Dad Mode Activated || Irondad & Spiderson One-Shots

An Unforeseen Guest - A Thanksgiving Story (Pt. 1)

Peter has no idea how it happened, but the fact remains that he accidentally invited Tony Stark to Thanksgiving dinner.

Prompted by mystey-writes: https://mystey-writes.tumblr.com/

***

The only time Peter can tolerate the drive from the Avengers facility in upstate New York into Manhattan is when he catches a ride with Tony. Normally he'd be sitting in a little car, the driver in front making small talk with him.

This was a day in which schedules aligned. Peter's training session ended at seven o'clock, and Tony wanted to stay overnight in the city so he could attend an early morning meeting. It was the method of avoiding a 6 a.m wake-up, in turn saving everyone from his snippiness.

When Peter went on his first commute with Tony, he thought he enjoyed it because of the badass Audi they were in. Later he came to realize it was Tony's presence that mattered most. These drives were about the only opportunities they got to talk one-on-one and face-to-face. Sure, Peter saw him at the facility, but there were normally others around, be it fellow Avengers or employees.

Peter's actually pretty embarrassed about how much he likes these swaths of time with his mentor. That need for a father-like protector is in him, he knows that full well about himself, and he also knows it's ridiculous. He's not a child; he should be fine as his own person at this age.

Since Thanos, he has let Tony as far into his life as he could, just before the point where Tony would find it weird. Tony never hesitates to give him advice, and out of the Avengers, he's most mindful of Peter, but Peter doubts he'd want to pick him up from school and go to a movie with him.

So far, today's car-ride conversation has just been Peter talking about his day and Tony speculating when he'd have time to do maintenance on Peter's suit. Tony goes off-topic once two cars directly in front force him to slow down.

"Are they stargazing or something? Not even Rogers drives this slow..." Tony mutters. "It would save so much time to suit up and fly over this place -- except I'm not allowed to do that."

"Huh? Who says you're not allowed?"

"This county has a safety board that's not very pleased with me."

Peter snorts. "Really?"

Tony lifts his hand off the steering wheel to make an airquote. "'The sound created by the Iron Man suit disturbs the residents of Rockland county on a regular basis and counteracts recent noise reduction efforts.'"

"Hmm, fair enough, I guess?" Peter says.

"It gives me the excuse to be the tool that I am and show off all the cars I own," Tony says smugly. "And I've got plans to buy another one in December."

"What will you get?"

"Something Pepper likes. She's taking forever to choose though. December's coming up soon, I need to get on her about it."

Peter takes note of the trees that can be seen through the window. They're becoming brown and barren. "I can't believe it's November already..."

Tony nods in agreement.

Always curious about Tony's life, Peter asks, "Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?"

"Pepper's family is coming over. It's great because neither of us will have to do the heavy duty stuff for dinner. Her parents only trust us to cut the vegetables and they do everything else. We love it, it's perfect."

"Sweet," Peter says, getting a quaint picture in his head of Tony's domestic life. "Are you eating early? Me and my aunt do."

"No, later in the day. Probably around 7 p.m."

"Yeah, we're much earlier. Three o'clock."

"Okay, that works out then. I can swing by for a couple hours."

Um.

What just happened?

Peter thinks Tony is making a joke. He looks at him. All Tony's doing is staring the road down and steadying the steering wheel. Did Peter ask about Thanksgiving plans in a way he didn't mean? He must have. It was taken as an invitation. Goddamn it, he really is a socially inept nerd, screwing up cues. Undoing this is going to be so awkward.

"Oh, I –" he starts to say.

Tony talks right over him. "Pepper won't mind," he states, eyes on the traffic, oblivious to Peter's concerned gaze. "Her family's spending two nights with us so, honestly, I'll probably need a bit of a break. Great parents and all, I love 'em, but they're mystified by all the tech at our place. I have to change television channels for them, help them with the microwave, all of that, so I go a little bonkers, you know?"

As he speaks, Peter figures he may as well roll with this. He's not against having Tony over for dinner. It's pretty exciting, to be honest, and Tony didn't even skip a beat in agreeing to it.

"Cool, then that's set," Peter says. "Come over for three."

"Your aunt's totally okay with this? It's not weird?"

Peter shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "It's fine with her," he replies, though he doesn't know this.

"Good. I can bring either wine or dessert. What's better? Keep in mind you're not having a drop of the wine."

"Dessert. It'll be one less thing for her to prepare."

"All right, dessert it is. Make sure you tell her that's my contribution."

"Sure thing."

Peter wonders how he's going to explain this to Aunt May.

* * *

Peter knows there's a good chance May won't want Tony over for Thanksgiving. First off, she's going to feel pressure to make the dinner extra fancy because, you know, it's Tony Stark you're cooking for. Secondly, this is a get-together for family. May has a different view of Tony than Peter does, probably seeing him as an outsider who has little business being at their dinner table.

Once Peter explains that he accidentally invited Tony to their Thanksgiving, May bursts out laughing so hard she needs to support herself using the kitchen counter. Her reaction makes him flush with embarrassment but it's better than being yelled at. Fortunately, she says she's okay with the unexpected guest they'll be having.

She's confused though, as to how Tony ever agreed to coming. "Doesn't he have family to spend time with? Any in-laws?" she asks.

Peter, quite deliberately, hasn't been giving her many details about all the help Tony's given him, man-to-man, not just mentor-mentee stuff. Peter feels he deserves privacy, first of all, but he's also worried May would see right through him, sense the pitiful little daydreams he has of Tony doing things like fixing up his first car. Peter's not even comfortable with those dreams himself.

So he provides a vague explanation. "Oh, well, he knows it's just the two of us here. He's nice that way."

"Hmm, okay..." Aunt May says quietly.