Chapter Text
SUNDAY
I'm breaking up with you. Candice didn't grown a fucking inch in the last week, this is so frustrating. U sure that little girl's gonna do anything at all?? I kinda get the feeling, you're shitting me here
Hey, Shellhead. Haha, give her some more time. She's an avocado, not corn. How was work today, did you get along with your intern? Is your son doing okay in school? I had a long day, lots of paperwork. Sometimes I really do envy you for being a mechanic, you're working with your hands and aren't buried in papers and documents. By the way, I finally watched those movies, which you recommended a few weeks ago. It was really fun. But isn't it a bit ironical that a rather rational person like you likes science fiction? *winking emoji
That's Star Wars! It's a classic! Those not knowing this cinematic masterpiece should be sentenced to death. You're lucky that I like u, otherwise I'd be bound to report you to the police for lack of common knowledge
The shrimp is doing okay btw
Does this mean “It's treason then”?
Do you really call your son shrimp? *laughing emoji
*activates light saber
You underestimate my power
Only when he doesn't hear me call him that
I forgot what the correct phrasing was. Something with the High Ground?
Okay, that settles it, I'm divorcing you.
We'd have to get married so you can divorce me, you know? *winking emoji
Okay. Let's meet up so I can marry and divorce you
How about Stan's Burger House? My schedule is packed but I've got a free weekend coming up in three weeks.
's that a real invitation to a real date with a real person or am I gonna get kidnapped by guys with black ski masks and a taser and zip ties as soon as I turn up? I should warn you, I've got a heart condition
This is a real invitation to a real date with a real person and a very real burger. That is, if you'd want to meet me for real?
Hell yes! Really really I wanna meet the real deal. Looking forward to it, Winghead
I'm also looking forward to meet you for real. How does Friday the 28th sound? 8 pm? I'll be the one with the brown leather jacket.
Sounds great! Then I'll be the super hot dude with the fancy beard who would totally be the bad guy if this was a Tuesday evening neighborhood rom-com
Looking forward to it, Winghead
Like really really
Me too. See you around, Shellhead. *smiling emoji
.oOo.
MONDAY
He fiddled with his phone. For the seventh time in four minutes he turned it on just to look at the screen and turned it back off again with a disappointed twitch of his brows, when no new message was to be seen. Winghead had invited him to a date just yesterday evening and he was so nervous, he was embarrassed of himself. This was getting ridiculous. He was a grown man, not some hormone-driven blushing teenager with a crush on the quarterback. Tony shoved the cell back in his pocket, smoothed his face back into his public persona and strode forward, down the hallway of Midtown High.
It was way too warm for fall. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his suit jacket and the first button of his dress shirt. The meeting had been a pain in the ass. The image of Pepper, wonderful but horrifying Pepper Potts, with one sharp fingernail poking the sensitive flesh of his scarred chest around the reactor would probably haunt him for at least three weeks in his dreams. At least, that's what he had been whining about to Happy on the agonizingly slow drive to Midtown High at rush hour. Who the hell made appointments with teachers in the middle of the afternoon. Oh, right, that had been him. Fuck.
He yawned. He should have taken the parent-teacher conference into consideration before he had entered that bar yesterday evening. Rhodey had been in town, on leave. His next mission would lead his best friend all the way over the great puddle to some super secret military mission somewhere in the Middle East. He shuddered at the thought. Planning to spend his last evening before the departure with some cute chick, the two of them had left Tony's son with JARVIS and the bots at the tower and went to their favorite pub a few blocks away from home. Tony had stuck to playing wingman for Rhodey, he was tired of drunken one night stands with strangers who were just falling in bed with him for his famous name. To be honest, those nights had stopped the moment Peter came into his life. Change of priorities or some crap like that. Seven years of being a responsible adult. Pepper would be so proud of him, if she wasn't so done with his shit. Good thing she didn't know about that dating app he had installed on his phone. And that charming anonymous guy he maybe was or maybe wasn't currently crushing on. Wasn't it weird that he had a crush on a person that he'd never met before? Damn, now he admitted that he had a crush. Good thing Pepper didn't know about it. At least he hoped she didn't know. He didn't want to loose the last bit of that responsible adult image in front of her. Not that she had believed in that image even a second.
He rounded the next corner and his furrowed brows vanished and a genuine smile appeared when he saw his adoptive son leaning against the wall next to his locker, gaze fixed on the cellphone screen. From the movements, Tony was pretty sure to say that Peter was playing Candy Crush Saga. The green bag, heavy with books and notes (and a certain red and blue piece of spandex – Tony knew his son way too good) rested on the floor next to his feet. The boy's head shot up the moment his father was within sight.
“Hey, kiddo. Got to a new level already?” Tony asked. As he went up to his son's side, he took his colored sunglasses off and put them in the breast pocket of his suit.
“Hey, Dad.” The fifteen year old put the phone away and hugged his father when he put an arm around his shoulders. “I almost managed to set a new high score, I'm going to dethrone you.”
“You're a hundred years too early if you think you could ever outdo me in this game. I'm the uncrowned candy king.” He let go of his son's shoulders, grabbed the backpack from the floor and started walking down the empty hallway. “Now show me the way to the classroom of Mr… what was his name again? That art teacher you were talking about? Isn't he your homeroom teacher as well?”
“He's just the substitute teacher. Mr Scherer is my homeroom teacher but he's in the hospital because he broke his leg last month. I'm sure he's happy, because now his wife can't bug him anymore to cut down the tree in the garden. He always complains about her.” While walking, Peter had buried his hands deep in the pockets of his pants. His socks were visible in the gap between pants and shoes, the boy was growing way too fast.
“Poor guy.” Tony answered absentmindedly while they were walking towards the teacher's room. He lifted his eyes and noticed not for the first time, that Peter was now tall enough that he reached up to Tony's shoulder. “You free that weekend? We gotta get you some new clothes, you're wearing this shirt the third time in eight days. I'm tired of you losing your things every time you change in some back alley, I'm putting GPS in every piece of clothing that you got.”
Peter lifted his gaze from the faraway wall and looked at his father in mock indignation. “You've got holes in every single shirt from the workshop! As if that's any better!”
That earned him a soft punch to the shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah. I'm free. I'm meeting up with Ned on Friday. Are you free?” A sly smile was directed in Tony's direction. “Not meeting up with that mysterious, charming anonymous guy from the web you are swooning over? You know, I've got a bet going with MJ who's gonna ask for a date first!”
“Peter Benjamin Stark!” Tony started, his face felt way too warm for his liking and he tried to catch his son who dodged his hand with an easy swerve.
“Peter Benjamin Parker in school, if I may correct!” Peter grinned from ear to ear at the flushed expression his father sported. “The thing with the last name was your idea, if you remember?”
“Oh I do remember. Doesn't change the fact that you're now a Stark. A bratty one to boost.” Finally he got a grip on his son's neck and pulled the laughing teen to his side and held him in a playful headlock. “Didn't I teach you to always respect older people?”
“Oh, now you're playing dirty with the old man joker!” Laughing, he freed himself from Tony's hold. He fruitlessly tried to smooth his chestnut brown hair back down, that stood in weird angles from his father's grip.
“I am an old man compared to you! And with that attitude, young man, you're gonna be the death of me!” Tony exclaimed, clutching his chest where the arc reactor was. His blush was finally subsiding and a grin stretched over his face.
“You're in you mid-forties, which is so not old, and you're a drama queen, Dad!” His son came over again and Tony laid his free arm around his smaller shoulders once again. “But for real this time. Did you finally ask him out? This is going on for almost five months now. You should give it a shot, maybe it's exactly what you'd need right now to clear your head. You're always working or with me or getting yelled at by aunt Pepper-”
“Do not, not ever, call her aunt where she can hear you. She would scold you and make me buy her a ton of shoes again, because I'm a bad father and you're a naughty son who makes her feel old.” Raised eyebrows emphasized his statement.
“Not the point, Dad.” Peter continued, rolling his eyes. They had arrived at the stairs that led them to the next floor. “You're dodging my question. Did you finally ask him out? Or did he ask first?”
Tony scratched his chin with the hand that had held onto the backpack on his shoulder up until now. He felt the pink tinge return. He met the expecting looking eyes of his son, who was waiting for his answer. Tony couldn't shake the feeling off, that Peter had made it his personal mission to get Tony a new relationship. He sighed. His son's big brown doe eyes had always been his weak point. “Fine, fine. You got me. I kind of started it as a joke, but he totally went for it and now we maybe, kind of, eventually have a date.”
“Yes! Finally!” Peter threw his arms in the air. “Took you two long enough! I'm really happy for you Dad. I'm so excited what you'll say when you meet him. You gotta tell me everything! I wanna now every single detail! If he's good looking, his name, his favorite TV show and so on. Like every, every detail, you know?”
“I will, buddy, don't worry!” Tony laughed at his son's enthusiasm. “After all, you would be the one leading me down the aisle, right?”
“You can bet your ass on that one! If he wants to have you, he has to get past me first!” The teen puffed up his chest in order to look broader than he was and pointed with his thumbs towards himself.
“Oh, how lucky a father I am, to have such a brave son in a shiny armor, who defends my dignity against all odds the world could throw at me. What have I done to deserve such honor?” He lifted his hand from his chin to his forehead and pretended to faint.
“You're so stupid sometimes, Dad!” Peter grinned and finally stopped in front of a plain wooden door. “Please don't embarrass me in front of my teacher. Again.”
“You wound me, Pete. I would never dare to embarrass you, wouldn't even dare to dream about embarrass you! Okay, okay, got it. Don't worry, I will try to be a cool dad, at least once in my life. So, what was the name of the guy again?” Tony handed the backpack back to Peter, released the teen from his grip and tried to smooth down the unruly strands of his own dark hair. He knocked hard on the door and a deep and gentle voice from inside told him to enter.
Peter grinned. “His name's Rogers. Mr Steve Rogers. I think you're going to like him. Like a lot.”
.oOo.oOo.oOo.