Friendly Neighborhood Birthday Man

First Date

Peter must have spent half an hour in the shower and another full hour getting ready. He made sure that everything was perfect. Today was his 21st birthday, and as a special treat, Tony Stark had said yes to allowing Peter to take him to dinner.

Tony Stark was a billionaire. He was more than generous with the Avengers team, but Peter wanted to be the generous one tonight. It was a kind gesture, and Tony felt that.

"I still can't believe this," Tony spoke to himself. No robots tonight. He wanted this to be private. Not a secret, but private. He felt weird even having the robots know. He, too, took the time to look nice but casual. He didn't want to intimidate the kid.
Or 'man.'
"Should I work on the 'kid' comments? Is that getting old? Is twenty-one too old?" He thought aloud, still no answer from robots or others. Being without the technology made him feel less like a billionaire superhero and more like a man about to go on a date. He wore faded jeans and a t-shirt. "Too casual?" he half expected Jarvis to answer each time. Nope. This time the billionaire had to figure things out on his own. "I know!"

Peter was smoothing his wavy brown hair down for the 30th time when his phone beeped. A message from Tony! His heart skipped a beat.

"Quick question: casual? Dressed-up? Somewhere in between?" Peter had been planning on his best clothes, which would hardly register on the "dressed-up" end of Tony Stark's scale.

"Bizcaz." Peter shot back. Trying not to think too hard as he buttoned up his blouse.

"Business...Casual...? You yuppies with your jargon." It was 6:30 pm. Close to 7. Both men put on the finishing touches.

It was 6:45. Peter was ready. He stood outside of Tony's room, wiping his sweaty palms on his nice slacks. Was it okay to be this early? Should he waste some time? Should he be fashionably late...?! Tony's door swung open.

"Wow. Is this 'business casual' these days, Kid? I'd like to know what business you work for." Tony chuckled as he placed his hands on Peters' shoulders over his royal blue silk vest. Underneath was a modest cream button-and-collared shirt. He also wore coal gray slacks and dress shoes similar to Tony's own. The dark colors made Peter's brown eyes pop. He looked so mature but still with a boyish charm. "Jesus, Kid! Where'd you get spiffy clothes like that anyway?"

"You!" Peter laughed nervously, "You got the outfit for my 19th birthday and the shoes for my 20th. You said I'd be a real ladykiller."

"That DOES sound like something I would say." Tony laughed as he fixed Peter's collar. The touch was intended to be mentoring, but the warmth from Tony's hands on Peter's neck had a different feeling.

Peter wanted to return the touches.

He scoured Tony's shirt for any imperfections he could casually smooth away. None. Absolutely none. It only made sense that the billionaire technologist would own an iron...

"You look great too, Mr. Stark." Peter's eyes met Tony's briefly.
Tony wore a blazer and slacks.

"Well...and thank you, by the way, should we get going? Should I call Happy-?"

"Oh no, Mr. Stark, the restaurant is only a few blocks away. I was thinking we could walk?" Tony pondered over this for a minute.

"Sure. I trust your judgment. It's close enough to walk, you say?"

"Yeah, Mr. Stark, it's real close. And I seem to remember when a certain Avenger gave his address away to his biggest enemy on public TV." Peter alluded to Tony's own ego.

"Sounds like a cool guy to me." Tony smiled and held back the urge to muss up Peter's hair. He decided to he had to ruffle the back just a little. Just to keep up their friendly rapport. Peter didn't mind at all. Why spend so much time on his hair if he DIDN'T want Tony to touch it in some way?