Ironstrange in AUs

Fables on Morality

Summary: Peter and his friends are curious of the lonely farmer who seems to have lost trust of his own hands.
Peter lives in a household open for passing merchants and Tony, the nicest merchant he's ever met, just told him tales of fantasy, trust, friendship. It kind of makes him wonder what miracles a friend would do for the lonely farmer. Who could be more fitting than Tony himself, right?
Prompts at work: Pre-Relationship, Farmer! Stephen, Merchant! Tony, soft Peter Parker

Peter ran to get ahead his friends, Ned and MJ. His hair was a tangled mess from rolling around grass and running around under the sun.

Moments like these were not atypical. The three young children would play right after they had helped their respective households. MJ's household ran the sole bakery in village; she would aid by baking if not by selling around the city square. Ned's household produced textiles; Ned himself had an affinity for making tops, and his friends were never lacking of a change.

Peter's household was a housing for passing merchants. He lived with his aunt, May, whose husband is a merchant hardly present. While May is far from wealthy, she is generous, so the merchants treat her and Peter just as generously. Peter would sit with them after serving them their food, and they would give books or tell stories. Peter wishes he could afford to go to school with his friends but the education he receives solely from living with merchants is more than enough.

"Peter! Look! The birds look so much bigger!"

Peter slowed to a stop and turned to find his friends sharing the pair of binoculars he borrowed earlier to stare at the top of a tree. "You sure are enjoying that."

"We should find a hill. That way you both can watch the village and I can draw it like I've wanted to." MJ shrugged and adjusted her bag straps on her shoulders.

"It should be the highest we can find, then!" Ned held onto the pair of binoculars tightly, wearing a determined expression.

"Come on then. It shouldn't be hard." Peter tugged both his friends by their hands, and off they went.

It shouldn't be hard, but it was.

The three reached the opposite of where they had been before they found a "worthy hill," as they had dubbed what they were seeking.

"This is it!" Peter exclaimed, jumping and laughing as he made his way to the top. Ned looked at MJ for clarification, to which she rolled her eyes, smiled and nodded at. That sent the two boys tumbling and laying on the grass.

"Pass the binoculars, MJ!" Peter held his hand out at the girl reaching inside her bag. They decided it was safer there some three unworthy hills ago when Ned had almost dropped it.

MJ pulled it out along with her sketchpad and pencil case, then settled as comfortably as one could against a tree.

The two boys laid on their stomachs with their elbows propping them up. They utilized the set of binoculars as if it were a telescope, pointing it up to the sky and spinning outlandish tales inspired by the characters they make of the clouds. MJ preferred the company of the two despite their tendency to fight over who can claim to voice a particularly bizarre cloud shaped as their ideal protagonist for the day.

"Hey. Losers. Who's the main character today?" MJ cut in.

"She's an ice cream cone!" Peter laid on his back, passing Ned the binoculars.

"Rena actually looks like a slice of pie with too much whipped cream that it looks kind of like a hat or a handle." Ned thoughtfully rebutted.

Peter shrugged and continued, "She's a polar bear whisperer."