Chapter Text
It was obvious Peter wasn't Richard's son, he didn't look anything like him, he didn't have his blue eyes, nor his mouth, nor did his hair match Richard's.
He didn't look like his mother either.
His mother got with Richard when she was pregnant with him. They fell in love and got married within a year.
Peter always knew who his father was. His mom talked a lot when she was drunk, one night she told him how she met the great Tony Stark, at some science fair, and ended up being pregnant.
His life with his parents was short but he was the happiest in it, and they died when he was five years old, he moved to live with his uncle who didn't have much time either, he loved Peter and took care of him, but Peter lost him too at eight years old to a gun shot, and had to live in the foster system, in and out of group homes.
In all of his fourteen years ( fifteen in four months) he saw his dad once and it was at the Stark expo, and Peter been determined to change that, he been working on a plan to meet his father, the one who doesn't know he exists the man who probably had a lot of women telling him that they have his child, the man who also happens to have security around him twenty four-seven.
And all of that was okay because Peter wasn't dumb of course he had a plan.
His plan was flawed though, to be able to tell his father anything, he had to meet him first, and that's the hardest part, so he has been stalking his father online, and he doesn't mean just checking social media, no.
He means hacking and checking areas where he likes to stay and go.
But he quickly learned that his father was not a man of habit, and he differently delete any footage of himself from the cameras.
That takes Peter to his last hope, the internship at the Stark industry, which opened a program for talented and smart kids, which he applied to two weeks ago and he has been drowning in his thoughts ever since.
Peter sighed, closing the library computer after logging out of his personal email, he didn't own a laptop, so he had to open his email in the library, there was nothing, not even a rejection letter.
Peter had a slim chance of winning he knew that, he was younger than the requirements but he had faith in his project, his father would like it, right?.
Peter looked at his watch, it's almost his show time, he cursed under his breath, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the public library, turned to a random alleyway, and changed into his Spider-Man suit.
He loved being Spider-Man, he was everything Peter couldn't be, strong, free, and made people happy and safe, it was his favorite time of the day, but of course, it didn't last because he had to make it to the group home before 9 pm or he wouldn't have dinner.
He shot his webs to catch him mid-fall, and did it over and over again, he ran through the rooftop making his way to a rubbery he detected on his device ( just a hack to the police radio) he made it before the police, it was two dudes one in black clothes from head to toe, covering his face with ski mask the other one had an identical ski mask but an he was wearing blue.
They didn't notice Spider-Man behind them as they were taking the money from this small convenience store " I don't think it's pay day yet guys" he said smirking under his mask.
Blue and black were startled by his voice, and both of them turned to him with their guns pulled out, he put his arms in the air and said " wow guys relax it's just me Spider-Man"
"Stay in your place freak!" Blue yelled at him, his hand shaking a bit, "dude if you wanna sound scary you have to stop shaking " he said pointing at the gun, Blue didn't get the chance to answer Peter felt his spider senses and in total Spider-Man fashion he dodged the two bullets, when black decided to start shooting, it startled Blue and made him drop his gun.
Peter took the chance to webbed both of them to the wall, he sighed his heart was beating hard, and he could hear the police sirens.
Peter looked around him to see the owner tied to a chair, he approached him and freed him "Thank you uh " the man said "Spider-Man with a hyphen"
The man offered his hand and said "Spider-Man, I'm Delmar, let me make you a sandwich at least as a thank you" Peter took his hand and wanted to take the sandwich offer so bad but he could hear the police getting closer and his curfew coming to an end.
Peter took a few steps back as he said: "Maybe next time?" He made it out of the door and shot a web and swung away.
He made ot close to the group home and changed his clothes from the suit to his normal clothes, he made it to the door and opened it, feeling exhausted he wanted to sleep immediately.
"Parker! Finally, you're here, Mr.Smith is looking for you" said a boy with black curly hair and matching dark eyes, his skin was tanned from working in the sun, Charlie didn't like Peter much, not many kids here liked Peter anyway they thought he was delusional and a liar.
They liked to bully him, ever since he said he knew who his father was, and stupidly enough he told them Tony Stark.
"Oh," was all that Peter managed to say, Charlie sighed annoyance written all over his face, and he shoved past Peter and muttered 'idiot'.
Charlie didn't tell Peter where Mr.Smith was, so he assumed he was in his office, Peter walked past the living room were alot of other kids were sitting, they sat there when they were done with dinner, it looks like he was going to sleep hungry yet again.
To his luck, nobody even glanced in his direction, as all of the seven kids watched Frozen on TV, Peter moved past the living room moving towards the office he stood there for a few seconds mentally preparing for whatever Mr.Smith wanted.
He opened the door, poking his head inside first "Uh, Mr.Smith?" The old man looked up from his phone, his eyes met Peter's they were blue with redness all around them, he had a white beard and thinning hair, his face wasn't unkind but only tired.
"Oh, Peter you are here! Come sit" the man pointed to the chair in front of him, Peter entered and closed the door behind him, he slowly sat in the chair,
"You know how we've been struggling with money recently," Mr.Smith said trying his best to sound sad, like this whole thing wasn't his fault, that man had been spending the money on gambling with zero regrets, but Peter couldn't exactly say that to him.
"So I found a job for you and the other older kids, you know to help around a little, I'm sorry to ruin your winterbreak, but we need the help," Mr.Smith said, with fake sadness in his voice.
Peter didn't know what to say, was that even legal? He didn't know it wasn't like he could refuse anyway, so he just nodded.
"Great! You start tomorrow! It's a nice coffee shop you'll like it there, you can leave" Mr.Smith did a shooing gesture with his hand as he lost interest in Peter and was already on his phone.
Peter got up and went to the bedroom he shared with a few boys his age, he was tired and wanted to sleep, his bones ached, his head throbbed like his heart changed places, the room was empty, they were watching TV, Peter took the chance to shower and be able go to bed early without anyone bothering him.
He lay in bed, and he took his phone out to check notifications, to his surprise there was an email notification from none other than Stark industries, he never in his life set faster than this, his heart was beating so hard that Peter thought it was about to explode.
"Oh my god," he said basing around the room, he held his breath and pressed on the email.
(Dear Mr.Parker
Thank you very much for your interest in joining Stark Industry and for taking the time to submit your application. We’re always excited to see young people who are passionate about engineering and eager to get involved in the field.
After reviewing your application, we noticed that you are currently below the minimum age requirement for employment with our company. Because of workplace safety regulations and labor laws, we’re unable to move forward with your application at this time.
That said, we truly admire your initiative and enthusiasm. We encourage you to keep exploring your interest in engineering through school programs, science clubs, competitions, or introductory courses. When you meet the age requirements in the future, we would be happy to see you apply again.)
He got rejected,
He didn't make it, his eyes started to sting, the letter was getting blurry from the tears, he closed the phone and went back to his bed, he curled up on himself, suddenly very aware of his loneliness, and the lack of loving embrace in his life made his bones ache.
It felt like his father rejected him, like his dad didn't want him, he knew that sounded silly, he was sure his dad had nothing to do with people accepting interns, but still, it hit him hard in his little heart.
He sobbed silently, there was no one there to care about his cries, there was only him, his tears, the rejection letter, and a poster of Iron Man on the wall staring at him blankly.