Stark? We need to chat

What's up?

Can I call you?

No. Please don't call. He was not really up to dealing with an angry Italian aunt this afternoon.

Yep

His phone rang almost immediately. Having a direct number to Tony had been one of May's conditions, and he wasn't ever supposed to ignore her calls. At the same time, she had promised to call without checking first only in an emergency.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, May?"

"Hello, Tony. How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"I'll jump right in; I know you're a busy man." Yeaah, she still wasn't his biggest fan. "Are you aware that Peter has missed his curfew 3 times in the last 10 days?"

"Uh, no, I wasn't, actually." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms in thought. "Karen doesn't notify me unless he's an hour late, which could mean he might be in trouble and needing back-up."

"Well maybe we need to change that. He's supposed to be home from patrolling at 11 on school nights, and several times in the last 2 weeks he hasn't been home until closer to midnight. Whenever I challenge him on it, he says it was something important, and promises not to do it again."

"But then he does."

"Yes. And nothing I say seems to be making any difference to him."

"You're wanting me to say something? You think he'll listen to me when he won't listen to you? I'm not even his parent."

"But somehow you can influence him in ways I can't. He looks up to you. He respects you, and he feels like you understand him in some ways I just can't."

Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes with a palm. "I'm not willing to take his suit away again, May. We know he can't or won't quit completely, and you know he's safer in it."

"I understand that, I think. Do you think you can try talking to him? Superhero or not, he's only 15, and he's all I've got. I feel like I'm already compromising a lot letting him do this at all, as dangerous as it can be. I need him to still follow the rules, and live his life as normally as possible. I need to know that he's okay." He could tell she was trying to not sound as emotional as she felt.

"I know. Okay. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Tony."

It was a Wednesday, and Peter bounced into the lab right on time. "Hey, Mr. Stark! School was great - I aced my biology test - I already finished my homework - Are we working on those nanite trials today?"

"Take a breath, Underoos. Uh, yeah, that was the plan." Tony kept wiping the area of his workbench he'd been tidying up.

"But…?" He had gone still.

"No buts," he said lightly, going for casual. Peter didn't look like he bought it.

"You're acting weird though," he accused.

Tony raised his eyebrows. "I'm always acting weird. Who's to say this isn't me actually acting normal?"

"Mr. Sta-ark," he almost whined. "What's up?" The kid had set his stuff on the couch, and would usually have a few snacks in his hands by now, but instead sat across from Tony at the workbench, arms crossed on the surface, and one fist up supporting his chin. His eyes were trained on Tony, and he was exuding concern.

"Okay, we can do this now, I guess," Tony said, almost to himself. He wiped his hands off on the towel, and sat down, facing Peter. The kid's face had transitioned to alarmed.

"I got a call from your aunt this afternoon." Peter's eyebrows dropped in confusion, but then all of a sudden he looked like he had an idea what the call might be about and he sat back on his stool. The face he settled on was both guilty and defiant at the same time.

"Uh-huh. Want to tell me why you're ignoring her and keep missing curfew?" Tony sighed tiredly, sitting back on his heels, trying to keep his body language open, and acting like he was ready to listen. Both were tips from the websites FRIDAY had sourced for him earlier on handling conflict with teenagers. They were for parents, but he hoped they'd still apply.

"She just doesn't get it," Peter huffed. "If I'm in the middle of dealing with something, and it happens to be 11 o'clock, what am I supposed to do? 'Oh, sorry, Mr. Villain, you can go back to robbing that store. I have a curfew, so adios!'" His words were bordering on belligerent, (and Tony could see why May had been having issues talking to him about this) even though his body language was unconsciously mirroring Tony's. "I mean, people don't stop doing bad things just because I have a… a bedtime !"

"Kid, you can't stop all the crime. You can't save everyone. You do a lot, and you make your neighborhood and even all of Queens a little bit better and safer. But you have to set boundaries for yourself. And you have to respect your aunt's rules. You're still a minor, and you live at her house. And you still have school, and friends, and a life, and lab time, and you need to finish growing up as normally as you possibly can."

"But, but why ? Why is that important when I could be doing so much to help other people instead of dumb teenager stuff?"

Tony took a deep breath and counted to 10 as he blew it out. This is where Howard would fly off the handle, tell the kid to sit down and shut up, and lay down the law. Probably all at a fairly loud decibel. And this was not his son. And he was not going to be his father.

"Pete, you are important. You have huge, amazing potential. I think you're going to do great things not just for your neighborhood, but for the world. And not just as Spiderman." He waited until Peter looked him in the eye after that sentence. "But first it's our job as adults in your life, May's job, and even mine, to help you grow up. And we need you to do that safely - physically, and emotionally. And part of that is just doing all the normal 'kid' stuff, which also involves getting enough sleep and concentrating on school and friends too." Peter tried to interrupt, but Tony held up a hand.

"Not quite done, kid. You've already been through a lot. And I think you've handled it amazingly well. But you are still a kid, and you still need to follow our rules. Including your curfew, even if that means you wrap up the actual patrolling by 10:30 and start heading home, to avoid being wrapped up in anything when it's time to be back. What do you think?"

Peter nodded glumly, his eyes focused off to the side, rolling just a bit.

"From now on, Karen's going to report to me if you miss your curfew by even a minute.

"Mr. Staaaark," he groaned, burying his face in his arms.

"When you can't or won't listen to May, she makes it my problem, and I'm going to make it your problem. Capiche?"

"Yes, sir," he said in resignation. He laid with his head on the table, giving off all the wronged and misunderstood teenager vibes he could. "Aren't you going to add to the the 'Sir Jar?'" he asked. His sarcasm had no bite to it, though.

"Nah, I feel like it's pretty appropriate in this case." Peter glared at him, but there was a twinkle in his eye.

"You mean when you're acting like my dad?" he snarked with a half smile.

Though his comment startled Tony, he managed to quip back, "Nah, if I was doing that, I'd make you go clean your room or tell you to get a haircut or something. As it is, I'm gonna use your slave labor to help me with these nanite trials. Grab a snack, kiddo."

Peter got up and headed towards the mini fridge. He came back with some crackers and cheese slices.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"Do you really think I need a haircut?" Peter looked a little insecure.

"No, Pete, I was just channeling my old man. He was always harping on me to get a haircut. Yours is fine," he said, ruffling it. This time Peter didn't even pull away.

A couple hours later they were wrapping up their work for the evening, and as the kid washed up, Tony texted May.

I talked to Peter

Yeah? How did it go?

Good, actually, I think. Hopefully he's going to improve. And I'll get notifications when he misses curfew too, now.

Thank you, Tony

Mind if he's home a little late tonight? Like 9 or 10? If he wants, I thought we might do dinner and a movie or something

That's fine with me, if he wants to stay

"Hey kid, you want to order some pizza, and maybe stay and watch a movie or something? May said she's fine with it. I can have Happy take you home after."

"Oh, uh, yeah, Mr. Stark. That'd be… that'd be cool," he said, trying to seem nonchalant. Tony was getting pretty good at reading him though, and he seemed excited."

"Same order as usual, or you wanna branch out?"

"Same is good, thanks. But can we get breadsticks, too? Lunch at school was gross today."

Tony scowled. "Are you using that card to get extra stuff? I haven't looked at it this week, but you'd better be get-"

"Easy, easy," he interrupted, his hands raised in defense. "I have been using it. I'm just a little extra hungry tonight."

"Okay. Of course we can get breadsticks. What movie do you wanna watch?"

"So hear me out: have you seen the newest Star Wars movie yet?"

"I don't think so, kid."

Peter looked worried. "You don't think you've seen it, or 'you don't think so' like you don't wanna watch it? Because I saw it in the theater, and it was amazing, but it just came out for online rental this week, and I've been really wanting to see it again, and-"

"Okay, okay, I surrender. We can watch that."

"Yes!" He did a short little celebratory head dance thing that was ridiculous, but also hilarious, and Tony was glad he happened to be looking so he didn't miss it.

Several hours later, stuffed with pizza and breadsticks, Peter chatted animatedly on the couch next to him. Tony wasn't sure how he could actually watch the movie because he had so much to say about it. He had kicked off his shoes, and his hair was tousled, his eyes bright. He was a good kid. More and more lately Tony found himself enjoying listening to him talk, even if half of it made no sense to him. The kid sat close enough that he could nudge Tony with his shoulder occasionally when he was making a point, or when Tony made any teasing remarks about the movie or the franchise.

It wasn't common knowledge, but Tony was actually pretty tactile with people he knew and cared about. Since that number had recently been slashed in half, it was nice to sit close with the kid on the couch. He had missed the impromptu Avengers movie nights they had had so often, and he realized that he had probably been a little lonely the last several months. Unfortunately, Pepper had been gone a lot lately, dealing with Accords and SI things, and Rhodey had been pretty busy lately, as well as working on adjusting to his new braces and navigating normal life with them.

Half an hour later, the kid had gotten quiet, and was curled up in a throw next to Tony, his head nodding a bit, though it was only 9:15.

"Not getting quite enough sleep there, Underoos?"

The boy huffed and straightened. "No, I just get drowsy when I hold still at night sometimes."

Tony raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, when it's 9 o'clock and the Spider-baby is falling asleep sitting up, they call that 'not getting enough sleep.'"

"'M not a baby," Peter insisted grumpily, but the following yawn killed the effect.

"Why don't we finish this another night, kid? Maybe Friday? Pepper will still be gone. You should get home early tonight and get some real rest, hmm?"

Peter's eyes opened up all the way. "You really want to… want to do this again sometime?"

"Sure, kid."

"Okay, then. Yeah." His smile was sleepy, but bright, and Tony felt an answering one spread across his face.