Archive of Our Own ^beta

Author's Note

• People keep asking me for a sequel to More Than An Intern so they can see more of Peter and Tim’s shenanigans.  If you haven’t read that short fic, I highly recommend doing so before reading this one.
• What you’re in for: mostly crack!fluff and shenanigans.  A little angst near the end.  Warning: Panic attack and one quick mention of throwing up.
• Cozytober 2023 prompts used: 1. Favorite warm sweatshirt, 6. Cool rainy days, 20. Coffee, 23. Fresh baked muffins, 23. Blueberry pancakes, 27. Black cats, 27. Bad luck, Alt Prompt 1. Coming home to family to relax after a wild day.

ONE - Pumpkin Spice Latte

“Are you really gonna make me go over it again with you Underoos?  You live here most of the time now.  You’re practically my kid.  I’d adopt you if I could.”

“But- I’m not… not really.”

After Tony had come into Peter’s life and Peter had started spending some nights on lab days and some weekends, May had taken a job as a traveling nurse.  She was home three months of the year, which were months Peter spent with her in their apartment in Queens.  The other nine months of the year (August to April), he spent living with Tony and Pepper, either in the penthouse in the tower or at the compound.

“Yeah Roo, you are.”

Peter woke suddenly and frowned, wondering what had woken him.  He was certain it was a loud noise, but his bedroom was silent, and he couldn’t hear anything beyond the soundproof door Tony had installed.  Peter stretched lazily and then glanced at the clock on his nightstand.  It was almost six and was time to get up anyway.

He slid out of bed and started rummaging through his closet, coming out with a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and his favorite soft hoodie.  Rain was spattering the floor to ceiling windows behind his bed and dripping down the panes.  He loved fall, but he didn’t enjoy the chilly air and rain which always left him cold and shivering since he couldn’t thermoregulate.  He rooted around for a pair of warm fuzzy socks in the wardrobe and then pulled those on too.

“Roo, you up yet?” Tony called, knocking on his door and opening it an inch so Peter could hear him.

Peter went to the door and pulled it open.  “I’m up Mr. Stark.”  He yawned.  He’d really love to have a cup of coffee, but FRIDAY was under strict instructions not to allow Peter to use the coffee pot in the penthouse.  He had tried to outsmart her by taking the coffee pot into his room, but wherever he tried to plug it in, she turned off the power to that outlet.  Tim, Peter had found out, was also being monitored by FRIDAY.  He was no longer allowed to get coffee from anywhere in the building, and it was a rare occurrence that Tim could sneak into the building with coffee now.  It had become a running joke with security that they had been instructed to stop Tim and search his bag or sniff any liquids he brought into the tower to be certain they didn’t contain caffeine.

Really, Peter thought, he worked best caffeinated.  Mr. Stark was under the impression that Peter couldn’t handle caffeine, and that he bounced off the walls or got all his worst ideas when he was caffeinated, but Peter didn’t think that was true.  He did think it was hypocritical, considering how much coffee Mr. Stark drank on a daily basis.  Peter had half a mind to swap out all the ground coffee in the tower for decaf and let him think he was just getting caffeine.  It would serve him right.

“Roo, what’s that look for?” Tony asked as he watched Peter stuff books and homework into his backpack.

“Hm?  Nothing,” Peter said with a little grin.

“I know that look.  That’s the look you get when you’re plotting something.”

Peter flashed him another smile.

“C’mon kid, I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast.”

“Are they edible?” Peter teased as he followed him out of his room and into the kitchen.  He set his bag on the floor by the kitchen island and passed Tony to go for the coffee pot.  Peter reached for it, knowing Tony would stop him.

“Ah ah,” Tony said.  He put a cup of apple juice into Peter’s hand, put both hands on Peter’s shoulders and turned him to redirect him towards a stool at the kitchen island.

“Hey, I had to try,” he said with a grin.

“Yeah, I know.  How’s that working out for you by the way?”

“Oh, I get coffee every morning after I leave for school,” Peter said, and tried not to smile when Tony gave him a scrutinizing look.

“Yeah, no, I don’t believe you.”

Peter shrugged and started cutting up the stack of blueberry pancakes Tony had made.  They were better than edible, and Peter appreciated that he’d taken the time to make breakfast for him.  Pepper usually made breakfast on weekends, and the rest of the week Peter ate cereal or waffles before he left for school.  It was raining outside though, and just thinking about the rain made Peter feel cold despite that the penthouse was kept at a comfortable warm temperature.  Having a hot breakfast like this warmed him up.

“Grab a coat before you leave,” Tony told him as Peter finished up his pancakes.  “It’s supposed to rain all day.”

“I will.”

Tony passed him, cup of hot coffee in hand, and ran his fingers through Peter’s hair once on his way by before disappearing into the master bedroom, probably to get ready for the day himself.

Peter took his plate to the sink and rinsed off the syrup, and then spied the coffee pot, which was still half full.  He pulled out a mug and reached for the coffee pot, but a loud alarm and flashing lights started going off all over the penthouse.

“Roo!” Tony called from the master bedroom.

“FRIDAY cut it out!” he said, irritated, and returned his empty mug to the cabinet.  The flashing lights and siren stopped, and Peter glared up at the ceiling.  He went back into his room to pull on a coat, then grabbed his backpack and got into the elevator.  If Tony wanted to play coffee police, Peter would find another way to get what he wanted.

* * *

“Hey Happy, can we go by Starbucks on the way to school?”

Happy had the audacity to snort from the driver seat.  “Yeah right kid.”

“I don’t want coffee,” Peter lied, “I want to buy some muffins to take to school for my friends.”

“We can do that at a bakery.”

“Ok,” Peter hedged, thinking he’d have to follow through with his lie now.  “Can we go to a bakery then?”

Happy glanced at the car clock and then turned a corner.  “There’s one nearby.”

Peter sighed heavily and slouched down in his seat.  He was going to have to get creative with this.

* * *

“What is that?” Peter pointed at a clear cup MJ was holding.  He knew what it was as soon as he got near her.  It smelled like spices, sugar and coffee.  He’d been trying to get to a coffee shop for days now, but had been thwarted at every turn.  Apparently Karen was snitching anytime he got anywhere near a coffee shop in his suit, or with his suit in his bag, and Tony had some kind of tracker installed on his phone as well.  He’d found that out the hard way when he’d decided to walk home with Ned the day before and grab coffee on the way.  Happy had rolled up behind them just as they neared the coffee shop and said, “You weren’t planning on going in there were you?  Tony will complain at me for weeks if I let you grab coffee on my watch.”

“Come on Happy, this is not your watch.  It’s after school and I told you I didn’t need a ride home.”

“Yeah, and I was out anyway and got a text from FRIDAY saying you were making a beeline for a coffee shop.  Jig’s up kid.”

Peter was frustrated, and felt it was distinctly unfair that his friends be allowed to grab coffee on the way to school, or whenever they wanted, and he wasn’t.

“Just because your dad is a control freak doesn’t mean we should have to suffer with you,” MJ said.

“He’s not a control freak,” Peter muttered, feeling irritated as she took a sip in front of him.  “Hey, if I give you money will you get a second one of those next time you go?  I’ll buy for you too.”

“Don’t do it,” Ned advised as they walked towards their first period class.  “He has eyes everywhere.”

“Ugh, come on,” Peter pleaded.  “That smells amazing.  Can I just have a sip?”

MJ cradled the coffee close to herself protectively and said, “Hands off my pumpkin spice latte.  Don’t you have an intern to get you coffee?”

Ned laughed.  “They’ve been checking him on his way into Stark Industries every afternoon.”

MJ frowned.  “And what, you can’t have him do a coffee drop somewhere near Midtown?”

Peter frowned.  “Like… a drug drop?”

“Oooh, you could use that one alley,” Ned said.  “You know the one.”  Yeah, Peter knew the one.  There was an alley he liked to change in not too far from Midtown if he was going out to patrol after school.  MJ still didn’t know he was Spider Man and Peter appreciated that Ned was trying to be discreet.

“I don’t know whether to be disturbed or intrigued that you two have a specific alley locked down for a clandestine coffee drop.”

Ned and Peter shared a sideways glance and grin with each other.  “We could start a coffee trafficking ring,” Peter said.

“Are you sure your dad isn’t recording your conversations through your phone?” MJ asked.

“He’s not my dad,” Peter reminded her.

“That’s not what Flash says.”

Peter frowned.  Flash had been telling people that Tony was Peter’s dad, though Peter didn’t know why.  He assumed it had something to do with the field trip the month before, but wasn’t quite sure.  Flash was still a jerk to him at school, though he was no longer calling him Penis.  Peter figured if Flash thought Peter was Tony’s son that his last name was Stark, and that Penis didn’t go as nicely with Stark as it did with Parker.

“I’m just staying there until May gets back.”

“And then when she leaves again you’re going right back.”

“Yeah.”

The memory of what Tony had told him two and a half months ago came back to mind.  Peter had been thinking about that a lot lately.  He’d even dreamed about it a few nights before.  “You’re practically my kid.  I’d adopt you if I could.”

Peter’s stomach squirmed at the thought.  Coffeeless or not, he really wanted that.  He wanted to be adopted by Tony, but was afraid to let himself want it, because it was never going to happen.  He was sure May wouldn’t go along with it if he asked her, and despite that Tony frequently called him his kid, and despite the jokes floating around the labs and between interns about Peter being called Stark Junior, he didn’t think Tony actually wanted to adopt him.  That would make Peter a real Stark, and the heir to Stark Industries.  There was no way Tony and Pepper were going to let that happen.

As they made it to English class, Peter sat down in his usual spot near the back and pulled out his cell phone.

‘Operation pumpkin spice latte:’ he typed out and sent to Tim. ‘I can’t even get near a coffee shop without Mr. Stark or Happy calling me or driving right to me.’

‘What’s the plan?’

‘Clandestine coffee drop near the school?  Can you do that?  I know you’re busy.’

‘My first class tomorrow isn’t until 10.  I can grab a coffee and get it to Midtown.  Time and place?’

‘7:45 in that alley behind Telly’s Laundromat.’

‘Done.’

Peter sat back, stretched his legs, and smiled to himself.  Tim was awesome.  Peter was going to let him choose the next project they worked on when he got to the tower later that afternoon.  Peter had chosen the last few, and they’d been helping Mr. Stark with a project before that.  If Tim could pull this off, Peter was going to help him build whatever he wanted in the lab.

* * *

‘PSL is a go.  On my way to the rendezvous.’

‘Awesome.’

“Hey uh, could you hurry up, Happy?”

“Are you telling me how to drive?  I don’t do backseat drivers kid.  You don’t even have a license yet.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Peter said.  “I just- I was going to go to class early and talk to a teacher about an upcoming project.”

“Traffic is heavy.  You’ll get there when you get there.”

“Right, ok.”

Peter fidgeted nervously in the backseat.  It was 7:40 and they were still five minutes from the school.  Peter was going to have to run several blocks to get to the alley where Tim would be waiting for him.  He was going to be late, and he was potentially going to be late getting back to Midtown.

Just as Happy pulled up in front of Midtown, his phone rang and he picked it up.  Peter reached for the back door as he heard Tony’s voice coming out of the speaker, but was stopped by Happy hitting the lock button on the side.  Peter pulled his hand back as though the door handle had bitten him.

“Hold it,” Happy said, looking up into the rearview mirror at Peter.  Peter looked up at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have Tim waiting for you a few blocks away with coffee?”

“What?”  Peter’s heart started racing.  “No, no, of course not.”  How did he know?  How did Tony know that?!

“You won’t mind waiting til a few minutes to eight then and going straight into the building.”

“Happy, this isn’t fair,” Peter said, and Happy responded by handing the cell phone straight back to him, Tony still on the line.

“Hey, don’t misuse your intern like that,” came Tony’s voice through the speaker.

“Mr. Stark- ok first off, how did you know?  Are you looking through my text messages?”

“No, that would be an invasion of privacy.”

Peter frowned.  “Ok, but stalking me isn’t?”

“Not stalking kid.  FRIDAY is watching traffic and security cameras across the city.”

“Specifically the ones near coffee shops?”

He could hear the smile on Tony’s face in his tone when he responded.  “She’s got the anti-coffee algorithm locked down.”

Peter groaned.  “Mr. Stark.  This really isn’t fair.”

“Tell you what, I’m game.  Figure out some other way to get your coffee that doesn’t involve misusing your intern outside of work hours.”

“Not really a game,” Peter mumbled.

“Sure it is.”

“Kid,” Happy said from up front, and pointed at the car clock.

“I gotta go Mr. Stark, or I’m gonna be late.”

“Straight to class, not to the alley,” Tony said.

“Yeah, ok.”

“Have a good day at school.”

“Thanks.”

Peter handed the phone back up to Happy and then bolted out of the car as soon as the lock on the door popped up.

On his way into the building he texted Tim.  ‘He’s got eyes everywhere.  He knew you were on your way to me with the coffee and I got busted.  Sorry I made you come all this way for nothing.’

‘Nah, this was just phase one,’ Tim texted back.  ‘We learn anything for next time?’

Yeah, Peter thought, and texted, ‘This is war.’

* * *

Peter came home with a note from his science teacher telling Tony that his new science project was about the chemical effects of coffee on the cardiovascular system.  Peter had been all set to do a project about green energy, but had changed it to this at the last second.

“Really kid?” Tony asked, holding up the note.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me, but this is the project I got approved to do.  I actually need a variety of coffee samples and some mice and some lab time approved for the chemistry labs.”

“Um hum.  I see one drop of coffee touch your tongue and I’ll come down to supervise all future coffee-related experiments.”

Peter held up his hands in an innocent gesture.  “It’s purely for schoolwork, I promise.”

Tony looked like he didn’t believe him.  Pepper had her hand up over her mouth at the dining table trying to hide a smile.

‘Operation PSL - Phase 1 complete,’ Peter texted Tim.

‘Phase 2?’

‘I’ll wait until after everyone is in bed.’

Later that night, Peter convinced FRIDAY that what he was about to do was fair, and not against Tony’s rules about Peter not having any coffee.  She gave him twenty minutes to complete his task and to prove all caffeinated coffee was disposed of, or else she was going to sound the alarm, which Peter was certain nobody would appreciate at two in the morning.

Peter snuck down through the tower to a low level business office and took several bags of decaf coffee from the staff room.  What they were even doing with decaf coffee, he didn’t know.  He couldn’t fathom why people would bother with coffee at all if it was lacking the critical component he craved.

Once he had the decaf coffee in hand, he went back up to the penthouse and dumped all of Tony’s fancy caffeinated ground coffee into a plastic bag.  It smelled amazing and he hated that he would have to throw it away or else have FRIDAY tattle on him.  Once the coffee can was empty, Peter dumped the decaf French roast into the coffee container.  Tony was drinking French roast and Peter had made sure to replace it with another French roast.  He knew it wouldn’t taste exactly the same, but was counting on FRIDAY to tell Tony that no one had tampered with his coffee supply.

“Three minutes Peter,” FRIDAY reminded him quietly from the ceiling.

“Yeah,” he whispered.

He tied the plastic sack full of perfectly good coffee up and then buried it in the bottom of the trash can.

Peter washed his hands and then went back to his bedroom.

“Are we good FRIDAY?” he asked.

“Yes Peter.  Thank you for complying with the ‘No coffee for spider babies protocol.’”

“Can I initiate a new protocol?”

“No.”

“Too bad,” he said, hands behind his head as he lay in bed.  “It’d be nice to have a no coffee for dads protocol.”

* * *

“You’re playing with fire,” Pepper told him the next morning.  It was Saturday, and Tony had gone down to his lab for a little while.

“Hm?” Peter asked, looking up from his plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.

“You switched his coffee out last night.”

Peter stared at her, open mouthed.  “How did you know?”

“FRIDAY.”

“FRIDAY,” Peter said, frustrated.  “You said you wouldn’t snitch this time.”

“I did not tell Boss.  However, I felt it prudent to inform Mrs. Boss.”

Peter grumbled as he moved his eggs around his plate with his fork.

“He noticed by the way,” she said.  “He said his coffee didn’t taste right and ordered more.  You’ll have to mix a little of the decaf into the jar each day until it’s all decaf so the change in taste is gradual.”

“You’re helping me?”

“I’ve been on him to cut back on caffeine for years.”

“It’s hypocritical right?” Peter said.  “I can’t have any but he can.”

“I’m with him by the way, on you not developing a caffeine habit.”

Peter grumbled again.  “I just want a pumpkin spice latte.  It’s not a habit to have some coffee every once in a while.”

“It’s not,” she said.  “You’ll have to talk him into it though.  Oh, and don’t forget to swap out the coffee in the cupboard in his lab.”

She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly, and then left him to finish his breakfast.

Peter pulled out his phone to text Tim.  He was going to need Tim to get him some more decaf French roast.  He could swing over to the university with his backpack and get the decaf from him there.  As long as all he had with him was decaf, and he wasn’t trying to brew it in the tower, Peter figured FRIDAY wouldn’t tell on him, especially not now that he had Pepper’s blessing to continue swapping out Tony’s coffee.

* * *

Peter and Tim stared down at the little clear plastic dishes full of coffee grounds.

“He’s kidding, right?” Tim asked with a frown.

“No, but we knew he’d do this,” Peter said.  They were in a small chemistry lab they’d been given access to so Peter could do his science project.  In front of him were ten tiny plastic dishes, each with less than a quarter teaspoon of ground coffee.  Altogether it wasn’t enough to make a cup.  It was just enough to make a miniscule amount to feed to a few mice.

Peter’s plan was to get Tony so focused on his science project, thinking that Peter was going to sneak some of this coffee away to drink, that he wouldn’t focus on Peter’s other efforts to obtain coffee.  Now that Tony knew about their prank with the Apple products, he was keeping an extra close eye on Peter and Tim and the things they brought into the tower.

“Phase three?” Tim asked as Peter started heating up some water to start his experiments.

“Phase three is a go.”

* * *

Phase three involved Tim coming in and out of the tower frequently.  He’d come in at 3:55 PM with an empty backpack, then head back out at 4:30 PM for a few minutes and come back with a bag full of ground coffee, or with a drink in hand that looked like coffee but wasn’t, or with other coffee related items like coffee filters, or internal pieces to a coffee machine.

Tony was convinced Peter was trying to have Tim smuggle in a coffee pot one part at a time and that he was going to try brewing coffee in a janitor’s closet somewhere.  It was all going according to plan.  Tony was focused on the science experiment, and Tim and whatever Tim brought to the tower in the bag.  What he wasn’t focused on was how he was no longer getting his caffeine high from his own coffee, or the fact that Peter was paying random kids from the AcaDec team to bring him a Pumpkin Spice Latte in the morning before school.  So much money was floating around the AcaDec team that Principal Morita caught wind of it and thought there might be a drug problem and came to check backpacks one afternoon.  He found several kids with twenty dollar bills, but no drugs.

“What’s going on here?” Mr. Morita asked the team.  He’d even given Mr. Harrington a weird look like maybe he was somehow involved.

“Peter’s addicted to coffee,” Abe said, as though that was enough of an explanation.

“Abe,” Peter and Ned groaned.  The last thing Peter needed was for the principal to call Tony.

“Come again?”

Abe clamped his mouth shut.  MJ thought the whole thing was ridiculous though and decided to tell Mr. Morita.  “Peter’s dad won’t let him have coffee and is stalking him to make sure he doesn’t get any.  So Peter pays kids here to bring him pumpkin spice latte before school.”

“Oh, is that all,” Mr. Morita huffed.  He frowned at Peter, hands on his hips, and then turned and left them to their practice.  Peter thought Mr. Harrington might question him about it, but like the others on the team, he’d seen Tony march up to Peter and take the coffee Tim had brought him during the field trip.

“Can we get back to practice now?” Mr. Harrington asked, and everyone settled down.  Peter glanced at Flash and frowned.  He didn’t like the look Flash was giving him.  He didn’t like it at all.

* * *

It was probably a move to get into Tony’s good graces, Peter thought.  Or it was just Flash being a jerk.  Someone (he assumed Flash) had sent an anonymous email to Stark Industries, which made its way to Tony after a few days, about Peter paying classmates to get him coffee.

“Good try kid, but the game is over.  No more coffee for you.”

“Mr. Stark,” Peter whined, letting his head fall forward.  “You drink tons of coffee.”

“Yeah, and eventually you become immune.  Coffee isn’t even doing it for me anymore.”

“So, let me become immune.”

“Nuh uh,” he pointed at the cup of hot chocolate he’d made for Peter to soften the blow that he’d found out about Peter’s illegal coffee ring.  “Drink your hot chocolate.  You’re not allowed to use your debit card at the ATM anymore by the way.  No cash, no paying classmates for coffee.”

“I’m not misusing my intern,” Peter pointed out.  “You said to figure out some way that’s not misusing my intern outside of work hours and you’d let me have coffee.”

“Not what I said, but good try though.  I said I was game for you trying.  Game’s over now.  Seriously kiddo, what is it with you and coffee?”

Peter couldn’t explain it to him.  At first it was just about the caffeine.  He liked to feel a little wired and ready to go before working in the lab, or after he woke up feeling groggy in the morning.  At some point it had become about the cat and mouse game with Tony though.  He liked trying to outsmart him, and coming up with new ways to do that with his friends.  In the end he didn’t say any of it to Tony as he sat next to him on the couch watching a movie, waiting for Pepper to get home from a late meeting she was at.

Peter was lucky to get to spend time with Tony at all.  He was the owner of the world’s largest tech company, and despite that he wasn’t the CEO, he was often busy in R and D or in meetings.  He was lucky that Tony carved out time for him to work in the lab together or do things on evenings and weekends, especially given Peter wasn’t his son.  Tony had let Peter stay when May had gone off to work as a traveling nurse, and that was more than Peter had ever expected.  May told him frequently when she called about how lucky he was to get to stay in New York instead of moving around with her.

He was lucky.  He knew that.  He was disappointed that the game of ‘get the coffee’ with his ‘not dad’ seemed to be at an end though.  Tony would only be mad if he kept going with it now that he’d been told once and for all to stop.

* * *

Peter should have known better than to go to school when he felt like this.  He’d woken up with a headache and feeling like he hadn’t slept at all, even though he knew he had.  Days like this were destined to go bad from the start.  Parker luck was like that.

Peter was presenting his science project on coffee and the cardiovascular system that day, so he pushed through the pressure building up in his head and got dressed to head to school.  This morning he was on his own because Tony and Pepper had both needed to leave early for a day full of meetings.

“You ok?  You’re looking kind of rough,” Happy commented as he drove Peter to school forty five minutes later.

“Yeah,” Peter mumbled.  He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool glass.  This was going to be one of those days when his senses were going to act up, he could tell.  Daylight was just a little too bright, the noises of the city around him just a little too loud.  His head was throbbing to the beat of his heart, and Peter wished more than anything that he could just ask Happy to take him home.  The presentation portion of his science project was worth half the grade of his project though, and he was scheduled to present that day.

Happy dropped Peter off at school and Peter dragged his feet getting up the steps and inside.  A black cat almost tripped him just before he made it to the front door of the building, and Peter pulled back just before stepping on it.  The cat hissed and raced away, winding through the legs of other students.

Peter huffed and pulled the door open to go inside.  The moment Ned saw him a few minutes later at his locker, he said, “Dude, you look awful.  Are you ok?”

“Yeah, m’fine.  Just have a headache.”

“A headache headache, or a sensory headache?”

“Mmm, I’m still deciding.”

“You should just go home.”

“Can’t.  I have a presentation in science.”

“The mice thing?”

“Yeah.”

“That sucks,” Ned said.  “You could go home after though, right?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“It’s probably a caffeine withdrawal after all the coffee he’s been drinking,” MJ said, coming up behind them.  Her locker was just a few lockers down from Peter’s.  “Noticed you haven’t been drinking coffee for the past few days.”

He shrugged again.  “I got tired of pumpkin spice latte,” he lied.

They headed to their first period English class together and Peter was grateful his headache didn’t advance to a sensory overload.  The classroom lights were still too bright for him, and the noises of people shuffling their feet and the rustling of papers was grating on his nerves, but he could handle it.  He was tired though, and started to wish for a cup of coffee more and more as the day dragged on.  He could barely keep his eyes open through second period Spanish, and put barely any effort in during gym class.

“When is your presentation?” Ned asked him at lunch.

“Right after lunch.  I’ll make it,” Peter said, resting his head on his arms on the cafeteria table and trying to block out the noises around him.  He wouldn’t be able to sleep, but he could pretend he might be able to.

MJ sat down across from Peter a few minutes later, and just after she did, one of the kids from AcaDec came up to him.

“Hey, I don’t have any coffee, but I’ve got this.”

Peter lifted his head up and raised an eyebrow.  Seth had a Monster Energy drink.  “Five bucks?” Seth asked.

Peter dug around in his backpack and came out with a five dollar bill.  It was the last of the cash he had.  He had money on his debit card where Tony gave him his allowance, but now that he wasn’t allowed to use an ATM anymore, his cash had dwindled.

“Thanks,” Peter said when Seth took the five dollars and handed him the can.

“Dude, that’s got like… way more caffeine than coffee,” Ned said, as Seth walked away.

“Perfect.”  Peter popped the top on the can and started drinking it.

“You know that can is two servings right?” MJ asked, watching with a frown as he chugged the drink without sign of slowing down.  Peter ignored her and finished the disgusting can off.  He hated the taste and would have much rather had coffee.

“Ok,” he said, “I’ll be good to go now.”

“You’re gonna be up all night,” Ned said.

“Nah.”  He had an enhanced metabolism.  His body would churn through the caffeine and he’d be back to feeling tired by the time school was out in a few hours.  Tony was convinced that his metabolism didn’t like caffeine, because of one incident six months prior, but Peter didn’t believe it.

It was several minutes before Peter started to feel more awake.  He ate his lunch quickly and then pulled out his note cards to review before he went to class and had to give his presentation.  His plan was to volunteer to go first so he could get it over with before the energy drink wore off.

As Peter got up to leave the cafeteria ten minutes later however, he realized he was going to have a problem.  He found himself squinting at the harsh cafeteria lights, and working harder than he had to before to focus on just the sounds around him as opposed to letting himself hear noises and conversations all over the school.

“You’re having an overload aren’t you?” Ned said, voice low as he and Peter walked down the hall.  Ned wasn’t in the same science class as Peter, so he was going to be on his own as soon as the warning bell rang.

“Little bit,” Peter grimaced.

“Dude, just go home.  You can come back tomorrow with a note for the science teacher.  They can’t penalize you for being sick.”

Sick?  Peter was going to be more than sick, he could tell.  His soft clothes suddenly felt scratchy against his skin, and he swore he could feel the vibration of other people walking around him coming up through the floor.  His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was rolling over in his chest.  Peter was going to throw up.

Ned jumped out of the way as Peter dodged and ran past him, hand over his mouth.  Down the hall he threw the door to the bathroom open and disappeared inside.  He was thankful it was empty since most students were hurrying to class.

The warning bell went off and it was so loud Peter threw up at the sound, grateful he was in front of the toilet.  He flushed to get rid of the smell and then sank down to the dirty stall floor.

“Peter?” Ned asked, pushing the bathroom door open a minute later.

“I’m ok, I’m ok,” Peter breathed.  He knew Ned wasn’t going to buy it for a second, not with how panicked he sounded.  He was panicking, wasn’t he?  He was, he decided.  His thoughts were racing along with his heart, jumping from one classroom to the next as his attention was pulled in a dozen directions.  Chalk screeching on a chalkboard in the math class down the hall.  Flash asking to borrow somebody’s notes in a history class.  Mr. Morita talking about an upcoming parent teacher conference with a school secretary.  He could hear it all, and his chest was too tight, and his heart was going to burst out of his chest, and Ned was no longer in the bathroom, but Peter could hear him pacing in the hall outside, and-

“Peter.  Hey kid, open the stall door.”

Peter reached up and fumbled with the lock and scooted back a little, breathing hard as Mr. Stark came in.  When had he gotten there?  Peter glanced past the worried look on Mr. Stark’s face to Ned, who looked equally as worried.  His friend must have called him.

“Hey, eyes up here,” Tony said.

“M’sorry, m’sorry,” Peter rambled.  “I can’t breathe.  I can’t- everythings too much.”

Tony reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his sunglasses.  He slid them onto Peter’s face and then pulled Peter’s hood up over his ears for the meager protection it would give him to help buffer out the sounds around him.

“Hey, it’s ok, what happened?”

“He had a headache,” Ned supplied, doing his best to whisper so he wouldn’t hurt Peter’s ears, but be loud enough for Tony to hear.  “He was starting to have a sensory overload.  He was tired and had a presentation and he drank an energy drink.”

“Damn it,” Tony muttered.  “Don’t let him do that.  He can’t handle caffeine.”

“Yeah,” Ned said.  He knew.  He never gave Peter coffee, even when Peter offered to pay him.  This had happened once before, though not at school, and Tony had had to come pick Peter up at Ned’s house.  Ever since, Tony had put a ban on caffeine.  Peter had been drinking so much coffee lately, mostly fancy lattes that were more sugar than anything else that Ned had started to think he was fine with caffeine, and that it was just a one time thing that had happened before.

“Hey buddy,” Tony said quietly.  “Try to focus on just my voice, ok?  I’m right here.”  Tony picked Peter’s hand up and put it over his chest.  “Feel that?”

Peter huffed a humorless laugh.  “Your heart’s stuttering.”

“Yeah, cuz my kid is scaring the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.”

Tony reached up and ran his hand over the back of Peter’s head.  “Just sit and breathe for a minute Pete.  Focus on my voice.  You’re going to be ok.”  He turned and looked over his shoulder at Ned.  “Did he drink an entire energy drink?”

“The whole can.”

“My fault,” Peter gasped, not wanting Ned to be in trouble.  “On me, not him.”

“No one’s in trouble right now,” Tony said.  “Here, breathe with me for a minute.”  Tony took in a slow deep breath, and held it for a moment until Peter tried to breathe with him.  Peter tried to copy him, but he couldn’t get a full breath in at first.  It took him several minutes to calm his breathing.  His heart was still beating much too quickly, and it was uncomfortable in his chest.  As soon as he wasn’t gasping anymore, Tony helped him up off the floor and out of the bathroom.

“I already checked you out of school,” Tony said.  “And FRIDAY sent a message to Tim on my way here about canceling the internship for the day.”

“Not his fault either.”

“I know.”

Tony led him out to the car, which he’d left almost in the middle of the street so he could race inside, and made sure Peter buckled himself in before he pulled away.  Peter clenched his eyes shut all the way back to the tower.  Tony had FRIDAY turn on white noise, and it helped some.  Peter was surprised a few minutes into their drive to the tower when Tony reached over and took his hand and held it for a few minutes.  He must have noticed that Peter’s breathing had picked back up again because he was overwhelmed with the sounds around him.  Tony’s hand helped him focus long enough to calm down.

“Almost there buddy.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, throat tight.

He had to open his eyes a few minutes later to get out of the car and make his way to the elevator, but the parking garage wasn’t overly bright despite being well lit, and Tony stayed by his side until they made it to the elevator and then up to the penthouse.  He told Peter to sit down on the couch, and then came and sat beside him a couple minutes later with a glass of water.

“Here kiddo, drink some water.  Might help flush some of that caffeine out of your system.”

Peter’s hands weren’t shaking quite as bad as they had been in the school bathroom, so he took the water and started sipping it.  Tony held out his arm next to him, inviting him to hug if Peter wanted it, and Peter set the water down on the coffee table and leaned into his side, burying his face in Tony’s stomach and wrapping his arm around him.  He pulled his feet up onto the couch and laid there, listening to Tony’s breaths and heartbeat.

Lights were still too bright, and Peter could hear the ticking of a clock in another room, the hum of the fridge and other electronics in the penthouse, but his clothes felt less scratchy than they had before, and his senses were starting to calm down some as he focused on feeling warm and tried to get comfortable.

He didn’t know how long they sat like that.  Peter wanted to fall asleep, but couldn’t because the caffeine from the energy drink was still coursing through his veins.  It felt like at least an hour until his heart slowed down and he didn’t feel like he wanted to go right back into the same panic attack that had been clawing at his chest and throat trying to overwhelm him.

As he lay there on the couch, his dad’s arm around him, Peter wondered what he had interrupted when Ned had called him.  He thought Tony was supposed to have important meetings all day, and he felt bad that he’d had to leave to come pick him up from school.  Suddenly Peter felt bad for a lot of things, because Tony had been nothing but good to him, and Peter had done things like swap his coffee out for decaf when Tony had just been trying to protect him from this.  From being thrown into a caffeine induced sensory overload and panic attack.

Peter shifted slightly, feeling nervous, and his dad put his hand on the back of Peter’s head and started to slowly run his fingers through Peter’s hair to settle him.  The soothing motion settled his nerves a little.  Peter swallowed around the lump in his throat and said quietly, “I’ve been switching your coffee with decaf.”

The hand in his hair stilled for a moment.  “Are you being serious?”

Peter nodded.

“My coffee is sacrosanct, kid.  How long has this been going on for?”  He didn’t remove his hand from Peter’s hair as Peter looked up at him.

“Middle of October?”

“Well that ends today.  And you and I are going to have a talk FRIDAY,” Tony said to the ceiling, though she didn’t answer.

“She’s just abiding by the no coffee for dads protocol,” Peter murmured, feeling comfortable and exhausted, despite that he felt like he wouldn’t be able to sleep for days.

Tony didn’t respond for long moments, and Peter held his breath.  He hadn’t called him dad to his face yet.  Other people joked about it so often, or said it with sincerity, like Tim, and Ned and MJ, that it felt normal for Peter to call him dad in his head.

“No coffee for dads huh.”

“Pepper agrees.”

“I should have known she was in on this.”  They sat quietly for several minutes, Peter pressed to Tony’s side, Tony running his fingers through Peter’s hair again, before Tony said, “Pete?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think of me as your dad?”

Peter bit his lip.  He didn’t want Tony to get mad at him.  He didn’t want him to call May and tell her this whole deal was off, and that she’d have to come back and take Pete back to Queens.

“You still with me?” Tony asked, and Peter nodded.

“Yeah,” he said, and then, “yeah.  I think of you like that.”  He didn’t want to say the D word again in case Mr. Stark was angry.

“I’ve been thinking about something for a while now,” Tony said, no hint of anger in his voice.  “I know I can’t replace your dad, or your uncle, but I think of you as my kid.  I tell people that you are.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.”  He was quiet for a moment and his hand stilled on top of Peter’s head.  “You live here most of the year, and everyone around the tower knows you.  Pepper and I love having you around.”  Whatever he was going to say next, Peter thought he was dancing around it.  “I want to know what you think about adoption.”

That- hadn’t been what Peter was expecting him to say.  He looked up at him, throat tight.  Yes, or, thank you thank you thank you, is what he wanted to say.  What came out instead was, “You’re a little old for me to adopt you Mr. Stark.”

Tony ruffled his hair.  “Come on kid, I’m being serious here.”

“Can I have coffee if you adopt me?”

Tony huffed.  “After what happened today?  Definitely not.”

“Ok.”

“Ok what?”

Peter squeezed a little tighter with the arm that was thrown over Mr. Stark’s stomach.  “I really want that Mr. Stark.”

Tony dropped his hand from Peter’s hair and wrapped his arm around his back and shoulders again.  “Me too kid.”

Tears came into Peter’s eyes unbidden, though they weren’t the frantic panicked tears from earlier.  These tears were from a far happier place.  “What’s aunt May gonna think?” he asked, voice watery.

“She’s on board kiddo.”

“She is?”

“Yeah.  She still wants to have guardianship of you, and to see you for the three months a year she’s back in the city, but she wants you to be happy more than anything, and me having actual guardianship means I can get you on my insurance and handle things that happen at school, or anything else that comes up.”

“I thought she’d be mad.  I would've asked her a long time ago if I knew she’d be ok with it.”

Tony put his hand back in Peter’s hair.  “I should have asked you a long time ago Roo.”

“You’re practically my kid.  I’d adopt you if I could.”  Peter didn’t know why he’d been so nervous to call Tony dad.  He’d told him months back that he would adopt him if he could.  Maybe he’d been testing the waters with that statement just to see what Peter thought of it.

“But Pete, I’m doubling down on my no caffeine rule.  I don’t want to hear from your friends that you’re paying kids at school to smuggle coffee to you.”

“Flash isn’t my friend.”

“Flash isn’t the one that emailed me.”

Peter wondered if it had been Ned or MJ, or even Mr. Morita or Mr. Harrington.

“No coffee,” Peter mumbled in agreement.

“And the same for Tim.”

“Ok.”

“You’re not gonna abide by that at all are you?” Tony said.  It wasn’t really a question.

Peter titled his head back to look up at him with a little grin.  “I’ll find something else to keep you on your toes.”

Tony scoffed and ruffled his hair.  “Yeah, I’m sure you will.”

* * *

Peter and Tim had been texting back and forth throughout the day, and Peter was excited for his friend to get to the tower.  They were going to be working in the lab with Tony all afternoon on the internal layout of the new Stark tablet, and Peter was already in the lab, bouncing gently on the balls of his heels.

“You haven’t had any coffee today right?” Tony asked, noting that Peter couldn’t sit still.

“Nope.”

“Just excited?”

“Yeah.”

“To work on the tablet?”  It was boring work as far as Tony was concerned, and he was doubtful that Peter was excited to work on the tablet at all.

I’m excited to work with you, Peter thought to himself.  “Yup.  I cracked open an iPad and I have some ideas.”

“Don’t start kid.”

Peter grinned at him.  Today was the first day he was getting to work in the lab not with Tony, but with his dad.  The lawyers had submitted all the paperwork to a judge the day before, and the judge had signed off on the papers that morning.  Peter had been excited and bouncing around all day.  He had a new mission for Tim to help him with as soon as he got there.

Tim came in a few minutes later, bag thoroughly checked over by security to make sure there was nothing coffee related, and they got to work, Peter and Tim standing on one side of Tony’s metal workbench, Tony on the other.  They had several models of the new Stark pad laid out between them.  Peter was working on one configuration, soldering a piece into place, and Tim was working on another.  Tony had music turned up as high as Peter could handle, and the work was going quickly.  They’d already made a decision on several key components and where they would be placed.

After an hour Tony went to the other end of the lab to manufacture a new part they were going to need in one of his 3D printers, and Peter and Tim were finally left alone.

“So what are we doing?” Tim asked.  Peter had texted him earlier in the day that he had a new mission for him.

“Operation: Christmas gift for dad.”

Tim raised his eyebrows.  “Sure.  What do you want to get him?”

Peter shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’ve never bought a Christmas gift for my dad before.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me it’s complicated?  Because I have like, 10 ideas that aren’t complicated at all.”

Peter grinned and pulled out his phone.  He opened his photo gallery and flicked through a few photos.  He and Tony had taken several selfies that morning after the papers had been signed by the judge.  Their first ‘father son’ photos.  Finally he found the photo he was looking for.  He’d snapped a picture of the signed adoption paperwork.

He held out his phone to Tim, who leaned over and looked at it.  Peter zoomed in on the word ‘adoption’ and Tim stood up with a smile.

“So, am I going out to find an iPad for him for Christmas, or are you getting him a real gift?”

“We’ll wrap his real gift inside an iPad box.”

Tim laughed.  “Yeah, ok.  I’ll find one for you.”

“I don’t know what the two of you are planning over there, but it better not involve coffee,” Tony called over the music from the other end of the lab.

“No coffee dad,” Peter promised with a grin.  He couldn’t see his dad’s face, because Tony’s back was turned to them, but he knew Tony was smiling too.