Work Text:
“Hey Pete, what are you doing over there?”
They boy had been staring at his paper with unfocused eyes for the better part of the evening, occasionally scribbling something on the half empty paper while the older man repaired his own armor. The last battle had destroyed a little bundle of wires essential for the connection between the helmet and the AI that needed to be fixed before using it again.
“ ‘m just sitting here.” His voice sounded just as bored as his expression looked like.
“Aren’t you supposed to work on your web fluid?” Tony set down his equipment and slowly walked towards where the child was sitting.
“Yeah,” said the kid, looking at him, his head now resting in his palm. “But I can’t.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Slight concern creeped its way into Tony’s chest.
“I’m feeling uninspired, but perhaps I’m just growing up,” was all Peter answered in a bored and indifferent voice.
Tony let out a small puff of air, letting it blow away the fear in his ribcage.
“Peter, I swear to god,” he pressed out between gritted teeth. “One more weird and depressing comment you kids make these days and I will lose my shit.” When Peter first started making comments such like why has god forsaken me; put it in the trash, where I too belong or I’m an adult virgin he had just given him a weird and mildly concerned side glance along with an occasional you okay, kid?
That went on until one day, on a mission, the guy they were fighting said “Put your weapons down and I’ll let you live” to what Peter, without missing a beat, responded “Bold of you to assume I want to live.”
He had sat the kid down after the mission was done and assumed to have a serious conversation with him. In the end Peter tried to explain to him what kind of humor his generation had and told him that he shouldn’t take it too seriously. Ever since Peter had only made more comments and Tony was still not getting the hang of it. Neither did he understand why he said them nor what they meant nor what was funny about them.
But Peter liked them, so he let it pass, most of the time. Also Peter had to promise him to tell him when he was actually feeling depressed or like he needed help. Promises meant a lot to Peter, so that calmed Tony’s mind a little bit. Still, he checked up on him from time to time, based on how many self-loathing comments he made.
Tony just had to make sure he was alright. After all, Peter was his boy.