Archive of Our Own ^beta

"All, right, Kid.", Tony declared with finality as he walked into the living room where Peter was doing his homework.  "I love you ...but I'm going to need a decision."

Peter huffed, never looking up from his textbook.  "Why are you even asking me, Mr. Stark?  You know I'm indecisive!", he stubbornly declared before turning towards his mentor.

"Because it was your idea, Kid!", Tony laughed as he walked towards the coffee table that Peter was currently leaning over.  He bent down slightly to look over the math problem the boy was currently working on and cringed.

"It was my idea but I gave it to you, Mr. Stark.", Peter insisted.  Then looking down at his paper he started erasing the work he'd written out.  It didn't seem to be calculating the way it should. 

Tony looked from the paper to the math book to find the corresponding problem and watched carefully as Peter began to work through it for a second time.  He waited until he was at something of a stopping point before saying anything else.  "Well, I'm giving it back.  Now let's go.  Decision time.", Tony declared, sighing when the kid made the same exact mistake he'd made the last time.

"I don't know!", Peter groaned as he started erasing his work once again. Working through it for the third time he realized that he was still making the same mistake.  He just didn't know exactly what that mistake was at the moment and it was frustrating.  He just wanted to be done with it.  "Ugh.  Can you please help me with this?"

"That...", Tony said, tapping his finger on a math problem, "...is not a valid cancelation, slow down and make sure to factor the numerator and denominator first.", Tony said setting Peter back to work.  

"Thank you", Peter muttered as he started going back through the problem, correctly this time.  "Ok, now I'm done.", he said with a smile as Tony patted him on the shoulder.  

"Good job Kiddo... now you can focus on giving me a decision.", Tony said with a smirk. 

"Finishing my homework doesn't make me any more decisive, you know.", Peter casually replied as he started packing up his books and papers.  Attempting to file it all correctly so that he could find it again in the morning.  

Tony sighed and sat down on the couch behind where Peter was cleaning up.  "Oh, come on, you had to have had something in mind when you suggested it."

"Well, I didn't.  I wanted you to pick, Mr. Stark.", Peter innocently proclaimed as he sat down beside Tony on the couch, his bag finally packed and put away in the corner.  "It's too hard.  There are too many options and too many variables."  The truth was he just didn't want to pick.  He hated being put in charge of things like that.  He always over thought it in an attempt to please everyone involved.

Looking over at Peter, Tony started to laugh. "How are you so bad at this?", he asked placing a hand on the boy's knee.  He didn't think he'd ever met someone so stubbornly indecisive in his entire life.

"I don't know... it's a gift.", Peter deadpanned.  He didn't know what the big deal was.  Just because he'd suggested it didn't mean he had to plan all of it.  The man was being intentionally persistent.  Though, he probably should have expected that.  If Tony was anything, it was persistent.

"That's a pretty lousy gift, kid.  If I were you, I think I'd exchange it.", Tony shot back with a smirk.  

Peter sighed in mock defeat.  "I don't think it works that way, Mr. Stark."

Getting up from the couch, Tony started to walk towards the kitchen.  "Hmm... that's too bad because I'm giving you five more minutes to give me an answer--"

"--or what?", Peter cut him off.  He was still smiling but there was a tiny bit of anxiety creeping in as he started to try and figure out what the man would do if he didn't pick something soon.   He didn't want to end up with the entire plan being canceled but he also didn't want to give in and be forced to make up his mind.  He wasn't even sure why the man was so hellbent on making him be the one to chose.  Usually, Tony would get something in his head and that was that.  No negotiations.  No making him give an opinion. 

Looking over his shoulder, Tony held up an accusatory finger and glared.  "Or, I call Aunt May."

"No, you won't.", Peter said with a roll of his eyes.  "Beside's that's a dumb reason to call her, Mr. Stark."

"Aww, you mean that threat doesn't work on you anymore?", Tony whined.  He remembered a time when those words could get the boy back in line in a hurry.

"No, Mr. Stark.  She already knows everything.", Peter scoffed.  

Tony scrunched up his face in a mocking manner.  "Does she know how annoying you are when it comes to making one simple choice?", he playfully bit back with sarcasm.  Then, grabbed a water from the refrigerator and returned to the living room.

"Yes, Mr.Stark.  That's why she makes all of the decisions and not me.", Peter explained with a small laugh.  It was true.  She rarely asked him his opinion for this very reason.  

"Well, tonight you're making the decision.  This was your idea and I refuse to pick.", the man affirmed as he sat back down on the couch with a bottle of water in hand.  

"Ugh.  Why do you have to be so difficult?", Peter complained, leaning his head back on the couch so that he was staring at the ceiling.  

Tony smiled and nudged him in the shoulder.  "How am I the one being difficult here, kid?"

"Because I gave you a perfectly good idea and then you turned it around on me.  You're just mean, Mr. Stark.", Peter stated as if there were no truer fact.  

Blinking his eyes at the teenager's childish insult, Tony snorted a laugh.  "Did you just call me mean?  I'm pretty sure nobody's called me that since elementary school", Tony said continuing to chuckle at the accusation.  

Not appreciating the man's reactions, Peter crossed his arms over his chest.  "Maybe you're just not paying attention.", he grumbled quietly.

Tony rolled his eyes and stood up again. "Alright, Kid... I'm going to go change clothes.  When I get back you better have an answer.", Tony stated firmly before heading towards the elevator. 

This left Peter alone with his thoughts for nearly thirty minutes.  Unfortunately, he didn't use any of them to think about the preference he was supposed to be coming up with.   So when Tony reentered the room he was still unprepared.  "Well, Kid?  What did you come up with?"

Slightly frustrated that the man was being so overly insistent, Peter dramatically flopped over onto his side on the couch.  "I don't know what you want me to pick!"

"That's not the point.", Tony said rolling his eyes.  "The whole idea is for it to be your idea, Kid."  Before Peter could say anything else, Tony was poking at the boy's legs so that he could sit on the couch.  "Move it, you're hogging the couch."

At his mentor's prodding, Peter curled his legs up to his chest to make room and turned to look towards him.  They stared at each other, expectantly, for several minutes.  It seemed the entire thing had become more of a battle of wills than anything else.  Each of them taking a different route to get the other to fold. "I thought you said you loved me, Mr. Stark.", Peter eventually said in his most innocent voice.  

"I do.  ...and I will love you even more if you hurry up and make a choice.", Tony affirmed with a nod of his head.  

Peter sighed and sat up so he could look Tony in the eye.   ''What do I have to do to convince you to do this for me?", he said squinting his eyes.

"I can't think of anything off of the top of my head.", Tony said with a smile.  "Come on.  You're making a big deal out of nothing.  I'm going to count to three and you say the first thing that comes to your head. One, two, three, go!--"

"--That's not going to work", Peter laughed.  "You can't trick me into a decision, Mr. Stark."  Though, that did give him an idea...

"Kid!", Tony half shouted as he shoved the boy over onto his side, causing both of them to laugh.  "Just pick something.  I don't even care what at this point!"

"Fine.", Peter resigned with a half-hearted glare even though he was still smiling.

"Fine?  Does that mean you have an answer?", Tony gasped in mock-surprise.

Peter grinned mischievously before answering.  "McDonald's."

Huffing a laugh, Tony looked the boy up and down to see if he was serious or not.  It seemed he was.  "Really, Kid?  It took you over an hour to pick McDonald's?" 

"You can pick somewhere else if you want to.", Peter said graciously while batting his eyes.  He thought sure Tony would take the bait and change their destination to somewhere more... Tony-like but he didn't.  Instead, he clapped Peter on the shoulder and urged him to get up so they could head out the door.

He knew good and well what the kid was trying to pull and he wasn't going to fall into that trap.  Besides, they had good fries.  "Nope.  McDonald's it is. Let's go."  Resigning himself to his failure, Peter got up and followed the man out the door, shaking his head and smiling.  It was a good thing he legitimately liked McDonald's because he'd really thought he'd had the winning play there.  

It only took a few minutes to get to the restaurant and being as it was a weekday and a somewhat late hour.  It was blessedly unoccupied for the time being.  Tony could see the headlines now 'Tony Stark Takes Child Out For a Happy Meal'  He found himself smiling at the thought.  However he couldn't think much more on it, the older man at the register was asking for their order.  

Turning around to look at Peter, Tony asked him what he wanted.  When the boy started to waver, he rolled his eyes and waved an urging hand in his direction.  "Come on, Pete. Today, kid."

"I can't decide between the number four and the number six!", Peter quickly replied, feeling rushed.  

"Oh, for the love of everything holy we'll get both.", Tony said with a laugh.  This kid was going to be the death of him.  He was sure of it.  

Sitting down at a table in the far corner of the restaurant, Peter smiled.  "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"You're welcome.", Tony replied as he started in on the large order of fries he'd ordered for himself.  They took their time eating, Peter chattering the whole time.  Tony got a word in when he could and soon they were cleaned up and back in the car.  Before Tony turned the key he looked over at Peter with a mischevious grin.   "Next time you suggest we go out to dinner instead of ordering in you better have an idea first."

"Or what?", Peter asked playfully glaring in his mentor's direction.  

"Or I'll call Aunt May.", Tony came back with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I thought we already established that that doesn't work anymore.", Peter scoffed. 

Tony just continued to smile at him.  "Oh, you don't understand... you see, I'll call Aunt May... and ask her to cook dinner for us."

"You wouldn't dare.", Peter gasped, eyes wide at the threat.

Rasing both of his eyebrows in Peter's direction, Tony started the car.  "Try me."  Then, when Peter sputtered in response he laughed because he still had leverage after all.