"Hey, May! I'm home!" Peter calls into the apartment as he shuts the door behind him. It's been a long day, but it isn't over yet. He has to update May on everything that happened over the weekend and at school that morning. He'd be surprised if she weren't an emotional wreck.
Tony and Peter spent a few hours in the workshop upgrading Droney and repairing the suit. It's still dirty and needs to be washed, but besides that it's practically as good as new. The situation was a bit tense at first with Peter being emotionally drained and Tony trying to not be awkward, but it became more natural once they started working. They kept each other company, talked about different hallucinogenic neurotoxins, and had some laughs. It was a nice change of pace. Now Peter just have to survive May, which is a lot easier said than done.
"I'm in the kitchen!" May calls. Well that's never a good sign, Peter thinks. He throws his backpack onto the sofa and pulls his headphones out before walking into the kitchen.
"The smoke alarms aren't going off, so that's a plus." He leans his elbows on the light blue countertop next to the oven as May pulls out a plastic tray from the microwave. "Oh that makes sense. Microwaveable meals don't cook, let alone catch on fire." May turns around and raises a challenging eyebrow at him.
"You better watch it, mister. I wouldn't go insulting your only source of income," she teases while handing him the meal.
"Thanks, May." Peter smiles gratefully. May fixes her nephew's messy hair.
"How was training with Stark?" she asks, obviously still amused that he hangs out with Tony. They walk over to the couch and Peter plops down. He can tell she's trying to get some answers about Mysterio without being outright interrogating.
"Well we kinda got...distracted." Peter peels the plastic off the top of his dinner and pokes the mushy green beans.
"Distracted how?" May inquires curiously.
"Y'know how there was that fire alarm issue at the school this morning?" Peter keeps his eyes on his soggy food, but he sees his aunt nod out of the corner of his eye. "It actually had to do with why Mr. Stark and I were fighting near the Tower this weekend." Better just get it out of the way as honestly as possible, considering he hasn't been all that honest lately.
"So, they're connected? How?" He notices May freeze and a dreadful tone creeps into her voice. "Does someone know that you're-"
"No!" Peter quickly reassures her, now facing her. "No, no one else knows who I am. It's a pure coincidence that he attacked Midtown." May only looks more confused.
"He?"
"Well, we think they're a 'he' based on the voice but who knows what he could do to change his voice. Plus it's kinda hard to tell with the, uh," Peter raises his hands over his head to accentuate his words "big fishbowl head." May blinks at him a few times and he just stays with his arms raised.
"Okay, you lost me." Peter sighs and floofs his hair with both of his hands.
"So there's this new villain dude who wears a glass helmet. Don't ask me why, it makes no sense and I'm not his fashion designer. If I were, he'd look way cooler. He goes by 'Mysterio' and seems to have this performer schtick going on. It'd be really hilarious if it weren't for the hallucinogenic gas he uses and he's, like, wicked fast and-"
"Wait wait wait," May interrupts. "slow down." Peter slowly nods and takes a few breaths. "Hallucinogens? Like LSD?"
"Kinda? I was thinking more like PCP. Either way, it wasn't fun." It's nice to have another person who's knowledgeable about drugs and medication.
"Excuse me? Don't tell me he used it on you!" There's the overprotective aunt he knows.
"I mean, he's a villain so that's kind of the point. But I'm okay now! My body burned through the drug really quickly and then my suit was able to filter the rest. I promise I'm good." He holds up his hands in surrender as May stares him down with her arms crossed.
"You're lucky your metabolism is so fast. Do you have any idea what PCP does to normal people?" Her harsh eyes morph into those of concern.
"For the most part I think-"
"It causes insane mood swings. Violent mood swings that can devolve into paranoia. And not just that, but visual and auditory hallucinations. Peter," she holds both of his hands in hers, "if you breathed in too much of that gas, you could have overdosed." The air seems to still.
"I know, but I was really careful and Mr. Stark was there to help me. It was just...unplanned. I did much better fighting him today." Peter squeezes her hands, trying to comfort her. She takes a deep breath.
"So that's who broke into the chemistry lab, hm? Looking for chemicals to add to his collection?" She catches on quick. I love her so much, Peter absentmindedly notes with a smile.
"Hey, look at you putting all the puzzle pieces together! You're practically a detective." May playfully rolls her eyes and Peter laughs.
"You're okay though, right? You kicked his butt outta town?" Gosh, Peter wishes it were that easy. Maybe it isn't such a great idea to tell her about the injury...
"Not exactly, but I did stop him from taking whatever it was that he wanted. I think." May pulls him into a hug and tucks his head underneath her chin.
"I'm still proud of you, big man. This is more than anyone at your age should be handling." Warmth spreads throughout Peter's chest at her words. He smiles into her sweater and hugs her back. No one will ever manage to make him feel as safe and peaceful as May, and he can't help but relish in the moment.
"Thanks, May. Love you."
"Love you too, monster." May rubs his back before pulling away. "So, now that I'm all caught up with this week's drama, how about we break out some cards." Peter immediately sits up straighter, a smile spreading across his face.
"Go Fish? Wait, no. We played that last time. How about War? Actually, can we do Poker?! Or Blackjack?!" May chuckles at his sudden burst of energy. He can't help it! Card games are the best!
"You only want to play Poker and Blackjack because you always cheat." Peter places a hand over his heart at her accusation.
"I do no such thing! You're just upset cause I always win." He smirks proudly.
"I'm upset because my kid's a Brainiac who counts cards." Peter shrugs his shoulders at her accurate words.
"It's just probability and mental math." May gives him a look before standing and walking over to the bookcase.
"Brainiac," she repeats as if her point was proven. She grabs a deck of cards off the shelf and tosses them to him. Peter catches them in his right hand without so much as blinking. Ever since May found out about Peter's superhuman reflexes, she practically hurls things at him any chance she gets.
"I'll never get over that," she hums proudly. Peter shakes his head while taking out the cards to shuffle the deck. "Have you played Poker with Stark yet?" He glances up at her with confused, narrowed eyes.
"What? No! He doesn't have time for stuff like that. Besides, we're strictly professional. No having fun. We have to pretend I'm interning, remember?" he rambles, shuffling the cards a bit faster due to his nerves. Things just got back to somewhat normal with Tony, so he doesn't want to make it weird.
"Right, because an intern spends the weekend at Stark Industries' Tower." May leans her elbow on the top of the couch and rests her chin in her hand. Peter starts to bridge the cards, his eyes glued to them.
"I mean...yeah?" His hands slip and the cards go flying all over the couch and floor. He freezes and slowly looks up to meet May's equally shocked eyes. "Sorry," he mumbles before starting to pick the cards up. May helps him with an amused smile on her face.
"Real convincing," she teases.
"It's not that deep though." She hands him the rest of the cards. "Yeah, he's like my mentor, but it's just 'cause he feels responsible for me since I'm Spider-Man. I know he...cares, somewhat, but he's Iron Man. It's, like, his job," Peter tries to explain. "I don't mean that much to him." He looks down at his lap, oddly emotional.
"Oh sweetheart," May rubs her thumb over his cheek affectionately, "you have no idea." Peter smiles slightly, knowing that she's right. They spend the rest of the evening playing poker with goldfish crackers as betting chips. Peter ends up with the majority of the goldfish by the time May tells him it's time to go to bed, which he begrudgingly does. Normally he'd make more of a fuss, but it has admittedly been a long, stressful day.
When Peter wakes up, he's practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. He actually gets to train with Tony today! If someone would've told him he would be training with Iron Man himself, he would have either laughed or passed out. Now Tony is just...Tony. Which isn't any less cool. After a big breakfast to make up for a lack of lunch yesterday and a goodbye hug from May, Peter starts his trek to school. He sticks his earbuds in and lets habit take over. It's nothing exciting, just a short walk to the subway then a twenty minute ride to Midtown.
The school day passes by pretty typically for him. Morning classes are as boring as always, but he wills himself to get through them. Mr. Stark is counting on me. Ned, MJ, and Peter have lunch together in the cafeteria, which is interrupted by a particularly grumpy Flash. He always gets more aggressive when they get closer to decathlon season. Practices are starting up again soon, so Flash tries to intimidate the other incoming members. MJ is quick to put him in his place though, since she's the new team captain. Only a few more hours. Mr. Stark is counting on me, Peter repeats the mantra over and over in his head throughout the rest of the day. It's something to look forward to. When the final bell rings, Peter meets Ned at their lockers.
"Hey," Peter greets as he stuffs his books into the locker.
"Hey, man. MJ and I wanted to know if you wanted to have a movie night." Peter turns to look at Ned, slightly skeptical.
"MJ wants to hangout? With us?" he clarifies. Ned simply shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. "It's cool with me. May brought up something like that the other day, so she'll probably want to do it at the apartment." May always goes all out on the snacks.
"Awesome! Is tonight okay?" Ned asks, and Peter nods in agreement.
"Yeah, I think so. I'll text her." Peter pulls out his phone and starts typing across the cracked screen. I really need a new phone. "But tonight should be fine."
"Good. If you said no, I would've had to disown you," a monotone voice cuts in. Peter whips around to face MJ's impassive stare.
"Don't you have detention to sit in on?" Peter narrows his eyes in confusion. MJ usually hangs out in detention at the end of every school day.
"They'll survive one day without me. There's plenty of anguish to go around." Peter looks between her and Ned. "Unless you have something...better to do?" MJ challenges. Peter's eyes widen slightly, but he tries to keep himself calm.
"Well, I, um, y'know," he thrusts his thumb towards the front doors "Stark Internship." Eloquently put, Peter.
"Mhm," MJ hums.
"But tonight's good! I can make it afterwards!" Peter quickly adds. She holds her cold, analytical stare.
"See you losers tonight, then." With that, she gives Peter an unreadable expression before walking away.
"What just happened?" Peter asks, blinking at Ned.
"I stopped trying to understand her along time ago, man." Ned shrugs. Peter chuckles and shakes his head, then checks the time on his phone.
"Hey, I gotta go. I don't want to make Happy wait. I'll text you later about patrol." Peter keeps his voice hushed about the latter.
"Sounds good!" Ned waves to him with a smile as Peter jogs through the front doors. When Peter sees the Bentley, he quickly hops into the passenger seat.
"Hey, Happy!" Peter steals a glance towards the back seat. "He's not...back there, right?" Happy chuckles lightly, starting the engine.
"Tony's back at the Tower with Rhodey." Peter's eyes widen and he doesn't even try to hide his excitement.
"No way, the Colonel Rhodes is at the Tower?! Like, right now?! And I'm gonna meet him?!" Peter all but squeals and Happy looks at him like he's insane.
"Hey, hey! Inside voice," Happy reminds him.
"Sorry, but he's a hero! He's fought one hundred and thirty-eight combat missions! Even without his suit!" Peter vibrates as he rambles, both his legs bouncing.
"Yeah, well he just got back from a business trip so go easy on him," Happy informs vaguely. He should know by now that Peter is the human embodiment of 20 Questions.
"Business trip? For the military or...?" Happy doesn't answer, but his lack of a response is enough of an answer. "So, Avengers business then?" Silence. "It has to do with Secretary Ross and the Accords, doesn't it..." Peter mumbles dreadfully. Happy glances to Peter for a brief moment, then looks back to the road.
"They're handling everything. Don't worry about it." Vague again. Peter decides to not push it, since it's obviously still a sore subject for everyone. A few minutes later they get to the Tower and Happy drops Peter off. Peter taps on his thighs nervously as the elevator takes him up to the penthouse. When the doors open, he sees Tony standing behind the counter of the bar. Tony turns his attention to Peter and smiles.
"Hey, kid. How was school?" Peter returns his smile and walk over. He sits on the barstool in front of Tony, dropping his school backpack on the floor.
"Give me a glass of the strong stuff." Peter sighs overdramatically. Tony snorts, but starts pouring him a small glass of apple juice.
"Rough day, huh?" He slides the glass across the counter to the kid, which Peter easily grasps. Then Tony turns around to grab a straw and plops it in the drink. Peter shrugs his shoulders, taking a sip.
"Y'know, high school is high school. People are jerks sometimes." Tony raises a curious eyebrow.
"And who, pray tell, is being a jerk?" he questions, crossing his arms. Peter is caught slightly off guard. Oh, I didn't think he'd ask about it. He's debating mentioning Flash when the elevator dings.
"Alright, Tones, I talked to-" Rhodey slows his stride and looks between Tony and the teenager, then his eyes lock onto the glass in Peter's hand. His eyes widen before he looks back up at Tony in shock. "What the hell, Tony?!" Suddenly Rhodey is next to Peter, snatching the drink from his hand.
"Hey!" Peter protests, but he doubts it's heard by either of the men.
"I thought I told you to get rid of all the alcohol! And now I find you giving it to a kid?! You can't just do that!" Tony patiently waits for Rhodey to stop yelling, his arms still crossed and his eyebrows raised.
"Really? You think I'd give alcohol to a minor when I'm not even letting myself drink?" he challenges. Rhodey stares at him, his eyes conveying no emotion.
"It's...not alcoholic," Rhodey says carefully.
"It's apple juice, man," Peter mumbles and delicately takes the glass from Rhodey's hand. Luckily, he lets Peter have it.
"And you say I'm bad with first impressions," Tony feigns hurt and walks out from behind the bar.
"My bad, Peter," Rhodey apologizes as he holds out his hand. Peter looks up at him with shock very evident on his face.
"Oh my god, you know my name." Peter slowly takes his extended hand. "It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Colonel Rhodes sir." Tony almost chokes trying to hold back an obvious laugh. Peter looks over at him with a furrowed brow.
"Feel free to call me Rhodey," the colonel chuckles, releasing Peter's hand. "Although being called 'sir' by a certain someone would be nice." Rhodey gives Tony a smirk.
"Don't count on it," Tony scoffs.
"I thought you were having a night out with Pepper tonight?" Rhodey asks curiously. Tony clears his throat before explaining,
"We...postponed it. Besides, I have time to spend with the kid." Peter lowers his head to hide his sudden embarrassment. Rhodey turns his attention back to Peter with a knowing smile.
"Tony's told me a lot about you," he says.
"About, about me?" Peter questions incredulously. "Like what?" Please don't tell me Mr. Stark told another person about my secret identity without my permission.
"Like how you're his top intern. You should be proud, he's a picky person. You must be nothing short of a genius," Rhodey compliments. Peter goes into a state of absolute awe and shock. Colonel Rhodes is complimenting me right after meeting me. Meeting me as Peter, not as Spider-Man. I think I'm going to faint. Still, he hopes this means that Rhodey doesn't know he's Spider-Man. That'd make him faint in a bad way.
"Um, well, I guess? I'm not, I'm not really that, y'know, smart." Peter presses his lips together and awkwardly nods a few times.
"Not that I don't love watching you squirm under pressure, which I do, but we have work to do in the workshop. I don't want to piss off your aunt by getting you home late," Tony says as he clasps his hand on Peter's shoulder. It seems like that's becoming a habit. I wonder why, Peter thinks absentmindedly.
"Well, it was good to finally meet you, Peter." Rhodey offers Peter a warm, heartfelt smile. "Keep an eye on him, will you?" Peter nods enthusiastically.
"I'll keep him in line, Colonel Rhodes," Peter teases, knowing it'll get a reaction out of Tony.
"Really?" Tony challenges. "No one else ever has." Peter playfully rolls his eyes before Tony removes his hand. They both walk to the elevator and turn to face Rhodey again. Peter can tell Rhodey wants to say something to Tony, but Rhodey holds it back. Once the doors close, Peter looks up at Tony.
"Thanks...for not telling him." Peter awkwardly rubs his hands together. Tony raises a single eyebrow, urging him to elaborate. "About Spider-Man. I know...I know how hard it is to keep a secret from a best friend. It's not fun. So...thanks." Peter's mumbling is almost inaudible, but Tony nods.
"No problem, Spiderling." Tony ruffles Peter's hair to lighten the mood and Peter bats his hands away with a smile. The doors open and Peter jumps out into the workshop, pulling out his suit as he does so.
"The suit is holding up good! It needs to be recalibrated though 'cause the response time is a bit slow, but I think that has to do with the the capacitors being damaged. Gotta be something about the flow of electricity being stunted." He turns the suit inside out and sprawls it out on a nearby table.
"Could be," Tony hums, looking over Peter's shoulder. Peter grabs a pair of tweezers and pliers to inspect the wiring. "Hey F.R.I.D.A.Y., bring up the suit's schematics and locate all the damaged circuits," Tony orders to help out.
"Yes, Boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice answers. A light blue glow encompasses the workshop as a hologram comes to life above Peter, but he keeps his attention on the suit. He switches from the pliers to the tweezers.
"There's a micro tear in-"
"I got it," Peter interrupts Tony before he can say anything and realigns the capacitor. Tony finds it amusing when Peter gets focused. He's a smart kid and it's an interesting contrast to see as opposed to his usual chatterbox self. "I'll need to weld the wires, they got cut from the fight." Peter doesn't take his eyes off his work.
"Speaking of which, how's your..." Tony inquires awkwardly as he gestures to his own ribs. He glances down to where Peter's gash was the other day and wrings his hands together.
"Oh! I forgot about it." Peter sets down the tweezers and lifts the bottom of his shirt slightly to look. There's a light pink line of scar tissue, but it should disappear over time. He looks up to Tony with a confident smile. "All healed up." Tony gives an approving nod and Peter turns back to his suit, picking up the welder and a mask.
"Got your metabolism results back this morning too," Tony informs over the noise of the welder. Peter finishes mending the wires and slips off the welding mask. Good as new! Or, it should be. He supposes he'll find out during training.
"Oh yeah? Do I beat Captain America at something?" he asks curiously. If I have a faster metabolism than Captain America, Ned's going to freak.
"Sorry, kid. Apparently anti-Nazi science juice beats...whatever happened to you," Tony vaguely gestures to Peter.
"Radioactive spider," Peter provides simply. "But, was it close? I mean, sure he's bigger than me but I bet I could beat him in a hotdog eating contest." There's no one who can eat more New York chili dogs than Peter.
"Excuse me? No, you don't get to gloss over that. Radioactive spider? How in the hell?!" Tony looks at him expectantly with wide eyes. Peter shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Field trip." Tony scoffs, but nods.
"Of course, what was I thinking? I should've known," he responds sarcastically. "Amazing educational system we have."
"So what'd the results say?" Peter gets the conversation back on track.
"Well," Tony starts as he brings up a pages of information as holograms, "we now have an exact amount of calories you need to eat in order to not die, which is always helpful. We also have the rate at which your itty bitty spider body heals. Plus, Helen can use the information to create an anesthetic as well as your own painkillers that your metabolism won't immediately burn through or cause you to OD." Peter tries not to react, but he visibly winces enough for Tony to notice. Tony raises an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"Anesthesia and I don't exactly...agree?" It comes out as more of a question than an answer. Tony then turns his full attention to Peter.
"How so?" Peter crosses his arms tightly over my chest, acting as subconscious barrier between him and the rest of the world.
"They dull my senses. Y'know how when we first met, I told you my senses can get dialed to eleven sometimes?" Tony nods. "Well anesthesia dials them down to, like, one. Everything gets too...quiet. Like unnervingly quiet. Sounds are muffled and everything's slightly blurry. It's like my muscles turn into to jelly, too. It's not exactly something I'd call fun. Besides, why use anesthetic when I have such a high pain tolerance and healing factor? Just seems counterintuitive." Tony nods thoughtfully.
"So, a one is just as bad as an eleven?" he inquires.
"Basically. It makes me feel...cut off. Numb. Apathy sets in. Let's just try to not use it if we don't have to." Peter attempts to keep his tone light in order to not seem like a downer.
"That works for me. It's comforting, even. If you don't like anesthesia, then I doubt you'll ever get into anything hardcore like, I dunno, heroin or something." Peter doesn't even try to hold back his laugh. Me? Doing drugs? May would wring my neck.
"I don't think you'll ever need to worry about that, Mr. Stark. Just imagine how much I'd actually need with my metabolism." There's a pause. Something dawns on Peter and he looks up to meet Tony's eyes. "How much would I need?"
"Nope! Not testing that." Tony instantly shuts down Peter's idea.
"Aw, you're no fun." Peter crosses his arms and pouts.
"Mhm, I'm the worst. Take those puppy dog eyes and get ready for training." Tony waves him off with a slight smile and Peter grabs the suit. Once Peter is changed, he comes back out to see the couch moved out of the way and the floor cleared to allow them more room. With everything out of the way, there's actually a good amount of space. Should I stretch? Is there a way to warm up my Spidey Sense? "Whatcha thinking about?" Tony breaks his train of thought and Peter looks up at him; he's standing behind an interface lit up by bright blue controls, waiting. Peter, however, is standing in the middle of the cleared floor. His mechanical eyes widen slightly.
"Oh, just about how color could be relative. We have names for all the colors, but they could look different to each person. We're taught that this," he points to his suit "is the color red. But my red could look like your green. But since we're both taught that it's red, we'd never know. Then what if color-"
"Not what I meant, kid," Tony interrupts. "Let's just get started." He presses a button and a small image of a person pops up in front of him. He drags both of his hands across the 2D image, making it three dimensional. Then he slides it away from him and it enlarges midair before landing in front of Peter. It looks like a robot Tony would build. It's slightly taller than Peter, so it looks down at him with lifeless eyes. This is slightly...disconcerting. A virtual blade materializes in place of its left arm. Oh. More disconcerting.
"You sure this is gonna work, Mr. Stark? What if my Spidey Sense detects it as a real threat?" Peter skeptically eyes the holographic dummy.
"Don't overthink it and you'll be fine." Well that's reassuring. Peter takes a deep breath and nods. "And this," Tony gestures to his right as an identical robot rolls out from behind the table "is Buddie. Your real opponent. There will only be one of him, making the rest of the holograms harmless." More holograms of the same robot pop into existence around Peter. This should be an adventure. He shakes out his arms while bouncing on the balls of his feet and rolling his neck. You got this, Spider-Man. You got this.
Notes:
As always, thank you for reading!! On Saturday we get a glimpse of the training process that Peter goes thru for fighting Mysterio and man I'm so excited to share it with you