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It’s not like Tony thought of himself as evil. It’s just that breaking the law and doing whatever the hell he wanted was a lot of fun. Especially when no one knew who was inside the Iron Man suit.
It’d started with getting his weapons back. Then sneakily getting some deserved revenge on people who deserved it. Sometimes he even felt a little like Robin Hood. The news would write about the horrible break in to some US Senator and in the same news cycle there would be some great PR for Stark Industries as Tony Stark once again donated large sums of money to deserving populations.
They called Iron Man a Super Villain. Maybe that should bother Tony, but mostly it made him feel powerful. Sometimes it really strokes his ego. Tony Stark, so smart that he had a total alter ego in his giant game of making the world the one he wanted to live in.
And then there would be times when Tony felt ashamed. Or, at least, there were people who would make him feel that way.
“I’m pretty sure that doesn’t belong to you.”
There was only the softest “twap” as the webbing hit the case in Tony’s hands. Maybe if he’d noticed the red and blue hero, he’d have been able to hold onto the suitcase, but as he’d been taken by surprise the whole thing was ripped right out of his hands. It soared through the air until it neatly landed in the sticky hands of Spiderman.
He didn’t look like much. There was something truly disarming about seeing a grown man flinging around the air in a onesie. But Iron Man had learned quickly not to underestimate the guy. He was fast and seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. And there was something inhuman about him, his speed, his strength, his….stickiness.
“Property of Hammer Industries weapon manufacturing,” he read off the front of the case. “Wow, Mr. Hammer, I didn’t recognize you in the giant tin can.”
Tony snorted through his speaker and let himself lower down to get more eye level with the man stuck to the side of the building. “Justin Hammer couldn’t even dream up a design like this,” he said, indicating to his armor.
“And yet, you’re stealing his weapons.”
Tony aimed a repulsor at the other man threateningly, “Just to annoy him, really. He’s always mixing into things he shouldn’t.”
Spiderman darted away along the building, moving faster than Tony and his aim could keep up.
“Ahh, so this is your act of altruism is it? Just trying to help a friend make better decisions. You made yourself an amazing suit and this is what you spend your time doing with it.”
Tony tried to track the spider with his eyes, but he was a quick one. He had to rely on the tracking of his suit to keep an eye on the man. “And I suppose you think that I should take up your vigilante shtick, is that right? Put myself, uninvited I might add, into the world with a mask instead of putting in a job application for your local police department?”
“Well it sure beats terrorism, doesn’t it?”
Tony narrowed his eyes as his suit locked in on the creepy crawly. He fired, but as predicted, the man was moving before the repulsor even really locked in. Even as Tony tried to keep up with him, firing as he went, the man was too fast.
It was fun, really. It wasn’t like Tony was really trying to hit the guy. That was beauty of firing at someone you knew was fast enough to dodge. And Spiderman never really went on the offensive. But Tony really couldn’t let the weapons fall into the hands of just anyone. Sure the guy seemed to really lean into the whole superhero act. But you could never be to careful
“Is that why you keep bothering me? You’re afraid I’m going to go attack the Empire State building or something?”
“Or something,” Spiderman seemingly agreed. And that's when the mistake happened.
Spiderman was busy dodging shots and Tony was sort of having a good time and kind of just throwing the shots around. And then Spiderman shot a load of his webbing at the helmet, completely stealing any view Tony or JARVIS had. In a fit of what was not panic but perhaps resembled it, Tony’s arms pinwheeled, shooting as he went. But he was blinded from the sticky webbing on his helmet so he could hear Spiderman gasp, even as he couldn’t see it.
There was a loud thump, and Tony had blasted off the webbing just in time to watch Spiderman falling from a building. It only took a confused moment of looking around for Tony to realize his shot had caught the webbing that Spiderman has been using in his swing. Taking that away meant that Spiderman went head first into the wall at a really fast speed. When he dropped down, he was boneless.
He hit the concrete of the ground hard, but the smacking of the metal suitcase made the most sound, echoing off the walls.
“Oh shit,” Tony said, feeling a little bad as he gazed down at the sprawl on the ground. He watched, waiting for the man to stir but he didn’t. “Shit. Spidey? You okay there?”
No response.
Don’t panic. “Hey J, can we get a scan?” Tony asked, slowly lowering himself to the ground nearby. He kept his distance, wary of a ruse. But as the moments passed, it seemed less and less likely.
“Vitals are within acceptable parameters. But the fall likely gave even an enhanced individual a concussion. I would advise against leaving him alone.”
“Well I’m not a babysitter. Call an ambulance to this spot. If his identity gets revealed that’s his problem,” Tony said, already eager for this to be not his problem. But speaking of identities…He stepped closer, eyeing the man on the ground. There wasn’t blood so he was probably okay, right?
Tony let the gauntlet retract as he reached towards the delicate cloth of the man’s mask. His fingertips caught the frayed edge and he gently but quickly pulled upwards until it was completely off his head. “Let’s see what we have here.” The goggles clattered as they hit the pavement in the careless way Tony tossed the whole bit aside. Whatever, the emergency services would probably pick them up.
But as Tony looked down at the face of Spiderman he felt the air kick out of his lungs like a punch to the gut. Everything froze. Because instead of some twenty five year old man, he was looking at a kid. Definitely couldn’t be older than 18. Possibly as young as 13 or 14. He still had baby fat.
“Jesus. He’s a baby,” Tony said, stumbling back.
“The ambulance will arrive in approximately three minutes, sir.”
Tony found himself lurching back forward, towards the kid. “No. No ambulance. Cancel the ambulance.”
“Cancel the emergency services, sir?”
Tony waved his hand in annoyance. “I don’t know! He--this kid can’t go to a hospital. He’s enhanced. They might not be able to help him.” There was the smallest bit of blood smearing on his face from his temple area where he’d hit the ground. “Oh my god, I almost killed a kid.”
“Sensors indicate no life-threatening conditions.”
There was the distinct sound of sirens getting closer to where they were. Tony looked around the trashed abandoned factory area they’d ended up in and then looked back at the kid. “I can’t just leave him here. He’s like, seven. But if he goes to a hospital…everyone will learn who he is. What he is. He’ll end up in area 51 or something.”
“Considering kidnapping instead, sir?”
But Tony ignored him in favor of double checking the kids pulse. Well, he’d done dumber things. Decision made, Tony didn’t take another moment to reconsider as he leaned forward and scooped the kid up into his arms. “Jarvis, prep our medbay. We’re having a guest.”
He adjusted his unconscious passenger to his left arm and thanked whatever was out there that he was already in New York City and wouldn’t be trying to fly home with only 3 thrusters for a significant distance.
“Prepping home medbay.”
“And start searching for facial recognition. Lets find out who the fuck this kid is.”
And then Tony took off.
___________________
Peter woke up slowly but went directly into panic mode having no idea why. His senses woke before his brain did though, and when his eyes flew open he was blinded by light, already knowing he was in a strange place. He shot up to a sitting position and tried to assess the situation and calm his racing heart.
Hospital. He could hear the familiar beeping of a heart monitor and recognized the sterile smell. The last thing he could remember, he was out as Spiderman. Shit. Shit shit shit fuck shit.
“Wow, gotta love that enhanced healing. You’re already awake and scans don’t show any real head trauma.”
Peter’s head whipped around to the sound of a familiar metallic voice. So. Fuck. Not a hospital then. Hostage? Prisoner? New Experiment subject?
“Iron Man.”
The man in question was still encased in his red and gold armor. He was standing a bit of a distance away near a table that was stacked with clothes. “The little web shooters are pretty impressive, but I’m more interested in the webbing itself. A few tweaks to the shooters and you could probably adapt different types of webbing to use based on the chemical makeup of them. I assume you were able to get some of your supplies from your school,” he mused. He picked up one of Peter’s web shooters from the pile of clothing before turning to look at Peter like they were in the middle of a fascinating conversation.
There was a pause of silence where the only sound in the room was the fast pace of the heart monitor. And then more horror seized up inside Peter as he realized what the pile of clothing was. His hand shot up towards his face and he grazed bare skin.
“Ahh, right. Yeah, I’m afraid your secrets out Mr. Parker,” Iron Man said and then finally moved. He walked closer, thought not quickly, and set down the shooter at the bedside table, but it seemed to be empty of fluid. He then reached forward and his gauntlet grasped a screen to turn towards Peter.
There was Peter’s latest student ID photo. He was grinning at the camera with his hair combed nicely and wearing a collared plaid shirt that his Aunt May had insisted made him look really good. And the longer Peter stared at his own face the more he felt like throwing up. He hadn’t even made it a year as Spiderman before fucking everything up.
Seemingly unconcerned with Peter’s silence, Iron Man just released the screen and began circling the bed to the other side of Peter. “Does your Aunt know what you’ve been doing with your evenings? I can’t imagine a responsible adult allowing their fifteen year old to go trying to fight crime in a onesie. Which leads me to think you haven’t told anyone about your newest extra curricular activity.
“You’ve been doing this for what? 7 months now? I’d think you were an idiot, risking your life and not telling anyone who might try to help you. But I’ve seen your school records.” And then Iron Man was picking up a tablet on the other side of Peter. “You’ve had pretty good grades. High ranking in your class, at a science school of all places. So the question is why risk a bright future?”
Peter opened his mouth, but his mouth was dry and his brain was stalled. Nothing came out.
After a moment Iron Man looked back down at the tablet and seemed to be reading more on there. His right gauntlet peeled back to reveal a bare hand which was used to tap on the screen.
Peter didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t secured down in any way, and it didn’t feel like there were any substances in his blood that were affecting him. Should he try to fight his way out? But he didn’t even know where he was. He could be in Alaska for all he knew. And if this was Iron Man’s lair then there was no knowing how he’d be able to get out in the first place. He may never see his Aunt again.
Finally, Peter mustered, “what are you going to do with me?”
“Do?” Iron Man mused without looking up from the tablet. His voice was distorted and computerized. And then he slowly looked up. “Ahh. I haven’t really decided yet. I really shouldn’t just send you off back into the wild now, enhanced healing or not. You did take a bit of a blow.”
Peter licked his lips and did his best to slow his breathing. “You don’t--you’re not planning on hurting me?”
Iron Man seemed taken aback by that from the garbled sound he emitted. Like he couldn’t fathom where Peter had come up with this strange idea that a super villain may want to torture or kill a known enemy. But then, “I don’t really have any desire to hurt a kid.”
And maybe that should have ruffled Peter’s feathers, insulted him. He was so adamant about being treated like an adult as Spiderman with all the responsibility he’d taken on. But he hadn’t felt so young since Ben died. Vulnerable. Out of his depths. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a slow breath, trying to relieve some of the tension building inside him.
It didn’t go unnoticed. “Hmm…maybe I should have led with that. But I thought waking up in my top notch med bay would clear that up. Why would I help you if I intended to hurt you?”
And yeah--that seemed obvious now. But none of this really made sense.
“So now what?”
Iron Man’s finger tapped the edge of the tablet mindlessly as he considered. “I’ve been thinking about calling your Aunt and having her deal with you. I doubt she’d be very happy to learn about your new vigilante hobby. That’d be one way to make sure you don’t get in my way anymore.”
Iron Man’s head cocked slightly to the side as he stared over at Peter. “Hard to guess at what type of person she is though. Maybe she doesn’t know because that wouldn’t end well for you either.” He sighed through the speakers. “So now I’m at this horrible dilemma where I have to try to at least pretend like I want to be a responsible adult and figure out how to proceed from here.”
“Please just let me go,” Peter let out the plea involuntarily. “Please. I just--I don’t want trouble.”
“Bad choice of extracurriculars then,” Iron Man mused. He set the tablet down and then came to stand at the foot of the bed. “Tell ya what. I like you Peter, as Spiderman you’re amusing and I like your little Friendly Neighborhood thing you’ve got going on. So I’ll tell you what. I won’t tell anyone about who you are. In fact, we’ll forget the whole thing. You can rest up and I’ll just pretend I’ve never even heard of Peter Parker. How does that sound?”
It sounded like bullshit. “You’re going to blackmail me.”
As strange as it was to hear filtered through the suit, Iron Man seemed to snort. “For what? I don’t want anything from you. What could I possibly need from a fifteen year old?”
But Peter knew he was right as he said it. Eventually Iron Man, a man with obviously low morality, would some day have a task to ask of an enhance individual such as himself. Something only a little illegal. Just to preserve his identity. And one thing would turn into a regular thing. Until he was robbing banks and mugging people to keep his aunt safe.
The panic that Peter had thought he’d managed to tuck away for the time being came back with a vengeance. The heart monitor picked up and his vision swam despite his efforts to remain calm.
“Peter? Jesus kid, you need to breathe.”
He’d have to choose between his secret identity and doing the right thing. Everything was ruined. This man would find a way to use this against him. To exploit him.
“Peter,” said a voice that sounded all too human. It wasn’t especially startling, like his name had already been said so many times that way. But it still took several moments for Peter to calm down enough to look up.
A set of surprisingly worried eyes gazed back at him. Peter was so shocked that his body uncurled in wonder. His eyes wandered over the figure before him. Iron Man had removed his helmet and set it down on the ground beside him. His gauntlets were also retracted from his hands which were reached out towards Peter, grasping at his arms on either side of him.
Peter’s chest heaved dramatically as he stared, but the longer he gazed at those eyes, the more calm his breathing became. “You--you’re--”
A smirk uncurled its way across the man’s face as he cocked his head to the side. “My name is Tony. It’s nice to meet you.”
___________________
Tony couldn’t help but be a little impressed but also horrified as he watched the teenager polish off his second pizza. The Spiderling seemed completely void of any consequences from his earlier medical emergency. He sat on the bed, swinging his feet, unconcerned now about his situation or the fact that a supervillain was ten feet away, chomping silently on his own slice of pizza. It was quite a turn from how things had been an hour ago.
“..which didn’t take me long to realize I was sticking to stuff and I could easily get up a building. Like I can just walk straight up a wall. But that isn’t like really convenient for getting around quickly. So obviously my first thought was that I needed to lean into the whole spider thing.”
Maybe revealing his identity to a fifteen year old kid wasn’t Tony’s smartest life choice, but the machines had been blaring as Peter had sank into complete panic. His whole body was shaking and his breathing made him sound like an asthmatic. At the time, it seemed like his only option. Now though, Tony was wondering if maybe he should have just let the kid ride out his horror and get over it.
“So once I realized just how strong I was, it made it easier to test out the web shooters. Because I can keep swinging for hours and hours without really tiring out, right?”
My God this kid could talk. “I’m sorry, I think I’m still stuck on the radioactive spider bite,” Tony told him, wiping his hands on his jeans to rid his fingers of the grease. “We should really get you home now. You’re going to have to hurry so you can get ready in time for school. Are you sure your Aunt wont have noticed you were out all night?”
The kid looked mystified, like Tony was saying strange things. “Like I said, she won’t be done with her shift for another couple hours. But uhh--yeah I should be going I guess. Umm..thank you. For the pizza. And not killing me I guess. And for the panic attack thing. With your identity and stuff.”
“Right. Best not to make it a recurring event.”
“Of course. Yeah, I’ll…try not to panic again. I guess,” Peter said eagerly. “I just worry, ya know? About my aunt. And like I thought you were a bad guy. Or like a badder guy? Because of obvious reasons. Why are you a bad guy?”
Tony sniffed, “I think the term ‘bad guy’ is maybe subjective.”
Peter blinked up at him before squinting. “Didn’t Iron Man like kidnap a Senator?”
Fair. “He’s a dick,” Tony informed him. “Look, I’ll try to keep my shenanigans out of your city. And I won’t--I don’t know, commit murder or anything. So we’re good, right?”
Peter grimaced but shrugged. “I mean we’re now stuck with mutually assured destruction as the alternative so I guess if you could refrain from becoming a serial killer that’d be great.”
“Deal,” Tony said instantly. “Now, I assume you can swing yourself home? Or would you prefer I call a taxi?”
“Oh, no I’ll Spiderman home, I guess,” he said, quickly standing as Peter realized he was being dismissed. “Uh thanks for the pizza.”
“You said that already. You can launch yourself from the balcony just there if you can be discreet.”
“Right,” Peter agreed and reached for his Spiderman gear. He grabbed it slowly, eyeing Tony like he might snatch it away from him. But once he had it in hand he quickly threw it on.
There was something extra uncomfortable about watching the kid pull on the thin pajamas like he was putting on a uniform. Here was a fifteen year old kid going to war in a red and blue onesie.
“Well, it’s been real, kid. I guess I hope we never meet again.”
With just his mask in his hand, Peter looked at Tony and beamed. “You’re the nicest supervillain in the whole world, Mr. Stark.” And then he yanked the mask on and turned to the balcony.
Tony just stood there staring after him long after he’d disappeared from sight. He was so young and there he was, throwing himself into danger where Tony himself was unwilling.
“Jarvis?”
Sir.
“Start a new file. Title: Spider Suit.”
___________________
Peter slammed the lid of the box back down and dropped the whole thing on his bed. “Oh my god.” He hovered his hands back over the box for a moment before daring to lift the lid again slightly. “Oh my god.”
Stay safe kid.
--World’s Nicest Super Villain
___________________
It was just joyriding really, the next time he saw Spiderman. It was broad daylight as he was enjoy the view when the kid swung in from behind him. If the suit hadn’t warned him about the incoming superhero, Tony might not have even noticed him. He hardly made a sound at all.
“You’re not up to something nefarious, are you? Just because you gave me an…admittedly really cool suit doesn’t mean I’ll let you do whatever you want.”
Tony let out a chuckle, turning to him. He looked better. The upgrade suited him-no pun intended.
“If I was up to some villainy I wouldn’t do it in this city. You have a habit of involving yourself and I really have no interest in fighting a kid. I already told you, you don’t have to worry about me.”
He hadn’t realized the kid was tense until his whole body relaxed. “Oh thank God. Not that I wasn’t serious but based on what this suit can do, I’ve realized you’ve been holding back the entire time.”
“I’m not actually a super villain,” Tony told him. “I might engage in some activities that aren’t strictly speaking legal. But I’m not actually actively trying to hurt anyone. I just don’t have a boner for justice like you seem to.”
Peter sputtered at that. “Hey! I’m just trying to do my part. The spider could have bitten anyone, but it bit me. I have to believe it’s because I can do good.”
“Couldn’t you do that in a couple years? When you’re an adult?”
Peter pondered that for a moment and then said, “Sure. But the people who would get hurt in the meantime…they can’t afford for me to wait.”
Tony shook his head a bit amused. “If you say so, kid.”
“I guess just continue to not be a menace to society,” Peter said, apparently done with the conversation. And then he nearly gave Tony a heart attack by diving right off the side of the building.
___________________
New York City’s Spiderman Saves 12 in Bank Robbery Gone Wrong
“Huh,” Tony said, reading the paper while sipping his coffee. “Well, good job kid.” He stared at it a little longer before rolling his eyes at himself and this strange bout of pride and sentimentality that took over him. He ripped the article carefully along the edges and stuck it up beside his screen next to the article about the first Iron Man sighting.
___________________
“--until 9 and then you have a meeting with Ms. Potts regarding the energy press release. On another note, Peter Parker has called in sick from school today.”
“Tony rolled out from beneath his machine to squint up at JARVIS’s nearest camera. “And you’re telling me this because?”
“You set up an alert for any noteworthy updates regarding Mr. Parker, Sir.”
Tony vaguely remembered doing that after sending the kid the suit he’d made. “Right, but I didn’t really mean letting me know when he has the sniffles.”
“Based on your previous theories regarding Mr. Parker’s enhanced immune system and healing, it shouldn’t be possible for Mr. Parker to get ‘the sniffles.’”
Tony considered this for a moment before standing. “Call the kid’s cell phone for me.”
There was only a momentary pause before, “hello?”
“Ahh, so you are alive. Why aren’t you at school?”
There was a long pause suddenly and then a rustling followed by a groan, “Mr. Stark?”
“The one and only, kid. You don’t get sick anymore. So why aren’t you at school?”
“This is a really weird conversation. I want you to know I find this really weird. Uh--why do you care if I’m at school?”
Great question, Stark. Why the fuck do we care?
“Call it a scientific curiosity.”
“Okay,” Peter said with obvious confusion. “Uh, well no I’m not sick. I think I might have broken my ribs last night.”
Tony shut his eyes, rubbing his forehead in frustration. “I’m guessing you didn’t go see a doctor. Or tell you aunt--you know, the medical professional.”
Peter sighed through the speaker of his phone. “I already feel loads better. I told Aunt May I wasn’t feeling well and I’m sure I’ll feel fine by tomorrow.”
“How exactly did you break your ribs?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Oh that sounded impatient. Maybe even defensive.
“Is there someone else in your life you can tell about your Spiderman adventures?”
“...I was hit by a car.”
“YOU WHAT?”
“It was after a mugging. He had this lady’s wedding ring and purse.”
“Jesus, kid.”
“It’s fine. Really, I’m going to be fine.”
Tony took a slow breath. “Did you get the ring and purse back?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah.”
Tony shook his head and then, “Good job, kid.”
Peter didn’t respond right away. Tony couldn’t help but smile where no one could see him, alone in his lab.
“Uh, thanks.”
“Try to stay alive Spider Kid.”
Tony hung up to the outraged sound of Peter correcting him. “It’s Spider Man!”
After a moment of pondering Tony walked over to his work station. “JARVIS? Bring up the Spider Suit specs. Lets see if we can’t set up some better alerts so we can keep an eye on the kid.”
“Very good, Sir.”
“And J? Send the kid some pizzas.”
___________________
“What are you doing here?”
Iron Man turned to look at Peter and the glinting of the fire reflected brightly off his metal suit. “Honest to God, I have no idea. Your suit sensors sent an alert that you were surrounded by fire.”
Peter was never so glad for wearing a mask in his life. He could feel himself gaping up at the older man. “Well thats…uh, well I guess that’s nice that you came?”
More firefighters were suddenly rushing past them towards the fire and Peter shook himself. The whole thing would be coming down soon. He took another look at the man he’d just left with the EMTs and made to get back to the building. A strong, metal hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“Just where do you think you’re going? Not back into the building that is literally on fire,” Iron Man said, waving at said building--or what was left of it anyways.
“There’s still people stuck in there.”
“Kid, you do not need to go back in there.”
The cop standing near them, blocking off the area to civilians was eyeing Iron Man with unrestrained incredulousness. But he made no attempt to near them.
“I have to.”
“No! No you don’t. There are literally like fifty firefighters here who are actual adults who signed up for this exact job. Let them do their job.”
Peter squared his shoulder stubbornly. “They can’t do what I can. So if I walk away instead of helping, anyone who gets hurt or dies is on me. I’m the only one who can do this.” And then he flung himself towards the building, unwilling to wait another second debating morality with a man who was labeled a supervillain.
Peter launched himself into an open window, pushing curtains out of the way as he did. The fire had yet to reach this exact area. “Hello? Is there anyone here?”
Suddenly the vision through his mask went haywire. The room around him lost all color and the walls seemed to become translucent before him. “What the fuck?”
“The suit can scan for life,” Iron Man said in his ears. And then Iron Man was crashing his way inelegantly through the window that Peter had just come through.
“What are you doing here?”
“I genuinely have no idea.” And then Iron Man was looking up and past Peter. “It looks like there are still people trapped down the hallway and two floors up. You deal with the people here and I’ll go up.”
“Seriously?!?”
“Apparently.” Iron Man took off again, leaving Peter to find the people on his floor.
They were easy to find. It was an elderly couple that seemed to think Peter was adorable and weren’t very concerned with the fact that normal means of leaving their floor were too hot to escape through. Peter had to slowly bring them down with his webbing, giving them a friendly wave as the EMTs swarmed them.
“Yes, ma’am I know the news says I’m a supervillain. But we need to get you and your kids out of here.”
Peter looked upwards to where his new suit vision could make out 4 people, including Iron Man, many floors above.
“Well if you weren’t scared you’d be an idiot. The building is on fire and the firefighters have no way to get to you here.”
“Could you please be more reassuring?” Peter hollered through the comms.
There was a pause of silence and then, “Hey, do you kids know who Spiderman is? Yeah? He’s actually downstairs waiting for you. Spiderman is a friend of mine and he asked me to come get you guys while he helped some of your neighbors. Would you like to go meet him?”
Peter could see parts of the bottom floors falling apart as the fire ate away at the structure of the building. “You are running out of time!”
“Yes, ma’am I promise you’ll all be fine.” Iron Man said, and then, more clearly through the coms, “Coming your way with 3 passengers. I hope you’re good with kids.”
A repulsor shot hit a wall near the top of the building, breaking a large hole in the wall. It wasn’t long before Iron Man came flying out with a woman in his arms. She seemed to have a strong grip on two boy toddlers and all three of them had their eyes carefully squeezed shut until they made it to the ground.
An hour later it was some serious deja vu watching the kid inhale an unreasonable amount of food in his lab. They ordered Chinese take-away this time, but Peter’s appetite didn’t discriminate apparently. Tony wondered if maybe he wasn’t getting a little too invested here.
“So you’re like a genius, right?”
Tony gestured at the Iron Man suit that was powered down on the other side of the lab.
“Right. So I was trying to think of how to make the webs keep their strength but also dissolve without the residue it currently leaves behind. Thoughts?”
___________________
“Mr. Stark, are you listening?”
Tony grabbed the remote from the sofa and began to turn up the volume on the TV. The news station zoomed their camera in just in time to watch the green scaly guy completely body slam Spiderman to the concrete ground below.
“Jesus.”
“Mr. Stark?”
Tony turned away from the TV, remembering he was on the phone for a very important call. “Mr. King, I’m afraid I’m going to have to call you back. Something has come up.”
Peter was pretty sure he was about to die when a pair of arms caught him mid-air. “Mr. St--Iron Man?”
“Kid, what the fuck is that?” Mr. Stark responded, lowering them both to the street a good distance away from the Scorpion.
“Kinda a long story,” Peter said, panting. “Are you here to help?”
Iron Man just repulsored towards the villain without a word.
“Oh my God that was so cool!” Peter said, standing next to Iron Man as the police took the Scorpion into custody. They watched from the top of a skyscraper a little ways away.
And then Stark rounded on him. “What the hell were you doing? Did you think at all about how easily you could have died? How close you actually were to dying? That guy could have killed you if I didn’t show up! This isn’t a joke.”
Peter was stunned silent for a second. And then, “Well I’m not dead.”
“Oh my God.”
“Hey, I saved a lot of people’s lives today!”
“By putting your own on the line! You are a child! You’re supposed to leave this sort of thing to adults and keep yourself safe.”
Peter crossed his arms defensively and glared despite knowing Stark couldn’t see him. “And who would have stopped that thing then? You?”
“I did stop that thing!”
Peter slumped at that, wishing he could look the man in his eyes. “Yeah, yeah you did.” He looked down at his feet, scuffing the ground. “It’s amazing. What you just did for all those people, I mean.”
“What? I don’t care about any of these people,” Stark said without even looking.
Peter didn’t reply to that, but as cold of a statement that was, he couldn’t help but feel warm. “So, uh--pizza again this time?”
___________________
A week had gone by when JARVIS pulled up a video from a local news station just after a group of people had been saved once again by the Amazing Spiderman. Peter seemed to have stopped beside the journalist who thrust the microphone near his mask.
“Is it true that you’ve been teaming up with Iron Man recently? Is he a superhero now?”
Spiderman shrugged, “he’s my hero.” And then he was gone and the video stopped.
“Shall I save this to your mobile, Sir?”
Tony didn’t answer, but he was pretty sure JARVIS did it anyways.
___________________
It became a semi-regular thing. Spiderman would get himself involved in something a little bigger than he should be, and then suddenly Iron Man was there. Tony couldn’t help it. He was the only one who knew that the guy behind the mask was just a kid. And the more he got to know young Peter Parker the more he liked him.
Tony kept a watch on his aunt too. She seemed to be an overworked single parent with a heart of gold. She genuinely wanted what was best for Peter and trusted the kid a lot. Too much apparently since he moonlighted as a vigilante. But it helped deal with the fear and guilt associated with knowing he was letting this teenager keep sacrificing his time and safety. At the end of the day he went back to a home where he was loved.
Keeping an eye on him while still trying to take care of his company took a lot of time though. Super villainy was at an all time low. And a small part of him knew that Peter wouldn’t like it if he found out Tony was off doing things that Parker didn’t approve of. So Iron Man stopped being a bad guy completely.
___________________
It was something Ben would have cared about. He was the reason Peter even ended up at the school he was at. Ben Parker always threw himself head first into whatever excited Peter. He knew that kid was smart, and Peter liked science so by the time Peter was twelve they’d already toured the high school. Ben would have been so proud to see his submission for the Midtown School of Science and Technology Senior Science Fair.
May couldn’t make it. It happened sometimes, the hazards of having a job that saved lives in a city that never sleeps. But the truth of that matter was that Peter didn’t mind that much. He’d told her it was no big deal. May didn’t really get the excitement of the science fair, and he’d already shown her his project. He regretted her absence now. Everyone had parents there. This was kind of a big deal so a lot of the kids had grandparents there, aunts and uncles, older siblings.
So once Peter had already mulled about the whole fair, he just went to stand back at his spot. He’d taken Mr. Stark’s advice and continued to work on his webbing fluid. Now he was able to present a version of the fluid that didn’t dissolve. The “liquid string” kept the strength of his normal webbing but wouldn’t dissolve without applying a solvent. The stickiness factor was warped to only include the ends, which was different than the typical webbing, but made it more practical for real-world use. Because of the changes, it wasn’t really recognizably tied to Spiderman, and frankly it took a lot of work to get it to the stage Peter had it in. But he was proud of it. And the judges seemed pretty impressed too.
There was a commotion at the door. People began making their way in that direction but because no one screamed, Peter decided to wait it out. There was this sudden buzz in the air of excitement. And then a familiar voice was raised.
“Seriously, of course I want to see what the youths are up to nowadays. Scope out my upcoming competition, you know how it is. Is that a volcano? I mean I know people say the classics exist for a reason but at a school like this I was thinking I’d see more…ah! See, an engine. Better.”
Peter had to stand on his tiptoes and lean around the mob of people following Tony Stark to be able to see him. His heart began to pound. Why was Mr. Stark here? Did he know Peter went to this school? That he was here?
This was one of the smartest men in the world. He didn’t have time to stop at random school science fairs. Of course he knew Peter was here. Holy shit. And then, before Peter could decide how to react, the mob was at his stand.
Tony looked him in the eyes just long enough to wink, and then he inspected Peter’s submission. It was probably one the scariest moments of Peter’s life, Spiderman situations not included, as the smartest person in the world looked at all his hard work. And then did a double take. Tony leaned in closer to the formulas provided on his print outs. His face gave nothing away as he read through what was available.
“Well?” Tony said, finally looking back up at him. “Do we get a demonstration?”
The mob silenced.
Oh god. “Of the web--of the liquid string?”
Tony just stood there patiently until Peter got with the program. He grab some of the prepared liquid and poured it out into his hands. “Right, um, it only takes a couple minutes to completely set so you have to move quickly after final mixing.” He tried to remember the script he’d prepared and already run through with the judges. It’s just that this was way scarier.
He slapped on of the ends to the wall and then began to pull. “Uh, the length of your string, or in more practical terms basically rope, is more or less determined by how much of the solution made at once.” He began to stretch the rope, sticking his other end to the metal panel he’d brought with. He’d only made enough for a couple of feet of stretching but the substance didn’t need much to work with.
“It can hold quite a bit of weight and handle a lot of tugging. He handed the metal plate to Tony who took it hesitantly and then tugged. Obviously nothing happened. The substance remained stuck both to the wall and the metal, even as Mr. Stark gave some strong pulls.
“You did this?” Tony asked, a slow smile peeling across his face. “This is…creative and…it’s ingenious.” He handed the metal plating back to Peter.
Peter could feel his cheeks heating up as his mouth went dry. “You really…? Ummm, wow thank you Mr. Stark. It’s uhh--it’s,” he fumbled with the plate, nearly dropping it.
Tony adjusted the sunglasses on his face, already walking away. “Keep Stark Industries on your radar kid, we could use more minds like yours.”
Ingenious. Wow.
Maybe Mr. Stark stopped at other booths, Peter didn’t know. He just stared down at his invention and tried very hard to hold back the tears threatening to fall. Tony Stark came all the way to Midtown High to some stupid science fair just to see Peter.
Creative. Ingenious.
“Holy crap! I can’t believe Tony Stark just called your science project amazing!” Ned said. Oh good, Ned had made his way over with the mob too.
Peter looked over at his friend with a stupid grin. “That just happened, right?”
“This is all anyone is going to be talking about for months. Tony Stark just basically said you were a genius,” Ned confirmed.
“Wow,” Peter said, handing the metal panel to Ned so he could get his dissolving solution. “Wow. I--that just happened. Mr. Stark was impressed with me.”
His phone buzzed and Peter practically dove for it.
“You’re going to MIT right? You better be going to MIT. I have people I could introduce you to if you’d like. You're too smart not to be doing big things Pete.”
Today was the best day of his life.
___________________
“Incoming call from Mr. Peter Parker.”
“Oh shit. Sorry, Rhodey, I have to take this.”
Rhoday looked up in confusion with the bottle half way to his mouth. To be fair, whenever Tony and he finally had a couple hours to just the two of them nowadays, they both made a point to not take any calls for any reason. And in the off chance that it was an incredibly important call, Rhodey would have recognized the name.
Normally Tony would have at least given a tiny bit of an explanation, but Peter had never called him before. So by the time Rhodey was asking who the fuck Peter Parker was, Tony was already in his elevator with his cell to his ear.
“Peter, are you okay?”
There had been no alert to unusual danger from the Spiderman suit. But there was always the worry.
There was a sniffle on the other end. “I-I’m sorry for calling. I just didn’t know who else-I…”
“Peter what happened?” Tony asked, in an absolute panic. The elevator took him down to the lab where the armor was stored. “Are you in danger?”
“No. No I’m-” Another sniffle, “I’m fine. I just…I’m sorry. Can you come get me?”
JARVIS was already pulling up his location. “Yeah, buddy I’ll be there in just a couple minutes, okay? You just sit tight.”
It was disconcerting to get mostly silence and sniffles in return the whole way to him. It didn’t take long for Tony to realize he was headed towards the school. But when he got there, it wasn’t Spiderman waiting for him. It was Peter Parker, pulled into a tight ball on the roof.
Tony landed softly and ejected from the suit. As he stepped closer Peter looked up at him and then burst into tears. “God I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I even called you. It’s so dumb. I'm so sorry.”
Tony was frantically searching for injuries as he lowered himself beside the kid, his hands reaching out and falling just short of him. “Buddy, it’s fine. But you need to tell me what’s going on.”
Peter buried his face back in his hands so it was hard to understand. “It’s my fault that Uncle Ben is dead.”
It took several minutes to calm down Peter enough to explain that today was the first anniversary since Ben’s death. The survivor's guilt that Peter was feeling seemed to be something he’d been carrying around for awhile, but it had really bubbled out today. He thought he was fine enough to go to school after he and May had dropped flowers off at his grave that morning. And since May had really just wanted to go to work today and bury herself in work at the hospital, Peter thought he’d be fine to handle the evening alone.
Tony had Peter text May to tell her he’d be staying at Ned’s that night. And then Tony took Peter back to the tower, promising the customary take out and maybe even a movie night.
“I’m really sorry,” Peter apologized again. “I was panicking-”
That's when they ran into Rhodey who was sitting in the living room, gaping at the teenager that Tony had just appeared with. “Tony?” Right. Rhoday was going to stay for dinner.
“Ahh, okay. Revised plan but that’s okay. Umm, Rhodey I’d like to introduce you to Peter. Peter this is my best friend in the whole wide world who never asks too many questions and always just goes with the flow.”
But Rhodey, sweet James Rhodes was already way ahead of Tony. He seemed to take in Peter’s swollen eyes and wrinkled clothes and just stood up with an outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you, Peter. You can call me James.”
“Oh. Yeah, nice to meet you, James,” Peter said quickly, taking the hand to shake and then sinking back towards Tony.
“Well I really need to get going actually. I’m afraid I’m just passing through. I have a dinner date tonight so I really need to be going. But it was lovely to meet you, Peter.”
The look that Rhodey gave Tony as he passed promised that Tony would be explaining in depth sooner rather than later. For now though, Tony had more important things to deal with. It was difficult to watch this kid be so upset, so self-hating. But a tiny part of Tony, a hidden and hopeful part deep inside of him, couldn’t help but be a little proud of himself that vulnerable and alone, Peter called him.
___________________
Peter could hear voices from the living room as he made his way into the apartment, but he recognized them both. They just weren’t really voices that should be conversing theoretically.
“I had just popped in as sort of a PR kind of move but then I saw what Peter was working on, and the way his mind works…I think he really could do some great things for science in his life.”
“Wow, I mean I knew he was smart of course, and I knew you came to that science fair. It’s all anyone could talk about for weeks. Some of his teachers called me to gush about what a big deal it was,” May said as Peter skid into the room. “Peter!”
“Aunt May,” Peter replied awkwardly, but his eyes were on Mr. Stark. “And Tony Stark. Wh--err….why are you, um, here?”
“Peter, Mr. Stark was so impressed with you at the science fair that he wanted to offer you an internship!”
Tony just beamed at him, giving him a thumbs up from behind May’s back.
“Are you serious?”
“This is way too advanced or expensive or serious for me! Or something!”
Tony sniffed and pushed Peter closer to the suit anyways. “Absolutely not. You’re very smart and can handle understanding how your own suit functions. You’re going to be doing your own upgrades from now on.”
Peter gaped down at it and then again at the lab. “This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Tony raised an eyebrow at him. “Cooler than getting bitten by a radioactive spider and getting super powers overnight?”
Peter just nodded with a dumbstruck look, once again just staring around the lab.
Tony just snorted.
___________________
“But Mr. Stark there are actual aliens!”
“Exactly! Look, I have had a hell of a day already. I met a god, a dead super soldier, and a hulk and they weren’t the scariest things!”
“Please,” Peter begged, Spiderman suit already on and ready to go. “I want to help. You can’t make me not help.”
Tony sighed, nervously staring down at the kid. “Fine. Okay here’s what we do. You do not engage any aliens unless it is a direct threat on your life. You stay away from them. Your job is to get people to safety. That is it, you hear me?”
“Thank you!” Peter said, jumping up in excitement.
“I'm serious, Peter. I can’t handle this if I have to be worried you’re in danger.”
“You got it. I won’t let you down. And then you’re introducing me to Captain America.”
And he was then airborne, already swinging towards the commotion.
“Maybe if you get out of this without a single scratch!”
___________________
He was flying towards the giant wormhole.
“Mr. Stark?! Mr. Stark, what’s happening?”
Tony could barely see through the tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, kid. I really wanted to see you graduate from MIT. I’m not going to be able to take you on that tour.”
“What? No. No. Tony. Tony, what are you doing?”
“I’m finally taking responsibility, Peter. You need to stay safe, okay buddy? You find those superheroes and make sure they watch your back. Captain America will be a great role model.”
“No, Tony don’t do this. I can’t lose you. Tony? Tony?!?”
“I love you, Peter.”
Spiderman was there when Iron Man fell from the sky. He swung into the area just in time to see Iron Man caught by a scary green monster. He was limp. The lights of the Iron Man suit were out.
“Tony!”
He was motionless and the mask that normally covered his face was gone. He wasn't breathing. Oh God, he wasn’t breathing.
“No. No, please,” he gasped, pushing himself closer. He felt an arm grab onto him, someone strong and firm. But Peter wretched himself out of his grasp but the hands fumbled quickly, pulling Peter back.
“Hey, hey, kid. I’m so sorry.” It was Captain America. And that should have been exciting or cool or anything but awful. His hands were on him again, holding him away from Tony, like if Peter didn’t look then it wouldn’t be real. But this was real.
Tony was dead and it was all his fault. He'd never have become a superhero if Peter didn't make him feel like he had to be one.
Peter was going to be alone again.
But then the Hulk let out a horrible roar and Tony’s eyes opened, and the world began to spin again.
The hands on Peter loosened and he broke away again, flinging himself straight at Tony. Mr. Starks came right up to wrap themselves around Peter like they were automatic and then held him close as Peter began to cry.
"Did we win?"
Peter laughed incredulously as he held tighter. “I love you, Dad. God, I love you.”
And there was an answering shuddering breath in his ear. “I love you too, Peter.”