iv.

Peter had prepared a toast.

He had spent agonizing hours, days and weeks over it.

It was after all one of the biggest, if not the most important event in Mr. Stark's life and he had chosen Peter to be by his side. To say Peter was honoured beyond belief was an understatement. He had been shell-shocked, rooted to the spot as he stared at Mr. Stark wondering if he had misheard until the man peered at him worriedly and shook him a little before he stammered out a response.

He, Peter Benjamin Parker, was Tony Stark's best man.

Sure, Mr. Stark had gone a little overboard, like he was prone to do, and also appointed Happy as well as Rhodey, but the point was, he was one of Mr. Stark's best men which meant that he had to give a speech.

And Peter wanted it to be perfect.

He wanted the whole wedding ceremony to be perfect for Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark.

But as he stood there with a glass of champagne in hand – May and Mr Stark had allowed him a free pass for this occasion - with his scholarship and MIT acceptance letter (Mr. Stark still had no idea) resting snugly in his jacket pocket, and seeing Mr. Stark looking at him expectantly with that glimmer in his eyes, Peter decided to discard his speech.

Glancing around the room, at these people, all these guests, who had no idea the journey they had taken, the things they went through together and the things they shared, the nightmares that Mr. Stark talked him through when May couldn't reach to him, the career fairs he attended with Peter to help him narrow his field of interest, the room at his penthouse apartment that he gave to Peter so he could crash in if he chose to on nights that May was on shift.

He had lost so many people – his parents and Ben – but he had also gained a family. He had made space in his heart for Mr. Stark and then Ms. Potts, and Happy too. Together with May, all these people made for an odd combination but they worked. They worked and Peter was happy.

"I've always wondered what it'll take for you to be quiet. I didn't think asking you to make a speech was one of those," Mr. Stark remarked airily.

Peter blinked and cleared his throat, chuckling nervously.

"Sorry, sorry, I – uh – was trying to recall," he made a circular motion with his finger. "Right so I – I prepared a speech," he raised his piece of paper, crumpled from the countless times he stood in front of the mirror, practicing. Then he tossed it behind him, "It feels too scripted now."

"Oh, boy," Tony said. "This is going to be interesting."

Next to him, Pepper swatted his arm, shooting him a look of warning.

Peter ignored the man. He licked his lips, took a deep breath to steady his nerves and then he started speaking.

"Mr. Stark is…. He's many things…"

"Mr. Stark has been asking you to call him Tony," the older man's voice rose above Peter, garnering laughter from the guests.

"Right, yes, he did but it's – it's difficult to roll off my tongue. Sorry," he gave him an apologetic look. "Habit… Is it – Is it okay if you let me speak? Maybe stop interrupting my speech….?"

Again, the guests laughed and it surprised him that he was able to do that. Mr. Stark raised both hands in a peaceful gesture before bringing an arm around Ms. Potts, waiting for Peter to resume.

"When Mr. Stark first found me," Peter started again, "I was just a fifteen year old kid from Queens. Now, I have just graduated high school – a graduation that Mr. Stark attended, sending half of my classmates into cardiac arrest from the excitement alone – and I am about… to start on something new."

Mr. Stark's eyes widened and he opened his mouth as if to ask a question before Ms. Potts elbowed him with a smile fixed firmly on her face.

"I'm – uh – I'm glad that we are both starting it together. It's like a new life for us. Sorry, that didn't come out right, I meant, a new chapter," he rubbed his sweaty palm on the side of his thigh. "A new chapter in our lives. Sorta. God, I'm sorry, I'm not very eloquent," Peter laughed anxiously, "guess that's still something Mr. Stark hasn't managed to impart on me yet."

That comment made Ms. Potts – Mrs. Stark, Peter corrected himself mentally – laugh and it was such a delightful sound. It made Peter smile.

"Mr. Stark has gone from that man that the ten year old Peter Parker only thought was super cool and super awesome to someone who has constantly encouraged me, has made me toed the line and has always watched out for me. Sometimes his methods are unorthodox and it's made me frustrated at times but at the end of the day, I know he has my back. We all need … We all need someone like that in our life – someone to support us, to look out for us – and Ms. Potts is that person in his life. I'm – I'm very happy for them. What's important for me is that I'm so glad we got to this day."

At the confused look of the guests and Mr. Stark himself, Peter explained, "I thought we will never get here before the next alien invasion but we did! They're like married now which is cool. That's awesome, dude," he said knowing full well Mr. Stark's aversion to being call a 'dude' and he raised his hand to high five his mentor but since it wasn't reciprocated he let his hand fall back to his side.

In front of him, Mr. Stark was shaking his head.

"Mr. Stark," Peter looked at him, his voice taking on a serious tone now. "I've never really thank you, you know, for all you've done for me so thank you. You were there for me so I actually just wanna say that I'll be here, too. When you have a kid with Ms. Potts and you got to learn to change the diapers and all that… I'll be here and we can like watch Youtube videos on how to get that done, you know?" He grinned. "Maybe… do a tutorial for newbie dads? Have a vlog channel – Tony Stark; A Dad Adventure."

"God, you're embarrassing me, kid," he muttered.

It made May reach across the table to pat Tony's hand comfortingly.

"He can go on," she whispered. "You better put a stop to it."

"Happy and I are sort of excited to see you in that new dad capacity, we thought we'd write a book on it. We'll call it The Tony Stark Training Wheels Protocol," Peter paused, waited for a beat and nearly laughed at the way Mr. Stark glared at him. It was something only they both understood and in that moment, it truly felt as if Peter and Mr. Stark shared something that no one else in this room did. "Get it? Cause you'll technically be dad in training."

"Thought that was what I was doing with you," Mr. Stark muttered so low under his breath that Peter nearly didn't catch it if it wasn't for his enhanced hearing.

He fumbled; suddenly losing his train of thought, trying to get his bearing, trying to remember what it was he had said last.

"I mean, of course, no pressure Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark. It's just – my imagination, you know, it – it moves so fast so I'm like three steps ahead. I know you guys just got married and all and like there's family planning those kind of – "

"Okay," Mr. Stark rose from his seat, side stepped his chair to make it round the table towards Peter. "Great speech. Thank you, kid. Round of applause for him. Thank you," he said, putting an arm around Peter.

"Congratulations, Tony," Peter smiled so wide his cheek was hurting. "Good luck with him, Pepper."

I kind of imagine Peter just discarding his speech the way Tony did in IM 1 - team "we're winging it". So, that's it! The end of this 3 + 1! I hope you've enjoyed the read and thank you for reading what I wrote. Thanks for leaving reviews as well! If you can leave a review or two for this last chapter, I'll be so thrilled :)

If you want to have anything written for a 3 + 1 or a 5 + 1 let me know too and I'll try write it. I had so so much fun writing Living Just for Kicks!