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The Best of Us All

Tony's phone was automatically set to ignore numbers that weren't saved in his contact list. Usually, at the end of the night, he would have Friday sort through his messages and see if any were worth keeping. He'd added Peter's number a few weeks ago...back when he'd finally given the boy his number.

Glancing over at his phone, he paused in the middle of his work, grabbing it and finally giving into temptation, only to find no new messages from Peter. He was sure that the kid was on his way to the dance by now...and to be honest, he didn't know why he wanted a picture of Peter and his date. But he did. He cared about this kid...wanted to be involved in his life. So...yeah. Yeah, he wanted a picture of the kid with his homecoming date. He kind of wanted to frame it. Put it up in his lab.

"Sir?" Friday asked, interrupting his thoughts, and he jumped a little. "You have received three calls in the past two minutes from a friend of Peter Parker's. A mister Ned Leeds." Tony frowned at that, going to his missed calls and looking at the three on top. An unknown number. Why would Ned Leeds have this phone number?

He hit redial, not loving the clenching feeling in his stomach. Surely it was fine. It had to be fine. Maybe Pete had given his friend the number in case of emergencies and now the kid was just using it as a party trick at their dance. Annoying but not dangerous, really. Honestly, it was the scenario he would have preferred. He would give the kid a lecture and then it would all be fine. Peter was fine.

Ned answered after one ring. "Mr. Stark? Oh god, Mr. Stark…"

"It's me, kid. What do you need? What's going on?"

"It's Ned...sir…"

Tony had to smile a little at this kid, shaking his head a little. "I know, Ned. I called you, remember?"

"Yeah…right…"

"What's the matter, Ned?" He prompted.

"It's Peter, sir…he...um…"

"Ned?"

"It's Liz's dad! Liz...his homecoming date! Her dad is the Vulture!"

Tony took a deep breath, closing his eyes and pinching his nose as he jumped up. Liz...the girl Peter was going to Homecoming with. Her father was the Vulture. Why couldn't the kid catch a single break? "How do you know?"

"Peter told me! He came into the dance and told Liz that he had to go and that she didn't deserve this and then he ran out of the room and I followed him because I'm his guy in the chair and then I was out in the parking lot and Peter was in his old suit and that Shocker guy was all like 'you made the wrong choice' or something and then he was, like, throwing busses and stuff, and he was about to get Peter but I grabbed his webshooter and shot the Shocker with it and then Peter told me I saved him and…"

"Ned." Tony interrupted, his armor forming around him. "Where is Peter now?"

"Um...he left his phone in Mr. Toomes's car and then he stole Flash's car…"

"He stole…" Tony started, shooting out the window and pushing his thrusters to full power. He wasn't sure exactly where to go, but figured 'toward the city' was a safe bet.

"And he doesn't know how to drive but he's figuring it out and he's following Toomes and…"

"Okay. I'm on my way..tell Peter I'm coming, okay?" He ended the call without giving Ned a chance to answer. "Friday? Track Peter's phone."

Tracking Peter's phone led him to a car parked outside of a parking garage, and he touched down, glancing in the car, breaking the window, and grabbing Peter's phone from the back seat. The noise of what sounded like thrusters came from inside the building then, and he hurried inside, trying to keep quiet just in case. Someone was talking...the Vulture. It had to be. Tony couldn't really recognize the voice, but the mask he'd worn must have modified it.

Stealth mode wasn't really his thing.

"What are you talking about? That thing didn't even touch me yet!" He heard Peter cry as Tony stepped into the room, and he saw the man who must have been the Vulture pull out a knife, cutting his arm free from what looked like webbing. Toomes wasn't looking at him, though. He was grinning at Peter who was standing in the middle of the room, dressed in his old suit.

"True...then again, I wasn't really trying to."

Peter stiffened right before there was a rumble all around them, and Tony raced forward, arm reaching out, Peter's name on his lips. It was coming down! Information about the support beams flashed across his mask, but all he could see was Peter who had half-turned toward him, eyes huge, an arm out. And then the building was crumbling around them, plunging them into darkness.

Tony opened his eyes after what felt like only seconds but could have been longer. There was a headache blooming in his skull, and he thanked his past self for making the suit strong enough that he hadn't been crushed.

Crushed. His heart felt like it stopped for a moment, and Friday flashed an alert in the corner of his vision as the most important thing came back to him. Peter. Peter who hadn't even been in his real suit...who had been wearing what amounted to sweatpants and a hoodie.

"Peter!" He screamed, unable to move...to knock the building's worth of concrete off of him. "Pete? Talk to me, kid!" For a moment, there was silence, and Tony had to fight to keep breathing. The kid was okay. He had to be okay. Peter had to be okay. He wasn't going to lose the kid. He couldn't.

Then he heard it. "Mr. Stark?" The voice was small and so afraid and it broke Tony's heart.

"I'm here, kid. It's alright. We're going to…" He started, making his voice as calm as he could.

"I can't move...Mr. Stark...I'm trapped down here. I...help! Please!" Tony could hear in the boy's voice that he in the midst of what sounded like a panic attack.

"It's okay, Pete. It's okay. We're going to get out of here. Just breathe."

"Mr. Stark...I can't move...I can't get out…". The boy was crying. Soft sobs came from somewhere to his right and he tried to shift, but he was completely stuck. No matter how hard he pushed himself upright, he couldn't move, and he was afraid to just start blasting. Who knew how stable this thing was? What if he blasted something and hit Peter? He could barely tell which way was up. Fighting the urge to swear, he took a deep breath.

He wanted to comfort him. He wanted to save him. But he couldn't.

"Peter, listen to me." He told the boy, making his voice very serious. But the kid was still crying...still gasping for air. Tony didn't blame him. But they had to get out. Had to stop the Vulture. "Spiderman. Listen to me."

That did it. The boy took a shuddering breath, then went quiet. "Okay." He whispered, and Tony wanted to reach out to him. Clasp him on the shoulder and promise that everything would be okay. But at the moment, they had to get out from under this rubble.

"I need you to lift this off of us."

"I can't." And his voice was wrecked...so young and so afraid, that Tony wanted to let it go. He wanted to tell him that it was okay. That they'd be found sometime soon and they could just go back to the compound and eat ice cream...maybe watch a movie. Work in the lab. And they would do all those things, Tony swore it. But first, they had to get the Vulture. They had to be heroes.

Only Peter could get them out right now. The kid was strong enough, Tony knew it, even if Peter didn't.

"Yes, you can. You know why?"

"No."

"Because you're Spiderman." He meant it. He knew this kid, this brilliant, too-smart for his own good, sweet, brave kid, was born to be a hero, more than Tony ever was. "You're it, kid. The real deal. Someday soon, you're going to be the best of us. Everyone can see it. Not just the strongest or the smartest, although I'd put money on you being both of those things. The best." Peter was silent. "I know you're scared, and this is a really shitty situation. But you can get us out. Only you. You can do this, Spiderman. With or without your suit, it's who you are, kid."

There was silence...a silence so long and total that Tony feared the kid had passed out or something. He could be hurt, Tony cursed himself. Why hadn't he checked!? He had asked Peter to move an entire building and the kid might be hurt! Could be bleeding out. But before he could ask, the rubble was moving, and Tony's jaw dropped.

Believing something was one thing. Because he'd believed it. He'd seen what Peter could do and he was sure that the kid was strong enough. But seeing it...seeing it and experiencing it was another. "Come on, Spiderman!" Tony cried, his lips stretched in an incredulous smile as the concrete on his back began to shift Able to move a little more, he managed to sit upright a bit. The boy was doing it! He was actually lifting the building! "You can do this, Pete! Come on!"

The boy groaned, either from pain or effort, Tony couldn't tell, but the rubble was moving. The entirety of a parking garage and Peter was doing it! He was lifting it.

Whatever had been pinning Tony finally shifted off of him completely, and he jumped to his feet, turning to find Peter, in nothing but a sweatsuit, arms up, holding what must have been tons of concrete. The boy shoved it back, stepping out of the way, and Tony finally gave in to the impulse, hurrying forward and throwing his arms around him.

Peter only hesitated for a second before doing the same, his head resting under Tony's chin. "You did good, Pete. You did so good." He muttered, rubbing his back for a moment before placing his hands on Peter's shoulders, looking him straight on. "You good?" Peter nodded, wiping a hand over his face, leaving a trail of dust and what must have been blood. He was covered in the stuff, coughing a little as he stared up at Tony with huge eyes, his old mask crumbled in his hand.

"Are you okay, Mr. Stark? How did you get here?"

"I'm fine. Your buddy Ned called me. Told me that you were after your date's dad and that you stole a car." Peter hesitated, looking sheepish, and Tony chuckled, waving a hand. "Doesn't matter, bud. I don't care about the car. You still did good."

"I kind of totaled it." The boy muttered. Tony patted him on the shoulder.

"Alright...we'll work on driving lessons later. For now, any idea where the Vulture is going?"

Peter nodded. "Your plane. Moving day. He's going to try and steal it."

Moving day. Avengers tech...all of the Avengers tech was on that plane. If there had been any doubt before, it was gone now. "Okay. Can you hold on to me? Flying is going to be faster." Peter nodded immediately, and Tony wished that they had time to get his suit...his real suit. That one barely offered any protection at all. But they didn't have time. The Vulture could not get his hands on this tech. So they would make do. The kid was Spiderman, with or without the suit and Tony had his back. "Alright kid. Let's go get this asshole."

Peter grinned, pulling on his mask and grabbing onto the armor as Tony blasted off.

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