Chapter Text
Tony got an alert from FRIDAY that the spider kid was back a little bit over a week after his last visit. This time he wasn’t with anyone else at the time, instead simply working in his workshop on improving his suit. So the moment he heard the kid was there, Tony dropped what he was doing and let FRIDAY take him up to the penthouse.
He found Peter standing in front of the fridge, tapping his foot on the floor and tugging at the sleeve of his black hoodie while scanning the stocked shelves.
“Mr. Stark, FRIDAY said I can take some of the spaghetti and meatballs you have here, but I’m not sure about it. I mean, it’s not the same as taking a piece o’ bread, right? This is worth more. Can I really take it?”
It was still a little freaky, how the kid could just tell when Tony was stepping into the room without looking. He had his back to Tony, yet he seemed to know exactly where the man was. He wasn’t even surprised, so he must have known he was coming. Was FRIDAY informing him of such stuff or was the kid just… good like that?
“You can eat whatever you want,” he said as he hopped onto a bar stool. “What happened, Normie forgot to feed you?”
Peter threw him a look over his shoulder, then turned back to the task at hand—pulling out the Tupperware of spaghetti and meatballs from the fridge. He then proceeded to following FRIDAY’s instructions so he could get himself a plate and utensils. Humming to himself, Peter poured himself quite a bit of food, then put the plate in the microwave and returned the leftovers to the fridge.
Once he was done with that, he leaned on the counter and looked at Tony. “You don’t trust me.”
Tony quirked his eyebrows. “What gave you that impression?”
“You’re keeping an eye on me. You told me I can come over here for whatever, but last time and just now you dropped everything to be with me. Are you trying to make sure I won’t steal from you again or something? Afraid I’ll hack into FRIDAY again?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t view you as a threat.”
Peter crossed his arms over his chest.
“It’s basic curtesy. Pepper will have my head if she hears I let a guest of mine wander around without company. So here I am, ready and willing to chat and make sure you’re not lonely or some shit.” When Peter kept on staring at him blankly, he added, “I’m being nice, kid.”
“Well, you don’t have to be. I’m fine on my own,” Peter said as the microwave beeped. He pulled out his plate and put it on the bar counter before taking a seat next to Tony, his body language still wary. “And now you’re going to stare at me while I’m eating? That doesn’t sound polite to me, Mr. Stark.”
“I’m not staring at you, I’m just sitting here.” Tony drummed his fingers on the counter. His leg started bouncing up and down. “So… what’ve you been up to lately?”
Peter slurped some spaghetti and chewed thoughtfully. “Same, I guess. The drone works, by the way. And, uh, Karen is really helpful. So… thank you for that,” he said uncomfortably. “It’s actually why I’m here.”
“And here I thought you just wanted free food,” said Tony dryly.
Peter swallowed and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Tony’s eyes drifted down to the eyes of the Iron Man mask staring at him from the front of the hoodie. He was still surprised the kid was wearing his merch, especially considering the amount of wariness and resentment he was displaying around him. Then again, he seemed to be wearing the same clothes all the time so maybe he didn’t really have much of a choice.
Would it be a good idea to offer him some clothes? He didn’t think so. He didn’t think the kid would appreciate being offered more money thrown his way when he was already skeptical when it came to Tony’s motives. What if he took it the wrong way and decided Tony was trying to buy his loyalty and trust? No, if the kid asked for anything, Tony would give it. Probably. But if he didn’t… he’d better just keep his distance and let Osborn handle everything else.
“It was an accident,” Peter said, looking down at his food.
Tony frowned in confusion. “What was?”
“Me gaining these powers. It was an accident. A freak accident, it was never meant to happen. It shouldn’t have. But with my luck, it did.”
A part of Tony wanted to ask FRIDAY if she was recording this all for later, just to make sure. Another, more aware part knew it would be a really bad idea to mention such a thing. Peter was finally saying something, revealing something about himself and how he became Spider-Man. Tony would be a fool if he stopped and startled him back into silence.
Instead, he leaned his elbow on the bar, nodding at Peter to continue.
Taking in a deep breath, Peter kept on talking to his meal. “My school took us on a field trip to Oscorp. During the tour I just sort of… got lost. I wandered around and lost the rest of my class. While looking for them I just… I stumbled upon this room where there were all these studies of spiders and stuff. There were cages with different species in them and I… I don’t like spiders. I just wanted to leave.”
Spider-Man doesn’t like spiders? Tony wanted to snort. But Peter sent him one warning look to let him know he was aware of the irony and would very much appreciate it if the man shut up about it, so he kept his lips clasped, although he couldn’t help the smirk that spread across his face.
“Anyway, one of the spiders managed to escape, apparently. It bit me. On the back of my hand,” said Peter. He started rubbing a certain spot on his hand subconsciously although there was nothing there to see. “I killed it on the spot, but I started feeling… really bad. Like, really bad. I got really sick for days after that. My aunt and uncle freaked out and I was sent to the hospital. Mr. Osborn sent all these people to watch over me and make sure I was all right. You know, ‘cause it was sort of his fault I was hurt in the first place.
“And then one day I woke up and I just… I felt great. I wasn’t sick anymore, I could bench-press the hospital bed, I could hear people who were blocks away from me. It was so… weird.”
“Sounds overwhelming,” said Tony.
“It was. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I used to wear glasses, but suddenly I could see perfectly well without them. I used to have asthma but that disappeared, too. I can run all over the city and barely feel out of breath. It’s awesome. But I had to play it all close to the vest because I wasn’t sure how to explain any of those changes so… I didn’t. Not to the doctors, not to my family. No one knew.”
Tony hummed and nodded. “Can’t blame you. This sounds like a weird thing to wake up to. I would’ve probably been a little freaked out at first.”
Peter ate some more, still not looking up at Tony. For the first time since he saw him, Tony thought Peter looked so… small. His clothes were obviously too big for him because the hoodie was basically swallowing him whole. But it looked like he was trying to drown in it just then, burrowing into the fabric like it could protect him somehow.
“I wasn’t… I didn’t really want these powers,” Peter continued eventually. “I didn’t want to do anything with them, so I just tried to ignore them. I learned how to control them the best I could, but otherwise I just… let them be. Didn’t want anything to be different, didn’t want anything to change. I didn’t see the point. But I was frustrated and annoyed because I had these powers and I couldn’t just get rid of them or make them go away.
“I snapped at my uncle and then ran out of the house to… to let off some steam, I guess. It was just a bad day in general. Everything seemed to go wrong and I wanted him to get off my back because he acted like he knew what I was going through when he had no idea. How could he, I never told him…”
The kid’s tone was darkening the longer he talked and Tony got the distinct feeling this story was going to take a turn for the worse. He knew his entire family was gone. He knew his parents had died and then his uncle and aunt followed along, too. But he never really bothered checking to see how all these people had died. He kind of felt like an idiot for overlooking that part.
“This convenience store got robbed while I was in it. I wanted to get myself a snack but didn’t have enough money. The cashier refused selling me the snack—I don’t even remember what it was anymore—and I became even more upset. And as I was going to leave, this man showed up, levelled a gun at the cashier and demanded all the money in the register. And I just watched the whole thing and… didn’t move. I didn’t care. I was satisfied because that jerk was getting robbed right after he wouldn’t let me buy something when I didn’t have, like, a cent.”
“You were a kid,” said Tony carefully. “No one expected you to act against someone with a gun.”
Peter’s face fell. “Do you know how easy it is to handle people with guns? My powers barely register them as a threat. They’re so easy to dodge and handle, it’s ridiculous. I could have taken that guy down had I just cared enough to try. Instead I walked away like an asshole.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“My uncle was better than me,” said Peter, his voice choked and raw. “Apparently he’d decided to come after me, to bring me back home so we could talk things out. He saw the robber running away with the money and heard the cashier calling for help. He didn’t even hesitate—he just jumped ahead and tried to stop him. And that guy shot him, then ran out of there. Like he didn’t just end someone’s life over, like, a hundred bucks tops.”
Feeling a little sick, Tony’s hand stilled as he looked at the kid. “I’m sorry.”
Peter didn’t reply. He was staring down at his hands, watching them like he could see something covering them—probably the blood of his uncle. Tony could relate, if not all the way. He still remembered watching as the light left Yinsen’s eyes in that cave. But while Yinsen had wanted to die and join his family, Tony was pretty sure Peter’s uncle had a lot to live for still.
Hesitantly, he brought a hand up and let it hover over the kid’s shoulder for a long moment before he finally let it drop. He wasn’t surprised when Peter tensed at the physical contact, although relief washed throughout his body at the feeling of the kid relaxing and leaning into the touch a bit, eyes closing as he seemed to focus solely on that.
“I couldn’t—I couldn’t look the other way again after that,” muttered Peter after a while, voice small. “I didn’t want anyone else to go through that if I could help it. My uncle had the right idea, trying to stop that man, but he didn’t have the tools to deal with it. I did. I do. My choice to stand by and do nothing… it got him killed, whether it was on purpose or not. That’s not gonna happen again if I can help it.”
Tony hummed. “That’s a very heavy burden to carry there, bud. You can’t save everybody.”
“I can try.”
“You’ll run yourself to the ground. You need to rest from time to time. The world is better with you out there, but if you don’t take care of yourself too if won’t matter whether or not you’re any good at this.”
Peter pulled away from him and didn’t say anything for a few long moments, instead just staring down at his hands again. Then he reached out, took a forkful of spaghetti and meatballs and stuffed his mouth with it. His eyes were still distant, like his mind was trapped in a memory, but Tony could see the way he was fighting to pull himself back to the present.
The silence lingered. Tony let the kid’s words swirl leisurely around his head, processing them and what they meant at his own pace. He couldn’t imagine having all this trauma at such a young age. Had he still not known about this, he would’ve had no idea Peter had such a anecdote to share. He looked so carefree and innocent, a troublemaker testing his limits.
But the scary thing was that… looking back, Tony couldn’t help but wonder whether all of Peter’s risks of getting close to him again and again while still not trusting him were more than just a lack of self-preservation. Sure, he was still a kid and kids did a lot of stupid things out of a whim. Hell, Tony himself did the same. But this felt different. What if the kid calculated the risks and just came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter whether he got in trouble or not? What if he just… didn’t care?
That was scarier than a lot of the weapons Tony’s company used to make.
God, he hoped that wasn’t the case. Although it wouldn’t surprise him exactly. He already knew Peter was all alone, no one but Norman Osborn in his corner. Parents—dead. Uncle—dead; murdered, apparently. Aunt—dead. Girlfriend—dead. He was literally the personalization of depression and grief. Or, well, he would have been had he stewed in it a bit more. And maybe he did wallow in these feelings every now and then, but every time Tony’d encountered him, the kid acted like a smartass rather than a kid crumbling under the pressure of the world.
“Is this the part where I share my trauma?” said Tony, then cringed at his own words.
Was sarcasm the way to go right now? He had no idea. How the hell do people deal with teenagers? With angsty, grieving, lonely teenagers, to be exact.
Luckily, Peter’s lips tugged up into a faint smile in response. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Stark, but your life story is basically common knowledge by now. If I wanna know all about your trauma all I need to do is look you up or open your Wikipedia page.”
“Oh, but all the juicy, gruesome details aren’t online, kid.”
“I’ll pass on those,” he said flatly.
“Your loss.”
Peter swallowed another meatball, then said, “I’m super strong. Never tested it out and I wouldn’t let Mr. Osborn do it because…” the kid trailed off for a moment, then shook his head and continued. “Anyway, it’s not tested but I think I have the proportional strength of a spider. Supposedly, it means I can lift about ten tons but I’ve lifted way heavier than that—don’t ask,” he added when Tony opened his mouth.
Furrowing his brows, Tony stared at the kid. “You can lift more than ten tons? Are you serious?”
“Yup.”
“That’s more than Cap and his cyborg friend can do.”
The kid’s smile grew at the words. “Well, Captain America’s serum was meant to push him to the limits of what a human body can achieve, right?” he said, then waited for Tony’s confirmation. “Well, I’m not like that. That spider bite didn’t push me to my limits. It… it changed me, all the way down to my molecular structure. I tested it once to see what the hell’s going on with my body, you know? When I was sick it happened because my body’s code rewrote itself. I’m literally part spider now.”
Tony eyed him critically from head to toe. “As long as I don’t have to use a broom to knock you off my ceiling, we’re good.”
A startled burst of laughter left the kid’s lips. His eyes widened, like he was surprised by his own reaction. But then he just smiled, looking more relaxed as he twisted the spaghetti on his plate around his fork.
“Basically I’m saying that Captain America’s strength is still limited. He can’t do more than the human body is capable of. I, on the other hand, am limited by the restrictions a part-human part-spider would have. And so far these parameters are very different.”
“Right. I’ll remember to call you next time I want someone to punch Rogers in the face. Go on.”
“Anyway… yeah. So I’m super strong. I’m also really fast. I can’t even explain it. I wasn’t really all that fast before I got bitten, but now I move much faster. People told me that they can barely see me move sometimes but when I see the videos I don’t really see the speed. I can follow it all just fine. I suppose it’s because my brain can just process everything quickly enough, too. Can you imagine moving quicker than your brain can process? I don’t think that’s physically possible, actually.”
He already knew the kid was fast. Considering the fact that Tony was very much wholly human, he could observe quite easily during the Avengers’ chase after the kid that he could move exceptionally fast when necessary. He still had some footage from that day saved somewhere and he knew some of it was blurry due to the fact that his camera couldn’t follow Spidey’s speed all that well.
“All my senses are heightened, too. I’m pretty sure I can see more than regular humans can. Like, there are moments when I see stuff that others around me don’t. It took me a while to realize what was going on, but… yeah, my eyes can see lights that aren’t on the visible spectrum. There’s the hearing, of course. This one sucks sometimes. Like the smell one. We live in New York. Everything is loud and smelly, it’s not really pleasant. But it helps when I hear a cry for help from afar, so there’s that.”
Tony was really hoping FRIDAY was taking notes because he was already beginning to lose it. The kid didn’t even sound like he was getting close to being done, which was alarming.
Playing some more with his food, Peter made a little humming noise. “Oh, I have a really fast metabolism. It’s how I heal fast. It’s really helpful, but it’s not the best when I can’t pay for the food I need to sustain myself. My body burns through the calories so quickly, I’m starving basically all the time. I can never eat enough to satisfy my hunger, and then all of my power start acting up because I can’t give them what they need.”
“Which explains why you drop by to steal my food,” said Tony.
“You offered,” the kid said defensively.
“You started this before I offered.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “This is my second time taking your food. Stop whining about it. The last time I ate was yesterday afternoon. A sandwich and some Cheetos. And you’re complaining because I’m taking a little bit of the stuff you have here, like you can’t afford more.”
Tony frowned at him. “Doesn’t Osborn give you food?”
The kid pretended not to hear him.
“I’m also sticky—but you probably know that already,” said Peter. “That’s actually a really weird power, but I love it. I also don’t get headrushes when I stay upside down too long. I slept that way once and woke up feeling perfectly fine. I’m really flexible, too. Again, never tested it. I just know I can curl in real tight or bend in ways that kinda make me feel less like a human and more like…”
“Let me guess—a spider,” said Tony.
Peter flashed him a sheepish smile. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
Sniffing, Tony leaned back and crossed his arms. “You can say that again. Okay, so other than those powers I know you also have those web-shooters of yours. They’re not really powers, though. Well, not a biological one like the others. I don’t suppose you’re gonna explain how you made the webs?”
“Nuh-uh. Gonna take this secret with me to my grave.”
“A shame, but I’ll let it slide this time.” He exhaled slowly. “Okay, that’s… a lot.”
“There’s one other power, actually.”
Tony stared at him blankly. “You’re kidding.”
The kid grinned. “I call it my spider-sense.”
“You’re kidding,” Tony said again.
Taking his time, Peter took another two bites from his food and hummed thoughtfully to himself, staring at the lines of alcoholic bottles that were spread before him all across the wall. He seemed to revel in Tony’s growing impatience, which was… incredibly annoying.
When he went to take another bite of food, Tony snapped, “I swear, I’m gonna take away your spaghetti if you don’t explain yourself.”
Peter put down his fork with an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. My spider-sense. It’s like… a danger sense. A sixth sense I have that feels like a buzz or an itch in the back of my head. It acts up when something bad is about to happen. It’s how I can dodge without even seeing the danger with my own eyes. My brain basically screams at me to move, so I move. If I don’t listen, I tend to get hurt.”
“Well, shit.” Tony stared at him, dumbfounded.
“Yeah… it’s really helpful. It’d saved my life more than once. It can also be a huge headache when it perceives stuff like a fly buzzing a little too close as pure evil. I got so many detentions back when I went to Midtown just because I couldn’t concentrate since there was a fly in the class and my spider-sense would go nuts. It’s a huge headache when that happens. Plus, it floods me with anxiety and adrenaline, which isn’t helpful when I’m supposed to be listening to the history of the United States.”
Tony blinked at him. “Seriously. You and Steve—one on one. It will make my day.”
The kid chewed on some more spaghetti. “The last thing I need is for someone to catch me punching a national hero on camera. People don’t like me as it is. Captain America being victimized by me would turn me into the jerk of the century. They’ll send the army after me, Mr. Stark. They’ll send you and all the other Avengers after me again. I’m not in the mood for another one of those sessions.”
“Me neither, kid.”
They fell silent for a while after that. Tony pulled out his phone and took care of some of the stuff Pepper asked him to do. He would have ignored it all some more, but the kid looked very self-conscious, eating under Tony’s unrelenting gaze, so work seemed like a nice distraction. Something to pull his attention away from the teenager beside him.
When the plate was left empty, Peter just opened the fridge and rummaged through it, looking for more food he could eat. He sent Tony a look before taking anything out, as if to make sure he wasn’t crossing any lines. Once he received the go-ahead from him, though, Peter let himself take a bit of everything. Tony pretended not to hear the way the kid’s stomach growled hungrily while he was waiting for the food to heat up.
The kid was busy eating his mountain of food so Tony let his mind wander. He tried to wrap his head around the fact that he had so many powers. And from his observations and Peter’s explanation, it sounded like the powers he shared with Rogers were more enhanced. The idea that the unassuming teenager beside him could lift more than Captain America was mind-boggling. Tony could hardly wrap his head around it.
He had to admit the stickiness really was an odd power, too. Not that Tony thought it was useless or anything, Spidey did a lot of stuff with this power that made it more than worth it. And the fact that it all came from a spider kind of explained where the hell it came from. And that sixth sense for danger… that was just unheard of. Tony’s never heard of anything like it. He couldn’t even imagine having a power like that one. Although it would be really useful, of course—possessing precognition.
With all these powers Tony was almost amazed at the fact that he and the Avengers were all still in one piece. This kid’s been capable of doing so much, yet he’d held back even while being chased by them all. And for no good reason, in his eyes. No good reason, period. He could have thrown that shield right back at Cap. He could’ve crunched the Iron Man suit if he so much as wished to, Tony was sure of it.
Not to mention the kid’s mind. He was crazy smart, Tony was already aware of that much. It took a genius to bypass FRIDAY, no matter which method people chose to use. And Peter managed to do so twice. With parts from the trash. To make his web fluid and eat something. He could’ve broken in to steal something valuable or to take revenge on Tony or the other Avengers, yet all he did was… use a couple of chemicals and eat a sandwich.
Mind… blown.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” Tony asked eventually.
The kid looked away from the gravy left on his plate, briefly made eye contact with Tony, then looked back down. He tugged at the sims of his hoodie and fiddled with the fabric between his fingers.
“Because you gave me an AI,” he said quietly. “I felt like I should give you something back.”
Nothing comes for free. Peter had told Tony that. And the words reeked of Norman Osborn.
“You don’t need to pay me back for giving you stuff, kid,” he said.
Peter didn’t answer. Instead he started smearing the gravy with his fork, spreading it all over the plate as if to draw something with the sauce. Tony watched him silently, wondering what was going through the kid’s head. He couldn’t imagine him being this way from the start. This idea of repaying people for their kindness couldn’t have come from his parents and aunt and uncle, could it? It must have been Osborn’s work, all of it. But then how could Tony undo it?
“How did you and Norman Osborn come in contact, anyway?” he asked after a while. “I know him. He doesn’t usually associate himself with random kids. And he never particularly cared for the vigilantes or heroes in this city before you came along.”
The kid wet his lips. “I told you, he’s been around when I first got bitten. He… he figured out I was Spider-Man really quickly because of that. Who else could it have been?”
“Doesn’t explain why he’s trying to help you now.”
“He asked if he could. Eventually I said yes.”
Tony frowned. “Eventually?”
Shifting uneasily, Peter stared down at his plate with a crease between his eyebrows. “He asked me from the start if I’d like his help. I said no because I figured I could handle it by myself. He kept on asking after that and I just didn’t see the need to accept. I… I wasn’t sure about it. But then Gwen was killed and…” He bit the inside of his cheek and hunched his shoulders. “I messed up and I didn’t want anything like that to happen again. I needed help. So I said yes.”
“Guidance is good,” said Tony slowly. “Is that it? Is he helping you be a better vigilante?”
“Not exactly,” said the kid. He glimpsed at Tony for a brief moment, then gazed back down. “He’s trying to keep me safe, for the most part. You know, ‘cause so many people are after me. He’s telling me who to avoid, what not to do, where I shouldn’t go—”
“Advice you obviously take to heart.”
Peter’s lips twitched. “I appreciate everything he does. It’s just… I guess I like trusting my instincts more.”
“So you do trust me,” said Tony with a smirk.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But your instincts brought you here.”
“My gratitude and crushing-obligation brought me here.”
“You say ‘obligation’, but all I hear is ‘trust’. No worries, kid. You don’t need to be ashamed of your gut feeling leading you to me. I know I’m not the best role model but I can assure you that no one’s going to judge you for visiting me every now and then to steal my food.”
With an eyeroll, Peter leaned back in his seat and let go of his fork. He looked like he was trying to scowl to show his displeasure, yet his eyes were crinkled mirthfully and his lips were twitching upward against his will, so Tony figured he was fighting back a smile. It made him feel irrationally proud of himself.
“That being said…” continued Tony, “do you really think it’s a good idea to be working with Norman Osborn of all people?”
The levity in the kid’s expression evaporated as he turned to eye Tony critically. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“You want me to dig in his backyard and unravel all the skeletons buried there or are you looking for a vaguer response than that?”
“What skeletons? Mr. Stark, Mr. Osborn is a good man, you know. He’s trying to help me, not… not…”
“Use you?” said Tony.
The kid did not look impressed. “He’s not using me. He’s offering me support and a sanctuary. Which is more than a lot of people in the city have done. Is this some kind of company rivalry you’re trying to pull me into? Because I don’t want to get involved in what goes on between Osborn and SI, okay? It’s not really any of my business.”
“It’s got nothing to do with that, no. It’s more about the fact that Osborn’s been doing some shady stuff over at Oscorp for years. Honestly, your first clue should have been how a high school kid managed to get lost in his building and walk into a room where there was an experiment going on, no questions asked.”
“So this would have never happened here? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Er… yes.”
Peter crossed his arms over his chest and turned to glare at the fridge. “Sure. Because your security has been proven as far superior. Not like a high school kid managed to break into your own personal space or anything, yeah? I must have imagined that.”
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, all right, not my best comparison there. But you can’t tell me you never suspected there was something going on there. That man gives me creepy vibes every time we have to meet. It’s why I try to avoid these business meetings if I can. Only go if Pep forces me to. Actually, the fact that Oscorp’s been working on spiders that could enhance humans is already a red flag if I’ve ever seen one—”
“It’s not a red flag! He’s doing experiments. People do that. It’s what his company is all about,” the kid protested heatedly. “Everyone knows people over the years have been trying to replicate the super soldier serum, okay? It’s not a secret. It’s a great formula, of course people would want to use it again. And now Oscorp found something very similar that worked and you’re… you’re just freaking out over it, like it’s the end of the world. You and SHIELD, you don’t want anyone else to have these kind of abilities, but if they belong to you it's all right, huh?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s what you’re thinking!”
Groaning, Tony shook his head. “No. What I’m thinking… I’ll tell you what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that since you’re the only spider person we’ve heard of, that experiment at Oscorp only worked on you. Norman knows that, which is why he really wanted to keep you around. Not to help protect you from the world, but to make sure his one good test subject survives long enough for him to study what made that spider bite work on you specifically.”
“That’s not true!” shouted Peter.
“I think that from everything you’ve told me this guy is treating you more like one of his assets than an actual human being. He doesn’t care about Spider-Man or the people out there you’re trying to save. All he cares about is his precious work and the formula that’s in your body. He’s keeping you safe for his own personal gain, kid. That’s what I think.”
“And SHIELD is just so much better than that, right?” Peter said loudly as he pushed himself away from the bar. He started pacing back and forth, hands clenched by his sides. “They would never try to study my enhancement or figure out how they can possibly replicate it, would they? No, they’re all saints. You all are. Not like you’re only getting close to me so you can have more information to use against me later or anything like that. God, I shouldn’t have come here…”
“I won’t deny that SHIELD is probably counting on getting their hands on you to study you. Fury is a paranoid piece of shit, he’ll do anything to get his hands on more powers he could use to fight off all the dangers closing in on our world,” said Tony as he got up, eyes following the kid as he kept on striding back and forth. “But I’m not doing this for SHIELD. They want to capture you. I’m trying to give you space because clearly no one else is doing it for you.”
Peter tangled his fingers in his hair and shook his head from side to side. “No, no. This is exactly what Mr. Osborn’s been warning me about. He said you’d do anything to get me to trust you and he was right. I should’ve listened to him.”
“Of course he’d say that. I’m trying to help and he’s scared his most valuable asset will up and leave if he found something better to go toward,” snorted Tony.
The kid didn’t say anything. He just gritted his teeth and kept on pacing, pacing, pacing. His hands tugged at his hair, though it didn’t seem to bother him in the least as he shut his eyes. He looked like he was trying to block everything else out, mostly Tony’s voice. Didn’t seem to be working that well for him, though.
Tony threw his hand out to gesture toward the Oscorp building that was visible through the wall of windows. “You really wanna tell me you don’t see that he’s using you? Kid, Norman Osborn is manipulating you. He would have done more for you had he actually seen you as anything more than an object or a means to an end. He doesn’t see a human or a teenager or a living being. He only sees a weapon and an asset that he can utilize—”
“I KNOW!”
The penthouse fell silent as Tony stared at the kid. Peter stopped pacing, his hands falling back down to his sides, fingers twitching like he was itching to move. His eyes were open again, staring out at Manhattan with an expression that was somewhere between anger and resignation. His chest was inflating and deflating, his shoulders going up and down with his heavy breaths.
Time felt like it was standing still, which could possibly explain why Tony couldn’t find the energy to suck air into his lungs. He felt too stunned, too caught off guard by Peter’s admission to respond properly. He expected more denial, maybe; not this—not the kid agreeing with him. This felt… off. It made all of this feel grander and smaller, all at the same time.
In a small voice, Peter said, “I know. I know all of that. I’m not an idiot. I can put two and two together. But out of all the people out there who wanna use me, he’s at least trying to help me, too. SHIELD’s been attacking me, the government’s planning to try and send the army after me. Mr. Osborn isn’t perfect, but he’s the lesser of… all the other evils.”
His hands tugged at the sleeves of his Iron Man hoodie. “All I have are bad choices. I’m doing the best I can with them.”
Tony managed to catch his wrist right as Peter made to step out to the balcony and leave. The kid could break free of the grip with ease, Tony knew, yet he stopped moving and didn’t immediately slip away, which he took as a good sign. Or, well, not a completely bad one.
“There are always more options. You always have a choice, kid.”
Peter turned to search his face, his brown eyes flitting all over Tony’s features like he was looking for something. He wasn’t sure what this thing was, so he held as still as he could, trying to convey his sincerity—something he got the feeling the kid was used to being deprived of.
In the end Peter twisted his wrist free and stepped back and away from Tony. He shot out a web that attached itself to the top of a neighboring building, preparing to carry Peter’s weight as he swung away. But the kid hesitated still, not jumping off and leaving quite yet. Instead, he threw Tony one more look and bit the inside of his cheek in thought, his brows scrunched together.
“Who’s to say this other choice is any better than the others?” he said plainly, then jumped.
Tony watched him until he was out of sight, then punched the wall next to him, hissed in pain and stepped back into the penthouse and toward the elevator.
“FRIDAY, pull up everything you can find about Norman Osborn. We have some digging to do.”