Chapter Text
Going out was exhausting.
If someone asked Tony Stark what’s the greatest benefit of being famous and rich, he would say that it was an opportunity to buy a house on an island, far, far away from people. To hire bodyguards and install cameras everywhere to reduce the chance of his family getting in danger because of some weird people. But on the other hand, if he wasn’t rich and famous, then what would be the point of bothering him anyway?
So yeah, being famous was awful and made going anywhere exhausting. If it was his choice, he would never leave his workshop and forget about the world outside his penthouse. Everyone he cared about had access there, he had an AI who would make his every wish come true and with his mind he would always find something to do - no reason to complain.
Sadly, although Pepper kind of understood him when it came to that topic, she was still of the opinion that he should control the narrative and make some planned public appearances. Some Stark Industry event, some dinner in a fancy restaurant. Since the fallout of the Avengers, he hasn’t exactly shown up in armor very often, so his fiancée thought it was a clever idea to give people a clue of what he’s doing now to stop them from making some weird theories. Like “Tony Stark has been kidnapped again!”
Yeah, it has happened more than once.
Unfortunately for Pepper, Tony wasn’t exactly a person who liked when somebody told him what to do or not do.
So now he was sitting alone at the table in some random Italian restaurant in the middle of New Your City.
As good public appearance as any other. Much better than a meeting with some politicians and after all, what’s a better sign that he’s alive and well than casually eating spaghetti?
He’d already noticed some people taking photos when they thought he wouldn’t see them, but no one yet was brave enough to approach him. Or maybe they were just waiting for him to finish eating.
He ate, left an amount of money that could feed all Avengers team (supersoldiers included) and was about to leave when someone entered the restaurant. A group of teenagers, most likely going back from school or something, which would be nothing too weird, unless…
Peter.
Tony smiled a little as he saw a teenager with brown curls wearing an oversized T-shirt that Stark was pretty sure had been in his wardrobe just a few days ago. Of course, he thought to himself as he remembered, that the kid had said something about a meeting at one of his classmates’ place to finish up some project. They probably got hungry in the process and after all, it had been Parker who’d once told him about this place, so meeting him here was not as big coincidence as it appeared to be. Still, it was weird seeing a teenager in any other situation than building robots or helping his alter ego to get out of some dangerous situation.
If kid was with MJ or Ned - who Tony had an occasion met once, when Peter invited them to visit the Avengers Tower - Tony would probably have been noticed faster, but for high schoolers that only knew him as a public persona it was not obvious that some middle aged men in AC/DC T-shirt is the same person that they saw saving a world from an alien invasion.
Peter though, of course noticed him just seconds after he started to look for a free table. They exchanged a quick look, smiled at each other and Tony got up, ready to leave the place quickly. He didn’t want to make a scene and make the kid feel uncomfortable. They’ll meet tomorrow in the lab, now he’ll let the kid spend this day with his friends. He deserves some time off, God knows that he has too many responsibilities for his age and with Tony Stark around, peaceful time was never an option.
So he wanted to walk past them and leave.
But then he noticed some change in the kid's eyes.
Oh no.
Tony knew this look too well. It was the look Peter had in his eyes just before he decided to scare the living hell out of someone by walking on the ceiling in the evening. It was the look he gave Tony just before he webbed him up to stop him from changing a movie for something other than Star Wars. It was the look…
Before Tony could finish his thought, he heard the kid's voice.
“Oh my… Is this Tony Stark?” Peter - or some alien looking exactly like him - runs into his direction, leaving the billionaire too stunned to even move.
The boy shook his hand enthusiastically as his friends approached them, whispering something to each other.
“I am literally your biggest fan ever, you’re so cool, I can’t believe I can see you in person, it’s like my biggest dream coming true. Wow, I need to find some pen so you could give me an autograph, wait a minute…” Peter took off his backpack and started to look for something to write, giving all the people around the performance worth a Hollywood actor.
Just for one second Stark’s eyes met Peter’s and then the facade fell apart a little.
I will kill you later said Tony with his gaze not taking off a perfectly trained confident, public smile.
I know, but it’s still funny said Parker, for a second breaking his character and grinning into his mentor’s direction.
This whole thing felt surreal, cause he knew it was just a stupid prank, they will laugh about it later, but at the same time… It was just so painful to be someone that doesn’t know this teenager, even if it was just pretending. Why did he need to be known by Peter so much, that the thought of him not being an integral part of his life made his heart ache? It just felt so wrong and for a second he wondered what he’s gonna do when the kid will - what was inevitable - find out that he’s not someone worth looking-up to.
Calm down, Stark. It wasn’t that serious, you’re being dramatic
Tony took a piece of paper and signed a quick dedication ( for my aunt, she loves you so much Mr Stark ), barely paying attention to the fact that now all the customers in the locality were aware of his existence in the same room as them. Some of them had phones in their hands, taking pictures of him and a person who, from their perspective, was just some regular fan. Stark realised that - although it felt rather impossible after months of knowing each other - these photos taken by strangers are probably first photos including both of superheroes outside their suits. He decided that next time the kid comes to the lab, they have to make up for that.
“I actually work at the Tower, you know, an internship, you probably don’t recognise me though…” rambling continued.
So that was what it was about? Kid mentioned once or twice that some of his classmates don’t believe he’s old or smart enough to actually work for Stark.
“Are you working on something at this moment? Some new invention?”
Oh, now was time for revenge.
“Yeah, actually, I need to make some upgrades in a Spider-man suit? You know a guy? Really irresponsible, I wish he'd listen to me once in his life, but hey, I assume you’re a smart kid and actually listen to adults who care about you and want you to be safe, right?”
Cheeks of the embarrassed teenager quickly became more red than any Iron Man armour could ever be.
“Yeah sir, of course,” Parker seemingly ran out of things to say and tried for his life not to draw attention to this fact.
Alright Stark, enough.
“What school do you go to?” billionaire asked, ignoring the fact that he will be giving a speech at said school in two weeks. Not that Peter would know about it.
“Midtown,” Peter smiled lightly.
His smile was not left unrequited.
“It’s a good school, you’ll achieve great things, kid,” Stark ruffled the teenager's hair, slowly going in the direction of the exit. “Maybe we’ll meet again some day” he blinked, thinking about Happy’s inevitable complaining when he’ll get the text saying “pick me up from some random restaurant NOW or you won’t get a raise”
“Can we get a photo?” one of Peter’s friends finally got the courage to ask the question and suddenly a lot of people got up from their seats, hoping that they’ll also get a chance to become popular on Twitter.
Stark sighed. At least Happy won’t have to hurry.
***
“Stupid teenagers and their idiotic sense of humour” murmured Tony, staring at the ceiling. Pepper, lying next to him, just laughed.
His fiancee would probably kill him for going out without security ( I am security, Pepper, in case you forgot I’m literally Iron Man) , but she found the whole "Peter situation" so hilarious that she decided to let it go. Also, Parker’s joke had another unexpected benefit. Someone in the restaurant recorded everything and that caused a new wave of Tony Stark being adorable with fans for 7 minutes straight videos ( Seriously, Pep? Why would someone waste their time on watching that) and people video analysing his body language. What all of them h ad in common was that people agreed that he looked surprisingly nice, comparing this to his old behaviour around fans.
So after all, Pepper had no reason to complain. The branding was better and she hadn’t even had to try.
“Honey, minding your own teenage years, I don’t think you should complain about him making fun of you once” she stated. “And don’t you think the press saying something nice and true about you once is a pleasant change?
“I teased him! They didn’t know that!”
“If it makes you think any better, I did know that and I still thought you were adorable” she kissed his forehead as he rolled his eyes.
They were lying in silence for a few moments. Pepper got her phone and started scrolling through some app.
“Pep?” Tony asked, as if he just remembered something, but she knew him well enough to know that whatever he’s going to say, he was thinking about it earlier.
“Yeah?”
“I-” he hesitated. “I have some photos with him, right? I mean, the ones not taken today by some random people”
Peper bit back w smile. Despite what any tabloid could say, she knew exactly who her fiance was - someone who cared enough to be terrified by a thought he messed up a relationship with a kid he was supposed to take care about. Even if it was something as little as a photo.
“Of course, I have a whole album shared with May and Rhodey,”
That put him at ease. He nodded and came back to the confident part of self.
“Okay, it’s a little creepy,” he admitted. “How exactly did you force the honeybear to join your evil plans? Why did he become so obsessed with me?”
“Not you, Peter,” she said simply.
“That’s fair” was just said, as it was an obvious fact. And for Pepper, it was obvious.
Everyone loved Peter Parker.
***
“So, you - how do you kids say it these days? - gone viral?”
Peter groaned.
He was aware that it’ll probably turn out to be a horrible idea, but he didn’t expect that it would result in his mentor trending on every social media platform and him being in the centre of everyone’s attention. He was hoping that by Monday people will find a new topic, but right now his phone was flooded with thousands of messages from his classmates.
“May, stop”
Ned found the whole thing hilarious and regretted that he wasn’t part of Peter’s group (stupid teachers and their habit of forcing people who hate each other to work together). MJ sent him some memes connected to the event, Flash wrote something as rude as usual and Peter didn’t even bother to answer. Group chat, so inactive when Peter was asking about something related to the project, now was full of photos and emojis.
“Hey, it also has some pros,” May pointed.
“The fact that people finally admit that Mr Stark actually cares about his fans and is a nice person?” he took a guess.
“Well, I meant his face when he realised what was happening, but yours one is fine too”
Peter laughed.
“He’s gonna kill me tomorrow” he sighed.
“Pepper will protect you,” his aunt reassured him.
He really hoped so.