Tony

Tony spent the next hour in relative silence, only broken by occasional sighs when Peter took a deeper breath. Other than that, the kid didn't stir much, and Tony enjoyed the sensation of slipping his fingers through his hair while he read on his phone. He didn't know why, but he'd always enjoyed touching Peter's hair; it was grounding. Which might be why he messed with it so much, especially when it was free of product like this. Well, knowing that they were soulmates might explain some of the pull, actually. He'd heard people who already knew each other before their soul marks manifested usually felt drawn to each other in lots of ways beforehand as well. But Tony felt like even without the pre-soulmate connection that he would have really liked the kid. They had so much in common, and he was just enjoyable to be with. Tony had noticed when he first started spending time in his lab, it was like he brought a ray of sunshine in with him. He had grown in the last few years, but still had that baby face and sunny disposition that made him seem younger. Even innocent, despite all he'd dealt with as Spiderman, and with loss as Peter Parker.

When Natasha arrived, FRIDAY announced her quietly, and she joined Tony in the main living area. He looked up and she was just standing there, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, with an inscrutable look on her face.

"Knock much?" he said without any real annoyance. Natasha was Natasha.

"You sure you need me? It looks like you guys already have this figured out," she said, sounding a little surprised, but also impressed.

Tony smiled. "Some of it."

"How's Happy?"

"He was doing pretty well this morning. I had someone take him back to the Tower so he can be more comfortable."

Their conversation woke Peter, and he stirred in Tony's lap, then sat up, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. He looked about six, and Tony wasn't mad about it. He smiled indulgently at the sleepy teen.

"Happy's gone?" Peter slurred. "Whoa. When did I fall asleep?"

"Oh, you know, I bored you to death while we were trying to decide what we should do this week."

Peter frowned slightly, giving Tony some skeptical side-eye.

"Yeah, Pete, I sent him home a little while ago. He'll recover better there," he said more softly.

The boy finally realized they weren't alone and blinked the last bit of sleep from his eyes. "Oh, hello, Ms. Romanoff." Then glancing at Tony, "How long was I out? I thought it was going to be a few hours before she got here."

"Hi, Peter," Natasha said warmly. "And haven't I asked you to call me 'Nat'? I made good time."

"Oh, right, sorry. I'll try."

"He can learn new tricks," Tony teased, patting Peter on the knee. "He's called me 'Tony' way more than Mr. Stark since yesterday."

"Kinda special circumstances," Peter muttered, blushing just a little bit.

"True," Natasha said. "I guess congratulations are in order, for both of you!"

Peter automatically turned to meet Tony's eyes, still unconsciously gauging his reaction, and Tony smiled at him.

"Thanks. We're pretty excited."

"Do you guys have a plan yet for the afternoon?" Nat asked.

"Well, we should probably find some lunch, but after that, we hadn't decided on anything."

"What time did you accept yesterday?"

Peter and Tony glanced at each other. "4:30-ish?" guessed Tony.

"I think so. Somewhere between 4 and 5."

"Okay, good to know. And it's a little after noon now? I wondered how you two would feel about going over to the gym after this and working on your hand-to-hand maneuvers a little bit."

"Excuse me?" Tony was hoping he'd heard wrong. It's not that he avoided Natasha's workouts, but… he kind of did. She was ruthless, and he had gotten a little complacent about his MMA training, since he was almost always in the suit when they worked together as a team.

Natasha gave him a knowing look. So he hadn't been as opaque with his excuses as he had hoped. Crap.

"Like sparring?" Peter spit out finally. "With you?"

"Oh, definitely not. That's a bad idea with a new soulmate pair. You're both going to feel a lot more worried and protective for the next few weeks and months than usual. But as long as we stick to non-combative maneuvers for the most part, you can practice with each other. Clint and I spent a lot of time sparring when we were first bonded. It's a good way to keep in contact and get to know each other better without just sitting around on the couch all the time. Though we did some of that, too."

Tony knew his face had to be a picture. "You want me to practice hand-to-hand with Spiderman? Nat, I know we've had our differences, but you really want me to die?" He was teasing, but he delivered it perfectly straight.

Tony could feel Peter whip his head around to look at him, and he slyly glanced at his young soulmate to see indignation in every part of his body. "I wouldn't hurt you!"

Tony grinned.

"You see?" Nat said. It's a multi-beneficial exercise. Peter can work on his honestly woeful hand-to-hand, you actually clean up your skills a little, Tony, which hasn't happened in a while, and Peter gets extra practice controlling his strength. He's never been so motivated as he will be today, I promise.


Peter

An hour later they were in the gym in their workout clothes. Tony had stopped complaining and seemed resigned to getting some exercise, Nat was smug, and Peter was trying not to be terrified. What if he did hurt Tony? He could so easily. And why had Natasha called his hand-to-hand "woeful?" He huffed in annoyance, feeling like he'd learned a lot in the last few years during the group trainings and even some occasional one-to-one work with different team members.

Natasha's idea proved to be a good one, but it wasn't an enjoyable one. She spent most of the first forty minutes trying to teach Peter proper "stance," having Tony step in any time hands-on correction was needed. And it was needed often.

"The problem is, Peter, you've been fighting for several years now, but no one (she glanced sideways at Tony here) ever taught you the right way to do things, so you've got lots of muscle memory built up already, and it takes longer to unlearn."

Sensing the jab at Tony, Peter interjected hotly, "It's not like you or any of the others were around much to help. He was kinda busy trying to keep people off your tail, amending the Accords, and keeping me from dying on the side."

Natasha's eyes turned empathic. "Easy паучок*," she said calmly. "No one's blaming Tony. I'm sorry we weren't around to help more, too."

Tony stepped in and smoothed his hair and pulled him into a quick hug. "We did the best we could with what we had, Pete. But Natasha's right that you'll be a safer and more effective fighter if we correct some of your basics. And she's the best there is." Much calmer now, Peter nodded, and Tony he backed up so the young hero could reset his stance.

"Again."

The last hour they moved on to some simple takedowns and defensive maneuvers. Nothing rough, and they spent more time stopping and resetting when Natasha yelled "Stance!" than they did actually wrestling. But they had some fun, too, and his bond appreciated all the close contact, since they weren't aiming to do anything but get the upper hand. It was definitely a work-out for Peter's self control making sure he didn't exert enough pressure to even bruise Tony. He was pretty sure he'd been successful. But he physically stumbled when he saw Tony rubbing at his hip towards the end of their time.

"Did I hurt you?" he blurted, eyes wide, and raising a hand like he was going to check.

Tony looked at him quizzically. "Kid, think about it. Is this even a place you've put any force on?"

Peter did consider. "I… don't think so? Then why…?"

Just a combination of being old, and Nat being right. I have been neglecting my hand-to-hand training, and there are a few muscles that are letting me know about it," he smirked, resting his hand on Peter's soul mark shoulder. Peter relaxed, and took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Good work, guys, honestly," Natasha said. "Tony, I don't think I've had that kind of effort out of you since… well, since before. I'm impressed."

"Tell me I've been a slacker without telling me I've been a slacker, why don't you?" he teased. Nat just smiled enigmatically.

"I think you should both hit the showers, but make it under ten minutes. I want you both back on the couch ready for one of that movie marathon by 3:30, got it?"

As they headed out together, Peter muttered, "Why exactly did you think it would be a good idea to invite a drill instructor to hang out with us this weekend?"

"I heard that, Peter. Just wait until tomorrow." Peter winced comically.

Tony chuckled heartily at his expression, and clapped a hand to his shoulder "She's just looking out for us, Spiderling. A new bond is especially sensitive to separation around the 24 hour mark, so for the next 8-10 hours, we'll want to stay in contact as much as possible. She wasn't kidding about being speedy with that shower. But if you're not, I promise I'll come looking for you if I'm feeling bad."

That sobered Peter. He definitely didn't want Tony to be hurting again. "Why'd we shower this morning then?" he complained.

"Because Nat hadn't let me in on her little plan. Two showers in a day never killed anyone, I promise."

"I know," Peter said. "I just don't want to worry about you."

"I promise to be fast, too. I'll meet you at the couch. Be thinking of movie choices to propose for a vote."

"A vote?"

"Maybe think of a few that aren't Star Wars-related."

Peter rolled his eyes and smiled, and Tony stopped them at Peter's bedroom door to pull him in for another hug, threading his hands through his barely damp curls for a moment before pushing him through the doorway.

"Race ya."

"Ha. As if you could beat me."

"I dunno. I've seen how long you can spend in front of the mirror…"

"Oh, I'm sure I learned from the best, if that's what you're complaining about!"

Peter saw Tony's gaze turn hesitant, and he raised his eyebrows, waiting for the older man to speak.

"Maybe skip doing your hair again? Save time, plus then my fingers don't get sticky," he said, his tone half teasing and half entreating.

Peter smiled. "Yeah, I can do that. It's not like I'm going to be seeing anyone important anyway."

Tony maturely stuck his tongue out at Peter. "Ready, set, go!" he said, running towards his room.

Peter headed quickly into his bathroom, ripping his t-shirt off as he went. It wasn't often he'd seen Tony this relaxed and playful. He really liked it. But the older man was definitely going to lose this race.


Peter did win, rushing through his shower and hitting the couch a good two minutes before Tony appeared with a towel still around his neck. As he sat down, Peter unconsciously leaned towards him, and Tony pulled him to his side with a sigh of relief, then recoiled slightly. "Ew. You're dripping on me. I didn't mean to go so fast that you didn't dry off."

Peter smiled impudently, and Tony pulled the towel off his neck, using it to roughly rub through the boy's wet hair until Peter squawked in protest. Tony continued to dry his hair for another few seconds before he released him, and then apologized by gently finger-combing his curls into some sense of order. Peter quieted, closing his eyes and leaning into his soulmate's touch. He sighed at how much better it felt to be back together. He hadn't had any physical symptoms yet, but that didn't mean he didn't have that itchy feeling of being incomplete nagging at him by the time he'd finished showering.

Nat walked in with a cup of coffee and gracefully dropped into the overstuffed armchair next to their sectional. "So, what are we watching?"

"Pete?"

"Well, I took your request for no Star Wars seriously, and I decided I can be agreeable, so I've prepared a few other options."

"Lay it on us." Tony smiled in bemusement and walked over to pour his own cup of coffee. "You want a snack, kid?"

"Yes, please."

Tony came back with a small basket holding bananas, chips, and granola bars and set it on the coffee table in front of them. Peter was starving, and happily grabbed one of everything.

"So, my suggestions are the Back to the Future trilogy, the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings, all eight of the Harry Potter movies, or the all of the new James Bond s." He sat expectantly waiting for their reaction, opening his banana while he waited.

"So, how about each of us get a veto to narrow it down?" Tony asked. Peter inclined his head magnanimously.

"The Bond movies are a 'no' from me," said Natasha. "It's all too unrealistic, and you won't appreciate my commentary."

Peter privately thought that sounded hilarious, but he nodded understandingly.

"I'm going to veto the Back to the Future movies," Tony said. "Sometimes I can enjoy them, but usually the portrayal of time travel bugs me. I have to be in the right mood."

"It's called "suspension of disbelief, both of you," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "Okay, so that leaves Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter ." Peter said. "Hey FRIDAY, what's the running time on those?"

"The Lord of the Rings extended editions run 11 hours and 23 minutes. The eight original Harry Potter movies run 19 hours and 38 minutes without the credits."

"Wow. Okay. Lord of the Rings it is?"

"Sounds good."

"I don't promise to stay in here the entire time."

"Me neither, actually."

"You don't have a choice, metalhead."

Peter snuck a glance at both Tony and Natasha, but neither actually seemed annoyed. He decided to just assume it was friendly banter, and relaxed back into Tony. "Will you start it, FRI? You've both seen it, right?"

"Mmm, parts of it. I read the books once."

"Really? I tried to read them and found them pretty dry," Tony said.

"You'd be surprised how interesting they are when you're in the middle of a three-week stakeout with other agents you'd rather not interact with."

"Fair enough."

"Mr. Sta-uh, Tony, you've watched them, haven't you?"

"I think I watched them with Clint and Thor once. Thor found them very inspiring. I may have missed some parts."

"Well, if you need to leave this time, we can pause it for you," Peter said helpfully. "Because you really need to watch the whole thing."

"Fantastic. Let's go." Peter couldn't tell if Tony was being sarcastic or not. He decided he didn't care. The Lord of the Rings was a cinematic classic, and Tony could just suck it up. Just a little hesitantly, he scooted over where he could lean against Tony's arm, which gave both of their soul marks contact, and pulled a giant fuzzy blanket up on top of both of them. Tony pushed back against him with equal pressure and tipped his head slightly to sit against Peter's for a moment. All the touching stuff was more comfortable when it was in a familiar way like this. They'd watched tons of movies together. Now they just got to skip all the steps between when they started out several feet apart on the couch and when Peter ended up asleep on Tony's shoulder (or, very occasionally, vice versa). That was really nice. He could get on board with that.


*baby spider