Chapter Four
Peter Parker had a noticeable pep in his step on Friday, his smile was constantly on his face and it was blinding. They hadn’t thought it possible that someone’s smile could be that bright. He always seemed to be in a good mood but today he looked especially happy. His energy was infectious too, it seemed like whoever came across him came out smiling as well.
No one knew why he was so happy. They all wanted to know but no one dared to ask. They didn’t know him well enough to ask. They thought he looked like a puppy who was excited that his human was coming home (little did they know how close it was to the truth).
…
Peter Parker was ecstatic, Tony was finally coming home from his conference and he was going to be spending the weekend with him.
He hadn’t really been gone for that long, but it was long enough, when the man first showed up in his life he never thought they would get to the point where Peter would hate to be apart from him this much. He still had not been able to come up with a word to describe their relationship, to others it made no sense because they couldn’t figure it out, but to him, it just made sense, he didn’t need words to describe it.
They were just Tony and Peter and that made perfect sense to him.
He made his way to the tower once school had finished. He loved the freedom of being able to drive but sometimes he missed just being able to sit and relax while someone else drove him. It must be why Tony had Happy drive him around when he had more cars than one could count on their fingers and toes.
When he arrived, he practically skipped up to the building. He greeted everyone he came across as he made his way to Tony’s lab.
Tony whipped around to him as the lab door opened. “Hey, kid.”
“Mr. Stark!” Peter grinned, “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, come here.” He gestured him forward and opened his arms for a hug, Peter happily obliged.
“You’ve been home for a couple of hours and you’re already working?”
“Yeah,” he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, Peter was always on top of him about not overworking himself, he used to be annoyed but he realized it was because Peter cared a lot about him and it really helped. “I was just fixing up some gear, there was a mission the other day. Let me finish these widow bites and we can go upstairs and catch up. Friday, order our Friday usually.”
“Got it, boss.”
Peter pulled up a stool and watched Tony work, he handed him any tool he needed before he could ask. He hadn’t realized what a big deal it was the first time Tony had asked and accepted a tool from him until he had handed him a mug of coffee around the Avengers, most of which Tony still did not accept things from.
…
Peter had stayed over at the Compound after a night of training. It had only been a few weeks ago when he revealed he was Spider-Man to them. It was still surreal that they were acting as if he was one of them.
He decided to make breakfast when he woke up before everyone else.
He made a spread of pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast.
Bucky, Steve, and Sam came in first from their workout and helped themselves.
“Damn,” Sam whistled as he took his first bite, “Spidey can cook.”
Peter grinned as he flipped a pancake.
Natasha came next, followed by a half-awake Clint that was staying over for the weekend, instead of going home.
“Friday, tell Tony to come down from his lab and eat please,” Peter asked as he started to brew a fresh pot of coffee.
“Did you call him Tony?” Clint asked between stuffing his mouth.
Peter’s face flushed, “Yeah, I only call him Mr. Stark now because it annoys him. I used to do it because I didn’t feel like Tony was appropriate but we’ve come a long way from when we met. I basically refer to him as Tony to everyone else. He gets really mad when I call other people their first names and not him.” He shrugged, pouring Tony’s coffee into a mug and adding a scoop of sugar. He usually drank it black but Peter noticed he took his first cup every day with a spoonful of sugar.
“And I thought you just had incredible manners, but you’re really a menace.” Clint shook his head.
“Sure thing Mr. Barton.”
“You little shit.”
“What’d you do this time Pete?”
Peter turned to Tony with an innocent expression. “Nothing Mr. Stark,” he said in a sugary sweet voice.
Sam choked back a laugh and Clint didn’t even bother to stop it from coming out.
Peter looked at Tony with narrowed eyes.
“I thought you went to bed last night. Why were you in the lab?” Peter stared with an eyebrow raised.
“I did sleep, I just woke up around 5 and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“Alright,” Peter’s face softened.
He held out the coffee to him, “Here’s your coffee.”
Tony took it and happily took a long drink.
Peter heard a fork hit a plate and he turned around to look at the other Avengers.
Natasha, Clint, and Steve were staring at them in shock. Natasha’s shock was well hidden but Peter could see that her expression was not as nonchalant as she wanted it to be.
“Are you guys okay?”
“You- he took- you gave him coffee.” Steve eloquently explained.
“Yeah? I make him coffee all the time.”
“And he just takes it?”
“Yes?”
“Do you hand him anything else?” Natasha asked, searching his face for something.
“Yes, I mean I hand him tools in the lab all the time. Why are you guys acting so weird?”
He glanced over to Tony who looked like he had just come to an epiphany.
“I have a thing with people handing me things. I don’t usually let people. I only allow Pepper, Rhodey, Bruce, and well you to hand me things. I didn’t even realize it, it just came naturally.”
“Oh,” Peter said, that must mean that Tony trusted him a lot. He noticed that Tony hadn’t named anyone else in the room. Tony trusted him more than any of the Avengers, he didn’t know what to do with that. Tony looked very vulnerable as he explained.
“Okay,” he smiled, “You must really like my coffee then.”
Tony grinned. “It tastes like heaven.”
…
“So how is Midtown?” Tony asked as they sat down to eat their takeout.
“It’s great. The teachers are brilliant, I can tell they are really passionate about their subjects. That was a problem at my other school, I don’t even think I’ll need to self-study anything this year.”
“That’s good, you shouldn’t have had to at all. You should have just had teachers that could do their jobs properly. How are the other students, anyone bothering you?”
“They’re great for the most part. I knew a few of them from elementary and middle school. Like Ned, he’s awesome, we really connected, he came over yesterday to build this new Lego set I got. And there’s also Michelle, I call her MJ, she’s awesome and very scary. Reminds me of Pepper.
I mostly hang out with them, a lot of people are interested in me because they know I’m your intern but they’re not like that. I also joined the decathlon team, they’re both on it and Mj’s the captain. The other kids are pretty cool. Flash is a bit annoying but he’s always been a jerk-”
“Wait Flash? His name is Flash?”
“It’s not his real name. His name is actually Eugene. I’ve known him since elementary, he hasn’t really grown up yet.” Peter shrugged, “he’s not as bad as those kids at my old school though.”
Peter’s phone kept dinging in his pocket, he pulled it out to see who it was.
“Is that Harley?”
Peter blushed, “how could you tell?”
“You always get that cute little smile on your face when he texts you. How is he?”
“He’s good, he’s in California for a gig.”
“I still can’t believe that kid is a model. I never would have guessed when he showed up with a potato gun.”
Peter sighed dreamily, “He’s got the looks and smarts. I hope I get into MIT so we can go together.”
“You will get in,” Tony said as if there was no room for argument.
Peter had the tendency to doubt himself but Tony wouldn’t let him.
“I mean if you’re not overqualified for MIT, then I’m not Iron Man.”
Peter rolled his eyes fondly. “I’m glad you're home Tony.”
Tony choked on his noodles.