"Peter, thanks for coming up, why don't you take a seat." Ms. Natasha Romanov motioned to a seat in front of her desk. Couch Coulson was sitting in the other chair and Peter felt apprehension building in his gut as he took a seat.

He hadn't wanted to come, hadn't wanted to get Erik in trouble, but the huge bruise on his face wasn't exactly earning him any points. Scott had wanted to come to the meeting to, but Peter had told him not to, placated him by telling him to run practice if this whole deal ran long.

Pete really wanted to be talking to Tony right about now, just sitting with him and doing really anything other than this.

He didn't speak first, just looked expectantly as Ms. Romanov and waited for her.

"So we got a report that you were assaulted at the dance this weekend? Can you tell me about that." She prodded him and Peter felt like sinking into his seat, but instead he sat up straighter and crossed one leg over the other.

"Yeah, it was a bit of a mess. My ex-boyfriend was mad about something and things got out of hand." Peter hoped to leave it at that, but was fairly sure that wasn't a possibility.

"Erik Romanda?" She double checked, writing notes on a sheet of paper in front of her.

She was pretty, Peter mused to himself. He thought of the photo in Tony's office of them standing together, the one in Strange's office that seemed to be from the same party. He wondered briefly how they all knew each other, if the photos were recent or not. Though he seemed to remember that Strange looked really young in his photo.

"Yes, yeah, that's him." Pete nodded.

"Peter, I seem to remember you having a similar bruise on your face around the same time that Erik was removed from the team. Does that have anything to do with this?" Coulson interjected and Ms. Romanov scribbled as he spoke, trying to not miss anything. She was a thorough woman, he'd give her that.

Pete froze up for a moment, trying to think of a way he could remedy this situation, to not implicate Erik in this. There was almost no way he could work around it though, who else would he say hit him? There were just so many loose ends- and by the time Peter finally thought to answer it had been almost a minute, and he knew that they knew.

"Yeah, that was him."

"Pete, you know that we have a strict no violence policy. Did you not think to tell anyone?" Ms. Romanov didn't look very impressed, but Peter figured it wasn't because of him.

"I just didn't want him to get in trouble or anything, ruin his chances at college you know?" The look on her face told him that she didn't know.

"And what? You were just going to let him hit you if it meant he would graduate?" She accused and Peter wondered if this had struck a nerve with her, if perhaps she had found herself in a similar circumstance.

"He's only hit me twice. I ended things after the first time." He remedied, trying to explain that he had handled it himself.

"Well, I think you understand that he is facing expulsion because of this. I even have half a mind to contact the police." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, he could just see the toe of her pointed heel poking out from behind the dress.

"Please don't contact the police. He's already being kicked out, that's all that needs to happen."

Ms. Romanov narrowed her eyes at him and tapped her red pen a few times, the ink complimented her hair well.

"Did you tell anyone about the first time?" She questioned, probably wanted to know if there was someone who could corroborate his story, it would make it easier for her to expel Erik if there were two instances, and one of them happened on school grounds.

"The soccer team, they know. And Mr. Stark, I told him about it." Peter immediately thought that was the wrong thing to say because she looked even more annoyed when he mentioned Mr. Stark.

"And he didn't think to tell me." She muttered, mostly to herself and wrote it down on a piece of paper as well.

"I told him not to tell anyone! I just, he asked me about the bruise and wouldn't take no for an answer, so please don't get him in trouble or anything."

She narrowed her eyes at him again and Peter felt himself shrinking back into the chair. She was certainly the most intimidating person Peter had ever met, and he had a feeling she wasn't trying to seem that way.

"Is there anything else, unsavory, you can tell me about Erik's time here?" She was certainly trying to launch a case against him. Peter figured it was up to the board whether or not he would really be expelled, and from the look in Ms. Romanov's eyes, she certainly wanted him to be.

"Just those two things." He added quickly, maybe a little too quick.

"You know, at the beginning of the year, Tony told me that you had a couple missing assignments, said that you'd been stressed. Did that have anything to do with Erik?" Coulson interjected and Peter was on one hand glad that the man seemed to care about him and remember specific things so well, he was on the other hand, mad that this was the time Coulson decided to show that.

"He made me do a few homework assignments for him. Not a lot, maybe three or four." Peter came clean, realizing there would be no benefit to lying at this point.

"Thank you for telling us Peter, I'm sorry you were made to feel so unsafe at school. I can only hope the rest of the year goes better for you. This is all we need from you." She said, giving him a very unpracticed smile that Peter could tell was mostly fake. Her fake smile prompted him to give her a real smile in response.

"Yeah, no problem. Uh, thanks Ms. Romanov, coach." He said and then made it out of that room as quickly as possible.

It was their last 'friendly' game of the season and Peter decided to spice things up by alternating in the new players. Vin and Bradley had played for the first half of the game and they were doing pretty well. The score was 2-1, which was obviously subject to change by the end, but Peter felt good about it.

Loki wasn't very happy about being benched, but as far as Peter was concerned-Loki could stay unhappy.

Scott didn't really seem to mind much since Peter had reassured him that he would be in for at least half the game. Vin and Brad were capable players though, at least he hoped that this match wasn't just a fluke and they were actually as good as they seemed.

It was the halfway point so Peter subbed T'Challa out for Thanos. He hoped that this wouldn't wreck the game. T'Challa was their best player, and while it seemed like Thanos could handle himself... Peter just hated losing.

Pete had gotten a weird vibe from Thanos from the week he'd been on the team. He was smart in class, and fairly brutal on the field. He never complained about practice drills or really anything, which would normally be a good thing. It just didn't really seem like Thanos had a personality. He sat with the team during breakfast and lunch and they always tried to include him in discussion. Vin and Brad were already like old friends with everyone else, but Thanos was just creeping on the edges of everyones periphery, which was impressive for a man of his size.

Suddenly Peter was drawn out of his thought as he realized the ball was being passed to him. He dribbled it between his feet down the court, steering clear of the opposing team.

Scott was on his left flank, shadowing him, Paul was just up ahead so Peter felt confident that he could make it to the goal.

And then, just as quickly as he had the ball, he didn't have it and Thanos was kicking with blunt force, scoring the goal.

Peter stood dumbfounded for a moment, looking around like an idiot and trying to figure out how the hell Thanos had gotten the ball away from him. He and Paul made confused eye contact and Scott was just staring after Thanos with a furrowed brow, trying to comprehend what had just happened. It seemed as if the rest of the team hadn't really noticed, thought that Thanos had just naturally scored a goal.

But that was Peter's goal, and it wasn't like Pete was super upset that Thanos had just scored a goal. But that was his goal. It was like writing the last sentence of someone else's novel and then publishing it as your own.

In ten more seconds Peter would have made the same move that Thanos had made.

Peter couldn't stand around forever though, as the game was starting up around him once more. It wasn't like he was worried about the score any more, they were 3-1 with less than half the game left, there was no chance they would lose.

Peter felt like he was on another plane of existence though as the game progressed around him. He was more of a bystander than a real participant, because he just couldn't get over how fucking confused he was about that goal.

He was two feet from scoring it, he'd kicked the ball out in front of him as the beginning of a dribble, and then what? Thanos had moved in faster than his eye could see and stole the ball?

What was even the point? The other team had been lagging miles behind him, there was no risk of losing the ball or the goal.

Peter realized, very suddenly, that he was mad. And he didn't get mad very often. Sure he could be upset at people, snarky even. But truly angry? It didn't happen very often.

So the end of the game couldn't come fast enough for Peter, and after what felt like hours he was walking off the field with Scott following close behind.

"Yo Pete!" Scott yelled and jogged to catch up with him as he stalked off.

Peter looked over at him but didn't say anything.

"You okay man?"

"I'm fine, just a little pissed is all." He shrugged his shoulders, trying to play off his real emotions as they entered the locker room, well ahead of everyone else. Pete wondered what he would say to his team mates, only Scott and Paul seemed to have noticed what happened.

"About that thing Thanos did!" Scott exclaimed even as Peter grabbed his bag and made to head up to his on 'personal' bathroom in the dorms. He hated showering in there.

"Yeah, what even was that?" Peter fumed and slung his bag over his back, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair.

"I think he just aggressively tackled the ball away from you, but honestly I didn't see it very clearly. Still a dick move though." Scott explained, which was exactly what Peter had come up with.

"Yeah it was. I'm gonna head up, see you later Scott."

And then Peter was heading towards the dorms in the brisk evening air, shivering slightly and hurrying his pace.

Received: Tony 9:55 pm.

Hey princess! I was gonna throw rocks at your window but that seems cliche. Anyway, I'm outside your dorm.

Peter was half asleep when he received this from Tony, and also halfway through a cigarette that he was halfheartedly puffing through the window, even though that would do virtually nothing in the event a teacher came into his room.

Sent: Tony 9:57 pm.

It's like ten at night!

Received: Tony 10:00 pm.

It's a Saturday!

Sent: Tony 10:01 pm.

I'm tired!

Received: Tony 10:03 pm.

:(

Sent: Tony 10:04 pm.

Ooook. I'm coming.

And so Peter simply flicked the cigarette out the window before grabbing another one and tucking it into the pocket of his sweatshirt. He was wearing his pajama pants and an MIT sweat shirt that seemed like it was probably Tony's, so he looked pretty ridiculous.

"Yo TC, I'm going out for a second." Peter told his roommate that was currently invested in some new sitcom.

"No worries, catch you later."

Peter slipped out of the door and padded down the hallway in his tennis shoes. Technically since it was a weekend, students were allowed to go out, however, this late at night it was quiet hours so generally students didn't leave or enter at this time.

As he walked past the common room he saw Steve asleep on the arm chair, Scott passed out on the floor with a scrabble board on top of him, and Paul litered in scrabble letters. They all seemed to be asleep, but still Peter walked very quietly next to them and to the exit.

He pulled the cigarette out of his pocket as he neared the exit and had his lighter ready. As soon as he was outside he lit the cigarette and took a long drag. He didn't smoke often of course, but it was nice on a day like today when he was just stressed beyond belief.

"Well don't you look like a mess." Tony commented with as easy smile on his face as he greeted Peter. Tony was a stark contrast to him, as he was wearing a full suit, a pair of sunglasses pushed back on his head even though it was after ten.

"I'm tired." Peter complained again and took another drag on his cigarette.

"Tough luck, we have to talk. I'll get you a cup of coffee at Denny's." He promised and Peter groaned.

"Tony! I'm wearing my pajamas, I can't go out." He protested even as he sullenly followed Tony towards the parking lot.

"And I'm in a suit. Come on I guarantee we won't be the weirdest ones in there." Tony reassured and Peter let out a long and dramatic sigh.

Tony had his truck on campus, the lifted one that Peter had to basically climb into. "Do you want me to put this out?" He asked, referring to the still smoldering cigarette in between his fingers.

"Well obviously I don't want you to smoke, but no I don't care if it's in my car."

Peter didn't respond, simply curled himself up in the overlarge seat and cracked the window a little bit, he even considered taking a nap on their drive, but Tony decided to play some rock music just loud enough to be annoying.

Pete finished his cigarette and put the butt in what seemed to be an empty can of soda in the cup holder. "So what did you have to talk to me about?" He mumbled, eyes barely open.

"I'll tell you when you're more awake and eating breakfast foods. Good game today, by the way." Tony reached his hand over and rested it on Peter's ankle that was poking out from where his legs were folded up.

"Ah thanks, pissed about that goal I lost though." He sighed. Not that he was still angry about it, he was more just passive agressive. Though he hadn't mentioned it to anyone else, he doubted anyone else had seen it.

"Did you miss a goal?" Tony enquired and Peter began to question if that whole ordeal even happened, but he soon reassured himself that he wasn't going crazy and it definitely had happened.

"That new guy Thanos stole one from me." Peter rolled his eyes as he said it and Tony rubbed his thumb lightly against Peter's bony ankle, soothing him slightly.

"Didn't know you could steal a goal." Was all Tony responded with, and it was typical. For as many games as Tony had seen recently, the man clearly didn't understand anything about soccer. He just knew that scoring a goal was good.

"He just-ah it doesn't matter. We still won." Pete tried to drop the subject, even though in his mind he was still running through it. He moved onto something else though, some other train of thought that he'd been meaning to pursue. "Hey, have you known Dr. Strange and Ms. Romanov for a while?"

Tony looked over at him questioningly for a moment before turning smoothly onto a side street where Peter could see the blindingly bright glow of the Denny's sign. "Uh, Strange I met when I got my surgery and Ms. Romanov? Just met her slightly after the accident." He answered and it was Peter's turn to stare at him for a moment.

That was a lie, a boldfaced lie and Peter knew it. First of all, Tony had mentioned that he and Natasha were good friend, that she had given him this job as a helping hand, that didn't really make sense if they just met recently. And secondly, Dr. Strange was young in that photo that he'd seen, it wasn't just taken a year or two ago.. Peter didn't persue it for the moment though, that obviously wasn't what they'd come here to talk about.

Peter felt self-conscious in his weird outfit for a moment, but then realized Tony had been right, they were far from the weirdest people there at 10:30.

A young woman sat them both, her eyes lingering on Tony for just a little too long before handing them both menus. "We'll take coffees." Tony told her plainly before she had a chance to walk away.

Peter had woken up a little at least and was alert enough to gently peruse the menu, though he wasn't incredibly hungry since he'd gotten dinner with the team.

"So what's the news?" Peter looked up at Tony and the man reached his hand across the table for Peter to take.

Peter looked around the room for a quick moment, just to make sure no one they knew would sneak up on them. It was unlike Tony to take a risk like this in such a public area. Finally Peter tentatively enlaced his hand with Tony's and felt a cold chill run through him. Whatever this was, it wasn't good.

"What's wrong Tony?" Peter repeated and Tony sighed slightly, trying to gather up his courage to speak.

Before he had the chance to, the waitress reappeared with cups of coffee. Peter withdrew his hand so that he could hold the cup with both of his and try to warm himself.

She took their orders next and Peter felt like it was ages before she finally walked away, he'd been on the edge of his seat and sipping coffee the whole time.

"I'm moving." Tony finally said as she walked away, not looking at Peter, looking into his coffee instead. Peter wondered where his confident Tony Stark had gone as the man refused to make eye contact with Peter. Pete really could have used one of Tony's reassuring looks at that moment too.

"Moving? You're not teaching anymore?" Peter tried to get more information out of the man even as Tony seemed to shrink up.

Tony loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his suit nervously before adding cream to his coffee, very out of character for the man.

There was a long silence as Tony drank his coffee, Peter was starting to grow impatient.

"No, I'm not. I'm going to New York."

"New York? That's-that's quite a ways." Peter stumbled over his words and quickly silenced himself by taking another sip of his drink.

There was another long silence as neither of them said anything, the metaphorical gears turning in Peter's head as he tried to wrap his head around everything. Tony still looked so small and sad, but Peter felt the same way.

"It is."

The waitress brought them their food but Peter wasn't incredibly interested in eating anymore, so he let the small plate of eggs and sausage grow cold in front of him.

"Why?" Peter reasonably knew why. Tony was leaving after the school year anyway, it had only been a matter of time.

"Things are moving faster than I thought they would for Stark Industries. We have an investor from Japan who wants me to get everything off the ground as soon as possible. I have no choice." Tony was trying to busy himself by mindlessly eating and it was annoying Peter. He wanted to be alone with Tony, not in a place where he couldn't get emotional.

"No choice." Peter echoed and gripped his coffee tighter.

"You can still come visit me over Spring Break. I'll take time off, give you a tour of MIT." Tony promised.

In his head, Peter was vitriol, he didn't want to go see MIT, he didn't want to spend time with Tony, he wanted to cry and wallow in the fact that his fairy tale romance was coming to an abrupt end.

"When do you leave?" Peter finally asked and Tony seemed to physically cringe.

"Well I thought you would come spend the night with me at the house-"

Peter cut Tony off.

"Tomorrow? You leave tomorrow?" He asked, defeated.

"Eight A.M."

"You didn't think to tell me before this?"

"You were having such a good week, I didn't want to ruin it."

"Week? You've known a whole week?"

"I was scared."

"Scared of what? That I'd be mad your were leaving?"

"Yes."

"I'm mad, pissed in fact, but just because you're telling me nine hours before you have to leave."

"So you're not mat that I'm leaving?"

Something about Tony's expression just made Peter's heart hurt and he shook his head slowly. "No Tony, I'm sad of course. But I'm not mad."

"Do you want to go back to my place?" Tony set his fork down and Peter finished off the last of his coffee before nodding. Tony left a hundred dollar bill on the table.

The drive back to Tony's house was quiet and more somber than their talk in the Denny's. Tony had his hand resting on Peter's leg, but it felt cold and empty to Peter. It was reassuring at all.

The house was dark and mechanical, Tony turned the lights on manually but neither of them wasted time before going to the bedroom. Peter wished that he had the energy to have sex with Tony one last time, but they both barely managed a kiss before they fell exhausted into bed together. Tony was still in his suit.

"Hey Petey." He was roused gently from his sleep by Tony.

Peter tried to sit up but Tony pushed him back down. "Shh, it's still early, you can stay in bed. I'm going." He explained and that was all the more reason for Peter to try and twist himself out of the blankets.

Tony was dressed casually and had one suitcase in his hand and another carry on. "I don't want you to go." Peter whispered.

"I know baby, I know." Tony brushed a hand through Peter's hair and then pointed to a key on the side table. "This is a key to the house, it'll lock up behind you so you just need it to get in. The keys to all the cars are in the lock box in the garage, I wrote the code on this napkin. Feel free to spend as much time here as you want."

"I don't want to be here without you Tony." Peter whined petulantly and Tony took a seat on the side of the bed, wrapping his arms around Peter's small shoulders, pulling him in close.

"Just a month and a half and then you can spend all of break with me." Tony whispered and pressed a kiss against Peter's forehead.

"I love you." Peter mumbled and then ran his thumb over one of Tony's rough cheek bones. He brought their lips together for a quick and chapped kiss.

"I love you too kiddo, don't worry, I can't stay away from you for long." He reassured and stood up.

Tony grabbed his bags and headed to the door, but set them down one more time.

He turned around to face Peter, and had to give him one last long kiss before finally he could make his way out of the house.