"Have you seen Peter?" Tony asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Oh, he's out right now," Pepper replied calmly.
"Really? I didn't know he had plans tonight."
"He must have forgotten to mention it to you," Pepper focused intently on the dish she was scrubbing.
"What is he doing?"
"He... is hanging out with his friends." The sound of a thump turned Tony and Pepper's attention upward. Pepper quickly set the dish down, "I'll go see what that was."
"Not by yourself!" Tony declared, moving toward the sound.
"No! Really, it's fine. I'm sure it was just a book or something," Pepper said, scrambling to catch up to him.
"But what if it is something more serious? FRIDAY, scan upstairs for any intruders."
"No intruders detected, Sir," FRIDAY reported.
Pepper quietly sighed in relief, "See? Nothing to worry about. I'll go find what fell." Pepper climbed the stairs and stepped into Peter's room. Before her was exactly what she expected to see. Spider-Man with his mask off, crouched on the floor, tense and motionless.
Peter looked up at his mom and whispered, "Did he hear me?"
Pepper sighed, "Yes. Lucky for you, I used my excellent skills of persuasion and convinced him not to go up here. Also, you should thank FRIDAY for not ratting you out."
Peter immediately relaxed. "Thanks, FRIDAY," he said with a smile.
"You're welcome, Peter."
"So tell me again why your dad can't know?" Pepper asked, taking a seat at the foot of the bed.
"I'm just worried he will force me to stop. I know he would just be trying to protect me... But I really don't want to give up Spider-Man."
"Alright, Peter. I'll go along with this for now, but your dad will have to know at some point."
"I know. I know," Peter replied nonchalantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Peter!"
Peter turned around, "Uh... Yeah, Dad?"
"Want to have a movie night?" Tony asked eagerly, holding up a few of the Star Wars films.
"Sorry, Dad... I have plans already," Peter replied, shifting uncomfortably.
"Oh. What about after...?"
"I'm sorry. I have a really busy evening."
"Of course. Yeah, no problem!" Tony said casually, setting the movies down.
A moment of silence, then Peter spoke, "Well... I, uh, should get going..."
"Okay, yeah. Have fun..."
Peter gave an apologetic smile before stepping into the elevator.
Once the doors closed, Tony dropped onto the sofa, wondering what he had done to make his son become so distant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony told himself that Peter was just having a busy week, but after a month of having barely any quality time with his son, he didn't know what to think.
Meanwhile, Peter had been continuing on with his job as Spider-Man. Things were different now that his friends and mom knew, but mostly in a good way. He didn't have to lie as much, and they would cover for him when he went out.
YOU ARE READING
Spidey One-Shots
FanfictionCover art by ArtOfNe on Twitter A book of Spider-Man one-shots! MCU Spider-Man is the Peter Parker these stories are based off. All one-shots will be created by me. However, some of the ideas behind the one-shots will have been done before (example...