STARK INDUSTRIES

It wasn’t even really an important thing at all, the thing he wanted to know. He was just curious... and he felt that if him and Steve’s relationship should develop somehow, this question had to be answered. Tony looked down, fighting a small, internal battle. He knew this question was also a confession, somehow, and that it would change a lot between them.

“Mh. I like you.” Tony says honestly, looking at the other’s face intently. “Surprising, though. Didn’t really expect you to be here... for sweets.” His hand still resting against the other’s jaw he gently pushed his chin up, leaning in catch Zasz’s lower lip with his teeth, pulling and letting go, just testing the other’s reaction.

The closer they got to Peter’s room, the more nervous he became. He wished he’d be calm, he wished he wouldn’t care, but when it came to Peter he just tended to overthink. He never wanted the other to feel uncomfortable in his presence... on the contrary. He wanted to be a safe haven for Peter, someone to vent to, someone he could trust. Pure and young as he were, Tony knew that he could still shape Peter’s spirit. Sharpen it, make it glisten like turning a rock into diamond. He wasn’t so full of negative opinions towards Tony, he only knew the great inventor, the philanthropist and not... the producer of mass-murder weaponry. And Tony treasured that.

They hold hands - loosely, but they do, as they are on their journey to Peter’s room and then they reach and enter it. It was small but cozy, Tony knew, but the mechanic had never had a chance to look at all the details. Being here now, so much more aware of the moment than he had been in the past, he noticed how similar the room looked to his own when he was Peter’s age. Wires and tools everywhere, things he started to craft and then neglected, a video camera to document the progress of it all. Tony smiled and then turned towards the other after he had just closed the door behind them.

Yeah, the Tesseract was still on... Terra. Or earth, as earthlings called it. The scepter... Tony had to dig through his memories. He frowned, staring a hole in the air before him. “I... I don’t know...” he uttered, honestly. He thought he had seen S.H.I.E.L.D also taking this thing but his memory was blurry. There was a lot happening around those strange devices that held so much energy. He remembered there was some incident with Loki but he didn’t want to lie to the other... or give too much away. He knew it could only fire back at him. “It... it might be in Asgard, I-”

I don’t want to be protected from you. That makes Tony smile, lifts his faith a little... to not say it makes him a little more brave or hopeful. His smile melts as he feels and watches how Peter kisses his hand, turning into a warm expression. There was nothing there to fear or hate. If someone would get to know about this, they’d also get to know that nothing happened between them without consent and trust. Was it really such a wrong thing to do when they both wanted it?

“Okay, sure...” he says, not much more than a whisper, and follows the other inside. Inside is good. Away from public, away from anyone who could see them and read too much into what they might or might not be doing. The door opens and they more or less walk inside, with Peter shutting the door behind them again. When the other tries to walk past him and into the kitchen, Tony stretches his arm out to stop him. “Waitwaitwait. I don’t need coffee. S’fine.”

“Oh, I’ve got it all.” Tony said, walking to one of the wall cabinets and opening it to take out a cookie jar. “Everything you need.” He placed onto the counter and turned around to look at the other. “Oh? Not the thing you want? Is cookie the modern codeword for cooperation?”

He made another step into Zsasz’s direction, invading his personal space. He loved how unimpressed the other was, even though he stood in the kitchen of the worlds most feared man. “You have managed to trick... or to convince the AI that protects this house into believing you are welcome here, so I assume you are. But I don’t believe you are looking...”

The worst thing about it all was that Tony loved it. The thought of them being alone, the thought of them dropping into Peter’s bed. Which smelled like him. Like the rest of his room. No, no, stop, that’s so not going to work. He’d get into trouble for it, oh lord, if anyone would know...

But there was Peter melting into his touch, inviting him to not hold back. Dangerous. “Because... you’re under my wing, alright? I’ve got to protect you, Pete, you mean... you mean the world to me.” There had been times he had been dying to kiss him. Just little moments like the two of them working in his basement together - on Peter’s new suit. He undressed and dressed up a lot before Tony’s eyes and Tony had caught himself looking. Always thinking that yeah, Peter was lovely, but too young. Always pushing his thoughts aside. May would kill him if she knew.

Even though his ridiculously luxurious house near San Francisco was one of the safest places on earth and nearly impossible to break into, Zsasz had somehow made it inside. Tony didn’t notice any earlier than when he walked downstairs, insanely thristy because he had been drinking all day an night before then and getting drunk always made him thirsty. He didn’t get to the fridge, though. In fact he didn’t even have to turn the light on to know that someone was in the kitchen.

As soon as he noticed the silhouette of the other, he aimed his hand at him, the symbiote that he had united with wrapping around his arm and palm like quicksilver, forming into a repulsor in the fragment of a second. He knew this man. Bald, pale... he had heard of him a while ago, when he had freed the inmates of Alcatraz. His guest didn’t seem to have come here with bad intentions. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, relaxed, grinning. Tony lowered his arm, the symbiote disappearing as fast as it had appeared again.

He still wasn’t sure whether it had been a good idea to go out and drink with the other. It all had started as a joke - one time Peter had said that he was sure he could deal with a lot more drinks that Tony and Tony believed the spider-bite had no effect on that. In the end it got them both drunk. And, of course, Peter a little more than him.

They left the cab and the car drove off immediately, they had been laughing and talking for the entire ride. Tony looked past Peter and saw his home... so much smaller than his own but oddly charming. They climbed up the few steps, still laughing about some nonsense and then they stopped by the front door. Tony reached out, intending to ring the bell so aunt May could open it for them. He didn’t get to ring the bell, though, Peter grabbing his wrist in mid-air to stop him. The mechanic was surprised at how quick and precise that motion was. Frowning, processing his thoughts, he looked at the other.

“What’s wrong?”, he mumbled. It was more of... a rhetorical question, really. He saw Peter’s eyes flicking up and down, switching between looking at his eyes and his lips and Tony felt hot and cold all of a sudden. He had always had this feeling that Peter had a crush on him but until now he had never believed this to be true.