Discovering Fatherhood (Irondad / Spiderson)

Chapter 31: I Don't Need a Babysitter

One... two... three... the seconds passed and Tony continued with his hands stuck inside the pockets of his suit pants and with a neutral face, weighing the question that Harley had asked him "how long have you known Peter?", said question had caught the tycoon off guard, if it were up to him he would simply answer "a few days ago" but knowing how curious Harley was he knew that he would not be satisfied with that poor answer and would want to investigate the subject further, in that case Tony would have to reveal important details such as the fact that he had gone to look for Peter at his house because he had seen him swinging with a spiderweb in front of the window of his Tower, he knew that he had powers, he wanted to discover what kind of powers they were and then he wanted to recruit him to be part of the Avengers team, of course, until he discovered that he could be his biological son and put that crazy idea aside for his safety. Logically Harley couldn't know anything about that, and it wasn't Tony's place to tell him but to Peter in case he wanted to do it, in case he wanted to tell one of his best friends that he was Spider-Man and that he could be a Stark.

Beyond what Harley might think... Tony didn't want to talk too much about Peter's mental health, he knew he would get uncomfortable and nervous if he screwed up, in fact... he could already tell the brat was that way, he was sitting on a stool next to him, moving his foot back and forth in the air with more speed than necessary, a sign of desperation. Tony felt a little sorry for the boy so he continued thinking about what to say, of course, until Harley he resumed speaking.

"I was surprised to see you and I was even more surprised that you hugged him in such a loving way." The blonde teenager was honest, shrugged his shoulders and added as if nothing had happened. "Don't be offended by what I'm going to tell you Tony but you're not prone to showing signs of affection, you are rather cold."

Peter choked on the Oreo cookie he had just put in his mouth, coughed to recover, then grabbed his glass of chocolate milk and drank large sips, feeling his cheeks red with embarrassment. Tony, for his part, removed one of his hands from the pocket of his suit pants and cleared his throat.

"I'm not offended, you're right but with Peter my behavior is different." Tony said calmly, he put a hand on Peter's shoulder and gave him a light squeeze, in a paternal and affectionate way. "I really appreciate the boy." He commented with a big smile, Peter became even more nervous and drank the chocolate more quickly until he finished the content, then he placed the empty glass cup on the counter and dried his lips with a napkin. Tony removed his hand from the teenager's shoulder, crossed his arms, and used the oft-repeated internship excuse. "He is my student in an internship on technological materials."

"What?!" Harley shouted, impressed.

Peter let out a sigh of relief, luckily Mr. Stark had not said anything compromising, he leaned his elbow on the wood of the counter and looked happier at his best friend.

"Yes, I go to the Tower from Monday to Friday in the afternoons, Mr. Stark teaches me about those materials and we build inventions together." Peter explained, rather he lied since he had never been to the Tower yet but he didn't want to say it because Harley would find the fact that he got along so well with Tony suspicious.

"That sounds great." Harley commented, truly excited because he loved building inventions. "Can I go sometime?" He asked shyly, taking a chance, he quickly clarified. "Not to work with the materials, I don't want to bother, besides I am not a student nor do I have an internship, I just..." He paused briefly, hesitant to continue speaking, finally he cheered up. "I would like to be there and take a look at what you are building."

Tony thought about it for a few seconds, seconds that seemed like forever for Harley.

"Okay." The tycoon agreed, to the surprise of both Harley and Peter, both friends looked at each other with their eyes wide open, amazed, then they looked at Tony. "You can come because I already know you before and since you are a little genius I will let you work with the materials." The millionaire said in a friendly tone and smiled a small smile.