Superfamily One Shots

WoF Day 4: Spiders Can't Do Cold

Peter shook out his hair, sending little drops of cold rain flying.

"Jeez, you're just like a dog," Tony commented, walking through the common room in his pajamas and fuzzy socks. "Why are you all wet anyways?"

"I walked here," the teen explained. "I missed- miss- the-"

Peter sneezed, his whole body arching backwards before he jerked forward, a little squeak of a sneeze punctuating the teen's movement.

"-the bus." The billionaire watched as the boy wiped his runny nose on the sleeve of his sweat shirt, which was soaked through. The only part of Peter that looked dry, actually, was the tee-shirt he was wearing under his sweater, and even that had little patches of dark water, where the rain had gone through the sweatshirt. His jeans were soaked up to the knees, and his shoes... Tony wasn't one to complain about messes, seeing as he was the grand master of mess, but the trail of murky water from the elevator over the rug made him cringe.

"Why didn't you call me? Or Happy?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't mind walking, really, and the rain wasn't so hard at first so I though it would be fine, ya know?"

The kid sniffled again, making Tony crinkle his forehead.

"I think you should go take a shower and change. You're soaked to the bone, kid, you're going to get sick." The teen opened his mouth to protest, but Tony cut him off again. "Seriously. Go."

The man pointed down the hall, and Peter begrudgingly went to take a hot shower. If he were being honest, Peter was actually pretty happy about a hot, steamy shower. He hated the cold, ever since he was a kid, but the spider bite had made things a lot worse over the years. Something about the genetic need for heat and hibernation in the cold...

It wasn't until Peter got out of the shower that he realized he didn't have any clothes to wear now that his wet ones had been whisked away to the dryer.

"FRIDAY?" The teen blushed just a bit. "Could you ask Tony to put some clothes outside the door?"

The AI confirmed that Tony was getting Peter some clothes and Peter waited for the tell-tale noise of Tony coming in and leaving again to open the door and pull in the clothes. It was a pair of fleece pajama pants with the IronMan face plate designed all over and a tee-shirt with a worn, half-faded AC/DC logo on it.

Peter changed quickly, towel dried his hair, and padded down the hall to the living room, where Tony was waiting with blankets and a Star Wars movie queued up on the TV.

"Come on," the older man said, gesturing for Peter to come over. "You can't be cold, Pete, I checked with Bruce. He said you can't do the whole "walk in the rain" thing."

The teen shrugged in a shy way, trying to skirt the whole conversation. "It's fine, I mean, like, it's... whatever."

"It's not whatever," Tony argued, gesturing again. Peter walked over and nestled into the couch, letting Tony pull him into the man's side and drape a blanket over him. "I need you to care about yourself as much as I do?"

"You mean have as much of a big head as you do? Love myself as much as you love Tony Stark?" Peter joked, looking up at his mentor. He was laying down now, his head in Tony's lap.

"No," Tony stressed. "I mean I want you to love yourself and care about your well being as much as I love and care about you."

For a moment, neither one said anything. Peter's mind was honed in on those 6 words: I love and care about you. Tony was panicking that he might have overstepped the line.

"I love you, too," Peter whispered, snuggling into Tony's side even further.

"Hot chocolate!" Steve called, breaking the moment.

Peter jolted slightly. "When did you get here?"

"Tony asked me to make cocoa while you were in the shower. I can't believe you walked all the way here in the rain! Peter, that was so irresponsible, especially given that you know you can't get too cold!" Steve chastised the boy as he nested into the blankets on Peter's other side.

"Steve," Tony warned, stopping the man cold. "Don't be too harsh on him. I already talked to him about it."

The blond man shut up and simply lifted Peter's legs into his own lap and draped an arm over the teen's torso. "What are we watching?"

"Star Wars," Peter said, grabbing the remote and hitting play. Tony chuckled at the boy's antics.

"What's going on?" Steve asked as the first scene came up, with Leah running from Darth Vader. "Who's that?"

"Oh, my God, have you never seen Star Wars?" Tony asked, looking over at the blond in bewilderment.

"Shut up!" Peter whinned.

Steve looked over at Tony with a startled look, like he didn't know Peter knew those two words. Tony just shrugged and returned his eyes to the screen.

It was around half way through the movie when Tony realized Peter was asleep. The billionaire reached over and tapped Steve on the arm lightly, gesturing to Peter. "Help me," he mouthed.

Steve picked Peter up bridal style, careful to not wake him. As the super soldier started to make his way down the hall, Tony flipped off the television and followed the two down the hall. Steve was putting Peter in his room, pulling the blankets back with one hand as he crouched down, then laying the teen in the bed, and covering him. Peter, being the sweet heart he is, immediately curled into a ball and pulled at the hem of the blankets, pulling them right under his chin.

"He's adorable," Tony said from the doorway as Steve was finishing putting the teen to bed.

Steve chuckled a little. "He really is."

The two went back to the living room, each one curling back up on the sofa, legs tucked under bodies. "How was your day?" Steve asked, reaching for the now cold hot chocolate.

"Fine," Tony said with a shrug. "Peter's little stunt freaked me out a bit, but it was fine."

Steve smiled. "You'd make a really good dad, Tones."

"Well, thank you, buttercup." It was a defense mechanism, of course. Tony always used pet-names when he was caught off guard, Steve knew that. "How about your day?"

"Same. I went for a run, trained in the gym, worked on some cases. Actually, the best part of my day was seeing you and Peter."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're a sap."

The two laughed a little, then sat in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable silence, and Steve let it go on a little while before breaking it.

"So. Could we watch the rest of that movie, or-"

Tony was already reaching for the remote.