Hey guys! I'm back with a new chapter. This is what you've been waiting for: the first real conversation between Peter and Tony.
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Disclaimer: no, I don't own Marvel. I wish.
When Peter wakes again, he feels a bit better. He still has a headache, but it's not so bad. It would be great to take some meds, though. Or a lot. After his first fights as Spiderman, he's learnt that normal medication doesn't work on him anymore. At least not at normal dosage. But he has never really wanted to start experimenting with pills and dosages, that would be a bit dangerous given he has no medical experience whatsoever, so he usually toughs it out until his injuries heal. And they heal fast, so it's okay. He can survive this headache, too.
And the pain in his side. He still doesn't know what causes that. Bruised ribs? No, that wouldn't hurt this bad. Plus, it hurts a bit lower than his ribs. Other than that, he's relatively okay. Just tired.
Where is he again? He remembers a white room, the hospital. He remembers feeling scared, terrified then something happened that calmed him down. Someone calmed him down. Someone who sounded reliable enough to convince him to stay here.
He opens his eyes and immediately notices a man sitting on a small couch in the corner of the room, holding a tablet in his hands. He's typing something, probably not realizing Peter is awake. Is he the same person who persuaded him to stay? Is he here to make sure Peter doesn't run away?
"Hello, Peter," the man says not looking up from his tablet. Okay, so he has noticed that Peter woke up.
The man's voice sounds very familiar. Peter's almost entirely certain that he was the one in the room before. And he looks so familiar, too. He has dark hair, a goatee and wears a white shirt, with sleeves rolled up. A suit jacket and a tie lie next to him on the couch. Peter doesn't really know adults wearing elegant, expensive-looking clothes like these. Then why does this man seem so damned familiar?
"Mr. Stark," he whispers as his sluggish brain finally provides the answer. "You're Tony Stark."
The man looks up and gives him a small smile. "Correct. How are you feeling, kid? Should I call a doctor?"
Peter is confused. Tony Stark is a billionaire, genius inventor and a superhero, Iron Man. Has saved the world too many times to count. His idol. How does he know Peter's name? Why does he care to know his name?
Mr. Stark puts away his tablet, gets up and walks to the bed. His hands are casually stuck into his pockets, but the look on his face seems concerned. And at the same time, interested.
"I'm good," the boy manages.
Mr. Stark snorts. "I bet. Do you remember what happened?"
Peter tries to recall any memories that might explain his injuries and how he got to the hospital, but he comes up with nothing. So he goes with the most logical explanation. "There was a fight."
There's silence, Mr. Stark is probably waiting for Peter to elaborate. But he can't. He can't remember anything. Is that the reason why he has a headache?
"Okay, let me help you out," Mr. Stark decides giving up on waiting. "Yes, there was a fight. It happened last night, at a bank in Queens. There were some wannabe bank robbers coming up with some kind of device that disabled my suit. And you came in swinging to save the day. Which you did. But you got shot in the process," he gestures at Peter's side.
The boy's hand automatically goes to his hurting side and fumbles over thick bandage. He can suddenly hear three gunshots. His side flares up with hot pain two times right after each other… He hits someone and he's being hit…. Purple lights fading under web... A red metal statue that looks like a robot. No, that's Iron Man's suit. But… it's not moving… Then it's open, empty... Mr. Stark is outside of the suit... A big man covered in blood and bruises lying at Peter's feet... Blood dripping through his suit… Shooting a web… Swinging away… A roof... Collapsing... Someone is beside him… Touching him. Waking him. Saying he's safe… That voice…
That was Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark was there, at the fight, he was there on the roof, he was here in this room, when he woke up earlier and he's here now. Why?
"I remember now," Peter mutters.
"Well, according to your doctor, Dr. Banner, you lost a lot of blood," the man explains." You needed surgery to remove two bullets. You hit your head, correction: you were hit on your head so hard that you have a concussion. And so many cuts and bruises that I can't remember the tenth of it."
"Wait, you said Dr. Banner? As in Doctor Bruce Banner? The genius scientist?" Peter interrupts.
"Yeah," Mr. Stark smiles. "Most people know him for turning into an angry green giant every now and then, but he'll be happy to hear that you care for his scientific work. But going back to you, kid. Good news is you're healing incredibly fast. Bruce can't stop admiring how quickly your body heals."
"Yeah, it's okay, I guess. But it also makes me tired and hungry all the time."
"You mean you need sleep and food to heal?"
"Like most people. But I heal faster, so I need more. Much more."
"No problem, kid. Feel free to sleep as much as you want. And you can eat tons. Whatever you want, just ask."
Peter looks down. It sounds good but no. As soon as he feels good enough, he'll leave. What does Mr. Stark think? That he'll stay here and let them experiment on him? Mr. Stark told he was safe. But safe from what? It's nice not being shot at anymore, but best would be going back to his place and going on with his life. He hopes that's still an option.
"You've never asked where you are," Mr. Stark speaks again. He's at the window now, casually staring out.
"At the hospital, I guess," the boy says looking around confused. He didn't ask because he knows the answer.
"You're at the Avengers Tower, kid. In the med bay of the tower, precisely," the man explains turning back to him.
Peter's mouth falls open and Mr. Stark grins.
That makes sense. Dr. Banner wouldn't treat Peter at a normal hospital. He just didn't connect the dots. He blames the concussion that he apparently has.
"I thought the hospital wouldn't have been a good idea," Mr. Stark clarifies. "I mean I'm not sure your secret identity could have remained a secret there. Just because I decided to go all transparent, I respect that others might choose differently."
Mr. Stark seems so nice. Peter has seen him a few times before, at press conferences and stuff like that on TV, and the man always looked like a super confident, intelligent, funny but egoistic man. Someone who believes he's smarter than everyone else. Someone who wouldn't care for a boy like him. But he apparently does.
And here goes Peter, being all ungrateful.
"Thank you, Mr. Stark," he says. "For helping me."
"Don't mention it, Peter," Mr. Stark waves him off. "You saved me first, when those bastards turned off my suit. But there's another thing you've never asked about, kid."
The man walks back to the couch and grabs something that Peter can't see. Then he turns back to the boy.
"You've never asked how I know your name, Peter Parker."
The boy lowers his head. He doesn't want to talk about his miserable life as Peter Parker. He wishes Mr. Stark asked him about his powers, his healing abilities, his spider sense, the webs, the bite, anything. Like superhero to superhero. But… not about Peter.
He sighs. "You have all the crazy tech here. I guess it wasn't hard to figure out who I am," he mutters.
"Yeah, but I went old school and just hacked your phone," Mr. Stark shrugs, not sounding guilty about it at all as he's holding up Peter's weary phone. He must have found it in the secret pocket of the suit. Mr. Stark takes a closer look at the battered phone as if he has just found it. "Probably took nearly as many hits as you did."
A flame of anger flashes in Peter's eyes. Yeah, Mr. Stark is a billionaire who can buy a new phone every second, but not everybody can do that. There are people who actually have to work a lot to earn money for a new phone.
But Mr. Stark misunderstands his anger. "You need to understand. You're a kid, Peter. I had to know if your family was waiting for you to come home."
Suddenly, Peter's anger turns into sadness. Of course he understands that Mr. Stark had to know who to notify. But there's no one waiting for Peter to come home. No one waiting for news on him. No one worrying about him. And he knows that. This is his life. For like five months now. He knows he can't change it. He knows he should accept it. But it still hurts every single time he thinks of it.
His eyes fill and he's not sure if he can stop the tears from falling. He quickly looks down. He won't let Mr. Stark see him cry. He should be tougher than that. Superheroes don't cry. Mr. Stark must be already disappointed that Spiderman is just a kid; Peter can't disappoint him even more with this childish crying.
Then he suddenly remembers that according to the official story, he does have family.
"It's okay, I just need to call my aunt. Julia," he murmurs still looking down. He doesn't trust himself to look up at Mr. Stark. Not when those traitorous tears are still there.
The man sighs. "Peter, I know your Aunt Julia doesn't exist."
That makes Peter look up. He doesn't care anymore if Mr. Stark notices his tears or not. But the boy is unable to speak. He's frozen.
Mr. Stark runs his hands through his hair and looks at Peter with concerned eyes. "I had to check. I mean I found documents stating that you live with your aunt, Julia and her family. I thought I needed to inform her about you. But I couldn't find her. I called her number. I sent her emails. Nothing. I even sent someone to check out her, correction, your address, but someone else lives there. So I searched for her in every known database. Until I realized she doesn't exist. She's made up. And I guess you made her up. Who else would have?"
Peter is still in shock. Not only because his secret has finally come out, but also because Tony Freaking Stark is the very first person who actually took an effort to check out his story! No one has ever cared enough to check the contact info Peter provided or to check if Julia is a real person at all. Okay, last night might have been an emergency, but there are people who should have done that without waiting for an emergency to happen, right?
"What's your deal, kid?" Mr. Stark asks observing Peter as if he's some kind of rare specimen. "I mean you're smart, your grades are amazing, you're practically a wunderkind. And while you're so great at school, you're a superhero by night. But what do you do when you're not at school or in your suit?"
"I work at a grocery store after school," Peter offers weakly.
Mr. Stark gives him a sad smile and steps closer. "I know you have no family, kid. Where do you live?"
"Queens," Peter shrugs looking away.
"I figured that much myself," the man snorts.
There's a long silence while Mr. Stark is obviously waiting for him to talk, but Peter remains silent. What does this man want from him? Up until last night, his life was simple. Not perfect, far from that, but it was only school, job at the store, being Spiderman and sleeping in the warehouse. No one asking questions. And yes, it's miserable to say the least, but it's his life. And he wants it back.
"You must be very disappointed that Spiderman is just a homeless kid!" Peter exclaims. He's so angry. He's angry because he has no family, no home, no people who care, not a safe place. It's so unfair! What has he done wrong? Why does he deserve this?
And he knows it's not Mr. Stark's fault, he has been only nice to him, much nicer than most people, but Peter doesn't care right now. He just wants to go back into his warehouse, curl into a ball on the old, filthy mattress and cry himself into sleep. Like basically every night.
"You're wrong, kid," Mr. Stark claims. "I'm not disappointed. On the contrary. I admire your strength. No matter how hard your life is, you're still the smartest kid at school and an amazing superhero."
But Mr. Stark doesn't know what he's talking about. Peter's anything but strong. Hell, he's not strong enough to fight back his tears or his anger! He's weak. He's pathetic. And he betrays everyone who praises Spiderman. If they knew who was under the mask, they would turn away disgusted.
"Please, go away, Mr. Stark," he mutters looking down again.
"Kid, are you sure-"
"Please, Mr. Stark."
Peter doesn't look up until he hears footsteps fading and the door closing.
Then he lets his tears fall free. Great. He's not only weak and pathetic. He can also add ungrateful to the list.
So is this something you expected? Or are you surprised? I hope so :)
Let me know what you think! Next time I'll be back with Tony's point of view. I think...
Thank you for reading!