stark, peter parker

iii. too much testosterone

while peter flew down with his parachute, dakota watched tony latch onto the hull of the ship. she landed next to him, helping him create a hole to board the ship from. "this is probably a bad idea, right?" she asked her father, who didn't respond.

"boss," f.r.i.d.a.y. spoke, "incoming call from miss potts."

"tony?" a worried pepper spoke. "oh, my god. are you all right? what's going on?"

he nodded, looking over to his daughter. "yeah, i'm fine. i just think we might have to push our 8:30 res."

"why?"

tony looked at the ship around him. "cause i'll... probably not make it back for a while."

"tell me you're not on that ship." pepper said, her voice commanding a statement more than a question.

"yeah."

her growing terror was evident even through the phone. "god, no. please tell me you're not on that ship. is dakota with you? please tell me you're not both on that ship-"

tony shook his head. "honey, i'm sorry. i'm sorry, i don't know what to say."

"come back here, tony. i swear to god...."

"pep...." tony died out weakly, not knowing what he could say to make the situation any better.

"come back here right now! come back!"

"boss, we're losing her." f.r.i.d.a.y. said. "i'm going, too...." the ai died out, leaving the two starks in silence.

after a moment of neither of them talking, dakota cleared her throat. "let's find the wizard."

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

when the two found doctor strange, he was floating face down and horizontally, surrounded by dozens of two-foot long glassy needles. ebony maw stood before his hovering body, interrogating him.

"in all the time i've served thanos," he said, "i've never failed him. if i were to reach our rendezvous on titan with the time stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement." the needles began to make contact with strange's face, emitting a painful glow with each prick. "give me... the stone."

dakota and her father were perched above the scene, watching and thinking of what to do. the cloak of levitation tapped on tony's arm, and he raised his hand as if to shoot it, pausing as he realized it was just the cloak. "wow you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" he asked.

"yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty...." peter spoke as he dropped down from above. "i know what you're gonna say." he said before either stark could speak.

"what are you doing here?" dakota asked.

"you should not be here." tony said simply.

peter nodded. "i was gonna go home--"

tony shook his head. "i don't wanna hear it."

"--but it was such a long way down and i just thought about you on the way..." peter continued.

"and now i gotta hear it."

"...and i kinda stuck to the side of the ship. and this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. so if anything, it's kinda your fault that i'm here." he said, gesturing to the father and daughter.

"what did you just say?" they asked in unison.

peter, intimidated by them both, held up a hand. "i take that back. and now i'm here in space." he said simply.