There weren't a lot of things that were obvious in the world... Did Atlantis exist, how did girls think, how to tell if a guy really likes you, what really happened during the dancing plague of 1518, etc... But there was definitely one thing that everyone knew.
Tony Stark was a genius.
And therefore it was only natural that he kept other genius' as company as well. All of the Avengers were smart in their own ways: Steve was nearly perfect at war strategies, Natasha was excellent at basically everything, Rhodey was the master of piloting and combat, Bruce... Bruce was classified as an all-around genius - much like Tony.
So the not-leader of the Avengers didn't know why it surprised everyone that Peter was also a genius.
"You made this stuff yourself?" Steve asked, looking towards Peter. "Before you met Tony?"
It had been a few weeks since everyone had met; the Avengers all took a liking to the two newest members of the teams (or not-member in Peter's case). They found out that Scott was a lot smarter than he first seemed, and Tony was absolutely right about getting along with him. It was definitely interesting when they spared with the shrinking man (mostly ending with Tony laughing as Sam and Clint were taken down by seemingly nothing).
They were all seated on the sofa in the 'family room' as it was now called. It was time that they started learning more about Peter... and how advanced his young mind was. Tony looked forward to this, watching as everyone was awestruck by Peter's brilliance - wow, that sounded a lot like something a dad would say... Tony was not a dad. He was the cool mentor. That's all.
"Yeah," Peter rubbed the back of his neck with a shy smile, "it was pretty easy after I realized salicylic acid, toluene, methanol, and aldol were the key ingredients. Everything after that was just elementary chemistry."
Bruce frowned and tilted his head, "Methanol is toxic, but none of the criminals you caught showed signs of poisoning..."
"I use bicarbonate to counter and decrease the active formic acid, and fomepizole for extra measure."
"Fomepizole?" The medical scientist creased his brows, considering it with a nod. "I hadn't thought of that."
"I tried ethanol since it's more commonly paired with methanol, but some of the toxins still got through." Peter shrugged, "Plus, it made my webs really watery."
Bruce nodded along with the boy as the others simply stared at them. It was interesting to watch the various expressions in the group, all ranging from Steve's impressed gaze to Clint's completely clueless one and everything else in between.
"So... like, are you some kind of genius or something?" Sam asked with a raised brow, glancing between Peter and Bruce.
"No, I'm nothing like that. I got a 99 on my last cal test."
"You're too young to be taking calculus, aren't you?" All eyes went to Natasha, her question making everyone realize that she was probably right.
"Peter is taking calculus, AP chemistry, AP history, along with like, a dozen other courses that were meant for seniors," Tony informed with a shrug. "He says he's not a genius just because he forgot to put his name on his test sheet and got a point deducted from it."
"We don't know that for certain, Mr. Stark."
"Your teacher circled the name line in red ink, what else could it be?"
Peter pursed his lip and looked to the side, his brain struggling to think of something that he could have done wrong. After a minute had passed, Tony claimed his win with a smirk and a glare from Peter.
"Wait..." Scott held up a hand, gaining the attention of everyone, "You said before that it was elementary chemistry to mix everything together?"
Peter nodded, an eyebrow raised at the strange question.
"Nothing about any of this is elementary!" Some of the Avengers nodded in agreement as the man continued, "You learn things like metamorphosis and weather in elementary school, not mixing possibly dangerous chemicals."
"You don't?" Peter's question had even taken Tony by surprise. "My mom wouldn't let me near anything dangerous, but she did let me mix different chemicals from my grandpa's sets. That's one of the best memories I have of her."
"So you learned your love of science from your mother?" Bruce smiled faintly, memories of his own mother filling his head.
"Yeah, her and dad were often gone when I was little, so she would send me science kits from all over and she would work what was left of them when she got home."
"What did your parents do to travel so much?" Steve asked, only to receive a shrug from Peter.
"No clue, no one ever told me. They'd just leave suddenly at random times and be gone for weeks, May and Ben would watch me until they returned."
Natasha narrowed her eyes slightly, the job description sounding very familiar. "What were your parents names?"
"Mary and Richard."
The Widow and Hawk shared a look, wide eyes as they looked back at the boy. It had always been suspected that the Parker team had a son, Clint and Nat never expected to actually meet him though...
It definitely explained a lot about the kid.
A/N: that moment when you write about characters that are so much smarter than you... That's the reason this took too long. I'm sorry it came out so choppy. Ugh, this chapter gave me a headache... Hopefully I don't bite off more than I can chew in the next chapter haha.
