You Are My Sunshine is a Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfiction by iamconstantine. The story follows most of the events of canon with the caveat that Peter Parker is Tony Stark’s biological son.
Tony attends a charity event much like every other one, and meets a woman by the name of Mary Fitzpatrick. They spend one fun night together, but Mary departs the next morning. Five years later, Tony has almost completely forgotten about Mary when he gets a phone call from her friend, Richard Parker: Mary has been killed in a car accident, and a written letter from her reveals that Tony is the father of her son, Peter Benjamin Fitzpatrick. The story primarily follows Tony’s point of view while he deals with unexpectedly becoming a father.
The story can be found on Archive of Our Own here.
This fic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Mary and Richard were C.I.A. agents in the comics, with associations to Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. This fic has them as everyday people.
- Adaptational Job Change: Mary and Richard's jobs as C.I.A. agents are changed to being a waitress and a physical therapist, respectively.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ben, May, and Mary all refer to Richard as "Rich", Rich calls Mary "Fitz", and Mary calls Ben and May by their last names.
- Alternate Universe Fic: The story takes place in an alternate universe wherein Peter is Tony’s biological son via Mary Fitzpatrick.
- And I Must Scream: As in Iron Man, Tony is paralyzed after Stane uses the supersonic taser on him and takes the Arc Reactor, sending Tony to his grave. This time, however, Tony is also unable to do anything as Stane kidnaps Peter and boasts about killing him.
- Both Sides Have a Point: What Ben himself points out in Chapter Nine, as May and Tony argue over who is better fit to take care of Peter. On the one hand, Tony is very financially stable, he may or may not have some right as Peter's father, and just wants Peter to be happy and cared for. On the other hand, May and Ben have known Peter his whole life compared to Tony's few days, moving to Malibu might be too much for a grieving five-year-old, and Peter doesn't really need to live with Tony to be happy. Tony and Ben agree that it should come down to what Peter wants to do, but even then, May points out that a child might not be capable of making the best decision.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Richard and Mary both prolong telling one another their feelings for years and years. Richard moving across the continent and Mary becoming pregnant with Peter doesn’t make it any easier. Unfortunately, Mary dies in a car accident before they can finally spit it out.
- Character Death: Five years after meeting Tony, Mary is killed in a car accident.
- Dead Man Writing: Mary leaves behind two letters in the safe deposit box in case something happens to her and she doesn't get around to saying what needs to be said beforehand. The first letter instructs May, Ben, and Richard to take care of Peter and get in contact with Tony. The second letter, for Tony himself, apologizes for keeping Peter a secret and explaining why she did so.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tony Stark is as quick-witted as ever, but Mary is also a wisecracker. Their first meeting together has Mary effortlessly keeping up with him, and it becomes more evident in her scenes with May, Ben, and Richard.Richard: How pregnant are you?Mary: ...Yes?
- Department of Child Disservices: Downplayed. Through her own experiences in the foster care system, Mary notes that while there are some loving people prepared to give kids good homes out in the world, there are also bad people within it. She considers herself "lucky" for coming out as fortunate as she did, but her fears of Peter not getting lucky are part of why she decides to keep him.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In (most versions of) the Marvel canon, Richard and Mary Parker both die in a plane crash. In the fic, Mary is killed in a car crash while Richard still lives.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Prior to the story proper, Richard was involved in a motorcycle crash that cost him his leg. He uses a prosthetic in the current-day. The Richard Parker of Marvel canon had no disability.
- Disappeared Dad: Since Tony didn’t know about Peter beforehand, Peter is raised with Mary as his single parent.
- Forced to Watch: Chapter Twenty-Three ends with Stane taking a paralyzed and asleep Peter with him, boasting to the also-paralyzed Tony that Stane will kill Peter to cover his tracks. On top of that, he plans on framing Peter's murder on Tony to sell the story that Tony went insane and killed both himself and Peter in a mental break. Tony can only watch as his son is taken away from him.
- For Want Of A Nail: Lampshaded within the first chapter. Mary asking to swap places with her coworker leads to her being in the bathroom, her coworker’s nervousness leads to him spilling champagne on Tony, that leads to Tony meeting Mary, and that leads to Peter being conceived/born.
- How Dad Met Mom: The prologue details how Tony meets Mary Fitzpatrick when she’s working at a charity event, which eventually leads to their one-night stand.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After the death of her best friend, the stress of figuring out how to care for Peter, and returning from said friend's funeral to an argument about Peter living with Tony, May throws in the towel.May: I'm cracking open the beer I've been hiding behind the hot sauce. Don't look at me.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In Chapter Eight, Tony inwardly admits that Obie's points—that an illegitimate child would be a PR disaster, that Tony has no obligation to do anything, and that Tony is woefully incapable of raising a child—are all true. He just doesn't appreciate the unfeeling attitude about it.
- Last-Name Basis: Mary refers to everyone by their last name: Reilly (May), Parker (Ben), and Stark (Tony). The only exception to this is Richard, who in turn refers to her as "Fitz".
- Like Father, Like Son: After meeting and getting to know Peter more, Tony brags in Chapter Six that his son inherited his brains. More jokingly, he notes Peter has his looks.
- O.C. Stand-in: Mary Fitzpatrick and Richard Parker are existing characters in the ‘‘Marvel’’ universe, but had not made any appearance in the MCU proper at the time of the fic's writing.
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Mary and Tony meet and sleep with each other only once on a single night, but it leads to Mary becoming pregnant with Peter.
- Parents as People: Mary dearly loves her son and only wants what’s best for him, but kept the secret of who his father was due to her own fears about it.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Mary's death leads to her friends reading her letter from her deposit box telling them that Tony Stark is Peter's father and asking them to get in contact with him. They do so, and Tony flies to New York to meet Peter.
- Poor Communication Kills: Tony and Peter both struggle to properly communicate with each other, which time and again strains their relationship. The most damage comes when, while Tony is kidnapped by the Ten Rings, Stane tells Peter that his father hates him and wishes he wasn't around. No one else is there to witness this but J.A.R.V.I.S. When later discussing Peter's unease around Stane, all Ben can tell Tony about is what he's seen, like Stane generally just being snappy at him. Tony asks Stane to apologize, which he does—realizing that Tony doesn't know what he said and just wanting to keep Peter quiet. Peter (thinking Tony knows about what Stane said) takes Tony's following silence as him agreeing with Stane.
- Related in the Adaptation: This being an Alternate Universe Fic, Tony is Peter's biological father. In the MCU, Tony is only Peter's mentor, albeit they share a surrogate father-son bond.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Peter takes very strongly after his mother Mary, mostly in his curly brown hair and wide eyes. On the flipside, his nose, eye color, and ears come from Tony.
- Whole Episode Flashback: After Tony meets Peter in Chapter Four, Chapter Five goes back in time to Mary first finding out that she was pregnant. The rest of the chapter follows how she decided to keep Peter, her relationship with her friends, etc.
