Our two favourite boys are back! As always, anything Marvel belongs to the MCU – I make no money off this story nor is any copyright infringement intended.

A Little Less Breakable

The first time Tony was shown his mortality since the start of their relationship, Peter was the one to make him see it. A group of them had been sparring in the gym, half training and half mucking around, and Peter had misjudged the strength of a punch. It sent Tony careening into the wall, in the suit, and for several seconds the engineer didn't move. Peter's heart lurched painfully in his chest and he wrenched the faceplate off and checked Tony's pulse.

It thrummed steadily under his fingertips and he breathed a sigh of relief. Bruce managed to rouse him and checked him over, citing he wasn't that kind of doctor and should get checked out properly, but typical Tony refused and said he was fine. Peter, on the other hand, was a complete wreck. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he flinched away when Tony reached for him, afraid of hurting him again.

"Hey, Petey, it's okay, I'm alright, come here," he called softly.

Peter shook his head and ran away, unable to bear the sight of the bruises already blossoming across Tony's face and the several cuts that marred the skin. The idea that he could have caused his lover's death reminded Peter of just how strong he was, and the amount of damage he could do if he didn't always mind his strength. If Tony hadn't been in the armour, Pete was fairly confident that Tony would not have survived the punch, let alone being smashed into a wall.

When Tony found him moments later he'd curled up in Tony's bed, face red and puffy, sleeping fitfully. He vaguely registered the side dipping and then warmth at his back. Too tired to worry about it, Peter continued sleeping with an arm slung over his waist.

-oo0oo-

In the morning, Tony woke alone, Pete's side of the bed cold. His body ached, and he was pretty sure some of his ribs were fractured but it was the least of his worries. "FRIDAY, where's Peter?"

"I'm sorry, Boss, I'm not currently aware of Peter's whereabouts."

"Did he ask you to say that?"

FRIDAY paused before responding. "…No."

"Baby girl, don't lie to me or I'll punish you," he warned.

"Fine, he's in the workshop, crying, he doesn't want to be around anyone."

Tony muttered about recalcitrant AI's and made his way down to the workshop after he'd made himself more presentable. He found Peter curled up on the ratty sofa and tried to pull the boy into his arms. Peter refused to budge and shied away from the engineer's touch. Hurt, Tony withdrew his hands and rested them on his knees.

"Petey, talk to me," he begged.

Sad brown eyes raised up, bloodshot and puffy. "What about? About how I almost killed you because I wasn't paying full attention? Or maybe you'd like to talk about the wall you smashed into? Oh! Wait, I know, let's talk about how, for a second, I thought I had killed you!"

Tony breathed deeply to temper his urge to snap at the teen, he knew Peter was lashing out in fear. "Sweetheart, I am fine, I promise. A little sore and bruised but no worse for wear. Accidents are going to happen in training, Pete. You don't need to feel guilty."

The scoff Peter made was extremely undignified, but he seemed a smidge calmer. Tony tugged him again and this time Peter willingly climbed into his lap and curled against his chest. "I'm so sorry."

Tony pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I forgive you, Pete, not that there's anything to really forgive. Can we just move past it please?"

He felt Peter nod and the two spent time just cuddling until Tony realised Peter's breathing had evened out and he was asleep. He had no intentions of waking him, so Tony asked FRIDAY to bring up his latest project, opting to work quietly on it while Peter slept. The incident that day only hardened his resolve to make sure that he could withstand more severe training.

"Run simulation please, Fri," he asked his AI softly.

"Simulation failed," she muttered petulantly.

"I'm sorry I threatened you FRIDAY."

"Apology accepted."

"Great, now stop sulking and alter that sim by plus approximately nought-point-nought-two and then run again, please."

"Simulation failed."

Tony sighed in frustration. "Okay, decrease by nought-point-nought-four and run sim."

Peter began to stir just as FRIDAY answered, excitement evident in her voice. "Simulation successful."

He murmured for her to shut it down for now. He would return to it later. Now that he had the formula exactly right he could re-visit it at a time Peter wasn't there. He had no doubt that he would only try to dissuade Tony from his plan and he didn't want to cause an argument when Peter was still so emotional from the accident in training.

"What was successful?" Peter mumbled as he woke fully.

"Just a sim for some new flight capabilities I plan to add to the suit, baby, nothing major. Do you feel better after your nap?"

Peter sat up properly and rubbed his eyes, blinked hard a few times. "Yeah, I guess. How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours, not long."

"Crap, I should get back to May or she'll freak out."

Tony was reluctant to let his lover go but relinquished his hold all the same. He walked Peter to the elevator and kissed him sweetly. "Say hi to May for me, and don't forget I'll meet you after you finish college tomorrow."

Peter grinned and kissed him deeply, rubbing his growing erection against Tony's hard thigh. Before it could grow too heated, Tony gently pushed back on his chest and Peter grinned at him. Then the doors closed and Tony was alone. He hadn't banked on Peter going home that night but he guessed that it made sense. May could get a little tetchy about Peter staying at the tower too often, and she also didn't know about Peter and Tony's relationship.

Waiting until a safe amount of time had passed and Peter was unlikely to interrupt, Tony put the workshop on lockdown and told FRIDAY to be on alert in case he needed to be taken to Medical. He pulled up the formula he'd been working on before Peter woke up and double checked FRIDAY's data on the successful simulation. He knew a sim was nothing like the real thing but FRIDAY's databanks stored enough information on his physiology that there was no reason it would fail to work in reality.

"Boss, I have to urge you to reconsider this idea," FRIDAY said, her voice quiet, fearful.

"It's gonna be okay, baby girl, daddy knows what he's doing. At least, I hope I do."

"That doesn't fill me with much confidence," she muttered.

Tony smiled at the nearest sensor and gave her the order to start the process, the formula being turned from theory to physical form. It took just over an hour but there it was, the golden liquid swirling inside it's glass syringe. "Boss…Tony, please."

The AI's voice sounded thick with tears and for a moment Tony hesitate in going ahead. Was he really doing the right thing here? He thought back to Peter's tear stained face and terrified look in his eyes when Tony got close and he knew then, he was definitely making the right decision.

"It'll be fine, FRIDAY, commence with Extremis bonding procedure."

The sharp pinch of the syringe needle pierced his neck and Tony fought the urge to flinch, not wanting to tense and make the pain worse. In hindsight, he probably should have alerted someone about his intentions because the second the liquid was plunged into his veins, Tony felt like his entire body was on fire. The scream that tore from his throat was so strong it strained his vocal chords and his voice gave out.

He didn't know how long he writhed on the floor for, but it seemed like hours. There was still the chance that his body would reject Extremis and force him to go hot, and blow up, but he had enough faith in his body's strength that he would accept it. The pain started to ebb slowly, bleeding away into a dull ache in his bones.

He wasn't out of the woods yet, but he could at least think coherently. He registered FRIDAY was yelling for him to answer her, threatening to call Rhodes but Tony was able to give her a thumbs up that he was alright. His voice still wouldn't work but he'd regained motor functions now, so that was a plus.

Tony raised a hand to his face and saw the orange glow thrumming under his skin as it bonded with his DNA. After what felt like days, Tony finally felt the last of the pain fade away and he climbed shakily to his feet. He stumbled to the workbench and grabbed a box cutter, slicing through his palm easily. Blood welled and flowed quickly, pooling on the floor. Tony sent a signal for Extremis to heal the cut and it responded, slithering to his palm and knitting the flesh together instantly.

Whooping in joy, albeit silently, Tony did a little jig of happiness. Even though he was conscious that Peter would likely not received the news well at first, he couldn't wait to show off just how tough he was now. Extremis 3.0 had been designed to work similar to the super soldier serum that ran through Steve and Bucky's veins but with distinct differences, such as the instant healing.

He really hoped Peter would accept the news fairly quickly, he really wanted to prove to the teen that they were on a slightly more even keel now. Sure, Peter could still catch several tonnes of weight without feeling any strain, but Extremis made Tony far less breakable. He whispered a thank you to FRIDAY for keeping him safe and retired for the night. Tomorrow, he'd see his lover once again.

-oo0oo-

Before Tony set off to meet Peter after college, Tony made sure to get checked over in Medical and updated his file with his new physiology. Unfortunately for him, Bruce had been in there and overheard. He went ballistic and for a moment a green tinge overtook his skin and Tony half expected to see Hulk come out.

Bruce had stormed off in a fury and Tony sheepishly tried to laugh it off but even FRIDAY had told him to not make light of the fact he'd taken a massive risk with his own life. He conceded the point and asked FRIDAY to order some of Bruce's favourite chocolate to apologise for being so flippant.

Once he'd finished in Medical, Tony hopped into the Mercedes and drove to Peter's college, parked outside and hopped out, leaning against the driver's door with his hip. When college let out, he caught sight of Peter's mop of chestnut curls and felt his heart rate suddenly pick up. He never got tired of seeing the teen that had gone from his fantasy to his lover. It still seemed surreal at times.

Peter did some whacky handshake with a dark skinned kid, Ned he recalled, and the girl was MJ. She slugged him in the arm and Peter rolled his eyes. Then he caught sight of Tony and a grin split his face, an answering one on Tony's face. His two friends seemed to be teasing him judging from the blush staining Pete's cheeks.

He wasn't sure if the two knew of their relationship yet but Tony reckoned if Peter continued to beam like that at him then it wouldn't take very long for people to figure it out. Peter said goodbye to his friends and approached Tony when another kid got in his way. He couldn't hear what was said but Peter seemed to brush it off and tried to go around. Next thing Tony knew, Peter was on the floor and Tony had grabbed the arm of the kid before he could land the kick he'd been aiming.

"Get. Away. From. Him. Now!" Tony hissed.

The kid's eyes widened and he backed away, tugging his arm out of Tony's grasp. "M-Mr. Stark!"

"Indeed. What the hell is your problem?"

"I uh, we, um, lots of people thought Penis- I mean Parker was lying about his internship," the kid stuttered.

Tony yanked the kid closer. "Well, as you can see, he wasn't. Now, allow me to make something perfectly clear, if I hear that you've been beating Peter up again I will ensure that you never see the light of day again."

He released his grip on the little shit who'd been prepared to kick a guy when he was down and watched him sprint away. He helped Peter to his feet and checked him over. "You okay, Petey?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Tony, you know he can't hurt me."

Tony cupped his cheek. "You know that wasn't my point, Pete."

Peter gently removed his hand and surreptitiously brushed his lips across the knuckles. "You're a little warm, Tony, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pete. Come on, let's get out of here."

The teen came with him and climbed into the passenger side of the car, Tony flashed Pete a wolfish grin and tore out of the parking lot with a squeal of rubber on tarmac and flew down the road at a ridiculous speed. On the route back to the compound, Peter's hand slid onto his thigh and Tony squeezed it once before returning his grip to the gear stick.

"Good day? Asshole notwithstanding, of course," Tony asked.

Peter grinned at him. "Yeah, I finally figured out what I'm gonna do for my robotics class."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Tony glanced at him. "You gonna tell me what it is?"

"Nah, I thought I'd show you later, I got it in my bag."

Tony wondered what on earth could be small enough to fit in Peter's bag for a robotics class but he decided to just wait and see. The rest of drive was made in silence and when they arrived, Peter made to run inside straight away but Tony held him back a moment. "There's something I want to show you, but I need you to promise you won't freak out."

Peter frowned but nodded. "Okay, sure, what is it?"

He took a deep breath. "Remember yesterday, the training? Well, I know it really upset you, and I'm sorry you were so distraught over it, but I want you to know that things are different now. I'm a lot less breakable."

"What's changed in less than twenty-four hours that you're now tougher?" Peter asked.

"Erm, well, I've sorta been working on perfecting something, it's called Extremis. And last night, while you were sleeping I had a break through."

Brown eyes widened then narrowed. "Please tell me you didn't jack yourself up? Tony, come on!" He yelled. "What if something had gone wrong? I never wanted you to change yourself!"

Tony cupped his face and kissed him softly. "Petey, I didn't plan to, at first. I was just running sims for the time being, thinking it could be used in hospitals for people who needed amputation. But, seeing that lost look in your eyes when you thought I had been badly hurt, I couldn't see that again. I didn't want you always wondering if the next training session would be the one where I got hurt, or you started pulling back on training for fear of hurting me."

Peter pulled out of his embrace and placed a hand on Tony's chest. "Tony, this is wrong! What if this changes you, not in a good way?"

"How could it?"

"You might be less careful now! You've always had a sort of, well, lack of concern for your own welfare. You could wind up taking more risks now because you're able to take more damage than before. You should have at least consulted with me on this, or did you think I wouldn't be able to comprehend because I'm a child?" Peter sounded hurt.

"No! Pete, no, of course not. But I also knew you'd try and talk me out of it, and I'd wind up listening."

"Right, so instead you just decided to go ahead without my knowledge. A relationship is a partnership, Tony, and that means we make decisions about our lives together, especially if it affects the other. I…I need time to think. I'm sorry, Tony, I'm gonna go home. Don't call."

Tony could only watch as Peter webbed a tree and swung away. That had not gone at all how he'd planned. Fuck. He spied Pete's bag on the ground and swore softly. Peter had asked him not to call but he'd need his bag. Well, the kid hadn't said anything about texting, so he pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text. His phone pinged seconds later.

Pete: I don't need it til Monday, I'll collect it before then x

Tony took comfort in two things from that one text. One, Peter was planning to come back before Monday, so he'd see Tony again. And two, there was a kiss at the end. He resigned himself to a boring weekend of wandering around aimlessly until Peter decided to return. God, how could he have fucked up so badly? Little did Tony know, it was about to get a whole lot worse.

-oo0oo-

Monday afternoon rolled around and Tony was getting antsy. Peter hadn't come to collect his bag, he wasn't responding to his texts and May had just called to tell him the school had marked Peter as truant. He hadn't attended school that morning. Tony knew immediately something was wrong, his last text had been frantic and no matter how pissed off Peter was with him, he wouldn't ignore him when he knew Tony was concerned.

He called the Avengers to assemble and had FRIDAY start scanning for him. When she said he was in the tower he realised the suit must be in his bag. Swearing colourfully, he had FRIDAY start checking all CCTV cameras from when Peter left on Friday. She was able to follow him for a while as he swung away until he went behind some trees and never came out.

She tried every camera from every angle but there was nothing. He was just there one minute and gone the next. What Tony couldn't work out was if this was an enemy of the Avengers, or one of Peter's. He asked FRIDAY to check all prison records for everyone they'd put away.

"Boss, it looks like Vulture escaped from prison, he's the only unaccounted for villain I can find."

This time it was Steve who swore colourfully and Tony had the hysterical urge to call out him on it. Instead, he had FRIDAY begin running records for anything Adrian Toomes had in his name, warehouses, storage facilities, houses, anything she could find. But she came up empty. Frustrated, Tony grabbed his hair and tugged, hard, screaming in anger.

"Tony, we're gonna find him, I promise," Steve assured him, his hand a heavy, comforting weight on his shoulder.

"Steve…I can't lose him," he whispered brokenly.

Nat cupped his face and kissed his forehead. "We won't stop until we find him, Tony, but right now, we've got to keep focused and not lose our heads."

Their words were a balm to his frayed nerves and he was able to reign in his fear. "Boss, I think I have something. Toomes' father had an old fishing boat, chances are it was passed down to him when Toomes senior died. It was moored at New York Harbour and it's not there now."

"Good girl, FRIDAY," he whispered. "Scan the waters and alert the coast guard. Anyone with flight capabilities, let's hit the air, the rest of you, meet at the harbour and keep comms open."

It was testament to how far they'd come since Siberia that no one questioned the orders he gave, not even Steve. Vision, Sam, Thor, and Tony took to the skies and the rest of them boarded a quinjet to meet them there. The four of them in the air spread out as soon as they hit open water and kept calling out coordinates of clear water.

Eventually, it was Sam that spied a boat drifting in the water and the other three gathered around it. "FRIDAY, is this the boat that matches your records?"

"Yes, boss, that's the one."

The four of them descended as a unit and landed on the large vessel, immediately searching above and below deck. Tony found Toomes below deck with a bound Peter on the bed, his brown eyes wet with tears and cheeks flushed from crying. "Gimme back my Spiderling," Tony growled.

Toomes swung around, gun in hand, the barrel pointed at Peter's head. "Ah, if it isn't the great Iron Man."

"It's over, Toomes, give it up."

"It's over when I say it is, Stark. Everything I did was to give my little girl the life she deserved! And you took my family away from me!"

"No, you did that yourself when you thought it would be a great idea to sell alien tech on the streets. You kill him and I'll end you, Toomes."

Toomes grinned madly at him. "Maybe, but you'll have to live with the knowledge that you let the kid die."

Toomes pulled the trigger and Tony screamed in rage and pain, launching himself at the man the second the suit opened at his command. He tackled Toomes to the ground and used Extremis to melt the barrel of the gun so it couldn't fire again. Both hands heated up and he went for Toomes' throat when he heard a groan of pain.

"Tony, no…he isn't worth it."

He looked at the bed to find Peter still alive but bleeding heavily. He must have tried to dodge the bullet but it struck him in the shoulder instead of the head. He wanted to badly to kill Toomes but the blood pouring from Peter and the sadness in his eyes stopped him. Instead, he punched Toomes in the head and knocked him out.

Rushing to Peter's side, he melted the chain that connected Peter's cuffed wrists. "Oh, baby, I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered thickly.

Peter's hands wrapped around his neck in a crushing hug, a hiss of pain slipping through clenched teeth when his shoulder protested. "M'okay, Tony, I promise."

"You're bleeding too much, Pete, I gotta cauterise the wound til we can get you back to medical."

Peter nodded and grit his teeth, one hand clenching Tony's. Tony heated up the other hand and pressed a finger into the bullet hole to cauterise the wound and stop the bleeding. Peter's scream of pain was the most awful sound he'd ever heard and it made Tony weep. He jumped back into the suit and gathered Peter in his arms.

"Head back to the compound," he called through the comms. "I have him. Sam, Toomes is here, unconscious, take him to the nearest station and let them know that Riker's is missing an inmate."

He distantly heard Sam confirm but he was already in the air and on his way back to the compound to get Peter to medical. His medical team took over and sedated Peter so they could remove the bullet from his shoulder and close up the wound. Bucky stood with him, the cool metal hand sliding into his and squeezing.

"He's gonna be okay, Tony, he's a tough kid."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I know, but still…the fear in his eyes, Buck…it wasn't for him."

Bucky nodded and squeezed again. "Yeah, love kinda works that way."

"He's told me so many times that he loves me, and I've never said it back. If he'd died, he never would've known."

"Nah, he knows, Tony. It's written all over your face."

Tony shook his head violently. "No, Buck, you don't get it. I knew my mother loved me, but she almost never told me. Even though I knew, it wasn't enough, I wanted to hear her say it."

"You'll have plenty of time to tell him, Tony."

With that, Bucky squeezed his hand once more and left him to his vigil. The doctors confirmed the bullet was successfully removed and the wound closed up. The scarring would be heavier because of the cauterisation of the wound, but it was also what had stopped Peter from losing too much blood. Tony figured Pete would likely enjoy the little battle scar, another one to match the bullet scar on his abdomen. He really needed to tell Peter to stop taking bullets for him.

-oo0oo-

They kept him sedated for a few hours to make sure his body could rest enough. When he finally roused, Tony was once again asleep, head on the bed, hand tangled with Pete's. Something disturbed his hair and Tony jolted awake to see Peter's doe eyes staring into his. Tony launched himself onto the bed and covered Peter's face in kisses.

Peter laughed and hugged him tightly, meeting Tony's lips in a bruising kiss, the salt of their tears mingling into the kiss and making it wet and messy. "I'm sorry," Peter whispered.

Tony drew back and wiped Peter's face gently. "Why?"

"I shouldn't have run off, I should have stayed and talked it out, not gone off in a sulk like a child."

"No, baby, you were absolutely right, I should've talked it over with you first. I'm sorry that I just went over you without considering your feelings on the matter. I won't ever do it again. But, I want you to promise me something."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't take anymore bullets for me, okay?"

Peter laughed and tugged him back down. "I promise to try not to take anymore bullets for you. I love you, Tony."

Tony cupped his face reverently and kissed him gently. "I love you, Petey."

Okay, so here's the thing. I've been toying with the idea of making this a three-way and adding Bucky. I recently read the series The Centenarian, the Teen, and the One In Between (by Scarletmanuka) and it got me thinking. I'm asking for y'all to give your opinion on it. If there's enough call for it, I just might do