Concern
Tony
“Hey guys! Have you ever seen that really old movie Empire Strikes Back?” Spiderman says as he swings away from the grasp of Giant Man.
We’re in the airport in Germany, fighting off Steve Rogers and the rest of the “rogue Avengers” and it’s becoming clear to me that I wouldn’t be able to take them in time for the deadline that General Ross gave to me.
“Jesus, Tony how old is this guy?” Rhodey says thru the comms.
“I don’t know, I didn’t carbon date him. He’s on the young side,” I say. Was Peter Parker 14 or 15 or 16? My mind is way too focused on other more pressing matters than Peter’s age right now.
“You know that part where they’re on the snow planet with the walking thingies?” Spiderman continues to say as he webs up Giant Man’s legs.
The kid seems to have a good plan in mind. “Maybe the kid’s onto something,” I tell Rhodey.
Rhodey was on the same page as me, “high now Tony, go high!”
Rhodey and I fly up to punch Giant Guy right on the face, successfully knocking him down. Peter yells “yes! That was awesome!” I could see him giving us a thumbs up but unfortunately he doesn’t notice the hand of Giant Man smacking him which sends him hurtling towards a bunch of hard wooden cargo boxes a couple of feet away.
A sense of panic rushes through me, making me immediately fly towards where Peter crashed. Worried that he might be seriously hurt, I landed and retracted my suit’s helmet so I could see the kid better.
“Kid, you all right?” I touch him gently, afraid that he might have injured or broken bones. His mask was removed halfway through his head, revealing the lower part of his face. He reacts defensively from my touch, probably thinking that I was from the opposing side.
I grab his arm so he couldn’t hit me, the kid was very strong. I try to calm him down by saying, “same side! Guess who? Hi, it’s me.”
When he finally realizes it was me, he sighs. “Hey man,” he says, relieved. I was relieved too, seeing that he wasn’t badly injured in any way.
“That was scary,” he says breathlessly. The kid looked tired and just a little bit beaten up from the fight so I decided it was time to bench him, for his safety and also, for my sanity.
“You’re done, all right?” I tell him.
“What? I’m good! I’m fine,” he protests.
“You did a good job, stay down” I say as Peter continues to protest.
“No it’s good, I gotta get him back,” he objects but I absolutely cannot let him.
“You’re going home or I’ll call Aunt May! You’re done.” I say and leave him on the ground.
I send a short text to Happy Hogan to pick Peter up from the airport to take him away from the fight while I flew away. I wanted to tend to the kid’s needs more, to check if he really was without any big injuries but Cap was getting away.
“Okay, I’m done. I’m done,” I hear Peter breathlessly say thru the comms. Good, the kid is finally listening to me.
“Happy, can you give us a moment?” I tell Happy Hogan who was in the driver’s seat while Peter and I were in the backseat.
I never let anyone drive me to places but I wanted to sit next to Peter and talk to him all the way to his home. We’re now in New York, taking Peter Parker back after the fight at the airport and all the other events of the “Civil War” between Captain America and me.
I’m still furious and hurt at Steve Rogers for what he did to me. I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive him anytime soon. Plus, there are still a lot of things that have not yet been resolved. Scott Lang a.k.a. Antman and Clint Barton are both on house arrest while the rest of the “rogue Avengers” are on the run. Frankly, I think it’s better that way rather than them being imprisoned in The Raft.
Thinking about what happened pains me because, even if I hate to admit it, the Avengers have broken up. I haven’t heard from Thor for a long while now while Bruce Banner has been MIA for years. The only one left to live in the Avenger’s compound is Vision but I’m pretty sure he’s going to leave to be with Wanda and then there’s really no one left anymore. The compound will be a big empty white building with no life, no meaning.
“Do you want me to leave the car?” Happy turns to look at me.
“Why don’t you grab Peter’s case out of the trunk?” I tell him. Happy mumbles something incomprehensible but he still complies and gets out of the car.
I wanted to speak to Peter alone. There were a lot of things I wanted to tell him, like how I was proud of the good fight that he put up in Germany despite being up against experienced combatants and if he needs me he can just tell me anytime but I’m Tony Stark and I just don’t know how to say those words and express how I feel for the kid.
What do I feel for the kid? Is this how a teacher feels towards his best student? I don’t think so. What I feel is a great sense of protectiveness for him. I want to do everything I can to shield him from the world. But I know that I can’t do that because the kid’s a hero and he will always be in harm’s way. What I can do to protect him is to monitor his whereabouts and give him the suit. Happy can keep a close watch on him while I can still continue my work at Stark Industries plus being Iron Man and, also, the suit will have everything he needs as the neighborhood hero of Queens; I’m going to do just that.
“You can keep the suit kid.”
“I can keep the suit?” Peter stares at me in disbelief as he slowly puts down the phone that he’s been holding up to take our “alibi video” for his Aunt May about the fake Stark internship.
“Yes, we were just talking about it,” I tell him as I put my blue tinted sunglasses on.
I cleared my throat and continue, “do me a favor though, Happy’s kind of your point guy on this. Don’t stress him out. Don’t do anything stupid. I’ve seen his cardiogram, all right?”
“Yes,” Peter answers, still surprised about what I told him. I don’t know why he would think that he couldn’t keep the suit though. I made it for him, to help him be a better hero and to protect him.
“Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. There’s a little gray area in there and that’s where you operate,” I say making a small space between my thumb and index finger to emphasize my point.
“Wait, does that mean that I’m an Avenger?” Peter asks expectantly.
“No,” I answer almost immediately. I don’t want the kid to be part of the Avengers just yet, not when the team is in shambles as of the moment.
Happy knocks on the glass window from the outside of the car with Peter’s luggage in hand, “this it?”
“Seventh floor,” I tell Happy. The kid probably needs a lot of rest after the events in Germany so I wanted Happy to carry his luggage up to Peter’s apartment but Peter declines.
“I can take that, you don’t have to,” Peter says to Happy.
“You’ll take it? Thank you,” Happy said and puts the luggage down.
I couldn’t hide a small smile from forming on my lips. There’s just something about Peter that draws me in.
Peter turns to me and asks, “so when’s our next retreat, you know?” He makes air quotes when he says the words “retreat”.
“What? Next mission?”
“Yeah the mission, missions.”
“We’ll call you,” I tell him. I don’t think there will be any missions anytime soon.
“Do you have my numbers?” he asks preparing to show me his number from his phone.
“No I mean, we’ll call you. Like someone will call you, alright?” I say and for some odd reason I reach out to Peter. I feel him wrap his arms around me in an embrace but I pretended to reach out for the door handle instead.
“That’s not a hug, I’m just grabbing the door for you. We’re not there yet,” I say and open the door for him but I know it’s a stupid way of opening a door for someone.
I shift away without looking at him, feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward as I let him leave the car. I couldn’t just let him leave without saying a word so I say a quick but loud “bye!”
Happy gets in the car and speeds away as I look outside the car window and watch the dark streets of New York pass by, stuck in my thoughts. I’m starting to get an idea about what I feel about Peter: paternal love. But, I’m afraid of admitting it even in my thoughts. I’m scared because I don’t want to mess up Peter like how my father messed me up and I have no right to consider myself as Peter’s father.
The "hug" felt nice though.