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Chapter Text

It was another party on a Friday night, Ned was adamant that he and Peter go to boost their reputation, he kept coming up to Peter throughout the school day to bother him about it. Peter felt that it was futile, especially after the disaster that was Liz's party, but Ned guilted him into going. All that time he lied to Ned about Spider-man and blew him off made Peter feel pretty bad for his guy in the chair.

Obviously, Peter hadn't thought that through... because that night when he walked through that door with Ned wearing the infamous party hat, he quickly noticed something that made him cringe.

There was a ridiculous giant oil painting in the Foyer of a family of three with Flash Thompson sitting in the middle...

The party was at Flash's house.

"Ned," Peter frantically whispered at his Best Friend, "why didn't you tell me the party's at Flash's house?!" Ned turned to Peter with wide eyes.

"Uh- w-well..."

"Penis Parker!?" Peter turned just in time to see Flash walk up from down the hall, pushing other teenagers to the side. "I don't think I invited you? Nah, I'm pretty sure I invited everybody but you."

Flash swaggered up to Peter and pushed his chest back. When Peter didn't budge, he noticed Flash's frown deepen. Looking back, Peter really wished that he had the forethought to pretend that Flash's little push had moved him a little.

"I uh... I actually didn't know the party was at your house, Flash."

"Uh huh, yeah sure you didn't." Flash nodded his head with the quirked brow he usually gave when he was silently judging someone.

Peter turned and looked wildly at Ned, Ned just shrugged back at him.

Flash scoffed, "Hey you know what, you got rid of those dorky glasses, got all buff and now you think you're some hot shot?" He was referring to last year. Before he got bit by the spider, Peter was a skinny kid with asthma and glasses, his only strength had been his intellect. Either way, it didn't matter if Peter would have been bitten or not, Flash would have been jealous of him regardless.

Flash glared up at Peter, before his mouth stretched into a smug grin, whatever he was thinking was not good. Suddenly, he swung an arm around Peter's shoulders, making Peter have to bend down a bit because of their height difference. "You know what, Parker, I think that since you're such a big tough guy now then that means you should have something to drink!"

Flash pulled Peter into the extravagant living room, Ned following them, where there was a table of alcohol and red solo cups, "And by drinks I mean shots!" The way Flash said shots was pulled out and ended with a great hissing and a "saaaaaaah" noise at the end. The guy was acting like the biggest douche Peter had ever seen, he was pretty sure Flash watched too much MTV.

Ned's eyes widened, "Dude, you don't have to do this," he grabbed Peter's arm, "maybe this was a bad idea..." Peter shrugged off Ned's hand, feeling a small pang of guilt when he saw Ned's expression at the gesture. Ned quickly shook it off and leaned closer to him, "What if Mr. Stark finds out and he takes the internship away!" He frantically whispered.

Flash scoffed, apparently Ned's whisper wasn't quiet enough, "Oh yeah, Parker is best friends with Iron-man," he mocked, "can't do anything without Iron-man's permission," he laughed. Peter felt his hands clench. "Yeah, right! You've never even been in the same room as Tony Stark! How about instead of lying your way into being a hotshot, you actually become one and take a shot!" Flash's voice was getting louder and more arrogant as he teased Peter, the music was pumping in Peter's ears as people were looking over at them.

"Oh how about this, let's play Never Have I Ever!" Flash cleared his throat as he poured shots of vodka into two red solo cups, and pushed one into Peter's chest, forcing him to grab it before it fell to the floor, "I'll go first, Never have I ever... lied about knowing Tony Stark! Go on Parker drink up!"

Peter just glared at Flash, gripping the solo cup, what was his luck that he would end up in this situation? "I never said I knew him, I've only seen him around a few times..." Now that was technically a lie, but Flash wouldn't have believed the truth anyways.

"Oh okay, clearly you don't want to play this game, so how about this... you play Power Hour with me, we'll down five shots every hour, and if I pass out first then I'll leave you alone about Tony Stark... but if you pass out first, then I'll never let you forget about your stupid lie until we graduate," he grinned at Peter's scowl, "or is Penis Parker too chicken?"

It was the most juvenile name calling Peter had ever heard, and incredibly childish. Yet, Peter couldn't help but get riled up. He looked down into the solo cup, the vodka was only maybe half an inch at the bottom of the cup. Looking over into Ned's eyes, which were wide with fear, he shook his head at Peter, looking back over at Flash. Peter gulped...

He downed the shot.

The entire living room erupted into cheers as Peter coughed after downing the drink, "Yeah! That's it Penis Parker!" Flash crowed, then downed his own shot. Peter was quickly handed shot after shot, he never drank before and he was quickly regretting the vodka burning down his throat, but it was too late to back out now.

After Peter's fifth shot, he could feel the alcohol messing with his spider senses, everything around him had a halo of light and blurred around the edges. Flash smirked at Peter, "see you in an hour, Penis. And no cheating! One sip of water and I win!"

Within thirty minutes, Flash had DJ'd, called Peter "Penis" fifty more times, and had shouted "Raise the roof!" more than once. However, by the time an hour had passed, Peter's buzz had almost deteriorated.

"PARKER!" Flash shouted into the mic, making several people grab their ears, "Next round lets go!"

Peter walked over from Ned, who had again vehemently protested against Peter going over, "Ned, I can't just let this go this time, I'm sick of it, and you know what- yeah, I deserve to have some fun for once."

"Yeah, but this isn't good for you, Peter..."

Five shots later, and Peter just didn't care. About anything, actually he could say he was having an awesome time. By the time the next hour passed, Peter was waiting for Flash at the table. He laughed at Flash's grimace when he knocked into the table drunkenly.

"Aiiigghhhhtt, Parkrrr, yoooou gotta be kidddiinnn' me," Flash slurred.

Peter, who felt perfectly fine, slurred back, "Mm perfectyy seriousss, Flash." He tried to keep a straight face while he said it but just ended up bursting with laughter.

"Lisssen, Parkrr, Lissssenn... lissen!" But before Flash could finish what he wanted to say, his face paled and he doubled over and promptly threw up on the ground between them.

"oh shit!" Peter jumped back, laughing, "Yoooou okayy there, Buddy?" he said patting Flash on the back. Were he sober, Peter would have been appalled that he called Flash "Buddy", let alone pat his back.

Flash just groaned in response, "Thiss doesn' meaaan nothin', Parrkrr, Mm no' ou' yeh," holding onto Peter's arm. Peter laughed handing him a garbage bag that someone pushed into his hand, "uh huh, suuuuuuure thing, Flash." The rest of the night was mostly a crazed blur for Peter. Flash ended up passing out on the couch with his throw up bag. And the crowd cheered when Peter yelled that he won the bet.

But while Flash was passed out on the couch, Peter just kept going. He played a game of beer pong with some kids from the high school he would have gone to if he hadn't been accepted to Midtown Tech. He danced with a solo cup of beer in hand and gave out sloppy high fives to people he didn't even know.

Right when a song died down, he felt a buzzing in his back pocket. Taking out his phone he looked down to see Happy Hogan's face on his cracked screen. Squinting he put the phone up to his ear.

"Happyyyyy, wass up, Dude!" Peter yelled into the phone.

"Kid? You okay?" Happy's voice said through the phone.

"Uhhhhhh, yeah, Happy, Mm great!" Peter laughed into the phone, "Buuuh, uh, why ya callin' Happy?"

"Well, I got a call from your friend, who said he left you at a party? Are you drunk?"

"uhhhhh, yeah, don' worry 'bout me, Hap, Mmm aaaaall good 'ere" Peter laughed and hung up the phone. How weird it was for Happy to call him like that. But Peter quickly put it out of his mind when he heard Wild Ones by Flo Rida pumping through the speakers, downing the last of his beer he threw his red solo cup and jumped back into the party. Everything after that became even more blurry to Peter, he couldn't remember what his last drink was, or even when he had it.

His spider senses were all crazed from the alcohol, his eyesight was incredibly blurry as colors became crazed bobbles, People's faces were smudged and nearly unrecognizable. The party was still in full swing by midnight, unfortunately for Peter, it seemed the Vodka had finally caught up to him. He was sitting on the couch by Flash with his head in the hands. Live Your Life was pumping in the background, but every "Milah heee" felt like a knife was stabbed through Peter's skull.

Through his blurry vision, Peter watched as a pair of very shiny shoes walked up to him and sighed. All Peter could do was groan as a voice said, "This time on season two of Peter screws the pooch..."

"Misser Starr?" Peter groaned, looking up at his mentor... or was he his mentor? Peter didn't even know what Tony Stark was to him, and he honestly would have given anything for the older man to just disappear from this embarrassing situation.

"That's right Kid, and you should be thankful it's me instead of Aunt Hottie," Tony said putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Come on kid, let's get out of here before the cops show up."

Peter's head spun as Tony lifted him from the couch, he let out a groan when Tony started walking quickly out of the ornate house. "Jesus, Kid, how much do you weigh? You're all dead weight," Tony grunted.

"Srry, Misser Star'," Peter grumbled, feeling the burn from the vodka coming back up his throat as he burped.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're feeling very sorry, Kid."

That night was the worst. Peter threw up in front of Tony before getting into his audi, Happy in the front seat asking if the kid was okay. Then after getting into the car, they drove all the way upstate, which normally would have made Peter ecstatic. Only this time the car ride felt as though his stomach was continuously left behind on the road, his throat burning from throwing up. They had pulled over multiple times so that he could empty his stomach. Tony making pop culture references the entire time as he handed Peter a pedialyte to drink.

In the morning, when Peter woke up in the room that was obviously made for him before he turned down his opportunity to join the avengers. Tony Stark walked into his room and scrolled through photos of Peter on instagram from the party. There were several of him and Flash and even one of Peters arm thrown around Tony's shoulders being practically carried out of the house.

Peter was so embarrassed he rolled over pulling the blankets over his head, Tony just laughed, "wait! wait! This one is my favorite!" he said pulling down the sheets from over Peter's head. Peter turned and saw a photo of him with his tongue sticking out, his eyes bloodshot and his hair sticking to his forehead. Peter had no recollection of any photos being taken of him, but it was clear that in that one he was attempting to dance. Peter groaned and rolled back into bed. Tony laughed ruffling Peter's head, "Just be thankful it wasn't any worse, Kid." And with that Tony walked out of the room. And that was the last time Peter saw him at the Avengers compound. The photo of Tony carrying Peter out of Flash's house had mysteriously disappeared from Instagram an hour later.

However, when he walked into school the following monday, it was clear that Peter's reputation had improved. As people were giving him high fives down the hallways and all Flash could do was grind his teeth and glare.

Chapter Text

Tony sighed, he had been so busy lately that he hadn't had time for himself in a while. That was to be expected though. With taking over the Avengers, dealing with adding resolutions to the Sokovia Accords, and working on tech for Stark Industries, Tony was beat.

Hanging out in his lab, he reclined back in his chair and chuckled to himself. It had been a month since Peter turned down his offer. Of course, he still kept the Iron Spider suit anyways. Hey, maybe he could give it to the kid for his birthday, because why not? Tony sighed, he already distanced himself as much as he could from the kid. After seeing him get tossed around in Germany, he was determined not to get the kid killed. But after seeing the wreckage from moving day, perhaps distancing himself from Peter wasn't going to keep the kid safe.

He already let it slip that he considered himself a father figure to the kid. Although, at the time the kid was trying to arrest those alien tech arms dealers on the ferry and was too distracted to notice.

What the hell was he thinking, trying to be a father figure to the teenage superhero? Tony's own father was the worst example to take from, and he had no business interfering so much with the kid. He gave him a suit to keep him safe and that was that. He did not need to interfere in any other way unless the kid was in mortal danger.

"Boss, Happy just got off the phone with Peter Parker," F.R.I.D.A.Y said, interrupting his musings. "Think of the devil and he shall appear, alright Fri, what's the grub?"

"It would appear that Peter Parker is currently inebriated at a party, Sir."

This kid is going to be the death of him.

"Alright, Fri, go ahead and tell Happy to hop in the car, we have a teenager to find," he said while pulling up the tracking info from the kid's cell phone. After the kid tore out the tracker in his suit, Tony wasn't taking any second chances once he put it back in. Tracking the kid's phone only seemed to be the next convenient step if the kid managed to rip it out again.

"On it, Boss."

Turned out that the kid was in a high end suburb area, it took them nearly two hours to get down there from the Avengers Facility. Tony had Happy stop in a convenience store to grab some pedialyte, Tony knew from experience that the kid was going to need it. But perhaps because of his metabolism the alcohol could be burning off incredibly quickly... how much did the kid have to drink in order to get wasted?

When they pulled up to the ridiculously ornate house, Happy made a move to get out of the car. "No wait, Hap, I've got this," Tony said, opening the passenger side door. The house was a wreck, there was toilet paper littering the front lawn, roof, and trees, cans of beer strewn everywhere and there were some people passed out on the grass. Walking through the front door, Tony cringed at the sight of a ridiculous painting of the people who lived in the huge home. The fact that the painting was the first thing he noticed spoke for itself. Because Tony quickly recognized the smell of weed permeating the air, as well as other ghastly smells. The inside of the house looked worse than the outside, beer and alcohol was spilled all over the floor. There were streamers, balloons, and toilet paper everywhere Tony stepped.

Nobody had noticed him yet, which was good, but he figured that going towards the living room where the music was loudest would be the best place to look for the kid. Literally jumping into the wolves there, but he knew that if any photos of him appeared on social media that he could have F.R.I.D.A.Y. hack their phones and delete all evidence. Easy as pie.

It turned out that finding the kid wasn't that hard, he was bent over on the couch with his head in his hands, sitting near a kid who was passed out with a garbage bag full of God knew what. And Tony did not want to know what was in that garbage bag, but he already had the faint suspicion the other kid had been throwing up in it. As he walked up to them he noticed that the passed out kid was the one from the painting, and he also had a phallic shape drawn on his forehead. Seeing Peter in such a state next to another kid in a humiliating position only made Tony feel a rush of anger. Who was this kid associating himself with? Why the hell was he at this party, getting drunk, instead of being responsible like the kid claimed he was?

Tony could feel the anger rise up in his throat, and tried to release it with a sigh. The kid didn't look too good at all.

"This time on season two of Peter screws the pooch..." Of course his anger came out with a biting joke. But instead of the kid rising to his anger he just looked up at him with a, "Misser Starr?" One look at the kids face, and Tony instantly felt his anger cool, only to be replaced with a deep concern and fear that he never knew he could feel for the kid. The kid was a mess. Sweat clung to his forehead, making his hair curl all over his face. It may have been endearing if it weren't for the fact that the kid looked incredibly sick. When he got the kids arm over his shoulder, the kids head rolled almost sickeningly and he couldn't seem to look up without it rolling back and forth. If this kid had drank anymore he could have had a much more alarming situation on his hands. Not to say that this situation wasn't alarming enough. Tony was more than a little concerned.

Tony managed to get Peter out the door with only one picture taken of them, so Tony figured that was a success. But it wasn't until they started walking to the audi parked at the end of the lawn that Peter said, "Mm gunna be sick," and then hurled into a bush on the side of the walk path.

"Ookay, yeah that's it Kid, let it all out," Tony said as he held Peter up over the bush. If he let go he was sure that the kid would have fallen into the bush itself. It was no easy feat to do so, the kid was seriously heavy.

Happy had called out to them when they got to the passenger side door, but Tony was adamant that he didn't need any help. He wanted to get the kid out of there as fast as possible. As soon as the kid was in the car, he had curled himself into a ball about to pass out. "Oh no you don't, Pete," Tony said grabbing him by the shoulders and tugging him onto his proper side, "We can't have you throwing up like that, we don't need any choking teenagers." Tony cringed at his commentary. He really didn't want to even imagine the kid in such a situation.

They were thirty minutes on the road to the Avengers compound, when Peter woke up with a groan, "Mma be sick," murmured from his lips, and instantly Happy was pulling over. Tony only just managed to open the passenger door when Peter threw himself over his lap and was throwing up onto the pavement. Head just sticking out past the door.

Tony rubbed Peter's back as the kid shook from hurling so hard. Tony could feel tears spring to his eyes when he heard the kids moans and cries. "Make i' stop, Misser Starr'," Peter was crying out at one point. Tony cleared his throat, and reached over for the Pedialyte, "I'm trying, kid, we're going to get you to the compound as soon as we can. But first you have to drink this." It took Peter some persuading to drink the electrolytes, Tony made a few references to lighten the tension but the kid began whining about how much the substance tasted like iron. Getting Peter back into the car and settled in Tony's lap, he closed the door, and Happy was back on the road.

They had ended up pulling over two more times as Peter threw up the electrolyte drink. Which Tony had to remind himself was a good thing, because the kid needed to flush the poison out of his bloodstream. But even still, everytime Peter began to shake and sob over how horrible everything was, Tony just held Peter tightly and kept him in his lap the entire way up to the facility. Screw distancing himself from the kid, Peter needed him.

There was even a point, when Peter was drunkenly crying in his arms, that a few tears slipped out of his eyes. If Happy saw it, he didn't say anything. They didn't make it back to the compound until three in the morning. But by the time they got there, Peter had passed out again, but his skins' pallor looked back to normal. Tony shook Peter's shoulders as he looked down on the kid sleeping in his lap, his legs had pins and needles going up and down from Peter's weight.

"Kid, you need to be able to walk before we let you go to bed," Tony said when Peter gasped awake. The kid moaned, gripping his head, "Tonyyy noooo," he cried. Tony gripped Peter's shoulder as Happy got out of the car and helped him get Peter up and out. Tony was right behind him. It figured that when Peter said Tony's first name it managed to rip his heart out of his chest.

The kid was leaning against the car, but his head was no longer swinging around and seemed firmly set on his shoulders. Peter's eyes were shining when Tony looked at him. He reeked of alcohol and throw up, but Tony ignored it as he grabbed the kid by the shoulder and led him up the stairs and into the facility. The kid was doing a good job of walking on his own, he wasn't nearly as bad as he was when they left the party.

Tony pulled Peter into the room he had left done up for him. And the next morning he teased Peter mercilessly in the hopes that it would teach the kid a lesson about drinking at parties. It seemed to have worked as the kid looked mortified. Tony let himself have one more moment with him, before he walked out of the kid's room.

The kid had needed him and he filled that role. Now that the kid was clearly better, he could go back to being the estranged billionaire mentor and leave the kid alone. He hid out in his lab and avoided the kid the entire weekend he was there.

Chapter Text

It felt like Peter's head only just hit his pillow when his alarm went off. He grabbed his phone, squinting at the time. Only three hours of sleep, awesome. With a quick goodbye to Aunt May, Peter hopped onto the train for school.

Pulling out his phone, he looked at his text messages from last night. He hadn't looked at them yet, since he decided to be Spider-man all night, looking for a guy called Gargan. The guy was causing some serious problems for Queens. As if Peter wasn't going to rise to the challenge.

He saw a text from Ned, talking about the new Star Wars Lego set he got. which had over three thousand pieces. Normally, Peter would have been ecstatic at the prospect of building the thing, but he couldn't muster much energy for it. Sighing, he noticed there was also a text from Happy.

Happy: Kid don't stay up too late. (12:00 am)

Peter scoffed at the idea that Happy was actually concerned over Peter being up too late. It's not like he would do anything about it anyways. He would just send him a vague text that said "Kid" when he checked how late Peter actually stayed up. Rolling his eyes, he stuffed his phone back in his pocket and hopped off the train. Not noticing the black goo that was trailing after him. Walking across the football field, Peter saw Ned before Ned saw him. Walking up the front stairs, Ned finally made eye contact with him, "Hey, Dude! woah, you alright?"

"Yeah, man. Just a late night."

"Dude, are you still obsessing over that Gargan guy?" Ned asked as they walked down the hall to Peter's locker.

Peter sighed as he put in his combo to open his locker, "I'm not obsessed, Ned."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that when the only thing you talk about is Gargan, then yeah you're obsessed."

Technically, Ned was right. The only thing Peter had been talking about was getting the Gargan guy put in jail. Peter sighed as he stuffed his Calculus textbook in his backpack, for a second he swore that there was something at the bottom of his backpack, but when he pushed his Spider suit out of the way there was nothing there. "Ned, This guy has been collecting people into his gang and has been hurting anybody who gets in his way, I can't just stand by and let that happen when I have the power to stop it."

"Yeah but if you don't sleep sometime then you won't be able to actually stop the guy." Ned said, as they walked down the hall to their first class.

"I'm getting some sleep!" Peter replied, trying to sound lighthearted and fun. He didn't like how serious this conversation was going.

"Yeah, some..." Ned said under his breath.

When Peter walked into his Calculus class, his Spider sense went off just in time for him to avoid the foot that had tried to trip him. Reflexively avoiding the attempt at tripping him might not have been the best move. It had almost been too quick... almost enhanced human quick. When he looked up, he saw none other than Flash Thompson looking at him with eyebrows raised. Peter was almost worried his cover was blown until Flash smirked, "Well, well, Parker. All that time tripping you must have taught you a lesson."

"Whatever, Flash."

The rest of the day went fine for Peter, despite being tired, he was still able to keep up with the class and more. There were a couple times that Flash would bite out a scathing remark, but Peter ignored it the best he could. In Chemistry, he was able to make some more web fluid to refuel his web shooters when the teacher had walked out of class to deal with a kid that almost burned himself. Other than that everything else was relatively normal. Decathlon practice ended up being cut short because Mr. Harrington had to leave. That was fine with Peter, because that meant he could be Spider-man earlier than usual.

Ducking into an alleyway, Peter instantly started chucking off his sneakers. He pulled on his suit and mask, pressing the button on the center of his chest, he heard as Karen called out a friendly hello to him.

"Hello, Peter, How was your day?"

"Hey, Karen! It was alright, Chemistry was fun, we partnered up for a project. Oh! That reminds me, I have to refuel my web shooters."

"Peter," Karen said in a kind but disapproving tone, "You know that Mr. Stark sends you more cartridges of fluid when you need them."

"Yeah, but I'd rather just do it myself," Peter said, reaching into his backpack for the fluid, "I don't want to bo-" Instantly, his Spider sense went off as a black goo snapped out of his backpack and latched onto his hand.

"Woah!" he said, trying to pull it off with his other hand, only to find that it swallowed that hand with the goo as well, "What is this stuff?!"

"Scanning for information," Karen replied.

Peter's breathing reached a fever pitch, "Karen?! It's going up my arm!"

Peter watched the stuff climb up his arm as Karen tried to reply back. But it seemed that the goo was messing with the A.I. that Tony had put into his suit. "Pe- calling Mr. St- my scanners-" the AI responded before she made a noise that sounded like a robot booting down.

"Shit," was the last thing Peter said before the black goo enveloped his head.

~

Tony was furious. The kid had to have done something to the suit, because he was getting a code red from the suit's A.I. when all of a sudden the systems on the suit went down. He instantly pulled out a Stark phone dialling Peter's number. The kid had declined his call twice, each time automatically putting him through to Peter's voicemail. Tony's nerves were absolutely fried by that point, hands shaking he attempted one more call before giving up and finding the kid himself. This time the kid actually picked up.

"Uh- Hey, Tony- Hi To- uh- Mr. Stark, Hey- Hi..."

"Want to tell me why I'm getting a code red, only for your entire suit systems to go down?" Tony said, his fear quickly being replaced with rage, "And for that matter, did you also ignore my calls? Don't do that again."

"Uh, yeah sorry, Mr. Stark."

"Whatever Kid, why don't you tell me what you messed around with this time and you can come on down and I'll fix it myself."

"I didn't do anything to the suit, Mr. Stark..."

"Yeah, well I'd believe you only you've already done it before," Tony said his anger making his words sharp, "So don't expect me to instantly trust you when you say you haven't. The dig is up, kid."

He heard a scoff from the other side of the phone, "You know what, Mr. Stark. I don't think I need you to fix anything."

"Oh! I see, well sorry to burst your bubble, Spider-man. But I'm not too inclined to deal with whatever teenage rebellion phase this is, so why don't you step out of that multi-million dollar suit and I'll take it back!" Tony knew it was a low blow, using the I'm-taking-away-the-suit-as-punishment card, but in his defence the kid was scaring the crap out of him.

There was a dark chuckle on the other line that made Tony stop pacing. Which he didn't even know he was doing until he had stopped in the middle of his lab.

"No, Mr. Stark," the kid sounded almost amused, "I don't think I'm going to need anything from you anymore."

Tony was ready to deny that the kids words didn't make him feel a pang of hurt until the day he died. But he pushed that to the side, because he had never heard the kid speak in that way before. Not even when they had their first argument after the ferry incident. The kid didn't just sound angry, he sounded dark.

The dial tone reached his ears, and he instantly sprung into action. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. track his phone, ASAP!" He was yelling before he could even contemplate his next step.

"I cannot find his phone's current location, boss."

"What?" Tony said, his mind moving a million miles per hour.

"It would appear that he has disposed of his cell phone." Was F.R.I.D.A.Y's response.

Tony was sure he was having a heart attack.

Chapter Text

Seconds after the goo covered his head, making Peter feel incredibly claustrophobic, it had seemingly melted into the suit. Looking around, Peter could see his surroundings just fine. Everything was in surround sound and color, all perfectly normal and dandy, well except for the fact that his suit was now black and not online like it should be.

"What the hell!" Peter said looking down at his suit, "Karen? Why is my suit black?" He patted his chest down, almost as if he had a whole new body. Well to Peter it felt so different and strange, for all he knew it could have been a new body.

"I don't know who Karen is," a disembodied voice interjected, "but you're welcome for the new color scheme. That red and blue was garish, it was giving me an eye sore the entire time I hid under it in your backpack."

"Who- Who is that? Where's Karen? Why is my suit offline?!"

"Oh, was Karen the one hanging out in here before me?" The voice sounded amused, "I'm sorry, If I had known I was going to be sharing..."

"Can- can you please, just get off of my suit?" Peter said, trying to even his breathing, "I don't know what you want but if you could just extract yourself from me and explain what's going on then that would be great."

"I'm sorry, Peter Parker, but I can't do that," the disembodied voice at least seemed apologetic, for what it was worth, "Forgive me for not being able to ask for permission, but I was so weak and I can't communicate with anyone on this planet unless I attach onto a host."

Peter wasn't even attempting to calm down his breathing at this point. "a HOST? What the- Am I a host now?! What are you- are- are you a virus or something?! Some sort of sentient goo parasite thing hiding in teenager's backpacks?? And what do you mean by this planet?!"

Peter could practically feel the thing rolling its eyes as it said, "There's no need to panic about it, I just need to get my strength back and I'll be on my way. No harm done."

"So, what I just let you hang around on me and I should just relax knowing that you'll eventually leave? You're a parasite!"

"Well now, that's just rude."

"Well, I'm sorry, I can't help but panic a little because something just latched onto me and is refusing to let me go!" Peter was panicking for sure, he waved his arms around, as though the thing was actually standing across from him and not hitching a ride on his body.

"Is that what's happening, Peter? Because from where I'm sitting, it seems as though you have full control over your body," the sentient voice sniffed, "I'm just hanging on for the ride and then I'll be out of your hair."

Cringing at the image of the black goo from before stuck in his hair, Peter was about to respond when he heard his phone buzzing from inside his backpack. Unzipping the front pocket, he pulled out his phone to see "Mr. Stark" on the screen. Thank God, Mr. Stark probably saw the suit go dark, now all he had to do was accept the call and then Mr. Stark could get this parasite thing off of him. He was a genius, he would know what to do. He was just about to swipe the green button to accept the call when the voice interjected, "Are you sure you want to bother Mr. Stark with this?"

"Wha- what do you mean?" Peter said, thumb paused over his cracked screen. Mr. Stark had never called him directly before, he'd only ever received calls and texts from Happy. Mr. Stark had only put in his number into his contacts list with strict instructions to never use it unless it was an emergency like his suit going offline. Like it was right now.

"This doesn't have to be something to worry Mr. Stark about, you're a big kid. Besides, Mr. Stark is a busy guy, he can't be worried over you all the time, why not prove to him that you can handle yourself?"

Peter watched as his phone dropped the call, going back to his lock screen. He didn't know why what the parasite said stopped him from answering Mr. Starks call... Well except for the fact that it was true. Suddenly, Peter wasn't sure if he should call Mr. Stark about this. Peter should be able to take care of this himself. Just like he should have taken care of the ferry. Whatever has latched itself onto him didn't seem to be overly aggressive or forceful. It had to latch onto somebody in order to gain its strength. Honestly, Peter was more thankful that it latched onto him instead of some other kid that wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Let's make a deal," the sentient voice said, Peter would have thought it was almost menacing if it weren't for the fact that it seemed more playful than cruel.

"A- a deal?"

Peter jumped as his phone immediately started buzzing in his hand, Mr. Stark's name flashing across it again. Peter stood frozen, staring at the screen instead of answering it like he was supposed to.

"Yeah, a deal," The voice interjected, "You let me hang around and I'll make it so that you will never be weak enough to need Mr. Stark's help ever again."

Peter gulped, how was it that it seemed like this parasite knew all of his darkest insecurities? The phone went back to the lock screen as Mr. Stark's call was sent to voicemail again.

"I can make you stronger," The parasite continued, "You'll never need to refill your webs, you'll never tire, you'll be stronger..."

"Would you make me strong enough to protect people?" Peter asked hesitantly, he wasn't sure if this parasite was going to be as helpful as it claimed to be. But he didn't want to be bothersome or a nuisance to Mr. Stark. He wasn't strong enough to hold the ferry together, even with Karen and Mr. Stark's web combinations. Maybe with the help of this parasite, he would be strong enough so that Mr. Stark wouldn't need to intervene. If Peter was strong enough to handle more situations, he would never mess up again and have Mr. Stark take his suit away again.

"Together, we will be able to protect everyone, Peter Parker."

Peter's phone started buzzing again, he really needed to answer Mr. Stark, so that he could stop worrying.

"Go ahead, answer it," the voice said.

Peter swiped the green telephone icon and instantly put his phone up to his ear, "Uh- Hey, Tony- Hi To-" Peter cringed, he's never called Mr. Stark Tony before, "uh- Mr. Stark, Hey- Hi..."

"Want to tell me why I'm getting a code red, only for your entire suit systems to go down? And for that matter, did you also ignore my calls? Don't do that again." Peter cringed again at the sound of Mr. Stark's voice, he sounded really angry.

"Is he always that irritated with you?" the sentient voice interjected. Peter didn't reply. It did seem like nearly every time he interacted with Mr. Stark the older man was angry with him. For some reason, that made Peter feel a flash of anger at the thought.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, Mr. Stark."

"Whatever Kid, why don't you tell me what you messed around with this time and you can come on down and I'll fix it myself."

Of course, that was why Mr. Stark was calling, he just thought that he opened up the suit and changed the protocols again, not that he was actually in trouble.

"I didn't do anything to the suit, Mr. Stark..."

"Yeah, well I'd believe you only you've already done it before. So don't expect me to instantly trust you when you say you haven't. The dig is up, kid."

Peter felt a flash of hurt across his chest. Mr. Stark didn't trust him. He didn't trust him when he said that he didn't mess with the suit. Just like when he didn't trust him to go on missions. Just like when he didn't trust him to handle the Vulture. Mr. Stark babied him and gave him a suit when he needed Peter's help, but just threw him away when he didn't need him anymore. His hurt rapidly turned to a fury Peter didn't know he even felt towards Mr. Stark.

Peter couldn't help the scoff he let out, "You know what, Mr. Stark. I don't think I need you to fix anything." he bit out. Letting his anger fuel his words. If Mr. Stark was so ready to throw Peter away when he was no longer needed, then he wouldn't need Mr. Stark anymore either.

"Oh! I see, well sorry to burst your bubble, Spider-man. But I'm not too inclined to deal with whatever teenage rebellion phase this is, so why don't you step out of that multi-million dollar suit and I'll take it back!

It was a low blow, claiming to take back the suit. Peter almost said that he could go ahead and have it because he didn't need it anymore, when the sentient voice said, "Do you always do what Mr. Stark says? How is he ever going to think you can handle yourself if you keep letting him treat you like a little kid all the time."

It was as if the sentient parasite was throwing his own words back at him. Wasn't It the same exact thing he said to Ned in that hotel room all those months ago? Was everything between Mr. Stark and Peter that transparent? The only thing that Peter could tell was that he was tired of Mr. Stark treating him like a kid all the time.

With that thought in mind, Peter made his decision.

Before he could even think about it, a chuckle escaped his lips, "No, Mr. Stark, I don't think I'm going to need anything from you anymore." he bit out with as much venom as he could muster. He had no idea his voice could sound so menacing.

And with those last words to his ex-mentor, Peter dropped the phone onto the ground, and crushed it with his foot.

"Do we have a deal?" said the sentient parasite.

"We have a deal."

Chapter Text

"Back in Black"

  Buzzfeed News

The Webslinger, known as Spider-man, has become an active part of daily life for the people of New York. From saving cats from trees, helping old ladies cross the street, to stopping car accidents before they happen; these are the actions that has made NYC love our local hero. So of course seeing everyone's favorite Spider in a new all black ensemble has caused raised brows from the people of New York and raised voices from the Spider-fan discussion boards. Why the black get up? Who cares! the Spider-man's new look has created a new fear in criminal's eyes. Best to let Spider-man do his thing in order to keep the people of New York safe... 

"Black-Ops Spider-man?"

 New York Times 

People everywhere have seen the Spider-man swinging around New York City with a new black design. The question remains, what does this mean? Has Spider-man created this new look in order to portray fear instead of benevolence with the old bright red and blue? Sources claim that with the new look there is also a change in Spider-man... 

 "Spider-man terrorizes New York City in Black Get-up"

The Daily Bugle 

The streets of New York City have been terrorized by the vigilante Spider-man since the beginning of last spring. Swinging into destruction left and right in a bright blue and red spandex suit. We at daily bugle have been keeping close watch on Spider-man since the reports of people slung up in webs, dangling from large heights, causing trauma among the people of NYC. In order to keep the people of New York City safe, we at The Daily Bugle want you to be able to spot the terror before he swings upon you. The Spider has appeared across the boroughs in a new get up, an all black spandex suit with a white spider emblazoned on the chest. We reported on his first get up, a onesie paired with... 

 
Somewhere in Queens, one Aaron Davis looks up at a gossip magazine rack while buying his groceries, only to see the article, "New Yorkers Spot Black Spider-man."

"You gotta be kidding me. That dude was painfully white."

Sighing, Tony was looking across his holographic display of the articles posted that morning about Spider-man. Tony hadn't had a wink of sleep since his phone call with Peter, working relentlessly on tracking him using satellite facial recognition and getting regular updates from Fri. The kid was fast, anytime F.R.I.D.A.Y had a lock on him the kid would move out of the location. He would get to the area only for Spider-man to be gone.

Something wasn't right, the kid's suit was completely black. The articles made that clear, although the pictures on social media were blurry, it was obvious that the blurs of Spider-man were no longer the friendly blue and red the kid liked so much. How he was able to turn the suit a different color, Tony didn't even know. He really hoped that the kid wasn't parading around in an actual spandex suit instead of the one Tony made him. Which was safer.

It's been three days since the kid smashed his phone in an alley and in those three days he has guzzled enough coffee to drown Thor in it. On the first night, Peter's ridiculously hot Aunt called him at least thirty times, leaving more voicemails then he even knew what to do with. Since then she has called him at least once every three hours and everytime he would promise to find Pete and bring him back home. Later, he would wonder if he would be able to keep that promise. 

He messed up. He messed up bad, he shouldn't have yelled at the kid. He could have been a kinder more involved mentor. But instead he kept the kid at a distance because he was afraid. Now something was seriously wrong and he couldn't take it back. 

Tony thought back to the conversation he last had with Peter. He had never heard the kid laugh like that before. It wasn't just bitter or angry, it was something malicious. 

Tony's head whipped back to the right most hologram when he heard the ping with a new location over in Manhattan. 

"Boss-" 

"Yeah, Fri, I see it." 

Before he even had time to think about it, he was suited up in his nano tech and heading for Peter's location. He had to fix this. 

Peter took to his new and improved strength with absolute glee. He had never felt this strong before. Not even when he had guzzled down all that Mountain Dew so he could finish his history project that was due the next day. He ended up accidentally breaking a sink in the school bathroom, the stuff made him so hyper. 

The "webs" that the black goo had given him were just that, black goo. But the stuff was strong and he was able to shoot it out at farther distances. One more thing that Tony Stark couldn't provide him with.

"Hey, Where are you from anyways? It's obvious you're not from around here." 

Peter heard a chuckle from the parasite, "From the outside, it's cold and dark out there." 

Peter shivered at the thought, guessing the thing that's attached to him is from space. 

"Sounds lonely," Peter hummed to himself. Things got quiet after that. Peter swung through the city, stopping crime and helping out the little guy. He was practically laughing by how much easier it all was. Not only did he not have to worry about his webs, he didn't need to worry about getting out of breath or feeling tired. 

Not that it was a problem before, but even he would feel a little winded after a time. Spider-man on his own was incredibly strong. But now, the new Spider-man was even stronger. 

"I feel invincible!" Peter crowed after he stopped a bus from slamming into oncoming traffic. Before, he would have been able to do it sure, but he would have done it by being a cushion between the bus and other cars. This time he was able to grab it from the back and actually stop its kinetic energy without getting pulled with it. This was amazing! Peter would never have to worry about getting dragged along in a car chase like he had before with the alien tech dealers. 

"No, Peter, we are invincible," the parasite replied, "I am a Symbiote, I cannot live fully without a strong host, together we are even stronger." 

Peter laughed, perhaps having Karen taken over by this symbiote wasn't so bad. 

"Do I seem bad to you, Kid?" the Symbiote replied to his thoughts, "People will tell you what is good or bad, that you should follow them with blind trust instead of opening your eyes to the possibilities that are in front of you." 

People like Tony Stark. Tony always keeping his distance, but intercepting him when Peter had done something wrong. Always there to yell at him and then walk away. Well now he didn't need Mr. Stark, and Mr. Stark would never find a reason to yell at him. 

"That's right, we don't need Mr. Stark. We'll never need anyone ever again, the only people we need will be us. We have a bond, Peter. A bond that can grow and together we can become stronger than ever. We won't need anybody, we would just be Spider-man forever. No need to worry about May, or Ned, or Tony Stark, when all we need is each other."

Peter didn't need anyone, so long as he had the Symbiote. Together they were invincible. 

"That's right, kid." 

Peter didn't even fight when the darkness came, he just let it take him. 

CNN News 

"This just in, it would appear that there is a large monster that vaguely resembles Spider-man tossing cars at the intersection of fifth avenue and West fifty-fifth street. The monster has a large white spider symbol on it's chest and has attacked several people on the streets. We have received reports that Iron-man is on the scene and has engaged the monster.... 

When Peter came to, he was in a cocoon of black goo. The stuff was swirling around him like a cage around his head, looking down he noticed that the stuff was still attached to the rest of his body but seemed to have separated itself from his midsection up. Looking through the mass he could see his surroundings. He was on a street somewhere and there were flipped cars everywhere. Looking around, he also noticed that he was surrounded by cop cars with guns trained on him. It wasn't until Peter heard the familiar sound of thrusters that he looked up. There was Iron-man hovering above him with an arm raised outward. 

Peter's eyes widened, "Mr.... Stark?" 

"Don't worry, kid. I'm getting you out of there," was Tony's response. And Peter had the vague feeling that he was supposed to be angry at him, but just couldn't find the energy to be.  

All of a sudden, he felt as though bile was climbing up his throat as the goo was starting to form back over his body. He watched as it snapped back down over his chest, "Mr. Stark!" And then it was dark. Peter could hear his breath in his ears, his chest heaving as the symbiote used his body for it's purposes. He needed Mr. Stark to get him out of there. He wanted to scream, but his jaw felt as though it was locked. 

"Mr. Stark can't save you, Peter Parker." 

Peter held back a sob as he heard the parasite's voice in his head, he felt so tired. How long has it been since he blacked out? He hoped Aunt May was okay. He hoped Ned didn't worry too much. And he really hoped that he hadn't hurt anybody. 

"Why are you doing this?" it felt like a whisper, but it also felt as though he had yelled it out. He wasn't himself and he was so tired. 

A dark chuckle replied, "The world out there is cold with anger, but down here is warm with fear." 

"I don't understand," Peter said, the only thing he had understood was that the Symbiote had lied and used him. 

"I don't expect you would understand me, Peter Parker. But I understand you. I understand everything about you. Your fears, your weaknesses." Peter shook with fear, why couldn't Mr. Stark get him out of here? The voice inside his head chuckled darkly again, "I already told you, Mr. Stark can't help you, kid. Our bond is too strong. Besides, Mr. Stark doesn't care about you, Peter. He doesn't want to spend time with you, doesn't properly mentor you as he should. Such a poor choice for a father figure, he can't be your new Uncle Ben, Peter." 

Peter wanted to cry as the parasite almost gleefully said these things. It was every twisted and dark thought he had practically whispered in his ear.

"What are you?"

"We are Venom." 

Peter could suddenly feel a strange vibrating sensation as the goo slid around his body, encompassing him. Something was happening. The goo began to dissipate around his face and he could see the outside world again. He had a cop car in his grip and he threw it down the street. He watched as it landed on top of other cop cars that were shooting at him. But something had to have happened to make the vibrating which caused Venom to dissipate.

Still he couldn't seem to control his body. It felt like he was stepping on something. Almost as though he had his foot resting on a log, just then he felt his head look down and he saw what it was he was holding down. His foot was a huge monstrous shape, clearly not his own, and pinned underneath it was Iron-man. He must have put down the nano tech around his face, because his helmet was down. Peter could see the shock and fear that was on Mr. Stark's face as he looked up at him. 

No. 

Yes. 

"We don't need Mr. Stark anymore," He heard Venom say out of his own mouth. No this wasn't right, this wasn't true. He needed Mr. Stark now more than ever. "We don't want Mr. Stark anymore," he felt his arm reach up and over his head, large claws poised to strike. 

Peter needed to stop this. Or else he was going to watch himself kill Tony. 

"We are going to kill, Mr. Stark, and we will be stronger for it!" Venom yelled out, taking satisfaction of the fear that was in Tony's eyes. 

Peter felt his arm as it came thrashing down, but just as it was poised to strike at Tony's throat, it stopped. 

"I don't kill people," Peter said. He stepped off of Mr. Stark's chest, staggering. He was just so tired. But he needed to use his last bit of strength. He took his massive arms up to his face and pulled. He yelled as he managed to grip the goo that made up Venom's body and pulled it off of his face. His red mask appearing underneath, "and I won't let you kill Mr. Stark." 

All of a sudden there was a loud sonic vibrating noise that made Venom shriek a terrible alien sound. It was a combination between the screech of a train coming to a stop, nails on a chalkboard, and a dying animal. Suddenly, it became incredibly easy for Peter to pull Venom off of him. 

"Mr. Stark! Help!" He yelled out for his mentor, reaching out towards him as he got his other arm out from the parasite's grasp. 

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. send out another sonic blast," He heard Mr. Stark say, as he grabbed his metal hand. Peter nearly cried when he touched Mr. Starks hand, even encased in metal, it felt so good to touch something that wasn't black goo. Peter yelled as Tony pulled on his hand as hard as he could, Tony's suit letting out several waves of high pitched noises. The more noises there are the more Peter is able to slip out of the goo. 

Peter looked up at Tony's face, the man who gave him every means to be safe while he did the most dangerous thing a teenage could think of. The man who was afraid to keep people close, yet still cared three times as hard. And he saw the man that he would call his father figure a thousand times over, regardless if he decided to be distant. It didn't matter, because Tony always came back when he needed him most. He was there when you could count on him. 

That's what mattered. 

"Fri, Increase sonic blasts one-hundred fold!" Tony ground out from between his teeth, his face was quivering from the effort of pulling Peter out. If this were any other kind of situation he might have laughed at it. Maybe one day, he would be comfortable enough with Mr. Stark to make jokes with him. 

With one final yell, Peter pulled his foot out of the writhing mass that called itself Venom. He fell into Tony's arms and Tony gripped onto him tight into an almost hug. Tears of relief slipped out of his eyes before he could hold them back. All of his limbs sagged and he really wanted to pass out but he had to be strong so they could finish this. Besides, there were helicopters circling around with lights shining down on them, and if Peter was going to be on live tv as Spider-man then he was going to appear strong. 

Tony's suit still let out repetitive sonic blasts, one after the other, and Peter cringed as he heard Venom's screams. Looking up at Tony though, Peter took half a step back at the look on the older man's face. It was murderous. 

Tony raised up a closed fist at the parasite and with a single hand movement there was a hissing noise as pieces of Tony's suit came apart to form a container around the screaming mass. The first time Peter saw the goo known as venom, it was a blur the size of a softball, know it was a huge teeming mass. Thinking back on how tall Peter was when he was stuck inside it, he realized that as Venom got stronger, he must have taken over Peter's form and morphed into something that only vaguely looked like him. 

Once Venom was completely enclosed in the metal that Peter could only label as a pod, the piercing noise that came from Tony's suit stopped. Peter watched as Venom inside struggled to get out, the pod shaking and thumping from the ground a few feet in front of them. 

"Enjoy the show, kid," was the last thing Tony said before the pod engaged it's thrusters and it lifted into the air, rocketing into the upper atmosphere. Just as quickly it was gone, it exploded way above the city, like a fiery star in the sky. 

After a long quiet pause, with Tony keeping him upright as he swayed, Peter said, "That was awesome, Mr. Stark." And then he was out like a light. 

Later, Peter would wake up in the medical ward at the Avengers compound. May sobbing into his lap as he whispered a thousand, 'I'm sorry's' like little lanterns floating in the air around them. 

He stayed at the compound for a full week, recovering from the destruction that Venom did to his body. He was so thankful that he had the spider mask on before the symbiote decided to leech off of him, otherwise he would have had a whole lot of other problems to add to his list. 

Ned had visited him, gave him a ton of notes along with his class/homework assignments. Peter would have complained, but honestly he was so thankful that he had something to do. The compound was boring as all hell. 

Mr. Stark stuck around for a while, which was way more than Peter expected from the man. He wasn't going to complain about it, the affection he felt from the man wasn't something he was willing to comment on. He was enjoying it to much. 

Later, he would remember what Venom had done while he took control of Peter's body and abilities. He would remember wiping out Gargan's gang, the carnage that was left behind. And he would weep into the toilet basin as his stomach clenched in pain. And Mr. Stark would run in and rub his back as he wailed at him what he remembered. And eventually he would pass out and wake up back in bed with a stale and dry mouth. 

But in the end, he would be okay. He had Mr. Stark after all.

Chapter Text

"Uh, Mr. Stark? I don't think that pole goes there..." 

Peter watched as Tony pushed one of the smaller poles into the tent's main structure. He knew that the instructions packet was inside the tent's bag, but neither of them bothered to look at it. The tent was simple enough... or maybe it wasn't, considering that Tony was putting it together wrong. 

"Okay, I'm going to pretend not to be offended, Kid, and remind you that I'm an engineer... and Iron-man." 

Peter chuckled as he fit the pieces of another tent pole together, "I don't think anybody could forget that, Mr. Stark." 

"Don't sass me, kid." 

"Wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Stark." 

It had been thirty minutes after school when Peter got a call from Mr. Stark asking what he was doing that weekend. Which was weird considering he practically never called him. But he guessed after his party debacle Mr. Stark was trying to give Peter some guidance? He wasn't sure. Still, Mr. Stark called him and asked if he'd ever gone camping?! Of all things. Peter said no and now here they are. Camping. 

Seriously, if somebody came up to him a month ago and told him he was going to go camping with Mr. Stark of all people... well he wouldn't have laughed but he definitely wouldn't have believed them. And to say it was awkward was definitely an understatement, they drove all the way out here after all, plenty of time for awkward silences. But Peter wasn't going to say no to anything Mr. Stark suggested if it required them to spend time together because... hello it's Mr. Stark. 

"Well, Kid, I guess you were right," Tony said, as he stepped back to look at his constructed tent. Because he had put one small pole in the main structure of the tent and the large pole in the other one, the tent was all lopsided. The small pole was meant for the entrance of the tent, which would peak out forward like a shield from the zipper. 

Peter watched as the tent fell over sideways and coughed out a laugh into a fist. Mr. Stark looked at him with a playfully stern expression, "that's alright Mr. Stark, we can fix it." 

Tony sighed putting his hands on his hips, "Welp, I'll leave it to you, boy scout, I'm going to go set up our kitchen supplies." Peter took out the tent poles as Mr. Stark turned to go grab their kitchen gear from the truck they drove to the campsite in.

Peter was honestly surprised by how relaxed Mr. Stark looked wearing a pair of jeans and a old MIT sweatshirt, he'd only ever seen the man in suits and shiny shoes. Peter wanted to say it felt like the twilight zone but honestly it seemed really normal. 

By the time the tent was set up, Mr. Stark had already constructed their kitchen area with the nicest, newest gear. The stove was stainless steel and clearly brand spanking new. In fact all of the kitchen supplies were a new and shiny stainless steel. Even the cooler  was tricked out, if it could even be called a cooler, it was more like a horizontal fridge. 

"Mr. Stark, does this qualify as glamping?" 

 "As what?"

"As glamping," Peter shrugged, "You know like, camping but with luxury," Peter said as he wiggled his fingers at Mr. Stark for emphasis. 

Tony raising a single brow with maximum disapproval at the term, "No, kid, we are camping, none of this glamping nonsense. If this were glamping then I'd just put us in a hotel room somewhere in the Alps." 

"Eh, I don't know Mr. Stark, this seems a lot like glamping," Peter shrugged, kicking the not cooler, "I mean this isn't even really a cooler, it's a horizontal mini-fridge."  

"Oh right," Tony said, bending over and lifting it so it was standing right side up, "that's because It's a fridge, Pete." 

Peter throws his hands in the air, turning away, "I give up." 

Peter heard a deep chuckle behind him, "Hey, while you're giving up, why don't you grab our sleeping bags from the backseat." 

"I hate you." 

"You're a terrible liar, Pete." 

Peter grabbed the sleeping bags and threw them inside their newly constructed tent, "How are you even powering it?" 

"An arc reactor, of course."

"I'm going to pretend you said solar power instead." 

The rest of the trip went pretty well, that is until night fell and it got freakishly cold. When the temperature had dropped the first few degrees they had decided to light a fire. "Roasting marshmallows and all that good bonding stuff," Mr. Stark had said. They had bundled up with fiber blankets with Iron-man printed all over them and made smores. Then the temperature dropped even more and Mr. Stark whipped out the hot cocoa packets. Then the temperature dropped some more and it became increasingly clear to Peter that they were both incredibly unprepared for the night. 

"It's freezing, Mr. Stark." 

"Hush, Kid, it builds character," Mr. Stark said as he rubbed his hands and warmed them by the fire. 

"I'm all for character building exercises and everything, I just really hope that our tent is magically insulated with heating or something." 

"You're lucky I'm an engineer, kid." 

So, yeah it was freezing, and Mr. Stark actually ended up throwing together a heater made from an arc reactor. Which was actually super interesting and Peter learned a lot when Mr. Stark instructed him on how to build one. But nonetheless, it was so excessive. These were a source of unlimited energy that countless people have attempted to build themselves. Heck, Peter stopped Toomes from stealing a giant crateful to build weapons with. And Mr. Stark used one of them to build... a heater. 

As much as Peter complained about it, he actually found it incredibly amusing and he had a feeling that Mr. Stark did too. Either way, he was grateful because that night was way more bearable in the tent with the heater. Once Peter crawling into his sleeping bag he was out like a light. 

The rest of the trip was... interesting to say the least. There were plenty of other examples that had Peter groan the word, "glamping," under his breath. Peter definitely claimed that was exactly what it was when he went back home to May, in which Tony rolled his eyes and playfully shove him towards his aunt with a, "See you later, kid." 

Chapter Text

Peter woke softly, coming to the familiar sounds of the city during rush hour. It took him a while for his brain to boot up from being stuck in R.E.M, but while he lay there like a lump, he had a vague feeling of something important happening today. Something about the air around him was charged with a feeling of something... different, something new. Like something special was supposed to happen, but Peter wasn't awake enough to figure it out right then. He closed his eyes to block out the sun that managed to shine in through his blinds and moved his arm to grip his duvet closer around his neck, but as he shifted his wrist he hissed out in pain when it scraped against the sheets. Almost as though there was an open wound on his wrist, or a old scab from a deep cut. But peter didn't have a wound on his wrist... 

Despite his earlier reservations of getting up, he bolted upright in bed, wide eyed. His wrist was burning... Peter knew there was only one reason why it could possibly burn like that. Turning over his wrist in his lap, Peter's eyes felt glued open as he read the line on his wrist that would give Peter a clue as to who his soulmate could possibly be. 

The morning sun was peeking through his blinds, casting a striped shadow across his bed. Dust motes lazily flew through the air around Peter while he dared not to even breathe.  

Kid.

That's what it said, in bright blue. Blue not red. Peter would be lying if he said that he wasn't hoping that it would be a red mark with something written like, "Sup, loser" on it. Of course, he had imagined what his soul mark could have been, everybody has. It's a normal thing for kids to sit in a circle at recess and talk about what they imagined their soulmarks to be. Wasn't necessarily show and tell just plain fun when kids showed off their soulmarks or boasted about how many they had. Some kids were littered with them on their arms like tattoo sleeves. Some kids, like Peter, didn't have any. 

It had been almost too late for him to receive a soul mark. Seventeen was the year when soulmate mark appearances significantly dropped, Peter's seventeenth birthday was about a week and a half away. Chances of getting a mark after that were practically one in a million. Although they did happen, they were so rare that most people just gave up the idea of ever having a soulmate. Suicide rates were also really high among seventeen year old's, so they had a whole bunch of suicide prevention hotlines for absent soul marks. 

Peter was so thankful that he didn't need to call the number that his aunt had given him in that pamphlet about soulmates. Not that he ever thought he could be suicidal! It was just a good thing to have... just in case and all that. 

As a coping mechanism, lots of people would get tattoos of what they imagined their soulmarks to be. Most people found it incredibly distasteful though, because if a soul mark would coincidentally match with a fake tattoo then that would be the biggest let down ever. But people could generally tell if they were fake or not because Soul marks changed color, well... they changed hue. When a soulmark first appears, it's usually a light red for a romantic mark, or a light blue for a platonic mark. Once you met the soulmate or re-met them after the mark appeared, it would change into a darker hue of the color. Many believe that the deeper the hue meant the stronger the bond, but there was no solid proof of that being true. Too many variables and soulmates out there who detested each other despite how deep the hue of their soulmarks were. 

Peter looked back down at the bright light blue of his new Soul Mark, the skin around it an irritated red, the source of the sharp pain of a new soulmark. Peter wondered to himself if there were any feelings of disappointment over the mark being blue and not red, but he couldn't find any. Looking down at the word, "Kid." all he could feel was a sense of calm and rightness. It didn't matter that he barely knew the person or that the mark on his arm wasn't some line waxing poetry or a life long promise. Because on his arm were the words that proved somebody would call him, "Kid," for the rest of their life. Peter couldn't help the bright smile that crept on his face, his chest filling with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

He couldn't wait to show Ned his soulmark. 

Chapter Text

It was a normal day. 

Well... to anybody else it was a normal day. But to one Peter Parker, it had to be the most tense, anxiety ridden day of his life.  When he first woke up that morning his neck was incredibly sore with a charley horse and a buzzing sensation that had the hairs on the back of his neck and arms standing on end. After the spider bite, he didn't even think he could get Charley horse's anymore. Instantly on edge, Peter rushed to his window and flung it open, but looking out into the sky there was nothing wrong. He listened carefully but all he could hear was a dog barking and the early morning traffic. Frowning, he closed his window and tried to shrug off the feeling. 

But he just couldn't. It was literally the worst feeling and it was ever persistent. It would not let up for even a second, none of the neck stretching or cracking of joints could get his neck loose and the tingling sensation intensified throughout his body with every passing minute. Every once in a while, he would get a random chill that forced a violent whole body shiver from his toes to his shoulders which would re-activate the pain in his neck from the Charley Horse. It was just awful. 

He went through his classes, trying to pay attention. But it was so damn hard when he was constantly on edge just waiting for something terrible to happen. At one point, his senses decided to go into hyperdrive and he had to hide in the bathroom during lunch to block out the light and noises. When that didn't work, Peter upchucked what little breakfast he had in the stall. He thinks that somebody may have knocked and asked if he was okay, he yelled out an "I'm fine!" but he may have imagined it and just shouted out to nobody at all. There was a ringing in his ears that wouldn't settle, even flushing the toilet was too loud. Peter blindly reached into his backpack, and pulled out his old Spider-man goggles that he designed just for this sort of occasion, snapping them onto his face, he let out a sigh of relief as the fluorescents dimmed down he could finally see again. Just as he finally was able to calm down some, the bell rang signifying the end of lunch and he had to take them off again before going into class. If anybody saw goggle marks around his eyes, nobody commented on it. It was a science and tech school, students wore goggles all the time.  

He was sitting in his fourth period economics class, leg practically vibrating as it bounced against the stool, his eyes fixed on an empty space in the blue, cloudless sky. He couldn't help it. He just had this feeling. Something was going to happen. 

"Dude,"  Ned whispered at him, "Are you okay?" 

"My senses are going haywire, dude, I don't know what's happening, but I'm getting a really bad feeling." 

Ned leaned in closer with interest, "Is that the... spider-sense? " his voice peaked with interest, "Do you think something's going to happen?" 

Peter's leg started bouncing even faster against the stool as the feeling on the back of his neck intensified. A spike of pain that felt like pins and needles were stabbing him. Peter groaned out, "Yeah, something bad is going to happen, like soon." 

"Soon?!" Ned frantically whispered, "Like how soon?" 

Just then a student screamed and pointed out the window, "Oh my god, what is that?!" 

Peter's head whipped around so fast it was a wonder he didn't crack it. There, exactly where he had been looking out the window all period, was a teeming mass of metal that shifted and moved in strange patterns, almost as though it wasn't quite solid. Experience told Peter that it couldn't be anything other than a spaceship. A spaceship that might as well have been littered with red flags screaming "DANGER". Strangely enough, as soon as the ship appeared, Peter's Charley Horse immediately disappeared, as though it never happened. Peter decided to commit the feeling to memory for future reference.  

Peter stood up, "Like right now." 

At that exact moment, his phone vibrated harshly in his pocket, Peter practically jumped to answer it. From the opposite end of the room, someone who sounded suspiciously like Flash yelled, "We're gunna DIE!" 

"We are NOT going to die, Flash! Everybody stay calm!" Mr. Harrington shouted over the din of students openly staring out the window. Many already had their phones out recording the spaceship. Already little shadows of beings with weaponry were streaming out from under the spaceship. Earth was being invaded yet again. For the third time. 

Peter glanced down at his Caller I.D, the words "MR. STARK" on the screen, but before Peter could answer the call, it connected through anyway. Tony's face with the classic Iron-Man hud surrounding him appeared on the screen. 

"Kid. Suit up." 

"Mr. Stark I- Wait, like, right now?" 

"Kid, we don't exactly have time to not put you out on the field." right after Tony spoke, the static sound of repolsers queueing up was heard over the line. Looking back up at the teeming mass of spaceship, Peter could see Iron-man attacking the mass of aliens that were flooding out of the ship. Shooting at them with his arms stuck outward, Peter watched as they dropped from their little space chariots like flies.

"Okay, Okay, I see you, Mr. Stark, but I don't have the Iron suit! It'll take me forev-" 

"Already on it's way, Pantaloons." Iron-Man snarked before Peter's hearing registered a sound of thrusters heading towards him from a distance and traveling fast.  The Iron-Spider was going to be there at Peter's location within minutes. 

"Okay, okay, okay, okay," Peter chanted through the phone as he charged to the window to open it, from his left Flash Thompson was looking at Peter with what he could only call a gob smacked expression before the kid shook it off and his usual expression of entitled belligerence took over once again. Flash reached out and grabbed the window and pulled it shut before Peter could fully open it. Peter knew he could have overpowered him with his strength, but his shock over having Flash stop him took over before he could do anything. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Flash's voice cracked as he screeched at Peter in fear. Over the phone, Peter could hear Mr. Stark's voice shout as he was hit with something that sounded suspiciously like Alien tech, Peter knew he didn't have time to deal with his High School bully. This was the big leagues and Peter was Spider-Man. 

"Get out of my way, Flash." 

"So you can, what, open the window and let in the ALIENS?!" 

"Flash, the windows are literally made out of glass, they're going to get in if they want to anyway and I need to leave right now!" Peter shouted back at his bully for what was possibly the first time. Usually, he doesn't engage when Flash starts taunting him, but this wasn't about Peter. Mr. Stark needed him and the Iron-spider was on it's way. 

Running out of time and patience, Peter did something that he swore on the day he got his powers he wouldn't do. With an exasperated sigh he put his phone down on a table, grabbed Flash's shoulders with both hands and lifted him up and out of his way with his super strength. Flash yelped as Peter turned to his teacher and decathlon coach, "Mr. Harrington, can you please restrain him?" He said with as much authority as Peter could muster. Which wasn't a lot considering his voice still sounded like it was made out of marshmallows and goofy teenager. 

Mr. Harrington, possibly also in shock, nodded his head and held onto Flash's shoulders as Peter set him down in front of the teacher. Peter didn't get a chance to look at Flash's face before he heard the thrusters of the Iron-Spider coming ever closer. With barely any time to spare, Peter opened the second story window of his high school and leaped out into empty space. The force of the armor connecting to Peter hit him square in the back. To combat the force of the hit, Peter flipped mid air and landed on his feet on the concrete pavement outside of the school. The nanotech armor shifting around his body to form the Iron-Spider, Peter turned and looked out at his classmates as the mask of his alter-ego finally snapped into place. 

From the window, Peter could make out the faces of his classmates pressed up against the window, many with their phones still out recording. Ned stood from the open window that Peter had just leapt from, his face ashen in shock. Peter yelled, "Lock the window's and close the blinds. Hide under any strong surfaces." 

Ned nodded before saying, "Don't die, Spider-man!" As he closed and latched the window

"Not planning on it!" 

Without a second to spare, Spider-Man thwipped out a web and was on his way.