𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 | P. Parker

Chapter 15 - Billionaires in Bathrooms

"I really owe you one. I don't know what I would do without this job. I mean, before I met Tony –"

A toilet flushed. A kid (probably a freshman) walked out, giving the three of them a weird look before washing his hands, wiping them, and leaving the bathroom, throwing a long, confused glance at them before leaving the room.

Peter looked to make sure the kid left before saying: "So, uh, how long have you been here?"

"Long enough to be awkward," was all that Happy revealed. "Boss wants to see you."

Peter's eyes widened in excitement. "Is he here too?" he whispered, pointing to the stalls.

"In a toilet?" Happy said like it was the worst possible thing ever. He scoffed. "No, he's upstate."

"Upstate?" he repeated. "Like upstate upstate?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Gwen was ecstatic to get out of the boys' bathroom. She never wanted to step foot in there ever again. She guessed boys don't know how to aim.

Hopping into Happy's car, Gwen immediately fell asleep, her head lolling onto Peter's shoulder. When Happy would turn too sharply, Peter would gently grab onto her head, keeping it in place on his shoulder.

What he didn't realize was that Happy would glance back through the rear mirror and watch the two with a knowing smirk.

What he also didn't realize is that Gwen was awake, but merely pretended to be asleep. The only thing that told someone she was awake was the small smile on her face as she "slept".

"Take a look," said Happy. Peter nudged Gwen with his shoulder, awakening her from her nap. "It's pretty impressive, huh? They just finished remodeling the whole thing."

If Gwen was fully awake, she would gaze out the window in awe, but since she wasn't, she didn't.

Walking into the building, the two teens got a lot of weird looks from other employees. All Happy had to do was give them a stink eye and everyone else would look away, minding their own business.

They stopped by the floor-length windows, looking out of it to see one of the newer Quinjets take off.

"You don't see that every day," commented Happy.

"Oh, there they are," a voice said from behind Happy. Tony Stark. He was in his usual clothes – a pinned suit that probably costed a few thousand dollars, his sunglasses (which probably costed the same amount) on his face. "How was the ride up?"

"Good. Gwen fell asleep," Happy answered.

"Give me a minute with the kids."

Happy looked shocked to say the least. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "I gotta talk to the kids."

"I'll be close behind," decided Happy.

"How about a loose follow? All right? Boundaries are good." Tony then looked at Peter, punching in the shoulder before swinging his arm around his. "Sorry I took your suit. I mean, you had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect sort of tough-love moment that you needed, right? To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?"

Peter mumbled out a: "Yeah, yeah, I guess."

"Let's just say it was." Tony sighed, sending a look to Gwen like What is up with him?  Making her cover her laughter.

"Mr. Stark, I really—"

"You screwed the pooch hard. Big time. But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies . . . All right, not my best analogy." Tony sighed through his nose. "I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring, you could be a real asset to the team."