Work Text:
He woke slowly. There was a faint humming coming from somewhere in the room but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Squinting into the darkness, Peter groaned quietly. A voice rang out from the hallway but he took no notice and tried to go back to sleep. Then, his door opened.
"Kid? You awake?" Tony asked carefully, but there was something else within his voice that Peter couldn't place. He lifted his head and grunted softly. "How're you feeling?"
"Alright," Peter managed to say before clearing his throat and rolling onto his back. Staring up at the ceiling, he waited for Tony to say something, especially as the events that landed him in the Tower came back to him. And the faint scent of smoke only confirmed what he thought had happened last night.
"Can we talk?" Tony's words sent a small shiver down Peter's neck as he nodded bluntly. "Once you're awake, of course," he added. Of course, Peter echoed in his mind. The door clicked shut; Peter rolled back over and stared at where the man had been standing. And, as he lay there, Peter could imagine the entire conversation before it had even happened.
Slowly, he hauled himself out of bed and strained his ears for any kind of movement, but, with the rest of the team halfway across the world (or hiding out in a bunker), the Tower was too quiet. Peter had begun to make the point that he was avoiding the graveyard as much as possible, but, of course (he smiled a little) Tony didn't catch on. Forgotten pyjama trousers were crumpled on the floor; Peter tugged them on and traced the new scar on his leg.
He wasn't lying when he told himself that last night was blurry. Peter remembered his plan that was spread out across a corkboard in Matt's (Murdock) office and the traditional, red string that connected foggy photos and names. He could see himself swinging through the streets of New York, nearing the river with each web he shot out, and then (once he reached an awkward and squat building) it went blank. Maybe he hit his head, Peter reasoned and sighed quietly. Scrubbing at his eyes, he stood up and made a point to ignore the slight dizziness that came over him.
Tony was waiting for him in the main room that was once a hub of activity. He was standing alone with a video playing on a glass tablet in front of him.
The A.I. the man had built spoke up, saying, "Boss, Mr. Parker is here." Then, as if he'd been awoken himself, Tony jolted. Peter stayed a few metres away and resisted the urge to cross his arms.
"Peter." Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, pausing the video he had been watching. "Last night made me rethink some things." Peter's eyebrows raised slightly. "When I took the suit away from you after the ferry, it was because of some foolish decisions that you had made, and a severe lack of understanding towards the gravity of the situation you were dealing with." Tony looked back down at the tablet. "I thought you had matured," he muttered and Peter froze.
"Matured?" he spat out, more forcefully than he'd intended and hid his own surprise quickly. Tony peered at him, tracing his face intently.
He said: "Launching yourself into the middle of a gang war was irresponsible. And, from what your suit recorded, your approach towards handling your idiocy was to joke your way through it."
"Recording? What?" Peter spluttered out, shaking his head a little. "What the hell are you talking about?" Tony just looked at him.
"You really think I gave a multi-million dollar suit to a fifteen-year-old and didn't put in some safeguarding?" Peter's eyes widened slightly.
"You mean to tell me that you've been spying on me?" he blurted out. Tony huffed loudly.
"Clearly you needed it. If I hadn't been alerted to your…location, last night, then I don't think you'd be sleeping off your injuries," Tony replied with a sneer. "But sure, call it spying." Peter straightened his back.
"I can handle myself. I gain connections by being a vigilante that you don't. There were two guys I knew a few streets away who would've been more than capable of helping me, had I called them. But guess what, Tony?"
"What?" the man spat out. Peter took in a sharp breath and said,
"I didn't call them. Because I know what I can handle and I know what I can't. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Because you just swoop in every few months, tell me I need to help you guys out, and…oh wait. Where are they now? You don't even have them on your side anymore." As he was speaking, Tony's face was slowly growing a strange shade of red, but Peter didn't care anymore. "You don't get to just use me for whatever dirty work you need doing, and then pretend to 'parent me' when I don't play to your cards. News flash, Tony, I'm not fifteen anymore!"
"Really? You sure are acting like it."
"You think it's childish for someone to critique you?" Peter breathed hard, his heart pounding beneath his skin. "It's like the same thing repeated over and over again. Yeah, I didn't have the ferry handled, but guess what! I crashed that plane; I stopped the Vulture. I've been tracking this stupid gang for weeks!" Peter was shouting now. "You just see me as some pathetic kid you can groom into being your fucking minion!"
"Really. That's what you see in this?"
"No. It's not what I see. It's what everyone else has been looking at for years! They've been sitting on their suspicions until they thought I could handle the Goddamn truth," Peter spat out. "You fucking brainwashed me! You dragged me into a fucking war! Even into space!"
"That was entirely on you," Tony growled out and Peter let out a spluttering laugh.
"Really? You think I would've gone into space had you not groomed me into being obsessed with you? You and all your shiny suits and money. Oh yeah, shove it in the face of the poor kid. I bet it made you feel good to know that you 'helped a poor, lost kid' out by forcing him to fight a war he didn't even understand." He took a breath. "At least I understood those gangs. At least I knew the information and what I was going up against."
"You're still hung up about those stupid Accords?" Tony asked with a loud laugh. Peter shook his head with a sneer.
"More so, the fact that you thought getting some dumb kid to fight for you would be easier than actually explaining what was going on. Those 'stupid Accords' were going to directly impact my life! Did you even think about that? Of course you didn't." Of course, Peter echoed once again. "This is fucking ridiculous." He began to turn away but Tony started talking again. Peter almost punched him.
"I want that suit back." Tony's request seemed to fall on deaf ears as Peter just stared at him. Then, he began to laugh. It started quietly but it wasn't long before he was almost doubled over and clutching at his aching side. "What the hell?"
"You want that stupid suit back? The one that has no armour in it? The one that has fucking cameras inside that you, coincidentally, didn't tell me about? Fuck!" He laughed again. "You really thought I still wanted that bullshit? Really? God, Tony! All those PhDs and you're still dumb as fuck." Tony furrowed his eyebrows, and a muscle by his jaw twitched as he stared at Peter. "You want the suit? Be my fucking guest! Hell, for all I care, take those Goddamn web shooters while you're at it! Do you want to know why?" Tony hesitated, chewing at his inner cheek before asking,
"Why?" Peter grinned gleefully with all his teeth on show. Tony felt a slight chill run down his back.
"Because we're done. Whatever you thought we 'had' doesn't fucking matter anymore. I don't want an apology; I won't apologise to you, I just want you out of my fucking life. Understand?" Peter barely waited for Tony to nod before leaving him standing completely alone in the living space.
His mind was racing, heart pounding, but there was a weight from his shoulders that had lifted.
Within five minutes, Peter had figured out what clothes in the drawers were his (Tony had a habit of 'clothing him') and shoved everything that he owned into an old backpack of his, and a duffel bag that he'd accidentally ripped a few years ago. His costume had been left on the floor after last night, and (alongside an old hoodie that Tony had given him), Peter shoved it into his bathroom bin without a second thought. Then, he pulled on a pair of baggy jeans and a hoodie and glanced over the room he'd passively occupied since he was fifteen years old. He'd assumed he would remember some fond memories but the image of Tony shouting at him dimmed anything that he could think of. So, he slammed the door shut and marched down the corridor towards the lift.
Tony was shouting something after him, but Peter didn't even acknowledge that the man might've been saying anything at all. He jabbed the right button and spared a single glance towards the man as the doors slid shut.
Breathing out slowly, Peter pressed his forehead against the cold walls of the lift. His head seemed to be throbbing slightly. Then, he felt the familiar weight of his web shooters that were still strapped around his wrists. There was a moment where he actually hesitated but he knew there was a small logo inside them that wasn't his so he pulled them off and dropped them. They hit the ground with a quiet thud. Peter stared down at what he had originally created, and Tony had taken. He crushed them a moment later, using barely an ounce of strength to do so and almost laughed at the symbolism. Was it really that easy to destroy a relationship, just like it was so easy to destroy everything that reminded him of Tony?
The doors slid open and Peter marched out into the lobby. For once, the metal detector didn't beep at him, and he stepped through the front doors. He looked back for the last time and kept walking into the crowds.
Peter didn't know why the rest of the Avengers (and miscellaneous characters) had packed up and left. He'd shown up one night for a lab session that Tony had insisted on him attending, and the living space was completely empty. But, as he lay on his bed a few days later, he could completely understand a possible reason for them splitting up, or 'going rogue' as Tony had described it at the time. The last he heard, Steve had moved out of state, leaving Bucky behind (to his surprise), Natasha had moved back across the Atlantic Ocean, and Banner had returned to his university. Peter assumed the rest of them had completely disappeared into daily civilian life. And he admitted that he'd pitied Tony at the time, but now, as he thought over a new design for his web shooters instead of getting his stuff together for work, he could picture what had actually happened quite clearly.
And this was only confirmed when his aunt knocked on the door with some unwanted news.
"Yeah?" he called out. May pushed the door ajar and gave him a weak smile. "What is it?"
"Tony called round," she began and Peter's face fell. He blurted out,
"I told him to leave me alone." May sighed. "I'm serious."
"I just think you should give him a chance."
"No. No way in hell. He had a chance three years ago," Peter replied stubbornly. "Can you-"
"This is your business," May pointed out carefully. "Tell him…tell him to leave you alone…again. It just…seems so abrupt." Peter finally looked at her properly and sighed at the confusion so clearly painted across her face. He scrubbed at his eyes and straightened his back.
"I'll explain at some point." She thanked him quietly. "But I just…don't want to see him."
"I can…sympathise." May's statement was so carefully said that Peter huffed quietly, cracking a slight smile. "Just say something, and then go to work and focus on something else."
"Bio-chemistry sounds much more interesting, and more useful, than this," he muttered but sat up completely and found a vest to put on. Why was he making himself presentable for this man? he asked himself, but May would say something if he wasn't at least clothed. Gritting his teeth, Peter followed his aunt out into the corridor and into the front room where Tony stood.
His eyes were rubbed raw, and his shirt wasn't ironed.
"Look, kid, I just-"
"I thought I told you I didn't want an apology or anything like that," Peter blurted out coolly. May glanced over at him but walked off before she said anything. "I just wanted you to leave me alone."
"I know, just give me a chance to explain."
"Explain what?" Peter asked, a sneer growing on his face. "How you manipulated me into fawning over you and fighting for you when I was just a child? Or something else?"
"Peter." Tony frowned at the teenager. "I wanted to give the suit back." Peter scoffed loudly and laughed. "I took out the cameras."
"Great, Tony. That's exactly what I wanted," Peter said sarcastically. "Why don't you pin that stupid thing up on your wall so you can look at it every time you feel bad, huh? I think that would be more beneficial for your sanity."
"You're not even letting me talk," Tony pointed out bitterly. Peter raised his eyebrows at him, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I thought I was meant to be the immature one. Oh, poor you! The consequences of your actions are catching up to you! Just like the Avengers, and now me. Have you figured out the common denominator yet?" Tony was silent, his jaw tightly clenched again. "You," Peter spat out. "Now, get out of my aunt's apartment."
"I'll-"
"Leave?" Peter supplied. "Good idea." Striding towards the door, he yanked it open and motioned for Tony to walk through. Dropping his head a little, the man complied silently. Once the door was shut, Peter breathed out heavily and glanced over to his aunt, who'd walked back into the living room with a strange expression on her face. But Peter spoke first, he said, "I told him to leave me alone." She nodded.
"I just…do you know what you're doing? I just worry-"
"Well, don't." Peter pressed his knuckles against his eyebrows and sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just…going to go to work."
May let him go without any protest, like he suspected she would, and he ignored everything that had happened recently while prepping the lab he worked at for a new round of experiments. As he strode around with racks of test tubes, Peter could feel a weight that had lifted from his shoulders. Tony had been an unpleasant side to his life for a while now, especially as he'd started to get more and more friendly with the other vigilantes of New York. Matt, in particular, had grown to be a key figure in revealing Tony's true motivations to the young man, and Peter couldn't wait to get out that night and tell him. But there was one problem.
He needed a new suit.