Chapter Text
“Not this again.” Compass, Unsuitable
“Dad, I need you to come get me.”
Tony was not expecting this when he answered his phone at- he glanced at the clock again- two in the morning on a Saturday.
“Uh, sure bambino,” he slurred out, scrambling out of bed to throw on a shirt, before pausing. Wait. Peter had only called him Dad one other time. “Do you need an overnight bag? A suitcase?”
“Yeah, actually,” came Peter’s relieved voice. “I’m with Ned. The new movie was great! But his mom slept through her alarm to come get us, and May’s working tonight. If you can just bring me a bag and take us to his place, I’ll stay the night there.”
“Got it,” Tony said, before hanging up and heading out.
---
“Dude,” Ned said, his eyes on the sky. “I thought you said Mr. Stark was coming to pick us up.”
Peter frowned at him. “He is. Happy’s on vacation this week, and you know May’s working.”
“Uh, yeah,” said Ned. “But that’s Iron Man, not Mr. Stark.” Peter followed his line of sight, and, yeah, sure enough, that was the Iron Man MK 394.
That wasn’t the actual number, but Peter had stopped trying to keep count at this point. Friday was really the only one who could keep up, and that was only because she had access to the files that were actually labeled.
“Um, hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter called out as the armor landed next to them. Tony flipped the face plate up, glancing back and forth between Peter and Ned. Everyone had equally confused looks on their faces.
“Uh, kid. You said you needed a suitcase? And you called me Dad.” Tony frowned. “I uh, thought that was code for-”
Peter flushed. “Me needing you to come rescue me. Yeah, uh, no, I just actually needed a ride this time.” He frowned. “Wait, I didn’t call you Dad. Did I?”
Tony asked Friday to play back the phone call, and yep, there it was. That was definitely Peter’s voice asking his dad to come pick him up.
“Well, uh,” Tony started walking away. “I guess, I’ll just, y’know, go back and get the car.” And with that, he blasted back off into the night sky.
Peter turned back to Ned, and groaned. “Not this again.”
---
As it turned out, Tony forgot to pack Peter an actual overnight bag, so Peter ended up staying the night at the tower. Pepper was still up, sipping on some tea, when they got back. Her amused glances at both of them over the rim of her mug did not go unnoticed.