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Tony came up to the common area expecting noise. Because well, the Avengers knew how to be quiet but you won’t know that if you meet them on movie night. So when the room was quiet he wondered if he had the time wrong, or the day. He was about to ask Friday when Peter came out of the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn.
“Hi, Mr. Stark. Ready for movie night.”
“Sure. Where’s everyone else?”
“Steve and Sam had something to do in the city. Natasha and Clint got called away on a mission. Thor decided to go to a harvest festival and Bruce tagged along. Wanda and Vision are out.”
“So it’s just you and me kid?” Tony asked.
“Yep.” Peter didn’t look at all put out that everyone ditched movie night. “Are you ready for some horror films?”
“Are you going to call them classics?” Tony asked. It pained him on a personal level when Peter had called Groundhog Day a classic movie like it was from the 40s not the 90s.
“Modern Classics?”
“Close enough.”
They settled at opposite ends of the couch with the bowl of popcorn between them.
The title appeared on the screen and the open credits rolled across the screen. “Is this going to be moody and atmospheric?”
“Yeah, Ned said that this was the best horror movie.” He looked up at Tony through his eyelashes. “We can watch a slasher film later if you want to.”
Tony grabbed some popcorn out of the bowl. “As long as it isn’t found footage.”
They settled in to let the story unfold. At the first creeping hand unobserved by the main character Peter gave a squeak and hunched forward on the couch. Peter bounced at the evil spirit suddenly appearing as the main character’s shadow. Tony took the popcorn and set it on the table before it got knocked all over the place. Half way through the movie Peter had worked his way to the center of the couch, still tense. Tony felt the warmth of him from shoulder to hip. When the evil spirit looked like it was going to start taking strips out of the main character Peter buried his face in Tony’s shoulder. Which Tony, well he admitted to himself he was pretty on board with. “You ok?”
Peter nodded and pulled back enough to speak. “Yeah, I just don’t like the gore or body horror.”
Peter rolled his head to peek back at the screen. Tony put his arm around Peter’s shoulders. The second act went on like that. Peter putting his face on Tony’s shoulder whenever anything gorey happened on screen. Tony wondered if he could get away with suggesting another horror movie to keep Peter pressed up against him like this. Would it be too much if he pulled the blanket over them both for some proper snuggling?
The evil spirit was chasing the main character down a hallway when the door opened. Steve, Sam and a lot of light came in.
“Oh, hey.” Steve said. “I didn’t realize you guys were doing movie night tonight.”
Peter stiffened in Tony’s arms.
Sam came up behind the couch and looked at the TV. “Didn’t you watch this movie this afternoon, Peter?”
There was a little pop of air then Peter said without looking up. “Maybe.”
“Right.” Sam said and followed Steve out of the room.
There was a pregnant pause with the evil spirit frozen on screen.
“So…” Tony said. “You’ve been pretending to be scared this whole time.”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Parker, are you trying to seduce me?”
“Yes.” Peter peeked up at him. “Any chance it’s working?”
“Absolutely. I love the classics.”