Work Text:
Tony walked into his living room, tossed a few pillows aside and peeked under the edge of the couch before moving back towards his bedroom to, once again, go through his drawers and laundry basket. He'd been nearly positive that the last place he'd seen his favorite MIT sweat-shirt was on the back of the couch. Though Pepper had a tendency to pick it up and 'put it away for him.'
"Pepper? Have you seen my MIT shirt?" he asked once he'd pulled himself up off the floor from where he'd just checked under the bed.
Pepper looked up from the book she was reading and hummed in the positive. "It's on the back of the couch," she said without much thought.
With a huff of annoyance, because typically, Pepper knew where everything was, he sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. "Nope. I've already looked there. Three times."
"Huh. I could have sworn I saw it there just last night," Pepper mused, looking up at her husband for the first time since he'd reentered the room. "Did you take down to the lab?" she asked, knowing that the man often wore long sleeves into the shop, only to shed them a short time later.
"I don't think so," Tony said with a sigh even though he'd looked everywhere else and knew that she was right. That was the last logical place for it to be. "-I guess I'll go take look. I'm supposed to be meeting the kid down there anyway. I told him that since he likes to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, he could get started without me. Though, I suppose I should go ahead and get down there before he does anything stupid."
"Well, Good luck, I guess," Pepper replied with a smile.
"With the kid or finding my sweatshirt?" Tony replied with a quirk of his brow.
Pepper giggled and leaned over to kiss Tony on the cheek. "Both."
After giving the living room one more look, Tony begrudgingly grabbed a plain black hoodie from the hall closet and wandered towards the elevator. He couldn't remember one time where he'd ever truly misplaced that sweatshirt. Even though the color was faded from years of wear and there was a small hole developing near the collar, that was the one piece of clothing he never planned to part with. It held entirely too many memories. "It'll turn up eventually," he assured himself as he stepped into his lab, smiling when he spotted a mop of uncombed curls just peeking over the top of the equipment.
"Hey, Kid! What are you up to?" he asked, hoping to take his mind off of the illusive sweatshirt.
Peter looked up over the monitors he'd been studying and smiled. "I just finished going over the variables we talked about last night and I think I have an idea," he said with enthusiasm as he practically springing out of his chair. "Come here and look!"
Tony shook his head. He would never understand how the kid had that much energy that early in the morning. Then as he watched the boy round the corner towards him he realized something. Rather than wearing his typical blue hoodie, Peter was in his sweatshirt. The one he's spent the better part of the last forty-five minutes searching for. "Kid," he shouted with mirth. "Isn't that my shirt?"
Freezing in his tracks, Peter paused and looked at his mentor with a sheepish grin. "Um, yes?"
"Okay, so why are you wearing it?" Tony further inquired.
"Um- I was cold?" Peter replied.
"-and What's wrong with your hoodie? I've been looking all over the place for that this morning." Tony said with a smile and roll of his eyes.
"Oh, I uh, I spilled some syrup on it this morning and saw this on the back of the couch so I borrowed it," Peter returned, pulling his hands into the overly long sleeves as a nervous gesture. "Is, is that okay?"
"It's fine. I'm just glad I found it," Tony said in relief but when the kid still looked a little baffled and nervous by his reaction he decided to elaborate. "I got that sweatshirt during my first year at MIT. It's pretty special."
With that information, Peter hastily began to pull the hem of the shirt up in an attempt to remove it. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was so important," he said, pausing in his actions with a strong hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey, it's fine. You can wear it. I don't mind," Tony siad with a soft smile. Then a sense of pride washed over him as he pictured himself buying the kid his own MIT shirt in just a few short years. He had no doubt that Peter would be going to school there. With or without his pull. "It looks good on you."
Peter leaned into the man's side and sighed contentedly. "Thanks, Mr. Stark."
With a happy sigh of his own, Tony pulled the boy into a hug and casually placed a kiss right onto the very top of his head. "Your welcome, Kiddo."