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Peter was nervous, but the good kind of nervous.
Today was the Midtown science fair and usually, as it was always held on a Saturday, Aunt May often couldn’t make it as she had to work. This year, however, he had mentioned as much to Tony and the man had promised to be there.
Not just that, but he would be coming to see the fair and Peter’s project, together with Pepper and Morgan. Harley would even come to New York where he was studying at MIT. Rhodey had been told and he would come as well. Additionally, especially after the blip and the way The Avengers had been working together, Tony had told them as well so they might just come and see. At least those that lived close enough to New York to make the trip.
Regardless of who was coming, Peter was happy he wouldn’t be alone this time around.
Where before he had Ned’s parents who came by, he’d had his own family to cheer him on. To listen as he told them about his project, which was based off of his web fluid. But instead of it being sticky to use to swing between buildings he had managed to make it able to cover a wound and aid in the healing process. Right now it was still a proto type, as he couldn’t use the quality grade stuff as this had to be done with ‘school grade’ but Tony had mentioned patenting it and letting him tinker with it in the lab. Possibly with some help from Dr. Banner as chemical engineering had never been his strongest suit.
Still, everyone had been proud of him when he gave them the baseline on what he had been working on. He looked forward to talking about it, and the time the judges did pass they looked impressed with what he had been doing.
He had also gotten some prop limbs to show his invention on, not that it would show the wound healing but it would give a look of the general idea well enough that he could explain it. In the odd case that someone did get hurt he could show it for real but right now he wasn’t able to do so.
Biting his lip as he glanced at the door, Ned, who was standing across from him, beamed brightly. His best friend had known that Peter would have family there this time around. Mr. and Mrs. Leeds had already been by and were very interested in his design. Although they were more supportive of Ned and his translator app; one that could do text to text, speech to text, speech to speech and picture to speech. Enough that those not knowing the English language, as Ned’s grandparents had been Filipino when they moved here, had never mastered the English language to the point that they could keep up with what their grandson was doing. He had hoped that with this he could have it all made easier for them, and possibly other people as well.
“Whatcha done, Parker”, Flash’s voice suddenly sounded, making Peter look up to see his bully in front of his stand. His father at his side, looking very bored at being there.
Stammering, he managed to make it through his presentation, although it was very obviously practiced and not as well as he had hoped it would be.
Flash huffed, while Mr. Thompson only looked more bored as they moved on. Getting under Peter’s skin in a way that he didn’t like. Taking a deep breath, he tried to gather himself, looking at the door and feeling like the stream of people was lessening and the people he had expected to show weren’t there.
Something seemed to settle in his stomach, that feeling of dread that either something had happened or they hadn’t been able to make it after all. He didn’t want to think like that, but he knew that The Avengers no doubt had better things to do right now.
His lip trembled briefly, before he gathered himself and tried to let it get to him. Even if he could feel Flash’s eyes on him. The other boy didn’t have a stand this year, after the disaster that was last year he hadn’t been allowed to join in on this year’s event. But that didn’t mean he stayed away, always enjoying being around and making others miserable. Additionally, his father was one of the main sponsors each and every year, so he was present regardless.
Movement in front of him had him taking a deep breath, before he was looking up to see Harley standing there with a smile on his face, “Heyo, Darling”, came the Southern accent and he grinned widely.
“Harley! I… I worried no one was coming.” He admitted to the one person who knew him even better than Ned did. He and Harley had bounded while Tony was recovering after the Snap. Finding that they were the two genius kids Tony Stark Adopted and made sure his daughter knew as her Big Brothers. Even more so as Harley attended his first year at MIT and was often in New York as the distance to NYC was a lot smaller than to Rose Hill, Tennessee.
Somewhere along the way Peter had discovered that he had fallen for the other man, and the feeling had been mutual, so seeing his boyfriend standing there was helping in dealing with all of this.
Shaking his head, Harley shared that people had recognized Tony (especially with the prosthetic arm in Iron Man colors) and the people around him which is when they became a spectacle instead of being able to enter. “I came here to let you know they all showed up, they’re just a little slow to enter.”
As if that was what they were waiting for, a loud voice yelled through the room, “Petey!” Followed by one Morgan Stark and James Rhodes strolling to his stand. Rhodey’s braces made that soft whirling sound as he walked and grinned brightly as he came to a stop at Peter’s stand. Clasping his hand as he did so and shamelessly picking Morgan up so Peter could take her and hug her close.
People were staring and for once he didn’t care.
“Hi Morgs, where are your parents?”
The six year old rolled her eyes, “They were recognized and now people won’t leave them alone. Someone tried to take a picture of me and mom freaked out on them, which is when Uncle Rhodey took me away to come and see you!”
Humming, Peter nodded along, grinning brightly as Morgan settled on his hip. Keeping her arms around his neck and asking a million and one questions, just like Tony did. Rhodey was also nodding alone, while not in Chemical Engineering, he had spent more than his fair share of time in the lab with any of the Starks, adopted or otherwise, so he could follow along just fine.
“This is amazing, kiddo, Tones did tell me something about it and I know Pep started the patent paperwork. I’m sure you’ll do great if you get the time to perfect it.” He gushed, as he often did when the kids did something amazing.
Grinning widely, Peter glanced at Harley who was adding his own questions. Also not into chemistry, but in mechanics like Tony, he did follow along well enough and knew what Peter needed to do the whole of his story now that he had people there who knew him. It came easier then with Flash and he was grateful for it.
But, the best part came when another voice sounded, “This is looking great, Bambino, I saw the drafts but it seems you managed to get the prototype working well.”
Beaming brightly as Tony Stark stood in front of him with an arm over Harley’s shoulder and his hand in Pepper’s, a bright smile on his face as he looked over Peter’s display and the notes he had with it to explain it all, as well as part of the chemical composition. Bruce, Dr. Banner, was there too, looking on in interest.
Which gathered a lot of attention, as more Avengers were gathering around.
Principal Morita had gotten closer, “Dr. Stark, Mrs. Stark it’s such an honor. I didn’t know you would be visiting us today, would you care for a tour?”
Tony huffed, “Nah, we’ll go around later but I’m really here to support my Kid.”
Several people were gaping at that, with Peter blushing softly. You’d think people had made the connection by the fact he had Morgan Stark on his hip. Apparently they hadn’t, and from the looks of it Flash and Mr. Thompson were on their way back and he didn’t like the look on the other teen’s face.
Before Flash could say anything, Tony turned with his press smile on his face, “Think very hard on what you’re about to say, Eugene. I know exactly how you treat my kid on a day to day basis and if I’m here to hear it in person you’ll wish you learned to keep your mouth shut.”
Mr. Tompson tried to step in between, but Pepper interfered with her press smile, daring him to make a scene. There had been a reason she was an efficient PA, and an even better CEO. In reality Peter was more scared of Pepper than he was of Tony, and he knew she would do anything in her power to sue if anyone made a scene right now. No doubt something she had done before when people outside tried to take a picture of Morgan.
It seemed that Flash did have a brain, as he turned on his heels and left. After which Principal Morita did the same. Mr. Harington did come closer to talk to Bruce and Tony, as he had been aware of Peter’s internship (and actually believed him) and had talked to both Doctors before.
Warmth filled Peter when he won first place and May texted to congratulate him. Mentioning that Pepper had kept her up to date and she couldn’t wait to hear all about it once she was home.
Harley’s arm around his waist as they left at the end of it all, as well as Tony, Pepper, Morgan and Rhodey behind him (followed by the other Avengers) only made it that much sweeter. He had a family now and he knew they would all show up as much as possible from now on.