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Chapter Text

The chemical engineering lab had cleared out hours ago. The sun had long since faded into the horizon. But Peter couldn't leave yet. He was on a mission. Last week he'd found a secret lab. How cool was that? And now he was trying to locate it again.

"You found a secret lab? What do you think they do in there?" Ned asked when Peter told him about it.

Peter shrugged. "I don't know. That's what I want to find out."

"How did you find this place?"

"I just went for a walk." Peter tapped his tablet and pulled up a rudimentary map he'd drawn. "I've mapped out all the corridors on my floor. Noted all the labs and offices and bathrooms. And that lab is nowhere to be found."

Ned leaned over the map, studying it. He pointed to a section of wall. "What's right there?"

Peter peered at it too. "Uh, not sure. I mean, this isn't to scale, but I tried to make it pretty close."

"Yeah. Looks like there should be a room there. Unless these other rooms," he pointed to other sections, "are bigger than you have them here."

"Maybe." Peter wrinkled his nose, studying the map again. "Oh, maybe not. See this here?" He pointed to a section along an exterior wall. "I'm not authorized to go into that section of the building. And this part next to the restrooms connects to that."

"I still think it's your best option. Worst that happens is you get told you're not allowed over there, right?"

"Worst that happens is I get fired for digging around in stuff I'm not supposed to."

"Yeah, but, best case scenario – secret lab with awesome secret experiments," Ned said, nudging Peter's arm. "Come on, man. This is like an adventure and a mystery wrapped up together. It'll be cool. Way cooler than anything from my job."

"Maybe you just need a cooler job," Peter teased.

Whenever he'd had the chance over the last two days, he'd improve his map, working out how to locate that lab. He'd taken eyeball measurements that were more accurate than anything he'd drawn from memory. And counted doors. And made better estimates of the sizes of rooms and offices. The whole thing would've been easier if he'd had access to a blueprint, but they didn't seem easily accessible in any of the typical places he'd find something like that.

If his original snooping investigation hadn't been interrupted, he might've been able to map out his route back. But he'd had to skedaddle pretty fast to avoid getting caught. Making his backtracking a lot more complicated.

After his chat with Ned, and a little more investigating of his own, Peter was pretty sure he'd nailed down where this lab should be. The only problem, there wasn't a way to get to where he thought it was. No hallway. No door. Nothing.

As he moved along the route he'd drawn out on his updated map, he marked off doors and turns that he passed just to be sure he hadn't missed anything. For a moment, he stopped in front of a bit of blank wall where he thought one access point for the lab could be. But it was nothing more than a wall. Same as all the other walls.

Peter continued along the next leg of his mapped route to the other possible location for a way to the lab, but that was another stretch of blank wall. With a grumpy sigh, he turned to head back to his workstation to collect his stuff and head home for the night. He was double-checking every door and side hallway that he passed to be sure he hadn't counted or marked one incorrectly when he stopped at an unmarked corridor. One he didn't have on his map. One that hadn't been there before. In fact, it was in the section of wall that he'd stopped in front of as the first option for the way to the secret lab.

Had he missed it? He didn't think so. His map was as meticulous as he could make it without drawing an actual schematic.

Glancing down the corridor to either side, he saw no one around, so he stepped forward into the new side corridor. No alarms went off. No security guard squawked at him to leave. He was clear for now.

Down this hallway, he came to a cross-way. To his left seemed to go toward the second spot Peter had estimated for the way into this area. To his right was another short hall with another turn at the end. Right then.

After the final turn, there was a short hall with a door in one wall. That had to be it. He'd found the lab!

Why was he so interested in this room? He didn't even know what was in there. It could be nothing. But if so, why was it hidden? Like, even beyond Tony's private lab space that was primarily used by him and Dr. Banner – they were apparently the only people Tony trusted near his personal projects. And Peter didn't spend a lot of time in there.

Checking all possible directions with both his enhanced and mundane senses, Peter made his way to the door of the lab. Taking a chance, he pressed a finger to the scanner. The door lock clicked open. Peter lightly pressed against the door with two fingers and watched it slowly move a few inches open.

Score!

Chapter Text

Peter pushed the door open enough to slide through, then closed it as quietly as he could. He turned to find himself in a stark white antechamber with another door. No lock on that one, but Peter quested out with his senses for any sign of other security features. There didn't seem to be any, so he opened the door.

Directly in front of him was a bank of monitors, each displaying various pieces of data. Calculations or stats, maybe. He couldn't determine exactly without more focused investigation. But later. There was clearly something else in here. He could hear the faint hum of machinery from farther in the lab.

He followed the wall of monitors to a pane of frosted glass and another door. Opposite that was what appeared to be a monitoring station. A desk and computer and more monitors on the wall above it. Some with video feeds. Others with more stats.

Peter looked more closely at the data on the monitors. As his brain began deciphering the abbreviations, he realized they were vital signs and brainwave patterns. What the hell was in there?

Turning away from the monitoring station, he peered through the suddenly no longer frosted glass to find a large tank. Some sort of container. The source of the machine hum. From where he was, the container appeared to be made of metal. A large collection of wires lead from it to connectors in the ceiling. What did this thing do?

He reached for the door handle...

"Don't go in there."

He turned to see Dr. Banner coming down the short corridor. How had he not picked up on the man coming in here?

"Hey. S-sorry. What is that?" Peter asked, ignoring the fact that he probably wasn't supposed to be there at all.

Banner moved to the chair at the desk and sat down. "When you figure it out on your own, you're allowed to know."

Cryptic. "Okay. So, does that mean I'm allowed in here?" he asked, indicating the lab they were in.

"The door opened, didn't it?" Banner sipped from a travel mug. "Look, Parker, Tony built this place. It has some of the most robust and intelligent security there is. If there's somewhere you're not allowed to go, you're not going there. There are even seamless wall panels that will only open when someone with the right clearance is near them. They keep the passages to the more sensitive stuff invisible to anyone who doesn't have authorization."

Peter frowned. "Is that why I couldn't figure out how the hell I'd gotten here the first time?"

"Probably," Banner answered simply. Another sip. "You're allowed in here. But your access is still limited. Like I said, when you figure it out, you're allowed to know."

"That sounds like something Tony made up to make me want to find out," Peter commented, glancing back through the window to the machine in the other room.

"Is it working?"

A snort. "Yes. The bastard."

Banner laughed. "He'd be so full of himself right now." He nodded toward a nearby chair. "Pull up a seat. Get started on your homework.

"How come you're not the merged green guy anymore?" Peter asked around a bite of a sandwich the next evening when he was in the 'secret lab' with Banner.

Banner held up a wrist. "I have this device I developed to keep the big guy under wraps when I need to fit into more human-sized spaces or do delicate work."

"That is super cool!"

"Wish I'd thought of it sooner. Though I don't know how well the hulk side would've liked being contained if he really wanted out."

Peter was going to ask something else when a data indicator on one of the monitors started blinking, accompanied by an alert-style beep. "Um – what's that?" he asked with concern.

Banner leaned over to look at the monitor. "Oh, that's just a cycle change on the machine. It does that every ninety-six hours or so. Nothing to worry about."

"Does anything ever go – you know – wonky?"

"Hasn't so far," Banner said, fingers moving on the keyboard as he entered some data.

Peter looked around, glancing past the abundance of data. "How long has this been here?"

Banner took a few seconds to answer. "A few years. Uh, since we defeated Thanos."

This was going to annoy the hell out of him until he figured it out. There was so much data on display that it was almost overwhelming. And he didn't get a lot of time to study it with all of his regular work he still had to do. He only got a few hours a day in this lab, according to the schedule Banner had given him. And during those hours, Banner was making sure Peter was pretty busy.

Three days later, he and Banner were working on some calculations when Banner was called away. An hour later, Banner called to tell Peter that he wouldn't be back for the rest of the day. Probably not until the next day.

BINGO!

Peter did finish the work Banner had assigned him before he started snooping around the lab. He didn't want to risk not getting it done before Banner got back. After that, he studied the data on the monitors more closely. He'd figured out it was tracking vital signs. What he hadn't pinned down was whose vitals. Or why they needed to be tracked in the first place.

Data on a computer monitor was great, but it wasn't going to help him get answers. There were no names, just labels for the individual elements – pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, and respiration rate. He wished he knew more about brain waves and wave patterns so he could determine if the ones on the screen were normal or not. Banner had said he'd have to figure it out. He hadn't said how.

Peter could do a ton of research and puzzle through for days. Or, he could see if the door to the other room would open for him. Which is probably what Tony expected him to do with this thing anyway.

He paused to listen for sounds of Banner returning to the lab. When he didn't hear any, he put his finger on the scanner and waited. There was a soft click, then the door released, and opened a fraction of an inch.

No hesitation, Peter nudged it open and entered the room. As much as he hadn't expected that to work, he moved confidently across the floor. The door had opened; that must mean he was meant to be in there.

The sweat on his palms was worse than the first time he'd tested his webbing to swing between buildings. His heart pounded so hard he expected FRIDAY to warn him about his own vitals. What if Banner returned and caught him in here? What if it turned out he really didn't want to know what was in the tank and should never have tried to find out?

He pushed all of those thoughts aside with a deep, cleansing breath, then stepped toward the large container. There were more monitors on the wall nearby. Many had the same vital and brain activity information as the ones outside the room but in a more condensed arrangement. Others had something else. Those were the ones Peter was interested in first. He watched the information scrolling by rapidly. Was that computer code? Were they programming something?

Curiosity pulled him away from the monitors and toward the container. He wasn't sure why he hadn't immediately approached the container rather than the monitors. Anxiety? Wanting to figure out the puzzle before peeking at the answer? The data hadn't answered any of his questions, so this was the next step.

Peter stepped up to the side of the large container and peered through the window at the top.

Chapter Text

Holy shit! Peter gasped. He stumbled back from the container. This was a joke, right? Ha ha – very funny, Banner.

Still wary, Peter approached again. The same figure was there. If this was a practical joke, Banner had gone all out.

The figure in the tank looked exactly like Tony. If he was bald and clean shaven. But all of the key features of Tony's face were there. Peter knew that face.

His chest tightened, and he felt suddenly light-headed. Was this real? Better still, what the hell was this? What the fuck was going on?

Senses tingling, he turned slowly toward the wide window by the door. Banner was standing on the other side, frowning. Peter glowered. He was going to get answers.

Banner opened the door the same way Peter had and crossed to the tank. "I told you you had to figure it out first."

"Fuck you, Bruce," he spat. "What is this?" he demanded, jaw clenched.

"What do you think it is?" Banner didn't seem bothered by Peter's outburst.

Peter's glower hardened. "It looks like you've cloned Tony. And can I just tell you how messed up that is?"

Banner still seemed unfazed. "It's not a clone," he said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Slipped before Peter could get his thoughts together. "This – this is Tony? He's been alive this whole time? This whole time? And no one told me?" It had been more than seven years since Tony had died. Only, apparently, he hadn't.

"I didn't tell you," Banner said.

"You?"

"I'm the only one who knows. Tony didn't tell anyone else the plan. In case it didn't work."

"You've spent seven years watching Tony sleep in a tank?" Peter asked incredulously.

Banner scowled. "Of course not. The first three were all decontamination and blood-cleaning procedures. That all had to work first. If that failed, the rest didn't matter."

"So why do I know now?" Peter asked.

A shrug from the other scientist. "Either it's reached the right stage where he wanted you to know. Or there's a problem we'll need your help to solve."

Peter looked stunned for a moment. "He – he planned all of this ahead of time? What if it hadn't worked?"

"Then you wouldn't know about it." Banner was quiet for a moment, letting Peter regroup. "FRIDAY, what stage are we at?"

The AI responded with, "We have reached Project Underoos 2."

Peter's laugh snorted so hard his nose hurt. "Oh my god." He brushed a hand back over his hair. "What does that mean, FRIDAY? What does he need me to do? Like, is this a 'fairy tale, kiss the sleeping princess' thing or a 'there's actually a problem I need to sort out' thing?"

FRIDAY answered, "First, I will inform him that you called him a 'princess'. Second, I believe it is something between those two options. The instructions and details are in the project folder on the server you now have limited access to. Dr. Banner can direct you to it."

"Thanks, FRIDAY."

Peter and Banner went back to the desk with the busy monitors and sat down. Banner showed him the information FRIDAY had mentioned, and Peter got started.

"I'm going to be here a while," he muttered.

Banner smiled softly at him but didn't disagree.

The files Tony had left for Peter were extensive. And Peter had to cross-reference a lot to understand what was going on. Bio-tech research, theories, calculations, things Peter never thought he would need to learn at the drop of a hat.

Once he had a handle on the basics for this part, things started to make a lot more sense. Then he was able to get through much of the theory pretty quickly. The big container Tony was in would regenerate skin and organs (How cool is that?) to repair the damage done by the Infinity Stones.

"We're not going to end up with another Ultron, are we?" Peter asked Banner.

"No," Banner answered brusquely. "We – we put dozens of safety protocols in place so that can't happen again. But, this isn't an artificial intelligence we're building."

"Right. I know. But since this isn't something that's been done before, there's no way to know what the outcome will be."

"That's why you're here."

"What?"

Banner smiled. "Tony trusted you to do the right thing. Including shutting all of this down if it came to it. That folder of information is everything you'll need to understand the project and make the decision."

"Wait," he turned his chair to face Banner, "you mean I look at all of this, then decide if we kill Tony or not?"

"No," Banner countered gently. "You read everything, understand what it is, then decide if we move forward to the next step."

Peter looked to the window and the large tank beyond – which he'd learned wasn't a tank - but a re-creation of the late Dr. Cho's regeneration cradle. Tony was in there. "So, he's not dead?"

"He's not."

"Are machines the only thing keeping him alive?"

"No. He's in a medically induced coma. Sort of. Initially, it was to lessen the pain from the radiation while we worked out the decon protocols. The rest is so the cradle can do its job."

"Okay, but if we woke him up now, could he survive? On his own? No help?"

"FRIDAY?"

A monitor blinked, and Banner scanned the data. "Fifty-two percent chance, yes. Give or take. This is all new, so I can't say for sure, but fifty-two. Forty on the low end."

"Then we keep going until he can survive on his own or the project fails," Peter said firmly.

Banner grinned and shook his head. "That's exactly what he told me you'd say."

Peter felt his cheeks heat in a way they hadn't for years. "He – Tony said that?" Maybe Tony had been paying more attention than he'd thought.

It had been a long time since Peter had thought about Tony this much. After his time travel trip to say good-bye, he'd tried to move on. To put Tony behind him. It had mostly worked. It had almost entirely worked until that video had shown up.

The email had actually said, I hope you choose not to watch this, but I'll understand if you do. Peter had agonized for a day or two about watching it after the email had hit his inbox. He'd known immediately what it was. MJ had been really worried that something had happened to Aunt May when she'd seen Peter's reaction to the email.

Ultimately, he'd decided to watch the video. Alone first. MJ had wanted to see it too – until Peter had told her it was from Tony. He was torn about the video. On the one hand, it was, essentially, a sex tape – albeit on a very very secure server under about a dozen protocols – on the other, it was all he'd had left of Tony. Or so he'd thought.

Now there was a body in a regeneration machine that was supposedly Tony. And it was entirely up to Peter what happened to him. That was a lot more responsibility than he was sure he wanted to have. He'd even said as much to Banner, who had told him that Tony chose him. But if he really didn't want to decide, he could step away.

That hadn't been all that helpful. So, Peter decided to talk to the one person he knew would be more objective than he ever could be. Aunt May.

Chapter Text

"You already know what you have to do, Peter," May said. "This is someone's life. And we help people. Even people we may not like very much."

May had never been Tony Stark's number one fan, but she knew he was important to Peter. "I know, May." He'd cleared it with Banner to talk about this with May – in vague terms – as far as what they were doing. Apparently, Tony had accounted for that too.

She brushed a hand over his hair the way she always did when comforting him. "Did you come here just to ask questions you already knew how I would answer?"

He smiled at her. "No. Maybe. To reassure myself that I'd made the right decision. Because, sure, if he's not gone, we should help him. But what if helping makes it worse?"

"Honey, you know the answers. You know what's right. When it comes time, you'll make the right decision. I know you will."

Peter shook his head. He wasn't as sure. "What if what's right and what I want conflict?" He took a deep breath so he could say the one thing he'd been thinking since he'd found out who was in that lab. "I couldn't do it. If it came down to it, I couldn't – can't – let him die. And I definitely can't be the one to decide he has to. That's impossible. More than that, I don't want that decision on my plate. Ever." It hurt even to think about.

"Let's think about this. If it came down to saving him or saving the world-"

"Third option. Some other way."

May smiled sadly. "The whole point is there isn't another option. But make sure you know what your answer will be if that's how it goes down."

"I'm going to hope it doesn't go that way."

May's smile warmed, and she kissed the top of his head.

Peter spent three solid days pouring over every piece of data and information he could find related to Project Underoos 2 (really Tony?). He researched everything. By the time he was back at the lab, he had dozens of questions for Banner. The man answered what he could. The rest, he pointed Peter to newly opened files for him.

Was Tony going to piecemeal this project to him? That was going to be annoying. But, he wrote up three separate theories and possible approaches for the next phase of the process.

FRIDAY ran dozens of simulations to determine which was the best of the three. Which unlocked even more files for Peter.

"Oh my god, FRIDAY, can I just have everything so I don't have to do this a hundred times?"

"Boss said he wanted multiple permutations so you didn't rush in like he would."

Peter looked at Bruce, who shrugged, and shook his head. "Fuck you, Tony," he grumbled into the air. "FRIDAY – note that next to the princess remark."

"Of course, Dr. Parker."

Ned and Peter met for lunch a couple weeks later - hot dogs on Coney Island. Peter was definitely in need of some time away from work. Time to get out of his head. Time to hang out with his best friend.

Lunch in hand, they found a little spot to sit away from the hustle and bustle but still part of the boardwalk. Ned immediately had questions for Peter:

"Did you ever find that secret room?"

"It's a lab. And yeah," Peter answered, trying to keep his tone to 'just normal work stuff' and not 'reviving a hero'.

Ned leaned in expectantly. "And? What's in it? Anything cool? Secret experiments on aliens? New android tech?"

Peter shook his head. "I can't tell you, man. It's classified stuff." Which was only going to make Ned more interested, but at least Peter didn't have to lie about it. It was classified. And he could lean on that to nudge Ned away from the topic.

He wanted to tell, though. He wanted to talk about it. This was huge! This was Tony. It was going to be a struggle not talking about it.

"Dude, now I really wanna know!" Ned sighed. "I know, I know. You can't tell. Which sucks, because I'll bet it's really cool!"

"Or really dull. Classified doesn't always mean fun and interesting, Ned. There's boxes of boring classified documents."

"Sure. But there's also really cool stuff they don't want us to know about, like JFK's brain."

Peter quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Come on, man."

Ned shrugged. "Okay, maybe not. But there's gotta be something."

"You're gonna go work at Area 51, aren't you?"

Ned finished chewing a bite of hot dog. "That's classified."

"Very funny."

It took four months for them to complete Project Underoos 2. Only to learn that the next step was Project Crockett.

"How many pieces is this broken down into?" Peter grouched.

Banner didn't have an answer. But the two of them kept working. Spending months on each new project phase – each with its own equally ridiculous project name.

Eighteen months in, Peter was exasperated. Up from his chair, he folded his arms against the window between the labs and leaned his head on his arms. "This is absurd, bordering on hopeless."

"Eight years, kid," Banner said. When Peter turned and frowned at him. "Sorry, Dr. Kid." Peter smirked. "I started on this right after – with a small break to help out my cousin with some stuff. I've been working on this a long time. You're just in at the tail end."

"Okay, sure. But most of what I've done is for after he wakes up. I know we need to be ready for that, but that really seems more your area than mine. That's biology, anatomy, physiology. I'm chemistry, engineering, programming…"

"And a genius," FRIDAY added, with a very Tony level of inflection.

"Meaning what?" Peter asked.

Banner waved a pencil in his direction. "I think it's something with the way you synthesize information. You approach things more like Tony did. Analytical and sometimes sideways. That's why you're on board now. Tony figured out everything up to this point. But he needed your analytical style to push through the end if he hadn't finished it."

"I love that he has that level of faith in me, but I really have no idea what I'm doing."

Banner blinked, nearly dumbfounded. "What? Do I need to pull up everything you've been doing? You get this almost better than Tony did. You even resolved some of the bio issues."

"Fine. Fine. Let me look at where we are."

Peter dropped back into his chair. He pulled up the next phase of the project. "That can't be right." He glanced at Banner, who had sidled up next to him. "This says we can open the cradle."

"Are you sure?" Banner checked all of the same data Peter had. He then asked FRIDAY to confirm. Twice. "Well…"

"Well what? I'm not doing it."

Banner smiled and pointed to the screen: Wake me up, Underoos.

"Oh that fucker," Peter spat.

He went into the cradle lab and approached the container. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. This was either going to be the most awesome thing he'd ever done, or he'd be taking on zombie Iron Man for real.

"Please don't be a zombie. Please don't be a zombie…" he whispered as he entered the code sequence that would wake Tony and open the cradle.

Chapter Text

Peter felt his heart pounding in his ears. He tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. How long did this reviving cycle take, anyway? Not bouncing was a monumental effort. Patience was not something he had in abundance right now. Adrenaline, on the other hand, was near overflowing. He really wished it would calm down.

There was a soft vacuum hiss, then the lid of the cradle slid open. No zombies popped out, so that was a good sign.

Cautiously, Peter approached the tank again and peered over the edge. The mostly hairless face in front of him was still soft and relaxed in sleep. When nothing changed after a moment, he glanced to the monitor displaying Tony's vitals. It all looked good, but Tony wasn't awake.

Peter called for Banner to come help. As Banner started through the door, Tony spoke sluggishly, his voice sounding like it was coming through water, "Don't call him in. He'll want to poke at me."

It took Peter's brain a few seconds to catch up. He leaned across the lip of the cradle to help Tony climb out of the tank. Seeing that Tony's legs weren't going to hold him up properly yet, Peter scooped him up and lifted him over the lip. Peter asked Banner to grab the robe from the hook on the wall and drag over a chair.

Peter settled Tony's feet on the floor as Banner wrapped him in the robe. Peter sat Tony on the chair and straightened the collar of the robe on Tony's chest. He didn't even notice the happy-relieved tears falling on his own face. Even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered. He had Tony back.

And he only managed not to hug the stuffing out of the man immediately because Banner had started in on the poking and prodding - doctor style. Tony glowered the whole time but didn't interrupt.

Tony's eyes were a little bleary when he raised his head to look at Peter. "Hey, kid."

"It's Dr. Kid now," Banner corrected absently as he moved to the next part of his examination. He flicked his pen light, shining it in Tony's eyes. Displeased, Tony squinted away and attempted to bat at Banner's hand.

"No shit?" Tony blurted. "Damn. I missed all your graduations." He frowned. "How long have I been out?"

"Stop talking, Tony," Banner instructed as Peter guided Tony's hand back down.

Tony complied, but looked annoyed about it. Peter almost laughed. He was nearly as impatient as Tony was right now.

Peter kept looking at the monitors and Banner, and willing FRIDAY to give an 'all clear' or some indication that everything was fine. He wanted to scream in frustration. But Banner was only taking as much time as he needed to complete his exam. Peter could wait a few minutes.

Rising to his feet, Banner said, "Everything looks good. No radiation residuals. Cell repair is complete. The regeneration even fixed most of the scars."

Tony glanced down at the center of his chest. Lifting a hand, he ran fingers over smooth skin where a decent-sized scar had once been. "Look at that. Good as new."

"How do you feel, Tony?" Banner asked.

"Like I've been asleep for a year."

"Eight," Peter corrected.

Tony's brow bent downward. "What?"

Peter nodded. "Eight years. Give or take. You're dead. On paper."

"Not anymore," he countered. "FRIDAY, be a dear..."

"On it, boss."

Peter could only shake his head. "Is there anything you didn't plan for?"

"How pissed Pep is gonna be. Wow. I mean, I factored in her being unhappy, but I'm not sure how that'll rank one-to-ten."

Peter stood to the side, quiet. Irrationally, it hurt to hear Tony talk about Pepper. He knew Tony wouldn't mention their thing with Banner around, but that didn't make his emotions act any more logically.

"FRIDAY, can you run back through whatever I'd set up for Pepper and Morgan? I want to see if I'd had any paperwork set up..."

"Sending to your personal files, boss. When you're ready, they're waiting." A beat, then the sassy AI added, "And I'm to inform you that you're a princess."

"Who has been retraining my kids? You didn't let the interns talk to FRIDAY, did you, Bruce?" Tony grouched.

"No. Sit still."

"So I'm a princess, huh?"

FRIDAY responded before Peter could redirect. "Dr. Parker was prepared to kiss you to wake you up."

The floor could have opened up to swallow him immediately, and it wouldn't have been fast enough. Peter could feel his ears turning pink. All that time he'd spent building up his confidence so he wouldn't be embarrassed by stuff like this. All that time working to be better at taking compliments. All of that, and Tony Stark's sassy AI rips it all apart in one comment. All because he's standing here in front of Tony. Absolutely not fair at all.

Banner wasn't making it any easier to handle. Whatever tests or diagnostics he was running were taking forever, so Peter couldn't leave and let the medical doctor handle all of this.

Tony sluggishly turned his head up to Peter. "You were gonna kiss me, huh?"

Peter rolled his eyes, trying to play it all off as a big joke. "Gross over-exaggeration. I was making an analogy to figure out what was next. FRIDAY then insisted on telling you I'd compared you to a sleeping princess." The truth was, Peter absolutely would've kissed Tony if it was necessary to wake him up. He wouldn't have even needed much prompting.

"So you don't want to kiss me?" Tony asked with a pout.

"Tony, be quiet. I'm almost done," Banner told him.

Finally an assist from Banner. Peter was afraid he would have needed to come up with some flimsy reasoning on the kiss thing. And he wasn't great at lying about stuff like that. Especially because he did want to kiss Tony. He wanted to kiss him and hug him and wrap him in warm blankets and make him soup and a million other things to keep him safe.

"Hey, Parker -" Banner said. It sounded like it wasn't the first time he'd tried to get Peter's attention.

"Oh, sorry." He got an arm around Tony's back again to help him to his feet. "Where are we going?"

With Tony in tow, Peter followed Banner back out past the workstation and the wall of monitors. Rather than taking the turn to exit the lab into the antechamber, they turned left through a panel that opened in the wall.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about the hidden panels," Peter commented as the panel closed behind them.

Down a hall and through another door, then they were suddenly in a very nice apartment space. It was primarily open concept with the kitchen on one side and a living area with couches and a TV on the other. The living area also had windows looking to the outside. The kitchen side looked out over a workshop area. Two doors on the opposite wall led to a bathroom and a bedroom. Everything was decorated in Tony's signature simplistic, but modern-ish style. It felt… like Tony.

Peter got Tony settled on the couch, then got him the meds Banner said he needed and a glass of water. He helped Tony take the meds and made sure he was able to drink from the water glass still before he stepped away.

"Hey, Bruce, text me if you need me, okay?" he called as he headed toward the door. Banner had this covered. They didn't need him.

"Where you going, Spiderling?" Tony asked.

"You look all set here..."

"Pete, I'm gonna need help getting around for a bit. And Bruce has stuff he's working on."

Banner didn't deny that. But he didn't really say anything at all.

"I have projects too, Tony. I do work here. As a scientist. Not an intern." Peter was having a bit of an internal struggle. As great as it was that Tony was alive, there were so many questions: Was this really Tony or a synthetic body with his consciousness installed? If the latter, when was that consciousness from? Before the blip? After? Before the Time Heist? Too many unanswered questions.

On top of that, it just felt like Tony and Bruce had completely undermined his position as a full-time employee of Stark Industries. Maybe he hadn't had the job very long, but he'd been working his ass off the whole time he'd been there. And his work was important. Having that dismissed stung.

Add to all of that, Peter had spent the last several years recovering from the emotional impact of Tony dying right in front of him on the battlefield. He'd gone through his own grieving process. It had been hard. Suddenly having Tony back stirred up all of those emotions again. Would he be able to handle it if – when – Tony died again?

"Um, look, I – I need some air. Space. I'll – I'll be back." He left the secret apartment, the secret lab, then the secret wing where it was all located.

He took an elevator to the roof access. He stepped out onto the roof where he'd spent countless hours alone so he could think. Sometimes about work. Sometimes about his personal life. Sometimes about Tony and how much he missed him. It was a quiet, safe place he could go. No one else ever came up here except Bucky. Which had always worked out because Bucky just wanted the quiet too. It meant Peter didn't have to try to make small talk when he wasn't up for it. He could wave to Bucky, then be left alone.

Bucky stepping out on the roof today made him smile a little. Except this time, Bucky walked over and sat down next to him.

"Been a while," Bucky said. When Peter didn't immediately contribute, Bucky added, "Since I've been out here."

"Who sent you?"

"Banner. Well, technically Sam, but the original message was from Banner. So, everything all right?"

Peter huffed a small snort. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, I get that."

It was quiet for several minutes. Then Bucky spoke up again. "What is it you don't want to talk about?"

Peter smirked at the former soldier. "Nice try."

Bucky shrugged. "Worth a shot." A beat. "Work or personal?"

"Hard to say," Peter responded. "Kind of both." He was willing to toss that much to Bucky.

"Oof. Bosses working you too hard so your girlfriend – or boyfriend – is pissed?"

One of the things that was so interesting to Peter was how easily Bucky managed to integrate into modern times. Even ten or so years on, he was still catching up on things, but he wasn't letting himself stay in the past. He took it all in stride and learned as quickly as he could.

"I wish," Peter answered with a mild snort. "My girlfriend is fine with my work since we kinda broke up, and she took on a big project in Western Africa." He missed MJ and wished she was still in town. But it would've been hugely selfish of him to insist she pass up this opportunity just so he still had a girlfriend.

"Shit. Did you kinda break up before or after she took this gig?"

"After." Fortunately. Peter really would've felt like an asshole if the break had been bad enough to send MJ to another continent. "We're okay. Just, some things came up from the past unexpectedly, and things got a little hairy."

"She found out about your time-travel 'mission'?" Bucky asked.

Peter's cheeks heated, and he almost crawled down the side of the building to escape. Until he remembered Bucky didn't know that Peter had slept with Tony. "Kinda, yeah. That was part of it." The other part was that Peter had slept with Tony.

"Huh. Was she mad?"

Peter shook his head. "No. Just – concerned. There was some other, personal, stuff I don't want to get into. But… we just needed some space."

"I think she really likes you, kid. So, she'll probably want you back. Nothing to worry about there."

"Thanks, Bucky."

Chapter Text

Peter stayed out on the roof for about an hour after Bucky had gone back in. He would've stayed longer, but Banner texted that Tony was asking for him. As conflicted as he was about the whole situation, he still wanted to help Tony. Even if it crushed him little by little on the inside.

He made his way back to the secret apartment. Pausing outside, he took a deep breath to steel his nerves before going back in. It wouldn't help anyone for him to fall apart.

"Hey – you back now?" Tony asked as though nothing had happened. If only that were the case.

"Uh – sure."

"Come on in. Bruce said he's gotta go do something important. And he doesn't think I should be alone."

Banner winced a little. "Sorry. I do have to leave for a bit. Plans. Do you mind staying with him?"

"Not at all. Is this an overnight thing or -"

"It might be. I'm not sure how long I'll be. I wouldn't go, but this was planned before he decided to wake up," Bruce explained.

"No, it's fine," Peter said. "I just need an idea. Also – meals."

"Ugh, don't mention food," Tony griped.

Banner tried not to react. "Anything you need, put it on the company account. FRIDAY can handle coordinating with the outside for deliveries. If I finish up early, I'll come back. Thanks, Peter."

"Sure. No problem."

Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought. Right?

He watched Banner leave before he turned back to Tony, who was still sitting on the couch.

Tony patted the cushion beside him. "C'mon. Promise I won't bite hard." He grinned at Peter.

"Do – do you need anything? Snack? Water?" Peter asked, stalling. He wasn't sure he was ready for this.

"For you to come sit and talk to me. Do not want food."

Peter took a deep breath. "M-Tony, I… uh… this… I… shit." He rubbed at his forehead. How did he explain the conflict between wanting to give the man the biggest hug, but also being wary of the whole situation?

"Pete. It's okay. Come on. I'll answer anything you want."

Another deep breath. Then he sat on the couch next to Tony. "Can – can I hug you?" he asked, his breath catching while he waited for Tony's response.

"Of course. Get over here, kid." Tony wiggled his arm on the back of the couch, his frustration with not being able to work his limbs still low. Peter didn't laugh when he helped Tony get into a better hugging position. "Though, guess you're not really a kid anymore."

"Not really, no." But, right now, it didn't matter. Tony was alive. He could call Peter whatever he wanted. Even though Tony couldn't quite hug back fully, it was a pretty damned good hug.

"Gotta work up to getting my arms moving," Tony said. "Some subconscious stuff does okay, but if I gotta think a little, it takes a while."

With a sad smile, Peter sat back. He was trying to stay fairly neutral, but it was hard. "Is this – is this really you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Tony answered, almost offended. "Do you mean the body? Or the mind? It's all me, kid. The cradle did most of the hard work. Cleaned out the radiation, contained it, reconstructed all the parts that got fried or damaged – including the skin." He indicated his right arm that had been singed so badly the nano-particles of the Iron Man armor had melted to it. "My mind was in there the whole time. Asleep. There's obviously a back-up for emergencies. What is it you think's missing?"

Peter shook his head. "Nothing. It's nothing." If Tony didn't remember, Peter wasn't going to mention it. He didn't want to make the situation more uncomfortable.

Tony gave him a look. "Kind of a captive audience here. Bruce helped me get cleaned up and into my clothes while you went for a walk, so I'm not just here in a robe anymore."

"That's – I'm – no, Tony. It's fine." He wasn't going to dump information on Tony just because the man, physically, couldn't leave the conversation. Of course he wanted to talk about it. But it was a lot. And just after waking up from an eight-year coma didn't seem like the best time to do that.

"Would it be better if I brought it up?" Tony asked.

"Maybe?" Assuming they were talking about the same thing. But really – no.

"Someone's piggybacked time travel trip?"

Peter's cheeks suddenly felt warm.

"Bumping into another time traveler."

Warmer.

"Blurting feelings."

Hot. Tony could see this, right?

"Having sex."

The flush made it all the way to Peter's ears. And when did Tony turn the questions into statements? "Please stop," he croaked.

Tony grinned, knowing exactly what he was doing. Peter wanted to sink into the couch.

"Do you regret doing it?" Tony asked.

Peter shook his head, sobering almost immediately. "No, Tony. Absolutely not." He was a little worried Tony might, though. But the one thing he wanted Tony to know was that he didn't regret what he'd done. What they'd done. Had it been the best idea? No, it really had not. He hadn't thought that at the time. With a little distance and some time to step away, he knew it had been a less than wise move. But, he couldn't take it back. "Though, if I'd known you were gonna resurrect yourself, I might have made different decisions."

Tony laughed. "Had the plan for coming back. Didn't know if it would work."

"I was so set on doing it that I didn't care if it was the right thing or not. I'm so sorry, Tony."

The older man frowned at him – it was a bit less intimidating without the goatee and perfect hair. "Why are you sorry? You definitely didn't pressure me into anything. If I remember right, you didn't even have to do much convincing. I was on board." He leaned in close to Peter. "And I had fun."

Peter felt his eyes trying to tear up while Tony spoke. Once he was done, Peter leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Tony's for a brief kiss. "I've missed you," he whispered against the man's lips before engaging in another kiss. He waited for Tony to kiss back a little, then he brought the kiss to a natural close.

"I wish my arms would work so I could get you to stay a little longer," Tony whispered.

Peter licked his lips. "Y-you really… okay." Leaning in, this kiss was slower, more sensual. He took his time, tasting Tony's mouth, letting him taste back. It was almost perfect. Slowly, he pulled away and sat close to Tony, settling against him gingerly. "I've really missed you." He drew Tony's arm down to drape over his shoulder.

"Missed you too, Pete." Then Tony pressed a kiss to Peter's hair.

Chapter Text

Peter stayed the entire night. He made sure Tony got dinner once he'd decided he could handle food. He helped Tony get a shower – which he even managed without flooding the bathroom. Afterward, Peter got Tony into some soft pajama pants and an old band t-shirt. Items that would be familiar to him, hopefully to help him sleep better.

It was when Tony asked Peter to stay with him that Peter hit 'this is a bad idea'. He'd let Tony make his case. He even tried to stall, saying he had some work to do. But Tony saw through it and convinced him to crawl into the bed beside him.

Admittedly, Peter slept better than he would have somewhere else. At his own apartment, he would have worried the whole damned night. As it was, he woke up super early and laid in the bed, listening to be sure Tony was still sleeping.

When Tony woke, Peter heard him groan about needing to get up. Peter moved around the bed to help, but Tony waved him off. He said the cradle was supposed to keep the joints and muscles limber and functional, so he should be okay. Peter didn't go far – in case Tony was wrong.

Tony got to his feet and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Peter figured the man could handle the rest too. As a distraction while he waited, he worked on making up the bed. When Tony emerged from the bathroom, dripping water from his face and shirt, Peter only chuckled a little.

He helped Tony change into dry clothes, then asked what he wanted for breakfast. Insisting he would do any cooking: "Because I'm not letting you near a stove if you can't manage a sink."

"You're fired," Tony grumbled but didn't argue about the cooking. He didn't complain about the food either. Probably because it was accompanied by large quantities of coffee.

"How do you feel?" Peter asked, placing dirty dishes in the sink.

"Fine. But like I'm moving through syrup. Hey, where are my robots?" Tony asked as he peered through the windows into the workshop.

Peter turned back and leaned on the counter. "Dum-E and U? They're in my lab downstairs. I took good care of them."

Tony looked both relieved and, maybe, a little sad. "Thanks."

"I… can bring them here if you want. It won't arouse any suspicion. They stayed with Happy for a month once. I'll have Bruce get them on his way when he gets back if that's what you want."

"Don't you need them?"

Peter smiled softly. "Not as much as you do." The two robots were an asset in his lab, sure. He'd almost trained most of the clumsiness out of Dum-E's movements. And U was excellent at following with the camera. But they were Tony's robots. His friends.

Tony nodded. "Thanks."

Peter sent a text to Banner about moving the robots to Tony's recovery apartment. Then he set his phone aside. "So, what-cha wanna do today?"

"I really want to go in there," Tony indicated the workshop, "but my fine motor control needs to improve first."

Peter could sense the frustration. "If you want to work, we can design something. Draw on the drafting table or the computer. They're both here – but you probably already knew that. I'll just shut up and leave you alone."

"Pete," Tony said, "if I wanted you to shut up, I'd have said that." He slid off the stool at the bar counter and stood at the window overlooking the lab. "FRIDAY, let's get started on the Mark LXXXVI."

"There is already a project file labeled Mark LXXXVI," the AI stated.

"Why? Did I do that before -"

"That was me, actually," Peter said. "I wanted to work on a design. What I thought you would have done for the next upgrade. I studied all of the previous iterations. Then extrapolated for the basic design. The really fun part was working out where to go with the tech."

"Well, let's see what you came up with." Tony had FRIDAY pull up the file so he could look it over. "Nice work, kid. Sorry – Dr. Kid."

Peter's cheeks flushed again. Why did that keep happening? "Thanks," he said.

"What's your degree in, Pete?" Tony asked while tapping at the design specs in front of him.

"Degrees," Peter corrected with a soft, proud smile. "Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. Graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science." He was aware it was a unique position. He hadn't moved quite as quickly through his areas of study as Tony had during his time at MIT, but he had done pretty well.

"Damn. Good for you. Get over here and help me engineer this. You've got a really good start. I like this bit you did here on the elbows. Not sure why I hadn't thought of that before."

"You don't swing around corners and need as much articulation there. Not usually. But you'll probably notice more flexibility with it done that way. Shuri helped me refine it a little. My original design had a weird catch when it folded away. A little math tweak, and we got this."

Tony glanced at him. "Working with a Wakandan princess? Is there more than idea sharing happening there?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "No."

"She not your type?"

"I'm not hers."

"What? Not smart enough? Bullshit. Too smart? Maybe. The continental difference might be a point against you..."

Peter gave Tony a look that apparently got the message across. Which was good because he didn't want to talk about his lackluster love life.

"Weren't you seeing that classmate for a bit?"

"Huh?" Peter frowned. "How would you even know about – who?"

Tony turned away from the schematic. "You young bucks put your whole lives on the internet. TikTok, I think it was? Little videos. You and that sharp-witted brunette."

"MJ? We broke up." More or less. Like he'd told Bucky, Peter wasn't entirely sure what that status was.

"Oh. Sorry. Anyone look promising?" Tony was back poking and swiping at the schematic.

Peter just blinked. Stunned. Though, maybe he shouldn't have been. He and Tony had spent a few hours together once. It wasn't like they had been dating for months or something.

When Peter didn't answer Tony's question, the man leaned around the monitor again, so he wasn't looking through the design specs. "Pete?"

"Sorry. No. No one." He didn't want to have this conversation anymore. How could he shift it away from himself? "What did you have FRIDAY draw up for Pepper and Morgan?"

That got Tony off the subject of Peter's dating life for the moment. "Nothing special. I'd organized with my attorney to handle some things. I'll have to tell her that I'm back. Work that out." He was back into his work again.

"Wait – you didn't tell your wife that you might come back from being dead?" Peter was more astonished now than a moment ago.

"Fun fact – we never actually got married. Pepper's idea. I still made sure they'd be taken care of if something happened to me."

This was surreal. And awkward. And how was any of this going to work? Peter leaned against the back of the couch. "How are you – did FRIDAY just, like, reinstate your social security number and erase your death certificate? How do you just come back to life?"

"That's all for the really smart lawyers to figure out. Kinda unprecedented here. Aside from the whole snap-blip thing. So maybe a little precedented."

"Not the same thing. That was people just disappearing. You died, Tony. You skipped a lot of the stickier moral implications by reviving yourself instead of Dr. Frankenstein-ing someone else. But there are questions this raises other than legal ones. In fact, the legal ones are probably the easier part. Ethically? Morally? This is gray as fuck, man."

Now Tony stepped entirely around the computer monitor; he was already starting to move better. "Someone squeezed every drop out of their education, didn't they?"

"Don't be an ass. This is serious shit. You were dead, and now you're not."

"Cap was frozen for seventy years. He got back-pay. Barnes was a brainwashed assassin periodically thawed out for use when Hydra had a reason. He got a pardon. All I did was mostly die from a radiation overdose while saving the goddamned universe. The least they can do is not harangue me over some quibbly bullshit when I stop being dead."

Peter tipped his head. "That was an impressive rant. But I'm still not sure it's the same thing."

"Why not?"

"The whole world saw you die!" That wasn't true, and Peter knew it. The world knew Tony had died, but they hadn't all watched it happen. "There are memorials and paintings and murals and, hell, probably a statue somewhere. Because you weren't supposed to come back." Peter wasn't yelling. He didn't have the energy to yell. He wasn't even sure his argument was logical. All he knew was that it had taken him a long time to get used to Tony not being there. But now he was back. What was Peter supposed to do with that?

"Hey, come here," Tony said and pulled Peter into a hug. "Would it be better if I'd told you ahead of time?"

Peter shook his head against Tony's shoulder. "No. And I'm sorry for unloading this all on you. It just brought back a lot of things I thought I'd dealt with." He had. But none of his therapy had offered how to handle if the dead friend came back. He took a deep, slow breath. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Knew what?"

"When I was in 2012. You knew you weren't gonna make it when you came back to fix the snap, didn't you?"

"Nope," Tony answered. "It was always a possibility. But I didn't set up the cradle until after that trip."

Peter leaned back so he could see Tony's face. "Are – are you saying you're back because of me?"

Quiet a moment, Tony thought about that. "Yeah, I guess I am. Your little stunt got the wheels spinning."

With a soft, still sad smile, Peter tucked his head back in against Tony's shoulder. He sat quietly for a long time, just enjoying Tony's company now that his head wasn't racing so hard. "I'm really glad to have you back," he said softly.

"Good. I'm glad to be back."

Chapter Text

When Banner came in with the robots, Peter watched Tony almost cry at seeing them again. Dum-E even made it all the way to the couch to greet Tony without destroying anything. Peter was proud.

"Good boy," Peter told the robot and patted it.

Tony looked up, frowning slightly. "Did you spoil my kids?"

"No. I treated them the same way I treat anyone else," Peter answered as U nudged its way toward the couch.

Banner shook his head. "Somehow, not even the weirdest family reunion I've been to."

Tony ignored him. Instead, talking to his robots. "Did you boys behave while I was gone?" Tony asked while Peter idly lowered a hand to stop a glass from crashing to the floor. Dum-E still wasn't always great at spatial awareness, but it tried.

"They were always good for me," Peter said.

Tony glanced up at Peter, then turned his attention back to the movie he'd been watching. Peter brushed a hand over the soft fuzz on Tony's head where his hair was just starting to grow back in. Then he made his way to the kitchen area to get started working on some lunch for Tony.

The robots didn't move from Tony's side through the remainder of the movie. It didn't appear that Tony was bothered by that either.

Peter sat with Tony to help him eat, and the robots lurked nearby for that too. Apparently, they had missed Tony as much as he'd missed them.

Later that week, Peter proposed an idea to Tony. "So, I was thinking, until you get your balance back, maybe we make you a cane. Way cooler than crutches, but still good for stability."

"I don't love it, but it's probably necessary," Tony answered.

Which, Peter knew, was what Banner had already told Tony. And Tony had brushed Banner off. Plan B had been for Peter to work his magic (Banner's words) and make it sound fun.

"Things that are necessary aren't always bad. But think of how cool you could make the thing. It could fold away into something small enough to fit into your pocket. But it would be way stronger than any cane on the market. It would be super slick."

"I could also wear my armor for the same result."

"Sure. But then everyone's going to expect Iron Man to be back. Exactly as he was before," Peter countered. "You have to – what is it they say? Manage expectations. If people see the suit, they'll assume you're back at a hundred percent and ready to fight evil right out of the gate. But if they can see that you're still recovering, some of that external pressure is off. They'll get it if Iron Man doesn't immediately get back into action. Sure it's stupid, and you shouldn't have to do it. But sometimes, people are assholes. Even when you don't want them to be."

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "You learn that from Rogers?"

Peter snorted. "Not hardly. I mean, he can swear with the best of them. But no. Not from him."

"I meant the speech. But now I know I need to send you back to your aunt. We're a horrible influence on you."

"I haven't lived at home for like six years. I've got my own crappy apartment and everything." It wasn't really that bad an apartment. He wasn't living on the Upper West Side, but his place was pretty nice for what he was paying for it. He and Ned managed pretty well, in fact.

"Bruce, fetch me the time machine. I did not authorize Parker to grow up. Gotta go make sure that doesn't happen."

"Eat your ice cream, Tony," Banner grumbled, but was grinning as he turned away.

The next several weeks were a flurry of activity. Peter had several regular work projects going on. Plus, he was still helping with Tony's recovery and rehabilitation. He wasn't sure he'd seen his apartment, much less his friends or Aunt May, for at least two of those weeks.

One Thursday, he put a beaker down on his lab table and handed over the rest of that particular project to a coworker. Then he advised his boss that he needed a week off. He knew if he didn't just go ahead and take the time, there would always be 'one more thing' he had to do every time he tried. So, he handed off the 'one more thing' and took some time off.

From everything. From his regular job and from Tony's rehab. Banner didn't argue. In fact, he volunteered to tell Tony for Peter so the engineer couldn't change Peter's mind.

Peter answered a few texts from work. Chatted a couple times with Tony over the phone – Tony was taking Peter's time off better than expected. And sent one work-related email. But beyond that, he spent most of his time hanging out with Ned or some other friends or just spending time alone. He'd almost forgotten what 'alone time' felt like.

The break was worth every second. By the time he was back in the lab, he was more focused and able to solve several minor roadblocks that had halted two of their projects.

When he was able to visit Tony again, he felt much better about that too. Apparently, he'd needed some time to process things and reset his perspective. He had been planning to suggest some alternatives to the cane idea, but Tony was already moving around his apartment with a prototype the first time Peter went by.

"Soon, I'll be able to race you down the hall," Tony stated confidently.

"Maybe I'll let you win," Peter said.

Tony glared, steadied his feet, then pointed the cane at Peter. "Don't you dare."

Peter laughed. He held up his hands in surrender. "Promise."

Chapter Text

The next few months progressed like that. Tony working on something new and doing his rehab. Peter stopping by to see how things were coming along and just to hang out. It was nice. Peter liked spending time with Tony. Especially when they got really into working on a design for Iron Man armor or new kit for the Avengers team.

This week, they'd moved into the workshop space that they could see from Tony's recovery apartment kitchen. Tony had ideas that he needed more space and his regular tools to work on.

"What are you going to tell them?" Peter asked.

"Tell who?"

"The Avengers. The team. They all think you're dead still."

Tony shrugged as he rearranged holo-layers for one of his gauntlets. "'I'm back' should work."

Peter set aside a wrench. "Tony, don't you think they deserve a little more than that? More than a witty quip and a wave."

"You think I should tell them first? Before the rest of the world, right?"

"Probably right after Pepper and Morgan, yeah."

"They already know," Tony said, still focused on the holo-layers.

Peter hadn't even been moving, but still stopped in his tracks. "What? Wh – when did you tell them?" How had Peter missed that?

"Couple weeks ago. It's fine. Morgan's coming for dinner this weekend." Tony turned to face Peter. "She wants you there."

"Me? Why?"

Tony shrugged again as he turned back to his work. "Guess she likes you. She asked if you were going to be here. I said I'd ask."

"I – sure, Tony. I can come if you want. But – how did that go? Telling them. Because you are eerily, unhealthily calm about that."

Tony swiped the holo-screen away. "Pepper was kind of pissed. I think she wanted to yell at me, but Morgan came into the room. Not how I was going to tell my teen daughter that I wasn't dead, but -" He shrugged again.

Peter stepped forward and curled his arms around Tony, holding him. "I'm so sorry, Tony."

"It's fine."

Peter pulled back and placed his hands on either side of Tony's face, feeling the barest hints of his beard growing back in. "It's not. And it's okay if you're not okay. I wasn't." For a few days after Tony's return, he hadn't been. He'd spent months getting over Tony's death eight years ago. Had moved on as best he could. Suddenly, Tony was back, and that was almost harder to work through at first. It had been unsettling. And, as much as he loved having Tony back, having to do that mental reconciliation was a lot.

"I'm fine," Tony insisted.

"Bullshit," Peter countered as he took a step back.

Tony arched an eyebrow at the ballsy young man in front of him. "Tough love, huh?"

Peter lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Not quite. I've just been there. Do you think this has all been easy on me?" Peter asked. "That just because you came back, everything is suddenly perfect? It doesn't work like that. You were gone for a long time before I found out that you weren't actually." He took a deep, semi-shaky breath. "Then I spent nearly two years working on how to bring you out. Do you know what sort of mental and emotional toll that takes?" He could feel his eyes welling. He could also see how uncomfortable Tony was getting faced with all of this emotion.

Contrary to his typical nature, Peter didn't immediately apologize for expressing himself. Or for making Tony uncomfortable. Because, overall, that wasn't his fault. Tony could have told him the plan. A big part of him wished that Tony had. Even if Peter could, now, understand why Tony hadn't.

When Tony still didn't say anything after a long break in the conversation, Peter added, "The same is probably true for Pepper. Maybe Morgan too. And I expect the rest of the Avengers to have similar trouble or conflict. These are people who love you, Tony. And this shit is hard."

"I know," Tony answered, voice quiet, but audible. He waved a hand, beckoning Peter close again. Peter stepped into Tony's embrace easily. "I'm so sorry, Pete." He rested his cheek against the side of Peter's head. "Gonna help me out?"

"Of course. I'll help with whatever you need, Tony. Always."

Peter had pointed out to Tony that he had skipped a couple of important people on the list that should probably be before the rest of the Avenger team. Namely Rhodey and Happy. Tony's initial response had been, 'Well, shit'. But Peter knew it wasn't because he didn't care. More because the whole ordeal of the radiation and regeneration had been pretty rough on his entire body, mind included.

They'd pulled together a plan. Had a little get-together. And broke the news. Peter got a couple of grumpy frowns until Bruce explained why he had been brought in. Peter was pretty sure the beer helped too. Overall, he could see Tony's friends were glad to have him back and that he told them himself.

"That went better than I thought it would," Tony said as he flopped onto the couch. Peter could see how much all of that socialization had taken out of him.

He sat next to Tony. "How long are you going to wait before you tell the rest of the team?" His personal suggestion would be 'a little while, but not too long'.

Tony sighed. "Soon. After I recover from this one." He rolled his head. "Will you please come over here and sit with me? You always sit so far away."

"Sorry," Peter said as he shifted closer to Tony. "I - I didn't want to crowd you." The real reason, the one he didn't want to share, was he wasn't sure how Tony felt about him. And it was much too early in Tony's recovery for him to push. Not that he ever would.

Tony slipped his fingers beneath Peter's arm and gently tugged him closer. "You're not crowding me. I want you here. And I can actually hug you now." He demonstrated exactly that.

Peter grinned and leaned into Tony's embrace. Warm and comfortable. He wished it could always be like this. Sitting quietly with Tony, head on his shoulder. Maybe they add a movie or some music. A book. Suddenly the idea of Tony reading to him was the sexiest thing he'd ever imagined.

"What's going on in that busy brain of yours?" Tony asked, brushing hair back from Peter's head.

"Nothing. It's stupid."

"So's the pet rock, but it made money." He nudged Peter. "Come on."

He sighed. "I was just thinking about how it'd be kinda nice to just sit here and have you read something to me."

"Like a bedtime story?"

Peter shook his head. "No. Just something. Maybe not textbooks, but a novel or short story." A little shrug. "I miss hearing your voice." When they used to work in the workshop together, back before - everything - Tony would talk through what he was doing. Sometimes, talking to FRIDAY, other times, to himself, and sometimes explaining things to Peter. He’d always loved hearing what Tony was thinking or doing.

"You got a book handy?" Tony asked.

"I - uh - no. I could find one on my phone." He had not expected that response at all.

Tony picked up a tablet from the table. "I got this. What sort of thing do you want to read?"

"I'm not picky. Just no textbooks."

Tony skimmed through his tablet. "You gotta help me out here: historical, SciFi, romance, erotica?"

"Really?" Peter tipped his head to look at Tony. "Erotica?"

"You don't like spicy books?"

"Just for that, I pick erotica."

Chuckling as he flipped through the screens, Tony said. "I will remind you of this when you complain later."

Peter didn't complain at all. His body was all in on Tony's erotica reading. It made Peter very glad he'd grabbed a blanket before they'd settled in. Part of him wished he had chosen something else, but only because it felt a little awkward to be turned on by Tony's voice if it wasn't going to be reciprocated.

Then Tony dropped a kiss on Peter's neck and slid a hand across his chest. Peter knew he wasn't always the best at reading signals, but that one was pretty obvious. Even to him.

Soft music started playing, something warm and gentle. Then Tony stopped reading. Peter might've been a little grumpy about that if Tony hadn't asked, "Is this okay?" as he ran his hands up and down Peter's chest.

He nodded. "More than okay," he whispered. He let his eyes drop closed and added, "I wasn't sure how you felt about this."

"I wasn't sure you'd be into me without the beard."

Peter had to laugh. He shook his head and placed his hands over Tony's. "I like you fine just the way you are."

"Do you like me if I do this," asked as he brushed his hand across the fly of Peter's jeans.

The warm sound that came from Peter's chest was low, almost needy. "Very much, actually."

"Not too much to start?"

Peter gave a light head shake. "Perfect."

"I doubt that. But I'll try."

Their evening on the couch had been really nice. Peter wasn't sure how much Tony would be up for under the circumstances. So he'd let Tony set the pace. It had turned out so well. Soft and slow, getting each other off stretched out on the couch.

Peter did make sure that what they were doing didn't make Tony feel like he wasn't doing enough. He didn't want the man to push himself too hard on something meant to be fun.

Though, it wasn't a surprise when Tony fell asleep on Peter's chest. It was a little uncomfortable, but he didn't have the heart to wake Tony so they could move.

When Peter woke up, it was much lonelier on the couch. He could hear someone moving in the kitchen area. Pretty sure it wasn't Tony, Peter sat up enough to peek over the back of the couch. Banner.

He hunkered back down and pulled the blanket up over his head. He needed Tony to get a move on telling, at least, the rest of the Avengers so he didn't have to hide out here anymore.

Chapter Text

Two weeks later, Peter and the other Avengers were called to the compound for a meeting. Walking in, Peter knew exactly what this was about. He shared a look with Rhodes, who held up his hands 'not my idea' style. No, this was indeed entirely Tony Stark.

Peter watched the group react when Tony came out. A sort of stunned silence at first while they tried to figure out who it was. Followed by gasps and muttered curses once they realized it was Tony.

"Hey, everyone! So, I'm back," Tony began. "Let's not make a big deal of it. Any questions about any of this – direct those to Banner over there. Or, where is he -" Peter tried to fade into the shadows. "-there, good ole Dr. Parker. They know what's going on..."

After that, Peter stopped listening. Bracing himself to be overrun with indignation because he knew before everyone else. Strangely, that didn't happen. People approached him with legitimate questions. He couldn't answer all of them, but he did try with anything that wasn't still classified.

At one point, Rhodes came over and said he was needed for something. Peter was grateful to get away from the small crowd that was hounding him with so many questions. Even more so when he wasn't actually needed for something. "Thanks for the rescue," Peter said.

Rhodes smiled. "It's what I do." He tipped his head in the general direction of where Tony was entertaining people with being no longer dead. "Threw your ass under the bus, didn't he?"

Peter rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's fine. Really. I'm proud of the work. It was hard. But this is a lot. Kinda expected everyone to be mad at me."

Rhodes' face shifted into a frown. "Why mad at you?"

"Story of my life. But, really, because I knew before they did. Because I didn't tell them. Any one of a dozen irrational things."

He put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "To them, kid, you brought back Iron Man. Maybe that means a little more."

Peter smiled. "I see why you're his best friend."

That made Rhodes laugh. "One of many reasons. Even if he is a pain in the ass."

After the meeting with the team, Tony crashed again. He definitely didn't have his socialization legs back yet. Peter was relieved he didn't have to press too hard to keep Tony on a slow pace for things like that. It helped that he now had back-up from both Rhodes and Happy.

Tony had all of his workshop projects moved to the compound upstate. Then he moved his robots and himself. Banner thought it was a great idea. It would get Tony out of the main SI building, and there'd be additional support.

Peter was a little torn. The move would definitely be good for Tony, but it did mean it would be harder for him to get out there to see him. He didn't have a car (and didn't really want one) and any other method of getting that far out of the city was pricey if he was going to be doing it a lot.

Tony had a solution: Borrow one of his cars. He took Peter down to the garage and picked one of the cars he was, apparently, okay with loaning to Peter. He handed him a keyfob and asked him to visit when he got the chance. And he did, a few times.

Several weeks later, Peter received a text from Tony inviting him for a date. The text legitimately asked Peter for a full-on date that Friday.

Peter was ecstatic. He must have been bouncing because Ned was giving him odd looks.

"Did you win a Nobel prize or something?" Ned asked as he drained pasta at the sink.

"Not quite." He looked up from his phone. "I have a date," he said as he sent back a confirmation text.

Ned set down the pot. "With who?"

"Tony," Peter replied without thinking.

"Lindell? From college?"

"Stark," Peter supplied automatically. Then froze. Shit.

Ned's head tilted like a confused puppy. "I'm getting MJ on the phone right now if you're going to start dating corpses or having hallucinations."

"What?" Peter asked and shook his head. "No. Um -" He looked down at his phone again. "Shit."

"Dude, what? I'm not kidding. I'm gonna burn all my international minutes..."

"No. Don't do that. I – I should just tell you. But -" he gave Ned a serious look, "- you cannot tell anyone. No one. At all."

"Sure, yeah. I can do that." Ned leaned on the counter, looking right at Peter. It was disconcerting.

"Right. So, Tony's alive."

"What?!"

Peter waved a hand in a 'quiet' gesture. "Yeah. Long story, but regeneration tech. He didn't die. And now he's back."

"Whoa," Ned said, impressed. "Wait, and he's asking you out?"

Peter wasn't sure how to take that. "Dude-"

Ned waved his hands. "No, no. I mean, like, did he know you liked guys? And like, how? And like, does he know you're not seeing anyone? Have you been talking to him this whole time?" Then, his demeanor shifted. "Oh! Oh! Is this what was in that secret lab you found?"

"Pretty sure I can't talk about the secret lab since it's still secret." It didn't mean he didn't want to tell Ned. He would love to. But, he couldn't.

"Okay. Fine. But, still, how does he know? And dude, he's way older than you."

"I'm not sure which part of this should offend me the most," Peter grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Peter. But this is just so much. Like, he's like sixty, right?" Ned was doing the math.

"Technically, he's been in sort of a coma in a regeneration tank, so he's still fifty-four. Kinda like when we blipped."

"Right. Right. But, like, how does he know you like him? Wait, do you like him?"

Peter nodded. "I do like him. A lot. We're a lot alike. Have similar interests. Stuff like that."

"You're both Avengers," Ned added.

"Not really relevant, but sure."

"Wait, if no one knows he's alive, how are you going on a date?"

Peter gave Ned a look. "Ned."

"Ohhh. Like Netflix and chill kind of date. Got it. Oh my god. This is so awesome! He should tell everyone."

"He's gonna, Ned. And remember, you promised not to tell. If you do, I'm sending Dr. Strange after you. And he's, like, mean."

Ned held up his hands. "Got it. Sealed."

Chapter Text

That Friday, Peter, in his borrowed car, drove out to the compound for his date with Tony. He was a little disappointed when he walked into Tony's quarters and found Happy lurking at the kitchen counter. It wasn't that he didn't like Happy, but that he was expecting a date to just be he and Tony.

Happy explained that he was there while Tony was in the shower. For emergencies. At Banner's insistence. That eased Peter's worry. Though he would've gladly had dinner with Happy and Tony. But once Peter was settled in, Happy said 'good night' and left.

Peter slid onto a stool at the kitchen island and pulled out his phone to check his messages and ignore most of them. While waiting for Tony, he took a good look around. The layout wasn't much different from Tony's recovery apartment. It was just bigger. It even had a big picture window that looked into Tony's private workshop space. It made Peter smile. Something about this space seemed brighter. Felt more alive. Like Tony was more comfortable here.

Clearly he was, since he emerged from the main bedroom in a sleek, expensive-looking, robe he hadn't bothered to tie closed. Peter appreciated the view. Secretly, he was glad Tony was wearing underwear. It still felt a little early to go straight into naked at the beginning of the date.

Tony's hair was still damp from his shower, and he smelled like that citrusy soap he liked to use. The one Peter had stocked up on right after Tony had died because he needed that one small connection to him.

"Hey, Pete," Tony said as he padded across the floor to stand near him. "Thought we could order in and veg on the couch. Unless you want our date to be in the workshop. I'm sure Dum-E wouldn't mind."

He smiled at Tony. "The couch is great. I uh, should let you know that I kinda told Ned you're alive." He winced, preparing for an unsexy tongue-lashing.

"Kinda wish you hadn't. But if he keeps quiet, it'll be fine." Tony nudged Peter's chair so he could sidle up between his knees, hand on his thighs. "What do you say we work up an appetite?"

"You are unbelievable. You're just going right to the sex?"

Tony frowned. "I haven't had sex since the time heist, Pete. Even with the coma, that's a long time," he said, pouting.

"Are you gonna just kick me to the curb once you get what you want?"

"Nope," Tony said. "You think I show everyone my cool resident quarters? Rogers hasn't even been in here. Or that I just let them use my cars? Or recruit them to figure out how to re-alive me?" He kissed Peter's chin. "I didn't just choose you for your big brain. I chose you because you're you. Because I knew, on the other side of this, you would understand all of it. Why I wanted to – needed to – come back. Why I can retire but never truly stop being Iron Man. Because I knew then what I know now, that you love me no matter what. You love me for who I am. Not for who you expect me to be. And that, more than anything, is why you're here tonight."

Peter blinked the tears from his eyes, trying to keep them from falling. That was the entire opposite of getting kicked to the side. That was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard from Tony. Hell, it might be the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard from anyone.

Not knowing what to say, he gently took Tony's face between his hands and drew him in for a kiss. He kissed Tony soft and warm and full of everything. Tony kissed him back, and he didn't want to let go. He wanted to hold on to all of this as long as he could.

"Tony," he whispered as he pulled back slightly, "take me to bed."

Tony led him to the bedroom. It had the largest bed he'd ever seen. This was where this apartment differed from the other one. Tony lived here. It was decorated and laid out for him to be comfortable, not just to sleep.

Stopping at the side of the bed, Tony pulled Peter close. He didn't speak as he methodically removed each article of clothing from Peter's body. As he knelt to push Peter's pants to the floor, Tony brushed a kiss to his thigh. He got back to his feet and rested a hand on Peter's hip.

"This is going to be so much better than last time," Tony whispered.

Peter laughed. "Last time was already pretty great."

"I'll try not to disappoint you."

He kissed Tony gently. "You could never." He pushed the robe off Tony's shoulders, leaning in to brush his lips across Tony's collarbone.

Tony pulled him closer. "You're wearing too many clothes still." Then he hooked his fingers in Peter's shorts and pushed them down over his hips. "Much better." He skimmed his own out of the way before moving onto the bed.

Peter watched Tony arrange some pillows at the head of the bed, then settled against them. He beckoned Peter to sit over his lap. A position he didn't hesitate to take. He leaned in for another kiss. "Let me know when you're ready," he whispered and felt Tony groan in response.

Tapping a hand around the nightstand, Tony was able to locate what he was after. He held the bottle in his hand while Peter pressed sweet kisses all over his face. "I'm not ready to test my stamina just yet, so if there's anything -"

"Shhh," Peter whispered. "Just this. It's perfect." He felt Tony smile against his skin. Peter sighed happily, trailing kisses along Tony's jaw toward his ear. "I want you inside me."

Tony groaned softly. He worked to coat his cock with lube, then tossed the bottle aside. "Good." Tony then guided Peter's hips to lift up. Leaning back a bit, he let Peter ease himself into place.

Resting a hand on Tony's chest, Peter whispered, "Just relax. Let me do this." Then he pressed his knees into the bed and lifted himself slowly before dropping back down again. That was a feeling he had been missing all these years. He hadn't realized how much, though. He almost cried. Tony's hands rubbing patterns over all his skin kept him focused.

His primary goal was to make Tony feel amazing. He closed his eyes to focus on his movements. Soft and gentle, up and down, feeling the slight drag as he lifted off Tony's cock, and the warm fullness as he lowered himself again.

This was so much different from the last time they'd been together. That had been full of desperation and Peter's need to experience and feel Tony all around him, holding on as long as he could so he had that memory forever. This, though, was a warmth and a passion he hadn't felt then. He probably hadn't even known how.

Tony looked the most relaxed now that Peter had seen him in a long while. Relaxed, but still very present. He was aware of all of Peter's movements. Especially the sharp hip jump when he folded his fingers around Peter's cock and began to stroke.

Peter's eyes dipped closed, but he kept moving. He gripped Tony's shoulder with one hand and his hair with the other. He moaned out a curse moments before his orgasm rolled over him in waves of heat, coating Tony's hand as he came.

Still stroking Peter, Tony rocked his own hips up for a few more passes before he came, spilling himself inside the young man in his lap. After that, he sank back into the pillows. Peter eased forward to rest against Tony's chest. He let his fingers tease at Tony's hair as he lay there, just breathing.

Tony brushed a kiss to Peter's head. "Was I right?" Peter responded with an unintelligible grunt, and Tony laughed. "Okay. Taking that as a yes."

He held Peter for a bit, then they got up to get a shower before ordering dinner. Peter warned Tony that if he was expecting to have leftovers, he'd be disappointed. And he wasn't wrong – Peter ate anything Tony didn't. Then they crawled into bed, spending the night with lazy kisses and quiet conversation until they fell asleep.

"Whoa, Tony! Wait, you're serious?" Peter asked, following the man down the hall. "That – we only talked about it like two weeks ago. Are you sure?"

Tony frowned over his shoulder at Peter, still walking along the corridor. "Of course I'm sure. It's already set up."

"What's already set up?" They walked a few more feet down the hall. "Tony?"

He stopped at the end of the corridor before a turn. "Press conference. Just gonna bite the bullet. I'm tired of hiding."

"As long as you're sure." Peter wasn't entirely convinced.

"Don't worry," he stepped up to kiss Peter soundly on the mouth, "I won't tell anyone about us until you're ready. This is just about me."

Peter rolled his eyes. He knew convincing Tony to wait on this would be a wasted effort. If Tony thought he was ready, that's what mattered.

When Peter stepped into the press room, he almost immediately backed right out again. The room was full of reporters and Avengers. Rhodes and Pepper were waiting on the dais. Banner stepped up beside Peter and patted him on the shoulder, telling him it would all be fine. It was Tony.

The room erupted with shocked sounds when Tony stepped out to the podium. Even without fanfare, the man could draw every bit of attention to himself. He waited for the noise to die down before he got started. "Afternoon, everyone. Guess who's back!"