Stephen portaled home to a sweltering tower. Tony was nowhere to be found, but Peter was sprawled out in the middle of the floor in nothing but his boxers and a wet washcloth over his face. Any other day, the boy wouldn't risk having Wanda or Natasha being able to see him like this, but Stephen hadn't been in the tower for more than two minutes and already changed into a tank top and shorts (using his magic of course), so he understood the sudden disregard for appearances.
"A.C. go out?" He asks the teen.
"Hnn."
"Your father trying to fix it?"
"Hnn."
"Very eloquent cub." Stephen joins him on the ground and swipes the damp towel with a smile.
"Hey!"
"Oh. You do know proper words."
"Talking takes too much effort." Peter whines.
"Excuse me...who do you call Mom?"
Peter gives him a funny look. "You?"
"And what can I do?"
"Use magic? Why are you-" Stephen smiles when the proverbial lightbulb goes on. "Can you portal us somewhere colder?!"
"Why don't I just give us out own personal air conditioner?" The sorcerer hides a wince as he opens a small portal to snow-covered mountains and Peter sighs happily at the brisk breeze that comes through.
"Oh yeah. Soooo much better. What about Dad?"
Stephen lays flat on the ground next to Peter. "I made sure he got one too."
They both enjoy the relief the portal brought from the heat, and after a few minutes, Peter notices the sorcerer's hands trembling. It wasn't the cold. It was having to use so much magic during his recent mission. He was used to using his hands for intricate gestures, but he had to do it a lot. By the time he finally banished his foe, his hands were cramping and shaking, and he was in incredible pain. Opening the portal to the mountains was a necessary evil though. He wouldn't let Peter or Tony suffer in this heat anymore than they had to.
"Here..." Peter sits up and grabs the hand closest to him, and Stephen hisses when he starts massaging them. The teen stops abruptly and frowns. "Did I press too hard?"
Stephen swallows. "No. They're just a little more sensitive than they usually are. Go ahead."
Peter nods and returns to his task of helping relax the muscles in the doctor's hand. Despite his super strength, the teen was incredibly gentle. He admit some time ago that it took some practice to learn how to hold back, and that practice was showing. He punched a fellow student and only caused a busted lip when he could have possibly disfigured the boy, played with children at the beach, helps with small important parts in the lab with Tony, and he could help Stephen with his hands without causing unnecessary pain.
Stephen would always protect Peter, but he also tried to keep in mind the fact that the teen could do some damage if he really wanted to.
"How's that?" Peter asks as he finishes with the first hand. Stephen carefully flexes it and clenches it into a fist before opening it again.
"Much better. A tolerable ache."
The teen holds out his hand. "Other one."
The sorcerer sits up and faces him, using his better hand to move the portal aside a bit so his head wasn't in it, and gives his remaining shaking hand to the teen. That one dealt with just as gently. When Peter was finished with that, the tower's air conditioning kicked on, and Stephen dismissed the portal when the room was cool enough. It was around the time Tony came as well from wherever the air conditioning unit was.
Considering the man was drenched in sweat, it was probably on the roof.
Tony takes the damp towel Stephen offers him when he and Peter stand, and wipes his face. "That portal was a life saver. Want to get married?"
Stephen rolls his eyes. "The sun obviously fried the one working brain cell you have."
"Rude. I worked up on the roof in the unforgiving sun to fix the A.C. so our precious boy wouldn't suffer-"
"Oh my god Tony. Shut up and go take a shower."
"Or what?" The engineer taunts.
"Two things. No shawarma and no tonight."
"You're a snarky bastard." Tony grabs Stephen's face and gives him a kiss, earning a noise of disgust from Peter. "I love you for it."
Once the mechanic disappears into the master bedroom, and Peter walks into his room to put on some clothes again, Stephen sits on the couch and absently rubs his hands.
"FRIDAY order our usual from the shawarma place please."
"Yes Doctor."
"Can you add to that order? I'm starving." A second voice adds, though it was quieter so Stephen knew exactly who it was.
An ant-sized Scott climbs onto his knee and sits down with his legs crossed. "I'm tempted to flick you across the room. Why are you that small anyway?"
"Bored. Climbing up to this level this small takes forever."
The sorcerer sighs. "FRIDAY, go ahead and add to the order for Scott."
"Of course."
"Awesome. Now I need my afternoon juice box."
"Just how many do you take?"
"A lot."
Stephen flicks the man off his knee in the direction of the kitchen and Scott grows back to normal size just before he hits the ground. Peter comes out of his room and looks down at the former criminal when he groans, and the teen's bracelet forms into one of his web shooters.
"Do I need to web him again?"
"No. He's behaving. Besides, I already flicked him across the room." Stephen soothes the teen.
"I missed that?"
"Now I really need a juice box." Scott rolls onto his stomach with another groan and crawls to the fridge.
"Over dramatic much?" Peter asks as the ex-con grabs a Capri-Sun.
"Maybe."
Peter joins Stephen on the couch and turns the tv on, and Tony walks out of the master bedroom in a tank top and shorts. He rubs his hair with the towel around his shoulders until he spots Scott lying on the floor sipping his juice.
"Uh...what are you doing Stuart Little?"
"Reviving myself."
"You know what? I don't care. Have fun with your juice."
Scott gives him a thumbs up. "Way ahead of you boss."
Tony shakes his head and sits on Peter's other side, laying the towel back over his shoulders. "I feel like I'm running a nursery sometimes."
"Scott's joining us for dinner." Stephen says dully.
"Figures. How are your hands? I saw that Peter was helping you when I came down."
"Better." Stephen replies quietly. "I was able to flick Scott so that's a plus."
Tony laughs. "Bad guy giving you a hard time?"
"Annoyingly."
The trio sits there quietly, half watching whatever cartoon Peter turned on, and when their food arrived, Tony went downstairs to pick it up. When he gets back up to the family floor he places their dinner on the coffee table, and gives them each their own order, putting the extra to the side.
"Lang, come get your food before I give it to Peter."
"Five seconds. I need more of my life's blood!" Scott yells back.
"You drink any more juice, you're going to turn into it." Tony snarks.
"Then I'll die happy."