Tony Stark gets out of his car finding Peter sitting alone on the curb, the house behind him is loud from the party happening inside. “Hey kid. You okay?” Peter called him, sounding out of it, Tony was worried he was hurt.
“M-Mr. Stark, did you just appear out of thin air?”
His words are off, not quite slurred, but different. “Have you been drinking?”
“No! No no no no no,” the more he continued saying the work the more Tony thought he was not sober.
“Really?” He says, crossing his arms.
“Really,” Peter huffed, crossing his arms mirroring Tony. He tried to keep a straight face but started giggling after a moment. “I took an edi-edi-edib-“
“An edible?” Peter shushed him, and stood up, swaying a bit. He tried to cut him off, but Tony finished the word before he could, still, Peter was determined to figure this out on his own.
“I took an edi-edin-“ he wasn’t thinking straight, “edin-ane-anem-anemon” he huffed in frustration, “anemon-nemon-nemom…anemone. I did it!” he said victoriously, but then he looked confused, “Wait, that doesn’t sound right,” He looked over to an amused Tony Stark, “was that the word I was looking for?”
“Afraid not kid, think that edible is messing with your head.”
“Edible!! That’s it, I took an edible!” He exclaimed loudly.
“Yeah, I had deduced that.” He was having a hard time holding it together.
“It’s so weird. I wasn't even going to try any, I didn’t think it would work on me because of my enhanced metabolism. Still I thought I wanted to experience it at least once, so I took some and here we are.” His words were so fast that Tony could barely keep up.
“Yeah, here we are kid. As much as I don’t support you using drugs, is there a reason you’re out here instead of in there?” He said, looking behind Peter, towards the house with lights and music and no doubt high schoolers partying behind its walls.
That seemed to sober Peter up a little more, his face fell, and he looked down, “Flash was being a jerk. I didn’t wanna stay at his house anymore, but I feel weird and I didn’t know if I should swing home.”
“Okay, yeah, number one rule, no swinging while you’re intoxicated. I’m glad you called me, I don’t want you face planning into a wall.”
“Oh come on I would not swing into a wall,” Peter said defensively, just as he stepped towards Tony, but didn’t realize he was still on the curb and thus stumbled and fell into the man.
“Oh yeah, excuse me, I am completely wrong,”
Tony said dramatically as he was still holding the kid up. When the kid didn’t let go he asked, “You okay bud?”
“You’re warm,” he said against the man. Tony knows, if Peter weren’t high out of his mind he would be embarrassed by his behavior. Tony just smiled, “It's also pretty warm in the car.” Peter hummed, “Let’s get you inside, come on,” he helped the boy to his car as he had still not let go, he’s pretty sure the spider kid’s hands are literally stuck to him. “Time to let go, kid.”
Peter grumbled and whined, “I’m hungrrry,” as he got into the car, ditching himself from Tony.
The mechanic chuckled, “I’m sure you are, how much did you take Pete?” He knows it must have been a lot for the boy’s metabolism not to just eat through immediately.
“Don’t know, a package?” He shrugged.
“What do you mean by a package?” Tony asked, his eyebrow raised.
“Um, it said 100.”
“100 what? Mg’s?”
“Guess so,” Peter said as he tried to buckle himself in, his hand’s movements were uncoordinated and he was having trouble clicking the side to the one connected to the seat. Tony helped guide him as he heard the tell tale click.
“Wow kid, that’s a lot, no wonder you're so out of it.”
“Maybe you're the one out of it and I’m the only one making any sense, ever think of that?” The expression on Peter's face was serious and it just made Tony want to laugh more. He closes the passenger door and makes his way to the driver's seat. When he got in, Peter was looking through the window, as if trying to find something. “Kiddo?” He said as he closed the driver-side door. Peter jumped, turning to face him.
“How do you keep teleporting?!”
Tony was doing his best to keep a straight face, but it was really hard. “I just walked around the car.”
“No, you were there,” he points to the window, “And now you're here, that’s teleporting.”
“Whatever you say Bud, let's head to the tower. I’ll call May when we get back and tell her you’re staying over.” There was a pause in the conversation as he started driving. He focused on the road alone until Peter spoke again.
“Will I remember this tomorrow?”
The serious question gave Tony a pause before he answered, “Honestly not sure.”
“If I don’t remember tomorrow you won’t either right?”
“Well, that’s not-”
Peter didn’t let him finish “Since neither of us will remember this I just wanted to say, thank you for coming to get me and ILoveYou,” the last three words rushed out of him, like he was scared to say them.
Tony wished he wasn’t driving, but he had to keep his eyes on the road. The confession took him by surprise, he would have never said that to Howard. He registered in his head that he compared himself to Howard, which he would usually never do, but it made him realize he thought of Peter like a son. Not that his father ever treated him like a son should be treated. He was becoming a father figure, something he never thought he would be. He didn’t think he would ever let himself become something even akin to a father figure. Thought he would just turn out like Howard, but Peter saying those three words proved that he wasn’t like his old man, and he would never let himself be. “I love you too Pete.” He said looking over at the kid for a small second, his head was being held up by the strap of the seatbelt, his mouth slightly open, and his hair falling in front of his closed eyes. He was asleep. Tony smiled at his kid and kept driving.