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“Is there a reason you’re sitting on my ceiling Spiderling?” Tony asked, only mildly confused.
Next to him Bruce looked very confused in comparison while Rhodey just continued walking into the lab, not even looking up.
“I didn’t really notice?” Peter admitted, looking around him in surprise. He had been working on his tablet when they came in.
That was when he noticed Bruce and promptly fell off the ceiling.
Rhodey still didn’t look back while Tony immediately began fussing and panicking like a mother hen.
“I’m fine Mr. Stark,” the kid assured him before turning wide eyes on Bruce. “You’re Dr. Banner,” he whispered.
Tony sighed, shaking his head in fond exasperation.
“I’m such a fan!” Peter exploded into motion and sound. “I’ve read all your papers and the way you turn into the Hulk is awesome!”
Bruce looked between Peter and Tony for a moment.
“When did you have a kid Tony?”
Further in the lab, Rhodey laughed while Tony and Peter both turned red and started sputtering about mentors and mentees.
“Riiiiiight,” Bruce drawled, thoroughly not convinced.
Tony threw science at him to distract him.
Being the intelligent scientist he was, it worked like a charm.
“You successfully created nanites?!”
“Yeah, now the suit will always be with me. They’re stored in the arc reactor.”
"That's amazing Tony. How do they work?"
"Well-"
“Look Mr. Stark! I got the Iron Spider to work-ack!”
“Stop swinging indoors Peter!”
“I wonder what would happen if I mixed these two chemicals?”
“Probably something explosive Parker.”
“…”
“Definitely something explosive. Those chemicals are highly unstable.”
“…”
“…”
“This is not a good idea Tones.”
“You want to do it too Rhodey.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“A little bit can’t hurt.”
The explosion rocked the compound.
“You are two are the greatest scientists in the world, a literal rocket scientist and a child genius.”
“Teenage-"
“Don’t interrupt me Peter.”
“Yes Mrs. Potts ma’am.”
“What the hell were you thinking mixing unstable chemicals?!”
The men all exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time Pep…”
“Why are all you smart people incredibly dumb? Jane already blew up her equipment twice today.”
“Jane started her wormhole experiments without us?!”
“How rude!”
“Wormholes?! Can I see?”
“I wonder how close she is to a stable wormhole?”
Pepper stared in disbelief as the four bolted from the lab right into the one down the hall.
“That lot will be the death of me…”
She glanced down at her hand where a diamond ring caught the light. A soft smile appeared on her face.
“Oh well. They’re semi-responsible. And Tony won’t let anything happen to Peter. I’m late to that girl’s day out Hope suggested.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Friday?”
“I will let you know if there is a code CT or GTFO in the near future.”
“Thank you Friday.”
“Of course Boss Lady.”
“What’s code CT?” Sharon asked tentatively after Pepper had explained why she was late. They were still a little wary of the agent but she seemed to be making a genuine effort to make up for her mistakes, taking the burden on herself instead of leaving it on Tony. So they’d invited her out with them to get an idea of what she was like.
“Crazy Tech,” Hope answered, sipping on her milkshake. It was a beautiful day so they were sitting outside their favourite café. “It means get the fuck down to the lab and drag the sleep-deprived, caffeine-addled scientist away from the possibly dangerous tech. We had one of those for Richards the other month. Carol had to fly in and force a shutdown on the machine. Reed hadn’t slept in five days and Carol had to call his wife in to smack some sense into him.”
“What was he building?”
“A black hole generator,” Carol answered blandly, enjoying her coffee.
Sharon stared at her incredulously for a moment. “Does… that happen often?” she asked hesitantly.
“Not really. Usually someone’s around to keep them from going too far down the ‘can I make this?’ rabbit hole.” Jessica stretched out, looking relaxed for the first time in a while. It was probably being away from Maximoff in the compound that did it.
“We love our scientists. But boy do they build some weird things,” Hope shook her head fondly.
“Hey, you join them sometimes missy,” Pepper teased, making Hope flush. “Anyway they range in danger. Hope’s rarely close to setting off that alarm. Tony’s actually pretty responsible too, mostly installing AIs into things AIs really shouldn’t inhabit. Rhodey tends to just blow stuff up when he’s tired. Peter normally has his work backfire on him. He ended up stuck to a wall upside down for an hour. He thought it was brilliant. Jane and Reed edge towards the CT alarm more than anyone else.”
Sharon nodded thoughtfully, absorbing that information. “And GTFO?”
“Get the Fuck Out,” all the women said simultaneously.
“And hope that whatever Crazy Tech it is can be contained by Friday. That girl is a damn saint,” Carol sighed.
Pepper snorted. “Oh no. She most definitely is not. She’s Tony’s daughter through and through and encourages the lot of them until she remembers that she’s supposed to be the responsible one.”
There were a few chuckles around the table.
They were enjoying their relaxing afternoon when suddenly Carol’s phone beeped. She looked at it and sighed.
“Code CT?” Pepper asked sympathetically.
“No. Code GAS. Goose Ate Something in the lab and it was apparently very toxic. They’re all freaking out and trying to get her to spit it out. Apparently she’s turned orange and is sitting on Tony’s head, hissing at everyone.”
Sharon slowly shook her head. “And this is normal?” she asked in bewilderment as Carol flew off.
“Oh yes. Goose eats something she shouldn’t pretty often since Tony always lets her in the lab. He can’t say no to that flerken,” Pepper smiled slightly. “It can be endearing. When she’s not eating radioactive material.”
“Goose! You can’t eat random chemicals that are in the middle of reacting!”
“Meow.”
“No, now get off of Tony’s head. He’s worried sick about you.”
“Meow.”
“Is she okay?!”
“She’ll be fine Tony. She did this last week remember?”
*Purr*
“Oh you’re such a suck up for your favourites.”
“I’m a favourite?”
“She sat on your head didn’t she?”