Lives We've Lived

Unbreakable

"Stay out of sight," Tony said, pointing a finger into James' chest. "If you need anything, have Peter get it. He's going to be upstairs running the interference anyways."

"We'll be fine, Tones," James assured.

Tony turned back to Peter, who was waiting by the couch. The teen looked a little sad - probably residual from being told he couldn't go on mission - but there was excitement there, too. He hadn't spent time alone with James' since they were both still agents, and that was for good reason. The two were smart, tactical, and loved to play pranks, even if said pranks veered into the dangerous side of things. Once, when Tony had left them in the lab, he'd come back to find them rigging up some elaborate 'acid rain' mechanism to deter Clint from crawling through the vents, if it didn't kill him.

"You behave now, okay?" Tony asked, pulling Peter in for a kiss on the head. "Listen to James and do everything he says unless its dangerous or stupid. Be good."

Peter smiled at Tony warmly. "We'll be fine, dad," the teen repeated James' earlier words. "Seriously. Go kick butt, we'll be here when you get back."

Tony cast one more worried look between James and Peter before he finally sighed and picked up his overnight back. "Don't eat ice cream for dinner."

The teen and the ex-assassin watched as Tony headed out into the hall, the doors to the lab closing behind him. After a second, James looked back at Peter.

"You heard the man. No ice cream for dinner."

"Cake and ice cream are very different," Peter argued, making his biggest puppy-dog eyes.

"You got me there," James laughed. "This is why I'm the fun dad."

The two headed for the little mini-fridge James had stocked with sodas and treats, bumping into one another as they did so.

The video went dead, leaving the screen staticky and blurred. The man watching carefully smiled and looked over at the two men who had recovered this little tid-bit of information.

"Итак, паучок и механик забрали нашего дорогого солдата," he said as he reclined in his chair and swayed side to side. "Что ты собираешься с этим делать?" (Translation: So, the little spider and the mechanic took our dear soldier... What are you planning to do about it?)

The men shared uneasy glances. "Сэр?" (Translation: Sir?)

The man behind the desk stood up quickly and slammed his hands down on the table, making both of the others jump a little, though they tried to hide it. "Я хочу, чтобы солдат и паук вернулись сюда в ближайшие 12 часов, или я лично вырву тебе животы изо рта!" (Translation: I want the soldier and the spider back here in the next 12 hours or I will personally rip your stomachs out of your mouths!)

There was a hasty salute, then they were gone and the man collapsed back into his chair. They had wanted to recover the mechanic, too, but... The spider was already a welcome bonus, and they could make do without the mechanic. They had someone else for that job now.

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"What are you doing?" James asked, coming up behind Peter. The teen was stationed at one of Tony's lab benches, wearing one of Tony's old band shirts.

"Working on a prototype engine part," Peter explained, holding up what James only barely recognized as a piston. "When I'm done with it, I'm hoping it'll be more fluid and require less energy to pump."

"Sounds fancy," James said. Peter looked over some numbers he had scribbled on a piece of paper, his forehead wrinkled in that same adorable way Tony's did. There were moments, moments like this, when James realized just how similar Tony and Peter really were. "Want to get take-out for dinner?"

"Sure," Peter said, not even taking his eyes off his work. James just rolled his eyes and let it go - Peter and Tony could both get so involved with their work, they didn't even notice when people said things to them. James could get the teen distracted with food later.

Later came, and with it, boxes and boxes of Italian food. Peter smelled it before James even called his name and came trotting over himself. James dished out the food - meatballs and garlic bread and pasta and salads.

"You went a little overboard," Peter mumbled. "How did you even get it here without being seen?"

"I had FRIDAY order it under your name, and reception just put the bags in the elevator. I took 5 steps out of the lab."

"You're going to get in trouble with Dad."

James laughed and shoved some spaghetti into his mouth.

"I'm sorry we spent all day in the lab," Peter said, looking a little sheepish. "I know we can't exactly hang out in the penthouse or go out for shopping or even go bowling, but its probably not very much fun watching me work."

"What's bowling?"

"Oh, God, you poor man." Peter took a look around the room and stood up. James watched as the teen pushed two benches out of the way, kicking parts of metal and robotics along the lab floor and out of the way. When he'd cleared enough space, the teen went and found some of the plastic cups Tony kept from his travels across the country - each one had a casino logo across the side - and stacked them like bowling pins.

"What are you doing, Pete?"

"Making a bowling alley here in the lab," Peter said happily. "You can't possibly go through life without bowling."

"Your dad is going to be pissed," James said, setting down his pasta. He watched Peter grab a couple things to use for bowling balls - a pool ball Tony kept on his desk and a ball-joint from a project they'd done a while back - and pace out at least 20 feet from the cups. When he was done, he looked up at James and smiled.

"That's why you're the cool dad."