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There were a few days in the year that Peter hated. The first was the anniversary of his parents’ death. On that day, he would usually stay in bed (if it was a school day, May would call him in sick) and watch old home movies from when he was little. The second was the anniversary of Uncle Ben’s death. This was another day May would call him in sick from school before calling in herself to work. The pair would then curl up on the lounge together and watch all the Indiana Jones movies, Ben’s favourites, on repeat. Peter and May would eat Thai food and cry as they spoke of Ben fondly.
Other days that Peter detested included Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day (for obvious reasons) but one that came around every school year was Grandparents’ Day. Every school Peter had attended hosted a Grandparents’ Day. At each event, grandparents were invited to the school to look at their grandchild’s projects and talk to their teachers about them. And every year, Peter was reminded of just how little family he had left. His paternal grandparents had died many years before he was born, while his maternal grandparents had disowned their daughter after she decided against becoming a doctor like they wanted. They had never met Richard or Peter and to Peter’s best knowledge, both had passed away when he was around 10.
“Hey dude, are you alright?” Ned met him in the halls after homeroom and stared at him in concern. When Peter’s homeroom teacher had handed him the flyer about Grandparents’ Day, Peter had felt his heart fall in his chest. Ned knew better than anyone Peter’s feelings towards this particular day. Every year he offered his own grandparents to Peter and without fail, Lolo and Lola (Grandpa and Grandma) Leeds would lavish Peter with all the attention and love a grandparent could give.
“The usual man. The usual,” Peter replied softly. Ned wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and squeezed his friend gently. “I know it’s a normal thing but it never fails to remind me about my lack of family.”
Ned made a noise of protest but Peter just shook his head and smiled sadly. The two boys walked into their first class and Ned shot Peter one final look before focusing on Ms Warren.
The rest of the day passed by at a snail’s pace for Peter. He could hear everyone chattering excitedly about their grandparents visiting and by the end of the day, Peter’s patience had worn thin.
“I’m sorry Pete,” Ned said as the boys walked to Peter’s locker. Ned had already grabbed his things and was planning on walking out with his friend. “Today must have sucked, big time.”
“At least I’ve got my internship to look forward to this afternoon,” Peter shrugged as he grabbed his books and stuffed them into his bag. The two boys efficiently avoided Flash and his goons as they made their way out to the parking lot. Happy was leaning against the car and nodded as the boys approached. “I’ll see you tomorrow man.”
Ned and Peter did their handshake before Peter walked over to the car. Happy opened the door and Peter slid into the backseat before the bodyguard climbed into the front.
“Hey Uncle Happy,” Peter said softly and Happy shot the boy a look in the rear-view mirror. Normally when Peter climbed into the car, it took Happy shutting the divider between them to get him to shut up. But today, the boy simply gave him a greeting before resting his head against the headrest behind him.
“What’s up kid? You never get into my car and go quiet,” Happy commented as he pulled out into traffic. Peter looked up at Happy and smiled weakly.
“Sorry Uncle Happy. Just tired, I guess. I had a busy day,” Peter replied and Happy frowned. As Peter turned his head to look out the window, Happy quietly ordered FRIDAY to send Tony a message to let him know that something was up with Peter. Happy drove across New York, stopping at McDonalds on the way for food for both Peter and Tony. When they arrived at the Tower, Happy pulled into the garage and opened Peter’s door for him.
“Thanks for the lift Uncle Happy,” Peter said, taking the food and walking slowly to the elevator. Happy watched the boy go with a frown on his face. He grabbed his phone and sent a message to the Avengers’ group chat (yes, they had one, no he hadn’t wanted to be included but apparently, he needed to be) informing them that the Spider-Child was upset. Instantly he got a myriad of replies and Happy knew he could leave the office, content in the knowledge the kid would be taken care of. Besides, he and May had a date planned and neither would enjoy themselves if they were freaking out about Pete.
Peter arrived at Tony’s lab and was instantly met by Helix. The Flerken had grown so much in the 5 months since Peter had found him on Torvax. The creature still hated being left behind when Peter went to school so whenever Peter returned home, he was first greeted by his overprotective pet. Helix could instantly sense that something was wrong with his master and began to purr and nuzzle him in an attempt to provide comfort. Peter ran his fingers through Helix’s fur and grinned contentedly. Tony looked over at his son and smiled at the peaceful look on Peter’s face.
“Hey Kiddo. Happy said you were bringing up snacks,” Tony said and Peter moved further into the lab. He placed the bags of food onto one of the lab tables and sat down. Dum-E approached with a concerned chirp and began to pat the teen on the head with his claw. Tony watched as his robot son coddled his human son and frowned. Happy had not only told Tony about the food but also that something had upset the kid. Sure enough, Tony could tell something was wrong. His boy was never this quiet when he entered the lab, especially not when Dum-E was fussing around him. “Alright cucciolo, what’s got you so down?”
Peter slowly nibbled on his burger without making eye contact with the man. Tony raised an eyebrow before sliding his chair over. He threw an arm around his son and pulled him into his side. Peter snuggled under Tony’s arm and the billionaire began to run his fingers through Peter’s hair soothingly. After a few minutes, Peter rested his burger back down on the wrapper and let out a heavy sigh.
“Its just,” Peter said softly and Tony remained silent as he waited for Peter to continue. “Well, Midtown does this thing every year and once again I’m reminded of what I don’t have.”
“Cryptic much?” Tony teased and Peter let out a soft snort. “You’ll need to elaborate cucciolo. Neither FRIDAY nor I are mind readers like Wanda or Reindeer Games.”
“I need my backpack,” Peter said and Dum-E let out a soft chirp before handing the bag to the teen. Peter rummaged through it and pulled out the crumpled-up flyer he had received at the start of the day. He handed it to Tony and picked up his burger again. “Its Grandparents’ Day.”
Tony unravelled the paper and read over the details. All grandparents were invited to share in their grandchild’s accomplishments. Tony placed the paper on the table and wrapped both arms around his son. Peter cuddled into his father and Tony began to hum softly into his ear.
“What do you say we take this food and head up to watch a movie?” Tony said after a few minutes and Peter nodded. The two collected the bags of food and drinks and made their way out of the lab. “Lock it up tight Baby Girl.”
When the two geniuses and the Flerken arrived on the common floor, Bucky and Steve were already sitting on the couch. They both looked up in surprise as Peter and Tony entered and both soldiers were on instant alert as they took in Peter’s appearance. Bucky held his arms out and after a soft push from Tony, Peter collapsed into Bucky’s lap. The White Wolf wrapped both his arms around the teen and Peter burrowed his head into Bucky’s chest. Helix perched himself on Peter’s lap and began purring loudly to comfort his master.
“Is Pete ok?” Steve asked as he and Tony entered the kitchen.
“It’s Grandparents Day at Midtown and Peter seems to think he doesn’t have anyone to attend for him,” Tony said, placing the food on the counter and pulling out his phone.
“Buck and I could go for him. We are certainly old enough to be his grandparents,” Steve said with a fond smile. Tony smirked back but shook his head.
“Nah, we’ll save you two for a show and tell project or a live history project,” Tony teased and Steve laughed. “I know just who to call. My kid won’t be alone on Grandparents Day.”
The following Friday was the day chosen for Grandparents Day and Peter had awoken with a deep sense of dread. May had looked at him apologetically as he got himself ready that morning but the boy had smiled at her as comfortingly as he could. When Peter had arrived at school, he moved through the halls with his head down and headphones firmly in place. While other kids were moving around excitedly as they talked about the various projects they planned on showing their grandparents, Peter kept his attention focused on his locker. He knew the day was pretty much a write-off work wise (as the teachers never really taught anything on this day, just used the time to discuss work with grandparents) so he decided to spend the day getting ahead in his various class readings. Homeroom passed quickly and soon Peter was heading for his first proper class.
As Peter walked past Flash’s locker, he found himself actually grateful for the day’s theme. With his grandparents around, Flash backed off with the bullying. It was usually one of the only peaceful day’s Peter got. Peter moved towards his physics class, keeping his head down to ignore the various happy parties around him. As he entered his physics classroom, his Spidey-Sense flared and his head snapped up as two familiar voices could be heard talking to his teacher.
“I keep telling Stark if he isn’t careful, I’ll steal Pete for my own company,” Hank Pym’s voice rang clear as he spoke to Ms Warren. Peter stared in awe as the owners of the two voices turned to Peter. Nick Fury and Hank Pym were both chatting amiably to Ms Warren, the woman smiling as she too noticed Peter.
“Peter, I was just telling Dr Pym and Director Fury about your recent physics assignment,” Ms Warren boasted as Peter slowly approached the group. “You did get the top mark after all.”
“We expected nothing less,” Hank said as he wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulder. “Well, why don’t you show us around kid? Ms Warren, it was a pleasure.”
“What are you two doing here?” Peter asked as Fury and Pym led Peter over to his project setup.
“Stark called and told us you thought you were going to be alone on Grandparents Day,” Fury began and Pym nodded.
“Couldn’t have that now, could we?” Pym teased. “I mean, it’s not only Cassie that calls me ‘Grumps’ you know.”
“But, you’re both important,” Peter said before blushing in embarrassment. “I mean, you have important things to be doing. More important than hanging out at my school.”
“Kid, work will never be more important than you,” Hank said and Fury nodded. “Now, show me this project. I have high hopes for your work my boy. We can’t let the field down.”
For the rest of the day, Peter proudly showed Nick and Hank around. Ned had been in total awe of the two men beside Peter but he was also beyond happy that someone had stepped up for his friends. The two men would never admit it but they had enjoyed being the centre of Peter’s attention for an entire day (at the Tower, the Avengers were always vying for Peter’s attention so to have it solely to themselves was something the two men planned on lording over the others’ heads for a long time). Sure, they’d gotten some odd looks from some of Peter’s peers, while the bolder ones had approached and asked for autographs but for the most part, Hank and Nick spent the day bragging about their insanely intelligent grandson.
The final bell rang and Peter found he’d actually enjoyed Grandparents Day for the first time ever. As everyone filed out of the school, Peter was led to Fury’s car by both his grandfathers. When they reached the car, Peter surprised them both by leaping at them, first Nick then Hank, and hugging them both tightly.
“Thank you so much Grumps, Grandpa,” Peter said softly as he hugged the men. “This was the best Grandparents’ Day ever.”
Both men smiled over Peter’s head at one another and nodded. If this was all it took to get a blinding smile to cross Peter’s face, then they would attend as many school functions as necessary. Peter deserved to smile so brightly.