Hello friends! I know I haven't updated for ages, but fear not, I haven't abandoned this story. A lot of things have happened to me lately - good things, thank God – and I got distracted, I couldn't find inspiration to write. But I will continue the story, I promise.
I hope you'll like this chapter because I really loved writing the conversations between Tony and Peter. And we're gonna have a guest, too.
Disclaimer: no, I don't own Marvel. I wish.
"I think you should go."
"And I think I shouldn't. Barton and Romanoff can handle this just fine."
"Then why did Director Fury call you?"
"Because he worries too much. And because I'm the closest Avenger right now."
"So he didn't call you because a stupid drug lord kidnapped an engineer from Oscorp and forced him to build some crazy aggressive robots to defeat his rivals?"
"I'm sure Barton can deactivate those robots if he hits them at their weak spots with his little arrows."
"But how will he know where those weak spots are?"
"I don't know, Peter, he will improvise!" Mr. Stark groans in frustration. "Eat your food, kid."
The tension in the room has been palpable since Peter woke from his nap. When he opened his eyes only after a few hours of sleep, he found Mr. Stark pacing up and down frustrated. Clearly, something happened while Peter was sleeping. Although the man tried to deny it first, he was way too upset to successfully pretend that everything was just fine. He finally told Peter that Director Fury wanted him to go on a mission. Which he refused right away. And has ignored the Director's calls ever since.
So here they are now, eating spaghetti and arguing about the mission. A perfect Saturday night at the Tower.
"It's not like you need to go to the other side of the world, it's only Mexico, you can come home in a few hours," Peter claims with his mouth full.
"I wouldn't go, even if it was Jersey, kid. Let it go," Mr. Stark says tiredly.
But of course, Peter can't move on. Doesn't want to.
"Are you even allowed to say no to Director Fury?"
"Well, I just did," the man shrugs, not even looking up at the boy.
Peter narrows his eyes. "You don't want to go because of me."
"Obviously," Mr. Stark replies, focusing on his plate. Then his eyes finally shoot up at Peter. "Is it such a bad thing that I want to stay with you, huh?"
Peter puts down his fork and leans back in his chair. "It is if I'm the reason why you don't want to help your friends."
Mr. Stark shakes his head and drops his own fork. He clasps his hands and looks Peter in the eyes. "Listen, kid, I don't want to leave you, alright? Even if every Avenger in the whole damned universe came here to beg me. I just don't want to go, okay? I was way too busy and distracted in the last few days and look what happened?"
The boy sighs and lowers his head. "No, Mr. Stark, that thing with the suit… that's, that's on me, not on you. What I did was stupid-"
"So you are aware of that. Good," the man interjects.
Peter rolls his eyes. "Listen, Mr. Stark, I don't want you to say no to this mission because of me. Knowing that Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanoff could get into trouble because you're staying with me, they could get into trouble because of me-"
"They're very capable Avengers, you know that, right? I mean it's not gonna be their first mission or something, they're not exactly amateurs."
"That's not the point!" the boy exclaims frustrated.
Mr. Stark sighs and runs his hands through his hair. "I know."
"I'll be fine," Peter says quickly, guessing he's close to victory now. "I'm still very tired so I will probably just sleep until Monday. Nothing extraordinary. I promise."
The man gives him a doubtful look. "You're not going to patrol?"
"I guess that would be a bit dangerous given how exhausted I am."
"No shit, kid," Mr. Stark scoffs.
Peter grins. "It's kinda ironic, though that I'm staying in tonight, when the suit is finally fixed-"
"Uh-uh," the man suddenly raises a hand. "You said you wouldn't go. You can't take it back now."
"Fine," Peter smiles. "I'm not going out. I hope Queens will survive."
"You're not going out until I return," Mr. Stark confirms.
The boy raises a brow. First, he wants to remind Mr. Stark that he had been Spiderman before they met and he had been doing just fine, thank you very much, but then he realizes the man has basically agreed that he would go on the mission.
"Alright," he says. "No Spiderman until you return. Which will be in a day, right? Maybe two? And I will be sleeping anyway, so it's no big deal."
Mr. Stark nods, but Peter can see he still doesn't like the idea of leaving. It's written all over his face. But he doesn't say anything. Then he pulls out his phone. "I'm texting Happy. He's gonna stay here with you while I'm gone."
"What? Why?" the boy asks annoyed, leaning forward. "Is it really necessary?"
"Yes," Mr. Stark answers simply while typing on his phone.
"I'll be fine! Like I said I'd be sleeping all the time. And it's not that I could burn down the Tower with Friday in the house. Don't you trust me?" he asks desperately.
Mr. Stark peeks up from his phone and quirks an eyebrow. The look on his face is clear. Peter groans, leans back in the chair again and crosses his arms. He knows it's pathetic that he's pouting here because he has really given Mr. Stark a reason not to trust him entirely. Even though he had a good reason no to tell him about the suit.
"Okay, Happy's gonna be here in an hour," Mr. Stark announces satisfied and picks up his fork again. After a few bites, he gives Peter a questioning look. "Aren't you eating?"
The boy frowns but grabs his own fork anyway and reluctantly starts eating the now cold spaghetti. "Just so you know, asking Happy to watch me sleep is creepy," he grumbles.
"I'll ask him to send me photos every ten minutes," Mr. Stark grins.
An hour later, Mr. Stark emerges from his room dressed in all black, with a duffel bag in his hand. Curled up on the couch, Peter is scrolling on his phone. He can't stop yawning and he can hardly keep his eyes open, but he promised himself to stay awake until Mr. Stark leaves. He looks up from his phone and watches the man throwing some protein bars into his bag in the kitchen.
"I thought there were always tons of snacks on the jet," he remarks hesitantly.
"Yeah, but with Barton on board, there's never enough," Mr. Stark replies, grabbing some candy bars, too.
"Hey, those are mine!" Peter protests.
"Do you want me to go or not?" Mr. Stark asks, not even turning to him. He snatches some more bars. There's no way the man could eat that much sugar in a day. As if he's packing for a week.
"Fine," the boy answers defeated. "Do you want this, too?" he asks holding up a small pack of candies that he has just opened.
He's joking, of course, but to his utter astonishment, Mr. Stark quickly strides to the couch and takes the bag from his hand. "Thanks, kid."
Eyes widened in shock, the boy watches the pack slip into the duffel bag and he swallows hard. However, he exactly knows what this is about. This is just Mr. Stark's childish way to show how much he hates the idea of leaving Peter behind at the Tower. And seeing this makes the boy so happy that he doesn't really mind the unexpected loss of those snacks.
"I could go with you, you know," Peter remarks. Of course he knows what Mr. Stark's answer is going to be even before the man opens his mouth.
"No," Mr. Stark states firmly. Exactly what Peter expected. But he had to try.
"I could help."
"It's still a no," the man confirms, zipping his bag.
"Actually, I would be the only enhanced one in the team," the boy grins. "Could help you, vulnerable humans."
Of course, Peter is fully aware that just because he has powers that Mr. Stark, Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanoff lack, they are not exactly a bunch of rookies either. They are Avengers, after all. And Peter isn't.
Mr. Stark turns around to face him. "And here I thought a smart teenager like you was absolutely capable of understanding the meaning of such a short word. N-O. Should be easy. How did you get those excellent grades at school? Did you cheat or something? Should I talk to your teachers? Seriously, kid, I'm really concerned now."
Peter rolls his eyes and reaches for the remote control. Then another thought hits him and his hand stops midair. "Does Director Fury know about me?"
Mr. Stark raises an eyebrow. "Do you mean if he knows about Spiderman? I don't think there's anyone on the planet who doesn't know Spiderman, kid."
"Yeah, but does he know I am Spiderman? Does he know I'm staying here, with you?"
"Definitely not," the man claims, waving him off. As if the mere idea is ridiculous.
"How can you be so sure?" Peter asks doubting.
"If Fury knew, he'd be already here," Mr. Stark shrugs.
The boy slowly nods. "Well… that makes sense, I guess."
The man gives him one of his trademark smug looks, the one that says he's always right.
Then Friday's voice interrupts their conversation.
"Boss, Mr. Barton is on his way here," she states.
Mr. Stark winces and his eyes shoot to the elevator doors, waiting for them to open any moment. "Why is he coming here? We're supposed to meet on the roof, where the jet is," he complains. He grabs his bag. "Friday, stop-"
"It's too late, Stark," a cheerful voice comes from the elevator and Clint Barton steps out. He's also dressed in all black and there's a backpack over his shoulder. Peter can't help wondering where his bow and arrows are. Maybe already on the jet.
Mr. Barton immediately spots him on the couch and gives him a look that the boy can't quite comprehend. Peter thought whichever Avenger showed up at the Tower – which would happen sooner or later, he thought – they would be surprised, even shocked to find a strange kid here. Because as far as he knows, Mr. Stark hasn't broken the news about him to the Avengers. Except for Dr. Banner, of course. But Mr. Barton doesn't look surprised. No, he just looks curious, genuinely interested. And he even gives Peter a small smile.
He's about to take a step closer, when Mr. Stark grabs his arm and pulls him away, back toward the elevator.
"We're leaving now," Mr. Stark states and it's unclear who he's speaking to. Probably both to Peter and the archer.
Before the elevator doors could close, Mr. Barton glances at the boy again. He opens his mouth to say something, but Mr. Stark speaks up again. "Happy will be here soon, go to sleep, kid."
Mr. Barton gives Peter a small wave and another mysterious smile and Mr. Stark looks at the Avenger as if he wants to strangle him. Then the elevator doors close and Peter is left all alone in the penthouse.
The next morning, Peter walks into the kitchen, still feeling extremely exhausted. It takes a lot of effort to keep his eyes open but he has to, he really doesn't want to walk into a wall or something. His spider sense might warn him, but the boy believes even that poor sense of his is tired, so he doesn't really trust it now.
He opens a cabinet to grab some cereals and then milk from the refrigerator. It would be much better if Mr. Stark was here, making breakfast for him. Maybe pancakes instead of waffles this time. Yeah, some blueberry pancakes would be so nice. Aunt May was never a talented cook and she didn't really make fancy breakfasts for Peter, never anything more complicated than toasts. But Mr. Stark is really good at breakfast food.
Well, no Mr. Stark this morning, so no fancy breakfast either. The sacrifice that Peter has to make for the world, right? Missing out breakfast with the man so that he can save the world again. Or defeat some crazy drug lord but hey, it's not like aliens want to destroy the planet every day. Thank God.
Munching on his boring cereals, Peter glances over at the couch. His babysitter, Happy is peacefully sleeping there. And snoring. Yesterday was his day off and when Mr. Stark called him, he probably didn't have time to change into his uniform, aka a black suit because now he's wearing jeans and a hoodie. Which seems really, really weird because Peter has never seen the man wear anything else but a suit.
Happy was grumbling much more than usual when he arrived at the Tower last night and he couldn't stop shooting murderous looks to Peter. The boy tried to explain that it wasn't his idea to call him; he would have been just fine on his own. But Happy didn't want to listen to him; he just settled on the couch, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
And Peter went to bed. True to his word, he didn't go out to patrol last night. Yes, he was way too tired, but he had been tired on the previous nights, too and he had still gone out. But this time he made a promise to Mr. Stark. Peter has never been keen on breaking promises anyway, but this one is different. This one is very important. Because he made it to Mr. Stark. And Peter tries not to do anything to get on the man's bad side.
Like when he ruined the suit. He remembers how worried he was, he was absolutely certain that Mr. Stark would kick him out. But surprisingly, the man didn't really care about the broken suit. He didn't mind that Peter had damaged it. He seemed more worried about the boy's safety. Which Peter still finds unbelievable. Okay, it's fine that Mr. Stark worries about him, it feels really good that there is someone worrying about him, since Aunt May's death he's the first person who actually seems to care and worry about him.
But how is it possible that Mr. Star didn't care about the suit? The amazing suit that is worth a fortune and that Mr. Stark put a lot of work into. And it's not like the man puts that much work into something that is not important to him.
Peter remembers that he damaged the suit many times before, when he wasn't staying here at the Tower. Mostly while fighting criminals but also when he found out who had killed May. He was really upset, absolutely furious and couldn't stop punching the wall until the suit practically raveled apart over his knuckles. Yeah, that was… a bad night.
Back then he didn't really worry about those damages. Truth is one of the reasons why he never took up on Mr. Stark's offer to come to the Tower to fix the suit was that he didn't want the man to know that he had broken it. Even though it would be absolutely unrealistic to expect a superhero not to damage his suit. Like never.
And although losing Karen's voice seemed like a much more serious damage than anything that had happened to the suit before, that's not the reason why Peter freaked out.
When he was staying alone in the warehouse, things were easier in a way. If Mr. Stark had been mad at Peter for ruining his suit in a fight, he would have just taken it back, right? And they would have never seen each other again. Simple.
But now? He has so much more to lose. If he makes a mistake, Mr. Stark might kick him out. He would be back on the streets. Yes, Mr. Stark told him he would never do that but the man certainly didn't have any idea how much trouble Peter could be. The boy is pretty sure Mr. Stark couldn't forgive or accept everything. If he made a really big mistake, the man would probably send him away, no matter what he said earlier. And yes, Peter knows he would manage, why wouldn't he? He has been there, done that.
But… thing is he doesn't want that. He doesn't want to leave. He doesn't want to leave this place behind. And most of all, he doesn't want to leave Mr. Stark behind. In the short amount of time that he's spent here, this place has become home. And this time home doesn't mean the place where he stays. It's not like the warehouse was. This penthouse is more than a place, it's safety, warmth, happiness.
Peter squeezes his eyes shut. No, he shouldn't feel that. He shouldn't even think that. Because knowing his luck, he will do something really stupid, more stupid than running away or ruining the suit and then… then Mr. Stark will really change his mind about keeping him and he will kick him out or even worse, he will call CPS and let them take him to a shitty foster family.
He swallows hard and pushes away his bowl. He has lost his appetite. He looks around in the room, taking in every little detail as if memorizing everything so that he can remember this place when it won't be his home anymore. When Mr. Stark will realize how much trouble Peter really is and how much easier his life was without him and he decides that he wants it back.
Peter will have to leave; he knows it's just a matter of time.
It sucks.
Because he really loves this place.
Yeah, I did that. I turned a fun chapter into a depressing one pretty quickly, right? Well, let me know what you think. And as always, thank you for reading!