To Have a Home

::4::

It was about four in the afternoon, and Peter Parker hadn't left his bedroom yet. That was until FRIDAY alerted the Avengers of an approaching person. Peter's spidey senses were tingling more then usual. This wasn't a physical threat. He left his room and saw two men he had never seen before sitting on a couch, with every Avenger present sitting on another couch, or on the floor. The two men looked very intimidated. The Avengers were staring them down, and Peter realized that whatever this was about wasn't good.

"The hospital. They told us we could find Peter Parker here," one of the said. Peter's breath hitched and he began to silently panic. 'They are going to take me away' he thought to himself.

"That is correct," Thor said bitterly. The two men looked up at him and their eyes widened. Peter walked farther into the room, and everyone saw him. The people on the floor sitting with their backs on the couch looked up.

"Peter. Honey. Come sit over here," Pepper said, scooting over on the couch. Peter walked over, feeling embarrassed with all eyes on him. Pepper grabbed his hand and he gave her a squeeze so she would know that he appreciated it. Tony sat on the arm of the couch and Peter was in the middle of the two.

"Even though this is probably the last thing anyone wants to talk about," one of the men said, "we need to talk about guardianship for the boy. May Parker was his last living relative." At that, Peter started crying again, and Tony pulled him into a tight side hug. He glared at the men. The Avengers were so tightly crammed together on the couch that they could hardly breathe correctly.

"He will be taken to a foster home at the end of the week," the other man said. The Avengers erupted in protest.

"Like hell, he will!" Nat screamed. The two men looked at each other, concerned. After the Avengers calmed down, they continued talking. Peter stayed tucked into Tony's side, face hidden in Tony's white t-shirt.

"I'm sorry but he has no remaining family members," the second man said.

"You are so wrong," Tony said. "He has us." This shocked Peter, but he never moved. He felt safe.

"If the other option is foster care, then we will just have to adopt him," Pepper said, a matter of factly. Peter felt his heart stop. Adopt him?

"She's right," Tony said. "Where do I sign?" Everyone finally let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding. The kid wasn't going to leave them. The two men looked at each other, shocked, and grabbed their briefcases. They immediately took out stacks of paper that rivaled the stacks on Pepper's desks.

"Are you sure?" One asked. Tony nodded, pulling Peter closer. Tony only let go when he was handed a pen to sign a paper. He handed it to Pepper and she signed her name under his. Peter watched with wide eyes. He wasn't going to have to leave.

"There will be a background check on you both, and you will have to come into the courthouse in a month in order to sign some more papers, but I can't see any reason why this adoption will not go through," the other one said. Pepper hugged her new son and he hugged her back as Tony led them to the door. When they were gone, and a few of the Avengers were making dinner, a large portion of the group stayed in the living space, the news on but muted behind them.

   "Thank you Mister Stark," Peter said as Tony ruffled his hair.

   "Hey, kid. No more of that Mister Stark crap. Call me Tony," he told him. Peter nodded. Wanda came over to him and swung her arm over his shoulder.

"We are going to have so many movie nights," she said. Peter laughed. They all sat and watched the news, turning it off when they started talking about a car wreck. Peter jumped up from the couch startling everyone.

   "Ned and MJ!" He exclaimed, grabbing his phone from his back pocket.

   "What?" Bruce asked. Peter sat back down, tapping his phone password in.

   "My friends. Ned and MJ. I forgot to tell them what happened," he replied, texting the group text. "They probably don't even know about..." he said, stopping when he realized what he was going to say. Tony gave him a pat on the back. He entered his Instagram account and went to the group text between the three of them.

   "Hey, guys. You probably saw the news already," he texted. Within a minute his phone was blowing up.

   "Oh. My. God. Peter are you alright?" Ned asked. Peter smiled a little at the gesture.

   "Glad to hear from you Parker," MJ said. "I'm really sorry about May."

   "I second that," Ned texted. Peter smiled.

   "Thank you, guys. But I don't have to leave you guys, so it's going to be okay," he texted.

   "Do you need a place to stay?" Ned asked his friend.

   "Oh, there's even more information there. I guess I'm moving into the Avengers Tower," he texted.

   "Sorry repeat that I don't think I heard you," MJ replied.

   "Oh you heard me," Peter added. Ned just texted an emoji. "Well got to go. It's dinner time," Peter texted, then turned his phone off.

   "What did they say!" Thor exclaimed louder than necessary. Everyone laughed.

   "Just checking up on me," Peter replied, pulling a chair out. Everyone sat eating and talking, but Peter mostly just ate slowly and pushed his food around. Tony looked at him with a worried expression. When everyone was distracted by Thor throwing his plate on the ground, he turned to Peter.

"Food okay?" He asked him. Peter nodded his head.

"Oh, yea. I just don't feel very hungry," Peter replied sadly.

"Well, you have to eat. That metabolism of yours won't last very long without food," Tony said. He was scared that he sounded too much like a dad and that it would make Peter feel uncomfortable, but Peter just smiled at him and started eating. It felt nice to know that somebody was watching out for him. Tony smiled, happy that he had succeeded. When they washed the dishes, they all sat in front of the tv and watched a movie, but Peter had fallen asleep before he could see what movie was on.