Chapter Text
Tony had waited for him to settle and Stephen gave him a very deliberate nod, rewarding his patience. Tony didn't waste any time wrapping himself around Stephen like an octopus with Peter joining in on the opposite side. The comfort wasn't something Stephen was used to so when he dropped into a nap, feeling protected, it was a complete surprise to him. Peter and Tony just cuddled closer.
~~~
Tony knew something was wrong. Their wizard was out of sorts in a way that he regretfully recognized. Something terrible had happened to the man at some point and he hadn't felt safe enough to process it since then. The absent mutters of some guy named Dormammu were also a clue. Tony was going to get to the bottom of this and use the excuse of the two attacks to at least start things in a way that he could reasonably want to know.
"Hey, Stephanie? What's Wong's number?" Tony asked casually.
"Er, hang on," Stephen said startled, before fumbling a horror of an ancient phone out of his pocket.
"No, you can't be using that abomination!" Tony exclaimed before Stephen even got the screen working.
"It was what I could afford for on planet when I reached a level that let me take missions," Stephen sighed, rolling his eyes at the inventor. "I ran through everything I had to try and fix my hands before I managed to get to Kamar-Taj and start training. I can barely keep this one working between tight budgets and magic interference. There's an actual reason why the Mystic Order tends to use magic for communication and travel after all."
Tony made a pained and affronted sound before snatching it up and heading for his lab.
"Don't break it! I need the durability it has proven to have and I don't think I could find a replacement," Stephen called after him in warning but didn't bother trying to retrieve his phone.
"Military level hardening if he really is having trouble with magic screwing with the electronics," Tony muttered to himself as he stormed into his lab. "Hands free stuff because his hands, god they have to hurt a lot. A full upload of everything not related to the weapons and actual armor from my armor. Hell, I'm putting him on my phone service. This is just too much of an abomination!"
Friday kindly switches on a video feed of his Wizard and Spiderling as he works so that Tony can monitor them.
"Why did you just let him take your phone?" Peter asked from the screen.
"Because I do have at least one fairly clear memory from whatever other me I am getting these things from. Fighting him to keep that old dinosaur would just get him angry and I hardly use it. It is strictly for when I am on earth and talking with someone who isn't part of the Mystic Order I joined," Stephen said with a rueful smile that Tony could hear in his voice. "I wasn't kidding about it being what I could afford when I bought it but I haven't replaced it because other younger members of the Order found out the hard way that the more advanced the tech the more it interferes with or reacts to the magic we use. If someone could figure out some sort of buffer or shield then it wouldn't be a problem but the way they fry and the general lack of funds among the Order doesn't lend itself to fixing that."
Stephen's words brought Tony up short halfway through dismantling the phone to get at the SIM card and the memory chip. So he was frozen in the perfect position to hear Peter's sympathetic response.
"I get not having the money for stuff. Before.... Well before Spiderman and even a bit after I would rescue electronics and stuff from the dumpsters and fix them up to sell. It gave me some cash, let me get what I needed for my own projects, and sometimes I was able to buy extra groceries to slip into the kitchen for us. I just had to do it before Aunt May or Uncle Ben took inventory for a grocery run," Peter said cheerfully. "My first web shooters were built that way. My web fluid is something I make at school with the chemicals in the chem lab."
"Does Stark know about that?" Stephen asked, clearly amused and exasperated at the same time.
"I don't think so? I never actually told him about my webs or how I first met him. He still thinks he barged in on me to drag me off to the German airport fight that he didn't think would actually turn into a fight. I met him a few times before that," Peter shrugged. "The one that freaked out my Aunt and Uncle the most though was at the Stark Expo. I was dressed up and running around in a toy copy of his mask and gloves and aimed them at one of the robots. He blew it up from behind me after getting it's attention and told me good job. It was awesome. I didn't tell Aunt May and Uncle Ben about it though. They were freaked out about getting separated from me in the attack."
The mini heart attack Tony had after hearing all of that had Friday asking if he was alright and his bots trying to check him.
"I want to know how you make your webs, both from professional curiosity but mostly so that I can set up a safe area for you to make them in. It sounds like you make it under your desk or something," Stephen snarked, drawing Tony out of the edges of a panic attack with his words.
"Noooo, why would you ever think that?" Peter asked, obviously lying.
"Yeah, no, that's not happening anymore. I don't know what chemicals you use but mixing them blind in the middle of class under your desk is bound to get someone hurt," Stephen said insistently. "I'll find a way to set up a lab station or something so that you can at least make them more safely."
"Don't tell Mr. Stark," Peter pleaded. "He's got enough going on and he really didn't have to keep me. I would have figured something out."
"Friday make sure they hear me," Tony snapped. "Peter if you ever think I didn't want you in the first place then you're an idiot. There is no fucking way I'm letting you run off just to not bother me. I'll set up your own lab for you to make webs in later. Merlin, make sure he doesn't try to run off and be a stupid teenager on the streets or something else ridiculous."
The way both of them reacted spoke of familiarity with Tony that was surreal in the context of not having spent much time around them.
"Mr. Stark!" Peter protested. "You don't have to do that! Really!"
"Like I would actually let him run off," Stephen scoffed in response to Tony's command. "It makes actually protecting him incredibly difficult."
"Uh huh," Tony said suspiciously. "Spiderling, I'm gonna need your phone. If I'm souping up Gandalf's I might as well do yours too. We can be the test group since our gear tends to take some serious stress testing during our heroing. Merlin, how many people at your Hogwarts would be willing to test phones and stuff?"
"A fair number of them," Stephen admitted warily.
"Then we can use that as part of why I'm co-opting you," Tony said simply. "Hiring you for my enhanced kid needing check ups won't fly for civilians even if you tell your group."
"Ah, my specialty was Neurosurgery," Stephen said carefully. "I don't see how having me consult for a phone or other tech can..."
"Hands free services, your genius medical brain for my Iron Man stuff, and... I'm willing to admit that I had leftover damage during my kidnapping in Afghanistan that falls into your bailiwick. I won't like it but the damage was done years ago so officially having you check my cobbled together solution isn't as bad as it could be," Tony admitted with a grimace. "I am not looking forward to getting yelled at but it is a legitimate medical thing for you to check that I've technically already solved that would explain why I've put you in a guest room."
"What damage?" Stephen demanded, standing up and immediately focused on Tony despite being in a completely different room.
"Heavy metal poisoning from the earliest arc reactors which were, out of necessity, installed in my sternum," Tony admitted.
"What?!" came the horrified shout from both Stephen and Peter. Tony sighed and tapped the command to unlock the door to his lab.
"I'm in the lab, Underroos. If you and Strange want to come check me the door is unlocked," Tony said ruefully. He briefly watched them bolt towards his lab with Peter in the lead before shutting down the video feed. To replace it he brought up his private medical file with all of his own notes along with those of the doctors over the years on a spare tablet to hand to Strange when he arrived.
When they arrive Peter worriedly checks Tony as much as he can but Strange practically pounces on the offered up tablet, correctly assuming that it was Tony's medical files. Tony is just plain amused as they hovered over him while he got back to work. It doesn't take him long to hear Strange cursing out his previous doctors and the Ten Rings for their treatment of him under their care. Just because of that he knows he's getting his own check up by the doctor at some point and honestly Tony's okay with that. Pizza is ordered for supper long before either teen or Doctor is satisfied that Tony is okay but distracting them with movies before bedtime works out for the best.
The next morning Doctor Strange doesn't let Tony escape his medical check up.
~~~