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Peter walked into the tower soaking wet. It had been storming and he hadn’t wanted to bother Happy to give him a ride after he said he would swing to the tower after school so he had made his way through the storm. He stepped out of the elevator leaving puddles on the floor. He winced and realized he had no other choice. He would have to find a towel and clean up the mess after.
“Hello Peter.” Pepper came out smiling his way before seeing he was soaking wet, “You swung here in that storm?”
“Ah yeah. But it’s no big deal.” Peter pulled off his mask realizing he probably should have taken it off once he entered the building.
“Hmm. Interesting take on that.” Pepper went down the hall bringing a fluffy white towel back and handing it to Peter, “Tony’s still out but he should be back for your weekend in the lab soon. How about you go shower and change and then we can find a snack together?”
Peter nodded with a smile. The smile dropped when he realized he had nothing to change into, “That sounds great but someone stole my backpack and I don’t have a change of clothes.”
“Someone just stole your backpack? That’s awful.”
“It’s no big deal.” Peter shrugged.
“I think we have different ideas on what’s a big deal.” Pepper laughed softly, “But follow me. We’ll find something for you to wear. I don’t want you catching a cold on my watch. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I could just throw the suit in the dryer.” Peter offered.
“And wear it all weekend?”
“I suppose.” Peter nodded.
“Yeah no.” Pepper shook her head.
He followed her into the master bedroom where she opened some draws and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and found him an MIT hoodie. He took the items with a thank you.
She pointed, “Shower is through that door. No rush. There are more towels in there.”
“Thank you.” Peter made his way to the biggest bathroom he had ever seen. He turned on the shower as hot as it would go. He was freezing. He would be quick. He didn’t want to use too much hot water.
~
Peter made his way out to the living room 45 minutes later. He hadn’t meant to take that long but he was pretty sure he had been sleeping with his eyes open for a bit there. He sat on the couch next to Pepper who was watching an old episode of Friends.
“I can change it.” She offered.
“No. I like Friends.”
Peter soon had a blanket passed his way and before he knew it his chin was dropping toward his chest. He felt a tug and soon had his head laying against Pepper’s side. His eyes fluttered closed and he exhaled in relief. He could feel bad about falling asleep on Pepper Potts later but for now his body craved sleep.
~
“I’m home!” Tony announced coming into the room, “Sorry! I didn’t plan on that training—“
“—Shhh!” Pepper pointed to the sleeping Spider kid, “I think he’s in a deep sleep but we don’t want to wake him.”
“You’re such a mom.” Tony smiled and came over to ruffle the kids hair gently, “He’s wearing my clothes?”
“Someone stole my baby’s backpack.” Pepper shrugged, “He said it wasn’t a big deal. I already ordered a new one to be delivered tomorrow.”
“Good job, Mama.” Tony leaned over and kissed her, “I can take him home to get more clothes tomorrow.”
“I ordered some clothes to keep here too. I think we should re-do that guest room to make it his.”
“We can do that.” Tony sat in the chair next to where Pepper sat on the couch, “We could order some Star Wars posters. He would love that.”
“Oh and he swung here in a thunderstorm. Tony Stark—You need to have a conversation with him about how dangerous that is.”
“Yes dear.” Tony teased.
“Okay.” Pepper put her attention back to her show.
~
Peter woke up to a quiet penthouse. He rubbed his eyes. He stretch and made his way to the lab where Tony was working on a new Stark Watch.
“You’re up!” Tony grinned, “Finally!”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I think I was really tired.”
“No apologies.” Tony insisted, “Want to come look at this though?”
Peter walked over slowly. He looked through some of the ideas Tony had for the next version and nodded, “I think it looks like a new version of the same thing.”
“No. This one will have a bigger screen!” Tony insisted.
“Yeah. People will love it.” Peter sat down on a stool.
“That’s it? No helpful suggestions or advice?” Tony shut off the screens and put his attention on his mentee.”
Peter shrugged looking at his feet.
“Okay, out with it, Roo.” Tony sat down next to him, “What’s going on?”
Peter shrugged not looking up.
“Still tired?”
Head shake.
“Hungry?”
Head shake.
“Miss May?”
So/so hand movement.
“You have to talk to me, Kid. I want to help.” Tony said softly, “But you have to talk to me so I can do that.”
Peter shook his head, “It’s embarrassing.”
“I’m not going to judge you or tease. I promise.”
Peter glanced over at his mentor, “Earlier—When I was hanging out with Pepper—“ He cleared his throat, “It felt like what it would feel like to have a mom. I never got to feel that because my mom died while I was too little to remember her. It felt nice but then it hit me that she isn’t my mom. I’m still an orphan.”
Tony nodded slowly, “And it hurt?”
Peter nodded.
No wonder the kid hadn’t wanted to help with the watch. Tony tugged Peter to his feet, “Come with me.”
Peter sighed, “You can’t fix this!”
“Yeah. We’ll see.” Tony led Peter upstairs where Pepper was in the guest room taking measurements for the decorator.
She glanced over, “Hi boys.”
“Whatcha doing, Pep?” Tony grinned.
“Working on getting Peter’s room set up.” She smiled, “We figured you could use your own space.”
Peter glanced back and forth between the two and cleared his throat, “A room for me? Why?”
“We love you.” Pepper pulled him in for a hug, “We want you to feel like this is as much your space as ours.”
“Oh.” Peter blinked back tears.
“And by the way I call Pepper your mom behind your back.” Tony told him, “So stop trying to distance yourself. You can let yourself have a mom.”
Peter stopped holding back and hugged Pepper back tight, “I love you guys too.”