((I know I should be working on my 5000 other fics but I couldn't let this go so, have a oneshot?))
"What? No pilot? That's awesome!" Peter Parker said excitedly as he followed behind the newly appointed asset manager, Happy Hogan. Happy hadn't been nearly as talkative as Peter had been-all the way to airport Peter had been practically bouncing in seat, filled with excitement about the fact he was going to be working with the Avengers and especially Tony Stark. Happy hadn't heard most of the conversation on account of having the divider up but Peter still had so much to say-so much to ask. Happy didn't know if Peter had kept on talking once the divider had gone up-if he had then he didn't hear it and that was okay with him.
The moment they got to the airport Peter had practically bombarded him with questions and the man only answered one or two, trying to hurry the rambunctious teen onto the plane so they could take off. What had Tony been thinking asking this kid join them? He never should have agreed to this-he wouldn't have agreed if Tony had told him up front what his new position entailed-which asset he'd be managing.
He settled into a seat on the jet and watched with some disdain as Peter settled in right in front of him. This was going to be a long plane ride, he could already tell.
"Is that where you're gonna sit?" He asked.
"Yeah." Peter offered a little nod, slightly breathless from getting himself all worked up. Of course it was.
"Is this your first time on a private plane?" Happy asked. Peter shrugged.
"My first time on any plane." He admitted. Happy just let out a sigh and stood up, moving away from the kid and to a seat several away from the 'asset.' Apparently, in the minute it had taken him to move something had changed because when the kid spoke again, he didn't sound like that same overly cheerful teenager he had been-he sounded scared.
"Should it-Should it-Should it be making that noise?" Peter suddenly asked, that blasted phone still in hand. He watched as Peter turned the camera off and swallowed, looking out the window and then at Happy, expecting him to answer.
"Kid, really? What noise?" Happy asked, not able to hear anything out of the ordinary.
"Th-that noise-the humming-is that normal? That's not normal, is it?" Peter asked again. Happy resisted the urge to sigh. What brought on this sudden change? A moment ago he'd been excitedly babbling questions-asking about the bathroom, noting there wasn't a pilot and deciding to sit way too close to ask more questions.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Happy finally gave in, rubbing at his forehead. Peter shook his head, breathing hard enough that Happy could see it.
"Nothing. N-nothing. It's just-uh-it's making a weird noise and are we sure that this a good idea? I mean, I've got so much homework, you know-since I'm in high school and maybe I shouldn't go after all."
Oh.
Oh, god damnit.
Suddenly, it made sense. The question about the bathroom, the questions about the trip, about the plane, about him, the need to sit so close, the concern about the noise, and slightly breathless answers.
The kid was afraid to fly.
He took his phone out and quickly called Tony who answered after a few rings.
"This better be good-I'm kinda in the middle of something here." Was the greeting he received from his boss. "Please tell me you've already taken off."
"W-wait. Are you calling Mr Stark? D-don't call Mr Stark-I'm fine. It's fine." Peter rambled in the background. Happy ignored him.
"Not exactly. Got a little problem with your kid." He explained. Tony frowned on the video call.
"My kid? Oh. You mean the spider kid. What's wrong, is he sick? I need him here by tonight, Hap. Cap's probably already planning his escape." Tony said impatiently.
"What? No. He's not sick-he's here with me but he's-"
"Ah! Hold that thought, I got a call coming in from Romanoff about our new cat. Get the plane up." Tony ended the call and Happy let out a sigh. They didn't have any time to waste. At least he knew that Natasha's call would likely be brief and very to the point.
"Sh-shouldn't we be leaving? Oh god, it's because of that noise isn't it?" A frantic teenager was still asking. He was not going to deal with this. It was Tony's idea to bring him, he could handle it. He gave it a moment and called Tony back.
"You're killing my timeline here." Tony answered again. "What could possibly be holding you up, Hap?"
"You need to talk to the Kid." Happy stated directly. Tony paused, rubbing at his forehead.
"Why? Does he need a pep talk? You're great at those. I have faith in you." He started to end the call again.
"It was your idea to bring him onboard and you need to talk to him because he's a little-"
"Wait." His boss frowned at the screen and rolled his eyes. "That's Ross. Again. I gotta take this or else."
"Tony, can you talk to the kid first?" Happy asked, sounding exasperated. Tony raised an eyebrow.
"You know I'd much rather talk to the kid than Ross, but there is kind of a thing going on-I'm gonna leave this one to you. You're great with kids. And your the new asset manager so, you know. Manage him." The call ended again and this time, it was likely to be a lot longer. He sighed and pressed the button to start up take off. This plane trip was going to suck.
"S-So everything's okay?" Peter was asking, still sounding a bit out of breath.
"Look, kid. I realise this is new to you-but it's just a plane. People fly on them all the time and nothing bad happens-" Peter winced. "-you got that?" Happy asked. Brown eyes were just watching him as the plane started to move-apparently, Tony had taken over the controls. Peter swallowed hard and looked out the window. His chest was moving up and down at a nearly alarming rate-the damn kid was going to have a panic attack. Before Happy could decide on what to do, Peter seemed to have gotten his breathing under control again.
"...My parents died in a plane crash." His voice sounded small, and almost distant as the words came out. Immediately, Happy felt like an asshole. Tony should have done research-they should have both been aware of this fact.
"Oh jeez." Happy pushed himself out of his seat and moved back to Peter. He sat back down across from him. How did he even start to handle this? He'd just told the kid bad things don't happen to planes but that wasn't always true and the kid just so happened to know that from personal experience.
"Y-You don't have to sit with me-I'll be okay. It's just-uh-" Peter started to ramble.
"Relax kid-and don't flatter yourself, I'm moving back once you're calm." Happy told him. Peter took a breath, obviously trying to calm himself. "Right now the planes just-"
"Taxi-ing, I know. I kinda read up on things-a little before-I guess it didn't help."
"We'll get to the runway and the plane's gonna take off and it's gonna take you to Berlin to help out Iron Man and the Black Widow-The Avengers." Peter nodded. "Tony's used this plane several hundred times, alright? He wouldn't let you get on it if he had the slightest doubt in its ability to get you there, right?" How did you talk to teenagers? The kid probably thought he was just trying to baby him.
"Y-yeah… yeah… Mr Stark would have… checked, right?" Peter asked hopefully. Happy knew for a fact that Tony hadn't checked the plane-he probably hadn't even thought to. But if it would make the kid feel better.
"Yeah, of course he did. So, there's nothing that'll happen to this plane-Tony would have made sure of that."
"Yeah…" Peter nodded. "That makes sense. I mean why would he-Yeah. The plane's safe. Um, Happy? Can you maybe not tell Mr Stark about this? I kinda really want to impress him and being afraid of flying probably isn't-"
"Yeah, sure kid. I'll keep this between you and me." Happy reached over and patted his shoulder as the plane reached the runway. "The scariest part's usually the take off. It'll all calm down once we've reached altitude." He should probably ask if there were any other fears they might need to know about before they got to Germany but he decided against it.
The plane started to pick up speed, getting faster and faster until it started to tilt upward and leave the ground.
"It's only scary until we reach altitude, right Happy?" Peter looked at him hopefully.
"Yeah, just until altitude." Happy agreed.
Hopefully, they didn't run into any turbulence.