Chapter 1

The same night after Peter declined Tony's offer to join the Avengers, Tony couldn't stop thinking about it. After announcing to the press Pepper and him were now happily engaged they'd answered a whirlwind of questions before reluctantly separating so Pepper could deal with business. Tony had been sure Peter would take his offer up; not once doubting the kid would go the other way. He'd been so sure in fact he'd gone ahead and planned some surprises for the kid after the conference including some time in the lab for Tony to show him all the things he'd been working on. With Happy's help and a brief background check, Tony quickly deduced Peter had a talent for science hence his decision to start off in the lab. Afterwards he'd planned to give a quick tour before a small dinner to talk about training and send the kid off. But with Peter's rejection, he quickly found he had an awful lot of free time.

With new happiness within him Pepper's yes, he was able to easily push away the curiosity and do some work in the lab, albeit not much and poorly done. But he found sitting in his living quarters as he waited for Pepper to come home, the curiosity became more pressing. One moment the kid was all eager, to be like him as he'd said but something must have happened to change his mind.

"FRIDAY," Tony called out to the AI. "Pull up any footage of Peter or Spiderman in the last few days."

"Of course Mr. Stark," the AI responded. "Timeline should be completed in one hour."

Thankfully twenty minutes into the hour Pepper returned home with Tony, desperate for something to do, waited with wine, dinner and candles. She grinned upon seeing him and his little work, wrapping her arms around his neck before kissing him softly. "This is lovely," she said in a low voice.

"Well still got to impress my fiancée," Tony replied with a grin before they settled into to their seats. "The work doesn't stop yet. That's after we are married."

Pepper raised an eyebrow at him. "Not even then," she replied quickly. "So have you spoken to Peter since?" She inquired.

"No, why?"

"There's no reason. From the way you talked about him you made it seem like it was certain he was accepting your offer."

"That's what I thought too."

"Well why don't you ask him then?"

Tony nodded. "Maybe. I'm having FRIDAY go through any footage in the meantime."

Pepper rolled her eyes at the man, not at all surprised he was taking the long way into getting answers. He was never one to recover easily when his ego was hit, especially by a teenager. "Or you could just ask him." She replied.

"Mm, maybe," Tony said before quickly changing topics. "So, what date are we thinking?"

"All right, what do you got for me FRIDAY?" Tony asked sitting before the monitors after Pepper had gone to bed. Tony watched in complete silence as cameras showed Peter on the night of his Homecoming dance. He watched closely, very quickly recognizing the Vulture. He watched Peter, without his suit much to Tony's frustration with himself, go after the man. He'd read through the report of the incident and even had Peter questioned about the events by Happy but never in any of his inquiring did he hear about Peter being buried alive by a collapsed structure.

The moment Tony saw the building collapse in on itself knowing full well Peter was inside, he thought his heart stopped. Logically he knew Peter was well, he'd seen him earlier with no visible injury but for a split second terror consumed him. It wasn't until after several painfully slow seconds when Peter emerged could Tony breathe again filled with immeasurable relief. The words he'd told Peter not long ago rang in his head: And if you died, I feel like that's on me. This kid wasn't meant to be any more then someone Tony needed help from for Germany. Sure he'd given him a new suit but only for the mission. There'd been a moment of fear when he saw Peter injured on the ground too but that was meant to be the extent of it.

Yet Tony had come to here where he worried for the kid's wellbeing, knowing full well the kid lacked the basic self-preservation skills. When Peter declined the offer, there'd been a twinge of disappointment amongst that shock and curiosity. At least now Tony could understand why the kid was intent to stay on the ground a little longer. For that, Tony could say he was proud of him. To put himself first for once and not rush into anything was definitely something he wouldn't expect from the kid. Maybe when the time was right Tony could offer the opportunity to join the Avengers again, in spite of the warning that'd he'd never ask twice. Until then, he could take on mentoring he'd offered earlier without the burden of the Avengers hanging over Peter's head. It would also give him a chance to monitor the kid better.

It'd been a long time since Tony had cared about anyone but himself not since… an incident long before he met Pepper. It seemed not only Pepper but Peter had managed to find away into his heart.

"Dude, are you serious?" Ned exclaimed as they walked home, not bothering to control the noise level of his voice. Peter glanced around but thankfully everybody was too absorbed in their own things to pay attention to two teenagers before he nudged Ned. "Sorry, it's just you declined Tony Stark- Iron Man- the Avengers. Why did you do that?" Ned asked in a much quieter voice.

Peter gave a small shrug. Upon recounting the night events of Homecoming, Peter purposely left out the whole incident with the building to both Ned and Happy. He just wasn't ready to deal reliving the whole thing. It was his main reason into declining Mr. Stark. There'd definitely been some part of him that was desperate to say yes, to put that suit on as the newest Avenger recruit. But then he'd remembered the Vulture and just knew it wasn't the right time. So with some reluctance he'd said no hoping he wouldn't later regret it. Thankfully Peter didn't regret his decision (which was helped by the fact Mr. Stark had confirmed it was test) although he definitely still thought about what would have happened if he'd just said yes.

"I know you may think it was a dumb decision by saying no but I'm just not ready for that life. It's too much pressure and much more dangerous then what I'm dealing with. The most I need to do is stop a couple of bank robberies. The Avengers deal with types of villains from space." Peter explained, omitting the full truth.

Ned's face softened, giving his friend a gentle pat on the back. "I get it," he said, "but remember you're just as good as them. Otherwise why would Tony Stark offer you that?"

"It doesn't matter anyways," Peter said as they walked up the steps to Ned's house where they planned to finish their homework and spend the rest of the night watching Stars Wars. "Mr. Stark admitted it was a test."

Ned gave Peter a disbelieving silently telling him he didn't buy that but thankfully dropped the subject. "Hey did you hear that Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts are now engaged?"

Peter nodded with new found happiness at the change of topic. "Yeah my news feed is completely overtaken by it." The rest of the afternoon went quickly passed by as the two friends flew through their homework with ease before settling down. They managed to watch three movies and have dinner before Peter got that text from Aunt May looking for him. "Hey I got to go but I'll talk to you tomorrow? If Aunt May is working another shift I may be able to swing over."

Ned nodded. "No problem. Keep me updated with Mr. Stark."

Peter rolled his eyes at Ned. After turning him down Peter held no hopes of seeing the man anytime soon, if ever in spite of Ned's confidence. So with a quick goodbye to the Leeds family, Peter set off home.

"Hey Aunt May," Peter greeted setting down his things down before glancing around. A note was left in his aunts recognizable handwriting explaining she went to grab her own dinner and that something was left in Peter's room that was delivered earlier. Peter frowned heading to his room where he found a bag signed by TS. Peter rushed to open it, a smile breaking across his face when he spotted the familiar suit. He didn't waste any more seconds as he pulled the suit on. He pulled the mask off, allowing himself to take in the moment of having the suit.

"What the f-"