(might be dark and sad and a bit of past sexual assault, so heads up)
Every now and again, the people of New York would get to see a Spider-Man and Iron Man team up. It wasn't exactly rare, but people were huge fans of the two heroes, and nothing made them happier than seeing them working together - especially in light of the Avengers' break up. All the public knew was that Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were on opposite sides of the Sokovia Accords, and no longer wanted to work together. Since the Avengers' union in 2012, many media outlets had been reporting that Steve and Tony never got along - which was far from the truth. The pair got along just fine, until the Winter Soldier. But so many people had bought into this narrative, having remembered what Tony was like before he became Iron Man, and the two years immediately after he first donned the metal suit. And with the Rogue Avengers in hiding, Tony became the scapegoat for all these issues, and people firmly began to believe that the old Tony Stark was back.
But seeing Iron Man work alongside the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man had changed public opinion. All anyone knew about the vigilante was that he mostly worked out of Queens, but would venture out to other areas in and around New York. They'd heard of the web-slinger joining forces with other vigilantes, but none were as reputable and internationally known as Iron Man. So, many people wanted to know just how well the two knew each other, and it wasn't uncommon for Tony - when he did the odd press conference - to be asked about the man under the mask. Tony never gave anything away though, which led many to hypothesize just how close the pair were. Until they didn't need to hypothesize anymore.
Peter was currently in the middle of a decathlon meeting at Midtown, flicking aimlessly through the notes in front of him, sighing as MJ continued to yell at Flash. Throughout the day, he'd felt the same prickling sensation on the back of his neck, which he had aptly named his Spidey-Sense. usually, it was active when he was on patrol, but he found that it would prickle whenever something bad was going to happen, and since it'd been acting up all day, something big was coming. "You good?" Ned asked, leaning over. "Usually you get a kick out of watching MJ hand someone their ass," he added, sounding concerned.
Peter smiled, "What can I say? It's nice to see that she yells at us all the same way."
Ned nodded, "But seriously. You look kinda out of it. Sure you're feeling well?"
Peter nodded, "My Spidey-sense is acting up. Happens when I'm feeling antsy, but it'll die down when I go on patrol," he explained, closing his binder, and propping his head on his fist, as MJ asked Flash if he'd ever been dropped on his head. Suddenly, there was a bleeping sound, and Peter checked the watch Tony had given to him. It looked like a tricked-out fitbit, and measured everything, while also being hooked up to KAREN and FRIDAY. The small LED light flashed red, and Peter quickly shot out of his seat, collecting his stuff. "Sorry, I gotta go. Doctor's appointment," he lied, shooting MJ an apologetic look as he ran out of the classroom. She merely raised an eyebrow, eyes following him out of the room.
Peter ran down the street before ducking into a nearby alleyway, and changing into his Spider-Man suit. He webbed his bag to the wall behind the large dumpster and began climbing towards the roof of the building."KAREN, what's going on?" he asked, his HUD lighting up, as small videos and images appeared on the bottom, like a news reel.
"There's been a major incident with the Rhino in Lower Manhattan. All police and emergency personnel have been notified," KAREN responded. A small map appeared on the left, mapping out the quickest route. Peter began to swing southward, when there was a ringing noise. "You have an incoming call from Tony Stark," KAREN said.
"Answer it," Peter replied.
"Hey kid," Tony's voice said, echoing slightly. He must have been in one of his suits. "You see a large mechanized Rhino anywhere?" he asked conversationally.
"Not yet, but I'm on my way over now," Peter said, swinging as fast as he could.
"I see you," Tony said, and sure enough, Peter could hear the whoosh of repulsers as Tony flew alongside him. "So, what's the plan here Pete?"
Peter bit his lip. "Uh, corner the animal and tranq it?"
"We gotta work on your confidence, kid" Tony said, trying not to laugh as they neared the sounds of sirens. "Scan for civilians in the danger zone, and remove them. I'll try to keep the asshat's attention on me," he ordered, before flying off.
"Sounds good, Mr Stark" Peter said flying off. He spotted the Rhino in the middle of the street, barrelling towards the barricade of police cars, before being stopped by the repulser blasts. Peter began collecting civilians and moving them behind the barricade on the other side of the street, before landing on a police car. Tony's attempts to get the Rhino's attention weren't really working, just making the guy angrier. The Rhino's armor moved slightly, revealing the wearer. Peter stared at Sytsevich, recognizing him from an attempted robbery a few months back. The man grinned manaically, "SPIDER-MAN? YOU FIGHT ME? FIGHT ME NOW!" he cried, beating the mechanized paws on the chest-plate of his suit.
Peter groaned inwardly, catching a megaphone one of the officers had tossed towards him. Behind the Rhino, Tony was using some extra suits to create a larger barrier, protecting the civilians and police officers from the mechanized and automatic rifles encased in the Rhino's armor. "On behalf of the people of New York and real Rhinos everywhere, I ask that you put your mechanized paws in the air." Tony shook his head as he imagined the grin on Peter's face.
"NO! I CRUSH YOU! I DESTROY YOU! I KILL YOU!" Sytsevich cried, banging his mechanized arms on the pavement, causing it to crack and shake.
"Hold on, I gotta ask for permission first," Peter yelled through the megaphone, raising a finger. "IRON MAN, PERMISSION TO DIE?"
"PERMISSION DENIED. KICK ASS, SPIDER-MAN!" Tony yelled through the armor. Peter tossed the megaphone back at the officer, as the Rhino began to charge, firing two large missiles at Peter, who deflected one of them with an abandoned car door, causing it to fly back and hit the Rhino's armor, slowing him down slightly, while the other missile smashed into the concrete. Peter continued to charge, as the Rhino raised a large paw in the air, and brought it down. If it wasn't for his powers, Peter would have been crushed. Instead, he caught the armor and wrapped his arms around it, before lifting it and judeo flipping the mechanized animal over his head, exposing the underside of the machine. Tony fired several smaller repulsor bursts at the armor, causing bits of metal and debris to fly off, as Peter brought the Rhino down with a sickening crunch.
Alexei was knocked out, and Peter used that opportunity to pry the metal open and pull him out, where the police were able to handcuff him, "Stark Relief will take care of the clean up," Tony said, his faceplate up as he watched the scene. He turned to Peter, who was staring at the mechanized armor with interest. "Thinking about turning into Rhino-man?" he asked with a smirk.
Peter scoffed, shaking his head. "No, but ... something's not right. My spidey sense is still tingling." He continued to stare at the control panel inside of the suit, which was lit up like a Christmas tree. He gently prodded one of the torn wires with a long finger.
Tony gave him a concerned look, "what-"
Tony's voice was cut off as Peter was suddenly flung backwards by a strike from the mechanized arm. Apparently, the armor was still on alert, designed to protect it from being further tampered with when the controller was removed.
The armor then turned on Tony, faceplate back on, and arms raised. He shot a few blasts, but the armor continued to advance. An arm swung upwards before flying out and swatting Tony off into a nearby building, which cracked and creaked. The Rhino continued to advance, each stomp on the concrete destabilizing the building more and more. Suddenly, the armor halted, its feet digging into the concrete like it was being pulled back by something. Tony managed to dislodge himself from where he was wedged in the concrete building and was watching the fight unfold in front of him, eyebrows raised. Behind, Peter had shot two webs at the Rhino's legs, tugging it backwards, before flinging himself up, shooting another web and grabbing a battered, abandoned car and bringing the vehicle down on the armor, shattering it into a hundred pieces. Behind the police barricade, people began to cheer, but they were cut short. When Peter had struck the armor, the ground had shaken so severely, that the building Tony had been thrown into began to shake. Tony, however, had been too focused on Peter to pay any attention to what FRIDAY, the bystanders and Peter were yelling at him. The building teetered before tipping over. At the last second, Tony turned and quickly shielded himself with his arms over his head, bracing for the impact. But it never came. Instead, people were clapping and cheering. Slowly, he lowered his arms and opened his eyes, faceplate flying up, as he stared in front of himself.
Peter was standing over him, hands raised as he held up the building. "Mr. Stark, are you okay?" he yelled.
"Yeah," Tony replied breathlessly. "Thanks, kid."
"Anytime," Peter replied, his grin evident despite the mask he wore. They stared at each other for another minute before Peter piped up. "Uh, Mr. Stark? If it's not too much trouble, do you mind moving? This is getting kinda heavy."
Tony nodded, and quickly rolled out of the way, before summoning the stabilizers he'd used when Peter accidentally tore the ferry in half. They pushed the building until it was upright, and Peter began to web up the cracks with his newest formula, designed to help keep things together until the city had fixed it. With a nod, the pair set off for the tower, Peter making a small detour to collect his bag.
By the time he'd gotten there, Tony was already out of the suit, and was about to pour himself something to drink. "Good job out there," he said, moving the glass aside and heading to the freezer, where he unearthed two tubs of Stark Raving Hazelnuts. Peter quickly changed out of his suit and caught the ice cream and spoon as Tony tossed it to him.
"Thanks," Peter replied. "It was nice to have backup."
Tony raised an eyebrow as he sat down on the stool next to Peter. "Kid, you're back up. I'm the main event."
Peter laughed, as he dug into his ice cream. "You would have been in the cement if I let you get crushed by that building," he noted.
Tony's eyes widened. "Oh my god, I was the dumbass in distress," he whispered, looking devastated.
Peter furrowed his brow, "Don't- don't you mean 'damsel in distress,' Mr. Stark?"
Tony shook his head, "I'm not a woman, Pete. 'Damsel' refers to a woman."
Peter whistled, "You have some seriously fragile masculinity if you're gonna change a whole saying cause it would imply you're a woman." He continued to dig around in his ice cream, scooping out the hazelnuts.
"Did you just sass me?" Tony asked, smiling.
"Oh my god, I've been spending too much time with MJ," Peter whispered, mirroring Tony's look of disbelief from earlier.
Tony shook his head, "So you actually can lift up a whole building. Never would have believed it otherwise," he joked.
Peter rolled his eyes as he ate his ice cream, "I thought we both came to the conclusion that I am freakishly strong."
Tony nodded, "True. But really kid, you did good. You took that guy down in like five moves. You been training or something?" he asked, referencing all the hours he and Rhodey spent at the compound training the kid.
"I live by a simple motto," Peter began, noticing how Tony's face became serious. "'In this world, you either yeet or get yeeted,'" Peter said, as seriously as he could.
Tony stared at Peter for a full minute, "What the actual fuck?" he whispered, turning back to his ice cream, missing the shit-eating grin that crept up Peter's face.
2
Peter was a smart kid. There was no denying that. But his intellect surpassed the areas of science and mathematics, branching out into all spheres of academia. He was, for one thing, very gifted with languages, something that Tony had yet to find out. In fact, he could speak quite a few. English, of course. Spanish, through having taken classes since he was a kid. Italian, from May. But he had taken it upon himself to learn other languages, such as Mandarin and Hindi, knowing they'd be helpful at some point. He knew he wanted a career as a scientist, and that meant needing investors, so he thought this would give him a leg up. But much like the rest of Peter's life, nothing ever really went according to plan. He got bitten by a radioactive spider, developed superpowers, which eventually brought billionaire business owner and fellow engineer/scientist/inventor Tony Stark to him. Now investors were the last thing he needed to worry about, he thought, as he entered the tower.
Tony had messaged him a few minutes earlier, letting him know that he was going to have to sit in a meeting with Pepper and some potential investors from India. As Peter wandered into the foyer of the Tower, he was met with an odd sight. The entire foyer was quiet and empty, save for a man in a suit, who was speaking in rapid-fire Hindi to Devon, one of the security guards at the front desk. Peter wandered over, noticing Devon's distress. "Hey Dev, what's going on?" he asked.
Devon shot Peter a grateful look, as he turned to him. "I have no idea what he's asking me. I think it's something about a meeting, but there are several going on in the office right now."
Peter nodded and turned to the man, "Hi, my name's Peter. Can I help you?" he asked in Hindi.
The man's eyes widened and Devon looked incredibly relieved. "I'm looking for Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. I have a meeting with them," the man said. "My colleagues already went ahead, I got stuck in traffic," he explained and Peter nodded.
"Devon, can we get a guest pass? He's supposed to be in a meeting with Mr. Stark," Peter explained, as Devon typed furiously on the computer. A moment later, he passed a small card to the man, who took it gratefully.
"I'll walk you up there," Peter said, leading the way through the security checkpoint and into the nearest elevator.
The man looked at Peter with interest, "Don't mind my asking, but you look quite young to be working here," he said.
Peter smiled, "I don't really 'work' here. I'm Mr. Stark's intern," he explained as they got onto the elevator.
"And you speak Hindi?" the man questioned.
Peter nodded, "I taught myself a few years ago. I never thought I'd really need to use it until later."
The man nodded, "How old are you?"
"16," Peter replied.
"You must be an incredibly smart 16 year old if you're working for Tony Stark," the man replied, grinning. "What do you want to do when you're older?"
Peter looked thoughtful for a moment. "I want to help people, and I'm really good at science, so I think I want to help people using science," he said finally.
The man nodded, "that's good. I'm assuming you build stuff in your spare time?"
Peter nodded, and pulled out a pair of earbuds he'd been tinkering with. "I built these a few weeks ago, and I've been testing them out. They're like airpods but better. I shrank the battery from the newest Starkphone and even added a tracker in case you lose one - or both," he explained, passing them to the man.
"Incredible," he muttered, looking at the earphones intently. He looked back up at Peter, passing them back to him, "You should show those to Stark. I'm sure he'd be impressed."
Peter nodded as the elevator doors slid open, and led the way for the man. They walked down a hallway before spotting a large glass room, where Tony and Pepper were sitting with some businessmen. The man pointed, "Found my people." He turned to Peter and said thank you.
Peter nodded, "Anytime." He watched the man enter the room smiling, and shaking hands with Pepper and Tony. Peter went back to the elevator and headed up to the lab, where he promptly ordered some food, and took out his homework and made a start. About half an hour later, FRIDAY alerted Peter that his food had arrived at the front desk. Ignoring the loud rumble in his stomach, he grabbed the earphones and headed back down. As he headed towards the desk, he spotted Pepper and Tony talking to the investors from earlier. Peter wandered over to the desk, collecting his food from Devon. "Thanks man," Peter said, checking the pizza.
Devon wrinkled his nose. "I was gonna take a slice, but then I realized you're a heathen who puts pineapple on pizza,"
Peter laughed, "I know, I know, I'm going to hell," he rolled his eyes. As he turned away, he caught the eye of the man he had helped earlier.
He beckoned Peter over to the group, and Peter followed, blushing furiously. "This is the young man who helped me find the room," the man explained to his co-workers who nodded.
"Thank you so much, we were beginning to get worried," one of the men said in Hindi.
Pepper opened her mouth, but Peter quickly responded. "It was nothing," Peter replied in Hindi, and the men exchanged looks of surprise.
"I told them you spoke Hindi, and they didn't believe me," the man explained. Peter smiled, as the man nodded, "show them those earphones! I was telling them how good they were."
Peter nodded and dug around in his pocket, before passing them to the man, who showed it to the group, Tony and Pepper. "Amazing isn't it?" he asked, and they nodded.
As they looked over them, Tony pulled Peter aside. "Kid, I didn't know you spoke Hindi! Why didn't I know that?" he asked.
"It never came up," Peter replied, as Pepper smiled at him. "I hope the meeting went well," he said to Pepper who nodded.
The man turned back to Peter, Tony and Pepper, "He's a good intern. Hold on to him," he said, passing Peter his earphones.
"What did he say?" Pepper asked.
"He said I'm a good intern and you're very lucky to have me," Peter replied. "It was nice meeting you... uh, I'm sorry I didn't get your name?" Peter said, blushing.
The man laughed, and took Peter's hand. "Raj Sharma, RS Technologies," the man said, and Peter's mouth fell open.
"No way," Peter exhaled. "Like, bendy glass RS Technologies?" he asked in awe.
Mr. Sharma nodded, before turning to Tony. "Next time you come to India, bring him with you. He's got an eye for this kind of stuff, and we could use his advice."
Tony lent down, "what did he say?"
"He said to bring me with you when you go to India. Apparently he wants my advice," Peter replied.
Tony nodded, shaking Mr. Sharma's hand. "I will," he said.
The trio watched as the investors left, but not before Mr. Sharma pressed a business card with his personal number on it into Peter's hand. As they headed back to the elevator, Pepper sighed in relief. "Honestly Peter, you're a godsend."
Peter looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Pepper shook her head, "the meeting was going south before Sharma got there, and when he did, he explained how the security had no clue where he was supposed to go, until you stepped in and brought him up. And he was going on and on about these earphones, but I had no clue what he was talking about. He said something about pairing them with the latest Starkphone. That's why he was here. We wanted to get approval to use their patented glass on the next phone, but he wasn't so sure. You won him over."
"I did?" Peter said.
Tony nodded, "He was gonna make a deal with Samsung or Apple, but if our product had something a little extra, he'd definitely be for it. Apparently all the phones on the market now look the same," Tony scoffed.
"You just helped us secure a million dollar deal!" Pepper said. "I'm bringing you to all my meetings now. Tony can stay in the lab."
"Hey!" Tony cried.
"Oh, so now you wanna go to the meetings?" Pepper retorted.
"Am I being replaced?" Tony asked himself. "Cause I feel like I'm being replaced."
Peter shook his head and looked at the business card, before flipping it over. Sharma had scrawled something on the back. PS I know English, I just like to see how companies deal with differences. Peter laughed, and passed the card to Pepper and Tony, who rolled his eyes.
"So we just got played by an old man?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised.
"You sneaky boi," Peter whispered under his breath, staring at the card in disbelief.
3
Peter had just turned 16. Peter watched a lot of TV, so he knew that when people turned 16, they often got their driver's licenses. But, Peter also happened to live in New York, where driving was as pointless as shrink-wrapping an orange (fuck you, Whole Foods, we're in the middle of a climate crisis, Peter thought). Add to that, the fact that May didn't own a car, and it made sense why Peter never considered getting his license. That was, until Tony harassed him into doing so. Whenever Peter was staying at the compound, Tony would let him drive the Audi (it was the least expensive of his cars) around the area. If the kid was really well-behaved (aka, when he didn't give Tony a heart attack), then he'd get to drive the car once they'd left city limits.
The pair were on the way back from one of their weekends and Peter had - after wearing Tony down for hours) managed to get the man to agree to let him drive the car to the Tower.
But it came at a price.
"Mr. Staaaark," Peter whined, trailing after the man as they cleared up the kitchen. "It's a genetic thing," he argued.
Tony rolled his eyes, and turned to Peter. "Yelling 'Road Work ahead? I sure hope it does" every time we pass a road work sign is not a genetic thing. It's a stupid thing," he replied.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Not my fault you're an uncultured swine," he huffed, no bite behind the words.
"Is calling me an uncultured swine supposed to make me let you drive back?" Tony replied, whirling around and letting his jacket flap around him like the drama queen he is.
Peter folded his hands, "I promise I won't make any vine or meme references for the duration of the ride home," he said. "No matter how much I want to," he added. "No matter how much it kills me not to yell "the fucking M25" when we're on Route 87."
Tony nodded, before tossing Peter the keys. "Atta boy," Tony said, ruffling Peter's hair as the kid stared at the keys like they were made of gold. "Come on bambino, Pepper and May are waiting."
They were currently barrelling down a mostly empty highway, Tony's eyes fixed on the speedometer as Peter drove. "Watch it, kid. Just cause it's under my name, does not mean I want to pay any tickets," he said, as the dial passed 130 km/h.
Peter rolled his eyes, his grip loosening on the wheel as he eased off of the gas. "There aren't any cameras for the next 20 kilometres," Peter groaned, earning a questioning look from Tony. "I've been paying attention. Plus, I can kind of hear the electricity from the cameras. It makes a different noise from the lights and traffic signals," he explained.
Tony shook his head, and let out a small whistle, "that will never cease to amaze me."
Peter thought of Daredevil, and his heightened senses. "It was a lot to get used to at first. I could hear everything. One of the downfalls of living in the city, I guess."
Tony nodded, "You can stay at the compound whenever you feel like its a lot. Or the Tower? The top levels are completely soundproofed," he offered.
"I'll keep the offer in mind, and I'll be sure to remind you of it next time I drop by," Peter said, smirking.
"Okay kid. I don't mind when you drop by. I do mind when you fly in through windows, unannounced, nursing some injury and playing it off like it's 'just a scratch'," Tony argued, using air quotes.
Peter sighed. "But sometimes it is just a scratch," he replied under his breath.
"I'm sorry, was that the sound of someone disagreeing with me?" Tony replied. "I must be going senile because last I checked, I was the adult here."
"You're 5'7" and wear lifts in your shoes, but go off I guess," Peter muttered, earning a small smack on the back of his head. "MR. STARK, I AM TRYING TO DRIVE HERE!" Peter yelled back, laughing.
"Key word being "trying,"" Tony replied, grinning. He took of his glasses and tucked them into his pocket, staring out the window. "It's actually kind of nice getting to watch the drive, instead of y'know, doing it," he said, staring at the empty farmlands. They happened across a small dirt road and Tony told Peter to turn onto it, "Let's take the scenic route, shall we?" he offered. Peter shrugged in response and turned right. His senses tingled slightly, but it was normal - they did that whenever he encountered a new area. They passed a large lake, partially obscured by large trees. "That'd be the perfect place to retire, live the quiet life," Tony lamented.
Peter furrowed his brow. In all the time he'd known Mr. Stark - which, granted, was just over a year - he'd never heard the man talk about retiring. Then again, he couldn't expect Tony to hop into an armor at the age of 80. "The quiet life, huh?" Peter asked.
Tony nodded, rubbing his temples. "I was supposed to retire," he admitted.
Peter's eyes widened, "Really? I don't remember any of that being on the news," he said, earning a glance from Tony. "I was a fan, okay?" he replied. "Sue me."
Tony chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I was supposed to retire after the Mandarin incident - you remember that, right?" he asked Peter.
Peter rolled his eyes again. "You mean when you threatened a terrorist on live television, gave him your address, and your house was attacked and we all thought you were dead for the better part of a week?" he asked conversationally. "Sounds vaguely familiar."
"Okay, smartass," Tony replied. "Well, I was supposed to retire after that, and I didn't. I considered retiring after the Ultron incident. I mean, Barton did, and I thought maybe it was my time too. I actually considered building Pepper a farm," he added, causing Peter to laugh. "And when the whole Accords thing went down, but I just couldn't bring myself to retire. I mean, what if Earth needs Iron Man?" he hypothesized.
Peter nodded, trying to understand his logic. "Signing them would have restricted your obligations. But I guess that's what you wanted. To have someone else make the executive decision because otherwise you'd throw yourself at every conflict," Peter replied.
Tony nodded in response, "Yep. Just like another superhero I know," he added, turning to Peter, who reddened, choosing to focus on the narrow dirt path heading around a large hill. "Okay I-" Just then, Peter felt his Spidey-sense creep up his back, almost like someone had touched his neck with a hot poker. The car rounded a bend, and suddenly Peter yelled "Shit!"
Tony's eyes widened as a large van sped towards them, head on and out of control. "Turn," he barked, but Peter held the wheel straight. "Turn left, PETER YOUR OTHER LEFT!" Tony cried as Peter jerked the wheel to the right and hit the breaks, causing the Audi to screech loudly on the road before coming to an abrupt halt, smashing into the hood of the other car. Peter turned sharply in his seat, his back to the door facing Tony, his arms outstretched, and groaned loudly as the car door slammed into his back.
"Mr. Stark, are you alright?" Peter asked, staring at Tony, who looked positively terrified.
"Kid! Are you okay?" Tony asked, ignoring Peter's question, as he grasped the kid's shoulder.
"M'fine," Peter said, relaxing slightly. "You?" he pressed.
Tony nodded, "Yeah. Scared shitless, though," he added, earning a smile from Peter. The moment was ruined by a loud tapping on Tony's window, and a man yelling.
"You guys alright? God, I'm so sorry!" the voice said. Tony tugged at the door handle and after a few pushes, it opened, the man tugging on the handle from the outside, pulling on it.
Tony stepped out and the man took a couple steps back, his face morphing into one of regret and horror. "Oh my god! You're Iron Man!" he whispered, hand flying over his mouth in shock.
Tony rolled his eyes. "Not in the suit, so right now, I'm just Tony Stark," he said, throwing his glasses on. He turned back to the car, helping Peter out. Tony turned back to the man, eyebrows raised, "care to explain what the hell kind of driving that was?" he yelled at the man, who cowered slightly.
"The van was messed up. I tried to pump the brakes but they weren't working," the man rambled, sounding ashamed. He stared at his feet, "I was coming down this hill, and I tried to move out of the way and - god - I'm so sorry." He closed his eyes, "I almost killed Iron Man," he whispered.
Tony rolled his eyes before speaking, "'Almost.' Everyone's okay for the most part," he said, turning back to Peter who gave him a thumbs up. "We should probably do the whole exchanging insurance numbers thing, huh?" Tony added, and the man ran off to his car, in search of his papers. Tony turned back to his and dug around in the glovebox for a moment. "Pete, mind giving Happy a call? Just send him your location and tell him to pick us up. And bring a cop with him," Tony added, as he and the man began to speak once more.
Peter nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his contacts before pressing 'Call.' It rang a couple times before Happy picked up. "Hey, uh Happy. It's Peter."
"I figured," Happy's dull reply came.
"Mr. Stark and I had a bit of an accident on the way back from the compound and we're gonna need you to pick us up. I've sent you our location and Mr. Stark said to bring a cop," Peter added, relaying the message.
"On it," Happy said before pausing. "You guys okay?" he asked, sounding concerned.
"Yeah, we're fine. The Audi's banged up on the driver's side though," Peter admitted.
Happy whistled. "Jesus kid, who was driving?" he asked.
Peter was quiet for a moment before replying, "I was."
Happy chuckled. "Well, I'm sure the boss is glad you're okay. But he's probably gonna kill you. That was his favourite car."
Peter groaned and Happy cut the phone. Tony and the man from the van had just finished exchanging numbers, before he headed back to Peter, who was leaning against the car. "Kid, you sure you're alright?" Tony asked. "That was a pretty hard hit."
Peter nodded, and lifted his shirt up, revealing a mass of black, purple and blue bruising on his back, which stretched out over the back of his arms as well. "Looks like it's gonna be long sleeves tomorrow morning, huh?" he chuckled, before noticing the grim look of guilt on Tony's face. "What?" he asked, "That wasn't even a vine reference, I swear."
Tony shook his head, "Peter, I told you to turn left," he sighed, taking off his glasses and placing a finger between his eyes like he did when he was stressed and worried.
Peter shook his head. "No. Then it would have hit your side."
"Thats the point, kiddo," Tony replied, staring at Peter. "That was so stupid of you, I-"
"Mr. Stark," Peter interjected. "I'm enhanced, remember? If that was you, I mean, you heard the guy - he could have killed you. And I'm not letting that happen," Peter said, before slamming his hand twice on the top of the Audi as he yelled, "Not on my watch. Not on my watch."
Tony rolled his eyes, the worry slowly disappearing from his face as he rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I'm gonna assume you're okay cause you're quoting vines," he said, and Peter grinned back.
An hour later, Happy had arrived, with a police car and a tow-truck following closely behind. The man was currently giving his statement to the officer as Peter and Tony stood nearby. As the man described what happened when he rounded the corner, Peter heard him say: "And I just thought to myself 'Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands.'"
Peter began to laugh, but quickly disguised it as a cough, earning a disgruntled look from the nearby officer. He, Tony and Happy climbed into Happy's car, and took off. Tony stared at Peter for a moment. "The door on the driver's side has a small dent in it," he said, staring at Peter, who looked confused. "You took on the pressure from a van hitting my car at 130 km/h."
"You've seen me catch cars and hold up buildings, Mr. Stark," Peter replied dully. "How are you still surprised?"
Tony shook his head. "I'm the adult, Pete. You're not supposed to protect me, I'm supposed to protect you, remember?"
Now it was Peter's turn to shake his head. "No, Mr. Stark. That's not how it works. You protect me, and I protect you. It's a two way street, and I'm not having it any other way."
Tony smiled and placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, before turning away and looking out the window. "You still owe me a new car door," Tony said, grinning as Peter groaned loudly.
4
Peter and Tony rarely went out to dinner together, choosing to get food delivered to the Tower. The reason behind this was threefold: 1) due to their unhealthy addiction to working in the lab until one of them collapsed from exhaustion, they never really made it out of the tower. 2) Peter couldn't really be seen too much with Tony, as many news outlets had pegged Spider-Man as being a relatively young man being mentored by Tony Stark. It was a small jump to connect Peter to his spandex-clad, crime-fighting alter-ego, and it was a jump neither of them were willing to risk. And the third reason? Well, there was the time Peter got shot.
Several times.
And a repetition of that incident was Tony's biggest fear.
Tony and Peter usually had dinner with his Aunt May at least once a month, and these dinners usually coincided with when Peter was going to stay overnight at the Tower. However, May had been called into work at the last minute. Peter had half-expected Tony to take him straight from his place in Queens to the Tower, but Rhodey was also in town at the time, and Tony decided that the three of them should go out for dinner - just the guys, he'd said, as Peter hopped into the backseat of the car. It took all of Peter's willpower not to sing, "three bros, chilling in a car, five feet apart 'cause they're not gay."
Rhodey rolled his eyes, and turned to Peter. "He's just mad because his wife isn't free. You and I, Pete? We're second string buddy," Rhodey laughed, and Peter broke a smile. Rhodey and Peter had a bit of a rocky friendship, what with the older man trying to stop Peter from his vigilante-ing, but after seeing just how stubborn the kid was, Rhodey let it go, and the pair became fast friends. It never ceased to amaze Rhodey just how much Tony had changed since the kid came into his life. Peter was a breath of fresh air and optimism, with all of Tony's genius, kindheartedness and compassion - he just wasn't as jaded and disillusioned with the world. But, Rhodey supposed, that came with having your family choose to leave you instead of being taken awaye.
"Pep's not my wife yet, Honeybear" Tony pointed out as he pulled away from the curb. "Not for a lack of trying," he added as an afterthought.
"I swear you and Pepper have been together since I was born," Peter piped up from the back. Tony reached back with one hand and swatted Peter on the head, earning a loud "Hey!" from the kid. "That's child abuse," Peter whispered, wide eyed causing Rhodey to laugh.
Tony grinned, "Child abuse would be me forcing you to help me fix the Audi you fucked up."
"No, that's child labour," Peter replied thoughtfully. "And don't ever mention that in front of MJ. The sermon won't end," he explained.
Tony nodded. He'd only met MJ once, and the young lady was ... frightening to say the least. "So, where to?" he asked, turning to Peter and Rhodey, who shrugged in response.
"There's a new place around Hell's Kitchen. Supposed to make a mean chicken tandoori," Rhodey offered, as he tapped the address into the GPS. Tony continued to mime driving (realistically, FRIDAY was the one driving) and they headed off. "So Peter, how's school been?" Rhodey asked conversationally.
"Uh, not too bad Mr. Rhodes," Peter replied nervously. It wasn't that he didn't like people asking about school - he did. It's just that with school came Flash and with Flash comes the shitty feelings.
Tony rolled his eyes, as Rhodey laughed "Seriously kid? You're still calling me Mr. Rhodes? Come on, it's Rhodey - or Uncle Rhodey to you."
Peter reddened and Tony rolled his eyes. "For the fortieth fucking time, he's not biologically my kid, Rhodey," Tony replied.
"And to clarify, Mr. Stark is not my dad," Peter added.
"Could have fooled me," Rhodey murmured under his breath, earning an inquisitive stare from Peter. "What?" he cried, noticing the looks he was getting from the pair. "Ya'll look and act the same. Smart as hell, too. I'm just saying."
Peter rolled his eye grinned, while Tony merely looked straight ahead. Maybe ... maybe we're more alike than I thought, he wondered. But Rhodey snapped him out of his thoughts once more. "So have you and Pep picked out a place for the wedding?" he asked.
Tony nodded, "I think she's got her eye on a couple places," he said, trying not to make it look like he'd left all the planning to her.
"She's looking at the Plaza, obviously, but I told her that was way too basic. So then I suggested something at the Tower, 'cause you guys want it to be a little bit of a private affair. But I went on a trip upstate recently for a decathlon thing, and the place we stayed at was so pretty, and it's out in the middle of nowhere, so you'd have tons of privacy. I can't remember the name, but I got a card from there and gave it to Pepper," Peter concluded, earning himself questioning looks from the two men. "What?"
Tony shook his head, "Are you going to add 'wedding planner' to your resume too?" he asked, and Peter rolled his eyes.
"What? Pepper's a busy lady and she could use the help. I'm not really doing much anyway -"
"Cause flying around Queens in spandex, risking your life ain't much?" Rhodey interjected.
"Point," Peter began, "Is that she needed some help and I wanted to help her. She does a lot."
"Ain't that the truth," Rhodey replied.
"Amen," Tony added. "So Pete," he said, feigning a conversational voice, "all the wedding stuff isn't making you wanna rush out and find someone, does it?" he asked.
Peter turned red, and Rhodey laughed at the kid's deer-caught-in-headlights face. "Uh, wh-what do you mean?"
"Well, what's on your list?" Rhodey asked, trying to calm down.
"What list?" Peter stammered, looking between the two, as they exchanged knowing looks.
"What are you looking for in a person?" Tony asked bluntly.
Peter looked thoughtful for a moment, before singing: "I want a church girl that go to church, and read her BIBLE."
Tony groaned, covering his face in his hands, as Peter laughed. "Not a vine. Dear god, not a vine," Tony murmured. He looked up and folded his hands in prayer, "I can do this, Just two more years and then he goes to MIT."
"What if I don't wanna go to MIT?" Peter asked, earning glares from Rhodey and Tony.
"The fuck kid?" Tony asked, shocked. "You're going to MIT. End of discussion."
"My nephew ain't going anywhere but there," Rhodey replied simultaneously.
"But Cambridge is cold. I was thinking somewhere sunny and warm, like CalTech," Peter replied, messing around with the two. He was going to MIT - I think.
"Fuck Caltech," Rhodey stated as Tony replied "over my dead body." Peter grinned, and the car fell into a comfortable silence. Peter's phone began to ring, and he unearthed it form his pocket. "Uh, mind if I?"
"Go ahead kid," Tony replied.
Peter answered it. "Hey Ned? No, no, not today. I'm with uh- Mr. Stark right now. Yeah we're grabbing dinner. Actually, Colonel Rhodes is, here too. NED! I'm not asking him for his autograph," Peter whispered violently, ignoring Rhodey and Tony's muffled laughs. "Are you seriously calling that favour in now? Now? Fine. I'll ask later. God, you're an embarrassment to the wizarding world." This remark earned weird looks from Tony and Rhodey who listened closely. "Yeah, yeah I was there. Nah, Flash was messing around. Yeah, so MJ called him an ignorant slut, and he started sulking. Because he hasn't watched the Office. 'Cause he's a dumbass." There was a silence, "Yeah I saw that too. Fucking straight parade? Like, really? Well, yeah, I was gonna go this year. Maybe I should go as Spiderman, with the pride flag as a cape. Oh, that'd make the heteros upseteros. Ok, yeah. We'll hash it out later. I'll talk to you in a bit, tell her I said hi. Escalera," Peter said.
"FUCK YEAH" Ned cried loud enough for all the occupants in the car to hear. Peter cut the phone and gave the pair a sheepish grin, "sorry 'bout that."
"Kids these days," Rhodey replied, shaking his head.
"'Heteros upseteros'?" Tony asked, and Peter nodded.
"Oh yeah, apparently there's gonna be a straight pride parade in Boston," Peter began, as he launched into the whole story. "-and yeah, it's just very frustrating. So I was thinking of dropping by the Pride Parade as Spiderman, cause its 20-gayteen."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "I like it," he said, nodding. "We could change the suit colours a bit too," he added as they pulled over by the restaurant.
Peter nodded, "that'd be great Mr. Stark. Thanks."
They headed in and were seated a few seconds later (perks of being Tony Stark), and the trio began to discuss the next round of Peter's training. Midway through dinner, Peter jerked violently, a hand flying to the back of his neck.
"Kid?" Tony asked, laugher vanishing from his face, and being replaced by worry. "You okay?"
"Something's about to happen," Peter whispered, and the door to the restaurant opened, the bells tinkling. Peter could hear the man's foot steps, a heartbeat racing and the faint click of a gun's safety being removed. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Peter yelled, upturning their table, and pulling the two men down. A round of gunfire tore through the restaurant and people screamed.
Tony fiddled with his watch for a moment, before it morphed into a small gauntlet. The man turned to their table and advanced, his gun pointed at Tony. But before Tony could react, Peter jumped front of him, knocking him out of the way as the man fired several more rounds. "KID, NO!" Tony cried.
Peter ran towards the man, taking several shots, but continuing to advance before grabbing the man's assault rifle, crushing it in his right hand. He curled his left hand into a fist and knocked the man backwards with an uppercut. He fell to the floor, unconscious. Peter tossed the weapon aside and turned back to Rhodey and Tony, "are you guys okay?" he asked, eyes wide with adrenaline.
"Peter," Tony said, his face morphing into one of shock and terror. "Oh god," he muttered, running towards the kid.
"What?" Peter asked, looking confused. He looked down and immediately regretted it. His torso was growing red with blood, bullet holes littering his body. The fact that he was wearing a white hoodie made the wounds look even worse.
"Compound, now!" Rhodey ordered, and Peter felt himself being swept up into Tony's arms and ushered out of the restaurant. Tony and Rhodey made their way to the car, Rhodey unlocking the trunk, revealing a large, suitcase-esque item in the Iron man colours. Tony gently placed Peter in Rhodey's arms before heaving the case out of the trunk and stepping into it. The suit morphed around him, and he quickly took Peter back. "This isn't gonna be comfortable kiddo," he said through the mask.
"S'okay. I trust you," Peter replied, as the pair flew up into the sky, and towards the compound. Peter could hear Tony talking, but couldn't focus enough on the words.
"-ay wake, alright. No sleeping," Tony yelled, but Peter's eyes had already rolled back. "Shit. SHIT!" Tony cried, urging FRIDAY to use the combined thruster. The pair landed at the compound a couple minutes later and Tony ran inside, straight to the medical wing, where doctors where already on alert, directing him to an OR. He spotted Helen Cho in the room, standing by an empty bed, and quickly deposited Peter on it. "He's not responding," Tony cried, and Cho nodded.
"Don't worry Mr. Stark. we've got this," she said as her team advanced on the bed, leaving Tony to brace himself against the hospital wall.
"You're going to need to leave," Cho ordered, and Tony nodded, slowly trudging back outside of the room, willing the armor to open.
He slid down the wall opposite the OR window, ignoring the blood stains on his clothes and hands. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck" he whispered, eyes welling with tears. He closed his eyes, but was immediately greeted with images of Peter bleeding to death. He didn't know how much time had passed. Was it minutes? Seconds? Hours? Days? He concentrated harder and could make out the faint irregular beeping of the EKG, and let out a shaky breath. Peter, you are NOT dying on me. You don't get to do that, Tony thought savagely. The door down the hall burst open and he spotted Happy and Rhodey walking towards him. It must have been a few hours now.
"How is he?" Rhodey asked, bending down to Tony's eye level.
"I don't know," Tony stammered. "I-I just brought him in and - Oh God, Rhodey. He was covered in blood. Fuck."
"He's gonna be okay, Boss. The kid's tough," Happy said, coming round to Tony's other side.
"You need to shower and change," Rhodey said. "Happy already called his Aunt, and she's on her way."
Tony shook his head, "No I have to wait. I need to know he-" Tony's voice was cut off as the EKG blared loudly.
Tony felt himself go numb. Peter's flatlining. He stumbled up to his feet and looked inside the room as one of Cho's assistants wheeled the defibrillator towards them, grabbed the paddles and rubbed them together. "CLEAR!" he yelled, slamming them on Peter's open chest. He continued to flatline.
"Get up Peter," Tony said, hand on the glass as he stared a the scene in front of him in horror.
"Again!" Cho ordered, as the paddles were rubbed together.
"CLEAR!" the man yelled again, slamming them on Peter's body once more.
Nothing. "GET UP PETER. GET UP NOW!" Tony screamed, slamming his fists on the window.
"Highest setting, now!" Cho barked.
"CLEAR" the man said, his voice wavering slightly, as he slammed the paddles down on Peter for a third time.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Tony relaxed, collapsing into Happy's arms. "He's gonna be okay Tony," Rhodey said, rubbing his back.
One shower, a change of clothes, and a hysterical Aunt May later, the pair were sitting on either side of Peter's bed, waiting for him to wake up. Tony looked over the teen at his Aunt, who's eyes were wet, red and bloodshot, her hands shaking as she clasped one of Peter's, her eyes on the boy. She only had eyes for the boy. He was all she had.
"May," Tony croaked, his voice sounding rough and unused (he hadn't spoken in hours). "God, May. I am so sorry," he said.
May shook her head, "It's not your fault, Tony. You guys were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Tony sighed. "It should have been me,' he whispered.
May gave him a withering look. "Peter wouldn't have let that happen," she said. "You mean a lot to him and my son didn't take several bullets for you to wallow in self pity. By doing that, you're - you're disgracing him."
Tony nodded, "I'm sorry."
May shook her head, "It's okay, Tony. You just - you need to understand. You're everything to Peter. He's to shy to admit it, but he cares about you a lot. It'd kill him if something happened to you and he couldn't stop it."
Tony nodded, "he's a great kid."
Just then, Peter's eyelids fluttered, and the hand in May's tightened and twitched. "What happened," he groaned.
"You got shot," Tony said, and May gave him an annoyed look. "What? That's what happened. You remember that right? We went out to dinner ..." he trailed off as Peter nodded.
"Yeah, I remember now," he sighed, as he tried to push himself up.
"No, stay put baby," May said. "I'm going to get Cho and grab you some food," she said, brushing Peter's curls out of his face fondly. "I larb you," she said quietly, placing a kiss on Peter's forehead.
"I larb you, too" Peter whispered, watching as she walked away. He then turned to Tony, "sorry about -"
"Kid, you took a bullet for me and you want to apologize?" Tony asked, patting Peter's hand lightly. "God, you're fooling people with this saint act," he huffed, smiling.
Peter grinned back, "Actually I took several bullets for you, so" Tony's stomach lurched as he remembered the blood and the holes and - oh god. "Does this mean we're even for the Audi?" he asked.
Tony nodded, running a hand through Peter's curls, and watching the kid sigh contently. "Yeah, kid. We're even."
5
Peter knew Tony had a birthday: May 29th. He used to mark the date on his calendar (now, on his phone). Growing up, he'd imagine what Tony Stark was doing on his birthday. Prior to Afghanistan, he thought Tony would throw elaborate parties with celebrities (which was true). Post-Afghanistan? Low-Key parties with people he actually liked. Post- 2012 New York? Parties with the Avengers, of course. Now that Peter knew the man, the question took on a different meaning. What did Tony Stark do on his birthday? Peter thought.
The answer?
Not what Peter expected.
Peter knew that he was going to be at the Compound over the weekend. He also knew that Tony's birthday was that Saturday. He tired to ask Happy, Pepper and Rhodey what they were doing, but the minute he brought up Tony's birthday to any of them, they all grimaced. "Maybe - maybe you shouldn't come over," Rhodey said, and Pepper nodded slightly.
Peter looked between the two. "Really?"
Rhodey nodded, "I'm not going to be here, I have a couple meetings at the Pentagon," he explained.
"And I have a trip to India for those investors you helped me secure," Pepper said, ruffling Peter's hair.
He nodded, 'You're probably right." I'm not gonna listen though, Peter added in his head, already planning out his gift for Mr. Stark.
So, on Friday night, after his patrol, he swung over to the Tower, landing on the small helipad and wandering in, tossing his bag on the sofa, before wandering over to the kitchen, grabbing his old Midtown sweater he usually left at the Tower (Tony always kept it a little bit chilly) off the back of a barstool. That's when he noticed it. He took a couple steps backwards and noticed the bar, which was located off to the right of the kitchen, was completely destroyed. Several bottles lay empty on the countertops, while smashed glass littered the hardwood floor.
Peter looked around, worried. "FRI, where's Mr. Stark?" he asked, knowing he wasn't about to like the answer.
"Boss is currently in the lab," FRIDAY responded helpfully.
Fuck, Peter thought, as he ran towards the elevator and hopped in. FRIDAY shut the doors and took him down to the labs. He's been sober for a while now, hasn't he? Peter thought.
"Since 2015," FRIDAY supplied. Peter started, not realizing he had spoken out loud.
The doors slid open and Peter headed to the lab. Immediately, he jumped, hearing the loud smash of glass. He peered in the lab and spotted Tony standing in the middle of the room, gauntlet on as he fired repulsor blasts at a row of empty bottles lined on the counter across from him. The lab was a complete mess, papers strewn about, filing cabinets and tool boxes splayed out, some with dents, the tools flung about the room haphazardly.
Peter edged towards the door, which slid open quietly. Tony hadn't spotted him yet, too focused on shooting the bottles - his aim was terrible. Growing frustrated with his poor aim, he stormed across the room, grabbing one of them and hurling it randomly, before doing the same with the rest. He flung one in Peter's direction, but Peter managed to catch it as it whizzed by his ear.
"Pete," Tony whispered, looking at the kid with wide eyes and a horrified expression. So this is what I must look like when I get caught, Peter thought as he placed the bottle on the table near him.
"Mr. Stark? Are-are you okay?" Peter asked, before backtracking. "Actually, never mind, that was a stupid question. Clearly, you're not okay."
Tony stared at Peter, squinting. After a moment, he finally spoke: "Either my hallucinations have gotten more akin to the real thing, or you're just absolutely stupid for showing up here when Pep and Rhodey told you not to."
Peter shrugged. "Guess I'm just stupid then," he smirked, making his way across the room slowly, so as not to frighten the man.
Tony backed up slightly, his hand still raised, aimed at Peter. "Kid, don't come any closer," he ordered, looking slightly scared.
Peter held his hands up so Tony could see them. "I'm not gonna hurt you Mr. Stark," he said softly, moving closer.
"Kid - don't" Tony whispered, his hand moving higher as he fired a warning blast at Peter's feet. The kid stopped, looking at the smouldering floor, before continuing to move forward. "I'm serious Peter, it's not safe. I'm not safe. You -just leave me alone," Tony cried, his eyes welling up, and looking more bloodshot. He fired another blast.
But Peter kept moving forward until he was in front of Tony. He grabbed the man's gauntlet-clad hand and placed it in front of his heart. "If you were gonna hit me, you'd hit me, not the floor."
"You have zero self-preservation instincts," Tony slurred matter-of-factly, his hand still pointed at Peter.
"Well, look at my mentor," Peter replied. He moved forward, "You gonna hit me or not?"
Tony shook slightly. "I'm not Howard," he whispered.
Peter nodded, "I know," he said, before tapping Tony's watch, letting the gauntlet retract back into the unit. He tentatively placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," Tony replied cagily, twitching slightly.
Peter raised an eyebrow, "I'm gonna call bullshit on that, Mr. Stark." He guided the man to the sofa in the back of the lab and sat down next to him, the room silent for a few minutes. "So, you gonna tell me why you're destroying your lab?"
Tony shrugged. "Sometimes I like to break things instead of fix them," he replied slowly.
Peter nodded, "I get that. Does -does breaking stuff make you feel better?" he asked tentatively.
Tony was silent for a moment. "It helps a little," he admitted.
"But do you feel better afterwards?" Peter pressed.
Tony threw his hands in the air before burying his face in them. "Christ on a carousel, Parker! What are you, my therapist?"
Peter shook his head, "No. I'm just trying to help a friend.'
Tony grimaced. "God, I'm friends with a baby," he whined.
"I'm 15, Mr. Stark," Peter replied.
"I need a drink," Tony grumbled, making to stand up, but Peter placed a firm hand on the man's shoulder, forcing him to stay put. Tony turned towards him, "Really kid? You're gonna use your super-strength on me?"
Peter shook his head, "If it comes to it. Which it won't."
Tony scoffed, "God, you have no idea how any of this works, do you?"
Peter cocked an eyebrow, "Try me."
Tony smirked, "You'll find out soon enough that friends aren't always gonna be your friend."
Peter tensed slightly. "I've had that lesson," he replied tightly, his eyes darkening. "But I'm assuming you're talking about, y'know, them." The Rogues were sort of an no-no topic in the Tower. The briefest mention of them led to a moody and annoyed Tony, which everyone tried to avoid.
Tony rested his head in his hands. "I just - I tried so fucking hard to keep us together," he whispered. Peter nodded, rubbing Tony's back. "But he just wouldn't listen," Tony continued. "And then, the whole thing with Barnes... and Nat - she just - stabbed me in the back at the end. And Rhodey... God, that's... that's on me."
Peter shook his head, "None of that is on you." Tony gave him a look that read oh really?
"Check out the news kid, they're being very specific," Tony replied, staring at the TV in front of them which displayed old news reels detailing the Avengers' break up, all of them blaming Tony for the falling out.
Peter stared at it for a moment, "they're idiots." He waited a moment, before getting up off the sofa, and grabbing a large wrench from the floor. Tony watched as the kid marched towards the TV, and swung the wrench as hard as he could, bringing it down on the glass screen, breaking it into two pieces. Peter tossed the wrench aside and sat back down next to Tony. "That's not you, Mr. Stark. And this," he gestured around the room, "this isn't you either."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Kid, you're better off without me. Just take what you want and leave. That's usually how this works." He paused, "everybody leaves."
Peter was quiet for a moment. "Well, I'm not everybody. And I'm not leaving. Sorry, Mr. Stark, but I plan on sticking around forever."
Tony smiled slightly. "Was that a pun?"
"Maybe."
"Peter-"
"Mr. Stark, do you know why I look up to you?" Peter asked suddenly, surprising the man, who shook his head. "Because you showed me and every other person in the world that you can change. You showed everyone that Tony Stark can go through hell and come back a better person. You showed a kid from Queens that you don't need to be injected with a serum or experimented on to be a hero. It's not Iron Man that made me look up to you, it was you. You freed yourself in Afghanistan. You fought Stane when you saw he was doing some shady shit. You were dying and in searching for a cure, created a whole new element. You flew a nuke into a wormhole to save the world from an invasion. You tried to keep your family together, when Ross tore it apart. You did that." Tony stared at Peter's who's eyes were welling with tears. "They don't get to decide how you see yourself. Only you get to do that," Peter paused, "but if it helps, I've always thought you were pretty great," he finished.
Immediately Tony wrapped the kid up in a hug a second later. "Peter, I'm so-" he began.
"You don't need to apologize to me," he said, voice muffled by Tony's sweater. "But you need to take a shower and get changed. And no more drinking. I'll clean this up as best as I can in the meantime." Tony nodded, getting up and dragging himself to the door. "And Mr. Stark?"
Tony turned around, "Yeah kid?"
"'M sorry about your TV," Peter replied sheepishly.
Tony shook his head and went to shower. About twenty minutes later, he found Peter sitting on the sofa in the living room. "Cleaned the lab already?' he asked, heading to the kitchen. As he walked by the bar, he noticed all the bottles had been cleared out. His lips tightened slightly, as he continued past, grabbing himself a bottle of gatorade from the fridge before planting himself next to Peter on the sofa.
The kid nodded, "Yeah. I've had a lot of practice cleaning up disasters what with May's attempts at cooking over the years." Tony nodded, taking a few gulps of his drink. "Mr. Stark?" Peter whispered.
"Yeah Pete?"
"I'm sorry you lost your family."
"I'm sorry you lost yours, kid. But I think we're doing alright, wouldn't you say?" Tony asked.
Peter nodded, quiet, before vaulting himself off the sofa, the sudden movement scaring Tony shitless. "Fucking hell Pete, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Peter grabbed his bag from the other sofa and tossed it next to Tony, rummaging around in it. "No, no. It'll be the cheeseburgers that get you in the end," Peter murmured. Tony laughed, and Peter rolled his eyes, "Heart disease is a silent killer, Mr. Stark. My spidey-sense might not catch it in time."
"Yeah, I have scarier things trying to kill me than heart disease," Tony replied sardonically.
"Mood," Peter replied, as he turned back to the billionaire. He presented Tony with a small gift wrapped up in Christmas paper and a card lying atop it. "Happy Birthday Mr. Stark," Peter said, handing them to the man.
"You remembered my birthday?" Tony asked, sounding surprised. He knew the Avengers did, but he wasn't really expecting anything from the kid, especially after Peter'd just walked in on him destroying the lab while drunk.
"Uh-yeah," Peter blushed, his hand flying to ruffle his hair like it did when he was nervous. "Funny story. I-uh- used to mark it on my calendar," he admitted, sitting down.
Tony smirked, staring at the kid, "You really are something else." He turned back to his lap and tore open the card first, taking a moment to stare at the drawing. It was clearly hand-drawn (by MJ, no doubt). It was a hyper-realistic sketch of Iron Man and Spider-Man fighting the Rhino. On the bottom of the card, in a web-like font, was the following: "We stan 1 man in a tin can." Tony smirked, not at all surprised by Peter's words. He could only imagine what was written inside as he opened it, his eyes met with Peter's untidy scrawl (the mark of a true genius - Tony thought).
Dear Mr Stark,
I want to wish you a Happy Birthday. Notice how I didn't write your age? It's cause I can't count that high. Tony swatted Peter on the back of the head, earning a laugh from the kid as he turned back to continue reading. Just kidding, no one can count that high. Tony was about to launch into a sermon on respecting your elders, but chose to continue reading on. While the circumstances surrounding our first meeting were undesirable, I'm glad that I got the chance to meet you. People always say never to meet your heroes, but I don't think you could let me down (even if you tried). And I hope I never let you down. Tony placed an arm around the kid. I know I don't say it much, but I am thankful for everything you've done for myself and for May. No one could ask for a better mentor. You've taught me things that go beyond Spider-Man, and although that's how we met, just know I will always be grateful for everything you've done. I also want to take a moment to thank you on behalf of everyone on this little blue speck that you've been protecting for years. You don't owe us anything, but we owe you everything. You deserve a birthday just as great as you are.
Signed,
Peter Parker
Tony closed the card, staring at the drawing. "Thanks Pete," Tony whispered.
"Anytime, Mr. Stark," Peter replied. "You gonna open the other one?" he asked.
Tony nodded, and stood the card up on the table, before tearing into the Christmas wrapping paper on the gift. Grinning he took out the black and silver frame. It was a picture of himself and Peter the day they decided to make the 'internship' cover legit. Pepper, Rhodey, May and Happy were all there that day and Pepper had hired a photographer to take the photo. Tony had thrown up a pair of bunny ears behind the kid's head, and Peter (obviously sensing this) had done the same, but he'd overestimated Tony's height (which led to an argument in which Peter mentioned that Tony wore lifts in his shoes - he'd threatened to ground Peter for a week, but the kid said that Tony should ground himself first). The certificate was, of course, upside down, because nothing they did ever went the way they expected. And they were having too much goddamn fun to notice.
"D'you like it?" Peter asked, trying to conceal his nervousness as Tony reminisced.
"I love it," Tony replied, standing it next to the card, before turning back to Peter. "Thanks for everything, kid," Tony whispered.
"That's my line," Peter pretended to grumble.
"Tony patted him on the back. "Seriously, you're a good kid Peter. I - uh" he stammered. What the hell, I never stutter. God, he's rubbing off on me. "Um, I - er" Tony said, still trying to find the words (he knew them, he just couldn't say them). He gesticulated as he continued to stutter.
Peter watched him in amusement. "So that's what I look like? Fascinating," he laughed, earning another swat from Tony as he continued to mutter. "It's okay," Peter smiled, "I know."
"Good," Tony said finally, leaning back on the sofa, his arm casually on Peter's shoulder. "So, what should we watch?" he asked.
"It's your birthday," Peter replied, sitting back as well.
"How about ... the Office?" Tony suggested meekly, as Peter shot up, turning to him, grinning madly.
"I knew it! I knew I'd get you hooked!" Peter cackled maniacally. "You said you hated it!"
"I do!" Tony yelled unconvincingly. "But I'm invested in Jim and Pam and I want to know if they end up together or not!"
Peter rolled his eyes and sat back as FRIDAY logged them into Netflix. "So, is this a good birthday so far? Compared to the ones you usually have?" Peter asked tentative as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
Tony smiled, looking at the kid, "Yeah. I mean the company's great. The gifts were amazing. Overall? Best one I've had in a long time." He pretended to ignore the smile and blush creeping on Peter's face, choosing to throw himself into the woes of the staff at Dunder-Mifflin.
So, what did Tony Stark do on his birthday?
Easy. He spent it with his kid.
+1
Tony thought he had a pretty good handle on Peter Parker. In fact, if it were up to him, he'd say he was an expert on the kid. He knew everything there was to know. Peter liked pineapple and black olive pizza (a combo he'd picked up from a friend named Wade). Peter's best friends were Ned and MJ (these kids were definitely getting jobs as SI after university). Peter was a huge nerd (Harry Potter, LotR, Star Wars and Trek, Hamilton, he loved them all).
He even knew Peter's behavioural ticks. When the kid was loud and energetic, it had been a good day. If he was quiet and had a furrowed brow, he was working away on some sort of problem. If he was quiet and had dark circles and pale skin? He was tired and hadn't slept for whatever reason. If he was jumpy and evasive? It meant something was weighing heavily on his mind. Usually when that was the case, Tony could get Peter to talk to him, which often led to some form of advice-giving. Hell, after the kid had thrown out all of his alcohol, banned future purchases (unless it was for an event, or for family dinners) and forced Tony to develop some better coping mechanisms for his issues, Tony had no problem helping the kid with anything and everything. He was Tony Goddamn Fucking Stark, and he could fix anything.
But sometimes, there are problems that even Tony Goddamn Fucking Stark couldn't fix.
It was a hot, humid August night (actually it was 2 in the morning) and Peter was webbing around Queens, keeping an eye out for potential crimes. He'd stopped three muggings, one bar fight and prevented two car accidents. Every now and again, he was pause, atop a tall building, and take his mask off to wipe off the sweat on his forehead. He had the A/C on full blast in the suit, but it was making a minimal dent in how hot Peter felt. Honest to god, the suit was becoming a real sauna. He glanced down at the watch on his arm and noticed a couple messages from Tony. He scrolled through them. The first let Peter know to come in through the window in the penthouse's tv room when he was done for the night. May had gone to a friend's wedding and was going to be heading back to the city the following evening, so Peter was currently staying with Tony. The next was a goodnight message from Tony, who was going to head to sleep. Peter smiled. Ever since Tony's birthday, when Peter had disposed of his alcohol, the man had become more focused on taking care of himself and less on trying to pull the next all-nighter. He was proud that he'd made a small difference in Tony's life. Even Pepper and Rhodey seemed happier with Tony relying on them as opposed to nursing a glass in the evenings.
Peter stared out at the city, lights continuing to flicker against the dark sky. With a sigh, he put his mask back on and began to head to Manhattan. As he swung, he kept his ears open, listening for sounds of distress. As Stark Tower emerged in the horizon, Peter felt himself relax. Maybe he'd get to go straight there, have a nice and cold shower before crawling under his sheets for a good night's rest. If there was one thing he loved about the summer, it was that he could sleep in everyday instead of having to wait for the weekends. He was three blocks away from the Tower when he felt a slight prickle on the back of his neck, followed by a loud, bloodcurdling scream. "KAREN, where'd that come from?" Peter asked.
"On your right, two streets over. There's an alleyway" KAREN replied.
Peter swung furiously in the direction. He shot a web and rounded the corner, spotting an older man assaulting a young woman in the middle of an alley. Peter's eyes narrowed and he landed a kick to the man's leg, which made a horrible snapping sound. The woman staggered away, pulling her ripped cardigan over herself as she cried. "Are you alright, ma'am?" Peter asked, concerned.
She shook her head, wiping her tears. "Uh-yeah, I-I think so," she stammered, her breathing still shaky. "He-he wouldn't stop," she whimpered, eyes wide.
Peter's stomach twisted into a knot, "I know," he whispered back.
The man, who'd been swearing under his breath as he nursed his leg, began to stand. "She was asking for it," he spat, looking between the two. "Showing off her legs in those shorts," he said, leering at the woman. Peter moved in front of her, "go to the police station. It's three blocks down, and tell them to send an officer here," he said softly. She nodded and whispered a quick thank you before running off. Peter turned back to the man, who grinned, "You're telling me you wouldn't want some of that?" he asked, jerking his head at the woman, who was rounding the corner. Peter's fingers curled into fists. "C'mon Einstein, even you know she was hot."
Suddenly, a white hot rage filled Peter, and he sprinted towards the man, hand pulled back as he landed a punch to the man's gut. He stumbled back, the air knocked out of him, but Peter, ignoring his usual MO of webbing bad guys up, advanced, landing another blow, this time to the man's face, breaking his nose.
"AH!" the man groaned, clutching his face, rivulets of blood spilling from his fingers. "What the fuck!" Peter ignored him and continued to punch the man, landing a blow for every word. "She-told-you-to-stop!" Peter grunted, as he held the man by the scruff of his shirt. The man's face was a bloodied mess, his head lolling back. Peter's rage evaporated just as quickly as it had come, as he stared at the mess he'd made, horrified.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, before finally speaking, his voice raspy. "KAREN, scan for vitals," he whispered.
"He's alive, but unconscious," KAREN replied. "Boss would like to see you," she added, referring to Tony.
"I thought he was asleep," Peter replied, his voice still a whisper.
"He was alerted by your watch. Your heart rate spiked quickly, and your breathing was rapid. All are evidence of a panic attack," KAREN responded.
Peter nodded, and slowly released his hold on the man's shirt, before webbing him up. He could hear the footsteps of two officers as they headed down the alley. "Assault?" one of them asked. Peter nodded to the pair, before shooting a web and swinging towards the tower. As he approached the upper floors, he spotted the lights in the family room flickering on.
Sighing, he swung through the window, landing in a crouch. He stood slowly, and turned, spotting Tony, who was quickly rising off of the sofa, and heading towards Peter. "Pete, are you okay?" he asked, worried. "KAREN alerted FRIDAY. Your vitals were spiked. What happened?" he asked, looking at Peter, who just stayed frozen. "Pete?" Tony asked softly, his voice finally hitting Peter and bringing him back to the present.
"Huh," Peter muttered, stumbling slightly. Tony's hands shot out, grabbing Peter's forearms, steadying him.
Tony looked down at the gloves of the suit. Peter's knuckles were showing through the spandex, covered in blood. "What happened, kid?" Tony asked softly, guiding Peter to the nearest sofa.
Peter shook his head, unable to respond. Tony nodded, understanding and slowly peeled the mask off of Peter's face, his hand holding Peter's chin as he peered into the kid's dilated eyes.
"FRIDAY?" Tony asked, the AI already beginning her scan.
"Mr. Parker shows no signs of intoxication. He is still recovering from his earlier panic attack. His dilated eyes and slow heart rate indicates that he is currently disassociating," FRIDAY replied helpfully.
Tony quickly got up and grabbed a dish towel and filled a bowl with water, grabbing a bottle of antiseptic from the medicine cabinet before heading back to Peter. He sat on the table in front of the kid, and gently peeled off the Spider-Man gloves, resting them on the sofa as he began to tend to Peter's hands. He hoped the sting of the antiseptic would help bring Peter back, but the kid still looked just as out of it as he did when he arrived.
He decided to forgo bandages, as Peter would be able to heal better without them. He quickly disposed of the rag and bowl, placing the antiseptic back in the cabinet before coming to sit next to Peter. "Peter? Can you hear me?" Tony asked softly, placing his hand in Peters'. "Just squeeze my hand if you can hear me." He waited a moment, before Peter's hand tightened in his. Tony gave him an encouraging smile. "Can you tell me five things you can see, Pete?"
It was silent for a couple minutes before Peter spoke, his voice hoarse. "Table, Wall, Carpet. TV. You."
Tony nodded, "three things you can hear?" he asked.
"Traffic. Dishwasher. You."
"Two things you can smell?" Tony probed.
"Antiseptic. You," Peter whispered. His eyes closed and suddenly he began to shake violently as he rocked back and forth. "Oh god, oh god, what did I do?" he whimpered, his voice pulling at Tony's heartstrings. A few tears crept down Peter's face as he looked up at his mentor, like he was seeing him for the first time. "Mr. Stark, I almost killed him."
Tony's brow was furrowed, "What do you mean? What happened, Pete?" he asked.
Peter shivered slightly, and suddenly felt a large blanket being wrapped around him. He nodded gratefully and curled in on himself. "I just - I," Peter stammered, cursing at himself. Why can't you fucking speak? he thought viciously. "I just got so angry," he whispered, eyes wide as they locked on to Tony's.
"It's okay, it happens," Tony replied, trying to comfort Peter who, despite the blanket, was still shivering.
"It's just - he was hurting her," Peter said, looking down at his lap. "She was telling him to stop, but he wouldn't," he continued. "He said - he said she asked for it," Peter whispered, his voice shaking and hands tightening.
Tony sighed, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry Peter," he said.
Peter's eyes shot up, locking onto Tony's, who looked worried as Peter's eyes dilated a little. "Why are you sorry?" he asked, an undercurrent of anger in his tone. Peter shrugged the blanket off, but he was still shaking - this time with anger. "I'm fine," he spat, getting up and walking away, hands curling at his sides. "She's the one who got assaulted. Fuck, she almost got raped. And that piece of shit said she was asking for it?!" He yelled. Tony, who'd gotten up to follow the kid, stepped back slightly, his hands raised in an unthreatening gesture.
"Peter," he said, placatingly.
Peter whipped back around. "I hit him," Peter said, sounding indifferent about it, even though he sounded close to tears a moment ago. "I hit him again, and again and again. 'Cause he deserved it. No one asks for that, Mr. Stark. No one."
"Peter," Tony repeated, looking slightly scared of the teen in front of him. "You almost killed him."
"It's no more than he deserves," Peter said savagely.
"Peter. He deserves to go to prison," Tony replied, trying to sound as calm as he could.
"Prison?" Peter scoffed. "Yeah, right," he said, rolling his eyes. "Did you know every 90 seconds someone is sexually assaulted? Did you know every nine minutes, that person is a child? Did you know less than .5% of reported sexual assaults lead to a conviction and incarceration? Did you know that, Mr. Stark?" he asked, his voice falling to a whisper.
Tony shook his head. "No, Pete. I didn't know that," he replied softly.
Peter jerked his head slightly. "That's good. It's good you don't know," he said, sounding more calm as he collapsed onto the sofa. He was quiet for a moment before speaking, "Mr Stark?"
"Yeah, Pete?" he replied, sitting down next to the kid.
"Do you ever wanna ... just stop?" he asked, looking at the man.
"Stop?" Tony asked, confused.
"Being Iron Man?" Peter whispered, like it was the worst thing he could say. "Sometimes it just... it all gets a bit too much," he continued.
"I know kid," Tony said, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder.
"No, no, no, that's just it. You don't" Peter replied. "You're an Avenger. You deal with the big things. But I'm... I'm the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, y'know? And it's great looking out for the little guy, but it's hard when the neighbourhood isn't friendly. Like every night someone's getting stabbed, or mugged, or raped and it's just - every night?" Peter's voice wavered.
"You see a lot when you're closer to the ground," Tony supplied, and Peter nodded. He paused, "I'm proud of you Peter, you know that?" Tony said, looking down at the kid.
"Why?" Peter asked. "I just told you I feel like quitting being Spider-Man. Why are you proud of that?"
"Because you haven't quit," Tony replied, sounding obvious. "Yeah, you think about it. But every night you're out there. And you help people. And yeah, you can't help everyone, but someone really smart once told me that you don't owe these people anything. But you risk your life everyday, for people you don't know, and you ask for nothing in return," Tony continued. "And that's what makes you a hero, Peter. You help people everyday, kid, and you help people in a way that the Avengers never could."
Peter was silent for a long while, before getting up and mumbling something about a shower. He headed off to his room, leaving Tony to his thoughts. Tony was silent for a while, before barking an order at FRIDAY. "FRI, pull up the video feed from Peter's suit. Fast-forward to his last altercation," he said. FRIDAY complied, and soon presented Tony with the video, which he watched with interest. He watched Peter hear the woman's scream and head to the alley, landing a kick on the man and telling the woman to head to the police precinct. He turned back to the suspect and instead of webbing him up, Peter stared him down. The man said some vulgar stuff, but it was one thing in particular that triggered Peter. "C'mon Einstein, even you know she was hot," the man leered. Tony watched as Peter's vitals spiked and he began to attack the man, reducing his face to a pulp, before his heart rate dropped suddenly. That was when Tony had responded to the alert from Peter's suit. "Einstein?" Tony murmured.
"What did you say?" Peter's voice echoed loudly through the room. Tony turned around and spotted Peter standing behind him, his eyes trained on the video feed in front of him. The blood was drained from his face and his entire body was tense, hands opening and closing reflexively at his sides.
Tony looked back at the monitor. "Something this sicko said triggered you. He called you Eins-" Tony began, but was silenced by a glare from Peter.
"Don't. Just, please don't" Peter said, holding a hand out to stop Tony.
Tony looked confused, "I don't understand Peter, what's the problem?" he probed, demonstrating Tony's fatal flaw - his undying persistence.
Peter inhaled sharply. "It's nothing."
"Doesn't seem like nothing," Tony muttered.
"STOP," Peter ordered, his voice jolting Tony, who looked at the kid with wide eyes. Peter instantly felt bad for scaring his mentor. "It's just ... don't. Please," Peter said, his voice cracking with emotion.
Tony nodded, "Okay, okay. I won't," he said, calming the teen down enough for him to sit down on the sofa next to him. He waited a moment before speaking again, "I just ... I gotta ask kid. What happened out there?"
"Something that won't happen again," Peter retorted. He noticed the inquisitive look on Tony's face, and sighed. "It's nothing, really."
"I call bullshit, kid," Tony replied, staring the kid down until Peter conceded.
"I had a friend once, and" Peter paused, his throat closing slightly as he allowed himself to remember. "He used to call me Einstein."
Tony considered this, "So it was a nickname?" he asked.
Peter nodded his head, "I guess... I just...I don't like talking about him."
"Why?" Tony asked.
Peter shrugged in response.
"You gotta give me something kid," Tony pressed.
"I just don't like it," Peter replied.
Tony raised an eyebrow, "really kid?"
"God! What do you want me to say? I just, I don't wanna talk about Skip," Peter shot back.
"So your friend's name was Skip," Tony surmised.
"He's not my friend," Peter said venomously, taking Tony aback.
"Woah, kid. What did he do to incur the wrath of Peter Parker?" Tony joked.
"Sometimes you trust people that you shouldn't have," Peter whispered.
Tony nodded, "I get that."
"No you don't," Peter replied, "He wasn't a nice guy."
"Kid you're gonna have to be a little more clear," Tony said.
Peter sighed, placing his hands in his head. "Look. I trusted him, and he - he broke that trust - in the worst way." Tony looked blank, and Peter shivered slightly, "You're never gonna stop asking me, are you?" he whispered.
Tony shrugged, "You went apeshit on a guy today. Forgive me for being concerned for you kiddo. I haven't seen a panic attack that bad since I used to get mine."
Peter nodded, remembering when Tony had told him about the aftermath of the Mandarin attack. If Tony could trust him with that, then maybe he could trust him with this. "Skip Westcott," Peter said and Tony nodded. "He was my friend. Or, at least, I thought he was. I thought he was cool 'cause he was older and he wanted to be my friend. May and Ben were happy 'cause I never had a friend before. Sometimes, Skip would babysit me, and we'd play games and stuff. I trusted him and that- that was my first mistake. We were at his house, and we were alone..." Peter trailed off.
Tony's blood ran cold, as he stared at the kid. And suddenly, it all made sense. Why the kid got triggered by the events in the alleyway. When the guy said all those things. Why Peter knew what he knew about sexual assault stats. He stared at Peter, "did he-?"
Peter noticed the look of dawning comprehension on Tony's face. "Yeah," he said softly, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. "He, uh, yeah."
"How old-" Tony began, unsure of whether Peter would take kindly to answering questions.
"I was 8 at the time," Peter said. "He was 17."
"How long?" Tony asked.
"Around a month. Maybe longer?" Peter said, sighing. "It's not something I, y'know, dwell on."
Tony nodded. "Did you tell anyone?"
Peter nodded. "It took me a while, but I told May and Ben. They took me to the police, and they did the whole report and stuff. He got charged. Went to court, and he got three years."
"That asshole only got three years?" Tony cried, his blood boiling. He had half a mind to summon a suit and hunt the motherfucker down.
"That's the American Justice System for you," Peter replied dully. "He's still in. For armed robbery," Peter added, looking at Tony. "It was one of the first things I checked when I got my powers."
Tony nodded, "not an unprecedented reaction." He paused, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder and smiling internally when the kid leaned into him. "I'm so sorry, Pete."
"It's not your fault," Peter replied.
"But - you see this stuff daily ... and you ... how do you do this?" Tony faltered, unsure of what to say.
Peter smiled. "I remember that it sucked in the beginning, but I got better. I had Ben. I have May. You," Peter said, nodding to the man.
Tony shook his head, "I wasn't there to help you kid," Tony said. My biggest regret.
This time, Peter shook his head, "No. You were there. You're the one that helped me tell Ben and May." This time, Tony was confused, and Peter continued. "When you came back from Afghanistan and then said you were Iron Man, I realized that you saved yourself. You were your own hero, and - I needed to be mine. So, in a way, you saved me."
Tony smiled, and placed a hand on Peter's head, raking through his curls. "You're a good kid, Peter."
Tony expected some self-deprecating Gen Z response. Instead, Peter grinned, "thanks Mr. Stark" he replied, closing his eyes.