Chapter 17

The three of them were sat on stools at one of Tony's large lab desks. It had been cleared of tech and tools, a tarp draped over, and another on the floor around the area. Three large pumpkins sat on top in a row in front of Tony, Peter and Pepper. All around them were carving knives and tools.

"Alright now we've got the old fashioned carving tools for cutting out the insides," Tony murmured approvingly as he looked around making sure they had everything; "But for actually carving out the front, I have something a little special to use." Tony held up a small long cylindrical tube.

Peter raised an eyebrow; "A pen?"

"You wound me kid." Tony said shaking his head and then pointed the object at his pumpkin and pushed a button the side. A red beam shot out at the pumpkin, when he turned it off, there was a small hole.

"A laser!" Peter said in awe, peering down at the pumpkin and laser in fascination; "How do you have a laser?!"

"I'm a tech billionaire kid. I have many lasers."

Peter held out his hand for the laser, wanting to play with it.

"Ah ah ah." Tony held it out of reach for a second; "Now it may look like it. But it's not a toy. I don't want you cutting your finger off, or destroying my lab because you sneezed and accidentally waved it the wrong direction."

Peter looked outraged but then saw his dad's serious face, and the concern there. And he took a moment before nodding seriously. He wanted to show his dad he was going to be mature, and could be trusted.

Tony studied him for a moment and smiled handing it out to him slowly; "But remember not yet. We have to gut our pumpkins first." He reached over to ruffle Peter's hair; "You ready?"

Peter nodded, eagerly setting the laser down to cut the top of the pumpkin off. And Tony was quite proud that Peter was able to set aside his excitement over the laser to focus on the task at hand.

As they were all cutting the insides out of the pumpkins they settled into some small bantering.

It was then something occurred to Tony, and he glanced at Peter curiously for a moment.

"Pete?"

"Hmm." Peter murmured in response not looking up.

"Did you ever actually tell me how you got your spider powers?"

Peter paused to looked at him and blinked for a moment; "Uh I was bitten by a spider?"

Tony rolled his eyes scoffing; "Smartass. Give me a little credit. I know that. I mean how did it happen? Where? You know...your origin story."

Peter grinned for a moment; "Origin story. Like I'm a superhero."

"You are honey." Pepper reminded him smiling.

"Oh right." Peter chuckled. Then he cleared his throat; "Well uh it's not much of an exciting story really." He said as he carried on scooping out his pumpkin; "I was on a school field trip to the zoo.."

"Your school has a lot of field trips." Tony interrupted raising an eyebrow.

Peter smirked shrugging; "They are all educational. Anyway, um...Ned was out sick that day, so I pretty much wandered around on my own. I stopped in the insect habitat to read one of the information boards, and lots track of the rest of my class. I rushed to catch up got a little lost in the twist and turns. I stopped at a map for some directions, and that's when it happened." Peter paused in his cutting staring into space as he vividly remembered when his life changed; "I felt a sharp pinch at the back of my neck. It sent a shock through my whole body. I slapped a hand on my neck, and pulled it to see what it was. I obviously killed the spider. It hurt at the time, but I felt fine. So I thought nothing of it. And my teacher found me and brought me back to the class. It wasn't until I was home later that night that everything started to...go wonky."

"Wonky?" Tony repeated turning to study Peter.

"Yeah I remember May was working a night shift. I made myself some dinner but then I started to feel nauseas. I stood to go into my room and the room spun, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. My head was killing me, and it felt like my whole body was tearing itself apart."

Tony stilled clenching his fists, hating to picture his son alone going through such a scary life altering ordeal.

"Sounds were magnified, I could feel every hair of my body, everything was too bright...well you can imagine what was happening. I managed to stumble into the bathroom to throw up a few times before passing out. When I woke up, I was all shaky. I went to the sink for some water and ended up getting stuck to it. I managed to pry myself off, but then I got stuck to the door handle and broke it with my strength and stickiness. I managed to explain it off to May after, but at the time I had no idea what was going on. Luckily, it was the weekend after that, I think I slept for like 36 hours straight. Afterwards, everything was just different. Like they are now. It took some time for me to find out that the spider had changed me and given my some abilities. And well here we are."

"That had to have been very scary." Pepper murmured rubbing his arm in reassurance; "Sorry you had to go through that alone." She hated to think of poor Peter going through something so scary and not being able to talk to anyone about it.

Peter just shrugged; "It was yeah, but I was more freaked out. What with all the alien freaky stuff in the world I thought I was turning into an alien or something." He snorted.

"So what happened to the spider?" Tony asked curiously. Wondering if maybe he could analyse it's remains and figure out it was manmade or alien. They could never figure out from Peter's DNA what the spider part was. It was just nothing they had seen before.

Peter furrowed his brow thinking; "Um I dunno. I wiped it off my hands after it bit me, it was all squashed." He scrunched his face up at how gross it was, and weird considering he now had that spider's DNA. He was part spider now, and it was weird to think of squished spiders. Then he looked at his dad's face; "Does it matter?" He asked worriedly.

"No of course not." Tony smiled and ruffled his hair; "Just wondering bud. Certainly an interesting story. I wonder where the spider came from."

"Yeah that's the funny thing. I remember the spider was blue and red, which is why I designed my suit that way, but I looked that spider up and couldn't find it anywhere online. Like it's not a species that exists on Earth. The zoo didn't even have that spider in their collection. It was weird. When I couldn't find any answers I shrugged it off. Maybe some experimental spider or something."

Tony was left very curious. So many questions resolved around that. But he supposed maybe they would never be answered. His DNA was stable, aside from the occasional Sensory Overload, lack of thermoregulation, and enhanced sickness, Peter wasn't in danger. And well as long as Peter was safe, that's all that mattered to Tony.

"So have you decided what you're going to carve honey?" Pepper asked curiously turning to him smiling.

Peter paused as he stared at his pumpkin which was now empty inside, ideas swirling; "It's a surprise." He said grinning as an idea hit him.

Tony chuckled as Peter pulled his pumpkin closer to him so they couldn't see what he was doing. Amused as Peter's face became so focused as he picked up the laser and started cutting out the face.

After that the three of them all agreed to make their pumpkins a surprise.

When they all finished they showed each other one by one.

"Ok kid you first." Tony said eagerly turning to face Peter, who was hugging his pumpkin to his chest to make sure they didn't see it yet.

There was a moment of insecurity and uncertainty on Peter's face, and he bit his lip; "It's not very good..." He hedged.

"Hey none of that!" Tony snapped, and softened reaching over to squeeze his shoulder; "I'm sure it's great. And besides no one is amazing at pumpkin carving, it's a little difficult to get it exactly how you want it. Here. I'll go first." Maybe if he went first, it might give Peter some confidence.

Taking a deep breath he slid his pumpkin to face Peter, smiling broadly; "Tada!"

Peter instantly smiled. It was Darth Vader's head silhouette. And it looked amazing. But it wasn't perfect. Some lines were a little wonky, one half of the face a little different from the other. It made Peter feel better that even his dad's pumpkin wasn't perfect. But he loved that his dad had done Darth Vader. For him.

"What do you think buddy?"

"I love it." Peter grinned and chuckled happily; "Does this mean I've made you a Star Wars fan?"

Tony narrowed his eyes, but then smiled and shrugged; "I guess so. I can't keep fighting it. And it's not so bad. Watching it with you makes it better."

At that Peter was thoroughly touched. Unable to stop smiling. In some way he knew that was his dad's plan.

"Ok my turn." Pepper said eagerly turning her pumpkin around, seeing what Tony was trying to do and wanted to help.

Tony chuckled instantly.

It was just a simple scary faced pumpkin, but for the eyes they were spider webs, and for the nose was an arc reactor.

"I love it honey." Tony nodded approvingly; "It's perfect."

"Me too." Peter said, feeling silly for thinking his was bad now. He was just feeling insecure compared to his parents, but he saw this wasn't about doing the best carving but having fun.

"I'm going to call him Dave." Pepper suddenly announced, mock stroking the pumpkins on the top.

"Dave?" Tony repeated snorting; "Should I be worried Pep?"

Pepper adjusted 'Dave' a little and remained silent as she merely smiled; "Well he is a good listener."

Tony gaped, and she relented winking at him; "But he's nothing compared to you honey."

Instantly Tony relaxed, and Peter just smiled at the exchange. He liked seeing loving bantering between the two.

"Ok buddy. Your turn. Let's see your pumpkin. Please don't say you've named yours too."

Chuckling, Peter shook his head. He set the pumpkin down on the table so they could both see it.

It had a tiny spider at the base of the pumpkin, and two other large ones above it, all with smiling faces.

Pepper tilted her head and wanted to break out in a loud awww; "Honey it's lovely."

Tony was speechless for a moment. Peter had done a spider family, their family. Him as spider baby, and them as his parents. It was so cute and so very Peter.

"That is by far is the best pumpkin I've ever seen." Tony praised and was happy to see a broad smile cross Peter's face.

"Thanks dad."

"Same here." Pepper agreed, caressing Peter's cheek fondly.

Ruffling his hair, Tony admired their three pumpkins in satisfaction. They were perfect; "Well I think we all did great jobs don't you?"

"Ok. Now lunch, and then we can finish decorating outside."

0o0o0o0oSPIDERMAN0o0o0oo0o

After lunch they set their pumpkins by the door outside, with some tea lights inside lighting them up. They set about their animatronic decorations all around the front and back yard until it was just right...

Standing back to admire it all, Peter was pleased it was getting dark so it made it all seem cooler. He took some pictures to send to May at work, and to Ned. He got a quick response from his friend saying how cool it was, and one from May pleased he was having fun.

Tony slung his arm around Peter grinning; "Looks good doesn't it kid?"

"Perfect. Thanks dad. This weekend has been the best ever."

"Hey it's not over yet!"

It didn't take as long as they thought to set up the decorations so they had some time before dinner. Peter considered going on patrol, but was scared to say it in case his dad thought he didn't want to hang out with him. He did, but he also loved being Spider Man.

"So I was thinking we could go a quick patrol if you want?" Tony murmured catching Peter by surprise.

"Really?" Peter's eyes bugged out in shock.

Tony nodded smiling; "Your mom has some work to do anyway, calls to make, so I thought we could get out of her hair for a bit. Have some fun just you and me, get some food to bring back. What do you think?"

"Yes I love that idea!" It wasn't often he and his dad went on patrol together, but when they did Peter loved every minute of it.

"Ok come on bud let's suit up."

0o0o0oSPIDERMAN0o0o0oo

A couple of hours later, Peter and Tony were perched on the top of one of the high rise buildings, sitting beside each other, their leg's dangling over the edge. Tony was out of his suit, to better perch, Peter still in his with the mask off.

Tony gulped peering down and immediately shook his head to squash the nausea. He didn't have a fear of heights per se, but he didn't like the idea of Peter falling off such a high building; "Do you often sit so high up?"

"Hmm yeah I guess. I like it high." Peter said looking around at the landscape; "Easier to see, and better to hear. Plush I quite like it up here. If you ignore all the loud noises below, it's kinda peaceful."

Tony paused to look around, the sounds below fairly muffled. The only sound up here was birds flying overheard and planes. The kid did have a point. It was also nice to learn more about Peter and what he did on patrol.

"It is pretty amazing kid."

Peter turned to his dad smiling pleased his dad appreciated it too. It was nice going out on patrol as Spider Man. But it was even better having his dad as company. They had a great time. Peter showing his dad what his dad, wanting to make him proud. Them stopping a few bad guys together, even helping return a kidnapped dog. Peter even noticed how Tony smiled at the small dog without him looking.

It was then a thought occurred to Peter. He had been thinking about something for a while, but had been scared to ask before. Now though he wanted to.

"Dad?"

"Yeah Pete?" Tony turned to him expectantly, giving him his full attention.

"Can I ask you something?"

He waited to reply seeing Peter was being very serious now.

"Of course buddy. You can ask me anything remember."

"Well..." Peter looked down at his hands before back at his dad exhaling; "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind that is...if you could teach me to drive?"

Stunned for a moment, Tony had to resist jumping for joy. He had wanted to teach Peter as soon as he turned 16. Wanted to buy him a car. It was Pepper and May who reined him in, telling him to wait until Peter was ready. That and remembering how Peter had specifically said a while ago he didn't want a flashy car bought for him. But hearing this now, it made Tony so happy.

"Yeah yes I would love to teach you to drive buddy. I was waiting for you to be ready."

"Oh." Peter smiled at that; "Right well great then."

"If I can ask why the sudden interest in learning to drive?"

"I've been thinking about it for a while," Peter shrugged looking down sheepishly; "Before I was afraid you wouldn't have time to teach me. Because you're so busy." Tony opened his mouth to object but Peter quickly held up a hand; "It's ok. Now I know I was just been silly and you'll always make time for me. That's why I knew I could ask."

Tony didn't like Peter felt before he couldn't come to him, but relieved they were now making progress.

"Besides, it's kinda cool watching you drive."

"Oh really?" Tony said smirking; "How so?"

"You make it seem so easy. You're so confident and calm when you drive. You do things like pulling out or parking so fast, whilst talking to me and listening to the radio. You aren't distracted, aren't worried, and always make me feel safe. There's no one else I'd want teaching me."

Tony stopped himself from bursting out laughing. He was by far not the best driver in the world. Probably more like the worst. As a kid he had many DUI's, sped a lot, probably still did actually, didn't obey every rule of the road. He had been reckless and trying to piss his dad off, trying to get attention. But he'd learnt from his stupidity. Gained some respect for the road, and lately had been extra careful. Especially with Pepper and Peter in the car. He'd never put them in danger.

He'd been driving around 30 years it just came naturally now. And he liked to drive fast cars, enjoying pushing them to their limit. Teaching Peter was a little scary, he didn't want to teach Peter the wrong stuff, or his bad habits. And driving could be dangerous, he had to make sure Peter was safe.

"It's not easy." Tony said slowly trying to act more serious and dad-like; "It's just that I've been doing it for so long it's easy for me. But it takes hard work, learning all the rules and laws, and you have to give it your full attention. I'm just used to multitasking, but you don't want to do everything I do. You never talk on the phone whilst driving, or take your eyes off the road. And you never ever drink and drive."

He emphasised pointing a finger at Peter. Looking back now, Tony thought about how much he hated what he did drinking and driving. He had been so so lucky he hadn't killed himself or anyone else. Peter was a good kid, but he wanted to drive the point home. He needed Peter safe.

"Ok...but I don't drink dad." Peter furrowed his brow at him.

"I know you're a good kid." Tony praised ruffling his hair; "But just needed to say it so you heard me. It can be dangerous to drive, and I just want to make sure you'll be safe."

"I know dad." That's what Peter did love most. How much his dad wanted to protect him.

"Well how about tomorrow we go out for your first lesson. Nothing major like street driving or anything yet, just getting a feel for the car. How does that sound?"

Peter was a little terrified but also excited; "That sounds good yeah."

"Sounds like a plan then. Now come on we better get home before Pep hunts us down for missing dinner."