It had been another sleepless night for Tony. The Avengers had been incredibly busy lately, and while the Wakandans had graciously showed up to offer support, everyone had still been stretched pretty thin. And after all that fighting, Tony had a lot of gear to repair. His suit had taken some damage, Clint was almost out of exploding arrows, and Natasha's widow bites needed recharging.

But he had finally finished everything just as the sun started coming up and now he had to start thinking about his day job. God, he needed coffee.

As he passed by the den, he heard a voice that sounded frighteningly like Loki's.

Tony burst into the den, one hand on the button to summon his suit. But Loki was nowhere in sight. Instead, Peter was crouched in the corner, muttering into his phone. Shuri stood nearby, snickering into the back of her hand.

"What the hell are you two doing?

Peter yelped and fumbled the phone. "Mr. Stark! I, uh…we weren't doing anything, I swear. It's not what it looks like."

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh really? Because it looks like you were modifying your voice to sound like Loki's for a prank call."

Peter's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, okay. It's exactly what it looks like."

"I'm really disappointed in you, kid. In both of you." He gave Shuri a disapproving look. "What kind of hero goes around frightening random people for a laugh? You're using your powers for evil."

"We haven't been calling random people," Peter said earnestly. "Just the bad guys. I was just on the phone with Mr. Hammer right now, warning him to keep out of trouble because he was an embarrassment to villains everywhere."

Tony fought to keep his face neutral. As hilarious as it sounded, Peter's plan was pretty dangerous.

"Justin might be a moron, but he's probably not going to fall for this. He's going to figure out it's all a prank. And now he has your phone number to trace."

"Don't worry, Mr. Stark," Shuri piped up. "We used a virtual number and then rerouted the calls through Asia and South America. He will not be able to trace the call to Peter. I am sure of that."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree with that. Hammer can't hack his way out of a paper bag. But he's rich and has plenty of connections. Even more now that he's served a prison sentence. I'm sure he knows plenty of people."

"And none of those people are me," Shuri said with a smirk. "Trust me, Mr. Stark. It is all harmless fun."

"Yeah, sure, I'm just supposed to trust you after this little stunt. Just…new rules: no phone calls to villains in my Tower, okay? Peter, come with me. We're going to have a little chat in my office." He headed towards the lab elevator.

Peter trailed after him, looking suspiciously close to tears. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark. I knew this was a bad idea, but it sounded like a good idea at first. I mean, if we could talk villains into cleaning up their act with just a little-"

Tony held up his hand. "Did she put you up to this? Was this her idea?"

"Uh," Peter said, avoiding Tony's eyes. "Not entirely."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Tony shook his head. "I remember what it was like when I was a teenager. My first girlfriend and I always brought out the worst in each other. She talked me into having wild parties at my place while my parents were out, I fought with her about how much time we should spend with each other. I should have broken up with her after the first month. But she was hot and other people were jealous, so I stayed."

"Oh no, it's not like that at all," Peter assured him quickly. "I mean, she's a princess, right? And I'm just a normal kid. What would she ever see in me?"

"Are you kidding me? You're Spiderman."

"I mean, yeah, that's cool and all," Peter said with a shrug. "But it's not the same as being the princess of a super-secret, super-advanced country."

"Who cares about that? You like this girl, right? And you're willing to do stupid shit to try and get her to like you?"

Peter bobbed his head eagerly.

Tony sighed. "Don't tell Steve I said this, but there's more to life than money and cool tech. You're a good kid, Peter. All you have to do is be yourself and she's bound to like you."

"Be myself," Peter said with a dramatic sigh. "It's what all the adults say."

"Have I ever steered you wrong, kid?"

"Uh, no, not really." Peter hunched his shoulders. "You usually know your stuff."

"Good. So let's give that a shot and lay off the Loki prank calls."

"I will," Peter said earnestly. "It'll never happen again, Mr. Stark, sir. You have my word."

Tony shook his head as he watched Peter scramble back upstairs. He was the responsible adult these days. What was the world coming to?