Pepper looked up when someone came into her office and smiled. "Hey, Peter, how was school today?"
"It was good. Great," he said nervously.
"What's wrong?"
"If I tell you something, can you keep it from Dad?" he asked as he dropped into one of the chairs in front of her desk.
"Are you in trouble? Does it have to do with Spider-Man?" she asked, getting worried.
"No and no. It's, um, a school thing."
She stood up and walked over to sit in the chair next to him so they didn't have the desk between them. "Is this about that Flash boy? I know you don't want to say anything, but -"
"No, Flash is annoying, but he's just Flash. I, um… Igotadatetohomecoming!"
"You…" Pepper's eyes widened as she translated his word vomit into actual words. "Oh, Peter, that's great! Was it Michelle or Liz?"
"Li-Wait, no, why would you think I'd go with Michelle?"
She hummed and shrugged. Michelle sounded like a nice girl and Pepper had often caught Peter talking about her. With more detail than he usually talked about Liz, but she supposed that was just how teenagers were with their crushes.
"No, I, um, I asked Liz. And she said yes."
"That's wonderful! Why would you want to hide that from Tony?"
He shrugged, blushing. "You know how he gets sometimes."
"Right, enough said," Pepper chuckled. "Well, we'll need to get you something nice to wear. Oh, and a corsage. You kids still do that right? Well, you can't go wrong with flowers either way. Do you know what color dress she's wearing?"
"Um, no? Does that matter?"
Pepper rolled her eyes and went back to her desk. "Yes. If she's going black, you'll want a grey or navy suit. If she isn't then you'll want a black suit, but with a tie to match her dress. You want to match without clashing. You also want to make sure the corsage matches."
"Oh, uh, okay. I can text her."
"Only tell her that you want your outfits to match. Don't mention the flowers."
"Right."
"Do you want to bring her to dinner before the dance?"
"Uh…"
"We can rent out a place. Maybe Italian, or that Thai place you like."
"I think renting out a restaurant might be going overboard," Peter pointed out.
"Yes, of course, sorry. It's just, it's your first date! It should be special."
"Mom," he moaned, burying his face in his hands.
"Ms. Potts tried to rent out a restaurant for you and Liz?" Ned gasped. "Dude, that's so cool! Why'd you say no?"
"Because it's pathetic and ostentatious," Michelle said walking up.
"Oh, uh, hey Michelle! How much of that did you hear?" Peter asked, glancing at Ned.
His friend gave him an apologetic expression and mouthed, Sorry.
"Just about how the Pepper Potts is trying to help you impress your crush. For the record, Harley already told me your sister works at Stark Industries with his dad. He didn't realize you were keeping that a secret."
"Nebula wor-" Ned started before cutting off with a groan as Peter elbowed him.
"She just works security and she can't talk about it so I just don't tell anyone. It's not a big deal."
"And yet you know the CEO," Michelle said, unconvinced.
"We, uh, have bumped into each other a few times when I come to work with Nebula."
"Uh-huh." Michelle leaned down so they were face-to-face. "What are you hiding, Peter?"
Peter's mouth gaped open.
She stood up. "I'm just kidding. I don't care. Are Harley and I coming to this dinner too? Because I'm flexitarian."
"Flexitarian?"
"It means I rarely eat meat."
"Oh, cool. Uh, I don't know. I'd have to ask Liz, but it should be fine. For the record, we're not actually renting out an entire restaurant. And we were planning on going to this Mediterranean place Ms. Potts recommended and they usually have a lot of vegetarian plates, so you should be okay."
"Fancy," she snorted. "And here Harley just offered to take me to Avengers Mansion."
"He did what?" Peter asked. Harley was so busted! Wait, "I thought this wasn't a date for you two."
"It isn't. He was trying to bribe me for your embarrassing stories. He said his dad could get us in during Moving Day."
Peter frowned, vaguely remembering Uncle Happy and Nebs talking about getting all the missing Avengers' dangerous stuff packed up to be locked in a Damage Control vault so that the UN could turn the mansion into a museum or something since no one was using it anymore with Uncle Rhodey back on base and Vis living with Dad.
"Oh, uh, yeah. SI security is handling the transfer since some of Mr. Stark's stuff is also getting packed up to be brought back to the tower."
"Dude, why didn't you say something? Can I come too?" Ned asked, nudging Peter.
"No one's coming," Peter said, shaking his head. "There's no way Mr. Stark would let any of us in there."
"Harley already got the okay," Michelle pointed out.
"Wait, you're going?"
"I want to put up some posters outside to protest the museum. Most of the Avengers are war criminals, after all."
"But I thought he'd only take you if you told him embarrassing stories."
"Yup."
Peter flopped backward with a groan.
"How could you sell him out like that?" Ned asked and Peter glared at him.
"At least she did it for payment. You told Harley about me falling in the pool without him even asking!"
"I'm sorry, but come on, Peter! You've got to take me to Moving Day!"
"Aren't they doing that the same night as homecoming?" Peter said.
"That's why he offered. We're going before the dance."
"Please, Peter!"
"Aw, you both look adorable!" Aunt Pepper said as she took pictures of Harley and Peter standing next to each other in their suits.
Peter just gave an awkward smile while Harley sent Dad a look asking for help.
The man smiled and winked.
"Aunt Pep, we need to get going," Harley tried.
"Just one more picture!" she said, still clicking away. "It's your guys' first dance! I'm sending these to your mom too."
Harley nudged Peter and he sighed. "Mom, we've still got to pick up Ned, Michelle, and Liz."
"Okay, okay." She took one more before coming over to kiss both their cheeks. "Have fun you two."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Dad chuckled before frowning. "Actually, definitely don't do anything I would do. There's a… There's a little grey area in there, and that's where you operate."
Aunt Pepper slapped his arm. "Just be gentlemen. Nice, but not too nice."
"That'd be creepy," Peter offered.
"Don't be creepy," she agreed.
"Got it. Can we go now? I wanna get to the show?" Harley groaned.
"Show?"
"Peter embarrassing himself," Harley and Dad said together.
Peter shoved Harley as Aunt Pepper swatted Dad's arm again.
"Be nice, you two," she tutted. "You'll do great, Peter."
"Sure he will," Harley chuckled, pushing him towards the elevator. "But not if we don't get going."
"Oh, don't forget the flowers!" she shouted, grabbing the containers of the table.
"Flowers?"
"Mom and I ordered corsages," Peter explained.
"I still can't believe you hid this from me," Dad sighed with a pout as Aunt Pepper handed the two their boxes.
"Sorry," Peter said halfheartedly before pointing at each corsage in turn. "I got dark pink roses to match Liz's dress's lace pattern and we got you a daydreamer dahlia since dahlias are Michelle's favorite flower and the color matches the dress her mom made her get."
Harley raised an eyebrow. "You know her favorite flower?"
"She told us when she did a report on the Black Dahlia Murder last year," he answered with a shrug. "That's why they're her favorite."
"… That's kind of dark."
Peter just shrugged again so Harley looked to his Dad and Aunt to be sure he wasn't the only one that thought that was weird.
Maybe Peter was right to call her a little scary.
Dad snickered at his face. "You're the one who asked her out, kiddo."
Harley stuck his tongue out at him and pushed Peter the rest of the way into the elevator. "Please tell me you didn't set me up with a psycho?"
"She's not a psycho. She just likes morbid stuff. There's nothing wrong with that. And I didn't set you up with her. In fact, I tried to stop this."
Ignoring that, Harley gave his box a small shake. "Also, flowers? Really?"
"You're supposed to give girls corsages!"
"You're such a nerd."
"You're such a jerk. Aren't country boys supposed to be gentlemen?"
"Aren't city boys supposed to be cool?"
"Wednesday."
"Tennessee."
"Peter got you flowers."
"Not even going to pretend you picked it out?"
"Not even going to pretend you're glad I didn't?"
"Peter's got better taste."
"He knows your favorite flower and picked basic-bitch roses for his actual date. He doesn't know the meaning of taste, he's just a sap."
"True."
"I called him Mr. Liz's dad Toomes Sir."
"You owe me five bucks, MJ! He didn't even make it through the door!"
"Abe is going to be so jealous," Liz said as she snapped more pictures with her phone.
Harley leaned against Peter and whispered, "Your girlfriend is taking pictures of our uncle's bedroom."
Peter shushed him and pushed him out the door.
"You have to admit, that's pretty weird," the taller boy chuckled quietly.
"Uncle Rhodey's famous. It's not weird that he has fans."
"But it's weird that you're dating one."
"W-we're not dating, technically," Peter muttered. "And-"
"Not as weird as your friend taking pictures of the bathroom, though," Harley added, looking over Peter's shoulder.
"He's not taking pictures of the bathroom," he argued uncertainly, turning to face Ned as he came out of the bathroom. "Tell him you weren't taking pictures of the bathroom."
"What? No. I got some awesome pictures of Iron Man's lab through the windows though!"
"Ned, you've been in my workshop at the tower a bunch of times! It's the same thing!"
"But this was Iron Man's!"
"Hey losers, are you done nerding out yet?" MJ called from down the hall.
"I think nerding out is their default state," Harley yelled back. "You done protesting?"
"Protesting is my default state. We're going to be late if we don't get going, you know."
"So?"
"So if we're staying then I'm taking these shoes off."
"What's going on?" Liz asked, coming out of the room.
"Time to leave," Harley said.
"Aw, but the plane hasn't even left yet," she said, wrapping a hand around one of Peter's arms. "Can't we stay a little longer?"
"Yeah! We can't leave before we see the plane take off!" Ned agreed.
"I'm going to take my shoes off," MJ shouted, heading back the way she'd come.
Peter looked at Harley, who shrugged. "Well, if you guys are okay being late to the dance, then I can ask Nebs if we can stay a little longer."
"Yes!"
"You're the best!" Liz said, squeezing his arm.
Harley snickered at his brother's blush. "I'll call her. She can't say no to me."
"She'll say no because it's you," Peter snorted, pulling out his phone before Harley could.
In revenge, Harley snatched away his phone as soon as he hit call and turned it on speakerphone.
"You kids heading out finally?" Nebula asked distractedly.
"Actually, uh, I wanted to know if we could stay a little longer," Peter said, trying to grab his phone back as Harley held it up out of his reach while Liz rolled her eyes at their antics. "Ned and Liz wanted - Give it back Harley! - to know if we could stay to watch the plane take off."
"Am I on speakerphone? Harley, what did you do?"
"Why is it always my fault?"
"Because I know you. And I can also see you on the cameras. Give Peter back his phone."
Harley stuck his tongue out at the nearest camera, but handed over the phone.
"Can we stay Nebs, please?" Peter asked, kicking Harley in the shin.
The taller boy hissed at the pain, then asked in a simpering whine, "Yeah, please Nebs?"
"Don't call me Nebs, brat. And sure Peter, whatever. Just take them over to Mr. Stark's house. We need to close everything up here. I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S. let you in and lock up after."
"Thanks, Nebs!"
"Yeah, thanks Nebs!"
"Call me Nebs one more time, Harley. I dare you," Nebula growled before hanging up.
"Did she just say we're going to Tony Stark's house?" Ned gasped, grabbing Peter's shoulders as Liz's eyes lit up and she started texting someone.
"I'm going to go get MJ before one of you start kissing him," Harley teased, backing away.
"Cowboy!"
"City slicker!"
"We are about to see a plane full to bursting with Avengers gear take off… and you three are sitting out of view and eating popcorn."
"It's a plane," Harley and Peter said together.
"Loser," Michelle added, turning the page of her book and grabbing another handful of popcorn.
"This place is amazing," Liz said, coming back into the room. She looked up from her phone and frowned. "Where did you get popcorn?"
"Pantry," Harley said and threw a piece at Peter, who snatched it out of the air and stuffed it in his mouth with a smirk.
"Isn't that stealing?"
"If he even notices, then Stark can send me the bill," Harley said with a shrug.
"He's a billionaire. He probably eats million-dollar popcorn," Michelle pointed out without looking up from her book.
"It's Orville Redenbacher's," he deadpanned. "The only expensive thing about it is that he got the gross healthy kind so I had to melt my own butter."
"I told you there was extra butter in there."
"And you were lying!"
"J.A.R.V.I.S.!"
"There is a box for Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Microwave Popcorn: Extra Buttery in the pantry, though the box is currently empty."
"Who left an empty box in the pantry?"
"I am not permitted to divulge that information."
Harley and Peter shared a look at that telling information. Dad and Nebula don't eat extra buttery and Vision doesn't eat period. Which left Rhodey, who JARVIS would have sold out in a heartbeat; Uncle Happy, who was too finicky to leave an empty box in the pantry; and Mom.
"I guess even billionaires are savages," Peter said and Harley nodded solemnly.
Liz looked between the two, confused, and Michelle snorted. "I think this is the first time you guys have agreed on something."
"We agree on things," Peter argued.
"We agree on lots of things!"
"You really don't," Ned said.
"We do. We'd just be too powerful if we always got along. We're mad scientists during our joint projects." Harley sent Peter a look and Peter kicked him because he seriously needed to shut up.
Honestly, and their family thinks Peter is the one who can't keep a secret. Jay was listening to every word!
"You two are literally fighting while trying to say you don't always fight," Michelle said pointedly.
"As I said, we'd be too powerful otherwise."
"Sir seems sure they could take over the world if they put their mind to it," Jay cut in, proving his point about their older brother's eavesdropping. "Now if you will turn your attention outside, the plane is about to leave."
"Yes!" Ned cheered, running outside.
"Come on, Peter," Liz said, grabbing his hand to pull him up and out the backdoor. Harley followed a moment later, popcorn bowl in hand.
They only had a moment to wait before the plane rose above the bushes.
"Betty is going to owe me big for getting these pictures for the school news," she said as she and Ned held up their phones.
"So cool!" he gasped when the plane disappeared in a flicker.
"Retro-reflective panels," Harley explained.
Peter rolled his eyes dramatically behind Liz's back and Harley knocked their shoulders together.
"Look at this weird bird," Liz chuckled, showing Ned her phone.
"Bird?" Peter asked, squinting into the dark while Harley went over to see her phone. He sucked in a breath when he spotted a shape that he might have mistaken for a bird, if it weren't for its size and the light glinting off its propellers from the thruster on its back. The fact that it seemed to latch onto midair a second later only proved it.
"That's not a bird," Harley said, looking up at Peter. "Wilson's evil twin?"
"He's going to hijack the plane," Peter agreed, still watching as it got farther away. "I need to, uh, go tell Nebs."
"What's going on?" Liz asked, looking between the two of them.
"You heard about the Staten Island Ferry going down, right?" Peter asked, but didn't give her a chance to agree. "Well it was done by a guy with wings like Falcon's, but bigger. And he's attacking the Moving Day plane. So I've got to go tell my sister and you guys need to get somewhere safe. If his group is attacking that plane they might go after the stuff bound for Stark Tower too." He met Harley's eyes and his brother nodded, getting the hint.
"I'll go with you." Or maybe not. "Liz, you saw where the master bed is during your self-tour, right?"
She blushed and shrugged. "Yeah, I… noticed it while looking around."
Okay, maybe Harley had a point about dating a fan.
"Take Ned and MJ there. Go into the closet and press on the far wall. There's a panic room hidden there. J.A.R.V.I.S. will let you in. As soon as you're in, put it in lockdown. Once you do, no one will be able to get in until you unlock it, and don't do that until J.A.R.V.I.S. tells you it's safe."
"What about you two?" Liz said, worry entering her voice.
"We need to warn Nebs," Peter said.
"And we can't risk someone intercepting a phone call," Harley added.
"We'll be more discreet on our own and Nebs and her team will keep us safe."
"She'll probably stuff us right into one of the panic rooms at the mansion."
"Come on, they'll be okay," Ned said, gently tugging her in the direction of the door.
"Be careful," she said, following.