Peter tossed his chemistry book onto his bed, sighing loudly and looking at the clock on his side table. 8pm. How could it only be 8pm? Peter stood up, pacing his room and listening to see if his aunt had returned home yet. Silence echoed in his ears and he knew she hadn't. His aunt had been taking extra shifts lately to earn some extra money. Peter had had a growth spirt, outgrowing his shoes and some of his shirts as well. As always, his aunt and he were always on a tight budget. It made him feel horrible that she had to work such long hours because of him but she reassured him that it was his time in life to be a kid and go to school. She refused to let him get a part-time job even. Childhood was short enough and he should enjoy it just as she had. It seemed to Peter that being a kid was lasting forever but he gave up arguing with her. More than anything, he was lonely and he despised being alone night after night.

Peter wandered out into the family room, plopping down into the old comfortable sofa. He grabbed the nearest pillow and hugged it as he stared around the room. It had been exactly two weeks since Tony Stark had dumped him off, apologising to May for keeping Peter overnight without giving her a suitable reason. Of course, Aunt May, being who she was, waved it off as unimportant. She made Mr. Stark promise to come for dinner sometime, thanking him kindly for offering Peter such a fantastic opportunity. Peter's heart had thumped so violently in his chest during the whole Stark performance that he thought he might quite literally hyperventilate and die in front of them both. However, Mr. Stark had been a man of his word and never mentioned a thing about Peter being Spiderman. He simply bid Peter farewell but not before tossing a cell phone at him, telling him it was a direct line to him and to call him anytime a need should arise. The subtle stern look on the man's face was missed by his aunt but it was not lost on Peter and then the man left without another word.

Peter took the phone out of his pocket and fingered it. It was just a plain Jane flip phone. Not something Peter thought the Billionaire would own much less give to him. Peter's finger rested on the call button, just like it had dozens of other times over the past two weeks but just like all the other times, something stopped him from using it.

"He's never gonna answer it, you idiot." His voice, filled with disdain, startled him as it echoed in the empty room.

Peter flipped the phone open and closed a few times before setting it on the table. This was nuts. Here it was, 8 pm on a Friday night and he was sitting at home doing his chemistry homework. What kind of loser was he anyway? The truth was he had been invited to hang out with Ned and several of his other friends but he had turned them all down. He had planned to go out as Spiderman, despite Tony's warnings but when push came to shove, he hadn't. His mind kept going back to the gauntlet and then he chickened out. The threat of a pissed off Tony Stark loomed over him like the shadow cast from the blade of a guillotine waiting to fall.

"This is nuts! Stark isn't the boss of me. If I wanna go out as Spiderman, I sure as hell don't need his permission!"

Peter stood to his feet just then and returned to his room, donning his old suit. He groaned when he eyed himself in the mirror. It was pathetic in comparison to Stark's suit, baggy and saggy all over. Stark had pretty much hit the nail of the head when he called them pyjamas. Peter forced himself to stand a little taller despite his appearance. So what if the suit wasn't fancy and full of top of the line technology. For better or worse, the suit was all he had and people needed his help so he needed to shake off his stupid pride and get out there. The suit had been fine before he met Stark and it would certainly do now.

The teenager locked his bedroom door, in case his aunt came home early and barged in, and escaped out his window into the night.

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Several hours went by as Peter stopped a few burglaries, pickpockets and vandals. For a Friday night, Peter was pleasantly surprised to discover that crime was not so terrible that he felt guilty for not patrolling the past few weeks. He felt exhilarated as he sat at the top of a high rise realising how alive he felt when he was helping others. Nothing made him feel so useful and worthy than being Spiderman. Peter pulled out a granola bar taking a huge bite and smiling to himself. This was much more like it. He felt more alive when he was out and about, scaling the treelines and the tops of buildings.

Some bright lights in the distance caught his attention and Peter felt his spider senses tingling at the same time. It was unusual that he would sense danger considering the lights looked more like fireworks than anything dangerous. Curiosity forced him to his feet and Peter launched himself into the night, heading towards the bright lights. As he moved closer and further outside the big city, he discovered that the lights were actual explosions coming from some abandoned buildings. He continued closer, his heart beating fast in his chest. Suddenly, he wished that he could ask Karen to give him some Intel. Damn if he didn't miss his more technologically advanced suit. Cursing Stark, Peter swung closer to see a few men with some of those forbidden weapons once again. It seemed like they were continuing to check out the powers of the guns and not caring for a second the kind of damage they were inflicting around them.

"Damn it, Mason, be more careful, would ya? Do you want Toomes to incinerate you like he did Brice?" The burly man made a face at his partner and snatched the high tech weapon from his hand.

"What the hell, Schultz!" complained Mason, looking chagrined. "I was just testing its capabilities is all. Can't a guy have any fun around here?"

"Toomes wanted us to deliver the goods, not blow up half of New York in the process. Wasn't the Ferry incident enough attention?"

Peter shrunk low behind the building trying to hear the rest of the conversation.

Schultz held the weapon in his hand, admiring it.

"Can you believe that Spider-kid? Toomes was so pissed off over the ferry incident; I thought he was going to blow a gasket."

Schultz set the weapon down on that back gate of the truck he was standing beside, turning to whistle at the burning building across from them.

"Whatever. Forget the kid, already. He's small potatoes. We have a job to do and the police are going to be here soon enough. Let's get out a here and get something to eat."

Peter rested on his haunches, debating on his best recourse. Letting these two jokers go their way would just allow these weapons to stay in circulation. Who knew what Toomes planned to do with them! Peter was guessing that he'd sell them to the highest bidder and that could mean a lot of trouble for the United States in the future. If they fell into the wrong hands, it could mean war or worse. Deciding that he needed to stop them, Peter stood up and swung into action.

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Tony Stark scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed wearily. He was bone tired from events recently. The Accords had him emotionally worn out and his growing concern with his mentorship with Peter Parker had him torn into pieces. What had he been thinking of getting mixed up with a teenager? It was one of the stupidest ideas in his whole life. What had processed him to think that he could just drop in on a kid's life, use him for his own interests and think he could just toss him aside? Life didn't work like that when it came to kids.

"Stupid doesn't even begin to describe you, Stark," he mumbled to himself for the umpteenth time over the last several weeks.

Tony strode across the room and threw himself down on the sofa in his workshop. His mind wasn't on his work at all. Not that his work was anything but play this time of day but still, he was annoyed that he couldn't concentrate on his play. Peter Parker was the only thing that haunted his thoughts both day and night. Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was approached 10 pm. He found himself wondering what the kid was up to on a Friday night. What kind of things did kids do nowadays on a Friday night? Tony knew what he did when he was 15 years old and he hoped to God Peter's Aunt May didn't allow him to do that kind of things. Tony shuddered at the thought of his teenage years. He had been out of control with two busy socialite parents who had little time to pay attention to his shenanigans. More times than not, Tony was bailed out of mishaps by the butler or his governess. No one bothered trying to correct his behaviour. Tony just spun out of control.

Tony's thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone. Grabbing his cell, he glanced at the number to see Happy Hogan's face on his screen.

"Yo, Hap. What's up?"

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, Boss, but you better be googling some up-to-date YouTube videos on your spider problem."

Tony's mouth went dry. No. It couldn't be true. He'd forbidden Peter to go out as Spiderman for two weeks while he cooled off over the whole Ferry fiasco. Peter wouldn't dare defy him, would he? Not after everything they'd so clearly discussed. Tony rose to his feet, his cell phone still glued to his ear as Happy went on to describe some recent events happening as they spoke. Tony pulled up Youtube and in the spotlight was none other than Spiderman in all his glory.

"What the holy hell does that kid think he's doing?"

Tony was so stunned that he literally stared at the video with his mouth dangling open. Peter was taking on two yahoos with some very high tech weapons. Tony grimaced, not knowing if he was more impressed or just genuinely pissed off at Peter's antics.

"Kid's got grit, Boss."

Tony groaned. "I'm going to kick his ass, Happy!"

"Want me to drag his ass to the tower?"

"Nah, Allow me the pleasure. Looks like the kid has things well in hand but damn it all to hell, Hap, why does that kid have to make such a friggen mess doing it!"

Tony heard Happy chuckle on the other end of the line. "The kid is good. You have to admit that."

Tony sighed as he watched Peter web up the two hoodlums to the wall. All the while the kid was chattering away, oblivious to the fact that some stupid tourist was recording the whole event and uploading it directly to YouTube. The recorder was likely going to make a bundle off YouTube for the live action broadcast, shot before authorities even were aware of the event. God, why was he the lucky one all the time? Why couldn't Rhody be the one to have to deal with this nonsense. Didn't he, Tony Stark, already have enough drama in his life?

"Call in the Stark cleaning crew, Hap, and I'll go bring our spidey-boy home." With that, Tony cut off the call and dropped his cell phone into this pocket.

It was going to be one hell of a long night.