proprietary.

That backfired when she discovered that he and Peter were tinkering with the prototypes to keep their minds off the withdrawal shakes company secretor not.

In a high-risk, last ditch effort to separate them, Pepper arranged for them to fly out to a small expo and conference in Las Vegas, one they usually didn't even acknowledge, because they were typically filled with start-up companies with little gadgets that were nowhere within the SI wheelhouse.

Pepper's plan was to keep Tony BUSY, but her plan didn't account for Tony impulsively sneaking off with a leased jet instead of one of his own, leaving for the conference two days early, and taking Peter with him.

It took a day and a half to realize he'd going missing, and by the time Pepper tracked them down, they were drunk, high, and JUST MARRIED. She caught them stumbling out, hand in hand, giggling their asses off.

There was a REASON Pepper kept a folio full of NDA contracts with her at all times. By the time Pepper had every employee in the chapel sign an NDA, Tony and Peter had once again disappeared. It wasn't until several hours later that she found them, being loaded into an ambulance after the crash.

Pepper was only a LITTLE ashamed at herself for being disappointed that Peter was mostly unharmed.

This time, Pepper did t have to twist his arm to check into rehab again, and this time a higher-end facility. But, in her opinion, over-generous to pay for more rehab for Peter, too. And least it was a different medical facility.

Between making sure Tony's sobriety stuck this time, and running the company in his stead, it was nearly three months later that Pepper was able to corner Peter in the facility and serve him the NDA and divorce papers.

Finding him curled up on a couch, unhealthily thin, save for the growing bump in his midsection, shriveled up and kind of sympathy she may have had. He was NOT using that baby to sink the business she had poured her life into.

Afterwards, she spent her days taking care of the company, but also not allowing Tony to wallow in his depression. He'd gone stone cold sober, and needed something, someONE, to be the focus of his attention, because Peter wasn't contacting him.

Allowing herself to become more to Tony Stark seemed to be the culmination of every step she took to get where she was. But no, that final step had been Tony making her the CEO of his own company so he could devote his attention to R&D. She BASKED in it, never having felt more powerful in her life.

If Pepper had known then what she knew now, if she'd known what she'd be facing, she'd have stood right over Tony's shoulder, breathing down his neck to guarantee that he signed the divorce papers, and would have then followed him down to a notary to make SURE the papers were filed.

As it stood, Pepper did NOT have being blindsided by Tony's team of lawyers in her calendar today. Dammit.

---

I all but fell asleep typing this and my phone went from 31% to 16% 🥴

I feel ya! 10 hr day here but Imma push through! @smidnite and @illogicalkat hopefully you like my take on this?

*******************************************************************

April 14th 2010

Dear Journal,

1 week clean. I can barely hold a pencil. My hands are shaking so much. All my fault though. I'm trying.

-Peter

April 23rd 2010

```

Dear Journal Ben,

I miss you so much. Being here at this center sucks. I guess that's my punishment for doing drugs. I know I would have disappointed you. But I'm trying to do better. I really am. 2 week here, I can finally have a whole meal with out getting sick. Small portion. I hope I can get past this.

-Peter

```

short addition that took too long to type up, hopefully you like it @winterspiderpurrs @smidnite

~~~~

“Mom?”

Peter looks up from his journal, offering his son a watery smile. “Hey, Harley. How was school?”

Harley pauses in the doorway to the study. “It was fine.”

Alright, @illogicalkat and @winterspiderpurrs I have slept, done housework, panicked over discovering my cat is PREGNANT and DUE WITHIN THE WEEK, and then proceeded to make a birthing suite in my room so she doesn't attempt to give birth in the hole she made in the back of the couch.

LET'S ROLL.

-----

"There's a bit more to it, but if you want to meet him properly, you can."

'This is the right thing to do' Peter told himself, looking down at his old journal entries. The opportunity had never presented itself previously, and now that it was here, he dreaded it. But if Harley wanted to meet his bio father, far be it for him to prevent it.

Peter's musings were brought to a halt by his son's silence, and in glancing back up was distressed over the desolate look in Harley's eyes.

"Why would I want to meet the man that threw you away? That threw US away?" His volume was steadily rising. "He had YEARS to contact you, and he DIDN'T! He ABANDONED us, and--"

Harley's brow furrowed, and he took on a desperate apologetic look.

"Mom, you never said anything when Pops and I were talking about him, but you always smelled a little sad. And you'd walk out of the and I always thought that you wanted to share but didn't want to interrupt father-son time but were hurting you this entire time!" he finished with a distressed wail.

"We were hurting you and we didn't even KNOW!"

And Peter had had enough, and grabbed his first born baby and wrapped him in a hug, dragging him into his lap. "It's alright sweetheart, it's alright," he crooned as his baby broke down sobbing in a way he hadn't since his early childhood.

Peter's collar darkened with Harley's tears. "I'm s-SORRY, mommy!"

"Oh, my poor baby," Peter whispered, rocking back and forth, and running a hand through Harley's hair. "It's ok; you couldn't have known. Steve and Bucky didn't." He kisses the top of his head before continuing. "You were only meant to know if he contacted you, and he didn't. And really, you gained two wonderful fathers, and they love you so much. So, so much."

Harley continued to cry for some time, before slowing into hiccuping breaths while Peter continued to rock him. Dinner could wait.

They sat for ten minutes more before Harley shifted, just enough to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, tears still silently running.

"Why didn't he want me, mommy?"

Peter wanted, with a sudden intensity so badly in that moment, to hurt the man that had put that grief in his son's voice.

But just that suddenly had an epiphany, remembering the look of utter shock on Tony's face.

"I don't think he was told about you, love." With each word, Peter's conviction grew. "I don't think he was told about you at all. Oh GOD," he gasped, looking back at his old journals.

"The only person who knew and could have told him was the one person who hated me, and she's ENGAGED to him now!"

"Well THAT explains a few things," came a deep growl from behind them.

Startled, Peter and Harley both whipped their heads around to see Steve in the doorway with a face like thunder, and Bucky right behind him with May on his hip.

"Makes ME feel slighty more sympathetic, anyway," Bucky intoned. "You gonna apologize to him for decking him in the face?"

"HELL no. He still had that coming."

Bucky snorted. "Right, ok. Well. Given the circumstances, I think that if Harley doesn't mind, we can all have dinner in here."

Peter blinked, belatedly taking notice of Steve and Bucky's very full hands as Harley sat up, nodding his head in agreement.

"And," Bucky continued, "if it's ok with your mom, we can have a family discussion about the past so we can figure out how to move forward."

Two alphas bringing dinner to a den-like setting, aiming for a pack meeting. Neither one of them were pulling their punches tonight.

The indigestion Peter was going to feel tonight wouldn't be blamed on the baby growing in his womb. Not this time.

He blanched.

They had to tell Harley about the baby.

-----

Y'all, forgive me. I don't know how to do italics and whatnot on my phone. Everything is just ALL CAPS.

**************

Lets do this! My brain is fried but I gotta put this out there before I forget! @smidnite and @illogicalkat ya'll are the best!

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Steve was spoon feeding May some of his frosty. They had ordered some all of Harleys favorite places. Burgers from Burger King - Frosty's from Wendys- Fries from McDonalds - Chicken strips from Caines. They had finished up eating for the most part.

Bucky dipped his fries into his frosty.

" So you actually married that guy?"

Peter sighed and nodded.

@smidnite @winterspiderpurrs I typed this up just after dinner, here we go: ~~~~~~~~~~

On the other end of the line, Tony snaps his pencil in half.

okay I suspect @smidnite is counting new kittens (can we get pictures? pretty please?) and paging @winterspiderpurrs too... I had a bit of inspiration this evening and wrote this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m still not sorry I punched him,” Steve comments when Peter finishes telling his story.

“Yeah, we got that, Stevie,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes. The smile he offers Steve is a fond one, though. “And anyway, we're not the ones who have to explain a black eye to his fiance.”

@illogicalkat @winterspiderpurrs

No kittens yet, but I can definitely feel them kicking through their Mama's tummy! Would you believe I passed out before I could type a single thing up? I had to take my kid nephew to a function where my high-masking autistic self had to be "on" around people for HOURS.

I was peopled out 😅

----

There was, Tony suspected as he left the office and headed towards the elevator, every possibility that he had acted in haste in the way he had divested the company of one Pepper Potts. Like cutting off a limb that you suspected was gangrenous before checking to see if the illness had spread.

"Lab, JARVIS. I need something non-work related before I head to the guillotine."

The board had yet to be informed and Tony knew without a doubt that there would be an uproar over his sudden course of action. The stocks would definitely be taking a hit, but it wouldn't be the first time.

Without knowing if Pepper has people kept in her back pocket, regardless of cutting off her physical and digital access to SI, Tony directed a not so small portion of JARVIS to monitor her activity, by any means necessary.

Unethical? Illegal? Unscrupulous? Sure, but Tony had already learned this lesson with his uncle Obie.

'It isn't paranoia if they really ARE out to get you,' he thought, as he stepped out of the elevator and into the lab, mildly puzzled over JARVIS' unusual silence.

He was NOT looking forward to finding a new PA, nearly as much as he wasn't looking forward to stepping back into place as CEO. But, well, it WAS his name on the building. It was meant to CONTINUE being his name on the building.

Throwing his suit jacket and tie on a chair (because he no longer had a fiance nagging him about wrinkled clothing. How about that), he headed towards the vintage Peugeot that he'd partially deconstructed.

"Sir? I feel as though I should apologize for not being aware of the situation."

Tony's steps faltered, briefly. "This isn't on you, Jar-Jar. If I'd gotten over myself I could have checked in on Peter. And I didn't tell you to keep an eye on Peter. And buddy, you were still just a toddler. That wasn't an action you would have taken on your own."

He continued on to the auto bay, lost in thought. He was getting older; he still had years ahead of him, but he wouldn't be around forever. Part of the plan with his marriage to Pepper had been to have kids, provide an heir apparent. A kid to take over, if they were ready and WANTED to, when it was time for Tony to step down. Of course, if the kids had said no, he would've had a back up ready as well, but monitored so they wouldn't turn around and try to kill anyone for the company (burn in HELL, Obadiah Stane).

He laid on the creeper and slid under the car, ready to lose himself for an hour or two.

With Potts no longer in the picture, he was back to square one.

Unless he wasn't.

He HAD an heir, with a man who he was still a little in love with, if he was completely honest with himself.

"JARVIS!" He slid out from under the Peugeot and rolled to his feel, heading to the computer terminal. "I need you to pull up everything you can find on Harley--" his steps and heart both skipped a beat, his breath shuddering. "Harley Edwin Anthony Parker."

A moment later, and thirteen years of history summed up vied for his attention. The last three years of Harley's life featured numerous awards in science and engineering, the newspaper clippings showing him smiling wide.

With how much he looked like Tony when he was younger, it was a good thing that the papers listed him as 'Harley Parker.' There would've been the possibility that someone made the connection long before.

"Have I received any notification from the Parker-Barnes-Rogers lawyers yet, JARVIS? I think I want to push up the official family meet and greet."

-----

Here's the car I imagine Tony working on!

This coachbuilt Peugeot was the ultimate toy for pre-WW2 gentleman racers

"Hello?"

"Hey Peter, How are you?"

"Oh! Matt, hi, yes everything is fine as it stands. Its been… eventful. How are you? And Foggy too?"

"Understandable. We are fine, thank you for asking."

"Yeah… I … Its safe to assume your calling because of Tony…right?"

There was a pause on the other line.

"Yes. He has sent over a new document he wants to have you look at… as it concerns Harley"

Peter's hand clutches the phone tight, and his voice wavers for a moment.

"Does…does he want custody…"

“How are you feeling about all this?” Bucky asks Steve the next morning. Peter decided to walk Harley to school, and took May along in the stroller, leaving the Alphas a chance to talk about the upheaval their little pack had experienced in the past few days.

“I don’t like it,” Steve admits, sorting through his pencils and charcoals. He’s too stressed to actually paint or draw anything, but being in his studio helps calm him. Rearranging his tools and tidying up the stacks of paper and sketchbooks gives him something to do. “I know it’s not up to us, but…”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Just a short little blurb cause this idea popped in while I was at work and I had to get it out there! @smidnite @illogicalkat

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They heard the door alarm jingle go off. May babbling about something, Peter laughing, the sound of the code being punched in.

" I know MayMay - Surprise for Daddy and Papa, but its a secret so shhh"

"SSSHHHH" May loudly mimicked.

Bucky and Steve looked at each other before they walked out onto the hallway balcony and looked over. Peter had a small brown box placed on the bottom step as he went about getting May out of the stroller, moving to go place it in the hall closet.

"Babe?"

"We are up here, in the studio"

@illogicalkat no kittens yet, but good grief, Cardamom is ROUND.

@winterspiderpurrs I see your addition, and raise you this!

--------

Eddie Brock had already been on a red eye flight to New York from California to do some in depth investigation on OsCorp when, with an hour left before landing, he got an email from his editor about a story change, concerning one Tony Stark. An email that needed to be a phone discussion, but NOT where the walls had ears.

Nearly three hours later, shortly after 9am but feeling like 4am with the time difference, he was on a bench in Central Park, the remnants of two hot dogs, a bag of popcorn, and a Coke next to him, while he worked on a candy bar.

"And your source is good?"

His editor had a buddy who lived in Manhattan, who really did nothing more than keep an ear out for celebrity gossip. Which, to be fair, was why he'd been on the way to begin with. He couldn't shake the idea that there was a two-faced nature with the Osbornes, and Eddie was inclined to agree. For all that he had his own personal monsters, there just seemed to be something UGLY hiding behind their carefully curated smiles.

"Seems pretty damning to me. Even had Stark showing up to an address in New York. His plates got flagged at the toll station."

"And they said that Potts couldn't get into the building?"

"Oh yeah. Had a FIT in front of the doors too."

Tony Stark was a notorious Manhattan boy. The only reason he's not in Manhattan is because he's gone to the Malibu branch of SI. Or the branch in Japan. Or racing in Monaco, before visiting his mother's family in Italy.

(He's an INVESTIGATIVE journalist, and all of that information was a matter of public record.)

Slumming it in BROOKLYN of all places--well, slumming it for Tony Stark, at any rate. It was unprecedented. Beyond unusual. Which meant there was a fascinating reason. And Stark's CEO, Virginia Potts, unable to access the castle of her kingdom, fighting off the security guards with a wildness worthy of a Jerry Springer episode?

Oh, there was a STORY.

"And if I recall correctly, some big names had just started talking about getting invites to the Stark-Potts wedding. And then THIS shit happens. Juicy as HELL."

"So we gonna run it as Trouble in Paradise?"

"Not quite yet. See what you can find out about that address where he was pinged. Gotta hunch that it's connected to Potts screaming her head off. I don't think I've seen her this rattled since that wreck Stark was in about 14 or 15 years ago, in Vegas."

*****

After checking in at a hotel and getting a few hours of shut-eye, Eddie cracked open his laptop and set to work, pulling up the YellowPages site--he paid PREMIUM, dammit--and typing in the various addresses of the houses that Stark could have visited, hoping to narrow it down. From where he'd been parked, there were four brownstones Eddie needed to pull information on, going through the list of previous and current occupants, and going through their background information.

It was a tedious process, but one that Eddie ultimately found rewarding.

Five hours later, Eddie struck GOLD. One brownstone, completely owned by one James Buchanan Barnes, Alpha, and occupied by Steven Grant Rogers, Alpha, Peter Benjamin Parker, Omega, and one Harley Edwin Anthony Parker, undesignated.

This wouldn't have been anything of note, except Peter Benjamin Parker had been registered to the same rehab facility Stark had been in, a decade and a half ago, right before Vegas.

He looked at the name behind the undesignated line, before typing the name in a search bar. The two middle names were left out, but "Harley Parker" was already making a name for himself at his STEM school.

The desk chair creaked a bit as Eddie sat back, contemplating. While possible, it's incredibly unlikely that Tony Stark would keep such a remarkable kid under wraps. And even if he'd tried, at some point, word would've got out. You can't hold kids back from social media, after all.

Stark may have JUST found out about the existence of this kid. And the one person who may have known about the kid was his CEO.

GodDAMN.

Virginia Potts being "rattled" didn't even come CLOSE to what she was possibly in for.

He reached for his cellphone and made the call.

"Boss, you are never gonna believe what I just found."

---------

I lied to myself and typed this up before showering. I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF.