Chapter Text
Peter Parker had been through more in his nine years of life than any child should have to go through.
When he was four years old, both of his parents died in a plane crash and he moved in with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben who tried their best to take care of the traumatized child. A few years passed and as soon as Peter was warming up to his new life, his uncle was shot in a mugging.
Peter was only seven and his whole world was destroyed again. Him and his Aunt May struggled to get by without Uncle Ben.
A year after his uncle's death, the unimaginable happened. On a field trip with Peters elementary school he was bit by a spider.
A day after he got bit, his body began to change. Peter was able to do things normal eight year olds shouldn’t be able to. He was terrified yet excited by his changing body. He was stronger, faster, more agile and able to sense things others couldn't. Not to mention that he could stick to walls and crawl all over them, defying gravity. He even began producing webs from his wrists that he could shoot out and swing from. (That power took the longest for him to get used to).
Peter's worry blossomed into happiness as he realized he could use these powers to be like the heroes he looked up to. Like the avengers. Like Iron Man.
He started sneaking out at night after Aunt May fell asleep. He dressed himself in a red hoodie with a blue beanie pulled over his face with eye holes cut out so he could see.
Peter started with small crimes he could find, helping wherever he could. The young boy was petrified but got a thrill from helping those in need. Peter felt like he was saving other people's uncle Bens since he was unable to save his own.
Things went on like this for about a year. Many Queens news outlets began running stories about the new hero who they called ‘Spider-Kid.’ Peter liked the name and even painted a spider on the chest of his red hoodie he wore when patrolling.
Like any kid would, he became cocky with all the attention he was getting and started to feel unstoppable.
One day, when May was doing one of her double shifts, Peter saw on the news that the Avengers were in pursuit of a group of arms dealers. Normally he would stay out of the big boy crimes but today he was feeling confident.
“I’m a hero too, I should help…” Peter mumbles softly before jumping off the couch and sprinting to his room. He stumbled a little as he pulled on his hoodie and covered his face with the blue beanie turned ski mask.
He quickly opened his bedroom window and began swinging across town. He arrived at the scene, slightly breathless as he perched at the top of a building.
Currently the roads were in disarray with two massive armored trucks tipped over. Six men were around the large trucks all with high tech guns and all shooting at the Avengers. The guns weren’t normal and instead shot these blue beams out of them.
All of the Avengers were not at the scene, instead it was just Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, and Hawkey. The first three listed were on the ground engaging in a shoot off with the arms dealers while Hawkey was at the top of a building shooting arrows down at the enemies.
With his enhanced hearing Peter could hear Iron man's voice yell out to War Machine. “Honey Bear, I need some kinda distraction to get through!”
“Well that's gonna be difficult considering their weapons have the power to do some real damage even with our suits protecting our asses! I don’t wanna get fried any more than you do!” Rhodey yelled back in response.
Peter tried his best not to shake with excitement, his heroes were right there and they needed help–his help!
Without further ado, he shot two webs out. The webs stuck with precision to two of the men's weapons and Peter pulled back to yank the guns from the men's hands. The remaining men were shocked and quickly stopped shooting at the avengers in favor of looking around to see where the web came from.
Before they could pinpoint Peter's location, the four Avengers were already on top of the men, disarming them.
Peter was ecstatic, he had managed to help his biggest heroes. Once the criminals were pinned to the ground, the kid jumped down from the top of the building he was perched on, using a web to lower himself. Peter barely managed to carry with him the two high tech guns he had snagged from the men. “That was so cool!” He beamed as he hurried over to the Avengers, dropping the guns in a pile with the others.
The four heroes looked up in shock as they were approached by the child. Tony was the first one to speak. “You were the one who shot those webs out?” he questioned.
Peter blushed under his mask, fidgeting with his hands. “Yes sir! I-I saw that you guys needed help so I came”
Peter couldn’t see his idol's face since it was hidden behind his metal Iron Man mask. For a moment, the child was worried he had done something wrong. Tony exchanged a wordless look with Natasha, Rhodey, and Clint.
“How old are you, kid?” Tony Stark finally asked while the rest of the team dragged off the criminals to the police who had just pulled up.
“Um…I’m nine” Peter replied softly, raising up nine fingers.
Iron man seemed to stiffen and Peter frowned, wondering why he wasn’t being thanked for the help he gave.
“Danmit, guys I need some help” Tony spoke into the intercom in his helmet but the rest of his team was busy talking to the police about the situation.
Tony was on his own.
Thinking he was in trouble, and not understanding why, Peter took a step away from his hero. As soon as he saw the child move away Tony held out a hand.
“Whoa whoa whoa, don’t leave kiddo we need to talk”
Peter rubbed his hands together nervously. “Are you mad at me?” He all but whimpered.
Tony’s expression softened under his mask. “No kid, I'm not mad at all, you did a great job. I just wanna talk”
Peter nodded softly and moved forward again. Tony’s hand was still out so Peter took it in his own, much smaller hand.
Tony’s breath hitched slightly but his metal clad fingers closed carefully around the boys. “Whats your name?”
Peter hummed softly. “Aren’t heroes supposed to have a secret identity?”
Tony chuckles and his mask slid up to reveal the half smile sliding across his face. “Thats right kid, but you can tell me because I’m Iron Man”
The tiny child smiles under his homemade beanie mask. “I’m Peter” He replied
“Ok Pete, my names Tony”
Peter giggles, playing with Tony’s gloved hand. “I know who you are Mr. Stark”
Tony laughed softly “right…well I guess my next question is what are you doing here?”
Peter huffed “I already told you Mr. Stark, I saw you guys needed help so I came to help you”
“You did say that…” Tony scratched his chin with the hand that wasn’t holding onto Peter.
Before either could say another word, the other three avengers walked over. “Did you figure out who the kid is?” Rhodey asked, his mask also sliding up.
Tony nods. “More or less…” He tilts his head to look back at Peter. “Hey kiddo wanna come back to the Avenger tower with the big kids?”
Peter jumped up and down, not letting go of Tony’s hand “Can I?” He asked happily.
Tony’s smile widened slightly. “You can”
Peter was thrilled and quickly climbed into Tony’s arms once they extended down to pick him up. The small boy settled only once both his legs and arms were wrapped securely around the hero.
Tony adjusted his arms to better support the child. He had never been good with kids but something about Peter made him feel warm and protective.
“Tony, is this really a good idea?” Natasha asked.
Clint was the next to speak, “The boy is clearly a mutant, shouldn’t we inform S.H.E.I.L.D.?”
Tony sighs. “Guys I don’t know what’s best but I at least want to talk with the kid at the tower before we make any choices. He’s only nine years old”
Rhodey cursed and rubbed his forehead. “Jesus, that's young. Let's get him back to the tower.”
Tony nodded and with them all in agreement now, his mask slid back into place over his face and he carefully flew him and Peter back to the tower.