The Stark Internship

Part 14

TONY

After the chaos of the previous week, I'd asked Peter to come round for dinner after one of his patrols. He'd accepted incredibly quickly - I'm still debating whether it was due to his admiration of myself, or a way to get a free meal.
Either way, I'm cooking as Pepper walks in the front door, fresh from a viscous round of meetings.
'Hey.' She says, sifting through a pile of post, she leans in absentmindedly to kiss me and I graciously accept.
'How was your day?' I ask.
'Chaotic.' She says, 'the usual. When's Peter getting here?'
'Any minute.' I say, 'try.' I give her a spoonful of sauce to try and she does so, nodding to signal it's done just as the door knocks.
'I'll get it.' She says.
I start laying out the table as I hear Pepper and Peter talking. He comes in and I look up, surprised to see him in - not only Spider-Man attire - but an outfit I hadn't made for him.
'I didn't realise we were getting Spider-Man.' I say, going up to inspect his suit, 'or whatever this is.'
'Shuri and I made it.' He says, 'she calls it the scarlet spider suit. Look, if I press this button...' he presses he button and holo-decoys appear around me.
'Impressive.' I say, lifting his arm to check the technology. His suit is horribly youthful. He wears a blue sleeveless hoodie and some form of gadget belt. But the technology is flawless. 'How long'd it take you?'
'Shuri did most of it. And she only started about four hours ago.' He says, 'do you like it?'
'What do I have to do to get her to make me one?' I say, Pepper smiles slightly and nudges me in the direction of the table.
'It'll get cold, hurry up.' She says. We go to sit down as Peter dashes off quickly to change into normal clothes. It seems he just wanted to show me his new suit. I'm oddly flattered, despite him discarding my old one.
'This looks great, Ms.Potts.' Peter says as he sits down.
'Call me Pepper. And it was Tony who made it.' She says.
'No way!' He says, as he takes his first mouthful.
'What? I cook.' I say, 'Pepper has better things to do.' He smiles and continuous eating.
We spend most the meal talking about Peter's school, his aunt. All the mundane things so easily neglected.
A ringing comes from his bag and after a moment of attempting to ignore it, Peter excuses himself and checks to see what it's about.
'Hello?' He says as he accepts the call, and I watch as his face loses all colour. He visibly weakens, his left hand reaching out to the counter to support himself.
He drops his phone and I'm up and at his side before it hits the ground.
'Hey, Kid, look at me. What's up? What happened?' I ask, gentle as I support him.
'May. Aunt May.' He says, quiet. He breathes heavily, eyes staring intently at a bare patch of wall, 'there was a car crash.'