#ticklish!peter

If you asked Peter about what happens in the Stark Tower over the weekend he truly wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. It's not that he wouldn't like to give someone an answer, it was just that the weekend was always a surpise package. Sometimes he would train with the other Avengers, other days he wasn't there to whitness the happenings, somedays he would work with Tony on projects and every now and again it was a pure game and chill weekend...

This weekend wasn't supposed to be any of that but..

He had been working on a new formula for his web fluids, seated on the couch with both legs tucked to his body. His hands were flying over the keyboard with unpracticed ease as he ignored his surroundings. He didn't mind Sam bickering with Bucky, or Steve cutting in every now again to scold them for not watching the movie they had picked out together. Nor did he mind the occasinal side eye from Clint who leaned over to silently check out his progress like a curious hamster. And he certianly didn't mind Fridays announcement.

Wait

His head snapped up when everyone looked at him „Uh.. sorry what was that Friday?“ he asked, craining his head to the ceiling and tearing his eyes from his screen for the first time the past hour.

„The Boss requests your assistance in the lab“ Friday repeated steadily but Peter could've sworn if the Ai could sound amused she definitely would be. It wasn't every day that he just wouldn't pay attention to anything and zone out into his work.. With his senses dialled to 11 it was a task almost impossible to accomplish, still sometimes miracles like today happened.

Peter saved his work, promptly jumping to his feet „Coming“ .. he sent a short wave to the others before vanishing in the hall.

The elevator ride was silent, but his thoughts were everything but.

Tony had cancelled their weekly lab time after school a few days ago because he was moving things around a little to „fit a new adittion“ to it. Whatever his mentor had meant by that..

A chime and his feet automatically moved into the forespace that parted the lab from the outside. Through the glass he could see Tony standing over a display of a new spidersuit and a spark of exitement shot through him. He sped up and jogged a little way before walking through the door „Mister Stark“ he greeted lightly as he announced his presence to his Mentor. „Hey Pete“ Tony greeted and his eyes fell to him ever so shortly before he took a step backwards from his work space and made the small hologarmm bigger.

„what do you think?“ he asked with a cheeky smile.

Peter grinned, a twinkle in his eyes already speaking for him before he had even opened his mouth „Looks great Mister Stark.“ „Glad you like it kid, though i've ran into a few issues that we need to look into“ Peter raised an eyebrow, watching as Tony moved a few screens out of the way. „We already talked about this a few days ago, but your stickiness only works if the material is thin enough.“ „so we need to test how thick the material can be?“ Peter finished for his mentor who gave an affirmative nod. „How are we going to do that?“ „hm, come sit Pete.“ Tony said as he walked past a table, tapping it's surface with two fingers. The younger followed the order, eyeing the table. It was huge, he could lay down on it and roll around without issue, sure his legs would be hanging off partly, but still..

His eyes moved to a box almsot overflowing with different fabrics.

„We'll use the differnt fabrics and place them between your fingers and this metal sheet.“ Tony said, catching the attention of his trainee as he walked back with the thin sheet in hand. The sheet was shimmering in the lab lights as its smooth surface refelcted it ever so slightly. Peter took it as Tony handed it to him „I want to test both your hands and your feet, just in case they end up having differencies we don't know about“ Peter nodded, that sounded logical. His feet would obviously always have more tracktion but who knew if the hairs there worked just like the ones on his hands..

„Do you think we could see that under a microscope?“

The question had tumbled out of his mouth before he had even properly registered the thought. Tony stared at him, the bafflement on his face made Peter recoil sligthly „I-I meant like hypothetically! N-not like- y'know- gosh that- i..“ an amused chuckle cut Peters fumbling off and Tony moved closer to him with a chair.

„We could, yes“ Tony mused, looking up ever so slightly to see Peters full face. „But I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be comfortable for you.“ Peter grimaced.. yeah laying under a microscope was probably not the nicest place to lay down under. „Plus, I seriously doubt it'll be of any major importance“ „hmm..“ „Of course if you're curious I can-“ „nOOooo!“ Peter interrupted, shaking his hands in front of him and his head violently to make his position incredibly clear to his mentor who seemed all too amused with his outburst. „It's fine, you're right! Plus it's not that interesting“ He laughed nervously, as he held the back of his head.

Tony tilted his head, „No? You sounded pretty interested a minute ago.“ „mister staaaark..“ „heh, okay, alright“ his mentor soothed and leaned over to grab a piece of fabric. „Let's start from the thinnest and work our way up.“ he offered the cloth to Peter who held his hand out to grab it. „so i just put it over it?“ he asked, referencing to the metal sheet in his other hand. „Pretty much, yes.“

Peter nodded, doing as told. He fit the fabric perfectly over the metal before placing his hand onto it and letting go with the other. Tony hummed, „try shaking your hand a little.“ he urged, eyes fixated on the connection between his fingers and the two items. When he shook it, a tingle of cold rushed down his palm and through his lower arm but it didn't drop. „That felt weird..“ Peter commented and took the sheets away. „Oh? How so?“ his mentor asked, his eyes locking on Peter. „Well.. it was like.. I just felt the air flow a lot better?“ he fumbled out and frowned „I guess it was like ice went down one of my nerves?“

Tony nodded „That'd make sense, your senses are dialled up significantly and the airflow is getting condensed through the gaps between your fingers“ he murmured before turning to a screen, „We'll definitely need a fabric that's warm enough for you to swing in.“ Peter eyed the fabrics next to them, that probably already divided the number of fabrics tested by two if they left out the cooler ones.

Peter grabbed the next fabric, prepping it as his mentor murmured to himself about possible improvements.

Slowly they made two piles, one that definitely didn't work and one that worked just fine.

„Alright, that was the last one. Do you need a break or can we continue?“ Tony asked as he dotted down the last few notes on his screen. Peter shook his head „We can continue“ „Then take off one of your shoes and socks please.“

Once Peter had gotten to that he found himself wrangling the fabric and the metal sheet under his foot. Tony sniggered at the sight of his trainee's rather clumsy attempts „what?“ Peter huffed, his supposedly annoyed tone getting overshadowed by his tale telling smile. „Here, let me help“ Tony offered and slid over, letting Peter drop the fabric and the metal sheet into his hands. „Ugh, I can't believe this..“ Peter groaned dramatically which gained a soft grin from his mentor. „stick to it webs.“ Tony huffed and squeezed the ankle slightly when Peter didn't latch onto the items right away „alright alright!“ the boy barked a laugh and let the experiments continue. He shook his foot and hummed „It feels like I can stick to them a lot better“ he commented, looking at Tony who nodded „that's good to know“ he said and caught peters foot again, trying to take the items from the foot, raising an eyebrow when Peter didn't let go.

„Pete?“ he asked and looked up at his trainee. The male looked at him with an almost too innocent face „what?“ „Let go.“ „I'm not holding anything.“ the teen mused, raising his hands. Tony raised an eyebrow but a smile etched itself onto his features „Sure kid, let go.“ he urged again, this time emphasised by a soft scribble to the top of the foot.

Peter gasped and flinched back with a panicked giggle „Hey!“

Tony's head snapped up at the reaction, not out of fear that he had hurt him but more out of the curiosity on why his trainee had reacted that way. „What was that?“ Peter shrugged „what was what?“

Smooth.

Tony squinted at him. „This..“ Peter squeaked and moved his leg underneath himself before Tony could even touch him and surprised by the reaction he studied the boy's features. Redded cheeks.. giddy smile and an anxious shimmer in his eyes. Tony hummed in amusement and Peter could only watch as a mischievious grin formed on his mentors face. „Right, let's continue.“

With noticable hesitation did the boy place his foot back into his mentors lap and Tony continued as usual until Peter felt himself in the clear... that's when he struck. „Ned told me something interesting yesTEHEHheHE-!“ Peter curled up in a heap at the sudden scribbles under his soles, tugging at his leg. „MIHiHIHIsTER STAHARK!“ he screeched through his hysterical laughter, shaking his head. Tony hummed „Would you like to tell me something Peter?“ he let up and let his trainee catch his breath. The male giggled loopsidedly and shook his head „Nohot reheally..“ Tony sniggered and rolled his eyes while patting the boys shin „You're aware that we'll need to test this right?“

Even to Tony himself he didn't sound serious and Peter clearly clocked it as well as his shocked glance was replaced with a playful one in an instant. „Oh yeah?“ he mused and tilted his head „Maybe if you can catch me!“ he exclaimed but yelped when Tony almost immediately grabbed him by his leg and pushed his chest to the table, followed by his hand squeezing his tigh while the other pinned the boys shoudler firmly to the table. „WohOhah! Mister- STAHARK!“ the boy yelped and kicked. Tony shook his head „Careful there! Don't kick me!“ he mused and looked at the boy who was flailing around with his hands, unsure if he wanted to fight and sit up, cover his face, try grabbing at his mentor or hit the table. „My, my Pete, don't tell me you're this ticklish everywhere“ The boy in question whined, cheeks blossoming in a red hue. Tony clearly seemed to notice as the grin turned to a smirk „I don't believe that... what would you rate this spot?“ „NoHohothing!“

„Nothing?“ Tony echoed curiously and hummed in mock ignorance „I don't know.. you're reacting quite a bit for it to be nothing..“ he shurgged „Well, guess i'll have to take measures into my own hands.“ „Ahactually mihister staHARK! HEHEY!“ the boy bucked when the hand moved to his hips, one squeeze there, then a squeeze on the other side, then a scribble on his waist. Peter squeaked at the last one and squeezed his eyes shut „MOHoHOhohove Spohots!“ he called out. Gosh he may only have been giggling but the touch at his waist had him reeling back at how much it tickled. „What? Why? I rather like this spot..“ Tony said, emphasising his statement with soft scriblles there „I don't think i've ever heard you giggle like this, you should do it more often“. Peter's ears flushed, not ony at what Tony had just said but also at his own giggles. They were highpitched and all over the place until the first hiccup preppred into them. „What was that? Think you can do that again?“ he sniggerd which earned antoher whine from the boy „Okay, okay haha“

Peter's body jumped again, the hands slowly trailed over his sides and his stomach, the distance they made was impeccably slow but the movement was quick, sending aftershocks through his spine. The funny feeling had him continously writher under Tony's fingers, and then they lifted.

Nothing happened for a good few seconds and Peter opened his eyes, regretting it immediately as the hands hovered over him „mihihister stahahark cohome on, we arent even through the farbics yehet“ he tried to reason but all reason seemed to just bounce off of the other. „hmm, we aren't through this test yet either.“ he mused and tilted his head „It'd be pretty bad if someone found out about this“ he shook his head dramtically with an almost comical worried expression.

Peter growled playfully „As if someone ever would.“ Tony raised an eyebrow „I did,“ he said as he let his hands drop. Peter screeched and sat up slightly, grabbing onto both hands... when had Tony let him go? Didn't matter! The older smirked, hands having faked the teen out and were now hovering even closer. Anticipating giggles left Peters lips and he groaned, falling back „Just do it!“ he squeaked „Your wish is my command“ „WAIT NO-HA!“

Peter bucked and kicked out, Tony that bastard hadn't gone back to his stomach, no. He had buried his hands in the hollows of Peters poor armpits. The boy threw his head back, hysterical, bubbly laughter filled the lab. Tony sniggered as he watched Peter flail and buck like a fish out of water, „You're way too ticklish for your own good bambino.“ The Peter wheezed followed by a wave of loud laughter „AHAM NOHOT!“ „Sure are, here look, if I do this..“ the hand scribbled at his waist, „NahahHAO!“ „You start giggling... or If i go here..:“ he squeezed his thigh making peter kick out like a puppy „You start getting violent“ Tony said, his voice practically dripping with playfulness. „ThAHAt'S YouHUhuHUR FAHAULT!“ Peter exclaimed which gained him a 'scolding' glance „Don't patronize the tickle monster Peter“ The boy barked a laugh and shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut for a second which proved to be a mistake as tony used it to get back to his unportected armpits „And here you turn into a fish out of water!“ Tony grinned, he wondered if the boy had even heard him under his boistrous laughter but he figured the boy knew what he'd say..

„OHOHOKAY! OHOKAY! MIHISTER STAHARK!“ The male sniggered and finally let up „you okay Pete?“ the boy in question curled up and groaned „Youhu're ruthless!“ a snort broke through Peters giggles, making him look at Tony who had a shimmer of adoration in his eyes „Didn't go too far though did I?“ Peter shook his head „I'm fineee. If I had wanted to I could've stopped you.“

Tony stared at him for a second „So you liked it?“ „WHAT?!“ Peter exclaimed and sat up in a frenzy „I never said that!“ he squeaked and Tony raised an unbelieving eyebrow „Right, and your ears are totally agreeing to your claim.“ Peter spluttered and covered them „they have nothing to do with this!“ „Heh, sure.“ „Mister Stark!“ Peter yelped and jumped form the table to follow the genius „Mhm, let's dot some things down and then take a break.“ Peter huffed at the statement and crossed his arms. Tony, without looking poked his side, making him giggle and flinch „Stop“ Tony sniggerd „Alright one more thing“ he mused and looked at Peter, waiting for permission.

Peter huffed, „Fine.“ Tony lit up and hugged Peter close „You can be so adorable“ „I am no such thiHiHihehehe!“ Peter broke down in hightpitched giggles, shoulders jumping to protect his ears and neck from the nuzzle. Tony smirked down at him „sure whatever you say...“

___

Peter Parker was quite the peculiar individual for Tony. For one, the guy was Spider-man. The friendly neighborhood spidey who helped old ladies cross the street, played soccer with the local kids, and just so happened to be able to go toe-to-toe with a super soldier, and hold his own and even help against avenger level threats as he would get to know.

Yet, also still admiring the avengers like any other fanboy, was awkward, and stumbled on his words around people he liked. It was kinda funny to see the same guy who treated life-or-death and people with guns like a grumpy neighbor get all flustered whenever someone like Captain America wanted to talk to him.

It wasn’t just Peter’s attitude and his work as Spider-man that interested Tony though. It was also his work as Peter as well. He had already figured the kid was smart in STEM from the web formula he used, however, he didn’t expect to find himself genuinely intrigued by Peter’s other projects as he would soon discover.

It was quite interesting to look into some of the kid’s works. He could really tell why the kid was in a STEM school like Midtown. Although he didn’t really plan on developing any relationship to Peter further then just as Iron man and Spider-man, he could really use somewhat of an intern in the labs. Who knows? Maybe it’d be a nice change of pace.

#

From the get-go, Peter was anxious. It had been about two weeks since Tony decided to actually go through with the whole internship thing. The kid came every day after school for about two hours. Unlike what Tony had for some reason expected, it was radio silence from the kid. The only interaction between them would be whenever Tony would ask for a part or came about to check up on whatever the kid was doing.

Usually, the kid was doing something real sweet. Like making an entirely new element for the periodic table and somehow making use out of it. Tony could also tell the kid was working on a personal project using what Tony had to offer, however, the kid was definitely hiding it from him. Which concerned Tony.

Today was no different from usual. Peter was across from him, still messing with the new element. AC/DC blasted as the two of them worked on their own things. Even though it was peaceful between them, it was easy to tell that Peter was definitely anxious. Tony had been meaning to try and dissolve that anxiety from Peter, but he didn’t really know how.

Peter was shaking his leg as his hand rested on his forehead. There was a conflicted expression on his face as the blue light emitting from the element shone on his face. Tony could tell the kid was frustrated. He checked his watch. Shouldn’t be too bad of a time to come around. 

Tony stood up from his chair, walking around to where Peter was. He was feeling kinda awkward himself, he had no idea how to really talk to teenagers except for sarcasm anyways. Peter, somehow, didn’t notice him from behind. Tony looked at the element. It looked a bit deformed from last time. There was a plastic cover over it now as it flaked and spurted, splaying itself all over the cover.

“Whatcha got there kid?” Tony tried to soften his voice a bit, trying not to scare Peter. He did anyways. Peter jumped up in surprise, the spinning chair wheeling against the tiled floor.

“Ah-shit—oh, Mr. Stark, hi.” Peter breathed a sigh of relief before straightening, coughing to try and cover up his embarrassment at being caught off guard.

“Hey kid.” Tony couldn’t really help the flat undertone of his voice that just edged for a little bit something more from whoever he was talking to. He usually really liked talking the way he did because of it, but right now he just cringed at it. He liked the kid. He didn’t want to scare him off like this.

“What you have here this time around kiddo? I assume it’s not exactly swell from the looks of it. Got a lil someone over here I see.” He tried to flatten his tone a bit, tapping the plastic covering that was currently splattered from the inside in whatever the element was spewing. Peter grimaced, pursing his lips.

“Err, yea.” Peter replied awkwardly. His shoulders were tense as he tapped his foot against the floor with that same, quick, thumping as he had been for the last 10 minutes. He was clearly not having fun with whatever he has been doing right now from the mindless way he was staring at the glowing splattered on the plastic. You couldn’t even see the actual block of the element. Tony suddenly felt awkward.

“Just something that uh, keeps ruining my tests on it like it hates me or something. Don’t worry, it’s all dandy.” Peter leaned forward from his chair, experimentally lifting the plastic cover as he braced for something. He scrunched his nose when steam arose from under the plastic before he cupped it back in again.

“Hopefully that isn’t some deadly gas you just accidentally concocted.” Tony quipped mindlessly. Peter pursed his lips again, his eyebrows tensing by a miniscule amount.

“Yea.” He just responded again.

“Hey how about we uhh, get you working on something Spidey related? Elements are a hard fix anyways. Have I ever told you about my experiments with Badassium?” Peter’s interest seemed to peak. He raised his eyebrow slightly, eyes following Tony as Tony went to the back of the lab to dig out some gear; probably spider gear.

“No, you haven’t.”

“Right, well,” Tony went on to talk about his experience with Badassium. Peter seemed quite intrigued by the stories, nodding along as he watched Tony drag out blueprints, notebooks, and a whole lot of mechanical parts and spandex as well.

“And the worst part about that was when it blew up on me and broke poor Brucie-bear who just happened to be there’s favorite mug. I think it was the green in his eye that scared me though, apparently he was already having a screw-over’ed day.” Tony pulled out two web shooters. They were designed a bit differently from Peter’s usual web shooters. They were smaller with only the trigger, the small pipe to shoot it out, and the cartridges.

“Try this on, figured it’d be inconvenient if Y’know; crushed up your web shooters like a lollipop.” 

“Mr. Stark, who bites lollipops?”

“Last time I checked just about everyone, kid are you sure you’re the only one not biting lollipops kid?” Tony found himself smiling as he looked back at the kid. Peter seemed less tense compared to two hours ago. He was currently trying to put on the web shooters, eyebrows creasing when he couldn’t.

“Need help with that kiddo?” Peter nodded. Extending his wrist out. Tony grabbed the webshooter, taking it and wrapping it around Peter’s wrist. His fingers grazed them. Peter suddenly sputtered. He tensed, flinching away as the web shooter dropped to the ground.

Confusion washed over Tony as he flinched back from Peter. He blinked. Did he alarm him or anything? Peter looked up before looking away. Suddenly shying away again. Did he accidentally trigger a deep-set problem in the kid?

“You alright kid?” Tony asked tentatively. Not wanting to scare the kid.—gosh Pepper would be telling him to stop treating the kid like a scared animal. How were you supposed to talk to kids again? But Peter’s not a kid, he’s a teenager, is he just nervous or did he do something wrong?

“Yea, it’s nothing.” Peter shook his head, keeping his gaze low before extending his hand again. This time a bit more hesitantly. Tony raised an eyebrow. He looked back to Peter’s hand, trying to gauge his memory for when exactly Peter flinched away, trying to pinpoint a reason why. He looked at Peter’s face, before looking back at his wrist. He decided to test the waters. After all, he never liked guessing.

“Ok then, why does this bother you?” He took a light grasp on Peter’s hand, light enough to let Peter pull away if he wanted to. He dragged his finger lightly up and down Peter’s wrist. Peter squawked before he reflexively pulled away.

“I-Uh-I-it’s just—“

“Is it something to do with your Spidey DNA or something? Talk to me kid,”

“No-I mean—yea, it is but-“

“So something with the spider? Come on kiddo, I’m curious unless you don’t wanna talk about it of course.”

“No it’s fine— it’s just uh, embarrassing.” Peter kept flickering his gaze between the floor and Tony.

“Cause like, y’know how uhh, the spider dna gave me spider-like thingys? Like how I can climb walls, I can’t thermoregulate, and-“

“Wait, you can’t thermoregulate?” Tony cut in. Peter just sorta shrugged, still eyeing him with a flustered expression.

“I can’t, yea but anyways—I’m pretty sure it gave me half-developed spinnerets because there’s been like these kinda bumps in both my wrists and they’re really sensitive. It’s bad, so-I just uh, reacted since you brushed them.” Peter looked down again. Tony blinked at the new information. Half-developed spinnerets? That was a new development. The thermoregulation too but that wasn’t the main focus right now.

“Sensitive as in pain-sensitive orrr?”

“Well touching the bumps itself is pain-sensitive, it’s just the surrounding area is.. ticklish.” Now that was definitely new. Who knew Spider-man was embarrassed by being ticklish? It was a funny idea, yet also kinda cute when you take into account Peter’s attitude around him. It made Tony want to be more playful. He grinned a bit.

“Soo, you’re saying that this tickles?” Tony took Peter’s hand again, this time he held it tighter. He dragged his finger lightly across Peter’s wrist again, this time tracing shapes and lines on them. Peter sputtered, his other hand coming up to cover his face as he reflexively tried to pull away again. He looked away to the side, shoulders shaking slightly.

Tony grinned watching Peter’s reaction. The kid was just being adorable right now.

“Come on kiddo, does it tickle? Yes or no.” Tony dragged his finger in a circle around the two bumps on Peter’s wrist, watching as Peter’s fingers curled in, another quiet muffled laugh leaving Peter’s mouth.

“Yehehes it doeses,” Peter giggled, covering his mouth. His shoulders still shaking lightly. Tony had to resist laughing a little himself.

“Are you also saying this tickles?” Tony rolled Peter’s sleeve up, now dragging his fingers lightly across his forearm. Peter squealed before dissolving into breathy, quiet laughs. Trying his best now to muffle them. He sunk in his chair.

“Come on gigglebug, does it tickle?” He dragged his fingers back down to the spinnerets, circling around them slowly again making Peter’s laughter pitch a bit higher again. Peter nodded frantically, trying to hide his face.

“Use your words Pete, does it tickle?” Tony teased him more, basically asking for Peter to break out into laughter at this point.

“Yeshehses!” The word came a bit louder than Peter wanted, trying to pull back even more. Tony hummed, slowly walking his fingers up Peter’s arm. Peter peeked out from covering his face, to be attacked with wiggly fingers against his neck. He squawked, trying to curl up on himself as he scrunched his shoulders. Fuzzy, tingly bolts shooting up his neck to his brain, making him feel all meltly.

“Mr. Stahark!” He whined, trying to cover his face while also pulling lightly at Tony’s hand. He peeked again just to see Tony’s mischievous grin. Only serving to fluster him more.

“Come on Spidey, are you also saying the Spider-man is ticklish? Because that’s probably the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard of all week.” Peter squealed, almost jumping out of his seat as a hand latched onto his ride side. Squeezing and wiggling. He broke out into louder, breathier, laughs as he started to squirm in the spinning chair.

Tony’s fingers trailed up Peter’s neck, scribbling lightly over the sweet spot just to the side below of Peter’s ear. Peter broke out in hysterical giggles, wrenching away from Tony just for fingers to follow. His cheeks turned pink from the embarrassment and laughter. Who knew he was going to end up being possibly tickled to death by Tony Stark himself?

“Is this a giggle spot Pete?” He squeezed just under Peter’s lowest rib, laughing himself when Peter flopped out like a fish out of water, now laying sideways on his right side in the chair as he squirmed around.

“Thishis is evhehvevil! Youhuhur’e ehehevil!” Peter giggled as his laughter started to get louder and more uncontrollable.

“Yea I can’t take you seriously when you’re laughing so much, smiley.” Tony suddenly attacked Peter’s exposed left side with both hands, squeezing his side as he massaged his fingers torturously into his ribs. Peter barked out laughing as he started to squirm with more vigor.

“eHEK! Mrhrhr. StarahHArk!” Peter squeaked as Tony started to crawl his fingers, skittering all over his ribs, sides, and stomach now. Rubbing his thumbs along the side of Peter’s stomach in a way that made his giggles sound more panicky.

“Yes Peter? Do you need more tickles or something? I can do that.” He climbed his fingers up Peter’s ribcage before pinpointing a sweet spot just between the last and second to last rib. Peter’s laughing became louder. Tony snickered himself as he honed into that spot.

“THahHaHat’S SoHOo BaHAhaHad!” The spinning chair swerved hard as Peter kicked out. Tony planted the chair in place with his foot, dragging it closer to him before rubbing deep circles into that spot watching as Peter snorted.

“Pfpt- was that a snort?” Tony laughed now, amused as he massaged deeper into the spot watching as Peter’s cheeks got red.

“My, my Pete I didn’t know you were this ticklish. This is just adorable, you know that right?”

“SHuhHUT UhuUhP!” Peter bit back at the teasing, still giggling and laughing loudly and kiddishly as he squirmed with all his might. Tony whistled at the attitude.

“Not a great thing to say at the moment there Spidey,” Tony skittered his fingers higher up his ribcage, taking notice of how Peter’s pitch got higher the higher he went up.

“Dohohon’t!” Peter looked at him, wide eyed with mirth. He wore a grin on his face that Tony hadn’t seen since he first recruited the kid. He grinned back devilishly.

“Yessss,” he took hold of Peter’s wrist, holding it above his head as he scribbled at Peter’s underarm. Peter broke out into a loud laughter as he weakly tugged at Tony’s hand with his other, unrestrained hand.

Tony didn’t even try to suppress snicker at how ridiculously ticklish this kid was.

“Does it tickle, kid? You’re practically shaking with laughter, I don’t get the big deal.” Tony didn’t even hide his grin as Peter tried to glare at him. Yet it wasn’t very threatening with the wide grin on Peter’s face. Peter opened his mouth to say something just to squeeze his eyes shut with another bout of laughter.

“Sooo would this also tickle?” He let go of Peter’s wrist, going to repeatedly squeeze Peter’s side. He watched as Peter squirmed more with laughter. The kid’s laughter being music to his ears.

“MihsihsitEr!.” Peter tried to talk through the laughter, failing as he did. He curled up on himself, trying to make a ball as his laughter went silent.

Tony snickered, this time more slowly as he figured the kid was just about done. He slowed down, ruffling Peter’s hair.

“Looks like you’re beat kiddo,” He commented. Peter just giggled some more.

“Just got one more thing for you…” Peter suddenly looked panicked as he started to try and scoot back in the chair, trying to escape now before Tony grabbed hold of him, wrestling the vigilante down.

“Nononononono!”

“Ever heard of this berry? I think you’d like it since it’s red and all and you’re red too. As in Spider-man and right now. No? Alright,” He blew a raspberry into Peter’s neck. He spasmed before trying to curl up again as his giggles went hysterical again. White light exploded behind his eyes.

It felt like 30 minutes before Tony finally let up, blowing 2 more quicker raspberries before letting Peter go.

Peter laid limp, curled up in a fetal position in the chair as he tried to catch his breath. Tony watched as Peter’s back raised and fell with breath. He had to suppress another small laugh at the kid. He never thought but he was feeling quite affectionate right now.

“Tony?” Both Peter and Tony’s gaze snapped to the familiar voice. Steve stood in the doorway as the door opened. Steve looked up from what he was holding, blinking at the curled up teen and Tony.

“What happened here?” He asked. Tony just grinned as Peter bolted, scrambling off the chair and hiding behind Steve.

“He’s evil!” Peter accused, pointing at Tony as Steve blinked again at Peter’s newfound attitude. Usually, he was too shy to talk to him.

“Just some good ol’ fun.” Tony said, eyes twinkling with mischief. Steve just raised an eyebrow.

They all groaned in unison as he announced his presence from behind. He caught up rather quickly, slinging his arms around Peter and Richie's shoulders, the latter flinching at the contact.

"Oh, h-hey Max," he stuttered, trying to play it cool. Max didn't seem to notice, or he just didn't care. "What's up?"

"Oh nothin' much, practice got canceled 'cause of the rain so I gotta fuckin' walk home. Can you believe it?" he complained. Steph couldn't hide her smirk as she answered.

"Yeah I can, actually."

"Shut it, Lauter," he snapped, but it lacked the usual venom his words carried. "You never have to walk anywhere."

"Actually," she corrected, "I'm walking right now." Peter, Ruth, and Richie all snapped their heads to look at her, silently begging her not to say another word.

"Oh yeah? Where the hell are you nerds going? The fuckin' library?" he wheezed out a laugh, slapping a hand on his knee in amusement, although his laughter trailed off when he realized no one was laughing with him.

Steph merely arched a brow and crossed her arms. "No smartass, we're going to Pizza Pete's to win that ugly little doll Ruth's been wanting." Pleading stares turned to annoyed glances as she spilt the beans. The very act of telling Max where they were going was practically an invitation in his eyes.

"Really? Didn't know Spankoffski had his own pizza shop," he quipped, a smirk stretching across his face. That one was good, he had to admit.

And they still didn't fuckin' laugh! Are they brain dead or something?

"Ha ha, like I never heard that one before," Peter rolled his eyes, an annoyed smile tugging at his lips. At least Max was trying.

"Well if you need tickets to win the ugly fucker, I'm great at skee ball," he offered.

"Don't call him that! He's so fuzzy and cute, you guys are just mean!" Ruth whined, clutching her chest dramatically.

"Ruth, radioactive Cthulhu is not cute, he's just creepy," Richie deadpanned. Ruth stuck her tongue out as he returned the gesture.

"Come on you two, those tickets aren't gonna win themselves," Peter prompted, and they began walking down the sidewalk, dumb jock in tow. They all resigned to their fate of backhanded compliments and obscure sports references for the next two hours. Still, it was better than the way things used to be.

Not ideal, but surprisingly tolerable.

At least when he wasn't trying so damn hard. He would go out of his way to be what he considered kind, but was really the bare minimum at best. And Peter wasn’t exactly sure why he thought he needed to be funny for them to like him. Honestly, it was getting old.

Peter, Richie and Max stood off to the side as Ruth and Steph fed their tickets into the ticket counter. A waiter passed by carrying a pizza, and Max nudged them to get their attention, pointing at the restaurant’s signature dish.

“You see that?”

Peter and Richie exchanged confused looks and shrugged. “I guess…”

Max sported a proud, shit-eating grin. “I’d tell you a joke about pizza, but it’d probably be too cheesy,” he punctuated the joke with a deep laugh of his own as they just stared at him.

“I’m lactose intolerant, what the fuck are you talking about?” Richie deadpanned, clearly not getting the joke. Max rolled his eyes dramatically.

“It’s called a joke, dumbass! And it was funny, so you better laugh!” He took a step closer when Richie didn’t immediately comply. “Laugh,” he demanded, deciding to ditch the jokes all together and go for a more “hands on” approach.

“Mahahax! Whahat thehehe hehell?” he asked, thrashing from side to side as he managed to escape Max’s evil clutches.

“Ha! I knew you’d be ticklish! What about you Spankoffski?” he questioned, catching him off guard.

“Wha- me? Max, wahahait!” he cried out as Max targeted him as well. He scribbled up and down Richie’s side while his other hand prodded at Peter’s ribs. Richie flailed around uselessly, shrill giggles filling the air. Peter slapped at his hand, but Max wasn’t deterred in the slightest.

“How come you nerds never told me how ticklish you were? Think of all the fun we could’ve had!” he cheered, shoving his hands underneath both of their arms, eliciting two different giggly shrieks.

“Thahahat’s exahactly why wehe nehehever tohohold you!” Peter whined.

“We gotta make up for lost time then, don’t we? Don’t worry, I can hustle.” They started protesting, shaking their heads and tripping over their words as he wiggled his fingers closer and closer.

He was just about to really strike when Steph came to their rescue.

“Hey, I think we have enough tickets,” she called for their attention, a fond smirk firmly in place.

Max pulled them closer, ruffling their hair as he did so. “Don’t worry, we’ll pick that up again later.”

The aggravated motion must have tossed the formula loose because the web cartridge popped off like a water balloon slipping from the tap and completely coated your hands. The detonation kept your hands clasped together with the mechanism wrapped tightly in your hands.

 You screamed out in surprise and pulled your face away from the mess. ‘Shit. Goddamn it!’ Peter wasn’t going to be mad but he was going to be a major pain in your ass if he saw this. Knowing him, there was a good chance he’d sit down and start eating the pizza just to torment you, leaving you in your misery. ‘No chance,’ you thought, you were starving.

Struggling, you tried to pry you fingers open to drop the device. When that didn’t work you began to get frustrated and started aggressively shaking your hands, bouncing up and down as you cursed out the webs.

That’s when you heard the door open and saw Peter walk in, pizza in hand. “What’s with the ruckus?” He asked softly, trailing off when he saw the scene in front of him.

You didn’t reply, instead you glared at him and a moment passed as amusement inched its way onto Peter’s face.

Smirking, he moved past you and set the pizza down onto his bed where he started setting everything up as if you weren’t currently webbed up, staring at the floor in shame and anticipation. 

He cleared his throat, “maybe this will teach you to not play with my toys?”

‘That smug son of a-’ You sighed, narrowed your eyes and threatened, “I’ll teach you somethin’ when I get out of this and put you on your ass.”

He turned to face you, eyebrows high in disbelief as his smirked got darker. He then dropped his face back to neutral and nodded as he walked over to meet you in the middle of the room. “Oh, okay. And when you ‘get out’-” he mocked, bringing his hands up to taze your sides, “-all on your own, please, please, do just that.”

“No! Peter-ugh-please,” you practically fell back into his chest as he tugged you closer by your sides. You pulled your hands as close to you as you could but it didn’t ‘fend him off from digging his hands into your sides. “I sweheheheahahahar, Ihihihi’m gohohing to kihihihihill yohohohou. Peter!”

“Hey, this is a good life lesson to not touch hazardous prototypes,” he laughed, wrapping an arm around you to trap you to his chest and tickle both hands into your side. “I mean, come on, did you honestly not expect me to do this?”

He cruely had no interest in moving around to swap spots and continued the maddening attack on your side and it was driving you up the walls. “Fohohor GOD sahahahake! Mohohohove yohohohour hahahahands!” You begged, doing everything in your power to fold yourself in half to protect your sides before giving up and jumping on the spot to shake him off.

He laughed at your thrashing, “listen, if supervillains can’t get out of this, I think you’re stuck.” Finally, he moved a hand to spider into lower back causing you to shriek and jolt forward for a moment before yanking you back into his chest when he kissed you lightly on your head.

He eased up slightly, hugging you and fluttering his fingers into your ribs. You giggled out the stupidest thing you could have said at that point. “Sohohome suhuhuper vihihillain ihihif you cahan take them dohohown.”

“Hey! What’s with the attitude?” He shrilled, “I brought you pizza!”

“Yohohou’re right,” you agree. “You dihid ahand I would lihike to eat it!”

You felt his chest rumble as he laughed, slowly letting you go before resting a comforting hand on your back. “Alright, I can practically hear your stomach growling,” he poked you once again. “Even over your screaming.”

“I wa’n’t screaming,” you mumbled, pouting a little through your smile. Peter grabbed your shoulders and scooted you to the side so he could make his way to his desk, digging his hands into your armpits for good measure. “Okay!”

This time you nearly fell to your knees, jumping out of his way so he could reach the desk. Once he grabbed the dissolvent from his drawer, he made a ‘c’mere’ motion with his hand. Without taking a step, you stretched your arms out in front of you and scrunched your nose up at the way he silently laughed at you.

Once your hands were free you vigorously shook them out in front of you and sheepishly uttered, “I’m sorry for wasting your web fluid.”

“Believe me,” he smiled, “it wasn’t a waste.” He poked your side once more whilst moving around you and this time you slapped his hand away.

“Hey! I can fight back now,” you pointed out, crawling onto the bed and getting comfortable in front of the pizza.

“Oh, I’d love to see that,” he taunted, collecting his laptop from the desk. “Here, you can pick the movie and we’ll call it even,” he remarked, setting it down in front of you.

“Oh no, not even a little bit,” you threatened, yanking the laptop onto your lap. “Get ready for a three-hour compilation of Spiderman’s Greatest Fails.”

Peter groaned out a strained laugh and let his head fall back into the headboard. “But-”

“Nope.”

“But I bought pizza,” he whined, tossing an arm over your shoulder.

“Cry about it, Spider-jerk.”