Tony
Wednesday afternoon, Tony is doing some tinkering in his lab while he waits for his favorite young adult to arrive. Peter was acting a little weird when he left Saturday afternoon. Tony didn’t want to push it, because it only really started after they watched Han Solo die in that movie, and maybe it was just about the character, or maybe it was like a dead father kind of thing, which Tony felt was best not to bring up. Peter likes to act tough, so when he started getting a little emotional Tony just ignored it, like he thought the kid would want. He wants to know if Peter is feeling better today though. If he’s not, then they can have a talk.
He hyper focused in on an improvement to his latest iron man suit when he hears the doors to the lab slide open behind him. He’s got safety goggles on and a welding torch in hand, and he’s carefully welding together a very important bond.
He holds out his left hand in the direction of the tool he needs but left on the other table.
“Hey, Pete, can you grab me the-“
The tool he’s looking for is deposited directly in his hands, so he gets back to work.
“Thanks, kiddo. You showed up at the perfect time. Actually…” he glances at his watch really quick and sees that it’s barely even three o’clock.
“You’re a little early today, bud. I know we’ve talked about this. You can’t skip calc just because you know everything already.”
In response, he hears a snort of laughter and a deeper voice that definitely doesn’t belong to Peter.
“You’re teaching kids not to skip school? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend.”
Tony immediately drops his tools and yanks the goggles off his face.
“Honey Bear!”
Rhodey smiles at him and saunters over to give him a hug. Tony squeezes him tight.
“How have you been?” Tony asks him, releasing his friend to sit on the bench next to him.
“I’ve been good, man. Work hasn’t been as busy lately, so I can’t complain. I can actually get a few free days off. What about you? How’s everything been?”
Tony just shrugs. “Ah, you know me. I’m the same as ever.”
Rhodey glares at him. “Same as ever? I don’t think so. Not after that ‘don’t skip class’ lecture I just heard.”
Tony rolls his eyes. “Oh come on, I’m just trying to be a good role model for the kid. How long are you in town for this time?”
“Only for a couple of days today, unfortunately. My mom’s birthday is this weekend, so I have to go up Friday for a big family party this weekend.”
“I’m glad you got here when you did then. Peter would be pissed if he didn’t get to see you while you’re here. He should be here soon.”
They sit and catch up for a little while, losing track of the time until the lab doors slide open once more.
“Rhodey!” Peter yells, rushing over to where the two men are sat by a lab table.
“Hey there, half-pint.” Rhodey responds with a smile, reaching out to clasp Peter on the shoulder.
Peter scowls. “Hey, I’m not that short.” He grumbles, almost pouting.
Rhodey shrugs. “You’re shorter than me.”
“At least I’m still growing. You’re stuck at 5’8”. I could be 6 foot by next year.”
Rhodey sticks his tongue out at Peter mockingly, and Peter does the same.
“Whoa there, children. Calm it down.” Tony commands at the two giggling people in front of him.
“I didn’t know you were supposed to be here today, Rhodey.” Peter tells him excitedly, sitting down next to them at the table.
“I’m just stopping in for a day or so before heading up to see my family upstate. I didn’t tell Tony because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get today off as well until earlier this week.” The man answers, getting a large smile from the boy. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve been working on lately? Tony talks about you all the time of course, but I want to see what he’s been teaching you the last few months.”
Tony elbows him in the ribs teasingly, but the damage has already been done.
Peter’s head whips around towards Tony, small smile on his lips.
“You talk about me?” He asks.
“Yeah of course.” Tony responds with a smile, getting up to go stand behind Peter and putting both hands on the boy’s shoulders. “I tell him how much of a pain in the ass you are.”
“Hey!” Peter responds indignantly. Rhodey has to chuckle at the adorable pout that quickly forms on the boy’s face.
Tony stops laughing and ruffles Peter’s hair, slinging an arm over his shoulder and pulling him in when he tries to escape having his hair messed up in front of Rhodey. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Come on, kiddo. You know that if I didn’t like having you around, I wouldn’t invite you here. What do I always tell you?”
Peter glares up at the man, annoyed, but he responds nonetheless. “You’re Tony Stark, and Tony Stark doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
Tony smiles down at him. “Exactly!” He said, giving Peter a joking poke in his side before smiling back up at Rhodey. “I’m telling you Honey Bear, this kid’s a genius.”
Rhodey laughs again. “I know he is. That’s why want to see what you two have been up to.”
Tony turns to the kid. “Pete? You want to show him your projects?”
“Sure!” Peter exclaims, bounding excitedly over to his lab desk and pulling open drawers, yanking things out and speaking at lightening speed.
“Well, all of our coolest things are too big to fit in a desk. But here’s some smaller things. Mr. Stark let me help him fix up these prototypes for the newest model of stark phones and watches, and I’ve been working on these prosthetic fingers that have more mobility and neural responses. I’m working on connecting them to the pain receptors from wherever the amputation took place, but Mr. Stark doesn’t know if that’s a good idea because why would people choose to feel pain. But they usually already feel phantom pain anyway and this could help with that. Plus pain is there for a reason. What if they accidentally had their prosthetic on a hot stove and then they accidentally burn someone with it because they didn’t know it was hot? Mr. Stark also helped me fix up an old car but that’s obviously in the garage downstairs, and I’m, uh, rambling…sorry.”
Tony just shakes his head at the boy. “Don’t apologize, Pete. It’s okay to be proud of your accomplishments.”
Peter just smiles sheepishly and blushes a little bit.
“He’s right, Peter.” Rhodey agrees, walking over to the table where Peter has placed all of his things. He picks a few things up to look them over. “This is really impressive stuff. You’ll be at whatever college you want a few years from now if you keep this up.”
“MIT of course.” Tony interrupts, earning himself a glare from Rhodey.
“Don’t listen to him, Peter.” Rhodey tells the kid, rolling his eyes Tony’s direction. “You can go wherever you want to go. Don’t let him pressure you.”
Tony scoffs, putting a hand to his chest in an offended gesture. “James, I’m shocked you would think that of me. I would never pressure Peter into going to the best technical school in the country and both of our alma mater I might add.” He sends a wink Peter’s direction.
Rhodey rolls his eyes again. “Whatever you say, Tones. Anyway, it was a long trip here and I’m starving. What do you say we go down to that Italian place down the street and get some grub?”
Tony makes quick eye contact with Peter to make sure it’s okay with him before responding.
“Italian sounds amazing, Rhodes.” He answers, already walking towards the elevators. “Only if you’re buying.”
Rhodey just laughs. “If anyone’s picking up the tab, it’s the billionaire.”
“It’s okay, Rhodey.” Peter chimes in with a mischievous smile. “Mr. Stark gave me a credit card so he’ll pay for our lunch whether he likes it or not.”
Tony laughs, jokingly shoving the kid to the side as they walk. “You little punk, that is not why you have that.”
Peter just shrugs. “What? You said to use it for food. This is food.”
The three guys spend the rest of the afternoon together, catching up with Rhodey and having a good time. All too soon, it’s time for Peter to go home.
“Happy’s waiting downstairs for you, kiddo.” Tony says after glancing down at his texts. They’ve migrated back to the penthouse and are lounging in the living room. Peter stands up sullenly, walking over to Rhodey.
“When are you going to be back again, Rhodey?” Peter asks sadly.
“I’m not sure, Pete, but you know I’ll make sure I see you next time, okay?”
“Okay.” Peter says with a sigh. Before he turns to go, Rhodey pulls him into a quick and casual hug that Peter returns.
“Have fun with your family this weekend, Rhodey. See you Saturday, Mr. Stark.” Peter calls, waving at them as he walks into the open elevators.
“Did Peter just let you hug him?” Tony asks, surprised.
“Uh, yeah?” Rhodey responds, confused. “Is that weird or something?”
Tony shrugs. “He’s just not usually very…touchy.”
Rhodey snorts. “I don’t know, Tony, he seems pretty touchy with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony questions.
“You’re just always, you know.” Rhodey wiggles his fingers at him. “Messing up his hair and putting your arm around him and he just hangs off your side and looks at you like you’ve hung the moon or something.”
Tony scoffs loudly. “He does not. And I’m like that with everyone. He’s just learned to tolerate me.”
“Hey, it’s not a bad thing.” Rhodey says, shrugging. “It’s kind of cute, actually, the way he looks up to you. I’ll have him calling me Uncle Rhodey soon enough at this rate.”
Tony rolls his eyes. “Yeah, right, and I’ll lift Thor’s hammer when that happens.”
Tony gets up and walks past Rhodey down the hallway of the penthouse, clasping the man’s shoulder on the way. “Come on, Rhodes. Let’s go get your stuff unpacked. But only enough for two days, right? Because I’ve got a date on Friday that I absolutely cannot miss.”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Tony has Pepper’s back pressed up against the wall of the elevator as they kiss deeply. He has one hand around her waist and one on her thigh. He can feel her warmth on his whole body through the thin fabric of her dress. She threads one of her hands through his hair, scraping her nails against his scalp, causing him to moan softly.
Their date was perfect. They both got dressed up nice and he took her to their favorite restaurant in the city. She looked completely stunning as usual. The talked, smiled, laughed, then she took his offer to join him in the penthouse for a while as they left.
They were all over each other as soon as the elevator doors closed. It seems that Pepper missed him almost as much as he missed her, based solely on the noises she’s making at his ministrations.
Then, of course, something had to ruin his moment. The something this particular time was his AI, Friday.
“Boss, it seems that-“
“Friday, I swear to god if you don’t shut up-“ he starts to growl, reluctantly pulling his lips away from Pepper’s for a moment. He’s interrupted by her soft hand landing on his cheek, silencing him.
“What is it, Friday?” She asks, before she starts kissing up Tony’s neck and making him forget ever being upset in the first place.
“It appears Peter Parker is in the living room, and I wanted to give you proper warning considering the activities you are partaking in.”
Peter’s name immediately gets Tony’s attention. What’s Peter doing here? Is he okay? He pulls away from Pepper again.
“Is he injured, girl?” He asks quickly.
“Peter does not appear to be injured.” Tony lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding before extracting himself from his lovely lady. “So sorry, Pep. I had no idea he was coming by tonight. I thought he knew I was busy.”
Pepper just shakes her head and smiles softly. “I really don’t mind, Tony. I know Peter is important to you, and that doesn’t bother me.”
He grasps her arms on either side. “Give me a couple minutes and I’ll send him home, alright?”
She nods and kisses him one more time as the elevator doors open. He leaves her quickly, rushing from the elevator and into the living room where he figures his spider child will be waiting, but there no familiar red and blue suit waiting for him. He has to walk a little ways around the room before he spots a familiar curly head of brown hair buried underneath a blanket on the couch, appearing to be fast asleep. Tony goes from slightly annoyed to soft fondness instantly as he sees the boy napping. He strolls over and kneels at Peter’s head in front of the couch.
“Hey, Underoos. It’s time to wake up, kiddo.” He says softly, shaking Peter’s shoulder slightly. The boy just buried himself deeper in the blankets before muttering the words that send Tony into a total spiral.
“Don’t wanna, dad.”
It’s barely perceptible, and Tony almost wishes he hadn’t heard it.
Dad?
Dad?!?!
Did Peter actually just call him dad?
Someone please tell him he misheard or imagined it or something.
He can’t be a dad. Peter can’t think of him like that.
His hand instinctively tenses on Peter’s shoulder before he realizes what he’s doing and scrambles away from the kid before he wakes up fully.
Maybe…maybe Peter wasn’t even talking about him. Maybe he just didn’t realize it was Tony because he was asleep. But, that doesn’t exactly make sense because who would he have been referring to? As far as he knew, Peter’s mother was single until she died, and Peter always called his uncle Ben, not dad. Peter hasn’t ever had anyone to call “Dad” as far as Tony knows. So Peter must know he’s referring to Tony as “dad” and right now his filter is just gone because he’s asleep.
After the moment of blind panic, Tony remembers that he left Pepper in the elevator and he has to pull it together ASAP. He takes a few deep breaths to prevent another freak out, and returns to his previous place by the couch.
“Come on, Pete. Wake up.” He says, shaking Peter’s shoulder a little more forcefully then he did before.
Peter’s eyes open a fraction, clearly still bleary from sleep, and he looks around slowly trying to get his bearings. His eyes quickly lock on Tony’s and he gives the man a sleepy smile. Tony tries to tamp down the feeling in his chest at seeing the kid like this, all sleepy and kind of cute. The kid who just called him “Dad.”
No, never mind. He’s not thinking about that right now. Nope.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter asks, words slurred from sleep.
Tony feels like he’s not even in control of his limbs as he reaches out and runs and hand through the kid’s hair. He can’t even help it, it’s just instinctual. Peter smiles and closes his eyes again, relaxing back into his nap.
“Hey, no more sleeping.” Tony says gently, taking his hand back. “We need to get you back home to sleep in your own bed.”
Peter frowns with his eyes still closed. “Not home, the Patterson’s house.”
“Right, not home.” Tony agrees sadly. “The place where you’re living right now. Either way, there are two people there who care about you and who will worry if they find your bed empty this late at night.”
Peter opens his eyes again, waking up a little bit now that he’s realized through the fog of sleep that Tony isn’t going to go away.
“They aren’t even there.” The kid grumbles, pouting into the couch cushion. “They’re on some trip for a few days.”
Tony frowns. Peter’s foster parents aren’t there? They just left him home alone for a few days? Peter’s only fourteen. He definitely doesn’t know very much about children, but he’s pretty sure you’re not supposed to leave fourteen year olds home alone for days at a time.
“Your foster parents are on a trip for a few days?” Tony questions, trying to make sure Peter is giving him the correct information. The boy’s eyes immediately widen, like he’s just now woken up enough to understand what’s going on. He pushes himself up to a sitting position on the couch quickly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark!” He exclaims. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on your couch. I can take myself back to the apartment.”
Peter’s eyes are filled with fear as he jumps up from the couch and quickly tries to escape Tony’s concerned glare.
“Peter, hey, wait a second.” Tony says, grabbing Peter’s arm to prevent him from running off. “I don’t care that you were in here. You know you’re allowed, right?”
Peter hugs himself and looks away, embarrassed, but he doesn’t keep trying to run. “Well, yeah, but usually just when you’re here. Friday let me in and said you were gone but you’d be back soon and I just decided to wait for you because I was finished patrolling and then I guess I accidentally fell asleep and I didn’t-“
“Take a breath, kiddo.” Tony interrupts, placing his hands on either side of Peter’s arms. “I really don’t mind. If I didn’t want you hanging out in here while I was gone, Friday wouldn’t have let you in, right?”
Peter just nods hesitantly, still avoiding eye contact.
“Now, back to what you were saying about your foster parents being out of town for a few days. How long are they supposed to be gone?” Tony probes gently, trying not to sound too judgmental of other peoples decisions.
Peter shrugs. “They, um, they said they would be back on Sunday. They went to visit family and I, uh, told them I didn’t want to go with them.”
Well, shit. This definitely changes Tony’s plans. He thinks about his amazing, gorgeous Pepper waiting for him in the elevator, then looks down at this child, a literal child, who has no one at home and fell asleep on Tony’s couch and thinks of Tony as a father (a father?!?! He has to use all of his willpower to keep calm whenever that word invades his brain.). He realizes with a sigh that there’s not even a contest.
“I think it would probably be best if you stayed here tonight, kid.”
Peter’s eyes quickly snap up to meet his, full of hope. “Really?” He asks eagerly. “I really can’t impose on you like that, Mr. Stark. You already do too much for me.”
Tony smiles. This kid.
“Really, Pete, it’s nothing. Do you know how many spare bedrooms I have in this place?” He puts a hand on Peter’s back, leading him down the hallway. Peter follows willingly, without another argument.
Tony opens the door to the guest bedroom next to his, flips a light on, and gives Peter a nudge inside. “Go take a shower, kiddo. You smell like an alleyway dumpster.”
Peter flashes him an apologetic smile before strolling into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
Tony quickly hustles back in the main room, where Pepper is already waiting for him. She’s leaning casually against the wall of the living room, smiling at him knowingly.
“Hey, Pep.” He greets, walking towards her. “Look, I’m so sorry, but I think I’m going to have to take a rain check on tonight. I just,” he glances back into the hallway towards where he left Peter. “His foster family isn’t there tonight, and I couldn’t send him home.”
Pepper doesn’t look surprised in the least. She just keeps smiling like she already knows everything going on, which Tony doesn’t doubt she does.
“It’s okay, Tony.” She replies. “Trust me, I understand. There’s always next week.”
He looks at her gratefully as she kisses him on the cheek before making her exit. He will never understand how he’s gotten so lucky.
Snapping back to the real world, he hurries into his bedroom to grab a tshirt and some sweatpants that he never wears because they’re a little small on him. He opens the door to the room he put Peter in, and he can hear the shower running in the attached bathroom. He drops the clothes off on the bed before leaving and shutting the door again.
What has he gotten himself into.
Now that he’s finally alone, the full gravity of the last ten minutes of his life has fully set in. He forces himself to walk into his office and he locks the door behind him.
“Friday, soundproof the room and call Rhodey. Now please.” He manages to get out.
He drops himself into a chair while the phone is ringing. It takes a few rings before he hears Rhodey’s voice come over the line.
“Tony you better have a good reason for calling me this late.” The man tells him angrily in a hushed voice. “If you wake up the whole Rhodes household with your middle of the night phone call, I’m telling everyone it was your fault.”
Tony hesitates before he starts talking. He doesn’t even know where to start.
“Rhodey, I, uh, something happened.” He manages, his voice sounding a bit strangled.
“Tony?” Rhodey’s voice immediately switched from anger to pure concern. “What happened, man? Are you okay? Is Pepper? Peter?” He asks in rapid succession.
“Everyone is okay.” Tony tells him. “It’s, uh, about the kid, though.”
“You’re going to have to give me a little more than that, Tones. What happened to Peter?” Rhodey probes, sounding calmer now that he knows no one is in immediate danger.
“It’s…it’s bad, Rhodes.” He tells the man, burying his head in his hands. He still doesn’t even know how to process this, and he really doesn’t want to say the words and make it real. He can’t leave Rhodey hanging though, so he finishes his explanation.
“Peter, he called me dad earlier tonight.”
The other end is silent for a few second, almost launching Tony into another panic, before Rhodey starts…laughing?
Rhodey’s laughs shock Tony out of his somber mood for a moment from the shock.
“Really, Tony?” His friend asks, still chuckling. “That’s your big emergency?”
Tony is literally rendered speechless for a moment.
“Yes, that’s the big emergency! Why are you acting so calm?!” Tony practically screams.
“Because, first of all, kids accidentally call people mom or dad all the time. And even if it was on purpose, you can’t tell me it’s completely unexpected.” He says like it’s completely obvious.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tony questions accusingly.
“Wait wait wait.” Rhodey says, chuckling again. “You’re telling me that you haven’t even noticed? You’ve been acting like a total dad to the kid for months. It’s no wonder Peter thinks of you like that.”
“I haven’t been acting like a dad!” Tony shouts indignantly. “I don’t even know what that means! I’m Tony Stark, Rhodes, and Starks don’t do the whole family thing.”
“I don’t know why you’re being so defensive about this.” Rhodey tells him. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s kind of cute actually, the way Peter is always staring up at you like you hung the moon or something.”
“No no no, Rhodes, you’ve got that all wrong.” Tony says hurriedly with an uncomfortable laugh. “Peter’s not…I don’t act like…he’s just my intern. Don’t get me wrong, I like the kid, but I’m definitely not, like, a…a parent, or anything.”
Rhodey snorts. “Oh come on, Tony. You’re always teasing him and joking with him, you teach him how to fix up cars, you monitor him while he’s out in case he gets hurt, and you gave him a credit card. That’s a total dad move.”
“He needs to eat! Was I supposed to let the kid starve?” Tony asks a little more forcefully.
He’s starting to feel a little short of breath. Is it hot in this room? It feels a little hot in here all of a sudden. Is he sweating?
“Tony, I can literally hear you hyperventilating from here. Take some slow, deep breaths. Do I need to call Pepper over there?”
“No!” Tony gasps out, forcing himself to breath normally to avoid the oncoming panic attack. “I just…need a second.”
Is Rhodey right? Has Tony really been acting like Peter’s father? He only sees the kid two days a week, but he’s definitely doing all of the things Rhodey says he is. Do fathers do those things? He wouldn’t know. He doesn’t know what a father even looks like.
“Ugh, Rhodey.” Tony groans. “What do I do?”
Rhodey pauses. “What do you mean?” He asks after a moment. “Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
“But I can’t be a parent.” Tony whines (if Tony Stark did whine, which of course he doesn’t).
“Look, I’m not saying you adopt the kid, but don’t let this scare you away from him. He’s been good for you, and it seems like you’re really important to him too. This doesn’t have to change anything.”
“Of course it changes things!” Tony exclaims. “Before tonight Peter was just my intern, and now I know he thinks of me as a father instead of a mentor. I’m not a father and I can never be one. It’s my nature. It’s in my blood. Stark men aren’t fathers, Rhodey. I know you know that. You’ve seen that for yourself.”
“Tony, you aren’t Howard.” His friend tells him sternly. “You’ve proven time and time again with this kid that you’re nothing like that man, and don’t go using the excuse that it’s because Peter was just an intern, because we both know that Peter hasn’t been just an intern in a while.”
“What if I fuck up, Rhodey? What if I do something to him and I ruin him? What if I turn into Howard now that I know he’s expecting something of me?” Tony asks anxiously.
“You’re not going to mess up, Tones.” Rhodey replies softly. “Nothing has to change. Peter’s not expecting anything different of you, and you’ll never be Howard. I’m sure of it.”
“How are you so sure?” Tony asks, head in his hands again, rubbing the headache away from his temples.
“Did Howard ever pick you up from school? Cook for you when you’re hungry? Spend time with you outside of making sure everything you did in the lab was absolutely perfect? Did he ever give you access to his rooms any time you wanted, or let you wake him up in the middle of the night if you needed something? Would Howard have ever quit drinking for you?”
“Well, no.” Tony responds.
“That’s how I know.”
Tony is stunned into silence for a moment by his friend. Maybe…maybe Rhodey might actually be right. Maybe he can do this without doing any mental or emotional damage to the kid. Lord knows he’s had enough already in his short life.
“Boss.” Friday interrupts his thoughts. “Peter is looking for you. Shall I tell him you’ll be out in a moment?”
Tony shakes his head as if he can shake away all the negative thoughts running through it.
“I have to go Rhodes. Thanks for everything, though.”
“No problem. Get some sleep, okay?” The man replies, ending the line.
Tony stands up and walks to the door, taking a deep breath before turning the handle and walking out to the kid. His kid.
Peter is standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room, wearing the clothes that Tony dropped off for him. He’s hugging his arms to his stomach again, looking nervous.
“Hey, Pete.” Tony says as normally as he can manage, trying to smile at the boy. “I figured you’d go straight to bed with how tired you were. Do you need a snack or something?” He points over to the kitchen. He’s rambling slightly. Hopefully Peter doesn’t notice.
“Um, no, sir. I just wanted to apologize for ruining your date with Miss Potts.” He says, blushing. He must’ve overheard him talking with Pepper after Tony put him in his room. Tony just waves away his concerns.
“You didn’t ruin anything, kiddo. I told you, Pepper’s got a soft spot for you, so she didn’t mind.”
Peter just nods gratefully, looking a little more comfortable then before.
Tony wraps an arm around the kid’s shoulders and steers him back towards the bedroom.
“Come on, bud. It’s late, and we both need some sleep.”