Peter
Peter wakes up slowly the next morning, and easily the most comfortable he’s ever been in his life. He feels like he’s lying on a cloud, and he’s surrounded by the softest, fluffiest blankets. He opens his eyes and smiles to himself as he remembers that he slept in a guest room at the tower last night. He snuggles down deeper in the blankets for a few moments, but the sunlight streaming in through the windows lets him know that it’s time to get up.
He rolls out of bed and smiles again when he looks down to see his dad’s clothes. He’s so happy that he doesn’t even have it in him to be embarrassed by how big of a fool he’s being. Mr. Stark said he doesn’t want kids, and of course he’s keeping that in mind, but if life is going to be as good as it was last night, then Peter doesn’t think he’d mind that.
He really didn’t even mean to sleep here. After he was finished with patrol for the night, he figured he would stop by the tower to see how Mr. Stark’s date went. Not his best idea, now that he’s thinking about it. Yuck. When Friday said he would be back soon, he sat down on the couch for a moment and the next thing he knew, his dad was waking him up and sending him to the guest bedroom. He knew better than to argue to go back to the Patterson’s, especially after he let it slip that they weren’t home.
He takes a few minutes in the bathroom to do his business and get ready for the morning, and once he’s finished, he realizes he can hear some voices in the living room. It still seems awfully early for Mr. Stark to be up, let alone have someone over.
He doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the longer the voices continue, the more he realizes that they don’t sound happy. It sounds like arguing.
He debates for a moment whether it would be best to stay in his room until they’re finished or if he should come to Mr. Stark’s rescue, and quickly decides on the latter.
He cracks open his bedroom door and slips through, padding down the hallway to the living room where the voices are.
“I’ve told you already, Rogers, I’m not going.” His dad says angrily. “What do you think gives you the right to invade my personal space to order me around?”
“It’s a mandatory meeting, Tony.” Says the other voice sternly, that Peter now recognizes as Steve. Why is Steve here and trying to make his dad go to some meeting?
“Saturdays are Peter’s training days. You know that.” Mr. Stark tells the other man tersely.
“So skip one.” Steve replies, sounding exasperated. “It won’t hurt him to miss one day.”
“It’s not about that!” Tony exclaims. “I’m trying to follow through on a commitment I made, at their behest I might add.”
Peter shifts on his feet from right around the corner from the living room, and he hears Steve take in a breath.
“Tony,” the man whispers. “There’s someone else here.”
Damn. Cover blown.
He peeks his head out around the corner and sees the two men standing in the living room.
Mr. Stark looks tense. His fists are clenched tightly and he looks really nervous. Peter can hear the man’s heart practically beating out of his chest. Peter immediately notices that Mr. Stark is keeping the couch in between him and Steve, and Mr. Stark is between the other man and the exit.
“Sorry Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers.” He says timidly, a little embarrassed at being caught listening in to their conversation.
“It’s no problem at all, Pete.” His dad tells him, attempting a smile that looks more like a grimace. The man motions him over next to him. “Steve here was just leaving.”
Peter eagerly goes over to stand next to his dad, and the man lays a hand on his shoulder, keeping him next to him.
Steve glares at Mr. Stark angrily, which Peter really doesn’t appreciate, especially with how nervous his dad is.
“Think about it a little more, Tony.” Steve demands. “These aren’t people you want to mess with.”
The man walks past and into the elevator. Mr. Stark doesn’t release the grip on his shoulder until he hears the elevator leave the floor.
He hears Mr. Stark let out a breath before he pats Peter’s back and starts walking towards the kitchen.
“Come on, kiddo. Let’s get some breakfast.”
Peter follows without a word.
Mr. Stark makes them scrambled eggs and toast in silence as he sips his coffee. He doesn’t sit down after he slides Peter his plate and fork. He just stands there with his coffee in hand, tapping his fingers nervously on the counter top.
“Um, Mr. Stark, sir?” Peter asks quietly, breaking the silence.
The man looks up from where he was staring at the floor, surprised. If Peter didn’t know better, he would think the man forgot he was sitting there.
“Yeah, Pete?” He asks, still tapping away.
“What was that all about, with Mr. Rogers?” Peter asks nervously. He doesn’t want to make Mr. Stark talk about something that is clearly so upsetting to him, but he feels like he needs to know what’s going on. If his dad is in danger or something, Peter needs to know so he can help.
Mr. Stark shakes his head, annoyed. “Nothing you need to worry about. There’s a SHIELD meeting today that I’m supposed to go to, but I already have plans.” He nods his head towards Peter.
Peter smiles at the thought that his dad was trying to dodge an important meeting just because they have plans today. He doesn’t want him to get in trouble just for him though.
“Thanks, Mr. Stark, but you should probably go. Mr. Rogers made it sound like it was a really important meeting.”
Mr. Stark makes a so-so motion with his hand. “They want to discuss how Spider-Man’s training has been going and make sure I’m following through with my end of the agreement.”
Peter frowns. Of course Mr. Stark is following through. Did they think he wouldn’t?
“I’ll really be okay here on my own, Mr. Stark, if you’re okay with me staying here that is.” Peter adds, admonishing himself for being overly comfortable in his dad’s home and inviting himself to stay. “If you want me to go while you’re in the meeting, that’s fine too. I can always go patrol for a while.”
Mr. Stark shakes his head, bringing his mug away from his mouth as he swallows another sip of hot coffee.
“We talked about this last night, Underoos. You’re welcome here whenever you want, whether I’m here or not. I just didn’t want to abandon you on our training day.”
“You’re not abandoning me.” Peter says with a smile. “One meeting can’t take that long. We’ll just train when you get back. I don’t want you to get in trouble for my sake.”
Mr. Stark appears to be thinking intently for a few seconds before agreeing.
“Yeah, okay. You’re probably right. I better go get ready then.”
He sets down his cup of coffee on the counter before walking past Peter back into the hallway, ruffling Peter’s hair on the way.
Peter keeps himself busy with cleaning up from breakfast and doing the dishes before settling on the couch to watch some TV. Pretty soon, Mr. Stark comes strolling out in his suit and sunglasses, looking incredibly intimidating. Peter assumes this is what he’s going for, but he still doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like the suit version of Tony. It’s all he saw his entire life up until last year, and now it just doesn’t seem right. It seems fake. Peter knows the real Tony is the one who wears jeans and stained T-shirts, not suits and sunglasses.
The smile that Mr. Stark gives him though, that’s real.
“Alright, Pete, I’m out of here. The meeting is happening just a few floors down, so I’ll be in the building if you need me. You can go down to the lab if you want, but remember the rules.”
Mr. Stark points at him, waiting on an answer.
“Don’t use any power tools that can cut off fingers, and don’t touch anything capable of exploding.” Peter repeats confidently.
“Good kid.” His dad says, nodding his approval. “I’ll try to make this as quick as possible and then we’re hitting the gym, got it? You don’t get to escape training just because I have a meeting.”
“Yeah, yeah I got it.” Peter sighs.
Mr. Stark gives him one last pat on the head as he walks out of the room and onto the elevators.
He turns off the TV as soon as the elevator doors close. It’s time to do some investigating.
Something happened between his dad and Steve Rogers, he’s absolutely sure of it. Every time they’re together, his dad gets so tense and nervous, and Peter has no idea why. Of course he knows all about the Avengers Civil War. It was all over the news at the time. Captain America and Iron Man were on opposite sides and they fought. Could that have anything to do with it?
His first resource, of course, is Friday. It’s time for an interrogation.
He goes back into the room he slept in. He’s not entirely sure why. He’s not exactly doing anything he’s explicitly not supposed to, but he feels like he shouldn’t do it out in the open living room.
“Okay, Friday.” He begins. “I need you to tell me everything you know about what happened between Mr. Stark and Steve Rogers.”
“Okay Peter. To what part of their relationship are you referring to specifically?” She asks.
“I just want to know why Mr. Stark seems so…afraid, I guess.” He responds.
“Boss began showing signs of fear after returning from his mission in Leipzig, Germany, that then led him to Siberia. Boss went missing for a short time in Siberia, but was found and rescued by Pepper Potts.”
“He went missing?” Peter asks aloud, not exactly intending for Friday to answer, not that she knows that.
“Boss went missing for seven hours and 34 minutes before he was able to restore tracking capabilities and was found by Miss Potts. Boss suffered from moderate hypothermia and frostbite upon being discovered.”
Peter freezes in his tracks. Whatever he was expecting to find out, it wasn’t this. His dad was lost for almost 8 hours and got hypothermia? That’s terrifying.
“When was this, Friday?” Peter asks, suddenly a little hesitant to find out more, but determined to push through. “What happened?”
“This took place approximately 18 months ago during the event that the media calls ‘The Avengers Civil War’. The battle began in Leipzig, Germany, and ended when Colonel James Rhodes sustained a spinal cord injury, damaging nerves to his lower extremities. Boss then followed Captain Steve Rogers to a remote Hydra base located in northern Russia.”
Peter remembers why Leipzig sounds so familiar. That’s where that big airport battle took place between the two sides of the Avengers. But he’s definitely never heard of whatever went down afterwards. He thought the fighting ended there.
“Do you know what happened in Siberia, Friday?” He asks.
“I do not.” She answers. “The footage taken from Boss’s armor was unable to upload into my main system due to loss of a capable network on the way to the destination, and the system was too damaged to be uploaded once a network was reestablished.”
Too damaged?! What happened in Siberia? He’s positive at this point that this is the key to finding out why his dad is so afraid of Steve Rogers.
“Does the footage still exist?” He asks.
“It does. All recordings from the Iron Man armor are saved to the memory device implanted in the suit. Due to the damage, it would have to be uploaded manually for me to have access to it.”
“I can upload it.” Peter tells her confidently. “Can you just tell me where the suits are located?”
“They are located in a locked area of Boss’s lab space. He has explicitly given you full access to all areas. I can unlock it for you.”
Peter jumps up and hurries down to the lab. He’s starting to feel guilty about snooping through Mr. Stark’s private things. The man told him he could go wherever he liked as long as he didn’t make anything explode, but this still feels wrong. He sure if Mr. Stark knew what he was doing, he wouldn’t approve. He knows he’s doing it in the man’s best interests at least.
He gets down to the lab and Friday leads him towards a wall in a section of the lab he’s never been in before. When he gets close enough, a section of the wall splits open into invisible sliding doors that open up into a huge space. It’s way bigger than any of the other lab spaces, and Peter wonders how he didn’t realize this was here until right now. No wonder Mr. Stark’s lab takes up an entire floor of the tower.
The lights turn on gradually as he enters the room, showing off the contents. Lining every wall, circling around and leading to rows and rows in the center of the room, are different variations of the Iron Man armor.
“Whoa.” Peter hears himself say.
This is insane.
Like, absolutely wild.
The child in him that idolized Tony Stark and Iron Man with all he had is screaming inside.
He rushes gleefully over to the left wall, where it looks like the largest and oldest versions have been stored.
Mark 1 was obviously destroyed, but Mark 2 was on display in the very first spot and wow if this isn’t the coolest thing Peter has ever seen in his life. Peter can’t believe how big and clunky they used to look. The design has really gotten a lot more sleek in the last few years.
No. He can’t get too distracted. He’s on a mission after all.
“Friday.” Peter calls out. “Which suit am I looking for?”
Friday shuts off all of the lights in the suit displays except for one that Peter can see down one of the rows in the middle. He approaches slowly, timidly, a little afraid of what he’s going to find. When he’s finally right in front of the case, he can see it perfectly clearly. When Friday said the suit was damaged, she really meant it. It’s not completely destroyed, but it’s definitely dented and cracked and misshapen in some party’s. Peter isn’t even sure why Mr. Stark kept it. It doesn’t look repairable.
The worst part of the suit is easily the chest plate, which has a huge, jagged gash down the center, going all the way through the metal.
Peter is horrified. He knows Mr. Stark takes risks and gets injured sometimes, but this…this looks like it should’ve killed the man. He swallows the lump forming in his through and has Friday direct him on how to manually upload the video footage from the suit.
“Okay, Peter. If you exit this room back into the main lab, I can pull up the footage for you.”
Peter looks around longingly at the rest of the room, wanting so badly to explore, but when his gaze rests back on the ruined suit in front of him, he understands he has other priorities. He drags himself out of the room, glancing back and promising to return to check out all the others. Maybe he can convince Mr. Stark to come with him so he can tell Peter about them.
Friday directs him into the main lab space and pulls up a screen. He sits down and watches the whole thing, captivated. He sees his dad find out that the Winter Soldier killed his parents, Peter’s grandparents, and he sees how Steve Rogers knew about it the entire time and lied about it. He sees his dad try to take revenge on the winter soldier, and how Rogers chose Barnes over Mr. Stark.
His emotions are on a roller coaster of complete panic alternating with blind rage.
The video feed ends when Steve shoves his shield through the chest of the suit, which Peter saw went all the way through the metal. His dad could’ve died. Steve Rogers almost killed him. And even though he didn’t kill him, he damaged the suit so badly that it was unusable and then left him for dead. He didn’t know that Tony would be able to repair it just enough to restart the tracker.
Peter can’t remember the last time he was this angry. Fucking Steve Rogers almost took his father away from him before Peter even got to meet him! And Peter has been friendly with him this entire time, completely oblivious to what happened. No wonder Mr. Stark always panics when Rogers is in the room.
“Friday, is Rogers in the meeting with Mr. Stark today?” He asks harshly, rage practically radiating from him.
“Yes, Peter. Steve Rogers is currently in attendance at the SHIELD meeting taking place at the tower.”
“Can you notify me when it finishes?” He asks.
“Of course.” The AI replies.
Peter storms out of the lab and goes down to the gym. He has a plan, and he needs to calm down and regain his composure if he’s going to manage it.
He exercises off some of the energy and tries to calm his raging mind until Friday tells him that the meeting has ended.
He gets in the elevator and has Friday take him to the first floor. He immediately spots Rogers across the room, heading for the doors.
“Mr. Rogers!” He calls, running after the man. Steve turns around when he hears Peter’s voice and greets him with a warm smile. Too bad that’s not going to work on Peter today.
“Peter, nice to see you!” He says as Peter approaches. It takes everything in Peter not to beat this man into the ground on the spot for what he did to Mr. Stark.
“Hey Mr. Rogers. I’m sure you’re really super busy, but it’s my training day today, and we still haven’t had that sparring match you promised me.”
He puts on his best puppy eyes and smiles up at him, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Steve grimaces slightly. “Oh, I don’t know, Peter. I should really be getting back to the compound. Maybe next week.”
“Please, Mr. Rogers?” Peter asks again. “I’ve been training really hard and I really think you’ll be able to help me find out where I need to put the most focus right now.”
Steve sighs, and Peter knows he’s got him.
“Okay, fine. We can have a quick match. Just one.” He relents.
“Yes!” Peter cheers. “Let’s go!”
Peter practically drags the man all the way to the gym. He really doesn’t want just a sparring match. He wants to punch Rogers so hard that he launches back in time again, but he knows that’s not exactly practically. He can’t just start punching America’s hero out of no where and not expect to go to jail or something. Plus, Mr. Stark is clearly trying really hard to get alone with Steve, so he can’t be all bad. He just needs to be sure that Steve knows that Mr. Stark is off limits. That man is not to be messed with.
They get on the gym mats and begin. Peter launches himself at the man hard and fast, not allowing any time for Rogers to take the lead. The surprised look on Steve’s face when he realizes that Peter isn’t holding back at all is one to remember. He catches on pretty quickly and starts fighting back as hard as Peter is. They’re a super powered flurry of punches and kicks. They’re fairly evenly matched as well. Peter gets Steve in the stomach, Steve kicks Peter in the side. Peter sweeps Steve’s legs out from underneath him, Steve takes him down to the ground with him.
Peter is definitely taking some hits that feel like they’re going to bruise, but he feels like Steve is taking more. He’s sees that the man is starting to sweat from exertion. Steve may be bigger than he is and have more experience, but Peter is fast, agile, and is absolutely furious.
Peter vaguely registers movement through the glass wall on the side of the gym, but he’s so focused that he doesn’t pay it much attention.
He finally gets Steve right where he wants him. He punches him hard enough in the stomach that the man hunches over. Peter flips over Steve’s back, grabbing onto him on the way, and completely flips Steve over him to slam him on his back on the ground.
The man tries to roll over, coughing. It seems like Peter knocked the wind out of him. He slaps the ground in defeat, but Peter isn’t finished. He crouches over the man on the ground as threateningly as possible, finally letting the full extent of his anger show.
“I saw what you did to Mr. Stark in Siberia.” Peter growls. Steve’s eyed widen in what Peter hopes is fear. He’s still gasping for a breath.
“If you ever touch him again, you’ll have me to deal with afterwards, and I won’t go so easy on you next time.”
Peter stands up and forces himself to walk away. He’s not going to kick a man while he’s already down, even if he really desperately wants to.
He looks over to the glass wall lining the exit wall of the gym, and sees Mr. Stark watching him from the window. Good. He wants the man to see that Peter is on his side, and if they ever have to face off against the super soldiers again, Peter will win.