i. Part 1

Peter Parker had never liked being the center of attention and most of the time, he avoided it well. But not today – today he was the most valuable player, the man of the match so to speak.

He smiled and ducked his head, uncomfortable by all the attention as every now and again, one of this team mates would go up to him to congratulate him. MJ was amongst them, coming over to him, a rare smile on her lips that lighted up her face, and punched him on the arm with a sarcastic variation of 'good job, Parker, knew you were good for something.'

Truthfully, as much as it made him feel a little awkward, he was feeling high from their team's win and knowing that he had contributed to it…. He had answered that last deciding question and snatched the glory for their school… He felt proud.

Even Flash's insult sailed over his head today. He wouldn't let it affect him.

"Enjoy it while it last," the boy sneered.

"Come on," Ned nudged his best friend and Peter easily fell in step next to him. "He's just jealous."

Ned was beyond ecstatic, it was plain to see. They were already planning to celebrate their team's win with a Star Wars marathon until someone caught wind of their plans and suggested a team dinner – burgers and shakes nearby – which meant Peter would have to deal with Flash a little longer.

"On the bright side, no more practices," Ned exclaimed, trying to inject some positivity into it. "And what's a few more minutes of Flash, right? He can't get you kicked out of the team now, not when you've won us this. We'll deal with him for now."

"It's a team effort, Ned," Peter shook his head, knowing it was useless to tamper Ned's spirits when he was this happy.

"Mr. Parker," a smooth, familiar, voice called out.

Peter froze; his entire body went rigid.

Oh no, he thought. There was a reason Happy was always parked at a quiet lane, a block away whenever he had to give Peter a lift to Tony's apartment after school. It was to prevent unwanted attention but this right now…. Peter briefly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to ready himself before he had to face the man.

"Oh my god," Ned gasped loudly ensuring that everyone's attention was now focused on the visitor. He nudged Peter hard on his ribs and Peter scowled, rubbing his sides tenderly. "It's Mr. Stark. Dude, he's here in our school. Oh my god."

"Ted," Tony acknowledged and Peter thought Ned would die right there.

"It's Ned," Peter corrected his mentor.

"So, saw the whole thing. You are the man of the hour," Tony smirked, sauntering down the hall towards the group of teenagers until he was standing directly in front of Peter. "My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail so I'm going to overlook that. Unless, of course, you didn't invite me in which case, I'm offended."

"I – Uh – There was only one ticket and – and extra tickets have to be purchased and I didn't know if you'd be interested so…" he shrugged helplessly.

"Again with the offending me, kid," Tony shook his head. "Why wouldn't I be? Interested that is…"

Peter was quite aware that his teammates were watching this with interest, even MJ who was frowning as she watched this exchange unfold before her.

"Sorry," Peter stammered in shock. "Uh – What are you doing here – I mean, how did you find out?"

"I am Tony Stark," he reminded the kid, as if that was all the explanation needed. "I had to make sure my intern's time away from Stark Industries was being used wisely."

Peter blinked.

"Now that you've won your team this competition, perhaps it's time you start putting in the hours at Stark Industries…. Lots of things to do…"

Ned glanced over at him, at a loss. Peter had, on his own accord, limited his Spider-Man activities to three times a week once they got through into the finals and he had skipped on suit upgrades with Mr. Stark twice. He didn't think his suit was in dire need for an upgrade or bugs fixes at that very moment anyway.

May and Ms. Potts, along with Mr. Stark, had been quite proud of him for putting school first although now it would seem that Mr. Stark might not have felt the same. Unless… he missed having him around? It couldn't be, Peter squashed the thought away. That was just wishful thinking.

"Mr. Parker's been missing internship," Tony addressed the rest of Peter's team mates. He looked serious, as if he was personally holding them responsible for this, but Peter would like to think that he knew his mentor well enough by now to know that he was enjoying more than he let on. "Or when he does turn up, he's spending all that time practicing for this competition. Admirable really, his aunt would be very proud."

"Mr. Stark," Peter groaned, exasperated.

Tony's smirk only deepened and Peter knew then that he was enjoying himself. "Let's see it – cough it up," Tony gestured.

Peter cleared his throat as Tony waited. Knowing it was something he couldn't escaped, Peter slowly pulled the medal and trophy out from his bag.

"Good job, kid," Tony clasped his shoulder when he was done inspecting it. "Hey, ice cream? To celebrate. Chocolate with rainbow sprinkles, right?"

Behind him, he heard MJ snickered and Peter turned a shade darker.

"You don't have any plans, do you?" Tony asked suddenly.

"Actually, Ned and I were going to watch a movie and the team was thinking of – "

"No plans, sir," Ned interrupted. "We're just going to have a Star Wars Marathon again. We can do it this weekend – no problem."

"Ned," Peter shot him a look.

His best friend had the grace to look chastised but he lowered his voice and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "It's Tony Stark – you can't blow him off."

Peter sighed.

"Is Happy here?"

"Nope, just me," Tony grinned. "Now kids, don't mind if I whisk the star of the hour away from this place. It's giving me flashback to my brief time in high school and all the boring atrocities linked to it. So toodles, and congratulations on the win!"

With that, he put his arm around Peter's shoulder and steered him down the hallway out of the building towards where his Audi was parked.

Not lowkey at all, Peter thought, taking in the sight of the flashy car double parked at the school entrance.

"What was that?" Peter asked once he was strapped in his seat and Tony was zooming out of the parking lot of his school.

"You like the surprise?"

"Can't say I like surprises but – "

"Are you embarrassed that I popped by?"

"No, Mr. Stark, of course not," Peter hurried to assure him. "And I'm sorry about missing internship – "

The older man threw him an incredulous look since there wasn't an internship in the first place. Peter spent his time tinkering old Spider-Man suits in Mr. Stark's workshop while Mr. Stark worked on upgrades and getting feedbacks on areas of improvement for his suits.

It was their time and Peter enjoyed it a lot. He liked watching Mr. Stark work, found his thought process fascinating, was always in awe by the ideas that came out from him and most of all, Peter felt valued when Mr. Stark asked for his opinion and listened to them.

Except, for the past three weeks, Peter's work on his old suit was put on hold in favour of practicing and reading up on study materials for the competition, and now that it was all over, Peter was only starting to realise how much he missed their time together in the workshop.

"Hey, none of that," Tony stopped him. "You did well, kid. I'm proud of you. Really. You were responsible and you focused on school once you realise what this meant to the school and that's something that I'm proud of. It's not something you should apologise for. May and I had a deal, remember? You can be Spider-Man if you can balance your responsibility as a student and still enjoy yourself being a kid and all."

It had been a long conversation between May and Mr. Stark in an attempt, post The Snap, to ensure that Peter get to still grow up with friends and graduate while still doing something that was now a part of his DNA.

"You think I balanced it?"

"Sure did. You proved it," Tony nodded. "We're going to frame that medal up in the workshop. Your hot Aunt May will have the trophy for your apartment in Queens. The medal, we'll put it up at the Compound."

Despite the comment on his aunt, Peter smiled. He couldn't stop smiling since they won but hearing this from a man he looked up to made him smile harder.

"Sure, Mr. Stark," he grinned.

Who said you couldn't have two homes?

I know it's been done a few times but I love all the 5+1 trope or its variation of it so mine is 3+1. All the chapter's been written so updates should be quite fast. Let me know what you guys think of this!