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Peter didn’t know why the memory of the ‘hug’ bombarded his thoughts on the nights he couldn’t sleep. Whether that be the reason he couldn’t sleep or not. Peter really wished that hug was real.
After the Vulture, the teen had needed something to feel safe. So he had gone to May, looking for hugs she didn’t turn away but also didn’t quite understand. Her arms also hadn’t made him feel as safe as he hoped they would. They only filled him with more anxieties, fears Peter wanted to vent but knew he couldn’t. She wouldn’t understand, no one would. Well...no one he could go to at least. Tony had given him his number after he’d gotten home when he’d turned down his offer. It had been sat on top of his suit in that brown paper bag, with a small note letting him know to call when he needed.
Peter was sure he wouldn’t even be able to put the seven digits in his phone without his hands shaking. Tony Stark had always made him feel safe, ever since he was a child, Peter wondered if he asked for a hug he’d feel the safety he was looking for. It was an answer he knew wouldn’t ever really be proven, but he could dream.
---
Peter’s eyes trailed the building, amazed but apprehensively. He followed his mentor wearily, keeping his distance but also making sure not stray too far away as they walked down to the lab. Tony rambled on and on about the compound, how it was safe, how it had a feat of security measures. Peter knew it should feel safe, and it did, but not in the way he needed. Peter was so lost in these thoughts he hadn’t noticed Tony had stopped and looked at him with curious eyes.
“Everything alright Pete?”
Jumping slightly Peter nodded, “Yeah, sorry,” the teen smiled grimly, embarrassed. Winding his arms around himself and following the man the into a lab, the teen quickly perked up. Tony watched amused as the teen wandered throughout the lab, the kid seemed to be holding his breath and Tony couldn’t help but smile a little wider at that. When the boy’s attention was drawn away to his stationed suit, Peter faced it with wonderment in his eyes. The billionaire thought back to the letters over the years he’d gotten from children who admired him.
He hadn’t had the chance to really see it in person though, and when he had, he’d other things on the mind. But when he watched how the young arachnid look upon his suit, the warmth that filled his chest was undeniable. Peter looked back over at him after some time, smiling a little shyly with a blush on his cheeks. Obviously a little embarrassed.
“Karen had been telling me I went a little overboard, why don’t I clear some things up and teach you how the suit really works?” Tony suggested, mind whirring back to the crashed plane and the helplessness the boy had faced. The billionaire had no intention of taking away any of the three hundred or so modes on the suit, but he could make them more manageable. It was the least he could do.
---
“Are you alright?” Karen asked softly as Peter trapized throughout the city quietly, she couldn’t help but notice how high the boy’s stress levels were lately. Or how at times she’d feel the way he held to shoulders, as if he was hugging himself. He also hadn’t been as happy as he had been before the Vulture, the AI was worried in the only way she could be. So she did what she had to do, she sent the inventor a record of the boy’s brain activity and his elevated heart rates.
Karen didn’t fail to mention the boy rocking himself back and forth at times like a child, her young charge didn’t feel safe and she didn’t know what to do. But her creator would, he always knew.
“I’m okay,” her young charge replied after a long empty silence, his voice soft and...wobbly. Suddenly Karen felt as close to scared as she could when she realized the boy was crying, but he was in his room and ripping off his only communication to her before she could ask why. She only hoped her creator listened to her pleas for help, especially when she could still hear the boy crying throughout the night while tucked in the ceiling.
---
When Peter woke up in the morning and padded out into the kitchen, the shock of seeing Tony Stark perched on his couch was almost as shocking as the first time.
“Mr. Stark?” The boy asked confused, hugging to himself unconsciously, not realizing he was wearing the very same clothes Tony had sent him home in after the boat incident. It seemed to hurt Tony just as much when he realized it because the man’s smile faltered when he took in the bright pink pants.
“Hey kid,” The billionaire grinned the best he could, patting the seat beside him on the couch which Peter slowly shuffled over to before sitting down. Pulling his knees up to his chest and making sure to wrap himself up close.
“What are you doing here?” The boy couldn’t help but ask, trying to ignore how his shoulders didn’t feel as tense as they’d been the past few weeks.
“Karen asked me to check up on you,” the inventor didn’t lie, and he wasn’t going to sugarcoat anything.
“Why?” Peter asked a little cluelessly, not making the avenger feel any better.
Tony eyed the kids position, wishing he hadn’t seen the boy’s slight rocking in person because he knew it would hurt his heart. But likely unconsciously the boy was doing it, so Tony put a warm hand on the kids shoulder to see if it’d stop but it only faltered in the slightest before it continued.
“She noticed you’ve been a little out of it, so are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Tony asked, pinning the boy with his gaze. He was more than surprised when the boy shook his head no.
“I’m okay,” the boy lied, avoiding the older man’s eyes. Fingers cramping into his knees, as the teen’s socked feet rubbed against each other anxiously.
“It’s okay if you’re not Pete,” The older man assured, breathing through his nose to keep calm. His hand squeezed the boy’s shoulder lightly to further his point but Peter still didn’t seem convinced. Especially because the touch only sent the boy into a fit of tears, Peter then buried his face into this knees and continued to cry completely unaware of his startled mentor’s inner dilemma. Tony did not know how to deal with a crying child, he wanted to do something but his brain failed to come up with anything; even something to say.
Tony awkwardly managed to pat the kids shoulder after he could finally make his body move, but the boy continued to weep. Although the boy uncurled, the ache in the teen's chest was too much to ignore before Peter jumped the avenger. Hugging tightly and sobbing in relief because he’d been right. He already felt safer, but his trembling only doubled. The inventors arms slid back around the small form, chin lifting higher because the boy seemed determined to hide underneath there.
The avengers crooked fingers (after one too many breaks) hesitantly found themselves in the boy’s surprisingly thick locks, securing him close until the shaking finally ceased. Tony nearly pulled away, but Peter didn’t make any move to retreat so he didn’t either. After some time, the teen seemed to nod off. His grip never loosening in sleep, and Tony was almost sure the kid was actually sticking to him.
“So this is what you wanted huh?” Tony asked the still form, regretting not hugging the kid back in the car. Tony wasn’t hugged as a child, not at all. But he knew hugs made kids feel safe, it wasn’t at all unreasonable for Peter not to feel safe after his encounter with the Vulture. Sure the boy could hug his aunt, he probably did. But with the way the teen had been looking to his suit just the other day, it wasn’t hard to decipher Peter would take more comfort in his childhood hero. Maybe even more so than he did with his own aunt.
So Tony would have to remember to hug the kid more often, not only for the kid but for himself too.