Discovering Fatherhood (Irondad / Spiderson)

Chapter 13: Ned Asks Peter For Explanations Part 1/2

3 hours ago...

Peter climbed the last step of the stairs, reaching the upstairs hallway, he let go of Ned's arm and walked to his best friend's room, Ned followed him. As soon as they both entered, Peter closed the door, he approached the desk chair in front of the computer, unslung his backpack from his shoulder and threw it on top of the chair, then turned and faced Ned, who was looking at him expectantly, waiting for explanations. Peter opened his mouth, about to speak but remained silent and frowned, he had realized something important, where was Ned's mother?

"And your mom?" Peter asked as he hid his arms behind his back. "I didn't greet her..." He began to say with a grimace, embarrassed, he liked to be polite and he didn't feel good not greeting his best friend's mother, it seemed to him a total lack of respect.

Peter had only asked about Ned's mother because his best friend didn't have a father to take care of him, his biological father had abandoned him years ago, going to live far away and leaving him alone with his mother, he never spoke to him again nor did he try to contact him, that was very hard for Ned, it still hurt him but at least he had learned to assimilate it and deal with it.

"She went to the supermarket to do the shopping for the week." Ned said, shrugged his shoulders and added. "It's a big purchase so she will take time to come back."

"Ah..." Peter muttered and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, better because the truth is that I prefer that she doesn't find out anything." He lowered his arm and looked seriously at Ned. "What you saw Ned... I mean me and Mr. Stark talking in front of your house... you can't tell anyone."

Ned looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" He consulted with an incredulous look. Peter nodded, still keeping his serious expression. Ned clucked his tongue, clearly annoyed with his friend's request. "You can't ask me to keep a secret like that Peter, I saw Tony Stark in person, Iron Man, an Avenger, not from TV or in photos." He spread his arms and shouted excitedly. "In person! and he spoke to me! What's more... he touched my arm!" Ned said, leaning his hand on the area of ​​the arm that Tony had touched.

Peter ruffled his chestnut curls with one hand, rested his other hand on his waist and sucked in a breath, searching for patience, worried that Ned wouldn't understand the importance of keeping quiet.

"Yes, I know, I know you're excited and I also know it's hard for you to keep secrets but you have to do it, promise me you will otherwise..." Peter crossed his arms, shrugged his shoulders and added with determination. "I can't tell you anything, I won't be able to clarify any questions you have because later I don't know if you'll miss something or..."

"No Peter, don't be like that, you can't leave me with this intrigue." Ned asked on the verge of desperation.

"And you can't leave me wondering if you're going to talk or not." Peter refuted, Ned kept quiet because he knew his friend was right. "I need you to keep the secret Ned, no one can know that you saw me with Tony Stark, no one." Said the brown-haired boy emphasizing the words "no one". "Especially our schoolmates and especially Flash." He clarified the last sounding just as desperate as his best friend.

Peter could assure that he was going to be the laughing stock of the school if Ned came to tell that he had seen him with Tony Stark because no one would believe it, they would think he was an attention-seeking liar and they would make fun of him, especially Flash.

Peter couldn't let that happen, he had enough with Flash's constant mocking and hurtful comments throughout the week, going to school with someone so annoying that took you as a target was tedious for Peter, he knew that with his new powers he could defend himself and hit Flash but it didn't seem ethical to him, after all Flash didn't hit him, he just insulted him verbally. Peter could try to do the same and insult Flash back but he didn't want to lower himself to his level, in other words... Peter didn't do anything to defend himself from Flash and he wasn't willing to do it, he just limited himself to putting up with him.