Peter's phone keeps vibrating where he left it on the workshop desk to get snacks, and Tony really wasn't trying to snoop—he was just going to mute it. Really. Truly actually very absolutely did not intend to see who was blowing up the kid's phone, until the phone lit up with another text as he was putting it to silent mode.
Tony pauses out of sheer shock, more texts still rolling in.
YOU PROMISED ME 6PM ITS LITERALLY 6:02 WHY DO YOU HATE MEEEE
ur lucky ur so handsome otherwise I'd blow your house up 💖
but srsly gumdrop I'm spiralling, I need you 🥺🥺🥺
Should Tony be concerned? Tony is very concerned.
The teen in question strolls on in with his hand in a bag of pretzels, not a care in the world.
The phone is still vibrating in Tony's hand.
"Mhm?" Peter hums, still focused on stuffing his mouth to the absolute brim.
"Why didn't you tell me about your girlfriend?"
His pursed and salted lips freeze, making eye contact with Tony before slowly setting the snack bag down.
The phone vibrates once more, and this time both Peter and Tony's gazes drop to it.
Tony moves the phone behind his back a millisecond before Peter makes a lunge for it.
Tony spins away from his grabby hands to read the screen.
"Who's 'Pookie', with a heart eyes emoji and kissy face emoji then?"
"It's not—! Oh. That's just Ned."
"You're dating Ned? Which is fine...actually no, it's not! Boy or girl, talking to you like this is not healthy."
Tony lets the phone go without protest this time, Peter's mild confusion soothing his worry as opposed to the sharp defensiveness earlier that had only tightened Tony's grip on the device. Peter isn't shy about texting the other boy back in plain view either, showing the barrage of missed texts, emojis, and exclamations that had nearly vibrated the phone off the table.
"Oh shoot, I promised Ned we'd do fortnite duos tonight and I'm late."
"What is that? Like a Gen-z version of samba?"
Peter huffs out a laugh as he types furiously. "It's a video game where we shoot people. Ned is just my best friend, that's how we talk."
"That is not how best friends talk."
"Tell that to your platypus."
"I—okay, that's different. It's teasing, not romantic." Tony argues as he thinks about his and Rhodey's friendship.
"How? You literally kiss him."
Peter sets the phone back down as he goes to collect his backpack, shoving papers and spare parts chaotically into his bag.
"On the cheek! ...If I don't miss."
Peter throws the strap over his shoulder and heads over to the abandoned pretzel bag, fisting the crinkling plastic closed temporarily to snack on the way home.
"Okayyyy. Just saying, flirting with your bros is standard behaviour. No need to get your iron undies in a twist."
Scoffing, Tony lets the fight go. Even if Ned was being serious he's the most harmless kid on the planet, Spider-Man could take him. Iron Man definitely could.
The phone lights up on the desk in front of Tony one last time, Peter's returned presence seemingly not enough to sooth his clingy friend.
You looked stupid in calculus today.
"Does nobody in your generation communicate normally? For all I know this is your girlfriend."
Peter hums curiously, looking over Tony's shoulder at the screen.
The phone is snatched away and shoved into the back pocket of Peter's jeans before the screen even has time to fade to black.
"Heh, funny. Anyways I gotta go. Promised Ned I'd call him five minutes ago, y'know, but I'll see you next week!"
His flushed face turns away and into the elevator in the blink of an eye, but Tony can still see how bright red the boy's ears have turned.
A metaphorical lightbulb ticks on above the man's head at the same time the elevator doors chime shut.
"Holy shit, that was actually his girlfriend."
(MJ saying he looked stupid = saying he looked really good 🤭 major flirt alert!)
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