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Tony woke up to an alert on his watch. He sighed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. As soon as he could focus, he read FRIDAY’s message, glancing at the time. 11:45 PM. Tony wasn’t usually in bed this early, but there had been a few short nights lately, and Pepper had lured him to bed over an hour ago.
Karen reports Peter’s heart rate is above the recommended level.
Was Peter allowed to be out this late? What day was it? Oh, Friday. Peter had been there for his internship earlier that evening. They had started out with him just coming until 6 or so, but over the last year it had evolved to 8 or 9 on Wednesday nights, and often overnight on Fridays. Tony frowned as he remembered the evening’s events. Tony and Peter had been a bit at odds this week, and the young superhero had opted to go home early tonight. Tony had been a little disgruntled, hoping he would stay so they could have some non-lab time together. Apparently he had headed out on patrol instead of staying home after Happy dropped him off. May had decided he could stay out until 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays since he turned sixteen. Tony was not a fan. But Peter wasn’t his kid.
The mechanic quietly slid out of bed, so as not to wake Pepper, and left their room, moving down the hallway toward the penthouse living room.
“What’s going on, FRI?”
“He seems to be stopping a break-in and robbery at a jewelry store in north Queens. Three perpetrators, but police have been notified by the automatic alarm and are en route.”
“Anything to worry about?”
“I don’t believe so. His heart rate may just be high from the adrenaline and mechanics required to deal with three men at once. Karen also reports that he got propelled through the front window, breaking it in the process, of course.”
What? Those jewelry store windows were notoriously hard to break. Was Peter injured? What kind of abilities or firepower did the men have at their disposal that they managed to send him through the window?
“Nope. I want to be closer. FRI, send Mark 49.”
“Are you sure, Boss? The noise may wake Ms. Potts.”
“You’re right. I’ll step outside.”
“Peter didn’t appreciate your interference yesterday,” she reminded him.
“I’m not going to interfere. I just want to be closer in case he needs back up.”
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Tony landed as quietly as he could about half a block from the jewelry store. Since the school shooting incident at Peter’s AcaDec meet several weeks ago, and his somewhat accidental kidnapping, Tony had been extra paranoid where Peter was concerned, and had updated his alert protocols to tell him when the kid’s vitals were even halfway concerning, both in and out of the suit. Peter understood that Tony was worried, but was not appreciating the “helicopter parenting” he’d called his mentor’s behavior earlier that afternoon when they were discussing it (with raised voices). The problem (for Peter) was that May had been worried out of her mind, too, and had fully supported Tony’s new measures. Their earlier interaction hadn’t led to any conclusions or agreement, and Peter had left in a bit of a huff.
Tony really hoped Peter wouldn’t realize he was there, if at all possible. He didn’t want to antagonize his young protégé any more than necessary tonight. He hated being at odds with the boy. But he hated him getting hurt or being in danger without back up even more.
Unfortunately, he was startled just moments later when a certain enhanced adolescent appeared abruptly behind him. After nearly jumping out of his skin and trying to remind himself to give FRIDAY a dressing down later for not warning him, he opened the suit’s faceplate.
“Crap. Did you hear my repulsors?” He probably looked as sheepish as he felt.
“No, I was busy at the time, I think. But you forgot about the automatic link on our comms. I could hear you breathing, sir.” Spider-man did not sound impressed, and his stylized eyes were narrowed.
“Sorry. I swear I wasn’t tailing you,” (the again was unspoken) “but your heart rate got super high, so I checked in and thought I would just hang out for a little while in case things went south.” Silence. “How did they manage to throw you through that plate glass window, if you don’t mind me asking? And are you hurt?” The last part came out a little timidly, which was a tone Tony Stark had very little practice with, unless Pepper happened to be very (usually justifiably) angry with him.
“I’m fine,” Peter said curtly, putting a gloved hand to his forehead and dropping his shoulders out of the frustrated, tense posture they’d been holding. “The window happened when I had to side flip to avoid a knife, and had a little too much momentum and not enough space. The suit protected me. It’s all taken care of now, though.”
“I’ll send a check,” Tony remarked quietly, breathing out his relief. The eyes narrowed again, and Tony wished the boy would take his mask off for this conversation. Then again, maybe that would be worse.
“Thanks,” the kid muttered. Then he squared his shoulders. “Do you think you could give me a little space for a few days?” he asked quietly. “Without following me, without showing up every time I’m on patrol, and just… let me think all this out, please?”
Tony opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
“I promise to call you if I actually need help. Or Karen will. You know she will. I won’t take my watch off or anything. I just… need some headroom here.”
Tony’s heart dropped into his stomach. He had done it again. He was so freaking fantastic at pushing people away. He cared too much, and overreacted, and… oh, the kid (he really couldn’t call him his kid right now) was waiting for an answer. “Uh… yeah. I can do that, of course,” he muttered, turning to go, eyes fastened somewhere on the buildings below them.
“Mr. Stark?”
Tony paused, not turning around. He didn’t trust his face not to betray him, and Stark men were made of iron, after all. Why did thoughts of his father come up when he was feeling especially vulnerable like this?
“Tony?” Peter asked softly, again. Tony took a deep breath, and turned, trying to keep his face neutral. Peter, on the other hand, had finally pulled his mask off.
The boy sighed. “I know you’re just doing it because you’re worried. I’ll see you Wednesday, okay?”
Tony nodded, lips pressed together in suppressed emotion, but feeling a little spark of hope. Maybe… Maybe they’d be able to work this out. He needed to have faith; they’d been through a lot together already, and Peter had never acted like Tony’s over-the-top tendencies were pushing him away before.
Like they did almost everyone else.
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The next five days were long. Tony tried to distract himself. He actually went to the meetings Pepper had (mostly) jokingly started sending him fancy invitations to. He gave DUM-E and U some overdue updates. He hit the gym a little harder than he had been doing lately. But mostly he brainstormed alarms and failsafes and other ways to keep his kid safer in and out of the suit without the boy feeling like he was hovering. At 6 AM on Monday morning, Pepper came into his lab with a determined look on her face.
“Tony.”
“Oh, hey, Pep.” He fumbled his motions on his holodesk, nearly dropping his design (so to speak) on the floor.
He hadn’t seen or had any interaction with Peter other than a few texts. It shouldn’t matter, right? It’s not like Peter was actually his kid, and it wasn’t like he was going to stop coming over. He was his intern. He’d be there Wednesdays and Fridays, just like they’d planned. His aunt required it, actually, if he wanted to keep being Spider-man. Tony just needed to dial it down. Care a little less (or try to show it less), be a little less involved. Even though he was upset, Peter had still been communicating about unnecessary things. An intern that liked his boss did that, right? He thought about the text he’d received a little after 1 AM that night.
If you were watching my suit report you’re probably worried. Just wanted to let you know I’m fine. Nothing but a few scrapes and bruises, promise.
Caught. He had definitely been worried, and even though he was relieved to hear it, the not-knowing and not being able to do anything about it had led to the mental frenzy that had kept him from even attempting sleep that night.
“Tony?” Oh, right. Pepper.
“Yes, honey?” he said innocently, brightly. Maybe she’d think he was just up early working, after having slept.
“Don’t give me that. FRIDAY said you’ve been here all night.”
“Traitor,” he mumbled under his breath. He really needed to look at her coding. Lately he was feeling like the low man on the totem pole on his AI’s loyalty scale.
“She’s just worried about you, hon. And so am I. You need to get some sleep. You’re not thirty-five anymore.”
“Blasphemy. One night is no big deal.” He fiddled with the settings on the side of his table, and his fiancée walked over to wrap her arms around his waist. She knew he was more likely to do what she asked when she was touching him. Everyone was out to get him lately…
“It’s not just one night though. You haven’t slept more than a handful of hours since Friday night, sweetheart. He’ll be back, and you guys will be fine. Come to bed. Please?”
“You coming with me?” he asked hopefully, turning in her embrace.
She sighed. “You know I have to go run your company, so you don’t have to. But I have an extra half hour. How about I scratch your back until you fall asleep?”
“Thirty whole minutes? How about if we do something else, instead?”
She swatted playfully at his hands, which were straying from her waist. “Later, if you sleep first.”
“No take-backs,” he teased lightly, allowing her to lead him to the elevator. But he didn’t feel light. He just felt tired, and anxious. Miraculously, he was asleep within about fifteen minutes of Pepper’s soft touch. Even if it only lasted a few hours, it was much better than no sleep at all.
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That evening he got another text.
Thanks for helping me study for my physics test last week. Nailed it.
Tony couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know what the kid had been worried about. Most of that stuff he could do in his sleep. There was just one concept he’d been struggling with setting up the problems for, and it had been easy for Tony to explain it to him in a different way. As he thought about their last interaction, his smile faded, but just a little. At least the kid had reached out for something that wasn’t even Spider-man-related. He limited himself to a simple response. Avoid helicoptering.
That’s great. I was never worried .
Tony suddenly remembered a certain conversation he needed to have with his AI.
“FRIDAY?”
“Yes, Boss?”
“Want to explain to me why you didn’t tell me that Peter was coming the other night?”
“Are you referring to Friday night after the jewelry store?”
“Yep,” he clipped, feeling annoyed all over again.
“Peter texted me and asked me not to.”
“And you listened to him because?”
“Peter is good for you. And you trust him, which means I trust him.”
“But what about our ‘Peter is Always the Priority’ protocol?” he asked.
“He wasn’t in danger anymore at that point, Boss. And Karen and I did notify you within your recently set parameters when he was.”
True. Tony sighed. “What about tattling on me to Pepper about not sleeping?” he accused.
“Peter may be the priority, and Ms. Potts secondarily, but I was created to serve and protect you. Ms. Potts is also good for you, and you needed a little help. Would you like me to change the protocol so I can’t answer her questions about your sleep patterns?”
Yes. “No.” That would be asking for trouble. And he knew she just wanted him to be healthy. He didn’t think he would have had any luck getting to sleep this morning without her help.
“Let’s just have a look at your code, anyway, shall we?” He double checked everything, adding a few things he’d been thinking about. After a quick clean-up, and deleting a few protocols that were somehow still lingering from before the whole Civil War fiasco, he reluctantly removed most of the new alerts he’d added in his paranoia after Peter’s kidnapping. Some of them were still a good idea, but the old set-up had been working pretty well before. And obviously Peter wasn’t okay with Tony's new level of involvement in his patrols.
“Push forward those changes to Karen’s programming the next time the suit connects for updates, would you, dear?”
“Of course, Boss.” He might have imagined it, but he thought he heard approval in her voice.
Tuesday night he heard from Peter again. It was just a quick question about something on his chemistry homework, but it still felt good, and they traded several texts about the problem.
Thanks, see you tomorrow. Happy said he’s picking me up.
Looking forward to it.
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Peter showed up right on time Wednesday. “Hey, Mr. Stark,” he said, setting his backpack down and grabbing a snack from the fridge in the lab. Like nothing had happened or changed, except his unusually hesitant greeting.
Tony tried to play it cool and not act any different than usual. He greeted the boy cheerfully, then launched right into what he’d prepared for them to work on that day, not giving Peter a chance to get a word in edgewise. He had kind of decided not talking about it at all was the safest thing to do. If he could just ignore the last few weeks and go back to treating Peter the way he used to, giving the teenager the space he asked for, hopefully the boy would be comfortable again. And nothing would change in their relationship. Peter looked like he wanted to talk about something, but when Tony didn’t take the cue from him, he obediently got to work on the modifications his mentor had asked him to look over.
Ignoring it all worked well, until it didn’t. Because suddenly Peter swore quietly and moved quickly towards the lab sink, cupping his hand under his nose. There was blood. Lots of blood. It dripped through the boy’s fingers, leading a trail of panic-inducing drops of crimson across Tony’s floor.
The mechanic froze for a moment, his heart thundering in his ears. What was happening here? What could cause that kind of bleeding? Had the boy been hurt the night before, but Karen hadn’t reported it? Had he been messing with her code again? What…
“FRIDAY, call Medbay!” Tony instructed, moving closer to Peter.
“Belay that, FRI,” Peter said firmly, though his voice sounded a little weird since he was sticking tissues up inside it. And the boy was… giggling? What in the actual…
“It’s just a nosebleed, Tony,” he said, a little muffled. “I get them every winter when it’s cold and dry like this. I haven’t had one yet this year,” he huffed in laughter again, “and I forget how messy they are! It’s kinda ridiculous…” He grabbed another tissue, then looked at the sink and countertop and groaned a little. “So sorry! I’ll get that cleaned up as soon as it stops. It usually just takes a couple minutes.”
FRIDAY’s voice cut through Tony’s hazy panic. “Boss, your heart rate is far too high. I would suggest some deep breathing.”
Peter’s gaze flicked quickly to Tony’s face, which was trained on the blood all over the floor and sink. Peter snapped his free fingers to get Tony’s attention. “Hey! I’m fine. I promise, I get a few of these every year. I’ll start using some coconut oil or something, and it mostly keeps them away. I just hadn’t thought of it yet.” Then, when Tony didn’t respond, “Look, it’s slowing already. I promise this is just a Peter Parker quirk, not a Spider-man one. Nothing’s wrong. It’s not dangerous.”
Tony finally nodded, sitting down shakily in the closest chair.
Peter turned to him, a serious look on his face that warred with the red-and-white tissue still stuck in one of his nostrils. “Are you done pretending everything is okay? Can we talk now?”
Tony didn’t say anything, but pushed out a heavy sigh, and nodded again. Might as well. Since when was Peter the responsible adult in their relationship?
“I get that the last few weeks have been… unsettling for you,” Peter said. “May tried to explain to me how scared and helpless she felt in both cases, and why she’s been overprotective too, and I know you might… feel the same way, a little bit?”
Tony, not trusting himself to speak yet with the blood still all over Peter’s face, only nodded once.
“Mr. Stark, I know I’m still a kid in your eyes, but I’m strong, really strong, and I’m tough, and I heal like nobody’s business. I’ve been fighting villains for two years! I’m not easy to break. I’m not made of glass.”
Tony felt like his eyes were probably arguing with Peter, but he kept quiet. He owed the kid a few minutes of just listening.
“You’ve already done so much to keep me safe. The suit? Oh my gosh, Mr. Stark, it’s amazing! It gives me so many advantages and a lot of protection. Do you know how many knives haven’t gotten me in the last year, because they just kinda glance off? And Karen is… she’s amazing, and so, so helpful. Knowing you’ll get super mad if I do something stupid helps me think twice. You being there on back-up is a big safety net, too. I know I give you a hard time, but I appreciate it. You’re doing all the things, but you’ve got to trust me." The boy’s eyes were so sincere, so pleading. “I need you to have a little more confidence in my abilities and give me a little more space as Spider-man.” Peter had delivered it all rapidly, as if he had been thinking about it a lot, and had maybe even practiced his little speech.
Tony swallowed, trying to make sure he didn’t mess this up. “I get that, Pete. I… I’m going to try. I already rolled back most of those updated alerts that have been leading to me being on your six all the time. Ask Karen.”
Peter beamed, and it was like a little sunshine had just streamed into the room. “Thank you, Mr. Stark,” he breathed in relief. “What we had before was… was working. I know I’d get annoyed sometimes, but it wasn’t too over the top. Can we just do that again?”
“Yeah, we can do that. I’ll try to back off and give you more space if you promise to be just a little more careful. For your aunt? And… for me?”
“Yeah, I’ll try, too.”
Peter turned to the sink pulling out the bloody tissue and attempted to clean himself up. Tony grabbed a rag and started wiping up the blood on the floor. “Mr. Stark, you don’t have to do that!” Peter protested. “I’ll get it!”
“It’s not a problem,” Tony said quietly, going to the sink to rinse out the rag. Peter ran over to wipe up a few splatters by the holoboard he’d been working on, then joined Tony at the sink.
As they both turned back to face each other, Tony noticed a big smear of blood the boy had missed down by his chin. Without thinking, he wet a paper towel and reached for it, before freezing. This was classic overstepping, wasn’t it. He wasn’t the kid’s parent, and it was obvious he wanted to be treated more like an adult. Tony pulled his hand back slowly. “Uh, you’ve still got some, right there,” he said quietly, offering the paper towel.
Peter took it and worked at the spot. He almost got it. “How about now?”
It’s still, uh…”
Peter offered it back to him. “Please?”
Tony carefully wiped at the spot on the boy’s face until it was gone, and stepped back, tossing the paper towel in the trash.
“Tony?” Peter sounded, and looked, as hesitant as Tony felt today. “I said I needed you a little more hands-off with Spider-man. But I don’t think I need… or want space as… as Peter. I don’t mind you hovering a little bit over all the other stuff. It’s… kinda nice.” Then even more quietly, “I’ve missed you.”
Tony’s eyes widened. Oh. Really? “Pete… Spider-man is you. I don’t know how to separate them. I worry about you the same. But I’ve missed you, too. A lot, actually, you little punk,” he’d transitioned to a teasing growl so his emotions didn’t overwhelm his voice.
Peter grinned, and stepped closer, feeling confident enough to initiate a hug. Tony quickly reciprocated, relishing the feel of the teen in his arms again, warm, and alive, and wanting to be with him. Not angry with him, not pushing him away, and not going anywhere.
“You might have to do what I do. It takes a little bit of disconnect, but when I’m in the suit, try to pretend I’m just another superhero. Maybe one who needs a little more experience and mentoring,” he admitted.
Tony scoffed playfully, muttering “A little?”
Peter poked at his side, causing him to shift away from his fingers. “But one who isn’t an actual child, and who is mostly pretty capable,” he finished firmly.
Ignore that part about him not being a child, the man told himself. “And when you’re just Peter Parker?” Tony asked softly, his head resting against the precocious kid’s soft, dark curls.
“Kinda like this. I like when you teach me stuff. And when we watch movies together, or you help with my homework, or hang out with Rhodey and play games. I like having dinners with Pepper, or maybe sometimes with May. I like you hugging me, and even kinda when you do things to take care of me. It makes me feel… important to you.”
“You are, kid. You are.”
Peter pulled back, smiling, and with that teasing sparkle back in his eyes that Tony enjoyed so much.
“So does that mean I can borrow your Audi next weekend?”
“You little punk. You’re not that good of a driver yet. Were you just trying to butter me up for that?” He pulled him into a rough embrace by the side of his head, ruffling his hair wildly in fake annoyance. “The nerve…”
Peter laughed as they walked together like that towards the elevator. “Where're we going? I thought we needed to—”
“It can wait,” Tony said. “There’s a new episode of Big Bang Theory on tonight, and Pepper won’t watch it with me.”
“That’s because you poke holes in their science. It’s really not that bad, Mr. Stark, for a mainstream show like that,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Says you,” Tony muttered, releasing Peter to grab his phone and his jacket. They walked out of the room towards the elevator. “So tell me why you feel like you need my car this weekend?”