Work Text:
“Why me?”
Tony had come back to see Peter after the fight in Germany, a bag of “goodies” slung on his arm—namely, various upgrades for Peter’s suit, a new laptop that hadn’t been pulled from a dumpster, and cash.
“What do you mean, kid?” Tony asked, making a home on the younger man’s bed while he perched on his desk chair, crouching like a dancer about to lunge (which he often reminded Tony of, actually—in the battle in Germany, he often moved like a gymnast or a ballerina).
“Why do you give all of this stuff to me? I mean… I’m just some kid from Queens. And you’re… you’re Tony Stark. The Tony Stark,” Peter said, the same note of awe in his voice that always seemed to be present when he was talking to Tony.
Tony smirked and watched as the boy popped a cherry lollipop into his mouth, his big lamb eyes on his mentor. “And I’m just some guy from Manhattan. You’re reading too much this,” Tony countered, raising an eyebrow when Peter emphatically shook his head.
“But… But you’re not. You’re, like… my childhood hero and crush. Wait, I shouldn’t have said that last part…” he muttered, pulling the lollipop out his mouth with a blush, his eyes moving down to the ground.
Tony snorted in amusement and said, “Don’t worry… I hear it more often than you’d think.” He stood up and walked over to Peter, placing an awkward hand on his shoulder, looking down at him with a smile. Peter looked unsure as to whether he wanted to lean into Tony’s touch or pull away. “I see potential in you to be a great hero. Greater than all of us,” he whispered, smirking at Peter’s wide eyed stare.
“I-I don’t…I’m not—”
“You are. You’re incredibly strong and a good person,” Tony whispered, looking down at Peter with a wistful smile. “You’ll be a great man someday. And I want to get you to that point,” he explained, clapping Peter’s back and winking. “Besides, being a sugar daddy sounds fun,” he joked, sauntering out of the room with a proud smirk.
XxX
“Why me?”
Tony had told his friends that he was buying the roses for May Parker, Peter’s “unusually attractive aunt”, as he’d dubbed her, to his friend’s amusement and Peter’s horror.
However, he showed up at a time when he knew May would be at work and had held them out to Peter when he’d opened the door. Peter’s looked equal parts confused and elated, probably due to the fact that Tony wasn’t exactly known for romantic gestures.
“What do you mean, ‘why you?’” Tony asked, smirking at the younger boy and letting himself into the small apartment, setting the roses onto the empty kitchen counter. “Why do you think?” he asked, looking at Peter with amusement.
“I mean… why me? Oh my God, I’m fifteen! You are… not fifteen!” Peter said in horror, as though he’d just remembered that an age difference was present.
“Yes, you are fifteen. And you don’t need to know how old I am,” Tony chuckled, approaching Peter and resting his hands on the younger boy’s hips. “But you are amazing and disturbingly attractive for someone your age—it’s clearly genetic,” he rambled, not meeting Peter’s eyes and biting his lip, his outward confidence seeming to slowly dissipate.
Peter’s eyebrows furrowed, never having seen Tony in this state before. He got the feeling that most people never got to see Tony in this state. Had anyone? He didn’t know. “This isn’t… I don’t want to be just… a toy to you. I’m a kid, but—”
“You’re not. You’re not a kid… you’re not gonna be my sugar baby or my pet I just…” It was unspoken, but Peter understood. I have no one else. I need you.
“Were you and Steve… you know?” Peter muttered, his arms awkwardly coming up to wrap around Tony.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Tony whispered. Yes.
“Are you gonna leave me if he decides to join the Avengers again?” Peter asked, and he felt Tony tense against him.
“No. I won’t.” Tony promised, although he took a little longer to answer the question than Peter would have liked.
But why not ride this as long as he could? Not like most people got to have Tony Stark for even a short amount of time. He might as well take it. “Okay. Just don’t bring me roses anymore. Aunt May is going to get suspicious,” he whispered.
“Fine. But I’m still going to bring you presents. All the time. For superheroic purposes,” Tony argued, causing Peter to roll his eyes.
“Fine. Just for superheroic purposes.”
XxX
Why me?
Peter thought it on a constant basis. Often at the worst times, such as when Tony Stark was balls deep inside of him on his couch.
Peter went to see Tony more often than the other way around (his Aunt May believed it was for an internship). Instead, it was so he could help Tony work on whatever project he’d currently decided he was going to devote his time to, and then he would drag Peter to his room and bend him over his bed for a while.
It was pretty ideal for someone like Peter, dating a rich man who was amazing in bed. But when they were done, and Tony was lying in bed with him, holding him close and whispering into his ear (sweet nothings or absolute filth, depending on how Tony was feeling that day) Peter would often wonder why Tony had chosen him. He still really believed that he wasn’t special. He was a superhero, but so were ninety percent of Tony’s friends. Sure, Tony had apparently had a thing with Captain America, but he wasn’t a replacement for him (or, well, a valid replacement for him, because he was clearly a replacement for the captain).
But his Aunt May was pulling a late shift that day, and so Tony had come to see him, and it confused Peter even more. Because this meant that Tony wanted to be in Peter’s dingy little apartment with him and he didn’t just want Peter on satin covered bedsheets, he was okay with having him on his tiny, cotton couch.
And so the thought of “why me?” had come to Peter when he and Tony were in the middle of fucking on his couch, trying to keep it quick because Aunt May could be coming home at any moment (or in half an hour, more accurately).
Tony brought Peter to orgasm and followed soon after, digging his teeth into Peter’s neck, causing the younger one to cry out. “What the Hell? I’ve told you not to leave marks!” Peter gasped, resting his hand on the dark bite mark on his collarbone.
“Because I want people to know you’re taken,” Tony whispered with a smirk. He pulled back and his eyes met Peter’s.
“Why me?” Peter whispered again, pulling back a bit and shaking his head.
“Because I love you,” Tony whispered, and Peter shook his head, looking down and returning the sentiment. “Get off. We can’t have May catching us like this,” Peter pointed out, standing up and getting dressed.
XxX
“Why him?”
Tony flinched, unable to meet Steve’s eyes. He’d gotten a call on the phone Steve had left him, telling him to meet him at an address in Nigeria. It wasn’t that hard for Tony to connect the dots—Steve had been in Wakanda, and this was the closest he was willing to get to where he was really staying—but Tony had been courteous and not pointed that out to Steve.
Steve had tried to kiss him. Because of course he had. He told him to meet him in a small hotel room, and although he had serious business to discuss with him, he’d apparently assumed that they would start off just as they’d been before. But Tony had tried to keep his promise to Peter.
“He’s just a kid! That’s… that’s sick, Tony!”
“I know! I know… it’s just… he was the only one there for me?”
“So you took advantage of a schoolboy’s crush on you for some company, affection, and dick? Is that it?” Steve hissed, glaring at Tony and shaking his head.
“That’s not—” Tony paused at Steve’s judgmental stare. “That’s sort of what happened,” he acquiesced, looking at Steve with a tear-filled gaze. “But it’s not… I really do care for him.”
“Really?” Steve asked, raising an eyebrow at Tony and shaking his head with a scoff. “If you care for him, stop this. Stop fucking around with a child, Tony.”
“What? And go back to you?” Tony scoffed, looking up at Steve with contempt and… hope. He wanted him to say yes.
“If you wanted that.”
“You want that?” Tony asked, sitting down on the cheap hotel bed and wincing at the feeling of the rusted spring digging into his bottom.
“Yeah. I do,” Steve admitted, taking a seat next to Tony and placing his hand over the brunette’s.
XxX
“Why me?”
“Petey—”
“Don’t you fucking call me that! Why’d you have to drag me into this?” Peter shouted, kicking his rolling chair into his wall, chipping the yellow paint on the wall and creating a dirt brown mark on the wall.
“I didn’t know he would come back—”
“But you knew if he did you wouldn’t stay with me! And I knew and I let you fucking—fuck!” Peter sat down on his bed and curled up into a tight little ball, looking more like a child than Tony had ever seen.
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you. No you’re not.”
XxX
The next time Peter had gone to visit Avengers Tower, he’d been invited as Spider-Man.
“We want you for the New Avengers initiative,” Steve had said, standing next to a Tony who refused to meet his eyes.
“Why?” Peter asked, crawling onto a stool and crouching on it (it used to be his stool, every time he’d come to visit Tony before).
“Because Tony thinks that you’re a good man. If he trusts you, it means a lot. He doesn’t place his trust lightly,” Steve explained, smiling at Peter and holding his hand out.
You and I are going to start over. No hard feelings.
Peter took his hand.