//IRON DAD//SPIDER SON//MARVEL ONE SHOTS

Smile- Part I

"The heck, man?!"

Peter fell backwards to dodge a bullet that his spider-sense warned had been aimed at his head. Usually they didn't go for the kill right at the get-go, the teen noted as he rolled backwards then stood. "Look, I can see you've had a rough day- your little bank heist was thwarted by a crazy guy in spandex-" Peter dodged another bullet by diving toward the much larger man. Before the gunman could react, Peter tried out that new move Miss Natasha showed him last week- a quick sweep of the legs and suddenly the man was on his back. Wow. He didn't think that would work. Peter postponed his celebration dance, though, and quickly kicked away the dropped gun before covering the struggling criminal in a thick layer of webs. "- and said crazy person is now webbing you up a nice little sleeping bag." Peter giggled at the site of a grown man wiggling around on the ground- it was the little things, really. "Night, night."

"Peter- you have an incoming call from Tony Stark." Karen's voice interrupted Peter's focus on the criminal, and he picked up on approaching sirens. "Whoop- looks like my work here is done." Peter made a show of bowing to his captive audience -hehe- before leaping out of the open skylight he'd used to enter minutes before. "Accept call, Karen." The teen flipped onto the roof, then began sprinting toward the edge.

"Kid-"

uh-oh. Peter immediately noticed Tony was doing that "kind of worried but trying to play it cool" thing with his voice. Something was up. "Minute" Peter grunted as he leapt upwards and shot a line to the neighboring building. Soon, he was in a flow- web, swing, release, repeat.

"Ok, I'm good now- what's up?"

Tony let out a deep breath before continuing- "Well, we kind of have a situation upstate, and-wait, are you still on patrol? At...one thirty in the morning?!" Peter winced and dodged a billboard. "Uh- Yeah...I swear I was heading home by twelve, but then there was like, three muggings and a bank robbery-"

Another sigh. "Ok, ok -I get it, kid- you at least told May, right? You know how she gets-" A voice in the background interrupted Tony, and Peter couldn't quite make out what they were saying. The sarcasm in Tony's response was all too clear, though- "No, I'm getting onto the vice-president for missing his curfew- of course its Peter!" Suddenly the noise was muted- Tony must have covered the receiver with his hand, and Peter focused on swinging faster- he had texted Aunt May earlier that he'd be late, but he wanted to get home as soon as possible. He knew she could never sleep until he made it home safe. Peter ended swinging for almost a full minute before the noise on the other end of the line picked up once more- "Sorry about that, Pete, some people just don't know how to mind their own dang business." Peter grinned. "That's ok, Mr. Stark, so, what's going on?" The line went silent for a second, then- "Ok, it's nothing too crazy- just some light protesting outside the compound." Peter faltered in shooting out a web, and missed his target. "Crap- Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah, were fine, it's just an annoying addition to the landscaping- angry people with signs yelling at a building, but I was thinking that maybe you should stay home until things calm down. Apparently they're at the Tower, too, so that's out-"

Peter had landed on an apartment building just outside of Queens, but returning home was no longer on the forefront of his mind. "But- Mr. Stark- if it's not a big deal, then why can't I come over? So what if some people aren't happy about the Avengers getting back together? That's their problem-"

"I know, I know- trust me, kid, if I didn't think it was a bad call, I'd have you over this weekend; but...we've been getting threats- not just to us, but to SI employees-" Tony could probably sense Peter's indignation, as he quickly added- "- and it's not just you- Pepper is staying in Malibu, and I tried to get Happy to go with her, but you probably can imagine how that went."

Peter wanted to keep arguing- he's handled worse things than a few protestors- and if this was one of those times when Mr. Stark downplayed the danger of a situation, then they could use Peter's help.

"Peter- I can see those gears turning in your head- I know I'm like the lenient, cool dad, but I mean it this time- stay low for a couple of weeks- don't come to tower, either."

"...Are you going to be ok?"

"What? Yeah- I've got the Avengers on my side- they don't stand a chance."

They.

"Mr. Stark-"

"I'll see you in two weeks, bud. Just- you know, stay in school. Talk to that girl, MJ."

"Ok, Dad."

"Heh- love you, kid."

Peter froze. Why was he-?

"L-love you too."

"Ok- see you soon."

"...bye."

The line went dead.

It's fine- everything's fine.

Tony was just being cautious- simply overprotective. There was nothing to worry about...

Peter continued to reassure himself as he resumed the journey home. Soon, he was sneaking in through his bedroom window, before changing into some lounge pants and a T-shirt he found on the ground. After putting away the suit, Peter tiptoed into the living room where he knew he'd meet Aunt May. She'd been dozing off on the couch, but when she saw her nephew, she snapped to attention, and the two stared at each other for a good minute.

"I'll do better next time." Peter finally promised as he let his eyes fall.

"I'm holding you to it" Aunt May's voice was quiet, yet firm. After another silent moment, she got up and walked out of the room, kissing Peter's head as she passed by. "Good night."

"I love you, Aunt May."

The older woman paused at the threshold of the hallway, and responded- "I know you do, Peter. I love you, too." And then she was gone.

They loved him. Peter hugged himself as he slowly walked back to his bedroom. Everything was finally looking up, and we wasn't going to let a little garden-variety anxiety keep him from enjoying himself.

Everything was going to be ok.

Until it wasn't.

————————————————————————

MORE TO COME SOON