st_arkintern | (no subject)

"He's the philosophical type. Whatever reason he's got, I'm sure it's a good one." Tony swept his tongue along the roof of his teeth, swallowing a small pang of emotion. Vision was a continuation of Jarvis in many regards, and now...

Tony laid his pen down, cupping his mouth as it rose back up.

The sudden rise of emotion doesn't go unnoticed by Peter, who'd been watching Tony carefully for most of the conversation.

"Everything okay, Dad?"

Swallowing the lump and letting it settle in his stomach, Tony opened his mouth through his fingers--

'Whatever you tell him, at least let it be the truth.' Tony closed it, took a breath, and lowered his hand back to the paper. "I miss him, Pete. That's all."

"I miss May and MJ and all my friends from school," he says, hoping it helps Tony to hear this. "I miss Delmar's sandwiches. If Karen weren't here, I'd miss her, too."

It's true. For a long time, Karen was the only person he knew. One of very few reminders of home. And the only one that could talk.

Tony's armor receded, and he pulled Peter into a side hug without much thought, giving him a good squeeze.

Peter's smile is brief, but it's genuine.

"You sure you're okay?"

"It comes and goes." Tony tousled Peter's hair back, a ghost of a smile flitting across his face. "It's a process."

"I'm glad that you're here," Peter says. He'd been here a year before Tony showed up and he had missed him, probably a lot more than he even let on. "And I'm glad that I'm here, too." He's not sure that he and Tony would ever have this much time together if it weren't for this place. Tony always seemed busy back home.

“Ditto.” Tony gave him another squeeze before relinquishing him. “Seeing you grow...does me good.”

Peter glances over at Tony. "Seeing me grow?" he repeats.

"Yeah." Tony plucked his pen back up, rolling it between his fingers. "You haven't noticed?"

"I mean, it's kinda a strange choice of words," Peter says, suddenly embarrassed. He is less surprised by the fact itself as he is the admission. Tony wasn't usually this open about anything.

"Which part?" Tony asked innocently enough, setting his hands back to work on the design.

"The part about me growing," he says, and then Peter finds himself second-guessing himself. "I mean, I dunno. Do you mean you just like spending time with me?"

“Teaching you. Watching you figure things out for yourself. Asking questions. Pushing back. Making mistakes. Carving your own success.” Tony brushed the patch of skin under his nose, sheepish but earnest.

"We're going to keep doing this when we get home, right?" Maybe it wasn't right for him to feel so insecure when Tony has given him no reason to doubt him. "I mean, I know you're very busy there, but here..."

You're not.

Tony lowered his pen once again, turning his head towards Peter. His expression was soft, but it was keenly observant.

Peter dampens his lips and looks down; he wishes that he had been working on something because he could pretend to be so busily working on it that he didn't notice how intensely Tony was looking at him.

"Sorry, it was a stupid thing to ask," he says, avoiding Tony's eyes.

"You say that like What Happens At The Inn, Stays At The Inn." Tony pulled him in for another side hug, holding him there against him.

Peter lets himself be pulled in.

"I mean you got work and Avengers and stuff," he says. "And I have school and Academic Decathlon and being Spider-Man."

“Yeah?” Tony gave his back a firm pat. “You’re worried about our worlds getting siloed off.”

"I mean, we do have a lot of free time here."

“It won’t be day to day like this once we’re home.” Tony brought his hand back to rest on Peter’s shoulder closest to him. “Weekends?”

"Weekends, yeah," Peter says, nodding. "You should come over for dinner sometime, too. May makes a lot of strange food, but most of the time it's pretty good."

Turkey meatloaf notwithstanding.