Let Me Crash Here

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**If anyone wanted to know what the author's dream life is, it's being Tony in this one shot. I thought it was cute, no powers, but a lot of cute fluff and Tony being a good guy. As a side note, I'm starting Italian on Duolingo and I seriously love it. Every time I do a lesson with 'figlio' in it, I think of Tony Stark and Peter Parker. Enjoy!!**

Peter pushed open the door of the little townhouse with a shoulder, shaking off an umbrella as he stepped inside. It was raining hard, wind shaking the old windows and whipping through the main hall of the townhouse. It was small, kind of cramped, but it was beautiful. All hard wood and stained glass.

"Hello!"

Peter looked up, noticing a man at the end of the hall. He was carrying a tray of coffees. "Hi, I'm sorry, I- uh- I heard a rumor on campus that this was-"

The man cut Peter off. "This is. Open 24/7, coffee and food in the kitchens, the sitting room to the left, library to the right. Any couch you find is open for a nap, and the wifi password is 'CaffeinateThoseFinals' with a capital 'C', 'T', and 'F'. Bathroom at the top of the stairs."

Peter was staring at the man with wide eyes. "What?"

"Aren't you here for the coffee house?"

Peter took a better look around himself. When he'd heard that there was a townhouse just off campus that offered a room to crash, he hadn't expected this. "I was told that there was a place to crash, that's all. I didn't expect anything else."

The man laughed, then took a closer look at Peter's clothes and face. He was kind of dirty and disheveled with dark circles under his eyes. "The name is Tony," the man said, holding out a hand. "Normally, we ask for a $10 cover for the night, and that gets you the wifi, as much coffee you can drink, and a hot meal, but... Why don't you start with a hot shower and we can forgo the cover charge. First visit on the house."

"Oh, no," Peter said quickly. "I couldn't impose, you don't-"

Tony put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "It's cold out, and your soaked. Go upstairs and take a shower, kid. I'll make you some of my famous tortellini soup."

Peter was going to argue more, but Tony was off with his tray, undoubtedly taking coffee to students in the library and sitting room to fuel their studies. Peter watched as the man disappeared around the corner, his feet cemented to the ground. After a moment, Peter made his way up the stairs and to the bathroom.

The bathroom was nice and clean, with pale blue walls and white tiles. The shower was nice, with new bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and fluffy towels hanging off the rack on the door.

Peter took a quick shower, relaxing into the heat and smiling to himself. It'd been a while since he had a nice, warm shower. It was over too fast for Peter's liking, but he didn't want to take up too much time in the bathroom, and he was already feeling like a burden. He hadn't even paid the cover charge!

When he got out of the shower, he heard a knocking on the door.

"Hello?"

"Hey, kid, it's Tony. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to leave some clean clothes out here for you. It's just some sweats and a tee shirt - I hope they're your size."

Peter chuckled a little. "That's so nice of you. You don't have to do that."

"I'm just doing my job. This is a one stop college home for anyone who needs it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been weeks now. Peter had started working for a few hours in the morning so Tony could sleep in exchange for staying the nights at the little townhouse. Tony didn't know much about Peter, but he knew the younger man was brilliant. When he wasn't working or sleeping, Peter had his face buried in high level physics books and chemistry studies. Tony assumed he was a science major of some sort, but it had to be an online degree because Peter hardly ever left the townhouse during the day anymore. 

"How are the classes going?" Tony asked one day while he and Peter cooked in anticipation of the rush of students who would come in a few hours. 

"What classes?"

"The classes. Your classes for your degree."

Peter blushed hard, his hands shaking a little. He thought Tony knew. He thought it was obvious by now.

"I'm not taking classes," Peter said after a minute. "I- uh... I can't. I can't afford them."

Tony furrowed his brow. "But... You said you heard about this place on campus..."

Peter gave Tony a pointed look. "Tony, I was homeless. I was living on the streets. Some of the students who saw me sleeping that morning said there was a place I could crash, so I came here. I never expected you to do so much for me, and I am so thankful, but if I gave you the wrong impression, that was never my intention."

Tony's tight brow didn't relax. "But the books. I assumed you were getting a degree in some sort of advanced sciences."

Peter brightened a little. "Oh, I wish I could! I love science, and I love reading those books, even if they aren't for homework. Seriously."

Tony laughed a little. "Of course you do. Seriously, kid, you need to be going to school."

Peter shrugged. "I can't afford it, Tony. Before you ask, I got no family to help me out, either."

There was a familiar glint in Tony's eyes, one Peter had seen many times before - it usually preceded a very generous offer and a big cup of coffee. As if on cue, Tony abandoned the veggies he was chopping and headed to the coffee pot to brew some new coffee.

"Tonight, we're going to look up some financial aid stuff, and apply for a scholarship, and..." Tony took a breath. "And if that doesn't work, I'll pay for it myself. And you can stay here with me so you have a place to stay for free."

Peter shot Tony a look.

"As long as you don't mind the 24 hour rush of college students."

Peter laughed at that, abandoning his own dinner prep to look over at Tony. "Are you being serious?"

"I am."

Peter sighed. "I can't accept that, Tony, I can't take your money."

"Then we better work on that scholarship application."

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