Chapter Text
The air was still in New York, and Peter could not be more salty about it. He had been out in his sweaty hoodie and joggers(really, why did he think that was good fabric for crime fighting?) for two hours, and not a single criminal had popped up in Queens. Sure he could hear mild fights, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved by the time he got there. He had even gone so far as to check the police scanners, which he usually didn’t do because he wasn’t totally sure it was legal, but he figured vigilantism wasn’t legal either so there was really no use in trying not to break a minor law at this point. He was about ready to call it quits.
‘ Maybe I’ll just do a lap to make sure I’m not missing anything ’ He thought, no harm in doing one last swing around, May didn’t get home for another three hours.
Peter jumped up from his place on the roof of the daily bugle building, flipping off the edge and letting himself free fall for a second or two before shooting a web at the side of the building across from him.
It had taken almost another hour to finish his lap, and still, nothing had popped up. Peter knew he should be relieved that the crime rate was going down, maybe even a little proud! But today had been shitty and he was really hoping to de-stress for a while.
‘ I bet Tony Stark doesn’t have to wait around for criminals, his are nice enough to get straight to the point. ’
As if the universe was responding to his thoughts, an explosion sounded from a few streets over. Peter perked up, focusing his hearing, trying to sort through the sounds of the city to find a clue about what was happening. A smile growing on his face, he shot off another web, changing course to the source of the noise.
“Hope you’re happy, you screwed us out of a deal!” The man shouted at his partner as Peter creeped closer. “He would’ve bought more if he wasn’t scared that the cops were gonna show up. You know we don’t fire shit off out in the open like this!” He gestured to the strange, glowing weapons in the back of their truck.
Peter settled on a tree off to the side of the conversation.
“I made a mistake, it happens.” The other man responded.
“Not in this line of work. You make a mistake, you get caught or killed. If you’re lucky, you get a second chance.”
“Nobody’s that lucky.”
The second man finished packing up the weapons and slammed the back doors closed, the unexpected noise making Peter startle.
“The hell was that?” The first guy questioned.
“Probably a racoon or something, let’s get outta here.”
Before they could get into the van, Peter jumped onto the street below him, shooting a web from each wrist at the men.
He webbed them to the back of the van, swallowing his nerves.
He’d only been spiderman for five months, but this was the first time he’d had to interrogate someone.
‘ I hope I’m not getting in over my head ’
~
Peter was so in over his head. The goons had led him to a warehouse and now he wasn’t in it, he was under it. He wished he meant that in a cool secret-bunker way, but no, the warehouse had collapsed.
“Please, somebody help!” He cried, “Please, I’m down here!” His mouth was full of dust, and blood, and tears, his muscles ached for relief. Peter was officially panicking. His worst fear was coming true, he was letting down his hero. The Vulture had revealed his plans, how he was going to raid the Avengers plane.
Peter was going to die here, covered in an air of failure. He was going to let the bad guys get away, but Spider-Man? Spider-Man might just make it out.
~
The Vulture was tied up, and May was due home before Peter would make it into bed. His head was throbbing, as were most of his other body parts. He didn’t know how he was going to get home, he definitely had a concussion, and he probably couldn’t count his broken bones if he tried. God, he wished Ned was here. Ned would know what to do.
Peter pulled his brain together just enough to leave a note, the pen and pad of paper he kept in a protected pocket somehow mostly untouched.
He could feel his consciousness fading, he wasn’t going to make it home.
~
The room was a faded blue. That was the first thing Peter noticed when his eyes opened. The second thing was that it was light out. Aunt May was going to be so pissed. The beeping of his heart monitor sped up, each pip of the machine making his head pound harder. The door opened swiftly, revealing a young looking woman with her hair tied in a messy ponytail.
“Hey, hey!” She whispered calmly but urgently. “You’re okay, your identity is safe, but I need you to calm down.” She led him through a breathing exercise, hoping she wouldn’t have to sedate him.
“Who are you?” Peter asked once he had his breath back.
“I’m Dr. Cho, I’ve been taking care of you while you’ve been here.”
Setting aside the fact that he was being treated by THE Helen Cho, Peter asked his next question.
“Right, and where is ‘here’?”
“We’re in upstate New York, in a private hospital.” She explained, “I’ve been asked not to tell you much more about where we are until my... colleague gets here, he should be here in a minute. He asked me to tell him if you changed or woke up.”
“I’m assuming you won’t tell me who your ‘colleague’ is, then?”
“I’m afraid he asked me to wait until he’s here for that too.” She gave a soft smile to the boy in her hospital bed, even though she wanted to yell at him for how stupid he was a little bit. Honestly, going after a super villain? This kid couldn’t be more than fifteen.
There was a pause in the conversation, Peter was trying to figure out his next question while also trying not to have a panic attack. Not an easy task.
“Do you know who I am?”
“I know that you’re Spider-Man, I haven’t been told anything about your identity and I’m willing to bet that the only person aware of your name is my colleague.”
Peter let out a sigh of relief at that.
“I’m afraid to ask, but how long have I been out?”
“About twelve hours, you heal very fast.”
Aunt May is going to kill him, he’s dead .
“I am so dead.” Peter declared, leaning his head back and closing his eyes for a moment.
“Not dead, I checked.” A new voice said, startling Peter into opening his eyes.
‘ Holy shit! ’
“Yeah, pretty sure that’s my line.”
Tony Fucking Stark.
Peter’s mouth opened and closed like a fish before deciding on something to say to the man leaning in the doorway.
“Are you sure I’m not dead? I might be dead-no, I’m definitely dead. What the fuck? ”
“I mean you should be dead based on your injuries, first off- what the hell ? How are you not dead?”
“Still questioning if I am or not, but go on.”
“Second off, hi, I’m Tony.”
Peter glanced at the beeping heart monitor, just to check.
“I’m assuming you know my name?” Peter wondered, testing the waters of how screwed he was.
“Again, usually that’s my line. But yes, I do know your name. You mind if I share with the class?” Tony gestured to Dr. cho.
“Yeah, I mean if you think she’s safe to tell, I guess you can go ahead.” Peter honestly had about half of a working brain cell right now due to various reasons, but he mostly trusted Mr. Stark because the man kept secret identities every day, surely he knew who was safe to tell.
“Peter Parker, fifteen, from Queens, somehow top of his class at midtown tech, which he’s going to on a scholarship, while moonlighting as a vigilante. I gotta say, that’s pretty impressive.”
‘ Ned is gonna freak’
“Thank you, Mr. Stark. But I have to ask, are you going to tell my aunt?” There was a pause, Peter closed his eyes, bracing for whatever answer he was going to get.
“Maybe.” He answered, Helen’s eyes flashed a warning at the man before he continued, “I’ll make you a deal, you get some actual training, and as long as you’re not in danger, I’ll keep your secret.”
“You will?”
“You did kinda stop a super villain from stealing highly sensitive information and super dangerous weapons, so I think I owe you one.”
Peter’s face fell with realization.
“Mr. Stark, thank you, really, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to get training for being a vigilante. It’s not like there’s classes for that kind of stuff.”
“Well,” Tony started, “I happen to know a few superheroes who could teach you a thing or two.”
~
Tony had told Aunt May that Peter was mugged and that the mugger tried to drug him, meaning they had to keep him at the avengers compound long enough for the drug to leave his system, which was long enough for his body to heal enough to be usable. Tony had just happened to be walking by when this was going down, and was worried for the kid, so he brought him to the compound to give him medical care, completely on him of course.
-Happy’s outside, stealing you for a lab day.
-Already cleared it with May
Peter would never get used to being texted by Tony Fucking Stark. It had been a month since the incident with The Vulture and Tony had taken Peter under his wing. He had spent about a week in total in Tony’s personal lab, which was awesome to say the least, and they were starting training with a few avengers this week, now that Peter was fully healed.
-On my way, see you soon Mr. Stark!
True to Tony’s word, Happy was waiting outside the school for Peter when he left the campus.
“Hey kid.”
“Hi Happy! How’s your day going?” The driver wasn’t always the most talkative, but Peter always made an effort to be nice.
“Okay, besides the avengers being in town. You know how many trips I’ve made to grab snacks today? What about you, school going good?”
“Had a Spanish test today, but I think I’m getting better at it. Other than that it was pretty good, mostly just a normal day.”
Most of the rest of the car ride was spent in relative silence, with Peter working on homework and Happy tapping along to the music playing on the radio.
“Your stop, kid.” Happy announced.
“Man, this trip seems shorter every time we make it.” Peter mumbled, gathering his things and getting out of the car. “Thanks Happy, have a good day!”