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Chapter Text

“Tony? There’s a kid sleeping on the couch in our living room.”

Tony broke off his muttered discussion with Pepper and turned to Bruce, who had poked his head around the door. The man looked very confused. Then again, when didn’t he?

Tony threw a forced smile in his direction. “Uhm – yeah. He’s my intern. Tell the others to stay out of his way, okay? I’ll be out in a sec.”

Bruce blinked at him. “I thought your interns all worked at the tower?”

Tony gave a nonchalant wave. “Change of plans. Can you give us a moment here?”

“If he’s an intern, why is he sleeping?” Bruce pressed on.

“Oh, for the love of- .. Bruce, I’ll come out in a minute and explain, okay? Just let the kid be.”

Bruce gave a mild shrug. “Very well. Just so you know, Natasha and Sam are already betting on him being your illegitimate child.” He disappeared.

Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“So what will you tell them?” Pepper asked. “Just so you know, if you’re going to roll with that illegitimate child thing, I’m going to pretend to be very angry with you for about a week and you’ll have to work really hard to make it up to me. Really hard.”

Tony grimaced at her, and she smirked.

“I could tell them he’s yours.” He warned.

Pepper scoffed. “Like they’d believe that.”

“Hm,” Tony muttered. “Probably not. Well, I suppose it’s best to tell them the truth.” Natasha was pretty much a walking breathing lie detector, after all.

Pepper frowned “Are you sure about that? Didn’t Peter say he wanted to keep a low profile?”

“Not the spider-man part,” Tony said. “Just... that he’s my intern, his aunt is sick and he needs a place to crash.”

“Sure. And then they’ll ask you why the hell you bother looking after some random intern, and you say...”

“That I’m a super-nice guy like that?” Tony finished her sentence.

Pepper rolled her eyes.

Tony huffed. “Fine. I’ll tell them that he’s my super-special personal intern who is working on a project with me, and that he’s a good kid and I care about him. How’s that?”

Pepper pursed her lips, then smiled. “Well, still very unlike you, but you clearly genuinely mean it, so that might convince them.”

-

When Tony entered the common living area, he was met with four suspicious Avengers sitting around the table, all gazing at the couch that Peter was lying on. Natasha, Sam and Steve all had similar scowls, while Bruce still just looked confused. That was not entirely what Tony had in mind when he had told Bruce to ‘let the kid be’. It was a miracle the kid’s spider-sense wasn’t going haywire yet with so many people staring at him.

“Tony,” Steve hissed. “What’s going on here? Why is that kid sleeping here?”

They all turned to him, and Tony adopted a nonchalant stance, grabbing the coffee pot from the table and pouring himself a cup. “He’s my intern.”

“Yes, so Bruce said, but why is he sleeping here?”

“His aunt has Leukemia.”

It was quiet for a moment.

“Okay, if anything, that raises more questions than it answers.” Steve finally said. “I... I don’t even know where to start. How about -- Why is he sleeping here?”

Tony sighed, then elaborated. “He lives with his aunt. She’s had leukaemia for a while, and was admitted into hospital today. There’s no one else to take care of him.”

“Okay..” Sam said slowly, “but since when do you solve the personal problems of your employees for them?”

“Since always because I’m a good human being.”

Four sets of eyes blinked at him, until Tony finally relented. “Ugh... he’s my super-special personal intern who has worked with me on a few projects and we’ve gotten kind of close. There. Convinced?”

“He’s telling the truth,” Natasha said, looking mildly surprised by it.

“Course I am,” Tony flashed them all a smile.

They turned when they heard a noise behind them.

-

Peter woke up, feeling disoriented. Slowly, the day’s events came back to him and he turned his head to bury his face in the pillows. All the chemo aunt May had endured, all the stress and fear of the last few months... and for what? May had only gotten worse. And now the doctors were looking for a transplant and Peter couldn’t even do the one thing that would have actually helped her. He gulped in some air and then heaved out a dry sob.

It wasn’t until he felt a hand land on his back that he remembered where he was. He bolted upright on the couch, rubbing his face with his sleeve. Tony crouched in front of him, his lips pressed into a thin line. “Hey kid – let me get you to a bedroom.” Peter couldn’t help but feel that the man was annoyed. Probably because Peter was blubbering all over his no doubt very expensive couch.

Peter nodded and stood, but froze when he caught sight of the four people sitting at the table.

Shit, he just completely lost it in front of a whole group of Avengers. Way to embarrass yourself, Peter, he mentally scolded himself.

“Uhm...” He stupidly said.

“Never mind them, let me get you to bed,” Tony said. “We can do the introductions later.”

“No,” Peter said quickly. “I mean, I... I’d rather go do something, you know? A distraction.”

Tony’s frown melted away, and he nodded. “You want to come down to my workshop? We can work on some new tech.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, relieved. “Thanks.” He glanced around Tony to look at the four people still staring at him from the table. “Uhm – Hi, Captain America, Black widow ma’am, Mr. Falcon... Nice to meet you Dr. Banner, your last paper on proton-proton-collision was great. I referenced it a lot in my essay.” He meekly said, shuffling his feet.

Dr. Banner looked both confused and impressed. “You – you read my paper? And understood it?”

“I told you he was something special,” Tony said, and Peter felt his ears go read.

Tony hastily excused himself to the others and pretty much frog-marched Peter out the door and down the stairs.

“You’ll have plenty of time to talk to them later this week.” Tony said as they sat down in his workshop. That comment would have cheered Peter up, except that it also reminded him once again of the reason why he had come to stay at the Avenger’s facility. He swallowed at the mental image of a pale and frail May lying in her hospital bed.

“Anyway,” Tony continued. “I figured we should get our story straight before you talk to them. Obviously, I needed to explain to them why you’ll be living here for a while. It’s best to be at least partially truthful, certainly as long as Romanoff is around.”

Tony was frowning again, just like he did after Peter woke up.

“Are you mad?” Peter asked, deciding he’d rather just get things out in the open.

Tony looked taken aback at the question. “Mad? Uhm.. I don’t think so. A bit annoyed with the others for being so suspicious about everything. A bit worried.”

“What about?”

“Well..” Tony cocked his head. “You.”

Peter let his gaze drop down to the floor.

“I told them your aunt is sick,” Tony continued in a softer tone. “And that you’ve been my intern for a while. So you can tell them all about that, and the projects we’ve been working on. Everything short of actually telling them that you are Spider-man.”

Peter nodded, still looking at the ground.

“Do we need to talk about that bone-marrow thing?” Tony asked, his voice more gentle than ever, and Peter felt tears sting behind his eyes again.

“When I b-became Spider-man I just wanted to s-save people.” He stuttered. “But the people I love are only getting hurt. First my u-uncle and now this. If I hadn’t been Spider-man, they’d be fine.”

“You can’t think in what-if’s,” Tony said. “Trust me, I’ve done it a million times over and it has never gotten me anywhere. You are not a compatible donor for a bone marrow transplant, that’s just how it is.”

“But I could have been.” Peter burst out, wiping away a stray tear. “If I didn’t have s-stupid radioactive blood.”

“Do you remember the doctor saying that the chance of being a match is extremely small?” Tony said firmly. “You two are not even blood relatives. That’s why she didn’t even suggest for you to get tested. Thankfully, because we would have had to come up with an excuse somehow.”

Peter didn’t respond. He knew everything Tony was saying was perfectly logical, but couldn’t shake the feeling that with his luck, he probably was a perfect match for aunt May, and the only thing getting in the way was his weird spider-blood.

Tony sighed and ruffled Peter’s hair. “If I could arrange for some good bone marrow to be flown in tonight, I would do it in a heartbeat. But that’s one thing money can’t buy. Thankfully, your aunt is one tough lady. Hey – you wanna go out and buy her a present later? Maybe a book she’d like to read or something? We’ll ask Pepper to come along, she has better taste than me.”

Peter sniffed and gave Tony a watery smile. “Yeah, sounds good. Thanks.”

“Well,” Tony clapped his hands. “I promised you a distraction, but so far, I haven’t been successful. Let’s change that. How about we take a look at your web shooters again?”

Peter nodded. Yes, web shooters sounded like something he could deal with right now.

Chapter Text

Peter settled into his new life pretty quickly. The other Avengers were getting used to seeing his sleepy head at the breakfast table and listening to his endless chatter over dinner. After their initial reluctance, they had warmed up to him pretty quickly. Bruce was always happy to help him with his homework and Natasha was teaching him to play chess. It would have been awesome, if not for the fact that his worry about aunt May was constantly hanging over him.

Peter was currently leaning against the stove, stirring some fried vegetables. He always tried to have something to do to keep his mind of things, and cooking was one thing he was kinda good at. A combination of May’s long hours and horrible cooking skills had ensured that Peter had offered to take care of dinner many times throughout his teenage years. Tony had been a bit skeptical at first - Peter wouldn't be surprised if he had never used the stove even once - but his first dinner had been a succes. May always loved his stir-fry... aaaand he was almost crying again.

Peter shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was wrong with him, lately? He was finally meeting the Avengers outside of the battlefield, and so far every single one of them had seen him cry on at least one occasion. If they found out he was Spider-Man, they would probably laugh in his face.

Peter knew that Tony had gotten some grief for not telling the others who exactly Spider-Man was. He could understand that it wasn’t easy to fight side-by-side with someone who kept his identity hidden all the time, but his actions should prove clearly enough that he could be trusted. Only a few months ago they had been battling a pair of aliens who called themselves ‘the Blood Brothers’. Peter remembers in particular how he had webbed one of them to a lamppost. That had been a proud moment, even if Tony had chewed him out afterwards for not doing as he was told. His job was usually just to help out any civilians who got caught in the line of fire, not directly engage with any of the villains. And Peter was fine with that. Staying close to the ground, and all that. But come on.. that alien had been coming straight towards him.

Anyways, Peter was perfectly happy to keep the superhero-version of himself hidden from the other Avengers, certainly now that he had been just one big pile of listless, pathetic human being ever since he had arrived here.

“Smells good,” Natasha commented as she entered the room.

“It’s almost done.” Peter said, preening slightly under the praise.

Natasha strolled up to the kitchen counter and leant her hip against it. “You got home pretty late today,” she commented.

Peter flushed a little and concentrated on his cooking. “Uhm.. Yeah.. Just went for a walk.”

“How is your aunt?” Natasha asked, clearly realizing precisely why Peter hadn’t wanted to come home directly after visiting May.

Peter pressed his lips together and pushed some vegetables around with a wooden spoon. “Today was not her best day.” He finally said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Can we not talk about this? I’m tired of thinking about it all the time.” He knew he was snapping, but he didn’t really care.

“Sure,” Natasha replied easily. “So, what did you and Tony work on today?”

“Web shooters.” Peter said, then immediately wanted to bite his tongue off.

Natasha drew her eyebrows together in a frown. “Spider-Man stuff, huh? I’m surprised that guy is willing to use stark-tech, considering that he doesn’t even trust us enough to show his face.”

Peter wisely kept his mouth shut.

-

He knew he was quieter than usual during dinner, but thankfully no one commented on it. However, after dinner, when he tried to slip away to his bedroom, he came face to face with Natasha once again before he could reach the door.

“Chess?” She asked, in a voice that didn’t leave much room for polite excuses.

“Why do you always want the black pieces?” Natasha asked once they were playing. “You know white has the advantage of making the opening move.”

Peter shrugged. “That’s why, I guess. I’m not very proactive. More of a person who first waits to see what the other does. What’s the opposite of proactive?”

“Lazy?” Natasha suggested, smirking.

“Sensible,” Pepper said from behind her newspaper.

“Actually, the best antonym I think would be ‘passive’,” Steve mumbled, from where he was lying on the couch, peering at their chessboard.

“Shut up, Steve, you dork,” Natasha said fondly.

They had settled around the coffee table. Pepper and Steve had settled on the couch, which made Peter feel equal parts warm and nervous. It was nice to be surrounded by these people in this setting. As if they were a family. On the other hand, being under constant scrutiny by Captain America himself was a little nerve-wracking. Peter hadn’t talked to him much, so far.

So when Natasha announced she was going to the toilet after winning her second game in a row, and Steve plonked down on her side of the board as soon as she was gone, Peter just looked at him with wide eyes.

“Can you teach me?” Steve asked.

“What?” Peter said, his voice cracking slightly on the single word.

Steve gestured at the board. “I’ve been watching, but I don’t get it. Can you teach me?”

“I’ve never won a single game.” Peter reminded him.

Steve waved his arm. “Pssht, it’s Natasha. She could probably turn pro. You’re smart, teach me.”

“Oh – okay” Peter said, trying to ignore Pepper who was smiling at him over the top of her newspaper.

“So how long have you known Tony?” Steve asked as Peter reset the pieces on the board.

“Uhm – a little over a year.” Peter replied, neatly lining up Steve’s pawns. “I got an internship at Stark industries when I was fourteen.”

“He’s different around you.” Steve commented thoughtfully. “It seems like he actually likes you.”

“He does like me,” Peter said. “I keep him out of trouble.”

Steve looked at him, then barked out a laugh. Peter smirked at him, quietly preening over the fact that he had made freaking Captain America laugh.

He ducked his head with a smile, and pointed at the board. “All right – so the goal of the game is to capture your opponents’ king.”

Chapter Text

Peter dreaded receiving calls from the Hospital in any form, but getting one right in the middle of a fight was just the epitome of ‘wrong place, wrong time’. A weird guy with mechanical appendages and a whole army of things Steve had called ‘octobots’ had invaded a bank and taken god knows how many hostages. As usual, Spider-Man had been teamed up with Iron Man, and they were crouched near a back entrance when Karen informed Peter of a message coming in from the hospital.

“Go,” Tony said immediately. “If something is wrong with your aunt, you should be with her.”

Peter hesitated. Abandoning a hostage situation to see May – wouldn’t that be completely selfish?

“Go, kid!” Tony urged him. “We’ve got this covered.”

And so Peter nodded and left.

-

When Peter strolled up to the Avengers facility two hours later in his normal clothes, his thoughts were still with May, but he also had a slight sense of trepidation about the things to come. He took off right in the middle of a fight, and if the Avengers didn’t trust him before, this wasn’t going to make things any better. Hopefully, Tony had come up with a good excuse to explain his sudden disappearance to the others.

He entered the lobby. “Hey, FRIDAY, where’s Tony at?”

“Mr. Stark is in the medical bay.”

Peter’s head shot up. “Shit – is he hurt?”

“Mr. Stark is currently still unconscious, but out of danger.” FRIDAY informed him.

Peter immediately rushed to the stairs. He felt his hart pound in his chest. Fuck, he shouldn’t have left Tony alone. Now two people who had always taken care of him were lying in hospital beds. Because of him.

When he approached the medical bay, Peter could already hear Steve’s agitated voice echoing down the hallway. Following the sounds, he carefully pushed open the door to one of the rooms. The first thing he saw was Tony, lying on a hospital bed hooked up to a machine. He had a bandage wrapped around his head and a brace around his neck. Peter sucked in a breath. His fault. His fault.

“I don’t understand why we’re even having this discussion if we’re all on the same page,” Steve’s voice boomed next to him. Peter blinked and looked around to where Steve was standing with Natasha and Bruce. He was clearly fuming with anger, and Natasha and Bruce were both scowling. “Just because I agree, doesn’t mean I think we should jump into action now before Tony is even awake,” Bruce explained with forced calmness.

Steve seemed to be ready to launch into another tirade, but Natasha poked him. “Reel it in – the kid’s here.”

Steve whirled around, and his face softened when his eyes landed on Peter.

Peter swallowed. “Hey – uhm – what.. what’s wrong with him?” He asked, hating how small his voice sounded.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Bruce assured him. “The brace is just a precaution. He’ll be awake by tomorrow, maybe even be able to get out of bed. When did you hear?”

“I.. I just got in.” Peter choked out, his eyes still trained on his mentor’s limp form. “I h-had to go to the hospital for my aunt.”

“Oh, that sucks.” Steve murmured. He stepped closer and patted Peter on the shoulder. “From one hospital bed to the other, huh?”

Peter just nodded numbly. My fault, my fault.

Bruce leant forward a little, looking concerned. “Is your aunt okay?”

“Yeah, fine” Peter lied, feeling tears sting behind his eyes. Myfaultmyfaultmyfault. “Does Pepper know?”

“We’ve sent her a message,” Bruce assured him. “She’s cutting her trip short and will be here tomorrow.”

Peter jumped when the door slammed open behind him. Sam was standing behind them, his eyes hard. “Have we made a decision, or what?” He barked.

“Let’s move this discussion into the hallway,” Steve quickly said, squeezing Peter’s shoulder one last time, before shuffling out. Natasha and Bruce followed.

After the door fell shut behind them, Peter released a long breath. He carefully took a few steps closer to the bed. He sank down in the plastic chair beside the bed and carefully traced the wire leading from the beeping machine straight to Tony’s arc reactor. He felt a shiver go down his spine. For some reason, the idea that the arc reactor might be malfunctioning was freaking him out. He clasped Tony’s hand in his and looked away from the wires. He tried to drown out the continuous beeping of the machine by focussing his hearing on something else – and picked up on the voices in the hallway.

“-agree with Steve one hundred percent.” That was Sam, still sounding angry. “We’ve let it slide often enough. Not wanting to tell us who he is, is one thing. But actually sabotaging our missions? Who’s to say he doesn’t work for the bad guy? We need to hunt him down pronto.”

Bruce cut in, annoyed. “Tony is the one who knows about him. He is the one who brought him to the team. Shouldn’t he be the one deciding how to deal with this?”

Peter felt his stomach turn. They were talking about him. Of course they are – it’s my fault.

“Great plan, Bruce, except that Tony is not really conscious enough to make any decisions, is he now?”

“Natasha?” Bruce pleaded.

A short silence. Peter held his breath.

“I think I’m with Sam and Steve on this one.” Natasha finally said. “From what we know right now, there’s a real possibility that Spider-man is working for the bad guys, and I think we need to deal with that right away. If Tony were awake, I hardly think he would say otherwise. He almost died today. He was alone – he shouldn’t have gone in alone.”

Peter felt his vision grow blurry. He tried to gulp in a breath, but his chest felt too tight. He buried his face in the mattress and sobbed. He didn’t notice Natasha coming back in until he felt a hand carding through his hair. “Hey kid,” Natasha said, looking worried. “It’s okay.. He’s going to be fine.”

Peter couldn’t bear to hear her kind voice, knowing that she would kick his ass if she knew the truth. He bolted to the door, his chair toppling backwards and clattering to the floor. He ran past the three men in the hallway – someone called his name, but he ignored it – and fled down the stairs and out the door.

Peter didn’t stop running until the Stark facility was out of sight. Then, he let himself fall to the ground and started sobbing again until his chest and throat were burning. He rubbed his balled up fists against his eyes until he saw stars. Idiot – stupid fucking idiot – you mess up eve-ry-one’s life.

It felt like hours before he was finally able to stand up shakily. His first thought was that he needed to get to the bus stop and go back to Queens – his second thought was what the hell would be the point in going to Queens. He couldn’t visit May outside visitation hours, and he really didn’t want to go back to their empty apartment. If he could just curl up and disappear right now.. that would be perfect.

Chapter Text

Strangely enough, the first thing Tony registered was the sound of a ceiling fan. Next came the warm feeling of a heavy blanket, the metronomic beeping of a machine, and only then he noticed the dull but persistent ache in his head.

He cracked his eyes open and groaned as he recognized the distinct surroundings of the medical bay.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Language!” A voice piped up beside him.

Tony pinched his eyes shut again. “Well, isn’t that peachy? I’m on my death bed, and the only one who showed up is our star-spangled captain.”

“Natasha is here too. Also, don’t joke about death beds,” Steve said. “You almost did die.”

“Crap, really?” Tony opened his eyes again and lifted a hand to feel the bandage around his head. “Huh. Just feels like a bad hang-over.” He turned left to see Steve sitting in a chair beside his bed and Natasha in the corner, staring out of a window.

“You would know,” Steve quipped dryly. “And since you seem to be so concerned about your own health: Yes, you’re going to be fine. No, there will be no lasting effects.”

Slowly, the events of the fight started coming back to Tony. “Did we catch him?” He asked, and then: “Where’s Peter at?”

Steve frowned, probably because that would seem like a strange combination of questions to him. So Natasha answered instead, without turning. “Yes, we caught him. And Pete... well, that’s a more complicated story.”

Tony sat up a little, ignoring the pain shooting through his head and squinting at Natasha. “What does that mean?”

“He was pretty upset that you got hurt,” Natasha said. “At one point, he had a sort of breakdown and then ran off. That was yesterday. We haven’t seen him since. He’s not answering his phone, and FRIDAY said his address was classified.”

“Since yesterday?” Tony asked, growing more worried by the second. “But how- wha- Did he say anything while he was here?”

Steve shook his head. “We didn’t get to talk much. The rest of us were discussing strategy in the hallway while he sat with you, and Natasha went back inside when she heard him cry. But he didn’t say anything to her, he just ran. Why can’t we get his address? Bruce wanted to call the police.”

“Don’t,” Tony immediately said.

Steve frowned. “Tony – what if he got himself hurt? We don’t even know where he spent the night.”

“Just.. let’s not get ahead of ourselves. His school would have called us if he didn’t come in today, so he’s definitely not dead in a ditch somewhere. I can go to his house first.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Steve said, sharply. "You just woke up and you were injured pretty badly. Give me the address, I’ll pop by.”

Tony pursed his lips. Technically, giving up Peter’s address would in no way give away that he was Spider-Man, but somehow he still preferred not to give the Avengers that information. “I have a better idea,” he said. “He always visits his aunt after school. Why don’t you try that first?”

Steve let out a long breath. “Sure. Although I don’t get why you need to be so secretive about your intern. I swear, if he turns out to be your illegitimate son after all..”

Tony didn’t respond, too busy mulling things over in his head. The kid must have gotten some pretty bad news at the hospital to respond in this way. Crap, what if May had died? Tony hoped that Peter would have asked for help or told someone if that was the case. On the other hand, with Pepper away for business and he himself unconscious and hooked up to a machine, maybe the kid hadn’t known who to talk to.

Steve interrupted his train of thought. “Also, FYI, we’ve been out all day yesterday and today hunting down Spider-Man. He’s been laying low, but we’ll catch him eventually.”

Tony blinked. “Run that by me again?”

“Spider-Man,” Steve repeated impatiently. “You know – the guy who completely abandoned you in the middle of a fight and is pretty much responsible for the fact that you almost died?”

The wheels in Tony’s head started spinning suddenly. It took him a few seconds to realize why this was such crucial information, but then everything clicked.

“Oh for the love of – please tell me you didn’t have another one of your full blown Spider-Man debates right here in front of.. Right here in my hospital room? How many times have I told you that Spider-Man is my responsibility?”

“You can’t be serious.” Steve said incredulously. “He was supposed to have your back and then he just took off. It’s his fault you’re in here!”

“He had a family emergency, you complete moron!” Tony snarled. “And then you went and told him... Christ, you’ve really screwed the pooch this time. Help me up.” He was already clawing at the wires connecting him to the hospital equipment.

“Hey, no!” Steve protested. “What’s wrong with you? Stop it – Natasha, help.”

Tony felt Natasha’s hand on his arm, pushing him back down onto the bed, then saw her piercing eyes as she leant over him. “It’s him, isn’t it?” She said in a quiet voice.

Tony froze in place. A beat of silence as the ceiling fan whizzed above them. “Uhm – what?”

“It’s him.” Natasha repeated. “I knew there was something about his voice. And the whole ‘special’ intern bullshit. Peter’s aunt, the ‘family emergency’.”

Steve just blinked at her, clearly not catching up. “What? Nat? Translate for the non-detectives among us, please?”

“Peter is Spider-man.” Natasha revealed, crossing her arms and still sternly gazing at Tony.

Tony sniffed, then pulled the blanket up to his chin. “Well, I did always think you would be the one to figure it out.” He told her. He then sneaked a glance at Steve, who was nailed to the floor, mouth literally hanging wide open in a way Tony had always thought was only possible in cartoons.

“Whenever you’re done catching flies, why don’t you go find my kid and make sure he’s okay?” He snapped.

“Wha- I... But Tony... I don’t.. I don’t even know where to start..” Steve stuttered. “Peter is... Peter is...? But he’s like... ten years old! What the heck? What the HECK, Tony?” He was starting to get himself worked up, now, cheeks flushing. “You brought a kid to a hostage situation?”

“He was only there to stand watch!” Tony bellowed back. “I take care of him, all right? And I told him to leave, the hospital called about his aunt. It was my own call to go inside without his back-up. That’s my responsibility.”

“I KNOW THAT!” Steve ranted. “Fudge! You think I don’t know that? All of this is your responsibility! He’s a kid, and - - - oh, dangrabbit, we all talked about how it was his fault while he was sitting right here! Fudge berries! Poo on a stick!”

“Well, don’t hold yourself back, or anything.” Tony drawled.

“This is kind of serious, Tony.” Natasha said, a thunderous look on her otherwise so stoic face.

Tony sighed, then decided that more arguments were not the way to go right now. He needed to see Peter, make sure he was okay. “I know. Can we discuss this after you’ve found him?”

Steve looked like he wanted to argue some more, but Natasha seemed to agree that they had other priorities.

“Come on.” She said, tugging at Steve’s arm. “Come on, if we go now, you’ll have more time to think up all the reasons why Tony’s an idiot while we get Peter. Two birds with one stone.”

-

Steve was still shaking with shock and rage as he said in the passenger seat. He hated how Natasha could always remain so gosh darn calm and collected under any circumstances. She didn’t even curse at a guy cutting her off on the way to the hospital.

“Aren’t you angry?” He finally asked.

Natasha half shrugged. “Let’s find out the whole story, first.” She said.

“Oh, really? You think there are going to be any mitigating circumstances about enlisting a kid to fight aliens?”

“Well, for one, Peter was Spider-Man long before Tony brought him to the team,” Natasha pointed out. “Don’t tell me you forgot how excited Tony was when he first saw the YouTube videos. That kid was fighting gunmen and jumping in front of getaway cars well before he joined the Avengers. Some of those videos must be two years old. And Peter is – what – sixteen?”

“How does that make this any better?” Steve moaned. “Fighting gunmen at fourteen!?”

“Maybe all Tony did was take him under his wing.” Natasha suggested. “And maybe he shouldn’t have, but knowing Tony and the kind of guy he is, in his own way he probably just wanted to help. I mean, come on, you can’t say he doesn’t care about the kid.”

Steve grumbled a bit, before finally muttering: “I’d like to hear what Pepper has to say about it.”

Chapter Text

May looked... well... sick. Pale skin, hollow cheeks. But she did seem peaceful, actually carrying a little smile on her face as she slept. The afternoon sun was falling on her bed, and there was a large stuffed animal sitting on her nightstand. But no Peter.

Steve exchanged a discouraged look with Natasha. Tony had said Peter never missed a visit. If he didn’t even come to see his aunt, then where on earth was he?

“We could wait here for a while?” He suggested. But Natasha shook her head as she already made her way back to the elevator. “You can, if you want. But I’m going back and hit Tony over the head until he gives me Pete’s address.”

Steve nodded. “All right – you know what? I’ll call the school to confirm that he really came in today.”

He wanted to add that, if Peter hadn’t been at school that day, they should definitely call the police – but at that moment the elevator doors slid open with a ding and a dishevelled mop of brown hair appeared – Peter’s brown eyes peeking out from underneath it as he shuffled into the hallway.

“Peter!” Steve heaved a sigh in relief.

“Woah,” Peter breathed as he spotted them. “It’s the Avengers! That’s... That’s awesome.” His eyes were slightly glassy.

Steve paused in confusion.

Natasha caught up a little quicker. “You’re drunk.” She stated.

“Yeah...” Peter stumbled a little before leaning against the wall for support. “But I.. I don’t think May will notice.”

Natasha just snorted. “Come on. Let’s get you back to home rank. You can visit your aunt again tomorrow.”

They made their way back to the car, Natasha supporting Peter as he stumbled around, nearly tripping over his own feet several times. Steve followed, with a deep frown. He had expected a kid who was crying, yelling or running away. Not this. Peter didn’t say a single word, so neither did either of them.
Natasha sat in the back with Peter as Steve started the car. He watched in the rear view mirror as Peter slumped forward, pushing his face into the car seat in front of him.

He sought eye contact with Natasha via the mirror. She gave a rueful smile in return, and lifted a hand to rub Peter’s back, but still didn’t speak. Steve wasn’t sure what her strategy was, but she knew Peter better than he did, so he didn’t say anything either and just quietly drove them through the busy New York streets.

“Is Tony okay?” Peter finally whispered, when they were already nearly home. His head was still turned away and Steve could hear him scratch the fabric of the car seat with his fingernail.

Natasha adopted a light, almost bored tone. “Worried about you, but otherwise fine.”

“M’sorry.”

“We’ll discuss it when you’re sober.” Natasha calmly replied.

It was quiet again.

“Natasha?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m Spider-Man.”

A beat of silence.

“I know, Pete.”

“Oh.”

Another few seconds of silence.

“It wasn’t your fault, Pete.”

“Not what you said yesterday.”

“We’ll discuss it when you’re not drunk.”

“I’m not anymore.” Peter muttered. “Just a bad head-ache, now.”

“I didn’t think you could even get drunk.” Steve remarked, drawing from his own experience.

“I can get drunk. I just don’t stay drunk for very long. M’already hungover.”

“Does that mean I get to give him one of my PSA-talks now?” Steve asked Natasha. She threw him a slightly exasperated look in return and shook her head. “He should talk to Tony, first.”

Steve eyed her in the mirror for a while to gauge if she was actually serious. Did she really want Tony to deal with this mess? But Natasha gave him one of those looks that he knew he couldn’t stand up to, so he mentally filed his ‘Alcohol-is-bad-for-you’ speech away for later.

Instead, they marched a pale Peter up to Tony’s room. Tony was still lying in bed, but the wires and machines were gone, as well as the brace around his neck. His head shot up as soon as the door opened, and he sat up, looking Peter up and down. “Hey - Are you okay?”

Peter responded by clambering into Tony’s lap and curling up against his chest, hiding his face in Tony’s neck.

“Christ, kid.” Tony said, but without the usual sarcasm. He just sounded worried.

“E-everybody just dies, Tony,” Peter said, tears suddenly spilling over. “Because I’m s-screwing everything up. And I keep trying to make it better but then I screw things up even more.”

“I’m not dead.” Tony said, actually sounding a little indignant at the mere suggestion.

Peter didn’t respond, he just continued sobbing. Tony pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything else. Steve, on the other hand, was itching to jump in, but Natasha gave him That Look again, so he just slouched off to sit in a chair in the corner.

Tony took a deep breath “Kid, I told you to leave. It’s not like you threw me under the bus! In this line of work, people get hurt, that can’t be a surprise to you. And I know Falcon and Cap were talking shit about Spider-Man, but that’s just because they’re idiots,” he said, flashing a grin at Steve.

“That’s not fair!” Steve urged, unable to restrain himself. “We didn’t know, Peter. We didn’t know. Do you hear me blaming you now?”

Peter sniffed. “I know.” He finally said in a dull voice. “Everything is just messed up, it’s like all these dark pieces just... taking up all the space in my head.”

Tony frowned and seemed to think about that for a while. “We’ll work on that,” is all he said in the end.
Peter hummed, and then apparently decided to take a keen interest in the tiny buttons on Tony’s sleeve.

“Are you okay, though?” Tony continued. “I mean – physically?”

“Hmm – head hurts.” Peter said.

“How come?”

“Stress?” Peter suggested.

“He got drunk.” Steve informed Tony. He was surprised to see an angry and disturbed look appear on Tony’s face at those words. “What? He got – Kid, you got drunk? You’re sixteen!”

“Well, you don’t exactly get to take the moral high ground, there,” Peter accused. “I watched the news when I was a kid, you know.”

Steve could hardly disagree.

Tony, however, was not having it. “I’m not taking ‘the moral highground’,” he bit out. “I’m telling you that, speaking from personal experience, getting drunk is a terrible way to deal with your issues.”

“I don’t have issues.”

“Oh yeah? Say out loud ‘I, Peter Parker, don’t blame myself for my aunt’s cancer and Tony’s injuries’, and I’ll believe that.”

Peter said nothing.

“Where’d you get the alcohol?” Tony continued.

“May’s stash.” Peter murmured. “N-not like she’ll be home any time soon to see.” His bottom lip started quivering again.

“You don’t seriously believe I’m not going to tell her about this?” Tony said. “She’s your guardian.”

“Tonyyy, no!” Peter whimpered, looking pale. “She’s got enough to deal with!”

“Exactly.” Tony said. “Because that’s what happens when you get drunk, Pete. You feel good, for a little bit, but everyone else has to pick up the pieces. Did you stop to think about how your aunt would feel if she knew?”

“No!” Peter pleaded, wiping tears away. “Don’t tell her, T-tony, please. I don’t want to screw her up even more – j-just ground me, whatever. I’m sorry, okay? It was s-stupid. I don’t want to hurt her f-feelings and make her even worse.”

“Well, I don’t want to keep things from her.” Tony replied with a sigh “But I also don’t want to encourage this unhealthy thinking pattern you have about her illness being your fault. So this is between us for now. At least until she recovers. Assuming you won’t be doing it again, of course.”

“I won’t.” Peter fervently promised, looking relieved.

“That goes for the running away, too.” Tony belatedly added. “You don’t leave; you talk to me, got it?”

“M’kay” Peter said, snuggling back into Tony’s chest.

“And if Tony’s not there, you talk to us.” Natasha added. “Even if you think we might get angry. Because we’re family, Spider-Man.”

Peter smiled, then wiped his nose on Tony’s bedsheet, and Tony scrunched up his nose. “Gross, kid. As soon as I’m out of here, I’m doing the same to your bed.”

Peter gave a watery chuckle.

They all jumped when FRIDAY’s voice suddenly filled the air. “Miss Potts want me to inform you that she has just arrived and is on her way up.”

“Let’s go fill her in.” Natasha said, standing up. Steve nodded and followed her lead.

“I want to stay here, all right?” Peter pleaded, looking up at Tony with his big puppy-eyes.

“All right,”’ Tony responded, his voice surprisingly easy. He scooted over a little, to make room for Peter to lie down next to him.

Before following Natasha outside, Steve strode up to Tony’s bed, leant foward and carded his hand through Peter’s hair. “Peter, it was not your fault, okay? I know it wasn’t.”

“Thanks,” Peter whispered.

Tony gave Steve a brusque nod, too.

-

“How is he?” Pepper asked when they bumped into her in the hallway.

“Fine,” Natasha said, as she and Steve turned around to walk her back to the med bay. “As if nothing happened. Also, Peter is with him and had a bit of a breakdown. Also, we know Peter is Spider-Man.”

Pepper halted in her steps, looking between the two of them. “What the hell happened while I was gone?”

“So you knew about it.” Natasha confirmed. “Steve said no way in hell you’d let Tony recruit a kid. Except he didn’t say ‘hell’.”

Pepper pressed her lips together as she continued down the hall. “I’m not thrilled about it.” She finally said. “But I dread to think what might happen if we don’t support Peter in this. Tony once forbade him to get involved in Avenger business, and the boy’s reaction to that was to sneak out and fight some flying villain on a hijacked plane which then crash landed. So unless you suggest we lock him up somewhere – this is about as good as it gets. Why did he have a breakdown?”

“I may have ranted about how it was all Spider-Man’s fault while he was in the room.” Steve said. “I didn’t know that it was him or that he has this whole guilt complex. Also, how on earth is it his fault that his aunt has cancer?”

Pepper shrugged. “She’s still waiting for a bone marrow donor. And Peter can’t provide a match – you know.. radioactive blood. I don’t know.. I think it’s just issues left over from when he watched his uncle die. Survivor guilt. Maybe Sam could talk to him, now that everyone knows.”

“Actually, Sam doesn’t know yet.” Steve said, trying hard to ignore that freaking ‘watched-his-uncle-die’ comment.

Pepper narrowed her eyes for a moment. “Well.. then tell him.” She said. “Peter needs to talk to someone.”

She nodded at them, turned and entered Tony’s room.

Chapter Text

Two days after having his colossal freak-out, Peter took his first walk with Sam.

When Pepper had first told him to talk to Sam, he was already envisioning himself lying on a couch talking about what he had dreamed that night while Sam took notes. So he had been relieved when Sam instead proposed they go down to the park and get some churros. And he didn’t even grill Peter. They just talked about Peter’s biology project all the way there.

Peter bought a whole pile of churros to still his hunger. Sam just bought two, and they sat down in the grass next to the large pond.

“So.. You’re like.. a super-hero therapist?” Peter asked as he fed a piece of churro to the ducks.

Sam chuckled. “Not really as qualified as that. I just happened to be a social worker once, and then I happened to get caught up in this Avengers business. So I’m as good as it gets.”

Peter nodded.

“So what will you be making for dinner today?” Sam asked casually.

Peter squinted at him. “Why aren’t you asking me questions? You know – about... stuff?”

Sam shrugged. “Just waiting for you to make the first move. I want you to be comfortable.”

“Okay..” Peter slowly said, “but I don’t know where I’m supposed to start.”

“I could start, then.” Sam suggested. “For example, did you see the face on Steve the day he found out?”

“Didn’t really register it, I was too drunk.” Peter confessed.

Sam hummed. “Well, when he came to fill me in on everything, I definitely thought someone had died. He was practically crying. He felt really bad blaming it on you while you were sitting next to him. But we had been having doubts about Spider-Man for a while.”

“I know,” Peter mumbled. “I can’t really explain why I didn’t want you to know. Just.. the idea scared me. There was so much going on in my head, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to deal with that too.”

“Tony said you mentioned something like that,” Sam said, a thoughtful look on his face. “Can you tell me a little bit about that? What are some things bouncing around in that head of yours? Hang on - ”

Sam leant over and gathered some pebbles. “Let’s say every stone is a thought. Which one is the biggest one?”

“May.” Peter said. “Tony. Uhm, people getting hurt. And I feel like I should do more.”

“And where did you learn to think that way?”

Peter blinked at him. “What?”

“Well, not everyone always feels responsible for other people getting hurt,” Sam elaborated. “So where do you think that feeling came from?”

Peter bit his lip. On the one hand, he didn’t want to discuss this. On the other hand, what was the point of agreeing to talk to Sam if he just avoided everything that was actually painful?

“My uncle, maybe,” he finally said, reluctantly. “He died. Right after I became Spider-Man. And I should have stopped it. So I just want to make sure I don’t screw up like that, again.”

“Why do you feel like you should have stopped it?”

Peter felt like that was definitely a bridge to far for a first talk. “I don’t really want to talk about that.”

“That’s okay.” Sam said, easily. “But is there someone else who you talk to about it? Your aunt May? – Does she even know you are Spider-Man?”

“She does. Walked in on me one time when I was wearing the suit. But I never talked to her about.. the whole truth around uncle Ben.”

“Is that because you chose not to tell her, or because you feel like you’re unable to find the words to talk to her about it?”

Peter had never thought about it that way. “Uhm – the words, I guess. I just feel like I wouldn’t know how to explain it to her.”

“But you think she would be able to comfort you if she knew what happened?”

“Maybe. Probably. Yes.”

“Would you let her?”

That question resonated somewhere deep inside Peter, though he wasn’t really sure why. He didn’t even know how to answer, to instead he took a deep breath and looked down at the pebbles at his feet. “So now do I – like – throw these stones in the pond or something symbolic like that?”

Sam gave a mild shrug. “If you think it will help.”

“You’re supposed to tell me what helps.” Peter complained.

Sam just smiled.

-

Two days after having his first talk with Sam, Peter found himself playing chess with Steve once again, with Natasha looking on closely.

“I like this,” Steve said, happily. “We’re like one big, happy, barely functional family. That fights crime. And that adopted a puppy. You’re the puppy.”

“A puppy who’s kicking your ass,” Peter replied. “Check mate.”

“You trained him too well, Nat,” Steve complained. “He always wins.”

Peter smiled. “Okay, how is this: next round, I’ll start the game with one pawn less.

“Excellent strategy, Pete,” Natasha said, nodding. “That way, when you win again, he’ll feel even more humiliated.”

Steve threw a pawn at her head.

-

One hundred and twenty-one days after being diagnosed with leukaemia, a bone marrow match was found for May.

“That’s so great!” Steve said, lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Should we go visit? Want to get her some flowers?”

Tony shook his head. “No flowers. They can cause infections for people with a weak immune system.”

“You really know your stuff.” Steve remarked. “You’re... you’re pretty good at all this... taking care of another human being. Better than I gave you credit for.”

“Why, thanks,” Tony smirked. “Always fun to see Captain America feeling awkward.”

“Just so you know, I still think having a kid on board is a bit messed up.” Steve informed him. “But I won’t kick up a fuss as long as Pepper approves.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

-

Twenty-seven days after receiving the bone marrow transplant, Peter walked into the hospital room to find Tony already sat next to May’s bed.

“Hey! What’s happening?” He asked, taking off his headphones.

May beamed up at him. “I had good results on all the blood tests. The doctor said I could go home tomorrow, but only if I have someone to take care of me at home.”

“I’m taking care of you!” Peter said, wide eyed, as he rushed to her side. They were not seriously letting May stay in the hospital for a day longer than necessary after she had been there for months!

Tony shook his head. “Nope kid, not going to happen. Not your responsibility. You’re too young.”
Peter planted his hands on his hips. “So I can be your back-up in hostage situations, but suddenly I’m ‘too young’ to take care of someone?”

“If you’ll let me finish.” Tony said, pretending to look annoyed. “Obviously, the two of you will both be staying at the Avenger’s compound for a while until May has recovered completely. It’s not optimal, especially these first few weeks when your aunt still has to come to the hospital several times a week for check-ups, but we might even be able to do some of the follow-up tests in our own medic bay, if the hospital agrees.”

“Oh.” Peter said, stupidly.

“Unless you object,” May added, a little smile on her lips as she looked at him.

Peter quickly shook his head. “No objections. All good. Uhm--- thanks, Tony.” He added shyly.

Then, he hugged his aunt tighter than ever.

May was finally coming home.

-

Two days after May’s release from the hospital, Peter finally sat down with her in her brand new bedroom to have the most remorseful, most important, most terrifying talk that he had ever had with her.

He couldn’t just outright tell her, he knew he wouldn’t be able to find the words. So he read her the letter that he had written together with Sam a few days earlier, feeling like a stupid little kid in kindergarten doing a presentation about his pet. But at least he got the words out.

And May cried, and she told him she loved him, and she talked about how guilty she had felt after Ben died “because we all just think ‘what-ifs’ all the time”, and she hugged him for what felt like hours. And Peter felt something heavy in his chest break loose and float away. He knew that everything wasn’t suddenly okay, but it was a start.

“I don’t want anyone else to die,” he croaked.

“None of us want anyone else to die,” May said, “but we don’t control life’s events, we only control how we deal with them. If there’s anything I’ve learned this past year... The hospital therapist helped me a lot there. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.”

“I’m not anymore.” Peter admitted. “I’ve been talking to Sam. He’s a sort of counselor. He’s... not bad. I talk to him.”

“I’m so proud of you.” May whispered.

“There’s probably something else I should discuss with you as well.” May said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “Not that we haven’t... I mean... I just get the feeling that you don’t fully grasp...”

She sighed, and Peter felt his worry grow.

“Tell me,” he urged her. “Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”

“Honey, do you know how long it takes to recover from a bone marrow transplant?”

“Uhm..” Peter said. He hadn’t really thought about it. “A month? Maybe more?”

“A year,” May corrected him. “At least. On average, only about half of the people receiving a bone marrow transplant are back to work a year later. And that’s just working part time. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get back to the point where I can pick up the double shifts that I need to pay our way.”

“Oh,” Peter said. “So you mean, once we leave the compound, you’ll still need me to look after you. And I should find a job.”

“No honey, I’m trying to tell you that we’re going to be living here for a long time. Maybe years. Maybe until you graduate. When Tony said that we should stay here until I had recovered, that is what he meant. This is home, now. I had to swallow my pride a little, but I recognize that there is no way we’ll manage on our own, and.. well.. Tony and Pepper care a lot about you. I’ve seen that. So I’m happy to include them in our daily lives.”

Peter gaped at her for a few seconds. Finally, he swallowed. “Are you... are you sure Tony agreed to that?”

“Agreed? Honey, he insisted.”

-

When dinner time rolled around, Sam put the pizza boxes on the table. It had been a while since their last take-out, but since the kid had enough on his mind today, Sam figured he shouldn’t have to cook.
“Leave some for Peter.” He warned, as everyone grabbed a slice.

“Actually, leave a lot for Peter,” Tony added. “Kid eats like a herd of hungry hippo’s.”

As if on cue, the door opened behind them and Peter shuffled in. His eyes were a little red, but he also looked happy, and he gave a tiny nod at Sam to signal that everything had gone well.

“Quick, kid, dig in.” Tony said. “Before Steve gets it all.”

Peter sat next to him, but instead of reaching for pizza, he sneaked his arms around Tony’s neck. “I love you, Tony.”

Tony froze, highly aware of all the other Avengers looking up and staring at him.

“Well, you’re not the worst person in the world, either, underoos.” He finally said.

He heard Peter stifle a laugh. “Heartwarming,” the kid mumbled.

’This kid is going to ruin my reputation,’ Tony thought, before pulling the boy closer and dropping a kiss in his hair.

And once the other Avengers had turned away, pretending to be fully engrossed in a debate over pineapple on pizza, he leant down and whispered:

“I’d be lost without you, Spider-Man.”