Spider-Son & Iron Dad two shots

In The Rain

Spooktober 21: Umbrella

Tony Stark was standing out in the rain.

Before that, he was sitting in his car, because he's intelligent enough to wait for the bell to ring before stepping out of it— And yeah, maybe it wasn't the brightest idea in its entirety to be so public about picking Peter up from school, but sue him, he thought it would be funny.

So far, it's been two long, suffering minutes, of students pouring out the doors. Several didn't even glance his way. Actually, the majority of chattering teens didn't spare him a glance. It figured that highschoolers were better at minding their own than paparazzi were.

Rain was starting to soak through his jacket. He really should invest a raincoat, or a—

"Are you here to pick up Peter?"

Tony jutted his chin over, coming eye-to-eye with a sixteen year old with dark curly hair, spiraling out of a messy bun that hid underneath a knitted beanie. She wore a shirt that Tony swore he'd seen before, and layered it under several warm sweaters. A bookbag slung over her shoulder, and a bright floral umbrella in her hand. She looked vaguely suspicious under her muted expression, an eyebrow raised at him in question.

"Yeah," Tony said decisively. Whoever the kid was, she clearly recognized him, and knew that Peter was occasionally picked up from school by Iron Man. She seemed trustworthy enough, as sixteen-year olds go. "Have you seen him?"

"No," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you gonna sit in your car? The rain is kinda drowning you right now."

He crossed his arms. "Yeah. I'm aware."

She gave a bored hum, and then extended her arm out, handing him the umbrella.

"Why?"

"I'll wait with you," she shrugged. "Are you going to ask more questions, or are you going to take the umbrella? You're making both of us look stupid."

Tony regarded her with the same suspicion, but reached over and took the umbrella. He shifted over so she could stand closer, both of them half-protected by the cover of it. She fished through her book bag and took out a sketchbook and a pencil.

"Oh, goody. Are you a practicing reporter?" Tony asked with dry amusement.

"You're not that interesting," she said without missing a beat. She flipped through the sketchbook, going to a blank page.

Tony, caught in the surprise of the quick wit, choked on a laugh. He looked over at the teen, a smile fit easily on his face. "You know what? I like you. What's your name? Are you friends with Peter?"

"I don't need you to like me," she answered first, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever, though. I'm Michelle. And yeah, Peter and I are friends, I guess."

Michelle.

Tony ran the name through his mind, because something was familiar about it. He scratched his chin absently, thinking through all of the kid's voicemail monologues and lab rambles.

He knew there was a Ned, his best friend since they were little, the one that helped hack his tech, extensive Lego collection, they share some classes and eat lunch together... There was a Flash, the asshole kid with the distasteful golf polos, pretends he's a DJ, blah blah blah. There was an MJ, the one he has a huge crush on, who he thought hated him for a while, very dry humour, usually carries around a book or a—

He looked over to his side again, looking at Michelle speculatively as his mind put the pieces together.

"Jones," he said after a second. "Michelle Jones."

"Yep." Michelle dragged her pencil across the paper in light sketches, her eyes drawing up at a random kid that sat on the stairs.

"Ah," Tony said, grinning ear-to-ear. "How nice to meet you."

"Mm."

"So," he tilted his head. "How'd you two meet?"

"Decathlon," she said shortly. She looked up at him accusingly. "He almost quit after he got the internship though. He's lucky we won without him last year."

"Oh."

"And he quit band," Michelle continued, still sounding bored. "And robotics lab."

"Well, you seem very observant," Tony said, his amusement growing with his smile. He teased, "Are you sure you're not a reporter?"

"It's hardly worth reporting," she said, her nose scrunching up. "Just thought you should know that he really does take the internship stuff seriously."

The amusement faded into something fond. Tony nodded earnestly, his grip on the umbrella tightening. "I know he does."

"Good," she said firmly. She looked up, her dark eyes having a pressing effect that bore right into his soul. "He was mopey and depressed when you fired him, you know. You shouldn't do that again."

It was clearly protective in all the ways that the word meant. Tony understood then why Peter could write soliloquies about her mental strength, her no-nonsense attitude and leadership abilities that deserved so much praise. Michelle Jones wasn't one to be messed with, she knew the power of her words and she knew how to use them.

He couldn't think of someone better to have his kid's back.

"I won't," Tony promised, pouring all the solemness he had into his voice. Michelle seemed satisfied, and looked away from him.

She continued to sketch, and the rain continued to pour. When whoever she was drawing got up and left, she moved onto sketching someone else. Tony had glanced occasionally at the paper, but mostly was scanning the clearing stairs of anyone who looked like Peter.

After all, it had been at least twenty minutes now. No sign of the kid. He was starting to regret his idea of "surprising" Peter, forfeiting a text in advance that he'd be waiting out front. It was feeling less and less fun with every raindrop that dripped down into the sleeve of his sweatshirt and pants.

And Michelle— her sketchbook page was full by the time all the students had left, leaving an empty school-front. Tony's arm ached from holding the umbrella up for so long, and he was starting to get worried.

"Do you know where he is?" Tony finally asked.

"Yes." Michelle opened her bag and neatly folded her sketchbook and pencil in it. "He went out the east entrance about thirty five minutes ago, took the subway like usual. He's at home by now."

Tony's mouth opened.

She reached over and took the umbrella back. She stared at him blankly, unblinking. "Thanks for holding my umbrella for me. Bye."

Michelle then turned around and left. Tony stood betrayed, jaw dropped, soaking wet with rain water.

When he finally gathered his wits about him (of which the process took about two minutes of hysterical, breathless laughter), he got back into his car and took his phone out of his pocket with numb, ice-pricked hands.

[tiny stank: Peter Parker.]

[tiny stank: Your girlfriend is EVIL!]

The reply came quickly; a succinct ten second wait.

[pete parkley: WHAT?!?!?]