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Chapter Text

How it all began...

"Have you seen this?"

Peter threw the newspaper down so hard it made a loud snap as it hit the floor. Tony didn't jump, but it was close. He wheeled himself out from under a prototype for a new, cleaner car engine and being upside-down didn't stop him from giving Peter the stink eye.

"Cool it or you're out kid," he ordered. He couldn't have a teenager having a temper tantrum amongst the dangerous materials in his lab.

Peter huffed and nudged the newspaper closer to Tony with his foot. "Just, look at it!"

"I don't need to," Tony wheeled himself back under the engine. How could he have avoided it? 'HOW MUCH DAMAGE THE AVENGERS HAVE CAUSED - FACTS AND FIGURES'. For all that his stomach churned at yet another reminder of how much they'd fucked up, it was easy to put on a show of not caring in front of the kid. "It's the same thing over and over."

"But it's - it's wrong!" Petter spluttered. "You're out there saving lives, and they're -"

"Stop right there," he interrupted. He didn't want to get into it further, not when it took them dangerously close to the Accords and he could not deal with that clusterfuck right now. "The media are vultures, kid. It isn't just the Avengers, it's anyone in the limelight. Hell, I bet you've seen some about Spider-Man, haven't you?"

"I - yeah, I guess, but..."

Tony adjusted a gear and then sighed, saying, "It comes with the territory. If you're gonna stick with this business, you better get used to it."

The teenager was silent for so long Tony wondered if he'd left, so he put down his wrench and wheeled back out. Peter was still there, his brow furrowed as he scrolled through something on his phone. Annoyance welled up in his chest; if all the brat was going to do was play on his phone, why even bother coming and wasting Tony's time? He was just about to say that when Peter's gaze snapped back to him, the anger from before replaced by determination.

"You don't have an Instagram account," he said.

Tony blinked, derailed momentarily. "I don't what?"

"You don't have Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat - not even Facebook though that's so old now," he muttered the last part.

"I have a whole PR team dedicated to social media," Tony frowned.

"For Stark Industries sure, but for Tony Stark? Zero. Zilch. Nada."

Realising Peter wouldn't let this go so easily, Tony pushed himself to his feet and reached for the towel on the nearby chair to wipe away some grease on his face and hands. "Do I look like I have time for social media? VIP, CEO, engineer, advisor-"

"You know, even the President has Twitter," Peter interrupted.

"What did I say about interruptions? And is the President a superhero?"

"... No?"

Tony narrowed his eyes and wondered about the education in schools. "Why did you hesitate?"

"I'm not - Mr Stark, come on! You're the foremost expert in all the latest tech and you're making a huge difference everywhere all over the world and it's just so crazy that you don't even have a social media account, 'cause you have no idea how many people would go mental over it -" he only fell silent when Tony held up a hand. The kid was looking a strange mixture of nervous and determined and Tony realised this meant quite a bit to the kid, for all that it seemed to be a recent idea.

"Tell me why I should then," he asked as he crossed his arms.

Peter bit his lip and then looked down at the newspaper. "You're Tony Stark - yeah, you're a billionaire who used to make weapons and drink and throw lots of parties, but you're developing cleaner energy and you donate so much to different charities and you save the world on a regular basis. You're a hero, Mr Stark," He looked ridiculously earnest now. The pain in Tony's chest felt like heartburn. "If people only see the bad stuff, they're not gonna remember the good. But if there was good stuff out there - stuff that made you more human, then people might change their minds."

Tony didn't reply because he wasn't sure what to say, but he did make a mental note to talk to Pepper about it later because it was true that they probably needed some good PR.

1.

Tony Stark Reveals A Few Hidden Talents, Tours the Avengers Compound and Introduces Us to Spider-Man

Stark Industries President Tony Stark, aka Iron-Man, invites Vogue into his home and answers 73 Questions. In this episode, Tony talks about life as an Avenger, shows off just how talented a singer he is and introduces us to his mentee slash adorable son, Spider-Man.

Good PR was why, a few weeks later, he was finishing up the preparation for a unique style of interview with Vogue at the Avengers Compound.

"It feels like a more natural interview," Pepper had explained. "It's done in one take. Usually, you take them on a tour and they ask you questions."

"But everything here is top secret," Tony had argued.

Pepper had not looked convinced. "There are many public areas of the compound you could show off, and you could show off the personal areas too. Vision and Rhodey have already agreed to participate. I'll even be there too," she had squeezed his hand reassuringly. "This is a good move, Tony."

And that had been it. So now, Tony was stood with his hands in his pockets, shades over his eyes and immaculately dressed - his usual public persona.

"We're ready whenever you are," Chuck the interviewer said as he walked up to him.

"Great," Tony clapped his hands together. They'd already done a trial run, a rehearsal of the route Tony was going to take him, and everyone who was going to cameo (Rhodey, Vision, Pepper and Peter, who he'd got involved because this was all his fault. Happy had point-blank refused to go anywhere near it) were in their positions. The mystery came from what questions he was going to be asked. It was a strange combination of prepared and on the fly. "We'll start with the car and then the suit, and go from there."

"Got it," Chuck nodded and then pointed the camera towards the entrance of the compound, which they were just a little inside from. "I'll start rolling in twenty seconds."

Tony activated his Iron-Man armor and flew up to the top of the compound. With a few words to F.R.I.D.A.Y, his AI driven car rolled up the driveway and he heard Chuck start speaking.

"Just look at that car!" Chuck whistled and then moved closer to the empty front seats. "Hey, there's no one driving! Where's -"

That was Tony's cue. He activated his thrusters and flew down next to Chuck, who had twisted the camera to catch him. He landed a few feet away, tapped his wrist and as he walked forward the armour disappeared in seconds. He summoned his most charming smile and said, "Hey man, what do you think?"

"You - I - wow," Chuck breathed. "I don't know whether to start with the car or the suit!"

Tony preened and then said, "Well I can't offer a ride in the suit, but how about the car?"

"Really? Wicked!" The car doors opened and Chuck climbed in the back. Tony settled in the front passenger seat and, without a word, F.R.I.D.A.Y started driving. The plan was to do a small loop around the front entrance of the compound, so the viewers would get a rough idea, while also showing off his new technology and, of course, asking Tony questions along the way. "So Tony, where exactly are we?"

"The Avengers Compound," Tony said, putting on his usual interview tone. "My tower just wasn't cutting it anymore, you know? So we came out here instead."

"And who is actually here?"

"Right now?" he paused like he had to think about it, but really it was to hold in the depressed sigh. "Mainly my staff - lab techs, admin, blah blah - oh, and Rhodey and Vision are here somewhere. Pepper too, when she's not away on business."

"Rhodey is the Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, aka War Machine?"

"Yup," he popped the 'p' at the end.

"Do you live here?"

"If I'm in town, sure, but I have a lot of meetings that take me out and about."

"What's the best thing about living here that you didn't get when you were living in the Tower?"

Tony smirked. "It's a lot quieter, so more work tends to get done as well. So I've heard." It also makes New York less of a target, he wanted to add.

F.R.I.D.A.Y parked them in front of the landing pad, next to the building with the large 'A' on the side. He and Chuck got out and Tony gestured for him to follow up the rest of the driveway.

"So what's a normal start to your day Tony?" Chuck asked as they walked.

"Oh you know, push ups, sit ups, crunches, uh... what other exercises are there?" he paused then snapped his fingers. "Wait, that was Cap's usual morning routine. I didn't actually sleep last night, so that's... actually a pretty typical start to the day."

They entered the main lobby where there were a few members of staff sitting at the front desk and made their way over to the elevators.

"Do you normally go whole nights without sleep?" Chuck asked. Tony fought back a frown. Would saying yes or no look better?

"When I'm inventing new toys," he compromised as he called for the lift. They didn't need to know about the nightmares or the insomnia or the -.

The elevator doors dinged open and they waited for the scientists to clear out before heading in themselves, and Tony pressed the button for the second floor. It was time to go see Pepper.

"What's your favourite movie?"

"Uh, La Grande Bouffe."

"A book you plan on reading?"

"Easy, my autobiography," he grinned. They left the elevator and Tony twisted, walking backwards so he could stay front and centre on the camera as was requested.

"A TV show you haven't seen but want to watch." He didn't usually sit down and watch TV shows, but he vaguely remembered Rhodey saying something about -

"The Good Place?" he shrugged and then said, "Hey, look who's here!"

"It's Miss Potts!" Chuck exclaimed as they approached the large conference room, where Pepper was giving a presentation to a few members. It was a fake presentation - they couldn't allow any real data to be recorded - but they didn't need to go in, because when she saw them she stepped outside the conference room with a warm smile.

"Soon to be Mrs Stark," Tony reminded with a wink.

"How are you guys?" Pepper greeted as Tony gave her a kiss on the cheek and then wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Okay, what's the most outrageous thing you've ever worn Tony?"

Tony blinked. He'd worn a lot of things in his time. He glanced at Pepper and asked, "What's the most outrageous thing I've ever worn?" She would have a better idea, given she'd often been responsible for how he dressed.

"Hmm," Pepper placed her hand on her chin in mock thought. "Oh I know! Do you remember that bright yellow suit? With the black -"

"Not until now," he admitted with a grimace. That had been at the height of his drinking days, before he'd had the smartest idea of his life and put Pepper in charge.

"Can you describe Pepper in three words?" Chuck asked. Pepper raised an eyebrow at Tony.

"Powerful, organised and patient," he said and then his eyes widened. "No, wait. Powerful, efficient and patient. Pep!"

"Oh jeez," Pepper put a hand over her face, but she was smiling. She kissed him and then Tony had to move on, so she went back to her fake meeting while Tony gestured for them to move on down the corridor.

"What's your favourite food?"

"Filet Mignon Meatballs," Tony said as they climbed some stairs and then entered a kitchen. There was a low hum of a TV in the background, from the nearby living room, but he paused in front of the coffee machine and turned to Chuck. "Want a coffee?"

"Sure!" Tony prepared the coffee himself, not wanting to give away F.R.I.D.A.Y just yet, as Chuck continued. "What do you love on your pizza?"

He couldn't quite hide his grin as he glanced over his shoulder and said, "Pepper...oni."

"Favourite drink?"

"Coffee," Tony handed the first cup of steaming coffee to Chuck, who smelt it and sighed happily.

"That's some good coffee. Favourite ice cream?"

"The Iron-Man Ben and Jerry's."

"Favourite music?"

"Sesame Street," Tony deadpanned, then snickered at Chuck's face and said, "Classic Rock." His coffee was finally finished and he held it close as he said, "Do you wanna sit down in the living room for a bit?"

"Sure!"

They walked into the living room where Rhodey was on the sofa watching TV. "If you could sing a duet with anyone, who would it be?"

"Rhodey," Tony replied instantly as he sat down.

"What's that?" Rhodey asked, muting the TV and looking at them while Chuck settled on an armchair opposite.

"Hey James," Chuck said.

"Hey," Rhodey nodded back.

"James, if Tony invited you to sing a duet with him, would you?" Chuck asked. Rhodey didn't look surprised to be asked a question - the possibility had been brought up, though not which one - and instead, his best friend gave him a considering look before grinning.

"Sure. His voice is pretty good."

Chuck's eyes widened. "Tony, can you sing?"

Tony suspected this wouldn't end well for him even as he shrugged and said, "As well as the next person."

"Can you sing something for me now?"

When Tony hesitated, Rhodey raised a challenging eyebrow. Between that and Pepper's threat that he couldn't screw this up, he sighed, cleared his throat and sang the first song which popped into his head.

"Smile though your heart is aching... smile even though its breaking... when there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by... if you smile through your fear and sorrow... smile and maybe tomorrow, you'll see the sun come shining through... for you..." Rhodey looked regretful for an instant before it disappeared behind his usual calm, and Chuck quickly shut his mouth and shook himself.

"Okay, wow. If you could master one instrument, what would it be?"

He wanted to say piano, but he didn't want anything close to that coming up, so he said, "Guitar."

"Dogs or cats?"

"Dogs," Tony scoffed. "Cats are little assholes."

"Okay, this one's for you both. Who has better style?"

"I do," Tony said.

"He does," Rhodey agreed.

"What Disney character would each of the Avengers be?" Tony blinked, a little thrown by the question being about all the Avengers. He shared a considering glance with Rhodey, and Tony knew they were both trying to remember just what Disney characters there actually were.

"I don't watch Disney so my choices are limited," Rhodey eventually admitted. "But I could see Thor being that man from Beauty and the Beast? All looks, no brain?"

"Yes!" Tony clapped his hands together and pointed at Rhodey. They both turned back to Chuck, who hesitated.

"Which Disney character would Tony be?"

"Peter Pan," Rhodey said immediately, then added, "Or Donald Duck."

Tony frowned. "Wait, why Donald Duck?"

"Because he's an asshole that no one understands when he talks," Rhodey grinned.

"I see how this is," Tony sniffed and stood up. "Come, we're done here."

"Fair enough," Chuck said, following him out the room. "Bye James."

"Bye," Rhodey waved.

Given this was meant to be a tour of the facility, Tony didn't take them back the way they came. He took them down a side route, another set of stairs, and then they wound up on the ground floor at an exit which led out to the next building over - the training area. Along the way, Chuck kept asking questions.

"What's the best gift you've ever received?"

"Uh..." Nothing really stood out in his mind, except for recently, "... Not sure if this counts, but Happy - my head of security - he carried the ring I proposed to Pepper for ten years in his pocket. By that point, it was almost like a gift from him."

"Huh. What's the best gift you've ever given?"

He'd given a lot of people gifts over the course of his life - hell, gifts were the only worthwhile things he could really offer them - and for a moment, he wondered if giving Rhodey back the ability to walk counted. However, he also didn't want to get into that during this interview, so instead he said,

"If we go by reactions, probably some of the tech that I gave the kid."

"Who's the kid?" Chuck asked as they walked across the tarmac.

"The Spiderling," Tony couldn't stop the smile as he thought about the kid. "New York's crime fighting spider, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. You know him?"

"I've heard of him."

"You wanna meet him?"

"Sure!"

Tony gestured. "Then let's go. He should be in here, last I knew."

"Does Spider-Man live here?"

"No," he said. "Spidey's got his own family, but sometimes he comes here for training."

"Will Spider-Man become an Avenger?"

"Who knows?" Tony said as he entered the training building. He hesitated for a moment, debating whether to mention the invite, before eventually settling on, "I will say the kid's doing good work and has the right attitude to become one."

"High praise from Iron-Man," Chuck said as they walked to the edge of the balcony. They looked down over the large gymnasium. Off to the side in another room there was an obstacle course, but at the moment Peter was sparring with Vision. Or rather, it looked like they were testing Peter's strength. "What's your favourite country to visit?"

"Italy."

"What's the last country you visited?"

"Hong Kong, for some business."

They made their way down the steps and, as instructed, neither Peter or Vision turned to look at the camera. They'd been told to wait until Tony or Chuck or both engaged with them.

"What's the best way to de-stress?"

Tony turned and gestured to the sparring pair. "You're looking at it. Spidey, Vision!" he gestured. Vision approached in his usual calm manner, greeting them with a nod, while Peter practically vibrated with excitement as he bounded up with a cheerful,

"Hey Mr Stark! Hey everyone at Vogue and on the internet!" he waved at the camera, the eyes on his mask squinted in happiness.

"Hey Spider-Man, Vision. Who do you normally spar with, Tony?"

"We rotate partners," he said because he couldn't say the truth - that he'd rarely participated in the sparring for relaxation, having preferred to take comfort in a bottle of alcohol.

"Okay, what's your favourite sport?"

"Boxing."

"Cool! Can you show me some moves?"

Tony blinked. "Sure. Spidey, you wanna assist?"

"Yeah!" Peter bounded enthusiastically over to the mats and then held up his hands. "I always wanted to fight you Mr Stark! You ready? One two hyah!" he punched with some of the worst form ever and Tony sighed, pretending to be exasperated but was secretly amused.

"Like this, kid," he said and adjusted Peter's stance. "Stay like this, then pull your fists up like this." He stood opposite Peter and showed him, and Peter mimicked him. "Now, keep your arms like this to protect your face," he showed again and then, when Peter did so, loosely threw a punch. It bounced off Peter's arms and Tony nodded. "You see?"

"So cool," Peter breathed. Tony shook his head, wondering why he always had a lot more heartburn when Peter was around, and took off his jacket. He rolled his shoulders and loosened his dress shirt so he wouldn't accidentally rip it.

The interviewer kept asking questions, as Tony started to both 'show some moves' and teach Peter some basics.

"Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?"

"Pepper."

"Who was the last person you sent a text to?"

"... Probably Pepper too."

"Hey Vision, if you could ask Tony a question, what would you ask?"

Vision tilted his head to the side. "What is the weirdest thing you have seen in someone else’s home?" He'd been given a list of questions to choose from, though he hadn't been allowed to show it to anyone so it would remain a surprise.

"Uh..." Tony used the time he was adjusting Peter's stance again to formulate a safe answer. "I was once in a place where someone kept their baby teeth on display. That was kind of weird."

"What about you Spider-Man?"

"What question would I ask?" Peter checked, then laughed. "Easy. My friend's and I wondered this all the time when we were younger. Mr Stark, could you technically be classified as a cyborg?"

Tony stared at Peter, who stared right back, and then Tony pointed a finger at him. "Just for that, I'm taking the suit back."

"So that's a yes?" Peter grinned. Tony took a step forward, fist coming up threateningly, and Peter back-flipped away. "People of Vogue, I have uncovered his secret!"

"Hey Tony, can you describe Spider-Man in three words?" Chuck interrupted, though the grin on his face indicated he was enjoying it. Tony dropped his fist and turned to the camera. He shoved his hands in his pockets and straightened, trying to regain some dignity.

"Annoying, childish and monstrous," he said without hesitation.

"I see. Hey, what's the best part about being an Avenger?"

"Saving people," he said because he couldn't say the truth, that right now there was no good part of being an Avenger. With the way the Accords were going, the civil war and the lack of S.H.I.E.L.D and Fury, it was looking pretty fucked up.

"What's the hardest part about being an Avenger?"

Tony hesitated, then admitted, "Not saving people." It was all too easy to imagine he was back in that corridor, with the grief-stricken mother. Chuck seemed to sense that, and didn't press any further. "Come on, let me show you the rest of our work-out regime," he said, forcing his voice to sound cheerful, and then twisted and said, "Hey kid, you're coming with us."

"I am?" Peter looked excited but sounded hesitant. They hadn't done this in the rehearsal, after all.

"Yeah, I need someone to give a demonstration. For that cyborg comment, you earned it."

"Worth," the kid muttered as he followed behind Tony and Chuck, who took this chance to ask another question. Possibly given what they'd just talked about, he kept it light.

"Favourite smell?"

"Whatever perfume Pep uses."

"Aww. Favourite cologne?"

"Gendarme V," he said and made a note to check whether the sales of it would increase after this video went public.

"Favourite colour?"

"Take a guess."

"Red and gold?"

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner," Tony said, though he kept it light to indicate teasing rather than mockery.

"Least favourite colour?"

"White." It stained far too easily, with wine, with blood...

"Rolling Stones or the Beatles?"

"Rolling Stones."

They reached the beginning of the obstacle course. Originally, Tony had built it to give Natasha and Steve a challenge, but it had served as excellent entertainment and training for everyone.

"Scary films or happy endings?"

"Happy endings," he said, without really thinking about it because his attention was now on the kid. "Hey Spiderling, you're up."

"Yeah yeah..." Peter sighed dramatically and started moving.

"Diamonds or pearls?"

"Diamonds."

Chuck hesitated, glancing at Peter, before asking, "How do you think he's going to do?"

Tony chuckled. "This course is too easy for him. I need to make some changes so he actually has a challenge, but still, you can get an idea of some of the training we put ourselves through."

"I'm ready Mr Stark!"

"Go when you want kid," Tony said, as Chuck moved further back so he could get both Spider-Man and Tony in the shot.

"So Tony, who are three people alive or dead you would like to have dinner with?"

"Good question," Tony said as he stalled for time, and then decided to go with the easy answer. "Einstein, Newton and Tesla."

"You just couldn't think up anybody else," Peter called as he swung over a mud pit with a web.

"No comments from the peanut gallery, thanks," Tony said and deliberately turned his back on the kid to smile winningly at the camera. "Next question?"

"Do you bake?"

Tony shook his head. "Why cook when you can afford to pay for service?"

"Wait, never?" Peter broke in as he dangled upside-down from a net, and Tony knew he was thinking about all the baking his aunt did. Probably also wished the aunt didn't do any of it either, given the taste.

"Let's just say there's a reason I made a career out of electronics and not baking," Tony said and, when Peter snickered, he added, "Hurry up and finish so we can move on Spiderling."

"What's the farthest you've ever been from home?"

Space sat on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back and said, "I've travelled so many places; I honestly don't know."

"And where were you born?" 

"Manhattan."

Peter landed next to him then, barely out of breath, and Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulder and started guiding them into the next section - a lounge, with a large TV and fridge that used to be stocked with snacks, for everyone to relax after a training session.

"So, for the next few questions I want you both to answer at the same time," Chuck said as they all settled on a seat.

"Yes!" Peter punched the air. Tony pretended to stroke his goatee, but it was really to hide his smile.

"Who's the cooler superhero of you two?"

"I am," Tony said.

"He is," Peter agreed.

"Of the Avengers, who's the strongest?"

"Hulk," Tony said.

"Thor?" Peter shrugged.

"The funniest Avenger?"

"Hawkeye," Tony said. None of them were particularly funny, but Hawkeye enjoyed a practical joke.

"Thor," Peter said firmly. Tony eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing.

"The one most likely to eat all the pizza?"

"Cap or Thor," Tony said.

"Thor...?" Peter was back to being hesitant, but he was still answering with Thor. Not that it bothered Tony.

"The one most likely to wake up in the middle of nowhere with no memory of how they got there?"

Tony considered saying himself, given it had happened before after drinking, but that would look bad, so he said, "Bruce," because he knew it had also happened to his friend, though for a different reason.

"... Thor?"

"Okay," Tony huffed and twisted to look at Peter. "Since when did you care about Thor so much?"

Peter shrugged back. "Thor's a God, man. Not just any god either, the ruler of the nine realms. Or was it seven? Anyway, he's definitely in charge of all of us. Until you tell me otherwise, he can do anything."

"Christ, how did I miss this?" Tony sighed.

"Okay, what's something stupid you've done you don't want the other to know about?"

Tony blinked, squinted, then admitted, "I think most of my stupidest decisions have already been caught on camera. I've got nothing to hide."

"Hey man, not cool..." The eyes on Peter's mask were wide with terror, but of course the kid didn't even consider making something up. "Okay, I've got one, though it's not really something stupid I did..." He turned to look at Tony. "Remember a few weeks back, I came to you with a ripped suit 'cause I was fighting off all those muggers like a total badass?"

"You know, half my grey hairs come from you," Tony muttered.

"Well it wasn't really muggers, I just didn't wanna tell you 'cause I didn't think you'd believe me," Peter continued like Tony had said nothing, little bastard. "There was this mutant cat and I swear -"

Tony snorted before he could stop himself and then straightened, cleared his throat and regained his composure immediately. It had been a long time since he'd snorted with anyone, let alone on camera, and of course it would be because of this damn kid.

"You're telling me a goddamn cat ripped up my million dollar suit?" he said incredulously.

"Mutant cat," Peter said weakly. "Its claws were super sharp."

Tony just shook his head and turned back to Chuck. "Please, give me something."

"Being a superhero isn't all glamour I guess," Chuck said with a sympathetic smile, before asking, "If you could choose one superpower to have, what would it be and why?" When Peter and Tony shared a confused glance, Chuck elaborated. "You both wear suits and use technology, which aren't technically superpowers. Compared with Thor, for example, who can call thunder."

Irrationally, Tony felt a flash of irritation at the mention of Thor again, and it had nothing to do with the way Peter perked up.

"I mean, I -"

"Kid," Tony shot a warning glance at him, almost certain he was about to say he did have powers, then continued with his own answer, not the truth but the easiest. "Super strength. I've seen Cap do a lot with that." Chuck nodded, then glanced at Peter.

"Time travel with the ability to take people with me," Peter said so quickly Tony raised an eyebrow at him. Peter lifted his chin up, refusing to be embarrassed. "You've got to be specific with these kinds of things."

"Really," Tony said.

"Yeah, it's like the wishes," Peter said. "You can wish to be immortal, okay, but if you don't say 'be immortal and look forever young and be healthy' then you're gonna grow old and have health problems but you'll never die, which is awful, right? So you've got to give it a lot of consideration. So, that's why I say time travel with the ability to take people with me, because travelling through time is so cool but if you do it alone it's gonna be super lonely too."

"... Sometimes I wonder what you get up to in your free time," Tony eyed Peter and then looked back at Chuck.

"You'll thank me later, if you ever run into a genie," Peter said. And Tony wanted to say genies didn't exist, but a few years ago aliens hadn't existed either.

"Okay, I gotta start wrapping this up," Chuck said and stood.

"Right, sure," Tony followed. "I'll take you the long way out. Kid, come with us. Happy'll be waiting to take you home, probably." He hadn't exactly asked him yet, but F.R.I.D.A.Y would pass on the message.

There was another exit back out onto the compound, and they slowly walked around the building back to where they had started. As they walked, Chuck asked,

"If you were stuck on a desert island with only one other Avenger, who would you take?"

Tony tilted his head to the side briefly and said, "Bruce or Rhodey. They could fight and help come up with a way home."

"And what's your favourite thing about yourself?"

"My engineering ability," he said easily.

"Okay, a few things to go out with then. One song you recommend people listen to?"

"ACDC Back in Black."

"One book you recommend people read?"

"I don't really read, so I can't," he shrugged apologetically.

"Fair enough. One movie?"

"Tropic Thunder."

"One dish?"

"Peking duck."

"And lastly," Chuck said as they reached the spot where they'd parked the car. "What advice would you give to someone who needs a hero, but can't find one?"

Tony panicked, though he didn't let it show in his expression. What could he say to that? What was the right thing to say to that? How could he flip it off casually like the rest of the questions?

"I can tell you what he told me if you like," Peter said quietly. "It's not the suit or the technology that makes you a hero. It's what you do, and how you act, that makes you one. If you need a hero, but can't find one... you become one yourself."

"... Tony?" Chuck glanced back at Tony, who just shook his head and wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders. His throat was oddly tight and he was grateful for the sunglasses so they would hide his sudden need to blink.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," he said.

"Great, well, thanks so much for letting me come," Chuck said.

"No problem. Why don't you get a ride out?" Tony gestured and then Chuck climbed into the car. He angled the camera up, then Tony shut the door and after a few seconds, Chuck turned off the camera and dropped it. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, open the window," he ordered and the window came down.

"That was... honestly fantastic, Mr Stark," Chuck said. "I'll take it back and we'll edit it up, then we'll send it to your team before publishing."

"Pepper will get in touch," Tony nodded.

"Right. It was lovely to meet you, Mr Stark, and you too Spider-Man," Chuck held out his hand to shake.

"You too, man," Peter said and shook it. "I love watching these interviews."

"Then I hope you'll enjoy watching this one too," Chuck said.

"It's Iron-Man, how could I not?" Peter laughed and looked up at Tony.

Tony should probably see his doctor about the frequency of the tightening in his chest.

Wosenhimer  2 hours ago
My ovaries are ready for this man

Nah6Sweaty Six minutes ago
Damn, Stark's totally jealous of Spidey's love for Thor #TonyStarkHasaHeart

Hawkish_eye 1 hour ago
"You know half my grey hairs come from you" HAHAHA Its like hes a dad or something

Elicityes4634 35 minutes ago
Look at Spidey nail that obstacle course like its nothing and I can barely get out of bed in the morning

Swagever 2 hours ago
I want him

24/7

Nat_Cutie_Camp 1 hour ago
So I thought he was super arrogant and didn't care at all but when he's with other people it's like he's a totally different person #mindblown

Angelrer1993 Ten minutes ago
"Powerful organised patient NO powerful efficient patient" LOL Stark can be funny without being a dick who knew?

xmypandabear 30 minutes ago
Look at 5:47 his eyes crinkle he's totally hiding a smile with that hand

"Peter holy shit dude," Ned gaped at him.

"I know man oh my god you have no idea -" Peter's voice rose with every word.

"Holy freaking shit dude -"

They both started to hyperventilate. Michelle sighed at them from across the table.

Chapter Text

2.

'I REMEMBER EVERYONE WE DON'T SAVE', IRON MAN SAYS.
Stunning, heart-breaking video footage captured by a nurse of Tony Stark and the vigilante Spider-Man gives us a unique insight to the man behind the suit and reveals the meaning behind the name 'Avengers', after a tragic turn at a children's hospital in Queens leaves both heroes reeling.

"Boss, incoming call from Peter Parker."

Tony tensed, glanced at the clock and then forcibly relaxed his shoulders when he realised it was the middle of the day. The kid should be at school, not patrolling, which meant the call wouldn't be about something life-threatening. Shouldn't be about it, anyway. If he remembered right, the kid should be on lunch break, not that he'd hacked into the school for the kid's timetable because that would be weird. Except Peter rarely rang him during the week, and he'd never rung while he was at school, so what if -?

"I'll take it," he said before his brain could get ahead of itself.

"Hey Mr Stark!" Peter's voice echoed around his lab a few seconds later, filled with his usual enthusiasm, and Tony relaxed for real.

"Kid, please don't tell me you got food poisoning and need me to pick you up," he joked as he picked up his screwdriver and re-started building. Peter didn't seem sure how to respond, judging by the pause.

"Uh... nope, no poisoning of the food here - well, nothing unusual anyway," Peter's tone turned more thoughtful as he actually considered the topic. "Hey Mr Stark, why do you think school meals are always so disgusting? Shouldn't they be delicious so we're encouraged to eat more healthy food? Maybe they want to make us more miserable..."

Tony realised he'd made a crucial error and worked to fix it immediately.

"Kid," he snapped and then half-winced. Was that too harsh? "Clock's ticking, time's wasting," he tried to temper his tone into something calm.

"Yeah okay so I'm really sorry but I can't come to the compound this weekend but I swear, I'll make it up to you -"

"Hold up," Tony interrupted and could've sworn he heard Peter's jaw click shut. "Why can't you come?" He tried his best to sound neutral and not offended or hurt, because he wasn't, he was just a bit surprised because usually the kid was so enthusiastic about coming over to the compound he'd trip over his own feet in his haste, and that was easier said than done given his abilities.

There was a pause and the hint of a whispered conversation, before Peter came back and said,

"Michelle's invited me and Ned to do - this thing, and it's... this weekend's the only time we can all do it together and... um... is that okay?" Christ, the kid was actually hesitant about asking whether he could do some normal teenager activities instead of play superhero.

Like Tony could refuse.

"No problem kid," he said. "Go enjoy the concert or whatever it is young people do these days on the weekend."

"It's not a - okay, yeah, thank you so much Mr Stark. I'll definitely see you in two weeks though!"

After that, Tony didn't give it a passing thought - after all, it freed up a weekend to spend with Pepper. (They made sure to spend their rare free time together wisely.)

In hindsight, that was probably when it all started.

He paid more attention two weeks later when the kid bailed again on coming to the compound.

"You're gonna hurt my feelings here kid," he said as he scrounged around for a box.

"I'm really sorry Mr Stark, it's just -"

"You don't have to be sorry for wanting to be a teenager," Tony interrupted, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "Christ kid, I'm actually a little relieved."

"... You are?"

"You've been working hard, for a long time," he said as he found the box he'd discarded earlier and made his way over to the table he'd prepped for Peter's arrival later that weekend. "You should be going out with your friends, having parties - it is a party, right?"

"Um, I guess you could say that..."

"Just don't let your Aunt catch you having a few drinks and -"

"Mr Stark!" Peter protested. Tony grinned.

"Enjoy the weekend kid."

"... You too, Mr Stark."

He spent the next few minutes putting all the materials he'd prepared for Peter to tinker with that weekend back in the box. He'd designed them so Peter would learn a few specific skills which were necessary before he could start working on the suits. However, all of it would keep for when the kid wanted to come back - there wasn't a time limit on any of it.

The kid was finally having a life, so why wasn't Tony happy about it?

He got his answer a week later, when May called for their monthly check-in.

Officially, it was a check-in with each other on this kid they somehow shared and whether they'd noticed anything suspicious, because the brat loved to hide important things like injuries. Unofficially, Tony gave May data from the patrols such as an injury list, and May would thank him and then hang up.

This time, the conversation started as normal but then a throwaway comment gave him reason to pause.

"- don't know what you've been doing on the weekends, but he's been really distracted with it," she said with a laugh. "Is it really as classified as he says?"

He had a split-second to decide.

"Afraid so," he lied. "But the instant he can say something, you'll be the first to know."

"Right," she said.

Later, once they'd hung up, he clasped his fingers together on top of his desk, stared ahead at the wall and wondered what the fuck he was supposed to do. Part of him wanted to confront Peter immediately, scold him for lying and trying to play them against each other, but memories of his own father scolding him without waiting for an explanation swam in front of his mind. He still remembered how frustrated he'd felt not being listened to.

The other part of him pointed out that this was Peter Parker, the kid who even when he fucked up did so with the best of intentions, and his friends were involved which significantly lowered the odds of it being dangerous. It indicated Peter was actually - properly - acting like a normal teenager, lying and sneaking out behind his parents' backs.

Tony pressed a hand to his chest because the combination of pride, worry and anger made it ache fiercely.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, bring up the log for when Peter wore his suit," he said as he reached for his tablet.

"Yes boss," she said.

He scanned through the dates and times. The past week had been normal, but his heart sank when he realised the weekends Peter had bailed on coming to compound stood out. The suit wasn't worn for the usual three hour average - it had been worn almost all day both days. Had Peter lied about being with his friends as well?

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, what areas did he patrol?" he asked, pretending there wasn't disappointment welling up in his chest at being proven wrong.

After a few seconds, F.R.I.D.A.Y reported, "It appears there is only one location Peter visited during those days. He stayed there all day."

Tony blinked. "What? Where?"

"A children's hospital."

The address popped up on his tablet, along with the contact information for it, and Tony stared blankly. The kid had spent all day, in his suit, in a children's hospital?

"Was he injured?"

"No."

"Then why was he there?" F.R.I.D.A.Y didn't reply, but there was still one thing left he could do to get answers before he finally caved and called Peter himself. "Pull up the Baby Monitor feed, from the first moment he's at the hospital."

Which was how he found out Peter wasn't being a normal teenager after all.

(If he were honest, what the kid was doing more than made up for it).

 "What's your name? I'm Spider-Man. How are you doing?"

-

"Do you wanna see a flip?"

"Yeah!"

-

"Nice to meet you. I'm Spider-Man."

"I saw a kid wearing Spider-Man shoes."

"No way! Did they look like these? These are real Spider-Man shoes."

-

"... and then I press this button, and the web comes out...

-

"High-five buddy! Nice to meet you!"

-

"Can you really climb buildings?"

"Yeah I can, yeah. Because I'm sticky, look."

"Woah."

Rather than calling Peter immediately, he decided to watch F.R.I.D.A.Y's logs and wait.

Over the next few weeks, the amount of time Peter spent visiting the various hospitals slowly increased. He went from every other weekend to every weekend, even cutting his patrols short to spend an hour or so there, and Tony realised this could turn into a problem if he didn't get on it now.

The next time Peter rang and cancelled their scheduled weekend together, he pretended to dismiss it like it was nothing and then waited for the weekend in question to arrive. F.R.I.D.A.Y alerted him when Peter slipped on the suit and headed to the first hospital. He let the kid be there for a couple of hours, then put on his shades, a classy baseball cap and tried to dress down as much as he could. He took his least flashy car and drove over to the hospital, then sat in the carpark and called the kid. On his tablet, the baby monitor feed showed the reaction.

"Oh shit Mr Stark's calling," he heard Peter hiss as the camera turned to a boy the same age as Peter that looked vaguely familiar.

"Dude, answer it!" the other boy whispered as they both ducked out into the hospital corridor.

"I can't! What if he traces it or something?" the camera moved to stare down at Peter's battered mobile, one that Peter refused to let Tony replace no matter how hard he pushed.

"He's definitely gonna trace it if you don't answer," Peter's friend pointed out. "He might think you're out Spider-Man-ing and in danger. Just act natural!" Tony approved of that logic.

"Okay okay, right, I can - yeah." He heard Peter exhale and then he answered the phone, and his voice echoed twice in the car. "H-heeyyyyyy Mr S, what's up?"

Peter's friend muttered, "Dude!" with a shake of his head.

"Mr S? Are you going through a phase? That's a thing teenagers do, right?" Tony wondered, then shook his head and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Whatever, not important. Care to explain why your aunt thinks you've been coming to the compound recently?" Peter was silent, but the Baby Monitor showed his arms were flapping at his friend who threw his hands up in the air back. "Relax kid, I covered for you."

"... Thanks, Mr Stark," the kid said quietly.

"This isn't a get out of jail free card. You gotta tell me what you are up to, or I'll let her know you've been lying to her again." He wouldn't if he didn't have to though; he'd rather not give her any more ammunition to be pissed at him.

"Uh..."

Why was he so hesitant to say? Still, Tony was never one to pass up an opportunity.

"Is it drugs? Alcohol?" he paused deliberately and then fake-gasped, "Parker, have you scored? Do I need to give you the Talk? When a man and a woman -"

"Oh - ohmygod no, Mr Stark nonono no way-"

"- love each other very much, they get certain feelings," Tony continued like he couldn't hear Peter's despair. "They might feel the urge to kiss each other, or touch, or even -"

"I'mnotseeinganyoneohgodpleasestop!"

Tony obeyed and the sounds of Peter almost hyperventilating echoed over the phone and the tablet. He waited until the kid had calmed down a little before putting him out of his misery. "Kid, do you really think I don't know what you've been doing? I can track the suit, see what you see. Hell, I'm outside the hospital right now."

"I - you - outside?"

"South entrance." Tony hung up, got out the car and leant against the side. He kept one hand in his pocket to help project the 'chill' factor while the other watched the Baby Monitor slowly move through the corridors, down some stairs, out a lot of doors until finally Tony could see the kid in person, at the entrance. He refused to wave to the kid to draw his attention, letting his posture do all the work.

To his credit, Peter made a beeline for him once he looked the right direction.

"I can't believe you're here!" Peter said as he came up.

"Get in."

Tony grabbed his shoulder, opened the door to the backseat and shoved him inside. While the kid might trust the doctors and nurses to be discreet - and Tony would absolutely be all over this with NDAs when he got the chance - his red, black and blue suit would draw too much attention in the car park. He then followed the kid, shut the door and twisted so he could give Peter his best disapproving look.

Satisfaction rolled through him as Peter leaned back, almost pressing against the opposite door under the force.

"So. Explanation time. I'm all ears."

"I - uh - okay, so, remember I told you a few weeks back MJ invited me somewhere?" Tony frowned. MJ? Had Peter gathered a third friend? He'd thought, from all the rambling, Peter only had two - a girl and a boy. "You thought it was a concert?"

Oh. He vaguely remembered that now, but- "Didn't you call her Mary-Jane or something?"

"No, not - she's not Mary Jane, she's Michelle, but she said her friends call her MJ because her last name's -"

"I don't need a life story kid."

"- Well I was nearly done but - okay! okay, fair," Peter bobbed his head and then said, "Well she found out I was Spider-Man after that video for Vogue, said she recognised my voice and already had her suspicions, but that'd just confirmed it and she has a cousin who works in the children's hospital who said a lot of the kids in hospitals love the Avengers and superheroes and they'd absolutely die if one of them visited-"

"Die?" Tony's eyebrows rose.

"Not actually die, like metaphorically, because - never mind, anyway, so she asked if I could help out and, uh, we've been coming back ever since..." he trailed off and glanced down at his lap. "... Do you disapprove?"

Tony sighed and glanced out the window towards the hospital. What was the best way to go about this? He should tell Peter to stop because it put his identity at risk, not to mention it was another responsibility he didn't need, but if Tony did that, Peter would only be more determined to keep it up. For all that he was a good-hearted kid, he had an independent streak a mile wide.

It was probably a good thing for the world that Peter had set his sights on superhero-ing and not villainy.

"Tell me why you've been doing it more often recently," he eventually said.

Peter was quiet for a minute and then pulled off his mask and looked at it. There were dark circles under his eyes that Tony didn't remember being there a few weeks ago. "It just means so much to the kids, you know?" he said softly, his thumb running over one of the eyes. "They're in so much pain, but after a few minutes with Spider-Man..." he shook his head and looked back up at Tony, and all at once Tony was thrown back to the first time he met the kid. He was using the same tone now that he had back then. "If spending time with them gives them a reason to fight and get better, how can I not? And there's so many kids Mr Stark - I never knew, but they're all fighting so hard to live -" his voice broke and he hunched his shoulders. "I have to help them."

Tony's eyes fell down a little, to focus on the mask as well, and thought about how best to phrase it. "You can't do it to the exclusion of everything else," he said. "You're already patrolling less, and you've practically given up time in the lab with me."

"I haven't -" Peter's head snapped back up and he looked mortified. Tony held up a hand and he fell silent.

"I'm not offended kid, just - look. You're never going to be able to visit every hospital and help them all. You've been to what, four hospitals now? What do you plan to do, stop going to school to get to the others? What about all the hospitals you can't reach?"

"I hadn't -"

"Thought about it? I can see that."

Peter frowned. "But if I have the time -"

"Do you have the time, or have you been making time? 'Cause where I'm sitting, it looks a lot like the latter."

Peter bit his lip and an odd expression crossed his face, one Tony didn't recognise. "Then... what should I do?"

Finally, something Tony could answer. "Tell your aunt the truth," he said. Then she could deal with it and Tony could go back to making suits and not freaking out or feeling some stupid obligation towards the situation.

"But what if she's mad?"

Tony gestured at the hospital. "Oh she's gonna be mad, but not about this."

Peter grimaced. "The lying?"

"The lying," Tony agreed. Peter sighed but nodded, looking resigned, and Tony couldn't resist the urge to reach out and ruffle the kid's already messy hair. It was a little sweaty from being under the mask, but the kid's protests were amusing enough to make it worth it. "Good talk kid. Glad you're finally learning to listen to the adults in your life." Peter rolled his eyes and Tony pointed a finger at him. "Don't give me that attitude, brat."

"As you wish, Mr Stark," Peter said, but his lips twitched. Tony narrowed his eyes. Why did it feel like he was missing a joke suddenly?

"I got one more thing to ask you," he said, deciding to let it go for now. Peter straightened, eyes going wide and a little panicked. "You've already been here - two hours? Three?"

"Uh... two and a half," Peter agreed after checking the time.

"Go home. Do whatever nerdy things you and your friend normally do."

"But I could stay longer -"

"Nope, nu uh. You're done, you hear me? You need to take a break from this, recharge. You've got eye bags the size of the US. Come back tomorrow morning if you want, but no more today. Capiche?" Peter scowled and didn't answer. "If you're not back with your aunt in two hours, I'm gonna ring and tell her myself," he added, just to make sure Peter understood.

"Fine," the kid huffed. "Can I go now?"

"Thank you for caring about my health and well-being Mr Stark," Tony said, raising his voice in a bad imitation of the kid, then returned to his normal tone and said, "You're welcome Spiderling, thank you for appreciating that I took time out of my busy schedule to check up on you, and for covering you in front of your aunt -"

"I get it!" Peter blurted. He'd turned a bright red. Mental note for future compliance: just imply the kid wasn't grateful. "I really am grateful Mr Stark, I'll go right now, okay? Look, this is me going." He opened the door and got out the car.

"Mask!" Tony snapped.

"Oh, right!" Peter hastily bent back into the car and pulled on his mask, before staggering back out. "I'll just go get Ned and -"

"Yup. Keep fighting the good fight kid," Tony said as he got out himself and moved to the front of the car. Just before getting in, he paused and looked over the roof to the brat. "The stuff you're doing..." he hesitated, then said gruffly, "I'm proud of you." He pretended the kid didn't straighten and ducked into the car without making eye contact. "Now get out of here."

"Y-yeah, going! Bye Mr Stark!"

Tony watched him run back inside and shook his head, but strangely he couldn't stop smiling.

With Aunt May finally in the know, Peter’s schedule changed again. He re-started coming over to the compound every second weekend. The weekends he didn’t come, he spent a few hours in the morning on Saturday and Sunday in the hospitals, then spent the rest of the day doing whatever it was teenagers did, and his daily patrol times returned to their usual length. In their next catch-up phone call, May passed on that he had Decathlon Tuesday and Thursdays after school. Add in school work and it left the kid busy, but between May and Tony they managed to make sure he was getting enough food and sleep.

Things were good for several months - so of course, they were overdue something bad.

The day it all fell apart had started so well, too.

"That was so amazing Mr Stark," Peter breathed for the millionth time as they walked through the hospital corridors. It was interesting how the Spider-Man suit drew attention, but no one stopped them. "Thank you so much for coming!" Tony'd appreciated the gratitude at first, but now it was just annoying.

"If you thank me one more time, I'll walk out," he threatened. The electronic eyes on the suit widened, but then he nodded and finally fell silent.

Tony sighed silently, feeling wrung-out, and it wasn't even midday yet. They'd just left a boy who had been receiving a new prototype for a metal arm, making him a literal 'Iron-Man', or Iron-Boy in this case. The boy was also a big Iron-Man fan, so when Peter had heard he'd begged for Tony to come visit. Tony'd hesitated - opening the door for one visit meant opening the door for many in the future - but the kid's puppy-dog eyes were too powerful to resist. He was glad he'd come though because the prototype arm was impressive, and had given him a lot of ideas. He planned to invest in the company so they could mass-produce it and help more kids.

Oh, and the boy's day had been made. The most important part, according to some people.

"Spider-Man!"

They both turned. A nurse came to a halt in front of them, a hand to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Tony got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Are you okay Marilyn?" Peter asked.

"It's Michelle," the nurse said. "She's taken a turn for the worse."

"Worse how?" Tony cut in, putting an arm out to stop Peter rushing off immediately. The kid shifted against it impatiently but obeyed, and the nurse focused on Tony for the first time. She did a double-take, before shaking it off.

"I'm afraid I can't discuss a patient's health -"

"Then why are you coming to Spider-Man?" he interrupted. "Hero or not, you can't just -"

"Mr Stark, please," Peter said. The seriousness in his tone was the only thing that convinced Tony to pause. "How long does she have left?" The nurse's lips just thinned, which was apparently answer enough if the way Peter's shoulders slumped was any indication. The kid turned to Tony and said calmly, "I have to go."

If he'd gotten angry, or upset, Tony wouldn't have allowed it. The kid already took on far too much responsibility, had already seen some of the worst of humanity out on his patrols, he didn't need to see a kid die in front of him as well - but the calm, the seriousness, the way he'd already straightened upright and lifted his chin slightly... it was Steve at his finest. Tony knew then that if he tried to stop him, it would damage their relationship severely, so he dropped his arm, stepped aside and silently followed Peter and the nurse through the winding corridors until they were outside a private room.

"You don't have to come in," Peter said as he glanced up at Tony.

Tony felt guilty at the rush of relief and tried to relieve it by placing a hand on the kid's shoulder and promising, "I'll be right outside."

The nurse and Peter went into the room. Tony got a glimpse of a little blonde girl lying on the bed, younger than ten, with a lot of tubes in her arms and two distraught parents on either side, before the door swung shut.

Minutes passed. Tony couldn't find a comfortable position to wait in, alternating between leaning against the wall and sitting in a chair, but he kept himself busy by answering emails he'd been putting off for awhile. When he'd worked through that, he brought up some schematics for a new suit - after glancing suspiciously around the corridor to make sure there wasn't any CCTV - and added a few new ideas that had been inspired by the metal arm earlier.

The silence was broken by a heart-wrenching wail of a woman, albeit muted by the door, and Tony swallowed. He put away his phone and stood up, was surprised when he had to wipe sweaty palms on his trousers, wasn't surprised by the way his heart raced and his left arm tingled.

It was both too soon and too long before the door opened and Peter stepped out of the room. His head was bowed and his shoulders trembled, but he wasn't making a sound.

"Kid?" he broke the silence. Peter flinched a little and Tony corrected, "Peter." His tone was gentle, he didn't want to spook or provoke the kid in any way. Peter looked up at him and Tony suddenly floundered. What the hell was he supposed to say? What should he do? Did the kid need a hug or - or did he want to walk it off? With anything else Tony would've tried to play it off with humor, but with the kid looking at him so expectantly - and it was expectant, for all that the mask hid emotions - he couldn't even do that. He shoved his hands in his pockets, took a step back, had to break this silence. "... How you doing?" Peter shrugged and looked back at the floor. Right, yeah. That was - not unexpected.

They couldn't just stand there for eternity, Tony decided, after glancing around again. Just because they were down a private corridor didn't mean people weren't watching, and he wanted to get Peter somewhere he could take the mask off and just breathe for a minute.

He cleared his throat and said, "Come on," then started down the hall. He didn't look back over his shoulder, but he heard footsteps so at least the kid was following.

They attracted more attention walking back - clearly word had got out Tony Stark was around, because some of the people watching were dressed suspiciously like undercover journalists. They'd almost escaped when one of the kids tried to stop them and Tony swore when Peter just stared down at the kid - another blonde girl, though much younger than the last - before letting out a quiet sob and dashing away. Tony barely managed to keep Peter in his sights as he ran after him, his heart thumping painfully, and he absently wondered if he should do more cardio again.

Peter ducked into a room and Tony followed. The kid had settled in the furthest corner and was sitting down, head buried in his knees and arms wrapped around them. Tony paused, pressed a hand to his chest and waited until his breathing had evened out before slowly walking over and settling down next to Peter. The position made his back ache and his knees protested, but it was worth it when he put an arm over the kid's shoulders and Peter leant into him slightly. In the silence, Tony studied the room. It was dimly lit, more like a storage area than an actual patient's room, but it wasn't too dusty so it obviously saw some use.

After a long moment, he glanced back down at the kid's head and wondered if he should start the conversation. When his parents had died, nothing anyone said would've made it better. Rhodey had sat by his side, silent but there, and it had been the most useful thing for him then. Emotions were hard, talking about them even harder -but Peter, thank god, wasn't him.

Peter was better than him, in every way.

Someone like Peter probably needed to talk about it and his aunt would've been best, but Tony worried what Peter would do if he was left alone, so they sat there in the quiet, Tony's head whirling with endless scenarios to take this, going round and round until suddenly -

"How do you do it?"

Tony was so fucking relieved to hear the kid that he could've cried. "Do what?" he asked instead.

"How do you handle it, when no matter how hard you try you can't save someone?"

Jesus fucking Christ, nope, the silence was infinitely better compared to this. How the hell could he tell Peter what to do, when it was the results of that very question which kept him up night after night? And maybe the kid wasn't aware yet, but Tony could feel the pressure of the question weighing on his shoulders.

It was a question Peter would face again and again because Tony could give him all the tech in the world, but eventually a day would come when Spider-Man failed to save someone. Maybe a patrol going wrong, maybe a wrong decision during a battle - but it would happen. What Tony said didn't just have to help right now, but all those future times as well.

How could anyone stand that kind of pressure?

"Mr Stark?" Peter actually lifted his head from Tony's shoulder and pulled back slightly, and Tony swallowed. How did the saying go? 'Honesty is the best policy'.

"If you ever find out, let me know," he said and his voice was rougher than he would've liked, so he cleared his throat again.

"... Oh."

Shit. Shit shit shit. The kid hunched into himself even further, pulled back a little more from Tony, and that had clearly been wrong, so Tony tightened his grip on the kid's shoulder and started babbling.

"Everything I've done since - since putting on the armor, everything I'll do today, everything I'll ever do, I do to protect this world," he said. "But what I didn't know then - what I know now, looking back - was that with that armor, I also took on more power than anybody was meant to have, and - and probably more responsibility than any heart can bear, than I can bear," he had to pause to clear his throat again, get rid of the sudden hoarseness. "That's why the Avengers are - were - so great, because it wasn't just  - me, anymore. Whatever happened, that responsibility was now shared, but... did you ever wonder why we called ourselves that?"

"You mean the name?"

"Yeah, it was - it was just a stupid idea, at the time, but looking back now - the name came from an idea of failure," he admitted. "That if we couldn't protect the world, we would avenge it. Because people always ask 'how many have died' and it's always 'too goddamn many', whether that's one or one hundred and seventy-seven, and kid - I've saved a lot of people, but I don't remember many of them. You wanna know who I do remember?" he paused and waited for the kid's nod before continuing, "Everyone I - we - couldn't save. I remember them. I remember them all."

Peter gasped quietly and started, "But..." and then trailed off, like he wasn't sure what to say.

Tony's vision blurred as he looked down at his lap and clenched his free fist. "Most people think saving people is the burden. That's - I think the burden is the ones we don't save. And I wish - I wish so much that I could tell you it goes away, that it gets easier, but it doesn't, kid. There are gonna be days you can't save someone, and days you can't save anyone. There's gonna be nightmares, and insomnia, and some days you'll make yourself sick from guilt, and other days you'll want to give up. And that's... there's no... you just have to pick yourself up and keep moving anyway. The world doesn't care whether you can cope or not. Once you take on that mantle, you never take it off."

They fell into silence again. 

His words echoed around the room and his head, and he tried not to flinch when Peter put his head back on his shoulder because he felt so raw, so exposed emotionally that even the lightest touch hurt. It's for Peter, he kept reminding himself, because Peter needed him to be better. The kid didn't have anybody else - even his aunt couldn't do much for this.

"Christ I miss Steve," he muttered without really thinking.

"Captain America?" Peter asked. He didn't sound happier, but his voice did seem a little lighter.

Tony sighed, tipped his head back against the wall. "Yeah. He'd've known what to say. He was always the best of us." He meant to add at this but the words didn't come, and his statement hung in the air, until he added, "You should've chosen him for a mentor instead, you're so much like him." Which really just meant they were good people right to their core, unlike Tony, who always ruined everything he touched.

Case in point, he'd just basically destroyed any ideas of grandeur about the kid's future as a superhero.

"I am?" the kid brightened. Tony wanted to make a joke about that hero worship, but he was just too tired, too bruised, so he just nodded and shut his eyes. He was done. As soon as he got out of this he was going to lock himself up in the lab for a month and damn what Pepper would say about it. Business meetings? What were they again? Then the kid took a deep breath, like he was preparing to say something important, and Tony tuned in involuntarily. "What you said works, you know, 'cause it's... the truth, right? It's... from your experience, so it's - real, not some PSA or whatever, and I - I think - if someone told me it would get easier, or you get used to it, I wouldn't believe them, but maybe I'd - in future, if it... happened, I'd be less prepared.  So. Thank you, Mr Stark."

"Kid, after this, you should really call me Tony."

"... Thank you, Tony," Peter whispered.

This time when the silence came, it was more comfortable.

jjodi07 2 minutes ago
shitty footage, awesome message

Valhellwha  5 minutes ago
'too damn many, whether it's 1 or 177' omg my heart is broken

1liontiger 5 minutes ago
He still misses the Captain! </3

Taaa_daaa 6 minutes ago
Ouch. This hurts.

blancomarco 7 minutes ago
wow you can hear in his tone hes just so broken up over it

wpotus 8 minutes ago
I actually felt bad for him when I heard this... never thought I'd say that about Iron-Man

Carte678 11 minutes
seriously though how old is Spidey? 12?????

IronSanta 12 minutes ago
This is so sad. What happened before this? :(

starsnspaghetti 15 minutes ago
ok its sad but can we go back to the fact spidey and ironman apparently visits hospitals and makes kids better please??

ihearthawks 16 minutes ago
he feels bad? ok lol so everything is ok... uh no theyre still dead who cares if he cant sleep he deserves it

Chapter Text

3.

Tony Stark Chats With Ellen For the First Time
For the first time ever, Tony Stark aka Iron-Man sat down with Ellen and he chatted about becoming a billionaire, his recent work with the hospital and the new investment he's making into prosthetics, topping it off by revealing how - and why - he and Spider-Man met for the first time.

 “… cope or not. Once you take on that mantle, you never take it off.”

This time the words weren’t an echo but a recording. It was low quality, with a lot of noise in the background, but someone had ‘helpfully’ edited it so his voice was still clear.

“Play it again,” he ordered.

“Yes boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y said. The words repeated.

“… I didn’t know then – what I know now, looking back – was that with that armour, I also took on more power than anybody was meant to have, and – and probably more responsibility…”

He flinched every time his voice broke, curled inwards at every pause, squeezed his eyes shut when he focused on the ‘I-don’t-know-what-the-fuck-I’m-saying-but-I’m-trying’ panic barely under the surface, as if all those actions would protect the gaping wound in his chest. He may not have been physically stabbed, but the recording had cut just as deep as a knife.

“Again,” he ordered.

“… people always ask ‘how many have died’ and it’s always ‘too goddamn many’, whether that’s one or…”

He put his face into his palms, fingertips pressing hard enough against his forehead and cheeks to bruise, and tried to breathe in through his nose, out through his mouth. He did it again, and again, deep enough he made himself dizzy but still didn’t stop because it was the only thing stopping him from drowning.

“Tony…”

Soft hands curled around his fingers and he let Pepper pull them away from his face. He knew he must look a mess, but when he worked up the courage to meet her eyes, there was only love and concern looking back.

“Hey Pep,” he whispered.

“Hey you,” she whispered back, then squeezed his hands and said, “It will get better. In a few days, something new will come along.”

“It only took a few hours for Pearl Harbour to fall,” he said. “Took the Titanic two and a half. Aliens invaded New York and had destroyed or damaged half within the first hour. It took Stane -”

“I love you, Tony,” she interrupted and the apparent disconnect was enough to make him pause. She continued, “but this is hardly in the same category. It doesn’t even rate that highly on leaks about you compared to thirty, twenty, even ten years ago.”

On one level, he understood what she meant - looked at a certain way, the recording painted him in a positive light. Hell, it was the first time in years he could remember the news outlets talking about him sympathetically, but this also wasn’t the latest fling, or the ‘Merchant of Death’, or even to do with the Avengers – this was him, the real him, now exposed for everyone to see.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, repeat today’s headlines,” he said, instead of replying.

“The New York Times says ‘STARK-RAVING MAD’, the New York Daily News says ‘A STARK CONTRAST: IRON-MAN TO IRON-DAMNED’, the New York Herald says -”

Pepper sighed. “It’s still not -”

“Uh-uh. Not done yet,” he held up a finger and she obligingly fell silent. “What’s currently trending, Fri?”

“Hashtag Tony Stark Has A Heart,” F.R.I.D.A.Y said. Tony turned indignantly back to Pepper who – “Is that a smile? Are you smiling right now?”

“I kind of like that,” she admitted, then added, “Tony, given our stock hasn’t actually taken a hit, I’m calling this a win.” Stock, right. The company. He’d briefly given it some thought, before becoming overwhelmed with the realisation the entire world held arguably his greatest weakness. He sighed, let his shoulders slump and sank back in the chair.

“Where are we on the law suit?”

“He's being buried as we speak," Pepper said and there was a vicious satisfaction in her tone that made something tighten in his stomach.

“Let me guess. The New York Post? They’ve never liked me. Or the Pulse? Greedy money grabbers.” He looked at her expectantly, but she didn’t answer immediately. He narrowed his eyes. “Pep? Something wrong?”

“He worked for the Daily Bugle,” she said as she stood up with a slight wince and picked up her briefcase.

Tony frowned. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s a small-time tabloid. All rubbish, making money off celebrity gossip and such,” she hesitated. Tony waited because it looked like she was having an internal debate. Eventually, she added, “Over the past few months they’ve been targeting specific people with vicious spins, trying to make them look bad.”

“Tell me something I don't know," he said, unimpressed. She just opened her briefcase and pulled out a few copies of a newspaper, The Daily Bugle he assumed, then unfolded it so he could see the headline and front-page picture.

He stared at SPIDER-MAN: HERO OR MENACE? and said, “What the fuck?”

Pepper dropped it, revealing the second headline. NY FEARS COSTUMED FREAK! Then, she revealed the third. SPIDER-MAN’S REIGN OF TERROR. It took a few seconds to realise it was hard to breathe because he was so angry. Fury rippled through him, scorching the crippling fear that had paralysed him for a whole day, and he snatched the papers out of her hands to read the articles.

“This is – it’s -” he paused, took a moment to form the words, then snarled, “Everything in here is false, Pep, complete garbage -”

“I know,” she interrupted as she pulled another chair over and sat down opposite him. “But Tony, they’re growing rapidly. Their sales increased significantly after the video with Vogue.”

“… It’s our fault?”

“No,” Pepper said firmly. “We all knew that Spider-Man appearing alongside Iron-Man in an interview would catapult him from local hero to international renown. Most importantly, so did Peter and he still chose to participate.” She looked back down at the now-crumpled newspaper in his fists. “We just assumed they’d focus on you more than him.” Tony followed her gaze. The blown-up photo of Peter swinging from a building was almost mocking him.

“That’s not what happened though.”

“It was, actually, at first,” she corrected. Tony glanced at her with a frown and she shrugged. “Spider-Man was a curiosity, but he’s not been around long enough for there to be anything interesting. Most of his work is muggers and rescuing cats.”

"Don’t forget about helping little old ladies cross the road.”

“Right,” the corners of her lips curled up slightly. “Although sweet, it’s hardly news-worthy for more than a few days. Most outlets moved on after a while. The Bugle is an exception, not the norm.”

It helped to lessen his anger a little, but he couldn’t help focusing on, “You said at first.”

“Well, that was before this incident with the hospital,” she sighed and pulled out one more newspaper from her briefcase, still The Daily Bugle, and showed him the headline from that day. SPIDER-MAN: THE KNOCK-OFF IRON-MAN? A quick scan of the article revealed it spoke of the recording and how desperate Spider-Man was by copying his name, how he’d somehow blackmailed Iron-Man into helping at the children’s hospital, and even –

“They’re saying he killed that child?!”

“Was responsible for her death,” Pepper corrected, though she looked just as furious and upset as he felt.

“Tell me this isn’t what everyone thinks,” he begged.

“There’s been some traction, but it’s largely overshadowed by all the new videos and photos coming out of his work in the hospital. Hard to take hold when there's so much footage saying otherwise," she said. Tony would have felt relieved, but the fact this had come out in the first place made him feel sick. Still, all of this combined with the coverage Tony's words were getting would have absolutely brought Peter back into the public light - and would likely keep him there much, much longer this time.

“Has Peter seen these?” he wondered. “He must’ve, right? Kids see all this shit, don’t they, hashtag privacy is overrated? It's been months, has he ever said anything to you?”

Pepper shook her head. “I wasn’t aware of any of these until today.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Can we get a retraction?”

“Already on it,” she said, a little smug, and Tony desperately wanted to reach out and kiss this wonderful woman – so he did. She pulled away a few minutes later, pressed her forehead to his and added, “I’m only telling you about it really because it suggests the journalist who recorded you wasn’t there for you. You were just unlucky.” She probably meant for it to make him feel better, but the realisation just brought his anger back with a vengeance.

“Wrong place, wrong time?” he scoffed and stood up. “Yes, we’ll all sleep easy tonight knowing they weren’t targeting a grown man with billions of dollars, but a sixteen-year-old kid just trying to clean up a bad neighbourhood. F.R.I.D.A.Y, find out everything you can about the journalist. I don’t care how illegal, that asshole’s not going to get another job in the city – hell, let’s make it the state.”

“Tony, I’ve already -” Pepper sounded exasperated. He ignored her, his gaze drawn back to the article which implied Peter was responsible for a child’s death.

“And find out how much the Bugle makes,” he added. “Average tabloid’s what, 400million a year? Let’s buy it.” He picked up the nearest tablet and was about to sift through the information his AI collected when it was yanked out of his grip by a glaring fiancé. “Yes, sweetheart?”

“You can’t just buy a newspaper because you don’t like the stories!”

“Watch me,” he replied, raising his chin defiantly and daring her to argue.

She did, of course. “It was his choice to become a superhero and put himself in the limelight. This kind of thing -”

“He didn’t get into it to be famous!”

“Maybe not, but he had to know it would happen eventually. If he can’t handle something like this, then he shouldn’t continue this line of work,” she put her hands on her hips and glared when he tried to protest more. “Tony, at the hospital he was helping sick children feel better, and they still printed this. What do you think they’ll say when he screws up and gets someone killed?”

His insides turned to ice. “I’m doing everything I can to prevent that.”

Her frown softened as she took a step forward and put a hand on his arm. “I know you are, but you can’t protect him forever.”

“Maybe not,” he admitted, putting his hand over hers and squeezing gently. “But right now I can, so I'm sure as hell going to try.” He stepped away from her and went back to his tablet, forcing himself into a light, joking tone as he added, “Besides, haven’t you ever wanted to own a paper? We can do a weekly column every Thursday. Call it Thorsday.”

“Tony,” she huffed.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be low-key,” he added. Her exasperation only grew. “No? Guess we’re having some stark differences here.”

She rolled her eyes. “How about this - I won't stand in your way, so long as you agree to do one thing for me."

“Roger that,” he answered. She stared, shook her head and then turned and stalked out the room. “She totally approves, right F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Do you want me to lie to you, boss?”

“Go for it.”

“Then yes, she approves.”

“Knew it,” he said, grinning when the information for the investors and editor of The Bugle appeared on his tablet. “Now, let’s buy a newspaper.”

Perhaps he should have given that deal more thought.

“’Do just one thing for me’,” he muttered to himself, though by the way Happy snorted, he hadn’t been quiet enough. Tony started to turn to glare at him, but the make-up artist refused to let him, so he settled for making his irritation known in his voice. “Why are you laughing? You actually have to do your job for once.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Happy said gleefully. The make-up artist finished, and Tony twisted, resisting a pout when he saw his friend sat comfortably with his legs resting on a stool.

“Mr Stark?” Tony twisted back to look at a tech assistant. Young, but cute. She was clearly a bit star-struck as she said, “You’re on in one minute. Ellen’s going to introduce you, then you just walk on.”

“Were you not there for the rehearsals or something? Unless you think I'd forget something we did not even an hour ago,” he snapped, refusing to feel bad when she turned pink and fled. Happy made a disapproving noise and Tony frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.”

The music came on then and Ellen’s voice echoed backstage, welcoming the audience in studio and on TV, and then she started introducing him. He made sure not a hair was out of place, and then he heard,

“… very pleased to welcome, Mr Tony Stark!”

The techs gestured for him to go and he straightened, then strode out on stage. He waved to the audience with his most charming smile and was greeted with screams and cheers. He strode to the very front and held out both arms wide, basking in the praise, and after a few seconds he expected it to die down – but it didn’t.

Well, let it never be said he couldn’t take advantage of this.

“I’ve never felt so loved,” he joked and turned to look at Ellen, who was standing in front of her chair with her own bemused smile. “Don’t tell me this is all just because of little old me.”

“Well, a lot of people are very excited to have you here today,” she said. “Including me.”

“Hmm. I wonder then, what would happen if I did this?”

He tapped a button on his watch and the Iron-Man gauntlet formed around it. The audience gasped and then cheered even harder and he used it to wave at them, before finally making his way to the chair. Ellen looked like she wasn’t sure what to address first, but eventually she settled on the hand.

“So, I hope that isn’t stuck permanently now,” she said, and finally the cheers started to die down.

Tony smirked. “What would you do if it was?”

“Well, I... guess we’d need some KY Jelly?” she suggested. Tony raised his eyebrows and she said, “You know, to help get it off?" He opened his mouth to make the obvious joke following that, then remembered both Rhodey and Pepper’s warnings and managed to find the strength to swallow the joke and say,

“I’m not going there.” See, he had matured over the years. He deactivated the gauntlet and it returned to a watch.

Ellen laughed herself, saying, “That’s probably a wise decision. So, I’m so happy to have you here. It’s the first time having you on, and I think – it’s actually your first talk show ever, right? I was looking earlier and I couldn’t find anything..."

“It is?” he honestly didn’t know, but he certainly couldn’t remember being in a situation like this before, so he shrugged and crossed one leg over the other, clasped his hands together on top and leant on the arm rest. “Well, probably. Aren't you lucky? Besides, press conferences are overrated these days.”

“R-right, yeah, well, I’m so grateful that I’m – that you came to me first,” she said.

Tony gave her his best charming smile. “I just go where the missus tells me, so you should really be thanking Pepper. She’s a huge fan.” He actually had no idea if she was or not but, given Pepper had sent him here instead of any other show, he figured that was a safe bet.

“She is?” Ellen looked both surprised and pleased. “Wow, that’s – I’m such a huge fan of Miss Potts too, I mean, she’s been such an inspiration to all woman, and I know that there are a lot of little girls who look up to her. And she kicks ass.”

“That she does,” Tony nodded in agreement.

“It was you who made her CEO, wasn’t it?” Ellen asked. Tony waited, because that information should have been public knowledge, and she continued, “How did you – what made you give it to her?”

“What do you mean?” he frowned.

“Did you think at the time ‘hey, a woman would be really good at this’ or -”

“Oh,” he said. “You want the truth? The fact she was a woman didn’t mean anything to me. She’s not – look, when I got too busy to be both CEO and Iron-Man, I didn’t think anything like that. It wasn’t ‘there are too many ugly white men on my board and I need a pretty face’, though I’m not gonna lie and say that’s not true,” he winked, then continued, “All I saw was this incredibly amazing person who’d been by my side for years, who’d managed to deal with me and everything that came with it, and I just thought – she’d be perfect. So I gave it to her.”

Ellen blinked. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he nodded. “And I think the past few years have proven just how sound a decision that was, haven’t they?” he turned to the audience and was rewarded with claps and cheers. He nodded, looked back at Ellen and said, “They seem to agree.”

“Well I do too, of course. So, then, how is it working with your fiancé?”

Tony smiled. “She’s a tyrant.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. All work, no play,” he sighed dramatically.

“Well I think we’ve all seen the press conference where you announced your engagement. I heard a rumour about your bodyguard and the ring…?”

Oh, he should have expected this.

“Right, yeah,” he said and straightened, mind racing with the best way to spin this. “It was my long-time bodyguard, Happy, and he says – I don’t know for certain, but he says he carried the ring in his pocket for ten years, waiting for me to do it.”

“Ten years?” Ellen gasped. “That’s -”

“Crazy, of course, and I make sure to tell him so at every opportunity,” Tony smirked. “Think about everything that’s happened in the last ten years. It’s seen some serious action.”

“Yeah, absolutely. And the proposal went well, obviously?”

“It was very romantic,” he answered. “Candles, dinner, lighting, stunning views – the works.” Lies, lies, all lies, but the only people who knew otherwise would never tell. “She said yes instantly, of course.”

“Really?”

Tony scoffed. “No, of course not.” He decided to throw a little bit of truth in. “She didn’t believe me at first, she thought it was just a publicity stunt. It took awhile to convince her I was genuine. But, she eventually said yes and here we are today,” he smiled.

“Do you have a wedding date?”

“Not yet,” he said. “We’re both pretty busy.”

“Aw, well whenever it happens, I hope it’s lovely,” she said. Tony just nodded politely, because they were just empty words, and she continued, “So uh, let’s talk about your company, how you started. You took over when you were -”

“21,” he said. He could do this in his sleep and before she could ask, he rattled off his prepared answers. “I’d been groomed for the position my whole life, so taking over the company wasn’t a problem. I wasn’t nervous or scared, just excited to make a name for myself – which, I’m pretty certain I succeeded at,” he smirked when the audience cheered and clapped again. “The hardest part back then for me was turning up to meetings sober, which sounds terrible now but at the time…” he trailed off with a shake of his head. “Eventually I got my act together and now I spend my days fighting aliens and saving the world. Yes it’s weird, no it’s not what I imagined, but it’s usually worth it.”

All of this was public record, so he couldn’t even deny it if he wanted to.

“Wow, that’s -” she looked thrown and he decided to throw her a bone.

“Did you really get me on here just to rehash what you could find on a quick Google search?” he pretended to flick a bit of fluff off his cuffs. “This is my first talk show after all, whether you do a good job or not will affect if I go on future ones.”

“So, no pressure then,” she tried to recover.

“It's absolutely a lot of pressure,” he said with a fake smile and waited.

“Well, I, uh, I wanted to ask you about something more recent then. You were at a hospital in Queens recently, weren’t you?”

Try as he might, he couldn’t stop every muscle in his body from tensing. He tried to cover it by sinking back in the chair and he slid one hand down the side of his leg, hidden from the cameras, and clenched the fabric of his trousers between his thumb and finger – the only way he could express his discomfort. He saw Ellen’s eyes flicker down and realised she could see it at her angle, even if the cameras couldn’t, and his heart started racing as he realised he’d just handed her even more ammunition.

Damn - he should’ve just stuck to the questions about his company.

“I actually want to focus on the reason why you were there,” she continued, saying nothing about his discomfort, and his blank expression cracked a little, a tiny frown making its way through. “I spoke to the little boy and -”

“You don’t want to ask about what I said?”

The words were out before he could stop them, but he couldn’t quite believe it. There was no way anyone would see such an obvious weakness and ignore it, not when it was Tony Stark.

“Well,” she blinked, once more thrown, and admitted, “Only if you want to, but I kind of thought we could pretend that didn’t happen, if you like.”

“… Why?”

He should let this go, but he didn’t understand – why wasn’t she attacking?

“Why?” she frowned and leant forward. “Because I thought it was a pretty terrible thing to do. If someone recorded me saying something that private, that was for a specific person, then released it for everyone to hear – I wouldn’t want to be asked about it.” He stared at her because she really seemed to genuinely mean it, though the longer he stared the more uncomfortable she grew. “… Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” he said slowly, feeling all his muscles slowly relaxing as they dared to trust her, and cleared his throat. “That’s – very considerate of you.”

She nodded, then said, “Okay, so tell me about the little boy.”

“He was… getting a new arm, prosthetic,” he began, a little hesitant, but slowly warmed to the topic when it was clear Ellen wouldn’t stop him. He convinced his fingers to let go his trousers and brought his hand back onto his lap, ignoring the way her eyes followed the movement. “What made it unique though was the design, which was fantastic, and the company that made it managed to do so in such a way that it kept the cost low. There’s a lot of potential there, I just had to check it out.”

“Is it true that the little boy was also a fan of Iron-Man?”

Tony threw on a smile because right, that was the important part for other people. “Yes, he was a very brave boy. The first thing he did once he had his new arm was hug his mother,” he said and both the crowd and Ellen awwed.

“And is it also true that you’re thinking of investing?”

“Your research team needs to be more on the ball,” he scoffed, then explained, “We’ve already invested. Stark Industries didn’t get to where it is today by ignoring other advancements. If we – if I – see potential, and all it needs to be successful is a little bit of money or the right word to the right people, we’re in there.”

Ellen leaned forward. “But isn’t Stark Industries currently focused on clean, renewable energy?”

“It’s our primary focus,” he nodded, “but we’re first and foremost a tech company. Whether its renewable energy or prosthetics, if we see innovation…”

“So will you – the thing is, I spoke with the company and the core idea behind it was that it was an affordable option, you know? That it would allow more people to access, but if you get involved, are you going to change the price?”

“Absolutely,” he said, and paused dramatically, before added, “With our resources we can bring the price even lower, make it even more accessible.”

She was clearly surprised. “You want to bring the price down? I’m going to be honest, I thought you would -”

“Raise it?” he guessed and shook his head. “Let’s just say that recently, I’ve been made aware of just how lacking the current market is.” He couldn’t help thinking of Rhodey, now paralysed and re-learning to walk with what Tony had personally built because nothing out there at the moment even came half-way to his personal standards. “And I’ve got to keep you all on your toes, haven’t I? Genius billionnaire does good deed, ooo."

“Right, yeah,” she smiled. “So, about the reason you even found out about it -”

“You’re talking about Spider-Man,” he guessed.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Is it true that he just asked you, and you said yes?”

“Pretty much,” he said, relaxing a little. Talking about Peter was relatively easy and stress-free.

“And so, do you encourage his actions?” He tilted his head slightly, waiting for further clarification, and she elaborated, “Because you haven’t – correct me if I’m wrong, please, but as far as I know, you haven’t made any trips to children’s hospitals before, so I wondered if maybe you didn’t -”

“I think what he’s doing is fantastic,” he said and wondered what he could say. He couldn’t say the truth, that visiting sick kids had never occurred to him before Peter did so, but he had to give a reason – even he knew he couldn’t be an asshole about this. “I have a lot of enemies, and my life is dangerous,” he eventually settled on. “If I visited a hospital, saw some kids, it would just make them a target.”

Ellen’s eyes widened. “You really think people would go after the children, just to get to you?”

He glanced down at his lip, the darker memories coming unbidden, and his voice was low as he said, “A lot of them would do far worse.” Then, suddenly remembering where he was, he shook himself and said loudly, “And of course, no one ever thought to ask me.”

“So it was really just a case of the right person needing to ask,” she said, looking relieved that he'd given her an out.

“Yup.”

“And in this case, the right person was Spider-Man?”

“Well I can’t have a kid showing me up, can I?” he grinned. “And to be fair, he knew I’d be interested in the tech as well. It wasn't just a random kid out of the back and beyond he wanted me to meet.”

Ellen nodded, then said, “One thing I've noticed and been dying to ask you, you always call Spider-Man kid. Is that – is he actually a kid?”

Whoops.

“I call him that because he’s much younger than me,” he said and settled his body into a casual façade, pretending his heart hadn’t started racing suddenly. “He’s also a rookie in the superhero department, you know? So to me, he’s a kid.”  He had to tread very carefully – he couldn’t outright deny it in case Peter’s identity ever went public, but he also couldn’t admit it because secret identity.

“And you’re – close? In media, especially recently, you’ve come across like a mentor, of sorts.”

“I -” he hesitated, then thought, what the hell and leant forward. “Spidey’s one of the good ones, you know? Picture me, when I was young, right, tall, dark and handsome, yes, but also a lot of drinking, partying, being an asshole - and then the opposite of that, and add a bucket load of morals and responsibility, the likes of which only matched by Cap, and an admittedly impressive intelligence and – that’s the kid.”

Ellen blinked and then her smile seemed to become softer as she asked, “Did you know him before he was Spider-Man?”

“No,” Tony shook his head and chuckled. “I wish I could claim responsibility, but the people who raised him did all the hard work. I’m just reaping the benefits. I actually saw Spider-Man for the first time probably the same way as all of you,” he gestured to the audience. “There’s this one video where he catches a bus – have you seen it?” he waited for Ellen’s nod before continuing, “That’s what got my attention, and then I noticed the onesie.”

“The onesie?” her mouth dropped open in surprise.

“Didn’t you see?” Tony was probably far too gleeful to pass this on, but he couldn’t help pulling out his phone and putting on the video in question.

“That’s not – it’s a onesie? Really?” she peered closely at it.

“It was absolutely a onesie,” Tony said. “Kid’ll deny it, but he’s lying. You can see it better in some other videos, look.” He pulled up a few old videos, back when Peter was just starting out. There was a bad recording of the kid helping an elderly woman with her shopping bags, clothing clear as day. “I mean, once I saw that – I just had to get involved.”

Ellen looked up from the video to him. “Well, you didn’t have to -”

“Of course I did,” Tony snorted. “Here, look. This is after I helped him out with a new suit. Look at the difference.” He pulled up another video of Peter, this time fixing a post-box he accidentally knocked over, but when Ellen didn’t reply, he looked over at her. “What?”

“Do you keep videos of all the Avengers for easy access on your phone, or just Spider-Man?”

He narrowed his eyes, suspicious of her wide, amused grin, and said, “If there were any videos worth keeping of the others…”

“So, that’s a no?” she checked, clearly trying to stifle her smile and failing.

“Is there a point to your question?”

“I just – I think it’s sweet, it’s really, really sweet,” she said. “I feel like I’m seeing an entirely different side of you, that’s all.” Tony put away his phone and sat up straight, surprising himself by how self-conscious he suddenly felt. Not that he let it show, of course, though he tugged on his cuffs to smooth out his shirt sleeves and prevent wrinkles.

Perhaps sensing his sudden discomfort, Ellen turned to the camera and said, “We’re gonna have a break, but afterwards we’ll see how Tony Stark fares on one of our favourite games at the moment, 5 Second Rule.”

The cameras stopped recording, though the studio audience was still watching, and Ellen leant forward, covering her mic. “Come on, let’s get a coffee.”

Tony nodded politely and followed her off-stage, to where Happy was waiting. He had a shit-eating grin on his face too and Tony pointed a finger in his face and snapped,

“Not one word.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it… dad.”

"What?!"

Justdreamoflife 1 minute ago
Plot twist:

Spider-Man is actually Iron-Man's son...

ryuoweif 1 minute ago
he's so manly... and fatherly?

154sim4lyf 2 minutes ago
5:37 omg so awkward

--> Alan Shwarma 1 minute ago
       yeah "did you really get me on here just to rehash what you could find on a quick google search" WHAT Ellen did not deserve that

katelynm 2 minutes ago
omg pepper is soooo lucky

widowwailer 2 minutes ago
are we sure this is tony stark and not a pod person?

David R 3 minutes ago
and another member is initiated #prouddad

PushingUpFalcons 4 minutes ago
first superheroes are real then aliens now ironman is a dad wtf is next time travel???

mjtheway 4 minutes ago
for all you ppl saying 'omg so cute dad' this is still the dude who sold weapons and killed a lot of ppl

--> moanwhat 4 minutes ago
       omg yes finally

--> piccolo34 3 minutes ago
       preach   

favchild1010 4 minutes ago
damn he looks fine

badgurl R 5 minutes ago
Ellen: And she kicks ass
Tony: That she does
Me: AWWW <3

Ned gasped, then fell worryingly silent.

Michelle looked up, wondering if maybe the new Star Wars had been spoiled, and realised Ned was so still he could have been mistaken for a statue - a closer look revealed he wasn't even breathing. She got up off the bed and looked over his shoulder at his phone, to see what had broken him so. "Huh. #IronDad is lame. #TonyStarkHasAHeart was more entertaining." The bedroom door opened and Peter came in carrying some cakes baked by his aunt. Michelle glanced at him and said, "Congrats, you've been adopted. May's gonna be pissed though."

Peter halted mid-step and looked worriedly between her and Ned. "I - you - what?"

Ned made a sound like a balloon slowly deflating.

Chapter Text

4.

PEPPER POTTS AND SPIDER-MAN ANSWER THE WEB'S MOST SEARCHED QUESTIONS | WIRED
  Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts and vigilante Spider-Man take the WIRED Autocomplete Interview and answer the internet's most searched questions about themselves.

"… four, six or eight of them, which move up and down on these cylinders, see?”

“Uh huh,” Peter leaned forward, eyes wide in awe, as Tony directed the hologram of the piston around. The sheer joy the kid took in technology Tony had long grown used to was refreshing, and Tony kept having to turn away to hide his smile.

“Now, up on the upper side…” Tony swiped a finger through the air and the pistol turned so they could see the specific area better. “This is called the combustion chamber which -”

“It’s where the air and fuel mix before they’re ignited! Right?” Tony glanced at the kid in surprise and Peter adopted a sheepish expression, admitting, “I did some reading before I came.”

“Huh.” Tony spun around on the chair to look directly at Peter, who straightened upright and suddenly looked uneasy. “Okay Hermione, pop quiz.”

“Noooo-”

“What’s this part called?” Tony gestured to a part lower-down on the piston.

Peter’s eyes widened comically, but he said, “The crankcase?”

“Are you asking or telling me?”

“Telling,” he said with a bit more confidence. Tony opened his mouth to ask another question when Peter’s phone buzzed. Peter’s eyes flickered to it for a second before coming back to Tony and, seeing he still had the kid’s attention, Tony continued.

“What’s it for?”

“Uh… it’s the bit we put the oil in.”

“And what are pistons made of?”

Peter frowned in thought for a few seconds before saying, “Aluminium?”

“Most modern cars yes,” Tony agreed. His own engines were a bit different, more unique, but it would do as a start. “What else do pistons have?”

“Rings. They keep the -” Peter’s phone buzzed again and the kid clearly wanted to look at it, but valiantly resisted the urge and continued, “-the… the oil out of the combustion chamber.”

“And?”

“And… uh…”

Perhaps a little hint was required. “What else does it keep out?”

“Oh! The fuel and air.”

“And why do we need to keep all those out?”

Peter went quiet for a few seconds, clearly thinking, before saying, “Because ultimately… it’ll damage the engine and then you’d have to rebuild all of it.”

Tony sat back. He wasn’t impressed per say – the knowledge was elementary when it came to car repairs, after all – but he was pleased by the amount of effort Peter had put in (he was willing to bet Peter hadn’t known any of that before Tony had told him they’d be working on an engine together that weekend). However, before he could praise Peter, the kid’s phone suddenly started buzzing every few seconds as someone started spamming a chat, and Peter’s face turned red.

“I-I’m so sorry Mr Stark -”

“Take five kid,” Tony waved the apology away. He’d rather Peter deal with whoever was spamming him now so he wouldn’t be distracted for the next part anyway.

Peter picked up his phone and Tony glimpsed the lock screen for a second, just long enough to read the message on top saying did u tell him yet, before Peter pulled it close and started tapping out of Tony’s sight. Tony considered it for all of one second before asking,

“Tell who what?”

To his surprise, Peter jumped a little and clearly floundered, mouth opening and closing as if he couldn’t decide what to say, before his shoulders hunched and he said, “It’s nothing Mr Stark, really.”

One day, Tony hoped the kid learnt to lie better because this was just pitiful.

“See this face?” he gestured at himself. “Does it look convinced to you? Because it’s not. Try again.”

“N-no it – it really is nothing,” Peter said with a bit more force as he straightened. “Well it’s not nothing nothing but it’s – it’s nothing to you, I mean, it’s not – it’s nothing to me too really, just some stupid text -” he broke off suddenly and scowled, clearly annoyed at himself for giving even that much away.

Yeah, Tony definitely needed to fit in some classes on ‘lying’ into their already packed weekends.

“A text?” he prompted when Peter didn’t continue. “You’re worried about a text?”

Peter’s scowl deepened as he muttered, “It’s honestly -”

“Nothing, right, you know I don’t think you said that yet,” Tony put on a show of sighing loudly and tapped the table next to them. “C’mon, let’s see it.”

“You really don’t have to -”

“Kid.”

Realising he couldn’t convince Tony otherwise, Peter stopped scowling, tapped his phone a few times and then put it down on the table and slid it along for Tony to see. It was just one message, from a blocked number, which read:

Do you want to play a game?

“That’s it?” Tony wasn’t impressed.

“I said it was nothing!” Peter huffed and snatched his phone back, his cheeks going a little pink again. “It just creeped me out a little.”

“I can have F.R.I.D.A.Y try and trace it -”

“No!” Peter shoved his phone in his bag and leant forward. “I just want to – it’s just a wrong number text that’s a little creepy but no big deal, my friends don’t even think – a-anyway, can we please just continue with this?” he gestured to the hologram. Tony studied his face closely, looking for any signs of distress, but Peter did genuinely seem to be telling the truth.

“Okay,” he said and with a wave of his hand, the hologram of the piston disappeared and being replaced by another engine part. “Then let’s see how much you know about the valvetrain.”

People sent texts to wrong numbers all the time. This wouldn't be any different.

Later that day, the unique smell of tikka masala and burnt toast guided Tony into the open kitchen area.

He paused at the entrance and leant against the doorframe, crossing his arms and looking on as Peter tried to prevent Vision from putting in too much salt and shot worried looks at Rhodey, who was sitting at the counter watching carefully, every few seconds. A hand on his back made him jump and he twisted, relaxing when he saw Pepper. A few steps behind her was Happy, who took one look inside the kitchen, saw Vision had been cooking and pulled a face.

“So I’ve gotta update some of the security software -” he tried to escape and Tony reached out past Pepper to clamp a hand down on Happy’s shoulder.

“You’re not thinking of missing out on some wholesome family bonding, are you?” he asked.

“I -”

Whatever Happy had been planning on saying was lost as the trio in the kitchen became aware of them.

“Hey! I thought you were going to be later,” Rhodey said, more to Pepper than Tony or Happy.

“Miss Potts is never late, nor is she early,” Peter said, adopting a low, gravelly voice, as he helped Vision with plating up. “She arrives precisely when she means to.”

“Finally someone gets it,” Pepper laughed as she left Tony’s side and settled in the seat next to Rhodey.

“Your Gandalf needs some work,” Tony criticised as he and Happy followed her. Peter shrugged, not looking too fussed, and as Tony slid onto the stool closest to the food he got a much stronger whiff of the burnt toast rather than the masala. With a grimace he asked, “So why did we let the Piping Hot Mess cook again?”

“And why are we getting ready to eat it?” Happy muttered, low enough only Tony, because he was close, and probably Peter, because of his heightened hearing, heard.

“Because no one else here cooks?” Rhodey shrugged and thanked Peter when he received his plate.

“I can cook!” Peter piped up as he put a plate in front of Tony, who pointed a finger at him.

“No, your only point of reference is your aunt and we can’t trust her either.”

The kid deflated. “That’s fair.”

“Isn’t there some service where you pay people to cook it for you? They’ll even deliver it,” Happy said. “It’s the latest craze. We should check that out.”

“Well I’m looking forward to it Vision,” Pepper soldiered on as she accepted her plate with a smile at the chef. “Thank you very much for cooking.”

“I’m attempting to follow the ideology, practice makes perfect,” Vision replied as he dished up his own serving and settled on the last stool. “Please, try. I have adjusted the amount of seasoning based on your comments last time.” He didn’t start his own meal, instead looking at them all expectantly. Tony looked down at his own plate, where the usual light orange colour was significantly darker than it should be and some strange lumps were masquerading as chicken. At least the rice looked decent.

“No matter where I go, I’m destined to eat bad food,” Peter broke the silence with a forlorn sigh, and Tony looked at him. The kid was staring sadly at his plate.

Well, that was encouraging.

“You know,” Pepper said, her voice overly perky like when she had to do a bit of selling, and Tony eyed her suspiciously out the corner of his eyes. “A lot of interviews provide catering.”

Peter’s head snapped up. “Is it free?”

“Pepper,” Tony said.

“It is. It’s also surprisingly decent,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard Tony. “You can even make requests to have certain meals on site if you like. They’re the ones requesting the interview, so they’ll usually meet your demands.”

“Hmm,” Peter genuinely looked like he was considering it.

“Nope, nu uh, no interviews for the Spiderling!” Tony snapped at him, then looked back at his fiancé. “We already discussed this -”

“But free food,” the kid replied (because he was a teenager boy and no self-respecting teenage boy would turn down free food, especially not metabolically enhanced ones).

“You talked, I listened,” Pepper replied with a smile that promised war. Rhodey and Happy shared a glance and inched back. "Now I'm going to actually ask the person in question what he thinks. Peter," she turned to the kid. "Would you be willing to give an interview as Spider-Man?"

Peter looked like he'd frozen under her gaze. "Uh..."

"You don't have to kid," Tony swooped in. "An interview almost guarantees someone in your life will work out your identity. Hell you already know that - it's what happened after the last one, right? With that chick - Mary-Jane?"

"Michelle," Peter corrected with an eyeroll. "And I don't - I don't want anyone to work out my identity," he added quietly, looking down at his plate. "There's already one bad guy who knows. I can't risk anybody else finding out and hurting my aunt, or my friends."

Pepper leaned across the counter, pitching her voice low and soft as she said, "There's a risk people will find out your identity every time you go outside. There's never not going to be a risk when you have a secret identity, but Peter..." she paused to make her next words have more of an impact. He'd seen her use it with devastating success in business meetings. He didn't doubt it would work just as well here. "If you didn't want an increase in interest about you, you should have refused the initial interview right at the very start."

Tony felt the urge to wince on behalf of the kid when Peter paled. "But..."

"Does he have to give an interview?" Rhodey asked. "Aside from that one with Vogue, the recent interest in him hasn't been by choice. Couldn't we do a press conference?" Everyone tried so hard not to look at Tony, it was more effective than if they had looked at him. He sulked and stabbed his meal with his fork harder than was necessary.

"I've been keeping the reporters at bay, but eventually, yes," Pepper admitted. "The longer we wait, the more desperate they become and I don't want them digging around. Who knows what they'll discover?"

Happy scoffed. "Can you see the kid actually doing a press conference? He'd freeze the instant he got up on stage."

"I wouldn't!"

"H-h-he-hello," he imitated Peter's stutter whenever he was nervous or surprised. Peter looked hurt for a second before he covered it with a scowl, and Tony was about to step in when Pepper cleared her throat and took control herself. 

"An interview - with one interviewer - would allow us more control," she said. "We can choose the questions, who's in the room, the location..."

"Is Peter not still considered a child in the law?" Vision asked. "Would there not be legal problems for the interview?"

Tony shot a smug look at Pepper because that had been one of his arguments. "And you'd have to have his aunt there and there's no way you'll get her to agree," he said. Pepper didn't reply, just raised an eyebrow at him, and a sense of dread settling in his stomach. "There's no way you got her to agree."

Every single concession Tony had made with May, such as letting Peter come to the compound every other wekeend, he'd had to fight for kicking and screaming. Often she had a point, but he suspected a lot of it was her being deliberately difficult because he'd a) encouraged Peter to keep Spider-Man secret (by omission of not telling him to be honest) and b) put her kid in dangerous situations without her knowledge, which was fair. He'd accepted that.

But it wasn't fair if Pepper didn't have to face that either.

"She's allowed it so long as I'm there," Pepper explained.

Peter's head snapped back up. "Seriously?"

"There's still forms to fill in," Rhodey said. "If you want to do it legally, everyone involved will have to sign those forms and be made aware Spider-Man's a minor."

"So we tie them up in so many NDAs that it's illegal to even think about it," she argued. "They'll agree to anything right now, that's how badly they want this." There was a lull, as everyone thought about what she said, and Tony glanced around all their faces, hoping one of them would continue to protest. He'd already laid out all his arguments the other day when they'd discussed it and clearly it had meant fuck all. Eventually, Pepper turned back to Peter and asked, "So what do you say?"

Peter looked down at his lap briefly and took a deep breath. Tony leant forward slightly, having learnt by now that whatever came next would be important.

"I have to do an interview, right?" he checked and waited for Pepper's nod. "Because... the interest isn't going to go away, because the mystery is what's keeping them around right now."

"I do not believe it is only the mystery, but also your apparent relation to Tony," Vision replied. Once more, no one actually looked at him and Tony scowled. He hadn't done anything wrong - hell, his public image was almost back to where it was before the whole mess with the Accords and the break-up of the Avengers, and hadn't that been the whole point of this venture in the first place?

He certainly hadn't asked to have his private thoughts blasted for the world to hear (and Ellen had just been sneaky).

"Yeah, okay," Peter swallowed. "But we wanna make sure as few people as possible are there... so that means all the talk shows are out, 'cause they have an audience, right? So what about WIRED?" he looked around at them all but, when no one seemed to know what he was on about, added, "You know, the auto-complete one? It's just two people in a room, with a camera and - well I guess there's people behind the camera, but you never really hear them on the video -" he broke off and said, "I'll just show you," before bending over and pulling out his phone. He paused as he read something on his phone, an odd expression crossing his face.

"Underoos?"

"R-right," Peter shook himself, tapped a few times and brought up a video on Youtube. "It's like this."

A few minutes later, the video had finished and Tony and Pepper shared a look.

"It would be very easy to control," she admitted. "And WIRED have been one of the ones to get in touch."

"It's hardly the kind of questions people'll want answered though," Rhodey didn't look impressed. "Some of them were nonsensical."

"Still an interview," Happy pointed out.

"But Peter would need someone to go on with him, would he not?" Vision asked.

"I'll do it," Pepper said.

Peter's eyes widened. "For real?"

"I'll be there anyway, so why not?" she shrugged at everyone's surprised looks. "And it might be fun to do that kind of interview for a change."

Clearly, Tony had been overruled. He clenched his fist under the table, hoping it would ease the tightness in his chest, and cleared his throat to get their attention, before looking pointedly at the kid. "You better not make Pep look bad, then. You realise how priviliged you are right now?"

At least he could take some satisfaction out of the way the kid paled as the weight of what would come finally sank in.

That evening, they settled in for what was fast becoming a regular occurance - movie night.

"So... whose turn is it to choose tonight?" Rhodey asked. He'd settled in the armchair Tony had custom-made especially for him, giving him extra support and several adjustments to make getting in and out of it much easier.

"Whose do you think?" Happy grunted as he settled with a low groan into another armchair furthest away from the screen. He always preferred to sit separate to the others, proclaiming he didn't want to risk any of them falling asleep on him, but Tony knew it was secretly the other way around (especially when Happy almost always dozed off not long after the movie started).

"If I remember correctly, it's up to Peter," Vision said, which meant it most likely was, because Vision's memory was currently the best of them all. He'd taken the last armchair, preferring the rigid structure to the sofa.

Tony glanced around the room but couldn't see Peter. "He's not here yet?" he wondered out-loud, then asked, "F.R.I.D.A.Y, where's the kid?"

"Peter is in his room on his phone," she replied. "Would you like me to tell him to come?"

"Nah," Tony sat down in the middle of the sofa. "Tell him every minute he's late is one minute less in the lab tomorrow."

"Tony," Pepper said with a shake of her head, but there was a smile on her face and she still sat next to him on the sofa, so he knew she was more amused than disapproving. She curled up into his side and he wrapped an arm around her back, pressed a kiss to her hair so lightly he doubted she'd even felt it. A few seconds later, the sound of feet pounding down the corridor could be heard and then Peter burst into the room with a shout of,

"I'M HERE!" and tried to come to a halt. However, his socks slid on the floor and he let out a half-yelp, half-swear as his toes hit the carpet, which tripped him up, and he fell flat on his face.

Tony covered his face with his hand and said, "Oh, kid." He was torn between amusement and embarrassment on his behalf.

"Please tell my aunt I died heroically in a great, fearsome battle, after defeating the evil villain," Peter's voice was muffled against the floor. Tony felt Pepper shaking slightly against him as she suppressed her giggles, and a quick glance around showed Rhodey hiding a smile, Vision looking concerned and amused, and Happy just staring at the ceiling as if it would help take him far far away from here.

"Here lies Spidey; formerly known as Peter Parkour," Tony said. "What were you even doing anyway?"

"Nothing!" Peter bolted upright like he'd been hit by lightning. "So it's my turn to choose right?" Tony frowned, suspicious, but didn't get a chance to press because -

"No Disney," Happy ordered.

"What about -"

"Or Star Wars," Rhodey added.

"Then could we watch -?"

"Please no sci-fi," Pepper said, as gently as she could. "Our lives could be a sci-fi show, we don't need to add to it."

Peter furrowed his brow in thought, then said, “What about Coco?” When Happy’s mouth opened to protest he pointed out, “You didn’t say Pixar.” The annoyance on Happy’s face promised he’d remember that for next time. “We all good with Coco?” Peter looked around at the rest of them. No one else protested. Tony decided to press Peter later about it and said,

"You heard him F.R.I.D.A.Y."

The lights dimmed and after a few seconds, the logos before the movie started playing. Peter settled on the sofa to Tony's left, curling his feet under him and leaning on the armrest. Just as the first scenes of the movie began, Tony jumped at a vibration on his lower stomach.

"Sorry," Pepper whispered as she shifted and pulled out the emergency business phone. Tony frowned and watched in concern as Pepper left the room to answer it, only to be distracted when Happy's phone started ringing a few seconds later.

"Happy," the man in question said, answering as he got out the chair and followed Pepper's lead so they wouldn't disturb the movie. Tony itched to follow them, but if it were important they'd tell him, or F.R.I.D.A.Y would, so until that happened -

"Boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y said suddenly. "There is a problem."

Shit.

"What is it?" he demanded. The lights switched back on so brightly Peter flinched, but Tony was distracted from that by the TV screen changing from the movie to the news, specifically the national broadcaster of, "Hong Kong?" he questioned, trying to work out what in Hong Kong would affect both him, Happy and Pepper, and then the footage changed from inside the news studio to what was being broadcast outside and he found out.

"Tony!" Pepper rushed back in. "There's been -"

"A fire," he finished and nodded to the screen. Pepper's eyes widened as they all looked at the former Stark Industries HQ in Hong Kong, currently roaring with flames and smoke billowing everywhere. The fire department was fighting hard to put it out.

"That's not the worst of it," she said. Tony tore his eyes away to stare at her in dread, and she grimaced, "Apparently all the Hong Kong board members were having a meeting inside when..."

"Jesus," Rhodey muttered.

Peter had gone pale. "They're still in there?"

"I'm calling an emergency board meeting," she said. "Can you come?"

"Yeah - yeah, I'll be there," Tony ran a hand through his hair, his mind racing as he thought about what needed to be done. "I'll get Happy to take the kid back -"

"No can do," Happy said, re-entering the room and waving his own phone. "Current information suggests it wasn't an accident, but a security breach. If that's true it threatens every building, even here. I need to get my team together and investigate this."

"I can go home by myself," Peter said quietly.

"I'll call him a cab," Rhodey offered.

"Right, yeah that's - fuck, sorry Pete, I'll pay for it," Tony said, shooting him an apologetic look, before turning back to Pepper. "Are we calling them all here or...?"

"If we have been compromised, we can't call them here," she said.

There was a pause as everyone tried to work out where was safe, then Vision said, "You did not sell the old Tower. I imagine it would have different security, would it not?"

"Yes!" Tony pointed a finger at him. "Excellent. Send them to the old Tower. Stay on the lower floors," he added with a glance back at the news.

It was true Tony still owned the tower, even though there was nothing in it anymore. After the incident with Peter, he'd finished having everything shipped out but had stopped shy of actually selling it. Mainly it was so that there was still a place to do business in the city if necessary (like now), because the compound was over an hour outside it, but another part of him felt selling the tower meant giving up something he wasn't ready to, yet. So it had sat there, dark and empty for months -

"It's gonna be cold," he warned them. Pepper nodded, already starting to ring the board members, and Tony turned to Happy. "You coming with us?" His friend nodded but didn't answer, still on the phone with a member of his team. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, prep the jet," Tony said, then he realised, "I can drop you off on the way kid."

"O-oh, you don't - seriously Mr Stark, it's - I can get a cab. This is way more important," Peter said.

"Sure?"

"Yeah! Yeah, it's - you do what you gotta do."

Tony wanted to feel bad about basically abandoning the kid, but there wasn't any time to argue further, so he just reached out and clapped Peter on the shoulder, nodded at Rhodey and Vision, then turned and left the room. He heard Pepper and Happy follow, both talking on the phone, and as he walked he focused on trying to keep his heart calm as he considered the situation. Right now, they just didn't have enough information to make good decisions. Happy had said they only suspected foul play, was still trying to work out if it were for certain.

If the entire Hong Kong board had been wiped out...

If it had been deliberate...

Christ, could he never get a rest from the shitstorm that was his life?

Four hours later a lot of the urgency had faded, along with his will to live.

He sat at the back of the board meeting with his head in his hands, fighting off a pounding headache, as the large group of old men argued back and forth. They'd been going round in circles for the past two hours at least, because without any further information from Happy, who was on a lower-level for better WI-FI, they couldn't do anything else. Happy had promised to get something to them by the end of the hour, which was - Tony glanced at the clock - in twenty minutes.

It might as well have been twenty hours.

At least Pepper wasn't suffering right then. She'd stepped out earlier to take a call and hadn't come back - he was trying hard not to worry about what was taking her so long.

Thankfully, his phone vibrated then and he almost dropped it in his haste to stand up and step outside the room.

"What's the sitch Hap-?"

"Mr Stark!"

He froze in the middle of the corridor. "Kid?"

"Ohmygodyoupickedup - he picked up!" Peter shouted to someone. Tony couldn't make out the voices which replied, only knew there were multiple. He could also hear cars and the sound of - the wind whistling?

"Are you outside? Isn't it past your bedtime?" he demanded. "Are you Spider-Man right now?"

"That's not - I - argh nooo, Mr Stark, listen! Please!" Peter sounded desperate. "Do you trust me?"

"Why -?"

"Do you trust me?" Peter repeated, much firmer, much harder, though his voice trembled just the faintest amount.

"... Course I do," Tony muttered, telling himself it was only the fear in the kid's voice which got him to admit it.

"Put on your armour and get out right now."

"What -"

"You said you trusted me!" Peter's voice went high-pitched again with fear. "Please Mr Stark, get out of there now."

Tony touched his watch and in seconds, the nanobots had formed over his body, encasing him in the Iron-Man suit. "I'm in my armour Pete," he said. "I'm going to speak to the board, get everyone out now, so can you tell me why -?"

"The texts! Those creepy texts! He - this guy, he said - he blew up Hong Kong, he's gonna blow you up too, it was all planned-"

It was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been thrown over him.

"Back up a minute Underoos -"

"Please Mr Stark get out! I'm on my way to help but you gotta get away too!"

"Kid -"

Tony didn't get to finish his sentence. There was a sudden boom and it felt like his ears exploded. The floor crumbled beneath him as the force of the blast behind him threw him forward and he tumbled across and down, then everything went black.

4.

BOMBING AT THE OLD AVENGERS TOWER
“Warning. The following scenes may contain disturbing imagery, so viewer discretion is advised."

Chapter Text

NYPD News @FNYPDNews 10m
Breaking: Officers enroute to Avengers Tower after reports of explosion.

NBC New York @FNBCNewYork 8m
BREAKING: Explosion at Avengers Tower. Details currently unknown.

NYC Scanner @FNYCScanner 7m
Breaking: Police enroute to Avengers Tower after reports of explosion.

NYPD News @FNYPDNews 5m
Update: NYPD currently on scene at Avengers Tower, area being shut off

New York Daily News @FNYDailyNews 3m
Breaking: Explosion at Avengers Tower

New York City Alerts @FNYCityAlerts 2m
Just in: Spider-Man spotted in Manhattan heading towards Avengers Tower

Jesus fucking Christ.

He let out a low groan, barely audible over the ringing in his ears, and opened his eyes - but everything remained black. He felt himself blinking, slowly because his head pounded in beat with his heart, but nothing came into focus or lightened.

"Jarvis?" he croaked and tried to get up - but although his muscles trembled, he didn't move. In the same instance, he realised there was a pressure on him, and around him, and panic rose as he realised he was trapped. "Jar-fuck, F.R.I.D.A.Y?" he wondered how hard he'd been hit, to be calling for his old butler-AI-friend, but when he didn't get a reply from F.R.I.D.A.Y either, the panic increased to the point his chest tightened and he couldn't - he couldn't breathe, everything was on him, he was suffocating he needed air -

A flick of his wrist and there was a faint hum, barely a third its usual strength but enough that he almost sobbed in relief as he angled his palm upwards and, with a press of his finger, blasted whatever was on him.

The ensuing chaos knocked him back out.

NBC New York @FNBCNewYork 25m
Developing: Several explosions at Avengers Tower. Currently unknown if anyone was involved in the blast. Police are investigating.

BBC Breaking News @FBBCBreaking 23m
Multiple explosions at Avengers Tower in New York. More information to come

CBC Canadian News @FCBCCCanada 22m
Reports of explosions at Avengers Tower in #NYC.

Spider Watch @SpiderWatch 21m
SPOTTED: Spider-Man at Avengers Tower talking with #NYPD

Eyewitness News @FEWNews 17m
#NYPD have started evacuating block after fears structural damage and subsequent fire will put surrounding areas at risk

NYPD News @FNYPDNews 10m
Update: Confirmed at least 15 individuals were inside Avengers Tower during the explosion, including Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts and Iron-Man.

NYCScanner @FNYCScanner 9m
Update: Police confirm people inside Avengers Tower, fire department on route

Spider Watch @SpiderWatch 7m
VIDEO: Spider-Man proves why he's a vigilante! Fights police and enters burning Avengers Tower

New York City Alerts @FNYCityAlerts 6m
UPDATE: Spider-Man has entered the Avengers Tower against police orders.

Super Sightings New York @SuperSightingsNYC 3m
PHOTO: War-Machine and Vision arrive at Avengers Tower.

He was floating in a sea of darkness, clung to a piece of wood and drifting on the waves -

A crackle cut across the sky, like electricity, and it stirred something in his chest; feelings, memories, battle, and he fumbled, one arm letting go of the driftwood to reach up to the sky and grasp the spark in his fingers -

Nothing moved, the darkness pressed back, and so although he heard the crackle again and again, his mind returned to the suffocating darkness.

Eyewitness News @FEWNews 20m
UPDATE: Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts rushed to hospital after being pulled from wreckage by Spider-Man

New York Daily News @FNYDailyNews 17m
Just in: SI CEO Pepper Potts taken to hospital following multiple explosions at Avengers Tower. Injuries currently unknown.

Spider Watch @SpiderWatch 15m
VIDEO: the moment Spider-Man pulled Pepper Potts from wreckage

Super Sightings New York @SuperSightingsNYC 12m
War-Machine, Vision and Spider-Man brave Avengers Tower while police focus on evacuation, Iron-Man still MIA

New York City Alerts @FNYCityAlerts 11m
Just in: Footage capturing Spider-Man pulling out CEO Pepper Potts has emerged

NYPD News @FNYPDNews 8m
Officers on site confirm at least 14 other individuals still inside burning Avengers Tower, including Tony Stark, but too dangerous to enter.

He was moving. No, wait, he wasn't -

Something was moving around him. He barely felt it, but noise other than the ringing broke in, a faint rumble, a crack. He closed his eyes to try and focus on the sound, identify what it was, and missed the moment when the darkness disappeared, but felt immediately when the overwhelming heat was replaced with something cooler.

Then he was moving - something grabbed him, hauled him up and out -

It hurt, the world spun and he slumped, like a puppet without its strings, and let himself be taken away.

NYPD NEWS @FNYPDNews 35m
UPDATE: Iron-Man pulled from wreckage alive, now enroute to hospital

Vigilante Watch @VigilanteWatch 34m
Iron-Man is alive!!!!!

A Ferrous Wheel @AFerrousWheel 34m
Iron-Man saved by Spidey and War Machine! @StarkNaked @WebHead

SpiderWatch @SpiderWatch 30m
VIDEO: When Spider-Man saved Iron-Man @VigilanteWatch

New York City Alerts @FNYCityAlerts 29m
PHOTO: Spider-Man carries Iron-Man in arms out burning Avengers Tower.

Super Sightings New York @SuperSightingsNYC 25m
Iron-Man is heading to hospital! Unknown if same as Pepper... @StarkIndustries

FDNY @FFDNY 15m
Investigations to rescue remaining 13 people in Avengers Tower underway. Fire has spread multiple floors; cause currently suspected to be a bomb.

"Tony, we need to get it off."

The world was blurry, the floor constantly moving, and with it his stomach -

"Oh oh oh man, Mr Stark that's - totally fine, yep, just - let it out..."

"We need to get the armour off to check him properly, Tony come on man -"

There was a sudden weight pushing him down and his chest tightened as he remembered being trapped, unable to move, being forced into the water. He tried to pull back but barely moved an inch before crumpling into someone's arms.

"But he's - he's heavily concussed and who knows what else! You can't just -"

"It's a safety mechanism! Only he can remove the armour and it has to be by choice!"

He knew that voice - would know if even if he forgot everything else. Rhodey was doing that thing where he got angry when he was scared, but Tony heard him. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, but he could hear through the ringing what was needed and though he knew very little, he knew if Rhodey needed him to do it there would be a good reason. He didn't need to stand to do it, so fingers sluggishly moved to his wrist, hit the button and the world rushed in. Cold air, smoke, fire fire burning bright it was too much -

"Again? Come on man..."

"That's it Tony, you did good," Rhodey said. "The doctors'll take care of you now."

Someone wrapped an arm around his upper back, another under his knees and then he was being carried. He squinted but his head bobbed too much and within moments the world became a mesh of red and black before the red faded, and only black remained.

NBC New York @FNBCNewYork 2h
BREAKING: Iron-Man and SI CEO Pepper Potts critically injured after explosions at Avengers Tower.

BBC News (World) @FBBCWorld 2h
Tony Stark: In critical condition following bombing at Avengers Tower.

CBC Canadian News @FCBCCanada 2h
Stark Industries: Two deadly attacks within six hours in Hong Kong and NYC. Casualties from HK fire have reached 40s with numbers expected to rise, while Avengers Tower risks... cbc.ca/news/Canada/no….

Russia Today News @FTodayRussia 2h
Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts and Tony Stark critically injured after bombing at Avengers Tower, New York.

China Xinhua News @FXHNews 1h
50 feared dead after Stark Industries fire in Hong Kong.

CBC Canadian News @FCBCCanada 27m
Twelve confirmed dead after attack at Avengers Tower, NYC. cbc.ca/news/Canada/no….

NYPD NEWS @FNYPDnews  20m
Update: 12 dead, 3 casualties in Avengers Tower bombing. Tony Stark, CEO Pepper Potts and Head of Security Happy Hogan are all in critical condition.

He woke to ash on his tongue.

"Ngh..." he cracked open his eyes and instantly regretted it; the bright lights felt like ice picks digging into his skull and the slightest movement - his stomach lurched and he twisted, threw up, coughed and gagged and then hands were on him, holding him, pulling him somewhere and he tried to fight but it hurt too much.

"You're going to be fine Tony," he heard.

"R-Rhodey," he rasped.

"We're taking care of it all, so you just sleep for awhile, okay? To help you heal faster. It won't hurt." Go to sleep? That didn't sound right. Why...? "It'll all be okay." Why did Rhodey sound so scared?

"Rhodey," he repeated, wishing he could do more than hang helplessly.

"We're ready," a familiar voice - Helen Cho? - said. There was no verbal response but then hands held him down, put a mask on his face and he blinked once, twice. The last thing he saw was Rhodey looking pale and miserable, covered in soot and blood and dirt, before he fell asleep.

NYPD News @FNYPDNews 10d
Investigation is underway to determine who is responsible for Stark Industries bombings.

NBC New York @FNBCNewYork 8d
Update: No further developments in finding those responsible for Stark Industries sabotage in Hong Kong and New York.

New York Daily News @FNYDailyNews 7d
Update: SI CEO Pepper Potts, Tony Stark and Head of Security Happy Hogan all moved to private medical facility.

Russia Today News @FTodayRussia 6d
Stark Industries stock plummets in wake of bombings, as EVPs fight over future of company.

China Xinhua News @FXHNews 5d
Colonel James Rhodes steps up as temporary CEO as SI reels with loss of entire board of directors, CEO and Tony Stark

CBC Canadian News @FCBCCanada 3d
Update: Iron-Man and Head of Security Happy Hogan are 'progressing well' according to hospital, while CEO Pepper Potts remains in serious condition. cbc.ca/news/Canada/no….

BBC News (World) @FBBCWorld 2d
Protests outside Avengers Tower in New York as people once again 'endangered' by Avengers.

Spider Watch @SpiderWatch 23h
PHOTO: Spider-Man spotted after nine day absence! But who's he with? Do you know? @VigilanteWatch @SuperSightingsNYC

5.

SPIDER-KILLER?
In a show-down that had us all on the edge of our seats, did Spider-Man show his true colours? The vigilante has moved from one dramatic scene to the next these past weeks, but this last one takes the cake. Could our 'friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man' actually be capable of killing Iron-Man? Further details of the battle inside.

Tony woke up ten days later.

Once he was past the initial grogginess, it didn't take long to find out what had happened. He investigated while the nurses checked his vitals, his body ached like he'd pushed every muscle beyond its limit and his head pounded. He looked at the photos of the Avengers Tower, a blackened husk of its former self but still somehow standing - for now; he watched the videos of that night, of Peter pulling first Pepper, then Tony out of the wreckage, and finally Vision and Rhodey getting Happy out a few hours after that; he read the articles which talked about the casualties from both New York and Hong Kong.

Stark Industries had almost been wiped out completely. Everyone on the board of directors - gone. The fire in Hong Kong had taken anyone who would cover for Pepper if she was ever absent, and the explosion at the Avengers Tower had taken out the rest. There had been no one to step up and it showed in their stock, in their losses, in the mass exodus of staff fearful for their lives and jobs. He was terrified, that someone had planned it so well - but more than that, he was furious.

Because Pepper had nearly died again. Because Happy had nearly died again. Because the world seemed to think retirement meant death and there wouldn't be consequences for this.

When Rhodey finally came, dishevelled and blood-shot from trying to run a business with little experience but a lot of loyalty, he took one look at Tony's face and convinced the nurses and doctors to discharge him. He offered Tony the chance to go see Pepper and Happy but Tony had to get this anger off his chest, had to let it out, so Rhodey called some people who called a press conference, and just over two hours later, he was standing outside the Avengers Compound with dozens of reporters surrounding him.

"I will take over as CEO until Pepper has recovered."

He stared down at the vultures, their cameras and microphones held out as close as they could.

"What's more, I'd like to thank whoever did this - yes, I don't know who you are yet. That's fine, I've only been out of a coma for -" he made a show of looking at his watch, "- two hours. You see, people are only as good as the opportunities presented to them and whoever you are - you have given me a damn good one."

The cameras flashed. The reporters waited, most of them holding their breath.

"You clearly know nothing about me, so here's a short bio for you. I used to make weapons for a living. I sold things that killed people. I've fought off aliens, I've defeated a God and - oh, I flew a nuke into space. There's a reason I was the sole nuclear deterrent for so long."

In the pause following, he took off his sunglasses and looked directly at the cameras.

"But more than that, I'm an Avenger and you - you just made the mother of all mistakes pal, you've given me a reason to get revenge. Good job. Ten out of ten. Would do again."

He could see the reporters itching to ask, to say something, but they'd all learnt there was more to come.

"So I will find you," he promised. "Hell, I'll even invite you over to my place like I did the last guy. Admittedly it didn't end so well for him. But if you're too much of a coward, relying on bombs and innocent victims when I'm giving you a clear shot, that's fine. Just know I'm dedicating everything I have to finding you - and to anyone who stands in my way... I will take you down too."

They'd been put in rooms next to each other.

He sat on the edge of Pepper's bed, cradling her hand in his and running his fingers over the white ring of skin where her engagement ring had been. Her hospital gown was disgusting, white with washed out polka dots. There were tubes connected to both arms, wires across her chest, two more tubes in her mouth as the artificial ventilator breathed for her and even more tubes went under the bed sheets. There were stitches across her forehead and behind her ear, sixteen in total, and a deep purple and blue bruise covered her chin, neck and followed down to her entire right side.

Helen had promised she would be woken up in a few more days, but she'd needed longer in an induced coma to 'help the swelling' and so she wouldn't suffer from the bruising of her internal organs.

"I'll destroy them," he vowed as he touched a finger to her cheek. Her skin was cool, like all her vibrancy had been drained. "Just you watch, Pep. I'll ruin them. They'll be nothing but ashes by the time I'm done."

"Don't worry about me," Happy said. "Just get the bastard."

Tony would have taken it more seriously, if Happy wasn't talking to the empty chair on the other side of the bed. "Hap, hey," he said, snapping his fingers, and Happy finally turned to look in the right direction. His pupils were blown as wide as Tony had ever seen. "There you go. Got you on the good stuff, huh?"

"I found -" his friend gestured to the tablet on the side, then his gaze fell down onto his body.

Both his legs and one arm were in casts, and a wired contraction held his broken collarbone in place.

"You didn't have to," Tony kept his tone light as he flicked through the tablet. Whatever it was meant to be, it was gibberish, all of it - couldn't not be, with Happy as doped up as he was, but he'd be damned if he told Happy that. "This is crazy helpful Hap, could blow this whole thing wide open. So," he reached out and patted the closest part of Happy that wasn't broken. "Get some rest. I can take it from here."

"Good, good," Happy said, sinking back into the bed. His only non-broken arm sluggishly moved to pat the front of his chest, where an ID card would be, and he started murmuring to himself.

Fury rekindled in Tony's chest.

The anger fuelled him through the pain, through the exhaustion, through the dizziness.

The first order of business was to see what F.R.I.D.A.Y could find. Whoever was responsible was smart; there had been an EMP which knocked F.R.I.D.A.Y out during the explosion (which he hadn't thought was possible, had thought he'd protected against all forms of EMP screwing with his suits. Clearly, he needed to rethink that). However, F.R.I.D.A.Y wasn't installed in the Hong Kong tower and she had been dormant in the old Avengers Tower, so there wasn't much from her in either location and he had to rely on old-fashioned technology (slow, too slow). Focusing on the data from F.R.I.D.A.Y and Happy meant he didn't focus on the fact that had he not been wearing his armour, he would be dead.

The bomb had been directly underneath the meeting room. Everyone inside had died instantly. Pepper had been by the building entrance, had avoided the initial blast but been taken out by the ensuing destruction. Happy, too, had avoided the initial blast but been trapped underneath the ensuing rubble.

Even where Tony'd been, outside the room, would've resulted in his death - but trusting the kid had saved his life.

He bolted upright, winced as the world spun and his back complained, then ignored it and said, "F.R.I.D.A.Y, call Peter."

"Unable to connect boss."

Tony froze. "Try again."

"Unable to connect. The number appears to be disconnected."

No.

No one had told him anything about Peter - between the conference, seeing Happy and Pepper, trying to save his company while finding out who did this, he hadn't given a single thought to the kid. Had assumed - had hoped - that if anything serious had happened, it would have been brought up and it hadn't, so he couldn't freak out, shouldn't freak out just because the kid's number no longer apparently worked. People changed numbers all the time. Maybe his phone had broken that night and he needed a new one.

"Call May."

"Calling May." To his surprise, he suddenly heard a faint ringing. He blinked, twisted and turned to stare at the corridor outside, and his AI said, "May is within the compound. I can let her know you wish to speak with her if you like, boss."

"No," he said. Why the fuck was May here? "No I'm - I'll go. Where is she?" He followed F.R.I.D.A.Y's instructions down to one of the many living rooms and paused in the doorframe when he saw the back of a woman's head. He didn't recognise her from it, but walking around the sofa to see her face confirmed it was indeed Peter's aunt. "May?"

She jumped, her eyes snapping up from her phone to his face, and if Rhodey had looked bad then she looked awful. Her hair resembled a bird's nest; there were huge bags under her eyes and a familiar glassy sheen of exhaustion in them. It seemed to take her a few seconds to process but then she bolted to her feet and said, "You're awake! I'd heard, but I hadn't -" she broke off, clenched her jaw then exhaled and, much calmer, said, "You look dead on your feet. You should sit down."

"Hey now," he protested but a sudden wave of dizziness hit him and he let her push him down on the sofa. "Since when did we get close enough to be handsy?"

"Like you could handle me," she scoffed but let go and moved further down the sofa, understanding his underlying message. "I saw your press conference."

"That little thing?" he sank back into the cushions, silently promising to only rest for a few minutes, just until this wave of nausea had passed. "Just another Tuesday. Maybe I'll make it into a weekly segment on my new reality TV show."

"I'd watch it," she said. Her smile was weak though and fell quickly, leaving them both in awkward silence. Eventually, Tony worked up the courage to say,

"I tried to call Peter. Did his phone break - or...?" 

May blinked once, twice, then her eyebrows rose. "You don't - you don't know?"

He shut his eyes, bowed his head and counted to ten. "It's just been one shit storm after another," he finally said as he opened his eyes and met hers. "Nobody has told me a thing. Lay it on me." If something had happened to Peter because of all of this (and it must have. There was no reason May should even be at the compound), he didn't know what he'd do.

"He's... missing," she grimaced and looked down at her lap. Tony could only stare and desperately hope there was a punch line because the alternative - it couldn't be true seriously why the fuck was she so calm? "The night he saved you, he was - he'd been getting these texts and they warned him what was going to happen. They were talking about a 'guessing game'," she quoted and her expression was so angry he almost wanted to take a step back. "He showed me a few - one of them was, 'How many people do you think will die? 8? 12? I'm betting all 15. What's yours?'"

Jesus fucking Christ.

Tony felt sick. He should've pushed - Peter had thought they were creepy, they'd bothered him when everyone else had dismissed them, and now -

"But after that night, after Peter - Spider-Man - saved you," she continued and finally looked back up at him. "The next text he got - well, it proved whoever it was knew his identity. So he brought me here, apologised and left, and I haven't heard from him since. Though -" she picked up her phone, unlocked it and it instantly opened on a blurry photo of Spider-Man with another person dressed in nondescript clothes, hidden by a baseball cap.

"What's -?"

"This was posted online yesterday," she said. She held the phone so hard her fingers had turned white. "He's alive. Or he was, then. But that's - that's all I know."

"So - what, the kid's gone to ground?" Tony asked.

He tried to fight off the hysteria by bending forward, elbows on his knees, head in his hands and focusing on breathing. The entire board of Stark Industries had been killed. Happy was currently crippled, Pepper was in a coma, Rhodey was burnt out trying to do everything - and now Peter was missing, was hiding, because if he didn't then everyone he loved would be in danger. Whoever was behind this had struck at every single thing Tony cared about and effectively taken them out in one strike.

How the fuck had he let it get this far?

"I'm gonna fix this May," he said, looking up at her once he'd shoved the hysteria down so deep it didn't threaten to bubble over when he opened his mouth.

"I know," she said. "Our kid's counting on you."

It was the first time she'd acknowledged the developing relationship between him and Peter. He just wished he could enjoy it.

"Boss, you need to see this."

"Did I accidentally switch off the setting where you give me good news?" Tony griped as the TV screen switched on without any prompting and both he and May turned to it. It was the news, again, and something clenched tightly around his heart. Had another building been hit? How many more were about to die because of him? Then he realised the footage was from a helicopter. It was shaky but the two figures were clear as day, one Tony didn't recognise but the second was clearly Spider-Man. They were fighting, dancing across the rooftops of the buildings, and Tony had armoured up before he'd even thought about it.

He was about to fly off when May asked, "Is that one of your suits?"

"What?" he spun back to the screen, swayed from the dizziness of moving too fast, and focused on the other figure.

It took a few seconds, but eventually the cameraman moved and managed to catch a relative close-up of them. It definitely wasn't one of his suits; the colours were too dark, the head and neck were too curvy and there was a long rectangular bright light over the chest instead of the usual round arc-reactor shape - but it was the best replication he'd seen of them yet, even surpassing Obie's attempts.

As he watched, he even saw a round glowing circle on their hand though, instead of an energy blast, what looked like electricity cracked out wherever he put it.

"Shit," he swore. Peter had no chance against something like that. "I have to go." He started to move but then May stepped to the side and blocked his path with a steely expression. "What the hell May?"

"You're not going anywhere," she said. "Send one of your suits."

"What?" he released the headpiece so he could glare at her. "Peter's got no chance against that thing -"

"And neither do you in that condition," she crossed her arms over her chest. 

"I can fight -" 

She reached across, pushed his shoulder and he stumbled back, dizzy and nausea coming back with a vengeance. She gave him a look and said, "Send one of your suits." Her voice was firm, aside from the faint tremble at the very end, and it hit Tony then that she was terrified for Peter, but she was still stopping him from going - "Peter would never forgive me if I let you go and you died," she explained, perhaps sensing his turmoil, and Tony was stunned into silence. She seemed to take offence at that, scowling, "Now send a suit to my kid or so help me -"

He snapped himself back together. "F.R.I.D.A.Y," he ordered.

"Already sent," she replied. "Syncing up to your glasses now."

"Good girl. How long?" he looked back at the battle.

"Twelve minutes."

May sat back down on the sofa and hugged herself, eyes never leaving the TV screen. Tony settled next to her as he put his sunglasses on and watched the feed, trying to prepare himself for going into battle.

He got there too late.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say his arrival prompted the end of the fight. The knock-off Iron-Man took off just as Tony got him within his sights and he would've chased, probably would have even caught up, but Peter was lying still on the ground and it felt eerily similar to Germany as he directed the suit down and knelt beside the kid to check him out. Before he could touch him, however, the kid burst upright with a gasp and scrabbled back, and Tony held up his hands in surrender like he had nearly two years ago and said,

"Easy kid. Just me."

"Mr - Mr Stark?" the kid stilled. "What're... what're you doing here?"

To Tony's relief he didn't sound in pain, just out of breath, and the worry which had almost left him breathless faded into anger.

"Well, a little Spiderling decided to risk getting washed out the water spout," he said and then, with a bit more force, "What the hell, Pete?"

"I-I-" Peter stammed and then he gasped, leapt to his feet and frantically started looking around. "Oh no, did Zeke get away?"

"Zeke?" Tony made the suit stand too. "You got a name for the knock-off?"

The eyes on the kid's suit suddenly went shifty and the kid said, "Uh..." like he was scrambling for something to say, which, hello, that was new. Peter usually babbled on and on about his antics.

Fear gripped him again as he realised Peter was okay right now, but could still easily join Pepper and Happy. He couldn't allow Peter to stay out when it was so dangerous. What had Peter been forced to do, to find that information? How had he been hiding so effectively for eight days? He had to get the kid back to the compound, to his aunt, where Tony could keep an eye on him and make sure nothing bad ever happened again. Maybe find some bubble wrap.

"It's okay, I get it. It's like in the movies, right? You go off the grid, hang out with the seedy underbelly, get some intel, but playtime's over now," he reached out and made the suit grab Peter under his arms. "The adults'll take it from here."

"Woah woah wait no way man!" To his surprise Peter easily managed to break free and he backflipped away a few feet, looking at Tony almost... fearfully. "I can't go back, not now! We're so close to getting him!"

Tony narrowed his eyes. "We?"

"M-Me," the kid hastily corrected. "I. Me. Only me, I'm so close to - to getting him..."

He did not believe the brat in the slightest and the worry only grew stronger. He took a step forward, making Peter take a step back, and said, "Well, I've got a distraught aunt crying her eyes out on my shoulder -"

"Aunt May's there? Is she okay? She's safe?"

Tony shook his head. "She won't be any of those until you're back, Pete."

For a moment, he thought that would have convinced Peter to come, but then Peter's shoulders slumped and he said, "I can't. It's too dangerous. Not until we've got this guy - and we're so close. We can draw him out, trap him -"

Yeah, no, Tony couldn't let this go on anymore.

"Is this the royal 'we' or what?" he demanded. "What did I tell you about chatting up casually with criminals?"

"But he isn't a criminal!" Peter argued, then faltered. "O-or, well, I guess he is now but - he only wants to help, Mr Stark, I swear -"

A horrible suspicion took hold and wouldn't let go. Peter continued babbling but Tony couldn't hear him, it all became white noise, because the screens - still connected to the cameras, their events still being broadcast live for the world to see - showed someone appearing out the door to the roof, someone in unremarkable clothes and a baseball cap but with a body shape Tony suspected he would recognise in his sleep. He couldn't even turn, paralysed to the spot as Captain America walked up behind Peter.

"Tony," Steve nodded as he stopped next to Peter's shoulder. "It's good to see you're awake."

"Steve." The name came out strangled. "What - what the hell is this?"

"Mr Stark -" Peter took a step forward and this time, Tony was the one to step back. The sight of the pair together struck something deep inside him - a moment later, he recognised it. Seeing them together, standing against him, hurt.

"No," he snapped. "No, no, you don't get to show up and pretend you care now, after all this time -"

"I'm only here to help, Tony," Steve interrupted. He appeared to be deliberately keeping his tone even, his body language non-threatening. It didn't make Tony feel better in the slightest. He shoved down the hurt, reached out and grabbed Peter's shoulder.

"You can help by getting the hell away from him," he said as he pulled Peter over to his side, far away from Cap. The cameras were still rolling; the Accords were still a thing. If Spider-Man was associated with Captain America, the government would stop pretending they didn't know he existed and actually pay attention. For all his good intentions and moral code, Steve was now a war criminal, a terrorist - and the US went after those with an almost zealous fervour. "Kid, we're leaving."

“But we’re so close Mr Stark!” Peter let Tony drag him away a few steps (and it was ‘let’, he couldn’t feel it through the armour, but he could see the kid forcing his muscles to relax) before digging his heels in. “We even have a plan!”

“Oh really? You have a plan?” Tony scoffed. “Tell me what part of your plan included him getting away.”

“Well okay, that part wasn’t,” Peter admitted, “But he only got away because you showed up before Cap did and scared him off, so really that’s on you -” he broke off. Perhaps he sensed the force of Tony’s glare even through the faceplate because he started backtracking immediately. “I didn’t – I didn’t mean to say that, that’s not it at all -”

Yeah, he was done talking to a child who didn’t understand.

“Cap,” Tony turned to the other man, not sure what he was going to say to him, but Steve beat him to it.

“Peter is talented and has a good heart,” he said. “I was younger than him when I enlisted. With the right tutelage, he’ll -”

“The right tutelage?” Tony clenched his teeth. “You mean, tutelage from someone other than me?”

Steve’s eyes widened slightly. “That’s not what I said at all -”

“Mr Stark, please!” Peter shouted and ran in front of Tony. “He’s been protecting me, okay? I didn’t – I was screwed, the guy knew my identity and was gonna go after everyone – I had to run, and I couldn’t even…” his hands clenched in fists. “He’d taken you down, Mr Stark. You were so badly hurt you puked all over me and had to be put in a coma -”

Tony stared. “You were there?”

“- and I was so so scared because this guy took down Iron-Man, what – what could I do against that?” Peter twisted to look at Cap. “I had no idea what to do or where to go but I went, I tried to hide and Cap – he’s helped me, Mr Stark. He’s kept me safe and we even managed to -”

“Stop right there,” he snapped. His head had started pounding. “Say that’s true, fine. Steve, I appreciate you looking out for my kid, keeping him safe, fighting the good fight.” Steve nodded in acknowledgement, but there was a wariness in his eyes. “But I’m here now, Pete,” Tony said, looking back at Peter. “I’m sorry you got scared, but I’m here and I’m gonna make a comeback so hard that asshole’s never gonna get over it.”

The eyes on the spider suit widened and the kid said, “O-ohmygod ew -”

“That didn’t go where I intended it,” Tony frowned. Perhaps he’d been hit harder than he’d thought. “The point is that we’re going to head back to the compound. You’re gonna be safe, your aunt’s gonna be safe and I’m gonna do what I do best – throw a shit ton of money around and give no fucks about who stands in my way. So let’s go.”

“No,” Peter said.

Tony stared. “I’m sorry. I thought you just said no to me but that’s – that can’t be right.”

“I want to, but – we have a plan, and it’s a pretty good one. If I leave now, it’s all up in smoke. And he already took you out once, what if – I can’t see that again,” Peter’s voice broke. “I need to – this is what I can do to help, so please, let me stay with Cap and do it.”

Well.

Hadn’t he said all along that Steve would be a better mentor for Peter? It made sense that, in the week Peter had spent with Steve, he’d seen that. Combined with the events, he must have realised the same thing everyone else did - Iron-Man would eventually let you down. What had Tony thought, that Peter would want to keep working with him after getting to meet the others? The kid was a fan of all the Avengers – hell, Tony suspected if Thor asked the kid to come with him on a journey, the kid would throw himself head first without a second’s hesitation.

If Peter wanted to run off with Captain America and play hero, who was Tony to stop him?

“Fine,” he said. His voice was flat. “You do it your way, I’ll do it mine. Cap, try not to get him killed and watch out for his tendency to do the complete opposite of what you tell him.”

“Mr Stark?”

Why was Peter confused? This was what he wanted, wasn’t it?

Tony turned his back on the kid and said, “Bring it home girl.”

He pulled his glasses off and was back in the living room, safe and sound and far away from Steve and Peter. The TV still showed the rooftop. F.R.I.D.A.Y had flown the suit away already, leaving Cap and Spider-Man alone. One of Peter’s arms was still outstretched, like he’d tried to reach for Tony, but he eventually dropped it and bowed his head. Tony felt nothing (refused to feel guilt, refused to feel hurt) as Steve patted his kid’s – the kid’s head and then they both took off.

Part of him hoped they’d get caught by the police gathering around the building, but Cap had been on the run for two years now. He’d be able to avoid it with ease.

A touch on his arm made him jump and he spun to see May. He'd forgotten she was even there.

"Shit," he said, realising he'd just failed to bring her kid home to her. "I'm - I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "When Peter gets it in his head to do something, nothing can change his mind. His father was the same way," she smiled sadly. "There were a lot of arguments as Ben tried to teach Peter how to bend. He's better than he used to be, but..." she trailed off and glanced back at the TV screen, then back at him. “I should be the one apologising."

"For what?" Tony scoffed. "The brat's better off with Cap, he won’t let anything bad happen to him." He scowled at the TV screen and muttered, "It’s probably safer than being around me right now anyway." He pretended May wasn’t looking at him with pity and told her, “Now, I’m gonna find this Zeke and remind him and the world why copying my suits and messing with me brings bad things down on people’s heads.”

He had a lead now – Zeke. It was time to get serious.

"Zeke… Zeke… the name sounds familiar,” Rhodey said after a few seconds thinking about it.

“I thought so too,” Tony admitted as he drummed his fingers on the table. The name stirred something at the back of his mind – he felt like he should recognise it, but it remained just out of reach.

“Bring up the fight again,” his friend requested. They both re-watched the recorded footage, studying their new foe – but no number of replays would hide the fact it was a) an iron suit and b) on the same level as Tony’s most recent model. “It really is superior to anything Obadiah ever made,” Rhodey sighed.

“But how?” Tony demanded. He’d already gone through his files – there was no sign anyone had hacked into them. “Obie had seen some of the original plans and still wasn’t successful, so how the fuck did this nobody…”

“I’m not nobody, I’m Zeke.”

It hit him so suddenly he knocked his coffee across the desk. He and Rhodey both swore loudly and hurried to mop it up before it fried the electronics. A few minutes later, they’d rescued everything they could and Rhodey stared at him.

“What was that Tones?”

“Zeke’s a nickname,” he said. His heart was starting to race as everything came together in his mind. “F.R.I.D.A.Y, bring up all the info you’ve got on Obie. Look for any mention of a son.”

“What?”

It always amused Tony how high Rhodey’s voice could get sometimes.

On all the screens around them, F.R.I.D.A.Y started to pull up medical records, then a birth certificate, school reports, a driver’s licence, CVs, passports – on all of them, the name Ezekiel Stane stared back at them mockingly.

“Oh my god,” Rhodey said. “How did – I didn’t know. How did I not know?”

“He never spoke about him,” Tony murmured, memories of past parties racing through his mind. “He didn’t bring him to the parties either. My father said – he had a problem, feared people or something, that Obie was ashamed.”

“You knew?”

“I forgot,” Tony said. “I only ever met him once – a Christmas party, as a teen, before MIT -”

It had been clear why Obie never spoke about his son, then. Ezekiel had spent the whole night in the corner of the room hiding and hadn’t fawned over Tony like everyone else. To hide his confusion, he’d made fun of the kid, hadn’t been able to comprehend why someone wouldn’t enjoy the limelight back then and had called him – amongst other things - a nobody.

“I’m not nobody, I’m Zeke!”

The boy had looked at Tony with such hate – hate Tony knew now had been undeserved, could make a guess as to why, but at the time had just been a mystery – and then run away. Tony had eventually been distracted by the party and never given it another thought.

“Tony!”

Between one blink and the next Tony’s legs were buckling, and then his knees cracked on the floor. He stared, dazed, at the grey floor.

“Is this because I killed Obie?” he asked.

“… We don’t know anything yet -”

“Well it seems pretty fucking obvious,” he snarled, snapping his head up to glare at Rhodey. “I took away something he loved, so he tried to take the things I loved. Quid pro quo.”

“If that were true, surely he would have acted before now,” Rhodey pointed out. “It’s been almost a decade! We need more information. Why now? What happened before this to cause a change?” Tony silently got to his feet and then cleared his throat.

“You heard the man F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

Once they had an identity, finding the proof was laughably easy. Upon breaking into Zeke’s private server, they found dozens of files on bioweaponry and next gen weapons. They found a paper trail of some of the weapons being sold to terrorists. There were even newspaper articles, police reports and flight records compiled together, all about Obie’s death (SHIELD had covered it up as a plane accident while on vacation, but it seemed Zeke had worked out wasn’t true).

“Shit,” Rhodey said as he read into some of the documents on bioweaponry. “Tony, his suit’s not actually a suit. At least, not all of it.”

“Not possible.”

“Look.”

A few finger taps, and the document was up on a hologram in front of them. There were diagrams, pictures, researcher notes – and suddenly, Tony realised what Rhodey had.

“Cybernetic augments on himself?”

“He’s been working on this for years,” Rhodey grimaced. He pulled up a few more files, showing initial plans of an armour like Tony’s, which F.R.I.D.A.Y linked to financial records and showed he’d bought Tony’s tech off the black market and adapted it to himself. They still didn’t know how Zeke had found out about Tony’s involvement in Obie’s death, or why he’d chosen now to attack –

Tony’s eyes were drawn to the phone number at the top of the documents.

“I’m gonna call him,” he said. Rhodey’s lips thinned in disapproval, but he didn’t say a word (which was tacit permission to go ahead) so Tony asked F.R.I.D.A.Y who obediently dialled for him. The phone rang for almost a minute before someone finally picked up, and his AI automatically started tracing the call.

“Stane,” was the greeting and Tony and Rhodey shared a startled look – Zeke sounded just like Obie used to.

“Hi Zeke,” Tony recovered and made his tone ooze with false chipper. “It’s Tony Stark. So, listen, I know it’s been awhile, but I wanted to congratulate you on your new job.” He hastily flicked through the documents till he found the one he wanted. “Recently joined a board of directors for a tobacco company, right?”

“… Tony,” Zeke said. “I see you’ve been in my private server.”

“Well, seeing as you’ve been in my armour – or I guess I should say, my armour’s been in you, if I’m reading these documents correctly - anyway, I figured, what’s a little private server hacking between old friends?”

“We were never friends,” the other man spat.

“You’re gonna make me cry Zeke,” Tony said. “That hurts, right here. What would Obie say?”

To his surprise, Zeke let out a bitter laugh. “My father would be proud. He hated you, Tony, taught me to hate you too. Knowing that I’m finishing what he started…”

“You mean destroying my company? Hurting the people I love? Yeah, that's really not working for me. Here's an idea - why don't you come to me, and I kick your face in? Then everyone’s happy.”

Zeke paused, then said, "You killed my father. Is it so wrong to want you to feel the same pain?"

Tony adopted his blandest tone and said, “No, but good luck with that. I haven’t got a father you can kill and, let’s be real, there’s already so many issues there that nothing you do will even hold a candle to those.”

“You’re right,” Zeke said. “I thought at first I would just have to settle for killing you and taking over as Iron-Man, but then I started watching the news." A glance at Rhodey showed he was just as confused as Tony felt. F.R.I.D.A.Y pinged then, finally finished tracing the call, and Tony’s heart raced as he realised Zeke was in the heart of New York City and moving fast – either in a car or flying. “Granted, I didn’t think much of it at first,” Zeke continued. “Teaching a younger superhero boxing? Humouring his hero-worship? Could’ve been nothing. But then, there was that recording – you were actually trying to mentor him. Tony Stark, the fuck up, was trying to teach a kid to do the right thing.”

The blood in Tony’s veins turned to ice.

“Then, you showed him off to the entire world, like a proud father and I realised – finally, I could make you hurt like I had.”

“If you go near him -”

“Oops, too late.”

"The hell does that -"

"Zeke! You've got nowhere left to run!" And Tony bit back a groan as Peter's voice echoed over the phone, Cap's following a second later with an instruction to stand down or face the consequences.

“See you later Tony,” Zeke said and then hung up.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, alert Vision and send him the coordinates." Neither he nor Rhodey were in the right condition at all to be suiting up, but there was also no chance in hell they were sitting this out. “We have to go now,” Tony snapped and, as they dashed out the lab, asked, “How long, Fri?”

“Twenty-three minutes,” she answered.

“We’re not going to make it on time,” Rhodey said.

Tony didn’t reply. His mind was already back in New York, with a kid he’d practically abandoned and was now facing down another mistake of Tony’s past. If anything happened to Peter – if the last thing he’d done had been turn his back on the kid and walk away –

He wasn’t sure he could live with that.

They were god damn heroes, so they arrived at the climax of the fight like all heroes do.

Tony was about to throw himself in there, strategy be damned, because Steve had been electrocuted, then taken a bomb to the face and was currently out of it while the kid was grappling with Zeke right on the edge of one of the highest buildings in the city, but then Peter dodged a punch, twisted and drop-kicked Zeke in the chest. Zeke staggered back, tripped on some rubble and fell off the ledge.

They were high enough a fall like that would kill a normal person. Zeke, with his cybernetic enhancements, would probably survive - even if his suit thrusters only spluttered, unable to help him because they’d been taken out earlier by an alien gun. The odds of his survival were good.

But whether Zeke would have survived was irrelevant because Peter had leapt off the edge after him and taken Tony’s heart too.

“Fuck!” Rhodey swore.

Watching Peter fall paralysed him. Even as Rhodey swooped down, even as Vision crackled over the comms he was still five minutes out, Tony could only see Pepper falling out of his grip into the flames below – but then Peter shot a web out from both his wrists and Tony realised, as the kid secured himself on the side of the building and stretched out as far as he could with the other arm, that Peter was trying to save Zeke. Never mind they’d been fighting seconds before, never mind all that he’d done – Peter had seen Zeke falling and hadn’t even hesitated to follow and help.

Tony wanted to be proud. He wanted to believe it would work out for the best. But his brain did the maths. F.R.I.D.A.Y did the maths. Hell, even Karen had probably done the maths and was telling Peter right now. He wanted to warn Peter, but his body was still frozen and as Rhodey hovered beside Peter, Tony looked below.

Peter’s webbing finally latched onto the front of Zeke’s chest and held. Zeke came to an immediate halt – but the opposing forces of gravity and Peter’s webs snapped his neck.

Everything seemed to come to a halt.

Everything, except Peter, who was scaling his way down the building. Zeke’s body dangled below him, swaying with every motion, and when they were close enough to the ground Peter gently lowered Zeke the rest of the way as if he didn’t want to hurt him. When Peter’s feet touched the ground, Tony finally broke free of his paralysis.

“Help Cap,” he ordered Rhodey and flew down. The thrusters were suddenly far too loud in his ears and, when he landed and cut them out, he was greeted with a stunned silence. His footsteps echoed around them as he walked over to where Peter was kneeling next to Zeke’s body. The kid didn’t look up at his approach, didn’t even twitch, and Tony realised he was staring at his hands – like it was them which had failed him.

It was like Tony was back in the hospital room again. What the fuck was he supposed to say?

“He’s dead,” Peter whispered.

Not a great start, but Tony would take it. “Yeah, kid, he is.” He knelt beside Peter and got his first close-up of Zeke’s body. The limbs were sprawled out inelegantly and half his faceplate had broken off, to reveal dark hair, pale skin… ultimately just a man, for all the enhancements he’d gotten.

“Are you okay?”

Tony blinked. “Am I – christ, kid, I should be asking you that.”

“But he… he hurt you a lot,” Peter said. His hands clenched into fists, but he still didn’t look up at Tony. “He hurt Miss Potts, and Happy, and tried to take down your company -”

“We’ve been through worse,” Tony said. He hesitated, then finally reached out and put a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Happy’s tough and, hey, did I ever tell you about when Pep got superpowers?” Peter shook his head. “‘Course they wound up nearly killing her too, but for a while there she was on fire, literally. But she got through that so this? This is nothing.”

Jesus, Peter’s babbling was contagious. He should really put up a warning sign.

“But… didn’t you want revenge?”

Tony swallowed and looked back at Zeke’s body. He didn’t feel loss per say, but it did feel anti-climactic. He’d been expecting to go toe-to-toe, have one of the hardest fights in his life like he had with Obie (and yes, he’d wanted revenge, he’d wanted the bastard to suffer), but instead… For all that Zeke had been doing this to Tony (and he wasn’t sure whether it was to kill him or make him suffer, yet), Tony had had very little to do. It had all been put on Peter, in the end.

“I’m gladder you’re safe,” he said and squeezed Peter’s shoulder. “You did good, Pete.”

This time, he felt the muscles under Peter’s shoulders tense. The kid finally looked up at Tony, the eyes on the spider mask wide as he shouted, “I didn’t! I killed him when I tried to save him. He would've survived if I hadn't -” and then his voice broke.

“Kid…” What could Tony say? He couldn't deny it. Peter looked away, ripped out of Tony’s grip and turned, but he couldn’t hide his shuddering shoulders or increasingly desperate gasps. Tony stopped thinking and just reacted. “C’mere,” he reached out and pulled Peter to his chest.

The kid relinquished easily, hands gripping Tony's shirt as he sobbed, “I killed him!”

“You were trying to save him,” Tony murmured. One hand cupped the back of Peter’s head and pressed the kid's face into his neck, while the other circled around his shoulders and held tight. “You were trying to do the right thing.” But the words were meaningless and couldn’t make this right, proven when Peter hiccupped,

“I’m a murderer.”

Tony knew, then, that nothing he said now would get through. He’d have to try again when Peter wasn’t so hysterical, so he just rested his cheek on top of Peter’s head, shut his eyes and held Peter as close as physically possible, pretending the sobs weren’t breaking his own heart.

It felt like hours before Peter quietened. As Peter’s shaking eased, the kid fighting a losing battle with exhaustion, Tony became aware of Rhodey, Vision and Steve hovering a few metres away. He looked up and took in the way Steve leant heavily on his friend, eyes half-shut in dazed pain, before shooting Rhodey a questioning glance. Rhodey shrugged with his free shoulder. Tony looked back at Steve, heart sinking. He could take Peter away from here, get him back to the compound and help him heal, but he couldn’t do the same for Steve and, shocking even himself, he found he wanted to.

It hurt to admit but Steve’s eyes were trained on Peter, more concerned about him than himself, and that – that told Tony a hell of a lot.

“We should leave,” Rhodey cleared his throat as his gaze settled on something behind Tony. Several possibilities raced through Tony’s mind, but the crowd of people at the end of the street with their phones or cameras out filming was one of the safest. He wanted to be angry that something private had been captured again, but he was just too tired. He looked down at Peter, who was being very quiet.

“I’m going to take care of all of this,” he promised. He'd been making a lot of those the past two days. “That includes you, okay kid? So let’s get out of here.” There was no reply. He swallowed, engaged his armour and then scooped Peter up in his arms. "Can you... deal with this?" he asked, gesturing to Zeke with his foot and accidentally kicking him.

Whoops. Oh well.

Rhodey and Vision nodded, Tony cast one last look at Steve, who was leaning on Rhodey even more than before, then turned and started the long flight back to the compound.

Valhellwha 1 minute ago
The sound he makes omg…

IronSanta 2 minutes ago
Who else started crying
just me? ok ok

sweetauctionator 2 minutes ago
When cap went down i lost my mind

BBellax 2 minutes ago
wish we could hear wat they say

favchild1010 2 minutes ago
Knew he was a goner when he fell… didn’t expect spidey to do it

Nat_Cutie_Camp 3 minutes ago
He should’ve let him drop,like if u agree

katelynm 4 minutes ago
Man spidey sure is a cryer

starsnspaghetti 4 minutes ago
Who’s team captain America…?

Kashuarto 4 minutes ago
Anyone else just breakdown when spidey does? :’(

Hawkish_eye 5 minutes ago
If only iron man got there earlier

FullmetalWhat? 5 minutes ago
and the student became a master...

-> SamCartxJack 4 minutes ago
     of fighting?

---> FullmetalWhat? 3 minutes ago
         of killing

-----> Merthur 2 minutes ago
            Spider-Killer, to match his merchant of death dad

Chapter Text

Before

Peter sat on the edge of the building, legs dangling over the edge, and leant back on his arms. It was a relatively quiet night – there’d been a few muggings and a fire, but they’d both been easy to deal with. Part of him wished for something more exciting, part of him just enjoyed the peacefulness that came from looking down on the city instead of being in it.

“Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can -”

Well he would, if it weren’t for Ned.

“Come on man!” It wasn’t a whine, because Spider-Man didn’t whine, but it was close to one.

“It’s in my head dude,” Ned said, not sounding very sorry at all. “I gotta let it out.”

“On my comms?”

“Well who else am I gonna sing it to? Michelle?” They both snorted in unison. “You know, if you made this night a little more interesting -”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I told you it’s relatively dull most nights. You’re the one who wanted to come!”

“I thought there’d be more kicking ass! You know, like that guy in Hell’s Kitchen. Have you seen his latest Youtube video?”

“I’m sorry the life of a vigilante isn’t what you were expecting,” Peter huffed (he definitely wasn’t at all jealous about how impressed Ned sounded).

“It’s okay,” Ned said. “Being your guy in the chair’s still the coolest thing I’ll ever do, so…”

They fell silent and Peter went back to enjoying the city. There were still car honks and music playing from various clubs, but high up it was much fainter. The world he looked down on felt like a whole other planet with twinkling lights.

“Spider-Man, Spider-Ma-”

He groaned.

The day the Vogue video went public, Michelle asked Peter and Ned to wait at the end of the decathlon practice. Once everyone had left, she pulled out the video, skipped to the first moment Spider-Man appeared and then shoved the screen in their faces.

“I’m not an idiot,” she said flatly. “The fact none of the others on the team have worked it out yet makes me want to kick them off.”

Peter was sweating. “Um.”

“This is your chance to come clean, Parker. You don’t just know Spider-Man, do you?”

“Um.” His voice had got progressively higher, but it hadn’t broken yet. Michelle turned her gaze to Ned who froze like a deer caught in headlights. She didn’t even have to say anything, just look, and the intensity got Ned to crack within a minute.

“He’s Spider-Man!” he shouted, and his voice did break.

Peter smacked him on the arm as he looked around in panic and said, “Dude!” What if someone else had overheard?

“She already knew!” Ned defended, though he did sound apologetic.

Michelle turned her intense gaze back to Peter and the hairs on his arms rose. He fought the urge to shiver. “I want you to do something for me. If you don’t, I’ll tell everyone your secret.” He wished he could say he was surprised, but Michelle was definitely the black-mailing type.

“Okay,” he slumped his shoulders.

And that was how the volunteering at the hospital started.

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Peter stared in longing.

"5195 pieces," Ned's words were breathy with excitement. "Oh man imagine what it'd be like if we had it!"

"If you meant 'dignity', it still wouldn't help either of you."

They didn't look up from Ned's phone as Michelle settled on the opposite side of the table, but Peter told her, "This set has over five thousand pieces, it's insane," without any shame. "Not only that but -"

"Yeah, I don't actually care," she said with a roll of her eyes as she pulled out a book.

Not offended, Peter let Ned flick through some more photos posted by other people. "We'd have to share custody though," he pointed out to Ned.

"Dude!" Ned looked horrified. "It's too dangerous to transport it from mine to yours all the time. What if someone stole it?"

Michelle scoffed but didn't look up from her book. "Whatever it is, it can't be that valuable." Peter and Ned exchanged incredulous looks.

"It's $500," Peter said.

That made her look up, though her expression remained disinterested (they were slowly learning that didn't necessarily mean she wasn't listening, though). "What is this again?"

"The Ultimate Collector's Edition Millennium Falcon," Ned said promptly and showed her the pictures on his phone.

"Huh." Her eyes flickered to Peter. "Why don't you ask your sugar daddy to get it for you?"

Peter frowned. "I don't have a sugar daddy."

"Yeah you do," she said. "He's got a good bubble butt."

The fact that he knew who she meant just from that made him die a little inside, but he protested, "Mr Stark isn't my sugar daddy!" so loudly the students on the tables around them glanced over. His cheeks burned, Ned's eyes widened, and Michelle sniggered at him, and he buried his face in his hands and said, lower, "And I can't ask him for a Millennium Falcon!"

"Why not?" she said.

"Because!" he flapped his arms at her. "It's - expensive!"

"$500 is like a speck of dust to him."

"And it's embarrassing!"

She raised an eyebrow. "And that's different to normal, how?"

"She's got a point," Ned the traitor said with a slow nod as he considered it, then enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon. "You could say it's for a school project!"

"School project's dumb," Michelle the heartless shook her head. "You need to be sneaky. You see him every other weekend?" she waited for Peter's hesitant nod. "So you go, look longingly and sadly at it on your phone until he asks what's wrong, and you play coy but then show him and act all excited, then casually mention how it's just a tad too expensive for May, and voila."

Peter knew they were joking, but the idea of tricking Mr Stark in that way still made his stomach twist into knots. "Mr Stark already does so much for me. I can't ask him for anything else!"

"Alright," she shrugged and looked back down at her book. "Like I care. I just thought I'd save your phones from frying because of all the drool."

They were all silent for a minute or so, then Ned admitted, "It'd be really awesome if he did buy it though."

"Ned!"

His friend didn't even look apologetic. "Well it would. Imagine it next to the Death Star."

Peter looked back down at Ned's phone. It had gone dark from not being touched, but he could still remember the pictures. He allowed himself a few seconds to imagine Mr Stark buying it for him - that Mr Stark would pay attention to what he was interested in and buy it to make him happy, and not even blink at the price - and couldn't help joining Ned in sighing longingly.

"It would be awesome," he agreed. "But he's already spent so much on the suit, that's worth like a thousand falcons."

They all shuddered. On a whim, Ned had investigated what just a few of the materials had cost and come back so white-faced and shaken it had kicked off Peter's spider-sense. When Ned passed on just how much a small fraction had cost, Peter had stopped patrolling for two whole weeks because he feared damaging it (and if he hadn't promised both Tony and May he wouldn't go out as Spider-Man in the old suit after the Vulture incident, he would have used that instead).

Taking that into consideration, there was no way he could ever ask Mr Stark for anything.

"Speaking of the iderspay anmay, we still on for this weekend?" Ned said.

"You realise that's not secret at all?" Michelle checked.

"Ifyay ouyay aysay osay," he said and she scowled.

Peter ignored them. "You guys don't have to if you don't want to."

"It was my idea," Michelle's words were relaxed but her tone said you idiot.

"Guy in the chair," Ned reminded, then added, "I've already got the kits together. I was thinking the crane one first, so we could teach them some physics too."

"That's a good choice," Peter thought about it. "What about the robot and the catapult too?"

"Yes!"

Before he and Ned could get carried away, Michelle asked, “You called Mr Stark to tell him you changed plans, right?”

“… I’ll do it now.”

The first thing he did after Mr Stark (Tony) dropped him off was go to his room, strip off the Spider-Man suit and curl up under the covers.

May came up a few minutes later and he felt the mattress dip where she sat on the bed. She didn't say anything, just sat there, and after a while he found the strength to poke his head out from under the duvet and look at her. She cupped his cheek and smiled sadly.

"Tony told me what happened. Honey, nothing can prepare you for seeing someone die, but being there in their last moments, giving them comfort... I'm so proud of you."

Peter choked out, "It's not fair."

"Life isn't fair sweetie, we both know that already," she said and laid down beside him. She held out an arm and Peter curled into her, burying his face in the sheets bunched between them so they could catch her tears. "You're so brave, the bravest person I've ever known."

"I don't feel brave," he whispered.

"Those who are rarely do," she whispered back and stroked his hair. He wanted to stay like this forever, but he needed to get this off his chest.

"I told her something before she... went," he said and took a shaky breath in, out. "That Uncle Ben would be waiting for her, so she wouldn't be alone."

May was silent for a long time, then she said, "Yes, he would," and sounded choked up too. He shut his eyes, burrowed closer and focused all his attention on her breathing, the beat of her heart, reminding himself she was alive and here with him, and so long as that were true then everything would be okay.

When the first few articles had come out about Spider-Man, Peter and Ned had pressed together and re-read them again and again on their phones. Being recognised in the news had felt like validation, like Spider-Man was making a difference, and they'd talked about how it was only a matter of time before Spider-Man would be talked about in the same breath as the Avengers. They'd watched every shaky footage on Youtube caught of Spider-Man, followed every tweet that talked about him, even tried to catch the snapchat stories before they faded -

So when the first truly negative article came out, from the Daily Bugle, they saw it within a few minutes, but it was just one, right? A one-off. None of the information had been correct, and what it did talk about it had stretched so far beyond reasonable that no one was taking it seriously in the comments, so Peter had been able to put it behind him. When the second one came out - after the Vogue video - it got a lot more traction, because any story about Spider-Man then was read by loads, but it was still so incredulous that after a week, the furore had died down and it was almost forgotten.

Then the third one came, after the leaked recording in the hospital.

"Dude dude dude!"

Ned shoved his phone in Peter's face. Peter went cross-eyed trying to focus, then eventually just grabbed the phone and looked properly. He'd felt permanently tired since coming back from the hospital, but seeing the title sent a shot of adrenaline through him.

"Spider-Man: Hero or Menace?" he looked up at Ned. "What is this?"

To their surprise, another voice joined the conversation.

"You've seen it too?" Flash appeared out of nowhere. Ned and Peter exchanged a puzzled look (for Flash to deign to talk to them civilly, made Peter tempted to look out the window for a flying pig), as Flash settled on the empty chair next to them. "It's a load of garbage. Everyone knows Spidey is fighting the good fight."

Even though it was Flash, Peter still felt a little touched by his defence.

"No one will believe it," Ned reassured. "They haven't believed the last ones - and there's so many videos coming out of the hospital."

"They're the only ones who've been so harsh on Spidey too," Flash said. "Still, if one newspaper prints it, more will probably follow. For views and clicks if nothing else."

"They just want the controversy," Ned added.

Peter appreciated what they were doing (well, Ned anyway), but he still felt like he was going to be sick.

"I gotta - bathroom," he bolted to his feet and dashed away, ignoring Ned's questions or Flash's disgusted groan. He just needed to be alone for a bit. He would - he'd been fine for the others, this would pass too.

"-ter!"

He quickly hit the power button on his phone, sending the screen dark, but from the expressions on their faces he hadn't been quick enough.

"You need to stop reading it man," Ned said quietly, looking down at Peter from the bottom bunk.

"I know," Peter said, not quite able to keep the misery out of his tone. "I just -" he stopped, not sure himself what justification he could give (because he did know. He'd watched the interviews of celebrities like everyone else - the one thing they all agreed on was to never Google themselves, but it was different when it was about you).

"Ask Mr Stark to sue," Michelle said, uncurling her feet from beneath her and leaning forward. "It's inflammatory right?"

Peter flopped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. "Mr Stark wouldn't care. When I went to him about that Avengers article, he said stuff like this was part of being a superhero and I just had to get used to it."

"He's not wrong dude," Ned said. "A lot of bad stuff's been said about him."

"Haters gonna hate whatever," Michelle agreed.

"But I -" Peter coughed. "I'm a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. I help little old ladies cross the road! I don't - I don't kill." Even just saying the word felt wrong. "Should I... stop being Spider-Man?"

His friends were silent. He shut his eyes, mind wandering back to the article's suggestion that he'd been responsible for the little girl's death. It made him sick - he did everything he could to avoid hurting someone unnecessarily, so for them to say it so coldly... for people to comment online about it... for some people to believe it...

"You need a distraction," Michelle stood up. Peter eyed her warily and was right to do so when she yanked him up to stand next to her. Ned watched them curiously from the bunk bed. "We're gonna dance," she declared.

Peter blinked while Ned snorted. "Good one," he chortled. "Peter can't dance. At his tenth birthday we had -"

"NED!" Peter shouted, not even embarrassed by how high his voice went because - "You swore to infinity and beyond you'd never ever tell -"

Michelle laughed the loudest they'd ever heard her. "Oh my god you dorks -"

"We were ten!"

"I'm getting this story out of you later," she pointed a finger at Ned who looked both eager to screw Peter over and terrified of what Michelle had planned. "But for now, we dance. Come on Parker."

"I can't dance," Peter said, feeling a little stupid.

Michelle shrugged. "I don't care."

"But -"

"It's not like you have any dignity here," she said. "Don't be a wuss."

"That's true," Ned nodded.

Peter stared at Ned, betrayed, as Michelle pulled out her phone and played a video. 'It's my typo life' echoed around the room.

"Do what I do," she ordered and then crossed her arms. "Start like this."

"I'm so getting this for May," Ned cackled and started filming on his phone.

Heaving a huge sigh, Peter reluctantly copied Michelle's pose as the song repeated. She eyed him and said, "Now swing your arms down like this, while kicking out with your legs in the same direction." She showed him the move. "Now you." He tried to mimic her and got it on the second try, after she repeated it. "Huh," she shot a suspicious glance at Ned. "Were you lying?"

"Please," Ned said. "When May gets back there's this video -"

"Maybe it's the spider bite!" Peter hastily cut in, desperate to stop their planning. Ned and Michelle adopted thoughtful expressions. They all knew his balance and coordination had improved, and what was dancing if not either of those things?

"I guess," Michelle said. "Well, whatever. So we do that first, now try this," she bent her knee and swung it out in time to the beat while posing with her hands, and he copied her again. This was easier than the first move. "Okay, now this." She pushed away from her head with her palms wide open. "And repeat!" she went back to the first move. "You got it?"

"Think so," Peter said. He took a deep breath and then performed the routine. Ned's jaw dropped (but somehow managed to keep holding up his phone) while Michelle's eyes widened slightly. "Was it... okay?"

Ned lamented, "Man, why couldn't I have gotten bitten by a spider?"

Michelle shook her surprise off. "From the top, then. Ready?"

They danced the routine, repeating it twice, and Peter couldn't stop the smile from coming onto his face. It felt good, not just to dance but to be doing it well, especially after the disasters he'd had in the past. Michelle might not know what it used to be like, but Ned definitely did - and May would be so surprised later. He could finally, finally regain some dignity after that horrendous event to never be named again. After the second repeat, Michelle crouched down and made a face at the camera, before signing off with a thrust of her hands and, with a laugh, Peter copied her.

"We have to find out what other moves you can do," she said with a tiny but thrilled grin.

"Since when are you a dancer?" Peter asked to try and divert attention from his burning red cheeks.

"Dance is another form of expression," she shrugged. "Like drawing."

The video finally switched over, likely auto-play, and they all paused at the first notes of the new song.

"Hey, isn't that-"

"From that new musical about a circus -"

"This Is Me," Michelle gave them the title and a curious look as she paused the video. "You know it?" Peter and Ned exchanged incredulous looks. "... Huh. You don't - I didn't think you two liked musicals," she admitted. For the first time she seemed... shy, rather than disinterested. "Not sci-fi enough or whatever."

"Michelle," Peter said. "The Rocky Horror Show."

Her shy look was replaced by her usual, 'I'm humouring you' expression. "Right, that checks out."

"Play it play it!" Ned urged. "Wasn't there a dance score there? Let's make Peter do it!"

"For once not a bad idea."

Peter sighed, bowed his head and resigned himself to becoming a guinea pig of his two best friends.

Between the three of them, they found the dance on Youtube and tried to copy it. Ned joined in at first, but there wasn't enough space in Peter's room for all three of them so he mainly watched and filmed as they jumped around and tried not to knock things off the shelves. Judging by his ear-splitting grin, he didn’t care.

Eventually after Michelle and Peter felt relatively confident, they shared a determined look to get this right (because he’d stopped feeling self-conscious after the third time Michelle had smacked him in the face, and Ned had tried to side-step, tripped and taken them all down with him) and then looked to the final member of the trio.

“Let’s do this,” Michelle declared.

Ned held up his phone to film, sitting so far on the edge of the bed he was close to falling off and wearing the biggest grin Peter had ever seen on his face, while Michelle and Peter settled into position. Then he hit play and skipped ahead a little.

Peter took a deep breath, ran through the moves in his head and then the song was building up I know that there’s a place for us, oh we are glorious -

"When the sharpest words wanna cut me down," they all sang as Peter and Michelle bounced their knees and pumped the air. "Gonna send a flood gonna drown them out!" They turned to the side and spread their arms out, only avoiding hitting each other after a lot of practising, "I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I'm meant to be -" they snapped their heads up and punched the air, shouting, "This is me!"

Look out 'cause here I come -

Michelle came forward, Peter fell back -

And I'm marching on to the beat I drum -

They stomped the ground with their right foot a few times -

I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies -

They stepped right, then left, then spread their hands out palms wide, fingers spread, then stomped the ground again -

This is me!

As the 'oh's echoed across the song, Peter shot an exhilarated grin over at Michelle who, for once, gave him one back just as wide. He'd never had so much fun dancing - had never known it could be so much fun - his previous lack of coordination had always meant he had two left feet but now, this, he could see why people loved it, see how it had just thrown all his worries away and just feel the beat of the song -

"And I know that I deserve your love," Michelle sang then and Peter and Ned exchanged wide-eyed looks. Michelle had gone a little red, but she held her chin higher as she continued, stronger and louder, "There's nothing I'm not worthy of." Michelle was an amazing singer. In the quieter part of the song, when the sharpest words wanna cut me down, Peter took that moment to just watch her. She met his eyes almost defiantly, gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out, as if she expected to be mocked, but he thought she had never looked more beautiful.

Then, she turned, picked up the mask of Spider-Man on the bed, pressed it into his hands and sang,

"This is brave, this is bruised, this is who you're meant to be," she said and, looking down at their clasped hands, Peter realised what she was doing - what she was trying to tell him.

"This is me," Peter finished, softly, and the beat dropped.

The moment over, they turned back to Ned and restarted the dance, stomping their feet and clapping their hands, as Ned joined in again with the singing, and in the last chorus of the song he jumped up and joined them and the dance routine fell apart, instead they just threw their arms around each other and jumped up and down as they sang, "Whenever the words wanna cut me down, I'll send a flood to drown them out, woah woah woah..."

They all threw their hands up as they shouted, "This is me!"

The song ended, the room fell silent, and though Peter wasn't out of breath he still breathed as heavily as the other two, overcome with emotions. He wanted to speak but was worried he'd start crying because he realised he didn't care anymore what people said about Spider-Man. They could say what they liked, but it wouldn't make him change anything about what he did. He would still go out there and save people, from helping little old ladies cross the street to fighting muggers to rescuing people from fires - because that was Spider-Man, and he was proud to be.

"Well then," May's voice came from the doorway. They all spun around to look at her. "That definitely wasn't my Peter. Ned, did you replace Peter with a pod person?" she put her hands on her hips with a mock glare.

"May!"

He got the first text when he was being driven to the compound by Happy late on a Friday night. The number was blocked, the words were strange, but he was about to dismiss it when the hairs on his arms rose and a shiver went down his back, as if responding to a threat. He tensed and looked around, out each of the car windows, but didn't see anything.

"Alright kid?" Happy asked, glancing at him through the rear-view mirror.

"Yeeeep yup never better man," he said. Happy didn't look convinced, but he also didn't push.

Peter kept an eye out for the rest of the trip but, while the general nagging feeling of danger didn't go away it also didn't get stronger. Still, a few minutes out from the compound he opened the group chat and sent his friends a message.

peter (8:20): got a message from a blocked no

peter (8:21): said 'do you wanna play a game'

ned (8:24): we're all gonna get nuked

mj (8:26): wat?

peter (8:27): movie

peter (8:27): should I tell mr s?

mj (8:31): nah just a wrong text

ned (8:32): yeah man dw

peter (8:33): but now my spidey sense is up

ned (8:34): omg tell mr s asap

mj (8:35): your funeral

They arrived at the compound and he sighed and put away his phone, deciding to only mention it if he got another one. Mr Stark had a lot of important things after all, he didn't need to hear about one wrong number text Peter had gotten.

The next night, when he was fleeing from the compound after leaving May with War Machine and Vision, he wished he'd given it more attention. His spider senses never went off without reason and, even if sometimes he didn't understand why, he should've known better than to ignore it. Now three of the people he looked up to were in the hospital because of it, the doctors were being bleak about their survival and then it turned out this mysterious villain knew Peter Parker's identity -

Later, when he was back in the city, he looked up to the top of a skyscraper and didn't feel safe. It was too exposing, too vulnerable, so he stumbled into a back alley instead and slumped against the wall, trying not to panic. He had to hide - this guy had managed to take out Iron-Man.

Iron-Man.

There was no way Peter could hide from him, not alone anyway. Which meant not only May, but Ned and MJ were in danger too. What if this guy traced Peter's records and discovered them?

He called them through the spider suit, grateful that, at least, would prevent anyone from hacking or listening in.

"Guys," he croaked.

"Oh my god Peter!" Ned exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" MJ demanded.

"For now, but I have to - I'm going into hiding," he swallowed. "It's not safe - I'm not safe. So you guys can't contact me."

"Don't be an idiot Parker -"

"Dude -"

Peter's throat tightened (what if this was the last time he spoke to them?) but he forced out, "I'm so sorry, please, stay low until this is over." He tensed as his spider sense tingled, warning him someone was appearing on his left, and he said, "I have to go. I love you guys." He ignored their protests and had Karen hang up on them, before twisting around and throwing a punch. He'd been on an adrenaline rush non-stop for hours and couldn't have stopped if it he'd tried.

Fortunately, Captain America could take it.

"Spider-Man," he said as he let go of Peter's fist. Peter wanted to say something cool, but he was so stunned, so dazed, he could only gape. Of all the things he'd expected to come out of this night, Steve Rogers wasn't one of them. "What's going on? How is Tony?"

"Uh," he said eloquently.

Cap took pity on him. "How can I help?"

"I - I gotta hide," he said. Was this really happening right now? "My identity -"

"Okay," Cap said. "Come with me, I know a place you can lay low. You can get me up to speed there."

Peter hesitated, but this was Captain America (and, if he were honest, part of him really wanted to let Captain America take the lead on this, come up with a plan and stick together, because he would definitely be able to fix everything).

"Okay," he said, and followed Cap into the dark.

It was all going so well.

He and Cap had been busting Zeke's ass, after days of chasing down whispers and gangs and the black market, had managed to disable his armour with an alien gun stolen from the Vulture's collection (courtesy of a well-timed visit) -

Then Zeke set off a bomb in Cap's face.

Then Peter killed Zeke while trying to save him.

After

The words you did good, Pete rang in his ears whenever he looked at Mr Stark. Never feel sorry for stopping a bad person from hurting other people circled around him like May's arms. Ned's you saved the day dude crossed his screen every time he picked up the phone.

(He heard nothing from MJ.)

All of them took his reluctance to sleep, talk and eat as a sign of his guilt and reassured him over and over again it was an accident baby or he would’ve hurt others dude or you did the right thing kid. They fell over themselves to try and relieve him of some of it. Mr Stark would try to force a painfully awkward ‘feelings’ talk before giving up and relying on science as a distraction. May made sure to keep him within touching distance and found excuses for long periods of contacts. Ned spammed him with everything from old vines to spoilers for new TV shows. Even Colonel Rhodes and Happy (once he was being weaned off the painkillers) had given it a go when they were around.

The thing was, though –

He should be feeling guilty for killing someone, but he didn’t.

Sometimes he wanted to tell them the truth, but then he imagined the looks on their faces and couldn’t bear it, so he kept quiet and let them fuss over him, let them bake him burnt treats or FaceTime until 4am talking about shit or play around in the lab.

In the street, in Mr Stark’s arms, he’d cried because he’d been trying to save and had killed instead, and the juxtaposition (I’m a murderer) had felt like a slap to the face. But he’d also cried because everything was finally over and because Mr Stark was there in person to reassure him rather than in a coma.

He hadn’t cried because he felt guilty, or regretted it, or felt bad about what he’d done.

Logic said Zeke had been a terrorist, had hurt dozens of people and would’ve gone on doing so. Evidence said Zeke was responsible for damaging Stark Industries, injuring Mr Stark, Miss Potts and Happy, displacing May, causing Peter to flee in terror and pulling Captain America out of hiding (and into the newest shitstorm of the Accords). Experience after the battle, when he thought about that moment, said there was only a curl of satisfaction in his belly that he had a) protected his loved ones and b) gotten revenge for what had happened.

So, he spent hours at night staring at the ceiling, barely ate what they put in front of him and struggled to hold a conversation because they’d all assumed he would be drowning in guilt and need the reassurance he’d done the right thing (because he was ‘so innocent, good-hearted and pure’), but truthfully…

He just couldn’t admit to them how much of a monster he really was.

When Miss Potts came out the coma, everything changed.

The first few days she was asleep more than awake, but Mr Stark spent hours in her room with her – then on the fourth day, he suddenly reappeared one morning in the kitchen complaining about being kicked out. The next day, Peter waited until Mr Stark had crashed out on a table in the lab before visiting.

“Peter,” she smiled in greeting. The way it pulled at her bruises looked painful. "I didn't expect to see you."

"Oh," Peter froze. "I-I can go, if you like -"

"No! No, that's not what I meant at all," she said and then gestured to the empty chair beside her. "Come, sit. I've only had Tony or Happy to talk to and they're not exactly the best conversationalists," she confided with a lower tone and a teasing smile. "It would be lovely to talk to you."

"I'm not... I don't think I'm going to be better than them," he admitted but still sat down.

"Then, you can help me choose what to watch," she said and gestured to the TV. "It's absolutely not fair Happy gets to use this time to catch up on different TV series and I don't." Her gaze fell on the bedside table where three tablets and five phones were all flashing with notifications and she sighed, before looking back at him. "What do you recommend?"

"Uh..." He was a little thrown. He'd expected her to act like the others, but she was looking at him the same way she always had. Her attitude towards him didn’t appear to have changed in the slightest and it was... nice. He relaxed and asked, "What do you like? Comedy, action..."

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" she admitted. "It's been so long since I've had the time...  but maybe something light-hearted."

Peter bit his lip. "How about Brooklyn Nine Nine?"

"What's that?"

"It's a cop show, but they're not - they're actually pretty amazing cops, but the focus is on them and their relationships with each other. Not romance! Friendship. And it - there is romance, but it's not the focus, and there's this guy, Peralta, he -" he broke off when he saw her raised eyebrow. "Sorry," he said a little sheepishly.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y," Miss Potts said rather than reply to him. "Play the first episode."

Peter's eyes widened. "Wait, just like that?"

"Well, you obviously love it so there must be something interesting about it," she said. "Stay and watch it with me."

"I..." his mouth suddenly felt dry.

"Please," she said and shifted over in the bed with a wince so there was room against the headboard for him. "It would be nice to not watch alone." He still wasn't sure, so she added, "Just one episode." That got a small laugh out of him - the first since coming back to the compound after everything.

"Miss Potts," he said as he moved to sit next to her. "It's never just one episode."

Nearly two hours later, he was wiping away tears of laughter as Miss Potts giggled helplessly next to him and feeling much lighter than he had for a long time. He looked over at her with a huge grin as the episode ended and asked, "You like?"

"I do," she said. Her eyes sparkled as she looked back, seemingly unhindered by the bruising all over her body. "Thank you, Peter."

He shook his head. "I should thank you," he admitted. "I haven't - it's been a while since..."

The mirth faded a little and she nodded. "Yes, Tony mentioned you've been rather quiet."

"It's not..." he broke eye contact and looked down at the sheets. For some reason it was easy to admit to her, "I've been scared of what will come out, if I do talk."

"What are you afraid will come out?"

"... The truth." He peeked at her out the corner of his eye. She was watching him but there was no judgement on her face, no pity. Just a calm, expectant look, like she'd be content to sit there forever waiting for him to speak, and it was that which made him add, "That I don't feel guilty."

There was a pause.

"You don't feel guilty about what?"

She was really going to make him say it.

"About killing him," he hunched his shoulders. Saying it out loud hurt, but something inside him also unwound a little. "I don't regret any of it. Everyone thinks I should, but... I don't. He - he was bad, Miss Potts," he couldn't stop his words from coming out a little too fast, trying to justify himself. "He was going to keep on hurting people. I didn't want to kill him, I really did want to save him but - but I'm not upset that he's dead, I'm upset that in saving him I killed him, but I don't feel guilty about it and that's - I'm a murderer now, but I don't feel bad, and it's... how can I tell them that, when they all think I'm... how can I tell them I don't care that I killed...?"

There was an even longer pause this time. Then, he felt a hand touch his, work its way in to tangle with his fingers, and he looked up at her without intending to. She didn't look disgusted, just sad, and she squeezed tightly when he made eye contact and said, "I understand."

Peter shook his head. "No, it's - you're so amazing, Miss Potts, you're so kick-ass, and I'm just -"

"No, Peter, you're not listening," she said and leant a little closer. "I understand."

His breath caught.

"You've... killed someone?" he whispered.

"What do you know of the Mandarin debacle?" she asked instead.

He was a little confused at the change but said, "Probably what you wanted the public to know. The guy threatened Mr Stark, so he threatened back, and there was a fight and..."

"And?"

"Mr Stark stopped him with your help," he finished.

She nodded once. “All true, except for the details. I was the one to kill the Mandarin, not Tony.”

Peter breathed, “You killed him?”

“I’d been infected with a virus that gave me superpowers,” she began. She started to shift so she was fully facing him, and Peter hastily met her half-way because he could see how painful moving was for her. She gave him a grateful nod and continued. “Tony had lost the upper-hand in a battle and I stepped in, took them both by surprise and managed to hold him off long enough for an Iron-Man suit to come. However, because of the virus it identified me as a threat…” she paused, her fingers twitched, then she said, “I took it out instead, then ripped the arm off.”

“What.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her, but he knew how strong those suits were. He could probably do it at a push, but the idea someone as skinny as Miss Potts managing to do so…

“I don’t have the powers anymore, naturally,” she said with a laugh, but it sounded a little fake. He didn’t push. “Anyway. I threw a SI explosive at him, then shot it with the repulsor. The explosion obliterated him and the surrounding area.”

“Oh man, Miss Potts…”

She took a deep breath and said, firmly, “I made a decision in the heat of battle to do so and I haven’t regretted it since. Does that make me a bad person?”

“No!” The answer was ripped out of him almost involuntarily. It surprised him, but what was more surprising was that his opinion of her hadn’t changed. Or rather, it had, but in a positive way. She’d gone through the same thing as him but, looking at her now, she didn’t seem to show it at all.

“Thank you,” she said with a faint smile. “If I, someone who chose to take a life and not regret it, am not a bad person, then how can you call yourself one?”

Peter bit his lip. “I get what you’re saying, Miss Potts, but that’s… I don’t feel bad, but I feel bad I don’t feel bad. If you get me?”

She leaned back a little and nodded. “I thought for a long time I should feel guilty,” she admitted. “That taking a life, no matter how bad, shouldn’t be something dismissed so easily.” He nodded in agreement, having had the same thoughts. “But then I think about the alternative – that maybe Tony would now be dead, or we both would be, and the Mandarin would still be out there causing trouble, and it’s… easier.”

“I guess…”

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I haven’t forgotten it, I probably never will. In fact, I promised to make SI into something which changed the world for the better, so I would never be in that situation again if I could help it - and I think I’m succeeding, slowly.”

To change the world for the better… could he do that too? But how?

“And if you’re worried about how people will react…” she shrugged, then looked like she regretted it but powered on through gritted teeth, “Tony has never looked at me differently, so you shouldn’t worry about him. I’m afraid I don’t know your aunt or friends well enough to say, but I do know your aunt adores you, and if your friends are as good as you say then they will be there for you too.” He looked at her, then, and just took her in. There was a blaze in her eyes, iron in the way she held herself, and he was so overcome with gratitude suddenly his vision went blurry.

“Thank you, Miss Potts,” he said. It felt like some of the weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

She reached out and squeezed a hand. “You’re very welcome. If you ever want to talk about this again, my door’s always open.” He nodded, she pulled back and then said, “Do you want to watch one more episode with me?”

He accepted the change of subject gratefully. “You don’t have any work to do?” he glanced at the electronics which hadn’t been touched since he’d arrived.

“I’d rather sit and watch with you,” she said and settled back against the headboard. “Just one more, I promise.”

“Okay,” he said shyly and got more comfortable too.

As F.R.I.D.A.Y played the next episode, he found himself leaning more and more against her, until she put an arm around him and he could rest his head on her shoulder. It was warm and comforting, without any pressure, and right then, exactly what he needed.

Before he had a chance to talk to anyone, MJ showed up at the compound and threw another curveball into the mix.

"Read these," she shoved a small A5 notebook into his hands and then went and made herself a drink from the kitchen with a confidence he envied. Ned trailed along behind her like a lost puppy, eyes still wide and mouth hanging open, as he took photos of every new thing he saw. There was nothing he could do for Ned, so he waved goodbye to Mr Stark (who had spent the entire time with them watching MJ like she was a wild animal he had to be cautious approaching before leaving), sat on the sofa and opened to the first page.

There was a drawing of all the Avengers on the front - split along the Iron-Man and Captain America factions and staring at each other, like they had during the battle at the airport. The crucial difference was that Spider-Man wasn't with them, but hanging upside-down above all of them and looking down.

He turned to the next page and was greeted with a number. At the top was the title 'The Avengers - Intentional'. The next page was the same, but a higher number and a title saying, 'The Avengers - Unintentional'. He started to feel a little nervous and turned to the next page, which had a list of each Avenger and two numbers next to them. Iron-Man had four numbers, the first two being the highest of everyone's, but there was still no additional context given, and he shot MJ a questioning look when she came back and settled next to him on the sofa.

"What is this?"

"Those numbers are the kill count," she said. The way she delivered it was in her usual detached manner and for a moment, he didn't believe her.

"Come on, what are they really?"

"How many people they've killed," she repeated and pointed to the first page. "Based on public knowledge, this is the total number of people they've directly killed." She pointed to the second page. "This is the number they have indirectly killed, and this..." she gestured to the third page. "This is a break-down of the distribution between each Avenger. Oh, interesting! Iron-Man is at the very top. Who would've guessed?" Despite the words, her tone was flat.

Peter gaped at her, then found his gaze drawn back to the numbers involuntarily. "What - you - why -" he couldn't get the words out.

"I imagine his is highest because you have to include all the weapons his company built," she mused, pretending as if he hadn't said anything. "But then he had a change of heart, so this is how many if you count his time as a 'superhero'." She quoted the air and pointed to the significantly lower numbers.

"Michelle," he breathed and saw something in her expression tighten.

"Ned told me you were feeling guilty about what you did," she said. "Now you know you're in good company."

It hit him harder than a slap would have.

"I-I didn't -" he started to lose the fragile confidence Miss Potts had installed. "I was trying to save him."

She flipped back to the second page and pointed at the 'indirect'. "You could say the same for all of these." He followed her finger and looked at the number again, feeling sick. "This includes the big things like Sokovia and the 'little things'," she air-quoted again with a grimace, "like a building collapsing because a fight endangered its support structure." He'd never told her about what happened with Toomes - hadn't told anyone - so it was just a coincidence, but it still made him bolt up from the sofa and move to the centre of the room where there was more freedom. "Do you still feel guilty?"

Peter opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, because how could he tell her the truth?

"Keep reading," she said, her tone suddenly a lot softer, and held out the book. He took it and flicked past the numbers, then blinked. The pages afterwards were covered in paper - text that had been printed, then cut out and stuck in. They covered almost ten whole pages and he read a couple, realised they were all from random people telling stories of how they were responsible for someone's death.

Some had killed in home invasions, a lot had killed in hit and runs, a few were simple accidents that couldn't have been prevented...

"MJ..." his throat tightened and he had to blink to keep the tears from falling.

She silently got up and stood in front of him, held the book from the top and their fingers brushed together. "You're in good company," she repeated, the softness still in her voice, then she started flicking through the pages, past the testimonials from Reddit and Quora and other websites, to yet another section -

Doctors, nurses, fire-fighters, ER drivers, 911 operators, the military - all people responsible for saving lives, and the pages covered in stories where instead of saving someone, they had killed them instead.

"What is this?" he repeated with a whisper, trying desperately not to let the tears fall.

"If you're planning to continue being Spider-Man, you're going to kill again," she said. There wasn't any judgement, just simple fact. "Saving one person can sometimes mean someone else will die. Can you handle that?"

He looked back down at the book. There were maybe a hundred testimonials inside and he knew there would probably be more on the internet if he went looking, but he went back to the very first pages which focused on the Avengers and looked at the numbers. He imagined Spider-Man's name next to them and felt dizzy, from nausea and from anger. It was probably the very first time he'd looked at something the Avengers were all part of and didn't want to join.

"I don't want Spider-Man to be here," he said.

"Impossible," she replied immediately. 

He looked up at her and decided that wasn't true. He hadn't understood when Mr Stark had shouted I wanted you to be better, he'd thought being like Mr Stark and the other Avengers was the best he could do. Now, as he thought about the numbers, about the nightmares and guilt and pressure, about the past week on the run with Captain America because an enemy of Mr Stark's had come back, about Miss Potts, who had killed and then thrown herself into Stark Industries... he got it.

For the first time ever, he found he didn't want to be like them.

"I want to be better than them," he said.

MJ raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"I don't know," he admitted, then met her eyes. "But I'm going to need help."

"Good thing you've got me then," she smirked. Ned chose that moment to return, face glued to his phone as he swiped through the pictures he'd just taken, and MJ's smirk widened. "And him, for all the help he'll be."

"Oh my god guys have you seen -"

Peter threw his arms around their necks and held on tight. Ned instantly clung to him, while it took MJ a few seconds to adjust before she hesitantly wrapped an arm around him too. He shut his eyes and promised the two of them, promised anyone who was listening, that he would change the world.

Later, after MJ and Ned had gone home, he went down to the lab where Mr Stark was hauled up.

"Pete," Mr Stark looked up in surprise. "What're you doing here? What's wrong? Where's the Blair Witch?"

"Mr Stark," he said and took a deep breath, exhaled and said, "Tony. I want to be better. Can you help?"

His mentor blinked once, twice, then got to his feet and walked over. There was a spark in his step, the same spark he had whenever he was about to invent something amazing, and Peter straightened upright in response. Mr Stark stopped in front of him, his eyes warm with a fondness he normally tried to hide, and held out his arms.

"I think we're there, kid."

Peter threw himself into those waiting arms.

 Take Two

4.

PEPPER POTTS AND SPIDER-MAN ANSWER THE WEB'S MOST SEARCHED QUESTIONS | WIRED
  Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts and vigilante Spider-Man take the WIRED Autocomplete Interview and answer the internet's most searched questions about themselves.

As promised, when the interview finally commenced it only contained three people – Miss Potts, Peter and the camera-man.

“We’re on in ten,” the camera-man said and then started counting down with his fingers.

Miss Potts took Peter’s hand briefly and squeezed. “Just relax and follow my lead. It’s going to be fun.” She pulled back when Peter nodded, and he tried not to fidget on the stool. It was uncomfortable, with no back, and the lights shining brightly in their face and illuminating the white background hurt his eyes even with the dimmers inside his suit.

The camera-man gave them a thumb up, and Pepper leaned forward slightly and put on what Peter was coming to recognise as her ‘press smile’.

“Hello, I’m Pepper Potts -”

“And I’m Spider-Man,” he hoped his nerves didn’t show in his voice.

“And we’re doing a WIRED Auto -”

“- complete interview.”

They glanced at each other, then Pepper accepted the board handed to her and said, “Okay, I’ll go first. You ready Spider-Man?”

His nerves meant he sang, “Baby whenever you’re readyyyyy,” and then he clapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment. Miss Potts’s expression wavered from its professional smile to a mixture of bemused and bewildered. “It makes more sense if you can see my face – yeah okay you can start,” he coughed.

“If you say so,” she said and then pulled off the first white tag. “Is Spider-Man legit?” She blinked. “It means legitimate?”

“Yeah and, hey, I’m totally legit!” Peter pretended to be offended, finding it a lot easier to joke around with the mask on. “Ask anybody in Queens.”

“You mean, ask any little old lady,” Miss Potts teased. Peter put a hand over his heart.

“Miss Potts!” he said in his best scandalised voice and she laughed.

“Okay, next one. Is Spider-Man…” she peeled off the second white tape. “…a mutant?”

“I guess,” Peter said, surprised he wasn’t more bothered by the question. “But like, what does mutant actually mean?”

“From my experience,” Miss Potts said and looked at the camera. “Spider-Man is only a mutant when it comes to food. It is absolutely not fair how much he can eat and not put on any weight,” she shot him a slightly disgruntled look and he held up his hands in surrender.

“Fighting crime works up an appetite,” he said.

“Maybe I should become a superhero,” she ‘hmm’ed. “Between you and Tony -”

Peter shook his head. “Miss Potts, you’re already a superhero to millions. Like, you’re a female CEO of the biggest tech company ever – that’s two glass ceilings or whatever you’ve just smashed straight through, so…” he shrugged. “You just go on being you, because you rock.” He saw she was touched and he also saw how she pulled herself together in a few seconds.

“Isn’t he a sweetie?” she gushed to the camera, then looked back at her board. “Okay, next one is… is Spider-Man Iron-Man’s son? Ooo, do tell,” she looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Have you and Tony been keeping secrets?”

Not for the first time, he was grateful to his mask for hiding his blush. “No, he’s just helped me out a ton. I honestly can’t ever repay him for everything he’s done for me,” he hesitated but, bolstered by the banter, added, “Iron-Man’s totally the best Avenger hands down. My hero,” and he made a little heart with his thumbs and forefingers.

“Oh dear,” she laughed. “You’re going to give him heart-burn.”

“Worth,” Peter shrugged and reached for his own questions, the nerves having lessened significantly. “So, first one. Is Pepper Potts… pregnant?” he glanced at her and then, in a mimicry of earlier he asked, “I mean, is there something you and Mr Stark haven’t told me?”

“Many things,” she teased and then shook her head, “but a pregnancy isn’t one of them. Who knows what the future will bring?” she shrugged.

“Oh my god you’re having a baby!” he did his best to imitate the old vine. Pepper stared. “The viewers will understand,” he shot a finger-gun at the camera.

“You know, I never thought it true that younger people had different slang until I met you,” she sighed. “What’s the next one?”

“Oh! Right,” he pulled the paper off the next question. “Is Pepper Potts dead?” They both laughed and then Peter looked at the camera and said, “She’s actually a zombie and the make-up people here are just super good at their jobs.” He pulled off the next one. “Is Pepper Potts alive? Again,” he hand-waved at her and pulled the last one. “Is Pepper Potts married to Tony Stark?”

Pepper shook her head. “Not yet. We’re still deciding on a date.”

“You’ve been deciding for ages,” Peter pointed out.

“And you’ll be the first to know once we’ve decided,” she reached out and patted his knee. “You can be the page boy.”

“Uh, hello?” Peter said. “I’d make a much better flower girl. I could throw down flowers from literally anywhere.”

“… Huh,” Pepper looked thoughtful. “That’s a valid point. Let’s discuss that more later,” she turned and picked up another board next to her stool. “Here’s your next question. Who’s Spider-Man’s enemy?”

“Bad guys, duh,” Peter said and looked directly at the camera. “Stay in school kids or you’ll be on my naughty list.”

“Very dangerous place to be,” Miss Potts nodded solemnly and revealed the next question. “Who is Spider-Man’s best friend?”

Peter sighed dramatically. “Doesn’t anyone get the concept of a secret identity? But I can say one of them’s the coolest dude I’ve ever met, and he absolutely completes me. Shout out to my guy in the chair,” he laughed. “And the other, she’s either gonna become President or like… head of S.H.I.E.L.D or something and I’m perfectly happy with either of those.”

“I think I’d like to meet her,” Miss Potts said.

“She would literally die if you did,” he said.

“Hmm. Anyway, uh, next question is… who is Spider-Man?” There was nothing else and she blinked. “Oh, I guess they mean your identity? Well…”

Peter waggled his finger at the camera and then pulled his second board up. “Okay, you’re up again. Does Pepper Potts… sing?” he glanced at the camera and said, “I don’t actually know, I’ve never heard you.” She hesitated for a little too long and Peter’s eyes widened. “You can! Can you sing now?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she admitted.

“Come on, we’ll sing together. It’ll be like karaoke.”

“Can you sing?”

“Nope,” he shook his head. “I can dance though. Come oooon, what’s your favourite song? You can sing and I’ll dance to it, fair?” he leapt up off the stool.

She sighed, then smiled. “Oh, alright. I wouldn’t say this is my favourite song, but it’s been in my head the past few days,” she pulled out her phone, pressed a few times and then music came on. “Do you know it?”

“Kinda,” he said. “Hard to dance to.”

The words came in then and he swayed, hoping it would encourage her, and after a moment she sang, “… like some wide-eyed dreamer, that just rolled in off a dusty Midwest bus.” Her voice started out quiet, but slowly got louder as she went along. “Yeah on the outside, I look fragile, but on the inside is something you can’t crush…”

“Is this really happening right now?” he whispered.

“’Cause I’m country strong, hard to break… like the ground I grew up on… you may fool me and I’ll fall, but I won’t stay down long… ‘cause I’m country strong…” She stopped there, and switched the music off too, and the room was suddenly so quiet. Peter clapped and clapped and clapped and she said, with slightly red cheeks, “Okay, now show me some real dancing.”

“R-right,” he said, still a little stunned, and pulled out his own phone. It took seconds to put on DJ Flex – Controller, and then for nearly twenty seconds he did a dance he and MJ had learnt one afternoon.

“You hit every beat,” she said, sounding impressed.

“Thanks,” he said. “I can’t believe you’re so good Miss Potts. Okay, so wow we all discovered she can sing together, that’s -” he shook his head. “Okay, gotta move on else I’ll never get over this. Does Pepper Potts have siblings?”

“I do not,” she said. “I always wanted a sister, though.” She reached down and picked up another board. “Can Spider-Man fly? Actually shoot webs? Catch a bullet?” she pulled all three off at once and then looked at him.

“No, no and yes sorta,” he said.

Pepper’s eyes widened. “When you say ‘sorta’…”

“Like, I could shoot a web at it and probably stop it,” he said. “But with my hands? Nah, no way. Unless, maybe…” he started to wonder if it was actually possible. He was certainly strong, would he be able to catch a bullet if he tried?

“I’m a hundred percent certain Tony would kill you himself if you tried to find out,” she said dryly.

“Point,” he conceded.

“Okay, last one here – how did Spider-Man and Iron-Man meet? That’s actually a good question,” she said and raised an eyebrow at him. “How did it go, anyway? I never got the full story.”

“Well,” Peter sat back. “I was making my way downtown, walking fast, faces past and I’m homebound,” he paused but aside from a slight crease in her eyebrows she didn’t show any recognition and he sighed, continued normally, “He was sitting with my – family on the sofa when I got back. Just, there was Tony Stark, on my sofa, having a chat.”

She smiled. “How did you take that?”

“Not, uh… I think I’ve blanked it,” he admitted. “Okay, wanna do yours?”

“Sure.”

He picked up the board and peeled off the first one. “How did Pepper Potts get her nickname?” he glanced up. “Your nickname?”

“You didn’t know?” she looked surprised. “My name isn’t actually Pepper -”

“No way.”

“Yes way,” she laughed. “It’s Virginia, but people called me Pepper because of my hair and freckles. It stuck, unfortunately, but I’ve embraced it now.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that,” he said. “Okay, next one… when’s Pepper Potts’s birthday?”

“It’s in February,” she said. “But Tony never remembers. Well, he’s been better about it recently,” she admitted.

“Mr Stark,” Peter shook his head disapprovingly. “Okay, how did Pepper Potts and Tony Stark meet?”

“Oh, that’s there? I thought it was well-known,” she blinked. “I worked at Stark Industries as an accountant, but I noticed an error. When I told Tony about it, he hired me as his personal assistant and it… went from there,” she shrugged.

“Did you like him from the start?” Peter asked, curious.

“No,” she laughed. “For the longest time I wanted to strangle him, but he grew on me. Like a fungus.”

Peter snickered. “Okay, last one. Can I marry Pepper Potts?”

“I don’t know who you are,” Pepper said to the camera, “but yes, you can. Just remember my birthday and you’ll already be above Tony,” she winked. The camera-man gestured and she continued, “Well, that was our WIRED Autocomplete. I feel like we learned… a great deal about each other, don’t you?”

“I mean, I did, you like… rocked my world with your singing,” he said.

“You rocked mine with your dancing,” she said and linked their arms together. “Come on, let’s go talk about you being my flower girl.”

“Ooo, I actually have an idea for that…”

Wosenhimer  2 hours ago
Pepper looks great!

Nah6Sweaty 6 minutes ago
All those dislikes are from tony bcoz he wasn’t there

jjodi07 2 minutes ago
I would love to see them together with iron man omg

blancomarco 7 minutes ago
Why are they so adorable together ughhh

wpotus 8 minutes ago
Damn spidey’s got some moves

Justdreamoflife 1 minute ago
I would pay to see pepper and tony sing together

154sim4lyf 2 minutes ago
They are all goals - how close do you think spidey and ironman are, for these two to be together?

mjtheway 4 minutes ago
Spidey making all those references and pepper not getting them is literally the funniest thing ever

badgurl R 5 minutes ago
“Miss Potts you’re already a superhero” Spidey knows whats up

Hawkish_eye 5 minutes ago
Do you think spidey went out and tried to catch a bullet after this?

-> BBellax 2 minutes ago
     lmao in the news “spider-man shot” we’ll know what to blame

Chapter Text

“Alright!” Ellen and Tony looked directly at the cameras as they started recording again. “We’re back with Tony Stark, and it’s time to play one of my favourite games called 5 Second Rule.”

The crowd went wild.

"My, you’re all so enthusiastic,” Tony winked.

“To be fair, you could probably do anything and they’d love it,” Ellen admitted. “So here’s what’s gonna happen. My good friend and assistant here,” she gestured to the tall man standing between them holding cards, “is gonna ask us to name three things of something, like... three types of cars, or TV shows, and we’ll have five seconds to name them and then hit the big red button.” She demonstrated. “If you do it you get a point. If time runs out you get no points at all,” she looked over at Tony. “Are you prepared?”

“This is meant to be a challenge how, exactly?” he leant against the table with a smirk.

“Oh believe me, five seconds goes very fast,” she warned and gestured to the large screen behind all of them. “The clock will be up there, you can time it yourself.”

“If you say so.”

“Okay I’ll go first, as an example to you, then we’ll take turns.”

When Tony nodded to show he understood, she turned to her assistant who said, “Ellen. Name three things you do in a car.”

“Uh – uhhh -” a timer ticked down around them. “You drive, you park, you – uh, uh, say hello to people,” then she hit the red button and shook her head in dismay at herself.

“Say hello to people?” Tony challenged.

“You do! When you – when you park or when you see someone you know, you might – look, it’s a lot harder than it seems,” she challenged over the laughter of her assistant. “Let’s see if you do better.”

“Yes, let’s see if I can follow your example. Hit me,” Tony turned expectantly to the assistant.

“Tony, name three things you should never do in a car.”

The timer ticked down as Tony said, “Easy. Eat greasy food without washing your hands, drink and have sex.” He hit the red buzzer triumphantly and gave a bow to the cheering audience.

“In that order?” she asked with a grin.

“I like my cars,” he shot back.

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay Ellen, name three shows you binge watch.”

“Uh… uh… Game of Thrones…” she stuttered, the clock kept ticking and then eventually she screamed in frustration just as the timer finished. “Just Game of Thrones? I couldn’t think of anything else to binge watch?” she looked so frustrated at herself.

“So that’s one nil, right?” Tony gestured between them.

“Yeah you – yeah,” Ellen sighed in resignation. “Look, you started with an easy question. Give him his next one!” she turned to her assistant who obliged.

“Name three things you wouldn’t want to do in your Iron-Man suit.”

“What?” Tony stared. The clock started ticking. “Well,” his brain raced. He wouldn’t want? He’d practically done everything already! But he needed - “Sleep sex kill!” he barked out and hit the buzzer just a split second after the timer hit zero.

Ellen looked at him. “I’m not sure which one to address there…”

“Does it count?” he glanced at the person keeping score off the side who gave a thumbs up.

“But he was too late!”

“The Maestro has spoken,” Tony declared “You sure you can actually play this?”

“Ugh…”

The assistant said, “Ellen, name three things that make you cry a river.”

She stuttered, then at three seconds said, “Movies, commercials – animals!” and hit the buzzer. It was a split-second late as well, but the person keeping score allowed it. “I’ll catch up,” she promised.

“I’ll be waiting,” he smiled back.

“Okay, Tony. Name three people you want to go on a road trip with.”

He blinked. “Pepper Rhodey and -” split choice, Happy or Peter? Happy would hate it so probably – “Spider-Man.” He hit the buzzer.

“Spider-Man?” that damn amused smile from earlier returned. He narrowed his eyes, refusing to be embarrassed. It was a logical choice – Pepper would organise the trip, Rhodey would play the responsible adult, if Happy came he’d only bitch whereas the kid would be so excited he’d never sleep.

So… Vision was probably a better choice than them both.

“What can I say?” Tony gave his most charming smile. “The kid’s entertaining.”

“Yes, that’s definitely the reason,” she teased, then turned to her assistant.

“Ellen, name three words to describe Tony.”

“Oh!” she stared, wide-eyed at him. “Uh… uh… funny, um -” the timer ticked mockingly. “Genius, uh – dedicated?” she hit the buzzer just as the timer finished. “Does that- we counting that? Yes!” she grinned.

Tony raised his eyebrows slightly. “Dedicated?”

“Well I just – you always seem to come across that way,” she defended. “To your company, to your fiancé -” she broke off with a shrug. It was one of the nicer things she could have chosen, so he rewarded her with a small but honest smile. She seemed to sense that, by the way her eyes widened, but then he turned to the assistant and gestured for them to go.

“Tony, name three words to describe Ellen.”

He studied her. He’d never really known of her before going on the show, but so far she’d been, “Kind, cheerful, sensitive.” He hit the buzzer.

“Aww,” she smiled sweetly at him. He nodded at her. “Okay one more,” she added to her assistant.

“Ellen, name three different ways to say bye bye bye.”

“Uh…” she paused. “So long – uh, adios – and ciao!” she triumphantly hit the buzzer.

“Tony, name three things made of iron.”

He stared. “Steel or -?” the timer ticked down and he decided it didn’t matter, “Ingots, tablets, irons.” He hit the buzzer.

“Okay, we have to take a break -” she turned to the camera with a smile. Tony raised his eyebrows.

“Wait, who won?”

“It – we – you did,” she admitted, a little reluctant, but then clearly got over it. “Alright everyone give it up for Tony Stark, who didn’t slip up once!” she clapped along with rest of the cheering audience, but her attention was on the camera. “We’ll be back shortly.” Then she turned back to him and said, “We’ll have to have a rematch one day.”

“Swing it by Pepper,” he shrugged. “Hell maybe you can get her on next, who knows?”

“Maybe Spider-Man?” There was a cheeky look in her eyes.

Tony snorted. “Yeah no, that kid’s staying far away from this crap if I have anything to say about it.”