Chapter Five

"Kid, you look like you're going to throw up." Tony stopped his Ferrari (which impressed everyone with the exception of Peter apparently) in front of a pair of sad, gray apartment buildings in Queens at seven in the evening. "I already told you, I had Happy call you aunt and yes while she was upset you had missed school she calmed down when he told her you were with me an international superhero who has saved the world at least three times."

Peter who was sitting next to him during the entire forty-five minute ride from Avengers HQ to Queens looked doubtful. Instead, he just squirmed. As far as fourteen years old went, Tony concluded he wasn't the annoying kind. He just seemed to be a bundle of nerves which Tony blamed himself for.

He turned off the engine and looked at Peter again wondering if the kid was going to have a mental breakdown. The kid was known to babble a lot, especially when he was nervous. From the looks of it he had gone through a lot in fourteen years. He had become an orphan, lost his Uncle Ben, his aunt had remarried, and now he was dealing with superpowers and Freshman English.

"Thank you for the ride," Peter managed to squeak as he got a hold of his backpack.

"Whoa, hold on Road Runner I'm going with you." Tony grabbed the strap of Peter's backpack and attempted to give Peter a friendly smile, but it only seemed to terrify the kid even more. He sighed, maybe the kid did need a psychologist.

"I-I told you everything I know," Peter stammered. "I swear, sir. I'm not involved in anything else."

"I believe you," Tony promised, and he did. Peter had that wholesome teacher's pet look. "I just want to meet your aunt and your step-uncle. I can't just drop their kid off at their doorstep. It would be rude."

Peter bit his lower lip. "You're not going to tell May about me being Spiderman are you? Please Mr. Stark she can't know. It will kill her and she has already been through so much and-"

Tony held up a hand to stop him. "Whoa, kid I am definitely not telling your aunt that you're Spiderman. That is definitely something you need to tell her on your own. Preferably sooner rather than later and if she needs a lawyer to sue Osborn for making you, well like this, have her call me. Believe me, I will like nothing more than to watch that ass-"Peter's eyes widened as he stopped short. Tony really needed to use kid friendly words. "Anyway let's get you home, kid."

Peter and Tony walked up to the apartment in silence and Tony suddenly felt exhausted. It had been a long day. He looked at Peter's slight frame, even though Peter was not telling his aunt anytime soon about his newfound powers Tony suddenly felt responsible for caring for the younger superhero.

Tony had managed to take some of Peter's blood and as soon as he made his way back to HQ he would ask Bruce to run it to see what was going on inside Peter. They stopped short in front of apartment 13B. He pressed a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Hey, kid a word."

Peter turned around and Tony sighed, Jesus the kid was young. But Peter was right, he couldn't let anyone know about his identity or there was a good chance the government would use him for experiments or General Ross would lock him up. Nope, it was better if Peter kept a low profile.

"I'm going to keep an eye on you. All hands-on deck kind of deal," Tony blurted out. "Make sure you don't get involved in anything too crazy. So, please don't go on some demented suicide mission for my sake, please. I already programmed my phone number and Happy's on your phone when you weren't looking."

Peter looked too surprised to be annoyed. "Who's Happy?"

"My head of security and sometimes driver," Tony explained. "You are to check in with him every Monday. Tell him about your Algebra class he'll love that. If you see anything weird or are in over your head then call him and he'll make sure I'm informed. But take it easy on us, kid. We're not young anymore."

Peter stiffed. "Are you telling me you're going to stalk me?"

"It's not stalking. Think of it as babysitting." Tony rang the doorbell. "I just want to make sure you're safe, squirt."

"That's even worse, I've been able to handle things-"

Before Peter could continue stomping his foot in protest, May Parker (she had decided to keep the last name Parker instead of taking on Jake's last name to avoid doing paperwork) opened the door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jake watching a football game. Though he craned his neck to see his step-nephew.

"Finally." May pulled him into a hug as she glared at Tony not caring that he was a billionaire. "I was getting worried, your cell phone must be off."

Before Peter could even open his mouth Tony stepped in and was his usual charming voice. "Good evening, Ms. Parker. I do apologize for the tardiness. Your nephew is quite the chatterbox." Peter looked perplexed, he had never been described as anything else other than quiet. "I'm sorry for taking Peter out of school without letting you know. My buddy, Dr. Banner went to Peter's school to do a presentation and he told me how brilliant he was and I just had to see if for myself." Peter was amazed by how fast Tony could lie.

May soften a bit. "Peter has always been a smart kid. He was offered to skip the 3rd grade."

"May!" Peter blushed.

Tony ignored his stammering. "Anyway, after talking with the youngster I wanted to offer him an internship. Nothing too complicated, just once a week at the Avengers HQ. Happy, my head of security will transport him to and from Queens."

Peter gaped at him in utter shock and Tony couldn't help, but smirk. He liked messing with him it was fun.

Jake finally got up from the couch. "Peter is on the badminton team-"

"Decathlon team."

"Whatever, kid. He also has his chores at home. This internship might take too much time, May."

Tony ignored him as he turned to May. "It's an excellent opportunity, May. The kind of stuff colleges look for."

May sighed as she turned to Jake. "It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Jake. Peter would you like to do the internship."

"Um-"

"Excellent, well I have to run. Busy day tomorrow, see you Friday, Pete."

Tony waved goodbye to the Parkers and Jake and Peter sighed with relief when he was gone. May kissed him on the cheek. "Quite a day for you, sport. Want some dinner?"

"I already ate," Peter responded. It was true sort of. Tony had ordered a bunch of greasy Chinese food, but he had hardly taken a bite mainly because he was still kicking himself for being so stupid and just confession everything to the billionaire.

"Fancy internship, huh?" Jake opened a beer. "I hope you don't get too big for your britches, Pete now that you're involved with Tony Stark."

I didn't want to get involved with him, Peter thought. It was kind of a mean though, especially since Tony had been nice to him, but the whole point of this superhero thing was that he didn't want anyone involved.

"Don't tease him." May whacked Jake on the shoulder. "We're so proud of you Peter. You accomplished so many things at your age. I'm sure Ben and your parents would be proud too."

-End of Chapter Five-