Chapter Text
“You ready for this, Tones?”
Tony looks up from his glass at his best friend, not able to stop his gaze from flitting down to the braces wrapped around his legs. He turns away, a sour taste filling his mouth. “I was born ready, honey bear.”
Rhodey sighs, braces whirring as he steps up to the kitchen island where Tony sits. “I’m serious, Tony. This isn’t some press conference you can charm your way out of. This is the real deal.”
“I know,” he huffs, then once again more firmly when he catches the look on Rhodey’s face, “I know.” Swirling his drink around, he continues, “I’ve been working toward this for months. More meetings and paperwork than I’ve ever had to do in my life. Trust me, the magnitude of this meeting is not lost on me.”
Nodding once, Rhodey takes the seat beside him. “And what about you?”
“Right as rain.”
“Tony.”
“What?”
Rhodey grasps his shoulder, squeezing it. “There’s a lot of history between you guys. It’s understandable for you to still be upset.”
He grimaces. Tony’s still upset, of course, he is. But it doesn’t change anything. “How I feel doesn’t matter anymore. This is bigger than me, than us. The world still needs the Avengers.” He slams back the remainder of his drink, relishing the burn of bourbon down his throat. “It’s time to get the team back together.”
Tony had waited all of a week after everything went down before he got to work on the Accords. Despite how things had ended between him and Steve, the betrayal that still lingered at the mere thought of the super soldier, Tony knew he had to fix things. Sooner or later, another threat would arise and the world would need Captain America again, would need all of them again.
And maybe, Tony just wanted his family back, too.
From the beginning, he knew the Accords would need amendments. The U.S. government had never been his favorite entity—or even liked for that matter—and it certainly didn’t need complete authority over Earth’s mightiest heroes. But he also knew that too many innocent lives had been destroyed at their hands. They needed to be held accountable. Thus began the nightmarish task of getting the Accords to a point where the Rogues would sign. And somehow, he had managed it. The papers had been sent over to Natasha and returned a few days later with six new signatures.
Now, it was time to welcome the others back home.
“Tony,” Steve greets, voice steady despite the uncertainty radiating off of the man. Natasha and Sam stand at his shoulders, Wanda having taken her spot beside Vision. Though Clint and Scott had both signed, the former decided to remain in retirement while the latter got back to whatever it is he does as Antman. Bucky had apparently dropped off the face of the earth, but Tony has a sneaking suspicion the king of Wakanda had something to do with that.
Tony nods curtly, clenching his hands clasped behind his back. “Cap.”
“I’m sorry about the way things happened, I am. But you know why I couldn’t sign those papers.”
Tony flexes his jaw, glancing away. “Well, they’re signed now, so why don’t you guys get settled in. The bedrooms are down the hall, there’s a bathroom at each end. Training room and pool are downstairs. FRIDAY can answer any questions.”
Recognizing that as the end of the conversation, Steve exhales a breath and heads down the hall, Sam in tow. Wanda sends him a tight smile before pulling Vision after them.
“It’s good to see you, Tony.”
He spares a glance at the spy, lips twitching up at the corners. “Yeah, you, too.”
Nat gives his arm a gentle squeeze as she passes, following the rest of the group.
“That went surprisingly okay,” Rhodey says, slinging an arm over Tony’s shoulders.
He huffs a laugh, pushing the man off of him. “We’ll see how long the peace lasts.”
He hoped, for all their sake’s, it was longer than he expected.
“Boss,” FRIDAY interrupts as he fiddles with his newest nanotech model, “Peter has arrived.”
Tony can’t help the way he perks up at the alert. After the night Peter had his nightmare, Tony decided to make lab days with the kid a regular thing. He told himself it was just to keep a closer eye on him, but Pepper called bullshit after she had to drag the two of them up to the kitchen for dinner. “You love that kid and don’t try and deny it. I know you, Tony.” So now, every Wedneday and Friday, Happy picks Peter up from school and brings him to the compound to spend the evening in the lab with Tony. The kid had nearly exploded when Tony first brought the offer up, claiming it was time to make his Stark Industries Internship a real thing.
But as the weeks passed, Tony came to enjoy those sessions more than he expected. Peter was wicked smart and he seemed the make the whole place brighter with all of the excitement and carefree joy he constantly radiated. It was refreshing, to say the least, and a good distraction from all of the politics he was constantly dealing with.
“Send him down, Fri.”
“Peter seems to be distracted at the moment.”
Tony frowns, putting his tools down. “What does that mean?”
“He is engaged in conversation with Wanda and Natasha in the family room.”
Shit. He forgot to warn the kid the Avengers are back at the compound. Hopefully, the kid has enough sense to explain himself through the internship and not give away his identity. Spiderman is technically still a vigilante and Tony is doing everything in his power to keep him away from the Accords mess. He’s still just a kid.
“Right, tell him to meet me down here when he’s done.”
“You got it, boss.”
Ten minutes later, the door to the lab buzzes open and Peter steps through, his usual smile a little odd beneath the confused furrow of his brows. “Hey, Mr. Stark! Did you know the Black Widow and Wanda are in the compound? I thought they were fugitives?”
“Hey, kid,” Tony greets, walking over to the teenager. “That’s on me. We’ve got some catching up to do.”
“So, Peter.”
Tony glances at Nat through his periphery, before returning his attention to the smoothie he’s in the process of making.
“Is that the kid I heard leaving here last night?” Sam asks, sliding into the stool beside Nat.
“His intern,” she explains, eyes firmly locked on Tony.
Tony ignores her, pressing the blend button. A minute later, he pours the drink into a glass and pops a metal straw into it, finally turning around. “You got a problem with my intern?”
“No, not with him. Peter’s a cute kid. More so that you’re allowing a random teenager into the Avengers Compound with four former fugitives staying here.”
Tony rolls his eyes despite the minor acceleration of his heart rate. “The kid’s been my intern for months now, he’s been here plenty of times before you guys moved in. What’s the big deal?”
The super spy narrows her eyes, scanning him carefully.
“As long as he doesn’t try to steal Redwing as a souvenir,” Sam shrugs, snatching a piece of fruit off of Nat’s plate, “we won’t have any problems.”
She smacks his hand, but keeps her eyes on Tony.
“Don’t worry, I’m his favorite Avenger. If he’s stealing anyone’s stuff, it’s gonna be mine.” Tony smirks.
“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is, Tony.”
With a final eye roll, Tony struts past them toward the elevator. Maybe he should warn the kid to be more careful around everyone, especially Natasha. If anyone is going to figure out that he’s spiderman, it’s the Russian assassin-turned-spy.
When Happy drops Peter off on Friday, Tony’s in the family room with the rest of the Avengers, getting ready for a movie night. Steve had been the one to suggest it, hoping some casual team bonding would loosen the tension between everyone. As much as Tony wanted to abstain, mostly out of spite, he knew the man was right. Baby steps.
He’d been worried to tell Peter, thinking the teen would be upset about losing lab time, but he’d just responded to the text with movie night sounds awesome, mr. stark!!!!! what are we watching?? and a string of emojis Tony had tried all of two minutes to decipher before giving up.
When he’d explained that they hadn’t chosen yet and no one had anything particular in mind, Peter had practically begged them to watch Star Wars. Steve was the first to agree since the franchise was on his list of pop culture items to catch up on. Natasha remained impartial, Sam agreed as long as they started with Episode IV, Wanda and Vision agreed out of curiosity—the former about the Force and the latter about the sci-fi tech—and Tony, of course, couldn’t say no to his favorite intern, especially after canceling on him. So A New Hope it was.
The elevator dings open and Peter bounds into the room, clutching at his backpack straps. Tony told him to pack an overnight bag since it was the weekend and he could just crash at the compound—he made sure to text May about it, too, in case the kid forgot; he was already scarred from the last angry lecture she gave him after finding out Peter was spiderman.
“Hey, kid,” Tony greets, “go put your things down then come join us on the couch.”
“Hi, Mr. Stark! And everyone else!” With a small wave, he turns to walk down the hall.
Before he can get too far, Tony adds, “Just take any of the unclaimed rooms, FRIDAY will let you in.” If they saw him going into spiderman’s room without any issues, they’d definitely piece it together.
As if realizing the same thing, Peter pauses before shooting him an awkward thumbs up and continuing toward the bedrooms.
“Kid’s got a lot of energy,” Sam notes, brows raised.
Tony shrugs. “It comes with the age.”
“How old is he anyway? Looks young,” Steve asks, glancing at Tony.
The billionaire bites the inside of his cheek, glancing toward the wall behind which Peter had disappeared. “Fifteen.”
Everyone’s eyes go wide at that, even Natasha’s.
She tilts her head. “I thought you only took on college interns?”
Meeting her eyes, he shrugs. “Kid’s smart. Maybe more than I was at his age.”
Seemingly satisfied with that answer, the spy turned her attention back to TV, picking up the remote to find the movie.
When Peter returns, the grin is still wide on his face, but he’s no longer wearing his jacket, which means his nerdy Star Wars shirt is on full display. Tony can’t help but smile at it. He pats the spot on the couch between him and Steve. “Over here, kid.”
Peter glances between him and the super soldier, uncertainty flashing over his face momentarily before he hurries over and plops down just as Nat pulls up the film. The teen turns to Steve and whispers, “It’s nice to meet you in person, Captain America, sir.”
Steve chuckles, reaching out a hand for Peter to shake. “Just Steve is fine, Peter. It’s nice to meet you, too. What do you mean by ‘in person’?”
“Oh, well, um, your PSAs are part of the curriculum at my school, so I see you a lot on-screen.”
Next to Steve, Sam laughs out loud. “Oh, man, you have got to get me some of that footage, Peter.”
Peter grins, reaching behind a mildly mortified Steve to fist bump Sam. “You got it, Mr. Falcon, sir.”
“Please, call me Sam.”
Peter nods before leaning forward to say hello to the remaining four in the room.
“Hey, kid, good to see you,” Rhodey greets, earning a “You, too!” in response.
Wanda smiles gently at him. “Welcome back, Peter. I like your shirt.” Tony has to fight back the coo at the pink flush of Peter’s cheeks as he thanks her, complimenting her hair in return.
Vision nods at the teen from his spot next to Wanda on the love seat. “I’m glad you’re joining us for movie night.”
“Me, too! We should do movie nights every Friday,” he suggests, glancing back at Tony hopefully.
The man frowns. “What about our lab sessions?”
Peter shrugs. “We can switch it to Monday?”
Tony glances around, taking in the mildly enthusiastic faces of the group and sighs. “Alright, sure.”
“Yes!” Then, turning to Natasha, he pleads, “Can we start the movie now?”
Something like amusement shines in her eyes as she presses play.
Peter settles back into the couch and Tony slides his arm across the back of it, allowing the teen to curl into his side. If anyone sees, they don’t mention it. Satisfied, Tony tries to follow along the quickly moving bright yellow text on the screen. He’s not surprised in the slightest how well the others are taking to Peter. He’s an incredibly likable kid.
Needless to say, two hours and a ridiculous amount of commentary from Peter later, Tony knows the Avengers have pretty much adopted his intern.
Over the next few weeks, the Avengers seem to really welcome Peter into the compound, from stocking up on his favorite snacks to signing one of his t-shirts to bring back for Ned. Things aren’t quite the same as they used to be, but they’re getting better every day. Tony really should’ve known that Peter would be the one to bridge the gap between them all.
But of course, just as things are looking up is exactly when shit hits the fan.
“Mr. Stark!”
Tony raises his hand just in time to blast a laser through the alien creature in front of him before turning to his left where a blue-and-red spandex-wearing vigilante has appeared out of thin air. “Where’d you come from, kid?”
“Field trip-” Peter exclaims, dodging a piece of concrete and shooting a web at another creature, “to MOMA! What’s the deal with these guys, Mr. Stark?”
Tony takes a second to look around, spotting Steve and Nat on the opposite side of the park handling a group of them while Sam and Vision cover them from above. Wanda stalks around the perimeter, red magic swirling from her fingers and sending the creatures flying this way and that. “No idea, but they showed up guns blazing, so take out as many as you can and get the civilians out of here.”
“On it!” Peter whooped as he swung away, webbing a few aliens before grabbing a cowering woman and whisking her far from the action.
Tony huffs, shaking his head fondly before turning back to the spaceship that won’t seem to stop spitting out these ugly purple things that kind of look like mutated bipedal dogs. “FRIDAY, ten percent to the thrusters,” he commands, taking off toward the ship. If he can take out the source, they can finish the remaining ones off before they’re overrun. He swerves between trees and buildings, blasting as many of the aliens as he can. “Vision, a little backup, buddy.”
“Where do you need me?”
“We have to take out the ship. Aim for the engines, but try to keep it contained.” Out of the corner of his eye, he spots the red android closing in from above, mind stone glowing with energy.
As the glowing purple space craft grows nearer, he checks, “Underoos, is everyone clear of the area?”
“Just grabbed the last of them!” Peter’s cheerful voice crackles through the comms. “Where do you need me, sir?”
“Take care of the stragglers around the perimeter. Be careful, kid.” The ship is only a few hundred feet away now.
“Will do, Mr. Stark!”
“Fri, scan the ship for entry points.” A blueprint of the ship appears in front of him, crackling slightly before solidifying.
“The main entrance is congested, I suggest the vents behind the thrusters, boss.”
Steeling himself, Tony curves around to the side of the ship, dipping slightly when a weight attaches to his leg. He glances down, spotting one of the creatures hanging onto his leg, trying to gnaw through his suit. “Yuck,” he mutters, aiming a hand down and blasting the thing to bits.
Suddenly, the ship is right in front of him and he squeezes through the space behind the thrusters, trying not to get too distracted by the unfamiliar tech all around him. Looking around for anything that could possibly be connected to the power systems, he hears the sound of Vision’s laser on the outside of the ship, burning through the metal and making the outer shell glow red. He takes a few more creatures out as he searches the area. “A little help here, Fri.”
The AI scans what appears the be part of the control systems before highlighting a section on one side. “The energy levels of this grid appear higher in this section. I believe it to be connected to the main power supply of the spacecraft.”
Taking a deep breath, he aims both hands at the alien technology, taking a few steps back. “Fifty percent power to the blasters.”
“Directing power to blasters now, boss.” A few moments of whirring later, she announces in her Irish lilt, “Transfer complete.”
“Here goes nothing.” Gritting his teeth, Tony blasts a laser through the machinery until it’s smoking anf then some.
The screen flashes red before FRIDAY alerts, “The ship is reaching critical temperatures. I’d advise a quick departure, boss.”
“Yup,” he grunts, taking a few steps before pushing into the air and swerving back the way he came. “Vision, this thing is about to blow, clear out now!” Right as he exits the ship, a blast hits him from behind and throws him forward, spinning wildly. In the blur through his screen, he thinks he sees glowing red around the blast. Wanda must be containing the blast, aiming it up into the sky. Good, that’s good. He finally comes to a stop when his back slams hard into the side of a building and he drops to the floor.
Tony groans, rolling onto his back and screwing his eyes shut to stop his vision spinning. “How we lookin’, Fri?”
“Systems are seventy percent intact, power is severely depleted, and you have three bruised ribs.”
Taking a shaky breath, he pushes himself to stand, wincing as the movement pulls at his torso. A creak sounds above him and he freezes, turning to watch the top of the building crack and sway.
“Mr. Stark!” A young voice shrieks and Tony snaps his attention to the vigilante barreling toward him. Peter snaps a wrist out, shooting a web behind him and swinging at him from the side, feet first.
The moment Tony realizes what he’s doing, the “No!” yanks itself out of his throat, raw and horror-filled. But it doesn’t make a difference when Spiderman slams into his chest, hurtling him out of the way just as the building collapses, burying the vigilante beneath the rubble.
“Tony!” Steve’s voice sounds distant as he makes contact with the ground once again, the only thing on his mind Peter Peter Peter. Peter who just saved his life. Peter who just willingly trapped himself under a building for the second time for Tony. He wheezed in a breath, coughing harshly as Steve helped him sit up. “Tony, are you okay?”
“The kid,” he chokes out, “he’s under-” Another cough rattles through him. “Help the kid, please.”
Steve hesitates for a moment, eyes flicking over Tony as if waiting for him to collapse, before nodding and moving toward the rubble. Sam and Vision land beside him as Wanda and Nat run over.
“FRIDAY, can you connect to Karen,” Tony grunts, stumbling toward the rest of the group.
“Connecting to Karen, now.”
Shallow breaths flood Tony’s ears and his heart squeezes. “Kid, can you hear me?”
“Mr. Stark?” Peter sounds small and scared and younger than he’s ever sounded before and it breaks Tony’s heart all over again.
“Yeah, I’m here, kid, I’m here. We’re going to get you out, just- just hold on.”
“Okay, yeah,” he breathes, “yeah, I can do that.” A sharp inhale. “Please, hurry.”
“Fri, scan his vitals,” Tony orders, still trying to catch his breath. Steve has started pulling chunks away carefully, Wanda following suite with her powers. Sam takes off to do a final check on the alien issue as Nat places a call.
“Heart rate and respiration are elevated. I’m detecting injuries, boss.”
Tony swallows thickly. “Tell me.”
“Several broken ribs, crushed leg, and possible concussion. Peter appears to be losing consciousness.”
“Kid, hey, you still with me?” Tony tries to keep his voice steady, to radiate calm despite the way his heart is hammering in his chest. He can’t lose his kid, he can’t.
“Mm, ‘m here,” Peter mumbles, breathing so shallow Tony can hardly hear it and it strikes a fear in him he’s never felt before.
“Stay with me, underoos, talk to me.”
“‘M tired, Mr. Stark…”
“Tony, I can try to phase through to him, but with the instability of the rubble…”
Tony doesn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence, he already knows what the issue is. They can’t guarantee the concrete won’t shift and injure him further, or worse. But if they don’t get Peter out soon, that will happen anyway.
“M’s’r Star’...” Peter slurs, and something cold ran up Tony’s spine.
Through the tightness in his chest, he chokes out, “I’m here, kid. I’m not going anywhere.”
“‘M s’rry…”
“No, hey,” Tony cries, “don’t you dare.”
The sound of concrete shifting as Steve lifts pieces away only makes the silence that much louder.
“Say something, kid,” he begs, “please.”
Nothing.
“Tony,” Steve sighs, wiping the sweat from his brow.
Tony drops to a knee, heaving a ragged breath. He can’t lose the kid.
“Please, Pete, don’t do this to me.”
He can almost hear it, the others finally making the connection.
“No,” Wanda whispers, hand coming up to cover her mouth, “not Peter.”
“Tony, you didn’t.”
He swallows thickly, fingers curling into a heavy fist at Steve’s tone.
“He’s just a kid.” Sam’s voice comes out hard, the disappointment and disbelief clear as day. It just makes Tony want to break something because he knows that, better than any of them. He tried so hard. Why did the kid have to do that, Tony wasn’t worth Peter’s life. Not now, not ever.
“I know that,” he cries. “You think I want him out here? You think I haven’t tried everything I could think of to keep him out of this?” Tony shakes his head, snapping his gaze to Vision. “Get him out of there. Now.” The android nods before disappearing into the rubble.
“Tony, what were you thinking?”
It takes everything in him not to slam his fist into the super soldier’s face. “He’s going to be out there whether I want him to or not. Of all people, you should understand that,” he scoffs. Tony takes a breath, eyes locked on Steve’s. “If I keep him close, I can keep him safe. But he wasn’t supposed to do that. He should never have done that.”
Something about that must mean something to Steve because he sighs. “You’re wrong. He saved your life. That means something. Now you do better. And so do we.”
Before Tony can try and think of how to respond to that, Vision appears, Peter limp in his arms. His must have taken his mask off before he passed out and seeing his face, caked in dust with a trail of blood running down his temple, Tony feels like his heart is giving out. He stumbles forward, tears burning his eyes.
“God, why did you have to do that, kid?” Carefully, he brushes the brown curls from Peter’s face and swallows thickly. “Get him to med bay.”
Vision nods before pushing off and zipping away to the compound.
“Come on,” Nat calls to them, gesturing to the black van that just pulled up, a stricken Happy behind the wheel. “I called Dr. Cho, she’s on the way to the compound.” Without another word, the Avengers pile into the car and Happy speeds them home.
Peter groans, shifting in the medbay bed. Tony waits with bated breath as the kid comes to. Cleaned up, he almost looks worse. Skin white as a sheet, leg engulfed in a cast, cut along his temple now a white scar. Bleary brown eyes blink at him, taking a few moments to recognize him.
“Mr. Stark?” He groans, shifting up in the bed- or trying to, the cast makes it a little difficult. “What happened?”
Tony works his jaw, lips pulling into a tight smile. “You did something stupid.” When Peter just furrows his brows, he continues, “You managed to get another building dropped on you.” Tony runs a hand down his face. “I wish you hadn’t done that, kid.”
“I couldn’t let you get hurt.”
Tony meets his gaze, knowing the kid remembers. For once, Peter doesn’t look shy or uncertain but serious and sure of himself. “My life isn’t worth yours, kid. It never will be.”
Peter frowns, shaking his head jerkily. “No, you’re wrong. People still need you, the world still needs Iron Man.” He huffs a breath, licks over his dry lips. “ I still need you. You- you- you’re my hero , Mr. Stark.”
And Tony can’t do anything except lean forward and pull the kid into his arms, only slightly guilty at the hiss he releases. It hardly makes a difference to the massive weight of it he already carries. He just squeezes the kid tight, one hand running through the curls at the base of his neck. “You’re gonna turn me gray by the end of the year, kid. You know I have a heart problem, right?”
Peter laughs into the crook of his neck, arms wrapped loosely around Tony’s waist. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Then, “They know, don’t they?”
Tony winces. “Yeah, sorry about that, kiddo. Couldn’t be helped. You decided to pass out under a pile of rubble.”
Peter groans. “Yeah, yeah, next time I’ll stay awake.”
“There will be no next times, kid. I’m serious. I’ll put you on house arrest.”
“Okay, Dad.”
Tony chokes on his breath at the same time that Peter seems to realize what he said and pushes away from the hold.
Eyes wide, face full of horror, Peter blurts, “Wait, no, I didn’t mean- I-”
Tony exhales, allowing the smile to grow on his lips as warmth blooms in his chest. “Oh, Pete,” he interrupts gently, already reaching out to pull the teen back in. “I love you, kiddo. So much. You’re the best thing I’ve ever done and, however you feel, you’re my kid. Nothing can change that.”
Peter sinks into the hold, hands gripping the fabric of Tony’s shirt like a lifeline. “I love you, too,” he mumbles, voice wet with oncoming tears. “And- I did mean it.”
Overwhelmed with fondness and more love than he knows what to do with, Tony presses a kiss to Peter’s curls. He’s never letting his kid out of his sight again. And he knows with absolute certainty, none of the other Avengers will let anything happen to him as long as they’re around.