Irondad & spiderson One shots {open}

Are you happy?

This was inspired by an ao3 book called 'The Third Option.' It's so amazing and one of my favorite fanfics. It's one of those books I can go back to and still feel like I'm reading it for the first time. 😌

The topic of this one-shot (literally the title) was briefly brought up in the beginning and I think the middle and I thought I would have a bit of fun with it! I hope that's ok :,,)

*3RD POV*

Peter Parker had a rough childhood.

He could barely remember his parents but from what May and Ben told him, they were a wonderful couple and they did everything in their power to make sure Peter was happy. Sometimes, he would have dreams of them being back and they were all a perfect family. God, he wanted that more than anything.

Though, he couldn't say he didn't have good guardians. May and Ben were amazing. They didn't even want kids but they still took responsibility for Peter. He could never thank them enough for that.

They knew Peter would have his bad days. When they came, the three of them would sit on the couch curled up together in blankets, watching old movies. It wasn't mentioned if Peter was crying. All they could do was hold him together as best they could.

"Are you happy?" Ben would ask. "What?"

Six year old Peter stared up at his uncle. They sat at the dinner table with takeout quietly until Ben had broken the silence.

"Are you happy?" "I-I..." Peter began, wondering if he really wanted to have this conversation. Yes, he'd stayed up late at night crying and silently pleading for his parents to come back but May and Ben shouldn't have to worry about him. They were already doing so much. They took him in, put a roof over his head, fed him... They didn't really want Peter there, did they?

"Yeah," he said, trying his best to sound convincing. "I am uncle Ben." The older man stared at him for a moment. Maybe he wasn't convincing enough.

Peter tried to smile but it came out weak. Ben furrowed his eyebrows in concern but looked back down at his plate.

Peter tried to ignore his Aunt and Uncle talking about him later that night, worrying about him.

They didn't need this...

There were many other times Ben had asked him that same question and every time Peter put on a smile and lied.

Though, one day Peter came home from school, he went straight to his room and cried.

It was a bad day.

It was the day his parents died. Flash was an asshole. Everything just kept getting worse.

Peter thought he could hide his distress well enough and choke back his sobs but with a few soft knocks, Ben came into his room and sat on the edge of his bed.

Peter curled into himself further, furious at himself for crying in front of him.

"Peter..?" The boy decided not to answer, letting him continue.

"Are you happy?"

Peter hiccuped. "What do you mean?"