A Slice Of Life, Death And Everything In-Between

I'll Hold You Close, Keep You Safe and Sound

A/N: Hi guys! I hope that you enjoy this cute little sleepy Peter ficlet and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, I really do love hearing from you all! 😅💖🥰

Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man or any related materials.

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"Hey, bud, how was your day?" Glancing up from his tinkering at the sound of the lab doors opening, Tony grins, fully expecting to get an ear-full of excited spider-baby chatter.

When that doesn't happen, however, the billionaire feels his smile drop, fully setting down his wrench and standing up, ignoring the way his back pops. Peter's still standing at the lab's entrance, one of Tony's old MIT hoodies bunched up around his hands as he rubs at his doe eyes, blinking.

"Peter?" Tony asks again, stepping around his work station and stopping in-front of his kid, the worry lines around the genius's eyes deepening when he sees just how rough Peter really looks. "You okay, bambi?"

Peter nods, still not meeting Tony's eyes. "Yeah, just-just had a long day, is all."

Not convinced, Tony reaches out, gently cupping the 15-year-old's red cheek in one of his hands, the other smoothing back Peter's curls. The spiderling hesitates for a second before leaning into the soft touch, his doe eyes fluttering closed. Tony feels his concern deepend when he sees just how dark the circles underneath Peter's eyes are.

"How much sleep did you get last night, pumpkin?"

Peter, eyes opening, shrugs, fiddling with a loose piece of string on the front of his jacket. "Around 5 hours? I think?"

"Peter," Tony chides, trying hard not to out-right coo as his kid suddenly yawns, his button nose scrunching in an adorable tired-puppy way. "You gotta get enough sleep. You weren't out doing Spider-Man stuff, right? I don't need to have Friday pull up Karen's footage--?"

"No!" Head snapping up, Peter's eyes are wide in earnest, one of his still-sweatshirt clothed hands reaching out and gently wrapping around Tony's own sleeve. "Wasn't anything like that, I just had a big test today and needed to-to study. I promise, Tony."

"Okay, okay, I believe you, bug." Running his fingers through Peter's unruly chestnut curls, Tony pulls him closer with his free hand, gently wrapping his arm around and younger hero's shoulders. "How about we just skip lab night tonight, and go watch a movie instead, hm? I'll even let you pick it."

"You--" Peter cuts himself off to yawn again, jaw stretching so wide that Tony's slightly afraid he might get swallowed up. "You always let me pick."

"Yeah, but this time I won't complain."

Peter thinks around it, his body subconsciously falling against Tony's the longer they stand there. Rubbing soothing circles against his kid's back, Tony hums under his breath, not bothered in the slightest when his own arm starts to go slightly numb from holding up the teen's weight. 

Gently rocking in place, Tony glances down after a few seconds, his chest warming at the sight.

Peter's eyes are closed, head lulled against the billionaire's chest, nuzzled underneath Tony's chin. Peter's own chest gently rises and falls, one of his hands still holding onto Tony's shirt collar through the sweatshirt.

Leaning down, Tony presses a sweet kiss against his son's forehead. "I think I have my answer, bubba."

Peter doesn't respond, just snuggles even closer and Tony rolls his eyes fondly, reaching down to fully pull the dozing spiderling into his arms. With a bit of shuffling around, Tony finally gets the boy settled against his hip, Peter's arms wrapped loosely around Tony's neck, cheek pressed against the genius's shoulder.

"Fri, shut the lab down for me, please."

"Of course, boss. I've also gotten the Television in the family room set up as well, and turned the lights down 30%."

Tony smiles, beginning the trek toward where the open elevator waits, shifting Peter when the teen wiggles a bit. "Thanks, Fri."

"Wha--?" Peter lifts his head slightly, glancing around with an exhausted, doe-eyed expression. "Tony?"

"Right here, bambino." Punctuating his words with a soft kiss against Peter's temple, the older superhero reaches out to press the button for the penthouse, before glancing down at his kid. "You must be really tired, huh, kiddo?"

Peter swallows, looking for a second like he might argue, before another gigantic yawn stretches his jaw and he relents. "Yeah, guess so. I'm sorry--"

"Nope," Holding up his hand, Tony shakes his head. "No apologies. We're gonna go watch a movie now, buddy, maybe eat some ice cream, and you're going to fall asleep before we even make it half-way through."

"But--"

"That's the plan, it's set in stone, can't change it now, sorry, Petey-Pie."

Peter's silent for longer than Tony would have thought and the billionaire glances down, expecting to see another conked-out spider-baby nuzzled against his shoulder. Peter's eyes are still open, however, narrowed in stubborn exhausted, his mouth pulled in a pout and Tony huffs out a silent chuckle.

Finally, Peter speaks, the words drowsy and muffled when he finally leans back and sinks against Tony's chest once more. ". . .Can we watch The Aristocats?"

Tony actually does laugh this time, pressing a gentle kiss against Peter's temple. "Yeah, bud, we can watch Aristocats."

All the response Tony gets is another yawn and the warm feeling of Peter cuddling even closer, his soft curls tickling against Tony's nose and the billionaire silently bets that they won't even make it through kitten's "Scales and Arpeggios" song before Peter's dead to the world again.

He's half right.

They don't even make it through the beginning credits. 

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A/N: Thank you for reading! ❤️❤️❤️