Now or Never

Chapter 7 ~ Bet he'll say no

"Bet he'll say no."

Tony scoffs. "Nobody says no to me." I give him a look. "Okay well except you and Pepper."

I laugh. "Keep thinking that."

Tony looks at me and smiles brightly. It's been a few days since the events of the night of Peter's homecoming. Cleanup is already on the scene getting to work and Tony and I are doing a lot better than we were two months ago. We've become closer and can't seem to go somewhere without the other now. Wonder how he's gonna handle it when I go off to college next week.

Tony and I walk together through the main floor of the Avengers Compound with bright smiles on our faces. We spot Happy and Peter by the windows, watching one of our Quinjets fly off.

"Oh, there they are!" Tony exclaims, causing the two to turn around to face us. We look at Peter and Happy with wide grins on our faces. "How was the ride up?"

Happy nods. "Good."

"Give us a minute with the kid."

"Seriously?"

"How about you follow behind us Happy," I tell him.

"Make it a loose follow. Boundaries are good." Tony adds. He then playfully punches Peter in the arm before wrapping his arm around his shoulder. I'm on Peter's other side so he's standing in between the two of us. "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?" Tony says as we start walking down the hall.

Peter looks at me and I give him a look that just says 'go with it'.

"Yeah, yeah I guess so."

"Let's just say it was," Tony says.

"Mr. Stark, I really—"

"You screwed the pooch hard, bigtime." Tony continues, cutting Peter off in the process. "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... I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring, you could be a real asset to the team."
"To the... to the team?

"Yeah. What other superhero team do you know, Pete?" I tease and nudge his arm. Peter's eyes widen at my comment and Tony continues speaking.

"There's about fifty reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers. When you're ready, why don't you try that on?" Tony presses some buttons on his watch and a secret compartment in the walls open, revealing the Iron Spider suit. Besides working on Tony's new nanotech suit we also worked on Peter's new Spider-Man suit for when the time came. "And I'll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man."

I watch Peter with a proud smile on my face. He walks up to the new suit and admires it. He stutters over his own words, not knowing what to say. Tony then turns back to Happy.

"So after the press conference, Happy will show you to your room, your new quarters. Where's he between? He's next to Vision?"

"Yeah, Vision's not big on doors."

"It's fun."

"Or walls."

"You'll fit right in."

Peter stops for a moment and he looks at me. I just smile at him and nod.

"Do what you think is best." I mouth to him.

He nods and looks at Tony who is awaiting his answer. "Thank you, Mr. Stark, but I'm-I'm good."

"You're good? How are you good?"

"Well, I mean, I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?" Peter looks back at me and grins before looking back at Tony. "Try to be a kid while I still can."

Tony takes off his sunglasses. "You're turning me down? You better think about this. Look at that. Look at me. Last chance. Yes or no?"

"No."

"Alright don't pressure the kid," I say as I step in, putting an arm around Peter and shoot Tony a smirk. "You lost the bet. Happy will take you home, Pete. Why don't you wait in the car? Yeah?"

Tony shoots me a glare as Peter walks down the hall away from us. He then turns around as Tony is putting the Iron Spider suit away with a tap of his watch.

"That was a test, right? There's, uh, nobody back there?"

I elbow Tony in the side, knocking the wind out of him before he can speak. I smile at Peter.

"Yeah, you passed!" I answer.

Tony slaps my arm as he coughs to regain his breath. Peter finally leaves the compound and Happy walks up to us.

"Told you he was a good kid."

Our moment of peace is ruined when Pepper comes storming out of the conference room behind us where there are hundreds of reporters waiting.

"Where's the kid?"

"He left." Happy answers.

"Everybody's waiting."

"You know what? He actually made a really mature choice. It just surprised the heck out of us." Tony says.

"Did you guys screw this up?" Pepper says, eyeing the three of us, but mostly Tony and Happy.

"No. It just means Tony lost a bet to me." I say and stick my tongue out at Tony.

"Are you kidding me? I have a room full of people in there waiting for some big announcement. What am I gonna tell them?"

"Think of something. How about, um... Hap, you still got that ring?"

"Do I... I, uh..." Happy starts patting down his pants.

"The engagement ring."

"Are you kidding? I've been carrying this since 2008." He pulls the ring out of his pocket to show us.

I let out a laugh while Tony and Pepper give him a look.

"Okay," Tony says.
Pepper rolls her eyes. "I think I can think of something better than that."

"Well, it would buy us a little time." They share a kiss before heading to the conference room. Tony looks back at me. "You coming?"

I scratch the back of my head. "Uh, I don't really like cameras and reporters bombarding me."

Tony smiles and comes over to me, putting an arm around my shoulder. "You'll be fine. I'll be by your side the whole time."

I smile at him and we make our way into the conference room.

I don't have my whole family but I do know I have Tony Stark to always have my back. To always be there for me. We've grown closer in these past two months and I can't help thinking that maybe the outcome of our civil war didn't just have a negative impact on me, but some positive ones too.

This is the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming and the next chapter will start Infinity War and then Endgame so get your tissues ready.

—ASE715