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"Sure, Pete. Whattcha need it for?" Steve asks curiously as he retrieves his shield, which was propped up against the little couch he and Bucky had.
"I'm going as Captain America for Halloween." Peter says with a smile.
"Really? I'm flattered. Can I ask why, though?" Steve asks curiously, handing the shield over to the boy.
"Because Mr. Stark is probably expecting me to go as Iron Man." Peter says with a smirk. "Thanks for the shield, Uncle Steve! I'll see you later!" he says happily before retreating to his room.
He set the shield on his desk, planning to make a replica the next day, after school.
For now, Peter needed some rest.
-
The next day, Peter actually had to go to school for the first time in... a long time. Getting up early was not as fun as he thought it was.
Peter got dressed, got his homework, basically got ready for school. He ate breakfast and grumbled a 'morning' to whichever Avenger was in the kitchen(he wasn't paying attention). Happy drove him to school, it gave him time to mentally prepare himself.
"Thanks, Happy. I'll see you after school." Peter chirped, getting out of the car.
"Yup, see you, kid." Happy says with a hint of a smile before driving off.
Peter smiles to himself as he walks up the steps, meeting Ned and MJ.
"Dude, what was, like, where, where have you been? Don't tell me that you've been ditching us and school just to hang out with the Avengers." Ned says, as soon as Peter was in earshot.
"No, no, I haven't I swear." Peter says, his smile still lingering on.
"Really? 'Cause from what I saw from the field trip, you and Captain America were pretty buddy-buddy. And by the way, the way you took Flash down was... Nice. I didn't know you liked Hello Kitty." MJ says, trying her hardest not to care.
Peter flushed, forgetting that he had his Hello Kitty pajama pants on when he took Flash down.
"No, actually. I got hurt on Patrol on Sunday night, then on Monday I knocked myself out." Peter says with a small sigh, choosing to ignore the Hello Kitty statement.
"How did you knock yourself out this time?" Ned asks with a small sigh, somewhat used to his friend getting hurt.
"Thor's hammer. I didn't know I'd be able to lift it." Peter says sheepishly as they walk to class.
"Only you, Parker. Only you." MJ says, shaking her head either in disappointment or fondness.
-
It seemed like the day passed by quicker than usual.
Probably because Flash wasn't annoying Peter to death.
It seemed like everyone was too scared to talk to Peter, they were to worried about ticking Peter off.
After all, he was Tony Stark's son.
Peter didn't mind it at all. It gave him more time to talk with Ned and MJ, which made him happy.
"Adopted by Tony Stark?! How more awesome can your life get, Peter?" Ned squeals when Peter told him and MJ the news at lunch.
"You mean, how much more complicated can his life get." MJ corrects, looking up from her book.
"No, I definitely mean awesome. Speaking of awesome, are you going to go as Iron Man for Halloween?" Ned asks curiously.
"No, I'm going as Captain America." Peter says with a smile. "Speaking of Halloween, I have the perfect dress for you to go as Princess Leia." he adds, looking to MJ.
"No way am I going as Princess Leia in a dress." MJ snorts.
"I wore the dress to scare the shit out of the guy Avengers." Peter says with a grin.
"What about Black Widow?" MJ asks.
"She wasn't scared."
"....."
"Fine."
-
The school day was over before he knew it, and Peter walked down to Happy.
"Hey, Happy. Could we stop by the fabric store before he go home?" Peter asks as he gets into the car.
"Sure, kid. Which one?" Happy asks, not sure why Peter would need to go but didn't ask.
"The closest one would work." Peter says simply. "Oooh guess what happened wi-" and just like that, Peter was rambling on about his day all the way to the fabric store.
Once there, Happy gave Peter one of Tony's debit cards and waited in the car for the boy. Twenty minutes later, Peter came back out with three big bags.
"Jesus, what are you planning on doing?" Happy asks once Peter was back in the car.
"You'll see, Happy." Peter chirped happily.
Over the course of the next few days, Peter worked on his costume and did some Patrolling. He, thankfully, didn't get any injuries. Except when he stabbed himself with a needle. Patrolling went fine, too.
By Saturday, his costume was finished, complete with a damn good replica of Steve's shield.
Of course Tony had made bets on who Peter was planning on going as.
And, of course, he lost every bet.
"Do you like my costume, Mr. Stark?" Peter asks, standing in the doorway with his completed costume.
"Of course I d-" Tony stopped and stared when he saw who Peter was dressed up as. "You're not.. Why are you going as Cap?"
"'Cause I thought it'd be fun." Peter says with a smile. He hadn't been prepared to see Tony so... Sad. Like a kicked puppy. He felt bad now.
"Don't be sad, dad. It's just a costume." Peter says, smiling more when Tony seemed to perk up at that.
"So then who's your favorite Super-hero?" Tony asks, smiling slightly. Maybe he had a chance to be Peter's superhero.
"That's a no brainier, Dad. Uncle Steve is my second favorite." Peter says with a smile. "My all time favorite is obvious. It's... Hawkeye!"
Tony just stared at Peter, in disbelief. There was a quiet 'yes!' coming from the vents, and then Tony realized it must have been a joke.
"That... That was funny, Peter. Who's your real favorite superhero?" Tony asks, chuckling slightly.
"Oop, it's time for me to go. The party's soon and I hafta go meet Happy before he gets angry see you Dad!" Peter says quickly before rushing off.
"I'm his favorite." Clint says with a grin, peeking out from the vents.
"No you aren't, Barton. It was a joke." Tony says, rolling his eyes.
"You just keep telling yourself that." Clint says with a snicker, retreating into the vents.
And that's the start of Tony going crazy.
-
"I mean, I have to be his favorite superhero, right?" Tony asks Bruce for the tenth time that night. Peter had been gone for a few hours and he was still wondering.
"Of course." Bruce says, looking in a microscope to check something out. "Though Hulk's pretty cool."
"But is he cool enough to win over Peter's favoritism?" Tony asks, taking it seriously.
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask Peter." Bruce says with a shrug.
"I did. And he said that Barton was his favorite." Tony says, making a disgusted face.
"What's the problem if he is Peter's favorite?" Bruce asks curiously.
"I'm supposed to be his favorite. I'm his dad." Tony says with a frown. Dad. It felt so... Foreign on his tongue.
"Maybe that's why you aren't." Bruce says. "Either way, you shouldn't worry too much about it. It'll all work out in the end."
"... Okay, yeah, sure." Tony says, still not entirely convinced.
-
The party had gone well, Peter had fun with Ned and MJ. MJ had actually gone as Princess Leia, and Ned had gone as Chewbacca.
The three of them made plans to go trick or treating together, too.
Once Peter had gotten home, he went straight to bed. There had been a lot of people at the party and he was all peopled out.
Over the next few days, until Halloween, Peter noticed the Avengers asking him who his favorite superhero was. He would always answer someone else whenever someone asked him. He made sure to keep it so he didn't say one Avenger more than the others.
He didn't want to be outed or anything.
Peter also noticed a lot of them trying to get on his good side. And he might've taken advantage of that a little bit. But he was a teenager, what do you expect?
By Halloween, Peter had gotten Steve to let him borrow the real Captain America shield, he got Natasha to help him with his fighting skills (in case someone had some other Halloween fun in store), he got Clint to help him with sewing and got Bucky to let him stick magnets to his metal arm.
It was cool, to say the least.
Happy wasn't free to take them trick or treating on Halloween, so Rhodey and Tony volunteered.
Well, Rhodey did first, then Tony heard and insisted he went.
Ned was... Excited to see both of them anyway, and MJ wasn't impressed.
"We'll be down at this street corner, call when you're done." Rhodey says as the three got out of the car.
"Alright, thanks Uncle Rhodey!" Peter says happily as he and Ned and MJ went off, MJ giving him a weird look.
"What?" Peter asks confusedly.
"'Uncle Rhodey'?" MJ questions.
"Shut up." Peter says with a sigh. Over the course of an hour, Peter, Mj, and Ned had gotten a lot of 'Aren't you too old to be Trick or Treating?', which MJ always responded with: 'Aren't you too old to be alive?'.
Needless to say, it shut the old hags up.
After three hours, the three decided to call it quits. Peter called Tony and the billionaire drove to pick the trio up. Even though they were teenagers Trick or Treating in 2018, they all had a pretty good haul.
Tony dropped Ned off, then MJ. He, Rhodey and Peter went back to the Tower.
Tony would let Peter rest for tonight, but he wanted answers the next day.
He needed to find out who the favorite was.