#SORRY THIS GOT OUT OF HAND. I HAVE SO MANY THEORIES ABOUT PARKER OK.....

[cat-vase]

other thing similar to the bryce stuff that i think you may be interested in!

Owen was most likely interrogated by police about Liams disappearance since he was the last one to see Liam before he vanished (BOTH TIMES not counting bryce or the cashier+waiter in ep15), which means there’s the possibility of Owen being wrongly convicted… despite the fact that there may not be much evidence against him.

(same thing goes for Parker regarding Charlotte’s disappearance since he was AT HER HOUSE and had a reason to be mad at her, leading the police to believe he possibly murdered her over the money..?)

Someone pointed out to me once that it was likely Owen who REPORTED Liam missing in the first place! How else would the police know it was LIAM'S bike instead of... literally anyone else's? He probably got cleared of suspicion since there's likely outside security footage of Liam leaving the office alone (and Owen leaving alone, too!) Assumming this because... well. Everything has cameras everywhere nowadays.

But yeah!!! I'm sure he was questioned but since Liam literally disappeared into thin air, they couldn't find anything to convict him? Or anybody else, either? Or anything to use... to figure out where he was? Hence presuming him dead!!! Which sucks for Owen, especially if he finds out about the smokestack incident somehow (and that it happened BEFORE he saw Liam???), but what can you do!

But oh my god Parker. I have so many thoughts about Parker you have no idea. Not a lot of people talk about Charlotte I feel and even then, if they do they DON'T talk about Parker and that is a CRIME.

He saw her disappear in front of his eyes! Mid sentence! There was still dinner cooking in the kitchen and jazz playing on the TV! Wouldn't that send him into some sort of anxious spiral? Or psychotic break? Wouldn't he be unsure if she ever existed or not?

And his job is a brand associate! Wouldn't that make him in the public eye, at least somewhat? If he went crazy people would SEE and KNOW. He might be arrested on suspicion of murder? Or institutionalized? Or go off the grid? Maybe he starts to pay for her place and cover up her disappearance in order to try and investigate it! Maybe he searches every single forum he can online, stringing together other random disappearances of this nature whether or not they're actually connected! Maybe he takes something of hers to convince himself that yes, she WAS real! He can't tell anyone else in his friend group about this, of course. They'll think he did something to her, and he would never. He just wanted her to be okay. Is she okay, wherever she is? He hopes she's okay. He just wants her to come back. He's not mad about the money anymore. He's sorry he yelled. Please just come back. One day she has to, right? In the same manner she disappeared? He can't get rid of her place now, what if she came back and he wasn't there?

Maybe he posts incomprehensible ramblings on a website he makes in order to make sure he doesn't lose them, but also so he can stay anonymous. He goes on outings for days searching and never turns up any leads, of course. In the beginning his friends try to interact with him; they fear for his safety, he's so JUMPY, and he has an accident and falls in one of the caves they've been to a thousand times. He just gets more closed off after that. He becomes more and more like the person he's trying to find: No, he's FINE, he can find her on his OWN, he doesn't NEED help, he's perfectly fine and sane.

And maybe, if he's not locked up somewhere or done something to hurt himself, maybe he DOES see her come back someday. She's in a worse state than she left in.

But that's a whole different can of worms.

[int-writersmind]

The Quid Pro Quo

Paring: College! Peter Parker x Reader (reader's an English major)

Summary: On a rainy night, sparks fly when the two of you exchange notes on each others classwork.

Word Count: 2.1k

Genre: Fluff

authors note: hey, I might be a recent college graduate, doesn't mean everything is accurate ok? 🤭

Light rain taps against the window of Empire State University's library windows. You find yourself alone on the second floor at a table, wanting to tear your hair out over your Physics homework.

It was Friday night, the library was practically empty since most students were out partying or at the very least not thinking about their classwork. You, on the other hand, had made a deal with a fellow student to help one another on each’s work, a classic quid pro quo. You, an English major, were gonna exchange helpful notes on your classmate's Frankenstein paper that was due Monday, and he, in return, would help you prepare for your Physics test the following Tuesday. It was a great idea, brilliant even, if only Peter Parker weren’t running late. 

You check your phone one more time before standing up and stretching your legs. You walk over to the big gothic looking window your table was next to, glancing at the rain smacking into the glass.

God, there were so many things you could have been doing right now instead of standing here like a young wife waiting for her husband to return from the sea. Like curling up with a nice book, with a hot cup of your favorite beverage, getting lost in whatever world and-

“Sorry I’m late!” came a familiar voice.

You turn and see that Peter Parker had decided to finally make an appearance after all. With your arms crossed, you watch as he quickly runs up the steps, tripping and almost falling while doing so. “I was starting to think you died or something.” You say quite sarcastically.

“Oh much worse,” Peter says, “Subway delays.” As you return to your seat, Peter sits on the other side, quickly taking out his own laptop and notebook. “What should we start on?”

“I don’t know if I can stand anymore Physics right now,” You glance at your phone,  A Daily Bugle notification on top: Spider-Man v Lizard! Havoc on the A-Line!. You swipe it away, maybe it was better to go straight to the dorms after this. “Let’s just start on this Frankenstein paper since it’s much more open-ended.”

“Boo, I hate open ended,” Peter turns on his laptop, “At least with science everything can be quantified.”

“What about theories huh?”

“Theories can be backed up or disproven! English, it’s-it’s sooo subjective.” Peter sighs, “What do you mean the blue curtains represent depression! I have blue curtains, but not because I’m depressed but because they were on sale!”

“Ha-ha, like I haven’t heard that before” You shake your head and roll your eyes, “So, let’s see what you have. Wait, maybe it’s better if I-” You get up from your seat and walk over to sit on the chair next to Peter. “That’s better, now we can look at the screen together.”

Peter places one arm on the back of your chair, no thought really behind it. You pause for a moment before fake coughing, re-focusing on the screen in front of you.

 Peter was one year older and the two of you met at an English course, Literature by Women, a gen-ed for him but a required class for you. You got to know each other the first week of the semester when your Professor assigned partner work to go through a set of poems. Ever since then the two of you would occasionally text each other with simple questions about class. That’s when you found out Peter was in a higher track for Physics and became an absolute annoyance when it came to questions. But Peter always lent a hand and never with any bitterness. 

“You ok?” Peter asks.

You look at Peter whose face reads concern, “Yeah, just a little tired that’s all. Long day.” You turn back to the screen glancing at the title and opening lines of Peter’s paper.

“Ugh same,” groans Peter, “I got so caught up with something, I forgot to eat lunch”

“Oh, I think I have something.” You stop a few lines into the first paragraph, reaching over the table to grab your bag on top, you dig inside until you find half of a sandwich that you bought earlier. “Here, I didn’t know this sandwich had tomatoes and I just find them disgusting.” You make a face of disgust that causes a small laugh to come from Peter.

“You know you can always just take the tomatoes off right?”

“What about the tomato juices?” You say, “The remnant of the tomato never goes away!” You make a huge swapping gesture, “Do you want the damn sandwich or not?”

He puts his hands up in fake surrender, “Ok, ok.”

Peter takes his arm off the back of your chair scooting closer to the table before digging into the sandwich. You settle into reading Peter’s paper about the ethics of Dr. Frankenstein. 

~

“Ok…ok, what you have so far it’s…”

“Horrible..terrible–” Peter sighs.

You turn and gently smack Peter on the arm, “Oh shut up,” You say, “It’s a good foundation, clear thesis, your paragraphs for the most part support it–”

“But…”

“But,” You widen your eyes and make a face. “You focus too much on the actual science of everything going on, focus more on the emotional. Victor uses the Creature for his own selfish desire not only for scientific exploration.”

“You got all of that from my paper?”

“More or less,” You turn your attention back to the computer screen, scrolling over the paper again. “See, anyone can write a thorough paper if they put their mind to it.”

“And…anyone can pass Physics if they put their mind to it as well. Let’s switch topics.”

“Oh, god no,” You say. “The greatest weakness of English majors…Science!”

You lean back as if you were fake fainting, a little too far back as you almost tip over in your seat, but Peter catches your arm just in time. “Woah there Faint-y, can lose you yet.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Peter closes his laptop, and grabs his notebook, you hand him your Professor given study guide. Peter glances at the document, nodding and shaking his head at certain terms. “Ok little English major, time to blow your mind with some science!”

“Certainly, but not in the way you're imagining.”

Peter just rolls his eyes and points to one of the first lines in the study guide that you're underlining and adding several question marks to. “Let’s start here.”

Your little tipping incident sent your chair slightly further away from Peter’s than earlier. With the underside of his hand, he pulls your chair, and you, closer to him. This causes you to hitch your breath. “Pete you gotta stop doing that.” You joke.

Peter doesn’t look up from the paper. “Stop doing what?”

You huff and glance away before looking back at him. “God are you purposely annoying or just clueless?”

Peter finally looks at you, a slight smile on his face, “I just need you close to me…to-to, uh, to explain this concept. Obviously.”

“Yeah,” You blow a raspberry. “Obviously.”

~

You groan, letting your head fall into your hands on top of the table, “I’m resigned to the fact that I might have to drop out of Physics.”

“No, don't! Physics is super fun!” Peter says with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

You peek one eye through your fingers, “Pete, I don’t think we’re working on the same frequency.” 

“Ok, well I have a totally funny Physics joke for you,” Peter readies himself, “What did the male magnet say to the female magnet? Seeing you from the back, I thought you were repulsive. But seeing you from the front, I find you rather attractive.”

You pick your head up and lightly punch Peter in the arm, “You’re lucky you’re cute, because I’m already–Ah, spider!”

A modest size brown spider crawls out of reach from your hand on the table. You reflexively go to swat at it but Peter catches your hand before you could do so. You glance at Peter’s hand on yours rather than at him. He quickly lets go of your hand before he goes and picks up the spider ever so gently.

You follow him as he walks over to the window, the rain slowing down. He cracks open the window, urging the bug outside. You lean against the other side of the window, arms crossed over your chest, you can’t help it when a dry laugh escapes your mouth, “Sorry, but are you secretly some kind of spider-whisper.”

“Hmm,” Peter closes the window, “Maybe. Just looking out for the little guy I suppose.”

You can’t help but smile, truly genuine this time. You reach out and take one of Peter’s hands. “Come on, I think we’ve earned a break.”

You pull Peter by the hand, taking a second to close his laptop, and throwing your jacket over everything on the table. You turn around, switching what hand is holding on to Peter’s. You continue down one path weaving up and down other bookshelves, passing empty tables, you make a sudden turn down an aisle letting go of Peter’s hand. You trail your fingers over the spines of the books, as Peter follows behind you, hands in his pocket. When you make it to the end of the aisle, you stand in front of a window, the rainstorm continuing on. “I actually find rainstorms to be rather romantic.” You say.

“The Shelly kind or the Valentine kind?” Peter says, leaning against the bookshelf.

“Both.” You peek back, a smirk playing on your lips. You walk over to Peter, standing with just enough space for someone to squeeze through.

“Not so romantic when you’re caught up in it.” Peter glances at the window, then at you. “I’ve been caught…too many times.”

“So have I,” You step a little closer, testing the waters, Peter doesn’t react. “But you have to admit there’s something, I don’t know, intimate, about being sheltered in place, with just one other person. Like under an umbrella, or the awning of some corner store bodega–”

“Or in-between bookshelves at your college’s library?” Peter’s hand comes up to gently grasp your hand, your fingers slowly interlocking with one another. He pulls you in close, in between his legs. You place your other hand on his chest to prevent yourself from falling. “I might not be an English major but I think I can read between the lines.”

“And if I wasn’t so tired, I would totally come up with a Physics joke.” You response, your face flush red. 

He brings his other hand to your face, his palm resting on your cheek, his fingers slowly disappearing into the nape of your hair. “Can I kiss you now?”

“Hmm, maybe…let me ask you one question?” You say.

“Shoot.”

“Can I kiss you first?”

Peter smiles, then nods. You bring the hand that was on his chest upwards, sliding up his neck, until your own hand is entangled in his hair. You close your eyes and lean forward, pressing your lips ever so gently to his. He pauses for a moment before kissing you back, slowly, taking his time. His lips felt soft against your own, warm and comforting, even if you could still taste the tomatoes from earlier. You can’t help but giggle at the thought.

“What is it?” Peter says between kisses.

You move away just a little, you quickly peck him on the lips, once, twice–”It doesn’t really matter.”

Peter deepens the kiss, bringing both hands to hold your face, his thumbs gently caressing the skin beneath them. You loop both your arms around his neck, letting your body fall into his, your chest pressing against his. His tongue enters your mouth and it falls in rhythm with yours, dancing an unseen dance. 

The two of you stop for a moment, foreheads resting on one another. “You know I’m still dropping Physics right?” You say through closed eyes and heavy breathing.

“Then I’ll keep kissing you until you change your mind.” Peter answers.

He holds you in his arms as he stands up fully, keeping his grip on you tight as he kisses you again. One of his hands drifts to your bottom, an open hand just resting on top of your clothing.

“Oh Parker,” You whisper. “Not as innocent as you look.”

“You have no idea…” 

He buries his head into your neck, placing kisses up and down that make your eyes roll back. “We should…we should definitely continue this study session back at my dorm…since you know… the library closes soon.”

“Yeah, yeah of course.” Peter says as he now moves on to your ear, nibbling at your earlobe. 

You break away from him, pushing him back ever so lightly, taking his hand in yours. You lead him down the aisle, half-walking, half running. 

“Come on, I still have a Physics test to pass”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey there, thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. If you like this consider checking out my other fluff-y story Potential Customer . Goodbye Void!

masterlist

[fantasies-fairytales-n-fics]

Code Blue Ch. 52 - Masks

Summary: Craig and Jeffrey bicker over the missing vehicle. Josie and Craig continue to grow closer. A shocking sight gives Josie sore eyes. Jeff is concerned for a friend and gives his two cents. A theory sparks a hunting trip. Jeff exceeds his limits with Josie and she lets him know. Orlando is put on blast. Mama March speaks her truth. Someone else is put on blast by Jo. Megan confesses something that rocks Jo's world.

*Chapter Warnings* Strong language, angst, sexual references

Chapter word count: 8,854

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist:

Salem, Massachusetts

March 22, 2022

The three of you were all in different states of consternation over hearing that the Trans Am was missing and of course over the ghastly events that happened before that. Craig's was red-faced anger as he paced about, yours was simply shock as you stood hugging yourself with bristled arms and Negan's was an eerie calmness as he sat under a tree in unusual silence, softly gritting his jaw.

"The fucking car is gone. The...fucking...car...is...gone!!" Craig erupted as he chucked his phone to the ground.

Finally, Negan spoke. "Well maybe you should have took the fucking keys out of it."

Craig froze solid with a cocky head tilt and poisonous pupils. "Right...because people are just lined up to hop in and steal a rust bucket reeking of fucking animal dung."

"Shit happens." he uttered with no emotion.

"Shit happens?! Always got a wise crack for everything don'tcha Jeffrey?! Well yes, shit does fucking happen and not just to you. I would love to just sit under a fucking tree, all calm and relaxed, twiddling my fucking thumbs and not give a shit because HEY... shit happens!"

"Back off Parker and pull that stick out of your dick. It's making you cranky." Negan warned with a growl. "The Venus Flytrap could have been towed. Ever think of that? Whatever the explanation, there's not a goddamn thing we can do about it at this time, now is there snarky Parky?"

"Watch your insolent fucking tone! Towed is NOT good because that places the car at my property smart ass and we both know the rest of that clodhopper clan will realize they're missing two of their kin and come snooping around just like they did today over Jo's car!"

"And then we'll make sure they're reunited with their missing loved ones or did you forget who the fuck we are?? I now know where Dwight's ugly mug has been holing up so now I have a damn good reason to go on a little backwoods hunting trip and sniff around like a fucking bloodhound."

"Well you do what needs to be done and I'll go do what needs to be done. Cleaners are here. I'm going to go check in on that mess and then head to my meeting at Pozzulo's that I am now twenty minutes late for and have to explain to Sonny exactly why that is! And you...you can find your own fucking way into town!"

Craig storming exit broke your trance and you ran after him. "Craig please wait!"

He sighed heavily and stopped as you caught up to him behind some brush and stole his hand.

"Are you ok?" you softly asked.

"Is that a rhetorical question??" he spat and then immediately closed his eyes, releasing a softer sigh of remorse. "I'm sorry Jo. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that...you're asking me if I'M alright after what you just saw. I told you not to come. I don't care how many times you've seen these things. I didn't want you to see it with me. I can only imagine what you must think of me now."

"I think no less of you than I do Jason. I carry the same loyalty for you that I do him, especially now and I want to thank you for what you did for me because I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you and Ne..Jeff hadn't intervened. I could have been severely assaulted in more ways than one and possibly even be dead right now."

"Thanking me for what just went down don't even feel right. I'm not proud of it but predators like them need to be put down. How many other women and innocent people have they hurt, or even killed? and they surely weren't going to stop with you and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone ever hurt you...and Jason's your brother Jo. Of course you would have a bias for him. Me?...I'm no one to you and I think your guilt over Blaise plays a huge role in your graciousness of me."

You weren't sure where it came from, the urge to hug him, but you did it anyways. It was your nerves, you deciphered. They needed the calming effect of his strong safe arms paired with the relaxing aroma of his cologne. The purpose was somewhat challenging though since you had to stand on your tippy toes due to his height which caused you to feel his gun awkwardly pushing against your lower boundaries.

Stunned from the unexpected embrace, Craig hands hesitated for a moment to accept your closeness. The feel of your small soft body against his and the intoxicating cherry scent of your hair in his face was morphing the big tough mob man in to a vulnerable little boy. He so longed for a woman's touch, but not just any woman's. Yours. With reluctance, he permitted his hovering hands to softly lay upon the small of your back.

"Craig...that's not true." you assured into his warm ear. "Of course I feel guilty about Blaise and I always will no matter what you say, especially after seeing the state you were in yesterday, so lost and in so much pain... but Craig, that guilt has nothing to do with what I feel in my heart. I think of you as my friend. I care about you. Is that so hard to believe?"

His hot breath prickled your ear. "Actually it is. You don't even know the details of my upbringing and let us not forget Liz's path of destruction."

After the longer than expected hug, you pulled back, leaving your arms still clasped around his neck and gazed up into his child-like orbs of blue. "Not everyone is out to hurt you Craig. Not everyone is Elizabeth and as far as Cyrus..."

His eyes wandered away from yours. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Craig, I too am a really good listener and have a strong but soft shoulder to lean on as you once told me and...

"Well Jo, your ears are not listening right now damn it!" he suddenly barked as he brought his hands to your upper arms and gave you a harmless warning shake, stunning you but not scaring you in the least.

The way he looked at you though, searching your face with a confused frustration in his gaze, his bold and blazing blues also held a very deep desireful passion when they locked on to your lips. Rendered stiff as a statue, you held your breath, for you could have sworn he was going to kiss you, but he didn't. Instead, he swiftly backed away, placed his hands on his hips and strongly exhaled.

"Why Jo? Why are you so damn persistent and stubborn?"

"And why do you continue to entertain this lifestyle when I can clearly see it's taking a massive toll on you? And working under Sonny no less? What about Blaise WHEN you get her back? Do you want to raise her in this world?"

"Here we go again. Jo...you know I can't get just get out."

"I don't believe that for one minute. The other day, you told me that I'm only stuck if I choose to be. Well, the same applies to you. I know it wouldn't be easy whatsoever, but it can be done... but that's not what I asked you."

You were thinking of both Lee and Luke in that moment and how they had lived a similar life many years ago and managed to leave it behind, but then again...that world was on another continent. This one was right here in Salem where Craig resided AND ran in his family and you knew he didn't do it to make papa proud. Speaking of the devil, Craig then referred to him.

"You met the reason why and he needs to be taken down. Satisfied? Jo, I really have to go. Have Jeff walk you back to your car."

"Fine but this conversation is not over."

He smiled, shook his head and lightly grazed your cheek with his fingertips. "I never believed for one minute that it would be. Take care love."

You watched Craig swagger off through the thicket leading back to the killing fields and once he was gone, you headed back to find Jeff.

"Come on!" Jeff groaned as he urgently fought to undo his uncooperative belt. "I'm gonna need my own goddamn pissin pants in about 2 fucking seconds."

Once he finally freed his manhood, he made no effort to contain his booming moan of relief as he rid his body of the booze he had previously overindulged in during his gardening project at Craig's complex.

Swaying his steaming fluid of gold back and forth in an artful figure 8 pattern, he closed his eyes and chuckled as it blasted into the dead leaves. "If a dude drains the main vein in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? And the answer is...I don't give a flying fuck cause I'm all out of fucks to give."

As he shook off the last few drops, his eyes popped open at the sound of your ghastly gasp. A gasp so great, you could have sworn you swallowed a giant bug and when you both snapped out of the initial shock, Jeffrey, quite utterly amused, took his sweet time to seal himself back up as he watched you bury your face in your hands.

"Jumpin Jehosephine!" He cheerfully jested. "I do believe your eyeballs just leaped from their sockets and rolled right up my dick. What's the matter you sneaky kitten? Never seen a man's junk before?"

"Not yours!!" you yelled in a muffle from underneath your sweaty palms.

He released a cocky snicker. "Now we both know THAT'S not true because YOU just did and I must say, that was one long intense eyeful. I do believe they call that gawking. So what do ya think pussycat? Do I measure up to the simile "hung like a horse?"

Against your will, your filthy warped mind silently answered that he certainly did and you cringed at the perverted thought.

"Oh my god will you just tuck that thing away already so I can turn around??"

You heard a tug of war zipping and a jingling of his buckle. "Voila. The eye of the tiger is all tamed for now but it won't be long before I have to unleash the beast once again. Liquids go through me like a cheap paper towel."

"Then I guess we better get going. Craig wants you to walk me back to my car."

If a pair of eyes rolled so hard that they could have done a complete 360, it was Jeffrey's as he shouted out into the woods in his ongoing bitterness. "Yes Sergeant Pecker. Oh damn, I mean Parker."

As you both began walking, you defended Craig. "You should really take it easy on him right now. He's going through a lot with Blaise missing."

"Right. Well I get that. I do. But you see, Craig likes games, and don't get me wrong, I'm all for that as you may have noticed, but his favorite one is where he likes to play "my dick is bigger than yours" and I can assure you, as you may have ALSO noticed, that I win that game, hands fucking down. He projects too much."

"Are you really dick measuring right now? And how would I know whom is more sizeable??? And.... wait...how would YOU know if your cock is more sizeable???"

"Ohhhh!" he jumped with a flinch and then chortled. "Did you just say...cock?"

You riposted with a comical confidence as you grinned. "What? I can say cock. You don't own the word. Cock...cock...COCK!"

"Apparently you can and will. Guess I am just more accustomed to hearing a man say it. Look at you, you dirty little girl! I just keep liking you more and more. Now...to add clarity to your curiosity, which clearly almost damn near killed the cute as shit cat just now, I know I've got a few inches on him because I've seen it. I mean, are you gonna bullshit me and say you've never seen any of your girlfriend's tits before? Craig drinks a lot, which, no judgment there whatsoever, but when he does, sometimes he puts on indiscreet displays like I just did such as coming out for a drink of water in the middle of the night as nekked as the day he was born."

"Ok well...I mean, that's just your opinion, is it not?

"Well you tell me then. You say you and Craigypoo are just friends but it sure as shit looked like a lot more than that over there in the brush."

"You were...spying on us???"

"Spying is such a strong word. I'd like to think of it more as investigating. You see, Craig and I may be at each other's throats more often than not, but we go back quite a ways and I actually care about his quirky Kiwi ass. He and I are a lot alike, possibly why we connected so easily. We both have been through the ringer in life, mostly due to a man's biggest weakness....women and their evil funnels of love and his ex did a fucking number on him. I don't want to see that happen again and you...well...as I said before, I know when he's catching the deadly pestilence called feelings and I do believe you told me that your heart was already spoken for. Do you see where I'm going with this cupcake? Sweets aren't always good for people. That shit rots your teeth if you aren't careful."

"Well what'ya know? Bad ass Negan is really a softy at heart. Never would have guessed that."

"Look, Craig and I, or anyone for that matter in this business, have to be a bad ass, which I'm sure you know but that doesn't necessarily make us who we are, which I'm sure you also know. When it's time to get down and dirty, just like today, the armor has to be put on nice a fucking thick so that you become bulletproof, metaphorically speaking and it's also to keep the human that resides under all that armor from fucking shit up with their soft spots. Damn good way to bite the dust and all of this can be said for relationships as well. And to be honest...Craig don't belong in this bullshit way of life. It's not who he is. Hell, it's not who I am, but sadly enough, he was born into it and didn't exactly have a choice like the two of you were discussing. And of course, the rebellious prick in him made a choice anyways and it has landed him in one fucked up predicament of being on the opposite side of his father by working for Cyrus' long time and greatest enemy, Sonny and honestly, neither kingpin is the better option. Craig did it for obvious reasons. To spite his father and regain control of his life, but...does he really have it? Not while Cyrus Renault is alive. We all have our reasons for the fucked up shit we do."

"Yeah, I know that has to be one hell of a burden for Craig to carry. I'm actually glad to know you're looking out for him. I know what Liz did to him and she did the same fucking thing to people I love, Jason being one. So I get it. And Craig knows my situation with Lee and how I feel about him so I don't see that he would ever let himself develop any sort of feelings for me."

"The iconic Elvis tune begs the differ, cause the poor fool may not be able to help falling in love with you. Food for thought there naive Nancy. Well, we are back to your car. You uhh...think you could give me a ride to get my bike? I'd love to take a spin in this beastly hotrod and compare it to my baby."

"Your baby? You call your bike your baby?"

"Nah, that's my bitch. My 67 Impala is my baby, my black magic woman but I let my sons have her. I got a truck or two also and a charger."

"S...sons? You have.... kids?"

"Yeah, shocker huh?? It happened not once, but motherfuckin twice while experimenting with the birds and the bees in my youthful days. Believe that shit? Apparently you don't. Your astonishment astounds me. You know, other women didn't find me as "eww" as you do."

"Oh stop it. Sorry. I guess I just didn't peg you to be the daddy type."

"Ohhh I can be all sorts of daddy darlin. Sugar daddy, your daddy, whichever daddy you want honey pie. Damn I love me some pie." he teased in a low snarl as the dimpled grin resurfaced. "So what'ya say miss American Pie. Drive this Chevy to the levee? I'm gonna do some Chevy measuring instead of dick measuring this time but you can bet your sweet round ass that I'll still say mine's better than yours."

"Yeah sure, I'll give you a lift...but umm...what about the missing car?"

Jeff rested his arms on the top of your car and let his squinting eyes wander around in the sun. "Yeahhh. I have a damn good theory about that. Came to me while I was marking my territory. I'll bet my entire ball sack that there was a third little piggy in the backseat of that pigsty and he got spooked when he saw the big bad wolf, yours fucking truly, and that tells me it was none other than Dwighty who chose flighty over fighty and now I'm going to have to go huff and puff and blow his goddamn house in."

"Jesus, if that's true, then..."

"Then he's going to squeal to the hogs which means it won't be long before a pack of passel come sniffin and snortin around here. Looks like I will be going on that hunting trip sooner than later."

"You're going to go alone??? At least take Craig and how are you even going to find them?"

"Did you not see what I just did all by my tall, dark and lonesome? Craig can sit this one out so he can focus on other things. Besides, I won't be alone. This time, the boys, aka the Saviors, will attend AND I'll also have mean, lean, brain bashing machine Lucille. And finding the farrow and that runt Dwight is easy peasy lemon squeazy when you got a photographic memory and Spinelli the cybershark to look up the plates I took note of. Lets get scootin sweet cheeks. I'm gettin all fired up for a grizzly game of pig chase."

"And you call ME trouble?" you giggled and got in the car after he did.

"As I said buttercup, I call things as i see it."

The first five minutes of the ride was quiet as you both were in your own thoughts. Yours were all over the place due to what you had just witnessed and how strangely calm you were about it all. It wasn't normal. You should have been appalled, frightened and traumatized even, like Lee surely was from his past, but you were neither. Normal, something you deeply craved, had never been your life though, from Peter to Gerry to Jason until you met Lee and believed you had finally found it, but even that was too good to be true after learning of his double life. It was like you were a magnet to the dark underworld. Drawn to it like a moth to a flame and all knew how that always ended. All but the moth.

Jeffrey's thoughts were evasive over the day's events. Even he craved normalcy and he was bound and determined to have some every now and then.

"Well, I've concluded that yep, my Chevy's better than your Chevy. No offense there sweetheart. I think this car is the goddamn shit for being twenty years younger, but lets see if the sound system is. You mind if I turn on some music therapy? We still have about ten minutes left."

Your eyes playfully rolled. "Sure."

He turned on the radio and began punching the pre-programmed stations. When he hit the last one, his excitement startled you.

"Ahhhhh HELL GIRL!! This is creepy as shit!! Swift cheeks has spoken! I rest my case!!!" he loudly gloated and obnoxiously began singing. "I knew you were trouble when you walked in!!!"

"What's creepy as shit is you singing a Taylor Swift song in my car, or even at all. You're a Swifty??"

"Not in the fucking least." he chuckled. "But she's always got something to say and an ex to diss and you just can't fucking escape the madness. She's a music plague but hey, it worked out b...e...a..utiful this time, didn't it? Oh...Ohhhhho Trouble trouble trouble!! Oh Ohhh...."

"Pleeeeeese stop singing Neg..errr Jeffr....or whatever your name really is."

"I thought we already discussed this darlin, but I gather you don't want to go around callin me daddy. You can save that for the bedroom." he teased with a wink. "So...Jeff will do just fine in the meantime."

You had dealt with his rude and raunchy behavior quite well for the entire hour you had even known him but this time he went too far and his sexual statement triggered you.

"Well JEFF...the only person I've ever called daddy or would call daddy is my father so why don't you work on respectfully calling me by my actual name and not a some different pet name every five minutes and back off on the suggestive and disparaging innuendos while you're at it."

His brows sprung up and his lips puckered. "Oooooo. Do...not...ENTERRR." he whispered with a scolded smile and then he shamefully softened.

"Alright...Josie. I stand corrected once again and I do apologize. My remark was so not cool. I tend to get carried away, mostly around beautiful women and clearly I have crossed a line and entered a forbidden territory. I will do my best to address you by your given name, scout's honor, but it's going to be like teaching an old dog new tricks so I will most likely piss on the floor every now and then. Will that work for you?"

"Hmmm. I guess I can give you brownie points for your sincere apology and predetermination to make it right. Oh, and would you like me to stop at the store to pick you up your own pair of pissin pants for when you have those accidents?"

Now his mouth dropped open. "Woah DOWN girl. Will you stop kickin my ass already? I know I said I have nuts of steel but using my own jokes against me hurts my ego much worse than that blow below the belt I took earlier. Let this old dog have a little dignity will ya?"

You pleasantly smiled at your victory as you pulled up in front of the repair shop. "Alright. I guess I can do that after what you did for me."

"Much appreciated. Oh and let me give you my digits before I go. The more wolves you have at your beck and call, the better."

"I suppose that's a good idea with the way my life is going anymore."

The numbers were exchanged and then he got out.

"Jeffrey, wait."

"Yes...Josie?" he emphasized with a grin as he leaned his tall frame down to peer in at you.

"So you were a boy scout?"

His grin widened into a full set of pearly whites. "Nnnnope! Thanks for the lift. See ya later Trouble."

You smiled and shook your head as he tossed his overshirt over his shoulder, then shut the door and swaggered off the same way he had swaggered in.

About ten minutes later, you were heading up the hospital stairs to go see your mom and sister when you found Orlando slouched and sleeping in a chair outside of the room. You couldn't help but giggle as you stood there for a few moments viewing the vulnerable vision of drool lightly leaking from his softly snoring lips as his head laid slumped upon his drooped shoulder and from that shoulder, his arm hung freely to the floor in the basic chair of no side support. One wrong move and he was going to nose dive right out of it.

As you crept up, you made sure you stood at his leaning side so he wouldn't fall in case you startled him and then you placed your hand on his shoulder.

"Landy." you whispered.

The drooling doc drew in a snorting breath and flinched as he gaped up at you.

"It's ok. It's ok. It's just me." you assured him and then chuckled. "What are you doing out here sleepy head? Wasn't your shift over hours ago?"

He slowly sat up and stretched, still not quite alert as his eyes flitted. "Oh uh...yeah I...it was. I've been watching over your sister for your mum while she went home and refreshed. She said you were supposed to be here soon so I coaxed her to go by offering to stay until one of you returned."

His kind heart had you gushing. "Landy, that was so sweet of you. You didn't have to do that but thank you for looking out for my family. I'm here now. You should go home and sleep. You look so exhausted."

He yawned, then his brows frowned with embarrassment as he became aware of his saliva remnants and swiftly swiped it away with his thumb. "Yeah. I am a little but...I'm in no rush to go home with Luke still lingering around being a bigger douche than usual with this whole Elizabeth case and besides, I wanted to see you. You ok?"

"Definitely been better, but..fake it until you make it right? So, is Megan awake?" you asked as you peeked in her window, trying to avoid any and all conversations about Luke, especially about how he almost arrested you which could spark another blow up between the two feuding brothers.

"On and off but she hasn't been talking much with being all doped up. You know you don't have to fake anything with me right? If you wanna talk, cry, scream or even just sit together in silence...I'm here Jo. Always."

You felt the sting of happy tears wanting to form but you weren't about to allow anymore crying, so instead, you smiled and hugged him.

"You're the best, you know that? Thank you for helping me out yesterday. I hope you didn't get too much shit for being late."

He gave you a good squeeze and sighed against your ear. "It was all worth it. I'd do anything for you."

As you smiled in the close and comforting embrace, your eyes lifted to see someone who was not smiling. Your mother.

"Well, that is very kind of you and reassuring Dr. Bloom." the fiery haired Margaret March respectfully interjected, but with a passive aggression as her judging eyes locked on him. "I appreciate your offered supervision of Megan and I thank you for your consistent succor of my other daughter but she has the good Dr. Pace for that and I am sure you have your own responsibilities to tend to instead of spending your extra time fussing over your best friend's partner."

"Mommm!" you harshly stressed. "Can you be any more rude? Landy is my friend too and that's all he's doing is being a friend because that's what friends do."

"It is not my intentions to be rude Joey. I just find it strange that I see more of him around you than I do Lee and I have to wonder what Dr. Bloom's own intentions are and maybe your own as well Josephine."

"Oh my god mom...."

Orlando politely cut in, calm and cool with a smile that you saw right through. "It's alright Jo. Your mum is only looking out for your best interest and now I am going to go look out for mine with about 4 cups of coffee before I attempt to drive home."

"But...you don't have your car. I drove you here, remember? I can give you a ride in awhile."

Orlando felt Margaret's eyes burning right through him, warning him to decline. "No really Jo. Thank you but it's fine. I can call a cab. I'll...talk to you later."

He gave a glum smile and rushed off, leaving you fuming with slitted eyes at your mother. "That was just flat out mean mom!"

"What's mean is you not telling Lee about what happened to Megan or not even speaking to him at all for that matter."

"W..what? How do..."

"Yes...he called me in an attempt to locate you and of course I didn't dare tell him you spent the night with David...which..why were you not with Lee??"

"Jesus mom. What...you have a problem with Dave now too?? All we did was watch a movie and then went to bed...separately."

"What I have a problem with is, is your closeness with other men even if they are good friends. I know I sound hypocritical but I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did when you already have a damn good man who adores you. Would you like to see Lee canoodling with other women? How would that make you feel?"

But you did know how it felt when you found out about his one nighter with Britt all those years ago or when you saw him "canoodling" with that Jess girl in his boat house who you went to school with... and then there was Ethan.

"Canoodling??!!! I am not screwing around on him mom, nor would I ever because I know what that feels like and he's also had that done to him as well and...and you don't even know what's going on with Lee so it would be nice if you would stop acting like I'm doing something wrong."

"Well how hard is it to talk to your boyfriend?"

And that did it. You couldn't take it anymore, withholding the tears that begged for Lee and your mother had triggered them. "He's the one who don't know how to communicate mom and that's actually one of the reasons I'm here because I don't know what to do anymore and I needed my mom to tell me what to do!"

You were now sitting in the chair Orlando had skillfully slept in with your hands over your face, rocking back and forth to keep yourself breathing.

The grinding of chair legs closed in on you and your mother's soft hands pulled yours down as she sat at your side. Her evergreen eyes that always appeared to be walnut brown and had been spewing daggers at Orlando only moments ago, were now moist with compassion as she tenderly wiped your tears away.

"You know that I cannot tell you what to do but I can listen and offer you the best advice that I can. What happened Jo Jo? You and Lee seemed so happy."

You knew you couldn't tell her the full blown detailed story, so you gave her a brief summary instead, being careful not to make Lee out to be a bad person because he wasn't and you knew anything that you told her, she would never forget just like she hadn't with Gerry.

"We..we were Ma but...there's things he won't talk to me about. Things that are eating him up inside and these things affect me too which is affecting us and any time that he does open up to me, he withholds the most important parts, although he will swear he told me everything and then I find out about them later and now I...I..."

She finished what you struggled to say. "You don't trust him."

Sighing, your lips pouted with guilt. "I..I can't help it. I DID trust him, more than anyone. So much so that I told him things I have never spoken to anyone about...you know, like...Gerry and all the secrets and lies and...Lee would tell me things from his past too. We connected in a way I cannot even describe. We were so good for each other. It was as if we were healing the damaged parts of each other and god mom, I fell so hard and so fast for him. I'm so crazy in love with him that it hurts to breathe when he's not around."

"I will not ask you to tell me the details, but without knowing them, I can only offer you so much advice. I know what Gerry did and now I do have to ask this much. Joey, did Lee cheat on you?"

"Oh god no." you quickly blurted out. "It's nothing like that mom. I swear. He would never, that much I trust him with. I know how much he loves me and he's fighting like hell not to lose me but I just don't know what to do. I can't be with someone that will not fully give themselves to me. I can't live with waiting for the next bomb to drop because I am always going to believe there is one coming. I don't care about anything he's done and I told him that. This is about trust and honesty and being a team and all I feel like is his opponent."

Margaret's mind wandered to the day when Lee had asked for her blessing to marry you. She had given it to him because she could see that he too was crazy in love with you, but she had also given the blessing with warning not to hurt you and now she understood why he hadn't asked you yet.

"Whatever it is that Lee is concealing, I feel that is why he is distancing himself from you. I do not doubt for a minute that he does not love you with all of his heart and soul, but speaking from my own experiences, I feel he has been deeply hurt in some way, just as you had been and he's just having more difficulty in getting past it and believing that you won't judge him even when you say that you won't. He may even be trying to protect you by pushing you away because maybe he feels he isn't good enough for you?"

You knew it was all of that and most likely much more, but now you wanted to know how her experiences were relevant. "Is...is that what happened between you and Victor?"

"I had a feeling this is why you have chosen to come to me about this and I'm not really sure how to have this conversation with you because of your father. It was all such a painful time and I thought I was going to lose my family over it all..."

"But you didn't. Daddy forgave you and you both got through it because you..."

"Because Victor gave me no choice." she firmly stated and became a bit shaky.

"W..what?"

Her eyes became glassy with tears. "There's a reason people sometimes do not speak of things Jo and this was why I did not. I too have withheld the entire truth to spare my family of unnecessary pain. I...I was in love with Victor and he with me. I...I still love him."

You knew she loved him, but it still stung to hear her say it as you squeezed her hand that still bore your father's wedding ring.

"Mom...I knew this and although I do not condone what you did, the heart wants what the heart wants." you attested as you thought of Lee's identical words to you that morning in his voicemail. "We cannot help who we love and well...you and Victor also share a son because of that love."

She began to softly weep. "I loved your father too and Victor knew it. He demanded I stay with him when I learned I was with child because I made him believe Bo was not his, which I did to protect your father's heart. He wanted me to live a normal family life, one that he could not give me because of his world. A world of crime and lies and secrets and danger. A world that later kept Bo and him at odds just as it did between Jason and Bo and even Gerry had and still has his issues with his father over it. Sometimes I feel Bo was taken from us to punish me for what I did and for keeping his paternity a secret for all those years and that loss changed Victor a lot. He became darker. I suppose Lee can relate after suffering the loss of his own son. Anyways, Victor knew he could never give himself fully to me either and he wanted me to be safe and I know that's why Jason did the same thing to Britta. I know I made the right decision in choosing your father and I do not regret it at all or I would not have all of my precious children but the what if's will always haunt me and I don't want that for you. I don't doubt your love for Lee but you have to be the one to decide if that's enough. For me, it would have been but I couldn't fight for someone who wouldn't let me and you're not letting Lee fight for you by running away so all I can tell you is, before you let the love of your life go, you need to ask yourself if you can live with that because it seems to me that Lee sees you as forever."

Forever. That word punched a hole right through your chest...but now...you knew you had to go see him and give him that third and final chance to come clean.

As you took your phone out to call him, Megan's cries pierced through the halls.

"Mommm!! Momma Mom MOMMM!!!"

Margaret went running into her room as you stood in the doorway and watched your distressed sister cry like a baby in her mother's arms.

"It's alright. I am here my darling girl. So is joey. You are safe."

Megan's welled up eyes darted around your mom's shoulders to look at you and then she cried even harder.

"You're probably happy and think I got what I deserve and you would be right after everything I have done."

You now stepped into the room, hating that you actually felt sorry for her. "That's not true Megan. No matter what you've done, you did not deserve this."

"Yes I d..did." she bawled. "You don't even know and...and...and you need to know...oh god, my leg...it hurts. It hurts so bad mom."

Your mother then took over to try and calm her as she pushed the call button for the nurse. "Megan, lets not talk right now alright? You need to be checked out. You had surgery on your leg. It is broken."

"But I want to talk! I...I did something so bad."

Now you were highly intrigued and walked up to her bed. "Was it Ethan? Did he make you do something? Did he...did he do this to you?"

"Josephine. Not now. Give her time to breathe!" your mother squawked and got up to look out the door as your sister's sobs continued. "She needs pain medication and where the hell is the nurse?? This is ICU for christ's sake."

Nothing good came from your mother's curses so you backed off for the moment, but when an opportunity arose, you were going to grill your sister over her statement because nothing good came from Megan period. Maybe some drugs would get her talking, you thought as you glanced at the ticking clock. You had just over an hour to meet Lee at the cemetery but you were not leaving there without answers.

Finally, the nurse came in. It was Angel and you became unglued. "Oh hell no! You will not lay one one sleezy finger on my sister you morbid insufferable bitch."

Megan's eyes widened as did your mother's. "Josephine Leeanne March! What on earth has gotten into you??" Margaret reeled.

"This!! This succubus right here is what. She couldn't even handle caring for a 4 year old little girl who is now missing because Lilith here was too busy coming on to my boyfriend and then when he shot her down, she was spreading her legs all of that night for Mr. Carpenter, the man who accused Lee of medical malpractice in the death of his daughter which we all knew wasn't true but it didn't stop her from repeatably banging the abusive lunatic who damn near ruined Lee's career and reputation all for money."

Your mother knew you very well and although she knew you could be extreme as you were being now, she knew you would not lie and the information repulsed her.

"Nurse Smart. I would like you to retrieve my daughter's doctor and find another nurse to administer her treatment. I will not allow such conflict of interest in my daughter's well being because it causes me to believe you may not be able to be objective. Had I been aware of this the last time you were in here, I would have put a stop to it then."

"Mrs. March, I assure you that...."

"Your assurance assures me of nothing, now please LEAVE."

Angel's jaw tightened and her eyes practically set you on fire. "As you wish. I will inform the other nurse to come in and page her doctor."

She left and you apologized. "Sorry mom. That woman is bad news and I couldn't hold my tongue."

"Well, you were looking out for your sister so I can let the theatrics slide, but I am very glad you said something regardless."

Megan became upset again. "I wanna go home Momma. I don't like it here. I don't want to end up like Elizabeth. Please take me home!!"

"Honey, you just had surgery. You have to stay for awhile but I will be right here with you. No one is going to hurt you. I promise."

You wished that were true but you couldn't be certain until Megan named her attacker. Another nurse finally came in, checked her vitals, asked her a few questions and then shot her up with some more morphine which didn't take long to work it's magic.

"Mom, I can't stand it anymore." you contended against her wishes. "Megan...who did this to you?"

She whimpered in fear as she looked to your mom for approval. "It's alright Megan. Whatever you can remember, whatever you're comfortable with telling us, please do so. We want to know what happened and stop whoever did this from doing it to someone else."

"Megs...look at me." you softly commanded. "Was it Ethan?"

Her brows furrowed and then she became agitated. "I...I don't...know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Surely you must have seen your abductor?"

She broke down again. "I...I...I keep trying to picture his face but I can't."

Your mom took her hand. "Ok..ok my love. Just breathe and try to tell us what you do remember. Anything at all."

"I...I re..remember...Dave. He...he was helping me and then...and then I woke up here."

You were trying so hard to remain patient and understanding. "But how did you get there? What is the last thing that you remember before you saw Dave?"

"I...the police station. I..I was talking to that detective about Blaise. I went there to tell him that I thought Ethan may have taken her because I couldn't stand the thought of that poor little girl being scared and crying for her mommy and Ethan...he...he has no business being a father. He is so mean and controlling. He always talked about how he would have her one day so I..I had to try and help her."

"He has no business breathing. You don't even know half of the things he's done. Or maybe you do since you were sleeping with the enemy."

"JoSEPHINE!" your mother piped again.

"Sorry but it's true...so...ok what happened after that?"

"I...." she paused and her entire face scrunched up in forced thought. "I...I don't know. It's all a fog."

"Alright, lets give her a break Jo. She needs time to..." your mom began.

"There is no time mom! You know what Jason was involved in so let me clue you in about Ethan. He's in that life too, only he is a monster. He's the one that attacked his own brother with a knife, you know, Orlando? The one you just berated. He's lucky it was only his hand and that I was there to stop it and Ethan has done other things to Lee that I will not even mention and now this! My sister is in the hospital, lucky to be alive and my landlord's child is missing so Megan needs to start talking!"

"Jo, I swear. I can't remember right now. I'm trying...but..."

"But what???"

"But...I don't...I don't think it was Ethan."

"What do you mean you don't think it was Ethan?? You just said you don't even remember."

"Because I...it...it don't feel like it was him?" Megan explained as if she were questioning herself.

"That makes no damn sense. Either it was him or it wasn't Megan! I mean, who the hell else would it be???"

"I said I don't know Jo. It's literally all blank after I left the police station. It's like having a blackout from drinking."

Her words made you recall the recent experience you had only two days ago when you took your anxiety medication and drank a bottle of wine and strangely...it was the around same time that she went missing.

"Could you have been drugged?? Think Megan. Mom, did the doctor do a toxicology? Surely they would have."

"I have not been told anything about that. When I got here, she was already in surgery and after you left, the police were speaking with him and wouldn't tell me anything. When the doctor comes in, I will ask."

Luke probably knew since he was the one doing the questioning last night but he wasn't going to tell you now that he was a big bad boy in blue, minus the blue.

"Or." your mom went on. "She just don't remember because of the trauma so I think the questions are enough for today."

"Just a few more mom. Ok, Megan. What about BEFORE the police station. What do you remember? Where was Ethan then?"

"I...don't...know."

"So you remember going there, but nothing before or after until Dave. What the hell Megan? Why wouldn't you remember anything before that?? You remembered that Elizabeth is dead and that happened BEFORE!"

She was becoming disconcerted and anxious and the heart rate monitor began chiming."

"I don't know. I don't know! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW!!!" she cried and your mom finally stood up and angrily pointed at you.

"That is ENOUGH JO!"

"Alright fine. Then at least tell me what you meant when you said you did something bad."

"Damn it Joey, you are not too old for me to pull you out of this room by your ear!"

"No mom. I want to talk to her. Alone." Megan insisted.

"What? Absolutely not. You're already upset."

"Mom please. I...I need to tell her something private. It has nothing to do with this."

"Then can't it wait? Why now?"

She began bawling. "Because I'm a liar."

Now you were unsettled. Megan's lies were a common thing that you were used to but this...this seemed different. She said it had nothing to do with any of this so what bomb was she going to drop on you and why now like your mom asked? Maybe it was her near death experience that was actually giving her a conscience. Whatever it was, it was bad just like she said because she was genuinely distressed over it.

"Alright, but only 5 minutes. I'm going to go find the damn doctor myself."

After your mom left, you sat down in her seat and went straight to the point. "What did you do Megan? Just spit it out. After the things I've been through and things you've done to me, I can handle it."

"I...I don't think you can. Not this time."

"Jesus Megan, I don't scare all too easily but now you are scaring me. Did...you lie just now to mom? Do you really remember and...you and Ethan maybe did something bad? Wait...do you KNOW where Blaise is???"

"No Jo! I don't and I didn't lie. I told you it's not about that."

"Then WHAT did you DO??"

She started trembling and her lips quivered as she spoke. "I do remember something from awhile ago. At mom's and..."

"AND???"

"Please stop shouting, please stop shouting." she squeaked as she winced.

You closed your eyes, inhaled deeply and slowly released the desire to strangle her scrawny little neck right then and there. "OK...I'm calm....tell..me."

"It was the day...that Gerry was there. I was home but...you didn't know and I...I heard you both talking. It was about...about what, well that night..that night when..."

"Will you stop stuttering and just tell me what Gerry has to do with anything??"

"Ok, Ok...I..." she sucked in a breath and then began rapidly speaking, reminding you of how Spinelli did that when he was extremely nervous, usually from being cornered. "It was about when he cheated on you with me, except...except he...he didn't. He never did. We never did and I lied. I lied about it all to hurt you because you always had all the men and I was a nobody and always used. No one ever cared for me like they did you so I...I...followed him to the bar that night. He was upset and drinking because of how you had been shot the month before and you both were having problems over it. We sat and drank and he told me all about it because he said you wouldn't talk to him much about it and he felt so guilty that it happened and he...he was crying Jo, just like I saw him sitting in his truck crying after you guys argued at mom's and you took off, only that time I felt bad because you had Lee and he had no one and that was because of me because I...I drugged him Jo and then I took him home because he was in no shape to drive and I...I put on your perfume and came onto him, but he..he rejected me and passed out. I was angry because even then, he didn't want me so I sent you that text from his phone and you believed it and he believed it because he couldn't remember anything when he woke up the next morning lying next to me, both of us naked because I..I undressed him to make it seem real and then you were pounding on his door and..."

You stood up so fast that the chair fell over. Your chest was so tight and your heart was racing. Your entire body violently shook and you couldn't speak as burning tears streamed from your gaping eyes. It was if you had been knocked into some other dimension from the shocking blow.

Margaret immediately came in from the sound of the crashing chair. "Joey?? What's happened? Jo?? Josephine, talk to me!"

Her voice and Megan's crying all echoed as you became giddy upon your feet. You were either going to pass out or go to jail over a moment of temporary insanity and you didn't want either so you stumbled out the door and began running, panting, hyperventilating as you heard her screams fading the further you got.

"Jo I'M SORRY!! I'M SO SORRY!!!"

@redeemer46

[evermoreparker]

You're Not The Only One

A/n: Hey :) so I'm not exactly new to tumblr, but new to posting what I write here. Hope you enjoy! 💖

Word count: 1,8k

Contains: a lot of angst, pop culture references, but I promise there's fluff in the end.

Saying that you were in love with Peter Parker was an understatement, you were head over heels, all the cheesy songs you can name it, that was how you felt about him.

Letting your feelings aside for the nerdy boy was definetly one of the hardest things you went through in high school, seeing him getting his first kiss, first girlfriend, but no matter how smart he was, he couldn't see the way you were falling for him.

Now, in college, seeing Peter going on dates was one thing, but him asking if your friend was single? It hurt you like when One Direction went on hiatus.

"Hey y/n" he smiled, god you fucking loved and hated that smile, at the same time. How was it possible to get all giggly just thinking about the way he said your name?

"Hey Pete, what's up?" You said taking a sip of your drink and thinking about how easy it would be having someone like Peter by your side.

"Nothing much, can I ask you something?" Oh no, what did he do? Oh he looks definetly nervous, but also cute, the way he looks confused on why you are taking so long to answer, enough daydreaming from now on.

"Yeah sure" he looks around just to check if someone is around, did he kill someone? Well that would be kinda hard considering that he can't kill a spider, cause according to him that would be "killing his own kind", whatever that means, sometimes I think he's hiding something.

"Ok cool i-is y/f/n single?" Waitwaitwait, he's talking about another y/f/n, it's not your friend, chill.

"You mean my friend?" Now it was your time to be the oblivious one.

"I mean if you think it's weird it's ok, I don't mind, it's just that since I hooked you up with one of my friends one time, I was wondering if you could do the same?" Yeah, that shit hurt more than watching a great show but with one of the worst finales.

"Oh yeah, sure, and she's single, I'll talk to her later and then I text you." Peter hugged you so hard that you couldn't breathe properly, sometimes you wonder where all that strenght came from.

"Thank you so so much" he smiled "And btw, Brad's single again, if you want me to call him" Oh Brad, the same stupid guy who thought North Pole was an urban legend. But here's why you dated him for a while, Peter had a new girlfriend, and you were starting to feel left off, so you decided to take your shot and go on some dates. Brad was your middle school crush, and you kinda owned your 11 year old self, so when Peter told you about Brad being in town, you asked him to hook you both up.

Everything was great, until he would open his mouth. You really wanted to break up with him after your fourth date, but breaking up with someone on his birthday wouldn't be really nice, and then his family came to meet you, then the holidays, until you decided to tell him why you couldn't be with him, no matter how hard you tried, it was impossible to forget Peter Parker.

"Oh no I'm good, but thank you though." You smiled faking the whole thing, it gets easier with years pretending you are not madly in love with your best friend.

Needless to say your friend was confused as fuck when you asked her if she wanted to go out with Peter.

"Ok is this a prank? Is this a trap?" Y/f/n stopped watching her movie to turn around and look at you.

"It's not a prank, I'm ok with that, Peter asked and- doesn't matter, I want you to go, if you want to, of course" Getting out of her bed, she hugged you.

"Oh honey" oh no, not the pity voice. "I'm so sorry, I know how much you like him" you stopped hugging her before she realized you were almost crying on her shoulder.

"It's fine, really, it'd be good for me to move on, it's been way too long and you deserve someone like him" your friend looked surprised, not knowing if you were telling the truth since you were too busy staring at the white walls in her dorm room.

And pointless to say that you spent the night crying and watching Love, Rosie.

"Stupid fucking movie that shit doesn't happen in real life and everyone knows it!" Yelling at the top of your lungs to your laptop screen..

-------------------------------------------‐------

Peter kept telling all the jokes you told him, pretending that they were his, at least this way he could feel you closer to him. He wonders why you've been acting so strange lately.

And your friend keeps laughing, because alcohol has that affect on people, making you forget what you were worried about, making you say things you are not supposed to...

"So, Peter" y/f/n says while drinking her scotch neat "Are you sure y/n was ok with, you know, you asking me out?"

"Yeah she was super cool about it"

"Bet she lied." she mumbles while suddently finding incredibly interesting her glass, little did she know that the boy sitting next to her had enhanced hearing.

"Wha-why? Why would she lie?" Shock crossed Peter's face, almost as fast as realization hit him.

"I gotta go, I'm sorry" too early to swing with civilians around, too late to walk till your dorm room, so Peter decides to catch a cab. Wait could it be? No that would make no sense, why would you let him ask your friend out then? And before he can realize what he's about to do, he's already in campus searching for your dorm.

---------------------------------------------------

"NOT AGAIN gotta be kidding me, why do you keep chasing someone who doesn't want you?" Oh, ok, you get it, let's not yell to characters anymore.

Wiping your tears for the eleventh time that night, hearing a knock on your door. You decide to ignore, finishing How I met your mother was more important.

"Y/n it's Peter" oh no. Trying to brush your hair with your fingers so that you didn't look like a total mess to the cute guy you love, you open the door.

"Hey Pete, what's up?" You couldn't deny your puffy eyes but you can always blame it on rom coms. Peter felt like shit thinking about being the reason you had been crying all night. You wiped your eyes but the tears came anyway. Peter needed to ask you what was going on, but he also needed to be there as your friend. He opened his arms, and you fell into his embrace.

"You can let it out" he whispered while caressing your hair.

---------------------------------------------------

After what felt like hours, now sitting on your bed, you finally looked at Peter and was ready to ask why he left so early from his date, but almost like he could read your mind, he decided to ask first.

"Y/n?" You looked at his brown curls, wondering what was like to run your fingers through his hair.

"Yeah?"

"Hm d-do you like me? Like more than friends" Oh shit you're gonna kill y/f/n and her drunk-ass self.

"Whaat?" Your voice went high pitched. So many years lying to your parents but you can't do that to Peter, he knows you more than you know yourself.

"S-so you do like me?" It was his time to sound like he was going through puberty all over again.

Too embarrassed to say something, you just nod and get ready for the "I like you too, but just as a friend", instead you get a nervous Peter.

"Ok what I'm about to tell you is my biggest secret and you can't tell this to anyone"

"Peter I know you know all the choreographies from high school musical, I still accept you" putting your arm around his shoulders.

"I'm not talking about- wait how do you know that? Doesn't matter we'll get back to there later" he fidgets with his hands. "I'm spiderman" before you can interrupt him, he starts talking faster and faster. "I know it's gonna sound totally crazy, but I got bit by a spider at 15, and, well, that explains why I am more... muscular?" He cringes at his words but decides to go on "Also why I aciddently broke your sink while supporting my hand on it, and I can explain everything, I swear" Trying to understand while Peter talked at the speed of light , you finally had answers for what you were searching for.

"Ok... So it was a secret for a secret? Like you finding out about me having a crush on you since I was 14, so you tell me that you are a superhero??"

"Wait I'm not done yet" he takes another deep breath before singing rap god, again. "Being spiderman is extremely dangerous and I didn't want to put you in danger too, I love you too much for that." here it comes, as a friend. "Way more than a friend" before you can ask if Peter was joking, he continues. "And it's already too much that May knows, Ned knows, MJ knows, they are all in danger because of me" now it's Peter's turn to start crying. "I couldn't do the same with you, so I had to pretend I wasn't upset when you had your first kiss, and it wasn't with me, when you had your first boyfriend, all your firsts didn't have a different affect each time, all of them hurt like hell the same way" You are not the only one who's oblivious towards someone else's feelings, and I'm sorry for that, but the risk of putting you in danger, wouldn't let me do anything about the way I felt- I mean, feel about you. I lost way too many important people in my life, I couldn't bear losing you too." He sobbed while wiping his tears. "But now that I know you feel the same, suddently everything is worth fighting for. I love you so much, and- Peter's words were cut by your warm lips meeting his.

Time is relative. You never understood Einstein's theory, until now.

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

After what felt like a few seconds, but was actually hours, you both pull away with the biggest grin.

"Wanna go out sometime? I know spiderman." He whispers the last part while laughing at his own joke.

"Sure, can I bring Brad?" Peter gasps, pretending to be offended.

"How dare you? At least choose someone who knows geography."

[ace-t-fic]

This a Peter si fic I started (its purely 'feel good' no eye roll moments) but never found out what I wanted to do with it. This hasn't been grammar checked ethier.

The yearly trip to science industries (after the fiasco concerning OC labs) was heavily guarded by the gpa efficiency minimum and it was usually 123 Seniors at Midtown high each year. That only left less than 30 who had the gpa needed in order to attend the field trip. But with detentions and tardies that often brought it down to 25 added in with the people who actually turned in their permission slips drop that number down to a solid 13. That usually  meant the whole decathlon team, one jock, the Sat acres and people with tiger parents. 

So when the paper was only passed to Peter and Flash in their homeroom he wasn’t surprised who qualified for the field trip. 

Last year's field trip the students all got to go to Tesla and returned the day after. Liz said it was a fun experience and even one of the kids was later offered an internship available to him after their graduation. Liz herself wasn’t all that interested in the company herself but she said the experience was an enjoyable one. So Peter would have been lying if he said he wasn’t practically buzzed for when his senior year trip came. 

He wondered if they would be able to tour the new labs Wakanda had set up. He wanted to go for a while but their outside personnel was strictly limited to certified personnel and those with names that ended with Stark or Banner or Avengers. But the name staring back at him was just laughing at him, “congratulations, you have qualified for this year's exclusive Senior trip to SI inc.” an all paid expense to visit his work. Now instead of taking the City bus he could just catch a ride on a big ugly yellow one. 

Not that this was a let down it was still an amazing opportunity many would kill for. He thought gazing behind him to stare at Flash who fist bumped the air. The attention caught his attention and he made brief eye contact with Peter with a smug little smile on his face. Peter only flashed back his before the flash rolled his eyes and no longer paid him attention. 

Flash still didn’t partially believe Peter's internship-neither did anyone else really- but flash was the most put out about it. He would be lying if he says he wasn’t rooting for Peter the night of his junior year party. He even helped Diana, the maid clean and dust just in case Spiderman really did show up. And when he didn’t show up he told Peter exactly how he felt about it with a new string of nicknames. Added on to the occasional passive agressive shoulder shove but nothing more or less beyond that. Sure he was a dick but he wasn’t a good fighter, just richer than Parker he was beating him in the fight of life. 

Peter only rolled his eyes back, shoving the paper into the back of his class notebook. 

The minutes ticked by steadily as Peter waited to meet Ned at his locker. He’s almost deadly positive Ned received one too and is waiting to shake the life out of his shoulders. Peter may work at Si but Ned’s never been and the experience in itself is quite entertaining. Things are always different when best friends are involved. 

“Anyone who received a field trip paper will have to have it signed and returned to me, the office, or Mrs. Meyers up to five days before the date of the field trip. Other than that we will continue on with the stock market Tomorrow!” The teacher screamed over the rustling papers and scraping chairs as he let them out a minute early, if you ask anyone on campus that made him the cool teacher.

Petter grabbed his folders, having lost another backpack he was sure laid webbed to the building and exited the room. He easily made it to his locker before Ned did and even got to close it before he was approached

. 

“Dude you can show me your lab.” he whispered to peter. 

“Actually I can’t, my lab is Tony’s and that's only because Bucky has been keeping him away from the lab.” Peter announced before he got his hopes up. “We’re probably gonna tour below mid level, I don't think they allow anyone without a permanent badge into any of the labs.” 

“Do we get to meet any of the avengers?” 

“Probably Bruce, he’s usually chilling with all the other scientists. It’ll be cool though you know i haven’t actually met him? The dude has to be dumb smart, you know Tony scraps ideas if he can’t get Bruce to sign off on them.” Peter gushes, before an arm is roughly swung around his shoulder. “Ow-no.”

Flashes pffts, “give me a break i hate this as much as you but apparently since I’m friends with idiots i have to slum it with you and- I’m sorry what's your-”

“Ned”

“Yeah Ned, that sounds familiar for the trip. I asked more about it and this might be a good time to turn in our submissions for the upcoming Intern conference. We get in ahead and we can probably impress him enough for our stuff to actually be looked at. Peter, I know your tech smart, I do numbers and possibilities and Ned we’ve been in coding since middle school together so we can definitely do that.” Flash rambles.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ve been coding together for 6 years and you just barely remembered my name?”

“What I’m talking about-Peter is welcome to the winning team. Listen your smart parker you may or may not have an internship although its kinda sketchy that out of nowhere you a loser 17 year old defies all social laws and pops on the popularity chart” Understandable he still cursed Ned for saying anything right before he asked Mary jane to prom god that was embarrassing. 

You know that fancy stuff doesn’t bother me Peter. If I wanted to solely date you for your internship I’d hope someone would’ve knocked sense into you to get over me. 

“But I honestly feel as if we wow at least one impressionable person. They'll seek us an audience with Stark before the rest of the crowd.”  Flash continues. 

“You know that honestly doesn’t sound bad?” Ned finishes unsure over the look of alarm on Peter's face. Because yeah it’s not a bad idea and that expo meant the world to the real science losers around the GLOBE. And Ned really did want to be involved beyond the guy in the chair way before Peter turned into Spiderman. Peter would probably still be hands deep in his theories if he hadn’t gotten bit by some escaped lab spider. This expo at one point in his life -sophomore year- was the only thing that was gonna get Aunt May out of the nearly slumps. 

And flash…. Well he’s just a fucking nerd to put it lightly he was just rich, and since he was rich and gushes this much about being a intern of all things meant he might’ve been worse then both Peter and Ned when they first envisioned running coffee for Tony stark. 

Plus it would be kinda unfair to see if he could pull strings for Ned instead of proving that he was capable of it far more on his own. “Fiiiinn-”

“Whoop! You might actually not be so bad penis.” and with a clap on his shoulder disappearing with the ringing of the bell. 

Peter clenched his jaw shooting a ‘why’ look at Ned, “Oh don’t give me that look, you think I want to work with him. He has money and resources and he is good at real numbers not technical of coding, look you're an spaceship mechanic, he does the landing the thrust or whatever they do and I’m the guy who counts down which is honestly better then both of those jobs-” 

“Please Ned you're embarrassing me '' Peter laughed as he and Ned made their way through the day. 2 months until the field trip that was more than enough time for three geniuses to at least come up with a concept and a prototype for something cool. 

Scrap that they’re screwed. 

“I almost died.” Ned said, sitting in a shock of foam. “You guys just sat there, you were gonna watch me die.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Ned reared back at Flash's comment, “Dramatic! I just went up in flames!” 

“Hey, it was your boy Peter who made it. Plus maybe if he didn’t bail early last  Monday we could’ve caught that our numbers weren’t matching up with his” Maybe if some assholes weren't trying to rob F.E.A.S.T after their charity event he wouldn’t have had too. 

“I told you things happen Flash, I do in fact have a life.”

“MJ tell you that”

“-oo burn”

“Ned!- ok listen in order for this hoverboard to work we have to make sure everything is matched up. It shouldn’t have done that so something else must’ve gone wrong too.” Peter explained grabbing the notebooks and tossing them on the Flashes workbench. Hoverboard and back to future stickers on the covers.

“Might be the fact that it isn’t Hovering. But that's just me.”

[fanficsaremylifeline]

Go and make Aunt Peggy proud

On AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21344731

*****

Men and their toys. Peggy could only shake her head, as she walked in on Howard in his lab, hanging upside down in some sort of machinery.

“Maria, is that you?”, came the muffled cry from the inside of that monstrosity.

“It’s Peggy.”

“Thank the heavens, Peggy, you have to help me.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed”, she grinned, as she walked over. “I may be strong, but I can’t pull you out by myself.”

“That’s not what I need, I need the pliers over there.” He waved with his feet, pointing them towards a table to his side. “And that torch, too.”

“As long as you know what you're doing...”

“You know me, Peg.”

“That's exactly why I'm worried.”, she scoffed, but from experience, Peggy was aware that Howard wouldn't drop it any ways. And with a torch, he might at least see how he was about to kill himself...  “Fine.” Carefully, she dropped the tools down the opening.

“Thanks!”, he called, and she immediately could hear him getting back to work.

Well, Peggy knew him well enough to know that unless Howard actually climbed out there and was at least 50 yards away from whatever he was working on at the moment, she wouldn’t get anything out of him. So, she had to try again later and was just about to turn around, when some weird noises came from the machine, and Howard started to swear. That couldn’t be good.

“Howard? I think you should get out of there.”

“No kidding!”, he screamed, his legs flailing in fear, “I’m stuck!”

“Damnit.” Peggy ran over and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him out.

“GET OUT OF HERE!”

But it was too late. Before she knew what had happened, they were engulfed in blinding light and a loud bang echoed through the lab, leaving her ears ringing.

All of a sudden, everything was quiet again. After the first shock had passed, Peggy dared to glint through an half-open eye. She still held on to Howard’s leg, but he was no longer stuck inside his machine. Instead, they were lying on a concrete floor under a cloudy sky.

“Howard? Are you alright?”, she carefully asked.

“I think so…” He sat up and looked around.

“What just happened?”

“I have no idea…”

As quickly as her wobbly legs let her, Peggy scrambled to her feet, looking around where they had landed. “Uhm, you might want to take a look at that…” Now she could see that they were on what had to be a roof, looking over New York, or at least a place that was similar to New York. It had the landmarks she knew, she could see the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and all that, but it was different: so many cars, weirdly advanced cars; so many modern sky scrapers she had never seen before; bright signs illuminating the narrow streets.

“What in the…” Howard stood next to her, his mouth gaping open, just as hers was. “Are we dead?”

“I don’t think so…” But Peggy was not so sure about that. “What kind of machine were you working on?”

“Some theory of Pym’s, quantum mechanics… But I have no idea what I did…”

Somehow, they managed to find a door, follow a mostly empty staircase down, until they stood out on the street. New York was as busy as ever, people were pushing past them, wearing some interesting clothes, most of them talking to apparently nobody. It took Peggy almost crashing into a few people until she noticed they were wearing earpieces.

“Peggy.” Howard held a newspaper in front of her face. “Check the date.”

“The date, but… what?” No, no, that just couldn’t be. 2019? “Howard, is this what I think it is?”

“I think we travelled to the future.”

“Oh.” She really didn’t know what else to say. “What do we do now? I mean, how do we get back?”

“I don’t know. Peggy, I… We need to get back! There’s SHIELD, there’s SI and we have little kids sitting at home!”

“Not that little, I think...” Flipping the newspaper over she saw a weirdly familiar face.

‘Tony Stark to speak at the MIT Graduation Celebrations’

“Oh, wow, looks like your boy got into MIT at 15!” She turned to Howard. “I’m sure, he can help us.”

“Let’s hope so. Uhm, excuse me, young man?” Howard stopped a boy walking past them.

“Hello, can I help you?”

“Yes, please, do you know Stark Industries, or even where to find Anthony Stark?”

“You new in town?” The youth had his eyebrows raised.

“You could say that”, Peggy threw in, smiling as politely as she could.

“Wait, I feel like I know you. Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so”, she answered.

“Hmmm…” He stared at her a moment longer, before he turned back to Howard. “If you want to find Ironman, you wanna head upstate. The Avengers moved there two years ago.”, he shrugged. “Not sure you’ll get in though, security is mad tight.”

“Uh, ok, thank you.”

Howard and Peggy exchanged a quick glance. “Ok, I didn’t understand a word of what that boy said. What is an Ironman and what are the Avengers?”

“I don’t know”, Peggy shrugged. “Maybe there is some information point around here?”

They were lucky, a bodega two streets over could provide them with some help.

“If you can wait for another few minutes, I can introduce you to a guy that can help you out.”

“Really?” That sounded promising…

“Yeah”, the man nodded, chewing his gum loudly, “you’re lucky, Spider-Man’s a regular here.”

“Spider-Man?”

“You’re not from here, are you?”, he asked, eyeing them curiously.

“No, we’re not. Travelled some distance.”

“Mhm. Yeah, thought so. Every self-respecting New Yorker knows Spidey”, he scoffed.

“Aw, thanks, Diego!”

Peggy turned around as she heard the voice and couldn’t believe her eyes. In front of her stood a young man, probably in his late teens, early twenties, judging from his voice, in a skin-tight, bright red suit, with a giant spider up front.

“Hi, can I help you?” He eyed her curiously, and suddenly he clapped his hands in front of his face. “Oh my god. Are… are you Peggy Carter?”

To an outsider, the scene must have looked almost comical, both of them staring at each other with wide eyes.

“I am. How do you know who I am?”

“You’re all over my history books, in the museums. Oh my god, how are you here? This is so freaking incredible, you’re absolutely amazing, you’re so freaking badass…” His voice pitched higher, as he went to shake her hand. “I am Spider-Man, it is an absolute honour to meet you, ma’am!”

“Wow. Thank you.” She was in history books? Damn. That really did wonders for one’s self-esteem.

“What, I mean… Did you time-travel or what happened?”

“I fear we might have. By accident.”

“Oh wow. That is so freaking cool! Does that mean you’re stuck here? Aw man, that sucks, but it is so incredible to meet you!”

“Yes, we are stuck”, Howard threw in, as Spider-Man finally stopped for a breath of air. “Which is why we need to find Anthony Stark, to help us get back and Diego here told us that you could help with that.”

“You’re Mr. Stark’s father, aren’t you?” Spider-Man looked Howard up and down.

“I’m Howard, yes.”

“Hm.” Nothing. No excited rambling, no ‘I’m such a big fan’. “Alright then, let me make a call. KAREN, call Happy.”

“Who’s Karen?”, she asked, ignoring and playing over the offended face Howard made for not being fanned over.

But the boy had turned around, currently talking to thin air. “Happy? Hey, can you pick me up? Yeah, I know, but it’s an emergency. No, I’m not hurt. It… It’s a little hard to explain why and what happened, but you need to come right now. No, don’t tell him. Listen, Happy”, he hissed, his tone getting more and more urgent, “I have no idea what’s going on right now, but I need you to pick me up, right freaking now! And make sure that Pepper’s home. And maybe Mr Rhodey, too. I don’t know. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, so just come and see for yourself please. Thanks, I owe you one. See you in a few!”

“Alright, transport is on its way.” He turned back around. “Happy will pick us up shortly and take us to Mr. Stark.”

“Thank you, Spider-Man, we really appreciate it!”

As they waited, Spider-Man's excitement did not die down, as he animatedly chatted with Peggy, about her accomplishments and asked one question after the other, not really giving her much of a chance to answer them though. Peggy didn't miss, how the – as she had found out by now – vigilante ignored Howard, who was less than impressed to say the least. But at least he stayed polite enough to let Spider-Man be.

“Spider-Man?” A man in a suit walked into the bodega, calling out for the kid about half an hour after he had made the call.

“Happy, thank you for coming.” The boy walked over, Peggy and Howard followed suit.

“Ok, so what is so weird that you couldn’t tell me over the… Oh.” As soon as he saw the pair, his chin dropped, and with big eyes he looked from Peter to Peggy to Howard and then back to Peter. “Calling me was a good idea.”

“Yeah… We need to get them to Mr. Stark.”

“Agreed. Ma’am, Sir, I am Happy Hogan, head of transportation and security for Tony Stark and if you’d like to follow me, I’ll take you to him. Kid, you coming, too?”

“As if I’d miss this!”, he nodded and followed the man outside to the very fancy looking car; the boy holding the door open for her.

“Thank you, how very gentlemanlike of you.”

“Thanks”, he answered, with what was presumably a grin, it was hard to tell with the mask. But a few moments later, as they sat in the car and drove off, he pulled it off his face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t properly introduce myself, but with civilians around… My name is Peter, Peter Parker.”

“It is nice to meet you, Peter”, she smiled and took his features in. He was a pretty kid, and from their earlier conversation she gathered that he was quite intelligent too, bordering on genius. All in all, he reminded her a little bit of Tony, at least that’s what she imagined her Tony to be like when he was a teenager.

With a smile, the boy turned back to the front. He was sitting next to Happy, softly whispering. Which was understandable, their arrival was sure to cause a lot of drama. The little she could make out though, didn’t make a lot of sense.

“Did you tell her?”, Happy hissed.

“No, how could I?”

Oh, something at the compound was going to shock her just as much as their arrival would Tony. She tried to ignore the hushed conversation and instead took the car in. The seats were comfortable leather, and everything seemed to work automatically. There was music playing on the radio and, to put it mildly, it shocked her a little bit. She could see that Howard did not like it at all, but it had something, Peggy could get used to it.

“We’re almost there.” After a while, the kid turned around again and pointed towards a giant areal of buildings coming into view, a giant lit up ‘Avengers’ sign on top.

“Wow”, Howard whistled appreciative, “my kid’s got good taste.”

“Well, how would you like to play this?”, Happy asked.

“You know him better, the current him, at least. What you deem best should work.”

He glanced over at Peter. “He was already suspicious when I left head over heels after your call. He knows something’s up.”

“Is Pepper here?”

“Yes. How about meeting in the common room?”

“Yeah. Good idea. The other one as well?”

“Which other one?”, Howard asked from the back seat. “Please don’t tell me either of us is still alive!”, he laughed. “Oh, can you imagine, this year’d be my 100th!”

Peter just exchanged a worried glance with Happy, before they both swallowed. That was not a good sign. “No, neither of you is still kicking”, the teen blurted out. “Sorry, that was a little blunt.”

“It’s alright”, she chuckled, “I don't think I want to live to that age in any case.”

Peter turned back to Happy, as he spoke again. “Maybe start with Tony, that’ll be enough drama as it is.”

“Yeah, good idea. KAREN, can you tell FRI to tell Mr. Stark and Pepper to wait for us in the common room?”

“Message delivered”, a woman’s voice answered. Peggy looked around, but couldn’t see anyone, not even speakers. This modern technology was starting to freak her out…

“Welcome to the Avenger’s.” Happy stopped in front of the impressive building’s doors and Peter quickly jumped out to open Peggy’s door for her.

“Thank you for all your help”, she smiled. His ears got all red as he smiled back and headed for the building.

“Please follow me.”

He was quick on his feet, looking around, as if somebody could be watching. Maybe it was ‘that other one’ they had been speaking about…

And before they knew it, Peter quickly slipped into a room, whispering a quiet, “Please don’t freak out” and opened the door for her and Howard.

And there he was, her Tony. A beard, first grey hair, but unmistakably her little boy. As soon as they walked into the room, his face dropped. The blonde woman next to him was almost as shocked, grabbed his arm, and with wide eyes, they both stared at them.

“Hey Tony, honey, it’s been a while.”

A deep breath later, Tony got up and walked up to Peggy, looking her up and down, before going in for a hug. “Hi Aunt Peg”, he managed to whisper eventually, “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, darling!” She pulled in tight. And, even though it wasn’t the little rascal wrapping himself around her, she would have recognized that smell, that smiling face out of a million others.

After a while, he took a step back and smiled down on her, even a tear or two glinting in his eyes. He took a deep breath, before he turned to his father. “Howard.” He held his hand out, and almost hesitantly shook it.

“This is Pepper Potts.” He waved at the blonde woman, who now walked over and shook their hands. “She is the CEO of SI.”

“It’s not you?”, Howard asked.

“Nope.”

He barely acknowledged Howard, instead he looked at Peter. “And you found them wandering around the streets of New York?”

“Pretty much”, he nodded.

“What did you tell them?” He looked inquisitive, and Peter seemed to get exactly what he was hinting at.

“I haven’t crossed that timeline yet”, he just answered.

“Uh huh… Go fetch him.” Tony decided.

“Uhm, both?”

Tony hesitated a moment before he shrugged: “why not.”

“Alright.” The boy turned around and quickly walked out the door.

“Who are they? Peter and Happy already hinted at someone else wanting to see us, but wouldn’t tell us who.”

“You’ll see in a moment.” Tony took two steps back and leaned against a table. “I really have no idea what to say.” Shaking his head, he looked between Peggy and his father. “When are you from?”

“’75. We actually just celebrated your fifth birthday”, Peggy smiled.

“Wow.”

“Aw, five-year-old Tony. How adorable!”, Pepper grinned at him, “I would really like to meet that little snot-nose.”

“I think you already do, in a way at least”, Peggy smiled at her, “when I think about teenage Tony, I see someone like that Peter-kid.”

“Really?” Pepper’s eyes went wide.

“I should have been so lucky”, Tony grumbled, “I’ll never be as good as that boy.”

Howard was completely silent. He seemed to have felt the distance Tony had put between them, too. Something must have happened between them, well, will happen between them. Peggy had her suspicions, he put his company and SHIELD before anything. It went that far that Tony had called Jarvis ‘dad’ until he was almost four years old. Peggy wasn’t a betting woman, but that seemed like the likely reason for the distance.

Behind them she heard steps getting closer.

“Oh, this should be good”, Tony commented.

“Peter, slow down, what’s going on?” Just like she’d recognize her little Tony, Peggy’d recognize that voice anywhere…

“Oh my…”, she gasped, and Tony softly nodded.

“What’s going on in here?” The door opened and she turned around, turned to the man she once loved, who died so many years ago. “Steve?”

“Peggy?”

“I thought you were dead!” She walked up to him, touching his arm, making sure that he’s real, and not just a figment of her imagination. “Did we die after all?”

She looked up at the blue eyes, that were filling with tears, and before she knew it, she was in his arms.

“I missed you so much!”, Steve whispered.

“I missed you, too”, she stammered, “But what… I mean… How…?”

She leaned out of the embrace and looked up at him.

“I could ask you the same thing”, he laughed, wiping a tear from his face.

“That brings our WW2 vets count to 4.”

“Who’s the fourth one?”

“That’d be me.” She turned to the door, where Bucky was leaning against the frame.

“James Buchanan Barnes. You fell off a train!” Oh wow, this just got wilder and wilder.

“Miss Carter!” He smiled and did a curtsy. “Sorry, by now it should be Mrs, right?”, he grinned.

“How do you… Right, the history books…”

“And the Captain America exhibition!”, Peter threw in.

“You got your own exhibition?”

“Yeah, well, we’re all in that. He is”, he nodded at Bucky, “you are”, he squeezed her shoulder, “and you are, too.” He walked over to Howard and shook his hand. “Long time.”

“That it was…” Howard was still in shock and looked him up and down. “You don’t look a day older than in ’45.”

“Not bad for 101, don’t you think?”

“I look even better, and I’m already 102”, Bucky laughed.

“Debatable”, Steve grumbled and boxed his arm.

After the initial surprises and shock had died down, the topic shifted to the issue at hand: how to get Howard and Peggy back?

“Do you have to get back?”, Steve quietly whispered with a smirk.

“I’m married with kids, remember?”, she grinned back.

“And you are taken!”, Bucky hissed over with played outrage.

“You are?” Peggy looked between Steve and James. “Oh, you are!” She couldn’t help the grin that spread on her face. “I should have guessed it… How did it happen?”

“I have to thank it to you”, James smiled.

“Me? Really?”

“Well…”, Steve blushed a little. “I don’t know if I can tell you that without messing up the timeline?”

“So, we met again?”, Peggy guessed.

“You’re still alive, when I get out of the ice. You basically told me to move on, start fresh. And I did”, he smiled as he grabbed James’ hand.

“I’m happy it worked out for you then.”

“Oh my god, it’s really true.”

The door flew wide open, and a bunch of people stood in the doorway, their chins on the ground.

“Gossip spreads fast in here”, Tony remarked drily. “Come in, get your inner fanboys, -girls and geeks out before you implode.”

“Hi, hi, Agent Carter, I am so incredibly happy to meet you! I’m Clint Barton, I work for SHIELD, well, I worked for SHIELD until…”

“Clint, we gotta keep the timeline intact…”, Tony remembered him.

“Right”, he nodded, “sorry, spoilers”, he chuckled awkwardly. “Anyways, it’s a real honour to meet you.”

“Thank you, Clint.” She shook his hand and tried hard not to grin as he squealed.

“Chill, man. Hi, I’m Natasha.“ A redheaded woman pushed past the man. “You’re like my idol, scratch that, my absolute hero, it’s such an honour!”

“Thank you.” Wow. Peggy was only slightly overwhelmed, as a Dr Bruce Banner introduced himself and shook her hand, followed by Tony’s college roommate and the most magnificent man Peggy had ever seen; all of whom didn’t really give Howard all that much attention.

“Wow, our little Tony grows up to work with the Norse god of thunder, super soldiers and who knows what else…” Peggy chuckled. “I’m so proud of you, boy.”

“Thanks, Aunt Peg.” Tony’s ears got all red, and he looked down, trying to hide his flushed face, a gesture she knew all too well… Some things don’t change, not even in around forty years.

Pepper smiled over at him, and it looked like she put her hand in his. She was definitely not just his CEO. And judging by that engagement ring on her finger, her little Tony was really all grown up.

“So, about that getting back home thing… Are we going to miss the wedding?”, she smiled, locking eyes with Tony.

“What wedding?” Howard looked around everybody that had assembled, looking for the couple.

“We don’t have a date yet.” Tony ignored his father and smiled back, a little sheepishly.

“You’re engaged?” Howard’s eyes went wide. “When? How? With whom?”

Tony stayed quiet and Pepper waved her hand, the ring glinting in the light.

“Oh wow. That’s a beautiful ring. Good taste, son.”

“Yeah, he has”, Pepper grinned, clearly not talking about the ring.

“Your taste isn’t that bad either”, he grinned back.

“Really? At first, I actually thought it was pity…”, Rhodey snickered.

“You’re just jealous”, Tony shot back, “that I managed to land the one woman that’s as hot as my god mother…”

“Anthony, that is just wrong on some many levels. Flattering, yes, but you know how far flattery goes with me.”

“I know, it only works on Jarvis”, he answered, his head hung low.

.

“Boss, I have a message from May Parker, asking when Peter is coming home tonight.”

“Oh shit, is it that late already?”

“It’s not that late”, Peter shrugged.

“Kid, you have school tomorrow. No, no, no, don’t give me the puppy eyes. You have a bedtime for a reason, young man.” Tony sounded resolute, stern even. Very fatherly, actually.

“Ugh, fine.”

“Happy is out, so I’ll drive you.”

“I can swing, it’s alright.”

“Nuh-uh. It’s already dark out, you’re not swinging by yourself through town. I’m driving you. Period. FRIDAY, let May know that we’re on our way.”

“Message is delivered.”

“Thanks, FRI!”

Wow, the way the boy talked to the invisible voice, was very bizarre. Peggy was not sure, where the voice came from or what exactly it was or how it worked, but it seemed very helpful.

What really caught her interest, was how Tony acted with the teen though. She would have to have a conversation with him about the child, what their relationship was and how it ended up being such a wonderfully fatherly thing.

“Steve, Barnes, you’re in charge of all this.” Tony gestured vaguely around the room. “Get the guest rooms ready; I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

Peggy would have joined them, but Tony clearly needed to get out of here, away from all the drama, let it sink in.

“Thanks, honey”, she smiled over.

“I’ll see you two in the morning”, he smiled, before he and Peter left the room.

“Alright then, Howard, Peggy, come with us and we’ll get you settled.”

“Thanks, Steve. I think we can really do with a good night’s sleep…”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Are you alright?” Peter’s concerned stare seemed to drill itself into what was probably Tony's soul.

“What do you think?”, he answered, a bit rougher than he intended.

Peter turned back, stared out the window. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. Unless you did something, you need to confess to me…” He glanced over at Peter who shook his head.

“Nope. I’ve been good. Santa would be proud”, he grinned.

“Alright. Stay on his good-kids-list.”

“I have been for 17 years!”

“I am so proud of you”, Tony chuckled. Man, leave it to the kid to always make him laugh.

“Ok, so I know it’s weird, but if you want to talk… I have a lot of daddy-issues-experience.”

“Alright.” Tony snorted a laugh. “Sorry, it’s not something I should laugh about.” He tried to look contrite, but it probably came off as a weird grimace.

“Don’t worry about it”, he chuckled.

They rode on in silence. Tony wanted to break it, but all questions about school, decathlon or lego sets seemed wrong right now.

“I’m sorry”, he apologized eventually.

“Why?”, Peter asked, “if I have nothing to apologize for, neither do you.”

“I know. Still… Howard is just… It just drudges up so many old feelings, memories.”

“Happy’s not really out, is he?”

“Nope. Had to get out of there. But don’t think you’re just my excuse, ok? Because you’re not, you’re really not. I’m happy to do this and be here for you.”

“It’s alright, Mr. Stark, I know what you mean”, he smiled over. “And don’t worry. You’re not like him. And I can say that with absolute certainty, since I am the one who had a few dads and lost pretty much all of them, too.”

“I know you’re trying to be all encouraging and shit, but it sounds actually super sad…”

“Yeah… What I’m trying to say is that you’re really good at the job. Not that you’re my dad, but I mean, you know? You’re not like Howard.”

“And you can be certain about that based on what?” Tony knew, he sounded bitter, but he couldn’t help it. How could he not be bitter about that? With a father like Howard, how could Tony ever turn out any better at the job? Sure, he saw himself as a sort of father figure for Peter, but only sort of. The kid still called him Mr. Stark, didn’t sound all that fatherly, now, did it?

“I don’t really remember my dad, so my experience is based on Uncle Ben, who helped me with my homework, took care of me when I was sick, was always ready to listen to my issues, who plain and simple was there, when I needed him. You’ve done all these things for me; you do all this for me.”

Oh fuck. Tony tried to fight the tears filling his eyes.

“I don’t want to force myself on you or anything, I just want you to know that whatever doubts or worries Howard brings out in you, well, they’re wrong.”

“Alright Pete, you gotta stop now or I’m gonna start crying.”

“Sorry”, he mumbled, his face getting red, “I didn’t want to make this worse.”

“You didn’t. Believe me, you didn’t. I wish I knew what to say right now, but I don’t really handle emotions all that well…”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“Damnit, Peter, how can a twelve-year-old deal so much better with that stuff than me?”, Tony groaned.

“First of all, I’m seventeen. And I may have practised that speech for a while, waiting for the right time to say this”, he admitted meekly.

“Oh.” So, Peter really meant it! It wasn’t just some ‘spur-of-the-moment’ thing.

“I’d like to come the next few days over to the compound, if that’s cool. I’d really love to get to know Mrs. Peggy! She is so awesome and badass, and I really like to talk more to her.”

“Sure thing, I can tell Happy to pick you up after school.” Tony appreciated the change of topic and was happy to talk about one of his favourite people.

“Cool.” Even in the dark car, Tony could see the boy beaming with excitement. “And she is your godmother?”

“That she is”, Tony nodded.

“That is so crazy amazing!”

“You know you’re an Avenger, right? Pretty nice, too.”

“Yeah, but she’s Peggy Carter, founder of SHIELD, fought in WW2 and is like the most badass woman!”

“I can’t argue that. You know, she bought me the material for Dum-E.”

“Awesome!”

“I would introduce them, but from her perspective, I haven’t gotten it yet.”

“That’s so confusing…”

“Tell me about it!”, Tony laughed, “in her eyes, I just turned 5!”

“And all of a sudden, you’re 50.”

“49.”

“Of course.” Peter tried to look earnest, but that cheeky grin shone right through.

Tony shot the kid an angered glare, but broke out in a grin as well.

“Alright, we’re here, get out before I get back at you for that one.”

“Please, you love me way too much for that”, the boy shot back, before he wrapped himself around Tony. “You know, I love you just as much.” And with that, he jumped out the car and disappeared in their apartment building.

And Tony sat in his car, absolutely flabbergasted, dumbstruck and emotional.

Oh wow. Oh WOW! He had no idea, what to do, think or feel. For as long as he could remember, Tony thought he’d just fail at being a dad, at caring for someone. That’s what he expected, being met with defiance, disinterest… Sure, he tried his best to break the cycle of shame, but never thought, he’d actually succeed!

“Boss, I have Pepper on the line. She asked me to call as soon as you dropped off Peter.”

“Uhm, yeah, alright.”

“Tony, hey, got Peter home?”

“He said he loves me”, Tony sighed as a wide grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He heard his fiancée chuckle. “Of course, he does.”

“What? No, Pepper, seriously, Peter said I’m a great dad and that he loves me!” He didn’t understand what was so funny about that.

“I’ve been trying to tell you that for a while, but it’s great that it finally clicked.”

“Huh.”

“You on your way back?”

“Just pulling out the parking space.”

“Good. I might have a tub of ice cream, I just opened, and you know my restraint, when it comes to ‘Hunk-A-Hulk-A-Burning-Fudge’.”

“As long as this lack of restraint doesn’t also extend to Bruce, I’m alright with that.”

“Damnit, you found me out”, she snickered.

“Wow, just wow”, Tony deadpanned. “Breaking up Pepperony and the Sciencebros in one swift motion, respect Ms. Potts.”

He could basically see her shaking her head. “You really got into the shipnames and fanfics, huh?”

“What can I say, my pseudo-son is a child of the internet. I really don’t want to know about memes and stuff like that, but that just rubs off, when you’re around Peter.”

“That’s alright.” She was silent for a moment, before she continued. “It’s really great, to meet the woman that raised you.”

“Getting a glimpse of my past should explain a lot about me.”

“Oh, it definitely does. But you know that I don’t care about your past. I love you, who you became, who you are. Because that’s a damn good person. And sure, Peggy Carter had her hand in that, but it’s all your work; you worked on becoming the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist I can’t wait to marry.”

“Why is everybody so damn emotional and lovey-dovey today? Pep, you know I love you more than life itself, but I have no idea what to say to that.” And, for the umpteenth time today, he was close to tears again.

“You don’t have to say anything. Now hurry up, or I’ll eat all the ice cream by myself.”

“That is a damn good motivator”, Tony chuckled.

“I know. That’s why I’m saying it. See you in a few?”

“Definitely.”

“Good. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“So, you’ve been back for eight years already?”

“Yeah”, Steve nodded. “Time really flies…”

“Tell me about it, yesterday was still 1975…”, Peggy laughed.

She and Steve sat side by side, each a coffee in hand, just catching up. Like you did, as two hundred-year-olds. Well, technically, she would be 98, but still. It felt like a very bizarre dream, and she had to pinch herself a couple of times this morning to make sure, she didn’t dream all of this up.

“I would really like to ask you what’s going to happen in the next few years, well, my next few years.”

“I was under the ice, remember? I didn’t live through it.”

“So, you didn’t catch up? Captain America, not knowing what happened to his country for the last forty years? How very patriotic.” Peggy shot him a challenging glare, and Steve just cracked up.

“I’m sorry, Peg, but scolding me for not being patriotic really doesn’t work any more. I may have committed a teensy bit of treason, technically I might even be a war criminal…”

“Excuse me?” Peggy felt her chin hitting the floor. Her Steve, a war criminal? Treasonous? “Steven Grant Rogers, you have to be kidding me.”

“And it’s not the worst part”, he admitted contrite, his face deep red and completely avoiding her gaze.

“What did you do?”

“I totally screwed over Tony.”

No. Not her little boy! “You did WHAT?” She boxed his shoulder, hard. And, even though he was a super soldier, it looked like it hurt. Good. “I can’t believe you. You… you…” Peggy was speechless.

“I’m so sorry. It was a really stupid and messy situation and I didn’t handle it very well. But it’s all sorted now!”, he was quick to add, as he finally looked at her, seeing the very pissed off expression she tried to convey.

“You screwed over my little boy? I can’t believe you.”

“Well, I mean, your little boy isn’t an innocent five-year-old anymore…”

“You know, forget what I said. I really don’t want to know what happened, or what will happen.” She shook her head.

“Uhm, Stevie?” James put his head through the door. “I don’t want to disturb you two, but I really can’t be alone with Howard. You know, because of… reasons…” His face was deep-red, and Steve quickly got up.

“Shit, yeah, sorry, I completely blacked that out.”

Peggy was curious, as to what had happened between James and Howard, that had him so… apologetic. She would probably have to wait a few years to find out, though.

“Is Tony not up yet?” She hadn’t seen him, since he left to take Peter home yesterday.

“He probably is, but I think he wants to be alone with Howard about as much as I do”, Buck shrugged.

“What happened between all of you?” She couldn’t keep all the curiosity in anymore.

“Uhm… Spoilers?”

“Yeah, I figured. Alright, Steve, you keep Howard company, Bucky, show me where to find my boy.”

“Yes ma’am!” He led her to an elevator. “FRIDAY, bring Peggy to the penthouse, please.”

“Of course.” Was that voice everywhere?

“Thanks, James.”

“Anytime.” Just as the elevator doors closed, he winked at her, and suddenly, she moved upwards.

“Uhm, FRIDAY?”, she tried.

“How can I help you?”

“What is your task domain?”

“I am an artificial intelligence, created by Tony Stark. It is my area of responsibility to coordinate all communication within this building and the Avengers.”

“Alright, that’s impressive.”

“Thank you, Agent Carter.”

With a ‘ping’, the doors opened, and Peggy walked out into a giant living room, with the most beautiful view.

“Hello Peggy.” Pepper walked over, smiling widely. “Had a good night?”

“Yes”, she smiled back, “thanks for asking. I’m sorry, I’m just barging in here like that…”

“It’s alright”, the woman laughed as she put her hair in a ponytail. “I assume you’re looking for Tony.”

“Both of you”, she answered, “I have a feeling, he can’t really face me and his father without his rock.”

Pepper stayed silent, but the smile spreading over her face radiated gratefulness and sorrow at the same time. “I’m sorry”, she eventually answered, “he’s taking this harder than you deserve.”

“I’m guessing, things between him and his father deteriorated even more? I mean, Howard is an extreme workaholic, Maria is basically a single mother at this point”, Peggy recounted her experiences.

“Unfortunately, yes”, Pepper nodded, speaking softly. “As I take it, Jarvis was his go-to father figure.”

“Yeah, only about a year ago, from my perspective, Tony stopped calling Jarvis ‘dad’.”

“Oh damn.”

The two women were silent. Peggy used the moment to take all about Pepper in that she could. She was beautiful, yes, but Peggy could see how she exuded confidence, intelligence and so much love for her boy. The worry about him was clear in her eyes, but it quickly dropped, when they heard steps getting closer.

“Morning, Aunt Peg.”

“Good Morning, Tony.” She smiled over at him, at the man, who was no longer five years old.

“I was thinking, maybe Howard could explain what kind of machine he was building, and I’ll see what I have in my labs.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“Great. Let’s get to it, then.”

He linked his arm with Peggy’s and together they headed back to the elevator.

Peggy knew, that the desire to get them back to their own time didn’t stem from malice. Tony was overwhelmed and, contrary to his five-year-old self, emotionally stunted, which was no surprise, given what Pepper told her. And, as much as Peggy would like to talk him through everything, she knew him well enough to know that he’d be stonewalling her, unless he was ready to talk.

“I should warn you”, Tony suddenly broke the silence, “Peter will come by again this afternoon, he is so excited to talk to you, get to know you. Just so you know, he probably won’t leave your side.”

“That’s alright”, she laughed, “reminds me of someone else I know…” Gently, she poked Tony’s side.

“Yes, you said that before, but trust me, as someone who has actually seen me as a teenager, he is nothing like me, and that is a damn good thing.”

“Listen, honey, I don’t know what happened in the last years, what you went through, what you did. Even if there may have been a few bad decisions involved…”

“A few?”, he snorted. “Yeah, well, trust me, a handful of years ago, you would not have been that proud of me.” Tony stared straight ahead, not daring to look over at her. His face was stone cold, an expression she knew from Howard, shutting every emotion down, trying not to show his true feelings.

“I know, I can’t make you believe me. All I can say is that these bad decisions, whatever they were, how many of them were there, they don’t make a character. They don’t make your character. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s why you pulled it around, got yourself a fantastic fiancée, leading a team of superheroes, and doing wonders with that boy Peter. If that’s not a good person… Well, then I don’t want to be one.”

She gently nudged his shoulder, before turning ahead again.

“Thank you.” It was a quiet mumble, barely audible, but it was all she needed.

“Let us build a time machine, then!”

.-.-.-.

What the absolute fuck was going on? Tony was about to build a time machine with his dead father. This shit could not be real, it just couldn’t. He and Rhodey sat together with Howard, who described what he worked on, some quantum mechanics theory of Hank Pym’s.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m late, my FBI-Guy didn’t believe that the genius Ironman needed my help.” Scott barged into the room, his usual blabbering self. And even though Tony was not in the mood for his gibberish, he worked with Pym and was a pretty smart engineer and so the best shot they had of getting Howard and Peggy back to their own time.

“Hey Scott, you’re just in time.”

Scott barely waved at the Avengers; he directed all his attention to Howard. “You’re actually Howard Stark. Holy shit.”

“Hello, Mr Lang I presume?”

“Please, call me Scott.” He held his hand out and vigorously shook Howard’s hand. “Wow, Hank told me quite a bit about you.”

“I hope, not all bad.”

“He definitely praised your intelligence.” That was a very polite answer; Tony was very aware that Pym didn't have too much love left for Howard.

“And my son tells me that you’re the expert on quantum mechanics?”

“Yup”, he nodded proudly, “spend some time in the quantum realm, so yeah, I know a thing or two.”

“You’ve been to the quantum realm? How are you still alive?”

And that was the point, Tony shut down. Howard was more excited about Scott’s accomplishments than he was about Tony being engaged. What did he expect? Nothing, that was just it… He expected nothing, and still was disappointed.

Howard didn’t even seem to notice, when Tony got up and walked out, he was so focused on Scott.

Oh, was he fucking jealous of Antman? No, no, no, this just got worse and worse.

“Hey, Tones, you alright?”

Tony was so caught in his thoughts; he didn’t even see Rhodey following him.

“Fuck”, he sighed, “I’m… I’m fucking done.”

“I can’t blame you. Come on, let’s get you a cup of tea or something.”

“Cup of tea?” He shot his friend a quizzical stare.

“Well, I’m not giving you coffee, you’re already way to on edge…”

“Alright, can’t do any harm I guess…”

.

“Honey, I thought you and Howard were building our way home?”

“Well, Scott’s there now, doubt he’ll miss me.” Tony couldn’t help but sound bitter. “So, we thought, we’d grab a cup of tea.”

“Tea?” Pepper looked incredulous.

“Rhodey’s idea”, Tony shrugged, before he sat next to his fiancée, who leaned against him.

“Who is Scott?”, Peggy asked.

“He works with Hank Pym, dates his daughter. He’s an expert on quantum mechanics”, Rhodey explained.

“And Capsicle’s biggest fan”, Tony added.

“Capsicle, really?” Peggy raised her eyebrows. “You’re better than that, Tony.”

“I like it”, Bucky grinned.

“I swear to whoever’ll listen”, Tony groaned, “if you make some sort of inappropriate comparison about eating popsicles, I’ll tell Howard what you did.”

“Oh my god!” Steve got beet-red, and Bucky stared back at him with wide eyes. “As if I’d make comments like that in front of his ex-girlfriend.”

“Don’t worry, James, you might remember I’m not that delicate”, Peggy chuckled, “and I assume that what Tony might tell Howard has to do with the reason you didn’t want to be alone with him this morning?”

“Oh god.” Tony dropped his head on the table. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

As he looked back up, he saw Peggy shaking her head. “What happened, that Steve commits treason and my sweet, little boy uses language like that?”

A chuckle went through the kitchen at the ‘sweet, little boy’ notion, but Tony decided to ignore it. “It all started, when Obe…” He looked up at Pepper. “That’s spoilers, right?” As she nodded, he just shrugged. “Long story short, Rogers left me for Barnes.”

“Huh. I wish I could say that this clears everything up, but I’m about as lost as yesterday, when I landed on that rooftop.”

“Sorry, Aunt Peg, I don’t think we can tell you, without majorly fucking up the timeline.”

“That’s alright, honey, I guess I’ll just have to find out, the long way ‘round.”

Silence fell over the room. Suddenly, Steve’s laughter broke through it, though.

“What is it?”

“I just had the weirdest thought.”

“How much weirder than reality can it be?”

“It’s just… You know, if I never went in the ice, well, chances are you’d call me Uncle Steve and I’d be your godfather.”

“Oh. My. God.” Tony’s face fell, and his mind went completely blank for a moment. Eventually, he had to chuckle too and looked over at Steve. “Rogers, that might be the scariest thing you ever said to me.”

“Tony, show your godfather some respect!” With a scolding look, Rhodey put a cup of tea in front of him.

“Well then, Uncle Steve…”

“Oh, that sounds so wrong!”, Steve shuddered.

“Yeah, I mean I’m really sorry about your heartbreaks, but I think it’s not that bad that he died…”

“Aw, thank you, how kind”, Steve scoffed.

“But that’s the trippy thing”, Rhodey threw in, “you wouldn’t know it any differently. They’d just be Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve.”

Tony stared at Steve a little more, trying to picture a life where he'd be his Uncle Steve. “No, I’m sorry, but I just can’t picture you in a sort of father-figure-position.”

“I don’t blame you”, Steve shrugged, “me neither…”

“But that’s alright, Stevie”, Bucky consoled, “at least we manage to keep Clint’s dog alive, when we watch him…”

“Exactly”, Steve laughed, “and so far we haven’t killed any plants!”

“Wow, I really lost the jackpot when I lost you”, Peggy remarked drily.

“Uff, that’s harsh!”

“It’s alright, things worked out ok for us, I think. No matter what happened in ’45 or ’75, we’re in a really good place, all of us”, he added reassuringly.

Tony looked around the room and had to agree. Pepper in his arm, Rhodey beside him, Peter on his way over and Steve and Bucky were happy, too.

“Not gonna lie, it was a tough road getting here”, Steve continued, “and in parts pretty ugly”, he admitted meekly. “But I think, things had to happen the way they did to get us here, so I would not change a thing.”

“Wow, he’s still really good at motivational speeches”, Peggy chuckled, after Steve’s monologue sunk in.

“Well, I just got it”, he grinned.

.

“Tony, honey, I get it’s tough down there, but I think you need to get back to the lab, tell Howard what you need him to know and show him that you’re just as swoon-worthy as Scott.”

Aunt Peg could just read him like an open book, it was incredible.

“Why bother, though?”, he shot back, “it’s not gonna change anything.”

“You can’t keep avoiding him either.”

“And what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, Howard, just so you know, you were a horrible dad, fucked me up wonderfully and I needed to reach my late forties to free myself from that, from you. But great, just when I thought I managed to do that, you show up on my doorstep and mess everything up again.’”

“Come here, honey.” Peggy put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close. Only now Tony realized, that his eyes were wet, filling with tears. They sat in silence, Peggy gently rubbed his back and Tony felt like he was a kid again, coming to Aunt Peggy for consolation, for emotional support.

“I’m alright”, he mumbled after a while, and let go of her. “Thanks.”

She pressed a kiss against his forehead, and Tony had to chuckle. “I can’t tell you the last time I got a foreheadkiss.”

“In that case…” She kissed the same spot once again and smiled widely. “For good luck.”

“Thank you. Now nothing can go wrong anymore.”

.

“Son, there you are, perfect timing. Scott has just updated me on Pym’s research, and with your help, Peggy and I can go home.”

“But we really need your help to get it right.”

“Yes”, Howard continued, “since you’re twice as smart as the two of us combined, we can’t do it without you.”

“Uhm, sure.” Was that just a compliment? A real compliment? From his father? Huh, maybe Aunt Peggy’s kisses were lucky after all…

“Great! So, we’ll rebuild my machine, including Pym’s updates and then we should try and figure out how to time our travels instead of just flying around, aimlessly.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“Thank you, Peggy.”

“For what?” She looked up at Pepper, not quite able to follow what she was hinting at.

“For talking some sense into Tony.”

“Oh, but that’s kinda my job, isn’t it?”, she smiled.

“I guess”, Pepper chuckled. “But still.”

“It’s alright. I think I have to thank you, instead. For taking care of my boy.”

“Well, our arrangement is a little different from yours. I need him just as much as he needs me”, she shrugged, a soft smile on her lips.

“Then I am so happy that you two found each other. Have we ever met?”

“Once”, Pepper nodded, “I don’t think, I should tell you about this though.”

“No, it’s alright, I understand”, she nodded, “but that means I’ll die knowing my boy has a good life, which is a wonderful prospect for my future.”

Pepper stayed silent, but gratefully squeezed Peggy’s hand.

“How does Peter fit into your little family?” Peggy had to know, and Pepper would be able to give her an explanation, not clouded by stunted emotions.

“Tony recruited him, when the kid got superpowers. It started out as a mentorship. And somewhere along the way, the line between mentor and father started to blur and…”

“And now we’re family.” They turned to the door, where Peter stood, a little awkwardly, but smiling nonetheless.

“Hey Pete. You’re here early…”, Pepper grinned.

“I might have played a little sick…”, he admitted, staring at his toes.

“Oh Peter!”

“Please don’t tell Aunt May!”, he pleaded. “And maybe don’t tell Mr … Tony.”

“Mr Tony?”

“After yesterday, when we… you know…”

“I know”, Pepper nodded, “he told me.”

“Ok, well, I thought he would believe me, if I stopped calling him Mr Stark”, he explained.

“Peter, I would love to tell you that you’re an absolutely wonderful boy, if you hadn’t just skipped school”, Pepper scolded, albeit with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“But that’s for a good reason! I mean, how many more chances will I have to talk to The Agent Carter!” With an excited grin, he turned to Peggy. “None! So, what’s a few hours of Literature, compared to the chance of a lifetime!”

He looked between the two women, with the biggest puppy eyes. “Please don’t tell on me.”

“Peter, what did we say about the puppy eyes?”

“They only work on Tony…” He dropped his head again and Peggy had to bite down a chuckle.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I regularly have the same discussion with Tony, about the puppy eyes. You really remind me of the kid…”

“Oh.” His ears got red, and he scrunched his nose together and looked back on the floor, clearly unsure what to do with that.

“What do you say, should we check on him? He told me, you’re pretty smart, too, I’m sure he’ll appreciate all the help he can get. And so do I, I miss my little rascals.”

“You have kids too, right?”

“Yeah, two of them. Three, if you count Tony.”

“I think you should count him”, Peter decided, “from what I hear you deserve the parental title more than his dad.”

“Mhm, you heard all about that?”

“I heard enough.”

She exchanged a quick glance with Pepper, who seemed to think the same thing Peggy did: It might have started as a mentorship, but the relationship between Tony and Peter was definitely build on a lot of mutual worry, care and love.

“Shall we head to the lab then?”

.

“Hi Tony!” They were barely in the lab, when the kid called out for him.

“Hey Pete. You’re a lot earlier than I expected.” He raised his eyebrows and shot him a scolding look, he definitely learned from Jarvis.

“Well, we’re working on time travel right now, so I can always make up for it”, he grinned back. “Hey Scott! Mr. Stark.” He nodded at the other two men and Peggy could see the momentary confusion on Tony’s face, not being addressed with Mr. Stark.

“Spidey, hey, good you’re here, we can do with your help! And you… ohmyfreakinggodyou’rePeggyfreakingCarter!” The other man, presumably that was Scott, dropped the hammer he was holding and all but stumbled towards her.

“Scott Lang, I take it?”, she smiled, holding out her hand.

“Yes”, he gulped, “Scott, yeah, that’s me, I’m Scott.”

“You’re Hank’s son-in-law?”

“Well”, he chuckled nervously, “I mean, maybe one day, I would like to maybe, but Hope and I we’re just dating. It’s going well, really well, she is so amazing and I really love her, but…”

“Scott, breathe”, Tony called over.

“Yeah, right, sorry.”

“Wow, you’re freaking more than when you met Cap.”

“Without Peggy Carter there would be no Captain America, everybody knows that”, he stated matter-of-factly.

“I like you, Scott”, she smiled, before she sat down on a chair. “I don’t want to disturb you guys, but I’d really like to see my little boy in action.” She could barely finish the sentence, when all off a sudden, everything around her started to beep and a bunch of robots headed her way.

“Guys, GUYS!”, Tony yelled, “take it easy, there’s enough Aunt Peggy for everybody.”

The robots stopped, even moved a little bit back, but still stayed close to her, beeping almost excitedly, if you could say that about machinery.

“Tony, what is this?”

“Aunt Peggy, meet my robots. They already know and love you, and apparently missed you as much as I did. Meet Dum-E, Butterfingers and that’s U.”

“Hi. I’m sorry, I haven’t met you yet, but I am really looking forward!”

“They are absolute sweethearts”, Peter giggled, as he walked over and patted each of them; they all reacted with what almost sounded like a purr, leaning in to the boy’s touch.

“They have their moments”, Tony grumbled, albeit with all the love in his eyes.

“And they love their dad”, Peter added.

“Doesn’t mean they listen to me… Guys, are you gonna geek out over Aunt Peggy, or are you helping us over here?”

Their movement was hesitantly, but after carefully booping against her knee, all three wheeled over to Tony.

“You can cuddle with her later, alright? For now, we should get some shit done.”

It was adorable; Tony talked to the robots like they were children, and they acted like his kids as well! Leave it to Tony, to give a bunch of metal feelings.

And the way he worked with Peter… Helping, instructing, showing him how to work the tools, with which the boy was pretty good already. They probably worked together a lot, judging from the way Peter seemed to sense what Tony wanted him to do, knew where Tony needed him. If she didn’t know better, she would definitely see a father and son work together. But then again, that’s what they were. Blood doesn’t make you family, Tony learned that the hard way.

She watched Howard observing the duo. He looked disconnected, estranged from his son. From what Pepper told her, that was exactly, what they were. Maybe being here, Howard could learn a thing or two about being a father. It was sad though, that the person teaching him this, would be his own son.

“Put down the fire-extinguisher!” Tony’s yelling brought her back into the real world. “Dum-E, you know that after last time, you’re no longer on fire extinguisher duty. No, don’t give me that look, you know what you did.”

Peggy could hear two quiet beeps, before she watched Dum-E putting the extinguisher down.

“Alright, that’s more like it.”

“I’m scared to ask, but what did he do?”, she inquired.

“He doused his brother. U almost lost a few cogs, because the foam got in the wrong places. He’s alright now, Peter helped me fix him.” To proof that he was well again, U beeped a few times. “Dum-E has since apologized, but he is no longer allowed near the fire-extinguisher.”

“You grounded a robot?”, Howard asked astonished.

“Yes. How will he learn otherwise?”, Tony shrugged and went back to the circuitry he was working on.

Howard looked over at Peggy, who was just as astonished but a lot more amused by this situation.

Even though she came downstairs to watch her Tony work, Peggy couldn’t help but watch the robots, whirring around, fetching tools, following every order they got from Tony or Peter, and, every now and then, when they didn’t have anything to do, they wheeled over to her, gently nudging her leg, enjoying her petting them. This couldn’t get any more bizarre.

“Peter, your aunt has repeatedly tried calling you.” Of course, all that was missing was the ceiling voice. “I would suggest you call her back.”

“Sure thing, FRI. Uhm, can you call her, I’ve got pretty oily fingers…”

“Calling May Parker.”

It seems, his aunt found out, he ditched class. Peter seemed to know, too, he anxiously fidgeted with his fingers.

“Peter?”

“Heeeey, Aunt May, how are you?”

“That doesn’t matter, how are you?” She sounded more concerned than angry.

“I’m ok.”

“Are you sure? Your school just called to inform me you went home with a migraine.”

“Oh, yeah, about that…”

“Peter Benjamin Parker. I thought I was clear on ditching school for Spider-Man…” There was the anger.

“I’m not Spidermanning! Technically, I’m taking history and engineering classes…”

“Spending time with Tony and Steve does not count and you know that as well as I do.”

“Hello May, I fully agree with you on that”, Tony threw in, “in Peter’s defence, things are a bit more complicated than that though.”

“Tony, this better be a damn good reason, or Peter is grounded from the Avengers indefinitely.”

“I’m not sure, you want to know… It’s time travel...”

“I swear to everything that’s good in this world, if you’re ditching to get Doctor Strange to zap you around, you are extra grounded.”

“STEPHEN!” Tony and Peter’s faces dropped as they stared at each other, mouths gaping open.

“What? What is going on?”

“We are such idiots! We’re here building a time machine, and we got the freaking keeper of the time stone on speed dial!”

“You’re building a time machine?”

“Uhm, Aunt May, I'll explain later what’s going on. We need to go right now.”

“No, don’t you dare hang up on me!”

“It’s simple: Tony’s dad and Peggy Carter accidentally time travelled and landed in New York yesterday. Now we’re trying to find a way to get them back, and with Dr. Strange you might have given us just the solution”, Peter recapped.

“What is wrong with our lives that I don’t even question fucking time travel anymore? Peter, we’re gonna have a long talk about skipping school. All of us.”

“I know”, he mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, May”, Tony apologized.

“You two better be. I’ll come to the compound after work and you can explain the whole situation. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye!”

“Call ended.”

“Ugh.” Peter dropped on the ground. “I’m sorry, I skipped school. And I’m sorry, I got May mad at you.”

“If I’m lucky, I’ll live to see my wedding day”, Tony mumbled, pulling the kid back to his feet. “For now, FRI, send a message to Strange, ask him to come here, please.”

“Message is delivered.”

“Thanks.”

“Who is Dr. Strange?”, Howard asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Tony, I’m sitting in the 21st century, watching my grown son build a time machine. What is weirder than that?”

“Alright”, he shrugged. “Dr. Stephen Strange is a wizard.”

“Sorry, I asked.”

It took all Peggy had to keep her mouth from gaping open. Now there were wizards? Any minute now she should wake up. This just couldn’t be real anymore.

Before she could voice her astonishment, orange flames lit up in the workshop, and suddenly a man stood next to Tony, in a long, red cape.

“Hey, what’s so urgent?”

“WHAT?” Howard cried out. Peggy would have screamed, too, if she had any sound left.

“Excuse me, where are my manners? I am Doctor Stephen Strange. And you… look very familiar…”

“Dr. Strange, may I introduce Howard Stark and Peggy Carter.”

“How did this happen?” He spoke with Tony, but the doctor eyed both time travellers curiously.

“Lab accident.”

“Huh, that’ll do it. And now you want me to turn back time?”

“Can you? I mean, get them back to their own time?”

“Probably…” He was quiet, pensive for a moment. “I should get to the sanctum, do my research, consult Wong. I’ll get back to you later, alright?”

“Thanks, Stephen. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.” He nodded at everyone, and before Peggy could say anything, he disappeared in orange lightning.

“Great, Stephen’ll know what to do”, Tony nodded, but the smile on his face dropped fast, as he saw Peggy and Howard’s faces. “You guys alright?”

“I… I…” She tried to shake off the first shock. “I think I need a drink.”

.

Fifteen minutes and two shots of whiskey later, Peggy felt better. Still utterly confused, but better.

“You have a wizard. You have a freaking wizard!” Howard took a little longer.

“I think, they prefer ‘Mystique Arts’”, Peter threw in.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s helping, kiddo.”

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t be, it’s alright”, Peggy assured him, “I appreciate you trying to help us.”

“Of course”, the kid nodded, “I get how weird this must be… I mean, one morning I woke up and could suddenly stick to walls. That stuff is freaky.”

“You can stick to walls?”, Howard cried out.

Peggy felt her eyes going bigger, too.

Instead of explaining himself, Peter jumped up and walked around on the ceiling. “I didn’t call myself Spider-Man because I like the animal.”

Peggy’s chin was on the floor and she couldn’t help but stare at the boy.

“What’s going on?”, she breathed, looking over at Tony.

“Don’t look at me”, he defended himself, “that ain’t my doing.”

“Oscorp”, Peter explained, as he jumped back down with a backflip. “It’s a long story, I was bitten by a radioactive spider and now I got spider DNA.”

“Good thing I dug you up before Osborn the Goblin did”, Tony scoffed, “I still can’t believe you went out with his son…”

“First of all it were only like four dates and can we please not talk about my exboyfriend-turned-super-villain?”, he moaned.

“Sorry, kid”, Tony apologized and patted his shoulder.

It sounded like an incredible story, but Peggy wasn’t sure whether she could take any more of that stuff and instead poured herself another whiskey.

.

“Peter Benjamin Parker.” A woman stood in the door, her arms crossed and a very stern look on her face. This was probably his aunt.

“Hey Aunt May.” As soon as she had stepped through the door, Peter dove behind Tony, who tried hiding behind Pepper. Now, an angry aunt, Peggy could handle.

“You must be May Parker, it is nice to meet you.” She walked up to the woman, holding her hand out. “I am terribly sorry your nephew skipped school because of me.”

“It’s really true”, May goggled, “you’re really Peggy Carter.”

“Guilty as charged”, she smiled.

“Wow. It’s an absolute honour, ma’am.” May shook Peggy’s outstretched hand. “I… I am so sorry, I have no idea what to say.”

“Trust me, neither do I. I mean, the day before yesterday, this guy was still five years old, now he’s the leader of a group of superheroes, with a bunch of awesome spider- and robot children.”

“That’s gotta be trippy”, May chuckled. “And I assume you are Mr. Stark?”, she turned to Howard.

“Please, call me Howard”, he smiled and shook her hand. “I have to say, your nephew is very smart. I was very impressed earlier.”

Peter’s ears turned bright red and he scrunched his nose up. He might not be Howard’s biggest fan, but appreciated the compliment.

“Yeah, I’m amazed about that kid, too”, she answered before turning to Peter, staring at him silently. The kid peeked up from behind Tony’s shoulder, both of them having flushed faces and the exact same deer-in-headlights-look.

“I have to admit, I get it”, May shrugged eventually. “Doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you for skipping, especially for ditching without telling me.”

“I’m really sorry, Aunt May.”

“I know you are.”

“I’m sorry, too”, Tony apologized.

“Yeah… Well, I guess these are very special circumstances, so I might just let it slide. If”, she added emphatically, “you never keep your skipping school from me ever again.”

“I promise”, he nodded meekly, got up from his hiding spot behind Tony’s back and went in for a hug.

“Good. Same goes for you”, she pointed at Tony, “I demand to be kept in the loop.”

“Yes, of course. Sorry, I didn’t call you when he showed up.”

“I imagine his ‘please, don’t tell May’ was accompanied by a lot of puppy eyes.”

“I might be a little susceptible to that”, he admitted contrite.

“Ben was, too. He got over it by realizing that I’m a lot more dangerous than a disappointed Peter”, she shot back with a challenging grin.

“I am very aware of that.”

“Good. Now, spill. What happened here?”

.

“Oh damn.” As they had finished their story, May’s chin was on the ground. “How do our lives get even weirder? I thought it reached its limits with Peter’s powers and Alien invasions!”

“Alien Invasions?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out in time”, Tony shrugged.

“Not so sure I want to.”

“Hey, boss.” Calling out, Happy walked into the room. “do you still need me to go and… May, hi! I… I didn’t know you were coming by today.” As soon as he saw her, his voice, his expression, even his posture changed.

“Hello Happy”, she smiled back, looking just as awkwardly smitten as he seemed to be with her. “I wasn’t planning on it, but you know how it is.”

“I am glad your plans changed”, he grinned, his cheeks flushing ever so slightly.

“Yeah, me too.”

It was adorable, everybody in the room seemed to think so. Well, almost everyone. Peter just turned around and if he were less polite, he would have definitely voiced his annoyance and embarrassment.

“It looks like this relationship is a little weird for Peter”, Peggy whispered over to Pepper.

“He’s coping”, she quietly giggled back. “To Peter, they are like you and Jarvis were to Tony, so you can imagine…”

Peggy had to chuckle at the notion of her and Jarvis, but got how it must make Peter feel.

“Mrs Agent Peggy Carter ma’am, would you like to get a bowl of the best ice cream in NYC?”, Peter suddenly blurted out, clearly needing to get out of this situation as soon as he could.

“Well, back in my day… Oh, I sound so old!”, she laughed. “Anyways, we did always go to that little place, Caramba’s.”

“Oh, I remember!”, Tony smiled, “but they closed years ago.”

“What a shame! But yes, Peter, I am always up for ice cream.”

“Awesome!”, he beamed. “Let’s get going, then!” He held her arm out to her, and Peggy had to laugh as she linked her arm with his.

“You really are a gentleman, Peter.”

“Do you guys need a driver?”, Tony asked, but Peter was quick to answer.

“We do not! Leave Happy here and let him get all… sappy on my aunt or whatever…”

“Do you want FRIDAY to keep an eye on us?”, May asked with a shake of her head.

“Yes!”, Peter called back, Peggy wasn’t sure whether he meant it or not. “And the door stays open!”

“Is this revenge for me not letting MJ stay overnight?”

“No… Maybe… Doesn’t matter though, I want you home by ten and Happy, just remember, I do have superpowers and am stronger than half the guys in this building.” With an exaggerated wide smile, that definitely looked threatening, Peter led Peggy out of the room.

“Wow, Peter, you are really protective of your aunt.”

“Yeah, well, Spider-Man already got my uncle killed, don’t exactly want her any more involved in the superhero-world than necessary.”

What? But before Peggy could follow up, Tony walked up behind them.

“So, Happy’s quaking in his pants”, he chuckled. “And when I asked if you guys need a driver, I meant myself. If that’s ok with you.”

With the widest smile on his face, Peter just held out his other arm. Tony linked their arms and snorted a laugh. “You are ridiculous, you know that?”

“I think that’s why you like me so much.” He quietly giggled to himself, before he abruptly stopped. “You know, maybe we shouldn’t go to Fredo’s”, Peter grinned.

“Peter, don’t start the guessing game and get to the point.”

“Ben’n’Jerry’s.”

“Oh.” Tony’s face lit up as he smiled at the boy. “You little show-off.”

“Look who’s talking”, he shot back.

“The genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist”, Tony smirked.

“Boys, you’re both pretty”, Peggy stated, trying to be diplomatic. “Ice cream, remember?”

“Do you still have some?”

“Freezer’s full.”

“Alright”, Peter beamed, “Roof or garden?”

“Let’s leave that decision to the lady. What do you say, Aunt Peg?”

“I’m not quite following, but I like a nice view, so I’m gonna say roof.”

“Great! You go ahead, I’ll meet you there with the ice cream.” With that, Tony walked off in one direction, while Peter led her towards the elevator.

“FRI, to the roof please!” They immediately started moving.

“Pray tell, what exactly is the plan?”

“We’ll have ice cream, just not in the city but up here.”

“And what’s so special about that?”

“You’ll see”, the boy grinned. “It’s a surprise!”

“I do like surprises”, she answered, smiling along. Somehow around Peter it was impossible to remain stoic. Some people just had that quality, ingraining themselves in everybody’s heart. No wonder, Peter was so important to Tony.

The view from the roof was quite nice. Being upstate there wasn't the New York skyline to feast their eyes on, but plenty of greenery.

“I don't want to darken the mood, but I am sorry about your uncle.” For Peter it might have only been a passing thought, but his earlier statement stuck with Peggy.

“Thanks...” He didn't look up at her and judging from his reaction it could not have been that long ago.

“What was his name?”

“Ben”, the boy answered. “I'm sort of named after him, my middle name is Benjamin.”

“That's lovely! It's always be nice to be named after special and wonderful people.”

“Are you named after anybody?”

“Not as far as I'm aware”, she shrugged. “I mean, there are a few Margarets in my family tree, but as far as I know, none of them were instrumental in my parent's choice for my name.”

“I don't know of any Peter's that might have inspired my parents as well.”

“Here we go!”, Tony walked out of the door, interrupting their little family heart-to-heart, a wide smile on his face. “What do you feel like, Aunt Peg, Strawberry or Hazelnut?”

He held both containers out to her and she almost fell off the bench in surprise. There was 'Stark Raving Hazelnut' adorned with her little boy's face; 'Strawberry Slinging Spider-Man' had a comic-style drawing on it of the suit she had first met Peter in. “You got your own ice cream named after you?”, she cried out, “oh, this is fantastic!” She looked from Peter to Tony with a wide smile. “Now, I’ll definitely have to try both of them!”

.

“Mrs Agent Peggy Carter ma’am, can I ask you a favour?”

“Only if you call me by my name, and only that”, she answered. “Aunt Peggy is fine, too”, she added with a smile.

“Really?” His eyes went big and a giant grin spread over his face.

“I mean, technically, in this family tree, I’d be your grand-aunt, but I think we can leave that ‘grand’ out.”

“Ok”, the boy agreed. “So, Aunt Peggy”, he squealed a little with her name. On the other side of him, she saw Tony biting down his grin. “I wanted to ask if it’s ok, I mean, you’re welcome to say no, that’s totally fine and I definitely get it, if you don’t want to…”

“Get to the point, buddy”, Tony urged him.

“Alright, sorry.” A little shyly, Peter looked over at Peggy. “Would it be ok if I’d invite my girlfriend MJ and my best friend Ned here, to meet you?”

“Sure”, she nodded, “I would like that.”

“Yes? Omigod they’ll be so happy! I haven’t told them what exactly happened, I just said there’s some stuff at the compound, but if I tell them that it’s you? That’d be so cool!”

“How about you ask them to come tomorrow”, Tony suggested.

“Would that be ok for you?”, Peter asked Peggy.

“You know, the last appointment I had was about 45 years ago, so I’m free tomorrow”, she nodded with a grin.

“AWESOME!” He got his phone out and immediately started tapping on that screen. No buttons, nothing, just the screen, reacting to his touch. Freaky.

“I’ll send them a picture, so they’ll believe me.” He held his phone out in front of them. “Ok, now smile! Perfect!” Nothing happened, no flash, not even the sound of a shutter, but somehow the kid got what he wanted. Well, good for him…

A few minutes later, he read the answers out to them.

“So, this is from Ned, he’s like my best friend ever: Is that who I think it is? Omgomgomgomg! That stands for Oh, my god!”, he explained. “I want to meet her, yes, definitely! Asdfghjkl! Uhm, that’s a keysmash. It’s for when you’re so excited you just smash on the keyboard.”

“Alright.” That modern slang was quite something…

“This is from MJ, Michelle, she’s my girlfriend and she’s so smart and awesome and badass”, Peter cooed, his eyes gleaming with adoration and excitement. “Anyways, she writes: This better be real, seriously, you better not be playing or I’ll dump your ass right in front of Flash. Uff, that’s harsh…”

“To be honest, you would deserve it”, Tony chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess… But it sounds like they’re both in! Thank you so much, it means so much to me!”

“Of course, Peter, you are my grand-god-son, after all!”

.

They were in the middle of dinner, a fantastic pasta dish, when that weird orange light flamed up again, and the wizard from this morning stood in front of them.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb your dinner”, he apologized.

“Don’t worry, Stephen. You hungry?”, Tony offered.

“No, thank you. I can come back later, though.”

“Nonsense, sit. So, any news yet?”

“Indeed”, the wizard nodded, “it seems that with the help of Wong I can get you two back to your time.”

“Wow, that’s fantastic!”, Peggy beamed.

“Thank you”, Howard smiled, “I can’t even begin to describe how glad I am.”

“Of course”, Dr Strange nodded. “I do need some preparation time, so I won't be able to help out until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Today is Friday, right?”, Peggy asked, and got a nodded answer. “Well, I already have plans with Peter tomorrow, and I would like the proper time to end this… vacation, so how about we stay the weekend?”

“Of course”, Stephen nodded, “I’ll prepare myself for Sunday afternoon if that’s alright?”

“Perfect”, Howard nodded.

“Then let me let you get back to your dinner. Have a lovely evening.” And as quickly as he appeared, he was gone again.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

MJ had been standing in front of her house about 15 minutes before Happy said that he’d be there. But she was just so excited! Ever since Peter had invited her and Ned over to the compound to meet The Agent Carter TM, she’d been a mess; a completely nervous wreck just bursting with anticipation. Even though she knew that Peter wouldn’t lie to her, especially about something like that, MJ felt like she was being punk'd. Sure, her boyfriend had part spider DNA, could stick to walls and was strong like nobody’s business, but time travel?

Finally, Happy pulled up in front of her and she climbed inside to a very giddy Ned.

“Hey MJ”, the guys greeted her.

“Hi. So, Happy is this for real? I mean…”

“Yes”, he interrupted her, “it’s real. I’ve been with them for two days and I still can’t believe it.”

“Damn.”

The drive to the compound felt like an eternity. This was even more nerve-wrecking than the first time she came here and the time she came over for an official meet-the-family with Mr Stark and Pepper, when she and Peter started dating.

“Hey FRI, tell Peter we’re here”, Happy called out as the building came into view.

“He’ll greet you by the door”, the AI answered.

And yes, as Happy stopped in front of the building’s doors, Peter already stood there with a wide beaming grin. And maybe, just maybe, MJ’s heart skipped a beat when she saw his smile. Though that could also be due to the fact that Mrs Peggy freaking Carter was somewhere inside this building.

“Hey guys”, Peter greeted them and gave MJ a soft kiss. “You’re already awaited.”

Ok, here it goes. Hand in hand they walked to the common room; MJ held onto Peter’s hand for dear life and he encouragingly squeezed it, before he opened the door. And holy freaking cow, it was really her. Sandwiched between Mr Stark and Mr Rogers sat the woman, MJ had done her AP history assignment about.

“Aunt Peggy, this is Ned and MJ”, Peter introduced them. MJ was way to overwhelmed at the sight of one of her personal heroes to really give Peter calling her ‘Aunt Peggy’ any thought.

“Well, hello!” With a wide smile Agent Peggy Carter walked up to them. “It’s so nice to meet you, I already heard so much about you two.”

As aware as MJ was of her mouth gaping wide open, she couldn’t do anything about it; she was completely mesmerized.

“Peter has barely shut up about you all morning. I'm Howard. It’s a pleasure to meet you”, the man introduced himself, holding out his hand.

“Hi”, Ned eventually managed to get out.

“How about we all take a seat?”, Agent Peggy Carter suggested, breaking the stunned silence and Peter pulled his two dumbfounded friends behind him, pushing them right on either side of him on a couch.

Since nobody really seemed to know what to say, Peter took over. “So, Thursday. I was out on patrol after school and I told you that I was about to get to Diego’s, get a bite to eat”, he remarked to MJ, “and all of a sudden I stand in front of them!”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Peter recapped what had happened the last few days, Tony leaned back and was content just watching the teens reacting to Aunt Peggy and his dad and them reacting to the teens. He was a little surprised by their stunned silence, Tony had expected a reaction more like Peter’s or Scott’s, just fangirling over Aunt Peg; at least that’s what he had expected Ned reaction to be. MJ was more like Pepper, more restrained, asking fewer questions but each of them meaningful and intelligent, but she was remarkably quiet as well; holding onto Peter’s hand as if it were her lifeline. And it was only a small movement, but Peter gently brushed his fingers over her hand, it probably felt as calming and soothing as it looked.

Pete in his first real relationship… It was adorable to watch. What made it even better was that Peter actually came to Tony for advice every now and then! Not that Tony was that good at serious, committed relationships; just because he was engaged to Pepper it didn’t mean he knew how he did it. Thinking back, all his romantic gestures blew up in the most spectacular way, sometimes literally. Even though it backfired, Tony still stood by the giant plush bunny. Put a bit of dying in the mix, set her on fire and bam! Here comes love.

Since according to Peggy Peter was similar to Tony, it made sense that the kid would fall for someone who, just like Pepper, was a strong, independent woman.

And, while he wasn’t sure how someone as fantastically brilliant as Ms Potts would agree to spend the rest of her life with a mess like Tony, he could see why Michelle would fall for someone as sweet, kind and brilliant as Peter.

And it made Tony really proud. Not that he had actually raised the kid, but still. There was a lot about Peter to be proud of.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“We actually started building a time machine, like a real proper time machine! We should probably have used a DeLorean”, Peter snickered before finishing the story. “But then Aunt May gave us the idea to call Dr Strange and he found a way to get them back to the seventies.”

Peggy wasn't 100% sure yet what to make of the two kids sitting opposite her, holding onto Peter for dear life. From Peter's earlier descriptions and stories, she imagined them to be a lot bubblier and definitely more talkative.

“Uhm guys”, Peter hissed over, “you can talk to them.”

“But isn't this like... I don't know, some Back to the Future stuff?”, Ned shot back, “Like, step on a butterfly and we're never born?”

“I'm sorry”, Peggy threw in, “I don't quite follow.”

Thankfully, Ned took the bait. “I mean, you being here, doesn't that totally screw with the timeline? Should we even know that you're here, let alone talk to you?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw the other grown-ups grinning at Peggy tricking Ned into opening up and talking. “I don't think you need to worry too much about that. As long as we don't learn about all the big things coming our way, all of us will be alright.”

“Oh, that's good”, Ned sighed, visibly relieved.

“Yeah, so don't be afraid to talk and ask away.”

“Ok, so first of all I need to say that you're super awesome and one of my absolute heroes”, MJ blurted out and if Peggy read the reaction of Tony and the others correctly, her burst of emotion was something rather unusual.

“Thank you, darling”, Peggy smiled back at the girl.

“Of course, it's an honour!”

“It totally is”, Ned nodded in agreement, beaming just like Michelle did.

Peggy was in all honesty floored. Yes, of course she had tried to imagine how impactful her role as a woman in a man's world was or will be for girls like MJ. But actually seeing all that, living through it?

“You alright?” Tony nudged her side.

“Yes”, Peggy cleared her throat and smiled over at her little boy. “I'm fine. Slightly overwhelmed but over the moon to see what humanities future will look like.” She turned back to the teens. “The Spider-Three, a superhero-squad per excellence, en route to change the world.”

“I mean, technically he's the superhero”, Ned giggled nervously. “I'm just the Guy In A Chair.”

“If that were true, then MJ would be just Peter's love interest and damsel in distress”, Peggy commented. “Does that seem right to you?”

“I'd be scared to even consider that thought”, Ned made clear and MJ looked more than pleased at Peggy's assessment of her.

“You don't need powers to be a hero”, Peggy continued “I like to say that once you know your value, anybody else's opinion doesn't matter any more. From what Peter told me you are both so intelligent, loyal and genuinely fierce... Don't resign yourselves to the background. Cut the word 'just' out of your vocabulary. You're not just Spider-Man's assistant or girlfriend.” She locked eyes with Michelle. “You're the leader of the Academic Decathlon team, a strong and independent woman! And you”, she looked over at Ned, “you're an amazingly smart engineer and a damn good programmer. Those are the kinds of people we need to change the world. And yes, having superhuman powers or being the heir to one of the wealthiest and most well-known companies makes getting your voice heard so much easier. Trust me, I know”, she rolled her eyes. “I might not have had to deal with Spider-Man and Ironman but with Captain America and Howard.”

She looked over at the others, where Tony, Steve and Howard flushed in all the shades of pink and red. “Seriously, you should have heard the Captain America stories they broadcasted after the war ended.” Peggy could only shake her head thinking back on the horrible radio programme. “It was a never-ending tirade of poor helpless Peggy, being saved by her hero in the last second, so she could swoon in his strong arms.”

While everybody else stared at her with big eyes, Steve turned even redder. “Peggy, I'm so sorry about that”, he apologized, “I had no idea! The thought of you needing to be rescued... It's ridiculous!”

“Besides”, James laughed, “if anyone here would swoon, it'd be Steve.”

“All that sexism and misogyny”, MJ interrupted the laughter, “how did you get through that?”

“It isn't a walk in the park, I tell you that. There will be a lot of people, especially men, trying to sell you on all their stories and ideals, and you will have to compromise where you can, but only where your conscience lets you. Where you can't, don't. Even if everybody tries to convince you that their truths are the only acceptable truth; when the whole world tells you to move it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say: 'No, you move'.”

It was silent for a moment, before Peggy continued. “You know, it is such a privilege for me to see the future and to know that there are these fantastically strong women saving our present”, she smiled at Pepper, “and our future.” With that she looked back at Michelle.

“I feel really compelled to give you a hug right now”, Michelle got out after a few pensive moments of silence.

“Of course.” With a smile Peggy got up and held her arms out. “I will always accept a hug,”

Her movement was hesitant, but MJ got up and into Peggy's arms. “Thank you” she mumbled quietly and hugged the woman back.

“Any time, darling.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The day went by like the blink of an eye. After their initial weariness, Ned and MJ warmed up and it didn't take long for the conversation to turn to more amusing pages.

And Peter was so overwhelmed, with all sorts of positive emotions that it was almost heartbreaking when Happy reminded everybody of the time and that he had to take Peter's friends back home.

“Why can't they stay over?”, he moped, trying to shoot Tony his best puppy eyes.

“Because I'm not letting you have a sleep-over with your girlfriend”, he made clear.

“Omigod”, he groaned and turned two or three shades redder. “It'd be all three of us anyways, and we could stay here in the common room where FRI'll keep an eye on us.”

“Nuh-uh.” Vehemently, Tony shook his head. “My roof, my rules young man.”

“It's alright.” MJ grabbed Peter's hand and grinned over. “It was already the best damn day. You can tell us more on Monday during Homeroom.”

“Excuse me?” Tony had his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“She means during break after homeroom”, Peter quickly corrected, “once we've done all our work perfectly and diligently, like the good-working students we are.”

“I should hope so”, he grumbled.

“Ignore him”, Peggy smiled and pulled Ned into a hug. “It was wonderful to meet you and I wish you all the best for your biology exam next week.”

“Thanks”, he smiled as they broke away, “it was really fantastic to meet you, too.”

“It totally was”, MJ agreed, as Peggy hugged her, too.

“Agreed. Now, you two, don't forget to change the world, alright?”

“Never”, they promised.

Peter grabbed MJ's hand and together they followed Happy out to the car. “You're sure it's ok if I stay?”

“My Dad won't let you sleep over either”, MJ just shrugged. “So, spend as much time with your Aunt Peggy as you can. Why do you call her that?”

Peter's ears got a little red, as he thought of the talk they had the other day. “Well, she said that in this weird family tree, I'm kind of like her grand-nephew”, he explained with the proudest smile.

“That is pretty damn cool.” Proudly, Ned grinned over at him.

“You guys ready to head home?” Happy was already leaning against the hood of the car as the three teens made their way out of the building.

“As ready as I'll ever be...” Ned turned to Peter and one super-awesome-best-friends-handshake later, he climbed in the car.

“Feel free to message me later”, Peter smiled, before leaning in for a good-night kiss.

“Won't you be too busy with Aunt Peg?”, she deadpanned, but the grin shone right through in her beautiful eyes.

“You know you're the only girl I love.”

“What?”

The pair froze for a moment, as time seemed to stand still. Neither of them had ever even hinted towards the l-word and until now Peter hadn't given it too much thought. Their relationship just worked, it was wonderful and he trusted her, cared so much about her and MJ's pure existence left him at a loss for words. All that was probably what love was; Peter had never felt like this about anyone ever before and didn't want to  feel like this about anybody that wasn't MJ. She was such a strong, genuine person, endlessly smart and creative and oh so beautiful...

“Uh, yeah.” Peter tried to clear his thoughts again. “Ok, this was super not romantic, for which I am really sorry. But yeah.”

“Peter, thanks to you I just got to spend the day with the woman I look up to, my absolute hero. I don't think it gets any more romantic than that”, she smiled, cupped his face and pulled Peter in for the softest and gentlest kiss. “I love you, too.”

“You do?” Peter couldn't believe his luck. This fantastic, intelligent and plain perfect girl loved him!

“Yes. You nerd.” She let go of him and turned towards the car, not without a last quick peck, though. “See you”, MJ smiled and disappeared in the car, which drove off only moments later.

Peter waved after the car until it was out of view, before he got back into the building, skipping up to the common room with the widest, most love-struck grin on his face.

He loved MJ who loved him back! Upstairs, everybody was deep in conversation, about what, Peter did not know. And didn't care. Like it did in the cartoons, the picture of MJ's face whirled around his head, surrounded by a probably unhealthy amount of hearts.

“Hey, Romeo.” He only realized Tony as he sat next to Peter and poked his arm.

“Huh?”

“Wow, you really are in love, hey?”, Tony grinned and Peter felt himself blushing. “I guess that's a yes.”

“We kinda just now said it to each other for the first time”, he beamed at his mentor.

“Oh wow. That's a big step.” Tony put his arm around Peter's shoulder and gently squeezed it. “I'm proud of you, kiddo.”

“You are? For what?”

“Not quite sure”, the man chuckled. “I guess, I just am. How you're finding your way, navigating yourself through a relationship, especially your first one... Seventeen year old Tony could have learned a thing or two about that from you...”

By now Peter flushed at about the intensity of his spider suit. “But if seventeen year old Tony was any different than he was, maybe fifty-year-old Tony wouldn't be engaged to Pepper”, he shrugged.

“You little shit.” Tony glared down at Peter with his finger pointed directly at his face. “You know damn well that I'm 49.”

Peter just grinned back up. “Same difference, right?”

“Do you want to be kicked out right now?”, Tony asked, his eyebrows raised higher than Peter had ever seen it. “Because that's how you get kicked out of the house and the Avengers.”

“You are aware that I'm stronger than you, right?” Oh, Peter loved it when he managed to render Tony speechless.

“What did I do to deserve an ungrateful Spiderchild like you?”, Tony groaned, before he smiled back down and gave Peter's shoulder another squeeze. “Must've been a damn saint in a previous life.”

.

Oh, this was all so very wrong. Howard should be able to sit with his son, chat about his life, and have a nice and proper talk; instead he got to watch Tony being like a father to Spider-Man all the while he barely spoke three sentences with Howard.

He probably deserved it; if there was one thing he had learned about his kid these last few days, it was his big heart and fierce protectiveness of all he held dear. Howard must have done horrible things that not even his Tony could forgive him for that.

“You two need to talk.” Peggy sounded resolute, stern even, as she sat down next to him and looked over at where Tony had his arm around Peter.

“Right. Stark men and talk. We have obviously never met”, he scoffed at her idea.

“Howard, you listen to me. That boy was broken into a million little pieces and pulled himself together, worked harder than either of us to make himself whole again. He deserves to talk, to be listened to. He deserves closure. So to make one thing very clear: we are not leaving this time until that happened.”

“Yes ma'am.” Damnit, as scary as Peggy was, she was just as right.

It would probably be easier if Howard knew what exactly he was apologizing for, his Tony was only five after all; there wasn't too much he could have screwed up already. But Peggy was right. Howard had to address this with Tony's point of view in mind.

And as much as Howard hated to talk feelings, he just wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible. He did have to wait until late morning of the following day, mere hours before they were supposed to travel back to their time.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“It seems like Peggy and I will be back on our own time soon. Thank you, son, for everything.”

“Sure thing”, Tony shrugged. Man, he could barely make eye contact with his own father. There was so much he wanted to say to him, that he needed to get off his chest. They were sitting by themselves at the moment, probably thanks to the combined efforts of Pepper and Peggy, so Tony and Howard could talk.

“But more than to thank you, I need to apologize”, Howard continued. “I really am a lousy father, have been or will be one.”

Damn. Tony never expected his dad to say that. “I’m not gonna lie”, he stated after a deep breath, “so yeah. You were.”

“I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am.”

Tony felt Howard’s gaze on him and met it head on. Sure, he looked apologetic and like he regretted everything, but…

“And I can’t even describe how proud I am that you did not turn out like me. You have SI, the Avengers and still manage to be so good with that boy, Peter… Even though I don't know what it is I did, or will do, it hurts to see that I am the reason you never got to feel like he does.” After a deep breath, Howard continued. “I would love to promise you that I’ll be better, that I’ll do right by you.”

“Yeah, right”, Tony couldn’t help but scoff. “Howard, don’t insult either of our intelligence by promising something we both know you won’t keep. Do you know that this, right now, is the first time I ever heard you tell me that you’re proud of me?”

“Really?” Howard's face fell and basically oozed dread.

“Really. And I know that all of that hasn't happened yet to you, though let's be honest, even as a kid it was Jarvis who treated me like a father should. I mean, the happiest day in you life was the day you could send me off to boarding school and be rid of me. I had to compete my whole life for your attention with a dead guy. I hated Cap over there with a passion since no matter what I did, I would never be able to compare to him; not in your eyes at least. Once I got to know him, I forbade myself from liking him, out of fear I'd end up like you. I had to reach my late forties to break out from all the fucked up shit that was bottled up inside and you don't want to know what I had to go through, what I put Pepper, Rhodey, all the people that really love me through. Do you have any idea how fucked up it is to only learn the meaning of the word unconditional love when you're forty?” Tony felt himself getting more and more worked up, his voice got louder and pitched higher, but he had to get it all out now; it was his last chance and if he never got on good terms with Howard, well, Tony had resigned himself to that a long time ago. But he had a chance for closure and that he'd take. “You were cold, calculating; your first thought went always to the profitability of the thing, company or person in front of you. But hey.” He shot his father a sarcastic and pained smile. “All in the past, right?”

“Tony, I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am.” Howard looked very emotional, a look Tony did not remember ever seeing on his dad's face. “I can tell you though, that that little five year old boy sitting at home right now? I love him so much. And I love the man he will become, or became. And I am so much prouder of either than I could ever be of Captain America or anything else.”

As sincere as he sounded, Tony didn't buy it, couldn't believe it. It sounded too perfect to be true.

His father probably read his mind, after a deep breath he continued talking: “I know you don't believe me, I don't deserve you believing me. And I don't deserve forgiveness. But you deserve closure. And that I'd like to accomplish.”

“You know, I just dropped it all a long time ago. A lot has happened, a whole bunch of stuff I probably shouldn't tell you about, so I'll leave it at that. There was no forgiveness, but with all the love and stuff like that that came into my life, there was no more room for bitterness and hatred. And up until you showed up in my house the other day, all that anger lay dormant. I thought it was gone, apparently not.” Shit, Tony was talking in circles, just missing the point he was trying to make. What was that point, though? This was always so much easier with Pepper or Rhodey by his side, telling him what he was thinking and trying to say.

“Point is, I don't know how we're gonna part ways”, Tony eventually stated. “I don't know if I got it in me to forgive and forget just yet. I also don't think that this will change all that much in my or our timeline, and I don't expect it to, made my peace with that a long time ago. I'm glad that I could tell you all this, get it off my chest. And you can contendly go back to your time, knowing that I have a pretty damn fantastic life, even if it is in the awareness that all that only started as soon as you were gone.”

“Right.”

The two men sat in silence, neither daring to look at the other. On the one hand, Tony would have wished for his dad to fight a bit more for their relationship, as non-existent as it was, but on the other hand he was glad that Howard didn't. If he was being honest, neither of them knew the man sitting opposite them. All Howard knew was a little five-year-old snot nose; all Tony knew was the disgruntled and sarcastic father of a troubled teenager. There was nothing either of them could say to properly end this chapter and Howard seemed to get that, too.

“I'm really happy that you do have such a fantastic life”, he eventually smiled at Tony. “Pepper, Peter, all the Avengers, they deserve you so much more than I ever did and I am glad that they not only see you for your worth or profitability, but the fantastic human being that you turned out to be. You know”, he added, “you might have my brain, but other than that, you're the perfect hybrid of Peggy and Jarvis.”

“Wow”, Tony smiled, “that is one of the most amazing compliments I have ever gotten.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

“So, while Tony and Howard get the chance to get all the closure time and circumstances denied them, I think I deserve that, too”, Steve decided and Peggy wasn't sure what to make of his grin.

“And what pray tell are you referring to?”

“FRIDAY, hit it.” And, Peggy had no idea where from music started playing. “I believe we owe each other a dance...” He held his hand out and with a smile, Peggy took it. “I know I'm late for our date by about 75 years and I'm terribly sorry for that.”

“You better be sorry”, she shot back with a grin, as Steve twirled her. “I said eight pm on the dot!”

“I know... If it makes you feel better, you still are the first girl to dance with me.”

“That is a rather sad statement for someone who's 101”, Peggy laughed. “At least it would be, if I didn't know your partner.”

“Buck isn't the biggest on dancing... And definitely not as good a dancer as you are.”

“That is incredibly sweet. I supposed you expect an answer along the same line, but unfortunately my darling husband is better on his feet than you are...”

“I think I'll be able to live with that”, Steve grinned.

For a while they just swayed silently from one foot to the other, only the music playing. Even though Peggy didn't know the song, it sounded like it was from their time; probably early forties, all in all it felt like a memory that never was.

“I don't want you to leave.” Steve broke the silence and looked down on her. “I mean, not in a romantic way”, he quickly added.

“What way then?”

“I'm not sure”, he quietly admitted. “I just know I need you and I've been living way to long in a world without you; which is coincidentally the world in which I have messed up big times.”

“Yes, you've mentioned how you are sort of a war criminal...”, Peggy nodded and couldn't keep her eyes from rolling.

“I'm so sorry to have disappointed you.”

“What? Who says I'm disappointed?”

“Why wouldn't you be?”, he shrugged and flushed quite a bit. “I not only acted unlawfully, but screwed over Tony and broke up the Avengers. I'm disappointed in myself”, he added after a moment or two.

“Well, given that neither you nor Tony want to tell me what actually happened, I don't know how I feel about the situation. From what I hear I can definitely say that both of you are goddamn and giant idiots and I would have most probably  kicked your lovely behinds from here to Belgium.”

“Yeah, I definitely would have deserved it...”

“Figured. But what happened after that; reconciliation, rebuilding all that had been destroyed, in whatever way that might have been... You didn't need me for that, did you?”

“It would have been easier with my best girl around...”

“Well, your best girl was and still is needed in the past. You on the other hand got the future ahead of you. Stop idealizing the past or some fantasies about a life in the 20th century; if you hold onto all that, you'll never be able to properly move forward. Especially, since your boyfriend is also a relic of the second world war, it's easy to lose yourself in nostalgia. Don't do that.”

“Yeah”, he sighed, “it's so much easier said than done, though.”

“Please, Steve, whoever said life was easy?”

“Definitely not the guy who had every illness imaginable in his youth, died in World War II, just to come back in the 21st century”, he chuckled.

“You have a good life here”, Peggy smiled. “And I have a good life back home. What-ifs only suck the joy out of living.”

“I know you're right”, Steve nodded. “As always”, he added with a grin.

“Of course I am. And I am happy. I have a good life back home and so do you. Right?”

“Yeah”, he smiled, with the biggest heart-eyes. “I really do. And I'm so happy that you're happy!” He was silent, pensive a moment, before the smile grew even wider.

“I'm grateful, too.” She got on her tiptoes to reach high enough to put a soft kiss on Steve's cheek. “As turbulent and short as our time together was, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world and am so happy that I got to be a chapter in the work that is Captain America.”

“Darling, you helped write that story. And for that I'll always be grateful.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was time. Dr Strange appeared in the middle of the common room, as everybody sat together, trying to be cheery, when the weird goodbyes dampened everybody's spirits.

“Are you ready to leave this time behind?”

“Yes”, Peggy smiled, thinking of her family and how much she missed all of them so much. Besides, Tony didn't need her anymore; he'd be just fine and so'd be Steve.

“Come here”, she grinned at Peter and the teen went in for a hug. “Take good care of yourself and those wonderful friends of yours. You can be proud, and I just know that this world can't wait for Peter Parker changing it.”

“Thanks Aunt Peggy. Take care of you, too.”

“I will.” They broke away and Peter had the widest beaming smile on his face.

“Pepper”, she smiled and hugged the woman next. “All the best to you, my dear. I hope you have a fantastic wedding and a great life.”

“Thank you”, Pepper answered. “And when you get back to your time, tell that little kid there that I can't wait to fall in love with him.”

“Oh believe me, I will”, she chuckled as she leaned back. “Definitely. And you.” She held her hand out to Barnes. “Take care of my boy, will ya?”

“Yes ma'am”, James smiled and saluted before shaking her hand.

“Good.” Now came the heartbreaking part. She turned to Tony, who clearly fought hard against his tears. “Darling, I love you.”

“I love you, too”, he mumbled and pressed himself against her, burying his face in her shoulder. “Thanks for everything.”

“You got this, honey. You're fantastic, smart and have such a big heart... I'm not gonna have to worry one bit about you, don't I?”

“I wouldn't go that far”, he chuckled. “But I'll do my best.”

“And that's enough to change the world, my dear”, she smiled and put a soft kiss against his forehead. “Remember, I love you, and I'm so proud of my little boy, I can't even put it in words.” And cue her eyes getting wet.

Tony stayed silent, but the face he pulled was one Peggy knew all to well; he was about to bawl his eyes out, but fought with nail and tooth and everything he had not to break down in front of this audience. She cupped his cheek and shot him a warm and teary-eyed smile, before she turned to Steve, who had the tears just rolling down his cheek.

“I'm gonna miss you, Steve.”

“And I'll miss you.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight. “At least this time I get to properly say goodbye to you.”

“And you're not dying”, she laughed. “That's nice as well.”

“I definitely don't plan on doing that all that soon again.” Steve joined in the laughter and leaned back to look her in the eyes. “I promise, I'll be careful.”

“Steven Grant Rogers, you don't believe that yourself, do you?” Peggy tried to sound scolding, but with the tears in her eyes and the chuckle bubbling up, it was downright impossible.

“Touchée”, he snickered. “Then I'll promise to do my best, alright?”

“Good enough for me. Is it good enough for him?” She nodded at James in the background.

“Definitely not... But he knew what he signed up for, so there's no need to feel too sorry about that.”

“I don't, I'm very happy for him. He's got himself quite the guy.” She looked over at Barnes without leaving Steve's embrace though. “I wish you two the very best life. You deserve it”, she added with a smile as she looked back up at Steve.

“Thanks. So do you.” He leaned down and softly kissed her cheek. “I'll still miss you.”

“I'll miss you, too. But hey, at least I know that I'll see you again; even if it's gonna take me another forty years.”

“Lucky you”, Steve laughed.

“I am... Alright.” She broke away from his touch and turned to the wizard. “Dr Strange, I think we need to leave now or things will get unbearably emotional.”

“Of course, Agent Carter.” The wizard smiled at the time-travellers and he started mumbling some unintelligible spells as the pendant around his neck started to glow. Peggy didn't really care about the procedure, though. With the warmest smile she could muster up she looked around the group of people, waving at her and Howard, as the green light engulfed them and, after a bright blinding flash of light, everything went dark.

.

“Aunt Peggy?” Someone patting her shoulder brought Peggy back into consciousness. “Hello! Aunt Peggy?”

“Tony?” The face towering above hers slowly came into focus.

“Yeah, is me Aunt Peg”, the boy grinned. Next to him knelt Hank Pym, offering her a hand and helped her to sit up. “Hey, take it easy, you hit your head pretty badly.”

“What the hell happened?” She looked around; they were in Howard's lab, which looked like a bomb had gone off in.

“I screwed around with something I maybe shouldn't have”, Howard admitted contritely, who she now saw sitting beside her, being coddled by Jarvis.

“And it blew up rather spectacularly, ruining a lot of my research”, Hank continued, sounding just slightly pissed off.

“Everything I do is spectacular”, Howard shot back and rubbed his head, where he had quite the bruise.

“Is it very ouchy?”, Tony asked as he climbed into Peggy's lap, looking very worried as he inspected her face.

“It'll be alright”, she forced herself to smile. “Different note, what are you doing here in the lab, young man?”

“He ran off and snuck in”, Jarvis explained as Tony flushed a few shades redder. “Even though he knows he's not allowed.”

“I've told you a million times to stay away from my work”, Howard groaned and turned to the little boy. “You've got no place in a lab like this!”

Oh Howard... If she wasn't so dizzy right now, Peggy would definitely cuss Howard out for his tone. “It's alright, kid”, she said instead, cupping the boy's face. “You just can't run off without Jarvis. You see how quickly things can go wrong in here and none of us wants to see you get hurt.”

“Ok... I'm sorry”, Tony mumbled.

“I know you are”, Peggy smiled and immediately, the boy's face lit up again, even if it was only a bit.

“We're taking you two to the infirmary now, you've been out for almost half an hour.”

“Really?” To Peggy it felt more like four days... And damn, did she have a weird dream... Being properly checked up on was probably the best call.

“Yeah. So come on.” Hank shooed the kid off her lap and held his arm out to Peggy and helped her to her feet and with him supporting her side, she didn't even feel too unsteady. Tony grabbed her free hand and grinned up at her; that gap where his front tooth had fallen out was just about the most adorable thing and Peggy couldn't help but smile along. How could she not; there was just something about her little boy that felt like everything was going to be alright.

.-.-.-.-.-.

From one moment to the next they were gone again. Pepper held onto Tony's arm, squeezing it softly as the green light flickered and flashed brightly, before the space in front of them was empty. But before any of them could really react though, Strange appeared again.

“They are safe and sound back in their time, just where they left.”

“Thank you, Stephen.” Tony let go of Pepper unto whom, as he now realized, he held on tightly, and walked up to the wizard. He lowered his voice just enough that only Strange would be able to hear him to voice the thought that was gnawing at the back of his head. “They don't remember us, do they?”

“I'm sorry”, he apologized. “they can't remember a time that hasn't happened yet.”

“I figured”, Tony nodded, but still, it felt like someone had twisted a knife stuck in his chest.

“If it gives you any solace, Peggy was greeted by her favourite godson, when she came to.” Stephen offered Tony a warm smile and the thought of his five-year-old self having Peggy by his side already lit up his mood again.

“It does”, he smiled back and held his hand out. “Thanks.”

“Anytime”, Stephen shook his hand and nodded at the rest of the assembled people, before disappearing in a yellowish-golden portal.

“What a weekend.”

Tony turned around and looked at Bucky. “Seriously? That's the only thing you have to say?”

“Sorry.” He half-heartedly raised his hands. “I'm not quite sure how to best summarize spending the weekend with my boyfriend's dead ex-girlfriend and the guy I killed.”

“Right, that's enough”, Steve cleared his throat and grabbed Buck by the arm. Good. There were a lot of feelings Tony didn't quite know how to best deal with and punching Barnes definitely seemed like a viable option to release some of his emotions.

“Anybody up for ice cream?”, Peter blurted out, breaking the tense silence and Tony couldn't help but snort a laugh. That kid was something else.

“Yeah”, Tony agreed, “ice cream sounds good.” He put his arm around Peter's shoulders and together they headed to the kitchen.

“I'm sorry”, Peter eventually got out, as they were in the privacy of the kitchen.

“What for?”

“That they don't remember anything...”

“You overheard me and Stephen.” Tony wasn't sure whether he meant it as a statement or a question.

“Can't turn of the spider-hearing”, Peter shrugged apologetically and grabbed a spoon for each of them, as Tony got the ice cream out the freezer.

“Yeah, I keep on forgetting that... You very disappointed?”

“I got to spend the weekend with one of the most amazing people of the last century! I don't mind that she won't remember it, because it was awesome! But it's not like they're my Aunt or Dad...” He looked up with those big soul-searching puppy eyes and Tony could only smile.

“I'll be alright. I got Pep, Rhodey, Happy and you, that's all I need.”

“Aw, Mr Staaaark!”, Peter cooed with a wide beaming grin.

“Nevermind, I'll take it back”, Tony deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at the kid.

“Too late”, Peter grinned right back. “FRI, you got that all on camera, right?”

“I do, Peter. Would you like me to send you a copy?”

“Oh, for fuck's sake! FRIDAY, you're MY AI, not Peter's.”

“But she likes me more than you”, Peter grinned back, and that cheeky smile just was infuriatingly adorable.

“As artificial intelligence I do not have the capacity for preferences”, she answered. “If I did, I would prefer Agent Carter or Ms Potts.”

“Ouch!”, Peter snorted out, “but I get it, I totally get it.”

“I guess, I did create you in my image”, Tony chuckled, “even more than I previously realized.”

.

“Do you need me to drive you home?”

“Thanks for the offer”, Peter smiled as he tightened the suit to match his body. “But it's not that late and since Spider-Man has been on leave-of-absence for the last few days, I might just do a bit of patrolling. Besides, I promised to call MJ as soon as I got the chance and I doubt you or Happy want to listen in on me and my girlfriend who I love and who loves me back.” If such a thing were possible, Peter's entire face turned into one giant heart eye at the mention of Michelle's name, before he pulled the mask over his head, thusly denying Tony the chance to tousle his hair.

“Good point”, he agreed, “that is definitely not something I need to be a part of. And yeah, I'm pretty sure New York misses Spidey.” He patted the kid's shoulder. “Call me if you need a hand and feel free to send me an update when you swing home.”

“Sure thing.” The boy wrapped himself around Tony in a tight hug. “Love you”, he whispered.

“Love you too, kiddo”, Tony smiled as Peter broke away and made for the window. “You do know we have doors, right?”

“Where's the fun in that?”, he shot back and out the window he climbed.

“Can't argue with that”, Tony chuckled. “Well then, Spider-Man go, save the world and make Aunt Peggy proud!”

[lyz-fics]

Peter Parker X FEM! Reader: The Interrogation

Hey Guys! Nana Here!

Ok, so this was a headcanon that was requested and I thought it sounded really really cute so I had to devote all my attention to this one, but……I got a bit carried away and in the end, I turned it into a story instead. AND ALSO…… Guys, I have no requests!!! (First World Problems, I know) but I find it really hard to write without requests but anyway, hope you all enjoy! Luv u guys sooooooo much <3

Words: 1,735 Words

Warning: NSFW - Public Makeout, Implied Sex. 

Summary: Becoming quite suspicious of some of Peter’s extracurricular activities you decide to interrogate him.

---===✨🎇🎆💀🎆🎇✨===---

“Please be late, please be late, please be late,” you mumbled to yourself as you ran down the street and towards the bus stop.

You were only about 100 yards away from the stop but the bus was already pulling away. You missed your chance to get a ride to the state library. Now you would definitely be late for your study session with Peter. You pulled out your phone and texted him saying that you would be a little late but he shouldn’t wait and go get a private room for them and make sure it had computers. Realized you had to walk to the library you cut through a block or two and hoping that you would catch all the green crossing lights you might actually make it on time but alas, New York traffic decided otherwise. Deciding it might be better to go around the back way you cut through the park and come out in front of the national bank. You were right in the middle of the entrance when the alarms started blaring and a gang of masked men ran out of the building. Everyone scattered into different directions but somehow your feet wouldn’t move.

They ran towards you; bags hung over their backs, guns at point-blank range. One of them grabbed you and pulled you along as he backed away from the building. You didn’t have time to contemplate what would happen next when the gun was pulled from the man's hand and he was knocked to the ground. From around the corner, a van sped away and someone in a red suit stood in front of you. You turned to face him; it was none other than your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man.

“Spiderman?” without thinking you lifted your hand to his neck, his suit was torn slightly, revealing his pale skin, marred by the red blood that flowed from the cut that lay just below his jaw.

He let you put your hand to his neck as you tried to cover his open wound and fold the suit over his neck. He grabbed hold of your wrist and brought it back down to your side as he tried to get your attention.

“Next time you’re out and about promise to be more careful of your surroundings,” he brought your hand up to his face and kissed the top of it through his suit, “okay, (Y/N)?”

“H-ha, how do you know my name?” flustered from the sweet kiss you could barely speak.

Asking this question obviously made spiderman a bit flustered as well. He jumped back a bit and stuttered as he looked around for something that could get him off the hook. Quickly shooting his web behind you he picked up a card that lay on the ground. He picked it up and prayed that it was yours otherwise he wouldn’t know how to explain this situation. He glanced at the card at let out a quick sigh of relief.

“You dropped you state library card,” he smiled at you as you still looked a bit suspicious, “sooo, are you going anywhere later?”

“well, actually,” surprised that Spiderman could be this confident in asking a civilian out from off the street, you laughed before you continued with your statement, “I have a sorta date with this cute boy in my class, we’re meant to be studying at the library to prepare for finals this week.”

At this statement, he seemed to be really surprised. He dropped your hand as he lifted his to his head a gave you a cute salute as he winked at you and flew off. You wish you could say that he flew into the sunset but alas, New York is very disappointing, he flew off into the dark stormy clouds that formed in the sky indicating that it was going to start raining.

♥     ♥     ♥     ♥     ♥

“Shit, shit, shit,” Peter flung through the city with his backpack in hands and study notes tucked into his spider suit, “I totally forgot my date with (Y/N), she’s gonna be soo mad. Damn, she called me cute though. Wait…is this even a date?”

He cut his web loose as he fell to the ground, landing perfectly behind the state library. He changed as quickly as he could pulling the notes out of the pants of his suit and stuffing them into his backpack instead. He pulled his phone out as he checked the time, realizing he was over an hour late, and seeing how many texts you had sent him he started running. He got to the front of the building just in time to see you leave the library. You sat at the steps and waited for him for over an hour, god he felt like such a douchebag now.

You turned as he called out to you, you couldn’t smile at him, how could you. And these lame excuses; ‘I slept in’ and the personal favorite ‘I lost track of time.’ You look at him for a few seconds before you turn back to walk into the library. Peter followed you silently, you scanned your card and walked into a private room. Once you were sitting down he placed his bag in front of you and pushed a chair closer to you.

“I’m sorry that I was-”

“I don’t care that you were late I care that you didn’t have the decency to text me that you were going to be coming late,” she practically yelled at him. You watched as he turned his head down and pulled his jumper over his head and pulled his crumpled notes out of his bag. This is the time when you noticed the scar against his neck, identical to the one Spiderman had when he saved you, it was fresh too.

“where did you get this,” you interrogated him as you lifted your hand up to touch his neck.

Quickly, he clasped his hands over his neck and made up another lame excuse, “it was a red light but I still ran across the crosswalk and I dodged a car but got cut by a branch on a tree.”

You hummed as you began to become fed up with all of this bullshit Peter was giving you.

“I almost died today,” you blurted out, “a robber was going to kill me but Spiderman saved me then asked me out on a date.”

Taking a sip of his water he listened to the start of your story with a socked expression but when you got the part about the date with spiderman he almost choked.

“No he didn’t,” he lied, “you don’t even have his number, you can’t contact him.”

This time you were lying, “I’ll text him now,” you smirked, “better yet, I’ll call him.”

You pulled out your phone from your purse and Peter broke out in the nervous sweats. You dialed Peter’s number and waited as his phone rang. He looked at his phone then back at you, he almost cursed in front of you. You were going off of a hunch but based on his reaction you guessed you were right all along.

“damn it…”

“HA, I knew it, you’re totally Spiderman,” you yelled out.

“What?” He looked so confused, “No way that I’m spiderman, aunt May just texted me saying I left the lights on, she thought there was a robber in the house, she called the police and everything. Besides, how could I be spiderman? Have you seen how buff he is?”

“OH,” you stared at him. Well now you just felt stupid, you still weren’t ready to put your theory completely to rest though. “Well,” you started acting embarrassed to sell the illusion that you believed him, “we can start studying as soon as I get back with some books.”

You walked out of the room, taking a few minutes to act as if you were searching up the code for a particular book you came back out from behind the bookcase and stared straight up at the top. You had a plan and a good one at that.

Ignoring the ladder at the side of the bookcase you pushed over a box and stood on top of it. Standing on your tiptoes you performed the most dangerous stunt in your life. You reached straight for the top shelf even though it was way up the top. In your most convincing voice of terror, you called out his name as you fell.

“Peter..”

You felt your feet no longer touching the hardcover of the box but as you felt like you were falling you never touched the ground. Your arms wrapped around a strong figure and something hard pressed around you. You opened your eyes and saw the floor what seemed like miles below you. You looked to your side and saw Peter, he was panting as he clung to you tightly as he hung from the ceiling. Looking down to see if anyone was looking he let go of the ceiling and you both fell but you touched the ground softly as you felt Peter’s hands around your waist as he placed you back on the floor gently.

“I knew it,” you told him.

“Damn you, (Y/N),” he scolded you, “you and your damn beautiful (E/C) eyes, your stupidly soft (H/C) hair. How am I going to explain this to Happy? H’s going to be pissed. You know you're in danger now right?”

You couldn’t help but smile as he walked away holding his head in his hands. Quickly he stormed over to you and pressed his hands to both of your cheeks.

“Damn you,” he said one more time, this time he whispered.

He leaned down and kissed you. It was soft and quiet as you two just stood there in each other's embrace. He slowly trailed his hands down your shoulders and around to your waist. You pulled your hands up around his shoulders as you stepped closer to him. Keeping his hands tight around your waist he started pulling you back into the private room. He quickly webbed the cameras over and picked you up and placed you on the desk. He backed away slowly and made sure the door was closed properly before he turned back to you.

“So,” he started.

“Now that you know, yadda yadda yadda, it’s a secret, blah blah blah, shut up and continue kissing me.”

[drkoestersmithrpg]

DONE!  The End Of Perils of A03!!

“Why did you bother?” Tony asked after they had settled into bed.  They had held each other in the daylit room, but Peter had finally turned around and snuggled into his little spoon position and had been drifting off to sleep.  

He groaned.

“You promised, Tony. Please try to sleep.”  

“Last question, I swear,” Tony said, sitting up and combing his hands through Peter’s hair.  “I just don’t get it.

“I wasn’t shitty to you on accident, that day of the Capture the Flag game.  

“I was shitty to you on purpose.  

“I know everyone thinks that I don’t control it, that I have diarrhea of the mouth.  Even Bruce.  But that’s my secret.  All my indifference is highly, highly calculated.  You came to the compound and announced you were 20, gay and ready to party. I shoved you away as hard as I could. Too fast to actually think about it. And I thought I succeeded.  It never even occurred to me I still had a shot until Nat said something.  And that surprised the hell of me.  I was a complete asshole, and I still wound up with an armful, a mouthful, of Peter Parker.

“You said all this is hard work…so why do it?

“Why did you bother?”

“If I tell you, will you promise to go to sleep?” Peter grumbled, already turning his head away from that gentle hand, already pressing his face into the sheets, covering it.  Dammit, just because Tony was opening up veins and spilling out all his truths, did that really Peter had to do it too?

But it was too late. He was already here, trapped beneath Tony’s gentle stroking fingers, suffering from a little sleep-dep himself.  So, in a nod to how much Tony had already confessed, he tried his best.

“I had a bad dream.”

It sounded just as bad out loud as it did in his head, so he stopped there.  

But Tony, oh dammit, Tony’s breath had caught and he was sitting up now, trying to turn Peter towards him, asking annoying questions.

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Peter snapped, pushing Tony’s hands away, jerking his body back into his ‘I Am Sleeping Now Thankyou’ position.  He was stronger than Tony Stark dammit, and it was time Tony Stark remembered that.

There was silence. Then Peter felt a tentative hand caressing his back.

“Please?”

Peter’s face crumpled. There wasn’t enough hiding space on the sheets for his face, but he tried anyway.  But he couldn’t deny the tender tone from the man behind him. (That man rarely allowed himself to be tender.)

So he pushed himself back into Tony’s embrace.  He turned his face away from the sheets enough to speak.  He told the story.  He fought to keep the tears back, but doing that and talking was too much work, so he stopped fighting.

“It’s stupid.  

“Not the part where I had a scary dream I mean, the dream was stupid.  Like This-Is-Pissing-Me-Off levels of stupid.  The Over-Alien, Thanos I mean, he created the glove because he got all the Infinity Stones (for some profoundly stupid reason) and we fought him. You and me.  We were on the moon, not really the moon, someplace very far away, too far away to ever get home.  We got there on a space ship, and it had wrecked.  I wasn’t supposed to be there, you told me not to be, but I was.

“But it was also the moon, because we could jump around like astronauts.  Not you and me, the Guardians.  I saw them in my dream before they actually came to earth – remember how Cap said they might have been acting like that because they were really rattled? I think he’s wrong.  I think they act like that all the time.  That’s just how they are.

“And we fought him. Over-Alien.  You were right to call him The Big Blue.  He looked ridiculous.  I’d tell you what he looked like but you’d think it was funny.  But it wasn’t funny.    And we fought him.  Dr. Strange was there and he used me like a weapon, like a boomerang, and I was really kicking his ass, his head I mean…”

He stopped and rolled his eyes disgusted at himself.  What point was there to bragging about his most awesome moment, the moment he did something fantastic for (and in front of!) his hero Tony Stark?  That moment never happened.

“And then he stabbed you with your own nanotech and then I died.  And it hurt.  I felt it in my bonemarrow.  In internal organs that aren’t supposed to have pain sensors, I felt it.  I fought it.  And you held me…”

He stopped fighting tears and he turned around, suddenly and wrapped his arms around Tony, one arm around his neck and the other on his back.

Just like he had in the dream.  “You held me so close,” he said, ignoring the tears.  “And I wanted to be brave for you and I so I fought it but I couldn’t keep…it was too much.  And I died in your arms and I was so sorry…”

“Shhhhh…” Tony said, or tried to say, but he feared it wouldn’t sound sincere.  He had burned through too much goodwill to try to sound comforting now.  So he just held on in silence.

“And then it gets really stupid, because you died next,” Peter said, wiping the tears away even as he grimaced at how absurd it was.  “It’s a dream so it doesn’t have to make sense.  There was fighting after that, a lot of people.  And we won, but we didn’t.  And you died in my arms…”

His voice broke again.

“And they pulled me away from you because I was a child and they weren’t.  You held my hand, you called for me, but they pulled me away.”  His jaw clenched so hard it hurt.  It was absurd to be so angry, even now.  

“I don’t remember that part,” Tony said, absently stroking his head.  He wasn’t even looking at him then, just looking into space.  Remembering.

“What did you do, when you woke up?  Because I started drinking.  Just got out of bed and went straight to the liquor cabinet and broke into the scotch. I had some idea if I drank hard enough, fast enough, I could black it out, lose the memory.  But I was a responsible adult, so I didn’t.  A week later StarFlake the Galaxy High landed in their spaceship and oh god I really, really wish I had.

“I saw all of that – the way you fought it off, and god Kid, I was so damn proud of you. You were the only one who could have fought it, but you couldn’t fight it forever.  And then you said “I’m sorry” and then were gone and all I could think of was that I couldn’t tell you how proud I was that you had tried. And ‘I lost the Kid.’  That’s all I could think of.

“And there were so many people there, all these people being told a story of how Spider-Man turns to dust, and they were all crying, all of them, the adults and the children, especially the children, and I couldn’t cry because… there enough left of me to cry with.”

And this dream, I just couldn’t shake it.  Not because it was real (it wasn’t real, it was so nonsensical.)  But it was so loud.  It left my ears ringing.”

Peter pulled away enough to look into Tony’s face.  When it was clear the man wasn’t joking, he snuggled into his chest and breathed in his scent.

“So, what you’re telling me is…this is all your fault,” he said finally.

“After I got the spiderbite, I was constantly doing this.  Hearing things I shouldn’t have been able to hear, seeing things I shouldn’t have been able to see, know things were sneaking up behind me, etc. etc.  So I picked up on your bad dream. Which came from your messed-up brain. I get it.”

“I had the dream before we were sleeping together…”

“Shut up please I like my new theory and I’m keeping it.  Goodnight.  See you in a few hours,” He said decidedly, turning back into his comfortable position as the little spoon and stubbornly snuggling in.

“I don’t want to talk about it any more Tony,” was all he would say, and Tony had to admit defeat. But the wheels in his brain continued to turn.

He thought about life, about the choices and the string of events that were required to bring you to the place where you made the choice, and the string of events that might by likely, or might be as equally unlikely, to occur.  And he thought about sleep, and how the deprivation of said sleep might disrupt the connection between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex which might make some decisions, including the saying of certain words out loud, regrettable.

And then he thought of the Over-Alien, so everpresent it haunted their dreams, and how his continued non-presence made otherwise unsafe-decisions reasonable.

That’s why he continued to stroke Peter’s hair.

“I love you,” he whispered.

The silence that stretched out between them.

“Ok,” he said chuckling, conceding defeat.  It didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would.  Maybe he was too tired to hurt.  “Nevermind…”

“Oh, I’m planning on saying it,” Peter murmured, sounding very matter-of-fact.  “Just not right now.

“I’m betting money you’re going to forget most of this conversation.”

Tony Stark grinned from ear to ear.

“I’ll take that bet.”

[dontmeanlove]

Let Me Down Slowly. | Part 3

Pairing: peter parker x female!reader

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: nothing, this is fluff.

Plot: You suddenly have powers and have to find a way to deal with them. All while you’re dealing with boy drama and partnering up with your friendly neighborhood Spider-man to fight crime.

N/A: so I’m trying something here guys. I’m not linking anything in this post because I’ve heard that Tumblr performs posts with no links better, so I’m trying this theory. You can find the rest of this series on the link in my bio.

The rest of the week was basically the same. Go to school, study, ignore Peter, go back home, suit up and meet up with Spider-Man. I really had to sort out the situation with Peter, but I just couldn’t get myself to do it. 

Something I wasn’t counting on was Spidey being so cool! He was funny and witty and so fricking smart, and I just felt I could talk to him forever. He told me he had this AI on his suit just like Iron Man and I was seriously considering talking to Mr. S if I could have it too. 

But this conversation would be long and weird because I hadn’t really told him anything yet. However, the prospect of being able to talk to Spider-Man through the suit was really tempting.

That’s how I ended up in Stark’s lab. “What do you mean you got powers and has been fighting alongside Spider-Man and I didn’t know any of it?” Tony was a bit offended. 

“uh… I’m sorry for not telling you?” I answered uncertainly. “But could you include an AI on my suit?” I tried smiling at him, but I’m not sure it worked.

“yOU HAVE A SUIT?” He was outraged. 

“yeah, kinda. It’s a Black Widow suit but I kind of modified it a little” I said as I got the suit out of my backpack and handle it to him.

“Ok, I’ll have it updated and I’ll give it to you, but I expect reports on what you’re doing out there,” Tony said with finality on his tone.

“Deal!” I think I had the biggest smile on my face.

As I was getting out of his lab, Spider-Man was getting out of the elevator and I just couldn’t even acknowledge him because, well, I had a secret identity to preserve so I just smiled at him and nodded my head. 

He nodded his head back at me and waved a little. Right there, in my head, I declared our wedding date and how many children we would have. FYI, It would be in May and we could have two kids. Maybe he wouldn't leave me stranded as Peter did. Oh boy, I just made myself sad.

Heading to Steve and Bucky’s apartment I made myself at home and right when I sat on the couch Bucky came to talk me sitting by my side.

“Tell me all the boy drama.” He said putting all his attention on me.

“Oh, Bucky, you’ve got no idea.” I sighed and then proceeded to tell him the drama with Peter and how I may still like him, that face is kind of irresistible. But on the other hand, Spider-Man was so cool and I think I was maybe feeling something for him too? I really didn’t know. Bucky was serious and nodding along with the story, paying attention to everything I said.

“I think I messed up by not letting Peter talk to me and then ignoring him all this time.” 

“I mean, (Y/N), it really wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done, but it’s not a crime to give yourself time to reflect on something.” He said gently. “Though I do think you should clear things up with this Peter-boy so you can move on.”

“It's incredible the wisdom of the hundred-year-old man,” Steve said entering the room. Bucky threw a couch cushion at him, but he easily got it before it hit him. “Bucky's right, though, (Y/N)” 

“I know. I’ll try to talk to him when I see him at school.” I knew what I had to do, even if I didn’t want to face Peter about it. It took me almost a full week before I mustered enough courage to come clean to Peter.

There I was, lunchtime at the cafeteria, I’d have to go and talk to Peter Parker about Feelings™ after having ignored him for a good month and a half. 

I felt like it was so much trouble for nothing, like ok, we were going on a date for a hot minute but then he didn’t bother showing up and I was hurt and made sure he was being ignored. 

I realized I was being petty, however, I felt it was already too late to say something and apologize. Well, I was going to have to suck it up and just talk to him.

“uh, hey Peter,” I said standing awkwardly in front of him. “Can we talk?”

“Woah, (Y/N), uh, sure. Now?” He said standing a little awkward there too.

“Yeah, if we could go somewhere else, I’d appreciate it.” 

“Of course, let’s go.”

We ended up walking to the hall and away from the cafeteria. I took a deep breath and said “so… I’d like to say that I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you this past month, I had no right. But I was upset, I really hope you understand.”

“No, (Y/N), I am so sorry, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all this time. I’m sorry for making you wait for me that day and never showing up, I didn’t even text you after I realized I couldn’t make it to Delmar’s" He reached to the back of his neck, he was nervous too.

“I guess we have a lot to apologize for” I gave him a tiny smile. 

“Yeah, we do. I got a little upset too when you wouldn’t look even look at me.”

“I really don’t have any excuses for that, but I want to do something to fix it, can we, like, get past it and try to be friends?��� 

“That I can do.” He smiled at me.

“Good, can we do something after class?” 

“Yes, and I promise to show up this time.” His cheeks heating up after realizing what he had said. I just laughed. 

“Meet me at my locker so we can leave together?” I asked, trying to lessen his embarrassment. 

“Alright, and I still wan- “ He was saying something when the bell rang meaning the break was over.

“See you later, Parker”

“See you, (Y/L/N).” He was beautiful, smiling big at me. All I could do was smile at him and head to my locker, which was on the other side of the school. 

Being just friends was going to be tough. The thought came and went through my mind. I was screwed. Crushing on my two male friends, couldn’t I have a break?! The first lines of Greedy by Ariana Grande started playing in my head and I laughed as I shook my head still walking to class.

My last class ended and as I was headed to my locker to leave, Peter joined me. “Hey, friend”

“Hi, friend" I answered looking at him.

“Where are we headed to?” He asked watching me put my things in my locker. 

I smiled and took him to an ice cream parlor. We ended up having so much fun. Peter was easy to talk to. Almost too easy, for the record. It was like I had known him for ages. We made each other laugh and geeked out about movies and The Avengers.

“Who's your favorite?” He asked.

“I know them, I can’t say who is my favorite they would never let me live it down.”

“I promise I won’t tell on you.” He showed me his pinky finger. I blushed.

“Okay, I don’t officially know him, but Spider-man is my favorite.” I proceeded to gush about Spidey to him, how awesome was his moral, his fighting technic, his choice of not being recognized as the other Avengers, but never saying anything too personal, of course. When I finished my fangirl blabber, Peter was the one who was blushing.

“Wow, that’s cool. You’ve put a lot of thought into it, uh?”

“Yeah,” I laughed a little, “When you know most of the Avengers sometimes the ones you don’t fascinate you the most. But what about you? Who’s your favorite?”

"I think it’s Tony. I like how he tries to do what he thinks is the best, even if it sometimes turns to kick him in the ass.” Peter said after thinking about it.

“Oh, Peter, Steve would like you,” I said smiling fondly at him. One afternoon with him and I was already acting like a fool.

We finished our ice creams and left for the subway station. While we walked there we kept our conversation going, it was like there was always more things for us to talk about. Even with MJ sometimes we didn’t have anything to talk about, so being with Peter surprised me in a good way.

We got to the subway, but then we heard police sirens and saw people running.

tag list: @falling-stars-never-cry @gabriella-superwholock-universe

[letitbefiction]

Iron heart and a spider shaped key- chapter 22

LAST CHAPTER

A/N: AfGkdlxkxhzgggsha IT IS TIME! It is THE END! I hope you all like it..I really do...thank you for reading this I cannot thank you all enough for all the love and support I got for this fic.

Feel free to read more of my fics: (X)

(I personally really like A Little ODD)

Warning-lap dance, drinking (mentioned) sexual touching (???) Peter almost being demolished by the avengers.

Paring- Peter Parker x stark!reader

Type: fluff

Word count: 8.1k

Staring at your mirrored figure, your dress was beyond beautiful. Sure it was slightly extra but it’s your birthday and it’s you, and if anyone had a problem with it you didn’t care.

Your light pink dress fitted perfectly to your y/s/c skin color, the lace detail extending the length about five inches after your fingertips and your cleavage is showing just the right amount a seventeen year old should show. “You look beautiful...” a familiar whisper crossed your mind, turning around you saw Peter. His chocolate eyes scanning you up and down with aw before locking eyes with you. “Thank you” you trailed sweetly before approaching the boy.

You approached the boy and ran your hands over his blue flannel, a light blush coated both of your cheeks. “Cameras...” you suddenly mumbled with a sigh, pulling your hand back to hold it with your own over your chest. But he still stood there, completely lost at your sight, you were beautiful. Your makeup was done on a professional level and hair was pulled into a half up half down ponytail with a few loose strings to frame your face, “Peter you’re staring..” You giggled embarrassed, nudging the boy with your elbow before taking a step back to sit on your bed.

Immediately snapping out of his thoughts he began mumbling an apology to which you laughed at, he was adorable and flustered, turning completely red when he stumbled trying to follow behind you. “My god..Peter just..sit down” you shook your head and he let out a small chuckle “I’m sorry it’s just...wow..y-you’re just..wow and I-uh..wow..” he trailed with aw. You closed your eyes with a soft smile as the mattress next to you sank a bit, He was close but not as close as you wanted him to be. Knowing that, he simply dragged his hand over to yours shyly a question rolling off his tongue hesitantly “when are we going to tell them?” “Can we just..run away?” You answered sarcastically.

Peter smiled at you, he knew you were nervous..which was a bit strange, but he knew because he was too. For days he had spent with your dad in the laboratory he was terrified he’ll be compromised or get too nervous and blabber it out, a small moment caught on security cameras or simply a text could send his ass flying from the Empire State Building! Yeah..he knew.

“Maybe tomorrow?...like..I don’t know..I—“ you started but he quickly cut your thoughts when he reached for your hand “hey..you tell him when you’re ready..until then I’m as quiet as a bug!” “Like a mosquito maybe..” you giggle and he pushed you away playfully, a sweet chuckle escaping his pink lips sending your heart racing even more.

-

“The Spider child is in her room!” Thor boomed “I know he’s in her room!” Tony retorted, eyeing the character beside him, covering his right ear as a soft ringing sound echoed in his mind. Then another blond one appeared on his left side “Should we call them in—?” “What are they saying?” Natasha spoke from behind interrupting Steve “I don’t know—“ “do you think they’re together?” Bucky cut tauntingly before being elbowed by Wanda “That’ll be so cute” Sam grinned causing Tony to tick with annoyance “that won’t be cute because she’s my daughter and—“ Wanda cheers cut, a large and teasing grin appearing on her lips “oh! when they’ll have children do you think—“ “NO ONE IS HAVING KIDS!” Tony burst, making the room go quite in an instant.

With a huff he turned to his teammates, immediately closing the tab that was monitoring the two of you, even though it was pure and innocent he couldn’t help but get slightly nervous of his little girl growing up.

“How did any of you got in here?!” He hissed, not sure to which member it was intended, Vision took the obligation to answer “They followed me sir.” He answered politely. Tony shook his head desperately, placing a hand over his eyes before looking at his creation with annoyance “really jar—vision. Really?” He caught himself, hoping no one would notice. No one did they all just spread out and began exploring on their own while the two walked off into a more quieter space. “Apologies sir.” He started “but maybe we should put all of our theories for a test?” Tony looked shocked at even the possibility of doing so, maybe he was a bit too arrogant to admit to himself that he might need to loosen up the grip. “What?” Your father asked rhetorically “I overheard a conversation y/n had with one of her friends. They were talking about going to a girl named Maddie after the party.” He answered quickly, “hey don’t touch that!” Tony pointed towards a confused Sam who touched some undeveloped tech, he scratched the back of his hairs before looking back up at Vision slightly confused. “Go somewhere? Why would she want to go—“ “I believe she said ‘just a few hours without any cameras around! That’ll be the best birthday gift ever’ “ he cut coldly.

A twitch of guilt stung your old man’s heart, yes you did say those words, but it was just because you were frustrated..having to hide even in your own house.

-

A few hours later, guests started to arrive, from your usual pretentious preppy teenagers to the sloppy lazy ones, all decided to try and dress up in a shallow try to impress one of the superheroes.

You had a special area in the compound specifically for parties only and that’s where you met everyone. Some people you weren’t sure you knew, they gave you presents in an attempt to gain your likeness, but presents nonetheless so you didn’t mind. Music blasted in your ears as your father and the rest of your family promised to stay away just for tonight.

More and more people began crowding the living area as dark settled in nicely on the velvet sky. Flashing red blue and green lights covering the walls while dancing shadows roamed within the room.

When finally seeing your friends you ran into each others arms with a squeal, compliments going back and forth with delight.

“This place is HUGE!” Jack yelled wide eyed, “Yeah well..thank you?” You giggled awkwardly, not sure how to answer the obvious fact and turned your attention to Maddison who laced her arms with you. “You’re —- coming — my hou— after —.. extra—-” she teased, her voice yelling over the loud music but still difficult to hear “what?!” You yelled dragging her away into a more quiet side of the room while the group left you so they could dance.

“I SAID—!” “Ow!” You cut, pushing her away for yelling in your ear. “Sorry” she giggled unapologetically “uh huh..” you rolled your eyes with a slight smile. “I asked if your still coming to my house after this?” “Oh yeah of course!” You answered excitedly before dragging her out to dance.

Music was getting louder, and somehow kids got drunker. Your eyes drifted away from the scene in front of you, your laughing friends mixing with the background as you locked eyes on your boyfriend. A slight jealousy sparked in you when you saw a girl approaching him.

She was a brunette tall girl, a royal blue tight dress hugging her curves. Her eyes flattering with heavy mascara that you can see from a mile away.

You tried to ignore it, you really did, just dancing and having fun with your friends and trusting him as your mind boomed with your favorite songs.

But things change and while the DJ replaced a song to one of your friends requests, you managed to hear a few words escaping the glossy mouth. “Wow Peter..you work out?” She asked sneakily, squeezing his arm making him feel more than uncomfortable and making you angrier by the second.

Why were some girls like that? It’s still a mystery to you and many others.

Peter felt really awkward with her touch, it felt..weird, empty and forced and above it all, it felt wrong that it wasn’t you.

His heart beat fastened, Ned was standing only a few steps away but he couldn’t see a thing. Peter was holding his apple juice cup in one hand, nerves pricking on the back of his neck. “I uh..I don’t r-really..can..you stop..?” He asked embarrassed, words tumbling out of his mouth awkwardly. Looking over his shoulder he managed to see you looking at him and then escaping his gaze, his heart beat stopped in an instant. Quickly and very annoyed, he moved the girl’s hand away harshly before turning to find you walking towards the hall.

“Peter!” You shrike as he put his hand over your mouth and dragged you into a small closet. “What?” You whispered raspy when he lowered his hand, a big grin crossed his lips “can I kiss you?” He mumbled confidently and you smiled.

He wanted to show that you’re his, and you weren’t going to stop him.

“you’re out here looking for danger boy..” “danger is my middle name!” He smirked with a playful smirk “Your middle name is Benjamin.” You teased before pulling him by his collar to close the gap between the two of you. Your butterflies were swirling inside with excitement, a smile creasing your lips as he pulled you close by the waist. You didn’t say anything but you could feel his bulge through his jeans, what? he was a teenager and so were you.

“Ok ok I have to go..” you cut shortly with a smile, your heart beat chanting in your

his hands slowly moving to your core and drawing small circles unintentionally as you slid your soft hands off his chest. He let out a slight whine of disappointment as you told him to wait a bit before getting outside, to give off at least a slight chance of not getting caught.

-

“Hey there Peter” Bruce called as he passed by when Peter opened the door. Wide eyed Peter was beyond flustered “h-hey Doctor Ba-aner..hehe uh I wh-what are uh what are you doing here I uh..” the scientist simply shook his head with a hidden smile behind his mouth “why are you in there Peter?” He questioned knowingly, after all he saw you leave that closet too just moments ago.

Peter felt like a doe caught in headlights, his heart was thumping loudly in his chest and it wasn’t you to blame this time. “Uh was just checking for uh snacks so..” his brown eyes scanned the closet they were in quickly, realizing it’s full of cleaning supplies. “I uh..tide pots! Yeah yeah well hehe..it’s uh it’s here so we’re good” he gave a thumbs up with a nervous laughter running from his as fast as he escaped Banner’s questioning eyes. But no such luck, he was lectured for maybe 15 minuets straight about the obvious dangers and toxicity of the product and that it’s not a joke, but peter was more than lost in that conversation seeing you swaying your hips to the music with your friends.

“Close one. Banner.” Peter whispered loudly to you as he passed by, his raspy voice sent slight shivers down your spine. You turned around but he was gone, approaching Michelle and Ned who sat by the couch and ate pizza with a whole lot of unopened snacks that you wondered where did they steal them from.

-

The night went on, and on..and on.

You had your birthday song played in the background when your three level cake was rolled in, all your friends by your side while other recorded it. But non was as close to the feeling you had feeling Peter hand reach for yours from behind, and that smile, the smile he gave you made you happier more than any cake or party could.

But of course, some idiot brought alcohol to the party.

Unlike Liz’s party, which you only heard from Michelle once, when the oh so expensive vase was shattered on the floor a loud alarm went off.

You can only imagine how everyone had reacted, teenagers scattered around, music stopped only to be replaced by the sound of yelling and screaming mixed with rushing steps.

Lucky panicking teenagers escaping your rushing superhero team.

“What Is going on?” Your father yelled, the loud alarm overcoming his voice as a teenager run towards the exit by him.

He searched for you in the crowd but you were gone, yelling your name while the rest tried to show everyone the right exit or help search for you and Peter.

You were quite difficult to find, having hearing the alarm breaking the music you rushed in an attempt to shut it down, and when that didn’t work you searched on why it happened.

Your friends rushing after you into the room where the vase was shuttered to the floor, panicking because damn this is one expansive vase.

In seconds the alarm stopped you looked up, “fuck” You muttered knowing damn well who was the only person who could shut it off.

“It’s fine it’s fine he..he won’t be m-mad right?” Emily said with a shaky voice to which you only paniced more. Yor friend mixed voices came in and out of your ear as you tried to come up with an idea..or rather an apology. “Y/n!” You heard your dad called and ran towards his voice “dad! I am so so sorry I swear someone must have—“ “oh my god your ok!” You father cut, creasing his hands over your arms with unsettled eyes. “Uh..yes.” You mumbled, escaping his touch slightly awkward when feeling everyone’s eyes on you. “What happened?” “Some idiot broke the vase in the—“ “wait. Please tell me it’s the one in the living room and not the guest room.” You kept quiet with an apologetic puppy eyes “not my 6000$ vase..!” He whined dragging his hands over his face before taking a deep breath “it’s fine I’ll..at least you’re ok..” he huffed and bring you into a tight hug.

-

“so...can I go to Madison?” You asked your dad innocently, turning briefly to look at your friends having a fan moment with your family. Peter stood by the other side of the living room, Michelle and Ned by his side.

“Take Peter.” He ordered and began walking towards the rest, cue for your whining and annoyed act. “but dad!” You trailed, following his steps with a pout. “He’ll just ruin everything!” You fake whined, but your father remembered his so called agreement with his teammates and he knew that if he’ll break it he won’t hear the end of it.

“Someone tell my kid I’m right” he spoke with a grin, the group turning their attention to him before looking at your annoyed attitude following behind. “What about?” Sam asked, placing his hands in his pockets while standing up.

“She needs to take Peter with her.” “No.” You crossed your arms, glaring at the others with anger. Steve simply agreed with your father, stating a simple “Yes.”, your stomach swirled with nerves and you turned to “Bucky! Help!” “Sorry kiddo I have to agree with —“ “ugh fine!” You cut. Inhaling frustration you yelled “PETER!”, the young boy popped his head nervously seeing your angered face but seeing the rest made somewhat sense in his mind. “Wh- uh what do you want?” He mumbled “You’re going with Y/N to uh..” your father trailed with forgetful eyes “Madison.” You sighed and he turned to the group with searching eyes. “who’s Madison?” He asked and your blond, and slightly intimidated friend raised her hand. “No drinking. No smoking and no drugs.” He ordered and they all nodded as a promise.

Your father clapped his hands with a proud grin “Great! I’ll call happy!” He grinned and left the room, only to return moments later “Peter..a word.” He raised a brow as they all exchanged looks.

-

The curly headed boy followed timidity after his mentor, both approaching a side room before Tony closed the door behind them.

“Pete” He started, placing an over protective hand over Peter’s slightly terrified shoulder. The young boy could be tackled by Steve and it’ll be less nerve racking than this conversation, “yes Mr. Stark?” He gulped, “you keep her safe. and you keep your hands to yourself. Am I clear?” Tony said coldly, Peter being too scared to notice the suited man was fiddling with his jacket simply nodded quickly with wide eyes.

“Good” Tony patted the boys back and left the room, leaving poor Peter anxious, heavy breaths of relief escaping his mouth.

-

While Peter disappeared you stared nervously at the closed door, you were nervous but only one seemed to notice.

A set of hands startled you, one is colder than the other as they rested on your shoulder. Turning your head around you were met with a pair of blue eyes, they seemed calm and understanding as the brushed your hair from your eyes “they still don’t know..” he whispered with a smirk and you simply sighed with a smile “thank god..” you muttered.

Bucky was the first, and only avenger who found about your secret. It happened by accident really.

-

Sitting in the lab you concentrate on fixing your boyfriends web shooters, your y/e/c eyes squinting at the small screws. “Hey y/n—“ a voice called and you let out a yelp, turning around you saw a very shocked and apologetic Peter standing in the entrance.

He was slightly blushing but non the less happy to see you.

“Sorry babe..” he mumbled rubbing the back of his neck as you rolled out off your chair with a delightful smirk, hearing him calling you babe just made your heart flatter what can you do?

It was the first day he was in the tower so you didn’t even noticed that the first thing was giving him a pack on his lips quickly before you two continued a conversation of nothing, perfectly sweet nothing.

It was about an hour later, he swung his legs back and forth, from time to time spinning the chair while staring at his phone quietly as you asked. You needed to work, but having him around just made it more easier.

Finishing explaining the new web combinations you added, he led you to the kitchen to a much deserved snack time.

You sat on the cold marble island as he leaned on the counter in front of you, both of you rudely snacking on someone else’s treats. Your mixed laughter was to be heard from a distance, that’s why Bucky approached it in the first place.

He was a mad shipper, a 100 and something year old super soldier wanted two teenagers to be together like he had nothing else to do in his life. And he was slightly proud of what he saw.

Peter teased you with one of Wanda’s Pocky sticks and placed on end in his mouth and one end empty for you. “Peter no..” you trailed with a tempt laughter “come on! I saw it in a some Chinese show once pwease?” He mumbled with puppy eyes and you had to give in, taking mental note to ask about why he was watching it in the first time.

“Jeez..Parker you’re going to be the death of me..” you giggled before biting onto the delicious pretzel like stick.

A few bites in and your lips met, his lips were sweet and had a slightly sour taste to them because of the gummy worms he had a few seconds ago. he came in closer, one hand held you by the waist and the other cupped your cheek delicately. You broke the kiss slightly just so you could swallow the pieces of sweetness, a soft smile creeping onto his lips when he stared at you lovingly. He closed the gap again and this time you wrapped your legs around his waist, you felt as if you were floating mid air and his touch was the only thing grounding you. It was right before he deepened the kiss that a cough made you both pool away, both shocked and embarrassed you turned in horror to see Bucky’s folded arms leaning over the door frame.

His eyes darted between the two of you quietly, you didn’t know what to say, or how long he’s been there. panicking you jumped off the marble surface with a plea “Please don’t tell anyone!” You begged, Peter quickly following your steps with the same helpless puppy eyes. “Please Mr. Barns I uh..I..” The young boy always felt slightly terrified of the long haired super solider, his heart beating increasing with fear as drops of sweat began forming on his forehead when the soldier simply raised a brow at him.

“I won’t.” He suddenly spoke, a kind smile appearing on his pink lips, slightly taken back you felt doubtful of his reasons. “Why?” You muttered, sure you were glad he won’t say a thing but why not.

“Cause you will”

“What?”

“You’ll tell them. Just tell me when cause I have a bet to win!” He winked and brushed past you and Peter, “uh..what?” “A bet?” You both asked dumbfound.

“A bet yes.” He smirked and tried to find something to eat in a way to disguise the fact they’re the reason in the first place he followed into the kitchen.

Not sure how to react you turned to Peter who simply reached to your hand nervously.

“And Parker!” The man called warningly, giving both of you a heart attack as he was about to leave “You hurt her. I will hurt you. Don’t think I forgot how to hide bodies.” Bucky hissed, scaring the living hell out of the boy before ruffling your hair and leaving with an apple in his hand.

“He won’t kill you..” you trailed before cracking a smile, looking briefly behind your shoulder.

“I hope..” “you hope?!” Peter exclaimed as you dragged him back to the lab with a nervous giggle.

-

“You’re were supposed to tell them today” he reminded and you looked at the ground “I know I..I’ll tell them later” you scoffed and he raised a brow at your tone “you have up until the end of the day or I’m telling them kid.” He instructed before turning back to the rest.

Panic took over your mind, how the hell were you supposed to do that?! “What? Come on Buck!” You frowned, big doe like eyes begging the super solid to keep this secret for a while longer.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to you with a smirk “it’s for your own good! Because sweetheart...” he trailed with a shrug “you are being too obvious anyways” he chuckled “I am not!..” you trailed but he looked at you unimpressed, his finger pointing to his cheeks “you’re blushing doll face” he taunted with a nod “oh fuck..” you muttered “language” “bite me barns” you retorted quickly. “isn’t it Peter’s job?” He snickered and you turned completely red as you stormed off to your friends, but stopped mid step to see your father returning to the room with a shaky Peter behind him.

-

And so, this is how you found yourself walking to the car, you leading first and Peter strolling behind. “Bye sweetheart! Stay safe!” “Bye dad..” You giggled before motioning to Peter to close the door.

In an instant, the seating changed, Peter was by your side his hand shyly resting on your thigh drawing up and down strips.

You smiled at him and plugged in your phone, letting your friends play whatever song they chose to.

Time passed, and you arrived to her empty house quickly. Immediately taking off your jackets and throwing them messily in a closet room you each sprinted to the couch to get a good spot.

“Princess?” Peter bowed teasingly and motioning you to sit in the middle as he took a seat next to you “I’ll beat you up Parker” you shook your head, a laugh being held back behind a tight smile. Your legs automatically swung over his and he placed one of his hand over your thigh and the other over your bare shoulder. “Easy with the whole pda kids!” Bridget teased, throwing a bag of sour gummy worms towards you, only that Peter caught it moment before it hit you with a shy smile. “Nice reflexes Parker!” Adam commented before slamming himself next to Madison who almost dropped her bowl of popcorn to the floor.

After ten whole minutes of arguing what movie you should watch you decided on the incredibles, simply just to tease you for living with actual superheroes..and dating one. Not that they needed to know that.

You spent most of it focusing on the glowing screen, eating, laughing and even starting a food fight with each other.

And when saying mostly that you did those things, was because Peter’s hands were all over you, and yours was on him.

He rested his curly hair on yours as you laid across his chest, his fingers fiddling with your y/t/h hair as you drawn small circles on his chest. When the movie ended, the black and white credits rolled and everyone started starching, He looked down at you for a moment and smiled, your hair was slightly tangled in his hands but your lips were a vibrant color of magenta, practically inviting him to kiss you. He took your chin gently in his fingers and placing a heaven like kiss on your delicate lips.

Emily smiled devilishly at you first, not that you noticed, and then at the rest, who definitely noticed and mirrored her thoughts.

Her sudden movements grabbed your attention as you watched her rushed into the kitchen, everyone exchanged amused looks and quickly sat on the floor, you did the same, even though you were slightly confused.

But it all made sense as she brought back an empty bottle, a big grin on her face as she took the seat in front of you.

“Ok ok ok..we all know the rules right?” Adam asked, eyes directly moving to you and Peter “what level?” Bridget asked calmly, still looking at her phone.

“Level?” You, Peter, Michelle and Ned asked in unity, eyes darting towards each other with confusion. Madison turned to you with an awkward smirk, not sure what words to use “Uh yeah you know how..uh..well..” she trailed and your eyes widened “oh...OH!” You exclaimed, realization hitting your mind.

Turning to Peter you whispered to him that it means how sexual it might get. Heat rushed through his whole body, his neck ears and face turning a bright color of red.

-

Meanwhile in the avengers compound, your father sat in his office and stared at the large screen, his fingers tapping fast on a plastic keyboard in an attempt to fix the small camera.

The small device was one of the new spidercam Tony wanted to add to the suit, eight metal legs hit the wooden floor as he stared ahead at the small crack of light coming from beneath the door.

“What are you doing?” A voice startled. “Non of your business Rhodes..” He retorted, brown eyes still fixed on the camera movement. A small disbelieving chuckle was heard from behind before snarky words were to leave his lips “your spying on your own daughter man!” “Who’s spying on who?” Natasha stormed in with a smirk, Bucky trailing behind her quietly.

“Why are you in here again?” “Movie night Stark. Vision insists on you being there” she emphasized with jazz hands.

A pair of icy blue eyes scanned the screen, a group of teenagers sitting comfortably, their faces illuminated by different lights coming from an animated movie. “are you spying on y/n?” Bucky suddenly commented, eyes still fixed on the live video in front of him.

“No.” Tony slammed the laptop screen and with that the live video stopped. He crossed his arms with daring eyes but his judging friends kinda saw through him at that situation. “Okay yes I am-“ he said lifting back the screen “-but I’m just watching over her. You said it yourself! I don’t know those kids and—“ “ok cool can we watch this instead of Vision documentary!” Natasha grinned towards a very confused Tony.

-

After maybe a twenty minutes persuasion by The two most dangerous people in the compound, Bucky and Natasha won over your father stubbornness.

They were all getting snacks and drinks prepared to see what were you up to, while the true reason was to win the ongoing bet, that by now the price had gone up to 300$ to the winner by each participant.

They stared from behind at your illumined figures, not wanting to get too close and might risk the fact that one of you will smash it to pieces. They all simply enjoyed half of the movie you chose, trying to guess which one of those shadows is you and failing..sort of. They actually thought the couple cuddling on the couch was Emily and Jake, except for Bucky who knew damn well.

Bored out of his mind, Stark left the room for a moment, exactly missing the shared kiss, to fix himself a glass of scotch and answered a call from Pepper.

You already started playing though, silly dares really, ones that all the avengers laughed at and even tried mimicking you. Everything was fine until a very...unique one was heard through the muffled speakers.

“Uh..” Thor trailed, slight amusement in his voice followed by Loki more sarcastic tone “no...”.

“What? what did I miss I-oh HELL NO!” Tony yelled at the screen, his scotch almost slipping off his hands as his brown eyes widened feeling his overly as his overprotective father mode activated. Completely ignoring the avengers seating all comfortably and full of themselves at your father reaction to the spinning bottle. “Relax Tony..it’s just truth or dare.” Natasha grinned, maybe she was slightly nervous, you were after all a teenager...and a the daughter of Tony Stark so...but she managed to hide the fact she heard the are you were asked to do obviously.

Tony shot her a look, he wasn’t an idiot and he knew damn well what could happen if you choose to accept whatever they’ll tell you to do.

They all stared at the green bottle spinning in the middle of the giggling teenagers circle.

Tony immediately reached his phone, he knew that you won’t answer and neither will Peter, so he tried and get a better view for the planted camera and a better way to hear the muffled teenagers. Moments past and the screen finally stopped moving only to stop directly on you and Peter, leaving to another room.

“Tony?” Steve called, protection in his voice as he stood up from his spot “Shut up.” Tony called, his eyes still fixed on the small movements on his phone screen. “Tony.” Bruce was one to call this time to which Tony only huffed “I’m busy.” He grunted before smiling proudly to himself for perfecting the camera position “You might want to see this...” Steve trailed and just in time your father managed to see Peter entering a room and closing the door while your beloved friends howled in the background.

Realizing that you were no where to be in the circle, concern and anger fueled his body “oh he better not.” He hissed, eyes glued to the screen before seeing the group rushing from their seats to pin their head to the door.

They all had very pleased grins and giggled escaped their hand covered lips.

When the door opened again in less than 3 minuets, they all took a step back with anticipation and anxious eyes.

“We’ll do it.” You said shyly, peter holding your hand nervously but shrugging with fake confidence.

-

It started silly really, you don’t know how you ended up with a dare like this when only the game started. “Do an impersonation of Donald Trump” that Adam got, and preformed perfectly! “Go to the neighbour’s house and ask for a banana” which Madison got, and man it was a lot more funnier than it should have been. “Close your eyes and send a blind text to a random person” was something that Jack got, and thus is a start on how he’ll have to explain his aunt why he asked for a booty call, which was just....priceless as you can imagine!

Your stomach hurt with laughter, eyes flickering with tears of amusement. Peter’s laugh was rolling off his tongue with delight, even chocking when he tried to calm himself down.

But then..the bottle spun, and you stared with fear and anticipation as the object dizzied your y/e/c eyes.

Shit.

“Truth..or Dare y/n..” Madison trailed. You gulped nervously, you had to choose dare! You just had to, you can’t break this unspoken rule and choose truth when everyone else chose dare, and the fact they’ll ask something about you and Peter just made you more nervous. Exchanging looks with the group you suddenly turned to Peter, his soft smile calming your nerves before your turned back to the dare devil.

“Dare.” You smirked, fake confidence shadowing you immediately. They all exchanged amused smirks as ideas were to be whispered to the blond girl. Her eyes twinkled with delight when Adam whispered the perfect dare, “do a lap dance.” She smirked and your eyes widened with embarrassment, heat rushed to your whole body and your eyes darted to the floor “On Peter obviously.” She insisted and you immediately looked at your boyfriend embarrassed.

Peter, felt a rally going inside his mind. Anticipation, fear, nerves, lust, embarrassment and awkwardness was showing with red heat on his pale skin. He didn’t look at anyone at first but feeling your gaze upon him he turned around immediately, and seeing your nervousness he had to do the right thing and calm himself down, or at least fake it.

He stood up, his shadow falling over your small character “give us a moment?” He spoke, his hand reaching for yours to walk you to another room.

He placed his hands on your back with a soft smile “you don’t have to..” he whispered, closing the door behind him. pulling you to his embrace.

Your stomach knotted with nerves, mind racing at the possibilities of the outcome. “I..uh it’s fine..” eyes locked at your shifting feet you finally spoke, breaking the anticipating silence. His soft hands reached for your tensed shoulders, grabbing your attention in an instant as butterflies unknotted the feeling inside. He smiled kindly at your wide eyes and brushed a hair our of your cheek quickly “y/n..you don’t have to. I’ll say it’s my fault” he smirked but you shook your head, feeling a slight blush creeping up on you “Peter..” “you don’t have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.” He stated before roaming his hands to hold you by your waist, you unknowingly moved your hands over his shoulder with a slight grin “I love you” he whispered, his cold minty breath brushing agains your lips. “I love you too” you whispered and closed the gap.

You then held him by the hand and opened the door, a few of your friends stumbled inside and you had to bit your lip so you won’t laugh. You darted your eyes between all the characters before giving in “we’ll do it.” You said confidently.

Peter felt his heart pound heavily, fearing you might do it out of pressure. “Y/n?” “I am comfortable as long as you’re with me..” you answered quickly, giving him a small pack on the cheek and leaving to your friends.

-

“Ok go pick a song! Peter stay.” Jack instructed and you nodded, cringing at the instructions slightly.

“Wow..peer pressure. Thank god I don’t have many friends.” Michelle called from behind as you searched for your jacket.

You turned to her with questioning eyes, “it’s not peer pressure.” You insisted. “Is it not though?” She taunted, but truth is, she cared. And you knew it. “It’s not. because I’ve talked to Pete..and..I’m actually ok with it..” you shrugged, slightly lying but that’s just because you were nervous, not scared.

Finally finding the device you searched for a needed song, but she blocked your screen forcing you to look up at her.

“You don’t have to.” She stated again, her eyes trying to keep cool but failing to hide the care in her voice. “It’s ok chip. I promise.” You smiled genuinely and she let put a huff “fine..I’ll make sure no one will record this” she rolled her eyes, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

After maybe 4 minuets of finally finding a song, the two of you opened the door and turned down towards the living room.

-

“What’s going on?” “Why are they telling him to sit?” “Why is he standing up now?” “Why are they laughing?” “What the hell did my daughter agreed to?!” Those were just a few of Tony’s questions, his and the teammates eyes glued to the screen like it was the gospel.

“Don’t worry Peter. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it!” One of the guys called, patting on the shaking shoulder of the boy before slamming himself on the couch in front of the camera.

There was a big sofa left empty, Peter’s profile was seen through as he wiped his hands over his shirt nervously. “You ready y/n/n?” Madison giggled, and when you yelled back a yes they slightly dimmed the lights so the song could start.

(Song: strip that down-liam payne)

The beat started quickly, your mind came up with combination of choreographed music videos as you thought ahead before letting your body move.

Your eyes glanced at the group of teenagers and then turned to lock eyes with Peter while taking a few strides forward, your heels making a clicking noise over the wooden floor before coming to a halt. You swung your hips to the beat, hands slowly running over your curves. Your hands created an X over your waist before moving to circle your chest and go down to your core while leaning closer, your ass slightly swaying to the beat. You circled the chair he was sitting in with lustful eyes that drove him insane (like your family who was watching from the other side, but for other reasons). He licked his lips and bit the inside of his cheek as a reflex, his brown eyes following you with a mixture of nerves and anticipation, after all you were both hormone filled teenagers. Slowly tilting his chin to force him to look at you, you smirked devilishly and ran your hand in his curly hair before letting your thumb crease his bottom lip. With a flicker of his eyes you started face away from him, taking a few steps forward then flipping your hair as you lowered your ass to the floor, sending Peter a wink while rising up slowly, letting him have a good look as if you were all alone.

Swinging your hips to the beat you let yourself sit in his lap, your back to his chest so your ass is pressed against his growing bulge. He put his hands on your hips and your rose like scent made his head dizzy as his hands ran slowly over your unbelievably soft skin and incredible shape.

Slowly leaning back, you let your shoulders hit his chest and wrapped your right arm around his neck. He tried fighting it but he was defeated and gave in to look into your cleavage, that from the angle gave him a perfect view of your lacy bra.

You slowly arched your back and turned to kneel down, your big eyes scanning his features change as you ran your hands over his thighs. He gulped nervously the closer you got to his crouch, a sly and devilish smirk appearing on your lips as you stopped mid action.

You flipped your hair to the side and quickly straddled him, you could see him turn a bright shade of red as you bit your lip. A smirk appeared on your lips as you felt him hard beneath your dress. You run your fingers through his curls and slowly down his neck before leaning closer to connect your soft lips with his sensible skin. A quite moan accidentally escaped to your ears causing you to stop your actions.

He seemed embarrassed but your simply smiled devilishly, your hips beginning to press against his crouch while rocking back and forth. You could see him biting his lips as you stared into his eyes, and the moment he looked into you, you closed the gap between the two of you and gave him a passionate kiss as if no one was there.

A smile intoxicated your lips as you moved to his ear “you can go lower if you want..” you trailed before looking at his wide eyes, your movements not stopping for a moment. He slowly ran his hands down your thighs and you raised a brow hinting him a place to go.

And he did. His warm fingers tailed up your dress and reached down your ass. You could feel your heart beat increase with every second in a very bad, best way.

The song slowly came to an end with you kissing the very flustered boy, you simply smirked and shrugged at everyone’s applause as you all rearranged your seats. They threw some cheeky comments at the both of you, you simply rolled your eyes but Peter seemed to be in a different world. That was until Michelle stood up and pulled a small device from her pocket.

-

“Uh..” Michelle hand captured the small camera in her hand, thank god it was only one way hear or else she’ll be able to hear the shrike coming from the avengers. Her face coming extremely closer to the camera, fingers lightly pressuring the pieces making the screen twitch before she scanned the small device with careful eyes.

When showing the group the small, spider like metal device you almost, well, no. You had a heart attack the moment you saw it.

And sure, seconds after that, your driver seemed to have a hard time keeping his cool as he motioned you and Peter to go get your coats, “we’re leaving.” He spoke, oh fuck.

-

“Bucky?” “I just want to talk to him” he answered Vision motionless, his eyes glued to the now blackout screen. Nat slowly rose from her seat and glanced at the blond solider who’s leg was jumping up and down, “Steve?” She called, her hand reaching for the man’s tensed shoulder as if he was a beast. “We just want to talk to him.” He rose quickly, his bright blue eyes hooded by a dark shadow and a tight smile crossing his lips with hidden anger.

Finally Rodney turned to his friend, he saw Tony mad before, angry, frustrated, hopeless anxious depressed he’d seen it all...but not this, this was stone cold and undeciphered. “Tony?” He called, “I just want to shoot him.” He stated, quickly rushing to his feet and turning to leave “What?” “You can’t shoot him Tony he’s a kid!” “Did you see how he-ba dthen he reached for her.. and what why was he smiling like this huh?! And he looked down at her dress! I’m not an idiot! He’s dead!” “Tony. He is a kid. Let it go we can—“”Yeah well so is she.” He said coldly, the room stayed quiet for a few minutes, all exchanging looks not sure what to do.

(Except Bucky who was now over a 1000 dollars richer and planned on going to get some pizza after killing Peter).

“It was a dare. not much come on” “do not tell me how to raise my child Natasha” “if I may interject” “you may not” “I do know a way where we can insure y/n’s well being and also stabilize...their behavior.” Vision spoke, having a slightly hard time to process the very tensioning situation. “Oh yeah? Enlighten me then” your father hissed, a sarcastic smile planted on his lips as his eyes through dagger around the room.

-

“the fact I am accepting it does not mean I’m ok with that” Tony muttered as FRIDAY announced that your car had arrived.

It was a very...awkward and frightening ride for the two of you. And though Peter was extremely turned on, knowing he was watched and is going to die seemed to make it disappear slightly.

“Children.” Tony spoke, Happy’s hands resting on Peter’s and yours shoulder, squeezing it tight so you’d be unable to escape from your father just yet. You quickly locked eyes with Peter, both of you being consumed with fear.

“Y/n. Care to explain?” Your father spoke, both of you knowing damn well what he meant. You could feel the palm of your hands sweating with nerves as you tried to comment something smug on why had he followed you, your words rolling out of you lips with a shake. “W-why d-did you follow us huh..? A-and I uh..” “wow. Ok next.” You father shut, and you didn’t seem to fight it.

“Peter Parker.” His voice seemed so loud, even though in reality it was a normal volume. “You reached down..my daughter’s..skirt.” He hissed.

Happy let the two of you go and took a few steps back, not quite feeling like ruining is suite with blood. You darted your eyes between your talkative family and your quite boyfriend before whispering “Run.” He seemed to be the only one who heard you because in literally seconds you two sprinted into two different directions.

-

“Parker. Get off the wall!” Tony yelled, peter was standing ok the ceiling, his hair dangling upside down. Your heart beat was still having a hard tile settling down from running, it was a stupid idea but worth it if it gave Peter a few more seconds of being alive.

“Sir. Listen. It wasn’t what it seemed like—“

“Get off the wall!” “No no you have to listen I swear I treat her right please don’t kill me!”

“I can’t kill you! You are on the freaking wall!” Tony shook his head, his eyes drifting to his feet briefly and then looking back at the teenager “And also May would kill me..” He muttered, earning a snorted laugh from Natasha.

You quickly made your way to the “Papa..” he indicated a finger to your lips, with a brief glare before turning back “hush. We’ll talk about this later.” His eyes still locked on Peter’s form glued to the wall, almost falling as Sam tried to tickle him with a broomstick.

-

“You’re dating.” Your dad declared as you and Peter sat next to one another in the kitchen table. Behind his were your entire family, even Loki, all throwing you mixed looks. Some had amusement and a blessing while other planned on murdering Peter for reaching down you skirt. “Yep.” You answered quickly, eyes slowly drifting to Peter who seemed as terrified as anyone had ever been. “Yes..” he finally answered, swallowing hard as if someone was choking him. Your heart beat booming in your brain with every breath that left your lips “I’m...” your father started, taking a deep breath and looking to his sides before looking back at you. “not fully ok with..this.” He continued twirling his finger towards the two of you before pinching the bridge of his nose. “But fine.” He huffed with a hidden smile, and that word “fine” was enough for you to feel happy. You brushed your fingers over Peter’s as a soft smile tugged at both of your lips, but maybe it was slightly a little bit early to celebrate.

“Y/n. Go upstairs for a moment will you?” You both darted your eyes away from each other and looked at the group fearfully. “The guys and me want to have a private conversation with Peter.” Your father smiled tightly and you nodded nervously. “Good luck” you murmured as the girls escorted you to your room, and yes, like your friends, they too teased you about your ‘hidden’ skill.

-

“I have 10 condoms,25 more ruled we’ll need to follow and over 300 ways your family will kill me if I hurt you....” peter trailed shakily, his form leaning against your door frame as his eyes locked at the foot of your bed. You shook your head with a smile a shy chuckle rolled from your lips “good..I think” you smiled, slowly swaying your hips before pulling him inside with a kiss.

-

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