Hey guys! So, it's me, Star, and I'm back with a new story! I actually finished this early this morning, but decided to go back and edit it multiple, multiple times, so I'm posting it now. It's for a Secret Santa project I'm a part of and is dedicated to KatTheGracefulKlutz (who, despite being my BFF [Best Fanfiction Friend], was actually incredibly hard to write for. XD).

Anyway, this is set in winter—and I know New York gets a lot of snow—so I imagine this takes place in either late November or early December. Flash, Michelle, and Ned are mentioned, but that's all for them; they don't make an appearance.

And since I spent almost an entire three weeks writing this, I hope you guys like it! :)

"Wait, I have to go get gold?" Peter questioned, confused, and slightly curious, as he fumbled with his mask in his hands. "Really...?"

"Yep. Figured it's a simple enough mission that shouldn't necessarily kill you," the former CEO of Stark Industries replied as his protege continued following him around the compound. When Peter shot him a confused look though, he immediately corrected himself. "Sorry," He apologized. "That... came out more rude than I expected it to."

"Eh, it's alright." The superhero immediately shrugged as he sat down at the kitchen counter and popped a grape into his mouth, still in his suit. "But why gold?" He asked, confused. "I mean, don't you have people for this sort of thing?"

"Well, yeah," the billionaire said, his statement full of snark and sarcasm. "But most people don't have enhanced senses and a suit with a spider doll that can help them find their way through small spaces, if needed or necessary."

"Drone," Peter immediately corrected, as he popped another grape into his mouth and, in response, the billionaire pushed the bowl towards the boy. "And besides," He had then added after a minute of thinking. "What's in it for me?"

"...The ability to impress your mentor should be enough, huh?"

"I thought I impressed you when I saved the stuff on your plane!"

"And nearly died? Yeah, no thanks."

"But—"

"Look, kid," the mechanic interrupted, as he ran a hand through his hair while folding his arms on the kitchen counter. "You didn't take the chance to become an Avenger—which, despite how much I don't understand, I'm trying to—and the last time you tried to prove yourself, you almost died—" The same way as your parents. "—In a plane fight on Coney Island. So, forgive me, if I wanna keep you safe and don't wanna go against May."

"I know, it's just that—" Sighing, Peter pushed the bowl of grapes away and put it over to the side. "I thought I'd be doing bigger, better things, you know? When you called me in for this mission, I thought it was gonna be something with, like, aliens attacking or robots rebelling."

"Yeah, I did too." The billionaire chuckled as he averted his gaze away from his apprentice's. "But, every hero started out small and, even if you wanted to go on a bigger mission, you couldn't, 'cause you don't have proper training."

"But I didn't have any proper training before I became Spider-Man...?"

"Which, was stupid, but that's not the point. Anyway, getting gold doesn't include any training besides travelling. All you have to do is go into a mine, collect some rocks and minerals and then head to the helicopter I'll send. Easy as cheese."

"...So, in other words, you're giving me a mission where I won't get hurt."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, kid, sure." Reaching for a grape in the bowl nearby, he had pulled his hand back when Peter swiped said object from him. "So, what do you say? It's a simple mission. You up for it, kid?"

"When I said I was up for this, I did not expect to be digging in the dark," Peter mumbled to himself as he wandered around the mine. It was a simple thing, super shiny on the inside, but old on the outside. "Karen?" He asked, quietly. "Think I can get some light in here?"

"You have three different options for lighting settings, Mr. Parker."

"Great! What are they? If I'm gonna finish this, then I'm gonna need to see."

"Lighting setting options include night vision, thermal vision and x-ray vision. Which one would you like to choose?"

"Uh... I dunno. Night vision, I guess? I'll see if that works."

"Excellent choice. Activating; night vision."

Suddenly a glimpse of green vision took over the superhero's sight and he immediately smiled at his helpful AI. His surroundings were now filled with bright, neon green and though there still some somewhat dark parts here and there, it did look pretty cool overall.

"Woah, this is so cool!" The superhero immediately screamed, and grinned when his voice seemed to echo throughout the walls. "Hey, Karen, do you think I—"

"I do not think Mr. Stark would be happy—"

"Pun intended?" Peter asked, smirking slightly.

"—Or up to making you night vision goggles just so you can see in the case of a power outage or school shooting. Your normal sight is perfectly fine."

"Well, it was worth a shot..."

"It would also be worth something to stay on task, so you don't injure yourself."

"I'm not gonna injure myself— Ow!" Suddenly something fell on the superhero's head and as he rubbed the sore spot, he also bent down to examine the small stone. A sparkly yellow colour decorated the entire thing and even in his night vision, did it seem to shine. "Karen, what is this?" He questioned, curiously.

"It appears to be a mineral."

"Well, yeah, I know, but, like, what actually is it?"

"It appears to be the mineral that hit you on the head just minutes before."

"I meant what type of mineral, Karen!" Peter had then exclaimed, before shaking his head as he continued to stare at the small rock. "Gosh, Karen, you're so stupid sometimes..."

Nevertheless though, the AI answered. "The mineral, that hit you on the head, that you are currently holding, appears to be the one you came here to collect."

"So wait..." The superhero said, as he turned the rock over in his palm, the sparkles staying still on the stone. "This is gold?"

"That appears to be correct, yes."

"What? No way!" The teenager cried, excitedly. Sure, they did experiments with minerals all the time in science class, but that didn't necessarily mean someone didn't break one every time they did—last time, it was Flash. Plus, he never really got to see one in it's natural state before—and, man, was it cool!

"This is so cool! I am totally gonna tell Ned about this when I head back home!"

"Speaking of which, it would be wise, Mr. Parker, to do so soon. These caves are very old and there's a chance that, if an avalanche or earthquake occurs, it may collapse on you."

"Karen, please." Peter scoffed. "Even if this cave did collapse on me, I have an advanced healing factor; I'll be fine in a few hours."

"If 'fine' means 'dead,' then, yes, you are correct."

"Okay then, where's the exit?" Turning on his heels, the teenager immediately scanned his surroundings for a way out, but frowned when he notice there was none, as the way he came in had been blocked with rocks. "Uh... Karen?" He inquired, unsurely. "How do I get out of here?"

"...Activating scanners."

"And?"

"There appears to be no way out, Peter, as the rocks had blocked the entrance you came in as soon as you entered. May I suggest connecting a call to Mr. Stark for support?"

"What?! No!" The superhero screamed, and immediately winced as it echoed and bounced off the walls; having super senses really sucked sometimes. "Don't—Don't call him, Karen, don't call him!"

"Why not? You are in danger and have a high chance of dying in the case of an avalanche occurring."

"B-Because!" The boy exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air, out of frustration and annoyance. "Karen, this was supposed to be a simple mission; go in, grab the gold, and get out. If Mr. Stark finds out I can't even go into a cave without getting myself into trouble, then how's he supposed to trust me when he trains me for when we're supposed to travel to space to fight Thanos?!"

"...I have no record of this 'Thanos' in my database. Would you like me to do a Google search for the person? It would be quite hard to do without wifi and a data plan, but I would be able to make it work."

"What? No! Just—Ah, just tell me how to get out of here. Can I do anything? Lift anything up? Squeeze through any small spaces? Send a message to Ned?"

"Ned Leeds appears to be offline, as well as Michelle Jones and May Parker. Would you like me to contact Mr. Stark?"

Sighing, Peter sat down against one of the sparkly walls as he eyes fluttered shut, exhaustion overtaking him. "No, don't," He demanded. "I—I can just wait till the wind outside clears up, right? That's what causing the entrance to be blocked by all the rocks?"

"Precisely."

"Great," the teenager had then mumbled as he slipped off his mask and rested it behind his head. If he couldn't get out of here, then at least he could sleep until he actually came up with a plan.

Besides, it wasn't like he was napping for fun. He was stuck and he hadn't exactly gotten enough sleep the past few weeks, to put it lightly; not since the fight on Coney Island.

Plus, it was better to wait it out than call for help. He didn't want to be seen as a Spider-child.

"Karen, what time is it?"

"Currently, it seems to be around two thirty pm, Peter."

"Mhmm..." The superhero nodded in response, the snow outside making him shiver as the cave filled with cold air. "And how long have we been stuck in here?"

"You have been here for about three hours now. Would you like me to try sending a message to Ned?"

"I thought Ned was offline today. Didn't he get his phone taken away?"

"He did, yes, but I can always call Michelle instead," The AI's voice responded, sounding soft and soothing. "She appears to be online right now and is currently threatening Flash through text—"

At this, Peter's ears perked up a little, like a puppy. "And what's she saying?" He asked, a little interested.

"Would you like me to read her texts word from word?"

"Uh... yes!"

"Michelle currently seems to be saying; Flash, fu–"

"Okay, never mind," Peter immediately replied. "Forgot it was wrong to eavesdrop." Well, that, and now he certain he definitely didn't wanna hear what Michelle was saying to Flash.

"Hey, Karen," the teenager had then asked again, as he shifted around in his spot, antsy and anxiously. "How long have we been here exactly?"

"You have now been here for three hours and thirty seconds. The snow is also still falling and you appear to be freezing, Peter. Would you like me to turn on the heater?"

"Yes please!" The superhero immediately exclaimed, as an unlimited amount of energy burst through his bones. Out of all the features that were added into the suit, how did he forget about that one?

"Heater will last for... thirty five minutes."

'Well,' the superhero sighed as he thought to himself. 'That was disappointing...' But, at least he actually had a heater and wasn't gonna freeze to death—if he wasn't starting to, already.

"Oh, yay, great," the teenager stated. Despite the heater only lasting for a little more than half an hour though, he had to admit, he was thankful. Maybe, if he was lucky, he wouldn't catch pneumonia after all...

"That seems to be an highly unlikely case, Mr. Parker, that is growing more by the minute," Karen reminded the teenager. "Despite the heater being turned on, the temperature is still continuing to drop and, if you did not have special abilities, you would've been dead, if not now, then two hours ago. But, since you do have special abilities, the worst you can receive from this weather is either a mild cold or moderate hypothermia."

Wait, was he talking out loud...? Maybe the freezing weather was already starting to affect him, after all...

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to call Mr. Stark? He is currently wondering where you are—"

"Because this is a simple mission that should've been done three hours ago, I know!" Peter groaned, as warmth burst into his bones, but the winter weather conditions continued to make their way to his brain.

'Gosh...' Slipping the mask off his head, the high school student ran a hand through his hair. This was supposed to be simple. A simple mission. One where, in other words, he wouldn't get hurt. How could he have messed this up?

It was a simple mission, with simple instructions. Yet, then again, it wasn't like anything was ever simple with Spider-Man, so...

Exhaling a breath of cold air (the kind of breath where you could actually see yourself breathing), the superhero shook his head, to get rid of the cold waves affecting his brain, and slipped his mask back over his face. He was just about to close his eyes again and rest, when...

"Connecting call from Tony Stark..."

"What?! No, Karen—"

"Hey kid."

"Oh, um... Hi Mr. Stark!" Peter smiled sheepishly, despite the fact that the man couldn't actually see it. "How you—How you doing?" He asked, his teeth beginning to chatter.

"Weird," the billionaire stated as he worked in his lab, twirling a pencil in his hand. "I was just gonna ask you the same thing, kid. How's the mission coming? You've been gone for a while, and May's gonna kill me if you aren't home by six."

"Six?" Peter questioned, confused. He didn't remember discussing that when they were talking about setting up new rules for his Spider-Man activities.

"Yeah, apparently she wants you back early tonight 'cause you have some stuff you need to catch up on—something about not attending decathlon practices?"

"Oh, um, yeah." Peter's teeth chattered once more, but he quickly hid it with a chuckle. "It's just... Uh, I've been busy lately..."

"With what?" The former Stark Industries CEO scoffed.

"...Stuff?" Peter questioned sheepishly, a smile lacing it's way on to his face... just before a sneeze escaped. 'Oh no,' Peter mentally groaned.

"Kid," Tony questioned, concerned, and Peter could actually hear the worry seeping through his voice. "You sick?"

"What? No!" Removing the bottom half of his mask and rubbing his now sore nose with the sleeve of his spandex suit, the superhero stifled another sneeze, as he felt his eyes water and his shoulders shiver. 'The heater must've ran out by now,' He immediately realized. "It's just... uh, allergies. And it's cold in here, you know?"

"And where exactly is 'here'?" The billionaire barked, until an idea hit him and he seemed to settle on something. "Wait, are you still on the mission? Kid..."

"What? No, I—I'm—"

"Lying to me? Yeah, I can tell, you're terrible at it. Karen, can you tell me where the kid is and what his vitals are?"

"Peter is still on his mission from earlier, boss. He nearly completed it three hours ago, but got stuck and wasn't able to get out. The heater was activated half an hour ago, but turned off and the temperature here is still continuing to drop."

"Karen!" Peter sighed, resting his head against the rocky wall. "I thought I told you..."

"Not to call me?" Tony guessed. "Yeah, nice try, kid. I'm coming to get you now, stay where you are, alright?"

Peter laughed, despite the fact that his entire body was now shivering and that he could feel his eyes now drooping. "Where would I go?" He joked.

Suddenly there was silence, before the sound of something taking off—the Iron Man suit, maybe? "Peter, I'm serious here," the billionaire stated. "Don't move, alright? May would kill me if I let you die."

Peter, in response, smiled slightly, but stopped as his eyes began to flutter shut. "F-F-Fine..." He complied.

"Agh..." Peter immediately winced as another shiver hit him. "I-Is this really n-n-necessary?" The superhero sneezed as he shifted on the stretcher from inside one of the many Avengers' private helicopters. The IV in his arm was prickling his skin and was, if he was being honest, starting to annoy him—way more than slightly, which was, actually, putting it lightly.

Not only that, but the IV felt weird in his arm, piercing him like a needle, when he actually wasn't used to it. So, silently, the superhero made a mental note to never get sick or injured again in the future—or ever, for that matter.

Too bad that promise was one that couldn't—and actually wouldn't—last that long.

"It wouldn't be, had you just called me and hadn't tried to deal with something like this on your own," the billionaire replied, from where he stood beside the boy. Usually he... okay, wait, that was a lie. Rephrase; necessarily, he wouldn't have been so bitter towards the kid, but he couldn't help it. He was worried, what could he do?

(And you can't judge, because you'd be worried too if your intern was stuck in a freezing cold cave for over six hours straight!)

So, here he was, watching the kid, as if he was made of thread and fabric.

...Which, he had a theory he was, to be honest. The kid got injured more often than not, it wasn't like he could help being protective.

"I-I-I did c-c-call you." Peter had then whimpered, the sick feeling in his stomach growing bigger and bigger. Not only that, but the stitches he had to get on his head were starting to sting and it didn't really help that, until they arrived at the Avengers' compound, the thin sheets he was lying underneath were making him freeze, despite his fever (which was, actually for a normal human, fairly low, but—then again—Peter always ran warmer than everybody else, so...). "And I didn't deal with it on my own," He managed to get out. "I—I had h-h-help..."

"From Karen," Tony snarkily remarked. "Who—"

"Acts, feels and deserves to be treated like a human too!"

"Or," Iron Man interrupted. "As I was gonna say; who called me, just before you fell asleep!"

"Harsh," Peter huffed, as he began to twist the blanket in his fingers. He couldn't help it, he was shifty, he needed something to fiddle with. "Karen's a human too, M-Mr. Stark..."

"Who's tone was probably genuinely terrified, just like mine," the billionaire barked as he stopped standing, but rather took a seat on a bench, placed near the end of the stretcher. Not wanting to shift too much and aggravate his injuries, along with his stomach, the superhero had instead shaken his head and closed his eyes, as he exhaled slightly.

And, whether the teen was falling asleep or unconscious, Tony didn't know, but that didn't mean he couldn't stop talking. It was the least he could do to keep Peter awake, anyway.

"You're lucky I came when I did, kid." Tony sighed, tiredly. If the kid was in grade ten and already stressing him out this much, then he couldn't imagine how worried he'd be when Peter actually reached grade twelve and started applying for scholarships and colleges (Of course, he'd already planned to pay for his tuition—yes, two years in advance—but it wasn't like that was something the superhero needed to know, so...), along with balancing his Spider-Man 'act'. "If you'd been injured or actually killed..."

"May would kill you," Peter added with a laugh.

The older Avenger nodded, the rarity of a smile being laced on his face. "Sure," He agreed, pushing what he was gonna say aside, to the back of his mind. "That too."

Getting up from his seat beside the stretcher, the superhero's father figure had then stood up from his spot, seeing that the medical team were ready to wheel his surrogate son out of the flying machine and into the Avengers' facility. "Now—" He patted the teenager's ankle. "Get some rest, 'kay, kid? And once you're all fixed, you can get back to doing your spider-thing."

Then, turning on his heels, he was just about to leave, when...

"I-It's called Spider-Manning..." Peter's eyes slowly began to flutter shut, sleep medication overtaking him, and the man smiled in reply, though Peter was pretty sure it was because he was beginning to surrender to sleep and not because he was sick, but otherwise safe. "D-D-Dad..."

And, as he watched Peter be wheeled off the jet, Tony couldn't help the little feeling of warm that swelled in his chest.

If somebody had told him, five or six years ago, for sure, that he'd become a father figure to a teenager, he wouldn't have believed it.

But with Peter?

Well, maybe, it'd be okay.

And that's end! I know it's not even close to Christmas or anything (and I'm not even sure when Hanukkah takes place), but I hope you guys have a great holiday! Something bad always happens to me before, during or after Christmas (last year I sprained my wrist, the year before I sprained my ankle), so I'm still waiting for that to take place XD.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked reading this, as much as I enjoyed writing it, and, if you did, maybe you can drop me comment or review? *smiles politely* It's okay, you don't have to! :)

Have a terrific day today and magical Monday tomorrow!

~Star