Chapter Text
"Mr Stark what are we exactly working on here?" Peter asked as he watched the older man fiddle with a screwdriver in a small, about the size of his palm and like 2 inches thick, disk
"We're doing science underoos" Tony laughed and streched out his hand "size 5 wrench"
Peter placed the right wrench in Tonys hand and kept watching as his mentor worked
"What is that disc even supposed to do?" The spider raised his eyebrow, he really liked Tony but sometimes it was really hard to understand what is going on in that head of his
"Have you heard about the multiverse theory" Tony asked
"I did hear about this but I never really looked much into it" Peter scratched the back of his head
Tony putted the wrench down and slided the goggles he had on his eyes onto his forehead. He looked at him with a devilish and excited glint in his eyes
"Then you probably know the basics, different word than ours, same people different stories yada yada all of that" he dusted off his hands "you see Peter, this baby right here is a multidimensional portal maker in it's early stages"
Peters eyes bulged out, multidimensional portal? Now that was something new, but was it safe? Multiverse is completely unknown territory
"Mr Stark are you sure this is safe? I don't think meddling with something like that is good idea" Peter voiced his concerned
"Peter" Tony placed his hand on the boys shoulder "don't worry, this project is still in very early stages, I didn't even code in the whole portal thing. It's completely safe, that's why you're still here"
Huh?
Tony must have noticed the confusion on Peters face because he started talking again
"I'm not going to involve you in projects that are above your rank, you may be smart but you're still a kid"
"And this is why you brought me to that airport in Germany?" Peter raised his eyebrow, he forgave Tony a while ago but was still a bit salty about the whole thing
Tony looked to the side and scratched the back of his head "not one of my best moments I gotta admit and i'm sorry about that but listen, multiverse is something completely unknown who knows what we'll see on the other side of that portal once it's done. I don't want you to get hurt because I was too arogant, it already happend once and I won't let it happen again"
There was silence for a moment before Peter spoke up
"Yeah I get, I still think this is dangerous to some extend" he eyed the disk
"Peter think about this, once it's done and we make sure it won't cause the end of the world we will have so many oportunities, new knowledge, technology, patents" Tonys eyes sparkled like a childs who just saw their favorite toy
"Hmm I guess this is pretty cool" Peter caved it and Tony pumped his fist into the air
"Now, let's turn that baby on"
"W-wait" Peter grabbed Tonys arm that was already reaching for the disk "you said you're not going to do anything dangerous with this while i'm here"
Tonys eyes softened as they looked at the boy, he placed his other hand on the one that was holding his arm and gently pulled it away
"Hey, don't worry, I just want to see if this will actually turn on, nothing more" Tony reassured the boy
Peter was silent for a moment, his eyes flicking between Tony and the disk
"Can I turn it on?" He eventually asked making Tony laugh
"Knock yourself out kid" he picked up the disk and placed it on Peters hand
The teen started to basically vibrate with excited as he was handed the machine. He looked it around untill he found the "on" button and pressed it
Nothing happened
"Huh" Tony shrugged "looks like we gotta work some more on it"
"Maybe it's the wiring?" Peter threw in an idea
"Perhaps" as Tony continued to talk Peters hand started to get warmer, not a good sign at all. The teen looked at the disk in his hand, it started glowing, so not good
"Uh, Mr Stark is this supposed to be glowing?" Altough he well aware of the answer he still asked
"No, no it is not supposed to be glowing, merda" Tony came to Peters side as quickly as he could but when he was about to snatch the machine out of Peters hand a bright flash engulfed the lab
When it dimmed, Peter and Tony were gone
🦇
Tonys entire body hurt, especially the bruises from previous projects, like the bruise on his wrist from a few days ago when an iron man gauntlet malfunctioned and clamped itself too tightly
His nose hurt too, so many odd smells in the air were suffocating him, god Peter is going to hate that
Peter!
Tony shot up from the ground he was laying on and started looking around
He was in a dirty alleyway that smelled mercilessly, not only the smell of whatever that was in the air but the smell of piss, alcohol and gunpowder really did the trick to make Tonys head spin
Peter, gotta find Peter
He turned around on unsteady legs when he noticed a little kid laying on the concrete
The kid had the same pale blue t-shirt that Peter had and the same faded, black, baggy jeans. Even the shoes were the same
He walked closer to the kid as to not startle them. That's when he noticed that they were clutching their nose, as if it hurt them
"Uhhh Mr Stark where are we? My nose hurts" oh dear god, that kid was Peter
"Santa Maria, Peter?" Tony had to be sure
"Yeah it's me" good "why does everything smell so intense?"
Right enhanced senses
Tony kneeled next to Peter and started stroking his back in attempt to soothe him, god why couldn't Peper be here with him, she's better at that stuff than he is
"If this will make you fell a bit better I also smell all that junk in the air, so weird"
"You're not supposed to be able to do that" Peter whined as he picked himself up and crawled over to Tony, burrying his face in his stomach "why are you so big?"
Tony laughed "more like why are you so small Bambino" he curled his arms around Peter, who now wiggled his way onto his lap
"You smell nice" well that was unexpected "like wood and motor oil but sweet"
"Do I now" Tony tilted his head "do you think you'll be able to walk on your own without your nose killing you?"
Peter huffed "of course I can, i'm not a baby anymore" he peeled himself off of Tony but quickly came to regret it when all the smells hit him again, making him cling to the man again
"Ok yeah this is not going to work, let me just" Tony looked at the dark red hoodie that was tied around his waist "could you hold your breath for a while so I can put my hoodie on?"
Peter took a deep breath and leaned away pinching his nose, Tony did a quick job on untying the hoodie and putting it before bringing Peter close to him again
"Okay, up you go" he picked Peter up, the boy immediately burying his head in Tonys shoulder and wrapping his arms around his neck
Tony shifted his stance, his foot hitting something metal according to the sound
It was their project, Tony leaned over and picked it up gently putting it in the pocket of his hoodie, minding Peter in his arms
As he hid the disk in his hoodie he caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the windows
He looked young, like time turned back and it was 1995 again
"Peter, look" he lightly shook the arm that Peter was sitting on
The boy moved his head just enough so he can look at what Tony is telling him, his eyes widened. He was just as confused as Tony, he even fully unsticked his head from his shoulder to get a better look at his reflection
"I look like i'm five again, this doesn't make sense, how is this possible? That disk was only supposed to bring us from one place to another not change our ages" Peter started talking frantically, clearly starting to panic and hyperventilating. Tony placed his hand on Peters head and brought it back to his shoulder, running his fingers trough his hair
It seemed to work, Peter calmed down almost instantly as Peter stopped breathing heavily and tightly hugged Tony again
The man just kept staring at his reflection, thinking. As his fingers kept brushing trough the spiders hair he allowed himself to rub his cheek against the boy (it was an urge he's been fighting the very second he figured out the little child on the ground was Peter)
He smelled sweet, with a hint of wood
"What if the device worked?" Peter suddenly asked after a moment of silence
"What do you mean tesoro?" Tony asked
"What if the device worked? That would explain the weird smells and our ages" Peter explained and that actually made sense
Tony sighed "if we really are in a different universe then we need to figure out where we are, i have about 50 dollars in my pocket so it should be enough to buy a map and some food" the man felt Peter nod against him
Tony left the alleyway with Peter curled in his arms and all the smells hit him even harder, he did his best not to cringe onto himself
Despite the smells, the town istelf didn't look half that bad, the gothic architecture of the buildings and muted colors had a certian vibe to them that perfectly fitted the gloomy atmosphere of the cloud contained sky towering over the city
The man chose a direction and started walking
He soon found a small kiosk which was run by a man in about his mid 30s who smelled a lot like cigarettes and cleaning supplies
Tony grabbed a map that was on the outer stand and dropped it on the counter
"2.50" the guy said in a raspy voice, Tony dug around his back pocket and fished out a crinkled 5 dollar bill and placed it next to the map
The man took the money, gave Tony change which he pocketed back and snatched the map off the counter muttering a short thank you
They kept walking and soon reached a park, Tony decided to sit down on an empty bench, placing Peter on his lap. He seemed to get used to the smells, sure he still rubbed his nose but at least he didn't look like he was about to die the moment he smell anything else other than Tony
He opened the map with a slight help from Peter and started studying it
"Looks like we're in New Jersey, Peter" Tony said glancing at the boy, chuckling at his disgusted expression
"Out of all places we just had to end up in New Jersey" Peter crossed his arms on his chest
"Alright calm down with the hate, spider boy let's see what town we're in" he scanned the map untill he found a name
Gotham City
Appropriate name if he's going to be honest
"Gotham City" Peter readed the name out loud and almost immediately curled on himself clutching his head, whining
Tony folded the map and brought his full attention to the boy
"Peter? Is everything alright?" Peter whined in response
"Spider sense, its going crazy" oh dear not good, Tony folded the map and brought his full attention to Peter who was now whining. As he tried to sooth him, a woman in around her mid 40s walked up to them
"Is your pup okay" she asked sitting down next to them, she had a middle length brown hair and was wearing a purple sweater paired with gray bell pants and black shoes
"Yeah he's fine, just a headache" he decided to ignore the wierd wording
"Does he often have them?" The lady kept asking
"No, but he's been sick a few days ago so it's probably his immune system doing its thing" he lied as he consoled Peter
"Hmm" the woman hummed as Peters cries started to die out, she took out a notepad and a pen from her pocket and started to write something down, when she was done she ripped a page out and gave it to Tony "here is an address to a free clinic, if you ever have any medical problems this place is the best to go to"
Tony took the paper and started at it for a moment
"Thank you" he nodded and pushed the paper into his pocket "you feeling better now?" He asked Peter who now just sitting on his lap with his head on his chest
Peter nodded and rubbed his nose
"Hey, what do you think about going to the library?" Tony asked and Peter immediately perked up making the two adults laugh
"A little bookworm aren't ya kid" the lady pinched Peters cheek, the boy did not hide his displeasure "the library is two blocks from here, when you leave the park trough the main gate go left and keep walking, it's kinda hard to miss it"
Tony just rolled his eyes and stood up, picking Peter up
"Thanks for the address and directions" started walking away. Peter waved goodbye to the lady and the woman waved back with a soft smiled
"This place is weird" Peter said as Tony carried him in the direction the lady from the park told him. It was kinda odd being held like that again but it was rather nice
"It is" Tony agreed
"non mi piace per niente questo posto"
"Yeah I don't like this place either kid but we're kinda stuck here untill I figure out the way to come back home" god Pepper, Rhodey and Happy are probably losing their minds, he sure hoped that they explained what happened to May, she deserves to know what happened to her kid
They eventually reached the library, the lady from the park was right, it was really hard to miss
They entered the building trough high glass door and saw a red headed librarian sitting by the desk
Tony re-adjusted Peter so he was more sitting on his hip and walked over to the desk
"Good morning, do you have any computers here I could use?" He putted on his best public smile and paparazzi voice as he talked to the woman- Barbara as it was stated on her nametag
"Oh of course" she gave Tony a little piece of papers that was laying on the desk "this is a login and password, give it back once you're done, the computers are in the back between the shelves"
"Thank you" Tony took the paper and made his way to the computers
He sat down on the chair by the desktop computer that could pretty much be from a different era, and sat Peter on a chair next to him
He turned it on and tapped in the login and password and as soon as the junk turned on he clicked on google
Ironman, nothing
Spider-man, nothing
Chitauri, nothing but there was something about Kryptonians
Wakanda, nothing
Avengers, nothing but many articles about the Justice league, must that words equivelent of the Avengers
Tony Stark, just thousands of articles about a guy called Bruce Wayne, he clicked on one and to sum it up, he was a Tony of this word just with more children
As Tony skimmed trough the internet he stumbled upon a Wikipedia page about secondary genders, so of course he clicked on it
Alright that world was really weird
There were three secondary genders that everybody has
Alphas were the ones that could get others pregnant no matter the gender they are but cannot get pregnant themselves, protectores
Betas are the most like people from Tonys and Peters world, biologicam women get pregnant while biological men get others pregnant, gatherers
Omegas, both men and women can get pregnant from both Alphas and Betas but can not get others pregnant, providers
There was also an article about pheromons
Alphas had more artificial smell than others, betas smelled pretty neutral, omegas smelled more earthy and nature like alongside with sweet undertones while unpresented children (before puberty, without a secondary gender) smelled sweet with undertones of the smell of the parent that gave birth to them
(If he had to guess, he would say that Barbara the librarian is an Alpha)
And now for some biology lessons
Alphas had something called a knot, so when they engage in a sexual act with another person it maximises the chance of concieving and havr something called a rut which every 6 months makes them have a huge urge to mate for about a week
Omegas have heats, every 6 months they will have a huge urge to mate and have children. Heat passes the fastest if an omega engages in a sexual act with another but if they do not have another it is advised for them to stay in their nests as much as possibile, eat and drink a lot and surround themselves in smells of their loved ones
"Hey Peter, what did you say I smell like again?" Tony asked the boy who was reading with him
"Like wood and motor oil with a hint of something sweet" fuck he was an omega wasn't he? He totally was "you're an omega aren't you" Peter whispered to Tony
"Looks like it kiddo" Tony whispered back "and people will think that I gave birth to you because you smell sweet with a bit of wood"
Peters nose cringed "that's kinda weird once I think about it"
"Then don't think about it" Tony patted the boys head "I think it's time for us to go eat something"
Peter nodded and Tony turned off the computer
They both walked back to the desk, Peter bouncing beside him on the thought of food
"Here is your paper back" Tony smiled and grabbed Peters hand much to the kids displeasure
"Thank you, have a nice day" Barbara waved at them as they left the library. They didn't notice her taking her phone and picking out a number
They bought some sandwiches in Subway and sat down on a bench in front of it to peacefully eat them
"This world is weird" Peter said with his mouth full
"Don't talk with your mouth full, but you're right this world is weird but we're gonna have to fit in untill I fix the stupid things that brought us here"
Silence for a moment
"I saw an abandonent house on our way to the library, we could stay there untill then" Peter mentioned, this time having swallowed his bite beforehand
"That's a pretty good idea bambino" Tony ruffled Peters hair making the boy laugh "i'm gonna have to find a job, gotta pay for food somehow and 50 dollars is not going to take us far from what I know"
Peter nodded and finished his sandwich, as well as Tony who stood up and waited untill the boy slid off the bench to grab his hand
"Now guide me to the building" Peter happily did so
The house wasn't that bad, two bedrooms, a kitchen connect with a living room and a bathroom. Seems enough for the two of then
Tony yawned stretched his arms out "I don't know about you kid but i'm beat, gonna go to sleep" Tony started shuffling his way in the direction of one of the bedrooms, when he got stopped by a hand clutching his pants
"Can I sleep with you tonight?" The boy asked but immediately flushed red "f-forget it it was stupid, sleep with you what a dumb idea i'm not a child and you're not my dad" he attempted to run away but his plan was foiled by being picked up by Tony and carried to the bed
Tony sat down on the bad and placed Peter on his lap, took of his and Peters shoes and layed down with the boy on his chest and his hand on his back
Peter couldn't help it. He out like a light in a matter of few seconds
Maybe their stay here won't be that bad