Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony could only think about one thing as he heard the helicopter blades roar overhead in the unforgiving dry heat of the desert as Rhodey ran ahead of his men to get to him, teasing him about the ‘fun-vee.’

Peter.

All he could think about during his three months of torture and captivity was getting back to his son. It was the one thing that kept him going, that drove him to fight and claw his way out of his spiraling sense of despair and fear. He knew he was going to get out of it. He had to. Peter needed him.

He let out a dry, humorless laugh as he fell to his knees in front of his best friend, fighting the urge to cry from relief when he was pulled into a hug.

He was going home. He was going to see Peter again.

Rhodey must have read the question that had to have been so clearly written on his face from the moment he laid eyes on his rescuers.

“Pete’s okay, shaken up and just this side of distraught, but he’s okay,” the colonel said low enough that no one else could hear.

Tony’s shoulders sagged in relief. He knew that Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, and May would have kept him safe, but the thought had stayed at the back of his mind from the moment he knew he had been kidnapped.

What if, somehow, they had gotten to Peter? What if-

No. There were no ‘what if’s.’ Peter was safe. He was safe now. They were going home.

&

The moment the plane touched down in California and cargo flaps opened was easily one of the happiest moments of his life.

Rhodey helped him to his feet, and even though he knew Peter wouldn’t be there, his eyes still scanned the crowd for the familiar mop of curly hair.

They stepped off the plane, and he immediately waved off the paramedics that waited with a stretcher. He couldn’t care less about medical attention. He just wanted to see his son.

Tony came up to Pepper and the urge to wrap the woman in a bone crushing hug almost got the better of him, but he stamped it down, knowing he had an appearance to keep up.

He hummed, taking in her red-rimmed eyes and fidgeting stance.

“Your eyes are red,” he teased, biting back a smirk. “A few tears for your long-lost boss?”

“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting,” she deadpanned with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, vacation’s over,” Tony said, walking past her to the car where Happy was waiting for them.

“There’s a surprise waiting for you in the car,” Pepper said, causing Tony to freeze in his tracks.

A surprise? Could she really mean-?

He hurried to the sleek black car, the speed almost too fast to be casual. The windows were tinted to the point that they were barely legal.

Tony opened the door just enough to slide in, slamming it shut behind him. Before he even had the chance to look over at the seat next to him, he had a lapful of a crying Peter Stark.

The relief from being rescued paled in comparison to the relief he had with his son in his arms. The feeling settled deep in his bones, filling him with a kind of warmth that he couldn’t describe.

“Peter,” he breathed like a prayer, dropping his face into Peter’s hair, breathing in his scent like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

And maybe it was.

“Dad,” the seven-year-old croaked, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

“I’m here, buddy. I’m here now,” Tony said, running his hands up and down Peter’s back.

“We- we didn’t know if you were coming back. I- I thought-“

Tony shushed him.

“I will always come back to you, cucciolo. There is not a thing in this world that will keep me from coming back to you,” he promised.

Peter only cried harder, fisting his hands into his coat jacket.

Tony ignored the pain that lanced through him. Nothing short of the world ending was going to make him let go of his son.

Pepper slid into the car moments later.

“Where to, sir?” Happy asked, ever the professional, even if his own eyes looked a little glassier than usual.

“Take us to the hospital, please, Happy,” Pepper said.

“No,” Tony interjected, rubbing soothing circles into Peter’s back.

She shot him an incredulous look.

“No? Tony you have to go to the hospital.”

He shook his head. Absolutely not. Someone could look him over later if they really had to. He had other, more important things that had to be addressed first.

Like the fact his own weapons almost got him killed.

“No is a complete answer.”

“The doctor has to look at you,” she pleaded, searching his face for some sort of understanding.

Tony met her gaze over Peter’s head.

“I don’t have to do anything. I’ve been in captivity for three months.” He tried to ignore Peter’s flinch. “There are three things that I want to do. I want to hold my kid for as long as I can. I want an American cheeseburger, and I want you to call a press conference now.”

“Call for a press conference? What on Earth for?”

“Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first.”

Happy silently obeyed, his only tell for his disagreement was the thin line of his lips as he put the car in gear and began to drive off of the landing strip.

Tony let his head fall back against the seat, and he gave Peter a short squeeze.

Regardless of all of the work he now knew he had to do, it was good to be home.

Chapter Text

“Dad, do you have to be so mean to Dum-E,” Peter whined as he tinkered with his own circuit board from his spot on the worktable.

Tony lifted his head, dragging his attention away from the leg of his suit, and raised a questioning eyebrow at his son.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, soldering two wires together.

Lie. He knew exactly what he was talking about, and Peter knew it too.

The seven-year-old just stuck his tongue out at him.

“Up,” he said turning to the robot again, but immediately changed his mind. “Screw it. Don’t even move. You are a tragedy.”

Peter made a noise and pointed an accusing finger at him, and Tony had to bite back a smile.

“See! That’s what I mean. Dum-E is doing his best,” he defended.

The robot made a series of beeps that sounded like agreement.

“Just because he’s doing his best, doesn’t mean that he’s doing well,” Tony countered.

Dum-E let loose a series of pitiful beeps and lowered its arm.

“You hurt his feelings, dad.”

“He deserved it!” Tony quipped, lightly tossing a screw at his son. “Come on, squirt. These babies are ready to be tested, and you’re my cameraman for the day.”

Peter perked up, dropping the tools his he had in his hand.

“You’re really doing this?”

The kid was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Absolutely. There are wrongs that I have to make right, kiddo. Now, grab the camera and get to filming. What do I even pay you for?”

“You don’t pay me,” Peter laughed, his eyes twinkling.

His son was looking at him like he hung the stars and the moon, and it honestly made his heart stutter in his chest, something that had nothing to do with the newest edition to his anatomy.

While Peter rushed off to grab the camera, Tony got to work on getting the boots on and hooking them up to the arc reactor. Once he was sure everything was secure, he stepped onto the testing pad and waited for his son to get into position.

Peter gave him the thumbs up.

It was now or never he supposed.

“Okay, let’s do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center,” he said and took a deep breath, twisting back to look at Dum-E. “Look alive. You’re on standby for fire safety. Keep it rolling, Pete.”

Tony shifted the controls in his hands.

“Okay. Activate hand controls. We’re gonna start off nice and easy. We’re gonna see if ten percent thrust capacity achieves lift. In three, two, one.”

He braced himself and pressed the buttons that sat under his thumbs, and before he knew what had happened, he was face first into the concrete wall of his lab and then on the ground dazed and disoriented.

Tony let out a bark of pain, and he heard Peter shout in alarm.

“I’m good. I-“

He was cut off by Dum-E hosing him down with the fire extinguisher.

“Are you- I’m not on fire, you idiot!” he growled, sitting up and rubbing at the back of his head.

The sound of poorly concealed giggles reached his ears once his robot determined that he wasn’t on fire.

Tony stood up, covered in the white foam, and took one look at Peter before the kid was nearly on the ground from laughter.

“Y-your face!” he said, his face turning redder by the second.

He wanted to be mad at his son for laughing at him. He really did, but it was hard when the sound of it warmed his very soul.

Tony knew he would do anything in the world just to hear it.

“If you’re done laughing at my failures, you can put the camera away because I apparently have some adjustments to make before I test it again,” he said, folding his arms across his chest.

Peter only laughed harder in response.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, kid. We’ll see who’s laughing when this finally works.”

&

It was from caffeine and sheer power alone that he had finally designed an arm piece the next day.

He caught the sight of Pepper coming down the stairs to the lab, Peter close on her heels.

“I’ve been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?” she asked, her displeasure dripping from her voice.

Peter was snickering behind her. It was one the kid’s favorite things, seeing the Merchant of Death cowering in the face of his personal assistant.

Tony just shook his head in answer, continuing to fiddle with the circuitry.

“Obadiah is upstairs. What would you like me to tell him?”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Obadiah was the last person he wanted to deal with right then.

“Great. I’ll be right up,” he snapped lightly, standing from his stool with the arm attached.

Pepper shot him a wary look, and over her shoulder, he saw the excited gleam in Peter’s eye.

“I thought you said you were done making weapons,” she said slowly.

“This is a flight stabilizer. It’s completely harmless,” he reassured, flicking a switch on the side and bracing his shoulder as the repulsor wound up.

With a force that he wasn’t prepared for, he went sailing backwards into table and wall behind him.

Pepper shouted and covered her ears, automatically turning to shield Peter from any flying debris.

The kid wasn’t interested in being covered. He jumped to the side so he could watch, a grin firmly on his face. He had seen enough of Tony’s tests to know the sort of entertainment that could come from them.

Tony was raising a little shit through and through.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said lamely, still somewhat stunned from the blast.

He stood up and wrangled the arm piece off, putting adjustments to that on the mental to-do list as well, and straightened his clothes.

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t keep Obie waiting, yeah? Hang out down here, Petey-Pie. I’ll be back to help you on your little robot friend in a little bit.”

Tony ruffled Peter’s hair, relishing in the indignant squeak that came from his son.

&

Peter stood behind the camera, giving Tony a thumbs up to indicate that he was recording.

“Day eleven, test thirty-seven, configuration two-point-oh. For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety,” he said with a heavy sigh, turning to the offending bot. “If you douse me again, and I’m not on fire, I’m donating you to a city college.”

“Hey!” Peter said from behind the camera.

Tony turned to stand in the middle of the test pad, kitted in both boots and arms, and prepared for disaster.

“Alright, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with one percent thrust capacity.”

He bent at the knees slightly and hit the repulsors.

It was a goddamned Christmas miracle as far as he was concerned. Tony was elevated a solid foot or two off the ground, and he wasn’t out of control yet, even if he was unsteady.

Tony disengaged the repulsors and let himself drop to the ground, and he felt an overwhelming swell of pride as he heard Peter cheering from behind the camera.

Dum-E rolled toward him slowly, and the genius whirled on the bot.

“Please don’t follow me around either because I feel like I’m gonna catch fire spontaneously. Just stand down. If something happens, then come in,” he scolded, anxiety dropping as the bot rolled back to its original spot.

He turned back to the camera.

“Let’s bring it up to two point five.”

Engaging the repulsors again, he was airborne. Still unsteady, but still airborne.

There was one downfall.

He didn’t take into account the amount of core strength he would need to either hover in place or have some modicum of control over where he floated. A strained grunt left his lips as he tried to steer himself away from the line of painfully expensive cars that he was rapidly approaching.

“You probably should have moved those,” Peter supplied unhelpfully.

Tony was too focused on gaining control of himself to glare at the snark.

After a few terrifying seconds of hovering over his cars, he managed to steer himself away to the worktables in the center of the room, sending every loose sheet of paper flying across the room.

Peter stumbled backwards to stay away, and fear laced through Tony for an entirely different reason as he started to question if having his young son in the room with arguably his most volatile experiment to date was a responsible decision.

A nervous laugh bubbled up from his throat as he directed himself away from the tables.

“Could be worse! We’re fine! We’re okay!” he said, more to reassure himself than Peter.

Tony finally gained control over himself, bringing his legs together and his hands close to his side, locking his elbows, as he hovered over the testing pad again. He decreased the thruster power until it stopped, not realizing just how high he was off the ground as he landed in a less than graceful manner.

At least he stayed on his feet that time.

Peter turned the camera off and ran around the room, making whooshing noises, his arms spread wide.

“That was so cool!” he shouted, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Go on, say it,” Tony goaded with a smirk. “Say that you have the coolest dad ever.”

Peter raced in his direction and flung himself onto the man, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Tony reflexively held tight.

“I have the coolest dad ever,” he parroted into his shoulder.

Tony smirked. He had one more trick up his sleeve.

“Guess what, cucciolo. I’ve got one more surprise. You ready for things to get even cooler?”

Peter nodded frantically, curls bouncing all around his head as he released his dad and took a few healthy steps back.

Machinery came down from the ceiling and started assembling the sleek chrome pieces of the Mark II Iron Man suit around Tony’s body. Piece by piece, the armor clicked into place.

He looked down at the face plate in his armored hands and then over to his son who was looking at him with an almost reverent expression.

“My dad is a superhero,” he breathed in awe.

Tony just smiled.

“Not quite, kiddo.”

He put the faceplate on and started watching as JARVIS began to boot up in the suit, readying up for the test drive of his life.

Oh, yeah. He was definitely the coolest dad ever.

Chapter Text

Rage was boiling hot under Tony’s skin as Obadiah’s words echoed in his brain.

It was the only way I could protect you.

Protect. That’s hilarious. It was the only way he could protect his wallet. Obadiah didn’t care about his wishes or about the people dying because of them. In fact, Tony learned that he cared so little that he was willing deal under the table and risk everything just for the paycheck. It made him sick.

He had trusted Obadiah. The man had helped raise and care for him, kept his company running until Tony was ready to take over, and now he had ultimately betrayed him.

Another wave of nausea struck as he realized that he had let Obadiah around his son. Maybe Peter’s apprehension since day one hadn’t been misplaced.

The reporter on the television only fueled the anger that roared in his ears as he tightened the bolts on the newly painted gauntlet. He saw his captors staring down the camera like a challenge and his Jericho missiles primed and ready, missiles that he never approved the sale of.

He rose to his feet and tossed the screwdriver on the counter as the reporter kept going.

His fault. His fault. His fault.

Tony fired the repulsor at the far wall, satisfaction rolling through him at the destruction. He turned and caught his reflection in the windows by the stairs, and the rage flooded him anew.

Window after window shattered with each blast. Part of him was thankful that Peter’s bedroom was far enough away from the lab that he wouldn’t hear the noise.

He knew what he had to do.

Tony took the gauntlet off and jogged upstairs, turning corners and following hallways until he got to his son’s bedroom door. He eased it open. It was late. There was a chance that the boy was still awake, but he didn’t want to startle him in case he wasn’t.

Warmth flooded through him as a sliver of light spilled into the dark room, illuminating a sleeping Peter with a soft yellow light. He was curled up in the thick blankets, and Tony took a minute to watch the steady rise and fall of his chest.

This is why he had to do this. Peter deserved to grow up without the weight and guilt of the failures of his father. He deserved to grow up in a better world.

Tony eased into the room and crouched by his son’s bed. He ran his fingers through Peter’s hair as gently as he could.

Sleepy brown eyes blinked open at the contact.

“Dad?” he asked blearily, trying to orient himself to the real world.

Tony couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, cucciolo. It’s me. Something came up with work and I have to go. I’ll be back later tomorrow, okay?”

Peter nodded, his eyes sliding closed again. He likely wouldn’t remember this conversation in the morning.

“I love you, buddy, more than anything in this world.”

He tried to ignore the tightening of his throat and the burning in his eyes when Peter smiled, still half conscious, and nodded again.

“Love you too, dad,” he mumbled into his pillow.

Tony leaned down and pressed a kiss to Peter’s temple and rose. He left the room as quietly as he came in, and once the door closed, he placed his palm on the smooth wood.

Peter would be okay. Pepper was there in case he needed anything until he got back.

And he would come back. There wasn’t another option.

Tony had made the silent promise to his son from the moment he knew that he was his that he would be there for Peter every step of the way, for every milestone and heartache. That wasn’t a promise he was going to break anytime soon.

Chapter Text

Tony thought he knew true fear. He thought he knew what it was to feel the terror settle in every cell in his body. He was terrified when Obadiah paralyzed him on his own couch, ripping the very thing that was keeping him alive clean out of his chest. He was terrified when the thought struck him that he was going to die and leave Peter without a mother or a father.

But nothing, nothing could compare to the bone-chilling horror of Obadiah’s words as he left Tony to die.

“It’s too bad you had to involve Pepper in this, and you know, Peter really is such a sweet boy. I hate that we have to get rid of him too.”

Tony could only watch as Obadiah walked out of the mansion as he struggled with all of the power he could muster to move, to do something.

It was like he was looking down at himself outside of his body. He couldn’t believe what was actually happening. He knew that if he didn’t get another arc reactor in his chest, he was going to die. Pepper and Peter were going to die.

Time was working against him. He had ten minutes before the paralytic would wear off enough that he could move, five minutes after that before it was gone completely, and maybe seconds after that before he would go into full cardiac arrest.

Even forcing air into his lungs was a struggle.

He tried to think of every possible scenario in which everyone he loved would get out of this okay. There weren’t many options.

Peter had spent the day with May so the two could go out and explore the city, get some fresh air. Pepper was supposed to pick him up this afternoon, and judging by the night-black sky, she likely already had him. That’s probably why she had been calling.

The minutes passed in a blur, and with every second, he was gaining control over his muscles. Tony stumbled his way to the elevator that led down into his lab, not trusting himself on the stairs, and leaned against the metal wall for support. He had to get to the first-generation arc reactor that Pepper, blessed sentimental Pepper, gifted back to him.

Sweat soaked through his shirt and dripped down his face. He was actively dying as he braced himself on every doorway and solid surface on his way into his lab.

Relief sang through his blood at the sight of the glass box sitting on the table.

He collapsed as he stepped out of the door, his legs failing him, and drug himself over to the middle of the room.

For Peter. He had to do this for Peter.

Tony reached as far as he could from the floor, straining to grab the reactor, but it was no use. It was just out of his grasp, and any energy he had left was gone.

He wasn’t going to make it. The world swirled around him, his vision blurring. Peter was going to die because of him. He-

Dum-E.

That stupid, stupid bot beeped at him forlornly as it lowered the reactor within arm’s reach, and he guessed Peter was right. Maybe he was a little too hard on the bot.

Tony smashed the glass onto the floor and with shaky hands, managed to set the reactor in place.

His lungs stopped seizing and the pain in his chest slowly started to ebb away. It would be a minute before he could get up, before the world stopped spinning.

&

“Tony?”

Rhodey’s muffled voice floated down from the living room, and moments later the man himself came running down the stairs.

“Tony! You okay?”

He fought the urge to snap at his best friend. Did he look like was okay?

When Rhodey got close enough, he grabbed the man’s coat.

“Where’s Peter and Pepper?” he demanded.

“They’re fine. They’re with five agents. Pepper went and picked up Pete from May’s, but they had to go back to SI to catch Obadiah before he could do anything. They’re safe,” the colonel reassured.

Tony shook his head, struggling to stand on his feet.

“That’s not enough agents,” he said through ragged breaths.

He staggered over to the test pad.

“Suit me up, J.”

Wordlessly, the arms of the machinery came down and started piecing the suit together, but it was too slow. He fought the urge to bounce on his feet as he started brain-storming new ways to make the assembly faster.

“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Rhodey said with wide eyes.

“That’s what Peter said. Not bad, huh?” he said with a small smirk as he blasted the ruined car out from under the hole that was still in his roof.

“You need me to do anything else?” Rhodey asked.

Tony turned as the face plate came down.

“Keep the skies clear,” was all he said before taking off.

&

Pepper picked up on the first ring.

“Tony! Tony, are you okay?” she practically shouted through the phone. “Obadiah, he’s gone insane!”

“I know. Listen, you need to get out of there, both you and Peter,” Tony said, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

“He built a suit.”

Tony resisted the urge to scream. He loved Pepper dearly, but the last thing he needed was for her to start explaining the situation at hand. Story time could come later.

“Get out of there now!” he snapped.

The sound of concrete breaking and Peter’s voice breaking on a scream drowned out anything else she said.

He was coming up on SI, but the suit needed to go faster.

“Stane!” he called out as he rounded the corner of the building, refusing to acknowledge the fear in his bones as he took in the sight before him.

Obadiah was in a massive suit, bigger than the Mark I and with more firepower. He had an arm-mounted minigun winding up pointed directly at Pepper who was valiantly trying to shield Peter with her own body.

Just like he planned, Obadiah turned the gun to Tony right as the last second as the genius body-slammed the man back through the hole that he crawled out of, and the two of them went crashing into the warehouse below and then out onto the busy freeway.

Tony tried not to think about all of the civilian injuries as wrecks piled up around them. His old business partner on the other hand, seemed to believe that every other life was expendable and held no regard for the people inside of the buses or cars around them as they fought.

He almost felt bad for all of the PR clean up Pepper and his legal team were going to have to do once this was all over.

&

As he stumbled back onto the roof of the reactor building, he was honestly surprised that his impulsive idea to bait Obadiah into the skies actually worked.

He called Pepper again, needing to know if both she and his son were safe and unharmed in all of the chaos more than he needed the oxygen in his lungs.

“Tony! Oh my god. Are you okay?”

He loosed a sigh of relief.

“I’m almost out of power. I’ve got to get out of this thing. I’ll be right there. Are you and Peter-“

Tony was cut off by the ground shaking under his feet as Obadiah landed on the roof behind him. He whirled to see the giant monstrosity nearly all in once piece.

This fucker really didn’t want to die it seemed.

“Nice try,” Obadiah sneered, rearing his fist back for a swing that Tony dodged, only to be caught by his other hand.

The two men traded blows until Tony was able to blind the man with his flares long enough to get away.

Pepper was still on the line.

“Pep,” he breathed, keeping his voice low enough that Obadiah couldn’t hear him.

“It’s me, dad. Aunt Pepper gave me her phone and told me to hide in the building while she tried to find the agents from earlier,” Peter said, his voice only a little shaky.

Tony cursed internally.

“Can you get to Pepper safely?”

A pause.

“No.”

He needed to overload the reactor. That was the only way to put Obadiah’s suit down for good, if not the man inside of it as well. He couldn’t ask his eight-year-old son to do that. He would have to find another way. He would-

“What do you need me to do, dad?” Peter asked, breaking Tony’s racing thoughts.

His heart warmed at the determined tone in his son’s voice. He had to do this. It was the only way to ensure Peter’s safety. The pros outweighed the cons, both moral and physical.

“This isn’t working. We’re going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof,” he whispered.

“How?”

“If you can safely get to the central console, open up all of the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I’ll let you know. You’re going to hit the master bypass button. It’s going to fry everything down there and up here, so you’ll need to run like hell when you press it,” Tony explained, wincing slightly when he heard Obadiah turn his way.

“Okay. I’m going over to it now.”

“Make sure you wait until I clear the roof. I’ll buy you some time, but if you even for a second, think that it’s too dangerous or think that you’ll be caught, don’t do it. Stay put. Got it?”

Obadiah was getting closer.

”Got it.”

God, he didn’t deserve his son.

Tony had ducked around the opposite corner as just Obadiah got to where he was standing only moments prior. He leaped onto the back of the man’s suit and started digging at wires, praying that he would rip out something important.

Bingo.

“That looks important,” he snarked as Stane roared in fury.

He still managed to fling Tony off of his back and onto the circular glass roof, ripping his helmet off in the process. Tony spared a glance below to see Peter quickly turning the dials that would blow the roof the moment he gave the signal.

Obadiah disengaged the helmet of his own suit as he grinned down at Tony.

“I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit. I’m deeply enjoying the suit,” he said, crushing the red and gold helmet in his hands and tossed it at him.

“You finally outdid yourself, Tony. You’d have made your father proud.”

Tony rose to his feet. There was only one way out of this.

“It’s ready, dad. Get off the roof,” Peter shouted.

Obadiah opened fire, shattering the glass at his feet. He barely had time to catch onto the metal frame before he fell into the reactor below. Broken glass dug into his exposed palm.

Peter’s scream from below broke his heart in a million different ways, and he had half a mind to yell at him, to tell him to run far away as fast as he could.

Tony was about to lie to his own son, to ask him to do the unthinkable. Peter would never forgive him, but it would be worth it to know that he would be safe. He would still have Pepper, Rhodey, May, and Happy. He wouldn’t be alone.

“Dad!” Peter shouted.

“How ironic, Tony,” missiles engaged on the back of Obadiah’s suit. “Tried to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever, and now I’m going to kill you with it.”

Belatedly, he realized that he must have ripped out the optic sensors in the suit because Obadiah was blinding firing missile after missile at him, each one missing it’s mark.

“Time to hit the button!” Tony shouted down.

“Dad I- I can’t,” Peter said, staring up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes.

Peter knew what would happen. He was too smart not to know.

“Yes, you can, Petey. You have to. I’m going to be okay, son. I promise, but you have to push the button,” he begged, lying through his teeth.

He wondered if Hell was nice this time of year.

“Dad!”

“Now Peter!” He roared as another missile went flying by his head.

The moment Peter slammed his hand down on the red button, energy started to surge and within seconds, a wave of it was blasting him into an unforgiving air conditioning unit. The world started to go dark around the edges of his vision even as the light coming from in front of him was practically blinding.

Obadiah and the suit fell forward into the overloaded reactor, and Tony prayed to whatever god that was listening that Peter and Pepper were far enough away from the explosion that was about to happen.

The heat that flew upward was suffocating, and he rolled, putting his back to it in an attempt to protect his face. He really wished he still had that helmet.

Once the flames settled, he staggered his way down to the ground, suit busted beyond repair as he snatched off piece after piece. There wasn’t even a point in salvaging the parts.

The second the last piece hit the pavement, Pepper and Peter were on him, crushing him in a hug that had him biting back a groan of pain.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Pepper snarled pulling back enough to glare at him.

“Pep, I had to. I had to keep both of you safe. I-“

“You could have died.”

Pepper said it with so much venom that Peter flinched, already shaking with silent tears, from where he was still holding tightly to his waist. She herself winced when he realized the effect her words would have on the kid.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Tony said softly, crouching down so he could hug his son properly.

Peter just latched on tighter at the new position.

“Hey, bambino,” he crooned. “I’m so proud of you. You did exactly the right thing back there.”

Peter only shook his head.

“I- I was so scared, d-dad. I did w-what you told me to, but I was- I was scared,” he sobbed.

“Hush, baby, hush. It’s okay to be scared. I was scared, but you know what? You saved the day, Pete. You’re a hero.”

The boy lifted his head to pin Tony with a wide-eyed stare.

“I’m a hero?”

“That’s right. You’re my hero, and I couldn’t have done that without you.”

It wasn’t a lie. He really couldn’t have done that with him.

The tentative smile that had formed on Peter’s face slid off as his expression crumpled.

“Aunt Pepper was right. You could have died.”

Tony was the one that flinched this time.

“I made you a promise, right buddy? I told you that I’d be okay.”

“Don’t do that again, dad. Please.”

Tony wasn’t sure what part he meant but he nodded anyway.

“I promise.” He rose to his feet, taking Peter’s hand in one and Pepper’s in the other. “Let’s get out of here before the press shows up and has a field day.”

“I’m surprised they aren’t here already,” Pepper snarked through her own tears.

Tony laughed.

“Small blessings I suppose.”