Chapter Text
He could feel a hand on his shoulder gently shaking him, he was going to push it away but he opened his eyes just long enough to remember what had happened before he fell asleep. He was still in the car but instead of Tony sitting next to him in front of him, leaning on the open car door as he woke up Peter. Peter was tired but fully awake as he took a second to realize where they were, instead of being parked in front of his apartment building they were now infront of stark industries. People were walking in and out of the building, paying no mind to them except for the occasional glance at Tony. “C’mon kid, I’d rather not stand out here all day, let's get moving.”
With that he simply offered Peter a hand and pulled him out of the car, luckily the migraine or any other problems he had previously weren’t still there so he had no trouble standing on his own. He grabbed his school bag out of the car, stopping when he saw the box that had held the headphones. Tony must have put them back in the box some time after he had fallen asleep. He grabbed the box too, slipping it under his arm and then turning to Tony. “No offense Mr. Stark, why are we here? I don't usually come to the tower today.” Peter raised an eyebrow at the man who just put a hand on his shoulder and let him through the doors. “I’m making this new machine for the R&D department and thought I could use your help on it.”
Peter quickly nodded, he always liked working on projects for the different parts of Stark Industries. He hadn't had the chance to interact with many workers other than some interns that had been in some of the labs when he snuck in to take stuff. He also knew most of the people that Tony worked with, but that was because that list was only so big outside of the avengers. He snapped back to reality as they stopped in front of the elevators, waiting a few seconds before the door opened and they stepped in. Tony stepped away from his side for a second to scan and press the top floor button. He stepped back and fixed his suit jacket, which Peter didn't think needed to be adjusted but then again he didn't wear suits that often and couldn’t really judge.
“Welcome back, it's nice to see you Peter” Friday's voice rang out through the elevator speaker, signifying that they had arrived at their destination. Peter waved slightly to the camera “thank you Friday, it’s good to be back!” Tony had quickly led Peter through most of the penthouse and to his personal lab, it was where Peter spent most of his time at the tower. He could see the project he had been working on a few days ago, it layed uncomplete on one of the many table tops. Instead of leading Peter to one of their desks he led him to the white board that was usually only used by Peter when he was working on a new project or improving the fluid in his web shooters.
The white board had papers put on it along with a few diagrams, it wasn't anything too complicated, it seems they were replacing one part of the Research and development departments machines that was outdated and couldn't keep up with their.. You know, research and development? He was about to ask Friday to pull up a diagram of a similar machine so they could copy the design and tweak it when he heard the elevator open and the familiar click of Pepper's heels approach. It had not taken long, saying that she had been walking exceptionally fast, before she walked into the lab. By that time both Tony and Peter were already facing her, waiting for her arrival.
“Peter! Are you ok? I heard you got sick at school” was the first thing she said, rushing over to Peter’s side and checking over him. “Im fine Mrs. Potts, my senses just went a little haywire at school, i really shouldn't have bothered you two to pick me up” Peter closed his mouth quickly after saying that, he could see the looks on both Tony and Peppers faces that told him he probably shouldn't have said that. “You're Not bothering us, kid, if i were you i would have called in sick even if i wasn't. And even if you did do that then I still would have picked you up.” as Tony was speaking he turned around and grabbed a few tools that had been laying next to the whiteboard, handing them to Peter and then grabbing his own. He was about to ask something of Friday when Pepper spoke up.
“Tony you better put down those tools, you know damn well i told you to sleep before you come back down here.” she had an edge to her voice that Tony must have heard too because his tools clattered back on the table almost instantly. “So Peter you wanna go watch a movie or something, there's this new one that just came out and i think you'd like it. Its nerdy so it matches you” Peter stood there for a second trying to process the violent switch in Mr. Stark’s priorities, meanwhile Tony walked by him trying to avoid eye contact with Pepper who was currently glaring at him like she was trying to explode him with her mind.
“Sure sir, do you have ice cream in the fridge” Peter quickly turned to follow him once he realized that after Tony left the room Peppers glare had turned to focus on him. “Of Course there's ice cream in the fridge, when isn't there?” which was a fair response, Peter had once walked into Mr. Stark's lab and sees the man working on a robot while multiple empty things of ice cream laid beside him, he thinks he counted eleven but don’t quote him on that. He and Tony had completely raided the fridge of all the ice cream it had (minus one that Pepper had yelled at Tony for trying to grab, she said something along the lines of ‘you know better than to grab the chocolate peanut butter flavor that i bought’ and he didn't blame her, stealing someone else's food was a serious crime)
Peter and Tony had settled down on the couch, Peter staring out the window at the New York skyline as Tony pulled up the movie. Instead of simply putting on the movie, he heard Tony make a confused noise. To Tony's surprises and Peters definitely not surprising, the movie he had been talking about was not new and was in fact Planet Of The Apes and had come out in 2001. Peter wishes he could tell himself the man was confusing it for the new one that recently came out but he wouldn't be surprised if the man had genuinely thought this movie was new judging by how little he pays attention to anything but projects he had started in his lab.
They had finally started the movie after about a fifteen minute back and forth conversation that consisted of variations of ‘i'm like a thousand percent sure this movie was new last time i checked’ and ‘Mr. Stark this movie is definitely not new, are you sure it was even this movie?’ Peter hadn't watched this movie before because he didn't watch tv a lot and when he did there were other movies that took priority, but it wasn't a bad movie. He had no clue how Tony felt about it because Tony did not express any feelings to movies other than the occasional comment about a stupid thing a character did. The movie had just finished when Peter finished emptying his fourth pint of ice cream and Tony his third. They had quickly taken their trash and thrown it away in the kitchen to which Pepper gave them both a look bordering on disgust because of how much ice cream they had consumed in such a short time.
After all of that had finished they found a way to sneak back into the lab, which isn't really as much sneaking as it was sprinting for the door when Pepper had disappeared somewhere for a few minutes. Once inside the lab Peter actually requested what he previously wanted the A.I to do before being interrupted by the hurricane that is Pepper Potts. Friday pulled up the diagrams for a machine similar to the one they were working on, Tony and him instantly got to changing certain aspects of the blueprint and completely erasing and rewriting the code before they had something stable. Then they actually got to building the thing, they didn't really talk during the building process, occasionally asking for a tool that the other had or suggesting what to have for dinner.
This was how it always was in the lab and Peter preferred it this way, Tony blasting his own music that he refused to work without. It seemed to be a routine that had been cemented in the teenagers life if he liked it or now, and he did like it alot. It was always the parts of the week he looked forward to, the days where he would go to Stark Industries and have to enter the personal elevator made for the Starks without being suspicious (he failed at that most of the time.) he was always greeted when he stepped into the penthouse, whether it be Tony, Pepper, or even Happy on occasions. He liked the weird side hobby he had developed, and he wasn't even sure you could call it weird when your other hobby is literally fighting crime with spider powers.
They had eventually finished the piece they were working on, Tony had basically dragged Peter away from the workstation before he could try to work on his own incomplete project. Which in his opinion is a little hypocritical because Tony worked on projects and would have to literally be unconscious before he stopped working but whatever. Pepper hadn't been happy that they were in the lab again but there wasn't much she could do about it. She chose to stop being mad at them when Peter mentioned dinner, which he totally agreed with. Peter loved food more than anything in this world (that's a bit dramatic but you know what he means.) They ended up ordering from this Italian place that they had so much Peter was starting to think Tony was ninety-nine percent Italian food, one percent human.
While waiting for his food to arrive he had called Aunt May, who was yelling at him because he didn't call her sooner. Which was Peter’s fault, it had slipped his mind that Aunt May wasn't always aware where he was. Peter told her not to expect him home, saying that he was probably going to stay at the tower. Maybe it was a bit of a rash decision to make, saying the only times he's stayed overnight at the tower is when he did all-nighters in the lab or when he fell asleep in the lab. He wasn't sure if Tony and Pepper wanted him to stay the night, if they didn't he would probably just sleep in the lab, and that's fine with him if he's being honest. He quickly said that he loved her and goodbye before walking back to where Pepper and Tony were, arguing about something he knew nothing about. They both stopped when he sat down at the table and moved on to another topic until Happy walked out of the elevator with a bag of Italian take-out in his hands.
It was one thing Peter had been confused about everytime he stayed for dinner, obviously take out employees couldn't hand deliver it to THE Tony Stark in his penthouse but the fact that the one who did give it to him was also the company's head of security was just funny. He didn't say anything though as Tony thanked Happy who simply nodded and walked back out, not before stealing a piece of garlic bread from the bag. They simply ate in peace, some random soap opera playing on TV that Peter genuinely could not keep up with if he wanted to, he looked over to see Pepper had a similar look on her face. Tony was the only one in the room watching intently as he ate his food, sometimes Peter wonders why he chose this man to be his mentor.
They quickly finished their meals and threw away the trash, Peter glanced at the clock to see that it was almost nine o’clock, he should really get to asking if he could stay here before it literally gets too late to walk home. He turns to Tony, staring awkwardly before opening his mouth and askin- “hey kid, are you staying here tonight?” oh. Or he could just get interrupted, that's cool also. “If it's cool with you then yeah, i could just sleep in the lab” he gestured with his hands to the direction of the lab, looking back at Tony to see the man staring at him with one of the most judgmental faces he thinks he's ever seen. It's almost on par with MJ’s.
“Why the fuck would you sleep in the lab? You would stay in the spare room” Peter just stares. Ok, cool, he’ll just stay in Tony Stark, billionaire CEO, Hero, genius’s spare bedroom on the top floor of the building he built for his company. That's really cool, Peter loves everything in his life that he’s done to end up here, yup, definitely.
“Oh okay, thank you Mr. Stark” is quite literally all he says before walking away and entering the spare room. He’s definitely going straight to sleep after the day he just had.