LittleDeer

My brother’s friend James came out as trans and changed his name bc my brother so aggressively defends my pronouns in front of them all. One of the other boys was there for James coming out and wanted James to know that this other boy definitely still had a crush on him, so he just blurts out GUYS I’M BI. There’s a beat. Then this guy Phoenix chimes in saying he prefers pansexuality as a label bc it’s more inclusive. Other boy jokes about how the whole friend group is gay, and get this THE STRAIGHT KID HAD TO COME OUT!!! My little brother and I are both kind of autistic in different ways and he has a harder time than me, but holy shit. He’s thirteen and DIDN’T have to come out to any of his friends but has been telling them about the boy he has a crush and girls he thinks are cute and it’s just so nice. I can’t imagine being thirteen and finding that. And it’s all because he’s so insistent on sticking up for me. I’m crying hold on.

The first time Stephen stepped into the lab with a portal, Dum-E doused him with the fire extinguisher.  Tony had to explain that unless the magic sparks actually made fire, it wasn’t an emergency.

All the bots follow and tug at Stephen’s clothes.  He doesn’t mind; it’s cute that they’re curious about their daddy’s new love, and he talks to them more than Pepper did. He has their blessing.  

More than once has Peter woken up late from a night of patrol and needed to call Stephen for a portal to get to school on time.  

On the few occasions Tony and Stephen actually drive somewhere, the speed demon billionaire makes sure never to drive more than 5 miles over the speed limit or drive recklessly; Stephen’s already anxious enough being in cars as it is without needing to worry how fast they’re going or clipping someone’s bumper while passing.

Trips to Albany become more common on the weekends; the drive there is pretty relaxed and flat, and the performing arts’ center usually has something interesting going on just after dinner time.  

Tony is always trying to think of things to help Stephen’s fine motor skills; in addition to the needlework Stephen does, Tony tries to teach him little songs to practice on piano and the aerobics that help stretch the muscles for playing.  

When May picks up extra work shifts and Tony is away or busy, Stephen takes up babysitting Peter.  He isn’t allowed to go on patrol until he finishes his homework; Peter gave up trying because, he doesn’t know how, but every time he’d try to sneak out Stephen knew and would just portal him back to his room at the Sanctum.

Yes, Peter has his own room at the Sanctum.  Sometimes he’s just tired enough after patrol that swinging back to Queens from Manhattan just isn’t happening, and since Stephen is usually up anyway Peter will come and get a cup of tea before heading to bed.  It was just better to give him a room after one too many times of the kid crashing on the lounge’s couch, so Stephen claims.  

Peter likes the Sanctum.  A lot.  Usually if Stephen gets babysitting duty Peter just asks for stories about the artifacts, where they came from and such; other times it’s stories from Stephen’s days as a practicing surgeon.

Once Stephen became more comfortable doing needlework, Peter asked to learn.  Despite it being a serious request, he made the joke that since he’s spider-man he should know how to spin some kind of web aside from swinging and combat.  Stephen had 8 skeins of white yarn (okay Tony bought them but Peter didn’t need to know) and hella spider-web themed patterns (crochet, knit, cross-stitch) waiting when Peter visited next.  

Tony prefers coffee and smoothies, Stephen likes both coffee and tea, Peter likes almost everything so they’ll both just make an extra cup and slide it to him, or just give him hot chocolate instead.  You can’t go wrong giving a kid hot chocolate, even if they are a mutant.  

Peter made Tony and Stephen Christmas cookies the holiday season after the three became acquainted.  He came home to May with a new Star Wars figurine and a spider-man themed scarf.  

Peter sometimes has trouble staying warm in the winter since spiders can’t thermoregulate; Tony keeps the penthouse thermostat turned up when Peter visits, and Stephen keeps the fireplaces in the Sanctum lit in the rooms Peter frequents.  A pile of sweaters, socks and other winter clothes magically appeared on his bottom bunk days before it was predicted to start getting cold enough outside for them.

Many a time have Stephen and Tony woken up, either at the Sanctum or at Tony’s penthouse, to find Peter left his room to come sleep between them.  Not that they mind; Peter was never refused when he woke them up to ask, so he just quit waking them and went ahead with getting comfy right in the middle.  

If either Tony or Stephen get caught napping with Peter on the couch, the other takes a picture and sends it to May.  If Peter catches them napping together or just being cute, he takes a picture and tells no one, because the pictures are going in a surprise scrapbook for their anniversary.  

Shouting “Dad” and having two men answer got a little frustrating, so Peter refers to them as “Iron/Science Dad” and “Doctor/Magic Dad”; which one just depends on the day.  

Peter loves peppermint—which is kinda a problem because the spider mutation makes him slightly sensitive to it.  Stephen and Tony have to monitor how much peppermint he takes in; a peppermint hot chocolate? Fine, enjoy it kid.  Peppermint tea?  Stephen’s got plenty so he doesn’t mind sharing, but Peter only gets one cup.  A handful of mints?  Peter’s curled up on the couch moaning for several hours at best, and losing his lunch at worst.

The Cloak didn’t really take to Tony or Peter at first, but steadily got jealous of how much attention they gave the bots when the Cloak seemed to ignore them.

The Cloak has broken several of the Sanctum’s windows trying to catch Peter swinging by because it thought he was falling.  

Peter plays hide-and-seek with the Cloak when Stephen’s busy with something.  He can’t hide from it too well though because it starts to panic and tears up rooms looking when it can’t find him; on the other hand the Cloak is really good at hiding and Peter usually has to give up—it has mastered hiding in plain sight, but sometimes just pulls an octopus and squeezes into places Peter can’t fit his hand (i.e. slender-neck vases).  

No matter who it is, be it Stephen, Tony or Peter, if anyone naps on the couch, even if it’s two or all of them, they are liable to become the filling of a Cloak burrito.  

The amount of times the Cloak has turned itself into a scarf and wrapped itself around Stephen and Tony’s necks is getting ridiculous.  It will tug them along if they fall back too far from Peter when they’re in public, which is usually only just out of arms’ reach.  

Peter is already picturing their wedding, but stresses out because he can’t decide if he wants to be the ring bearer or a groomsman.