Chapter Text
It had become a normal routine that every Friday was Tony and Peter’s dedicated time in the lab together. Not only that, but Peter often stayed over on weekends, giving May the opportunity to work overtime, and Peter the opportunity to see his friends, the Avengers, at the Stark Tower. Ever since this became routine, Tony began joking that this was like his second home, and treated it as such. Instead of staying in the guest room, Tony gave Peter his own dedicated bedroom on the communal floor with the rest of the Avengers, and quickly became grossly attached to his intern.
Unfortunately, one thing led to another and Tony was having a bad week. Reports were piling, conferences were taking up his days, and he was losing track of how many emails had been left unsent. All in all, it was piling up on him until Friday rolled around… his and Peter’s time together.
——> ~ at midtown high school, 12:00pm ~
“Man i’m starved!” Ned whined and Peter snickered along in agreement. In unison, they grabbed a lunch tray and joined the long line for food. Eventually, they got their pick and was happily on their way to their usual bench when Peter had become too enveloped in conversation to realise that he had foolishly bumped into a certain someone’s back. Before he fully recognised who it was, they had already turned around and smacked his tray upwards, causing food to scatter in the air around him and down his face and clothes.
“Nice one Parker, what do you think you’re playing at?” Flash snarled. Of course it was him.
Despite the embarrassment creeping up on him due to the whole canteen becoming silent and watching this scene, he tried his best to remain cordial.
“It was an accident.” He managed to spit out behind gritted teeth.
“Yeah yeah, and so was mine,” He retorted snarkily before lowering his voice, “If you ever touch me again, I’ll show the whole school just how pathetic you really are.” A cold but empty threat, as the following seconds then consisted of Flash barging his shoulder whilst passing him, causing him to lose his balance and bang his head on the corner of a bench. He picked himself up and recovered swiftly, now darting for the restroom to escape the wondering eyes and clean himself up. Ned tried to come with him, but Peter insisted he stay and eat with MJ, he reluctantly agreed.
He briefly rinsed himself off with the bathroom tap water and he had unknowingly adorned a nasty scowl on his face.
Stupid Flash… Making others’ lives miserable for no reason. What the fuck is wrong with some people?
He caught his look in the mirror and immediately relaxed his tense posture. He needed to calm down. In an attempt to do so, he splashed his face with some cold water to freshen up and gave himself one last check in the mirror to see if he was stain-free.
Heading back to the canteen, he was glad to find himself lost in the crowd once more. No one was staring at him or causing a scene. He navigated to his spot to see MJ and Ned. MJ offered half of her food to Peter as he had unfortunately lost his to the floor; with a grateful smile he thanked her and ate his portion.
“Don’t let him get to you. He’s an insecure freak who likes to take it out on others.” MJ spoke with precision and intent, so it was hard not to believe her words. Peter nodded slightly in acknowledgment, and replied with a small ”Yeah..”
Soon enough, lunch had ended and the two boys had split off from their trio, now walking the halls together. Unfortunately the bad energy hadn’t dissipated from Peter, and Ned had noticed, so he tried his best at a pep-talk.
“Dude you gotta stop being such a pushover, fight back! You’re literally freakin’ spider-man for goodness sakes!” he tried his best to conceal his eagerness to see Peter take Flash head on but it was a futile attempt. Peter gave him a knowing look, and sighed.
“Cmon man, keep your voice down…” He leaned closer to Ned, “You know just as well as i do that i can’t…”
“Can’t or won’t. You at least have the right to use self-defence if you give him a quick punch or two… maybe even a slap, but you just let him do shit to you!”
“I don’t want to draw attention to myself. How am I supposed to explain that an intern of the Mr Stark is getting into cat fights… I can’t risk my reputation on it! And plus, if I reciprocated, I’d be just as bad as him.”
“Well i don’t know about the ‘just as bad’ part. You have some strong morals Pete, I guess it’s good that you’re spider-man.”
Peter let out a dry laugh as the duo headed into their lessons.
Thank god it’s Friday he thought to himself.
——> ~ 4:00pm ~
> Message from /> Mr Stark </
- “Hey roos, meeting is gonna run into overtime, will be at the lab around 8pm.”
Peter looked down at his phone and huffed slightly, puffing at his cheeks dramatically whilst doing so. This in turn, earned a reaction from Happy, who was currently driving Peter from school to the tower.
“What’s up with you kid?” The man said curtly, but Peter knew there was care behind his tone.
“Oh…uh nothing much really. Mr Stark just said he’ll be busy until really late and it’s supposed to be our day today. Sounds kinda whiney out loud i guess.” Peter gave a small chuckle trying to conceal his slight embarrassment at the confession. He hoped that was embarrassing enough to get Happy off his case and not push for anything else.
Happy gave a small grunt in acknowledgment and Peter thought the conversation had ended there, but he spoke up again.
“He’s been awfully stressed lately. More than usual.” You and me both.. Peter muttered under his breath before exhaling deeply. With that, the car rolled to a slow stop. The young intern didn’t know quite how to take this news. On one hand, he’d figure he could try and cheer him up, but on the other, Mr Stark might want to be left unbothered by his constant mouth-running. He didn’t let the thought linger for too long before practically jumping out of the car, waving goodbye to Happy, and heading straight for the tower. Even if Mr Stark wouldn’t be here, Peter could still enjoy the time he has with the avengers.
With his defining Parker smile, he rocked back and forth on his heels in the elevator, bursting with a newfound energy he had previously lost throughout the school day. Arriving at the communal floor, he made his way to the lounge to find Natasha, Steve and Bucky watching a documentary together; the scene was unusually domestic for the bunch. Nat noticed the spider-ling first, paused the tv, and got up to greet him.
“Ах! Как мой маленький паук”
(Ah! How is my little spider)
She exclaimed before pulling him into a firm hug. She noticed the boy’s appearance was lacking in its usual freshness. His eyelids carried a heavier weight to them as his eye bags seemed more prominent; she didn’t comment on this but made a mental note to check up on him more often. Peter, oblivious to her judgments, gave a wide smile back and reciprocated the hug with just as much force.
“У меня всё хорошо, школа была долгой. Что ты делаешь?”
(i’m well, school was long. What are you up to?)
He replied enthusiastically.
Steve and Bucky had turned their attention to the two by this point. “A documentary on wildlife.” Nat informed, and Steve chimed in, “Wanna join us kiddo?” The younger boy’s eyes lit up and he nodded his head vigorously before he clambered to take his shoes off and quickly disregarded them and his backpack to the side. Natasha resumed her earlier position on the sofa, and Peter followed suit.
——> ~ 6:00pm ~
By now, the group are onto their 3rd documentary, and Peter can feel the exhaustion of the day catching up to him, so he decides he needs to get up and be productive or he would succumb to sleep. He explained to the three that he was going to work in the lab for a while, and they all exchanged curt goodbyes as he walked away. The lab was on the same floor so it didn’t take much effort to get there, and once he had arrived he felt a sudden wave of disappointment that Mr Stark was going to be late… by four hours. The time they spent together was already so limited, after all he is Tony Stark, but after school on Fridays were meant to be his time with his mentor. He couldn’t help but think how unfair it was - but quickly shut the thought down at the sheer childishness of it. He shook his head and buried himself in unfinished works of machinery.
——> ~ 12:00am ~
Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned into hours and before Peter had realised it, the clock showed it was now approaching midnight.
Looks like he’s not coming after all
A fact he had been trying to ignore this whole time, but deep down he knew today wasn’t going to go in his favour. Despite the slight heaviness that now lingered in his chest, he continued working, acting as a distraction to his wandering mind. Another hour dragged on by, and he was finding it harder and harder to keep himself up. His movements became sluggish and eyes heavy, but he held out hope that maybe- just maybe- he would still come. With that thought, he twisted the wrench in such a way that distorted a sheet of metal connected to a hardwired device, causing it to power down. Shit. Peter panicked and tried to reverse the damage caused, but his hands were far too trembly and he wasn’t sure if it was from sheer tiredness or anxiety for his mistake.
The movement of a door opening alerted Peter that someone had just entered the lab. Coincidentally, it was Mr Stark. Peter froze as he took in his appearance. He was wearing his usual business attire, but his blazer had been lost, his shirt was untucked and his hair seemed a tad scruffier. In total, he looked unkempt. The stress of everything was seeping from his mental state into his outward physical appearance.
“Peter? You shouldn’t have waited up it’s-“ and before he could finish his sentence, he assessed the situation. After everything that had been piling up, he came to the lab to unwind only to find his 3-week-long project mangled in the hands of a teenage boy. Something inside of the man snapped and he immediately lost his composure.
“Do you even know how long I’ve been working at that for? You think that you can take on any project willy-nilly because you got a few good grades on your tests? THIS is what happens when you get too big for your ego.”
He paused a moment to breathe and try to cool down when a meagre voice spoke up.
“Mr Stark… sir i- I didn’t… I wouldn’t have- I.. i’m sorry…”
Peter struggled to find the right words to say, and he wanted nothing more than to show his remorse but apparently the stumbling mess he blurted out only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
“No. NO You just- You don’t get it, Pete. A sorry isn’t going to fix this. You’ve clearly forced the torque, something a BEGINNER wouldn’t even do. Do you even listen to me? Or do you go along doing whatever the hell you want because you think you own the place. This isn’t one of your little Lego sets, this is thousands of dollars worth of equipment.”
By now, the young spider’s eyes were glossy, mouth was slightly agape, and he had the look of a hurt puppy. Mr Stark clenched his teeth in annoyance, before continuing.
“Get out of my lab before you break something else.”
Peter moved immediately, trying to calm the storm in whatever way possible, and if that was being more than obedient, then he would do it. Tony followed him out to continue his berating, only this time they had an audience. Steve had been nearby after hearing a ruckus from the lab, curiosity had gotten the better of him and he investigated. He had witnessed Tony dragging Peter out of the lab by his wrist.
“Mr Stark- you- you’re being totally unfair... i know i messed up and i- i’m sorry i really really am, but I can fix-“
Tony cut the boy off mid-sentence.
“This isn’t about fixing things Peter. This is about you being reckless and making stupid mistakes that you wouldn’t normally. After the week I’ve had- i don’t want to deal with some annoying pest in my lab and who fucks everything up!”
At those words, that word, Peter broke. His eyes that were threatening to spill now poured endlessly. He sucked in a shaky breath as Tony bit his lip. It seems he realised he was being too harsh, but it was too late. Without a word, Peter ran off, wiping his tears away whilst doing so. Steve, who had just witnessed the whole thing, quickly approached Tony.
“The fuck was that Tony?”
Steve chimed up, a look of disgust came upon him. Tony stood there, shocked at the events that had just unfolded as he was overcome by regret and guilt.
“I… Fuck, I just…”
For once, he was lost for words.
“He messed up in the lab, I shouldn’t have…”
He trailed off and Steve picked it up for him.
“Yelled? Shouted? Been an asshole to a stressed teenager who just wanted to spend time with his mentor?” Steve couldn’t believe that Tony would ever treat his kid that way, something must be going on. “Look, clearly all this work that you’ve been stockpiling yourself with has been affecting you, but now it’s affecting others. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll end up losing yourself and the people who care about you. Get some rest. Take time off. Do whatever it is you do to cool down, but don’t let this happen again.” Steve said with a mix of worry for the man, and also anger for letting it get so bad.
The blonde man was done with this conversation and turned on his heels to retreat back to his room.
"Steve wait-"
At the sound of Tony's sheer desperation and the exhaustion that clung to his words, he turned around.
"I'm sorry you saw me behave like that. Despite what you think I can recognise when I'm in the wrong." A poor attempt at comedy after such a serious conversation was only going to be as well received as you would think. Nonetheless, he continued, "I'll make it up to him Rogers."
Steve flashed him a stern glance, nodding his head. And with that, the two men went their separate ways.