"Boss."

"Yeah?" Tony tinkered with the turbocharger. He'd thought of a way to make the car blast fire, but Pepper had said no, so he took to just making it more eco-friendly. His poor Audi R8 had been neglected by him for too long now, what with… everything… that happened. But that was over now, and it was time to get back to the quiet tranquillity of his homelife.

"I have an update on Peter for you."

Tony paused, and wheeled away from the engine with an exasperated sigh. "What'd he do now?"

"He hasn't done anything bad, no need to worry. Peter's Aunt has gone on a business trip and Peter was just talking to his suit's AI, Karen, and stated that he has been feeling quite lonely since she left."

"Huh…" Tony sat back in his chair, removing his safety goggles. "How lonely we talkin' here?"

"He's been listening to Lonely by Akon on repeat. A lot."

"Ok, where is he?" Tony pushed himself to his feet, abandoning his work without a second thought, and headed out of the lab.

"At his apartment. I'll pull a car around with the address inputted into the GPS."

"You're the best, FRI!" Tony called, "don't tell Vision/Jarvis or whatever he is now. Do you know what he is, cause I still can't figure it out."

"Given your tone, this is a rhetorical question, and you know how I feel about those."

Tony smirked, "fair enough."

. . .

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Tony's knuckles rapped on the old door; its paint was chipped around the edges and the halls smelled musty. The apartment was at the end of the hall, near a medium window so yellow Tony could barely see through it. The carpets in the hall were a faded blue, and full of dirt and worn down trails from years of being walked on. At least the place wasn't sketchy or anything. As unimpressive as the building was, it was clearly a family apartment building with plenty of teens, and tweens, and kids running around outside and thumping from the floors above. With hands clasped, Tony rocked back on his heels, waiting patiently. The kid did not live in the nicest place, that was for sure.

On the other side of the door Tony heard the sound of someone tripping over something and grumbling. The door was thrown open to a short, doe eyed, and curly haired young man. His eyes widened, "uh, hey. Stark Mr.- I mean Mr. Tony- Stark, Mr. Starks sir, uuuuuuuhhhhhhh-"

"Kid." Tony nodded in greeting, making an executive decision to cut the kid off seeing as he wasn't even close to being out of breath and definitely wasn't gonna stop beforehand.

"Uh…" He started up again. "What are you- what are you- Mr. Stark?"

"That is me, yes." Peter stood stock-still, obviously not sure what he was supposed to do. "Just thought I'd stop by, see how you're doing, see what you're up to."

"… uh, I'm… good. And, uh, I'm just… you know, hanging out at home. Watching… movies and doing homework and… stuff…"

"That seems fun."

"…uh… yea?" The kid looked around awkwardly. They stood in silence for a few painstakingly long moments, nothing but the distant sound of traffic filling the space. Then he got in position to close the door, "so thanks for stopping by-"

Tony pushed through the open door and strutted into the apartment. "You said you're watching a movie? The Breakfast club, huh? Classic."

"uh… yeah, yeah, I uh, I just finished it." Peter looked between Tony and the now empty doorway, and slowly closed the door. "So… you're in our apartment… that's… uh…"

"It's different than I remember. Smaller"

"Well it is a different apartment since May, you know, blipped, and lost the tenancy. But, uh, it's actually bigger."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Just seems small."

"May isn't here right now."

"Good to know, but I'm not looking for her. Why would I?"

"… I dunno. Thought maybe I was in trouble…"

"And why would you be in trouble?" Tony spun on his heel, eyebrow raised. "Done something you shouldn't've?"

"No! I just- you don't- I don't understand why're you here? - NO OFfeNcE!"

Making sure to squint just a little, Tony turned back around and resumed his meandering. Taking a walk by the bookshelf, he poked at a couple knick-knacks and discovered a tiny lego Chewbacca hanging out behind a picture frame (of the kid and May posing for a picture at the beach). "What's this guy doing here?"

Darting forward, the kid snatched the lego figure out of his hand. "It's- Uh, May and I have this little, uh, game, I guess you'd call it, where we hide a bunch of these guys around the place and kinda compete, sorta, to see how long it takes each other to find them." He put it back behind the frame. "It's dumb… but I don't know, it's kinda a tradition at this point."

"It is dumb." The kid frowned, annoyed. "But those are the best traditions. They're personal and unique."

"Oh." His frown fell, a small shy smile taking its place. "Uh… so… ….. … uuuhhh-"

Seeing another perpetual 'uh' on its way, Tony turned away to plop himself on the couch. It was a cheap fabric, fraying in all of the highly used areas, and the springs were shot. At least it was clean with nothing but a few miscellaneous crumbs on the middle cushion. Still, the Parkers could definitely due for a new one. Maybe one a little less green and fugly.

Tony slung an arm across the back of it and noticed the kid. He was on the far end of the couch despite evidence that he'd been sitting in the middle of it prior to Tony's arrival. But he wasn't just as far from Tony as he could get, no, he was sitting on the arm of the couch, not even on the cushion. His eyes were fixated on the TV (which wasn't even playing) and his entire body was clenched. He looked as rigid as a rock, with hands clasped so tight his knuckles were white. His shoulders must've been in knots he was so tense.

Tony watched as his eyes slowly crept their way to look at him, and seeing that Tony's focus was on him, they snapped back forward so quickly they would've gotten whiplash - if eyeballs could get whiplash, that is.

"Why're you sitting like that?"

"Hm?" The kid's mouth became a thin line as he bobbed his head in question, eyes widening like an owl as he finally let them look at Tony for real.

"On the arm of the couch. You can sit here, you know. I won't bite." He patted the cushions.

"I know that. I- uuuuhhhhh…" Tony watched as the kid slowly - painfully slowly - let his weight slide him off of the arm and onto the cushion. He was still squished as far as possible into the farthest corner away from Tony, and still as stiff as a petrified tree.

The room fell into uncomfortable silence. Apparently the kid was not going to put something on the tv. For god's sake, he wasn't even pulling out his phone like a normal teen. He was just sitting there, silent and unmoving. Tony swore he couldn't even hear the kid breathing, making him wonder if he even was breathing.

"So." The kid's whole head - and just his head - pivoted towards Tony at lighting speed, his eyes still unnaturally wide. Tony's eyebrows shot up. "You got coffee around here or…?"

Tony swore he could see a loading symbol above the kid's head. "Yes!" He shot to his feet so fast he literally sprang two feet into the air and nearly smacked his head into the ceiling. But apparently he either didn't notice or didn't care because he dashed to the kitchen without pause. "YoU wANt MilK or SuGaR?!"

"Uh…" Tony watched as the kid went to pour brown sugar into the coffee maker. "Kid, you… doing alright there?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Seeing the need for some coffee-making intervention, he followed into the kitchen and gingerly taking the bag of sugar from Peter, Tony set it aside. Peter just blinked up at him. "How about you go find us a movie to watch and I'll handle this."

"You're- you wanna watch a movie with me?"

"Mhm."

"…" he blinked then slowly departed the kitchen, keeping his eyes on Tony as he walked away.

"You sure you're alright?" If Tony hadn't known the kid like he did, he would've assumed he was stoned or something.

"You talking to me?"

"... yes."

"i'M gOoD!"

"... o-k then…"

"So whaddya wanna watch? Action? Comedy? Drama? Crim-"

"I sent you over there to pick one out, remember?" He closed the lid and the low whirr of the coffee maker made the apartment seem just a little bit more alive. "Whatever you wanna watch, I'm good with it."

"Uhh…" The kid was sitting cross-legged on the floor, sifting through a cabinet packed full of dvds. "Have you ever seen this really old movie, Men in Black?"

"My god you make me feel old. Yeah that's fine."

"You're not… that old… you're only… uh… fift-four-thrity… uh thirty-five?"

Tony sighed through his nose. "May have a secret whiskey collection by chance?"

The kid frowned in thought. "I don't know?"

"Nevermind. Coffee's fine. Where do you keep your mugs?"

"In the cupboard to your right."

He opened the cupboard to a lovely little surprise, "is this an Iron Man mug?"

"Oh. uh… y-yeah, I… uh…"

"Got pretty good taste there, Pete. It's not the coolest one here, though."

"It's not?"

"This one is the best." He pulled out a mug depicting everyone's favourite red and blue webslinger.

"Oh. he he, yeah…" the kid rubbed the back of his neck, red blooming in his cheeks. "I thought it was cool…"

"It's very cool. I think I'll use this one. I happen to be a big fan."

The kid's eyes widened a little in surprise for a second before a smile materialised on his dopey little face. It was small and shy, like he was trying to hide how happy he was. "Ha ha thanks, Mr. Stark! I'm a big fan of Iron Man - hence the mug of you, but you probably guessed that, or maybe you didn't, I don't know. Anyway, so Men in Black's in..."

Tony shook his head, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards, and he made his way back to the couch. "You gonna join me on the couch this time?"

"Hmm? Oh ye-yeah. Yeah I'll do… that, yeah." Sure enough, he took a seat on the furniture. Still, it was the farthest one away from Tony, but progress was progress nonetheless.

Still, Tony wished there was a way to make the kid less tense around him.

Then it came to him: one sure-fire way of getting anything living to trust you. "You in the mood for snacks?" the kid shrugged. "I want snacks. What've you got for food around here?"

"Oh, uh… I was just gonna have… cereal… you can also have- have cereal if you… want…" His eyes darted around, refusing to meet Tony's.

"What kind you got?"

"Fruit Loops."

"I could go for some Fruit Loops-"

"But we don't have any milk so I've been using whipping cream. It's past its expiry date, but it's still fine… I think. I don't know, it doesn't taste quite right, but it's probably fine."

"…"

"…"

"So take out it is!"

"… what's happening?" The kid muttered half to himself and half to Tony.

"What's happening is we're ordering food because you're drinking expired whipping cream for dinner."

"Iwasn'tdrinkingitbutwhateveryou'vegotapointIguess." The kid muttered, arms crossed.

"How do you feel about Chinese?"

"Sure."

"Or would you prefer Thai?"

"Sure."

"Or we could go with burgers."

"Sure."

"Which one?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"…"

"… what?"

"Maybe we should just get pizza."

"Oooooooo!" The kid's eyes lit up briefly before he school them back down into an attempted stoic look, but he couldn't mask the attentive gleam in his eyes.

The corner of Tony's mouth twitched up. "Pizza it is. How about we get Jerry's?"

"You cannot be serious." Tony's eyebrows shot up once more. "Uh… sorry, I mean: that's fine."

"… so not Jerry's?"

"If you want Jerry, that's fine! I mean, yeah, they're the worst pizza place in all of New York cause their sauce is bland, the crust tastes like flour and their name is stupid and they suck, but everyone has their own opinion."

"Ok, so in your opinion, where is the best pizza place?"

"Eddie's Pizza in Midtown. Large Pepperoni with extra pepperoni and thick crust." The kid said it all in one breath.

"Well you had that ready to go."

"I like pizza. Eddie's Pizza. Larry's will do in a pinch, but that's the only other acceptable pizza place. Everywhere else sucks, especially Jerry's. Ew."

"Well then, apparently I've gotta try out this Eddie's place. Large with extra Pepperoni, you said?"

"It's totally the best, trust me."

"FRI, order two of those."

"Sure thing, Boss with thick crust."

"Oh hey FRIDAY," Peter chirped and went to wave before realizing he'd just be waving at Tony's watch.

"Hello, Peter. How are you?"

"I'm doing good, how're you?"

"I'm also good. Thanks for asking. Your pizza is on its way."

"Thanks, FRI- can I call you FRI?"

"You can call me FRI."

"Cool, it sounds like 'fries' Ooooooooo! They also have fries and they make them fresh! We should totally get some- uh, I mean-"

"FRI, fries."

"On it."

"Gee thanks Mr. Stark, thanks FRI."

"So," Tony grabbed the remote. "MIB time?"

"Mib-? Oh yeah!" Peter nodded enthusiastically, settling comfortably into the couch.

. . .

"Mmm, damn, this is good." Tony tossed another fry in his mouth, delighting in its fresh flavour, "I gotta get your input on where to eat more often. You sure know what's good."

"I pretty much exclusively eat at Eddies, so beyond that place I can pretty much only give you advice of what to eat at McDonalds. They also have good fries."

"It's official: you're my consultant for whenever I want something from either McDonald's or Eddie's-"

"The one in midtown. There's an Eddie's in Hell's Kitchen, it is not the right Eddie's. They're almost as bad as Jerry's. But not quite, cause nothing is worse than Jerry's."

"See, you're the perfect fit for the job."

The sound of the kid's chuckling warmed Tony's chest and he took in the sight of the kid's face. His eyes sparkled, that familiar glean of happiness, radiating like the sun that he practically was. It was amazing, how simply seeing his smile could make Tony's heart feel so full. Everything else, every fear, every problem fell away, like it didn't matter anymore.

"Also if you're looking for larb, I know a good place. The waiter's a bit horny, but their sticky rice pudding is good."

Tony frowned, but decided to let his questions be as the movie started, effectively devouring the kid's attention with its shiny lights. Rolling his eyes, he settled in for the film.

. . .

"Ooooo mints!" The kid snatched one up and began unwrapping the crinkly wrapper. "Another reason Eddie's is the best. They give out the mints with chocolate centres! Jerry's doesn't do that."

"You've really got a grudge against that Jerry's don't you?"

The kid shrugged and popped the mint into his mouth. "What can I say, I hate it when places mess up my favourite food. It feels personal."

"Pizza's your favourite food?"

"Mhm. Ben and I used to go out for pizza every Wednesday. We went to every pizza place in New York and found all the good ones. Eddie's is the all-time best."

"Midtown Eddie's."

The kid actually held Tony's eyes as he smiled wide in excitement. "Exactly!"

"Looks like our movie's over."

"Oh dang, wanna watch the next one?"

Tony startled for a split second; the kid had suggested another movie without even a second thought. The corner of Tony's mouth tugged upwards, "sure, kid."

"Cool, do you wanna put it in and I'll make us some popcorn." He hopped over the back of the couch and bounded into the kitchen.

"Mind if I watch the news while you're making that?"

"Sure."

Popping the dvd in, Tony grabbed the remote and flipped over to the live news. Most of it was random stories irrelevant to Tony, stuff about celebrity affairs, forest fires in California, a small town local horse wearing a pigeon costume getting hit by a tourist bus, etc. As the kid plopped back onto the couch, giant bowl of popcorn in hand, Tony was ready to flip it back to the movie, when a story caught his attention, making him pause.

"Next Thursday will be the ten year anniversary since the devastating attack on New York by the Chitauri in 2012." The new anchor's words bounced around Tony's mind, rattling his brain. God he hadn't even realized the date.

"Ten years, huh? Dang, it doesn't feel that long. Oh wait - that's cause it was only five years ago from my perspective, right I almost forgot I got blipped" The kid chirped, nonchalantly spooning a handful of buttery popcorn into his mouth.

"Ten years ago…" Tony breathed, the events flashed through his mind, the twinge of fear twisted in his lower belly, but it was no longer overwhelming. It had all worked out. Yeah, the thought of Peter turning to dust hurt like a knife to the heart, but he was here now. Eyes wide and taking in the tv, chowing down on a bowl of popcorn, and overall living. He was alive. He was fine.

"It was pretty crazy, wasn't it." The kid threw a handful of popcorn back, barely even chewing it. The kid had already eaten his whole pizza alongside half of Tony's, nearly all of the fries, all of the complimentary mints, and yet he was still shovelling in food like he hadn't eaten for days. Then again, seeing the state he was living in with his aunt gone, that may as well have been the case. "I got separated from Ben when everyone started freaking out. It wasn't too bad, I guess, we were in Central Park, and the Chatauri weren't really there. Still, it was pretty scary."

Oh god. The kid was in Manhattan during the attack. And he almost got blown up by a nuke. Tony had never once questioned his decision to direct that missile through the portal, but the knowledge that he'd saved his- the kid, well that made it all so much more important. So much more real. "You were in danger."

"Huh?" Peter looked over at the man in question.

"You were in danger. You were in Manhattan. God, you could've been killed!"

"...I'm in danger a lot, Mr. Stark."

"What?!" Tony shot forward, hands planted on the couch as he stared dead straight in the kid's eyes. "What does that mean?!"

The kid blinked, his chewing slowing, "... you do know… that I'm… Spider-Man… right? You didn't… forget… did you?"

"Right." Tony nodded and forced himself to sit back, trying to smooth out the crazed look he felt on his face. "But you're being careful, right?"

"... uh… ye-yeah. Yeah."

"Wow. Could you at least try to sound convincing?"

"I am being careful, I promise. Well, just as careful as you, anyway."

"That is literally the worst thing you could've said."

"... hah?"

"You should've met me in 2010."

"I did."

"... what?"

"At the Stark Expo in Queens." He went back to chewing his food, barely paying attention to Stark who was staring, confounded and awaiting further explanation like his life depended on it. "I was wearing an Iron Man mask when all those robots went all Terminator and one of them apparently thought I was you despite being, you know, eight years old, and it was gonna shoot me, but then you popped up behind me and blasted it and were all like 'nice shot, kid," then flew off. It was awesome. May and Ben were… less enthusiastic about it when I told them the story, but I thought it was cool. I mean you were, like, right in front of me, it was so awesome." A choking noise made Peter look over and he saw Mr. Stark's face twisted into a look of shock, horror, confusion, and discombobulation. "Uh… Mr. Stark? What's happening to your face? Oh god are you having a stroke?! You're too young to die!"

Tony shook his head, "no. I- that was you?!"

"... you remembered that?" Peter blinked. "Oh. Cool."

"ThAt WaS yOU?!"

"... I- I already said yes?"

"THAT WAS YOU?!"

"... uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh-"

"How could you never have told me about this?!"

"It… never came… up…?" Tony made more choking noises. Pete was, like, super confused now. This man had never shown this much emotion in his life, and he'd definitely never shown… this kind of emotion - whatever the heck it was supposed to be. "Am I-? Am I in trouble?"

"I held it in Queens. You were there. You almost died. I almost killed you."

GOD. How many times was the kid gonna have to almost die?!

"Well, actually, you saved me-"

Tony sprang forward, startling Peter out of his skin and nearly making him jump and stick to the ceiling, except for the fact that the arm now wrapped around him kept him trapped in place. Very unexpectedly and very suddenly, Peter found himself encased in a big warm hug, so tight he swore he felt a rib crack. "Uh… what's happening? Are you… are you ok?"

"You're so fragile."

"Uh…" Peter awkwardly patted Tony's back, "well, actually I'm a lot more durable than most people, but… uh…"

"FRI, order us dessert."

"Oooooo desert!" The kid chirped in Tony's arms, completely relaxing at the sound of more food. "What're we getting?!"

"Anything you want." Tony hugged him tighter.

"I wouldn't turn down some pie."

. . .

The coffee table was a rainbow of colours, yellows, reds, green, orange, etc, all different slices of pie.

"Oh. Em. Gee. Mr. Stark, you got one of each kind they have?! That's awesome!"

"You wouldn't answer me what kind you wanted, so I got you everything!"

"... wow, you really overdo it sometimes - uh not to sound ungrateful, cause I'm not, but… you know… anything would've been fine."

"I don't understand."

"... what? How- what don't you- what's confusing you?"

"You're saying I shouldn't've gotten you pie? Do you want something else?"

"What? No! That's not- nevermind, this is great, Mr. Stark, thank you." He scooped half of a piece of a brown, gel-like one. He held it up, looking closer to see raisins suspended inside its viscous filling. "What kind is this?"

Reaching over, Mr. Stark took the rest of the piece for himself. "It's raisin."

"Well that doesn't sound too appealing."

"It's pretty much a giant butter tart."

"Ooooooooo I take it back, it sounds amazing!" Peter scooped a spoonful of pie into his mouth. "Mmmmm!"

Mr. Stark rolled his eyes with a smile and returned his attention to the movie.

. . .

Tony's eyes perused the apartment, noticing small details. An array of Percy Jackson books that looked worn, a red backpack slumped against the coffee table which was odd because was pretty sure the last one he'd seen the kid have was grey and before that, it was blue. Apparently someone wasn't a very responsible bag owner.

Various knick knacks and photos were strewn about, alongside plenty of framed photos. One, in particular, captured Tony's attention. He'd discovered it sitting on the side table, hidden under a jumble of papers. A boy, probably around ten or so stood centre in the picture wearing an oversized lab coat. He wore big black glasses on his face, so big they looked about ready to knock him over with their weight. He held up a beaker with dark turquoise liquid in it, the biggest dopey smile taking up his face.

Grabbing the frame, he flipped it to look at the back.

Peter's First Science Experiment!

"So who's this dork?"

"Hm?" the kid peeled his eyes away from the tv, momentarily confused before noticing the frame in Tony's hand. His face soured and he took the photo with an eye roll. "I used to wear glasses ok. And yeah, it made me look nerdy, I know."

"You used to wear glasses? I didn't know that."

The kid nodded, "yeah, I had a prescription of, like, -4 or something like that? I had these big ugly frames, even worse than those ones there. They were all we could afford. They got broke by this kid once at school and I had to tape them back together. God, they looked horrible. Also I had asthma, which didn't help with the nerd rep."

"Asthma?!"

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad, but it's been gone since the spider-bite."

Tony thought for a second, contemplating what he wanted to say next, "you said a kid at school broke your glasses?"

"... did I?" The kid stiffened awkwardly and he cleared his throat, "uh, well I mean ye-yeah, yeah he did, but whatever it was… ok fine." He threw his arms up in exasperated defeat. "I was bullied ok? It's not a big deal."

"You still being bullied?"

"Nah," he shook his head, "Flash is kinda a jerk a lot, but it doesn't really bother me. He's just messing around most of the time. Honestly, I think - ok and I may sound a little full of myself, but I think he may have a crush on me, but he's definitely not out of the closet, so I don't think he even realizes it." He shrugged, eating a spoonful of cherry pie. "Or maybe he just doesn't like me. I don't know, I am an easy target. My initials are P.P for heck's sake. Mom and Dad really didn't think that one through."

"Flash, you said, huh?"

"... it's fine, Mr. Stark. Don't, like, do anything to him, ok?"

"Fine, fine." Tony sighed, " you gotta start standing up for yourself, though, Pete."

"Who said I'm not?" Tony gave him a flat stare. "Ok fine… I just- there's no point, you know?"

"God you are too nice, it's almost embarrassing."

"The dude has some serious familial issues going on. I'm pretty sure his parents, like, barely even talk to him they're so busy. And that really sucks for him. I don't wanna add any negativity to his life, you know."

"I don't mean to address the elephant in the room, but you have some familial 'issues' of your own. How is it fair to make you also deal with some little shit taking out his frustrations on you?"

The kid got quiet for a few moments, then shrugged lightly, "it's not, but I'd rather take a little extra egregiousness than take away his outlet for dealing with all his stuff. I mean the fact that he's acting the way he is, well, it kinda makes me think he needs this more than I would like it to stop."

"..."

"What?"

"You are such a goodie-two-shoes it's unbelievable." Tony placed an affirming hand on the kid's shoulder.

The kid smiled cheekily and shrugged. "A little, I guess."

"And I'm supposed to be the role model."

"You're a great role model! I mean, you just bought me, like, a mountain of food, just to be nice. Which I will pay you back for. Uh, one day… I wouldn't expect payment soon, though… sorry."

"If I expected you to pay me back, wouldn't that defeat the whole 'doing it just to be nice' thing?"

"... I guess you have a point."

. . .

A foot gently kicking his thigh made Tony look over. The kid's head was resting against the arm of the couch like a pillow, and his eyes were closed. His mouth hung open just a tad as he breathed, chest rising and falling in suit. The faint glow of the TV cast an array of various colours over his face, and Tony quickly lowered the volume. His legs extended out, taking to using Tony as a footrest.

God, he was young. Curled up on the couch with messy curls sticking up all over the place. Tony could picture him as an innocent child, back before the world hurt him, living with his parents, being tucked into bed with a bed-time story, waking up to a home cooked breakfast, running off to school and making friends. The life he deserved.

Grabbing the blanket off of the back of the couch, Tony draped it over the kid, making sure to tuck him securely in.

"He's asleep, Boss, do you want me to pull the car around for you?"

"No, I think I'll stick around here, keep an eye on him." Leaning down, Tony planted a kiss on Peter's head, and, smiling, brushed some loose curls out of his face. Taking a moment to smile at him, Tony turned off the TV and made his way over to the armchair. Plopping down, he flicked off the overhead light, and took to a lamp instead so as not to disturb the kid. Tony noticed his hand and sighed. The faint light of the lamp washing over his skin accentuated the scars that snaked over his hand, making them look like crevices. The treatments had been working, but the progress was slow, thankfully, the scars on his face were almost completely diminished, but there would forever remain faint webs.

Who was he kidding, he would always be hot as shit. The scars did nothing to lessen that.

But they were reminders. Reminders of what he almost lost. Of what he had lost. And how easily he could lose it again - all of it.

His eyes found Peter, the thing he'd lost. He could remember that pain like it was fresh, those five years, 1,825 days, 2,628,000 minutes, not a single one of which he didn't think of the kid. And now that he had him back, he was never going to lose him again. He would always be there for him, no matter what.

Pulling out a book, Tony settled in for the night. He had some learning to do. With a sigh, he flipped open his Parenting for Assholes, and started reading.

. . .

Warmth tickled Peter's skin, gently coaxing him to consciousness. Taking in a deep breath, Peter stretched, and having his arms dangle in open air, realised he was on the couch. Other than being a little stiff from being curled up all night, the couch was far more comfortable than his bed. He really wished he could have a new mattress that wasn't complete crap, but he didn't want to make May feel bad. She was always fretting about being able to give him the best, but the fact was she just couldn't afford to. It's not like his bed was that bad; he just woke up with a sore back and neck every so often - which was probably just from web-swinging anyway…

A hand clasped shoulder. "AAAHHH WHAT THE F- OH MY GOD!" Peter jumped out of his skin and right up to the ceiling, which he stuck to, upside-down and disoriented and confused. Struggling to blink away the sleep, the world came into focus, and so did the person standing, surprised, and looking up at him. "Mr. Stark? Why're you…? Did you… did you stay the night?"

"Yes, I did. And," he waved a hand towards the kitchen table, "I made breakfast."

"... Are those… are those gummy bear pancakes?"

"You mentioned last night that you made them with your parents all the time, so I thought I'd try them out. I was gonna wake you so I could learn from the expert, but you looked pretty zonked. Thought I'd let you sleep."

"Oh…" Peter blinked.

"So… will you come down from the ceiling?"

"Huh? OH! Ye-yeah. Sorry." Peter dropped to the floor and patted down his hair, which didn't help at all because it was really messy after sleeping on the couch. "Wait- did I fall asleep while watching the movie?"

"Mhm."

"And you stayed the night?"

"Yep."

"Oh god, did I accidentally lock you in or something?! I'm so sorry Mr. Stark!"

"You think you locked me in? Me. Genius me?"

"... I dunno… don't look at me like that!" Peter brushed past him, rolling his eyes, and pulled up a chair to the table. "I was just trying to figure out why you stayed."

Tony shrugged and joined Peter, passing him a plate, "I said I wanted to hang out, so I hung out."

"While I was passed out on the couch?"

"Why not."

"... well, I mean, it's kinda… kinda weird… a smidge… just a little…"

"It's not like I was standing over you watching you sleep, I ended up passing out a little over an hour after you. And now I've got a crick in my neck."

"... oh… if I'd've known you were gonna stay the night, I would've offered you the couch, you know."

"Eh," Tony shrugged and poured himself a helping of syrup while the kid went straight for the whipped cream. "You were already asleep, plus the armchair was comfy."

"Hm, ok then." Peter chewed a mouthful of pancake, "thanks for making breakfast, it's really good."

"Mmm, I think you're onto something with these gummy bears."

The kid smiled, "Dad came up with it. We started picking new stuff to put in the pancakes, tried popcorn once, which actually was kinda good, but gummy bears were always the best."

Tony nodded, "sounds like you and your parents had lots of fun."

"Oh yeah," the kid smiled, remembering his childhood, "and my mom and I would always do puzzles together. She'd give me a new puzzle each night and she'd let me do it on my own, but she would always be ready to help me if I couldn't figure it out. I always loved doing puzzles with her." He chuckled to himself, "sometimes my dad would join in, but he was never the best at puzzles. I love dad, but I definitely got my brains from Mom. May likes to say I got Mom's brain and Dad's heart. I really miss them sometimes." His eyes came to rest on Tony and his face fell. "Oh God! I'm sorry, I was rambling! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things awkward, I was just reminiscing, and I didn't realize I was doing it out loud."

"Kid, kid, kid," Tony held up a hand to stop the kid, "you were just telling me a couple stories about your parents, I'm happy to hear about them.."

"Oh… well, thanks, Mr. Stark, it's nice to talk about them."

"Well, I'm happy to listen anytime, kid." The kid smiled, eyes crinkling. "Now eat your breakfast or I'll sell your suit."

. . .

Shovelling the last bit of pancake into his mouth, the kid cleared the table, depositing the dishes into the sink, which was already filled with a mountain of dirty ones.

Kids.

"So, whatchya got going on after school?"

The kid shrugged, "I dunno, I was just gonna study and… I dunno, Spider-Man stuff. There's not much crime lately, though… Maybe I could get a head start on next school year's work? Grade twelve is the big one, you know. I could start on my college essay maybe?"

"Wow." Tony sat back in his chair, "has anyone ever told you you're a nerd?"

With a huff and an eyeroll, the crossed his arms, "I'd usually hang out with Ned and build leg- super complicated aircraft models for adults cause we're mature adults with adult hobbies. Uh, anyway, that's what I'd normally be doing, but he left to visit his family. It was the only time he could see them with the school trip we're going on next month."

"School trip, huh? Sounds fun."

The kid's eyes lit up, "oh yeah, it'll be my first time actually travelling outside of America - other than that time you took me to Germany, that is, but this time it'll actually be gone for, like, a week and I won't be doing Spidey stuff during it, so that's super cool!"

"Where're you going?"

"We're travelling around Europe. To, like, Venice, the Eastern Alps, and Paris and stuff. I'm really excited for Paris!" He smiled to himself, like he had some special plan for there.

"Well, if you're leaving for a week, then we better spend some more time together before you leave, don't we?"

"Uh…"

"Besides, you don't need to study."

"Of course I do. It's not like I'm some genius who just knows everything. Not everyone's you, you know?"

"What's 5,678.35 cubed then divided by 3,098.78?"

"59,084,795.5," he answered without a moment's hesitation. "Why?"

"No reason. So the new Batman movie is in theatres, whaddya say we catch a show after school?"

"Ooooooo Robert Patterson! Uh- I mean- shouldn't I study? I feel like I should probably stud-"

"You don't need to study."

"I don't know, Mr. Stark, it's finals."

"Have you ever studied a day in your life?"

"... well I was gonna study yesterday, but I got distracted…"

"So no."

"...no…"

"And what's your GPA?"

"4.0, but-"

"But nothing. What you need to learn is how to relax. A movie is the perfect way to do that. I'll buy the snacks." And the ticket and drive you and even buy you ice cream after if you want.

"Look I'll go to the movies, but you don't have to buy me any food."

"Deal." I'm buying you so much popcorn you're gonna drown in it. "Whaddya say I pick you up at 3:15 and we head to the theatre?"

"Oh, Mr. Stark, you don't have to do that, I can just take the subway-"

"Nah, I'll pick you up."

"I don't wanna inconvenience you…"

"Now I'm definitely picking you up." Tony stood, brushing a couple crumbs off his shirt. "I have this need to defy anyone who tries to tell me not to do something I wanna do - or even that I don't want to do."

"... oh, uh, o-okay."

"Ok, I'm off to make a polite appearance at a party."

"Oooo do they have shrimp?" Tony paused, and, blinking, looked at the kid, who shrugged. "I was curious. People in movies are always eating shrimp at fancy parties. I wanted to know if that was, like, an actual thing."

Tony exhaled through his nose in amusement, "yeah, they usually have shrimp."

"I knew it!"

"Just more proof that you're a genius." Tony called over his shoulder as he threw open the door. "Don't be late for school or I'll take you to the museum instead."

"Oooo din-"

"Not the dinosaure one."

"Noooooo!"

"See ya. Don't get into trouble." With that, he closed the door.

The apartment seemed unusually quiet after the man's departure, but no loneliness lingered, instead seeming to have left with him. Peter couldn't help the smile that tugged at his mouth.

He couldn't wait for school to be over.+

Thank You for Reading!