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Peter had never driven a car with Morgan in it before. It was incredibly daunting, having a little girl he cared about so much in the backseat, her life in his hands. Just the thought made him sweat.
Morgan had come to hang out at Peter and May’s apartment for the day while Tony and Pepper were out. But instead of them coming to get her, they actually trusted Peter to drive her home.
And God, that was terrifying.
“Petey?”
Morgan’s small voice piped up from the backseat. “When will we get there?”
Peter spared a quick glance at the GPS. “About thirty minutes, Mo.”
“Can you go faster?”
“Sorry, Morgan. It’s night and it started raining a few minutes ago, remember? Speeding up wouldn’t be safe for you or me.”
“Oh, okay.”
Peter could tell Morgan was getting a little bit impatient, so he said, “Hey, I have an idea! Even with the wipers, it’s a little hard to see outside. Can you look and tell me if you see anything?”
In the mirror, Peter could see Morgan’s face light up. “Yeah! I’ll be your navigator!”
He chuckled. “Yeah, Mo. You are my navigator.”
He kept his eyes on the road again, putting the windshield wipers up to the highest setting. It was really pouring hard. It hadn’t looked like it was going to rain at all when he and Morgan had left twenty minutes ago.
“There’s a dead squirrel on the road, Petey!”
“That’s gross.”
“Yeah, super gross! What happened to him?”
Peter sighed. “Someone accidentally hit him when they were driving, Mo. They weren’t paying attention.”
“Oh. Well, you’re paying attention, right? So you won’t hit another squirrel?”
“I promise, I won’t hit any animals, Morgan.”
“Thank you, Petey.”
Peter gripped the steering wheel tighter. Seeing that squirrel made his stomach hurt. Like it was a warning that something that was going to happen. Like something would happen to Morgan and then he’d never forgive himself and Tony would never trust him again-
“Petey! There’s a deer!”
At first, Peter thought she meant a dead deer on the side of the road, but as soon as he focused his eyes, it was clear that there was a real, live deer, not twenty feet away from him.
And he was about to hit it.
“HOLY FUCK!” Peter yelled, swerving to the right. Morgan screamed as they narrowly missed the deer, but it was too late. The slippery road caused the car to slam right into the railing that blocked the highway from the forest.
The next few seconds were a blur. Peter slammed on the brakes, and felt the airbag explode in his face, the pressure breaking something in the car. Morgan was screaming hysterically, and it hurt Peter’s heart.
At last, the car stopped, and Peter punched out the airbag, frantically looking back at Morgan as it deflated. “Are-are you okay?”
Morgan was gasping and hugging herself, but she nodded quickly. “Did you hit the deer, Petey?”
Peter glanced out the window, and he could vaguely see the deer running off to the other side of the road. “No, Mo, I didn’t. He’s fine. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Uh huh.”
Peter sighed in relief. “Okay, good. Lemme try and start the car.”
He took the key out of the ignition, put it back in, but it didn’t work. He tried again, but the engine sputtered and just couldn’t take it.
Peter wanted to slam his head into the steering wheel. He had crashed a car, with Tony Stark’s five year old in it, no less! At least the first time he’d crashed, he’d never driven on a real road before! But he’d had his real license for over a year. He shouldn’t be crashing!
Peter groaned, about to get out his phone to call Tony about the accident, but it became clear that wasn’t happening. The airbag had hit with so much pressure it had shattered his phone screen, and the thing would barely turn on.
“Crap.” Peter muttered, burying his face in his hands. Tony was going to be worried out of his mind, and he had no way to get Morgan back home to him and-
“Petey? Are you okay?”
Morgan had gotten up from her seat and was hugging his arm. She looked scared, but he could see a piece of bravery in her eyes.
Peter didn’t want to scare her, so he said, “Yeah, I’m fine, Mo. We’re gonna be fine.
---
Peter and Morgan were supposed to be home an hour ago. An hour.
Tony was starting to freak out.
By ten minutes after, he had just assumed they’d been stuck in traffic.
By thirty minutes, he’d called, and no one answered.
By an hour, he was barely keeping it together, frantically hacking traffic cams to search for his kids.
Pepper looked worried, too, but she was doing a surprisingly good job at remaining calm. She put a hand on Tony’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Tony, think of it like this. If something did happen, Peter would protect Morgan with everything he’s got.”
“I know he would.” Tony said. “That’s yet another thing that scares me. What if they crashed? What if someone made them crash, and then took them and are doing God knows what to them-”
“Tony-”
“That’s it. I’m getting the suit.”
He expected Pepper to protest, to tell him that this wasn’t worth getting the suit out for. But shockingly, she didn’t. She simply planted a kiss on his cheek and whispered, “Go find our kids.”
That was exactly what Tony was going to do. He was going to go out there and find Peter and Morgan, and if anyone had dared to lay a hand on them, he was going to make them wish he’d killed them.
---
Peter had gotten out a umbrella from the trunk of the car, and for the last hour, he’d been hunched over the engine, trying everything he could think out to get the stupid thing to work, but it was no use. All of the oil had spilled out, several of the shafts were broken, and smoke had shot up in his face more than once.
Morgan was curled up in the driver’s seat, looking a bit frightened and asking Peter a few questions every now and then. At one point, she tried to get out and help him, but he insisted she stay in the car where it was relatively warm and dry.
Even with the umbrella, Peter was soaked. The rain was relentless, pouring down harder and harder with each passing minute. He couldn’t take much more of it without getting sick.
Finally, he decided to take a short break from trying in vain to fix the engine. He went over to the passenger seat, and threw himself into the car, slamming the door behind him.
“You can’t fix the engine,” Morgan said. “Can you, Petey?
He hated how sad and scared Morgan looked when she said that, but she was right. There was no way that thing was getting fixed. He had no idea how they were going to get home. The lakehouse was almost ten miles away, and there was no way Morgan was going to be able to walk that far. He couldn’t call Tony for help, and so far, no one had driven by and stopped to help them.
There was no point in trying to lie to her. She was too smart.
“I don’t think so, Morgan. I’m so, so sorry.”
Morgan crawled over and laid her head on Peter’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Petey. You saved that deer.”
“We’re stuck out here now, though.”
“But we’re both okay! And Mommy and Daddy will find us, and they’ll be happy about that!”
Maybe she was right. At least he’d made sure Morgan wasn’t hurt in the crash. She was what really mattered, not him.
“Daddy!”
Morgan’s sudden shout startled the hell out of Peter. She threw open the door, and it was like she didn’t even notice the rain when she started waving her hands frantically at something in the sky.
“Morgan!” He yelled, getting out of the car. “What are you-”
Then he saw what the little Stark was looking at.
The Iron Man suit landed directly in front of her, scooping her up into its metal arms. The faceplate lifted, revealing none other than Tony Stark himself.
He looked terrified, but also relieved as he gripped his daughter tightly, and the moment he saw Peter on the other side of the car, he let out a pained gasp and held an arm out to him.
Peter didn’t even hesitate to run up and throw his arms around Tony and Morgan.
The three stood there for a few moments, and Peter felt Tony kiss his cheek. It wasn’t even weird. It felt right, considering how freaked out he’d been throughout the whole incident.
Eventually, Tony let go of Peter, putting a hand on his shoulder and keeping Morgan held up. “Are you both okay? What happened? God, I was terrified.”
“We’re fine, Daddy.” Morgan said. “Petey stopped us from hitting a deer!”
Tony turned and looked at Peter. “You almost hit a deer?”
Peter looked down, brushing some of the wet hair out of his face. “It-it just came out of nowhere. I’m so, so sorry Tony.”
Peter expected Tony to yell at him for putting his daughter in danger, but instead, he brought Peter back into a hug.
“What matters is that you both are okay. This could have ended so much worse than it did, you hear me? You’re okay, and that’s all that matters.”
Peter sighed, putting his head on Tony’s shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
“All right, kids. Let’s get you home.”