Chapter 33: (Heroes don't cry over) Spilt Milk

Tony POV

"Tony I'm really sorry for not telling you but I have friends and family to protect. With great—" Before Peter can finish I close my face plate and rocket off, leaving a large hole in the top of the warehouse.

This can't be right. Peter is not Spider-Man. It's impossible.

The skies are quiet except for the occasional airplanes that I pass on my fly back to the tower. I just need to clear my head.

"JARVIS," I say into my helmet.

"Yes, sir?"

"I am overriding all systems. Now tell me the truth, did Peter Parker ever access full control?"

JARVIS takes a minute to search back through his history, "I have no record of this but there are time gaps in my playback where Mr. Parker was the last one to access the wireless systems."

"Well there we have it. The little fucker has been playing me this whole time." I can't believe this, Peter has been watching me search for Spider-Man this entire time. He probably went home every night and laughed at how stupid I am for not realizing he was right under my nose. And all the while he's been covering his tracks, WITH MY TECH.

"Is there something I should be aware of, sir?"

"Yeah, Jarv, put into the secure file that Peter Parker is—" I stop myself. What was Peter saying again? Something about friends and family? Maybe this is what he's been afraid of, his name being in my systems. I mean, if he can hack into my tech, SHIELD certainly can. Not to mention villains.

"Peter Parker is what, sir?"

"Never mind, JARVIS. Just set a route for the tower."

Pepper POV

I sit in my office scrolling through Twitter. Looks like all the bombs have been defused around the world and I just got word that the Avengers delivered the Enchantress, Molten Man, and Smythe to SHIELD.

I laughed at Tony and Steve when they recruited all those extra heroes as emergency Avengers. I mean, one of them dresses up like a panther and lurks in the grass. Another one only wears like a speedo and talks to fish or something.

The doors to my office suddenly creak open slowly, and Tony walks in frowning, hands in his pocket. He comes over to my desk and sits on the surface.

"I'm ready for the I-told-you-so about the other heroes," I laugh.

"Oh yeah. Ha ha."

"Is everything alright?" I smile, a bit confused, "Why aren't you suited up? Aren't you supposed to be at SHIELD right now?"

He shrugs, "I kinda ditched the rest of the guys."

"And is there a reason for that?"

His eyes lower and he runs a hand through his hair, "Well I found out that our intern has an interest in spiders. But I'm guessing you already knew that." Oh shit, Tony knows. He knows about Peter. Is he gonna be mad at me?

"Uh… I don't know what to say Tony," is all I can come up with.

"Yeah whatever. I'm not mad (at you). It's just… the kid and I really connected, I didn't think he would turn out to be this."

I slide my hand over his shoulder, "He's just a teenager. You can't blame him for wanting to keep his secrets in a world like this."

He kisses me on the cheek, "Don't worry I'm not gonna kill him. We're just gonna have a little talk. We didn't part on the best terms."

I frown, "Alright, well go easy on him. He's still my intern and he has work tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah," he waves as he heads back out the door.

Oh Peter Parker, why does trouble follows you?

Peter POV

(later that night)

"What did they say after the mask was off?" Gwen questions.

I hold my phone between my shoulder and my ear while I tinker with my web-shooters in my room. "Well, the other guys seemed to be okay with it but Tony just kinda stared at me and then flew away without a word."

"That's rough, Pete. But it's not your job to apologize."

"Yeah I guess."

"Do you think he's going to tell SHIELD, or your aunt?"

I sigh and grip the bridge of my nose, "I don't know. I wouldn't think so but you never know with that guy. I hope he doesn't tell Aunt May, she's already mad at my because I forgot to bring home the milk tonight with all the chaos."

"Oh Peter Parker, trouble follows you wherever you go."

"PETER! SOMEONE'S HERE TO SEE YOU!" Aunt May shouts up the stairs. My blood runs cold. Is it the police? Did Tony tell SHIELD? I hear that Nick Fury kills people just by looking at them with his one eye.

"I, uh, gotta go Gwen. Love you," I say nervously.

"Love you too bug boy."

Taking a deep breath, I walk down the stairs.

Tony POV

I knock on the door and rub my hands together from the cold. It opens almost immediately to reveal May Parker.

"Oh my stars! Mr. Stark, what an… unexpected surprise!" She quickly wipes flour off her apron and straightens her hair.

I open to my mouth to greet her but find myself at a loss of words. Instead I hold up a gallon of 2%, "Here. I figured that Peter would forget the milk."

May laughs and pulls me inside, "Well, right you are. Dear lord, I have no idea what goes on inside that boy's head that gets him so jumbled all the time." I might have an idea as to why that is.

The woman sits me at the small kitchen table, obviously anxious being around me (I am a type of celebrity after all). She pours a glass of milk from the carton I brought and places a plate of still-warm cookies cookies right in front of me. I wave my hand "Oh, you don't have to Ms—"

She crosses her arms, "Nonsense, everyone could use a good chocolate chip cookie, and please, call me May." She then walks over to the banister, "PETER! SOMEONE'S HERE TO SEE YOU!"

After thirty seconds we hear a door open upstairs and Peter slowly descends down the steps. When he sees me, his face almost looks relieved and then contorts with nerves. "Oh. Hi, Tony."

I open my mouth but he stops me by turning to his aunt, "Aunt May, we're going to, um, go up to my room. We have to talk about a… project from work. Classified Stark Industry business, you know."

She smiles, "Of course, and don't forget to thank him for bringing the milk that you forgot." His cheeks burn and he looks baxck to me.

"Uh, come on up." I nod at May as Peter leads me upstairs.

Peter POV

I close the door behind us and Tony examines my room once again. He leans over my web-shooters that I stupidly left out on a silver platter on my desk. I rub the back of my neck while he pokes at the circuits, "Listen Tony…"

He cuts me off without looking back at me, "You lied to me, you hacked into my tech, and you've been leading me off your track the whole time."

My heart begins to beat faster.

Tony turns to face me, eyes cold and hard.

He smirks. "You're more like me than I originally thought, kid."

I shake my head, "What? You aren't mad?!"

"Oh I'm mad, but there's no use crying over it now. But I was a hypocrite and stupid about hunting you down." I blink. Tony doesn't usually admit that he's wrong. Ever. "Plus, if I fired, Clint would miss you too much."

I laugh, "Thanks, Tony."

He slaps a hand on my shoulder, "One condition: you are now a part-time intern/part-time Avenger."

I shake his hand with a large goofy smile on my face, "Deal."

"I've gotta give it to you Pete, I never thought you had the guts to be a vigilante. You've always seemed kinda like a loser."

I nudge him, "Hey! At least I've got a a cool logo, you look like a flying refrigerator."

He punches me in the arm slightly but laughs. Everything is back to normal.

"Pepper says to remind you that have you work tomorrow, and Bruce and I are going to see who can solve the Rubiks cube faster, feel free to join the competition. Oh and I expect you to bring me the specs for those web-shooters, I have some upgrade ideas.

"Sure thing Tony, see you tomorrow."

I watch him walk out my bedroom door. He laughs to himself and shakes his head, "See ya, Spidey."

Fin.

So its over with a short conclusion. This has taken me almost a year and *sheds tears* thank you to everyone who has read this!

So long. Live Long and Prosper.