Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were just about finished with the mission. Peter was up against the wall, breathing heavily. He finished clearing out an area of civilians and Tony told him to rest while he distracted some Hydra guys, and to be honest, he really wasn't complaining. He decided it would be best to stay with Hawkeye, so he could tell Peter if he saw anything. They were near the top floor of some abandoned parking garage. As his heart rate finally slowed down, he felt the familiar tingle at the base of his skull. He looked out over railing to see what was the problem

“Something wron-” Clint was cut off by multiple explosions below them. It shook the floor and soon after they were falling. Peter lost sight of his fellow avenger when a slab snagged at his ankle, pulling him faster. He felt the sharp jab of concrete on his spine as he landed on his back, his entire body under another slab. He was just able to turn his head and look out into the daylight, now slightly clouded by dust and debris.

“HELP!” his voice was weak and small.

“SOMEONE! I'M TRAPPED! PLEASE HELP!” he turned his head back and closed his eyes, trying to keep his breathing steady. His mind immediately started to remember the night with Toomes. No one was there to help him, he was alone-

“Hey there Petey,” no, no he wasn't here, he's in jail, HE'S NOT HE-

“We're the same Peter, we could work together!”

“..no….you're n-not here..” he looked over and saw him looking through the small space, smiling like a maniac.

“......g-go away…...don….don’t k-kill me…”

“Peter, let me help you, Peter. Peter! PE-”

“-TER! Come on, I need you awake buddy!” suddenly, it wasn't Vulture's mask, but the worried face of Clint.

“That's it's Peter, I'm gonna move this off of you, but you need to move out from under as soon as I do, I can't keep it up for long.” Peter nodded, still trying to calm down.

“Ok. 3, 2, 1!” The pressure was slightly lifted and Peter was able to move out. He had snaked passed Hawkeye's legs and was out, the avenger dropping the slab. He tried to sit up, but his shoulder was worse now and his ribs felt terrible.

“Shit,” He felt Clint wrap something around his arm, not a bandage, probably apart of his shirt or something. He tapped Peters face lightly.

“Keep those eyes open kid, can't have you sleeping on me,” he pressed the comm in his ear,”Hey, Peter hurt over here, they set explosives below us and he got stuck.” he could hear Tony yelling in the other side.

“Is he ok? Did you pu-”

“Yeah, I got him out, something punctured his right shoulder and his ribs are definitely bruised, maybe a couple broken. Just send over the Quinjet so I can get him actual bandages.” Tony’s voice either got quieter or he was about to pass out, barely even able to keep his eyes open. The last thing he saw was the jet landing before his eyes shut and he passed out.

……

When Peter woke up, he was lying on the medical table in the jet. He could make out the other Avengers talking near the front. The only one who wasn’t up was Clint, who was sitting next to him. He was wrapping a cut on his arm when he noticed Peter was awake.

“You good kid?” Peter was about to nod, but a pain his chest cut him off and he ended up groaning. Clint laughed quietly. None of the Avengers had noticed the two were talking. Clint pulled up a chair closer to the small bed.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Peter was confused until he remembered what had happened-my little episode. He noticed Peter was uncomfortable and smiled.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I’m always free, all of us are.” He made a small gesture toward the group, now hunched over a table. Peter stayed silent, looking up at the ceiling. He knew he could trust them, and it was in the past, not like they could do anything about it, even if they got mad.

“When I was fighting Vulture that last time, I had found him in some old warehouse. His suit….the, uh, the wings, they tore down the support beams. He left before me and everything fell. There were….literal tons of concrete on top of me. I didn’t have Starks suit, I had my old one. I hung up the phone with Ned earlier and even if I did the phone was crushed……….I had no one to call, I was just, alone, and trapped. When that building exploded, and I was pinned again, all I could see was him, just looking at me.” He took a deep breath, risking a glance back at Clint. He looked sad, but it wasn't pitying. It was almost, understanding.

“Sorry, I ramble a lot and-”

“It’s fine, I get it. Not the whole trapped thing, but that feeling, of being alone.” They both fell silent as Bruce came over, finally seeing Peter up.

“You’re not as bad as I originally thought. Only 2 broken ribs, which have already started to heal, your ankle had a nasty bruise which is still there, though not as bad. It was your shoulder that concerned me most. It was pierced by a jagged-edge. I stitched up as much as I could and bandaged the rest. It might even leave a scar,” Banner pulled down the shoulder of the white t-shirt he now sporting. He looked at Clint over his shoulder, both silently agreeing to keep this between themselves.

Chapter Text

2.

Peter walked down the empty hallway, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He was supposed to meet up for training right after school today, but he got held back by a teacher. As he got to the end of the hallway, he saw Flash and his friends hanging out in the doorway. Flash made eye contact with him and he blocked the way, forcing Peter to stop.

“Yo Penis! Where were you yesterday?!”

“None of your business.” In actually, Bruce had told him to stay home and rest,  no matter what.

“Oh, come on, we both know that’s not true. Were you at your internship ?” Flash for some reason had refused to believe that Peter had even been in the building. It kinda annoyed him, but he usually kept his cool.

“Just let me go Flash,” he seemed to think about this for a second and moved to the side, his friends following.

He wasn’t surprised when Flash tripped him, he was surprised, however, when suddenly there were stairs. He fell face first on the ground, being able to hear his nose shatter. He must've hit his knee on something, as when he landed, pain shot all through his leg. 

“Hey, Penis, you ok?” instead of seeing Flash smirk at him, he looked up to see Bucky looking down from him.

“Who the hell are you?” The man ignored him and instead kept looking Peter.

“Are you ok kid?” His voice was low but still held a certain softness to it. Peter pinched his nose and stood up.

“I’m fine Bucky, but what are you doing here?”

“You were late and I was already out, so Tony asked me to come.” Bucky stood back up to his full height, making his shoulders broader and a hell of a lot scarier.

“I assume you’re Flash?” his voice was deep, and Peter recognized the protective tone he usually used to defend Steve.

“We were just messing around, right Peter?” he was gonna say something, but Bucky was in front of him, his stance almost defensive.

“I don’t think that was messing around,” he got close enough and pointed at with his metal hand, “And I suggest you leave him alone. or. Else. Now go.” he jabbed at his chest with each word. Flash looked back and at the hand and Bucky’s face a few times, realization crossing his face.

“You-You’re the guy, f-from the news a-a-a whil-”

“I said, go.” Flash immediately ran off, his friends close behind. Bucky walked back toward Peter guiding him by the shoulder to the sleek car in the lot. He gently nudged Peter in first, closing the door as the car drove off, probably by some self-driving tech.

“What were you doing out anyway.” Bucky shrugged.

“Wanted to get out, had to pick up a few things for Steve and me,” He nodded toward the bag and Peter could see a bag of microwave popcorn, some sketching stuff, and some old candy that Peter assumed was from his time.

“Aren’t there people who could get it for you?” Everyone knows how uncomfortable Bucky gets in public.

“Yeah, but Steve said it helps to get out, get used to everything.” They pulled into the tower’s garage and got out. Bucky carried the bag with his left hand and held Peter up with his right.

“Hello Mr. Barnes, Mr. Parker. I see you have some injuries, would you like me to inform Mr. Stark and Mr. Banner that you are here?” Jarvis’s robotic voice was concerned, as he usually was.

“No,” Bucky pressed the button to his floor, “I can patch him up myself, can you let Steve know we have company.”

“I’ll inform Mr. Rogers right away,” The elevator started moving up and heavy metal quietly played through the speakers. The only time Peter had ever been on their floor was when he crashed through the window fighting someone, long story. When the door opened, Cap was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“So what ha- Peter? What happened?” Bucky ignored him and led Peter to the living room and sat him on the couch.

“Steve, go get a towel.” Steve was back within seconds holding a red hand towel.

“Blow into this and then relax, I have to straighten your nose,” When he did blow his nose into the towel, a ton of snot and blood came out. Bucky didn’t seem to care as he tossed it into a garbage can near-by.

“Just make sure you keep breathing through your mouth, this will hurt,” he placed his hands like a triangle on his face, “a lot.” slowly, he dragged his hands down his face, careful not to cut Peter's face with his metal hand. He didn't really expect the pain to be that bad, but suddenly his vision was going white and his head was floating.

“Don't pass out, just focus on your breathing.” He had finished in less than a minute, setting a pack of frozen peas on his face. He sat on the footstool across from Peter and pulled out a small med-kit.

“Can I look at your knee?” he asked quietly. Peter nodded and pulled the pant leg up to his lower thigh, careful not to rub it against the red skin. There was a good size cut going across, though deep enough for him to probably need stitches, it had already stopped bleeding. Around it, however, was swelling a lot, the purple and yellow even slowly disappearing in front his eyes. The healing factor was working well enough,

“You'll only need a few stitches, it'll heal a lot faster with those plus your whole I-heal-myself thing.” The stitches were a lot better, having done then to himself plenty of times before. A few minutes later and he was done, wrapping it up. Steve had stood behind him the entire time, watching closely.

“I'll go grab some clothes, yours are covered in blood.” Bucky left, leaving Steve looking down at Peter, who was now trying to hide his face.

“How did this happen?” Steve's voice was quiet, yet was still firm. He thought back to when Ben would use that exact tone.

“I tripped down the stairs at school,” his voice held nothing to convince the man.

“Yeah, but who tripped you,”

“....Flash..” it was almost scary how everyone could easily see through his BS. Steve sighed, sitting on the chair across from him.

“Why don't you ever defend yourself? It's not like you're not capable,”

“I just..I'm not Spiderman at school, I'm Peter Parker. Peter Parker is a nerd, he doesn't have super strength, he...builds Lego's and does his homework.” he didn't tell him how he was terrified he would really hurt someone.

“Well, no more of this,” Steve gestured to Peter's face and knee, “You need to be careful,”

“Says you,” Bucky walked in with a pile of clothes and tossed it on his lap.

“Hey, I-”

“Don't even try Mr. Back-alley. What kind of sandwich do you like Peter?”

“Uhh, ham and cheese?” he stalked off once again, this time heading towards the kitchen.

“The bathroom is on the right down that hall, leave your clothes on the counter,” Steve left, walking into the kitchen, leaving Peter to change.

The bathroom was simple. He noticed that one side of the counter was almost spotless besides a small comb, the other was a mess of soaps, hand towels, and disposable razors. He realized when he changed into the clothes that they definitely were the Captains.

The black sweatpants were loose on his hips, having to tie the strings as tight as they would go. As he put on the long sleeve tee, his hands barely peaked through the ends, even the end hung almost to his knees.

He sighed and limped out the door, navigating his way, already smelling lunch. He couldn't help it when he stopped hearing voices on the other side.

“You ok?” Steve's voice was concerned.

“Mission-assist must be protected,”

“Priority level for mission-assist?” he asked the question like it was normal.

“2,”

“Wow, he might just steal my title for number 1? How'd he get level 2?”

“He's a kid, going out And fighting stuff people like us shouldn't even see, things that shouldn't exist, just out of the good of his heart. Like you, back then…” Peter was stunned. He remembered awhile ago when Bruce explained what a mission assist was...

……..

Steve was hurt, bad. He was in surgery right now, getting shrapnel removed from his chest. Bruce started next to him while Natasha was trying to calm down Bucky. He was right next to Steve when the bomb went off, but Steve had shielded him. He kept shaking in his chair and mumbling, switching in between Russian and English.

“Is Bucky ok?”

“Yeah, Steve's mission-assist 1, so it was kinda expected.”

“Mission-assist?” Peter had never heard the term before then.

“No one told you?” he shook his head, and Bruce leaned over, closer to Peter.

“Bucky, when he helps and he has to go fight, he has to be very careful. Anything could trigger the Winter Soldier, even being out for too long can let it, resurface. So when shield agreed to let him in the Avengers officially, he established Mission-assists.

When he feels himself losing control, he lets everyone know, and his mission-assist can help. It's the people he trusts the most, people who can talk him down and remind him to stay calm. Steve is 1, he can just talk to him about back in the 30’s and 40’s, just memories. Natasha is 2 because she understands what Hydra does and can calm him. I think I'm number 3 actually. Steve told me he was obsessed with science back then, so he just lets me ramble about whatever tech is around.” He just nods and looks back at Bucky, watching as Natasha crouched in front of his hunched figure and whispered in Russian, rubbing his knee.

“Whenever one of us gets hurt, he doesn't take it lightly. I think he feels like it's his fault, though I had no idea why. In this case, though, Steve was protecting him,” he leaned back into the position he was before, “I'm surprised he's has broken anything.”

……

“I'm glad you care,” The sound of Steve's voice brought him back.

“...Can you grab some plates?” Peter decided now was a good time to enter. Both super soldiers looked at him.

“Oh, I totally forgot you were smaller than us, do you want me to-”

“It's fine,” he shrugged and sat on the stool closest to him, “I don't mind, they're soft,” Steve smiled and went back to what he was doing, but Bucky was still looking at him.

“Is something wrong? If this is yours then I can go cha-”

“No, keep it on. You just…..remind me of someone.” he wouldn't have heard that last part if it was for his enhanced hearing.

“Besides, you shouldn't put a lot of weight on that knee,” he placed a plate in front of him, 2 sandwiches cut in half and a pile of potato chips.

“There's more in the fridge if that's not enough, metabolism and all,” Bucky left the room, carrying two plates. That might have been one of the best sandwiches Peter's ever eaten

Chapter Text

“Come on Peter! I can't go by myself and this is your chance to prove Flash he's wrong!” Ned sat next to Peter, waving the slip of paper in his face. Their workshop class was had decided taking a field trip to Stark tower was important and would be beneficial to inspire the classes future projects. He would've been fine with it if he was just Spiderman, but since Mr. Stark made him a “personal intern” and paid him to work in the lab, all the staff knew him. They also knew he was oddly high up for a teenager.

“I know, it's just-”

“Mr. Parker, Mr. Leeds! This is silent work time, so be silent.” as soon as the teacher ducked his head they continued to whisper.

“if I go then someone on the team could be there, and I really don't need that to happen.”

“But I can't go alone, and you know how much I want to go,” Ned proceeded to do his version of a puppy dog face, though he really only scrunched up his face and frowned a bit.

“Fine, but-”

“Great, I owe you.” before Peter could respond, the bell had rung and everyone was rushing out of the class. Today was Tuesday and the slip said the trip was on Friday, so if he avoided Mr. Stark long enough, he won't know Peter is coming and won't embarrass him.

……

The next few days passed by slow and fast all at once. He didn't realize it was Friday until the teacher was leading everyone to the buses. He and Ned were the last ones on, so they took the only seat left, in front of Flash and his friends.

“Yo Penis, ya realize everyone's gonna know your secret now?”

“I don't have a secret, Flash.”

“Are you sure about that?” The rest of the trip went on exactly like that, Flash continuously asking Peter about his “fake job” and asking what Mr. Stark was like. Everyone oohed and aahed when they pulled up, all except Peter, who was pretty used to it. At the receptionist table, they did the roll call and passed out temporary badges for everyone to get past security.

“Peter!” Anna called him name happily. She had started just recently and immediately took a liking to the boy, “I saw your name and assumed you would have your own badge,”

“Yep, I got it.” he took his bag off and shuffled through the packets until he pulled out the dark blue badge. People stared at him as he clipped it on. It was definitely different from the plain white ones everyone else had.

“Hello everyone,” someone Peter had never seen before walked up. His figure was lanky and he had a had a generally creepy look to him, “I'll be your tour guide today, my name is Joseph. You can all follow me this way, then I'll lead you all through our standard security check, and we'll begin!”

That was where Peter first fell apart. The standard visitors' security check was a badge scan, going through a metal detector, and in special cases, some questions. He had to go through it a few times at first, but when he came in late to work in the lab, Mr. Stark had given him an automatic bypass through all of it.  

He waited at the back of the line when everyone else pulled out their badges eagerly. When he scanned it, Jarvis spoke instead of some random bot Mr. Stark created. The screen lit up blue.

“Hello Peter, your early visit was not expected.”

“Hey Jarvis, I'm just on a school trip..”

“Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark that you are her-”

“NO...No thanks, Jarvis, I'll be coming back later so….”

“Very well,” when Peter looked back at his classmates, they were in awe. I guess no was thought I was telling the truth he thought to himself. He felt rather cocky as he waited for everyone else to get through security, even the tour guide had to. He had to hide his laugh when Flash walked through the metal detector and it blared, causing him to panic and the security guards to get very suspicious.

“Ok!” Joseph said once everyone was ready to go, “First, we'll go through the relic area, where Mr. Stark keeps some rejected Iron man suits and some alien remains, Then we’ll be able to see inside one of his labs, maybe even run into Dr. Banner!” everyone started gossiping, completely forgetting about Peter, that is, until they were looking at the suits. Everyone was crowded around one of the most recent ones, freshly damaged. Peter knew Mr. Stark could easily repair it, but he said, “It looked cool.”

Someone grabbed his shoulder and he instinctively moved away. He saw only Bruce carrying a file.

“Sorry Peter, but I saw you and I was gonna take this to Tony but I saw you, and you’re more helpful than him,” Peter followed him to a small table and Bruce spread the papers out and explained the problem, completely oblivious to the dropped jaws behind him.

“I was trying out this formula to make a stronger metal for Steve’s shield, but something's wrong. I’ve been running on coffee and sugar for a while, so I just need new eyes to look at this,” As he looked at the jumbled formulas and scribbled notes, he caught it almost immediately.

“Your math is wrong right here,” he grabbed a pencil from his backpack and crossed out some numbers, “You actually just mixed up these numbers, so if I do this correctly, then that should work.” Bruce looked at the new numbers and smiled.

“You, are a lifesaver, Pete. Are you coming over this tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m spendi-” he was suddenly aware of the eyes behind him, “I’ll be here Later tonight,”

“Ok, when you have time, come to my lab and we can test this out, I got some other projects you might like too.” Bruce walked away, typing the password into the personal elevator and getting in. Ned ran up behind him.

“Dude! That was so cool! What were you guys talking about?”

“He just needed some help with a formula, he’s tired and, uhh..” MJ had walked up in front of Peter, smirking.

“I didn’t know that you knew Banner,”

“Well, I uhh..he lets me into his uh, lab sometimes,” she smirks once again

The best second of his life was ruined by Flash jumping up behind him, pushing down on his shoulders.

“Yo Penis, how many dicks did you have to suck to get him to talk to you?”

“Gross Flash,”

“Aww come on man!” he punched Peters arm rather aggressively. “Just tell me, like a true friend would,” no one besides Ned noticed Flash's display of whatever he was doing. The next 5 minutes consisted of Flash asking various, disgusting, questions about how much Peter did to know everyone. He was honestly about to throw something at him when a hand grabbed his arm, but it was too big to be Flash.

“Hey kid, you ok?” Tony wasn't wearing what he would usually flaunt around the tower. He instead wore an oil-covered cat t-shirt and an obviously old pair of black sweatpants.

“Hey Mr. Stark! What are you doing here?” he muttered the last part through his fake smile. Now, everyone was gawking at him, like he had just struck gold.

“Jarvis said that you were being harassed or something, what's wrong.” he didn't seem to care about the other students around them.

“Mr. Stark!” The guide ran up, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder, trying to pull him away. “I'm so sorry this student has bothered you. I'll just -”

“I came to Peter, he's not bothering me. Why in God's name would he bother me?”

“I'm sorry, I jus-” Tony cut him off.

“Are you new here?”

“Yes sir, only been here-”

“Don't care. New guy, this is Peter. Peter here is my personal assistant. Don't be rude to him, ever.” even other employees at this point were watching. Everyone knew that Tony cared about him, and to never be mean to him. He was never mean in the first place though, so usually the warning was placed aside.

“I’m so sorry sir, -”

“Once again, dont care.” he turned back toward Peter. “I need you in the garage, preferably now.” Peter motioned back toward the group of student watching intently.  

“I-I’m on a trip right now,”

“Is it a problem if I take him with me?” Tony was speaking directly to his teacher now. He looked as though he was dreaming.

“N-No, tha-that’s ok.”

“You’re friends can come too, if they want.” He turned back to Ned and MJ, the closest to him. Ned obviously wanted to go, already jumping in the spot, MJ looked more confused if anything, probably at Tony calling her a friend.

“That would be great Mr. Stark!” he ran up next to Peter, along with MJ.

“Ok, you can go up to my floor, in the lab, I’ll be there in a minutes, but I gotta talk with big guy about something.” He walked off toward the lab.

“Nice suit Mr. Stark!” of course Flash would try something to make this his moment. Stark stopped midstrp and turned toward the voice. He seemed to scan him up and down as he walked toward him.

“What’s your name kid?”

“Flash! Thompson, sir.” his face turned him up into a scowl almost right away. Peter had complained about him sometimes, but he never considered that the man was actually listening.

“Don’t touch any of my suits, I saw you earlier.” and with that he was gone, leaving Flash looking like he was about to cry.  Peter quietly lead his friends to the elevator, hoping Flash wouldn’t attack them. When the doors closed Jarvis immediately started them up towards Tony’s floor.

“I do apologize Pete, I saw you being harrassed and decided the best course of action was to inform Sir.”

“It’s ok Jarvis, let’s just go.”

Chapter Text

“You know what she's like Ned! I literally have zero ideas of where to go, and I said I'd call her and pick her up and just-”

“Peter, relax. We're already friends with her, it's not like you have no idea what she likes. Just pick something.”

“It's not like tha-”

“It's exactly like that, and I gotta go have dinner now. Message me later! I got a new Lego set for tomorrow!”

“Got it, Ned,” Peter hung up the phone and dropped it on the bed below him. He had been so stressed earlier that he made an actual web. So far, it significantly lowered about half of his ceiling, but he could still walk underneath it. Now, if someone a lot taller than him walked in, they might have a bit more, “fun”.

“Excuse me Peter, but Mrs. Romanov has just arrived on your floor. Would you like me to inform her where you are, or will you like me to tell her you will be coming in a minute?”

“Thanks, Jarvis, you can tell her I’m in here,” he sighed and jumped back onto the web, lazily patching up a hole he had made sometime earlier. He almost fell off when Natasha spoke to him.

“What is this?” he was forced to quickly grab the ceiling and stabilize himself.

“Geez, even when Jarvis tells me you’re here, you still manage to sneak up on me,”

“That’s what I’m known for маленький паук, now, what is this?”

“I just uh, got a little stressed earlier…”

“About what?”

“It’s nothing, just, uh, teenage...stuff. Yeah, that.” she looked at him, clearly unconvinced. She sat down on his bed, sitting cross-legged. He slowly lowered himself until he was next to her, laying down.

“If it’s nothing then just tell me. I’m not Stark, I might actually be a little useful,” she shrugged. He just noticed she was wearing her pajamas. An oversized blue tee-shirt, which he was positive he saw Bruce wearing earlier, and grey sweatpants. Most times he saw her, she was in her signature black jumpsuit, or at least in more formal clothing. This somehow made her question more sincere to him.

“I, uh…..I got this date later, with a friend, and I have absolutely no idea where to go. I told her it would be this cool, amazing thing and now I only have an hour before I have to get ready.” She nodded and laid down next to him, staring at the webbing monstrosity above them.

“Well, what does she like?”

“A lot of same things I do, nerdy shit-” she side-eyed quickly, both laughing a bit.

“Well,” she looked back up, “does she know about Spider-man?” Peter almost laughed at the question. Of course, she knew, she had figured it out only a week after the vulture incident. It scared the hell out of him at first, but he learned very quickly that she could take care of herself.

“Yeah.” he had expected her to be mad more people knew, but she just nodded.

“Why don’t you bring her here?” now that made him sit up. The last time she was here, they were on Tony’s floor for exactly 15 minutes before her mom had picked her up. That was a while ago, the day of the field trip. She had never actually been on his floor before. Natasha continued,”You guys can hang out, order dinner or make something, I mean, маленький паук, your lounge is like nerd central. Like, worse than Clints,” he laughed, knowing she was right. Almost all the others just had the usual couches, seats, and a giant tv. Clint’s was decorated with antique gaming posters, a full bookshelf of movies(even though Jarvis could play anything, he still liked having them around.), and other random possessions.

“That’s a good idea, but what about Mr. Stark? He’s not exactly the most subtle person, especially whenever I bring someone around.”

“I actually came out to tell you that the rest of us have to go out to a meeting, all the way out in Arizona. Special S.H.I.E.L.D meeting. We’ll be out for a couple days.” So that would mean there would be no Tony embarrassing him.

“We’ll be leaving in 20 minutes, so you’ll be good.”

“Oh...thanks, actually- wait, shouldn’t you be getting ready then?”

“You know how much I love avoiding S.H.I.E.L.D,” she stayed there for 10 more minutes, just chatting quietly until she really had to go get ready. Another 45 minutes later and he called MJ.

“Hey Parker, so what was this amazing idea you were talking about?”

“Uhh, could you meet me at the Tower?”

“What?”

“Trust me, just, meet me at the entrance. That cool?”

“Sure Parker,”

------------------

“I hope you realize before we play again, that I have beaten you every round, and I don’t think 12 times a charm.” Currently, they sat on the couch, playing some random retro game MJ had picked out, 2 almost empty cartons of mint chip and double chocolate ice cream laying next to them. Somewhere on the couch behind them, there were was a couple empty pizza boxes that they had scarfed down earlier. The past couple hours had gone a lot better than expected. Yeah, it was a bit awkward at first, but it immediately gotten better when Peter had Loophole-ed Jarvis into letting him in the lab. They both decided it would be best if they put their time to use, and by that, they managed to dye an Iron man suit pink and purple, with a couple stickers to be safe.

The rest of the time, they’d been playing against each other in a video game, MJ relentlessly destroying Peter at it.

“Who knows, I might be amazing at this game, and you would never know,”

“Well that would be implying that you’re letting me win, and that’s not very gentlemanly of you,” she put her hand to her chest in fake offense and they both laughed, Peter even snorting a bit. It had been really good night, so far.

“Excuse me Peter, but Ms. Romanov is calling,”

“Thanks Jarvis,” he hopped up and grabbed the phone off the couch as MJ finished off her tub off ice cream. When he was in the kitchen, he answered the phone.

“Hey, did something happen?”

“Nothing, just thought I’d tell you Stark had to take an emergency flight back to the tower-”

“What?!”

“You still got at least 20 minutes before he’s back.”

“Thanks Natasha, I should-”

“Yep, you should just hurry.” she hung up and Peter jogged back into the lounge and he must’ve had a look on his face cause MJ started guessing right away.

“Super emergency? I swear if there is a single evil robot,”

“Um, Tony’s on his way here…”

“Oh, you know, considering what we did earlier, I’m gonna go.” They both quickly cleaned up all the garbage and Peter led her back to the elevator. When they both stood at the exit, MJ stopped.

“I had a good time Peter,”

“So did I-” the last thing on earth Peter expected was a kiss. It was short enough where he barely had a chance to close his eyes, yet somehow it was the best thing that had happened with him. She left before he could say anything with a single ‘Later Parker’ shouted back, running to her car. He was still dazed when he ran into Mr. Stark about to get on the elevator.

“Pete? What are you doing down here?”

“It’s, uhh, nothing.” As he got in with Tony, he got a single text from Nat.

‘So how did it go??’  

Chapter Text

To be honest, the day hadn't started out great, so he didn't really know why he expected it to get better. He had stayed out for patrol longer than he met to the night before. He pretty much passed out as soon as he got back to his room. Turns out, he had also completely forgotten to study for his test today.

The test itself was supposed to be a practice for their exams coming up. He woke up late enough and no one could give him a ride to school, so he had to run all the way there. It was normal from then on, until they got the actual exam.

Peter was never the best with history. There were just too many events and dates and people to memorize, he just got too confused. It didn't help that he didn't study, so he wasn't that surprised when he got it back and practically failed it.

“Yo Penis, what did ya get?!” before Peter had a chance to put it away, Flash grabbed it and looked at the score, a wide smile on his face.

“Really? Genius Parker FAILED the Test?!” everyone looked at them and started laughing. Ned looked at him from across the room, a questioning expression on his face. It was unlike Peter to fail, even in his worst subject.

Thankfully, the bell had saved him as he snatched his test back, shoving it in his bag and walking away. It didn't stop Flash and his friends from following him, calling out names. One of them managed to push his into a locker before he ran to the lot, spotting Happy's car in the back. Right now, he really didn't want to back, so instead of climbing in the back, he knocked on the passenger window.

“You coming kid?”

“I'm gonna hang out with Ned for a bit,” he left Happy, not bothering to answer any more questions. He rode his skateboard all the way out to the abandoned area. A couple warehouses he found when Spider-Man first appeared. He used it to test out his webs, practice. Leaving his skateboard near the doorway, he climbed all the way to the roof. Some parts of the staircase were Destroyed, so he had to use his webs to get up.

A few hours later, he had almost all his homework done and fixed a small malfunction in one of his shooters. A dull throb appeared at the base of his skull, and he while around to the ladder was. Not a minute later, Steve appeared wearing his civilian clothes.

“Hey Pete, you good?”

“Yeah, how'd you find me? I've never exactly told anyone about this place,”

“Your Aunt called to check up on you. You hadn't been back yet, so I went out looking for you. I just went to the nearest empty lot, saw your webs.”

“Why didn't you call?”

“I did, no answer.” oh yeah, he silenced his phone after Ned and MJ spammed his phone about the test, even Flash got his number. He didn't Notice that Steve sat down next to him, legs dangling off the edge.

“Is this a spot of yours?”

“Kinda. I used to come here a lot...in the beginning. I couldn't test most of my powers or my experiments at home, so I found this place.”

“I see, it does have a good view,” they could both see the tower from the roof, and if you squinted enough, you could see Tony flying around, probably just testing something out.

“So what happened?”

“Wha-What do you mean?”

“Tony said something must've happened at school. We all know you don't usually turn down Happy's ride, epically now that you're staying here while May is out,” he was right. May was out on a trip for her job, some disaster happened out in another country and they needed all the doctors, nurses, and help they could get. It was supposed to be about a couple months, and Peter would've gone with if it wasn't for school. Tony managed to convince her that he would be safe staying the tower. He was right too. The only problem was that the press caught on after a while and tried asking questions, but it died down after about a week.

“Just...rough day at school. Forgot to study for a test, didn't do well,”

“Why didn't you study?”

“Just, uh, I was out late….went to bed early….”

“Ahh,” surprisingly, he didn't patronize him or give him a lecture. He just sat next to Peter, glancing over his homework.

“We should get back. Tony's been going crazy on everyone and I haven't told them I found you yet,” he pat Peter on his back and hopped up. Peter himself stood up, collecting his assignments and shoving them into his bag.

“Wait, how did you ever up here? I had to use my webs,”

“Super-soldier Peter, I just...jumped,”

“Oh,” he followed Steve back down, neither falling or tripping, surprisingly. Peter ran over and grabbed his skateboard, ready to go, but Steve grabbed his shoulder lightly.

“I'll give you a ride, it's pretty late already,” he nodded soundlessly and followed Steve to his car. It was old school, something he could see Steve having. He wouldn't be surprised if it was custom made for Steve, he never liked using Tony's flashy cars.

“Ya know Peter,” Steve said while pulling out of the lot, “We can always help with studying, course, I Bucky and I might not be able to really help with some of it, but I'd love to learn myself honestly.” Peter smiled, happy that these people were willing to help him with plain old school-work. I mean, these were superheroes, saving lives regularly, stopping aliens, and fricking Captain America wanted to help.

“Thanks…” Peter was smiling the rest of the day, even when Tony was lecturing him.

Chapter Text

No one was exactly sure when Thanos would attack. There were hints, if only rare, barely noticeable. Most of the Avengers were in the tower, lounging around and talking when the news exploded. The immediately went into action, except Peter, who was taking the bus to meet his mom the hospital. They were supposed to meet up and go out for a special dinner, may had promised.

Everything was calm until it wasn't. Buildings exploded out of nowhere, weird aliens, attacking the closest person. Peter ran to the closest alley and pulled on his suit faster than ever. He barely dropped his bag before he was out, swinging away and trapping as many as the things he could. He needed to get to May, make sure she was ok.

The hospital wasn't too far, but by the time he had got there, it was too late.

Almost the entire building now was a pile of rubble. He could see people crawling out, helping others, but he had not seen May.

Peter ran over, helping out as many as he could, then finding an opening. He crawled around, sometimes guiding people back out and lifting some of the rubble. He only stopped when he was somewhere in the middle of the rubble. The boy had spotted a body laying on the ground, slightly propped up a metal post.

Nonononononono, it can't - and yet, it was.

Her eyes were slightly open, a trickle of blood from her hairline going to her cheek.

“M-May?” No response

No response

No response

No......

No

No, this isn't real. She's fine, cause May is always fine. She couldn't……….

He screamed.

A gut-twisting, scratchy, child's scream. The ones that made you turn, the ones that made you grieve for the boy. He cradled her, making sure she wouldn't get uncomfortable leaning on the hard metal. He carried her out, too. He had to. No one else could, or they'd choke from all the dust.

Peter laid her down by the….the others. Left for someone to pick her up like a piece a Trash, throw her body away in the morgue. Only then he noticed the voices talking to him, through his mask.

“PETER!” it took a second to recognize it as Tony, “WE NEED YOU DOWN HERE! I NEED YOU TO-”

“Finish up the laundry while I'm at work ok? I don't wanna deal with those smelly socks again!”

“Got it May!”

“-KAY? PETER, DO YOU READ?” he swore he heard someone say yes, but he honestly couldn't tell if it was him or not.

“MEET US DOWN BY-”

“The football field, ok? I'll take you for lunch. Ask Ned if he wants to come too!”

“-OCKS, AND HURRY!” The feed cut off and the only noise left was the chaos around him. He swung through the city, his vision getting spotty around the edges.

May is dead. May is dead. She's Dead, she's dead, shesdeadhshesdeadshesde-

“ KID GET BACK!” a metal hand suddenly pulled him to the side, into an empty building. He aunt realized he was there, but the scene around him proved him wrong, and things were bad. On the other side of the street, he saw Wanda and Clint on the roof. The Hulk was throwing concrete at something, and Tony was crouched above him, Steve and Bucky next to him.

“Kid,” he removed his faceplate, the cuts on his face now viable, “What happened? You can't go swinging into him!” Peter only now saw Thanos, and he didn't really know what he was expecting. He could see the deep purple skin tone, the massive golden glove. He could easily match the Hulks size as well. Peter couldn't bring himself to speak, afraid of what he would say.

He did this, was all that was running through the kids head.

It's all his fault. All of it. Allofit…

“Peter?” he stood up and walked toward the doorway.

“Karen,” his voice was deeper than he thought, rough and dry.

“Peter, I believe I know what you're about to do, and I advise not going out without the Avengers.

“I don't care,” everyone stared at him.

“Activate instant kill mode…” The suit changed in an instant. The normally bright colors were darker, his eyes now only red pinpricks. His entire demeanor had shifted.

“Pete?” Steve questioned.

“Peter, don't you dare go out ther-” too late, just like with May- Thanos shot at the buying with the glove, stopping Tony or the others from following.

It was just him and Thanos. He laughed at Peter, taking a fighting stance.

“You, a child, think you can take me?” Peter didn't listen as he charged. He went going for self-preservation here, just good, old-fashioned revenge. His face was stone under the mask, the white-hot rage canceling out the other Avengers yelling at him.

He allowed Peter to get just a few yards away before he shot at his chest.

The only sounds heard was Tony screaming and the thud of Peter’s body landing. You could see how it tore through his, almost the entire left side of his chest, gone. Blood pooled around him, soaking into the suit.

They didn't expect him to get up.

They didn't expect to see that side, that part of him that was gone, to just fucking grow back.

They never really tested how far his healing went, but they never knew he could healing faster than Deadpool. Hell, the kid got hurt all the time, so why was he healing this quickly, now?

“J-Jarvis…”

“I do not know sir. The most I have found out is that May Parker was found deceased outside Union hospital.”

Jesus Christ, this kid is going batshit insane right now.

The Avengers watched as Peter charged again, his now viable skin seemed perfectly uninjured. Even Thanos was in a state of surprise. He fired shot after shot, but it didn't matter if it landed or not, he only got faster and faster and faster.

Suddenly his comm came back on, Tony talking to him. He was failing at keeping a calm tone.

“Peter, stop, whatever you're doing, just stop. I'll come-”

“-home sometimes late at night. I'm filling in for someone else,”

“-ust relax. You need to turn off-”

“-those games Peter! I thought you said you were Studying,” she turned off the TV, turning to face him completely.

“Sorry May, but I studied a bit earlier, and I just wanted to take a break,” she sighed and pulled him up.

“If you want to take a break, come help me finish up dinner,”

He was attacking Thanos now, hadn't even realized it. The others tried helping, Clint and Wanda from their roof, but no one could get close enough to help Peter.

He was doing quite well, too. Clearly, the alien was struggling to keep up with Peter's quick movements and fast healing.

“Stark,” Steve said as the 3 watched through a small window, “How…..how is Peter even doing this?”

“I have no fucking idea Cap,” he fired at Thanos, catching his shoulder, “But we have to him to calm down. He won't listen. With his emotional state and the fact that he went all the way to Instant kill, it's too dangerous to get near him until he turns it off.” Tony got a few more shots in before Thanos missed Peter and it went at them instead.

Thankfully, they all managed to duck out of the way. The shit also blew up part of the wall they could use to get through, and all of them immediately ducked out.

“So what do we do?” Bucky asked.

“I can try and get his attention. Just take down Thanos as fast as you can. Don't get in his way either, he'll barely be able to tell who's who.” so they did that. Everyone managed to get out of their holes and help out, careful to avoid Peter. Only ten minutes later, and Thanos was pretty much dead. Peter had gotten the gauntlet off and far enough for Thanos not to reach on the ground. They were about to get closer, when Peter, with no struggle showing, lifted a piece of concrete and slammed it on Thanos’s head.

Again…

And again…

And again and again andagainandagainandagai-

“PETE!” Tony pulled Peter once again, away from the corpse and onto the ground. He had to fully tackle him to the ground before Peter stopped actively trying to harm him. When Peter came too, Tony had hacked into his suit and overridden Instant Kill Mode and took off the mask. He was crying but didn’t seem to notice. Chunks of his suit were gone from…..from the hits .

“Peter, calm down...he’s dead, you’re good.”

“N-no……...Ton……”

“I know kid. You can relax, it’s fine,”

“You saved us all…”