Better Days | MCU IronDad AU

Chapter 2 ▬ Condense and Collapse

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— CHAPTER TWO —
CONDENSE AND COLLAPSE

Tony watched as Peter softly spoke with his aunt, voice quiet and hushed, as if he was worried about someone overhearing his words. It wouldn't have mattered anyway; they were outside in the hospital's parking lot, away from the main building, where the sounds of the city at night drowned out the words of the people. The night air was chilly and heavy, and the starless sky was dotted with grey clouds that sluggishly passed by.

'I'll be back before you even see the sunrise,' Peter promised into his phone. 'Yeah. Love you too, Aunt May.'

With that, Spider-Man sniffled and turned around to face Tony. 'Ah,' Peter said, raising a hand to point at something far away, 'we can go now, if you're ready.'

Tony eyed him for a moment; the front of the suit was dark, with raised bumps and crystalline edges coloured a dark maroon, as if someone had dumped a thick, smelly red paint onto him. Tony wondered how Peter could stand so still even with the blood staining just about every part of him.

'You sure you're good?' Tony asked finally.

The stiffness in Peter's shoulders never let up as he answered. 'Yeah. Yeah, let's go.'

'Okay,' said Tony, rolling his shoulders and readjusting the skeleton of his suit. 'Okay, let's go. And, not to brag, but you might want to see this.'

And, to tell the truth, he really wasn't bragging.

Raising a hand, Tony double-tapped the arc reactor that clung to his sternum. Almost immediately the tech began to hum, the blue glow rushing out like water. From the triangular sides, nanoparticles gushed out like waves along the shore, trickling down the skeletal frames of the suit before branching outward, coating his chest, his arms and legs. From nerve wiring to muscle plating to flexible armoured skin, Tony watched as the suit enveloped him in flashes of scarlet and gold right as the Iron Man helmet snapped close over his head.

Smiling smugly, Tony turned to Peter, the glow of the arc reactor washing over the young super's masked face. 'Ta-da,' Tony said, a little bit of glee leaking into his tone. 'I present to you your still-in-development Mark L.'

Peter was most likely blinking like a deer beneath that mask. 'Wicked,' he whispered in awe. The shutters of the eye lenses of his mask were pulled wide open, and his arm was outstretched as if he wanted to stroke the suit with his fingers.

Straightening, Tony fired up his repulsors. Light and heat streamed from his gauntlets and boots, gently pulling the Mark L into the air. The flight stabilisers on his back broadened like miniature wings. Hovering, Tony called over his shoulder, 'Same routine as always, Crockett. Try to keep up.'

The suit shot up into the air, leaving a trail of light and a whine of energy in its wake. Tony had only cleared the top of Midtown Medical's roof when he felt something latch around his ankle. F.R.I.D.A.Y., nestled within the suit's HUD, immediately began running scans along the suit's exterior, but Tony already knew it was Peter's webbing wrapped tight around Tony's boots.

With reassurance of the kid clinging onto him, Tony let the Mark L blast off into the air. The webbing stretched and pulled taut, and Tony could hear the gleeful whoops echoing from Peter as they clipped the corners of buildings and scraped the roofs. The crisp air crackled around them as they shot into the sky.

No matter how many times they had done this, Tony figured cruising over New York City would never get old. Lights had begun to flicker to life in the streets and in buildings, like the stars had touched down onto the Earth. Cruising over the city with the kid dangling onto him made the journey all the more thrilling.