lacuna || Peter Parker (Spider-Man: Homecoming)

14

"Get in."

Peter blanched.

"M-Mr Stark?" He stuttered, wringing his hands nervously. The man quirked an eyebrow, spreading his hand out to his car. Was Happy in there?

He blinked a few times, trying to forget about Flash and Ned, cos why was Tony Stark picking him up from school? Maybe he'd done something wrong...or maybe he's about to be told he's going to die or something like that. There was always news when Tony Stark was around.

"Um...why-?" He began.

"Don't ask, just get in, kid." He muttered, cutting Peter short. Peter sighed grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest. Not moving.

"Jesus, kid, I'm not gonna kidnap you! We're going to the tower, and I wanted you to come with to check something out. And now that I've told you, it completely ruins the surprise, so just get in and stop making a scene." Mr Stark grumbled, striding to the passenger seat of the car, without looking back at Peter. Little did he know, Peter pulled a rather inappropriate face at him.

Make a scene in front of who?

But he felt a tinge of excitement at the mention of him wanting to show Peter something. So, he pulled open the metallic door,and hopped into the cream-leather seats. Sure enough, Happy was sitting in the driver's seat. Peter let out a quick 'hello, Happy!' but got no answer. He hadn't expected to. The car smelt like cologne, and it was so clean and polished it looked like it was a day old. Even the windows were perfectly clear, not a speck of dust on them.

Why is he so extra?

"Excuse me?" Came Mr Stark's mock-offended voice from the front seat. Peter froze – had he said that out loud?

"Well, um, you know...how old is this thing?"

There was a long silence, as Mr Stark debated on how he should answer.

"Nearly...two and half years, now." He said. Peter grinned to himself, as he clipped on his seatbelt.

"Do you have, like, staff who keep your hundreds of cars intact? Like, daily washes and polishes or something?" He muttered, as Happy started the engine and they began to roll through the car parks.

"Um, no. Just for the record, I do all the 'car washing' myself – what else am I supposed to do all day? And also because I'm the only intellectual who works for me."

Peter let out a small laugh, as Happy coughed in offence.

"So, uh, what's the surprise?" Peter asked, voice slightly high-pitched, because of the growing excitement.

"Pretty sure I never said there was gonna be a surprise, and I just wanted you to check something out, but you, being the only semi-intellectual who works for me, probably worked that out." Mr Stark said, readjusting his sunglasses.

"Um, yeah," Peter felt his cheeks blush with pride, just for the billionaire calling him a semi-intellectual (is that even considered a compliment?), "so what is it?"

Tony let out a bark of fake-amused laughter. "If I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, goofball."

Peter sighed in defeat, looking out the window, at the world rolling by outside of this big tin can. He'd pretty much memorised the route from his school to the tower. And his house to the tower, and from the hospital. Oh, and also from the garbage dumpster on the fourth avenue down from where he lived, next to the really dirty apartment block that his webs didn't stick to well. That's usually how he ended up in the dumpster.

Anyway, he knew they were only about a couple minutes away, but he felt like it took ages. Especially with only a bunch of the exact same looking buildings as the view from the car window. And after a few days, that Mr Stark said were only three minutes and forty-seven seconds, they arrived.