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“Parker!” a voice called after Peter, as he made it way towards the school’s exit. He turned around slowly to face the source of the sound, while also being slightly confused, and was met with the odd sight of his old zoology teacher slowly jogging towards him through the hallway.
The teacher, Mrs. Jackson, had taught Peter freshman year, both for his second required science credit and for Health 9. And she been a great teacher for the short time he had been in her classes. Now however, he was just about finished with his Sophomore year of high school, so why she would be trying to get his attention was beyond his understanding.
Finally, to add to his confusion, she also had a small, potted ficus held tightly in her arms.
Ned was looking at him curiously, but Peter just waved him off and went to go see what Mrs. Jackson wanted. Happy was picking him up tonight anyway, and after the man had purposely made Peter spill an entire cup of soda on himself last time they have driven together, he had no qualms in making him wait.
“Hi Mrs. Jackson.” Peter greeted her, as the woman breathlessly made her way over to him. “What’s up? Is everything ok?”
“Yes of course.” she responded quickly, obviously not meaning to worry Peter. “I just wanted to catch you before left. MJ told me you might want this.”
She held out the small potted plant, which Peter delicately took from her as he stared down at it in confusion. MJ had briefly mentioned to him and Ned about how she was taking a gardening class this semester (something about how it was the only class that she could fit into her schedule), but it had been so remarkable that he had completely forgotten about until this moment.
“Oh.” Peter responded, pulling the plant close to his chest. “I- thank you.”
She smiled at him, whipping her dirt covered hands onto the side of her jeans. “We had a bunch left over from the craft show last week, and we will have to throw away any we can’t get rid of.” she told him, and Peter could faintly remember seeing their booth at the crowded event the previous weekend. “So today in class I asked who would want one and Michelle brought up your name. I’m not exactly sure why, but see seemed pretty convinced.”
Peter couldn’t help the small lip that played at him lips, and mentally reminded himself to say thank you to MJ later. “No no she was right.” he laughed quietly. “Thank you so much.”
Mrs. Jackson let out a soft chuckle as well, not even trying to understand the relationship between those two. “Well I’m happy you like it Peter. “She told him. “Have a good night.”
Without another word, she took off back to her classroom and Peter made his way out to Happy’s car; now with a tiny ficus clutched in his arms. A few students gave him weird looks as he passed, but he was more focused on getting to the car without dropping the pot or crashing into somebody. Considering that the school day was officially over, there was still an overwhelming amount of kids still lingering the hallway.
As soon as Happy spotted the boy and his plant, his eyes scrunched up in confusion. At this point he was used to the boy’s antics, but it felt like everyday was something new and he was having a hard time keeping up.
“Hey Happy!” Peter greeted him, sliding into the back seat.
“You’re late.” he responded curtly, narrowing his eyes when he heard the boy giggling quietly. “What’s with the plant? Is it Arbor Day or something?”
Happy started pulling out the school, and honked his horn loudly went a group of teenagers ran across the street without looking first. “No one of the teachers gave it to me.” Peter responded, apparently unphased by loud noise. “Now I’m going to take care of him.”
Happy couldn’t help the laugh that suddenly exited his mouth, making Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “Kid it’s a plant, not a baby.” he told him, while turning onto the main road. “All you have to do it water him like once a day and you’re golden.”
Peter scuffed, turning his attention out the window. “Whatever.” he responded.
The rest of the ride was driven in silence, as Peter watched New York pass outside his window and Happy attempted not to hit pedestrians. Before either of them knew it, they were upstate and the ginormous Avenger’s compound was slowly coming it view.
“See you on Monday kid.” Happy told him, before Peter shut his door and the older man sped off back towards the city. Now that he was also working security on the newly bought back Avenger’s Tower, Peter hardly saw him other than during their weekly car rides. It also meant that he always had to walk into the compound alone, which in itself is a daunting task.
With his plant tightly encased in his arms, Peter walked up the front steps and towards the back door. Thanks to the fact that the Avengers private quarters had their own entrances and exits, he never had to risk running into employees and security guards while entering. But on the other hand, he also never knew who might be in the living room when he arrived, which might just be even worse. And the speech he had given them all only a few weeks ago, he had been avoiding them at all cost.
“Welcome home Peter.” Friday’s voice rang through the room, as Peter stepped through the entrance way. “I see you are carrying a plant. Is it for a special project of some sort?”
Peter laughed quietly, as he slipped off his worn converse. “No Friday, it’s just a gift I got from a teacher at school.Nothing special I promise.” he told the AI. “So who’s home right now?”
Friday went silent for a second before responding. “Mr. Stark is the only one currently occupying this part of the building.” she told him. “However, Captain Roger, Sam Wilson, and Natasha Romanoff finished their mission only a little while ago, and are expected to arrive back within the hour.”
Peter let out a groan as he entered the living room. “Thank’s Friday.” he told her, happy he at least got a few minutes of peace to himself. He carefully placed his new plant onto one of the living room’s side tables and plopped down into his favorite recliner, just enjoying the rare bit of silence that accompanied the compound.
That silence, however, only lasted for a minute, as his dad came bonding up the stairs from his lab and greeted the boy. “Hey Pete.”, he told him, rubbing his greased stained hands through Peter’s curls. “How was school this week? I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.”
Peter couldn’t help but laugh at how overdramatic his dad was being, and stood up to follow him into the kitchen. “It’s not my fault you had to go stop some psychopath from blowing up Chicago.” he retorted, remembering how apologetic Tony had sounded when he had to cancel their midweek lab day. “Besides, now this just means I need to come over two day’s next week to make up for lost time.”
Tony laughed as he grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry and tossed it to Peter. “You got that one right.”, he said while grabbing a box of Cheez-Itz. “Maybe if we ask May nice enough, she’ll also let us have a sleep over.” That comment earned a loud laugh from Peter, and after a good amount of food had been selected, they both wandered back into the living room to watch some TV or a movie before everyone else arrived home.
As they entered the room Tony’s eyes almost instantly went to the small plant on the side table, which he must not have noticed on his first trip through the living room. “You bring that here?” he asked Peter, while pointing to it.
Peter quickly nodded, trying to swallow the handful of chips he had thrown into his mouth. “Yeah.” he told his dad, spewing crumbs from his mouth. “It got it today at school. It was a gift.”
“It’s cute.” Tony told him, as he sat down onto the couch and Peter cuddled up next to him. “I never took you for a plant kid, but it suits you.”
That ended the plant conversation as they both mindlessly watched whatever cartoon Friday had selected and commented on how bad it was. After they got bored of that, Peter had Friday switch it to The Officer where they were able to watch one and a half episodes before it was announced that the other had arrived back home, for better or for worse.
Peter tried not to look annoyed, he really did, but it must have shone on his face because Tony gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s ok.” he told him, placing his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “I bought a TV for the lab so we can head down their later and watch some movies. Completely Avengers free.”
Peter laughed, feeling slightly relieved. “Technically you're still an Avenger dad.” he told him, making Tony’s face fall.
“Ok ok, so like ninety perfect Avenger’s free.”, Tony grumbled, standing up to start cleaning up their mess. “Since you had to get all technical.”
By the time the other’s finally made it into the living, all their garbage had been cleaned up and Peter was back in his recliner working on some physics problems. Tony was also sprawled out on the couch answering emails on his phone, all while The Office still droned on in the background.
“Welcome back Spangles and Co.” Tony greeted the group, all while refusing to look up at them. “Me and Pete are ordering Chinese for dinner later, so if you want something speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Peter couldn’t help but laugh at his dad’s words, which made it so all head’s turned towards him. Somewhere in between helping Tony clean up the living room and settling down to work on his homework, the ficus had gone from sitting peacefully on the end table to being wedged between Peter’s leg and the armrest of the chair. Tony had watched this shift happen, and although it had slightly confused him, Peter seemed happy and satisfied with his decisions so he let it be.
“Um... we ate on the way back, but thank you anyway.” Steve responded, which earned a shrug from Tony as he went back to checking his emails. All three of them left to get cleaned up and changed, but not twenty minutes later they were all back in the living room. Only now in cleaner clothes and not smelling like sweat and blood anymore.
Sam came back first, and seemed incredibly amused by Peter and his ficus. “Cute plant.” he him, picking a small leaf off of it as he passed. This earned his a huge glare from Peter, as the boy pushed his homework aside and gather up the plant into his arms.
Both Steve and Natasha arrived into the living room together, and stop in their tracks when they saw the scene that was unfolding in front of them. All while Tony watched from the side lines, excited to see how this little standoff was going to turn out.
"Why are you holding it like that?" Steve finally asked him, pointing towards the potted plant that was situated in Peter's lap.
"He's my son." Peter responded, wrapping his arms tighter around the small ficus. "I must protect him."
The words rolled off his tongue so easily, that he barely even realized what he had said until Tony burst out laughing. Steve looked even more confused by the entire situation that he had before, and a small smiled was forming on Natasha lips.
“Whatever you say kid.” Sam responded, obviously realizing this was one of Peter’s endless meme’s or vine references that he tried to so carefully avoid. “Whatever you say.”
For days to come, the rest of the Avengers would playfully tease Peter over his new found obsession with his plant. But you can bet that little ficus sat on his nightstand every single night, and watched over his room while he slept.