Take Off The Mask // Son of Stark 2

Chapter 7

"Da-a-a-ad," Peter whined, pulling away from his father's grip on his hand, once they had reached the penthouse. He was embarrassed, confused and annoyed... maybe not so much of the latter. "If Miss Potts is coming over later, what am I doing?"

Tony smirked. He found it adorable that after knowing Pepper for almost five years the kid still referred to her in such a formality. Peter had been raised right; he was always polite to everyone, even the bad guys. He shook away the thought- there was no need to bring up bad memories just after he had finally got himself a date with the most beautiful, perfect, wonderful, scariest woman on the planet. Pepper was the only one who could make the billionaire do anything. They were meant to be!

"What makes you think that you won't be there with us, kiddo? If Pep likes me, and she does, she's gonna get the whole package. Somehow she's gonna have to put up with you, Spiderling," said Tony. He walked over to the bar area, grabbing himself a whisky glass and a bottle.

"You mean I have to put up with all your flirting, which, by the way, you are not that good at?" Peter asked. His eyes widened. His lip dropping. This was the look Peter gave his father whenever he wanted something. And in all fairness, that didn't happen very often. The kid was grateful. Extremely grateful.

Tony gave him a soft smile. "Fine, Pete. You know what you can do. You can invite that friend of yours over... Ted, isn't it?" This was probably an awful idea. The two fanboy geeks together in the Tower that held all of their heroes. Peter had adjusted to it rather quickly but his friend had never gotten over the fact that his best friend's fathers defend the Earth.

"It's Ned and thanks, Dad," Peter exclaimed, throwing his arms around Tony. He was almost taller than him at this point, meaning Peter had to move his head to the side in order not to hit his father's. "We are so going to finish the new Lego set you got me!"

"Which one's that?" Tony asked, more out of fatherly love than the desire to know which nerdy creation his son was building in his bedroom. He often bought the kid new sets but he didn't really check what they were, only to make sure Peter didn't already have it. Occasionally, when he wasn't too busy with Stark Industries or the Avengers Initiative, the genius would sit in Peter's room with him, helping him with his Lego. He was definitely putting his MIT education to good use. He chuckled, quietly.

"It's the Imperial Star Destroyer... The Ultimate Collector's Series 10030 one! It's like the second biggest Star Wars Lego set you can get! It's crazy! It has three thousand pieces!" The boy sounded so excited. Only things like Lego could do this to him. And science.

"Wow, Pete. That is a lot of pieces. You think Jed's gonna be up to having dinner with me and Pep?"

The kid's eyes widened even more. "You mean you're actually gonna properly meet Ned?" Truth he told, Tony had never really, actually met his son's best friend. Usually, he was too busy or some emergency pulled him away from the Tower. Rhodey had met him, so had Clint and Happy, but the philanthropist still was yet to meet the boy.

"Uhuh, kiddo. 'Bout time I meet the kid I've been spending all my money on for your movie premieres and comic cons." He was joking, of course. Those events cost less than the bottle of whisky he was currently pouring from. It barely made a dent in the small wallet he carried around for those weird places that didn't accept cards, let alone his actual fortune.

The teen did a small dance. At least, Tong hopes it was a dance. It was a mix of his legs bouncing around across the floor and his hands waving through the air. His muscles had all relaxed so the grin on Peter's face was bigger than ever.