Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Beta reader: the1001thmagician

And back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Peter was gone.

One day he and Tony were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching Star Wars and laughing after twelve straight hours in the lab, and the next a giant cyclone of multiversal creatures showed up that somehow led to Peter not coming home. Tony had tried to call him, to ask him where he was, but his contact wasn't in his phone, and when he dialed the number it was out of service. He asked FRIDAY what was going on, but she said there was no mention of a "Peter Parker" in her database.

"What about 'Peter Stark'? That's what he's titled as in the documents." The documents he hadn't shown Peter because he was too scared. The ones naming him as Tony's heir. The ones finalizing his adoption.

"Yes. That name is everywhere. However, there are many gaps in those documents as well."

What the hell?

"Run a Spider-Man biometrics test."

FRIDAY paused at the abrupt command. "Spider-Man does not seem to be currently in the suit. However, there has been three stopped robberies in the past twenty-four hours in which he was present."

What. The. Hell?

"Where was the last one?"

"TD Bank on Metropolitan Avenue and 80th street. That was well over an hour ago, however."

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's only a few miles away. I guess — or at least, hope — that he chose today to be a regular teenager and take his sweet time coming home. Prepare a suit and tell me if there's any more sightings as they happen."

"Of course sir."

Chapter Text

Tony ran toward his lab, almost immediately knocking into Pepper on his way.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked, brushing herself off and trying to kiss him. She failed as he was already continuing to his lab.

"Peter. He didn't come home last night and he somehow isn't in FRIDAY's database anymore, so I'm going to find him."

This puzzled her. "Peter? Who's that?"

This stopped him in his tracks. "Peter. The kid we've practically adopted? Spider-Man?"

"You knew Spider-Man's identity and didn't tell me?"

"I didn't have to. He told you himself!"

"I honestly don't know who you're talking about, Tony."

How is she messing around at a time like this? I just told her our kid's missing! Tony thought. He studied her face. Her eyebrows were knotted together, her lips tight in a frown. She didn't look like she was kidding, but what other explanation was there?

He drew in a shaking breath. "I can't deal with these jokes, Pep. I need to go find him."

She seemed to be studying his face in return. "I'm not joking. Are you? Who are you talking about?"

"Peter Benjamin Parker, soon to become Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark? The kid I spend hours in the lab with? The entire reason I invented time travel?!"

"No, that's not right. You invented time travel because…" a flash of recognition showed in her eyes. "Peter! I don't understand what was happening there, my mind just completely drew a blank!" Tony exhaled hard in relief and leaned back on his heels. She looked up at him. "Well, what are you standing there for? Go get him!"

Tony ran through the lab door where an Iron Man suit was already ready to go. He climbed in and started toward a window, FRIDAY triggering it to open just in time as he blasted off.

"Any more sightings?" he asked.

"Nothing since the bank," FRIDAY responded, so Tony set a course towards there. He heard sirens, seeing the red and blue police lights in the distance as hope bloomed in his chest. It was odd that the police were still present nearly two hours later, but if they were there, there was a chance Peter would've stuck around to talk to them. As Tony got closer, however, he realized he couldn't be that lucky. His hope quickly withered, as the red-and-blue vigilante was nowhere to be found.

Tony tried Delmar's, but Mr. Delmar didn't even recognize Peter's name. Tony, in an attempt to not implode, thanked him politely, abruptly turned around, and walked right out of the shop. His next stop was Happy's apartment, or what was left of it.

Tony landed in front of the ruins and caution tape to see the gruff man off to the side, speaking to the firemen. He spotted him and finished off the conversation fast to talk to Tony. "What's going on?" he asked, irritation apparent in his tone.

Tony cut right to the chase. "Have you seen Peter?"

Happy's eyebrows furrowed. "Peter? Who the hell is that?" He didn't wait for Tony to answer. "Y'know, I don't have time to deal with your shit. I'm the SI head of security, not your personal assistant. If you're looking for this Peter guy, you can look for him yourself."

Tony ignored him, pressing on. "Peter Parker. Spider-Man."

Happy tilted his head, his irritation pushed back and confusion noticeable in his voice. "Spider-Man? I've worked with him, yeah, but he never took his mask off."

Tony groaned. "Yes, he has. You've known who he was since Germany."

"No, I haven't, Tony."

"Then who've you been driving to and from Midtown Tech almost every day for years? Because if you don't know Peter, then I'm really concerned about how he gets there all the time. I've only driven him a few times myself."

Happy's brows furrowed once more. "Peter! I genuinely couldn't remember who he was for a hot second there. No, I haven't seen Peter in a couple days. Why? Is he okay?" His tone morphed into worry. Even if he was agitated by Peter's constant rambling, he still cared for the kid.

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. "He didn't come home last night and FRIDAY's systems must be glitching. First she didn't know who he was when I asked her about him." He paused for a moment, breathing in slightly. "And now she can't find him, so I'm searching."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"If you see a red-and-blue-clad spider-child swinging around the city or a curly-haired geek creating a new element, tie him down and give me a call."

"Of course."

Tony thanked him, quickly but sincerely, and started towards Ned's home. He arrived to the residence and knocked on the door for it to be answered by an elderly woman.

"Hello, I'm looking for Ned Leeds. Is he here?" Tony tried to look past her into the apartment, but didn't see anyone, just a meticulously tidy living room.

She just stood there and stared for a moment, processing the fact that Tony Stark was at her doorstep and asking for her child. "Ned?"

"Yes, Ned. Dark hair, nerdy?"

"Not here right now."

"Okay, well, thank you." Tony turned and walked right back down the steps, the old woman still staring as he left, increasingly anxious for Peter. Just as he stepped back into the suit he got a call. He didn't check the caller ID, just rushed to answer it.

"Hello?"

"I found webbing. A lot of it."

"Happy! Great! Where is it?"

"At Midtown. I had a hunch and came down here. I was right. I didn't see him but this is definitely his mess."

"Don't move. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Tony turned and rocketed to Midtown High School as he scanned for his kid.

Chapter Text

"FRIDAY, pull the Midtown Tech security footage from the past hour to about 20 minutes ago." Tony touched down outside the school, opening his mask and running, awkward and stumbling in the metal suit but managing not to fall, toward the overhang where Happy stood.

Happy gestured to the opposite side of the overhang. "See?" There hung several strands of synthetic webbing, entwined as if someone had knotted them together, nearly see-through in the light. In that moment, Tony felt like those strands were all that held him together.

He walked up to them and tugged at them lightly. When they held fast, he put a little more weight on them and they refused to break once again. He sighed in relief. "Yep, these are his, alright."

"So what's the next step?" Happy asked, following Tony to where he stood.

"We analyze the footage FRIDAY gets and go from there." He turned to Happy. "By the way, thank you. I don't know what's gotten into Peter. Usually, he'd never just disappear without telling me. He'd at least let Karen relay his vitals, but FRIDAY says he's not in the suit."

Happy cocked an eyebrow. "How isn't he in the suit when he's been stopping robberies and leaving his webs all over the place?"

"I don't know." Then FRIDAY's voice chimed in from Tony's phone, saying that the footage was acquired. "But we will in a second." He told her to play the video as it projected onto the high school wall. It showed a sped-up replay from the various cameras both inside and outside of the school. At the twenty-minute mark the two spotted a flash of red rapidly moving—or rather, swinging—into the frame containing the overhang. The figure stumbled, almost falling, but two strands of white shot from their wrists to hold them up. The figure was momentarily entangled as those two webs twisted with the two webs they swung in on. They freed themself, opened the school doors a crack, and slid inside.

Once inside, the figure paused, giving Tony and Happy a moment to see them better. They were wearing a red-and-blue sweatsuit and goggles. "That's Peter's old costume! I thought he threw that out," Tony said.

Happy looked closer. "I assumed you'd kept it."

"Why?"

"You're sentimental."

"No, I'm not! I just love my kid." In the projection, the figure the two had decided had to be Peter started moving again, turning down a hallway. The camera shifted again to show him sliding to a stop by a locker. He spun the lock, opened it, took something off the inner door, and shifted some items in the bottom around to grab something that the camera couldn't properly view. Then, he ran out as quickly as he'd run in. The timestamp showed that he'd left ten minutes before Happy had shown up. The outside camera showed him turn right and swing away.

"FRI, what'd he take from that locker?" Tony asked the AI, voice hard, similar to how it would be when he was partway through completing a difficult equation, but didn't have all of the information necessary.

The feed rewound to the particular frame where Peter had grabbed the item, zooming in. "The item he acquired from the door appears to be a photograph of MJ Watson and Ned Leeds. The space between them is blurred. The item from the floor of the locker seems to be a knit sweater or cardigan of some sort," FRIDAY explained.

"I understand the photo, but why the sweater?" Tony asked, mostly to himself.

Happy froze for a moment, eyes locked upon the blurry image, breath hitched, before he spoke. "I—" he took a deep breath. "I think I know where he's going."