Comfortember Day Fourteen: Crackling Fire

It was freezing.

The last thing Tony wanted to do was sit outside in the middle of the night. Yes, he enjoyed his time with his mentee. But he liked being indoors, nice and warm in his lab during nights like this. He'd take working on projects nonstop or sitting on the couch and watching Star Wars for the millionth time than sitting outside.

He tried to convince the kid it'd be better inside. Cozier. Tony could just make an artificial fire. They didn't need a real one outside in the actual cold. When he proposed the idea to Peter, he got a pout and denial.

"It's not the same thing," Peter had said. "It takes away the magic."

Tony said, "The magic of what? It's a fire."

"No, it's not just a fire!" Peter pouted. "You'll see. Just trust me."

"I do trust you. Most of the time."

"Mister Stark."

Tony had sighed in defeat. "Okay. You win."

And so, Tony Stark was now sitting outside after having set up two lawn chairs in an empty camping ground. If Tony was going to suffer through the freezing weather, he was going to do so with no one else around, not including the kid of course. He was the exception. He always will be.

Peter busied himself by piling a multitude of tree branches on top of each other. He surrounded them with rocks. Tony still couldn't imagine how this was going to be special. The kid put a bag of marshmallows in between the chairs and put thin sticks next to it.

Tony tried to brush away the minor worry coming to his mind while he watched Peter. The kid had trouble thermoregulating. Even if this fire would turn out big like Peter said it was going to, it might not be enough to keep him warm. Peter did have a jacket and scarf but Tony still had some doubts.

"Okay, lighter." Peter held his hand out. Tony pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it to him. "Thanks."

Tony leaned back in his chair. Peter sparked the lighter to life and started running it along the pile of branches. Before long, Tony's eyes were berated by the orange light of a fire. Peter waved his arms around to make it bigger before he skipped around and sat on the chair next to Tony.

"So?" Tony asked, turning his head towards Peter. "Where's the magic?"

Peter huffed. "Just wait! It'll come."

Tony shrugged. "Whatever you say, kiddo."

After a few minutes of silence, Tony still didn't understand but he kept his eyes on the fire to see what was going to happen. Meanwhile, Peter helped himself to some roasted marshmallows. All Tony could admit was that the fire was warmer than he thought it was going to be.

He wanted to ask Peter what to expect. The chances of a real answer was slim so he kept it to himself. Peter was humming a song to himself in between munching on his marshmallows.

Ten more minutes passed and Tony found himself getting lost watching the fire. Ashes started rising up and twirling around. The fire itself had its flames moving in different directions as if it was dancing somehow. The soft crackles the fire made were surprisingly nice on his ears.

He was never going to admit to the kid he was right. There was something about the fire that was kind of magical. But Tony Stark had a reputation to uphold so he was going to keep this little experience to himself. The last thing he needed was something for Peter to blackmail him with.

"You should see your eyes," Peter said, keeping his voice low. "They're orange."

Tony chuckled. "You know fires are usually orange, right?"

Peter huffed. "Work with me here. It's really nice. Besides, don't you feel something?"

Yes, he did. It was a comfortable moment with his Spider-kid. He forgot that just a few minutes ago he was complaining that it was freezing. Now, he didn't care. Or rather, he couldn't feel it among everything else he was feeling. Which was relaxed. And calm. And...Wait.

"Oh," Tony said. "Yeah. I think I feel it."

"So you admit I'm right?" Peter asked, eagerly.

"Nope. I am not admitting that," Tony stubbornly said, shaking his head.

Tony refused to look at Peter because he knew he was pouting and giving him his famous Bambi Eyes. Tony still didn't know how to be immune to them, so for right now he was not going to look at Peter.

"Mister Stark," Peter whined in an adorable tone.

"No."

Tony thought he won because Peter was silent, but that silence only lasted ten seconds.

"I think I know the problem. You have not roasted a marshmallow yet." Peter poked him with a stick. "That's what you need to do now."

"Webs."

Peter kept prodding him with the stick. "You know you want to. You know you're going-"

"Alright! Geeze, give me that thing."

Tony snatched the stick from Peter's hand and stabbed a marshmallow on it. He leaned forward in his chair and stuck it near the fire. Peter snickered, knowing he won. If there was one person Tony could not say no to, it was Peter Parker and the kid milked every second of it.

The kid was right though. Tony surprisingly liked the taste of the roasted marshmallow, even if it was a bit too warm and gooey. It wasn't like he did this often. As a matter of fact, he never did this. Not even in his younger years. He didn't even go camping with Rhodey. Maybe he'd have to remedy that.

"Okay, Mister Stark. I'm waiting," Peter said, smug.

"You were right, Pete," Tony relented. "There's something special about a fire like this."

Peter laughed in triumph. Tony rolled his eyes but couldn't stop himself from smiling. He'd have to do these things more often. If it meant a moment of relaxation, he'd take it.

Author's Note: Can you tell I was cold when I wrote this? I wrote it after I got back from a walk in the graveyard and it was freezing so I kinda projected again lmao.

Also I know this is a shorter one but I'm fine with that. Some things are better short and sweet.

That's all for now. I'll see ya'll in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

~Kurosaki