IronDad/SpiderSon One-shots

Like Father Like Son

Trigger Warning: Kidnapping/Alcohol/Addiction/Mentions of drugs 
Word Count: 15,402
A/n: Thank you for this wonderful request. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it <3
Third Person POV:

Tony wasn't very good at taking care of himself. Sometimes he actually tried to take care of himself, but that wasn't how it was most of the time. Most of the time, it was Pepper dragging him out of his lab after being in there for two days with no food or sleep. Most of the time, it was Rhodey sending him texts trying to remind him to get up and get some fresh air. Most of the time, it was Happy having to drag Tony away from the compound just to get out. Most of the time, it was everyone else taking care of Tony.

It wasn't that Tony wanted to be like this. He wanted to be able to take care of himself on his own. He wanted to do things for himself, but it had been so hard, especially after his parents death and Afghanistan. He'd remind himself to step out of the lab and get himself something to eat, but he'd tell himself that he could do that as soon as he finished what he was working on. He hated to stop mid project. It was almost that he couldn't force himself to stop. So, he'd work until the work was done. Well, that's what he told himself. Once that work was done, he'd start on another project without a thought in mind. He typically didn't realize it until Pepper was strolling into the lab with a sad look on her face.

He had been trying to get better, he really had. After Pepper sat him down and discussed it with him, he was trying to make more effort into taking care of himself. He would set alarms through F.R.I.D.A.Y. to remind him to stop working so he could eat or sleep. And when he actually put a lot more effort into it, things started to change. He had started sleeping more, eating more, and spending more time out of the lab. It wasn't easy at first, nor was it what he wanted to do, but he did it anyway. He did it because he wanted to be better. He wanted to be better for Pepper. He wanted to be better for Rhodey. He wanted to be better for Happy. Now, he still had a hard couple of days every now and then, but that was expected. Change doesn't just happen overnight. It takes time. Sometimes that frustrated Tony, but he eventually realized that was how it was and had to move on.

After a few months of really hard work, he had managed to become a lot better at taking care of himself. Pepper was so proud of him. Rhodey sent him less texts to make sure that he was taking care of himself. (Later, he would learn that this was because Pepper and Rhodey would text about him on occasion to talk about how he was doing). He was also out of the compound a lot more, which was better for him. Sometimes it was just him and Happy going on a drive to get some burgers, other times it was for meetings and just public appearances. He had also stopped drinking, which he did a lot while he was in the lab. That was the hardest of all the things he did. The withdrawal was horrible. Not only that, but the constant craving was enough for him to throw out all the alcohol in his lab. There was still some upstairs, but he didn't touch it. He stayed away from it as much as he could. He didn't want to give into any sort of temptation. He didn't want to put himself in a place where he'd be vulnerable for it.

It wasn't too long after all this happened that Peter came into his life. A scrawny fourteen year old kid that just wanted to make the world a better place. He didn't think anything of it when he made him the suit and brought him along to Germany to fight on his team. He sent him back in one piece (with a slight concussion) and thought he would never have to deal with him again. Easy peasy. He was wrong. Turns out, the kid was keen on getting into trouble. It started with one of the worst, that being the Vulture. He thought maybe taking the suit away from the kid was the right thing to do. He was wrong again. Turned out to only push the kid to take down the Vulture further. Well, maybe it was a good learning experience? Tony tries not to dwell on that part.

When Peter turned down being an Avenger, that shocked Tony. He knew that, ultimately, that was probably the way to keep Peter the safest. He knew that he could keep an eye on him more that way, but Peter just wanted to be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Tony could deal with that, right? Also wrong. There was a lot more to that. There were tons of injuries that Tony would have to help Peter with. There would be late night phone calls with Peter crying because he wasn't able to save someone. There would be a lot of lab time too (but in a healthier way). At first, Tony was overwhelmed with it. This kid had made some sort of attachment to Tony and that scared him. Tony didn't know how to mentor someone, especially a teenager with mutant powers. But, pushing him away didn't work the last time he tried it, so he tried a different tactic. He pulled Peter closer. In the end, he was happy to be there for Peter. If he wasn't there, who would have been? Not only that, but he knew he could protect Peter with what he was doing.