Hello friends, I'm here again with a brand new chapter. So after the fight in the previous chapter, Peter's suit was damaged. Let's see what he's going to do about it.

Thank you for your kind support!

Disclaimer: no, I don't own Marvel. I wish.

It's 4am and Peter hasn't managed to repair his suit yet. He has school tomorrow – no, today – and he hasn't slept all night, desperately trying to come up with something to bring back Karen's voice. It would be probably easier if he could sneak into Mr. Stark's lab, that's where they always work on their suits and there are way more tools down there than in Peter's room, but no. Mr. Stark would notice that and ask what happened and Peter would have to come clean and admit that he has ruined the suit.

Mr. Stark never forgets to point out how amazing and unique Peter's suit is, it's one of the greatest things he has ever made and it's worth a lot. A multimillion dollar suit, that's what he called it several times.

And Peter has ruined it.

This is exactly what he's been afraid of. That he will do something really stupid and Mr. Stark will kick him out. Well, if he did that, Peter wouldn't blame him. He has just destroyed his suit, the best gift he has ever received.

Could he pay it back? He doesn't have his job at the store anymore; Mr. Stark assured Peter that he didn't need it. Maybe he was a fool to quit the job. But who is he kidding? With the money he earned there, he would never be able to pay for the ruined suit. Not even if he lived five hundred years. So it doesn't really matter if he still has the job or not.

Right, Peter always knew he would screw up. He just never thought it would happen this soon. He thought he would have a few nice weeks or even months at the Tower before his inevitable leaving. He takes a look around in his room. Well, it won't be his room much longer. Shame. It's been really nice to stay here.

But he doesn't deserve it. He has taken away Karen's voice. Okay, he knows technically, it wasn't him but one of the goons who hit him on a wrong spot and it resulted in some kind of malfunction. But it was Peter in the suit, he should have fought better, he should have dodged that hit. It's his fault.

He remembers his long conversations with Karen back in the warehouse, when the AI was his only company, the only one who comforted him. And he knows Karen's not real, of course not, but she really feels like a friend. A very good one. And Peter took her voice.

There might be some tears watering the boy's eyes, but he quickly wipes them away. He has no time for this. He has to work on the suit, bring back Karen's voice and everything's going to be alright again. As if last night's fiasco has never happened.

And Peter won't have to tell Mr. Stark anything, he won't have to give the man a reason to send him away. Karen will never rat him out, he knows that. Friday, though… no, Friday promised Peter not to tell anything to Mr. Stark. And he has no choice but to believe her, even though she's not his but Mr. Stark's AI and she will always be more loyal to him than to Peter. Obviously.

But Peter has managed to convince Friday that losing Karen's voice is just a minor problem, something that he can easily fix and he will tell Mr. Stark everything later. No need to bother the man now. And as Mr. Stark went to bed surprisingly early and Friday also knows the man has trouble with sleeping, it was relatively easy to persuade the AI not to wake him up for such a nuisance.

Except… Peter has absolutely no idea how to fix the suit. He could call Ned, he knows his friend would gladly help him, but there's this crazy thing that Ned usually does at night: he likes to sleep.

Unlike Peter who has been up since last morning. If only he could find a way to bring back Karen's voice. He could still sleep an hour or two until school.

What should he do? Karen has been really helpful, as much as she can be now without her voice. But she can't find a solution, either. And Friday? She had an idea: asking Mr. Stark. Yeah, Peter guesses the man could probably fix the suit in five minutes, but no. He would think Peter is not responsible enough and he would take away the suit. Even worse, he would kick out the kid for being reckless and ruining one of his most amazing creations. The multimillion dollar suit.

He can't let that happen. Peter wants to stay. So much. The Tower has become the closest thing to home and Mr. Stark? He's like… a parent? The word feels strange on the boy's lips. But Mr. Stark is definitely the person who cares for Peter the most. And he can't risk losing him. He can't lose him, too… Peter wouldn't…

No, there's no need to go there just yet. He just needs to figure out how to repair the suit. Easy. He still has some time until school.

It's Friday night and Karen's voice hasn't returned yet. It's been what? Four days now? The fourth night in a row without any sleep. Gosh, Peter is so tired! Besides a few naps, he couldn't really sleep and now he understands why sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Because it is torture.

And as Peter obviously can't let Mr. Stark know that he's screwed up, he has to go to school and patrol like nothing happened.

Thank God, he didn't have any tests at school this week. It was still incredibly hard to keep his eyes open during class. He considered ditching school and finding a place to sleep a bit instead, maybe he could have gone back to the warehouse, his old mattress might still have been there and he could have had a really nice nap… yeah, a nap sounded so tempting. Even in the warehouse. But it wasn't worth the risk. If he had ditched school, a teacher would have definitely called Mr. Stark and Peter would have had to admit everything.

And he has to patrol, too because if he didn't, Mr. Stark would get suspicious. Peter could find some kind of excuse, like he's feeling sick, but they both know Peter never really gets sick. Not anymore since the bite. Or he could say he's tired. Which would be true, right? That would be great, being honest for once. But what superhero would stay in for the night just because he's tired? Yeah, and the criminals would be like: 'okay, then we're not doing anything bad tonight, that wouldn't be fair'. Sure. Like it works that way.

So Spiderman is still up for his regular crime fighting. And Karen's still out there with him, helping him as much as she can without her voice. And all the info that the AI provides on the HUD is still very helpful, it's just... Fighting criminals is a kinda fast business. You don't always have time to read before you need to react. So now Spiderman takes a bit more hits than before. But it's okay. It really is. There was a Spiderman before the amazing suit too, right? Before Karen appeared. And what if he's a bit slower because of the lack of sleep? He's got this. There's absolutely nothing to worry about.

Peter still misses Karen's voice, though. It's not the same without her kind, caring voice. There were way too many nights when she was the only voice that Peter heard and he misses hearing her so much.

Just a little more time, tough. Peter will fix the suit and bring back Karen's nice voice. He will. And then he can talk to her again.

And he can sleep again. He won't have to worry about falling asleep during breakfast with Mr. Stark. Or during the drive to school while a suspicious Happy observes him in the rearview mirror. Okay, Peter does fall asleep in the car all the time. Not just because he's so damned tired but also because in this way he doesn't have to endure Happy's constant stare. Which is borderline creepy.

He wishes he could finally find a way to fix the suit! After the first sleepless night, the boy asked Ned and he had some good ideas. But unfortunately none of them worked. Ned is still very helpful, he keeps suggesting new ways to repair the damage but he hasn't been successful so far. He's a good friend, though and he doesn't give up brainstorming. He's always eager to stay up and text Peter throughout the night to find a solution together. But Peter always tells him to go to bed because he needs someone to wake him up in case he falls asleep during class. That always works. And Ned goes to bed while Peter keeps working.

It's a miracle that Friday hasn't said anything to Mr. Stark yet. Peter has asked her really nicely and told her that it is for the best. Peter just doesn't want Mr. Stark to worry. The man has such a stressful life, and this is really not that important, they shouldn't trouble him with this. And surprisingly, Friday has agreed. Peter sometimes thinks that the AI will go behind his back and tell everything to her boss, but the fact that Mr. Stark hasn't stormed into Peter's room yet proves that Friday has kept her promise.

And to the kid's luck, the man's had a busier week than usual. More meetings, even a short trip to DC. Mr. Stark had to skip three dinners and two breakfasts during the week. And Peter would have been really sad about it, if those missed meals hadn't given him time to nap. Okay, he was sad. No matter how exhausted he is, spending time with Mr. Stark is always better than sleeping.

But Peter knows he can't go on like this for long. He really needs to come up with something. Before either Friday decides to alert Mr. Stark or he collapses from exhaustion. The kid really wants to avoid both scenarios.

It's 6.20am, the sun has already come up. Another sleepless night has passed and poor Karen is still voiceless. Peter leans back in his chair and yawns. He glances over his shoulder. His bed looks so inviting. Could a bed look more wonderful than this one? Could pillows look softer, could blankets look warmer than these?

The boy sighs and folds his head in his arms. He is about to doze off, just a little bit, sleeping a minute or two, but no… he can't rest just yet. Only when Karen's voice is back. It's Saturday morning, which means breakfast will be later, so he has some time to work. And there are still a few circuits he could give a try to. He might as well go on with the work.

"Hello, Peter," Karen's nice voice suddenly fills the air.

Peter drops the tools from his hands and his mouth falls open.

"Congratulations, Peter, you have brought back my voice," Karen says happily.

"K-Karen, is that… really you?" the kid asks stunned. He has honestly no idea how he did it, which circuit was to blame. Was it something that he should have notice at the beginning? Was it something that Mr. Stark could have fixed in a minute? Probably. But it doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is he has finally fixed the suit himself after four sleepless nights. Karen's back. She is really back.

"It's me, Peter," the AI confirms joyfully.

"Oh, Karen, I wish I could hug you now! I'm so happy to hear your voice again!" the boy cheers. "You have such a beautiful voice, you know that?"

"Thank you, Peter," Karen replies kindly. "And may I suggest going to bed now? You could still sleep a few hours before breakfast."

Now that he is reminded of sleeping, the kid can't help yawning again. "You're right, Karen. You know what? Thank God, it's Saturday. I'm gonna sleep all weekend. I'll get up for meals but other than that I'm gonna sleep until Monday morning."

"That's an excellent idea, Peter," Karen agrees.

The boy slowly gets up, drags himself to the bed and crawls under the blankets. Just a second later, he's already asleep, dead to the world. But even in his sleep, a small, satisfied smile refuses to leave his face.

But his peaceful rest only lasts so long. Maybe it's a few hours later, maybe just a few minutes have passed when there's a knock on his door. He groans and buries his head under a big pillow. No, he won't get up. It's impossible that it's already breakfast time. But if it is, he'll skip breakfast. He's not even hungry.

But the knock is followed by another one and then his door opens a bit. It must be Mr. Stark, he doesn't have to check. Who else could it be?

"Peter?"

Yeah, it's really him. Mr. Stark.

"Listen, bud, I know it's Saturday and I would love to let you sleep longer, even though it's 11am already, but I know teenagers need to sleep a lot and you, kid even more… Anyway, there's someone here who wants to meet you. And I'm pretty sure you would love to see him, too. Plus, I've made your favorite waffles, so chop-chop."

Peter presses himself against the mattress. "You know, Mr. Stark, unless it's one of the Avengers, I'm not coming, sorry."

The man snorts. "Well, last time I checked, I am an Avenger, so… but I guess you're lucky, kid because you can meet another one."

Peter slowly moves and peeks out from under his pillow.

Mr. Stark casually leans against the doorframe with an amused look on his face and a coffee mug in his hand. "So what do you say, kid? Would you crawl out of that nest of yours for the Incredible Hulk?"

So did you like it? Leave me a comment, please. And I know we have already met Bruce but we like him, right?

Next, we're going to see this morning from Tony's POV, okay?

Thank you for reading.