The first time Peter scared him was during the news-deemed “Civil War.”
Sure, Tony had been scared before, but mostly for his own life or the lives of impersonal citizens in New York or Sokovia. This time it was different. It was a terrible, heart clenching fear for someone else’s life, and he felt downright parental.
The fight had been going on for a while, and everyone just seemed to want it to be over. Ant-man had turned huge, and ripped the wing off of a plane to fight with. Peter, Rhodey, and T’Challa were trying to subdue him. The kid had wrapped his legs in webs, and was finally about to get him off balance and tip him over. He swung up and around, aiming to land on the destroyed plane, but a flailing hand from the giant who was struggling not to fall over hit him full-on.
Peter was smacked all the way across the tarmac. Airborne for a few seconds, he crashed into a pile of wooden crates and absolutely obliterated them. Hitting the ground a few meters away from the wreckage, he rolled to a stop on his side, unmoving. Tony was immediately blasting in his direction, because if he had already gotten the kid killed-
No. He couldn’t think like that. Peter couldn’t be dead.
Tony touched down and made a b-line for the teenager just lying there on the pavement. He crouched at the kid’s side, reaching out to make sure was okay.
“Kid, you alright?” He asked, just as Peter flipped himself over and started fighting his metal-clad hands, panting a bit. His mask was half pulled off his face and he looked ruffled and pretty dazed, chocolate brown eyes unfocused. “Same side, hey, guess who?”
“Hey man,” the kid was breathless and probably adrenaline high, but seemed okay at first glance. “That was scary.”
“Yeah, you’re done, alright? You did a good job. Stay down.”
“What? No, I’m good-I’m fine-“
“Stay down.”
“No, I gotta get him back-“
“No, you’re going home or I’ll call aunt May. You’re done.” Tony knew he sounded pretty harsh, but seeing the kid fly through the air and land so hard had shaken him in a way he didn’t realize possible. He didn’t want to risk the chance of him getting hurt, plus, he hadn’t even meant to let a fight break out.
“Hey, Mr. Stark, wait-I’m not done, I’m not-“ he cut himself off as he tried to sit up but only managed to wrap an arm around his ribs. Probably broken. “Okay, I’m done.” He laid back and let his head rest against the concrete, body going mostly limp.
000
The second time he was scared for the kid was when he was at some party in a foreign country, all the way across the world from Queens, and Peter’s normal patrolling territory.
He was enjoying an interesting drink, basically ignoring all the partygoers around him, just waiting for the time when he could leave without seeming ungrateful and a bad guest, when F.R.I.D.A.Y. notified him of the issue. He was wearing rimmed glasses with his AI built in for…purposes. They were very useful, especially for informing him that Peter was currently dying and desperately needed help.
“Boss, Peter’s vitals have reached a fatal level. Should I send out a suit?” Her polite voice interrupted a forced conversation he was having with a native and he waved her off.
“Uh, yes. Where is he? Activate the Baby Monitor protocol on the display.”
“Yes, boss.”
A dark screen popped up, and at first he thought it was just loading, until he saw a dim flash of light.
“The suit is currently sinking 20 feet into the Hutson river. Peter seems unable to surface. The cause may be that his parachute is wrapped around him, prohibiting his movements.”
“No dibs, Sherlock. How far out is the suit?” Anxiety had crept into his voice without him even realizing it. He was really worried for the kid. Drowning was a serious thing.
“30 seconds. But Peter only has a few seconds until he loses consciousness.”
“Okay, okay, just grab him and take him to that park near the bridge.”
“On it, boss.”
Tony watched on both the suit’s vision and Peter’s as light filtered through the lenses, and the suit scooped the kid up under his arms, pulling him from the water. His head drooped to the side, and he was completely limp.
Come on, Pete, wake up.
Finally, after a few seconds he woke, shifting slightly and coughing.
“Oh. Hey.”
Tony just shook his head and set his drink down on a stone wall adorned with streamers and flowers.
He set the kid down gently on a climbing contraption at the edge of the park and hovered in front of him. Peter immediately started spouting excuses and explaining what had happened.
“And he just swooped down like a monster and grabbed me! He took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me! And my parachute deployed but I didn’t know about it so I got all tangled-“
Tony felt a path of regret at those words. He should have briefed him on the possibilities the suit contained, and maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
“Wait, how did you even find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?”
“I put everything in your suit. Including this heater.” Tony told him, activating the useful element. He had noticed how badly the kid was shaking, feeling bad since it was partly his fault.
“Ahh, that’s better. Thanks. Hey, you know, you didn’t have to come all the way out here, I had that totally handled.”
“Oh, I’m not actually…here.” He flipped up the helmet and watched was Peter’s face fell. He really shouldn’t have done that. Now the kid thought Tony didn’t care about him enough to come in person. “I’m in India, at an business after-party. I would’ve loved to come for real, but you would be toast if I’d tried to fly myself and get there in time.”
“Yeah, I guess. Thanks.”
“No problem, kid. Now you just stay on the ground. You’re not ready for bigger things yet.”
“Wait, Mr. Stark! I am ready for this. I gotta take him down, he’s obviously the one dealing alien weapons!”
“Take him down, now? You know, there are people who handle these kinds of things!”
“Like the Avengers?”
“No, that’s a little below their pay grade.”
“Then why can’t I do it?”
“Because I said so!” Tony practically yelled into the glasses holding his AI. “Sorry, talking to my teenager.” He muttered to a lady serving a drink. He walked through the front gate and hopped into his yellow Audi before peeling away from the curb.
“Wait, are you driving?”
“Yeah, now stay on topic. I’m not kidding when I say he’s dangerous, and those weapons even more so. The NYPD will take care of it, so you help the little guy, okay?” He didn’t know if Peter just didn’t like arguing, or if he actually got the point, or if he maybe heard the worried undertone in Tony’s voice, but he backed down.
“Okay. I really didn’t mean to get dumped in the river, though.”
“I know. I just want you to be careful.” For my sake and yours.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“For the record, I am too. I didn’t mean to yell at you. Now go on home and get some sleep.”
He lingered as Peter jumped off the climbing contraption and started to trudge back to his apartment, then disconnected the suit and focused on driving.
000
The next time Tony was worried about Peter was when the whole Vulture fiasco went down.
He had been in his lab at the compound, setting up the rest of his things. He usually spent his days (and nights) at the tower’s lab, so this more unused one was a bit weird to him. DUME-E and U had been moved into the corner so he could organize and set up a new table for his holographs and schematics.
His night was going fine, actually, probably better than fine, because he’d gotten an idea that he could implement into his, Rhodey’s, and Peter’s suits for more safety. That is, until Happy called. Normally, Tony would’ve answered and listened to Happy complain about whatever the problem was at the Tower at the moment, but it was one in the morning.
“Hello?”
“Tony, something happened.”
“What is it? Aren’t you supposed to be moving the plane right now?”
“Yeah. That’s what it’s about.”
“What happened? That plane is invisible, and there’s no way to hack it.”
“It crashed on the Coney Island beach. You should probably come out here in person to hear the rest.”
“I’m on my way.”
Tony got to the beach in about fifteen minutes, touching down in the middle of the wreckage by where Happy stood. There were no emergency workers yet, but they were bound to come soon. Crates were scattered everywhere, some broken open or tipped onto their side, but most stood unharmed. Either it was a really graceful landing, or someone had helped put it down gently.
Suddenly, Tony had an idea of what had happened. He didn’t want to turn around and look at what Happy was pointing to to show him what he’d been called out here for. Please don’t be what I think it is.
It was. Of course it was. Adrian Toomes, as they would later learn, or “the Vulture,” sat propped up against a pile of crates, plastered to the surfaces so he couldn’t escape by webs. A note was taped a foot or two above the villain’s head reading “Found flying vulture guy, -Spider-Man.”
If Peter had really gone up against this guy without the suit Tony had made him….No. He couldn’t go there. Couldn’t think of that set of pajamas, and how they offered exactly no protection, especially toward a high-tech wing-suit. There was no way Peter had gotten out of this with no injuries, but he had apparently disappeared. Tony started walking around, peering into hollows in the sand and now-empty boxes, searching for the spider-kid.
“What are you doing?” Happy asked, trailing after him.
“Where is he?!” Tony turned to his head of security, almost desperately, eyes wide.
“I don’t know, no one’s seen him since earlier at his Homecoming dance.”
His Homecoming dance. He had left his date and best friend willingly to fight a dangerous villain in nothing but a sweatsuit. Tony recalled the first time he had met the kid, waiting at his apartment for him to come home from school, thinking how he was only in high school. So young.
He remembered how Peter had explained that he didn’t play sports, or become the most popular kid in school because he felt like he didn’t deserve it. He went around Queens in the dead of night to save lives and fight crime because he felt compelled to do so, just because of a science experiment gone wrong. He had followed Tony to Berlin with basically no explanation, trusting the billionaire with his life. Fought his childhood heroes and beat three of them, two single-handedly. He’d been through so much already, and now this.
Tony hadn’t realized his breathing was speeding up rapidly until he felt a metal hand on his shoulder, grounding him. His eyes finally focused and he found Rhodey in front of him, still in the War Machine suit.
“Tones, you gotta calm down. Panicking isn’t going to help the kid.” His voice was centering Tony, and he relaxed minutely, taking a deep breath.
“Tony, if he was hurt he would’ve still been here, or called for help. Even he can’t get back home if he’s critically injured.” Happy pointed out, but Tony knew better.
“No, he wouldn’t call, and you have no idea how resilient that kid is. Scott slapped him halfway across the tarmac in Germany, and he just got back up to keep fighting, even though his ribs were broken and he had a concussion. He could be bleeding out in his bedroom, or in an alley in the middle of New York, and I took that suit, the one thing keeping him safe. If I hadn’t, I could’ve found him, and he wouldn’t even be in this situation! He could’ve called for help, and even if he didn’t, I would’ve been notified he was hurt, or on the outside of my plane 20,000 feet in the air.”
“Tony. We’ll look at security cameras around the city and find out if he got home. I’m sure you have his address in the database?”
“Should be. It’s only in my private one, though. You both have access.” Tony had stopped his rant and was now trying to figure out what to do. He didn’t want to just barge into the kid’s apartment and demand to see him, so Rhodey’s plan would have to do. It would work fine.
The minute they got back into the Tower, Tony headed for his old lab, pressing his hand against the fingerprint identification. F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced that access was granted, and the three stepped over the threshold. Rhodey pulled up a cam outside Peter’s home, and scrolled back to an hour earlier. It took a while, but, finally, they watched Peter climb in through his window.
The sight of it almost made Tony throw up. Partly from relief, partly from how bad the kid looked. He was heavily favoring his left side, and he was covered in burns, and even some blood. The homemade suit was torn to shreds, and instead of the soft landing he expected the kid to have, Peter stumbled to the floor the second he got through the window. They waited for him to get up and go shower or something, but he didn’t. Tony was about ready to leave and check on him, but Happy and Rhodey each had a hand on his arm, keeping him steady. It was only a little while later that Peter dragged himself up and collapsed into his bed, zonking out immediately.
“Why don’t you text him tomorrow, tell him to come here, and you can give him that new suit you’ve been working on. He deserves it,” Rhodes suggested.
“I know. I will.”
Tony didn’t sleep that night. Or the night after. When Peter came to the compound, he finally relaxed and breathed for the first time in days. His kid was fine. There weren’t even any visible bruises or a limp or anything like that. Tony watched Peter leave, hoping against hope that nothing like this ever happened again.
000
The fourth time he was scared for Peter was when a giant donut came from space bearing Squidward and his accomplice who wanted a necklace from a magician in a fancy blue outfit and strange cape.
Tony, Strange, Wong, and (sort of) Bruce were all split up, fighting the two from space. Tony wrestled with the huge, armored one that served as Squidward’s crony, trying to subdue it. He flew around, blasting him with his deposed, but the alien seemed almost invincible to the hits. Tony had been thrown through a building from the street and was about to be crushed by alien number two, but the blow never came. Instead, a familiar red and blue suit had appeared in front of him, preventing the collision.
“Hey, man! What’s up, Mr. Stark?” He turned his head to look back at Tony.
“Kid, where did you come from?” He wanted Peter to go back to school, where he was supposed to be, so he didn’t get hurt.
“A field trip-to MoMA!” He was cut off as the metal-clad monster grabbed him around the chest and flung him at the nearby stone fountain, and he crashed into the ground, hard. He did get right back up almost immediately, easing Tony’s nerves. “What is this guy’s problem, Mr. Stark?”
“He’s from space; he came to steal a necklace from a wizard.” He informed as he extracted himself from the ravaged grass, continuing the battle. Just then, Dr. Strange was flown past them by that stupidly loyal cape. “Kid, that’s the wizard, get on it!”
“On it!” Peter shot his webs and pulled himself up, swinging off down the street after the magician. Tony kept fighting, trying to subdue the alien, but it seemed like his skin was impenetrable or something because he wasn’t even fazed by the repulser blasts shot at him repeatedly.
“Mr. Stark, I’m being beamed up!” Peter sounded a bit frantic through the comms, and Tony glanced up to see a glowing, blue tube and two tiny figures flying up along with it.
“Hang on, kid!” Eventually, one of the monster’s contraptions magnetized around him, trapping him. The ogre charged, a sharp sword protruding from his gauntlet to impale Tony, but a golden portal opened, and it landed in some snowy, cold plain. Frigid air floated through as the alien tried to jump back up, but Wong closed the portal, chopping off one hand.
“Wong, you’re invited to my wedding.” Tony announced as he took off toward the rapidly rising spaceship. Peter and Strange were on that thing, and if he didn’t get to it in time…No. He would; he had to if he wanted his kid back.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y., give me a little juice.” The metal at the bottom of the suit formed into a powerful rocket, and he set skyward, into the upper atmosphere. “Unlock 17A.” Just in case Peter fell, and Tony couldn’t get to him in time. It would also be a good idea because it could store oxygen for up to 11 minutes if he was still stuck when they got into space.
As soon as Tony got close enough to the ship to be in range of Peter’s com, he spoke. “Pete, you gotta let go, I’m gonna catch you.” He could see the kid climbing up part of the inside circle of the ring.
“But you said save the wizard!” He was breathless, and Tony couldn’t tell if it was panic, adrenaline, or lack of oxygen. It might have been all three, but there was no way to be sure. Tony was contemplating how to get Peter down from there and safe, but was interrupted by Peter panting slightly through his earpiece.
“I can’t breathe.” Tony managed to glance the kid desperately tugging off his mask. He could still hear Peter sucking in wheezing breaths as he struggled to pull in enough air.
“We’re too high up. You’re running out of air.” He finally spotted the iron spider suit flying up to the kid. It was almost there, he just had to hold on a little longer.
“Yeah. That makes sense,” he had stopped moving, and his grip slackened. No, no, no-Tony’s thoughts were chaotic as he watched Peter slip off of the spacecraft as he fell unconscious, plummeting toward the Earth so far down below, and he may not be close enough to catch his kid before he hit the ground or water or wherever he was going to fall.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered under his breath as the new suit encased itself around Peter, causing him to hit the bottom of the ring pretty hard, but he woke just soon enough to climb back up and straighten.
“Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!”
“Yep. Happy trails, kid. F.R.I.D.A.Y, send him home.” Relief permeated his voice, but it was all for good reason. Watching the person you care most about fall from 20,000 feet plus to their death is pretty scary, but now Peter was going home, and he would be safe.
000
But Peter wasn’t safe, because the next time he worried Tony was when he nearly got sucked into the void of space, then was held captive by a psycho with a weird space mask helmet thing, not even an hour after he nearly died because tried to board a giant donut to save a wizard with a clunky necklace.
“Wow, you are a seriously loyal price of outwear, aren’t you.” He muttered as the red cloak floated in front of him, probably expecting him to help save its master.
“Yeah, uh, speaking about loyalty-“
Tony did not just hear that young, innocent voice to his left. He turned, seeing Peter hanging upside down by a web from the ceiling. He flipped down. “What the-“
“I know what you’re going to say-“
“You should not be here.”
“I was gonna go home-“
“I don’t wanna hear it.”
“But it was such a long way down, and I just thought about you on the way…”
“And now I gotta hear it.”
“And kinda stuck to the side of the ship, and this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way, so, if anything, it’s kinda your fault that I’m here.”
“What did you just say?”
“I-I take that back. And now I’m here in space, so-“
“Yeah, right where I didn’t want you to be. This isn’t Coney Island, this isn’t a field trip. This is a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don’t pretend that you thought this through.”
“No, I did think this through.”
“You could not have possibly thought this through.”
“You can’t be a friendly neighborhood Spiderman if there is no neighborhood.”
Tony just stared at him, though the logic did make sense. All he could feel was worry seeping into his veins, and he wanted his kid back down on Earth at the Museum of Modern Art with his nerd friends, not up in space with no way back to Earth and impending danger.
“Okay that didn’t really make sense but you know what I’m trying to say.”
Tony took a shaky breath, ready to protect Peter at all costs, and turned, leading him to have a view of Strange all levitated and surrounded by crystalline needles, some protruding into his skin. “Come on. We’ve got a situation. See him down there? He’s in trouble, what’s your plan?” Might as well let the kid be useful, because he obviously wanted to help out.
“Um..okay, okay, uh, okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?” He continued to explain his plan about getting Squidward sucked into space where he would freeze and die. It was a genuinely good plan, but dangerous. Everyone in the room, and the oxygen, would be dragged out the breach of it wasn’t closed fast enough. Tony climbed down as Strange started screaming, the spikes driving harder into his face.
Ebony Maw turned, stopping in the middle of a sentence. “Any one of them…could end your friend’s life in an instant.”
“I gotta tell you he’s not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy.” Tony had literally met the man barely and hour before and couldn’t remember his first name.
“You’ve saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine.”
“Yeah, but the kid’s seen more movies.” He blasted a hole through the hull of the ship, and all the debris the alien had raised with his freaky telekinesis powers, along with the baddie himself, were swept into the void of space. Unfortunately, Strange was also quickly being pulled out. Peter dove after him, shooting a web when the cloak couldn’t hold him. The kid grabbed a piece of metal that was jutting out randomly from the floor, but it snapped in half, and he cried out as he was dragged toward the incision.
Luckily, the golden spider legs Tony had added to the suit expanded and braced him against the sides of the ragged hole.
“Yes! Wait, what are those?” He used the legs to propel himself back into the ship while Tony closed up the hole with some special nanotech additions to his suit. Everyone tumbled to the ground, trying to recover from the intense, though short, fight.
Tony made his way over to what appeared to be the steering contraption at the front of the ship. He examined the controls and glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Stark, can you fly us back home?” Strange asked from his left. He was thinking about it, but didn’t know how to work the spacecraft, and he had an idea.
“Can you-“
“Yeah, I heard you. I just don’t know if we can or should go back. Oh, and suddenly now you want to run. I tried to bench you, you refused.”
“Unlike everybody else in your life, I don’t work for you.”
“And due to that fact, we’re now on a flying donut, billions of miles from Earth with no backup.”
“I’m backup,” Peter interrupted, and Tony turned to give him a look.
“No, you’re a stowaway. The adults are talking.”
“I’m sorry, I’m confused as to the relationship here. What is he, your ward?” Strange turned to face the kid, who was standing only a few feet behind him.
“Um, no. I’m Peter, by the way.”
“Dr. Strange.”
“Oh, you’re using our made-up names. Um, I’m Spider-man, then.”
The doctor just gave him a weird look and turned back to Tony. “So, are we going home?”
“We should go to Titan and wait for Thanos. We’ll take him down there.”
“Under no circumstances are we taking the Time Stone to Thanos.”
“No, you don’t understand. Thanos has been in my head for six years. Ever since he sent aliens to Earth, and now he’s back, and I don’t know what to do. So I’m not so sure if it’s a better plan to fight him on our turf or his, but you saw what they did. What they can do. At least on his turf he’s not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him, Doctor. Do you concur.”
“Alright, Stark. We go to him, but if you have to understand, if it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t, because the universe depends on it.”
“Nice. Good, moral compass.” He patted the wizard’s arm and walked past him. He kept repeating that line in his head over and over again, because if it came to saving the entire world, or his kid, he would whose Peter over everybody and everything else. He knew that for sure.
He stepped up to stand in front of Peter, sighing a bit. “Alright, kid, you’re an Avenger now.” The look on his kid’s face almost made him laugh. Almost. But he couldn’t, because they were in a dire situation, far away from Earth, and home, and Peter was in no way safe. They had no idea of the dangers that awaited them, and he wasn’t completely sure he could protect Peter well enough, but he knew for sure he would try. He would die for that kid.
Suddenly, the ship rocked. Tony turned to see they were rapidly approaching the atmosphere of a dusty looking planet.
Peter and he each grabbed one of the metal arms that steered the ship, trying to pilot it down to solid ground. Strange constructed a glowing, orange shield around them as the giant ring crashed into the ground, breaking into multiple pieces before finally landing upright, tilted a bit to the side, but at least no one had died. Tony turned, checking to give Peter a once over and make sure he was okay, because he had tried to hide a stab wound before, and if he was hurt, they needed to get him help.
Panic engulfed Tony as he realized he couldn’t see Peter anywhere. It wasn’t a huge room, and he seemed to have just disappeared. He breathed a soft sigh of relief as Peter lowered himself down from the ceiling, because of course he was up there, that’s where he went when he felt vulnerable or scared.
“Let me just say, if aliens wind up planting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you guys, I’m sorry.”
“I do not want another, single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip, you understand?”
“I’m trying to say that something’s coming-”
Just then, a small, white orb rolled in between him and Strange, and they didn’t have even a second to react before it blew them all in different directions. Tony ended up in a fight with a guy in a crappy face plate and weird blaster sort of gun. The man was clever enough to attach a magnetic device to his suit that stuck him to a part of the ship long enough to get away. After that, a large, gray dude attacked him, and he fairly easily fought him off, pinning him down, one repulser aimed at his head. He thought they might have won, but the same guy he’d started fighting had Peter in a headlock with that same weird gun pressed to his skull.
“Everybody stay where you are, chill the eff out!” He directed his stare at Tony as the faceplate dropped. “I’m gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?”
“Yeah, I’ll do you one better, who’s Gamora?” Tony had no idea what this idiot who had his kid was talking about, and he wanted Peter right next to him, back under his protection.
“I’ll do you one better, why is Gamora?” The grey dude said.
“Tell me where the girl is or I swear I’m gonna french fry this little freak.”
There was no way anybody was french frying his small, nerdy kid. “Let’s do it. You shoot my kid, and I’ll blast him. Let’s go!”
“Do it , Quill! I can take it!”
“No! He can’t take it!” Bug lady, as Tony had deemed her exclaimed, hopping toward them, smothered in webs.
“She’s right, you can’t.” Strange added oh so helpfully.
“Oh yeah? You don’t want to tell me where she is? That’s fine. I’ll kill all three of you and I’ll beat it out of Thanos myself! Starting with you.” Mr. Lord shoved the blaster harder into Peter’s head, and Tony suddenly couldn’t breathe, being so unable to help.
“Wait, what, Thanos? Alright, uh, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?” Strange asked, covering for Tony.
“What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, Jesus?”
“You’re from Earth.”
“I’m not from Earth, I’m from Missouri.”
“Yeah, that’s on Earth, genius. What are you bothering us for?”
“So…you’re not…with Thanos?” Peter cut into the conversation, bringing Tony’s attention back to the kid.
“With Thanos? No, I’m here to kill thanos. He took my girl-wait, who are you?”
“We’re the Avengers, man.” Peter said as his helmet retracted.
“You’re the ones Thor told us about!” Bug lady figured it out first.
“You know Thor?”
“Yeah. Tall guy, not that good looking, needed saving.” The kid gave the leader of this ragtag group a look of indignation, looking personally offended, even though he’d never even met Thor in his life. Tony snorted. Everything seemed to be okay now, and they even had some more accomplices to help win the battle soon to come. He pulled Peter to his side and quietly examined if he was alright, if he was hurt, that kind of thing, as they exited the ship. His kid insisted he was fine, but Tony could tell he was shaken up by the encounter, so he decided keep him close the rest of the time they could be together.
000
The 6th time Tony was worried for Peter, it wasn’t even worry. It was fear and desperation and pain.
Thanos had disappeared through his portal after receiving the Time Stone. Everybody stood, disoriented, looking around.
“Where is he?!” Quill screamed, blasting over to search for the giant grape. Tony just glared. He knew they had that gauntlet. Peter had been about to pull it off, but, of course, their plan was ruined by Quill punching Thanos in the face. He had dismantled Mantis, and she had gotten thrown off him. Peter went after her, using the new spider legs to catch her.
Tony had almost got him, too. Until he was brutally impaled by his own weapon, and incapacitated. Strange had given away the stone for Thanos to spare his life, though Tony had told him not to, because the universe was more important than one life.
Now they all just stood there, the Guardians with Quill in front, Tony positioned in front of Peter, and Strange a few meters away.
“Something’s happening.” Mantis said worriedly, stepping forward a bit, before flakes started drifting into the wind. They watched in terror and awe as the bug lady disappeared right in front of their eyes. Next, Drax looked down at his arms as they started to dissolve. He was gone in seconds. He only uttered one one before he died.
Quill was next, only looking a bit annoyed and groaning, “Aw, man,” before disintegrating only feet in front of them.
“Tony,” Strange murmured, and the billionaire looked over at the wizard, already knowing what was going to happen. He could barely process everything with the pain from the stab wound, the heat and soot drifting around in the dirt at his feet. “It was the only way.”
No, it wasn’t the only way. If Strange had let Tony die, Thanos wouldn’t have gotten the Time Stone, and he wouldn’t have snapped. No one would have died.
“Mr. Stark?” Peter’s voice came from behind him, and Tony turned, fear encompassing his entire frame. “I don’t feel so good,” the kid stumbled forward, staring between Tony and his hands, anguish clear on his innocent, young face.
“You’re alright-“ Tony hardly heard himself, just saw Peter looking at his hands, unable to rip his eyes, wide with terror, away.
“I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t-“ he was cut off as his legs buckled and Tony automatically moved to meet him. His kid latched on and clung to him. Tony couldn’t even say anything as Peter started rambling again.
“I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go, please, I don’t wanna go,” the billionaire could feel his heart leaving him as Peter’s legs collapsed beneath him, bringing them both to the ground. Tony tried to support him, one hand pressed against the back of his head to pillow it from the hard ground, tangled in soft, brown hair. He couldn’t be losing Peter. He couldn’t be losing his kid, because this kid was the person that grounded him, that kept him sane. He loved Peter more than he loved anyone else in the world. The kid was his whole universe.
Peter met his eyes one last time before squeezing his hand weakly.
“I’m sorry,”
Tony watched as his kid turned into dust in his arms, trying to hold on, to make Peter stay with him, even for a little while longer. A choked sob forced its way out of his mouth, and he was just looking at his hand, and the dusty, gray ash that lingered. This was all that was left of Peter. His Peter.
No one even knew who Spider-Man was. No one knew that a kid had disappeared into space, and he was just assumed among the vanished. They were right, of course, but there was so much more to the story. No one knew how a sixteen year old kid had fought a Titan, the biggest enemy the Avengers had ever faced, and almost won.
No one knew how much Tony Stark loved that kid.
000
The next time Tony worried about his kid was five years later, in the chaos of what was later deemed “The Final Battle.”
Everyone was fighting, wrestling to win the battle, to prevent Thanos from getting the gauntlet back. Tony was in the midst of it, blasting aliens with his repulsers, beating them in any way he could. He saw glimpses of people he knew. Steve, Sam, and Bucky, back to back, holding monsters as bay. Wanda was fighting alone, but she didn’t exactly need backup. Her red magic floated over the ravaged field, destroying the enemy’s ships and weapons. He saw the Guardians of the Galaxy reunited and holding their own. T’Challa was leading his army from Wakanda, his little sister Shuri at his side. Strange used shields and spells, fighting alongside some of the original Avengers.
The one person he hadn’t seen was Peter. The battle was huge, sure, but he needed to see that kid if he was going to function. Finally, after a few minutes of simultaneously searching and fighting, his kid appeared in the line of sight. He jumped down from a mound of wreckage and ran up to Tony.
“Holy cow! You won’t believe what happened! So, remember when I got all dusty and we were in space? Well, I woke up and you were gone, but Dr. Strange said that it had been five years and that you needed our help, so he did that yellow sparkly thingy-what are you doing?”
Tony had cut him off. He pulled Peter into his arms, relishing the feeling he’d longed for for five years. He thought he’d never get his kid back, thought he would be living in that void of grief for the rest of his life. But now he was right here in Tony’s arms. He knew it couldn’t last, as they were quite literally in the middle of a battle. He didn’t know if he would ever see Peter again. Something could happen. Anything could happen, so he had to savor this moment.
“O-oh. This is nice.” Peter hugged him tight, their cheeks pressed together.
I’m just opening the door for you. This isn’t a hug, we’re not there yet.
They were there, and had been for a long time. Tony just wished he had showed Peter how much he cared, how much he loved him, more.
Soon, far too soon, they split up to continue the battle. Tony caught flashes of his kid fighting. He was doing really well, holding his own, and didn’t appear to be hurt or anything. A few more minutes passed, and Wanda started going up against Thanos. The glove was being passed from person to person, and suddenly the worst thing happened. He saw Peter swing up, and T’Challa tossed the gauntlet to him. As missiles started raining, the kid was blasted up, and Tony knew he couldn’t get there in time. Luckily, Pepper grabbed him out of the air and dropped him onto the back of a pure white Pegasus with a Valkyrie riding on the back.
Tony watched, making sure Peter didn’t get any ideas and try to put the glove on or something like that. Fortunately, he handed it off again to Captain Marvel, the same person who had saved Tony and Nebula from the abyss of space. Peter was up and at it again, running around, subduing aliens left and right.
The battle ended in a blur for Tony. He remembered going toe to toe with Thanos, being knocked around quite a lot before he was able to pry the Infinity stones off the gauntlet. He remembered immediately feeling pain as they connected to his armored hand. He remembered his whole right side being on fire, agony tearing through his veins as Thanos spoke for the last time Tony would hear him.
“I am inevitable.” He grinned wickedly, and snapped, but nothing happened. He spun back around to look at Tony, one hand held up in triumph, a grim smile on his face.
“I…am…Iron Man.” Every word was a struggle. Those few moments for everybody else felt like Tony’s whole life. He saw moments in time. Meeting Rhodey when they were at MIT, and hiring Happy, who tuned out to be more than just a head of security and personal driver. Realizing he was in love with Pepper for the first time, seeing her in that beautiful indigo dress, and knowing he had to hold on to her. He remembered the day he first saw Peter Parker, walking into his small apartment and thinking how he looked so young, but was already saving the world. Or, at least his corner of New York.
He saw flashes of previous battles. In New York, when the Avengers first assembled. When he had flown up into that worm hole and barely made it back down. In Sokovia, when he had messed up and made an AI bent on taking over the entire Earth. On Titan, fighting Thanos with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Peter crumbling to dust in his arms, and the long way back home.
He remembered those five years after he lost his kid. That’s how he thought of them. Counting the months he had survived without Peter. Pepper had really helped him, but the one who had who had really dragged him out of his misery was Morgan. She reminded him so much of Peter, the way she was smart and sarcastic, and took after him in almost every way. She and Peter were the only things he didn’t regret in his life, except this. This moment.
He could barely feel the incredible pain coursing through his being as he stumbled back against some wreckage, and knowing deep in his heart that he wouldn’t wake up this time. There wasn’t going to be any Shawarma after this battle, no boarding the Quinjet and heading home to start his next project. This was really the end. And he didn’t regret a thing, because it was all for the people he loved. Happy. Rhodey. Pepper. Morgan. Peter.
Such a small number, but those five meant everything to him, and if he only had to snap once, give his life to save them, he would do it in an instant. At least it was him, not one of them, because watching and being able to do absolutely nothing as Peter died in his arms had destroyed him more than death ever would.
He vaguely felt a strangely gentle metal hand cup one side of his face, the side that hadn’t been burned and completely ravaged. He saw Rhodey’s face out of blurry eyes, and wished he could say one last thing. One last thank you.
As his best friend of so many years he couldn’t even count stepped away, another familiar countenance appeared in his vision. Peter, who he considered to be his son in every way but blood.
“Mr. Stark? Hey!” He sounded like he was crying. Tony didn’t want Peter to cry. He wasn’t worth that. “Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It’s Peter.” His kid reached out toward him, fingers brushing against the damaged metal of the suit. “Hey. We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir, you did it.” Tony summoned up the last of his strength, moving his hand to touch Peter’s face one last time, trying to memorize every detail. “I’m sorry…Tony…” he brought a hand up to his mouth, tears streaming freely down his face as Pepper and Rhodey pulled him away.
Then his wife was kneeling next to him, a sad smile on her face as she tried to hold it together. Tears still dripped down her face, though. Tony noticed how she still looked so beautiful, even after fighting in such a monumental battle, even after everything that had happened.
“Hey.” She started, voice soft.
“Hey, Pep,” he wanted to make everything okay. Wanted to tell Pepper how much he loved her, tell Peter how proud he was and how he would always be a better superhero, a better person. He wanted to tell Rhodey and Happy thank you, for all those years they kept him together and stayed, when everybody else was just there for money or to take advantage of him.
Pepper extended her hand, laying it over his arc reactor. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”
She didn’t need to say any more. She didn’t need to say anything in the first place, because everyone knew what was happening already.
“Life functions critical.” Tony thought about how robots and AIs had been better friends to him than actual people a lot of the time. Well, maybe until the Avengers formed. But, still, he had never really felt like he belonged with their small group of heroes. He didn’t deserve it.
He looked out at Pepper one more time, trying to convey his thoughts with just his eyes. He registered more crying in the background and saw the glint of metal from a red suit, and the dull sheen of an older, more used suit.
“Tony? Look at me. Hey, we’re going to be okay.” He was barely able to drag his eyes back to his wife this time. He didn’t have much left in him. He almost regretted looking at Pepper. Her eyes sparkled with fallen and unshed tears alike, and Tony noticed how they looked like the nebulas he’d seen in space on his way home from Titan. But, this time, they were beautiful. Not vast and terrifying, but so lovely and kind. “You can rest now.”
Those words were it. His body was shutting down. He was going to be gone, soon. He didn’t have to hold on anymore. He took one, last lingering look at all these people he loved. One last look at his family.
It hurt to see them all crying like this, so sad just because he was dying. Even Rhodey, with one arm wrapped tightly around Peter, had tears streaking down his cheeks. His kid was inconsolable, hiccups and gasps escaping his mouth, and no matter how much pain he was in, if Tony could stay alive just for Peter, he would. He would give the world to that kid.
He wished he could see Morgan, but she was back at home, safe, with Happy. He wanted to say everything to all these people, but all he could do was one painful smile. Everything started to go dim and black around the edges, the chaos of the remaining battle fading even more. The last thing he felt were Pepper’s lips pressing such a tender kiss to his cheek that remained unharmed, saying her last goodbye.
Everyone was. Peter now sobbing hysterically, Rhodey trying to calm him through his own misery. Pepper, still crouched in front of him, gently closing his eyes. Even the Avengers, kneeling to pay their respects for the last sacrifice. The entire battlefield was quiet, except for the crying from the three closest to Tony and gravel crunching as warriors knees rested in the dirt as they all remembered Tony Stark, the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist that really wasn’t that any longer. Hadn’t been for a long time. He was a father figure, a hero, a husband, and the best out of all of them.