You Are Not Tony Stark

Sweet sixteen

Chapter summary:

"May, I love you, but please don't try to bake a cake like last year. We know how it turned out."

"Don't worry."

"And no surprises."

Or, May didn't bake a cake on Peter's birthday, but Pepper did. And they certainly had a surprise for their little spider.

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Peter closed the window from his room when he was inside and stopped immediately. May told him a happy birthday in the morning. She gave him another great t-shirt on which it was written to avoid negativity and under it f (x) = |x|. Now she's at work, so he was very surprised to hear a slight noise from the living room. A normal person would probably not notice, but he, with improved hearing, noticed it immediately. He walked quietly to the door that separated his room from the living room and listened closely to see if he could hear anything more. Slowly he began to devise a plan, but in the end, it was not necessary, because in the next room the telephone began to ring and then the familiar voices echoed.

"Come on, Pepper, it must look like nobody's here."

"I know, sorry. How much longer, May?"

"He should be here any minute."

For this, Peter opened the door and let them know he was home.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked in surprise, but as soon as he saw Pepper holding a cake and the words 'Happy Birthday' hanging on the wall, the answer was clear.

"Happy birthday!" they all shouted at the same time when they saw him.

"Oh, thank you guys, you shouldn't have been worried. I actually remember saying May I don't want any surprises," he said with a small smile.

"Worry? Don't be a fool, it's your birthday! I remembered how you told me at our first meeting that May had a special gift to burn everything, so I agreed with her that I would bake the cake. Now blow out the candles and make a wish," Pepper said enthusiastically, and in the meantime, Tony lit the candles on the cake she was still holding.

With a quick glance, Peter found that there were exactly sixteen candles. He was really sixteen, wasn't he? He closed his eyes and blew out all the candles at once, earning applause from the adults.

"Now the presents," Tony said, and Peter gave him a slightly frightened look. Just the fact that Tony and Pepper were here meant a lot to him. And Pepper even bake him a cake! And they're doing so much for him, he didn't want gifts from them.

"I told Tony not to spoil you, so perhaps he took it to heart," May said with a small smile, noticing his expression.

"Actually yes, we only have one present for you," Tony said, then leaned closer to Peter, "The rest of the presents are in the Tower," he whispered.

"He's just joking," Pepper laughed as May gave Tony her look that always made her fiancé so nervous. In fact, they had only one present for him in the Tower. They decided it was time for the guest room in which their - not their - boy always stayed to become his own room.

"Do I now?" Tony smirked. Pepper wanted to say something, but her phone began to ring again.

"I'm sorry," she apologized when she rejected the call. "So, Peter, for a long time we were wondering what to give you and believe it or not, we wanted to hold a deal with May and not spoil you, which was hard."

"You know us," Tony laughed, and everyone joined him.

"So we thought about how wonderful boy you are and how selfish it is of us to keep you to yourself," Pepper continued, and Peter gave them a confused look. He looked at May and saw that she knew what a gift it was, so he calmed down a little. She wouldn't let them do something too much.

"Well, not from me. People know I'm selfish. If it was up to me, I'd keep you to myself," Tony interrupted again.

"In short, if you were interested, we would like you to become an official intern at Stark Industries. We know you're still in high school, but we also know how capable you are."

"Your internship could be real," Tony said, grabbing his shoulder. "What do you say?"

"I - I... That's a lot. Are you serious?" he asked in surprise. He really didn't expect that.

"Of course, honey," Pepper said with a smile.

"Wow, I... thank you!" he blurted joyfully and hugged them both.

"Well, how about we take this delicate looking cake into the kitchen and cut it," May suggested as they stopped hugging.

"That's a great idea, May! By the way, Peter, I like your new t-shirt," Tony said with a smile. Peter was wearing a shirt he got from May.

"Thanks, a gift from May," he said, and they all headed for the kitchen, but Pepper's phone started ringing for the third time.

"Excuse me, it'll be a minute," she said, and with the phone, she walked into the hallway.

"So, how are you feeling, kid?" Tony asked as May began cutting the cake.

"Still the same," he murmured the answer, but his head didn't turn away from the front door behind which Pepper had disappeared.

"I told you not to call, Jerry. I took care of everything before I left." He heard Pepper say through his hearing, but he didn't hear the guy's phone answer.

"Jesus Christ, I have a family celebration, you understand?! You call me three times for papers you could leave with my assistant? You're kidding me, aren't you? Bye, Jerry."

"Peter, are you all right?" May asked.

"Yeah, all right. I'll go tell Pepper the cake is sliced," he said, leaving the kitchen.

He stood in front of a door that opened almost immediately and Pepper entered the apartment.

"I apologize again," she said, noticing that Peter was waiting for her.

"You did it again," he blurted out before he realized what he was saying.

"What I did?" Pepper asked, confused.

"You called us a family. You first said that the morning you found me and Tony on the couch after the night I had for the first time a nightmare in Tower. And now you said it again," he explained.

"Oh, I guess you're right," she said with a small smile. She was clear about this status.

"You - you mean that?" he asked nervously.

"Of course. You and May are our family, sweetheart."

"I love you, Pepper," he said, hugging her.

"Ahh, May, look, they think they can have a hug without us," Tony said, and two more pairs of hands appeared around them.

And here in the embrace of three people, Peter thought about what was being said. Sweet Sixteen. Maybe there's something going on. Because his 16th birthday was definitely sweet.

***

Peter's t-shirt