|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 80• Tell Me Little Lies

A/n: A slight heads up, this chapter is going to be a lot shorter. I have a lot going on at the moment and I barely had any time to write a chapter. I tried to write ahead but I've also been dealing with a bit of writer's block/burnout at the moment. Please be kind. The last chapter was longer and I accidentally used some scenes that I wanted to use in this chapter. Just a slight heads up. Hope you still like it. 
-Jay25211🤗💜

Peter joined the family back at the table. He tried his best to suppress his thoughts. What had he just seen? He was right about Harley. That bastard was indeed up to something. He was lying to everyone, fooling Y/n, and he was here at this dinner table. Spider-Man needed to do something. He was a superhero, after all, he should stop the bad guys, not having dessert with them. And yet here he was. Harley sat on the other side of her, smiling at her, that bastard knew exactly what he was doing. Tony glanced up at Peter as he sat down. He had heard the fight, obviously, happening in the other room. It was his daughter's problem, so he wouldn't step in unless she'd asked him to. Or if she had started screaming. But from the looks of it, they had talked it out. But then why did Peter seem so shut down? "You okay, kid?" Peter nodded in response to Tony's question. Y/n shot a glance at her boyfriend as well after hearing her father. Peter noticed her look and looked at her with a sweet and genuine smile. "Just a bit tired, that's all."
"You're more than welcome to stay the night, Peter." Pepper chimed in from the other side as she sat with Morgan. Y/n looked at her mother, a bit shocked by the sudden suggestion, and Tony appeared just as surprised. Her parents would let him stay over? Without making any strange comments about it. That was new. Y/n then turned her attention to Harley – who was sitting silently in his seat. She did not want him to feel left out of anything. "If Pete can stay, can Harley stay over too?" Y/n asked her mother, since she was in such a generous mood, she might as well ask. Harley snapped his attention to his friend. "Y/n-"
"I don't see why not," Pepper replied and cut off Harley at the same time. Y/n's grin grew. Tony's eyebrows raised up even further in shock and his eyes widened as he looked at his wife. All Pepper did, was return a sweet and genuine smile. She trusted her daughter.

Pepper saw her husband's unpleased expression. She could have sensed that from a mile away. "With Harley there there's a smaller chance of something happening, Tony." She said. "Mom!"
"What happening?" -Morgan questioned, completely clueless about the situation and context. Tony continued to glare at his wife. He did not trust two boys – who almost ripped each other's throats out from what he heard – in his daughter's bedroom. With the door shut. "Or something will happen. Something a little more. Not under my roof." Tony pointed at his daughter. Y/n wanted to slide off of her chair and hide underneath the table. "Don't be dramatic. She's old enough to make her own decisions, we can't decide those things for her anymore. Morgan, I'll tell you later, okay?" Pepper smiled at her last words. "Okay, Mommy." Morgan nodded and happily went back to eating her dessert quietly beside her parents. "Y/n, do you-" Peter started. He cut himself off as he looked at Harley. The young man was looking a bit uncertain himself by the sudden suggestions and talk at the dinner table. "Harley, you don't have to if you don't want to. But it could be fun. You two could bond a little more too. I won't force either of you." Y/n assured him. She also did not want him to drive all the way back home, in the dark, on his own. Harley hesitated and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I mean if you're okay with it." Peter was not sure what to think about it. Did he like it? Definitely not. Could he say anything about it? No. Peter knew he was supposed to tell Y/n about what he saw earlier but would she believe him? It was very unlikely. She had told him before, she trusted Harley and backed him up. But whatever Peter saw on that laptop, he had not seen it wrong, there was no misunderstanding. Harley was up to something, something dangerous, and Peter had to stop him.  

Peter waited for Tony to finish his dessert to call him out. He needed to discuss this with someone. This was not just about Y/n. This was about the entire city, maybe even more. What if these drones start to attack random people on the streets? Spider-Man can't be in two places at once. Let alone seven. "Mister Stark, can I talk to you? Uh outside, maybe?" Tony lifted himself out of his chair. "Sure. Come on."
Peter followed the man through the glass doors out to the porch that was attached to their home where they could talk privately. Tony shut the door behind them. Peter saw him waving at Morgan with a sweet smile before he turned to Peter. He felt a bit guilty for taking him away from his family time. Peter knew how much Tony valued family moments like that especially since Morgan was still so small and only recently started school. Tony opened his mouth right away to start off the conversation. "You're not gonna ask me permission to marry my daughter, right?" Peter's eyes immediately opened wide. "What?" Tony held up his hand and waved it around. "Because you're not getting it."
That was not what he was going to ask. Not anytime soon. Peter started shaking his head quickly. "What? No no no. Mister Stark, that's not what- Wait, really?" Did Tony not like him? Did he not trust Peter with his daughter? "Yes. I wouldn't do that to you." Tony answered him. Peter looked at him a little stunned. "Wouldn't do that to me, sir?" What did he mean by that? Tony shrugged and stepped toward the fence and leaned on top of it. "To make a promise, right now, to my daughter that you will spend the rest of your days with her? Are you sure? You've got so much more to live for, kid. I wouldn't do that to you." Peter wasn't sure if he should laugh or not. He blinked a few times.
"O-okay. Uh, well, no that wasn't what I was going to talk to you about." He stammered. Tony's serious expression quickly faded away. "Alright, then what is? "Tony acted like the conversation from mere seconds ago did not affect him at all. He seemed to have prepared for a moment like that. Had his responses ready and everything. Peter shrugged every thought off. He needed to focus. "Mister Stark I saw something earlier. On your daughter's laptop." Tony's eyebrows raised and he took a slight step back. "I'm not sure I want to hear about that, kid."

Tony respected his daughter's privacy, although that was hard sometimes. She was her own person. "No, no, it's not like that." Peter interrupted him, "There was a purchase of weaponized software. Drones who can fire shots, Mister Stark." Peter said to him. Tony furrowed his eyebrows together. "That doesn't have to mean anything. Y/n would have bought that for safety measures only. Aren't these drones supposed to make the streets more safe? I'm not surprised she would install them to have some sort of defense mechanism." Tony replied, trying to think of a logical explanation. "But she has that at Stark Industries. Why would she need to put that somewhere else?"
Tony's mouth opened but he didn't say anything, lost in his own thoughts. Y/n would not do that. Besides, she's smart enough to program and install that herself or ask him for help. Peter sighed and glanced over his shoulder. Everyone was still inside. "Tony, Y/n did not purchase those things. I saw Harley's name underneath it and his signature. He's up to something. This doesn't feel right." Peter said. "I thought he was helping Y/n," Tony mumbled. He had trouble grasping the idea of Harley Keener – that kid sitting at the dinner table – stabbing his daughter in her back. "I did so too. A few nights ago, I overheard Harley speaking to someone else, a friend or whatever. He was talking about 'the boss'. How he was his assistant or whatever. The point is, when Y/n and I were taken, she was pulled in for questioning by 'the boss'. Although I never saw him, Y/n might have. I don't remember everything. But that's the same person who is after Y/n and me and Harley is working for him."
There was no way around it. Harley is the bad guy and he has everyone fooled. "Are you absolutely sure about that?" Tony asked Peter. "I know what I heard and what I saw, Mister Stark. This is not some misunderstanding. He is lying to Y/n. He is going to stab her in the back." Peter replied. Tony nodded his head and sighed. He trusted Peter and believed him. Even if he did not see it for himself. Peter would not lie about this. Not even if they had a fight. Rivalry over a girl. Not uncommon. Tony expected something like that to happen one day. But that did not make him suspicious of Peter's words.
"Why were you at my daughter's facility at night?" Tony blurted out catching Peter off guard. "It was our anniversary. I brought her back after the date." Peter mumbled. Tony looked at the boy. "You didn't take her home?" Peter had been biting down awkwardly on his bottom lip but released it, feeling a bit more comfortable and braver. "Mister Stark I do not think you want to continue your questions. For both of us." Tony understood the message and patted the boy's shoulder twice. He then turned back to the door to go inside. But he stopped. "We'll figure something out with Keener, okay?" Peter nodded quickly. "Yes, thank you, Mister Stark." 

Round after round after round went by. Y/n won most of them. That was also because Peter let her. With his fast reflexes, he would win every round. Her happiness whenever she won meant more to him. For a while it made him forget about the whole situation with Harley and how he was going to fix it. He might ask Tony about it again some other day. Tony would find some more information, maybe, about everything. He could keep a close eye on Y/n as well and make sure she's safe. Peter could not tell her to no longer see Harley again. He asked her to keep her distance, but here they were, playing Mario Kart on her bed. He did not like any part of this. Y/n's phone went off and caught Peter's attention. "You guys start this next round without me, okay? I don't know how long this is going to take." Y/n kissed Peter's cheek and crawled off the bed with her phone in hand.

"Hey. I expected you to call me sooner. Did something happen?" Y/n asked. The person on the other side of the line coughed. "Yes, well, I told you it would take some time. I am on my way back." They replied. Y/n nodded, not that the other person could see it. "You are?"
"The other one got shot." They said, "Tried my best to keep them safe but the bullet got to them first. Very sad. Yes. Should I meet you at your work or your home?" Y/n hummed quietly. She had seen some articles come by. Those were her people. Bummer. "Work. Can't risk anyone seeing you. I don't want to explain all of that." She answered. "You are the boss." They chuckled, a tad of playfulness in their tone. "That I am. As long as you bring what's mine in one piece, I'll offer you some coffee too."
"On the house? My, my. Little Stark is giving things away for free. That is unlike your name." They spoke sarcastically. "I am more than my name. You know that by now. Send me a message when you're there, alright?" She was a bit worried that someone had heard her in her bedroom. That someone is Peter. He could not hear her. That would cause a lot of trouble she did not have time for right now. She put her phone back into her pocket and went back into her bedroom. The two were laughing and arguing playfully as they both tried to win the race on the screen. Y/n smiled brightly at them. "Y/n, he is bullying me!" Harley whined. "Baby, he cheated. We agreed to not take the shortcuts or use the powerups and he did." Peter joined in.