Peter had a shirt. Of course he did, but this one was special. Aunt May gave it to him as a joke, cackling as she teased him to wear it in front of Tony since he idolised the man so much.

Obviously, Peter swore to never wear it in front of his mentor, ever. Then his mentor had to ruin all of his plans and found out about it after he accidentally left it lying around. Tony teased him about it for weeks. Weeks!

After that though, Peter hid that stupid shirt like his life depended on it. Until...

The rogue Avengers were being pardoned. Mr. Stark, being the good man he is, agreed to let them live in the tower again. They were going to have a meeting sometime this week to discuss the living arrangements, which were entirely up to the billionaire.

Peter idolised the Avengers, but after hearing what the captain did to his mentor, he decided that his loyal allegiance was with Mr. Stark.

—

"What time is it, F.R.I.D.A.Y?" Peter asked groggily, sitting up on his soft mattress, rubbing his eyes.

"It is currently 7:34 in the morning."

"Yeah? Where's Mr. Stark?" The teenager shuffled out of bed, slipping his feet into fluffy slippers Ms. Potts got for him and trudged to his bathroom to freshen up.

"Boss is in the meeting room on level 86," the Irish voice answered.

Peter sighed, making quick work of brushing his teeth. A quick glance in the mirror made him realise he was wearing his Iron Man shirt. The same one Aunt May got him.

Then, he decided against changing and picked up the glasses meant for his sensory overload and took the lift down to the meeting room.

He didn't even have to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y for entrance, the door was unlocked and he easily slipped inside. Looking through the tinted glasses, he saw all the Avengers— both rogue and not, staring blankly at him.

The spider-ling smoothed his left hand over the print on his shirt, deliberately shifting their attention to that instead. He shuffled to Mr. Stark, clambering onto his lap after the older man reached out to him.

And what a sight the duo were.

The genius looked well-groomed, goatee trimmed properly, suit and tie fitted snugly around his body. He finished his look with his iconic tinted glasses, colour matching his tie.

Then, there was little ol' Peter, curled up on the man's lap, in sweats and an Iron Man shirt proudly on display, looking unkept and tired. The glasses he had on was also tinted, although nobody could see Peter's eyes, unlike the billionaire's.

"Tony, this is a private meeting, not for random children to listen in on," Steve said. He sounded curious, and a little fond, even though both mentee and mentor had no idea why.

The engineer didn't reply, instead, he watched as the kid drifted off to sleep in his lap, clutching part of his expensive suit jacket in a fist. It was no doubt going to wrinkle, but Tony couldn't find it in him to care.

"Did you somehow acquire a child while we were gone?" Clint asked, genuinely curious. "Did his mother out of the blue dump him to you? Because that kid couldn't have come from the time we were gone."

Tony flared at the archer through his glasses, eyes somehow piercing and sharp. "Don't talk about his parents."

Natasha glanced at the child in his lap. "So it is your kid then? Same hair, probably same eyes."

"Can we quickly wrap this meeting up?" The engineer snapped, voice not too loud, though. He didn't want to risk waking the kid up.

The meeting went on as requested, although most of the pardoned Avengers kept glancing at Peter.

—

Tony burst into Peter's room, no knocking or whatever. The teen jumped up to the ceiling from the unintentional scare, papers flying around from the movement.

"Suit up, Pete, Capsicle wants to have a group training session," Tony announced, bending over to pick up the papers on the ground. "Meet you out in five."

Before Peter had a chance to say anything, his mentor placed the papers back on the desk, closing the door on the way out.

Five minutes later, Peter felt ridiculous in his spidey suit, because he was wearing the Iron Man shirt over it. He knew he looked ridiculous, he saw himself in the mirror, but he didn't really care. All he wanted to do was to prove a point. To himself, or to the Avengers, it didn't really matter.

Once he entered the training room, Uncle Rhodey burst out laughing, along with Mr. Stark. The rest of the Avengers were quiet, unsure of what to feel or think.

"Let's get this party started," Peter cheered, as if he didn't feel as ridiculous as he looked.

—

All the Avengers were gathered in the common area, watching a movie. It was Steve's idea to bring the squad closer, to mend the broken bonds between them.

Peter had gone as Peter, not Spider-Man, because the suit was a little tiring to wear, and he wanted to feel his shirt against his skin.

Yes. The shirt. At the rate he was wearing it, Peter was going to have to invest in new ones. The print of Iron Man on the shirt was getting washed off, as it wasn't stitched on and the quality wasn't fantastic.

Peter didn't seem to mind it, but Tony really wanted to get him a newer, better shirt. The kid wore that shirt around the Avengers religiously, as if he suddenly didn't have any others when they were involved.

Tony also couldn't help but feel happy whenever Peter wore that shirt with pride and joy. He knew what his kid was doing, parading in his Iron Man shirt.

The genius had been afraid, when the Avengers were pardoned and was supposed to move in. With how the boy acted around Steve, Tony thought he would lose him just because the kid liked the good and righteous cap better.

Then his adorable, innocent and pure kid walked in on the meeting, wearing that shirt and those sweats and the tinted glasses. And when he brought everyone's attention to the shirt by running his hand over the image, Tony nearly cried because that was basically a declaration of his loyalty.

He didn't have to worry that Peter was going to leave him, because his kid would always be there for him.