When Tony woke up he wasn’t in pain, not really. He was under the impression, though, that he was in great pain just an hour or two ago. Which was weird, wasn’t it? Why would he be in pain?
The billionaire opened his eyes and looked around the room he was in. Was it a hospital room? It looked a lot like a hospital room but also a little too expensive and too cozy (even for Tony Stark’s room). Wait, why was he in a hospital?
The man heard that someone was opening doors so he looked that way and saw Rhodey coming into the room.
“Honeybear, thank God, what the hell am I doing in a hospital?” he blurted quickly, supporting himself on his elbows.
“Hospital? No, Tones, you’re not in a hospital,” replied Colonel with a frown, so Tony looked around the room again, and it sure as hell looked more like a hospital than his bedroom. There was even an already emptied drip next to his bed, come on.
“What?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” the soldier added, slightly alerted.
“Ugh, I was in my workshop, I was doing a little update to JARVIS’ holo tables. Why?” Tony felt lost and this worried look on Rhodey’s face wasn’t helping.
“In the workshop in… Malibu?”
“Yes, of course in Malibu, where else would I be? Can you explain to me what the hell is going on?” This whole situation was annoying, Rhodey was acting weird and Tony felt perfectly good, not seeing any reasons to why would he be in this hospital-but-apparently-not-hospital room.
“Okay, calm down,” said Rhodes but it sounded like he was calming himself more than his friend and he sat in the chair next to Tony’s bed. “Helen said you can have problems with memory for a moment. Do you remember Iron Man?”
“Of course I remember I’m Iron Man, it happened not even a year ago, I don’t drink that much.” answered the engineer ignoring those two new questions that popped in his mind. Who is Helen and why would I have problems with memory?
“A year? Fuck.” Rhodey cursed and took a breath. “Friday, can you alert Helen, please?” he said in space.
“Right away, Colonel Rhodes.” said a female mechanical but almost human-like voice from nowhere.
“Wait, is that an AI? Who made her? Where am I?” Tony was getting really tired of his friend’s game.
“You’re in the Medbay in the Tower in New York,” said Rhodey slowly and Tony was able to only narrow his eyes because the man continued. “Your house in Malibu was blown up and now you live in the penthouse in the Stark Tower in Manhattan.”
“My house was what?!” and why the hell was Rhodes telling it that calmly?!
“You kinda invited a terrorist there, it’s your own fault.” the soldier explained and gave his friend a moment to work with this information.
“Yeah, well, it sounds like something I would do…”
“The AI you heard earlier, it’s FRIDAY.” that interested Tony even more, who the hell did this, and is it just normal in this… kind-of-future? for people do keep doing AIs as good as JARVIS? What did Tony Stark invent this year that has blown everyone's minds? “You created her, she’s running the whole tower and your Iron Man’s suits.” oh, yeah, that would make sense. And society is still a bunch of idiots.
“Hello, Tony.” the billionaire heard a female voice and turned to the source of the sound, seeing that dark haired woman walked to the room and was now standing next to his bed, holding some tech thing with SI logo on it. Probably some kind of a tablet? “My name is Helen Cho and I’m your doctor.” oh, so this is Helen.
“Nice to… I don’t know, see you again, I guess?” the man said and Helen only smiled.
“FRIDAY, could you scan his brain please and send results to my tablet?” she said out loud, at the same time clicking a couple of things on her StarkPad.
“Of course, Doctor Cho.”
“Rhodey, can I talk with you for a moment? I’d like to ask a few questions about the circumstances of the accident?” the woman asked and Colonel got up from his chair.
“Yeah, no problem,” he replied. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he added, looking at Tony who in response only rolled his eyes.
Sure, leave the frustrated man with memory loss alone after you caused him more questions than gave answers to.
What happened to JARVIS? Where is Pepper? What accident? Why the hell did he invite a terrorist to his house? Why does he have a Medbay in his Tower or why does he live in the SI Tower instead of just some apartment?
“FRIDAY?” he asked in space, raising his head to look for some mini cameras acting as AI’s eyes.
“Yes, Boss?” she replied, and then the man found one of the cameras.
“Just wanted to say hi,” he said, waving his hand to AI, now fully sitting, because if he’d lay any longer he’d probably went crazy.
“Hello. If you’ll be needing anything, just say so. I’ll be happy to help.” he heard through his thoughts and nodded slightly.
He was lost in his mind, trying to somehow connect the dots and find some explanation for everything. He didn’t know how long he was like that but then suddenly the doors opened and there was a teenager.
“Mr. Stark!” he yelled and started running forward. “You’re okay! Are you okay?” he added when he hugged Tony, he hugged Tony Stark, and Tony found that he… didn’t mind? It felt right. His mind was shocked like hell but his body reacted as if this happened hundreds of times before. His arms secured the boy when he wrapped his arms around the engineer and it was a moment before the man pulled away and examined the teen.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m- I’m Peter?” said the boy, visibly taken aback. He straightened a little but Tony was able to see in his eyes that he was lost and hurt because of the man’s question and the engineer found that he didn’t like what he saw and he had this really weird but also strong urge to comfort him, which he shook away.
“How did you get here Peter?” he asked instead and then the boy got up from the bed, standing a couple of steps further.
“Like, uh, like always. FRIDAY let me in? Are you okay, Mr. Stark?” Tony would swear that the boy had tears in his eyes and his heart broke a little at the sight of this.
“Sorry, lost a few years of memory. I’m trying to understand who is who,” he explained.
“Um, I- I’m your intern.” answered the boy but not without hesitation. Since when did Tony Stark take interns? Why a literal teenager is an intern? Why was an intern hugging him?
“Intern?”
“Personal intern, I mean. We’re working together in your lab.” the teen said. “I should probably go already,” he added quickly. “Get well soon, Mr. Stark” he rushed to the door. “If you’ll need me, just tell FRIDAY to text me,” he added and left the room, leaving Tony to find that he didn’t really want him to go. Something here stinks, who the hell is this kid?
The man didn’t even have too much time to think about this because a moment later, Rhodes came back and started explaining everything about Palladium, SHIELD, Stark Industries, this fake and real terrorist, Avengers, Ultron, Accords… and when he finally was done, checking his watch, he muttered to himself “I thought Junior would be here by now.”.
“Who’s Junior?” Tony asked quickly, Rhodey didn’t mention him in all those years of his life.
“His name is Peter.” the kid. “He’s… kind of your personal intern,” Tony noted that Rhodey, just like Peter hesitated before answering. He also noted that Rhodey added kind of before personal intern. What was that supposed to mean?
“Oh, he was here.” at that, the soldier’s eyes snapped back to the engineer.
“Tell me you didn’t kick him out,” the Colonel asked worriedly.
“No, of course not. He just said to get well and text him when I’ll need him again and left,” explained Tony. “What is the deal with him anyway?” he added.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Oh, don’t play stupid with me Platypus. And how old is this kid?” Tony was still shocked by the fact that he had a teenage personal intern.
“Fifteen,” answered Rhodey and then quickly got up from his chair, changing the subject. “Alright, you wanted to get out of the Medbay, so Helen said that seeing as you’re good physically, you can.” now, that information interested Tony. “FRIDAY will be monitoring you though and that’s probably the main reason why you can leave, so don’t try to mess with anything,” Rhodes explained seeing as Tony was already rushing to the doors.
On their way to the elevator they were quiet, Tony was admiring his Tower, looking at the rooms and tech, there was also some lab for doctors and couple of equations on boards.
“To the penthouse, FRIDAY.” required Rhodes when both men were inside the lift.
“What? No, I wanna see my workshop.” objected quickly billionaire.
“Tones, I don-“
“I’m good.” cut him Stark. “You said it yourself that I’m good, and FRI is going to babysit me. So, FRIDAY? show me my lab, please.”
“Yes, Boss.” the AI responded, so Tony smiled slightly at his friend and Rhodey only rolled his eyes, staying quiet for the rest of their journey.
When they were on the right floor, the engineer assured his friend that he won’t do anything stupid and that he won’t be in the workshop for too long. He just wanted to look around and think a little, process everything that he just heard about and he wanted to do it in peace. Alone.
So when the Colonel left, he scanned his lab, taking in every table, every tool and each began equation. Looking at everything he started to think about things Rhodey told him about.
He saw a white-blue-red shield that was locked and he thought about the fact that something happened between him and Captain America in Siberia.
He saw some gadget with the SI logo and remembered that now Pepper is the CEO. And damn, that was a good decision.
He saw a cup and smelled coffee, just coffee, and remembered that he apparently doesn’t drink whiskey or any other alcohol anymore?
He saw a freaking Capri Sun laying on some high school book and next to notes that looked like homework. Childish handwriting exactly like the one mixed with his on some of the boards. Peter’s.
“FRI?” he said going through the boy’s notebook, reading something called web fluid formula. “Damn, the kid’s smart,” he muttered to himself.
“Yes, Boss?”
“What’s the deal with Peter?” he asked, looking around the lab again, because, come on, this kid is drinking orange juice and doing his homework at his internship with Tony Stark. And (repeatedly) messing with Tony’s equations.
“Peter Parker is officially listed as Stark Industries clearance level 10, personal intern of Tony Stark.” replied the AI, and the engineer narrowed his eyes.
“Officially?” he said under his nose and sat on the nearest stool. How about unofficially? “Hey, do you keep footage from your cameras?”
“Yes.”
“Can you play some video of... Peter and me interacting? Something that describes how our relationship works?” he asked, noting that DUM-E is still with him and at the moment is messing with some weird drone-looking small robot in the shape of a spider.
Then, there was a hologram not far from him but also not too close, so he wouldn’t have a problem with seeing the whole frame at one moment.
“The footage is of almost two months ago,” said FRIDAY and Tony realized that it was the freaking penthouse and that on that footage he was watching some animated movie with his intern.
The boy was literally melted into the billionaire’s side, his head partly on the man’s chest and partly on his shoulder, Tony’s arm wrapped protectively around the kid’s shoulders and his hand was in Peter’s hair. His fingers running through brown, soft curls.
The man turned his head away from the screen and looked at the kid and his face softened the second he saw that Peter had closed eyes.
“Why the hell am I so comfortable with a teenager sleeping on me?” asked Tony, not even expecting an answer. “And why did he fell asleep on me in the first place?”
“Pete?” whispered Tony, lowering his head a little and laying his cheek on the boy’s head.
“Mm?” came a muffled sound from the kid.
“You asleep, bud?”
“No.” answered Peter, probably putting his whole energy into this word, so it sounded conscious.
“Then you should probably head up to your room.”
“He has his own room in my penthouse?” asked surprised Tony. Intern, my ass.
“Yes. Peter’s room is located opposite your’s, Boss.” sounded FRIDAY’s voice.
“Any particular reason for that?”
“Thanks to this, you can reach him faster in case he’s having a nightmare,” explained the AI, and Tony slightly shook his head.
“Alright, am I the kid’s secret father or something?” he blurted.
“Not biologically, but you don’t object when Colonel Rhodes calls you Peter’s dad and on multiple occasions, you referred to him as my kid.” hearing this the man looked at the stopped video in front of him and focused on the teenager sleeping with his head at his chest. Was this really a paternal feeling he was feeling earlier, in the Medbay?
Did he fucking say his kid that he doesn’t remember him?
“Can you keep playing this? I want to see what happens next.” and also the kid is too adorable to just stop.
“Don’t wanna” answered the boy on the hologram.
"Too bad, huh? Cause it’s already past your bedtime.” the man straightened a little, slightly pulling away from the teen but still leaving an arm around him.
“I don’t have a bedtime, M’not a kid.” Peter tried to sound as not-asleep as he could but being curled up against Tony wasn’t exactly helping him.
“Well, you sure are acting like one.” said the engineer clearly expecting that it would get some reaction but there was just silence. He sighed then and put his hand into the boy’s curls, starting running circles again. “You have a Spanish quiz tomorrow, you have to get a good night's sleep so you can ace it.”
“You helped me study, tha’s what matters. And what questions M’s Warren ‘ll choose. Not where a sleep.” muttered the boy and changed his position slightly, burying his head into the man’s collarbone.
Tony could swear that his heart melted. What happened that he become so soft in those couple of years?
“Oh, and while we’re at it, Happy has some forehead of security thing going on tomorrow, so I’m driving you to school.” the man said and the boy groaned.
“C’n you take some not flashy car, pl’se?”
“Oh, are you ashamed of me?” the engineer asked jokingly, with a smile on his lips.
“No! No.” rushed with response Peter, hugging the man a little tighter at the same time. “It’s just I don’t want this whole attention thing because I know you.” explained the boy.
And that’swhen Tony thought the kid couldn’t get any more adorable, he struck again. Seriously, most people would be thrilled to be seen in public with Tony Stark, but this little creature? He apparently wanted to just lay on the couch and chat in peace.
“I know bud,” whispered Tony, as he kissed the top of the boy’s head. “If you’ll go to your room now, and sleep like a normal, teenage-human being, I’ll get a not flashy car tomorrow. How’s that sound?”
“Yghm.” the kid muttered under his nose.
“Did you just say ‘like a plan’?” said totally serious Tony, even though the teen obviously didn’t say that.
“You’re not funny, Mr. Stark.” said the boy, pulling away with a pout and rubbing his eyes, because of what he totally looked like a child and not a 15 years old teenager.
“Sure thing, baby.”
“Not a baby,” grumbled Peter.
It was a good moment later when Tony realized that the video was stopped, FRIDAY must’ve done that when she noticed that Stark was lost in his thoughts.
But, fuck, it’s some different level of Tony Stark. If you told him in 2008 that he will be so soft with a teenage boy, he would’ve just laughed at you. And it’s almost like back in 2008 now because his memories reach only there and he's sitting here, watching himself with Peter and his brain is still shocked but his heart tells him that he fucking loves this kid and that in the Medbay he told his kid that he doesn’t remember him and let him leave just like that.
“How... uh, how did his Spanish quiz go?” Tony found himself saying and for a moment wanted to add never mind but hey, he had a right to know, he helped the kid study after all.
There wasn’t any response but Tony noticed that something on the hologram flickered and then there was a new clip playing.
Tony in the kitchen. Cooking. Wow. I mean, he knew how to make a couple of things, but never was one to do that, anyway. If you could order something, why bother cooking? (Oh, yeah, it was healthier for teenage kids)
“I’m back!” sounded a happy voice, just a second after the elevator’s doors opened and there was Peter with a smile on his face, some paper in his left hand, and a backpack on both his shoulders.
The boy dropped his backpack to the floor and with the paper in his one hand came to Tony, sitting at the chair and with a big smile on his face, he showed the man what he got there.
The engineer, who was making apparently spaghetti, added something to the sauce, asking at the same time. “Your Spanish quiz?”
“Yeah, Ms. Warren gave us some worksheets so she could check this at the same time,” Peter answered and Tony was lying across the almost-bar-looking table and grabbing his work to see it.
“And who’s the genius now?” he asked with a big smile on his own face and ruffled the boy’s hair with a free hand.
“MJ got max too.” the kid explained sheepishly.
“She is a smart girl, it doesn’t make your success any less of a success. I’m proud of you, tesoro.”
And if Tony didn’t feel enough yet, that hit him.
Tesoro. The nickname his mom used when he was a kid, and now he apparently calls that Peter.
“Thank you.” said the boy. “And thanks for helping me study,” he added while he was walking to the man and now they were hugging.
The engineer laid one of his hands on the back of the boy’s neck and lowered his head. “You’re welcome, bud,” he said, kissing the boy’s soft, brown curls. “But now you better lift your backpack off the floor and go wash your hands,” he added when they pulled away, and Peter groaned. “Hey, hey, what’s with the attitude?” Tony asked, almost laughing.
“Alright, stop,” said Tony, looking away from the hologram, he got up from the stool and grabbed the StarkPad that was lying near him. “FRI, I want every little bit of information about Pete on my tablet,” he said. “And text him to come here,” he added, heading to the elevator.
“You usually send Mr. Hogan to pick Peter up, Boss. Should I do that now?” FRIDAY said when the man was walking to the elevator.
“Yeah. Send Happy and text Peter, thanks,” he muttered, looking at everything that showed at his StarkPad. “To the penthouse, please,” he added, seeing as the doors of the elevator closed.
He read about the boy’s parents and about his uncle and about him being a fucking superhero that is risking his life almost every single night and without back-up and he thought that he had a heart attack somewhere along Peter being crushed by a building and Peter crashing down a plane.
Tony just sat at an armchair in the living room and was so absorbed by reading all the most important information about the boy that he didn’t even notice when Peter came to the room.
“Mr. Stark?” sounded a shy and uncertain voice and Tony’s head snapped to him.
“Pete.” left his mouth, because he sees the kid for the first time since he knows that this is his kid. “Hey, kiddo,” he added, as he stood from where he was sitting and started making his way to the boy.
“Hi, Mr. Stark. You needed something?” Peter asked, still uncomfortable, because this is his father figure, the person he loves the most in this world, as much as his Aunt May, and that person doesn’t know who he is.
“Just wanted to talk, ya know?” said the engineer and wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders, leading him to the kitchen. And did that felt right. Tony also noted that the touch calmed Peter a little, he wasn’t so tense anymore. “Something to drink, what do you say?” he added, not liking this silence, and squeezed the boy’s shoulder slightly.
“Just water is fine, Mr. Stark.” the kid said politely as he sat at the first chair and Tony went to the cabinets.
“Water is boring. How about some orange juice, huh?” the billionaire asked as if he didn’t just read that this is the boy’s favorite.
“Yeah, that, uh, that would be great,” Peter answered with a small smile, so Tony found Capri Sun and gave it to him. “Thank you.”
“You’re not hungry, are you? If you are there should be something here, or I can make some panca-“
“No. No, Mr. Stark. I’m good, thank you.” the boy cut the billionaire off, but can you blame him for a little panicking? The 2008 Tony didn’t have any idea how to take care of himself, let alone a child. He sure as hell doesn’t want his kid to starve. He just read about his super metabolism. “What did you want to talk about?”
“You’re good, okay. Can we, uh, can we sit on the couch?” the man asked because it seemed like the talk you should sit for.
“Yeah.” muttered the boy, looking worried, so Tony rushed to his side and wrapped an arm around him.
“Hey, relax.” he rubbed his arm, on their way to the couch and the kid only nodded.
“Are you going to fire me?” said sheepishly the boy when they sat down.
“What? No, of course not. Fuck.” Tony said and sighed to calm himself. Then, he looked up and noticed that Peter was staring at him. “What?”
“You cursed.” explained the boy and then he laughed.
“I... Yeah, I did. Do I not do this anymore?” the engineer frowned.
“No, you said that I have too innocent ears for that and once when Happy cursed in the car with us you gave him a whole lecture.” the kid laughed at the memory. “It’s a good change, because I wasn’t allowed to say even damn or ass,” he added.
“Hey, hey, language. Who says you can say it now?” Tony reacted quickly because like hell he is letting his kid curse.
“What?”
“I said that you can’t curse so you can’t curse. And it was a smart decision.” the billionaire used the 'dad-voice' he didn’t even know he had.
“But you can?” Peter argued.
“I won’t be cursing too, promise.” the man said and laid one of his hands on his chest.
“Okay.” the boy sighed and a moment later it seemed like he suddenly remembered that this Tony sitting next to him doesn’t know who he is because he tensed and put on the best official face he could think of. “What did you want to talk about then, Mr. Stark?”
“Don’t worry, kid, it’s nothing bad,” Tony said, seeing the change in the boy. “Just wanted to say I’m sorry for the way I acted in the Medbay,” he explained.
“Uh, it’s okay. I probably shouldn’t even be there. It’s not the time for an intern. It’s just that I saw the news and I was really worried, I thought that what if something really, really, really bad happened? What if you were in surgery? or in a coma? Or what if it was even worse and then I panicked. I had this mini panic attack, I mean it probably wasn’t even a panic attack, just Ned said it was but he probably got it all wrong, and then MJ showed up suddenly and she said to just go to the Tower and see for myself that you’re good and I just, uh yeah, I decided that it was the best thing to do, but now I know that I shouldn’t-“ Peter stopped when he felt this safe hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he noticed that Tony knelt in front of him and saying something and that’s when Peter realized that his breath was too fast.
“Breathe, buddy. That’s it, you’re doing great.” the man sat on the couch next to Peter and the boy hugged him as soon as the engineer had his arms around him. “Just listen to my breaths and copy me,” added Tony and he exaggerated his breathing. He also started running his fingers through the boy’s soft curls and after a few moments he calmed down.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark,” mumbled Peter but didn’t pull away from the hug anyway, so Tony laid his chin on the kid’s hair.
“It’s okay.” the billionaire assured. “It’s okay,” he added in a whisper, as if to himself, and then there was only silence between them. Peter was probably still recovering from his beginning of a panic attack, and Tony just got lost in his mind, while holding the boy close. It seemed like Peter liked physical contact and like it was helping him. Like it was the comfort he needed at the moment. And Tony didn’t mind.
“I’m sorry I don’t remember you now, tesoro.” said the man, breaking the silence a few minutes later. “But I will, I promise,” he added, kissing the boy on the top of his head. He saw himself doing it at the video and something told him that it was just the right moment.
“It’s not your fault, Mr. Stark.” Peter pulled away and smiled slightly at Tony and the man only sighed.
“I did my research and I know that you’re more than just an intern. You’re important, I hope you know that.” the engineer said and the boy nodded. “I will remember you soon because I really want to. We’ll figure this out, bud,” he added and Peter hugged him, so the man returned it.