Hey guys! So this chapter stops in an odd place, because otherwise it would have been massive. The good news is, stuff is getting real this chapter and next! All the drama and the feels. So yeah, thanks so much for all of the continued support, and I hope you enjoy!

Tony doesn't know how to feel about how the last hour and some had turned out.

On one hand - kid fell asleep in the tub; that was bad, and he again felt bad for having to see him so exposed when he was still clearly uncomfortable around him. On the other, he'd been comfortable enough to fall asleep, and had not only not panicked but had fallen back asleep against him when he carried him out. And when he wasn't conscious, the walls he'd clearly been so desperately trying to keep up had come down, leaving the kid clinging to him with spider powers, seeking human comfort that he clearly hadn't had in way too long. And despite his attitude when he was awake, Tony knows that that wouldn't have happened if Peter was actually still as uncomfortable as he was trying to be.

And while he was clearly trying to keep that distance there, even that had started to slip a bit when Peter had woken up against him. He still sounded resigned to most of what Tony had said, still resistant to most of the decisions he made, but not enough that he's actively fighting anymore, which implies at least a beginning level of trust. He can work with that. Not to mention the fact that he didn't even want Tony to help him sit up when he'd first woken up, and today he'd made no protest to basically cuddling with him while he was awake. He'd tried to unstick his hands, but he hadn't actually tried to pull away. If anything, he's certain he felt him lean a little more into him. That was definitely progress.

Speaking of his decisions… He almost doesn't realize the phone had picked up in his ear until he heard a voice say, "Tony?"

"Bruce. I need a favor," Tony says as he steps out and pulls the door closed behind him.

"What kind of favor?" Bruce asks, suspicion clear in his tone. Tony rolls his eyes.

"Don't sound so suspicious. It's not what you think. I need your medical expertise, actually."

He can almost hear the way Bruce's eyebrows shoot up in surprise through the phone. "Medical? Is someone hurt? Did Morgan break her leg or something? Because I know how scary it is, but there's not much I can do about the little things, Tony, and it's not good for you to-"

"It's not Morgan," Tony interrupts. He wants to be irritated that they think he's so irrationally overprotective, but, well… isn't that exactly what he's doing, being irrationally controlling and overprotective of someone who, really, he has no claim on? "It's not me or Pepper, either, actually," he continues, forcing the thought away. "It's… well, it's a bit complicated. It's a pretty special patient. He's not… human, exactly. I mean, human, but not completely," he adds, before Bruce can get the wrong idea.

"O...kay," Bruce stretches out, clearly confused. "Who and what are we talking about, exactly?"

Tony sighs, already anticipating the response. "Spider-Man," he admits reluctantly. "And he's...actually a mutant, although to what extent I honestly don't know."

Bruce is groaning before he's even finished speaking. "God, Tony. You really… we agreed-"

"It wasn't- he crashed through the wall of the tower! What was I supposed to do, let him bleed out on the floor? Besides, I- we owe him, Bruce. Big time. Not only has he been covering our asses for the past six years, but he's been tortured. Multiple times, if what he's accidentally revealed is anything to go by. Including by people looking for us." He hears Bruce's breath catch, but presses on. "And I-" he hadn't voiced this suspicion aloud, hadn't dared let himself think to hard about the implications of it, but… "I don't think he has anyone, Bruce. Because of the whole hero gig or the snap or what, I don't know, but…"

"How can you tell?" Bruce's voice was quiet.

"I don't know. I just can," he answered honestly. Maybe it was the utter lack of trust, or the desperation that hinted he had no hope at all, or the way he clearly was afraid of being close to him but then seemed to cling to it when it was forced on him. Maybe it was just parental instinct. But he is sure. Besides, surely if he had someone, he would have been even hinted at the possibility of wanting to talk to someone outside the tower by now; if he was close with anyone, they should have been his first thought when he woke up and found out what had happened, right?

Bruce exhales a long breath, and Tony holds his as he waits for an answer and is greeted by a minute of silence. "I can be there in an hour or so," he says finally. "But I can't make any promises of what I'll be able to do. What are you even wanting me to do?"

He lets out the breath. "He's pretty banged up. I need a full rundown of injuries, broken bones, all that, and a timeline for his recovery would be great."

A pause. "If he's really a mutant, then I'll need to do some tests. Otherwise I can't promise accurate results. Depending on the extent of his mutations, I still probably can't."

"Alright." He winces a little, knowing that this will likely be another argument, but says nothing. "We'll talk more when you get here, then. Thanks, Bruce."

"Of course. I'll see you soon." He hangs up.

Tony disconnects on his end as well and pockets the phone, feeling a bit lighter. He turns the corner to see Morgan sitting at the table with Happy, chatting away and coloring in a picture book, a barely touched sandwich and bowl of what was presumably soup sitting beside her. Happy nods to him as he enters and gets up, wandering away and pulling out his phone to make a call.

She sees the movement and immediately looks up at him and grins. "Daddy! How's Peter?"

"Spider-Man," Tony corrects, kissing the top of her head as he passes. "You can't go around yelling out his name, or he can't be Spider-Man anymore, remember?"

Morgan makes a face, turning back to her picture and picking another crayon. "Yeah, but… it's just us, so I can call him Peter!"

Tony sighs, but he's suppressing a smile. "Yes, I suppose so. Now eat your food." He plucks the crayon from her hand.

The little girl sticks her tongue out at him but pulls her food towards her, and giggles when he sticks out his tongue back before taking a big bite of her sandwich. Tony moves to the counter and grabs a bowl, getting some soup for himself and sitting down at the table.

"Daddy?" Morgan pipes up again, looking at him over her sandwich.

"Hm?" He's stirring his soup absentmindedly.

"How long is Peter going to be here?" She looks at him with wide brown eyes.

"Until he's better."

"How long will that be?"

"Bruce is coming today to help us figure that out." He takes a bite of soup.

Morgan straightens immediately, eyes bright. "Uncle Bruce is coming?"

"Yes. He'll be here in a few hours." Tony gets up to get a drink.

"Is he staying?" Morgan asks hopefully.

"That'll depend on how much care Peter needs and how long we decide to stay."

"How long are we staying?"

"I don't know, Morgan. It'll depend. Just eat for now, okay?" He fills a glass of water and sits down again.

She huffs but complies, and they eat in silence for a whole five minutes before she blurts, "When can I visit him again?"

Tony sighs, running a hand through his hair. "He's hurt, Morgan. He needs rest. And when I left he was asleep, so it might be a little bit. Besides," he points to her food again, "Little girls who don't eat aren't allowed to go visit their heroes. So you better get to it."

Morgan pouts for half a second, and when that gets her nothing, she takes a big bite of her food and throws him a pointed look.

"Thank you." Tony gives her a smile back, taking a bite of his own as if to say 'see, I'm doing it too.'

They finish quickly after that. As soon as Morgan's bowl is clean, she immediately turns to him and says, "Now can I see him again?"

Tony sighs a little, taking their dishes and setting them in the sink. He almost feels bad for giving in, but he also remembers how at ease Peter appeared around her before and thinks he won't mind, even if she does wake him up. "I… oh, alright. A quick visit. But he was sleeping, so we have to be quiet, okay? We don't want to wake him. He needs rest."

"I know! I won't, I promise!" Morgan is already sprinting down the hall, stopping just outside the door and waiting on him to catch up. "Come on, Daddy!" she stage-whispers.

"I'm coming." He reaches her in a few strides, and reminds her to be quiet with a finger to his lips before cracking open the door almost silently.

Morgan pads inside, her steps even carefully quiet as she approaches her hero. She steps up beside his bed, reaching out a small hand and laying it on top of his, where it's resting lightly on the blankets over his stomach.

Tony watches from the doorway, a small smile growing on his face. He's glad Friday is watching, because he'll want the stills of it later.

Then Morgan gasps from across the room.

Peter is awake before they enter, honestly.

He doesn't know what startles him into awareness, but he does immediately pick up on the two sets of footsteps right outside his door when he focuses on it. One set stops, and the other is light and nearly silent as it approaches. Too light to be an adult, but, acutely aware of the second presence that he's fairly sure is an adult, he doesn't move, keeping his breathing deep and even.

Then a small hand is draped over his, and before he can think better of it, his fingers are twitching in response, curling around the young girl's hand.

She gasps in delight, and he lets his eyes flutter slowly open. His gaze fixes on her first, then shifts to the shadow lingering near the doorway until she speaks and draws his attention back to her. "Petey! How are you feeling?"

Despite himself, Peter smiles. No one has ever called him that before, but he finds he doesn't mind. "I'm good, Morgan," he says softly. "Just tired."

Her face changes instantly. "Did I wake you?"

"No, you didn't," he assures. "I was just resting here. I can't really move, so there's not much else I can do. I'm actually glad to see you. Gives me something to do." He isn't actually lying; he was awake before she touched him, and really, there isn't much else he can do. Aside from thinking, and he's not really wanting to do that right now. He doesn't like the thoughts that take him every time he does.

She brightens, grinning. "I'll come talk to you as much as you want. And guess what! You'll be able to talk to new people soon! Uncle Bruce is coming to visit and fix you up, and then you'll be good as new!"

Peter files the name away as he smiles back at her. "Yeah? You think so?"

"Yeah! Uncle Bruce is the best! And he's helped fix all kinds of things, so I know he can fix you!" She squeezes his hand. "At least, he can when he's not big and green, but-"

"That's enough." Tony pushes off the door and walks inside, kneeling by the little girl.

"Big and green?" Peter repeats, right on the heels of Tony's words. He looks at the elder man, then back at the little girl, who is nodding frantically despite her father's words.

"Yeah! He's the Hulk! Well, he is sometimes, but usually he's just Uncle Bruce-"

Tony sees the way the kid's face changes instantly. He goes from amused and affectionate to confused and afraid in the span of less than a second, as soon as Morgan speaks.

"That's enough," he blurts, before he can think better of it. But the kid asks, he always does, and Morgan keeps going, blissfully unaware of exactly what she's about to do.

"Yeah! He's the Hulk! Well, he is sometimes, but usually he's just Uncle Bruce-"

Emotions flash over Peter's face too quick for Tony to process before he shutters them off again. Tony takes Morgan's arm. "Morgan, that's enough."

She stops, as if suddenly realizing the tension in the room. Her eyes are big and brown, wide as saucers, but he can't explain, not now. Not when he can't say anything else in front of the kid, not when-

Peter is sitting up with some difficulty, hands braced heavily against the nightstand but managing to get and stay upright. "You lied to me." The words are quiet but still every bit accusing.

"I didn't lie," Tony counters. "He is qualified. And he has dealt with people like you before. He-"

"And you just conveniently didn't tell me who he was? I told you about-" he stops, looking like he's swallowing down words with effort, his eyes flicking from him to Morgan for just a second before back to Tony. "How many of them did you tell?"

He's trying so, so hard to stay calm, to bite back words for Morgan, and it hurts something inside of Tony. "Kid, I didn't-"

"You obviously did. Did you even actually want to help me? Or was this about bounty the whole time? It just so happened that when I had information that could be prudent to people with more money you decided to give me to them instead? Is he even actually coming to look at me, or because he's the only one you thought could contain me?" The words are just spilling out now. Every word hurts, not only Tony, but he can also see the way these realizations are affecting Peter. He looks so small, sad, hurt, betrayed, and Tony has to swallow hard against his rising emotion to answer.

"I didn't tell any of the Avengers, kid. Bruce is a friend. He's just coming to look at you, I swear." Tony makes to step up to him, but he flinched visibly, and that draws him up short. Then Morgan is there, stepping up to him and taking the hand he's not using to brace himself up, eyes wide and earnest.

"Petey… why are you afraid of the Avengers?" she asks with quiet innocence that only a six year old could pull off. "They're good. They help people."

Peter takes a shuddering breath, forcing his eyes down from Tony to Morgan and giving her a bitter smile. "Oh, Morgan. You're just too young to understand." He squeezes her hand gently. "The Avengers haven't helped anyone in years. And they certainly haven't helped me while I was out there fighting their battles for them."

Morgan looks so confused. "But… the Avengers are broken up, but they've never hurt anyone...right?" She looks back at Tony, but he's frozen, hurt by the kid's words, the truth of them. He's right, and it kills him.

"They're not helping anyone either, Mo," Peter says, shoulders curved forward as he runs his fingers through his hair, and Tony knows every motion has to hurt. "More people are getting hurt now than ever because of their mess. And they've done nothing to clean it up. Actually-" his face scrunches up in irritation, "They've been quite vocal about their distaste for some of us cleaning up their messes. As if just because we want our identities to be a secret or because we have to use slightly different methods we're little better than criminals ourselves."

Tony knows what he's talking about, and it hurts all the more because he'd never meant Spider-Man when he'd said some of the things he had, and the media had never been meant to hear them and construe them in they way they had, either. What had been publicized of what he said had not nearly been the whole of it. And he couldn't really be held responsible for what the others said or did… right? It had been years!

Morgan only looks more confused. She looks at Tony, searching his face for answers. "But… Daddy has been helping you. And… you didn't say Spider-Man was bad, did you?" She looks back at Peter. "They would have helped you if they'd known you needed it! Daddy does support you! That's why he made your suit! Right?" She looks back at Tony, oblivious to Peter tensing under her, the shock going through him right then. "You would have helped him, right?"

I didn't. I kept lists of his injuries and watched from afar and gave him the suit to help assuage my own guilt but I didn't. I didn't help. Tony closes his eyes, running his hand down his face. "Morgan- honey, it's complicated-"

Morgan looks more hurt now than Peter does. Her whole demeanor morphs instantly, and she stares at him, aghast. "But… but you're Iron Man! You're supposed to be a hero! And you just… you just…"

Peter goes rigid, but Morgan doesn't notice. She only has eyes for her father. She's visibly shaken, staring at him with wide, wet eyes.

Tony sees the change in both of them and closes his eyes for a minute, trying to steady himself. When he opens them again, Peter is moving, trying to shove himself up, and Tony only has a second to react. "Friday, get Happy in here for Morgan," he orders, then he's across the room, trying to get to Peter before he hurts himself. He curses himself for not putting the cuff back on before he left earlier.

Happy is in there an instant. Thankfully, he sees the situation and just scoops up Morgan and goes out, closing the door behind him. Tony struggles to get a grip on Peter, who seems to be not entirely conscious of his actions, just desperate to escape.

Tony knows what he's going to have to do, and he doesn't like it. He tries desperately to get through to him instead. "Peter. Peter, hey, kid, c'mon-"