"Are you having fun?" Tony asked Peter after breakfast.

They were on their way to the workroom, and Peter was once more practically wriggling with eagerness. Especially since Tony had told him he was going to show him the newest suit that he was working on. One that no one else had even seen, yet.

"A lot of fun," Peter confirmed.

Tony wasn't surprised. The kid was hanging out with the Avengers, after all. Of course he was having a good time.

"Best part?"

Peter hesitated and then shook his head.

"I can't choose."

Tony smiled.

"No one else is around," he pointed out. "You can be honest and say it's me. I won't tell anyone."

The boy giggled.

"I liked the movie."

"The movie? Or the other stuff that went with it?"

Not that he was fishing for compliments – much – but if it was something Peter enjoyed, Tony had a readily available reward for anything that might come their way. They didn't need to go to the compound to see a movie, either. They could make movie night a regular thing.

"The other stuff that went with it," he replied, looking up at Tony. He hesitated, again. "I like spending time with you."

Tony felt himself smiling, and there was a weird ache in his chest for just a moment, as he looked down at the boy.

"I like spending time with you, too." And sure as shit, the minute he said it, Tony realized that it was true, and he wasn't just saying it to be nice. "You're pretty good company," he added.

Peter's expression made it clear that the boy thought the same, and Tony surprised himself by reaching down and offering him a hand to hold. Which was accepted, immediately, and wasn't released until they reached their destination.

"Wow…"

The workshop was impressive. More impressive than anything Peter had ever seen before, and his eyes were wide as he looked around. There was tech everywhere, and pieces of metal that were colored gold and red neatly in place on the table and popping out some open drawers. More impressive, though, was the display. Behind the clear plastic was a full suit staring back at him.

"JARVIS? Pull up the latest results from our last test run."

"JARVIS?" Peter echoed, looking up over his shoulder at Tony.

"Hello, Peter…"

The voice was gentle, and Peter's jaw dropped at the sound of it. They'd had a lot of conversations, but they were only typed to each other.

"Wow."

Tony smiled at the awe in Peter's voice and expression.

"JARVIS is my AI. He keeps me on track."

"Yeah. I know."

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You do?"

"We met."

The billionaire frowned.

"You did? When?"

Peter hesitated, but only for a moment. He wasn't a liar by nature and didn't even consider it with Tony.

"When I tried to hack your systems. Before we met."

Officially.

"You tried to hack my systems?" Tony echoed, confused. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to meet you. I thought I could find out your schedule, and get you alone. I tried, remember? I needed to ask you how to-"

"Wait…" Tony Stark was capable of going from confused to angry fairly quickly, and this wasn't an exception. He interrupted Peter's explanation by simply raising his hand. "You hacked JARVIS?"

"No. I mean, I didn't even know him. Not then, anyway. I thought I was trying to hack your smart house."

"Why?"

"To learn your schedule. So I could-"

"Is that how you knew where I was all the time?" Tony scowled. "You were using my AI against me?"

"No. I-"

"And that's how you got into the field trips? And you programmed JARVIS to convince me to pick you as my mentee?"

"What? No." Peter took a step back from the anger he could see building in the man's expression. "I didn't have-"

"This was all some kind of trick?"

"No."

"Sir… You-"

"You stay out of this, JARVIS," Tony snapped. He scowled down at Peter, who had backed himself – literally – into a corner, pale and frightened. "I trusted you."

"I know. I didn't mean-"

"Sir. Peter-"

"JARVIS, shut up," Stark said, icily. "Or I swear to all that's holy I'll shut you down right here and now."

"He didn't do anything wrong," Peter told Tony, quickly, defending his friend. "I asked him to help me. I needed your help and you wouldn't listen-"

"I don't want to hear it," Tony interrupted, furious, now. The little whelp had turned his own AI against him. Just to get an autograph? Or to meet the other Avengers, or who knew why? It didn't matter. Feeling very much abused by what he could only see as betrayal, Tony pointed a finger at the boy, who shrank back from the anger in his expression. "Go pack your things. I'm taking you home."

Eyes wide and watery, Peter tried one more time.

"Please, Tony… I didn't mean-"

"Go! Now!"

Peter broke and ran, dodging past Tony and throwing himself at the door. He flung it open – breaking it in the process – and vanished with a strangled sob that echoed in the hallway.

Stark cursed, and sat down at the worktable, running his hand through his hair, still angry, but already feeling that he might have overreacted.

"Run a self-diagnosis and clear your programming of any tampering."

"There isn't any tampering," JARVIS told him. "Peter attempted to hack me, but wasn't able to get beyond the first level of clearance before I found out what he was doing."

"I don't want to hear it."

"It doesn't make it less true."

"Run the diagnosis. I want your programming secured before I take him home."

"There's nothing wrong with my programming."

"Don't argue with me. Just do it."

Tony pulled down the closest display and turned it on, determined to watch the data – just to make sure.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Peter couldn't think. Couldn't breathe, even. It felt like his whole world was crashing down around him. Again. Blinded by tears and a crushing sorrow, he ran down the corridor, turning when it turned, but not paying any attention to where he was going.

Tony hated him. All of the fun that they'd had was never going to happen again. He was going to take him home, and Peter wouldn't see Steve, or Natasha, or Sam or any of the others, again. His excellent memory had no trouble remembering the fury in Tony's expression when he accused him of tricking him. Of being deceitful. Gone were the smiles. All Peter had seen was surprise and then anger and hurt.

Peter had to run away from that. Had to outrun it.

A door loomed in front of him and he crashed through it without slowing, hearing a crack as it slammed open and hit a wall, but not stopping to see if it was broken. He didn't even feel the cold when he ran out from under the awning and into the driving rain, and he didn't stop when he felt the concrete under his feet give way to soggy grass and then eventually to the loam that blanketed the floor of the woods out behind the compound.

He just ran, blindly, until he ran face-first into a tree. Then he crumpled to the ground in a heap and sobbed.

OOOOOOOO

A/N: So, bearing in mind that I am not going to make my little adorable bby suffer, I will spoil enough to let you know that he's not hurt much and Tony is over-reacting (but he does that) and it won't be for long. The truth did have to come out, though, so we can get beyond that and into the rest of the story