The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 34

"I'm going, okay?" Peter shouted at his father, putting on his sweatshirt. But Tony appeared in the hallway in a second, looking thoughtful. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Actually, yes," Tony replied, keeping his eyes on the phone display. "Didn't Pepper talk to you yesterday?"

"Well, only in the morning before she went to work," Peter replied, frowning. "Why do you ask? Did you fight again?"

"A little bit, but it was nothing serious. Listen, didn't she just happen to tell you if she's going somewhere? I didn't see her at home at all yesterday, and according to Friday, she left right after breakfast and then didn't come back. Didn't she say she had some meetings or arrangements?" Tony really tried to sound like it was nothing, but secretly he was starting to panic. This wasn't like Pepper.

"Well, she had a few meetings yesterday morning, she said that but that's all," Peter said, looking frightened. "Dad, do you think something happened to her? Or - or what if she left? Dad! She couldn't leave!"

"No, definitely not," Tony said firmly, but he wasn't sure at all. He tried to smile. "Don't worry, we're probably just making up our minds about it. Maybe she decided to go somewhere with... her friends or something. Or she fell asleep at work. She must have done a lot of paperwork. Yeah, that's how it will be. She'll be here tonight," he assured himself and Peter.

"Daddy, you're bringing her back, aren't you?" he asked anxiously.

He ruffled his hair. "Do not worry. Pepper doesn't have something like that in her nature. She might leave me, but she never would leave you. I'll call her. I'm sure everything is fine. So, don't worry about it and go to school, okay? I'll ask Mom if she'll pick you after school," Tony told him, smiling convulsively. Peter was really scared. What if Pepper really left? He hugged his father before he left, which he had never done before. At that moment, they both needed it.

But, damn it, how should he not worry now?

•••

"You could come to us over the weekend to make up for the Friday you went to Germany, what do you say?" Ned suggested as they put the textbooks in the locker after class.

"Yeah, we could. I'll talk to parents," Peter nodded, half-hearted in spirit. Ned sighed and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Look, your mom is certainly fine. Dad hasn't written you anything yet?"

Peter didn't even have to check his phone. He'd done it almost every other minute, and he hadn't received a message from Tony, let alone Pepper. He shook his head. "No. Nothing."

"And they don't have a marital crisis? You know what I mean ... that they both need time for themselves now?"

"Indeed, Mom has always done everything for us," Peter muttered, banging his forehead against the locker door. "Oh yeah. And I'm an idiot and I am not listening to her and worrying her."

"It's still pretty cool that my best friend is Spider-man."

"Ned!"

"Don't worry," he waved at the hand, then shone like the sun. "Look! There's the new teacher I told you about!"

He was walking down the hall, tall, of good stature, known to be maintained, with carefully combed brown hair and a shaved face. He was quite young, with friendly eyes and smiles in all directions, from which most of the girls fell to their knees.

"He teaches the basics of physics and chemistry, but he has only about three classes. Bad luck, he probably will never have us. He's really great. He organized a robotic club and there was the first meeting yesterday. A bunch of girls came in and they giggled all the time, so it was worth nothing at all," Ned rolled his eyes at it, but then smiled broadly. "Hey, another meeting is about to begin! You could sign up too and we would go there together!"

"I don't know, Ned..."

"Please! You will definitely enjoy it! I know you have a huge workshop and lab at home, but-"

"Ned? Isn't that your best friend you told me about yesterday?" Suddenly, the mentioned teacher appeared and looked at the two boys with a smile. His eyes wandered to Peter.

"Yes, sir! This is Peter!" Ned nodded, and the man reached out to Peter. The young man squeezed his hand and shook it.

"Peter Stark, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Peter. I'm Quentin Beck, I only joined at the beginning of the week. You're the Stark's boy, aren't you? If you joined our club, I would be very pleased. I'm sure you would introduce us to a lot of new things," he winked at him.

"Well - well, I can try," Peter muttered, and both Ned and Beck looked excited. The man patted him on the shoulder and laughed.

"Great! So come on, boys, let's get it ready right there," he urged them, taking Peter by the shoulders almost fatherly.

"The two of us could get a little closer. Yesterday you missed the first lesson, where I met all the students to better understand and get to know them. So what do you say?"

"Well... well, I... I am not so interesting," Peter growled, and it was true. He had good grades at school, but he was rather quiet and didn't show much. He practically only talked with Ned, sometimes with MJ. He had famous parents... and he was a Spider-man. Beck and no one else was allowed to find out.

"I'm sure something will definitely be found. Everyone has something interesting," he tried to encourage him, then slowed down a bit.

"I understand how difficult it is to keep your biggest secret. Believe me, Peter, I'm just like you. And like your father," he added as the young man looked a little incomprehensible. Peter stopped and his eyes widened.

"Are you-"

"Well, not now, but I was," he chuckled, sadness suddenly flashing in his eyes. He sighed. "It's not easy for me to talk about it, but I'm sure you will understand me. I have certain abilities and I tried to save my world. I'm not from here, Peter. I lived somewhere else... but because there was a terrible catastrophe that I did not have time to prevent in time... I will never forgive myself," he breathed, bowing his head. Peter noticed that he was twisting the wedding ring he had on the ring finger of his left hand. "I lost my family. I lost everything. And it's just my fault. If I were faster..."

"I'm so sorry, sir," Peter said quietly. He really felt sorry for the man. Tony has often shut himself lately when he finds out that completely innocent people have died because of him - because of the Avengers. How did Beck feel about his whole family? It must have been really awful. "I'm sure you did everything you could."

He smiled sadly. "Oh yes. But sometimes it's just not enough... You're kind, Peter. Thank you and I'm sorry I threw it at you like that. But something told me you would understand me. We're on the same boat." But then he tried a happier tone. "Come on, let's go. Ned is definitely waiting for us!"