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Tony slowly took a breath, held it, then exhaled.
A simple and incredibly effective way to let his prodigy know he messed up . He cleared his throat and then began.
"Peter, why in the world would you even think about booking a driver's license test with absolutely no preparation whatsoever," paused, noticing the uneasy, fixed look on the teenager’s face, realizing he must've started to raise his voice.
Don’t act like Howard
With a slightly calmer tone he finished, “one week away in the first place…"
"Well, I thought my spider-sense would help me figure things out a lot quicker, but then there was this thing with MJ and I had to — "
Mr. Stark didn't let Peter finish the sentence.
"And now we are here. A day before the exam, and you can't drive for your damn life."
The man was right and Peter knew that. He couldn't argue the fact that when he booked that exam, he didn't think it through at all.
Peter recalled the last time he sat behind the wheel, when he "borrowed" Flash's car during The Vulture Incident, spectacularly crashing into everything standing in the car's way. Some videos of the occurrence were still going around on YouTube gaining massive amounts of views.
He twitched when Mr. Stark’s voice roused him from his thoughts.
"Driving a car is not something you learn in one evening, Peter," Tony said as he swung his palm against the cheap, scratched in every place possible, dashboard.
Tony didn't have the patience to teach a barely 16 year old kid how to drive a car this day. Of all 365 days Peter could choose to call him up, this one was close to being just the worst one for any kind of bonding. Hell, even without including the fact he has been awake for 72 hours, his day still would've been extraordinarily, annoyingly tedious. Stark Industries' stock rates were falling. Not by much, in Tony’s opinion, but enough for the board to call in a meeting, which, of course, Pepper made him attend. To add to the number of idiots he had to deal with, there was also an encounter with Thaddeus Ross who he had yet to discuss a few aspects of accords with, and the press who was apparently foolish enough to believe the Avengers could be a thing again or, what's probably even worse, tried to prove Steve Rogers was not a war criminal by blaming it all on Tony. Oh well, he wouldn't put it beneath them.
And then, when people were finally done with dragging Tony through all of the mud and the man could finally get his much-needed rest - that was when he got a call from his newly acquired, and obviously panicked at the time of the call, mentee, asking him for help with a classical, teenager kind of problem. Tony couldn't just leave him like that, to deal with it all on his own, when he was actually putting in the effort to build some kind of a relationship. Could he?
Don't act like Howard
"Alright kid, that's not gonna do. Get out." He ordered with a steady but firm tone.
"But Mr. Stark, I can't just fail the exam. Please, my aunt is going to murder me if I fail." Peter cried out in an attempt to protest but Mr. Stark was already standing outside the vehicle and shutting the door.
"She wouldn't and you won't. Now, do you want my help or not, because I don't have all evening."
Funnily enough, he would absolutely spend the entire Friday night helping out the kid if that's what it took. It didn't mean, however, that Tony was jumping with excitement at the idea of yet another night overdosing on coffee. But Peter didn't have to know that.
"But — "
"Just scoot over here," the man interrupted once again. Only then did Peter start scrambling out of his aunt's old vehicle and followed his mentor heading towards the tower's garage.
Once they were inside, Peter couldn't help but swallow a metaphorical gulp. If he ever forgot who he was talking to, a quick, nonchalant showcase of a small, tiny fraction of the billionaire's property was more than enough of a reminder. Shoot, what must have the man been thinking when he was inside the Parkers' car, one that was probably older than Peter himself and fixed by him and Ben more times than he and Ned had watched a certain space-connected series.
He tensed up, feeling incredibly out of place in the garage full of Audis, Teslas, and Ferraris. Every single one of which was probably worth more money than his Aunt's entire apartment. Peter could swear he felt the sudden tension filling the air on his skin.
When Mr. Stark found the keys to the right Audi, he turned back in the direction of the vehicles. Tony ran his hand over his face, rubbing the goatee, and muttered something along the lines of "I can't believe I am encouraging the kid to cheat", only audible to Peter thanks to his enhanced senses, to which he couldn't help but knit his eyebrows together.
"Alright Roos, follow me."
The backlights of a black, shiny Audi blipped, and the teenager did just what he was told to do, silently. Seeing Mr. Stark was about to get in on the side of the driver's seat, Peter went for the passenger's one. Once they were both in the car, Mr. Stark begun his lecture:
"Alright, let's get this straight. Passing tomorrow's test means nothing. You get the paper, and that's it. You are staying away from these babies." He made an air cycle movement with his finger as if he wanted to point at every single one of the vehicles in the garage.
"Or actually, here comes a better idea: you stay away from any car as a driver until we get this mess of yours under control". This time Mr. Stark pointed his finger at Peter.
He frowned once again as he made an attempt to comprehend what the man was saying. 'We?' or 'lay a finger on any of these babies?' There was no possible way Mr. Stark was saying what the teen would normally assume he was saying, but it's not like Peter would dare to ask a follow up question at the moment. He figured he must have misunderstood something, and questioning the man about it would only make him look stupid.
"Alright, is that part of the deal clear? I don't want any texts from Auntie Hottie scolding me for whatever car-connected thing you did when I was apparently the one helping you out."
A gentle nod from the Peter, eyes fixed on Mr. Stark "Yes sir."
"Alright, good, great even. So how about I cut to the chase." Mr. Stark began to explain how to operate the car. As it turned out, the man would let Peter use the vehicle. For the exam only if he understood correctly.
The evil, mischievous plan was apparently letting an AI pass the test instead of Peter, just so that he can elude the wrath of his aunt. And then he would have to take proper lessons with… that was yet to be decided.
Despite Tony's claims that he would only explain the basics in around half an hour, then wrap it all up and head out to continue whatever they were both doing before meeting up, which, in Tony's case, was him getting his much-needed rest, it was now midnight and the two still didn't finish.
It wasn't as exhausting as Tony would have expected. The kid caught on really quickly, not that it was much of a surprise, and he ended up actually teaching Peter the basics of operating a traditional car. Just in case, you never know what kind of assessor is going to examine your skills. Tony also asked the teen every single question the examiner could come up with, ending up with Peter memorizing every single one of those. All in all, he felt like he was doing a pretty damn good job.
Peter didn't speak a lot throughout the entire thing. Silence was a gift when one was unbelievably tired. Tony, though, learned early on that his prodigy was hardly ever quiet, usually rambling about some silly thing that had happened that day or something sciencey he had his mind currently fixated on. While it was certainly unnatural to not have his ear being talked off by the teen, he just passed it off as 'Peter being tired or stressed out about the exam'. Tony didn't even tease the kid whenever the boy slipped, miscalling a steering wheel a windmill for starters.
As much as he tried to be understanding and ignore the little things, he was quite bothered by his mentee calling him "sir". Considering he and the kid were nowhere near to being strangers, the whole thing hit just a little too close to home to the pity of a relationship he had with his own father and the way Tony was always asked to refer to him.
Don't act like Howard
——————————
Around 2 A.M. the kid started having more and more slip-ups with things that, mind you, he was able to nail just a few hours before. Despite his best attempts, Peter couldn't mask his exhaustion anymore, at all. It got to the point where Tony couldn't help but intervene, cutting their lesson 'short'.
"Alright, great job Ragnoo, that's it for today. Done, Finito. There are only so many parallel parking maneuvers attempts I can take on one evening." Failed parallel parking maneuver attempts, as of this moment, went unsaid. Not that it mattered. Tony would teach the kid how to do those soon enough. Just not today.
They stepped out onto the parking lot, and Tony instructed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to have the car drive itself into the garage. He fully expected Peter to start talking, now that he doesn't have to concentrate on driving, to start going off like he usually does.
A few minutes passed.
Crickets.
There was not a single sound coming from his mentee. Hell, he even walked soundlessly, and that wasn't something people did without putting in some effort. That was a no can do for Tony.
"May sent me a text about an hour ago. She doesn't want you swinging at this hour. And I fully agree with her, seeing the state you're in right now," the older man broke the silence.
"Alright so… how am I supposed to get home…," Peter made a quick pause before deciding on how to finish the sentence. "sir? I guess I could technically just drive myself there but…"
"Pete, if you think I'm gonna let you get your scrawny self anywhere on your own right now, you are, truly, giving DUM-E a run for his money. You look like you're about to pass out, kid." Peter started to raise a finger to protest.
"Seriously, if I didn't know you any better I would just straight up assume you're high" Mr. Stark added teasingly. "There is a guest room, right next to Vision's quarters. You could stop by for the night. Then, when you actually can think clearly, we'll talk about you using a car again." He says fully expecting the teen to be thrilled by the offer.
But Peter simply lurks sideways at the billionaire and nods. Silently.
"You're killing me here kid, you playing the Quiet game or what?"
"So sorry sir-"
"Don't apologize. And where has the sir business come from? I thought we were way past that" Mr. Stark jovially nudged his arm.
Despite the friendly nature of the statement, Peter couldn’t help but feel a little extra anxious. He didn't upset Mr. Stark, did he? The man did say he didn't have much time this evening after all, and Peter has just taken out roughly 7 hours of Mr. Stark's timetable. He would have every right to be annoyed with Peter. Damn it, he messed up. And right when things started working out between the two of them. His lungs felt as if his asthma had never gone away.
"Sorr-" he cut himself off "I'm sure you had other plans for tonight. I… didn't mean to… you know… Invade your schedule like that"
"Is that what it's about? Oh thank lord, I was starting to think you were hiding some lethal injury" Tony stopped, turning his head towards Peter. "You think you made my plan for the day go off the rails?" A second of silence. "Ok, you did do that, but only because I let you."
"Why would you do that Mr. Stark? I mean you're … you and what I had a problem with isn't even the Spider-Man kind of problem, it's just… a 'your average teen one’" the kid winced as if something else was on his mind that he wanted to say.
"Oh sure, because every 'your average teen' gets to hang out with the Tony Stark"
Peter's cheeks flushed. And that's when it hit Tony. Everything was fine before they entered the garage, so the obvious conclusion would be that the cause of their problem was there. And the question of what could cause it had a quite obvious answer. Additionally, Tony spent quite a lot of time interjecting Peter’s sentences. He couldn’t even blame the kid for thinking he was irritating or bothering him just now, taking into account that Peter didn't have the confidence of his mentor.
You’re just like Howard.
“Shit Pete. I’m probably not the best person to talk emotions with. I think I'm starting to understand why there is a Ph.D. for that.” Tony laughed. He was at a loss for words for the first time in years, and that said something about the situation.
“I might’ve been a little distant today. What happened before we met up shouldn't have affected you in any way, so I am sorry for making you feel less because of that.”
"Mr. Stark you really don't have to apologize, I promise it's nothing. And I really shouldn’t have disturbed you because I messed up, you know”
"And this ‘nothing’ got your feathers ruffled all over?” He questioned. “What I meant to say is, you're an amazing kid, and I'm glad I got to meet you and be your mentor. And I really want you to feel like you can come to me with whatever problem you’re having."
Peter raised his eyes at Tony's face, and the man could vow he saw all the stars around them suddenly gathering in the teen’s confining, bambi eyes.
"The guest room offer still stands, but If you are more comfortable going back home, I can get someone to drive you back to your apartment, no problem.” Tony assured the kid, firmly placing his hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Mr. Stark, I would have to be crazy to refuse something like this. It’s so awesome to just be in here, not to mention having a sleepover.”
“Sure.” He replied dryly. Tony would not call it a sleepover, but he did just get the kid out of his shell, so he isn't about to have Peter backtrack right in there for the second time.
They still had a few minutes of walking left until they would reach the living quarters. Peter couldn't help but notice how the moon and stars shone brighter against the darkened sky here than back in Queens. It was like a peaceful oasis away from the chaos of city life, not a single thing to make his senses go off. By no means was this his first time at the compound, but he has never gotten to see it in the dead of night when there was no one else around, and that, was an amazing experience.
He mentioned it briefly to Mr. Stark, to which in response he got an offer for 'date nights with the lab'. That talking about technology, which led to science, ending up with talking about Peter's education.
"Oh and you know, there was this really cool question on Aca Dec today, about the human's eye's FPS? And apparently, it's around 200. The higher the number the more details in our surroundings we notice. And after the bite I started seeing everything way too detailed so maybe I just have increased FPS instead of the field of vision. How would you even check something like that, actually? And also —”