Spider-Man Offical[ly raised hell]

Tony huffs a laugh, staring down at his phone screen in one hand, the gauntlet he had been adjusting left abandoned on the bench beside him. It was another twitter notification, one from Peter.

Again.

The ding-ding-ding of notification bells had become a constant background noise in the past few days, but he honestly couldn't complain. Stark Industries' popularity with the youth had certainly never been better, if the number of twitter tags and keyboard smashes were anything to go by. Tony had been nervous at first, he'll admit, about letting Peter have an account for his spider side. But the kid was having fun, constantly giggling down at his screen as he typed furiously. It was hard to consider it an awful burden, after that.

And honestly, they call Tony the dramatic one, but if only they knew the number of times Tony'd caught Peter sandwiched somewhere weird, switching between the Spiderman account in his suit and the personal account on his phone for the sake of "pretences, Mr Stark!"

His head snaps up at the sound of his lab doors opening. He hears the sound of squeaking converse before he sees them, and sure enough it's Peter, slipping slightly on the freshly-polished floors but grinning ear-to-ear.

"Hey Mr. Stark! Happy picked me up from school but you probably already knew that - he was driving the cool orange car today, which was super awesome! It's so cool, but I did almost have a heart attack when Happy stopped steering for a few seconds to get water and he didn't tell me it was self-driving. Don't tell him that though! I'd never live it down-" He takes a big breath, throwing the worn blue backpack down. Tony watches him approach with an amused smile. "-I had a few ideas for the suit, anyway, do you think I could try them out? There's a new combination I think might make really super stretchy webs-"

Tony interrupts him with a wagging finger. "Uh uh, did you finish your homework yet?"

Peter rolls his eyes and groans, slumping his shoulders and rolling his head back with it. "It's just maths, I can do it later! Please Mr Stark?"

"Those puppy eyes won't fool me, kid. Get your books out." He groans again but doesn't duck away from Tony's hand as he ruffles Peter's curls. "Web combinations can wait."

Peter's disappointment doesn't last long. They fall into a companionable silence (or as close to silent as the lab ever gets), with Tony hunched over an open-wired Ironman suit, sparks flying, and Peter's homework commentary a steady stream of white noise to Tony's brain.

Hard to believe the kid got under my skin so quickly. Tony smiled, glancing over at Peter. Now even his constant chatter is comforting. If Tony was honest though, everything about Peter had become familiar. His silly jokes, the terrible pun t-shirts, the clutter and mess strewn around his workshop; his tower; any and every available surface. His worn backpack by the door, a kicked-off pair of shoes next to the lab couch, and his school blazer, crumpled and forgotten on the floor.

"Hey Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, kid? What is it?"

"I'm kinda stuck on this question, can you take a look at it for me?"

"Sure kid, gimme a sec." Tony finished welding down one of the wires and put down his tools, walking around the lab bench to where Peter was sat, frowning sadly at his workbook. "What seems to be the problem?" 

"I've re-done this question like three times now and I just! I can't figure it out!" He huffed, rolling the chair back and crossing his arms. Tony noted the angry furrow starting to form between his eyes and wrapped an arm around the kid's shoulders. He read through the question, and found a small decimal error that had been mucking up the results.

"There, just a small mistake." 

Peter sighed, picking up his pencil again. "Thanks, Mr. Stark. S'just dumb."

"You're not dumb, Peter. You answered all the other questions perfectly, don't beat yourself up over this one." He said, running a hand through his curls gently.

Tony felt Peter relax into his side, still clearly upset. "I know, I just... it's stupid. It always makes me feel bad." He glanced up at Tony, and then away, something clearly on his mind.

"Anything else?" He prompted, nudging slightly.

Peter sighed, shrinking into himself. "You think, like, compared to Harley...? That I'm, I dunno know... as... as smart?"

Tony felt his heart squeeze, just like it always did now whenever the words 'Peter' and 'Sad' crossed his mind at the same time. "Kid, I didn't know you were feeling like this. Of course you are, you're both fucking geniuses. Don't tell your Aunt May I swore," he added quickly, getting a laugh. "You're both smart, but in your own ways. Harley likes the inventing, engineering side, and you're a whizz with the chemicals and the formulas and the biology. Of course you're smart." He dropped a small kiss to Peter's forehead, brushing back his curls.

"Okay," Peter said, "Okay." He gave Tony a small smile, which Tony returned.

"Finish up your homework and I promise we'll get started on your webs. Only a few questions left." He said, absently picking up the disregarded blazer and placing it over Peter's chair.

Peter returned to his homework, falling back into the flow of his homework with improved ease now his worries had been assured. Tony made a mental note to give the kid more praise, and tried not to kick himself for failing to notice. Tony wasn't exactly an openly emotional guy, but...

Peter's sad eyes once again flashed across his mind.

If it makes his kid happy, then that's that, really.

He returned to his side of the lab bench, and gave Peter once last worried glance. Kid must've sensed it, because he looked up and gave Tony a big grin to sooth his worries, looking much more relaxed. With that, he let himself fall back into the routine of fixing up the suit until Peter finished his work.

"Done! Can we work on my webshooters now Mr. Stark? I've been testing out a few different chemical combinations, and me and Ned wanted-"

"Ned and I," Tony corrected.

Peter rolled his eyes, cramming the homework sheets into his bag. "We wanted to see all the different kinds of web combos we could make so we spent chemistry mucking around with different chemical formulas, and I told Ned we would try them and record them to show! Please Mr. Stark!"

"Alright, alright! Get moving, gimme these formula notes - you should really be focusing in your classes though, Pete, don't think I missed that - and you grab the stuff. Good? Good."

Peter shot from his chair, pointedly refusing to acknowledge Tony's concerns about his classes, the brat, but Tony could practically see him vibrating with newly found excitement as he stocked his arms full of glass beakers and test tubes from the cabinets, so he let it be.

"Or, you know, I'll grab the notes. That works too."

Peter at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry! They're in my chem book. On the most recent page."

He flipped through the pages and briefly scanned through Peter and Ned's notes, humming thoughtfully. "Got anything you want to try first? How 'bout the stretch webs?" Tony paused, glancing up at Peter. "Aren't your webs already stretchy?"

"Yes, but these are ultra stretchy! Like, bouncy, kinda. Yoyo webs!"

Tony felt his eyes crinkling at the corners as he laughed. "Yoyo web- okay, kid, sure. Killing me here."

The cheeky grin he got was worth it.