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Peter had been staring at the message from Ned for quite some time now. Lying on his bed with the curtains closed and no light getting in, he was very conflicted.
'Just do it. It'll be fun' His phone glowed, the brightness hurting his eyes.
Fun. What he was going to do didn't feel fun at the moment, more like scary and maybe kinda...Thrilling? He's never done anything like it before, to be honest it was giving Peter a small rush just thinking about it. Eventually Peter decides 'fuck it' and texts Ned 'Ok'. As he closes his phone, he regrets his choice immediately
"oh fuck" he sighs and presses his pillow over his face wishing it could swallow him up.
It all started on Monday during lunch. Peter and Ned were sitting at their table eating their lunch with MJ reading her book 'Of Human Bondage' near them.
"We still on for Saturday day? I can't wait to start building the new lego set, I heard it takes a day to complete, I bet we could do it in an hour" Peter starts chatting
"Dude, " Ned says looking seriously at Peter "I have a better idea"
Peter looks at Ned confused, which Ned takes as a sign to go on
"Let's test out your spider skills" Ned half-whispers
"My spider skills? We already know everything I can do" Peter says still confused about where the conversation is going
"No, dude I mean like find out more stuff about you" Ned explains
"Like what?" Peter asks suspiciously as a smirk appears on Neds face
"Dude, lets see if you can get drunk"
Peter was taken aback by Neds suggestion, he did not expect his friend to say that
"Huh? Dude, we're not old enough to drink" Peter says trying to talk some sense into his friend
"Come on, man it'll be fun" Ned pleads
Peter quickly tries to think of an excuse
"Um, well, where would we even get the drinks from? We're not old enough to buy it ourselves"
'That's a valid excuse' Peter thinks but, of course, Ned already has a solution
"Didn't you say, a while back, that someone gifted May a bottle of vodka that she clearly never plans on having and that she's probably forgotten it even exists anyway, you said so yourself man, so, you know, when she's not home you can just..." Ned makes a tip-toeing gesture and lets Peter fill in the blank himself
"Dude, no, no way, it won't work. Plus I'm supposed to go to Mr Stark's after we hang out, how am I supposed to hang out with him drunk? He's going to murder me" Peter says thinking he finally got the perfect reason not get drunk with Ned
"Just say your sick or something so you're not going and May already knows you'll be sleeping over at Mr Stark's. Please, Dude, my parents won't even be in because they're away for the weekend so you can stay at mine till your sober, plus we don't even know if you can get drunk, dude, please" Ned basically begs
"Umm, I'll think about it" Peter caves in. 'Stupid peer pressure' he thinks
"Damn, you really are a weak soul Parker" MJ makes herself known because, no doubt, they had forgotten she was there.
For the rest of the week Ned kept on talking to Peter about it until Peter said yes. So now here he is, on a Friday night, about to steal and lie from his loving aunt, god, he really is a mess, he hasn't even texted Mr Stark yet because he's scared he's going to see right through his lie. But as someone important probably said 'Fuck it', Peter takes the vodka, wraps it in one of his hoodies and puts it in his bag, then he gets his phone and texts Mr Stark, what he thinks, is a reasonably believable message saying he caught the flu, it's October anyway, everyone's got the flu.
Now that it's all set Peter feels kinda excited for tomorrow, he's just praying he won't get caught.
When he arrives at Neds house, he feels like he is running on pure adrenaline, so much so his hands are slightly shaking, making it difficult to open the bottle but he finally gets it open and Ned tells him to have the first sip. It feels like he is drinking fire and it hurts like it too, coughing and sputtering, Peter passes the bottle to Ned who has a similar reaction
"Well, that was pretty shit" Peter says still recovering
"Yup" Ned agrees "Come on, take another sip"
"Um, no thank you, that was foul" Peter declines wishing they were building the lego set
"Yeah, well, it's bad at first but then you get used to it, come on" Ned passes the bottle back and Peter reluctantly takes another swig
They pass it back and forth till the bottle is empty and they are both absolutely shit-faced.
"S' you c'n g't dr'nk" Ned slurs
"Th'nk g'd, bein' dru'nk s'o m'ch f'un " Peter hazily replies
Peter feels really happy and carefree, he doesn't even remember what he was so anxious about, this is fun. After a while Ned says that his parents have a 6-pack of beer in the fridge and the two boys down them rapidly, Peter has 4, while Ned has 2 because apparently the spider in him is really good at chugging shit. Peter can't ever remember a time he felt so free, he always had some sort of responsibility but right now he didn't and that felt amazing. Suddenly Peters phone starts ringing and without looking at who it is Peter picks up
"Peter? Where are you?" Tony asks, almost panicked
"Oh sh't, hey m'St'rk" Peter says not really grasping what's happening, the line is silent for a second, then
"Peter Benjamin Parker, are you fucking drunk?" Tony is clearly furious from the tone of his voice
"Whaaa? Me? Dr'nk, n'v'r m'St'rk" At this point Ned's passed out on the couch, but Peter is still looking for something more to drink
"I'm tracking your phone now so you better stay there but you are in a shit-ton of trouble right now young man" Tony firmly states, but Peter doesn't hear him because he just found another can in the back of the fridge.
He's halfway finished his can when he hears the sound of repulsers behind him. Just then he realises how much trouble he's in
"Oh sh't" he makes an attempt to run for the door but his legs decide to give up on him and he ends up tumbling to the ground, he doesn't even have time to get up before Iron Man bursts through the door. Tony looks around and sees Peter on the lying on the floor, thinking he passed out he gets out the suit and rushes over to him
"Oh, hey mr St'rk" Peter slurs
"Hey Pete, you Ok?" Tony asks pulling Peter into a sitting position
"Mhm" Peter hums
All of a sudden Peter feels nauseas, it must show on his face because in an instant Tony pulls him up and drags him to the bathroom, Peter reaches the toilet just in time to spew his guts out. Tony pats his back supportively the whole time while wondering if this is what Rhodey had to deal with almost everyday, he really owes the man an apology.
When Peter is finally done, he is totally spent and barely conscious so Tony decides to postpone the lecture he had been working on since he found out Peter was getting drunk to a time when Peter will remember. Tony writes a note explaining to Ned, who's still passed out, that Tony has taken Peter to the compound and left some paracetamol and water next to him. He flies back to the compound with Peter in his arms, bridal style and when they get there he puts him directly in his room and leaves him some water and his super strong spider meds.
Peter wakes up a day later feeling like he was crushed in a hydraulic press, he looks around and gathers his surroundings. He's in his room at the compound, shit, how did he get there? Oh, yeah, he remembers now, fuck, why did he listen to Ned? Why didn't they just build the stupid lego set? Before he can regret his choices further Tony walks into the room
"Rise and shine sunshine, take the meds and come to the kitchen" and he walks out again
Peter takes the meds and gets ready not wanting to aggravate his mentor any further, the man was clearly raging with him, he had never spoken to him so abruptly. After giving himself a mini pep talk he walks out into the kitchen where there are eggs, bacon and Tony wating for him. He's about to apologise for everything but Tony cuts him off and tells him he should eat first then they can talk since its going to be a long talk and when Peter is done he should come to the living room. At that Peter becomes extremely anxious but he sits down and eats as he was told, he tries to eat really slowly but there's only so long he can drag out some eggs and bacon so eventually he puts his dish in the dishwasher and joins Tony in the living room sofa. They are both silent for a solid minute, until Peter can't take it anymore
"Mr Stark I am so sorry, I didn't mean to get so drunk and I'm sorry for lying to you and telling you I'm sick when I'm not and missing out on lab day, oh my god, am I banned from lab days? I'm so sorry Mr Stark but please don't ban me from the lab , I love lab days I know it doesn't seem like it but I do please, sir, anything but that" Peter practically begs
"Whoa, slow your roll, kiddo, I'm not banning you from the lab, let's talk about why you lied and got drunk and then we can figure out a suitable punishment" Tony explained gently, he released he wasn't really angry at Peter for getting drunk he was just scared Peter was turning into him so now he was more concerned than anything.
When Tony used to drink it was to forget everything and he really wished someone had stopped him early on and offered his support instead of letting him go on, not that he wasn't grateful to Rhodey or Pepper for being with him and making sure he wasn't going to choke on his own vomit, it just would of been nicer but it's ok because he was going to be to Peter what he wished someone had been to him.
"So, kid, where did this even come? Had you been thinking about doing it for a while?" Tony asks
Relieved that he won't be banned from the lab and realising what the conversation is about Peter tells Tony everything, how he just did it so he didn't disappoint his friend and how he stole the vodka from May and how free and light he felt when he was drunk and how a tiny part of him wants to feel like that again. Tony listens through all of it and waits till Peter is done talking before he speaks
"Trust me kid, I get how alcohol can make you feel, but you know you shouldn't be trying to drink your problems away, if you feel like the pressure of being Spiderman is too much you can always talk to me or your aunt and believe me kid, talking is more effective than drinking" Tony says
"Yeah, though to be honest, I didn't even realise I felt so burdened by it until then, i guess i was just so used to the pressure I didn't realise it was so much till didn't have it anymore" Peter says, glad that this turned out to be a heart to heart conversation rather than a lecture
"You know, if you want you can talk to someone about it, like professional, I mean" Tony offers
"No, it's ok, it's not that bad" Peter declines
"Okay but just know that's always an option" Tony says leaning in for a hug
"Thank you, Mr Stark" Peter says as he leans into the embrace, he makes sure to make the most of this moment since Mr Stark isn't really a hugger but Peter is "I'm so glad you didn't start yelling at me"
"Yeah, honestly I wasn't really mad at you, I was more mad at myself because I never really thought you'd be one of the people that get drunk, so I thought it was my fault and I was turning you into myself but now I know that's not the case" Tony says
Peter slowly pulls away from the hug
"What? I would love to be like you" Peter says shocked that Tony, a literal genius, thinks so little of himself
"What, a selfish drunk who pushes everyone who loves them away?" Tony asks sarcastically
"No, a genius who protects the people they love with everything they have and keeps going to matter how bad things get" Peter says with aspiration
"I'm not really that good of a guy, I sold weapon and some of my weapons are still being used in the workforce today, I'm partly to blame for people dying everyday" Tony says wondering how the conversation turned so quickly
"Yeah, but the minute you found out about that you stopped, most people would've kept going but you didn't, you turned your company around, that's pretty admirable" Peter says earnestly wanting Tony to appreciate himself for
"You know, I don't understand how we were talking about you one minute then the next me" Tony deflects
Peter knows what Tony is trying to do but he goes with it anyway
"Yeah, well I'm really good at changing conversations, I'm like a pro at it" Peter brags
"Well not too good because I haven't forgotten you still need a punishment and to go speak to you aunt as well" Tony stands up and Peter flops back onto the couch
"Ughh" Peter groans
"Come on, up, up I told your aunt that we would be on our way after we had our chat" Tony starts to walk away
"Wait, how did you guys even figure out I was lying about my whereabouts? I thought it was totally fool proof" Peter questions
"I called you first to see how you were feeling but you didn't pick up so I called your aunt and she said you had told here you were sleeping over and just like that your fool proof plan failed" Tony explains "Now come on, we need to get going"
Peter gets up and follows Tony into the garage, they pick out a white BMW and drive to May's.
When they arrive, May pulls Peter into a tight hug and they all go sit on the couch
"So, I imagine Tony's already spoke to you about what you did?" May starts the conversation
"Yeah, I promise I won't ever do it again, not till I'm old enough to anyway" Peter shrugs
"Good and even if you are, I want you to tell me and not to sneak off again, I thought you'd gone on patrol and something bad happened to you, I hate even thinking about it" May says making Peter feel guilty for all the worry he caused
"I'm sorry for worrying you guys" Peter apologises
"It's alright kid, just don't do it again" Tony says
"And to make sure of that you're grounded for 3 weeks, you can still go on patrol but come straight afterwards home" May says
"Ok" Peter mumbles, May isn't usually one for punishments but this time sorta called for it.
"Alright, now that we got that out the way, you wanna watch something" May offers
"Yeah, sure, are you going to stay?" Peter asks Tony
"Why not?" Tony says as he gets comfy on the couch and May puts on Brooklyn nine-nine
Halfway during the first episode, Peter gets a message from Ned
Ned
Hey dude sorry bout making u get drunk and getting u in trouble :(
Peter
Its ok dude I didnt get into too much trouble anyway :)
Ned
:)
Peter closes his phone and thinks about how great May and Tony are for not yelling at him and instead talking to him, he feels really grateful to have them in his life. After a while he starts to feel a bit tired and before he knows it he's fast asleep.