A lot of people really liked this story. Thank you all for your support. I had not planned to make a second chapter but here it is!

I also want to say that I like to imagine that Peter can produce his own web, though a lot less durable and not so competent to use when fighting, and that is why Peter made the web-shooters. So, he really likes his webs, they are a part of him.

—V—V—

The phone call stopped him in his tracks. He glided forward on the concrete roof. Leg muscles tense as he tried to stop himself before he had to make another jump.

He fumbled for his phone, heart rate still thundering away at a 100 miles an hour. Not from exertion, he knew, but rather due to the rather massive nervous breakdown he was having.

Tony Stark blinked up at him from his screen, and the world came crashing down.

He took in his surroundings with wild eyes, 20 or so stories high and still in civilian clothes.

Oh no, ran through his head like a mantra while he pushed himself flat against a small roof extension in hopes that it would hide him.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," he answered in a meek tone. Curling tighter together with the phone pressed harsh against his head.

"What have I said about this? Just call me Tony." He nodded before realizing the man couldn't see him and opened his mouth to reply; the man beat him to it. "So, Kid, feel like telling me why your heart rate is off the roof and your GPS says you're no longer at school?"

"I-um-what?" he gurgled out in surprise. "You have a heart monitor on me?"

Even through the phone he could hear the exasperated sigh. "Seriously, that's what you take from this."

"Sorry, Tony."

"Yeah, yeah. Stop apologizing. Just get down here, I've come to pick you up."

Looking about he stared out across the roof, then with nervous movements looked over the rooftop down on the street below. "What?"

"You heard me, Spider-Boy. I'm on my way, like literally 30 seconds away. So, crawl down and meet me on the street."

"Won't people notice me?" he said as he shuffled back into his little ball.

"Like they haven't already. You should just be happy you seemed to have mind enough to pull up your hood before you went prancing about."

He drew his hand up to his hair, feeling it soft and fluffy against his fingertips. He followed his head down to where indeed his hood laid against his shoulders, most likely having fallen down.

"Um, should I crawl down the building?"

"If you want to make a bigger mess than what has already happened, sure go ahead. Otherwise, the door should be unlocked on the building your at. So, how about you take that and then take the elevator down."

"Yeah, I can-I can do that."

Still feeling incredibly exposed, he drew the hood right back up and walked crouched close to the ground. He fumbled with the handle once before getting it open; opening it only enough so that he could slip in. The stairway down was dark but his eyes quickly adjusted. Spider senses going into overdrive.

"Is this considered breaking and entering?" he asked into the phone he still held against his ear.

"Are you worrying about this just because you don't have your spider suit because, Kid, I have news for you, you've broken and entered quite a few places in your search for justice."

"You're right, that was stupid off me."

"Just get down, the elevator should come up on your left." The line went dead.

No one entered the elevator with him. The ride down was horrible, every floor he passed felt like an eternity. Soft elevator music buzzed annoyingly in his ears, and he couldn't help himself but to stare at a dirty spot on the carpeted floor with utter fascination. What had caused it?

He jerked when the doors opened; practically flying up onto the ceiling.

First floor and not a single person in sight.

He could already see Tony's car parked out front against the curb. There was no way to mistake it, way too flashy for any normal human. Also, Tony had rolled down the window and was staring at him with piercing eyes from over his yellowish looking sunglasses.

He jogged out and around the car, throwing himself down into the passenger seat where he tried to sink as low down as possible.

"Seatbelt."

He managed to get it on just in time before Tony speed out into traffic. Car swirling around the busy streets with no forethought of the people around him.

"Thanks for picking me up."

"Uh-huh."

"Um, you didn't have to."

"So, why aren't you at school?" The man took his eyes of the road, and Peter felt his heart quickly speed up again.

"Eyes. Maybe you should look at the road?"

"And this?" A phone was shoved in his face, showing him jumping up the side of a building and disappearing across the rooftop.

The car jerked a little as they swirled again.

"Um, I kind of panicked."

Tony's sharp brow quirked at that. "You call this, kind of panicked?"

"Well, there is this, kind of... girl at my school."

"Right, Ameda, right?" Tony said nodding his head in understanding.

"What, no. Liz!"

The man had at least both his hands back on the wheel now and they had driven past the city limit and out towards Stark Compound.

"So, what about Liz?"

He twisted his hands together and tugged on the seatbelt. Eyes down cast in his lap. "I, I might have told her I'm Spider-Man."

"Oh~kay. So, what, you told her just like you did with your aunt May? Then what?"

He couldn't make himself look up, just twisting his hands together harder. "No. I didn't directly tell her I'm Spider-Man. Just, you know, showed her."

"Right, back it up to the beginning. Showed her how?"

The car screeched in a sharp curve and the compound now loomed up before them.

"I might have made a little, um, web in her hand?" he said.

The man froze, eyes off the road again to stare at him. "You made a web," the man clarified, "in her hand."

"Yeah, when you say it, it doesn't sound so good, Mr. Stark."

Tony just shook his head. "I don't think it could sound better any other time."

The silence was deafening. Tony went back to driving, slowing down as they finally reached the compound. Peter was certain they'd probably set a new record.

"So, how did she take it?"

"I don't know. I panicked. I just ran." With large puppy dog eyes he turned to Tony. "Do you think she will hate me, now that she knows?"

"I'm not sure she knows," Tony answered, reversing the car down into the basement with perfection.

"What do you mean?"

Once he came to a full stop he turned towards Peter, eyes sincere. "Well, most people don't like spiders. Most people don't like cobwebs. Are you following?" Peter nodded. "So, let's say someone placed a small cobweb in your hand. I think their first reaction would be disgust followed hastily by trying to wipe it off on any nearest surface that's not themselves."

"She wiped off my web?" His eyes lowered to his lap, all movements going on shut down.

"Yeah… Okay, don't look like that. That's sad. Don't cry. Is this a girl you have a crush on?"

He nodded once, hands already going for the door handle to open it and get out into a bigger space. Maybe some fresh air would clear his mind.

"But you know, who knows, maybe she didn't mind and was able to figure it out," Tony called after him as he made his way towards the elevator.

A childish part of him wanted to jab the close button so that Tony couldn't follow him. It was too bad FRIDAY took care of all functions.

The man stood next to him, awkwardly shuffling back and forth before turning fully to look at him. "Okay, let's replay it."

He blinked up at the man confused; still stuck in his sad little world where the crush of his life wipes away his earnestly made web. "Replay?"

"Yeah, how did you make the web. Show me?" The man put out his hand, palm up. Playboy smile in place.

Maybe it was supposed to be calming but Peter still felt hesitant.

"Um, okay. Don't laugh."

The man's hand was warmer and bigger than his. Much too different from how it had felt when he had done this with Liz. With her it had felt special. With Tony, well, weird was certainly one way to describe it.

The man just looked at their hands with that curious, calculating look he sometimes got when he was tinkering with his machinery.

Peter pushed away the small warning alarms ringing in his head and did as the man had asked. Covering the warm palm with his own and concentrated. When he pulled back a small intricate web laid there.

Peter smiled happily and looked up.

Tony for his part was trying to hold back a grimace. Hand shaking slightly at the sticky, webbed feeling that tickled his palm.

"Yeah, you know how I said she might not mind. I'm taking that back."

Peter didn't even wait for the doors of the elevator to open fully before he raced out. He jumped the stairs and was in his bedroom before anyone could stop him.

—V—V—

It didn't matter how many times Tony knocked, he refused to answer. Burrowing his face deeper into his pillow and wriggling the blanket up over his body more.

Tears came, unbidden, hot and heavy as they fell down his checks. His body racked with shivers as he tried to breath through his silent sobs.

Part of him hated Tony, another part of him knew the man was most likely right. Things that had been easier to handle before the spider bite all of a sudden, felt so much more difficult.

With superb hearing it was impossible to ignore school yard bullying. Sometimes it even caused him to accidentally cheat during tests. Things he shouldn't know became a norm. Yet, he constantly had to try and hide it. Tired brain trying to remember what was okay and what wasn't. Sometimes it just felt like he was on a constant adrenaline boost. Mind running on overdrive and a hundred different thoughts vying for attention.

His strength made normal everyday task a right hell as he tried to control just how much or in his case how little strength to use. Hand shakes could turn painful in a moment if he wasn't careful. Being Spider-Man was his only freeing moment. When there was no hiding, no lying. No one hated Spider-Man because he helped deal with the violence and the thugs in Queens. No one had ever made a rude comment about his webs, which by this point was second nature for him to make. But Tony's comment felt like it had pierced deep into him. Hit at all his mistakes and misgivings. Torn loose every part of him that was spider-man, and left him only as he was, teenage loser. The high school nerd.

Of course he wouldn't know what a girl would want. How could the school loser ever know how to pick up a girl? He was just embarrassing himself by trying. Had embarrassed himself by trying. Now all he wanted to do was lay and wallow in his sorrow. Away from humans and human interactions. This month had been hell. He could barely think of one good memory in it at all. Just covered with one mistake after another.

"You're gonna have to eat at some point," Tony's voice came floating through the door. The man didn't need to yell. Even if he made the rooms soundproof, enough sounds would float out from cracks in the door that Peter could easily pick them up if he concentrated.

Another thing he currently hated about himself as he pushed the pillow harder over his head.

"I'm getting Bruce."

That was unfair. Peter liked Dr. Banner. The man was always so calm; he never yelled or made rude comments. He'd even allowed Peter access to his lab where he had shown him around and helped make a new prototype for his web-shooter. One that would hopefully be able to refill his web-shooters without him having to constantly open them up and do it manually.

He shuffled a little, freeing a hand to drag his phone closer to his face. Six missed messages from Ned. The messages went from wondering where he had run off to and ending with a question if he was out crime fighting. It also had a reminder not to forget his Guy in the Chair.

That brought a small smile to his face. At least Ned would always remain the same.

He sent of a message to let him know he was at the Stark Compound. Remembering a little too late that Ned didn't actually know about all of this yet. He had no idea that Peter had spent the last week and a half living at this place.

The reply came instantly.

It contained a great deal of exclamation points. Something about a war machine and there was also something about a potato which he assumed must be a spelling mistake.

After some deciphering on his part, he sent of another reply.

The tears had stopped after a while and he had managed to crawl himself out of his bed sheets. Propping himself up on his elbows as he continued chatting.

The soft knock that came couldn't have been anyone other than Dr. Banner. Everything about the man was soft. The man didn't say anything, he just stood on the other side of the door, waiting.

Another small knock and Peter rolled out of bed. Quiet feet tipping across the room to gently pull the door open an inch or two. Meeting brown eyes that where about even with his.

"Can I come in?"

He shuffled back to the bed, letting the other man push the door open himself. The room was dark but Dr. Banner didn't complain. He joined him on the bed, perched by one of the corners.

"Tony told me he messed up. I can only assume what that meant." The man did this nervous kind of shuffle that had Peter roll a little closer to him in curiosity. "You know, becoming the hulk changed a lot in me. Mostly though, it changed the way people saw me. I was all of a sudden being handled with kiddy gloves, and let's just say if you have anger-management problems being handled like you might snap that just makes you want to snap even more. It was not a good couple of first years for me after the change. People kept telling me they weren't afraid but I could see the hitch in their breath and the fine shiver going through their hands as they came closer."

Peter sat up a little straighter; dragging the blanket with him. "I'm not afraid of you, and I know Tony isn't either."

Dr. Banner leaned back more relaxed. And Peter was able to make out a smile just on the curve of his lips in the dark. "Tony was one of the first. He was never afraid. He likes dangerous things, makes him feel alive I presume. But even so, I don't think he acts that way just because he isn't afraid. Tony generally likes people a lot. He likes digging down and finding out the truth and the real character of the person. Sometimes he does it to annoy you; other times I think he does it not to hurt you but because he really doesn't know what to do with all the information. He gathers and gathers and most likely hopes that he'd be able to figure out how this friendship thing works. We aren't his robots after all. Feelings between humans have to go both ways. For people like us, who like to study things, take it apart and later put it back together-maybe even try making it better, human interactions can be difficult." Dr. Banner ran a hand through his hair and took in the cluttered room. "Look, I don't know what Tony said that made you cry. I'm not trying to say his words don't hurt. Just want you to know that Tony thinks the world of you, Peter. So, even if it sounds mean and unthoughtful, I'm certain Tony meant it with the best intentions in mind."

Swallowing, Peter looked down at his clenched hands. Dragging the quilt around his shoulders and pulling warmth from it. "I know Mr. Stark really cares. I don't think he would do so much for me if he didn't. It's just sometimes I feel that he doesn't see the whole me. Like he thinks that Spider-Man can be taken off as easily as the suit he made for me. But I can't. I can't make them two different people." His voice sounded lame. Small and quiet, and he wished he wasn't so close to crying again.

Dr. Banner's hands were cold. Not to an uncomfortable degree, just cool where they laid across his lap. "Peter, I don't think anyone here at the compound expects you to be anything you're not. But I also think that maybe you think that to be who you are you have to be out there as Spider-Man, patrolling the city."

The man was right, that was something Peter missed. He wanted that to be a part of him. He missed the feel of swinging between buildings and stopping crime.

"I don't really think Tony would stop you from doing that." With a deep breath the man pushed on. "But as an adult who cares about you, I also don't want you to do that."

Peter blinked up at the man. "That's not okay. You guys get to be out there as the Avengers and I have to wait here at home. Doing nothing."

"And if you got shot, how do you think we would feel? You out there all alone."

He flinched and pulled away from the cool hand. "I won't get shot."

"That's the teenager in you talking. I know you're smart, you can calculate the probability of yourself dying well enough without me having to spell it out for you. Tony worries. As do I. As do Steve."

"So, you guys just want me to sit at home all the time?" he asked, unable to make eye contact.

The door all of a sudden pushed open much harder than it really needed to. Tony stood there with his hands clenched and jaw set. "No, I want you to be a teenager. You know, complain a lot. Skip school. Go to prom. Building model replicas of the Death Star with your friend. I don't care if you build it on the ceiling or if your build it using your web as glue. I just want you safe."

Tears had already started forming again, and he wiped uselessly at his eyes. "You shouldn't eavesdrop, 's bad manners."

"Yeah, I'll work on that," the man said, crossing the room with large steps. His hands were warm as always when they slid around his shoulders; bringing him into a tight hug.

It was embarrassing and totally uncool to be crying on one of the most famous superhero billionaires. A superhero who was starting to become a lot more for Peter each time they met.

He just dug his hands harder into the tight shirt that smelled of oil and Tony's cologne. The man didn't mention his tears. Just patted him on his back and ruffled his hair.

"For clarification, I totally don't hate your webs. They're just ticklish and makes my hand twitch a lot."

"Did you wipe it off?"

Peter could feel the man's smile against the top of his head and tightened his arms around the man. "Nah, I had it solidified and placed in my workshop."

Peter sniffed. "You kept it?"

"Yeah, well, you made it."

—V—V—

That day they had a large family dinner. Everyone at the compound got together and made a large hot pot. Steve Rogers was amazing, Peter thought. The man could make anything in the kitchen into an ingredient.

The pot was more flavored than what he was used to but it was all delicious. It was a loud evening; Tony complained that there was no alcohol which Dr. Banner chided him for. It was also one of the first times that Peter got to spend a longer time with the man known as Vision. The man spoke like a robot, and Peter was immediately fascinated.

Sadly his abilities were too powerful so he wasn't allowed to do anything inside, and Peter couldn't wait for the day he would see the man in action. It sounded awesome.

The Black Widow had joined them as well and he couldn't help himself but to shuffle a little away from her. She had a scary look in her eyes. Sure, they had fought together-super cool and all but she was scary. Even Tony looked at her with cautious eyes. Peter thought it was probably a good thing they were having hot pot cause she looked like she could do some serious harm if she had a knife in her hand.

The next day Peter refused to go to school. He was still embarrassed over what he had done and couldn't stand the idea of looking Liz in the eyes. Tony accepted it but had promised him that it was only a one time thing.

They'd spent most of the day down in the workshop. Tony had allowed him to try and replicate some of his older projects which was fun. Difficult but fun. Tony was a genius but he also cheated a lot because FRIDAY always did all of his calculations. That just cut down the work time so much. Peter really wanted FRIDAY to help him but Tony had said that he had to do it all himself first before he was allowed to have FRIDAY as help.

Super uncool.

The day passed too fast, and before he knew it he was standing by the school doors again. Whatever cool superhero-ness that he felt living at the compound disappeared just as fast the moment he was by himself at school. Like cool water washing away his confidence.

The school was loud. Yelling and chattering, and it was all driving a painful nail into his delicate head. He breathed through it. Used to it.

Ned flew down the hall at him the moment he was spotted. His large body actually going pretty slow.

His friend's hands grasped his shoulders and shook, an unnecessary long spew of words falling out of his mouth. Mostly consistent of "Omg, you live at the Stark Compound. That is so cool! Do you get to fight with the Avengers? Did you meet them all? Oh. My. God. You're a superhero. You're so cool. Spider-Man is the greatest." At which point Peter was starting to freak out a little. Dragging his friend away from the hallway and trying to push him into an empty classroom. Of which there were none.

"Be quiet."

"I can't believe this. And I'm your Guy in the Chair."

"Stop calling yourself that. That's so embarrassing. And no, I'm not an Avenger."

"That's okay, you're still Spider-Man. You don't need a team."

His friend was not getting it. He was also not falling silent. So Peter threw his hand over his friend's mouth; looking around with worried eyes.

"Thanks. Um, didn't realize you thought so highly of me."

Mumbling and some more mumbling greeted him.

"Ugh, no. I'm not letting you talk. You just announced to the world my secret."

Some more indistinguishable mumbling and an eye roll.

"Are you getting cheeky with me? Now I'm definitely not letting you talk."

Yeah, okay. The mumbling against his palm was starting to get kind of disgusting. He let go and wiped his hand on his friend's shirt.

"Where is Liz?"

Ned was already on track to say something and had to stop in the middle. Mouth a gap.

"Um, not here. Didn't you say goodbye to her that day you ran out of school?"

"No, I told you what I did."

"Yeah, which sounded like a goodbye."

Peter just shook his head. "Who cares. Where is she?"

"What do you mean? She moved. Didn't she tell you that?"

"Yeah, but it's literally been like one day. I skipped one day of school. She can't be gone already."

"Dude, they're moving today. She's already quit school. Yesterday was the last day."

Peter just shook his head back and forth frantically. Hands grasping a hold of his short hair and pulling at it in an anguished motion. "No, no, no. This can't be."

"Like, you are totally freaking out. Should we call Mr. Stark?"

"What, no. It's just." He grumbled and tried to think through the pain that had welled up in his chest. He had wanted to tell her. Not just leave a web, but actually stand there in front of her and tell her. The truth. All of it. And now this. His brain felt all numb and mushy. "Never mind. Let's just go to class."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

"You know, you could probably catch her if you ran right now," Ned said, looking down the school corridor towards the entrance.

Peter just laughed and pushed his friend's back towards their first period. "Tony'll kill me if I did that. Seriously, Ned, it's okay."

"If you say so," Ned said. He hiked his backpack up and fell into step with Peter. "If you've got time later, I've got a new model replica if you're interested in building?"

"Yeah, I'm interested."

They laughed, shoulders pushing against each other; ignoring the weird looks directed their way as they passed down the hall together.

The End

/Tsubasa