Bless The Broken Road

The Battle of New York in 2012

Peter didn't like it when his Dad went on missions. Ever since the dreaded events of Afghanistan, Tony had taken up the new mantle of Iron Man which called him out to places to do superhero-y things and save the day. At first, Peter thought it was cool. (How many other kids could say their father was an actual superhero?)

But then being Iron Man became far more demanding. His Dad always made time for him and more often than not, he was always home by the end of the day to tuck Peter into bed and kiss him on the forehead but there was an obvious difference from his father's last 9-5 job as CEO of Stark Industries to flying around in a metal suit, shooting bad guys.

Still, Peter hated when his Dad left. He liked staying with Aunt Pepper or Uncle Rhodey (or occasionally Uncle Happy when everyone else was too busy) but they weren't the same as his Dad. Aunt Pepper never tucked him in to bed just the way that Peter liked and Uncle Rhodey couldn't read a bedtime story in the character's voices to save his life. They didn't measure up to his Dad ultimately and on the few odd occasions that Tony was away for longer than a day or wasn't home to kiss him goodnight, Peter missed him.

Which was why he was grumpy when some guy named Phil Coulson barged into their newly lit up Stark Tower and demanded his Dad get ready for a new mission. They'd flown to New York for a short period of time because Peter's Dad and Aunt Pepper had spent months designing the new Stark Tower, having it run on sustainable clean Arc Reactor energy to light it up. Peter had watched with wide eyes as the Tower had shone so brightly just earlier that night. Aunt Pepper had smiled down at him as his Dad had finally arrived home, suit retracting from around him, watching as Peter had run to Tony with a loud laugh. Tony had just ruffled his son's hair and smiled, asking in a sarcastic tone if Peter liked the new Tower.

And then Phil Coulson had ruined it all. There was a few mentions of the Avengers and something about his Dad not making the cut before Coulson had handed something to Pepper, telling her to make sure Tony read it all over and dispatched when he could. It was something about saving the world but Peter didn't care. He just didn't want his Dad to go.

"Dad, please don't go," Peter pouted when Tony began gearing up. The man's lack of enthusiasm earlier when he'd tried to turn Phil Coulson away had been replaced by cold determinism. "I wanna watch Star Wars with you!"

"Sorry buddy but duty calls," Tony ruffled his son's hair with a sad smile. He didn't like to leave Peter either but when a demigod threatened to try and get all humanity to submit to him, there were times that Tony couldn't put Peter's whining above the rest of the world. "Pepper's going back to Malibu in a few days, she'll take you back so you can sleep in your own bed."

"But Aunt Pepper never tucks me into bed as good as you!"

"I'm sure you can teach her, she's a fast learner."

Tony was walking towards the veranda, his suit prepared to fit around his body with practised ease. Peter could feel the desire to get his father to stay bubble up and start to overflow as he watched Tony's retreating back. The words slipped out of Peter's mouth before he even realised the gravity of what he was saying.

"Are you going to leave me just like you did in Afghanistan?"

Tony froze on the spot, his heart stopping for a second as Peter's words circled around his brain. He felt like ice had been poured down the length of his spine as Tony slowly turned around, a look of pain on his face as he stared at Peter's trembling lip. Standing only a few metres away, obviously trying not to cry, Peter looked far younger than 10 years old.

"What?" The word flowed out of Tony's mouth like a breath. He felt like he'd been punched in the stomach as he tried to understand what the hell Peter's childlike brain could've meant by such a harsh statement.