Doctor, Mister, or Father?
"What the hell am I doing.." Tony murmured under his breath, checking with a black pen his signature. Well, that was a lie. Tony knew exactly what he was doing, he knew he had to do this and he knew he desperately wanted to. Of course, he wasn't put on as Peter's emergency contact for no reason! the right and dominant part of his brain was screaming a positive reaction to him signing, while his left cried blood.
"You're signing a contract which indicates that you are now Peter Parkers legal Guardian." With a fully practiced tone of authority; spoke Pepper Potts. She pulled the paper away and slipped it into a file under her desk.
"Rhetorical. That was.. A rhetorical question. Y'know, emphasis on the periods instead of question marks–"
"I know what a rhetorical question is Tony."
Dr. Stark mentally punched the annoying little silver.. Moving.. Stick thingys in frustration and a pinch of annoyance. Atleast, the greatest pinch of annoyance. He would've asked her if he could stop it but he already did and we know how that would turn out.
He sighed, "Alright.. I'll be in my office if you need me–" He stood up and walked over to the door, pausing when his hand perched itself on the handle to speak.
"I probably will, and you most definitely will act asleep so you wouldn't have to do your own work."
"I DO do my own work, what do you think I'm doing all day in my lab?"
"Then why am I the one signing paperwork?"
"Because you never backed down from the job of being a CEO." He stated, and decided that was enough to say and left her office.
–––––––
So that was what Dr. Stark was hiding, well, not HIDING.. More like holding back, he definitely planned on telling Peter but.. Not yet, obviously. When the time came, but he just didn't expect the time to come this soon.
It was when a comfortable silence fell over the both of them; when He and Him were sitting opposite to eachother on a table and a hologram divided them with their own blueprints. Peter was working on his 'webshooter fluid', Tony knew because he asked. And he always got his answers. Dr. Stark was fixing up his broken suit arm, it was a good suit and he wouldn't leave it in the rubbish because of a little dislocation. The silence was toned with a pinch of awkwardness when Peter had glanced at Tony a few times in anticipation, atleast he suspected it to be anticipation. But he wasn't sure, so he didn't know if he should've said something or let the silence go on.
"So uh.. I've been meaning to ask.. Why did you bring me to the Avengers Compound instead of Stark Industries?"
Shit.
Shit? Was everything going to go to shit when Peter asked that question? When the time came? He wasn't so sure. But it didn't make a difference anyway, Tony stark was never sure about anything, but he still took that second-guess anytime he had the chance to, so what was so difficult about this one?
He lifted his head to look at him for a bit, then turned it back down. "Well, since you asked.. Uh.. Just a minute!"
Tony paused to think, then slid his phone off the table and walked into the washroom. He left a dazed looking Peter there and decided to listen to the line ring a couple of times until he heard a pick up. He was pleased to hear a familiar voice reply. "What is it Tony? I'm in the middle of a meeting–"
"You truly are my saviour! Okay, remember the guardianship contract I signed?? Yeah, I need that. Like, right now!"
Silence..
"Why do you need it?" "Peter asked a question I couldn't answer just– give me the contract paper thing."
Tony knew there was no way to get to the contract he signed, so he didn't know how or why he was asking. "The contract paper is at Stark industries." he realised.
About time he had realised.
There was a moment of silence before Pepper - an angel - spoke, "is Clint in the building?" she asked, expectation built up in each syllable she allowed to leave through her mouth. "Yes, he's pretty INSIDE the building. He's in the fucking vents and he's probably listening into our conversation!"
It wasn't long until a slightly muffled voice came from the vents, causing Tony to sigh and shut his eyes. He never believed in the quote 'Out of sight, out of mind,' but right now it was looking pretty Strong. "HELLO."
His familiar voice echoed throughout the vents, reaching Dr. Stark's eardrums. He seemed to hold a face that screamed, the message entails: 'You are a curse I wish I had never summoned.'
"Why do you need Clint I know Clint would love to do whatever you want him to do but why and what is it?" Tony murmured into the phone, opening his eyes only to glare at the vents. Pepper seemed to follow the murmur and decided to mimic it, understanding why his voice was so low. "I have a plan, you tell Clint to grab the contract from the file under my desk, and bring it to Avengers compound through the vents."
Tony listened reluctantly, raising an eyebrow and decided to put the phone call on speaker for Clint to hear. When he got a yell of confirmation, Dr. Stark supposed it to be enough of a message and shut the call.