#cssprompts

[css1992]

I absolutely love all of your stories and was hoping to give you a prompt! I haven’t seen you write Tony or Peter as superheroes, but I would love a story where the team goes on a mission that goes wrong and they think Peter is dead. A few months pass, and Spider-Man pops up in a different color costume next to a big baddie (Quentin? Rumlow? Whoever it is def has a crush or Peter lmao). If you can’t write the prompt, no worries.❤️

(...)

“Thank you so much for taking my prompt omgggg! To answer your question, Spider-Man pops up as a baddie, and he works with/for another baddie”

You’re too sweet and kind, my dear, thank you so much! I’m so sorry this took so long, something happened in my personal life and I was too heartbroken for love stories for a while there hahaha Everything’s fine now. I hope you’re still out there to read this and I really hope you enjoy it! <3

[*]

This takes place a few years after Civil War.  A few details were changed – Peter was recruited at 18, while attending MIT; Endgame never happened, they defeated Thanos in Titan; Tony and Pepper never got back together after their break-up somewhere between IM3 and CACW.

TW: Mentions of blood, alcoholism, grief and death. I guess that’s it, let me know if you find anything else triggering!

[*]

“It’s him.” Tony stood there paralyzed, staring at the hologram projected from Nat’s phone, heart pounding, ears ringing. “It’s him,” he repeated, running his hands through his hair, trying to get a hold of himself, trying to make sense of what was happening, of what he was seeing. It was too surreal – impossible! – he had to be hallucinating. Right? Maybe dreaming? Had he drunk himself into a stupor again? Had he finally gone mad?

It was a regular day, Tony had been down in the lab for an unknown number of hours when Friday announced Steve, Nat and Bruce were at the door, which was unusual. Usually, they’d visit one at a time, an unspoken agreement not to overwhelm the engineer, but that particular day they all marched into his house saying that he needed to see something. He was too exhausted to tell them to fuck off, so he just poured himself a drink and shrugged, gesturing towards the living room.

Nat proceeded to project a video from her StarkPhone and what he saw took away the ground from beneath his feet. He tried to sit down, but he didn’t make it to the couch, his legs were not responding, he fell on his butt in the middle of the living room. The blood felt like ice in his veins, his throat was closing up, his eyes were burning and his hands were shaking so fucking badly. He was boneless and petrified all of a sudden, as he watched him swing from building to building on his webs, a black and white blur.

Peter.

He felt Steve and Bruce on either side of him, trying to help him up, but he didn’t take his eyes off of the projection. It was him. My Peter, you’re back, you came back to me, you’re okay, you’re alive–

“Tony, it’s not him.” Steve’s voice brought him back to the real world, and he looked around. Natasha and Bruce both stared at him with worry in their eyes, like they agreed with Steve.

“What, are you fucking insane? Of course it’s him!” His voice was firm, angry, even though his hand was shaking when he pointed at the hologram, to the short video that kept replaying on a loop.

“Tony, he robbed a bank. He put civilians at risk. How could you think this is Peter? Are you insane? Don’t you know him? Look, we had to show you this because it’s going to be all over the news soon and whoever this is, they’re trying to tarnish Peter’s memory and we can’t allow it, but this – this isn’t him, Tony. I’m sorry.”

The older man stopped for a second, taking a deep breath. Was he going insane? Was he seeing things, was his mind playing tricks on him again? It wouldn’t be the first time in the last few months. He focused on the images. The bank’s alarm was sounding loudly, as people started running wildly out the front door. Seconds later, someone wearing a cape and a – helmet? Fish bowl? – on their head walked out, then finally him.

Not him, Steve said, but how could it be anyone else, when Tony could clearly see it was Peter gracefully swinging around on the webs. Not him, Steve said, but how could it not be him when Tony recognized every inch of his body? The long neck, the narrow, yet strong shoulders, thin waist, round ass, strong thighs, small feet, long hands and thin, wiry arms. How could it not be him when Tony could recognize the way he moved, the way he leaped and landed effortlessly, the grace with which he swung back and forth?

“It’s him, Steve.” Even as the words left his mouth, his eyes were fixed on the boy in the video. The suit looked a lot like the one Tony made for him, but it was slightly different. Black, instead of blue. White, instead of red. But it was him. Alive and breathing. “It’s Peter, I know it is.”

***

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Even though it called for every Avenger in town, it was just a security measure, Steve told them. They intercepted a terrorist group communicating online, planning a coordinated attack on Stark Tower, the Avengers Compound and Times Square. They were professionals, but only human. They thought they’d be enough: Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Spiderman, Winter Soldier and even the Hulk as a safety net.

In a way, they were sufficient. They were able to avoid the attack and arrest almost every single one of the terrorists that weren’t killed during the mission. But the cost was high – way too fucking high.

Peter.

Tony knew what happened the exact moment when it did. He knew there was no saving him when he opened his lips and tried to call out his name and instead of words, blood came out. Thick, dark blood. He saw the life leaving his eyes when he looked at him one last time, eyelids drooping and then closing. There was no saving him, Tony knew that, and yet he tried. He flew as fast as the suit would allow him, even though he had no idea what he would have done if he had reached him in time. Which he didn’t.

Peter disappeared before his eyes, along with the man who had put a knife through his heart. And not just any knife, not any metal would have been able to pierce the suit. It had to be vibranium. Whoever that man was, he knew that, maybe he had Peter in mind all along. The only thing Tony remembered about him were his wide, blue eyes. Cold and wild. The sadistic smile when he heard Tony’s wail of despair. Tony thought he knew him somehow, but couldn’t be sure.

They just disappeared. One second, they were there, right within his reach, the next, they were gone. He’d lost him. The person he’d sworn to protect at all costs, at the cost of his own damned life, but he was useless the moment Peter needed him the most. Gone. Disappeared before his eyes, Tony couldn’t even bring his body home.

He remembered crumbling to the ground, broken and unbelieving, staring at the empty space where Peter once stood.

“Tony...” Steve crouched down next to him, looking pained and devastated, and the older man broke down.

“I lost the kid, Steve. I lost him.”

He didn’t remember a lot of that day, he’d passed out drunk in his room for the first time in ten years, woke up hours later in the med bay with Steve, Rhodey and Pepper speaking in hushed voices. He didn’t care what they were saying, because the first thought he had when he opened his eyes was that he’d lost the love of his life. His Peter.

***

“Boss, I was able to acquire the footage from the bank’s security cameras.” Friday’s voice brought him back to the present and they all jumped up, all eyes turning to the huge screen facing the couch.

“Good girl, play it,” he answered quickly, taking a seat because he knew he would need it.

It started with a normal day in a bank, people walking around, standing in line, talking to each other, nothing out of the ordinary. Then the guy they’d seen leaving the bank in the other video – Fish-bowl-guy – appeared out of nowhere, levitating above the patrons, slowly floating down.

“My fellow citizens, do not fret, I mean you no harm.” Of course, New Yorkers wouldn’t take his word for it, not after everything they had gone through over the course of the last decade. People started screaming and running, trying to get to the exit, but Peter stood there by the door. When they tried to push through him, he webbed some of them to the walls and the others froze, slowly stepping away from him. “This will all be over soon, I promise.”

Fish-bowl-guy demanded the tellers filled bags with money from their drawers as Peter guarded the exit. He didn’t say anything and it was driving Tony crazy, because he was dying to hear him. Both because he wanted Friday to run the audio through a voice recognition software to prove once and for all that it was him, but also because for six months he hadn’t been able to even look at pictures of Peter, let alone hear his voicemails or watch his silly videos. And he had several of them, the younger man sent him at least a video a day – his daily vlogs, he called them – even if they were just in different rooms.

But Peter didn’t say anything, he just stood by the door as Fish-bowl-guy talked to the patrons.

“I know we seem like the bad guys right now, but I promise you, we’re not. We’re the heroes here, really,” He started, overlooking the tellers as they filled the bags with cash. “We’re here to take the city back from those who took it from us. You know what I’m talking about, right?” The man looked at the patrons as if he was expecting an answer, but no one said a word. “Tony Stark and his little army. He took over his daddy’s empire, now he thinks he can just take anything and claim as his own. He’s done it to this city, even if some people haven’t realized it yet. We’re his hostages. He built himself an army and they control this city, the country, even! They fake threats and then come to ‘save us’, they destroy our homes, they kill our loved ones, they don’t care about collateral damage! Some of us have lost everything, because of Tony fucking Stark and his minions. But it will all be over soon, I promise you. I will set you free.”

He took the twelve bags full of money that the tellers placed on the counter and gestured for Peter to come closer and the young man webbed his way to him, until he was standing by his side. That was the moment people started running out of the bank, the moment they saw from another point of view in the other video. As they watched people leaving, Fish-bowl-guy placed an arm around Peter’s shoulders, pulling him close in a very friendly way, it made Tony’s blood boil and his heart sink.

“You’re doing great, honey. You’re doing the right thing. Come on, now.” He stroked his shoulder softly then walked outside, followed closely by Peter and then the video was over.

The room was silent for a few seconds after that as they tried to understand what they’d just seen. Tony didn’t want to read too much into it, Peter was clearly not in his right mind if he was robbing a bank, but still – the guy called him honey. He was… comforting him. And Peter let him.

“We have to find him.” Tony quickly ordered Friday to do a thorough search on the web, check surveillance cameras all over New York, police database, anything that could give them a clue on  where they might have escaped to – or where they had come from. The news said they were followed by the police for a few blocks, then they simply disappeared before their eyes. It brought back terrible memories.

“Yes, we do, but not for the reasons you want, Tony.” Bruce frowned, coming to stand next to his friend. “You have to agree this – it’s just not possible. Peter is dead, he would never –“

“Then where’s his body, Bruce? Huh? Can any of you answer me that?” He looked around the room and they all avoided his gaze, as if worried they’d break him if they dared to say what they thought. “He disappeared. Right before my eyes, Bruce. Friday couldn’t connect to Karen, we have no idea what could have happened after that.”

“Tony, his heart was pierced.” It was Natasha’s turn to try. Tony could see it was hard for her too, she had a soft spot for Peter, from the very first time Tony recruited him, when he was still an eighteen year-old kid. “He couldn’t possibly –“

“He was enhanced!” He yelled, annoyed they were all so ready to discard the possibility that the person in the video could be Peter when it very clearly was. “Is! He is enhanced! I was never able to measure just how far his healing factor went, Friday could only estimate with the amount of information we had at the time, but clearly–“

“Tony, listen–“

“No, you listen! You listen to me, okay? That’s my fiance! I’m telling you this, that is the man I love, the man I sworn to protect and then abandoned for six fucking months assuming he was dead, when I didn’t even try to look for him! I just fucking drank my days away when I could be looking for him and now he needs my fucking help! So you can either help me find him, or you can fuck the fuck off, ok?” He was breathless by the time he was done, and they all looked at him like he’d gone insane for good.

“What do you suppose happened?” Steve asked quietly, and Tony frowned. “What do you think could have happened in these past few months that would turn Peter into that?” He pointed at the screen. “If he was alive this whole time, why not look for you?”

“I don’t know, Steve, we’ll have to ask him.” Truth was, Tony was terrified of the answers to those questions. He couldn’t think about it at that moment, he had to find him first. “What happened to Barnes? You of all people –“ He didn’t need to finish the sentence, couldn’t. He sighed and Steve flinched, eyes growing wide as the familiarity of the situation seemed to dawn on him. “Do you think you could’ve mistaken him for someone else? Ever?” Tony’s eyes were burning, but he didn’t shed a tear, he didn’t have time for tears. He needed to find him.

Steve was stunned silent after that, watching Tony with huge, watery eyes.

“Tony, we just don’t want you to get hurt,” Bruce intervened again, approaching him carefully. “We don’t want you to go through the pain of losing him again in case...”

“It’s doesn’t get any worse than this, Bruce,” Tony sighed, because he knew that nothing could hurt more than the thought that he’d failed Peter. That he didn’t try to look for him. That Peter had been held captive by a fucking terrorist organization for six months because he was too drunk to get out of bed and fucking try to look for him. Because he just lost hope and never thought Peter might be out there, waiting for him to come, to save him. “There’s nowhere else to go but up, from where I’m standing.”

Nobody said anything else after that, but later that day he got a message from Steve saying they would find Peter.

***

He was in the hospital for three days after Peter’s death. He was a fifty-year-old man with a shitty heart, after all. He was sedated for most of it, whenever he woke up he was so out of his mind with grief that they put him right back to sleep. When he was finally able to go home, he insisted he was left alone, but to calm Pepper and Rhodey down, he activated Friday’s babysitter protocol. It was Peter’s creation. It would let them know if Tony wasn’t eating well, or if he harmed himself in any way. If he tried to deactivate it, it would notify them immediately.

So he was left alone, at least most of the time. He spent his days in the lab, drinking, working, crying, thinking. The memories came and went unsolicited, specially when Tony was too out of it to control them. Suddenly, he’d be back in the boy’s dorm room in Boston, looking at that ridiculous onesie that he hid in a box of books under his bed, watching him stutter as he tried to explain it was just a cosplay.

“A cosplay of some dude who does stunts on Youtube?” Tony raised a brow, amused, and Peter’s face grew red as he scrunched up his nose and frowned in annoyance.

“He’s not some dude doing stunts, he – he’s helping people!” He argued, taking the “suit” back from Tony’s hands and stuffing it under his tiny bed, before sitting on top of it.

“Sure, if you consider doing back flips for the camera helping people, then Spider-boy is doing great,” Tony shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets nonchalantly, only to watch him grow even more irritated.

“Man! Spider-man! And I don’t just do back flips, I– He...” He stuttered and Tony took pity on him. His expression softened and he sat next to him on the bed, feeling the tension coming in waves from him as he muttered a quiet “fuck” under his breath.

“Peter, I know. I know. Okay?” He clasped a hand on his shoulder and the young man looked at him with huge, round eyes. Scared. Unsure. “I’ve been watching you for years. Your secret is safe with me. I’m not here to expose you.”

“Then why are you here?” He raised a brow and Tony took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts.

“I kinda picked up a fight with Captain America about signing some papers and then he met this friend who was supposed to be dead, like, eighty years ago, but is somehow alive and possibly a mass murderer? Now I need all the help I can get to fix it.” He winced and watched the boy’s face for his reaction, but he just raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

There was silence for a few seconds as Peter looked around the room, then back at Tony.

“So when do we leave?”

That was the thing about Peter. He trusted Tony blindingly, he never asked too many questions before jumping headfirst into whatever the older man proposed him. No matter how crazy, how inconsequential, how inappropriate. So he wasn’t too surprised when the boy said yes when he asked him out.

They had just arrived at the compound after Strange teleported them back from Titan, they hadn’t even showered yet, they were both covered in bruises and blood, but he looked at Peter and couldn’t help but think he could have lost him. They could have died, and he would have died without knowing the answer to the question that had been sitting at the back of his throat for months by then, which was–

“Yes,” Peter nodded, a faint blush taking over his dirty and bruised cheeks, and Tony blinked a few times.

“Don’t you want to think about that for a minute?” He asked, tilting his head to the side, and Peter frowned.

“Um, no? Why?”

“Because you’re twenty and I’m twenty-seven years your senior, kid.” It was terrifying to say that out loud. Peter was twenty. Tony was forty-seven. Twenty-seven years separated them. Tony was full grown man when Peter was swimming around in his father’s testicles.  

“You just asked me out, you can’t call me kid anymore, I’m sure that’s written in some rulebook somewhere.” Even though he was still blushing, he found it in himself to be sassy and annoying. Tony rolled his eyes playfully.

“Fair enough. So, should I call you later?” He pointed over his shoulder, signaling that he was going to his quarters to shower and rest for a few hours. Peter frowned.

“For what?”

“For your answer? About that date?” Peter just looked at him like he’d asked the most stupid question ever.

“I just said yes.” He said, raising an eyebrow, and Tony sighed.

“I thought we agreed you’d think harder about it.”

“Uh, no, you just chickened out for a second there, but my answer is still yes.” He shrugged with a playful smile on his lips and Tony gawked at him.

“I didn’t chic – ugh, you’re such a brat.”

“I’m sure brat is off-limits, too.” He winked, walking away towards his quarters.

Tony worried about their relationship – as did everyone else, specially their close friends and May. Peter was so young and, to make matters worse, he sort of worked for Tony. Ever since Germany, the older man paid him a hefty salary for being a part of the team – he was always on call, after all, and always trained at the compound whenever he was in New York.

But as it turned out, his worry was unnecessary. Although young, Peter was mature beyond his years and acted more like an adult than Tony did most of the time – they sort of met in the middle. As for the power imbalance, it actually felt like Peter was in control more often than not. It was subtle, though, Tony only noticed because Rhodey pointed it out once.

“That kid’s got you wrapped around his little finger.” He laughed into his beer bottle as he watched Peter walking away. Tony blinked, having a sip of the tea the younger man had just brought him. Peter was dead set on getting him on a healthier diet and tea was somehow involved. The young man insisted it would help with his sleeping schedule, so Tony just agreed, even though he thought most teas tasted like dirty water. “If he says jump, you ask how high.” Tony was going to argue, but then stopped himself. He tried to think of the last time he’d said no to Peter, the last time he’d denied him anything, but not a single memory came to mind. “I’m not judging, it’s a good look on you. Whipped boyfriend.”

Tony noticed, then, that he was. Whipped, that is. Peter was always telling him what to do – gently, of course, and always with his best interests at heart. And he listened, because, as it soon became apparent, Peter was usually right about most things. Tony was more practical, he was in charge in the lab, what with decades of experience over him, as well as in the battlefield, for the same reason. But when it came to their personal lives, Peter called the shots. And it was fine. It was good.  He felt loved and cared for like never before and he loved it. He loved Peter.

But he’d lost him.

And he couldn’t help but feeling guilty. It was his fault, had to be. He was in charge out there. He was supposed to look out for him in the field, he was supposed to keep him safe, bring him home alive and well, but he couldn’t even bring his fucking body back. He had nothing left of him but terrifying memories of cold, dead eyes and bloody lips trying to call out his name.

Days and weeks and months went by, but he barely noticed, barely left the tower anymore. He was vaguely aware of people coming and going – Pepper, to check on him from time to time; Rhodey, trying to get him out of the lab; Steve, with constant reports on what the Avengers were doing, as if he cared; Bruce, with excuses about projects he was working on; and Nat, for unclear reasons. They never asked him to suit up, though, not for anything. Not in a Tom Ford three-piece, not in Mark L. They just let him be. Which was good, it felt good to be forgotten up there in the workshop, which used to be their favorite place in the world.

Over those three years they’d been together, Tony had taken Peter everywhere – and he meant everywhere. A boy who had barely left Queens before he met Tony got to see so may different cities, so many different countries, even if just for one night sometimes, just for dinner, before they had to get back to their hectic lives.

But they always went back to their favorite place, Tony’s workshop, filled with so many memories it sometimes felt like it was haunted by their ghosts. Both of them. Because some part of Tony must have died with him and sometimes, when he got distracted, he saw them. Specially on the floor by the couch, that was too tiny for the two of them and Tony kept saying he was going to buy a bigger one, but for some reason he never did and they always ended up on the fluffy rug on the floor.

“You feel amazing,” Tony whispered as his fingers enveloped Peter’s hips, pulling him down lower, and the younger man moaned quietly and smiled as the words left Tony’s lips. He leaned forwards to kiss him as rocked his hips in a slow, lazy pace. “You are perfect, my love.”

“If you keep feeding my praise kink like that, I’m not gonna last two minutes here.” He laughed quietly against the older man’s lips, who sighed when he felt the boy’s muscles tightening around him.

“I won’t complain too much about it.” He tightened his grip on Peter’s hips when he sat back up and started moving up and down in a way he knew would drive the engineer insane. “You’re gonna kill this old man someday, I swear.”

“I really hope not, I kinda like him a little.”

And their ghosts giggled together and disappeared into thin air, like dust in the wind, and only a half-dead Tony remained with a glass of whiskey in hand, staring at the rug on the floor.

***

Friday was monitoring the press and the internet for any sign of Peter, but there was none to be found. For the first couple of days, Tony was restless, but hopeful. Peter had been missing for six months, there hadn’t been any sign of him for all of that time, so the fact that he appeared out of the blue that day meant that something had changed. He was sure he would show up again at any second.

As days went by, though, his hope started to dwindle. He grew desperate by the hour thinking that he would have to go another six months without seeing Peter, perhaps even longer – perhaps he’d never see him again. Sometimes he wondered if he was wrong, if that wasn’t even Peter in the video, if maybe he was really dead after all, but whenever he watched the video again he was sure of it. It was him.

So he couldn’t help but think that he had to be locked up somewhere. It brought back terrifying memories of those three months he spent in that cave in Afghanistan and how he never really recovered from that – he still had nightmares about it, twelve years later. Peter had been gone for six months, seventeen days, four hours and thirty-three minutes. And counting.

He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, the only thing he could think about was Peter, and the cave, and Barnes’s sessions with BARF, and Hydra’s brainwashing methods. He drove himself mad with all the possibilities of what could have happened to Peter – what might be happening right at that second as he waited for answers.

He’d been awake for almost sixty-two hours straight when it happened.

“I think you should see this, boss.” Friday’s voice interrupted the loud music and Tony frowned as he raised his eyes from his latest project – a new suit for Peter, one so sophisticated and impenetrable, not even vibranium could pierce through it. Friday wasn’t supposed to interrupt him unless the world was ending or she had news about Peter, Tony was very specific about that, so, yeah, he was a little freaked out when he heard her voice.

She showed him footage of Stark Tower’s security cameras, Tony’s heart almost stopped when he saw the boy sneaking in through a window, along with Fish-bowl-guy.

“He’s here.” He whispered to himself, unable to move for a second. His first instinct was to run to him, but he couldn’t be irresponsible, there were lots of people in the building, he couldn’t predict what could happen, so he had to take a few precautions. “Friday, where’s Pepper?”

“Miss Potts is not in the building, she’s caught in traffic a few miles away, boss.” Tony nodded to himself, taking a deep breath, then he started moving.

“Evacuate the building immediately, but don’t cause a panic, I don’t want them to know I know they’re here. Call Pepper, tell her to stay away. Where are they headed?” As he barked out orders, he watched Peter climb into the vents.

“They seem to be heading to the mainframe, boss.”

“Revoke Peter’s access to the systems,” Tony rushed to the elevator, the mainframe was situated right below his penthouse, it took up the whole floor and there was no way in or out other than the elevators and the air vents.

“Done, boss.”

Tony’s heart was beating wildly in his chest, filled with mixed feelings. He was going to see Peter for the first time in six months, after he literally rose from the dead – he’d gone to his funeral, for Christ’s sake – but it wouldn’t be a heartwarming reunion. He knew Peter wasn’t himself. Something had happened to him and he wasn’t okay, he was worried about what might happen, but the anxiety to see him again in person after so long was stronger than anything else.

He activated Mark L and when the door to the elevator opened, the room was quiet. It was huge, the light was low and blueish, there were at list seventeen rows of processors from one end of the room to the other, and Tony knew that at the very back, in a corner, there was a computer. He walked down the aisles quietly until he saw them. Peter had his back to him, but there was no mistaking the line of his shoulders, his neck, the way he stood, his quick fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Peter...” It came out as a sigh, but it was loud enough for both of them to hear and turn to him. For the first time, Fish-bowl-guy had his helmet off and Tony could see his face – the same face that took Peter away from him months earlier. “You!” He stalked towards them, but Peter webbed his feet together. Tony could easily break it, but stopped in his tracks, he didn’t want it to escalate to a fight. “What are you doing, Pete?”

“How dare you talk to him, Stark! After everything you’ve done?” Those eyes were so familiar, but he couldn’t place them. Tony frowned, taking a step closer, breaking the webs around his ankles.  

“What– Pete –”

“You revoked my access?” Peter asked, exasperated and nervous when the computer announced his access was denied. That voice. That sweet, honey-like voice...

“So it is you.” Tony took yet another step closer, reaching out to him, but Peter got into a fighting stance.

“Why did you have to do that?” To Tony’s surprise, his voice trembled, like he was actually hurt by that. His heart broke in a million pieces. “You used to love me, you said–“ He shook his head, taking a deep breath. “You leave me no choice.”

“Peter, please–“ Before he could say anything else, the younger man leaped at him and almost managed to rip the faceplate off his face as he sat on his shoulders and started pulling it, but Tony was able to grab him and throw him away, but not far enough to hurt him. He stumbled a few feet and got right back up. “Pete, what are you doing, just stop!”

“No! You stop, Tony, please! How could you–“ He came at him again, and Tony flew out of the his way, but was caught by his web around his ankle. Peter swung him and threw him to the floor, but Tony quickly got up. “Please, Tony, you –“

“Don’t talk to him, Pete, he’s gonna try to manipulate you! We have to kill him, there’s no other choice!” Fish-bowl-guy was typing furiously at the keyboard, but Friday was keeping Tony updated. He was good, definitely above average, but he probably wouldn’t be able to hack into his systems. “Once we’re done, we can’t let him live, Peter.”

“What the fuck is he talking about! Kid, it’s me, it’s me, what are you doing?” Tony tried to reach Peter again, but he shot webs at him, trying to tie his arms to his torso, which was useless. The engineer knew Peter was going easy on him, he was almost as strong as Mark L and if the suit he was wearing was anything like the one Tony made for him, it had an instant kill mode. Still, he kept trying to bind him, not hurt him.

“I can’t let you release Extremis to the public! Please, I’m begging you, let me help you, we can–“ Fish-bowl-guy grabbed Peter’s arm, pulling him away and shaking him.

“Peter, stop fucking around! He’s dangerous!”

“Don’t fucking touch him!“ Tony had had it with him, he charged his repulsors and was going to aim right at his head, but for a short while, the room went dark, then when the lights came back up, only Peter was there. He had his mask off and, for a moment, Tony was free to breath. For the first time in months, he could fill his lungs up with air because his beautiful face was right there in front of him, within reach. Alive, healthy.

And staring at him with hatred.

“You’re disgusting, Tony. How could you do that to me? You groomed me, you sick fuck, I was just a boy, you molested me!” He started walking towards him and Tony blinked in shock.

“What?”

“You’re a good for nothing piece of shit, you left me for dead months ago, didn’t even come looking for me, I bet you found some younger ass to fuck, didn’t you? You old perv.” Tony took a few steps back, heart beating loudly in his ears. He’d never seen such hate in his eyes in all those years they were together.

“Pete...”

“You came after me because you couldn’t find someone your own age who would put up with your crap, right? The drinking, the nightmares, the fucking panic attacks, I was so fucking done with it! All of it!” He couldn’t believe his ears, Peter – he would never talk to him like that. Right? Or was that how he felt the whole time? “Give me access to EDITH, Tony.” He demanded and Tony frowned. EDITH was an AI that gave its users access to Stark Industries's global satellite network along with an arsenal of missiles and drones. It was only supposed to be used in case of Tony’s death, Peter knew that. “If you want to redeem yourself, you’ll do it, and I might forgive you.”

“Boss, I think you should see something,” Before Tony could answer, Friday activated the suit’s thermal imaging and Tony frowned. Peter was not standing in front of him. In fact, he was nowhere to be found and there was nobody where he stood just seconds ago. First, he panicked, thinking he had disappeared again, but it just took him five seconds to realize what was going on.

“Where is this hologram coming from, Fri?” Friday deactivated the thermal imaging and Tony was shocked by how realistic the Peter staring back at him was. So realistic that only one person in the whole world could have made it: himself.

“There are five drones projecting images in the room, sir.”

“Take them out.”

In seconds, five tiny missiles were launched from his suit and the drones fell to the floor, lifeless, and suddenly the whole room changed. It was still the same setting, but it somehow looked more real then, and of course, Peter had disappeared.

“Tony? Tony, where did you go?! What – what happened?” He heard Peter’s voice on the other end of the room and he rushed to get there.

Peter was curled up in a corner, looking scared and desperate as he looked around him in confusion. The other guy was kneeling next to him, trying to comfort him again.

“Pete, whatever he showed you, whatever you saw, it wasn’t real. He’s using BARF!” He tried to approach the young man, but his eyes were wild as he shook his head. He pushed the other guy away but kept crawling backwards, away from Tony as well.

“Stay away from me, please, don’t come any closer. I-I don’t wanna hurt you, please, Tony, please...” He was still looking around like he didn’t expect to still be there.

“Why do you always have to ruin every-fucking-thing, Stark? Why do you have to stand in the fucking way of every single thing that I do?” Fish-bowl-guy got up and started marching towards him, furious.

“I have no fucking idea who you are, you fucking weirdo.” Tony aimed his repulsors at him and the guy stopped, laughing incredulously.

“You hav – you motherfucker! You think you’re a God, don’t you? Above everything and everyone, literally wrapped in wealth and technology you’re unfit to wield. Like the holographic system I designed. A revolutionary breakthrough with limitless applications, that you turned into a self therapy machine and renamed it BARF! My life’s work, Stark, and you renamed it BARF! I told you it was a mistake, that my technology could change the world and then you fired me. You said I was… unstable. Ring any bells?”

It clicked, then. The crazy, wild eyes, the hand gestures, the insane world domination plans.

“Beck.” No wonder Tony had forgot about him, the guy was brilliant, but completely insane. He helped develop the technology behind BARF, but once he started talking about weaponizing it, Tony decided to let him go. “I didn’t steal it, it belonged to me, it was my idea, I made you head of the project because I thought you could see it through, but your ideas for what it could be used for were clearly unhealthy and a fucking threat to the world. So, yeah, not sorry for firing your ass, I was clearly right. What even is your endgame here, Beck? What do you want?”

“These days, you can be the smartest guy in the room, the most qualified, and no one cares. Unless you’re flying around with a cape or shooting lasers from your hands, no one will even listen. Well, now I’ve got a cape. And lasers. With my technology and with EDITH, I will be the greatest hero on Earth!” He spread his arms and laughed like the madman he was, and Tony frowned.

“Yeah? Where are your lasers now?” The guy looked at him like he had just realized he had nothing. Peter was curled in a corner, too confused to act, his drones lay limp on the floor, and he had no way out of the room. “Better luck next time, asshole.” Tony wanted to kill him, he did, but he controlled himself and just knocked him over the head. He fell heavily to the floor and Tony turned to Peter, who was still looking at him like the whole world had been turned upside down.  “Peter, baby, c’mon, it’s me, it’s Tony,” He tried to approach him, but he shook his head violently.

“S-stand back!” He panted, eyes flicking between Tony and the guy on the floor. “What’s happening, I don’t understand, I don’t… We were… Outside and you…You killed people, how…”

“It’s fine, it’s gonna be fine, I promise, just trust me, I will take care of you, I’ll take care of everything, I –“

“Stay away from me!” Peter got up and run towards the elevator, Tony had no choice other than shoot him with the tranquilizer he used on Bruce when he hulked out at the wrong time. He rushed to catch him before he hit the ground and carefully cradled him in his arms.

Finally, in his arms. Warm and alive, solid and breathing.

“I’m so sorry,  Peter. For everything. I’ll make it up to you.”

***

Tony startled awake when he heard screaming. His heart almost jumped out of his chest and he was on his feet in a matter of seconds the minute he registered it was Peter’s voice. He was distressed, possibly hurt, so he flew to his side, but was quickly pushed away by nurses and doctors that rushed into the room and Tony remembered the last 24 hours, where they were and why.  

“Tony! Tony!” Peter called as he gasped for air, and that was more than enough for the older man to force his away back to him, grabbing his shaking hand.

“I’m here, baby, I’m here, are you okay?” He asked in a rush looking into his wild, scared eyes, and the kid just looked back at him for a few minutes, blinking several times, before he nodded slowly.

“Are you – are you real?” He rubbed his forehead, panting, and Dr. Cho approached him to run a few tests. Peter had been out for a whole day after the Hulk-sized dose of tranquilizer Tony shot him with, even with his fast metabolism.

“I am. Do you feel that?” He brushed his thumbs across his cheeks and Peter closed his eyes, sighing and nodding slowly. Tony took his hands and pressed them to his own face, down his scratchy cheeks that hadn’t seen a razor in weeks, and Peter smiled. “It’s me, I’m here now, it’s over.” Tony explained to him as doctor Cho checked his blood pressure and his pulse, asked him a few questions, then once she was satisfied, she nodded.

“You’re okay, Peter. You just need a lot of rest, ok? Most of your wounds from the fight have already healed, but I’m going to keep you here overnight just to be sure, then you can go right home, ok?” He nodded and she smiled. “Welcome back.”

She left the room and silence took over for a second, but they still looked at each other, as if afraid that if the looked away the other would disappear. Nat had interrogated Beck and figured out his plan. The terrorist attack was an ambush, it was his goal to kidnap Peter all along, he knew he was the only person, besides Tony, who had access to EDITH.

He made them see Peter’s death as he kidnapped him with an illusion of Tony. He was holding Peter in a warehouse in Queens and the sad thing was, he didn’t even need anything to contain him. He kept him there with illusions. Peter thought he was at Stark Tower the whole tome, living with Tony as if nothing had changed.

Well, with a few changes. Beck’s Tony was slowly going mad, called himself Superior Iron man and planned to take over humanity by spreading a virus called Extremis 3.0. When Peter refused to help him, he was turned into a hostage. Peter was “Tony’s hostage” for months before Beck “rescued him” – by keeping him in the same warehouse, with different illusions. He managed to make him believe the Avengers were in on Tony’s plan and they had to stop them. The bank robbery was necessary to weaponize the few drones he was able to build after he left Stark Industries.

“How… How are you feeling, Pete?” He braced himself for the answer, because he knew it would be nothing short of horrible and he knew that whatever happened to him was his fault. The younger man bit his lower lip, frowned, and shook his head slightly.

“Confused. Scared.” He confessed, tearing up, but he kept holding Tony’s hand tightly. “Not sure if any of this is even real. If you are real.”

Tony could see that he meant it when he looked into his eyes. He was terrified. The older man took a deep breath and sat beside him on the bed.

“Do you remember our trip to Brazil?” He placed Peter’s hand on his own face again, kissing its palm. Peter nodded with a small smile. “Remember our last night there, on the hotel suite’s balcony? We had been together for, what, two, three months at the time? Remember what I said to you?” A tear ran down his cheek when he whispered yes. “I’m gonna marry you someday, kid.” Tony whispered back, joining their foreheads.

“And I said you couldn’t call me kid when you were making marriage plans.” Peter laughed wetly between tears, leaning up to place a gentle kiss on Tony’s lips, sighing in relief. “I should have known that could have never been you…” Peter’s hand slid from Tony’s cheek, to his shoulder, down his arm, until it reached the little cuts on his hands, the rough pads of his fingers. Peter took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “How long?”

Peter didn’t have to ask the whole question, Tony heard it, and he squeezed his hand.

“Six months.” He winced when Peter’s eyes grew large as saucers.

“Fuck... Fuck! Tony – I feel so stupid… I should have known, I should have fucking –“

“Hey, hey, don’t, don’t you dare blame yourself, you hear me? He fooled us all, Pete. The reason why I didn’t come looking for you before was because... For six months, I thought you dead.” He cradled his face in his hands and Peter gasped.

“Oh, God, Tony.”

“I saw you die, Pete,” He whispered, lowering his head so Peter didn’t have to see his tears. “I saw you die before my eyes. And I – I believed it, too. I never went after you, kid. I’m so sorry, I could have saved you, but I–“ before he could finish, he felt the boy’s fingers under his chin, lifting his head, and he was met with an equally wet face staring back at him.

“I’m here, now. And so are you. We’ll get through this together, okay?”

“Pete...”

There were no more comforting words to say other than his name. The name he hadn’t dared to say for so many months. He knew they had a long way to go, he could predict the sleepless nights, the nightmares, the anxiety attacks, the absolute terror of thinking of ever losing him again. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but they were going to do it together, they would heal together and relearn how to recognize each other blindly once again. One step at a time.  

[css1992]

Secret Smile

Prompt/Summary:“After being in a relationship for years, Peter is finally back on the market. Tony immediately rushes to make his interest known, but he didn’t realize he had competition. (Maybe a college AU? Or something where they’re closer in age)”

Warnings: Explicit, 18+, mentions of an abusive relationship (not between main pairing, not explicit), violence (not between main pairing), mentions of blood, jealousy. If you find anything triggering, please let me know!

Word count:13.4k

-x-

Finally, he laid eyes on him.

Peter was standing in the corner, drink in hand, and his eyes looked sad, but there was relief in his lose, smiling lips. Tony sometimes forgot how beautiful he was, how the corner of his eyes crinkled when he laughed; how his lips always looked soft an inviting, even when they were set in a straight line; how his curls always looked messy and bouncy; and how he used to be his.

In a way.

It was easy to forget Tony used to be the center of his attention, easy to forget how he used to look at him like he hung the moon. How he said things without using words, how he had this specific, secret smile that he used only for Tony. It was easy to forget because he used to think he would have time to commit all those things to memory. He used to think he had all the time in the world – but, as it turned out, time was a fickle thing.

So he didn’t want to waste it anymore, not again.

He stalked towards Peter and saw the exact moment when he noticed his presence. It was like the younger man had a radar, he could tell when Tony was looking at him, no matter from how far, no matter how many other people were around them. It was like he could smell him from miles away, he would look around and their eyes would meet before Tony could ever look away. And always, without fail, that beautiful, slow smile would spread across his lips, even if all he ever did was wave silently at him.

Even if they never talked anymore.

Peter looked surprised and the smile faltered a little when he noticed Tony was heading his way. The older boy took a deep breath and kept moving through the sweaty, dancing bodies that separated them in the living room. When he finally reached him, his eyes were wide, mouth hanging open, cheeks flushed. He looked breathless – and breathtakingly beautiful.

“Hey,” the older boy greeted, because how else could he bridge that two-year gap when they didn’t speak to each other, just smiled and waved politely from across the room?

“Tony,” Peter breathed out, still looking a little surprised, but mostly confused, and Tony couldn’t blame him. They used to be inseparable in high school, but ever since he left for college, it was never the same again, not even when Peter followed him a year later.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” he said dumbly, and Peter frowned, but smiled anyway.

“We see each other every week.” He dropped his gaze to look at his feet, hands buried in his pockets. They took Professor Strange’s class together, so, yeah, of course they saw each other every week. Stupid Tony.

“No, yeah, I mean, we haven’t talked in a while,” which was the understatement of the century, of course. Tony was going to say something clever, but it slipped his mind when Peter raised his eyes to meet his gaze again and the older man finally noticed that his cheeks weren’t just flushed – his left cheekbone was bruised. It was a little swollen and purplish, just under his eye. Before Tony could think twice, his hand flew up to cup his face carefully, and Peter flinched for a fraction of a second, before leaning into the touch, eyes fluttering closed. “What –“

Someone coughed loudly to his left and it was like some kind of spell was instantly broken. Tony was reminded that they weren’t alone in some alternate universe where only they existed, but rather at a very loud, very crowded party.

“Uh – Sorry! Uhm, Tony, this is Harry!” Peter jumped away from him and Tony’s eyes flew to the guy next to him. He looked expensive and aristocratic in a way that Howard would probably want him to look, his clothes were impeccable, his hair carefully gelled back. He had high cheekbones, straight brows, and eyes that glared daggers at him, clearly telling him to fuck off. “He’s a friend. Harry, this is Tony, he, uh – we used to go to school together.”

Tony pretended that it didn’t hurt that now all that he was to Peter was an old acquaintance – it was mostly his fault, anyway. He focused on the purplish bruise on his cheek, ignoring the hand that the other boy extended to him in greeting.

“What happened to your face?” He asked, raising his fingers to try and touch it again, but Peter dodged them immediately.

“It’s nothing.” He looked intently into his eyes and Tony knew what he meant – let it go. And he wished he had a right to demand an answer, but of course he didn’t. He was just someone he went to school with.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” He glanced sideways at the other guy who stood that much closer to Peter now, frowning, trying to assert some dominance or something, but the younger man seemed barely aware of his presence.

“He – I – we’re not together anymore.” And Tony knew that, of course. Had known for a week, Natasha called him as soon as she heard it from Wanda. She didn’t know many details, but she said it was ugly, which begged the question: how ugly? Why was Peter’s face bruised?

And who the fuck was Harry, anyway, and what the fuck was he doing with an arm around Peter’s waist?

“Hm,” Tony muttered, eyes lingering on Harry’s fingers brushing Peter’s hipbone, and he noticed when the younger boy discreetly pulled away until he let go of him. “Do you wanna get out of here?” He asked, casually, like they could still say stuff like that to each other, and Peter was taken aback.

“Dude, we were having a private conversation here, wh –“

“Fuck off.” Tony didn’t spare the other guy a glance, eyes focused on Peter, who shook his head, as if getting out of a trance.

“No, he’s right, Tony, I – sorry, I can’t go with you. I’ll see you around, okay?” He waited for an answer for a few seconds, but when Tony said nothing and didn’t make any move to leave, he sighed. “Ok. C’mon, Harry.” He walked away in the general direction of the backdoor of the house the party was being held at and Tony let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, when he felt a firm hand land on his shoulder.

“Tough night, huh?” When he looked over his shoulder, it was Nat, smiling pitifully at him.

“Something like that.” He rubbed a hand across his forehead, turning around to face her. He accepted the red cup she offered him. “Do you know this Harry?”

“Harry Osborn. He’s been following Peter around like a lost puppy for a few months now, I think Peter and Beck’s fight had something to do with him, you know he was a jealous fucker.” Yeah, Tony knew. It was one of the reasons he and Peter hadn’t talked in nearly two years before that night.

“Do you think Peter likes him?” He asked, quietly, and the redhead shrugged, looking in the direction they had wandered off to.

“I’m not sure, he never tells him to fuck off, but he’s too polite to do that anyway, so.” She looked back at him with a serious gaze, brows furrowed. “Why, gonna give up that easily?”

“Of course not, I just –” Tony looked into his cup, biting his lower lip. “He didn’t seem too excited to see me, it’s all.” He shrugged, a little defeated, and Nat chuckled.

“He was a little shocked, you haven’t talked to him in years, give him some time.” She smiled, slapping his arm encouragingly. “C’mon, Romeo, the night is still young.”

But not young enough, it seemed. Tony didn’t see Peter again until a few hours later, when he watched him leave with Harry’s fucking arm around his shoulder and it felt like losing him, all over again.

–*–  

One day, Tony blinked and Peter was taken.

Suddenly, that sweet boy who was always by his side, with huge, bright eyes and that innocent, wishful look on his face, went off with someone else. Which was – unexpected. Unexpected, yes, because Tony saw the way he looked at him, the way his eyes glinted as he listened to him, the way his cheeks burned a lovely pink when they touched, the way that shy, secret smile made its way across his face whenever they were close enough.

Tony knew Peter was in love with him, the boy couldn’t keep it a secret if he tried.

And he loved him, too. He loved the sound of his voice as he explained chemical equations Tony pretended not to understand, just to hear him talk nerdy. He loved how silly he looked when someone said something unexpectedly funny and he let out a surprised giggle. He loved his small, steady hands, that were always helpful in the workshop Howard set up for him back home. He loved his weird left eyebrow, which seemed to be perpetually disheveled.

He did. The timing just wasn’t right.

They were so young when they first met, Peter hadn’t even had his first kiss yet, all those years ago at Midtown High. Tony remembered falling in love with him on their way from the AP Physics classroom to the cafeteria, remembered stealing his first kiss after school by his car, in the parking lot, and panicking right after because he just wasn’t ready.

For commitment, for Peter.

But to be honest, he was so sure he was always going to be there, he wasn’t in any rush. He thought he could take his time before he settled down with Peter, so he dated other people – although, to be fair, it wasn’t really dating, it was just fooling around, he was just having fun, it didn’t mean anything. Even so, he knew it made the younger boy miserable. He pretended not to notice how red and puffy his eyes were some days, when rumors were spread about Tony’s hook-ups.

He thought he had all the time in the world, so he took it.

He left for MIT a year earlier than Peter and that was when it all went south. Because of Quentin Fucking Beck. He was charming, handsome and a genius in his own right. None of those things mattered to Peter, Tony knew, he was such a nice boy. What won him over were the niceties, the card on valentine’s day, the innocent teddy bear on his birthday, the invitation to senior prom. Tony fucking knew and he should have seen it coming, but he was cocky, he was confident that Peter loved him above all those little gestures, that he loved him enough to look past those and wait. Wait for him to be ready. Because he must have known, right? He must have known that Tony loved him, too. Wanted him, too.

But Peter didn’t know, it seemed.

Because he went off with Beck, he kissed him at the end of the night at prom, he went home with him, lost his virginity to him, then called Tony the next morning and told him all about it. Tony thought maybe it was just – maybe Peter was confused, maybe it wasn’t serious, because he loved Tony, why would he want to be with Beck?

The older boy went back home for the summer break, after a year away. He thought it would all go back to normal, that he and Peter would see each other everyday, hang out together in Tony’s workshop – the only place he felt at home – or at Peter’s place, and he would realize he was wasting his time with Beck. Tony was ready by then, the thought of losing Peter to someone else was enough of a wake-up call, so he was ready to settle down, he was ready for commitment.

Peter was waiting for him at the airport and jumped in his arms as soon as his Tony-radar picked up on him. He kept him company when he went home to face Howard, but then he had to leave early because he had a date with Beck. Which was okay, really. The following day, Tony went to visit May and they hung out for a while, but soon after, Beck was there, too. The next day he made plans to catch a movie with Peter and, sure enough, he showed up with Quentin attached to his hip.

And Peter laughed at his jokes and let him hold him by the waist and let him whisper in his ear and payed attention to every word he said, like it fucking mattered, and it didn’t, because seriously, that guy was a prick, he was arrogant and full of himself and – what the fuck was Peter doing with him?

Beck started tagging along every-fucking-where they went, even in the workshop. Tony slowly began to notice that it wasn’t because he wanted to be with Peter at all times, at least not only because of that. He was jealous – possessive, even. Whenever Tony got physically close to the younger boy, he’d glare at him, sometimes he even “playfully” pulled Peter back. If Tony ever suggested he and Peter do something just the two of them, for old time’s sake, the younger man looked uncertain, almost nervous, so he stopped asking.  

At the same time, Peter seemed to miss their time together, too, but he couldn’t seem to be able to tell Beck to fuck off. He always had that apologetic look on his face when he asked if it was okay for Beck to come and Tony put on his best, fake smile when he said yes.

At first, Tony thought he could take it, he thought that he could hang out with them and not be weird, but he was wrong. It was fucking weird. Because he was in love with Peter and Peter was in love with someone else.

So Tony stopped calling as the weeks went by, then he stopped picking up Peter’s calls, then he stopped answering his texts until they were reduced to only exchanging waves and smiles by the end of the summer, as if they’d never been friends before.

To be honest, Tony thought it was temporary, because deep down he believed – had to believe – that  Peter still loved him, even if he was dating Beck. So, whatever, they wouldn’t talk for maybe a few months, but soon enough he would realize that Quentin was shit and that he was better off with Tony. But he didn’t. He kept dating Beck for two fucking years and when Tony finally accepted that he had missed his chance and that he should move on and find someone new, Nat called him. And he decided he wouldn’t waste any time this time around and still, somehow, he was fucking late.

Because of Harry fucking Osborn.

– *–

Two days after the party, Peter posted a selfie on Instagram. He was lying in bed looking cozy and sleepy, the caption read “Three more weeks to go”, probably referring to the upcoming spring break. He looked effortlessly beautiful and soft, but what drew Tony’s attention, what got his heart pumping and his hands shaking was the glimpse of a dark blue hoodie with yellow strings that looked an awful lot like the one Tony had lent him in high school and never got back.

Did Peter do that on purpose? He must have known Tony would see it, right? Was that a sign? He was wearing his clothes, for fuck’s sake.

“Nice hoodie.” He shot him a DM and bit his nails as he waited for Peter to see it. For some reason, he thought he might not answer at all. Tony was still a little disappointed by the way he reacted at the party, but he didn’t even know what he’d been expecting. He was the asshole, after all, he was the one who stopped picking up the phone.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize it, in case you’d want it back.” Tony’s heart did a little back flip in his rib cage and a wide smile spread across his face. It was a playful answer, a peace offering.  And maybe it meant he’d been thinking of him when he took that picture, maybe even before that, when he put on the hoodie. Did he wear it often?

“Well, then you shouldn’t have posted that pic, I’d recognize it anywhere. It brings back lots of good memories.” Like walking back to Peter’s place after going to the movies together, wrapping said hoodie around his shoulders when he saw him shiver, hanging out at his place until late that night, getting yelled at by May for putting his feet on the couch, going home hoodieless, thinking that the next day he’d be leaving for Boston and wouldn’t be seeing Peter for a while. Little did they know they’d never have nights like that again after that day.

“So you want it back?” He asked with a sad emoji and Tony couldn’t help but smile to himself, shaking his head no to no one in particular.

“Nah, it’s yours. It has always suited you better, anyway.” Peter didn’t write anything back for a few minutes, and Tony was afraid it was the end of the conversation, but then another message came.

“Not true, you looked pretty good in it.” Tony puffed out his chest proudly and felt stupid when he realized Peter wouldn’t see it, then quickly started typing.  

“Never said I didn’t, you’re just way cuter in it, what with the sleeves hanging off your hands and all.” He was again nervous for Peter’s answer, which came quickly.

“I just have short arms.” He sent it with the emoji of the little monkey covering its eyes. For whatever reason, it reminded Tony of the bruise on his face at the party, and it bothered him to no end that he still didn’t know what happened. Well, deep in his heart, he did, he just didn’t want to believe it was true, because if it was – then it meant he’d failed Peter.

“Hey, how’s your face? I was worried the other night.” He asked, trying to make it sound casual, but he knew it probably wouldn’t work, which proved to be true when Peter’s evasive answer came.

“No need to be, it’s fine.” Before Tony could say anything else, he sent another message.“Did you have a good time at the party?”

“Not really, I felt lonely,” He smiled to himself, again feeling silly because he was alone in his room and no one would see it.

“There were a lot of people there.” Tony could imagine his face, the smart glint in his eyes, already knowing what the answer would be. Or maybe he was insecure and shy, blushing as he waited for the answer. Or maybe he didn’t care at all and Tony was an idiot to think he might be interested in him. He preferred to believe the first option, so he answered accordingly.

“Yeah, but I was hoping to spend time with someone else. But he kinda disappeared on me.”

“Oh, yeah?” He imagined his secret smile making its way across his face, lighting up the whole room. “Next time look harder for him, then, I’m sure he didn’t actually disappear.” Tony’s heart fluttered.

“I will.” He answered and Peter was silent for several minutes, so he thought the conversation was over, but because he was a masochist asshole, he asked, “So, you and Harry, huh?”

“What about it?” He didn’t offer any information.

“You two seem close.” Tony said, dumbly, and Peter’s answer didn’t take long to arrive.

“We are.” And it crushed his chest, completely erasing the good feeling he had when the conversation started.

“Cool.”

“See you in class?” Peter sent as a way of goodbye and Tony thought it was a good thing there was no one in his room after all, so no one would see how his face fell.

“Sure, see you.”

–*–

Tony was always late to Professor Strange’s class, because it took place at ass o’clock in the morning every Thursday. Luckily, the grumpy, old man liked him well enough that he was always allowed in with only a threatening, “You are late. Again”, but nothing ever came of it, so it was fine. That Thursday, though, he was up early, too excited and anxious to see Peter again now that they were talking. So he hurried to the physics building and would have gotten in without paying any mind to his surroundings if he hadn’t heard Peter’s voice coming from the side of the building. He quietly turned around the corner and watched as Beck stared down at the shorter boy, who had his back to the wall.

“Tell me I’m wrong, tell me you weren’t fucking him when we were together, I dare you! We’ve been apart for three weeks and you’ve been walking around with him like you’re his fucking bitch!” His light blue eyes bulged out of his eye-sockets and made him look like a madman ready to pounce, but Peter stood his ground.

“You’re sick, Beck, you’re paranoid and obsessive and I told you, I won’t take it anymore! Back the fuck off and leave me the fuck alone, I’m serious!” He tried to push away from the wall, but the older man pushed him back, making him slam his head against the side of the building.

“You little whore!” He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and Tony finally jumped into action. He rushed to them and before they even noticed him, he barreled into Beck.

“Hey, asshole, get the fuck away from him!” Beck was caught off guard and tripped, walking few steps backwards before he fell on his butt. Tony didn’t look back to check on Peter, he kept his focus on Quentin, who looked at him with fury in his eyes. “Don’t you fucking touch him, you piece of shit!”

“He’s not worth it, jerk, you’ll find out soon enough.” He got up and brushed his hands down his pants. “He’s a lying, cheating, little cockslut and before you know it he’ll be sucking someone else’s dick while you –“ Tony grabbed him by the collar and even though they were the same height, he was able to lift him a little off the ground, noses almost touching.

“If you say another word about him, I’ll fucking murder you,” he threatened, almost in a whisper.

“Fuck this,” Beck slapped his hand away from his shirt and pushed him for good measure, but Tony didn’t move and inch. He glared at him for a few more seconds and scoffed, shaking his head, hands raised in surrender. “You two deserve each other,” he said, walking away, not sparing a glance Peter’s way.  

“Are you okay?” When Tony turned around and looked at Peter, he was slumped against the wall, both of his hands covering his face as he sobbed. “Oh God, did he hurt you?” He rushed to his side, checking for visible injuries, but Peter shook his head.  

“I’m fine,” he managed to say between sobs, and Tony quickly gathered him in his arms, letting him bury his face in his chest, soaking his shirt in tears in the process. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to –”

“I know, it’s okay, he’s gone now.” He petted his hair, holding him even closer and tighter and Peter responded in the same way.

“How could I be so blind for so long?” He raised his eyes to look at Tony and the older boy ran a hand down his face, trying to stop the flood of tears that wouldn’t rolling down his cheeks.

“It’s – You didn’t...” Tony didn’t know how to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, that Beck was fucking toxic, abusive. It felt so fucking weird to acknowledge the fact that Peter was in an abusive relationship, he felt so fucking guilty. He should have noticed it from the start, from the very first few times he hung out with them, there were so many tells, but he was blinded by jealousy. So stupidly jealous he abandoned Peter when he needed him the most. He was childish and selfish and Peter got hurt – how could he ever forgive himself for that?

“I feel so stupid,” he whispered, drying his tears roughly with the sleeve of his denim jacket, which left red marks on the delicate skin of his cheeks. Before Tony could stop him or say anything else, they heard another voice.

“Peter, is that you?” They both turned in time to see Harry jogging to meet them. As soon as he was within reaching distance, Peter fell into his arms. It shouldn’t bother Tony, it was definitely not the time to be jealous, but he couldn’t help the way his heart ached and his stomach sank when the younger man left the warmth of his arms to hold Harry. “God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sorry I scared you.” He was a little calmer by the time he answered and Harry cupped his cheeks in his hands, looking closely at his face, searching for something – Tony knew what and it drove him crazy that Peter was in such a situation that people assumed he was hurt.  

“When I got your text I thought that psycho was–“ Peter texted him, Tony thought, dropping his gaze to the floor, burying his hands in his pockets. Peter texted him. He wanted Harry to be there when he thought something bad might happen. Not Tony. Harry.

“I’m fine, Tony showed up and he left.” For the first time since he arrived, the other boy acknowledged his presence. He looked at Tony suspiciously and frowned, apparently annoyed that he was there.

“Oh. You.” He said as an accusation, as Peter let go of him to stand between them.

“Yeah. Me.” Tony straightened his back and puffed out his chest to seem a little taller and wider, but the other boy looked unimpressed.  

“Hm,” he muttered, looking him up and down with disdain, then turned to Peter. He extended an arm to reach for the younger man. “Come on, Pete, I’ll walk you to class.”

“It’s ok, Tony’s headed that way anyway, right?” Peter shrugged his arm off, looking at Tony for confirmation.

“Yeah, right. I’ll walk you,” he answered quickly and it was his turn to wrap an arm around Peter’s shoulders – and he wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to do that, but Peter didn’t seem to mind when his secret smile made its way across his face as he looked up at him.

“Are you sure?” Harry frowned, arms crossed over his chest, annoyed, but Peter nodded.

“Of course. It’s fine, Harry, seriously.” What the fuck did that asshole think he was going to do, anyway? Who died and named him Peter’s keeper?

“Okay. Okay, but call me after class, will you?” He sighed, burying his hands in his pockets, eyes focused on Tony’s hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, anger and jealousy clear in his brown eyes. It made Tony smirk slightly in triumph, which wasn’t lost on the other man.

“Ok, talk to you later.” Peter waved innocently at him, seemingly unaware of the tension between the two of them. Harry stared for a couple more seconds, before nodding and turning around to leave.

Although he had put on a brave front for Harry, Peter was still pretty shaken when he left, Tony didn’t even have the heart to get (too) jealous of their little interaction. Peter ran a hand through his hair and raised his bloodshot eyes to look at Tony, it was heartbreaking how sad they looked. Tony didn’t remember ever seeing him like that when they were younger and the guilt crushed his chest. He could have prevented that look on his face if he had stayed and taken care of him, no matter what.

“Beck is a jerk, none of what he said is true, you know that, right?” He almost whispered, they were so close, his arm around Peter’s shoulder allowed him to pull him closer, close enough that their faces were almost touching.

“I don’t care what he says about me, I just feel – embarrassed, you know? It took him literally –” He interrupted himself, but Tony knew exactly what he was going to say. There was so much information in his silence, it was maddening.

“That bruise on your face –“

“It was my wake-up call,” he said, definitive, not leaving any room for any questions. “It had never happened before and it’s never gonna happen again, because we’re not together anymore and eventually he’ll forget I exist, so let it go, ok?” Judging by his expression, it was clear that he knew exactly what Tony wanted to do to Beck.

“What about today? What if I hadn’t got here in time, what if –“

“I’m not that delicate, Tony,” he chuckled as he started walking to the building entrance, forcing Tony to walk alongside him. “I probably couldn’t take him in a fight, but I’m sure I could do some damage.” He looked up at him with a wicked smile and winked. It made Tony’s heart melt a little.

“I’m sure you could.” When they finally reached their classroom, Tony stopped and held Peter’s shoulders, forcing him to face him. “If he ever comes looking for you again, please let me know?” Peter chuckled, shaking his head a little.

“Between you and Harry scaring him off this past week, I doubt he’ll try anything anytime soon.” Of course. He had Harry. “C’mon, we’re already late to class.”

–*–

When Tony moved to Boston, he had to stay at the dorms for his first year, as was required by MIT. He didn’t mind it much, to be honest, it was noisy and messy, but so was most of his life, so it was fine. Besides, he got Rhodey as his roommate and they became fast friends, which was awesome. But of course it wasn’t good enough for a Stark, according to Howard, so in the beginning of his second year, he got Tony an apartment close to campus. It had three bedrooms and an open kitchen, separated from the living room by a counter, and it was huge.

At first, it was fun having the whole place to himself, but after a year alone, he invited Rhodey to live with him, and it was the best idea he’d had yet, they spent all of their free time playing video games, drinking beer and tinkering, when they didn’t have friends over.

They were having a quiet night in, Rhodey was studying for finals and Tony was giving DUM-e a few touch-ups, when he decided to take a break to check his phone. Of course, as he did every time, the first thing he checked was Peter’s Instagram. There weren’t any new pictures – he wasn’t the type of person who posted everyday, it was more like once a week – but there were new Instagram stories. It was a series of short videos of him rambling about his tests and how he couldn’t wait for spring break, so Tony took the opportunity to shoot him a message.

“Someone’s excited for spring break. Do you have plans?” He asked casually, but his heart was pumping, he always wondered if Peter got excited to speak to him, too.

“Hey! No plans, I just really need a break right now. Lol. Why do you ask?” He answered almost immediately, and Tony smiled.

“No reason, you just seem really excited about it. Are you gonna be in town?” In all honesty, it was just an innocent question, because Peter could want to go visit May, but the answer took his breath away for a second.

“Yeah, why? Are you gonna ask me out or are you just stalking me?” The message was accompanied by a smiley face with the tongue sticking out.

“Do you want me to ask you out?” He sent back with the smirking face emoji.

“Answering a question with another question? Rude.” Tony held back a smile, biting his lower lip.

“I’m sorry, the answer is yes, I’m asking you out, what’s yours?” Go big or go home, he figured, and Peter seemed interested, so what the hell?

“You’ll know when you ask me.” He sent the emoji with the tongue sticking out again.

“I just did!” Tony argued, laughing to himself, he could almost see Peter’s secret smile in his mind.

“I’m sure you can do better than that. I’ll wait. So you’re not going back to New York for the break either?” He quickly changed the subject, which was fine, at least Tony knew that he was definitely interested, even if just a little.

“Yikes, no way. Twice a year is way too many times already.” He was suddenly reminded that he still had to call his mom to give her his final answer.

“Lol. If I remember your mom correctly, she must be calling non-stop.” Tony smiled again. Peter and Maria used to get along weirdly well for a nerdy teenager and an old, slightly stuck-up socialite. Tony even caught them trading stories about him once, it was terrifying. And a little heartwarming.  

“Only everyday for a month now.” And he wasn’t even joking, Maria called daily to ask him to come home for spring break. And if it were for her, he would, but there was Howard.  

“Lol.”

“She asks about you sometimes.”  

“And what do you say?”

“That you don’t love me anymore.” He sent it before he could overthink the answer. It took Peter a full minute to write back.

“You’re a menace, Tony Stark. Next time tell her the truth: that YOU got fed up with me.” To soften the blow, he sent a laughing emoji. “Tell her I said hello.”

“That’s not true, I’m here now, aren’t I?” Before Peter could ask what was the truth, then, because that was a conversation Tony wasn’t ready for, he added. “I’ll tell her you said hi.”

“See you next Thursday?”

“Can’t wait.”

–*–

“Dude, calm down, I’m pretty sure he’ll still be there five minutes from now,” Rhodey chuckled, watching Tony with a bemused expression after he jumped up from the couch and rushed to the bathroom. He ran his hands through his hair to make sure it was a carefully planned mess, put on his best cologne and decided to change shirts – maybe something a little tighter across the chest, something that would show off his biceps better.

“I’m sure he’ll be there all night long, but I need to be the first to get to him, I swear to God, if that Osborn asshole gets there before I do, I’m losing my shit.” He made his way into his bedroom as he heard his roommate laughing from the living room.

“Just ask Nat to keep him busy until you get there,” Rhodey leaned against his bedroom door and Tony turned around and spread his arms, showing off the t-shirt he had picked up. It was plain black, with little holes in it, and just a tad too small. His friend gave him a thumbs up.

“I did, I just don’t know how long she can keep that creep away.” He sat on the bed to put on his sneakers and missed the way Rhodey smirked.

“Knowing her, I’d bet on pretty fucking long.” He wasn’t wrong, Natasha was scary as fuck, but still, Tony couldn’t risk it.

Just a few minutes earlier, he was lounging on the couch playing Counter Strike with Rhodey when Peter posted a picture on Instagram. He was all dressed up in tight fitting jeans, a light pink sweater and his old, beat-up vans. His curls were brushed back and he was smiling at the camera. The caption read, “#SpringBreakWarmUp”. Tony immediately sent him a DM.

“Hey! Spring break warm-up, huh?” He asked nervously, wondering where Peter was going and, more importantly, with whom.

“Yeah, you’re coming, right?” He answered just a few seconds later, and Tony was relieved he hadn’t been ignored.

“Coming where?” He tried to remember if he had any plans for the weekend, but none came to mind.

“Thor’s party! He said you were coming?” Tony slapped his forehead, he thought the party was the following weekend. But more importantly, had Peter asked Thor if Tony was coming?

“Oh, yeah, sure! Yeah, I’m on my way, where are you?” Of course he was nowhere near the party, but he could make it happen.

“I’m already here! See you soon, then.” As soon as he read that text, he jumped out of the couch, scaring the living shit out of Rhodey.

So excuse Tony if he was driving like a madman to the party, even if his older friend was begging him to slow down from the passenger seat.

“You can’t fuck him if you’re dead!” He shouted from his right and Tony just chuckled and said nothing. He told Rhodey a very short and edited version of his history with Peter, he left out words like “love” and “yearning” and “pining”, so he probably thought Tony just had crush on him.  

When he got to the party, it was already in full swing. There were people hanging outside and the door was open, Tony could hear loud music coming from the living room. He and Rhodey walked in and were almost immediately engulfed by Thor’s embrace and booming voice welcoming them. They chatted for a few minutes, but Tony was a man on a mission.

“Hey, have you seen Peter by any chance?” He tried to sound casual as he looked around the room, trying to catch a glimpse of Nat’s fiery red hair, but Thor smiled knowingly at him.

“The two of you should have made arrangements to come together instead of asking around for each other.” He winked at Tony with one of his blindingly white smiles, and the brunette gasped.

“He asked about me?” He might have squeaked, but the music was really loud, so who knew, but Thor’s booming laugh told him otherwise.

“Ah, you kids.” He shook his head, placing a heavy hand on Tony’s shoulder. “He’s in the kitchen.”

Tony wanted to repeat his question, but he had embarrassed himself more than enough for one night, so he just smiled thankfully and rushed towards the kitchen. Well, tried, he was stopped by the “newly-wed” couple, Steve and Bucky, who had just moved in together and were even more annoyingly perfect than ever.

They tried to strike up a conversation about home décor, of all things, but he left Rhodey with them – not without getting a threatening look that said “you’ll pay for this”, but oh well – and kept searching, until he finally saw Nat talking animatedly to Peter by the kitchen counter.

“Hey there!” He approached them and tried to look – well, like he hadn’t basically run there after Peter messaged him.

“Tony!” And it paid off, because the younger man seemed really excited to see him, he smiled brightly up at him and, best of all, Harry was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, I’m gonna go talk to Wanda, see you guys later.” He barely noticed as Natasha made her exit, Peter didn’t seem to care either, all his focus was on Tony and it reminded him of how they were in high school. Living in their own little world.

“Hey, for a minute there I thought you weren’t coming,” Peter said, getting a little closer to Tony so he could hear him over the music. He looked amazing, his clothes were clearly new, his hair was bouncy and shiny and he smelled incredible. It made Tony a little self-conscious because he had just jumped out of the couch and changed shirts, now he wished he had taken a little more time to get ready.

“Yeah, I almost forgot that was today,” He scratched the back of his head and Peter gifted him with one of his secret smiles.

“Figures, I bet you had other places to be.” He bumped him with his shoulder and that innocent touch was enough to send a jolt of electricity down Tony’s arm.

“Only one where I could find you, though, so here I am.” He winked and Peter blushed and pushed his shoulder like a younger version of him would have, anytime Tony flirted shamelessly with him back in high school.

“Shut up,” he mumbled, still smiling, then pointed to the backdoor over his shoulder. “There’s a keg out back, do you wanna…?”

“Yeah, sure, lead the way.” He followed Peter outside, where there was a big yard with a pool. They each grabbed a cup of beer and stood close to the water. The music wasn’t too loud out there, which allowed them to talk more easily. “So, where’s your guard dog?” Tony asked and watched as Peter frowned for a second, before realization dawned on him and he laughed.

“Who, Harry?” He asked, amused, and Tony nodded. “He couldn’t make it, he’s packing, he’s going home for the break.”

“Ah, what a shame,” Tony said, sarcastically, and Peter laughed again.

“You don’t like him very much, do you?” Tony looked at him with a look that screamed “you think?!” and Peter chuckled. “Funny. He’s not a fan of you, either.”

Of course he wasn’t, Tony thought, huffing, but didn’t say it. Before he could change the subject, though, he heard something. It was quiet and discreet, but Tony caught it, and so did Peter, if the way his face fell and his smile disappeared were any indication.

“Slut.”

He didn’t need to look to know who it was and who the person was talking to, so Tony didn’t waste any time when he turned around, he only stopped long enough to aim right at their nose and punched, making sure to put all of his body weight and force behind it. Beck swayed and, for a minute, it looked like he was going to topple over and fall in the pool, so Tony grabbed him by the collar. It was the first time he got to look at him after he knew for sure what he’d done to Peter, and it took all of his willpower not to smash his head in, but he knew the younger man wouldn’t want that.  

“Oh, my God! Tony –“

“Let’s make something clear, right here, right now.” He didn’t pay any mind to the people gathering around them, nor to the fact that there was a decent amount of blood running down Beck’s nose, he even pretended not to feel the way Peter was trying to pull him away, he was focused on those crazy blue eyes. “You don’t get to talk to Peter anymore. Ever. You’re not worthy of him, you don’t get to call him names, you don’t get to look at him, you don’t even get to breathe the same air as him, so if I ever see you within breathing distance of him again, we’re gonna have problems, Beck, do I make myself clear?” Beck stared at him with huge, scared eyes, blinking rapidly as if to trying to remain conscious.

“You’re ins--”

“Do I make myself clear?” He shook him hard for good measure, and it seemed to cause his nose to  bleed even more. “It’s a simple yes or no question!”

“Yes, fuck off!” His hands tried to weakly pry Tony’s away from his collar, but he didn’t succeed.

“Good, get the hell away from my face.” He pushed him with enough force that it almost sent him straight to the floor, but some friend of his held him up and they scurried away. Slowly, things went back into motion, it appeared, Tony could hear the music again, people started talking to each other loudly and some of them were dancing. He kept breathing hard, trying to regain his calm and gather enough courage to face Peter, who should be mad at him for making a scene.  

“I wish you hadn’t done that.” In the end, it was his sweet, quiet voice that lured him back to reality and he turned around to meet the smaller boy with his arms crossed over his chest, but he didn’t look nearly as pissed off as Tony thought he would be.

“I don’t. I wish I could have killed him.” He could barely believe how true that statement was and Peter must have noticed, too, because his eyes widened a little, before the muscles around his mouth softened in that secret smile of his.

“Well, thanks for – I don’t know, protecting my honor, I guess?” He chuckled, letting his arms fall to his sides, before grabbing Tony’s right hand, which was a little bruised and dirty with Beck’s blood. He examined it for a few seconds, then looked up at the older man. “Just don’t ever do that again, okay? I’m sure we can find other ways to keep him away.”

We, he said. He didn’t want to do that alone, he wanted Tony to help, he wanted Tony to be there for him. We.

Tony smiled breathlessly and nodded, squeezing the small hand that was still in his. He looked around, worrying his lower lip, then looked back at Peter.  

“Do you wanna get out of here? I have a six-pack back home,” He suggested as he pulled him a little closer and the younger man shot him a slightly shocked and surprised look. “Wh –no! It’s not what – I mean, we could go for some coffee instead, really, whatever you want, I just don’t feel like staying here, but I will, if you want, I just –“ Before he could finish his ramble, Peter started giggling, shaking his head.

“I could really use a beer. And I guess I don’t wanna stay, either,” He shrugged and Tony smiled, taking his hand to lead him back inside.

They quickly said their goodbyes to their friends and Tony let Rhodey know that Peter would be over. His friend quietly pulled him to the side as Peter talked to Wanda and asked if he needed him to crash somewhere else for the night and it almost made the brunette burst out laughing. “I wish,” he told him. Peter would probably stay for a few beers and leave early, if he knew him. Rhodey shrugged and said he would crash at Carol’s, just to be sure, and Tony clapped him on the back and thanked him.

He and Peter walked to Tony’s car, the air was cold, not terribly so, but the older man regretted not having a jacket when he saw Peter shivering. He had a little déjà-vu about their last night together in New York, almost three years and a half earlier, the day Peter kept his hoodie. They were walking to his place from the movies, the air was a little chilly, summer was almost over. Peter’s cheeks were flushed and when Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulder, he looked up at him and shivered. The older man quickly unzipped his hoodie and wrapped Peter’s smaller body in it.

It felt like a lifetime ago now.

When they got inside the car, Tony made sure the heater was on max as Peter rubbed his hands together, pulling the sleeves of his sweater down.

“Sorry, I don’t have a jacket to lend you, but it’s gonna warm up soon.” He smiled apologetically and the other boy waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s for the best, you’d never get it back if you did.” He batted his eyelashes playfully and Tony laughed as he started the car and pulled out of the driveway. They were quiet for a few seconds, but it was a nice, comfortable silence.

“How’s your aunt?” Tony asked, just to make small talk, but also because he liked May, she was really cool, although she sometimes screamed at him for no reason, like the time he allegedly blew up her toaster.  

“She’s getting married, actually.” Peter looked amused and a little unsure. “To a doctor from this new hospital she’s working at. He seems like a nice guy.” He didn’t sound specially excited sharing the news.

“But you don’t like him?” Tony asked, confused, and the boy shook his head quickly.

“It’s not that. It’s just – It’s weird. I guess. For so long it was her, uncle Ben and me, then everything changed when uncle Ben died and we had to learn how to be a family just the two of us. Now it’s all changing again. I just feel weird when I come home to them, you know? It makes me feel a little like an outsider, like I’m intruding in their privacy. And it kinda makes me miss uncle Ben, for some reason. But he seems to make her really happy, so that’s more than I could ask for.” He shrugged and Tony smiled softly at him, he knew exactly what he meant. Peter blushed slightly, but smiled back. “How about your parents? Is your dad still on your case?”

“It’s a little better now that we’re in different states. Summer break is always a pain, though.” Tony felt like he and Howard would never get along and he was slowly getting used to that idea.  

“Well, if you ever need asylum, I hope you remember your way back to Queens,” Peter grinned at him and it warmed his heart. He didn’t trust his voice to answer so he just smiled and nodded. As if I could forget.

When they got to Tony’s building, the older man warned Peter not to mind the mess, but he was relieved to remember that he and Rhodey had tidied the place up a little just a couple of days earlier, so at least the living room and the kitchen should be fine. They rode up the elevator to the top floor and when they finally got to the apartment, Peter whistled lowly, looking around the spacious living room.

“Wow, this is awesome! Do you live here by yourself?” He asked, walking towards the couch. The  PlayStation controllers were still on the coffee table by the couch and there were a few empty beer bottles on the floor.

“I used to, Rhodey moved in a year ago, it was boring living here on my own.” He gestured for Peter to follow him to the kitchen, which he did, still in awe of the place.

“Cool! He’s that guy you were talking to before we left, right?” Peter and Rhodey had never met formally, when the younger man joined MIT, he and Tony weren’t talking anymore. Tony nodded, offering Peter one of the beer bottles he grabbed from the fridge, before leading the way back to the living room.

“Yeah, we were roommates my first year here.” They sat on the couch, but not too close to one another, and they both opened their drinks.  

“Remember we used to make plans about being roommates if we both got into MIT? We were such dorks,” Peter laughed with a reminiscent look on his face and Tony’s heart melted, because, yeah. He remembered.

“About that.” Tony took a deep breath and then a long gulp of his beer, before turning to face Peter in the eye. He owed him at least that. The younger man looked back at him curiously, head cocked to the side. “I owe you an apology,” he breathed out slowly and Peter frowned. “We had a great friendship and I screwed up royally, so. Sorry for being a shitty friend.” He bit his lip for a moment, watching Peter’s reaction, but his face didn’t move, so Tony took another long sip of his beer. “Say something.”

“I –“ Peter started, but then paused, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head. “I just never really understood what happened. I mean, I can see now that Beck was a jerk and it must have been a pain to hang out with him when we were together, but you just –“ He smiled sadly, looking down at his beer. “You didn’t even answer my calls anymore,” he mumbled the last part, as if Tony didn’t feel terrible already. “Was it something I did?”

“What? No, of course not. I was –“ He debated for all of three seconds if he should tell the truth, but he was too much of a coward and so not ready for that particular conversation. “I guess I was feeling a little like a third wheel, maybe. And I really didn’t like him. It was stupid, it’s not gonna happen again.” Peter nodded slowly, staring at him as if he could find out the truth if he looked hard enough.

“Okay.” He was silent after that, his nose scrunched up in a cute way, as if he was thinking hard, trying to understand something, trying to make a decision. He downed the rest of his beer in one go and Tony thought he hadn’t bought his terrible excuse, so he was going to try to explain himself better, but Peter was faster. He slid across the couch and sat right beside him, then grabbed Tony’s bottle and drank the rest of his beer, too, placing the empty bottles on the coffee table. Tony just stared a him in confusion. “Uhm. I’m gonna do something crazy, so just – I’m sorry in advance.” And just like that, he kissed him.

Tony would be lying if he said it tasted familiar, that it took him back to that awkward first kiss in the school parking lot, leaning against his car. It was completely different, it was like kissing someone else for the first time, Peter was different. He wasn’t awkward or shy when his soft hands grasped Tony’s face and pulled him closer, when his tongue begged for entrance in his mouth. He tasted like beer when their tongues touched, and it must have gotten Tony immediately drunk, because he lost control over his own actions just like that. His fingers found Peter’s hips and started pulling him closer and closer, until the younger man climbed onto his lap and straddled his thighs.

It was heaven, that moment right there, engulfed in Peter’s smell, his hands getting lost in his hair, his lips demanding Tony to keep up, his body undulating discreetly on top of his, begging to be touched. Tony indulged him, his fingers squeezed the deliciously soft flesh of his hips, before making their way up to his waist then down to his lower back in an eager caress, pulling him even closer. His lips chased Peter’s like he was starved, never letting him get away for too long, maybe worried that he would wake up from a daydream if he stopped.

Peter bit and pulled on his lower lip and Tony groaned, hips bucking up and fingers squeezing Peter’s waist in anticipation. The smaller boy looked into his eyes for a fraction of a second, like he, too, didn’t want to wake up in case it was dream, then his lips slid across Tony’s scratchy cheek, down his jaw, then up to his earlobe, where he bit teasingly, his hot breath sending shivers down his spine when he heard the boy whisper a timid “please”.

It was all it took for Tony to grab him by the hips and flip him, laying him down on the couch and positioning himself between his legs. It was a tight fit, but he was afraid that if he suggested they moved things to the bedroom, it would be over. Peter whimpered when Tony let his weight rest against him, bodies touching from chest to groin, pressed closely together, rubbing against each other each time either of them moved.

Tony started sucking on Peter’s smooth neck as his hands dragged the offending sweater up his torso until it was bunched up under his armpits and his chest. Peter raised his arms and Tony took it off completely, mouth promptly latching onto a tiny, pale-pink nipple, which made the smaller man hiss, hands flying to entangle his fingers in the brunette’s hair.

Peter pulled the strands of Tony’s hair, as if he wanted him to stop his ministrations, but as soon as the older man’s mouth left his chest, he pulled him back down, moaning and squirming, seemingly undecided if he wanted more or less of Tony’s lips and teeth on him.

Meanwhile, the older man bit and sucked on his nipple, which became rigid and swollen, sensitive to the point that Peter couldn’t take it anymore and finally pulled him up for a kiss. Tony obliged happily, hips grinding down against Peter’s, feeling his erection rubbing against his, both so hard it hurt.

Peter started pulling Tony’s t-shirt urgently and the older brunette made just enough room so that he could take it off and drop it to the floor. They went back to kissing, Tony’s stubble leaving faint, red marks on Peter’s cheeks and down his neck, the boy under him whimpered and begged quietly – for what, exactly, neither of them was entirely sure.  

“Do you – uh – can we –“ Peter started, but didn’t seem capable of finishing his line of thought for a second, when Tony bit down on his jaw. “God – uhm, can we go to your room?” When Tony looked down at him, his cheeks were flushed and he wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or hot.

“Of course,” he smiled, kissing his lips briefly, before wrapping Peter’s legs around his waist. “Hold tight.” With a little effort – which he would never let Peter notice – he was able to get up from the couch with the other boy in his arms, and he quickly moved to his bedroom. He kicked the door closed but didn’t bother locking it, since Rhodey said he wouldn’t come home that night – God bless him.

He carefully laid Peter down on the bed – which was miraculously made and clean – and his small frame was engulfed in the king-sized bed sheets and pillows, his flushed skin contrasting with the dark gray linens. Such a mouth-watering vision. Tony positioned himself between his legs again and stared shamelessly, as his hands traveled all over his bare chest and down his toned abs, until Peter blushed and grabbed his wrist, trying to pull him down.

“Stop that, c’mere,” he whined when Tony didn’t comply, choosing to keep staring at him for a few more seconds, before leaning down to kiss him deep and soft.

“You’re beautiful,” He whispered against his lips, one of his hands stroking Peter’s hip, close the waistband of his jeans. His fingers lightly made their way to the buttons on the front, where they rested against Peter’s lower abdomen. “Is this ok?” He asked, looking directly into his eyes, and although Peter’s face grew almost impossibly red, he nodded, breathing out an almost soundless “yes”.

It was all the permission he needed to undo his pants, dragging them down his legs along with his boxers, leaving Peter completely bare and exposed to him, like a dream, a vision. Not even his best fantasies – and he had quite a few – could live up to the real thing. Peter’s body was lithe, but fit, the lines of his muscles were visible under his soft, unblemished skin. His nipples were perked up and helplessly rigid and red, which made his mouth water once again. His tapered waist led to narrow hips and plump thighs, his cock was small, but fully hard, swollen and flushed pink, resting heavily against his belly.

“Stop staring, it’s embarrassing,” He blushed, but smiled, hands pulling Tony’s biceps, forcing him rest his weight on top of him, skin on skin, so hot he felt his chest burning. “Besides, it’s not fair if I can’t admire the view, too,” he whispered against his ear, fingers playing with the waistband of Tony’s jeans.

Tony devoured him in a kiss and rutted against him, trying to take some of the edge off, the whole thing was driving him insane, he worried he wouldn’t last a minute longer if he didn’t get things under control, it was embarrassing, he hadn’t felt like that in a long time.  

Peter wrapped one leg around his waist and pressed up against him, before throwing his head back, exposing his throat, and Tony buried his face in it, nose quickly filling with the smell of his cologne and a little sweat, the perfect combination to send him straight to heaven. Tony’s hands went down to cup Peter’s ass cheeks and he was not surprised to find they were deliciously round and soft, but firm. He kissed Peter one more time, before gently nudging him to turn around and lie with his stomach down.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, once again hypnotized by the sight of his slim body, from his gorgeous shoulders, down to his thin waist and glorious ass, so fucking round and juicy, like a ripe peach begging to be bitten. Peter gasped in surprise when Tony leaned down and did just that, bit his flesh softly, but it was enough to make the younger man jump.

“What are –“ he was cut off by his own moans, as Tony started licking and biting on his ass cheeks, starting almost at his lower back, making his way down to the fleshiest part of his ass, before moving inwards. “Tony,” he whimpered, sounding like he wanted to resist, but his body said differently, if the way his spine curved and his hips were pushed up from the bed were any indication.

Tony grabbed both of his cheeks, spreading them apart to expose his hole. Again, his mouth watered, the little ring of muscles looked insanely tight, but it was fluttering eagerly in anticipation. The way Peter whimpered “Tony” made it seem like he maybe wanted to say something, but his body didn’t leave any room for doubts. Still, he asked.

“This okay?” It was a little of a low blow that he was close enough that his hot, moist breath could probably be felt between his cheeks, but Peter buried his face in the pillow and, after just a couple of seconds, nodded. “I need to hear you, baby.” He whispered again, and the boy just turned his head a little to the side to whisper a breathless “yes.”

Tony squeezed his cheeks one more time, before moving his hands down a little to Peter’s thighs, to spread his legs further apart. Again, Peter buried his face in the pillow, the skin of his back turning red in a full-body blush, but his hips were pushed up, slightly off the bed. Tony smirked and started teasing him by licking his balls, sucking each if them into his mouth in turns, making the boy cry out and push his hips back into the bed, trying to rub his cock on the mattress.

Tony quickly held him in place as his tongue made its way up, finally reaching the quivering hole that had been begging for attention from the start. He circled the rim with his tongue, feeling its contractions, as Peter whined and writhed underneath him. He pushed his tongue against his entrance, trying to make his way in, but it was still too tight and he could barely get the tip in.

Once he felt Tony’s tongue trying to breach him, Peter started humping the bed, hips moving up against Tony’s face, then down, pressing his cock against the mattress. The older man smirked but let him keep fucking himself on his tongue, as his hands alternated between spreading his cheeks further apart and kneading his thighs, occasionally slapping his ass for good measure.

“To-Tony, I – I can’t, please, I gotta –“ He couldn’t finish his sentences properly, but Tony understood exactly what he wanted to say. He placed one last kiss on either of his cheeks then moved up the bed, reaching for his night stand. He saw Peter turn his head to the side, watching as his hand fished for a bottle of lube and a condom. He bit his lower lip and looked back at Tony. “Please.”

“Fuck,” he groaned, almost dropping everything to the floor. He left the items on the bed and started undoing his pants in a haste. As soon as he heard the sound of the zipper being undone, Peter turned around, lying on his back, resting against the pillows. Tony was a confident motherfucker, so he didn’t even blush as Peter watched him with hungry eyes, lazily stroking his cock as his eyes traveled all over the older man’s broad chest and toned abs.

Once he finally freed his cock, Peter sat up, reaching for it. Tony was kneeling between his legs, looking down at him as the boy wrapped his fingers around his shaft. The older man moaned, closing his eyes when he felt Peter start moving his hand up and down, slowly. He grabbed his shoulders and let his head fall back a little and enjoyed the feeling of Peter’s smooth palm sliding up and down his shaft. He gasped, though, when he felt the warm moisture of his mouth enveloping the tip of his already leaking cock.

“Pete – shit, fuck,” he jerked back sitting on his heels in front of the boy who looked back at him with a naughty smile. “Lie back, you fucking tease.” Peter complied immediately, feet planted on the bed, knees pointing up, legs spread wide.

The older man uncapped the lube, covered two fingers with a generous amount of it, then prompted Peter to place his heels on his shoulders and the boy obliged easily. Tony leaned forwards, almost folding him in half, knowing full well that he was flexible enough that it wasn’t uncomfortable. Exploring said flexibility further was on his secret list of fantasies, but it would have to wait.

He covered Peter’s lips with his in a hungry kiss at the same time as his middle finger forced its way into his entrance. Peter flinched for a second, but soon lost himself in the kiss, hands tangling in Tony’s hair, as he relaxed, making it easier for his finger to slide in smoothly. Once inside, he started moving it gently, curling it a little to loosen his muscles and Peter whimpered, pushing down against his hand as much as possible in the position he was in.

Tony moved his lips to Peter’s neck, teeth leaving faint, red marks on the way, as he tried to insert another finger in. He met a lot of resistance at first, and actually felt on his lips the way his shoulders tensed, so he made sure to be extra careful and gentle as he peppered kisses along his collarbones and lips, trying to distract him from the pain.

It worked, after a couple of minutes Peter’s body opened up beautifully for him, almost pulling him in as his fingers made their way inside. Tony stopped to let him adjust for a few seconds as he devoured his lips again in an eager kiss. Peter’s hands slid down his back and pulled him closer as his hips pressed back against Tony’s hand.

The older man started scissoring his fingers as he thrust his hips against Peter, the tip of his cock just lightly brushing his ass cheeks, but it was enough to drive him mad. Peter rocked back and forth with him, rolling his hips on his own account until, finally, his eyes grew wide and he threw his head back with a gasp.

“Oh – right there, Tony, right there, right there, please,” he begged incoherently and the older man quickened his pace, fucking harder into him, trying to keep hitting that spot again and again. “Fuck! Tony, please, just – please, fuck me.”

“Fuck, you can’t – just say things like – fuck,” He let his body weight rest on top of Peter, burying his face in his neck as he tried to get himself under control. The younger man’s legs slid down from his shoulders to the curve of his elbows as the boy chuckled. Tony pulled his fingers out and sat on his heels, reaching for the packet of condom. He opened it deftly and put it on in record time,  before spreading a generous amount of lube to his cock, but didn’t waste much time stroking it. He put one of Peter’s legs back on his shoulder, the other wrapped around his waist, and positioned himself, holding the tip of his cock against the boy’s quivering hole. “Okay?” He asked one last time, to which he boy whispered a quick yes, arms tight around Tony’s neck, as the older boy started breaching him.

It was obvious he was in pain at first, but Tony was patient and placed little kisses on his face as he waited for him to get used to the burn, before he kept going. Once he felt the boy relaxing around him, he took his lips in a deep kiss as he sank deeper and deeper into his warmth, his hole felt so fucking tight and inviting and when he was finally completely sheathed inside him, he let out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding, eyes rolling back in pleasure.

“You’re amazing,” he muttered, dazedly, and felt Peter’s lips stretch in a smile against his neck. He wondered if it was his secret smile or just an amused one, because Tony sounded high, and maybe he was, maybe he fucking was because Peter was like opium and Tony was already addicted. “Fucking amazing.”

Tony drew his hips back slowly, then thrust forward a little faster, making them both moan in pleasure. He grabbed Peter’s thighs and squeezed tight, imagining leaving marks on his pale skin, imagining that no one else would dare to touch him after. He set a quick pace, hips snapping firmly against his, their mouths and tongues lost in one another, chests touching, Peter’s legs around him, his arms around his neck, everything felt so fucking amazing, like in a dream, a fantasy.

“You feel so good,” Peter whispered in his ear, hips rocking to his rhythm, meeting him thrust for thrust, and it drove the older man a little mad as he fucked harder into him, so fucking hot, so tight, so –“Oh, shit!Tony, right there, please!” He cried, nails digging into his shoulders to the point it hurt, but he didn’t stop, he went wild, aiming at that same sweet spot, hitting it over and over again, as Peter moaned and writhed underneath him, babbling things Tony couldn’t quite understand.

He grabbed Peter’s cock, which was rock-hard and bobbing between their stomachs, and stroked in sync with his thrusts and, without any warning, Peter cried his name, eyes squeezed shut, as he came, spilling his come all over their chests and stomachs, the pressure of his hole clenching down on him and the sight of Peter lost in his own pleasure sent Tony over the edge. He bit Peter’s shoulder to avoid screaming like a madman as he emptied himself inside him, hips never losing rhythm until they were both completely spent.

He let himself rest against Peter for just a few seconds before rolling off of him to take off the condom, which he tied and threw in the bin by his bed. He quickly turned back to Peter and pulled him to his chest, and the boy nestled against him and buried his face in his neck, taking a deep, calming breath.

Tony wanted to say something. Like “I love you”, but maybe less intense. Maybe “we should do this again”. Maybe “do you wanna go out sometime?”. Anything to ensure that that wasn’t a one-time thing, a one-night stand. He knew it wasn’t Peter’s style, but he had to make sure, he needed to know for sure that it meant something.

The prolonged silence made it possible for them to hear a phone vibrating somewhere on the floor. They both raised their heads to look and Tony reached down to grab Peter’s pants when he saw its pocket shining. Peter thanked him and took the phone, eyes going a little wide when looked at the screen just as it went silent.  

“Fuck, it’s Harry, and he’s called a hundred times already, I gotta take this.” He looked flustered and a little nervous as he prepared to jump out of bed.

“Please, don’t.” Tony sat up and grabbed Peter’s arm before he could leave and the younger man frowned, a little confused and apparently a little annoyed, which made the older man feel embarrassed.

“What? Why?” He demanded, and Tony bit his lower lip, trying to find a way to explain himself without sounding clingy or needy.

“Because – I mean, I know you just got out of a bad relationship and maybe you want to meet other people and have different experiences and stuff, and it’s probably not a good idea to jump in a relationship with someone else right not, which is fine, I mean – I guess what I’m saying is... If you want to keep seeing him, I understand, just... keep in mind that I really wanna be with you and I think we’d be great together, so I hope you’ll pick me in the end.” He probably didn’t make any sense to the other boy, he wanted to say “Leave that jerk and give me a chance” but somehow ended up encouraging Peter to keep seeing someone else and now he felt stupid.

“Wh – Tony, I – you think I’m two-timing you and Harry?” He shook his head confusedly, eyes blinking rapidly as if he was having a hard time understanding something so absurd.

“Not two-timing, just – you’re seeing him, right?” He felt stupid when Peter just stared at him for a few seconds before he burst out laughing, to the point that he laid back down on the bed, clutching his belly. “What? So you don’t – you two aren’t –“ Tony was still sitting on the bed, looking down at a laughing Peter drying tears from the corner of his eyes.  

“Tony, Harry is just a friend – a very overprotective friend who thinks you’re a jerk for hurting my feelings when we were younger, by the way – but that’s it. He’s straight, he’s got a girlfriend back in New York. I thought you knew this, it’s all over his Instagram.” He sat back up by his side, shoulder touching his, and Tony felt unbelievably dumb and so fucking relieved he wanted to cry. He wasn’t even embarrassed that he’d made a fool of himself just a few minutes ago. He sighed deeply, closing his eyes to thank whatever deity was out there. When he opened them again, Peter wasn’t laughing anymore, he was looking curiously at him, worrying his bottom lip. “So… What did you mean by, you know, wanting to be with me and stuff?” He mumbled the last part, looking down at his naked lap.

Tony felt weirdly vulnerable and exposed in that state of undress, so he reached for a sheet and covered them both with it. Peter smiled gratefully at him. He took a minute to organize his thoughts, he considered trying to play it down a little, but at the same time, he really needed to get that out of his chest. So he took a deep breath.

“The reason why I stopped talking to you back then wasn’t because I was feeling like a third wheel. I was jealous, because,” he paused, glancing sideways at Peter who looked back at him with huge eyes. He bit his lower lip and shrugged. “I was in love with you.”

“You – but you – why didn’t you –“ Peter looked and sounded pretty confused, he shut his eyes and shook his head as if it could get his thoughts in order.

“I don’t know, I was stupid,” Tony answered anyway, because he knew what he wanted to ask. Peter was silent after that, the older man kept looking at him, expecting some kind of reaction, but he just looked back at him, pursing his lips. Calculating.

“Did you, uh – are you over it? Like, do you –” He tried speaking again, but he seemed to have lost the ability to string sentences together, so Tony smiled softly and put him out of his misery.

“I love you, Pete. This hasn’t changed.” It was amazingly easy to say those words, words he’d been using in his mind for so long, ever since they were teens. Anytime he said “take care”, “call me”, “I missed you”, “see you soon”, he actually meant “I love you”. So it fell from his lips like the easiest words in the English lexicon. It felt freeing. “But I understand you’re not there yet, so don’t feel pressured to –“

“Are you crazy? I’ve been in love with you since ninth grade,” Peter’s eyes were wet when he looked into Tony’s, one hand coming to rest on the older man’s cheek. “I thought it was hopeless, I thought you’d never love me back.” He frowned and tried to pull his hand away, but Tony held it against his face, heart breaking. He never meant for Peter to feel like he could never love him back, he was just a stupid kid. “I thought I could forget you if I replaced you with someone else. I guess it worked for a while, until you talked to me at Clint’s party and I just – it reminded me how just talking to you makes me weak in the knees.” He smiled shyly and it was Tony’s turn to cup his face in his hands.

“I’m so sorry, Pete.” The younger man smiled and shook his head fondly.

“I love you, too, dummy,” Tony smiled brightly, his heart felt so fucking full and complete. It was like a missing piece fell right into place. He kissed Peter’s own smile right off his lips, forcing him to lie down, bodies entangled from head to toe. Things were heating up again quickly, when they were interrupted by Peter’s phone vibrating again.

“Oh my God, Harry is gonna kill me, hold on.” He grabbed the phone from the bed and Tony watched, amused and relieved. So fucking relieved. And happy. And whole. “Hey – okay, calm down, I’m fine, I – yeah, I’ll tell you if you let me speak. I’m at Tony’s. Yeah, that Tony. No, it’s fine, we’ve talked and – what? Harry, no! This is ridiculous, I’m an adult, you’re over – okay, fine! Hold on,” He turned to Tony with a frown, looking embarrassed and shy. Tony raised a brow. “Uhm, I’m really sorry about this, but he wants to talk to you, could you –? If he’s too much, just tell him to fuck off, he can be a little overbearing.”

“It’s ok, gimme.” Tony was actually grateful Peter had a friend like Harry – well, now that he knew they were just friends. Peter needed that, he needed someone to be there for him and to put Tony in his place if he was ever out of line. He deserved someone looking out for him, something Tony wasn’t capable of doing when Peter was with Beck. “Hello?”

“Listen here, punk, I know your type, I know how you operate, and let me just tell you, it ain’t gonna fly with me, do you hear me? I will not allow you to hurt Peter again, I want you to know that I’m fucking watching you and if you so much as touch a hair on his head I’m gonna make your life a living hell, I fucking –“

Tony wasn’t even mad, he really wasn’t. He was so happy he wanted to cry. When he looked at Peter, he looked mortified, but still, his lips were spread in a smile. That beautiful, secret smile of his, the one Tony missed so damned much for too fucking long.

He’d never have to miss it again.

“Nobody knows it, 

But you’ve got a secret smile

And you use it only for me.”

(Semisonic – Secret Smile)

[css1992]

I’m not sure how often you take prompts, but I had an idea and I absolutely love your writing style, so I hope you oblige: After being in a relationship for years, Peter is finally back on the market. Tony immediately rushes to make his interest known, but he didn’t realize he had competition. (Maybe a college AU? Or something where they’re closer in age)

Hey, darling, it’s finally up!! I’m so, so sorry it took so long, I really hope you like it, though, I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you’ll have just as much fun reading. <3

Here you go.  

[css1992]

Heey, Nonnie who sent me a prompt, like, last week(?): I love it! I’m gonna work on it, but I’m suuuper slow, is that ok? To answer your question, I don’t take prompts often, but that’s because it takes me forever to fill them 😂😭 So, if you’re willing to wait a while, I’ll write it and I’ll tag it #CssPrompts so you don’t miss, ok? Thank you for your kind words, btw, and I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I’ve been crazy busy and a little indisposed lately.

Stay safe, XO ✨