~Iron Family~

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Peter was hiding under his blankets.

He hadn't listened to Pepper, who had been trying to get him up and go on a walk around the compound with them, but he had ignored her. And a ten-minute talk she had given him on 'family stuff' and 'being overwhelmed.'

When she had finally given up and left the room, Peter had poked his head out and glared at himself in the mirror.

What a jerk.

The Starks were being quite nice to him, trying to include him and whatnot. But Peter's subconscious still thought of Mr. Stark as a kind of villain--who had dumped him on the doorstep of the Wagners,' and was trying to hunt him down to smack him in the face with shields.

Out of boredom, he opened his phone and scanned the first few news headlines. Spider-Man Drone Gone Wild caught his attention and he frowned--he'd lost that little drone that he'd made out of spare parts, it couldn't be just flying around. He'd named him Droney.

Oh, no.

A bad feeling started creeping up his throat. Usually for him, when something was "lost" it meant that it had been stolen. If someone was controlling Droney, and making his public image even worse...that would be very bad. Very bad indeed.

Peter groaned and pulled the blankets back over his head, wishing he could just disappear.

***

The next morning, Harley had a baseball game.

It was his second-to-last one, and Mr. Stark insisted (against Harley's wishes) that everyone go, even Peter.

After Pepper took Harley to the ballpark early in the morning, Tony started to load up their van. They packed chairs, picnic blankets, and a gazillion coolers stuffed to the brim with snacks. Steve also brought a few potted plants, sticking little umbrellas in their soil and covering them with teeny, tiny blankets. Cap Jr. the cactus even got a little pair of headphones.

Peter was looking forward to the game, but he was a little nervous, too. The last time he had been to a baseball game was sometime around last year, when Ben took him. They went through a routine--bringing nothing but their spare change and baseball caps. Ben always let Peter pick out something from the concession stand, but he always got one of those chalky lolipops to bring home to May.

And, of course, they always forgot their sunscreen and game home with red noses, cheeks, and necks. These were all before Peter had been bitten, so the sunburns had lasted just as long as Ben's. May got irritated every time, but Ben said it was he and Peter's rite of passage into the exclusive Sunburnt Raccoon Club.

Peter smiled as he thought of this while helping Morgan pack her bag of things to do. Baseball bored her, so she packed a coloring book, two Barbie dolls, some lego Duplos, and her iPad that only had educational games on it. The screen was crusted with dried cereal, snot, and other gunk, so no one ever wanted to touch the thing but her.

"Don't forget your caps!" Mr. Stark yelled, tossing one to Peter. He gave a small grin and pulled it on.

Finally, once everyone had loaded up into the van, they headed out.

Happy was driving, and the passengers included Mr. Stark, Peter, Morgan, Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, and Clint.

The parking was ridiculously easier than Mets games. They simply rolled into a spot and unloaded. Mr. Stark gave everyone equal handfuls of stuff (except for Morgan, who carried nothing at all), and they made their way to the guy that checked everyone's tickets. Whatever he was called.

As they dropped all their stuff by the window and Clint checked them in, Mr. Stark turned to Peter and Morgan.

"Sunscreen up!" he barked, tossing a bottle of spray sunscreen to Peter. He caught it, staring at it with a bit of regret.Not wanting to add something else to the list of weird tings about him, he squeezed his eyes closed and held his breath as he sprayed his face with the strong, pungent sunscreen.