stark, peter parker

xvi. shit

"do you know what's up with peter?" tony asked his daughter as soon as he arrived back in new york.

"uh, no?" dakota replied with a furrowed brow. "other than him not wanting to give up on catching those guys."

"well, did you talk to him about it?"

"who do i look like to you? yeah of course i told him not to do it, but you and i both know he isn't going to."

tony let out a long and exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "okay, so that's what he's doing."

dakota followed him around the new, and mainly vacant, avengers facility. "why, what did he do?"

"i called him, and he was being oddly suspicious. i was just trying to compliment-"

"no, dad. i mean, what has he gotten himself into?"

happy walked into the room, phone in hand. although the man looked stressed a lot of the time, he looked particularly stressed as he outstretched his arm to show his screen to the two starks.

kodie looked down at the sight of a broken apart staten island ferry, and, in the middle, a speck of red. as the camera zoomed in, the little figure focused into what was obviously peter.

"shit." she mumbled, looking up at her father.

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

dakota, in her sapphiron suit, flew through the sky next to her father. she could practically sense the anger radiating from him, and could only hope things didn't get too ugly when he spoke to peter.

the two starks flew onto opposite sides of the ferry, pushing them together with their hands. mini drones flew out from tony's suit, attempting to help the starks press the two halves together.

"hi, spider-man." tony said in a condescending tone. "band practice, was it?" he asked before flying off. 

"yeah, iron man!" a man on the ferry yelled. "sapphiron!" he started clapping, leading the other people in a small chant.

peter swung onto the cargo hold, where tony was welding the ferry together. "uh, mr. stark? hey, mr. stark, could i do anything? is there anything i can do?" he asked, looking up at him.

tony continued welding the ferry halves, meeting his daughter in the middle. "i think you've done enough."

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

while tony finished up with the mending of the ferry, dakota flew off to find peter. she saw him sitting on a ledge, his mask in his hands. she wanted to say something, but one look at his slumped body told her that there was nothing she could say. he already knew he'd messed up.

instead of saying anything, she opened her suit up and walked over to him, placing a comforting hand on his back. he didn't react, reaching up to wipe his nose with the backside of his hand.

"previously on peter screws the pooch," tony said as he flew down to meet them, "i tell you to stay away from this. instead, you hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing i told you not to do."

peter's jaw clenched slightly. "is everyone okay?"

"no thanks to you." he replied.

"no thanks to me?" peter jumped off from the ledge he was on, angered by his statement. "those weapons were out there, and i tried to tell you about it. but you didn't listen. none of this would've happened if you had just listened to me." he laughed slightly, gesturing to the suit that he assumed to be another drone. "if you even cared, you'd actually be here."

the iron man suit, much to peter's surprise, opened to reveal tony inside. he stepped down from the suit and approached peter, who backed off in shock. "i did listen, kid. who do you think called the fbi, huh? do you know that i was the only one who believed in you? everyone else said i was crazy to recruit a 14-year-old kid-"

"i'm sixteen." peter corrected.

"no, this is where you zip it, all right?" tony said, raising his voice. "the adult is talking. what if somebody had died tonight? different story, right? 'cause that's on you. and if you died, i feel like that's on me. i don't need that on my conscience."

peter looked down, embarrassed."yes, sir. i.. i'm sorry."

tony frowned. "sorry doesn't cut it."

the boy nodded. "i understand. i just wanted to be like you."

"and i wanted you to be better." tony replied. after a moment, he clapped his hands together. "okay, it's not working out. i'm gonna need the suit back."

peter looked up, pure disbelief on his face. "for how long?"

"forever."

dakota, who had been standing back for the conversation, took a step forward. "dad-"

tony held up a hand to silence her. "nope. let's have it." he held his hand out to peter, who was pleading with him.

"you don't understand." peter said. "please. this is all i have." he begged. "i'm nothing without this suit."

"if you're nothing without this suit," tony said simply, "then you shouldn't have it. okay? god, i sound like my dad."

accepting his defeat, peter looked up. "i don't have any other clothes."

tony nodded. "okay, we'll sort that out."