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Peter is bored out of his damn mind.
The Starks have decided to spend their Saturday afternoon at the mall.
Well, Pepper decided to spend their Saturday afternoon at the mall, she just dragged her husband and daughter along for the ride.
And since Peter is staying over, he’s also an unfortunate victim of this excursion.
They’ve spent hours walking into boring clothing stores, with the teenager feeling as if he can fall asleep standing up but Morgan’s constant “Are we done yet?'s” are keeping him afloat.
They’re walking to yet another sleep-inducing store when Peter is snapped out of his stupor, feeling Morgan getting his attention by tugging the hem of his shirt. The teen looks at his side to see her pointing at something to his right so he peers in that direction.
And there lies a silver lining.
The LEGO Store.
Where dreams are made of.
Peter hurries to catch up to Tony and Pepper, the excited four-year-old having no trouble keeping up with him. “Um, hey,” he starts, asking when he gets their attention, “I was wondering if, uh, we can go look at stuff?” The boy gestures to him and Morgan, grabbing her hand to prove that he is absolutely a responsible brother.
“Oh, and miss all this excitement?” Tony quips, a smile etching on his face as his wife lightly slaps his arm, “Yeah, just be careful.”
“Sweet,” Peter says, the two of them already starting to walk away, silently celebrating at not having to go into another damn department store.
Pepper calls out, “Be back in an hour.”
“Yup,” the teen responds, picking up his sister and rushing out of sight before anyone can say anything more.
“I thought I was gonna die of being bored,” Morgan says, an excited smile stretching across her face.
“Meeee too.” Peter puts her back down when they enter the store, both of them gawking at the amount of legos: in sets on display, bins to build a character, even sitting along the back wall in dozens of containers carrying every color one can imagine.
Peter grabs his sister’s hand and leads them to the first display, the teenager having to kneel to see it since it’s close to the floor. A complex setup of pirates is before them, surrounding their ship laden with gold, both kids taking in the surprisingly intricate design of the masts, helm, all the windows.
“You should buy it,” Morgan says, her nose pressed against the plexiglass to get a closer look, “Petey, we could be pirates!”
“Not for two hundred bucks, we’re not,” her brother says with a snort, “We’ll use the legos we already got to build an even cooler one.”
“Petey, I’m not dumb, I know ours aren’t as cool as this.”
“But we’re cooler than whoever made this, so there.” Peter stands up, putting a hand at the top of the other’s back to guide her, “Let’s go look at another one.”
Before they can, a store employee approaches them. Light brown hair, pale skin, doesn’t look too much older than Peter so he guesses this guy is a college student. Shyness gets the best of Morgan and she hides behind her brother’s legs.
The associate asks, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Um n-no,” Peter answers, mentally kicking himself for how awkward he sounds, “We, we’re just looking.”
“No worries. If you need any help, my name’s Brian.”
After a “thank you” is said, they continue looking at the displays: Hogwarts Castle, Millenium Falcon, Frozen with the ice castle that Peter had to physically pull his sister away from.
When they finish drooling over the displays, the spiderling checks the time on his phone, shocked that they have less than five minutes before meeting back with the other Starks.
Shit, we’ve been here that long? Wow, we’re a bunch of nerds.
He looks down at Morgan as he puts his phone back in his pocket, taking notice of the child’s sudden squirming, shifting in a way that anyone with a bladder will understand.
The genius then hurries them to the bathroom, deciding to bring her into the boys’ room since she’s so young, and gets her into a stall. After taking advantage of the break himself, he pulls out his phone and leans against the wall to wait for her, head unconsciously looking up at hearing the main door open.
To see that employee, Brian, walking in, still clad in his uniform.
Peter doesn’t think anything of it until he sees this guy also leaning against the wall, except he’s next to the door.
What’s he waiting on, we’re the only ones in here.
That Brian guy looks up from his phone, locking eyes with the teenager.
And Peter’s “spidey sense” roars instantly.
The hero puts away his phone, standing up straight when the toilet flushes with Morgan leaving the stall right after. He’s at her side when she washes her hands, keeping one eye on Brian who’s still looking at his phone.
The boy can feel his hands start to tremble as he grabs her a paper towel, doing everything in his power to seem casual despite the stiffening goosebumps. When she’s finally done he starts pulling her towards the door, just a few more steps to freedom from whatever bad news this guy’s a part of.
Only to be met with the business end of a pistol.
Okay…so my “spidey sense” wasn’t wrong. So that’s good.
Totes.
Peter’s eyes widen, the only thing in his line of sight is this gun, this gun that can kill both of them, probably with the same bullet.
Oh my God, Morgan.
The little girl is hiding behind her brother, dead-silent except for the ever so slight whimpers.
The gunman breaks the ice, his face showing no emotion, “No one’s gonna get hurt today.”
“Oh, really?” Peter retorts, keeping one hand on his sister’s shoulder, “Then I don’t remember playing this game as a kid -”
“Shut the fuck up, it’s not even you that I want.” Brian smiles at a little head peeking out from behind the teenager, “Give her to me and no one gets hurt.”
The web-slinger is built up with so much anger that he starts laughing, “Fuck no -”
“You think I don’t know a Stark when I see one?” Brain says with a laugh of his own, this one much more sinister, “Do you have any idea how much money her precious ‘daddy’ would spend to get her back -”
A whimper from the Stark herself cuts off the guy’s “master plan.” Peter feels the back of his shirt tighten from her grip, the constant rubs of her shoulder understandably not doing shit to calm her down.
“He-he’s here, you know,” Peter says, gaze still locked on that damn gun, “And his wife, they’re here and they will kick your ass once they find out -”
“But no one’s gonna find out about anything, will they?” He smiles back at Morgan, “Will they, sweetheart -”
“Don’t talk to her,” the teen cuts in angrily, pushing the other kid’s head further behind him, “Look, you don’t need to do this, okay? Just let us leave and we won’t say a word, about any of this.”
The gunman releases a maniacal laugh, “How cute that you’d think I’d believe that, you think I’m just living in a fucking fairytale? I have to hunt for my gold, unlike you.” At that, he tilts his head to try to get another look at Morgan, momentarily distracted that his gun sways with him.
And into the perfect position for Peter to make his move.
In barely a second, the hero hits the gun out of his hand. He doesn’t have time to see where it went before punching the LEGO employee in the face, knocking him out instantly.
“P-P-Petey?” Morgan cries, eyes wide with gut-wrenching fear.
“Hey,” her brother picks her up, lightly smushing her face against his shoulder so she doesn’t have to look at the guy, “I got you, you’re okay, you’re okay.” He busts out of the bathroom so fast it’s a wonder the door didn’t break from its hinges.
His heart shatters at hearing the other start sniffling, sobs following after. The spider-boy squeezes her against his chest in the hopes to calm her but the tears keep coming.
“Shh, it’s okay, the mean guy’s gone now, you’re okay,” Peter says, trying to soothe her as he sprints to their meeting place.
“Petey?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t wanna go to the LEGO store anymore.”
Peter curses under his breath. This guy’s now traumatized her from ever playing with fucking legos, “Me either,” he says, “We’ll never go back there ever again.”
They finally arrive at the meeting place, Tony quickly putting down his phone that gives his protege the assumption that he was about to call him, “Pete, what took you so long -” the retired hero cuts himself off at seeing the fear in his mentee’s eyes and his daughter literally crying.
Pepper rushes over to them, “What happened -”
“Mommy!” Morgan wails, making grabby hands for her mother and the businesswoman obliges. Without the added weight, Peter finds himself feeling jumpy, on edge, wanting to both get out of here and go back to really kick that guy’s ass.
Tony gently grabs onto his other kid’s shoulders, “Whoa, calm down, you’re alright.”
“There was a,” Peter starts, taking solace in his father figure’s metal hand rubbing circles into his shoulder, “A guy, h-he wanted Morgan for money like ransom or something.”
“Oh my God,” Pepper exclaims, giving her daughter an extra squeeze, “We’re leaving.”
“Where is he now?” Tony growls.
“B-Bathroom, the bathroom, I knocked him out.” The boy’s fear is then replaced with anger, “I gotta go back there -”
“No, we’re going back home, and my suit is gonna pick him up and bring him to the police.” The billionaire then murmurs as he presses a few buttons on his metal hand, “After I have a few rounds with him first.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry -”
The older hero softly shushes him, wrapping his arm around his kid’s shoulders and leading them out the mall, with Peter constantly looking behind them.
“He’s gonna wake up soon, though,” the boy says, “And-and the gun -”
His father figure cuts him off, gently moving the teen’s face back to front-facing, “By the time he comes to, he’ll be in a room waiting for me.” He tilts his wrist to look at his watch, the corresponding arm still resting on his kid, “The suit oughta be there right about…now.”
Peter looks back behind them and low and behold, a fucking Iron Man suit is hovering down the hallway to those bathrooms, the surrounding patrons gawking right along with him.
“Well, damn,” he says, turning back to the older man, “You always keep a suit on standby?”
“Got to,” Tony tightens his grip on the kid, “For reasons like today. You did good, y’know that?”
“Not good enough,” the spiderling says, keeping his voice low so Morgan can’t hear, “She’s never gonna wanna go into a store with me again.”
“I doubt that,” the mechanic ruffles the other’s hair, “Kids are resilient, she’s no exception. Neither is the one I’m talking to.”
A burst of warmth flows through the tyke, leaning more into his hero, “Can we just never go to the mall ever again?”
Tony snorts, “I’ve been saying that since I got here, don’t tell Pepper -”
“Heard that,” his wife says over her shoulder, sounding serious but the smirk doesn’t make it believable. She uses her body to push open the main door, holding it open for the two heroes.
Peter breathes a sigh of relief when they get back to the car, his mind associating the vehicle as a safe haven, and relaxes fully as he gets in the backseat. Morgan is still shaken up so he takes her from Pepper and puts her in his lap, thankful that his sister leans into the embrace.
“That’s illegal, y’know,” Tony says from the driver’s seat, turning around and giving them a soft smile.
“Well,” Peter says, smiling at feeling the youngest Stark’s small arms wrap around his torso, “Your windows are tinted, right?”
Pepper reaches over from the passenger seat and ruffles her thankfully calm daughter's hair, her tired beam identical to her husband’s, “Just this once.” She reaches down and gives the teenager’s knee a heartfelt squeeze, concluding with a grateful “Thank you” before turning back around.
Morgan stays in her brother’s lap the whole ride home, her tight grip never faltering, even when she falls asleep.
Neither does his.
It terrifies Peter to think about the horrifying alternative. One wrong move and God knows where Morgan would be right now.
But she’s here, in his arms, and she’s safe.
What more can Spider-Man want?