Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

isn't it an irony?
the things that inspire me?
they make me bleed?
so profusely

Spider-Man was everything that Peter Parker wanted to be. He was like a game of pretend and sometimes when the suit was on, he could pretend that nothing had changed. People recognized him with the suit, Spider-Man was remembered. 

Peter Parker was not.

His life was pretty fucked up, Peter would be the first to admit it. The past two years… who was he kidding? The past five years of his life (Could it count as ten if he included the five that he spent as ash? ) have been complete chaos and pain, all because Peter had been a naive little kid that wanted to play superhero. Four years ago, he had everything. Now he was 18 and he had nothing. 

Parker Luck. That’s what May had called it, whenever something very small and miniscule went wrong for him or Ben, May always cursed that goddamn Parker Luck with a huge grin on her face and a hug that would make everything okay.

But May wasn’t here anymore, there were no hugs and nothing would ever be okay again.

Peter sat on the top of the Empire State Building, staring out at the bright lights that lit up New York City. It was quieter up here, he could see why Peter Three had spoken of it so fondly. 

The police radio, which Peter had connected to his comm, crackled to life, “We have a 10-66 on Brooklyn Bridge. Requesting backup." He barely had time to put his mask on before the hair on the back of his neck stood up, causing him to stand up in alarm. His ears were buzzing with the feeling of vertigo and for a moment, it seemed like the world was going in slow motion as he turned to the direction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He needed to get there. Now.  

Peter leapt off of his perch, throwing his arm out for a web and he swung across the city. His spidey-sense was growing louder as he grew closer to the bridge. He landed a few yards away, scanning the area as he tried to find what was amiss.

 “All units needed. 10-66 has just turned into a 10-79.” 

His eyes landed on the figure standing in the middle of the bridge, barricades set up on both sides, effectively blocking the traffic flow as cars honked. His spidey-sense was practically screaming at him as the man raised his hand, a metal gadget resting between his fingers.

To Peter, he looked like a textbook criminal, dressed in some funky red and black suit that he supposed was the man’s super villain getup. 

In a split second, everything descended into chaos as the man broke the gadget in half, causing an explosion on the side of the bridge to go off. The cars that were once honking in annoyance were now being thrown across the bridge and screams could be heard from every direction. “10-80! 10-80! All units move in, now!” 

Spider-Man moved into action, leaping forward as he swung across the bridge towards the figure, who seemed to be fidgeting with more gadgets."Incoming!” He yelled, connecting his red-and-blue boots into the man’s chest, sending him flying backwards as Peter shot multiple webs, trying to keep cars from falling into the water. He turned quickly, watching as the man stumbled to his feet. 

“Ah, Spider-Man,” He was wearing goggles that took up half of his face. “I was wondering when you would show up. He said you would.” 

Peter made a face, though it went unnoticed by his opponent, “Who’s “he”? Better yet, who even are you?” He secured the last web, making sure that none of the cars were in danger of falling off of the bridge. He needed to get the civilians out as soon as possible.

“Figures you wouldn’t know me, my genius always seems to go unseen. He did always let the muscle be seen before I get my chance.” The man was mumbling to himself, though his eyes never once left Peter. “I am, what He calls, the Tinkerer.” He opened his black vest, revealing a plethora of metal devices among the many wires. Peter squinted his eyes slightly, noticing how each device had a pair of wings carved into them. “This is my reckoning.” 

“Alright, I’ve had enough of this.” Peter rolled his eyes, flipping forward and shooting a web at the man only to be met with a metal gadget instead of the Tinkerer. His eyes widened as the wings split apart in his hand, except this explosion did not rock the bridge. This time, it dissolved into veils of electricity, the sparks traveling up Peter’s arms and burning most of the spandex from his hands, leaving his skin visible. 

“What the fuck?! ” He yelped, slapping his hands against his thighs in an attempt to get rid of the sparks. “That was not very nice.” He seethed, his tone dark. 

The Tinkerer let out a joyful laugh, raising his arms in a victorious stance, “This is only the start, Spider-Man. What will you choose?”

“Do all supervillains speak in ridiculously vague questions?” Peter asked, moving to once again leap into action. The moment he went to shoot a web, his sixth sense practically screamed at him, causing the vigilante to freeze in his tracks. The Tinkerer was holding up a remote, the man smiling menacingly at him. 

“You can catch me,” He said, his finger hovering over the button on the remote, “Or you can catch them.” With that, he pressed the button, setting off a chain of explosions down the bridge. As the first went off, the webs that Peter had secured the cars with were no longer of use as the foundations they were stuck on blew apart. 

Peter’s eyes widened as the screams of the car's occupants filled the air, the young man cursing as he realized the choice at hand.

As much as he wanted to go after the Tinkerer, the right answer was obvious so he turned, running in the opposite direction of the villain as he planned his next move. 

There were four cars on the left side of the bridge and two on the right; he had enough web fluid to secure them all. There was a small interval between each explosion, so he had very little time to get from one car to the next, not to mention that each car weighed differently. He only had one chance to get this right or else he wouldn’t be able to save everyone (he had to save everyone.)

“Physics, this is physics,” Peter mumbled to himself. “You’re good at physics.” He took a step back before running forward, leaping into the air before he contorted his body into a swan dive, flying off the side of the bridge. He connected a web to the first car and another to the bridge, yanking himself back into the air and pulling the car with him. The connecting web was then secured back onto the bridge as Peter took extra care to avoid the crumbled pillars. 

He continued the same process, working quickly to connect each of the cars to a different part of the bridge as their original connection was lost due to the explosions. Peter could only hope that everyone within the cars was okay as he was sure that being thrown around multiple times was a truly traumatizing experience. After securing the last car, he leapt back onto the bridge only to find the Tinkerer to be gone, much to his dismay.

Peter turned to begin pulling cars up when a horrified voice yelled out, “Help me, please, my son is stuck!” He turned, his eyes falling on a woman. She was gripping the edge of a rail, one of Peter’s webs stuck close to her hand. He took a deep breath, running towards her before he jumped over the railing, swinging himself towards the gray van below. 

He landed on the trunk, ripping off the back window only to hear a petrified wail of a little boy. “Help!” He was crying over and over again, his small legs powerful enough to shake the van back and forth as he kicked. “Help me! Mommy!” 

“Hey, hey, hey buddy, it’s okay!” Peter tried to soothe, holding his hands up as the little boy turned towards him. “It’s alright,”

His words went unheard as the little boy cried out again, his pitch growing higher. In a split second decision, Peter pulled his mask off, looking the child in the eye as his cries quieted. “Hey look, I’m just a normal guy.” He said softly. “Alright?” The boy hiccuped, shaky breaths leaving his mouth as he calmed slightly, looking at Peter with a mixture of awe and terror. 

“Do you wanna hold this?” Peter asked, extending the mask. At the boy’s nod, he tossed it over, careful with his movements as the car creaked slightly. “Hold my mask.” 

The kid fiddled with it, his breaths evening out a little more. Peter looked around the car, “What’s your name?” His eyes landed on the backpack that fell against the back of the passenger seat. “B-Benji?” He asked, his own voice wavering. 

At the sound of his name, the boy looked at him again, “Yes,” He answered, his voice quiet. 

“Let’s get you out of here.” Peter said, his voice more encouraging as he slowly crept into the car from the back window. He cringed, hearing the way that the car creaked again. “Stay very still,” He instructed, Benji following suit with a small “Alright.”

He took great care in the way he crawled through the car, making his way towards Benji, “I got you,” He assured, holding onto the headrest. Once he made it right beside the kid, he reached around him until his fingers found the buckle of the seatbelt.

“Okay now, I’m gonna undo the belt and you’re gonna hold onto that seat in front of you, okay? On three.” Benji looked at him, his eyes fearful even as he nodded his head. “Okay, one, two, three!” 

Peter unbuckled his seatbelt and Benji fell forward, his back hitting the the driver’s seat with a grunt. “See how easy that was?” He offered him a proud smile, the child breathing heavily once more. “You did a great job!” 

His smile fell when the front of the van was suddenly engulfed in flames and he was alarmed to see them spreading quickly along the vehicle. At the same moment, his web snapped and he only had less than a second to act, shooting a web upwards as the car fell and he grabbed the rear bumper.

Benji screamed as he fell backwards in between the front two seats. Peter groaned as he struggled between holding onto his web and the van, “Benji, climb, now!” There was a level of urgency in his words. 

“I can’t,” Benji cried, his voice tearful. 

“Yes, you can!” He could hear pieces of the car breaking off. His own breaths were shallow as he scrambled for a plan, looking Benji in the eye as he said, “Put…put it on! The mask, it’s going to make you strong.”

Benji looked at him with uncertainty, turning the mask in his hands. “Benji, trust me. Put it on.” Peter was relieved to see him pulling the mask over his head, “There you go! That’s it, that’s it buddy! Now climb!” 

The bumper creaked in his hand, pulling up slightly, “Come on Benji!” He began to climb through the seats of the car, towards Peter. “Do me a favor, a little faster bud! You’re doing great buddy, you’re doing great!” He cheered as Benji grew closer, “That’s it, come on. Keep coming!”

Benji was nearly to him when the bumper broke off and the car dropped, “No!” Peter screamed in horror as Benji let out a terrified wail, his hand extended as he tried to reach for him.

In a quick motion, Peter shot out a web, catching him by the chest as the car fell away from him into the water. 

They both were breathing heavily as Peter shut his eyes tight, trying not to panic at the thought that he almost wasn’t fast enough to save the kid. He flicked his wrist, bringing Benji towards him until the kid was held safely against him. 

As they ascended upwards back to the bridge, Benji pulled the mask back over Peter’s head, hugging the vigilante tightly. Once they made it back over the railing, he quickly handed the kid off to his mother as she sobbed his name, hugging the boy tightly in her arms.

Peter squatted on the rail, watching as she kissed the top of his head, the two of them crying in what he supposed was both fear and happiness. 

“My son!” Benji’s mother cried out before she turned her head towards Peter. She stared for a moment, something in her eyes that he couldn’t quite place, “Thank you, Spider-Man, thank you!” She hugged her son tighter as she spoke. Peter could only nod, his throat tight as he threw another web, swinging away quickly. That was close, too close. 

Chapter Text

surely we'll live to see the day 
when all of our problems, they fade away

They truly were in the endgame now. 

Tony was still wrapping his around the fact that they had been successful in bringing back those who had been dusted. The moment that Bruce had snapped his fingers, it seemed like the world had gotten a little brighter. At least, that was before Thanos had destroyed the compound. 

He barely had a moment to take in what had happened before he found himself eye to eye with the mad Titan and battling the culls of his Black Order, the whir of his repulsors sounding every few seconds as he shot down the invading aliens. This battle was something that he had been anticipating; however it still came as a shock when almost every hero that the Earth had to offer was now banded together, taking on an entire alien army. 

Tony grunted as one of the culls knocked into him with such force that he was thrown back, struggling within the grip of one of the outriders, claws digging into his nanotech. Before he could get a chance to blast it back, a familiar thwip filled the air and suddenly his throat was tight. Just like that, the outrider was gone and he had a moment of quiet.

He turned, his helmet retracting as his eyes fell upon the teenage boy. The helmet of the Iron Spider had retracted into the suit as well and if they weren’t in battle, Tony could have cried at the sight of Peter’s face. He looked exactly as he did on that day on Titan.

“Mr. Stark. Holy cow, you would not believe what’s been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must’ve passed out, because I woke up and you weren’t there, but Doctor Strange was, and he was like, “it’s been five years, they need us.” And he started doing that yellow sparkly thing he does.” Tony couldn’t help it, stepping forward to pull the kid into a tight embrace. In the past five years, he would have done anything to listen to Peter ramble.

“Oh,” The kid’s voice was muffled against his chest, “This is nice.” Tony squeezed his eyes shut, relishing the hug before he let him go. He paused for a moment, taking in the kid’s face before he patted him on the shoulder. 

“Let’s kick some ass.” 

And with that, they were immersed back into the battle, cutting down creatures and culls left and right. But just as many that they killed, more seemed to spawn. “What do you want to do with this thing?” Natasha’s voice called out through their comms.

“Get those stones as far away as possible!” Steve commanded. Oh, she had the gauntlet.

“No!” Bruce’s voice was a mix of his and the Hulk’s. “We need to send them back where they came from!”

Tony shook his head, “There’s no way to send them back, Thanos destroyed our time machine.” He said with disgust. 

“Hold on!” Scott exclaimed and from a distance, Tony could see Giant Man shrink down. “That wasn’t our only time machine!"

It seemed like his implication clicked for all of them at the same moment because just as Tony was about to respond, Steve beat him to it, “Does anyone see an ugly brown van?"

It took a moment before anyone responded, “Yeah, but you’re not going to like where it's parked.” 

Tony hovered in the air, overlooking the battlefield and was annoyed to see that the van sat deep within the enemy line, a hoard of aliens separating them both on the ground and in the air. “Scott, how long do you need to get that thing working?” 

“Uh, maybe ten minutes?”

“Get it started,” He spotted Steve, the man looking at him in determination, “We’ll get the stones to you.”

“We’re on it, Cap.” 

Tony flew towards Doctor Strange, the man using his magic to battle the aliens, “Doc, you said we win one in fourteen million, is this how it goes down?”

The sorcerer stared at him for a moment, something in his eyes that Tony couldn’t quite read before he sighed, “If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen.”

“You better be right.”

They went on, taking out alien after alien. He found his mind wandering to those missing from the battle, his heart aching as he recalled exactly how they obtained the Soul Stone and Clint’s sacrifice. Without it, they would not have been able to bring everyone back. They had to win.

Through their comms, Tony could hear as the gauntlet was passed from hero to hero anytime the higher members of the Black Order caught sight of it. His heart skipped a beat when Peter’s voice echoed over, the young teen exclaiming, “I got it!"

He could only glance over for a moment, watching as Spider-Man activated the Instant Kill feature on his suit, taking out multiple aliens at the same time. For a moment, it seemed as if they were going to be successful. Peter was making his way across the battlefield with the gauntlet and Wanda seemed like she was taking care of Thanos.

But as all things tended to be, an easy win was too good to be true. All at once, Thanos’ ship starts raining down on them and every Avenger ran for cover as warriors were being struck down. 

“Um, is anyone else seeing this?” Tony’s head turned almost immediately at the sound of Pepper’s voice. At first it was difficult to figure out what she was talking about, with the chaos of the battlefield, there were so many things that she could be referring to. 

Then he saw it. The dam holding the river water back was hit in the crossfire from Thanos' ship and the water that had been released was rushing towards them and the riverbank was threatening to collapse. Forget wiping out the Black Order, if nothing was done then they would all get swept up from the gushing water.

Out of nowhere, Strange, Wong and a flock of wizards began waving their arms in every direction, orange magic holding the water back. Tony breathed a small sigh of relief, turning his attention back to the battle. 

“Hey Queens, heads up!” Steve said and Tony watched as he threw Mjolnir (he was still shocked at the fact that Steve could lift it) and Peter hung onto it by a web. 

His relief was quickly thwarted when a blast knocked the kid out of the sky, only for him to be caught by Pepper in the Rescue suit. He pursed his lips, using his repulsors to blast more culls out of his way as he did his best to get closer but the battle was growing more intense at this point. 

Heroes from all directions were fighting at max capacity but as the battle went on, the stamina and adrenaline was beginning to dwindle. Tony grit his teeth, trying to remain optimistic but right now, it wasn’t looking good. The relentless barrage was gaining the upper hand. 

All of the sudden, things went dead silent and everyone followed the direction of Thanos’ cannons, heads pointed towards the sky. “What the hell is this?” Sam questioned. 

Tony flew up, his eyes scanning the skyline, “FRIDAY, what are they firing at?”

His screen lit up as FRIDAY’s systems whirred to find an answer, “Something just entered the outer atmosphere.”

As his AI spoke, a fiery comet broke into their line of sight, heading straight for the Sanctuary-2 and Tony couldn’t help but grin. Carol Danvers shot through the ship, her binary form flying out the opposite side and the engines began to explode. 

Now with the Sanctuary-2 destroyed, the fight continued on and the Avengers began to come out victorious. Carol now had ownership of the gauntlet and Natasha and Wanda led their gang of female Avengers in annihilating the troops surrounding her and Peter. Things were beginning to look up and he grew more confident when Scott’s voice filtered throughout their comms, “Thirty seconds!”

However, just as Carol made it to the van, Thanos launched a spear towards it and before she was able to send the gauntlet back through the quantum time machine, the van exploded and Carol and Scott were sent flying.

Tony didn’t have a chance to take in the weight of what just happened, his eyes locking on the abandoned Infinity gauntlet and quickly moved into action in the same moment as Steve, Thor, and Thanos.

Anxiety flowed through him as Thanos obtained the glove, kicking Thor down and away from them. Steve lunged towards the titan only to be thrown away. Tony doesn’t have any time to react as Thanos knocked him away, groaning in pain as his head knocked against the side of his helmet. 

Before he could snap, Carol landed beside him and with a passionate yell, began to pull the gauntlet away from Thanos, unphased as the titan headbutted her. Tony got to his knees, gathering his bearings just as Thanos pulled the Time Stone from the gauntlet, a wave of green encasing his fist as he punched Captain Marvel and sent her flying. 

It's at that moment that Tony is struck with a horrifying realization, they were going to lose again. 

He knew what he had to do, flying forward just as Thanos went to snap again, his nano-tech growing around the gauntlet. He had a failsafe, a backup plan. It would cost him everything but also save everyone and put an end to Thanos, he just had to-

Thanos threw him backwards, the mad titan ripping off the armor on Tony’s hand. “Letting you live was a mistake that I am not inclined to make again,” Thanos grinned, holding up the Iron Gauntlet. 

Tony stared, his heart thudding against his chest. How did he-? He looked towards Doctor Strange, the wizard fighting a losing the battle against the water. His eyes met Tony’s and his heart sank, the sorcerer shaking his head as he confirmed Tony’s fear; this wasn’t one in fourteen million. 

Thousands of thoughts flooded his head. Morgan. Pepper. Peter. He was about to lose all of them, they had lost. Again. “I am inevitable.” Thanos’ voice was delighted and no one had any time to react before the titan snapped his fingers, a blinding white light filling the sky. 

It was only seconds later that Tony was opening his eyes, preparing himself to witness the fate of both himself and everyone around him only to be met with an orange sky. He sat up quickly, his bare hand meeting the soft sand that covered the ground. His chest heaved as he looked around, finding both Natasha and Steve staring back at him, both still adorning their uniforms. 

“We lost.” The pain was obvious in Natasha’s voice. “Where are we?” The sand seemed to span out for miles all around them, reflecting the orange sky. There was nothing else. 

Tony didn’t have an answer, too overcome by the grief of what he had lost. His family…he didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to them. He squeezed his eyes shut, he was never going to forgive himself for losing Morgan, his little girl. Maybe spending eternity in this place was his punishment. 

“Tony…” Steve’s voice trailed off and he couldn’t even bring himself to be angry at the man. As much as he wanted to punch him in his star-spangled face, when it came down to it, it wasn’t his fault that they had lost.

Tony could blame him all he wanted for bringing him back into the fight, but when it came down to it, he had willingly invented time travel to bring everyone back. To bring Peter back.

If only he could have obtained the stones quicker, he could have snapped. Tony could have saved them all. 

“Captain America,” A deep voice startled him out of his thoughts, “Black Widow, Iron Man, three formidable heroes. The Stones applaud your resilience.” The three Avengers stood up in a defensive position although the voice seemed to come from all around them.

“The Stones?” Steve called out, holding his shield up. “Who are you? Where are we?”

“Steve Rogers, I am Uatu, the Watcher of the Multiverse. You are in a prism within the Nexus of All Realities.”

“What? Why are we here?” Natasha asked.. 

“Normally, I do not interfere within the realities. However,” The Watcher paused. “The Stones called out to me. The circumstances of your world’s demise were unfounded and would have created a rift within the Multiverse.” 

“The wizard said this was not the reality where we won.” Tony said slowly. They only had one chance to win, how could this loss have an impact on the entire Multiverse?

“It was also not the reality where you were meant to lose either,” His eyebrows furrowed at the Watcher’s words.”Tony Stark, the Stones recognize your sacrifice.” 

Steve and Natasha stared at him, confusion evident in their faces as Uatu continued, “The Time Stone showed Thanos what you were planning, that is how he was able to obtain your Iron Gauntlet. That was not meant to happen in any reality, regardless whether or not you win or lose.”

“What does that mean, what are we here for then?” He questioned. “I thought the Stones in our timeline were destroyed?”

“The physical manifestation of the Stones may have been destroyed, however their energy and power cannot so easily be taken. However, your world had to be removed before it could cause the rift.” Uatu said simply but before the three Avengers could react, he continued on, “You three were not meant to go with it.”

“So what?” Natasha snarled bluntly, “We’re just stuck here?”

“Natasha Romanoff, you three were brought here because this was not how your stories were supposed to end.” Out of nowhere, a door appeared a few yards from them. “The Stones have decided that you three are deserving of a second chance.” The door creaked open slightly, “Beyond that door is a world that won against Thanos but has lost its Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff. It is your choice whether or not you go through.”

They all glanced at each other, letting this information wash over them as they took in the Watcher’s words. A world where they had won. Tony squeezed his eyes tight again, a world that had Morgan and Peter. His Pepper.

“We have to go through.” He whispered.

“Tony, we don’t kno-”

“Would you rather stay here?” He asked, giving Steve a hard look. “Look around, Cap, there’s nothing for us here! Even if what the Watcher is saying isn’t true, what do we have to lose?” He let out a dry laugh.

“He’s right,” Natasha said, stepping forward. “We have nothing to lose,” She looked towards the door. “I’m going through.” Both her and Tony started towards the door when Steve stopped them. 

“Wait!” He called out, gaining their attention. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this together.” He jogged towards them, joining them as they got closer to the door. It looked harmless enough, partially open but not enough to see what awaited them. They exchanged a look, nodding in unison before they pushed through. 

Tony let out a baited breath as he stepped through, blinking in shock as he took in his surroundings. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but it definitely wasn’t a garage. They were surrounded by four wooden walls, a strobe light flickering violently within one of its corners, a shrill sound emitting from it. It’s an alarm, he realized, however he didn’t have time to share his thoughts before the door (to the actual shed) burst open.

Clint Barton stood in front of them, a bow and arrow pointed right at them. He looked different than when they had last seen him.

“What the hell?” He muttered, his face paling. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Which, Tony reasoned, he probably was.

“Clint?” Natasha breathed. It was only the day before that he had sacrificed himself for the Soul Stone, having managed to throw himself off of the cliff in Vormir before Natasha could best him. They were also seeing a ghost.

“Nat?” He responded, his voice tight. The bow was still trained on them but it came as a relief that he at least recognized who they were. The archer shook his head, a hard look crossing his face, “This is impossible.”

“Clint, it’s us,” Steve raised his hands up, dropping his shield beside him.

“Prove it,” Clint countered.

Natasha was the one to speak, taking a step towards him, “Your family got dusted in the Blip,” She said softly, “You couldn’t cope, so you became the Ronin.” They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before he finally dropped his stance, his face sullen. 

“How is this possible?” He asked, the bow fallen to his side. “How are you here? You guys…you’re dead.”

It was silent for a moment, nobody knew what the right thing to say was. “We lost,” Tony finally said. “Right after Thanos snapped again, we were brought here.” He didn’t mention the Watcher. 

Clint looked between them before rushing forward, bringing Natasha into a tight embrace. It was an emotional moment between the two and Tony was suddenly struck with a realization; Uatu had said that this world had lost its Natasha, that had to mean that when the two had gone to Vormir, Clint had been the one to return. 

He glanced at Steve, seeing that the man had the same thought, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. Clint looked towards them after the hug broke, managing a watery smile. “It’s been too long.” He said, his voice soft. 

That’s right, both this universe’s Tony and Steve were gone too. 

“How long?” Steve asked. 

Clint paused for answering, “Two years,” He whispered.

Tony’s eyes widened in alarm, two years? That meant…that meant that it was at least 2025, give or take a few. That was two years that he had been dead, two years that Pepper had lost her husband and Morgan had lost her father. 

“It’s 2026,” Clint stated, “January 15 actually.” 

No one spoke, soaking in the information. The universe that the Watcher had sent them to was not one where they had just brought everyone back, it was two years ahead. In a way, they were now out of place. While this was a world that had lost its Natasha, Steve, and Tony, it was also a world that had moved on without them.

“I’m sorry.”

Tony didn’t know how to respond to Clint’s apology. He understood the man’s sentiment and while part of him focused on the time that he had lost, the majority of him was focusing on the time that he was now gaining. His family was alive here. 

“How…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words before he just bit the bullet, “How did we die?” 

Clint looked between the three of them, hesitance visible in his eyes. Tony had a suspicion on the circumstances of his own demise and he was sure he knew what had happened to Natasha, but Steve? He wasn’t exactly sure. The archer let out a sigh, looking down, “Natasha sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone,” He said and it was obvious that the moment had traumatized him, “Steve didn’t make it back from returning the Stones,” He glanced at each of them as he spoke.

“And Tony…Tony, you snapped.”

Steve and Natasha’s heads whipped towards him, eyes wide in shock. “That’s…that’s what Thanos saw? Tony, I-” He held up a hand, silencing the Captain, shaking his head.

“Stop,” He said, “Just, just stop.” He didn’t want to hear it. (You’re not the type to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you.)

“Where are we?” Steve nodded slowly, changing the subject away from their deaths. There was a large desk equipped along the wall, with multiple monitors set up across it. A police radio also adorned the space, along with a plethora of other electronics. A map was taped onto the wall with different pins placed all over among other things, adjacent to a large mounted television.

“In my garage,” Clint stated. “On my farm, in New York.” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “What about Iowa?” Tony recalled the farmhouse they had stayed in after the Ultron offensive. 

“We still have our land there, but Coop was hellbent on going to Columbia so we figured if anything were to happen in the city, I’d be right here to protect him.” He explained. “Honestly I think the change was needed regardless.” He glanced at Tony, “Actually, Nate goes to school with Morgan. It's a little weird that we have kids that are the same age.” 

At the mention of his daughter, Tony’s heart swelled. “How is she?” 

He was met with a small smile, “She misses you. Everyone misses you.” Clint looked between all three of them, “All of you.” 

Tony took a deep breath, he couldn’t wait to see his family again. With that thought, he asked another question, “What about the kid? How’s he doing?” 

Clint gave him an odd look, confusion evident in his eyes however before he could respond, a faint beeping emitted from a computer on the desk. His eyes flickered between Tony and the desk before he finally crossed over towards it. 

“Uh, what’s going on?” Steve questioned. 

He didn’t get an answer at first, Clint messing around with something in front of him before clearing his throat. “It means that a comm was turned onto the communal line.” 

“Comms? You run the Avengers out of here?” Natasha laughed, raising an eyebrow.

Tony was left dissatisfied with his lack of information about Peter although he bit his tongue. 

“Mm, something like that.” Came Clint’s vague response, the beeping continuing. 

“Well,” Tony said, his voice unimpressed, “Don’t let us stop you.” He gestured to the computer. 

Clint was obviously concerned by whoever turned on the comm because he didn’t argue, instead flipping a switch and pulling a microphone close to him. Natasha, Steve, and Tony were watching intently, curious as to what had come of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. 

“-saying is that the trick arrow would come in handy. Like, imagine it hits its mark and then BOOM, they’re just stuck!" A female voice crackled to life over the speaker. “Just something to think about."

“Kate,” Clint said into his mic, “What’s going on? Do you need backup?” 

As he was speaking, Steve looked towards Natasha, mouthing “Kate?"  only for Clint to give him a hard look, holding a finger up to his mouth, signaling all of them to shut the hell up 

“Clint Barton," A different voice responded and Tony didn’t miss the way Natasha tensed uncharacteristically at the sound of the Russian woman, “Very rude of you to interrupt. We are fine, we do not need another archer.” She said with a scoff, “If Kate gets a trick arrow then I want a grenade.”

It felt like there were so many things going on at once. Who was Clint talking to? Who was this mystery voice that seemed to have the Black Widow shaken? Why didn’t he get an answer about Peter? 

"Please, no one is getting a web arrow or grenade." Tony’s heart skipped a beat at the newest voice. Peter. "Also, codenames. C'mon, we talked about this."

“Right, okay, we’re revisiting this conversation later," Kate said, “Don’t knock the archers, Widow, what’re you using? Guns? You gonna use bullets for these bots?”

“Very rude of you, Hawkeye, very rude. No, I am not using a gun. For your information, I have a bo staff and it does very well in-” She grunted, a crunching sound emitting from the speaker, “-stopping them!”

Clint rolled his eyes, apparently this banter was a common occurrence, “Where are they coming from?”

“Hell if I know,” Peter said, annoyed. Tony was startled to realize that his voice was a pitch deeper. “They just keep fucking spawning!” He emphasized his exasperation, the familiar sound of his webs echoing in the background. 

“Hey Spidey, you know what would make this much easier? A web trick arrow.”

“Enough about the trick arrow!”

“Ah, you Americans.” Yelena laughed, “So much drama."

“You literally just asked me for a web grenade.” Peter deadpanned. 

“Guys,” Clint begged them to focus, “The robots.”

“I told you guys we should have used the other channel.”

“Oooo, look at Hawk-Eve going against her idol.” Peter's response gained a shocked laugh from Clint. Hawk-Eve?

“ Oh my god, I told you about that in confidence. ” Kate squawked. 

“Was it a secret?" Yelena asked, “Clint Barton, you did not tell me that was supposed to be kept a secret.”

“Clint, you told Yelena?!”

"Names!"

The archer in question covered the mic with his hand, an amused look across his face before he composed himself, “The robots.” He repeated, clearing his throat.

It was silent for a moment, the only sound being those from the fight. The thwip of Spider-Man’s webs or the whistle of an arrow, every now and then the sound of Yelena’s bo staff crunching against what he assumed was the metal of the robots.

“They’re coming from everywhere, they don’t really look like anything we’ve seen before. I don’t know who’s responsible for them.” Kate explained.

“Actually,” Peter said, “I think…Kate, you know what happened at the bridge a few days ago?”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, curious as to what the kid was alluding to. “Yeah, good job with that, by the way. How come?”

“Do you see the wing symbol on the bots?” He desperately wished they had some kind of live stream of the fight. “The guy on the bridge, his gadgets had identical symbols.”

“Do you know how to disarm them?” Clint questioned. 

“That’s a great question."

A loud thud was heard before Yelena spoke, “Perfect, we’ll just exhaust ourselves.”

“Wait,” Peter paused. “I think they’re all operating in one network.”

“And that means…?”

“It means that if we figure out which one is the uh, the alpha robot, we can take out all of them at once.”

“That’s great, now how are we going to do that?”

“Just give me a second,”

It took everything in Tony not to speak, as much as he wanted to. In regards to the bigger picture, he realized that announcing his return in this particular instant could end badly. (Although, what a hell of a comeback that would be, right?)

“They’re all running with the same frequency, except…” Peter trailed off.

“Except?” Kate parroted. 

“Do you see the one by the Chrysler Building? It's vibrating at a different frequency than all of the others.” He explained. “Widow, I need you to clear the building, I don’t know what it’ll do when we take it down and I don’t want anyone to get caught in the crossfire. H, ya think you can take the shot?”

Kate let out a sharp laugh, “Of course I can.”

“Perfect, I’m going to lead it away from the building, wait for my mark.” Tony’s heart swelled as Peter gave orders, he always knew that he would have the chops to be a great leader. 

“On it, Webs." He exchanged a look with his fellow Avengers, anticipation building between all four of them as they waited for their plan to unfold. Was this what passing the torch felt like? He had so many questions, when this was over, he had no idea where to start. 

It was several minutes before anyone spoke again and Tony was pondering what exactly Clint’s role within this little group was. He seemed to be taking on some kind of leadership position, however he only really seemed to chime into their conversation when their focus was veering off too far. 

“The building is clear.” Yelena announced. 

“Hawkeye, you ready?”

“Count me off, Spider-Man.”

The sound of Spider-Man’s webs echoed throughout and the teenager’s heavy breathing was all that was heard. “Hawkeye,” He yelled urgently. “Now!”

The quiet whistle of the arrow filled their ears before a loud explosion erupted through the speaker and a loud screeching sound was heard before everything went quiet. Tony’s eyes widened in alarm, stepping forward as he prepared to yell for Peter, his existence be damned, what the hell just happened?

“Kate? Spider-Man? Yelena?” Clint questioned, equally as concerned and uncaring about the codenames, “Anybody copy?” The high pitched sound of feedback was all that responded and he was beginning to imagine the worst case scenario. 

“Clint!” The sound of Kate’s voice caused the archer to slump in relief. “It worked!”

“What did you do?”

“I shot a trick arrow at the alpha robot, perfect aim by the way, not anyone's surprised by that. Anyways, Spidey caught it and stuck it in the little wing symbol and it exploded.” Her voice was giddy. God, was she a kid too?

“ Spider-Man, you good?” Silence followed and Tony’s heart sank a little. “Spider-Man?”

It was Yelena who responded, “He’s fine. The idiot broke his comm in the explosion.” Another voice could be heard, although it seemed to be coming from the background of her comm. “Spider-Man, do you realize that you are shouting? Ugh, I think he also burst his eardrums.”

Instead of concern, a loud laugh emitted from Kate, “Ha! You owe me ten dollars!”

“Wha…didn’t…bet…” Peter’s voice was faint from Yelena’s comm.

“Shut up! You are shouting in my ear!” She yelled, “I am turning this off. Hawk, I will see you later.” Before anyone could respond, she deactivated her comm. 

“I guess that's my cue, I think we’re helping with the clean up. See ya Clint!” And with that, Kate signed off too. 

Clint spun back around in his chair, scrubbing his face with his hand before he faced them. They were all watching him with questioning eyes, no doubt that the same thought was running through each of their heads; how much has changed in their absence?

“Well,” He said, “I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

Chapter Text

can't pretend that I was perfect, leavin' you in fear
oh, man, what a world, the things I hear

Peter liked to think that he was handling things pretty well. It’s been about, what was it again? 14 months and seven days since he was erased from everyone’s memory? Yeah, something like that.

Don’t get him wrong, it’s been hard. Especially in the beginning. The first six months since the spell, he was on a downward spiral. He wasn’t eating, he wasn’t showering, the only time he slept was when he passed out from exhaustion or dehydration. Even Spider-Man was suffering, despite the fact that he was on patrol nearly 24/7.

It was a terrible life. 

His wakeup call came May 2025. Peter had come back to his apartment in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning and had woken up deep into a Thursday afternoon. Two and a half days gone, just like that. A combination of starvation and the fact that he was running himself into the ground had left his body practically screaming at him for help. When he had looked at himself in the mirror, he wasn’t able to recognize the person staring back at him. 

How could he be a hero when he couldn’t even save himself? 

That was a very sobering thought for him. As much as he had thought that he was doing the world a favor by being Spider-Man more than Peter Parker, he was in no condition to be fighting crime when he could barely see straight. Not to mention that the thought of being a homeless Spider-Man was less than favorable to him and the notices that were stacking up from his landlord were incredibly concerning. 

He needed a change. His sacrifice couldn’t be for nothing.

So yeah, compared to that, he was doing a lot better.

Now, he was a lot better at juggling work, school, and most importantly, Spider-Man. It helped that a lot of his classes at Columbia didn’t technically require his attendance so keeping his work schedule during the day allowed for patrol in the evening and night. He was on the up and up. 

“Peter?” He was taken out of his thoughts by the feminine voice, looking up to find Kate.

Right, and then there was Kate. After he had realized that MJ and Ned were safer without him and his Parker Luck, he swore that he would not let himself get too close to anyone else again, to not risk their life. Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done. His difficulty came in the form of Kate Bishop.

“Hey!” He greeted, pushing the iced latte towards her as she settled in her seat across from him. They were at their favorite cafe in the Upper East Side. They met up here a lot, no matter the reason. It has become almost a weekly occurrence since that day in September.

Anyways, long story short, the moment Kate found out that he was Spider-Man, she wouldn’t let him ice her out. No matter how hard he tried. Part of him was grateful for that.

“So,” The archer sipped her drink, looking at him skeptically. 

Peter pulled a face at her expression, “So what?” 

“You said you had info for me!” She exclaimed before leaning in closer, “You know, like, reconnaissance.” She said quietly. 

He barked out a laugh, “You and I have different understandings of that conversation, I said nothing about reconnaissance. ” He said mockingly. 

“Don’t be a dick, you said you had something to tell me!”

“You asked me how the robots connected to the bridge, I said that I didn’t want to discuss that over text message.” 

Kate rolled her eyes, leaning back with an exaggerated huff, “Whatever, wonder boy. Same difference.” 

The banter with her was easy, whether they were Kate and Peter or Hawkeye and Spider-Man. It made him feel normal. Well, as normal as he could be. Sometimes he found himself wondering what it would have been like if he had known her before, well, everything. What it would be like if she had known MJ an-

“Peter!” Fingers were snapping in front of his face and he blinked, his eyes refocusing on Kate’s face. “You alright?” Her eyes were soft now and he hated it. 

“Yeah,” He cleared his throat, “Just…yeah, I’m good.” 

She stared hard at him however his own gaze refused to waver. “Okay,” She said slowly, “So, what’s the connection?”

He appreciated how she never pushed, although he could tell she wanted to. (Nevermind that the last time she did, it had ended terribly) He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, “It’s so weird.” Peter said simply. “When I got to the bridge, there was this guy, he called himself the Tinkerer.”

He was speaking quietly, having Kate’s full attention, “He had all these, like, explosives and they all had these little wings carved into it, I think that’s like, his thing. I caught one of them and it exploded in my hand into literal sparks-”

“Was that why your gloves were fucked up?"

“Yes, thank you for noticing, I’ll be fixing that soon. Anyways, he blew up the fucking bridge but he kept mentioning someone, like there was another guy above him,” He took a moment, trying to think of what exactly the Tinker had said to him, “Something about the man letting the muscle be seen before him or whatever but I think he’s following the orders of somebody else. And then those bots yesterday? It’s too coincidental.”

“So somebody’s pulling the strings behind the scenes?” He pursed his lips, nodding at her question. “Any idea who?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, it’s kind of hard because the first time, the Tinkerer was gone by the time I was back on the bridge and then he wasn’t anywhere near the bots. But I have an idea,” He leaned to the side, pulling a small black device from his backpack. “If and when he shows back up, I’ll be ready.” 

Kate reached across the table, taking the tracker between her fingers, “Ya know, if you get me another one of these, I can put it on an arrow and that’s two chances.” 

To be honest, he didn’t have any desire for Kate to get swept up into his mess. But then again, his wants weren’t really important to the universe. “I’ll think about it, Ace. Promise.” He hurriedly added the last part at her annoyed look. “Anyways, what did you and Yelena end up doing last night?” 

“Oh, we just grabbed some drinks. She really wants to do a bar crawl,” She raised an eyebrow at him, “You know, you could come with us…” She trailed off.

That was the thing about Kate. She was aware of the fact that he was a victim of the Blip but she was also aware of the fact that his state id technically put him at the same age as her. 23. 

“That’ll be a no.” 

“Peter-”

“Kate,” He sighed, “Yelena knows him , not me. It just…it’s not a great idea, okay?” He was quick to shut it down. The idea was enticing, don’t get him wrong, but he wasn’t looking out for himself. The more people that truly knew him, the more people that would get hurt in the end. 

That didn’t mean that he didn’t feel bad at the dejected look on her face.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” He questioned after a moment. 

Kate immediately brightened up, a grin crossing her face, “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Parker?” 

“You want to go to a party?” 

That was another thing that made this life bearable. While Peter didn’t make an effort to create actual, meaningful relationships with his peers at Columbia, he did make a little name for himself within the student body. Turns out that while alcohol had no effect on him, apparently being able to drink the most at a party was an impressive trait. And being impressive gets you invited to things.

-

The first people that knew of their return was the Barton family. 

It was accidental, of course, as Laura Barton had barged into the garage in the midst of their Q&A and Tony was delightfully surprised when the woman pulled a gun on them. Like, she pulled an honest to god glock out of nowhere. God, if he could have gotten a picture of Steve’s face at the sight. 

However, Laura Barton finding them led to Tony having the pleasure of meeting Lila and Nathaniel Barton, for the second and first time, respectively. Or, maybe more so for the first time for both of them? After Ultron, he wasn’t really thinking straight so meeting Lila and Cooper was kind of a blur and he was never really invited to meet Nathaniel between his birth and the Avengers catfight. 

To be honest, he was quite surprised at how easily the Barton family seemed to take in their sudden “resurrection”. It only took less than five minutes for Clint to explain the situation to his wife, and suddenly Laura was squeezing the absolute shit out of Natasha. (Her death seemed to have an immense impact on the couple, rightfully so. )

“It has been over 14 months since the destruction of the Statue of Liberty and officials are still debating whether or not the restoration of…" The television droned on but he wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy lost in his thoughts and while his eyes were trained on the screen, they were more-so glazed over than focused. As much as he hated it, Tony didn’t know what to do. Never in his life had he anticipated trying to find his place in a different universe. 

Sure, multiversal travel had piqued his interest at one point but never to this extent. He had been slightly comforted by the fact that the Watcher had said this universe was the same in every way but how their battle with Thanos ended, but what if there was an oversight? What if things were different here and Pepper didn’t love him the way that she did in his world? Or what if he doesn’t recognize Morgan because somehow this universe’s Morgan took more after Pepper than him? What if-

“You’re awfully quiet,” He startled slightly at Nat’s voice, the spy taking a seat beside him. They had all changed into the civvies provided by Clint, which were genuinely much more comfortable than their alter-ego attires. 

“It’s hard not to be speechless when you’re sitting in another universe after being transported by a mysterious being,” He said earnestly, “Even for me.” 

He was delighted to see her smile at his wink; after Vormir, he didn’t think he would ever see it again. “You’re nervous,” She said softly, resting her hand on top of his. God, he missed her. The Accords debacle ruined a lot of things. 

“When have I ever been nervous?”

She let out a laugh at this, throwing her head back, “They’re going to be happy to see you.” She assured him. “It might be a little…rocky, but in the end, they’re going to be happy to have you back.” 

He stayed quiet, considering her words. Tony was always one to question things but he was also one to find a solution. There was a chance that something could be different in this world than his own, but when it came down to it, it didn’t matter what version of his family he was getting, it mattered that he was getting them back in the first place. Pepper. Morgan. Peter. Happy. Rhodey. His heart clenched at the thought of seeing them again. 

“This is the third National Monument that Spider-Man has been responsible for destroying! When will it end? When will he be brought to justice for his crimes?!”

“That’s the kid, huh?” Nat asked, nodding towards the TV. The camera was previously focused on the two news anchors, however it was now broadcasting footage of Spider-Man in three different scenarios- once at the Washington Monument, once at the London Bridge, and the third at the Statue of Liberty. The footage for the last one was, in his humble opinion, horribly shot and if he squinted his eyes, Tony could just barely make out Cap’s shield being added. 

His eyebrows furrowed, he shouldn’t be concerned about the quality of the videos, he should be concerned about the videos themselves. He was aware of the D.C incident however the London Bridge and the Statue of Liberty seemed to have happened after he passed. “Ah, Pete,” He whispered softly, running his hand through his hair. “What’re you getting yourself into?” 

They were going to have so much to talk about.

“Hey,” They both turned their heads to find Laura standing at the entrance of the room, leaning against the wall. “They’ll be here soon.” She informed them. 

Tony’s stomach did a flip at the news. After finding out about their apparent resurrection, Laura and Clint had insisted on getting into contact with their respective family members (which is when they found out that Nat had a sister) and it had only taken Pepper less than an hour to respond. Apparently Pepper and Morgan Stark were pretty close with the Barton family which meant it didn’t take much convincing for them to accept an invitation to the farm.

He felt bad about not giving them a heads up as to what they were really coming for, but this was definitely not the kind of information to be given over the phone.

“Did you hear anything from…” Natasha trailed off. 

“Yelena said she would be here as fast as she could,” Laura smiled, “I think she’s on a job.” 

“And Sam and Bucky?” 

“I already told Steve. They won’t be able to get here for a bit, they’re out of the country. He’s a bit bummed,” She shrugged, “I don’t blame him.” 

Tony pursed his lips, he didn’t either. Steve lost both of them and having to wait even longer to really see them again had to hurt. He would be more than bummed if he was in his shoes, waiting even ten more minutes to hold his wife again was enough. 

“Oh,” Laura turned at the sound of the knock on the door. “They’re here.” 

He glanced at Natasha, his eyes widening slightly as his heart started beating a little quicker. This was it. She offered him a comforting smile, both of them listening as Laura opened the front door. He squeezed his eyes shut as Pepper’s loving voice filled the room, Pepper greeting Clint as the archer went to welcome them alongside his wife. He stood up slowly, turning to face the entrance as he prepared for them to come around the corner. 

“Laura, you have to tell me. Did you invite us here to tell us that you’re pregnant?” Pepper asked. 

“No, no! God, no.” Came Laura’s amused response. “Three is more than enough.”

“Then what is t-” Pepper was caught off by Morgan’s hysterical shriek. 

“Daddy!” 

He was stunned for a moment as his daughter’s small form slammed into his legs only for him to fold immediately, taking his little girl into his arms. “Mommy! Daddy’s here!” A tear fell down his cheek as he held Morgan close to him, cupping her head with his hand as she clung to him. 

Startled gasps sounded and then he was vaguely aware of Natasha standing behind him and the two of them were facing the stunned faces of Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy. Morgan paid them no mind, burying her face in his shoulder, small hiccups shaking her body as she refused to loosen her grip on his shirt. (Not that he wanted her to.)

“I asked Santa to bring you back,” She whispered, “I knew he could do it!” 

“Morgan, sweetie,” Came Pepper’s shaky voice and another tear slid down his face, “Come…come back over here, baby.” Her eyes were stuck on his and he could have sobbed at her pained look. 

“Clint, what’s going on?” Rhodey demanded, “This…I…who are they?” Happy stayed silent although he put his hand on Pepper’s shoulder. 

“It’s me, honeybear.” His own voice was wavering, “It’s really us.” Pepper stepped forward out of Happy’s grasp, her eyes shining with tears as she slowly inched towards him. 

“Pepper…” Happy reached out again but she was just out of his reach. 

Tony was the sole focus of her attention

She stopped right in front of him, reaching out slowly until her hand was hovering by his face, her eyes pleading with him. He squeezed Morgan tighter, nodding his head as he tried to assure his love that he was really who he said he was. Pepper let out a cry of despair as she finally cupped his face, leaning her head forward until it was resting against his.

“How is this possible?” She whispered and he took a deep breath in, reveling at the fact that he got them back. This was his Pepper, his Morgan. “It’s you.” 

“It’s me, Miss Potts.” He repeated and she laughed softly at the familiar reference. “It’s a long story.”

“You can tell me later, Mr. Stark,” She nodded, shaking both of their heads, “I missed you so much.” 

“I’m sorry,” Was all he could say and he pressed a kiss to the top of Morgan’s head, “I love you. Both of you.”

At his words, Pepper shifted to hug him tightly, sandwiching Morgan between the two of them and he realized that his face was soaked from his tears. This was honestly surreal, just yesterday everything was so wrong. Now everything was right again. Almost. 

“It’s…it’s really you, Tony?” He looked up at Rhodey’s words, him and Happy staring with eyes full of unshed tears. 

“It’s him,” Pepper sobbed softly, her grasp on him tightening. “And…and Natasha.” She gasped out. 

He didn’t miss the way she reached out, grabbing Natasha by her arm and pulling her into their shared embrace. Before he knew it, they were joined by Rhodey and Happy, Clint and Laura watching the tearful reunion with melancholic smiles. It was hard to believe that just yesterday, they were fighting a titan and his army. 

“This is crazy,” Rhodey gave a wet laugh as they all reluctantly pulled away, “How is this possible?” 

“He wasn’t joking when he said it was a long story,” Natasha nodded, wiping her eyes. “It’s not just us either.”

Happy furrowed his eyebrows, “What does that mean?” 

“I’m here too.” They turned to find Steve standing beside Laura and Clint and if Tony wasn’t mistaken, he seemed a tad timid. 

“Captain Juice Pop!” Morgan shrieked, her eyes bright as she stared. 

Tony let out a bark of laughter, right, his stories about the Avengers had included a Captain Juice Pop instead of a Captain America. He hugged her tighter at the memory. Morgan was older now but she still fit perfectly in his arms. 

“Steve,” Pepper breathed. 

“I can’t believe this,” Happy pinched the bridge of his nose, however he did follow it up with a pat on Steve’s shoulder. Rhodey and Pepper followed his lead in greeting the Captain and Tony was pleased to note that Steve’s tensed stature softened up a little. 

“You guys were just, spontaneously resurrected?” Rhodey questioned, his eyes flickering between the three. Despite his question, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Tony was alive. “You look…the same as that day.” 

“Um, not necessarily resurrected…” Natasha trailed off. 

“Maybe we should sit down.” Laura gestured to the couch, “Clint, help me in the kitchen? We’ll bring you guys out some coffee.” 

Tony sat on the couch in between Pepper and Rhodey, with Morgan on his lap and Happy sitting across from him beside Steve and Natasha. It was silent for a moment and he knew that they were waiting for one of them to start but to be honest, he wasn’t quite sure what he could say. Explaining an apparent Nexus Being was something he had never anticipated having to do and right now, all he wanted was to revel in the fact that he had his life back. 

“Technically, we’re not from this Earth.” Steve started slowly. “We’re from somewhere else, we were fighting Thanos.” Everyone tensed at the titan’s name. 

“Wait, fighting Thanos? Like…like the final battle?” Rhodey asked, staring right at Tony. The heartbreak in his best friend’s eyes told him that he had witnessed his death. 

Tony cleared his throat, “Yes. Except, we were losing.” He couldn’t help the waiver of emotion in his voice. They weren’t losing, they had lost. 

“He snapped again,” Natasha said lowly and Tony stealthily moved his arms to try and block out the conversation from Morgan’s ears. “But instead of dying, we woke up. It looked like,” She paused for a moment, taking in a pained breath, “It looked like Vormir, but it wasn’t.” He stared at her for a moment, remembering the orange sky and the soft sand. He hadn’t realized that she recognized it as more than just a prism. 

“There was a voice, the person called themselves the Watcher. He said the Stones thought we deserved a second chance, that we had the choice to come here. That this whole had lost its…us.” Steve explained and at the reminder of his death, Pepper squeezed Tony’ s hand harder. There were a lot of key details being left out but he didn’t have time to fixate on that, he didn’t even know if he wanted to. 

“I can’t believe this.” Happy shook his head, “I thought…I thought that we’d never see you again.” 

Tony couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face, “I knew you loved me, Hap.” He grinned. “Can’t keep me down.” 

“A lot has happened since you guys have been gone,” Rhodey said, nodding at Clint as the man handed him a steaming mug. 

“You’re telling me,” The archer groaned. 

“I’m sure we can catch up on everything,” Natasha smiled. “Steve has a lot of experience in that department.”

“I’ll make another list.” Steve nodded and the serious tone of his voice made it impossible to tell if he was actually joking or not. 

“I’ll help!” Morgan squealed, wiggling out of Tony’s grasp to make her way towards the other couch. “I’m really good at spelling.”

Tony smiled into his own cup of coffee, leaning back against the couch. This went a lot smoother than he had convinced himself it would. He didn’t know why he doubted Pepper’s ability to come to terms with this, she had taken plenty of outrageous things in stride. Sure, maybe this one was a tad more outrageous in the others but his wife was resilient. 

“Hey,” He said softly to her, the conversation of the others droning on in the background. “How’s Peter doing?” 

At his question, Pepper looked at him incredulously, “Peter?” 

“Y’know, the kid?” His clarification did nothing to rid the confusion in her eyes, “Peter Parker?” 

“Tony, baby,” She ghosted her fingers against his goatee, “I don’t know who that is.”

Chapter Text

coulda been a nightmare
but it felt like they were right there
and it feels like yesterday was a year ago

Tony felt sick. 

The past 48 hours had been an absolute whirlwind of emotions. Fear, heartbreak, anguish, relief, happiness. And now, he felt ill. He had thought he got everything back, a chance to be with his family without the looming threat of Thanos or any goddamn Infinity Stones. This world was supposed to be the same, save for their victory and subsequent deaths.

But it wasn’t. 

Nobody knew who Peter Parker was. Not Pepper. Not Happy. Not Rhodey. Not even Morgan and Tony remembered very clearly telling her stories about Spider-Man and his genius little lab partner. The only people who knew of Peter Parker were him, Steve, and Natasha. 

It didn’t make sense. But no matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn’t spiral in that moment. Not when Pepper and Morgan had gotten him back after this long and certainly not when everyone’s eyes were on him. 

“Tony,” He stopped his pacing, turning his attention onto Happy. Following their reunion, Tony had bid his goodbye to the Barton family and Steve and Nat and went home with his family, to Pepper and Morgan’s lovely penthouse in the Upper East Side. (It was the one that Tony and Pepper had bought together after they had gotten married and before the fated Snap, when life had seemed too good to be true.) Rhodey and Happy had insisted on staying with them following Tony’s return, which he couldn’t really blame them for. “How’re you holding up?”

He pursed his lips, how could he possibly answer this? He was a mix of so many emotions right now, how could he possibly find the words to describe even just one? “I’m…alright.” He said carefully. In some sense, he was alright. That was good enough for now. 

Happy sighed, taking a seat on the couch. Rhodey, Pepper, and Morgan had long since gone to bed and while he had tried to join his wife, his jumbled nerves had kept Tony from being able to stay down long. “You said something earlier, that I can’t get out of my head.” 

Tony raised an eyebrow, staring at his friend closely. “And what was that?”

“You asked us if we knew Peter Parker.” Tony’s heart pounded in his chest. “I couldn’t…in the moment, I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything at all.” That was right…Happy never did say confirm nor deny whether or not he knew of Peter Parker, he had stayed silent while Pepper and Rhodey looked at Tony with worried eyes. 

“Are you saying that you do?” His tone was hopeful. 

Happy looked down at the ground, blinking profusely and Tony realized there were tears in his eyes. “I don’t…I don’t know who Peter Parker is but-” He paused, taking in a shaky, tearful breath, “I dated this woman, she was honestly one of the best things to ever happen to me. She meant the world to me and I-I lost her.” 

Tony’s breath caught in his throat, “Hap, what was her name?” He didn’t know why he was asking. He knew the answer.

“I-I..I don’t-,” Happy shook his head and when he finally looked at him, his eyes were red and glossy, “Her name was May Parker.” 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. May was dead. Oh Peter. “May,” He said softly, his heart breaking a little more. She had become an important part of his life, especially during those five, painful years without Peter. She had become his best friend. And he didn’t even get to say goodbye. 

“You knew her,” Happy whispered, taking in the broken look on his friend’s face. “Tony, I…I’m so sorry.” 

“How did she-?” Tony was looking at him now, his own eyes tearful. 

Happy shook his head and from the look on his face, Tony regretted asking the question. “I-” His voice cracked, “I can’t…Tony, I just…I loved her. I know I did but when I think back to how I met her, the memory isn’t clear in my head. She was my everything but I have no idea how I knew her. I helped her at FEAST but I didn’t start going there until I met her. I just-” He broke off, furiously rubbing away the tears from his face. 

“Hap, that doesn’t…that doesn’t make sense.” 

“I know,” Happy nodded, “Trust me, I know. When you said that name-” 

Tony cut in, “Peter.” 

“Yeah, Peter. His last name…is there a chance that he…” 

“She was his aunt.” His voice was tight. “You had to have known him.” This didn’t make any sense. How did Happy know May if Peter Parker was unknown to him?

“I-I can’t place him.” They had identical looks of confusion on their faces. 

Tony sighed, scratching his goatee. “This doesn’t…” He shook his head, looking for the right words. There was none. “I’m going to figure this out.” He put his hand on Happy’s shoulder, squeezing in as he hoped to offer at least a semblance of comfort.

-

“FRIDAY,” Tony said softly, taking in the sight of his untouched lab. He assumed that the last time it had been occupied was all those years ago, before they had made the decision to move to the lake house. “How are you, doll?” 

“Boss, it is great to have you back. My systems are currently merging with the FRIDAY from Mark 85.” His AI’s voice flooded through the space and he couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

“It’s great to be back, Fri.” He looked around, thinking of how to get to work. He needed to find Peter, where to start? “Get me everything you have on Peter Parker.” 

FRIDAY stayed silent for a moment before she spoke up, “There are currently 27,985,903 people named Peter Parker in the United States alone, would you like to-”

His eyebrows furrowed, “Peter Parker. Queens? The Spiderling?” Why did nobody seem to know who he was talking about?

“I’m sorry, Boss. I’m not getting any results for a Peter Parker in Queens and Spider-Man’s identity is still unknown. Perhaps I can begin a search based off the data gathered about Spider-Man’s whereabouts since returning from the Blip?”

He stayed silent, her question going unanswered. What the hell was going on? He had to have known Peter in this universe, it wouldn’t make sense if he didn’t. How else would Happy have met May? How else would he have brought everyone back when Peter was his main motivator for inventing time travel? 

“FRIDAY,” Tony cleared his throat, “How did May Parker d-die?” He pretended that his voice didn’t waver as he spoke.

“May Parker passed from a severe wound to the abdomen as a result of a fight between Spider-Man and an unknown assailant.” 

Oh fuck. Tony paused, taking in the information. May died, not from illness, but from someone who went after Peter. He squeezed his eyes shut, he could only imagine the pain and guilt that Peter was putting himself through. “How long has she been gone?” He asked, his voice thick with emotion. 

“14 months.” 

14 months. Is that how long Peter has been alone? 

He paced the length of his workshop, arms crossed and one hand tapping his chin. He needed to find Peter. That poor kid. His poor kid. “Peter Parker,” He commanded, “He should be about…god, he would be eighteen now. Spider-Man’s still in New York so he should be too. If not Queens, check Brooklyn, the City, anywhere closeby.” 

FRIDAY was silent but he knew she was whirring at work. He looked around, feeling a pang of sadness when he didn’t see any of his bots, although part of him knew it was better that they weren’t left down here by himself. He would have to ask Rhodey or Happy about them in the morning.

“I have one result for a Peter Parker that would match your description.” FRIDAY finally said and Tony’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Give it to me.” 

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever it was he was about to hear. (Deep down, a part of him wondered if he was looking for a ghost, a kid that this Tony Stark actually did not know. He chose not to indulge it.)

“There is a Peter Benjamin Parker enrolled as a first year student at Columbia University, majoring in both Computer Science and Biochemistry. Would you like me to pull up his school ID?” 

“Yes, Fri, of course I would.” He nodded and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Peter Parker was staring back at him. It was him, but it wasn’t the Peter Parker he had hugged during the final battle with Thanos. This Peter didn’t smile for his ID photo, his lips fixed in a stoic expression and his eyes were sullen and sad. Haunted. 

“Oh kid,” He said softly, his heart breaking slightly. “What’s happened to you? FRIDAY, what else is there on him? Graduation photos? Diploma?”

“That’s the thing, Boss, all there is on him is his file for Columbia. Before his enrollment, there is nothing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Check Midtown Tech. Check…check-” But what else was there to check? If Pepper and Happy didn’t know him, neither would the Stark Industries database. 

“I’m sorry, Boss. There is no diploma or graduation date, Peter got into Columbia with his GED…” His AI trailed off, “however his file does include a home address.”

Tony sighed, leaning against one of his worktables. “Send it to my phone.” He said simply. An address, he could work with an address. “Pull up everything you have on Spider-Man since…well, since I died.” 

His holographic interface went to work and he was suddenly met with a blue around him as different articles regarding Spider-Man appeared. 

Spider-Man Saves Local Restaurant from Robbery-In-Progress

New Yorkers Create A Petition to Change Spider-Man’s Name to Iron Spider

Terror at London Bridge

Mysterio Dead: Spider-Man Suspected for Murder

Spider-Man: The Web Headed Spider-Menace

Why Does Spider-Man Hate National Monuments?

Was Spider-Man at Rockefeller Center?

Two Month Anniversary of Spider-Man’s Disappearance: New Yorkers Fear the Worst

Tony skims through each of them, looking for key words and phrases that could give him some kind of insight as to what may have led to…whatever was going on. They at least seemed to provide somewhat useful information as to what Spidey has been up to; however, it's the last article that truly catches his attention. Hesitantly, he opens it, his eyes reflecting the soft blue of the hologram.

It has been two months since the residents of New York have seen our beloved Spider-Man and like many others, I am losing hope that our web-slinger is still out there. Since the miraculous return of those who fell victim to the Blip, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been our protector. Following the events and accusations from Mysterio and his disciples, Spider-Man has continued to protect our people and there was not a day that went by that we went without seeing him. This all changed two months ago. Spider-Man was last seen September 23 in Downtown Manhattan however following the explosion at a warehouse connected to Alchemax, experts are weighing out whether or not Spider-Man was one of the unfortunate casualties. Witnesses say they saw Spider-Man entering the warehouse around 7:30 that night, however there was no confirmation as to whether or not they saw him leave. As we go on two months with no evidence that he is alive, New Yorkers everywhere ar-

He stopped reading, frantically turning back to the other articles that FRIDAY had offered him. Two months? Peter was missing for two months? Did anyone who really knew him notice? Tony felt sick. Before he could panic too much, his heart rate calmed slightly when he clicked on a new article and the wrinkles in his forehead softened as he read. Only days following the previous article, Spider-Man made his heroic return during a standoff between the NYPD and a deranged wannabe-baddie, self-titled The Rhino, where he had swooped in to save a little girl who thought she could be Spider-Man.

(He took a deep breath as he tried not to remember the little boy that stood-up to the droids at the Stark Expo.)

Tony sat down on his bench, putting his head in his hands. Spider-Man had definitely been busy in the time that he had been gone, however he was nowhere close to figuring out why nobody seemed to know who he was and why there was literally no record of Peter Parker beyond his registration to his university. 

He sighed, pulling out his phone to find the address from FRIDAY. 400 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018. Apartment 3A. If he wanted to get answers, he would need to get them from the source. He needed to see Peter.

“Boss, Mrs. Stark would like me to inform you that the Little Miss and her are awake.”

Almost immediately, his heart warmed at the way FRIDAY had addressed his wife and daughter. Mrs. Stark and the Little Miss. He couldn’t just leave right now when they had just gotten him back.

He would have to wait to go to Peter until later.

-

Later came quicker than Tony had anticipated. Morgan had been, understandably, attached to his hip all day. Dragging him all around the penthouse to give him her specialized edition of a tour, as if Tony had never seen the space before. Which, he supposed that maybe she never knew that he did. She was only six and for the first four years of her life, they had spent it all together in the lake house. 

Pepper and Rhodey seemed to think that he would disappear out of thin air, the two of them touching him whenever they got the chance. Pepper would stop and kiss his hair or his cheek whenever she saw him, holding his hand tightly when she sat beside him at the table or on the couch. Rhodey would ruffle his hair or clap him on the shoulder whenever he passed him, which seemed to be more often than would realistically be necessary. 

Happy, on the other hand, would just sit opposite of Tony and watch him with hopeful and questioning eyes. It was obvious that the man knew that Tony had a plan of sorts and he could assume that Happy was looking forward to answers about what was ailing him. From their conversation last night, he could tell that May and Happy had shared a connection and it was probably killing him to not remember every aspect of their relationship.

Tony decided not to bring up his quest for Peter Parker for two reasons. One being that he was sure that Pepper and Rhodey would try to convince him out of it, that going out in public before they figured out how to announce his miraculous return was a bad idea. The second reason was that he didn’t know if he could take pitying looks over looking for someone that didn’t exist to them. He didn’t think he would be able to handle it if any of them tried to suggest that he didn’t know Peter on this Earth.

Anyways, he figured that a disguise was all that he needed to stay incognito on the streets of New York. It was dark and technically he wasn’t alive here, no one would pay him a second glance with his hood up and a baseball cap covering half his face. It would be fine.

He pressed one more kiss onto Morgan’s head, tucking the blankets snug against her. She was conked out and had been for about four hours now, having been hopped up on the ice cream sundaes that she had (very easily) convinced him to make. It didn’t matter that she was two years older than the last time he saw her, she was still his Maguna. 

“Just for a drive?” Pepper asked softly, fiddling with the flannel he was wearing. 

“Just for a drive, honey,” He nodded. It was technically the truth.

She held the hem of his flannel, stepping closer to him until they were eye to eye. “You’ll come right back?” Her voice was timid and suddenly Tony felt bad for not telling her the full truth. She was scared of losing him again. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her lovingly on the forehead. “Right back. You’re stuck with me.” Tony leaned in, kissing her softly. 

She smiled into the kiss, stroking his hair. “Right back,” She whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He grinned. 

They stood together for a few minutes more and Tony was just basking in the fact that he could hold Pepper and that the world wasn’t ending. As much as he didn’t want to leave her, even if it was just for a few hours, he knew that he had to find Peter and had to fix whatever had happened. He never did get the chance to tell the kid what he had meant to him, and now he had a chance to show it. 

The apartment that Peter was now living in wasn’t too far of a drive from the penthouse, only fifteen minutes or so. However, for Tony, it felt like both an eternity and not long enough. He was a jumble of nerves as he truly didn’t know what to expect. This Peter….this Peter has lived over two years without him. There was no way he could expect to see an alive Tony Stark, what if he freaked out before Tony got the chance to explain everything? 

God, he didn’t think this through.

It was eleven thirty now and Tony was sitting inside his car, parked outside an apartment building. The car was odd and the windows were fogging up now from his breath, but he couldn’t convince himself to get out of his car. It didn’t matter that finding Peter had been at the forefront of his mind all night and all day, he was terrified of the fact that he didn’t know how this would go. What if Peter truly didn’t know him in this world? What if he went up to his apartment and Peter shut the door in his face before he had the chance to say anything? 

Tony laid his head on the steering wheel. If he stayed out any longer, he would worry Pepper and he couldn’t do that to her right now. He either had to go in now or he had to wait until he had another chance. 

“You’re Iron Man,” He said to himself, “I’m Iron Man.” And with a deep breath, he stepped out of the car. 

The apartment building was…well, it wasn’t grand. For starters, the fact that Tony could walk right in without needing to buzz or swipe a card was definitely cause for some worry and if the paint peeling from the baseboards was anything to go by, it seemed that the upkeep was minimal. 

Apartment 3A. It was nice that the elevator wasn’t working so Tony could use the stairs without having to make up an excuse for himself. He needed some more time to think of a game plan, of what he would do if (when) Peter answered the door. 

However, it didn’t matter how much he planned, because when Tony mustered up enough courage to knock on the door, it went unanswered. Even after he knocked again. And again. Nothing.

He sighed, leaning his head against the door as he weighed his options. Now that he was here, standing in front of the apartment that Peter lived in, he felt like he couldn’t leave without doing something, anything. 

“Can I help you with somethin'?” A voice startled him and he spun around, nonchalantly pulling his hat down lower. 

Standing in front of him was an old man, looking at him curiously however, Tony was relieved to note that there was no recognition in his eyes. “No, not at all,” He flashed a quick grin, “Just waiting for someone.”

“Ya looking for the kid that lives 'ere?” The man gestured to the door, waving his cigarette around.

Tony stood up a little straighter, “Yes,” Okay, at least he had the right apartment. Not that he doubted it for a moment. 

“Yeah, good luck with that one,” He snorted. “That sonuvabitch don’t let no one into that damn apartment, only that girl.” He took a long drawl of his cigarette, even though Tony could have sworn he saw a no-smoking sign on his way up. Girl? His lip twitched in amusement at the thought of Peter having a girlfriend. 

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, “I think I’ll take my chances, thanks.” 

The old man grinned, “‘Bout time someone took responsibility for tha' punk ass kid. Little bastard.” He was mostly mumbling to himself, although his comments were definitely raising questions for Tony. He didn’t get a chance to ask for clarification, as the man was halfway through the door to the stairs. 

Never in his life did he think that anyone would describe Peter as a ‘punk ass kid.’ Sure, maybe Tony himself would say it in a joking way or if he was trying to rile the kid up, however the man’s tone told him that he was being dead serious. 

He rubbed his goatee, closing his eyes as he tried to think of a game plan. Should he stay here? Camp outside the door and wait for Peter to return? It would definitely be the least spectacular of all his entrances but he could only work with what he had. Tony glanced down at the smudged doorknob, a million thoughts running through his head. 

Maybe he could just…wait inside? He wasn’t above a little B and E. He glanced to either side of him before fiddling with his watch, pulling out a small pin. Unlocking a shoddy apartment door was child’s play for him and it took less than a minute to hear the soft click from the door. He was both happy and unhappy to note that the doorknob lock was the only lock on the door, no deadbolt or chain or anything.

Despite the first impression he got of the rest of the apartment building, Peter’s studio apartment was…well, it wasn’t amazing but it was actually pretty nice. Cozy, if Tony had to be absolutely honest. There was a full-sized bed in the corner with a desk across from it, sitting along the windows. The kitchen sat on the opposite side of the room, and a few feet away from Peter’s bed was a little living room set-up, complete with a worn couch and a coffee table. Strings of white lights decorated the walls, illuminating the room and drawing attention to a little bulletin board that was set-up above the dresser. All-in-all, the apartment was very Peter Parker.

Tony closed the door softly, making his way around the apartment. A bag of takeout was half-opened on the coffee table and a box of pizza was on the stove and it brought a small smile onto his face as he realized that Peter held onto his takeout-loving roots. For his first apartment, it really wasn’t too bad. 

A note on the fridge caught his eye, the purple post-it stuck next to a rent notice-

buy more coffee grounds or i will buy u a nespresso. this a threat <3 - K

K? Must be the girl that the old man was alluding to. How interesting. He turned to look around more, however his plans were quickly thwarted when a soft meow stopped him in his tracks. 

“Jesus fuck!” He exclaimed, holding a hand to his chest as he looked towards the culprit. There, along the ledge of the sofa, perched a small orange cat, who was staring intently at him. “Uh, hi,” He greeted awkwardly.

The only response he got was a quirked head before the cat dashed off, scurrying underneath the bed. Okay…so Peter had a cat. Better than an attack dog, he supposed. And now that he noticed the little guy, he recognized the slew of cat toys that littered the apartment and the cat tower that was sat against the wall close to the window. 

He walked towards the desk, peeking at the papers that littered the area. However, what really piqued his interest was the upper corner, where three objects sat in a delicate set-up; a Darth Vader Lego figurine, a paper coffee cup that read ‘Peter Pan’s Donuts’, and a pair of glasses. His heart clenched as he recognized them as May’s. 

“Oh, kid,” He mumbled softly, his fingers ghosting over the objects. There was something about them that told him that Peter had been through the ringer and that these were just souvenirs of what he had lost. They were important. 

The sound of the lock turning caught Tony off guard and his breath hitched in his throat as he realized that Peter was back. He hadn’t anticipated how soon he would be facing the kid and all the planning that he had done on the drive over and the walk up went out the door. What the hell was he going to say?

His heart drummed in his chest as he watched the door handle turn and suddenly it was like all the air was sucked out of him as Peter stepped through the door. He stood frozen by the desk, basically gawking at the kid, however it didn’t matter that he didn’t know what to say because Peter didn’t even seem to notice his existence.

“You literally heard me unlock the door,” Peter scoffed into his phone, his voice words slightly slurred, “So stop worrying.” 

Tony’s nose twitched as the smell hit him. Peter reeked of weed and by the sound of his voice and his stuttery movements, it was quite obvious that he was stoned. 

“The party was a bust anyways, honestly, I’m embarrassed we stayed as long as we did.” Now that he was really looking, Peter was definitely dressed in what he would call “party attire,” complete with baseball cap sitting backwards on his head, brown curls sticking out here and there. Tony was now noticing the lit joint that the kid was balancing between his fingers. “Yeah, yeah whatever, Ace. I’ll see you tomorrow. ‘Kay… oh-kay bye.” 

Even after finishing his phone call, Peter still failed to notice that there was someone literally in his apartment and Tony was honestly too shell-shocked by the absurdity of everything to formulate a sentence, let alone think about the fact that the kid with super-senses was very unaware of the fact that his apartment got broken into. It wasn’t often that he was rendered speechless but the sight of his no-longer-sixteen-year-old pseudo-son that apparently smoked weed now was enough to do the job. 

The orange cat ran out from underneath the bed, circling Peter’s legs as he took in a hit of his joint, purring loudly. Tony watched as the boy clumsily crouched down, scratching at the cat’s head, “Heya Fishy,” He cooed, “You been good while I was gone, Fish?” 

Fish? Peter named his cat Fish?

He couldn’t help but laugh. Loudly. 

It was like things were playing out in slow motion as Peter became aware of his presence and subsequently fell backwards onto the floor, right on his ass. Tony’s eyes met Peter’s red-rimmed ones, the kid looking at him with a mixture of shock and what he could only read as “what the absolute fuck,” which honestly, is what he was expecting.

However, what he wasn’t expecting was for Peter to simply just blink before fixing his attention on the joint in his hand, “Holy shit, this stuff is stronger than I thought.” He scrubbed his eyes, looking back at Tony. “Got me seeing shit.” 

That was it. Peter didn’t question the resurrected mentor standing in his apartment, instead he seemed to chalk it up to a marijuana-induced hallucination. He didn’t spare Tony a second look, he just got up off the ground and disappeared down the small hall into the bathroom, mumbling quietly to himself. 

And all Tony could do was stand there, staring at the spot where Peter once was.

Chapter Text

listen to the wind blow
watch the sun rise
run in the shadows
damn your love, damn your lies

Peter pulled his mask over his mouth, crumpling up his sandwich wrapper into a ball before he leapt off the side of the building. He was graceful with his movements, falling swiftly through the air before he flung his wrist out, a web catching the side of a nearby building so he could pull himself up into the air.

The city was actually quite peaceful tonight, which he honestly wasn’t too surprised about. Whenever it got below freezing and it was snowing, it seemed like even the most hardened criminals didn’t want to brace the cold. Unfortunately, Peter wasn’t a criminal and someone had to keep the city safe. 

Besides, his suit kept up with the frigid temperatures well enough. Between the materials he’s collected and his ever-growing sewing skills, his suit was actually pretty impressive. It had hints of his own personal vibe as well as it paid homage to Peter Two and Three (something he often smiled about whenever he caught a glimpse of himself.) 

“Ah, goddamit!” His ears perked up at the frustrated voice, the teenager slowing down to hang from the side of the building. Peter focused his hearing, picking up the voice’s owner. “Fuck!”

He jumped down, swerving between two buildings until he stopped above an alley. With a graceful leap, he landed down beside a particularly smelly dumpster, his eyes landing on an older man who was kneeled over an array of groceries. “Need a hand there?” He called out, keeping his distance as he startled the man.

“Jesus!” He jumped, his head whipping around as he spotted the vigilante, Peter noticed a scrape down the side of his face. Damn, he probably slipped on the ice. “Oh, it’s you,” He sighed, scanning the boy. “The Spider-Guy.”

“Eh, it’s Spider-Man,” Peter shrugged, taking a step closer, “Semantics.”

“Right, semantics.” The man mumbled, turning back to the groceries. “Yeah, I guess a hand would be nice.”

Peter stopped beside the man, taking in the sight of the fallen groceries and the sodden paper bag. Yeah, he’d be frustrated too if his grocery bag broke, especially in this weather. “Shit, sorry man.” He said earnestly, leaning down to gather up what he could. Sadly, the eggs could not be salvaged. He was pretty sure the yolks were already freezing to the pavement. 

“It is what it is,” Despite his words, it was clear that this was a “drop-the-spoon” moment for the man.

“Yeah, sometimes things just suck,” Peter agreed. As he spoke, an idea came to mind and he gently set the groceries back on the ground. “So, what’s your name?” He asked, holding out his hand as he used his other to dispense his webs. 

The man gave him an odd look, “Jefferson,” He responded, “I’m assuming you got a name?”

Peter stifled a snort, “Just Spidey is fine, man.” He twirled his hands once more, beaming as he held up the makeshift web-bag. “There!” He exclaimed, 

Jefferson cracked a smile, the disheveled, frustrated look leaving his face. “That’s actually…not bad.” 

He couldn’t help but grin under the mask, kneeling down to start loading the groceries into the secured bag. “Thanks, that’s how most of my ideas tend to be. Not bad.” 

“You know, you’re not too bad either,” Jefferson nodded in appreciation, taking the bag from the teen and loading up the rest. 

“Eh, I try not to be.” Peter shrugged, “Just doing my job.”

The older man straightened up, looking at him with curious eyes, “But it’s not really your job,” He raised an eyebrow. At his better posture, Peter spotted the police badge that was previously hidden under the man’s coat. Oh great. 

He rolled his eyes, despite Jefferson not really being able to see it, “I mean, I may not be on payroll but I still have a responsibility.” 

“Really? From who?” From his tone, Peter could tell that the man was just humoring him, however he found that he really didn’t give a fuck. 

“Myself. My people.” He said simply, “Besides, if it wasn’t my job to help you, I don’t know how else you’d be getting your groceries home.” A smug smirk tugged at his lips. 

“I suppose you’ve got me there,” Jefferson said, “You remind me of my son, he’s also a smart ass.” 

Peter couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s words, “Sounds like a good kid.” 

“Oh, he’s the best,” The warm look in Jefferson’s eyes was endearing, however it made Peter long for someone to talk about him like that again, “Thanks Spidey, I appreciate the help.” 

“Anytime, sir,” He offered him a small salute, “Get home safely.”

“You too, kid.” Jefferson looked Peter up and down before adding, “Stay warm out here.” 

These kinds of interactions really reminded Peter why he was Spider-Man. New York was his home and interacting with its people meant everything to him. In the period where everyone saw him as a menace, he had grieved the casual conversation that he would share with a random New Yorker, among everything he had lost, at least he got this back. 

With the ghost of his smile still on his lips, Peter ventured back into the sky, once again swinging amongst the city’s buildings. 

“Starting without me, Webs?” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as his comm crackled to life. 

“It’s not my fault you have a nine to five.” Peter bit back, earning a laugh from Kate. 

“God, like I want one. I’m going gray already, I’m not made for corporate life.” Over the comm, Peter could hear what sounded like Kate adjusting her quiver and bow. From experience, he could assume that she was perched somewhere in downtown Manhattan, she always started out there. 

“Hey, money is money.”

“Don’t start with me, I literally offered you a job.”

“Sorry, Katie, not all of us were born to be nepo-babies.” He couldn’t help but grin at his own words. 

“Oh, fuck off. What happened to the whole "no-names-on-coms" thing you always whine about?” She scoffed, however he knew that she hadn’t taken it personally. “Besides, I feel like I’m on the end of the nepo-baby spectrum where like, Dan Levy and Dakota Johnson are. Y’know, the good ones.”

“Please, you only included Dakota Johnson because you’re obsessed with Fifty Shades.” He shuddered at the thought of the movies. He was never watching those.

“Touche but also she’s like, a really good actress.” Kate spoke quickly, “Also, you know it’s based off of a Twilight fanfiction, right? And you like Twilight, so I don’t know where all this hostility is coming from.”

He smacked his hand to his forehead, landing on a rooftop, “Right, because whenever I watch Twilight, I’m thinking “wow, how can I possibly make this worse?”” 

“Don’t act like you don’t like the-” His brows furrowed as she went quiet, his spidey-sense tickling the back of his neck. 

“Hawkeye?” 

“Hey, something’s going down at the bank on Ninth.” Her voice was low. “I think someone’s robbing it."

“Sonovabitch,” He groaned, “I’m on my way.”

“Meet me on top of Chino’s, I have a clear view.” 

He followed her instructions, swinging discreetly through Manhattan until he spotted the familiar building. With a quick swoop, he landed beside his colleague, the older girl knelt beside one of the pillars on the roof. She was holding a pair of binoculars to her eyes, aiming towards the bank across the street. 

“It’s just one person,” She informed him, putting the binoculars down to look him in the eye. “A woman, I think she’s trying to get into the safe deposit boxes.”

Peter frowned at the information, turning his attention towards the building in question. Due to his heightened senses, he didn’t really need the aid of the binoculars. He stared into the tinted windows of the bank, catching a faint sight of the slender woman standing inside the building. “None of the alarms went off?”

“Not as far as I know,” The archer shrugged, “I think I’m the only one who noticed she broke in.” 

“How did she even get in?” 

“I couldn’t tell you for sure, I think somehow through the vents. She came down from the ceiling.” 

He scrunched his nose in thought, “Okay,” He said slowly. “Assuming it’s really just her behind this, I’ll go through the roof and see if I can get in the same way she did. Think you can pick the lock on the back?” At her deadpan expression, he continued, “Meet you there.” He nodded.

Most of the time when it was just the two of them, their plans tended to be mostly unspoken. They were aware of one another’s strengths and how each would work best depending on the situation. They tended to make a good duo. 

Spider-Man crept across the roof of the bank, using a mix of his enhanced strength and his uncanny ability to stick to any surface to pry the vent from the top. So far, nothing seemed to be amiss. If the woman really did break in from up here, she obviously did so with care.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” He muttered to himself, crawling swiftly through the vents. His spidey-sense was still ringing in his ears, keeping him on full alert. Something was telling him that this situation was only surface level, that this was not just some ordinary bank robbery. He just couldn’t quite put a finger on what exactly was going on.

He lowered himself down from the vent, his feet hitting the floor softly. From a distance, he could faintly hear Kate pushing open the back door, the archer making her way into the bank as well. He took a moment to try and focus his hearing on the front of the bank, where the safe deposit boxes were, however to his distaste, it was oddly silent. 

All of the sudden, his spidey-sense was screaming at him and he only had less than a second to move before a metal deposit box flew past him. It’s a trap. His eyes widened as he came to this realization, ducking down once more as another landed in his previous spot. 

“Ah, Spider-Man,” The woman’s voice was giggly, as if she were having the time of her life. “You’re right on time! Just like He said you’d be!” 

“Well, I do have a thing for punctuality.” He bit back, he was getting real tired of everyone referencing this He. Spider-Man stood up straighter, meeting the eyes of the tall, slim woman before him. She was so obviously a supervillain, it was painful. With her white lab coat and her circular goggles that rested on top of her head, it was like she was straight out of a comic book. “I’m assuming you’re not the financial advisor on duty,” 

“Observant, aren’t you?” She laughed sarcastically, from the corner of his eye, he could see Kate ducking behind one of the walls. “I’m kind of freaking out right now, I’ve always wanted to meet you, Spider-Man.” She squealed. “You’re just so…fascinating.” There was a dark undertone to her words and it sent a shiver up his spine.

“That tends to be the general consensus with my fans,” He squinted his eyes, taking in her appearance once more. Something about her reminded him of a mad scientist, especially with her frizzy black curls and the manic grin on her face. 

“Oh, don’t mistake me for a fan,” She countered, “I’m fascinated with you the same way a scientist would be with a specimen, a lab rat.” The glint in her eyes could definitely be considered rabid. He tilted his head to the side, readying his web shooter. “You see Spider-Man, I didn’t just want to meet you. I would love to study you. Every. Single. Inch.” At her threatening words, an arrow whizzed by and would have connected with her in some capacity if it weren’t for the large, mechanical cream-colored arm that stretched out from the back of the woman, catching the arrow in its grasp and sending Kate fumbling.

The lenses of his mask widened at the display, his heart drumming in his chest, “What did you say your name was?” He fought hard to keep from having a waver in his voice. He had a feeling he didn't need to ask. 

She grinned vibrantly at him, “Olivia Octavius,” As if she’s rehearsed this numerous times, she pulled her goggles down over her eyes as two other arms came out from behind her, lifting her off the ground. “Doctor Olivia Octavius.”

“Doc Ock.” He felt sick by the observation, staring at her in shock. 

“I see you’ve heard of me,” Doc Ock turned, her arms following suit. From the corner of his eye, he could see Kate looking at him in confusion, god, he did not want to have to explain this.

“Something like that,” He mumbled, lunging out of the way, one of the tentacles missing him by an inch. He knew that variants were a sure-fire thing, but Peter never thought that he would have to face one of them so soon. 

“Ah, people always seem to hear of my greatness, but when they see me they are deterred by my gender,” She sighed.

Or maybe by the crazy look in your eye. He bit back the quip. Crazy people probably didn’t like to be told they were crazy. At least in his experience.

“Something tells me this was a trap.” Kate’s voice echoed in his ear.

“Figure that all out on your own, did ya?” He said sarcastically, catching one of the tentacles in his hand. These were different from Otto’s, they seemed to be a fusion of silicone and metal. Peter let out a hiss of pain as he was slammed harshly into the ground, they seemed stronger too.

“Are you kidding me?” He spat in anger as the arm was successful in ripping part of his suit across his chest. “Again?!”

“I’m gonna try to take out the arms, it looks like there’s some type of harness powering them.”

He leapt to the side, slamming one of the arms into the wall. He glanced between Kate and Olivia, the archer now going hand-to-hand with one of the arms. It seemed almost like Doc Ock was just observing as her tentacles did all the work. 

Spider-Man spotted the harness on her back, however his attention was quickly thwarted by another arm racing towards him, this time some mechanized drill was sticking out of it and it was aiming dangerously close to his head, “Goddammit, are these things insured?” He seethed, ducking out of the way as it slammed into the concrete wall. 

“Y’know Spidey,” Olivia’s tone was now sing-songy. “I don’t know how you do it,” She paused, obviously waiting for his response. 

“Alright, I’ll bite, do what?” He asked, voice annoyed. If he could distract her enough, maybe Kate could get a shot at Doc Ock’s harness. It was definitely different than Peter Two’s Doc Ock, he wondered if the arms had control over Olivia too.

“Your uncanny ability to make people so angry,” She seethed. Two of her arms came flying towards him only for the vigilante to sidestep it easily, flipping over one of them.

“Hey, it’s kind of unfair to put that on me,” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You guys are going to have to take some of the responsibility, maybe try anger management?” 

He cast a glance to Kate as she was struggling against the third arm, her hand-to-hand combat keeping her from unsheathing her bow again. “I have to say, the girl is new,” Olivia cackled, having caught onto where his attention had gone. “Although He did warn me about her.”

“Lady, who the fuck are you talking about?” He questioned, annoyance obvious in his voice. He held his hands out, trying to catch the robotic arm in his grasp only to be shoved up against the wall as the other arm connected with his legs. 

“Oh, but that’s all a part of the fun, isn’t it Spidey?” She sounded giddy as he groaned in pain. Spider-Man reached out, flicking his wrist as he shot a web at the ceiling, yanking himself out of the arms’ grasp. 

“Fun for who?” He asked, “I am not having a good time.” He landed beside Kate, landing a punch on the arm as she did a somersault over it, dragging an arrow across in an attempt to damage it. 

“Yeah, me neither!” She agreed, panting slightly. “Not a typical bank robber, are ya?”

“Please, like I care about the money.” Olivia scoffed, “And I don’t believe I was talking to you, girl!” She hissed, lunging forward towards Kate, the other two arms following her lead as one caught the archer by surprise, sending her to the ground with a surprised yelp. 

“Shit!” Peter’s eyes widened as he watched the arm dig into the girl’s thigh. That was definitely not good. Something about Doc Ock’s movements told him that she was just stalling and that their little altercation was a set-up for something else. They needed to get out of here. “Hawkeye!”

“I’m good, I’m good. It only hurts…a little.” The tremble in her voice, even over their comms, was enough to tell him that it hurt more than a little.

He dove across the room, using one to web one of the arms towards him as he grabbed the other. Maybe he could try and tangle them together and web them down, giving him and Kate a chance to escape and hopefully keep Olivia down long enough for the police to arrive. 

“I’m getting really tired of this bullshit,” He groaned, adding another layer of webbing only for one of the arms to come undone again. 

“Did you really think this would be that easy, Spider-Man?” His villain questioned, her tone mocking. 

“Y’know, I hoped that at least one of these days, something would go my way!” He exclaimed, landing a particularly hard hit in an attempt to keep it down. This seemed to only anger Olivia. He peered over to where Kate was pulling her quiver from her back, still scuffling with the arm.

“Oh, Spidey,” Doc Ock’s tone was dark, “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.” With that, she lunged forward, except she wasn’t going for Peter. She was going for Kate.

With wide eyes and high anxiety, Peter immediately went into overdrive. In an angered frenzy, he practically tackled the crazed scientist, sending her to the ground. This time, he wasn’t targeting the tentacles, instead the person behind them. If only he could…

He had Olivia against the wall, the scientist struggling against his enhanced strength as she was frantically calling out commands to her arms but Peter wasn’t listening. He needed to get Kate a clear shot of the harness. 

“You idiot boy!” Olivia called out, her voice heavy with anger. “Trust that if I had it my way, you wouldn’t be getting out of here at all!” She screamed.

“Now!” He yelled, turning his head slightly so he could spot Kate notching an arrow. He held Olivia in place as the arrow pierced her inflatable harness, sending the arms down as their power source was currently deflating.

“Don’t think this is the end, Spider-Man!” Doc Ock screamed as he followed Kate towards the backdoor, “He will have his vengeance and so shall I!” 

-

Tony tried not to let his dejection show as he trailed through the penthouse but it was hard to keep his back straight and his mind focused as he thought back to what had happened last night. 

Peter thought he was a ghost. A hallucination. 

He would be lying if he said that it didn’t break his heart.

“Daddy!” Morgan leapt onto the couch beside him, shaking both him and the cup of coffee in his hand. “Someone’s on the phone for you,” She drug out the last word, bouncing up and down on the seat cushion, “Captain Juice Pop!” 

He couldn’t help but smile at his daughter, the toothy grin and excitable nature enough to somewhat settle his nerves. It was a miracle how quickly she adapted to this whole situation, “Oh yeah? What’s he saying, babydoll?”

“I dunno,” She shrugged, “The phone rang and I answered it cuz you were all the way in here and then he said “Hi Morgan, can I talk to your dad? ” and then I said, “Sorry, I’m not his secretary.”” 

Tony laughed loudly at her recount of events, this was definitely his kid. “I’m sure Cap loved hearing that.” He ruffled her hair, “Did you leave the phone in the kitchen, honey?”

“Yesss!” She squealed, fumbling for the tv remote as he stood up. Steve calling wasn’t necessarily unprecedented but also he couldn’t really imagine what the man could be calling about.

“This is Tony Stark,” He put the phone to his ear, “I believe you spoke with my assistant?” 

On the other end of the line, Steve let out a laugh, “Yes. I did. I hope a raise is in her future, she’s quite good at her job.”

“I’ll be sure to let the boss know.” There was a moment of silence before Tony spoke again, “Is there something I can help you with?”

Steve sighed, “Bucky and Sam are back, with Yelena. At the Compound.”  

Tony raised an eyebrow, “That’s…good, right?” The tone of Steve’s voice was misleading.

“It should be, right? I don’t know.” There were only a few instances in this life where Tony has heard the good Captain sound so…nervous. This was one of those times. “Clint’s talked to me a bit about…well, I guess me. I’m not really sure how they’re going to react to me or honestly any of us being back.” 

It was weird that he knew what he was meaning, given the context of his words. When they had first shown up in Clint’s garage, he had basically told them the fate of both the Tony and Natasha of this reality; however when it came to Steve, he seemed more hesitant to give up that information. 

He didn’t make it back from returning the stones.

The way Clint said it, Tony had a feeling that there was much more to that story than just that little bit of information. He would bet good money on the real reason being something that would cause some real controversy. 

“You want to explain what you did?” Leave it to him to be blunt. 

“I probably should,” Steve mumbled, “But that’s not what I was really calling about.”

Tony sighed, leaning against the counter, “C’mon Cap, use your words.”

“Look, Nat and I…” He paused for a moment, “Will you come with us?”

Oh. They want him to go with them? When Tony picked up the phone, he wasn’t expecting this to be the reason. Sure, in the years during the Blip, the three of them had grown closer, more-so like they had been before Ultron and the Sokovia Accords, but he didn’t think to expect this. 

“Me?” His confusion and surprise showed through his voice.

“Yes, Tony, you. It’s just the three of us, in a way. I think we should stick together for something like this.” Tony considered what would have happened if Steve and Nat joined him in finding Peter, what kind of reaction the kid would have had if he walked into three Avengers versus only one. Maybe it would have gone better.

“When are you heading to the Compound?”

“Honestly, I think we’re going to leave here in the next five minutes.”

Tony pursed his lips, glancing towards the living room where Morgan was currently watching Bluey. “Alright, I’ll meet you there.” He settled on as he ended the call, “Fri, be a dear and get a hold of Happy.”

-

The Compound was different, which honestly wasn’t to say much about the discrepancies in this world because the last time that Tony saw it, Thanos and his fleet had just turned it to rubble. 

For starters, it was much bigger than its predecessor, and the tech was updated beyond what Tony had already had installed. There was also a slight Wakandan touch to it, one that left him in silent awe. He would be looking forward to reconnecting with the King and the Princess. 

He had followed Clint’s car through the security leading into the property and if he were being honest, the closer he got, the more he felt a little bit more…anxious. During their final battle with Thanos, Tony didn’t really get the moment to speak with Sam or Bucky upon their return and considering that their last interaction didn’t end well, he wasn’t sure how they would react to his own resurrection. 

That, and any relative of Natasha was sure to leave him slightly paranoid. 

This was definitely going to be interesting. Good thing that Tony was a fan of excitement. 

He stepped out of his car, straightening his jacket as he stepped forward. “After you, dear,” He smirked as he pulled open Natasha’s car door, obnoxiously spreading his arm in the direction of her exit. 

“Ah, and here I thought that the chivalry was dead.” Natasha smiled, “I appreciate you coming.”

“Anything for you, Miss Rushman.” She rolled her eyes at the inside joke, standing beside him. Tony turned his head, meeting Steve’s eyes as the blond stopped in front of them, Clint by his side.

“I think it would be best if I went in first and you guys waited a sec,” Clint explained, fidgeting with the hearing aid in his ear. “FRIDAY already knows that you’re back so it won’t set off any alarms when you guys come in so it wouldn’t hurt to give them a little bit of a heads up.”

Steve nodded, “I agree.”

A softer smile danced on Natasha’s lips and it warmed Tony’s heart. He often thought that if any of them deserved a happy ending, it was her. Seeing her sister again was one step closer to that. 

“Give me like five minutes.” Clint instructed, turning on his heel to enter the compound. 

“The longest five minutes of my life,” Steve mumbled, putting his hands into his pockets. 

He could relate to that sentiment, having felt the same thing last night while he was waiting for Peter. Tony couldn’t help but frown at the memory, the image of the kid’s demeanor and the lone apartment had him longing for answers as to what had exactly happened within the last two years. 

“You’re thinking about Peter.” It wasn’t a question, Natasha knew what she was talking about. 

“Ya got me,” He sighed. “I should be worried that no one seems to know he is, right?”

“I think you’d be crazy not to be.” Steve responded. “It definitely doesn’t make sense.”

“Someone has to know something.” Natasha said.

“You’d think.” He widened his eyes slightly, pursing his lips as to express his frustration. He had a feeling that if anyone did, it would be Clint’s little apprentice. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Nat offered him a supportive smile, patting his shoulder.

“We will,” Tony agreed, “But right now, I think it’s time for us to go in.” He gestured towards the door of the Compound, “Time to face the music.” He pulled open the door, waving his arm for the other two to go in. 

“Time to face the music,” Steve repeated, his tone soft. 

Similarly to what he remembered, the main area of the Compound was not too far from the entrance and the voices of those occupying the space were hard to miss. 

“Clint Barton, you are aware that I have a dog to go home to, yes?” The unmistakable accent of Yelena Bolova carried through the halls. “I came to debrief, nothing more.” 

“Yel, if you could just trust me-” Clint sounded defensive. 

“Ha! That is rich!” The young woman laughed, the sound getting louder as they grew closer. 

“It is kind of hard to be “trusting” when we have no idea what’s going on.” He noticed the way Steve stiffened up at the sound of Bucky’s voice.

“That’s…well, that’s fair but-” 

“What the fuck?” Clint didn’t need to explain himself, as he was cut off by Sam as the man caught sight of the three people entering. 

“Natasha?” Yelena was staring directly at her sister.

“How the hell…?” Bucky whispered, staring at them with his jaw slightly dropped. 

“Barton-?” Sam didn’t even have a chance to get the sentence out before Clint was nodding his head, somewhat of a defeated expression on his face.

“Yup. It’s what it looks like.” 

Tony stood straighter, looking between all of them. This was so not what he was expecting. Maybe some yelling, or some hugging. But this…weird kind of acceptance? What the hell was going on.

“What it looks like?” It seemed that he wasn’t the only one to share this sentiment, as Steve looked questioningly at Clint. Natasha stayed quiet, staring at Yelena with a longing look on her face. 

“You guys…” Sam started slowly. “Are here.” His eyes were scrutinizing, his eyebrows raised slightly. Tony felt a bit like they were in a standoff.

Yelena didn’t speak, instead pursing her lips as she whistled a low, melodic tune. Imagine his surprise when Natasha quickly followed suit, the two looking at nothing else but one another. It was a touching moment, honestly, but horrifically confused as to what the fuck this weird series of events were.

“You guys don’t seem,” He paused for a moment, weighing his words, “Particularly confused. At all.” He crossed his arms, fixing Clint with a hard look. 

“Oh, trust me,” Bucky said, his tone bitter as he looked towards Steve with an odd look of betrayal. “I’m confused as all hell,”

“Shocker,” Sam muttered mockingly under his breath, earning the middle finger from the disgruntled soldier.

“This,” Bucky gestured towards the three, “I was not expecting but…” He trailed off into silence. 

“But?” Steve questioned, his voice thick with emotion. It was obvious, at least to Tony, that the man wanted nothing more than to hug the two and that the continued distance between them was becoming overwhelming.

“But we knew it could be a possibility.” Yelena finished the sentence. Her accent seemed much thicker in person versus over the comms’ speaker.

An identical look of confusion overcame all three of the multiversal travelers’ faces, as much as they may have wanted to hide it. For them, coming from 2023 and all, time travel was the biggest feat that they had been able to accomplish. There wasn’t even a thought of multiversal travel until they had been taken to The Watcher. 

“That being said,” Sam cleared his throat, “How are you guys here?” Tony could sense an underlying question.

“We were brought here,” He said softly, not giving anyone else a chance to respond. “For good. That’s what we were told.” 

“For good,” Yelena whispered before she pulled Natasha into what seemed to be a much needed hug. “You promise?” This question wasn’t for him.

Tony turned his attention away from their reunion, giving them space to feel the reconnection. Instead, he focused on the other four, three of which were sharing a very awkward and intense aura. 

“How did you know this could be a possibility?” Steve questioned. Leave it to him to leave the tension hanging in the air. Tony wished he could be surprised.

Clint was the one who responded, with a large sigh and a hand dragging down his face. “Look, I didn’t exactly know how to say this before y’know, given the way that Tony was asking about Spider-Man and where he was, I wasn’t exactly sure how you all would react to this information.”

His words brought forth a very uncomfortable feeling in Tony’s stomach and if he hadn’t already had proof that the kid was alive, he would have thought he faced a nasty fate. 

(Little did he know that his assumptions were, in fact, true. Just not in the way he thought them to be.)

“What are you talking about?” Tony asked quickly, feeling his temper rising.

At the same moment he spoke, both Bucky and Sam did as well, their eyes landing right on him, “You know who Spider-Man is?”

His eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean “know who he is” ? I-” He was at a loss for words, which honestly said more.

Clint put his hands up, in a placating sense, “Guys.” He said firmly, “I can explain only one thing at a time. Just…just let me talk to Tony first, alright? I think you all have some catching up to do, anyways.”

Tony took a deep breath, trying to slow the intense beat of his heart as he followed Clint towards a more secluded part of the Compound. He casted one more glance towards Steve and Natasha, though they seemed to already be preoccupied with the people in front of them. He could only hope that things went well. For all of them, honestly. 

“Well,” He said, his voice impatient. He had been looking for actual information about Peter and his whereabouts since 2023 since he had arrived and to know that Clint had been keeping something from him, how else was he supposed to sound?

“Tony,” Clint’s voice was light, although it carried a certain defense to it. “I’m not…look, I still have no idea what yo-what all of you, are talking about. We have no idea who Spider-Man is. Or didn’t, at least not until you told me.” He let out a small laugh, although Tony didn’t see what was funny. 

“Then what? ”

The archer took a deep breath, obviously wary as he seemed to be calculating his next words. “You guys being brought here, it’s not our first time dealing with the multiverse. There was an incident in 2024. A little more than a year after…well, everything. None of us really know much of everything, SWORD and SHIELD have both done a good job of keeping any details from getting out, as much as w-”

Tony cut him off, fixing his friend with a hard stare, “What happened?”

“There were three Spider-Men, Tony.” Clint said flatly, “Three.”

Chapter Text

you know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open

Tony leaned against the table, staring down at his clasped hands. He’s been in this position for about five minutes, his stare unwavering as he replayed the information that Clint had just told upon him. Three. That number kept playing in his head. 

There were three Spider-Men. 

It was hard not to be frustrated by the information, especially considering the lack thereof. Clint hadn’t been joking when he said that he didn’t really know the little details on how exactly the multiple Spider-Men came to be, just the fact that one moment there were three of them swinging around the Statue of Liberty and taking down a band of unknown villains, and in the next moment they were all gone. Duplicate heroes and villains alike, vanished into thin air. 

“Tony?” He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of his name, finding Steve standing in the doorway of the room. His eyes were red and there were tear stains trailing down his face but Tony made the executive decision to stay quiet about it. 

He cleared his throat, standing up straighter and adjusting his sweatshirt, “Yeah, what’s up?” He tried to sound nonchalant but a little bit of his irritation seeped into his voice. 

Steve pursed his lips before letting out a deep sigh, “I don’t know why I thought things were just going to be fine here.”

Tony was silent for a moment, he was not expecting that confession. “What do you mean by that?”

“I…” The soldier paused for a moment, “you remember when we went back to 1970?”

He raised an eyebrow, nodding in confirmation for him to continue. 

Steve looked down, “I saw Peggy’s office and…it hurt. Honestly. Don’t get me wrong, I was focused on the mission but all I could think about was what I had lost. I-” He cut himself off, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I don’t regret anything, trust me on that but…but I thought about what it would be like if I had gone back.” 

Tony’s eyes widened slightly, “You don’t mean-” 

“ I wasn’t going to do it. I swear,” He sighed again, this time it was a little watery. “I did think about it but I honestly had no plans to go through with it. I couldn’t just throw away everything I did have for just a “maybe,” ya know?” Steve went quiet after that, his stare still fixated on the ground. 

“Steve?” He was honestly stumped as to where this conversation was going. 

The man stood up straighter, however his shoulders remained slumped and watery blue eyes met Tony’s gaze, “The Watcher said that this world was the same, and it seems like it is. For the most part. But there are things that are different, and it’s not like they’re small things. They’re important. Like what’s going on with Peter and-” He stopped abruptly, his voice dying in his throat like he could not physically get the words out. 

“And what?” Tony prodded, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

“I did make it back from returning the stones.” Steve admitted, “I-...apparently on this Earth, going back to Peggy was more than just a thought. I actually did it. I returned the stones and I came back, but I wasn’t me . I lived an entire life before I came back and I abandoned everyone, Tony. Bucky can barely look me in the eye.” 

Tony let out a sigh. He couldn’t blame Bucky for his hurt but this universe’s Steve and the Steve standing here now were obviously not the same. “Y’know, I’m sure a lot of it is just the shock factor of it all. Sooner or later, he’s gonna realize that you wouldn’t have made the same choice.” 

Steve stayed quiet, the kicked puppy look still on his face. 

“He’ll come around,” He clapped the soldier on the shoulder, “It’ll take some time but he will, so will Rocket Man.” At the nickname for Sam, he managed to coax a small smile out of Steve. 

“You’re right,” He scrubbed a hand down his face, “I just…didn’t expect this.”

Tony snorted, “Me and you both.” It was crazy how easy it was to talk to Steve now, considering that they had been at odds for so long. 

“Yeah…” He said slowly, “Did Clint explain anything else about the whole-”

“The whole “Three Spider-Men at the Statue of Liberty” thing?” The engineer let out a dry laugh, “He explained everything he knew, which was a whole lotta nothing. He wasn’t kidding when he said SWORD and SHIELD had that shit on lockdown.” 

“Like that’s going to stop you,” Steve rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if FRIDAY wasn’t already looking into this.” 

“Looking into what?” Natasha’s voice announced her presence as she entered the room. “Planning something fun without me, boys?” Behind her was Clint and Yelena, the blonde still decked out in her tactical gear. Tony wasn’t really sure what to make of her yet but decided if Nat trusted her then he would be open-minded. 

“Spider-Man.” He spoke at the same time as Steve, their voices overlapping. 

“Right,” Yelena was the one to respond, “You mentioned you know who the Spider-Man is?” Her confusion over his earlier reveal was the only one that actually made sense to him. 

“We all do,” Tony gestured between the three of them. “My question is why no one else seems to.” 

“You do know Spider-Man keeps his identity secret-”

“Obviously.” He deadpanned. 

The blonde fixed him with a glare that was a little more intimidating than he would like to admit. “Do not interrupt me. He has been very adamant on keeping it a secret since we met him.”

“How long ago was that?” Steve asked. 

Yelena and Clint shared a look, the latter running a hand through his hair. “He helped me and Kate out with Kingpin in 2024.”

“Rockefeller Center,” Tony nodded, knowingly. He had read through the theories that discussed whether or not Spider-Man had been involved, though no one could seem to have hard evidence. 

“Yes, Rockefeller Center.” Clint sighed, “He teams up with us out every now and then, but he operates mostly independently.”

“Mostly,” Yelena scoffed, though it was more in amusement. “Kate Bishop convinced him to let her patrol with him half the time.” 

“What?” Surprisingly it was Clint who expressed the confusion for the three travelers. “No one told me about that.” 

Yelena patted him on the shoulder, “No hard feelings, Clint, we just didn’t think it necessary. Besides, I am fairly sure that she is the only one to know who he is.” 

This piqued Tony’s interest, “How?”

“Why would I know, Tony Stark?” Her consistency to refer to people by their first and last names was…well, it was certainly something. “I have not had any reason to need to know who he is. He is a good fighter and he is my friend, that is enough.”

The sincerity in her words should have been enough for him too, but this whole puzzle was starting to be too much for him. He liked to solve things and quickly, this was taking too long. 

“Boss, there are news reports of an attempted robbery at the First National Bank on ninth street. Nothing has been reported missing however there is a significant amount of damage. Witnesses are saying that they saw Hawkeye and Spider-Man leaving the building.”

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed as FRIDAY’s voice echoed through his earpiece, “How long ago was that, Fri?” His query gained the attention of the other occupants of the room, but he didn’t pay them any mind.

“Half an hour ago.” 

With that piece of information, he turned his attention back to the others. “Update on our web-slinger?” Natasha asked before he could speak. 

A faint smile pulled at his lips, “Something like that.” He stated before turning his attention to Clint and Yelena, “So Kate knows the kid. If they get into some trouble, where are they going?” 

“Tony,” Clint sighed, pinching his nose.

“Look, you can either help me out or not. Regardless, I’m going to figure it out.” 

“You’re really not gonna let this go, huh?” 

“I think I just made that pretty clear,” He cast an exasperated look at Nat and Steve. “Didn’t I?” 

Yelena rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I am not getting involved.” 

“Yelena,” Nat started and by the tone of her voice, he could definitely see the big sister-little sister dynamic between the two.

“Look,” Tony said and he allowed some of his desperation to fall into his voice. “I’m not trying to cause problems for him, but something’s wrong here and something tells me that the only person who knows what that is would be him.” He chose his words carefully, Yelena’s previous declaration that she didn’t care to know his secret identity prominent in his head. 

The blonde stared at him, her green eyes sharp and calculating. She was measuring him up, in the same way that Natasha has in the past. It took a lot for Tony to earn the redhead’s trust, something told him it might take a little more for him to earn Yelena’s. 

“You knew him more than just as a colleague.” It was more a statement than a question. “You care about him.”

He found himself nodding as she spoke, “Yes. Yes, I do.” 

Yelena threw her head back with an exaggerated groan, “Fine, but no one speaks of my involvement.” She pointed to each of them, the threat evident in her words. “I am only helping because I care about him too.” 

-

The drive to the safe house was quite possibly the longest drive of Tony’s life. Clint had insisted on driving and Steve and Nat had decided they wanted to return his favor and accompany him in finding Peter. He hadn’t put up much of an argument, considering his previous thoughts of how it might be easier to talk to the kid if the other two Avengers also made their existence known. 

He couldn’t help the nerves that filled his body and even his conversation with Pepper over the phone had done little to ease his worries. His wife had done her best to sound supportive but it was evident she was still concerned over this Spider-Man-Peter-Parker situation. Tony had a feeling that if Nat and Steve didn’t back him up, she would think he had lost his mind. 

The safehouse was in some random basement in some random warehouse in some random part of Manhattan and apparently there was a hidden door that led in. Yelena hadn’t given much more information than that before she had left, not without a promise between her and Natasha that they’d see one another the next day. 

On the way there, Tony couldn’t help the way his mind ran wild. The first time he had seen Peter, the kid had been high off his ass and had brushed Tony off as a side effect of his joint. This time, he’d be sober and faced with the appearance of two other not-dead Avengers. He couldn’t decide how Peter would react. 

Once upon a time, maybe he could have. But that was a different time and a different Peter, literally.

Despite the Watcher telling them that this world was the same as theirs, it couldn’t help but feel different. Though, now that Tony thought about it, that was what the butterfly effect did. The biggest difference between this timeline and the one he was in previously was the end result of the Final Battle. Who knows what dominoes that pushed down. 

Clint parked his car across the street from the warehouse, Tony realizing that the random building was also abandoned. Who financed this? He was getting tired of having more questions than answers. 

“You ready for this?” Natasha set her hand on his shoulder from her spot in the backseat. 

" 'Course I am, Red," Tony said with a grin, though it was without substance. He drummed his fingers on the dashboard, his gaze flickering towards Clint. "So, about this safehouse..."

Clint hesitated, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Tony, are you sure about this? I mean, barging in on them like this..."

"We're not barging in," Tony countered, though his tone lacked conviction. "We're just... observing. Gathering intel."

Clint, seeming to sense Tony's unease, offered a reassuring nod. "Hey, it's okay to be apprehensive. This is... a lot. Even for us, man. And you guys just…multiverse-hopped.” 

“Exactly,” Steve nodded from the passenger seat, “At least we know how that happened, we have no idea why nobody seems to know who Peter is.” 

“Or that he even exists.” Tony leaned his head back with a groan, his hand covering his face. His previous search with FRIDAY continued to echo in the back of his mind. She could not find anything about Peter before he had started college, it was like any piece of information on the kid had been wiped. “Okay,” He sighed, “It’s time to bite the bullet.”

It was a silent journey to the back of the building. Clint was the one to find the cellar door, or what they believed it to be. Once lifted, it revealed a keypad and a steel door. (Seriously, who the hell is financing this?) Yelena hadn’t warned them about this, she had to have known about it yet neglected to tell them about. 

“Jesus Christ,” He muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He twisted a notch on his watch, holding it in front of the keypad. A metal chip slid out, unfolding until it covered the surface of the pad and made a small whirring noise before the door unlocked. There were some things he could plan for. 

He took a deep breath, following Natasha in. The tension was palpable, none of them 100% sure what they were walking into and closing the steel door behind them left them to make their way down the set of steps in the dark. Tony only had a few seconds to worry that maybe Peter and Kate hadn’t come to the safehouse before his back slammed into the wall and his hand was suddenly connected to the wall. 

With a ghost of a smile, he recognized the familiar feel of webbing.

The sounds of struggle were quickly interrupted when the overhead lights turned on. Beside him, Steve’s wrists were caught together against the wall and in front of him sat Natasha, free from webbing but not without a small trickle of blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Clint on the other side of the entryway next to a lightswitch.

On the other side of the room stood Peter Parker and Kate Bishop. 

The latter stood a few feet away from Peter, her shoulders tensed and an arrow notched. She had a stitched gash her on thigh and a bruise on her jaw, though besides that she seemed relatively unharmed. 

Peter…this Peter was different from the one he had seen only a few days ago, with bright eyes and youthfulness that hadn’t been lost in the middle of the battlefield. Now, without a hat and with his mask clutched between his fingers, Tony could see the brown hair that stopped just above the bottom of his ears and was left in unruly curls with the absence of hair gel. He stood poised, his weight balanced on the balls of his feet, one arm raised with his web-shooter aimed.

He was wearing his suit, but not one that Tony designed. It was still red and blue, though the colors were darker. The spider emblem on his chest was torn in what alarmingly looked like claw marks, though it was still obvious that the symbol had changed. It was almost completely different from any of the ones that he had created.

What really caught Tony’s eye was the scar on Peter’s face. It ran across his left eye, starting from a little bit above the end of his eyebrow and stopping just below his eyebrow. It was somewhat faint but the depth of the scar made it more visible as well as made his stomach churn. Peter’s healing factor was extraordinary, it took a lot to leave even the faintest scar. Tony didn’t even want to imagine what could have marked his face like this. 

Both him and Kate were staring at them with distrust, the latter with wide eyes and the former with narrowed ones. 

“Hold on!” Clint raised his hands, his eyes on Peter. “Stand down.”

“What is this?” The young man seethed and Tony was taken aback by the venom in his voice. 

Tony opened his mouth, though he found himself unable to speak. Without the redness of weed, the kid’s brown eyes were hardened and looked much older than eighteen. How much had happened since he had been gone?

“Pete,” He finally breathed out, “It’s really me, kid. Hand to God.” 

Peter’s brows furrowed, looking between the four before meeting Kate’s eyes. After a moment, Peter nodded minutely and they both slowly lowered their weapons but by the tension in their bodies stayed, they were still on the defense. 

“Holy shit,” Kate whispered, looking between them. When her eyes landed on Natasha, they widened once more, though this time in panic. “Holy shit, I punched Black Widow in the face.” 

Nat chuckled, wiping the blood off her chin, “You have a clean right hook, kid.”

“How?” Peter cut through the light exchange. “You guys are dead.” His tone was so sharp it was almost like he spat the words. 

“It’s a long story.” Steve said.

Kate glanced at Peter, seemingly taking in the rigidness of the teen’s shoulders and the tight hold he had on his Spider-Man mask, before clearing her throat, “Okay. Then give us the Sparknotes version.” 

“We’re from a different timeline,” Tony was quick to say, going straight to the truth. “Another universe.”

His words didn’t seem to take the tension from the young heroes before him, if anything, Peter’s grip on his mask only grew tighter. This wasn’t going well. Fuck.

“Peter?” Kate said quietly, tilting her head in his direction. 

“They’re telling the truth.” He muttered towards her, his jaw clenched. 

“You’re just a kid.” Clint’s eyebrows were knitted together and his eyes had yet to leave Peter. The teen in question seemed to grow frustrated by his words, if the way the muscles in jaw worked gave any indication. “I don’t know what I thought…” He trailed off. 

“Clint,” Kate whispered with a shake of her head. She set the bow down on the table beside her, returning the arrow to the quiver leaning against it on the floor. “I guess I don’t need to ask why you’re here.” 

The elder archer rubbed his forehead, “What happened, Kate?” He asked, gesturing to her injuries. 

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Steve said, hands still attached to the wall. “But maybe we can have this conversation after we’re out of this?”

Tony attempted to pull his hand free of the webbing only to find that it was stronger than he remembered. Peter let out a heavy sigh, reaching out to the shelf behind him before tossing a vial at Clint. “Go for it.” 

He watched as Clint cautiously caught the vial, his eyes flickering between Peter and the solution in his hands. He had yet to relax his body, his stance so taut Tony was sure a vein in his head was bound to make an appearance. It was clear that Peter wasn't going to make this easy.

"What's this?" Clint asked, holding the vial up. The purple liquid inside swirled and shimmered against the white overhead light.

"Web neutralizer," Peter said curtly, his voice still laced with suspicion. "It'll dissolve the webbing. Try not to splash it on your skin."

The man nodded slowly, "Thanks," he muttered, before carefully applying the solution to Steve and Tony’s restraints.

As the webbing dissolved, Tony took the opportunity to study Peter more closely. If he hadn’t already known about May Parker, he would’ve been able to guess a great tragedy had left the kid as the guarded teenager before him. Though, he knew that there was something deeper going on here that had turned him into almost a completely different Peter Parker. There were no dimpled smiles or passionate rambling, instead there was quiet and distrust. 

“Pete,” He approached slowly, taking in the way the teen looked him up and down. “Kiddo, it’s really me, I swear.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said shortly. 

Tony blinked, he could honestly say he wasn’t expecting that blunt of a response. “O-kay,” He said awkwardly, “I think we need to talk.” 

Peter sighed, dropping his mask on the table. The distance between them was only a few feet but it couldn’t have felt farther. “How did you find this place?” He glanced over to where Kate stood by Clint, the two making eye contact in what seemed like quiet conversation once again. 

“I’m gonna kill Yelena.” Kate sighed before any of them had a chance to answer, running a fingerless-gloved hand through her hair. 

“Great.” Peter muttered under his breath, turning around to the metal shelf behind him to reshelve a first aid kit. Tony couldn’t help but notice that despite putting the medical supplies away, the marks on Peter’s chest remained. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. 

“Peter-”

“Kate-” 

Both he and Clint spoke at the same time, looking across at one another. This was not going in any way that he expected, although now that he was faced with the situation, Tony wasn’t really sure anymore what he was expecting. 

“ Guys, ” Clint amended, “What happened? Where’d this come from?” He gestured to Kate’s bruise. 

“I’m fine, Clint,” The young woman rolled her eyes. “It was just patrol.” 

“Uh huh,” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, “And I’m just curious on what “just patrol” entailed tonight.” 

“Y’know I don’t work for you, right?” Peter scoffed, bitterness taking away from words that could’ve been taken as playful. 

“Hold on, don’t imply I work for him either.” Kate held a hand up at him, her nose wrinkling. The ease of which she was able to talk to him compared to the way Peter regarded him. 

“Nobody works for me.” Clint stated simply. “Don’t feel too special, I would ask anyone what happened.” 

There was a brief moment of silence where neither of the heroes spoke, though they didn’t look at each other either so there was no silent conversation to attempt to decipher. It was just quiet. 

“It was a bank robbery.” Kate finally spoke. 

“A bank robbery did that?” Steve questioned, gesturing between the gash on her leg and the ones across Peter’s chest. 

“Ever heard of a knife?” Kate raised an eyebrow at him, “I’m a little more concerned with the three elephants in the room.” 

Steve furrowed his brows, “Tony sai-”

“Right,” She nodded, “I heard, I believe that, but I fear I’m going to need a little more than just a multiversal explanation.” 

“You’re right,” Tony cut in before it could escalate, “You do. Actually, I think there’s a lot that can be discussed.” His eyes flickered towards Peter, though the teen wasn’t looking at him. He was leaning against the table, arms crossed against his chest with his attention towards the floor. 

Kate didn’t respond, looking between him and Tony, an indecipherable expression on her face. He found himself wondering once more just how close these two were. She seemed to recognize what was going on in Peter’s head much better than he could. 

“Peter?” The teen looked up at the call of his name, his eyes still cold. It pained Tony’s heart to see him like this, the lack of…well, anything in his eyes. He would take being mistaken as a hallucination over this. This Peter in front of him just seemed resigned. 

The sigh he let out seemed to be a full body exhale, his shoulders slumping. Finally, instead of the blankness in his eyes, there was a flash of something . “Look, I get that you wa-” 

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the beep of a phone ringing. There was a moment of confusion before Peter reached down and pulled out a cracked smartphone from a well-concealed pocket on the left leg of his suit.

Tony watched as he scrubbed a hand down his face before answering the call, “Hey man, what’s up?” 

The volume was too low for the caller to be heard, leaving Tony to look over at Nat. The redhead gave him a nod, though after years of knowing her he was able to understand it as encouraging. If he was reading Peter’s body language as closed off and untrusting, he could only imagine what she was seeing. 

“Yeah, no, it’s cool…I get it, don’t worry about it…I hope your daughter feels better soon…No problem man, talk to you later.” He ended the call with a sigh, shoving the phone back into his pocket. It was evident that he was abandoning whatever his earlier words were going to be as he reached over for his mask. 

“Work?” Kate questioned. Tony’s face twisted slightly in confusion, in his search for Peter Parker, there was no evidence of a work history. 

“Yep.” He sniffed once, “I gotta go.”

Tony was stepping forward and reaching out for Peter’s wrist before he was even aware of what he was doing. It felt like he was moving in slow motion as his fingers wrapped around the kid - his kid’s - arm and he was struck with how he was actually holding Peter’s arm.

Peter flinched at his touch, his eyes widening slightly. 

“Wait, you can’t leave.” The desperation in his voice would’ve been embarrassing if that wasn’t exactly what he was feeling. They had been there all of fifteen minutes and Tony had next to no answers about what was going on with the kid, and now he was leaving? “We need to talk, kid. Please.” 

A conflicted look crossed the teen’s face as he pulled his hand back from Tony’s grip and he couldn’t help the hurt that pierced through his chest. “I can’t right now.” He shook his head, taking a step back. “I’m covering someone’s shift at four, I don’t have time for any of this.” 

He pulled the mask over his face and moved towards the door, silence overtaking the room. The only thing Tony could hear was his heart thudding in his ears. Something told him that if he didn’t get the kid now, it was gonna be a lot harder to track him down after this. 

“Peter,” His pleading tone stopped him in his tracks. The Spider-Man mask refused to betray whatever was showing on his face but he didn’t continue to rush out. 

“Fine.” He sighed, “ Fine . We can talk, but not now.”

Chapter Text

there's nothing to fill this void
start turning this sorrows
so I lay here soaking, the sand in my bed
what a day to regret

If there was one thing in life that Peter Parker would never get used to feeling, it would be helplessness. 

He had been helpless when he was six years old and could do nothing but watch as his parents’ coffins were lowered into the ground. 

He had been helpless when he was thirteen and trying to keep pressure on the fatal gunshot wound that his Uncle Ben had taken for him after they had gotten into a screaming match over something he could never remember. 

He had been helpless when he was fifteen and sitting in the backseat with his homecoming date and her criminal father behind the wheel, and again when he was sixteen and that first snap that led to nothing but ash and destruction, and again when that second snap left him in a world without Iron Man and five years into the future. 

He had been helpless when Mysterio told the world who Spider-Man really was and accused him of murder and he was nothing but helpless as Aunt May bled out in his arms, the last thing on her mind being Peter even when Peter had ruined her life. 

So, succinct to say, helplessness was not something he took lightly. It weighed on his shoulders because no matter what he tried to do, when it came down to it, he could do nothing.

And that’s what he felt right now, at eighteen and standing in the middle of his apartment at 2:30 in the morning, staring at the wall in front of him. He had gotten back only ten minutes earlier and had yet to move since crawling in through his window, not even to change out of his suit. 

Fish slept peacefully, curled up in his normal spot under Peter’s blankets, blissfully unaware of the emotional storm brewing within his owner’s mind. Good for him. 

Peter had readily agreed to take Emir’s 4-am shift, both for the money and the opportunity to escape the safehouse. The universe had at least done one thing right by having the older man call him at the right time, not that Peter was necessarily happy that Emir’s daughter was down with a cold. Still, it provided him an out. 

Because what the fuck. 

The night itself had already taken a turn when his universe’s version of Doc Ock had made itself known, but that was something that Peter could take in stride. Considering the similarities that he, Two, and Three already had, a common villain was bound to make an appearance. 

When they had made it to the safehouse, Peter knew that Kate had been curious as to how he had recognized the rogue so quickly but like usual, she kept herself from prying. That’s why he appreciated her, she knew his boundaries and never pushed. (It’s also why he found himself feeling so guilty about keeping so much from her.) 

Now, there were only five people who knew how to get into this particular safehouse and there was something of a “secret code” that any of them would use to announce their arrival when it was obvious that someone else was occupying the space. So when he heard the mechanical locks turn and the doorknob turn with no warning, he and Kate were immediately in motion.

The first thing that bothered him was the fact that their security had been easily bypassed to the point where none of their alarms went off. The second thing that really bothered Peter was the lack of anything from his spider-sense. It was completely silent even as he was flinging his wrist out at the unknown assailants before the lights were turned back on and the only thing he could really do was stare. 

Because in front of him was a living, breathing Tony Stark. 

He really didn’t need for him or any of the other resurrected Avengers in the room to plead their case to convince him that they were who they said they were, Peter knew it from the moment he saw them. Natasha, Steve, Tony. Their hearts beat the same, there truly was no question about it. 

His question was how? Why now? 

It had been two years since Peter had begged Tony not to leave him on that battlefield, two years since he had sobbed as he was held back by War Machine. Two years since he had been helpless as he listened to Tony take his last breath. 

So when he heard the man’s heart beat again and saw life in his warm brown eyes, Peter couldn’t help but hear the way his heart had once stuttered to a stop or see the way life had once left those same eyes. 

He supposed it was silly of him to hope that the excuse of work would get him out of whatever conversation Tony was trying to have with him, especially not when the man was looking at him with that expression on his face. An expression filled with…well, Peter didn’t want to think about how much it had made him think about May and Happy and before Parker Luck became the Parker Curse. 

Regardless, somehow, someway, Peter had found himself committed to going to the fucking Avengers Tower later this afternoon and his chest felt tight at the realization that all three of them- Tony, Steve, Natasha- remembered him. You would think it would come as a relief but all he could feel was dread.

He took a shuddery breath, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes to stave off the burning pressure. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Before he could spiral anymore, Peter did what he did best; bottle up everything he was feeling and stashed it away for another time. Another long long time from now. Preferably never. 

Besides, it’s not like he even had time to work through what he was feeling and find a healthy way to cope, he had a shift at the docks in an hour and a half. 

With that in mind, Peter rolled back his shoulders, took in a deep breath and went about his morning routine.

Take off the suit. Shower. Get dressed. Standard hygiene practices. Make sure Fish has enough food and water and scratch him behind the ears to apologize for not being home the night before. Fill his thermos with his protein shake (whoever decided to make Fruity Pebbles flavored protein powder, Peter hoped they didn’t die a virgin.) Eat only God knows how many Eggo waffles. And ignore the fact that he was going into the day with no sleep. 

He would be fine.

-

Despite what he had said the night before, if Peter was anything, it most definitely was not punctual. Chronically late was more likely.

It helped that his job had a seven-minute policy that allowed for some leeway, but college classes were a whole different beast. Last semester, Peter had a little more wiggle room when it came to his attendance; both because most of his first semester classes were the mandatory freshman credits and the professors didn’t count attendance as a part of the grade and because he had drummed up a little sympathy because of what the university referred to as his “accident.” 

Today, however, was the first day of his second semester and Peter had made a point to at least be present the first week of classes. If anything, it was to get a feel of what his professors would be like this term and to see if he could play hooky the same way he had in the past.

He had received a stern look when he walked in Orgo Chem II fifteen minutes late after having only twenty minutes to stop at his apartment to change after his shift ended, but honestly, Peter counted fifteen minutes as a win. He had originally thought he’d miss the class completely. 

On Mondays and Wednesdays, he only had one class and his work study, Tuesdays and Thursdays were where the bulk of his credits fell with Fridays being free. It wasn’t awful, it was definitely something that he could work with. 

With the way his first two classes fell back to back, it was enough to keep his mind from wandering too far but even with the way Peter compartmentalized his emotions, it was impossible to keep himself from thinking about his afternoon obligations. 

What the hell was he going to do? 

He bit back a groan, sliding into the empty table at the back of his work study lab. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he mentally thanked whoever was listening for the momentary distraction. 

f.h (11:56 am): i hope ur day is going as bad mine is

He couldn’t help the snort at the text. 

p.p (11:56 am): how’d u jnow

f.h (11:56 am): call it a lucky guess

f.h (11:57 am): coffee and complain?

It was tempting. It would be so easy to just blow off going to the Tower but even as much as he didn’t want to, there was a small part of him that did want to see Tony again. Even as much as it hurt.

p.p (11:57 am): can’t

p.p (11:58 am): unfortuwntley i have plans

f.h (11:58 am): u suck

f.h (11:58 am): at least tell me ur going out tn

f.h (11:58 am): there’s a kegger w ur name on it 

f.h (11:59 am): yk u want to

p.p (12:00 pm): …ill lyk

Running a hand through his hair, he turned his focus onto the white board at the front of the room and took a long sip of his energy drink; SYSTEMATIC PROJECTS FOR HIGH-LEVEL ENGINEERING AND REAL-WORLD ENGINEERING

This was the only part of his day he could honestly say that he was looking forward to, both because of its practicality and the resources it gave him access to. The work study was basically just an internship that would work towards the part of Peter’s tuition that his scholarship didn’t cover. 

Best part? After sylly-week, it went fully remote, which meant one less work-around for Peter’s schedule. It was fantastic.

“Hello everyone,” The instructor, a kind-looking man with greying hair and a full beard, began, catching the attention of the small, sixteen-person audience and letting the small chatter die out. “Welcome to SPHERE, I’m Dr. Raymond Warren and I’m very pleased to put names to faces today.” The man paused, looking around the room with a small smile on his face. 

“SPHERE is a program I keep close to my heart and I personally vet out the applications and decide who will be accepted. This program is designed to foster innovation and practical application in the fields of both advanced engineering and computational technology. Now, this is a semester intensive with the intention of each of you joining the program for the rest of your time here and completing a senior CAPSTONE when the time comes.”

Peter’s brows furrowed slightly as Dr. Warren continued, the man’s words washing over him. This didn’t sound like the work study that he and his advisor had discussed. Was he in the right room?

“SPHERE emphasizes a hands-on, project-driven approach, pushing students to not only design innovative systems but also to thoroughly evaluate their real-world applicability. Now, myself and my graduate assistant, Sasha Apte,” He gestured to his right where a young woman sat, “have paired you all up based on what we believe to be complementary skill sets and you will be tasked with finding a project that entails creating real-world solutions to complex challenges. You will spend your class-time researching and developing your respective projects, with all the program’s resources at your disposal.  In just a moment, Miss Apte will hand out the syllabi and inform you all who your partners will be. In the meantime, I’m going to give her a chance to introduce herself.” 

With that, Dr. Warren stepped away from the whiteboard and Sasha took his place, shining a bright grin to the room as she began to speak. Peter, as rude as it may sound, was unable to pay attention as he realized that this absolutely was not the same study that he had chosen when he had his meeting with his academic advisor in December. 

The course description for that study certainly did not include any partner work and most importantly, it was supposed to be remote.  

“Mr. Parker,” His head snapped to the side to find Dr. Warren standing beside him, the older man moving to take the empty seat beside the teen. 

“Oh, Dr. Warren,” Peter began, “I was actually just about to leave. I think I may have gone to the wrong lab.” 

The scientist held up a hand, shaking his head slightly, “No, you’re in the right place. I apologize for not discussing this with you beforehand, however I saw your application for the Software Development program and I couldn’t help but see how better suited you are for this program compared to that one.” 

Peter opened his mouth to refute but the man was not deterred, “Your coursework last semester was exemplary, even with your, for lack of better word, questionable attendance. You’re a very bright young man, Mr. Parker, and it would be foolish of me to let you slip by. Now, this particular course is typically an entryway into the program for sophomores so you could consider it an honor to have been handpicked for this as the only freshman since this program began.”

The teen chewed the inside of his cheek, taking the weight of the man’s words. The program itself did sound interesting and he was sure that it would look nice on his resume when he had to get a real job after he graduated. But the three-hour in-person commitment to the class every Monday and Wednesday cut into his ability to work his other jobs, not to mention Spider-Manning.

“It does also count as part of the work study parameters.” Dr. Warren added, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder even as he tensed slightly at the contact. “I think you have a very bright future ahead of you, Peter. Don’t let that potential go to waste.” 

All Peter could offer was a stiff nod, still biting at his cheek. With those last words, the instructor returned to the front of the room where Sasha had finished her introduction and had moved onto other things. He wasn’t paying attention though, his mind racing. This was a really, really good opportunity and Peter would be an idiot to pass it up but on the other hand, his responsibilities needed to come first. Rent, specifically. Spider-Man, especially. 

With a heavy sigh, he dropped his head onto the table. Just what he needed, another problem. 

Beside him, he could hear the chair scrape against the floor once more but Peter didn’t pay it much attention, too busy in his pity party. However, he was quickly brought out of it as the person beside him began speaking. 

“Look dude,” He looked up, meeting blue eyes and an intense expression, “I get that you’re this, I dunno, wonder-boy-genius who likes to work alone or whatever but we did get paired up together for this semester and I really care about being a part of this program. I’m not sayin’ you’re not gonna do your fair share of the work, trust me, I’ve heard all about you so I know that you’re not just gonna leave me with all the work but I don’ want to be the only one comin’ to class, man. I may not be as smart as you are but I earned my place here and I’m really lookin’ forward to this project so I jus’ want to make sure you’re gonna be a team player.” 

During the other boy’s speech, Peter couldn’t help the way that his face screwed up in confusion. It was obviously planned and the look on the boy’s face was dead serious so there was no indication that he was joking. Still, Peter had no fucking clue what he was talking about. “Uh,” He started, “Dude, I’m sorry but what?” 

The intensity seemed to slide off the other guy’s face, forehead creasing, “What do you mean “what”?” 

“Exactly what I said? I mean, great speech and all, amazing delivery but like, why?” 

It was the other guy’s turn to look confused, “Why?” He parroted, “I’m no mind reader but it doesn’t take one to see that you’re not happy about being paired up with me an’ I’ve heard all about the kid who never showed up to the lecture but always passed the exams.” 

Peter couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Oh my god,” He shook his head, running a hand down his face. “Dude, no. That’s not…that’s not it at all. One, I didn’t even hear Sasha announce who everyone’s partners were. Two, genuinely I’m not like…I dunno, I don’t skip class for fun or anything. I have to, for work.” And Spider-Man, liar. “And I’m not even upset, I just…this was supposed to be for my work study but the one I was supposed to be in was remote and this one isn’t and I have two other jobs so now if I want to stay in this program- which I actually do want to- I gotta figure out how to move things around. So I swear, not you.” 

He took a swig of his Reign, ignoring the way he felt slightly embarrassed over his short ramble. He couldn’t help the need to explain himself, he really didn’t want the other boy to think that Peter held himself on some high horse above everyone else. If anything, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. 

The older boy blinked, “Fuck.” He whispered. “Dude, I’m such an asshole.”

Peter smiled, “Nah, don’t worry about it, man.”

“No, that was super shitty of me, I’m sorry,” He sighed, “I just-I mean it when I said I really care about this program and I am happy that we got paired up together but then I saw the look on your face and I remembered what I heard about you an’ I just assumed. I didn’t even give you a chance and I completely understand the whole job thing, dude, I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool, we’re cool. I swear.” The other boy still looked embarrassed, which Peter definitely understood but he had his own fair share of going in guns-blazin so it would be hypocritical of him to hold a grudge, “Let’s just start over. I’m Peter Parker.” 

His extended hand was accepted, “Harley Keener,” The teen responded, an easy smile taking over the pursed lips, “Nice to meet you, Peter Parker.”

-

If Tony showed up to the Avengers Tower an hour early, that was his business and his business only. 

He needed to allot at least thirty minutes of anxious pacing and he couldn’t help but be grateful that Morgan had school today and Pepper had to work, the excuse that her husband was miraculously alive not really something she could use to get out of her responsibilities as CEO of Stark Industries. 

After the…conversation with Kate and Peter the night before, he had been informed that the Tower went relatively unused, usually only equipment and when heroes needed an easy place to stay. So really, it was an easy and discreet place for them to meet and it seemed to be one that Peter had been most comfortable with when Kate had suggested it. 

Nat sat on the other side of the room, having arrived alongside Tony. She hadn’t commented on his early arrival or his anxiety, he would even go as far to say she seemed to be a little anxious herself. He couldn’t be surprised by that, the whole situation with Peter was unnerving. 

The same question stuck to the front of his mind; why did no one know who Peter Parker was?

It could have been a one-off, if maybe, just maybe Peter’s identity hadn’t been revealed to the team in this universe, but following the Blip, Tony knew he had been honest with Pepper as to why he had been so grief-stricken after Titan. On top of that, it didn’t make any sense that Happy didn’t make the connection between May Parker and Peter Parker. 

There was something very, very wrong here. 

The sound of the elevator caught his attention and he checked his watch, it was only 3:40. It couldn’t be Peter, right? They had agreed to meet at 4 but he couldn’t help the flurry of hope that maybe the kid would be early. 

That hope extinguished quickly when the doors opened to reveal both Steve and Clint and subsequently, Bucky, Sam, and surprisingly, Rhodey. He used ‘surprisingly’ lightly, because the sight of all three of them was surprising. 

“Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong,” He started, “but I don’t seem to remember seeing your RSVP to this party.” 

“Tony,” Steve said, his tone apologetic. 

Clint let out a tired sigh, “All I can say is I tried.” 

“Not that I’m disappointed to see any of you,” Natasha appeared by Tony’s side, “but I don’t think this is a meeting that concerns any of you three.” 

Sam, to his credit, didn’t look offended by the comment, though when he spoke, it was with a tone of authority that only those that held the title of Captain America spoke with, “Considering that it deals with Spider-Man and Avengers business, I would say that it does concern us.” 

Tony raised an eyebrow, “Avengers business? What, pray tell, are you referring to?” 

Rhodey sighed, “According to you, we should know who Spider-Man is, and you three do. If there actually is history with Spider-Man that none of us can recall, then that is a breach of security and there is no saying how much classified information that he knows.” 

“Not to mention, the Statue of Liberty.” Sam added. 

“This meeting wasn’t for you guys to interrogate him,” Everyone’s attention moved to the door that led to the stairwell where an irritated Kate Bishop stood, a cardboard tray with two coffees in her hands, “This meeting wasn’t for you guys at all.” 

“Kate, how di-”

“Of course you all would forget that I’m the one who bought back this building,” The young woman rolling her eyes, “And it’s my company that provides the surveillance and security for this place. Of course I would see who comes in here. How else did you think those three would manage to get in without anyone realizing they were here, let alone alive?” She waved one hand, gesturing to Tony, Natasha, and Steve respectfully. 

Her company? Tony filed that information away for later, along with the fact that she apparently was the one who now owned the Avengers Tower. It did put some pieces together, considering the way she had suggested it last night and how it seemed to ease some of the tension in Peter’s shoulders. 

“You knew who Spider-Man was all this time and you didn’t say anything?” Sam questioned. 

“Seriously, that’s what you took from what I just said?” She scoffed, “He’s an ally, dude, I still don’t get the issue that you guys have with him but me, Yelena, and Clint don’t seem to have an issue working with him.”

The way that she spoke seemed to hint that this conversation was a source of conflict between them even before the multiversal travel and Tony could already feel the headache forming in his temples. This whole thing was going to be ruined before it even started. 

Both Bucky and Sam opened their mouths to respond, but were quickly cut off by Rhodey, who held both his arms up in what looked like a placating motion. “We’ll be civil, right?” He looked between the three, “All of us.” 

Kate’s blue eyes looked intensely between everyone, narrowing them slightly before she gave a curt nod. “Fine, but if he has every right to leave because you guys decided to show up unannounced.” With that, the occupants of the elevator headed towards the large conference room down the hall, though Steve stopped to put his hand on Tony’s shoulder in some offer of apology. 

Fuck, he didn’t even consider Peter leaving at the sight of the three Avengers. He pinched the bridge of his nose, the headache was coming faster and he still had no answers. Wonderful.

“Tony,” Nat said softly. At her voice, he opened one eye to look sideways at her. “I’ll go yell at them.” The edges of his lips twitched at her words as the redhead turned to follow the men into the conference room. He could trust the spy to keep them in check. 

He rolled his shoulders, straightening back up and meeting Kate’s stare. From his first meeting with her and hearing her over the comms, it was obvious she was both capable and bold. It was no wonder that she got along well with Peter and he was happy to see that he had someone in his corner. 

“Tony Stark,” She nodded at him, her tone much lighter, “Did you know we met once?” 

He tilted his head slightly in curiosity, “We have?” Looking back at her face, he felt a little guilty that he couldn’t place it. 

She left her stance by the door, crossing over to where the armchairs of the lobby sat and he followed suit. “Don’t worry, it’s okay if you don’t remember. It was a long time ago and a lot has happened since then,” She gave a soft laugh, settling the tray of coffees in her lap. “I was six and I went to one of your galas with my parents but even then, I hated those things so I decided to explore instead. I don’t even remember where the thing was, but I ended up getting lost and I panicked. I think you were a little drunk when you found me, but you were so nice and made me feel better before you helped me find my parents.” 

Tony’s own smile turned into a grin as she told the story and he could vaguely recall the gala. The memory was a blur, he had definitely been drunk but if he tried hard enough, he could remember the black-haired little girl he had found crying in one of the many hallways the venue had. “That was you?” He chuckled, “Hmph, small world.” 

She rolled her eyes, though it wasn’t the same way she had earlier. “Oh thank god, I was worried that didn’t happen in your universe and I was going to be so embarrassed.” 

He snorted, “Nope, it definitely did. Bishop Security, right?” It was easy to connect the dots now, especially considering that he had already known her last name. They settled in a comfortable silence after she nodded her confirmation, though Tony was left to wonder about the circumstances over her comment “my company.” 

His heart rate spiked as the elevator dinged again and the doors opened to reveal Peter. In the three times he had seen his kid in person, it was like he was seeing a different iteration of him every time. The first was some stoner, college-party going Peter Parker. The second was a defensive, wary Peter Parker following what seemed to be a less-than-fun patrol. And this third time, was what Tony could only assume was everyday Peter Parker. His hair was absent of hair gel, the curls still running wild in the way they fell against his forehead and just past his ears. He was adorning a faded, baggy pair of jeans and a worn looking Columbia University crewneck underneath a thicker coat, skateboard tucked underneath one arm and large thermos held in the other. 

Tony couldn’t help but let his eyes scan over the scar on Peter’s face, another thing he had added to his list of things to be worried about. 

“Peter,” Kate stood up, meeting him halfway. “Only three minutes late, wonder boy, you’re basically early.” 

Peter’s eyes flickered from Kate to Tony and back before he scowled at the girl, “Don’t start with me, Katherine.” 

“Yikes, government name. That’s low, even for you.” Kate said. “Whatcha got there?”

“If I say coffee are you gonna tell me that one of those aren’t for me?” 

“Maybe.” 

“Then it’s a protein shake.” 

The ease of which Peter spoke with Kate compared to the rigid way he talked to Tony the night before, almost like it hurt him to even meet the man’s eyes, struck something in the engineer’s heart. The gap that these two years (and his death) had evidently made was feeling wider and wider by the minute. 

With that in mind, he stood up, with the intent to not keep any secrets from the kid. “Hey Peter,” He gave a soft smile as he garnered the teenager’s attention, though the amusement he had previously looked at Kate with melted away into something more melancholic. “I appreciate you coming. Before we head in there, I wanted to make you aware of something-”

Tony didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence before Peter’s face morphed into a darker expression, which to him, seemed out of place on the teen’s face. With the way his head turned just slightly towards the conference room, it was obvious that he had picked up on something with that enhanced hearing of his. Whether it was the extra heartbeats or the voices, it didn’t matter. 

“Are you serious?” Peter said bitterly, actually meeting Tony’s eyes this time, anger flaring in his own. “So we’re just telling everybody now?” 

“I didn’t tell them anything.” The engineer was quick to say. He didn’t want his chance to reconnect with Peter to be ruined over miscommunication. 

Peter flared his nostrils and he could see the way his grip on the coffee cup tightened, the lid threatening to pop off. The thermos had been abandoned on one of the side tables.

“This was a mistake.” He said, shaking his head. “I didn’t agree to this.” 

“Pete, hold on, let me-”

“Don’t force him to stay-”

Both the rushed responses and Peter’s escape to the stairwell were cut off as the elevator doors opened once more, Happy stepping out. The man’s eyes landed on Tony and it seemed as if he was unaware of the tension, “Tony, I know I promised I’d wait but Pepper called and said she was picking up Morgan from her after school program. I told her that I-” He paused, catching the look on the other man’s face. “Tony?” 

Happy followed Tony’s gaze to Peter, who was still standing only steps away from the door to the stairwell and Tony could see the whirlwind of emotions that flashed through his eyes. The teen was frozen, his expression almost unreadable. 

“ This is Peter?” Happy asked, his voice choked and suddenly, Peter looked almost like he wanted to cry. 

“Yeah,” Tony found himself saying, his voice soft. 

“You…” Happy trailed off, stepping forward towards the teen. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

One glance at Kate told him that she was also confused as to what the man was referring to, the both of them watching the conversation unfold. 

“You’re May’s nephew,” Peter’s face fell at the mention of her name, “I always see you there. Why…why don’t I know who you are? Why don’t I remember you?”

At his words, Tony’s heart broke. So it was true, nobody remembered who Peter was.

“Peter?” Kate said to the wide-eyed teen, who had yet to speak. “What is he talking about?” 

Tony noticed the way Peter’s hand shook a little before he seemed to compose himself, swallowing hard and speaking, “Happy, I’m…I’m sorry.” 

It was silent for a moment, something heavy in the air that promised despair.

“Why don’t we talk?” Tony asked, clapping his hands together. “You too, Haps.” He reasoned that maybe feeling like another person was in his corner would make Peter feel more comfortable. 

Peter rolled his shoulders, tipping his head back with his eyes closed before giving a deep sigh. “Yeah, okay.”

Chapter Text

I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime
tell them, tell 'em, tell them the truth
I hope you find some paradise (tell them, tell 'em the truth)
tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em, tell them your-

To say that the tension in the room was palpable would be an understatement. There weren't enough adjectives in any language to accurately describe how rigid the air in the conference room was and they had only made their entrance less than five minutes ago. 

Peter had taken the seat at the end of the long table, directly across from Sam, who sat with Bucky, Steve, and Clint on one side and Rhodey and Natasha on the other. Kate had been quick to take the seat to the right of him and Tony didn’t need to be a genius to recognize that the two were a united front. Tony had wanted to take the seat on the other side of Peter, but with the way the kid had been holding him at arm’s length, he settled beside Happy a few seats away from both ends of the table. 

Eighteen year old Peter Parker seemed to hold himself with a confidence that sixteen year old Peter Parker didn’t have. Where sixteen year old Peter had looked at any Avenger with stars in his eyes and the type of shyness that came with meeting your heroes, eighteen year old Peter stared down the opposite end of the table with sharp eyes and square shoulders. 

Despite his previous reluctance to even come to the Tower and earlier desire to leave, the teenager didn’t look intimidated by the presence of the uninvited Avengers. 

“Alright,” Tony tapped his fingers against the table. Someone had to be the first to speak. “Why don’t we start with the more…easier explanation, I suppose.” He looked around the room before his gaze fell on Peter.

“As I’m sure most of you remember, winning against Thanos was one in fourteen million.” Tony took a deep breath, wringing his hands together. Most of the people in the room had already been given the rundown of how the trio had come to be, but he didn’t want to omit any details. “Well, Nat, Steve, and I happen to be from a timeline, a universe, where we weren’t that one in fourteen million.” 

As he spoke of the Watcher and the sands of the Soul Stone, he made sure to glance around at the other occupants of the room but really, he was watching for Peter’s reaction to his words. While Kate looked shocked and enthralled by the circumstances of their existence, Peter’s face gave no clue as to what was going through the boy’s head. He was completely guarded, his sharp gaze flat. 

He knew that Peter had gone through a lot in the two years that Tony had been gone. That much was obvious. If he didn’t already know that May had passed, he would have been able to infer that from the emotional detachment the boy seemed to have adopted. The Peter that he used to spend Tuesdays and Thursdays in the lab with wore his heart of gold on his sleeve, reading the kid was as easy as reading a billboard. 

That wasn’t the case anymore.

“Fuck,” Kate breathed out, a hand to her temple. “I have to say, when I asked for an explanation I honestly wasn’t expecting all of…that.” 

“Yeah, join the club.” Bucky grumbled, leaning back in his chair with crossed arms.

“So, Queens,” Steve cleared his throat, “That’s our story, mind explaining yours?” Tony turned his attention back towards Peter, days of nothing but questions all lead up to this. (He wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear.)

Instead of responding, the kid just raised an eyebrow. He didn’t seem to have the same issue with meeting Tony’s eyes as he had before, his nonchalant attitude a stark difference from both the impassive demeanor from the night before or the anger from just moments earlier. His confidence made him seem almost indifferent. 

Before he could speak, a heavy sigh came from his right and Sam’s voice cut in, “Look, kid-” He was quickly cut off. 

“Peter.” 

Sam blinked, “Huh?”

Peter leaned forward over the table, his hands clasped in front of him, “Peter. You all obviously know who I am and what my name is, so use it.” 

It was silent for a moment, the only person not taken aback by the teenager’s tenacity being Kate. If anything, she looked like she expected that kind of reaction from him. 

“Right,” Sam continued, his voice short. “Peter, according to Tony, Steve, and Natasha, we all knew you in their…universe. And from what it looks like with Happy, we should know you in ours. I’d like to know why none of us have any idea who you are and especially why there seems to be no record of you at all.” 

“Hold on,” Tony was quick to defend, “This whole conversation was not for you to interrogate him, it wasn’t even for you in the first place.” 

“Tony, if he’s just going to beat around the bush-” Rhodey retorted and he couldn’t stop the way his jaw dropped. 

“Beat around the bush? I’m sorry, I must have missed the memo that said thirty seconds was the max before Captain America’s righteousness got unleashed.” 

“Stop!” Peter snapped, “Tony, all of you, just shut up.” He sighed, running a hand down his face. Silence filled the room, everyone’s attention on him. 

Well, almost everyone. Tony’s silence was less from being snapped at and more from being rendered speechless at the use of his first name. He couldn’t count on two hands how many times he had tried to convince Peter to drop the “Mr. Stark” act and give in to calling him by his first name only for it to never happen and now here he was, casually dropping calling him Tony but it lacked any warmth. 

He never thought he’d miss being called Mr. Stark. 

“Honestly, Captain Wilson, valid question.” Peter shrugged, sliding his cardboard coffee cup from hand to hand. “That was probably the most straightforward way any of you could have asked so I’m not sure why everything needs to turn into an argument between you guys.”

No one spoke, allowing the young man time before he continued. 

“This is so fucked.” He muttered, though it was mostly to himself. “Alright, two years ago, Spider-Man’s identity got revealed. To the world. Not that any of you would remember that, obviously, that was pretty much the catalyst for all this.” He waved his hands around to accentuate his point. 

All Tony could do was blink. He knew how important keeping his identity a secret was to Peter, to have it revealed to the entire world had to have been a waking nightmare. (And Tony wasn’t there.)

“That went about as well as you’d think,” Peter snorted, his tone with a bitter edge to it. “I’m not gonna lie, it really messed everything up and it wasn’t just for me. A lot of people got hurt, people that I care about.” He glanced over at Happy, who had been quiet this entire time, some emotion breaking through his guarded eyes. 

“Keeping my identity a secret is for good reason and with the way things played out, it would be stupid to willingly divulge that information to anyone again.” With his words, Peter pointed a fierce glare towards anyone who was not Happy or Kate, the subtext clear. “But I’ll be honest, I fucked up. Really fucked up and I ended up making things. There was only one way to fix it,” He took in a deep breath.

“It wasn’t enough for people to forget that I was Spider-Man, they had to forget that Peter Parker existed at all.” 

The silence was so heavy, it was suffocating. How do you respond to something like that? Selflessness was consistent throughout every iteration of Peter Parker that Tony had ever known, but he never thought that the kid would go as far as to erase his own existence. The thing that bothered him the most was that there was no regret in that last sentence, just acceptance, like this was something Peter would do again if he was faced with the same situation. 

It made him feel sick.

“What?” Kate whispered and her and Peter shared another one of those silent exchanges, ending with the teen shaking his head and Kate turning hers to the side while blinking furiously. 

“May wasn’t your fault, Peter.” Happy said, his tone soft but stern. 

Peter clenched his fist, his eyes snapping towards the older man. “Don’t…I didn’t-I don’t want to hear that. I don’t need to hear that.” His voice wavered slightly although he did a damn good job at covering it up. “Don’t say that to me.” 

“Pete, what happened?” Tony needed to know more, the vague details were killing him and he couldn’t shake the helplessness over the situation. He should have been there. “Who did this?” 

“That’s not important,” The response was quick, “What’s done is done, Tony. It doesn’t matter.” There was his name again, tone dry and foreign. 

“Yeah, here’s the thing, kid. That information is pretty important, especially when we know that there’s more to that whole story.” Rhodey cut in, voice was sympathetic but Tony recognized his demeanor as Colonel Rhodes as opposed to Rhodey.

“Peter.” The eighteen year old corrected again, “And if you know there’s more to the story, why don’t you go ahead and tell it?” 

“C’mon, you know full well what he’s talkin’ about.” Bucky said. “Do us all a favor and just get on with it.” 

Tony was ready to cut in again, though sharp looks from both Natasha and Kate had him closing his mouth. Right, Peter could take care of himself. Right, right. 

“Yeah and a favor for who exactly?” Peter scoffed. “I didn’t even want to be here in the first place and the last I checked, I don’t owe any of you anything. Honestly, the only people here who deserve any semblance of an explanation would be Happy and Kate.”

Sam slapped his palms against the table, “Peter , three Spider-Men at the Statue of Liberty is troubling on its own and that’s not even to mention the damage that you did to the London Bridge. Our concern is for a damn good reason when you’re obviously reckless and irresponsible enough to get your identity revealed.” 

“Woah, woah, wait a minute,” Clint’s brows furrowed, the archer looking alarmed by Sam’s accusations. He wasn’t the only one, even Rhodey and Bucky seemed perturbed along with the rest of the occupants sans Peter.

Peter’s face grew darker throughout Sam’s interlude and his fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were white.  “You know nothing. You don’t get to bring up the Statue of Liberty or London of all things when none of you,” He spat, his voice holding a level of anger that Tony had never heard from him before. He unraveled his fist, pointing specifically at the gathered Avengers at the end of the table. “None of you helped because it wasn’t an “Avengers-level threat.” You know what? Accountability only means so much when you actually help people, some of us don’t pick and choose who deserves that help.”

He stood up, shoving the chair back and flicking his wrist to the side, revealing his web-shooter as he yanked his skateboard into his hands.”I’m not an Avenger, and honestly, thank God for that because I’m not following your fucking rules and I never will. The world doesn’t need to be ending for me to help people and I sure as hell won’t wait for permission to do so.” He turned on his heel, heading towards the door. Before making his exit, Peter paused, looking back at the group over his shoulder, “Oh, and if you really want to talk about London, why don’t you ask Director Fury? I’m sure he’s no longer off-world, right Colonel?” 

-

p.p (6:31 pm): whats the address 

f.h (6:44 pm): :) 

-

Peter knew a lot of things, healthy coping mechanisms were not one of them.

He knew, he fucking knew that going to the Tower was a mistake and yet, he did it anyways. You would think that he had learned his lesson by now for making bad decisions but he just. keeps. doing. it. 

He had everything under control and now it was slipping through his fingers. He couldn’t take the way that Tony kept looking at him, like he was still seeing the Peter that had an internship that went from a cover story to something real. Like he was still that kid from Queens who had never been on an airplane before. 

Happy and the Avengers being there didn’t make things better. It hurt to be looked at without a spark of recognition by them and it was much worse to be looked at with pity by everyone. Fuck, even Kate looked at him like he was pathetic and that was the last straw for him. It wasn’t Sam’s accusations or Rhodey and Bucky’s distrust, it was the plaintive way they all saw him. 

Peter Parker would never be pathetic again. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” An arm wrapped around his bicep, “Or better yet,” A red solo cup was held out to him and Felicia Hardy was smirking up at him. 

He accepted the offering with his free hand, sniffing the liquid inside, “What’s in this?” 

“Mmm, little bit of this, little of that.” She shrugged, green eyes sparkling, “Nothing too strong for you.” 

Peter rolled his eyes, taking a sip only to be met with the burn of straight vodka. “Oh my god, is this Skol?” He coughed, he might not be able to get drunk but he wasn’t immune to the disgusting way shots tasted. “This is literally just straight liquor.” 

The Spins by Mac Miller blared from someone’s JBL as Felicia laughed, leaning back onto her heels and holding onto Peter’s arm for stability. “Awe, two shots. How will you ever recover?” She stuck out her bottom lip in mockery. 

He huffed in amusement, tipping his head back to down the rest of the cup. “Skol? Out of everything?” 

“Look around, boy scout, literally everybody in this room are underage, college students. It’s either this or Pink Whitney, you tell me which one sounds better.” 

“Right, okay.” He paused, “I thought you said this was a kegger?” 

Felicia grinned up at him again before turning with enough force that her white-blonde hair threatened to whip him in the face and pulled him by the hand across the basement. The sylly-week party that he had been invited to was in some sophomore’s house on campus, the basement big enough to accommodate what looked to be at least a hundred freshman and sophomores. If this is what the Monday festivities looked like, he could only imagine what the end of syllabus week would bring. 

They stopped next to  two beer kegs where a few guys were shouting in excitement over one doing a keg-stand on the top of one, a small crowd chanting “Chug! Chug! Chug!” Perfect , Peter thought, this was just what he needed. 

“Parker!” One of the guys clapped his hands together, pointing one of them at Peter. “Just the man I was looking for!” 

Peter couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m sure you were, Lucas. Someone has to show you guys how it’s done right,” He gestured at the guys holding up the legs of the kegstander. 

“Big talk, big man,” Lucas’ breath reeked of alcohol, the older boy slinging an arm around Peter’s shoulders, “Yo, Brian, let Parker go next! He wants to show off for his girlllfrienddd~” 

Peter ducked out from under his grasp, huffing a laugh, “Fuck off, Fi’s not my girlfriend.” 

Lucas looked over towards Felicia, winking at the blonde, earning the middle-finger and an amused sneer in return, “Just wanted to see if that was still true. In that case-”

“In your dreams, Lukey,” She flicked his forehead, “And my nightmares.” 

“You wound me, Felicia.” 

“Parker, you’re up!” Brian’s voice interrupted any chance of Lucas and Felicia’s banter to continue, though he was used to it by now. They only ever saw each other at parties, never outside of them, but the friendly arguments were common regardless. 

A grin grew across his face, the one that Kate had once described as cocky and charming- with one side raised and just a little bit of self-assured arrogance. He stepped in front of the keg, grasping the handles and Peter could almost hear the baited breath of the crowd around him, the blaring music more an afterthought. He was the entertainment now. 

With little effort, he pushed off the ground into a handstand over the kegerator, holding himself up without the aid of anyone grasping his legs. The hood of his sweatshirt hung loosely over the backwards Mets hat that pressed down his curls. As if they haven’t seen him complete this feat before, the crowd erupted into drunken cheers and Felicia knelt down in front of him, though upside down, and held the mouthpiece to his lips. 

Lucas and his friends got what sounded like everyone chanting for Peter to chug, and he did. For a moment, it was easy to pretend that he was just a normal college student that could do stupid things like getting drunk on a Monday night or do a keg stand in a random basement. It was easy to pretend like things weren’t threatening to crash down around him when he had finally felt like the rebuilding phase was over. It was easy to pretend that things were okay. 

Peter liked pretending. 

After a minute, he tapped a hand against the side of the keg for Felicia to pull the mouthpiece away and Peter lowered himself back to the ground. The remaining crowd around him was excitedly cheering “Parker!” over and over again as he wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. His inability to get drunk paired with his ability to hold his breath much longer than the normal person allowed him to hold a keg stand far longer than the typical 15 seconds that the majority of the usual suspects.

Most of the time, it was Spider-Man that was held in high regard but tonight, in this basement, it was Peter that was revered. 

Peter filled his red solo cup with the keg that wasn’t reserved for keg stands, the giddiness of his stunt still fueling his carefree smile. He wished this feeling could last forever, but reality had a way of breaking through the looking glass. 

“So,” Felicia started, when they settled in the corner after the excitement had died down. “Are we gonna talk about it?”

He tilted his head, fixing her with a puzzled look, “Talk about what?”

“Don’t play dumb,” She scoffed, leaning against the wall, running her finger around the rim of her own cup. It was quiet between them for a moment, the only sound being the chatter of the people around them and 16 by Baby Keem playing in the background. Peter sighed, listing his own shoulder against the same wall and biting his bottom lip. 

Brown eyes met green and he wasn’t sure what she saw but her faux annoyance fell into something more serious, which felt both foreign and familiar from Felicia. “Look,” She said softly, reaching up with her free hand to cup the side of his face. Her touch was feather-light, her thumb just barely tracing the scar along his eye, her eyes following the path.“If you want to do that thing where we both act that you’re okay but you do keg stands and drink all my beer, that’s fine.”

Felicia looked back up at him, “But I can tell you’re thinking about something and it doesn’t take a hotshot genius like you to tell that it’s nothing good.” 

Peter frowned softly. She wasn’t wrong, even when he wasn’t thinking about it , he was. It lingered in the back of his mind and continued to twist in his gut, even as he laughed and drank and partied and smiled. It wasn’t something a simple conversation could fix, no matter who thought it would, and he opened his mouth to tell her as such, but was saved from any sort of explanation by commotion in the middle of the room.

“Hey!” A slurred voice yelled out, loud enough to be audible over the music. “Bro, I don’ care how long you’ve been here-” A grunt sounded and he could make out the impact of hands against fabric. 

He turned away from Felicia, eyebrows furrowed in concern as he scanned the crowd, looking for the culprits. Two guys stood in the middle of the basement, though Peter couldn’t make out their faces as they were blocked by a trio of drunk sophomore boys standing with their backs to him.

“Peter?” Felicia questioned but he was already moving towards them.

“-a fuck that you go here, we all g’ ‘ere. Whooo do you know ‘ere, bro?” It was painfully obvious how drunk the guy was, his words slurring as he confronted the two. 

Luckily, it just so happened that Peter knew one of them. “Yo, Tommy, calm down,” He clapped the nineteen year old on the shoulder, eyeing the other two drunk bros that stood guard on the other side of him. “They’re with me, man.” 

“Ayeee, Parker!” Tommy squealed in delight, forgetting all about his grievances. “Bro, iss sooo good t’ see you. Of c’rse they’re with you, m’ bad guys.” 

Peter snorted as Tommy and his friends walked away, turning his attention to the two in front of him. “Ignore him, this isn’t even his party.” He shrugged, “S’up Harley, I didn’t know you were here, dude.”

The teen in question smiled at him, “Yeah, we’ve only been here like, an hour. No one else seemed to care until we beat ‘em at pong.” 

“But like you said,” The other boy smirked, “Not their party so no harm no foul.”

“No harm no foul.” Peter nodded. 

“What’s this about harm?” Felicia cut in, ducking under Peter’s arm so it settled over her shoulders. “Awe, I didn’t know you made friends, Pete.”

“I didn’t either.” He shrugged, winking at Harley. 

“C’mon, dude, I thought you weren’t gon’ hold a grudge.”

“‘M not, but it is still funny if you think about it.” 

“Ooo, that sounds like a story,” Felicia said, jutting her elbow into Peter’s ribs. “Why don’t you introduce me and then you can fill me in?” 

“Nosy.” Peter sighed, exasperated. “Harley, Felicia. Felicia, Harley. I just met him today, actually.” He nodded towards the other boy standing beside Harley, “I actually don’t think we’ve met. I’m Peter-”

“Parker.” He finished with a laugh, “Yeah, I’ve heard of you. I’m Coop.”

He looked from Harley to Coop and back again, “Oh my god, you guys have talked shit about me, haven’t you?” 

Harley’s face turned bright red before he hurried to defend himself, “Please, like you wouldn’t shit-talk the kid who fucked up the curve for the rest of the class. I had COMS217 with you last semester and you made me regret not taking it freshman year.”

It was Peter’s turn for his ears to burn and he moved to hide his pink face beneath his cup as he drank the rest of his beer. “Your guys’ hands are pretty empty, why don’t we go grab something to drink?” 

“Actually, we were gonna head out to the patio,” Coop pulled something from his pocket, revealing a joint balanced between two fingers. “You guys wanna join us?” 

Felicia and Peter exchanged a look, the two sharing an identical “fuck-it-we-ball” shrug. He pulled his arm back from her shoulders, pulling his phone out to check the time. He hadn’t been planning on staying at the party too much longer. While it wasn’t exactly late, Spider-Man didn’t have Monday nights off and despite all the caffeine he had today, he was fucking exhausted. Still, if he only smoked a little bit, it would be out of his system by the time he was swinging through the city. 

“So, let me get this straight,” Felicia laughed from where she sat with her back to the brick wall surrounding the patio, her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on top. “Peter was being his usual brooding, angsty self which made you think that he was gonna cut class the rest of the semester because he was pissed about getting paired up with you for a program that he was handpicked for?” 

Coop’s head peeked up from where he was laying on his back, knees drawn up. Smoke drifted from his mouth as he added, “Don’t forget, he’s the first and only freshman to get picked for this program.” He coughed a little bit, passing the joint over to Harley. “Plus he cut class all last semester and still aced every exam like an asshole.” 

“Yeah, sounds like Peter.” Felicia pursed her lips together with a nod.

“Hey!” Peter yelped indignantly where he was sitting next to Harley, the two opposite of Coop and Felicia with their backs resting against the house wall. “I’m literally right here.” He went ignored, although Harley did hand him the joint when it was his turn. 

“That’s pretty much it, yah,” The brunet snorted, “But I was wrong, obviously. You’re not as much offa douche as we thought you were.” 

He huffed out the smoke, his voice raspy when he spoke, “As much?” 

“I mean, we saw yer keg stand. Show off.” 

Peter rolled his eyes, shoving Harley in the shoulder, “Fuck off.”

“Anyways, we’re cool now. It’s only two classes a week, so it’ll be easy t’ find a way t’ work around his work schedule.” Harley shrugged.

“Oh yeah,” Coop sat up, the joint back in his possession after Felicia’s turn. “Where do you work, dude? Two jobs is insane.” 

“In this economy, two jobs isn’t enough.” Or three, if you really wanted to be technical about it. “I work down at the docks, unloading the cargo ships and stuff. That’s really the main one, the hours are pretty, uh, odd, I guess.” 

“Shit, dude,” Coop’s voice was light and airy, the effect of the marijuana making itself obvious. “What’s the other one?” 

Peter stretched his legs out in front of him, shaking his head when Harley offered him the joint again, “Freelance photography, my boss is kind of a dick. If I don’t get the picture he wants when he wants it, he threatens to cut my pay, but hey whatever pays the bills.”

Felicia snorted, dropping her head back against the wall. 

“I’m gonna be honest with ya,” Harley looked at him with red-rimmed eyes, “I get why you cut class, this sounds like it fuckin’ blows.” 

To Peter’s surprise, a genuine laugh left his mouth, “Like you wouldn’t believe.” 

-

When Peter found himself thinking about MIT, it always seemed to be when he was soaring through the streets of New York City or one of his boroughs. It was always the same thought; he never would have been able to leave New York. 

And it wasn’t thought in a depressing, woe-is-me way, it was thought in a way that was dripping in nostalgia and adoration. Peter loved his city, it was a fact. He didn’t think he could ever part with it. 

It showed in the way he effortlessly swung between the buildings, a rhythm only he knew. It was like muscle memory at this point, something as natural as walking. It especially showed in the way that he interacted with his people, in a way that he would only describe as neighborly.

He had a duty to protect, he had a duty to be New York’s friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man. 

Spider-Man paused, perched on the side of the building. He could faintly make out the sound of glass shattering before a car alarm began blaring only to quickly cut out. Ah, lights, camera, action. 

Following his senses, he found himself on the top floor of a parking garage, standing in a dark corner. Across from him, a group of five guys were split between the only two cars in the lot, very obviously making quick work of breaking into them. In his scientific opinion, he was about 89% sure they were trying to hotwire them, but who knows? Sometimes, he could be wrong. 

Regardless, car theft on a Monday would be fun. 

“Wait a second,” Spider-Man said, catching the attention of the five as he casually strolled up, “You guys don’t look like my Lyft driver.” 

“Fuck, I told you the alarm would bring him here!” One of them, the one kneeling beside the drive seat of the black sedan with the bushy eyebrows, shouted. 

“Yeah, guys, I’m gonna be honest with you,” He put his hands on his hips, leaning more of his weight onto one leg, “This is ranking very low on my car jacking list. I mean, the alarm, the breaking of the glass. C’mon, you guys didn’t even color coordinate.” Another guy looked down at his black crewneck, touching his hand to his chest. “Ha, made you look!” Spider-Man exclaimed, webbing the hand to his shirt and the other hand to the side of the car.

“Get him!” Eyebrows yelled. Two guys charged at him, one with a tire iron in his hand and the other apparently counting on his fists and the power of God. 

It was almost too easy for Spider-Man to duck underneath the swing of the tire iron’s radius and side step the 1-2 combo from the other one. He grabbed the outstretched fist of the second goon, twisting his arm just enough for the force of his hit to turn his body into Tire Iron’s, an oof resounding from the impact. The vigilante flipped over them, webbing the two men together while he was upside down in the air. 

That was three of these losers already and he had only been here for a couple of minutes, this had to be the lamest car robbery he had ever seen.

Eyebrows’ last hope stood at the trunk of the other car, staring at him with fearful eyes and his hands in the air. “Spider-Man, I swear I was just the lookout.” 

“Dude, you have got to get new friends.” Spidey tsked. 

“Y-Yes, Spider-Man, sir.” He nodded frantically. “I don’t even like these guys.” At the jerk of the vigilante’s head, the man turned on his heel and sprinted away. 

“Alright Eyebrows,” His hands were back on his hips as he turned back around, “It’s your tu- and you have a gun.” 

Eyebrows was standing up straight now, pointing a (wimpy) handgun at him with a hard look in his eyes. “I’ll shoot, I swear to God, I’ll shoot.” 

Spider-Man threw his hands up in surrender, “Dude, is that thing loaded? Do you know how dangerous that is? Do you even have a permit for that thing?”

Falling for the act, the man cocked the gun and leveled it with Spider-Man’s head, “You want to find out?” 

He fell to his knees, clasping his hands together, “Please, please don’t shoot me. Go ahead, steal your cars. I don’t know how you’re going to steal two cars by yourself but if you pinky promise not to shoot me with your fragile-masculinity gun, I swear I will let you figure it out.” 

Eyebrows growled, his finger hovering over the trigger, “Do you think this is a joke? I could fucking kill you right now.” 

He couldn’t help the snort that left him, “Dawg, if your little baby gun is how I die then I’ll kill myself.” In a swift movement, he stood back up and grabbed the barrel of the gun, slamming both it and the man;s hand into the car beside them. The man yelped in pain but still tried to throw a sucker punch with his other hand, though Spider-Man easily caught it, twisting both of his arms behind his back and securing his wrists with webs. 

“You guys are seriously the lamest robbers I’ve dealt with in a minute.” He shook his head in disappointment, pulling eyebrows over towards Tire Iron and his friend before going to retrieve Black Crewneck. “I was hoping for more of a fight but instead I got amateur hour. I mean, did you guys even have a plan?” 

“I knew we should have gone for one in a closed garage!”

“Shut the fuck up, Craig.” 

He ignored their arguing as he secured them all with more of his webbing before using his burner to put in a tip to the police. “Alright, you guys sit tight! Be good little grand theft auto cosplayers and wait for the police to get here.” He went as far as to pat Eyebrows on the head before turning on his heel to launch himself off the parking garage. 

Spider-Man landed again a few streets away, lifting his arms to stretch out his limbs as he strolled down the empty street. It was pretty late at this point, by New York City standards. Besides the car thieves and a few petty crimes here and there, it had been a pretty tame night, as Mondays, surprisingly, tended to be. That’s not to say that he only dealt with criminals while he was out, he made an effort to interact with the good people of the city. Whether it was making sure people made it home safely or guiding the homeless to the FEAST shelters, he did his best to connect with everyone. 

That was something he had started to neglect during his quest to prove himself, he had lost sight of what was important. It was never becoming an Avenger, it was taking care of his people. Sam, Bucky, and Rhodey could call him reckless and responsible all they wanted, but when it came down to it, Peter knew that he would do anything to protect what mattered. And he had simultaneously everything and nothing to show for that.

“Missy, you get back here!” A soft, raspy voice called and at the same time, a small white dog was leaping against Peter’s legs. 

“Well, hello there,” He said, squatting down to greet the dog. He looked back up, seeing a small, old woman standing at the bottom of a townhome staircase. 

“Missy, young lady, you come back in this house right now.” The woman demanded, pointing at the open door. 

“I take it your name is Missy.” Peter nodded at the dog, “I’ll bring her over!” He waved at the woman before gathering the dog in his arms.

“Oh, Missy, look at you bothering Spider-Man,” The elderly woman tutted as Peter walked over towards her. “Sorry about her, you open one door and you think she’d’ve lost her damn mind.” 

He chuckled, “It’s really no problem, Miss.” He scratched Missy behind the ears before handing her over. “I don’t mind.” 

“Oh honey, don’t call me Miss, that makes me feel old,” She paused before letting out a joyous laugh, “Well, older than I already am. Call me Nonna.”

“Of course Nonna,” He nodded, “Like I was saying, I think Missy just likes Spiders.” Said dog was licking his gloved hand, as if trying to prove his point. 

“Missy likes anything with two legs and is outside of that house.” Nonna deadpanned. “But maybe she likes you a little more than the rest. You are such a kind boy.” 

Peter laughed softly, “With all due respect, ma’am, I’m not a kid.” 

Instead of getting annoyed by his words, she just shook her head with a fond look in her eyes, “Honey, I still call my son my little baby boy and he’s forty-two. And I’d be willing to bet good money that you’re even more fresh-faced than that underneath that mask of yours, don’t need to be a child to be someone’s kid.” Nonna grasped his forearm, “You come back another time, hon, and I’ll give you some of my favorite chocolate baklava from the store.”

He smiled, despite the fact that she couldn’t see it, “I will.” 

“You better,” She winked, stepping fully into her townhome, “If you know what’s good for you.” Peter made sure he heard her door fully lock before he turned back into the street, the interaction leaving him feeling warm. He would have to make it a point to stop by, if not for the chocolate baklava, to see Missy and Nonna again. 

He stood in the middle of the street, throwing out his wrist to pull himself back up into the air. He launched himself up, flipping through the air before settling into a free fall and cycling through the pattern again. The sound of wind rushing against his ears came as a comfort while he swung and Peter felt one with the sky. 

Everything felt right, until it didn’t.

With no warning at all, Spider-Man was hit with the most overwhelming sense of dread, the twitch at the back of his neck so violent he almost crashed into the side of a building. He hung onto the side of the building with one hand and foot, his head jerking around in alarm. His spider-sense was blaring in a way that could be described as physically painful with how bad his ears rang. 

The city's sounds seemed to warp and distort, the usual cacophony replaced by an unnerving silence that pressed in on him, the air that was once only light and cold suddenly thick and heavy. As quickly as the feeling overwhelmed him, that’s how fast it left him and Spider-Man could only thank his superhuman instincts for how he ducked his head just in time for something to slam hard enough into the wall that the brick splintered upon impact. 

Spider-Man didn’t take the time to stop and stare at whomever his assailant was, his spider-sense screamed at him to run and he wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice. He pushed off the wall and took off.

His pursuer, however, was relentless. Spider-Man was fast, inhumanly so, but it felt as though it didn’t matter which corner he took or how high he swung. He kept getting found.

Every time he felt like he put distance between him and the assailant, his sixth sense would become dizzying once more, distorting his hearing and sending a chill down his spine. Whoever was chasing him obviously knew what they were doing, as they moved with a chilling efficiency, each step placed with deadly intent. 

His heart was racing as he moved. The assailant, a guy as far as Peter could tell, had come out of nowhere. He had been deadly silent up until Spider-Man’s sixth sense had screamed at him, no warning of his presence leading up to that. Panic was beginning to claw up his throat, he needed a game plan, but it was hard to think when he was busy evading. 

The chase descended into the city's underbelly, a maze of narrow alleyways and shadowed corners and Peter realized his mistake. In this environment, his pursuer seemed to thrive, emerging in and out of the gloom like a phantom and Peter noted how their suit blended seamlessly with the darkness. Okay, he reasoned, running wasn’t working. 

Sonic blasts tore through the air, causing Spider-Man to weave and dodge, making him aware of the suit that was humming with pure power. His back slammed into a wall and he ducked down, rolling out of the way as a clawed gauntlet slashed at him, narrowly missing his face, the metal glinting menacingly in the moonlight.

Metal with a very familiar wing symbol carved into it. 

Rage burned through his chest, replacing the panic and Peter swung. His fist connected with the armored chest of the assailant’s suit, sending him backwards but to his surprise, the same sonic blast that had shot through the gauntlet blew through the boots of the suit and the man launched himself directly at Peter. 

He landed hard on his back, the pain in his shoulder almost as painful as his spider-sense. He dodged the next metal fist that swung his way, wrapping his legs around the attacker’s waist to flip him off over him so Spider-Man could roll to the side. Ignoring the pain in his side, he webbed Metal Gauntlet’s legs, trying to slow him down only for the gauntlet’s blasts to effortlessly shoot through them. 

“Well fuck you too, dude.” 

Peter attacked with a ferocity that surprised even himself, his punches faster, his movements far more brutal. He used his environment, smashing Metal Gauntlet through a crumbling wall and kicking him into a stack of wooden crates. Metal Gauntlet was undeterred, however, shaking off each blow and responding with equally brutal force. 

He hissed as the claws of his glove grazed his side, drawing blood. The vigilante grabbed the wrist of the gauntlet, the metal cold even through his suit. Then, in an act of desperation and survival, he put more than what he usually would into a single, devastating blow. He slammed the gauntlet into the adjacent wall, the impact splintering the metal and sparks flying as the sonic energy went haywire before the suit went quiet and the force of his hit sent the man back, hitting the wall with a hard thud. 

Peter’s chest heaved as the man’s body slumped, the only sounds being his own ragged breaths and the heartbeat of his attacker, confirming that he was only unconscious and not dead. 

He took a moment to collect himself before he webbed each of the man’s limbs down individually, taking extra care to make sure that gauntlet and the boots were secure and completely drained of power. He considered removing the man’s helmet, but upon inspection, he discovered a failsafe that prevented manual removal and he was a little too freaked out to think about using brute strength to do the job. He just wanted to go home. 

After a call to the police, Spider-Man fled the scene. It was a blur, getting back to his apartment. He was only really aware that he had done so when he collapsed through his window, his heart still racing impossibly fast. 

This was the third time in less than a week that some freak had been after him, four if he wanted to count the bots. But this was cutting it close.

Peter was beginning to see a sickening pattern. When he thought back to the chase and subsequent fight between him and the man with the metal gauntlet, his attacked had had multiple opportunities to take him down.

It was obvious that he was trained, with the way he moved with the agility and stealthiness that Peter had seen in people like Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova. The man had to be some sort of assassin, but despite having the skill and opportunity to kill him, he hadn’t.

No, no, no. Instead, he was hunting Peter.

Dying was starting to seem like the least of his problems. 

Chapter Text

and the weight of your eyes and your face when you cry
make the days you were young seem ages ago
if you could stay, would you go?

Peter Parker didn’t exist.

Peter Parker didn’t exist.

Just like his previous search for Peter Parker, this one was coming up empty. There was nothing. Nothing . Zilch. Nada. No hospital record, no birth certificate, not even a detention slip from Midtown Tech. The social security card and other identifying documents in his file at Columbia were the work of very, very good forgery that wouldn’t be found if you didn’t know what to look for.

It was clear that Peter had rebuilt his life from the ground up. And he had done it alone. 

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning back in his desk chair. He needed more information, the vague retelling was not enough for him to understand. He needed to know how this all happened. He needed to know how to fix it. 

That was what he did, he was an engineer. Tony fixed things. He had to fix this. 

Unfortunately, he doubted he could get anything out of Peter. At least, not right now. 

Their…honestly, could it even be considered a talk anymore? It certainly didn’t seem like one with the way Peter stormed out of the conference room. There had been more than just anger in his eyes, Tony saw the hurt that flashed through them before he defended himself against Sam’s accusations.

To say that Tony was upset on Peter’s behalf was an understatement, and he wasn’t alone in that. Most of the conference room had been angry with Sam, Bucky, and Rhodey, even though the latter two did not seem to approve of the Captain’s accusation. Kate had been downright furious, giving everyone an intense dressing down that Tony could admit was a little terrifying. 

He’d be lucky if he even saw Peter anytime soon. 

Tony let out a deep sigh, squeezing his eyes shut, keeping his hand to his face. He had been trying very hard not to let his mood impact the way he acted around his family. He knew shutting himself off over this wouldn't be fair to Pepper and Morgan, but he could tell that Pepper had already picked up on his sadness.

“I can hear you thinking all the way from the other room,” He looked up at the sound of Pepper’s voice and the tension in his shoulders eased a bit just by seeing her face.

“Sorry, should I close the door?” He teased, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes, leaning against the side of his desk. “I’ve a better idea,” She said softly, “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?” 

He dragged his hand the rest of the way down his face before replacing it on his lap, clasped in the other. “What isn’t going on up here, Pep?” 

Tony purposely avoided the small frown on her lips. This always happened, his obsessions would get the better of him because he was selfish and he would lose sight of what was in front of him, but he didn’t think he could let this go. Let Peter go, because Peter wasn’t an obsession, he was-

“Tony,” Pepper’s hand was on top of his, “Sweetheart, I’m not stupid. I can’t imagine all this has been easy for you…for the three of you, actually. Two years is hard and what you left was…” 

He met her eyes as her sentence trailed off, “And it sounds like things are more than a little different than what you were expecting.” She looked down at their stacked hands, running her thumb over his knuckles. “I’ll be honest, this hasn’t been easy for me either, one minute you…” She glanced back at him, her eyes shining, “And now,”

Tony moved both his hands to encase hers, holding it tightly in an attempt to be a grounding presence. “I know, honey,” He said softly, “I’m sorry, I know I haven’t been…present. I just-”

Pepper shook her head, “No, no, no, Tony, that’s not why I came in here. I know you’ve been trying but,” She took a deep breath. “Look, I know at first when you brought up Peter, we- I was hesitant to believe you. Even with Steve and Nat-I don’t know…but obviously I have more than enough reasons to believe you guys.” She huffed a dry laugh, “But even before that, the more I thought about it, the more…inconsistencies I found. Small things really, things I wouldn’t really have fixated on if I didn’t know any better. That was until I found this-”

He hadn’t noticed the picture frame that Pepper was holding in her free hand, pressed to her side. She held it in front of him, the glass facing the ground before finally turning it and handing it to him. Tony held it in his hands, his brows drawing together as he felt his chest tightened. 

“Oh,” He whispered, tracing the side of the frame. He recognized this photo, but it wasn’t as he remembered. It was him and Peter standing side-by-side, holding up a framed certificate in between the two of them. Tony had the same smug look he remembered sporting for the photo and was holding up bunny ears behind Peter’s head, the same way the teen was doing to him. 

The biggest difference between this photo and the one he remembered, was the iterations of Peter Parker. The one he now held was of Spider-Man and Tony Stark, not Peter Parker and Tony Stark. And the certificate that they held wasn’t regarding a Stark Internship, but instead was certifying the partnership between Iron Man and Spider-Man.

“When we moved from the lake house, I left some boxes unpacked, most were from your lab, for obvious reasons, but there were a few from other rooms in the house. I found this in a box from our kitchen. Tony, why did we have a framed photo of you and Spider-Man in our kitchen?” 

He let out a small laugh, ignoring how sad it sounded. “It’s not supposed to be of me and Spider-Man.” 

Pepper tilted her head, signalling him to go on. She didn’t look particularly surprised by his confession. 

“It’s supposed to be of me and the kid,” He ran his hand over his face again, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Jesus, he really did get himself erased.” 

It was silent between the two of them, both of their gazes stuck on the frame still in his hands. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but it was heavy with something melancholic. Was every photo of Peter here like this? Was there really no evidence of his relationship with anybody before he made that sacrifice? 

Tony sat up straighter as he thought of something. He had his suit on when the Watcher gave them the doorway to this universe, his FRIDAY had files backed up to who knows how far back. Even if she merged with this universe’s FRIDAY, in theory, whatever (or whoever, Tony was fairly sure he could make a guess) erased Peter’s existence wouldn’t have had any effect on his world’s files. 

How the hell did this not cross his mind before?

“FRI,” He looked over to the previously sleeping monitors, “Be a dear and pull up ‘The Internship Protocol’ from July 2017.” Despite the name, it wasn’t an actual protocol. Really, it was just a plan to officiate Peter’s internship and it had included a series of photos, both for May and his school. While the internship may have started as a ruse, it turned into moments that Tony wanted to remember. So, with the kid’s affinity for movie references in mind, he had named the file accordingly.

“On it, Boss.” FRIDAY replied, monitors coming to life and fluttering with motion as the gallery appeared and the picture from his memories was on the screen. 

It was nearly identical to the one that Pepper had given him, though instead of Spider-Man’s mask, it was Peter’s goofy smile and neatly gelled hair. 

“Oh,” Pepper mumbled, but it wasn’t in the disappointed way that Tony had just done, hers was more gentle and affectionate. “He’s so young.” She said softly. 

He snorted, “Yeah, he was- what? 15, here?” He blinked the tears out of his eyes. “He’s 18 now.” 

“That’s still young,” She frowned, “I don’t…Tony, I can’t…”

“It’s okay,” Tony sighed, “It’s not your fault that you can’t remember, Pep.” 

She huffed, “That doesn’t stop me from feeling awful about it.” Her eyes flickered between his gaze and the boy in the frame.

“I know,” The corners of his lips dipped slightly, “It’ll be okay.” He nodded firmly, with the finality that only Iron Man could have. 

This softened Pepper’s frown, fondness melting back into her face, “You really care about him, don’t you?” 

He smiled at the way her question was actually more a statement, “I do,” He confirmed, “Kid’s something else.” 

Her expression remained soft, but a hint of sadness flashed through her eyes, “He was important to me too, wasn’t he?” She asked, crossing her arms, “I cared about him too?” 

Tony set down the frame to grab her hand again, “Sometimes I think you cared more about him than me.”

This coaxed a real laugh out of his wife, “Well, considering that you’re a grown man and he’s a teenage boy, I would hope that I wouldn’t have to worry too much about you,” She rolled her eyes, leaning forward to kiss his forehead before making her way towards the door, “Somehow, you prove me wrong every time.” 

- 

Getting invited to a Barton family dinner was something Tony never would have expected to happen. Sure, there had been that small period of time after Ultron where the team had functioned as something closer to a friendship compared to the casual banter that was established before, but that had quickly died when the accords and Siberia happened. And yeah, things had gotten more stable when they were planning the Time Heist, but obviously that didn’t work out well. 

So yeah, Tony wasn’t expecting the phone call from Clint, inviting his family to their home for Friday dinner. He had been confused as to why that invite didn’t come as a shock to Pepper too, only for him to remember the way that Laura and her had greeted one another and Clint’s words when they had first arrived;

“Actually, Nate goes to school with Morgan. It's a little weird that we have kids that are the same age.”

An invite to dinner was apparently pretty common for Pepper and Morgan. There was a friendship there, between them and the Bartons. Honestly, it was nice to know his wife had so many people in her life after he died.

Regardless of this revelation, he couldn’t help the relief that washed over him when he saw Natasha and Steve getting out of a black SUV as he pulled Pepper’s Porsche into the driveway of the Barton home. He wouldn’t be the only one that was a stranger to this whole Stark/Barton dinner party shindig.

“Tony, baby, don’t forget to grab the cake from the backseat.” Pepper said as she opened Morgan’s door.

“Yes dear.” He blew her an obnoxious kiss before reaching into the backseat for the aforementioned dessert. Why Clint requested a carrot cake when asked what they should bring, was beyond him, but he didn’t dare question it lest Mrs. Barton pulled another gun on him. 

“Captain Juicepop!” Morgan squealed, running over to Steve with her arms raised, bouncing on her heels in front of the man. 

“Hi Morgan,” The blond smiled back at her, lifting the little girl into his arms. 

“Hi ‘Tasha,” Morgan waved, or more so wiggled her fingers, towards Nat. He could see the smile that graced the woman’s lips as her name was lisped in the way only little kids could manage.

“You guys brought dessert?” Steve asked aloud, glancing at the box in Tony’s hands.

“Of course we did,” He scoffed, “Don’t tell me you showed up empty handed.”

At his words, Natasha spun around to reveal the wine bottle she was holding, “I would never.”

“What is that, Zinfandel?” Pepper squinted at the label. 

“Told you you should’ve brought your reading glasses.” Tony leaned over after knocking on the front door, whispering in her ear. 

“Do you want me to repeat what I told you?” She replied calmly only for him to snort, dropping a kiss on her cheek. His response was cut off by the front door swinging open, though instead of it being any member of the Barton clan, they were greeted by one Kate Bishop. 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” She groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead. 

“Katie!” Morgan beamed. Apparently his daughter was on a first name basis with everyone.

“Hey Morgan,” Kate gave her a small smile before turning around, yelling into the house, “Clint, no heads up?!”

The man in question peeked his head around the corner from the kitchen, offering them a wave. “Just let them in!” 

The brunette stepped aside to allow them through the door, letting out another groan, though Tony didn’t detect any real anger in it. It was more akin to teenage angst, if anything. 

They followed her towards the kitchen and Tony observed how comfortably Kate seemed to move around the house. From the earlier conversations and just general common sense, it wasn’t hard to see the bond that Clint and Kate shared, though originally he had just assumed it to be more mentor and mentee. With the way the young woman stomped towards the kitchen island in fuzzy socks and an obnoxiously oversized cardigan and threw herself onto one of the stools, it was obvious the bond was more familial. 

“A little warning would have been nice.” She repeated with a scoff, reaching across the island to steal a piece of buttered bread from Clint’s cutting board. 

“We brought gifts,” Steve offered, gesturing to where Tony and Natasha had set the cake box and wine bottle. 

“Hm,” Kate hummed, leaning over to inspect the labels on both. “Carrot cake and red wine?” She questioned, sitting back down. “Convenient that these are my favorites,”

They all turned towards Clint, who was pretending to not pay attention. “Consider them a peace offering, besides it wasn’t like any of them did anything wrong.” 

Kate pursed her lips, looking between the four adults, Pepper having taken Morgan to find Nate and Laura. It was Tony’s gaze that she held the longest and he was secure in his masculinity enough to admit that the archer was a little intimidating. “I should’ve known Coop asking me for a ride was bullshit.” 

Tony took the levity in her tone as a sign that they were cool, at least for now, and went about removing his winter coat. He was painfully aware that Kate was close to Peter and he really didn’t want to be on her bad side.

“Oh please, you think I’d sing the High School Musical soundtrack in the car with just anybody?” A new voice joined and Tony turned to see a teenage boy walking into the kitchen, with messy brown hair and pretty much the spitting image of Laura Barton. “Hey Aunty Nat,” He stopped in front of the redhead, a wide grin on his face. 

Tony could see the emotions flash through her face as she took in the college-aged teenager staring at her. He wondered what he had looked like the last time Natasha saw him, which would have been what? Five years ago for her? 

“Hi little bird,” She smiled, ruffling his hair. “Still haven’t figured out how to tame that hair, huh?” He scoffed, swatting her hand away despite the fact that he was beaming. 

“Steve, Tony, this is my son, Cooper. Coop, I’m sure you remember them, right?” Clint leaned back against the sink, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. 

“Pleasure,” Tony nodded over to him as Steve gave his own greeting. 

“Right, cool, cool~” Cooper said, nodding his head slowly before indiscreetly sidebarring Kate over his shoulder. “Yeah, you were right. This is weird.”

“Kate, you already told him?!” Clint pinched the bridge of his nose, “This was something me and Laura wanted to explain to him.” 

“Clint, respectfully, what Coop and I choose to gossip about in my car is between us. It’s really nothing for you to worry about.” Kate said amicably, only to jab her elbow into Cooper’s side, “Although some things could have been a text.  message. ” 

Cooper grunted at the impact of her hit, slapping Kate’s arm away before speaking, “I’m glad it was Kate who told me, you and Mom would’ve made it a whole thing and I’ve already had enough lectures today,” Before his father could retort, the kid turned a bashful look at the three, “Oh yeah, uh-welcome back?” 

Tony snorted at the exasperation on Clint’s face, patting the man’s shoulder in solidarity before scanning the counter, “So what’s for dinner?”

Dinner had been a lively affair, one that Tony found himself enjoying immensely. There was just something so…domestic in the way that they all gathered at the dining table and shared a meal that included constant chattering and floating laughter. It was honestly the lightest he felt in the days since Peter had stormed out of the Tower. 

He couldn’t help his constant smile as he watched Morgan and Nate put up a very good argument to convince Lila and Cooper to go in the backyard and play in the snow with them, Pepper and Laura ushering the kids out of the dining room to dress in their winter gear and supervise. It was barely pushing 7:30 but the sun had already set, leaving the room to glow with the warmth of ambient lighting.

Tony stayed in his seat at the table, joined only by Kate as they sat and swirled their wine glasses in silence while Clint, Nat, and Steve took care of the dinner dishes. They had both offered to assist but had been declined. Now he was brainstorming the best way to ask her about her relationship with Peter. He was determined to go about it with tact, fearful that the wrong word or phrase would lose him his lead on Peter. 

However, it turned out to be Kate who brought him up first. “So, I’m going to assume you haven’t heard anything from Peter?” 

He blinked at her in surprise before sighing. “Nothing.” 

She dropped her head back against the back of her chair, slumping slightly, “Yeah, me neither.” 

Tony raised an eyebrow, “At all?” 

“At all!” Kate exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “Which sucks because I didn’t do anything and yet I got lumped into the silent treatment. He hasn’t answered any of my texts and we haven’t patrolled together at all since Monday.”

He didn’t think that Peter’s anger would have been directed at Kate, so hearing that he had been giving her the cold shoulder came as a surprise. Tony had made an effort to give the kid some space in the days following the Tower, at the advice of Pepper and as a promise to Happy, but he had thought that he’d be able to hear how he was doing through Kate. 

“Spider-Man has been out though,” Steve interrupted, sitting back in his seat, “So at least we know that he’s alright.” 

Kate scoffed, “I’m not concerned about Spider-Man, I know he’s alright. Peter is more than just a teammate, he’s my friend,” She paused for a second, taking a sip of her wine, “And it was your friend that pissed him off.” 

Steve sighed, the tips of his ears flushing red with shame and guilt. “You’re right, and I’m sorry about that,” He clasped his hands together and casted a glance at Natasha and Clint as they returned. “I didn’t realize there was bad blood between them and Spider-Man.” 

Tony snorted at the word choice. Right, bad blood. 

“I don’t know if it's necessarily like that,” Clint said, though he didn’t sound defensive.

“No, I think that was a great way to put it, actually.” Kate rolled her eyes at the elder archer before turning her full attention to the other three Avengers, “They have beef with Peter because they can’t control him.” 

“No,” Clint put his hand up, narrowing his eyes at her, “They don’t want to control him.”

“Well, I know Sam and Bucky weren’t exactly Spider-Man’s biggest fans after Germany…but it wasn’t anything like this,” Steve worried at his bottom lip.

“Yeah, and Rhodey knew the kid and he definitely didn’t have a problem with him.” Tony agreed. “So I’d love for you to explain to me what the issue is now.” 

Clint let out something that was a mix between a heavy sigh and a tired groan, his shoulders slumping in exasperation, “There really wasn’t an issue, at first. Like Peter said, Spider-Man deals with mostly street-level stuff so there was never really any overlap with our respective work. But then the London Bridge happened and people freaked. The DODC got involved, they wanted to know if he was a threat, and made it Sam’s problem but he could never get Spider-Man to talk to him, let alone bring him in. The only people Peter’s actually been around in the field amicably with have been Kate, Yelena, and me, but that’s rare. Obviously, the Statue of Liberty didn’t help things and the DODC has been breathing down Sam’s neck since.” 

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed, “Perfect, and now Sam knows who Spider-Man is. We’re just gonna let him expose his identity to the government for the second time?”

“Tony, he wouldn’t do that,” Steve defended sharply.

“Sam was against the Accords just as much as we were,” Natasha agreed, a hard look on her face, “That included the government keeping track of everyone on the roster, secret identity or not.”

Kate clicked her tongue in disapproval, “Okay,” Her tone was dry. “I’m not saying Sam would just out him like that, I don’t think he’s that much of a dick. But, regardless, they want to be able to tell him what to do and now they have the perfect piece of blackmail to get exactly what they want.” 

Steve frowned, “Hang on a minute, I don’t think-”

“And-” She interrupted with a sharp tone, “What threatening individuals teach elementary schoolers how to do cartwheels and carry groceries for old ladies? I would really love to know the answer to that one. Let’s be honest here, New York loves Spider-Man. Whatever public outrage there was after London barely lasted and nobody gave a fuck about the Statue of Liberty, he actually did us a favor with that one.”

Tony snorted. Kate was right, Spider-Man was the furthest thing from a threat. The kid had a heart of gold, sure he was a little hard around the edges now but Tony genuinely couldn’t see him as anything but a good person. It wasn’t surprising to hear that the city loved him. 

“Regardless,” Clint continued, “I’m pretty sure Yelena has made enough threats to all three of them to keep them quiet, morals or not.” 

-

In another surprising twist, an update about Peter actually came sooner, rather than later. And it hadn’t been given by Kate. 

Tony had been speaking to Clint in the kitchen, the two of them leaning against the counter with matching pinched expressions. It was about forty minutes since Kate had left and maybe another five since Natasha and Steve disappeared outside to join Pepper and Laura; he had been planning on following them out when Clint asked him to stay back. 

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Kate,” Clint said, “but there was one part of what Sam said that I agreed with.”

It probably wasn’t the best way for him to start out the statement, they both knew that, especially when Tony immediately fixed the other man with a hard, defensive look. 

“Not in the same way he said it!” He was quick to backtrack, “Look, Spider-Man- Peter - has never given me any reason not to trust him. He helped Kate and I back when I first met her and he’s had her back since. He fixes her gear, and Yelena’s if Kate asks, he made our comms. Peter only ever proved himself to be a good ally, and a good person.”

Tony’s expression softened as Clint spoke. 

“But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think the kid was reckless. Not with civilians, never with the civilians. Or with anyone else, really- but when it comes to himself, he doesn’t think twice.” The man took in a deep breath, “He’s smart but I’ve seen him do the stupidest shit, like with the bots the other night. He’ll throw himself in the middle of an explosion without a thought. Without a sense of self preservation, and that worries me.”  

Now, this is where Tony wished he could disagree, defend Peter and say it wasn’t like that, but he knew it’d be a lie. Peter was reckless, even before Thanos happened and he was painfully aware that that hadn’t changed. In his deep dive into Peter Parker and Spider-Man post-2023,  he had discovered a lot of footage of Spider-Man’s escapades, both city and nationwide. 

He dragged his hand down his face with a deep sigh, “Yeah, I know what you mean.” It was probably like the pot calling the kettle black to call Peter’s decisions questionable, they were all guilty of diving head first into the line of fire without a second thought. 

“I know he’s not happy with us finding out his identity,” Clint looked thoughtful, “ Again , I guess. But at least now someone can check in on the kid.” 

“What about Kate?” 

“Oh, I know they look out for each other, but she’s also a kid and I worry about her too.” He explained, “We both know what this life can take from you, and it’s already taken a lot from both of them, but I made sure Kate had backup-”

Tony’s shoulders slumped, “But Peter doesn’t. Because he doesn’t exist.” He had to force the words out, as if it was painful to say. Because it was. 

Clint looked remorseful, “No one can help him if no one knows who Peter Parker is.”

Before the conversation could continue to spiral in its depressing trajectory, a new voice chimed in, effectively gaining the attention of the two grown men. 

“Did you say Peter Parker?” Cooper was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, winter coat and hat still on. “Like Peter Parker?” 

Tony and Clint exchanged glances, the same raised eyebrows and tense jaws on both their faces. “Yes,” They said slowly. They didn’t dare say more as neither of them knew how much Cooper had heard. 

“No way,” The teen mumbled, squinting his eyes down at his boots. “That’s actually so crazy, I know him.” He began to take off his coat before pausing, his eyes snapping back to the two men in suspicion, “Hang on, how the hell do you guys know him?” 

It was quiet for a second, but Tony knew he couldn’t let the silence last too long or else it would start to look weird, or maybe weirder than it already did. He needed to proceed with caution and just hope that Cooper had only heard the tail end of Clint’s statement. 

“He was an intern at S.I,” He lied smoothly, “I was a fan of his work and was curious about where life took him.”

Cooper rolled his eyes, though it wasn’t in a mean or annoyed way. If anything, he seemed amused. “Of course Tony Stark would be a fan of his work.” Despite the questioning look he received from both men, he didn’t expand on his statement, just continued to shed his snow layers. “That doesn’t explain why you’re talking to my dad about him though.”

Clint’s eyes flickered over to Tony for a brief second before he spoke, “Turns out he goes to Columbia, I’m assuming that’s how you know him, right?” 

Right. He had mentioned that, that first night. That was the whole reason the Bartons had moved to New York, Cooper had been “hellbent on Columbia.” Oh shit.

At the teen’s duh head movement, Clint continued, “Look Coop, you can’t say anything about this to him.” He motioned towards his left, where Tony stood. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing full well that Peter already knew that he was back, but he supposed Clint had to play the part.

His words earned an unimpressed yet lethal glare and Cooper let out a dramatic scoff, “Obviously. Do I look stupid to you or somethin’? I kept you a secret and I was a little kid, I think I can handle this one at nineteen.”

Clint put his hands up in defense, “You’re right, you’re right.”

“Besides,” His son continued, “What would I even do- walk up to him and be like, ‘Hey, yo Parker! Y’know Tony Stark? Yeah, he’s not dead anymore, surprise!’ Yeah, gimme a break.” 

Tony fought the urge to cringe, that sounded a little too close to how it went, and he knew Clint was thinking the same thing.

He cleared his throat, “So, you guys are friends?” He wasn’t expecting this connection to Peter at all but he wasn’t exactly mad about it.

Cooper shrugged, pulling a snack out of the pantry, despite having eaten dinner not even two hours ago. “I guess. He’s lab partners or whatever with one of my roommates and apparently we go to the same parties. Actually,” He paused for a second to take a bite of the Rice Krispies Treat before talking with his mouth full, “I saw him last night, he left early though. He always leaves the functions early, even if he’s blazed.” 

He took another bite before his eyes widened, looking at his dad quickly, “Not that we smoke weed or anything, uh, blazed means-” It took less than a second for him to give up and he shoved the rest of the Rice Krispies Treat in his mouth. “Yeah, I’ll be honest, I got nothin’.”

Clint snorted at the poor attempt, playfully smacking the back of his son’s head, “As if I didn’t know you smoked weed. You’re not exactly subtle, buddy. I’m more concerned about you going to a party and smoking it on a Thursday night.” 

“It’s sylly week! I swear I don’t make a habit of it.”

“Sylly week?” Tony asked.

“Syllabus week.” He explained, “First week of the semester, everyone’s back on campus and barely any work is assigned. Everyone parties. Then,” He clapped his hands loudly, “We lock in. It’s tradition.” 

“...All week?” 

“Well, I didn’t go out Wednesday night because I have a 7:30 power hour on Thursdays, and obviously not tonight, but other than that? Yeah.” Cooper said with a shrug. 

Clint continued, “With who? Where are you going?” 

The teenager dropped his head back with a groan but still responded, “My friends? Whoever feels like going, dad. We’ve been going to house parties at some campus houses or Parker will send us something from someone he knows. It just depends.” 

Tony listened to them go back and forth, Cooper growing increasingly annoyed by the third degree from his father, but his mind was wandering. This information about Peter hadn’t been what he expected, but it had been something. For one, it looked like he was getting called Parker as opposed to his first name; two, apparently he had built some kind of reputation for himself; and three, he seemed to be quite the party animal. 

As he said earlier, pot calling the kettle black.

Despite the growing need to talk to Peter, he had to keep reminding himself that giving him space was in both their best interests; it had been a consistent topic of conversation in the Stark household between him, Pepper, and Happy. (Rhodey was currently on a timeout, his involvement in the Tower fallout earning him the cold shoulder from Tony himself.)

Everything he had heard tonight had been enlightening, between Spider-Man’s less-than-stellar relationship with Captain America and the literal government and Peter’s friendship with Cooper, pieces of the kid’s life post-Thanos were slowly coming together for Tony. While he would like to know more from the source himself, something was definitely better than nothing. 

Tuning out the continued bickering between Barton Junior and Senior, Tony settled on a new plan of action. If Tony wanted to help Peter, the conflict between Spider-Man and the Avengers looked like a good enough place to start, and if there was something in any world that Tony Stark was good at, it was arguing with Captain America.

Chapter Text

I don't wanna hear, I don't wanna stay
I don't wanna feel it, take it all away
oh, I'm still the same kid that I used to be
I'm runnin' from everything, ah, ah, ah

Friday tended to be the most eventful night of the week- friendly neighborhood speaking- and tonight was no exception. Though, similar to every other night, once it hit a certain time, the sounds of the city would fade into a whisper. Usually, this was Peter’s favorite time of the night. He would be able to just exist in the calm of his city, to enjoy the almost quiet of an otherwise cacophony of life. Lately, however, he was finding his peace plagued by the volume of his thoughts. 

Peter’s head was bent down, the lens of his mask trained on his hands as he traced the webbed pattern on the back of his glove. One of the key details of his suit was that the webbing was slightly raised and it created a nice texture along the material. It had become somewhat grounding to run his fingers along, never letting him drift too far.

His eyes drifted towards the skyline, gaze on the twinkling lights, never stopping his tracing. His mind was racing again, not like that was really surprising. Peter’s always considered himself to be a massive overthinker, but given how the past week and a half had gone, it was safe to say that his mind was clocking some serious overtime. He was never not thinking and it was fucking exhausting.

Since it hit him that he was being hunted, Peter’s ability to relax had been nonexistent. There was this constant itch on the back of his neck, a never-ending ringing in his ears. He just wasn’t able to shake the uneasy feeling of being watched. That combined with the whole…Avengers situation, both this universe and others alike, was starting to get to him. Just a little bit. 

The past week had gone by in a haze of both patrol and parties, with a sprinkle of college classes here and there. Miraculously, Peter held true to his personal goal of attending all of his classes for this first week and despite the slight paranoia, he actually found himself enjoying some of them; specifically SPHERE. His previous frustration over the work study switch-up, admittedly, was short lived and he could agree that Dr. Warren had been right; SPHERE was far too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

Following the first class, Peter had leapt head first into a deep dive on SPHERE’s history and learned that even with its brief tenure, SPHERE was a highly regarded program that was the recipient of many prestigious awards within the STEM world. The criteria to even be considered as an applicant was insanely selective  and Peter genuinely had no idea how his name had ended up on Dr. Warren’s radar. 

With a deep sigh, he turned his hand over and began tracing the pattern over his palm. He couldn’t exactly say that opportunities like this were foreign to him, but he knew it wouldn’t last. Good things like Midtown Tech and Stark Industries and MJ and Ned never did, and it wasn’t hard to figure out what the common denominator was.

Maybe Peter was the curse. 

If he were honest, he would be able to admit that this was why it hurt to look Tony in the eye, he’d be able to admit that when he saw the man, for a second, all he would see was his corpse on the battlefield or the skeleton of the Iron Man suit crawling out of his grave. If Peter were an honest person, he would be able to say that he was terrified of what Tony would think of him when he found out everything he had done, what he had become. 

It’s a good thing he’s a liar. 

He shook his head hard, cutting off his train of thought before he could fall deeper into his head. He needed to get a hold of himself, he’s better than this- you’re better than this. 

Drawing in a long inhale, Peter grasped at the pavement he was sitting on and stretched his legs out in front of him, and tipped forward. With his fingers still curled around the stone, he flipped forward to sit upside down on the rooftop ledge. His body stuck to the concrete, allowing him to sit straight with his legs hanging beneath him the same way they would if he were sitting correctly. It was weirdly cathartic. 

The change in position brought about a change in perspective and just for a moment, Peter was given a moment of quiet.  

It didn’t last long, but he couldn’t say the interruption had surprised him. He actually sensed Kate before he even heard her, the older girl alerting off his sixth sense in a way that was comfortable and familiar as opposed to the constant thrum he had been experiencing. It was only moments later that she was on the rooftop.

Kate made her way to the edge of the roof, he could make out her silhouette as she carefully climbed down onto the ledge, sitting beside him in a position that mirrored his own; just right side up. Her legs hung over the edge, black boots right next to his face as she swung them back and forth and her bow was barely visible from where it sat at her side. It was silent between them, but it wasn’t long before she leaned forward to look down at Peter, her purple sunglasses reflecting both the moonlight and Spider-Man’s mask.

“You are annoyingly good at the silent treatment. DND for a whole week is crazy.”  

He couldn’t help but snort, rolling his eyes despite the fact that she wouldn’t be able to tell. “It hasn’t even been a week yet.” 

Kate scoffed, kicking him in the shoulder. “Fuck off, if you actually ignored me for a full week I’d kick your ass.”

Peter winced slightly, “I wasn’t ignoring you, Ace.” Once again, he was a liar.

“Yeah, sure.” She sighed, kicking at him again though this time it was gentler. “Honestly, I get why you’re giving everyone else the cold shoulder, I really do. What I don’t get is why I’m a part of that.” Her shoulders slumped and she looked away from him. 

“It’s not like that, Kate.” Peter pulled one of his legs in, resting his chin on top of his knee. He avoided looking at her, not wanting to catch a glimpse of what her eyes held behind her sunglasses. 

“Then what is it like?” 

He pursed his lips, considering his response. Even if he wasn’t responding to her texts, that didn’t mean he wasn’t reading them. He was fully aware of how upset Kate was by his radio silence. She hadn’t been overbearing with her messages but he couldn’t deny the twinge of guilt he felt when he saw her name appear through the ‘do not disturb’ setting. 

“You know what’s worse than having nobody remember you?” Peter kept his eyes on the horizon, “Having everybody know they don’t remember you. I already made my peace with it and was used to it, and they all looked at me like I was some kind of basket case. Even you.” 

Kate didn’t speak although her silence wasn’t uncomfortable, it was contemplative. For all her quirks and antics, she was incredibly emotionally intelligent and it was another thing Peter appreciated about his friendship with her. For all he had tried to keep his distance, there was something healing about having someone really listen to him, and he was reminded that while she had been upset about his cold shoulder, Kate had also expressed concern for him. It wasn’t the first time he had realized that she really cared about him. It also wasn’t the first time Peter realized that this was something that wasn’t going to last. It was only a matter of time before he ruined her life too. 

“Y’know, when I first inherited my mom’s company, I hated going to the office.” Her voice cut off his train of thought. “I’m 21 and my mom’s in prison and all of the sudden, I’m the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. I mean, that was always the plan but I didn’t think it would happen so soon and definitely not like that.” 

“I thought everyone was going to hate me because I nepo-babied my way into a job that I didn’t deserve and replaced a boss that almost ruined all of their lives. I was almost positive I was going to get jumped at the office.” Kate laughed softly, before continuing, “Honestly, I wish I did because instead of hating me, everyone just kept looking at me like I got hurt, like I was a victim. Instead of calling me a nepo-baby or anything like that, they kept calling me “that poor girl” and no one took me seriously because they were too busy feeling bad for me.” 

Peter couldn’t help his frown as she spoke. Eleanor Bishop was still in the headlines every now and then regarding her involvement with the Kingpin, but Kate really didn’t talk much about her. He wondered if Eleanor knew about the shadow she casted over her daughter, in more ways than one. 

“I would never think of you as a basket case.” She said firmly, leaning over the edge to look directly at the lenses of his mask. “I don’t know what you saw but I wouldn’t pity you, the same way you never pitied me. Different situations, sure, but the sentiment is still the same.” 

“Damn,” He whistled after a moment. “That was really beautiful, Kate.” 

Kate threw her head back, laughing loudly. Her purple sunglasses stayed on her nose but he could see the crinkles at the corners of her eyes as she grinned. “You’re such an asshole.” 

“That didn’t seem to bother you much when you came looking for me,” 

“Oh please, like you didn’t want me to find you. This is one of your lower rooftops, Spidey.” Her grin turned mischievous, “I’m also pretty sure you owe three dollars to the codenames jar.”

His jaw dropped, “Come on, we were having a heart to heart!” 

“No names in the field~” Kate said mockingly, kicking her feet in delight.

“DND is looking more and more appealing by the minute.” She shoved his legs away from her before dodging a half-hearted kick and the banter made Peter feel a little bit lighter. 

“Sure it is,” She reached down, holding out a gloved hand, “Come on, I’ll buy us Taco Bell.” 

- 

Sunday afternoon brought about the first phase of Tony’s master plan. It had fallen at the perfect time- Morgan on a girl scout day trip upstate and Pepper busy with an investor lunch. It also helped that his wife was being very encouraging when it came to his plan to help Peter, even when it involved picking a fight with Captain America. 

Okay, maybe it wasn’t said in that many words and also, she wasn’t actively encouraging the argument, but Phase One of his plan centered around confronting Sam. More specifically, confronting his issue with Spider-Man- and subsequently, his issue with Peter. It was a good starting place when it came to reconnecting with the kid. 

Peter’s demeanor was foreign to him. In the time that Tony had gotten to know him, he had never been able to describe him as reserved. Or aloof. Or haunted. None of those words had ever been Peter Parker, at least, well, until now. The change worried him. 

When was the last time Peter was happy? It had been a week and a half since he saw Peter smile- actually smile, with teeth and everything, and it had been on a war-torn battlefield in an entirely different world; an entirely different time. It wasn’t for long either, a split second at most, but it was the first time he’d seen that smile in five years, and so far it was also the last. The only smiles Tony had seen cross his face were either small or sarcastic, and they had been rare and aimed towards Kate. 

Tony had made a promise to both himself and Peter to fix things, whether the kid knew it or not, and picking a fight with Captain America seemed like the first logical step.

Imagine his frustration when he showed up to the Compound and an argument was already in full swing, although it was between the scariest set of sisters since the Grady twins: Natasha and Yelena. He supposed he could have counted it lucky that Sam had been nowhere near it, so fighting Cap was still up for grabs, but it would have only been lucky if he didn’t feel obligated to act as emotional support. Nat had been there for both him and Steve when they had their difficult moments with the people they cared about, and Tony’s conscience was telling him it was the right thing to do, even if Clint was playing referee. 

“What do you mean you are not telling Alexei?” Yelena’s brow was furrowed and she was leaning over the main table in the control room on the palms of her hands. She must have just recently returned from a mission as she was still dressed in a white tactical jumpsuit, well, that or she was preparing to leave for another. Tony wasn’t sure- he also wasn’t quite sure who Alexei was. Maybe this conversation was as little out of his depth. 

“It just doesn’t seem like the best idea right now.” By the tone of Natasha’s voice, it sounded like this wasn’t the first time she had said this. 

“Bullshit,” The blonde shook her head, “What is a better idea then, sestrukha? He find out with the rest of the world?” 

“Yelena,” Clint cut in, very obviously trying to help his best friend. “The more people that know, the more likely this will get out before we have a chance to figure out how we want to explain things.”

Yelena rolled her eyes, “Ha. Give me a break, Clint Barton, that is just a lousy excuse.” 

The archer sighed, rubbing his temple, “I really wish you would stop calling me by my full name,” 

“That is a privilege,” She glowered at him. “And right now, you are pissing me off so you do not deserve it.” 

“Oh come on! We can’t risk-”

“We don’t know if Alexei-”

“Excuse me,” Tony coughed, sliding towards the table to stand beside Yelena. “I really couldn’t help but overhear your very loud, very public conversation. I figured I would bypass the grapevine and just ask for the details up front.”

Natasha’s nose flared and she clenched her jaw before speaking, “Tony, I don’t think-” but Yelena was quick to cut her off.

“No, no, I would actually like to hear his thoughts on this.” 

Tony’s eyes flickered between Clint and Nat, the latter staring at him with an almost pleading expression. He really hoped he wasn’t going to regret getting involved, this better not backfire on him. It was a tense moment before the redhead gave in,

“Yelena is asking,” Natasha shot a frustrated look over towards her sister, “if I’m going to tell Alexei.” 

He nodded slowly, “Right, and remind me, who is Alexei again?” 

“Yes, Natasha,” Yelena tutted, “Who is Alexei?” She raised her eyebrows at Nat in a provocative manner, almost like she was trying to goad her further into the argument.

Clint put a hand to his forehead, looking like he regretted getting involved. 

Natasha looked up at the ceiling and Tony could imagine that she was mentally counting to ten, “Alexei is our father.”

Huh. Tony’s eyes widened slightly at the information…father was probably the last thing that he expected, although to be fair he hadn’t expected there to be a sister either. 

“Exactly, our father.” Yelena replied sharply, “Which is why he should not have to find out you are alive through the news.” 

She looked expectantly at Tony and he realized that this was what she wanted his thoughts on. His eyes widened further- this had now become a tricky situation and he really was out of his depth here. It was either tick off the scary assassin that he knew or tick off the scary assassin that he didn’t; a lose-lose scenario no matter what.

He pursed his lips. On one hand, he could see what Yelena was saying; he couldn’t imagine what it would be like if he were in this situation as a father, but that was where he sympathized with Natasha- Tony knew what his relationship with Morgan was like, even with two years and a whole universe between them. He hadn’t even known Nat knew who her father was, let alone what her relationship with him was like. 

“Y’know I’m not really sure that I’m qualified to comment on this, which is saying a lot.” Yelena narrowed her eyes at him, unhappy with his response. He internally winced as he anticipated her feelings about the rest of his opinion, “But I think this is something that should be up to Natasha.” 

Natasha’s shoulders relaxed in relief and appreciation before immediately tensing up again as her sister scoffed, tossing her arms up in disbelief. 

“Unbelievable,” The blonde reached over to take a tablet off the table, a scowl on her face. “He mourned you too, Natasha.” She stated harshly, although she seemed more hurt than angry, before walking off. 

“I might have made that worse,” Tony said slowly, voice apologetic. 

“Maybe,” Clint agreed, “but it’s true, it should be up to you, Nat.” 

He hadn’t been lying when he said it- everyone they had told about their existence had been their choice. As valid as Yelena could have been, ultimately it wasn’t up to her. 

“Can I ask why you don’t want to tell him?” Tony asked after a brief moment of quiet.

It was a very thin line that he was toeing here. Nat’s family was brand new territory and Tony was pretty sure he already made a mistake by choosing this situation to play emotional support. 

Thankfully, there were no guns pulled nor was there any anger over his question, however, she did give a wistful frown, “Yelena’s…life with Alexei was different than mine; she never knew any of it was fake.” At the obvious confusion on his face, she explained, “We were all undercover for a while, as a suburban family. Our cover was deep and ‘Lena was young- really young. She didn’t understand that our family wasn’t real, so she loved us all for what she thought we were. She still does.” 

There were probably a million things that Tony could have said, but he didn’t think any of them were what Nat needed to hear. Instead, he offered her a soft smile, hoping to convey his understanding through the simple expression. Family was complicated. She nodded at him, just barely, the tense expression on her face easing just a bit. 

Finally, Natasha just sighed, “She’ll come around.” Her eyes flickered over to where Yelena had stormed off, the melancholic look never quite leaving her eyes, before looking back. 

Clint put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, “She might hold a grudge against you though,” He warned. 

The engineer winced, “Wonderful, just what I came here for.” 

“Not that I’m not happy to see you or anything,” The archer started, turning to lean sideways against the table.”But what did you actually come here for?” 

Tony put a hand to his chest, “Sue me for wanting to see my dear friends.” 

“You had no idea Clint and I were even here today.” Natasha deadpanned. That was actually quite true, he didn’t really put too much care into what other Avengers were in attendance at the Compound.

“What makes you say that? You do know it’s my tech that runs this place,” He scoffed. “You do know I’m the one who designed this place?” 

Natasha blinked at him, her face unimpressed. Damn her. “Sam’s busy upstairs.” 

“Wait, what does he need Sam for? What do you need Sam for?” Clint narrowed his eyes slightly at Tony, “Oh, come on.”

“We were just going to have a friendly little conv-”

“Oh, please,” Suddenly, Tony knew exactly where Cooper Barton got his attitude from. “You have that same look in your eyes that you’d get when you want to piss Steve off.” 

He looked over towards Natasha, aiming to get some sort of defense from her only to find her smirking in both agreement and amusement. With a sigh, he raised his hands in surrender. Whatever, at least she was smiling now. Never say that Tony Stark isn’t a good friend. 

“Alright, you got me.” He stated. “What else would I be here for?” 

“To loiter,” Clint shrugged, his response earning a full smile from Natasha. 

“Need I remind you, once again, that I paid for thi-” 

Before their little tiff had the chance to continue, the doors to the entry room slid open with a light whoosh, drawing attention to Sam and Bucky as they entered. Oddly enough, while Tony did find himself irritated with the two, his previous anger had dissipated. What he learned about Spider-Man’s rocky relationship, or rather lack thereof, with the government, and the pressure placed on Sam as a result, Tony was feeling a little more empathetic.

Now, don’t mistake his empathy for allowance. Whatever reasoning Sam may have, none of it really excused the way he talked to Peter, but that didn’t mean that Tony didn’t understand. He would be a hypocrite to even imply that he had never spoken out of turn, so yeah, he got it. He was still going to pick a fight with him though. As a treat. 

“Oh, Tony,” Sam nodded at him, his tone something between friendly and diplomatic. “I didn’t realize you were here.” 

Tony pursed his lips, “My apologies, I wasn’t aware I was to alert the entire roster upon entry.” 

From the corner of his eye, he could see Clint throw his head back in exasperation.

In front of him, Sam’s shoulders just slumped in…wait, what was that? Wait, was that…guilt? What the hell. 

Internally, Tony’s eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped a little bit. This wasn’t how it went when he played things out in his head; Sam was supposed to make a snarky comment back, Tony was supposed to be able to turn it back around onto him. This was going off script. 

Outwardly, he kept his face neutral. Tony had faced many curveballs in his life, this wasn’t going to be the one to get him, no matter how weird it was. It wasn’t like he and Sam had ever been the best of friends, or even friends if he was being completely honest. Sure, they were friendly enough before Germany, but Sam was always Steve’s, and then for the last five years, he had been gone. (And if that played a little part in Tony’s lack of anger, he would never mention it.)

“I know why you’re here man, I get it,” Sam sighed, exchanging a look with Bucky. “I lost my cool and that wasn’t fair to the ki- to him, I know that.”

“That’s…nice,” Tony said slowly, his eyes flickering between the two. “Although, it would be nicer if it hadn’t happened at all.” 

“Ain’t that the truth,” Bucky muttered, as if he hadn’t said his fair share to Peter. “To be fair though, Sam was probably embarrassed that a teenager kept giving him the slip.”

Sam shot a glare towards him, “Really? How was that helpful?”

Bucky’s brow furrowed, “Who said I was trying to be helpful?”

“Hey, you weren’t exactly a saint towards him.” Sam scoffed, crossing his arms. How this was turning into an argument between the two of them, Tony really wasn’t sure, and from their expressions, it seemed that Natasha and Clint weren’t either. Actually, from Clint’s expression, he looked like he was used to this back and forth. 

“I never said I was.” Bucky deadpanned. “But I also didn’t tell him it was his fault his identity got revealed.” 

At this, Sam winced, and Tony was struck with how different Bucky was from the last time he actually interacted with him. It was interesting really, how in the few times that he has seen him after these five long years, Tony didn’t see the man who killed his parents. He was seeing Bucky, Steve’s best friend, and apparently Sam’s too. Or at least, best frenemy. 

Despite the fact that the man had stolen Tony’s role in the argument, the engineer wasn’t too mad with how things played out. Sam was genuinely apologetic and Bucky obviously knew that his part in things wasn’t great either. He supposed now he could end Rhodey’s timeout. Deep down, he knew that the hardest part of his plan was going to be talking to Peter.

“I know that was too far,” Sam finally responded. “Way too far, actually. And I want to apologize to him. I’m planning to, he’s just not the easiest to find.” 

Tony snorted at the bitter tint to the last few words, “So I’ve realized.” He gathered both of their attention once more, “Not even Kate has heard from him.” 

At the archer’s name, Sam brought his hands to his head, rubbing the sides of his temple and mumbling, “Don’t even get me started on Kate.”

“Kate locked him out of the tower,” Yelena announced from her corner of the room, her tone delighted. Her comment let them all know that she was listening, and had likely been listening to their conversation from the very beginning.

“She did,” Bucky’s smile had the same vibe to it as Yelena’s voice did. “Just Sam, too.” 

“I left my favorite goggles there. You know, the ones with the-” Sam gestured around his face. “Whatever, I didn’t mean to get off topic. You said Kate hasn’t talked to him at all?” Tony wondered if Yelena had expressed her desire to keep Spider-Man’s identity a mystery to everyone, as no one in the room had yet to utter the vigilante’s true name. 

It was Clint who nodded the affirmative, “Yeah, like at all. Trust me, it’s the only thing she’s texted me about all week.” After truly speaking with the young woman on Friday night, that sounded about right. 

“Huh,” Sam furrowed his eyebrows, “So I’m gonna guess you guys haven’t seen the article?”

Three heads turned to him in interest, “What article?”

Yelena approached the table, tablet still in her hands, looking much less annoyed, “Computer, pull up the Daily Bugle article from yesterday afternoon,” She said aloud, before adding, “Please.” 

“Of course, Miss Belova.” Tony hid the twitch of his lips at the blonde referring to FRIDAY as “computer.” It didn’t take long for his AI to activate the holoscreens around the main table of the control room, the six of them gathering around as the article displayed across them. Surely enough, it was one published by The Daily Bugle, dated early Saturday afternoon.

WEB-HEAD AND BIRDBRAIN: ROOFTOP REPROBATES

Written by J. Jonah Jameson

Photographed by Ben Reilly 

The article was published alongside a photo, likely meant to be clickbait but honestly, it was a stunning piece of photography. The picture was of Peter and Kate, as Spider-Man and Hawkeye, and really, it was almost out of place compared to the derogatory nature of the piece.

The two were sitting side-by-side on a rooftop, both pairs of legs caught in mid-swing. In one hand, Peter held what looked to be a Baja Blast and his other was gesturing to something unseen. Kate was facing his direction, a pair of purple sunglasses covering her eyes and was mid-bite into a burrito. They were both illuminated just right by the moonlight. 

The key detail, the one that Tony’s eyes were immediately drawn to, was the way the Spider-Man mask was rolled up just over Peter’s nose, exposing an open mouthed grin from where he seemed to be in mid-sentence. A real smile from him and Tony was only seeing it in a defamation article.

Okay, so Peter was talking to Kate again. This article was from yesterday, so the picture had to have been taken Friday night which meant that the kid had decided to end his silent treatment basically right after Tony had seen Kate. That was great, really it was. 

“Guys, I’m gonna be honest- if I were Taco Bell, I’d be all over this.” Clint said, impressed and completely unaware of Tony’s inner turmoil. “This is like, prime marketing.”

“Hmph, this isn’t Jameson’s best writing,” Bucky shook his head, eyes scanning the screen. 

“You know, it’s really not.” 

“Right? Very rushed.” 

Tony fought the urge to roll his eyes at their exchange. He didn’t have a chance to focus on his Spider-Man induced spiral when he was forced to listen to commentary over a garbage article. Who even was J. Jonah Jameson and what gave him the right to comment on Spider-Man and Hawkeye? This was really not how he had imagined the afternoon would go. 

“Oh, I am sure Kate will love this photo,” Yelena said, “She framed the last one the Bugle got of her.” 

“There’s more?” Natasha asked, receiving a side glare from her sister even as she responded.

“There’s plenty,” She stated simply, however despite her expression, her tone was still as light as before.

“Most of them don’t really include Hawkeye,” Sam explained. “They all focus more on Spider-Man; they do not like him.” 

“Oh, wonderful. Something you guys have in common then?”

“Oh my go-”

“Boss, news reports are coming from Astoria. A giant, weaponized robot is causing significant property damage and is posing a threat to the civilian population, Spider-Man and Hawkeye are on the scene. Police are trying to clear the area but all signs are pointing to this being a premeditated attack, they keep running into problems.” Immediately, the lighthearted atmosphere dissipated and was replaced with an air of seriousness as FRIDAY interrupted. 

“What? Why didn’t the alarm go off?” Clint questioned urgently, jumping into action and activating a holographic keyboard on the central command console in front of him.

“The alert was triggered by one of Boss’ protocols. This situation does not fall under any of the parameters that would activate the alarm for the Compound.”

It was silent for a moment, FRIDAY’s words sinking in. They were reminiscent of Peter’s words the other day, some of us don’t pick and choose who deserves that help.

“Shit.” The archer shook his head fiercely, “FRIDAY, can you pull up any footage of what’s going on? I need eyes.” 

Everyone was tuned into the screens, the AI working quickly to connect to any security footage or news cameras in the area. The screens came to life once more, flickering between angles of the fight before settling on a bird’s eye view of Spider-Man, Hawkeye, and what was definitely a giant robot. Although, what the news reports neglected to mention was that the aforementioned “problems” were actually dozens of mini-bots flying this way and that all around the scene.

“Can you activate their comms?” Clint continued, ignoring Sam and Bucky’s mumbles of ‘you have access to their comms?’ as he continued to work. It was obvious that this was a familiar game for him, and Tony once again found himself thinking back to the night they arrived. He may not run the Avengers, but he was someone that these younger heroes clearly trusted.

The AI obliged, a small beep informing them of the connection. Silence followed, however, which didn’t make sense when they could clearly see Kate’s mouth moving as she spoke, perched on some balcony with her bow moving between different targets. 

“Did it actually connect?” Bucky questioned and Tony bit back a comment about questioning his AI. Of course it connected. 

“Of course it connected,” Yelena parroted his thoughts, “They just are not on the main channel. Kate and Spider-Man use a private channel when they patrol,” The blonde reached into a pocket on her jumpsuit, pulling out a small black earpiece. “Which you, Clint Barton, do not have access to.” 

Huh, maybe he spoke too soon about that trust. 

Clint looked utterly offended while watching Yelena slide the comm into a port on the console. “Alright Computer, you can connect.” She instructed, typing in different commands before looking pointedly at the other occupants in the room and holding a finger up to her mouth. In a matter of seconds, a rush of noise flooded the room as FRIDAY connected to the comm line.

“-on your six!”

“Your six and my six are very different things!”

On the screen, they watched as Spider-Man leapt backwards into the air, contorting his body with a grace that only he seemed to have in order to avoid the three mini-bots that barreled towards him at an alarming speed. He landed sideways, feet planted against the wall of a building before launching himself back up towards the giant one with a web. 

“That was definitely more of a nine o’clock, H.”

“Oh no,” Kate’s voice feigned worry, “You think you’ll make it through the night?” 

Yelena rolled her eyes before seemingly deciding this was the right time to cut into the conversation, “Hawkeye, Spider-Man, what’s going on?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, save for the sounds of the fight, before Kate’s voice rang out; “Widow?”

“Who else would it be?” Yelena glanced around the room, “Although, we do have an audience.” (Briefly, Tony wondered if her loyalty towards Kate and Peter and telling them the truth had to do with what Natasha had shared.) 

There was a grunt followed by an airy sigh before a muttered, “Gee, thanks for the warning.” Peter.

“Deadass?” On camera, the sun shone against Kate’s sunglasses as an arrow met its mark, a purple substance subduing some of the bots, “And that would be-?” 

It was actually Spider-Man who responded, “I’m sure I could take a wild guess.” 

Clint looked up at the ceiling before speaking, “And you’d probably be right, but we can focus on that later. What’s going on out there? We have a visual but there isn’t much information to go off of besides the giant robot and its buddies.” 

“Giant robot? That’s rich,” Peter snorted dryly, flipping forward off of the robot before spinning around and delivering a sharp blow to the back of it. “This Pacific-Rim wannabe cosplay suit is nowhere near robot territory. Did you get this shit off of Temu?!”

The last part was yelled outward and Tony strained his eyes to look closer to the robot as it moved, only to find that it really wasn’t a bot at all. Through a clear panel in the chest of the suit, there was a barely visible outline of a person controlling the mechanical body. Spider-Man was leaping all around the rooftop, shooting off web after web and keeping its sole attention. 

“Those bots from last week, Widow?” Kate said breathlessly, using her bow as an anchor to zipline down a clothesline between balconies. “Yeah, apparently the guy who made them decided he wanted to be one or something. I don’t know, I didn’t get the full story.” 

“Fuck,” Yelena and Clint said in unison, voicing Tony’s own thought. “Is he controlling the mini ones too?” 

“We’re still figuring that out but we kind of have our hands full.” 

“Ayo, did you actually build this today?” Peter seemed to have checked out of the conversation, instead yelling obscenities towards the villain. “Was this some “Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today” type shit because I got to say, Phineas, this really is not your best work! Although, the real Phineas and Ferb would have done a hell of a lot better than this piece of shit.”

“Phineas?” Natasha questioned quietly, glancing over at Tony. He was already at work, using his phone to pull up his own holographic keyboard to find some kind of answer. 

“You insolent spider!” A man’s- Phineas’- voice raged, loud enough to be clear through Peter’s comm. One of the suit’s arms raised, a burst of electricity building up in the palm of the gauntlet only to be thwarted by the web yanking it downwards.

“What, can’t handle the playing time?” Spider-Man snarked, “How long have you been riding the bench, Tink? Careful or you’re gonna get put back on the B team.” 

“Webs, crazy thought; what if we don’t piss off the guy trying to give you third degree burns?” 

“Been there, done that.”

“They need backup,” Yelena decided, opening a metal slider under the command console. “With my bike, I can reach Astoria quickly.” 

“Octavius was right, you do have quite the mouth on you,” Phineas growled, breaking free of the web and stomping towards Peter. “You talk and talk and talk, but do you ever see, Spider-Man?” 

“Hold on,” Sam held a hand up, the tension in the room growing stronger as the humor in Kate and Peter’s voices slowly grew more stale. “We’re going with you.” 

“The Benefactor spoke of your ignorance and lack of foresight.” The suit’s arm lifted, the remaining mini-bots following the motion and rising into the air. “This is neither comparable to a children’s show nor a sports team, this is a performance, of which I happen to be the opening act.” 

And then everything happened at once. With Phineas’ final words, he made a grand motion with his arms and the bots dispersed in a burst of motion. An arrow made contact with the knee of the suit, exploding into a flurry of ice that crawled up the metal and sent him stumbling. Sam, Bucky, and Yelena disappeared out of the control room, with the intention of gearing up completely to provide support in Astoria. To top it all off, a blur of green shot into the view of the surveillance camera, barrelling right into Spider-Man and tackling him clear off the top of the building.

Chapter Text

feel like I'm being tested every minute
feel like yesterday I was blind, I've been lost
seems I've stumbled on a path, no coincidence

Spider-Man tumbled through the air; hard, metal fingers digging into his shoulders and something wrapping around his torso. He struggled against the hold, twisting against the pressure as they free-fell through the air, only to be met with a clean hit to the chest, sending him crashing into the pavement below much harder and much faster. 

Peter barely registered the impact with the ground, his head was rushing but his adrenaline was rushing even more and suddenly, he was pushing himself to his feet with only a hiss of pain. In front of him stood the Scorpion, a man who one: was supposed to be incarcerated and two: seemed to take the self-proclaimed villain name way too seriously, considering that he now adorned a suit that Peter had never seen before.

He glanced towards where he had just been fighting the Tinkerer, silently praying that Kate would be able to handle Lunatic #1 as #2 seemed to be all his.

“The Spectacular Spider-Man,” Scorpion grinned devilishly at him, dragging the title out. Peter fought the urge to groan in response, this was so not what he needed right now. The rogue cracked his knuckles, rolling his shoulders from where he stood tall only a few feet from the vigilante. “Happy to see me?”

“Mac! You sonuvabitch, how the hell are ya?” He spat, his tone disgustingly cheerful. “Last time I saw you, it was in the back of an armored van. They let you out for being a good boy?” 

In the midst of their confrontation, Peter could hear a conversation happening within the comm line but he didn’t have the time nor the brain capacity to focus on what was being said. Whatever they were discussing, he’d have to catch up later.

“I let myself out,” Scorpion snarled at him, looking down at his clenched fists before smirking again, “I see you noticed the new upgrades, araña.” 

“Are they really considered upgrades when the first version of your furry suit was an actual piece of shit?” Peter quipped, ducking under the literal fucking scorpion tail that swung out at him and leaping to the side when it was followed up with a round-house kick. 

The man’s suit really was something entirely new, much more than an upgrade. Honestly, Peter wasn’t sure if he could really even call it a suit- the green and black metal was practically fused with his body with how hard it was digging into the man’s upper arms. The visible skin around it was red and painful looking, irritated and puffy in the way that burns looked. The helmet covering his head only allowed his face to be seen through a yellow pane of glass and a very large, very sharp stinger extended from the end of the mechanical tail. 

The most damning part of the suit was the wings carved in black along the neck of the armored chest piece. Fuck. 

“Didn’t peg you for a team player?” Spider-Man scoffed, catching the man’s hand and twisting it around him to land a hard kick against his knee. Scorpion barely faltered. Okay, so the suit is reinforced.

“Spider-Man!” Kate’s voice yelled urgently, cutting through the way he had previously tuned it out. “What the fuck?”

There were probably other ways she could have asked what was going on, but between the two of them, this was enough.

“Scorpion,” Peter clipped back, “Fucker joined our merry little band of misfits.” 

“What does that mean?” Someone’s voice rang out, was that Sam? How-

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“Don’t worry about it.”

Spider-Man and Hawkeye spoke at the same time and Peter couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his lips even as Scorpion landed a nice blow against his side. The smug satisfaction of having Kate on his side and helping annoy nosy Avengers giving him another adrenaline boost that fueled his next hit.

He opened his mouth to speak again, ignoring the frustrated noises from his opponent at his attention being slightly divided, when Kate spoke first. Or rather, yelled. 

“Fuck!” The intensity in her voice would have made Peter falter in any other situation, but he was trained enough to not let his guard down. 

“Ka-”

“The mini-bots are bombs!” Kate didn’t give Clint a chance to speak, instead horror laced her tone and Peter could hear the cackle of the Tinkerer in the background.

“What?!” He demanded, using Scorpion’s shoulders as a springboard  to launch himself over him, landing in a crouch to sweep the man’s legs out from underneath him. 

“They’re bombs.” She repeated, “There’s thirteen of them, he scattered them right before Scorpion got here. Did you detonate them?!” 

Her last question was angrily directed towards the villain in question, the line silent save for his muffled voice. When Kate spoke next, her tone was unsettled. “They’re…they’re not detonated…”

“But?” Yelena.

“He wants…he wants Spider-Man to choose. To find the bombs or-”

“Or stop Scorpion.” Peter finished the sentence for her, anticipating where it would go. The Tinkerer had forced him to choose before, that day on the bridge. Either stop him or save the people- it hadn’t been a hard choice in the moment but right now, he was starting to see this new pattern. What was the angle here?

This one shouldn’t be a hard choice either, except for the fact that Scorpion was actively pursuing him on top of causing a significant amount of damage with that stupid armored tail of his. If Spider-Man went in pursuit of the bombs, there is no telling how much more damage the man would do. He needed to subdue him bu-

“Cap, the Winter Soldier, and Widow are en-route, t-minus five minutes.” There was a faint clicking as Clint spoke. He must’ve really checked out of the comm conversation because this was the first he was hearing about the arrival. “Keep the Tinkerer busy, that ice isn’t going to hold forever. They can handle the bombs. Spider-Man, you got Scorpion?”

“In my sleep.” That would also explain how Bucky and Sam had access to the comms, ones that Peter knew he never gave them. Whatever, that was a problem for later. 

“Good. We’re going through surveillance cameras to find the location of the bombs. Check back in soon.” He could imagine who the “we” was.

There was a chorus of agreement, though Peter let his silence count as acceptance of the situation. As annoyed as he was with the particular Avengers, more hands meant less casualties. He wasn’t going to fight against that. In a swift movement, he pressed his hand against his ear and turned off his end of the channel before turning his attention back towards Scorpion. 

“So back to that whole team thing,” He stated, “The Tinkerer, really?”

Scorpion growled at him, not dignifying his comment with an answer. Instead, the man rushed him and while Peter went to leap away, it seemed that his move was anticipated as the rogue abandoned his previous move in favor of delivering a harsh uppercut that made Peter’s head swim for a second before he was slammed against the wall of some building. 

“Wait, wait, wait, just hold on,” Spider-Man threw his hands up in the air. His abrupt stop in the fight succeeded in stunning Scorpion, the man actually faltering with one armored fist in the air and the other pushing the vigilante’s back into the brick wall. 

“Does this ever get boring for you? I mean, I hit you; you hit me, I hit you again. We can’t keep doing this, people are gonna start asking questions- and I won’t know what to say. I mean, what are we, Mac?”

The man growled, apparently unmoved by Spider-Man’s monologue and the hairs on the back of Peter’s neck stood up, giving him just enough time to duck away from Scorpion’s angry hit and shove forward out of his grip. “It’s just jokes, Mackey, you’re not really my type anyways.”

Spider-Man spun around, shooting a web at Scorpion’s chest, and using it to propel himself towards the rogue. His feet connected with the man’s torso, returning the favor and sending him flying into the same wall. Peter leapt, twisting his body backwards to avoid the mechanical stringer as Scorpion pulled himself up. 

“Either this wall is crazy reinforced or I’m losing my touch,” The vigilante tsked, “Let’s find out.” His fist connected with Scorpion’s helmet only seconds after the man was back up, sending him back into the wall with a resounding crack yet there was no physical damage to the brick. “Yup, definitely crazy reinforced.”

The villain narrowed his eyes at him from behind the yellow glass of his helmet, recovering quickly from the impact. “You know, araña, when a spider and a scorpion fight- it is usually the scorpion who comes out the victor.” He said, his voice smooth and his accent thick. 

Right as he finished his sentence, Spider-Man’s sixth sense went off and he reacted quickly, throwing a gainer to avoid the scorpion tail that was swinging towards him, sunlight glinting off the sharp blade of the stinger. 

“Is this the part where you tell me the story of the scorpion and the frog because I don’t think I have it in me to politely listen right now.” He threw another punch at Scorpion’s face, his own head whipping to the side as he was on the receiving end of a well-aimed right hook. Spider-Man shot both his wrists out in front of him, using his webs to pull Scorpion to him and headbutting the front of the helmet. 

He must have held back a little too much because besides his head snapping back forcefully, Scorpion seemed otherwise unbothered. The man used the proximity to Peter to grasp the front of the vigilante’s suit to briefly lift him into the air and then slam him down into the concrete beneath them. “If it were up to me, I’d end you now,” 

Spider-Man didn’t take the time to catch his breath, instead locking his legs around Scorpion’s waist and throwing them both to the side, returning the favor and slamming him into the same spot. 

Peter proceeded to shoot a web at an adjacent building, however before he could pull himself away, an armored hand wrapped around his ankle and yanked him back down. Scorpion’s arm was around his torso before he was thrown back into the wall. This time, the brick actually gave way and Peter was sent crashing into scaffolding. 

“But the big Boss wants you alive,” The stinger swirled past Spider-Man and successfully caught him in the arm, slicing him through his suit. “I intend to deliver.” 

“Yeah, yeah, you want me dead and your sugar daddy won’t let you. I’ve heard it all before, next time be a little more original.” Peter snarked, pushing himself up with a wince. He quickly dropped back down, sliding underneath the arch of the tail and spun, flipping backwards onto his feet. “Lesser men have tried, better have failed and I always get back up. I’m not exactly worried.”

“You misunderstand me, arañita,” Scorpion said, something depraved twinkling in his eyes before he continued in spanish, “La muerte sería una misericordia.” 

With that, he charged towards Spider-Man, leaping forward with enhanced speed and an armored knee got Peter good in the jaw. He was sent flying backwards, landing hard on his back and the pavement cracked underneath him. 

Peter grunted, seeing stars from both the hit to the face and  impact he made with the ground. Scorpion’s words sank in at the same time as the pain did- Death would be a mercy. 

“Spider-Man? What’s your status?” Kate’s voice rang in his ear.  

His spidey-sense buzzed simultaneously and Peter had to remind himself that it was either shake it off or be a sitting duck and lay there like he couldn’t take a hit. Let himself be a victim. You’re supposed to be better than this. You have to be better. Get. Up. Spider-Man. 

He breathed in hard through his nose before forcing himself up only to brace himself on one arm as pain flared in his side. He really hoped his ribs weren’t broken. Peter didn’t have time to dwell on it as he threw himself into a barrel roll to the side before Scorpion could land a diving clothesline. 

“Oh, so we’re fighting dirty.” Peter choked out, still working to catch his breath. 

“Spider-Man,” Kate said again, her voice growing increasingly concerned.

He coughed, leaping out of the way from another swing from Scorpion, sticking to the building a few feet up with one hand and foot. Touching his hand to his comm, he activated his end of the main line, “Feeling great here, birdbrain. Having a fantastic time.” 

She huffed, “Well, at least you still have your humor.” 

Peter was getting frustrated- it didn’t take a genius to see that Scorpion’s upgraded suit had also enhanced his already superhuman abilities. He was taking hits and throwing them back with much more ease and force than he was previously capable of and moving with a speed that Spider-Man didn’t remember. That stupid wing symbol was really starting to piss him off. 

Bracing himself with both feet against the wall, Peter shot two webs at a dumpster a good distance away and yanked it with renewed ferocity directly towards his opponent. Scorpion tried to throw himself out of the way with his tail, but the dumpster still clipped him in the side and sent him barreling through the air. 

“You guys get all of the bombs yet?” He asked breathlessly, launching himself towards Scorpion, landing his feet on the ground and his fist against the man’s chest in a jumping dive bomb. 

“Working on it,” Bucky’s voice responded this time, though his sentence trailed off almost like he was going to continue.

“But?” Peter questioned, stepping forward and delivering a swift uppercut. “What’s going on?” He demanded.

“Well-”

“I don’t have time for you guys to beat around the bush!” He snapped, evading the defensive motions of the stinger, using the weapon as a makeshift trapeze to vault himself feet first into Scorpion, sending the man slamming onto his back.

“The Tinkerer activated the detonator,” For some reason, Tony being the one to explain only fueled Peter’s growing anger. “And there’s three bombs left.” 

“Is that all you got?” Scorpion snarled up at him, the yellow pane of glass over his eyes cracked. 

The lenses of Peter’s mask narrowed and he clenched his fists, walking towards the rogue. “Someone needs to take care of the Tinkerer,” He said sharply, uncaring that he was giving orders to both the leader of the Avengers and his second in command. “The rest of you, find the bombs. Now.”

He didn’t wait for their responses, instead sidestepping an attack from the Scorpion’s stinger and alternating hands as he shot web after web at his opponent. Scorpion tore through the ones that covered his face, only for Peter to pin his arms to his sides with a web to the chest. 

Without looking, Peter shot off three individual webs over his shoulder to keep the Scorpion’s tail down. The rogue struggled against his bindings, cursing him in both spanish and english but Peter wasn’t listening. No, he was livid. 

It was one thing to go after him, but for the Tinkerer and Scorpion to conspire against his city? That was where it got personal. 

Spider-Man’s fist moved faster than his brain, connecting hard with Scorpion’s jaw and sending the helmet flying off his head and clattering somewhere in the distance. The man shouted in pain as Peter delivered another hit, followed by another, but as angry as he was, he didn’t allow himself the satisfaction of a continued beatdown. Scorpion had stopped struggling against the webbing and Spider-Man wasn’t going to fight an incapacitated man. 

Or at least, that had been the plan until the Scorpion’s tail ripped through its restraints and moved fast towards Peter, the villain’s eyes snapping open and his thrashing starting again with renewed vigor. He reacted quickly, catching the tail with both hands, one closer to the blade and the other just past the middle. Peter’s grip was tight, the metal crunching beneath his fingers and he began to pull his hands apart, the mechanical tail creaking and sparking as he split-

An overwhelming sense of dread washed over him and his hands flew up to cover his ears as he was struck with a sharp awful ringing that left him disoriented. The sensation only lasted for a second, but it was enough to send him careening to the side. 

His eyes widened in sick recognition. No. He had destroyed the suit. He left the mercenary unconscious for the police, he couldn’t have escaped. …Right? 

“Spider-Man?! Wha-” 

Peter didn’t have time to figure out who was talking when something dug deep into his side and he yelped as white, hot pain flooded his senses. Suddenly, he was no longer lying against the pavement, in a blur of pain-filled motion, he was suspended in the air by the claws of a familiar silicone arm, the spoke of one buried deep in his side. 

“Spider-Man,” Olivia’s shrill tone greeted cheerfully. “It’s wonderful to see you again! I’ve been thinking a lot about our rendezvous at the bank.” 

Right, right, the bank. Doc Ock was not the one who had attacked him Monday, even if he had felt the same debilitating sense of dread right before she had shown up. Even while she was actively maiming him, his sixth sense had lessened considerably, compared to Monday night when it had been nearly deafening. His spider-sense hadn’t warned him of Dr. Octavius, it had distracted him. 

Who had set it off? Peter knew the answer. 

(He wished he didn’t.)

“I can’t say I share the same sentiment,” He managed to spit out, his voice tight with pain. “I see you fixed your suit.” The conviction in his tone was lacking, another pathetic yelp leaving his mouth when the arm tightened its grip on him. 

“There’s only one bomb left. Spider-Man, do you read?” 

“Oh, yes! Where are my manners?” Dr. Octavius threw her hands up, “My apologies, Spider-Man, I actually meant to thank you! Well, you and your bird. You kids really opened my eyes to the…mechanical deficiencies of my previous version.” 

Peter gritted his teeth, did he taste blood? “Well, you know what they say, children are the future or whatever.” 

He didn’t think it was possible, but her smile grew even wider- and creepier. There was something seriously wrong with her. “I’ve always said we could stand to learn from our youth,” She said, “but I believe knowledge should be exchanged, not just gifted. So how about I share something with you and you share something with me, hmm?” 

“The last bomb has been located and the Tinkerer is in custody. Does anyone have eyes on Spider-Man?”

The arm extended out, pinning him against the wall while the other mechanical tentacles lifted Olivia to be eye level with him. She leaned forward, a little too close for comfort, her face right in front of his. Peter shrunk back, the woman reaching out to grip his face. “I’ll go first. There’s a pretty impressive bounty out there for you, Spidey. Not for your head, but for that sweet face of yours.” 

Her face turned serious, which was equally as unsettling as her deranged smile. “Now, I believe it’s your turn to share. Why don’t you lose the mas-”

She didn’t get the opportunity to finish her sentence, the crack of an explosion nearby filling the air followed only seconds later by the resounding shockwave. The unexpectedness of the blast left Doc Ock’s mechanical arms unsteady and both her and Peter went crashing down as a result. He landed without grace, his hand clutching where he had been stabbed but he had no time to recover, regardless of the pain burning through him. 

Sam just said the last bomb had been found- if that was the case, then where the hell did that explosion come from?

“Phineas,” Dr. Octavius glowered under her breath from where she was pushing herself up, her head turned in the direction of the explosion. 

Peter’s head whipped to the side where a low creaking noise was growing progressively louder. The tall base of a crane stood parallel to the developing building, pillars in the foundation keeping it in place, however the explosion had emitted from near one of the focal points which left the crane to be supported by only one of the attachments. The entire crane was slowly falling forward, a myriad of buildings in its path. 

“He lied about the bombs.” Kate said, voice panicked.

“No, no, no.” Peter whispered, pushing himself up with urgency. “We need to evacuate the area now.” 

“We already have majority of the five-mile radius evacuated,” Clint assured, a faint clicking of a keyboard. “Spider-Man, we’re sending an evac yo-”

Peter was now fully on his feet, one hand to his ear and the other shooting a web at the steadily bleeding wound on his side, “I’m taking care of the crane.” He didn’t allow for any protests when he turned his comm off and flew into action. 

He landed into a sprint on the rooftop of the building, stopping close to the edge to brace his feet against the ground as he flung both his wrists out to catch his webs around the falling crane. The weight of the machine pulled him forward even when he pressed his feet into the concrete. He stopped sliding at the very edge of the rooftop and he strained his muscles, panting hard as he pulled his arms in to keep it crashing down. 

“Fascinating.” A shiver ran down Peter’s spine as Doc Ock’s voice cut through the chaos in his head. The way she was talking about him was the same way a scientist would talk about their experiment and it made him feel sick.

The momentary distraction cost him precious seconds of reaction time when the actual crane came sailing towards him with a speed garnered from the momentum of the fall,  slamming into him before he could even think. Peter barely made a sound, his breath getting caught in his chest at the impact and he was left in a numb daze as he fell through the air. 

This was really not his week.

He came to his senses in mid-air with a pained gasp, gathering his bearings quickly in order to catch himself with a web. Peter swung in a perfect arch, flipping back through the air to land on the falling base of the crane. 

The air was filled with the panicked screams of those who had yet to be evacuated from the area, fueling his need to move and numbing the pain spreading through his body. 

He turned, sprinting up the side of the crane before throwing himself backwards around it, wrapping a web around the metal and pulling it up to connect to the one he kept stuck to his web-shooter. Continuing the same motions, Spider-Man ran the height of the crane, flinging himself through the air to connect different points of the machine and pull it up on his diagonal line. Once he got to the top, he kept his grip on the line with one hand, using his other wrist to shoot another web around the very top of the base. 

Spider-Man rolled his shoulders back, dug his heels into the concrete beneath him, and pulled. 

The world disappeared around him, all of his focus went into keeping the crane from crashing into the surrounding buildings. Peter couldn’t hear past the tv static in his head, he didn’t feel the way his body screamed at him, and he didn’t notice at first when he landed back on the ground, the crane finally restrained. 

He must’ve sat there for a good minute, fingers still gripping tightly to the webs and muscles taut before he finally realized that the world was standing still. He slowly loosened his hold, subconsciously holding his breath as he tested the stability of the structure. When it didn’t threaten to move, Peter allowed himself to breathe. 

Holy fuck. 

Peter flopped backwards against the roof. That was…that was fucking insane and it all had happened so fast. If it weren’t for the pain, he could almost convince himself that none of it was real, that’s how much of a blur it seemed now that everything was quiet. 

He could feel his comm digging into his ear, tacky with what Peter was pretty sure was blood. Where the blood was coming from? Yeah, he couldn’t tell you. The amount of hits he had taken to the head was pretty high in number and surely going to leave him curled up in either his bed or a hot shower and he could already feel a familiar throb building up beneath his scarred eye. 

With a hearty groan, Peter pushed himself to his knees. Pain flooded his side and he couldn’t help the soft cry that left his lips. That was definitely going to bite him in the ass in the morning. Standing up fully sent another wave of pain through his body but the sirens in the distance growing louder had him shaking his head to clear his desire to crawl into a hole. The battle being over didn’t mean that he was off-duty, there was most definitely clean up that needed to be done. 

He glanced over to where he had been fighting Doc Ock and Scorpion, disappointed yet unsurprised that the space was now empty. They must have fled while he was getting brained by the crane. At least the Tinkerer was apprehended, but he couldn’t help but feel like the man was actually very low on his list of threats right now.

Adding another web to the wound on his side, Spider-Man flung himself off the building with another and headed towards the sirens. When he landed on the ground, he stumbled slightly before catching himself. He could still taste blood in his mouth as he approached the closest cop car, a familiar face surveying the area.

“Officer Davis,” He ground out, voice hoarse. His jaw was sore, did he get hit there too?

The man’s head whipped up, dark eyes locking onto the vigilante’s form. “Spider-Man,” He acknowledged, eyes flickering to where the crane was secured by a plethora of webs. “You saved a lot of lives today, kid.”

Peter couldn’t even bring himself to bristle at the nickname, not when the cop was saying it so warmly and looking at him with so much concern.

“You need to get that looked at.” Jefferson continued, gesturing to where Peter was unknowingly clutching his side, the warmth of blood greeting his fingers. 

“I can do that later,” He nodded, “I have to hel-”

“Spider-Man,” The way Jefferson said his name lacked the conviction that the police usually had when it came to him, “There is literally blood dripping down your leg.” 

Peter furrowed his eyebrows, glancing down to see that there was, in fact, a trail of blood going down his thigh and making its way towards his foot. “Oh, gross.” He said dumbly. Maybe he was feeling a little more lightheaded than he thought. 

“Yeah,” The man seemed unimpressed, “We can take care of things here, you need to take care of yourself.” 

He wanted to argue more, but a hand landing on his shoulder had him jolting and stumbling back. The hand turned into an arm wrapping itself around his shoulder, taking some of his weight. “He is coming with me,” The tell-tale accent of Yelena Belova filled his ears.

“What?” He turned his head too quickly, a mix between a whine and a groan leaving his mouth at the rushed movement. 

“Do not argue with me, Spider-Man,” The ex-assassin said, “You can barely stand on your own.”

“I can manage just fine.” He argued, but the blonde wasn’t listening. She was almost as bad as Kate.

“She’s right, you should listen to her.” Officer Davis nodded and Peter didn’t need to look at Yelena to know that she was beaming with smug pride. “You did good, kid. Let us handle the rest.”

Peter stared blankly at the man, very aware that his expression was hidden underneath the mask. Who knew that his small interaction with the man just days ago would result in a cop not hating his guts? This was very unusual for him. 

“Right,” He said slowly, planning on moving away from Yelena anyways only to lean more of his weight against the older woman. 

“Come, паук,” She nodded at Jefferson before guiding Peter away. “I will bring you to the Tower.”

Chapter Text

I built a path to freedom cause them words that he said
give a fuck about traditions stop impressing the dead
I'm gon make it promise I'm gon make it out

The second that Peter cried out, Tony was on his feet and heading towards the quinjet.

Scratch that- it was actually the second that Peter failed to respond to Kate, that he had been out the door and rushing to the helipad with Clint and Natasha close behind. He was already on the jet when Peter was crying out in pain. That was  exactly why they were arriving at the tower less than ten minutes after Yelena had announced she had arrived with Spider-Man in tow.

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, willing his heart to slow to a more acceptable rhythm as the quinjet touched down. His conversation with Clint was echoing in his head- Peter was so completely and utterly reckless . Maybe even the exact definition of the word. The second he turned off his comm and effectively cut off any hint of rescue or aid, Tony might as well have stopped breathing altogether. 

This kid- no, his kid- was so stupid, so impulsive, so selfless. Goddammit, his kid was a hero. 

It was muscle memory that brought Tony to the med-bay, where he was certain he would find Peter and Yelena. What he didn’t expect to find was Steve standing in front of a masked Spider-Man, his hands raised in a show of peace while the vigilante leaned heavily against Yelena when he should be lying on the empty cot beside them. It would have been an ironically funny scene if there wasn’t a trail of blood flowing from where Peter was clutching his hip.

“-saying that maybe you’d be more comfortable sitting.” Steve said, his tone easy like he was picking his words carefully.

“And I said,” Despite the sharpness of his words, Peter’s voice was shaky and he winced when he moved the wrong way. “-that I’m fine and I don’t need any help. I only came here to get some bandages.”

Yelena rolled her eyes, but otherwise stayed silent as she continued to shoulder the majority of the teen’s weight. No one in the room was buying what Peter was trying to sell. 

Steve let out a sigh, one filled with resignation, eyes flickering up to the ceiling. It was a sigh that Tony was familiar with; he had been on the receiving end of it whenever the blond thought that he was being unreasonable. “Spider-Man, I think you’re going to need more than just bandages for that. Just let me take a look at it.”

“I can handle it myself.” He was adding the word ‘stubborn’ to the list of descriptors for Peter Parker.

Tony cut in, unwilling to let it go on any longer. “Alright, sure, you can handle it yourself,” All three heads turned towards him as he fully entered the room. “If you can stand upright on your own.”

He thought it was a pretty good ultimatum, up until the silence in the room became deafening. While the eyes of the Spider-Man suit could change in size, they did very little to convey emotion  so it was a bit disconcerting to have the white lenses stare blankly at him. He opened his mouth to say something, to take back his words, to do anything, when Peter finally responded. 

“You guys are assholes.” He said so petulantly that it was nearly a whine, stepping backwards to ungracefully fall back onto the medical cot. 

Tony would be lying if he said it didn’t catch him off guard. He was expecting a snappy response, to hear some of that anger that had filtered through the comms or that had lit up the conference room a few floors below them- he was not expecting Peter to sound so… Peter. 

Steve glanced at him, his own shock conveyed through one quick look before he turned to shuffle through one of the cabinets. Tony could only offer him a shrug in response before he turned his attention back to Peter, scanning him to take stock of his injuries. 

The most glaringly obvious one was the stab wound, held together by his own webs (something Tony didn’t even want to comment on.) On top of that, it didn’t take much of an observation to note that the kid’s suit had definitely seen better days. Along his chest, the suit was torn nearly to shreds, revealing shallow, bloody gashes. His shoulder and forearms respectfully were torn along the seams, though whatever scrapes and scratches had littered them had already healed, leaving behind only the stain of blood. 

Not for the first time, Tony was wondering what happened to the suits he had designed Peter. 

“Ugh, there is blood all over my suit.” Yelena complained across the room, having obtained plasters for her own cuts. 

“My bad, next time I’ll try to keep my blood to myself.” Peter scoffed before hissing loudly as Steve gently pulled the webs away from the suit. They gave away easily, tacky with blood and honestly, gross to look at but Tony found it hard to pull his attention away from the scene in front of him. 

“Well, that is where it belongs,” Steve commented, his tone light. He finally pulled the rest of the webs from the wound and was happy to note that the bleeding had slowed down. 

“Wha’ever.” Peter waved a hand dismissively. 

“You are worse than Kate,” Yelena shook her head. “I will be back, I am going to go help her clean-up.” 

“I should be there too,” Peter muttered under his breath, falling silent when Steve started cleaning the wound but Tony saw the way he clenched his fists tight. He desperately wanted to comfort the kid, but he wasn’t sure if it would be welcomed and the last thing he wanted to do was distress him any further. 

“The woman who did this,” Clint stopped a few feet away from the cot, his arms crossed and face twisted with concern. “Who was she?” 

“Clint,” Natasha sighed from across the room. 

“You guys are assholes and nosy.” Peter said through gritted teeth, or at least Tony assumed, with how tight his voice was. 

“Peter, she stabbed you!” The man exclaimed, looking directly into the eyes of the suit. “She stabbed you and she threatened you. She literally said that she was hired to find out who you are.”

“Damn, you guys heard that?” 

“She was close enough to your comm, of course we heard that.” Tony deadpanned, gaining the kid’s attention. They saw it too. They had seen everything. 

Peter mumbled something unflattery to himself and this whole scene was so goddamn nostalgic, he could cry. Tony felt like he was talking to a fifteen-year old Spider-Man.

“How do you know she won’t be able to figure it out using your blood?” Between the look on Clint’s face and his body language, he wondered how many times the other man had dealt with a stubborn and argumentative Cooper Barton.

His concerns were met with an amused snort.

“What’s so funny?”

If he wasn’t wearing the mask, Tony imagined that Peter was rolling his eyes. “Dude, if that was how it worked then someone would have figured it ages ago. My blood is like mad radioactive, they’d be lucky if it didn’t break any of their analyzers.” 

He said it so nonchalantly, like everyone should have known, mindlessly kicking his feet back and forth. Instead, every person in the room stared at him in silence, shock and confusion coming off of them in waves. Tony had been aware of the circumstances that led to Peter becoming Spider-Man, the little radioactive spider that had bit him all those years ago. He hadn’t been aware of the fact that apparently the teenage vigilante himself was radioactive. 

“O-kay,” It was Steve that broke through the stunned silence, “We can just count that as good news then, huh? That doesn’t change the fact that you did get stabbed though, and it looks like this is gonna need stitches, Queens.” 

Peter groaned, throwing his head back. Tony couldn’t help the smile creeping up on his lips at the display, he had missed how much of a menace this kid could be. He couldn’t believe that he was only seeing it as a result of some pretty intense injuries. 

He was ignoring the little voice in the back of his mind that was wondering just how much pain Peter was in for him to take off the mask- and he wasn’t talking about the Spider-Man mask. 

“Don’t bother with the stitches-” 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Clint’s stern tone had a paternal bite to it. 

The lenses of the Spidey mask narrowed into slits, their attention directed towards the archer. “Calm down, old man. Stitches get real itchy when your skin literally regrows over them overnight. I was just gonna tell him to tape ‘em.” 

“Right,” Clint nodded slowly before he froze, “Hold on, did you call me old?” 

Tony kept his laughter to himself but he could hear Nat’s snort of amusement and knew damn well that Peter was smug underneath that mask. The playful demeanor of his posture was starting to dissipate, though, as he zeroed in on Steve as the man had abandoned the supplies needed to stitch up the wound and instead was going ahead with the teen’s request. 

“How fast do you heal?” Natasha asked. 

Peter offered a small shrug that was quickly followed by a wince. Yeah, he was definitely hurting somewhere else. “Depends, usually. This’ll probably be gone in two, maybe three days tops.” 

Steve let out a low whistle, “That’s quicker than mine.” He turned towards Peter, equipped with the steri strips. “Ready?”

Once again, the lenses of the Spider-Man mask did very little to convey what he was really feeling but Tony noticed how tense the teenager’s shoulders were and the way he was completely still. All he offered was a brief nod to allow the man to go ahead. 

“Alright buddy, this’ll probably be easier if you lay back on the bed.” Steve instructed, watching as Peter slowly leaned back against the cot, bringing his legs out in front of him. The older man went to work, gently pressing against the kid’s side to adhere the steri strip only for Peter to practically howl in pain. Tony was by his side in an instant, boundaries in the wind, his eyes wide in concern as he scanned the boy who was now curled to the side, arms braced around his stomach. 

“Pete?” He asked softly. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Came the breathless response, even the words sounded painful. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

“Kiddo, you don’t look fine to me.” Tony gestured to the way he was protectively holding his stomach, preventing Steve from patching him up further. He could feel the concerned gazes on them, waving a hand surreptitiously behind his back for them to turn their attention elsewhere. He had a feeling this vulnerability wasn’t intentional so giving Peter some privacy when he was writhing in pain seemed fairly important.

“I think it’s his ribs.” Steve deduced after the only response they got was a raspy cough.

“No, ‘s cool, all go-” Peter shifted and cut himself off with a hitched gasp. “Okay, yeah, yeah, the ribs.” He wheezed, his neck curling downwards, his arms wrapping tighter around his abdomen. 

“Okay, okay,” Both Steve and Tony exchanged a look before they each grabbed a shoulder and gently pulled the boy back against the bed, doing their best to ignore the soft gasps of protest. “This is gonna hurt, we can get you something for the pain.”

Peter shook his head, “Nothin’s strong enough.” 

Tony pursed his lips, “There might be some of the pain meds we engineered for Cap somewhere in here,” He nodded his head at Nat, the redhead casting a worried glance at the teenager before leaving the room.

He had an eerie feeling that the lenses of the Spider-Man mask were looking through him before the kid spoke again, “Those aren’t strong enough either.” 

There was a moment of tension, no one was sure what the best response was so it was basically unanimous not to respond at all. Tony glanced at Steve, the two quietly deciding to discuss that issue later through a single look, before the other man went to work. 

“I’ll try to make this quick.”

Steve felt along his ribs, mindful of both the tenderness and the open-wound, however Peter was breathing so hard that he was practically panting. Tony couldn’t help but wince in sympathy, the kid had been nothing but guarded everytime that they had interacted (minus the one time that he had been stoned,) it was almost startling how open he was being right now. 

If Peter needed to be in immense pain to be a fraction of who he used to be, then Tony wasn’t sure it was worth it. 

“It looks like there’s a fracture in your eleventh and twelfth,” The super soldier explained, frowning at the teenager. “There’s really not much we can do for them, we could use KT tape but we gotta take care of your stab wound first.”

He didn’t receive a verbal response, only a shaky thumbs-up from the vigilante that was accompanied by a raspy wheeze. 

“Peter,” Clint said, clearly treading carefully as he approached the bed. “Maybe you’d breathe a bit easier without the mask, kiddo.” 

“Jus’-” Peter cut himself off with a cough, “Goddammit, jus’ say you wanna see my pretty face, old man.” He still sounded out of breath. 

The old man in question threw his head back with a groan, “You know what, sure, that’s what it is. Just take the damn mask off.” 

Peter complied, silently, which sent another pang of concern through the engineer. As he pulled the mask off, the red and blue was replaced with black and blue as his bloody and bruised face was revealed, a pair of tired brown eyes blinking slowly at them and unruly hair sticking up in every direction.

“I almost feel like I should tell you to put the mask back on.” 

The teen snorted, his surprisingly unmarred eyes rolling. “That bad?” 

“You’ve had better days.” 

“This ‘s only the third time you’ve seen me!” 

Steve went back to work as Clint seemingly distracted Peter, getting the steri strips ready to close off the stab wound while Tony took stock of the newly visible injuries. There was a trail of dried blood coming from Peter’s left ear, a nicely busted bottom lip, and an already green bruise on his cheekbone; he was certain there had likely been some minor cuts that had already healed. The more concerning injuries consisted of the fresh blood that was steadily dripping down the side of Peter’s face in the absence of the mask, and the angry, dark bruise that covered the majority of the right side of his jaw.

He could feel the frown pulling at his mouth, but he didn’t fight it. Peter looked beat to all hell, and yet he was sitting here arguing with Clint, albeit half-heartedly, while Steve was quite literally closing the open wound in his side. He had seemed all too ready to just walk off his injuries, even when he clearly needed to use Yelena as a crutch. Now, Tony was well aware that he wasn’t a model citizen when it came to taking care of himself, but Peter was eighteen years old, he was still young- the lack of self preservation for someone with so much life ahead of them was painfully concerning. 

Peter’s eyes flickered over towards him, the white scar through his eye standing out against his skin. His gaze lingered for a moment, though Tony didn’t take the chance to say anything; wasn’t sure what to say, he just simply offered the boy a softer smile. One that he had only reserved for Morgan, and now it was for Peter too. 

The teen blinked before his lip twitched in return, a small tentative smile appearing before he turned his attention back towards Clint. Tony’s own smile grew into a wider grin that he quickly covered by scratching at his nose. His relationship with Peter since returning was delicate at best, so a smile, no matter how small, was a good sign. Maybe things would turn out to be okay. 

It was thirty minutes later that the medical bay had become much quieter. Steve had finished up applying the KT compression wrap to Peter's ribs, the stab wound neatly closed with the steri-strips and the cut in his hairline had been cleaned up. The lights had been dimmed to 50% after the unsurprisingly yet disappointing concussion diagnosis and with the majority of the blood cleaned off his face, Peter now looked more exhausted than defiant and was slumped against the pillows on the cot, a cool compress held gingerly to his jaw. His eyes were closed but Tony knew better than to think that he was asleep.

Tony was observing him from his spot across the room, his brows furrowing slightly as he connected this kid in the bed to the hard-hitting vigilante that he had been watching only a few hours ago. He had never known Spider-Man to be a hand-to-hand fighter, or even an offensive fighter, to be honest. In his experience, Peter had always fought on the defensive and had been one to keep his distance. 

That was clearly not the case anymore, with the way he had danced around Scorpion and threw blow after blow with the ease of an experienced combat fighter. He didn’t know where Peter had learned to fight like that, but it was clear that he knew what he was doing. 

The most interesting part about it all was that Tony knew that he had been pulling his punches and could only wonder what kind of damage Peter could do if he didn’t. Not for the first time, he was realizing that it was a really good thing that Spider-Man was one of the good guys.

-

Peter shifted, pushing the ice pack more firmly against his face. He kept his eyes closed, doing everything he could to avoid any further conversation with the occupants of the room. He was man enough to admit that everything fucking hurt- well, at least admit it to himself. However, as keen as he was to rot in bed, he would have preferred to do so in his own apartment and not in the Avengers Tower. 

He wasn’t exactly uncomfortable , per se. Peter had been raised with manners; he was appreciative of the fact that Steve had patched him up. He just didn’t want to be in the Tower any longer than what he deemed necessary. He wasn’t dumb, he could understand the concern but the three grown men currently pretending that they weren’t watching him intently was a little much and also played a part in why he was feigning rest. 

Sure, Peter got stabbed and maybe it was a little worse than he had originally thought, but it also was not the worst injury that he had gotten- not even in the top ten, let’s be real here. 

Bottom line- Peter needed to leave and he needed to leave soon, if not to rest in his own bed, then to start figuring out what the fuck was going on in his city. 

It wasn’t like it was wholly unheard for his Rogues to work together but for it to be three of them? And for all three of them to attack in the daylight? Yeah, it was made abundantly clear that there was a bounty made for Peter’s civilian identity, but there had to be something more to it if their Benefactor was going through great lengths to hire a whole team. 

Peter’s shoulders stiffened the slightest bit, his mind drifting to the assailant from Monday. That man had been ruthless . Ruthless in a way that Scorpion and Ock hadn’t been, even with the violence the two had inflicted on him. While those two expressed their desire to kill Spider-Man, his stalker from Monday was practically dripping with anticipation to be the one to put his head on a stick. 

Whoever the man, the mercenary, was, they had to have been hired by the same person. That made four people gunning for his identity and Peter wasn’t quite sure whch was worse; them all working together or them competing against one another to get the job done. 

Regardless, his city was being used as collateral damage, which meant that Peter needed to figure them out before they figured him out. That couldn’t be too hard, right? 

He tilted his head a little more to the side, attempting to find a more comfortable position against the thin pillows adorning the cot. You’d think for two rich people owning this godforsaken building, they would be able to afford some more comfortable pillows for a room meant for recovery. He’d have to mention it to Kate, it would do them some good to repla- 

Peter shook his head, cutting off his thoughts as they wandered off. The stupid concussion was messing with his focus and it didn’t help that the pounding behind his eyes was already making it hard to think. The familiar throb of a migraine had been steadily forming since he had left the roof and he really did wish that Cap’s meds did work on him. It’s been a while since he had any real relief from pain. 

His eye twitched in sync with the hum of his Spidey-sense, garnering his attention. It wasn’t warning him of any sort of danger or anything, it was more so acting as a doorbell- alerting him of someone’s arrival. His eyes opened at the same moment that the doors to the medbay hissed open and Peter reacted before he even had a chance to register what was happening, his free hand reaching out to catch the object that had been hurled in his direction. 

He blinked once, twice, three times, eyebrows furrowing only to snort in amusement as he recognized the bag of gummy worms in his hand. “Showoff,” Kate snarked from where she stood near the entrance, still clad in her uniform, though her sunglasses had been pushed up into her hair. Across the room, Steve, Clint, and Tony were looking between the two of them with wide eyes and varying levels of shock. 

Peter fought the urge to roll his eyes, if someone makes a big deal over her throwing gummy worms at him then he may actually crash out and ruin everyone’s evening. And he really didn’t feel like doing that right now. 

He was feeling rather…ambivalent about being around Tony, it wasn’t that he was unhappy that the man was alive- it would never be that. It was just…honestly, how could he even put it into words?  

“You’re welcome,” Kate scoffed, interrupting his internal monologue.

“Right,” Peter did roll his eyes this time. “Thank you so much for trying to take me out with gummy worms.” 

“Okay, drama, if I wanted them to hit you, they would’ve.” Now, he wasn’t so sure about that but who was he to burst her bubble? Besides, he had a feeling she brought him something else and he wasn’t going to cheat himself out of anything.

“Why are we throwing things in the first place?” Clint groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a deep breath. “This is the kind of conversation I have with my son, and he’s six.” Huh, Peter kind of forgot that Clint had a kid, but it made sense. 

“He caught it.” Kate deadpanned, eyes narrowed. 

“He’s injured,” Tony shot back with the same tone, an amused smile playing on his lips but Peter had to look away. The familiarity hurt. 

“Wow, so everyone in this room is dramatic. Love that.” Kate stated, crossing the room to sit on the end of Peter’s cot. He sat up straighter, pulling his legs in slightly, careful not to disturb the injuries that he could already feel mending themselves.

“I have been saying this,” Yelena chimed in as she entered, Bucky and Sam following close behind her. Immediately, the blonde zeroed in on Peter and Kate and for the first time ever, Peter watched the ex-assassin’s face fall with a mix of emotions before it finally landed on shock as she took in his unmasked face. “Oh,” 

Peter breathed hard through his nose, though it was more so in resignation than anything. If he were being honest, out of anyone in the room, he was actually least upset about Yelena knowing who he really was; at least she tried to respect his privacy. “It’s cool, Yelena.”

Her face softened out of its shock, falling back into her more composed resting expression. 

“I’m Peter,” He offered a tight-lipped smile. “It’s nice that at least one person wasn’t nosy.” 

It was truly a sight to see- three grown men looking identically abashed at his comment. He wasn’t really all that mad at Clint, the man had always given him his space, but Peter wasn’t above pettiness when it came to Sam and Bucky.

-when you’re obviously reckless and irresponsible enough to get your identity revealed.

Sam’s words rang through his head, the same way they had every night when he closed his eyes and watched Norman’s Green Goblin’s glider slam into Ma-

“About that,” Sam stepped forward, and Peter realized that Kate was actually the only one out of the four still dressed in her uniform. “Peter, everything I said on Monday, I didn’t have any right.”

“Whatever man, you were mad, I get it.” Peter attempted to brush him off, he really didn’t want to do this in a room full of people. Matter of fact, he didn’t want to do this at all, but the older man wasn’t having it. 

“That’s not an excuse,” Sam sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Look, I get it, I don’t know the specifics of what happened, but I was wrong to say that it was your fault that your identity was revealed. You’re a good kid, Peter, I was angry but it was misplaced. I’m sorry.”

Peter was too busy feeling sick to bristle at being called ‘kid.’ It was his own fault that his identity got revealed, the snowball effect of his bad decisions had led to his life quite literally crashing down all around him. He wasn’t mad because Sam was wrong, he was mad because he was right. 

But Peter was Peter, and there was no way he was going to say all of that, so he just took a deep breath.

“I appreciate it,” He nodded, “Thanks.” 

Sam visibly deflated, almost like relief was flooding his whole body. Had he really been beating himself up about this? Was it bad that Peter felt a little satisfied at the thought?

“I’d like to apologize as well,” Bucky hld a single finger up, “I was pretty…aggressive in my approach, I actually shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Wasn’t any of my business.” He glanced over at Sam, “But I was nicer than Sam, so that’s gotta count for something.” 

Peter snorted. There was something comical about the literal Winter Soldier apologizing to him and attempting to rile up Captain America at the same time. Sam reached out, shoving Bucky’s shoulder with a disgruntled look only for the other man to shove him back. 

Natasha walked in, glancing between the two rough-housing grown men before sidestepping them with a sigh. Peter recalled her disappearing earlier, when he was actually writhing in pain, though he wasn’t exactly sure of where she went.

“Children,” Yelena looked unimpressed, rolling her eyes as she disappeared to the other end of the room, dutifully ignoring her sister. Interesting. 

Maybe he wasn’t the only one having a hard time with this. 

Kate shook her head, blinking as if she were trying to clear them from her eyesight before turning her attention back to Peter. 

“How come you’re still in uniform?” He asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, wonder boy.”

“Does it look like I went back to my apartment?” He gestured to the bandages adorning his lower abdomen. “Actually, follow-up question, do you think I would come back here if I went back to my apartment?” 

Kate pursed her lips, “Alright, good point. I’m gonna be real here though, you look terrible.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Anyways, I didn’t change because I had an errand to run.”

“The gummy worms,” Peter nodded. 

“Well, yes, the gummy worms, but I was actually going to get you a protein shake because, you know,” She copied him, gesturing to the bandages, “I went to that bodega on 4th and Raul practically held me hostage while he made this.” She revealed the wax paper wrapped item, shoving it into his hands. 

Immediately, Peter’s stomach growled and he grinned almost ferally, “Oh my god, this is the best day of my life.” 

“You got stabbed.” She scrunched her nose. 

Peter shrugged, opting to tear open the paper instead of replying.

“He said it was on the house,” Kate continued, moving past his dismissal. “For stopping the crane from falling.” 

He could feel practically everyone’s eyes on him and he knew his ears were bright red. “And I’d do it again if I got another free sandwich out of it.” He said through a mouthful of food. 

“Oh, absolutely not.” Tony’s voice cut through the several sounds of protest from the peanut gallery and Peter ignored the way his heart clenched. 

“Tough crowd.” He muttered, avoiding the gaze of anyone as he focused on his sandwich. It was doing wonders for his healing factor and just the general feel of his body, but the pounding in his head had yet to cease. Unfortunately, as Peter had come to discover, his healing factor didn’t seem to extend to his migraines.

“It was pretty sick,” Kate smiled at him. “I can already see the Tiktok edits that are going to come out of this.” 

Peter’s eyes widened minutely, “Hold on, there’s Tiktok edits of me?” 

“What the hell is Tiktok?” He heard Steve whisper. 

Kate’s eyes lit up, “Oh my god, ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod .” She practically squealed, the words blending together. “I’m gonna start sending all of them to you.”

He couldn’t help the laugh that left his mouth, one that was damn near a belly laugh, and it surprised him as much as it jostled his sore ribs. “Oh god, should I be scared?” 

She shrugged, her smile still bright, “Maybe!” 

“Perfect, thanks birdbrain.” 

“Anything for you, web-head.” Kate snorted a laugh, the two of them exchanging equally mischievous smirks. 

The article that JJJ had written was honestly even better than Peter had imagined when he turned in the photos that he and Kate had taken on the roof. He knew the second that the man saw the Taco Bell in their hands that the article was going to be hilarious and the old man had exceeded his expectations. 

“So you guys saw the Daily Bugle article?” Natasha asked. 

“Saw it? I framed that shit. It was art.” Kate turned, scooting backwards. Peter took his cue, moving over sideways to give her rooms to sit beside him on the bed. 

“I called it!” Yelena said cheerfully, joining the group once again. “I told you she framed the last one.” 

He shook his head in amusement, “I don’t know, I think Triple J could have been a little more creative than birdbrain and web-head.” 

“That’s what I said!” Bucky threw his hands up. In the corner of his eye, Peter could see the way Steve was observing the other man, the crease in his brow as he took in his mannerisms. Another thing for him to slot away for later, his attention moving back to the conversation at hand. 

“-those pictures?” Suddenly everyone’s eyes were on him and Kate as Tony finished his question.

“Huh?” He couldn’t even pretend that he heard the question.

“Most of the articles and photos from the Daily Bugle are about you,” Tony reiterated, “I’m curious where they’re coming from.” 

Peter shrugged it off, “Jameson’s always had something against me, he probably gets all his best photographers on it.” 

Kate elbowed him in the side, expertly avoiding any and all injury. 

“All the shots are pretty close, whoever took them knows what they’re doing.” Clint was looking down at his phone, most likely at the article. 

“Hmm,” Yelena leaned over him, “They are all by the same photographer.” 

“They are?” Tony asked, waiting for the archer to tilt the phone in his direction. “Hmm, it seems they are.” 

Soon, everyone who wasn’t Peter or Kate was crowding around Clint’s phone and he knew that they were looking at the plethora of Spider-Man articles that J. Jonah Jameson had been putting out. All the articles that had been tagged with- 

“Ben Reilly?” Steve questioned, one eyebrow raising. 

Suddenly, everyone’s eyes were on Peter and he was torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to swing his way out of there. 

“What?” He decided on. 

“You just let this kid take pictures of you?” Clint asked. 

Peter furrowed his own eyebrows, “I think ‘let’ is a strong word.” 

“You’re posing in this one,” Natasha grabbed the phone, turning it outwards. Sure enough, Spider-Man was posing- perched on the side of a lamp post with both feet stuck against it, one hand gripping the upper part of the post and his head in the directionof the camera. His other hand was extended outwards with his index and middle finger tucked in and thumb, ring finger, and pinky pointed out at the camera, in his classic gesture to activate his web-shooter. 

It was actually the picture that landed him the job with the Daily Bugle. 

“He gets my good side.” It was simple enough, it was also the best response he could think of. 

It seemed to be good enough for the gaggle of Avengers, as they dissolved into chuckles and seemed to disperse. However, Peter quickly decided that he’d much rather continue discussing the Daily Bugle when Clint decided to open his stupid mouth once more. 

“While I’ve got your attention,” The alarm bells in Peter’s head were warning him of yet another conversation he did not want to have. “I thought it’d be a great time for a little debrief.” 

“Debrief?” Kate raised an eyebrow. 

“Kate,” Clint sighed, “Work with me here, I just want to know what’s going on.” 

The brunette glanced over at Peter, question in her eyes. Out of everyone in the room, Kate knew a little more than most, but she didn’t know everything. She didn’t know how he knew Doc Ock, she didn’t know about Monday night, but she did know enough to get them off his back. 

So he nodded.

Kate sighed, turning to slide off the cot. “Let’s go talk in another room then, I’ll catch Pete up another time.” 

Peter couldn’t help the relief that flooded through him, he really didn’t want to be a part of this conversation. He was already drained from the day and discussing it just sounded like a whole snooze fest. Besides, Kate was practically PR-trained; she was made for this type of thing. 

“Let’s go,” She announced with a stretch only to pause on her way to the door, “All of you, if you crashed the function then you’re coming to the afterparty too.” She said pointedly, her eyes narrowing at Sam and Bucky. 

The two men didn’t protest, though they did grumble at Clint about being roped into the debrief. Yelena followed suit with a smile on her face, and knowing her, he was sure that she was only going to make unneeded comments- which was perfect, someone was going to fill in his role for him. 

Peter sat up a little straighter, rolling his shoulders. His body felt a lot better after eating and, much to his chagrin, actually resting for a little bit, however he was still sore and the combination of his broken ribs and stab wound was definitely still painful whenever his abdomen moved the wrong way. That, and his head fucking hurt. 

On the bright side, now that majority of the room's occupants had finally left, he was now free to leave. 

Or, so he thought. But the universe didn’t like Peter Parker. 

In observing his injuries, he missed the silent conversation between the remaining three Avengers: Steve, Nastasha, and Tony. His attention had only been caught when Natasha stood, brushing the hair out of her face, “I think we should go make sure they stay on task. Clint’s my ride back and I don’t want to be here all night.” 

Peter narrowed his eyes, her words sounded too planned. She was a spy, why did that sound scripted? 

“Good idea!” Steve said, his voice too cheery, following her to the door. “Feel better, Peter! See you around?” 

His eyebrows twitched slightly, “Uh, yeah, sure.” That seemed to be enough for the two, as they left with nothing more than a smile. 

As the doors hissed to a close, the silence was nearly deafening and when Peter turned his head, he was met with Tony’s gaze. Oh, perfect. So, they had been scheming. Damn, maybe he should have just done the stupid debrief. 

He wasn’t stupid, he was well aware that Tony missed him. Painfully aware, actually. What he didn’t understand was why. Why was Tony so set on talking to him? Connecting with him? Why did Tony care about him? 

And why did Peter want him to care?

“How’s the head, kiddo?” 

Peter’s nose scrunched, but he didn’t verbally express his annoyance, “Better.” 

Tony’s eyes scanned him, the same way they used to, years ago. Always assessing, always analytical, always trying to solve. He wasn’t sure what the man was looking for. 

“Do you have to work in the morning?” 

Peter blinked. That…really wasn’t what he was expecting. “Huh?”

“Last Sunday, when I saw you,” He paused, almost like he was choosing his words carefully. Which was weird, because he hadn’t really known Tony to do that. “You worked the next morning, do you usually work Mondays?” 

Okay, this was a topic he could handle if he was being pushed into a one-on-one. “No, I have Mondays off,” He explained, “Last week was just a favor.” 

Tony hummed in acknowledgement, “What’s the job?” 

Peter eyed him, but he wasn’t sensing any ulterior motive. He seemed genuinely interested. “It’s at the docks, mostly loading and unloading cargo ships.” 

“The docks?” This seemed to be what surprised Tony, but Peter didn’t detect any judgement. 

“You’d be surprised what Spider-Man learns from the longshoremen.” He shrugged, his comment earning a chuckle from the older man. 

Like all good things in his life, Tony's chuckle ended all too soon, and he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. His gaze, which had once been assessing, softened considerably as he looked at Peter. There was something so fond, so caring in his eyes that Peter had to look away, because Tony wasn’t really looking at him. 

Tony was looking at him – the kid with stars in his eyes and a heart on his sleeve, the kid who turned to dust in his arms. 

“How are you doing, Pete?” His tone was warm, the question was genuine and Peter nearly flinched at the way it hit him nearly as hard as the crane had. 

The casual question about his job was one thing; this was another entirely. It opened the floodgates to everything he'd bottled up, everything he didn't want to think about, let alone discuss with him . He felt the scar on his face deepen as his jaw clenched, and he wasn’t sure if he felt like he was being cornered or if he was just cornering himself. 

Tony didn't press, just waited, his presence quiet and still. Peter hated it. He hated the way Tony's silence was so damn patient, hated the way it suggested he had all the time in the world to wait Peter out. He hated that Tony was here , asking these questions, when Peter had convinced himself that he was finally doing better, that he didn't have to carry the weight of this ghost. 

And most of all, he hated that a part of him, a foolish, naive part, still wanted to answer. 

His phone buzzed against his leg, providing him an escape from the conversation. Peter quickly scrubbed a hand across his face before carefully reaching a hand into the pocket of his suit and pulling out his smartphone. 

“Holy shit, no way this survived.” He marvelled at the device in his hands. The screen was still cracked to all hell, but to his utter surprise and delight, none of the cracks were new. Despite every hit he had taken and the fact that his suit had practically been destroyed, his phone had managed to survive. It wasn’t even a Nokia. 

When he chanced a look back at Tony, he had been expecting to see disappointment as Peter sidestepped the entire question. However, the man was watching him with a small smile of amusement and nostalgia in his eyes. Which one was worse, he honestly wasn’t sure. 

[unnamed group chat]

coop (8:21 pm): tell me why columbia didnt cancel classes???

coop (8:21 pm): there was a literal bomb the fuq

harley (8:21 pm): ?? astoria is like 45 mins away

coop (8:22 pm): dude that's barely a train ride away

harley (8:23 pm): u just dont want to go to class

harley (8:23 pm): its the second week suck it up big baby

coop (8:23 pm): ur actually so mean :(

harley (8:24 pm): did u make this gc to whine bc im gonna mute it if so

coop (8:25 pm): goddamm dude no i was gonna see if u guys wanted to hang out after ur little science shit but ur fuckin mean

coop (8:25 pm): peter can we hang out tmw plz plz

coop (8:25 pm): without harley 

parker (8:26 pm): lol felicia is gonna be so mad u didn’t add her to this

Peter rolled his eyes after responding. Cooper and Harley argued the same way over text as they did in person and that group chat had literally just been created. He honestly wasn’t surprised that Columbia, and likely the other schools in the area, hadn’t cancelled any classes after the fight. There was shit like this every other week, he would’ve been more shocked if classes did get cancelled. 

“I appreciate all the help,” He started, and he meant it, truly. “But I have class tomorrow, I think I should head out.” Peter pushed himself off of the bed, but he wasn’t slick enough to stop the gasp of pain as the steri-strips pulled at his side. 

Tony frowned as he stood, his hands held out like he wanted to help the teen but was holding himself back, “And how are you expecting to get back?” 

Later, Peter would be ashamed at how he fell for the bait, “Uh, swinging?” 

The look that crossed Tony’s face was a mix of paternal concern and disapproval, the man still keeping his hands hovering as if Peter would collapse at any second, “Wanna run that by me again?”

“What, like I’m going to walk?” 

The engineer’s face straightened out into something unimpressed, “Well, you’re certainly not swinging,” When Peter opened his mouth to protest, he swiftly cut him off, “Look me in the eye and tell me you fully believe that you can swing back to your apartment without being in excruciating pain.” 

Peter opened his mouth to do exactly that before he hesitated because 1) he didn’t really think he could swing all the way back without having to take at least one break to curl into a ball on some roof and breathe through the pain and 2) he didn’t really want to look Tony in the eye right now. 

When he closed his mouth and crossed his arms, a smug smirk crossed Tony’s face, “That’s what I thought, bud.” He turned around, collecting a phone from the table he had previously been at. “Come on, I’ll drive you back.” 

At his words, the teenager blue-screened because Tony was going to what. 

“Wait, what?” He followed after, speaking to the older man’s back as he was basically led out of the medbay. Peter knew he had every right to just…turn around and go the opposite direction but for some reason, he kept following after him. 

“I’ll take you to your apartment,” Tony repeated, slowing down a little bit to walk side by side with him. “After we grab you something else to wear.”

Against his better judgement, Peter nodded.

Chapter Text

I wake up every morning with the years ticking by
I'm missing all these memories, maybe they were never mine
I feel the walls are closin', I'm running out of the time
I think I missed the gun at the starting line

If someone were to ask him right now, this moment, if he knew what he was doing, Tony would probably respond; “no, I am fully winging this right now,” with this being him sitting in the driver’s seat of a car borrowed from the Tower’s garage with one Peter Parker in the passenger seat.

He really didn’t think he’d get this far. Honestly, he expected Peter to fully reject his offer of a ride, even with how casually it had been brought up. 

Imagine his surprise when the kid just kind of…well, agreed. Sure, there was a conflicted look on his face but Peter had accepted the offered grey sweatsuit and had followed him to the garage without any argument. 

Now, that wasn’t to say that everything was perfect, happy-go-lucky sunshine and rainbows. No, not at all. Peter was completely silent in the passenger seat, head tilted towards the window and eyes reflecting the streetlights as they passed by. Gone was the chatterbox from five years ago and gone were the snarky comments from an hour before. 

The silence was damn near deafening. 

“So,” Tony tapped his palms rhythmically against the top of the steering wheel as the car stopped at the red. “How’s school?” 

Peter’s head turned towards him, his eyebrows furrowed and Tony was immediately stumbling to figure out how he said wrong.

“How’s school?” The teen repeated before snorting. “Really?”

“Just making conversation,” Tony shrugged, eyes locked on the red. How long was this light? “I mean, you don’t have to answer.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I just thought…” Peter shook his head slightly, hair falling in front of his eyes, before letting out a brief huff of laughter. “Like, that’s your question?” 

It was Tony’s turn to furrow his eyebrows, “...Yes? Was there something else you wanted me to ask?” 

To be fair, there was a lot more that Tony wanted to ask, but contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t completely selfish and was reading the room right now.  

“I-okay, okay, school’s…fine.” The answer was too simple, he needed more. 

The light turned green. 

“Just fine?” 

He could practically hear Peter’s eye roll at the same moment the kid scoffed, “I mean, the semester literally just started. There’s not much to go off of.” 

“Well,” Tony held back the need to honk at the car cutting him off. “What’re you studying?”

Peter ran a hand down his face with a mumbled, “Oh my god,” and Tony couldn’t help but smirk at the exasperation. Even as disconnected as he felt from the teen, it seemed that it was still easy to annoy him. 

“Computer science,” He let out a big sigh. “And biochemistry.” 

Sure, it was something that Tony already knew but it was different coming straight from the source. 

“Two majors, huh?” Tony whistled, tone impressed. 

“Please,” Peter huffed, “That’s probably nothing to you.”

He arched an eyebrow in the kid’s direction, “Shocking as it may be, but we’re not talking about me right now; we’re talking about you, Pete, and those aren’t easy majors to begin with.” 

From the corner of his eye, he could see Peter’s downturned lips as he turned his head back towards the windows, “Sure, I guess.” 

Peter’s brevity was disconcerting, the conversation was slow-moving and honestly, painfully awkward. He had hoped talking about college would spark some good conversation but it had died out as quickly as it had started but was he really Tony Stark if he backed down from a challenge? 

“Was that really you the other night?” Peter’s question caught him off guard. 

“Come again?” 

Peter sighed, though it didn’t exactly sound annoyed or anything really negative. “The other night,” he explained. “You were at my apartment, weren’t you?” 

It took all the self control that Tony had not to slam on the brakes because from his side of things, Peter hadn’t been sober enough in the moment to actually register him there. 

"I mean, it had to be, right?” Peter continued, ignoring his lack of response. “Because you’re driving to my apartment right now and you never asked where I lived.” 

Oh shit. It had honestly slipped his mind, and while Tony Stark didn’t make mistakes, he was entitled to a little slip-up every now and then. 

Tony parked the car. 

“So it was you.” Peter crossed his arms. “You broke into my apartment?” 

“To be fair, your apartment was pretty easy to get into.” 

The unimpressed look he received was not shocking in the least, “And you did that for what? Because from what I remember, one second you were there and the next you were gone.” 

At this point, the wrinkles on his forehead were going to increase ten-fold with how often Tony was furrowing his eyebrows, “And from what I remember, kid, you were high off your ass and wrote me off as a hallucination.” 

Peter pursed his lips, eyes focusing on anything other than him. “Yeah, well, what would you have thought?” The response was petulant but Tony was fairly sure he could hear the underlying message- what would you have thought if I came back from the dead?

“It was probably a valid assumption,” He wasn’t going to comment on the drug use, at least not right now. “I’m usually better at grand entrances.” 

“Grand entrances,” Peter mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes. “Right, and that would be more like showing up at my safehouse?” 

“Okay, I’ll admit that maybe that wasn’t much better.” Tony conceded. 

“...maybe?”

“But Pete, look, buddy, I was worried about you. Everyone knew something about Spider-Man but no one could tell me a thing about Peter Parker.”

“You already saw me though, you knew I was fine.” 

Fine was certainly pushing it, but Tony wasn’t going to argue over that. 

“That’s different,” 

Peter crossed his arms, refusing to meet his eyes. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going in, but Tony couldn’t understand why it was so hard for him to understand. Didn’t Peter know that Tony would move mountains for him? 

Before he pushed the topic, Tony took a moment to look Peter over again; the change of clothes had helped his appearance but it didn’t take away from the bags under his eyes or the bird’s-nest way his hair had dried after sweating profusely under the mask. Peter just looked tired and the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Pepper was telling Tony that this wasn’t the best time to have this kind of talk. 

“How’re the ribs feeling?” He changed his tune, glancing out the window to peer up at Peter’s apartment building. He didn’t want to part with him so soon but it was only a matter of time before the teen got out of the car.

“As good as broken ribs can be, I guess.” Peter shrugged after a moment.

Tony gave him another once-over, considering the teen’s words. If this was sixteen year old Peter Parker, he’d have called his bluff immediately but Tony didn’t need to be a genius to see the way that Peter’s powers have grown with him. If he hadn’t witnessed the display of utter strength and agility during his fight, he would have noticed the way Peter’s injuries had been healing right in front of his face. 

“And the steri strips?” He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘stab wound’ without hearing the way he had cried out. 

“They’re fine.” 

“Your concus-"

“I’m fine, Tony,” Peter cut in curtly. “I heal fast.”

Tony pursed his lips, silencing any immediate response he had to the teen’s words. Obviously, he had already overstepped and he had to keep reminding himself that he needed to actually think before speaking. He turned his attention back to the steering wheel, his shoulders dropping a little bit when he let out a deep sigh. 

He couldn’t afford to lose any of this progress. 

Peter gained his attention once more when the boy dropped his head back against the headrest, his eyes closed and face pinched in a torn expression. He let out a low groan, likely to himself as he didn’t seem to notice Tony’s eyes on him. 

“I guess you can walk me up to my apartment,” Despite the fact that Peter was acting like someone was actively trying to pull his teeth out to make him say this, Tony couldn’t help the grin slowly breaking over his face. “If it’ll get you to stop looking at me like that.” 

The teen opened his eyes, glancing across the car, “Don’t be weird about it.” 

-

There was a high possibility that the Scorpion had slammed his head into the concrete one too many times because what the fuck was possessing him to be this fucking charitable? 

Why was Peter unlocking his apartment door with Tony standing right behind him? Why hadn’t he just walked his happy ass home instead of getting into that goddamned car? It had to be the concussion, maybe even the stab wound. 

Or maybe he was just insane? It would make sense if he had finally just lost it at this point. Peter went over the many possibilities of what could be wrong with him as he tossed his key ring atop the janky little side table he had thrifted to put beside his fridge as a “catch-all” when he entered his apartment. 

He blew a stream of air through his teeth, cupping his side as his injuries were punishing him for the trip up the stairs. Despite having told Tony he was fine, his body ached like a motherfucker. It certainly did not hurt as bad as it had earlier, the food Kate had brought him had been a blessing, but goddamn, he was sore. It didn’t help that his headache had yet to let up and yes, he was using all of these as excuses for why he hadn’t told Tony to get a life. 

“Nice place you got here,” Peter rolled his eyes at Tony’s comment, pulling his mask from the pocket of his sweats and tossing it on his desk. Fixing his suit was going to be a bitch. 

An indignant chirp sounded from underneath his bed and his lip twitched, “You know I can tell when you’re lying right?” 

Fish crawled out from underneath the bed, pausing at the edge of the rug to let out a big yawn and stretch just as Tony spluttered to defend himself against Peter’s ragebait. 

“Big stretch,” Peter cooed, sitting on the armrest of the sofa and letting his arm hang down for the orange cat to rub his nose against. 

“I mean it! I’ve seen worse apartments,” Tony crossed his arms, looking around the studio. “You should’ve seen mine and Rhodey’s apartment our junior year of college. It was terrible.” 

Peter snorted, “Weren’t you a billionaire then too?” 

Peter, shut the fuck up. Stop engaging. 

“We looked for apartments too late and the good ones on campus got taken,” Tony shrugged, “Would you believe me if I told you it was my favorite place I lived during college?” 

He raised an eyebrow, “I think I’d need to see the place first.” The minute he said the words, he knew that he set himself up and immediately wanted to throw himself off the fire escape. 

It didn’t matter that the soft smile that flashed over Tony’s face made something warm settle in Peter’s chest because it also made something dark twist in his stomach. 

“I’m sure I can find a picture or two somewhere,” The engineer said. “But you’ll have to take my word for it until then.” 

Peter nodded, turning his attention back to his cat and biting his lip to keep himself from speaking any further. Fish was soaking up the attention, the cat jumping up on the sofa cushion and pushing his head into Peter’s palm to earn more scratches behind his ears. 

Tony stepped closer to the back of the couch, the floorboards creaking under his steps and Fish’s head snapped up at attention. Peter’s eyebrows furrowed as the cat cocked his head to the side before raising a paw and batting a few times in Tony’s direction. 

A shocked laugh left Peter’s laugh at the uncharacteristic behavior. Fish wasn’t necessarily acting aggressively, but the little shit was an attention seeker; he wasn’t one to swat someone away. He knew that the cat wasn’t in distress, if anything he still seemed content- he was just being an asshole. 

Who was it that said cats imitate their owners?

Peter glanced up at Tony, unable to control the real laugh at the man’s offended expression at the cat’s behavior. His hands were raised ever so slightly, as if he were trying to show the animal that he was not a threat and he looked scandalized. 

“Did you teach your cat that?” 

“Teach him what?” 

“That.” Tony gestured to how he had started swatting at him again, “Whatever he has against me.” 

Peter pulled a face, rolling his eyes at the dramatics. “Yes, I taught Fish to attack you since apparently you have already broken into my apartment.” 

Tony crossed his arms, “That’s actually something I wanted to ask you about; Fish?” 

He raised an eyebrow, “Is there an issue with the name?” 

“He’s a cat.” 

“You literally have a robot named DUM-E.” 

“That’s-”

“And another one named U.”

“I-”

“Not to mention your AI is named FRIDAY.” 

“Alright, you little brat, I get it.” Tony held his hands all the way up and a smug smirk crossed Peter’s lips. “Fish is a fantastic name.” 

“It is.” Peter ignored the sarcastic tone on the last comment, running his fingers along the cat’s head. He could feel Tony’s eyes on him and with a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, the fond expression on the man’s face was threatening to put a crack in his reality. 

He can’t get comfortable. Everything he touches comes to ruin. 

“Pete,” It took every ounce of self control not to tense at the change in Tony’s tone, keeping his attention solely on his cat. “I’m not gonna overstay my welcome here, kiddo, promise, but I don’t want this to just be a one off.” 

Peter had been fighting practically tooth and nail for any member of the Avengers to stop with calling him a kid, but for some reason when Tony said it, it didn’t feel condescending. He didn’t know what it felt like. 

“I don’t want to overwhelm you but Pepper has been asking about you-”

He couldn’t help the way that garnered his attention, his head turning to meet Tony’s gaze with confusion, “She has?” 

The man’s face was impossibly soft, “Of course she has, which has led to Morgan asking about you too. I don’t even think she completely understands what’s going on, she just likes being a part of things.” He shook his head, waving his hand around. “That’s besides the point, I’ll get straight to it; why don’t you come by for dinner one night?” 

At Peter’s stunned silence and continued stare, Tony continued, “It doesn’t have to be anything crazy and I’m sure Happy would be ecstatic to get an invitation to something other than a ballet recital. I think it would do all of us some good.” 

Tony waited, eyes trained on him and once again, his patience with Peter had him feeling sick. Why did he care so much? Why was he trying so hard? It didn’t make any sense, no way was Peter worth all of this. 

“Peter?” 

Say no. Say no. Say no. 

“Okay.” He nodded, ducking his head away from the smile that Tony responded with and began mentally cussing himself out.

“That’s great, buddy.” Tony’s hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “We’ll figure out the details later.” 

Peter nodded again, unable to form any words. Why did he agree to this? He was just digging his own grave. And probably many others. 

“I’m gonna head out, get some rest.” Tony straightened up, heading towards the door. “Bye, Pete.” 

It was when he was closing the apartment that Peter muttered back, “Bye, Tony.” 

Once the door clicked shut, Peter dropped his head into his hands and let out a loud groan. Seriously, what did he think he was doing? Dinner? With Tony and his family? Who the hell did he think he was? 

A creak from fire escape had him standing up, ignoring the way his body protested. The ping from his sixth sense had him letting out another groan, though this one was much louder as he walked towards his desk to the window pane up higher from where it had been cracked. 

“How long have you been out there?” He asked, his voice resigned. 

Black Cat’s face came into view, her cheeky smile evident as she leaned back against the bannister of the fire escape. She was still dressed head to toe in her gear, domino mask included. “Not too long, just thought I’d swing by to check on my favorite spider.” 

He rolled his eyes, flopping back into his desk chair. “Sure. And how much did you hear, Cat?” 

She dropped her smile at his question, crossing her arms. “Enough to know what you’ve been hiding.” 

Peter drug a hand down his face. He did not have the emotional capacity to deal with this right now. It wasn’t like he thought that Felicia would never find out, but he hadn’t thought it’d be so soon. 

That’s what he gets for underestimating the Black Cat. 

“You gonna keep pouting or are you gonna invite me in?” She asked and when Peter looked up, she was leaning forwards into the window frame. 

“As if my invite means anything to you,” He rolled his eyes but obliged when he moved to push the window pane the rest of the way up. Felicia ignored his offered hand as she climbed onto his desk, but like most things Felicia does, it was done with grace. 

Peter crossed his arms from where he was now standing, watching as Felicia crouched down to greet Fish when he began circling her legs. 

“Hi sweetheart,” She murmured softly, scratching him behind the ears. 

“What’re you doing here, Felicia?” He asked. 

She scoffed, standing back up and pulling her domino off. “You sure do know how to talk to a lady, Peter.” She mirrored his pose, crossing his arms and meeting his steely gaze. “And what happened to the whole codenames thing you keep bugging me about? I’m still in uniform.” 

He sighed, loosening his posture and letting his arms fall to his sides. “We’re in my apartment.” 

Felicia smiled more genuinely at his more relaxed demeanor, “I’ll let it slide this time,” She sidestepped him, walking towards his fridge. “Anyways, I actually was coming to check on you. I saw your fight. Brutal.”

“Brutal’s one way to put it,” He mumbled, following her into the small kitchen area. “I’m fine, as you can see.” 

She paused from where she was inspecting the contents of his fridge, turning to unashamedly look him up and down, “Of course you’re fine, wouldn’t expect anything less from New York’s friendly neighborhood martyr.” 

“Felicia-” 

“You have no food, when was the last time you went shopping?” She effectively cut him off. 

He dropped his head back, “Well, I was going to go today but obviously that was not going to happen.” 

She glanced around his apartment before meeting his eyes, “I’ll order us a pizza.”

-

Thirty minutes later and “a pizza” ended up being four, with three of them being specifically reserved solely for Peter. 

Him and Felicia sat on the floor with their backs against the sofa, a Joe’s Pizza box sitting on the coffee table above them and the cheap bottle of white wine that had been in his fridge was being passed back and forth between the two. 

Peter was far more relaxed now that he had showered and was dressed in his own clothes, not to mention that the pineapple and ham pizza was threatening to send him into a state of bliss that he was sure he’d never return from. 

“It’s gonna take longer to patch this up than to just make a new suit,” As if to accentuate her point, Felicia stuck her arm through the ripped hole in the chest of his Spider-suit. 

“Right, because I have all this cash burning a hole in my pocket to afford that.” He said through a mouthful of food. 

Felicia made a disgusted face, balling up his mask and throwing it at him. “You’re disgusting. How can you afford to even fix this? Or, goddamn, even get these bloodstains out?” 

Her platinum hair peeked out under the hood of Peter’s sweatshirt, the eighteen year old having raided his closet in order to ditch the Black Cat suit. She was examining the extensive damage that had been done to his suit. It was all pretty much cosmetic, the technical aspects were safe from the fight but he did have to admit she had a point- his suit was torn to hell. 

There was no way he’d be able to patrol normally with damage like this. 

“I’ll figure something out,” He always does. 

“You’ve been wearing this suit for…how long now? I would say you’re a little overdue for an upgrade.” 

“Even if that’s true, I don’t have time to save up for materials. I can’t exactly abandon the city. Especially not right now.” 

“Now I didn’t say all that,” Felicia rolled her eyes, taking a swig from the wine bottle and criss-crossing her legs. “I know a guy who could hook you up with some stuff.” 

He paused from where he was pulling a piece of ham off another slice of pizza, raising an eyebrow at the blonde, “You know a guy or Black Cat knows a guy?” 

“So picky,” She twisted, setting his ruined suit onto the sofa beside the slumbering cat. “I know a guy, Pete, and he owes me a favor.”

“And you’re just extending this favor to me?” He questioned, holding his hand out for the wine bottle. 

“I can be generous.” Felicia shot back, flicking his shoulder before shoving the bottle into his extended hand. “Maybe he owes me two favors, it doesn’t matter. I’m literally offering you a new suit.” 

“What’s in it for you?” He leveled her with a suspicious look, though there wasn’t much heat behind it. 

“I get to help you make it, obviously.” She offered him a napkin, “You have pizza sauce on your chin, by the way.” 

His nose wrinkled, “When you say help me make it-” 

“Well, obviously Black Cat has to go get whatever supplies you need from my guy because there’s literally no way in hell you’re going out in that costume but that means we have to design it first.” Her eyes lit up and Peter couldn’t help but smile a little as the eagerness radiated off of her. “I know you have ideas cooking up in that big head of yours.”

Peter considered her offer, relaxing back against the couch. “How long is this gonna take?”

“If we start now, a couple days tops.” 

“Felicia, I can’t take any nights off. The city needs me,” He started to protest. 

“Peter,” She twisted, turning her body fully towards him. “You got stabbed.” 

“You and I both know I’ve had worse.” 

She gave him an unimpressed look, “Yeah because that changes things. If we’re going on about what we both know then let’s consider the fact that it’ll take at least another day for your whole body to heal.”

“That’s never stopped me before.” 

“Your suit has never been this fucked,” She pointed out and yeah, she made a good argument there. “Peter, come on.” 

He leaned his head back, staring up at his ceiling. His suit was ruined and if he was going to continue to run into Doc Ock or Scorpion, Peter couldn’t afford to not be at the top of his game. New York couldn’t afford for him to not be at the top of his game. An upgrade could put him a few steps ahead. 

“I mean, if it’d only take a couple of days.” He acquiesced, shoulders slumping as he gave in. 

Felicia jumped up, her face breaking out into a wide smile and her hood fell off from the movement. She held her hand out expectantly, Peter could practically taste her excitement. “Perfect! We can get started.”

Chapter Text

don't pay me no mind, I'll be fine
I'll pull myself together this time
I'll try to be someone who could hold up, hold up alone

The shrill sound of his alarm reluctantly pulled Peter out of his sleep, bright beams of sunlight effectively blinded him where his curtains had failed to fully cover the window beside his bed. He rubbed at his eyes, rolling his shoulders in an effort to release the tension of falling asleep on the couch but was only successful in jostling Felicia’s head where it rested against his bicep. 

“Turn it off,” She complained sleepily, her eyes still closed. “Too early.” 

“It’s 9am.” Peter stretched his arm out to grab at his phone, happy to note that the soreness in his body had dissipated considerably. 

“Too early.” Felicia repeated, pulling the hood down over her eyes.

Peter rolled his eyes, sliding down further into the couch. He’d fallen asleep in a fairly uncomfortable position on the sofa- basically in a seated position besides the fact that he had slumped against the armrest. Felicia had shifted to curl up next to him, looking far more comfortable than he was. 

Fish had taken full advantage of the empty bed, the orange tabby was sprawled out and belly-up smack dab middle of the full bed. 

He yawned, resting his phone against his chest while he scrolled through his surplus of text messages. 

Kate sent him a few different messages giving him a vague recount of her debrief with Clint & Co. with a promise of a full explanation the next time he saw her in person. To be honest, he was actually looking forward to hearing what story she had concocted to satisfy the elder archer and his equally nosy friends. 

Surprisingly, she wasn’t where the bulk of the messages came from. Nope, that was actually the group chat with Cooper and Harley. Where 154 messages were waiting for Peter.

He blinked down at his phone. A lot of them were the two just bickering back and forth, with memes and gifs thrown in here and there. A couple were links to Tiktoks while others were just them discussing plans that Peter wasn’t all that aware of. 

“Hey, is that a group chat?” Felicia planted her chin on his shoulder. “And those fuckers didn’t add me?” She continued when Peter hummed in confirmation. 

“To be fair, Coop said he didn’t have your number when he made the group chat.” He tilted his phone to show her the brief conversation between the two after Peter had mentioned Felicia in the chat. 

“But he had yours?” She scoffed, but he could tell she wasn’t actually upset.

“He probably got it from Harley, we exchanged numbers for our lab.” 

“Exchanged numbers,” Felicia mocked him, standing up with a stretch reminiscent of a cat, “How sweet. A love story for the ages.” 

Peter rolled his eyes, “Awe, are you jealous?”

She scowled, ignoring his jab in favor of ruffling his hair and effectively making his bed-head worse. He swatted at her hands, sitting up straighter as he grew more awake. 

“What time do you have class?” Peter stood, hands on his hips as he took in the array of papers scattered all around his apartment. They all held some stage of design for his new Spidey-suit. Some were crumpled into balls, others were simply just swiped to the side when they decided they were unhappy with how the sketch was going. 

All in all, his apartment was a disaster. 

“11:30.” She followed his lead, the two circling the room as they gathered up all the evidence of their late night. “You?”

“11. Want to grab some food?” 

Felicia handed him her stack of papers, “Yeah, cuz what the hell do you have here to eat? You ate all of the pizza.” 

“I have Eggos.” 

She blinked at him, “You know you don’t have to live this way, right?” 

He chuckled, sorting through the papers to make two piles. The first was the ones he was happy with, the second was the ones he needed to shred. The second pile was much bigger. “I’ll take that as a yes.” 

“I’ll meet you somewhere, I need to get my own clothes.” 

“I figured,” Peter turned around, leaning back far enough to nearly be sitting on his desk. “You choose, my treat.”

“You’re too good to me,” She teased, cuffing the sleeves of the sweatshirt before grabbing her sneakers from their spot on the floor. Peter and Felicia had been through this song and dance enough before that she had the sense to leave a pair of shoes at his place in advance so she wouldn’t have to go back to her own place wearing the boots of her Black Cat attire with her civvies. 

He watched as she slid them on, chewing on his lip as silence fell over the two of them. “You’re really not going to ask?” 

Felicia looked up, “About?” 

Peter fixed her with a questioning yet unimpressed look, because she knew exactly what he was referring to. “You are incredibly chill about all of this.”

She sighed, crossing her arms and sitting up straighter. “Believe it or not, I know better when to pry. Was I expecting your little secret to be Tony Stark being alive? No, that was probably the last thing I could have guessed but then again, it’s literally you, Spider, so I can’t really be surprised.” 

He couldn’t help the way his mouth twitched at her words because she had a point- this type of shit would happen to him.

“Does it change anything if I told you that Captain America and Black Widow are also alive?”

She blinked at him, “Wait, like Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff? Like deadass?” 

Peter hummed. 

“Actually, still, no.” Felicia ran her fingers through her hair, “Now you being all open? That’s weird and it’s making me uncomfortable.” 

He rolled his eyes, “You and I both know that you’re one of the nosiest people I know, especially when it comes to my business. I already came to terms with you finding out at some point.” 

Felicia actually grinned at him, pride evident at his words. 

“I will say, however,” She leaned forward, raising an eyebrow, “Dinner with the Starks?” 

Peter dropped his head into his hands with a groan.

“That’s awfully kind of you, Pete, never thought I’d see the day.” 

“I’m just practicing my philanthropy.” He said into his hands, his words muffled. 

“You’re poor.” 

He looked up immediately, “It’s almost like you don’t want me to buy you breakfast.” 

Felicia’s grin came back, though a little more sadistic. “Well, since you’re feeling so philanthropic, I’ll be sure to pick the perfect place.”

He stared at her with narrowed eyes, the blonde staring back with matching intensity. It was a brief moment of quiet before Felicia looked away with an annoyed groan, slapping her hand against the sofa cushion. 

“You cheat everytime!”

“How do you cheat at a staring contest?”

She picked up one of the discarded pens, launching it in his direction. “It’s something in those spidery powers of yours.”

Peter caught it, easily, twirling it between his fingers as he smiled cheekily at her. “Right, and what would that be exactly?” 

Felicia huffed, narrowing her eyes at him, “See if I get you that shit for your suit now, Parker.” 

He threw the pen back at her, snickering at the way that she ducked, sending her blonde hair splaying through the air.

Peter turned his attention back to the first pile of papers, his fingertips brushing along the edges of each one. There were only five in this pile, which was honestly kind of insane when he really thought about it because they had pretty much pulled an all-nighter and gone through two entire notebooks of paper. 

He’ll admit that he is a little attached to his current suit, even with it as ruined as it is. It was the first actual suit that he had made himself, not one given to him or made with fancy tech. No, no, this one he designed and sewn it together all himself. Every repair and upgrade for it had come from him, Peter was feeling pretty sentimental about it. 

“This one seems like a real winner.” Felicia was now by his side, pulling one of the papers away from the others. 

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, picking up the sketch. “Ya think?” 

Compared to the other four designs, this one actually was his favorite. Not only did it carry over the best elements of his previous suit but it also provided some much-needed upgrades to both the mask’s wiring and the suit’s schematics as a whole. If Felicia could get the right materials from her guy….

“I think it’s perfect.”

-

kate bishop (10:40 am): [Tiktok link]

kate bishop (10:40 am): fckin called it!!

kate bishop (10:41 am): ill be honest dude its art

peter parker (10:43 am): be fr did this come up on ur fyp or did h look this up 

kate bishop (10:46 am): … 

kate bishop (10:46 am): anyways why are there no hawkeye edits

-

Harley knocked his shoulder against Peter’s, successfully causing his pen to skid across his paper. He side-eyed the older boy, but the irritation that had bubbled up was artificial. At least, most of it was. 

When he repeated the action once more that’s when Peter became just a tad more genuinely irritated. 

“Yes?” He deadpanned.

Harley smirked, “Someone’s cranky today.” 

Peter rolled his eyes, abandoning his pen and slouching back in his chair. He wasn’t cranky , he just hasn’t had enough caffeine to combat the little sleep he got. 

“Am not,” He countered. “You’re just annoying.” 

“Sure,” Harley’s voice was both easy and antagonizing. “Ya weren’t even writing anything, you’ve just been starin’ at your paper with, like, nothin’ behind your eyes.” He waved a hand in front of his own face as if to accentuate his point. 

He blinked, glancing back at his notes, or lack thereof. The page was only half full, the information he had copied from the board during the first half of the class scrawled in his handwriting but beyond that, it was just the jagged lines from when Harley had bumped his arm. 

“I was thinking,” He shrugged. 

Harley snorted, “Right, and what about?” 

“About how fucking nosy you are, anyone ever mention that to you?” 

The other boy’s smirk turned into a grin, “Once or twice.” There was a twinkle in his eyes like he was remembering something, likely a fond memory. Of what? Peter didn’t know and didn’t feel inclined to ask. 

“For real though,” Peter straightened up. “I was thinking about what we should do for our project,” Harley looked intrigued at his words, waving his hand to signal him to continue. “Okay, well, obviously we need to come up with something that would have practical real-world applications. But let’s be honest, practicality has got to be like, the bare minimum- we need something that is also effective, to make an impact, right?” 

He grabbed his notebook, flipping back a page where he had actually been writing things down, and shoving it towards Harley so the older boy could take a look at Peter’s messy writing. “For some fuckass reason, New York is like a hotspot for bad-guy-activity and alien invasions, but even with as many times as buildings get blown up or destroyed, it’s like the city’s infrastructure just…doesn’t change. They just rebuild and wait for the next one, there’s no adaptation, but there’s room for ingenuity. It’s not like they can’t fix the issue, it’s just that no one’s made a priority.”

In his rambling, Peter couldn’t help but think about the damage from just the day before. The fight with the three villains was awfully destructive, even before the crane began to fall. If the city made an effort to anticipate these (unfortunately) frequent incidents and restructure their building’s integrity around it, there would be a lot less chance for destruction. 

Harley’s eyes flickered across Peter’s notebook and he couldn’t help but hold his breath in anticipation. He knew that Harley had had his reservations about him before they got paired up for SPHERE, hell, the guy had the reservations up until the moment where Peter admitted he had no idea about the reputation he apparently held among the academic community, so it was safe to say he was a little…weary about what the other teen thought. 

There was a good chance that Peter’s babbling had proven to Harley that he was actually as conceited as he had previously assumed and that he didn’t have the capacity to work with others. Fuck, that’s probably exactly what he was thinking now! 

Peter didn’t consider how it would come off before he had just started going off on a tangent about his idea for their project- what if Harley had one and now he felt like he couldn’t share it Peter was acting like a–. What had Harley called him? Wonder-boy-genius.

He was this close to slamming his head against the table when Harley spoke, “Dude, this is awesome.”

“Wait, really?” His dubiety was evident within his tone. 

“Hell yeah,” Harley set the notebook back onto the table, “Maybe the issue isn’t strictly the foundation of the buildings but specifically the durability.”

A smile slowly spread over Peter’s face, “Good point,” He leaned back, tapping the side of his temple with his right hand as he considered Harley’s words. Having something to really focus on made his brain-fog from both the lack of sleep and his (stupid) concussion dissipate. “We need something that can adapt in real-time.”

Harley nodded along, his eyes flickering in a way that suggested that he was following Peter’s train of thought, “It would need to not only respond to any damage but be able t’ anticipate it.” 

Peter drug his hand down the side of his face, his fingers brushing against the healing bruise along his jaw. He was sure that he was quite the sight when he first arrived to class, if the looks cast in his direction were any indicator. While his healing factor had been putting in overtime following yesterday’s events, it had prioritized his broken ribs and stab wound before anything else. So while his lower abdomen was left sore but mostly healed, the bruises on his face and his busted lip were healing slower than normal. 

The bruise on his cheekbone was as good as gone while one along his jaw was glaringly obvious, though it had already progressed to the greenish-yellow stage of discoloration as opposed to the deep purple it had originally been just the night before. His split lip had healed enough to just a slight red line near the corner of his mouth. Thankfully, no one had asked but he would have to be completely ignorant not to notice the concerned looks. 

“Sensors would make the most sense, right?” 

“Yah, I think so. To monitor the building’s infrastructure?”

“Exactly!” He couldn’t help the giddiness budding in his chest at the fact that Harley was on the same page as him. They went back and forth, bouncing ideas off of one another and building off of each other as they came up with a rough idea of what they wanted their semester project to look like. 

“Boys,” a new voice pulled them out of their conversation, and when Peter came out of his tunnel vision, he was met with Dr. Warren standing in front of their table. “As much as I hate to interrupt you two, class ended ten minutes ago.” He looked amused as he gestured towards the empty room.

Peter blinked, looking down at his watch. It really was 3:10, how long had they been in their little bubble? 

“Oops, sorry Dr. Warren,” Harley said sheepishly, pulling his own stationary to shove into his backpack. “We got a little carried away.” 

“No need to apologize, Harley,” The professor waved his hand, “I would have been happy to let you two stay longer but I have to pick up my daughter from school.” 

Peter let Harley do all the talking while he loaded up his own bag, rolling his shoulders as he prepared to leave. 

“I’ll see you here Wednesday,” Dr. Warren smiled as he led them out of the room. “Have a nice rest of your day, boys.” 

While they returned the sentiment, Peter pulled his phone from his pocket and was met with a screen full of text messages. There were more Tiktoks from Kate, though he could tell just from the thumbnail of each of them that she was just trying to annoy him- he’d have to hunt down some of her in retaliation. 

f.h (2:03 pm): kms i actually hate this class

f.h (2:05 pm): what possessed me to take an art history class 

f.h (2:05 pm): peter kill me 

f.h (2:37 pm): just ran into cooper he asked if i wanted to grab food at the commons 

f.h (2:38 pm): he said he’s meeting harley there

f.h (2:38 pm): so ur coming too

f.h (2:54 pm): i can pick up the stuff tonight

Peter snorted as he read through the thread with Felicia. It seemed that she had her art history class on Mondays and Fridays because she seemed to blow up his phone during that time specifically. 

“Hey, do you wanna grab lunch from Ferris?” Harley asked, following him down the hallway while looking down at his own phone. “Coop said he ran into Felicia, apparently they’re also in the same class.” 

He raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, she texted me too but she didn’t mention the whole class thing,” He shoved open the door and was met with the deep chill of the January air. “How did they not notice they were in the same class last week?”

“Cooper just switched in,” Harley shrugged. “So, lunch?”

“I’m not on a dining plan,” Peter answered and it was true, the only times he’s been to the dining halls was when he had to pay to eat there. “So probably not.” He knew Felicia would chew him out for it too. 

“Awe, c’mon dude!” Harley sounded exasperated, “Why don’t you have on? I thought everyone got one.” 

“I don’t live on campus and I’ll be damned if I pay hundreds for a dining pass.” Peter had considered it– right up until he saw how much each tier cost. His scholarship only covered so much and food was not included in that. 

“Yeah, that makes sense. You should still come though, I get a few guest passes a week, you can use one if ya want.” 

Peter pursed his lips, “Seriously?”

Harley shot him an incredulous look that read ‘are you fucking stupid’ before rolling his eyes, “Yeah dude, plus we can keep workin’ through the logistics of our project. I think we have a pretty solid idea, but puttin’ it all together is gonna be a pain in the ass.” 

-

kate bishop (2:31 pm): wait they kinda cooked with this one 

kate bishop (2:31 pm): [Tiktok link]

peter parker (3:14 pm): i need u to be honest w me 

peter parker (3:14 pm): did u make this 

-

“All I’m saying,” Felicia stabbed her fork into her bowl of pasta, “is that if I have to sit through another fifty minute lecture that has nothing to do with the course I signed up for, I’m going to commit a felony.”

Peter snorted, shoveling another forkful of teriyaki chicken into his mouth. Oh, the irony. 

“Lennox doesn’t even have a good rating on rate-my-professors, how is he still employed?” 

Cooper spoke through a mouthful of food, “He’s tenured.” 

“You’re disgusting.” Felicia deadpanned, her nose scrunching. “I don’t give a fuck if he personally built the university, he’s terrible and I hate hearing his voice.” 

“I mean, it’s only the second week.” Coop countered, now choosing to mind his manner. “Maybe he’ll get better.”

The blonde threw her head back with a sigh, “I despise the fact that attendance is mandatory.” 

“That does sound awful,” Harley agreed. “And to think, Coop willingly swapped into his class.” 

“Okay, I wouldn’t say willingly . This was the only class that had an open spot!”

Peter would have joined the conversation but he was too busy stuffing his face. The dining hall food was actually pretty good, not that he had much experience with other schools’ dining situations, and he was dead-set on taking full advantage of the buffet. He was already on his third plate. 

“We can just suffer together, Felicia.” Cooper continued. 

“Mm,” Felicia hummed, “I would consider it, but Peter informed me that I was left out of your little group chat so I’m gonna have to pass.” 

He shared an amused look with Harley as Coop immediately got defensive, stammering about how he didn’t have her number. 

“To be fair, you could have asked me.” Peter interjected, pushing around the leftover rice on his plate. 

Cooper’s attention immediately turned to him, “Parker, you are probably the worst texter I’ve ever met and I’ve gotten ghosted on Hinge more times than I can count.”

Peter shrugged in response, earning a shove in the shoulder from Felicia. “Petey’s just antisocial.” 

“Am not.” 

“Are to.”

“Am not!”

Felicia grinned devilishly at him, obviously proud at successfully riling him up. He glared at her as she took a long sip of her soda, her eyes never leaving his. 

“I find that hard to believe,” Harley snorted.

“What’s hard to believe?” For the second time in less than an hour, Harley was looking at him incredulously but it was made ten times worse because Coop was also giving him the same look. 

“Parker! It’s soooo good to see you!” Cooper’s voice was an exaggerative mockery of Tommy’s from the week before.

“Parker! Parker! Parker!” Harley chanted, eagerly joining in on the teasing. 

“That means nothing,” Peter tried to argue, but the tips of his ears were turning red. 

“Oh, really?” Cooper smirked, he was obviously enjoying the taunting. “Someone’s always mentioning how cool Peter Parker is, how he might be at the function.” 

Peter slumped back in his chair, holding his hands to his face.

“Awe, lay off him.” He would be a fool if he thought that Felicia was defending his honor, “He can’t help that he’s pretty, huh Peter? With that sweet face of yours.” 

Despite her words being playful, something weird twisted in his gut and a shooting pain flared from where he had been stabbed. Peter’s breath stuttered into a gasp.

He didn’t see the way everyone’s expressions changed but he could feel their eyes on him, which did nothing for the uncomfortable itch of his sixth sense that was beginning to feel more like a curse than a blessing. 

“Peter?”

There’s a pretty impressive bounty out there for you, Spidey. Not for your head, but for that sweet face of yours.

He stood up abruptly, his chair skidding backwards from the force. “I have to go to the bathroom.” 

He fled before any of them could say anything else. Or if they did, Peter didn’t hear it. He was too focused on the feeling of wrongwrongwrong. Hadn’t the gash been healed over when he checked this morning? The steri-strips had done their job when Peter looked but maybe he missed something. 

He had to have missed something because it was like the spoke was buried deep into his side again and he could feel warm blood running down his skin and how did nobody see that he had been bleeding out because his sweater wasn’t even that dark– why didn’t anybody say anything whydidn’tanybodyhelphim

Peter shoved open the bathroom door, stumbling in with one hand clutching his side. He needed to get a look at the wound, what if it was already infected? The only problem was that his vision was blurred when he tried to look in the mirror, his reflection distorted. 

Heavy panting pulled his attention away from the mirror and Peter realized that there was a possibility that the restroom was actually not vacant. He blinked a few times, his gaze fluttering about, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of another person but he couldn’t find anyone. It was completely empty. 

But that didn’t make any sense, if the bathroom was empty, then who was breathing so hard? Oh.

Peter held his other hand to his chest, feeling the rapid rise and fall. He was the one panting.

He turned back to the sinks, clutching the tile counter so hard that he could’ve put a crack in it. He needed to see what the damage was, see how much blood he had already lost. Peter blinked hard, why was his vision so muddled? Had he already lost enough blood that he was on the verge of passing out? 

When blinking did nothing, he shook his head aggressively, ignoring the way that brought attention to the way his head had already been throbbing. Despite the newfound pain, that seemed to do the trick just enough for Peter to get a clearer (just barely) image of himself in the mirror. 

He let go of the counter, his hands moving wildly to tug up both his sweater and tee to reveal…nothing. With a harsh wheeze, Peter ran his fingers along the smooth skin of his bare abdomen. There was no open wound, no blood. There wasn’t even any bruising from his broken ribs. His skin was healed and blemish-free just as he had observed this morning. 

How–? Peter had felt the pain, was feeling the pain rushing through his body. There was obviously something wrong because he couldn’t fucking breathe. 

He crumpled to the ground. The lack of blood or fresh injury should have been comforting but Peter was feeling the opposite of that because if his agony wasn’t due to an external cause than it had to be internal which meant that Doc Ock probably poisoned him with something when she dug her claw into his skin which meant that Peter had no way of knowing what it was or what it was doing to him. 

But why was it kicking in now? His metabolism was insanely fast, surely it would have burned through any sort of poison or drug that she may have dosed him with. 

Unless…unless this was the plan all along. Doc Ock had said that she couldn’t kill Spider-Man, not that she wouldn’t. Peter took her as the type to play by her own rules so what if this agonizing pain was actually his body shutting down? What if she dosed him with something that was taking him down from the inside out? 

Peter had thought that he wasn’t scared to die anymore but the terror that struck him proved that theory wrong. It wasn’t that he was scared for himself, but he was scared for the world around him. Because if Doc Ock killed Peter Parker, then that meant that Spider-Man was dead. Who was going to protect New York? Who was going to protect his people?

A new wave of fear hit him. If Doctor Octavius killed Spider-Man, then that meant she could go after Kate next. Who’s to say she’d even stop there? If she could kill two vigilantes, surely she’d continue and then Yelena was dead, Felicia was dead, and oh god , she was going to figure out that Tony was back and she was going to kill him too and itwasallgoingtobehisfault–

He wasn’t sure if he was breathing or choking at this point.

Peter wasn’t aware of another person in the bathroom until soft, cold hands were cupping the sides of his face and suddenly his head was being tilted up from where it had been ducked into his drawn-up legs. When had he done that? 

The sound of his ragged breath echoed off the walls now that they weren’t muffled by his jeans and he blinked his eyes open to find green ones staring back at him, the person’s thumb stroking his cheek from where they were kneeled in front of him. Felicia.

“Peter,” Her voice sounded warbled, why did she sound like that? Was she okay? Maybe Doc Ock had already gotten her but that wouldn’t make sense because Spider-Man hadn’t died yet and there was no way that she knew who Blac– “Peter!”

Her urgent yell pulled him from his internal ramblings, his (spotty) attention on her. “You’re not dying.” Felicia stated firmly. “You’re not dying. There’s nothing wrong with you but you need to breathe.”

He was sure he looked pathetic as he tried to breathe but he couldn’t because Doc Ock was killing him and everyone was going to die–

“No one is going to die,” Felicia’s voice was soft but she sounded so sure. “You’re okay, it’s just a panic attack. Focus on me, focus on my breathing.” One of her hands left his face to grab his, holding it to the center of her chest. “Follow my breathing.” 

Peter stared at her, his harsh breathing slowing until they matched her exaggerated ones. Once he was no longer gasping for air, Felicia lowered their hands but didn’t let go of his.  

“You with me?” 

He swallowed hard before nodding ever so slightly. They were eye-to-eye, with Peter huddled against the wall beside the sinks and Felicia kneeling in front of him, worry evident in her features. Her gaze was scrutinizing as she looked him up and down before questioning, “Are you sure?” 

Peter sighed, albeit shakily, “Yeah, I am.” 

Her shoulders slumped as her body relaxed, the hand still cupping his face giving it one last stroke before disappearing when Felicia tipped backwards into a seated position. She didn’t let go of his hand. 

It was silent for a few moments before she spoke again, “You okay?” 

And if that weren’t the million-dollar question. He could only shrug, “I don’t know what happened.” He really didn’t, one moment he was fine and the next, he was fighting just to breathe. 

“Panic attack,” Felicia shrugged back, her tone incredibly casual for the situation. 

Peter had heard her when she had previously told him that, but he hadn’t really absorbed it until she repeated it. A panic attack? That couldn’t be right, what did Peter have to panic over?

She seemed to be considering her next question, “What got you?” For just three words, they felt heavy. 

That sweet face of yours. He could hear Olivia’s voice echoing in his head. 

“I–” He paused. “Doc Ock said there was a bounty out on me, not to kill me but…”

Felicia’s face grew concerned once more, “But?” 

He averted his eyes before mumbling, “She said the bounty was ‘for that sweet face of mine’.” 

Peter didn’t have to look at Felicia to know she was frowning. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry. If I did, I w-”

“Don’t be, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He was quick to cut her off. “Besides, I don’t think that was actually a panic attack. I got a concussion too, remember? I think it just made me a little confused, that’s all.” 

“Right,” She said slowly, her eyebrows furrowing. “And it’s not a panic attack because–?”

“I don’t get panic attacks,” He pointedly ignored the look that crossed her face. 

“Peter, there’s nothing wrong with having a panic attack.”

“I didn’t say there was!” Spider-Man didn’t have panic attacks. “I just freaked out a little.” 

Felicia only squeezed his hand. He ran his free hand through his hair, dropping his head back against the wall behind him. 

“She’s not gonna stop until she gets what she wants,” Peter sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “None of them are.” 

“Hey, you’ll figure it out.” She lightly kicked his calf, “You always do.” 

He offered her a tight-lipped smile. How many other people were going to get hurt before he did?

“I brought your stuff,” Felicia kicked him again, this time in the foot, pulling his attention to their backpacks and coats abandoned by the bathroom door. Which was apparently locked. How long has Felicia been here?

Peter frowned, “Wait, what about Harley and Cooper?”

“They went back to their dorm,” She explained. “You’ve been in here for a bit.” 

He groaned, pulling his hand away, using both to cover his burning face, “Oh my god, they probably think I’m such a loser.” 

Felicia snorted, “Shut up, they do not.” 

Peter peeked at her through his fingers, “Uh huh, and how is that?” 

She looked sheepish for a moment, which was a little out of character for the blonde and he automatically braced himself for what she had to say. It must have shown on his face because she shot him a glare, “Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t say anything bad!” 

“What did you say?!”

“I just told them you had bruised ribs!” She exclaimed, “And that you probably moved the wrong way. It wasn’t like it was that hard to believe with this whole thing going on,” Felicia gestured to his bruised face. 

Peter rolled his eyes, “Okay and how exactly did I get these bruised ribs?” 

His question elicited a sharp laugh from her, her green eyes bright with amusement, “I told them you got mugged.” 

And despite the hard feeling in his chest, Peter couldn’t help but laugh along with her. 

-

missed call from kate bishop (4:45 pm)

kate bishop (4:47 pm): call me when u get a chance 

kate bishop (4:48 pm): it’s about yesterday