**This was the second highest voted for idea - I made it fluffy and angsty because we love a hard shell Tony who CRACKS because of how sweet Peter is. I think It's alright, but it is a monster! Over 2k words. Also, a side note, I love collecting Squishables and I pre-ordered this new one in March that I just got today!!! It's a plague doctor and I love him, and I named his Prosper-Poe because Edgar Allan Poe was an amazing writer and Prince Prospero is the character he wrote in Masque of The Red Death, which was about the plague!! Full circle literary puns are my shit, y'all. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about me, then I don't know what to tell you. Anyways, Enjoy!!**

Peter and Tony were... well, they were colleagues. That's how Tony would put it, at least. Ever since the Homecoming incident, Tony had accepted Peter as part of the team. He was a fellow genius, a superhero teammate, and a invaluable lab partner.

Peter wanted more, though. Of course he was thankful for the opportunities Tony had already given him. Of course he was more than happy to just watch Tony work in the labs, let alone help him. Of course he'd starting seeing Tony as a surrogate father and looked up to him and wanted him to say he was proud of the work Peter did.

But all of that would just test Tony's limits, a fact Peter was reminded of several times a week, from the failed attempts at hugs goodbye to the sharp way in which Tony pushed Peter out as soon as feeling came into the picture.

"Hand me a wrench," Tony said, sticking a greasy and calloused hand out from under the bumper of a car. Peter handed it over dutifully.

"What are you doing now?" the teen asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Tony sighed. "Changing the break fluid. Grab another creeper and I'll show you how."

Peter grabbed another one of the creepers in the garage and wiggled his way under the car next to Tony. "Okay, so what's that?"

Peter pointed up at the bottom of the car. "That's the under pan, Pete. It goes under the whole car, I just need to unclip it."

Tony worked with sure and careful hands. Peter watched with rapt attention, asking questions every now and then to better understand what Tony was doing. Tony answered them all with patience and descriptive explanation.

"Thanks," Peter said after one particularly drawn out answer. "I never had someone to show me this kind of stuff, ya know... no dad or whatever. But you're explaining it really well."

Peter's cheeks were red, but Tony's face was stony. He didn't like when Peter stepped over the line of mentor and into family.

Tony grunted. "Yeah. Why don't you head home, Pete? We're almost done here anyways."

"O-oh." Peter rolled himself out from under the car, unsure of how to make the awkward situation better. He scurried from the garage quickly. Tony let out a sigh when he heard the door shut and he let his head fall back on the creeper. Closing his eyes, the man slowly counted down from 50, trying to keep his breathing under control.

Tony's earliest memories were of being afraid of Howard. He knew now, as an adult, that not all fathers, not all mentors, were like that. There was no reason to be afraid of becoming someone's father figure. Tony wasn't like Howard. The story ended there. Unfortunately trauma didn't work that way - just the word 'dad' made Tony tense up.

Tony pushed himself out from under the car and put the heels of his palms over his eyes. Tears squeezed out the sides, rolling down his cheeks in thick drops.

I'm not Howard. Howard isn't here. I'm in the lab. I'm-

"Tony?"

The billionaire's eyes popped open and found a blur of red hair and black pencil skirt above his face. "Hey, Pep."

Pepper knew the look on Tony's face. "It happened again. What did he say this time?"

"That he didn't have anyone to show him cars, like a dad, before."

Pepper smirked a little. She knew that Peter tested Tony's limits, but in a good way. He needed someone to push back on things like staying up late and feeling emotions without any shame or discomfort attached. "Sounds like he wants more out of his mentor."

Tony scoffed, a lob of spit getting stuck in his throat as he sucked in a breath. He choked a little and coughed. "I'm not exactly looking for more myself."

"Tony, I know we've never really talked about it," Pepper started, already steeling herself against the inevitable outburst that would come after this upcoming conversation. "But we need to. I want kids at some point. I want a family, and I'm starting to worry you can't provide that for me. If you can't take in some teen from Queens, how can I expect you to take on a baby?"

Tony opened his mouth to argue, but Pepper held up a well-manicured finger.

"My point is simple. You need to figure out a way to get through this father thing. Howard was a horrible man, there is no denying it. You, however, are a very good man. You are compassionate, thoughtful, and brilliant in a way Howard could only imagine. You're stronger than him, Tony. You can break this. I need you to break this."

Pepper didn't leave room for argument, she just made her way back to the door. Before she left, though, she paused and turned back to Tony.

"Do you remember being a kid and wanting more than anything to have Howard around? Wanting him to be a better father, or any father at all? Don't make Peter feel those same things."

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Tony spent the rest of the day, and night, and week, in the lab. He tossed Pepper's words back and forth around his head, working through what it was that made him so uncomfortable with Peter's signs of affection.

Pepper had made a good point. It was stuck in Tony's head. It made him want to do better.

"May?" Tony had tried this call 7 times before he finally let it ring all the way through.

"Is there a way you called me 7 times in a row and hung up before I could answer?"

"I accidentally - uh - I accidentally hung up."

May hummed.

"So anyways. Uhm. I was calling because I wanted to do something nice for Peter." Tony took a pause and cleared his throat. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. "Something nice. For Peter."

May hummed again, this time a little more amused. "What kind of thing? A very nice pair of headphones, or...?"

"Last time I saw him he said an offhand comment about me being like a dad to him and I'd like to show him that I care about him as much as he cares about me if that would be okay with you because I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to insert myself in your life but-"

May cut the man off, afraid he would ramble the entire hour long lunch she had to herself. "Tony. I'm actually really happy you and Peter are getting closer, he needs someone to look up to, and you're the best candidate in my mind."

Tony nodded, the hard part seemingly over.

"Why don't you just call him and set something up," May suggested. "Peter would love this. He'd love to have some validation."

Tony stopped nodding abruptly, suddenly facing a whole different 'hard part'.

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"Are you sure about this?" Peter asked for the 4th time since he and Tony had gotten into the car.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course. I want to see this thing, okay?"

"I just thought we weren't at that place yet." Peter fiddled with his fingers and wrung his hands. "I just thought you wouldn't care about some stupid kiddie science fair."

Tony had said those exact words before to Jarvis after Howard refused to go. Some stupid kiddie science fair.

"Of course I want to see your project!"

Peter beamed, offering Tony a bright eyed look. It made the discomfort Tony felt sitting there, baring his heart on his sleeve, worth is all. Peter babbled about the science fair and all the rules and requirements.

"-this year was a bio theme for all the sophomores, so like, MJ did something on female muscular mass and Ned did a study of synthetic plant fibers and I did this genetic sequencing system that can run off a cheek swab rather than a blood test."

"That's pretty impressive, Pete! Did you tell Bruce about all of that?"

Peter shook his head. "I didn't want to bother him with it."

Tony scoffed. "It's no bother at all! Peter, this is such a cool thing!"

The two pulled up to the school and parked, heading inside and talking with one another. Tony cracked a few jokes, making Peter practically shake with laughter. It was quite a sight for the other families heading into the cafeteria to see all the experiments.

"This is me!" Peter swept his hand open as he and Tony approached his board. It was all blue and green, tacked up with little paper call-out shapes and stars.

Tony smiled as he looked over the board. "Explain how it works."

Peter picked up his little device and pointed at all the information on his board. He explained his background research and the model he used for his prototype.

"-and over here is the device I made. You take a swab, do a run over the cheek, and insert it here. I put out a bunch of swabs out so people could test it all out while here. Do... do you want to try it?"

Tony was turning the machine over in his hands, inspecting the parts and swabs and coding running through the computer Peter had set up. "Sure! Does it just do a genetic sequence?"

Peter nodded. "You can have it analyze multiple pieces or types of DNA. Like, here, you swab your cheek," Peter gave Tony a swab and let him swab his cheek. "Then stick it in here." Tony put the end of the swab into the little slot. "And now I'll put a piece of hair here." Peter pulled out a single strand and set it in the tray at the opposite end of the device. "And now you just click this button and it'll both sequence and compare the DNA. Give it a second."

Peter let the machine load. He waited. He looked down. He dropped the machine.

Tony gasped and bent down to grab it. "Peter! Are you oh-"

Tony looked up, but Peter was already running out of the cafeteria. The man looked back down at the device and read through the sample report.

Paternity: 100%. Matched DNA via familiar lines.

Tony raced to follow Peter.

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Tony didn't find Peter right away. He checked Delmars and MJ's house and called Ned. He tried all the shops around the school, the subway, and May's apartment. He tried the Tower, he tried the mall.

It wasn't until he was about to give up that he found him. Nestled under Tony's broken down car, curled on a creeper below the bumper. The man tapped Peter's sneakers, which were sticking out.

"Hey."

Peter pulled his feet in, so Tony simply sat down on the floor next to him and started talking.

"One time, when I was probably about your age, I asked my father to go to one of my science fairs. I had made a replica Captain America shield. I don't know if I ever told you this, but my father was the one to make the first shield Steve ever used. Anyways, I asked him to come and he said he didn't have time to go. He said it wasn't very important.

"I never really thought much about the way my dad made me feel. Howard was a cold and mean man, and for a long time, he made me very uncomfortable. Even after he died, I was uncomfortable.

"I wanted to go to your science fair today because I didn't want you to feel the way I did when I was your age," Tony continued, the words finding momentum of their own as he talked. "I wanted to go today because you deserve a better father than I had, Peter, and I... I- I-" Tony sucked in a tight breath. "I love you like my father should have loved me."

Peter rolled out from under the car, his eyes misted over and cheek red with tear tracks. "You mean it?"

Tony nodded and pulled Peter in for a hug. Peter collapsed into Tony's arms, tears staining Tony's dark suit and tie.

"I love you, too, dad."