4
“That really is amazing…” Nick Fury said much later, as Peter finished showing them that he could easily lift the maximum weight on the workout machine he had in his gym. He looked at Tony. “He couldn’t do that, before?”
“Couldn’t walk up walls and lift a million pounds?” Stark asked, pleased enough at their responses to be amused and show it. “Nope. This is definitely new.”
“And we’re sure it’s from a spider bite?” Steve asked.
“As sure as we can be,” Tony told them, smiling at his baby when Peter walked over to join the conversation, Natasha walking with him. “I know he couldn’t do any of this before the bite – which we’re assuming made him so ill, since the timing is too spot on for it to be anything else. That’s the only thing that has changed.”
“Well, it might behoove you to speak to Banner,” Fury told them, nodding at the boy but still pretty much talking to Tony. “If anyone would know about the possible weird effects of radiation exposure, it’d be him.”
“True.”
Steve smiled at Peter, who was looking excited – and why not? Amazing new abilities like that/ The kid was already the center of Tony Stark’s life, and now he had managed to catch the attention of the rest of the Avengers. Of course it was exciting.
“Going to recruit him, Nick?”
Fury shrugged.
“That would be up to him, I imagine.” Or maybe Tony? “But we can spend time with you,” he added, now speaking to Peter, directly. “Learning more about what you can do and letting you see what SHIELD and the Avengers can do – and how you can fit in with them, eventually.”
“And Tony can work with you on technology that can make your new abilities even more amazing,” Romanoff added, pointedly, looking at the billionaire.
He nodded. Tony wasn’t so sure that he wanted his baby to be an Avenger. He was overly protective of the boy, of course, and he didn’t trust that the newfound abilities were going to be enough to keep him safe if Peter tried to do the things that Steve Rogers did. But he was also aware of the fact that Peter might be excited by that thought, and he always enjoyed seeing Peter happy. Tony would do anything to make Peter happy.
“We’ll look into it.”
Which made Peter smile when Tony glanced at him.
“You do that,” Nick told him. “Let me know what you guys figure out – or let Romanoff know. She can liaison with Peter and you.”
“Will do.”
><><><><><><>
“That was exciting, wasn’t it?”
Tony smiled, pulling his baby down onto the sofa beside him. Peter was pretty much bouncing off the walls and had been since the others had left almost fifteen minutes before. Peter and Tony had cleared what little disarray had happened from the visit and now Tony was ready to relax a little to end their day. Peter was his favorite way to relax, really.
“Yeah, baby, it was.”
“Do you think Nick meant it about me working with them?”
“Nick doesn’t usually say anything that he isn’t serious about,” Stark confirmed. “But it isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” he added. “I don’t want you putting yourself in danger – at least not until you’re more comfortable with these new abilities. So we’ll work with you and make sure you know what you need to know to keep yourself safe.”
Peter nodded, leaning into Tony and sliding his hand along Tony’s chest as he put his arm around him.
“Yeah. Can’t become a superhero overnight, right, Daddy?”
“Exactly.” He brushed his lips against Peter’s ear, smiling when the boy shivered at the sensation. “We’ll take some time and see what all you can do and then once we have that figured out, then we’ll develop the tech needed to make you even better. Safer.”
“You’d do that?”
“For my baby?” Tony asked, smiling. “I’d do anything for you.”
Peter smiled, snuggling against him, happier than he could ever remember being – and he was a pretty happy guy, already.
“Thanks, Daddy.”
><<<><><><><>><
“So how are you feeling?”
Peter grinned at his friend.
“I’m good.”
“I can’t believe Tony let them release you from the hospital so soon,” Ned told him, washing his hands before turning his full attention to Peter. “I’d have figured he’d keep you under doctor’s care for at least another week or so.”
“I was healthy,” Peter told him. “He knew it.”
“Yeah, but he’s your daddy and you and I both know how over protective he is of you.”
They were up on the R&D floor of the tower. Tony was working and Peter had told him that since he was there and Tony didn’t need anything from him, he was going to go find Ned and see if he was busy. He hadn’t had a chance to do more than meet the scientist that Ned was working with and had never really had much of a chance to see his friend in the lab. Stark had shooed him away – with a reminder that one lab incident a month was more than enough and to stay out of trouble – and Peter had headed for the elevator, fairly certain that FRIDAY was still going to be keeping an eye on him.
Ned was just finishing up with the exciting chore of cleaning Petrie dishes and had greeted Peter, cheerfully before accepting his offer of lunch.
“You think he’s over protective, now,” Peter said. “Wait until you hear…”
“Hear what?”
The boy made a show of looking around – although the lab was empty except for the two of them, since everyone had left for lunch.
“I can’t tell you, here.”
“Tell me what?”
“It’s a secret.”
Peter and Tony had both agreed that Ned could (and should) know what had happened – and see the results of the spider bite – but beyond him and those who already had been shown, there shouldn’t be any others. For the moment, at least. Learning how to use his new talents was going to be stressful enough, even with Tony’s help, so the billionaire had pointed out that he didn’t want his baby to be overwhelmed with the publicity that would come if the secret got out.
Nick and Romanoff were both fond of saying that the more people who knew a secret the less chance that it would remain one.
Ned rolled his eyes.
“You came up here just to tell me that you have a secret and you can’t tell me?”
Peter smiled.
“No. I can tell you. Just not here.”
“I’ll buy you lunch.”
“But we’ll eat it in Tony’s office, okay? He’s in a meeting so we’ll have the room to ourselves.” It was as secure a building as was available.
“It must be something amazing.”
The boy nodded.
“Yeah. It’s pretty good.”