All The Stars Align

Tony was in an even more bad mood after he left Steve’s floor than when he went on it.

The mission was almost a complete waste of time and they wanted Tony to join them for their next mission but Tony knew that he couldn’t do that with how Peter was right now.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind right now because the thirty minutes were up and he had to go get Peter. He felt extremely bad and he just wanted to hug his baby boy after everything.

He wasn’t sure if forcing him into his room would be good for him or not but he was at a loss with what to do.

Tony was about to walk up the stairs when his phone rang in his pocket so he pulled his phone out and saw that it was Pepper calling him. He was going to ignore the call but decided against it.

“Hello?”

“Hi Tony. I looked into the therapists that you sent over to me and I narrowed it down to two. I’m going to meet with them and have an interview on Wednesday so I’ll let you know how that goes.” Pepper said to him and Tony wanted to cry with relief.

What he would do to have a therapist right now for Peter and some help and guidance. “Thank you, Pep. Let me know how it goes right away and hopefully we got someone I can meet with after.”

“I feel very confident with one of them and I really like her but we’ll see.” Pepper said.

Tony nodded his head. “Yeah. I’m really struggling right now. I have to go but I’ll try and call you later.”

“Okay, Tony. Good luck.” Pepper then hung up the phone and so Tony walked up the stairs and opened Peter’s bedroom door.

He saw Peter lying on the floor with the blankets pulled down to cover him. He sat up and looked at Tony then reached out for him. Tony made his way over to Peter and lied down next to him. “Do you feel better?”

Peter shook his head and laid his head on his dad’s chest. “No. You made me sad. And my chest hurts.”

Tony rubbed his kids back. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to make you sad but I don’t know what to do.”

Peter didn’t say anything so Tony decided to tell him what Pepper told him. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Pepper narrowed it down to two therapists.” Tony put a hand under the blankets to rub Peter’s back.

“Oh. Are they nice?” Peter asked, a bit concerned.

Tony nodded his head. “They are very nice. Pepper is going to talk to them and then I will and I’ll decide if I want her to meet you, okay?”

“Yeah.” Peter played with Tony’s shirt for a few seconds while he thought. “What if you don’t like her because she’s rude or just because?”

“Well… then I’ll keep looking until I’m one million percent certain that I like them.” Tony poked Peter on the side to get Peter to laugh which worked.

Peter was glad to hear that. He was terrified of someone coming to his house and talking to him about private stuff but he knew it was necessary and he knew his dad would stay there the whole time too.

“What do you want to do for the rest of the day, bud?” Tony asked and looked over at Peter so he could see his face.

“Umm… maybe we could work in the lab together? I know you don’t really like me down there all that much but I’d still like to go since we used to go all the time.” Peter’s smile faded from his face a bit while he was speaking and Tony reached over to caress his face.

“Every Friday night.” Tony remembered those times. He would never forget it since those lab sessions was where he found out he loved Peter and thought of him as his son.

Tony sat up and patted Peter’s thigh. “Alright. Let’s go. Me and you.”

Peter smiled at Tony and held his arms up to him. “Help me up.”

Tony rolled his eyes but helped pull Peter to his feet either way. “You should be the one helping me up, little one.”

Peter playfully pushed Tony. “I’m not little.”

Tony hummed. “You are the definition of little.”

Peter copied Tony and rolled his eyes then the two headed down to the lab.

Once they got down there, Peter looked over and saw his suit hanging up so he looked away sadly and made his way over to his workstation that he used to spend hours upon hours at.

He didn’t look up at Tony as the man grabbed his suit and put it somewhere out of view; probably for the better.

Tony walked back over to Peter’s desk and leaned against it. “It’s been awhile. You sure you remember how to behave down here?”

“Yes, dad. I know the rules that you forced me to memorize back then.” Peter said and bounced on his stool. He was so excited to be back in his father's lab.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence.

Tony kept stealing glances over at Peter every so often since it was a bit weird to be back in the lab with his kid. Only last night he was holding him while he fell asleep in his arms in the lab but that was different. Peter was in a good mood now and Tony loved that.

He felt like that was a rare occurrence in their house now but hopefully not for much longer.

A little over an hour later, the two of them were still working in the lab with no sign of stopping anytime soon when the Avengers alarm started to go off.

Tony mentally hit his head against the desk because not right now! He was bonding with his kid and having a good time.

“Shut the alarm off, FRI.” Tony ordered and stood up.

Peter had already made his way over to his dad, concern and fear written all over his face. “Dad? What is it? That means you have to go too, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it, dad?”

Tony had pulled out his phone and was looking at what the threat was. “Yes, Peter. It does.”

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm in panic. “No dad. I said no. You stay here.”

Tony was already walking towards the elevator to go up to the teams floor to see what this was about. He didn’t know if it had anything to do with the mission they were just on or not.

“I can’t, Peter. Let’s just see.” Tony could already feel the anxiety filling him. He didn’t want to go on this mission and there was no one to watch Peter and he so obviously couldn’t leave him alone. He knew what happened when he did and he didn’t want to deal with a temper tantrum on top of that.

“Then I’m coming.” Peter tried to sound demanding but he sounded unsure and scared. Tony didn’t blame him since he was a child. His child.

“No you’re not.” Tony said firmly but Peter couldn’t say anything else since the elevator doors were opening and Tony walked over to where everyone was standing around the living room. “What’s the situation?”

Steve looked down at Peter for a few long seconds and then up at Tony. “Ross. We think he’s behind this. He sent out robots in the city. Like Ultron.”

Tony groaned. That was annoying as fuck and the fact that Ross was most definitely behind this, fuck.

“Okay. When do we leave?” Tony asked, he didn’t need to think about it; he was going. If it was anything like the mini robots on Ultron then it would be simple. Hopefully.

“Wheels up in five.” Natasha said and started to grab her stuff then walk out of the room with Clint and Sam, leaving Steve and Bucky behind with Tony and Peter.

Tony ran his hands through his hair. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. He couldn’t leave Peter. Pepper wasn’t in the state and neither was Happy and Steve and the rest of the team were going with him. Ah!

Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and started walking towards the elevator. “No using the stove, no leaving the floor, no-”

“No! Stop. Dad, I’m coming. I want to come. Dad!” Peter smacked Tony on the chest a few times but Tony barely noticed it since he was so in his thoughts.

“Peter-”

Peter was struggling in his hold as Tony dragged him into the elevator. “No! I want to come! Please. I can help.”

Tony sighed. No. He wasn’t actually considering it but he was. And all for the wrong reasons. He wanted to bring Peter so he could be close to him and keep an eye on him. Fuck. He should call himself into the social workers office himself for being a horrible father.

“Fine. Take us down to my lab, FRI.” Tony said and let go of Peter’s arm to run a hand through his hair.

Peter wiped away a tear that had fallen down his cheek and he stood up straighter since he didn’t have to have a temper tantrum right now. Yay.

The elevator doors opened up so Tony grabbed Peter’s suit and handed it to him. “Hurry up and change into it.”

Peter started to take off his clothes while Tony tried not to freak out. Why was he letting Peter come? Why? He looked over and saw that Peter was wearing his freaking Hulk underwear’s for goodness sake and it made him sick. Peter was a child that didn’t belong in a fight with the Avengers.

This was the very first time that Peter was joining him on the battlefield and Tony already wanted to regret saying yes.

“Aren’t you going to get your suit too?” Peter asked once he was done changing. Tony looked down at him and saw that he was holding his mask in his hand.

He grabbed Peter by the arm and led him back into the elevator. “I already have it on my wrist.”

He didn’t let go of Peter’s arm until they were about to get onto the Quinjet but he still kept him close. Tony looked at Steve first who was staring at Peter with a regretful look on his face. Tony ignored him for now.

Natasha walked on and made eye contact with Tony but looked away after that.

“Woah. It’s so big in here.” Peter said, much too excited in Tony’s opinion. He knew he was making a huge mistake bringing Peter.

Tony watched the door shut and so he grabbed Peter by the arm and pushed him into a seat then kneeled down in front of him and put his seatbelt on.

He tapped Peter’s chin to get his kids attention. “Hey, look at me.”

Peter looked down at Tony and grinned. “Yeah?”

“This is serious, Peter. Hey, I’m talking to you,” Tony grabbed Peter’s face more firmly when Peter turned away from him again. “Look at me. This isn’t some school trip. This is serious and if you think that it’s anything but that then I will strap you down and keep you on this jet.”

Peter frowned. “I know it’s serious but I can take care of it. With you.”

That didn’t make Tony feel any better. He had to remember that he was talking to a fourteen year old kid. “No. I won’t be with you the whole time and if you’re not careful then you can get really hurt… or worse.”

Tony didn’t want to think about what worse would be. Nope. Peter would be okay.

Peter looked down at Tony’s hands on his knees. “I know. How do you think I feel when you go on missions without me?”

Tony could play that game too and he could play it better. “How do you think I feel when you go out as Spider-Man?”

Peter looked up at Tony through his eyelashes and then looked back down. “I know. I’m sorry. I know this is serious but I want to help.”

Tony found that he was speechless for a few seconds. He didn’t know how to say it because he was terrified that he had to say it.

“I just need you to be okay. If you feel like you can’t handle something, don’t try to act all tough, call for help and I’ll come to you straight away.” Tony said firmly. He didn’t care what he was doing, Peter came first. Always.

“I can take care of myself.” Peter didn’t sound too confident and Tony knew that.

“That’s the thing, Peter,” Tony stood you. “you can’t.”

Tony walked away from Peter. He should have said no and apparently everyone was thinking the same thing as well. He walked over to Steve who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat. Tony sat himself down in the pilots seat.

“You don’t approve.” Tony assumed and from the look Steve gave him, he assumed right.

“Do you expect me to?” Steve asked, dryly. “He’s fourteen, Tony. This isn’t 1939. We’re not training young boys to go into war.”

Tony turned to look at Steve. “Excuse me? You think I’m trying to send my son into a goddamn war?”

Steve didn’t say anything which gave Tony his answer but he couldn’t be mad at Steve because he was right. Tony sighed and put his head in his hands. “I’m pulling him out if I think he can’t handle it and you can too if you think you should.”

“I would be doing that right now, Tony.” Steve stood up to leave but before he walked away, he crossed his arms and looked at Tony. “We’re going on a mission, not to babysit your kid.”

Tony didn’t say anything. He knew Steve was right and he hated that.

A few minutes later, Natasha came and sat down next to him. He looked over at her, “Are you coming to tell me you agree with Steve?”

Natasha shrugged. “I was younger than Peter was when I was trained to be an assassin. Age is just a number but maturity is where it gets you and I don’t know Peter is mature enough for this and I know you know that.”

Tony didn’t say anything, once again.

“I know that Peter is more excited about joining us like it’s some fun retreat when this is life or death in some situations.” Natasha added. “I also know that Peter is capable of holding his own when he’s up against a guy trying to break into a car, not looking for too much trouble but is he really going to be able to hold his own against someone who is looking for a lot of trouble.”

Tony still didn’t know what to say. He knew what he should do but he couldn’t bring himself to take Peter out now. He knew how Peter got and he was giving in just to avoid the screaming and the tears so it was easier for him to do it this way and he hated himself for it.

Tony pressed on his watch and stood up since they were landing in a minute. The suit that was kept in the Quinjet wrapped around his body but he left the faceplate down to approach Peter.

“Remember what I said.” Tony told Peter who was in the process of putting on his mask after seeing everyone else suit up.

Peter pressed on the buckle and stood up from the seat, bouncing a bit in place. He was ready to go into the fight but he wasn’t really thinking about how serious it was because he was more thinking about the fact that he got to go with his dad but then Tony had a talk with him and basically told him that he didn’t think he could do this.

“Yep. I got it.” Peter felt the ground ramble which most likely meant that they were landing. He automatically moved closer to his dad but backed away since he didn’t know how to feel about what Tony said to him.

“I mean it, Peter.” Tony warned him again and then the door was opening and Tony was walking out with Steve.

“Tony, you know what to do. Find a weak point while Nat and I take care of the ground. Sam, you’re in the air and Clint, do your thing.” Cap told everyone and then they were off.

Tony spared one last glance at Peter before taking off.

Peter watched his dad leave the ground and part of him wanted to yell and tell Tony to come back and say that he’s not ready for this but then he would prove his dad right and he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to make Tony proud.

So Peter jumped on the ground just in time for Steve to throw his shield at a tall and skinny robot thingy. “Woah. That came out of nowhere.”

Steve caught the shield and looked at Peter. “I would advise you to go back onto the jet, Spider-Man.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at Steve before he attached a web to the side of the building and went to swing away.

Natasha looked at Steve. “Stark is going to regret bringing the kid. He’s not ready for this.”

Steve threw a punch at another robot just as Natasha kicked another. “I know. We can’t do this and change diapers at the same time.”

Peter was squatting on the corner of the roof on top of one of the buildings as he listened in on Steve and Natasha’s conversation. So them too, huh.

He grumbled and stood up. “M’not in diapers anymore. Haven’t been in years.” Peter mumbled and regretted listening in but the suit helped him to do that better.

He was about to shoot a web at another roof when out of nowhere, one of those… things just attacked him and started to squeeze his torso.

“Ahh! Get off! What the heck!” Peter was lying flat on the ground as that thing basically pressed hard into his stomach he actually thought he pooped himself with the pressure.

He kicked the thing off of him and crawled away from it but it grabbed his ankle and pulled him back. “Ahhh!”

Just then, the robot let go of him so Peter turned around and saw Sam standing over him.

“You okay?” Sam held his hand out for him and Peter took it while nodding his head.

“Uh huh. Uh, thanks.” Peter looked down at his body and saw all the dust of him from the rocks on top of the roof.

“You got it.” Sam said before leaving again.

Peter rubbed his stomach because ow, that had actually really hurt. He walked towards the edge of the roof again, now scared to jump off. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he shot a web out and swung to the next roof then started swinging through the air.

He saw Steve and Natasha working together and using one another to take down like ten of the stomach squeezing robots at once. It was kinda cool to watch but he didn’t have time to watch for long since another robot was grabbing him and tossing him off the roof and landing onto the ground.

It was only a short roof so the fall didn’t necessarily hurt him but what did hurt was the fact that now he had two robots attacking him and climbing on top of him.

Peter let out a loud scream and managed to get the two robots off of him again to run in the other direction, towards Natasha and Steve but then his ankle was grabbed again and he was being pulled away.

He grabbed desperately at the concrete but he couldn’t get a grip.

Steve looked over and saw what was happening so he threw his shield at the robots, disabling both of them. He raced over to Peter and pulled him up roughly by the arm.

“You okay, Spider-Man?” Steve looked Peter over and wanted to kill Tony personally for bringing Peter.

Peter grabbed his stomach. “Y-yeah. They… they keep pushing on my stomach.”

Just then, Tony spoke through the comms. Peter wasn’t connected through the comms since Tony didn’t want him hearing the swear words and where all the real fight was since he knew Peter would go.

“The robots are trying to kill people by ripping them in half. That’s why they’re going for the stomachs.” Tony spoke and Steve knew that Tony probably heard Peter say that through his own comm.

“Did everyone hear that?” Steve asked, wondering if Peter heard it as well. “Protect your stomachs I guess.”

Peter nodded his head and then shot another web so he could try and take down one of these things by himself, without the help from an Avenger.

Tony was going crazy. He wanted so badly to fly above Peter and to watch what he was doing to make sure that he was safe but he had to do his part of the mission.

Although, because he was so concerned about his son, he wasn’t able to put his mind 100% into the mission so he was getting attacked from all angles.

It was his own fault though. He let Peter come so he had to deal with the consequences of what that entails. It was stressful to say the least.

Tony had another freakin robot jump onto him followed by two more so he threw them all off and shot them then landed on top of a roof. He pulled up Peter’s baby monitor on his screen to see what he was doing and what was going on.

“Leave it on the screen, FRI.” Tony ordered and then took off. He knew he shouldn’t do that since it would take his focus away even more but he was terrified and having the baby monitor up did a bit to help calm him down.

“Ah fuck off.” Tony muttered as more of the robots attacked him. It wasn’t that it was hard to get rid of these things, it was that it was annoying. They 100% didn’t need him and that meant that they 200% didn’t need Peter and that pissed him off but it was his fault since he made the call.

Tony was thrown into the side of the building for the fourth time since he could not focus one bit and he was starting to get pissed off!

He saw on the baby monitor footage that Peter was getting dragged down some sidewalk and the sight made him sick.

He was immediately off and flying to where his kid was. It only took him a few seconds to get there and he did not like what he saw one bit.

Peter was on the sidewalk and trying to get the freakin robot off of him when another one jumped on him and then two more and they kept coming and pushing on his stomach and it hurt a lot.

He cried out in pain and he was sure that he would have massive bruising on his lower half in a few hours.

Peter tried to crawl away when he was dragged back down and he had never felt so helpless before. He just wanted to help out but he was most likely about to get ripped in half.

Tony swooped down and blasted those annoying bastards away from his son and then landed on the ground next to him and grabbed the last robot to rip it in half.

“You okay?” Tony asked. He had to be careful because if someone heard him talking to Peter in any way that would look suspicious and lead to people fighting out who Spider-Man really is.

He just hoped that Peter didn’t call him dad and he regrets not warning him before.

Peter groaned and stood up. “Uh, yeah. That was scary.”

“Yep. You’re done. Let’s go.” Tony looked around him and knew that they couldn’t prolong this little chat.

Peter took a step away from him. “What? No. I’m not done. I got this.”

Tony didn’t have time for this. He walked forward to pick Peter up and then walked towards the Quinjet to put Peter in there while they finished off.

“This isn’t up for debate. Bringing you along was a massive mistake.” Tony picked up Peter’s other leg and realized how bad that looked.

Peter was struggling to get out of his arms and it just looked really bad. Peter’s age was showing and that was dangerous.

“I can help! I’m helping! Let me gooooo!” Peter started to cry and use some of his spider strength to make Tony let him go.

Tony put Peter on the ground and held him firmly. “You are Spider-Man. Stop acting like a child in the suit. People can see you. Now walk onto that jet.”

Peter stood up straighter and suddenly felt his cheeks turn red so he was thankful for the mask covering his face.

The door to the Quinjet opened so Tony pushed Peter on and eyed him. “I swear to god, Spider-Man, if you follow me, there will be some words later on.”

Tony waited until the door was completely shut before taking off but then he realized that his comms were on the whole time but he couldn’t even bring himself to care.

Peter was alone now and he knew Tony was mad at him. Although he seemed more worried than mad. Peter roughly pulled his mask off and threw it with a scream.

He walked towards the door and banged on it but he knew his attempts were useless so he kicked it with another scream.

“Stupid. This is stupid.” Peter mumbled to himself. He threw himself down onto the floor and just laid there because he couldn’t do anything. He had no idea if his dad was okay or how long he would be locked in the jet for.

He thought about all the what if’s. Like, what if everyone died and he had to grow up in the jet for the rest of his life. He wanted to go back to Miami and skinny dip in the ocean again just because he could but if he grew up in the jet then he couldn’t.

Peter’s thoughts were running wild.

By the time he heard the door opening again, it felt like hours had passed but in reality he knew it was probably only twenty minutes.

He sat up and saw Steve and Natasha walk in followed by Clint who was supporting what looked like a broken or sprained arm then Sam who had a few scratches but he didn’t see his dad and that terrified him.

“Where’s my dad?” Peter asked just as some guy with a black, long coat and an eyepatch walked onto the jet.

“Your dad, now? Well, who could that be?” The man asked and Peter had never seen him before so he moved back a bit and pulled his knees to his chest.

The guy walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him. Peter moved away a bit and looked up at Steve who was just staring at him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Spider-Man. I’m Fury.” The guy held out his hand for Peter but Peter just looked at him. “Oh, that’s right. You’re not allowed to talk to strangers, right?”

“Get away from him.” Tony said tiredly with no real threat behind his words as he walked onto the jet.

Peter immediately stood up and ran over to his dad's side to hug him. It was a bit uncomfortable with his cold, bulky armor but it was better than nothing.

Tony wrapped an arm around Peter and continued to walk into the jet as the door was shutting and everyone sat down. Fury stood up from where he was squatting down in front of Peter and looked at Tony unimpressed.

“Stark, long time no see.” Fury held out his hand for Tony so Tony shook it and smiled weakly at him.

“Not long enough.” Tony said then walked passed Fury and over to one of the seats to put Peter in. He stepped out of his suit and grabbed Peter’s hand. “Come sit. Are you okay?”

Tony squatted down in front of Peter and did up his seatbelt, ignoring all the eyes that were definitely on him, an uneven number since Fury was there.

Peter nodded. “Yeah. Are you?”

Tony smiled and let out a weak chuckle then stood up so he could sit in the seat next to Peter. He put his hand on Peter’s thigh just to be touching him since he was still recovering from his minor heart attack at seeing his kid almost get ripped in half.

Peter moved his body closer to his dad and let his voice drop low. “Who is he? Why does he have one eye? And why is he wearing a cape?”

Tony couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped him. Oh, how he loved having a kid that didn’t have a filter. “He’s just a no one who thinks he’s someone. Pay him no mind.”

Tony knew that wasn’t true. He knew Fury could be very powerful when he wanted to be and he also knew that today was going to be absolute hell.

It was obvious that Tony Stark had a son. Everyone who had eyes and ears knew that knowledge and Fury had even sent him a congratulations after it was announced, well, not directly but it was the thought that counted.

Fury was then walking over to Tony and Peter and kneeling in front of Peter. “Now that your dad is here, can you tell me your name?”

Peter grabbed onto Tony’s arm and half hid his head behind him. Tony knew that that did not look good for Spider-Man because superhero’s are supposed to be tough and not fourteen.

“Why do you have one eye?” Peter asked and Tony felt his face redden at the question. No one was safe around Peter.

Fury chuckled. “Well, that’s a long story.”

Peter covered one of his eyes with his hand to see what it would be like to have one eye but then he looked at Fury’s coat. “Why is your coat so long?”

Tony shook Peter’s leg a bit because if he didn’t step in then Peter was going to unintentionally roast Fury with all these questions. “Okay. No more questions.”

“I have one more question.” Fury said and looked at Tony then down at Peter. “How old are you, Peter?”

“Uh, I’m fourteen.” Peter answered and went to kick his feet but he almost kicked the man so he stopped.

Fury nodded and stood up. He made eye contact with Tony before walking over to sit with Natasha and Tony was not looking forward to an hour from now.

Once they landed back at the tower, Tony grabbed Peter’s mask off the floor and hoped to leave the jet without anyone saying anything to him but of course he wasn’t that lucky.

“Meeting in fifteen.” Fury announced and then caught Tony’s eye. “I expect you to be there too, Stark.”

Tony nodded. “Yep. See you then.”

Tony went to go leave but Fury stopped him again. “And I expect Peter to join us too.”

Peter smiled and bounced a bit on his feet but Tony wanted to punch the man already. “He will not be joining us.”

Fury walked in front of Peter and bent down a bit to be at his high. “Do you want to join us, Peter?”

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah.”

Fury stood up with a proud smile on his face. “Perfect. See you all in fifteen minutes.”

No way in hell was Tony letting this man decide what Peter does. Tony pulled Peter’s arm and pulled him into the elevator. “You’re not going to the meeting.”

“Yeah I am. The boy said so.” Peter pulled his arm out of Tony’s grasp and pressed the spider on his suit then stepped out of it as the doors opened so he could run out. “Ah. It’s so sticky in my suit sometimes. Now I’m free!”

Tony picked up Peter’s suit and walked out of the elevator. He didn’t have time for a quick shower since he had to get Peter settled. “Come here, Pete.”

Peter followed Tony into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Apple juice! Apple juice!”

Tony grabbed some bread so he could make a quick sandwich for Peter. “Do you want this after you shower or before?”

“Um… before. And I don’t want to shower.” Peter poured himself a glass of apple juice and leaned against Tony to watch him make his sandwich.

“Okay. While I’m gone, absolutely no using the oven or leaving the floor. FRIDAY will be watching you so-”

“I’m coming with you. The boy said so.” Peter interrupted Tony to say.

Tony hated Fury even more and he kinda always hated the man.

“No. I’m putting on some cartoons for you or whatever that show is called and you’re staying here.” Tony grabbed the plate and walked into the living room.

“No. I’m coming. He said I could.” Peter chased after Tony to say.

“I’m your dad and I’m saying no. So sit.” Tony checked the time and saw that he had five minutes to get downstairs and he was about to deal with a tantrum.

Peter shook his head and looked up at Tony desperately. “I wanna come.”

“You can’t. I’ll be back soon so stay here.” Tony left right after Peter dropped onto the couch and started crying. He was glad that he didn’t have to deal with that right now but if it wasn’t for Fury then he wouldn’t have to even be in this situation in the first place.

He got down to the briefing room and knew that he was a few minutes late but he didn’t care. “About time you got here, Stark.” Fury said.

Tony scuffed and looked at Fury. “That’s my kid up there and you have absolutely no right to tell him what he can and can’t do. That will not happen again. Are we understood?”

Fury looked surprised but he didn’t show that he was threatened and scared about it. “Absolutely. Let’s get down to business.”

Tony sat down and listened to everyone talk about what these things were and what to do next. Tony was half paying attention but then he found himself zoning out and thinking about Peter and how stupid it was for him to bring his kid on the mission and now Fury knew.

He was just waiting for the one eyed man to bring it up and when Fury finally did, he was just surprised it took him so long.

“Let’s talk about our newest little member.” Fury began.

Tony rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. “Did you know?”

“Did I know what?”

“Don’t play stupid. Did you know who Spider-Man was?” Tony asked. He didn’t reveal Peter’s identity to anyone but the Avengers after Peter came to live with him.

Fury leaned forward on his own chair. “Despite what you might think, Stark, I don’t know everything about everyone.”

“I don’t think that.” Tony shot at him.

“No. I didn’t know that Spider-Man was in fact Spider-child and that he was your son.” Fury answered. Tony was surprised that Fury didn’t know but it was only because he didn’t let him know. “You made it very clear that Spider-Man didn’t work for you and that you only supplied him with a suit and resources so I didn’t feel the need to investigate myself since he was a low crime superhero.”

Tony didn’t say anything so Fury continued. “Then he disappeared off the face of the earth for a few months at the same time you had a baby. So yeah, maybe I should have put two and two together.”

Tony still didn’t say anything since he was just waiting for it.

“The problem with this whole thing, Stark,” Fury started. “is that because Peter is your son, that makes him untouchable but he’s also Spider-Man.”

And there it is, Tony thought. “He’s not signing anything. He’s a minor.”

“He’s also Spider-Man.” Fury said as if it explained everything.

Tony shook his head. “It’s illegal for him to sign anything without my permission and I’m saying no. He’s fourteen years old, he doesn’t even know half the stuff that’s going on with the Avengers and it’s going to stay that way.”

“He’s fourteen years old but you let him be Spider-Man? You let him put on that suit and swing from buildings, risking his life every time but you won’t let him sign a few legal papers?” Fury asked, not expecting an answer since Tony couldn’t give him one.

Tony sighed and put his head in his hands as Natasha spoke up for him. “Tony has sets of rules for the kid and he barely goes out anymore.”

“Yeah, barely. Meaning that the kid still goes out. Meaning that I want him to sign the goddamn papers.” Fury practically yelled and Tony slapped his hand on the table.

“No! He’s not signing shit. If you want to keep pushing this then you can fuck off but I know this isn’t the only reason you wanted him in this meeting so start talking.” Tony snapped at the man who grinned at him. Tony wanted to take his other eye out.

“Alright.” Fury paused for a few seconds. “What can he do? I know he’s obviously enhanced but I don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Tony leaned forward in his chair and narrowed his eyes at Fury. “You’re just trying to fill your own curiosity. It doesn’t matter what he is capable of doing.”

“True. So I’m just trying to satisfy my own curiosity. Tell me anyways.” Fury gave Tony a bit of a desperate look so Tony decided to give in.

“He has a fast metabolism, healing factor, he can climb walls.” Tony thought about what else there was. “He’s light. The spider bite made his bones dense so he weighs about seventy something pounds. And he’s almost as strong as Cap.”

Fury’s eyes widened at that.

“At least, he might be. When he's older.” Tony added.

“Okay. So what can he lift? How strong is he really?” Fury asked which annoyed Tony because he didn’t know and didn’t care to know. The day Peter came to him and asked him to test his own abilities, then Tony would care.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

Fury looked annoyed now. “And you don’t think you should know these things about your child?”

“No. Because he’s my child and I don’t care whether he can lift a fucking car or a goddamn plane. I’m not exploiting him.” Tony wanted to leave now. Fury was a vulture when it came to new aspects like this. “Alright. I’m done here. I’d say it was nice to see you again but it really wasn’t.”

“Wait.” Fury called out before Tony left. “I want to meet him.”

“You already did or do you have short term memory loss?” Tony didn’t have the patience for this. He found that he had really good patience with Peter for multiple reasons but no one else. Maybe Pepper too.

Fury sighed, annoyed. “I want to meet your son. Not Spider-Man. Then I’ll leave.”

Tony thought about it for a couple seconds. “Fine. Give me five minutes to get him.”

Tony left to go get Peter. When he got out of the elevator on his floor, he was expecting to find Peter still crying or on the floor but he was lying on the couch and watching his show.

He looked up and saw Tony then lifted an arm up and tried to reach for him. Tony sat down on the couch and ran his fingers through Peter’s greasy curls. “Can you get some clothes on because Fury wants you to come down with me?”

Peter sat up and looked at Tony. “Mmmm, no. I want to go down in my underwear.”

Tony laughed. “Not this time. I’ll come up with you.”

On their way down after Peter getting dressed, he grabbed his water bottle and the bag of goldfish that he was eating out of.

“Why does he want me to come? What did you guys talk about?” Peter asked as he walked next to his dad on the way down.

“He just wants to say bye to you before he leaves and we just talked about the weather.” Tony smirked and Peter playfully hit him.

“Fine then, don’t tell me. I’ll just ask the guy with the one eyeball.” Peter skipped ahead but then stopped once he realized that he was scared to walk into the room without his dad.

Tony snorted and pushed open the door. He sat down in his old seat and pulled up the chair beside him so Peter could sit since he already saw Peter eying his lap.

“Peter. I just wanted to say bye before I leave.” Fury said, all too excited in Tony’s opinion.

Peter moved his rolling chair closer to Tony and grabbed his hand then looked at Fury.

Fury looked really uncomfortable all of the sudden and Tony realized that a lot of the older people were uncomfortable around Peter. Either because they didn’t know how to act around a kid or they feared that if they upset Iron Man’s kid then they would be in some huge shit.

“So… I saw you today and I just wanted to say you get good. For someone your age.”

Peter scrunched his nose up and then grabbed his bag of goldfish off the table and stuck his hand inside to grab some. Tony nudged him. “What?”

“He gave you a complement.”

Peter shook his head. “Uh Uh. He said for someone your age and that’s mean.”

Fury looked extremely uncomfortable now. “Oh. Sorry. Uh, maybe one day we could talk.”

“About what?” Peter asked.

Fury looked at Tony almost like he was looking for help but Tony just shrugged. Fury wanted to talk to his kid and this is what he gets.

“Alright. Well, I’ll see you guys, hopefully not soon.” Fury made a move to leave but Peter held his bag out for him.

“Do you want some?” Peter asked and sat up on his knees to lean over the table.

Fury looked surprised. “Oh, thanks.” He stuck his hand into the back and grabbed some then said his goodbyes and left.

Tony was sure that Fury wanted Peter to come down to talk to him about Spider-Man but Peter always had a way of getting people to do things they didn’t want to do just by changing the subject and confusing them unintentionally.

“Hey, kid, can I have some?” Clint asked and held his hand out for some so Peter got up to give Clint some as well. “Thanks.”

“What did you guys talk about without me? Dad said you talked about the weather.” Peter asked Clint.

Clint put his feet up on the table. “He’s right. We talked about how when we were on our mission, half of the sky was raining down on us.”

“It wasn’t raining where I was.” Peter said, confused.

Clint shrugged. “Yeah. See? That’s what we were talking about.”

“Oh.” Peter turned and looked at Tony. “Did you get rained on?”

Tony shook his head. Was Peter this gullible? That scared him and judging by the looks on Clints face, he was surprised too.

Tony kinda always knew that Peter was extremely gullible but it scared him because a lot of people could take advantage of him like that.

“Okay. You ready to head up now?” Tony asked him and stood up.

“Oh. Yeah. Can we go in the hot tub?” Peter asked and grabbed his bag of goldfish and his juice.

Tony rubbed his eyes because he wanted to say no but then he thought about how much stress he was under and why not? He needed the relaxation as long as Peter was jumping around the place.

“Sure. Let’s go get our trunks on.” Tony led Peter back to the elevator. He was aware of Peter talking to him but he wasn’t really listening to what he was talking about and Peter seemed to be fine with that or he didn't notice because he kept on talking.

After they changed into their bathing suits, Tony and Peter both went downstairs and out into the cold to get into the hot tub. Tony had an extremely stressful day but the day wasn’t over yet and he wanted to talk to Peter about what happened today and how it was a mistake and it would never happen again.

He just stared at Peter and debated how he should bring it up.

“Dad, watch me drink the water and spit it back out.” Peter went to dip his face into the water but Tony stopped him.

“Okay, no. We won’t be doing that.” Tony pulled Peter’s arm and pulled him into the seat next to him. “I want to talk about today.”

Peter looked down at the water with a pout. “Oh. Why?”

“Because, Pete,” Tony started. “what happened today will never, ever happen again.”

Peter looked up at him with a hurtful look on his face and Tony just wanted to pull him against his chest and squeeze his baby but he knew he couldn’t.

“I know. I just wasn’t used to that kinda stuff as Spider-Man but now I am so I’ll be better prepared for next-”

Tony cut him off. “No. That’s not what I mean. What I mean is that you joining the Avengers on a mission will never, ever happen again.”

Peter sat up on his knees quickly. “What?! Why not? You can’t make that decision.”

Tony wanted to laugh at the bazaar thing Peter said. It was comical. “Actually I can. I can do whatever I want because you’re my kid. Bringing you was a huge mistake and it won’t ever happen again-”

“But I was doing good! I was fighting with you guys. I could have helped out more if you’d just given me more time and didn’t drag me back onto the jet!” Peter yelled, his face turned red with anger and Tony could see the fire behind his eyes.

Tony shifted his body more to look at Peter. “Lower your voice. Are you trying to tell all of New York?”

Peter didn’t say anything but stare at Tony, waiting for him to say no.

Tony just stared back at him for a few seconds before he spoke. “You are fourteen years old. You sleep with me every night and you are too scared to go to school because you can’t be without me so why the fuck would I allow my child to fight with the Avengers? Never. Again.”

Peter’s eyes started to well up and it broke Tony’s heart but he didn’t do anything. He knew it was a low blow to bring Peter’s separation anxiety into this but he didn’t have a choice.

“Do you really think that?” Peter asked, almost in a whisper.

Tony didn’t know what he meant at first. He wasn’t sure what part he was talking about exactly but he meant it to everything he said. “I do. I know you don’t want to hear it but that’s the truth. You are fourteen, Peter. I don’t think you understand how young you are. You want to know what I was doing twelve years ago? Probably racing race cars somewhere in Spain. You want to know what you were doing twelve years ago? Probably drinking milk from your bottle, waiting for your next diaper change. Believe me when I say this, you are way too young to join us and if I have a say in it, you never will.”

The tears started to fall down Peter’s cheeks now and Peter let out a sob then looked away from Tony. When he didn’t say anything, Tony knew that Peter knew that he was right and that he just didn’t like that.

Before Tony could even process what was happening, Peter threw himself into the middle of the hot tub and went under.

“Oh fuck.” Tony reached into the water and pulled Peter up. For a second he thought that Peter must have fainted but then Peter started crying and threw his head back, proving Tony’s point even more. “Oh enough.”

Tony grabbed Peter by one arm and stood up. So much for a relaxing night.

“No! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I want to stay!” Peter cried out as Tony dragged him out of the hot tub.

“Nope. Not after you acted like that.” Tony lifted Peter into the step and then got out. The cold air immediately hit him and those ten minutes in the hot tub wasn’t nearly enough. He pulled the cover back over and picked up the towels.

“Dad! No! Please!” Peter begged and Tony didn’t even know what he was begging for.

“No. Use your legs, Peter. I’m not carrying you.” Tony said even as he lifted Peter up and held him with one arm until they got inside then he locked the door. “Can’t we just have one night? One night.” Tony whispered to himself.

He dropped Peter gently down onto the floor and picked up his arm to pull him upstairs which resulted in them almost falling down the stairs multiple times.

“Are you going to your room?” Tony asked him when he stopped in front of Peter’s bedroom.

Peter stopped crying and the way he looked at his bedroom was as if Tony just asked him if he wanted to get sent to the Chokey.

“No. No! Please.” Peter was half on the floor from where Tony was practically dragging him. Tony looked at the scene and took a calming breath.

He was being a horrible father. He had to understand what was going through Peter’s mind and he was the one who was adding onto the temper tantrums. He let go of Peter’s arm and kneeled on the floor.

“What can I do, Peter? I’m really struggling.” Tony asked and reached out to cup Peter’s face. He could feel him shaking from trying so hard not to cry.

“I-I-I need a h-hug. Please.” Peter moved closer to Tony slowly and so Tony decided if he should push Peter away because he didn’t want to reward him for bad behaviour but Peter really just needed physical reassurance and cuddles.

“Okay. Give me a hug.” Tony opened his arms up and pulled Peter close to his chest. Both of them were still dripping wet and now cold from being wet but they didn’t care.

“Can-can we go back in the hot tub?” Peter asked quietly.

“No. We’re done with the hot tub tonight because you were being bad and whatever that was out there.” Tony patted Peter’s soaked bathing suit and tried to sit up. “No more tears. It’s time to shower and then into bed for an early night.”

Peter stood up and followed Tony onto his bedroom. “Don’t say no more tears because I can’t control when they come and I just-”

Tony sighed at Peter crying again and he just really wanted that therapist.

“Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry. Let’s go into the bathroom.” Tony and Peter both went into the bathroom and Peter went into the shower and turned it on.

Tony grabbed a clean towel and put it on the counter. “Give me your trunks.”

“No. I want to shower with my bathing suit on.” Peter said and Tony resisted the urge to bang his head against the glass. He didn’t understand Peter’s mind.

“Peter. That makes no sense. Take them off.” Tony leaned against the wall and waited for Peter to hand them to him before he left. He thought he was going to have to put up with another fight but no.

Thirty minutes later, both of them were showered, teeth brushed and into their pyjamas. The day exhausted Tony so he planned on going to sleep with Peter but that also meant he was going to be up at ass crack of dawn. Great.

Peter grabbed his teddy bear and cuddled it to his chest. “Mmmm. I love you.”

Tony reached over to pull Peter against his chest. “I love you too my baby. I want you to sleep now. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

Peter let out a sigh. “No school.”

Tony didn’t want to get into this right now. “Yes Petey. School tomorrow.”

Peter whimpered and went to lift his head up. “But I don’t want to-”

Tony pushed Peter’s head back down on his chest. “Shh. Sleep. Close your eyes.”

All Tony knew was that it was going to be a hell of a day tomorrow.