Author's Note: Hello! Thank you again for the support for this story.

This chapter is set around a month after the previous chapter where Tony witnessed Peter's sensory overload.

Just a Scratch

With a hiss, Peter landed on the rooftop and immediately pressed a hand to his side. He'd planned on a nice, easy patrol after Tony had cancelled their lab session. Apparently, Pepper had insisted the former CEO attend the meetings that she had scheduled all afternoon given that he had missed so many. Peter was fairly certain that when Mr Stark had used the word 'insisted', he had probably been threatened in some way. The teenager would have found the idea amusing if he still didn't sometimes shudder when he remembered Miss Potts berating him for getting shot.

However, Peter's plan had worked out as well as they usually did and he had managed to get himself stabbed as he stopped a mugging. With the young woman he had helped safely on her way home and the two perpetrators webbed up in an alley, the young vigilante had sought safety on a rooftop to assess the damage.

"Karen?" he asked.

"The wound appears to be clean but will require stitches. Shall I contact Mr Stark?"

"No, no- that won't be necessary Karen!" he exclaimed quickly but his AI was not to be deterred.

"I am programmed to notify Mr Stark when you are seriously injured, Peter. I would suggest your requirement for stitches is serious as it is not an injury you can deal with alone."

"But you could talk me through the process of stitching a wound. Then I could deal with it myself," he reasoned.

For a moment, Karen was quiet and Peter waited with bated breath until she finally spoke. "Very well, Peter. However, I suggest you get home quickly and try to avoid swinging. It could pull your wound and make it worse."

Peter hummed as he thought that through. He was fairly certain May was at home and he didn't particularly want her to know about the stab wound. He was also pretty sure that they wouldn't have the materials for stitching a wound in their first aid box. He scanned the landscape when his eyes landed on the all-too-familiar tower. Surely Stark Industries had better medical supplies than his Queens apartment.

"Thanks Karen but I am going to have to do a bit of web swinging. I'll be careful though," he assured her. "Could you change the web settings to medical." With the confirmation that they'd been changed, Peter sealed his wound with a low groan, then changed them back and set off on his journey.

Tony massaged his temples, trying to ease the headache that had been slowly building since his first meeting that afternoon. An untouched glass of scotch sat on the table to his right while on the table to his left, there lay the gauntlet he had been tinkering with earlier.

Attending these meetings was tedious enough on any given day but when they were on a day that he should have been in the lab or workshop with the kid, it was all the more frustrating. He knew he had annoyed Pepper- that his disinterest had been blatantly obvious to everyone he had encountered- but he couldn't find it in himself to feel sorry. She knew he spent time with the kid on Fridays and he couldn't help but feel a little resentful that she hadn't re-arranged the meetings for a different day.

The last one had dragged on later than expected so they had decided there was no point heading to the compound and just to spend the night in the tower. Pepper had long since gone to bed but Tony's head was still buzzing and so he sat in the dark, staring into space as he continued his silent battle with the glass at his side.

Suddenly, one of the windows behind him slid open and he was about to ask FRIDAY what was going on when he heard footsteps on the wooden floor. On instinct, he reached for the gauntlet at his side, standing quickly as he took aim.

"FRIDAY, lights!" he barked.

"What? Oh shi-!" a startled voice began as the lights came on and the genius came face-to-face with Spider-Man.

Slowly, Tony lowered his hand, staring in confusion. "Kid, what are you doing here?"

The lenses of the mask were comically wide as the vigilante gazed back at his mentor. "Oh, hey Mr Stark. What are you- I mean, hey, I just, um… I thought you'd be at the compound?"

Tony's brows furrowed. "The meetings finished late. It didn't make sense to head upstate when we have rooms here."

"Right, right," the young hero nodded. "Well, uh, sorry to disturb. I'll just…" He gestured back towards the window he'd come through and started to turn when Tony spotted a white patch on the suit.

"What happened to your side?" he asked, and the kid froze, glancing back at him. Before the teen could answer, he addressed his AI. "FRIDAY, close that window and lock them all."

Again, the mask lenses widened just as Tony's eyes narrowed, approaching the kid. Peter backed up until he was almost at the now sealed window.

"It's nothing Mr Stark- just a scratch, really, you don't need-!"

"FRIDAY, scan," Tony commanded.

Peter gulped as the AI supplied, "Five inch laceration. It's deep but has only cut through muscle and fat. Stitches required."

Tony raised a questioning eyebrow as he reached forward and tugged Peter's mask off, revealing the deer-in-headlights expression underneath. The teen tried for a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I, uh, I mean, I'm fine Mr Stark. Really, it's totally fine. I'll go home and see to it right-!"

Again, he didn't get a chance to finish as Tony grabbed his arm and began tugging him from the room while his protests fell on deaf ears. The billionaire towed him down the hall before opening a door to the left. FRIDAY didn't need to be told before the lights came on and Peter noted they were in a bathroom that was bigger than his Queens bedroom.

Tony released his hold on the kid, reaching into a cupboard.

"Suit off," he instructed, turning with a first aid kit in his hands.

"Mr Stark, really, you don't have to do this. I'm fine."

His mentor only narrowed his eyes again. "You and I have very different definitions of fine. Now suit. Off."

Peter was stunned into silence, only gulping again as he hit the spider emblem and the suit went baggy. He quickly tugged off his medical webbing, trying and failing to suppress a wince as he did so before he pulled the suit down to rest at his hips.

Tony grimaced as he eyed the wound. Then he turned to the sink. "Lie on your side," he murmured.

Peter frowned wondering where he was supposed to lay down. Tony glanced up from washing his hands when he realized the kid hadn't moved. He sighed and tilted his head and when Peter followed the movement, he noticed a chaise-long at the side of the room. He opened his mouth to ask why Mr Stark had a chaise-long in his bathroom before deciding that he probably wouldn't get an answer that made much sense to him anyway and just made his way over there, lying on his side, as instructed.

His mentor approached, snapping a pair of disposable gloves on and pulling a packet out of the first aid box. He eyed the teen carefully and asked, "Do you want any pain relief?"

Peter frowned. "Is it Cap's?" When Tony shook his head, the kid just sighed. "No, there's not much point."

Tony ignored the hollow feeling in his stomach and tore the packet in his hand open. He held the sterilizing wipe in one hand, the other resting close to the wound he was about to treat. "You ready?" he asked.

The kid squeezed his eyes shut, jaw clenched, and nodded. As Tony cleaned the wound, Peter hissed, clenching his fists tight so that he wouldn't grab hold of anything and accidentally break it.

Finally, Tony tossed the wipe into a bin in the corner. "I'm sorry, kiddo," he murmured, his earlier anger less heated now that he watched his protégé struggling with the pain. He wasn't surprised when Peter didn't answer, given how tightly he was clenching his jaw.

Slowly, the genius began stitching the wound. After the first couple of stitches, Peter seemed to relax and Tony glanced up at the kid's face to see it softening. He continued with his task in silence until finally, Peter spoke.

"How do you know how to do stitches?"

Tony kept his eyes on his hands and the wound in front of him. "Happy taught me. Well, I watched him do them for me a few times. Genius, remember?" At this, he turned his gaze on Peter with a light smirk, which Peter returned with a small smile.

Tony examined his handiwork before tying the knot and disposing of the necessary equipment and setting the instruments aside that needed to be sterilized. As he turned back to the first aid kit, he voiced his own question.

"You must have thought I could give stitches if you came here?"

When he didn't receive an answer from the kid that could normally talk endlessly for hours, he turned around, wondering if the teenager had fallen asleep, only to see him gazing back wide-eyed, and opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish.

Then realization hit him like a train.

"You thought I was at the compound," he stated. "You came here because you thought no-one would know you got hurt."

"I didn't want to w-," Peter began.

"Why didn't I get a notification from Karen?" he demanded.

Peter swallowed before answering, "I asked her not to tell you. I told her she could talk me through stitches and then I could handle it by myself so it didn't fall under the criteria for letting you know."

The kid at least had the grace to look ashamed of his actions but it did nothing to quell the rage that had returned to the genius with full force. More roughly than necessary, he swiped some gauze and tape from the first aid kit and returned to the reckless hero's side.

"So," Tony began, his attention back on the wound, "tell me, what would you have done if I hadn't had the equipment for stitching wounds in my bathroom? It's not exactly something that you usually find in there."

"Well, I figured May and I wouldn't have that sort of stuff. You were more likely to," Peter muttered, keeping his eyes on his mentor's hands as they applied the gauze over his wound and taped it into place.

"That doesn't answer my question," Tony gritted out, finishing his task and turning to face Peter, who wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I don't know. You must have dental floss or something in-…"

"DENTAL FLOSS?!" Tony exploded. "You were going to seal a stab wound with dental floss?!"

Peter flinched against the sudden loudness, his hands flying over his ears and Tony regretted his loss of temper instantly, remembering how weak the kid had been rendered only weeks ago by sensory overload. He gently placed a hand against Peter's cheek, and the kid opened his eyes, slowly drawing his hands away from his ears.

"I'm sorry," Peter mumbled. "I'm really sorry, Mr Stark. I just… I didn't think. I don't like worrying you or Aunt May."

Tony sighed. "Peter," he said softly, "I think I speak for myself and May when I say, we worry more when you try and hide stuff."

Peter began chewing on the inside of his lip and Tony knew the kid wouldn't want to cry in front of him so he let his hand slide into the kid's hair, ruffling it a little before standing up.

"Come on," he said. "It's late and some people have internships in the morning."

Peter slowly got to his feet and began to tug his suit back up.

"Woah, what are you doing?" Tony asked, and Peter paused, looking at his mentor.

"I can't swing home with the suit hanging off," he answered with a frown, as though that should be obvious.

"You're not going home!" Tony exclaimed. "What kind of irresponsible adult do you take me for? You've just had stitches and you think you're swinging home? Sometimes it amazes me how someone so smart can be so stupid."

Peter gazed back in confusion. "Mr Stark, I can't stay here. I don't have a room. I'll be careful."

"No, nuh-uh," the billionaire answered. Grabbing his arm as he had done earlier, he towed Peter out of the bathroom and further down the hall, stopping a few doors further down. Once again, FRIDAY turned the lights on as Tony opened the door, this time revealing a bedroom.

"Mr Stark, I have to go home. Aunt May-," Peter protested.

"I'll call Aunt Hottie. You're supposed to be here in the morning anyway. Don't worry about clothes- you just worry about getting your beauty sleep." As he spoke, Tony continued pulling Peter further into the room and towards the bed, only releasing his hold once the teen was sat on it. "And FRIDAY still hasn't unlocked the windows, so don't go trying to sneak out once I leave," he added.

With that he made his way over to the door, pausing to lean against the door frame and glanced back to see Peter reluctantly sliding under the covers.

"Good night, Underroos."

"Good night, Mr Stark."