Superfamily One Shots

Testing His Limits

**This was the second highest voted for idea - I made it fluffy and angsty because we love a hard shell Tony who CRACKS because of how sweet Peter is. I think It's alright, but it is a monster! Over 2k words. Also, a side note, I love collecting Squishables and I pre-ordered this new one in March that I just got today!!! It's a plague doctor and I love him, and I named his Prosper-Poe because Edgar Allan Poe was an amazing writer and Prince Prospero is the character he wrote in Masque of The Red Death, which was about the plague!! Full circle literary puns are my shit, y'all. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about me, then I don't know what to tell you. Anyways, Enjoy!!**

Peter and Tony were... well, they were colleagues. That's how Tony would put it, at least. Ever since the Homecoming incident, Tony had accepted Peter as part of the team. He was a fellow genius, a superhero teammate, and a invaluable lab partner.

Peter wanted more, though. Of course he was thankful for the opportunities Tony had already given him. Of course he was more than happy to just watch Tony work in the labs, let alone help him. Of course he'd starting seeing Tony as a surrogate father and looked up to him and wanted him to say he was proud of the work Peter did.

But all of that would just test Tony's limits, a fact Peter was reminded of several times a week, from the failed attempts at hugs goodbye to the sharp way in which Tony pushed Peter out as soon as feeling came into the picture.

"Hand me a wrench," Tony said, sticking a greasy and calloused hand out from under the bumper of a car. Peter handed it over dutifully.

"What are you doing now?" the teen asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Tony sighed. "Changing the break fluid. Grab another creeper and I'll show you how."

Peter grabbed another one of the creepers in the garage and wiggled his way under the car next to Tony. "Okay, so what's that?"

Peter pointed up at the bottom of the car. "That's the under pan, Pete. It goes under the whole car, I just need to unclip it."

Tony worked with sure and careful hands. Peter watched with rapt attention, asking questions every now and then to better understand what Tony was doing. Tony answered them all with patience and descriptive explanation.

"Thanks," Peter said after one particularly drawn out answer. "I never had someone to show me this kind of stuff, ya know... no dad or whatever. But you're explaining it really well."

Peter's cheeks were red, but Tony's face was stony. He didn't like when Peter stepped over the line of mentor and into family.

Tony grunted. "Yeah. Why don't you head home, Pete? We're almost done here anyways."

"O-oh." Peter rolled himself out from under the car, unsure of how to make the awkward situation better. He scurried from the garage quickly. Tony let out a sigh when he heard the door shut and he let his head fall back on the creeper. Closing his eyes, the man slowly counted down from 50, trying to keep his breathing under control.

Tony's earliest memories were of being afraid of Howard. He knew now, as an adult, that not all fathers, not all mentors, were like that. There was no reason to be afraid of becoming someone's father figure. Tony wasn't like Howard. The story ended there. Unfortunately trauma didn't work that way - just the word 'dad' made Tony tense up.

Tony pushed himself out from under the car and put the heels of his palms over his eyes. Tears squeezed out the sides, rolling down his cheeks in thick drops.

I'm not Howard. Howard isn't here. I'm in the lab. I'm-

"Tony?"

The billionaire's eyes popped open and found a blur of red hair and black pencil skirt above his face. "Hey, Pep."