Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise.

Challenges Listed at the Bottom

Word Count: 805

Warnings: Accidental murder (offscreen).

I'll Always Come When You Call

Peter paced back and forth in the hotel room. He was still wearing his Spiderman outfit—only the mask had been discarded to the bed—but he didn't care enough to change.

Not right now.

He couldn't believe what he'd done. He hadn't meant to! He'd only wanted to help, he really had. Ever since he'd realised he had superpowers, that's all he'd wanted to do.

And yet… and yet, he'd killed someone.

Peter shuddered, stumbling in his step as the thought attacked his mind again.

Someone was dead and it was at his hand. He was going to be arrested. Aunt May would be devastated. Tony would—

There was a knock on the door, and Peter bit his lip. A second knock, and then a familiar voice said, "C'mon, Pete, it's me."

Peter stumbled to the door, his hands struggling to hold enough to unlock it as he trembled.

Tony stepped into the room, only for Peter to fall into his arms, sobbing against his chest.

"Whoa, kid," Tony murmured, automatically catching him, rubbing a hand down his back. "Hey, Pete, it's okay kid, it's okay. Come on, come and sit down."

Peter allowed himself to be pushed gently to the bed, and he collapsed down onto it, pulling his legs up and wrapping his arms around them.

"It's going to be okay, kid, I promise," Tony said, running a hand through his own hair. He looked worried, and Peter hated himself just a little bit more for putting him in such a position.

"Okay, listen, I know tonight didn't go so well," Tony said eventually, sitting down on the bed.

"I killed someone," Peter whispered.

"You did," Tony replied, and Peter flinched even as he felt a surge of gratitude that Tony wasn't trying to sugar coat it. "And it sucks, but Pete, the guy was wanted for murder. I'm not saying that makes it okay, but he wasn't an innocent, okay. It was a mistake, and trust me, we've all made plenty of them."

Peter felt like he was going to break into a thousand tiny pieces. Tony's phone rang, breaking the silence between them, and he huffed. "I have to take this, kid, give me a few minutes, okay?"

Nodding, he accepted the bag Tony had brought with him that he hadn't even noticed, and looked inside. There were clean clothes in there, and Peter decided that showering and changing was probably a good idea.

He could hear Tony on the phone through the bathroom wall, and it was comforting to know that he wasn't alone.

Peter had fucked up, but Tony was here and he didn't hate him. Surely that meant that Peter would be okay in the end. If Tony didn't hate him, then maybe the other Avengers wouldn't either.

He showered quickly and dressed while his skin was still damp, roughing up his hair with the towel before he let it drop into the basket. The clothes Tony had brought—a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, with a hoodie—felt weird after spending so much time in the tight fitting Spiderman suit, but Peter was glad for the looseness.

He returned to the bedroom to find Tony standing by the window, still on his phone.

"You are so full of shit, the toilet's jealous," he said, laughing, and then turned to see Peter behind him. "Alright, I gotta go. Tell Cap we'll see him in a few, alright?"

There was a pause, and then Tony groaned. "You're an asshole, Barton."

He ended the call, and offered Peter a tired smile. "Okay, I've spoke to your Aunt May and told her you're with me, and Cap is just finishing up at the scene, okay, and then he's going to swing by here to pick us up."

"Where are we going?" Peter asked, joining Tony by the window. Tony wrapped his arm around Peter's shoulders.

"To the compound. I'd planned to stick around the Tower, but the press is going to be hype for a few days, so the privacy of the compound is better."

"They're going to slaughter me in the papers, aren't they?"

Tony shook his head. "Pete, no. You saved all the people there. I know it doesn't feel good to know that you've ended someone's life, and you're going to have a lot of emotions about this for a while, but Pete… sometimes, we have to hurt bad people to protect others, okay? It's part of what we do, it's part of the job we accepted as our own."

Peter just leant his head against Tony's shoulder. He knew Tony was right, the feelings weren't going to just disappear, but he was calmer now, and having Tony there was really helping him stay that way.

"Thanks for coming," he whispered.

"I'll always come when you call, Kid. I promise you that."

Written for:

This or That: 15. (Trope) Accidental Murder

Film Festival: 5. Superpowers

Elizabeth's Empire: 25. Spiderman (fandom or AU)

They Said What?: 25. "You are so full of shit, the toilet's jealous."

Lyric Alley: 8. I thought I would break

Artist Appreciation: 14. Hotel room

Auction: Day 11, Auction 1: Character A falls into Character B's arms

365: 129. "It was a mistake."