Cold heart of monster

Chapter 13

Tony stepped out on the Avengers' floor—named after their gang. The name came from “Avenge". They were literally a mafia that avenged every wrong done to them. Few people knew how close-knit they were, like a family. Tony trusted them enough to leave Peter in their care for an afternoon. One of his clients was late on payments, so Tony needed to pay him a personal visit.

Leaving Peter alone for a few hours wasn’t ideal, and Tony wanted to avoid it. In theory, Peter was old enough to stay home by himself, but better safe than sorry. Tony would never forgive himself if something happened to the boy because of his negligence. Besides, he still remembered that Peter might try to run away. His threats had worked wonders, but who knew what went through the mind of a scared kid?

“Good morning, everyone,” Tony said to his friends sitting on the couch. They all turned their heads toward him.

“Tony, you’re up so early?” Steve asked in surprise, glancing at the clock. 7:45. Tony usually slept until nine, and if no one woke him, he could stay in bed until eleven.

“Duty calls,” he sighed, heading to the kitchen for coffee. “Speaking of duties, I have some business to take care of. Could you guys keep an eye on Peter for me until evening?”

The coffee machine started grinding beans—way too loudly for a machine that cost tens of thousands. Tony leaned out from behind the wall to hear the response better.

“Sure, it’ll be a pleasure,” Bruce replied. “I’m off today, and I don’t know about the others, but I can look after him.”

“We need to head out in a couple of hours,” Sam said, pointing at himself and Bucky. Bucky nodded.

“Okay, then I’ll bring him here around noon, alright? Or maybe you’d rather come up?”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s just a few floors up.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be back before six, so heat up dinner for him. Everything’s in my fridge. Oh, and one more thing—he’s not allowed to leave the tower without me, so if he wants to go for a walk, take him to the gym or balcony. Call if there’s a problem, though I doubt you’ll need to. He’s such a well-behaved kid.”

“Got it, we’ll take care of him.”

“Thanks. For now, I’m heading back upstairs. Come by at noon.”

Tony returned to his floor. Peter was still sleeping, so Tony decided to tidy up a bit. There were cleaning staff in the tower, but he didn’t let them into the penthouse, so he had to clean up himself. With a kid at home, there was always some mess, though Peter, still shy, tried to clean up after himself. It didn’t always go perfectly, like today. The couch had food stains, and toys were scattered on the floor, but that’s exactly what Tony appreciated. For the first time, it felt like he’d truly come home. He scrubbed the couch stain with three different cleaning agents but left the toys. He washed the dishes, made breakfast, and asked FRIDAY to wake Peter.

“Young Sir is refusing to get out of bed,” the AI reported.

“Is he sick or something?” Tony asked, frowning. He had no clue how to handle a sick kid. He had gaps to fill, and he told FRIDAY to make a note to stock up on essential medicines and order a book to learn what to do.

“Young Sir shows no signs of illness,” FRIDAY continued, and Tony breathed a sigh of relief. “He seems simply sleepy.”

“Oh, alright,” Tony said, relieved it wasn’t serious. “Then tell him he has five more minutes. After that, he either comes down himself, or I’ll come get him.”

Four minutes later, Tony heard footsteps on the stairs. He smiled at the sight of the still-drowsy boy. Peter always rubbed his eyes sweetly and liked to be cuddly in the morning.