It's Not Over Yet

Ch. 11

After Michelle had been woken up by Peter's muffled sobs, both her and Ned had crawled into the bed with Peter. Ned had woken up and promptly went to find breakfast, but Michelle decided to wait until Peter woke up. He wasn't usually a late sleeper, but after last night, she wasn't surprised when he didn't wake up until almost 10am. He moaned and shifted as he woke up. He tightened his arms around Michelle then opened his eyes, confused as to who was in bed with him. When he saw Michelle, he gave a tired smile and tried to hide his face.

"Come on, sleepy head," Michelle said, gently elbowing him. Peter just groaned. "Pepper made breakfast and Ned's gonna eat it all if you don't wake up soon." Peter opened his eyes again and blinked at the light shining in through his window.

"I'm sorry about last night," he muttered. Michelle ran her fingers through his hair soothingly and he sighed. "I didn't mean to wake you guys."

"I know," she hummed. "That's why I'm glad you did." They stayed in bed for a few more minutes before Michelle managed to convince Peter to get up. They walked down the hall and into the kitchen together. Ned was finishing up his second omelet and waved when he saw them. Peter opened the warmer and pulled out the remaining three.

"Do you want two?" Peter asked Michelle. She shook her head so he handed her a plate with one omelet. He took the other two and joined Michelle and Ned at the table. "Do you guys have any plans for today?"

"No," Michelle said, shaking her head. Ned shook his head too. "Why? Do you have plans for today?"

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "You guys should come with me to pick up my stuff from May's. I think I'm staying here now."

* * *

Peter, Ned, Michelle, Pepper, and Tony spent the day packing up Peter's old apartment. Pepper packed up May's room, knowing Peter wouldn't want to do that. Peter packed up his room with Ned's help while Tony deep cleaned the fridge (fully suited in his Iron Man suit so the smell wouldn't kill him) and Michelle packed up the living room and other things. At the end of the day, they had taken three trips to the thrift store to drop off things and two trips to the Tower to drop off Peter's things. The apartment was bare when they left and Tony turned in the key to the front desk. They dropped Michelle and Ned off at their respective houses before returning to the Tower for the night.

"Peter?" Tony asked, knocking on Peter's door. He opened it to see Peter unpacking his things; his clothing was already put away and now he was trying to find a place to his comic books.

"Hey, Mr. Stark," Peter said, glancing back. He put his comic books in the nightstand beside his bed. The shelf under it was just barely big enough to hold all of them if he crammed them in tightly. Tony walked further into Peter's room and looked around. Star Wars posters from his old room laid on his bed, waiting to be hung up. Funko Pop figures sat on his desk and boxes littered the floor. Tony was actually surprised they had managed to move everything in an entire day even if it was nearing 10pm. "Did you need me for something, Mr. Stark? This can wait," Peter said, reaching for a poster and some tape.

"No, it's okay," Tony said. Peter nodded and grabbed his desk chair. He pulled it out and climbed on top of it. He ripped a piece of tape off and slipped the roll onto his wrist so he could easily hold it while he put a tape loop on one corner of the poster. He ripped three more pieces then hung up to poster. He was about to climb down when Tony spoke up. "It's upside down," he said. Peter frowned and looked at it. Sure enough, his 'The Last Jedi' poster was upside down. He stood back up and took the poster off the wall. After making it right side up, he got off his chair and went to get his other poster.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, jumping up on his bed to hang another Star Wars poster above his bed. "How long am I gonna stay here? Because I kinda need to know ahead of time when you kick me out so I can find a place to live." Tony frowned. What was Peter talking about? Tony had no intention of ever kicking him out. In fact, he doubted he would let Peter move out of the Tower even once he was married. He would renovate an entire floor for Peter and his family before he let them move away.

"Kid, I'm afraid you're stuck here forever," Tony said. Peter glanced back at Tony was a confused look on his face and a piece of tape between his teeth. He took the tape out of his mouth and twisted it into a loop.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked. He stuck the tape loop to a corner of his poster and tore another piece of tape with his mouth.

"I'm keeping you," Tony said bluntly. Peter almost fell off his bed as he spun around to look at Tony. Tony rolled his eyes at how shocked Peter seemed. "Oh please. You didn't think I would really kick you out? Peter, you're like my son. I know you're 18 and you don't legally need a guardian to take care of you, but I want you to know I don't need to sign something in order to think of you as my kid."

"Do you really mean that?" Peter asked softly. Tony nodded and Peter grinned. He dropped his poster and jumped off his bed, running to hug Tony tightly. Tony hugged him back and smiled down at him. "I'd be more than happy to be your son. You're already practically my dad, Mr. Stark."

"Well then, no more of this 'Mr. Stark' crap," Tony chuckled. Peter felt his face heat up as he pulled away from Tony. "I expect nothing less than Tony from now on."