Chapter Text
His twentieth birthday wasn't meant to be spent like this. Neither did his summer vacations.
—At least he didn't plan this and his father didn't listen to him and insisted that they should visit Tony's mother's family and the wide lake house that they own.
Perhaps Tony's been spending too much money and he overrun his dad's credit card, that's why Howard decided to prevent Tony from celebrating his first birthday as an almost adult with massive, senseless parties and tons of unnecessary alcohol.
Instead, Howard ignored Tony's angry and teenage like protest and forced him to pack a bag because 'Tony, we're leaving in an hour' —and, God, he hate his father's guts in that moment.
Tony was reluctant, even as they get out of the car and the landscape was breathtaking and the weather was just perfect, the air was warm and the sun was still shinning gold, the house was enormous and there were kayaks stack up messily, as if they've been used just hours ago (he perfectly knew that this was actually cool, but his stubborn self wouldn't admit that just yet; he needs to throw a tantrum first).
He held his duffle bag in one shoulder and he regretted not listening to his mom suggestion of wearing shorts and a thin shirt; because he's fucking cooking up in his hoodie and jeans. He wouldn't admit that either.
Soon, his Mom's sister and her husband appeared by the door, waving happily at them and Tony watched his mom run towards them —Tony barely remember his aunt and uncle and this lake house too, so he just smiled forcefully when his mom's sister, Laura hugged Tony tightly and squeezed him longingly, exclaiming: How long it's been and Tony's so grown up now, Maria!
Tony is sure that he's been only here and seen them twelve times and when he was just a kid. Still, his mom pinched the back of his arm, tugged his earphones away and muttered for Tony to drop the sour face.
He obeyed with a sigh as they entered the house.
It was nice and big, it was rustic and it smelled like wood. Tony realized he could actually stay here for the summer and not complain.
"Tony, you look so much like your father!" Laura hugged him again and squeezed one of his cheeks slightly, "He's so handsome, Maria."
Tony only grimaced slightly.
"I'm sure you're a heartbreak," She teased him and Tony's uncle Sam then spoke too:
"So, any girlfriends, man?" He patted his back.
At that, Tont smirked and gave his parents a quite annoyed look for a second, "Actually, yes. But, I had to leave her behind to come here."
Howard slapped the back of his head playfully as they all start heading towards the kitchen.
"Oh, honey, I'm sure you'll have fun here," Laura smiled, "With your cousin and all."
Yeah, Tony barely remembers his cousin too, he faintly knows what he looks like now because of the Facebook pictures that Maria sometimes shows him.
"Where is my nephew?" Marias asked excitedly, "I wanna see him."
"They're probably in the pool. Tony, you should go and hang out with with them! Peter has some friends over."
Speaking of —Tony was just sitting down in a high chair and he was about to ask his uncle for the Wifi password, but their chatter was interrupted by the sliding door conducting to the backyard, slamming open and quickly, a kid came running inside, along with an older boy.
"Hey, no running in the house!" Tony's uncle yelled and pointed at them.
Tony looked up and saw the two boys giggling and sliding through the wood floor with wet feet and water guns. Tony recognized one from the pictures, and only kind of remembers him, Peter.
He remembers too that they used to fight a lot and steal eachother's toys cars. Still, he doesn't have that much of an impression from his cousin; just that Peter was really annoying and loud.
Tony sighed and kept using his phone data as his parents greeted Peter and the other kid.
Peter's voice was high-pitched and still loud, Tony hasn't spare the younger boy a second glance; again he sighed and he wants to sleep already, but suddenly his mother made him stand up.
"Tony, your cousin is here," She pushed him towards the boys.
"You probably don't remember eachother very well," Laura said and she was already holding her phone up to take a picture of them, "But, try to have fun, yeah?"
"Yeah, Tony," Howard said and gave him a warning glance.
Tony would've roll his eyes, but his cousin was giving a step towards him and he smiled sheepishly and with shut lips at him as he nodded at Tony once.
Peter is shorter that what Tony expected and he's really slim and fit too. (How old is he again?)
"Hey, man," Peter said, "Wanna play ball?"
He shrugged and looked at the adults, who were already involved in a different conversation; he rather be elsewhere than with the adults.
"Sure."
They start walking in silent. The other kid disappeared, so it was only them, heading towards the backyard, accompanied with uncomfortable silence.
Until, Peter elbowed him playfully and grinned up at him, "Long time, huh?"
"Yeah," He said simply, distracted by his phone as he texted his girlfriend about how much of a bad time he was having.
"You know," The younger boy started, "When mom and dad told me that you were coming to visit I was really excited."
"Yeah?" He muttered in the same, bored tone.
"Yeah," The boy said, still oblivious about Tony's behavior. He smiled and elbowed him again, "I even fixed my room to share it with you."
At that, Tony looked up fastly with wide, unbelieving eyes and his jaw dropped —he only realized how much of an asshole and rude he sounded just after he finished his sentence.
"I'm sleeping with you —like sharing a room and bed and shit?"
Peter's crooked smile fell slowly at that and he lowered his gaze and distracted himself with the water gun on his hand; he shrugged slightly and gave a step away from Tony (as if he finally sensed Tony's defensive energy).
"Well, sorry, I can tell my mom to give you the other free room," He mumbled and didn't give Tony a glance, "I'm sure it won't be a problem, Tony."
And —Maria always tells him he's just like his father, and Tony hates it, and maybe she's right. Because, he's kind of a jerk and he's selfishly moody.
He never learns to think twice before speaking and that's why he always fucks up.
It's not his cousin's or his family's fault that he's stubbornly angry for not being able to get shitfaced and fuck his girlfriend on his birthday —so he should know better and not let his rage out on them.
Tony felt just a little bad at Peter's disappointment and hurt expression, and he likes to think that he is a decent human being, and he would've apologize, but Peter was already walking ahead of him and exciting the house.
Fuck —it's too hot and he wishes to have lighter clothes on.
—
The sun was just going down and this is his girlfriend's favorite hour to take pictures. Tony thought as he watched the few people hanging out by the pool. All of them were around Peter's and Tony's age.
There was loud music and yells.
He notices now that Peter is wearing small, blue shorts that clinged to his thighs and his shirtless torso is flushed from the sun. His skin looks smooth —and Tony had to look away when all of a sudden a large splash of water hit him just when he was sitting in one of the beach chairs.
Tony exhaled in frustration and looked at his now, damped jeans and sleeves of his hoodie.
"You should've wear something else, dude."
Tony looked at Peter, who was smirking and the water of the pool covered around his shoulders. He seemed to be floating with lithe legs, his hair was on his forehead and he gave Tony a last short look before swimming away, not without yelling back.
"Sorry about that!"
It was totally sarcastic and mocking. As an innocent revenge for Tony's ungrateful and boorish attitude back in the house. He likes that. He couldn't help but snort and shake his head in newfound amusement as a small grin tempted to lift his lips.
There were two teenage girls looking at Tony and when he caught them, they look away and laughed with eachother.
Perchance, he will have some fun this summer.
Tony leaned back and grinned at them sideways, but soon, his attention was drown away when a black girl sitting in the edge of the pool laughed and yelled.
"Ew! Get a room and stop eating eachother!"
And —wow. Tony would yell the same thing if he was comfortable enough with these strangers.
To his big and dubious surprise, he found his young cousin in the corner of the pool. He is with this older looking guy (Tony's sure he's maybe older than himself) and the guy is holding Peter's waist and Tony's doesn't have to look closely to know that Peter's is hugging the other's hips with his legs.
Maria did tell him once that Peter recently revealed that he swings with the other team and she was so proud at how accepting and loving Peter's parents acted, and Tony honestly completely forgot about that —and, yeah, there's no doubt.
Peter definitely swings the other way.
Tony thought with hilarity as he watched his little cousin gets groped by that college looking guy and get kissed drunkenly and wrongly.
But, he won't judge, because Peter seem happy, he held tight the guy's shoulders with his arms and smiled merrily when the guy suddenly submerged themselves under water.
Tony had to look away and stand up to go change his clothes.
And maybe get his own privileged head out of his ass for once.
—
Tony actually forgot to ask for the Wifi password.
He changed into clothes that fitted more the humid and hot weather. He ended up playing soccer with two other guys that weren't the pretentious college pricks that Peter and the black girl were hanging out with over the beach chairs.
Peter remained close with the guy and he is sitting now on his lap and they couldn't seem to take their hands off eachother.
Because of noisily staring, he got hit by the ball on his head and he turned around to laugh with the new friends he made.
Peter and the boyfriend were forgotten too for a short time as they started passing around hidden buzz.
And, he stopped looking at his cousin's way for the rest of the afternoon when Peter opened his eyes in the middle of making out with the guy and they instantly caught Tony's.
Tony is just curious, yes?
Intrigued and it's absorbing.
It's weird to see the little cousin that used to cry whenever Tony made fun of him when they were kids, now acting like that with the boyfriend.
Their mothers are right. They are grown up.
—
Tony's been hanging out inside the pool with the two girls from earlier.
He was bored and he didn't really wanted to go inside and fetch his phone, so he let the girls ask him whatever they wanted.
Until almost everyone started leaving and the air started to get cold. Peter and the college guys disappeared long ago. He needs to go to the bathroom and Laura mentioned that while they're outside and in the pool, they have to use the bathroom outside so they don't mess up the clean wood floor.
Tony vaguely remembers where she told him where the bathroom is. He walked around for a moment, then he found the small room by the side of the house, where there was no one and the fence was short enough to let Tony see the woods behind it.
He wasn't thinking and he was kinda tired from the trip; the polite thought of knocking on the door never arrived to his brain.
And, before he could stop, he was gripping the doorknob and turning it to open the door; it was unlocked and Tony would have step in immediately, but the picture before him made him freeze in place.
Tony is still holding the doorknob and he's looking, oh, God, he is looking.
Peter was inside the bathroom, next to the drunk guy.
His cousin is on his knees and his looking up at Tony with a mortified and stunned expression. Peter's hand is holding (shit, ew) the guys dick and his thin lips are red and shiny. His hair is intently tangled, as if it was been pulled moments before Tony bust them.
The three of them weren't moving —and, this is not right.
Tony quickly turned around, just as the guy was closing the door harshly and he was porting an angry expression on his face.
He walked with bare feet through the hard rocks and he actually was feeling his face getting hot. He raised a hand to touch his forehead as he heard the distant exchange of words inside the bathroom.
"I told you to lock the door, Peter."
"I did!"
"You clearly didn't. Are you fucking stupid?"
Tony was just in the corner to leave but he stopped abruptly to listen to whatever Peter was going to say at that.
But, his cousin didn't answer.
And Tony jogged inside the house to avoid feeling bad about that.
—
It's almost too much to take in and perhaps this has been a weird, odd day.
But, it was entertaining in a way.
(Ugh, he just saw his little cousin doing that —after years of not seeing him. What are the odds?)
And maybe, Tony isn't as bored as before.
Still, Tony and Peter didn't look at eachother in the eye for the rest of the night and dinner time.
Somehow, it felt like as if they were kids all over again.