Finding the Way Home

Chapter 3

Pepper Potts-Stark was not Mr. Stark, but she understood Peter better than he ever expected her to. In the years where he'd been Mr. Stark's unofficial intern, both in the lab and outside of it, she seemed to know what he needed and when. From getting three pizzas instead of one to ordering everything he needed to premix his web fluid without him needing to ask, Pepper Potts-Stark was there for him. After Mr. Stark's death, Peter had worried he'd lose all the Starks. This had not happened.

Almost overnight, Happy took on Mr. Stark's job as a chaperone and showed up just as regularly and unexpectedly in the Parker's apartment. Pepper's phone number somehow appeared in his phone and although it had been startling at first, she sometimes asked Peter to visit the Tower and entertain Morgan after school. Certain that it was only out of pity and a temporary arrangement, Peter had tried to make the most out of the time before Pepper inevitably moved upstate for good and Peter was left without any link to his mentor.

Even after graduating from Midtown, Pepper had not cut all ties. Quite the opposite, in fact.

She arranged for him to take an official job in the R&D department and in his last year at ESU, began to arrange for him to take over. Morgan became his new lab partner and although Pepper always scolded him for their more dangerous experiments, she never kept Morgan out of his lab.

Unfortunately, like the last time Peter had visited the Tower, today would not be a simple social visit. He wouldn't even be heading up to the R&D floor for work. Instead, FRIDAY directed him straight up to Pepper's office after Michelle had finally convinced him to let her start preparing for her interview in peace.

"Miss Potts?" Peter poked his head through the door and was immediately given a chastising look.

"Mr. Parker," Pepper replied. She waved him in nonetheless and although Peter's face felt warm, he happily entered the familiar room.

"Where's Morgan?"

While Stark Industries had a daycare center for employees, Morgan didn't often frequent it. Between their small family of Happy, Rhodey, May, and Peter, there was no need. Even Michelle took over child care duties when she wasn't busy writing an article for the Bugle.

"Happy took her to the park," Pepper said, clearing off her desk. "I didn't think this would be a conversation that she should be present for."

Peter bit back a grimace and shook his head in agreement.

"That was a good call," Peter muttered, already fighting the urge to fidget in his seat and fiddle with... something. Anything.

With a warm smile, Pepper offered him a Rubik's cube, something that he was fairly certain she only kept in her office for him. It didn't match the rest of her trinkets and it had appeared after his third visit, but he had yet to ask.

"Tell me what happened, Peter," she said softly. She leaned forward in a comforting way that immediately made Peter want to do just that.

They hadn't told May everything that happened, but Peter knew better than to try and hide from Pepper. Damage control was only effective if he shared the full story, but Peter had never felt the need to lie to Pepper. May would worry and while Pepper would worry as well, she knew how to handle a Stark Industries-related crisis as she did.

Starting from the very beginning, Peter recounted the events in Venice―the elemental's attack and the destroyed bell tower. He mentioned Fury and meeting Beck, how he'd seemed like a good guy up until Prague when Peter had finally filled in some of the more suspicious gaps in Beck's story.

"The multiverse theory made sense," Peter told her because that hadn't been part of Beck's story that gave him a bad feeling. "He was just―always there. He knew what we'd need and he knew about EDITH."