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The elevator doors opened, and May stepped out onto the medical floor of the Stark Industries Tower. She didn’t visit the tower often, but she was unfortunately acutely familiar with this level of it. There wasn’t a waiting area per say, as its main purpose wasn’t actually medical practice but instead a research facility. The only people who actually got treated here were Tony and his family (Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, and now, incredibly odd as it was, her nephew), but a few chairs had been added to the area before the labs and private rooms started. All Pepper had said on the phone was that Peter was hurt and Tony was bringing him to the tower, so while sitting seemed nice she was trying to decide whether it or nervous pacing was the better option, when Tony and Pepper appeared. They were coming from the hallway that she knew lead to the private practice rooms and not the one that lead to surgery and intensive care so she let herself breath a small sigh of relief.
“Hey May.” Tony greeted her in a manner calm enough that she actually let herself relax. Clearly whatever had happened wasn’t too bad. Or at least wasn’t worse than usual. Tony was a surprisingly open book when it came to his emotions, especially about Peter, and if he wasn’t freaking out then she probably didn’t need to either.
“Hey Tony, hi Pepper. How's my kid?”
“Well, he’s got one more hole in him then strictly necessary, but Cho’s working on getting the bullet out now.” He shrugged as if Peter getting shot wasn’t a big deal. And May guessed, with the number of times it had happened at this point, it might not be. “I give it three days until he’s swinging again.”
She breathed easy. As much as she hated when Peter was hurt, this was a part of his life now, and therefore, a part of hers. “Okay, I can work with that. Basically, make him take the weekend off.”
“Yep. He can spend some down time with his favorite.” Tony’s whole demeanor changed with that comment, back straightening, shoulders locked, cocky smile. He looked far too proud of himself. Or at least that was until Pepper chimed in.
“Ya know, you should really run it by me before you make plans for me.” Pepper turned to the man with a teasing grin as he visibly deflated from confidence to annoyance.
Tony glared at Pepper in a way that to anyone who didn’t know him so well would probably look serious. “Oh please, like the kid would ever pass up lab time with me to hang out with you.”
“Well, he’s done it before.”
That comment seemed to hit a sore spot for the mechanic. His mouth fell open either in shock or disdain, May couldn’t tell, and he raised a finger as if about to pick Pepper apart in argument.
Needless to say, May was confused. Not over the fact that Tony and Pepper were bickering - they seemed to be in a constant state of flux between being the most sickeningly in love couple you’ve ever seen, and ready to tear the other to shreds - but they seemed to be fighting over Peter. Which was new. As far as she knew from the boy himself, everything in Stark-Land was going great. He’d been hanging out with Tony for over a year now, and although she had been a little nervous about a former playboy/arms dealer being her nephew’s mentor, Tony’s guidance and care really had been good for him. And when Peter had finally met Pepper, May had heard about how amazing the woman was for an entire week before Peter finally started to calm down.
So why was the couple fighting over who got to spend time with her kid?
“Umm, what’s going on here?”
Tony dropped his raised hand then, shut his mouth, and fixed her with a firm (and clearly very annoyed) look. “Pepper thinks she’s Peter’s favorite, which is ridiculous.”
Pepper laughed. “Tony’s delusional, clearly Peter’s short lived hero-worship went to his head.”
May’s head fell to her hands. They were fighting over who was Peter’s favorite. She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her, this was too ridiculous. It was just a small chuckle, but it was enough to get the bickering couple’s attention.
“What? Why are you laughing? This is serious, May.” Tony seemed to think of something then as his face shifted from accusatory to worry and maybe mild panic. “Wait. Has he told you who his favorite is?”
May full-on snorted at that. She needed to put an end to this right now. “Okay, first of all, Peter loves you both.” She placed a comforting hand on each of their shoulders in an attempt to both ground them and make them see reason. “His head would probably explode if he actually had to sit down and try and pick between the two of you.” She looked them each in the eyes, trying to act serious enough to get her point across. “And secondly, and listen carefully because this is important, I am Peter’s favorite.” She dropped her arms from their shoulders, crossing them over her chest as she schooled her features into a hopefully menacing glare. She wasn’t really upset, but if they were taking it this seriously she should have some fun with it. Plus, it was the truth. “I’ve known him for 15 years longer than either of you and I’ve raised him for 12 of those years. So, you can both sit your asses right down if you ever think you’re taking my spot.”
Both Pepper and Tony at least had the decency to look sheepish at that. Their resigned stances and murmured apologies were enough that May gave up on her attempt to look threatening and gave in to the amused smile that had been trying to break through.
“How about this, I’m off tomorrow and Peter won’t be Spider-Man-ing, so why don’t we come around for a chill day?” Tony visibly perked up at that and Pepper’s eyes seemed to brighten at the idea of getting to spend time with Peter doing what basically amounted to nothing. Wow, May hadn’t realized just how tightly her kid had managed to wind one of the biggest power couples in the world around his little finger. She should have been more surprised than she was. “We can watch movies, eat way too much popcorn, Pete will probably fall asleep on one of us - it’ll be wholesome.”
“Might be the first time I’ve ever been called wholesome,” Tony grumbled, but he was definitely hiding a smile.
Pepper shook her head in faux annoyance. “What Tony means is, that sounds lovely May. Thank you.”
----
So that was how May Parker found herself with an outstanding invitation to Stark Industries Tower. Every other Saturday she and Peter would make their way over to the tower, have lunch, watch a movie or play a board-game, she and Tony would see who could embarrass Pete more (“Have I ever shown you the video of Peter’s 10th birthday party? It was superhero themed - you’ll never guess who he went as.” - “Have you ever seen his Thor impression? Scarily accurate, really, you’d think he was in the room. FRIDAY, pull up the baby monitor protocol.”), while said teenager hid behind Pepper as he begged them to stop (“I will literally throw myself out the window if you show that tape! You know I can! I’ll do it!”). They’d have dinner, after which Peter and Tony would inevitably end up talking science or engineering and she and Pepper would end up talking about pretty much anything besides science and engineering. Most weekends Peter ended up staying the night so he and Tony could spend all Sunday in Tony’s workshop. It was a lovely little routine they had down.
Right now, Peter was sprawled across the couch, his feet in her lap, his head in Pepper’s, Tony occasionally reaching down to card his fingers through the boy’s hair and May could see the way Peter’s eyes would start to droop with every pass-through, bringing him closer to sleep. As she watched the scene unfold May looked around and realized, while it wasn’t the family bonding time she would have envisioned for herself back when she and Ben had adopted Peter, or even what she would have envisioned at this time last year, she’s not sure she could imagine anything better. She would of course always do everything she could for Peter and love him with her whole heart, but now he had two more adults in his life who cared about him more than anything, who loved and nurtured him, made him feel normal and safe. She knew she would always be Peter’s favorite, but she found she didn’t mind sharing.