The first time, as far as Tony could tell, that the Spider-ling showed up had been in Queens. He hadn't seen him in action, he spent very little of his free time in Queens, and most major villains that attacked the city attacked Manhattan. But he had seen the news that night, the report that showed the incredibly blurry, could-have-been-doctored, footage of what looked like a red and blue blur stopping a car from hitting a bus. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, it could have been anything. He wasn't even sure the blur had been a person. All the news report said was 'New Masked Vigilante Spotted In Queens? Red And Blue Blur Stops Bus Crash'. For all Tony knew it could have been a very large bird that had gotten in the way.
The second time, however, that he appeared, was all the more damning. Although it wasn't Tony that had seen the masked vigilante, one of the Avengers had. Steve, who had taken a nostalgic walk down memory lane in Brooklyn, had been walking past his old home, when a red and blue blur swung right past him, attached to the building at the wrist by some sort of silver substance (were those webs?). At first, he had thought he was seeing things. He had thought perhaps he had been hit in the head by one too many bad guys. But then, once more, the blur swung past him, and this time he was nearly certain that was a spider emblem on the makeshift costume he was wearing that suspiciously resembled pajamas. He hadn't told anyone at the compound. For all he knew, it was some kid playing an elaborate game of dress up. But there was something about the spider-ling, that just seemed very familiar to him.
The next time the spider-ling showed up, all of the Avengers were there. They were fighting some type of aliens near the New York Hall of Science that fell through some type of portal, causing a great deal of PTSD to fall on Tony, and there were civilians everywhere. None of the Avengers knew what to do. They were busy trying to contain the aliens, trying to keep them from reaching the outer boroughs, and there were high school students everywhere, school having just gotten out for the day. That's when they saw him, the blue and red blur the news had dubbed as spider-guy, swinging in from behind them, and moving civilians out of the way. It was almost supernatural, how quickly he was clearing the streets, and it was odd, because he wasn't trying to fight the aliens at all. All he seemed to be worried about was protecting the people of Queens. Then, just as quickly as he had moved everyone out of the way, he was gone, saying nothing but 'see you around' to them before he disappeared from their eye line.
By the time the spider-guy appeared for the fourth time, Tony had been studying him. He'd been researching him online, watching videos of him stopping cars, or saving people jumping off of the Brooklyn Bridge. He'd been memorizing his movements, watching the way he reacted to everything, and it was weird, because Tony'd never quite seen anything like it. His powers, were different to ones he had seen before. Mainly because he couldn't quite tell if their source was some sort of tech, or the spider-guy himself. The webs, as far as Tony could tell were coming out of some sort of repulser the guy wore on his wrists. But his movements, seemed natural, like something he had been born with. It was almost as if the guy could sense danger, moving out of the way of obstacles before they had even come into his view. Not only that, but the way he moved, the way he flipped in and out of the streets and buildings, it was almost as if he weren't an adult. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? This spider-thing couldn't be a kid, there was no way, right?
But the more Tony thought about it, the more it made sense, and the more plausible it became. Most of the spider appearances had been during daylight hours, more frequently on weekends than any other time. Not only that, but he was rarely seen out before 3pm on weekdays. Come to think of it, the spider-ling had shown up right as school would have been getting out in Queens when they had been fighting the aliens. It all made sense, that a kid would be more worried about clearing the civilians than fighting the big guy. But it was crazy, wasn't it?
It was at this realization, that Tony began monitoring the spider-kid, as Tony had dubbed him, even more closely. He had been tracking his appearances, and logging the hours of the day that he seemed to show up. Friday had mapped out all of the locations the kid appeared in the most frequently, and graphed a chart of the days and times he showed up. The longer Tony monitored the kid, the more certain he was that he was no older than eighteen.
It was at this, that Tony decided to do more extensive investigating. According to Friday, the kid frequented Queens and Brooklyn more often than any other location in the city, Queens in early afternoon on weekdays, and Brooklyn more frequently at night. So that's exactly where Tony found himself on a Thursday afternoon at precisely 3:05 in the afternoon, Queens, New York.
He began circling just above where the aliens had attacked, the first time he had really gotten a good look of the spider-kid. Remembering that the kid had shown up just minutes after school would have let out, led Tony to believe that perhaps he had been on his way home from school, and that's why he had been on the scene so quickly. Sure enough, 3:20pm, two blocks away from Midtown School of Science, the spider-kid made his first appearance.
He just flashed into the corner of Tony's eye at first, and for a moment, he had thought it was his brain playing tricks on him. But moments later, the kid shot up above the skyline, and Tony had a direct view of the kid. Trailing behind the kid at a reasonable distance, Tony watched as he swung through the city heading towards Brooklyn, seemingly unaware that he was being followed. Tony watched as the kid stopped to help a few civilians on the street, giving some directions, and helping others with small tasks like carrying groceries. It was endearing, if Tony were being totally honest, with how much he seemed to care about the citizens of New York. Of course, Tony would never have done something so small himself, but it was nice to know there was someone out there who was helping the little guys. Tony watched as he stopped a mugging, impressed with the speed and agility with which he moved. He wasn't sure even Cap had that kind of reaction time as he dodged a bullet.
Impressed, Tony followed him further into the city, confused to where the spider-kid was headed as he moved through Midtown, past The Bronx, and towards upstate New York. Of course, the kid had been upstate before on a few occasions, according to Friday, but there were few buildings a spider-kid could swing from upstate, so Tony wasn't sure where they were headed. It wasn't until they had nearly reached the Avengers Compound, that Tony begun to grow concerned to what exactly the kid was doing.
It was when the kid webbed the side of the Avengers building, and swung out of Tony's sight, that he realized something was wrong. Because within seconds, Tony felt a strong force pull him towards the building, and when he looked up, there was the kid, swinging back around the building, and shooting webbing out of his wrists, directly at Tony. Reacting as quickly as possible, Tony made a move to fly out of the way, but he was too slow for the spider-kid's reflexes, and within seconds, he felt his suit stick to the side of the building, coated in what appeared to be some sort of webbing.
"Sorry Iron Man, big fan, didn't want to have to do that," the kid shouted, his voice sounding no higher than a pipsqueak, bringing Tony to wonder just how old this kid was.
"Kid, what is this stuff?" Tony shouted at the kid, slightly perturbed that he was stuck to the side of his own compound.
"Don't worry, it's synthetic, it should wear off in a couple of hours!" he shouted as he began swinging off into the distance.
"A couple of hours?" Tony shouted in irritation. "No, you come back here and get this stuff off of me right now!" But the kid was too far away, already gone.
"Feeling a little stuck?" A voice called from below, and Tony looked down to the sight of Cap, standing on the balcony, an amused expression on his face.
"Shut it Rogers, and get me out of this stuff right now," Tony demanded, "and you tell no one about this, ever."
It was after this incident that an idea popped into Tony's head. Perhaps he was going crazy, perhaps he was off his rocker a little bit. But a lightbulb had gone off in Tony's head that day he had been stuck to the side of the building, and he couldn't seem to turn it off. Maybe be really was insane; Pepper had told him as such when she had found out what he had been doing. Maybe it was one of the side effects of having poisoned himself with palladium for two years; It would explain his behaviour as of late. But he couldn't help himself, he had to entertain the itch that he had been having ever since he had spent two hours peeling synthetic webbing off of his Iron Man armour, and he was only getting started.
Tony was careful about trailing the kid after that. Being sure only to observe from afar, no longer following the kid around the city. If he could, he'd send another member of the team to Queens or Brooklyn to keep an eye out, and sometimes he'd have Redwing monitoring the streets. But it didn't take long for Tony to figure out all he needed to about the kid and the project he'd been working on. He'd labelled it Project Spiderling, and though no one except Pepper knew exactly what he was doing, everyone seemed to think he was certifiably insane. Of course, all they knew was that it had something to do with the spider-guy, and Tony had yet to share the information that he was fairly certain the kid was in High School. But regardless, the team knew he was designing something for the spider-guy, and they knew that couldn't mean anything good.
It was two weeks later that Tony figured out far more about the kid than he had ever thought he would without actually approaching the kid. But after monitoring him for several weeks, and Friday's helpful map of all of the places the kid had popped up, Tony had not only narrowed down where exactly the kid went to school, and where the kid lived, Tony was fairly certain he knew exactly who the kid was.
Figuring out where the kid had gone to school was the easiest part. All he had done was keep an eye on when and where he kid popped up closest to after school was out for the day, and he had it narrowed down to Midtown School of Science and Technology within days. After that, trailing the kid home had been even easier, and he had been fairly certain the kid lived in Queens from the get go anyways. Figuring out his identity, now that was a little bit harder.
Of course, he knew the building he lived in, and the school he went to. But there were lots of kids living in that building that attended Midtown School of Science and Technology, and several that all were about the right size to match the spider vigilante's description. It was when the crime-fighting-spider foiled a robbery taking place in Pennsylvania, the night before the Midtown School of Science and Technology's debate team was set to compete that he narrowed it down. Because while it was possible it was a coincidence that the spider-ling just happened to be in Pennsylvania on the same night that the debate team had been there, it was highly unlikely. And while there were many teenagers living in the building at 20 Ingram St, Forest Hills, there was only one that was also on the Midtown School of Science and Technology's debate team, and that was Peter Parker.
This, and this alone, is how Tony Stark found himself on the couch of May Parker, at 3:27pm on a Tuesday afternoon. And this, and this alone, is how Peter Parker found himself walking into his and May's apartment, only to nearly swallow his own tongue.
"Hey, May," Peter called as he entered their small apartment, arms full of an old DVD-player, and his backpack slung across his shoulder.
"Mmm. Hey. How was school today?" his aunt called across the apartment, hidden from view around the corner of the living room.
"Okay. This crazy car parked outside-" Peter began to say, freezing in place at the sight of none other than Tony Stark sitting on his couch eating a piece of May's famous walnut date loaf.
"Oh, Mr. Parker," Tony said to him, as if he weren't just a random kid from Queens.
"Um…" Peter stuttered, pulling his earphones out of his ears. "What- what are you doing…? Hey! Uh, I'm-I'm-I'm Peter."
"Tony," Mr. Stark replied with a casual nod of the head.
"What are… what are you- what are you- what are you doing here?" he stumbled over his words, slightly awestruck to be standing ten feet away from his idol, one that had once saved his life.
"It's about time we met. You've been getting my emails, right?" he said, winking at him with his right eye, then his left, and then his right again.
"Yeah, yeah." Peter stumbled, unsure of where this was going.
"Right?" Tony continued.
"Regarding the…" Peter trailed off, tiptoeing around his words, unsure of what he was supposed to be saying.
"You didn't tell me about the grant," May cut in, throwing Peter one of her famous 'what the hell,' looks.
"About the grant," Peter repeated her words, no clue what she was talking about.
"The September Foundation." Tony added, hoping Peter would get the hint.
"Right," Peter said, still not really knowing what was going on.
"Yeah, remember when you applied?" Tony asked, staring at the kid.
"Yeah." Peter blanched.
"I approved, so now, we're in business." Tony finished, widening his eyes at the kid as if to say, play along. Aunt May gave him another what the hell look.
"You didn't tell me anything, what's up with that? You keeping secrets from me now?" May asked, her voice teetering between proud and angry.
"Why, I just, I just… I just know how much you love surprises, so I thought I would let you know… wh… Anyways, what did I apply for?" Peter asked, still very little clue as to what was going on.
"That's what I'm here to hash out," Tony said to him, eyebrows raised.
"Okay. Hash, hash out, okay," Peter said more to himself than to May and Tony.
"It's so hard for me to believe that she's someone's aunt," Tony said, gesturing towards May.
"Yeah, well, we come in all shapes and sizes, you know?" May replied, a smile on her face, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"This walnut date loaf is exceptional," Tony added, holding another piece of the loaf in his hand.
"Let me just stop you right there," Peter cut him off, putting his hand out.
"Yeah?" Tony asked, waving the loaf around.
"Is this grant, like, got money involved or whatever, no?" Peter asked, heart thumping.
"Yeah," Tony said, voice raised slightly.
"Yeah?" Peter asked, eyes slightly wide.
"It's pretty well funded," Tony informed him, taking a bite of walnut date loaf.
"Wow," Peter said aloud, more to himself than Tony.
"Look who you're talking to. Can I have 5 minutes alone with him?" Tony asked, gesturing to Peter.
"Sure," Aunt May said, gesturing towards Peter who suddenly looked slightly panicked at the thought of being alone in a room with Tony Stark.
Following Peter down the hall, Tony entered Peter's room, locking the door behind them, and spitting the piece of walnut date loaf in his mouth into the garbage can.
"As walnut date loaves go, that wasn't bad," Tony said as he eyed the things in Peter's room, mostly old computer parts. "Whoa, what do we have here? Retro tech, huh? Thrift store, salvation army?"
"Uh, the garbage actually," Peter told him, a blush creeping across his cheeks, embarrassed.
"You're a dumpster diver," Tony stated, point blank.
"Yeah, I was… Anyways, look, um, I definitely did not apply for your grant." Peter told the billionaire, now more confused than ever.
"Ah-ah! Me first," Tony cut him off. "Quick question of the rhetorical variety," Tony began, pulling out his phone and projecting a video of Peter webbing a criminal trying to break into a car up. "That's you, right?"
"Um no, what do you, what do you mean?" Peter stuttered, eyes widening at the footage.
"Yeah, look at you go," Tony said as he flipped his phone, displaying the video from the news, the one that showed him stopping the car from hitting the bus from the first appearance on the news. "Wow! Nice catch. 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That's not easy. You got mad skills."
"That's all- That's all on Youtube, though, right? I mean, that's where you found that? Because you know that's all fake. It's all done on the computer," Peter stuttered, trying his hardest to explain the video.
"Mhmm," Tony hummed as he looked around the kid's room eyeing the door in the ceiling that likely lead to the attic.
"It's like that video, what is it?" Peter stumbled.
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah… Oh, you mean like those UFO's over Phoenix?" Tony asked as he picked up a broom handle, pushing the door open causing the spider outfit Peter had been wearing in the streets to fall from the ceiling tied to a rope. "What have we here?"
"Uh… that's a…" Peter mumbled, pushing the suit behind his rack of clothes.
"So, you're the… spider…ling. Crime-fighting Spider… You're Spider-Boy?" Tony asked, a slight smirk on his face.
"Sp.. Spider-Man," Peter corrected him, crossing his arms with an embarrassed huff.
"Not in that onesie, you're not," Tony told him.
"It's not a onesie," Peter defended his suit as Tony picked it up. "I don't believe this. I was actually having a real good day today, you know, Mr. Stark. Didn't miss my train, this perfectly good DVD player was just sitting there and… algebra test. Nailed it!"
"Who else knows? Anybody?" Tony asked, looking at Peter with a calculating look.
"Nobody," Peter admitted, shaking his head.
"Not even your… unusually attractive aunt?" Tony questioned, sitting down on a chair.
"No. No, no. No, no. If she knew she would freak out, and when she freaks out, I freak out." Peter said, gesturing towards the hall.
"You know wha I think is really cool?" Tony asked, throwing the cartridge of webbing at Peter, who caught it, as if on instinct. "This webbing. That tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured that?" Tony asked, still slightly bitter about it sticking him to the side of his own building.
"I did," Peter admitted sheepishly, obviously remembering having stuck Mr. Stark to his own building as he threw the webbing towards the closet. "About that, by the way, I'm sorry about… ya know… webbing you to the side of your own building," Peter apologized.
"Climbing the walls, how you doing that?" Tony asked, ignoring Peter's apology about the building. "Cohesive gloves?"
"It's a long story, I was uh…" Peter began, only to be cut off by Mr. Stark analyzing his suit.
"Lordy! Can you even see in these?" Tony asked, holding the swim goggles attached to the mask up to his own eyes.
"Yes. Yes, I can!" Peter wailed, embarrassed.
"I'm blind!" Tony cried as Peter grabbed the suit from his hands, throwing it into the closet.
"I can- I can see in those. Okay? It's just that… when whatever happened, happened… it's like my senses have been dialled to 11. There's way too much input, so… they kinda just help me focus…" Peter trailed off, still embarrassed by his suit.
"You're in dire need of an upgrade," Tony told him, the same maniacal glint in his eyes that he had when he got an idea. "Systemic, top to bottom, hundred-point restoration. That's why I'm here," he explained as Peter sat on the bed, earning a look of shock. "Why you doing this? I gotta know. What's your MO? What gets you outta that twin bed in the morning?
"Because…" Peter began, fiddling with his fingers, "because I've been me my whole life, and I've had these powers for 6 months. I read books, I build computers… and yeah, I would love to play football. But I couldn't then so I shouldn't now,"
"Sure, because you're different." Tony finished his sentence for him.
"Exactly, but I can't tell anybody that, so I'm not." Peter paused, looking down at his lap. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't…" he trailed off, "and then the bad things happen… they happen because of you."
"So you wanna look out for the little guy, you wanna do your part?" Tony began after pondering Peter's words for a moment. "Make the world a better place, all that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, just looking out… for the little guy, that's, that's what it is," Peter told him, watching as Mr. Stark stood up and walked closer to him.
"I'm gonna sit here, so you move the leg," Tony told Peter, gesturing to where his leg was stretched out on the bed. Peter moved his leg. "Ever wanted to go inside the Avengers compound?" Tony asked Peter, whose eyes widened immediately.
"Um… what?" Peter blanched, eyes as wide as a kid on Christmas.
"Tell you what, you come upstate and we'll get your suit all sorted out, bright and shiny, top to bottom, should have you back by, oh, I don't know, 1am at the latest," Tony told Peter, who now sat motionless on the bed.
"I can't just go upstate with you!" Peter told Mr. Stark, nearly certain this was all some elaborate prank being played on him by Flash.
"Why?" Tony questioned, eyebrows pulled together.
"I've got… homework." Peter explained, looking down in embarrassment.
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that," Tony stated, laughing to himself.
"I'm-I'm being serious!" Peter raised his voice slightly. "I have responsibilities, things to do. I can't just come upstate with you on a school night."
"Alright, Spider-Man," Tony gave him a pensive look. "How about this, you come to the compound this weekend, and we'll get you all sorted out, all the bells and whistles, and then, when you're ready, we'll see about introducing you to the rest of the team."
"Mr. Stark, are you serious?" Peter asked, now standing, voice full of disbelief. Tony nodded. "Oh my goodness, Mr. Stark, thank you so much, you have no idea, oh my god!"
"Yeah, yeah," Tony said, now standing, moving towards the door. "And Parker?" He paused and turned to look at Peter, hand on the door. "You ever web me to the side of my own building again, and it won't just be you I'm having words with," he threatened, nodding his head towards the hall where Aunt May likely was.
"Sure thing, Mr. Stark," Peter told Tony, an excited tone to his voice.
Tony looked at Peter once more, before nodding, and making his way out of the Parker apartment and towards his car, entirely unsure as to whether he had just made the worst mistake of his life, or the best. But he knew one thing for sure, Peter Parker would change his life in more ways than one, and he was okay with that.