Spider-Son & Iron Dad one shots

Peter Parker's Playlist

Aka: another song fic because I'm trash

Tony walks into his lab and sits down, ready to work.

"FRIDAY, play the last played playlist," he says, thinking that it would play his own mix of music.

AC/DC starts playing and Tony starts working on one of his cars, tinkering and trying to improve little things with the engine. Everything was going great!

Until the next song starts playing, and an unfamiliar guitar riff starts. Tony furrows his brows in confusion but lets the song play as he continues working, thinking that it would just be a song that he forgot was on his playlist.

Then, the singing starts.

"He doesn't fight crime or wear a cape

He doesn't read minds or levitate"

"FRIDAY, who's playlist is this?" Tony asks, not looking up from the car engine.

"This is Peter's playlist, Boss," She answers. Tony hums, about to ask her to change it. That is, until one of the lines catches his attention.

"But every time my world needs saving, he's my superman

Some folks don't believe in heroes 'cause they haven't met my dad"

Tony freezes. "..What's this playlist called?"

"Peter has named this playlist: Iron Dad and Spider-Son," FRIDAY chimes, and Tony blinks in shock, putting the screwdriver he was holding down and wiping the grease off his hands.

Instead of asking FRIDAY to turn off the playlist, he just sits and listens.

"He loves his workshop and rock and roll

He's got a hot rod and a heart of gold"

Tony looks down at his arc reactor and then over to the car engine he was working. "Yeesh," he mumbled.

"And you could say he's a man of few words, but he talks a lot within

And even though I'm a little taller, I still look up to him"

Tony scoffs, even though in reality his heart was melting. He definitely wasn't going to start crying over this, though. Peter was just his intern, that also happened to be Spider-Man and also happened to make Tony have strange parental thoughts even though he wasn't Peter's father.

"He built me a house in the arms of a tree

He taught me to drive, and to fight, and to dream

When he looks in my eyes I hope he can see

That my dad's a hero to me"

Tony was staring at the ground as he listened to the lyrics, wondering how much of this Peter personally related to and how much of this Peter thought were just lyrics.

He knew for a fact he'd never taught Peter to drive, and he knew how to fight already. He couldn't place the third one, or if Peter resonated with the last lines of the chorus. Tony Stark was one of the smartest people in the entire world, but Peter Parker had managed to make his head hurt with one song.

"Rust-ridden fenders, and doors full of dings

Somehow he can fix about anything

I didn't think he knew how to cry till our dog died that year

He doesn't always say I love you, but I can hear him loud and clear"

Tony doesn't know what to say to those lyrics, especially when the last line was so accurate to him. He never knew how to say i love you. He never knew how to listen to people when they said i love you back. He blamed daddy issues.

When he listened to the chorus a second time, he figured that Peter probably meant the last lines. Peter gave him compliments all the time. "That's a great way of thinking about it, Mr. Stark," and "I love how that turned out!" were commonly said while the two worked in the lab.

And then there was that look at Peter had whenever he thought Tony wasn't watching. It was a look that Peter had whenever he looked at Iron Man on television, or when Tony had done something particularly smart. Tony had never been able to describe it in any other way than pure admiration.

The chorus of the song played another time and then the song ended, leaving Tony with tears running down his face that he didn't even realized until he started sniffling.

"Boss, Peter is here," FRIDAY says, seconds before Peter walks into the labs. This gives him no time to wipe away the tears or to even mildly compose himself. Another AC/DC song starts playing, hiding any evidence that Peter's playlist had been playing before

Peter saw Tony instantly and grinned. "Hey, Mr. Stark!" He says in the same usual bubbly energy. Quickly, he realizes that Tony is still crying, so he rushes over with a frown. "Mr. Stark, are you okay?"

Tony nods, embarrassed. "I'm fine, Pete."

Peter furrows his brows. "Why are you crying? Are you sure?"

"Boss listened to your playlist and started crying," FRIDAY supplies cheerfully. Tony frowns.

"FRIDAY, you're grounded for snitching."

Peter just looks scared. He had frozen up slightly and his face was red with embarrassment, but there was something in his eyes that made Tony's heart break. Something in his eyes that was so fragile and unsure. Something in his posture that made him look like he was about to flee.

"Peter?" Tony asked carefully. "Are you okay?"

"You're not--You're not mad?" Peter asks unsurely.

"No?" Tony mentally backtracked. Why would his kid think he would be mad at him for something like this? Was it a bigger deal to Peter than it was to Tony? Because it was a pretty big deal to Tony to begin with, but he certainly wasn't mad. "Why would I be mad?"

"Because we're not there yet," Peter said quietly.

Oh.

Tony felt a wave of guilt. He instantly knew what Peter was referencing, and he hated it. He hated how long it took for himself to open up to Peter. For him to even give him his phone number. He hated it, and he hated himself for it.

So, he did the one thing that he could do.

Tony hugs Peter tightly. It takes Peter a second to realize what's going on, but then he hugs back.

"This is nice," he says quietly. Tony laughs a little.

"Don't worry, Underoos. We're there now."

They both cry a little bit more, and the Iron Dad and Spider-Son playlist becomes Tony's go to music choice.

Because, what can he say?

They were there now.