Chapter Text
Peter’s eyes narrowed as he connected the final blue wire to his left web shooter’s motherboard, holding the device prone to admire his work once he had finished. With a heavy heart he tilted it to the side and listened to the round of web fluid within the new ejectors his mentor had helped him to create less than a week before, knowing that he had such little time to embrace the new technology. His eyes flicked to his mentor, a broad smile spreading across his stubbled face as he watched Peter display the device.
“Looks great, kid,” Mr. Stark affirmed from where he sat before a virtual hologram of a project he had yet to describe to Peter. For some reason, over the past few weeks, Mr. Stark had been spending an increasing amount of time in the lab. When Peter had attempted to inquire why, he had waved a hang and told him that it was nothing to worry about.
The Omega didn’t need his Spider senses or second-gender senses to see the lie. However, with a little sigh, he had dismissed the matter simply because Mr. Stark had asked. Things had always been that way between them. Their relationship was safe. If there was truly something to worry about, Mr. Stark would have told him by now. So, he rolled forward in his chair and proceeded to inspect the red wiring again.
A shiver ripped down his spine at the way it glowed under the lamplight, a reminder of another shade of red he had beheld less than a few weeks before in a government notice sent to May’s apartment. He remembered the way she had handed it to him, the way she tried to hide the way her hands were shaking. “It’s okay, May,” he had tried to reassure her. “It’s just my deadline.”
Yes, a deadline. THE DEADLINE. The one that would dictate who, upon his eighteenth birthday, would take custody of him as his Alpha as he finally entered the world as an of-age Omega. His heart had sunk at the thought and the way she had nodded as she had watched his expression falter was grave, his aunt’s eyes shining with worry. “I know, Peter.” Then, she added a little softer, “Have you talked with MJ about temporary custody?”
Michelle Jones had been one of Peter Parker’s best friends since his earliest days of High School. He knew that she would say yes in a heartbeat. For this very reason, Peter knew that this wasn’t something he could ask of her. It wouldn’t be fair to tie her down when she had expressed wanting to travel the world before going off to college. He would only be a burden and so, he had begun looking into other options.
“I will,” he had lied boldly. Aunt May didn’t need to worry. He would use the Alpha registration to find someone he could trust. He had no doubt that there was some good-soul out there that would take pity on him. He just… had to find them.
Peter’s head snapped towards his mentor as the Alpha’s chair screeched, eyes dialing in as Mr. Stark absentmindedly began pacing the workshop. Again. He was pacing again. Pacing was never a good sign.
“Is everything okay, Mr. Stark?”
The Alpha winced before answering, “Fine, kid. Just deep in thought.”
With that confirmation, Peter turned back to his project. The two had talked in the past about finding a way to add thrusters to the suit in case of web shooter failure. However, Peter had been hesitant. Maybe a backup plan wouldn’t be such a good idea…
His eyes trailed across his desk, landing on his collection of scattered notes. A sigh bubbled up in his throat as he reached forward, rummaging through the pages and finding one buried deep underneath. Scribbled in the corner, right above a few barely legible ideas for future projects, was a haunting reminder of what was to come. A deadline. His work’s deadline, when everything would have to be finished. December 26th.
‘To accommodate the holidays’ the letter had stated. Peter wanted to scoff at the thought. How kind of them to be considerate under the unfortunate circumstances that THEY had established. His words were barely a whisper as he mumbled, “Accommodate my a…”
Finally allowing a sign to slip from his lips, he combed a hand through his hair. Did they not understand how dire this was? If he chose the wrong Alpha, he may never be allowed to act as Spider Man again. His fingers tightened on the sketches clutched in his right hand, knowing full-well he may never be allowed to work in the same lab with Mr. Stark again– leaving every project in these drafts unfinished. A shiver wracked down his spine as another haunting thought darted through his mind. He could never be allowed to see May again.
Mr. Stark’s voice was stern as he looked at Peter, “You okay, kid?”
“Fine,” Peter answered immediately and, even to his own ears, the retort was less than convincing when compared to his usual verbose explanations. Mr. Stark was next to him in less than a moment. The intern’s words were hurried as he amended, “Really, everything’s fine.” With a few quick moves, he buried the papers he had been browsing under a series of other documents before standing. “I should get going. May’ll be home soon.”
His mentor’s brow lifted as he watched Peter scurry towards his backpack and called, “See you tomorrow, Mr. Stark.”
Tony’s eyes narrowed as he studied the intern with an indiscernible expression. “You’re not going to the City Mix? I thought you’d be of age this year.”
Fudge. Fiddlesticks. Crap. Shoot.
“Oh. Uh… yeah. I… I’ve been thinking about it.”
“You should,” Mr. Stark retorted before Peter could scurry out the door. “Stark towers’ll be closed to accommodate the whole shebang”
Peter picked a non-existent piece of lint from his sleeve, words rambling as he mumbled, “I mean… MJ and Ned won’t be there. It would just be me and I’m good with just patrolling…”
“The Avengers will be there,” Mr. Stark corrected. “Plus, it’s highly encouraged for Stark employees to attend.”
Peter’s eyes widened, his grip on his school bag loosening for a millisecond as he asked, “I’m only an intern and… you mean… the whole team is going to be at the Mixer?”
Mr. Stark nodded as he looked down at a few of Peter’s sketches and the teen found himself praying that his mentor’s curiosity was satiated by the new documents that had ended up at the top. “The whole famn damily,” the snark affirmed with a little wink. “It’ll be a can’t miss show.”
“Oh… uh…”
Someone in HR, PR, or SHIELD must have pitched the idea. Peter’s eyes drifted from the floor to a series of bolts scattered across Mr. Stark’s desk, tempted to laugh at the crazy amount of acronyms that flew through his mind. “It’s not like I can really associate myself with you guys when I’m just… me… secret identity and all, so…”
Something seemed to cross Mr. Stark’s mind before he turned his full attention back to his mentee and pressed, “What happened to MJ?”
“Nothing. She’s just… umm… taken. So, she doesn’t really have to be there.”
Yep. Wow. That hurt to say out loud. It was true that he had eliminated MJ from his possible Alphas list long before she had informed him, but she hadn’t been taken off his last-resort list. In fact, she was kind of the only one on that horrifying list. He remembered the distinct feeling of the world falling from beneath his feet as she had dismissively mentioned her interest in another student that had recently joined her world travel group. The reminder stung a little worse than he had hoped at this point.
It had been one thing when Ned and Betty had decided to commit to one another less than a month before, but something about being the only one in their friend group without a distinct path had set Peter on edge. Damn Omega hormones… always demanding a plan of action and sense of safety. It was highly annoying when it came to Peter’s highly uncertain evening profession.
Mr. Stark nodded, expression still insanely unreadable as he looked deeply into Peter’s eyes. “Think about it, Pete.”
“I will, Mr. Stark.”