Chapter Text
“Pass the wrench Spider-ling,” Tony asked, immediately holding his hand out expectantly without looking away from the exposed under-wiring of the Iron-Man suit.
Spider-Man huffed through his mask and turned away from the screen of code he was writing for the suit to pass it over.
The man grinned as the metal hit his palm, “Thanks.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Peter teased. They’d been working together to build an upgrade for Tony’s suit to stop it from freezing in the atmosphere at too-high altitudes after the man had flight tested it and nearly accidentally killed himself by doing so. “You know I don’t know how you survived before me.”
“I was doing just fine before you showed up Spider-kid,” Tony replied easily.
Peter looked at him disbelievingly. “I can’t believe you’re saying that after testing the suit and literally falling out of the sky.”
Tony turned from his mechanics to talk over his shoulder at Peter. “As I said, I was doing just fine.”
The kid looked at him flatly. “You were unconscious,” he argued.
“Temporarily.”
Peter snorted and shook his head. “Well, that’s generally how unconsciousness works.”
Tony took it easily with a satisfied nod. “See? Just fine, but that’s why I keep you around.”
“I thought it was because I’m a highly qualified engineer,” Peter replied.
Tony hummed. “Don’t push it. You do have a degree in this don’t you?”
“…several.” Peter turned to his screen to hide the grin underneath his mask.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the back of Spider-Man’s head. “And when exactly did you find time to get multiple degrees?”
Peter’s smile grew. “I’m a fast learner,” he rebutted.
Tony stared at him for another moment before shaking his head dramatically. “God, I hate prodigies.”
“You’re a prodigy,” Peter pointed out.
Tony turned back to tightening more gears on the suit while he spoke. “Exactly. I know what I’m talking about.”
Peter laughed. “Takes one to know one.”
Spider-Man heard the last gear get wrenched into place and Tony clapped his hand excitedly. “Look at my masterpiece!” He called.
Peter spun his office chair away from the code for his high-altitude heating system to look at Tony’s work.
The suit looked brand new, completely unlike the tattered and brittle suit Tony first showed him when he recruited Spider-Man from his vigilantism to ask him about the project. Since then, they’d been working to solve it together as colleagues.
“Whoa, Mr. Stark, it looks great!” He exclaimed, looking up at the suit where the mask whizzed closed without anybody in it.
“Ready, sir.” JARVIS spoke, lighting up the mask’s eyes.
Tony dropped the wrench onto the work bench. “God, it’s good to be back.” He looked over to Spider-Man and opened his mouth to say something else but his eyes dropped to the sliver of exposed skin between the hem of the face mask and the rest of his suit.
Peter quickly noticed and tugged it down harshly to cover it again.
“Really, Spider-ling?” He asked, “Months of working together and I still don’t get to see that handsome face?”
Peter rolled his eyes, “Yes, really.” As if he would show Tony Stark he was sixteen, just when the man was really valuing his technical input.
Honestly, Peter was just a huge nerd.
“Right.” Tony answered bitterly.
Peter rolled his chair around back to his code. “But, I think the code is almost finished,” he said, changing the subject entirely.
The man strolled over, standing behind Peter’s chair to examine the code. Tony reached over his shoulder and adjusted one of the parameters.
“Nope,” Peter told him.
Tony stopped. “Nope?”
Spider-Man shook his head, “You changed the thermal distribution.”
“No, I improved the thermal distribution,” he argued.
“You made it worse,” Peter said through a smile.
Tony looked down at him. “You didn’t even run it!”
“I don’t have to,” Peter said humorously.
The man frowned. “That’s an incredibly annoying thing to say.”
Peter pointed at the screen. “Because you changed the pressure coefficient without adjusting the—”
Tony stared at him. Peter stopped. “…What?”
“Nothing,” Tony replied.
“What?” Peter asked again.
“I’m just enjoying watching you become increasingly insufferable.”
“You taught me,” Peter told him.
The man sighed. “I regret everything.”
Tony watched as Peter finalized proofing his system for the heater and finally hit enter to upload it to the suit.
“JARVIS,” Spider-Man called out. “Can you activate the new atmospheric heating system?”
Tony rubbed his hands together. “Moment of truth.”
Peter laughed, “Don’t worry Mr. Stark it’ll work, as long as you built the suit back properly.”
“Of course I built it back properly,” he said.
Peter spun his office chair around towards the suit. “Then it has to work,” he insisted.
“That’s why we’re the perfect team.”
Peter’s head snapped up towards the man. “Did you just admit we’re a team?”
Tony suppressed a grin. “No.”
“You did!”
“Absolutely did not,” the man denied.
Peter shook his head disbelievingly. “You literally just said-”
“JARVIS, activate the system before Spider-Man starts getting sentimental.”
They both turned to watch the red metal begin glowing with heat, just as they’d planned. Peter swore he saw Tony’s eyes sparkle as he watched the suit activate.
“It works,” the man said, clapping Peter on the back proudly.
Spider-Man grinned under the mask, lenses widening as he watched his work. “JARVIS, can you run a simulation to see if this would stop the suit from freezing up at high altitudes?”
“Simulating.” They both waited with bated breath as JARVIS ran the request using Tony’s past experience. “Regretfully, the heating system appears to only work until the troposphere, the suit would still freeze at mesospheric temperatures.”
They both groaned loudly in unison. “Well then, I guess we’ll still have to come up with another solution,” Tony said dejectedly.
Peter nodded sullenly, “I guess so.. man I really thought that would work.”
“More coffee and continue on then.”
Spider-Man laughed, of course that would be the man’s takeaway. He peered out the glass windows to the view of the already dark city. “Actually Mr. Stark, I’ll be back tomorrow but time really got away from me, I gotta go back to my own place.”
Tony sighed, “So you're abandoning me? Wife miss you too much?”
Peter grinned, “Yeah, something like that,” he replied.
“Alright, alright, off with you then. Are you finally going to use my door like a normal person?
Peter got up from the office chair and dusted himself off, grabbing his plain black backpack. “Nope, because I’m not.”
Tony huffed a laugh, “Of course.”
The kid smiled. “See you tomorrow Mr. Stark.”
Tony waved him off. “Bring your several degrees!”
Spider-Man walked across the lab and pulled open the glass window, shooting a web upward to the Stark Industries roof. “They’re real heavy Mr. Stark,” he lied with a grin. “I’ll be back!” Peter called out, right before being pulled up by his web.
“See you Spider-ling,” Tony replied to an empty lab.
The room felt surprisingly quiet without the kid there, and he’d been surprisingly helpful yet again. Tony was getting used to enjoying someone being able to keep up with him.
With nothing else left to do, he plopped down onto the office chair Spider-Man had been using to try and fix his problem.
“Hey, JARVIS? Can you pin-point why the heating can’t be sustained past that altitude?” He requested.
“One moment, sir.” The eyes on the suit blinked like a loading screen for a second before the robotic voice returned. “It appears the issue lies with the material being used. Titanium alone freezes too quickly.”
Tony hummed for a minute, thinking of what other possible materials he could make the suit out of. Metal was much too soft, Iridium was too impractical to get…
“What if I made a titanium alloy?”
“I can run a simulation sir.” JARVIS replied.
Tony ran through his options mentally. “Try if a titanium-gold alloy would work.”
JARVIS pinged and the mask’s eyes lit up yellow. “Simulation successful sir, the mesosphere could theoretically be reached without freezing.”
Tony froze. “Wait.” He stared at the suit. “Run that again.”
“Simulation repeating,” JARVIS answered.
Tony leaned in closer.
“Simulation successful, sir.”
A slow smile spread across Tony’s face. “Oh, that's beautiful.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you hear that JARVIS? I did it,” Tony repeated.
“Yes, I was present for the initial calculations, sir.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Don’t ruin this for me JARVIS.”
“Of course not sir.” The metallic voice answered.
The man jumped up from his chair. “Holy shit, it works,” he exclaimed. Then, “I have to tell Spider-Man,” he said.
Maybe Tony could still catch him before the vigilante swung away. He quickly got onto the elevator, telling JARVIS to take him to the roof. Tony couldn’t wait until tomorrow to share his genius and the good news.
Except, when he got off on the dark rooftop, Spider-Man was nowhere to be found.
His eyes quickly locked onto the only figure on the rooftop. A small kid was standing on the very edge of the roof, and staring down onto the dark city below.
“Hey, kid, get away from the ledge!” Tony shouted.
The scrawny kid turned around to reveal messy brown curls and youthful features, looking just as shocked as Tony. A backpack was half slung on one of his shoulders and he looked terrified to be seeing the billionaire.
Peter stumbled a step backwards from the ledge where he’d been admiring the sleeping city. He’d always liked the roof after dark, admiring the small traffic below.
The last thing he’d expected to see after he’d changed out of his suit on the roof and stuffed it into his backpack so he could go home without the media seeing Spider-Man crawl through his window was Tony Stark.
“What on earth are you doing here? How did you get up here?” Tony demanded, walking closer.
Peter’s eyes were saucers as he looked around the rooftop for a plausible excuse. “I… work here?”
Tony frowned. “After midnight?”
Peter stumbled over his thoughts for a moment before replying, “I… work really hard?”
Tony looked him up and down. “You’re one of the interns here?”
The boy nodded quickly. “Yes, sir, I’m so sorry,” he quickly rushed out.
“Which department?”
Peter knew very well that Tony didn’t know any of his interns, much less which departments they belonged to. “R&A, sir,” he lied.
One of Tony’s hands came up to rub his forehead. “Where the hell are your parents, kid?”
“Uhm, they’re both gone, sir.” He replied, not knowing what to say to the impromptu interrogation.
“Gone? Like, on vacation, gone?” Tony pressed.
“No sir, they’re uh.. dead, sir.” Peter replied, wringing his hands out nervously.
The man took a deep breath, “Oh god, is that why you’re trying to kill yourself?”
Peter’s mouth dropped. “What? No- I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” he said, shocked by the man’s takeaway.
“Listen kid, you can get help for this kind of stuff, just please don’t jump off the edge of my building it’s bad for publicity. Oh, but also you have so much life left to live and stuff.” The man said flatly.
Peter was dumbfounded by the turn the conversation had gone in and his voice took on a higher octave in indignation. “Jump? No, I wasn’t trying to jump!”
Tony levelled him with a hard stare. “Why the hell else would you be staring down at the city late at night, alone, on my rooftop, by the very edge?”
The boy was at a loss for words. He didn’t want the man to think he was suicidal but he was at a complete lack for better reasoning to give. “Just admiring the view,” he answered.
The man didn’t look very impressed by that answer. “Okay kid, let’s just talk, what’s your name?”
“Peter,” he said.
Tony crossed his arms. “Peter, what?”
“Peter Parker,” he said, before immediately wishing he’d used a fake name.
Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Okay Peter Parker from research and analysis, I’m calling your supervisor.”
Peter’s face fell. “No!” Tony froze for a second at the outburst. “I mean- no need.”
Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Why’s that?”
“Because it’s late,” Peter insisted.
“This is my building, you know that right?” Tony asked him dryly.
The boy scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he replied.
Tony looked at him flatly. “And you’re apparently one of my employees, so I’m calling your supervisor.”
Peter’s mind raced for excuses. “He’s probably asleep.”
The man sighed, unamused. “What’s his name, kid?”
Peter’s mouth opened. Closed.
Tony slowly lowered his phone. “You don’t have a supervisor.”
“I do.”
The man looked at him expectantly. “So what’s his name?”
Peter glanced around him. “…He’s very private.”
“Peter.”
The boy grimaced. “It’s Mr. Research?”
Tony closed his eyes.
Peter winced. “Bad joke?”
“Right.”
He clutched his backpack strap tighter, trying to come up with an escape plan from this horrible situation. Tony’s eyes shifted to the backpack the kid was holding. “What have you got in there?”
“Nothing!” Peter quickly answered.
Tony raised an eyebrow. “That’s a very big nothing.”
Peter nervously tightened the backpack strap. “It’s.. dangerous for you to know.” This time it wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Oh my god, is there a gun in there? Were you going to do it like that? Is that what you mean, you weren’t going to jump?”
“What? No!” Peter screeched.
The man took a small step closer. “Don’t lie to me kid, listen, it’s going to be okay, just give me the backpack.”
Peter shook his head vehemently, “No, no, no, this is all a huge misunderstanding,” he insisted. The suit was in that backpack, there was no way he was giving it over.
Tony was slowly coming forward with his hands outstretched and Peter panickedly went backwards towards the edge. “Whoa, whoa, slow down kid, I’ll get you some help, just give it to me.”
“No, I’m not giving you my bag,” Peter exclaimed.
Nobody moved an inch as Peter stood dangerously on the edge. “If there’s no gun in there why can’t you just give it to me?” Tony questioned.
The backpack strap was firmly clutched in both of Peter’s hands now as he looked at Tony with panic in his eyes. “Because, it’s… private.”
The man was still holding his hands out placatingly. “Sure kid,” he said disbelievingly. “Just take a step away, even if you jump a suit would catch you so just step back.”
Peter glanced backwards at the sheer drop behind him, his heels hanging in the air. He’d swung away from here so much it didn’t phase him. The boy shook his head nervously.
“Look, I’ll take a step back too, okay, just do one.” The man took a large step backward and waited expectantly for Peter to do the same.
Peter didn’t move.
The man sighed. “Your turn, kid.”
Peter hesitatingly took a small step away from the ledge to get on solid footing.
Tony visibly relaxed. “There, see? We’re making progress.” Peter nodded.
Suddenly, a drone jostled him as the backpack strap was pulled from his grasp and flown straight into Tony’s hands.
“No, wait, Mr. Stark, please!”
“This is for your own good, kid.”
The man unzipped it and took out the red suit, confusion written all over his face. Black webbing, and a familiar spider logo.
His eyes slowly travelled back to the kid in front of him.
Messy brown hair.
Wide eyes.
Sixteen, maybe.
Tony’s mouth opened. Then closed again.
There was a long, horrible silence. The man looked back at the suit, then at Peter again.
“…Spider-Man?”