Characters: Tony Stark/Iron Man, Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Time Period: While Thor: Ragnarok is happening

*SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR*


"You've gotta move faster than that kiddo!"

"I-I'm doing my best Mr. Stark!"

"I know, but you've gotta be better, remember? I know you can do this."

Tony Stark skillfully dodged the artificial spiderwebs that were continuously flying his way, the rumble of his familiar Iron Man suit surrounding him as he flew in the air. A few meters across from him was the familiar teenager in the red and blue skin-tight spider suit.

Ever since the events of the boy's dreadful homecoming night, Tony had lived up to his mental note that this kid was definitely worth it in every way, and had the potential to be one of the strongest Avengers on the team someday with some special training. So, throughout the many months since Peter Parker had officially become Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, Tony had brought him in for advanced training sessions every couple of weeks, and despite the massive amount of progress, they still had a long way to go.

"C-can we... take a quick break, Mr. Stark?" Peter sputtered to him between heavy breaths.

Right now they were working in the Avengers facility, taking up a large hall that had been made into special training grounds. He and Peter often came here to practice, whether it be to amp up his agility and speed, or practice some of the many features Tony had applied into his suit for him.

They had been going on for about half an hour now, training non stop for as long as they could to test Peter's stamina. He had been doing very well for most of the time, very quick and focused, but something began slowing him down. It could've been exhaustion, but something else abnormal seemed to be disturbing him.

Tony carefully descended to the floor as the jets in his suit turned off, and the front cover of his Iron Man helmet lifted up to reveal his face. "Sure, one five minute break." he ordered. "There's no time to pause in a life-threatening situation, remember that."

Peter nodded as he pulled off the Spider-Man mask that covered his head, revealing his familiar brunette locks and sweat-soaked forehead. He blinked a few times to adjust to his enhanced senses. "Yeah... got it," he panted. There was definitely something pestering him.

As the duo sat across from each other, Tony took the time to scan his eyes over Peter to try and catch what was different about him from just the past few minutes. He caught the apprehensive expression drawn all over his face, accompanied by distant and glossy brown eyes and a slight twitch in his limbs. He was done keeping quiet, and finally decided to question him.

"Kid, you alright?" Tony asked with unease, trying to grab his attention back.

When Peter didn't reply after a few moments, he tried again, "Hey, Pete? Are your senses acting up, what's going on buddy?"

This time, he snapped out of whatever daze he was in with a jerk, and looked up to meet Tony's eyes with alertness. "Huh? Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing."

Of course, the billionaire wasn't convinced. He stood up and activated his suit eject, the steel Iron Man plates shifting and opening up so the rest of his body could step out of it. He paced toward the young boy who turned his head away as he approached, and sat down to the left of him with a grunt.

He put his hand on the kid's shoulder and questioned, "Come on kiddo, what's going on? Something's making you anxious, and I don't want you to have to keep it to yourself."

Tony never really understood how it came to be, but almost ever since he had met the bright teenager he felt almost like it was law for him to take on a fatherly figure for Peter Parker. Something about the young man made him feel like a completely different person, more warmhearted and protective.

Early on in Tony's mentoring career, he hadn't given Peter as much freedom or respect as he should have. In his mind, he was just an adolescent teenager with a low amount of knowledge of the serious danger he could get into as a full-time hero, but he proved himself very worthy on the night of his school's homecoming, when he took down the Vulture.

Ever since then, Peter and Tony had grown a close bond, and were on good terms.

Peter turned his head back to look at the older man for a moment, before looking down uneasily at his hands, which Tony had just then realized were trembling.

When he was still hesitating to respond, Tony emphasized, "Please kiddo, I'm just trying to help you out here. You can trust me."

Peter gave a small nod to his mentor before he finally spoke. "I don't really know what happened..." he murmured. "My spider senses started trying to tell me something. I-I don't know what it was, but I just had a really dreadful feeling. Like something really awful is going to happen."

If Peter didn't have Tony's full attention before, he most certainly did now. The two men locked eyes, both chestnut-brown and full of concern.

"What made you feel that way?" the older man questioned him.

He explained, "It just happens sometimes, I-I don't really know how. I get really nervous feelings in my gut and I just get this sense of terror... and w-whenever my senses start acting unnatural, I can always figure out why. I can always pick up the message they're trying to tell."

"So you're telling me... your spider senses are sending you a message that something really bad is going to happen?" Tony confirmed.

Peter nodded, one hand gripping the other as they shook.

"How soon?"

"Not long."

Tony sighed with dread and fumbled his fingers in thought. Out of nowhere, he now had a warning that some bad event was going to happen soon in the future. Hearing news like that made him almost certain that fighting would be involved. He just had no idea what his threat was going to be.

Should I call the rest of the Avengers?

Should I warn Pepper and Rhodey?

Maybe I should get in touch with Cap again, we might need his help.

What do I do about this?

What do I do?

"Mr. Stark?"

The billionaire's rushing thoughts were cut short by the teen's voice. He glanced back over at Peter to see the nervous frown on his lips.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't say anything wrong, did I?"

Tony instantly felt guilt tug at his stomach. Of course when the kid is already anxious, he had to go out of his way to get visibly tense which would've only made him feel worse. He reassuringly put his arm around Peter's shoulders and lightly squeezed his right arm.

"No. No, not at all Pete. I was just thinking about what to do, but it's good that you've been able to warn me about this."

It was strange. Every time Tony spoke to Peter, he was naturally much more calm and gentle, completely different from how he was with most other humans. This especially happened when the teenager needed comforting, and despite the occurrence still being abnormal for him, he just let it happen. It felt good.

The young Spider-Man lightly smiled at his mentor, but then out of nowhere asked another unexpected question, "What do you see in me that's so special?"

Tony was taken back by this sudden self-doubt. "What makes you ask that kid?"

"Just... that I'm still only a nerdy teenager in high school who runs around New York solving really minor crimes. I've never done anything close to the kind of experiences you've had. Sure, I've saved a few lives, but I haven't saved the entire planet before. Besides, you said it yourself that the other Avengers find me too young and childish to be working as a hero like this. So why? Why do you put so much time and effort into training and teaching me?"

Tony had to make the assumption that Peter's negative mood had come out of the sudden sensory agitation, but whatever it was, he had to get the miserable expression off the kid's face. He wanted to know why, so he gave Peter his authentic answer.

"Working with you personally has made me see what a lot of others don't see. Yes, the other Avengers judge you for being young, but in my eyes being so strong at such a young age means you'll only get stronger. You've fought other heroes before, including Captain America, and you fought them as an equal. You survived a vicious man in a mechanical wing suit trying to kill you, and now with the help of our training sessions you've grown into an even more powerful fighter. You have the potential to save so many lives, but you're humble and prefer a more simple job, so you take on the challenge of just being Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. And you know, even if you're not out there tackling the big challenges, it's like you said to me when I first met you. You're looking out for the little guy."

When he finished, he locked brown eyes with Peter again and smiled, telling him quietly, "That's what I see in you. A strong young man who has even more room to grow. Trust me kid, there's nothing you're doing wrong."

That's when the hug came.

Unexpectedly, the young boy leaned quickly toward his mentor and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. Another strong sensation surged through Tony that was additionally quite bizarre for him, a kind of feeling he only felt at certain times when he was with Peter Parker. He felt warmth, care, peacefulness, and a strong will to protect. A very soothing happiness spreading through his veins at the sight of the teenager, turning to Tony Stark of all men for reassurance.

Basically, as he had learned over time, he felt like a parental figure.

He returned the hug right back to Peter, resting his chin against the top of his head and shifting his soft hair as he did so. He moved his palm gently up and down the young boy's back to help calm him, as Tony had done on multiple occasions before. For almost any other human he would never have come this close in personal contact with them, but again, Peter was one of those very special people for him.

I get it now. He just gets a bit of a scare sometimes, which alone probably puts him in a gloomy mood. He just needed condolence.

Neither men knew how long they sat there together, but neither one of them attempted to disrupt the moment. They appreciated the silence together. Then, after what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than a few minutes, Peter lightly chuckled and suggested, "Do y'think we should get back to training? It's been longer than five minutes."

Tony drew back from the grasp and smirked as he ruffled his hair. "I don't really know if we need to. You took a break for so long that surely the villain's defeated you by now," he teased. "Looks like you failed pal."

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"Says the one who wanted an intermission."

Peter giggled in response, one of Tony's favourite sounds. He really did love this kid.

The Iron Man and the Spider-Man returned to their appropriate suits, resuming the workout that had been interrupted by Peter's warning. The young hero was much more relaxed now, and managed to easily pin down Tony with webs just a few minutes back into it.

"Nice work kiddo! Get better at your aim and you'd be able to hit a cheetah mid-dash," Tony praised.

He knew Peter loved commendation, and it always helped him strive to do better.

In the end, Tony kept the warning of danger to himself. He made sure afterward to keep the flip phone that Captain America gave to him with him at all times, and made arrangements to spend more time with Pepper in the days after that, with the intention of protecting her if at all necessary. He kept the special trigger that equipped his Iron Man suit attached to his chest after the warning, knowing that the danger could arrive at any time on any day.

In short, he made sure that he was prepared.

When the threat of Thanos arrived to Earth and the sorcerer Doctor Strange requested Tony's help, he wasn't surprised by the danger of the situation, but rather how much larger this threat truly was than he had been expecting. When Peter Parker joined the fray, Tony had at first been worried about his safety and tried to protect him, but when he insisted on fighting against the mad being with him, Tony didn't object.

He fought, and Peter fought. He went to Titan, and Peter came with him. At the time, it felt really nice for Tony to have someone that he was close with alongside him.

However, if Tony had known at all of what was going to become of the teenager who meant so much to him, he would have held the dust-less embrace in the training room much longer.


A/N: Thanks for reading! This was my very first time writing something for the Marvel fandom, and I really enjoyed myself. Since Tony and Peter are pretty much my favourite duo, I wanted to start out doing something simple with the two of them, and this came out great in my eyes ^^

Please let me know how I could improve! Hopefully I'll make more of these later on.