Irondad & spiderson One shots {open}

Stillness- 31

Tony is the type of person that waits for something to go wrong. In the back of his mind, there's a nagging voice telling him any good thing he has will be ripped away. Something bad will happen and it'll hurt him or more importantly, someone he loves.

He has such an overwhelming fear of loosing people. The thought makes him nauseous, it refuses to let him sleep at most times. He needs to feel like he's doing something- anything. He needs to build a suit or add to his emergency tech that he keeps locked away, hoping he'll never need to use them.

Tonight, he works on backups and writes down ideas for Peter to add onto his own spider-suit. He's noticed he likes doing it himself so Tony just stays observing and nudging him in the right direction when he needs it. The kid learns better with hands-on tasks anyway.

The night is still, and even though Tony's eyes burn with exhaustion, he keeps working. Maybe in another few hours he'll retreat to his bed next to Pepper but right now, he doesn't think he'd be able to sleep. He knows nightmares will play on loop, one loved one after another will be ripped from his grasp in a flurry of scenarios.

"Boss," FRIDAY says quietly. "I know Mr. Parker will not agree with my 'snitching,' but he appears to be in the kitchen with an elevated heart rate."

Oh. Well, that changes his plans.

He pushes himself up to his feet and stretches, grunting as his old joints crack. He really shouldn't be sitting for so long.

"Is he ok?"

"Yes. He's doing his homework."

"What-" he glances at the clock and reads 4:05AM. "He should be asleep."

"So should you." "Zip it."

When he makes it to the kitchen, the kid's back is facing him.

"So... what subject," he asks, grinning tiredly as he whips around in alarm.

Peter relaxes when he realizes who's there.
"Jeez dude you can't just sneak up on me."

"What happened to your Spidey tingle?"

"It only works with danger. And stop calling it that."

"May got me hooked there's no going back."

Peter drops his head on his textbook and gives a muffled groan. It's dark except for the dim light just above him and his notes are scattered along the table, so Tony walks over and studies them.

"AP Physics," Peter supplies.

"Ah. You're good at that."

He shrugs, keeping his eyes pointing towards the book. Tony can tell he's not reading it.

"Why're you up?" "Why are you up?"

"I asked first I get dibs."

Peter huffs out a laugh. "Couldn't sleep. I needed a distraction."

He truly is Tony's kid, huh?

"Yeah," he sighs, "same here kiddie."

He suddenly perks up, "You were in the lab? Did you make anything cool?" "Nah. Just wrote some bullcrap ideas down. A few notes for some tuneups on your suit too." "Can we do it now?"

Tony thinks about it.

He wants to provide a distraction for his problems. He can only assume the same fears pollute Peter's mind and he'd love to see the smile on his face as he reads Tony's notes but he doesn't think he's putting on much of a good-mentor- example doing so. The kid's eye bags are starting to become ones that could rival his own.

"Well... let's save that for tomorrow, ok?"

"What- why?" "Pete. It's almost 4:30."

"Yeah? Might as well finish out the night."

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. That is exactly his mindset. This... probably isn't very good.

"Ok. No more thinking like that."

Peter smiles cheekily. "You're the same way."

He could deny it. He could play along, throw a joke back and retreat to the lab together but instead, he nods.

"We'll both work on it then. No more bad sleeping habits."

Pepper would approve of this. He'll draw a compliment out of her tomorrow.

"Adding bedtime to the baby spider protocol," FRIDAY hums.

His jaw drops. "What? You have a list?!"

"Yep. Gotta keep you in check, spider-kid."
He ruffles his hair, walking towards the kitchen's exit. "Let's watch a movie. Your pick."

"You're just saying that because I'll fall asleep in the middle of the movie."

"Yeah," he says grimacing, "better than falling asleep to AP physics. You can finish that tomorrow."

As they're both sprawled out on the couch, Peter out like a light and Tony on the edge of conscious and unconscious, he realizes nothing is wrong. His mind has been running on fight or flight mode for so long and he's so scared of loosing the people he loves most but right here, leaning against him, is one of them; alive, breathing, and more than likely having a dream about Star Wars. Another is in bed sleeping sound and she'll probably snap a picture of the two of them in the morning. The others are away, but alive and well and Tony knows that because they keep sending pictures of their families, stupid animal videos, and memes to their group chat. He'll complain, but deep down, he loves it. He loves them.

Nothing is wrong.

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Words- 870

This chapter was brought to you by me procrastinating my physics hw

Not me finishing Spooktober a week after Halloween 😍 anywayyy have a great day/night