Welp

20 - Best Friends

Tony Stark and May Parker has reached a stage in their relationship you could easally mistake them for a married couple if you didn't know he was engaged to the CEO of SI, Pepper Potts.

~

"You know," The philontraphist says, staring into his black coffee.  "I could easally get him fired for you or something."

May hates that she actually considers it.  But in the end, she comes to the conclusion that being a bit mean isn't a good enough reason to get them fired.

"Nah," She says.  "Too much."

Tony hums and looks at her thoughtfully for a while before he takes a sip from his mug.

"What if I just lower his holiday bonus?" He suggests.

"Eh," May says, shrugging, weighing the pros and cons.  Tony looks at her hopefully.  "Sure, why not."

"Great," He exclaims, grinning.  "I'll get my people on it before you can even get to bed."

At the mention of bed their conversation topic completely changes.

"You look better," Tony says.  "You look like you sleep better."

And it's true.  It first started with Tony pitching in the couple of dollars extra Peter's metabolism needed.  Then it kept going. 

Occasionally he would slip in a couple extra, but they both knew Peter didn't eat that much. 

They had argued, because they were not one of his charity cases.  Tony just wanted to help.  Tony was stubborn.  Didn't move an inch.

Eventually it just turned into a way for May to be able to spend more time with Peter instead of having to work all the time.  They fugured it out.  She's gratefull.

"Thanks," She replies.  "You too," She adds, smiling.

"Yeah," Tony answers, dragging the word out.  "I've been trying these sleeping pills lately," He says and May nods, showing that she's listening.

"I'm out like a light," He chuckles.  "It feels pretty good to be able to sleep at night," He says, sighing with a genuine smile.

May couldn't help but smile either, knowing all about his sleep troubles.  "That's great," She says.

Before they can continue the conversation Peter comes running into the cafè, fully clad in coat, scarf and everything you could need fyring the Winther (Curtesy of Tony, of course). 

Peter is no stranger to being cold.  Especially since the spider-bite and they figured out that spiders can't thermo regulate.  And of course Peter is left with just a tiny bit of that.

"You won't believe what happened at school today," Peter says, sitting down in their booth next to Tony.

She watches how Tony listents, genuinly intrested, looking at Peter in a fond way she only remembers having seen on Ben before.  He even laughs.  They all laugh.

May doesn't know exactly how she suddenly became best friends with Anthony Stark, but it's a welcome sudden.

Somehow she can disquss anxiety and sleep with a man she met barely a year ago.  A man who only opens up to his small, exclusive friend group he likes to call family.  And somewhow she and Peter is in it.

Before when the media twisted every action he did, demonized every breath he took she didn't bat an eye, but now she finds herself getting genuinly mad when she sees it.

Tony doesn't care.  He just looks at her with tired eyes and a worn smile, tellig her that it isn't a big deal.

At times it frustrates her how okay he seems with people throwing shit at him constantly.

She finally understands Peter.  Because Anthony Edward Stark is one of the most nice, caring and warm she has ever met.

Of course that's when he opens up.  Lets his protective walls fall.  Or when he's a bit too drunk and feeling a bit too sincere.

They rarely drink though.  She's all too aware of his alchoholic past and his cutting down.

"So what are we having for dinner?" Peter eventually asks after finishing his story.

"Pizza at the tower?" Tony suggests.  "Pepper should be finished by 7," He says glancing at his Stark Phone.

Peter looks at her pleadingly.  "Please, May," He says, trying to give her the most puppy dog eyes he possibly can.

After a while of thinking May shrugs.  "Sure.  It's been a while, anyway," She says.

"Then it's settled!" Tony exclaims.  She doesn't miss the way his eyes brighten and his smile widens.

May thinks back on the last year and what a shitshow it has been.  And how Tony somehow stumbled into their lives and became a constant in both her and Peter's every day.

Maybe May needed a best friend again.  Maybe Peter needed another father figure.  And maybe Tony just needed people that genuinly cared about him.  Maybe they all needed eachother in the end.

We love friendship.

May hating Tony's guts is out.  This is the new in.