“Hey Mr Stark” Peter called into the silence of the common room kitchen, quietly thanking Friday for the lift as he padded over to the settee. Dumping his backpack on the floor beside him with a mighty thump, thanks English Lit for that one, he glanced about for any signs of life.
Nat's favourite red cable knit blanket was thrown over the arm nearest the window, Steve’s battered copy of 1984 resting on top. Sam’s favourite mug still had the dregs of a cappuccino staining the bottom, so he was pretty sure the gang had been around pretty recently. Fishing his phone from his hoodie pocket he double checked to see if he’d had any messages from Tony to reschedule lab day or let him know their usual movie night had been cancelled. Absolutely nothing. With an exaggerated huff he flung his phone aside, slumping back into the cushions of the settee with tightly crossed arms.
“Friday?” Peter asked the room at large, “where is everybody?”
For someone who was on the honour roll at school, and you know, was considered genius enough to work with the great Tony Stark, it sure did take him a long time to remember that he could ask the actual AI who ran the house and kept track of the residents.
“Mr Stark and the many drains on his wallet are currently in lab number 4 Peter, would you like me to let boss know that you have arrived?” Friday reported in her comforting Irish lilt.
Feeling a little less ill at ease, Peter shook his head, grabbing his chemistry notebook from his bag he got back into the lift. “That’s alright Fri, I’ll just go down and tell him myself. Thanks for checking for me.”
“My pleasure Peter, enjoy your lab time with boss.”
As expected of a Stark-industries’ lift, and one that was frequented by Tony Stark himself no less, there was no corny elevator music to pester any passengers, instead instrumental versions of AC/DC classics filtered in the background. One very smooth ride later and Peter was stepping out onto the topmost of the R&D floors of the tower, where he and Mr Stark had their own private space to work on Spidey and Iron Man projects without fear of revealing Peter’s super-secret identity, or suit blueprints being leaked onto the black market. That had happened once before and it was most definitely a 0 out of 10, do not repeat experience, Mr Stark had been very stressed and suey that weekend, multiple businesses lost their licences, not fun.
That’s why when Peter’s sensitive hearing picked up the sound of voices in the lab he was shocked and more than a little surprised, although recognising one as Mr Stark’s went some way to reassuring him that they hadn’t been broken into. He was way too relaxed and jokey for the other person to be a hostile invader, he would be much more snarky jokey if that were the case, he never did know when to stop talking.
Hearing the familiar Russian murmurings of private asides from Nat and Bucky, Peter was tempted to sock himself one in the forehead, Friday had said the “many drains on his wallet,” air quotes intended, which meant that the whole team who Tony liked to accuse of freeloading on his charity and his millions were in there too. No wonder he heard voices.
Still a little confused as to why no one had been around to welcome him when it had become almost a kind of tradition to be waiting in the common room to rib him on his science pun t-shirt of the day and decide on who was on snack duty, Peter slowly pulled open the sliding door to the lab and called a timid greeting.
Which was promptly ignored, or more likely missed entirely under the roar of laughter erupting from most of the adults around the table.
“And then, I said what’s he gonna do, stutter his way to an A?”
The group all joined in the hearty laughter this time and Peter thought he might be sick. Standing in his spot next to Mr Stark there was a lanky boy who could have been anywhere between 16 and 21, replete with grungy Metallica graphic tee, ripped skinny jeans and a baggy hoodie, he was like Tony Stark had a mini me, he was everything Peter would never be. He hated him.
Now Peter was a good kid, Mr Stark often said he was too good for his own good, ha, he simply couldn’t stay mad at anyone even if they were awful to him and even muggers who had stabbed him with actual knives were forgiven. Somewhere deep down Peter knew that his reaction to this new boy was out of proportion and character, but all he could feel in that moment was the stabbing pain in his heart at his team, his little family having easily replaced him, and laughed at jokes which struck way too close to home for him.
God Peter of course they traded up, you’re a dorky little nerd who asks way too many questions, and gets overexcited about the littlest of things, you’re not even that smart, why wouldn’t they prefer this really cool older boy who was entertaining them and making them laugh. Maybe they’d still let him stay for movie night though, or even just to fix his suit in the lab? The heater in his suit really got fried on that electric cabling the other night and it was set to be a cold one.
“H,h,h,hey Mr Stark” Peter managed to stammer out again as he took a hesitant step further into the lab, all heads turned towards him at the lull in the conversation and he couldn’t help it as he shrank slightly, shoulders up to his ears. “What’s going on?”
“Hey kiddo” Tony called with a bright grin, beckoning him to come further into the room. “I didn’t hear you get in, come and meet Harley, he’s just been telling us all about his day. He’s just started in your school actually bud, you should help each other out from now on.”
“Uh hi H,h,h,Harley.” He gave an awkward wave to the other boy when his face remained mostly impassive and potentially slightly hostile. “Umm Mr Stark are we still doing movie night tonight?”
“Sure thing Pete, Harles you can pick the film this time since it’s your first movie night in the tower! Pete will you head up first and sort out the snacks, we’ll follow you in a few minutes.”
“Okay Mr Stark, I’ll meet you up there. Everyone okay for the usual?” He chirped much more cheerfully, obviously it had all just been a misunderstanding and he had overreacted completely as usual. A chorus of yes followed him back out the door and he hummed happily as he puttered about the kitchen, pouring packets of crispy M&M’s and salted popcorn into bowls, sticking chicken nuggets, pizza and cocktail sausages into the oven and pulling ice cream and sorbet from the freezer to soften.
Once the table was groaning under the weight of the snacks which still probably wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the super soldiers and spies which ridiculous appetites, he wrapped himself in his favourite blanket, a special red fluffy one with embroidered spiderwebs that Mr Stark bought for him, and cuddled up into his corner of the settee to wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Two hours later and the ice cream was a puddle in the bottom of their bowls, dribbling slowly down the spoon, the M&Ms had begun to bleed their colours into each other and the popcorn was soft and spongy last time he tried it. Not even to mention the food that was in the oven, stone cold and probably rock hard by now. Peter had given up asking Friday if the rest were on their way up yet, instead he was lying sideways on the settee, eyes glossy and unfocused, simply staring at the blank tv screen and not acknowledging the tears sliding down his cheeks.
It was pitch black in the sitting room by the time there was any change, a soft ding as the lift arrived on the communal floor bathing the area in a warm glow and releasing the sounds of sleepy chatter. The team poured out, bidding each other a cheerful goodnight as they headed to grab glasses of water and cups of coffee before turning in for the night.
“Come on Harles, lets get you something healthy to snack on and some H20 because I will not have you growing up to be just like me” Tony joked, pulling his young charge along with an arm slung around his shoulders.
Not a single member of the team even glanced over to the seats and tv screen, too preoccupied with sorting themselves out, and Peter went completely unnoticed in his spot. Soon they had all shuffled back into the lift and it was all quiet on the floor once more, leaving Peter all alone in the dark to cry until he fell into a restless sleep.