Tony frowns at Happy’s message. Considering the teenage raging hormones, there’s no telling what sort of ‘mood’ he’s expecting from the kid. Judging from the tone, it must not be good.
So he prepares himself for whatever comes up the elevator.
“Hey Mr. Stark!” Peter chirps, grinning ear to ear as he enters the lab.
Or so Tony thought.
“Hey kid.” he greets, watching the kid haphazardly toss his backpack on the floor near his work station. The kid doesn’t seem upset. “How was school?”
Peter shrugs. “It was fine.” he replies. “Aced my Spanish test. Tomorrow’s Decathlon meeting has been moved to the day after because of Mr. Harrington’s doctor appointment. Or something, I don’t know.” Kid gives a half hearted shrug then turns to grab a bottle of water out of the lab’s mini fridge.
Tony remains seated at his own work station, perplexed. Parker seems to be fine. Cheerful, hyperactive, chatty - the usual. He picks up his phone to look at the message again and resorts to writing his own.
‘Define ‘mood’’
“So nothing bad happened?” Tony prods a little more. “That Thompson kid didn’t give you any trouble?”
Peter shakes his head, mouthful of water. “No.” he replies, pausing as he takes another long drink and adds, “No more than the usual, you know?”
Okay so it isn’t a bully problem.
Tony’s phone buzzes on the table and he picks it up to read Happy’s reply.
‘Won’t talk about it. Something at home’
Something at home? The mystery deepens. Tony has met May Parker several times, even more once Peter’s real internship was discovered. She treats Peter like he’s more of her son than her nephew. A kind, formidable woman who would not hesitate to fight anyone who even dared side eye Peter.
“How about your aunt?” Tony inquires, finding it increasingly difficult to keep the questions casual.
“She’s fine.” Peter says with uncertainty. He shoots Tony a questioning look as he sits down. “What’s up with the interrogation?”
Tony rolls his eyes. “If you think this is an interrogation, you’d never make it through a real one.” he remarks then waves his hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. Just wanted to check in on my favorite intern.”
“I’m your only intern.”
“Which automatically makes you my favorite.” Tony reiterates, drawing a light laugh from Peter. He realizes he sits at a crossroad with the kid, to flat out ask what’s going on (if anyone is really going on) or leave it be. Parker has the terrible habit of not being frank about things, especially when they’re personally happening to him, which can lead to complications down the road.
“It’s nothing, Mr. Stark. Really.” Peter says dismissively, eyes turned downcast to his desk where he makes an impressive attempt in looking busy.
So there is something bothering the kid.
Tony leans his head back, looking up at the ceiling as though it has all the answers. “Okay,” he sighs heavily, running a hand down his face as he directs his attention to Peter again. “Look, enough beating around the bush.” To this, Peter gives him a deer caught in the headlights look. “Happy already gave me the warning something was going on with you so let’s hear it. What’s the problem?”
Peter opens his mouth while spinning a mini screwdriver around in his hand then closes it. Tony can practically see the warring thoughts on his face, though the internal conflict doesn’t last very long. The kid gives a long suffering sigh then says “My Aunt Jan is getting married next Saturday.”
Tony frowns and tries to connect how that's relevant. “Okay…? Wait.” he gives it some more consideration and adds, “I didn’t know you had another aunt.”
Granted, he never thought to look very deep into the Parkers family tree but that’s beside the point.
“I have four aunts actually.” Peter says then adds, “Or, had four aunts. May had a sister named Annie who died before I was born. May has two other sisters - Aunt Jan and Aunt April, which no one talks about for some reason. Aunt Jan says she’s the black sheep of the family and May doesn’t talk about her either, so I imagine her name is burned off the family tree.”
Tony thinks there’s a pop culture reference in there somewhere but he can’t place it. “So your Aunt Jan is getting married.” he says to get things back on topic. “And that’s a bad thing because…?”
“Because she’s just… awful.” Peter groans, chair squeaking as he leans back into it. “She always made these really mean comments and talked about Ben and then talked about Ben and May taking me in, as if they shouldn’t have. And the wedding is all the way in Boston, which means we’ll have to stay at Aunt Jan’s house and I just... “ Peter heaves a sigh, slouching in the chair as he continues playing with the screwdriver. “I don’t want to go.”
“So don’t.” Tony says, believing it being the simplest solution to Parker’s problem.
Peter’s head snaps up, looking aghast. “I can’t do that! I promised May and it’s a family event and-”
“It’s obvious you don’t want to go.” Tony says. “So just tell your aunt you changed your mind.” Peter looks like he still wants to protest, to which Tony adds, “Would she force you to do something you don’t want?”
“Yes.” Peter grumbles.
“All right. Then I’ll give you a Get Out of Jail Free card.” Tony offers. “Just say you have something going on with me that weekend like” - he snaps his fingers until an idea comes to mind - “tell her we’re going to the Compound and I need your help working on some gear.”
"You would do that, Mr. Stark? Really?" Peter asks, having the gall to sound surprised about it. As if Tony wouldn't do something for the kid. But then Peter deflates into the chair again and shakes his head. "No, I shouldn't. If I don't go, May will be there alone with them."
Tony hums and nods. "For the greater good, huh?"
This kid. Sure it's just to a wedding, but this is just another example of who Peter is. Self sacrifice and unwilling to let him become a burden or let someone else suffer. Tony's admiration grows for him day by day.
"Well, now that's out of the way." Tony claps his hands together as he stands, chair rolling against the tile floor. Peter perks up in his chair, eyes on his mentor as Tony approaches his desk. "Let's go over some upgrades for the suit. Any new ideas?"
He watches that spark in Peter's eyes, how the kid lights up. "Yeah! Uhm, actually I was thinking about stuff in class today and wrote it down…"
Tony grabs another chair to join the kid as Peter rambles on about his latest ideas. When he isn't looking, Tony sends a message to Happy.
'Kid is good. Btw, send a list of hotels in Boston.'
A/N: Here's my fill for Day 27's sick!Peter prompt :) Peter starts coming down with something at school, and Aunt May isn't picking up the phone, and the school isn't letting him go home until somebody picks him up. I haven't read through this one before posting, so I hope it's alright and that you enjoy the bit of IronDad at the end x
~Read it on AO3
~Read it on FFN
Peter hadn’t gotten sick since he was bitten and became Spiderman. That left many questions unanswered for him, many of which were still left unresolved. One of which was whether or not he could even get sick anymore. Well much to Peter’s displeasure, he could in fact still get sick. And it sucked.
It had started off as a tickle in his throat that had started that morning when Peter woke up but didn’t notice until the end of second period. That’s when the incessant throat clearing started to try and get it to just go away but around lunchtime is when the first proper cough reared its ugly head. Ned decided it would be hilarious to crack a Raid joke, and all that ended up accomplishing was making Peter wonder whether or not bug repellent might be his undoing. Maybe he should start writing his will and ask Ned to get started on his eulogy.
The fun and games really ended when a particularly harsh bout of coughing made it impossible for Peter to catch his breath, and when he opened his eyes - he didn’t even remember shutting them - Ned had slid in beside him at the cafeteria table, eyes bleeding with concern.
“You sure you’re okay, man?”
“Yeah, I’m fi-” The soundness of Peter’s point rapidly diminished as he failed at fending off another round.
Before Peter could backpedal and tackle the monumental task of getting a few words out once more, the back of Ned’s hand met Peter’s forehead.
“Holy shit, dude, you’re really hot!”
“Thanks, but you know I’m after MJ, right?” Peter smirked. If insisting that he was fine wasn’t working, then deflecting with humour seemed to be a solid Plan B.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Ned haphazardly stacked their now empty lunch trays on top of one another and slid them to the end of the table, not bothering to check whether or not they’d fall off the other side. Swinging Peter’s backpack over his shoulder, Ned’s knees buckled in surprise a little bit at the weight. With some choice words that Peter would have laughed at had he been feeling less like a poorly preserved corpse, Ned gave him The Look. Nobody ever argued with The Look.
Peter allowed himself to be herded to the nurse’s office with minimal complaining, knowing that one single cough would botch his argument, especially now. What had started as an annoying tickle that felt like somebody was lightly touching a feather to the back of his throat had turned into what would happen if a deranged person had made a poison ivy salad with croutons made of sand and forced Peter to swallow it.
As soon as they arrived, Peter had a feeling he would be sent home within a matter of minutes. Call it a hunch.
After the thermometer beeped, the display read 102.1 F, and he heard the nurse tsk.
“Told you.”
Peter sent a half-hearted glare at Ned. On any other day, Peter would have been glad to go home early and take a few hours of the afternoon off for himself, but his next class was the one that had the partner project with MJ, and he’d been looking forward to it all week. Plus, it was Friday, so that meant he wouldn’t get to see her again until Monday. Just his luck.
“Do you have a second emergency contact, dear?” The nurse asked from her desk, scrolling through his file on the database. “I’ve tried calling your aunt, but she hasn’t been picking up.”
Peter was initially hit with a pang of anxiety that combined beautifully with his aching head and bones; that was a new development. Before he could catastrophise too much, he reminded himself that May was at F.E.A.S.T all afternoon setting up for the weekend’s big fundraiser. Either her phone was off, or she was incredibly busy, neither of which Peter blamed her for.
“Um, no, not really.”
The nurse frowned in response. “I can only keep you here until 3:10, and I don’t want to send you home alone.” She tapped her pen on the notepad to her right, attempting to brainstorm plans B through to Z.
“Wait, what about Tony Stark?” Ned blurted out. Upon seeing Peter’s indignant expression and the nurse’s blush and look of surprise, Ned quickly added, “From the...the Stark internship. I’m sure he’d love to help.”
“I’m sure we have other options than to call Mr Stark.”
“Calling Mr Stark.”
Oh God. Peter’s whole body tensed. Scrambling for his backpack that was sitting across from where he sat on the medical bed, just beside the chair adjacent to the door, he felt waves of panic crash over him, turning his skin to fire and ice. Or maybe that was just the fever. Damn his phone, damn the fact that he felt like he got run over by a truck, and he prayed to whatever force in the universe that Tony would not pick it up.
It was just Peter’s luck that the moment he had his phone grasped in his hands, that the ringing cut out and Tony’s voice filtered through.
“Hey kid, this better be good, I’m in the middle of a - thing.” Tony paused for a moment, and Peter jumped slightly and pulled the phone away from his ear as a loud clang rang over the speakers. Peter heard a mumbled “shit” over the line moments later.
“It’s nothing, I was just talking about the internship and then my phone picked up your name in the sentence and then it called y-”
“Peter’s sick!”
Ned cut in, yelling over Peter’s shoulder at the phone at the same time that Peter broke into another coughing fit.
The silence picked up where it left off, and only the faint clinks and the sound of shifting tools filled Peter’s ear. “Do you need to go home or something?”
Peter sighed and winced, backed into a metaphysical corner. He couldn’t really lie his way out of this. “Y-yeah, that’s the thing Mr Stark,” he swallowed as another few leaves of poison ivy dancing in his throat. “Aunt May isn’t picking up and they won’t let me go home unless I’m picked up…”
“So, I’m your second emergency contact.” It wasn’t a question, but Tony didn’t seem...anything. His tone sounded indifferent, but Peter couldn’t read him.
Another awkward silence. Peter hated the nurse’s and Ned’s eyes on him, waiting expectantly. Peter cleared his throat.
“It just so happens that I want pizza this afternoon. Happy’s just getting the car ready. Be ready outside, don’t really want to have to deal with staring kids and the,” Tony slammed a drawer shut, “fawning middle-aged teachers.”
“Thank you so much Mr Stark, I -”
“It’s fine, kid. Just don’t get me sick or I’ll put your suit up for auction.”
“Pete, you alright?” Happy quietly asks in a worried voice.
Peter snaps his eyes open and nods shakily. “Y-Yeah.” He lies.
Happy turns in his seat as he leans in front of him and looks at his face. “You don’t look it,” he says worriedly. “What’s going on?”
“N-Nothing—I’m fine.” Peter tries to assure him—heck, to assure himself but he can’t get the thought of the ferry ripping in two out of his mind. He can’t fail everyone again—he can’t fail Tony again.
OR
Peter’s art class goes on a field trip to the Statue of Liberty and Happy tags along.
Word Count: 2,490
Genre: whump, humor, hurt/comfort
Link to read on Ao3:
A/N: @webpril day 1: field trip
“We live in New York… and your school trip is to the Statue of Liberty?” Happy questions as they stand in Midtown High’s parking lot at ten in the morning, standing in line, dressed in his usual suit and tie attire with a pair of dark shades, standing out like a sore thumb beside Peter as everyone boards the bus.
“I did tell you where we were going yesterday.” Peter reminds him.
“I know… but a field trip to the Statue of Liberty for art class? You guys couldn’t have gone to a museum or something?”
Peter sighs as he moves ahead further in line, rolling his eyes as he overhears Flash and Abraham bickering over who gets to sit in the back of the bus.
“Do you know what we’re doing anyways?” Happy asks.
Peter shrugs. “I'm not sure. I guess we’re going to study the statue and draw it. Ms. Betzing said something about studying light patterns and shading.”
Happy groans at his side. “You guys couldn’t have pulled up photos of it from Google or something?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Peter says, shooting a smile over his shoulder at him before he boards the bus.
...
It takes them a little over an hour until they reach Battery Park, where they will board the ferry that will take them to Liberty Island across the harbor.
“Alright, class! I want all of you to stick together and stay with your groups—no wandering off and everyone be on your best behavior,” Ms. Betzing says as she hands out the maps of Liberty Island and their ferry passes. “I want you all to sketch out anything that catches your eyes as we go and feel free to take any pictures with your phones for references!”
“What if we get motion sickness?” Someone from their group asks.
Ms. Betzing winces at the question. “Uhm… then you can feel free to wait until we’re off the ferry. I want you all to have a fun time on the trip and we certainly don’t want anyone getting sick today!”
They have to wait a few minutes until the ferry arrives, so Peter decides to pull out his small sketchbook from his backpack to kill some time, joining Ned and MJ over at a nearby bench.
“So, how are things going with shades over there?” MJ asks as she sketches something into her sketchbook.
Peter smirks at the nickname as he looks up at Happy, who’s standing near two of the other chaperones as their teacher talks to them, handing them maps as well. “Uh, okay I guess,” he says.
Happy looks bored, like he’d rather be anywhere else than here right now, and Peter can’t help but feel a little guilty. May had pushed Happy to go on the trip when Peter had her sign the permission slip last week, despite Peter’s protests against the idea of a chaperone, especially Happy being one. It’s not exactly the man’s thing and Peter knows how busy he is, being the head of security at SI and not to mention being Morgan’s part-time babysitter.
“You know, he kinda looks like he’s your bodyguard or something,” Ned adds in.
MJ laughs as she looks up from her sketch. “He does,” she agrees before lowering her voice so only they hear her. “It’s kinda sad that Spider-Man needs one though.” She says, shooting a grin Peter's way, earning a laugh from Ned.
Peter rolls his eyes half-heartedly at their teasing. “He’s not my bodyguard and you guys know it. He’s just here for the trip. May wanted him to go for some reason.”
“Why? Is it like… a bonding thing or something? You did say that she made you two have a ‘guys weekend’ last month.” Ned asks with a frown.
“Yeah, isn’t that when you slipped and broke your ribs on the toilet?” MJ adds.
Peter sighs, looking over at her with an unamused expression. “Thanks for reminding me,”
She smiles with a one-shouldered shrug. “That’s what I’m here for, babe.”
Ned makes a disgusted sound at the pet name. “But seriously, do you think that’s why he’s here? To spend more time with you or something now that he and May are engaged?”
Peter’s smile falters as he looks back over at Happy, who’s now looking at something on his phone with his glasses lowered down near the tip of his nose so he can see the screen. “I don’t know… maybe?”
When the ferry arrives at the port, they all get on and take their seats. Peter sits next to Happy again like he had on the bus and they wait for a few moments as passengers continue to get on board.
“You know, I bet Steve would’ve liked to go on this trip with it involving art and everything.” Happy says, breaking the silence between them.
Peter looks over at him, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”
Happy shugs. “He’s into art. He always has a doodle pad on him.”
“I never knew Cap was an artist.”
“He’s not bad, either. He once painted a picture of one of Tony’s cars and gave it to him for Christmas.”
Peter knows the exact painting he’s talking about, the one of the bright red Audi R8 Spyder that’s hung up in Tony’s office at the compound. “Cap painted that one?” Peter asks, eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Yeah,” Happy says with a nod.
“Wow,” Peter breathes out as a small smile pulls at the corner of his lips. “Think he’d do a portrait of Spider-Man?” He asks in a quiet tone, only to earn an amused chuckle from Happy.
“You never know. Maybe if you show up for training on time on the weekends.” He says, giving him a knowing look.
He’s got me there. Peter thinks to himself.
By the time the ferry is moving and on its way to Liberty Island, it only takes a few minutes until Peter is hit with a sense of deja vu as the memories of the last time he was on a ferry comes to mind—the fight with Toomes.
And that time… the ferry had split in half, all thanks to Peter screwing everything up.
Which just so happens to be the reason why he tries to avoid going on boats.
Peter swallows hard as he squeezes his hands that are resting on his lap, feeling the knot in his stomach that had formed in the past few minutes tighten. He darts his eyes around the inside of the ferry, looking up at the ceiling to make sure there aren’t any cracks or any signs of it about to split into two. At least he has his web-shooters on him, but what good did they do him the last time.
Tony was the one who saved the ferry… but Tony is now retired from Iron Man, even though Peter knows he’d jump into a suit and fly here as fast as he could—which would take too long since he’s all the way upstate. The ferry would sink in a matter of minutes with all the water pooling in and they would all drown if lifeboats didn’t arrive in time.
The horrifying scene of it all playing out in Peter’s head has him shaking, feeling his chest seize up in fear and dread. He slams his eyes shut as he mindlessly shakes his leg, trying to push away those terrifying images of MJ, Ned, and his classmates floating lifeless in the Hudson.
“Pete, you alright?” Happy quietly asks in a worried voice.
Peter snaps his eyes open and nods shakily. “Y-Yeah.” He lies.
Happy turns in his seat as he leans in front of him and looks at his face. “You don’t look it,” he says worriedly. “What’s going on?”
“N-Nothing—I’m fine.” Peter tries to assure him—heck, to assure himself but he can’t get the thought of the ferry ripping in two out of his mind. He can’t fail everyone again—he can’t fail Tony again.
Peter tries to take in a deep breath in hopes to calm himself down a little but it comes out more like a weak gasp. His chest feels like there’s a rubber band tightly wrapped around it, blocking off any way for air to get in.
“Hey, hey—look at me. Kid? Peter.” Happy whispers urgently as he takes off his shades and gently grabs Peter’s shoulder, suddenly finding himself facing the man’s worried face. “Tell me what’s going on?”
“I-I don’t know,” Peter murmurs as he shuts his eyes again, grateful they’re sitting in the back so none of his classmates see his meltdown. “I-I can’t breathe.”
“You’re having a panic attack,” Happy says in a soft voice that Peter’s heard him use on Morgan many times before. “You’re okay—you’re safe. Just try to breathe.”
“I-I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Try to take a deep breath for me, Pete,” Happy gently tells him.
Peter wills his chest to release its chokehold on him as he tries to suck in a deep, shaky breath.
In one, two, three… out one, two, three. Peter thinks to himself, remembering the breathing exercise Tony taught him one time when he was having a panic attack similar to now.
It takes a few minutes of breathing until Peter feels like he’s not drowning in his own panic anymore, now that his chest has thankfully opened back up. He feels shaky and tired, but he can breathe.
“Feeling better?” Happy asks, brows pulled together in concern.
Peter shakes his head slowly. “Think so… sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Happy says as he grabs Peter’s backpack and zips it open to retrieve a water bottle. “Do you wanna talk about it?” He asks as he cracks it open and hands it to him.
Peter takes a sip before he sighs. “It’s stupid,” he says.
“It’s not.” Happy reassures.
“I…” Peter pauses and closes his eyes. “I was fine when we got on the ferry… but then my stupid brain went against me and all I could think about was—the ferry splitting in half.”
A look of realization flashes across Happy’s face. “Why didn’t you say anything? You didn’t have to go on this trip if you didn’t want to.”
“I did want to go but I just didn’t think the boat would bother me because I’m with you and everyone else,” Peter admits. “I just… I don’t know...”
“Hey,” Happy says gently. “I get it.
Peter looks up at him and offers a small, weak smile.
When they’re finally off the ferry, Peter follows behind the group with Happy at his side as everyone starts to head further on the island, Lady Liberty standing tall and proud above them, glowing a brilliant soft green in the afternoon sun.
MJ and Ned walk over and join them by a picnic table, thankfully unaware of Peter’s panic attack on the trip over. They all start drawing in their sketchbooks while Happy goes on his phone, even managing to sneak a few pictures of them when Peter isn’t looking.
Peter takes a deep breath in when a warm spring breeze blows past them, feeling it flow through his lungs. He feels a lot better now that he’s on dry land, with his friends and Happy. Sitting here drawing is pretty relaxing, surprisingly too. He’s never been a great drawer but this art class has helped him get a little better to the point that he actually enjoys it.
“Does this look like a pigeon or a rat?” Ned asks with a frown as he holds up his drawing for them to see.
“Definitely a rat,” MJ says with a small smirk. “But with feathers.”
Ned groans as he drops his sketchbook to the table. “I’d like to say that I give up but we have to pass this in at the end of class tomorrow.” He says, earning a chuckle from them.
“I think it looks good, Ned,” Peter offers. “I mean, have you seen the city’s pigeons? Those things are monsters.”
“You got a thing against pigeons?” MJ questions, shooting him a grin.
Happy chuckles from beside him. “He’s still sore about that one time one swiped his sandwich from him.”
Ned laughs at that and Peter holds his arms out in defense. “It was a sandwich from Delmar’s! No one steals my sandwich and gets away with it.”
“It got away, didn’t it?” MJ asks.
Peter’s shoulders slump with a sigh. “Yeah.”
She shakes her head with a small chuckle as she looks back at her drawing.
...
The afternoon passes by in a blur and before they know it, it’s already time for them to head back. They’re now waiting in line as everyone boards the ferry once again and Peter is dreading getting back on.
“How about we hang back here for a little bit and let everyone else go on ahead?” Happy offers, seeming to sense his dread.
Peter raises an eyebrow at him. “But we have to get back to school.”
“Sure you can. I’ll sign you out for the rest of the day if you want.”
“You can?” Peter asks a little hopefully. He honestly doesn’t think he can get back on that boat right now and then go through another couple of hours at school.
“Yeah, let me go talk to your teacher then we’ll grab some lunch.” Happy tells him before he walks away from him to find Ms. Betzing.
It only takes Happy a few minutes before he’s back. “You’re all set.” He says.
“Really?” Peter asks, a little surprised at how easy it was.
“Yeah. She just had me sign a form,” Happy says as he nods his head in the direction of the group. “You wanna say goodbye to your friends?”
Peter shakes his head. “I’ll just text them later.”
...
Not even twenty minutes later, they’re seated outside of the Crown Cafe, enjoying two all-American burgers with a side of fries and two sodas.
“You know… you didn’t have to sign me out the rest of the day. We’re going to have to get back on the ferry anyways.” Peter says, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between them.
“I know,” Happy says with a nod as he takes a sip of his soda. “But I thought you could use a break and our ride back is on his way.”
Peter raises an eyebrow to ask, only to be cut off when someone yells, “Hey, look! It’s Iron Man!” And below and behold, Iron Man suddenly drops down from the sky, landing across the way from them and drawing a crowd.
“We couldn’t have swam back to the city? Or what about a helicopter?” Peter sarcastically asks, turning back to Happy.
Happy shrugs with a smile. “I thought about the helicopter but I know May wouldn’t approve.”
Peter sighs before he takes another bite out of his burger.
There are papers littering the floor of Peter’s room that have been there for the past month, he can’t bring himself to pick them up, just looking at them gives him a headache.
It’s a real pain though that every time he wants to cross the sea of chaos and forms that is his room, he has to take painstaking measures to make sure they don’t mix up or crinkle.
May’s voice echoes as she yells from somewhere across the apartment, calling him for dinner but he’s not hungry.
Instead of going out and finding May at the table with some take-out, he grabs a pillow from his bed and plants it right in the middle of the room, the eye of the hurricane.
Sitting criss-cross on the cushion he takes a long - exhausting - look around him. Picking up the packet of papers directly in front of him he glances at the corner, this one’s NYU. Shuffling through the pages are his applications, guides, and other papers he hasn’t decided are good enough to look at.
He’d already applied for colleges last year and it had been so fun, him and May had applied for a bunch of colleges so he had alternates and other options in case the other ones didn’t pan out well.
Most, if not all of them, had already replied back and he’d gotten into great ones so that wasn’t a problem.
Nope, the problem now was that with finals and studying, he hadn’t actually chosen which one he wanted to go too. There were so many options and they were all amazing, but each of them had different things and perks.
At first he’d been leaning towards Harvard, May and Ben’s university, that they’d talk so much about when Peter was younger. That’s where they had met and since they both used to speak so highly of it, it seemed like the best option. There was sentimental value as well as academic, and that made it special.
Then there was Stanford, MJ had gotten in yesterday and she’d told Ned and Peter over the phone. For the MJ-standard, she looked practically exhilarated, her eyes were practically glowing and she kept pausing her sentences before starting again. Ned had also gotten into Stanford but he was still undecided.
It was mostly narrowed down to 5 places and frustration boiled over as he looked over the list again. He could read it as many times as he wanted, at this point he had it memorized, the names running over and over in his brain, NYU, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
NYU, Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
God, this was exhausting. When he’d submitted those applications oh-so long ago, it was thrilling and exciting. He would do anything for that feeling to come back now to replace all the dread and anxiety he currently felt.
MJ was always talking about how great Stanford was, May about Harvard, Tony about MIT, and Ned about all of the above.
Peter didn’t know which one to choose, and he knows he should just do it, but it’s pretty close to impossible.
He needs some air, he isn’t going to make a decision right now anyways, that’s for sure. Peter leaves a note on the door in case May comes looking for him, and uses the fire escape to leave, clambering down with muffled steps. He didn’t take his web shooters and just strolled down the streets, dodging people and dogs was second-nature to him.
It wasn’t till he actually focused that he realized where he was, he’d gone to a park. The same one where Ben would push him on the swings until Peter felt his stomach flip every time because he was so high. When he was much younger he called it “My Park”, mostly because it was hidden from the public eye with the trees that surrounded it. No one was ever there and he’d brought Ned once in 3rd grade, it was much easier to have fun when there weren’t random little kids taking up the slide and parents watching like hawks. It was practically his own.
Reminiscing, he ran his fingers over the chains for the swing and sat down, lightly kicking his legs just enough so that he was a few feet above the ground.
The sun was setting and Peter watched as orange light filtered through the trees, making half his face warm. The other half was still cold in the shadows as swift breezes brushed over him and he ran his fingers through the bright spots in front of his eyes.
He tried not to think about the decision waiting for him at home, but it was inevitable.
He knew he was picking college for himself, it was his future, but he really didn’t want to make the wrong decision.
Tony always told him stories about MIT with Rhodey and all the fun they’d had there. The time Rhodey had broken a wrist and Tony an ankle because of a stupid dare that they were foolish enough to try. The time they’d sent the sprinklers off and everyone had to evacuate. Sometimes they were said in the kitchen with everyone around laughing at the stories that you’d expect to be exaggerated, other times they were said in whispers as Peter fell asleep, probably in medbay after an injury during patrol.
Peter hunches in on himself as the sound of Iron Man flying, he already knew it would only be a matter of time before May sent the cavalry his way.
Peter doesn’t even glance at the suit as it lands on the faded playground mulch with a crunch. For his credit, Tony doesn’t urge him to, instead sitting on the swing next to him, hands placed carefully in his lap.
Peter hates when they all do this, when they all act worried and get cautious, treating him like a bomb about to explode with one misplaced movement.
The two swing in silence next to each other for a few minutes, letting the cool breezes as they whistle through the trees, speak for them.
There’s no movement from either one of them until Tony twists and faces Peter, throwing one leg over each side of the swing.
Peter does the same, watching Tony warily, pressing his nose in the chain.
“What if I choose wrong?”, Peter asks, shifting his eyes to the ground, avoiding Tony’s.
“Impossible, no chance” Tony immediately shakes his head, “First of all, trust yourself, you know yourself better than anyone. Second, you’ll be a force to reckon with for any college or university you go to. I don’t even want to try and imagine the crazy stories you’ll be telling me as I get grey hairs.”
“What about Spiderman?”
“Don’t refer to him as another person, Spiderman is Peter Parker and Peter Parker is Spiderman. You’ll always have Spiderman, even if you decide to take a break from it for a little but”
“No, no, I won’t do that. I’m going to be Spiderman” Peter insists.
“Your choice, Petey. You know, you could also take a gap year”
“I feel like that’d just make me more stressed”, Peter’s eyebrows crinkle, in thought.
“Then go for college, Peter. Be great, and get a degree, and make me and May cry at your graduation, just make sure you’re doing it for yourself.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll probably be crying too.” Peter laughs, “Isn’t it weird though? To think that after everything that’s happened in the past few years, I’ll just go, go away from you all and,” Peter doesn’t air the last part of the sentence. All the fear that everything he’s had is going to be gone, all to waste and forgotten as he’s off somewhere else. The thought makes him queasy.
“You know, as the Tony Stark who actually used to go to MIT, I could apply for work there.” Tony smirks, “We can go to coffee shops and I can meet all your friends and embarrass you” THe last part is said as a joke as Tony smirks, Peter smiles and cringes inside.
“Maybe...no?”
Tony gets up and pulls Peter to his feet, “Let’s continue this lovely conversation at your place, we can talk over burnt asparagus, or some take-out”
Peter nods as he glances around, the wind’s stronger and it’s getting colder as the sky gets darker. Peter shivers and he melts into Tony as the man wraps an arm around him.
Tony holds onto Peter in the same park Ben did, building sandcastles that were really just piles of sand with him. The same park where May had chased him down the slide and wrapped her arms around him and she slid behind him. The same park where Ned and him had lost a bunch of lego pieces as the built model broke and the parts got lost in the sand.
It’s nice, he realized. As terrifying as it is to leave something behind, there’s a secure feeling you get when you know it’s always going to be there for you, forever a shield for you to hide behind when you need to.
Peter just wraps his arms back around Tony, face buried in his shoulder.
