An American Idol
Peter Parker was sure of three things in his life:
1. He got bitten by a radioactive spider on a field trip
2. He was kidnapped last month due to his ex crush’s evil father (it’s complicated okay)
3. And the universe hated him
That was an understatement of what Peter was feeling as he walked into the lobby of Stark tower. It wasn’t so hard to figure out that Peter was having a bad day. He was late patrolling last night so he couldn’t sleep (crime never sleeps!) and so he only got a few hours of sleep before having to get up to go to school. He slept it, as a result, he forgot to eat breakfast. A hungry spider is a grumpy spider. To make matters worse his phone ran out of batteries at school and since he had a new and improved Stark phone - nobody had a charger. Flash decided it was ‘pick on Peter’ day and Happy forgot to pick him up from school.
To say he was having a bad day was an understatement. None the less, the moment Peter walked into the elevator and heard FRIDAY’s voice it wasn’t hard to smile - lets be real who doesn’t love the ai.
“I am surprised to see you here today mini boss,” FRIDAY’s voice rung out the speakers, leaving Peter confused. Today is Wednesday, right? That meant lab day…..right?
“Oh, isn’t it Wednesday though FRI?” Peter asked, but before the ai could respond the elevator opened to the common room and Peter headed out. Normally he would have chatted with FRI but right now he was HUNGRY.
Peter sped towards the kitchen, registering the yelling in the background. Peter smiled thinking about the most probable cause for it - Mario kart. Ever since the kidnapping, Peter and the rouges have become close, and nothing strengthens a bond more than being kidnapped and playing Mario kart. And to the surprise of no one, the earth’s most mighty heroes can be quite competitive.
Pulling open the freezer Peter grabbed out a tub of Stark Raving Hazelnut ice cream and started eating it ravenously. Upon finding out its existence Peter had been determined to always have the freezer filled with them, noticing the way Tony smiled when he first started eating them. Peter has been pushing for Spidey flavour but couldn’t figure out what the flavour would be? He doesn’t like Cherries, and strawberry is too cliche.
Peter’s thoughts were interrupted by his senses warning him to turn around. Peter spun around, and to his horror, he looked right into the soul of Mr America himself. Now Peter was a very forgiving person, he doesn’t hold a grudge….usuallly. But Steve hurt Tony. Bad. And now he was standing in the Avenger’s kitchen. In Stark Tower. Where Tony was somewhere. Shoot.
“What are you-”
“Listen here son-”
Both spoke at the same time, as a very tired, very angry and very pissed Tony Stark rounded the corner. Peter didn’t have to think twice, he activated his web-shooters and shot them right at Steve, pinning him against the wall. He also secured his feet to make sure he didn’t hurt his mentor/dad as well. Peter quickly picked up his fallen ice cream and ran to Tony who seemed very shocked at the situation.
“Mr Stark are you okay? Mr America came in when I was eating icecream and hejuststoodthereareyouokaydidhehurtyou-”
“Wow Pete slow down there buddy,” Tony gave Peter a hug calming the boy down. “Cap didn’t come to hurt me, he was just here to talk. Though I can’t say seeing you kick Cap’s but wasn’t enjoyable.” He laughed and Peter pulled back to look at the billionaire properly. While he may seem fine, Peter knew his mentor - his heartbeat was instantly fast (even for a coffee addicted genius), his posture is slightly too tense to be natural and he is eyes darkened when he looked at Steve. Peter felt a little bit guilty about attacking CAPTAIN AMERICA without reason but he also hurt Tony so - Peter thought that was fair.
“Oh, oh my goodness I am so sorry Mr Stark.”
“No Pete it’s fine, but I thought I texted you not to come today,” Tony asked with an eyebrow raised and Peter was forced to remember is ever growing bad day.
“Oh, ohhhh. My phone was flat and then when Happy didn’t pick me up I thought he forgot and I would’ve swu-” Peter remembered the man behind him and whipped around, once again aware of the other man in the room. “... I got the subway here instead.” Peter tried to cover his identity but failed - terribly. He also forgot he covered America’s favourite hero in webs.
“Umm yes well as confusing as this has been, could someone let me go?” Steve asked the two with his best PSA voice. Peter couldn’t control a small chuckle escaping him as we quickly rushed to get web dissolvent from his backpack.
“Sorry for the webs Mr America, and sorry for laughing. I wasn’t laughing at you, I just remembered your PSA’s and-”
“NO PLEASE!” Steve yelled desperately which made Peter stumble back a few steps. Somewhere behind them, he could hear Clint yelling what was taking so long - silently Peter gestured Tony to go and he left reluctantly. As soon as he rounded the corner Steve Rogers pleaded with Peter in a low voice. “Please don’t mention the PSA’s. To anyone. I will do anything but please don’t mention them.”
Peter raised his eyebrow with a gleam in his eyes. Now Peter might not be Steve’s biggest fan, but he would be lying to say he didn’t want to befriend CAPTAIN AMERICA. He seemed to be here to talk to Tony but that doesn’t mean Peter has to like him right away. He clearly still made Tony cautious, but just maybe Peter can help them both. And get a little revenge. Peter still holding the web dissolvent stepped back and looked him in the eyes.
“Can I ask you a question, Mr Rogers?” This caught the hero off guard and he nodded. “Are you sorry for what you did to Tony?” This, was clearly not what he had been expecting. He looked away from Peter and started speaking very slowly.
“I am, I regretted leaving Tony in Siberia the moment I flew off. We both made mistakes, but I will never make a bigger mistake than leaving Tony.” His blue eyes showed a rare emotion that matched his perfect PSA voice. It took a moment to realise Captain America was admitting he was wrong, and he was sorry about Tony. Peter nodded and dissolved the webs. Once he was free Peter spoke again.
“I wanted to hate you - I really did. I was so mad about what you did to Mr Stark. You hurt him, sir - he trusted you and you betrayed him!” Peter looked up at Steve’s face and the later did nothing to deny his statements. “I can’t say I forgive you, not yet - but I am going to try. Because you feel sorry for what you did, and I know Mr Stark will too eventually,” Peter let out a big huff and looked at the man in front of him. “But I need you to promise me something.”
“What is it, Queens?” Suddenly remembering he knew about spiderman, Peter adjusted his statement.
“Two things actually. You need to promise me you won’t tell anyone that I am spiderman,” Steve nodded. “And you need to promise me you won’t hurt Mr Stark again.” This time the teen didn’t need interrogation mode to be intimidating - he needed to make sure Steve never hurts Tony again.
“I can’t promise that won’t happen, kid,” Peter tensed but he continued. “But I do promise I will try everything in my power to avoid it from happening.”
“Thank you, Mr Rogers.” Peter started walking down the corridor to check on Tony when he remembered the last part of his plan. “Oh and FRI can you send the Rapping With Cap playlist to the group chat please?” A little cough from behind made Peter smirked at the PSA master himself.
“I’m sorry Mr Rogers but,” he changed into his best Captain America voice, “You know what you did was wrong. The question is, how are you going to make things right? Maybe you were trying to be cool. But take it from the guy who’s been frozen for 65 years-” Peter ended up laughing at a very scared Captain America.
And that’s how Pepper found them an hour later, all the avengers laughing at Steve Rogers who looked very red and very embarrassed. Peter thought maybe today wasn’t so bad.