Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter was a little early to his class. Lunch had just been and he knew he needed to get out of there before Flash and his cronies would find him. One of the safest places to be was Mr. Harrington’s class and Peter knew the teacher would be there early eating his lunch. Peter barged into the classroom and sure enough there his homeroom teacher was situated, eating a salad and seemingly unphased at the young teen barging in.

“Hey Mr. Harrington?” Peter asks, before stepping forward. “Could I just talk to you for a sec?”

Mr. Harrington mumbled an affirmative around his food, and nodded his head to try and convey that Peter can come in. He motions for the student to close the door behind him and to sit down. As he swallows his bite of the salad he gives Peter a real smile and a greeting.

“What’s up, kid? What do you want to talk about?”

Peter sighed, shoulders hunched and suddenly the nerves started to creep up. At first it seemed like a good plan, Mr. Harrington told him he could always come to him if there was anything after his uncle died, but it didn’t help that he sucked at opening up to people.

“Nothing much, sir. I just- the whole thing is-” Peter took a deep breath while fiddling with his hands. “After everything happened, eating lunch in the lunch hall is… a lot. The noise, the lights – and it makes it difficult for me to eat and in turn it makes me dizzy so I guess I wanted to ask if there was any exception I would be able to get to eat my lunch elsewhere?” 

It was a half lie, it was mostly his Spidey senses that set him off, an added benefit would be being able to evade Flash’ taunts and jests. He would miss eating lunch with Ned, but his best friend encouraged him to seek a solution first. To just talk to Mr. Harrington for once. Peter only listened after MJ threatened him to just ask for the aid that he needed or she would do it, and that Ned would not be alone with her around. MJ didn’t know of his Spidey senses, but he guesses the overstimulation is linked enough to neurodivergency that she suspects he’s on the spectrum somewhere. She isn’t completely off either.

Peter’s head is tilted, and he hunches in on himself even further as he expects rejection. The opposite happens however as a hand lands on his and he looks up to his teacher. Mr. Harrington is smiling at him, softly, and gives him another encouraging nod as he finishes chewing on the food still in his mouth.

“Peter, it’s completely fine for you to feel that way. I’ll make it so you can eat lunch with me in this classroom for at least the next two or so weeks. Ned and MJ are also free to join you if they want to. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Peter swallowed. He had another thing to talk about, actually, but he had no idea how to bring it up. Instead he felt his emotions betray him and from the sheer relief of having his homeroom teacher actually listen to him and adjust something based on his needs. School had never felt safe, and it had gotten so much worse after he had been bitten by that radioactive spider. Then uncle Ben died, and then he got roped into going to Germany with Mr. Stark and his life had taken such a huge turn it was difficult to navigate it through the grief. May had to work twice as hard as well to make sure he could eat, and his larger appetite just made him feel guilty. His aunt had been nothing but supportive and accepting. A bit hesitant when she found out about the whole Spider-Man thing, but she tried to listen to him and they worked out a compromise.

As the first tear fell, Mr. Harrington dropped his fork to try and see what had happened, which emotion came with the tears and the hiccups. Peter instead just looked up and then quietly asked for a hug. His teacher gathered him into his arms in an instant and kept the pressure tight. Nothing had been tight enough to satisfy Peter since he gained his abilities, but this was the best he could get and he would savour it.

As Peter calmed down the warning bell rang that lunch would be over in five minutes and Peter scrambled to get himself ready and seemingly busy reading a book before the other students would come streaming in. Ned and MJ were the first. Ned sitting down beside him and MJ behind them. Ned just gave Peter a small smile and Peter in turn gave a thumbs up, whispering he would text Ned and MJ what had transpired later.

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

The next day he comes into school, Peter smiles at Mr. Harrington during homeroom, and is then off to his advanced physics class. He has the class with Ned, and regrettably Flash, but with their current seating plan that should not pose an issue.

Wishful thinking. 

For an experiment they were shuffled around and Flash was positioned on the long table behind Peter. He did his best to try and shove Peter as much as he could, and he kept up his taunts. Peter really had to hold back from not letting out a snarky remark, aware that the consequent beating after school would not be worth the small victory in the end. Peter was trying to focus back on the task at hand as well as on helping his lab partner out. It was one of the girls he could barely remember the names of. She belonged to one of the friend groups that stayed mostly to themselves and on the outskirts of the school’s social bubble. Peter only knew she was part of the group that always hung around the theatre department, and that MJ had talked about her once or twice as she was a part of the tech squad. 

The lesson went by almost like any other lesson where Flash would be close to him, until the very end when the bell rang and Peter hung up his lab coat, glasses and gathered his bag. The second he is out the door to head towards history he gets pushed over, and his books fly through the hallway.

“Watch where you’re walking, Penis.”

Flash spit close to where his hands were and Peter could feel his Spidey sense fly up for the second time in two minutes as a kick to his thigh is slightly too well placed. 

That was going to bruise.

Chapter Text

He grabs the first aid kid, finds the ointment Bruce had handed him to calm the way his bruising changes with his enhanced healing and as he takes a good look in the mirror he can see that his split lip had already faded. 

And he had yet to go out on patrol. 

As he goes through the motions of cleaning his wound, and eyes the nasty bruise splayed over the side of his stomach he takes a deep sigh. It hurts, but he breathes through it as he presses on it to try and see how much damage he had sustained, and if it was any worse than what it looked like superficially. 

It didn’t seem like it was, which was good. Yet he still worried a little bit as this was a step up from what Flash had pulled before and getting dragged and cornered to the small bike shed surely could not spell anything good for the future. He had to deal with it. Rather him and his quick healing than anyone else. Rather him than Ned. 

He could hypothetically beat Flash into the next semester, but it wouldn’t solve anything. The bully would just put his aim on someone else. Spider-Man (and therefore Peter) also did not approve of using such extreme violence without a proper cause and if this kept Flash placated and only focused on him, he would take it. He could take it. 

Sticking up for the little guy, because who else would? None of the teachers in that shithole of a school.

May couldn’t know either, he’s there on a scholarship and this is the easiest way for them to make do. He can’t be an even bigger nuisance to her, he is bothering her enough having to make her deal with her adopted nephew always getting into trouble to the point of being bitten by a spider and gaining superpowers. Only you, Peter, only fucking you.

He also had yet to talk to Mr. Harrington about the internship papers and if they had been received correctly. He had felt nervous bringing it up, but Mr. Stark had asked him to double check that everything had been in order to make sure he would receive his extra credits and his absence of leave.

One step at a time, Peter. He had to find food and eat first, maybe he could stop by Delmar’s on the corner as Spider-Man. He often felt bad about it, but he knew he could get a free sandwich and it helped his aunt out immensely when it came to feeding him and the money she earned - even with the amount of overtime she has been putting in recently. Somewhere Peter had a feeling it was because May had heard Mr. Stark’s offer to help out and it fuelled her to work harder. She never liked taking offers from others, let alone large sums of money. She struggled to take the five dollars from Peter when he had run a small side job as a paperboy. Even though she had needed the physical cash to be able to pay for the laundromat around the corner, as the machines in their building had broken down once again.

Eating on patrol it was. He knew he would get free food from people.

It would help his aunt in the end.

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

Patrol had been boring, and for once he was in bed at 2, just in time to avoid one of the largest downpours the city had seen in ages. It was grimy and disgusting out and between all of the apartment complexes in Queens it seemed that life had come to a stand still. The rain the only moving thing as some poor buggers were still out tightening their coats around them. Peter had helped a stray cat get to a shelter, brought a blanket to a homeless guy under a bridge, alongside a sandwich, before he shivered himself and cursed his poor regulation. Peter decided it would be best for him to head back. With so few people out on the street, no signal from the police of anything really happening and his spidey-sense staying ridiculously calm he almost wondered if it was just the quiet before the inevitable storm. 

New York City and quiet did not go well together. Not through a torrential downpour, not through a hypothetical tornado. If there was one thing this city did it was keep going, keep spinning and always being busy. There was always someone, somewhere who had some evil up their sleeve and unless they had all been put under a spell it should not be this quiet out. 

Peter just sighed in resignation as he crawled back in through his bedroom window, took off his suit and jumped in the shower for a second to try and heat up his fried nerves. His hands and toes were tingling when they touched the warm water, but Peter just sighed in relief at feeling the sensations run back into his limbs. He knew May wasn’t the biggest fan of his - albeit short - night showers, but also preferred her nephew to be warm and safe back in his bed. 

She was actually the one that forced him to do so the first time she had caught him sitting shivering on the couch, pressed up close against the little electric heater they had around for the especially cold winter months. And then consequently bought the largest, fluffiest blanket she could find in the second hand shop.

The fuzzing over him felt nice as much as it stung. He hated the fact that him being Spider-man brought this extra burden on his aunt. It had been why he had avoided telling her in the first place. The less people knew he was the vigilante, the less they could hurt him or the people he loved. He realised she had to know after she had gotten beyond worried three times, knowing he had been sneaking out and coming home late. That she had seen the bandages missing from the first aid kid. Peter had broken down and refused to tell her. When she asked him if it was anything related to crime, self-harm or the death of his uncle, Peter could only sniffle louder. He denied all three of those, said that he knew he was worrying her but didn’t know how to tell her what had actually been going on.

Three nights later, and a stab wound to his leg, was the final straw.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the messy memory that came with that evening. It had been a stupid mistake. He had been reckless and had let emotion take over his fighting.

Once he crawls into bed he can hear his aunt shuffle around in her room. Just as he is closing his eyes and is close to drifting off he feels the light through his eyelids come in as his door opens softly.

“Goodnight, Pete.” She says, as she presses a short kiss to his forehead. 

Peter just mumbled a thank you, you too, before truly closing his eyes and drifting off into a fitful sleep. The sound of a gun, a scream, and his own crying swirling through his head. It sounded like he was underwater and drowning.

He woke up, sat up right, and took the painkiller (that would barely work with his metabolism anyway, but a placebo was a placebo) and the water May had placed beside his bed for him before falling back asleep. This time dreamless, but not any less restless. The last two hours before he had to get up for school were spent tossing and turning and while he was asleep, when he woke up it felt like he had only blinked.

Peter wakes up, and feels like a corpse. Even if it has been the most sleep he had gotten in a while. He still felt cold from last night, and none of the extra blankets had helped him out. He slips on a large knitted sweater over a white t-shirt with a shitty pun, some clean underwear and a pair of jeans. Sniffing to see if they could still pass. He rushes through the kitchen as he throws a banana and a muesli bar in his schoolbag, before rushing back into his room and stuffing his spiderman suit and webshooters into it. He hops to the front door, putting on his second sock as he stumbles into the wall before he gets to his ratty sneakers and puts them on, not lacing them until he is out the door and down the building to jump - or more or less trip - into the car Happy is seated in, ready to take him to school.

“Couldn’t wake up 5 minutes earlier?” Happy grumbles as he starts driving, Peter frantically putting on his seatbelt.

Happy and New York morning traffic were not friends.

As they make a sudden stop, Peter groans and Happy gives him a look.

“Rough night?” Happy only asks, and Peter knows that is more on the demand of Mr. Stark than anyone else.

Mr. Stark always had a lecture for him ready, telling him how he could do better, not be as stupid.

“Nope, just the seatbelt cutting into the belt of my jeans from the sudden braking. No worries, Happy.”

Peter smiles through the rearview mirror and Happy seems satisfied as he focusses back on the traffic. It was only a half-lie anyway. The belt had cut close to the belt keeping his pants up, but it had rather cut into the bruise Peter had there from Flash’ kick. It should be close to healing, but bruises in their last stage usually are closest to the surface. Peter doesn’t even want to know the colour of his own side at the moment, he had barely looked at himself yesterday night in the shower.

Happy decides that’s enough conversation as he rolls the screen in the middle back up and Peter relaxes. He takes out his phone and earphones and sends a text to Ned he’s on his way and will be on time today. Ned texts him back that he’d better, as he did not want to sit in his first class with Mrs. Addinger on his own. She was known to be grumpy, but everyone knew how much she hated Wednesday mornings in particular. And that is the time their class fell exactly.

Peter is so early he actually manages to catch the 15 minutes of homeroom, which works in his favour because no matter how nervous he was he knew he really had to talk to Mr. Harrington today about the confirmation of the internship papers. It was a Wednesday so Peter would head to Stark Industries to tinker in the lab with Tony after school was done, and he’d know Tony would ask.

Peter greets Ned, dumps his bag by his chair and walks up to Mr. Harrington. He takes a deep breath in as his teacher looks up at him through his reading glasses. 

“Mr. Harrington?” Peter asks, and his voice is a little more unstable than he would have liked it to be.

“Yes, Mr. Parker? Is there anything I can do for you?” 

“I know I am already eating lunch in your classroom from today onwards, but I was wondering if you’d have a second to talk to me?”

Mr. Harrington only let out a small laugh, before looking up at Peter from his paperwork again and giving him a reassuring smile. 

“Of course that’d be alright. Is it too long to do it now?” Peter just nodded. “Very well, I will speak to you during lunch. Feel free to bring Ned and MJ along. If you wish.”

At that Peter rushed back to his chair beside Ned.

“Dude, what were you so nervous for?” 

Peter got a poke to his side and flinched. He shushed Ned before he could make a stampede about it.

“Internship stuff. I need to directly ask one of the school staff if the internship papers were properly documented and accepted and all before going to see Mr. Stark again tonight. Oh- also you’re welcome to join me as well as MJ to lunch in this classroom.” 

Ned just gave him a smile, before he started rambling about how cool the internship and Mr. Stark was before going off topic to ramble about the different Avengers and superheroes and this new comic he had bought from a new run of Superman with apparently one of the best artists DC has had in ages. Peter just listened as he took some small notes in his notebook. Mostly ideas on improvements on his suit written in a script he had developed to keep this stuff secret. He then drew out some equations and ideas to improve his web fluid to the side, but the 10 minutes that were left over in homeroom had been barely enough for him to even get the first part of a new equation down.

Next up was English with Mrs. Addinger. One sure to be as boring as it possibly could be.

At least MJ would be there, likely stuck reading a book that was such a classic even Mrs. Addinger couldn’t say anything as it was technically part of the curriculum. 

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

In the end the English class wasn’t that bad. They were speaking about science fiction novels and the rise of them as a genre following H.G. Well’s The Time Machine and eventually War of the Worlds gained popularity. It had gotten MJ’s attention as there was no prior mention of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and how important that book written by a woman had been. Peter had agreed, the discussions he had had with the two had been interesting. MJ wasn’t the biggest sci-fi nerd but enjoyed the occasional story if the world building was good enough. At least the genre seemed to be mostly negative and dystopian and therefore right up her alley. Mrs. Addinger had been speechless for a second before actually going off into a small ramble about Frankenstein and it being difficult to note the first instance of Science Fiction as it was a genre that mostly changes with its time and is sometimes difficult to set apart from a more fantastical or horror sense of fiction.

All in all, Ned and Peter eventually got to ramble about Star Trek and Star Wars in class and it was one of the best hours of the entire day.

As the lunch hour drew near, Peter’s nerves were positively on fire. He kept bouncing his leg, having Ned tell him to stop. He was doodling stupid things in his notebook, even drawing a part of the arm for the new Iron Man suit upgrade he and Tony were working on before erasing it with a blush knowing that was confidential and a straight up stupid thing to do with his luck. Flash was also in this class and was seated just close enough to be an asshole and it didn’t help that the teacher had to rush out for a second to handle a small emergency.

A kick to his shin underneath the table, a jaunt at his dead parents and his dead uncle.

Peter sighed and hunched in on himself, begging for the time to just go faster. He was bored out of his mind today, and while he had gotten more sleep than usual the nightmare had shaken him. Flash actively taunting about his uncle hurt, and he could almost feel a migraine swimming behind his eyes as the teacher reentered the room. Ned just nudged the bottle of water on his desk, urging him to drink from it and Peter did.

Throughout the last half of the lesson Peter really had to try and not drift too far away. His senses were overwhelmed, having Flash so close and trying things all the time had set his nerves on fire, the spidey-sense going haywire for a hit that would barely come or only graze his ankle as he tried to inconspicuously move his legs. His whole skin felt like it was on fire, the knitted sweater too constricting, the jeans too rough and the cold draft across the floor making his feet feel cold in his old shoes, while the radiator made the room feel way too sweaty at the same time. The voice of the teacher kept droning on, while Flash and one of his friends kept whispering to him. There was a student talking at the back of the class, a phone going off in the hallway somewhere, a pen on paper, a bookpage turned-

The bell rang.

And Peter sprinted out of there on his way to Mr. Harrington’s classroom. He hadn’t realised he was shaking and hyperventilating at this point and could not register all of the looks he got as he moved through the corridors with his head to the ground, avoiding the bright LED lights. He had to take two deep breaths to try and keep himself upright as the last of the students from the last hour filed out of the classroom but the second he saw it was empty he walked in. 

Peter drops his bag, pulls out a chair, sits down and pushes his head between his legs.

It wasn’t the best coping mechanism, but it was one of the only ones he could think about right now. 

Mr. Harrington was on high alert from the second Peter had barged in, and could feel the panic rise in himself before he saw MJ and Ned standing in the doorway, both looking out of breath and ready to rush to help if it’s needed.

It takes all three of them in the end to calm Peter down enough for him to eat his banana, and Peter is also handed a second lunch box from Ned that his grandmother prepared for him, which is scoured down in no time.

“Sorry.” Peter starts, but he receives a nasty look from all three of the people. “Was just overwhelmed.”

“That’s why we made this arrangement, Peter. I am happy I can provide a safer space for you during lunch. I can not imagine this must have been nice.”

Peter just gives Mr. Harrington a lopsided smile, before he puts away the lunchbox and wipes his hands on his jeans, knowing he has to talk to his teacher about this now or it won’t happen.

“Now that I am here anyway, Mr. Harrington, I had something I needed to ask you.” Peter trails off as he looks at his teacher, who silently urges him to continue. “Did you receive the paperwork for my internship?”

And - oh. 

Mr. Harrington gulps, takes a sip of his water that he almost chokes on, and then zeroes back in on Peter.

“The one at…?” His teacher seems almost afraid to say it out loud.

“Stark Industries. Yeah, that one.” Peter can feel himself lose confidence. Of course no one would take this seriously. “The one I started about a month or so ago, but only became official on paper two weeks ago.”

“As far as I’m aware it has been archived properly, alongside the first progress report.” Mr. Harrington suddenly declares, sounding a lot more stern than he did beforehand. “It has been handled by the front office and the dean with care, but I’m afraid we must urge you to refrain from talking about it in a frivolous manner as this is sensitive as a topic for other students.”

At that Peter - and Ned and MJ on his behalf - look at their homeroom teacher wearily, and a little offended. It’s MJ that speaks up first.

“Sensitive how?”

Mr. Harrington gulps, then looks at Peter.

“I need you to know that I trust you not to lie, and think you are smart enough to not think of something like this to garner attention, but some of my colleagues…”

“Spit it out, Mr. Harrington.” MJ supplies, face already set to danger.

“...Some of my colleagues are of different beliefs. I urge you to be careful who you discuss this with, if only to protect yourself.” Mr. Harrington looks down, twiddles his thumbs. “I’m sorry Peter, I tried my best and the signature looks genuine. They’re just not convinced you’d be a good fit for Stark Industries, let alone at this age. They also believe there would be better candidates in this school if high schoolers were even allowed as interns in the first place.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” MJ declares. “Haven’t they seen Tony fucking Stark’s signature underneath the papers? Most intern papers aren’t even signed by the man.”

“Which makes another argument for why the papers would be fraudulent in nature and Peter is lying. I don’t think he is, Ms. Jones and I urge you to sit down for a second. I had been meaning to talk to Peter about this at a later notice, but had not yet found a time.”

The silence that spreads across the room is heavy, and Peter feels like he is on the brink of passing out from hearing this for the first time. He knew there would be people that didn’t believe him, but for this to be the case seems outrageous. He knew some teachers didn’t like him but to outright accuse him of lying and even forging papers went above what was normal for a bunch of high school teachers. He clenched his fist in an attempt to stop the anger from boiling over right then and there.

“Peter, I am so sorry. I think some of the teachers think it must be because of the recent death of your uncle that you are looking for odd ways to cope. I have already kept them off your back from sending you to the school counselor as your head teacher, but I am unsure if I can for much longer. I need you to be careful about this, but I also need you to know how proud I am of you. For landing that internship, and by the looks of it the attention of the Tony Stark himself. You have not the cleanest track record when it comes to attendance, and I am sure there is a reason, but I can only do so much between the guidelines and the rules.”

Peter really has to try his best to calm his anger, and while he does so he first looks at MJ, then at Ned to see if he can get any confirmation on what he may find on Mr. Harrington's face. When it is nothing but a soft, supportive look, he sighs out a breath of relief. The man looks helpless, and Peter guesses he had always been a tad pathetic, making it easy for other students to get away with picking on him, but the man had a good heart. And he was apparently willing to fight for his students.

“I just need to know-” Peter started. “-if the files have been correctly filed and put away in my student archive in the principal's office. If that is the case, I am happy.”

At that Mr. Harrington starts smiling bigly, and slaps an awkward hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“That it is, Mr. Parker. That it most certainly is.”

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

The second they were out the door, said goodbye to MJ and were headed to their robotics elective class, Peter turned to Ned and shook him by the shoulders. 

“I can't tell Mr. Stark, Ned.” Peter panicked. “I can't. I can't be a bigger burden, what if I tell him that the school is hesitant and he sees it too? I can't lose this, man-”

“Relax. Mr. Harrington said it had been filed correctly. So what if the other teachers think it's fake. You and I both know it isn't and that it is not just because of the-” Ned made the hand-motion to use a webshooter and Peter grabbed the hand with both of his and pushed it down, looking panicked.

“Alright. But Mr. Stark still can’t know people don’t believe me. I do not know what he will do, but I already know I will not like it.” Peter sighed, pinched his nose and then dragged Ned along. “C’mon, man, we gotta go or we will be late, again.”

“This triple life will kill you one day, Peter.”

“I know, Ned. I know. Now c’mon.”

They made it seconds before the bell rang.

Chapter Text

As Peter hobbles into Mr. Stark’s lab that afternoon, the man already has a knowing look on his face. One that Peter did not like to see. Because it usually meant another lecture. Because he could be better, he could always do better. And he had to, if he wanted to keep his place here.

“Hey kid, how was school?”

“Fine, Mr. Stark! I asked about the internship papers like you asked for and they have been filed properly.”

Tony pulled the kid close and ruffled his hair. Sadly this also means that the bruise on Peter’s side got a poke and he had trouble trying to hide his wince. He thought he had succeeded when Mr. Stark walked to the other side of the workstation and started playing around with holograms again, mumbling for Peter to start on or pick up any of the projects they had been working on. The earlier look must have also been a false alarm, just Peter seeing things that weren’t there, as there was no lecture coming his way.

And they spent the next two hours tinkering away, locked in their own bubble.

It was only when Friday announced Steve knocking on the door, that both of them got taken out of their trance. 

“Hey? Oh- hi Pete! I should have known you were here because the music was not at a volume that would break our sensitive hearing.”

“Hi Mr. Rogers. How have you been?”

Tony chuckled in the back at Peter still acting this shy around the man. It had been a while since they had returned and everything got sorted, and yet still. Still, Peter was this awkward around the other Avengers. It was as adorable as it was frustrating, because Tony sometimes had the idea that the kid did not nearly realise half as much as how this had become his family. Tony wished he would drop the barrier of the formalities, and allowed the physical affection he was offered. Tony knew Steve had been holding back, and he thought he never had seen Nat trying to hold herself back from hugging someone. Not like she did with Peter.

“I’ve been well. I came in here to make sure your mentor wasn’t running on too few hours of sleep and pure caffeine again today. You know how he gets. Fri?” Steve asked, directing his gaze towards the ceiling, as if she would be there. “How long has it been since Tony had a break?”

“He has actually kept himself to a schedule this time. He only entered the lab thirty minutes before Peter arrived.”

Steve just smiled broadly, hands on his hips like a proud mother. He walked up to Tony and clasped a hand on his shoulder before turning to Peter and doing the same. 

“If you ever need a break from the old man, you know where to find me.” 

The same smile was still on his face, but Tony just scoffed. 

“Old man? Look who’s talking, Spangles. I think only one of us is over a 100.”

The banter never failed to baffle Peter – and seeing as he had seen Mr. Stark in the aftermath of their fall out – it was even more special to see it slowly get back to just this. Whatever this was, it was almost… domestic?

“Anyway, Pete, you know where to find me!” And with that he disappeared. 

Peter focussed back on the notes scribbled out in front of him. At times it was just nicer to write it out on actual paper with pen, then only use the digital screens or the holograms. He also felt like he was challenging himself more by doing it this way, and only resorted to asking help from the simulations if he was truly unsure. In that regard he was just like Tony. Motor oil and grease stains perpetually present when he was in the lab, and the smell lingered even when he had washed up and was dressed up in a suit. Mr. Stark liked to work with his materials physically, he liked to create as much — if not more — than he liked to invent. 

Peter was too focussed to realise Tony had stopped working on whatever he was doing and was looking at him. Staring would actually be a better descriptor. When he did clear his throat Peter almost jumped and clung to the ceiling. 

“Now care to explain why you winced when I hugged you?”

Peter shrunk in on himself. He stumbled a little over his words before an answer rolled off his tongue.

“Fell while on patrol. It was a stupid miscalculation and I was low on web fluids and the new system to show me that I am low did not flash like it was supposed to.” He couldn’t look at Tony as he explained this. “It was just a stupid mugger who got to me because I couldn’t web him stuck quickly enough. It should be fine with my accelerated healing.” Because it was an outright lie. 

“Do I have to double check with Karen?”

“No! No, Mr. Stark. That is not necessary. I promise it’s fine.”

“Alright. I won’t. But you will have to show me what it looks like right now.”

That made Peter flinch again, and in turn it hurt his side. He had gotten used to the nagging pain so he forgot how bad it was until he made a sudden movement. He was already glad Ned had barely noticed anything the whole day. Tony came closer, and Peter knew he had to listen to his mentor. There was no other way to go about this. It was that or Mr. Stark would figure out he was lying, and no matter how bad this looked at least he got away with it being from Spider-Man and not from being pathetically bullied in high school. That was none of Mr. Stark’s business. Peter had no right to worry him with such trivial high school matters.

“C’mon Pete, we gotta check this out and see how bad it is. Just to make sure it’s nothing, alright?” 

It didn’t seem like it was nothing, nor do I think you’re telling me the truth. Remained unsaid. Peter was too nervous to pick up on that anyway. 

Peter hesitantly walked up to Mr. Stark who was already seated on the couch. He carefully lifted his white sweater and undershirt and carefully watched the face of his mentor. When he saw his eyes widen a little and his mouth let out the smallest gasp he knew it was bad. He didn’t dare look at it himself. 

Two hands darted forwards, before hovering. Mr. Stark tilted his head to see if he could catch Peter’s gaze. 

“Pete, look at me?” A beat. “Please?” 

And Peter did, he saw the furrowed eyebrows on his mentor’s face, and the worry in his eyes. Something like nausea swirled through his stomach. He was being a larger burden than he should be, this is exactly why he did not want Mr. Stark to know about the bullying. That would just show the man how bad Peter was at defending himself. He should be able to stand up to a bully like Flash – and yet…

“Can I?” Mr. Stark asked and Peter nodded, the hands that were hovering now very hesitantly touching his side.

Mr. Stark closely inspected the bruised skin. It was in one of the later stages of healing already, and it had turned a sickly green. Yellow around some of the edges. It stood out against his pasty white skin. Especially with the stark contrast of the white sweater he had been wearing. 

“We should let medical take a look at this, just in case, kid.” 

One particular prod of a finger to a particular spot made Peter actually yelp out in pain and Tony immediately started to apologize. Letting the shirt and sweater fall back over his torso. 

“You have to tell me about stuff like this.” Tony said, head held low as he put his hands on his knees and stood up. Putting an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “I need to know, so I can help. Capiche?” 

Peter just nodded.

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

After a brief visit to medical, that deemed his intestines still intact and discovered no internal bleeding, Peter wasn’t allowed back into the labs. Instead Tony had led him to the common living area where Nat and Steve were seated conversing. None of the other Avengers were around. 

Tony watched from a distance as Peter took a seat on the couch. Keeping distance between himself and the other two. It ached in his heart that the kid had this much trouble allowing himself to have things. He had a running theory that the kid had been dealing with severe anxiety for a while now, and proof just kept adding itself on top of a pile of other incidents across the years. It took a while after Germany for Peter to truly start to adjust to the idea that Tony hadn’t been completely joking about an internship at Stark Industries. And another year for it to be adjusted to be a regular schedule. Now that Peter was sixteen Tony felt a lot more comfortable having him around, because there was not the constant crippling fear of how young the kid had been. He should have checked. When Steve and Bucky had returned to equal grounds with him they had made sure to tell him that, too, the second they had found out. 

It had almost broken their fragile friendship again. If Tony had to be honest. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he had genuinely started crying in front of the two super soldiers. He wasn’t entirely sure if Bucky had yet forgiven him for dragging a kid into his fight, much less the idea of signing away this kid's privacy with the original set up of the accords. But that was in the past, they had talked, things had started to get better. 

And since then Peter had barely started to get closer to any of them. Not even to Tony.

He understood these had been Peter’s idols for a long time and that that came with a certain dynamic. Yet it didn’t make it any less painful whenever he saw the kid hesitate to ask for what he wanted. Tony had been careful with it at first, and had said some things in his worry and anger at the world for that kid that had been worse than anything else he could have done.

It flared up again in his chest, seeing Peter hesitantly sit down with Steve and Nat — who both seamlessly included him in their conversation — twisting his hands in his lap. It was about a topic the kid was passionate about, which was obvious the second his eyes lit up. After he finished his rambling he seemed to trail off and become more hesitant, however. Even when Steve tried to be reassuring he seemed to crawl in on himself. At that point Tony was certain there was a lot more going on.

And if that was the case, it meant it was on top of all of the other shit the kid was already dealing with. More than what he was already aware of.

Tony felt sick.

He joined them when his cup of coffee had finished brewing, and sat close to Peter with an arm behind him, a soft smile on his face. Hoping he could get across that this wasn’t transactional. That Peter did not have to earn his place here. He had already had it from the start. 

Pepper had been right, Tony had a weak spot for the kid. 

✧˖°. 🕸️🕷️🕸️ .°˖✧

That same evening – after Peter had gone home – it had been Steve that had gone to look for Tony.

“Something’s off about you today, Tones. What is it?”

Tony just grumbled while he continued to work on finding the right connectivity points on the motherboard he had been working on for the newest upgrade of his suit. A very minor software adjustment that should help the thrusters be even more precise and stable and thus easier to fly. 

“Is it about Peter?” 

And if anything was a marker of the simple fact everyone had a weak spot for Peter, it was the way Captain America talked about him. 

“Mhm.” Was the only thing coming out of his mouth. More like a growl than anything else. 

“C’mon Tony, let’s sit down and talk. I need to know. You don’t have to hold this all to yourself. You know damn well we all care.”

“Languague.” Tony quipped, easily. “And stop being all high and mighty, can’t you see I’m busy?”

Steve just sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“You’ve been in here for most of the night. You barely had dinner – or any food for that matter – and after Peter left for home your shoulders immediately sunk in on themselves. You know I am not even the most observant out of all of us, just be glad Nat hasn’t yet come to find you.”

The threat of the Black Widow trying to corner Tony about his feelings was enough to kickstart him in trying to put everything back in its right place and to make sure he had the soldering iron properly turned off and put away in a manner it could cool without falling over and starting a fire. It wouldn’t be the first time he had mindlessly tried to do that, and he wasn’t proud to say Friday now had a protocol called He Definitely Started the Fire. 

Before Steve could start to physically force Tony to move, Friday announced that Pepper had arrived. 

“You had called for me, Steve?”

“Oh, I see how it is.” Tony started, but caved and walked over to Pepper to hug her and press a quick peck to her cheek.

“Yeah, yeah I did. Mr. Grumpypants over here needs to get out of his lab and tell us what’s going on with the little spider.” Steve easily ignored Tony’s comment and the public displays of affection. 

“You’ve evidently been around Nat too much if you started calling him little spider.”

“Stop trying to change the topic, dear. This seems important if Steve called me in to wrangle you out of the lab and didn’t just make use of Friday’s protocols.” Pepper said as she pushed Tony off of her. “Let’s move up to the penthouse, shall we? That seems like a more appropriate location.”

The three of them stepped into the lift, and only then it was that Tony noticed the hoodie Steve was wearing. It was one that Peter had gifted him, something his friend MJ had painted. The funniest thing was that it was still slightly large on him, but it pulled a little at his shoulders. It was nice to see, Tony couldn’t wait for Peter to see or realise Steve had been snuggled into the hoodie gifted to him a week ago. 

They reached the penthouse in no time, and Tony took a deep breath. In and out, in and out. 

Steve takes place on the couch, and though he doesn’t mean it in a condescending way, pets the place next to him for Tony to sit. 

He feels like a small child about to be berated by America’s icon. 

Pepper sits down in a large chair opposite of the coffee table. 

“What’s going on, Tony? When I visited the lab you seemed to be in deep thought and kept staring at the kid, and then after you randomly visited med bay with him he was not allowed back into the lab?” Steve started. 

Tony felt like curling in on himself, but started to speak. Voice careful.

“Something’s off about the kid. There’s something going on and he doesn’t trust me enough to talk to me about it. He had an injury, said it was from going on patrol but I find it hard to believe him. And good god do I feel bad that I am doubting him, but it wouldn’t be the first time. And I do the same. I know the patterns and the excuses- I spoke with the doctor who looked him over and the injury does not fit the event he said he got it from. He’s jumpy, uncertain and quite frankly ridiculously anxious.”

“I noticed it too.” Steve said, voice low. “When he was speaking to me and Nat he sat far away, he seemed to hesitate to speak and after he had spoken – with passion by the way – he just… he just tried to make himself as small as possible. As if he didn’t belong there, or had said something stupid.” A beat, and then: “He apologizes too much.”

“He does.” Tony adds. “He really does and it’s been two years of working with him and I can’t get him to just call me Tony. He barely allows me to give him a hug, even though I can see he wants to. Besides the grief over his uncle, his worry for his aunt and his friends Ned and MJ… there’s something going on and outside of this tower it can only be one thing.”

“School?” Pepper asks. “But the two times I spoke to the administration they seemed perfectly nice.”

“I don’t trust it.” 

Tony’s statement lingered for a second.

“Now that you mention it, something is off. Did you manage to get Peter to confirm his internship papers had been filed correctly?”

Tony nodded, and looked right at his partner.

“Yeah, he said they were.”

“I’ll do some research.”

The sudden voice cutting in from the lift broke all of them out of it. Natasha stood there, clad in black as usual, a zip-up hoodie loose on her shoulders. 

“I shouldn’t be surprised, come in Ms. Romanov.”

“Pepper, how many times do I have to tell you that just Nat is fine.” 

And with that she strode into the room and sat herself down next to Tony, hand on his knee. The look alone was enough, and Tony realised in that very second that no matter the rift the fight between them had caused, there was one thing they could all agree on; Peter Parker.

“We’ll figure it out, we can’t do much more than show him we’re here and that he is welcome.” Pepper decided to ignore Natasha’s comments for now and focus on her partner. “We’ll find a way.”