Chapter Text
Tony watched as Dr. Cho's people organised the bodies of the dead. While there had been significantly less than JAR-FRIDAY had predicted, he could still feel each and everyone of them weighing on him.
Especially the elder Maximoff twin. It was bad enough that his weapons had caused their family's death (Pepper had agreed to look into it - why hadn't it gone off), but now Wanda was twinless because of something he'd built. Tony sighed and placed his hand over the boy's eyes (when did it get to the point where everyone felt so young to him) and wished him peace.
But before he could pull his hand away, Tony felt eyelashes flutter against his palm and heard a laboured, wheezing breath.
"Helen!" He shouted, "Helen - get over here!"
It was a rush to find somewhere safe to allow the speedster to heal. The Compound was out of bounds - if only because Steve was not the best person to oversee an injured man (and Helen refused to enter anywhere that housed the female Maximoff). That only left the Starks' Mountain Cabin...where Honey had retired to see out her pregnancy.
"I'm sorry for forcing him on you, bambina, but there's no where else to well...keep him." Tony told his daughter as Helen and her minions set the necessary medical equipment up in one of the cabin's rooms.
"It'll be fine Dad, it'll be better than being on my own." Honey shrugged, "Pepper messaged me, by the way, to discuss the inquiry about ULTRON. It should be simple, although some of JARVIS' memory banks will need to be reconstructed...
The next time that Tony saw Pietro Maximoff was after the 'Civil War'. The man returned from Asgard with the bullet holes healed up (apart from the scaring) and at a much healthier weight than he'd been during the battle against Ultron.
However, the male Maximoff had taken to following his daughter around in a very puppy like manner. It was concerning and Tony wanted to make sure that there was nothing amiss going on.
Honey didn't need to be endangered because Maximoff didn't understand the word 'no'.
When he was asked, however, Pietro snarled something in Sokovia's Russian that FRIDAY refused to translate, her voice sounding very icy when she was pressed.
(One conversation with Honey later, however, and Tony was spewing curse words in Italian.)
(FRIDAY compared what both said, and asked JOCASTA if it was a good thing that both men said exactly the same words).
Other than when they were together for official Avengers business - or business that involved Honey - Tony and Pietro kept to themselves, never keeping each other company enough to hold a conversation longer than five sentences (FRIDAY and JOCASTA had been keeping count) apart from when the boy/man had wept on his shoulder.
Laura worried about them. Rhodey rolled his eyes. Vision silently compared the difference in the twins' attitudes to the man he considered his father.
At any rate, it was a tactic that worked well until one day, after a tough battle in Central Park that landed them both in the med bay for a week. A fractured ankle for Pietro and chest problems for Tony.
"Mr. Maximoff," Helen broke the silence on the second day, her trusty clipboard in hand, "We've been reviewing the tests that we took and it appears that you have...untreated gonorrhoea."
Tony snapped his head up to see red streaks apart on Pietro's cheeks, though he looked angry.
"It is not a...recent thing..." He stumbled over his words, daring to meet Tony's eyes, "Honey does not have it - I have not - we have not- I did not want -"
"Is there a reason that you did not go to a clinic?" Helen bulldozered on as a cold feeling pooled in Tony's gut, "Or at the very least use a condom as a preventative-"
"Most of the clinics in Sokovia did not want to serve men." Pietro snapped, "And I always...got more...for not using condoms..."
Tony slid out of his own bed and shuffled over to usher Helen out of the room, quietly asking for her to fetch antibiotics, before turning back to his...son in law.
"How long?" He asked, keeping his voice casual.
"Since I was fifteen." Pietro shifted in his bed, as if he wanted to hug his legs, "It was easy money and...I would have rather died than let Wanda do it..."
Tony nodded in understanding - though guilt shifted restlessly in his chest.
"I won't tell Honey," He began, "but I think you should tell her soon. Helen will give you the antibiotics for it and it's better to honest about these things with your partner...and if you want to talk to anyone about it - I can find someone who'll agree to sign an NDA."
With that, Tony decided to leave the room. If it was him, Tony mused, he wouldn't want to remain in the same room as his father in law after such a conversation.
"Stark," Pietro called when he reached the door. Turning around, Tony saw the glimmer of tears in the boy's eyes again, "Thanks."