Tony hated Peter.
Okay, that’s a lie. But it’s what he had to keep reminding himself. Especially if he was ever going to get through senior year. The first three months of school had passed with relative easiness. Well, everything was easy for Tony. He was just smart like that. But Peter was smarter. He was in all of Tony’s classes. Always doing his homework. Always raising his hand to answer questions. Always being absolutely adorable. But Tony couldn’t think that way. He was supposed to hate Peter because he was his competition. His dad wanted him to be valedictorian and maybe it was that pressure that pushed him to be such an asshole to Peter. Maybe it was a way of shielding himself away from the crushing feeling of liking that so-called opponent.
Tony entered his classroom with his usual crowd that followed him everywhere because of his money and last name and spotted Peter talking to his friend Ned. He only had one other friend, but she wasn’t in that class. Besides that, when his friends weren’t in a particular class of his, Peter kept to himself. He was always kind and gentle when he spoke. Tony was sure that he’d never heard a mean word come out of the boys’ mouth. Maybe that’s something else that drew him to Peter. His gentle demeanor and his kind disposition. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts before walking closer to the boy.
“Look who showed up to class today,” That was a rather stupid thing for Tony to say, seeing as Peter hadn’t missed a day of school ever. But he chose to ignore that and continue on his rant. “Hope you’re ready to lose your spot as the shoo-in for valedictorian. I’ve got it in the bag, Parker.” People liked this type of stuff. They liked to see the two of them compete. And even though Tony knew that he shouldn’t give in to the attention, he still let the people have what they wanted. A show.
“I’m sure we’ll both come out with good scores, Tony.” Peter, on the other hand, did not. He didn’t ever say anything mean back to Tony whenever he said something to him. Whether that be something mild like the sentence he just spoke or some nasty name-calling that he’d endured in the past. He’d learned to just let him talk until it was over. It wasn’t in his nature to be mean.
Tony stood for a second, staring at the boy with bouncy curls and pink lips. He wore a navy blue sweater and jeans that hugged his body. He didn’t ask Tony what the hell he was staring at and he didn’t turn away from his staring. Mrs. Sanders, their teacher, walked in and threw her bag down in a haste. She was always late, but she was an amazing teacher so no one paid it any mind.
Class begun.
***
Lunch was a whole other battle. Kids ran everywhere, chatter never ceased, and teachers didn’t give a fuck what anyone did. The smell of stale food wafted through the air and you had to yell just to be heard. Peter, M.J., and Ned all sat in their table in the corner of the room, talking to each other about school work and hobbies. Peter was glad that he had good friends like them. He wasn’t sure if he could handle Tony’s words without them. If anything, he would love to hand the baton of perfect grades over to Tony so he wouldn’t have to hear about how he was going to fail his exams again and again. But something in him just wouldn’t let him. You see, Tony had the money to pay for college all on his own, without ever needing help. Peter didn’t have that luxury. He needed the scholarships that came with having perfect grades and perfect attendance. He had to be extra nice to his teachers so they would bump his 97% to 100%. He had to go to different clubs and volunteer because that’s what was gonna get him into college. He just had to go to MIT. There was no other choice.
In the middle of the lunchroom, adorned in their privilege and money, sat Tony and his six best friends, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Pepper, and Rhodey. They talked about everything and everyone, but Tony’s eyes never left Peter who sat talking with his friends. Somehow he never noticed his creepy staring or the way that he sometimes forgot to breathe just thinking about him.
He really had to get this shit under control.
***
“Alrighty, class, settle down,” Mr. Silvers bellowed. The class automatically quieted down to hear what he had to say. “We’re doing a research project on a famous author of your choice. But what will not be your choice, is who you’re working with.” The class groaned, some already looking over at their friends with forlorn expressions. These were truly the worst. “Okay, let’s go ahead and get rolling on this. I highly suggest that you use this time wisely. The project is due next Wednesday and you will be allotted class time to work on it… Wanda and Natasha. Loki and James. Shuri and Sam. Peter and Tony…”
For Peter and Tony, the world stopped. They instantly glanced up at each other and Peter felt the dread settle in. What if he wanted him to come to his house or something? He’d tell the whole school how small his apartment was. What if he tried to hurt him? Okay, Peter knew that he was being irrational, but then again, Tony hated his fucking guts.
Though Tony did a good job of hiding how happy he was and made sure to roll his eyes in typical teenage annoyance.
Their teacher dismissed them to start working with their partners and turned back to his desk. Tony stood up slowly and walked towards Peter whose hands were shaking like leaves. He hated himself for making him feel that way. “So, Parker. Who do you want to do this stupid ass project on?”
“Well, um, what about James Baldwin or Oscar Wilde? Maybe even Alice Walker?” Tony ignored the fact that all of those authors were gay and proceeded to sigh like he didn’t care.
“How about Baldwin?” Peter nodded in agreeance though it may have just been fear. The two looked through the packet that contained work that would take longer than the short class periods. Peter had been bracing himself for this, he could handle it. He knew that they’d have to finish the work at home and he really didn’t want to. But, he knew that he had to.
“Your house or mine?”
“Yours is fine.” There was no hesitation in his words. As if he’d been thinking the same thing. They went ahead and exchanged numbers before getting back to the small amount of work that they could do.
***
“No, Ned you don’t understand. He’s coming back to my place. What if he sees the… you know?”
“The fucking pride flag and the dozens of posters of your boy crushes that adorn your walls?” M.J. asked dryly. Peter nodded. He wasn’t ashamed of being gay, he just didn’t want his secret, that only his inner circle knew, to be exposed to the entire school in an act of hatred. When or if he came out, he wanted it to be on his terms and no one else’s. He couldn’t have his one chance to be something other than nerdy Peter Parker to be ripped away from him.
“Dude, I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Do you really think that Tony would want to out you that bad?” Ned asks as they continue down the street. Peter shrugs.
“Whatever. We’re just a block away if you need me to come there and shank him for you.”
“Thanks, M.J. You guys are so lucky that you got partnered up.” They all exchange their goodbyes before Peter sets off towards his house. Tony told him that he wouldn’t be there ‘till a little later and Peter was honestly thankful. He needed some time to psyche himself up to having Tony in his house. He wasn’t going to rearrange his entire room just because Tony was coming over. He’d just have to swear him to secrecy. It was 2020 after all, he shouldn’t care that much, right? He sighed before texting May and letting her know that he was going to be having a “friend” over before letting himself into his apartment. He put the dishes in the dishwasher, picked up the stray blankets and pillows from Peter and May’s impromptu movie night three days ago, and brewed himself the tea that he drank every day after school. At least that would calm him down just a bit.
He was sitting on the couch when a knock came that startled him so much that he almost dropped his drink. He padded softly over to the door in unicorn socks and a different sweater, exhaled, and opened it.
“Hey, Tony. Hope you didn’t have a hard time getting here.” He mentally slapped himself for using such awkward words before stepping aside and allowing Tony to walk into his apartment. Tony glanced around the living space, eyeing the succulents and the other small plants that Peter and May had kept alive for a long time. Each with different names painted on their pots. That was the type of shit that May and Peter considered a fun Friday night.
“Nah, I found it just fine. Are you drinking tea?”
“Yeah, you want some?” Tony nodded. Peter running to the kitchen to retrieve the tea and running back was the cutest thing that Tony had ever seen. He accepted the drink before looking around some more. It was definitely homier than his house. He felt like he could stay here for ages. “Alright, well just follow me and we can go back to my room.” He seemed to be nervous about that but Tony paid it no mind. He grabbed his backpack and followed Peter back to his room that was the second door down.
When they stepped inside the perfectly organized room, Tony couldn’t help but gasp when he saw it. A flag. A pride flag. Peter caught him staring and cleared his throat. Tony snapped his attention back to him. “You cannot tell anyone, got it? That’s my secret. You can continue to talk shit about me and to my face, but this,” He points to the flag. “Is my personal business.” Peter gives him a look like he’s expecting him to either comply or not. Tony nods and fakes an eye roll, turning to pull out something in his backpack in order to hide the smile that’s forming.
And so they began working, completely ignoring the elephant in the room.
***
The next day, Tony made it a point to push Peter into a locker whenever he started thinking about how much he liked him. And when he thought about how pretty he was he bumped into him in the lunchroom and made his milk spill down his shirt. He should stop, he really should, but it’s the only way to thwart those feelings besides actually telling him the fucking truth.
It turns out to be a really shitty idea when he thinks about it. He still has to come over to Peter's place that afternoon. Peter doesn’t tell him that he wants to skip it for that night, so he comes back to his apartment, knocks, and is let in. Peter is all business this time. He doesn’t make friendly offers for tea or allow him to look at those adorable succulents near the door. He just opens the door and walks back to his room. Tony takes it upon himself to shut the door and lock it before following him.
“I think we should work on the beginning of his life for the first part of the poster. I can start gathering sources for it.” He turns back to his laptop, legs crossed, jaw tight. He’s really pissed off. And he has all the right in the world to be angry. He knows what he has to do.
“Look, Peter, what I did today, was really shitty. I shouldn’t have done those things to you.”
“Tony, don’t. This is the same thing that all you bullies do. You get in people’s heads and make them think that they have nothing to worry about, but in reality, you’ll be back at it again tomorrow. So let’s just save the apologies and start working.”
“No, Peter, I am sorry. It was wrong and it was probably really embarrassing.” Maybe it’s the years of behaving like an ass or the fact that it’s all weighing down on his conscience that makes him apologize.
“You’re right. It was really fucking embarrassing. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Tony shuts Peter’s laptop and forces him to look at him.
“I have been acting like a dick for four years now and it’s not right. Especially when you’re such a nice person. I know that talk is cheap and that it’s not gonna make you believe how sorry that I truly am, but please, try to believe that I’m trying to change. I have a lot of… personal shit to work out and I was projecting it on you.” By “personal shit” he means the homophobia that he could face if he makes the decision to come out to Howard.
Peter's taken back by the confession. And the fact that he can’t find a trace of lies in his expression or the words that he’s saying. He’s actually apologizing. Tony Stark is actually apologizing to him for acting like a jerk. Peter takes a stuttering breath before looking back down.
“Thanks, Tony.”
Tony nods before speaking again. “Hey, how about you come to this party I’m throwing tomorrow? You can invite Ned and M.J. if you want. I really just wanna make it up to you.” Peter takes a moment to ponder this. This is usually the point where he should turn back to his laptop and turn Tony down. But those chocolate brown eyes and that slight tilt of the head that he’s doing is drawing Peter in. Making him want to do everything that Tony asks.
So he nods yes.
The two of them bail on doing their project and watch movies instead. Peter liked this Tony so much better.
***
Ned and M.J. agree to come with him to the party and come over to his house before to help him with what he’s gonna wear. Peter tells them about what Tony said the night before. About being sorry and they hardly accept it as a reason to go to Tony’s house for a party but promise each other that they’ll bail if things get weird. After much deliberation and one Tyler the Creator album later, Peter decides on a yellow sweater and black jeans. He wears navy converse and matching yellow rubber duck socks. He feels pretty good about himself.
They take an Uber to Tony’s house and joke around the whole time. This should be a wonderful night. Famous last words.
The house is already thumping with a steady pulse of rap music and teenagers are everywhere. It’s every cliché teenage party movie ever. The trio inches closer to the house and walks through the double doors. Tony is playing beer pong when they walk in and upon scoring a point he yells and whoops. Peter can’t help the small laugh that escapes when he sees it play out. He looks so damn cute.
Tony spots Peter and excuses himself to go talk to him. “You made it! You look really good.” Peter blushes and thanks him before looking around the big house.
“You’ve got a nice place.” Tony thanks him before escorting him closer to the beer pong. The night was only getting started.
***
The party was still in full swing around ten at night. Peter and Tony danced to stupid music and laughed at jokes that weren’t that funny before settling on a couch upstairs, away from all the noise.
“You truly are amazing, Peter,” Peter rolled his eyes, seeing that Tony was very drunk. “You’re smarter than I’ll ever be.”
“That’s not true, Tony. You’re smart as hell.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Oh c’mon. Don’t be so modest. We’re both neck and neck for valedictorian. You’re just as smart as me if not smarter-” Tony kisses Peter with so much passion that he gasps in shock. He pulls away immediately. “Tony. You’re drunk. And I think you need to sober up because you’re straight and you don’t like me. I really don’t want you to do something that you’ll regret in the morning.” The words hurt him to say because he’d love to be kissing Tony right now. But, he just wouldn’t feel right not knowing if he was just doing it out of drunkenness. He stands abruptly and walks out of the room before Tony can respond. He needs to find his friends but the only problem is that he doesn’t know where they are. He looks upstairs for a bit before retreating downstairs. He doesn’t find his friends, but he does, however, find Tony standing with a mike in the front of the room.
“And look who it is, the man of the hour,” Tony slurs as people turn to see Peter and he turns as red as a tomato. He’s pleading silently with Tony to just shut up because drunk people and platforms to just talk, don’t mix well. “You all know and love him, right? Mr. smart guy. I bet you guys didn’t know one thing about the smartest guy in your grade. I bet that you don’t know that Einstein over here is just a fag.” The crowd gasps and some snicker at Peter’s shocked expression. They take pictures and videos, just to lock in that moment when Peter’s heart was ripped in half. “So be careful next time you’re in the locker room with him, fellas. He might try to-”
“SHUT UP!” Peter is crying now. Tears flowing down his face freely. M.J. and Ned finally find him and push him toward the exit. The angels had already called an Uber.
Tony hadn’t been looking at Peter the whole time really, but that hurt, broken expression, sobers him up quickly.
***
The sun flits through Tony’s blinds as he pushes himself up off the hard floor. His house is a mess of bottles and cups, some people still passed out. It happens every single time he throws one of these things. People always leave their fucking messes that he has to clean up. Luckily, his parents won’t be back for another two days so he doesn’t have to get to force himself to tidy up just yet. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and yawns as he stands up to make himself some coffee. While in the kitchen he scrolls through his Instagram stories before stopping on one that Steve had posted. It’s him talking into a microphone. Why did anyone let him have a microphone? He was bound to say something stupid.
And then he sees and hears it. He hears himself outing Peter to practically the entire student body and he sees where Peter had started crying because of it. Oh God. Oh no.
Have you ever hated yourself so much that you wish you could just scream for being so dumb and idiotic? That’s how Tony felt as he rewatched the video over and over again. He knew what he had to do.
***
Peter laid on his couch and watched The Notebook as he ate some grapes and cried at the sad parts. Though, it wasn’t just the movie that he was crying at. He was really angry at himself. Angry that he’d let himself think that Tony could change. Angry that he’d gotten himself hurt. After May had forced him to spill his guts when he got home last night, she held him as he cried. She stroked his hair and whispered that some dudes just weren’t shit. They had shared a wet laugh over that. She had left him instructions to try and get up and walk around instead of just lying on the couch and watching sappy rom-com, but he couldn’t force himself to. He just wanted to melt through the floor. He hadn’t even checked his phone out of sheer fear of what he would find.
A knock came at the door and he stood and stretched. His bones cracked and he walked towards the door. Thinking that it was Ned or M.J. coming to comfort him he opened it, but at seeing who was actually standing there, he shut it quickly. Well, he tried to. Tony’s foot caught it before it could slam shut.
“Pete, please. I just need to talk to you.”
“No. You’re an asshole.”
“I am. And I would really appreciate it if you let me explain myself.” Peter thought about it for a second before opening the door and letting him in. He paused his movie and walked toward the dining room table. He sat and gestured for Tony to sit down too.
“Whatever you need to say, say it quickly please.”
Tony nodded. “Look, Peter. Everything that I said last night was completely out of line. It was shitty and horrible and so homophobic. That’s not who I am.”
“Oh really? I can’t really seem to pinpoint who you are Tony. Are you a nice guy that apologizes and jokes around with me? Or are you a jerk that embarrasses me in front of half the school when I explicitly told you not to?”
“I didn’t mean any of the things that I said last night.”
“Then why did you fucking say them?”
“I can’t tell you-”
“Dammit, Tony! Why did you out me?!”
“Because I was hurt! Because I’m gay! Because I actually do like you!”
The room is silent for a good minute as they both stare at each other in shock. Tony is trembling. “You’re gay?”
“I- yeah. I’m gay and I’ve been trying to ignore it for all of my life and you were the one that brought those feelings out of me. I know that it was completely wrong to tell everyone your secret when you wanted to tell them on their own, I know that. I was drunk. I was hurt that you rejected me because I’ve loved you since freshman year. But, that’s still not an excuse.”
“I thought you were just drunk when you kissed me.”
“Well, that was part of it.” They look at each other before bursting out laughing. “I’m really sorry, Peter. I get it if you don’t want to hang out with me anymore.” Tony sighed.
“No, no. While I am still very pissed off at you for what you did, I do like you too. I thought we were just having a fun time last night and that’s why I didn’t push anything.” Peter looks down at his socks before looking back at Tony’s face. “There is one thing that I’m still confused about. Why didn’t you tell me? I mean, you saw that I was gay too. There’s no way that I would have told anyone. So why?”
“Well, my dad, he’s not the most… accepting. So I just didn’t tell anyone.” Peter moves over one chair and sits next to Tony. Their knees brush up against each other and they lock eyes. Peter thinks this is the moment he should kiss him. He’s realizing how much he likes this stupid boy who made a very dumb mistake while drunk at a party. One who made it seem like he hated Peter all along when in reality, he liked him a lot.
“Tony, I like you. And I really don’t think this is one of those things where you’re tricking me again, so that’s why I’m giving you this trust. Please don’t make me regret that decision.”
“You won’t, I swear. Peter, fuck, I just really like you too. And all that shit I said was so-”
This time it’s Peter that cuts Tony off with a kiss.