Chapter Text
1.
He didn’t mean to cause any trouble.
In fact, it was Peter’s goal not to cause any additional problems for Mr. Stark. Ever Mr. Stark had hired him for an ‘internship’, he was desperate not to make any mistakes that would cause him to reconsider his generosity. It wasn’t easy, being a Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman had a lot of risks, and a lot of them were advertised heavily online when people posted pictures of him on social media. Usually, he tried his best to leave a situation as quickly as he arrived.
This time, he had failed in that regard.
He had been on the subway with Ned when he heard the situation started popping up on their Twitter feed. There was a hostage situation in a hotel near Pierrepoint Plaza. A husband, upset with his wife’s adultery, was holding her and their children at gunpoint. The police had been called, and there had been a tense standoff for the past two hours.
Immediately, Peter wanted to go. He knew he had the tools to help. Ned, however, was less keen.
“You’re not a hostage negotiator, and he has guns. Who knows how dangerous he is?”
“Yeah, but I can web him, he won’t be able to go anywhere.”
“What if he starts shooting? You can’t protect yourself and the kids.”
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“Isn’t Stark in New York for some conference this weekend? It’s all over the news. If it gets bad enough, maybe he’ll come and help them out.”
Peter was doubtful. Mr. Stark usually had bigger issues on his plate, but he told Ned he wouldn’t go.
Fifteen minutes later, Peter was swinging towards the plaza. He had left Ned at the subway stop, feigning an emergency from Aunt May. Two minutes later he got a text,
“Stay safe, Spiderman.”
Beneath the mask, Peter smiled. There were only a handful of people who knew who was under the mask, Mr. Stark, Ned, and Happy, and two of those three didn’t give compliments or safe wishes freely.
He didn’t have a chance to even try to stay safe. He had climbed halfway up the building, only five floors below the standoff when he ran out of web fluid.
“No, no, no, no.” Peter whispered, pulling the mechanism open and shaking it violently, “This isn’t happening.
It was happening. He was stuck against the side of a building with no way to get down.
He looked down. He wasn’t afraid of heights, not when he knew that he had the technology to prevent himself from plummeting to his death. Without that technology, he was scared shitless.
“Breathe, Peter.” He mumbled to himself.
Leaning his forehead against the cool side of the building, he tried to steady his breathing. Panicking wouldn’t help the situation.
But he was so high from the ground. If he fell, there was no way he’d be able to survive. His accelerating healing wouldn’t save him if he was splattered across the pavement.
He needed to think, he needed a plan.
Eventually, someone would notice he was up there. They would send someone to open a window, or a firetruck to help him get out. Except then they would try and question him. Would his rescuer be willing to let him go, or would they be entranced by the Bugle’s reward on his head?
The thought brought another wave of anxiety, and Peter’s legs turned to jello at the thought. Even if someone found him, he couldn’t trust that they’d protect his identity. Even worse, he’d be at their mercy until he was back on ground. They could follow him once he was on the ground and see where he lived. They could track him, and tell May exactly where they had found him.
These thoughts were not helping him think clearly.
Remembering the counsellor he had visited before his parents died, Peter inhaled deeply. He held the breath for four seconds, and then released it on another four count. He continued the process until his body stopped shaking, and then did another four repeats for good measure.
“Now think. How are we getting down from here?”
There were only three people who knew that Peter Parker was secretly Spiderman-his best friend Ned, Happy Hogan, and Tony Stark.
Mr. Stark was absolutely out of the question. He was not, and would not, inform him that he had left on patrol without double checking that he had web fluid. It would be embarrassing, and it would give him another reason not to trust him.
That left two people. Ned Leeds, who already advised him not to approach the situation, and Happy Hogan, who despised babysitting the ‘spider-ling’.
His phone was in his hand before he knew it, searching through his contacts to find his best friend. On the second ring, he answered.
“Man in the chair at your assistance. How can I help?” Ned’s voice chirped on the other end.
“Ned, I’m stuck.”
Peter could practically imagine how Ned’s eyes would widen and his mouth would drop open at the phrase.
“Like they’re shooting at you? Oh my god, did they shoot you? Did they tie you up?”
“No, I didn’t even make it into the building.” His cheeks reddened, “I ran out of web fluid.”
“What?”
“I’m on the side of the building, and I’m pretty high up.”
“You didn’t check before you left?”
Peter really didn’t need a lecture right now.
“Ned, can you just help me.”
Peter chewed his lip, squeezing his eyes shut. He was hoping that Ned would have a solution, or at the very least an idea he could try.
“What do you want me to do?”
Shit.
“No ideas?”
Suddenly, the phone cut out, and a new voice emerged from the side of the building.
“Well, It’s all over the news. Daily Bugle is having a blast right now. Spiderman Afraid Of Heights. Jameson’s been laughing at your expense for almost an hour.”
Finally, an Iron Mark suit appeared from the side of the building.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.”
The suit floated in the air beside him, and the head tilted quizzically. If he didn’t know better, Peter would have thought that Tony himself was in the suit.
“What happened?”
Peter let out a breath before starting.
“Well, I was with Ned downtown and I saw online that there was a hostage situation. I couldn’t let anyone get hurt, and it had been so long that I decided to check it out myself. I was going to be careful, Ned warned me, because they would have guns and-”
“Yeah, I gathered all of that. Why are you standing outside the window like the world’s youngest Peeping Tom?”
“I ran out of web fluid halfway up.”
The figure froze. Floating in midair, it became as still as it could without falling. As if the machine itself tensed with the words.
“You ran out? You didn’t think to, I don’t know, check?”
That was disappointment.
“I got excited.”
“So excited that you almost got yourself killed? What if you ran out while you were in the middle of that hostage situation? Or while you were midair? You could have died, instead of being humiliated online.”
Peter hung his head in shame, his face almost as red as the mask covering it. He was more than ashamed, he was horrified. He could have died, and it would have been his own fault.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.”
“Yeah, you’ve said that already.”
That was bad. Real bad. Mr. Stark usually tried to make Peter feel at least a little bit better about his mistakes. Straight up dismissing him was not a good sign.
“Hop on, buttercup.” Tony stretched his arms out as if to hug him, flying close enough that Peter was hit with a breeze.
“What?”
“Hop on. There’s no other way to get you down. I’m going to need to carry you.”
“Mr. Stark, that’s ridiculous. That’s humiliating.”
“So is forgetting to check how much web you have.”
That shut Peter up fast.
“You can either stay up here, or I can carry you down. Your choice. I wonder how long it’ll take May to realize you’re missing.”
Peter was stuck for the second time that evening. He didn’t want to be flown down like a child, but it was the only option. His image will be ruined. Not his image, but Spiderman’s, and that was just as bad. He was sure there was another way, but Mr. Stark didn’t seem like he was willing to budge.
No, rubbing salt in the wound was definitely to rub in the message of how badly he messed up.
Finally, Peter raised his arms up. Like a child waiting for a hug when Daddy came home from work, he stood.
He wondered how many news sites were streaming this live.
“I think I saw a buzzfeed article on my way here.” Mr. Stark answered the unspoken question.
“Oh god.”
Peter wrapped his arms around the neck, cringing at what headlines would be written. He’d be compared to a child (which he was), and there would be headlines about how he was a maiden in distress.
Even with one arm, the Mark flew flawlessly. It zipped through the air, and thankfully he took a route that would have made it difficult for the media to follow it after a few minutes. Still, Peter burned in shame.
“I’m going to drop you off a few blocks from home. Don’t want anyone finding out where you live.”
Peter mumbled a reply. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he was tired. He had been standing on the side of the building for almost an hour, and it was exhausting. He just wanted to go to bed.
The two landed in an alleyway three blocks from Peter’s house. Peter didn’t say anything, his head hung low. After a moment, Mr Stark spoke.
“You okay, kid?”
Peter shrugged half-heartedly.
“Peter, look at me.”
Peter lifted his head. His face was obscured by the mask, and he didn’t try to take it off. He didn’t want Mr Stark to see how upset he was, and was thankful that he didn’t ask.
“Everyone messes up sometimes. This?” He gestured wildly, “Not a big deal. What matters is you’re safe.”
Peter didn’t respond, but his body language immediately shifted. His center of balance lifted, and he faced the suit steadily.
“Thank you.”
“You better be getting home. Try to avoid any tall buildings.”
Peter nodded, and started sprinting down the road.
“And replace your damn webs!” He called back, turning over his shoulder.
“Got it, Mr Stark!”
It wasn’t until Peter was out of sight that Tony removed his helmet, the nanotech receding into his glasses.
He had known that Peter was getting low on fluid three days ago. KAREN had sent an alert when he got down to half, and another when it was a quarter. When he saw on the news that the menace known as Spiderman had become trapped on the side of a building, he knew what had happened.
Tony had meant it as a lesson, nothing more. Honestly, Peter should have checked the levels. He would have gotten twice as many notifications as Tony. It was his own fault that he had gotten stuck.
Well, not really.
He was just a kid. He was a genius, and it sometimes made Tony forget how young he was. A kid who shouldn’t feel as if he had to rush into a hostage situation to save people he didn’t even know.
He had thought a little extra humiliation would teach him a lesson. Tease him a little, carry him home so the news would catch a few seconds of footage, and then let him know that he was there to see it. Exactly what he would have done to Steve or Clint if they’d found themselves in the same situation.
When he picked him up and he was shaking though, he knew it had gone too far. Peter wasn’t just stressed, he was scared.
Unsure if it was because of the harsh words or the situation, Tony decided not to reveal that he was present. He didn’t want to push the kid over the edge. He was a good kid, and didn’t deserve that.
No, he deserved much better than that.
Tony made a note to remind himself to be a bit easier on him, and to send a text in the morning to see how he was doing. No, maybe later in the week would be better. Peter had left a message saying he was excited for the decathlon competition later that week, he’d call him the night before to boost his moral.
Or he would, as long as Peter remembered to top up that damn fluid.