Work Text:
"It's not flesh and blood, but heart that makes us fathers and sons." -Friedrich Schiller
Tony closed his eyes and let his body slump against the back of the elevator. He was exhausted and his entire body ached.
He’d been up for nearly 24 hours trying to handle a mad scientist threat in Chicago today. The Avengers had been called in to deal with a giant robot that was wreaking havoc all over the city. They were quickly able to contain the robot and find out where the signal was coming from so they could put at stop to it and catch the bad guy.
The signal had been coming from Chicago City University. A student had somehow managed to build a gigantic robot with everyone around him being none the wiser. And apparently, upset with his grades and the general way his life was going, decided to take it out on everyone else.
Once he had the signal Tony rushed to the college to capture the boy and turn the robot off. Unfortunately, the kid must’ve figured out they knew where he was, because he flipped a kill switch on the boy and then took his own life.
By blowing up the entire floor of the building he’d been in.
Fortunately, most of the buildings had been cleared out by then once news spread to law enforcement that the perp was in the college area. However, there were five students still trapped inside that had lost their lives when the floor exploded. Four had lost their lives to the explosion, the other lost from the debris of the floor above them caving in on top of them.
Rhodey told Tony multiple times that it wasn’t his fault, that there was no way they could’ve known ahead of time that the kid had planted explosives with the plan to take himself out. There was nothing they could’ve done that they didn’t try to do. But Tony still felt the guilt creep up on him. If he’d been faster, if he’d been more careful, if they’d evacuated sooner…. all kinds of scenarios ran through his mind. There had to be something he could’ve done to keep those kids from dying.
One of them, a freshman biology major from New York City, at school on a full ride scholarship, one of the top of his class.
Tony couldn’t help but think of Peter when they told him about that boy. A genius kid from New York, excited to start his life, to get his degree and start a career. He couldn’t help but think about how easy it was to lose your own life, or to lose someone you care so deeply about, even in what should be the most normal places.
He straightened and stepped out when the elevator doors opened. He headed for the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Tony knew he should try to go to sleep after the past day he’d had, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. Maybe he’d go down to the workshop, work on the suit. Maybe he could try to get his flight speed quicker….
He stopped in his tracks when he noticed the figure curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch. He padded over quietly, exasperated affection quickly filling him when he realized the figure on the couch was Peter, curled up in his pajamas, his physics book open on the floor. He’d left a message for Peter earlier that morning, letting him know Tony’d be back at some time that night, and apparently Peter had tried to wait up for him.
Glancing at his watch and noticing it was nearly 4 AM, he decided it would be best to just let the kid stay asleep on the couch until he had to get up for school in a few hours.
He picked the textbook up off the floor and put it on the coffee table before going to the other couch and grabbing the throw blanket off of the back. He walked back over to Peter and quickly tossed the blanket over him, spreading out the corners and pulling it up over his shoulders to make sure he was completely covered.
He sat down on the coffee table for a moment and took a minute to just look at the teenager before him. He tried to push away the fear, the terrified feeling in his gut that one day something could happen to Peter, one day Tony wouldn’t be there, or he wouldn’t get there in time, he’d be too late. He tried to ignore the part of his mind that said if he didn’t do more to protect the boy that he might lose him.
He reached down the brush his hand across Peter’s forehead, smoothing the hair away from his face gently before standing and heading to the elevator to back to the lab.
“...Tony?”
Tony turned and noticed Peter sitting up slightly, his eyes squinted as he looked at Tony through the darkness. He raised a hand to rub tiredly at his eye.
“Hey, kiddo,” Tony said, turning back to crouch down next to Peter. “It’s just me.”
“Mmm,” Peter groaned, his head flopping back to the couch pillow. “How was th’mission?”
“It was okay,” Tony lied, figuring Peter was too out of it to remember any of the details of the mission when he woke up anyway.
“That’s good,” Peter said on a yawn, his eyes slipping back closed as he snuggled back down into the couch. “You okay?”
“Yeah, Pete, I’m fine,” Tony smiled, his eyes soft as he looked at the already half-dozing teen, “go back to sleep, ok?”
“M’kay,” Peter slurred, apparently already halfway there.
Tony reached over to pull the blanket back up his shoulders before making to stand.
“G’night, Dad,” Peter mumbled, “love you.”
Tony froze and looked back over at Peter, but the kid was already snoring lightly, having slipped back into sleeping. Peter was half asleep when he spoke, so he probably didn’t even realize he’d said what he did. He probably wouldn’t even remember this encounter happened come morning. Or, that’s what Tony told himself.
Trying to ignore the tightness in his throat and the slight burning in his eyes, he reached over to brush the hair back from Peter’s forehead once more, leaning forward to brush a light kiss along the hairline at his temple.
“Goodnight, Peter,” Tony whispered, trying to ignore the way all his insides were jumping with joy, “love you, too.”