Never Again

Ch. 13

Tony's POV

I arrived back at the tower a little later than I expected. When I walked into the living room, Peter was eating leftover spaghetti as he watched TV. He looked away from the TV when he heard me walk into the room but didn't say anything. I grabbed my own dinner from the fridge then joined Peter on the couch. Even though he was watching the TV, I could tell he had something on his mind.

"How was school?" I asked, sitting on the couch next to him. He looked up from his bowl of spaghetti and shrugged. "Well, something's on your mind. I can tell. You get quiet and forget to yell in glee when I return to the tower." Peter smile a little, but it wasn't enough to convince me he was fine. "What's up, kid?" I turned to TV volume down a couple notches and Peter sighed.

"Child services hasn't talk to you, have they? Or do they even know where to find me?" he asked. I frowned. Why was he worrying about child services? Before I could ask him that though, he said in one breath, "It's just, I know they have to give me to someone and I won't be staying here, but I don't have anyone else and I'll be an adult in three years and foster care sucks so I don't want to do that, but I don't really have a choice and so I was just wondering if they had come to talk to you?" He looked at me expectantly though what he was waiting for I didn't know.

"Child services knows where you're at, trust me," I said, chuckling a little. Peter cracked a small smile and I continued. "They've talked to me, but I've also talked to them. They're not gonna place you in foster care, I made sure of that."

"Really?" Peter seemed relieved, then confusion spread across his face. "Then where am I going? I don't have grandparents I never knew about, do I?" I shook my head.

"No, at least I don't know about them either," I said. Peter nodded, taking a bite of his spaghetti, but still watching me. "They need to assign you a legal guardian and since you're a teen, you have some say in that." Peter shrugged, staring down at his bowl of spaghetti. "I know you don't have anywhere else to go, so I told them I'd sign on as your legal guardian." Peter nodded, still staring blankly at his spaghetti. It only took three seconds for him to process what I had said. His eyes snapped up to me and he looked so surprised I wondered if he had really thought I'd be sending him away.

"Wait, you're being serious?" he asked. I nodded. He almost dropped his spaghetti as he jumped towards me. He quickly put his food on the coffee table then hugged me tightly.

"Whoa, okay I know I was all touchy and nice earlier, but I'm still not good with hugs," I reminded him. He didn't let go, though, so I just hugged him back, glad he seemed happy about the arrangement. "So, I take it you're fine with this?" I asked as he pulled away. He nodded vigorously.

"You have no idea how fine I am with this," he said excitedly. I chuckled and picked up my food. "So, did you sign some sort of adoption papers or something?" I nodded and he grinned. He could barely sit still and was definitely not paying attention to the TV. He started laughing all of a sudden and I glanced at him, wondering if maybe the news was too much in his already fragile state of mind.
"What's so funny?" I asked. Peter stopped laughing and grinned at me, but his grin looked more like a smirk.

"You're officially my dad," he answered.

"I am not a dad," I firmly pointed out. Peter's grin didn't falter. "I am simply like your super cool older brother or something that has to raise you and whatnot."

"You're a dad," Peter told me. I glared at him but his smirk only grew as he said, "That means you have to teach me to catch and all that shit."

"Hey! Don't say that word!" I said, pointing at him. "Bad word." Peter erupted into more laughter as I rolled my eyes.

"Dad," he muttered. He received another glare but just continued to laugh.