Hi All!
I am so sorry for the slight disappearing act I pulled last week! I have been so busy with work and I am in the process of moving interstate so I don't have a huge amount of time on my hands! Thank you for being patient with me and I will try to get as many prompts done as I can! PROMPTS ARE STILL CLOSED at the moment and I probably won't re-open them until the end of March.
This prompt is from Radiance3Sun on Ao3-Over summer break, Clint asks Peter to babysit his kids over at his farm while he and Laura travel on the weekend for their anniversary (Natasha is unavailable for some reason). May will be away for the week, so she and Peter agree. However, they forget to properly inform Tony and he, Pepper, Happy, and the Avengers start frantically searching for Peter until the situation is explained.
I hope you enjoy and apologies for any mistakes!
The Babysitter's Club
"Mr. Barton," Peter said.
"Clint, Peter. Call me Clint," the archer chuckled fondly. Ever since he had met Peter he had been trying to get the vigilante to call him by his name but so far, the teenager refused to call him other than Mr. Barton or Hawkeye.
"Mr. B," Peter grinned cheekily. "If you ever need me to babysit again, I will. That was an awesome weekend."
"I know Cooper, Lila and Nate would be thrilled," Clint smiled, throwing his arm around Peter as they headed from the Quin Jet to the Compound. "They loved you. Wasn't sure I was going to be able to bring you home."
"I liked them too," Peter bounced as he walked. "and your farm is amazing! You have so much open space!"
"Yeah, it's a pretty special place," Clint agreed.
It had been the anniversary of Clint and Laura's wedding and Clint had organised a special trip away for the two of them. Usually he would have gotten Natasha to watch his little monsters but SHEILD had called her away for a mission. Clint wasn't sure who he was going to get to watch his kid when Peter had walked in at the exact moment. It worked out perfectly. Peter was on school holidays and his Aunt was going to be away for work.
The weekend had gone on without a hitch. Peter had instantly won over his children and Laura (Cint was half convinced that she was going to adopt him right then and there). When the two had returned from the romantic weekend away, the kids had begged if Peter could stay longer. Peter had laughed with delight and promised that he would come back and visit soon. It had been a sad farewell but the kids had reluctantly allowed Peter to leave, Clint flying Peter back to the compound (as per May's instructions) with the Quin Jet.
The trip had passed easily, Peter happy filling in the time with a play-by-play of their weekend until they had touched safely down at the compound. Clint withdrew his arm around Peter's shoulder as the Compound doors burst open, Tony, Steve, Rhodey and Sam racing towards them, their expressions of shock and relief.
"What the –"Peter had time to mutter before Tony reached them, almost colliding painfully with Peter. If the kid didn't have superpowers, Clint was sure that the two would be flat on the ground.
"Peter, thank god," Tony said, pulling back far enough so he could run his eyes over Peter, his hands never loosening the tight grip he had on Peter's upper arms.
"Mr. Stark?" Peter frowned.
"Where did you find him?" Steve asked, his voice grave and eyes cold.
Clint frowned. "Find him? I didn't find him anywhere. He was at my place this weekend."
"What?" Tony demanded sharply, glancing between Peter and Clint. His eyes were marked with dark circles and his usually immaculate beard was looking scruffy.
"Mr. Barton asked me to watch his kids this weekend," Peter explained, looking wide-eyed and confused.
"Did May know?" Rhodey asked.
"Of course I asked his Aunt," Clint said with a frown. Something clicked in his mind and his face slackened with understanding. "I forgot to tell you I was taking the kid for the weekend."
"Oh," Peter blinked. "I'm sorry. I didn't think… I forgot to tell you Mr. Stark. I'm sorry."
Tony stepped back, releasing Peter and his face carefully blank. "It's fine."
"We thought that –" Sam began but was quickly cut off.
"The jet had been stolen," Tony cut him, voice firm. "I didn't realise you were taking it for the weekend Clint. Thought we had a situation on our hands but guess we don't."
"Tony," Clint started to say but Tony sniffed.
"Welcome back. Hope you had a good weekend. I have some things to take care off," Tony said. His eyes swept over Peter once more before he turned on his heel and strode back towards the building, disappearing inside.
"Guys, I'm sorry," Clint sighed, running a hand over his hair. "I totally forgot to warn you that I was taking Peter with me this weekend."
"It's okay," Steve wasn't looking at them. Instead his gaze was on the door that Tony had disappeared into.
"Hope you had fun kid," Sam said, his tone warning. "Doubt you will be going anywhere anytime soon."
"It's okay, Peter," Rhodey said when Peter shot him a panicked look. "You didn't do anything wrong. Come on, you must be hungry."
Rhodey held out an arm to Peter. Shuffling over, Peter let Rhodey wrap his arm around him and direct him towards the door.
Clint held back with Steve and Sam and when the kid was safely inside, he turned towards the two soldiers. "How badly did I screw up?"
"It was bad," Steve admitted. "I've never seen Tony like that before."
"Yeah, I wouldn't get too comfortable around here," Sam added. "and I doubt Tony will ever let you take the kid to your farm again."
"Great," Clint groaned. "What the hell am I supposed to tell my kids? They loved Peter."
Sam patted Clint's shoulder. "I hope they took some pictures."
"Peter, sweetheart," Pepper smiled, her eyes looking wet. She pulled Peter into a hug when he got close enough.
Hugging her back, Peter felt as if he had missed a step, his stomach swooping and chill going through his body. "Hi Miss Potts."
Pepper pulled back, hand coming to cup his cheek. "We are so happy to see you."
"I'm sorry," Peter whispered.
Pepper shook her head. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault. We thought….we missed you."
"Missed you too," Peter said, hugging Pepper again tightly.
He felt Pepper press a kiss to the top of his head before she pulled away. "Are you hungry? I can make you something."
"Sure," Peter agreed even though he wasn't feeling hungry at all.
He allowed himself to be steered to the kitchen bench. His mind was whirling as he took in the stressful lines of everyone's faces. When he sat down, Pepper smoothed back his girl, giving him an almost relieved smile before she stepped away to the fridge. Her touch was immediately replaced by Rhodey's who sat next to him, close enough that his side was pressed against Peter's.
Both begun to ask Peter about his weekend and what he go up to. Peter tried to tell them but he lacked the enthusiasm as he could still sense the worry in the room. What had happened over the weekend? Was there an attack of some kind?
Peter ate the food Pepper placed in front of him when it was ready and when he was done, he excused himself to go freshen up. He escaped to his bedroom, mind reeling. Something has clearly happened over the weekend.
Peter ducked into his room, shutting the door behind him. He jumped when he heard a loud banging and clattering coming from somewhere. He strained his hearing, picking up more and more sounds until he located where it was coming from.
Tony's lab.
There was banging and crashing, making Peter wince with each loud noise. It went on for several moments before he heard could only hear Tony's heavy breathing. Peter sunk down onto the bed when those heavy breathes became sobs.
Peter had never heard Tony cry before and his breathing hitched as the sound rang in his ears. His heart clenched tightly in his chest and tears blurred his vision.
"Tony," Peter heard Rhodey speak. "Hey, he's okay."
"He vanished," Tony choked out. "Just like that. Gone."
"He's okay," Rhodey stressed. "Focus on that. He's not hurt. It was Clint's farm that kept you from tracking him. You know that he has precautions in place."
"I thought," Tony choked out through tears. "I thought my kid was…"
"I know but he's okay," Rhodey said. "He's safe."
"Boss, Peter is in distress," FRIDAY's voice sounded far away.
Peter hadn't realised he was gasping for air as he sobbed loudly. Peter had worried them. He had worried Mr. Stark so much that he was destroying his lab because of him. Peter could only imaging what Mr. Stark had done to try an locate him, only to come up empty, all because Peter had forgotten to tell Tony he was going away for the weekend.
Loud, ugly sobs wracked Peter's body as he choked for breath.
"Peter!"
Peter squeezed his eyes shut at the door all but flung open. He felt hands on his body before they were cupping his face.
"Peter, hey, kiddo what's going on," Tony voice washed over Peter.
This only made Peter sob harder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Shhh, it's okay. Just breath," Tony coached. "Come on Pete, easy now."
"I'm so-orry," Peter cried, hands curling into fits, his nails digging into his palms.
"Underoos, just breath! You're going to make yourself sick," Tony coached. "Come on kiddo, just relax. It's okay. You're okay."
Callused hands wiped the tears from his cheeks, thumb sweeping over his cheek bones. Peter opened his eyes, more tears falling. He choked as he saw the red rimmed eyes of Tony and he sobbed, throwing his arms around Tony's neck.
"M' sorry," Peter sobbed.
Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, holding him close. His hand swept up and down Peter's back in a soothing motion. "Come on, Pete. Just relax. It's okay. You're okay."
Peter tried to get his crying under control. It took a few more ugly sobs and hiccups to calm himself down enough that he could say something other than he was sorry.
"I didn't mean to worry you," Peter said, still tucked up into the crook of Tony's neck. "I didn't mean to make you think that something had happened to me."
"I know you didn't," Tony murmured, hand still rubbing up and down Peter's back. "I might have panicked a little when I didn't hear from you or May."
"I didn't mean to scare you," Peter sniffed.
Tony pulled back, Peter hiccupping at the loss of touch. However, Tony cupped his face, wiping away the tears and gave Peter a soft look. "I know you didn't. I'm going to worry about you though. I love you. I know I don't say it often but I do. You're everything to me, kiddo."
"I love you too," Peter sniffed, looking at Tony with big wide eyes. "I'm really sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry," Tony said. He hesitated, smoothing Peter's hair back from his face. "You really scared me buddy so maybe you could just hang around here for a bit longer."
Peter nodded frantically, throwing his arms back around Tony. "M' not going anywhere."
Tony sighed with relief, hugging Peter back and pressed a firm kiss to the side of his head.
Happy reading :)
