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“So what d’ya think, kid? Burgundy or black for the tie?”
The question hadn’t even fully registered to Peter as he focused maybe a little too hard at the scribbles of words and numbers in his notebook.
“Or do you even care?” Tony continued with a chuckle.
“Yeah, that’ll look good, Mr. Stark,” the teenager blurted without even for a moment breaking eye contact with his work.
“Okay, I think it’s time to take a break.”
“I’m almost done, Mr. Stark. I promise, just lemme...”
“Kid, you’ve got literally all weekend to finish your homework.” He took a few steps closer toward the couch where Peter was sitting. “And besides, you’ve gotta get ready, too, you know. T-minus 20 minutes before we gotta head down. Pepper won’t be too happy if we decide to show up fashionably late.”
Peter finally managed to tear his eyes away from his work to look at his mentor. “I know, I know. I just wanted to try and get all of this done so I’d have the rest of the weekend free.” He shrugged. He was going to be spending the entire weekend at the tower, which meant plenty of time in the lab to tinker around and brainstorm new suit upgrade ideas. But first, he’d have to survive a fancy Stark Industries party that was being held at the tower. From what Tony had told him, it was supposed to be some kind of charity ball or something, and that it would be a pretty fancy event. Suit and tie kind of fancy. Which, Peter admitted, he wasn’t exactly the most comfortable about.
Sure, he was at least sort of excited about it, but at the same time he worried about feeling too out of place. He was sure there’d be basically no one there he’d know, and definitely no one of his age. But Tony has asked him to come, so of course he would. Plus, he thought it might actually be kind of fun to meet some new people anyway.
“I promise, we’ll have plenty of free time even after you finish your homework. Now come on, kid. Let’s get you all dolled up, shall we?”
Peter rolled his eyes at Tony, a small laugh escaping from him. “Fine.”
After Peter got dressed in his probably way too expensive suit that Tony had gotten for him, he made his way back into the living room area.
“Um, Mr. Stark?” he asked, an almost apologetic smile on his face as he held out his neck tie. “Do you think you could maybe...”
“Sure, bud.” Tony smiled, stepping toward him and taking the tie.
Twenty minutes and a bit too much hair gel later, Peter walked out of the elevator behind Tony, his fingers toying with the hem of his jacket. He wasn’t exactly sure what to expect as they walked down a corridor and finally reaching a doorway. Peter’s eyes widened as they walked though it, finally seeing the event room.
The entire ballroom was decorated so nicely. All the tables were set toward the front, covered in fancy, white cloths with plate settings already in place. And everyone there was dressed as if they were attending some big Hollywood movie premiere. Peter was almost overwhelmed as he took all of it in. The only kind of parties he’d ever been to were house parties - well, one house party, that is - so this was totally new to him.
He hesitantly followed Tony as he made his way through the room of people until they’d made it to a table where Pepper was already sitting and talking to someone Peter didn’t recognize. Tony had pulled out the chair next to her, taking a seat as he placed a kiss on her cheek.
“Hey, there you two are.” She turned to Peter with a warm smile. “You look very nice, Pete.”
“The kid does clean up pretty nice, doesn’t he?” Tony added.
Peter chuckled, feeling his cheeks turn a bit pink as he tugged at the bottom of his jacket. “Thanks. The suit’s really nice, Mr. Stark, really.”
“Don’t mention it.” He waved a hand dismissively. “Now, why don’t you have a seat? Unless you’d rather just stand there to eat your dinner.”
So he took his seat next to Tony, placing his hands in his lap as he peered around the room once more. It was filled with, as he’d expected, people who he didn’t know. There were maybe one or two slightly familiar faces that he’d seen around the tower a few times though.
“So, um, do all of these people work for you, Mr. Stark?” he wondered.
“Some of them, yeah. Some are from other companies, too. Might have to introduce my favorite intern to them, huh?”
“Oh, um sure!” Peter smiled, his enthusiasm showing within his features. Okay, so maybe this night wasn’t going to be as bad as he’d thought. His eyes wandered again, scanning the sea of people for maybe even one familiar face.
He broke his concentration as one of the waiters had approached their table, tray in hand as he offered drinks to them. Peter watched as Tony grabbed a couple of the red tinted glasses and held one out to him. He hesitated, his brows furrowing slightly. Was... Was Tony actually offering him alcohol?
“Don’t worry, kid. These aren’t alcoholic,” Tony assured with a smile. “Just sparkling cider. I don’t think I’d ever risk the wrath of your aunt if she found out I’d let you drink.”
“Oh. Um, right.” He took one of the glasses from Tony, his lips quirking into a small smile. “Thanks.” He lifted the glass to his mouth, taking a sip.
The moment the liquid passed his lips, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was wrong. He slowly swallowed the swig he took as he glanced around the room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. No one seemed to be posing a threat. So what had made his senses go off?
His answer quickly came in the form of lightheadedness, and he blinked as his eyebrows crinkled. Where had this feeling come from? It was getting worse by the second, too. His eyes darted around, his heart pounding as he found it increasingly hard to catch his breath.
“Kid?” Tony’s voice was brimmed with worry. Peter couldn’t decipher what was going on, but he knew it wasn’t good. And now his stomach felt like it was on fire. Was he getting sick? But it didn’t feel like any sickness he’d ever had before. This was different. Intense. Painful. Unnerving.
And now the room was spinning, the walls closing in on him as his throat refused to let go of his breath. This was bad. Really bad. But he couldn’t panic. He had to stay calm. He wasn’t dying. He wasn’t. Was he?
He turned to his mentor, head spinning at what felt like a trillion miles an hour, and his heart was nearly jumping out of his chest by now.
“Mssr Stark...” Peter slurred, his legs starting to turn into jelly as the glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor. “I... I don feel s-“
And then he was on the ground, blackness caving in on his vision as he choked on the air he’d been struggling to intake. Tony’s voice faintly echoed through his ears before it began to fade. Then, nothing.
A faint beeping coming from Peter’s left was the next thing he remembered as he felt himself slowly regain consciousness. Then the pain in his head began to come back, and he tried to figure out where he was.
But he found it almost impossible to open his eyes fully, because everything was so bright. Why was everything so bright? Wait, was he actually dead? Was this that metaphorical light that everyone talked about seeing when you die? But there was that beeping. Right. Not dead. So, in a hospital? But why? What had happened to put him in a hospital? He remembered the party, and seeing all the people. Then he remembered the drink.
The drink.
It made sense. Drinking from it had been the last thing he remembered before he’d gotten sick. Before he’d blacked out. But that had to be it. The drink had to have been spiked with something. But why? Why would someone want to poison him? Oh god... had someone figured out his identity? His mind raced through the speculations a bit too quickly for his still aching head, the train of thought only stopping once he’d heard the door of the room he was in opening.
He forced his eyelids open, blinking rapidly as he tried to adjust them to the light, and he’d noticed a figure moving toward him. His vision came back into focus, and he saw that the figure was that of Helen Cho. Okay, so he was sure that he was in a hospital now. Or, rather, the tower’s medbay.
“Peter?” Helen’s voice was soft as she spoke to him. “How’re you feeling?”
“‘M okay,” he mumbled, still feeling a bit groggy. “Head hurts.”
“I’d say it does.” There was a slightly concerned expression on her face. “Do you remember what happened?”
“The drink...” He paused. “Was I... poisoned?”
Before Helen could even answer, the door swung open again, and Tony came practically sprinting through it, worry plastered across his features.
“Kid?” Oh, he sounded so worried. Scared, even. Peter blinked again, his brows furrowed as he watched his mentor approach him. Peter’s mind jolted again as he remembered that Tony had also taken a drink from that same tray last night. Had he been poisoned too? But he was obviously fine. Did he even drink his?
“Mssr Stark? I- Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Pete.” Tony’s tone softened. “You really scared me, you know. I thought...” His voice trailed off.
Helen looked between the two of them before she spoke again. “I’ll give you two a moment. I’ll be back in a few minutes to run some tests, Peter.” She nodded at him with a soft smile before turning toward the door and making her way out.
Peter’s gaze turned back to Tony. “I’m fine, I promise.”
“I know, I just- I thought I’d lost you, Pete.” He ran a hand over his face, sighing. “Bruce and I ran some tests on that cider you drank, and... I’ll be honest with you, kid, you shouldn’t have survived. But lucky for you, your healing factor was fighting it from the beginning.”
“Oh...” His eyes dropped. “How long- Um, how long was I out?”
“About eighteen hours.”
Peter’s eyes widened. Eighteen hours?! How had he been out for that long? Sure, his healing factor worked better while he was sleeping, but it never knocked him out for nearly that long before. So it must’ve been really really bad. Even Tony had said he shouldn’t have survived it. Then his mind toyed with the idea of Tony having drank the tampered drink, too. Oh, he didn’t like that. Not at all. He couldn’t even imagine...
“I- Mister Stark? Did you... Was your drink poisoned, too?”
Tony didn’t answer immediately, his gaze falling to the floor for a moment before it found Peter again. “Yeah. It was.” He paused. “I’m assuming whoever did this was going after me, but they obviously didn’t care if you died too as collateral damage.” His voice wavered. “And I don’t know what I’d do if...”
“Mr. Stark...” Peter sat up slightly in his bed, his face scrunching for a moment as he felt a slight pain shift through his body. “You couldn’t have known.”
“But I should’ve. I should’ve had better security and been more diligent on checking the staff, because I could’ve lost you, Pete. And I couldn’t live with myself knowing I could’ve stopped it.” His tone was becoming feverish as he stood from his seat.
Peter felt his heart skip a beat at Tony’s words. He almost felt... guilty. But it wasn’t exactly his fault, was it? Should he have been able to sense that the drinks were spiked sooner?
“I’m sorry...”
“Kid, you don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“I didn’t even sense anything was wrong until I’d already taken a drink... I should’ve-“
“Pete,” Tony cut him off, sitting himself on the edge of the bed. “None of this is on you. It’s on me.”
“Mr. Stark, I don’t blame you.”
“I know, kid. But I do. I should’ve made sure you’d be safer.”
“But it was a party. Usually those are pretty safe.”
“This one apparently wasn’t. But I’m gonna make sure that never happens again.”
“But I’m fine. You didn’t actually have anything to worry about.” Peter shrugged.
“I’m always gonna worry about you. You’re my kid, Pete. If something were to happen to you on my watch, that’d be on me for the rest of my life.”
His kid? Tony thought of him as his kid. Peter felt his cheeks warm at the concept, but in the best way possible. And it wasn’t exactly like Tony was his dad. But he was the closest thing Peter had to one. And now Tony had told Peter that he was his kid.
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. Not anymore,” Tony continued.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s alright, Pete. I’m just glad that you’re okay. You feeling any better, by the way? Helen said you’d have one hell of a headache when you woke up.”
“Well she definitely wasn’t wrong about that.” Peter chuckled, rubbing the side of his head. “But I’m feeling a bit better now.”
“Good.” He reached up to tousle the teenager’s curls, a soft smile playing on his face. “Now rest up, kiddo. We’ve got some time in the lab to make up for tomorrow, if you’re still up to it.”
“Yeah, of course!”
“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about that homework you didn’t finish, either.”
“That you wouldn’t let me finish,” Peter reminded him with a smirk. Tony returned it with one of his own.
“I think that poison’s obviously gone to your head. You’re making stuff up now.”
“Mr Stark!” Peter’s face turned to feigned offense, inciting laughter from his mentor.
“Get some rest, kid. I’ll see you in a bit.”
And so he happily did, knowing that Tony would be there for him no matter what. Knowing that he was his kid.