Peter Parker
Peter woke to the soft sound of classical music playing in the background and the strong smell of iodoform. Opening his eyes slowly, he could see that it was nighttime through the clear windows in front of him. Definitely not home as the cityline wasn't familiar to him, but it was a really nice view. With his eyes only, Peter scanned his surroundings. Yep, not home, and looking down at all the wires and tubes attached to him, he was about 100 percent certain he was in the hospital.
Out of reflex, he tried moving his limbs slightly, just so that he could be sure he had all of them. It was strange fear, but a fear no less - who wanted to wake up to find that they had to remove a leg or something to save his life? It happened all the time in the movies. Well. He maybe losing a leg wasn't that bad, science had improved a lot these days. But seriously, he'd really much favor having all his limbs as an ideal. Yep. All there , he thought in relief after flexing his toes and fingers. But boy, after just doing that small action, Peter felt exhausted already and the ache all over his body was definitely noticeable. There wasn't any pain, but he felt like he had been put through the wringer, like the last fight he had with Adrian Toomes at the amusement park.
Relieved to have the basic fear abated, Peter rested his head back on the pillow for a second before tilting his head to look over his right, where he saw a half eaten Walnut date slice ... and someone he did not expect. Instead of Aunt May who Peter had assumed to be there, it was none other than Mr. Stark himself.
The man's eyes were shut, with his arms folded across his chest, head tilted back on the leather chair. Even though Mr. Stark was asleep, Peter could see the dark circles under the man's eyes. No doubt sleep eluded the man for some time. Oh no… did that mean there were casualties at the Pharmax lab? Did people die because Peter wasn't fast enough to warn Happy? What about Dr. Cho? Did they get her out in time. The small fridge, there really wasn't a lot of oxygen in there. Peter could feel a surge of panic ripple through him. The heart rate monitor that he was hooked up to was also reacting to it. Okay, calm down Peter or you're going to wake Mr. Stark , Peter chided to himself. Breathe. Breathe.
In calming himself, Peter took in more his surroundings. There was a clock in the far section of the room that told him the time - just fifteen past midnight. Then there was the fancy shelves that Peter was pretty sure regular hospitals didn't have. Aside from the default smell of a hospital facility, the room was definitely not average looking. Everything in there looked expensive, from the mahogany colored furniture, leathered chairs/sofas and even a wide screen 65" TV… yeah, Peter was going to be in debt to Mr. Stark for the rest of his life. No way was he going to let Aunt May pay for this. Now Peter really wanted to know how long he had troubled Mr. Stark.
My phone. That should tell me the date , thought Peter as he spotted it lying just by the a tray table in front of Mr. Stark. As he reached for it as stealthy as he could, he accidently pulled out one of the wires attached to him from a machine. Instantly it started to beep loudly. Within a second, Peter's plan was foiled – Mr. Stark's eyes had snapped wide open and the two of them made eye contact. Ah man. Not good, totally not my intention.
The man was at a loss for words for just a second, as if he couldn't believe that Peter was awake. Maybe Mr. Stark thought he was dreaming.
"Peter?" He said hesitantly.
"Hey, Mr. Stark," he said sheepishly as he pulled down his oxygen mask. "So sorry, I really didn't mean to wake you."
There was a beat, like Mr. Stark was digesting that Peter had answered him.
"Damn it kid, you can wake me any time. Shit. I can't believe... FRIDAY, get Dr. Grayson here."
"I have contacted Dr. Grayson already. He should arrive shortly."
The haunted look in Mr. Stark's face came back – Peter remembered how his mentor was back in the AC-Lab. Just thinking about it, though made Peter shudder slightly, the memory was not pleasant.
"Kid? You still there? Peter?"
Peter nodded, he didn't want Mr. Stark to worry. "I'm okay, Mr. Stark. Really," he reassured his mentor.
A moment later, Dr. Grayson arrived, and there was no shortage of surprise on his face.
"How is he awake," Dr. Grayson started to mutter as he checked Peter's vitals from the machines, "impossible…"
"Peter, how are you feeling? Any pain?"
Peter shook his head. "Just really achy? I'm really okay, Mr. Stark. Aunt May, is she okay? Where – ", he started to ask but was stopped by Mr. Starks response, "She was here, but I had Pepper came take her out for some dinner."
At 12:15 am in the night? Thought Peter. But knowing Aunt May, she must have been worried out of her mind. There wasn't a doubt in Peter's mind that she would stay by him the whole time, not sleeping or eating properly for days. Mr. Stark was the best. He looked after May, Peter owed him big.
"Thanks Mr. Stark, that's real nice of you. Sorry for any trouble –"
"Kid, just stop. Stop apologizing for a minute. There's nothing to be sorry about and stop fidgeting Dr. Grayson can properly check up on you."
"Fascinating. Incredible," was all the doctor said lifted Peter's forearm, adding pressure to it slightly. Then he moved remove some gauze around Peter's abdomen. That's where I got shot! Thought Peter. He wondered if there was a scar there, he'd never been shot before. The doctor gently pressed around the area and when he moved his hands away, Peter saw that there was a scar but it looked like it was healing okay.
"Mr. Stark, how is Dr. Cho? There was a shot, I think I heard one anyway, no one else was hurt? The people in the facility, they all got out okay? I mean, I know I was slow in getting help, I should have got out of the vent or something, but Dr. Cho, she would have been in danger if that Quinn guy saw that we tricked him –" Peter stopped talking when he saw that his mentor was staring at him. Mr. Stark's eyes, they were upset, angry. Ah crap, I said something wrong. Parker, you're such an idiot. Mr. Stark's probably been freaking out with everything, probably hadn't slept for days. What if people had died? You just assumed that the cavalry arrived in time, you could have been wrong! You just stupidly reminded him of it! Dumb, Parker, real dumb.
"Dr. Grayson?" Was Mr. Starks response, not answering a single one of Peter's questions, which made Peter want to shrink further into the hospital bed if that were possible. He had totally stepped on a landmine.
"Given his previous condition of severe nerve and blood vessel damage, I never expected nor hoped for something so miraculous," started Dr. Grayson and continued to ramble quickly on without even looking at Mr. Stark. "The gas, Mr. Stark, if you recall my diagnosis to you, it had damaged all his organs and continued to do so even after the neutralization agent was released. His innate healing abilities were what kept him alive since none of the vaccinations we gave him were working. I didn't think he would make it -"
The excitement in the doctor's voice was evident to Peter, but he could tell that Mr. Stark was growing more tense by the minute. So when the doctor had literally said Peter was a dead man the moment the gas got him, his mentor's temper flared.
"That's enough Grayson. I didn't ask you to repeat his initial diagnosis, I was asking about his current condition."
The doctor flushed for a moment, as if realizing that his scientific curiosity had over stepped what he should have been doing, ensuring that Peter was okay and not freaking him out.
But in contrary to how Mr. Stark was feeling – though Peter knew his mentor was only trying to protect him – he did want to know what happened. So he was literally at deaths door. He wanted to know what happened to the others? Just even to confirm. Because in Peter's mind, all sorts of different scenarios had began to formulate in his mind. What if everything had gone wrong after he was locked in the AC-Lab and he'd imagined it working out because he couldn't handle the truth?
"According to his vitals and his physical checkup, Mr. Parker is in good health. I'll have to draw blood samples to make sure that there is no residue traces of the mutated gas contagion in his system, so Mr. Parker will have to remain here until we find out."
"Good," said Mr. Stark shortly, "That's all I wanted to know. Do what you need to do and hop to it."
The doctor nodded and moved to Peter's side, syringe in hand.
Ouch . Peter tried not to grimace as he watched Dr. Grayson draw the blood. "Mr. Stark, I'll get this to the lab and let you know the results asap."
His mentor nodded but said nothing as the doctor made a quick exit from the room.
Once Dr. Grayson left, Peter prepared himself mentally for the bad news. And it must have been pretty bad for Mr. Stark to want the doc to clear the room before telling him.
Tony Stark
Dr. Grayson was an idiot. No, he was a genius, but an idiot at the same time. Yet some part of Tony understood the shock the man was in, because Tony himself was still trying to process it as well. Peter was on the edge, just a slight more of a tilt of the scale and the kid would have died.
When they had brought Peter back to the med bay at the Avenger's Compound, the kid had slipped into coma, likely his body was trying to protect Peter from the pain that was coursing through his body. The gas had been neutralized by the agent Dr. Grayson released, but it appeared that once the gas was inhaled into a person's body, it changed and became some sort of infection that attacked the major organs, nerves, vessels, etc. It was only the natural healing abilities that Peter had that was countering the infection. Any normal person would have died within minutes of inhaling the gas. Quinn hadn't lied about how dangerous it was.
One good thing was that the infection was all internal, which meant the kid wasn't infectious. Tony didn't know what would say to May Parker if she had to see Peter in a hazmat suit.
The first night had passed by with no change, but it was the second night that things suddenly turned for the worse. The infection suddenly took hold of Peter and burst several blood vessels throughout his body. Bruises started to appear all over him, even his face had black and blue patches. Peter's liver was also starting to fail, along with his kidneys. It took all of Dr. Grayson and Helen Cho's expertise that night to keep Peter alive.
The following day, the teen was finally stable, but the bruises all over his body remained. The infection, according to Dr. Grayson was still in Peter and it was aggressive. Peter was surviving only because his healing capabilities were just countering it. That instant when the infection took the upperhand again, Dr. Grayson said he didn't know what it would do.
Tony had stared at Peter's youthful face, going from pale and near lifeless to suddenly looking like someone's punching bag. Peter had internal bleeding all over him and there wasn't a thing they could do. Dr. Grayson had suggested the Cradle, but that would only do so much, because it was something inside Peter that was killing him. Damn, Tony wished Bruce was around. He may have more of an idea of what to do, maybe enhance the kid's healing abilities. From what Tony knew, Peter had been bitten by some kind of radioactive spider which bonded and mutated his DNA. Bruce's knowledge in nuclear physics.. Maybe it could help the kid? Or you know, turn the kid into a giant spider, Tony .
God. He hated not being able to do anything. The worse was watching May Parker, who had entered the medical facility, strong as ever, slowly wear down. The past few days had been hell for May, and the woman was rundown. Tony decided to call on Pepper, hating of course to have to wake her at such an hour, but he knew nothing else could get Mrs. Parker to leave Peter's side. The woman had been by the kid's side for over a week, 24/7.
It had been hard to get May Parker to leave, a lot of assurances and Tony's solemn promise that even the slightest change, she was to be notified, did she finally agree to go with pepper.
When they left, Tony had sank into the seat May Parker had occupied for the past week. He had glanced over at Peter and then at the vitals – no change. Nothing. Tony wished again that he could connect with Banner. God, if Bruce was present, he would have figured something out. The man was brilliant. But the witch, she had done her voodoo on the scientist and he'd gone green and made in rage, destroyed most of Harlem in the process. After helping defeat Ultron, Bruce Banner had taken a Quinjet and disappeared off the face of the planet. He'd lost Bruce. Most of the Avengers – Rogers, Wilson, Maximoff, Barton. Even Romanoff, though she was still 'around', just in hiding. Now Peter Parker was adding to that list, but in a permanent sense.
Guardian Initiative - another one of Tony's brainchild ideas was going to cost a life. And this idea was only conceptual, it hadn't even been launched – which was why Ross knew nothing about it. It was nothing to what Quinn Sharpe was spouting about, some aggressive team to go out there as Earth's defenses. No. This team, they were going to be the behind the scenes guys. They were going to work on technology, science that was going to help build defenses. So a team to help build another Ultron? God. Quinn's sharpes voice suddenly snuck up on him. Why the hell was he still on Tony's mind anyway. The Guardians Initiative was a science team and nothing more.
"Kid, you were going to be a part of that team, if not the Avengers," Tony said softly still staring at Peter's unconscious form. The boy looked too young, far too young to die. Not like this. Damn you Quinn, you bastard. How dare you tell me about how life is valued when you didn't blink an eye in killing innocents.
Letting out a long sigh, Tony leaned back on the leather chair, and checked on his watch. It was half past eleven. Pepper and May should have made it to the restaurant by now. Tony had specifically paid them to stay open late. The woman needed a proper meal, whether she believed she needed to or not. Peter was stable for the most part, at least not getting worse. But not getting better . He quickly sent Pepper a quick text to let her tell May that Peter's condition was still the same. Let the woman enjoy a decent meal . Though Tony doubt enjoy would have been the word to be used. May was operating on adrenaline and the food probably tasted like cardboard even if it was from a three star Michelin restaurant.
For a moment, Tony closed his eyes and let himself just rest them. It had be a tremulous few days. Ups and down, but definitely more downs to come. He'd sent for a few more specialists to come in the next day. Helen and Dr. Grayson had worked together on the different vaccines initially to help Peter fight off the infection, but it wasn't of any use. There was something, however, that Helen brought to Tony's attention, and that was more details on Quinn and the specifics of the gas.
It appeared that the gas was something else of a twisted mix of several dangerous toxins that were incredibly rare to find. The components of the gas, it wasn't Stark Industries manufactured. Helen had used FRIDAY to isolate and link the primary supplier – Oscorp Industries. Tony didn't know whether to be happy to have found the connection or be disturbed by it. Not only had Oscorp developed something this deadly, but the fact that Quinn Sharpe had a connection with Oscorp all the time with the high security clearance to Stark Industries, this meant any information leaked was serious.
With the new information supplied by Helen, Tony used it to start off his search for more information. What was Quinn's connection with Oscorp Industries? Was it just a coincidence? No way in hell that was chance. People couldn't get hands on something this dangerous without special clearance. So far, FRIDAY hadn't gotten any hits, but Tony was sure there would a connection. Just given the time, there was always a papertrail of some kind.
If Norman Osborn was involved, Tony had no doubt this had been a personal attack on him likely based on their last disagreement. The man might have been rich, famous, and a genius, but he was also petty and rather ... insane. Tony had to admit, he'd rather have been dealing with the embezzler co-partner of his, Mendell Stromm than with Osborn. But he didn't have a choice since the guy was in prison.
Tony was going to have to dig into a lot of access points that Quinn touched to find the link with Osborn. And even then, it was going to be hard to pin it on the megalomaniac. His top and easiest way was to get Quinn to confess that he colluded with Osborn, but the chances of that, were undoubtedly slim. Quinn himself would rather deny everything, just so he could spite Tony. Damn the situation sucked.
And then it got worse when suddenly the serenity of listening to the soft classical music on the radio was interrupted by a rapid beeping sound. Peter!
Instantly, Tony's eyes snapped open and was shocked to see two saucer like eyes stare back at him.
"Peter," he managed to say aloud, completely in shock. Not only was the kid awake, but holy of mother, Peter's face, the black and blue bruises that had been there, all the way down to this collarbone, they had vanished completely.
No. Tony was seriously dreaming. This wasn't possible. He'd only closed his eyes for a moment! How the hell?!
"Hey, Mr. Stark," the kid said sheepishly. "So sorry, I really didn't mean to wake you."
Tony didn't know how to respond for a second but then he snapped back to his senses, "Damn it kid, you can wake me any time. Shit. I can't believe... FRIDAY, get Dr. Grayson here," he ordered his A.I.
"I have contacted Dr. Grayson already. He should arrive shortly," was the instant reply.
Damn FRIDAY, thought Tony angrily for a second. She was suppose to inform Tony the moment there were any changes with Peter. But he knew he would have to take that up with the A.I. later. Right now, his focus was on the kid… who was now suddenly shivering.
"Kid? You still there? Peter?"
The boy nodded to Tony's relief. "I'm okay, Mr. Stark. Really," he responded reassuringly.
A moment later, Dr. Grayson arrived, and Tony could see there was no shortage of surprise on his face either.
"How is he awake," Dr. Grayson started to mutter as he checked Peter's vitals from the machines, "impossible…"
"Peter, how are you feeling? Any pain?" He quickly asked as he saw the doctor press against his forearm. There were bruises there before. What the hell was going on?
Peter shook his head. "Just really sore? I'm really okay, Mr. Stark. Aunt May, is she okay? Where – "
"She was here, but Pepper came take her out for some food."
The boy was quiet suddenly, and then he spoke with more uncertainty in his voice.
"Thanks Mr. Stark, that's real nice of you. Sorry for any trouble –"
God. Why was the kid apologizing. No. If anyone that needed to apologize, it was Tony. Peter was just caught in the crossfire of something that was between two juggernauts in the Industry having disagreements .
"Kid, just stop. Stop apologizing for a minute. There's nothing to be sorry about and stop fidgeting Dr. Grayson can properly check up on you."
"Fascinating. Incredible," said Dr. Grayson as he applied pressure against Peter's forearm after seeing that the discoloration was completely gone. Then he moved to add pressure against Peter's abdomen.
Again, Tony paid attention to the wound, the one that had kept reopening. Dr. Grayson slowly removed the gauze dressing around it and then pressed gently around the wound and then shook his head in wonderment. When he moved his hand away, Tony saw that there was a small scar there where the wound was. It had not looked like that this morning.
"Mr. Stark, how is Dr. Cho? There was a shot, I think I heard one anyway, no one else was hurt? The people in the facility, they all got out okay? I mean, I know I was slow in getting help, I should have got out of the vent or something, but Dr. Cho, she would have been in danger if that Quinn guy saw that we tricked him –" Peter started to ask questions rapidly, all the questions Tony didn't expect the kid to be focused on. The kid was feeling guilty about not crawling fast enough through a vent after getting shot in the stomach to get help. Damn you kid, you did good. The hell you should beat yourself up for saving everyone's lives.
The question on Tony's mind was not on anyone elses health at the moment, just on Peters'.
"Dr. Grayson?"
"Given his previous condition of severe nerve and blood vessel damange, I never expected nor hoped for something so miraculous," started Dr. Grayson. "The gas, Mr. Stark, if you recall my diagnosis to you, it had damaged all his organs and continued to do so even after the neutralization agent was released. His innate healing abilities were what kept him alive since none of the vaccinations we gave him were working. I didn't think he would make it -"
"That's enough Grayson. I didn't ask you to repeat his initial diagnosis, I was asking about his current condition," he snapped out, seeing the look on Peter's face. Shit, that wasn't what he wanted the kid to hear, to know. How close he was to dying again .
The doctor flushed for a moment and then recollected himself.
"According to his vitals and his physical checkup, Mr. Parker is in good health. I'll have to draw blood samples to make sure that there is no residue traces of the mutated gas contagion in his system, so Mr. Parker will have to remain here until we find out."
"Good," said Mr. Stark shortly, "That's all I wanted to know. Do what you need to do and hop to it."
Seeing the doctor nod in understanding, Tony waited with as much patience as he could for him to leave
"Mr. Stark, I'll get this to the lab and let you know the results asap."
Tony nodded but said nothing, and the moment Dr. Grayson exited, he turned to Peter. Time to set the record straight.
"FRIDAY, have you contacted Pepper and May? Send them news on Peter's recovery."
"Done, Boss."
"Peter," he started and he could see the nervousness in the kid. He wasn't sure what was going on in the kid's mind, but if he thought for a minute he'd done anything wrong, he was going to make sure that changed.
"Everyone made it out fine. Zero casualties. You did good there. You saved everyone."
There was a wave a relief that seemed to wash over the kid.
"Wow, that's awesome Mr. Stark. Best news ever. I mean, Quinn, he was really fixed on killing everyone," then he paused a moment, "Dr. Cho? The fridge –"
"We got her out. She was a little oxygen deprived, but not by much. She's okay. She was part of the team… that was keeping you stable." Nice choice of words, Tony. Alive should have been the appropriate one.
"That's great news. What about the bad guy, Quinn? Is he caught? What happened?"
This was the part that Tony dreaded. How much of everything did Peter remember? Tony remembered the feeling of dying, of falling after he had launched himself out there into space to stop the missile from hitting new york. The panic attack, the closeness to death. Peter… the kid had experienced death, slowly lulled into it. Maybe... maybe there was a chance he didn't remember it. He didn't want the kid to remember something so traumatic.
"How much of everything do you remember, Peter?"
The kid's eyes were like saucers again, looking at him, unsure of what to say. Why was he looking at me, worried about me? Shouldn't this be the other way around?
"Everything."
Oh. Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. Okay. The hopes of some miraculous memory loss wasn't in Peter's cards either.
"The AC-Lab…"
The kid nodded. "Yeah," and then seeing the look on Tony's face, he added, "I'm okay. Really, Mr. Stark. It was like falling asleep, that's all. It didn't hurt." Oh Tony totally knew that part was a lie. Like the shot in the abdomen didn't hurt. That coughing out blood didn't either.
There was an awkward silence that followed. Tony didn't know what to say. Call him out on it, and make it worse, make him remember it for what it really was, or accept the kid trying to make him feel better? God. Pepper, he needed her here. She would know what to say next. She was always better with kids than he was.
Peter was like a mind reader, knowing how Tony didn't know how to respond, he switched topics. "I feel a lot better, Mr. Stark. You think I can be discharged tonight, I mean if I get my results and a-okay from Dr. Grayson?"
Um no, was the instant reply that Tony had in his mind, but he curtailed his response instead to, "No, there's more than blood tests that I'll have to run. You've been out for over a week, Peter," and he could see the kid nod taking into account how long he had been out – there was actually relief on his face.
"We'll need to check everything out, thoroughly – and I'll have to have a psych eval as well."
That last part, that was for Tony's sanity, just to know that the kid was going to get all the help he needed.
As expected, the kid shrugged off the need of a psych eval. "Mr. Stark, really, I'm all here. Brain is fine."
"Then you shouldn't have to worry about having a shrink poke at it?"
There was the look of indignation, typical of a teenager, but God, it was good to see an expression on Peter's face aside from him lying still and unmoving.
"Oh, where'd those come from? Did Ned come visit? Is he with aunt May too?"
Tony looked at the lego sets that were on top of a side shelf next to the television.
"Your 'guy in the chair' wanted to come, but couldn't let him see you like you were. But he said those might cheer you up in case you needed to stay a while for observation. He started on some of them, thought you should finish them off. Seems like that's what you guys do in your spare time." Well, that was a half lie there, Tony had actually tinkered with the lego too. He wasn't used to being idle for too long.
"Heh, yeah," Peter laughed aloud, "we do that sometimes. Kinda like a hobby of ours since we were kids."
"Big Star wars fan?"
"Huge. But," he stammered a moment, "not as much as the Avengers of course."
Avengers should be past tense, kid, thought Tony. In the latest packaging he noticed that the boxed sets just had him, Vision, and Rhodey. The toy industry was having an all-time low with sales on them.
Tony was really not great at small talk and he could tell that despite Peter's claim he was completely well, the kid looked a bit tired.
"You should rest a bit, Peter."
"I feel great, Mr. Stark," and even attempted to get out of the hospital bed which alarmed Tony to no degree.
Apparently it was also at that same moment that May Parker decidedly entered the room and let out a cry that made Tony feel chills, "Peter Benjamin Parker, you get back into that bed right now!"
Holy crap, if Tony ever experienced the sound of a mother bear on high alert, it was then. He did not want to be Peter at all.
And Peter, Spider-Man, boy who could lift a car going at full velocity, froze in place and stared into the eyes of his guardian, May Parker. Just one look and then slipped right back into bed. "Hey May," he said rather sheepishly like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Don't hey May me! What were you thinking of doing? Trying to run off after lying there not moving for so many days," her voice went from upset to cracking, and then the tears came down. Peter who hadn't a tear in his eye earlier, suddenly looked straight up upset. Ok, your cue to leave, Tony .
Tony saw Pepper in the doorway, who looked both astonished and relieved. Tell you in a sec, he mouthed as he quickly slipped out of May Parker's way, letting her have the chair.
Tony Stark
For the next five days since Peter had miraculously awoken from his coma all healed, Tony had his medical team still continually monitor his condition. The infection had indeed left his body, and once that happened, natural healing ability in Peter took hold and his condition only continued to improve. Most impressive was that the kid's abdomen wound had healed up to just a small scar.
While this was excellent news, Tony also received some bad news, well, not completely because he hated the man for what he had done. But Quinn Sharpe was the only connection that linked to Oscorp and their hand in making the gas. The man, however, killed himself in between the trials. For Tony, that was way too neat. If the man had wanted to kill himself, he would have done so in the Pharmax Labs when he had a chance to use the gun even on to himself. No, the man hadn't planned that at all, but someone else didn't want Quinn to talk. Tony would have to delve further into this mystery no doubt, but it would be much harder.
There would be time for that later, thought Tony. But today was a good day too, because Peter was finally going to be discharged. It was a strange sight when he entered the room though, because he expected Peter to be energized to leave, maybe even bouncing off the walls or something. Instead he found that the kid was awake and … doing homework. Next to him, sitting in the leather chair was Ned Leeds, Peter's best friend and "Guy in the chair" as he introduced himself before to Tony. Peter was completely focused on his homework that he didn't even notice Tony's presence until he cleared his throat.
"Oh, Mr. Stark!" and there was that bright look of admiration. Kid, I don't deserve that sort of hero worship, especially not from you . Tony's mind flashed back to when he revisited the Pharmax Facility, when all he could do was watch Peter slowly die in front of him. Peter seemed to read his mind in a most uncanny way, "It wasn't your fault, Mr. Stark. Quinn Sharpe was a sick man, he lost a lot in his life, but he shouldn't have taken it out on you, or on any of the scientists there."
"Kid, have you been spending too much time with Happy? Seems like that's what he says to me everytime he sees me."
Tony decided he wasn't going to share the news of Quinns demise just yet. Kid would find out later anyway on the news.
Peter didn't miss a beat and answered with a smile, "Actually he comes by a lot. I think he's less annoyed with me these days. But it's probably because I'm still recovering."
Tony smiled, a genuine one. "Glad you're feeling better, Peter. You did good that day. You saved a lot of people."
"Thanks, Mr. Stark."
Damn, the kid's eyes were beaming with pride by his praise. I don't deserve this. He felt an old anxiety creep up on him, but he pushed it down.
"I'm serious, Peter. You saved everyone there that day, you didn't even think to take a bullet for Harley, a person you didn't even know."
"I knew that I could take it, Mr. Stark." There was sincerity in Peter's eyes, no false modesty in his words at all. "Is Harley okay Mr. Stark? I heard he got shot in the leg."
Happy must have told him.
"He's good. Already out of bed with barely a day at the hospital."
"That's awesome to hear, Mr. Stark." Peter paused for a second and looked to Ned who shrugged and then nodded for him to go ahead, "Umm.. Mr. Stark?"
"Yeah, Peter?"
"You know that online recruitment thing for the Guardians Initiative … is it still… going? I mean I know it's suppose to have started already, and I don't want to be bother or you know pull any favours because I know you, but it'll be real great if I could still you know.. join somehow. I can maybe even shadow or read notes … " Peter trailed off, his eyes were watchful, hopeful.
Tony just stared at the kid, his own astonishment couldn't be hidden away. Peter had almost died, no he had actually died three times on the way to the hospital. He had saved everyone that was part of that Guardians Initiative and those within the Pharmax facility. But here he was, was asking and hoping that he still had a chance to join a project that would have had ghosts in its place if not for him.
"Peter," Tony said, his tone even but dead serious. The kid really believed that Tony would even think of starting the project without him. But seeing the nervousness in his eyes, Tony saw that Peter didn't live a life where things were handed to him, he worked for everything he got. He used to dumpster dive just to build cool things . No, Peter didn't expect things to be given to him, he was a person that earned his place. Then you should know Peter, you earned more than your place, you should know that already when I offered you a position with the Avengers. It was certainly not something that he took lightly, Tony Stark didn't trust a whole lot of people. But Peter had proven then when he took down the Adrian Toomes that he was trustworthy, and did the right thing, with or without the suit.
"The Guardians initiative , it hasn't started. I postponed it until you were better. You saved everyone's lives, and you damn well deserve a spot on there."
The kid looked so relieved, "Thanks, Mr. Stark. I really thought I might have missed out. I just want to learn, equal chance is all." The kid blushed making Tony feel rather awkward for a second. Thankfully the moment was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. Hmmm. Vision had returned to the compound according to Happy, and the A.I. had things to talk to Tony about, something about a impending invasion. Well, that never sounded good. Guy vanishes for two weeks and comes back to report an invasion. Fantastic, when will things just stay uninteresting , thought Tony shaking his head.
"Sorry, Peter, duty calls. You just keep on with your… homework with your buddy Ned here. Happy will take you home after Dr. Grayson takes another once over with you. Make sure you pack up everything, 'kay?"
Peter nodded, "Got it, Mr. Stark. Ned and I will make sure we don't leave a mess."
"Alright then, I'll also have Happy call you when the Guardians Initiative starts." With that, and a last look at Peter, just to be sure he was good, Tony left the room. There was a deep relief within Tony in just seeing the brightness in Peter's eyes. The kid was strong, he was going to be okay.
Thank God.
~~End