So, one missed school day turned into a missed school week. Aero would've preferred missing another month, but Principal Morita—though hesitantly—called Tony and Pepper to tell them that if Aero missed any more school, he'd be suspended (and if he was a normal student, he'd be expelled). Pepper had offered to negotiate (and had begged Aero to consider homeschooling again), but Aero agreed to go back.
Which led to now. Sitting in the car, nervously bouncing his leg as he waited for Happy to tell him to get off. They'd been sitting there for five minutes. Maybe Happy didn't want Aero to get off, either. Maybe he could skip one more day, just one! Surely Principal Mortia would understand?
"Kid," Happy finally said. Aero looked up at him, nodding. "Are you going to be okay?"
"...I'll live," he decided, putting his hand on the door handle. He hesitated again. He hadn't called Peter. He hadn't even texted him to let him know he was coming back. He still liked Peter—dear God, who wouldn't?—but that didn't mean he wanted to see him. If he and Peter talked again, it would be on his own terms. But there was still one person he could call who would happily go outside to walk with Aero to class.
When he saw him, Aero turned to Happy and nodded. "Ready."
"Stay safe, kid. I'll pick you up," Happy said, smiling at him, just faintly. Aero nodded and got off the car, closing the door behind him.
"Bea and Martin got expelled," Ned said immediately upon seeing Aero. "Get this—apparently Principal Mortia was given evidence that they cheated during their entrance exams! No one knows who told him, though! My money's on your mom, but Peter says Miss Potts wouldn't do that. Did she do that?"
Aero laughed. He tried to block out the feeling of everyone staring at him. "No, she would have told me. Or she would have hinted about it. Or my dad would have let it slip. It must've been someone else."
Ned shrugged. "Well, either way, they aren't allowed on campus anymore. And the city said that no news agency can park within a mile of the school!" he explained.
"Yeah, that was my mom," Aero confirmed. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um. So. Do you mind?"
Ned scoffed. "Why would I mind? Peter's—" Ned cut himself off, looking sheepish.
Aero smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I— I know. He told me."
Ned nodded. "Good." He looked around as they entered the hallway. Hundreds of eyes turned to look at them. Aero felt his breath freeze in his chest, but Ned continued on and Aero followed, not wanting to look like he cared about what other people thought about him. "So, do you like him?" Ned asked as they came upon Aero's locker.
Aero coughed. "Uh, what?"
"Do you like Peter?"
"Like, platonically?"
Ned rolled his eyes. "No. Romantically."
Aero looked away from him, putting in his locker combination. "Um. No. I don't like Peter romantically."
"Yeah, and my full name isn't Edward," Ned teased. Aero glanced at him. "See, my full name is Edward, so what you said about not liking Peter—"
"No, I— I get it," Aero said. Ned nodded. "Even if I do like him like that, our friendship is a lie, so it doesn't matter."
Ned blinked, clearly not having expected that. "What do you mean?"
"My dad talked to Peter before I met him," Aero said simply, deciding to leave it at that.
Ned nodded to himself. Aero closed his locker and turned to face his friend, but his attention was caught by someone laughing. Despite his best attempt, his eyes flickered over to see a tall—clearly a senior—boy, staring directly at Aero and whispering behind his hand to his friends, who all laughed and looked at Aero. Aero rolled his eyes and tried not to feel upset as he looked back at Ned, who glared at the boys.
"Ignore them," Ned said. "They're just goons."
"Yeah, being led by a senior."
"Super senior," Ned corrected. "Miles was supposed to graduate last year."
"Did medical issues hold him back?"
"No, he just skipped class too many times."
Aero grinned, turning his gaze onto Miles. "Really? So he was just too stupid to graduate, then?" he asked, loudly. Miles scowled at him and took a step forward. "That makes sense. So, the only way he can feel superior to everyone else is by making fun of them? How did he pass his entrance exam?"
"Shut it, freak," Miles hissed.
"Sorry, what was that? Daddy's money paid for you?" Aero taunted.
"Say that again, fag, I dare you," Miles sneered, pushing Aero against the lockers. A ringing started in Aero's ears, drowning out every other sound. Vaguely, he could hear people yelling in their direction, but their voices were drowned out.
"Leave him alone!" Ned.
"Come on, Miles, stop it!" Betty.
"Get off of him." Michelle.
"Hey, Henway!" someone called out, pulling Miles off of Aero. Flash slammed the boy against a locker; Aero flinched, taking a step back as he felt Ned grab his arm. "You wanna keep talking shit, or do you wanna walk away? You get five seconds to decide."
The hall was silent. Finally, Miles pushed Flash off of him and walked away, grumbling under his breath. Aero fixed himself as he stared at Flash, both surprised and ... appreciative? Holy shit, Flash had just defended Aero from a bully. And Aero was pretty damn sure it wasn't for brownie points.
"...Thank you," he said.
"We don't tolerate bullying here," Flash told him. Quickly, seeing Aero's expression, he added, "Mild teasing is okay?"
"...I know you've left Peter alone, so I guess you're good." Flash nodded, looking proud of himself. "You know what, Flash? You're a good guy," Aero added, which only served to make Flash perk up even more. "Thank you. I guess I gotta watch out for three people looking to harass me, not four."
"Well, getting Emerson and Thomas off campus was easy, so you won't be seeing much of them."
Aero tried to process what that meant, but couldn't thank Flash again before Ned gently tugged on Aero's arm again. Aero looked at him, but his eyes were quickly drawn to Peter, who stood at the end of the hall. He looked stunned to see Aero standing there, talking to Flash after having just gotten threatened. Before either of them could say anything, Peter turned the corner and disappeared again, leaving Aero with a vague feeling of disappointment.
That disappointment didn't go away, even when Mr. Cobbwell announced that the class would be going on a field trip as a special bonus for the science fair. Aero should have been excited—he should have been thrilled. But he had moved back to his original seat, now that Martin and Bea were gone, and he could see the way Peter turned around to look at him every few minutes. It hurt, because Aero couldn't take his eyes off Peter, either.
"Make sure your permission slips are signed!" Mr. Cobbwell said as the bell rang. Aero quickly ran off to band, for once not waiting for Peter.
And what a mistake that was.
He doesn't know how they managed to get on campus. He doesn't know how they hadn't been seen. But Martin and Bea were there in the parking lot, waiting for Aero. They approached when they saw him, and it was too late for Aero to run when he noticed them.
"Aero," Bea said sweetly, smiling. "How are you?"
Aero couldn't really explain the overwhelming anger and hatred that threatened to bubble over. Even just seeing Martin made his blood run cold. But what stuck out the most was, and Aero didn't even want to consider this, fear. Aero was afraid of them, and he was angry at himself for being scared. They were nothing. Absolutely nothing.
But he still wanted to run.
That's all he ever did. Run, run, run.
He was tired of running.
So he laughed.
"Wow. You guys have some guts, showing up here. Though I guess I shouldn't expect better of people who cheated on the entrance exam." Bea's face went sour. Martin scowled.
"Whatever trick your dad pulled—"
"Oh, no, he had nothing to do with it. Neither did my mom," Aero added. "You guys just don't realize how hated your are, huh? No, it was another student who exposed you. But I'm not giving out names. I don't like outing people." Bea rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Aero, you know it isn't like that."
"Like what?" Aero snapped. "Outing me to my family? Faking being my friend?" He turned his glare onto Martin. "And I may hate Beatrice and all she stands for, but you? It's not a surprise your dad ran away." He looked Martin up and down, enjoying the way Martin stiffened at his comment. "I would, too."
"Say that again, I dare you," Martin hissed.
Aero rained an eyebrow. "Your dad left because he's ashamed of his son. Are you surprised?"
Martin took a step forward.
"Leave him alone," Peter snapped, putting in arm in front of Aero. Aero took a step back, surprised. Then he grinned. Sure, let's see Martin go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man. Why not? "You shouldn't be here. I think you should leave before security gets here."
"This isn't your fight, Parker," Martin sneered.
"He's my friend," Peter insisted. "Leave. Him. Alone."
Bea stared at them both. She sighed. "Look, we just want Aero to put in a good word. Get us back at Midtown."
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Aero asked, incredulous. She shrugged. "Holy shit. You're insane. Like, you need to be in a mental hospital," he said, mostly to himself, because, well, holy shit, on what grounds did they think that was even a remotely reasonable request?
"Hey, we helped you," Martin said. "You were too much of a coward to come out, and we helped you do it."
Aero pushed past Peter, blinded. "Are you fucking—"
"Hey, hey," Peter said, putting his hand over Aero's arm as gently as possible. "Listen. Let's go, okay? They don't matter."
Aero stared at him, trying to tame his anger. His whole face felt hot. His chest felt tight. But he wasn't having a panic attack.
"...Okay. Let's go," he agreed, nodding and pursing his lips as tight as he could. Peter began leading him away.
"You have to forgive me!" Bea called after him. Aero froze, then turned to face the two of them, ignoring Peter's quiet groan.
"I was just dong my job. Besides, it's not like you got hurt or anything. What's the big deal, Aero?" Martin sneered.
"The 'big deal?'" Aero quoted. "The 'big deal' is that you outed me to not only my parents, but the entire world. You took away the one thing that I was supposed to decide. You don't have the right to tell me to forgive you when you put my personal life on blast for all those little rodents that you call followers, Beatrice! I'm supposed to tell people! I'm supposed to be the one who decides when I come out and who I come out to! You took that away from me," he said lowly, dangerously. "So now I'm taking something from you. You want to mess with a Stark? Fine. Just don't be surprised when that internship of yours slips away." He glowered at Martin. "And I wonder how your parents would feel, knowing you kissed a guy, Emerson. Maybe we should find out."
He turned around again and began walking toward the band room.
"Aero, come back here!" Bea yelled, desperate. "You can't do that! You don't have the power to do that! Get back here!" She was crying. Aero almost felt bad. Of course, he wasn't sure if he was actually going to mess with her. He hated her more than anything, even himself, but he wasn't quite sure he was at her level. He didn't like messing with people's lives. So maybe, just this once, he'd let it slide. And he definitely wasn't going to 'out' Martin. No. He wouldn't go so low as to tell someone's parents that they kissed a guy. Because that was wrong (well, maybe he would mess with him, but not to that extent).
There were other ways to mess with them. And maybe Aero wouldn't take away what they love, but that doesn't mean he would stop his parents from doing so.
But that didn't mean he was going to tell them that.
[ be something greater ]
The day of the field trip approached faster than Aero wanted it to.
Don't get Aero wrong, he loves field trips. He's never been on one, mind you, but he loves the idea of them. A day off of school, free lunch—plus, being around classmates at a place that wasn't school just hit differently. But he didn't want to go on this field trip. Field trips were meant to be spent with friends.
Ned would be hanging out with Peter. Michelle would be on her own. Even though he had defended Aero, Aero didn't want to hang out with Flash. Betty was sweet, but he'd definitely feel like a third wheel when she was with her real friends. And, well, Aero hadn't talked to Peter since he'd tried pulling Aero away from fighting Martin and Bea. There was no one to hang out with, and Aero would be alone. Again.
Things always came full circle.
"Don't forget your permission slip," Pepper reminded him in the morning, hanging Aero the piece of white paper. He sighed and put it in his backpack. "Your dad is going to drive you," she added, making Aero freeze.
"Uh, what?" he asked, surprised. "Isn't he, like, busy?"
"I'm meeting him at the park later, so it's just easier," she said, ruffling his hair. "Love you, Aero."
"Yeah, I love you, too," he replied absentmindedly, heading to the garage. True to Pepper's word, Tony was waiting for him next to one of the more expensive looking cars. Aero sighed, climbing into the passenger's seat. With Happy, Aero could always ride in the back, but his dad loved having him in the front for some reason.
"Why are you and mom going to the park?" he asked as they pulled away from the compound.
"Wedding stuff," Tony said simply. Aero frowned. "Plus, I had a super weird dream that I want to discuss." He gave a look. "And I'll tell you what it is after I tell her." Aero sighed in disappointment, leaning back in his seat. "Are you excited about today's trip?"
Aero shrugged. "I'd rather be home," he muttered.
Tony frowned. He was quiet for a moment, then, "Have you, uh, talked to Peter?"
"Once."
"And?"
"And we're not friends again, dad, Jesus." Aero crossed his arms, shaking his head. "It's awkward. I don't know what else I can say about it. Things have ... changed."
Tony sighed. "Have you made an effort to talk to him? Have either of you made an effort?" Aero stayed silent. "That's what I thought. Why don't—"
"Are you and mom actually meeting at the dark or are you just here to lecture me?" Aero asked. Tony glanced at him through the mirror. Aero sighed. "Whatever."
"Aero," Tony said calmly, "can you give him a chance? That's all I want to know. You guys were great together. And I know you both miss being each other's friends."
"So you told Peter to be my friend, and now you're telling me to be Peter's friend?" Aero teased. Tony chuckled. After a moment, Aero sighed. "Okay. I'll talk to him today," he promised, hoping this would be a promise he could actually keep. It shouldn't be hard, talking to Peter. It shouldn't make Aero feel so ... nervous. But he was. And that's okay. Because Peter wouldn't judge him. Aero just had to remember that.
"Hey, how about tonight we ... we all do a Game Night. Me, you, your mom, Happy, and Rhodey?" Tony suggested as they pulled into the school parking lot. There was a yellow school bus at the entrance. A few students that Aero recognized from Mr. Cobbwell's class milled around, laughing and talking. A few of them look in their direction, noticing the expensive car that drove by, but they quickly took their eyes off of it to go back to their conversations.
Tony elbowed him. Aero laughed. "Sure, why not. It's going to get crazy. And I'm going to kick your ass."
"I'd like to see you try," Tony challenged. "Now go have fun."
"But not too much fun?" Tony sighed, rolling his eyes. "Okay, okay, I'll see you tonight," Aero said, laughing. He got off the car and waved to his dad as he walked toward the bus.
"Nice ride," Betty commented.
"Thanks, my dad drove me," Aero said. Then he wondered why he said it. But Betty didn't seem to mind. She nodded and gave him one last smile before turning back to her friend. Aero shrugged and noticed that Mr. Cobbwell had begun boarding students. He headed over and greeted his teacher before getting on the bus, looking for a seat.
Aero stopped, looking around and noticing that there was only one completely empty seat, right next to Ned and Peter. Peter was staring out the window, clearly distracted, but Ned met Aero's eyes. After a moment, Aero made a motion toward Peter; Ned nodded and whispered something to Peter before moving to the empty seat. Peter glanced at him. clearly confused, before shrugging and going back to looking out the window.
Aero approached. He nodded to Ned in thanks before clearing his throat. "Is this seat taken?"
Peter glanced up, looking surprised. Then he quickly recovered, shaking his head furiously and scooting even closer to the window so Aero could sit down. Aero sat, staring at the brown leather seat in front of him, trying not to be awkward. He glanced at Peter out of the corner of his eye, seeing that Peter was was fidgeting nervously.
Aero sighed. "So. Um. Hi."
"Hi," Peter said softly. "...Are we talking now?"
"I ... never really wanted to stop," Aero admitted.
"Me, neither," Peter said. "...Are we friends again?"
"...I don't know," Aero finally said. Peter sighed, nodding. "But I'd like to be."
Peter looked at him, eyes wide. "Really?"
Aero took a deep breath, turning to face him. "Look. My family and I are having a Game Night. Why don't you and May come by? It'll be nice. We can play Clue."
Peter smiled, nodding. "I think we can manage that."
Aero couldn't help but grin. "I'll see if Happy wants to pick you guys up."
The bus rattled underneath their feat as it began moving. Aero settled into his seat, feeling lighter than he had in months. Things were finally going back to normal—no more secrets, no more lies, no more fear. Every truth was out there. Well, every truth except for Aero's never dying feelings for Peter, but Aero would rather confess those when they weren't on a confined space with nowhere to run if the situation turned bad.
The bus got onto the freeway. Aero turned his body to talk to Ned. "Thanks. You didn't have to give up your seat."
Ned shrugged. "Trust me, you both needed it more than I did." He grinned. "Are you gonna tell—?"
"Not yet!" Aero yelped. He could feel Peter turn to look at him. "Maybe ... tonight. Possibly. No promises," he added, seeing Ned perk up. "And only if—"
Peter suddenly grabbed his arm, catching his attention. "Aero," he said quietly. Aero followed his gaze, seeing exactly what he was—a giant floating spaceship that looked like a donut, hovering over the city. He huffed and grabbed his phone from his pocket, going to his emergency contacts and pressing the name at the top of the list. There were only two rings before the call was answered.
"Dad?" Aero asked. "Hey, are you seeing this?"
"Yep, I see it," Tony confirmed, making Aero's heart drop. "I need to go, kiddo. Stay safe."
"I love you."
He could almost hear Tony's smile. "I love you, too, Aero. I'll see you soon. I'll be back in time for Game Night."
Aero put his phone back into his pocket as Peter climbed over his lap. "Whoa, what, hey," Aero snapped, grabbing Peter's arm. "Think this through."
"I am!" Peter said. "Ned, I need you to cause a distraction!" he ordered. Ned looked at him and stood, then noticed the spaceship. He exclaimed, "We're all gonna die!" and got the attention of everyone else, who quickly ran to the back of the bus to get a better view of the ship. Aero rolled his eyes. "Aero, your dad is out there. I have to go."
"Peter!" Aero whispered loudly, jumping up from his seat. Peter paused, turning to face him, looking a little annoyed that Aero had stopped him from his world-saving activities. Aero rolled his eyes again, wondering when his headache was going to kick in. "Just be careful, okay? I ... don't want to hear that you died."
"Very reassuring, Aero, thank you," Peter said.
Aero groaned. "Look, just ... what I'm trying to say..." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look," he said, lowering his hand, "I still care about you. A lot. And I don't want to lose you. So if you could just please stay alive, that would be great." He swallowed. "And ... look out for my dad. Please." Peter nodded, though he looked concerned. "Good luck," he added, smiling as he watched Peter leap through the bus window, pulling his mask on. How that boy ever managed to keep his identity a secret was beyond Aero, but it's not like he was exactly the poster child for keeping secret identities, well, a secret, either.
He turned around to look out the window, frowning.
Spaceships. In New York. Made enough sense, but this one gave Aero a bad feeling. He only hoped that he would see Peter later.
After all, Aero needed to tell him how he felt, before some other world-ending situation arose.
[ go make a legacy ]
As the hours dragged on, Aero only got more anxious. Could you blame him? Hours of no contact from his dad or Peter, the two people who had disappeared into space, according to a frantic phone call from his mom. She had asked if he wanted Happy to pick him up, but Aero refused, wanting to remain on the field trip so he could try to calm himself down, but it only served to make him worry.
Ned and Michelle both seemed unconcerned, but Aero didn't think they knew the gravity of the situation. No one was dead yet, but that didn't mean it wasn't coming.
"Look, they have a knock off Captain America exhibit," Michelle pointed out.
Aero raised an eyebrow, looking around. "They got almost all of it right, but they forgot the part about Bucky Barns," he pointed out.
Ned squinted at him. "Wait, I thought you didn't like Captain America?"
Aero shrugged. "Well, when I did, I begged my dad to take me the actual Smithsonian exhibit. I memorized every detail of that place so I could impress Steve Rogers with how much I know about him. I guess it stuck," he said, not really bothered by it.
"Oh, no way! There's an Iron Man one!" Michelle announced, pointing out the red and gold hallway to their right. "Come on, we have to go," she said.
Aero groaned but followed after her and Ned, knowing this was about to be super embarrassing. It was nice, though. It took away some of the worry.
"Aero, you're over here!" Ned announced, making Aero's face go red. He walked over to Ned and saw what he meant—his dad's family tree stared back at him. At the very bottom was Aero's name, marking him as Tony's only kid. "That's so cool, did you know about this?" Aero shook his head. "There's probably a lot of other things about you here since you're his kid," Ned mused.
"I'd be surprised and mildly insulted if that wasn't true," he said, shrugging. "Come on, let's see what other embarrassing things there are."
They looked around for a while. There were mini statues of Tony, a talking presentation of the court battle, stories about his dad's childhood ... everything you would think would be in a museum exhibit dedicated to Tony Stark.
"How much do you know about your granddad?" Michelle asked. Aero frowned and walked over, seeing she was reading about his grandfather, Howard Stark.
"Yeah, I don't— from what I know, I would have hated him," Aero confirmed. "I think he was abusive. There was just certain videos, you know? Stuff you can't unsee or unhear." Michelle nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he seems like a bitch," she said. Aero laughed, walking away
"Lunch break!" Mr. Cobbwell announced, his voice echoing down the hall. "Leeds, Stark, Jones—please come join us!"
Aero walked back to the rest of the class with Ned and Michelle, looking around the rest of the exhibit. At the end of the hall, where the rest of the class was, was a framed photo of Tony, Pepper, and Aero. It was the first photo they'd taken together as a family. Aero should know—he had the same photo framed on his nightstand.
"If you brought a lunch from home, please make your way to the grass," Mr. Cobbwell was saying, directing everyone outside. Aero wondered how he did it, managing his two AP science classes without another teacher to help. Aero was glad it was only his AP science classes, as that meant less people, but that Ned got to join him and Michelle on the trip. Still, he hoped they weren't all giving Mr. Cobbwell a headache with how much they were running off. "If you're parents ordered lunch from the school, please meet me by the oak tree to collect it!"
Aero saw down on the lawn, digging through his backpack for the lunch Pepper had made him. Ned saw next to him, and Aero waited for Michelle to collect her lunch from Mr. Cobbwell before he began eating.
"This is fun," he commented.
"Peter would love this," Ned added, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Ah, there go the nerves again. "Yeah."
"No point thinking about it," Michelle reminded them. "Instead, let's talk about the fact that there's a picture of baby Aero in the museum."
Aero groaned. "Let's not do that," he suggested. "Let's talk about science projects?"
Michelle rolled her eyes. "Ned and I finished that weeks ago. No spoilers," she added, seeing that Aero was about to ask what their project was. "You?"
"Peter and I are almost done," he said, neglecting to mention the fact that they were delayed by their loss of friendship. "No spoilers, either."
Michelle shrugged. "Doesn't matter, Ned and I are going to win."
"In your dreams, Jones," Aero challenged.
She smirked. "I don't dream."
Aero grinned at her. Yeah, maybe he had more than one friend. And he could see why that wasn't a bad thing.
The rest of the trip, surprisingly, went by smoothly. No attacks from the sky, no kidnappings or murders, nothing out of the ordinary—which made everything that much more nerve wracking, whenever he thought about his dad and/or Peter (mainly both), being up in space with no way to assure anyone that they were alright. Aero supposed that, when you lived in a world full of superheroes, gods, and aliens, a sense of normality wasn't expected. So when one was felt, things were ... strange.
Normal was boring. Aero had long since learned that. But that doesn't mean he didn't like it.
He wished things would be normal for once. He wished he could have all the people that he loves in one room for one night without having to worry about someone dying.
But all Aero could do was wait for that night. Wait on a stupid school bus for one night of peace.
They returned to school earlier than expected, but only by twenty minutes, in which they were told they could remain out of class as long as they stayed nearby. School was about to be let out, anyway. Aero sat on the curb next to his backpack, boredly looking for one of the cars his dad owned, knowing Happy would be the one to pick him up. He didn't even have to ask—of course Happy would pick him up.
Aero stood as a nicer looking car drove into the parking lot, recognizing Happy behind the wheel. He waved goodbye to Michelle and Ned before walking toward the car, ready to be done with school for the day. It was fun, he decided. He enjoyed most of the trip. But he still couldn't wait to get home, because getting home meant that his dad would be home soon, too, because Tony had promised. His dad had never broken a promise, not one made to Aero, at least.
Tony Stark would be home in time for Game Night. That's all Aero had to remember.
"Have fun today?" Happy asked as they pulled away from the school.
Aero shrugged, buckling his seat belt. "Sure. A little nerve wracking, but for my first field trip, pretty fun, I guess." He sighed, leaning forward. "Anything from dad? Peter?"
Happy shook his head, frowning. "Sorry, kid, nothing yet. Pepper talked with him before he went up, but we haven't heard anything since."
Aero leaned back, nodding. "Do you think— do you think he's okay?"
Happy was quiet for a moment. "He's Tony. Probably not. But he'll make it out alive. He always does."
Aero nodded, more confident. "Yeah. You're right," he decided, smiling now, assured. His dad was Tony Stark, and Tony Stark always made it out of impossible situations. It's just what he did, and he did it well. The Battle of New York, Sokovia, the airport—whatever this new threat was, his dad would be fine.
The rest of the ride passed in silence. Aero thanked Happy for picking him up when they got home, than went to his room. He put his backpack by the door and laid down on his bed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
For the first time in months, there was a sense of calm.
Complete and utter—
"Hey, Aero. Can I sit?" Pepper asked, smiling hesitantly. Aero looked over at her, noticing that she was standing in the doorway. He frowned and sat up, nodding and patting the seat next to him. She sat down, not meeting his eyes, which made nerves settle in his stomach.
"Mom? Is something wrong?" Suddenly stricken with a thought, he took her hand. "Is Dad okay? Have you heard anything from him?" Aero would have thought, should something have happened to Tony, that Peter would call him when they got back to Earth. Unless ... something happened to Peter? Oh, God, what if something happened to both of them?
"No! No, nothing from Tony yet," Pepper told him, though Aero wasn't sure if that was assuring or not. "It's ... something else."
"Are you sick?" he asked.
She smiled faintly. "I will be."
"Is it deadly?" Aero pestered, though he quickly realized she didn't sound scared.
"In some cases," Pepper mused. She shook her head, turning to face him. "This morning, while you were on the bus, your dad and I went for a jog to talk about the wedding," she began, making Aero brighten. "And he told me that he had a dream. He ... told me that he dreamed that we were having another kid together. That I'm pregnant," she explained. Aero furrowed his brows, stumped, before his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Pepper laughed. "Yes, Aero, I'm pregnant. You're going to be an older brother."
Speechless. That's the only way to describe how Aero felt. He couldn't find the words that he wanted to say. Probably because he didn't want to say anything—he just wanted to jump around the room and cheer. He wanted to call Peter and tell him the news. He wanted to see his dad's reaction. Hell, he wanted the baby to be in his life already, because he couldn't wait to be an older brother. The prospect was too exciting.
Holy shit! He was going to be a brother!
"Oh, my God, Mom, that's— that's amazing, holy shit, that's awesome!" he stammered, not caring for her reaction to his language. "You're having a baby! Oh, my God!"
Pepper laughed. "I'm glad you're excited, Aero," she stated, and the relief was clear in her voice. Aero didn't understand—how could he not be happy about being a brother, especially an older one? He'd always dreamed of having a sibling, someone he could look out for, someone who he could team up with to pull pranks to mess with their parents. They were financially stable enough to support another kid—hell, they could support having hundreds, if not thousands, of other kids, but Aero wasn't going to complain.
"Do you have a name? Do you know what it's going to be? No, of course you don't, it's too early, you're probably only a month in, and—"
"Aero, Aero, slow down," Pepper ordered, making Aero stop and take a deep breath. "Don't turn into your father right now, I'm going to have to deal with him enough during the next eight months," she teased. They both laughed, though they were interrupted by a knock at Aero's bedroom door. Aero looked away from his mom, smiling in greeting to Happy, who looked between them, confused as to why they were laughing.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked, directing his question to Pepper.
She nodded, winking at Aero, who made a motion of zipping his mouth shut. He grinned at them as they left, both talking in hushed whispers. Aero fell back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling with a bright grin that he couldn't wipe away. He was going to be an older brother. Him. Aero! Christ, he couldn't wait.
There were so many thoughts buzzing inside his head, and Aero knew he couldn't wait to tell someone. He had to let the secret spill to somebody! But he only knew two people to tell—who were on Earth, anyway, because Peter would obviously be the first person he'd come to with this secret. Ned and Michelle were the only other two he could tell, but he didn't particularly feel like telling either of them. Don't get him wrong, he loves Ned to death, but Aero knows that boy can barely keep a secret to save his life, and he doesn't want the news spreading too soon. And while he enjoys Michelle's company immensely, he knows that once he tells her the news, they'd have nothing else to talk about.
Bah. He needs to go somewhere. For a drive, maybe. Just to clear his head.
Aero got off his bed and grabbed his jacket from his desk chair. He followed the hallways down to the kitchen, where Pepper and Happy were cheerfully conversing, probably about the new development in the family. He waved to get their attention, and only spoke when he had it. "Can I go out? If I'm trapped here for any longer I might accidently tell someone about the baby," he added, seeing them both about to protest.
Pepper frowned. "I don't know. I don't like you and Tony being gone at the same time."
"Please? I promise I'll be back soon, I just want to clear my head. Maybe go into the city and get something to drink. A Mountain Dew Red?" he mused.
Happy and Pepper shared a look before Pepper sighed. "Text me when you get into the city, okay?"
"Only if you call me when Dad and Peter return from space."
She smiled brightly. "Okay, deal. I'll see you later."
Aero smiled back. "See you in an hour."