Tickle stories - Marvel (One Shots)

The adorable side-effect (Tony x Peter)

"Hey, uh, Mr. Stark?"

Tony looked up from his workspace in surprise, flipping the welding mask off his eyes and on to his forehead. Peter Parker was standing in the doorway of his lab, his arms crossed with his hands clamped around each elbow, looking small and nervous. Tony hadn't been expecting the kid to stop by the tower today. Normally, he called beforehand, or texted, or sent a string of those weird little internet pictures that made no sense but never ceased to make Peter burst out laughing.

"Hey?" Tony replied. It came out less like a greeting and more like a question. "I mean, uh, hey."

"Hi."

They stared at each other for a few awkward seconds before Tony scoffed and stood. "Um...what're you doing here? How did you even get in?"

Peter glanced over his shoulder then back at the billionaire. "The, uh...the window."

"Right," he snorted. He had forgotten that he'd told FRIDAY to disable the tower's defense protocols whenever she detected Spider-Man entering. He placed his blowtorch on the counter. "Well, what's up? Do you need something?"

The kid shook his head. "No," he said, but he looked as if he was trying to convince himself he didn't, and was doing a very bad job at it. Then he squeezed his eyes shut. "I mean, well, sorta. Maybe. I don't know."

Tony motioned him forward. Hesitantly, Peter stepped into the lab.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked, slipping the welding goggles off his forehead. Peter stopped in front of him and bit his lip. The kid had a bad habit of tip-toeing around his words whenever he was trying to open up to others, especially when he was asking for help. It cut Tony a little that Peter still thought himself unworthy of directly requesting his mentor's aid.

"Nothing's really wrong" he finally mumbled out, twiddling his thumbs in front of his chest. "It's just...it's sorta...well, I'm not really sure how to explain it."

Tony wrinkled his nose. "Is this some kind of puberty thing? Where you're, yah know, starting to feel some new things? Desires, urges, unfamiliar yearnings-"

"No!" Peter interrupted sharply, flushing red. "No, no, no. Not that."

"-because if you really need someone to talk to, I mean-"

"I do not," he insisted, practically gagging. "I'm done with puberty. Please stop."

Tony chuckled. "All right. If you say so. What is it, then?"

Peter blinked, cleared his throat and shifted his weight between his feet. "Okay," he said quietly, huffing out a quick breath. "Okay, so...you know how I got bit by a spider?"

"Yeah," Tony said.

"And-and you know how it gave me powers?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Right," Peter said. "And remember how I told you how it also kind of dialed all my senses to eleven? Like, uh, made me a lot more sensitive to loud sounds and strong smells and other stuff?"

Tony nodded. "Vaguely, yes."

"Well, I've sort of learned how to handle most of it. So that, you know, it doesn't really bother me and I can use my heightened senses to my advantage." Peter slowed his rant for an instant and scratched at his forearms, trying to gather his thoughts. "But, um...there's been this one sort of side-effect thing from the bite that's just been bad. Like, not helpful at all. And I want to try to make it go away, but I'm not sure how."

"What kind of side-effect?" Tony asked.

Peter hung his head and sighed. "It's...well..." He glanced around the room, making absolutely sure it was just the two of them. "It's kind of...embarrassing."