Accidents Happen

Chapter Thirty-Three Days

It's been just over two weeks since Michelle moved into Peter's apartment. Nothing crazy happened, thank goodness. And she hadn't gone into early labor, hallelujah. Life was essentially normal. Or as normal as it gets when you're about to be a teenage parent. And then there's, of course, the superhero thing, which had really taken the backseat since Peter found out about the baby.

Today was Tuesday, and since Peter had extra time, he was going to the Avengers compound to train. He did this occasionally, instead of patrol. Michelle, who had only left the apartment four times since she moved in, had told him she was going to stay in all day and do schoolwork while she watched television. May was shopping for baby clothes, because apparently they didn't have enough already. She had begged the boy to tell him the name of the baby, so she could have things monogrammed and whatnot, and Peter almost cracked. Luckily, he didn't, and the name remains a secret.

It all felt so strange. In three days, he was going to be a dad. Three more days.

Happy had come to pick him up for the drive to the compound, and since by then Peter had worked out that the man didn't talk to kids much, he spent most of the time on his phone. When they arrived, he hopped out and buzzed in, using the code Tony had given him. Then he wandered to the training room, not bothering to find anyone and report that he had arrived.

He changed into workout shorts and a t-shirt and hung a punching bag on the ceiling. Afterwards, he wrapped his hands and instantly went to work, beating the poor bag half to death. By the time he was done, he had punched three bags off the hooks, and hadn't noticed the figure watching from the door.

"Nervous, huh?" Tony asked as he watched the kid wipe sweat from his brow. Peter panted as he looked to the side, seeing the man leaning against the doorframe.

"Is it obvious?" he asked as he unwrapped his hands and stuffed the wrapping back in his bag.

"Not really," the older man said, walking in and sitting down on a bench. "You just seem a little... pent up." The boy walked over to the closest punching bag and picked it up, dragging it back to the row where it belonged. He repeated this twice.

"Being a father at sixteen isn't exactly a stress reliever," he quipped, half laughing, but remaining serious. "Three days. Three days..."

Tony thought of something suddenly. "You want me to be there?" Peter's neck snapped towards the man at this.

"What?"

"Do you want me to come to the birth? I know we've had our arguments and all, but I feel kind of like your mentor. Ergo, I feel obligated to be there. I know you look up to me kid, and if we're being honest here, I kind of look up to you too."

Peter was more confused than ever. "What?" he asked again.

"You're strong. You have potential. You're already ten times the hero I was when I first started. At first, every time I got to save something, I was the one that screwed it up in the beginning. But you're different. You care."

Peter wasn't sure what to say that. At this point, he kind of considered the man a father figure. And the billionaire hero had just told a teenager with a baby on the way that he was ten times the hero he was in the beginning. "Thanks, Mr Stark."

"I've told you kid," the man began. "Just call me Tony."

Peter took a deep breath and smiled a little. "Thank you, Tony."

"So do you want me to be there or not?"

"Do you wanna be there?"

"I'd love to."

The boy went back to exercising while Tony watched, giving him tips here and there. After a few hours, as the sun began to set, Peter was done. He dried off and changed back into his regular clothes, putting all his things back in his bag. Then, on his way out, Tony asked him to stay and talk for a few minutes, telling him to sit on the couch in the living-room type area.

"Kid, you never asked MJ about the tests, did you?" Peter shook his head after a moment, looking down. "Seeing as it's so close to the birth, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do them now. But do you think she'd let me do them once the baby is born? This is really important, Pete."

Peter thought for a moment. "You'll have to ask her. Maybe when you come to the hospital on Friday."

The older man nodded. "And one more question, I know it might be a little rough for a while, extra mouth to feed and all, and I do you think maybe she would be interested in a job with me this summer? Like a lab assistant of sorts? She's smart, right?"

"Genius," Peter told him.

"Then yeah, maybe she'd like to work for me this summer. Not every day, of course, maybe just a few times a week. I'd pay her and all that. Think she'd like it?"

Peter smiled. "I think she would, but she's a bit of a... how do I put it nicely? She's a bit of a wild card. Again, you'll have to ask her."

"Well then, I think I'll do that."

Peter hugged Tony goodbye, and then Happy drove him home. When he arrived, May and Michelle were already sitting at the table, eating spaghetti. "You guys started without me?" he asked, mock offended, as her served himself a plate and sat down.

"We didn't know when you were getting back," his girlfriend shrugged. "And we were hungry. I am carrying your child and all..." They finished dinner, and then Peter and May insisted Michelle go sit down in the living room, refusing to let her even wash her own plate. "You guys care too much," she muttered with a laugh as she exited the kitchen.

Once the Parker duo finished the dishes, they crashed onto the couch next to Michelle. "What do you two wanna watch?" May asked them, flipping through the channels.

Peter shrugged. "We could watch Mickey Mouse," he quipped. "Go ahead and get used to it."

"Or we could show our daughter educational documentaries instead of garbage," Michelle joked, rolling her eyes.

"We're watching SVU," May said as the couple bickered humorously. They did that often; it was their gimmick. Their 'thing'. They weren't a picture-perfect couple, and they had real arguments every so often, but so far it was going well.

"This show is so over-dramatized," the pregnant girl groaned. "This is so stupid!"

"But interesting," May corrected.

Once the show was over, Michelle retreated to bed, followed close-behind by Peter. His girlfriend went straight to sleep, while he stayed up at his desk for the next hour or so to complete his homework. Once he was done, he turned off his lamp, changed into his pajamas, and got into bed next to her.

"Goodnight Mich," he whispered, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face back behind her ear. She wasn't awake, but he swore he saw a small smile escapes her lips in her sleep. "Three days.