Irondad Oneshots

In soul and spirit

Soulmate AU where every person has a tattoo of half a symbol on their wrists.

Only your soulmate will match your mark.

Each person has either a romantic, or platonic connection with their soulmates.

Left wrist is platonic, right is romantic.

Tony Stark had always loved asking his mother about soulmates.

Her and his father had a compass.

Jarvis and his wife had a small painting of a rose.

His was half of a...

Spider?

And it was on his left wrist.

He had cried on his tenth birthday, when it appeared.

"I wanted to marry someone nice!" He'd sobbed.

His mother pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "Romantic love isn't always the best love."

When he met Pepper Potts, he thought for sure that his soul mark was wrong.

She was perfect for him.

Her soulmate had died when she was a girl, and he had never found his.

So they got together.

She was amazing.

More so than any woman he had ever met.

But something was missing.

She would always find him staring at his mark, running his finger across the slim black lines.

Then she would curl up next to him, kissing his cheek.

"You'll find them someday."

Then the Civil War happened.

They fought.

Then again, but this time with a boy in a red and blue suit, whose voice was young and cheerful, whose soul mark was half of a tiny spider.

And he felt sick.

Because of course his soulmate would be an impressionable teenager that loved legos and science.

So he kept his distance.

Never showed his mark to the boy, and tried to avoid him.

Then he got an alert that his soulmate was drowning.

So he sent a suit.

He couldn't go in person, he needed to stay unattached.

And he hated the crushed look in the teen's eyes when he said that he wasn't ready.

Then Washington happened, and then the ferry.

Tony had yelled at the boy, angrier than he'd ever been at him, because "what if somebody had died tonight? Because that would have been on you."

Then he said the words that he had know since he had met the boy.

Whispered them because he couldn't say it out loud.

"And if you died? I feel like that's on me."

"I know, I'm sorry sir-"

And the broken voice had hurt more than anything.

"I'm trying to protect you, Peter. Why can't you see that?"

"I can protect myself!" Peter had looked so torn, eyes wide and innocent. "I wanted to help them! To stop them from being hurt!"

"And I wanted to keep you safe, kid."

"Why? You're not my dad. Why should you care about a random kid from Queens?"

Tony jerked up his sleeve, watching the kid take in the small black symbol. "Because I have always cared about you."

Peter's eyes flickered down to his own wrist, hidden in the suit, then back up. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He let the sleeve fall back into place, straightening his suit jacket. "Because I didn't want to ruin someone else's life."

Before he could leave, a small body barreled into him, slim arms wrapping around his waist.

"Uh- Pete?"

The boy didn't move, tightening his hold. "You're not gonna ruin me. You've been my hero forever."

His arms were stiff at his sides, not knowing quite what to do in this situation. "That's exactly what I meant. I'm not a role model."

"You're my soulmate." The confidence in the boy's tone did nothing for the billionaire's growing nerves. "You're not gonna hurt me."

At last he lowered his arms to hug the kid back. "And how do you know that?"

"Because you're a good person."

"Uh huh. Well, see if you can keep that view, kiddo. You won't think that after a couple of hours with me."

"A couple of hours?"

"Yup. You're coming to my lab as soon as I get the all set from aunt hottie."

"Aunt hottie? Ew, Mr Stark!"