Avengers Family

“And those pheromones from marine life could be applied to organisms in a terrestrial setting to enhance intraspecies bonds?”

Tony stopped slightly before the doorframe, listening to Peter question Bruce about his work. He smiled. When Peter had first met Bruce, he could barely contain his excitement. He nervously shook the scientist’s hand before bombarding him with questions about his experiments and studies. Bruce’s offer to give him a tour of the lab elicited the same enthusiasm as a child on Christmas morning.

Now, Peter was over the giddy awkwardness of meeting his idol and actually participates in some of his research. He’s made himself at home in Bruce’s lab, even if just to watch or ask questions.

Tony felt a swell of pride watching the kid keep up with Bruce’s calculations and observations. He stood at the doorway for a few minutes before continuing on his path.

After Tony reopened his invitation to join the Avengers team, Peter revealed his identity to the heroes and moved into Stark Tower. His kind personality easily meshed with all of the individuals on the team and he was soon a vital part of team dynamics. Scenes like the one with Bruce were not uncommon.

Numerous times, Tony had walked in on Peter exercising his strength with Steve or pushing his flexibility with Natasha. Just last week, Thor came back to Earth and Peter day with him for hours attentively listening to every detail of his fantastical stories.

Tony loved that Peter was fitting in so well. He’d been a little upset when Peter rejected his initial offer, but he now realized that allowing Peter the time and space to grow had been the mature choice. He didn’t get to see the teen as much as he had before, but he tried to think of it as a positive. It was good that Peter was busy and kept himself entertained. Even though Tony could still see the bubbly child within, he couldn’t help but recognize the more adult traits Peter had acquired.

—————-

Fury’s debriefings were incredibly tedious. This one was especially bad because of all the complex details involving the alien technology. Steve, who usually advocated for debriefings and often lectured the team about their importance, was impatiently tapping his pen. Tony bit back a sigh as Fury flipped to the next slide on the projector. How can there be so much information from a three person mission? He knew the answer to that. Him and Steve had a tendency to take unnecessary risks and almost always had whole slides dedicated to their mistakes. The team supported them and both men stood by their decisions, so there was really no reason for Fury to keep up this tradition, but he did.

Sam, who was not at the end of Fury’s wrath, bit back a smile from across the table. Instantly, he had Tony’s attention. His mind was begging for anything of interest at this point. Sam’s eyes were on the presentation, but they occasionally flittered back to something outside the window. He was just barely containing a laugh by the time they were released.

As soon as Fury left the room, Tony bolted to the window and glanced outside. Steve’s eyes widened, quickly taking a defensive position in case Tony noticed something dangerous, but relaxed when Sam shot him a reassuring smile.

A few stories down, Tony could make out Peter and Clint on the grass in the private SHIELD outdoor training grounds. Just as he was about to ask Sam what was so funny about his teammate’s training regiments, he saw nearly a hundred multi-colored water balloons fall from a nearby tree to drench Clint in water. Peter staggered a bit, laughing so hard he curled in on his chest. Clint didn’t waste any time and immediately picked up one of the balloons that hadn’t broken and slingshotted it right into Peter’s face. Peter caught it, spidey sense and all, but the force of the balloon hitting his hand still resulted in the water spraying all over his face and hairline. He blinked rapidly in surprise.

Tony and Steve both chuckled at the exchange. The former caught a glimpse of Peter’s mock angry expression before heading down to join the fun. When the automatic doors slide open to the outdoors, Peter looked over from his spot on the grass next to Clint. As soon as the teen saw Tony, his expression faltered slightly. Tony didn’t notice.

He approached the men with a grin. “Shouldn’t a college student like you be busy with homework right about now?” His tone was teasing: he was waiting for a sarcastic remark or hurled water balloon.

“Um, I actually do. Sorry Clint, but I should really get on that. I didn’t realize how late it was.” Peter stood up and brushed the blades of grass from his pants. “Bye Mr. Stark. Bye Clint!”

Tony stared at Peter’s back in confusion as the teen walked away. He was not as light on his feet. Tony would’ve considered it just another part of growing up, but he’d just seen Peter acting like a child with Clint. The kid had visibly frozen when Tony spoke and then immediately made an excuse to get away. Sure, he probably had homework, but even so that exit was strange.

Tony wasn’t even listening when Clint excitedly explained the way Peter used thin sections of his webbing to create water balloon traps.

—————

As soon as Tony noticed it, he couldn’t help but see all the other times Peter froze up around him.

At first, he tries to convince himself that he’s paranoid, but as the week goes on, the evidence against that becomes daunting.

—————

The next evening, he sees Peter reading on the couch, curled against Sam, and Tony grabs a tablet to sit down next to them and get some work done. When he gently grabs Peter’s ankle to shift his outstretched legs out of the way so he has space, Peter’s gaze snaps away from the book and he jerks his legs onto the ground. He moves his bookmark and promptly stands up. “I’m going to go on patrol for the night, get some fresh air. The couch is all yours Mr. Stark. Well, except for Sam.”

“Okay.” Tony’s voice sounds a little strange. “See you later kid.”

—————-

Laughing could be heard bubbling from the lab as Tony approached it with his sandwich.

“I think you’d look great with a neon green arm. And I have great taste, especially in costumes.”

“Says the guy who designed his ‘spider’ costume using red and blue. What kind of spider looks like that?” Bucky chuckled.

Tony could see Peter’s back tremble as he fell into a fit of giggles. He was perched on a stool with his fingers in an open compartment of Bucky’s arm in his own little section of the lab.

“I believe fooling around in the lab is against safety protocols.” Tony tsk’d sarcastically.

Peter swung around on the chair just as Bucky quipped back. “And clearly you’re the patron saint of lab safety Stark. Is that thing smoking?” He pointed at a corner in the lab.

“Ah shit.” Tony hastily put down his food and rushed over to the project he had been working on before he got hungry. “DUM-E where the hell is the fire extinguisher?”

While Tony was distracted, Peter shut Bucky’s arm and grabbed the nearby extinguisher. He handed it to Tony and made to leave the lab.

“Hey, want to stick around and help me with some upgrades to the Ironman suit? I could use your input.” Tony waited expectantly for Peter’s enthusiastic reply, for his lips to turn upward and his eyes to shine just like they had while he was in high school.

“I’m actually a little busy. You could send them to me, and I’ll share any advice I can think of. I’m sure you won’t need it though.” Peter jerked his thumb to the door before walking out.

—————

“How’d your classes go today? Anything interesting happen?” Tony absentmindedly asked.

Peter’s hand paused for a split second before resuming their work on the alien technology both men were investigating. “Nothing much. Same old stuff.”

They both fell into silence. The rock music blared over the speakers. It wasn’t uncommon for the men to work without talking to each other. Long days in the lab coupled with their tendencies to get completely swept up by their projects often resulted in a comfortable silence.

This silence wasn’t comfortable though. The air was thick with tension. Tony knew he didn’t pick the most interesting topic, but he was out of ideas. He felt himself splitting from Peter and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

That feeling was only amplified when a few hours later, Tony noticed Peter talking animatedly to Sam, Steve, Natasha, and Clint about a girl in his chemistry lecture. He was asking for advice on how to ask her out on a date. Everyone was smiling and giving suggestions.

When Tony got around to joining them, Peter had already left. He easily fell into conversation with the rest of his teammates, but the back of his mind was still trying to comprehend the Peter situation.

He thought back to the other times he’d seen Peter with the Avengers. When Tony saw him training with Steve, Peter had tensed up and began hitting the punching bag with intense vigor. He’d been silent the whole time. When he walked in on Peter stretching with Natasha, they’d been smiling and watching dancing videos. That smile became forced when Tony made eye contact. When Peter had been with Thor, he hadn’t even looked at Tony for an unusually long period of time.

Tony wracked his brain for a hint of what had happened. He could think of a lot of things he did that would push someone away, but nothing new or that affected Peter came to his mind.

—————

The alarm blared in the tower and Fury’s face appeared on Tony’s screen. Apparently they had just got wind of a possible terrorist threat from a small HYDRA base and all their agents were indisposed at the moment. Only Tony and Peter were available at the tower, but since the base had less than twenty members, Tony assured the director that they could handle it.

“Spiderman, you need to enter from the back. I’ve got the front. We’ll get all of them trapped in the middle.”

“On it.”

Everything was going smoothly until Tony suddenly saw Spiderman desperately leaping toward him. He was knocked backward due to the impact and they skidded for several meters. In that moment, an explosion erupted from the center of the building, right where Tony would have been standing. Several members of HYDRA laid dead on the floor. Peter stood up and webbed the rest to various pieces of equipment. The survivors were complaining about a mistake in the chemical formula, completely unconcerned over their dead comrades.

As they walked up the ramp to the plane, Tony noticed Peter’s face was uncharacteristically pale and his eyes were a bit squinted. “Are you injured?”

Peter’s eyes went wide and he immediately turned to fully face the older man. Tony knew that trick. “So it’s your back. Let me see.” He placed a hand on the young adult’s shoulder to spin him around. What he saw shocked him. Peter’s suit was all charred, sticking to his back which was presumably burnt to the fabric of the suit.

“Kid...”

“I’m sorry. I promise I was going to go to medical. It’s fine, really.”

“Why do you have to make such stupid self-sacrificing decisions? My suit could’ve taken the hit.” Tony’s voice rose with frustration and worry, but he knew the words he was saying weren’t exactly truthful. The blast would’ve definitely caused some serious damage, even with the suit.

Then he noticed Peter wince with his whole body. “I’m sorry.” He disappeared into the medical wing.

Tony definitely wasn’t expecting that. He expected a bit of a fight about being a hypocrite or at least some excuse about Peter being a superhuman. After a moment, he followed Peter.

“Were you not done yet?” Peter’s voice faltered a bit as the nurse slathered something on his back. He was wringing his hands and had an inexplicably hesitant look in his eyes.

Tony was taken aback.

“I swear I did everything I could to make sure the Nazis stayed trapped before I came to save you. I’m sorry it was a close call. Are you hurt? Or are you just mad that I almost let that one man, with the blonde hair, escape? I’m sorry about that too. I’ll train more so I’ll be better on the next mission.”

Now Tony was shocked and confused. “Peter what?”

“You’re mad at me for almost screwing up the mission, but I can be a better superhero.” His eyes were red and shiny.

“I’m not mad because you screwed up the mission, which you didn’t by the way, I was just upset that you risked getting injured to save me. I am grateful though. Why would you think I’d be mad about the mission?”

“Because I made a mistake. You were so mad after the ferry incident and you took the suit away and I wasn’t good enough to be an Avenger. I’m trying my best to be good enough though now that you’ve given me a second chance. I’ve been better in the lab and during missions and I spend more time practicing hero stuff than before. I guess it hasn’t been enough if it’s not making a difference though...”

“The ferry? Kid that was ages ago.”

“Yeah, I know, and I still haven’t improved much. You were probably right, I’m nothing without your suit. But please Mr. Stark, let me keep trying. I’d do anything to keep the suit and continuing staying at the tower. You can tell me what I need to work on.”

The pieces started to fit together in Tony’s mind. He felt sick. All he could see was Howard’s face twisting in anger and annoyance as he told Tony he wasn't good enough, that he needed to work harder. Peter, who’d suffered through more than any teenager should have to, had feared that he wasn’t good enough for Tony. He stressed himself out trying to act perfectly around his idol and in the process squashed down his personality and his desire to befriend the man.

Tony was the cause of that. Initially, he hadn’t felt too bad about taking the suit away - the kid was strong enough to fight crime on his own and had been doing just fine before it. Then he learned about Peter’s run in with the Vulture. He heard about the collapsed building and the time Peter spent trapped under concrete with only his onesie. He felt terrible about the way he’d acted, but after he gave back the suit and welcomed Peter into the tower, he thought it was all okay.

Obviously it was very much not okay.

“Peter” Tony’s voice was affectionate and gentle, but the younger man still involuntarily shuddered away from the noise. “Peter, I’m not kicking you out of the tower. Not now and not ever. You’re an Avenger for life now. You’re stuck with us.”

Peter looked at him in disbelief which nearly broke Tony’s heart. If anyone on the team was worthy to be an Avenger, it was Peter. Kind, honest, wonderful Peter.

Tony’s mouth opened and closed as he tried to find the right words. “This is why you’ve been so stiff around me?” Those were not the reassurances he was looking for, but Tony was never good with emotional words to start with.

“I was trying to fix all my problems, but it seemed like every time I talked to you, there was something else wrong.”

“Like what?”

“I wasn’t keeping up with my schoolwork at a fast enough rate so my grades would’ve dropped if the Avengers got called. I didn’t follow correct protocols in the lab so I could’ve hurt Bucky or your expensive equipment. I was worried about little things at school instead of all the big issues that the rest of the team has to face everyday.”

“Peter, those aren’t- those things don’t matter. If anyone else on the team was still in school, especially college, they’d be struggling to juggle it too. You’re probably doing better than any of us would. You think I care about lab protocol? Of course I care if you’re safe while you work, but I know you’re smart enough to determine which rules are important and which aren’t in each situation. Honestly, none of us follow all of the rules and that’s okay. Your issues are your own and they aren’t unimportant. I’d so much rather have you go back to your old self and continue growing and making mistakes than for you to wallow in insecurities and fear.”

“Really?” Peter slumped a bit in a relief.

“Absolutely. You’re a fantastic kid so don’t try so hard to be someone you’re not.” Tony leaned toward Peter to wrap him in a hug. Tony vowed to make sure he never felt unwanted ever again. He was going to do better than his father.

Wait? Did I just acknowledge myself as a father-figure to Peter?

Tony was surprised at the lack of panic he felt as he squeezed the boy in front of him a bit tighter.