#5--April 18, 2019
Night
The two tinker away in the lab, wordlessly passing tools back and forth with a few taps and a muttered word or two. The music that Tony usually has blasting away in the lab is background music to the two’s breathing. Usually, Peter would be chatting the older man’s ears off about school or yesterday’s patrol, but the kid’s surprisingly silent.
Tony sets down his screwdriver from where he was tweaking a few metal plates on a new suit design and looks over at the kid. Peter’s fiddling with a new webshooter that he designed himself with little input from Tony. The kid would usually build the prototype before getting the man’s opinion and then they’d work on them together.
The kid’s so focused on calibrating his webshooter that he doesn’t notice Tony’s eyes on him. Tony sighs. “What’s wrong, kid?” he finally asks, leaning against his worktop. Peter startles easily, nearly flying out of his seat as the tool in his hands clatters against his workbench.
“W-What?” Peter stutters, blinking at Tony with wide eyes. “What do you mean, Mr. Stark?" Tony scoffs, lifting an eyebrow.
"You’re not babbling away like you usually do,” Tony says, a little worry seeping through his voice. Peter’s face flushes and Tony just rolls his eyes, walking over to the kid. “So, I’m going to ask you again and I want an answer. What’s wrong?”
Peter nervously wrings his hands together, bowing his head down as he shifts around in his seat. He opens his mouth to no doubt lie again before it snaps closed with a click. He just shrugs his shoulders and Tony’s eyebrows furrow in worry as his gaze softens. “How about we get out of the lab?” Tony offers. “I don’t think we’re going to get much done today, kiddo.”
Peter just nods his head, shuffling after Tony as he leads them towards the elevator. “Where to, Boss?” Friday asks, her voice sounding a little more subdued than usual.
“Take us up to the penthouse common room, would you Fri?” Tony says, watching as Peter slowly begins to tremble. The elevator shoots off without another word from the AI and Tony thinks that she can sense the tense atmosphere. The elevators open with a soft ding and Tony wraps his arms around Peter’s shoulders, walking him to the nearest couch, handing him the remote to the tv. Peter takes it silently.
“Why don’t you put something on, huh kid?” Tony asks, making his way over to the kitchen to make some popcorn for their impromptu movie session. Tony hopes that the distraction of the movie will make the kid loosen up enough to tell him what’s wrong. If not, it’ll make them both feel better.
Tony tosses a bag of popcorn into the elevator and grabs them both a can of pop. He tosses it at the back of Peter’s head and he grabs it out of the air without even turning around, popping the tab and taking a swig of his Pepsi. Tony once tried to give Peter Coca-Cola once, but apparently, they’re not the same. Coke is heavy and tacky and Pepsi is better. Peter’s words exactly, if he remembers.
Over the popping of the popcorn, Tony can hear the opening lines of Journey to the Center of the Earth and it’s one of those days, he decides. The popcorn ceases it’s popping a few seconds later and Tony pulls the overly large bag out of the microwave, grabbed a large bowl to toss the kettle corn into because "kettle corn is better than regular popcorn” and Tony can’t help but agree with the kid.
The only light in the room is coming from the tv after Tony leaves the kitchen, Friday lowering the lights as he settles beside the kid. Peter grabs the bowl from Tony as he gets comfortable before cuddling into his mentor’s side, sighing as he finally gets comfortable. Tony wraps his arm around the kid, pulling a blanket over their laps.
It’s been a few hours since Peter came to the Tower so that’s probably why it’s dark out, but Tony doesn’t worry about Peter’s Aunt. May said that Peter’s going to spend the week with him since she’s going out of state for some sort of conference at work. Happy went with her.
Tony can’t help but drop some of his worries as Peter leans his head against his shoulder, Tony instantly running his fingers through the kid’s hair, careful of the knots there. Peter just hums as he watches the uncle on the screen scramble around to clean his house because he didn’t know that his nephew was coming over.
They watch the movie in silence, Peter occasionally giggling at a few of the funnier parts. There’s not the usual carefree air like there usually is when they watch movies together, but the room is calm and slowly Tony begins to watch the movie instead of worrying about his kid.
Eventually, Peter’s hums of content and giggles cease as he goes limp against Tony, completely knocked out. Tony hums under his breath as the credits begin to roll on screen, placing the half-eaten bowl of popcorn on the table as he pulls Peter into his lap, easily picking up the kid.
The first time Tony picked the kid up, he was shocked at how light the kid was. He figures that it’s a mix of what the spider bite did to him–because there’s no way that all of the muscles on him aren't heavy–and the way the kid forgets to eat, which that alone has Tony worrying. Tony gives himself a mental reminder to have a big breakfast ready for the kid when he wakes up because Peter’s barely eaten anything since they got here other than the snack Tony threw at him and the popcorn.
Tony carries Peter through the hall, Friday dimming the lights as he heads to the kid’s room. Peter has rooms both at the Compound and at the Tower and both are in Tony’s personal quarters. Originally, Peter had a room next to Vision, but Tony changed that when the kid began having nightmares and the two grew closer.
Tony toes the door open and Friday turns on the light, leaving it just bright enough that Tony can see in front of him. Pulling the comforter off the bed, Tony gently places Peter down, the kid humming as Tony pulls the comforter around him. Tony sits down beside the kid for a few moments, just running his hand through the kid’s hair.
His heart feels heavy as he looks at the kid. He’s got dark purple bruises under his eyes and Tony’s kicking himself for not noticing sooner. The kid’s still having nightmares and hasn’t told him. Tony sighs. Peter stirs for a few moments, making Tony freeze before his eyes creak open. “Mr. Stark?” he says groggily, patting around on the bed before his hand comes in contact with Tony’s.
“Yeah, buddy?” Tony says, wrapping his hand around Peter’s.
“Thanks,” Peter says, his eyelids drooping once more. “For today." Tony just smiles at Peter as he falls asleep once more, pressing his lips to the kid’s forehead before carefully standing up. With one last glance at the sleeping spiderling, Tony makes his way out of the room, softly closing the door behind him as the lights in the room turn off.
‘Night, Peter.