Spidey and the Iron Girl: Vol. 2

#4: Surprise!

Peter slept soundly late into the next morning. It was Saturday, so there were no pesky alarms to wake him until he heard some knocking and then the sound of a door opening...

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking until his eyes adjusted to the bright daylight.

"Mom?" He could hear Collin yelp. "What are you-- uh, I didn't know you were visiting?"

"Well, I wanted to surprise you!" A lilting feminine voice sang. Peter sat straight up, officially awake. Collin was in the doorway of her dorm, holding it mostly closed and speaking through a few inches of space.

"Aw, that's so sweet, let me just get dressed and we'll grab some coffee--," Collin tried to close the door, but a red-bottom stiletto stopped it from closing all the way. Peter scrambled to get up-- only to look down and find that he was still wearing his suit. Shit, shit, shit--!

"Uh uh uh," The woman's voice admonished Collin. "Your father told me he did some work on your dorm and I want to see it."

The door swung open fully and Pepper Potts Stark stepped into the room. Thankfully, Peter had rolled away into Collin's bathroom to take off his suit. Something he was not quite so thankful for, however... Now he had no idea what else to wear. He looked frantically through the bathroom cabinets.

Collin let her mother into her room hesitantly-- but was shocked to find Peter was gone. She blew out a relieved breath. The last thing she needed was her mother finding him in her dorm the first time she came to visit...

"Oh, it's lovely!" Her mom put an arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her head. As she walked further in though, she noticed the ceilings that were just a little too high... and the whole other section of the dorm that tripled its size. "But... Oh, damn it. He went overboard again, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did," Collin chuckled as her mother went to the other side of the room where her bed was. Just in front of it was the door to her bathroom... where the lights were on despite the fact she was certain she'd just turned them off.

As her mother laughed about the disco ball and the full-sized fridge, the light to the bathroom turned off and the door cracked open. Collin stared in horror as Peter's eye peered out at her through the crack, her mother's back turned to him. She signaled for him to go back in, just as her mother turned around. Collin smiled casually.

"Yeah, dad's a real trip, just... Let me change and we can talk about it over breakfast?" She walked over to her mom, putting a hand on her back to steer her to the front door.

"Not until I see what ridiculousness your dad did with the bathroom!" Pepper laughed, ducking under her daughter's guiding hand towards the bathroom. "I'm betting there's at least ten shower heads and possibly an indoor jacuzzi, am I wrong--?"

"Wait!" Collin threw herself in front of the door. Her mother's blue eyes met her own, squinting in confusion that quickly melted into suspicion. Collin struggled to find a good reason for her mom not to go into the bathroom. "Uh-- Uh-- it's really not that cool, there's only two shower heads and a toilet, nothing exciting--!"

"Collin," Her mother raised an eyebrow. "You're acting like your father when he's up to no good. Are you up to no good?"

"...No?"

Pepper put her hands on her hips.

"Alright, step aside. Now I have to see what he did to the bathroom. Come on, scoot," She shooed her daughter away from the door and opened it... to find Peter in nothing but a bath towel. Her eyes widened and she stepped back out of the bathroom. She looked at her daughter's reddened face and the cute half-naked boy in her bathroom. "Oh... I see..."