Chapter 13

After dinner, Tony sat on the smaller portion of his sectional, sipping a simple rum and Coke. To his left, Pepper's and May's laughter, spurned on by about two bottles of wine, was bringing tears to their eyes. Tony had lost the conversation a few minutes ago, but he was sure that they were laughing at nothing in particular.

May leaned back into the couch. She sighed, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "Man, I don't think I've laughed this hard in months!"

There was a moment of silence before Pepper and May exchanged another look, and then their laughter continued for no reason at all.

Tony was grateful that May had clicked so well with Pepper. After trying his best to persuade her to take a night off, it was Pepper who finally convinced May to join them for dinner. Tony knew that she wanted to meet May anyway, but over dinner they learned more about Peter's aunt and began brainstorming more suitable employment options by means of their various connections. When they had agreed on a course of action for May's resume and applications, Tony called the waiter for a smooth red wine and the three loosened up quite quickly.

Now they were at his penthouse in the city, trying to forget about the problems that called for their attention. There wasn't much that they could do at this time of night anyway.

Tony looked over at the two women.

"‒anything you ask!" Pepper was explaining.

"Just say it out loud?" May asked between giggles. Pepper just nodded enthusiastically. May looked up at the ceiling and spoke hesitantly, "FRIDAY? Play Tony's Spotify music?"

May looked over at Pepper doubtfully before the program responded, "Of course, Mrs. Parker." When Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" began playing, May screamed, "I love this song!" and burst into another fit of laughter as Pepper dragged her off of the couch and the two began dancing in the middle of the living room.

Tony was about to retreat to the kitchen when Pepper tapped him on the shoulder, saying, "You, too, Iron Man!" It was then that he laughed, too, and he rose to spin Pepper around on their makeshift, three-person dance floor.

A few hours later, the trio resided on the couch once again with May curled up and asleep on the smaller portion. Pepper, who was laying on Tony with her head resting comfortably against his shoulder, absentmindedly traced circles on his chest. Some late-night sit-com was playing on the TV at a volume low enough that the sounds of the city were able to slip through the walls and fill the apartment. It was the peaceful time of night that existed only when most of the world lay sleeping.

Tony broke the intimate silence, whispering, "I think that was the happiest I've ever seen her."

"She works so hard for him, for Peter. She deserves a night off," Pepper whispered back. Then, noticing how his heart rate picked up, she stopped her hand movements to reach over and hold his right hand. She reassured him, "Everything'll be back to normal soon. Tomorrow I'm going to make some calls and see if anyone has an opening for a secretary or something. Then we just need to get child services back for an inspection. He'll be back home before you know it."

Tony sighed. "I still can't believe things got so bad."

"It's not your fault."

Just as Tony was about to continue berating himself, his phone rang, startling the two and stirring May.

"FRIDAY, who's calling?" Stark asked, nudging Pepper so that he could sit up. He scanned the room for his misplaced phone.

"An unknown number, sir, but with a New York City area code," The voice responded.

May, finding it in the cushion of her seat, wordlessly held out the ringing device to Tony.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Swiping to accept the caller, he asked, "Hello?"

"Come get me" was all that was said, but Tony recognized the voice immediately. The boy's voice was steady, and he also sounded like he was out of breath. Tony didn't waste a second in ordering, "Stay on the phone and stay where you are. I'm on my way." Although it was sometime around three in the morning, the kid needed him so he would be there.

As he jumped off the couch to slip on a pair of shoes and a jacket, Pepper called out, "Hey, wait, who is it? Where are you going?"

Temporarily pressing the phone into his shoulder, he answered bluntly, "Peter. I'll be back." Then he addressed his computer, commanding, "Track the phone and send the address to the car. I'm driving."

"Peter?! What's wrong with him?! What's going on?" May began to panic. When Tony ignored her and continued out the door, Pepper moved over to soothe her.

"It's alright: Tony'll take care of it."

Pulling his car out of the garage, Tony continued to speak to Peter. So far, the kid had whispered that he was in some convenience store on a corner a few blocks from the group home. He had rushed to promise Tony that he wasn't running away, but he needed to get away. Tony asked "What happened, kid?" once again as he followed the quickest route planned by FRIDAY. When the teen refused to answer a second time, they instead talked about what Peter had recently been reading, and Peter described the plot of the cheesy holiday movie he had recently seen on TV. By the time Tony stopped outside of the corner store, it sounded like Peter had regained some strength.

Now that Peter was in his passenger seat, Tony turned to him to ask, "No backpack this time? You need anything from the group home?"

"No. I just want to get out of this neighborhood," Peter responded, looking down at his empty hands in his lap.

Tony followed Peter's stare and noticed his right hand covered in blood. The teen also reeked of vomit and marijuana. The driver sighed and gave a small shake of his head before heading back to the penthouse. "Pepper and your Aunt May are at my apartment," he warned.

"Ohmygod," Peter's head snapped up to look at his mentor. He shrieked, "She can't see me like this!"

"Oh, what, it's fine for me to suffer through your puke-stench but not her?" Tony teased, trying to calm the kid down from hysteria. When Peter's attitude didn't seem to change, Tony tried a different approach. "It's fine. You don't owe anyone an explanation. Shit happens, kid, and sometimes we get stuck in the middle of it even if it's not our fault." Tony's eyebrows furrowed as he silently reprimanded himself for cursing during his attempt at parental-like advice.

"She's going to ask," Peter muttered as he turned back to his hands, picking dried blood out from under his fingernails. "She's going to worry."

Suppressing his immediate reaction which involved a reminder that his Aunt May wasn't the only worried person in the situation, Tony instead reassured his passenger. "Tell her that you don't want to talk about it. It's okay not to talk about things if you're not ready to." The corner of his mouth picked up into a slight smile as Tony approved of his own word-choice this time. He could handle this mentoring thing, right? Right.

"Yeah, okay," Peter said in a defeated but accepting tone of voice.

Back in his apartment, Tony helped to shield Peter from the concerned women who had moved to the kitchen area for water.

"He's fine! Let him sleep; he's had a long night!" Tony spoke up for Peter, letting the child cower behind him. He then guided Peter to one of the rooms down the hallway.

"I've never been here," Peter commented. When he visited Stark, it was usually at the Compound upstate where the engineer's workshop was. He had spent the night at the Compound before and he had stayed in the same hotel as Stark, but this felt more personal.

Tony shrugged. "Pepper is here more than me. Lots of business stuff to do around here." He walked to a set of drawers and pulled out sweatpants and a t-shirt. "Here," he said, handing the clothes to Peter. Pointing to the lower drawer, he explained, "There's clean underwear in this drawer. I wasn't sure what you prefer so there's some to choose from." Then, walking into the connected bathroom and flipping on the light, he said, "Here's the shower. Clean towels are there. Soap and shampoo."

Peter walked into the bathroom and set the clothing on a shelf. He turned to take in his surroundings ‒the bathroom was far nicer than the one at the group home or even May's‒ and almost burst into tears when he saw his reflection in the sparkling mirror. What stopped him was the toothbrush in the rack on the counter: a Spider-Man-themed toothbrush. It was then that he reconsidered Stark's statement about the underwear drawer and the fact that the clothes were his size despite Tony being bigger than him. "Is-is this… mine?"

Slightly embarrassed to admit that he had stocked the room for Peter months ago in case of an emergency to counter a rising anxiety attack, Tony just nodded.

For the second time that month, Peter stepped forward to wrap his arms around his mentor. As before, tears escaped down his cheeks, but contrary to last time, these tears wear driven by happiness. Peter hadn't felt so safe in weeks.

After Tony returned the hug for a minute or two, he stepped away. "I'm always here for you, kid, but you really gotta shower." He chuckled, causing Peter to laugh as well.

Before he walked out, Tony reminded his Spider-kid, "Get some sleep, will ya? We'll figure things out in the morning."

"Will do, Mister Stark," Peter promised.