Archive of Our Own ^beta

Peter couldn't believe that Mr. Stark would believe Harley! They've known each other for months now, for god's sake! He didn’t even listen to his side of the story.

He didn’t listen.

And the thing is? Peter was tired. So, so tired of being ignored. Looked over. Its been a little over two months and all he wanted was some time with his mentor. Was that too much to ask? Didn’t the world take enough from him already?

Peter had lost so many people in his life that he could recognize what he was feeling. Grief.

Until now, Peter kept deceiving himself. He kept telling himself that Mr. Stark was just busy. He had meetings; a company to run. He had missions. Surely, he wasn't avoiding him.

Surely, he wasn't replacing him.

Right?

Yet, faced with his situation, Peter could no longer lie to himself. He was losing him. Peter realizes that he hasn't talked to Tony in weeks. At least, not without Harley interrupting them.

Losing someone to death was hard. But losing someone to something he could comprehend - something he could see - was so much harder. Losing someone even when they're in arms' reach was so, so much more painful. 

Peter laughed bitterly, tears starting to stream down his face. He was so stupid. So  goddamn stupid!

How could he let himself think that Tony would be different?

He wanted out.

He wanted to leave.

Trying not to sob, Peter reminisces on old times.

Its times like these that make him miss the people who he consider family. He missed his team.

He wanted to go to Beter and get a hug. The older spider never failed to bring him a sense of comfort and safety that he hasn't felt since the day Ben died. Mr. Stark was his mentor and, dare he say it, his father figure, but Peter B. Parker held a different yet just as important spot in his heart.

He wanted to hang out with Miles and Gwen. As much as he loved Ned and MJ, they didn’t get it; didn’t understand the thrill and the fear that came with being Spider-man. Its why he treasured the spider gang so much. They knew him, knew what it felt like.

He wanted to go over there and spend a few days away from Queens. Everything around him reminded him of Mr. Stark and it hurt a little too much.

He opened his phone which they reprogrammed to be able to handle inter-dimensional communication and sent a message to his friends.

Spider squad thwip thwip 

Precious Spidey: Hey

Cool Spidey: Hey Pete!

What's up?

Badass Spidey: Sup, Pete.

Precious Spidey: Something happened

with Mr. Stark

Remember how I said

he had a new intern?

Literal Spider: Yeah.

What was his name again?

Harry?

Cute Spidey: no, it was Henry

Or was it Henrick?

Dad Spidey: I swear it was Harrison.

Which is like

Such a name lame

Just saying

Monochrome Spidey: No, dude. It was harvey.

Badass Spidey: Oh, like that host guy?

Steven Harvey?

Precious Spidey:  Guys

His name is Harley

Not the point!

Anyways,

I don’t know if I did something

But,

He really, really doesn’t like me

Today, he did something then blamed it

 on me and

mr. stark won't listen to me

when I said I didn’t do anything

he asked me to leave

and I

Dad Spidey: You okay, kid?

Precious Spidey: I just

Can I come over?

I need some...

time away.

Cool Spidey: Come on over, dude!

Mama misses you.

act, she misses everyone!

everyone can come too

we got tacos tonight !!!

Pork Spidey: Huh

Its actually been a while

Dad Spidey: Maybe, we can all come over?

Pork Spidey: We can have another Spidey team-up!

Cute Spidey: well it HAS been tooooooo long

Badass Spidey: Eh

I don’t mind

I don’t like school anyway

Everything is way too easy

Monochrome Spidey: Is it cool if we come over, Miles?

Cool Spidey: Sure!

Mama said everyone's welcome!

We can eat then stop crime y'all

then we're gonna rant abt those assholes

it'll be cool, Pete!

Precious Spidey: Thanks guys

im omw

Just let me ask may

Excited at the prospect that he could possibly go visit his friends, he called May.

"Hey, Petey! Aren't you with Tony? Why are you calling?"

"Hey, May! Something happened. Nothing fatal or anything! Its just. Remember that kid I kept telling you about? Harley?"

"Yeah, Tony's new intern, right?"

"That’s him. Anyways, he did something bad then blamed it on me and Mr. Stark believed him."

"What did he do, kiddo? Want me to raise hell? Because I will!"

At this, Peter smiled. He knew May would raise hell if he said so. God, he adored her. No matter what happens, at least he still had May.

"No, no. I'll tell you about it later. Listen, can I stay with Miles for a bit? I just -" Peter sighs, "I'm tired, May. I don’t want to stay somewhere that would make me feel unwanted, you know?"

"Oh kiddo..."

"I just need some time. Go somewhere else. Hang out with my team again. Spend time with family and not feel left out. I don’t know! Just. I need to leave."

"Ok, kiddo. Do what you have to do. You have your goober?"

"Yeah, I have my goober. I'll see you in a few days. Bye, May."

"Bye, kiddo. You know I larb you, right?"

"I know May. Larb you too."

Travelling via goober was actually relatively painless. To Peter, all he felt was a slight tingle and he was gone. However, the Stark Watch on his wrist decidedly did not know this. On paper, Peter Parker was basically unravelling or more accurately, split apart atom by atom and severely injured.

This, of course, triggered a series of actions.

First, FRIDAY was notified by the Stark watch to Peter's apparent need for immediate medical treatment. She, then, notifies her boss - Tony Stark - who is busy fussing over Harley's injury and hurt feelings.

"Boss, Peter Parker's vitals are currently critical and is in need of immediate medical attention."

The sudden notification startled Tony out of his fussing. "Can you repeat that, Fri?"

"Peter Parker's vitals are currently critical and is in need of immediate medical attention. I am unable to track his location. His last location was 4 blocks away from the tower."

"Was he wearing the suit, Fri?"

"No, sir. His suit is currently inactive. I am also unable to track its location at this moment."

Tony felt like a bucket of cold water just dropped on him. Peter. His kid. His kid was injured - fucking critical, apparently - and the last thing he ever did was kick him out of the tower. His home. God, he's a fucking idiot. Where else could Peter have gone, if he didn't have the tower? May's apartment was all the way in Queens and took a few hours to drive, let alone walk!

He needed to find his kid.

(In the background, Harley feels guilt settle deep in his gut. What did he do? Oh, god. What did he do…)

Feeling relieved to be back with May, he tells her all about Miles and the gang's wellbeing and what they've been up to. He talks about their patrols and the elation he felt when they took down the trafficking ring. He told her what it felt like to go home.

(Privately, May smiles. She already knew everything about his visit. The Mays of the other dimensions had to stick together, too. Who knew what the other spider-people would be up to? Hell, she was just talking to May of the Morales' dimension not even a few hours ago.

Still, it was good to hear Peter chatter and chatter and chatter again. Over the past few weeks, Peter had steadily grown silent, meek.

May thanked the gods for the spiders. They truly were like Peter's siblings and family.)

That afternoon, Peter naps peacefully. For the first time in nearly 2 months, he sleeps and dreams of good things like adventures with spiders from different dimensions.

He smiles.

Later that night, Peter goes out to patrol. He breathes in the air, polluted but familiar. As much as he loved patrolling with the spiders, his dimension's Queens always invoked something different in him. It was his borough, his turf. It felt good to be back protecting his people.

Unknown to Peter, every single person he passes while swinging from building to building let out a sigh of relief. Going three days without the vigilante letting out whoops and other quirky exclamations while swinging around felt like something was missing.

After three long days of searching, searching, searching, Queens felt complete again.

Tying up his first perp of the night, Peter is alerted to someone coming his way. He turns, only to find…

"Daredevil? What are you doing here? This is way past hell's kitchen. Why…" Spying Logan behind him and Wade landing on the roof above them, "Why are you here with Wade and Logan. Aren't you two on some mission or something? You guys are almost always busy! Who’s that behind you? Venom, too? Did I miss something? Do you need help? Oooh, do we have a mission? Man, I am raring to go."

"Kid, where have you been for the past few days? Everyone went looking for you!"

"What."

"What?"

"Dude, what are you talking about? I was gone for like three days. That isn't even that long! I was gone for even longer after vigilante prank week trying to get all the glitter out of places that glitter isn't supposed to go. Remember? What are you talking about? Did something happe-"

Peter cuts himself off. Hearing a familiar purr of an engine, he sees the batmobile stop in front of them. Why was Batman here? Queens wasn't near enough to Gotham that he would bump into Batman randomly. Is something wrong? Why was everyone here?

Stepping out, Bruce Wayne stares at Peter for a whole minute, just taking him in. Suddenly, like he was stepping out of a trance, he pulls Peter into a hug.

Now, Bruce usually gave Peter hugs. No matter what people said about Batman, he was a softie at heart. His hugs were great!

This hug, however, felt different.

"Don't disappear ever again, Pete. The world won't be able to handle it. Did you know how worried we were? Where did you eve-"

Zoning out, Peter didn’t understand. Why did they look so worried? Did something happen? Tuning back into the conversation, Peter hears the guys discuss what to do now.

"-he crew is all here. Wanna go out on patrol? It'll be like old times! We could cover the whole of New York City with everyone here! Man, it'll be like we're the Avengers Assembling but like. Dark. You know what I mean? I always wanted to do that assemble in a circle and look around like you were a movie star thing that they did."

Peter felt a wave of excitement course through him. As much fun as working with the Avengers was, it never gave him as much satisfaction as going out to patrol with his OGs. His friends and fellow vigilantes were always down to fight dirty  - every vigilante had to be if they wanted to survive in the business.

Honestly, he didn't really understand why the Avengers were treating him like a child when they went out for missions. What was up with that? When you go out to fight crime in nothing but a onesie, you pick up on things, you know? He had to fight dirty to survive as long as he did without a Stark-made suit.

The Avengers were an exception to that, though. They never fought dirty, liked to keep up their holier than thou image. Ok, maybe Natasha would be down but the rest? They were just too righteous to do it.

"Sir, I am detecting the Spider-man suit in use. It appears to be Mr. Parker going out to patrol."

At that, Tony's heart skips a beat. Peter was out on patrol? 

"What are his vitals?"

"He suddenly appeared in my range with critical vitals a while ago but quickly stabilized after approximately 46 seconds. He is currently in good health. What do you want to do, boss?"

"Fri, get me the iron man suit. We're going out to check on a spider."

Wrapping up his patrol, Peter gets ready to head home for the night. Just as he was about to swing home, he hears a pair of thrusters. Tony.

"Peter?"

He stiffens. As much time as he had to process everything that happened a few days ago, the betrayal still stung; still hurt.

"Where were you?"

Huh? Didn't Mr. Stark tell him to leave? Why was he asking?

"Why are you asking, Mr. Stark? I left. That’s what you wanted, right?"

Turning around, he catches a glimpse of Mr. Stark's face. He looked stricken. 

"Peter, you were gone for three days! The whole city went out to search for you! Even the X-Men, Venom and other vigilantes helped the search with the NYPD!"

Oh. So that’s why they were here. He honestly thought they just wanted a change of scenery or something.

Everything suddenly clicks into place. 

"I just… I needed to leave. It hurt too much."

Tony sees Peter's eyes then. He looked like he was starting to tear up. God, he felt like a failure. What kind of mentor was he, to bring tears to his kid's eyes?

"I… Listen, kid. I'm not good with this emotions business. Never really was. But, I'm sorry, kiddo. I should have thought it through better, should have listened to both sides of the story. I should have verified everything."

Damn, right he should have. The feeling of betrayal and growing insecurity was a testament to that fact. 

"I'll make it up to you. Please, kid. I'll do anything. Come… come back to the internship, please."

Go back to the internship? Peter thinks about it. About going back to the tower and seeing Harley's face. He thinks about having to pretend it didn't hurt anymore because Mr. Stark apologized. 

He can't.

Taking a step back for the past few days and spending it with people he cared about had made him realize something. It isn't supposed to be a luxury to be cared for. He shouldn't have had to demand for anything.

He needed time away from that.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I can't"

Tony's heart breaks at that. Now he's done it.

"It still hurts, you know? I-I need a few days… or weeks… if that’s okay."

That’s fair. It hurt to hear, but, Tony supposes, he couldn’t turn back time and shouldn't expect to heal all the wounds he caused in one apology. That’s fine. He'll take it step by step.

"Sure, Underoos. Take as much time as you need."

It took Peter a few days to get back into his routine of crime fighting. He spent hours with Ned and MJ. He realized he was pushing them away and refusing plans to hang out because of the Stark internship so he made sure to set a day of the week aside to hang out with them and another for May, too. No patrol, just spending time with each other. 

Now, he patrols only five days a week. The rest of the guys would cover for him on Wednesdays and Sundays, said it would be good for his mental health or something.

Personally, Peter thinks that they just wanted to fight more.

It took Peter a couple of weeks to be able to even entertain the thought of returning to Stark Industries.

He spent long nights talking to May and asking for advice from Matt and Mr. Morales to get his head back on straight.

The day he returns to his internship, he's picked up by Happy who hugs him, short but fierce. ('Missed you, kid. Don't ever do that again.')

He knew Happy liked him. Happy really was his grumpy uncle. Peter knew that through everything, after homecoming and collecting injury after injury, it was always Happy he called first. He trusted him. Happy stuck by him throughout everything. Even, after Harley came, Happy still asked him about his day on the drive to the tower while badly pretending he wasn't interested.

Peter missed him.

When he arrived, he spent approximately two minutes and way too long seconds just staring at Harley, not knowing what to do.

Surprisingly, it was Harley who made the first move.

Apparently, he felt jealous of Peter's closeness with Tony. "I understand if you don’t want to forgive me. God knows what I did was wrong. But, if you need a friend, I.. I'll be here."

Peter ponders about this. When Harley first arrived, Peter was excited to have a new friend. Now, however, he was a little skeptical.

Yet, he could understand jealousy. He felt it vividly these past few weeks. Maybe…

"I don’t really want to be friends."

Harley's heart sinks. Of course. Why would he?

"Not right now, at least. Even if you feel bad about it, it doesn’t change the fact that I was hurt by your actions. You spent two months trying to make Tony neglect me. I can't forget that kind of pain easily, especially since I've lost a lot of people already. I can’t forgive you that fast, do you understand?"

And Harley did. He was an asshole to Peter. He could admit to himself that he became the kind of person he'd despise. He became exactly like the people in Rose Hill that he chose to escape from. He hated himself for it.

"That said, we could… maybe… start small? How about we watch a movie? I always liked Moana."

Later, when the movie was finished and Harley disappears to his room, Tony would ask where Peter went.

And Peter?

He doesn’t say a thing.

All he says is "I left to visit some friends; left to think. I went to my safe space. I went home."

And to that, Tony thinks that he doesn't really have the right to demand for an answer. If he didn't want to tell him just yet, then that was fine. 

For now, with both his kids getting along, Tony won't question it. 

EXTRA:

A few months later, Steven Strange steps into the tower and is greeted by a little enthusiastic spider that he helped with interdimensional travel a year ago.

"Hey, doc! How've you been? Thanks for helping me with the goober that one time we met looney spider! He was a bit - woah! Hey, Levi! Missed you too, bud. Who did I miss? You! I missed you! Uh-huh! Who's a good boy? Who's a good bo-"

"My cloak is not a dog, Mr. Parker."

"Dude, I literally caught you throwing a stick and playing fetch with him the one time I visited to give you a gift basket. You don’t get to comment."

Later, Tony walks in on Peter and Dr. Strange playing fetch in the compound garden. He stands still, rubs his eyes, and mutters, "Peter Parker has too many superhero friends, dammit. I'm not even going to question this. 'M not dealing with this today. Nope. Nuh-uh."

Tony creeps back inside and pretends he didn't see a thing.