Work Text:
It was Friday afternoon when Peter came from school and had been dropped off at the compound by Happy. He comes to the compound for lab days and stays on weekends. He bounced into the common room to join everyone else who was watching TV. He plopped down on the couch next to Tony. Tony ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Hey kiddo, how was school?”
“Good. I got a hundred on my math test.” Peter smiled at the man. Tony smiled at the boy and pulled him close to kiss the top of his head.
“Well done, kid.”
“Why are you surprised? The kid’s a genius,” Clint said from one of the other couches.
“Yeah, yeah, bird brain, my kid’s smart. So kid, long weekend. You get to pick what we do,” Tony replied.
Peter thought about it for a moment. The team was still a bit iffy after the whole accords thing and still working things out, so he thought of something that could be kind of a team bonding thing.
“Ok, hear me out, but this could be really fun. And it’s team bonding.”
Steve perked up at that. He was up for a bit of team bonding.
“And what’s that, Peter?” the captain asked.
“Ok, so we spend the whole weekend in the sky.”
Everyone looked at each other, then back at Peter. Tony looked to them and asked,
“Oh yeah? And how do we do that?”
“The quinjet.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “You want us to spend three days together in the air?”
“Yes,” Pete said, looking at the man.
“I’m up for that. It will be good for everybody.” Bruce joined the conversation by putting down his book.
“Ok, it’s settled. Team bonding starts tomorrow. Pack your bags after dinner, guys. We leave in the morning,” Tony said, getting up and going to the kitchen.
⸻
In the morning, everyone was in the common room with their bags ready to go. It was seven in the morning. They had had their breakfast and made sure they had everything, then made their way to the hangar. They got onto one of the bigger quinjets that had beds and a bathroom on it, the kind they used for bigger missions. There were only a few beds, so people were going to need to share. Steve and Bucky agreed to share. So did Sam and Clint. Natasha and Wanda agreed, as did Bruce and Rhodey. So that left Tony and Peter with the last one.
The others knew the two would share. They all knew their relationship was more than mentor/mentee. Clint pointed out every time Tony acted like a dad in the few moments they had spent with them. They had only hung out with Peter three times since coming back. They all knew Tony didn’t trust them yet, but baby steps. They knew the kid was Spider-Man, so yeah—trying to be a team again.
Everyone got settled and started doing something. Peter sprawled himself out on the bed and pulled out his Nintendo Switch and started playing Mario Kart. Time passed, and they ate their packed dinners and talked about how getting the team back together again would be good. It got late, and Tony turned his attention to Peter.
“Alright, kid. Time for spider-babies to go to bed.”
Peter, who could barely keep his eyes open, mumbled something about not being tired, but still crawled into bed. Tony, who was lying in bed on his StarkPad, put it down to watch the kid come towards him. Peter put his head on Tony’s chest and an arm around his middle. He sighed contently and closed his eyes. Tony put a hand on the boy’s back and started rubbing soothingly up and down. Peter’s breathing evened out, and he was sound asleep. Tony kissed his forehead. When he looked back up, he could see the team looking at him.
“What?”
“Nothing. The dad look suits you,” Clint said with a smile.
Tony didn’t reply. He just looked back down at Peter, who was sleeping soundly, who looked so much younger. Tony smiled and brushed hair out of the kid’s face.
“See? Look. That’s how I look at my kids,” Clint exclaimed quietly.
Tony just gave the man a smile before getting into a more comfortable position so his sleeping spider-baby could have a good sleep. Everyone quietly did their own thing until they went to sleep. They made sure Friday was on autopilot for the night. Soon enough, everyone was asleep.
⸻
It was 2:33 a.m. when Tony woke up due to some constant movement from his side. He turned to look to see what was going on. He looked and saw Peter squirming and making quiet whimpering noises in his sleep. Tony was awake immediately and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Pete?” Tony whispered.
Peter didn’t stir, but Steve and Bucky did with their super hearing. Tony tried shaking Peter a little harder.
“Pete, wake up for me, buddy.” Peter still didn’t wake.
Steve and Bucky had sat up and were looking over in Tony’s direction, but before they could ask if everything was ok, Peter woke and screamed. Everyone shot up in bed and looked around for the threat. Tony quickly pulled Peter into his arms and held him close. Peter took some shaky breaths, then pulled away from Tony and looked around, his eyes going wide with realisation. He then shoved his face into Tony’s chest. Tony put one hand to the back of Peter’s head and the other rubbed up and down his back.
“I’m sorry I woke everyone up,” Peter mumbled.
“It’s ok, bud. Everyone here gets nightmares. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“Still, Mr. Stark. I’m sorry for waking you guys up.”
“And we forgive you.”
“Ok.”
Peter was still hiding in Tony’s chest when he felt Tony start to card his fingers through his hair.
“What was your dream about, kiddo?”
Peter tensed at the question. Tony must have felt it because he gave Peter a little squeeze.
“It will make you feel better if you talk about it, buddy.”
Peter took a breath and sagged against Tony.
“It was the Vulture. The plane crash.”
Tony closed his eyes and rested his head on Peter’s.
“I’m sorry, Roo.”
“It’s not your fault,” Peter said quietly.
“It is. I took the suit away. You could’ve called for help, but you couldn’t.”
“But if you didn’t take the suit away, he would’ve stole the plane,” Peter argued.
Tony sighed.
“Good point, kiddo,” Tony said as he ruffled the boy’s hair. Peter smiled and looked up at him. Tony took this as a chance to kiss the kid’s forehead.
“Sorry to interrupt, but due to a weather warning, the quinjet will need to land within the next hour,” Friday told them.
“How far are we from the compound, Fri?”
“About forty minutes, boss.”
“Ok, back to the compound.”
Tony then turned his attention back to Peter.
“Sorry we had to cut the fun short, bud.”
“It’s ok,” Peter said, sagging on Tony, already almost back to sleep.
They got back to the compound. Everyone went into their rooms and went back to sleep. Tony carried Peter inside. The kid weighed practically nothing due to the spider bite. Tony brought Peter into his own room, placed him onto the bed, and lay down next to him, going to sleep himself. They would have to try again next weekend for some team bonding.