Title - Peter’s a dad!? (Also on Ao3)
Request by - Rae (Anon) on AO3
Request summary - Peter's friends/classmates or maybe school? Find out that Mai is his daughter? Like some are supportive but maybe there's a bit if angst but super fluffy PK family moments? (Set in my AOMPK au)
Pairing - Parkner (Harley Keener x Peter Parker)
Warnings - Light cursing
Words - 2371
Story -
There was something about Peter Parker, Betty thought to herself, Something odd. It wasn’t a bad odd, just a sort of ‘huh, that guy must be hiding something’ kind of odd.
She wasn’t friends with Peter but she did talk to him sometimes and she was close to Ned who was Peter’s best friend, so she probably knew him better than the others in the team bar MJ and Ned.
Which just made the conversation she heard even weirder.
“-can’t say no to her. Seriously, she could ask Harley to take over the world and he would.” Peter huffed.
Harley? She remembers the name from their field trip a few weeks ago. He was Peter’s boyfriend, right?
Ned had snickered at that, picking up a fry from his tray “And you wouldn’t? Mr. you can’t have any more cookies but I suppose I can make an exception this one time that turns into every time?”
Peter rolled his eyes “First off, That is a really long name. Second, have you seen her? She’s adorable. She could probably get Fisk to turn himself in with just a look.”
”I can’t believe you took so long to tell me.”
”How was I supposed to tell you? Hey Ned, guess what? You’re technically an uncle.” Peter did short jazz hands, “How would you suggest I had explained it?”
Ned snorted, shaking his head with amusement.
”Hey, we are still in the lunchroom.” MJ cut in, dryly, “Unless you want the whole school to know.”
Both Peter and Ned sheepishly apologized but Betty’s brain was already working double time.
Uncle? Does Peter have a kid? Since when? Who was the mother? Was it his? Betty was going to find out. Only because once her curiosity was peaked it was hard to let the topic go.
And finding out a schoolmate, let alone Peter Parker, has a kid was tugging at her curiosity. So to sate it, she decided to ask around. She decided to start with her teammates at AcaDec practice that day. It wasn't a mandatory practice so very few people actually showed up, The only ones there being, Betty, Abe, Cindy, Sally, and Flash. They were in the gym waiting on Peter, Ned, and Mj to show up. Mr.Harrington was sitting near the back of the room grading papers.
“Have you seen anything weird with Peter recently?”
“Why are you asking?” Abe asked cautiously. It was never a good thing when Betty was interrogating people.
”I’m just curious, is all.” She frowned, “Can I not be curious?”
”You? No.” Sally stated, “You’re never just curious.”
Cindy nodded in agreement, “Why are you asking about Peter anyway?”
”I told you! I’m just curious!”
Cindy gasped “Do you have a crush on him?”
Betty shook her head rapidly “No! I just-“ she paused then sighed, “I heard him talking to Ned at lunch yesterday and it-“ she pressed her lips together, unsure if she should even tell them.
”It what?” Abe questioned.
Crap. What does she do? She didn't want to out Peter on accident but she was so curious!
"Just,you know, was weird. I don't know. That's why I'm asking." Betty replied with a hopefully casual wave of her hand.
"Why would you want to know about Parker?" Flash scoffed from a few seats away, Betty sighed.
"Unlike you Flash, Peter is friends with us." Sally shot back, annoyed, "And he's pretty cool too." She added pointedly.
"Yeah right." He scoffed but didn't say anything else, thankfully.
Betty ignored Flash and turned to Cindy, "What about you? You sit behind him during first period."
Before she could reply the doors to the gym opened and the three other members of their team showed up. MJ glanced around the group, frowning.
"Nobody else?" She huffed, rolling her eyes, "Well, this isn't a mandatory practice. Whatever, I'll just make them do extra practice next time." She looked over the group, "Get into teams. We're gonna be practicing response time today." Everyone hurried into their seats.
Betty mentally groaned at the loss of opportunity but then perked up as she realized she was sitting next to Ned and Peter. Hopefully, she’ll overhear something soon.
The practice went on for about thirty minutes before they were interrupted by a loud ringing.
“Sorry!”
They all turned to see Peter fumbling to grab his phone. Betty perked up instantly. Maybe this was her chance?
Mr.Harrison sighed “Parker, turn your phone off.”
Oh, right. Practice. Dang it, She’ll never find out at this rate.
Peter nodded, glanced at his phone, the shook his head, standing up, “Sorry, Mr.Harrington but I got to take this.”
Betty perked up again. Or maybe she will.
He headed to the edge of the stage, answering his phone before their teacher could stop him.
Due to how quiet it was, they could all hear him talking on the phone, the other side of the conversation though was muted.
”What happened?” The words came off worried. Whatever the other replied caused Peter to breathed out heavily and run a hand through his hair, relieved.
”Oh, is she okay?” A pause, “Fuck. Okay, just-“ he glanced back at them briefly, “I can’t really leave right now. Is it bad? No? Good, that’s good. I'm glad she's okay. What was she even doing?”
Another pause then a disbelieving, “What?” Peter shook his head and groaned, “I thought I told her to wait. Hey! Why is she my kid when she does something stupid? You are just as likely to fuck uhhh,” Peter trailed off, his expression softened as the phone was presumably handed off, “Hey, Mai. How’s the hand?”
Mai? That’s the name of the girl from the field trip. Why was Peter talking to her?
”No, I’m not mad. Just- I told you to wait for me or Harley. I know. I know. You were excited but you could have really hurt yourself.”
Peter’s lip twitched upwards “Yeah, I know. Look, how about I stop and get you some ice cream and you promise to wait next time?”
Peter hummed “New Legos? I don’t know. You did break the rules.” Peter lightly teased, “But fine, just this once.” His expression turned disapproving, “But you have to promise to wait next time. Yeah? Okay, okay. Good. I’ll see you when I get home. See you, sweetie.”
The phone was handed off again, “Like you aren’t?” He shook his head, “We can talk about this later, I gotta go. MJ is giving me the evil eye.” The said brunette rolled her eyes, “Yeah, see you when I get home.” A blush crept up Peter’s face, “Yeah,” he smiled softly, “Love you too.”
He hung up and turned back to the team, tilting his head with confusion when he saw them with their mouths open and eyes wide with puzzled shock bar MJ and Ned, ”What?”
“What the fuck Parker!?” Flash shouted, “Do you have a kid!?”
”Language!” Mr.Harrington said then turned to Peter, “But I must agree. Who was that you were talking to?”
“Oh.” Peter’s blush returned full force, “I can explain.”
He was silent for a long moment.
“I can no longer explain.” He said.
Flash rolled his eyes, “As if you would have a kid anyway. You would need someone who would want to sleep with you first.”
"Mr.Thompson, language."
”You do remember he has a boyfriend right?” Abe said, raising a brow at Flash.
”Unless Parker is secretly a girl, I still don’t see how he could have a kid.”
“That brings up a valid point.” Mr.Harrington turned to Peter, “Is this child your sister? Or just someone you are babysitting?”
Peter opened his mouth then breathed out his nose, “Sorta? I mean-“ he sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Ms.Potts is gonna be pissed.” He murmured before turning back to them.
”You guys remember that girl from the field trip? The one who beat you all at Mario Kart?”
”Yeah. The secret love child of the Avengers.” Sally nods.
”No, She was Peter’s boyfriend’s cousin. Right?” Cindy corrected with a tilt of her head.
“Yeah, her. She’s uh-“ Peter paused then sighed again, “She’s not his cousin. She’s- well, she’s an orphan that Harley and I took in.” He admits quietly.
“What do you mean? What didn’t you take her to foster care?”
Peter shook his head at Mr.Harrington, “Are you kidding? No, look, it’s complicated. Trust me, I can’t tell you everything but Mr.stark agrees it would have been a bad idea. Anyway, the short story is we found her and we took her in. She’s been with us for a few months now. And you guys can’t tell anyone! I’m serious. It could be very dangerous for her if it gets out. Please.” He gave them a pleading look that tugged at Betty’s heart.
Flash still looked doubtful, “And Tony Stark is okay with you just having a five-year-old in his tower?”
“She’s four. And yeah. He is.”
“What was that phone call about?” Sally asked curiously, changing the topic.
”Oh,” a look of fond annoyance flicked through Peter’s eyes, “Mai accidentally hurt herself trying to make something. It’s wasn’t too bad. She just nicked her hand a bit." Peter rolled his eyes fondly, "She was just super excited and opened the box without anyone there, cut herself with the box and freaked out Harley when he walked in and saw her bleeding. She'll be okay though."
"That's good." Cindy slumped into her chair, they were all obviously relieved to hear the little girl was okay.
Betty hummed, "So that's who you and Ned were talking about at lunch?"
MJ gave Ned and Peter a pointed look.
"You, uh, heard that?" Ned asked sheepishly.
Betty nodded, "It was bugging me all day!" She admits.
Peter glanced around the room, "You guys, won't tell anyone right? I'm not kidding when I said it'd be dangerous for her."
"I won't say a word," Cindy promised, Sally and Abe agreed easily.
Betty shrugged herself, "I'm satisfied just knowing." She smiled at them.
Mr.Harrington and Flash looked the most hesitant, Well, Mr.Harrington did, Flash just looked doubtful.
"Come on Flash," Peter says, "I don't care if you don't believe me. Just-Don't tell anyone about her? Please?"
Flash pressed his lips together, "I don't know."
"What do you want?" Peter asked, deadpan.
Flash shrugged, "I never did get to finish that tour."
"You were a dick!" Ned exclaimed.
Flash kept his eyes on Peter "Well, Parker?"
"Will you kept quiet?" Peter prompted, Flash nodded.
"You can't seriously be thinking about agreeing," Abe says puzzled.
Everybody knew Flash bullied Peter, he'd gotten a little better over the past few weeks but he was still a bully.
Peter and Flash locked eyes, staring at each other for a long tense moment.
Something must have happened in that nonverbal interaction though because Peter pressed his lips together, breathed in deeply, then, looking like he was regretting the words that were about to come out of his mouth, said, "You can come over to the tower this weekend. If you promise not to tell anyone." Peter offered, "We can do whatever you want that doesn't have to do with the labs. Tony would never let you back in those."
"What? Peter!" Ned complained.
Flash crossed his arms, "Will that girl kick me again?"
Betty pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. That was a great memory. She shared an amused look with Abe and Cindy.
"Will you be a dick?" Peter shot back.
Mr.Harrignton opened his mouth, probably to chide Peter for his language before he seemed to just give up, slumping against his chair and rubbing his temples.
Once again, Flash and Peter stared at each other, neither seemingly willing to give in. Then, Flash blinked and leaned back in his seat.
"Fine. But if I get threatened again, I'm out."
"Trust me, They won't settle for just threatening you this time if you did something," Peter replied idly, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Flash paled a little before he huffed, "Whatever. I'll be by this weekend."
"Alright. Deal." Peter turned to Mr.Harrington, tilting his head questioningly.
Mr.Harrington waved his hand, "I'd rather not deal with a lawsuit, thanks." And that was it.
MJ cleared her throat and got everybody back to practice. Betty, though, was glad she finally got her answer.
...
”So, how was school today?” Tony asked during dinner. It was just Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Peter, Harley, and Mai there tonight as the others were either busy or off-world.
”The team found out about Mai.” Peter said, taking a bite of chicken.
”I thought they already knew about her due to that field trip?” Pepper asked.
”Yeah, but now they know Harley and I are taking care of her and she’s not Harley’s cousin we were babysitting.”
"How'd that happened?" Harley frowned, Peter shot him a look.
"Someone just so happened to call me during practice freaking out about a paper cut. Right, Mai." Peter tickled her stomach making her laugh.
"Yeah!" She agreed, waving her hand. It really wasn't that big a cut, but it was on her palm which made it hard for her to hold things. Thankfully, It should heal in a few days according to Dr.Cho.
"Ah, oops?" Harley grinned sheepishly, Mai giggled again.
"Do we have to make them sign NDA's?" Rhodey questioned cautiously, Peter and Harley may not be Tony's biological kids but that didn't mean Rhodey couldn't care for them as his nephews.
Peter shook his head, "I don't think so. It should be fine. I trust them." He smiled fondly as he watched Harley help Mai cut her chicken.
Pepper nodded, "I'll get some paperwork ready anyway. Don't want to risk it." Her tone brokered no arguments.
Peter nodded, "Okay. Fair enough. Oh, also," He perked up, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Flash is coming over this weekend."
Harley, Tony, and Rhodey all choked on their food as Pepper and Mai blinked at him.
"What!?" The three guys exclaimed together.
Peter casually sipped his soda, hiding a grin.