Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stephen Stark-Strange had always known since the day he became a sorcerer that his life would forever be weird and yeah, it was pretty fucking weird.

Being a sorcerer married to a billionaire who flew around in a metal suit while their adopted son had spider powers and swung around New York was pretty weird. Yes, it was, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Stephen just didn’t know it could get even…dare he say it, stranger than that.

It started when Peter had been kidnapped while on patrol on the 29th of October. Tony had instantly been on red alert and was in his lab trying to pin down any of the items he had outfitted with tracking devices. Stephen was a bit calmer at first but that quickly changed when all of the location spells fizzled out immediately. It was now Halloween and they still hadn’t found Peter.

“A sorcerer has our kid.” Stephen declared as he swept into his husband’s lab.

“I mean, isn’t that usually the case?” Tony muttered as he typed furiously on the keyboard. Stephen lightly smacked him in the back of his head as he walked past and flipped on the couch. “Rude. That is absolutely rude and I-“

“Tell me what you have, Tony.” Stephen cut in, saving himself from the inventor's rambling. Tony quickly glared at him before turning to his findings.

“So apparently our kid has a cult dedicated to him, and not the one we know about on social media. These guys seem to worship some sort of Spider goddess and believe that our kid’s existence is a sign that she exists?” 

Stephen hummed in response and could recollect a theory in one of the books at Kamar Taj about the Web of Life and Destiny and how it was what connected the multiverse together. Something about a spider goddess named Neith and having Spider Totems scattered about the multiverse. He didn’t look farther than that but it honestly looked like something their son could be dragged into.

“Anyways,” Tony continued, not realizing Stephen’s mind had wandered off, “I think I have a hit in where the group has him stashed away. If they’re really about this spider goddess then they’re likely to try something tonight.”

The abandoned warehouse was a bit too on the nose for the Stark-Strange men but there was nothing much they could do about that. Stephen wasn’t able to use much magic without alerting the cultists while the armor would be too loud to sneak in with so Tony had the nano armor ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Peter was suspended in the air by a number of ropes tied together to create a web. Other symbols and offers strung up on the web only lended credibility that this was indeed a cult to a spider goddess that they were going to try and sacrifice their son to. Over their dead bodies.

What proceeded was a clusterfuck of epic proportions even to the scale that Tony and Stephen were used to operating on.

The cultists began to attempt to summon whatever spider entity they were going for when Stephen decided to act. He portaled the ground out from some of the lower level grunts in robes and sent them to the holding cell in the sanctum. Tony had sprung into action as well, summoning his suit and going after the summoner himself. The group were alarmed but didn’t bother to attack because they were too distracted by Peter beginning to glow and thrash in the webs. A vortex seemed to form in the middle of the warehouse and was working with them as it began to devour the cultists.

“Get him out of there!” Stephen shouted over the wind as he took down whatever people were left. He watched as Tony cut down the web only for Peter to remain floating where he was, which was not at all good.

When all of the cultists were dealt with, one way or another, the vortex disappeared along with all those it had taken which left them with the entity that inhabited their son.

“Greetings, fathers of the Master Avatar.” Peter said, his voice echoing from the power it radiated. Tony retracted the suit and came up to stand next to Stephen. 

“With whom are we addressing?” The sorcerer asked and Peter took off his mask, revealing the familiar face of their kid; only his eyes glowed a radiant blue.

“I am the Great Weaver. I am the one who curates the avatars of the web. It is we who keep the great balance in check and your son has been chosen to become the Master Weaver, overseer of all.”

“You’re talking about a kid. There’s no way you can throw the responsibility of a multiverse on a kid who’s not even out of high school!” Tony exclaimed and Stephen nodded in agreement. Contrary to what they expected, the Great Weaver smiled warmly.

“Just so. Peter Parker’s tend to be the strongest of the totems. Yours has most certainly felt the some of the most hardship with losing his birth parents, his aunt and uncle, his own life and innocence at the hands of Thanos. Yet he also knows the stakes and has the most to lose. No other Peter Parker has both of you at the same time that can assist him. It is also why he was chosen.” The Master Weaver laughed a moment before grinning, “Of course he will not take up the mantle for many years yet.”

“So why appear now? You didn’t have to answer the summons?” Stephen asked and the Master Weaver floated down to stand in front of the two of them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

“You’re good for him and I wish to save him from future heartbreak. It was a close thing when Mr Stark almost used the gauntlet in the final battle. Steve Rogers using it instead not only saved this universe but paved the way for the multiverse to stay stable as well. Tony Stark and Stephen Strange are needed for the Master Weaver’s fate so connected to the web they shall be.”

With that, it was as if a string had been cut and Peter collapsed as the Great Weaver disappeared. Tony only just caught him before he hit the ground.

“Okay- glad we got the kid back but what the fuck?!” Tony exclaimed as he laid the kid on the ground. Stephen only grunted in response. The final words were ominous and he didn’t quite understand what would be needed, at least until Tony spoke up again.

“Hey, is that a bug on your neck?” Stephen’s eyes widened before he suddenly felt a sharp sting and he saw his husband recoil from the same. He slapped the spot on reflex and was almost unsurprised to find the mangled corpse of a red and blue spider there.

“Oh, so that’s what they meant.” Stephen said as he suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed to the floor.

Darkness overtook him.

Stephen awoke to incredibly loud beeping and almost a cacophony of sound. Opening his eyes wasn’t much better as everything seemed too bright and he groaned in agony.

“Pops! You’re awake! Dad just woke up a few minutes ago and said the world was too loud before going back to sleep!”

Oh good, Peter was alive and unharmed and they were in the hospital because of the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. Normally it would be a comfort but there was just too much going on between all of his senses being dialed up to eleven.

That thought gave him pause.

He glanced over at Peter who was excited but worried and could almost hear the rapid thuds of his heart. Then he realized that despite his senses going haywire, there was a distinct lack of pain that should be there. Stephen couldn’t help but be in awe as he lifted his hands. There were still scars but he could move them without pain or hesitation. Looking back at Peter and then his husband in the other bed, he came to a realization.

“Oh god he’s going to be completely untolerable.”

A family of superhero spiders meant to guard the multiverse.

Yeah, things could certainly get weirder.