Golden Days✓ Tony Stark [Book 3]

3: Late bloomer.

I rolled my eyes for the bazillionth time on this short drive. Peter is awfully quiet but Ned has made sure to fill in the silence with all sorts of questions. Like shower thoughts questions, I lie in bed unable to sleep kinda questions.

"I've always wondered; can you make a guy explode by making a force field inside him?" He asks and even Peter turns with his face scrunched up.

"DUDE!!" We both yelled at him.

"Sorry, sorry!" He apologizes and it's quiet for a few more seconds before he starts again.

"How about squeezing the life out of him? You can do that right?" Peter turns to him with a glare.

"Why do you have so many ridiculous ideas?" Peter asked and Ned shrugs before asking again.

"So, I read this fanfiction online and I've read alot of fanfictions, but it got me thinking, are you and Captain America a thing? Because, that would be so cool. Technically, he's in his early thirties and you're in your mid twenties and you both look so good together. Are you secretly dating and you don't want the press to know about it?"

I screeched to a halt in front of the large house that was booming with people, I could feel the vibration of the loud music from here.

"Wow, we're here. That was so fast." I said with a fake smile on my face before turning to Peter.

"High school house party in the suburbs. Oh, I've never been to one of those. Kind of jealous." I teased Peter but he doesn't respond.

"It'll be a night to remember." Ned says and I turned to him.

"Nice hat. It suits you." I tell him honestly.

"Yeah, it gives me confidence." He replies smiling too.

"This is a mistake. Hey, let's just go home." Peter finally talks, turning to me.

"Oh, Peter." I groaned. "I didn't want to do this but May said it was a direct order." I can see the confusion on his face so I cleared my throat, mentally preparing.

"I know it's really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body's going through. It's growing now, May said you're a late bloomer and it's fine. It's completely normal to undergo these changes-"

"Lis! Stop!! Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm gonna go now so you can stop scarring the both of us."

"You look stressed. Does he look stressed to you Ned?" I asked Ned, to embarrass him further.

"What helps with stress is going to a party. We should go to the party." Ned says

"Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go." Peter responds pumping himself up. He opens the door and I called out to him.

"Peter." He turns back and looks at me through the window.

"Have fun, okay? For both of us." I tell him and he nods.

"I will." He responds and I nodded.

"Okay. Love you!" I called out to him and he rolls his eyes backing away.

"Yeah, whatever. Bye, Lis!" He says as he pulls Ned away.

I watched them walk away for a few seconds before zooming away from the quiet neighborhood.

🎊🎉🎈

"It's nice of you guys to finally check up on me." I said sarcastically into the phone.

"We had to be careful, Lis." She replies and I hear shuffles in the background.

"Yeah. Are you guys okay? Is everyone fine?" I asked, letting my worry out.

"Yeah. We're fine. We've been better but it'll be better." She replies honestly and I sigh.

"What about Liv? How is she holding up?" I asked.

"She's fine. She was hurt at first but I think she was more worried than hurt. But now she's fine, she really looks forward to seeing you." She responds.

"Sam and the twins?" I asked as I tugged on a loose thread on my throw pillow.

"They're good." She answers.

"I- uh, I spoke to dad and uh, he said he'll talk to Ross. I'm not trying to give you false hopes but he said he was going to try. Do you think you guys can make it here? I want to see Liv too, she-"

"Lis. You didn't ask about him." She says softly.

"Really? I didn't notice. Um, I was saying something about Liv-"

"He's worried about you too, you know. I know he's sorry for whatever happened in Siberia. They didn't tell us what happened. You guys have to talk about this." She tells me.

"There's nothing to talk about Nat, nothing needs to be said." I responded.

"Denying it doesn't make it better. Trust me, whether you deny it or not, it doesn't change the fact that he's your best friend and that he's also a part of your family. Family is forever, no matter what." She replies and I rolled my eyes, ignoring the little sting.

"Since when did you get all smart and wise, agent Romanoff?" I teased.

"It comes with the job, I guess. But seriously Lis, you guys should talk about this and clear the air." She says and I begrudgingly nod, even though she can't see me.

"Whatever. I am serious about wanting to meet Liv though. I don't feel comfortable with her being on the run with us, she should get to live a normal life and I have something in mind." I tell her and she hums.

"We'll do something about it. We'll get back to you later." She says and I hear a loud crash followed by a small click of what I'm guessing is Nat's gun. "I have to go. I'll get in touch with you later." She cuts the call as I fall back into the bed rubbing my temple.

I stay like that, thinking about everything and nothing till I eventually sleep off.

📞📞📞

I drive back to May and Peter's apartment as early as four-thirty AM. I'd woken up around two when it suddenly occurred to me that I was alone in my condo.

Only that thought was enough to chase the short sleep away from my eyes. I cleaned the place to pass time because it would be irrational of me to drive to theirs as early as two.

When I get there May was already awake and sipping on her coffee, a book in hand and glasses on the bridge of her nose. She looks up at me with a soft smile as I dropped my keys on the table.

"There's hot chocolate in the kitchen, along with pizza, if Peter didn't finish it." She tells me softly.

I opened my mouth to thank her but all that came out was a yawn and she smiles softly.

"I'm gonna hit the bed for like five minutes." I told her and she nods knowingly.
"It's just five minutes." I said as I made my way into our room.

I step over the discarded clothes and books, climbing up to my bed, but not before I ruffled Peter's hair. I kicked off my shoes adding to the pile on the floor.

"Five minutes." I muttered as my head hit the pillow and in a few seconds, I was out like light.