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Sam Wilson landed on the roof of the Stark Industries building. He needed to talk to Stark. Nothing urgent. They were just having some issues with the main arc reactor powering the Avengers compound and they needed it fixed. And of course he had been sent, being the only one that could fly and all.
Sometimes (only sometimes) he wished someone else had become the Falcon and later, Captain America. That would save him from being used as a carrier pigeon all the time.
What he didn’t expect to see though was a young intern walking with a decided step toward the edge of the roof. His eyes widened in alarm. Was this kid about to jump?
“Hey, Kid!” He rushed toward the boy all thoughts of broken arc reactors gone. As he approached the intern, who had stopped, eyes wide in alarm, he noticed how thin the kid actually was. Sam had no idea how to approach this. But he figured it wouldn’t do the kid much good to get mad at him.
“What are you doing up here?” He settled on a simple question trying to figure out the situation. Now that he was right in front of the kid he could see the name tag. ‘Peter Parker – T.S. Personal Intern’ it read. So, this was the intern Stark had been telling them all about. Sam had assumed it was a college student or a recent graduate since Stark always called him ‘the kid’ but this was just a teenager. Probably not even out of high school yet. And to make matters worse he was suicidal.
“Uhh- I just- well- how do I-” the kid – Peter – stammered trying to come up with a response. “I’m not doing anything wrong” Peter finally answered. Sam face softened. Poor kid.
“Listen, I’m not mad at you. But how about we just go down to the kitchen, get some food, and we’ll talk.” Sam placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder to steer him back toward the door that gave access to the roof. Wow this kid was thin. He could practically feel every bone.
“Listen, Mr Falcon – Uh Mr Wilson, I can explain that” Peter gestured toward the ledge. Sam shook his head.
“No need, Peter. I think I can get the gist of it, but we can talk more downstairs if you want. That okay with you?”
“There’s really no need, it’s fine. You don’t have to worry.”
“No, Peter. Let me take care of you right now. That includes bringing you down to the kitchen and talking. Now no more arguing, mhh?” Sam crossed his arms leaving no room for argument.
Peter hung his head and started walking back toward the door. Sam followed, wondering how Stark could let something like this happen.
Suddenly Peter stopped and looked back at Sam.
“Could you not tell Mr Stark about this?” he pleaded. Sam opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Could he not tell Stark? He had planned to have some strong words with him. This was his intern who seemed to have just finished a shift at the tower. Stark might have had a hand in this albeit unknowingly. And at the very least he should have noticed.
But the kid looked so scared at the thought of Stark knowing. Sam considered it.
No. He would have to tell someone. Stark could probably contact the kid’s parents and get him in therapy.
“Sorry, Kid, no can do. This is his company and you just tried to jump off his roof. Now come on. Start moving again.” He tried to keep his voice soft, unsure about what might set the kid off.
On their way down the elevator Peter kept fidgeting with his hands and sending nervous glances Sam’s way. Whenever Sam caught him, he tried to send him reassuring smiles, but he wasn’t sure they really helped calm down the teenager.
Finally, the doors opened on the 90th floor and Sam placed his hand back on Peter’s shoulder guiding him toward the kitchen. However, it didn’t seem like he needed it. Peter walked the right way without ever needing Sam to correct him along the way.
When they crossed the corner, arriving at the kitchen, Sam saw Stark, his head in the fridge. When he heard movement, his head popped out and his brows furrowed.
Sam felt anger rise swiftly. How had Stark had an intern who was suicidal without ever doing anything? Sam could only hope Stark hadn’t realised, but that was somehow just as bad.
The kid was Stark’s responsibility when he was here after all. Peter was still wearing his badge; he had probably just finished a shift. How had Stark not seen this? The kid was thin as a stick, might have been starving himself. If his self-worth was that low, he shouldn’t be anywhere near the labs. Who knew what he might do either out of carelessness or purposefully.
“Hey Sam. Hey Pete. What’s up? I thought I sent you home, Kid?” Stark walked toward them slowly as Peter nodded. Sam stepped forward pointing finger at Stark.
“What kind of company are you running, Stark? I was on my way here to talk to you when I found you little intern here. Up on the roof. Walking decidedly toward the edge! How could you let this happen? This kid is your responsibility when he is here and you have obviously not been very observant.” When Sam was done with his little speech, Stark’s face twisted in anger. His attention moved to the intern standing sheepishly behind the two Avengers.
“On the roof? Is that what he just said? Seriously, Kid?” Stark seemed mad and Sam stepped in. He might not know exactly how to handle suicidal teenagers, but he could guess that yelling at them was probably not the way.
“Woah, hey, Tony, don’t get mad at him. You should have done something before he got to that point and went up there.” Tony turned his attention back to Sam.
“I have told him repeatedly not to do that, and when he decides to go directly against my rules I am going to get mad at him. And that is fully within my right.”
Sam shook his head in shock.
“You told him not to- Stark did you know about this? And you didn’t do anything?”
“Of course, I know about it. I’m the one who gave him the means for it. But I’m starting to think that was a mistake if he can’t even follow simple instructions.” The last part was directed at Peter.
This made Sam see red. What did Stark mean he hadn’t only known about it but had encouraged it? This was horrifying.
“Uhh if I may-” A voice piped from the doorway.
“No!” Both Avengers shut him down.
“He is a teenager! A child! And you knew about this and let it go on?” Sam was almost shouting now. “You should have done something, called someone. This isn’t okay, Stark”
“He was going to do it with or without me. And for your information, his aunt knows and she agrees with me.”
Both adults started talking over each other their voices rising with each word out of their mouths until finally something made them shut up.
“I didn’t try to kill myself!” Peter shouted from the doorway. Sam and Stark both looked over at Peter.
“Oh, kid you don’t have to lie. I saw you-” Sam tried to reassure the boy staring at them both.
“Woah, hold it – you think he was doing what now?” Stark asked incredulously and Sam furrowed his brows.
“Uh yeah, he was walking toward the edge of a skyscraper and couldn’t explain why. And look at how thin he is.” He gestured to the boy “Looks like he has been starving himself.”
For some reason this made Stark smile and start laughing quietly to himself before it grew into full-on laughter.
“Are you laughing? This is serious, Stark. Your employee was about to kill himself and you’re laughing?”
“Oh, Wilson, you naive bird. The kid wasn’t jumping because he wanted to die. He’s Spider-man. And he loves to swing home from the roof.” This made Sam pause. “I’ve been telling him not to because he right about gives me a heart attack every time, but alas he doesn’t listen very well”
“Wha- So- wait” Sam shook his head in disbelief before realising something “Wait, you brough a 13-year-old to Germany to fight?!”
“Actually I’m 15-”
“Not important, you’re still a kid” Sam waved his hand at Peter, not looking away from Stark, who at least had the decency to look a little ashamed.
“He was swinging through the streets of Queens in a hoodie. Figured I could use the help, and I gave him a suit so he would be much safer” Then he had the audacity to shrug Sam off. “And then I found out he was crazy smart, so he’s been helping out in the lab every Friday.”
Sam was struck speechless.
“So just to confirm, you weren’t trying to kill yourself?” He looked toward Peter
“No. Which I tried to tell you in the beginning, but you wouldn’t let me”
“To be fair you were struggling to find an explanation which doesn’t paint a good picture, Kid” he looked over the teenager – 15 years old not 13 – and frowned. “This also might be out of line, but you don’t look like you’ve been eating enough...” he trailed off not knowing how to finish the sentence. Peter blushed and Stark stepped in.
“Peter has an enhanced metabolism. Which means he needs to eat a lot. Problem is the kid lives with his aunt and money has been tight. Did anyone bother to tell me that, though? No. So since the day I realised I’ve been feeding him whenever he comes over. And talking with his aunt about it.”
So that was why Peter had known the way to the kitchen. He probably went there with Stark all the time. Now Sam felt like an idiot. But to be fair he had only seen Spider-man that one time in Germany, and the scene on the roof hadn’t been great. He dragged a hand over his short hair and sighed.
“Okay well, while I’m happy everyone is okay, I do still need to talk to you, Stark. Your arc reactor at the compound is broken. I need you to fix it.”
“Yeah sure” Stark nodded before looking toward Peter “You want to come with? I’ll call your Aunt May, so she doesn’t worry?” Peter’s eyes lit up.
“Yes please, Mr Stark. I would love to”
Sam was hesitant as to how good the 15-year-old could really be, but he turned out to be a great help and they got the arc reactor up and running within a few hours.