May was nervous, and that was an understatement. Around six months ago one of her colleagues had told her that she needed to get back out there, start going out and meeting new people. After thinking it over for a few days she decided to hit one of her favourite bars that she used to go to before Peter came along. That was where she met her new boyfriend. They had been dating since and the man had asked May to be his girlfriend four and a half months ago.
The fact she has a boyfriend isn't what's making her nervous though, no, it's because today is the day she's going to introduce him to her nephew. Peter was due to walk through the front door in the next few minutes and May was pacing the living room trying to calm her racing thoughts whilst her boyfriend watched, deeply amused.
"It's going to be fine May," he laughed, "you told me he said he was okay with you dating again, nothings going to go wrong,"
"I know I know, but he's sensitive, maybe actually seeing that I'm dating again with his own two eyes will set him off," May sighed, sadly, moving to sit back down on the couch.
When May had suggested to idea to Peter about her dating again, Peter had smiled and told her it's a good thing that she's in a place where she feels ready to put herself out there again, but May knew that Peter was thinking about her late husband the rest of the night, the way his eyes lingered on her left ring finger, how he stared at the old pictures of the walls. But Peter had promised he was okay with it, so she went for it.
"How about this, if he looks uncomfortable I can claim I need to head to the store real quick to give you two some time alone," he suggested, he was definitely nervous too but for a completely different reason, he didn't know if the boy would like him or not. He really liked May, maybe even loved her and he so desperately wanted the boy who was like her son to like him. He's never been the type of man to he interested in the domestic life, it just wasn't in the cards for him, but after meeting May everything changed.
"That sounds good, thank you," she placed a quick peck on the man's lips and moved to the kitchen to prepare Peter an afternoon snack, knowing he would be starving when he got home.
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Peter raced home from school, May informed him that morning that her new boyfriend was coming over tonight so they could meet. He didn't know how he felt about May moving on from Ben at first, he was the love of her life, but after seeing how happy this mystery man made the woman who was like his mom, his opinion on the matter did a one eighty. He just really hoped he was nice.
As he got closer to the apartment building, he noticed a black, fancy car outside. That car definitely didn't belong in the neighbourhood and Peter had a feeling that if it stayed here any longer the owner wouldn't be driving back home. Deciding to ignore the car, Peter entered the building and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. When he got to the door he had to take a step to calm the sudden nerves that had attacked him. After a few minutes, Peter loudly opened the door to let them know he was home, just incase he walked in on something he didn't want to see, and rounded the corner into the living room. What he didn't expect to see, was Tony Stark sat on his couch dressed in jeans and an old band t-shirt whilst May stress baked in the kitchen.
Neither adults seemed to have noticed he was home even though he made sure to slam the door, May was too focused on her baking and Mr Stark was staring down at his phone with furrowed eyebrows. Deciding to mess with them a little, Peter didn't announce his arrival and instead leaned against the wall, just to see how long it would take for them to notice he was here. And so he could wrap his head around the fact his aunt was dating his childhood hero and waited until now to tell him.
After five minutes of standing in the same spot, he was still unnoticed and Peter was starting to get bored. May was finishing up the mixture to whatever concoction she was creating and Mr Stark was still looking down at his phone, cursing every now and then.
May put the tin in the oven and quickly washed her hands before turning around to go back to the living room. When she looked up from her hands and saw Peter, she jumped in surprise, screaming as she lifted her hands to cover her mouth.
Tony jumped as he heard his girlfriends screams, "what?! What?! Ahh-" when he did a quick scan of the room, the boy leaning against the wall with an amused smiled on his face came into his view, and as May did, he screamed and jumped off the couch.
"Jeez, you guys are dramatic," Peter smirked.
"Peter, are you trying to give me a heart attack? How long have you been stood there?" May ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm down the thundering heart in her chest.
"Long enough to know that Mr Stark should really work on being more aware of his surroundings, I could have been here to kill you," Peter doesn't understand where this confidence has come from, if he was meeting the man anywhere else he was sure he would be a stuttering mess.
"Well lucky for me, you aren't, it's nice to meet you Peter," Tony got up off the couch and went over to the kid to shake his hand. He was as adorable as he looked in the pictures.
"It's nice to meet you too, May why didn't you tell me you were dating iron man?" Peter whispered to his aunt once the man had sat down, he knew he heard though when a sudden laugh reached his ears.
"Because you'd freak out honey and then you'd run and tell Ned and he'd freak out," may smiled, patting him on the shoulder before guiding him back into the living to sit him down, "I made some cookies this morning, give me a minute,"
Once May was gone, Peter turned to face Mr Stark who was already looking his way, with a nervous look written in his face.
"Have you ever had Mays cookies?" Peter asked once his aunt was out of earshot.
"No, they good?"
"No, don't eat them, just take one and when she's not looking put it in your pocket," Peter rushed out, hearing May come back into the living room.
Tony didn't believe the cookies were as bad as the kid was making them out to be, so when he was offered one he took one off of the plate a took a cautious bite. He wished he had listened to the kids advice. May was good at a lot of things but it was clear baking was not one of them. He looked over at Peter and rolled his eyes at the 'told you so' look and shoved the cookie in his pocket when he girlfriend turned her head.
"What did you do at school today honey?" May asked.
"I had a bunch of tests since it's almost spring break and Ned found out he's going to the Philippines during the break which sucks but at least he gets to see his family," Peter shrugged, other than that nothing really happened today.
May knew that if she sat here and started the conversations every time, then neither of her boys would really get to know each other, "I need to head to the store, you two stay here and get to know each other, I won't be long," Tony turned to face her with a betrayed look on his face, as did Peter. What the heck were they supposed to say to each other? Tony was also mad that May had stollen his plan.
May quickly put on her coat and was out the door before either boys could protest and offer to go for her, she could already see the cogs running in peters head and knew she had to get out of there quickly.
"So..." Tony started, awkwardly, "what's your favourite color?"
Peter couldn't help it, he burst out laughing, he was laughing so hard that tears were running down his face and he had to hold his stomach before he peed himself. Peters giggles were so infectious that Tony couldn't stop himself from joining in, he knew the question was ridiculous but it was all he could think of at the time.
"Red and blue," Peter answered after the two of them had calmed down.
"Nice, I like red too,"
"Wouldn't have guessed that," Peter replied, sarcastically.
"I know, not many people would have thought," Tony said, adding to the joke.
The conversation tapered off, going back to the awkward silence like before. Mr Stark seemed to be trying to look in every direction except for Peter. But who could blame him? He was meeting his girlfriends kid for the first time and he didn't want to mess this up, he was about to ask another cliche question when the boy spoke up.
"Want to build my new Lego set?" Peter asked, he had been trying to come up with something they could do whilst they waited for the traitor to get back and this was all he could come up with.
"Sure," May had told him about the kids lego obsession but he didn't expect to see it so early on. Peter hopped off the couch and ran to his room, taking off his shoes as he did so and a few moments later he was running back into the living room holding a four thousand piece Star Wars set. He was planning on building it with Ned so he would have to apologise to his best friend when he finds out he built it without him.
"We have to sit on the floor," Peter said, pushing the coffee table to one side and clearing the floor.
Tony listened to the kid and sat opposite from him in the floor and waited patiently as he emptied the box. He was about to pick up the instructions to flip through them when Peter took hold of them and threw them across the room.
"Why'd you do that?" Tony laughed, confused.
"We don't need them, it's more fun if we do it ourselves," Peter explained as he separated all of the bricks.
Tony knew Peter was smart, May had told him all about it, how he goes to a private stem school on scholarship and how his school had tried to make him graduate high school at fourteen a few months ago so he doesn't know why he's surprised when he he picks up the bricks and starts clicking them together as if he has the instructions imprinted in his brain. Getting over his surprise, Tony copies peters position on the floor and lies down on his stomach before diving in and helping.
That's how May found them thirty minutes later as she walked through the front door, carrying a bag of random groceries they didn't need. The pair were still lying on the floor, almost finished with the build and were chatting away like there was no tomorrow, she didn't understand a word of what was being said of course, all of it being mumbo jumbo but she was just happy to see that they were getting along, both grinning so hard May was sure their cheeks were hurting.
Neither of the boys had realised May was home, still too concentrated on the legos and the scientific theories they were discussing.
"Hey May, what did you buy?" Peter asked, realising she was back.
"Just some groceries so I can cook dinner," she took the bag into the kitchen and washed her hands so she could prepare the meal.
She smiled as she chopped up the vegetables, she was worried that the two would take a while to warm up to each other but it seems all of that worrying had been for nothing if she noise from the living room was anything to go by.
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"Boys! Dinners ready," May called from the kitchen. When neither of them came running into the kitchen, she peeked her head into the living room and it seemed like they were so focused on the blueprints they were designing that neither of them had heard the call.
"Peter, Tony," she called again, this time both of their heads popped up and she was met with two pairs of wide brown orbs, "dinner,"
Peter rose to his feet in a way that made Tony's bones ache from the sight of it. Much slower and less gracefully, Tony rose and followed Peter and May to the kitchen where the dining table was set with three filled plates.
They took their seats and Peter waited for Tony's reaction to the food before he started eating his own. He loved May, but her cooking isn't always the best. Tony took a bite of the chicken and Peter saw the moment when he realised how dry the chicken was on Tony's face. May looked as if she was enjoying it but that was the case every time she cooked. Peter and Tony locked eyes from across the table and Peter smirked when when Tony rolled his eyes at him. Peter did warn him.
Unaware of the silent conversation between her two boys, May was happily eating her dinner as she told a story about a patient she had at work a couple of days ago as the boys chimed in every now and then with a sarcastic remark. She was happy, she didn't care about his name, she liked him for him, maybe even loved him. She was happy that he got along with her baby too. She doesn't know what she would have done if they didn't. Well she does know, but she's glad it didn't have to come to that. She never thought she would feel like this again after Ben, but Tony had somehow made it possible.
Peter was weary at first. He felt like Ben was being replaced. But after actually meeting the man and getting to know him he's realised Ben can never be replaced. Ben was just Ben, and no one can ever be him. Just like Mr Stark is Mr Stark. They're two different people. It would take some time getting used to having the man around but he's not upset about that at all. Mr Stark is pretty cool.