Archive of Our Own ^beta

Peter pushes his chair so it spins once again, allowing him to further observe the commotion in front of him.

Even though it’s happening at this very moment, it is still hard for Peter to believe he is here, watching an actual pitch meeting for the next issue of Marvels: A Magazine of Adventures.

Peter Parker had discovered at the beginning of the summer that he’d recieved a photography internship at one of America’s most successful business magazines and well, to say he had been blown away would have been an understament. Aunt May struggled to get him to calm down for a much longer time than is probably acceptable. So when Peter had then somehow gained enough attention from publisher and recent owner Tony Stark, THE Tony Stark himself, to be invited to sit in on meetings, boy, he may as well have actually died and gone to heaven.

Tony Stark has always been a little bit of a legend in Peter's eyes. It was something Harry liked to make fun of Peter for when they were growing up. The first day of Peter’s internship he had held all his manly and very much not childish tears in when he had heard Mr Stark saying “God kid, I like your spirit. I’m going to make sure I monopolise your time here”.
Of course, Peter’s calmed down significantly around the boss now and upon hearing Mr Stark’s “Hmmm…. Oooh, Minion! One of those boring meetings is happening! Come be my scribe and that means I can sit on my phone and not have to pay attention. Maybe Pepper won't even throw her shoe at me this time." this morning, Peter handled it with much more maturity than he would have been when he first began working here. Just a quick panic attack in the bathroom this time, nothing major.

Once Peter had gotten to the meeting however, Mr Stark had done none of the antics he had originally promised or at least hadn’t managed to yet anyway. Stark has only recently started taking on his dad’s role as publisher and so was currently juggling it with his old role of editor-in-chief while he looked for a suitable replacement for his old position. Meaning there really was no time for Mr Stark to not be in the thick of everything.
He, Virginia “Call me Pepper” Potts his main editor and right-hand man, James “Just call me Rhodey” Rhodes the Social Media Manager and Steve Rogers, one of the Picture Editors, were all in a deep conversation about the direction the magazine currently, heads all pressed together as they look over some of the proposed boards. Peter truly believes he could spend all day watching the three debate where they should be taking Marvels this month and how to go about ironing out the kinks they could foresee occurring in the upcoming weeks.

Observing how they all radiate a confident and strong energy, Peter finds he is a little thrown by how the only one that matches the intensity of the strong brunette publisher was, surprisingly, from the broad-shouldered blonde picture editor. Steve is as huddled and as a part of the quickfire conversation as everyone else, not looking out of place with the higher-ups at all.

Of course, this may be because of the rumoured rivalry that Steve and Mr Stark apparently have had going for years now, Peter muses to himself, looking round the room to see if anyone else finds the dynamic in front of them rather odd as well.
It is well known among the office to keep the pair separated if nobody wanted any damages or shattered feelings to occur that day. Peter hadn’t seen them really go for each other's throats since he’s been here but he has seen enough to observe how the two men both seem to have an uncanny knack of pushing each other's buttons.

“No, I’m not sure we can choose that. It’s too similar to September’s issue of Marvels.” Pepper stipulates.

“But if we did, I think it could come across as a continuation of September's article while showing a more four-dimensional picture,” Rhodey argues back.

“If we are making this month all about the advances T’challa’s company has made, then it might not be a bad idea to do a throwback to a previous expose we have done on Panther Corporation.” Mr Stark suggests.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself Stark. You cannot run that until you have received confirmation that T’challa is going to like the angle we are taking” Steve says in a stern tone.
The tightness in his expression indicating his frustration that the boss is making a decision before consent has been received from all parties.

Peter chuckles under his breath a little. Steve always tends to make sure everyone is being treated with a high level of respect so it's not surprising that not even the big boss isn’t above these subtle reminders. It is fairly amusing though.

While Peter is finding it all very fascinating, Clint, the sandy blonde Beauty Editor and Stylist sitting next to him, is clearly getting bored.

Peter watches as Clint tries to kick the PR manager, Jessica’s, chair out from underneath her for a fourth time and holds his breathe for the potential disaster. He continues to watch Clint’s pout grow larger as Jess proves she has eyes in the back of her head by avoiding his ploy without even acknowledging that the prankster is even there.

“You’re a braver man than I am” Peter whispers to Clint, who just smirks.

“I’ve been trying to get her to lose her cool for weeks thanks to Logan’s stupid bet.” Clint whispers loudly “76th thing to learn about working at this place Petey-boy. Never turn down a challenge. This place will know because word spreads like wildfire here! YoU’Ve BeEn WaRNed”

Peter wants to disagree with Clint but the intern has only been here a couple of weeks and already seen how fast the rumour mill works in this company. Roger and Stark rivalry/“cold war” point and case.

Peter laughs silently while Mr Stark, having caught the end of Clint’s antics, attempts to throw a wadded up piece of paper at Clint's head. It doesn’t have any real effect as Clint swats it away easily. Peter is a little envious as all his coworkers avasion skills, he knows had he been the target he would most likely be splat out on the floor currently.

“Shut up Barton and stop trying to scare off my Minion.” Mr. Stark says.

“Stark” "Tony” Pepper and Steve crossly exclaim at the same time. Rhodey elbowing Mr Stark softly in the process.

“You cannot call the interns Minions, Tony.” Pepper lays out “You have sat through the seminars, so please start behaving appropriately.”

Mr Stark rolls his eyes a little but chucks Peter a small smile so Peter knows not to take offence.

“Lame. Every one of you ruins my fun.” Mr Stark whines “Remind me to fire you all..... And if not fire at least demote you all. As I probably need all the man power right now but still think you deserve a punishment.” He finishes a little lamely.
Peter’s gaze drifts a little to catch Steve struggling to keep a straight face at the bosses behaviour. Whether the blonde is trying not to crack a smile or whether he may be about to blow a fuse Peter can’t really tell however.

Sam, one of the other picture editors, chucks his friend a weary look so Peter assumes it must be the latter of the two.

“Rogers, don’t look at me like that! It is completely within my right to fire whoever doesn't please me and I know this may come as a surprise but I'm a very petty person.” Mr Stark says.

Steve now has a small grin, if a somewhat reluctant one. “You’re incorrigible.”

“And yet, you’re smiling.” Mr Stark replies smugly.

“Come on Stark, you should be setting a better example of yourself to the youth present in the room. Wouldn’t want them getting the idea that Pepper is the one that runs the show around here would you?” Steve snarks lightly, looking as if he is enjoying the back and fourth.

“Shhhhhhh Steve! That’s a company secret” Tony says in a stage whisper with an exaggerated look on his face.

“If we could focus please.” Pepper demands, instantly gaining everyone in the room’s attention once more.
As the squabbling pair focus back to Pepper, Peter watches a couple of people let go of their breath, something they often do when Mr Stark and Steve look close to a confrontation.

Peter, who’s curiosity piques again, makes a mental note reminding himself to ask Clint what that is all about eventually.

“I think we pretty much have everything sorted or on the way to be at least. I will send a copy of this draft out to everyone once Pepper has finalised it this afternoon. We just need Wilson to arrive so he can be brought up to speed and we can all get back to business.” Mr Stark asserts.

“And why isn’t he here currently? This is the fifth time this week Tony.” Pepper hisses.

Mr Stark seems to have an opinion on that statement but instead of responding he gives a pointed stare across the room. In Jessica’s direction, if Peter's eyes don't deceive him. Peter scratches his head, finding the stare a little strange.

“Don’t worry Pep, it’s not an issue” Mr Stark waves off, which causes Rhodey and Steve to share some sort of meaningful look too.

Peter’s pretty puzzled by all the silent conversations occurring but he also figures he hasn’t worked here long enough for any of it to be any of his business yet. Surely after working together for years, being able to communicate silently probably becomes quite normal. It might be complete instinct and they don’t even realise they are doing it anymore.
Looking up and seeing now Pepper and Rhodey sharing a look now, Peter wishes he had been working here longer like everyone else in the room.

“Fisk is being more of a dick than usual this week. He’s graduated to rank absolute piece of shit.” Clint fills in, obviously sensing Peter’s struggle to keep up with the current conversation.

Peter hums in response, desperately wanting to roll his eyes but resisting because despite what his girlfriend may say, he is a goddam adult.

Wilson Fisk and Peter had not made the best first impression with each other, which is terrible seeing as how Fisk is in charge of a chunk of Peter’s internship.
Peter stands by the fact it wasn’t his fault though. The man had taken an instant disliking to Peter and didn’t make any pretence of it, always making snide comments at the pictures Peter brings in for submission and talking badly about Peter behind his back. For the past month the man has done his best to subtlety dismiss the work Peter puts into the tasks assigned to him and generally looks at Peter like he is the dirt beneath his shoe.

“I wouldn’t have thought that was possible,” Peter grumbles quietly “The asshole insinuated the other day that I had the face of a chump and that I’d never have anyone who believed in my work.” he squeezes his hands into a fist and tries to stay calm. How did a man who Peter barely knew make him so angry?

“The FUCK?” Clint growls in response “He’s turning into such a monster with Stark Sr. no longer being around.”

Luke, one of the journalists who had been listening to Peter and Clint’s whispers, turns and gives Peter a look of sympathy. “Don’t take it to heart. Fisk doesn’t like anyone.” Peter sends the man a grateful look back, knowing he has found an unexpected ally in Luke.
Luke’s been with Marvels for a couple of years now and had taken on the task of helping Peter feel comfortable in his first couple of days. Once spending a bit of time together, Peter and Luke quickly discovered that they get along like a house on fire. Regardless of the outcome of the internship, Peter knows he’s made one new lasting connection.

“The only person that bastard is occasionally put in his place by is Steve. But I’m pretty sure that’s because when Steve stands all puffed out and intimidating he somehow looks HUGE. Did you inform Steve this has been happening?” Luke continues.

Peter shakes his head. He knows everyone is having troubles with Fisk at the moment but nobody more than Steve. It was common knowledge around the office that most people would prefer Steve in Fisk’s position which makes conversations between the two rather icy even on the best of days. Peter didn’t want to make matters worse because the asshole has thrown some petty insults the intern’s way. Peter’s certainly heard worse.

“He’s got enough to deal with. I can handle a few stupid comments. The man mostly ignores me anyway.” He schools his face back into a pleasant smile.

“It’s an insult that the Stark’s let Fisk have that job over Steve. Steve has been working here just as long, works ten times harder, and yet he still has never once received any recognition. I know Mr Stark Sr. showed blatant favouritism to Fisk but Tony is a lot smarter than his dad. It’s a crime that he hasn’t done anything about it.” Clint rants, voice rising louder than he probably intended.

“There are plenty of rumours about how there’s going to be a big shakeup in the next few weeks though,” Luke says, trying to calm Clint back down. “I mean Pepper will surely be made Editor-in-Chief soon. Hopefully, that is an opening for Steve.”

“I tried hinting that to Steve the other day but he is adamant that he won’t be receiving a promotion. The poor guy, I mean what more does the fella have to do? I know he and Stark smash heads a lot but if Tony is using that as a reason for bypassing Steve then he needs to take a good hard look at himself.” Clint spits out while Luke’s face becomes sour as the conversation continues.

Jess, having overheard their gossiping, squints at the group before flicking her long glossy hair at a them.
“You all are idiots” Peter catches her muttering as they all try to shift their attention back to what Pepper is going over.

Just as Peter catches up on what Pepper is saying the door slams open.

“Ahhh speak of the devil and he shall appear” Luke, says, his mocking barely disguised behind its neutral tone. Peter is not alone in his complaints about the jerk that runs their department.

A large man casually saunters into the room distracting everyone away from Pepper once again. Peter instantly feels his face fume at the sight of the latecomer.

Wilson Fisk, the Artistic Manager, sends Luke a sharp look but opts to leave the comment aside so he can begin his usual list of demands.

“Alright, how did you go? What’s the decision with the centre spread on Vanessa? “Fisk says in an authoritative tone. “I’ve already told her to put her full trust in us.”

Clint grimaces Peter’s way.“This isn’t going to end well,” he whispers with a huff.

“Sorry Wilson, but we decided to go with the Wakanda story this month.” Mr Stark lets Fisk down tentatively.

“WHAT?” Fisk exclaims. “I made it quite clear Tony that Vanessa’s gallery and the new exhibit was the direction the magazine needed this month.”

“Well, maybe if you had been here for the first three-quarters of this meeting Wilson, you may have been able to persuade us,” Pepper glowers coolly. “However, since you weren't we found within the group discussion that the viewers will respond better to the Vibranium article. That it is more in trend and a major interest of our readers at the moment.”

“I can’t believe this! I’ve been here for years. My loyalty to Marvels is unparalleled and I still get cut to size at every turn. If it had been anyone else making the suggestion you all would have jumped on the story.” Fisk grips, seeming ready to make a big fuss.

“Oh don’t start Fisk!” Rhodey warns. “We’ve ALL dedicated ourselves to this magazine.”

“The success we’ve been having is a collaborative effort Fisk and you know it.” Steve sternly put to Fisk.

Fisk looks at Steve with a stare so venomous Peter is surprised the blonde doesn’t back away a little. The unpleasant man opens his mouth, ready to send another scathing comment Steve’s way but Mr Stark cuts him off.

“The decision has been made, Wilson. You have a problem then set a meeting up with Pepper and me privately to air it out.” He states. “Be off my minions and do my bidding!!” Reading the room and abruptly bringing the meeting to a close.

“Stark!” Steve says sharply.

“What? Peter can’t say I’m bullying him if you all go by said nickname!” Mr Stark yells as he walks out of the conference room, giving a sly wink before he disappeared.

“One day I will throw more than a shoe at him” Pepper sighs as everyone else picks up their belongings and follows Mr Stark out the door.

Peter remains seated and lets everyone file out the room before him. Once the majority have left, He sits back and takes everything in. Fisk had brought in an ugly kind of tension at the end of the meeting, but other than that it had been exactly the sort of exhilarating experience Peter had always imagined it would be. He grins silently to himself as he proceeds to finally follow after everyone else.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Peter decides to head to the staff kitchen and arrives to find Sam chatting with two sub-editors, Bucky and Logan, the former being Sam's fiance.
As Peter makes his way over to the fridge he can’t help but over hear the conversation as Sam is making it quite the spectacle of himself. The dark man’s hands are flailing wildly as he catches the other two up on what they missed in the meeting. It would have been difficult to have ignored the chatter realistically.

“And then Stark is making one of those faces that annoys Steve and saying COMPANY SECRETS and Steve did one of his involuntary jaw grips, you know! But that was it, Buck! You would have been so proud of him, babe. He didn’t ball his fists or stand over the top of Stark or anything. Our baby is growing up! He’s a full adult now.”

Bucky’s shooting Sam a sceptical look which Peter can tell means the sub-editor didn’t quite believe his fiance. Logan, on the other hand, looks like he is so bored he is considering homicide just to liven up his day. It’s quite the impressive expression coming from the usually blank staring man. If Peter was braver (or insane), he would definently label Logan a bore most of the time.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath, Sam. I’ve been telling Steve for ages that Tony enjoys getting a rise out of him and it would be better to ignore the guy. But that Punk can never help himself. He’s always been too dumb to run from a fight” Bucky says with an eye roll, shaking his head as they bemoan about his best friend.

“Sounds like he just needs to get laid” Logan astutes with a grunt. Sam shoots him a bit of a startled look as he scrunches his nose but Bucky nods in agreement.

“That's what I think! I’ve been telling him that for months.” He gave Sam a wide eyed stare and with a stage whisper towards him “It’s been YONKS!”

“WHAT?” Sam yelps “But he’s a perfect specimen. He has interested parties lining up around the block for his attention. Why did he not tell me it had been such a long time?! I mean I knew he hasn’t really dated since high school. But months with nothing at all! I know plenty of awesome people I could have helped set him up with” his voice sounding closer to a whine to Peter by the end there.

Bucky sighs “I tried. Have been subtly suggesting different dates since I figured it out but the picky bastard always weasels his way out of it.” Sam snorts in disbelief.

“No, really Sam. That punk is a slippery sucker.” Bucky mocks. “Buck, I need a rain check, Pepper needs me to get three more images for this last-minute article Tony has whipped together. Bucky, I can’t today. I have to get an early night for the extra meeting that’s been called for tomorrow to fix Wilson’s screw up. Tonight is not good Bucky, Tony caused the coffee machine to explode again and I will need at least a week to scrub the ground beans out of my hair.”

“See. Watch this” Bucky demonstrates to Sam as he places his hand on his fiance’s back to direct his attention.

“Hey Steve! What about Danni?” Bucky shouts to the photo editor as he is walking past the doorway.

Steve stops and looks across with a raised eyebrow. “Luke’s photographer friend? Super chill? Eyebrow and nipple piercing? Yeah, not ready for that right now.” And then he continues down the hallway. Peter couldn’t help but snort at the abruptness of it all. Unfortunetly, the snort is loud and ends up drawing everyone to notice he was in the room.

“Skulking around trying to catch the daily gossip?” Bucky teases.

“Nah babe” Sam counters “It’s time for his juice box. You know the kid gets cranky without his sugar.”

Peter gives them a playful glare. “You know, Mr Stark asks quite often if I want to work with you guys as well as with Steve, but never seems surprised when I turn the offer down.” Peter quips.

“And how are you going to gain our respect if you only bring coffee and tasty treats to just Stevie? Especially when the punk refuses to share with us.” Bucky counters.

“Steve refuses to share food with you?! Man, I’m sorry. I guess he just doesn’t like you guys as much as I thought. It's my intention for you guys to receive some too. In no way is Steve my favourite” Peter says innocently.

“W.o.w, someone has some attitude today.” Sam banters “.....wait isn’t that Luke’s food?”

Peter freezes and then quickly tries to hide the cookies he’s been munching on. “Uhhh, no. I don’t think they are.”

“It’s labeled with his name. I can see it right there.” Bucky points

“I tend to overlook the little details in life. Details like labels.” Peter bluffs. Badly.
“What are you both? My mother?”

“There’s that attitude problem again, short stack. I’m not sure it’s wise to talk to your superiors in that manner?” Sam groans.

Peter tenses from the comment.

Sam and Bucky, well actually most of the company but mainly these two, give Peter a bit of a hard time but he had thought it had all been in fun and games. It would be just like Peter to go too far with a joke and put his foot in his mouth though. He should have known withholding food is where some people drew the line. He needed to make it up to them quickly so he could avoid complaints getting back to Steve.

“Mmm I think you owe us a bit of boot-licking young man” Bucky says a little more lightly “We are older and wiser than you after all.”

Okay, so they are still mucking around. Relaxing again, Peter thinks back to rule number 74 Clint mentioned back in the meeting.
Never turn down a challenge.
And well... he may as well bite.
What is the worst they could get him to do? Have him bring them coffee every half hour? Transcribe their corny Friday date nights? Clean out the old box of folders in the basement with the RATS!? ....Okay maybe the last one would be the worst but regardless Peter is determined to leave a lasting good impression here.

“I’m Peter Parker. The doer of impossible things. Give me a task and watch it be done not only flawlessly but with style.” He says as he wiggles his eyebrows.

Ignoring his antics, Sam and Bucky put their heads together and start whispering loudly. Peter feels uneasy as he catches Sam’s eyes grow wide before morphing into a hint mischievous.

“Any impossible task you say?”

Peter nods his head furiously.

“Perfect! Get Stevie to take a date to Mr Stark’s Birthday celebration he has coming up next week.” Bucky says with a huge smirk on his face.

“WHAT!?” Peter yelps “He’s basically my boss. Come on guys, I don’t want to lose my job because I cross an inappropriate boundary.”

Bucky makes a sound of disbelief. “Steve is wayyy too good a guy to get someone fired because they meddle a little with his love life, Small fry. Plus Logan’s right! It’ll be good for him to get back out there.”

“And since you so graciously volunteered for an impossible task,” Sam continues “we knew you were the guy for this job. Unless you are just all talk Parker?” Sam’s face looking a little too smug for Peter’s liking.

Peter sweats as he thinks through their proposal. Steve really was a good guy and he didn’t want to do anything to make Steve upset with him. But from what Peter could tell Bucky and Sam were basically Steve’s closest friends and he doubted they would have tasked someone with something they believed would hurt the blonde. Plus Peter doesn’t like to brag but he was a bit of a matchmaker back in the day. His girlfriend might disagree but he liked to think that he was.

“And you’re sure this isn’t something better left to sort out on his own?” Peter checks with Bucky.

“Fuck no. Steve is terrible at flirting and think he isn’t as great a catch as he actually is. Since he refuses to let his best wingman help him out, a sneak attack is the only option.”

“If Steve is such a catch, why didn’t you end up dating him?” Peter taunts.

Bucky visibly gags “Ew, that’s like asking someone why they aren’t dating their brother. Besides Steve has nothing up against this one.” He indicates to the man standing beside him.

Sam turns to Bucky and gives him a soft smile while Peter half watched, his mind wandering back to thinking about the challenge at hand.
The job didn’t seem as impossible as these two were making it out to be. Steve is an extremely handsome man with a bundle of positive qualities. Women were swooning over the blonde behind his back left, right and centre. The biggest challenge would probably be finding someone STEVE was interested in.

“Pfft easy,” Peter says sticking out his hand with false bravado. “This will be like taking candy from a baby”

“If you say so” Bucky says with a grin as he takes Peter’s hand to give it a shake. “It’s your funeral”

“Yes!” Sam exclaims “You better come out with us tonight. It’s Fireball Friday at Josie’s, a bar Jones and Luke have some connection with. We go most weeks to take advantage of the cheap drinks and Steve usually comes. It’ll be a more relaxed place for you to do some matchmaking magic”

“It’s not going to work.” Logan finally speaks up from the corner of the room he slunk off to.

“It might.” Sam defends, waving his arms dramatically in the air. “Peter could find someone that Steve doesn’t realise is perfect for him because Steve only sees himself as that scrawny teenage boy that hasn’t been through a growth spurt yet. Then this miraculous person will teach Steve to slowly accept that he is much more than that dweeb he once was and he’ll come to realise he deserves happiness and it could all end up working out really well.”

Peter feels his eyebrows rising higher as Sam’s spiel goes on. “Geez, no pressure or anything. Been reading too many sappy romance novellas, Sam?” he taunts.

Sam turns with a deadpan look on his face “I mostly borrow Bucky's.”

Bucky makes a sound of protest and Logan rolls his eyes as he leaves the room. “You’re all such softies.”

Bucky looks like he is about to go after Logan and deny everything but he stops when Steve walks through the door. There’s a moment of hesitation as everyone just stare at one another. Steve gives them all a weird look as he pulls out a blue mug for his daily earl grey, choosing not to comment.

“Sooooo… what are we all planning on getting Stark?” Sam hastily tries, hoping to fill the empty conversation.

Steve narrows his eyes at the obvious change of the subject “I bought his present a while ago.”

“Cool! Sam and I are going to get him tickets to the comic convention he goes on about all the time.” Bucky then looks at Peter “What about you newbie?”

This particular topic has Peter very stressed. The thing is, he isn’t sure what to get Mr Stark. Besides being Peter’s idol, he’s also been a pretty amazing boss during this internship and Peter knows that if he can get him something memorable it will help keep him in Mr Stark's good graces.

“I don’t knowww. What do you get a man that already has everything?” Peter whines with despair.

“He is unbelievably hard to buy for,” Steve says, some….. sympathy?…. Bitterness? in his voice. He blows on his mug to cool down the contents and sends Peter an empathetic look.

Peter nods. “I know and working here is a dream. It would be SO like me to have everything going well and then screwing it up because of the hideous choice of gift I pick for my boss.”

Peter really has a bit of a reputation for being a terrible gift-giver. If you asked him it really wasn’t his fault. How was he meant to know that Aunt May had decided to go vegan that Christmas? Or that MJ’s mum had a hamster phobia? Yes, it is a real thing.

“Maybe you can spare some time in your day Steve to have a chat with small fry later and help him think of some good ideas” Bucky slyly suggests.

Sam jumps to agree. “He is your responsibility after all. His bad choices are your bad choices.” slinging his arm over Steve’s shoulder to tease him.

Steve rolls his eyes at his friends but turns and smiles at Peter, “We can do lunch today Pete, if you did want some help?”

Peter knows Bucky and Sam were just trying to make sure Peter has the opportunity to get Steve hooked up but he still can’t help but feel relieved. Peter certainly needs the help so he agrees immediately.

“Great” Steve says. “By the way, I came in here to let Peter know that the boss wants to chat with you when you are free.”

“Oh, awesome. I’m going now then.” Peter says as he scrambles to gather his stuff, throwing his camera over his shoulder.

“Also Sam, I need to borrow another pen. Mine has gone missing again.” Steve says grouchily.

“Nah man. That is asking way too much”.

“What’s that Sam? I can take whatever I want because you think I’m just awesome? Thanks, you are a pal!” Steve says drily.

Peter leaves through the door, chuckling to himself as he wraps his head around this challenge he just agreed to.

It occurs to him as he hurries down the hall, that Sam and Bucky may have given Peter the dare but they never said anything against him having some help. Knowing exactly who he wants as an accomplice, Peter pulls out his phone to send a quick message.

P: So say Sam and Bucky asked me to jump off a cliff, you would jump off with me right?

L: Wow, What do you need help with this time?

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As Peter enters the elevator to head up to the level with Mr Stark and Pepper’s offices, he thinks about the task ahead of him.

He knows he doesn’t have to take the task seriously. Sam and Bucky won’t do much more than hang some shit on him. Something they already do anyway.

Steve is a great guy though and well….. he’s seen the hit 90s classic Clueless. Cher’s debating grade went up THREE whole marks once she got her teacher in a romantic relationship.

Peter knows he’s been working well with Steve and would predict Steve has good things to say about him in terms of his work ethics if asked. Peter also knows that when he screws up it tends to be colossal. So if/when Peter does inevitably make a mess of something surely Steve would feel inclined to go easier on him. Knowing Peter was the one who found Steve someone he is ecstatic to be with.

Happy with his hypothesis, Peter concludes who should get started straight away.

The first task is figuring out what Steve would want in a girlfriend.

*BUZZZZZZZ*

Peter feels his phone go off and his heart warms a little when he sees it’s from his girlfriend MJ. She is overseas currently working on her next movie and didn’t have a lot of spare time to keep in contact at the moment. While proud of her, he misses her like a lost limb and treasures any moment she has to message him.

MJ: Hey Tiger, just sending a reminder that I love you and to ask you to not do anything stupid until I get home <3

P: Hey honey, so proud of you. Keep working hard. No need to worry about me. Just busy trying to impress my boss and colleges by setting my somewhat mentor up with his future wife.

MJ: ….. I don’t want to know, do I?

P: I swear it’s just another day at the office!

MJ: Sounds like the place is nuts. You must fit right in ;) Miss you xx

P: Miss you more, get back out there and be a star xx

Peter is very lucky to have MJ. She was his better half. She wasn’t just his girlfriend but his best friend and the only one who knew him better than he knew himself really.

..... Maybe…… that was what Steve needed. A person that would work to be his partner in life as well as his lover.

Someone who knew Steve less probably thought he wanted a sweet smiled, polite young woman who was attentive and warm.
Peter though, knows that Steve would eventually grow kinda of bored of someone like that. Steve likes people that are sharp-witted or opinionated or passionate.

Steve’s cooler than a lot of people think.

Some of Steve’s stories still blow Peter away, especially the ones about protest activities and the work that goes into advocating for many social stances. The man has even had a couple of arrests.
Steve needs a partner that won’t be scared off by all that. Maybe even someone that can challenge him when his stubbornness goes a little too far.

Having been receiving mentoring from Steve, Peter has come to see why everyone in the company looks up to the guy. Hell, Peter’s respect for him is close to, if not matching Mr Stark’s now, which is no small feat. Peter is keen to help give back to the man that had done so much for him these last couple weeks.

He racks his brain as the door of the elevator finally pings to indicate the arrival to Mr Stark’s level. Still deep in his thoughts as he walks down the hall, he almost barges straight into the boss’s office without knocking. Pulling up short though, he notices that the door is slightly ajar and that Mr Stark is in the middle of a discussion that sounds important.

“Tony, calm down!” Peter hears a voice he recognises as Rhodey’s.

Peter stands by the door, patiently waiting, and tries not to eavesdrop. The conversation is quite loud though and he can’t help but overhear a little of what is happening in the next room.

“You have been looking for the “perfect ring” for over a ridiculous amount of weeks now. You are overthinking this. Whatever you choose is going to be perfect. If someone can stick around this long then they are going to adore you regardless of what ring you choose. Stop feeling like you have to prove something.”

“He’s right, Stark. Whoever this is for should love any of these rings. Maybe if you told me who they were-” says a deep melodic voice Peter knows he hasn’t heard before.

“Not a chance buster.” Mr Stark shoots back immediately.

Weird, Peter thinks. He thought Mr Stark wasn’t insecure about anything. Especially his love life, which is what Rhodey is talking about right now.

It’s a known fact that Mr Stark is charismatic and quite generous when it comes to giving his affection to men or women. The gossip magazines have written numerous articles about the many people that have come and left through Mr Stark’s revolving door. Rag’s words, not Peter’s! But did Rhodey say something about a ring? Is Mr Stark thinking of proposing to someone?

A small satisfied smile forms on Peter’s face. That would be nice. With Stark’s father having recently passed away and now being the owner of Stark Industries along with all the responsibilities of Marvels means the man’s plate is very full. Mr Stark could use someone else being there to share the mental load he is currently dealing with. It’s well known Mr Stark is always taking on more than he should be and though Pepper tries to share the workload around, knowing his boss will have another person there to look out for him helps rest some of Peter's (and honestly most of the rest of the company’s) previous worries.

“Rhodeybear this is the most important decision I’ve ever made. I want this ring to show… everything.” Tony says, stress layering his voice. “Now silver or rose gold? Do you think the inscription is too sappy? What if it isn’t the right size?”

The other man in the room, that Peter hasn’t identified, sighs deeply “Stark, don’t be dramatic. I just need to know which one of these rings you like.”

Someone makes a sound like he is holding back his laughter at his friend's craziness. “You aren’t too good at this kind of decision making are you?” Rhodey asks.

“Maybe not but I’m really good at you’re fired decisions, if you catch my drift,” Tony says back pointedly.

“Oh, that’s a good one. I’d like to see you last one week with Steve without me running interference” Rhodey teases “You owe me the company with how much I’ve helped with the two of you.”

Peter winces. He knew Steve and Tony didn’t get along but he hadn’t realised Tony had assigned someone to actively keep Steve at an arm’s reach. That doesn’t seem like healthy work habits.

“But since I’m such a nice friend, just a raise and about a 12 percent stake will do. I’ll let you stay the major shareholder.” Rhodey continues.

“You’re a cocky guy for someone who hasn’t even been asked to be my best man yet. I have other options, Platypus. Thor could be back in town. Hell, Logan would at least provide a butt load of booze to my epic bachelor party.” Tony says, insecurities from before seem forgotten. “Now get out Honey Bear. I’ve got Underoos waiting outside and I’d like to introduce him to Mr Hello Kitty here before Fisk inevitably storms in with his next list of complaints and demands.”

It sounds as if he’s going to leave but he stops just at the door and looks back at Tony. “I know you said you have it covered Tones bu-.”

“I do Rhodey, don’t you worry that little head of yours. Fisk is one problem I’m a step ahead of.”

Peter hurries to take a few more steps away from the door so that when Rhodey opens it he doesn’t suspect Peter may have been listening in.

Once Rhodey steps out he gives Peter a smile and a nod as he passes to head back towards the elevator.

“Come in Peter,” Tony calls from the office.

Peter slinks his way through the door and closes it behind him. He looks around at the large office that is full of posters and designs for past and upcoming issues of Marvels. There are several empty coffee mugs on the desk, a million different wires connected to the monster computer with a triple monitor set up, and post-it notes on every surface seen by the naked eye. It can only be called a mess but that is exactly how Peter imagined Mr Stark’s office would look like. The post-it notes are quite amusing too. At least ones Peter is able to subtly read.

Your tech may be powered by surplus electricity but you need food. Remember Lunch!

Don’t stay up watching Will and Grace until 4 in the morning if you don’t want bags under your eyes. I don’t care how much you identify with Karen Walker.

Accommodate is spelt with 2 M’s.

Peter had to keep down a chuckle at the one nearest to the chair he sat down in.

Fisk is a jackass. Don’t let him take that lovely smile off your face.

Peter can tell they were all written by the same neat cursive handwriting. Until he read the last one he assumed they were from Pepper but there’s no way Pepper would refer to Fisk as a jackass, no matter how accurate that may be. She was too professional. Maybe they had been from Rhodey? Peter would have to try and catch him later and see if the man would share some others with him.

“Peter” Mr Stark says, chasing the intern out of his thoughts. “I’d like to introduce you to T’challa, head of Panther Corp. A very important person who you should meet to network with because you are great and networking helps with success and things.” Mr Stark says offhandedly, clearly expecting T’challa to take the lead in this meeting.
Not because Mr Stark doesn’t care, he’s shown the contrary. But Peter can see Pepper has several thousand other things for the boss to do and Mr Stark must trust the other man in his office to do a better job than he would himself.

To Peter, T’challa came across as a serene but important man. He studies Peter with a straight back, an air of confidence but a warm smile that negated any sort of intimidation that should come off the presence of someone as important as T’challa was.

“Good to meet you young man. Tony has done nothing but brag about you and your abilities. You must be doing some fine work here to receive such high praise.” T’challa introduces as he holds his hand out to shake Peters's hand.

Peter sweats, not wanting to come across as a blubbering dweeb and answers “Any credit should be given to Steve Rogers who has been guiding me through this internship. He’s mentoring has been above and beyond what I could have expected.”
There, Peter thinks to himself, that came across as modest, grateful and was also very much the truth. He could do this whole corporate world charade.

Mr Stark’s leg starts to bounce at the mention of Steve - which is disconcerting.
T’challa seems to shoot Mr Stark an amused look that is lost on Peter. Mr Stark doesn’t even catch it because he is suddenly engrossed in checking some figures in a file in front of him. Or is he drawing stick figures? Peter can’t quite tell.

“Well, that does give me some wider context.” T’challa says “Steve Rogers is not known for giving compliments that are underserved. In fact, I heard he once told a coworker to walk off a broken toe because Steve needed them to get three hours' worth of deliveries done for him.”

Mr Stark squawks and finally looks up from what Peter decides are definitely doodles. “Only because Hammer had been saddelling Bucky with extra work for a couple of months and had made a second unwanted pass on Jessica. Hammer didn’t even end up doing the deliveries, just stormed out and ran back to his daddy's money.” Tony sends a stern glare at the man sitting next to Peter but T’challa just blinks in agreement.

“Yes, Hammer could be a problem. Nice of Steve to handle him.” T’challa says “Now Peter show me this camera and the impressive photographs you have taken.”

Peter grabs at his bag, quickly obeying, so he doesn’t catch Mr Stark muttering something under his breath that sounds like “Not a bloody damsel and don’t need stupid Adonis handling my shit”. Peter instead dives into detail about the shots he had taken of a squirrel by the cafe this morning.

By the time T’challa cuts Peter off Peter realises he has been talking and showing him pictures for over 40 minutes.

“You have a real talent Peter. I’ll be sure to keep my eyes out for you.” T’challa says. “I better get going but I’m sure I’ll see you around during my visit for the next couple days.”
and with that, he walks out the office, leaving Peter to look up at Mr Stark to see whether his face indicated if Peter had made a good impression or not. Mr Stark seems to read Peter's thoughts and gives him a small nod of approval, causing Peter’s feelings to start a little happy dance.

“Thank you for that Mr Stark but I better be going. I promised Steve I’d meet up with him for lunch so he could check in with me again. Plus I’m meant to be going to Josie’s with everyone tonight and I was hoping Steve would be able to give me some directions” Peter says

“Oh well, I bet being mother henned by that living golden retriever is going to be wayyyyy more fun than any more time spent here with me, who is just plain awesome in comparison to Rogers.” Tony says in a sing-song voice, motioning as Peter left.

Peter gets to the door but hesitates as he’s leaving, wanting to ask but knowing it was none of his business. He stands there willing his hand to turn the handle but his curiosity gets the better of him.

“Why does Steve still work here if you dislike him so much?” Peter asks.

Tony stops what he’s doing and looks around at Peter, an indignant frown slowly growing on his face. “You think I would fire one of the company’s best workers because he makes me see red every now and then?” Mr Stark asks, one of his eyebrows raised.

“Mayybeeeee” Peter replies a little sheepishly.

“Say what you want about the man, his work does more than impress me.” Stark counters, his expression changing into something that would have resembled pride if it had made sense in the context.

“You never let anyone else get a rise out of you though? So what is it about Steve that rubs you the wrong way?” Peter presses even when he knows he shouldn’t.

Tony rolls his eyes but his annoyance doesn’t quite reach them. “I guess Steve is just special.” He says matter of factly, his eyes shining in contrast.

Peter goes to open his mouth again but the boss doesn’t let him continue.

“Now scram minion. Make sure you get Rogers the sesame seed bagel, he probably won’t admit it but they are his favourite.” Tony finishes

Peter does leave this time, knowing he shouldn’t push his luck any further.

Once out the door Pepper and Wilson Fisk fly past to enter Mr Stark’s office. Fisk looks like he’s about to run a marathon and Pepper seems close to punching the man beside her. Peter can tell Fisk is ready to tear into both Pepper and Mr Stark for sidelining his art exhibit article so Pete hightails it out of there, not wanting to get caught in the crossfires.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Peter takes another bite from the sesame seed bagel (which really is quite pleasant) and goes back to studying the man in front of him who seems to really be enjoying his own bagel. They’d finished discussing gift ideas a while ago and now we’re sitting in a comfortable silence.

When Sam and Bucky said this was going to be a challenge they weren’t lying. Peter hadn’t noticed Steve check out anyone in the cafe.

There were a lot of cute girls around the store. There’s a sweet looking blonde with a high pitched voice chatting on her phone, the beautiful dark-skinned women pushing her glasses up as she looked closer at her computer or the peppy tall brunette who was leaning against the counter chatting with the barista as she waited for her beverage. But Steve, the insufferable saint, hadn’t tried once to sneak a glance at any of them.

Peter is infuriated and grumps a little bit as he sips at his coffee. How is he meant to make headway in finding someone for Steve if the man holds his cards so close to his chest? Peter’s going to need to find someone that wouldn’t let Steve keep them at a distance. Someone that would pretty much demand Steve to open up because the man seems to be pretty terrible at doing that himself.

“So, it sounds like the meeting with T’challa went well then” Steve says while blowing on his earl grey to cool it down once he’s finished his bagel off.

“It was a really nice thing of Mr Stark to do” Peter says loudly “He doesn’t have to go so out of his way for me. This internship alone is already an experience of a lifetime.”

Steve’s eyes soften slightly. “Tony likes you Pete. Can’t shut up about you actually. You’ve impressed him over the last couple of weeks.”

Peter shuts his eyes as he feels his chest fill with pride. Impressing THE Tony Stark is so exciting that Peter can hardly think straight. Which is probably the reason he stupidly says what he says next.

“Have you really not dated since high school?”

Steve’s eyes widen and he quickly looks away, his smile disappearing. “Bucky and Sam spreading stories about me huh?”

Peter ducks his head shyly, feeling heat rise up his neck in embarrassment.“No it’s just- You see I – Well I know it’s not my business but -” he flails about.

Could he have put his foot any further into his mouth? What guy wants to be accused of being desperately single by the new kid from their workplace? I am such an idiot, Peter thinks pathetically, wanting to slam his face into the table.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I just let my curiosity get the better of me” Peter backtracks.

Steve throws a sceptical look his way but replies “Look, I wouldn’t say I’m at the Bridget Jones, singing into a wine bottle stage of my love life yet. But in the past, I haven’t been extremely lucky when it comes to dating.” Steve's face creases before shifting back to something neutral “It’s fine though. Lately, I’ve been so involved in work it hardly matters. Don’t go believing Bucky’s lame-ass stories about me being forever alone and depressingly spending my weekend eating my feelings or whatever that jerk has been spouting behind my back. My weekends are more exciting than he realises.” Steve's eyes light up in amusement as if he told a very funny joke.

Peter blanches at this statement. His level of denial is worse than Peter thought. Peter is going to have to take drastic actions to help Steve and he has to do it pronto before the deceptively smart blonde caught on and undid all of Peter’s hard work.

“But say someone special came by who had the ability to integrate with your work? Would you turn them down or would you be open to maybe umm… trying some sort of relationship with someone like that?” OH.GOD. smoottthhh Peter, he thinks to himself with a groan as he proceeds to actually slam his face into the table this time.

Steve stifles a laugh and smugly replies “While I’m flattered Queens, you’re a little on the young side and I don’t think your girlfriend would approve.”

“Ughhh you suck! And she probably would. I mean look at you.” Peter whines. He chucks the smart arse in front of him a glare. “No I just mean- Well hypothetically you know.”

Steve raises an eyebrow “Hypothetically?”

Peter nods his head furiously and watches with interest as Steve’s face flushes a little and his smile goes all warm.

“Yeah. Hypothetically I would lo- really like to be with someone like that” Steve says softly, no longer paying attention to Peter.

Peter mentally punches his fist in the air. He’s counting this as his first win. Knowing Steve, while busy, is wanting to find a partner is great news. This is something Peter can work with. Now he just had to find someone that is strong-willed and would compliment well with the career-driven man in front of him. Piece of cake.

Before Peter can say anything further he is interrupted by a voice calling out across the room.

“Hey Homegrown, how long a lunch break are you going to have? I have a paper I need you to get done.” Mr Stark saunters over a coffee in one hand and a plate with three donuts in the other. There’s a mischievous glint in his eye directed at the blonde sitting across from Peter.

Peter tenses up, not knowing how to stop what is the trainwreck that is sure to unfold in front of him but also unable to look away.

Steve crosses his arms defensively while subtly eyeing the donughts in the boss’s hands. His smile however seems to be brighter than it was before. “Aren’t you meant to be sending out all the changes covered in the meeting this morning that? The changes that Pepper has spent a painstaking amount of time drafting up for you?”

“Jesus, I’ve never seen someone drink a cup of tea so judgmentally in my life.” Mr Stark pouts “Quit your nagging and hurry it up blondie. Those pictures don’t edit themselves you know?”

Steve just rolls his eyes and purposely starts slurping his tea noisily and somehow in slow motion. He looks back at the boss with a shit-eating grin. Mr Stark sqwaks in response.

“Right! I think I’ll just be handing your position off to my minion right here and I’ll have you thrown out to the streets if you’re going to be such a drama queen.” Mr Stark shrugs a little as Peter gives him a questioning look. The boss’s eyes are alight with amusement.

Then, with quicker reflexes than Peter could ever have imagined, Steve swipes one of the donuts off Mr Stark’s plate while the man is distracted, grinning triumphantly once he has his stolen prize in his hands.

“GAHHH” Mr Stark says while making grabbing motions towards the doughnut with his hand that’s holding his coffee.

“Oh sorry, were you not offering this to me?” Steve challenges while Mr Stark keeps making strange whining noises from the back of his throat.

“You wouldn’t deny a man from having his daily doughnut intake would you, Stark? Not even you are cruel enough a man.” Steve waves it in Mr Stark’s face obnoxiously before taking a huge bite out of it.

“That was mine” Mr Stark says cooly.

Steve stops chewing and looks up at him wide-eyed and innocent “Would you like it back?”

Unable to help himself, Peter bursts out laughing. He had never seen the rivals really “compare sizes”, as people around the office have started calling it, before. Now that it’s happening in front of him, he can hardly believe how childish it looks from two grown-ass men.

Steve and Mr Stark both startle a little. Really? It’s as if they’d forgotten Peter was even sitting there. He’d be offended if he wasn’t currently in hysterics. The two look at each other and fidget on the spot, seeing how silly their argument is coming across. Steve looks very sheepish and Mr Stark looks weirdly pleased as Peter pulls himself back together.

“I guess you can keep that one Rogers. Don’t say I’ve never done anything nice for you” Mr Stark says, the gleam still in his eye.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” Steve deadpans and goes back to eating the doughnut. “Who was the third one for anyway?”

“Clint wanted one and said that if I was a true friend I’d get it for him” Tony responds “And for some reason, I like that asshole. So here we are.”

“Well, we better get him another one then. Can’t have Clint chucking one of his famous tantrums in the middle of the office can we?”

“Hey! You ate it, you buy it” Mr Stark demands.

“Oh no! What is this?” Steve starts shaking his empty wallet over the table “I spent the last of my cash on Peter and I’s lunch. Golly. However will we fix this now?” he sends Mr Stark a look that comes across a lot like a provoke.

“You are a menace, Steven. You could at least ask if I’ll pay for it” Mr Stark grouches. He purses his lips as he moves back to the counter.

“Tony? Will you pay for it?” Steve says, a cheeky grin threatening to split his face as Mr Stark turns back in response to his name.
Mr Stark doesn’t seem to get the humour though because he just stands there spluttering before he throws his hands into the air and stomps off to get another doughnut.

Peter watches as Steve’s gaze follows after Mr Stark intensely and feels extremely bad for the blonde. Peter can tell he’s clearly trying to get along with Mr Stark but the boss seems to take everything Steve says the wrong way. Mind you, even Peter could have told Steve that eating your boss’s food doesn’t come across as a joke to most. That sort of humour would only work on clowns like Bucky and Clint.

“You really fire him up without meaning to, don’t you?” Peter inquires.

“Huh?” Steve says shaking his head to bring his attention back to Peter. “Yeah, it’s one of my few talents,” he mumbles, a tone to his voice that Peter can’t quite identify.

“Is that why you’ve been passed over so many promotions?” Peter presses. His foot in mouth syndrome really was in full swing today.

“Peter” Steve warns, his voice filled with disapproval.

“No really?! That isn’t okay, Steve. It’s unprofessional of a company to punish you because the boss doesn’t like you.”

“Peter, you don’t know what you're talking about,” Steve says sternly.

“It’s not just me that thinks that though Steve,” Peter argues “Everyone at the company talks about how you haven’t been treated fairly for the last couple of years. Steve, you do ten times more work than almost anyone at Marvels. Hell, you do almost as much as Stark himself and he’s the definition of married to his work!”Peter rants watching Steve’s forehead furrow but not being dissuaded.

“You take on twice the workload of Sam or any of the others in the department. You stay late and work hours of overtime. Logan says you are sometimes even here on weekends. I saw you at the meeting this morning. You clearly love being in the centre of developing stories and helping shape each month's issue. Why has, if not Mr Stark, at least Pepper not recognised that. You deserve to work in a position that allows you to be more a part of that process.”

Peter lets out a slow breath to stop himself from going on more of a tangent. Steve, who looks thoroughly unimpressed, is shooting Mr Stark a glance to make sure he didn’t hear any of Peter's spiel. He then sighs and puts his drink down in front of him, looking a little defeated.

Peter twitches, knowing he may have gone too far. Why is he unable to keep to keep his big mouth shut? He resists putting his face in his hands as he waits for Steve to say something.

Steve runs a hand through his hair. “Peter, as much as I appreciate you looking out for me, I don’t want a promotion. I’ve turned them down the couple times I’ve been asked. I am perfectly happy with my position at Marvels. You need to stop getting so heavily involved in the office drama or at least use those journalist instincts and gather all the facts first.”

“…… yeah, I guess that’s a pretty good idea” Peter says slowly, feeling foolish.
Bloody Clint and his tendency for hyperbola. The ass had made it out as if Steve was being stifled unjustly for the last few years. Had nobody realised Steve had been offered to take a higher position?

“It doesn’t help that you work so much overtime Steve.” Peter continues “And that Fisk is barely ever around. That feeds the rumours more than anything. Everyone likes you and they worry that you are being taken advantage of. We all know you constantly are pulling up Fisk’s slack”

“I like helping out” Steve shrugs, sweeping up the crumbs from his doughnut into a napkin. “Fisk made it clear to Tony and Pepper at the beginning of this year that he is a busy man and I have the time so I may as well help them with his stuff. If that means I do a little more than a picture editor needs to, I don’t mind.”

“A little more is a gross understatement. You work harder than a horse” Peter grumbles under his breath.

Peter drops the subject though as Steve clearly doesn’t see an issue so why should he?

Maybe Peter should mention to some of the others to leave it alone too. It wouldn’t help if Mr Stark heard rumours which implied he was using his position to punish an employee. Even if everyone in the office thinks Steve is worth ten of Fisk that doesn’t mean anything malicious is going on if he is doing the extra voluntarily.

Peter opens his messages to Luke.

P: Clint is such an overexaggerator. Steve is the one that turned down the promotions.

L: Random. How’d you know?

P: I asked him after he had a kinda argument with Mr Stark while we are at coffee.

L: Is that where you disappeared to? Didn’t you just come back from hanging out with Stark? Planning on getting any actual work done today? >:(

P: Hey I came here to ask Steve about his dating history so I could make some headway on that challenge Sam and Bucky gave me. Didn’t help much, it’s a very small history.

L: Oh and that is considered work in your eyes is it? You are a weird one. Bet Steve is loving all these extremely personal questions.

P: Clearly, I’m his favourite :P

L: Blasphemy

Peter looks around the room and spots Mr Stark again. He’s bought another doughnut and is now sitting in a booth and having an intense discussion with Jessica Drew. Peter hadn’t seen her come in but they seemed at ease in the middle of their coffee meeting together.

Peter likes Jessica. She was another one of the scarily efficient women that worked at Marvels but she was also one of the only employees that is closer to Peter’s age. While intimidating, she understands a lot of Peter’s references and trying to get her to crack up has become one of Peter’s favourite office activities.

Steve follows Peter’s line of sight and tenses up when he sees Jess and the boss chatting quietly.

“Everything okay?” Peter asks, concerned by the troubled look on Steve’s face.

“What? Oh yeah! Stark’s been having weekly meetings with Drew because he’s preparing a big announcement in the next week. Something about a new direction for him. I’m just- Well I haven’t been on the outs of something like that in a couple of years so I’m... curious to know what Stark has planning that requires so many secrets.” Steve runs a hand across his face, a tired look in his eyes.

“It must be big if it requires weekly PR meetings”

Steve’s mouth downturns as he looks over at Mr Stark once more “I know he knows what he’s doing. But I can’t help but be a little worried” He shakes himself and smiles back at Peter reassuringly “Anyway, I guess we will find out soon enough.”

Peter looks back over curiously to the booth with the business meeting. Mr Stark has his head thrown back and seems to be laughing at whatever Jess is saying.

Peter thinks that Steve is worried about nothing. Both of them seem to be having much too good a time to be talking about anything that could be disastrous for the company. Realising he isn’t going to be able to hear anything they are discussing without getting caught, Peter turns and follows Steve back to the office.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It gets to the end of the workday and Peter has spent most of it mulling over who Steve’s perfect match would be. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had a lot of luck thinking up an answer but Peter refuses to accept defeat. It’s only been one day, surely inspiration will strike.

He’d had a chance earlier to sneak over to Steve’s desk to look for clues but the only thing that gave him any sort of hints was an old photo frame on Steve’s desk. In it was a picture of a petite blonde woman with stricking eyes and soft smile with a younger Steve kissing the blonde on the cheek. He’d never seen a person able to photograph with such fierce determination before and if this was the kind of woman Steve was attracted to then Peter was in for a rough search.

Looking up from his laptop, he sees almost everyone else has already left for the day while he was daydreaming.
Fuck, Peter realises, he forgot to ask Steve for directions to Josie’s earlier.

Leaping up, he crazily stuffs everything in front of him in his bag and prays to god Steve was once again working himself silly and hadn’t left the building yet.

Peter is about to run to the elevator when he rounds the corner and sees Pepper and Steve standing in the corridor looking over some compositions together. They both are entirely engrossed in the designs so Peter hangs back, waiting for them to finish up before he interrupts.

As he waits, Peter observes the pair, noticing how well they compliment each other. Both tall, fit and giving off an aura of confidence, like two Greek gods. And wait.... there’s that fierce energy that Peter was just thinking about.

That’s it! The inspiration strike he’s been waiting for!

He silently applauds himself, excitement swirling in his stomach.

Pepper! Of course!
He doesn’t have to magic up some miracle partner for Steve because Steve already has the perfect girl in front of him......And it kinda looks as if Steve might have a bit of a crush on her already, if his body language is anything to go by.

How could Peter be so stupid? Steve spends all his time finding excuses to go up to Mr Stark and Pepper’s floor. The more Peter thinks about it the more he can’t believe he hadn’t figured this out before.

Steve is always hanging back to help out with all of the tasks Pepper needs Mr Stark to do. He’s always commenting on how lucky the company is to have Pepper and Mr Stark and is complimenting the pair. He spends more time than necessary with the future Editor in Chief and Peter knows from lunch today that it isn’t because the man is looking for a promotion. Steve even said today he is usually on top of all the comings and goings of Marvels. Pepper and Steve must chat about the company in all of their free time. It’s so obvious that Peter kind of wants to slap himself for not realising it before.

While Pepper isn’t the first person Peter would have had in mind for Steve, she is a good fit. Peter is pretty in awe of her brilliance and how efficient she is as a person. He can see how someone like Steve could fall for Pepper easily.

Peter starts bouncing on the balls of his feet.

And she’d be crazy to turn down someone like Steve. Everyone around the office talks about how much of a catch the blonde man is. Pepper is also married to her work just like Steve is. They match each other in so many ways. In fact, it’s surprising they ar-. Peter’s thoughts pull up short. Why are they not already together? The two of them have known each other years by now. At least since Steve was hired.

Oh, Peter hears himself let out a hiss, Pepper probably was the one to hire Steve. She’s technically his boss.

Peter shakes his head at the man in front of him. The dummy probably thinks it’s unethical or something equally stupid. Which really, is fair because dating a coworker is complicated but it’s not against company policy, clearly as Luke works closely with his girlfriend. And Steve is all kinds of self-sacrificing! No way would anyone EVER think he’d date someone to take advantage of their position at work. Plus the man is just great so he shouldn’t be letting anything get in the way of potential true love!

Peter pinches the bridge of his nose. He needs to stop watching hallmark movies at 4 am once this is all over.

Regardless, decision made. Steve definitely needs Peter's help so it’s time to put a plan in action. Operation trick Pepper and Steve into being the power couple of the century is a go!

Peter looks back over at the two lovebirds and observes the smile on both their faces. They don’t look smitten yet but they will soon be! Peter lets out a slightly manic chuckle. It must be louder than he thinks though because Steve seems to hear him, turning away from Pepper.

“Peter? Everything okay?”

“Yep! Absolutely! Everything is groovy?” ...Groovy? Peter could just smother himself sometimes “I just wanted to grab some directions off you to Josie’s. Sam said you go every week?”

“Maps still playing up on your phone?” Steve asks

Peter nods his head miserably “I don’t want to risk using it again since the Macy’s Incident”

Pepper laughs at this, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder “I better be getting back to Tony. He has a heap more work he has to get through before he can even think about leaving tonight. T’challa is coming again tomorrow. Would you drop by to show him these?” Steve nods, the slight dismay badly hidden in his eyes as Pepper turns with a toss of her red hair.

Peter rolls his eyes at himself. Sooooo obvious.

“I’ll walk with you to Josie’s Pete, I’m all finished up here and Sam threatened to make sure they are playing a Yankees game on the TV if I’m late again.” Steve grimaces.

”Well that would be just awful,” Peter says flatly. He doesn’t really care about baseball but he knows that Steve does. Steve only throws him an amused look though before indicating for Peter to follow him to the elevator.

“Rogers!”

Peter freezes up, moaning in despair at his bad luck. Fisk is storming across towards Steve, daggers in his eyes.

“Wilson. What can I do for you?” Steve says blandly.

“Leaving so soon? I just wanted to let you know that your final three images aren’t up to scratch. I need them redone.” Fisk says sourly.

“Of course, anything you need” Steve’s jaw tightens “Has the centre spread been double-checked yet? Tony needed it done yesterday?”

Fisk waves Steve off “I’ve had an extremely busy day with Vanessa sorting out Stark’s mess. She was utterly offended by the decision made this morning.”

Steve makes a clicking noise in the back of his throat. “Yes, What a mess. Would hate to have contributed to that.”

Peter snickers at the dig. Fisk glowers at the sound but still doesn’t acknowledge him.

“He’ll have to wait until the end of the week. That’ll be the next chance I get to look at it.” Wilson explains dismissively. “Unless you think you can do I better job than I?”

Steve smiles coldly “Of course not. However, I’ve found I have some spare time currently so I would be happy to help lighten your load by looking over it for you.”

Wilson contemplates for a second. “It is the kind of insignificant job that would be more suited to your ... level of skill.” He snides. “I'll send them to you tonight. Go along Rogers. I’d just like a word with our young man here.”

Steve looks ready to argue but nods in agreement and does as asked.

Fisk straightens out his broad shoulders and comes to lord over the top of Peter. Peter seeing through the tactic, stands his ground and looks Fisk straight in the eye, refusing to be intimidated.

“I hear you spent today being shown off to some colleagues by Stark.” Fisk’s eyes run over Peter, accessing him. “Don’t let it go to your head. I plan to watch you more closely from now on. You won’t be able to even whisper and not have me knowing about it.”

“Are you hitting on me?” Peter can’t help but snark.

Fisk sneers “Deflecting with sarcasm, very creative. You may have Stark and Rogers fooled but I am yet to be impressed, Parker and you can’t get anywhere in this company without my saying so. Don’t you forget that.”

Peter knows he should just turn around and leave to prevent himself from making anything worse for himself but a part of being Peter Parker is throwing out witty zingers.
So he ends up saying “Thanks for the pep talk Willie. I’ve always been a big fan of yours. Oh wait no, that was a different Wilson I once knew. Anyway always great spending quality time with you, like hanging out with a giant hunk of wood. By the way your fly has been down this entire conversation, which is really quite embarrassing for you!”

Making a run for it, Peter chucks Fisk a cheeky grin and then ducks into the elevator with Steve before the doors close, leaving the giant standing there getting red in the face as he fiddled with his pants.

Peter prepares himself for a Steve-is-concerned-about-you talk but Steve is stuck to his phone on the way down to the ground floor and doesn’t seem to have heard Peter and Fisk’s “disagreement”. Peter smiles to himself, glad to know his hunch might pay off. The blonde must have it bad if he feels the need to message Pepper when he only saw her 2 minutes ago.

“Wait, how are we getting to the bar? Are we taking your bike?” Peter asks anxiously. “Because Sam and Bucky have told me under no circumstances should I ever get on your bike with you Steve. They told me horror stories. Hell, even Luke felt the need to tell me to never ride with you and that man is a giant. Nothing should scare such a large man!”

“No. I didn’t ride my bike today. Josie’s isn’t too far so we can walk.”

It was pleasant weather once they got outside. The streets were filled with people leaving work to get home which made the trip a little longer than it should have been but they both seem to be enjoying walking in silence. They get down a couple of streets, Steve still glued to his phone and snorting to himself now and then, when Peter processes what Steve had said in the elevator.

“Wait, why didn’t you take your bike in today?” Peter asks

“I was running late so Happy offered to take me in” Steve says, distracted by another text message pinging.

“Happy coming all the way out to Brooklyn is quicker than starting up your bike?”

“I wasn’t in Brooklyn this morning”

Peter hesitates “Oh… why?”

“I.. Huh?” Steve drags himself way from the screen and his eyes go a little wide, clearly replaying the conversation they just had in his head. “Umm..was dropping some ...files? Yeah, some IMPORTANT files off to Mr Stark. Pepper needed me in early so sent Happy to come get me.”

Peter nodded. Happy hadn’t been at Marvels for a couple of years but he was still always floating around and eager to help out if asked. Pepper seems to convince him do all kinds of tasks for her. It was a good sign to see Pepper getting Steve to help her out with Mr Stark. That's got to mean she at least trusts him, Peter thinks to himself in relief.

Maybe a task Peter thought was going to be a slog might actually end up being walk in the park. He couldn’t wait for Bucky and Sam to eat their words. Maybe he could convince them to do all his paperwork for a month. Hell, Peter is a scoundrel, he could probably convince them that his achievement means they have to do his paperwork for the rest of the year. Peter laughs in delight as he and Steve arrive at the entrance of Josie’s bar.

They enter to hear a whole lot of people calling out their names and ushering them over to one of the larger booths towards the back. Sam and Bucky are on the right side of the booth looking at something on Bucky's phone, Luke is sitting opposite them with his girlfriend (Peter's old high school buddy and now a journalist for Marvels) Jessica Jones and Clint is standing by the booth, doing something that is pissing Logan off. It looks strangely like he is repeatedly poking Logan in his side. Everyone has smiles on their faces and move to make room for the two of them when they get closer.

“Peter! Thank you so much for getting this fella to arrive on time for once.” Sam teases Steve with a grin. “How on earth did you pry him from that work station he calls home?”

“With my dazzling intellect and 10/10 personality,” Peter quips back.

“Steve’s probably just tagged along to keep Peter out of trouble” Bucky says throwing Peter a sidewards look, silently asking for progress on the challenge they'd set “Stands to reason when the guy always needs a babysitter to get any work done”

Peter pulls himself straighter, trying to show Bucky the confidence he was just feeling. “I can work hard on my own just fine” Peter says, definitely not pouting a little as he does.

"Oh yeah? A meeting spent spinning around on a chair and an extra-long lunch break is clearly showing us that. Gold star for Peter Parker." Clint smirks

“Why, hello self-loathing” Peter sends Clint an ineffective scowl.

“Oh hush Whizkid, I’m about to buy you your first round” Clint says, waving Peter off.

“What is with all these fun coffee breaks Steve? You are spending all your spare time with Peter” Luke complains “Never expected you to play favourites. He’s like a Bieber rip off but

“Ouch that one hurts Luke” Peter deadpans

"Listen to that sarcasm. Barton is a bad influence on you." Luke chuckles silently as he pulls his girlfriend closer into him.

“You’re just jealous that I’m the new golden boy”

Luke scoffs “Sure Jan”

"Clearly I think Peter needs more help than you do Luke” Steve says as he pops a peanut from the bowel in front of him into his mouth.

“Now that I can believe” Luke says as he leans back into the booth.

Peter smacks his friend in the arm lightly. “Bad Luke”

“Hey Hey. No abusing my boyfriend.” Jones cuts in playfully. “I don’t care if you’ve been learning all Marvel’s trade secrets from Steve, Parker. You aren’t that special.”

“Nah. From what I understand it’s mostly Peter grilling Steve on his lack of love life” Luke says casually as Peter winces.

“Peter!” Steve yell with exasperation.

Great. Thanks a lot Luke, Peter thinks as he scratches the back of his neck, he may have not told Luke that what he and Steve had been chatting about needed to be kept secret but he had GREATLY implied it.

“Not the golden boy anymore” Luke mumbles to Peter, looking quite pleased with himself.
Peter sulks. See if he confides in Luke again now that he knows Luke is the worst secret keeper ever!

“Thanks for always keeping me humble” Peter throws a peanut at the man sitting across from him.
Luke unfortunately just moves his head aside, dodging it easily and causing it to hit Jones’ ear. Crap! Peter tries to put on his best I-Am-Innocent face and pretends to examine his nails as she looks up at him from her drink.

“Did I hear someone bring up Steve’s pathetic love life?”

“Clint, weren’t you grabbing drinks?” Steve slumps further into his seat as if he was trying to disappear into it.

“Yeah, but this just got interesting.”

“Ughh, why does everyone take such an interest in my love life? It’s not like I haven’t had sex before. Nothing monumental is happening anytime so-” Steve complains

“YOU’VE HAD SEX?” Peter yelps mockingly and accidentally knocks Clint’s drink out of his grasp in the process. Peter shuts his eyes tight waiting for the telling sound of crashing glass. It doesn’t come though so Peter opens his eyes to find Clint has managed to catch it just before it hit the floor, barely spilling a drop.

“WHAT?!” Peter can’t believe what he is seeing.

“What the fuck Peter?” Clint growls

“WHAT!!??”

“Did the kid pre-game without us?” Sam asks mockingly.

“HOW DID YOU CATCH THAT?” Peter narrows his eyes, trying to calculate whether the physics even allowed for such a feat.

“I sold my soul to the devil when I was 12. I now have secret skills.”

Logan cuffs Clint on the back of the head and turns back to Peter. “Bubs, weren’t you spilling some tea on our resident hardass over here?”

Steve chucks Logan a wounded glare. Peter guesses he had been hoping the conversation had moved on.

“Oooohhh yes, gossip! Peter, Tell us all Steve’s juicy secrets.” Jones says smirking.

“To be fair we didn’t make much of a headway on the conversation because we were interrupted by Mr Stark” Peter says

“Oh shit, tough luck getting caught in that” Bucky laughs “Did you show any mercy in front of the newbie Stevie? Or have the boss and your jerk antics managed to scare him off.”

“Steve ate his doughnut.”

A chorus of yells came from that comment. Clearly they all agreed with Peter in thinking that Steve was a little bit of a lunatic for that move.

Steve however just shrugs “No harm in teaching Stark a few manners. Sharing is caring.”

The conversation pauses as everyone look at one another. Jones is looking at Steve like he grew two heads.

Sam finally sighs. “You are such a little shit sometimes Steve.”

“Nah, Steve went easy on him” Peter jumps in. “If he really wanted to annoy Mr Stark, he should have drunk his coffee.”

Steve’s mouth drops and looks at Peter slightly horrified “I don’t have a death wish Peter.”

This gets a laugh out of the group and Clint finally heads to the bar for those drinks as it starts to fades away.

Peter looks up and, as if he were the devil himself, sees Mr Stark heading towards their table with Jessica Drew.

Peter stiffens as the brunette gets closer. It was a little weird to think he was going to be drinking with the big boss. He hadn’t known Mr Stark came to these.
Like, the man that had hired him was about to sit and chat like he was a regular co-worker. Well, to be honest Pepper had probably been the one to hire him but officially on his contract it said it was Mr Stark.
Peter was going to have to make sure he paced himself. He tended to get rather affectionate the more he drank and he didn’t want to make an idiot of himself in front of his employer. Not that Peter has ever really needed help when it came to coming across as an idiot.

“No need to despair everyone. The party has finally arrived” Mr Stark calls, making his presence known to the rest of the group.

Steve looks up startled, a hint of something Peter doesn’t recognise flashing in his eye before disappearing again. “Skipping out on Pepper again Stark? She made it out like it was going to be a late-night for you both.”

Mr Stark just waves off Steve’s concern “and deprive the group of a night made better by my fun wacky ways and ability to have a good time. Unlike some other sticks in the mud here.”

Steve seems to be going to make some other smart comment back. Bucky’s right, the guy can’t seem to help himself. Peter feels obligated to save the poor man from offending the boss any further today. Luckily Jess steps in before Peter has to.

“We’ve gotten a lot done but today we hit a snag, Steve. Taking a break might help give us some perspective later.” Jess puts a hand on his shoulder to assure him.

“Yeah, cut Stark a break Stevie.” Bucky elbows the blonde in the side “Just because you walk the straight and narrow doesn’t mean the rest of us have to.”

“Please, I’m sure Apple Pie here isn’t all goodie two shoes and sunshine. He must have his secrets.” Mr Stark challenges, quirking an eyebrow “Come on. Tell everyone something that can finally cause a scandal about YOU. Marvel’s scarily detailed rumour mill needs something extra special for the end of the week.”

Everyone seems to get a little twitchy as a level of awkwardness fills the room. Steve is holding his eyes steadily on Mr Stark, refusing to back down much to Peter’s disbelief. So much for trying to help the stubborn blonde out. Peter can practically hear the tension vibrating between the two men in front of him.

Steve takes a deep breath through his nose.“I have gone to work without wearing underwear once or twice.” He says deadpanned, another peanut going into his mouth with a dramatic pop.

Everyone groans over the top of each other. Peter chocks a little, horrified by the image that is now in his head. Sam is making retching sounds as Mr Stark is flailing, not seeming to realise he now has one up on the blonde. Steve isn’t bothered by anyone's reaction, stubbornly keeping his eyes locked on the boss with a look in his eye that implies he just won something only he is aware of.

“What could stop you from wearing underwear on occasion?” Jess inquires flatly.

“They chafe,” Steve replies calmly without breaking his gaze.

Bucky punches Steve in the arm for that comment as Peter silently thanks God that he can see Clint coming back over with his drink. Hopefully, he can use it to bleach his brain of the last of this conversation.

“Okay Newbie, hazing activity #126. Getting your ass kicked at pool" Clint says as he drags Peter up and motions him towards a cue.

Peter feels a smile crawl on his face and looks over at Luke "Sure."

It ends up being a very enjoyable game.

“I am not a sore loser Peter. You two are cheaters!” Clint yells pointing between Peter and Luke furiously.

“That” Peter responds, leaning against the table “Sounds like something a sore loser would say”

Clint looks like his head is about to explode. Peter feels around for his pockets for his phone to see if he can sneak a photo. This is something he wants to remember.

“Maybe you’re just getting old Clint. Can’t keep up with us young studs.” Luke says as Peter starts to do a bit of a silly dance to celebrate the victory. It should have been super smooth but he somehow catches his foot on the leg of a nearby chair. The next thing Peter knows he’s lying on the floor.

“That was spectacular” Clint says

“Yeah yeah, I don’t want to hear it” Peter groans, feeling an ache between his shoulder blades from landing hard on his back.

“Did you hurt anything badly?” Jones asks, a concerned frown on her face as she helps him up.

“Just my pride” Peter whines, wishing the floor would swallow him whole.

Clint hands Peter his drink sympathetically “Here drink this. Helps with all the issues under the sun.”

Peter reluctantly takes the drinks and swigs it back. He coughs as he feels his throat light on fire. He is pretty sure that was some kind of whisky and is already feeling all of the regret. Peter is known for not being able to handle his whisky. MJ made him swear to never drink it around her again.

Clint slaps Peter on the back, acting like that was helping in some sort of major way.

“Remind me next time to avoid help from Clint” Peter coughs out, trying to push the sandy-haired man away.

“Here,” Luke says as he hands him a glass of water. “You’re meant to be a smart man, Peter Parker. Doesn’t take a genius to know that Clint’s actions are never actually what normal people define as help.”

“Oh, is that how it is? And here I was thinking I’d help out on this supposed challenge Sam and Bucky were telling me about.” Clint starts to make a scene. “But after that, I’ve now seen a strapping brunette over there, begging for a dance with this one and only so if you’ll excuse me.”

Peter freezes. Clint has known Steve for years. Despite his better judgement Peter can’t help but think that getting Clint’s opinion might be very useful. As the man goes to turn away Peter, thinking quickly as the whisky starts kicking in, throws himself on Clint’s arm to stop him.

“Let go Peter! Smart people like you don’t need me. You couldn’t have been clearer.”

“Noooooo. You need to help me. It’s your job as my superiorrrr.” Peter babbles on, not sure what he’s saying but hoping that it’s working. He can see Luke laughing behind his hand so Peter sends him a betrayed scowl.

“FINEEEE, you little limpet. I can’t believe I’m missing out on sexy stoic brunette so Steve can get laid. I am wayyyyy too nice a guy.” Clint sulks.

Luke scoffs “You truly are the best of us, Barton”

Clint does a little drunken bow, accepting the title mockingly. Peter is glad he has finished the glass of water Luke gave him otherwise he would have spat it all over the floor in hysterics. A drunk Clint is clearly when he is at the height of ridiculous, which is an impressive feat for a man who is ridiculous most of the time.

“So Padawan, let me wisdom you up in the ways of Steve.” Clint sits on the side of the pool table, patting at the spot next to him to indicate for Peter to join.

“No, I already have a plan! I am a modern-day cupid so I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out who Steve’s soulmate is. Just wanna run them past you.” Peter is sure that whisky has kicked in now because he can feel his babbling state getting worse. It’s quite a pleasant state to be in and he’s forgotten why he thought drinking too much was a bad idea in the first place.

“Oh please, Parker” Jones says sceptically.

“Nooo really! Today I was up on Mr Stark and Pepper’s floor because I was meeting the boss of Panther Corp, T’challa an-”

“Wait T’challa was up with Pepper again?” Clint cut in, his lips pursing.

“No, he was talking with Mr Stark when I went up” Peter explains, a little confused by the interruption.
It means something to the other three though because they all send each other a look that Peter doesn’t understand. “Why? Does that mean something bad?”

“Not necessarily.” Luke says slowly. “It’s just he’s come by the office a lot in the past few weeks. With all the rumours about the positions higher up opening up it’s making people pretty jumpy.”

“People are worried about some kind of merger or take over occurring.” Jones visibly cringes.

“Oh. But T’challa seems so nice and nobody could run the company like Pepper.” Peter says softly to himself, his stomach dropping like a stone. He couldn’t think of anything worse for the company than passing over a leader like Virginia Potts.

The group say nothing and all take a sip of their drinks, a little lost in thought.

“You’re right though” Clint says, snapping everyone out of the sober mood. “It never occurred to me earlier but Steve has always fancied the stylishly, confident type. The more I think about it, the more I can see where you are coming from.”

Peter pauses for a second trying to catch up with Clint in his tipsy state. They were talking about how he met T’challa and then how the company was changing and then Pepper’s job….... Oh yes Pepper! Clint agreed with Peter’s match for Steve.

“I know!! I could have kicked myself for not seeing it sooner. Can’t you just imagine them all stupid happy, with their perfect job and perfect babies and being all accomplished and stuff. Making the rest of us feel bad and unsuccessful while we watch on.” Peter cries dramatically, using his hands to emphasis the importance of his discovery.

“Getting ahead of yourself with the babies, Peter. You don’t even know if that’s something Steve wants.” Luke points out. Peter notices he doesn’t disagree with the rest of his rant though so figures that Luke also agrees with him. He gives himself a well-deserved pat on the back for being the mastermind who figured all this out.

“Luke, Steve loves kids.” Jones squeezes her boyfriend’s arm in reminder.

“The image of the family all around the table for thanksgiving, laughing. Each one of them telling each other all the obnoxiously good things they had done to help out while Steve craves up the turkey. It's an easy image to see, Luke. Steve would have even taught them all to happily help prep the turkey without complaining! Hell, all the kids probably volunteer to be the one to stick their hands up its bum and we all know that’s the worst part.” Peter rubs his face while he spouts bullshit, his head feeling a little woozy. This drink should probably be his last while he is still on the pleasant side of tipsy.

Clint’s expression can only be described as disgusted. “Kid, you are not well. Why are you fantasying about Steve’s future kids fisting a turkey? NO ONE’S thoughts should ever go so easily to fisting a turkey.”

“You’re right, You should at least take it out to dinner before you allow yourself such thoughts” Peter quips back.

Luke snorts, hiding it behind his hand once again as Jones scrunches her nose. “You truly are the worst Parker. You clearly have never been in the kitchen helping during thanksgiving.”

“I live only to entertain.”

“Man, it must suck to be so terrible at the one thing that keeps you living” Clint says and gives Luke a high-five while Peter splutters in reply.

Jones buries her head into Luke’s shoulder in dismay. “Boys!”

“Okay, jokes aside. It’s your lucky day Parker. You may just be onto something so I am going to offer you my assistance with Steve. Now if you are done being a cock blocker, I plan to catch that brunette before he leaves.” Clint gets up to go after the man across the room.

“Oi, I’m not a cockblocker!” Peter cries out, indignant “I’m Steve’s self-appointed Love Guru which, if anything, is the opposite of a cockblocker. I’m a COCK FACILITATOR.”

“Alright, quiet down Mr E Harmony. Don’t you remember my advice on accepting Clint’s help?” Luke says, poking Peter in his side. Peter watches the finger and notes that he can hardly feel it.

“Oh, you want me to help on this one” Clint says with a knowing smile. “I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge on the office and it’s inhabitants. If there’s anyone who knows the ways to Steveo’s heart, it is me. Plus the more I’m down to help Peter, the more I’m hanging around your department's level. This means closer proximity to Fisk which will piss him off immensely. See! Everybody’s a winner! I plan to educate the dick on the brilliance of Miley Cyrus this week.”

Luke looks at Clint aghast “You realise when you annoy Fisk the rest of us have to suffer the consequences? Fisk has surely reported you to HR by now. How do you still have your job?”

“Blackmail” Clint wonders off to the bar smugly, not looking in the least sorry, all while humming Wrecking Ball to himself.

Luke sends Clint a glower at his back “He can be such an ass. When he sobers up tomorrow I’m going to tell him he proposed a threesome. That’ll teach him.”

“Dunno Luke. Knowing Clint he’d probably just want to know what your answer was.” Peter points out. Luke sighs, his hand making a motion to indicate his agreement.

“So Webhead, how have you been enjoying the new job?” Jones asks.

Peter gapes at her, feeling a sharp pang of betrayal hearing the old nickname. He watches Luke’s head raise quickly and runs his hand through his hair.

“WEBhead?”

“Ah huh. At school, Peter gained a bit of a reputation as being the spider boy because of his HUGE obsession with the eight-legged creatures.”

Peter glares at the girl he considered his friend.

"The betrayal. This means war!"

"Bring it!" Jones's eyes crinkle as she teases. A triumphant smile on her face, suggesting she thought she’d already won.

“Really? Because I was told Jones, that you only insisted on using the nickname Webhead in school to disguise the giant sappy crush you had on me.”

Jones’ face goes a little white and her mouth dropped open.

“Crush? GIANT?” Luke looks between the two of them, bewildered.

“You weren’t supposed to find out about that! Who told you? It was Felicia, wasn’t it? That girl never understood the definition of loyalty” Jones whines.

“One to Parker, nada to Jones” Peter feels his mouth tilt upwards slightly. Victory already insight.

“When you least expect it, Parker.”

"Ooooooohhhhh," Luke says, clearly taking his girlfriend’s side over Peter’s, which really? How disloyal!

“Dude, you are screwed.”

Peter shakes his head, exasperated. Ye of little faith Luke, he thinks as he hums to himself. “Please! Jones is no competition for me. I’m a sneaky bastard which she cannot compare to.”

Jones raises an eyebrow at Peter “Really? I take it you don’t know that I’m the one who takes Steve’s pens when he’s not looking”

Peter’s eyes widen “What! I haven’t even see-”

“Journalism has taught me lots of useful skills” Jess says with a shrug. “Plus he always has such pretty colours.”

Holy shit, maybe Peter shouldn’t be so cocky about a war. Probably be better to adjust this to just a short battle if Jones has new skills Peter isn’t aware of. He’d better convince Jones to raise the white flag now while he’s still winning.

“Okay, I’m slightly impressed, also slightly terrified.” Peter admits “But Steve does hate how often his pens go missing. He'd be so grateful to the person who found his culprit” Peter voice trails off slightly so that Jones can catch his implications.

“You wouldn’t snitch on me, Parker. Nobody deserves to be on the end of Steve's disappointed face” Jones gasps.

“I’m already calling 911. I have a feeling you have a lecture from a lovable but scary blonde in your future.”

“You don’t have anything on me. There's not enough evidence.” Jess sits back with a cocky grin. Peter blanches, knowing that she's right. How does she keep catching him at every turn? Maybe he could set up his camera to do an around the corner shoot. Catch her in the act, Peter plans to himself, thinking out his step by step process.

And no, petty was not his middle name. This was about justice and war! He tells his MJ sounding self-conscious.

“Take my advice and bow out now Pete” Luke warns.

“No way man! I’ve got a cunning plan” Peter insists.

“You’re funeral.”

“I feel like the amount of people saying that to me lately has increased severely this week. And people wonder about my bruised ego.” Peter mutters to himself

The three of them are just finishing off the last of their drinks when they hear a large yelp come from the other side of the room. Clint has apparently made some sort of comment that displeased Jess and received one of her famous elbow jabs causing him to spill soda down his shirt.

“Come on Jess!”

“Please, it’s an improvement on what you have on. Why are you wearing that?”

Clint looks down at his tie-dye tee miserably “Laundry day.”

The pair continue to snip at each other as Mr Stark watches them both. Delighted at his friend’s suffering, if his face is anything to go by.

Luke has a weird expression as he observes the scene a few tables away. “Wow, he hasn't really stopped paying attention to Jessica since they got here. Maybe you are right, babe”

“SEE! I told you.” Jess crows “Just you watch. You will be paying up within the week.”

Peter frowns, not really following what the couple are all of a sudden talking about.

“We have a bet on whether Tony and Jessica have started dating. They have been going out for coffee at least three times a week lately, I didn’t think that meant anything originally but…. Well I’ve been more inclined to agree with this smart woman as each week goes by. They are around each other a lot. She's been going by his office every day at the moment.”

Jones bounces in her seat “I even overheard Jessica saying she went by Stark’s house this weekend. They have to be at least exploring some kind of relationship to be spending that much time together. Stark is meant to be making some sort of announcement at his birthday celebration and I just know it’s going to be about him and Jess.”

Peter is confused. He had seen Jess and Mr Stark hanging out today at lunch but it hadn’t occurred to him that they were on a date. They did seem to be having a great time in each others company though and there had been that look Stark had shared with Jess in that meeting this morning now that he thought about it.

Huh, maybe they are dating?

They are both stunning and intelligent individuals and would make a very good looking couple. Jess seems a little young for Mr Stark but then again, Mr Stark really does come off as a child at heart while Jess is an old soul. So they kinda balance each other out. It could make a lot of sense for them to be together.

“I guess, I never thought of that befor- ohhhhh that’s what Steve was talking about at coffee” Peter says as he starts piecing some of his and Steve’s conversation together.

“Huh? What did Steve say?” Luke asks, his forehead furrowing.

“Steve was saying Mr Stark had an announcement coming up. He explained that he was a little worried about what it might be as we were looking over at Jess and Mr Stark getting coffee together. I guess Steve doesn’t approve of them being in a relationship or something.” Even as Peter says this he knows that it doesn’t sound quite right. There was still something here Peter wasn’t getting.

Jones shrugs “Maybe. More likely he’s just worried that if the relationship doesn’t work out it could damage the working environment within the company. Steve is always thinking about Marvels and putting it's priorities first.”

Peter nods. That did sound more like Steve. If the relationship is only just starting though it probably isn’t serious enough yet for it to cause any issues. Unless….

Oh! Peter thought dumbly. Mr Stark’s ring! No wonder Steve was worried if he also knew about the boss’s ring! It’s got to be too soon for Mr Stark to be wanting to propose. There’s a high chance she thinks it’s too soon and says no and that could end up really messy. Knowing these colleagues and their love for drama, the whole company could be split down the middle as everyone takes either Jess or Mr Stark’s side. It would create a complete wreck.

Peter rubs his forehead a little, feeling a bit of a headache coming on. Luke and Jones are continuing the conversation, not noticing the disastrous revelation Peter has just had.

“I’m really surprised Jessica is interested” Luke says “She gives off such a lone wolf vibe.”

“Are you insane? You would have to be crazy to turn down Tony Stark.” Jones argues “That man knows things! Everyone has seen those videos of his on YouTube. You’re telling me you wouldn’t want to at least give it a try with a handsome man like that?”

Luke looks like a rabbit in the headlights. His emotions going from offended to interested to superstitious to cycling back to offended again. Peter can tell he wants to avoid implying about his or Jones sex lives but is also struggling to deny her statement.

“A little help here, Parker” Luke says, throwing a pitiful look Peter’s way.

Now Peter has been known to be an idiot from time to time. But he is also a smart man and he knows a losing battle when he sees one. “You’re on your own lover boy”

Luke frowns at him “Low. We are meant to be bros.”

“I’m more scared of her than I am of you” Peter says simply, wiggling his empty glass in Luke’s face.

Luke slumps his shoulders in defeat “I need new friends” he murmurs as he picks up the glasses to take to the bar, kissing Jones’ temple before leaving. Jones watches him go, smiling.

“You have hearts in your eyes, coma girl.”

“You are such a brute. I told you to never call me that again.”

“You started this war Jones.”

Jones laughs “Yes because it’s a war I’m going to win.”

“You do have something good going with Luke though. I’m happy for you.” Jones blushes a little as Peter compliments her “Any advice on how to get Steve to go along with my scheme?”

“You’re INSANE scheme” shes says drily.

“Wow, there we go with that deprecation again. I don’t think my ego is going to survive the end of the week.”

“Pfft. Because insecurity is something you suffer from, is it Parker?.” Jones shoves him playfully as he clutches at his chest, feigning offence. “Steve is a closet romantic. Use all that disgusting romcom knowledge you have built over the years and you can’t fail”

Peter stutters, wildly trying to think of something to save his image “What? Romcoms? Why would I have any idea of what goes on in a rom-com? I'm much too macho for anything that mushy.”

Jess looks at Peter flatly “Your favourite movie when we were seniors was Ten Inch Hero”

Peter whines. He can’t believe she remembers that. What was his teenage self thinking, trusting her with such embarrassing knowledge.
“You are an evil woman, Jones.” crossing his arms to hide the self-consciousness building up.

Jones just flutters her eyelashes innocently. “Be a dear and don’t let Luke know.”

“If he hasn’t figured it out by now there’s no hope for him.”

“Get out of here and go torture Steve for a little while.” she pushes Peter over in the direction of the booth where Steve was sitting chatting to Logan.

“But I haven’t even made that many lame jokes yet!” He jokingly protests.

“Get lost Webhead.” Jones says with a smile, leaving to help her boyfriend with his drinks.

As Peter reaches the table Logan gets up to snag a beer off Luke so Peter slides into his spot beside Steve. The blonde doesn’t notice as he is staring off at something on the other side of the room. Peter nudges him a little with his shoulder to get his attention.

“Past your bedtime already old man?”

Steve hums a little in reply but doesn’t change his gaze. Feeling ignored, Peter follows over to what has Steve all spaced out, curious as to what has the man's attention. He finds that the view is just a group of Sam, Bucky and Mr Stark joking about something and laughing. Peter frowns in confusion. The sight of Mr Stark almost on the floor, cackling at Sam and Bucky goofing off is amusing but hardly stare worthy, so why is Steve looking over at the scene like a man possessed?

“What’s causing such a dreamy look on your face?”

“Just enjoying having a pleasant night with friends. Old men like me learn to appreciate when life slows down for you now and then.” Steve says facetiously.

Peter scrunches his nose. “Anyone ever tell you you missed your calling in writing greeting cards?”

Steve’s head tilts a little “Surprisingly, I reckon Stark tells me that at least once a month.”

“Bet he loves that. Figured out how to have a conversation without poking each others wounds yet?”

Steve face falls “We aren’t that bad.”

“Sure, I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“I am able to go to his office most days without being kicked out so I’m a giant step ahead from when I first started working at Marvels.”

“You spend a lot of time with a man that you constantly have to walk on eggshells around. What could motivate that?” Peter says slyly, thinking about how a certain redhead is also frequently in Mr Stark’s office.

“Necessary evil. I know everyone sees T...Stark and I quibble a lot but when it comes down to it, we work well as a team. Also, I guess we aren’t so bad when I’m up there in his office because Pepper is up there as well. She is always keeping our work on track.”

“Really? Having Pepper there helps that much?” Peter’s inquires with fake innocence.

“If Pepper wasn’t babysitting us, there is no way we would get anything done.” Steve's eyes sparkle a little.

“Pepper is a special woman to play the middle man between the two of you.”

Steve blinks a little at Peter “Yeah, I guess she is. Rhodey is usually the one to step in but l’ll admit, no one can do it quite as efficiently as Pepper. But that’s what makes her such a good boss, hey? We are all incredibly lucky to have her”

“Yeah” Peter answers, trying to figure out how to lay the seeds of the beginning of his plan. He needed to get Steve away from seeing Pepper as his boss if he was going to succeed in convincing the man to make a move. “But she’s more than just a boss right?”

Steve frowns “Of course, I would consider her one of my friends.”

“Yeah. Of course, of course. A boss and a friend and a peacekeeper. She’s got a lot going for her.” Peter might be panicking a little now. Who said he was good at this again? Oh wait, it was him, wasn’t it? Yeah. He had clearly been fooling himself.

Steve hesitates, waiting to see where Peter is going.

“And she’s STUNNING right? Like crazy beautiful. Pretty much a perfect person.” Peter officially needs to die. Right now. Or at least have someone take the alcohol away from him because he clearly can no longer make good life choices.

“Peter, how much have you had to drink?” Steve says, looking at Peter suspiciously.

“Do you not think Pepper is pretty?”

“Only a crazy person would not think Pepper is pretty, Peter. I used to ask if I could draw her a lot actually. She has an amazing profile. That doesn’t explain your sudden obsession though.”

Fuck, Peter shakes his hands in the air to clear up Steve’s misunderstanding. He should have known Steve would have a possessive streak “No. No. Don’t worry, no obsession. Just an observation. I swear. Happily in a relationship and not looking to change that.”

“… Okay. Pepper is a fantastic woman so I get your admiration but be careful how you phrase things. Wouldn’t want Happy getting the wrong idea.”

Peter snorts a little at the idea of Pepper sending Happy to warn off Peter. Happy may have used to work as security but he doubts Pepper wouldn’t want to handle something like that herself. Happy isn’t as intimidating as he thinks he is. Boxing training or not.

Wait, Peter thinks, had Pepper gotten Happy to warn Steve off when Happy still worked as security? No, surely not. Why would anyone reject Steve?

Before Peter could figure out a way to ask, he was interrupted by Jess and Mr Stark coming back over to the table to join them. Mr Stark immediately going for the kill. “Well if it isn’t the doughnut thief!?”

Steve retaliates immediately and somehow the pair argue through a bunch of topics too quickly for Peter to keep up with until landing on the latest episodes of CSI and Grey’s Anatomy and which was better. It’s an argument they have quite a lot so Peter zones them out to talk to Jess.

“Trying to solve the mystery that is Steve’s lack of love life?” Jess says, smiling knowingly. Steve's so wrapped up in proving his point to Mr Stark he doesn’t even respond to the use of his name.

Peter gawps at her “….umm how did you-?”

“You’re not that hard to read Parker”

“Wanna help?”

“No”

Peter scowls at her. “Fine. Don’t need your help anyway. I’m a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Wait! No….. that’s not right. They die in the end. Oh god, that sounded so much cleverer in my head”

“I don’t think it did” Jess looks bemused. “You’re fun when you’re drunk Parker. Want the rest of this?” lifting the glass in her hand towards him.

“What is it?” Peter asks and then skulls the drink down before she answers.

“Whisky”

Peter whines a little. It’s a good thing MJ is overseas at the moment because there would be no way she’d be letting him come home with this much whisky in his system. He looks over at Mr Stark to see him still arguing with Steve before leaning in closer to Jess.

“So how are things going with Tony?” Peters whispers.

Jess’s face remains blank. “What do you mean?”

“Reckon it’s getting serious?”

Jess’s face is now what Peter can only describe as unimpressed “Don’t be dense Parker. Stupid is not a good look on you.”

Peter goes to argue but is distracted by the sound of his name.

“Please. Peter has barely seen the man and he’s been working at Marvels for weeks now.”

Peter turns back to the pair to find them both looking extremely irritated with one another. Their argument seems to have escalated from silly TV opinions to something a lot more serious, unfortunately.

Steve’s body language has shut off and his face glowering at Mr Stark while the brunette is wringing at a napkin and refusing to look at the stern face opposite him. Peter can see now that the conversation in the cafe today was mild in comparison to the two men actually bumping heads.
He draws himself away a little, hoping he won’t have to get involved. Jess sits quietly and makes a big deal of examining her nails, clearly having the same idea as Peter.

“It’s not like I’m taking anything he says seriously but the man is still technically an employee. What more am I meant to do? I can’t force the man to like the interns. Just like I can’t force him to come to work or force him to care more about his department. You know Fisk said the only way he will start to commit more is if I take on more of his ideas and I refuse to be stronghold-ed in such a way Steve.”

“This corporate chess game you are playing with Fisk can’t go on forever Tony” Steve’s glare is steely.

“It won’t, I have it handled. How many times do I have to tell you that? You have to trust me.”

Steve pauses, his lips becoming a thin line.

“I do. I just think it’s unfair on Peter.” Steve says, a slight apology in his tone.

“He’ll be alright. You just coddle the young man here.” Tony voice softens, losing the sharpness of the argument.

“That’s because I’m Steve’s favourite.” Peter jumps in, hoping to move the conversation back into lighter territory. Peter is not really sure how the two men had gotten here but he definitely wants to avoid having that prick Fisk bringing down everyone’s happy mood. Especially since said prick is not even here with them tonight.

Steve lips quirk up “We shouldn’t have favourite coworkers Peter.”

“What not even Pepper?”

Steve throws Peter another questioning look but Mr Stark interrupts “Yes. Absolutely Pepper. That is the right answer. Pepper is a godsend.”

“Tony, you have to say Pepper is your favourite. No offence, but without Pepper, your company would no longer be standing.” Jess counters.

Tony pouts at her. “Offence fully taken.”

“Okay, be offended all you like but while you’re busy doing that I’m going to grab us more drinks.” Jess stands and holds her hand out towards Mr Stark. An expected look on her face.

“Oh, I guess I’LL pay since you asked so nicely.” the boss says as he hands her his credit card. Jess just accepts the card happily, ignoring him.

“Make sure you get yourself something expensive.” Mr Stark yells after her sarcastically.

“I will!” she says over her shoulder.

“You people only want me around so you can mooch off me.” Mr Stark grumbles.

“You live in a mansion. It’s not like you can’t pay for a few of your hard-working employees' drinks.” Steve says, unimpressed.

“Not for very much longer! Soon I’ll be slumming it with the rest of you peasants in Brooklyn.” Stark counters.
Peter cocks his head at the turn of conversation. What in earth would motivate Mr Stark to move there? Peter thought the man actively despised the place.

“I’ll believe that when I see it” Steve quips, a slight laughter in his voice.

“Well, prepare yourself because I’m putting the house on the market next week.” Mr Stark counters.

“Wait” Luke chimes in, seeming to have overheard the last part of their conversation. “You want to move out of that amazing building? How are you going to find somewhere that tops a place like that? Pepper has done wonders with how she decorated it. It literally a one in a lifetime sort of home”

Mr Stark raises an eyebrow. “I had no idea you had such a thing for interior design Luke?”

Luke huffs “That place is a mansion, Stark. You’re crazy for thinking about leaving it.”

“If you can make me the highest offer, it’s yours”

Peter watches Luke’s eyes cross as if it will help him think through the alcohol clouding his brain. Peter isn’t sure whether he is seriously considering Mr Stark’s proposal but- “I’ll give you a dollar.” Ah, not seriously then.

“Mmmm, it is my highest bid so far.” Mr Stark says with amusement “But do you even have a dollar on you?”

“I’ll get Dannii to come over and lend me one.”

“Sure, do that and it’s yours.” Luke jumps up trying to run over to Jones to boast about his purchase but he stumbles slightly. Watching how tipsy Luke is brings Peter to the realisation that the room was spinning a little bit for him as well. It felt nice and he let out a giggle that bubbled up from his stomach.

“Are you drunk Peter?” Tony repeats Steve’s sentiment from earlier.

“NO! Nah-uh. Nonono Nope.” Peter felt like saying no in every way he could think of would really help demonstrate just how undrunk he was. Because he is clever like that. “Jess just gave me more whisky. Sooooo it’s her fault I’m all g-g- giggly.”

“You said it was okay to” Jess calls from across the room.

Peter, because he is being a mature adult in front of his boss, sticks his tongue out at her.

“It is never okay for whisky” Peter whines “It’s the reason my life is a mess. It’s the reason I’m no longer allowed in three separate laundry mats. It’s the reason Mj’s costume draw will never be the same again!”

“I have no idea if you are being sarcastic or not anymore.” Jess comments as she wonders past, heading off to the toilets.

“Don’t worry you.. you wouldn’t be the first person to say that to me”

“Sooo…. What happened in the laundry mats?”Mr Stark says glee entering his voice.

“Okay, I think Peter has had enough for today. I better help him home.” Steve interrupts with a smile, grabbing Peter’s jacket for him.

“No, wait Steve! You don’t have your bike remember?” Mr Stark whispers. “I’ll message Happy and he can take you both to your homes.”It seems to be directed to Steve privately but Peter’s head is a little too fuzzy now to really understand the meaning behind the secrecy.

In fact, if this is a movie he would do the inevitable drunk WhY ArE We WhIsPhEring skit. But he doesn’t because Peter is not a cliché.

Steve must communicate back to Mr Stark silently because suddenly Peter’s being manhandled towards the group still over by the pool table.

“Peter’s saying goodnight as he knows it’s time to get home to bed.” Steve grabs their attention and nudges Peter to send them a wave.

Jones looks delighted by Peter’s tipsy state, clearly committing it to memory to use it against him in their war. “How has Peter come to that conclusion?”

Peter tries to make a coherent sentence but what comes out is something like “I’ve run out of things to.. to say. No go- good material left”

Logan grins evilly “That makes this whole night worth it.”
Peter tries to flip him the bird. He’s pretty sure it ends up looking like a Star Trek’s Peace and Prosper hand gesture instead but it’s the intention that counts. Screw Logan.

The last thing Peter really remembers from the night is everyone saying their goodbyes as Mr Stark and Steve help Peter into a car. Although he can vaguely hear someone saying something like “Travel safe Beloved.” as Peter tries to make sense of the words they slip away and are lost to the pleasant black that engulfs him.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peter stumbles into the building the next day, nursing a terrible hangover and searching with all his might for a will to live. He gets through the door only to be stopped immediately by Jess who sees him hurrying in.

“Hey Spiderboy, hows your head?” Jess teases,a smile threatening to split across her face. Peter feels a little dread when he catches the nickname.

“Oh no!” Peters says mortified “How did YOU hear about that?”

“Marvel’s rumour mill strikes again. Jones said to tell you that that's a point to her.”

Oh! If Jones is serious about this war then so be it, let the games begin!

Peter sets himself an internal reminder to set that camera up at Steve’s desk this afternoon when the man was inevitably up with Pepper.

“Ughh, if I find out the Marvel rumour mill is like a gossip girl type situation I’m going to throw up. Jones better watch her back. She’s quippy and I’m quippy and when we get together we quip but quipwise, I think that I’m the better quipper. She has no chance.”

“… You are either an alien or the oddest person I’ve met in a while. I did not follow a word of that”

Peter rubs his head hoping it’ll help sooth it. “I’m swearing off whisky forever. How big of an idiot did I make of myself last night?”

“Enough that you’ll receive some light-hearted ribbing. Nowhere near the scale of some nights Barton has really let himself lose. Your career is safe for now.”

Peter sighs, he's embarrassed but is internally grateful that Steve had gotten him home when he did. The night was pretty blurry from when Luke had started going on about mansions but he knows Steve had helped him home because the godsend had left a note telling him to drink the water and take the Advil he had left on Peter’s nightstand.

“Willing to help me out with Steve now that I’m in a weakened state?”

Jess doesn’t respond, choosing to watch said man come through the door with the morning coffee run.

“Gimmeee.” Mr Stark, who appears from thin air, is crying as he barrels Steve over to snatch one of the cups.

“Did nobody ever teach you manners you beast?” Steve asks exasperately, trying to smack Mr Stark’s limbs away. Instead of replying Stark makes a huge exaggerated sexual sounding noise of appreciation as he sips from the coffee cup he managed to snag, causing Steve’s face to screw up in disgust.

“Charming”

“I saw a bird this morning that reminded me of you by the way?” Mr Stark begins innocently.

“Why?” Steve asks slowly.

“The fucker sneaks up on a man and steals his doughnut clean out of his hands. Remind you of anyone? The thing gobbled it up and cackled at the innocent victim. Poor man stood no chance to wicked ways of the bastard doughnut burglar. Spitting image of you.”

“Tony, you aren’t as funny as you think you are” Steve huffs lightheartedly.

“Correction Steven, I am hilarious.”

Mr Stark is giving Steve this weirdly fond smile which clearly weirds Steve out because the blonde shoves his hands on top of the boss’s head and messes up his hair. This causes Mr Stark to let out a delighted laugh and shove weakly at the blonde as if to start some sort of play fight.

“You saw no such bird, Idiot!” Steve drawls goodnaturedly as he dodges out the way “That would require you to be have been coherent enough before your second coffee.”

“Second? Pfft this is my fourth.”

Steve stills, his grin falling into a frown “Fourth? Tony, it’s only 9 o’clock. Are you trying to kill yourself?!”

“Oops, am I in trouble?” Tony teases.

“What do you think?”

There’s a slight pause.
“.....no?”

“Guess again!”

“Shit. Well I better be off to go grab a coffee before we star-“

Steve’s frown deepens unhappily “That’s it, I’m getting Pepper to cut you off.”

“Steve, you are such a diva.” Tony whines “I’m an adult! Capable of making adult choices!”

“Ahuh, forgive me for caring. Also name calling isn’t the smartest tactic really. Pepper is now going to find out because of spite.” Steve is trying to sound lighthearted but is still looking at Mr Stark all concerned like the mother hen that he is.

“Please don’t involve Pepper. I’ll reward you however you like” Tony says changing tactics by making his voice all low and charming.

“Oh, you think I’ll give in that easily do you?” Steve replies with a small smirk.

They continue to bicker and Jess slowly turns back to Peter with an expectant look on her face. Peter feels like he is missing something here but he can’t even begin to imagine what it might be.

“What!?”

“You really are oblivious aren’t you?”

Peter decides to ignore that and go greet the two men to put an end to their misery. It’s all quite pleasant as they all hop into the elevator together before Peter has to go ahead and ruin it.

“Steve will you be working closely with Pepper again today? Oooh and did you manage to look over Fisk’s layout for him?”

Peter was hoping to talk Steve into taking Pepper out to lunch if they had more work to do today but stops as he watches the blonde’s body immediately go as stiff as a pole.

Steve’s shoulders hunch as Mr Stark turns to him, eyes narrowed. “You’re doing WHAT?”

“Wilson said he wouldn’t be able to look at them for you until the end of the weekend. I just wanted to help.” Steve admits, a little small.

“That’s. Not. Your. Job.” Tony counters through gritted teeth. “You may as well be Artistic Manager if you are going to do all his work for him.”

“but I-“

“No! Stop taking on so much and let other people handle their own shit Rogers. You are not helping.”

Steve face shatters as he makes himself even smaller and nods in response. It is extremely awkward.
The elevator is now extremely uncomfortable with nobody seeming daring to speak. It makes Peter antsy to say the least.

“You know that company you have a lawsuit with right now have changed their name to Anti-Stark-Solutions...... Which means you can now shorten their name to ASS.......Oh and if they did a tie in with Hershey’s you could use candyass. Wow I’m seriously blabbing about ass right now. Ughh Why am I even -........You know this is like a nightmare I had once, only I’m not naked this time.”

“You have no off switch, do you?” Jess comments lightly.

“If you must know silences make me very uncomfortable.”

Mr Stark snickers a little as the doors of the elevator open but Steve doesn’t even look up. Instead the blonde just bolts straight out the doors and to his desk leaving the rest of them standing there, stunned. Jess has a crease between her brows and is glancing at Stark while the brunette is rubbing his temple, exhaustion showing on his features. After some sort of silent communication between the pair they leave Peter in the hall by himself.

“Hey Yenta!”

Peter does not shriek when Clint appears behind him. He doesn’t, no matter what the man tells others later. It was a low guttural sound. No where near the sound of a shriek.

“Where the heck did you come from? I didn’t even hear you walk up to me.”

“Secret satanic skills, remember arachnid?” Clint preens. Oh yes, Jones is definitely got some payback heading her way.

“How’s project pull Steve’s head out of his ass going?”

“Horribly. Steve is so wrapped up in this Fisk/Stark situation that he’s barely thinking about finding the love of his life.” Peter sulks, feeling more despaired about the whole plan now that he wasn’t boosted by the misguided liquid courage he had last night.

“Good thing I was inspired by your cause. Here is a list.” Clint hands Peter a scrunched up piece of paper and then starts whistling Party in the USA, heading towards Fisk’s office.

Peter unfolds the paper and wants to crumble dramatically to his knees. Only Peter’s life could end up being as much of a farce as this. Clint can’t be serious? The list looks like it was written out by a giggly love-sick child in elementary school. Peter lets out a sigh and pockets the list.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Clint’s foolproof steps to get Steve hitched

1. Fake love letter – Bucky can mimic Steve’s Handwriting

2. Force them into sharing baked goods – Food is always the way to a man heart

3. THERE’S ONLY ONE BED

4. Trap them in an enclosed space – Elevator seems to be most ideal

5. Take to baseball game and get them on the kiss-cam or just trick them into some kind of blind date.

6. Trap in cabin in the middle of a blizzard where they have to use each other for warmth

7. Force to work on project together – shows they have similar interests & are perfect couple

8. Give Steve a makeover so he is irresistible – let jealousy do the rest of the work

9. Have a sleepover and trick them into playing seven minutes in heaven

10. Manoeuvre them both to stand under mistletoe – let Christmas magic do the rest of the work

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peter spends the day flicking through his emails while trying to come up with one feasible idea on how to set Steve and Pepper up. It’s almost lunch, he’s at his wit's end and is idea-less still.

What’s worse is Steve’s black mood has grown blacker as the hours pass. Mr Stark’s reprimand has caused Steve to become so insufferable that Peter really hasn’t had any kind of opening to implement a plan even if he wanted to.

Bucky, having had enough of his friend’s behaviour, comes over to Steve’s desk to confront him while Peter is nearby fiddling with the settings of the camera he plans to set up to catch Jones.

“Steve, you can’t keep letting yourself get in these kinds of states.”

Steve grunts as a response, his back remaining rigid and closed off.

Bucky doesn’t falter “Especially since Stark is actually right this time. I know you don’t like to hear it but it really isn’t your job to help with Fisk’s responsibilities.”

“I couldn’t give a rats ass about helping out Wilson!” Steve bites out “I was only trying to help Tony, the ungrateful bastard! Do you know how much work he has piled up on him at the moment? He doesn’t need Wilson slowing him down any further.”

Bucky’s face becomes calculating and he gives Steve a little shove. “Why don’t you focus less on the boss and more on your protege over there? Look at him. The pathetic little lamb is lost without you. I haven’t seen him even pretend to do any work today.”

“I would be offended if that wasn’t unfortunately the case.” Peter concedes. “Bucky’s right for once, Steve. I know this may sound silly but have you tried having a conversation with the guy where you both don’t go for each others weak spots? If you’re not careful you may end up going so far that apologies won’t be enough anymore.”

“See, bugboy gets it”

Steve narrows his eyes at his friend. “Peter is apparently setting up a trap to catch my mysterious pen kidnapper so he gets a pass for not working currently. However, if he keeps sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong my attitude towards him may change very quickly.” Steve says as he stretches out his neck, his body loosening up a little. “If I didn’t know any better Bucky, I would say your subtle praise for Pete just then is an indication that he is growing on you. Before you know it he’s going to be one of your favourites.”

Bucky scoffs “The guy is a walking talking nightmare but a broken clock is right twice a day.”

Peter flicks the grouch “Okay, now I’m offended.”

Bucky rudely ignores Peter “I thought we didn’t have favourite coworkers Stevie? Isn’t that what you supposedly told bugboy last night?”

“I said we weren’t meant to, not that I didn’t”

That throws Peter off guard "Oh? and who IS your favourite coworker here?"

"Stark"

“Funny” Peter deadpans,

Steve refuses to take it back though, seemingly choosing to not comment any further.

“Ughh, fine don’t tell us then. We all know it’s Pepper anyway.” Peter turns away from the conversation and back to his camera again, not seeing Steve cock his head before shaking it in dismay.

Bucky, seeing that Steve has started to calmed down, pushes his advantage before the blonde is able to reply to Peter.

“Seriously Punk, stop being a stubborn idiot and lay off on Stark. I know you guys have your differences but you are really stepping on the guy’s toes. It’s coming across like you don’t think he can fill his father’s shoes and you know how well Stark takes opinions like that.”

Steve bristles for a second before all the fight seeps out of him and his face floods with guilt. “Yeah, okay. I see your point. I’m going to go see Pepper before her meeting with T’challa now. If I run into Stark I’ll let him know that I’ll back off Wilson for him.”

Bucky waits until Steve leaves before turning his full attention on Peter “Alright the challenge was just for fun before but this is now desperate times. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to dissuade Steve away from his pining but we need to get Steve’s attention on something healthy. Find someone to drag him away from this power play mess Fisk and Stark are currently engaged in. And quickly.”

Bucky had noticed Steve’s pinning for Pepper too? Good, that was information Peter can work with.

“Hey! I can be quick.” Peter counters “You’re looking at the guy who left Billy Pinder in the dust in the second-grade sack race. Don’t worry That little head of yours”. Peter didn’t have a plan though so he has no idea why he’s telling Bucky that he does.

Bucky calls Peter’s bluff “A plan? And pigs fly. You really are a handful”

“Good thing you have two hands! Wait, that pun doesn’t work as I feel it should. Ahh, what the heck, I’m going to use it anyway.”

Bucky stalks out murmuring “nightmare” and though he doesn’t want to admit it, for once Peter can’t disagree. This is all getting out of hand in a way that was only capable with Parker luck. He doesn’t know how Aunt May put up with all of it for so long.

“Now back to your regularly scheduled chaos.” Peter says to himself in feigned indifference.
He is close to pulling his hair out from his lack of ideas but he’s not quite desperate enough to try anything on Clint’s list yet.

Jumping up and taking advantage of the fact that nobody is around, Peter sets up one of his cameras so it would capture anything that happened at Steve’s desk for the rest of the day. There was no way Jones was going to get away with her tricks after this. At least that would be one good thing to come out of today.

However, as Peter finishes with the focus, he spots that Steve left his sketchbook open on the desk. Peter wouldn’t usually go snooping but he was pretty sure the sketch was of him.

Peter gets closer to see it’s a sketch of him and Jess chatting at the bar last night. The amount of detail in the sketch astonishes Peter. It is impressive.

Peter flicks back over some of the other sketches. There were a few of Sam and Bucky. Quite a few of Mr Stark which was weir- OH!

Peter comes across a sketch of Pepper. A stunnnnninggggg sketch of Pepper.

It’s a drawing of her in the middle of a board meeting, standing tall and impressive, looking over some photos T’challa is presenting and gracefully tucking her hair behind her ear.

Peter couldn’t say how it happened but before he knew what he was doing, he’s tearing the sketch out of the book and running off to look for Luke.

“I need you to wingman me. Right now!” Peter grabs Luke’s elbow and tries to drag him out of his chair.

“Okay, slow down. What’s going on?” Luke raising both his hands in the air as he spins around to give Peter his full attention.

“Steve is up with Pepper right now and I need you to get them out of her office so I can slip this on her desk before T’challa arrives for their meeting.” Peter lays out.

“And what is that?”

Peter turns the sketch around to show Luke. The large man whistles as his eyes look over the drawing.

“Did Steve draw that? Wow, I had no idea he was that good. Wait, isn’t Steve going to be mad you stole that?”

“His book is a mess. There were plenty of pages already ripped out. I doubt he will notice this one until it’s too late. And by then he will be happily accepting a date because said picture has illuminated his feelings.”

Luke seems sceptical “I mean it’s a good picture Peter, but it’s hardly a love confession or anything.”

“Trust me, this is how it works in all the movies. Plus Bucky all but confirmed Steve’s crush. This is going to work.” Peter says without missing a beat. He knows he’s sounding insane but he’s desperate to find a way that is going to help Steve.

“Okie dokie. Just don’t come crying to me when I’ve already told you so.”

“Alright, you’ve made your point. Let’s hop to it you walking cement wall.”

“Now you’re just being an ass on purpose.” Luke exclaims.

The pair head up to Pepper and Mr Stark’s floor and poke their heads around the corner to check out the surroundings. Peter can just make out that Mr Stark is in his office because of the blue light coming from his monitors but it seems Pepper’s office is empty.

“Strange. I would have thought Steve and Pepper would still be chatting in there.” Peter whispers to Luke.

“Maybe they are in with Stark?” Luke suggests.

They stay where they are as they spy Rhodey coming from around another corner and letting himself into the boss’s office. Well, he starts to but ends up freezing halfway through the door and throwing his hand over his eyes. There’s a yelp from inside the office and the sound of something crashing.

Rhodey slams the door shut again and leans with his back against it while hitting his head into the panel behind him.

“YOU TWO ARE GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME.” Rhodey yells, directing his attention back to the door.

“Learn to knock Honeybear! I’m starting to think you enjoy the eye full you’ve been getting on occasion”

Peter looks at Luke and sees wide eyes staring back at him. Both of them coming to a conclusion on what had caused Rhodey to freak out. Peter feels an intense bout of second wave embarrassment for both the couple inside and Rhodey himself. It’s truly a mortifiying situation!

Rhodey just makes a noise of disgust in reply. The man turns to go, pauses and then turns back again, shaking his head exasperatedly “Clint needs to see you about some outfits he wants to be showcased. I’d finish up quickly.” still yelling to the couple through the door.

“Tell Clint to suck my dick. I’m busy right now.”

Rhodey gives up and walks away quietly saying to himself “Humilating” “Unprofessional”, too caught up in his own thoughts to notice Luke and Peter.

“Ummm… Could have done without spying that. Sometimes I hate being me” Peter squeezes his eyes shut, trying to burn the image from his mind.

Luke nudges Peter in front of him. “Go on now, while the coast is clear. Get it done before Jess and Tony finish up sucking each others faces off.”

“EWW” Peter backs away in horror “Why do you have to describe it like that?”

Must.Wash.Brain.Out.

Peter ran away before Luke could say anything else scandalous and enters Pepper’s office.

It’s one of the most put-together desks he’s ever seen. Everything is colour coordinated and has its place on a shelf or on the desk.

Peter decides to leave the sketch on top of Pepper’s laptop to make sure she couldn’t miss it. He also adds a small red heart on the back of the sketch just to help Pepper out a little further.

Happy with himself. Peter then runs back out of the office and high-fives Luke as they head back down to their floor. Now all that was left to do is wait.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It’s not until the end of the day that Peter hears the fruition of his matchmaking tactics.

He’s standing by as Steve is going over some of the details in an article Luke is working on with T’challa. And yes, Peter is just standing there. Definitely not messing with Luke’s stapler, pretending it’s a ray gun. Just standing and paying attention to the other three. Don’t listen to big, broad and moody.

“Steve” Pepper calls, as she gestures him to come over. The blonde does and she pulls him into a hug. “The sketch is fantastic. You’ve really outdone yourself this time. T’challa come over and see it.”

Peter is ecstatic. He can hardly believe it ended up being so easy. No need for applause, Peter thinks to himself triumphantly, just throw me some cash and that’s gesture enough. Luke pats Peter on the back in congratulations and T’challa wonders over curiously.

“What sketch?” Steve enquires, tilting his head.

Pepper pulls out the folded drawing and Peter holds his breath. If they were going to be caught out, now was the moment it was going to happen. He crosses all his fingers and toes.

“Oh” Steve says once he and T’challa have looked over it “This must have fallen out of my book and I guess someone found it and thought it was yours. That’s okay I’ve been meaning to give it to you all week, I just kept forgetting. Is it better than the others?”

… wait? What did Steve mean by others?

T’challa nods at Steve in reply “Yes. It’s exactly what we asked for. It’ll go perfectly with the rest of the images we have collected for Tony’s gift.”

Pepper squeezes Steve’s arm excitedly “Making a calendar was such a good idea, Steve. T’challa’s present is going to be better than mine!”

T’challa chuckles but shakes his head. “It wouldn’t be nearly as good if you two hadn’t helped me collect all these memories for the man.”

Peter’s heart stops.

Calendar?… Asked for?…. Gift…… Tony! Pepper isn’t even going to keep the drawing?

Peter crumples in despair, trying to figure out how this had managed to go so wrong. That’s the last time he tries to use movie romance logic. He can’t believe he thought Pepper would figure out Steve’s feelings from looking at a drawing. What was he thinking?

“Well, saying that this plan backfired is an understatement.” Luke says slowly.

Not wanting to watch anymore, Peter pulls Luke over to the other desks where the group of Sam, Jones, Clint, Jess and Logan are hanging out.

“So T’challa is here again. I know we are basing next months issue on his company but I don’t remember him being around this much last time we wrote an expose on him.” Clint speculates.

“Tony and Pepper have come to really value T’challa opinions since working with him last time.” Jess explains “With Stark taking roles of editor-in-chief, publisher and owner, he reached out to ask T’challa to be around so that the load is shared around a little more.”

“I dunno. Still sounds like integrating someone into their new role so that we are accumulated with them before their new position is announced.” Jones says, her tone clipped.

Sam doesn’t agree though “Nah. Steve has assured me a couple of times that something like that isn’t going to happen.”

Clint snorts “Ahuh, because Steve is always on the same wavelength as the boss.”

“Nooo” Sam admits slowly “But the guy does have a knack of always being strangely aware of everything that is happening within this company.”

“How does he manage that?” Luke muses “The guy is as subtle as a brick”

“I would be inclined to agree but Bucky assures me Steve can be the sneakiest of sneaks when he wants to be” Sam says and receives several noises of disbelief in return.

“You all seriously think Tony would trust anyone other than Pepper with being in charge of this magazine?” Jess chastises but most of the group don’t look discouraged. “Numbskulls”

“Forget that right now. I need backup. All of you now need to join the cause.” Peter demands the little group, breaking the gossip session apart “We can’t do this by ourselves.”

“Admitting defeat already?” Sam says cockily.

“This is no longer about the challenge, Sam.” Peter continues “Steve needs a distraction to pull him away from getting messed up further with dick face Willie. We are now talking about the greater good.”

Sam seems to be contemplating this as Luke chimes in “We’re in.” gesturing to himself and his girlfriend “Purely to see the look on all your faces when this continues to backfire.”

“You have no choice. You were already in.”

“I was already in too. I gave you the list remember. Plus, Steve deserves good things and man would this be a good thing for him.” Clint observes.
Peter cringes when the list is mentioned. Surely none of those ideas are going to work any better than the crazy drawing scheme he had just tried to pull off.

“Wait, who is it we are hooking Steve up with?” Logan asks in a steady tone that still somehow is dripping with judgement.

Peter puts his finger to his mouth and then mimes his head in the direction of where Steve, Pepper and T’challa are still chatting. A couple of faces light up and nods occur around the group as they note Peter’s suggestion.

“Oh yeah, that actually makes sense.” Sam says.

“So are you in?”

“Ooohhh we could be like a mascot team! How cute would that be? And I could make us all matching shirts that we could all wear next week!” Clint starts to gesture frantically.

“I’m out” Jess says blandly and walks off.

“What!?” Peter pouts “Party Pooper.”

Nobody else follows her though instead asking to see Clint’s list of suggestions. Peter is still doubtful about the list but the group ask him what’s the harm in at least trying a few.
Also, if Jones is right about Steve being a closet-romantic then he will absolutely melt at some of the crazy suggestions, Peter figures reluctantly as he hands the piece of paper off.

“Okay, some of these things are ridiculous” Sam sighs “But a couple of them are doable. I would say start with 2 and 7.”

“Number 5 might work too.” Jones adds on.
Logan grunts and doesn’t add anything further but isn’t shooting any of the suggestions down either which Peter takes as confirmation that the man is on board.

“I’ve been dying to spruce up Steve’s look so I’m happy to help on that front” Clint admits.

Confidence returning again Peter accepts the suggestions, forming a new step by step plan he will implement when they are back on Monday. An idea snags in his head when he rereads step 7. giving it one last look, Peter hurries back over to Pepper and Steve.

“Pepper did your email say today that you are organising Mr Stark’s Birthday Bash?” Peter smiles up at the couple and T’challa, trying to appear as casual as possible.

“T’challa and Rhodey are helping, but yes I’m doing most the heavy lifting.”

“Steve, don’t you think it’s a good idea to help her out too?” Peter suggests sweetly.

Steve blinks at Peter in incomprehension but Peter continues. “It would be just the thing to make up for your argument today don’t you think? Plus, would be a way of extending an olive branch out to Mr Stark.” He smiles wider, hoping his expression comes off as endearing instead of manic.

Steve stands there considering, while T’challa glances sidewards and sends Peter a knowing smile. Peter shifts, a little uncomfortably. He keeps his face passive, worried that the serene man could see right through Peter’s charade and praying that if he does then he doesn’t blow the whistle on him.

“Pepper, I might have some ideas. If you are interested in hearing a few?” Steve asks, having decided to take up on Peter’s idea.

Pepper looks between the three of them a little bewildered but shrugs and tells Steve to follow her back up to her office with T’challa.

Peter grins ear to ear from his work. Step 7 done. If nothing else at least they will be spending more time together in the coming week.

He turns back to the little groups and throws them a big thumbs up, not really caring about how idiotic it comes across as. All of them send encouraging faces back, well, all except for Logan who just rolls his eyes and says “This is going to be fun”.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It wasn’t fun.

On Monday, Clint takes the reins by demanding Steve model an outfit so Clint can adjust the styling. Steve looks ready to complain but Clint can be pushy when he puts his mind to it and is hustling Steve to the bathroom with the clothes before the blonde can properly object.

Peter sends a message to Pepper for Clint asking her to come okay the look for him.

Steve comes out and the whole office seems to turn their heads his way.

Clint has him wearing dark blue velvet pants and a white shirt that is objectively a lot tighter than the ones Steve usually wears. What tops off the outfit though is the over-sized winter coat with big brass buttons that is hanging off Steve’s shoulder, the navy colour bringing out Steve’s blue eyes.

The whole office come over to compliment Steve and Clint, the latter who laps up the attention.

“Wait! Wait, the final touch.” And then the man is shoving his hands in Steve’s hair and messing it up.

Steve makes a noise of complaint, swatting Clint’s hands away and trying to cover how embarrassed he is by all the attention.

Peter starts to feel victorious about the ploy when seeing the attention Steve is drawing. When even Mr Stark seems to be taken by surprise from Steve’s appearance, as he and Pepper come down the hall with T’challa, Peter is sure they have gotten it right this time.

“Uhhh??” the boss says eloquently “Steve?”.

Peter tries to hide his grin. Steve really did look like a different person all styled up by Clint like this. Steve’s face goes bright red when he spots the three newcomers and his eyes dart about, carefully trying to avoid direct eye contact.

“I hate to admit it. But you might be a genius.” Peter whispers to the stylist.

Clint replies airily. “I know, this has got to be some of my best work. I even shock myself sometimes.”

“It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Steve says sheepishly to the three.

Mr Stark, obviously seeing the blonde’s discomfort, tries to comfort him. If not somewhat very badly.

“GOD no! You look good Steve. Great even. Not that you don’t usually look great I mean... Ughh of course it’s not nesscary to look great to be good at your job bu- oh ugh no you are good at your job Steve. The best even. You are invaluable here.” The boss finishes spluttering.

Steve rubs the back of his neck at the praise he seems to find in the mountain of words Mr Stark just threw at him.

“I like the new look, Steven.” T’challa wonders over warmly. He puts a hand on Steve’s shoulder in a reassuring manner “You seem very tense though. Your friends shouldn’t coarse you into tasks that make you so uncomfortable.” Steve sends the man a grateful smile.

Peter hears Clint make a disappointed noise. He isn’t sure why until he looks over at Pepper and sees that she has barely looked up from her phone to check out Steve’s attire. Her face is deep into the files recently sent to her and when her eyes finally flick up, it’s only briefly.

Pepper gives a nod of approval at the clothes, pulling T’challa and Mr Stark (in the latter’s case she gives a forceful push as Stark seems frozen to the spot) back towards the elevator. Probably drafting a strongly worded email to whatever loser was making her work harder that day.

“Make sure someone gets a photo of that.” Mr Stark yells down the hallway. Peter thinks the man means for it to be snarky but it comes out more like a plea.

“Pick your jaw off the floor, Idiot. It’s only Steve.” Pepper asserts as they are walking away, focus still on her phone. Peter prays to god that the blonde didn’t hear the last of Pepper’s sentence.

“Pepper, I treat you like the glue of this company. You are my golden goose. Why do you do nothing but call me names? The betrayal!”

“Tony, last week you called me demon-spawn and said you were looking up exorcists.”

“Last week you handed me a lot of paperwork.” Tony sniffs as the trio walk out of sight.

“Clint, can I please get changed out of this now?” Steve begs.

“Sighhh, Nobody appreciates true art these days.” Clint whines as he hands Steve back his clothes.

Peter hangs his head in disappointment.

And it doesn’t get any better as the week goes on.

On Tuesday, Luke and Jones help Peter write the sappiest love letter possible. It is probably a bit much but Peter wants to make sure the picture is much clearer for Pepper to recieved this time after the disaster that was the drawing last week.

He is holding high hopes for this plan but as Peter is trying to deliver it to Pepper secretly, things go very wrong.

Fisk calls out to Peter as he sees him down the hall, wanting to yell about Peter’s latest photo submissions once again. His yell catches Peter by surprise causing Peter to stumble and letting the letter slip from his fingers.
The larger manager has been running Peter to the ground all day with petty extra tasks - tasks he’s been trying to get Peter to slip up on, so the intern can admit that he is exhausted and reflexes aren’t at their best.

Leg’s failing him, Peter finds himself sprawled on the ground and the letter that was in his hand sliding under the door to Mr Stark’s office.

Peter groans, silently wanting to kill Fisk for the third time that day.

“Peter! I’m losing my patience with you”

Fisk drags Peter back to his office to torment the intern further by throughly showing him everywhere he went wrong in the last hour causing Peter to have to leave the letter behind.

By the time Fisk’s lecture is through and Peter manages to come back and enter the office, the letter is nowhere to be seen. Someone had probably seen it and chucked it in the bin without realising what it was. At least that’s what Peter is hoping happened.

Knowing this is another lost cause, Peter decides that he has to amp up his game. When, thankfully (or maybe not so thankfully) nobody seems to being up the letter by the end of the day, he decides that desperate times call for desperate measures.

On Wednesday, when Peter tries to rig up the elevator to trap Steve and Pepper in together for the morning, he realises there is such a thing as too desperate.

It seemed like a great idea until Happy ends up slipping in with them at the last minute and has a full-blown panic attack because he’s claustrophobic. Not to mention how the whole company goes on alert, panicking over the fact that three of their colleges are trapped with no way out.

Steve and Pepper, waiting on Mr Stark to fiddle with the elevator controls himself to fix the problem, are too busy trying to keep Happy breathing and answering calls ensuring their friends that they are okay to even engage in anything considered flirting.

Once the ordeal is over with and the three tell everyone that it was a bit of a scare but they are alright, Peter berates himself for letting the situation get to a place where somebody almost got hurt.

Once more, he goes home reassessing his game plan.

Thursday, he tries to get Pepper to join Steve and him for dinner after Steve helps Peter find Mr Stark a gift, hoping to ditch and trap them into a blind date. Sam and Bucky suggest a couple of places they know Steve would find quite romantic and Peter tricks Steve into believing the booking was originally for him, Aunt May and her friend but the other two ended up cancelling.

Once Steve agrees, Peter then goes on to ask why don’t they invite Pepper to join? She’s working late nights lately and deserves a night off. He lays it out for Steve as innocently as possible and is so impressed with his acting skills that he thinks MJ’s talent must be rubbing off on him. Steve must agree with Peter’s fibs because he fires off a text with the invitation.

Peter is about to cheer on a scheme going right but really, he should have known better. Something must have come up for Pepper as she ends up sending Mr Stark in her place and the night just falls apart from there. Peter is ready to stab himself with his spoon at this point.

It only gets worse when Tony brings up how he received a mysterious love letter in his office, blatantly saying how whoever wrote it must be the biggest sap in existence while Steve seems to get more and more uncomfortable by the conversation, his hands going into tight fists.

Peter’s cheeks are flaming red as he tries to block out the conversation. The group luckily had decided not to sign anyone’s name at the end of the letter, planning on dropping by Pepper reading it and telling her they’d seen Steve put it there. So at least they were safe on not getting caught out. But it was still an awkward place to be sitting in right now.

Peter has to give it to the blonde. Here Steve is, having his nemesis rub into his face how much love he receives when Steve hasn’t had anything going himself in years and yet he’s just sitting here and listening. Peter would have at least stormed off by now.

“Isn’t that enough now Tony? No need to keep shoving this mystery admirer in my face. No wonder the word insufferable gets thrown around so much when describing you” Steve flick the boss an annoyed glance.

“Please. I am a delight.”

“Mmm...It’s good to see you’re as irresistible as ever and ego is still intact. I was a little worried you were coming down with something because of your strange behaviour on Tuesday.” Steve ventures, the corners of his eyes twitching.

“Ha fuck you ha!” Mr Stark replies mildly, rubbing his hands on his jeans. He opens his mouth to prod back at the blonde again but is cut off.

“Looking forward to the birthday bash?”

“Of course! It’s where I get to do what I do best!”

Steve raises an eyebrow “Annoy people to death?”

“Exactly”

Mr Stark goes to say something further but is once again cut off by Steve.

“Whatever you are going to say, probably is best saved for later.” Steve says without missing a beat, eyeballing Peter in a strange way.

“When are you gonna admit that I play this game better than you, Apple Pie?” Mr Stark says haughtily.

“Hmm, maybe tomorrow. Today’s booked out by more important things unfortunately.” Steve jests, looking quite pleased with himself.

That tension that always seems to build between the pair is as thick as pea soup by now. Peter gulps down the rest of his food and exclaims he better be heading off as Aunt May will be worried. Aiming to avoid the repeat of the awkward elevator fiasco.

Finally Friday comes around. Peter wouldn’t think it possible but it ends up being the worst attempt of all.

Peter went looking for Steve and presented him with banana muffins that, surprisingly, Logan had cooked up for Peter the night before.

“I hear they are Pepper’s favourite.” Peter says, deliberately causal. It’s a little white lie because Logan, needing to be at least a little unhelpful, had decided to bake T’challas favourite baked food instead. The wanker. “Maybe you can take a couple up to share with her?”

Steve squints at Peter. He seems about to dismiss the idea, very suspicious about Peter’s behaviour by now, but as he reaches for a muffin it is literally yanked out of his hand by Mr Stark.

“Hey! They are for Pepper and I.” Steve scowls.

Stark just waggles his eyebrows “Karma’s a bitch Doughnut knapper.” and proceeds to take a bite out of the muffin. He stops chewing and sharply turns his head back to the blonde, his face going white as a sheet. Steve huffs and goes for another muffin when Mr Stark slaps it out of the blonde's hand. Peter is gobsmacked, jumping backwards at the violent response.

“What the hell Stark?” Steve yells.

“Steve, don’t eat that! They have poppy seeds in them.”

Steve’s face morphs from anger to shock to understanding. Mr Stark rounds on Peter so quickly the intern can hardly think straight as his boss is crowding into his personal space.

“Parker, you idiot. You need to be more careful. Steve is allergic to poppy seeds. Stuff like this can kill him.” Mr Stark says harshly.

Oh shit. Peter tries to spout out “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know.” but is unable to string words together.
Tears start to form in his eyes as he feels himself panic. Steve must be so mad at him right now.

Mr Stark turns his back on Peter to recheck in Steve and make sure he is okay. Steve shakes his head assuringly and keeps saying “It’s okay Tony.” And “He didn’t know”

Once both Peter and Stark have calmed down, the boss offers to take the muffins up to Pepper himself while Steve stays and consoles Peter, assuring him that mistakes like this happen.

“I should have checked what was in the muffin before taking one from you. It’s not your fault, it could have happened to anyone.”

Not entirely believing Steve, Peter scurries away after giving the blonde’s word a half hearted acknowledgement. All he wants to do is just spend the rest of the day curled up by his laptop, licking his wounds.

Getting to his desk, Peter feels justified when he throws his head into his arms onto the surface in front of him and dramatically groans.

How was this such an impossible task? On paper, it seemed so simple. Two attractive single people being thrown together by their friends should cause something to stick.

Actually, Peter muses, phrasing it that way makes it sound worse than he originally thought. This is why he needs MJ around. She’s the sort of person that would help him avoid making stupid decisions such as this.

Logically, he knew that if Pepper and Steve didn’t want to be together you couldn’t force the thing. Finding a life partner isn’t that easy. Hell, Peter finding MJ was a freaking miracle if he thought back to all the obstacles that could have stopped that from occurring. But Peter had just been so sure about this Steve and Pepper thing, the whole office had been so sure.

Someone comes up behind him as he is having his self-pity party.

“You will never believe the week I’m having.” Peter confesses.

“I don’t care about your frivolous problems, Parker. All I know is this is the third time this week I’ve spotted you less than working when I have tasks I need doing.”

The hair on the back of Peter’s neck stands up. He knows Fisk doesn’t particularly like him but the large man behind him now sounded like someone looking for a fight.

Peter turns to face the man, trying to exude an air of easiness he is not actually feeling.

“Willie, you sound mad. Anything I can help you with?”

“You and your shenanigans have been all anyone can talk about all week.” Fisk spits back at Peter “Nobody is getting any work done because of your games and yet you still have the entire department speaking your praises. I’ve had just about enough. I will not see you turn this workplace into a zoo. Why am I the only one who can see that this whole time you’ve acted no better than an ignorant child?”

“Hey, that’s what makes me so lovable” Peter pushes, enjoying getting a rise out of the angry man.

“I will never understand why this place treats an imbecile like you with such esteem and someone like I, one of the backbones and superiors in this company, with such disrespect”

“Whoa Fisk, aren’t we going a little far here?” Peter tries to placate “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me this week. Fixed all the problems you’ve found in my images. Slaved away with the menial tasks you’ve given me. I don’t understand what I’ve done that’s caused you to have such an issue with me.” Peter rises to stand and looks directly into the face in front of him.
Peter refuses to take bullshit from a man that nobody in the office has any respect for when Peter really hasn’t done anything wrong.

“You and all you represent is everything that is going wrong with this company. Don’t expect to make it any further than this internship, Parker. Not even Stark’s shine for you is going to help you once I turn in the report I have written on your behaviour here this month.”

Peter feels a sinking sense of dread. Working at Marvels is his dream job. And he has been bending over backward for Fisk these last couple of weeks, he couldn’t believe the man still didn’t see the value of Peter’s work. This isn’t fair.

Seeing red, Peter lashes out. “I always thought large gentlemen were meant to be jolly, Willie. Are you seriously mad at me because people find me personable? Well, let me clear something up for you. People don’t dislike you because you’re better than them, Fisk. They dislike you because you’re a dickwad”

Fisk is now steaming from the ears. “Pack your stuff, Parker. There’s no chance we will be seeing you back here on Monday.” The large man charges back into his office and slams the door. <\br> Peter stands there for a second, noticing somewhere during the conversation he had broken out into the sweats.

Slowly, Peter processes what had just gone down and comes close to a breakdown for the second time in a day.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, Peter thinks to himself as he starts collecting all his things, knowing that Fisk could very well get his way no matter how much someone like Steve tries to speak up for him.

God, what a nightmare. Actually no, Not a nightmare. This is something worse than a nightmare for Peter. He can’t even begin to think about how he’s going to land on his feet from this one.

After about 20 minutes, as Peter is examining his cameras, he realises that the one he set up by Steve’s desk at the end of last week is still there, having been forgotten because of the week’s shenanigans. Sighing, he heads over to collect it but stops around the corner when he hears more yelling.

“Tony, you can’t let Wilson do this to Peter.” Steve demands. Great, it seems the Marvels rumour mill strikes again. Gossip really does spread like wildfire at this place.

Peter hangs back out of sight, knowing it will not be received well if he interrupts the two men now.

“Steve, I have so much to sort out right now. I really don’t need you yelling at me as well.” Tony sounds drained, clearly overwhelmed with the HR mess Fisk and Peter are about to cause.

Peter becomes extremely guilty. Mr Stark has been nothing but supportive of Peter during this internship. He knows the boss has a lot going on with upcoming announcements and rumoured takeover, he didn’t need to be dealing with the Parker bad luck on top of all that. Luke had been right. If Peter had just reported Fisk’s behaviour to Steve this whole drama could have been avoided but Peter let his pride get in the way and now look where it’s landed everyone.

“I’m not yelling Tony. I’m just saying that this has gone far enough. I know you think you have everything handled but people are now getting hurt. It’s time to take some direct action.”

“This isn’t a situation I can just punch my way out of Steve. I know that’s your forte but something like this requires far more delicacy.” Stark hisses icily. “I’m sorry if how I’m handling this is hurting your feelings but your lack of faith is approaching offensive.”

“My feelings? You think this is about my feelings? Don’t try and deflect away from the fact that you haven’t been taking this seriously enough and now don’t want to admit you were wrong.”

“Because you always know best, hey Steve?”

“Tony! For once, stop being such a smart ass and listen to me!” Steve says mulishly, probably leveling the full weight of his disapproval on the boss.

Mr Stark lets out a humourless laugh “So I can hear you once again tell me your SoMeTiMeS YoU JuSt HaVe To GrAb ThE BuLl By ThE HoRnS speech?”

“With all due respect STARK.”

“That’s just your fancy way to say you think my opinions are shit, ROGERS.” Mr Stark bites out. “For somebody who said they weren’t going to yell 5 minutes earlier, you seem to be doing quite a lot of it. I get it, everyone is inadequate when compared next to you. Especially me. But like it or not, Wilson is not your problem and I don’t have to run this magazine the way you want me to. Just like I didn’t have to run it the way my father or anyone else wanted me to!”

“I think that’s just an excuse you throw out whenever you want to avoid having to do your job! End of the day you are too afraid to get your hands dirty Stark”

“You are such an arrogant prick sometimes. Pretending to be this big-shot mentor figure when really all this act is about is making you feel good about yourself and the rest of the company is starting to find it insufferable Rogers.”

“I’m insufferable?! Good. That’s GREAT to know! I hope you haven’t sold that mansion yet because I can’t stand the sight of you right now.”

Peeking around the corner, Peter watches Steve step closer to Stark so he is now looming over the short brunette. Considering the man at full height now looks immensely intimidating, Peter is quite impressed that Mr Stark doesn’t even flinch.

Peter knows he needs to stop the argument from going any further, so he slips into the office, coughing so the pair’s shouting falters.
Feeling humiliated, Peter mumbles out how he accidentally left his camera in here, grabs it and runs out before either man can engage.
Steve comes after him, seeming about to console Peter but the intern silences him with a dark look and so Steve adjusts his trajectory to the parking lot where he keeps his bike.

Once back at his laptop, Peter allows himself to wallow in his misery.

Hello God, Peter mopes silently, I’d like to ask a personal favour. Could you please stop using your buddy Parker as a cat toy and let this hellacious day just end?

He should probably message MJ but she will want him to tell her everything that happened and Peter’s not ready to face the music yet.

Feeling low and needing a pick-me-up he decides to see what he had managed to catch on his camera before it had run out of batteries. He loads up the footage and starts skimming through it. Not staying on any of it for too long because he’s not interested in spying on his co-workers, just wants to reminisce over the place he’s probably getting kicked out of any minute now.

“Hey, I thought I’d come to check on you.” Peter turns to see Jess hanging behind him. “How are you doing?”

“I have management starting up an investigation on me, somehow started world war three between my two mentors and not only not managed to make any headway with the one task I’ve been working on all week but thoroughly embarrassed myself trying in the process. So yeah, just your average Tuesday.”

“It’s Friday” Jess says steadily.

“I’m fine.”

“Tony’s going to figure out a way to fix this for you, I promise.”

Peter knows he should appreciate the sentiment but he doesn’t need anything getting his hopes up. Peter averts his gaze away from Jess’s sympathetic gaze and slumps further into his chair. Jess, choosing not to push him any further, comes over to look at his screen.

“What is this?”

“I was trying to catch Jones stealing Steve’s pens so I could gain a point in our war.” Peter admits softly, cringing a little.
The game didn’t seem as fun as it originally had now.

Jess laughs though “Do you ever actually do any work here?” she says, the incredulity in her voice is laced with amusement.

Peter looks at her in disbelief “Did I just manage to get a laugh out of you?”

“Don’t push it, Parker.”

“I did though. I’m certain that sound was a laugh. Do it again so I can be sure.”

Jess starts to reply but stops, her attention turning sharply back on the screen.

“Wait. Peter, stop the footage.”

Peter does as she asks and looks at the image now frozen on the screen.

It’s Wilson Fisk. What is Fisk doing alone at Steve’s desk?

“Play that bit again!”

The pair watch as the camera captures the man opening up Steve’s laptop and typing away like it’s his own. Peter is startled. What on earth was the jackass up to now?

He asks Jess as much. “It looks like he’s trying to accomplish something using Steve’s work account. We can assume it’s something shady because clearly if whatever it is gets picked up he plans for it to be pinned on Steve instead of himself. Peter, can you zoom in so we can see the laptop screen clearly?” Jess asks.
Peter nods and proceeds to enhance the image in front of them. When he figures out what he is seeing he gasps out loud.

“Is that….?”

“Hammer industries!” Jess smiles triumphantly. “Peter, you wizard! Tony and I have been trying to find evidence that Wilson has been selling stories to Hammer’s Magazine for months and here it is. This changes everything! We need to get this to legal right now.”

And without another word, she scoops up the equipment in front of her and runs off leaving Peter sitting overwhelmed by everything that’s just happened in the last couple of hours. Fisk has been committing corporate espionage? And was trying to frame Steve? And it’s been happening for months?

Could this day have gotten any crazier?

By the end of the day, Fisk is being called by legal to pack his stuff and banned from Marvels premise for the foreseeable future. The man is livid and most of security has to be there as he is sent out. Even Happy swings by to make sure the man doesn’t get violent.

Peter watches the man go and feels nothing but relief. He isn’t sure if this means that this fixes anything and whether his job is secure again but he’s happy that he no longer has to share a working environment with Fisk. A feeling he’s sure many in the company share with him.

“Well done, Spiderling.” Peter hears from behind him.

When Peter sees it’s Mr Stark he moans a little “Oh no. Not you too. Jones is in for a world of pain.” Peter is still feeling extremely overwhelmed and having a conversation with the boss does nothing to ease his emotions.

Cool it Parker, Peter thinks to himself, He has no idea that you have no idea what you are meant to do right now.

“You have no idea what you are meant to do now, do you?” Stark enquires with a raised eyebrow.

Peter flinches. He can feel himself starting to splutter in surprise but stops himself because he is trying to come across as cool and collected.

Peter wants to apologise for causing such a big blow out but can see that the boss has got dark circles under his eyes and thinks it probably isn’t the right time to bring it up. The intern twitches a little as Mr Stark waits for him to reply.

“How are you after all this, Mr Stark?” Peter asks instead.

“I’ve had better days” Stark comments, seeing right through Peter’s front. “HR won’t pursue Fisk’s report. I wasn’t inclined to believe a lot of the insinuations the forms had made anyway but now anything he’s reported on is being reviewed as corporate espionage anyway so your internship isn’t going anywhere.”

Peter lets out a deep breath he hadn’t known he was holding, feeling relieved. “Thanks Mr Stark. I’m sorry to have caused any trouble. I shouldn’t have riled the man up the way I always was though. That was childish of me.”

“Hey, hey. You just single-handedly exposed a major threat in my company, I think we can let a little mistake like that slide. I also think we can be on first name basis now Peter. Please call me Tony.”

Peter is starstruck. He is now on first name basis with Tony freaking Stark. His ten-year-old self would most likely faint from that knowledge.

“Besides” Tony continues “You’re not doing too badly for your age. When I was your age I was -”

“Obnoxious?”

“I was going to say eccentric, smart ass.”

Tony’s phone goes off and the man pulls it out of his pocket, his features going soft when he sees the caller ID.

Peter once again thinks about how it was good Tony had someone special. A day like this alone was too overwhelming for just one person. The fact that the man was able to share the horror of today with someone like Jess helped Peter decide that Steve was wrong about the couple. Maybe it was too early for them to get engaged but that was their decision. It was clear they both would support each other and make the other happy and Tony deserved that kind of love more than ever right now.

“Hey my love” Tony answers the phone, Peter’s presence all but forgotten “No, don’t start! We both said things we didn’t mean…….I know, I love you too. Yeah, we’re both exhausted but it’s finally over. We can make it up to each other another day sweetheart.”

Peter watches in interest as the tension in Tony’s body melts away, the man making a sound of agreement to whatever is being said on the other end of the phone.

“It’s been a big day but it worked out in the end. Of course, you now have to admit that I was right.” The boss now smiling widely. “Don’t pull that you weren’t actually worried shtick? Why else would you be so exhausted then?…….. I’m sorry did you seriously say BECAUSE OF THE MAN THAT KEPT YOU UP LAST NIGHT? Oh, I sure didn’t hear you complaining when we wer-“

Peter internally shrieks and runs away before he hears anymore. He may think Jess and Tony are a good couple but he didn’t need any of those images, thank you very much. Grabbing his phone, he types the beginning of a long update to Mj, finally ready to fill her in on one of the more hectic days of his life.

P: Ready to hear the tale of how I saved the company from evil Wilson Fisk?

MJ: Yes! Get him, Tiger! I knew you could kick his ass! Don’t leave out one detail.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peter observes the celebrations occurring in The Stark mansion’s ballroom. Steve, Pepper and T’challa have done a great job at organising the event. The ballroom is open and sleek but isn’t too formal or as grand as the galas Stark Industries usually throw. There are nooks and seating set up to make conversation easily flow and the accent of red and gold in the choice of decorations somehow avoided coming across as tacky yet still screams of Tony Stark.

Peter has been having a great time so far chatting with his coworkers, thankful to being able to enjoy the evening with everyone. Over the course of the last couple hours people have been coming up to him with a compliment for helping out with the situation with Fisk which is a little staggering. It’s been a good night overall even if every now and then Peter has silently mourned the fact that he didn’t manage to get Steve a date for the party.

Chatting with said man now along with Rhodey, Pepper and Tony, Peter watches Steve clutch his chest in laughter and concludes that the man is clearly happy regardless. It’s probably time for Peter to back off now, before he makes an embarrassment of himself .....again.

“Seriously though Tony. This is going to be a good surprise tonight right? Are you sure you don’t want to run this all by me? I really am worried you’re about to cause a global incident.” Pepper taunts.

“Pep, your lack of faith wounds me. I’m a grown up. I’m perfectly capable of doing things without telling you.”

“Pepper, be grateful he chose me to be the parental supervision this time. I can’t wait to be out of this nightmare. The man has been driving me up the walls” Rhodey gripes.

“Platypus, I could still ask Thor. Don’t think I won’t.”

Rhodey scoffs “You know I only pretend that you are the big man of the hour, don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re really just my sidekick.”

“Whatever you are choosing Thor for I’m sure it would only end in disaster.” Steve cuts in.

“Heathens. The lot of you.” Tony crosses his arms but his smiles seems to lit up further. Tony then sees Steve has dropped frosting sugar from one of the pastries the blonde’s eating on his jacket. The boss reaches across and carefully brushes the sugar away. “Cmere, let me fix that.”

Peter smiles. The pair seem to have decided to bury the hatchet and though they have still bickered tonight, it’s much more light hearted and almost fond in comparison to the heated fights that they had previously been having.

“Thanks” Steve replies and beams at Tony. “How is Carol, Jim?”

“Busy being important as always. We’re lucky to get two spare seconds together.”

“Naww, don’t be that way Sourpatch. More free time to spend with yours truly.”

Rhodey scrunches up his nose “Please, I’d chose time with her over you almost any day of the week. Especially the way you’ve been acting lately.”

“I’m truly hurt. If this is the way you treat her no wonder you never see her. Maybe you are just starting to drop the ball huh? Not taken her anywhere fancy lately?”

“Well, if only I had a friend who could name drop at some of the top places and events in the city to get me a reservation once and a while?”

“Sure! You got a spare four million dollars on you or?”

“Four million?! What about the best friend discount?”

“That is the current best friend discount. Sorry, still have Hammer Inc. sniffing at my heels, can’t be frivolous with money at the moment.”

“I can’t believe we are still having run in’s with that dick.” Steve growls with a surprising force.

“Whoa big guy! Who taught you that bad word?” Tony mocks offence, clutching a hand to his chest.

“You did.” Steve retorts back, mirth tugging at his smile.

“Are you insinuating that I’m a bad influence?”

“Like that is news to any of us.” Pepper says slyly as she moves off to talk to some other important people trying to catch her attention.

“Rude! I’m the man of the hour tonight. The life of the party! Who wouldn’t want to be like me?”

“I think you mean something along the lines of you are the biggest mess of existence bordering the line of trash” Rhodey retorts.

Tony makes a noise of protest.

Steve tries to join in “Mm. You do make things awfully hard on people sometimes.”

Oh no Steve, Peter mentally face palms. Too many quips. Brain overloading. The poor man was screwed. There is no way Tony’s going to let that comment slide. It’s like watching a lamb to the slaughter.

“I’m not the only thing at the party making *things* hard.” The boss says under his breathe, eyes bright while sipping at his soda.

“What was that Tony?” Steve sends him a side wards glance.

Tony goes to repeat himself but Rhodey covers the brunette’s mouth with his hands. Steve gives the pair a suspicious look before turning away.

Good save Rhodes. Peter relaxes internally and sips some of his drink, once again reminding himself to pace tonight. He doesn’t want another repeat of his behaviour at the bar a fortnight ago.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Tony patting his pants carefully. The patting becomes more frantic as the boss’s eyes widen in panic.

Peter turns to ask him if he had lost something when Rhodey subtly slides in next to Tony and hands him what looks like to be small velvet box.

“My hero!” Tony gasps, sounding overly relived.

“Aww shucks. All in a days work.” Rhodey snorts “Next time I’m keeping it. It’s definitely Carol’s taste.”

Peter watches the pair move off to the bar and grins at his epiphany. He is now very excited for the announcement Tony is planning on making later this evening.

Turning around he sees Steve is still hanging about finishing off the rest of his beer.

“That has to be the most civil conversation I’ve seen between you and the boss.” Peter observes. “You may learn how to communicate with him yet.”

“Ha ha. I guess now that we no longer are disagreeing on how to handle Fisk, things have calmed down between the two of us.”

“Yeah? Because Fisk was the root of all the problems between the two of you.”

“Maybe not but he certainly was the root of yours.” Steve accuses lightly.

“Ow, low blow. The man had it out for me for no reason. Can you blame me for not taking him seriously?”

“Of course not, Fisk is a jackass.”

The statement niggles something in the back of Peter’s brain for some bizarre reason. He’s not sure why he should be making some sort of connection so he shakes it away.

“I wish you had let me know about how he was treating you though. Maybe next time think twice about letting the office gossip talk you into playing match maker and distracting you from a situation that’s going south.” Steve voices with a pointed expression.

Crap, Busted.

“What? How?” Peter’s flabbergasted at being caught out. “… gahh I’m sorry Steve. I was just trying to distract you from the whole Fisk vs Stark situation. Everyone was pretty concerned about you and your friends just want you to be happy. With Sam and Bucky tying the knot soon and Tony planning to propose tonight and-”

“Ummm ....What?” Steve interrupts, eyes blown up to the size of ping pong balls and looking at Peter as if the intern just grew a second head.

Peter backtracks and thinks about where he could have lost Steve.

“Oh yeah, I saw him put the ring in his pocket just a moment ago. He’s surely going to ask the question tonight!”

Steve doesn’t answer. If anything Peter notices the blonde has gone an unflattering shade of green.

Peter mentally kicks himself. Steve and Tony just seemed to be finding some common ground and this could cause them to go right back where they started. Steve must have a big problem with the idea of Jess and Tony together. This might even make a larger rift than before. Peter decides he better try and convince Steve that this will be a good thing for the company.

“Look, I know you think it’s too soon but Tony has worked so hard the last couple weeks Steve.” Peter babbles as encouragingly as he can. “Don’t you think that if someone makes him happy that he should be able to have them there by his side.”

“Ring? Too soon? Happy? His side? What?” Steve keeps spouting words, his body starts twitching in a way that reminds Peter of some kind of stroke.
Peter is now feeling very concerned for the blonde. He didn’t expect this intense a reaction.
The man seems to give up trying to respond to Peter’s question and just hurrys off to the toilets, leaving Peter rubbing at his forehead and watching Steve go in despair.

“Parker, you really are a bit of an idiot”

FUCK!
Now Peter’s really screwed up. Shoulders hunched up round his ears, Peter peeks over his shoulder, praying he won’t see who thinks he will behind him. Of course, no such luck for a Parker.

“Shit, Jess. Oh no, I’ve spoiled it. I didn’t know you were there. Please don’t tell Tony! Forget everything I said about a ring okay? Forget I even said anything at all! You didn’t hear a word from me.”Peter spills out as quickly as he can, not allowing himself to even take a breath.

“Peter, how over the last week have you observed Steve’s morning coffee runs, Steve’s sketch book, even crashed one of Steve’s dates and you’ve still not figured it out? I’m starting to think you are being purposely obtuse”

Peter frowns, feeling confused. He knows he’s already created quite the mess though so he refrains from saying anything further. Jess blinks at him expectantly.

“You are a lost cause” She bites out and walks away in a sour mood.

“Fuck, she’s right! I am a lost cause.” Peter repeats to himself downheartedly.

“I would have to say the contrary, I came over to let you know you’ve proven to be a worthy man over the last week, Peter. In my eyes anyway.” T’challa ducks into Peter’s view.

“Thanks but there’s no need to go easy on me. This is the fourth or fifth time this week I’ve managed to hurt someone unintentionally.”

“Peter, all I’ve witnessed is a guy trying to help brighten the workplace up from the cloud Fisk has been causing over this magazine for the last couple of years. Yeah, maybe every scheme of yours hasn’t gone right but all your intentions have been good. You have the heart of a king, my friend.”

“Um wow. Thanks” The tightness in Peter’s chest loosens slightly from the praise. Tchalla grins in return.

“Have I told you how much you remind me of my sister? Make sure I introduce you one day. She would never forgive me if she thought I was keeping the two of you separate.” T’challa chuckles, gives Peter a friendly slap on the arm before moving off towards where Stark and Rhodes headed.

Feeling chuffed but still slightly ashamed that he ruined Tony and Jess’s moment, Peter heads over to where Luke is chatting to a few of the others.

“Oh good!” Clint exclaims when Peter comes in his eye line “One final get Steve’s-head-out-of-his-ass team meeting?”

Peter waves Clint off. “No. I think that ship may have sailed.” He turns over to Sam and Bucky and resigns himself to his fate, dramatically bringing the back of his hand to his forehead “You are right. Your boy is a hopeless case. Do your worst.”

Sam is basically buzzing with glee “Oh don’t worry. Come Monday, you are in for the biggest mound of paperwork you’ve ever seen.”

Peter whines a little but silently thanks god that it’s not something that will involve rats.

“I don’t know how everything went so wrong. My list of suggestion were a stroke of genius.”

Logan chucks Clint a displeased glare. “Mmm, there was our first mistake. They were your suggestions.”

“Like you could have come up with something better Logan”

“Clint, lets be honest. Preschoolers could have come up with something better” Peter quips

“Then why did you all go along with them?” Clint challenges.

“You were so excited we couldn’t tell you no. It would be like shooting a small dog.” Sam says with a smile.

“Ah and once again the joke is on me. Should have seen it bloody coming. I’m a glutton for punishment and you are all enablers.”

“Hey, no gossiping without me” Someone yells from behind them.

The group steps aside to make room for Jones as she pulls another guy in with her.

“Oh Peter, I don’t think you’ve met my friend Danny. He’s one of Marvels’ freelance photographers.” Luke says motioning to the lean man next to his girlfriend.

The man greets Peter and reaches out to shake his hand. Peter accepts and returns the greeting while taking in the man’s long blonde hair and eyebrow piercing. The gears in his brains scream to a halt. He points at the man and slowly turns back to the couple beside him.

“Umm... Danny with the eyebrow and nipple piercing?”

Bucky gives Peter a strange look “Yeah?”

“Danny as in Daniel? Not Danielle?”

The pair are now looking at Peter as if he’s speaking another language.

“Where are you going with this short fry?” Sam asks wearily.

“Ughhh nowhere. I just …. I ignorantly thought when you had mentioned Danny that you were talking about a Danielle. I hadn’t realised Steve was also interested in guys. Not that that’s an issue! I’m just realising, as Jess has pointed out to me VERY recently, that I AM awfully obtuse on occasion.” Peter explains, feeling slightly stupid.

Everyone is silent for a moment.

“Uhhh but weren’t you... didn’t you... Peter! We all thought you were aware of that...?” Clint says slowly.

Peter feels his heart stop.

“What?!”

Jones boggles at him. “If you didn’t know, who have you been trying to hook Steve up with?”

Peter tries to clear the back of his throat but his mouth has gone completely dry.

“Who did you think I was trying to hook him up with?”

“T’challa!” the group yell at him in unison.

Peter mulls over how they had come to that misunderstanding and finds that weirdly, the man had been Pepper’s shadow all week. What a bizarre coincidence.

“Peter?” Luke demands lowly, tone implying that it was time for the intern to explain himself.

“Oh, alright. I screwed up. I was misinformed. Anyone could have made this mistake.” Peter insists.

“Go on kid. Tell us. I have a feeling this is going to be good.” Logan says, an excited smirk on his stupid face.

“… I thought Steve had a thing for Pepper.” Peter cringes, waiting for the fallout.

Nobody moves. They all just stare at him in horror. It’s about now that Peter needs the ability to turn invisible because he wants to be anywhere but here.

“Peter. Pepper and Happy have been married for years now.” Luke informs carefully, in a tone that one would usually use when talking to a five-year-old.

“Oh fuck.” Peter groans. How on earth was he so misinformed? The stupid Marvels rumour mill is faster than Hollywood’s wild west yet he hadn’t known any of this. Was it even possible for him to be so unaware of it all?

“Pepper doesn’t wear a ring?”

“Yeah, because some stupid businessmen take single women more seriously. Dumb that she has to deal with that, but it’s a basis Pepper tries to avoid so her playing field isn’t disadvantaged. I think Happy and Pepper had special chains made instead to show their commitment to each other” Jones explains while Peter’s stomach really starts to churn.

The thing is Peter hadn’t just relied on the rumour mill for this either. He had done his own recon. He had watched Steve very closely those first couple days and the man had seemed to spend every moment finding ways to go spend time up at Pepper’s office floor. Steve’s crush came across bigger than Ben Hurr. This didn’t make any sense!

Peter suddenly hears Jess’s voice in the back of his head.

You still haven’t figured it out. You are a lost cause.

Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle Peter didn’t even realise he’d been trying to solve start flying together at a rapid pace. Almost faster than his brain can keep up with.

Steve was always trying to make his way up to Pepper and Tony’s office level. And he was always doing over-time to help with extra tasks that were swamping Pepper and Tony. And he had jumped at the chance to help Pepper organise Tony’s birthday celebrations AND he was constantly shouting his praises at how well Tony and Pepper ran the magazine.

If Steve didn’t have a crush on Pepper and one takes her out of the equation that leaves us with…. Oh shit!

“STEVE HAS A CRUSH ON STARK!” Peter squeals, unable to contain the secret he has just stumbled upon. A variety of facial expressions follow Peter’s outburst.

“Don’t be sil-” Jones starts.

“Well duh!” Bucky states

“Oh absolutely” Clint snorts.

“No kidding” Logan grunts.

“Wait, really?” Luke seems caught off guard as Sam scuffs his partner on the back of the head.

“I thought he was over that!” he says accusatory.

The conversation continues but Peter is falling down a deeper, darker hole as the mental puzzle is drawing to completion.

Peter just raved about how great Jess was for Tony in front of a man that also has feelings for Tony -Piece slots in- He accidentally implied how all Steve’s friends were happily in love while Steve’s crush is unrequited, – Another piece - He been spending the last couple of weeks loudly stating to Steve that everything the blonde does upsets or hurts the boss more often than not, – Third piece – Peter just told Steve that the guy he has a huge thing for was planning to ask somebody else to marry them tonight and that everyone, including Steve himself, was going to have to watch – And as that last piece slots in, Peter sees from the final product that it’s not Fisk that is the jackass of Marvels Magazine.
It’s the one and only Peter Parker.

“Oh Peter, You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Jones comes over to comfort him “Don’t stress, it’s a harmless misunderstanding.”

Peter shakes his head in disagreement “I’ve fucked up. Royally fucked up. I’ve made all the mistakes.”

“I think he’s actually broken.” Sam says, a little worry lacing his voice.

“Here, get him to drink this. That’ll liven him back up” Clint says, handing Luke a glass. Luke puts the drink in Peter’s hands and helps guide the glass to his mouth.

“Andddd I’m drinking whisky again even though I specifically said I was done drinking whisky.” Peter moans quietly.

“Peter, whatever it is I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.” Bucky suggests, trying to calm the intern down.

Peter isn’t so sure. He thinks again of Steve’s face when the blonde had realised the love of his life is about to propose to somebody else. He basically broke the poor man’s heart.

“Excuse me, I need to call my girlfriend.” Peter makes a dash for the smoker's area. Not looking anyone in the eye as he passes.

Just before he exits out the door he manages to catch Logan saying with amusement “I enjoyed that. Good meeting.”

The dick.

Once safely outside Peter frantically pulls out his phone from his pocket and dials.

“Hi Tiger! How’s the party going?”

“MJ, I’ve truly done it this time. I’m pretty sure nobody could manage to screw up as much as I just did.” Peter’s chest is extremely tight and his breath is coming out in short pants.

“Whoa Peter, slow down. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

Peter pauses and follows the instructions, bringing his panic back down to a minim. He then launches into an explanation of what’s gone down in the last hour, Mj humming every now and then to show she’s following. By the time he finishes, his face is bright red and mortified all over again by his stupidity.

“Oh Peter. And here I was afraid that when I went away you wouldn’t need me anymore. It’s a good thing I love you because I swear, only you.”

“I know. Sighhh. So you can see my evening is going pretty badly right now.”

“And it’s about to get worse, Parker.” A sinister voice comes from the other side of the patio.

Of course it is. This is Peter Parker’s life after all.

Jerking his head towards the voice Peter watches Fisk literally slide – Full on slink actually - out from the shadows. Like a goddamn super-villain!

“Hey hon, thanks for listening to my sorrows but I’m going to have to call you back.” Hanging up the phone once MJ has finished sending kisses down the line, Peter directs his attention to the man in front of him. “Willie, that literally made you into such a creep. Way to be a cliché.”

“What a stroke of luck that I would run into your pathetic ass out here. Couldn’t have planned it out better if I tried.” Fisk says with a seedy smile

“Pathetic? Congratulations Willie. You have reached a new record. You’ve officially underestimated me 100 percent of the time. That’s how we ended up here, remember?”

“That’s it go ahead and brag all you want. You aren’t going to get one up on me again kid.”

Peter can almost see the crazy coming out of the larger man’s eyes. He shouldn’t rile the guy up. If Peter had learned anything from the last few days it's that. Peter, however, is also known for pushing his luck.

“Oh, I’ve done something worse than that. I’ve beaten you, Fisk. Where can you even go from here? You’ve been disgraced. No one is going to want to work with you after they hear about what has gone down at Marvels.”

“Maybe. But I don’t plan to go down without a final bang.”

“What are you going to do? Shoot me?”

Fisk only smirks and then the dick pulls out an actual gun and points it at the intern. Peter yelps, his mind spinning at a rate of knots.

“WTF. Are you crazy? You cannot be actually that insane right now? How is shooting up the place going to make your position any better?” Peter reasons, hands up in the air and suddenly very aware of how one wrong move could be his last.

“When you take everything away from a desperate man Parker, he suddenly has nothing to lose. And revenge is my only aim now. We are going to head back inside. I have some old friend’s I think need to be informed of my arrival.” Fisk flicks the gun in the direction of the door and guides Peter back into the ballroom.

“Far out. This is the worst sleepover ever.” Peter says quietly under his breath, scared witless and unable to see a way out from this insane situation.

Back inside, Peter finds that Tony has already begun the speech the company has been anxiously waiting for. With all eyes on the boss, nobody notice’s that two people are coming in from the patio rather than just one.

“And so let’s all congratulate Ms Potts on officially becoming Marvels new editor-in-chief!”

The crowd goes wild from that announcement. Peter wishes he could celebrate along with everybody else but didn’t dare make any sudden movements with the gun still in Fisk’s hands.

“as I said before thank you again everyone for coming tonight.” Tony was standing tall with a glass of sparkling in his hand, looking out proudly at the gathering in front of him while Pepper is standing off to the side and eyeing him as if bracing for impact. “I’m grateful to have come in contact with each and everyone of you. Especially the amazing people I’m lucky enough to have as employees. You’ve made this transition after my father’s passing alot easier. And though I’ve never needed anyone to help me build this company, being lucky enough to have you all here has been the greatest privilege.”

Tony stops for a second, whether for dramatic effect or because he was making sure he worded what he’s going to say next perfectly, Peter wasn’t sure.

Fisk had managed to manoeuvre them so they were almost at the middle of the room now. Peter is trying to figure out if he can get a warning to someone without making this any worse.

“I’m not used to relying on people.” Tony continues, oblivious to impending disaster. “I’ve spent most of my earlier years telling myself I had to do everything on my own. Had a strong sense of independence instilled in me since I was a child. So learning to share burdens and goals has been a big journey for me. Through this last year though, I’ve come to see that I was wrong, I do need someone. And not a miracle worker or my own personal superhero. Nothing so magnificent and every bit more valuable. In fact, it turned out all I needed was someone from Brooklyn and some-“

“Wow Stark, didn’t realise you’d miss me so much. Your father was right. You are getting soft.” Fisk yells, waving the gun a little to gain everyone’s attention.
He then points it straight back on Peter’s back to keep him moving forward towards the stage, the crowd desperately jumping out the way while making sounds of alarm.

Tony Stark assesses the mess in front of him before promptly diverting Fisk’s attention back into himself. His eyes only showing his alarm for a split second.

“Fisk! It’s hard to miss you if you’ve never actually gone.” He says shortly, raising an eyebrow at the lunatic behind Peter’s back.

“Well, I didn’t like the idea of the company, that I single-handed helped your father grow, was celebrating without me. Thought I’d better drop in for a visit. You’re going to listen to me very carefully Stark or this kid is going to become a bug under my shoe.”

Peter’s levels of panic are at an all-time high again. He can feel a cold sweat running down the back of his neck and is desperately trying to keep breathing in order to stop himself from doing something life-threatening- like fainting.

“I don’t believe you have the guts to actually use that thing, Wilson. I’ve known you for a very long time, remember?” Tony dismisses.

“Oh yeah?” Fisk says in a sinister tone, then without hesitation, he aims the gun just above Peter’s head and fires a shot at the wall next to Tony. A bullet ripping through the painting in its way. “That’s going to be your only warning.”

Peter wants to scream but his throat seems to be incapable of making any noise. Many other guest scream for him though.

Tony observes the painting with a scowl. Not shaken in the slightest by the shot that was aimed just beside his head.

“Hey! I liked this painting.” Tony scolds “If you knew how much this painting cost you might actually cry.”

“ENOUGH GAMES, STARK.”

Tony still doesn’t take the bait and continues to glare down the gunman who is threatening his party’s guests. Peter is almost in awe at the control the boss is showing.

Then out of the corner of his eye, the intern notices two figures moving slowly through the crowd. Oh thank fuck.

As Peter identifies that it’s Steve and Happy coming towards them, he cottons on to what Tony is doing.

He’s making himself a distraction, Peter thinks, he’s hoping if he can keep Fisk’s attention on him long enough either Happy of Steve can do something to disarm the man.

Peter isn’t the only one to notice the movement though. Fisk’s eye line begins to move in the direction of the two men as Peter watches in horror. Knowing he needs to do something if they had any chance of everyone making it out of here unscathed, Peter turns and scowls at the man behind him.

“Are you stupid or are you really really stupid? This has got to be your dumbest idea yet.”

Fisk bristles immediately, reverting all his hatred back onto the intern in front of him.

“Excuse me?”

“Minion asked if you were stupid, Fisk. Seemed like a simple question to me.”

Fisk’s face is now as red as a firetruck. Being ganged up on may have been one step too many for the gun holder because something in his beady little eyes snaps. Pushing Peter out of the way the man grins an awful menacing smile and fires directly at Tony Stark’s chest.

“That’ll be the last time you ever call me stupid.”

As the noise comes from the end of the gun everything in the room kind of slows down. Peter, having had all the wind knocked out of him, reaches out towards his boss. He knows there is nothing he can do from the floor, but desperately needs to prevent what is about to happen. Tony’s body flinches up and a look of surprise morphs into horror when he realises what Fisk has done.

Dammit. Peter wants to shut his eyes but can’t look away. His head screaming for somebody to do something. Anything. The entire ballroom gasp together in unison.

And then, out of nowhere, a flash of blonde passes in front of Tony’s horrified face, and a pained grunt follows the blonde blur. Time returns to normal and Tony is still standing there, completely unharmed.

“No!” Fisk screams as Jess makes a grab at Wilson, knocking the gun clean from his hand and one of Pepper’s heels pistol from across the room, knocking the dick clean in the head and causing him to fall to his knees.

Peter stares. “Oh my god, did I just get saved by two girls? AWESOME!” his brain still flooded with fight or flight hormones causing his mouth to babble uncontrollably. It would have continued going if he wasn’t cut off by another scream.

“HOLY SHIT! STEVE!”

Peter turns back around and sees both Happy and Tony hunched over the top of a body that Peter has now connected with the blonde flash that had gotten in the way of the bullet intended for Tony.

Steve is huddled in pain as Tony grabs at the man and pulls him into his lap, stroking at his hair and whispering small encouragements into the injured man’s ear.

“The bullet went clean through his shoulder. However, it looks like he’s going into shock. T’challa. We need the ambulance now!” Happy directs to the man that is already on the phone giving directions and a rundown of the craziness that has just occurred.

“Shhhh sweetheart, it’s okay. You were so brave. I need you to keep breathing. You’re going to be okay. You stupid stupid man, I’m so fucking proud of you.” Tony hums out to Steve soothingly. “You are never allowed to do that again. What were you thinking? What if I had lost you?”

“Worth it.” Steve grunts out “Protecting you.”

“No. That isn’t worth it, Steve. You are more important. Now stay awake until Pink Panther gets you some help.”

“You are important too.” Steve is still trying to grunt out, all while Tony shushes and fusses over him “You give me a purpose, somewhere to belong…..” The blonde’s eyes are starting to droop now. Tony’s face becomes tighter but his voice stays steady and soft as he comforts Steve.

“Shh come on, stay with me. I don’t know if I can do this without you.”

Happy and the rest of the security pick up Fisk after Jess gives the douche one final glare. They drag him outside to wait for the police while the rest of the guests hover around, wanting to make sure Steve is okay but not wanting to get in the way.

As they all wait for the ambulance to arrive Tony continues to cradle Steve tight against his chest and touches Steve incessantly. Rubs circles into Steve’s back, holds one of Steve’s hand and every now and then gives it a little squeeze, strokes and plays with the hair that falls over the top of Steve’s forehead. The longer Peter watches the more he wants to freak out, sharing the boss’s worries that the blonde is more injured than Happy first suggested.

Then the brunette slowly leans down and presses a soft kiss onto the middle of Steve’s forehead.

Peter lets out a quiet stunned breath at the gesture. Just like that, he understood something he hadn’t before. One more piece of that jigsaw puzzle, a piece he hadn’t known he was missing.

Perpetually single Steve was not as single as he led everyone to believe. He had someone after all. And that someone was none other than the boss. Holy shit, they are together-together.

Peter’s brain feels like it is exploding.

Peter paces impatiently until help arrives at the building and Tony pulls Steve up around his shoulders to help the man into the vehicle.

Watching on only confirms Peter’s new insight. As worried and concerned everyone else in the room is for Steve, Tony is almost beside himself. No one is able to tear Steve away from the boss’s protective embrace. Not even the paramedics, who are trying to help, can get Stark to leave the blonde’s side, instead compromising by bringing Tony along with them as they bundle Steve into the back of the van.

Peter looks around, trying to gauge whether this had been some kind of sick prank the office had collectively played on him. But the faces of his friends and coworkers are equally as shocked as he is at the sight in front of them. Nobody was aware this relationship was happening.

They watch the ambulance pull away and Peter finally slumps over to Luke and Jones, falling into both their sides and allowing himself to finally feel the emotional roller coaster he had just been through. Both Luke and Jones rub his back, letting him use them as support as his body starts to shake like a leaf.

“Well, that was a night of surprises.” Sam states.

“When Tony promises a big announcement he certainly delivers” Jones agrees.

“Fuck. Who would have thought?” Clint observes, sounding slightly breathless.

“Reckon Stark’s going to forgive you when he realises that you were trying to set up his man with one of his best friends?” Luke says sympathetically.

Peter, too tired to feel anything further, just mumbles something along the lines of “Probably not. It was nice knowing you guys.” Pushing any thought of the velvet ring box out of his mind.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peter finds himself standing outside Steve’s apartment a couple of days later. He hovers outside the door, shuffling back and forth, unsure how he is going to be received.
Maybe he should have texted ahead? Checked that it was okay to come by.

The front door is thrown open before Peter has had a chance to make up his mind and Tony Stark is glancing at Peter, eyes narrowed.

“Kid, if you don’t get your ass in here and stop pacing back and forth, I’m going to personally add all of Pepper’s files to the pile of paper work Sam and Bucky left for you.”

“Tony, be nice. Peter went through just as a traumatic experience as we did the other night.” a voice calls from within the lounge room as Peter follows Tony in.

“But somehow you were the only one who ended up bleeding out on the floor.” Tony scolds, already back over by Steve’s side and taking his hand.

Steve is sitting on the couch, leaning against an arrangement of propped up pillows. He looks healthy and comfortable in comparison to Tony, whose dishevelled state gives away just how out of his mind with worry he has been over Steve’s injury.

When Tony looks at the Steve though his face becomes a goofy smile instead of the usual scowl Peter would have expected.

The intern has never seen the boss smile like that before before. Thinking about it, Peter realises it’s his first time seeing the Tony grin with no cynicism at the edges of his eyes. Happiness is a good look on the man, Peter notes absently.

“Hey Steve, I just wanted to come by to see how you are doing.” Peter says tentatively.

Steve sends back a half smile “Good as new! My shoulder is all sown up and I should be able to come back to work soon.”

“Liar” Tony quips “you have heaps of bed rest ahead of you. Stop kidding yourself beloved”

Peter bobs his head, not meeting the eyes of either of the men in front of him, still completely embarrassed by the shenanigans he had coordinated the office to pull on the blonde.

“Pete, I’m not sure if anyone has told you this yet. But you were very brave the other day.” Peter looks up to see Steve staring at him with high regard. “Foolish, but brave. Thanks for helping Tony distract Fisk. Next time run like the wind when someone pulls a gun out.”

That causes Peter to snort “That’s more than I deserve coming from you, Steve. I should be apologising for how much of a mess I made of everything the other night.”

“Pete, you’re being a bit hard on yourself.” Tony stipulates “It’s not like you convinced Fisk to come by with a gun to my birthday celebrations.”

“That’s not what Peter is talking about Honey.” Steve says, rubbing the brunette’s arm.

“No, actually I should be apologising to you as well Mr Stark” Peter starts.

“Hey! I thought we’d moved past that point now spiderboy. I’m only answering to Tony from you and nothing else.” Tony interrupts.

“Okay, okay. Tony! … Tony, I’m really sorry I was trying to hook your boyfriend up with Pepper.”

Tony’s eyes pop out of his head. “YOU WHAT?”

Steve, the bastard just sits there and silently snickers at the brunette’s reaction while Peter cringes at the boss’s expression, unable to find the words to explain himself.

“Why would you be trying...? Wait-but what the?”

“The office apparently thought I was lonely, Hon.” Steve informs “They didn’t like thinking about how they all have somebody to go home to and I didn’t. It’s actually kind of sweet when you think about it.”

“That’s all well and good. BUT YOU DO HAVE SOMEBODY! YOU’RE TAKEN! BY ME!” Tony is shouting now.

”You can’t hold that against them when WE hadn’t made them aware of that fact, sweetheart.”

“Watch me”

“Um... Why did you guys keep it a secret?” Peter injects quietly.

“He’s my boss” Steve puts simply.

Peter still gives Steve a very confused look.

“I don’t understand. There’s no rule against work place relationships at Marvels and I doubt anyone would have objected.”

“Office relationships are tricky, Peter. At first we didn’t want to advertise our relationship in case we didn’t last. We needed time to figure out if this was going to be a serious thing, so it made more sense to keep it to ourselves” Steve explains while Tony is sending off text after text at a mile a minute. “People already treated being around the two of us like they were in a war zone thanks to our rather infamous and explosive beginning at the company. Could you imagine how much more complicated everyone’s dynamic with us would have been if they knew we were trying out a relationship? And if that relationship hadn’t lasted?”

“So the animosity wasn’t just for show?”

Steve smiles a private smile as he looks back over at Tony “God no. We were like oil taking to water when we first started working together. Always wanting to yip when the other yapped. Desperately wanting to dislike each other but being unable to keep ourselves away from the other, always being drawn back in.”

Steve pauses for a moment, his smile distant as Peter waits, intrigued by the tale.

“As time went on our feelings change and change some more as we both let go of our prejudices. But when we got together we didn’t tell anyone, well except Rhodey – Tony is incapable of keeping a secret from Rhodes. Once we had been dating for a while we decided we probably didn’t need to keep it a secret any longer but shockingly found that no one seemed to be able to tell the difference between us as frenemies and us in a relationship. Then it stupidly became a little bit of a game. How far we could get away with our behaviour before someone called us out on it?”

Peter’s jaw drops. Steve and Tony hadn’t even been trying to keep their relationship a secret and still no one figured it out. The marvel rumour mill is going to flip, Clint might even break something.

“LOGAN JUST CONFIRMED THAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN TRYING TO HOOK YOU UP ALL MONTH.” Tony smacks the blonde next to him lightly “AND YOU TOTALLY KNEW DIDN’T YOU, YOU SCOUNDREL!? How could you not tell me?”

“I thought you knew, sweetheart?” Steve shrugs, a sheepish grin growing on his face.

“I did know!” Tony sulks contrarily,

“You did not. Logan just told you”

“I probably knew it before you. I could tell everyone in the office was acting fishy”

“Dumbass” And the blonde says it the same way he always has but Peter hears what he’d never been able to identify before. The warmth and fondness that flowered Steve’s tone was hard to miss now. Especially when accompanied with the action of Steve pulling the boss in to kiss him on the forehead.

“They’re idiots! We were the least subtle we’ve ever been the last few weeks. Rhodey has been whining to me that if we didn’t pull it back a little he is going to poke his eyes out.”

“Are you going to tell everyone now?” Peters asks

“I’m sure it’s made it’s way around the company by this stage, not much point keeping it ourselves now.” Steve guesses.

“Or we can amp the game up even further. Rhodey be damned.” Tony says, mischief lighting his blue eyes up.

“Yeah? There’s only so much further we can go. You want me to run my hand through your tangled hair and kiss you hard and heavy in front of the whole company do you?”

“My hair is not tangled!” Tony retorts,

“Oh? What would you call it then?” Steve raises an eyebrow, looking smug at the bird nest in front of him.

“I think you’ll find it’s windswept!” Tony growls a little but there is a pleasant smile on his face.

Steve doesn’t answer further and rather places his hand on the side of Tony’s face and pecks him on the lips to placate him. Pulling back, Steve gazes at Tony with a dazzling smile on his face and Tony is looking close to falling over from the wake of being caught in it.

Other than the ending, the scene is a familiar one to Peter and he starts to internally count how many times he’s seen the pair behave this way in front of him before. With this comes a few discoveries.

He now realised that Steve and Tony tease each other all the time because they are each others opposite, they are attracted to the challenge the other presents. To put it bluntly, the two of them have been giving each other bedroom eyes in front of the company since Peter started at Marvels.

That thought has Peter rather grossed out.

“You two are good for each other.” Peter says against his better judgement, mumbling as tries to explain what he means. “You fit…. You know?”

“Yeah” Tony says, as he strokes the hair at the nape of Steve’s neck gently “We’d like to think so.”

“That is, if you ignore the drool I sometimes wake up to in the morning on my shoulder, the jury is still out on that front.” Tony continues with a smirk, still trying to get a rise out of the blonde next to him.
Peter wants to bury his head in the sand now that he can see how it is actually a form of foreplay.

“I do not drool, Tony” Steve glowers.

“Oh just like you don’t snore huh?”

“Exactly, I’m glad we are on the same page.” Steve agrees and then nods his head in a way as if to say he has won that argument.

The pair were hopeless, pretty much ignorant to the rest of the world outside their own as they continue to squabble. But they were a good kind of hopeless. The kind of hopeless Peter knows he and MJ are when they are together. The kind that clearly care about one another deeply and only want to make the other happy.

“I’m sorry again for anything I might have ruined. Coming in between you both was a big mistake.” Peter looks down at his feet, his mind still seeing Steve’s look of shock at the mention of the velvet box. “Even with things like your disagreement about Fisk. If I hadn’t gotten involved maybe you two wouldn’t have fought about it as much.”

“Hey! No. Pete that had nothing to do with you. We shouldn’t have kept this quiet as long as we did. That was all our own hang ups.” Tony reassures “I was keeping details about the situation to myself because I didn’t want extra stress on Steve’s shoulders. Then when he kept pushing to be more involved, I got all insecure and thought he didn’t trust me to be able to handle everything myself, like how my father never had. See nothing to do with you.”

“And I was suspicious as to why Tony felt he had to keep things from me” Steve adds “He was spending so much time with Jess and wouldn’t tell me why. Once he convinced me it wasn’t because of Fisk, I stupidly thought Tony wasn’t taking Fisk’s behaviour seriously enough and was going to condone that kind of conduct like his father had.”

“To be fair, I clearly didn’t take Fisk seriously enough otherwise you wouldn’t have been lying in a hospital bed that night if I had.” Tony admits, guilt clear in his features.

“Don’t be silly. Nobody could have predicted Fisk would have that violent a reaction and everything you did with the espionage case was handled to the letter. Nobody could have done that as well as you did sweetheart.”

“But he still ended up being one step ahead of me Steven! And I almost lost you because of it. What if I had lost you honey?” Tony says, as close to panicking as Peter has ever seen him.

“Tony calm down! It’s okay. I’m here and I love you.”

Steve wraps himself around the brunette and Tony’s whole body slumps, like he’s been let out like a balloon. He turns back to the blonde slightly and tucks a strand of blonde hair behind his ear.

“I’m sorry, Steve. But I don’t plan on doing this without you by my side….. I really didn’t love it when a bullet went through your chest.”

“That was almost the most romantic thing you’ve ever said until you ruined it at the end there” Steve says, perplexed at the image Tony is making. “Beside it was my shoulder, no need to be so dramatic.”

“I’m serious, beloved” Tony careful unwinds himself from Steve’s arms so he can stand in front of him. “I’m not half as good at anything as I am when next to you.”

Peter stares at Tony because the remark is dripping with intent. He wants to fade into the wall, feeling like he is now invading in on a private moment.

The boss then looks back at Peter and tilts his head, indicating that it was time for the intern to go. Peter says his goodbyes, receiving friendly waves from the pair as he leaves the room.
However, he sneaks one glance back at the couple on the way out and sees Tony shuffle forward into Steve’s personal space. The boss’s right hand is clutching around a velvet box that is hidden behind his back. As Tony leans forward the blonde looks up lovingly, surging up to have their lips met half way all the while none the wiser to the surprise ahead of him.

Peter secretly smiles as he walks away. He’s glad to be leaving with the feeling that everything is going to work itself out after all.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“Cheers to the sneaky love birds” Clint cries, exuberant. Hands holding glasses all raise, following along with Clint in joyful agreement and shouting cheerfully at Steve and Tony. The couple nod at their friend’s in thanks and then return back to each other, obviously enjoying the fact that they are able to engage in showing one another attention in the presence of company.

“And thank god they are no longer acting like their heads are stuck up their asses.” Logan adds, lips tugging upwards as the pair turn and glare at him.

Peter leans back in his chair happily as he watches the coworkers he now considers his friends, commemorate the newly engaged couple.

It’s been weeks since the Fisk incident occurred and Marvels has settled back into a routine. The group, especially Bucky, Sam, Clint and Pepper had all scolded Steve and Tony for lying to them for months and then had immediately moved on to teasing and congratulating the couple on how adorable they were together. Once Steve finally revealed the ring, the group insisted they have to have a night at Josie’s to celebrate.

So now Peter finds himself sitting with Luke and Jones watching the senior’s of the company go to town, ribbing at their coworker and boss.

“Being the good friend that I am, I thought I should let you know what your apparent partner thinks of you.”Sam says slyly “Last week he called you a pretend boy scout who is actually an understated asshole.”

“Really? How terrible.” Steve replies, his voice as dry as dust, making it clear he’s not taking anything his friend’s say seriously.

“I could have you demoted in a heart beat Sam-I-Am. Don’t try me.” Tony says smugly.

“I still don’t understand why you kept this a secret?” Clint grumbles “We all knew you both had hard ons the size of Jupiter for each other”

Tony bunches up a napkin and attempts to throw it at the man “Classy”

Clint ducks and continues “It’s true! We just thought you were both too stubborn to ever manage confessing those hard ons to each other.” He ducks again as Tony lobs another napkin his way.

“I actually didn’t know, but it makes sense now that I've seen it. You compliment each other. Steve slows Tony’s thoughts and settles him down and Tony loosens Steve up and prevents him from being too serious or fixated by work. It’s kinda adorable.” Luke dissects as he sips his beer.

Peter flips out “THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE OTHER DAY!”

Steve appears quite chuffed by Luke’s compliments while Tony seems to be debating on whether or not to be upset about being called adorable.

“I still can’t believe you managed to keep each other secret for… how long did you say it was?” Jones asks.

“Three years” Steve replies sheepishly.

“I should have bloody known, the jerk has always worn his heart on his sleeve when it came his feelings about Tony. How did I not figure out it was more than wistful pining?” Bucky complains “Steve has always been the sneakiest of shits.”

“I should have known!” Pepper rubs a hand at her temple “I was Tony’s walking talking planner there for a while. He couldn't wipe his bum without me knowing. I have no idea how he pulled this off. Extremely disappointed in myself!”

“Hey! Nobody gets to talk about my crazy talented newly stated Editor-in-Chief that way” Tony states while batting at her arm a little. “You’ve had a ton on your plate over the last year or so Pep. That’s why we had T’challa around remember! So you didn’t have to handle this promotion transition by yourself and I was still able to put all my focus on the problem called Wilson Fisk. Definitely no time to unravel any of my love life along with all that.”

Pepper gives off a half smile but still doesn’t look convinced.

“And lets be honest” Steve adds “Fisk is lucky to have had this all go down before your promotion was announced because you are a much more dangerous enemy to go up against than Mr Softie over here.”

Tony squawks at the statement as Steve nudges his side affectionately “You are completely ruining my image here sweetheart.” Steve just rolls his eyes and messes with the front of Tony’s meticulously groomed hair making the boss whine further.

Peter and the rest of the group chuckle at the pairs antics.

Pepper’s smile looks more genuine as she answers “Flattery will get you everywhere Steve. I may forgive your deceitful ploy yet.”

“And me?” Tony asks hopefully.

Pepper’s smile takes a shark like edge. “Not on your life Tony. I have plans for you.”

Tony’s face whitens “Pep no! Please be kind.”

“I’ve had to put up with your lovestruck behaviour for years, none the wiser on why you’ve been acting like more of a space cadet than usual. The last thing you deserve is kind.”

Steve smiles triumphantly “Lovestruck huh?”

Tony ducks his head, a little bashful.

“Yeah yeah, we are all surprised.”

“You don’t know what you are talking bout people.” Rhodey says as he pops open another pistachio. “Not knowing would have been a blessing. Some of the things I've seen I will never unsee”

“You loved everything you saw, sourpuss. Don’t lie to us” Tony teases.

“Absolutely not. The only good thing out of this is the fact that I’m now getting 12 percent of the company. And after the bullshit you both started pulling in these last few weeks, I’m in good mind to raise it up to 20”

Peter remembers back to the day with the drawing and shudders, searching for any reason to divert the conversation. His eyes fall on Steve, who isn’t looking as flustered as Peter had assumed he’d be, more specifically it falls on his hands.

“Steve, can we see the ring again?” Peter offers quickly.

Steve’s face lights up as he holds out his left hand. It’s sleek simply gold band with the inscription you’ll always have a home running along the inside. It screams Steve Rogers.

“It’s perfect. I am about to be the luckiest guy on the planet.” Steve looks at Tony warmly, pressing a kiss at the boss’s hairline.

Bucky snorts “Dork”

“No way! I think you’d find people saying I’m the lucky one in this relationship.” Tony says, his voice firm.

Steve stares at Tony like he’s losing his mind “We are about to have a rather large disagreement, I hate to argue this with you sweetheart but it’s something I feel I have to stand firm in.” He then lifts Tony’s hand to place a kiss on the brunette’s knuckle, stopping the boss’s argument in it’s tracks.

“Ughh I changed my mind. Let’s go back to the secret thing” Clint’s nose crinkles as he looks at the pair with pretend disdain. “I’m not going to handle this sicken behaviour on top of my normal workload.”

Peter throws a crumpled napkin this time and, unbelievably, it hits the side of Clint’s head.

Tony gaps at Peter in shock, disbelief in his eyes. Peter goes to brag but notices Clint’s eye become daggers directed at Tony.

“You’re going to regret that, Stark.”

Tony shakes his head in denial while pointing frantically at Peter. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It was minion.”

Clint menacingly turns to Peter “Is that true?”

“I mean I am his minion” Peter answers causally, with a shrug.

“Point?”

“It’s technically still his fault….”

Clint’s eyes darken with glee “Good point.” Clint then starts pelting empty nut shells at the boss with terrifying accuracy.

Tony squirms and throws his hands up to protect himself, unable to run away thanks to the arm belonging to Steve Rogers wrapped tightly around the brunette’s waist.

“Oops Tony. Did Clint and I cashew at a bad time” Peter cackles as he joins in on the nut throwing with Clint.

Luke punches him lightly “Does everything have to be a joke with you?”

“Yes! I have a quota to fill”

Jones and Luke both try to stare disapprovingly but the wrinkles by their eyes give away they think Peter is funnier than they let on.

Tony is still hunched on the other side of the table, trying to protect himself.

“Peter, you traitor. Oh god please stop. STEEEEEVE help me! Clint is bullying me!”

Steve, without breaking away from his current conversation with Sam, simply whips the bowel off their table and on to the one next to them.

“My Hero!” Tony mewls, leaning into Steve’s side and squeezing the blonde appreciatively

“You right there?” Steve mutters fondly, turning back to Sam as the darker man pulls up a website on his phone.

“Very much so. I like this open secret thing” Tony says, trying to get Steve’s full attention. “We can do so much celebrating and sex now. Not even fussy on the order.”

“I care very much on the order.” Rhodey grits out, once again reminding everyone what he has suffered through.

“I’m going to wine and dine the fuck out of you now that I can. Get you all dressed up for the fanciest restaurant and spoil you rotten.” Tony continues, sitting his chin up on Steve’s shoulder and humming happily.

The table all groan or melt at the confession this time, Sam going as far as making dry retching noises.

This manages to break Steve away from his conversation to look down at the human clinging to his middle, a slight blush spreading across his cheeks “You know I’m a sure thing right?”

“You’re doing it wrong, punk.” Bucky reprimands “Let your rich fiance pamper you”

Both the men seem ready to fire back but hesitate, eyes going soft at the mention of the title fiance.

“Speaking of Tony’s fiance. Doesn’t that mean miss Jones has to pay up Luke?” Peter crows.

Luke chokes on his drink looking delighted by the reminder, while his girlfriend tries to school her face next to him.

“Low blow, Parker” Jones retort as she pulls out her wallet.

“That’s another point to me.” Peter exclaims, not feeling any kind of remorse.

Tony squints at the exchange “What sort of bet did Jessica and Luke make about Steve?”

“Oh no. Not Steve.” Luke informs, a much better man than Peter because there isn’t even a hint of a gloat in his tone. “There was a bet on whether you and Drew were dating. Most of the company on the side of affirmative.”

Tony blanches from that reveal before sighing and pushing his face back into Steve’s side “I worry about the way information circulates in this company.”

“Why isn’t Jess here with us tonight?” Peter muses.

“You miss me that much webhead?”

Peter jumps in his seat and swings around to the magically appearing Jess.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?”

Jess just gives Peter a pitying look before sliding into the booth with them.

“Jess. May I say in the most PC way possible, especially because of this rumour I’ve been recently informed of but-” Tony starts.

“Damn!” Luke cuts in.

“Exactly”

Jess has shown up in a stunning black dress that clings to her body and accessorised with some understated droplet earrings, bringing out the red of the lipstick she always wore. She does look very out of place in comparison to what the rest of the patrons are wearing although Peter doesn’t think she is bothered by it.

“Where are you off to bubs?” Logan nods, finishing off the rest of his beer.

“I have a date. I just thought I’d quickly drop beforehand to let you all know I was done tying up the last of the Fisk loose ends with Matt Murdoch. You were right Tony, Matt did spot some things we both missed for the law suit.”

“Isn’t he bli-” Clint starts but is cut off by someone kicking him under the table. From the direction of Clint’s glare Peter assumes it was from Steve. “What was that for, old man?”

“Just saving you from saying something offensive. No need to thank me.” not looking away from Tony to acknowledge the jib properly.

“So Fisk is finished then?” Rhodey asks, circling the conversation back to the point.

“Thank god.” Sam shouts, shooting his arms out and causing his drink to slosh over the side of his glass a little. “No offence Tony, but none of us could understand how that man became the Artistic Manger in the first place. Especially when the company has somebody like Steve working there”

Tony huffs “We aren’t dumb. Steve was always our first option but he kept turning the job down.” The boss’s voice shifts to something a little more accusatory.

Steve shrinks back as noises of complaint are directed at him from his coworkers.

“I didn’t want to put you in an awkward position if our relationship ever did get out. Couldn’t have people accusing you of playing favourites. Besides having you is more than enough” Steve reminds his fiance.

“Oh please, Steve.” Sam grumbles. Silently, Peter agrees with the other picture editor. Steve was a man who sometimes was far too considerate for his own good.

“Stark, you better offer Steve the job again. And Stevie you better goddamn take it this time.” Bucky demands as the rest of the table nods in an agreement.

“You basically run the place already” Clint points out.

Steve looks at everyone, a stunned expression on his face. He eventually is jerked out of his daze when Tony runs his fingers through Steve’s hair softly while indicating how the table is expecting an answer.

“I’ll think about” Steve replies, still smiling warmly at the brunette draped around him.

Bucky lets out an amused breath “Such a dork”

“Like you and Sam weren’t the same when you were engaged?” Peter taunts.

“Pfft, I can assuuure you we were not. We both have this thing called dignity”

“You do?” Peter feigns, wide-eyed “Why have I never seen it before?”

“Do you always have to be a pain in the ass?” Sam jumps in, a smile on his face.

“Just helping build up everybody’s pain tolerance” Peter flutters his eyelashes exaggeratedly.

“That pile of paperwork could get mysteriously larger, Arachnid. Don’t think it couldn’t.”

“Let’s back off Peter a little” Pepper defends “From the way Jess tells it, Peter played a big part in helping expose Wilson in the end. Isn’t that right Jess?”

Jess shrugs “For a guy who never seems to be doing what he is suppose to be doing, he did really end up pulling through.”

Peter glows from the comment. That’s the closet thing to praise that would ever come from Jess’s lips. Luke bumps Peter in congratulations while Jones smiles proudly.

“Boo, Jess! You used to be on our side” Sam says playfully.

“Eh. He grows on you.”

Peter finally turns to his two mentors and can barely contain himself as he meets their gaze, his heart melting with happiness. The couple are looking at him with such praise and approval in their eyes that he finds himself grinning from ear to ear as he stares back. He mouths a silently thank you to both of them, knowing they will get what he means.

“Pepper is right. Peter deserves a toast tonight as well.” Steve insists, raising a glass and the rest of the table follows suit.

“To Peter!” Tony shouts “The best employee who never actually does any work, that we’ve ever had”

“TO PETER”

There are cheers and clinks all around as Peter pulls himself out of the emotions swirling within him.

“Careful Pete, you look close to crying there” Logan says smugly.

Peter scowls lightly at Logan as he pulls out his phone, watching Tony and Steve share a brief but tender kiss.

P: I’m officially Marvels’ best employee!

MJ: Proud of you! Looks like you’ve hit the jackpot again. Congratulations Tiger. Xx