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There is tension. They are not doing anything about it, but they cannot deny it.
Between swinging and college, he spends the rest of his time in Tony’s lab and more often than not Tony is accompanying him there, in another corner, but he works along him.
Sometimes they even work together, when Peter just cannot figure out what the problem is, for example right now - his newest version of webshooters are not shooting anything. Which makes them quite useless. He has spent hours on them already, deconstructing them multiple times, just to put them together again and surprise – it is still not working.
Of course, he is not asking for any help. He is way too stubborn. And he just can’t waste Tony’s time like that.
But Tony isn’t blind. The kid is not doing anything productive, he is fumbling around with a webshooter and hasn’t done anything new since hours. Tony knows how one looks who is stuck in a lab block (patent on this word is owned by Stark Industries).
Sometimes things are not working out like you want them to work and then you get frustrated. He waits for thirty minutes, thinking that the kid may ask for help, but Tony knows deep down that Peter is too proud for that.
Thus, he asks.
“Do you need help, kid?”
He sighs, even though he is grateful that Tony has pity with him.
“I guess there is a problem. The fluid isn’t coming out and I don’t get why. I’ve checked the opening multiple times, the filter too, it didn’t help.”
“You can choose now: I can look over it OR you and me are taking a short break. Sometimes your mind just has to get away from the table.”
“Excuse me? Who are you and what have you done to Tony Stark? Getting away from lab voluntarily?”
“I am learning from my mistakes. And some advice from my friends – including you – helped me realise that you cannot fix everything in a lab.”
Peter is not blushing when Tony Stark calls him his friend. Not at all. They are there yet after all.
“Maybe we should go upstairs for a second and get some drinks. I have orange juice boxes for you,” he suggests cheekily.
Peter looks at him deadpanned. “At least I am getting vitamins.”
“Do you know how many vegetables and fruits are in my breakfast smoothies? More than you eat in a week, you greasy teenager.”
“I’m an adult.”
“Nu-uh. Nineteen. NineTEEN,” he says with a grin while pressing the button for the elevator. The sting in his heart which comes with the reminder of Peter’s youth is ignored (like always).
Peter mumbles something Tony cannot quite catch, but he counts it as a win anyway.
When they reached the kitchen, Tony gives him of course not a child-like orange juice box. He squeezes some oranges just for him. Respectively, a machine does it for him. Nothing beats a fresh glass of juice. And Tony tells him just that.
“Do you hear that? There is crying. It’s from the cheeseburgers you just betrayed,” says Peter with a grin.
“Oh god, no. Do you think the gods forgive me?”
“Just give Thor a call.”
They fall into a comfortable silence during the drinking – Tony is looking out of the window, observing the skyscrapers next to the tower and busy streets in the distance.
Peter, however, looks at him.
Tony is beautiful. Lately, their superhero job is not as stressful as it used to be and it is obvious that all the time off does wonders to him. His eyebags are not so prominent anymore, he seems to sleep more and is sassy, but not mean.
A few weeks ago, he apologized for taking the suit away at the ferry incident. Peter was so surprised he was speechless for a few seconds before he assures him that he holds no grudge for that and there is no need for an apology.
Peter still remembers how terrible he had felt back then, but he cannot be angry at Tony for long. And he had a good reason – he couldn’t have foreseen what would happen. Peter had told him as much, but Tony couldn’t be reassured.
When Tony felt bad about himself, nothing could convince him otherwise. Peter had never realised it before, but since they are working together more regularly, it became obvious.
Which is a shame, because Peter thought that there is no greater man than Tony Stark.
He refrained from telling him that though, because it would be too embarrassing.
Tony takes a last sip and then he looks at him again – Peter is lucky that he can interpret body language so well, he looked away before Tony could have caught him staring.
“Our brains have reset themselves now. Let’s have a look at the webshooter. And let me help.”
Peter mumbles that age must be getting to him now, but he is lucky enough that Tony doesn’t hear it.
They go the elevator again and when he presses the button, his thoughts are already on the webshooter and how they can fix it.
∆
Together, they figure out which wire was wrongly connected and his new version of the webshooter is ready to be tested. First in the lab, later he would take it out to patrol. Tony doesn’t have a proper training room in the lab, but for web-testing he is way too lazy to go a few floors down to the proper room.
He uses a part of a free wall – which he is lucky to find, to be honest – and fires a few times on it. The webs look like they usually would, but the intention of the update was that they can fire quicker. Peter is not really sure that they really do.
“FRIDAY? Can you please measure the time from pushing the button till the webs reach the wall?”
“Of course, Peter.”
In the beginning, FRIDAY had always called him Mr. Parker, but Peter had forbidden that when he became a regular visitor. It just feels so wrong.
After Tony had helped him fixing the webshooter, he said he would work on his own projects again. That was clearly a lie – currently he sat on a couch near the wall Peter tested the webs on and watched him. He tried not to be distracted by that, but it is Tony Stark; you cannot expect much from Peter.
He shot a few times, always getting the same time from FRIDAY, so he put the new version back on the table and tried it with the old version.
Again, he shot three times and got the same time for every try – indeed they are a bit slower than the new ones. But not by much, just 0.5 seconds. He had hoped for more.
With a sigh he puts the old version away too and sits down next to Tony.
“I thought it would make a bigger difference.”
“At least you made some progress. Imagine after all that work, there wouldn’t be one. 0.5 seconds are 0.5 seconds. They will save a life someday.”
“If I could get them to be faster, they could save a life now and not someday.”
“You cannot do something great at the first try. You already have done something great by inventing these webshooters on your own, back then, when you didn’t have me.”
Peter’s dreams sometimes revolved around Tony having him. Having his wicked ways. He blushes, but maybe if he ignores it, Tony will too.
“You made the first Iron Man suit in a cave.”
“And before I shipped weapons to dozens of countries and thousands of civilians were killed with it.”
Of course, Peter knew that, but Tony has never said it directly before. He cannot answer anything meaningful.
“Everybody makes mistakes, some graver than others. But you are doing good. You do everything you can, it’s all one can ask for.”
He smiles shyly at that, but doesn’t really know how to respond.
“You are the best of us all. I’m glad the spider bit someone with your personality, a human who is good deep down.”
Peter giggles. Fucking giggles. Because he cannot cope with compliments, especially not from Tony Stark. His face is probably completely red now.
Tony chuckles, so his hope that the blush may not be visible fades. Peter ducks into the soft couch, but there is no escape.
“You are so busy. I remember college even stressing me out – but you still make it possible to be good there, good in the lab and good at protecting your neighbourhood. Is there anything you aren’t good at?”
God, the implication. Peter sees how Tony’s eyes sparkle, he knows exactly which innuendos he is making. Tony is shifting more towards him and visibly enjoys the obvious discomfort Peter radiates. Probably he likes to see him suffer.
Peter stutters and is uncomfortable as hell, but not because he feels intimidated – quite the contrary. It’s too good. This is the stuff from his dreams. And when Tony is concerned, these are really dirty. He can already feel his cock throb when Tony talks like this.
He mumbles that he doesn’t deserve the praise, but Tony shakes his head before his sentence ends. Peter wants to protest, but when he looks him in the eyes, he stops.
They are closer than before. Tony looks in his eyes too and when Peter opens his mouth, he closes it immediately again. There is nothing he can say right now. It would destroy the moment. He is not moving at all – everything he does now will destroy it.
He can see a hint of uncertainty in Tony’s face, but Peter shakes slightly his head and comes even closer. He may fuck up their relationship right now, but cannot take it anymore.
Watching out that he is not caught when he stares at Tony is exhausting. He wants to look at him all day.
Thank God, Tony does not only save the world regularly, but also him.
Carefully he places a hand on Peter’s cheek and pulls him more towards him, they are maybe one and a half inches apart. Peter is not reacting, just staring at Tony’s lips.
Tony kisses him. He takes lead easily, puts a hand in Peter’s hair like he knows intuitively that Peter loves that.
Peter hasn’t dared to move an inch until now, but at this moment he feels like he is allowed to touch. He relocates closer to Tony, not straddling him quite yet, but he isn’t far away from it, putting one hand on his back, feeling up all the delicious muscles which are waiting for him there.
They make out for minutes, Tony is not stopping and hell, Peter won’t stop him. He had dreamed of this, but he never had imagined this could happen.
All the tension always had been there, not made up by him like Peter had thought.
But they can’t kiss forever. When Tony pulls away, Peter is worried for a second.
He is met with a wide grin which reaches Tony’s eyes, a rare treasure.
“Not bad for my age, mh?”
All worry eases up from Peter’s stomach when he is pulled in for a kiss again.