Work Text:
“Hello, Peter,” Donna, Peter’s favorite SI security guard, greeted as he approached the scanner.
“Hey, Donna. How is your day going? How did your daughter’s basketball game go this weekend?” The teen answered, coming to a stop by her desk.
“It’s been good. And her game went really well. Her team won and she scored four points.”
“That’s awesome!” Peter’s enthusiasm was genuine.
“Well, I supposed I should let you get up to the boss,” she winked, hitting a button to allow Peter to walk through without being scanned. Perks of being Tony Stark’s personal intern. And perks of being a super-secret vigilante with an alter ego to protect. The boy waved goodbye and bounded over to the private elevator to the lab. Even though he had been doing this for over a year, it still felt surreal.
If you had asked Peter two years ago, he would have never believed that he would be here. Walking into Stark Industries. Walking through security like he owned the place. Well, not owned. But he had a high security level none of the guards ever questioned and was waved on through to take the private elevator that went to the executive floors and to Tony Stark's personal lab. So basically owned-adjacent.
Of course, two years ago he was fairly certain that the world was ending, still in the throes of grief about losing Uncle Ben. Spider-Man was still an idea at the back of his mind. Then there was the battle in Germany. And the Vulture. And Aunt May made it very clear to Mr. Stark that the internship was most definitely going to be a real thing. Last Christmas it was all still new. He was still finding his footing in the lab. As an intern. In Mr. Stark's life. But now, he felt comfortable. As Ned would say, what even was his life?
All this was at the forefront of his mind as he ambled into the lab. It was empty when he came in, but he didn't give it much thought. Mr. Stark often wasn't there when he arrived, sometimes needed in a meeting or in the R&D labs. If he was going to be too delayed, FRIDAY would let him know. He let his bag plop onto the workbench Mr. Stark had set up for him and rummaged through it, looking for his suit and web shooters. He set to work repairing a hole from a patrol earlier in the week and quickly became engrossed in his work.
“Hey, Kid,” Mr. Stark’s greeting sent Peter jumping. He instinctively lifted his hand to touch the ceiling, peering down at the man, gasping for breath.
“Mr. Stark?” He stammered, blinking to get his eyes to focus. The man stood below him, eyebrows arched and a quizzical expression on his face.
“You alright up there, Pete?” Mr. Stark queried, confusion tingeing his voice.
With his heart rate and breathing finally slowing, Peter released his hold on the ceiling and let himself drop to the floor, landing in a crouch. He stood and awkwardly dusted himself off.
“Uh, yeah,” he answered, his face flaming with embarrassment, “I’m fine. You just startled me.”
If Tony’s eyebrows went any higher, they would likely become part of his hairline.
“Don’t you have that whole Peter-tingle thing that’s supposed to warn you?” the billionaire questioned skeptically.
Peter’s face burned even more. In fact, he was beginning to be afraid that if he were to turn even more red, he’d erupt into flames. He whined, “Don’t call it that! You’re as bad as Aunt May. It’s my Spidey-sense.”
“Eh, to-may-to, to-mah-to,” Mr. Stark waved dismissively, “Don’t you have that.”
Peter scuffed his shoe against the floor, biting his lip in thought. Since he had been bit, very few people had been able to sneak up on him. Until now, May and Ned were the only two people who could successfully startle him. He had assumed it was because he trusted them, and therefore his Spidey-send knew that they wouldn’t harm him. But if that were the case, then why did Mr. Stark surprise him just now? He couldn’t trust him that much, could he? He didn’t, did he? Did he?
“Pete?” Mr. Stark’s voice, laden with concern, drew him from his spiraling thoughts. The man’s brow was wrinkled, as he repeated, “Pete, Kid, are you ok?”
The teen shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and responded, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Sorry.”
‘Here,” the man shoved a bottle of water into his hands, “You look like you could use this.”
“Thanks,” the boy took it, unscrewing the lid and downing the liquid. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tossed the empty bottle into the bin. He needed to do something to distract the man from the topic of his Spidey-sense, because he did not need to try to dissect why his powers had decided they could trust the Avenger so much. He reached over for his discarded suit and shoved it across the worktable to Mr. Stark, “How does this repair look?”
Tony reached down and picked it up and inspected the repair carefully, before setting it back down, “Looks good, kid. What about the webshooters? Did you want to go ahead and look at those updates I had for him?”
As Peter retrieved them, he exhaled. Crisis averted.
***
“Hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter greeted as he bounded into the lab on his next lab day, “What are we working on today?”
“I have to get this new Starkphone prototype ready for R&D and could use your help,” Tony answered, looking up from where he was bent over the device at his workbench. Peter dropped his bag and rushed to join the man.
“How was school today?” the man asked as the two worked.
The teen wrinkled his nose, “I swear all my teachers are trying to cram everything in before break. I have one project and three papers due this week and next, and then exams all of the following week.”
Tony grimaced in sympathy, “Sorry about that, Underroos. Are you at least ready for exams?”
“I think so,” Peter answered, “But I’m more ready for Christmas. No school and lots of patrol time.”
“Just pay attention to the weather, Spiderling,” the man chided gently, “Don’t want any frozen Spider-sicles.”
Peter rolled his eyes but nodded, “Fine, Mr. Stark.”
“Good,” Tony responded, “Don’t want Aunt Hottie coming after me or anything because she is stuck with an ice cube for a nephew.”
Peter couldn’t hold back his laughter, shaking his head as the pair refocused on the making the final touches to the prototype.
As they finished up working on it, Tony gestured to the Iron Man armor on another work table, “We have some time left before you need to head out. Want to help me make some repairs on the Iron Man Armor?”
“Awesome!” the teen practically vibrated with excitement.
Tony began talking the teen through the repairs, before pausing and asking, “Hey, Kid, can you get that wrench from over there?”
“Here, Mr. Stark,” the teen retrieved it and held out the tool. Without thinking, Tony took it and began using it. Suddenly, it hit him that the kid had just handed him something. He blinked, looking down at the wrench in his hand and then looking back at the boy. Peter had already returned to work, clearly unaware of the internal panic he had begun in his mentor. The billionaire set the wrench down and flexed his hand, staring at it. He was Tony Stark. He couldn’t remember the last time someone besides Pepper, Happy, or Rhodey had handed him something. He couldn’t remember the last time he had willingly let down his guard to let another person that close to him. It just meant that the teen was important to him, right? It didn’t mean anything else, right? Right? Of course it didn’t. It was only a fluke. Maybe it was a fluke? A one time thing?
“Hey, Pete, could you hand me that screwdriver?” He was amazed how steady he was able to keep his voice considering how much he was internally freaking out.
“Sure,” the teen cheerfully grabbed the tool and stretched it towards the man, seemingly oblivious to the billionaire’s inner turmoil. This time, Tony was acutely aware as he took it. So, maybe it wasn’t a fluke, but that didn’t mean that it meant anything. He was just growing as a person, letting go over past fears and idiosyncrasies. That was all.
As they worked on the suit, Tony missed the frowns of concern that Peter kept sending him, almost too wrapped up in his own thoughts to give more than a wave when it came time for the teen to leave. The Avenger wasn’t entirely sure what he made of what had just happened, but he was more than certain that it was probably a combination of personal growth and familiarity of having the teen around. It didn't mean anything deeper than that.
***
“Hey, honey,” May greeted as he arrived home following labtime, “How did today go?”
The boy frowned before answering, “Fine, I guess. Mr. Stark seemed distracted, but otherwise it went well.”
“Hmm,” his aunt murmured, “Speaking of Tony, did he mention if he has any plans for the holidays?”
The teen shrugged, dropping his bookbag to the floor and wandering over to the counter to snag an apple out of the fruit bowl.
“Well, I’ve been thinking,” May said slowly, eyeing her nephew, “We should invite him here for Christmas Eve. And, Pepper, too, of course.”
Peter whirled around to face her, his mouth dropping open in shock. He sputtered, “No! No, we can’t do that!”
May gazed at him for a few moments before asking, “Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?” The teen yelped, “He’s freaking Iron Man. We can’t ask Iron Man to our house for Christmas Eve.” Besides, he mentally added, you spend holidays with people you cared about, and after the whole Spidey-sense thing earlier in the week, he absolutely did not want to think about whether or not he was there with the man. The less time spent pondering that topic, the better.
His aunt didn’t look remotely convinced. She sighed and turned to rummage through the cabinets, looking for some pasta and jarred pasta sauce for dinner. As she pulled them out, she looked back over at it, pointing a finger and commanding, “Ask him, Peter.”
“Fine,” he ground out, “I’ll ask him tomorrow.”
“Good. You do that,” May nodded decisively, “Now, go finish your homework, while I fix dinner.”
The teen resisted the urge to stomp to his room. He absolutely did not want to call the man the next day, but he also knew that May would not stop hounding him until he did. The sense of dread he was feeling only made his mood worse. By lunch the next day, the only thing stopping him from snapping at everybody was his knowledge of how unimpressed May would be if he were to get a detention for being rude to a teacher. He wanted to deal with that even less than he wanted to call Tony Stark to invite him to dinner. He all but stalked into the cafeteria, dropping his lunch bag on the table and plopped onto a chair.
“You’re in a…mood today,” MJ commented, giving him a once over. Peter frowned and slumped down.
“May thinks I should invite Tony to join us for Christmas Eve,” he whined.
“That would be so awesome!” Ned practically squealed in excitement, “Christmas with an Avenger!”
Peter leveled him with a glare, “Not awesome. I mean, if he actually came that would be awesome, but I can’t ask him that. I don’t want to bother him. Besides, he probably has rich people plans or something.”
“Why don’t you try asking him, and give him the choice,” Ned rolled his eyes at his friend.
“Fine,” Peter huffed, pulling his phone out of his bag. He hit Tony's contact information and waited as it rang.
“Hey, Kid,” Mr. Stark answered. Peter’s mind raced. How exactly was he supposed to do this? How did you invite a billionaire superhero who was also your mentor to something as simple as Christmas Eve with him and May?
“Did you need something, Pete?” the Avenger prompted.
“Um…” the vigilante stammered, still trying to figure out what to say, “Just wanted…just wanted to let you know I hope you have a good day.” He quickly ended the call, his face flaming. He looked up to see Ned gaping at him.
“Dude!” the other boy groaned.
“I know. But I don’t know how to ask him,” Peter wailed.
“Try, ‘Hey, Mr. Stark, do you want to come to my place on Christmas Eve?’” MJ offered, rather unhelpfully, if Peter did say so himself. He scowled at her.
“I can’t,” He pouted.
“Why?” Ned queried, leaning forward in interest.
“Because…because, he’ll probably say no.”
“What if he doesn’t?” MJ asked. Peter was beginning to feel ganged up on.
He waved his arms, trying to emphasize his point, “He’s an Avenger. I’m Peter Parker.”
“He clearly likes you,” Ned stated.
“I’m just there because May forced him to take the internship more seriously,” Peter rolled his eyes.
“Or because he likes you,” the other boy shrugged.
“Good grief,” MJ muttered, snagging Peter’s phone from his hand and hastily typing.
“Hey!” the teen protested.
As it dinged, she dropped it back into his grasp, “You’re welcome.”
He glanced down at the screen seeing that Tony had responded to his message, “Sure, Kid. Pepper and I would love to come.”
He couldn’t deny the sense of relief that came over him as he read the message. But it quickly pushed it aside, because the man definitely was only coming out of politeness, right? Right?
***
It had been a long day. The kind where he didn’t get nearly enough lab time and spent entirely too much time being dragged from meeting to meeting to meeting by Pepper. Finally free, Tony collapsed onto the couch, mug of coffee in hand. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the couch.
“It’s not that bad, “his fiance scoffed, entering the room with her hands cupped around a mug of tea.
He opened one eye, squinting at her, before arguing, “It absolutely was that bad.”
“And yet I do it daily,” Pepper rolled her eyes, sitting beside him.
“It’s why I put you in charge,” he whined, “So I don’t have to do it.”
“Unfortunately, unless you are planning to give me the company and retire from it completely, as owner and head of R&D, I still need you to actually show up at meetings once in a while.”
“Don’t tempt me,” he answered. He straightened and took a sip of his drink before addressing his AI, “FRIDAY, go ahead and place an order from that Italian place Pepper likes. Get the usuals.”
“Affirmative boss,” The AI responded, “It should be here in about forty-five minutes.”
“What do you want to watch while we wait,” Tony turned to Pepper.
She frowned, sipping her own beverage, “Something where I don’t have to think. My brain needs a break.”
“Holiday fluff it is,” he replied. FRIDAy turned on a random holiday themed romance movie and the two snuggled together as they waited for their food.
“Boss,” FRIDAY interrupted about twenty minutes into the film.
“Oh,” the man straightened, “Is the food here already.”
“Not yet, boss,” the AI replied, “Karen contacted me to say that she has detected several rather serious injuries on Spider-Man, and he requires immediate medical attention.”
“What?” the Avenger shot to his feet, hitting the button on his watch to call his suit.
He looked helplessly over at Pepper, concern etched on her face. She waved him away, “Go. Go get him. I’ll go down to the Medbay to make sure they are ready for you.”
He was filled with relief, “Thanks, Pep!” As he moved to the balcony, Pepper was already headed for the elevator. He stepped outside and instructed, “FRIDAY, input the coordinates from the Kid’s suit and get me there as quickly as possible. Or quicker than possible.”
As he soared, zooming between the buildings, he tried all the methods his therapist had suggested to calm his mounting anxiety. Anxiety for what May Parker would do to him if the teen were gravely injured. Or concern for his injured superhero colleague. Not because he cared for the kid beyond a mentor-mentee relationship. The red and blue suit came into view and he landed next to the teen who was bent over in the middle of an alley. He stepped out of the suit and rushed to the kid.
“Pete,” he gently pulled the kid to standing, struck by the tears filling the boy’s eyes.
“Mis’er Star’?” The vigilante slurred, the eyes on his mask widening. Tony carefully removed it, taking in the rapidly forming black eye and blood dribbling from the corner of the teen’s mouth.
“FRI, where else is he injured?” He questioned, his voice coming out gruffer than he intended.
“Karen has also detected a few broken ribs and some internal bleeding. I recommend him getting to Medbay immediately. Tony released the kid and stepped back into his suit.
“OK, Spidey,” He said, “I’m going to pick you up so we can get to Medbay. It will hurt, but I’ll try to get you there as soon as possible.”
Once at the tower, the doctors on call quickly took the teen back to examine, firmly commanding that Tony remain in the waiting room.
“He’ll be ok, Tony,” Pepper said gently, coming up behind and wrapping her arms around him. He leaned into her embrace and nodded. Pepper continued, “I called his aunt and let her know what happened. She’ll come over as soon as her shift is over.”
“Good, thank Pep. What would I do without you?” He murmured.
“Well, you finally learned your social security number, so at least you wouldn’t be completely helpless,” she quipped, leading him over to the chairs.
“There’s that,” he gave a ghost of a smile, settling back into the seat.
“He will be ok, Tony. You have the best doctors possible taking care of him,” she reiterated. When the man merely nodded, she continued, “It’s also ok that you care about him, honey.”
“I don’t care,” His protests erupted, “Besides the normal care one has for the mentee-colleague adjacent-vigilante-Avenger care.”
“Right,” Pepper’s look was skeptical, but she didn’t say anything else. She took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. They waited in silence until a doctor came out to give them an update.
“His healing factor always amazes us. I’d recommend he rest for a day or two while the internal injuries and bruises heal, but he should be good to go in a few days. Maybe no Spider-activities for a week or so,” the doctor informed them, “I’ll also give this information to his aunt when she arrives.”
“Thank you,” Pepper said before looking back over at her fiance, “See, honey, he’ll be fine.”
“Wasn’t worried,” he managed to get out, his voice rough with emotion. He wasn’t, he mentally reminded himself. Because he didn’t care more than the normal amount. Peter Parker was merely his fellow superhero. That was it.
***
“Hey kid,” Tony greeted, a hint of confusion in his voice, as the teen ambled into his lab . He glanced at his phone, brow wrinkled, “Were we planning for you to come today? Not that you can't be here. You can. I just don't remember planning it. FRIDAY, why didn't you warn me the Spider-Kid was coming?”
“It's ok, FRIDAY!” Peter blurted, glancing at the ceiling as if that was where FRIDAY was located, before looking back at Tony and holding out the box, “I didn't tell…we weren't planning a lab day today. I just wanted to give you this.”
The teen rushed forward and shoved the gift into the man's hands. He then jumped back, as if afraid of Tony's reaction. The billionaire's eyes darted between the package and the kid before finally unwrapping it.
He opened the box and carefully pulled out a mug featuring Spider-Man swinging between buildings and Iron Man following behind. He couldn't stop the smile that broke out on his face. He went to speak and found he couldn't find his voice, clearing his throat before attempting again.
“Pete, this is…” he murmured, setting the box aside and turning the mug in his hand, carefully studying every detail, “This is incredible, Kid.”
He looked up to meet the Kid's eyes, brimming with hope.
“You like it?” The teen asked hesitantly.
“I love it, Underroos,” the man responded. Before he could second guess himself, he reached out and pulled the kid into a hug.
“Oh, um,” Peter sputtered in surprise, before returning the embrace, “We're, uh, there?”
“Yeah, we're there,” the reply was soft, thick with emotion. Before he could be accused of being too sappy, Tony broke the embrace, resting his hand on the teen’s shoulder, “So, what do you say we put this to use? I may not cook much, but I can make a pretty good hot chocolate. Maybe watch a Christmas movie or something. Unless you need to go?”
Peter shook his head before asking hopefully, “Home Alone?”
“Sure, Roo,” Tony steered the kid toward the door, mug in his grip, “We can watch Home Alone.”
A few days later, Tony found himself waiting outside of the Parker’s apartment feeling uncharacteristically nervous. He shifted anxiously, until Pepper reached over and grabbed his hand, rubbing it soothingly with her thumb, a smirk of amusement on her face.
“Breathe, honey,” she murmured. He shot her a sheepish grin and then straightened as he heard movement on the other side of the door.
“Thank you so much for coming,” May greeted as she opened it. The power couple entered, Pepper handing the other woman a bottle of wine.
“It’s our pleasure, Mrs. Parker,” she said, her tone warm.
May smiled as she took the bottle, “Of course. And please call me May.”
“Only if you call me Pepper,” The CEO returned.
“Pepper,” May repeated before turning to Tony, “Hello Tony. Merry Christmas.”
He gave her what he hoped came across as a genuine smile, trying to wipe the traces of anxiousness from his features and said, “Merry Christmas, May.”
Why was he so nervous? Then again, who was he kidding? The other day had gone great, but he hadn’t seen the teen since their impromptu movie night. He wasn’t sure where they stood after his atypical display of emotions. Were things going to be frequently sappy from now on? Because he wasn’t sure how to do that.
The two women exchanged looks, and May leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially, “It’s ok, Tony. Peter was feeling nervous, too.”
“Aunt May!” the teen whined as he came into the living room.
“Hey, Kid,” Tony greeted, unable to stop his grin at the boy’s tone. He held out the package in his hand, “One fully repaired Spider-suit. Try to avoid any more serious injuries. I have a heart condition, you know.”
“Does this mean I can finally patrol again?” Peter took the package and looked between his aunt and mentor.
May sighed, shooting a glance at Tony before responding, “As long as you’re careful. And as long as you let Tony know immediately about any injuries.”
Peter groaned but nodded, “Fine. As long as I get to patrol.”
May shooed him away, “Now, go put that away, so we can eat. And don’t worry. We have take-out. I hope Thai is ok with you all.”
“Absolutely fine,” Tony answered as they found their seats around the table. Once Peter returned from putting the repaired suit away, they dug into the food. As they ate, Tony glanced around the table, looking from Pepper, to the Spiderling, to May. He wasn’t sure when or how it had happened, but what he did know for sure was that somehow, someway, his family had grown by two. And he was perfectly fine with that. Perfectly fine indeed.