This one is short because my weekend is about to get very busy! But I hope you enjoy!

An Invisible String

Tony Stark sat on the sofa in the fancy wizard sanctum, fingers drumming on the arm, his lips twitching as he watched Peter start to doze beside him. The boy had spent the night at the lake house the night before, but had apparently stayed up too late texting with Ned, because the kid had only sat down a few minutes ago. Tony had started to leave Peter out of the particular meeting, but Peter had insisted that he wanted to see the sanctum and that he was excited and that he would totally stay awake.

That had been twenty minutes ago.

They'd driven instead of taking a portal, mostly because Tony had promised to take the kid to lunch after the meeting, and Peter had asked for McDonalds even though Tony had promised they could go wherever Peter wanted. Still, like his five year old daughter, Peter loved McDonalds chicken nuggets, so McDonalds chicken nuggets he would have. After Tony talked to Strange about whatever it was the man wanted to talk about. Probably mystical threats, or hopefully, the lack thereof. Either way, Tony hoped that the kid could catch up on his sleep and then they could grab lunch and get back to the lab.

Doctor Strange appeared in the doorway, and Tony held up a finger to his mouth, nodding his head toward Peter who had nodded off for real, phone slipping through his hand and onto the sofa. The man's normally stoic expression slipped a little, the corner of his mouth turning up a bit, and the cloak hovered in the air for a moment, then flew straight over to Peter. The kid's head was resting on the back of the sofa, and the cloak gently came to rest on top of him, tucking itself around his shoulders. The sorcerer shook his head, lips twitching into a full smile as Tony pulled himself to his feet.

Moving as quietly as he could, Tony slipped past Peter, shutting the door as he went, and followed Strange into a conference room. "I see you brought your ward."

Tony chuckled softly, the two of them taking seats at the table. "Yeah, I promised him McDonalds later."

"McDonalds?"

He shrugged and snorted. "What can I say? The kid has good taste."

"How is he? After...everything?" Strange waved a hand. He'd been there to help Tony take Beck down after the man had turned on Peter...after he'd hurt Tony's kid. He still had nightmares about that phone call...about finding the sobbing, shaking boy in a field of flowers and holding him tight...sewing him up and then watching him build a new suit using his own tech. He had nightmares about that battle, even though between himself, Peter, and, showing up in the last hour to lend a hand, Stephen Strange, they'd taken care of Beck fairly easily. Still. He knew that Peter was every bit a superhero. He knew that the kid was brilliant and strong in his own right.

But he always wanted Peter to have backup. He always wanted to be there.

"He's doing better," Tony told him, keeping his voice pitched low, not wanting to super-spider to overhear. And it was true. The kid was doing better. He was having some trouble with nightmares, but who among them wasn't? It was part of the reason that he'd been having the kid over so much, plus it had the added bonus of giving Happy and May some alone time and giving Morgan some time with her big brother.

"And you?"

Tony shrugged. "Carol's the one that ended it. I'm fine."

"Regardless. It was traumatic."

"War always is. Speaking of war...we aren't about to be in one, are we?"

Strange shook his head, passing a piece of paper over the table. "No. There are no threats on the horizon. But Ross is trying to reinstate the Accords, and I thought we should take a look at what he's talking about implementing this time."

Tony sighed, pulling out his reading glasses and leaning over the paper. He wanted to remind the man that he was retired, that his only job now was being backup for Spider-Man and hanging out with his kids. Maybe working on his house. But, honestly, if he could help out, even with something like this, he was always going to do it.

He almost forgot about Peter as the two of them set to work, marking out and highlighting and bickering a little about where to draw the line and how far Ross's oversight should go. The man had threatened to arrest Peter after everything with Beck...after the idiot had gone on live TV and outed his kid. That's when Tony had informed him that if Ross or anyone even remotely associated with him laid a finger on his kid, Iron Man and the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel would come together and tear the place apart. He hadn't cleared that with any of the parties involved, but he was pretty sure they were all fond enough of Peter to do it.

It wasn't that he forgot about Peter as he worked. He'd always tended to get lost in his work, whatever that work was, be it paperwork or building things. So when a crash sounded from overhead, his first thought was ""Morgan!" then "shit what did DumE do?" then "no, wait I'm at the sanctum...was it the cloak?" then, finally, "shit, what did Peter do?"

And then there was a golden beam of light, coming through the door, and coming to rest on his chest like a strange red dot from a sniper. Tony stared down at it, eyebrows furrowed, wondering if he was about to get shot, when Stephen Strange heaved a deep sigh.

"Parker?" the other man called, pulling himself to his feet and sounding more resigned than upset.

"Kid? You okay?" Tony asked, raising his voice and looking toward the ceiling.

"I...uh...sorry! I'm sorry! I can fix it!" Peter called, and Tony huffed out a laugh before heading towards the stairs, Strange on his heels. As they walked, the little beam of gold light remained trained on his chest, touching him right in the middle of the arc reactor scar.

"Any idea what this is?"

"I believe so, yes. But I'll need to see what he's done to confirm it."

'Any chance it's dangerous?"

"Probably not." Tony chuckled at his flat tone, glancing back to find the man smirking a little.

When they stepped onto the second floor landing, he caught sight of his kid immediately. He looked as though he'd just picked himself off the floor, and beside him on the ground was a pile of books and a strange purple crystal.

"Doc, tell me that isn't an infinity stone."

"It isn't an infinity stone," Strange assured him, reaching down and picking up one of the books before lifting an eyebrow at Peter. "You touched it?"

"I... I bumped into it."

Tony rolled his eyes at the kid, about to laugh, when he realized that the golden thread of light that stopped right at his arc reactor scar stretched to Peter, touching the boy right in the middle of his chest. Just as he realized it, the kid seemed to realize the same thing, eyes darting to Tony's chest, then his own. "Oh…what…"

Stephen Strange waved a hand. "It isn't dangerous, and it should wear off. The more important question, what were you looking for in these books?" He bent to pick out another one and Peter scrambled to help him.

"I, uh...so Cloaky wanted to play hide and seek and…"

"No...wait…" Tony held up a hand, starting to swat the book out of Peter's hand, but the kid yanked away, wrinkling his nose and sticking his tongue out. Tony chuckled, ruffling his hair instead. "I want to know. What is this?" He pointed to his chest, then Peter's.

"You've heard of the red string of fate?"

"The what now?"

Strange sighed and picked up another book, placing them back on the table, then taking the ones that Peter had gathered. "It's a myth that soulmates are connected to a red string of fate."

"Well, I don't know how good you are with your colors but…"

Stephen cut him off. "The red string is for romantic soulmates. Gold is for...something more. The priceless magical artifact that Peter so carelessly knocked onto the floor…" He paused for dramatic affect and Peter cringed, giving him a sheepish smile. "Is from Shaanxi Province in China. There was a sanctum there. The relic reveals…" he paused, taking a moment to think. "The most accurate translation is 'one's most important fated person' or something like that. Someone who plays the biggest role in one's fate."

Tony stared down at the golden thread tying him to Peter and felt his stomach flip. He played the biggest role in Peter's fate. He was...his soul mate? Kind of? The man had never thought about soul mates. Had never considered the idea that he could be 'fated' to be important to another person. But, glancing up at Peter, at the boy's messy curls and sheepish smile, Tony grinned, reaching out and placing an arm around his shoulders. As soon as they made contact, tugging Peter to his side, the golden thread pulsed, the color brightening to a deep, rich yellow that lit up the room.

"Huh. Take a look at that," he murmured, leaning the side of his head against Peter's. The boy smiled up at him, still hesitant but still excited.

"Magic is so cool."

"Yeah, don't get any ideas. It's bad enough you're an enhanced vigilante. Don't even think about trying to switch teams and join the wizards. I've put too much effort into mentoring you to lose you to this guy."

"You can keep him. Every time he comes over he knocks something over. I can't imagine how much trouble he would get into if he knew magic." Strange quipped, shooting Peter a smile as he passed, on his way back downstairs. "Stark, should we finish up so that you can take your ward to McDonalds?"

"Oh, can we get ice cream too?"

Tony glanced once more at the golden thread between them and smiled. It was already fading a little, the pulsing not quite as bright, but Tony would never forget its presence. He would ever forget what he was to Peter...and what the kid was to him. "Sure thing, bud. Let me just finish up this paperwork." And, after a quick kiss to Peter's temple, he followed Strange out of the room, but not before glancing back at the kid over his shoulder. "And get out of this room before you break something else!"