Chapter Text
Tony settles back against the table, holding his chin as he studies the suit standing in front of him. “Hmm…You think a brighter cost of paint for the next one, FRI, or would that be too much?”
FRIDAY remarks, “Most would say you’re already too much, Boss.”
Tony chuckles, a little bit of pride in his grin. She’s getting sassier by the day. “Fair point. Alright, let’s table that discussion.” He swipes a hand through the air, looking at the hologram that appears to his left. “What can we do about the thrusters? Felt like they were lagging a little bit yesterday.”
Text starts appearing next to the spinning graphic of the suit as FRIDAY says, “The sensors seem to have been damaged.”
“Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. Guess having a car thrown at me was bound to have a few side effects.”
“Remarkable that the damage was so low.”
“Okay, not that I don’t love the sarcasm-” Tony pulls up a keypad to start typing. “But you gotta have a little faith, baby girl. I’ve come back from worse.”
He swipes the air again and leans back to cross his arms. “Let me know how that looks. Get a model running if you can.”
“Have a little faith, Boss.”
Flashing a wry smile, Tony gestures to the nearest camera. “See, now that’s what I’m talking about.”
They’re still working out a new equation for the thrusters when FRIDAY says, “Peter is on his way here.”
“What - Already?” Tony glances at the clock. “Where does the time go?”
Shaking it off, he makes the holograms disappear with a wave of his hand on his way to the door. “Let him in, FRI.”
The click of a lock has the door sliding open, just in time for Peter to come running from down the hall. “Dad, Dad, Dad!”
“Hey, hey, slow down.” Tony reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder. “You know the rules, no running in or around the workshop.”
“Right, right! Sorry.” Peter clears his throat and straightens up, holding the folded paper in his hands like a lifeline. Even if he’s clearly still buzzing, it’s always impressive how hard he tries to hide it. “I’m good.”
“Sure you are.” With a fond roll of his eyes, Tony holds out his free hand. “I’m gonna guess that’s for me?”
Peter nods so fast that his hair falls in his face, handing over the paper. “Mr. Grace said we have a field trip next week!”
“Ah, Grace. That’s your science teacher, isn’t it?”
“Yeah!”
“Thought so.” Tony moves to wave Peter into the workshop, fixing the kid’s hair as he passes by. “Y’know, I could never figure out why that sounds so familiar. Not exactly a common name.”
Peter says hi the bots as they all scurry up to beep at him, but shrugs as he rubs DUM-E’s head. “I keep telling you you guys would get along. He’s really cool, Dad.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Tony hits the button to close the door, watching through the corner of his eye as U tries to help Peter get his backpack off. “Gentle with the little one, U. We’ve talked about this.”
“I’m not little-”
“Shh! Reading.” Silencing Peter with his hand, Tony unfolds the paper to skim through as he makes his way over. “You’re going to the Hall of Science, huh? I made a donation there last year.”
“Oh, yeah! Thanks, guys-” Peter finishes taking off his backpack, giving the bots more pets. “Mr. Grace said he’s been trying to get this trip approved for a while. It’d be awesome if I could go.”
Tony points with the pen he grabs from his workbench. “See, that’s what we call ‘emotional manipulation’. I did not teach you that.”
Peter blinks innocently back at him. “But then who did?”
Tony wags the pen in mock disapproval, then he turns to lay the paper out on the workbench. “Any reason your aunt couldn’t take care of this?”
“She’s pulling a double-shift at the hospital. I was too excited to wait, and I don’t wanna bother her-”
“Yeah, you and me both. Sometimes she’s scarier than Pepper.” Signing the bottom of the paper, Tony spins back around to point with it. “Do not tell either of them I said that.”
Peter mimes zipping his lip and steps closer to grab the paper, folding it back up. “Thanks, Dad. Uh, I was actually gonna say that’s not the only reason I’m here…”
“Oh, I don’t like that voice.” Tony ducks past him to reach the table. “Makes it sound like there’s a catch. Is there a catch?”
Coming up next to him, Peter gawks at the holograms as he pulls them back up. “Woah...”
Tony clicks his fingers in front of the kid’s face. “Focus.”
Shaking it off, Peter starts toying with the paper in his hands. “Uh, so - so you know how parent-teacher conferences are this week?”
“You might’ve mentioned it once or twice.” Tony starts typing again. “Let me guess, you wanna know if I can come?”
He senses more than he sees Peter’s nod. “I know you’re really busy, with the Avengers and SI stuff - you always are - but May already told me she’s working that night, and honestly, I do want you to meet Mr. Grace.”
“So you keep saying.” Tony finishes typing and turns as he swipes the keypad away. “Do you have the friendship bracelets, or should I bring my own?”
Peter laughs behind his hand, even if he’s obviously still nervous. “I mean, it’s not like this is summer camp.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Tony tips his head in a shrug, reading the stats on the hologram next to Peter through the corner of his eye. “What makes you think we’d get along so well?”
Instantly, Peter starts floundering again. “I-I don’t know. You both like science a lot - Mr. Grace is more into biology than physics and everything, but still. And he just reminds me a lot of you, y’know, with how he talks, and some of his jokes - he makes fun of himself like you do sometimes.”
“Ah, self-deprecation. The highest art form.” Tony nods sagely, spinning the model of the suit around with a flick of his hand. “Does sound like my kinda guy - and if he puts up with you for an hour every day, the least I could do is shake his hand.”
He smirks as Peter groans. “Oh, come on, Dad!”
“Alright, but seriously-” Moving the hologram to focus on one of the thrusters, Tony looks back at Peter. “When is this, Wednesday?”
For a second, Peter almost looks surprised. “Uh, yeah. At 8.”
“Got it. FRI?”
Just Tony’s eyes flick toward the nearest camera, FRIDAY says, “8PM this Wednesday is clear on the schedule, Boss.”
“Great. Tell Cap to only page me for emergencies.”
“Consider it done.”
“Attagirl.” Tony shoots the camera a finger-gun and tells Peter as he zooms the hologram in on the thruster, “We’re all set.”
He looks back again just in time to watch Peter blink. “…Really? You - You’re not worried about getting recognized?”
“Kid, you already convinced me. Now’s a bad time to bring up the reasons I shouldn’t go.”
“I know that!” Peter steps back, raising his hands. “I’m happy you’re coming. Just-…You’ve never done school events before. There’s a reason I try to get May for this stuff.”
“Yeah, because I told you to. But if you’re so adamant about me meeting your teacher, then there are ways around the problem.” Tony lifts his hand in another shrug “We can show up early so there’s less people, for one thing - you know I prefer to be fashionably late, but it’s worth the sacrifice.”
Peter chuckles under his breath at that, and finally he seems to relax a little - which is good, because that was the point. “Yeah, well, maybe you’re right. Thanks again for all of this, Dad.”
“Any time, Pete.” Tony reaches to ruffle his hair, ignoring the kid’s squawk as he waves him away. “Go get started on your homework.”
Fixing his hair, Peter grumbles, but it’s clear jus heart isn’t really in it. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”
“If I didn’t annoy you every chance I get, then I wouldn’t be a parent. Go on, I’m busy.”
“Okay…”
Skimming through the stats on the thruster, Tony glances over his shoulder to watch as Peter takes his backpack from U. He makes a show of stomping over to the couch in the corner, where he drops down to slip the paper in a pocket on his bag. He looks up just to stick his tongue out, and Tony lightly rolls his eyes again. “You’re hysterical, kid. A real riot.”
He smiles to himself when Peter beams, leaving the bots to babysit while he gets back to work.
///
On Wednesday night, Happy stops the car outside the school and turns his head to say, “We’re here, boss.”
“Yeah, thanks, Happy.” Tony moves to undo his seatbelt, watching as Peter does the same. “Ready, Pete?”
Peter nods, one hand already on his door. “Mr. Grace said he’s excited to meet you! He choked on his coffee when I gave him my permission slip.”
“Yeah, well, that’d be why we normally keep this need-to-know.” Tony gestures between them, opening his own door. “But I’m interested to see how everything plays out. We’ll see you in a few, Hap.”
He gets out and shuts the door, circling the car to meet Peter on the sidewalk. “Lead the way, kiddo-” He watches as Peter all-but sprints toward the stairs. “But give me a chance to keep up!”
Closing the other door, he dusts off his suit collar as he follows. “I’m not getting any younger, here…”
Peter is already ducking out of the lobby by the time he makes it inside. Before Tony can catch up to him, he takes an extra second to wave at the receptionist gawking behind the front desk. “Hi, Tony Stark, here for the parent-teacher conference. Do I have to sign in, or can I just go?”
The receptionist blinks a few more times before shaking her head, and he reaches over to pat the desk. “Thanks. Pleasure to be here - just do me a favor and try not to make a big deal of it.”
He leaves before she has time to answer, finding Peter not too far down the hall. They follow a series of colorful banners on the walls to the school’s science department, and Tony has to admit as he takes a look around, “Basic system, but damned if it doesn’t work.”
Peter taps his arm to get his attention and points out one of the open doors. “There’s my class! Hope we’re not bothering Mr. Grace.”
Tony reminds him as they head over, “You said you would tell him we’d be early.”
“I forgot! You know I don’t think straight when I’m excited.”
Tony gives a long-suffering sigh, just as they reach the classroom. Peter bounces through the door first with a cheerful, “Hey, Mr. Grace!”
Stepping in after him with dignity that he hasn’t been able to teach the kid yet - he’s working on it - Tony watches as the man writing on the board startles and drops the marker he’s holding. He starts saying something before he spits out the cap between his teeth onto the desk. “Peter! Conferences don’t start for another fifteen minutes.”
To Peter’s credit, he looks appropriately guilty. “I know! Sorry…”
Grace sighs and waves it off with the marker, finishing whatever he was writing. “It’s okay. Just give me more of a warning next time.”
Tony steps forward to pat Peter’s shoulder. “Trust me, the kid’s been raising my blood pressure since he could walk, so I understand your pain.”
“Dad-!”
Muttering under his breath, Grace seems to compose himself before he turns to clear his throat. Dropping the marker on the desk, he puts out a hand with a smile. “Mr. Stark, thank you so much for coming. I would say it’s an honor, but you probably hear that enough.”
Tony moves to shake his hand. “Oh, absolutely, but I never get tired of it.”
Grace chuckles and tips his head. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”
While he checks something off on the clipboard in his other hand, Tony gives him a quick once-over. He doesn’t have time to register why the guy looks so familiar up close before Grace says, “I’m sure you already know that Peter is one of my star students.”
“Oh, yeah. Takes after his old man.” Tony glances over as Peter comes to his side. “Which means he’s more into the ‘math’ side of it all, huh, Pete?”
He adds as Peter nods, “But I hear you prefer biology.”
“I appreciate all forms of science and encourage my students to do the same.” Grace sets the clipboard down on the desk. “I am excited for us to enter our bio course, but that’s irrelevant. Please, have a seat.”
Tony scoffs out a laugh, but he does pull out one of the chairs to sit down. Peter grabs the other one, and Grace looks between them as he says, “I don’t normally have students come to these - they don’t really wanna hear what I have to say in general, nevermind about them.”
Peter gestures to himself. “I do! Like you said, it’s all good things, so…”
Settling back in his chair, Tony tilts his head to look at him. “Whose job was it to teach you humility, again?”
Grace points to himself with the pen still in his hand. “Not mine.”
“Well, don’t point that at me. It’s a non-starter.”
Under his breath, Grace chuckles again as he takes his own seat. “Right. Okay, let’s just get into it…”
Peter does turn out to be right that he only has positive things to say - not that Tony will ever give the kid that satisfaction. Apparently Peter’s only offense is sometimes getting too caught up talking to friends, and that’s easy enough to look over, so Tony won’t be filing it away or anything. He already has a hard time separating Peter and that Ned kid when he’s in charge of them.
Grace eventually says their time is almost up, but he asks, “Do you have any questions or concerns before you go?”
Tony could never pass up an opportunity like that. “What color do you want your friendship bracelet to be? I’m impartial to red, myself, but that’s a given.”
Peter slips down in his seat, covering his face. “Dad, stop!”
Meanwhile, Grace blinks with a bewildered sort of smile. “I-I’m sorry, what?”
“Well, you see, Peter-” Tony gestures to Peter, who looks like he’d prefer to sink into the floor. “Apparently thinks we should be best friends.”
Hugging himself, Peter looks over at him. “I never said ‘best’. I just think you would get along.”
Grace says as he pulls the clipboard across the desk, “Well, I’m flattered, Peter, but I try to keep students’ parents at arms’ length. No offense, Mr. Stark.”
While he scribbles something down, Tony waves it off. “None taken. You already have my signature, it’s not like you need an autograph.”
Peter brightens up again at that. “The Hall of Science seems so cool! I can’t wait to go.”
He and Grace start talking about the trip, which leaves Tony to consider that familiarity that’s been bugging him. Keeping one eye on Grace, he thinks on it a little more, until he straightens up and cuts the guy off mid-sentence with, “Hold on, I have another question.”
“Oh. Um-” Grace drops his pen to adjust his watch. “I am on kind of a time crunch at this point, but I’ve done more with less. What is it?”
“Did you ever write a paper on why water isn’t necessary for evolution?”
Grace looks up, wide-eyed. “My dissertation, yeah. You’ve read it?”
“God, forever ago. Just to see what all the fuss was about.” Tony gestures off behind him. “I know a lot of people you’ve pissed off. It’s impressive, really.”
With a sort of rueful chuckle that he recognized all too well, Grace rubs his temple. “Yeah, uh…unfortunately, I’m great at that.” He peers at the next page on the clipboard. “I do still think it’s a sound theory-”
“Oh, sure. I probably shouldn’t talk, since that’s not my brand of science, but at least you were convincing.”
Peter leans over, looking between the two of them with visible confusion. “…What is happening? Mr. Grace, you never told us you wrote a paper.”
“Think it’s ‘Dr. Grace’, actually, kiddo.”
Tony looks to Grace for confirmation, and he says, “I do have a PhD. But there’s a reason I haven’t published anything else; you were right that not everyone was happy with my theory.”
“I get it.” Tony bats a hand for emphasis. “Scientists can be a little possessive - Banner won’t even let us share lab space.”
Grace scoffs out a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, well, as much as I enjoy a trip down memory lane, I do have my current job to worry about. But I appreciate the understanding.”
“Any time.” Toby offers a brief smile, then he claps his knees. “Up and at ‘em, Pete, let’s go.”
He and Peter both get up, but of course, the kid never knows when to keep his mouth shut. With an eager little bounce, he says, “Dad has three PhDs! But he doesn’t like being called ‘doctor’ either.”
“So I’ve heard, Peter.” Grace picks up the pen again, clicking it. “I imagine it’s for similar reasons.”
Tony agrees, “Yeah, ‘Dr. Stark’ is a level of formality I can’t put on myself. Only some of the most annoying people I’ve ever met have called me that.”
“What’s past is past, so they say.”
“Right.” Tony claps the back of his chair and turns to Peter. “Don’t look too excited. Not that you would understand, but this is what we call a mature conversation.”
Peter makes a show of rolling his eyes. “That’s really funny, Dad.”
“Hasn’t May told you that if you keep doing that, they’ll get stuck?”
“Hasn’t Pepper told you?”
Tony moves to argue, but then he reluctantly wags a finger. “Touché.”
Grace laughs behind his hand, getting both their attention. For a second, Grace looks conflicted, before he lifts that hand in a shrug. “Clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Oh, I know.” Tony reaches to pat Peter’s head. “I just wish he hadn’t gotten some of my worse traits.”
Peter lightly shrugs him off. “Can you please not do that in front of people?”
Tony tips his head in mock-thought. “No.”
While Peter grumbles a little, Grace chuckles and jots something else down on the clipboard. “Trust me, Peter, you’ll miss this when you get older.”
Tony gestures plainly. “That’s what I keep telling him!”
Grace looks up just enough to smile again, something almost wry in it. “I’m sure you do. It was great talking to you both; I’ll see you tomorrow, Peter.”
He gets back to writing, but Peter still throws a hand up in a wave. “Bye, Mr. Grace. I really am sorry that we surprised you.”
“Ah, water under the bridge. Just don’t go bragging about it; I have a reputation to keep.”
“Pfft! Got it, sir.”
Peter heads for the door, but Tony takes a second to tap the desk. He says when Grace looks up, “Good luck with the rest of the progeny. Something tells me you’ll need it.”
Grace scoffs out one more laugh, shaking his head. “You have no idea. I love teaching, but it’s really the parents that make it harder sometimes.”
“Super cool scientist parents notwithstanding?”
“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Tony blinks for a second, then he laughs, possibly brighter than he has in a while. “You know what, Grace? You’re alright - Just don’t tell the kid I said that.”
Grace mimes zipping his lip. “Secret’s safe with me.”
He starts skimming through the clipboard just in time for Peter to call out ‘Dad!’, so Tony goes to meet him at the door. Seeing the hope in the kid’s eyes, he points. “I told you not to get too excited.”
“What’d you guys talk about?”
“Things not meant for young ears.”
“Oh, you’re just saying that!”
Tony starts leading the way back down the hall, and Peter scrambles to catch up with him. “Come on! You never laugh around new people; you’ve always said you don’t trust that easy.”
“Objection, hearsay.”
“What-?”
Tony stops at the end of the hall, turning back to Peter. “Sure, we can stand each other for ten minutes, but that doesn’t make us friends. I appreciate what you were trying to do, but you can’t force something like that, kid.”
Peter starts to look dejected, until Tony puts a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, chin up. I’ve still got more teachers to meet.”
“Oh, yeah. Uh, if we’re going off my schedule, I guess my English teacher is next.” Peter glances over his shoulder and points down another hall. “This way.”
Tony gestures for him to lead, but after he’s only taken a few steps, the click of heels grabs his attention. Using the wall for cover, he peers over to watch as a woman - a mother, probably - walks down the other hallway. Just as she stops outside the science classroom, Grace appears to shake her hand. “Mrs. Thompson, good to see you! Please, come in.”
He ushers Mrs. Thompson inside, taking a second to look up like he’s asking the ceiling for patience before he follows. Having met Mr. Thompson far more than he would’ve liked, Tony shakes his head in sympathy. “Godspeed.”
With his curiosity satisfied, he follows after Peter.
///
Tony peers through the door at the figure curled up in the bed, watching as Peter rolls over to start fighting with the blanket. Tony laughs under his breath and shuts the door with a quiet, “Lights out, FRIDAY.”
While the lights in the hallway start going out, FRIDAY’s voice comes over the speakers, as close to a whisper as she can get. “For everyone but you, of course, Boss.”
“You know me so well, baby girl.” Tony gives the wall an affectionate pat and starts heading down the hall, around the corner. “Give me a minute. I’ve got a job for you.”
In his private lab, he quickly brews up some coffee and pours out a mug. Over at the nearest work-table, he starts swiping to get all the screens up. “Hope I’m remembering this right - FRI, look up ‘Ryland Grace’ for me.”
Words and images start appearing as FRIDAY says, “Your memory hasn’t gone just yet, Boss.”
“Oh, ha, ha.” Tony takes a sip of coffee, clicking one hologram to expand it. “What’s this? ‘An Analysis of Water-Based Assumptions and Recalibration of Expectations’.”
“The only dissertation published under this name.”
“Yeah, apparently there’s a reason for that. Poor guy was booted from the cool kids club just for expressing an opinion.” Tony zooms in, highlighting the first paragraph. “God forbid we have some out of the box thinkers in the scientific community.”
“Some of the world’s greatest minds were known for their eccentricities.”
Tony points his mug at the nearest camera. “Exactly. You get it.” He takes another sip and props his elbows on the table. “I barely remember half of this, so figures I should give it another shot.”
“Would you like me to compose a file?”
“No, no, let’s hold off on that.” Tony waves it off. “This is just research.”
But as he settles in to start reading, he can’t help but think he sounded a little too overprotective just then. He decides to chalk it up to sympathy more than anything, since he knows exactly how it feels to have to defend your ideas from people who underestimate you. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially not a half-decent guy like Grace.
Still, he should focus before he gets too caught up in his own head. He’s got a long night ahead of him.