Hi everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. A friend from out of town came to visit unexpectedly this past weekend so I didn't have much time to write as I normally would on the weekends. Next chapter may take awhile also. My sister is about to have her first baby and family is coming into town for the birth, so life is about to get a bit crazy for me.

Chapter 3

Tony's penthouse kitchen was filled with the sounds of sizzling bacon. The billionaire's fiancé, Pepper Potts stood over the frying pan. Flipping the strips of meat with a pair of tongs. Tony stood directly behind her, back leaning against the island counter with his arms crossed over his chest. He was currently filling her in on the events of last night. "So, then I finally got him to calm down enough so we could get in the car. But he had another breakdown on the way here, because I was forced to explain to him the exact reasons why he can't live with his aunt anymore." Tony's face held a pained expression as he explained this. "I wanted to wait until at least this morning, but the kid just wouldn't let it go…"

Pepper released a heavy sigh, before turning around to face her fiancé. "Where is May now?"

"Doctor told me this morning that she's in the temporary psych unit at the hospital. I think they're going to try and get her into an assisted living place."

Despite the warm glow of the sun shining through the windows, the kitchen was thick with tension that could be cut with a knife. Luckily it wasn't because of the two adults that stood in the room. It was because of the kid that still slept down the hall, and the whole crappy situation that only went down a few hours ago.

FRIDAY had informed Tony that Peter hadn't actually fallen asleep till almost 4am that morning. It was about 6:30 now. Tony had decided that he wasn't going to force the kid to go to school today. After everything that happened, no one would blame the boy for wanting a day off. He told FRIDAY upon waking this morning; to turn off all alarms that might wake the kid up. The billionaire was just about ready to dial the kids' school and call him out for the day. Besides it was Friday, so might as well give the boy a long weekend to sort himself out. God knows Tony felt like he needed to take a few days off to sort out his own feelings about the situation.

He was going to wait a little bit longer before calling; wanting to at least give the kid a choice. Maybe he was making the wrong assumptions and he did want to go to school. FRIDAY had calculated that they would need to leave the penthouse by 7:15 to get to Midtown High in time for his first class. He'd wait till at least 7:00 before calling. Or maybe he should wait until it was closer to 8:00? How much advance notice did a school need before calling your kid out?

The billionaire's racing mind halted. Did he really just refer to Peter as 'his kid?' Even if it was just in his head, Tony wasn't sure if he was ready for that line to be crossed. He had spent most of night tossing and turning in his bed, second guessing this decision May and him made together. Maybe it was made too hastily? If he was really honest with himself, Tony knew that the main reason he agreed to this was because it seemed so unlikely that they would actually need to follow through with it. He should have known it was too much of a risk, that with his luck he should have never taken the chance. Now he was responsible for teenager, and not just any teenager. A super mutated teenager that moonlighted as a vigilante. There is no way he go through the next two and a half years without totally messing the kid up. "Tony… you and Peter are going to be just fine," Pepper suddenly spoke, as if she were reading his thoughts.

"This wasn't supposed to happen Pep…" Tony's voice was heavy with emotion. "This was supposed to happen well after he turned 18, where he would be a legal adult and ok to be on his own. I would only need to be there as moral support; not being fully responsible for him." God, he sounded like such an asshole, putting it that way. But there was no denying it was the truth."

"Think about everything that's happened since you met the kid," Pepper began, removing the bacon strips from the pan and laying them on a paper towel lined plate. "You've been mentoring him since the beginning."

"I took his suit away, told him that I expected him to be better than me, and then he crashed a plane and fought a supervillain in his pajamas…"

This only caused the woman to laugh lightly. Though Tony couldn't see how any of that was remotely funny. Maybe it was one of those 'you had to be there' moments. "So you botched things up a little bit in the beginning," she replied. "You've both come such a long way since then. Tony, you have already been responsible for his Spiderman side. Now you're just responsible for the rest of him now."

Pepper finished this off with wrapping her arms around the billionaire with a soft embrace. Even though her words helped ease his fears, Tony still had some reservations about all this. The two stayed in the embrace for several moments before a ping from Tony's phone brought them back. He pulled it out of his pocket and scowled at the notification. It was a text message from Steve, reminding him about a whole other reason to be stressed about.

Capsical

Wanted to tell you this over the phone, but you didn't call back last night. We'll be moving back into the Compound next Friday.

6:42am

One week. The rogues were returning in one week… Tony almost threw his phone across the kitchen. How was he supposed to deal with Peter on top of all of this mess? He also noted the two missed calls he go from Secretary Grant last night. Tony finally just dropped his phone onto the island counter with a clatter and rested both elbows on the countertop. Both hands rubbed vigorously over his face. "I'm not ready for this Pep…" he spoke into his hands.

Another silence followed this declaration. Pepper seemed to be contemplating what to say next, but before she had the chance to the sound of a door opening brought their attention away from current matters. Considering that no one else was in the penthouse, the noise could only be Peter. A few moments later the teen walked into the kitchen fully dressed for the day, backpack slung over his shoulder. To say Tony was surprised would have been a slight understatement. Considering how late the kid actually fell asleep, Tony had expected Peter to come out of room several hours later looking bleary eyed with a bed head to match. Instead, Peter emerges looking well-groomed with his hair combed and styled with gel and looking ready for the day. The only sign that showed how tired the kid must be was his slightly bloodshot eyes.

Instead of voicing any of this, Tony greets him with a smile. Hoping that the kid didn't overhear anything that he and Pepper had been talking about. "Hey, good morning, bud."

Pepper went a step further, walking over to the teenager and giving him a warm embrace. "Good morning sweetheart, how'd you sleep?"

Peter just responded with a shrug, not meeting either of their eyes. Tony hoped that this was because the kid was trying to hide the fact that he was lying about how he slept, rather than being uncomfortable with living here now. He knew that there would be an adjustment period for them all, this happened quite unexpectedly. But the billionaire did want Peter to at least be comfortable. The kid never stayed at his penthouse before. On the few occasions their lab days did go a little bit too late they were at the compound, and he just crashed in his room there. So, this couldn't be much different. "I was going to call you out of school today, in case you wanted to sleep in," Tony stated to him trying to keep things casual. "But it looks like you're all ready to go. I can still call you out, if you want to take a mental health day. Can't blame you for wanting to take a day off."

Tony winced at that last comment and noted Pepper's exasperated look at him. Way to say the most tactless thing possible Stark…

Luckily Peter didn't seem bothered by the comment, and just shook his head. "Thanks Mr. Stark, but I'm ok. Would rather just go to school and keep things normal." Need to keep myself distracted, was unspoken but heavily implied.

Taking the denial in stride, Tony clapped his hands together and moved on. "Sure, totally get that. So Pepper's making breakfast. How do you take your eggs?"

Peter just shook his head again. "I'm not really hungry Mr. Stark."

"Sorry, wrong answer. Gotta keep up with that spidey metabolism," Tony responded with a wink toward the kid.

For some reason the comment made Peter look suddenly alarmed, and he quickly threw a glance over at Pepper. Before Tony had a chance to ask what the problem was, Pepper spoke up, "Don't worry sweetheart. I know about your extracurricular activities."

Peter looked back over at Tony, "You told her?" he sounded almost accusing.

Slightly taken aback, Tony gaped at the teen. After he worked things out with Pepper close to a year ago, he had never once considered keeping Spiderman from her. Especially after they got engaged. If there was one thing he learned over the years from his relationship with Pepper, it's that keeping secrets only causes problems rather than preventing them. "Kid... I…" Tony wasn't really sure what to say to defend himself.

Luckily Pepper came to his rescue again, "Don't worry Peter. Your secret is safe with me."

"Who else knows?"

"Only Pepper," Tony quickly responded. Happy to assure the kid that he wasn't going around telling everyone that Peter Parker was Spiderman. "Scouts honor kid, I haven't been broadcasting it to any idiot who will listen."

Pepper gave an indignant scoff and gave Tony a shove. But she was smiling, and obviously not taking any offense to his comments. "Really, you didn't even tell Rhodey?" She asked him doubtfully.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know what kind of shit he'll give me when he finds out that I took a 13-year-old kid to Germany?"

"Hey! I was fourteen," Peter chimed in. His voice rising in pitch, unintentionally negating his credibility and making him sound younger than he actually was.

The kids face flushed red at the adults' knowing smiles. "Anyways, you know you it's not healthy for you to skip meals, remember what happened last-"

"Yes, I know Mr. Stark!" Peter interrupted with annoyance. "You don't have to keep reminding me!" There was a time shortly after May was diagnosed, when Peter went over 24 hours without eating anything. He ended up passing out in the middle of their weekly lab night and after Tony brought him to the Compounds medbay; the found that the kids blood sugar had tanked and he had the malnutrition of someone who hadn't eaten in seven days. Nothing a few protein bars didn't fix, but it could have been way worse. Tony couldn't help but bring up that event every time Peter refused food, much to the teen's annoyance.

This time was a bit different. There was much more heat, and even a lace or rudeness in Peter's words that made both him and Pepper pause. Neither had ever heard the boy speak that way to Tony before now. Peter seemed to have realized the same thing, because a look of shame washed over the kids face a moment later. "Sorry," he muttered with a blush.

"No worries, bud," Tony decided to brush it off rather than make a big deal about it. It had been a rough night, and he knew that that boy didn't get much sleep. "So, what do you want? We got bacon, sausage, potatoes, we can even toast up some bread or an English muffin?" Tony had done some online grocery shopping last night, making sure he had all the essentials that might be needed to feed a teenager. Pepper made sure to remind him that they couldn't live on pizza, and takeout alone.

"I think I'll just take a bagel to go. I need to leave for school soon…" Peter replied after a moment's hesitation and grabbed the bag of plane bagels off the counter.

"Um… yeah, that's ok," Tony felt a little put out that they went through the trouble of making breakfast and Peter wasn't going to eat any of it. His gut however, told him to not make a big deal about it, so he didn't. "We have cream cheese and jam in the refrigerator."

Peter attempted to wave off his offer with a smile that looked way too forced, "That's ok Mr. Stark. Ok good with just this," he held up the bagel for show. "Plus, I still keep those protein bars you gave me in my backpack. I usually don't have time to eat before I leave for school, so I'm used to eating a small breakfast. Thanks though."

Tony wanted to remind the kid that he didn't need to take the subway to school anymore, and he still had plenty of time to eat a balanced breakfast, as Pepper would put it. But still held his tongue. He's only had legal custody over the teen for less than 24 hours and didn't want to overstep by lecturing him about something he was just as bad about. "Sounds good kid," he gave a smile that hopefully didn't look as stained as it felt. "Happy should be downstairs any minute to take you to school. Or I could always take you on my way to the office?"

"That's ok Mr. Stark. I can just go with Happy. Um… well have a good day. Bye!" with that the kid almost fled from the room.

Tony immediately deflated on the spot, collapsing into the nearest chair. That could not have gone any worse. "Dear lord in heaven, I'm f-ing this up already."

"Tony you're being way too hard on yourself," ever the saint Pepper came to his defense.

But the billionaire heartily disagreed. "Did you just watch the same thing I did? The kid hates me now. I don't even know what I did wrong. Other than becoming his legal guardian, maybe he never wanted that? Maybe he just wanted to keep me as a mentor rather than a father."

"It's been less than a day," Pepper reminded him. "This is going to be an adjustment for all of us. Just give it some time."

Time? It was one thing he couldn't control, and the thing he didn't have right now. Tony picked up his phone to look at the home screen. Steve's text was still glaring at him. "I don't have time for all this Pep... Steve, Natasha and Wilson are moving back into the compound in a week."

"Do you want me to reschedule my trip to LA?" Pepper asked, as she was leaving to work on a Stark Industries business trip on Monday and would be gone for probably a fortnight.

"I'm supposed to be the kid's legal guardian now. How does it look that I can't even take care of him without you?"

"This is a delicate transition, Tony. Not just for Peter, but for you also. Most parents get nine months advance warning before becoming responsible for another human. In just one night you went from single soon to be married bachelor, to being the parent of a traumatized teen. No one is going to think any less of you for needing a little bit of help."

"Are you sure you're, ok?" Peter's best friend asked for the fifth time that day

It was now Peter's lunch period at Midtown High. The whole morning had pretty much been a blur to him. The only thing he'd been able to keep track of was how many times Ned had asked him that question. Peter knows that the other boy is just trying to be a good friend, but the question was starting to grate. "Yes, Ned I'm fine…" Peter responded with a weary sigh. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because we know you're lying," a female voice suddenly chimed in. Both boys looked over to see their other friend MJ sit down across from them. Though Peter was never quite sure if 'friend' was really the proper term for her. Most of the time she didn't even act like she liked either of them; usually referring to them as losers. But then she would occasionally refer to them as friends, and always sit with them at lunch time and any other type of school assemblies and gatherings. Peter figured it was probably just what MJ was like.

Rather than respond to the girl's entirely true statement, Peter just looked back at the lunch he was barely touching. He didn't really know why he was lying to them, because he was anything but fine at the moment. He wasn't even good at hiding it. A couple of his teachers had even asked if he was feeling alright. That was a question that he honestly couldn't answer because Peter didn't know how he was feeling right now. He felt like he was having the definition of mixed emotions right now. Numbness had taken the most dominance since he woke up this morning. It was a familiar feeling that he first experienced when his Uncle Ben died. That and sorrow.

It was different this time, however. He was feeling both numb and sad, but he also felt confusion, frustration, and even anger. There was a part of him that really wanted to be angry with Mr. Stark right now, but he couldn't think of a logical reason why. It wasn't his fault that May was sick right now, and he's not the reason his aunt lost herself last night and pulled a gun on him.

But his mentor is the reason he's not living with May right now. His actions last night resulted in his aunt being taken away. Peter knew that the way everything played out wasn't Mr. Stark's fault. He understood that the police and May's doctor had to follow certain protocols and laws regarding what had happened to him. But the knowledge didn't stop the anger and frustration that swirled through him ever since he saw the police take away the only family he had left. None of this was May's fault! She was sick! Peter felt like she was being punished for something she had no control over.

Thankfully his two friends decided to let it lie, and the three of them continued to eat their lunches in silence. Well Peter was more picking at his food rather than eating it. He knew that he should be eating more. He only ate half that bagel from this morning, didn't eat any of the protein bars in his backpack and had only taken a couple bites of his lunch. Mr. Stark did have a point this morning about his high metabolism. It really wasn't safe for him to go off food, even for a day. But he was so stressed about everything that's happened, he just had no appetite. He picked up a chicken nugget from his lunch tray and was about to choke it down, when a vibration from his pocket distracted him.

Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket, thinking it was probably his mentor checking up on him. If he'd had food in his mouth, Peter probably would have choked on it when he saw that it was a message from May.

Aunt May

Hi baby, I miss you! Call me when you're out of school 3

12:24pm

An anonymous reviewer from last chapter pointed out that if Thanos didn't exist then none of the events from marvel movies set before this would have happened. So first of all… you are absolutely correct ;) Thanos is the cause of everything that happened in the Infinity Saga. However the connections are so subtle its very easy to just ignore Thanos's involvement and pretend that everything that happened in the previous movies were caused by something completely unrelated to Thanos. Plus this is fanfiction, which means we can do wherever we want :P

But if you're really that bothered by my saying that Thanos doesn't exist we could just say that Thanos does exist but some other alien or whatever beat him up and killed him before he got all the infinity stones. Whatever floats your boat I guess