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Listen, when he first hears about the vigilante that can walk on walls and swing across New York's skyline, he'll admit, he was sceptical.
Tony is no disbeliever of the weird and wonderful. He's fought with and against gods, created artificial intelligence that turned into...whatever Vision is, hell at one point he fought someone who could turn themselves into fire. But this, this person with spider-like abilities, is quite far fetched, and that's coming from the guy who can fly in a metal suit.
It takes a lot of digging to find this guy but eventually his name pops up. Peter Parker and fuck, it turns out the kid is barely sixteen. Originally, he was going to bring him to Stark tower, maybe even the Avengers facility if his intentions were good. Maybe he would've offered him a chance to work with or for the Avengers, or SHIELD. But all of that's behind him once Pepper leaves. Once she packs her bags and books it, he tells FRIDAY to pocket that file and doesn't reopen it - and really never had any intention to ever again.
But then, Steve Rogers had to go and be all fucking patriotic and ruin everything.
He doesn't know why, or how, or maybe he chooses to ignore the fact that FRIDAY is a sneaky little bitch and influences him in the worst possible way, but for some reason, Peters file makes it back into his possession. He rewatches the videos, reviews the new ones that have cropped up since those six months passed and does make the effort to check what was going on with the boy behind the mask. News articles pop up of condolences and obituaries and for a minute, Tony's heart sinks, thinking that the crime fighting life has killed the kid, but one read through shows him that Peter himself isn't the one dead, but his uncle. Shot and killed in a robbery.
It hits him harder than it should. He doesn't know the kid, doesn't know the family at all, but he understands what he went through. No doubt Peter went through everything he did when he lost his mother and father, probably still is. Tony sighs and shoves his face in his hands, a groan escaping his lips.
"Boss," FRIDAY interrupts, "they've secured Barnes and Captain Rogers. They want you there in ten."
He groans again, just knowing the conversation he's going to have with Steve will be one of the ones where he wants to smash his head against a wall, then his own. "Yeah, just give me a minute."
"I'll tell them you'll be there in 15."
He lets a smirk cross his lips. "'Atta girl, FRIDAY."
Later, Natasha will ask him about the situation ahead of them. Steve's on the run with Bucky along with his feathered friend Sam. Wanda is a danger to herself and others and Tony can't get the voice in his head telling him it's all his fault to shut up.
But then, the image of Peter Parker, young and undamaged comes to his mind. A boy who could be easily melded into someone who would work for him, help him with just a click of his fingers.
This time, a real smirk comes to his face after the Black Widow asks him where his surprise his. He knows exactly where.
Queens, New York City.
-
A woman who is way too young to be an aunt answers the door. She steps back a little, obviously surprised that such a high profile person like himself is gracing her doorstep. "Mrs. Parker?"
She nods, the only thing she can do. "I'm Tony. May I come in?"
That shakes her into functioning properly. "Yes, yes! Come in, make yourself at home."
The place is quaint, a typical apartment owned by people who are barely trying to keep ends meet. But they're surviving. He passes a picture of the three of them. His aunt, himself and his uncle. For some reason he can feel his uncles eyes staring into him, judging him with a smile. He does his best not to turn it away.
She puts on the gracious(albeit flirty) host, offering him coffee and a...unique tasting walnut, date loaf. He makes up this bullshit story about a grant he was offering to the students of Midtown and that he was one of the applicants. She gushes to him that she always knew her nephew was smart, smarter than any other teenager and Tony actually listens to this part. Useful information, disguised as a compliment. Tony hates that he thinks that's way.
He hears the keys in the door and he knows it's go time. He regurgitates what he told his aunt back to him and immediately he knows that the kid can see through it at least somewhat. Although, with money involved, Peter's bullshit detector kind of glosses over and Tony thanks god for that. Shine enough green in someone's face and they are putty in his hands.
He's sitting down in Peter's room next, examining the suit he wore while swinging around. For homemade, this shit is good. Like, expertly good. On top of the apparent superhuman strength and odd, spider like powers he's developed, his mind seems to be on top of its game. Tony is a little jealous that for once in his life, he's not the smartest person in the room.
He expected Peter to become this Spiderman persona because he thought it would be fun. He thought he was just doing it for the wealth and fame that came along with being a superhero. But he ignores it, telling him, in his own way, that when something happens and he does nothing, even though he has the power to stop it, it's his fault.
And dammit, this kid is definitely smarter than he looks.
At Peter's age, Tony never really dwelled much on right or wrong. But this kid, with a burden the size of a truck on his shoulders, seems to have it all figured out. Which he is very worried about. That seemed like a very Captain America thing to say and he should know, he heard it a few hours ago.
Tony doesn't need to be told twice that if the chance presented itself, Peter would rather be on Steve's side than his. He has that moral compass that Tony sorely lacks. And now, it seems all the cards have been stacked against him because now he's faced with a moral dilemma, something that he doesn't deal with well. Does he tell him the truth, and let him make his decision for himself, ruining whatever chance Tony had of keeping the Avengers together. Or does he give him a vague idea of what's going on, just giving him the bare minimum and letting him go from there.
The older man makes a call, and some would say it's the wrong one, but goddammit Tony's sick of making good calls and having them blow up in his face.
So he books him a ticket to Germany, making up another bullshit story about inviting Peter to the Stark tower for a few days and that's it. He's reached the lowest of the low. He's manipulated a child into doing his work for him, knowing that if given the full story, he would rather fight for what he believed in that fight for what he knew was wrong.
But Tony doesn't see it that way. This is his last ditch effort into keeping together what Steve was so eager to break just for the sake of some guy with a metal arm.
(And hey, it turns out bad calls also blow up in his face. Turns out, that "some guy" killed his mom and Tony ditches any kind of hope he had for ever trusting Steve Rogers ever again.)
-
Peter Parker doesn't know any of this. To him, he's being recognised for doing some good in the world that he knows is severely in need of some hope. Yeah, he may dress up like a spider for that cause, but at least it gets people's attention.
Now, though, he's got a new suit. Now, he's got a brand thanks to Tony freaking Stark. He fought, and held his own against the Avengers man! Not many people could say that. Well, save for maybe all the people that had fought over the years, but you get his point.
He thinks that maybe that would be it, that maybe that was all he was needed for. Support. But one day, a letter gets posted to them, when he's sick with the flu, still healing from the black eyes a few weeks prior. He opens it up, shivering with the illness and reads the headline.
"Congratulations, Mr. Peter Parker, you are now one of the lucky participants of the Tony Stark Academic Grant-"
He doesn't need to read anymore as a grin goes from ear to ear. "Aunt May!" He cries out, throat raw, but he doesn't care. "Aunt May, look!"
Possibly, somewhere hidden in Tony Stark, under layers of pain and misery and just plain sadness, there's a nineteen year old, who knows what it's like to loose a parent and decided that Peter Parker did not deserve to feel that pain.