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“And then, she was caught trying to steal medical equipment.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
Tony shook his head and sipped from his wine, letting out a small laugh. The kitchen was filled with warmth, and there was an aureate quality to the room; a low lighting that left everything feeling soft, intimate. May leaned back into her chair and swirled her wine, taking a long sip from it. She had called him earlier in a panic, rambling about Peter sneaking out and asking if he was using the suit. When he checked and found nothing, she became even more distressed.
“Do you think he’s at a party? What if he’s doing drugs! He could have a bad reaction, or a bad trip- ”
“No offense May,” Tony interrupted, “but your kid is a dork. I bet he’s at a library or something.”
The words seemed to mollify her. He heard her take a deep breath and release it. “I’m just going to stay up until he comes back.” She paused. “Wanna come drink with me while I wait?”
Tony could never turn down a friend and drink.
He was beginning to get a little tipsy, he had cut down in recent years on his alcohol consumption which in turn took any tolerance he once had. It felt like he was 15 again. May grabbed the wine bottle from the pony wall next to them and placed it on the table, refilling her glass.
“Okay. I told you about my trashy coworkers, now tell me about yours. I mean the Avengers, by the way.”
“Well for the record they’re all incredibly trashy, which I’m sure you can deduce from nearly half of the team’s actions in recent years.” He said sardonically.
“Oh most definitely.”
Tony leaned his arms on the table and thought for a moment, cycling through all of his black-mail worthy memories. “Once,” He began, “I found an 80’s porno just lying on the kitchen counter. At first I thought it was Barton’s, but when I checked the security cameras later it was actually our star spangled man Captain America.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
“Steve fucking Rogers. Our sweet boy in blue,” She said in disbelief, “I guess even purity rings personified have their needs. Don’t tell Peter, he’ll never recover.”
Tony snorted into his glass and had to set it down. She gave him a toothy grin and stood, walking to the cabinets and opening them. “You want anything? We have-” She stared into them for a few moments, “cereal.”
“I’ll take a bowl, why not.”
She poured two bowls of frosted flakes and placed one in front of him. They ate in silence. While they ate he continued to drink, refilling his glass twice. May took away his glass after, citing that he still needed to get home and she wasn’t giving her sofa up. He tried to grab it back but she just batted his hands away, and he sat back, dejected.
After a moment Tony spread his fingers out on the table. “I feel like I’ve known you forever.” He mused, “You think we’re soulmates?”
“Like, soul sisters?”
He nodded sagely. “Exactly.”
“Hmmm like princess and the pauper.” May said, “Peter loved that movie you know, he begged me for the dolls when he was younger.”
“Speaking of, where is that little rugrat-”
There was a loud crash from Peter’s room. They looked at each other. Tony smiled, starting to stand but got pelted with cereal by May. She put a finger to her lips and then out in front of her mouthing ‘wait’. And so they waited; about two minutes passed.
And then, “Peter Benjamin Parker.” May shouted, “Get your ass in here!”
It took a few seconds, but the sounds of feet stopping were soon followed by Peter poking his head out of his door, shame plain on his face. When he saw Tony, it morphed into shock. “How long have you been here?”
Tony looked at his bare wrist. “About two hours.”
Peter hit his head against the door frame once, twice, and then looked upwards as if praying. He then trudged to the kitchen and sat on the floor against the fridge. “So how long am I grounded for?”
May crossed her arms. “That depends,” She said, “Where were you?”
“Were you at a party? Drinking? Drugs?” Tony interjected.
“No! No it wasn’t like that,” Peter said and then mumbled something else, something too quiet for them to hear.
“I’m sorry, what?” Tony said.
“I was at a dnd campaign with Ned!”
“Oh my god,” He said faintly, a smile blooming, “You really are a dork.”
Peter made an offended noise and May threw more cereal, scolding him. She went to Peter and ruffled his hair. “Well I think it’s sweet that you’re having fun with friends. Why didn’t you say anything though?”
“I don’t know, I just thought it’d be cool? Ned snuck out too.”
Tony couldn’t hold in his snort, he had to put his head on the table to hide his laughter. He heard a sigh and could practically sense the eye roll from Peter, but he couldn’t help it. His kid was a total dork.
“You know, you have a lot of gall considering you looked like Urkel with a bowl cut in college.” Tony whipped his head up to see Peter grinning evilly, “That’s right, Uncle Rhodey showed me the photos.”
"It was an awkward phase and I was high half the time.”
“You’re still going through you’re awkward phase-”
“Okay!” May interrupted, pointing at Peter, “Say goodbye to Tony and go to bed. You’re grounded for a week for sneaking out, and if you do it again it’ll be a month and no patrol.”
Peter sighed and stood, saying goodnight to May and kissing her cheek before glaring at Tony. “Bye Tony.”
“Aw c’mon kiddo don’t be like that,” He said, standing up and walking to him. He ruffled his hair. “You’re the coolest dork I know.”
He could see Peter trying to hold back a smile. “Thanks.”
Peter turned in for the night and May started to clean everything up, putting the dishes in the sink. He made sure to help, rinsing out the bowls and glasses. They talked the entire time about everything and nothing, mundane things. When it was all finished, May walked him to the foyer, and Tony was grabbing his coat.
“I guess I should go,” He said, “this was fun though.”
“It was. I’ll see you for next week’s dinner?”
Tony smiled. “Yeah. Bye, soul sister.”
“Bye, Tony.”
As Tony left the apartment and stood outside in the cold, waiting for his car, he still managed to feel warm; and it wasn’t just the wine.