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“I want to start off this conversation with it’s not my fault.” Peter said into the phone as he walked into his and May’s apartment. He knew the man on the other end wouldn’t believe him, but he figured it was worth a shot.
“Peter—“
“IT’S NOT!” Peter said louder causing May to glance over from where she was sitting on the couch folding laundry.
“I’m exhausted. I just landed in Japan. My body is on a different time zone. Peter Benjamin Parker if you don’t get to the point.” Tony threatened the teenager on the phone as he scanned the key to enter his hotel room.
“It was an accident.” Peter switched tactics quickly hearing the irritation in his father figure’s voice.
“Peter. I’m not getting less frustrated the more you stall. I promise I will hang up this phone and call Happy to get a straight story about what’s going on if you don’t just tell me yourself. You called me so you knew you needed to tell me so just tell me.” Tony opened up his suitcase and started hanging up suits in the closest while they talked and pulling out stuff that he would need that day.
“Please don’t be mad.” Peter sat down next to May who was now frowning at him. She rubbed his shoulder in support.
“I’m calling Happy.” Tony hung up the phone from the stalling teenager and dialed his friend’s number.
~
“Aren’t you sleep deprived? Oh. Wait. I forgot you don’t sleep.” Happy teased as he answered.
“What’s going on with the kid?” Tony cut to the chase.
“He hasn’t called me.” Happy seemed confused.
“No Spider-Man problems? NO injuries?”
“He hasn’t called me, Tony. IF he’s hurt—He hasn’t asked for help.” Happy was already grabbing his keys knowing that Tony wasn’t going to calm down until they knew the kid wasn’t hurt. If Happy was a little worried himself then there is nothing weird about that.
~
“I’m calling him back.” Tony hung up again and dialed Peter’s number.
“You hung up on me!” Peter answered.
“I was trying to figure out what was going on. You never want to just come right out and say it. Happy doesn’t know either. What did Spider-Man do? Are you hurt? Do I need to turn around and come home?” Tony was starting to panic. It was no longer frustration in his voice that Peter heard—It was fear.
“Don’t come home!” Peter yelled.
“Fine. School, Spider-Man or Peter?” Tony asked the kid sitting down on the couch in his suite knowing this was going to be a long talk.
“Peter.” He finally answered honestly.
“Odd. I would have gone for school or Spider-Man first.” Tony grabbed the room service menu. He knew it was late morning but his body thought it was a late night snack time.
“You’re never going to want to speak to me again.” Peter went to his bedroom and laid on his bed.
“Have we not had the talk about you not being able to get rid of me that easily? I don’t know about you kid, but I’m pretty attached at this point.” Tony teased but when he heard a watery laugh on the other end he knew Peter was really worried.
“Bubba. It’s fine. Everything will be fine. Broke something in the lab? Took something you shouldn’t have? Hacked the suit?” Tony didn’t know what the kid thought was this awful that Tony would walk away and never talk to him again.
“I realized this morning I forgot a paper I had printed in your office so I decided to go there before school. I knew you were gone and on a plane so I didn’t call. Friday let me in.” Peter finally started his story.
“Peter, it’s fine. You know that you have access to the tower.” Tony didn’t know why the kid was so worried about going there without permission.
“I’m not finished. I grabbed my paper but then thought that I had enough time to go to the lab and make some web fluid before school.”
“Did you skip school? I swear to Thor, Peter. IF you skipped school to make web fluid then I’m taking the suit for a few days.” Tony warned.
“You interrupt a lot for someone who wanted me to get to the point just before.” Peter’s stomach growled.
“I heard that. Should I order you food?” Tony was already pulling up the information for pizza to be delivered.
“No. I can’t eat. I don’t deserve it.”
“Finish your story.” Tony heard a knock at the door and went to go get his food.
“I was making some web fluid and it seemed odd so I got in the suit to test it. I aimed and I was going to just send it to the wall. It would dissolve in two hours so no big deal, right?” Peter got under his blue comforter and snuggled close to his Spider-Man bear Tony had given him as a joke that he secretly loved.
“It didn’t dissolve and now there is a mess on my wall?” Tony grabbed a handful of fries to eat while they talked.
“Nope. Worse.” Peter cringed, “I heard a noise and I turned for a second distracted. I shot the web while I wasn’t paying attention and I hit Dum-E.”
Tony dropped the fries back onto the plate, “But it dissolved and Dum-E is fine, right?”
“Um. My web shooter must have been programmed to the taser web. I think I killed Dum-E.” Peter said to the now silent phone.
No joking. NO reassurance. The line remained silent.
Peter kept waiting for a response but all of a sudden his phone beeped and let him know the call was gone. Peter felt tears well up in his eyes. He had known this would be bad.
~
“I don’t know what happened. I know he was on the phone with Tony. I know they were talking about something tough because Peter was trying to avoid it, but then he went to his room and I don’t know the rest. All I know is I went to check on him and he told me Tony hates him now and he doesn’t want to go to school tomorrow.” May explained as she pulled Happy down the hall toward Peter’s room.
“That doesn’t make sense. Tony loves that kid.” Happy knocked on Peter’s door.
“Go away. I don’t have anything to live for. I’m a horrible person and he hates me.” Peter yelled.
“Doubt it.” Happy responded opening the door.
“Go away, Happy.” Peter said even though his mouth was muffled against the bear he clutched to himself.
“He doesn’t hate you. Come on. Get up. We’re leaving.” Happy threw clothes from Peter’s dresser at him.
“Where are we going?” Peter grabbed the clothes sitting up.
“Japan.” Happy sighed knowing it was the only way.
~
By the time they landed in Japan and made it to the hotel Tony was staying at Peter suddenly felt bad for keeping his father figure on the phone. The only thing Peter wanted was a shower and a bed. He watched as Happy got them keys to a room but got distracted when he saw Tony walk into the lobby.
Tony saw Peter at the same time and headed his way, “You should be in school.”
“Happy dragged me out of bed and technically I already missed school. We’re in a different time zone, remember?” Peter tried to hold back a yawn but it escaped.
“Listen about last night—“
“—It’s okay. I hate me too.” Peter looked at his feet.
“Hate you? Peter Parker. No. I don’t hate you. My phone died and then I plugged it in and went to shower. I figured I’d call you back as soon as I got out but I fell asleep.” Tony saw Happy give him a look that said, ‘you got this’ to which he gave a small nod.
“You fell asleep? You don’t hate me? But I may have killed Dum-E!” Peter said louder than planned.
Tony rolled his eyes, “And we can rebuild Dum-E if we need to. Can I build another Peter?”
“You love Dum-E though…”
“Can I build another Peter Parker?” Tony asked again more firmly.
“No. You can’t.” Peter finally answered.
“Whatever happened to Dum-E we’ll solve when we land back in New York. Let me tell you in person this time, there is nothing you can do, break, or mess up that will make me hate you. Everything is always figure-out-able.” Tony pulled the stressed out teenager into a hug.
Peter sighed in relief, “I’ll be more careful next time.”
“I believe you. I also know you’ll make more mistakes. It’s a part of life and growing. I just want you to do what you did this time. Talk to me about them. I don’t want you stressing yourself out this bad over something we can solve together.” Tony motioned Happy over.
“The kid needs a shower, some food, and a lot of sleep.”
“You’ve got it, Boss.”