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Peter Parker tried to be careful, but there is really only so much one can do to be careful while working as a teenaged vigilante. Getting lightly stabbed, slightly shot, or somewhat slammed into buildings was just part of the job description. Self-inflicted harm though, eh, it was a lot easier to avoid. Except when suddenly walls appear where walls weren’t before. Because that’s totally it. It’s not that Peter didn’t see the wall, it could never be that. He was oh-so-observant, so the wall must’ve just magicked itself there.
It’s not Peter’s fault he was distracted. It had been a pretty eventful patrol. He stopped a mugging, got a lost puppy back to its owner, caught a car robber, and helped some old ladies cross the road. What? He had a big range. And then when he was on the way home, Mr Stark asked him to swing by the tower for some suit repairs. But I suppose a complete 180 turn might cause mysterious walls to appear in one’s way.
However it was that the wall decided to interrupt his swing, it might regret it with the new Peter-Pancake plastered against it.
“Karen, we can keep this between us, right?”
“You do not seem to have sustained any injuries, however, I would recommend telling Mr Stark in case you-”
“Yeah yeah cool, thanks Karen. We’re not telling him.”
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Tony Stark really only needed a few things in life. His family, his lab, and coffee. With Pepper being out running SI, Harley back in Tenessee, Peter on patrol, and the lab locked off from him until he got a minimum five hours sleep, he set out on the only other valid option, coffee. Nevermind the fact that he hadn’t actually slept in two days.
A certain spider kid swung through the open penthouse window as Tony turned around with a steaming cup of coffee in his hands. “How was patrol kid?”
“‘Twas fine. Nothing much happened.” Peter shucked off his mask and half limped over to the kitchen where he caught a bottle of water thrown at him.
“Just little old ladies to help cross the road and cats to get out of trees?” Tony laughed as he took a long sip from his coffee and ruffled Peter’s messy mop of curls
“Mr Starkkk, I actually stop crime you know.”
“Sure you do Itsy-Bitsy.”
Peter let out a small chuckle before he felt his ribs throb and he winced in pain.
Tony quirked his eyebrow and looked quizically at the boy, “You sure nothing happened?” It wouldn’t be the first time where Peter tried to hide injuries from him to keep him from worrying (But we all know it makes him worry more, just those parental instincts for you).
“You said it yourself, only helping little old ladies cross the road.”
“Alright kiddo. Well if you’re a-okay, you want to help me with some suit upgrades in the lab?”
Suddenly, a voice came from the ceilings with an Irish lilt. “Boss, please be reminded that you are not allowed in your lab until you get some sleep as per the ‘Tony Stark is an Idiot Genius’ Protocol.”
“Override that FRI, the kid is here.”
“Override rejected, boss. The protocol was put into place by Ms Potts, and you made it so that only two override codes will work. ”
Peter’s mouth was moving at a mile a minute, “It’s alright Mr Stark, I can just swing over to the apartment now. I don’t mean to be a bother. You should totally go and get some rest! I can just come back another-”
“Shhh, kid, it’s alright. You want to watch a movie? FRIDAY, we will be having words.”
Peter nodded at his mentor, trying to keep his face clear of any emotions. Maybe not telling Mr Stark was a mistake, but if he told him then he would be worried, and Peter never wanted to worry Mr Stark. But his ribs were really hurting, and they were probably bruised. That was never fun.
“Kid. Kid?” A hand snapped in front of Peter’s face. “I lost you for a bit there. Star Wars?” Stark pointed the remote at the massive TV that covered the wall.
“Sorry bout that, yeah Star Wars is good, I’m gonna use the bathroom first though.”
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Tony waved Peter off as he started deciding between the Star Wars movies. Peter hurried out of the living room towards the guest room he usually stayed in, although it wasn’t so much a guest room at this point, it was really just Peter’s room.
He pressed the spider in the middle of the suit and stepped out of it as soon as he shut the bedroom door behind him. Purple and blue marks covered his body, the worst scattered around his torso. Peter limped over to the bathroom to get the first aid kit from under the sink.
He was about halfway through cleaning the small cuts, and slathering the bruises with some fancy pain relief cream when he heard a knock on his door and a muffled voice started speaking. “Hey Pete, maybe next time don’t disable the coding in your suit that lets me know that you’re injured.”
“How’d you know?” Peter groaned, knowing the lecture he was about to receive.
“Well, you don’t just build multimillion-dollar technology without backups, and you’re awful at hiding what’s hurting you.” Tony shook his head at the boy and took over applying the medicine. “Pepper’s gonna say we’re both idiots when she gets home, so I say couch, ice packs for you, and Star Wars. How bout it kiddo?”
“Yeah, that sounds good Mr Stark.”
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Peter Parker and Tony Stark are complicated people, but they take pleasure in the simplest things. And if anybody says that they fell asleep cuddled together with the TV running in the background, Pepper isn’t going to be the one to confirm. Sometimes a kid just needs his dad and a dad just needs his kid (although they won’t admit it just yet).