His eyes snapped open, accompanied by a sharp intake of air. Peter blinked and squinted at the ceiling, groaning in pain as he lifted up his hand to feel the tubes all around him.

"Good morning, I am FRIDAY, and the time is eleven twenty-seven." FRIDAY announced.

Peter squinted, "what?"

"The time is eleven twenty-seven. I am glad to see you are awake. I am FRIDAY."

He squeezed his eyes shut, "right. Yeah, I know who you are." He muttered, putting a hand over his forehead. Get it together, dude.

His head was starting to hurt, and he wasn't sure whether the fact that he couldn't move his left hand properly was because he was just out of it or something else.

"Where's everyone else?" He paused, fidgeting and yawning tiredly. He rolled his eyes when he got no response, "FRIDAY-"

"You mean where's me?" A voice from his left cut in, and he turned his head to see Tony standing there with probably the happiest face he'd seen on him.

Peter smiled tiredly, finally relaxing and sinking back into the pillow.

"And this?" The doctor tapped his other knee.

"Yeah." Peter responded, unable to keep back a yawn or even keep sitting up straight.

Tony frowned worriedly, "why does he keep doing that? Yawning?"

The doctor smiled, "he's still on a lot of medications, it's normal, although I'm worried about the arm." She said, looking at them both.

"What about it?" Tony asked instantly, beating Peter to it.

"He's still having difficulties moving it, right, Peter?"

Peter was hesitant, "a little. It's just-it feels like I have to really focus on it. It'll go away though, right?"

"You've been sleeping for a while, it should've healed. We'll see another week and then check you again."

Tony seemed worried. "Do you think it's serious?"

"I'm not sure. Can I talk to you, Tony?"

He nodded, patting Peter and following the doctor to a corner. They were obviously talking about him, but he didn't listen in. Doing things he wasn't supposed to had gotten him enough trouble - although this wasn't exactly all his fault. So he waited. Waited until the lady left and Tony walked back to Peter.

"Is-is everything okay?"

Tony paused, "yep. Great. Everything's perfect." So that meant something was wrong.

"Is it my hand? My arm?"

"I just said-stop worrying, okay?" Tony waved his hand dismissively.

Peter nodded, 'how long do I have to stay here?"

There was something on Tony's face every time he answered. Regret? Something he couldn't quite make out. "A week…two maybe. In the infirmary."

"Did you find me?" Peter asked, unsure of where it came from, because he was trying not to get into all that just straight away.

"Pepper and Rhodey found you." The smile had now completely disappeared. "You've been here for a-how's everything? Your head, particularly?"

"Uh, good. It hurts a little."

"You didn't tell her that-I'll call her-"

"It's not that bad. I figured it was normal after hurting your head."

Tony looked in caution, "yeah, I guess. If it gets bad, you tell me."

"I will, how long have I been here?" Peter asked eagerly, scanning his room. There were jackets on the chairs that looked like they belonged to Tony, and a few screwdrivers and pieces of tech on a corner table.

"A while."

"How long's a while?" Peter asked, starting to fiddle with the cannula.

"Don't touch that, you really gotta play with everything you see?" Tony scolded, earning a look from Peter, who moved his hands away.

Tony looked around the room as if seeing the first time, and sat down next to Peter, because that was a first. He'd spent endless nights in here worrying something would go wrong.

"I don't think I need it."

"Let's just stop at you 'don't think'." Tony paused, patting Peter's back and turning to him, "you good?"

Peter stared, "uh, y-yeah, I'm-I'm good."

"You're stammering."

Peter let out a single laugh, " uh, I'm-I'm just nervous."

"Why?"

"You're-you know, you're here, and-"

"I'm making you nervous?"

Peter scoffed, "no. No, but I only see you when you're there to tell me I'm in trouble."

"Right. Well, you're not, at this current…moment." He mumbled, his mind indulged in other thoughts.

"Yeah, I figured."

"So listen-"

"I just wanna know how long I've been here."

"Two months." Tony said bluntly.

Peter frowned, "two months? Are you serious?" His eyes widened in surprise, "is-is May here? She's probably super worried. Can you get her? She's probably mad as well, and I have school-" he stopped talking when he noticed that Tony hadn't stopped him with something like 'she's fine, stop talking'. "What's wrong?"

Tony clenched his jaw and avoided Peter's eyes. Pepper was supposed to do this. They discussed it. Pepper would tell him. "I, uh, I'm gonna quickly call Pepper-"

"Pepper? Where's May?"

He took a shaky breath, "There was a-an accident. She…she was…." he shook his head in despair, keeping his voice steady. Come on.

Peter's face scrunched up, "what? Is she here too? Is she okay?" He moved back from Tony and stared at him hopefully. Because May was probably in the other room?

Nice, could he have worsened the situation? "No, sorry, I meant she's not here." He mentally cursed himself. Come on, Tony.

"You're not-where is she, then? Is she home?" Peter pressed, clearly scared out of his mind. She wouldn't be home, she'd never leave him alone. Peter knew that. He was just running out of places and scenarios as Tony told him sentence by sentence.

Tony looked at him and tried to get his wording right. "She didn't make it out."

Peter looked offended. "She 'didn't make it out'? What the hell is that even supposed to mean?" He yelled angrily.

That was one side of Peter he'd never seen. Peter never got angry. He got upset, but never angry.

Tony closed his eyes and looked up at him, "she died, Peter. We tried but she was….I know this must be hard to-"

Peter shook his head, "no, no." He took heavy breaths, staring at the floor. He scoffed and gave a watery fake smile, "you said it was a-a 'scrape'."

"That's not how she died." Tony said, grimacing when he said that word again. He decided not to continue with the details for now.

Peter looked heartbroken. That was it? He was never going to see her again? That didn't even make any sense.

He didn't realise that he'd started crying already. Tony pulled him in with a hand on the back of Peter's neck. "Sorry."

With that word, Peter broke down. "No," he cried, his breath hitching as he held onto Tony's arm tightly. "I didn't even-I didn't even tell her-" he couldn't even finish his sentence.

"It'll take time, but it'll get better. Even if it doesn't feel like it right now." He decided to say instead. That was true, at least.

"No, no, what am I even-" he cried harder into Tony's chest and shook his head at the same time. "She can't be-" he pulled away from Tony all of a sudden. "Are you sure?" He said with a sniffle, looking with the smallest glimmer of hope. "May-maybe you didn't look properly, or she's just-"

"Peter." Tony said softly but firmly, to pull him out of his ramblings.

His face scrunched up and he was pulled in again by Tony. He found that unusual, not that he was complaining in his current state. He was a mess. Beyond a mess. But Tony was never one to outwardly show affection.

"I can't-"

"I'm right here." Tony said automatically, running his hand through Peter's hair.

Peter's cries were suppressed. He barely made a noise, and if he wasn't shaking ever so slightly and sniffling here and then, Tony wouldn't be able to tell if he was actually crying or not. Better than how he handled his parents death. No, maybe it was the fact that he didn't know Tony all that well. He wouldn't have broken down in front of s stranger either. Well, he wasn't a stranger, per se, but they didn't spend that much time together either.

"I'll help you. With whatever you need."

"Where am I-I'm fifteen." Peter stated dumbly into Tony's shoulder. Tony gently held him up straight and looked at him seriously. "They'll-" he looked past Tony in a mix of thoughts, "I'll have-a-a-"

"I turn sixteen in a three months." He said more clearly, but still more or less to himself while Tony watched him ramble.

It was obvious, but Tony didn't see where he was going with that, "I'm sure you do, I'll throw you a great party. But Peter-"

Peter wasn't looking at him anymore, "I mean if you can leave home, legally, at sixteen then living alone shouldn't be hard. Or maybe that was in New Zealand, I read it somewhere-"

"Peter."

"Is it seventeen?" Peter asked, looking up. "But that's for runaways, right? Whose gonna call the authorities on me?" His eyes were teary, like he'd continue crying any second. "

"What's so bad about staying here?" Tony said, and Peter disregarded the question with the face he made.

"Because I have to have a plan."

"How about the plan being you stay here?"

Peter wasn't listening. "Okay, there's this place downtown-"

"I'm not repeating my question."

"You're not my family." Peter said as matter-of-fact, and Tony would be lying if he said that didn't hurt a little. "You-you can't just go and stay with people." Peter said it as if it was a ridiculous suggestion.

"I'm not 'people', we know each other."

"I 'know' a lot of people, doesn't mean I'm gonna just go live with them."

What was he talking about? "You would've taken the Avengers spot, it's the same thing."

"I don't want to be an Avenger." He said in a high-pitched voice.

"Then don't be one." Tony said instantly.

"No, because then you're only letting me stay because you feel sorry for me. I can take care of myself." He said, his voice cracking.

"I know you can." Tony urged. He didn't believe that though. May didn't. Because Peter couldn't do that. Not yet. And he didn't know what he'd now that May wasn't around to call him in the middle of the night, panicking, sometimes crying but with the same "he's probably dying in some alleyway, I can't believe you tricked me into letting him do this!" She jumped to the worst case scenarios pretty quickly.

"Hundreds or thousands of sixteen year olds live by themselves."

Tony scoffed, "okay, well a, you're not even sixteen, and b, I don't think that's accurate."

"I'm not staying here."

"Is it because of what happened?"

Peter didn't reply for a minute, just pursed his lips and then ran a hand over his face, "no."

"No? Then why?"

"I told you-"

"You didn't say-"

"Because everyone is dead, Mr Stark. You're asking me to stay because you think I'm a child that can't do anything by himself."

"I don't think it, kid, because you are a child." Tony said loudly, watching him shrink.

"You wouldn't help anyone else, why should I stay?"

"Because you need it?"

"And other people don't?"

"I don't know 'other' people. I know you. I also don't know why it's so hard for you to just accept help."

Peter scoffed, "I don't need help."

"You're staying."

Peter squinted, "you can't make me."

"What the hell do you think is gonna happen when social services show up? What are you gonna tell them?"

"I'll go before they do." Peter said confidently. It was a big lie though, he hadn't thought of all of that.

"That's a…a horrible plan. Where are you gonna go to school? How do you know I haven't already called them?"

Peter looked extremely upset, "You called them?"

"No-"

"They're gonna make me live with a random family-"

"Or I can let you stay here." Tony interrupted, loudly and clearly.

"She didn't want me doing this. She hated it. She told me not to go out late, not to go out with missions with you and I never listened. Because you always told her you'd-" he didn't say the rest because he didn't need to. Tony clenched his jaw in guilt. "-because nothing bad every happened. Except now it did. She's dead, because it did. And I'm not."

"It wasn't your fault. You don't need to feel guilty about being alive." Tony said as matter-of-fact. "We caught the guy, though. He's dead, but we caught-"

"I don't care about him! It was your fault." Peter said loudly, looking at him angrily. "You're always promising things and you-you-she was one person! You couldn't even save one person!" He yelled angrily, clenching his fists and bringing his right one up only to control himself and push it against his forehead in anger.

That was uncalled for.

He spoke again before Tony could, more quietly. "How can I stay here when she's dead because of us? She didn't fight him. We did. We screwed up."

"No, I did. This is on me. Look, let me make something right. I promised her I'd take care of you."

That caught Peters attention. "Before she died?"

Tony hesitated, "yeah. Yeah, before she..."

"What did she say?"

Tony stared hard, contemplating if he should say what he was thinking about saying. He did. "That she loved you. A lot. And she was…she was proud of you."

Peter stared with big, brown eyes. "What else?"

"That you're gonna do something great one day."

He was seconds from crying again. "She said that?"

"She did. You really think if she was here she'd be happy sending you off to a-a foster home or some runaways club?" Okay, that was necessary - for Peter to understand where he was coming from.

Peter shook his head, "No."

"Is that a yes to staying here?"

He sniffled, "yeah." It was quiet. Barely audible, but it was all Tony needed.

He put an arm around Peter's shoulders, "you'll be okay. I'll make sure you are."

Peter didn't say anything, just gave a small nod.

"I had to hear from FRIDAY that he was up." Pepper chimed from behind, her heels clicking as she walked in with a sad smile.

Tony looked back but kept his arm around Peter, who looked up with those same teary eyes.

"Sorry, we were kinda having a thing here." Tony said, looking back at Peter.

"Uh huh. How's our Climber?"

"He's-he's getting there."

Pepper nodded. "Do you want your friends here? I told them you woke up. They're really, really excited to see you."

Peter was glaring at the floor.

"Peter." Tony shook him slightly, and he looked up in confusion. "You want Ned and the girl to come?"

"MJ?"

"Right. She's new to the circle?"

"Not really."

"Yes or no?"

"No."

Tony frowned, turning to him and sighing. "Are you sure? Just for a few hours."

Tony could tell he was a having a hard time keeping a straight face. "Or not. Your choice."

Pepper stood awkwardly, pursing her lips. She waited till Peter was looking down again and mimed at him to leave.

He didn't want to. "Peter, I gotta step out for-"

"It's fine. I'm okay."

No you're not. "I'll be back."

Peter gave a small smile.

"I found your phone." He pointed at the side table and reached for it, handing it to Peter. "I'll be back." He repeated.

Pepper watched him go and followed, slowly closing Peter's door and then turning to Tony. "Are you crazy?"

"What?"

"You can't say things like that."

"Like what?"

"What his Aunt said? She didn't say anything! She was-Tony she wasn't even alive when we…"

Tony frowned, clenching his jaw and looking at Peter through the glass, who was lifelessly staring at the window.

"She said it. Just not when she was dying." He explained, earning a scoff.

"I can't-"

"Give me this, okay? It was my best guess."

Pepper looked at him like he was insane. "It's not your place to make guesses, Tony, this isn't a game! His last living relative just died and you're filling his head with lies."

"She said those things a hundred times!" She lifted up both hands in disbelief and he took hold of them, "-listen to me, Pep, I've spent time enough time with them. She would've wanted this."

Pepper shook her head in worry. "You just cemented that into his mind. He's gonna believe this for the rest of his life, and if he finds out otherwise then-"

"No one but you, me and Rhodey know what happened. Let him have this. I'm gonna go with my better judgement when I say that she wouldn't want her nephew wandering around on the streets." He said sarcastically.

"I'm not sure."

"Come on, what would she have said? That she loves him and probably wants someone to take care of him like she has. I can to do that for him."

Pepper closed her eyes and sighed. "I know. I know, are you sure about this?"

"A hundred percent."

"Because he's still a child. He's not an Avenger. He's a small, person who needs a lot attention and-and you know care and-"

"Pepper."

"-you can't just let him do what he wants. Like, wow, you need to-"

"You'll be here, right?"

Pepper glanced at Peter again, "yeah, I'll be here."

"Then we'll do great."

"This is just…so huge."

"My dad did a great job. I'll be fine."

"Tony."

Tony raised his eyebrows, "that was a joke."

"Okay then."

"Okay."

Wow, emotional scenes are very, very hard to write I think it turned out okay. +I didn't include how May died in case you're wondering or think you missed it.

Next one will be for Nolovelosthere, then for EndlessGalaxies97 - leave any requests you have!

loverofbooks - was it the dream bit? That was meant to be a dream if that's what confused you, sorry!

Leave reviews if you enjoyed - I'd mention you all here if I could because you're all wonderful!