So, this is a little ficlet I wrote to go with a drawing I did. There's no way to insert it into , but if you go to deviantart and then past this after the dot com part: /ctrsara40/art/Lab-Accidents-Happen-952597064 you should be able to see it? I challenged myself to write it in under 1000 words, and I just made it!

(Lab) Accidents Happen

Tony Stark had only been home for about ten minutes when FRIDAY announced, "Boss, you have an incoming call from Dr. Banner."

He finished loosening his tie and pulled it free, tossing it on the bed. He glanced at the clock out of habit, even though he knew it was late. He wasn't ever in bed at this hour, but Bruce usually was. His brow creased in concern.

"Put it through."

"Tony?"

"Hey, Big Green. Everything okay?"

"I just got a notice that there was a lab accident in Lab #8."

"At this time of night?"

"Yeah, I looked at the footage, and it's your kid. He's fine, but I'm gonna let you handle this. I was just getting in bed."

"Um, my kid? Not sure what you're talking about," Tony said nervously, slipping his shoes back on. "An issue with the chemistry lab is really your -"

"Go fix him, huh? He shouldn't be in the lab this late on a Saturday night, especially unsupervised."

"On it," Tony said, resignation in his voice. Why did Bruce call Peter his kid? And why did Tony know exactly who he was talking about?

As he walked into #8, his eyes widened. What a mess. A very worried-looking Spider-kid was staring at a giant mound of frothy goo covering the table in front of him.

"Peter."

The boy jumped, and a hand flew to the back of his neck. He wasn't wearing a single stitch of safety equipment, and if Tony was right, he'd just smeared some of the mixture along his neck.

"Uh… Mr. Stark? I thought you were at the gala!"

"I was, but I ducked out early. Care to explain what's going on here? Why you're in the lab, unsupervised , at this time of night? And what is this ?"

"I…uh… it's been a busy weekend already, and finals are coming up, so I'm booked with study groups tomorrow, but I'm nearly out of web fluid, and I won't have any time to make more this week, so if I didn't make it tonight, I'd just be out, so I thought it would be okay if I just came in real fast to mix some up, but… uh…"

Tony was pretty sure Peter hadn't even breathed during that little word explosion. Since no real explosions seemed imminent, he kind of wanted to laugh, but he made sure to keep his expression disapproving.

"All of that, and the fact that you're not even wearing goggles aside, what happened ?" His web fluid had never looked… yellow before.

"I don't know, I swear! The salicylic acid was clear when I measured it in the beaker, but then as I started pouring it all turned yellow and just kind of grew and I was afraid it wasn't going to stop. But it's still sticky," he finished, trying to (unsuccessfully) wipe his neck and fingers off with a questionable looking rag.

Tony walked over and looked at the different chemicals he had assembled. Everything looked good until he got to the salicylic acid.

"Not the acid, Pete," he said, the disapproval in his voice very real now. If the teen had grabbed something else without double checking, this could have been dangerous instead of just messy.

Peter stared hard at the bottle Tony was holding. "Oh," he said, surprised.

"Yeah, 'Oh.'" But that wouldn't have made the whole thing turn such a weird shade of yellow. Tony picked up a beaker, which still had some cloudy-looking, very yellow liquid in the bottom. He smelled it gingerly while the teenager found new spots the sticky liquid had attached itself to.

"Peter, did you wash this before you used it?"

"Uh…"

"What was in it before?" Tony asked brusquely.

"I… don't remember?"

His usually-sharp kid wasn't firing on all cylinders. What was up? He eyed the sheepish teen, noting the smudges under his eyes.

"Kid, how much have you slept lately?"

"I've slept!" Peter said, too quickly.

Tony raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"Maybe not quite enough. Just with finals, and patrolling, and-"

"I see."

"Mr. Stark, I swear, I just-"

"Let me tell you how this is gonna work. I'm going to call your aunt," (Peter's eyes went wide) "and tell her you're staying the night."

"But Mr. Stark! None of my study stuff is here with me!"

Tony continued, ignoring the boy's dismay. "Then you're going to go upstairs, shower, eat something, and you're going to bed . In the morning you're going to hope that whatever makes your webs dissolve in time will still hold true for this monstrosity, because you're cleaning this up before you go anywhere."

Peter nodded forlornly.

" Then I'm going to take you out to breakfast, after which you may resume your crazy study-group-frenzy of a day."

Peter was smiling slightly now, though he still looked nervous about going to bed instead of getting a few more hours of studying in. His expression clouded again.

"But what about my web fluid?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem. Spiderman's going to be taking a break this week until after finals are over."

"But, Mr. Stark!"

"Uh-uh-uh! After your last final, and after a full night's sleep, you may make more web fluid, and resume vigilante-ing."

"'S not a word," Peter grumbled, starting to put a few things away.

"You can do all that in the morning, kiddo," Tony said, finally letting his voice soften and a hand reach to brush Peter's shoulder comfortingly. "Shower. Bed. C'mon."

Peter nodded in defeat, leaning heavily into Tony's side as he wrapped an arm around the boy to steer him towards the door.

"FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Lock down #8. No one comes in but me or Peter until it's clean."

"Dr. Banner?"

"Especially not Dr. Banner," Tony said, eying the giant soggy mess on the table. "He'd ban us both from ever setting foot in here again…"