"Access denied." F.R.I.D.A.Y announced as though Peter didn't already know that what he was doing was absolutely not allowed.

"FRI, come on, you gotta do me a solid just this once." Peter pleaded, bringing his hands together in a pleading gesture as though that would make any difference to a completely rational, emotionally void AI.

"I'm sorry Peter, but you do not have the clearance to access these files." FRIDAY at least had the shame to sound just a little sorry but Peter's cheeks puffed up anyway.

Why couldn't it just be Karen that was wired up in there? She'd be much more helpful he was sure. Falling back into the tall armchair, Peter took in Tony's expansive and highly impressive computer lab, with just enough holograms and blue tinted floating figures to look like something right out of a sci-fi novel. Peter already knew half of what was in the room was just for show; it gave Tony a kick to see all the awe at pretty, but entirely useless, things. Plus, he just liked the aesthetic. But more important than the cool décor, was the gigantic screen connected to a supercomputer which he knew held all the visual and auditory data from the bane of his entire existence.

Stupid Baby Monitor Protocol.

Peter was a smart kid. He knew that it was just a precaution, that it was to keep him safe, not to mention how useful it was to look for clues when your bad guy got away, and that it wasn't even that invasive to his privacy since Tony typically didn't even see most of it. He just had the recordings sent to FRIDAY who scanned them for any red flags- The You Better Not Have Protocol- and only if his trusted assistant thought there was an emergency would Tony be alerted. The problem though, was that Peter knew for a fact that sometimes, Tony just breezed through them to make sure his systems were working fine and that Peter himself was keeping to his word about being the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman. Which meant that there was a chance, albeit a tiny, insignificant, miniscule chance, that Tony would see what had happened earlier that day and that just could not happen.

He was pretty sure he'd rather die. Or at least let the earth swallow him right up or even better, get thrown into space with the other weirdos who chilled up there. It was all a very unfortunate series of events involving a web malfunction, being stuck in a compromising position, and some very mean spirited and utterly terrible preteens who feared no God or authority. Tony would never let him live it down if he saw and so, Peter had undertaken the very risky mission of deleting the footage without anyone knowing. And if FRIDAY could just cooperate damn it, it would go a whole lot smoother! Peter swiveled in the chair, sighing dramatically as he tried to brainstorm a way in. He caught sight of his suit sticking out from his backpack and stopped swiveling, something of an idea blooming in his mind. Reaching out for his mask, he pulled it over his head, smiling as he heard Karen's greeting.

"Hey Karen, could you do me a favor?"

"Of course Peter, how can I assist you?"

Hearing her helpful voice, Peter thought he could literally cry. See, this is how you make a helpful AI. Take that FRIDAY.

"Ok listen, you know how if I'm like, in really big danger, you can access the database to find any information on what's endangering me to help me fight it better?"

That was actually a really cool update Tony installed for him. After a particular mishap following the Homecoming mishap (yes, yes he knew he gave Tony heart problems) involving a HYDRA agent, his super freaky power of illusions, and a long list of injuries later, Tony's heart nearly just gave in right then and there. Turned out, the Avengers, back when they were together, had taken out that same guy and landed him in some top security prison. But as it goes in the world of superheroes and supervillains, he escaped, and was unleashed unto the public once more where Peter had intercepted him. During the fight, Peter had gotten incapacitated to the point where Karen had to automatically call Tony, which was, as usual, super embarrassing, and besides, he was literally fine- really, the fainting was just for a second anyway- and when Tony came, he kicked ass, as usual, and then went on a rant about how he was a complete idiot for not adding in a Previously On feature because obviously this whole situation would've been avoided if Peter had had access to all their battle records. So…Tony made it, and put it in.

Apparently he had spent a solid 58 hours in his lab working on the code and the filters and the triggering mechanism and Peter felt so awfully guilty about it he dragged his mentor out of the tower to see some sunlight and enjoy a good old fashioned American cheeseburger for his hard work. Peter appreciated it obviously, how seriously Tony took his health and safety that he jeopardized his own health to deal with it, but drastic times called for drastic measures! For all of Tony's genius and foresight, Peter was sure Tony hadn't acknowledged that the information connection was definitely a two way street. And honestly, outsmarting the cockiest genius he knew (well the only genius he knew) gave him such a smug feeling, Peter couldn't help but grin.

"Karen, I need you to access the files now to help me find…" well…it didn't really matter which villain he chose, but he supposed he should just go with what he knew Tony had faced so he'd save time, "HYDRA. Everything about them."

"You are not in any immediate danger Peter, nor are you engaging in a battle with any member of HYDRA."

Technicalities.

Peter bit his lip, "Karen, I've been suspecting HYDRA activity in the neighbourhood for a while now and I feel that if I'm prepared now, then obviously, when the time comes, I'll be in less danger. Mr. Stark would want me to be safe, aren't you coded to keep me safe?" even though she couldn't see him, Peter was doing his best doe eyes and crossing his fingers, hoping this would work.

A beat, and then, "Keeping you safe is my protocol. Very well."

"Oh my gosh thanks so much Karen, you're the best!" he gushed, sitting back down on the chair, "Could you use the screen as a display?"

The screen turned on in response, showing a never-ending list of battles, profiles, and case reports. The list quickly diminished though as the machine did its work of weeding through the rabble to find the HYDRA files. When it was done, Peter couldn't help but be awed by how many battles the Avengers had fought and won. They were incredible. "Karen, please display Spiderman files."

The screen quickly shifted to show any recording labeled Spiderman, and he quickly found the one he was looking for, helpfully marked with a literal red flag courtesy of Karen. "I literally love you, do you know that?"

Karen laughed, "Thank you Peter, I care for you as well. Would you like me to delete the file?"

Peter almost cried in relief. "Yes please. I never want to see that stupid video ever again."

As the little circle got fuller and fuller as the file got deleted, Peter was surprised to notice some more footage with the Spiderman label, but from the Iron Man suit. "Mr. Stark has the Baby Monitor Protocol too?"

"He doesn't call it that. But yes, Mr. Stark records everything as well in the suit."

Peter could literally feel the excitement bubble up inside him. "Oh man, oh maaaaan, Mr. Stark isn't gonna know what hit him when I'm done with this. Karen, are there any files Mr. Stark wants to hide, like super embarrassing stuff? Maybe like, him crash landing or something?" Peter was finally going to pay back his mentor for the suffering he had endured.

He was going to make him suffer the humiliation he had! It was only fair. What was that famous Iron Man quote? If Peter couldn't protect his dignity, then he would damn sure avenge it!

"I'm sorry Peter, there's no filter for that."

Peter's head sunk. "Figures."

"Fine, that's okay Karen, how about just showing me all the Iron Man files?"

The screen changed again, and Peter noticed how the recordings were all categorized by Mark. It was then he noticed that there was one Mark that only had a short-term use, around the same time Tony had first reached out to Peter actually. Every other suit had long term usage, but that one had such a short life span it was suspicious. Maybe he tinkered with it too much and it imploded? Or maybe it just fell apart? Or maybe it assembled really funny? The possibilities were really endless, and Peter just couldn't help himself as he clicked on it. Yeah, it was an invasion of privacy, but it's not like Tony didn't look through his visual feed whenever he felt like it and saved the mortifying bits to play for him later so he could cackle at his shame, so what was the harm? It was all in good fun.

So, Peter clicked it open and immediately knew he shouldn't have.

The suit went online and from the perspective of Mr. Stark, it looked like he was traveling. Peter fast forwarded through the travels, stopping as a run down warehouse type place entered into view. A swell of trepidation swirled in his gut. Everything looked super creepy, utterly abandoned and dark and wet. But as always, Mr. Stark walked with an unequivocal confidence, like he knew exactly where he was going though there was no way he could've. He reached a door and pushed it open with both hands and Peter was startled to see the battle-ready faces of Captain America and…the Winter Soldier.

Without really needing to know, Peter knew exactly what he was watching, and knew with one hundred percent certainty that he should turn it off right that second. But seeing Cap's face, with his guarded expression, his defensive crouch, the shield that symbolized freedom scratched and ready to fight aimed at Tony…he couldn't make himself look away. He couldn't.

"You seem a little defensive." Typical Tony, always quick with the quip even in the face of danger.

"It's been a long day."

Peter could see Tony's hand gesture for peace in the Winter Soldier's direction, "At ease soldier, I'm not currently after you."

"Then why are you here?" Cap still looks wary, cautious, too on edge.

There's a pause, and then, "Maybe your story's not so crazy…maybe." And Peter can hear the slight resignation, the subtle shift from the typical outer personality of the cocky domineering Stark to the man Peter knew him to be, a leader, a team-player, just a man.

A man who cared too much but didn't always know how to show it.

"Ross has no idea I'm here, I'd like to keep it that way." Peter's eyes widened a little at that.

He didn't know much about what happened in Siberia, about what happened after the battle at the airport. What he did know, was that the Rogue Avengers had been jailed, that Steve was a fugitive, and that talking with him would surely mean prison for Tony too. Claims of treason and aiding and abetting. Tony was adamant about the Accords, so why would he risk everything to meet with them?

He heard the Captain and Tony joke, heard how they said, "It's nice to see you." And "You too." And knows that all those pleasantries must have meant nothing, if Tony had come back looking like he had and the Captain not at all.

"Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me." Tony snarks, pointing at the gun still aimed at his head with a look of utter fatigue, "There's a truce here. You can drop the weapon." He says exasperatedly.

And suddenly, the three of them are walking and the camera shakes and Peter could feel his stomach clench. Something was going to happen. Something was going to happen. Something bad. He didn't need enhanced senses to know that. He watched as they confronted giant containers filled with eerie yellow liquid and dead super soldiers. Peter felt bile rush to the top of his throat. He watched as the unknown man ranted about how he lured the three of them there and the anxiety in his stomach tightened and tightened and he felt like he wanted to scream at the screen as though his voice could echo all the way to the past.

"An empire that crumbles from its enemies can rise again…But an empire that crumbles from within…" Peter jumped as a small screen flicks on, its light flickering ominously in the dark room. "That's dead. Forever." The man finished and the Iron Man suit stumbled toward the screen.

"I know that road." And Peter heard it, heard how Tony's voice shook just a little, just a bit, just enough to know that this is where it begins and ends.

"What is this!" he demanded, but he sounded like he was going to be sick, somewhere in between terror and denial, his voice too loud, edging on a truth he didn't want to confront.

The man didn't answer, and Peter watched with Tony, as a car drove by the camera and hit a tree. The hood of the car crunched upwards and bent while smoke clouds the air. A motorcyclist rolled around it. A man collapsed out the broken door, his body hitting the ground, barely able to push himself up on his forearms. Peter could just make out his begging, begging for the life of his wife, before a familiar figure strode up and his whole body froze. No way. No way no way no way. The Winter Soldier pulled the man up by his neck. Peter saw the familiarity in the man's eyes, "Sargent Barnes?"

"Howard!" A woman begged.

And then Peter knew.

And he couldn't stop his hands from rushing to his mouth as he watched in horror while the Winter Soldier murdered Tony's parents. Oh God oh God oh God. Tony turned to Steve, who was looking at him like he was trying to tame something wild, something out of control. But just as suddenly, Tony launched towards Bucky but Steve was faster, grabbing him by the arm, "Tony, Tony," he pleaded.

And Tony stopped. He stopped, because his friend asked him to and he whispered something devastating and Peter could hear the pain in his voice, could hear every subtlety and nuance, every hurt and repressed memory. "Did you know."

"I didn't know it was him." Steve finally said, intent and insistent.

"Don't bullshit me Rogers. Did you know." Tony bit, voice seething with a barely contained grief, a barely contained rage.

Steve hesitated, Peter can see the emotions fly around his face before the finality of his assertive, "Yes."

Tony lurched away from him and there was a moment where the world stood still before Tony's fist backhanded the captain with a savagery Peter had never seen before. Steve flew across the floor. The Winter Soldier brought his gun up, but Tony was faster, sending a repulsor blast towards him and suddenly, they were all battling. Tony was punching and being punched and Cap was throwing his shield and Barnes was breaking Tony's gauntlet. Tony fired up his repulsors, readying to launch into the sky to catch up to Barnes before Steve's voice caught him, "It wasn't him Tony. HYDRA had control of his mind."

But Tony was too enraged, too emotional, too compromised, to listen to excuses that would call on the compassion he had just seen die on the screen. Peter watched helplessly as Tony attacked Barnes and as Steve wrapped a coil around his neck that sent him careening back to the floor like he was an animal. Tony aimed his missile and Peter couldn't help the little, "No!" that came out his mouth, don't kill him, don't kill him.

But Tony doesn't. He could have. But he didn't. He broke the lever holding the roof in place so that it collapsed down and closed any route of escape. Peter was breathing heavily now and so thankful. So utterly thankful. Tony flew up, catching Barnes from behind, "Do you even remember them?" he whispered like it physically hurts to say the words.

"I remember all of them" Bucky gasped.

And Tony was flying them down before Steve barreled into them and they all went crashing to the ground. Steve was looking at him imploringly, "This isn't gonna change what happened."

But Peter could hear the lack of regard for anything, could physically hear how little Tony thought of that truth. "I don't care. He killed my mom." And that hurt.

That hurt Peter more than anything. Because he knew, he knew what it felt like, to be so frustratingly, agonizingly angry at the person who took the person you loved more than anything away. Remembered how after the grief and the despair faded, he was left with a burning anger to right an unforgivable wrong. But he had May, and he had Ned, and much much later, Tony himself. Who did Tony have?

Steve?

And the two were fighting again. But Mr. Stark was losing. He was on his knees, he was against the wall, Barnes' fingers digging into the suit and pulling out the reactor. Peter's hands clenched around his seat. He couldn't pull out the reactor. That powered the suit. Tony needed the suit. He needed it in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of all the snow, stop it…stop it! And then Tony blew off Barnes' arm and the fighting got worse and just when it looked like it was over…it wasn't.

"He's my friend." Steve said.

"So was I."

The silence was deafening.

And suddenly the suit was on the floor and Peter was looking up into the enraged face of Captain America as he brought down his mighty shield right into Tony's chest. As sparks burst from Tony's reactor like Steve had just broken his heart, he had the audacity to look mournful.

The video sputtered as Tony struggled to get up before collapsing back down. Everything went quiet and the screen turned black. Peter continued to stare, didn't know what else to do, didn't know what to feel. He understood now, why Tony wouldn't keep that suit anymore. And he understood now, why Tony stiffened when he heard Steve's name, why he always looked worn out with regret, the achingly sad expression he'd get sometimes when he thought Peter wasn't looking. He knew why Tony kept everything so hidden, why he wouldn't say anything to anyone.

Steve and Tony were fire and wind, they just made each other explosive.

Tony shouldn't have attacked, but he'd just seen his parents get killed. Had just found out his closest friend and team-mate had known all along and never told him, found out that he wasn't nearly as important to that friend as he thought he was, when it came down to that critical moment, when it came down to that ride or die point. They had both chosen die. But Cap lied. He lied to Tony's face and when it came down to it, he didn't even have the guts to say sorry, to try and calm Tony down instead of antagonizing him more. If Barnes really was mind controlled, and the very thought of that terrified Peter, then it wasn't his fault, if anything, he was the real victim. But it didn't change what he did. Didn't invalidate Tony's anger either. Didn't make any of what happened okay. Steve had crushed him. And then taken his whole family away. Bringing down a firestorm of devastation across every angle.

A betrayal only hurts as deeply as the love that runs beneath.

"Th-that's enough Karen. Close everything." He whispered, tugging off his mask so he could breathe.

He needed to get out of there. He needed to…he couldn't be here, he couldn't let Mr. Stark know what he'd done. He couldn't-

Peter grabbed his backpack, half running out the room and back to the elevator. He actually made it there before it pinged open and Tony Stark himself cocked his head up, his face opening in a pleasantly surprised smile, and then a quick flat stare. "Kid, if you're here again to ask me to give you the ability to fly, you're kidding yourself. You get into way too much trouble as it is."

Peter was so thrown off-guard he practically forgot his plethora of mixed feelings as his arms flailed around, "But Mr. Stark, it'd be so cool! And it even fits the theme! There are plenty of flying spiders!"

"Nice try Wonder Kid, but spiders can only glide. So technically, your little webbing thing is pretty biologically accurate." Tony retorted, walking past him, his only sign he wanted to be followed a quick tilt of his head.

Stumbling, Peter followed him, head bent as he bit his lip, trying to keep his cool. What to say what to say. How do you be there for someone when you shouldn't know they needed anyone at all? Tony however, seemed to be in a practically giddy mood and looked smug as he said, "But since you're here, I might as well show you something I've been working on for a while."

It's too nonchalant really, as though Tony doesn't know that being shown Stark Science wasn't one of Peter's Top Five Coolest Things ever, right after meeting Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamil, and Harrison Ford together, in costume, at a screening of all the original Star Wars movies.

Peter perked up, trying hard to force down what he had just seen and try and focus on Tony in the present. But he must not have been able to do a good job judging by the slight furrow in Tony's brows and the hand that clasped his shoulder firmly, like steadying a rocking boat. "You're not hiding another injury are you kid?" At Peter's silence, Tony groaned, massaging his temples, "Pete, you're killing me."

Peter quickly brought his hands up in placating gesture, "No, no! I'm fine! Honest Mr. Stark, I'm not hurt I'm just…" he trailed off, not quite sure how to say that his heart felt like lead in his chest and how Steve's rage filled eyes as he slammed his shield down into Tony's chest refused to leave his mind.

But Tony seemed to understand, in the way that someone who's ended too many sentences that way could and squeezed his shoulder before letting him go. "Something on your mind?" and he sounded distant enough, but Peter could tell by the way he slowed his step to be more aligned to his and how Tony took off his sunglasses to get a better look at him that he was paying far more attention than he would want to admit.

Something swelled within Peter at that moment. Affection maybe. Peter looked at him and felt way too much in his heart that he wished he could throw his arms around him. But he couldn't. So he did his best to smile as hard as he could because even though everyone else was gone, he was still there. And he would do everything to always be there. "It's just a little overwhelming sometimes you know? Being Spiderman and Peter Parker and everything." He waved his hand around in a vague gesture.

But just as suddenly, he grinned, wide eyed and flush with sincerity, "But nothing science can't fix! What are we doing today? Should I be freaking out?"

Tony stared at him with scrutiny, but, content with the genuine excitement in his protégé's face, he laughed, bright and sharp, "Get ready to be blown away kid."

Tony led him to Workshop B, a tinkering shop for not super serious projects and one that was big and spacious. It had been redecorated though, a whole corner of it segmented off with two large desks filled with crates of vials and beakers and a whole cabinet of chemicals along the wall. But what really shook Peter was the Spiderman logo spray-painted on the wall. Suddenly, despite being quite good at it for the past fifteen years, Peter forgot how to breathe. "No way. No way. No WAAYYY." He whirled around, "Mr. Stark are you serious? Holy shit Ned is gonna flip oh my God." His voice was getting breathy and Tony's eyes crinkled as he gestured around the room.

"It had come to my attention that you had been making your webbing during school like some kind of science criminal and I just can't have you blowing up a centre of education because you were too busy ogling Pretty Whatsherface or getting distracted by whatever nerdy thing you and Ed-"

"Ned."

"-Fred get up to. So," he pointed to his corner, "Consider this your personal lab space. This is quality real estate kid so I would take advantage of it."

Peter stopped then, some actual thought finally bursting his way through his flood of freaking out. Engineering was Tony's religion and his labs his temples. It was a big deal for Tony to be letting him into that space, of letting him use his tools and supplies and give him the opportunity to make mistakes or brilliant successes. It was more than just a corner of the lab. Peter swallowed hard, thinking about how the Avengers had once been in this tower, shared the space, lived like a family. And how devastatingly empty it all was now.

Opening your life to people didn't mean people wouldn't close theirs.

"Thanks Mr. Stark. This is…this is amazing." Peter said, his eyes brimming with a sincerity that got Tony in his chest harder than he thought it would.

Tony coughed, allergic to emotions as he was, and half turned. "It's really just an insurance policy. Can't have you blowing up the school in the name of vigilantism." He replied gruffly, but Peter grinned anyway because he was good at reading between the lines.

He had good emotional intelligence you see. Someone between the two of them had to. Tony seemed to be struggling with some sort of internal battle before he awkwardly clapped Peter on the shoulder. "I got everything you said you used for your formula, but if you want to mess around with it or decide to be more of a menace and make something else cool and freaky, you have my blessing to go nuts. This isn't just for Spiderman, it's for Peter Parker too." If possible, Peter felt his grin widen.

"But!" Tony declared, and he looked sterner, "There's some ground rules you gotta follow if you're going to keep lab privileges alright?"

Peter nodded seriously, already half not listening as he fantasized about all the cool stuff he was gonna make, "Yeah, of course, of course."

"First! Always run new combinations of chemicals and whatnot past FRIDAY. She'll let you know if anything has a chance of exploding." He pointed towards a sign Peter hadn't really noticed before with a messily scrawled EIGHT DAYS SINCE LAST EXPLOSION written on it, "As you can see, we have a winning streak for safety."

Peter snorted and even Tony couldn't help a little quirk of the lip, "If you want to try something dangerous, wait for me and do not, I repeat not, try anything you know is gonna go bad you understand me? I do not need a medium rare child in my tower do you understand me?"

Peter couldn't help but feel a little indignant. "Yes Mr. Stark." He mumbled.

Satisfied, Tony nodded. "Okay then, what do you say we get to work?"

"You're going to work too?"

"Did you think I was just going to sit here and look pretty?"

"Well the sitting part yeah, but between the two of us, I'm definitely the looks." Peter said it before he really thought about it and for a split second panicked because oh my god he had just snarked Tony Stark, he was going to EAT him.

But instead, Mr. Stark's face went comically shocked, like he never expected Peter to be anything but ridiculously polite before he burst out laughing. "Excuse you, I'm simultaneously the brains, the looks, AND the brawn. You're still an itty bitty spider trying to climb up the water spout."

Peter grinned, unable to help himself, "Sure Mr. Stark, whatever helps you sleep at night. I'm pretty sure I can stop a truck on a highway with just my bare hands but okay." He shrugged and just laughed more when Tony chucked a blueberry at his head from the pack on his desk.

Mr. Stark must have been feeling generous that day, because he let Peter have the last word and went straight into sketching on his interactive table screen. Peter didn't know what it was, but it was sure to be super mindblowing. He however, just went to work in creating the original fluid formula that he constantly needed to replace. It was an hour into the engineering process that Peter remembered with a start, everything that happened earlier and how ridiculously easy it was to forget when Tony had been acting like the Tony he knew and had admired since he was little. He glanced up at his mentor from the corner of his eye, watching as he scrunched his eyes together in thought, his fingers stroking his beard. Peter wanted to say something, but didn't know what he could possibly do about something he was never supposed to know about. Couldn't even think about what to say even if he was allowed to know.

Peter was so lost in thought that it took another blueberry to the face for Tony to get his attention, "Earth to Spiderling."

Peter jumped, "Sorry Mr. Stark! Were you saying something?"

Tony crossed his arms, "Ninety percent of what I say is quotable, it's a criminal offense to ignore it."

Peter rolled his eyes, "That's the kind of line you'd seen on an incorrectquotes blog."

Tony smirked, "See? Quotable." He shifted back to his work, "But what I was saying before was pretty mundane. Just asking what was up, how's life, you know, the basics." He said carefully, as though Peter would be offended.

The opposite was true though, Peter perked up, practically bouncing in his seat, "Well the other day, I caught this guy who stole this lady's purse by flipping over an entire building and it was just, so cool and like, someone actually clapped and it just felt…I don't know." He looked down, shy all of the sudden, "I don't know, it just felt pretty cool."

Tony smiled knowingly, looking up at him, "Like you were a real hero right?"

Peter blushed, ducking his head. It was super dumb, he knew, he had done bigger, more heroic things technically, but there was something about doing something you had never done and having the people you were helping actually acknowledge it that just gave him the sort of super happy light feeling he didn't associate a lot with being a hero who mostly helped the elderly cross the street and return lost bikes.

"Yeah."

"And what about school stuff? Still on the decathlon team?"

Peter was surprised he switched the subject from Spiderman stuff. "That stuff's super boring Mr. Stark, you don't have to-"

"Do I look like the kinda guy who cares about have to's?" he retorted lightheartedly, but they both knew it was a lie.

Tony looked uncomfortable for a moment, like he was torn between saying something or not. Finally, he grimaced, neutralized his face, and then tried again. "I don't just care about Spiderman you know, I-" his lip curled in frustration, like he was annoyed at himself for not being able to say the words right, "I want to be on your team you know? On your side." He stared pointedly, "I feel like we have some sort of good mentor/mentee thing going on and it's not just about superhero stuff, unless that's what you want then-"

Peter' was touched, because he'd always wondered a little, if he was reading too much into things, but it was really nice, that Tony felt the need to clarify that Peter was just as important as Spiderman. So, deciding to be altruistic, Peter threw him a line. "School's okay. We're in that super great low period because our quarterly tests are done and the teachers are too tired to work us so hard, so that's cool."

He saw the instant relief on Mr. Stark's face now that they've passed their little moment and hid his amusement, "And Decathlon is fun and all but it's really hard to be everywhere at once you know?" he was quiet for a moment, "But I'm trying really hard this semester. I don't wanna let the team down again you know?"

"Yeah, I get that." Tony set his pen down. "You gotta learn to balance all of this stuff kid. Family, school, friends, webbing down the streets of Queens. Being Spiderman is great, and you're doing real good work. But you're still a kid. You should enjoy it you know, go to nerdy conventions, take a pretty girl out on a date." He waves his hand in the air as though to gesture and the list goes on and on, "Queens won't crumble to the ground because you let yourself have fun once in a while."

"I know that." Peter fiddled with a syringe, "I do. It's just…what if something bad happens, and I could've stopped it?" he stopped moving, unable to meet Tony's eyes.

Tony sighed, looking much older than he was. "Listen Peter, I'm going to be honest to you, because sugar-coating it isn't going to do you any favors. The worst part about being a hero, is that sometimes you don't get there in time and sometimes even when you do, it's not enough. But here's the thing, it's not all on you. We're all doing our part to keep this world safe and even if you can't be there, someone else will be. That's how it works. You can't save the world alone. Just try and remember that for me will you?"

Peter couldn't help but notice how genuine Tony looks. His body still as he waited for Peter's response, the conviction he held in the evenness of his tone and the strength of his gaze. Slowly, Peter nodded his head. "I'll try."

"Good. Take yourself and your friend out somewhere neat, on me."

"Mr. Stark you don't have to-" and they were back to their banter.

Tony made a zip it motion, "That was not a request, FRIDAY, did that sound like a request to you?"

"No boss, sounded like an order to me." The AI unhelpfully supplied.

Tony nodded. "That's exactly what I thought. Kid?" he asked, looking at him expectantly.

Peter just groaned.

Later, when had set up several cannisters of his fluid and Tony had to leave for a dinner meeting, Peter looked around at their crushed soda cans and snack bags littered across the tables and thought that maybe the place didn't look so empty anymore. He thought back to the image of Captain America bringing his shield down into Tony's heart. Thought about how everyone had left and knew he was going to do everything he could to stay. Tony had said he was on his side. Well, Peter was going to be on his side too.

That, Peter thought, was probably the beginning of everything. Sure after the whole disaster with the plane and the Vulture, Tony and Happy had both been more available over phone and Peter was given access to the tower for emergencies, but it wasn't like they'd been any closer than before. But for whatever reason, Tony had decided to open his life up to him, and Peter wasn't going to waste that opportunity for anything. That meant though, that he had to learn balance just like Tony told him he would have to learn, if he was going to add a weekly lab visit to his already long list of things to do and places to be.

Mostly though, it was just nice. Happy was still his point person for most things, but he knew Mr. Stark listened to his voicemails himself from how a mysterious reply recording would always appear on his phone every once in a while. They were never particularly long or anything, but they were just… nice.

"Hey kid, good job with the bank bust the other day. It's always good when you can save the day without causing a lot of damage to any infrastructure. Kudos. You obviously did not learn from the best, so I really have no idea where you got it from." Tony chuckled at his own joke before his signature, "Ok that's enough praise, stay out of trouble, and don't bite off more than you can chew okay Underoos?"

Other times, he just got yelled at.

"Hello Mr. Parker, I was just leaving you this super non-aggressive message to remind you that you have a suit curfew of one a.m. except that I got a notification saying you were out till four and did you or did you not have a calculus midterm you'd been agonizing about for what was it, ten years? The next day. That better be a glitch Parker or I'm going to make Karen so annoying and immutable you'll never be able to get into your suit again."

That…was not a great look. But in his defense, it was because he was so nervous about the midterm he'd been out so late! But balance, balance. Can't sacrifice school and his own life for superheroing, he had his whole life to save the world yada yada. So maybe Mr. Stark had a point, but still.

Sometimes though, Tony skipped the message entirely and just straight up called him. Those…were never good, like that time he got, well, he didn't want to say stabbed, more like superficially impaled, but Karen, the little traitor, just had to be a huge tattle-tale. He had been trying to stop a mugging, except that it was three guys who obviously knew what they were doing and he had gotten just a little distracted because the guy they were robbing was running away too slow because of his twisted ankle. So caught between making sure the guy didn't get more hurt and taking out three guys, he didn't really notice the knife until it literally stabbed him in the back, but really more like his shoulder, which was, fine you know, because it's not like there were any important organs all up in there. And like, the knife wasn't even that big, or even fully in! So really, it was just a cut, a slightly bigger than usual cut, but still, just a cut.

But no.

"Peter, you are losing more blood than is permitted. This constitutes as being in danger. Calling Tony Stark."

Peter paused after he flipped stabby dude on his back and webbed his hands and feet together. "What do you mean more blood than permitted?"

"Your healing powers can successfully take care of minor wounds without putting your life in danger. A stab wound is not minor." Karen informed dryly, distracting him from the three rings it took for Tony to pick up with a gigantic scowl and that expression that promised trouble.

"Peter, you better not be stabbed right now." But even as he was saying it, Peter could see him furiously typing away on his phone and the distant sound of an Iron Man suit starting up.

Peter gulped, "I feel like if I just take it out it'll be fine?"

Tony's eyes shot up, wide and slightly crazy. "Absolutely under no circumstances do you take that knife out. Do you understand me Peter?"

Tony muttered some more, about supposed genius children and their disrespect for basic biology all the while heading towards Med Bay and rummaging through some supplies. "Are the hooligans all webbed up?"

"Yes Mr. Stark."

His mentor sighed a little, his shoulders drooping ever so slightly. "Ok. Good job. You did good kid." But he caught sight of Peter's hopeful face and pointed sharply, "But if you think you're not gonna get yelled at boy are you in for a treat." And then promptly hung up.

So Peter waited miserably, shooting a glare stabby guy couldn't see. "Did you really have to stab me? Was it really necessary?"

He didn't hear the reply before the Iron Man suit arrived, levitating in front of him with its arms out. He let himself be carried in a way that wouldn't aggravate his injury and it was only then, when all the adrenaline and the shame left his body that he realized his shoulder was on fire. Oh my godddd, oh my god it hurt, holy shit was shock that good of a drug, hot damn! The suit dropped him off right into a waiting hospital bed and Peter tugged off his mask, his face pale and mouth dry. "Mr-Mr. Stark I'm-"

Tony took one look at the kid's face and his copper stained suit and any trace of anger disappeared. "You're gonna be okay kid. I promise. You just have to bear with me a little bit okay?"

"It really hurts." He whispered, ashamed a little, at how weak that sounded.

"Believe me, I know. But you're going to be patched up in no time and you'll go back to bouncing off walls and eating churros okay?"

When Tony's hands touched his back, Peter heard a sad intake of breath. "Man I wish Bruce were here."

"Dr. Banner?" Peter thought talking might help distract him from what was to come, and luckily, Mr. Stark seemed to be in a talkative kind of mood.

"Yeah, Bruce's whole thing is medicine, he would've been great right about now." A pause, and then, "Not that I don't know what I'm doing or anything. I am a genius. Did you know I learned the entirety of astrophysics in a night?"

Peter heard him snap on some latex gloves before pushing gently on his chest spider so that the suit fell off of him as he pulled the knife out quickly. Peter hissed, his breaths coming in little pants as his shoulder sent ripples of pain waves across his entire body. His head felt slightly woozy and briefly, Peter wondered if maybe he had lost too much blood. But he gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes as he tried to talk without stuttering, "You- you're modest too. The full package, wow."

Tony snorted behind him.

"Is Dr. Banner coming back soon?"

Tony's rummaging slowed a little, "I don't know." He said after a pause, "After that whole Ultron fiasco he just…left." Peter thought he sounded faraway, like he was suddenly hit by a bout of nostalgia he thought he had left behind.

"I heard the Hulk really liked Iron Man, is that true?"

From the sound of his voice, Peter thought he might've smiled. "The big guy had a soft spot for me for sure. Probably cause I flattered his ego. Or maybe because me and Bruce were Science Bros."

Tony pressed something to his wound to staunch the bleeding, pushing him onto his stomach so that he could put as much pressure as possible muffling his excited, "Science Bros?!"

"Settle down kid, I need to disinfect you and then you can get all excited back in nerdville."

Peter grunted, wincing as he felt the cool saline solution enter into his skin as Tony dabbed it all around his shoulder. "Can I be a Science Bro? I can invent things! And I know a bit about biology too."

Tony scoffed, "Do you even have a driver's license?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You expect me to give you science genius status when you're legally not allowed to drive a car?"

"There is zero correlation between those two things, do you know that?" Peter pouted, burying his face into the pillows.

"Hey, maybe the Hulk will take a liking to you too and then I'll be forced to let you in. Don't want to be on that guy's bad side." He clapped his hands, "Now onto actually important issues, luckily for you, I don't think we have to stitch anything up, so I'm just going to clip on some butterfly bandages…wrap your shoulder up nice and tight…aaaaand, we're done." Tony announced peeling off his gloves and patting Peter's good shoulder firmly.

Peter groaned, turning his head to look at him. "I'm never getting stabbed again."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Promises, promises." But at Peter's pathetic lip wobble and wide eyes, Tony threw up his hands, "Fine! I won't lecture you, you already know what I'm going to say anyway. Just take this pill, it'll help with the pain," he helped Peter sit up, handing him a small glass of water, "And you need to monitor it for the next day or two to make sure it doesn't swell up or get infected. Can I trust you to do that?" he asked sternly, his hand cupping Peter's chin.

Peter nodded intently, "Yeah, of course. You can count on me Mr. Stark."

"And next time you're hurt, call me okay? I didn't give you this suit so that you could just bleed all over Queens like some weird cultist."

Peter fidgeted, his fingers fiddling with the linens of the bed. "I just didn't think it was a big deal and I didn't want to…" his voice faded off.

"Getting stabbed is definitely on my list of big deals. Right up there with, engaging with a bad guy out of my league and help I'm being overrun by gross aliens. You have my number for a reason Peter. I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't want you calling. Remember, I'm on your side okay?" Tony said evenly, as though he hadn't just answered his unspoken insecurity of bothering him for stupid things.

Peter smiled, feeling better, despite the pulsing pain in his shoulder and the overall weight of disappointment at being compromised. "Thanks Mr. Stark."

Apparently done with feelings for the day, Tony waved at him, heading back out the door, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a meeting I've postponed twice already and I don't feel like getting murdered via Pepper's stilettos. Feel free to take a nap in here, Happy'll be up here in a sec and I will repeat myself on this communication thing." He turned around, catching Peter's eyes deliberately, "If you're in pain, or you're hurt, or something's not right, call me okay?"

"If I do will you make me a Science Bro?" he shot out as Tony rolled his eyes good naturedly.

Happy came in the room a few minutes later as promised, took one look at him, and shook his head. "Kid, you're gonna give us all heart attacks you know that right?"

Peter shrugged apologetically, "Sorry Happy."

"You look like a ghost ate you and then spat you out, try to sleep a little. I'll get you home before May comes back from work."

"Can we at least put something on the tv?"

Happy perked up, "There's Downtown Abbey reruns, great idea Pete."

Really, Peter deserved that.

A week after the stabbing incident, his shoulder had healed so that it was impossible to tell he'd ever been hurt and he'd feeling great ever since. Better than great really. Him and Ned had found a super cool Star Wars themed café and they had had a blast ordering themed drinks and taking pictures with the costumed baristas. May and him finally gotten around to starting Brooklyn 99 and upping their evening relaxation routine and even school had been all smooth sailing. So when Happy pulled up at his school, Peter only expected the worst because, once you go up, the only place to go was down right?

Turned out, there was just higher to go.

"Is there a mission Happy? Did something happen? Are we going to the tower? The compound?" he gasped, "Overseas!?"

Happy looked like he was considering rolling up the divider window but thought better of it. "We're going to the tower, I have no idea what for. The boss seemed pretty giddy though. Must have something cool to show you."

The possibilities were really endless and Peter couldn't help bouncing a little in anticipation before the tower entrance came into view and he practically zoomed out the door and into the building. Once in the elevator, he tried to calm down somewhat. "Hey FRIDAY, where's Mr. Stark?"

"In the common room. Taking you there now Peter."

"Thanks FRIDAY!" he chirped, rolling on the balls of his feet.

The elevator pinged open, "Kid! Come check this out!" Tony sounded one second away from losing it to a fit of giggles and Peter felt a smile creep up his face reactively.

"What's up Mr. Stark?"

On the counter, next to two spoons and open lids were two giant sized Ben and Jerry's ice cream tubs. Once Tony saw his face, his grin got wider as he rushed over, slugging his arm around Peter's shoulder and pulling him over.

"Mr. Stark, aren't you not supposed to eat dairy?" he pointed out, his brows furrowed in concern.

"Kid, when Ben and Jerry's names an ice cream flavour after you, you have to swear off swearing off things."

"No way! That's so cool Mr. Stark! Did they make two for you?"

Tony's grin got wider and if anything, he looked overly pleased with himself. "As awesome as that would be, no. When they pitched the idea to me, I thought sure, why not, but then I thought, why not give a shout out to my sidekick."

Peter couldn't feel the air in his lungs anymore. He was so thrilled he barely even registered the sidekick joke. "No. Way. Mr. Stark you didn't."

"I one hundred percent did. And check out their names. Stark Raving Hazelnuts, isn't that just catchy? And you got-"

Peter screeched, "SPIDERMANGO BLAST?! I love mango! And blasts! And oh my god this is so cool, wait till I tell Ned, he's going to freak, I'M AN ICE CREAM FLAVOR!" Peter knew he was freaking out but this was definitely one of the coolest things that had ever happened to him.

"Mr. Stark this is the most exciting thing that's happened ever, well not ever because you know Spiderman, and also stealing Cap's shield and then there was-"

Tony laughed, sticking a spoon into the tub before stuffing it in Peter's mouth. "At least try it first before you sing its praises." But there was an amused twinkle in his eyes and he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

How could he? When the kid got that excited, it was contagious. Most of the time, Tony felt like his presence was always linked to danger, and superheroing, and too many life or death situations. The kid had been through a lot the past couple years and if this is what little it took to get him so happy he blazed brighter than a baby star, then Tony would do everything to keep that child vibrancy.

"Ish sho good." Peter managed to get out, his face relaxed in enjoyment. "Mr. Stark," he said properly, after swallowing, "You gotta try it. Like right now. And I want to try yours!"

He dipped his spoon into the nuttier flavor and squeaked again, "It's so good too! Ben and Jerry's rocks!"

Tony nodded his head as he dug deeper into the mango ice cream. He had always had a thing for fruity flavors. "They sure do kiddo."

They ate their fill of ice cream and since Peter was already there and May wasn't home until eight that day, he decided to stick around. He wondered when exactly it was that he didn't fumble and stutter excuses to stay longer and when it was that he just pulled out his chemistry book and started working on the coffee table while Tony flipped through emails on the couch adjacent. He scribbled formulas in his notebook before getting bored and flipping through his Twitter feed only to gasp in mock shock, shoving his phone into Tony's face.

"Mr. Stark!" he gasped, "When were you going to tell me that you were dating Happy!"

"What are you-"

"I can't believe The Midnighter knew about my own mentor's love life before I did." He clutched his heart, trying to look lamenting, "I'm crushed Mr. Stark. Honestly."

"The fact that you even follow that tabloid says more about you than that headline does about me." Tony shot back, "And I can't believe you aren't accepting me and Happy's very loving, very committed relationship. I'm crushed."

Peter snickered. "You two are really good together. I ship it."

"What the hell is that?" That apparently, was more interesting than a torrid love affair with his friend, and Tony actually looked up from his tablet.

"How do you not know what shipping is? You cry over Ross and Rachel all the time."

"You have to be heartless to not love Ross and Rachel. They're each other's lobsters." Tony gesticulated adamantly.

Peter nodded seriously, "See? Shipper."

So, Peter got into a bit of a routine and felt a new kind of comfortable that made the world seem that much more manageable, that much more welcoming. He leaned back in his desk chair, staring at the chemistry formulas on his homework cheat. Considering all the new things he had going, Peter thought that he was finally getting good. Between juggling school and his friends and Spiderman and also his new time slot at the tower, he had thought that he had distracted himself to the point where his brain could stop trying to kill him. Like sure, he was maybe a little more claustrophobic than normal, and yeah, sometimes he had nightmares about being crushed under a suffocating pile of rubble that clogged his nose and went into his eyes and filled his lungs with dust that sunk him to the floor and oh dear God there were the heart palpitations. Peter sucked in a breath like it was his last, crunching forward as he tried to calm his heart that rattled against his ribcage like it was trying to burst out of him. The panic was always a swooping feeling, like free falling but without his web-shooters. Every molecule in his body tensing all at once, all of his focus on the tightening in his chest, the clenching of his stomach and the heat flashes that thrummed all across his body in waves. Shit. Damn. Dammit! Dammit!

Peter pressed a hand against his heart before pushing them into his ears with a gross desperation. Everything was loud, it was so, so, loud. Why was everyone screaming, why was everything blaring, why was the world an endless cacophony, the noise was like dust filling his ears, his mouth, his nose, his lungs, dammit dammit dammit. Peter squished his eyes shut, his whole face pinched as he rocked back and forth. Pass, pass, pass, why wouldn't it just pass. Breathe, breathe, breathe, you were supposed to breathe, weren't you? Peter gasped, gulping for air but it wasn't enough, it was never enough. Jerking his head around frantically, Peter practically tripped over himself as he fell to the floor grasping at his mask and tugging it over his head in frantic gaps. "K-Karen." He heaved, already feeling better as his auditory and visual stimulus dialled down to a less vicious level. "Karen, please lower external stimulus by half." He managed to say, pulling his knees into his chest and ducking his head between the gap, focusing on breathing.

"Peter, your vitals show clear distress suggesting a panic attack."

"I know Karen. I know. But this will help me. Trust me." Peter could feel his voice coming back as the world dulled around him. "Can you just…can you just count to ten for me a few times?" he asked meekly, pressing his face further into his arms.

"Of course, Peter." Her level voice counted to ten five times and it was enough for Peter to force himself to match his breaths to her counting, focusing on her slightly robotic, but still sweet voice, as he slowly brought his body back to normal.

When he regained control, he sighed, leaning against the wall in exhaustion. "Th-Thanks Karen. I owe you one."

"You do not owe me anything Peter. I have been tasked to take care of your wellbeing." She said gently, and Peter felt a smile spread across his face.

"Thanks Karen."

A few moments passed, before a new fear crept up over him. "Karen…you're not going to…to tell Mr. Stark are you? It's not a big deal! I just needed to dial down the visuals and whatever, I have it all under control." He rushed to placate her, gesturing with his arms though he knew she couldn't see.

"There exists no specific protocol for me to report emotional problems to Mr. Stark automatically, but I do feel that I should."

"No!" Peter jerked forward, panic in his eyes, "No." he said again, in a slightly calmer voice, "It's fine Karen. It's fine. I got it under control." Shakily, he stood up, wobbling slightly as he bent to pull out the full Spiderman suit.

"Let's just go on patrol. That'll help me feel better. I just…let's go Karen."

Karen didn't reply, and Peter got the vague feeling she was judging him. But that wasn't possible because she was just a robot, but still…she probably was. But Peter ignored her and her probably right accusations, however silent she was about them, and shrunk his suit around him, slipping out the window and into the fresh evening. It was a really lovely day out in Queens. The sun was setting, and a gentle breeze flowed through the streets. It was perfect walking weather. Which meant the perfect opportunity for crime of all types. Peter didn't need to be out for more than twenty minutes before he spotted some random hipster looking dude grabbing two purses from a pair of friends and sprinting down the street. Sucking in a breath, Peter leapt from roof to roof trying to cut him off at the intersection. He jumped down, shooting a web onto the adjacent building and snapping it so that he landed right next to Beanie Thief. "Excuse me, those don't belong to you."

Quickly, Peter tugged him by the arms, using his foot to put the slightest of pressure on the back of the guy's knees, sending him to the floor. With his free hand, he webbed his feet together, grabbed both purses, and waved at the two girls running towards him with their phones out. He managed to web the guy's hands behind his back in the time it took for the two girls to rush at him, gushing their thanks and tugging him over for a selfie. He flashed them his signature web gesture before yelling a quick, "Nice to meet you, but I gotta go, bye!" before throwing a web up to the roof and lurching upwards.

He got through an hour and a bit or so of more of the same until Karen alerted him to a news alert that send his blood pumping. Not too far away, a hostage situation at a bank was unfolding. The police had already surrounded the building, set with their snipers and lieutenants and negotiators. But there were no eyes on the inside and no information on how many assailants or how many victims. But Peter could get all of that. In the back of his head, he could hear Tony's voice telling him to stand down, to leave it to the professionals. But this was something Spiderman could do. Something he could do to save he didn't know how many innocent lives. If it was too dangerous, he'd escape and give the information to the cops. The other part of him ignored the truth that he wouldn't do that. He could never abandon people who needed him. No matter what the consequences.

With that in mind, he swung around the neighbourhood he loved so much until he could make out the bank in the distance. Quickly, he swung up onto the roof of what he assumed was a corporate block, webbing and leaping across the rooftops to land on the bank roof. He ran to the roof door, not surprised that it was locked but also knowing that locks were irrelevant as he shoved against the door pushing it loose. Quietly, he tiptoed down the stairs, quickly ducking to the floor when he heard footsteps rushing past the fourth floor door with a slim window. The one downside to his plan really, was that everything the police didn't know, he had no clue about either. Which meant that walking in the halls, even if he was on the ceiling or being extra quiet was a huge risk. Which was when his favourite police comedy show came in handy and gave Peter an idea. Or well, half an idea. "Karen, get me the schematics of the bank in terms of vents." He whispered, "I'll crawl around until I can find where they're keeping the hostages."

"Copying the information now Peter."

"Yes! You rock Karen."

Grinning, Peter opened the door slowly, looking both ways to check he was in the clear before locating the giant vent grate a little down the hall. Jumping onto the ceiling, he dipped his finger in between the grate and the ceiling and pulled slightly until he could pry enough off to slip through, closing it behind him. Unlike in tv shows, the vents were smaller than they appeared and grimier, dust and lint stuck to the sides like mold. Feeling his stomach shrink inside him, Peter grit his teeth, his hands curling into fists as he shimmied his way down, instructing Karen to light up the paths he was going down so he wouldn't go the same places twice. But he wasn't in there for two minutes before his senses started to heighten without his control. The walls were too close to him. His elbows hit the sides more than he would like and the ceiling felt stiflingly too close to his head. Everything closing in. But Peter knew he had to do this, had to save the hostages. And yes, his heart beat so loud he could hear it in his brain and yes, sweat accumulated in the palms of his hand and all across his back, but he could do this, he could do this. He was fine.

Honest.

And then the world roared.

Everything rumbled and shook as though the building had come to life and sheer panic overtook Peter's body as he choked, gasping on air that wouldn't enter his lungs. The air conditioning must have restarted because there was a thrumming noise and Peter's teeth clattered while everything screamed around him. A wave of dust flew into his face and Peter let out a strangled scream, knowing the mask was shielding him but that information couldn't process in his brain, the words themselves didn't have any meaning as his heart beat louder, and louder and louder, he was screaming, he was screaming he was sure he was but his hands were clutching desperately at his face, he wanted his mask off he couldn't breathe he couldn't breathe but there was dust everywhere he was going to die he was going to die, he had to get out.

Had to get out had to get out had to-

"Peter. Peter!" a strong voice commanded him back.

Peter blinked, looking around wildly. "Peter! Can you hear me?" the voice called again, frantic this time, worried, strong, strong, so much stronger than he was.

"Mr-Mr. Stark?" Peter's voice shook, heavy with sobs he couldn't let out.

"Peter." Tony sounded so relieved, it hurt. "Peter," he said again, taking back command, "I need you to focus on me okay bud? Just focus on me." Vaguely, Peter could hear the roaring of the vents fade into nothing and the visual feed on his suit dull into something dark and the temperature inside his suit cooled considerably, feeling like a gentle breeze.

"Pete, you're going to be okay. Do you hear me? You're going to be okay. You're fine, everything is fine. I need you to count to ten with me okay? You're going to breathe. Deep breath kid," Peter gulped in air like he was drowning, "That's it! That's it! You're doing great kid, now hold that breath for me, there you go." Tony's voice was soothing, like the rain, or the sun in spring, "Okay now let it out, nice and slow Pete, there you go. Now let's do that again."

"Mr. Stark-"

"Ah ah kiddo. Breathe first, and then we can talk okay? Now again."

They did the same breathing exercise until Peter felt his heart dial down but the overwhelming need to go wouldn't leave him. "Mr. Stark, I can't stay here anymore. I need to get out. Please."

"I'm almost there kiddo. I promise I'm going to get you out okay? I'm almost there." He sounded like he was gritting his teeth, his voice cutting off abruptly as though he muted himself before coming back.

"I don't think I can do this." Peter gasped, feeling panicky and stupid and utterly pathetic.

"You're going to make it through this kid. I know you will. You're braver than anyone I know." And Tony declared it with such a conviction that Peter felt something well up in his throat and he knew that he could never refute him, no matter how little he believed it.

Only a few minutes later, a window shattered, and the rev of the Iron Man suit filtered through his suit and Peter almost cried in relief. A hole punched through in front of him, two gauntlets pulling it apart until it was a perfectly sized gap from which Peter tumbled down from right into Iron Man's waiting grasp. Peter heaved in a breath, his knees buckling as Tony settled him to the ground. Quickly, the mask lifted off Tony's face revealing the wide-eyed worry and twisting lip. "Peter you're okay." he assures, "You're okay, I got you."

"The hostages." he manages to say, pale and shaking.

"Taken care of Pete. Don't worry about that."

"I wanna go Mr. Stark. I wanna go, please." and he knew he sounded like he was begging but he isn't, he isn't.

But Tony didn't say anything, just nodded and scooped him up, leaving from where he came.

"Whatever you need kid."

He flew them up to a random roof and Tony set him down gently, where Peter breathed in the open air and just rocked himself. A few minutes of silence passed before Peter dropped his head into his arms over his knees, his lip pulling in shame. "I'm sorry." his voice haggard and small, "I'm sorry I freaked out over nothing and made you come here to get me like I'm some stupid kid and ruined everything."

"Peter." and Tony's voice didn't waver or shake or betray anything other than a determined conviction. "Did you know that after the Battle of New York I had such severe panic attacks I almost hurt Pepper with a suit unconsciously in my sleep?"

Peter paused in his rocking, not looking up, but not saying anything to make Tony stop either. "I had some crazy bad PTSD, like some next level shit. And, you know, typically, I decided to deal with it by my lonesome like I always do and you know what that got me? A terrorist blowing up my house and being stranded in the middle of nowhere having panic attacks left right and centre."

"They came when I least wanted them to. Always when there was something important I had to do and something I was trying to accomplish. And you know what? It took me an embarrassingly long time to come to this conclusion, but they weren't my fault. And what happened today with you? That wasn't your fault either."

"How can you say that?" Peter burst, finally throwing his face up to look Tony in the eye, tear stains dribbling across his cheeks and his face flushed, "I went in there to save those people and all I ended up doing was causing trouble for you and ruining everything! I was supposed to have this under control! I should have-!" his lip wobbled, and his stare drilled into the floor in shame.

Tony softened, walking over so he sat next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Kid, if people could control their panic attacks, you think anyone would have them?"

"It's so stupid." Peter muttered, "It's so stupid. What happened with the stupid building was so long ago I shouldn't still be thinking about it. I shouldn't be letting it freak me out every time I'm somewhere tight!" he yelled, angry and bitter and feeling like the biggest loser to ever walk the earth.

"Peter, what happened when that building collapsed was traumatic. Anyone would be traumatized! And it's actually on me for not realizing that sooner and getting you the help you need." Tony sighed, twisting so he could face Peter directly.

"Peter, the truth is, our jobs are hard. They're hard and disappointing and sometimes we can't always handle it. That doesn't make us weak. It makes us human. And that is far from a weakness. Especially when all this?" he waved his hand in the air like he was performing a magic trick, "Is all treatable. My issues only got better because I went to go see someone after Pepper harassed me into doing it. I'd never tell her this, but it's the best thing she ever made me do."

He looked like he wanted to make a joke before thinking better of it and pausing. "You did your best Peter. And no matter what happened today or what might happen later, you're a great hero with a great heart. You're exactly what gives me hope for the future."

Peter's eyes glistened before he lurched in Tony's direction, wrapping his arm around his waist with a tight desperation. Surprised, Tony only took a second before slowly wrapping his arms around him as well, rubbing his arm in what he hoped were comforting pats. "You're gonna be okay kid. Trust me."

"You really got better?" Peter mumbled, voice small, "From…from talking to someone."

"Sure did. And you will too." Tony paused in his ministrations, "I won't force you to go Peter, but pushing the problem away isn't going to solve it. In my experience, it'll only make it worse. And since I told you explicitly to not do what I would do, that kind of only leaves you with one option."

"But Mr. Stark, you did go to therapy."

Tony flicked his arm. "That's the better version of me. Obviously I was referring to the worse version of me when I said that."

"Obviously." Peter agreed, a wet laugh escaping him.

Tony sniffed, looking uncomfortable and determined all at once. "And one other thing, before I go throw on some shades and pretend I'm still allergic to emotions again." he took a deep breath, "You didn't make me come get you or bother me or any of that other self-deprecating junk you think sometime- leave that shit to the professionals. I'm here looking out for you kid. That means I'm always invested, I'm always caring and this kinda stuff, this real stuff? I always want you to come to me about it. Always, at any time, anywhere, I don't care. I'm on your side Pete, no matter what. Capiche?"

Peter squeezed him tighter, silent for a moment before a wet, "Thanks Mr. Stark."

They stayed like that, Peter clasping onto him like Tony tethered him to the ground before he broke away, smiling sheepishly. "I want to say sorry but I don't want another lecture."

Tony faked surprise, "It learns!"

Peter rubbed the back of his head shyly, averting his gaze. "Can you uh…send me the info about...what we talked about before? I don't…love the idea or anything but I'm really…I'm really tired of this."

"Sure thing, I'll set it all up." Tony grinned then, his eyes twinkling like the entire scape of stars above them. "It's going to be just fine kid. I guarantee it."

And despite every misgiving and doubt Peter had about himself and his fears, he believed him.

Peter's chilling in his room, a playlist he didn't remember choosing playing softly in his room while he polished off what he thought was a pretty poignant and thoughtful discussion about the use of anachronisms in The Passion before his phone rang. Which was suspicious because he deliberately put his phone on don't disturb. It all made sense though when he saw the caller ID and he rolled his eyes. "Mr. Stark, did you seriously just hack my phone so I'd pick up your call?"

"Do you think I just sit around in my tower all day waiting for you to finish your homework to pass along an extremely important message?"

Peter smirked, "No, I'm sure you fit in some time to getting yelled at by Ms. Potts somewhere in there too."

"Oho, the little spider wants to play does he? But as much as I'd love to destroy you via wordplay, there actually something important I wanted to talk to you about."

Peter sat up straighter in his seat, already looking for his suit. "Is there a mission? Do you need me to come over?"

Tony's voice sounded fond, "Relax Underoos, no supervillains today. It just occurred to me though that you need real fighting training." His voice dropped to a more serious octave, "It's fine if you're just up against an ATM thief or a guy running with a girl's purse. But when you're up against the pros- not that you will be- but it's important to plan ahead and whatever, you need to have an actual strategy. You can't just rely on better reflexes and brute strength."

Peter bit his lip. "I-I appreciate the sentiment Mr. Stark, but I…I'm not trying to actually hurt anyone-"

"Excuse you. I just had a twelve year old-"

"Fifteen."

Tony ignored him, "- A twelve year old bleeding out from a stab wound in my Med Bay. You think that's okay? Why should that kid have to get hurt? If you knew how to defend yourself-"

"Mr. Stark! It's fine!" he interrupted sharply, surprised at himself, but knowing this was one thing he couldn't compromise.

He could hear Tony's breathing on the other end, could picture him pinching his nose in frustration. "Kid, what's the deal?"

"Nothing. I just don't want to kill anyone ok?" he grit out.

"Kill anyone? Who said anything about killing anyone?" and Tony sounds genuinely incredulous.

"If you teach someone how to fight you're teaching them how to get…get rid of someone."

"Peter." and Tony sounded strangled, "I would never ask you to do that. I never want you to do that. All I want is for you to have a better chance of getting out of a bad spot and use the strengths you have better." And his voice was so sure, so certain and sincere that Peter felt his hands unclench from around his chair where his fingers have left a noticeable dent.

"That's the problem." Peter whispered finally, staring at his hand curling and uncurling into a fist, "If I punch someone, they'd die right on impact Mr. Stark and I can't- I can't... I didn't become Spiderman to hurt people, I did it to protect my city."

"Kid," Tony sounded distinctly softer now, like he's disappointed but Peter didn't know in who, "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't control your strength?"

Shame blustered its way across Peter's face and he could literally feel himself shrinking. "It's not that I can't control it. I stopped breaking door knobs ages ago. I just…don't know how strong I am so I don't know how to fight the way I know I could. I don't know. I'm sorry Mr. Stark." he wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for honestly, all he knew was that looking this pathetic was the opposite of how he wanted Tony to see him.

There was a long pause, like Tony was running calculations in his mind. "Ok, tell you what. The next time you come in to make your webs and whatever other shenanigans you get up to in the lab, I'll bring Rhodey over and he'll show you some real self-defense. Nothing aggressive, nothing about attacks. Just…movement stuff okay?"

"I don't know…"

"I promise kid, you don't have to learn anything you don't want to. I'm on your side, no one else's." He was quiet for a few seconds, and then, quieter, "I just can't take any chances."

And that got him. He knew what it felt like, to want to take every precaution to protect someone, to keep them safe. It was how he felt about May.

"Okay." Peter whispered.

Tony sounded relieved. "And don't worry about the strength stuff. You think Cap knew what to do when he went from a twig to a freaking mountain? You'll get the swing of it in no time." and from the lilt of his voice, Peter knew he said it on purpose.

"That's a super lame pun Mr. Stark." He retorted, feeling the hints of a smile creeping up.

"Excuse you, I'm sure your lovely aunt raised you better than that. Is that any way to speak to your elders?"

"So you admit you belong in a home for the elderly?" he joked back, feeling a little better as he spun in his chair and picking up his pencil to start his physics work.

"Snark is not a good look on you kid, leave it to the professionals."

"Ok Mr. Stark, whatever you say." Peter grinned, "I'll see you Tuesday then?"

"Tuesday it is. Later kid."

It was Sunday, and Peter was getting a little nervous for Tuesday. He hadn't ever really met met Colonel Rhodes, other than that brief team up at the airport, but that didn't really count. He was feeling so nervous, that he stood around a little stupidly in his still baggy Spiderman suit debating whether he's too finnicky to go out and patrol when his bedroom door swung wide open and Aunt May just started shrieking.

When he finally managed to get her to bring it down to normal decibels, he was still trying to pretend it was a costume even though he already knew it was futile. "Peter Parker you better not be trying to lie to me right now." May seethed, arms crossed and every part of her aflame.

Peter felt the stress sweat start to kick in and he chuckled nervously, hands raised in a defensive gesture. "Ok, listen May, this really isn't as bad as it looks honest-"

"Tell me how finding out my kid's been parading around town in a onesie for two years fighting crime WITHOUT telling me NOT that bad!"

"What is it with everyone calling my suit a onesie, that's what Mr. Stark said too and it's not a-"

May froze, her face a caricature of that one moment before an explosion, "What did you say?" sounding very, very dangerous.

Suddenly, Peter felt very, very small and very, very afraid. "Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

"You Stark Internship…" May trailed off and then looked horrified and furious all at once, "That BASTARD!"

"Aunt May no!"

But May was not to be deterred, an awesome force to be reckoned with in her own right. She grabbed Peter's phone, demanding his password before scrolling through his contacts and finding the one she was looking for. The phone rang once, twice, then "What's up kid?" Peter could hear whirring in the background and knew he was in the lab.

It was a miracle he picked up the phone then. Everyone knew how much Tony didn't like to be disturbed when he worked.

"How dare you?" May hissed, and Peter heard the whirring stop.

"May?" Tony asked, confused and wary, "What's going on? Is Peter okay?"

"Is Peter okay? Is Peter okay?" she repeated, louder and fiercer, "Tell me how swinging around in New York to fight criminals is okay for a kid to do. Tell me!"

"May I promise you-"

"No. Stop. I don't want to hear whatever excuse you have for dragging Peter into this. He's my kid. My only-" May's anger cracked for a moment and Peter understood her rage for what it really was.

May was terrified, scared and worried and Peter hated himself. Felt his own heart break at seeing hers strain. He loved May more than anything, is grateful to her and appreciated her and would do anything for her and all he was doing was ruining her and he hated himself.

"May." Peter tried to say, but it came out raspy and pathetic.

"May please," he heard Tony say, "I know you're upset, I know it's insane, but believe me, I wasn't letting your kid run around Queens without protection. I've been watching him, every step of the way. And this is more than being Spiderman, it's about dealing with his mutations-" May paled at that, her grip around the phone tightening as her other pressed against her mouth to hold back a sob, "But that's not the- let me just- you need to see, see for yourself." Peter has never heard Tony so ineloquent, never seen the man who could control rooms of reporters and picketers and twist stories to his whims so out of his element.

Something in his voice must have reached May because while she was still fuming, her knuckles white and her lips pursed, she nodded curtly though she knew he couldn't see it. "I'm only agreeing because I want to know everything about Peter and his…changes. But after that, I never want you near me or Peter ever again." She said vehemently.

There was a sharp intake of breath, and Tony sounded more haggard than Peter had ever heard him, "Okay. Okay. I'm on my way."

May hung up before he could say goodbye.

Peter was trembling, his whole body feeling pulled at, the air too thin, his skin burning up in a heat flash. He hated seeing May upset but he couldn't not see Mr. Stark again and he couldn't not be Spiderman anymore, but he couldn't see May like this anymore either, he couldn't. "May," he tried again, trying to swallow his anxiety, "May this isn't Mr. Stark's fault. I was being Spiderman way before he-"

"I don't want to hear it Peter. Stark is an adult, he should've known better."

"But he did! He gave me a real suit so I wasn't just in a sweater and using goggles and he gave me an AI and made the suit practically indestructible and he put a tracker in so he always knows where I am! And he makes sure I stick to small stuff and he started teaching me how to defend myself so I wouldn't get hurt and when I do get hurt he always takes care of me and makes sure I don't push myself and-"

"You are a child Peter!" May yelled, and there were tears in her eyes as she stormed in his direction, "A child! You still do homework and go to school and field trips and children don't need supersuits or trackers and shouldn't be getting hurt fighting bad guys after curfew! I can't believe you would- after Ben-" And like she couldn't stop herself anymore, May fell onto the couch and sobbed, shoulders heaving, head in her hands.

Peter watched helplessly, his stomach sinking to the floor. Of course, Ben. Everything, always, always, came back to Ben. "I can't- I can't lose you Peter. Not you too."

And Peter was running. He threw his arms around his aunt and hugged her as tight as he could without hurting her, his eyes squeezing shut. "I'm sorry Aunt May. I'm sorry." He repeated, over and over until her sobs gave way to small sniffles and stray tears.

Peter pulled away, his own eyes tinged with red. May had shown him her soul, bared her honest truth and Peter knew he owed her the same. "I can't stop being Spiderman May. I can't. I'm Spiderman because of Ben. When you have powers like mine, you can do things. I can save people May and I…I can't choose to do nothing just because it's the safe thing to do. That's not what Ben would've done."

May clenched her eyes shut, her palm pressed against her mouth. "Please May, I would've been Spiderman whether Mr. Stark found me or not. I just would've been doing it without any supervision. But I have to do this. If I don't help protect Queens, who will?"

May looked like she wanted to argue more before a quick rap was heard against the door. Peter looked at her as though to gain permission to go, and May nodded slowly, wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue as Peter got the door. "Hey kid." Tony greeted, looking old and sorry.

"Hi Mr. Stark." Peter replied, trying to smile but coming up with a blank.

Tony wasted no time, walking straight towards May and sitting down next to her, setting a pile of files between them. "I'm sorry I took so long. I had to print most of these out since I keep them on a private server so no one can get to them."

May's brows furrowed. "What are those?"

"All of Peter's files." He pulled the first one up, opening it to reveal several papers filled with medical jargon and charts. "I don't know what Peter's told you about what happened to him-"

"What do you mean what happened to him?" Tony shot Peter an unimpressed look.

"Alright kid, why don't you take it from the beginning."

So Peter retold his run-in with the spider at Oscorp, what the flu really was that one time, and what happened afterwards and how it inspired him to take on the identity of Spiderman. May looked horrified. Clutching at her nephew like she could shield him from the world and whispering "My poor baby" over and over, wishing she could've known, could've been there, could've helped.

"That's where these charts come in." Tony segued, "After the bite, Peter's DNA changed, amplified by the spider so that his senses and physical abilities surged. His senses are significantly enhanced, sometimes so much so that he gets sensory overload where he needs to dull them down to get back to normal. He has Captain America level strength now and also an enhanced healing ability so that most superficial damage heals relatively quickly and even more serious wounds heal quicker. It also made him…well, sticky really. Like an actual spider, he's adhesive to practically anything."

May was silent, trying to process everything before, "Wait, what about that web stuff. Don't tell me you-"

Tony actually cracked a grin at that one, "Don't worry May. That's all synthetic, the kid's a little genius apparently."

May didn't smile back, but looked relieved.

"I did a few tests on him so we could understand his biology and also be prepared for if something bad happens." At May's stare, Tony felt compelled to elaborate, "Not that we think there would be anything, but in case he ever gets sick or needs a surgery, we need to know how his body will react to different procedures." He spread the different sheets around, "I laid all that information out here, you can look through it at your own time, don't worry about dumb medical lingo, I made my head doctor translate it all so I'd get it, so you should be fine too."

He pulled out another file, this one labeled Spiderman, "This one here has all of the suit's capabilities and features. And this-" from his pocket, he revealed a USB, "will give you access to the suit the way I do." he pressed it into her palm, holding onto her hand, "May, I want you to know that I would never put your kid in danger and that I'm always making sure he stays safe when he's in that suit and I'm never more than a call away for either me or my suits to go help. If you plug this into your computer, you'll be able to use the tracker I put in there and access the Baby Monitor protocol," May raised her eyebrows, "Yeah, that's basically exactly what it sounds like."

"Thank you." May finally said, pulling her hand away, staring at the USB like it was something incredibly precious.

"There's one more thing." Tony said, standing up to pace around the living room, "Now that those files are here, I think it'd be a good idea to boost the security in here. I know it'd give Peter more peace of mind, he's always worried about you. I can have this place more rigged than the Pentagon by tomorrow. I even drew up some- shit. I forgot them in my car." he glanced up at Peter, "Hey Pete, would you mind?"

Peter glanced at May and then him, nodding too much as he reached out for Tony's keys. "Sure Mr. Stark, sure. I'll get them right away."

Tony waited until Peter had left before he sighed, going back to sit next to May, elbows on his knees and hands cupped around his face.

"Did you forget those papers on purpose?" May accused.

Tony shrugged, shooting a self-deprecating smile, "You caught me. I just…had something I needed to say." He took a breath, straightening his back and turning towards her, "May…when I met him, Peter was swinging around Queens in glorified pajamas and when I found out he was a kid I was mortified. But then I actually talked to him, and man was he young. Young and passionate and noble and he's everything you'd expect a hero to be, everything a futurist wants to see in the next generation." he looked at her, serious and truthful and sincere, "If I thought that kid was going to stop if I told him to, I would've kept him on the ground. But he's not that kind of kid, and deep down, you know it too. He would never sit a fight out if he thought he could help just one person. If he could save just one thing."

May's lips pulled in a watery smile, "Ben was always trying to teach him lessons like that. Turns out he was a good teacher," her expression crumpled again, "but still, Peter's just a kid. He's just a kid."

"I know. But I swear to you, I won't let anything happen to him. I know you don't think much of me right now, but I would do everything I could to make sure he was safe."

A pause, and then, "And if you're concerned about your safety, there's always a floor for you and Peter at the tower if you want to have a fifty year old roommate." he waggled his brows and May scoffed, pointedly looking away.

"Absolutely not. That's the last thing I need. Peter around more Avengers propaganda." But she looked a little more lighthearted and they both relaxed into their seats just a tiny bit more.

"Just so we're clear, I'm still furious." May declared, shooting him a frown, "But Peter's stubborn and I knew it when he told me that he wasn't going to stop. I just-" she broke away. "I'm glad he has you in his corner." She finally said, "If he's going to do this no matter what, then I'm glad there's someone looking out for him."

After May found out, Peter felt a deep relief he didn't know he'd been holding inside him fall away. It was exhausting, lying all the time, about absolutely everything. Exhausting to hide the reason why he was extra affectionate with his aunt after a hard patrol or why he came home sometimes a little worse for wear. Exhausting to pretend he didn't have nightmares and a phobia of buildings toppling atop of him and flashbacks of villains and being so near death he could taste it. It was a huge relief, a wave of comfort, when he could finally tell her where he went every Tuesday after school.

"May," he started, hesitant and quiet, "I don't actually have extra Decathlon practice after school Tuesdays."

May looked up from her phone, head tilted to the side, "What do you mean honey? Are you trying to tell me you used that as an excuse to patrol?"

Peter shook his head, "No I…I'm…seeing someone. For my um…well Miss. Taylor says its PTSD but well, it's just, you know, nightmares and like, flashbacks…sometimes? About that thing…I told you about before? With Liz's dad and the building, and…yeah." he stumbled, unable to look her in the eyes.

Finally, he looked, to see her wide eyes and trembling lips, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before!" he rushed to say, looking apologetic and frantic, "I just didn't know how to bring it up because you didn't know I was Spiderman yet but then one day Mr. Stark found me when I was having a panic attack and he told me it was normal for heroes to get scared sometimes and offered to find me someone to talk to, because he said it helped him and everything, so I thought it wouldn't hurt even though I was a little scared to do it but, it really helped! And I feel better most days and I just…I just wanted to tell you because I don't want there to be secrets between us and I wanted-" he was interrupted by May tugging him into her arms, cradling him tightly against her.

"Peter, Peter, Peter." she gasped, "I wish you told me sooner, what can I do to help you? When did you start seeing a therapist, and why didn't Tony tell me?"

Peter sniffed, burying his face into her neck, "He wanted me to tell you myself." he answered softly. "And…if you want to listen, I want to tell you."

Later, when the two of them had discussed everything there was to discuss and May had hugged him again and assured him she would be there for him through everything, no matter what, he was reminded of what Tony said and how he felt when he had said those words to him and couldn't help but feel a surge of affection for the two adults in his life. He kissed May on the cheek, wishing her good night before ducking into his room just to hear the faint ring of May's phone, knowing already who would pick up on the other end.

"Hey May, what's popping?" Tony greeted.

Still a little emotional, May's voice was rich with unsaid things, "Nothing really, I just called because…I don't know. I just feel a little overwhelmed, by all this and we're kind of in this together now and," she paused like she was trying to find the words, "PTSD?" she finally got out, voice cracking, "How do I even…"

"He finally told you?" Tony sighed, "It's going to be okay May, he's been doing so much better since he started seeing Andrea. Believe me, just being there for him and being yourself is more than enough. He wanted to tell you but just didn't know how and just you knowing I think, is a huge relief to him. Don't start putting more on yourself. You're doing everything right."

May sniffed looking lost before wiping resolutely at her eyes and pulling her expression into something as collected as she wanted to be. When she spoke, her voice didn't shake. "Can you tell me more about her?"

Peter tried to tune the rest of the conversation out, wanted to give his aunt and Tony some semblance of privacy. But he couldn't help but overhear the tail end of their conversation, if not just because it made him infinitely happy when Tony praised his aunt. Because she deserved the world, for everything she had done and how supportive and loving she was throughout everything.

"He's lucky to have an aunt like you." Tony said, "And if you need anything else, let me know."

"Thanks Tony. I just…I just love that kid to pieces and I want to do right by him you know?"

"Yeah, I know. And I want you to know, I'm on his side, no matter what."

Peter and Tony were working intently in their lab, heads bent in focus, all energy diverted towards precision and accuracy when the crackle of lightening and thunder shattered their bubble of concentration.

"What the heck was that?" Peter's attention was caught in an instant, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

The air rumbled around them again and this time Peter could swear the tower shook. Tony dropped the wrench he was holding, gesturing for Peter to come closer to him. As soon as he was close, Tony grabbed his arm, pushing Peter behind him while he tapped at the arc reactor at his chest to start assembling a suit around him. Despite having been there for the creation of the technology, Peter was still as enthralled as ever by the fluidity of the metal and the smoothness of the design. It was probably Tony's best creation, his perfect masterpiece. But Peter didn't have much time to marvel as Tony turned to him. "Do you have your suit?"

"Uhh, yeah, yeah, I do but it's…" Peter dropped his head, "It's in the common room."

Tony frowned and then just like that, the suit retracted back into the reactor and Tony was ripping it off and sticking it onto Peter's chest instead. Immediately, the metal began to envelop his body and Peter stepped back, staring at the metal engulfing his skin in horror. "Mr. Stark what are you doing!"

"FRIDAY, don't let the suit disengage until I say so." Tony ordered, ignoring Peter's shouting.

"Mr. Stark stop, I don't need this, I can fight without the suit, you-"

"I will be fine." Tony interrupted.

He looked around the lab, finding his wrist gauntlet he'd been fiddling with two weeks ago and slipping it on

Peter panicked, wishing he could find something, anything, to fix this, wishing he brought his suit, wishing there was any other option other than watching Tony go to face a threat they couldn't see with nothing but a repulsor glove. "Please Mr. Stark-" please don't do this.

"Zip it kid. You're the priority right now. You need to get out of here." Tony ran to the door and gestured for him to follow and all Peter can think about is the Siberia video.

About how Tony got left behind and about how he could have died. The fear crushed his organs and he felt a desperate overwhelming urge to shout that he didn't need any of this and that Tony, in his bare humanness, needed the armor more than he ever could. "Mr. Stark, I'm not leaving." He said instead.

Because Mr. Stark promised he was always going to be there, that he was always on his side, and damn it all if Peter wasn't going to do the same.

"This is not a negotiation." Tony stressed, looking like he was flicking through plan after plan in his head and finding each one a failure. "We don't know who or what is here and-"

"Boss, it seems that Thor has returned."

The pure shock on Tony's face was enough to evaporate every speck of tension in the room.

"What." He managed to get out just as a loud roar was heard throughout the tower.

"STARK!"

The relief Peter felt was palpable. Tony's left arm shook as he turned to Peter slowly, looking torn between shell-shocked and hopeful. Like someone who so desperately wanted to be excited yet didn't dare to tempt fate. "That dramatic son of a bitch. He couldn't have just come in through the door like a normal person?" his shoulders slackened, the highly alert posture loosening so that Peter felt comfortable enough to interrupt his musings.

"Umm, Mr. Stark, if it's not a bad guy, can I…can I take the suit off now?"

"What? Yeah. C'mere kid." Tony tapped the reactor again and the suit retracted inwards like it was liquid.

With the reactor back in its rightful spot, Tony looked up at the ceiling, "Send him our way FRI. You know what to do."

"Of course, boss." which was good timing as they could heart Thor shouting again and it sounded like he was getting farther.

"I can't believe he came back." Tony whispered, like he was still in denial, still unable to believe in something he couldn't see for himself, something he couldn't empirically prove.

To Peter though, it sounded achingly sad.

"Of course, he would. He's your team-mate."

Tony looked at him like he was something incredibly precious he couldn't bear to break. And he was. He was. The urge to protect Peter was so innate at that point that giving him his suit happened without a second's thought. Without even a minute's hesitation. In that moment, Tony had barely acknowledged the risks, barely even noticed, but now that the danger was clear, he could feel the panic fading in his chest, the beat of his heart as it struggled to go back to baseline. In the moment, all he had known was that there was no way on this earth or in the entire universe that he was going to let anything happen to Peter. And before, a thought like that, a feeling like that, a certainty, like that would have terrified him. Now though, it felt just as natural as anything.

Peter walked over to him, looking lost and unsure, like a giant weight had just been thrusted upon him and he stumbled with the responsibility of it. He looked like he wanted to say something before he was interrupted by the door swinging open and a god striding in.

Holy shit.

Peter always knew Thor was big, big and muscly and criminally good looking, but wow. And when Thor smiled, it was like the first ray of sun after a storm. "Anthony!" he boomed, taking three giant strides towards him and clapping him on the back.

"Hey Point Break, nice of you to storm in." Tony said dryly, his arms lifting to hug him back.

He stepped back, giving his friend a once-over. Tony tapped his own eye, "New?"

Thor smiled, something mournful. "A lot has happened since we last met. I have many things to tell you and the other Avengers."

He looked like he wanted to say more before an exasperated shout was heard down the hall, "Thor! Where did you go? You can't just abandon me whenever it's convenient to you!"

Tony's eyes widened as he rushed to the door to stand out in the hall. "Bruce?" and he sounded like he didn't dare dream it.

At the end of the hall, Bruce stopped still, looking like he had finally come home and yet was plunged into a whole new world all at once. Shyly, he waved his hand in the air. "Hey Tony. How ya doin'?"

"Bruce? Oh my God, Bruce! Where have you been?" Tony's face split into a careless grin as he met his friend halfway and pulled him in for a tight hug.

"It's kind of a long story." Bruce chuckled, hand rifling through his hair.

"We have been through quite the journey." Thor agreed, his voice booming inside the lab, "Where are the rest so that we may convene?" he looked around, eyes falling on Peter in a vague curiosity.

In an instant, it looked like ten years of his life drained off Tony's face as he sighed, offering a self-deprecating quirk of the lip, "A lots happened here too Goldie Locks." he glanced at Peter, "This is Peter by the way. He's my intern."

Peter stumbled forward, lost in the haze that came with meeting heroes. He held out his hand and he swore it didn't shake. "N-nice to meet you Mr. Thor, sir, I'm Peter Parker."

Thor shook his hand and seems surprised, "You have a strong grip young Parker. Impressive."

Peter really thought he could just die right then. "Ohmygod thank you Mr. Thor, wow. Thor said I was strong, did you hear that Mr. Stark?" he rambled.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Go on kid, you look like you're possessed by One Direction fangirls."

Peter's grin exploded onto his face as he hopped towards Bruce. "Dr. Banner, we had to read some of your papers for our physics class and your work is absolutely incredible. You literally redefined a whole field? It's so cool to finally meet you."

Bruce smiled, soft and bashful. "Thanks Peter. It's always nice to meet a fan." He then turned to Thor and scrunched his nose, "Told you Dr. Banner was cool too."

Thor just scoffed.

Peter still had stars in his eyes when Tony came up to him and clapped him on the back, "Alright kid, it's time for you to go back to your hot aunt. The adults have business to get to."

"Aw come on Mr. Stark, I want to hear all about Mr. Thor and Dr. Banner's cool space adventure too. I promise I won't say anything, you won't even know I'm there!" his arms gesticulated to emphasize his point and he looked so ridiculously keen eyed and bushy tailed that Tony wanted to toss him in a wood with talking animals and choregraphed musical numbers.

Thor, having had his ego sufficiently boosted, looked quite pleased with himself. "They were indeed, super cool space adventures, and I would be honored to have you listen to them. Anthony?"

Tony scowled, looking between the two of them, arms crossed before throwing his hands in the air. "Fine! But if you're traumatized, it's your own fault!"

Peter cheered, "Thanks Mr. Stark!"

Later, when they're settled on the couches of the common room, Thor relayed the story of his father, his sister, and the redemption of his brother. Bruce tried to convey his time as the Hulk fighting in the arena and his role in Thor's family drama but the two ended up bickering more often than not, but it was lighthearted and full of fondness. It made Tony's heart ache as he remembered a different time with old faces.

When the story was done, Thor looked uncomfortable for a second before gathering his resolve. "Anthony, I came to Earth after the destruction of our home because I did not know where else to go. I have come asking for an immense favor to which I might not ever be able to repay. But as the King of Asgard it is my duty to look out for my people."

Tony shrugged, leaning back into his seat comfortably. "You want us to take in your refugees, right?"

Thor blinked. "Yes. Exactly."

But Tony wasn't paying attention anymore, fiddling with his tablet instead as he hummed in concentration. Thor caught Peter's eye from across the room and he shrugged, not knowing what Tony was doing either until the tablet screened darkened and Tony stood up suddenly. "Okay, we'll take them. I just had to double check the tower's capacity, but we should be good. Might be a little tight, but we'll make it work. Send me the location of your ship, I'll send some buses to bring everyone here. We'll do it a couple cartloads at a time, don't want to overwhelm the system or anything. Do you guys have stuff, or do we need to stop by an Ikea?"

At the three's stunned silence, Tony tapped his foot. "Excuse me? Earth to alien, I realize this isn't the ideal situation, but until we can get everyone repatriated somewhere, maybe Norway, aren't you guys like, their mythical deities or something, you'd think it'd be their pleasure, you guys can stay here. It's not like this tower isn't empty as shit or anything."

Peter gaped. But it was Thor who appeared so overwhelmed he looked like a mountain who could crumble into dust. "I came asking for assistance, but this is more than I hoped for. I could not-"

"You can." Tony announced, effectively ending the discussion.

"We'll need to redecorate a bit and some parts of the tower are going to be off-limits, but I think this can work. And you and Bruce can have your old rooms back." He walked over to his friend, gripping his arm tightly and dropped his devil may care tone, "I'm sorry about what happened Thor. No one should lose their home. But I hope this can be your new one."

Thor's eyes swirled with galaxies of thanks, his expression raw. "Thank you, Anthony. For all the people of Asgard, thank you."

Peter was so proud of him and happy for Thor he practically tripped over his feet when Tony asked him to make a list of all the empty rooms in the tower. "Kid, don't feel obligated to help but if you could-"

But Peter knew that there was no one else to ask but him, that everyone who could help had left, and even if they hadn't, there was no way he wouldn't help all the same. "- Are you kidding, of course I'll help. After everything they've been through it's the least I can do."

It was all over the news just a week later and Peter couldn't go anywhere without seeing a different headline about New York accepting Asgardian refugees and if there was even a policy on alien migration. Most people though said policy didn't really matter if it wasn't state funding that was supporting them but mostly, people just argued to argue. When he told May, she was so shocked she almost dropped her one-pan chicken veggie dish. She looked rumpled a little bit, and quietly finished up dinner prep while Peter watched the news from his perch on the couch, functions book forgotten. Later, after the dishes were done and the table wiped, he heard May dial Tony up on the phone and though he knew he shouldn't listen, he couldn't really help it, what with the super hearing and all.

"Hey Tony."

More muffled, but still audible, "May? Are you okay?" a beat, "The kid-?"

May was quick to assuage his worries, "No, no we're fine. Peter just told me about you giving up our rooms to Thor's Asgardians." She says the last word like it's foreign, something she never thought she'd have to curve her lips around.

"Oh sure, you always want whatcha can't have right?" Tony laughed referring to her declining his offer to stay in the tower, sounding relieved the sky hadn't fallen.

"I think what you're doing is great." May blurted out, a little surprised at herself.

"You called just to say that?" It hurt Peter a little, how genuinely surprised he sounded.

"Well from the sound of it, no one else has." It was a blunt statement, one that was nonetheless true, but still.

"May, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you're trying to pick me up." he teased.

Peter didn't have to see to know May was rolling her eyes, but in the playful way he was sure. "Don't get too cocky Stark. I just think credit where credit's due."

"I'm not doing it for the credit."

May's voice softened, "Yeah. That's why you're getting it."

There was a comfortable silence before she perked up, "By the way, could you explain something to me in Peter's file? I didn't quite understand the jargon."

Peter tuned them out at this point, everything Tony knew about him and the suit he already knew first. But he couldn't help but notice that May and Tony talked for way longer than a simple follow-up question should take and that science wasn't nearly that entertaining for May to keep laughing like that. Bent over his homework, Peter couldn't help but feel glad that the two were becoming friends. Or at least getting along. It made him feel secure, like having a tighter net to fall in. When May clicked off the phone, she knocked on Peter's door, walking in to run her fingers through his hair. "You doing okay bud?"

"Yup! Just finished all my work, I'm thinking about going on patrol."

Her fingers didn't stop combing through his hair, but they slowed down, like she was trying to memorize the lean of every strand. She took a breath. "Ok Peter. Be safe, be careful, and be back before one okay?"

"I still can't believe you coordinated a curfew with Mr. Stark. That's so unfair." he complained, but he couldn't help the smile anyway.

"I'm sorry that the need for sleep and achieving a high school degree is getting in the way of you saving Queens from atrocity." she drawled, squeezing his cheek just because she could.

"Don't worry May, I'm a natural multi-tasker."

"Okay Spiderkid," she said, having taken an immediate liking to the nickname when Tony first said it, "whatever you say. Oh," she paused at his door, "I invited Tony over for dinner tomorrow so come straight after Decathlon practice okay?"

"You did? Really?"

May shrugged, "With everything going on, he sounded like he could use a break."

"Yeah Mr. Stark never knows when to stop. That's what Colonel Rhodes says." Peter looked at his homework, twirling around his pencil, "I wish he took care of himself half as well as he takes care of everyone else." he said quietly.

Peter looked up at his aunt, earnest and bright eyed. "He's done so much for me May, I just wish he knew how much I appreciate it."

Heart clenching, May gathered him in her arms, pressing a kiss onto his forehead, "Oh sweetie, I'm sure he knows. I'm sure he knows."

Peter was at lunch, sitting at his usual table with MJ and Ned when his phone rang, startling him from his intense debate over the objective superiority of Star Wars versus Star Trek. "Mr. Stark!"

"Hey kid," his mentor greeted smoothly, "If you're free, come by the tower after school. Already cleared it with May, she's actually coming over for coffee apparently, I don't know how she manipulated me into that, but here we are."

Peter snickered, "May's persuasive like that. What's happening at the tower?"

Tony seemed to perk up from the happy lilt his voice took, "Since the Asgardians moved here, Bruce's back and I figured your nerd butt would be dying to get a chance to geek out with the Hulk himself."

Peter almost fell off the bench, "Holyfreakingshit are you serious? I get to do science with Dr. Banner?" to say Peter was frothing at the mouth would be an understatement.

Tony chuckled, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're replacing me with Bruce as your favourite avenger."

"Mr. Stark, Thor's always been my favourite you know that." Peter replied with zero hesitation, laughing at Tony's mock howl of hurt.

"Keep it up Spiderling and I'll see how you like it if I adopt some other crime fighting teen."

"You wouldn't." Peter teased, "You'd miss me too much."

"Ehh, I'll get over it." Tony replied and Peter could still hear the smile in his voice, "So after school?"

"Yeah, sure thing Mr. Stark, see ya!"

Ned gaped at him, jaw halfway to the floor, "Did Tony Stark just invite you to work on a science project with the Bruce Banner?"

Peter grinned, laughing as Ned pretended to faint, "Holy crap dude your life is so awesome."

"Don't worry, I'll send you snaps." Peter assured.

"Can you get Dr. Banner to say hi to me? That'd be so cool!"

Peter promised to try his best and four and half hours later, when Ned saw the snapchat icon light up on his phone, he couldn't help his squeal as the Hulk himself gave him a wave and a quick hello.

The thing with being Tony Stark is that he had the (mis)fortune of always being in the wrong place at the right time. Meaning, he just wanted a quiet day at the Parker residence to get all of May's work gossip (he just really needed to know if Eduardo ever found out that Cassidy was cheating on him with the grocer and if she knew that Eduardo had a secret daughter), but instead, he got a gang turf war six blocks down. Which, you know, typically wasn't up Iron Man's alley, except for the fact that they had some of the Vulture's leftover tech, the stuff that had been sold way before Spiderman caught on and the feds hadn't collected yet. So, you know, great.

Peter was ecstatic, "Ohmygod I get to take down criminals with Iron Man, oh mygod, May!"

May rolled her eyes, "Haven't you gotten over the hero worship yet? You've seen him cry during Finding Nemo."

"It's not hero worship! I'm over Tony Stark but Iron Man is still awesome!"

"Hey! That was a very emotional movie!" Tony defended, already tapping at his suit so the nanotech spread across his body. "And hey brat I gave a multimillion dollar suit to! Tony Stark is just as cool as Iron Man!"

Peter shrugged.

May licked her lips, "Ok I forgive you for the admiration Petey, I've seen that suit come on a thousand times and it's still just as attractive."

Tony waggled his eyebrows, "You know May, if you're trying to hit on me we can just cut to the chase."

"Definitely was hitting on the suit, not you Goatee."

"Hey, the goatee's sexy."

"Sure Tony."

"Ok, that's it. We're out. Underoos, let's jet. May, we'll be back in thirty, maybe less. Don't eat all the popcorn."

"Sure Tony. Whatever you say Tony." she replied through stuffing two handfuls in her mouth.

"Be safe Peter! I love you!"

"Love you too May!" Peter called back cheerily, running to the roof where he could change into his suit with some privacy before bounding off.

The pair arrived at the site of the fight a few minutes later, watching as one side utterly demolished the other. Their key player? A guy with a gun fitted with a pulsing blue stone in the middle that shot out similarly coloured lasers. "That's not great." Peter remarked, trying to look for entry points that wouldn't get him shot.

It didn't seem to matter though, because a viewer from their apartment window eleven floors up stuck their body out of the window and yelled, "Hey! It's Iron Man and Spiderman! Eat that shit heads!"

Tony dropped his face into his hand and sighed so aggressively Peter almost had to laugh. "New Yorkers!" he cursed just as the criminals from down below looked up and immediately started shooting.

As they said, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. So in a way, Peter thought, them being there was good because it made the gangs stop fighting? Because they needed to kick the bigger enemy's ass? So, all in a good day's work right!

Tony flew down, the regular bullets just ricocheting of his armor. "Pete, I'm going to go after the alien tech, you focus on webbing up the dumb and dumbers over there okay." He paused and said, "I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but knowing you, I will. Don't get shot."

Peter frowned as he flipped over a bunch of guys accessorised in the same shade of navy blue. "I don't intentionally get hurt you know."

"Yeah? Tell that to my heart condition. Which, you know, you constantly exacerbate."

"Rude."

The guy with the actually dangerous weapon yelled manically, "Stay away from me you metal freak! One step closer and I shoot your fucking face off!"

"Calm down short-stack, we all know you're just overcompensating." Tony quipped, feeling tired of him already.

The man shrieked again before pressing and holding down the trigger so that a wave of energy burst through. "FRIDAY, shield."

A rectangular sheet of metal appeared in front of him before curving into a more concave shape so that the beam launched right into the sky. The man swallowed before shooting again but Tony kept charging at him before a blur whizzed past his vision. Peter had attached a web to the adjacent wall just past the guy's head and he launched forward, grabbing the guy's attention. And the gun's. The beam swung towards Peter's direction and Tony felt the panic swell inside of him until he was filled with a frenzied energy that sent him sprinting in his kid's direction, screaming his name and throwing himself in front of him. He tried to maneuver the shield to bounce the ray back at the attacker, but his timing must've been off because the laser grazed the shield but singed his right glove so that it fizzled.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter yelled, sounding worried but Tony shook his head, gesturing for him to carry on.

"Kid, the gun!"

Tony launched into the sky, using his repulsors to keep the guy distracted while Peter worked out a way to grab the gun from his hand. The problem though, was that his balance was ridiculously impeded by the glitching of his repulsor stabilizer and the miniscule delays led him to get hit in the foot with the gun and send him careening back to the ground. Peter cried out, webbing the back of the guy so that he could pull him straight towards him, one arm around his collar the other squeezing his wrist until the gun clattered the floor. Breaths coming in quick, Peter webbed him to the wall and ran to where Tony was struggling to control his fall just before his repulsor finally gave out and he crashed right into Peter's open arms. "Gotcha Mr. Stark!"

Tony looked at him before giving a tired, "Oh my god." And promptly letting his head fall back in defeat.

From the eleventh floor window, the same guy cheered, "You go Spiderman! Whooo!" just as the line up of cop cars arrived at the scene, sirens blaring alongside the clamoring of the news reporter vans pulling up alongside them.

Tony opened up his faceplate, watching it disappear before stepping back to the ground with as much dignity as he could muster. He patted Peter on the back, "Good work kid."

But Peter had a shit-eating grin on his face and he couldn't help but clutch his hands to his heart and do a little spin, "Mr. Stark, you were like a princess. And I was the prince. And I just saved Iron Man holy crap. But like, I saved you like you were a damsel in distress. Do you feel distressed Mr. Stark? Should I catch you again?"

Tony groaned, rubbing his forehead, "I can't do this with you kid. Stop. Please, lord, make him stop."

Peter cackled and then waved at the journalists who were pressed against the yellow security tape, microphones thrusted outwards and cameras rolling behind them. Tony fired up his one thruster and hopped somewhat gracefully over to the crowd, "Keep your applause people of New York, the bad guys are all webbed up over there, New York's finest," he gestured to the waiting policemen, "Your arrests await."

A reporter waved at him, "Mr. Stark! Is it because of your involvement with Spiderman that Queens has seen a record low in violent crime?"

Tony smiled, and the only way the reporter could describe his expression was proud. "A record low?" Tony whistled, "I wish I could take the credit but that's all on Spiderman. New York has a bright future ahead of it with Spiderman on its side I can tell you that. He's gonna be the best hero of us all. So you should really get on his team already, I sure know I am."

Peter thought he could almost burst as Tony beckoned him over and the two answered questions together. "Spiderman! After spotting the two of you together the past few months, is it safe to say that you two have partnered? Will you be becoming an Avenger to replace the Rogues?"

"I don't know about partnered yet. I'm still learning and Mr. Stark has been a great teacher. He's my superhero mentor! And as for the Avengers…I don't know yet. I'm just going to keep doing my best in Queens for now."

Tony clapped him on the shoulder, giving him a light squeeze. "I think that's all we have time for folks. Don't post my bad side!"

Later, when they were heading back to the apartment, Peter finally had the courage to muster out, "Did you really mean what you said? About me becoming the best superhero?"

"Becoming?" Tony replied without even hesitating, "Kid you already are." He said incredulously.

And Tony felt so strongly in his words, believed them to be true so fundamentally that he didn't even bother to explain. Peter's face burned up as he pulled at his suit, robbed of words. Tony's faith in him staggered him, but it also inspired him and made him want to be better than he was and better than even Tony thought he could be in order to make those words true.

"Thanks Mr. Stark." He finally said, feeling like all the gratitude he could say could never express the extent to what he felt.

He'd come a long way from the little kid clutching at his Iron Man figurine as he watched his hero plunge a nuke into a wormhole to save the city, petrified and anxious. He'd grown to realize that all heroes were just people at the end of the day, they were weak sometimes and made mistakes and were so far from perfect. But despite that, Peter had never stopped thinking Iron Man was the best. Never doubted that he would save the day, that when it came down to it, no matter how dire it looked, Tony Stark would find a way. Because before he was a superhero, he was a mechanic. He fixed things. Put them back together. Always, without fail.

So, Peter would try. He would try to be as good as the hero he always thought Tony was, even though Tony never thought that of himself. "And also," he said before he could stop himself, "Even though you told me to be better, I still think you're the best. You're my hero, even if you weren't Iron Man."

Tony faltered in his gait, turning his head to hide his expression. "You can't just say things like that kid, you're going to give me a heart attack. You know I can't do feelings." He mumbled, as though he wasn't feeling like he was on top of the whole goddamn world.

"So you missed some developmental milestones," Peter teased, "won't stop me from saying what I want. Sorry Mr. Stark, I don't make the rules."

"You're right. I do. Now go to bed." Tony complained, but he didn't look annoyed, just gruff and fond, as he tugged him in with an arm slugged around his shoulder.

"It's only eight Mr. Stark."

"So? You're eight."

"You know I'm sixteen."

"Yeah, I distinctly remember throwing you a party. A super dorky party."

"You're a dork too!"

"Yeah, but not for Star Wars."

"Don't say Star Wars like that! Take it back!"

"Make me. Oh wait you can't. Because you're eight."

"Mr. Stark!"

Tony clapped his hands together, looking giddy and wearing that same expression he always wore when he was about to reveal some grand gesture that made every act of affection Peter had ever shown him look ridiculously insignificant in comparison. "Mr. Stark, why do you look so weird?" he asked warily, already ready to bolt out the door.

"Peter," Tony declared, like his name was the beginning of some great proclamation, "welcome to summer!" he threw his arms out in a grand gesture, "As a congratulatory gift for finishing tenth grade, oh God I always forget how goddamn squirty you are, I'm offering you an actual position as a Stark Industries intern effective immediately. You'll be my personal R&D intern, but occasionally, I'm going to have to throw you in the lab with Bruce or push you to the actual department because you know, meetings and Avengers and adult stuff and whatnot." He finished quickly, as though all those things were immensely inconsequential.

Peter's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? Like for real? I'll get to work on the renewable energy projects? Or the biomed ones? Or," he gasped, "the Avengers stuff?!" he freaked, practically bouncing in excitement.

Tony shrugged, "You're technically our first intern, so I don't really know how any of this goes. But Pepper, have you met Pepper yet? She'll draft up something great. Maybe we should have an actual internship program? Do you want more nerd friends or are one and a half enough?" he pushed his shades down to make sure Peter saw his entire teasing face.

"What do you mean one and a half? Ned is a full person."

"I wasn't talking about him. He's full nerd, but the other one? That girl you have a crush on but won't admit you have a crush on? She's only half nerd. I have a strong suspicion she's actually much cooler than both of you combined."

"I don't have a crush on her!" he squeaked, "And of course she's cool! She's the coolest person I know! And I'm including you on that list!" he said adamantly, pointing at him like it was intimidating.

Tony laughed. "Cruuushhhh." he sang, unable to keep himself from laughing as Peter squawked indignantly.

But feeling like he should be the adult, Tony straightened, pulling out another pair of sunglasses from his pocket and shoving them onto Peter's face. He quickly mussed the kid's hair up, making it stand up more in the front like his did and satisfied, took a step back and grinned rakishly. "See look at that, you're gearing up to take over this place like it's nothing."

Peter blushed, ducking his head so Tony wouldn't see how pleased the whole gesture made him and boost his already overly boosted ego. "Oh hush." he muttered instead.

It was later, when he was already an intern for a week or so, that he realized that on Tony's plate was a lot more than he imagined and that all the time he ever took out of his day to be with him or talk to him or even just check up on him was time Tony had to carve out with deliberate purpose. The knowledge made him swell with affection, feeling a little overwhelmed at how well Tony could sometimes hide how much he cared, with snark and sarcasm and sharp words, but how his actions revealed a complicated patchwork of emotions that if anyone cared to examine, would reveal everything they needed to know.

And just like when he first watched that video, the video that changed everything, Peter resolved to care back just as loud.

The negotiations with the Rogues were going worse than expected, the issue being more terrible than it should've been considering it was a giant global secret. It had to be, because what Thor, Bruce, and Loki had told him was unreal, unfathomable, and utterly terrifying that it would send the whole world into a panic. Considering all that, you'd think the Rogues would give him a break. Just for a little. It wasn't like Tony didn't know they wouldn't budge about the Bucky thing, the problem was that they refused to believe that the justice system could be trusted to put him on trial and acquit him for not being of sound mind and body. He couldn't just let Barnes go no matter what he thought about the matter, Tony wasn't the goddamn United Nations or even the US government. He was just a man. A man trying his goddamn fucking best and no one seemed to realize that he couldn't just snap his fingers and have everything go back to the way it was.

So he avoided. He did what he did best and locked himself in his workshop and decided he was going to create a missile defense system that could annihilate alien ships before they even entered earth's orbit and thought he could accomplish it all in his relatively small tower lab and infinite cups of coffee. The grease stains accumulated across his waist where he wiped his hands and at his chest where he unconsciously rubbed his reactor scar every so often. He smelled like sweat and regret and every swing of his hammer on the hot metal was a second where he could forget about Steve and the Accords and the way Clint looked at him like he was the devil. He scrawled out equations onto scraps of paper and his hand cramped and his body ached but he pushed himself and he pushed himself until his body couldn't deal with murdering itself past hour 63 and he felt himself lose consciousness over his workbench, his last thought just, thank God.

On the other side of the city, Peter was sitting on a rooftop, just letting his legs swing. It was twelve-twenty-three in the morning and he had to be home by one-thirty but it seemed to be a quiet night and Karen would inform him if the cop scanner went off, so he thought he would just text Mr. Stark to see if he wanted to grab something to eat. "Karen text Mr. Stark hey! Wanna get burgers? With two burger emojis and two fries emojis. Thanks!"

"Sure Peter, text message sent."

He waited for the reply, which was usually immediate since Tony was always up at night and always answered texts from the suit in case it was important. But burgers counted as important because they were the all-American meal and comfort food the extreme. Tony had never turned Peter down for late night gluttony if he was in town. But his feed remained silent and so Peter sent three more follow up texts, never having been one to fear double texting, but after thirty-five minutes of radio silence, Peter felt a niggle of worry burrow its way through his stomach and started swinging towards the tower without even thinking about it. He would just pop in to see if Tony was okay. It was just odd was all, him not responding. And sure, he could've been asleep, but Peter had literally never known him to be asleep at a reasonable hour in his life.

He walked inside the building, waiting to get onto the elevator to talk to FRIDAY. "Hey FRI, Is Mr. Stark here?"

"Boss is currently in the lab and he appears to be asleep." The AI replied helpfully.

Peter frowned, why was he asleep in the lab? That didn't seem comfortable at all. FRIDAY let him off where the lab was and gave him clearance after Peter argued that he was there for Tony's wellbeing and wasn't that the point of having an AI? The doors slid open to reveal Tony sprawled on the desk looking to be in a death like sleep, one that was desperately needed, if the shadows under his eyes and the paleness of his face was any indication. The lab was a mess, blueprints scattered everywhere like garbage, half finished products strewn about, and Tony himself, looking dirty and small right in the middle.

It made Peter incredibly sad. And for the millionth time he wished Tony cared about himself half as much as he cared about everyone in his life. Just a quarter as much as he cared about Peter. He would never let Peter waste away like this, burning himself down to ash to run away from his thoughts. He would never let Peter starve himself because he couldn't be bothered to take care of his body from how hard his mind was trying to strangle him. It hurt him to see his mentor like that, alone and lonely. The feeling of ineptitude weighed down on him before he narrowed his eyes, determined to show Tony that even if he didn't love himself, Peter would love him enough until he could.

The common room was only down the hall and so gently, Peter pulled Tony up and lay him down fully on the bench he was sitting on before picking up the entire bench and hauling it out of the lab. He carried Tony towards the couch and as softly as he could, maneuvered him until he was lying comfortably on it, throwing a blanket over him and a pillow beneath his head. "FRIDAY," Peter whispered, "dim the lights please."

The lights dulled around them and Peter glanced down to make sure Tony looked comfortable before making his way to the kitchen. He spent the next ten minutes or so making a turkey sandwich stuffed with the appropriate vegetables, a bowl of fruit, a granola bar, and a giant bottle of water to compensate for the coffee dehydration. He put them all on a tray, covering it so it wouldn't spoil, and set them on the coffee table. Hands at his hips, Peter looked around. "I think that's all…" he pursed his lips, assessing more before jumping, "Oh yeah!"

He ran back to the lab, finding a spare piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something quickly, stuffed it between the sandwich and the fruit and then bounded off back to the elevator. "FRIDAY, can you make sure nothing wakes him up unless it's really really important? Like end of the world important?"

"I'll do my best Peter. Thank you for taking care of the boss."

Peter saluted and wished FRIDAY goodnight.

Fourteen hours later, Tony awoke with a groan, rubbing his eyes before shooting up with a start. "Where the-"

He looked around to see the common room, a blanket tangled between his legs, and a tray of food next to him. Blinking, Tony looked around, certain that he was pulling another bender in the lab. "FRI?" he called, dragging out the name.

"Yes boss?"

"What the hell happened?"

"Mr. Parker found you last night in your lab and moved you here. I believe he left you a note."

Tony sat up properly, "Peter…?" he reached out, grabbing the note and then feeling his whole entire heart clench.

Hey Mr. Stark!

So I made you some dinner (or would it be breakfast for you?) so you should just go ahead and eat it all because I'm pretty sure you haven't been eating properly since there's just candy bar wrappers and I think blueberries? All over the lab. You're always going off on me to eat healthy so I'm just practicing what you preach : )

You're invited over to our place today by the way, you can come whenever you want after six because that's when May comes home and I have Decathlon practice until around then too, but you already knew that, so come okay! I feel like you should be with your family right now and not by yourself.

Ok well that's all I really had to say so I'm expecting you at the Parker residence at 6 o'clock, so be there or be square. Or date squared. Don't think I'm above force feeding you May's baking (I'm not).

See you tonight Mr. Stark!

Pete

Tony didn't know if it was because he'd been called part of the family or the fact that Peter had done all this or that he even wrote a note at all, but the emotions rose inside his chest until he felt he'd implode. What did he do to deserve that kid? What did he do right that the universe would offer Peter as a path to redemption? He didn't deserve him. He didn't. But if that kid, that kid with the strong ideals and big eyes and bigger heart thought that he had something worth salvaging, something worth loving inside of him, then he would be damned if he didn't try to see that part too. Try and be the man Peter thought he was. Because they were on each other's side. No matter what.

Peter heard it on the news first. CNN was turned on, mostly as background noise and for traffic updates as him and May got ready for their long days ahead. A pretty anchorwoman with wonderfully curly hair looked slightly disapproving as she read from the teleprompter. "In today's news, we recently received a tip that the popularly coined 'Rogue Avengers' are currently in negotiation with top officials from the United States government in Switzerland to reform the Sokovia Accords. Spearheading the efforts is New York's very own Tony Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man, and Colonel James Rhodes, or Iron Patriot. The two heroes, along with the Vision, Thor, and Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, are the only members of the Avengers on the right side of the law and have been working alongside government officials to bring the Rogues back out from hiding."

She seemed to veer off script though as her next words came out with more force, "It seems to me though, that the negotiations are ignoring the very real, and very impactful criminal acts the Rogues had committed in order to attain their fugitive status." Her time must've been up, because the disapproval melted away instantly for a sweet smile, "We'll give you all the updates exclusively on CNN as they come. Stay tuned for more, and now, the weather."

Peter gaped at the screen, look positively struck as he turned to May who looked similarly confused. "What the hell?" he blurted out, "Mr. Stark's helping to bring them back?! Here?"

"Maybe they worked out whatever issues they had before honey."

"What? No way. There's no way." Peter shook his head, unrelenting. "You didn't…you didn't see May…what Captain Rogers did to him…what he kept from him. And even if he didn't do those things, he still abandoned Mr. Stark in a broken suit all the way in the middle of Siberia! In the snow! Alone!" Peter looked fierce, fierce and sad and utterly confused.

May put her hands on his shoulders, "I don't know Peter. But I'm sure Tony's going to be fine. He's got Spiderman watching his back." she grinned, poking him on the nose, "Have a little faith in him alright?"

Peter stared at her, lips pulled in a grim line, but nodded after a pause.

Having a little faith though, didn't mean he couldn't barge into the tower unannounced after school and just ask Tony himself. Peter found him where he expected to find him, sitting in the common room staring at the tv wondering who the hell leaked the news. When FRIDAY announced Peter's presence, Tony didn't even look up from where he hunched over his tablet as different news footage segments played on the big screen in front of him. He looked tired, haggard even. Dark blotches underneath his eyes, his fingers rubbing at his temples almost compulsively and his tie loosened around his neck carelessly.

"Hey Pete." he greeted, but his voice echoed hollow.

Peter stopped just outside the elevator. His eyes crinkling at the sight of his mentor looking like the world had just sucker punched him. He could feel his expression crumpling and all the big and loud emotions that had inflated him disappearing. All the yelling or accusing he thought he wanted to do fell away. As it was, he could barely whisper. "Why are you helping them come back?"

His question echoed in the silence.

Tony heaved in a breath before dropping his hand to his side and turning to look at him. He forced a smile on his face, his lips curling, his cheeks pushed upwards trying to soften the look in his eyes, but he just looked even more tired than before and like the worst liar Peter had ever seen. "The world needs superheroes Peter. Something's coming. For years, I didn't have a name but finally…Thanos is coming Peter. And when he does, we're going to need everyone we can get on our team."

Peter frowned, "There are other heroes, better heroes who actually care about their friends and about saving people." Tony flinched, and guilt pricked at him before he decided he had to keep going, "People who'd love to be on your team. Who wouldn't want to be an Avenger?"

But if Tony was a master in anything, he was a master in deflecting, so his twitched his smile into a smirk and quipped, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't."

And Peter's brows furrowed, and his fists clenched so tightly at his sides he was sure his palms would bleed, "Mr. Stark they don't deserve your help! They don't deserve anything from you!" the strength of his outburst caught up with him then, because he backtracked suddenly, "Well I don't know about the others, because it's fair to have doubts about the Accords but fighting wasn't the right solution and they didn't even try to compromise or sit down and amend it but-but that's not the point!" he yelled, his frustration getting the better of him, "Maybe the others deserve a second shot, Hawkeye and Black Widow and that giant, tiny guy, but, but," his lip trembled, "you shouldn't bring back Captain Rogers. He shouldn't be allowed back here." his voice lowered until it was almost a whisper, "Not after what he did."

Tony stared at him wide eyed before his brows narrowed, "What do you mean after what he did?" his voice dangerously inquisitive.

Peter's heart pounded in his chest. "I saw the bruises on your face Mr. Stark." he said quietly, hoping he would buy the lie, "I know that you and Captain America went to Siberia but only you came back. And you came back hurt."

But Tony was shaking his head, "You know."

And it was a statement even more so than an accusation and when Peter tried to deny it, Tony just closed his eyes and let his head fall onto the couch, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "I seriously need to up the security around here."

Tony opened his eyes, keeping his fingers splayed across his face. "That wasn't my best moment kid. I could've done everything better." he sighed again, sliding forward so his head was in his hands, "I could've…If I had just kept my cool, this whole clusterfuck would've probably been avoided. It was just…the wrong place and the wrong time and-"

Peter's jaw dropped. "Mr. Stark!" he sounded strangled, "Did you hear a word I said? I watched the footage. I'm sorry I looked through your files but it was an accident and I didn't mean to but I'm glad I did because someone has to care about you because you definitely aren't!"

Tony's eyes snapped open, looking startled and like he wanted to be offended but couldn't be. Not really. "He-he smashed the shield right into your chest! If you still needed the reactor you could've- you would've-" something burned behind Peter's eyes, but he shook his head determined to be coherent, "And even if you don't need the reactor anymore, you're just a human. You went to Siberia in that suit, how were you supposed to leave without it? And you weren't even fighting hard. I know your suit, I know everything about your suit! You didn't even use your targeted missiles or lasers or or anything! You held back, and for what?"

Tony sighed, looking heartbroken. Slowly, he pushed himself upwards, walking towards Peter like he didn't want to scare him off. He pulled Peter into his arms, held him gently against his chest and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's alright Peter."

"Mr. Stark-!"

Tony wasn't supposed to be comforting him, this wasn't how it was supposed to go but there Peter was, shaking in his arms and Tony stood like the tower, a beacon of strength and perseverance. "I don't know if I can ever forgive him for what he did. The secret he kept or how he decided to react about it. But it wasn't…" he looked pained, like the words needed to be forced, "It wasn't Barnes' fault. He didn't have control." He said quietly.

"I should've been better. But so should have Rogers. But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter. This," he waved his free hadn't in the air, "this thing we have going on? It's not important. Not in the face of a global catastrophe." he pulled back, grasping Peter by his shoulders gently, "I'm not bringing the Rogues back because Steve deserves it, I'm bringing them back for the world. I'm bringing them back for you."

Peter looked wide eyed, but Tony stared back with certainty, a flurry of emotions creating a solid foundation upon which he planned out the future. Tony held his stare and Peter felt like he was the whole entire world. "You're going to have a future Peter. You and May and all your friends and every other person in this world. You're not going to suffer because the Avengers couldn't get over a personal squabble in a goddamn wasteland."

"I'm going to fight for that future too." Peter declared, feeling resolved and powerful, Tony's faith and hope for him to succeed making him feel like he could do anything and be anything and conquer the world, "I'm going to fight with you and protect the earth. I'm not gonna let you do it alone Mr. Stark, sorry." he gave a half grin, feeling better when Tony just shook his head and smiled.

"Kid, if I have my way, we'll solve this without having to have a single fight and you can just keep being a kid, annoying me every step of the way." but Tony sounded so fond it took all the bite from his words and Peter knew in that moment that Tony would take on the whole universe alone if it meant keeping him safe.

What he wanted to say was that he didn't want a future without Mr. Stark in it. That after losing his parents and Uncle Ben, that he couldn't bear to lose someone else too. That despite having started Spiderman for Uncle Ben, to make sure no one ever lost their loved one early and got left behind, to make the streets of his home a little safer, to go to bed knowing he made his uncle proud by trying to do the right thing, that Tony had guided him and helped him and refined Uncle Ben's unfinished product into a man he could be proud of. That it made him burst to know that the man he saw as a father treated him like a son. That he was so glad Tony walked into his life and was grateful for everything he did. That he loved him.

But instead, he said, "Mr. Stark, I'm on your side, always." and knew that that was enough.

A/N I hope you all enjoyed my first story for the fandom! I really just have a giant weakness for iron dad so this fic was pretty much inevitable.