"Dad, where are we?"
Peter wondered as he step out of their orange Audi R8. In front of them lies an old American cabin with a front porch in a middle of a farm. Next to it a huge lake surrounded by trees. The fresh wind blows through, softly swaying the leaves of the trees.
He looked back at his Dad whose leaning on the side of their car, just watching his reaction. He walked towards the wooden walkway overseeing the entire lake. Seeing the whole ambiance of the place just makes him calm and at peace.
"Like it? What do you think?"
He glanced at his Dad now beside him just staring at the view in front of them. Deeply inhaling the fresh breeze.
"I think it's perfect. What is this place?"
"Summer house, Winter house. Basically, just a safe house for us to rewind and relax. Off the grid."
The serene scenery astonished him. Peace and tranquility in the middle of nowhere. A completely different environment from the hustle and bustle of New York.
Tony tapped his son's shoulder and guided him back to the cabin. "Come see what's inside. Then let's go fishing later."
"When did you learn how to do this?"
Peter watches Dad put a worm that they're going to use as bait into the hook. It's his turn next and he carefully does as what Dad did.
"When I was in boarding school. On a yacht with some friends. We used to always sneak out, do all these boring and crazy stuff. Good ol' days."
When the bait is ready, Tony swings it first out perfectly into the water then assisted Peter with his.
"That's it?" Peter asked unsatisfied as he saw his Dad now sitting at their folding chairs and pulling out a can of beer. He then sits at his own chair and drinks his grape juice.
"Yeah, we wait."
Peter silently waits, but as each second pass he feels like it's already been taking years. He's not very good at waiting. Especially, with all the gadgets and tech that's been with him all throughout his life, he's used to knowing and doing anything in an instant with a click.
He sighs impatiently. "I think it's gonna take us forever to catch something, Dad."
Tony chuckles at his son's whimpering. They've only been waiting for five minutes and Peter just looks like it's about to be the end of the world, not knowing on what to do next.
"Dad, do you think Dr. Banner's already dead?" Peter asks out of nowhere. Everyone's been saying that he's already dead since they still can't locate the quinjet. There's not even a single sighting and it's already been a year.
"If you think about it, there's a large possibility he's still alive,"
There's a few moments of silence before he continues.
"I think he's not in this world, Pete. I installed a tracking device on that quinjet and if it's still on Earth, we would've tracked it by then. If it exploded I would know. The Hulk is practically unkillable, Bruce said it himself,"
He looked heavenward. "He's out there somewhere. There's lots of things we don't know in this universe. Let's just hope he can cross paths with sparkle fingers,"
Tony misses the entire team but truth be told he felt like he's just back to the where he was before the Avengers even exist. He tinkers with his toys, invent a few stuff, upgrades his suit on most days, company meetings here and there, and more time with his son. So far, he's enjoying it.
"Your graduation's coming soon, do you want to stay in Midtown or change schools?"
"I'll stay in Midtown, Dad." He and Ned already had an agreement that they will stay in Midtown until high school and he doesn't think he can leave Dad alone in New York.
"What about college? Where do you want to go?,"
Peter's eyes squinted. It's too early to talk about college. But who's to say, Dad entered college at 14 and graduated being Summa Cum Laude at 17. That's a lot of stuff to live up to, and he knew Dad always wanted him to go to MIT, follow in his footsteps.
"The President of MIT called me, he was my professor back then. Well, he's asking if you want to join their accelerated program."
His eyes widened in shock. "That's sick."
"They've been looking at you since we patented your invention, and you're also running for Valedictorian right? They've seen your academic performance, they're really impressed."
Dad's smiling proudly at him and he doesn't know what to think. He's just twelve and the MIT wants him. The MIT. The University every tech junkie wants to study in. A great opportunity and anyone who is sane enough will go right ahead. But he doesn't know, he feels like being in-between. He also doesn't know if he can ace being the Valedictorian of their batch, he's not the only one up and running. He's quite sure, Liz will beat him up to the top, if not, Ned or Flash will.
Tony saw how Peter struggle to find the words on what to reply so he immediately assured him. "Hey, bud, no pressure. I'm just telling you. You still have two years to think it through, just let me know, alright?"
No pressure but he feels only pressure building up. He lets out a nervous sigh and plastered a smile on his face.
"Thanks, Dad.,"
He suddenly blurted out asking. "Does grandpa and grandma also wanted you to go to MIT before?"
Tony chuckles as he remembered.
"Oh, they wanted me to go to Harvard. Because Harvard was the number one back then. Since your Dad's such a rebellious teenager, I went to MIT instead, much to your grandpa's dismay, but it fits since MIT focuses on tech. They became the number one ever since then,"
The corners of his eyes crinkled.
"Back then it seems that everything I do isn't enough for your Grandpa. I knew him as cold and calculating, seeing most of my mistakes rather than my achievements. I used to dread coming back home to New York when we have semester breaks, the only consolation is when Mom's around."
Peter's brows knitted confused.
"New York? I thought your old residence is in Miami?"
All this time and I hasn't mentioned. "We had a mansion in New York, bud. It's where I grew up in and its now where Stark Tower rises. When they died, there's no reason to stay in that huge mansion anymore. So I packed up all my stuff and went to Miami with Mom's things."
Many years have passed but every time he talks about his parents passing, Tony can't help but feel remorse. Maybe because it's so sudden, that he didn't even get to say goodbye to his mom. And maybe it's also because he still regret not being able to forgive Howard for their strained relationship, that until the end they can't make amends to each other. And he can't forgive himself for not forgiving his father until it's too late.
Peter listened intently when Dad was relieving bits of his past but then he seemed to get lost in thought and went silent. Perhaps, he shouldn't have asked about his grandparents. They rarely get to talk about them anyway. He sort of wanted to know more but maybe that's enough for today, he knew how sensitive Dad can be when it comes to that topic.
"Dad?" Peter asked as he holds Dad's hand softly nudging it. "Are you okay? Sorry I asked."
"Yeah, of course, I'm okay, bud." Tony smiled but Peter can still see the grief in his eyes that he's trying to hide.
Peter noticed his bobber started to shake and he stands up as he pulls up the line.
"Oh oh oh, I got one!" He shouts merrily when he saw the fish coming close as he pulls the line up in the air. He's almost to jumping up and down in delightful glee. So this is how it feels when a good thing comes from waiting patiently.
"Good one, buddy! Your first catch!," Tony assisted as they carefully remove the hook from the fish. "We have dinner!"
Peter suddenly stopped. "Dad, seriously? This is all we gonna eat?" Are they all going to hunt live animals in this forest, fish forever in this lake? Like cavemans? His mind raced with a bucketful of questions. If that's so then he really wants to go back now in New York.
Tony roared in laughter seeing Peter's shocked and worried face. "You're seriously not going to think we're going to hunt everything we're gonna eat, right? C'mon bud, Pepper won't let us starve in here. The fridge is stocked with food."
Peter let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank God."
Tony continued laughing as he can't wash off the look of Peter's face from his mind. They waited until Tony can catch some fish then went back to the cabin ready to cook their fresh catch.
"Dad, it's not gonna clean itself. Unless you put it back in the lake." Peter chuckled at his own joke and looked at Dad that seems to be just staring at the fish in the sink.
In fact, Tony hasn't cleaned a fish or any animal before. His friends back then was the one who cleaned the fish and cooked it. When Peter came into his life, that's when he started caring on things he doesn't have an interest in, such as cooking.
"Know what, let's ask Friday."
Even though the cabin is full of wooden work, it still has a sophisticated design. The whole cabin was installed with modern tech that Tony needs. Friday showed a video of how to clean the fish and he started doing it on his own and cooked it along with some food from the fridge.
"Are we going to spend New Year here?" Peter sets up the table while Dad cooks.
The Christmas tree shines next to their fireplace. The relaxing crackle of wood from the fireplace can be heard from the background along with soft humming of Christmas songs.
"Do you want to? I know it's tradition we watch the ball drops, but we can spend it here if you want."
"Will the team visit the Tower?"
The original Avengers were together last holidays. Last Holidays of them all together. The last time they've all seen each other was Ultron and Peter hasn't heard of them since, but Tony still receives reports of the missions the new Avengers partake in since he's still the one who finances the organization.
"They're actually in the Middle East looking on a new mission, so that's a no."
"Oh okay."
Peter stared at the picture frames displayed on a side table. Portraits of him and Dad, with Pepper, Dad and Happy, and the whole Avengers gang from the party. He smiled at the thought that everywhere he looks, the whole cabin feels really homey. He came across a picture of him and his mom, along with his step dad, Richard, aunt May and uncle Ben. Flashes of emotional memories just comes back when he sees pictures of them. Or is it just his imagination. It's been a long time ago. He tried to recall memories that involved them in his life but he can't remember any of it now. He was really young when they all died.
Tony placed all the food at the table and the delicious smell coming from it spreads across the house. "Alright. Dinner's ready. Come here, go wash your hands first."
He went to where Peter is and saw his son deep in thought staring at a picture frame. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Peter put the picture frame back into place.
Seeing what picture was looking into, Tony can't help but ask. "Can you still remember her, bud?"
Peter stared into Tony's eyes then looked down. He can't help but feel guilty.
"Um. Honestly, I can't. When I look back I can only remember you and Pepper. I can't even remember how it felt when they died. It's all a blur now."
Tony sighed, earliest childhood memories can be lost as children go older. It's normal that those memories weren't efficiently stored. Hell, he can only remember playing with circuit boards when he was four and constantly asking for Howard's attention.
"Hey, look at me.," lifting Peter's chin up.
"It doesn't mean that if you can't remember them, you already forgot about them. Your heart remembers that you love them, right?,"
Peter's eyes shone with unshed tears and he nodded.
"Then they live in you, in there," pointing at his chest. "That's all that matters.," Tony smiled and gently kissed Peter's forehead. "Now come on let's eat before that dinner gets cold."
He might have lost his mom and his guardians at a young age but Dad practically raised him to be who he is now. Dad had cared for him ever since then and given him all the love that he needs and there's nothing more than he's ever grateful for than that.
Their last day of middle school has finally come to an end. He takes a deep breath and begins his speech.
"Well, we've definitely done it. Middle school was no doubt a tough journey."
Peter stared at all his batchmates, all eyes on him listening, the parents and teachers watching him talking from the stage as he continued giving his speech.
"We faced changes and challenges that required us to step up and own our decisions, even if the end outcome can result in failure. We learned that even if we fail, we learn. We learned not to follow in footsteps, but to create our own. But one thing is for certain, we would not be where we are today without the help and support along the way. The vast amount of knowledge that we hold today is credit that we owe to all of our teachers..,"
He gazed at his teachers in rows near the stage and smiled at them.
"Thank you to all of our parents who have always been there, always behind us, always having our backs, no matter the trouble we go through.,"
Some of the troublemaker students chuckled. He then turned his head on the parents sitting opposite the rows of the students and he smiled as he saw his Dad beaming at him proudly.
"Thank you Dad for supporting me, for instilling in me to stay curious, for being my number one hero, not just for being our own Iron Man, but being my Dad. I am not who I am now without you."
Tony's eyes sparkled with joy and his heart overflows with such pride and love for his son. No words can explain of how proud he is right now of Peter.
"The next chapter of our lives lies ahead of us. With the next four years to define who we are once more. So as this chapter ends, we are more than ready to begin the next."
A standing ovation from all of the students and parents all clapping proudly came.
"The batch Valedictorian of Midtown Middle School Class of 2013. Peter Stark."
Principal Morita handed in the medal to Tony that came on stage as part of a tradition that parents gets to award the medal on their child.
Tony grinned as he hang the medal around Peter's neck and embraced his son. "I'm so proud you're my kid."
"Thanks Dad." Peter smiled big and wide. This is ultimately one of the best moments of his life.
Walking off the elevator, the pop of confetti startled Peter that he almost jumped afraid. A boisterous happy greeting from all of their friends welcomed them back to the Tower. "CONGRATULATIONS Peter!"
Peter's mouth hanged open in surprise and he grinned as he saw all of them. Pepper and Happy are there, the new Avengers, Sam, Uncle Rhodes, Natasha, Vision, Wanda and Steve are completely present to celebrate his achievement.
"Sweetheart, oh." Pepper hugged Peter tightly "Your efforts paid off. I'm so happy for you."
"Seems like yesterday when you were little and obsessed with Lego's. Well done, Peter. You make us proud." Happy almost tear up as he hugs Peter.
"Oh, he's still playing with those, Hap." Tony said that made all of them laugh.
Uncle Rhodes then tapped his shoulders. "You make it look easy so easy, champ."
"You really deserved it, Peter. You're the smartest kid I know. Congratulations." Steve smiled genuinely and patted Peter's back.
"I knew you were made for great things, little Stark." Natasha hugged him close.
"Man, Genius really runs in this family." Sam exclaimed and laughter was heard all over again.
Peter felt overwhelmed from all the greetings that he doesn't know what to say already. "Oh my god. Uh, thank you so much. It means so much to me that you're all here."
He couldn't be happier than how he is now. Pepper then invited all of them into the dinner table to eat and continue their celebration.
"So how was it?" Peter asked as they sit on their first class on their first day of freshmen year.
"It was awesome! Oh my god, it was the best summer of my life Peter." Ned gushed as he pulls up his chair and sits close to Peter. Some students stared at them clueless of why Ned looks like he just swallowed a happy pill full of energy.
Peter chuckles as he sees Ned's reaction. He knew it was the perfect gift for his best friend. Ned received a graduation gift from Dad, a one month summer internship at Stark Industries Science Division.
"I learned so much stuff. There's so much tech in there, from commercial use, medicine to space tech advancements. And you didn't tell me! Your medical glue was already being manufactured and now being used by hospitals!"
"Hey keep it down! You signed an NDA. Besides it's not a big deal." Peter whispered and reminded Ned. It is mandatory for each of their people even the interns that an NDA be signed, because Pepper and Dad wanted to make sure their tech is protected, not let any of the bad guys use or even know about it.
Ned now started to silently talk. "Not a big deal? Do you know what that means?"
Peter scrunched up his face. "What?"
"You invented something at seven and is already making money from it. You could practically walk your way up to MIT right now and they'll give you a diploma pronto. Some of their graduates can't even make up an original idea for their thesis. Not a big deal my ass. Look at you."
Peter massaged his temples. "That's not how it works Ned."
His works doesn't even compare from what Dad did around this age. Dad had already built his own circuit board and motor engine by age 12, all he did was mix chemicals at the lab and hack JARVIS from time to time.
A female voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Inventing something at a young age doesn't qualify as to obtaining a degree. That's why we have Universities to complete our academic understanding. It's a process.,"
Peter's eyes squinted and Ned's brows drew together. They didn't even noticed someone's even listening to their babble. Almost all of their classmates are also engaged in groups of conversations.
Their heads darted to where the voice came from and saw a curly haired girl sitting next to them engrossed in reading a book.
"Your whispering's still a little too loud, you know."
"Who're you?" Ned asked curious. Peter noticed that this girl's among the new students.
Her eyes bored into them. "Michelle Jones. My friends call me MJ."
"Oh okay, I'm Ned Leeds." Ned carefreely introduced himself smiling from ear to ear.
"I'm Peter-"
"Stark. I know." Then she started reading her book again.
Peter's brows knitted in confusion. This girl is weird, and has the most disinterested facial expression he had ever seen.
He's about to ask MJ on where she came from but abruptly caught a glimpse of Liz coming their way and Peter's whole world suddenly shifted into slow mo.
Her hair bounced as she walks... Has she grown taller? and leaner? She's so beautiful...
His daydreaming slowed into a halt when Ned lightly slapped his cheeks. "Hey what was that?"
"You're stupidly smiling like a dog!" Ned whispered as Liz stops in front of them.
"Hi, Peter. Hey, Ned. I hope to see you two on Decathlon Club orientation later, okay? Don't be late."
Her voice even seemed melodious and her smile... Oh my god, what's happening to me.
"Hey Liz, yeah. Of course. We'll be there." Peter quickly replied, his face flushing.
"Okay, see you."
He watched as Liz walked away to her seat at the back next to her friends. Peter and Ned stared at her like she's some sort of angel that came from above.
"Wow, you guys are losers." MJ smirked and they completely stopped what they're doing when their first teacher in Advanced Chemistry finally came to their classroom.