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Peter thinks it’s odd that his mom and dad scheduled his team’s field trip and tour to Stark Industries on such a busy day, and wonders if somehow it was the only day available to do it.  Maybe it was a slip of the mind, or possibly even a scheduling snafu created by one of his mom’s assistants.  He doesn’t know, but it’s odd.  Very odd.

Today is the day of the AcaDec field trip to SI.  It’s also the day of the annual Stark Industries Christmas Party fundraiser for the Homeless Youth Rising program, which means the tower is going to be a flurry of activity.  Well… maybe just the lobby and the first floor, but Peter knows better than that.  Security has a lot to do (Happy has been complaining about it for weeks), and so do various assistants, caterers, decorators, and other employees.  He vaguely wonders how his team will even make it through the lobby with everything that’s going on.  His dad had said they’d be coming in through the lobby that morning before he’d driven him to school, but Peter knows that the rest of the employees will be entering through the employee parking garage and going through a security checkpoint down there to keep the lobby clear for the day.

He doesn’t know what exactly a tour of SI is going to look like for his team, but he thinks it might have turned out differently if scheduled on a less hectic day.  Whatever, he thinks as the school bus comes to a stop outside of Stark Tower.  He’s sure everything will go smoothly.  He’s not excited to take a field trip to his own home, but he is excited for the party later that night.  It will be boring, like every other fundraising function he’s been to in the last couple of years, but he’ll get to spend the night following his mom or dad around and watching them talk to guests.  That part isn’t so bad, he thinks.  Most people at these functions often ignore him and don’t even seem to realize that he’s standing with his mom or dad, but his parents never ignore him, and he enjoys seeing them working, because that’s just what these fundraisers are: work.

What Peter enjoys most about the fundraisers is always what comes after.  He watches his parents put on a show for the people they interact with (his dad especially), and then he gets to go home with them at the end of the day and see the masks come off… the fancy clothes get exchanged for sweats and a t-shirt.  Then the three of them sit down together on the couch, eat ice cream or something else delicious, and watch TV or a movie.  Just a few years ago he couldn’t have envisioned such a good life for himself, and he’s still amazed and grateful that he has this sort of life now.

“All right guys,” Mr. Harrington calls from the front of the bus as he stands up.  “We’ve been over the rules and my expectations of you for this trip, so I’m not going to be going over them again.  Please don’t make me bring any of you back out to sit on the bus while the rest of us finish the tour.”

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?” Flash asks from the back of the bus.

“No one’s looking at you Flash,” Mr. Harrington says, and he’s not.  He’s looking over several papers he has attached to a clipboard.  But Flash, like the rest of them, know that the statement was about him.  Sometimes Flash can be a jerk, though he’s decidedly less so on AcaDec field trips, Peter thinks.  It’s probably the one day of the term that he can relax around Flash and not worry about him mouthing off or saying mean things to him.  The rules for field trips are the same as they are at school, but if any of them are caught being disrespectful or goofing off on a field trip, they run the risk of being excluded from future trips.  This is Peter’s saving grace, because while Mr. Harrington will stop bullying if he sees it at school, most teachers won’t.  Peter only ever gets to go on field trips with AcaDec though, so he’s assured that Mr. Harrington is on it when it comes to any disrespect or bullying between students.  Flash knows it too.

“Everyone form a single file line when you get off the bus and then we’ll go in.”

Peter and Ned slide out of their seat and join the line as they get off the bus.  It’s chilly outside and it’s snowing lightly since it’s just a few weeks until Christmas, so Mr. Harrington doesn’t dally and gets them all inside through the front doors as quickly as possible.

Despite the lack of employees coming and going to work through the lobby, and despite that Peter knows it’s a busier than normal day, he still isn’t expecting the flurry of activity they’re greeted with when they enter the lobby.  There are men up on tall ladders hoisting huge wreaths up onto the walls above the front doors and each of the elevators.  Garlands are being hung up almost everywhere Peter looks, and a massive tree is being decorated right in front of the front windows by the main entrance.  Caterers are also waiting by the elevators with stacks of crates on trolleys full of food and other items that will be served that night at the Christmas party.

“Midtown?” comes a voice, and the class all turns to find an employee with a clipboard.  They’re wearing a red Santa hat.

“Yes, we’re Midtown,” Mr. Harrington says, and steps forward to greet them.

“Great, we’ve been expecting you.  We hope you’ll forgive the mess, there’s a large Christmas fundraiser going on later tonight, so the lobby and first floor will be full of people today.  Luckily we’ll be up on other floors for our tour.  My name is Kyrie and I’ll be your tour guide today.  I work for the Public Relations department.”

They lead the class to a security checkpoint where Happy is standing with three other security guards going over something.  Happy doesn’t look up or acknowledge the group’s presence, but one of the security guards breaks away to run them through the scanner and check their names off a list of approved visitors for the day.

Peter is the fourth or fifth person through the line, and thinks Happy hasn’t noticed him at all, but just as Kyrie is about to lead them to an elevator, Happy says, “Hold up.”

Peter turns and looks at him, knowing Happy isn’t talking to the class or their tour guide.  The rest of the team keeps walking to follow Kyrie to the elevator, but Peter stops and waits for Happy.

“Heads up, your dad is walking around with a Santa hat in hand,” Happy says quietly.

Peter frowns.  “Ok…”

“It’s for you.”

He lets out a sigh.  “Ok, thanks, Happy.”

Happy gives him a nod, face set in a permanently unhappy look because he’s stressed out and probably will be until sometime tomorrow morning, and turns away, allowing Peter to catch up with his team.

“First stop is the PR department,” Kyrie says as they get into the elevator.  The big party tonight is a charity event.  My department is running it, so we’ll stop off and get a quick little spiel about what PR does and why we organize things like charity events.  After that we’ll go check out some engineering labs.”

Kyrie takes them up to the tenth floor.  There are various Christmas decorations up around the PR department, but nothing like what is being put together in the lobby and on the first floor.  The decorations here are more of things that employees have brought in themselves and put up around the office or their cubicles.  There’s an odd string of colorful Christmas lights here, a wreath there, and several small Christmas trees just big enough to fit on a desk.  Peter loves the mishmash of Christmas decor.  It’s a little too early in December to see people walking around in Christmas sweaters, especially in the PR department, where they’re usually wearing suits or other business attire, but he’s betting that once they get up to some of the labs he’ll see some ugly Christmas sweaters.  He knows his dad has one with Spider Man on the front.

Peter doesn’t think PR is all that interesting, but he still listens to what’s being said.  He’s heard most of this before, not directly from PR, but from his mom, who is always trying to keep his dad from hurting stocks by doing anything too crazy.  His dad has a Twitter account for instance, but PR has control of it.  Sometimes his dad will post something a little too off the wall, and PR will go in and delete it.  His dad doesn’t seem to mind all that much, and Peter thinks he likes to make a game of it when he’s bored, posting random things in the middle of board meetings and then watching them disappear before his very eyes.

Peter is more excited when they leave PR and get back into the elevator.

“Let’s check out an intern lab up on the twenty seventh floor,” Kyrie says.  “I happen to know there’s some interesting stuff going on in there today.”

“What kind of interesting stuff?” Seth asks.

“They have a demonstration ready for you.”

Peter perks up.  His dad had told him about a few of the stops they’d be making on this tour, but not all of them, and nothing about a demonstration.  He’s been to a bunch of the R and D labs, and some of the intern labs as well, but there’s so much going on… so many interesting new technological advances being made, that he’s not always aware of all of the cool stuff going on at once.

He’s so focused on thoughts of what this demonstration might entail as they leave the elevator, that he doesn’t see a harried looking employee approaching him until they’re right next to him.  “Hold on, I need a measurement.”

Peter startles and turns to find a tailor.  She has a pen and pad of paper in hand, and a cloth measuring tape hanging around both sides of her neck.

At the front of the group, Kyrie turns and sees that the tailor is there, and stops walking so the group will stop. Peter is uncomfortably aware that his class is looking around, wondering why they’re stopped, and that they’re slowly turning around to look when they hear the tailor talking.

“Just need a few measurements, then you can go.”

“Uh… now?” Peter asks, trying to keep his voice low, but there’s nothing for it.  His class has already seen.  Only Mr. Harrington and Ned know that he’s the son of Tony and Pepper Stark.

The tailor uses the cloth tape measure to measure between his armpit and his waist, and then around his waist.  Peter starts to fidget and shifts from one foot to another, face red.  He doesn’t see why they have to do this now.  He has several suits already, and he’d been measured two weeks ago for a brand new one just for tonight.  As far as he knows, that suit is already done and waiting for him to wear.  Yet here the tailor is measuring him again anyway.

“Hold still Junior, I gotta get this done!” she scolds, though her tone is more stressed than chastising.  Peter hastens to obey, hoping this will be over quickly.  It is.  She jots down several measurements and is gone.  The whole thing lasts less than a minute, but still, his class is looking at him like he’s some sort of alien species fresh in from another planet.  He has a hard enough time making friends as it is, and this isn’t helping.

He looks at Kyrie for help, and they nod and say, “Almost there.  I think you guys are really going to be impressed with the demonstration the interns have ready for you.”

MJ frowns slightly, and keeps glancing back at Peter, but she doesn’t ask what that was all about.  Peter decides to speak up anyway.  “That was weird, right?” he asks, voice low.

“Yeah,” she says, and forces her eyes forward, probably because Peter’s face is so red from embarrassment that he looks like a sun-ripened tomato that’s ready to burst.

The interns in the lab they’re visiting have prepared a demonstration involving shooting exploding Christmas ornaments out of a potato gun-like device.  It has no practical application, but they’ve built it just to show off to the AcaDec team.  Peter normally would have enjoyed seeing the red and green ornaments go flying and hit the wall, exploding into shards of glass and glitter, but he stands at the back of the group, fidgeting nervously and wondering what his teammates think about him.

“No one noticed,” Ned says under his breath, standing beside him.

“What?”

“You’re good.  I don’t think anyone heard what the tailor said.”

“What did she say?” Peter asks, panicked.  He’d barely been listening as she had been measuring him.

Ned leans in and whispers only so Peter can hear, “She called you Junior.”

Peter’s face pales.  Great, that’s just great.  He loves being Tony and Pepper’s son, but they’ve never announced it to the public that they adopted him.  He figures they haven’t announced it for a reason, despite that most people around SI know that he belongs to them.  So Peter doesn’t tell people either.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ned reassures him as another glass ornament explodes and sends glitter everywhere.

Right.  Don’t worry about it.  One incident.  One tailor had come up to him.  It’s nothing to worry about, he tries to reassure himself.  If his classmates ask, he can just chalk it up to a crazy misunderstanding… say that he doesn’t know why a random tailor wandering the halls of SI came up to him specifically and started measuring him.

Or, he thinks, disheartened, he is totally screwed.  Maybe they’ll believe him if he tells them he’s an alien from some made up planet.  He’s not sure if that’s better or worse.

* * *

They visit two more labs before Peter understands that the thing with the tailor is not going to be an isolated incident.  One of his mom’s assistants finds him at lunch in the employee cafeteria on the 40th floor, and doesn’t hesitate to come up to the table where he’s sitting with Ned, Flash, Seth and Betty eating lunch.

“Sorry to bother you,” she says.  She has a Stark Tablet out and a stylus in hand.  “The caterers need to know: Peppermint or Earl Grey.”

He can feel his face heating up again.  He opens his mouth, closes it, blinks twice, and then finally speaks when Ned nudges him under the table with his knee.  “Definitely not peppermint, and I’m not allowed to have caffeine.”

“Blueberry?” she asks.

He nods.  “Sure.”

She marks it down on her tablet, turns and walks away.

Peter’s face is red through the rest of lunch.

* * *

He shouldn’t be surprised when his dad pops out of an elevator in a hall they’re walking down thirty minutes later, because Happy had warned him, but Peter’s brain has been bouncing back and forth between ‘in a fog’ and ‘on fire’ all day.  His dad has the promised red santa hat in hand.

“No,” Peter says before anyone else even spots Tony standing by the elevator waiting for him.

“What?” Tony asks with a grin.

Peter points at the hat.  “I’m not wearing that.”

“Your tour guide is wearing one.”

“I’m not a tour guide.”

“Pretty sure the interns on the lab on the 27th floor were wearing them.”

Peter lets his head fall back so he’s staring at the ceiling.  He takes a breath, holds out his hand and pulls himself together so he can get out of this.  Alien.  They have to believe I’m an alien by now because it can’t get any weirder than Tony Stark trying to make me wear a Santa hat!

His dad waits until he lifts his head up and meets his eyes to put the Santa hat in his hand.

“Buck up kiddo, you look like you need some Christmas cheer.”

Peter looks like he’s being tortured.  He might not mind his dad bringing him a Santa hat on any other day, but today things are already getting out of hand.  The red hat is going to compliment the red of his face.

Peter puts the hat on and stares at his dad, hoping he’ll leave.  Tony frowns a little, like he’s not sure where the interaction went wrong, and steps back into the elevator.  As soon as the doors close, Ned pulls the hat off of Peter’s head and puts it on himself.  “I’m keeping this.  You can’t have it back.  This hat belonged to Tony Stark.”

Peter just stares at him.

“Iron Man’s Santa hat Peter,” Ned clarifies, talking slowly.  “You can pry this hat off my cold dead body.  I’m going to be buried in it.”

It’s not like Ned has never met his dad before.  He comes over all the time… has seen his dad’s lab, and has at least six autographs, both from Tony Stark and from Iron Man.  Heck, he even has one of Tony’s old Stark Phones.

It’s not until the class is walking again, headed to the wave energy lab, that Peter figures out what Ned had done for him.  He’d taken the attention away from Peter and his dad, and made his class think all about the value of the dumb hat.  Peter nudges Ned, and when his friend looks over, gives him a grateful look.  Ned’s face lights up and he grins at him.  Suddenly the red hat on Ned’s head goes from looking ridiculous to looking festive, all because Ned is smiling.  Ned is Spider Man’s guy in the chair, but more than that, he’s Peter’s one and only friend.  His best friend.  Peter will do anything to repay him, and thinks he’s willing to empty his savings account to buy Ned a PS5 for Christmas along with some games.  Yeah… that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

* * *

The measurement lady comes back around two.  He has an hour left of the tour and wishes he could just hide out in a bathroom or something until it’s over so people will stop approaching him and drawing his teammate’s attention to him.

He can’t imagine how the tailor will even get whatever she’s making for him finished before the party that night at six thirty if she’s still taking measurements at two in the afternoon.

“Can’t I just wear the one that was already made?” he pleads with her, as though she has any say in the matter.

She scoffs.  “He changed the plans, nothing I can do.”  She sounds irritated about it, but Peter doesn’t mind.  He feels bad for her.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she tells him.  “We expect this anytime there’s a big event.  I’m on retainer to be on standby.”

He wants to laugh at that.  He’s heard of having lawyers on retainer, but tailors?  His dad should just hire the tailor and give her an office in the tower.  He hopes she’s being paid well, but thinks she is.  As much as Peter hates this, she’s the one having to do all the work.  He sincerely hopes that his dad isn’t having her make him a bright red Santa suit to go with the hat.

He finds his teammates watching him when she leaves again, but he turns his eyes down to the floor right away.  One more hour, he thinks.  Maybe when he gets home from school he’ll ask his parents to put him in a private school where no one knows him and he can start all over again.  He’s pretty sure that even if they agreed, any new kids he encountered would be quick to peg him as a weirdo there too.

* * *

Peter expects to be stopped during the field trip yet again, so it doesn’t surprise him to see Happy approaching him as they wait on the second floor in an alcove for their tour guide to come back with some souvenirs for them.  They’re supposed to leave in twenty minutes, but Peter knows he’s not lucky enough to escape without being approached yet again.

Happy eyes the floppy red hat on Ned’s head, and then his eyes move to Peter and the resigned look on his face.  He doesn’t pull Peter aside this time to talk to him and does it right there in front of his class.  Normally Happy is more discreet about things like this, but like everyone else trying to get ready for the party that’s just a few hours away, Happy looks stressed out and in a hurry.

“Anything past five PM and you don’t go out.  I don’t care if the sky is falling, I’m not going out to track you down, got it?  Five.  No, you know what?  Scratch that, four.  Don’t go out after four.”

Peter sighs.  “We’ll barely be back to Midtown by four.”

“I’ll clear it with Boss for you to stay after the field trip.”  He looks at his watch and sees that it’s almost three, and that Peter’s team will be heading back to school soon.  “Just stay put.”

“Happy-”

“No, I’ve got things to do and I have to be here to do them.  I’d put Boss in charge of picking you up, but Mrs. Boss already told me to keep him in starting at three.”

For the first time that day since stepping back into the tower, Peter can’t help but smiling at Happy’s back as he walks away.  His mom won’t let his dad leave the tower because she’s afraid he’ll skip out on the party later that night.  “Not even if the sky is falling,” Happy had told him.  Happy and Pepper are both clearly thinking about Spider Man and Iron Man.

“I mean it Peter!” Happy calls as he disappears around a corner.  Peter’s smile turns into a grin, and he turns back around to find the other kids on his team watching him.  The smile falls off his face right away and he’s filled with dread.  He’s going to have to explain to them.  After everything they’ve seen that day, he has no choice now.

“Uh, I can explain,” he says, voice quiet and shaky.

Before he can continue, MJ puts her hand up to stop him.  “We’ve got it all figured out.”

“What?”

“You’re Stark’s kid,” she says.

Oh.  So they had heard the tailor call him Junior.  Peter opens his mouth and then closes it.  He doesn’t know what to say to that, because he is.  Mr. Stark had adopted him almost three years before, when he was 13 and living on the street, trying to figure out his spider powers all on his own while trying not to freeze and starve to death.

Peter expects his classmates to start yelling at him… to start asking why he never told them.  Flash is oddly quiet, face hard set, and Peter isn’t sure what that’s about… if he’s going to be paying for this in the coming days and months.

“I can explain,” he starts again, but Cindy interrupts him and says, “You don’t have to.  You don’t have to explain anything to us.  Your home life and family life can be private.  We don’t expect an explanation.  It must be hard being in the spotlight all the time.”

Peter looks around at his class and aside from Flash, he thinks they all look like they agree with Cindy.

“We saw how uncomfortable you looked when all those people kept coming up to you,” Seth says.  “You just wanted to do the field trip and they wouldn’t leave you alone.  You must be going to the big Christmas party tonight?”

“Y- yeah,” he says, trying not to feel like an animal backed into a corner, because they’re being pretty nice to him… a lot nicer than he’d expected.  “Thanks.  For not… calling me out for it.”

“We’ve got you covered.  Your secret’s safe with us.”

“It’s not really a secret… I just- figured no one but Ned would believe me.”  There was no way anyone was going to believe him when his parents hadn’t made it known publicly.  Flash wouldn’t even believe him that he had an internship at SI, and had gone out of his way to make sure no one else would believe Peter either.

The eyes of the group move collectively to Flash, who is staring at the floor.

“So what’s this big party anyway?” Jason asks, because the group is awkwardly quiet… too quiet.

“Uh… a fancy holiday party.  It’s all going to be adults.  I’m usually the only teenager there.”

“And you have to go?”

Peter nods.  He’d been looking forward to it but after the day he’s had, he wants nothing more than to go up to his room and play video games and drink more eggnog than he should.  It would be even better if he could invite Ned.

“Hey Pete!”  Peter stiffens for a moment, and then looks up at the sound of his dad’s voice.  Tony is down the hallway, hanging out of an elevator.  “Come here for a minute will you?”

Peter shuffles off down the hallway, shoulders fallen, like he can’t escape this thing that’s been happening all day, because in reality he knows he can’t.

The class watches him talking to Mr. Stark even though they can’t hear what’s being said because they’re talking in low tones and are pretty far down the hall.  Mr. Stark doesn’t even step out of the elevator, he just holds the door open and hangs out of it a little.  At some point in the brief conversation, Peter looks up at him and his entire demeanor changes.  “Really?” they hear him say, because he’d raised his voice in excitement.  Mr. Stark nods, smiles down at his son, and then moves back into the elevator all the way.  Peter comes back down the hall looking nervous, but with a smile on his face.

“So uh…” he trails off.  “My dad-” he pauses, pulls in a deep breath, realizing he’d just called Mr. Stark “dad” in front of his class for the first time, and then speeds through the rest of what he has to say all in a rush.  “My dad says I can have some friends over instead of going to the gala thing and that we can have our own party.  So do you wanna come over tonight?”  It all comes out so fast that his words run into each other, and it takes them long moments to piece together what he said.

“I only heard half of that.  Did you just invite us to a private Christmas party?” MJ asks.

“At my house… uh… here.  Not the big Christmas party gala thing going on tonight… just us.”  Peter looks up to Mr. Harrington and says, “Except you Mr. Harrington.  He said you were invited to the big Christmas party.  Unless you don’t like that sort of thing, then you can come with us.”  Peter reaches up to the back of his neck and rubs it nervously.  He knows Ned will come, and thinks MJ might agree to as well.  The rest of them he has no idea about.  Ned is his only friend.  Peter is a science nerd and has always had trouble making friends, even at Midtown.  “Uh… I have a Playstation, and there will be eggnog and pizza and stuff… we’ll just be hanging out.  That might be kind of boring.  Sorry,” he ends up finishing.  As he talks, his voice grows quieter and quieter.

“So… we gotta dress up for this thing?” Seth asks.

“Oh, no, no no,” Peter hurries to say.  “Just, whatever you wanna wear is good.  Just hanging out, like I said.”

“In the penthouse,” Seth says for clarification. “Hanging out in Iron Man’s penthouse.”

“Yeah.”

Seth looks around the group and says, “I’m in.  What time?”

Peter looks up at him uncertainly, but then a slow smile comes over his face.  “Six.  Yeah, six.  Just come in through the lobby and security will tell you where to go.”

“I’m in.”

“I’m coming.”

“Do you want me to bring anything?  My mom made a bunch of Christmas cookies earlier.”

“I can bring a bag of chips.”

“What games do you have on the Playstation Peter?”

He’s bombarded with questions on all sides, but unlike earlier in the day, he doesn’t mind these so much.  Ned starts listing off the video games Peter has and fielding questions about whether or not he’s been to Peter’s house before, and Peter is grateful his friend is willing to answer for him.  His eyes travel around the group, and he notes that Flash is still staring at the ground, not talking to anyone.

“You coming too?” Peter asks.  Flash doesn’t hear him over his classmates talking, or does and decides not to answer.  Peter tries again.  “Flash?  Do you wanna come too?”

Flash looks up with confusion in his eyes, finds Peter, and then after a few moments he grows angry.  “Right, just trying to make a fool of me after how I treated you, right Parker?”

Peter pulls back a little, not wanting to be in the line of fire.  “No.  I just- uh… the invite was for everybody in the group.  Everyone had a background check before they came for the field trip so… you’re all good to come back tonight if you want.”

Flash blinks, frowns, and blinks again.  “You’re actually inviting me?”  Peter nods.  “After everything I did?  After all the things I said to you?  After-” he doesn’t finish that.  After pushing you down in the hall the year before.

Peter nods.  “Yeah.”

“Why?”

He shrugs.  “It’s gonna be fun?”  He’s not really sure if it will be fun or anxiety inducing, but he’s hoping it will be fun.  “Ok, I don’t know if it’s gonna be fun.  I’ve never been to a party really… uh, aside from that one time at Liz’s house, and that wasn’t fun, so my experience is kind of limited.  But we have eggnog, so…” in Peter’s mind eggnog makes it better than that party at Liz’s all on its own.

“So if I show up tonight,” Flash hedges, fingers fidgeting at his side, balling and unballing into a fist and then tapping on his pant leg.  “I’m not gonna be turned away at the door?”

Peter shakes his head.  “No.  If they turn you away just call me.”  He knows Flash has his cell number.  The entire AcaDec team has each other’s numbers because they’re all in a group chat where MJ frequently threatens to come to their houses on the weekend and force them to study if they won’t do it on their own.

“Whatever Parker.”  Flash says, and he turns away from Peter.  Peter’s shoulder’s fall, but he’s immediately pulled back into the conversation the rest of the class is having about the party that night.

He leans in towards MJ and says, “Someone bring Flash.”

“Really?” she asks, brow raised.  He nods.  “Yeah, ok.  But only in the name of team unity.”

* * *

Peter stresses out over what to wear.  He knows that everyone in the AcaDec team has at least one nice outfit to wear, because they’re required to wear a nice outfit to competitions, but he doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable by wearing something they’ll all see as expensive and that will make him look pompous.  That’s the last thing he wants.

At the same time, Peter doesn’t want to wear sweats and his favorite hoodie and then be underdressed when his teammates show up.  In the end, Tony makes the decision for him.

“Look Roo, they already tailored something just for you when we thought you were going to the big party downstairs.  At least put it on so we can snag a picture together before we have to go separate ways for the evening.”

Peter fidgets nervously.  His dad or mom probably paid for a ten thousand dollar suit.  He’s surprised when his dad tells him to go put on a pair of nice dark blue jeans and hands him a brand new black t-shirt with a drawing of Spider Man on it.

Peter looks at the t-shirt he’s just been handed, confused.  “You had them make me a t-shirt?”

“Us.  I’m wearing it tonight too.  Hurry up and go put that on.”

Peter stares at the shirt again.  It’s an edgy drawing of Spider Man swinging through an alley at night.  There’s graffiti on the walls proclaiming that Spider Man owns the night, and neon lights.  It’s instantly one of his favorite shirts and Peter thinks that aside from the Iron Man and Spider Man suits, it’s one of the best things he’s ever seen.

His dad shoos him away to his room to get dressed despite that it’s only four PM.  Peter finds and pulls on a clean pair of jeans and the new t-shirt.  When he comes back out he finds that they’re no longer alone in the penthouse.  Happy is there, looking irritated and ushering in several people who have plastic crates of food from the elevator.

“Hey Happy.”

He grunts in response and Peter looks up to see his dad coming out of the master bedroom.  He’s dressed in the same outfit as Peter, but he’s also wearing an expensive black blazer over the top of the t-shirt unbuttoned.  He’s got a matching black blazer for Peter in hand.

“Here you go buddy, fresh from the tailor.”

Peter is surprised that this is what the tailor had been measuring him for and working on all day.  He runs his fingers over the expensive fabric, and then pulls it on.  He looks up with a smile on his face and finds his dad grinning.  “Twins,” his dad says.

The outfit looks sharp on his dad.  He wonders if it looks just as sharp on him.  As caterers start setting food out on the kitchen island and kitchen counters, probably stuff they’d taken from the party that’s being set up on the first floor, Peter’s stomach falls a little.  His dad had meant for them to be twins at the big Christmas party, and now they won’t be able to.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Peter says, motioning behind him to the food.  “You had it all planned for me to go to the big party.”

“It’s all good Roo.  Honestly, I hate those big shindigs.  As soon as Pepper lets me get away, I’m coming up here.  Besides, I remember what it was like getting dragged around to fancy parties and galas where there were no other kids.  You’ve been to two already this year.  I thought it’d be a good idea to set something up just for you young-uns.”

Peter grins at him, and then leans forward and hugs him.  “I don’t know if Mr. Harrington is coming to the other party tonight, but if you come up here, you should bring him if he’s not having fun down there.”

“No one has fun at those big parties,” Tony says with certainty.

“Then why do we have them?”

“Fundraising.  Good PR.”

Peter nods.  At the party tonight there will be an auction of various tech, from new Stark Phones to Stark Tablets, laptops, and other gear.  Pepper and Tony are also auctioning off several art pieces.  All funds are going to a local charity that does outreach to homeless kids in the state.  They’ve been donating to that charity and a few other similar charities ever since Tony met Peter and found out that he was homeless.  It makes Peter feel even worse that he won’t be there tonight since it’s all for a good cause.

“Nope, none of that,” Tony says at the frown slowly forming on Peter’s face.  “Drink some eggnog and then we’ll put in an order for a dozen pizzas.  FRIDAY, put together a playlist for this shindig.  Whatever hip Christmas music Roo and his friends might listen to.”

“We listen to regular Christmas music,” Peter says, turning to eye the various plates of cookies and other snacks appearing on the counter.  Happy is getting onto the catering staff to hurry because he has other things he’s supposed to be doing instead of babysitting them.

Just as the caterers are finishing up, the elevator door opens and Pepper appears.  She takes in the snacks on the counter and then Tony and Peter in their matching outfits.

“You two look adorable!” she coos.  “Let me just get dressed and we’ll take a photo before your guests start to arrive, Peter.”  She hurries off to the master bedroom and Tony plops down on the couch, pulling out his phone to start ordering pizza.

“That’s going to be a while,” he says.  “What are we ordering for dinner Roo?  If we can get it here before six I might be able to snag a slice.”

“I’ll save you some,” Peter says.

Tony reaches up and puts his hand on the back of Peter’s head.  “I’m going to hold you to that.  Save me a couple slices of supreme if I don’t get any before we leave.”

The big party downstairs starts at six thirty and goes until midnight, so Tony and Pepper don’t have to hurry right away, especially Tony, who always likes to be a little late, whether it be to a party or to important merger meetings.

Peter had told the team that the party starts at six, but Ned shows up at five thirty with a plate of cookies, and sits on Peter’s desk chair in his room as Tony and Peter argue about Peter’s hair in Peter’s bathroom.

“Come on kid, just let me do my thing.”

“It’s not a big party though.  I don’t have to look debonair.”

“You did not just say debonair.  I was going more for cool.”

Peter huffs and lets Tony finish running the comb through his hair with various hair products he’d brought from the master bathroom.  “There, now look.”

Peter looks up and finds his hair styled almost like his dad’s, but not quite since it’s not cut the same way.  Ned appears in the bathroom doorway and says, “Wow Peter, looking good!”

“See, I know what I’m doing,” Tony says.  “How many girls are coming to this party?”

“Dad,” Peter whines a little.

“Ok, boys? How many boys are coming to this party?”

“Dad,” Peter deadpans.

“Peter likes MJ.  She’s a girl, and she’s scary, Mr. Stark,” Ned tells him.

“Are we talking about scary Michelle?”

Ned nods and Tony gives Peter a knowing smile.  “Ok.  Well, you’re ready for whoever you might want to impress.  If you guys get bored, FRIDAY has a bunch of Christmas movies queued up.  Whatever you do, do not offer to take them to my lab.”

“I won’t.”

“Uh huh.  Is that the same ‘I won’t’ that led me to go up to my lab and find you and Ned trying to take one of my suits for a joy ride?”

Ned chooses that moment to duck out of the bathroom and leave Peter’s bedroom altogether.

“For real I won’t.  We’re just gonna chill out and play video games and listen to music.”

“Good.  FRI has the baby monitor protocol on in any case.”

Peter groans but he looks up and sees himself in the mirror next to his dad.  They both look sharp, and not in a pompous, trying to flaunt wealth in other people’s faces sort of way.  He’s glad his dad had the blazer made for him, and helped him style his hair.  He’s especially glad that he has a new Spider Man t-shirt to wear.

When they leave Peter’s bedroom, they find Ned at the kitchen counter talking to Seth and Betty who arrived early as well.

“Oh, uh, hey guys,” Peter says, feeling shy.  It’s the first time he’s had someone that’s not Ned to their house.  He’s excited, but also nervous that they won’t like the food, or will get bored and think he’s lame, because somehow that’s always what ends up happening.  “Pizza’s on the way.”

Both Seth and Betty are looking past Peter to Mr. Stark.  Tony acts like it’s no big deal to have strangers in his home.  “Welcome,” he says.  “If you guys run out of food, Peter can call down and get more delivered from the party downstairs.”

The elevator door opens again and three more kids step out.  That only leaves MJ, Flash and Cindy.  Peter greets them awkwardly and then all of their attention is drawn as Pepper comes out of the master bedroom closing the door behind her.  Peter can hear the lock click shut.  They’ve probably told FRIDAY to keep everyone in the living room, kitchen, and Peter’s room.

“Let’s get a few photos before your dad and I have to go downstairs honey,” Pepper says.  She looks up at the group of kids and smiles.  Some of his teammates look just as nervous as Peter feels.

He hurries across the large open living area to the massive decorated Christmas tree in front of the window.  The whole penthouse is done up in Christmas decorations that Pepper put up, but Peter’s favorite part is the tree, because he got to help string up the lights and hang the ornaments with his mom and dad while they listened to Christmas music one Sunday morning a few days after Thanksgiving.  Peter has a smaller Christmas tree in his room that Ned helped him decorate a couple weeks ago after school one day, as well as a couple strings of colorful Christmas lights up around his windows and desk.

“Ned, would you mind?” Tony calls, pulling out his phone.  Ned leaves the group of teenagers, who are all watching with curiosity, and takes Tony’s phone.  Tony goes to stand with Peter and Pepper in front of the tree, and Ned snaps a few photos before they change positions, and then he snaps a few more.

“Here you go Mr. Stark,” Ned says, handing his phone back.

“Thank you.”

Pepper gives Peter a kiss on the forehead, avoiding his carefully styled hair, and then takes Tony’s hand to tug him reluctantly towards the elevator.  It opens before they get there with MJ, Flash and Cindy, all three of whom look up and freeze at the sight of Tony and Pepper coming towards them, all dressed up and looking like a million bucks.

“Party’s in there guys,” Tony says, pointing behind him.  “Don’t let them get too out of hand Michelle,” he directs at MJ.  She gives him a wary look, surprised he knows her name.

The teens scramble to get out of the elevator so Tony and Pepper can get inside.  After the door is closed and they’re moving down through the tower, Pepper says, “Peter looked nervous.”

“Yep.”

“Do you think they’ll all be ok up there?  One of those boys was Flash.”

“Yep,” Tony says again.  “I’ve got FRIDAY monitoring things.  First sign of that kid getting mouthy and I’ll go up there and-” he pauses at the look Pepper is giving him and changes course mid sentence.  “And I’ll have Happy go up there and escort him out.”

She smiles.  “Better.”

“I wish I was staying up there.”

“Give it a couple hours.  At least wait until the auction is over.  You’re supposed to be talking about the new Stark Phone.”

“Let’s auction that off first.”

“Let’s give the kids a chance to have a party without you pestering them.”

“I do not pester,” Tony tells her in mock outrage, hand over his heart.  Pepper only presses her lips together in a knowing smile.

“I’m the life of the party,” he says.  He certainly used to be.

“Right.  Now let’s let Peter have a chance to be the life of the party.”

Tony huffs, takes her hand, and kisses her on the cheek.  “Ok, but later tonight after everyone’s gone, I’m gonna be the life of our party.”

“I can’t wait.”

* * *

FRIDAY starts up Christmas music over the speakers without Peter having to ask as soon as Tony and Pepper get in the elevator and leave.

“We don’t have to listen to this,” he tells the rest of the team.  “We can listen to something that’s not Christmas music.”

“Relax loser,” MJ says.  “It’s a Christmas party.”  She looks around the penthouse at the tree and various decorations.

“Right, uh, so, my room is this way.  That’s where the Playstation is,” he says.  “We can hang out in there, or out here or whatever.  Or we can watch Christmas movies, or play board games or something.”

“Do you have board games?” Flash asks like he doubts that Peter does, and then snaps his mouth shut.

“Yeah?  Uh, Monopoly and some others.”

“I didn’t think Tony and Pepper Stark would play board games,” Seth says.

“You do not want to play boardgames with them,” Ned says.  “Trust me.  Especially not Monopoly.  Mr. and Mrs. Stark are super competitive.”

“You’ve played Monopoly with them?” Betty asks.

“Once.  That was enough.  Never again,” Ned tells her.

Peter laughs.  He’s not wrong.  His mom and dad see Monopoly as an all out war type of situation.  Peter much prefers non money games or playing with Happy or Rhodey.  Happy doesn’t play board games much, but on Thanksgiving he’d been persuaded to play.  After he and Peter had both been knocked out of Monopoly in twenty minutes by Tony and Pepper, they’d pulled out another board game and had relaxed a little, not being surrounded by money hungry sharks circling and waiting for the kill.

Peter looks up and finds most of the team looking at him.  “What?  Don’t look at me, I always lose when I play Monopoly with them.”  He frowns, points over his shoulder towards his room and says nervously, “So… Playstation?”

“How many controllers do you have?”  Seth asks.

“Four.”

“If you have a racing game, I call first dibs.”

Before Peter can answer, Ned leads Seth and Flash off towards his room and Betty follows, leaving Peter, MJ and the rest of them.

“You guys want some snacks?”  He pulls the gallon of eggnog out of the fridge and several two liter bottles of soda.

“This is a completely normal party,” Jason says.

“Sorry?” Peter asks.

“No, it’s cool.  I wasn’t sure what it was gonna be like.  Thought there’d be like… soda served in crystal wine glasses or something.”  He motions to the red cello cups the caterers had brought up just for them.  Downstairs at the big party the adults are all drinking out of wine glasses, though whether or not they’re crystal, Peter has no idea.

“Nope, totally normal,” Peter hedges.

“Yeah, you saw Mr. and Mrs. Stark.  Regular dorky parents taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree.”

None of them seem to think it’s a bad thing though, so Peter grins.  He loves having a family again, and doing dorky things like taking photos in front of the decorated tree.

Ned comes out of Peter’s bedroom door, which is right off of the kitchen, and grabs a plate of cookies and a bowl of chips to take back into Peter’s room.  It seems like he’s heard part of their conversation.  “You should have seen Peter’s dad before you guys got here.  He and Peter fought over his hair, same as my dad and I did before I came over.”  Ned takes the snacks back into Peter’s room, and MJ follows him.

“You guys want to play a board game or something?”  Peter asks the rest of them.  He would rather be with Ned in his bedroom playing video games, but he feels awkward leaving the other kids to themselves.

“Sure,” Cindy says.

Peter retrieves the stack of board games and then takes them to the coffee table in front of the gas fireplace in the living room.  FRIDAY already has it going.

He’s glad a few minutes later when they settle into the board game and everyone seems to be occupied.  A dozen boxes of pizza are delivered twenty minutes later, and the team all seems to be interacting on their own and keeping themselves occupied, so Peter breathes a sigh of relief.

Down at the main party, Tony checks the feed of the penthouse on his phone, and grins down at the image of Peter enjoying time with the other kids, laughing at something one of them said.  He would have given anything as a kid for Howard to let him skip out on a party, and he would have given his arm for Howard to let him have a party of his own with people his own age.  Peter normally seems happy to attend functions with him and Pepper, but this is good too, and he’s glad to be able to give him a moment to shine on his own, just like Pepper had said.

* * *

Tony is bored nearly to tears.  If he has to avoid one more handshake, or listen to one more person try to gain his ear by pretending to be just like him, he thinks his head might explode.

His eyes search the crowd for Pepper and wait until she looks over at him.  He only has to wait a few minutes until he sees her searching the crowd for him.  She smiles and gives him a nod, and he takes this to mean he can finally leave.  Good, he thinks.  He’s sure the kids are still partying upstairs because it’s only been two and a half hours, but he’d rather go up there and spend time with Pete and his friends than stick around with this bunch of brown nosers and people that think the only thing he cares about is money.  It’s exhausting.

Tony starts to move around the edge of the crowd, looking for Bruce.  If Tony is ready to be done, then Bruce is going to be ready to be rescued.  He finds him after just a few minutes, pressed against a wall and trying to avoid questions about the Hulk from an older couple that looks like they’re more disgusted with the Hulk than interested in him or in Bruce or his work.

“There you are,” Tony says.  “C’mon, after party, you know, cool kids only.”  He puts a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, and pulls him away without giving him a choice or waiting for the couple to protest.  It doesn’t matter, Bruce’s shoulders sag in relief at being rescued.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely when they’re several feet away from the couple.  “It’s been like that all night.”

“You didn’t have to come.”

“You invited me.”

“Yup.  I wish I hadn’t been invited either.”

Bruce laughs, but then frowns when they pass an elevator and continue to circle the room.  He points over his shoulder.  “We passed it.”

“We have one more person to collect.”

“I thought Pete was upstairs.”

“He is.”  Tony hasn’t checked the footage from the penthouse for almost an hour because he’s been too busy avoiding people.  He wonders if Peter needs to be rescued up there too.

“That’s the afterparty isn’t it,” Bruce says with a grimace.

“You don’t have to come.  But if you want to, there’s a bunch of nerdy teenagers upstairs that would probably care more about your work than the Hulk.”

“You think so?”

“They all go to Peter’s school, and you know how he reacted when the two of you first met.”

Christmas music plays softly as they circle the room.  Tony grabs Bruce’s shoulder and maneuvers them through several groups that try to stop them, either to talk to Tony or Bruce, Tony’s not sure.

Finally he spots his third target, standing by one of the food tables and looking miserable.  He’s wearing a suit, but it’s clear to Tony that the suit only costs a few hundred dollars.  There’s nothing wrong with it, not at all, but if it’s clear to him, then it’s clear to all the rich snobs in attendance who are wearing suits that cost upwards of ten thousand dollars.  It’s probably the reason that every time the man opens his mouth to start a conversation with someone, the people around him turn their noses up at him and walk away.  Tony grimaces on the man’s behalf.  Peter really likes Mr. Harrington and had extended an invitation to him to the big party because it would have been rude for him to invite all of his friends but not his teacher.

“Hey, after party?” Tony asks, coming up beside him.

Mr. Harrington looks just as relieved as Bruce when he spots Tony, pointing over his shoulder towards the elevator.

“Thank God,” Roger mutters, but Tony hears it and grins.

“C’mon teach, the best party is up in the penthouse.”  He realizes that several people near them are listening, including two that just snubbed the high school teacher.  “Cool kids only, sorry, you know how it is,” Tony says as they pass them.  They hurry to the elevator, and while there’s not a collective sigh of relief, or an audible one, Tony lets his breath out, grateful to be away from the crowd.

“I didn’t mean to be rude, I apologize Mr. Stark,” Roger says as soon as the elevator doors close and they start to rise up through the tower.

“If you enjoyed that party full of rich snobs, then I would be insulted.  You’re fine.”

“We’re both grateful to be out of there,” Bruce says quietly.  He has his arms wrapped around himself and he’s pressed into a corner, probably because he’s just overloaded right now and done with all social niceties for the night… or for a few weeks.  He also doesn’t know Peter’s teacher, Tony realizes.

“This is Peter’s science teacher and Academic Decathlon coach, Roger Harrington.”

“Oh, this is the teacher Peter is always talking about,” Bruce says, and he lets his arms drop before holding out a hand to Roger to shake.  Tony shudders, thinking about how many hands Bruce must have shaken that night and how many germs he’d acquired.  Tony had managed to keep himself from shaking all but two hands, and he plans on washing his hands as soon as he gets to the penthouse.

“I really enjoyed your nuclear physics paper on the potential of exotic forms in neutron stars,” Roger says enthusiastically.

Bruce shifts away from the wall a little more and says, “Really?  You read that?”

“Oh yes, I especially liked your theory about-”

Tony tunes them out and pulls out his phone to check on the party upstairs.  He wants to know what he’s walking into.  He pulls up the footage and finds the kids sitting around the fire in the living room, some on the floor and others on the couch and in chairs watching Home Alone.  Some of the food has migrated to the coffee table, and Peter is finishing the last of the gallon of eggnog straight from the plastic jug.  He snorts, and Bruce asks, “What?”

Tony holds the phone to the side for him to see and points to Pete.  “How much of that do you think he let the other kids drink?”

“My guess is he politely offered everyone a glass, they all declined, and then he drank the entire jug himself.  Eggnog is disgusting.”

Roger looks over Tony’s shoulder at the phone too.

“They all showed up,” he says.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t think Flash would.”

The elevator doors open and Tony slides his phone into his pocket.  Peter and a few of the other teens turn to see who’s coming out of the elevator and Peter smiles at them.

“Did you save me some pizza?” Tony asks.

“I saved a whole box.”

MJ snorts from her spot on the floor, legs pulled up and back against the couch.  “He fought Flash for it.  It was dramatic.”

“We can just order more pizza,” Tony says.

“Yes please,” Ned pipes in, followed by a chorus of, “Yes,” and “can we please?”

“FRI, you heard them.  Same order as last time.”

Tony ignores the teens and leads Bruce and Roger to the kitchen, where there’s still a decent amount of things like expensive chocolates, fresh baked cookies, and other baked goods decorated in Christmas colors.

“FRI, have the caterers bring up the pizza and some sparkling cider too.”

“Wait, can we have hot apple cider?” Peter asks.

Tony puts in the order and then turns to Bruce and Roger, who are already helping themselves to some food and says, “If you gentlemen would like something harder than cider, let me know.”

“I’m fine,” Bruce says, “but thank you.”

Tony grabs a couple cookies, points to three comfortable chairs at the edge of the dining room in front of the wall of windows overlooking the city, and says, “I’ll be back.  I’m going to change.”

Bruce nods, and Tony heads for the door to the master bedroom.  He’ll have to pass right by the group of teens watching TV.  He wants to put on a fresh shirt and his MIT hoodie, but as he passes the couch he spies Peter wearing it.  Peter meets his gaze with a grin.

“That’s my sweater,” he says, pointing.

The kids are watching the exchange, but Tony doesn’t care.  Peter’s grin grows wider.  “I got to it first.”

“Go to MIT and get your own sweater.”

“Why?  I could go to Harvard and get one of those, then we’d have one of each.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

Peter tugs lightly at the sweatshirt.  “You’re going to have to pry this one off if you want it.”

“Nope,” Tony says, passing the group and going into the master bedroom.  On a normal day he might wrestle Peter for it, and Peter might let him take it, but his kid is comfortable and happy and spending time with friends, and he doesn’t want to take time away from that.  He changes into a fresh t-shirt and a soft green pullover that Pepper bought him recently, and comes back out, shoes discarded by his wardrobe.

“I’m getting that sweater back by the end of the night,” he says.

“You can try,” Peter tells him, watching him pass.  Bruce and Roger are sitting in the comfortable chairs by the windows, far enough from the TV and fireplace that the kids have their space and that they won’t be bothered by the sound of the TV.  Tony goes to the kitchen and gets a bottle of water, and then takes the last chair.  Roger and Bruce are talking about Bruce’s latest paper.  A few minutes later, a caterer comes up in the elevator with a stack of pizzas and the other requested items.  There’s a scramble of teens trying to grab more slices of pizza, and after that dies down, Tony grabs three plates and two boxes and brings them to the little table the three leather chairs are sitting around.

“No offense, but this is a much better party than the one downstairs,” Bruce says as he pulls a slice of pizza onto his plate.  He both looks and sounds more relaxed than he had just thirty minutes before.

“Tell Pep.  I’m all for never hosting another big gathering again.”

“So,” Bruce says after a few moments.  “She’s gonna make us go to that gala on Valentine's day isn’t she?”

Tony looks up at him and nods.  “It’s for charity.  Maybe I’ll just donate whatever she thinks we’d rake in for donations and skip having the party.”

“You dislike big gatherings that much?” Roger asks cautiously.  He seems uncertain of if he’s welcome to join the conversation, given who he’s talking to.  Yes, he’s sitting in Tony Stark’s penthouse, but he knows he’s only there because the AcaDec team is there and because he’s their coach.  If Peter wasn’t on AcaDec Roger has no illusions that he would be invited to any kind of social function at Stark Industries at all.

“With those people?  Yes,” Tony says, taking a drink from his bottle of water.  “They’re awful.  Pep’s probably down there putting out all the fires I started because I told them they were awful.”

“They need a lot of the same people to keep coming back to functions to donate more money,” Bruce fills in.

“For Homeless Youth Rising?” Roger asks.

“That’s the main charity we fundraise for, but there are others too.  A firefighter fund and a few other things.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why Homeless Youth Rising?”

Bruce’s eyes come up to Tony’s face to see if he’ll tell the truth or come up with something smooth to say instead.  Tony turns to the right, does a quick headcount of the kids watching Home Alone, and once he’s sure they’re all there and not eavesdropping he says quietly, “Peter was homeless before we met him.”

Roger frowns.  “Peter was-”

“He was living in an abandoned warehouse.  His parents died when he was five, then he was with his aunt and uncle.  His uncle died when he was twelve and then his aunt died when he was thirteen.  He was on his own for six months after that.”

“I had no idea,” Roger says, tone low and voice serious.  “I thought he was your biological son.”

“As good as,” Tony says.  “Pep and I adopted him when he was thirteen and he’s been with us ever since.”

Roger looks like he wants to ask Tony how he’d come across Peter, but he doesn’t, and Tony is grateful.  He has no explanation ready off the top of his head.  He’d tracked down Spider Man, expecting to find a college student, and had instead found a half starved thirteen year old kid that was still going to school despite that he was homeless, because he hadn’t told the school that his aunt had died, and somehow CPS had never gotten wind that May Parker had a nephew she was responsible for.

“There are a lot more kids out there just like Peter.  He told me about another old warehouse where a group of kids was holed up, and said he’d met quite a few others.  He was afraid to get help because he’d heard that foster care was bad.  He didn’t want to be turned over to CPS so he stayed away from homeless shelters and places where they would give him a hot meal because he thought they’d ask too many questions and report him.  So we run a gala around Easter and a Christmas party and raise money for the charity we think is doing the most good for homeless kids in the city.  They do an outreach where they get homeless kids medical attention, food, clothes, and get them enrolled in school, no questions asked.  After they’re squared away and they’ve gained their trust, they ask about their living situation, try to find family that can take them, or try to convince them to go into foster care.  Other organizations just call CPS, but a lot of kids run away and just end up being right back on the street if not given a choice.”

“It sounds like a good cause,” Roger says.  “I don’t have any money to donate, but I’ve got some time on weekends.  Maybe I can volunteer.”

Tony scrutinizes the look on the man’s face… the tone of his voice.  A lot of people he talks to at these galas and functions make empty promises like that.  They say they’ll volunteer, or that they’ll donate another time.  Most of the time they just come to parties he and Pepper host just to say that they’ve attended a function at SI or were personally invited by Pepper and Tony Stark.

He knows what kind of man Mr. Harrington is though.  Peter has told him a lot about the time the man spends after school just talking to the kids on the AcaDec team.  There’s a reason why he’s Peter’s favorite teacher.

“Tell you what, if you volunteer, call me and let me know.  I’ll go down to volunteer with you at least once.”  Tony thinks if he gives the man his number, Roger will call him the very next day.

“Me too,” Bruce says, and Tony looks over at his friend in surprise.

Roger smiles.  “My sister loves this stuff.  I’ll call her and tell her about the program and look into it.”

Bruce and Roger start up a conversation about college degrees and how many Bruce has.  Tony’s not interested.  He pretends to be listening, but he’s really watching Peter and his friends laugh and joke and talk over the movie.  He gets up after a few minutes and goes over to the living room.  He’s bored and wants something to do, but doesn’t want to leave Pete and his friends, and Bruce and Roger to go down to his lab.  He wagers he could take Bruce and Roger both down to his lab, as he’s sure that would interest the teacher, though it’s too late at night to mess with getting the man to sign another NDA and he’s not willing to trust a stranger in his lab anyway, not even if he is Peter’s favorite teacher.

“Are you guys having fun?” he asks the group of teenagers.  The movie is over.  The ending credits are just starting to roll.  “Wouldn’t you rather play a board game or something?  Monopoly?”

Tony is surprised by the speed with which kids start jumping up and grabbing coats as they head towards the elevator.

“No.”

“Nope, I have to go home, it’s getting late, thanks anyway.”

“No thank you!”

With one question, Tony has seemingly put an end to the party.  Most of the kids are already at the elevator pressing the button, trying to get the door to open.

Tony looks down at Peter and Ned in confusion.  “Am I that big of a buzz kill?”

“We told them how ruthless you are at Monopoly,” Ned says.

“Psh.”  Tony crosses his arms and turns back to look at Bruce, who is standing right behind him.  “You hearing this?”  He points at Peter.  “Pepper is so much-” he pauses because he realizes that Bruce’s eyes are wide and he’s making a subtle ‘no, stop’ motion with his hands. “-wiser and better looking than I am,” Tony finishes smoothly.

“Good save,” Pepper tells him, walking into his view.  “What are we talking about, and why was there a mad rush of kids trying to get in the elevator as I was stepping out?”

“Monopoly Mrs. Stark,” Ned adds helpfully before he waves at Peter and says he has to leave too because he’s riding home with MJ.

“I should go as well.  Thank you for the lovely evening,” Mr. Harrington says, despite that he probably hadn’t had a lovely evening at all.  “Seth, hold the elevator,” he calls, and hurries across the penthouse.

“Sorry kid,” Tony tells Peter, and then he turns to Pepper.  “We’re not lame, are we honey?  Monopoly is still a thing kids play isn’t it?”

“We’re older than they are, therefore we’re old, and anything we suggest will be shot down.”

Peter is grinning at Tony when he turns back to him.  “You’re not old dad.  For a little while after you left all they could talk about was how cool your outfit was.”

“You mean your outfit?” Tony asks.

“Yeah, they said you wore it better.”

“Nonsense, you’re my kid, you’re dashing.”

“Yeah,” Peter tugs at the MIT sweatshirt he’s still wearing.  “That’s why this belongs to me now.  I look better in it than you do.”

Tony points at him, mock upset.  “Give it back.”  When Peter doesn’t move to take it off, Tony reaches for it, and Peter turns and runs.  Tony chases him, finding a burst of energy after a night of having his energy sucked out of him by soulless creatures dressed to the nines.  “That’s mine Roo!” he calls loudly as he follows him into his room.  Peter laughs.  Tony wonders if this is one of those wrestling matches where Peter will pretend to lose and let him have his sweater back.  If he does or if he doesn’t, either way his kid is happy, and got to spend an evening with friends instead of having his life force drained like Tony.  He’ll count that as a win.