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“Peter?”
“Hmm?”
“If you had so much studying to do, why did you come today?” Tony asked from where he was working with the latest Starkphone model on his holodesk.
Peter had a real-life, thick textbook out and open, surrounded by pages of notes and his laptop. All of his materials barely fit on the couch, and it looked like mass chaos. Of course, anything paper-based and not digitally scanned so FRIDAY could help him manipulate it seemed chaotic to Tony.
“Oh, I… uh.” Peter looked at him blankly, as if he was trying to figure out what his mentor had said. His eyes looked a little bloodshot, and there was a tired glassiness to them. He should have noticed that when Peter came in.
Once Tony’s question finally processed, Peter’s face looked stricken. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Mr. Stark! You’re right, I should have canceled today. I just thought I’d be further along. I’m trying to write two papers and study for three big tests for midterms, all in the next few days, plus the SAT is this weekend, and I still have a good half of the materials to go over. I… do you think Happy can take me home? I didn’t mean to bring all of this in here when I’m supposed to actually be working with you, and I’m really sorry, sir, I just—”
“Peter. Breathe. It’s fine for you to study when you need to, I just figured you’d be more comfortable at home. Surely you have a better set-up there than awkwardly spreading stuff all over that couch…”
Peter straightened up and rubbed at his eyes. “Not… really? There’s just either the small desk in my room, which doesn’t have enough room, and the light’s not great in there, or the kitchen table…” He had trailed off, biting his lip as if there was more to say, but had decided to stop. He looked around again at all his notes. “Sorry for the mess. I’ll clean it up?”
“No, you’re okay kid. Is it easier to study here?”
Peter gave his papers a thoughtful look, resting his chin on his fist. “It’s… quiet here. At my apartment, or even at the library I can just hear so much, because of my senses, you know? It’s so hard to tune out all the conversations, and noises, and traffic, and the walls are so thin I could probably hear half of it even without the enhanced hearing, honestly.” He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes again.
“Up here, it’s… yeah, just quiet . I mean, I can kinda hear the rest of the Tower, but most of the people are several floors down, and street level is so far away the rest of the city is just kind of a whispery buzz. At home I can’t tune all of that out when I’m not even that interested in what I’m studying. And it’s mostly for Government—reading and facts, plus a group paper, and trying to prepare for the Reading and Writing portion of the SAT. Stuff that’s harder for me, and really not that interesting,” he huffed. “So it’s a little easier to study here, yeah,” he finished, looking unsure about his monologue.
“Kid, of course you can study here. But, I feel like what you need right now is a break. And then maybe a better area than my lab couch. Let’s gather your stuff and take it upstairs, get a snack, rest your eyes and your brain for a few minutes, then maybe you can spread it all out again.”
“In the penthouse?” Peter asked doubtfully.
“Yeah, of course. Why not?”
“I don’t want to make a mess up there…”
“Pete, it’s fine. You can set up wherever it seems comfortable. You’re not going to bother anyone.”
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Still, Tony was a little surprised when he came out of the kitchen with a plate piled high with pizza bites (Tony was quite skilled at using the microwave, thank you very much) to find Peter arranging his materials not at the dining room table, but all along the giant floor-length window in the dining area.
“What, my table’s not good enough for you?” he asked mildly, setting the snacks down there. He was not joining the boy on the floor, and Pepper also wouldn’t appreciate pizza sauce on the light-toned carpet. He was impulsive, but not stupid.
“Is this okay?” Peter asked. “I just really like it over here, looking down at the city. It kind of calms me, I think. Like when I’m out being Spider-man, sitting on roofs, or on top of the bridge relaxes me.”
“Excuse me? The bridge? Which bridge?”
Peter’s eyes flick up to his, looking a little wary. “Uh, the Verrazzano-Narrows? Because it’s the—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. The tallest bridge in the City. You would, wouldn’t you?”
“Would what?”
“Find the highest, least-steady spot in any area, and decide that it’s your favorite,” he said, swiping a hand across the kid’s hair. Peter just grinned up at him unrepentantly. “Isn’t that a little out of your way? It’s not exactly in Queens.”
“Yeah, but the views are amazing!”
“Come. Eat. Then you can pretend you can plummet to your death at any moment while you study.” Peter scoffed, but joined Tony at the table, and entertained him with little stories about things that had happened at school over the last week or two. By the time he finished his snack, Peter still looked a little worn out, but less stressed.
“Okay, I’d better get back to it,” Peter said. “Are you… are you going downstairs?” His face was carefully neutral.
“I was planning to, but I can just as easily work on a tablet up here, if you'd rather? I don’t want to distract you, though.
“You’re not a distraction,” Peter protested. Tony just smirked a little and lifted an eyebrow. “Well, you can be,” he admitted. “But I’d rather not be alone? And your heartbeat is relaxing.” That last sentence was kind of muttered, as he was turning his head down to his notebook-art-display all over the ground, but Tony still heard him.
Huh. His heartbeat? “I guess you could hear that. You spend a lot of time listening to it?” he asked, curious, and teasing the teenager just a little.
“Just whenever I’m in the same room as you,” Peter fired back, looking just a little embarrassed at the revelation. “It’s pretty unique.”
Tony turned to hide his grin, in case the kid was watching, and went to grab a tablet off an end table. He settled on the couch to work on some designs as Peter turned his attention to preparing for his Government mid-term.
At the end of the evening, as it got closer to when Peter should be heading home, the kid started packing up his stuff.
“Hey, Mr. Stark?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you maybe gonna be home the next two days? I mean, I was thinking maybe if so, I could come here after school and just study or work on my projects? I got lots more done here. It’s so quiet, and peaceful, and I could actually focus.” All of that came out in an unsure jumble. Peter often spent extra time at the Tower, but usually just if he and Tony were going to work on something together, or have a movie night or something. The boy seemed to feel like his request might be overstepping.
“I’m actually meeting up with Pepper in D.C. tomorrow, and won’t be back until Friday night, but mi casa es su casa , kiddo. You’re welcome to come anyway, and you won’t even have me here to distract you.” Peter looked surprised, but excited about the invite.
“You hear that FRI? Peter’s got access to come up here and work on anything—anything non -explosive—” he said, eyeing the boy, “he needs, even if we’re not home. I know you probably could have inferred that already, but just to make it official.”
“Noted, Boss.”
“Of course, please help yourself to anything in the fridge and cupboards, Pete. And FRIDAY can order you something if you’re here over a meal time. Or whenever, really. If you’re not sure about anything, you can ask her.”
“Wow, um… thanks! Maybe I can actually get all of this stuff done in the next few days.” He seemed relieved, if still a little exhausted.
“Hey, get some sleep when you go home, hmm? Don’t stay up late studying.”
“Sure. Of course not.”
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Speaking of exhausting, Tony’s meetings in D.C. had been. They were working hard on changing a bunch of stuff in the Accords, and they were heading in the right direction, but each change was like pulling teeth, and took a crazy amount of work and discussion. Which meant lots of meeting. Ugh. The only bright spot had been spending some uninterrupted time with Pepper. They’d even visited a couple of the Smithsonian museums yesterday over a long lunch, something he hadn’t taken time for in years. He wished she’d been able to come back with him, but she still had some details to hammer out that evening before she flew back the next morning.
As he headed up in his private elevator from the parking garage, he remembered Peter was staying the night. May had asked if Tony or Happy could drop him at the SAT test site the next morning, since she’d be working an overnight.
“FRI, is Peter here yet?” He was suddenly eager to see the little punk.
“Yes, Boss. He arrived several hours ago.”
As the elevator opened, Tony’s ears picked up conversation coming from beyond the entryway. Was Peter watching TV?
Apparently FRIDAY hadn’t announced that Tony was home, because as he stepped into the great room, he startled not one extra-smart teenager, but three.
“Hello people who do not live here,” Tony said, eyebrows raised in surprise. “FRIDAY? No heads up?” FRIDAY didn’t deign to respond.
The teenagers waved, and Peter grinned at him, but he looked a little nervous.
“I gave you a key for emergencies,” Tony said, looking at his intern with raised eyebrows and trying to look stern.
Peter’s face froze, and Tony could see him start to replay their conversations rapidly in his head, trying to figure out what he’d missed.
“We were out of Doritos!” Ned piped in, looking nervous, but also excited.
MJ and Peter looked at Ned in confusion, but Tony winked at the teenager.
“This guy gets it. You guys never watch Friends ?” Tony walked over and filled a glass from the water dispenser, draining it. It had been a long day, but he couldn’t say even the excess teenage company was an unwelcome surprise.
Ned smiled, obviously overwhelmed with the awesomeness of having an inside joke with Tony Stark. “Peter, that is one reason we came,” he said as an aside. “Mr. Stark has way better snacks than any of our houses.”
“ Friends is like, super old, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, feigning disgust, but looking rather relieved as he realized he was just being teased.
“You need more appreciation for the classics,” Tony said firmly. Unable to resist any longer now that he was close enough, he reached out to tousle the boy’s hair. Peter leaned into his hand just briefly, blinking slowly, then ducked away with the appropriate amount of teenage disapproval on his face.
“Yeah, Peter, you really do,” Ned piled on. Tony shot him a measuring glance, and Ned closed his mouth with an almost audible ‘click.’ No need to make the little super-hacker feel too comfortable, after all, Tony thought with amusement.
“Really though, we have a project to work on for Government, and I knew FRIDAY would be better help than the library with all the research we needed to do on sub-judicial cases on our subject,” Peter explained, his gaze turning back to the laptops they had open in front of them. “She said it’d be okay if I brought them.” FRIDAY was turning into a bit of a sneaky enabler when it came to the Spider-kid. Tony could feel the corner of his mouth quirk up, despite his efforts to control his amusement.
“Plus you do have better snacks,” Michelle finally added dryly, pointedly eating a piece of Tony’s favorite Dove chocolates. She hadn’t been around too much, but she tended to stay pretty quiet (as a kindness to Peter, mostly, Tony assumed, since her eyes were always silently judging him a bit.)
Tony looked at Peter a little flatly. “Well that project sounds captivating,” he drawled, going to open the fridge. It was definitely dinner time, and he’d skipped lunch because of an especially ridiculous Accords session. “Pizza?”
“Yes, please, sir!” Peter said. A quick glance showed all three teenagers showing interest. Tony gestured at the corner (which probably made no sense to Peter’s friends) and Peter hesitantly said, “FRIDAY? Can you order from Miguel’s? Can we get two meat-lovers, one regular supreme, one vegetarian supreme, and one pepperoni and olives?” he asked, glancing at Tony for approval, or maybe to see if Tony wanted something different. Tony nodded minutely. “And two orders of breadsticks and… and a large side salad?”
“Feeling healthy tonight, huh?” Tony teased him.
“I didn’t know if Ms. Potts might be around,” he said with a sly look.
“Suck up,” Tony retorted with a grin. “She won’t be back until tomorrow, but we should eat salad anyway, so we can say we did. I’m going to go change and leave you guys to it. I’ll be back for pizza, so no eating my pepperoni,” he warned.
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Later, after Tony had volunteered Happy to give Ned and Michelle a ride home, Peter ate almost another half-pizza as a snack as they sat on the couch together and watched Big Bang Theory reruns.
“Do you need to study any more for your test?” Tony asked. “Any more midterms?”
“No, thankfully midterms are mostly over, now that we’ve finished that Government group project. And with the SAT being tomorrow, I don’t think I can fit any more knowledge in my head. Why are adverbs still the worst?” he groaned. “May did make me promise to go to bed early, though,” he said regretfully, glancing at the clock.
“She’s a smart woman. I’m sure you’ll do better with a good night’s sleep. And kid, I really don’t think you need to worry too much about this test. You’re exceptional, and your results are going to show that.” He reached over to smooth his hair again, knowing that with his tactile nature, that was one of the most surefire ways to offer him comfort. Predictably, Peter leaned into it now that it was just the two of them. Tony ignored the impulse to pull his head over and kiss the top of it. The kid wasn’t six, seriously.
“In math maybe. And if they had a science portion, sure. But the writing and reading sections are going to bring my score down. I just have such a hard time remembering what everything is called, or when it’s right to use certain stuff, and I can’t seem to focus on those kinds of questions very well. I’m worried that I’m going to freak out and forget the stuff I do know.” Tony hated hearing the stress in his kid’s voice, and he opened an arm encouragingly. Peter sighed, but scooted over to lean against him.
“And I’m worried…” Peter trailed off, then took a breath and continued, “that I won’t be able to go to sleep tonight. I just keep thinking about all these details, and playing out scenarios in my head the last couple nights. Once I get to sleep it’s fine, but getting there is just hard for some reason. That’s why I’ve been patrolling more, probably, instead of even trying to go to bed early the last few nights. If I can get tired enough, it’s easier to fall asleep.”
Tony narrowed his eyes. He’d encouraged Peter not to study late, but it hadn’t occurred to him that he might have been Spider-manning on top of everything else he was dealing with. He should have assumed though, with the kid’s track record and sense of responsibility. Berating him now wouldn’t help anything.
“Well, that makes sense, but it’s not sustainable, bud. You need to be able to sleep even if you’re not falling over your own feet. Which isn’t a safe way to be superhero-ing it up, either, by the way,” he couldn’t help but add.
“I know that, Tony. I mean, of course I know that. I just can’t make it happen. Look who’s talking though,” he accused, without much humor. Tony’s intermittent sleep patterns were a subject of contention with anyone who knew and cared about him.
“I know. I’m really not the one to preach this particular sermon. But you’re still young and growing, and need more sleep than I do.” Peter’s silence hardly indicated agreement. “Have you talked to May at all about this? Does it happen really often, or just when there’s a lot going on?”
“A little. Not much. It happens other times, but it’s usually like one night out of five or six. Not every night for a week. It makes me anxious to even think about going to bed at this point.”
Tony felt his heart squeeze in sympathy. He knew these feelings all too well. “Sounds like we need to work on some coping skills for you, for the next time things get stressful. But for tonight, let’s just work on getting you to sleep however we can. Any ideas?”
Peter was quiet for a minute, and turned more fully into Tony’s shoulder. “I don’t want to go try in my room. Could I… maybe could I bring my pillow out here, and try to go to sleep on the couch while you watch TV or something? Are you busy? I mean, I could even try on the couch in your lab, if you need to work down there, I just… I just don’t wanna be alone, and sometimes it’s easier for my brain to check out if there’s stuff going on around me. Sometimes May will sit on the couch with me and do that if I’m having a hard time. But she’s working tonight, of course, which is why she asked if you could take me to the test site tomorrow, and—”
“Easy there, Underoos. Take a breath.” He could feel Peter huff slightly at the nickname. Tony had tried to phase it out, because the boy didn’t care for it, but it still slipped out here and there. “Of course you can sleep here. Go change and get your stuff.
A few minutes later, Peter plopped his soft down-filled pillow (the one with the gaudy Spider-man pillowcase—Tony hadn’t been able to resist buying that set when Pepper showed it to him, despite the copious amounts of embarrassed eye-rolling it netted him) halfway on the couch and halfway on Tony’s lap, the proceeded to shuffle and re-adjust for the next few minutes while Tony flipped through options on Netflix. He and FRIDAY had a system where she tracked his eyes and manipulated the menu system accordingly, obnoxious beeps not included. Man, he loved his AI.
And his Spider-kid, actually, but if the boy didn’t stop shifting the whole couch, he was going to have to go get some fresh air or something.
“Peter.”
“Huh?”
“Settle down. Pick a position and commit. I know you can do it.”
The teenager positively whined in annoyance. He was more tired than Tony had realized. Once Peter readjusted yet again and then stilled, Tony pulled a throw off the back of the couch and draped it over the young superhero, then broke out the secret weapon he’d discovered early on, and which May had confirmed was an essential Peter-wrangling tool. He let his fingers trail lightly through Peter’s hair, stroking at first, then at Peter’s sigh of contentment, alternated between rubbing his scalp in small circles and lightly scratching as he moved through it.
“ Love It or List It okay?” Tony asked, referring to the popular HGTV renovation show.
“Not really my favorite,” said Peter. But his voice was a little slurred. The soft touches seemed to be doing their job.
“That’s kinda the point. I don’t want anything that’s actually going to interest you and keep you awake,” Tony pointed out.
“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s right,” he said, the last word elongated with a yawn.
Ten minutes later, Peter was completely asleep, but Tony’s hands hadn’t stopped slipping through his soft curls.
Hopefully Peter’s sleep habits would settle down after his test tomorrow, and now that his midterms were over. The kid could obviously use some stress- and time-management skills though. He wondered if Peter would be open to chatting with a counselor about that. Or maybe even sitting down with Pepper to talk about the time-management stuff. Tony wasn’t the right one to help with any of that, obviously, but he knew lots of people who could.
Hmm. He should probably talk to May about it first. All of that fell more into the “Peter Parker,” rather than the “Spider-man” side of things that she’d asked him to take jurisdiction over. It’s not like he was Peter’s parent or anything. He blinked a little at that thought as he gently smoothed his fingers through the teenager’s hair, his head almost in Tony’s lap.
Then, quietly, to himself: “It’s not. Right?”