Underoos Headcannon

Do Not Disturb

Tony Stark, exhausted from a 14-hour workday, sits down long enough to breathe a couple times, but can't let himself rest. Stands again. Begins to do little tasks around his lab. Moves to the kitchenette. Tosses some non-refrigerated foods into a brown paper bag - protein bars, packages of pistachios, packets of dried blueberries.

Writes a note on a yellow Post-It:
You can't just eat donettes. Here's some real food. -T.S.

Puts Post-it on the brown bag and the bag in a backpack, setting on the counter. He instructs DUM-E to put the backpack in the car. "Think you can handle that?" Finally sits down on the couch with a cup of coffee.

"F.R.I., could you make sure Happy knows that backpack is in the car? - And show me progress on Sokovia cleanup."  He flips through satellite images while F.R.I.D.A.Y. gives him updates - governmental news, ratio of volunteers to shelter occupants, water quality, economic stability...

In the morning, he wanders to a lab in Stark Tower; Peter is there, doing some work.

Seeing Tony entering, Peter awkwardly and furtively pushes a small pack of papers into a more visible space on the work table. "Hi, Mr. Stark! I'm almost done. Hey, thanks for letting me use this— Are you okay?"

"Don't be alarmed. You'll look like this too when you're an adult." Tony talks to him briefly, obviously still exhausted. He notices the pack of paper- A+ grade at the top. "What's this?" He asks.

Peter pretends he wasn't paying attention or forgot it was on the table. "Oh........ that's just my AP Physics paper."

"Oh yeah?" Tony says, obviously reading the paper. "Heard you did well on it."

"Oh you don't have to read it, Mr. Stark!" Peter says, suddenly feeling guilty for taking Tony's time.

"Have to make sure you're learning something in those city schools."

"Well, Midtown Science and Tech isn't technically —"

"Shh."

Peter apologizes nervously and tries to focus on his work. Tony reads for a while while Peter fidgets with the tech in his hands. Tony taps the paper in one place, impressed. "You know, I didn't learn about this until I was 20. Of course, I was on the team that proposed the theory, but..."

"Oh-" Peter chuckles with an anxious sigh - "yeah."

After the last page, Tony folds it closed. "Nice work, kid."

"Thanks, Mr. Stark!" Peter returns to his work, more focused now and smiling. They are quiet. After a while, he looks over and sees Tony is dozing, still sitting upright and leaning on his hand.

Peter smiles a little and looks back at his work. Then, he glances at Tony's phone, on the table. He hesitates, trying to decide how Tony would react. -If he could hear his thoughts. -If he found out.

Peter reaches over secretively and puts the phone on Do Not Disturb. Tony continues to sleep, not realizing and Peter returns his attention to the tech.

The phone lights up but doesn't make a sound. Peter looks at it with concern but tries to ignore it. It goes black again. That doesn't help. After a while, he feels too guilty and takes off the Do Not Disturb. Sure enough, after a minute, the phone lights up and its ringtone sirens.

Tomy opens his eyes and breathes in a long breath through his nose. He answers and walks away from the table. Peter tenses, listening. "Yeah. Great. No, I want to see the test. Well, I answered this time. What d'you want, Hap? I feel like I've given you everything you could possibly ask for. I'll be down in a minute. Geez."

He hangs up and turns to Peter. "Hey, kid, want to see an atom split? You can finish that later."

"Sure!" Peter follows Tony out. Tony waits until he's caught up.

"Come on. Hey, what did you have for breakfast?"

"Uh... I don't kn- I had a glass of o.j."

"...Goddammit, kid."