Chapter Text
It’s Friday, which means it’s lab day. Happy picks up Peter from outside his school, who puts his earplugs into his phone and they ignore each other for the forty minute drive it takes to get to Manhattan. Including traffic and the odd commentary from Happy. Peter doesn’t talk much, which is unusual so Happy just chalks it up to him being tired. Exam season is coming up and Peter must be tired preparing for that.
It’s a whole different story once they get to Stark Tower. Well, formerly Stark Tower, now known as Avengers Tower. Tony greets Peter at the door and takes his backpack off of him. Happy thinks if he didn’t know these were two separate individuals, he’d assume that was a father picking up his son. They look so alike, it’s almost uncanny.
Peter chats the whole way, as they make their way inside, up the elevator and into the lab. He talks about his day, what he ate for lunch, what Aunt May is up to, that one pedo guy he left beat up in an alley the other night. Tony refrains from commenting on that.
“Oh! And also, Midtown has a new science teacher! He said he used to teach middle school, in San Francisco, but he said his brother moved to New York for work and he didn’t want them to live across the county.” Peter rambles on about his new science teacher. That interests Tony, since they’re both into the sciences.
He takes off his sunglasses and looks at Peter, an arm around his shoulders. “Oh yeah? What’s his name?”
“Doctor Grace. Well, actually he wants us to call him Mr Grace but he’s so cool. Maybe a little…childish, but aren’t we all? Maybe it’s from teaching middle schoolers—“ Peter is cut off.
“Doctor Grace, huh? What about a first name, Pete?” Tony asks and Peter shakes his head.
Peter stops for a moment, thinking. “Oh, right, yeah! Ryland, I think…” He says, thinking back to introductions earlier.
Tony raises an eyebrow. Ryland Grace…now why does that sound familiar? Maybe it was a thesis he read. Or an article somewhere. A fling from college? He has to dig deep to find where he knows the name. But he can’t place it.
“An interesting name.” Tony comments offhandedly. Just making conversation as they approach the lab. “FRIDAY, open up this door for me?”
“Of course, Sir.” An Irish woman’s voice sounds out. The door slides open.
“Yeah, I guess it is. Flash is worse, though.” Peter grimaces and Tony chuckles, patting Peter’s back.
“Alright, let’s get to work. Well, whatever work you’ve got to do, that is.” Tony says and they both go about the lab doing their own thing. Occasionally, Peter will look over and ask Tony what he’s doing. They’re both pretty smart, so the conversation flows.
It’s when making dinner the next night that Tony realises he knows the name. Yes, he cooks now. Pepper used to cook but…they’re taking a break. She can’t deal with all the Avengers stuff, Ross and Fury and all that. Tony understands it, so he’s been trying to learn some authentic Italian recipes. It might also have been Steve’s energy that lingers in the kitchen rubbing off on him.
Ryland Grace…Tony knew him from MIT. Ryland hadn’t been there long. He wrote his paper, cussed out all his peers who reviewed it and got kicked off the program. They’d been to a few parties, where one was more sober than the other. He was nerdy, sarcastic and a little bit of an asshole. Tony thinks that’s what drew him to Ryland. Totally not the nerdy, messy blond hair and the way his glasses hung off his face every time he saw him. Totally wasn’t that.
“So, uh..Pete. Is there more to your new science teacher?” Tony asks. He can’t help it. He wants to know. It’s a sort of morbid curiosity. Something he might not want to know, but does anyway.
Peter chews through a forkful of lasagna. It’s not bad, but it could be worse. “Hmm. Not really. Just that he used to live in San Francisco and teach middle school instead of high school. Also that he’s a molecular biologist. But that was it, really. Why?” Peter’s face pales slightly. “Don’t tell me you know him. Please, Mr Stark. Oh that would be so embarrassing.”
Peter is dressed in pyjamas. They’ve been having a movie marathon since Aunt May is out of town on a girls out of state trip. Tony had paid for it, despite May’s refusal. She had thanked him endlessly and he said it was no trouble.
“No, no, no. Just sounded familiar.” Tony brushes off with a shrug. Peter narrows his eyes. He wanted to question it but Tony is good at avoiding questions, so he drops it.
Peter hums and gives Tony a “I’m watching you” gesture. “You better not be lying to me, Mr Stark. Parent teacher meetings are coming up soon.” Peter says sternly, but it falls flat. Tony chuckles.
“Yeah, okay.” Tony rolls his eyes. They finish dinner and go their separate ways for the rest of the night.
Tony does a deep dive on Ryland Grace that night. He’s curious and when he’s curious, he can’t help himself. Eventually, he gives up looking too deep and goes to bed.
Peter comes back around four AM, limping. Tony sighs and soaks his foot in a bowl of hot water when FRIDAY alerts him Peter looks visibly injured. They don’t mention it.
Three weeks later, Peter brings up parent teacher meetings. And he tells Tony that May won’t be able to make it and Tony is listed as a second emergency contact. Peter hesitantly asks Tony if he can come because he doesn’t want to miss out on the feedback. Tony, being the petty man he is, agrees to go. The kid desperately tells him not to say anything to Mr Grace if they know each other and Tony doesn’t agree or disagree.
Weeks later, it’s finally the day of parent teacher meetings. Peter stays late after school and waits for Tony to show up. When he does, people stop to stare. When Flash makes a comment. Peter ignores them all as they walk to the cafeteria where the meeting is being held.
Tony and Peter wander around all his teachers until eventually getting to Mr Grace.
“Peter, hey! I see that you’re—“ Ryland is looking down at his attendance list for his students. He’s crossed off all the ones that have shown up in green highlighter, some late ones in purple and no shows in red. He looks up as Peter and Tony sit down. “Mr Stark! Wow, what an honour. So…you..how do you know each other?”
“He’s my mentee. Mr Grace, isn’t it? I’ve heard all about you.” Tony says, reaching his hand out. Ryland shakes it and they sit across from each other.
“Oh! I see. And yes it is. You never mentioned this, Peter?” Ryland says, giving Peter a look over his glasses.
Peter looks away, slightly embarrassed. “Well…it’s not the kind of thing you go around telling everyone is it?”
“Why not?” Tony asks him.
“No one would believe me.” Peter says with a shrug, not making eye contact.
“I’m sure they believe you now.” Tony says, crossing his arms.
Ryland clears his throat. “So, Mr Stark..is..May not joining us?” He asks, leaning back and looking around, glasses perched on his nose.
Peter shakes his head. “No, that’s why Mr Stark is here with me. She’s at work.” He confirms.
Ryland nods. “Right, of course. Anyway. Shall we continue?”
“Yes, go ahead.” Tony agrees with the teacher.
Peter’s meeting with his science teacher goes well. They all do. Ryland says that Peter has benefited from his classes since the start of the semester when he joined the school. Thankfully, Ryland is their last teacher to see of the night. They say goodbye and then leave to go back to the tower.
The drive back is quiet. They pick up pizza again and eat it on the way.
“Well. He hasn’t changed much.” Tony says. Peter chokes on the bite of pizza he just took.
“You said you didn’t know him!” Peter exclaims loudly. Offended, mostly. But also curious. Curious about the dynamic. He did see the way his teacher looked surprised, maybe even a little flushed, as Tony approached. “You hooked up with him, didn’t you? Oh my god! I knew you were lying but I didn’t want to say anything and be right! That’s disgusting, I didn’t need to know that! Eugh, oh my god. I can’t even look at you right now.”
Tony just puts his pizza down, laughing. He laughs harder the louder Peter gets. He can’t help it, it’s just hilarious. Sometimes Peter is quiet and reserved so it’s funny to see him come out of his shell a little more like this.
The rest of the drive home, Peter is rambling on and on about Tony’s so called “betrayal”. Tony tries to shrug it off but every time he does, Peter gets louder.
Peter doesn’t know what he should do with this information. Obviously, the only logical course of action after this is to tell Ned and MJ. They laugh it off but Peter swears up and down it’s true.