A/N: My last chapter! Drop a comment if you'd like me to write a sequel :) Thank you guys for sticking with this, and I love you all! Stay safe out there!

Peter woke up the next morning to find that his arm had bled through the dressing. He redressed it, weak from blood loss, and headed toward the kitchen to make breakfast before catching the bus. He stopped walking when he saw Robert in the kitchen. Robert usually wasn't home until after Peter left for school...this was bad, it meant he had just gotten off work and hadn't slept yet. Robert was never too pleasant before he had slept, even compared to his normal aggression.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," drawled Robert, swaggering over to Peter. "Tie my shoes."

"What?" Peter asked in confusion, eying him warily. He was met with a punch in the stomach.

"I said, tie my shoes." Robert fingered his belt buckle, and Peter hurriedly bent down to obey. Immediately, Robert kicked him in the face and snickered.

It was the snicker that did it. The kick alone wouldn't have been enough, but with the humiliation of being laughed at, Peter felt something inside him snap.

Peter hit Robert in the groin with all of his force and dove past him out the door. He sprinted through the city streets, not hesitating to look back at the man he knew was in hot pursuit. When he had put a little distance between them, he ducked into a shop, dug his web shooters out of his backpack, and ran out the back past the confused shopkeeper. Peter swung onto the nearest roof and paused to collect his thoughts.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. His thoughtless actions had not only burned his shot at ever going to the apartment again, they had endangered Aunt May. He couldn't call her...even if she would believe him, there was no way she'd answer her phone at work. The police were too inefficient to help her before Robert got to her. Where could he go for help? He had no friends, no allies...

Tony. Tony said he'd be there for him. It was time to ask him for help, and hope he would forgive Peter for their last conversation.

With no further hesitation, Peter plunged off the roof and swung across the city toward Avengers Tower.

When Peter arrived at the Tower, he let himself in and headed toward the kitchen, breathing heavily. "Hey Jarvis, can you get Tony in here? Now?"

"I'm sorry, Peter, Mr. Stark is at lunch with Miss Potts. Would you like me to call him?"

"Uh...no thanks. Do you know when he'll be back?"

"His estimated return time is in about half an hour. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, I'll be good. Thanks, Jarvis. I'll wait here till he gets back, if that's okay."

"Of course, Peter. Tell me if you need anything."

"Thanks, I will."

Peter slid to the floor with his back against the wall, trying to hold it all together...until he heard a car door slam and a voice outside talking to Jarvis. "He's my kid, can I come in and see him?" Jarvis hesitated before unlocking the door. Peter cowered on the floor, frozen in place. Robert walked into the kitchen.

"You, my dear, have made a mistake," he said with a sweet smile. Then his tone hardened. "You're coming home with me, right now."

Peter almost broke, but something in him realised that if he left, he'd never be coming back.

"No," he forced himself to say with firm resolve.

Robert strode across the room and caught Peter up by his collar, ripping the fabric. "You dare talk back to me, child?" he snarled, slamming him against the wall. A trickle of blood issued from Peter's head.

Steve and Bruce heard the commotion and burst into the room just in time to see Robert viciously strike Peter across the face, sending him reeling. Peter snatched a knife from the counter and ripped it deeply through his own forearm, blood streaming from the gash. Bruce lunged forward and pried the knife from Peter's resisting hands as he tried to cut himself again.

Meanwhile, Steve flung Robert against the wall and pinned him there, almost speechless with fury. "No one hurts our kid," he hissed. "Not ever." Fear shone in Robert's eyes as he realised he may have just made a huge mistake.

Tony and Pepper returned to find Peter crying on the floor, wrapped tightly in Steve's arms. Robert was handcuffed rather uncomfortably to a chair.

"Oh, s*." Tony rushed over to Peter. "Hey kid, hey, what's going on?" Peter didn't answer, and he turned to Steve, looking scared. "What happened?"

"Robert's been hurting him," Steve told him quietly. When he saw Tony noticing the blood-soaked bandage on Peter's arm with horror, he added, "Kid cut himself."

Tony nodded with unhappy understanding as he rubbed Peter's back. Peter turned toward him, and he softly told him, "It's gonna be okay, Pete, we're gonna take care of this."

Three months and a successful court case later, Peter grinned broadly as Tony and Pepper signed the last of the adoption paperwork. Pepper squeezed his hand as Tony gripped his shoulder and smiled back. With happiness too great for words, they headed back to the Tower where the others were waiting.

As they stepped out of the car, Steve, Bruce, Sam, and Natasha all crowded around to give him bone-crushing hugs. "Welcome home," Steve whispered.

And for the first time in his life, Peter truly felt like he was coming home.