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“Peter?” Tony calls out, his voice echoing throughout the tower halls. “Peter? Where did you go kid?”
He wanders down the hall toward the living room, wiping the grease off his hands on an old rag.
“Underoos, I thought we were gonna-” He stops himself, having walked into the living room to see Peter sitting with a girl on the couch.
“Oh- I’m sorry kiddo, I didn’t realize you had company over.” Tony shoots him a questioning glance.
“Hey Mr. Stark, I know we were supposed to work on- Uh- That project- but MJ didn’t have a ride home from school today and I told her you wouldn’t mind if she hung out here with us until her mom gets off work.” Peter smiles sheepishly, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
“What’s up loser?” MJ nods her head at Tony and throws up a lazy peace sign.
Tony smiles, unable to hide his amusement and fondness of her already.
“Do you wanna watch Star Wars with us Mr. Stark?” Peter offers.
“No thanks kiddo, I’ve gotta finish up downstairs.” Tony smiles and turns back for the doorway “Have fun guys.”
“Bye Mr. Stark!”
“Bye loser.”
Tony resurfaces from the workshop hours later, just in time for dinner, to find that MJ was still here. MJ and Peter sat at the kitchen island holding containers of Chinese takeout. Peter meets his gaze and smiles.
“Are you hungry Mr. Stark? I ordered your usual.” Peter holds out another container, offering it to Tony.
Tony happily accepts and sits down next to Peter, asking him how school was as he pops open the top of the container.
They talk for a few hours, laughing and making jokes before Tony points out what time it is.
“Isn’t your mom off work by now?” Tony questions.
The pair look at each other, sharing a knowing glance that Tony doesn’t seem to catch onto.
“I’ll walk you home.” Peter offers.
MJ nods and picks up her bag and the two head for the door.
“I'll be right back, Mr. Stark!” Peter yells over his shoulder and MJ throws him another peace sign.
He did not come right back.
Tony checked his watch, it’s been almost an hour and a half since they left. They had rushed out the door so quickly that he didn't even have the chance to ask where she lived. Had he made them uncomfortable?
It had now been two hours and just as Tony began to worry Peter walked through the door, his cell phone pressed to his ear.
“I know that’s what I said!” He laughs, lost in conversation.
Peter looks around and sees Tony still at the island and waves to him before walking off to his room where he spent the rest of the night.
Weird.
~~~~~~~
Tony doesn’t see MJ again, instead Peter spends a lot of his time with Ned. They're together almost every weekend either seeing a movie, getting lunch, or just hanging out to play video games.
This goes on for about a month until one particular weekend, Peter stays home and asks Tony if they can finish working on their project. Tony notices that even though it was the kids idea he seemed uninterested. He often caught Peter staring into space or zoning out and had to help him stay on task when finally, out of the blue;
“Mr. Stark, can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot kiddo.”
“Theoretically, if you were in a relationship with someone and you both agreed beforehand to keep it on the DL,” He pauses as if carefully considering his question, “What if one person decided it’s been that way for too long and the other hasn’t? What do you do if that person is upset?” His brows are furrowed and his nose scrunches up in a deep concentration.
“Are you ashamed of this theoretical relationship?” Tony questions.
“No! Of course not!” He protests.
“It does kind of give that impression, kid.”
“I know, I know, but it’s nothing like that!”
“Hm, that's a tough spot but I guess the best thing you could do is sit down and just talk about it until you reach an agreement. I understand wanting to keep it private in the beginning but eventually this person is going to want to be honest with people in their life about who they love. When you love somebody you want to show them off, love them for who they are and be able to talk about them to your friends. Every partner is going to want that with you eventually, kid. You can’t love in the dark, nothing grows there.” Tony concludes.
Peter studies his face, considering his words carefully.
“Yeah, that's a really good point. How did you know we were dating?” He asks after a period of silence.
“I just had a feeling.” They fall into a comfortable silence before Tony decides to speak up again; “Pete, do you mind if I ask- Um- If you’re- I mean are they-?” He stumbles on his words and Peter stares until the dots finally connect for him.
“Oh, you mean are they a guy?” He asks. “Is this about how much time I spend with Ned?”
“Um, yeah.”
“No, Mr. Stark, they’re not a guy, Ned and I are close but not that close. I’ve just been using him as a coverup for how much time I’ve been spending with MJ.” Peter smiles, amused at the sheepish look on his mentor's face.
“Okay, but you know if they were I wouldn’t mind right?”
“I am not gay Mr. Stark.” Peter rolls his eyes in mock annoyance.
“I had plenty of gay friends in college.”
“Oh my god.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MJ comes over a lot more after that, hanging around after school and on weekends for dinner and movie nights. Peter insists they rewatch all the Star Wars movies after MJ says she’s never seen a single one. They’re halfway through when Tony excuses himself to answer his phone ringing in the other room.
“Can you bring more popcorn back with you?” Peter asks without ever looking away from the screen.
He agrees over his shoulder before picking his phone up off the island to check the caller ID.
Rhodey.
He smiles and presses the green answer key, “Rhodey, what can I do for ya?”
“Do you know how hard it is to get pants on in these things?”
Tony digs the last bag of popcorn out and throws it in the microwave, “Do I- What?”
“These stupid braces,” Rhodey huffs, “I can barely get in and out of them just to change my pants.”
Tony snorts and they talk about adjustments over the sound of popcorn popping before Rhodey asks Tony to come over and fix them.
“I can’t tonight, the kids got his girlfriend over and I promised to do movie night with them.”
“His girlfriend?” Rhodey asks, clearly shocked.
“Yep.” Tony says, popping the P.
“You better get back in there then, don’t wanna leave them alone for too long.” Tony can hear the smirk in Rhodey’s voice.
“Very mature, I’ll come in first thing in the morning to fix your braces.” The microwave beeps and the door pops open to release the scent of buttered popcorn all throughout the kitchen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning Tony gets up early to grab a coffee before he goes to fix Rhodeys brace only to discover that Peter and MJ were already awake and sitting at the kitchen island, mugs in hand.
“You kids didn’t stay up all night did you?” He asks, grabbing a mug for himself.
Peter opens his mouth to answer but MJ beats him to it.
“Well, not all night.” She smirks at Peter who elbows her in the side, his facing flushing bright red.
Tony decided not to ask, sometimes you’re better off not knowing.
“Do you think Happy could take us home?” Peter asks, changing the subject.
“Yeah, kid, I’ll let him know. Are you ready right now?” Tony pours the coffee into his mug.
“Yeah we just gotta grab our bags.”
“Well go get them real quick and I’ll tell Happy to bring the car out front.” Tony waves them with a lazy flick of his hand.
The couple run off to the guest rooms to grab their things and Tony pulls out his phone, speed dialing Happy.
It rings once, twice;
“Yeah whaddya want?”
“Happy my dear, the kids are ready to go home and I need you to bring the car out front.” Tony smiles, picturing his scowl through the phone.
“Kid’s? As in more than one?” He questions.
“Yeah, Pete and his girlfriend.” Tony states obviously.
“Girlfriend?”
“What, are you interrogating me? Yes, Happy, his girlfriend. Why does everyone keep asking that, it’s not that hard to believe.”
“Alright, geez, I’ll be waiting out front.”
The line clicks, signaling the calls end. Tony lets the phone clatter onto the marble countertop, then bring the mug to his lips with a sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~
The car ride home is an awkward silence until they reach MJ’s house. Only after they’ve said their goodbyes and pull away from the house does Happy break the silence;
“So, you’ve got a girlfriend now?” He asks.
“Uh, yeah.” Peter looks out the window, avoiding Happys gaze in the rearview mirror.
“How did you manage that?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” His gaze snaps to the rearview.
“Nothing, nothing, you just aren’t the most confident person I’ve met.” Happy shrugs and focuses on the road, now avoiding Peter’s gaze.
“If you’re trying to point out how awkward I am, I’m already well aware.” Peter huffs, staring out the window again.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Well it kinda sounds like that's what you meant.”
They fall into an awkward silence the rest of the way home. Happy speaks up once more as the car pulls up to Peters apartment building.
“I just wanted to congratulate you kid, I didn't mean to offend you.” He taps anxiously on the steering wheel, finally making eye contact with Peter
“You’re not very good at that.” Peter points out, a lighthearted smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“So I’ve been told.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Mr. Stark?” A voice echoes throughout the hallway.
“In here kid.”
Peter trots into the workshop for their usual Friday visit, throwing his school bag onto the floor by his place at the counter.
“I need to ask you a question.” He says, cutting right to the point.
“Okay, shoot.”
“MJ and I have been having super busy schedules lately with me being Spider-Man and everything and her new job. We aren’t getting to spend as much time together or even talk as much on the phone and I think it’s starting to bother her. I’m not trying to ignore her and I know she isn’t trying to ignore me either but I can’t always stop to call or something, ya know? I don’t know what to do.” Peter stares at Tony, waiting patiently.
Tony mentally notes that he isn’t anxious, isn’t twisting his fingers or bouncing his knee, but waiting for a genuine answer the way he does when they work on a new suit that they can’t quite figure out. He’s genuinely concerned about fixing the issue and it makes Tony's heart swell with an odd sense of pride
“I’m sure you’ve noticed how busy Pepper and I can get sometimes, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to cancel dinner with each other or when the last time we had a date night was.” Tony states.
“So what do you do to make her feel better even when you can’t be there?” Peter questions.
“Personally, I’ve found that most women appreciate the small reassurances or the little gestures. Sometimes it's just typing out a text for her to wake up to before I leave, other times I leave a warm breakfast with a note on the counter. I once left a rose on her nightstand when I came home and left again before she got home.” He explains.
“So you buy her things?” Peter's brows stitch themselves together, his head tilted to the side as he tries to understand.
“Well, yes, but also no. Gifts are sweet, but it’s the gestures themselves that have meaning. Those small little things that let her know you’re thinking of her even if she isn’t there. Like, send little messages when you can or even leave good morning texts. When you finally do get to see her, tell her you missed her, tell her how great she looks. A lot of times they just wanna hear the things we’re already thinking. Next time you think about her, or notice something new, tell her,” Tony pauses, considering what he could’ve left out. “Have you ever tried leaving little notes around for her?”
“What, like love letters?” Peter scoffs.
“Sure, like love letters.” Tony smiles, “Pepper seems to like them.”
Peter takes a moment to carefully think it over.
“Maybe I will, thanks Mr. Stark.” He seems pleased with Tonys advice.
“Anytime kid, now come help me with this.”
The pair spend the rest of the night laughing and working like they usually do until it’s time for Peter to go home. The next day Peter comes back into the lab absolutely glowing.
“Hey kid, what's got you in such a good mood?”
“Mr. Stark, I can tell you anything, right?” Peter asks, his grin growing impossibly wider.
“Of course.” He doesn’t even think about it.
“I wrote a note for MJ last night before bed and gave it to her this morning.” He states proudly.
“Yeah? How’d that go?”
“We had sex.”
“Oh my god.”