Look, I dont even know, alright? I can't get this story to sit right with me, but we're in quarantine so why not post something
Tony Stark knew his kid. Knew exactly what he was thinking before the kid even knew himself. So when Happy sent him a text saying 'watch out, boss, the kids weird today', followed by the elevator door opening, Tony took one look at the him and knew exactly what to do.
"How's it going, buddy?" Tony said, pulling out his phone.
"Good, Mr Stark," Peter said, almost shyly. Which was also a red flag.
"Good." Tony stated, before taking one more look at the kid and hiding a smirk, deciding on his next move.
"Listen, kid, I have a few phone calls to make, boring business stuff that Pepper's been on my ass about, shouldn't take more than an hour. So why don't you put your stuff in your room and relax down here for a bit? Watch some tv, get a snack, whatever, and I'll call you when I'm done?"
Tony tried not to smile at the poorly concealed look of relief that flooded the kid's face. Tony winked at Happy before ushering Peter towards his room.
Once the kid was out of earshot, Happy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You don't have any business calls to make."
"The kids exhausted, Hap, didn't you see him? He was about to fall asleep standing up. Hopefully he'll take a nap or something and then if he's up to it we can start working."
Happy just stared at him. "He seemed fine to me, just in a weird mood."
"Trust me," Tony said, before patting him on the back and heading towards the elevator to his lab.
—
"Friday, let me know if the kid falls asleep," Tony said, looking at the clock on the wall of the lab.
"The kids out like a light, boss," Friday responded.
"But it's-" he checked again, "it's only been- not even 10 minutes," Tony said in disbelief. "Give me a picture?"
An image was projected onto the lab wall of Peter curled up on the sofa, fingers twitching as an episode of Friends was only getting started on the tv. Tony chuckled at the sight of the kid breathing softly as he slept, opting to leave the livestream playing as he worked.
—
8pm arrived and Tony figured it was time to bring some food into the Tower. Glancing up at the screen that showed Peter curled up facing the back of the sofa, his curls messed up the way the kid secretly liked it but May always chastised him for, Tony placed an order from Peter's favorite pizza place across the street.
Tony wiped his hands on a rag, stepped into the elevator and headed towards the living room. With a ding the doors opened and Peter had yet to move. Tony crossed the room and gently placed a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Pete? Hey buddy, wake up..."
Peter's eyes fluttered before he rolled onto his back, eyes shutting again as he sighed.
"Come on, buddy, pizza's on the way, let's get set up, huh?"
Peter's eyes cracked open at the sound of his mentor's voice. The dazed look on his face was met with a chuckle. "Come on, big guy, food's downstairs."
Peter blinked a couple of times before looking around, Tony just smiled at him before standing up and nodding towards the kitchen, "Pizza?"
Peter just mumbled as he slowly rolled himself off of the sofa and took his time standing up, swaying slightly as the head rush dazed him even more. He slowly padded his way into the kitchen. "Feeling better, buddy?" Tony asked, setting out plates and glasses.
Peter just sat at the countertop and hummed quietly, eyes fluttering closed again. Tony didn't speak again until the pizza was brought up and Peter didn't move until Tony nudged him with a full plate. "Come on, kid, eat up."
Peter picked up one of the slices and took a small bite, eyes never fully opening as he chewed disinterestedly. It was only when Tony had finished his third and final slice, and Peter, who would have usually finished the rest of the pizza by now, was still chewing on his first slice, that Tony decided it wasn't worth keeping the kid up.
"Alright, kiddo, lets get you to bed, we can finish the pizza tomorrow," Tony said fondly.
Peter just swallowed the lump of pizza with a grimace before sighing carefully. "M'fine, we can- we can go... work..." the kid halfheartedly insisted, despite still finding it difficult to open his eyes for more than a few seconds at a time.
"It's late, kid, I'm going to bed too," Tony lied, knowing that if Peter knew what time it actually was there was no way he'd let himself be sent to bed. Tony placed a hand on the kid's forehead before letting it run down the side of his face. "You feeling alright, buddy? You're a little warm," Tony said with a frown.
Peter just hummed quietly, not even having the coherency to listen anymore. Tony knew the kid was just tired, exhaustion causing him to overheat but he still made a mental note to check the kid's temperature when he woke up. "Alright then, lets go, kiddo," Tony said, more for himself as he placed an arm around the kid's shoulders and slowly led him to his bedroom. Tony pulled off the kid's jeans before giving him a light push to lie back and the kid was out like a light, to the point where Tony had to physically drag the kid into a more comfortable position so he wouldn't wake up in pain. "FRIDAY? Temperature read?"
"100.3, boss, perfectly in conjunction with the symptoms of exhaustion."
Tony nodded before switching off the lights and closing the door lightly. He stood in the hallway outside the bedroom. Left would take him back down towards his lab, right would take him towards his own bedroom.
He supposed an early night could do them both some good.
—
"How long has the kid been asleep now?" Rhodey questioned, as he sat at the kitchen counter in the tower, coffee in hand.
Tony looked at the clock. "Going on... 18 hours now? You should have seen him, Rhodey, he was dead to the world, I could hardly get a response out of him."
"Well, what has him so tired?"
"I mean, the kid's just come out of finals week, he finished them yesterday and I think he's just crashed. His suit says he's still been patrolling like normal, but something tells me that he wasn't going to sleep when he came back. We'll just be lucky if he doesn't get sick from it all," Tony said, admiring the kid's determination but still not happy about his similarity to himself at that age.
It was at that point that Peter stumbled into kitchen, not quite awake yet, still in his pajamas. "Oh, hey, Colonel, nice to see you again," he mumbled, before opening the fridge. "Uh, Mr Stark is there anything to eat? I missed dinner..."
Tony chuckled, "I guess you could say that." Tony then crossed the kitchen to put a hand on the kid's forehead, immediately relaxing at the lack of fever. "You feeling better, kid?"
Peter nodded, "Yeah, I was just- just really tired."
"Finals week does that to ya, buddy," Rhodey added. "I don't envy you, that's for sure."
"Well, it's over now," Tony stated, "And you can relax, and we can focus on whatever projects we want for the next couple of weeks."
Peter visibility relaxed at this.
"Now," Tony smiled. "Pizza for breakfast?"