(NOT EDITED.)

(Recap: Tony had a nightmare about Peter dying again and called Pepper, who suggested he went to see someone, but he hung up when he was told Peter was up at three o'clock. *depressed yeet*)

Peter froze when he heard footsteps from the hallway. The boy internally groaned. Great. Now he was going to get a lecture from Clint about waking him up. How was that even possible? The archer was practically half deaf!

"Kid? You in here?"

Peter almost fell off the ceiling and dropped his Cheerios. That was even worse! Tony rarely left his lab at night, and one of the times he did, Peter woke him up. Typical.

Peter sat cross legged on the ceiling just above the billionaire as he walked in. The teen held his breath and slowly brought a cheerio to his mouth.

Tony must have heard him crunching because he narrowed his eyes and asked, "What was that, FRIDAY?"

"Uh," Peter stuttered before the AI could call him out.

Tony jumped back a foot and whipped his head up. "What the hell, kid?"

Peter slowly grinned as he heard Steve say language in his sleep down the hall. It was like his super power or something. Language Man to the rescue, protecting young and old ears from harsh potty mouths.

Wow, my mind goes to weird places at weird times.

"Sorry, for waking you up, Mr. Stark," Peter lowered himself to the ground guiltily. "I was trying to be quiet."

Tony opened the fridge and poured himself and his intern a cup of milk before sitting at the bar and motioning for the kid to join him.

"Why are you awake, kid? You don't get enough sleep as it is," Tony sipped from the glass cup. "You should at least use your days off to get some rest in."

"I just couldn't sleep," Peter sighed. "Days off are my problem. I finally got my body used to only a few hours a night, so if I go to sleep before, like, three, I'll wake up four hours later, in the middle of the night." (True story)

"Well...just train your body to not do that," Tony suggested, not knowing the answer to his unasked question. The only way he could really fix that problem was quitting Spiderman, which they both knew was never happening.

Peter subtly rolled his eyes. "It's not something I can turn on and off."

"Sorry, kid," Tony studied his glass. "Hey, since we're both up and probably not going back to sleep, did you want to go down to the lab?"

Tony really needed to get his mind off that dream.

"Sure," Peter's mood brightened instantly and he downed the rest of his glass hurriedly, spilling a few unnoticed drops on his grey T-shirt.

Tony chuckled. "Okay, I'll be down in a sec, alright?"

The teen nodded and nearly skipped down the stairs. Tony wondered if he even noticed the box of Cheerios still in his hand. He somehow doubted it.

———————————

Tony typed in a few more equations on the holoscreen in front of him, realizing it had been silent for a full three minutes.

"How's it going over there, kid?" He asked and turned around. "You've been a bit quiet...

"Kid?" He was slumped against the work table, hands next to his head as if he had still been writing when he had fallen asleep. A light snort made Tony grin good naturedly and glanced at the time.

It was nearly five in the morning. Even he was tired at this time, disputed what Peter claimed.

"I guess we went a little bit past curfew," Tony mumbled. He poked the boy in the shoulder. "Hey! Wake up Spider-Man!"

Peter shot up suddenly, a paper sticking to his pink cheeks and a bit of drool visible on the table. "Whatisit? I'm awake! Is it a mission?"

"Relax kid." Tony put a calming hand on his shoulder, smiling humorously. "It's bed time."

He yawned groggily and rubbed his eye. "Right. Well I finished this anyways."

The kid sluggishly pushed a stack of papers filled with equations and calculations.

"All of it?" Tony blinked in surprise. There had been a lot of papers with a lot of complex things.

"Yep." Peter stood tiredly, obviously wishing he wouldn't have to walk upstairs in his half awake state.

The billionaire flipped through a few pages quickly, noticing he hadn't gotten a single problem wrong. "Good job."

"And no more Cheerio stops kid." He set the papers aside and looked back as Peter opened the door.

The kid yawned and stretched. "Okay. Thanks dad."

Peter walked out and Tony felt heat rush to his cheeks. Did he just say what I think he just said, Tony stood frozen.

Meanwhile on the other side of the door Peter stopped mid-step as he realized the full weight of what he had just said. He covered his red face with a hand and groaned, leaning his forehead against the wall.

"Um, FRIDAY?"

"Yes Peter?"

"Please tell me I did not just call Mr. Stark 'Dad' just now."

"I can confirm that you did."

Peter hit his head against the wall lightly as if he could get rid of the memory that way. He closed his eyes and whined. "FRIDAY, please delete that footage."

"You do not have the authority to do that Peter."

Why not? He though bitterly. "Nooooo."

He turned and rubbed his eyes while using the wall for support. This was great. Just great. What was he going to say to Mr. Stark if he brought it up.

"Besides," FRIDAY continued, causing Peter to look up disdainfully. "Boss has already saved the footage to his personal files."

"He–What?" Peter dropped his hands in disbelief. "Really?"

He leaned back through the doorway quietly. Tony had his back turned and was going through the papers Peter had been doing earlier, nodding in approval after each one.

"Of course. He keeps a record of all your greatest moments. It's part of the 'Put it on the Fridge' protocol."

"Huh," Peter's face was tinged pink as he watched Tony chuckle at something on his paper. Hopefully not his doodles - that would be embarrassing.

"He seems to be quite fond of your work."

Peter secretly smiled to himself and turned to go back upstairs. He was wide awake now, but Mr. Stark didn't know that. He was astonished the billionaire thought of his slip up to be one of their best moments.

The grin stayed on his face all the way up the stairs, and would have stayed for longer if not for the unfamiliar figure sitting on the couch in their living room. A mysterious voice called out to him, a blanket floating beside him.

"Hello Peter Parker. Is this where you find Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"

Peter's mouth fell open and he dropped into a defensive stance instinctively. Who–What–How–Peter was so confused. Where were the alarms? FRIDAY? Locked doors?

The man paid his threatening poise no mind and continued.

"Because the Earth needs some protecting right about now."

———————————

Yeet. I love killing readers with cliff hangers.

Sorry for the wait, trying to keep up with four books, trying to post one, school, no WiFi, no phone...I have a whole list of excuses. (*cough cough* I actually just found this amazing writer and must read everything they have *cough cough*)

(BTW this chap was based off a Pinterest short story thing so if you know who did it, tell meh.)

- Wanda