Tony had been working diligently in his lab since they got off the streets after S.H.I.E.L.D had brought Shocker into custody and was working on his damaged circuits of his suit, unaware of Steve watching him from afar who was also holding two mugs of hot chocolate,
Steve wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, he always found Tony to be so mesmerizing the way he got so into what he was doing, it was something he really admired about Tony. He was so much like Howard, yet.. Better than the man he knew would ever be all at once. Yet he saw Tony beat himself up over such little things,he was too hard on himself.
"What is it?"
Steve jumped as his face turned red when Tony's voice broke his thoughts and caught the man staring at him in front of his suit, "You've been staring."
"Oh..- Sorry I-..Didn't think I should disturb you." Rodger's smiled as he started over to Tony to offer him one of the mugs of now cold chocolate, "Take a load off?"
Tony smiled a bit and took the mug, first assuming it's coffee as he went to take a sip and almost gagged, "Oh-What is this..?!"
Steve's eyes widened, "Hot chocolate, what did you think?"
"Hot chocolate?" Tony made a face and Steve went to take a sip of his own drink only to realize their drinks had gone cold, as Tony set down the mug disappointedly,
"Thanks for the uh- Cold chocolate." making the Captain's ears go pink as he set his mug down beside Tony's,
"How's the suit..?"
"It's fine." Tony quickly replied as he pressed a few buttons on his control panel, the suit raising up with the table, "Nothing that can't be fixed."
"Well, that's good.." Steve's brows fixed together, looking at Tony as he had seen the man get like this before. "Something bothering you?"
"Again, nothing that a few shots of scotch and some tequila can't fix for me." Tony dryly joked, moving over to his computer chair,
"Tony-" Steve sighed, quickly following as he hated every time the man got into the alcohol cabinet,
"It just doesn't make sense for him to be there..!"
This at first stunned Steve as his brows shot up, "Who..?-"
"Spiderman..!" As he quickly brought up a few pics taken from the street earlier that day, "It doesn't make sense, why did he come to help us?"
"You think he has some kind of motive for saving you and taking a hit for Natasha?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Tony muttered, going through the pictures he had on screen before Steve caught a certain photo in particular and his hand shot out over Tony's over the monitor before he could take it off the screen as it looked like a clipping from a newspaper, of the Osborn kid from the dinner,
"Is that… Er..-Peter Osborn?"
Tony fell silent, his hand gradually withdrawing from Steve's grip as it shakingly came over his face,
"Tony?.." Steve looked down at the man who had suddenly gone pale, wondering why he had been looking at this picture,
"I-... I just find it funny is all."
"Tony.. That Peter-It isn't him.."
"I know that..!" Tony shot up from his seat just as Steve tried to reach for the man and turned away, "It-.. Can't be.. I know that." the man's voice broke as his hand rubbed over his eyes, remembering how fast the water had taken the car under with the current that night, how quickly his child would've been ripped apart and dragged under.
"It can't be.. But I'd .. like to think he would've been so much like him."
Steve's eyes fell before looking back to the photograph, "He looks like a bright young man.."
Tony laughed a bit as he looked back at the screen, "Very smart, his grades.. Are outstanding; Goes to one of the top schools and Osborn has probably had him set up with tutors and college advisors since he was six." He moved over to the monitor, "He's a great kid.." He trailed off, "He's just not.. My kid."
Steve gave him a troubled look but didn't interrupt Tony, "I did a small background check on him, he's.. Richard Parker's son; funny, I met him a few times I think. A talented scientist and one that was close to Norman Osborn even before the Osborn industry even picked up." though that wasn't what was funny about that to Tony,
"I'll go heat up our drinks.." Steve said quietly, placing a hand on Tony's back, his shoulders having fallen, as he wondered how much losing a child had broken Tony as he went to take up the mugs again before stepping out of the lab, just as Tony pulled up an old picture on the monitor from the old days, there was a woman pictured, she had bright eyes and dark brown hair with a bright smile. Richard Parker had his arm around her as they gazed into the camera, and on the other side of him was a slightly younger Tony, and Norman Osborn.
It just didn't make sense, what happened to Richard and Mary, sure it had been years since he had seen them but there was always something Osborn had playing behind the scenes; Tony would just have to see if it was worth digging into the past to get into.
"S-Spiderman..!?"
Peter froze, his eyes jumping down over himself in his suit as Ned had shot up to his feet holding the Lego box in his arms, "I-It's you…! I see you on T.V.! W-What are you doing- Here..?"
Suddenly Peter realized how long he was standing there and he grimaced, "Oh- Uh is … Peter-..dawg.. Home?" He said in a more New-York accent, quickly going to place a hand on his hip slyly to ignore the pain in his back,
"You know Peter?!"
Er… Shit.
"Ah! N-No, not really- he uh.."
Suddenly a knock came from the door, startling Peter as his eyes went wide as saucers as they flew to the door, "Mr. Leeds, is Peter home yet..?" Norman's voice came from behind the door making Peter's blood go cold as he flailed, "Y-Yeah I'll be out in a minute..!" He called as he flew towards the bathroom, almost forgetting about Ned but wanted to slap himself in the face as he looked towards Ned with a finger to his mask as the teenager just gaped at him as the door shut,
"Peter?" Norman asked again as he stepped in the room, his eyes jumping to the bathroom door just as the water to the shower turned on, and made a face as he looked at Ned, "Is he really so unmannered to leave his company waiting for him all evening?" He grumbled, "Come down for dinner, Peter can join us later."
Ned's eyes flew from the bathroom door, wondering what just happened as he stared at Mr. Osborn, "B-But.." as it was Spiderman that was.. Taking a shower in Peter's bathroom, though he had been certain that had been Peter's voice and stayed frozen where he was before Norman cleared his throat, before going to unwillingly stand up to follow Mr. Osborn out in toe.
After the door shut Peter went to poke his head out, the mask peeled off his face which was covered in black smudges and a little blood from his nose as he let out a breath of relief, though knew he wasn't out of the clear yet, as there was no way he was getting out of this as just Peter Parker-Osborn to Ned, and he knew Ned wasn't going to let this go but turned his head away as he shut the door and locked it, knowing first he had to get his suit off.
And boy thankfully he had a second suit stashed away, he looked into the bathroom mirror as he went to start to gently peel the spandex away from the burnt skin, letting out a gasp of pain as the wound was already trying to heal over remarkably well, though it didn't help that he hadn't of eaten anything today, and his body needed it or else it was hard to function and would kick the suit away as he stepped into the shower.
Peter had stepped out nearly thirty minutes later, wearing a heavy sweater and a good pair of blue jeans. Thankfully his back wasn't exposed, and he took almost a hand full of Tylenol to help with the pain.
"There he is." Norman called as Peter appeared into the dining room, Ned sitting a chair away from Norman, looking very scared but his eyes widened when Peter stepped into the room, looking as if he wanted to say something, but Peter just smiled at him as he went to take his seat on Norman's left, right across from Harry who refused to look at him,
"Sorry I wasn't feeling well at all today.." Peter quietly apologized as he looked to Ned, "We can finish after dinner right..?" as he noticed Ned was still staring at him.
"Er… Uh.."
"On our project."
"Y-Yea." Ned nodded, his eyes darting from Norman who just smiled at them before starting to eat, a second later Harry followed.
"Usually Peter doesn't have.. Company, I'm quite interested in your Mr. Leeds," Norman gazed over to Ned across the table, though Peter tried to play coy to what Norman was doing, just hoping it didn't scare Ned off.
"Oh- You can just call me Ned, Mr. Osborn."
"That's fine Mr. Leeds, I wouldn't want to assume this will be .. frequent." his eyes caught Peter's at that as Peter saw Ned visibly flinch,
"Assuming I can go to Ned's house? Since I can't be partners with Harry anymore I need someone to work with." Peter raised his head, looking to Ned to nudge him reassuringly,
"-Oh" Ned stuttered, his face having turned red,
"That's assuming you even need the extra help. If anything Harry was only slowing you down Peter, the less time you two spend together the less of a distraction he'll be on you."
"Well it's class participation points Mr. Osborn, it was easy with Harry as my partner since we live together, and he isn't a distraction." Peter looked over at Harry who was glaring at him fiercely then and felt an odd pain in his chest to have Harry look at him like that again,
"So you think I'm a distraction to Peter! Why is it you even care so much? It's not like he's your son!" Suddenly Harry was standing from his seat, "All you care about is Peter's needs!"
Peter's eyes widened, he used to Harry's outbursts, and well aware of how.. Mr. Osborn treated him compared to his son, but this time Harry had stacked Peter against him too.
"Harry! Not. Now!" Norman's head shot up, a stern look gracing his features,
"Then when! Why is Peter so important!"
"If your going to act like a child then leave this table and march up to your room!" Norman shouted, deafening silence falling about the table despite Ned uncomfortably shifting in his chair before Harry let out a frustrated sound before looking at Peter,
"I hate you Parker.." he seethed, shoving at the table causing some of the glasses to fall over to which the butler came hurried over to tend to the mess as Harry quickly stepped out of the hall.
"So sorry about that Mr. Leeds, Harry likes attention like that," Norman muttered, fixing the napkin over his lap before he started to eat again, Peter's eyes having fixated themselves on his plate as he felt his stomach knot up, though again, this wasn't the first time Harry had said he hated him.
Harry was his brother, and he loved having a brother, but at the same time, he didn't blame his brother for hating him.
Peter in a sense was intruding on his home and his father.
All things Peter hadn't asked for, once maybe he had a father, he didn't want to throw that away despite what Norman had on his papers when he took him in.
He had to talk to Harry, he needed him right now.
He tore his eyes away from his plate, going to quickly stand up from his seat to dart after Harry, but Norman acted first,
"Peter don't you dare leave this table." Norman glared at him this time, making Peter falter as he longingly looked at the door where Harry had walked out of a few moments ago, "Sit, let Harry have his tantrum."
Peter's eyes dipped, but he knew better than to argue and he sunk into his seat beside Ned who was obviously deeply grateful, though Peter didn't say a word as he picked up his fork rather robotically and went to scarf down his plate since it would be the only way he'd get to leave the table. Though he was still rather hungry, though he needed a lot more than this to keep him going, he obviously wasn't going to get it tonight, so he would have to go without and just take what he was given like the first chance he could get to talk to Harry.
/AN.
Some family issues happening in the Osborn household and some more from Tony.
I'm going to start to press on Osborn's objective, and some more Osborn and Harry in the next chapter with also, [Thank you faith123 ] for reminding me about Richard and Mary, Peter hasn't forgotten the folder he got from Director Fury and he'll have time to finally dig through it and get some answers next chapter, you'll be surprised to where it's going to lead him next in his adventure!
Also some future things at the top of my head:
Deadpool heard Director Fury say 'Peter Parker' over their comm links, I wonder if he's going to get curious? Or maybe he gets a strange off-the-clock encounter with a strange scrawny kid in the streets?
Gwen Stacy might have found herself in trouble now having caught Osborn's attention, I bet she regrets coming in for the interview now.
Our boy Ned has been handed a lot in the past two chapters, though Norman doesn't seem too worried about him I wonder how he'll influence Peter as Spiderman? And I think we're going to get another Tony and Peter Osborn encounter here pretty soon so look up for that./
So now knowing a few things that are going through my head as of now, what is your opinions and ideas? And on another note I've hinted at some chemistry between Steve and Tony so far, but what about Peter? Who are your favorite ships? Spideypool is one of mine, but I don't necessarily have to incorporate that into the story because there's also Gwen Stacy, who I had fallen for in the Amazing Spiderman movies back in 2012, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Deadpool or Gwen, just [please not Ned, he's a bro, ya know?]